Moreover, in His Tablet to Queen Victoria Bahá’u’lláh thus
addresses all the kings of the earth, summoning them to cleave to the Lesser
Peace, as distinct from that Most Great Peace which those who are fully
conscious of the power of His Revelation and avowedly profess the tenets of His
Faith can alone proclaim and must eventually establish:
“O kings of the earth! We see you increasing every year your
expenditures, and laying the burden thereof on your subjects. This, verily, is
wholly and grossly unjust. Fear the sighs and tears of this Wronged One, and
lay not excessive burdens on your peoples. Do not rob them to rear palaces for
yourselves; nay rather choose for them that which ye choose for yourselves.
Thus We unfold to your eyes that which profiteth you, if ye but perceive. Your
people are your treasures. Beware lest your rule violate the commandments of
God, and ye deliver your wards to the hands of the robber. By them ye rule, by
their means ye subsist, by their aid ye conquer. Yet, how disdainfully ye look
upon them! How strange, how very strange!
“Now that ye have refused the Most Great Peace, hold ye fast
unto this, the Lesser Peace, that haply ye may in some degree better your own
condition and that of your dependents.
“O rulers of the earth! Be reconciled among yourselves, that
ye may need no more armaments save in a measure to safeguard your territories
and dominions. Beware lest ye disregard the counsel of the All-Knowing, the
Faithful.
“Be united, O kings of the earth, for thereby will the
tempest of discord be stilled amongst you, and your peoples find rest, if ye be
of them that comprehend. Should anyone among you take up arms against another,
rise ye all against him, for this is naught but manifest justice.”
- Shoghi Effendi (‘The Promised Day Is Come’)