n imposed arbitrarily upon the
Baha'is of the world since the Master's passing, but derives its authority
from the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha, is specifically prescribed in
unnumbered Tablets, and rests in some of its essential features upon the
explicit provisions of the Kitab-i-Aqdas. It thus unifies and correlates
the principles separately laid down by Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha, and
is indissolubly bound with the essential verities of the Faith. To
dissociate the administrative principles of the Cause from the purely
spiritual and humanitarian teachings would be tantamount to a mutilation
of the body of the Cause, a separation that can only result in the
disintegration of its component parts, and the extinction of the Faith
itself.

Local and National Houses of Justice

It should be carefully borne in mind that the local as well as the
international Houses of Justice have been expressly enjoined by the
Kitab-i-Aqdas; that the institution of the National Spiritual Assembly, as
an intermediary body, and referred to in the Master's Will as the
"Secondary House of Justice," has the express sanction of 'Abdu'l-Baha;
and that the method to be pursued for the election of the International
and National Houses of Justice has been set forth by Him in His Will, as
well as in a number of His Tablets. Moreover, the institutions of the
local and national Funds, that are now the necessary adjuncts to all local
and national spiritual assemblies, have not only been established by
'Abdu'l-Baha in the Tablets He revealed to the Baha'is of the Orient, but
their importance and necessity have been repeatedly emphasized by Him in
His utterances and writings. The concentration of authority in the hands
of the elected representatives of the believers; the necessity of the
submission of every adherent of the Faith to the considered judgment of
Baha'i Assemblies; His preference for unanimity in decision; the decisive
character of the majority vote; and even the desirability for the exercise
of close supervision over all Baha'i publications, have been sedulously
instilled by 'Abdu'l-Baha, as evidenced by His authenticated and
widely-scattered Tablets. To accept His broad and humanitarian Teachings
on one hand, and to reject and dismiss with neglectful indifference His
more challenging and distinguishing precepts, would be an act of manifest
disloyalty to that which He has cherished most in His life.

That the Spiritual Asse