Today the true duty of a powerful king is to establish a universal peace; for verily it signifies the freedom of all the people of the world. Some persons who are ignorant of the world of true humanity and its high ambitions for the general good, reckon such a glorious condition of life to be very difficult, nay rather impossible to compass. But it is not so, far from it. (“Star of the West”. vol. 7, no. 14 (November 1916), p. 136) [44] O ye individuals of humanity, find ye means for the stoppage of this wholesale murder and bloodshed. Now is the appointed time! Now is the opportune time! Arise ye, show ye an effort, put ye forward an extraordinary force, and unfurl ye the Flag of Universal Peace and dam the irresistible fury of this raging torrent which is wreaking havoc and ruin everywhere. (“Star of the West”, vol. 18, no. 11 (February 1928), p. 345) [45] 46: By what process, continued the questioner, will this peace on earth be... By what process, continued the questioner, will this peace on earth be established? Will it come at once after a universal declaration of the Truth? No, it will come about gradually, said ‘Abdu’l-Bahá. A plant that grows too quickly lasts but a short time. You are my family, and he looked about with a smile, my new children! if a family lives in unison, great results are obtained. Widen the circle; when a city lives in intimate accord greater results will follow, and a continent that is fully united will likewise unite all other continents. Then will be the time of the greatest results, for all the inhabitants of the earth belong to one native land. (“‘Abdu’l-Bahá in London: Addresses, and Notes of Conversations”, Commemorative ed. (London: Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1987), p. 106) [46] EXTRACTS FROM THE WRITINGS OF SHOGHI EFFENDI 47: Dearly-beloved friends! Humanity, whether viewed in the light of man’s...