INTRODUCTION


_We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; yet
they deem Us a stirrer up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and
banishment.... That all nations should become one in faith and all men as
brothers; that the bonds of affection and unity between the sons of men
should be strengthened; that diversity of religion should cease, and
differences of race be annulled—what harm is there in this?... Yet so it
shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and
the ‘Most Great Peace’ shall come.... Yet do We see your kings and rulers
lavishing their treasures more freely on means for the destruction of the
human race than on that which would conduce to the happiness of
mankind.... These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease, and
all men be as one kindred and one family.... Let not a man glory in this,
that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his
kind...._

One hundred years ago, Bahá’u’lláh, Founder of the Bahá’í Faith,
proclaimed in clear and unmistakable language, to the kings and rulers of
the world, to its religious leaders, and to mankind in general that the
long-promised age of world peace and brotherhood had at last dawned and
that He Himself was the Bearer of the new message and power from God which
would transform the prevailing system of antagonism and enmity between men
and create the spirit and form of the destined world order.

At that time the splendour and panoply of the monarchs reflected the vast