And now, it behooves us to reflect on the animating purpose and the
primary functions of these divinely-established institutions, the sacred
character and the universal efficacy of which can be demonstrated only by
the spirit they diffuse and the work they actually achieve. I need not
dwell upon what I have already reiterated and emphasized that the
administration of the Cause is to be conceived as an instrument and not a
substitute for the Faith of Baha'u'llah, that it should be regarded as a
channel through which His promised blessings may flow, that it should
guard against such rigidity as would clog and fetter the liberating forces
released by His Revelation. I need not enlarge at the present moment upon
what I have stated in the past, that contributions to the local and
national Funds are of a purely voluntary character; that no coercion or
solicitation of funds is to be tolerated in the Cause; that general
appeals addressed to the communities as a body should be the only form in
which the financial requirements of the Faith are to be met; that the
financial support accorded to a very few workers in the teaching and
administrative fields is of a temporary nature; that the present
restrictions imposed on the publication of Baha'i literature will be
definitely abolished; that the World Unity activity is being carried out
as an experiment to test the efficacy of the indirect method of teaching;
that the whole machinery of assemblies, of committees and conventions is
to be regarded as a means, and not an end in itself; that they will rise
or fall according to their capacity to further the interests, to
coeordinate the activities, to apply the principles, to embody the ideals
and execute the purpose of the Baha'i Faith. Who, I may ask, when viewing
the international character of the Cause, its far-flung ramifications, the
increasing complexity of its affairs, the diversity of its adherents, and
the state of confusion that assails on every side the infant Faith of God,
can for a moment question the necessity of some sort of administrative
machinery that will insure, amid the storm and stress of a struggling
civilization, the unity of the Faith, the preservation of its identity,
and the protection of its interests? To repudiate the validity of the
assemblies of the elected ministers of the Faith of Baha'u'llah would be
to reject those countless Tablets of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha wherein
They have extolled the station of the "trustees of the Merciful,"
enumerated their privileges and duties, emphasized the glory of their
mission, revealed the immensity of their task, and warned them of the
attacks they must needs expect from the unwisdom of their friends as well
as from the malice of their enemies. It is surely for those to whose hands
so priceless a heritage has been committed to prayerfully watch lest the
tool should supersede the Faith itself, lest undue concern for the minute
details arising from the administration of the Cause obscure the vision of
its promoters, lest partiality, ambition, and worldliness tend in the
course of time to becloud the radiance, stain the purity, and impair the
effectiveness of the Faith of Baha'u'llah.