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The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh
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Pages 9-10
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The Animating Purpose of Bahá'í Institutions
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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 Bahá'u'lláh,
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 Bahá'í 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 cöordinate the activities, to apply the principles,
to embody the ideals and execute the purpose of the Bahá'í 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 Bahá'u'lláh would be
to reject those countless Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá
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 Bahá'u'lláh.
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