century, a
relationship on which the fabric of moral life itself depends has broken
down. Natural faculties of the rational soul, vital to the development and
maintenance of human values, have become universally discounted:

The vitality of men's belief in God is dying out in every land; nothing
short of His wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The corrosion of
ungodliness is eating into the vitals of human society; what else but the
Elixir of His potent Revelation can cleanse and revive it?... The Word of
God, alone, can claim the distinction of being endowed with the capacity
required for so great and far-reaching a change.(91)

WORLD PEACE

In the light of subsequent events, the warnings and appeals of
Baha'u'llah's writings during this period take on a terrible poignancy:

O ye the elected representatives of the people in every land!... Regard
the world as the human body which, though at its creation whole and
perfect, hath been afflicted, through various causes, with grave disorders
and maladies. Not for one day did it gain ease, nay its sickness waxed
more severe, as it fell under the treatment of ignorant physicians, who
gave full rein to their personal desires...

We behold it, in this day, at the mercy of rulers so drunk with pride that
they cannot discern clearly their own best advantage, much less recognize
a Revelation so bewildering and challenging as this....(92)

This is the Day whereon the earth shall tell out her tidings. The workers
of iniquity are her burdens, could ye but perceive it....(93)

All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.
The Almighty beareth Me witness: To act like the beasts of the field is
unworthy of man. Those virtues that befit his dignity are forbearance,
mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all the peoples and kindreds
of the earth....(94)

A new life is, in this age, stirring within all the peoples of the earth;
and yet none hath discovered its cause or perceived its motive. Consider
the peoples of the West. Witness how, in their pursuit of that which is
vain and trivial, they have sacrificed, and are still sacrificing,
countless lives for the sake of its establishment and promotion....(95)

In all matters moderation is desirable. If a thing is carried to excess,
it will prove a source of evil.... Strange and astonishing things exist in
the earth but they are hidden from the minds and the understanding of men.
These