Great as is the love and paternal care which our beloved Master is
extending to us from on High, and unique as is the Spirit that animates
today His servants in the world, yet a great deal will depend upon the
character and efforts of His loved ones on whom now rests the
responsibility of carrying on His work gloriously after Him. How great is
the need at this moment when the promised outpourings of His grace are
ready to be extended to every soul, for us all to form a broad vision of
the mission of the Cause to mankind, and to do all in our power to spread
it throughout the world! The eyes of the world, now that the sublime
Personality of the Master has been removed from this visible plane, are
turned with eager anticipation to us who are named after His name, and on
whom rests primarily the responsibility to keep burning the torch that He
has lit in this world. How keenly I feel at this challenging hour in the
history of the Cause the need for a firm and definite determination to
subordinate all our personal likings, our local interests, to the
interests and requirements of the Cause of God! Now is the time to set
aside, nay, to forget altogether, minor considerations regarding our
internal relationships, and to present a solid united front to the world
animated by no other desire but to serve and propagate His Cause.
It is my firm conviction which I now express with all sincerity and
candor, that the dignity and unity of the Cause urgently
demands--particularly throughout the American continent--that the friends
should in their words and conduct emphasize and give absolute prominence
to the constructive dynamic principles of Baha'u'llah, rather than attach
undue importance to His negative Teachings. With hearts cleansed from the
least trace of suspicion and filled with hope and faith in what the spirit
of love can achieve, we must one and all endeavor at this moment to forget
past impressions, and with absolute good-will and genuine cooperation
unite in deepening and diffusing the spirit of love and service that the
Cause has thus far so remarkably shown to the world. To this attitude of
good-will, of forbearance and genuine kindness to all, must be added,
however, constant but unprovocative vigilance, lest unrestricted
association with the peoples of the world should enable the very few who
have been definitely pronounced by the Master as injurious to the body of
the Cause, to make a breach in the Movement. Not until, however, an
unmistakable evidence should appear, manifestly revealing the evil motives
of a certain individual or group of individuals, is it advisable to make
the matter public; for an untimely declaration that shall give rise to
open differences among the friends is far more detrimental than forbearing
still further with those who are suspected of evil intentions. As the
Master so fully and consistently did throughout His lifetime, we must all
make a supreme effort to pour out a genuine spirit of kindness and hopeful
love to peoples of various creeds and classes, and must abstain from all
provocative language that may impede the effect of what true and continued
kindness can produce.
Does not 'Abdu'l-Baha wish us, as He looks down upon us with loving
expectation from His glorious Station, to obliterate as much as possible
all traces of censure, of conflicting discussions, of cooling remarks, of
petty unnecessary observations that impede the onward march of the Cause,
that damp the zeal of the firm believer and detract from the sublimity of
the Baha'i Cause in the eyes of the inquirer? In order, however, to insure
fair and quick and vigorous action whenever such an evil activity is
revealed and has been carefully ascertained, the best and only means would
appear to be, for the careful observer, once he is assured of such an evil
action, and has grown hopeless of the attitude of kindness and
forbearance, to report it quietly to the Spiritual Assembly representative
of the friends in that locality and submit the case to their earnest and
full consideration. Should the majority of the members of that Assembly be
conscientiously convinced of the case--and this being a national issue
affecting the body of the friends in America--it should, only through the
intermediary of that Assembly, be cautiously communicated to that greater
body representing all the Assemblies in America, which will in its turn
obtain all the available data from the local Assembly in question, study
carefully the situation and reserve for itself the ultimate decision. It
may, if it decides so, refer to the Holy Land for further consideration
and consultation.