ehind them, and the memory
of a lifetime spent in the pathway of the good pleasure of God.

It is all one, if it be a throne
Or the bare ground under the open sky,
Where the pure soul lays him
Down to die.(44)

A conquest can be a praiseworthy thing, and there are times when war
becomes the powerful basis of peace, and ruin the very means of
reconstruction. If, for example, a high-minded sovereign marshals his
troops to block the onset of the insurgent and the aggressor, or again, if
he takes the field and distinguishes himself in a struggle to unify a
divided state and people, if, in brief, he is waging war for a righteous
purpose, then this seeming wrath is mercy itself, and this apparent
tyranny the very substance of justice and this warfare the cornerstone of
peace. Today, the task befitting great rulers is to establish universal
peace, for in this lies the freedom of all peoples.

The fourth phrase of the aforementioned Utterance which points out the way
of salvation is: "obedient to the commandments of his Lord." It is certain
that man's highest distinction is to be lowly before and obedient to his
God; that his greatest glory, his most exalted rank and honor, depend on
his close observance of the Divine commands and prohibitions. Religion is
the light of the world, and the progress, achievement, and happiness of
man result from obedience to the laws set down in the holy Books. Briefly,
it is demonstrable that in this life, both outwardly and inwardly the
mightiest of structures, the most solidly established, the most enduring,
standing guard over the world, assuring both the spiritual and the
material perfections of mankind, and protecting the happiness and the
civilization of society--is religion.

It is true that there are foolish individuals who have never properly
examined the fundamentals of the Divine religions, who have taken as their
criterion the behavior of a few religious hypocrites and measured all
religious persons by that yardstick, and have on this account concluded
that religions are an obstacle to progress, a divisive factor and a cause
of malevolence and enmity among peoples. They have not even observed this
much, that the principles of the Divine religions can hardly be evaluated
by the acts of those who only claim to follow them. For every excellent
thing, peerless though it may be, can still be diverted to the wrong ends.
A lighted lamp in the hands of an ignorant child or of the blind wi