Included in this collection, as well, is the first full translation of the Suriy-i-Muluk or Surih of the Kings, which Shoghi Effendi described as “the most momentous Tablet revealed by Baha’u’llah in which He, for the first time, directs His words collectively to the entire company of the monarchs of East and West”.  It sets forth both the character of His mission and the standard of justice that must govern the exercise of their rule in this Day of God: 

Lay not aside the fear of God, O kings of the earth, and beware that ye transgress not the bounds which the Almighty hath fixed.  Observe the injunctions laid upon you in His Book, and take good heed not to overstep their limits.  Be vigilant, that ye may not do injustice to anyone, be it to the extent of a grain of mustard seed.  Tread ye the path of justice, for this, verily, is the straight path.

The Tablet introduces some of the great themes that were to figure prominently in the Writings of Baha’u’llah over the next two and a half decades:  the obligation of those into whose hands God has entrusted civil authority to institute the reign of justice, the necessity for the reduction of armaments and the resolution of conflicts among nations, and an end to the excessive expenditures that were impoverishing these rulers’ subjects.

Surveying the principal contents of Baha’u’llah’s majestic call to the kings and rulers of the world, Shoghi Effendi has written: 

The magnitude and diversity of the theme, the cogency of the argument, the sublimity and audacity of the language, arrest our attention and astound our minds.  Emperors, kings and princes, chancellors and ministers, the Pope himself, priests, monks and philosophers, the exponents of learning, parliamentarians and deputies, the rich ones of the earth, the followers of all religions, and the people of Baha—­all are brought within the purview of the Author of these Messages, and receive, each according to their merits, the counsels and admonitions they deserve.  No less amazing is the diversity of the subjects touched upon in these Tablets.  The transcendent majesty and unity of an unknowable and unapproachable God is extolled, and the oneness of His Messengers proclaimed and emphasized.  The uniqueness, the universality and potentialities of the Baha’i Faith are stressed, and the purpose and character of the Babi Revelation unfolded.

The summary draws attention to Baha’u’llah’s uncompromising indictment of the conditions of human society for which its leadership is held primarily responsible: 

Episodes, at once moving and marvellous, at various stages of His ministry, are recounted, and the transitoriness of worldly pomp, fame, riches, and sovereignty, repeatedly and categorically asserted.  Appeals for the application of the highest principles in human and international relations are forcibly and insistently made, and the abandonment of discreditable practices and conventions,