demandeth that the Great
Powers should resolve, for the sake of the tranquillity of the
peoples of the earth, to be fully reconciled among themselves.
Should any kind take up arms against another, all should unitedly
arise and prevent him.--Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah,
p. 249.

By such counsel, Baha'u'llah revealed the conditions under which
public responsibility must be discharged in this Day of God.
Appealing for international solidarity on the one hand, He no less
clearly warned the rulers that continuance of strife would destroy
their power. Now modern history confirms this warning, in the rise
of those coercive movements which in all civilized nations have
attained such destructive energy, and in the development of
warfare to the degree that victory is no longer attainable by any
party. "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." "That
which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest
instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all
its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith. This can in
no wise be achieved except through the power of a skilled, an
all-powerful and inspired Physician."--Gleanings from the Writings
of Baha'u'llah, pp. 254, 255.

By the Lesser Peace is meant a political unity of states, while the Most
Great Peace is a unity embracing spiritual as well as political and
economic factors. "Soon will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new
one spread out in its stead."--Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah,
p. 7.

In former ages, a government could concern itself with external matters
and material affairs, but today the function of government demands a
quality of leadership, of consecration and of spiritual knowledge
impossible save to those who have turned to God.

Political Freedom

Although advocating as the ideal condition a representative form of
government, local, national and international, Baha'u'llah teaches that
this is possible only when men have attained a sufficiently high degree of
individual and social development. Suddenly to grant full self-government
to people without education, who are dominated by selfish desires and are
inexperienced in the conduct of public affairs, would be di