an end to the excessive expenditures that were impoverishing these rulers’
subjects.

Surveying the principal contents of Bahá’u’lláh’s majestic call to the
kings and rulers of the world, Shoghi Effendi has written:


The magnitude and diversity of the theme, the cogency of the
argument, the sublimity and audacity of the language, arrest our
attention and astound our minds. Emperors, kings and princes,
chancellors and ministers, the Pope himself, priests, monks and
philosophers, the exponents of learning, parliamentarians and
deputies, the rich ones of the earth, the followers of all
religions, and the people of Bahá—all are brought within the
purview of the Author of these Messages, and receive, each
according to their merits, the counsels and admonitions they
deserve. No less amazing is the diversity of the subjects touched
upon in these Tablets. The transcendent majesty and unity of an
unknowable and unapproachable God is extolled, and the oneness of
His Messengers proclaimed and emphasized. The uniqueness, the
universality and potentialities of the Bahá’í Faith are stressed,
and the purpose and character of the Bábí Revelation unfolded.


The summary draws attention to Bahá’u’lláh’s uncompromising indictment of
the conditions of human society for which its leadership is held primarily
responsible:


Episodes, at once moving and marvellous, at various stages of His