To the members of the National Spiritual Assembly, the elected
representatives of all believers throughout the continent of America.
Esteemed co-workers in the Vineyard of God:
To have been unable, owing to unforeseen and unavoidable circumstances, to
correspond with you ever since you entered upon your manifold and arduous
duties is to me a cause of deep regret and sad surprise! I am however
assured and sustained by the conviction, never dimmed in my mind, that
whatsoever comes to pass in the Cause of God, however disquieting in its
immediate effects, is fraught with infinite Wisdom and tends ultimately to
promote its interests in the world. Indeed, our experiences of the distant
past, as well as of recent events, are too numerous and varied to permit
of any misgiving or doubt as to the truth of this basic principle--a
principle which throughout the vicissitudes of our sacred mission in this
world we must never disregard or forget.
I cannot refrain from expressing in this, my first letter to you my deep
gratitude and great pleasure in learning how promptly, thoroughly and
admirably you have conducted the affairs of the Cause in that land. Of the
sincerity of your efforts, of the determination with which you have faced
your delicate and difficult task, I have never doubted for a moment, as I
knew too well of the ardent spirit of service and fellowship which the
sudden passing of our Beloved had infused in all his followers everywhere.
But great was my surprise to know how the ever-present Hand of the Master
has removed so speedily all the difficulties in our way and how the light
of His Divine Guidance caused the darkness of doubts, of fears and
mistrust to vanish.
The efficient manner in which you have carried out my humble suggestions
has been a source of great encouragement to me and has revived confidence
in my heart. I have read and re-read the reports of your activities, have
studied minutely all the steps you have taken to consolidate the
foundations of the Movement in America, and have learned with a keen sense
of satisfaction the plans you contemplate for the further rise and spread
of the Cause in your great country. I very highly approve of the
arrangements you have made for centralizing the work in your hands and of
distributing it to the various committees, who each in its own sphere,
have so efficiently and thoroughly undertaken the management of their own
affairs.
What has given me still greater pleasure is to learn that the members of
this Central Body which has assumed so grave a responsibility and is
facing such delicate and difficult tasks, command individually and
collectively not only the sympathy of their spiritual brethren and sisters
but who also can confidently rely on their active and whole-hearted
support in the campaign of service to the Cause of Baha'u'llah. It is
indeed as it should be, for if genuine and sustained cooperation and
mutual confidence cease to exist between individual friends and their
local and national assemblies, the all-beneficent work of the Cause must
cease and nothing else can enable it to function harmoniously and
effectively in future.
True, the Cause as every other movement has its own obstacles,
complications and unforeseen difficulties, but unlike any other human
organization it inspires a spirit of Faith and Devotion which can never
fail to induce us to make sincere and renewed efforts to face these
difficulties and smooth any differences that may and must arise.
I look forward with fervent hope to hear of these renewed efforts on your
part and of the strong determination which you will never suffer to
slacken, to maintain at any cost the unity, the effectiveness and the
dignity of the Cause.
May I through you express my heartfelt gratitude to the members of the
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar Building Committee, Mr. Alfred E. Lunt, Mrs. Corinne
True, Dr. Zia Bagdadi, Mr. Charles Mason Remey, Mr. Louis Bourgeois, Mr.
Leo Perron for their incessant labors in speeding the work of this noble
Edifice which when raised and completed will prove to be the most powerful
factor in the promulgation of the Cause in America.
Will you also extend to the members of the Publishing and Reviewing
Committees, Mr. William H. Randall, Mr. Mountfort Mills, Mr. Roy C.
Wilhelm, Mr. Albert R. Vail, Miss Edna True, Mrs. Marjory Morten and Mr.
Alfred E. Lunt, my high appreciation for the very efficient management of
their departments and their devotion to a work which if consistently
maintained cannot fail to impress and attract a vast number of the
enlightened public. Regarding the Star of the West, I wish to congratulate
in particular the members of the Publishing Committee on the quality of
their work. I have perused with particular interest the last numbers of
the Magazine and am glad to note an encouraging improvement in its
management, its style, its general presentation and the nature and number
of its articles.
To the members of the Teaching Committee, Mr. William Randall, Mrs. Agnes
S. Parsons, Mr. Albert Vail, Mr. Louis G. Gregory and Mrs. Mariam Haney I
offer my very best wishes and assure them of my constant prayers on their
behalf, that their services to such a vital department in the affairs of
the Cause, so primary and immediate in its importance, may be crowned with
brilliant success.
For the members of the Children's Educational Work Committee, Mrs. Grace
Ober, Mrs. Louise Boyle, Mrs. Victoria Bedikian, Mrs. Hebe Struven, Mrs.
Grace Foster, Mr. Stanwood Cobb and Mr. Allen McDaniel, I supplicate
Divine Assistance, that He may graciously aid them in a work which was so
near and dear to the Master's heart and enable them to assist in the rise
of future devoted and efficient servants to the Cause of God.
On behalf of all the members of these Committees, I shall pray at the
Three Hallowed Shrines, that they may become purified channels of His
Grace and instruments of His Divine Plan for this world. For my part, I
shall not fail to offer my humble share of help and assistance to every
one of them in their respective work and would welcome from each a special
report on their present activities and of their plans for the future.
Awaiting from you all the joyous news of the deepening as well as the
spreading of the Cause for which our beloved Master has given His time,
His life, His all, and remembering your labors of love and service every
time I lay my head upon the Sacred Thresholds,
I am, as ever, your brother in His Service,
SHOGHI.
Haifa, Palestine,
December 23rd, 1922.
P.S. I would be pleased and gratified if you could inform all the various
local spiritual assemblies of my wish and desire to receive as soon as
possible from every local assembly a detailed and official report on their
spiritual activities, the character and organization of their respective
assemblies, accounts of their public and private gatherings, of the actual
position of the Cause in their province, and of their plans and
arrangements for the future. Pray convey to all of them my best wishes and
the assurance of my hearty assistance in their noble work of service to
mankind.