e cannot override the decision of the majority of
his fellow-members, but is bound to insist upon a reconsideration by them
of any enactment he conscientiously believes to conflict with the meaning
and to depart from the spirit of Baha'u'llah's revealed utterances. He
interprets what has been specifically revealed, and cannot legislate
except in his capacity as member of the Universal House of Justice. He is
debarred from laying down independently the constitution that must govern
the organized activities of his fellow-members, and from exercising his
influence in a manner that would encroach upon the liberty of those whose
sacred right is to elect the body of his collaborators.

It should be borne in mind that the institution of the Guardianship has
been anticipated by 'Abdu'l-Baha in an allusion He made in a Tablet
addressed, long before His own ascension, to three of His friends in
Persia. To their question as to whether there would be any person to whom
all the Baha'is would be called upon to turn after His ascension He made
the following reply: "As to the question ye have asked me, know verily
that this is a well-guarded secret. It is even as a gem concealed within
its shell. That it will be revealed is predestined. The time will come
when its light will appear, when its evidences will be made manifest, and
its secrets unraveled."

Dearly-beloved friends! Exalted as is the position and vital as is the
function of the institution of the Guardianship in the Administrative
Order of Baha'u'llah, and staggering as must be the weight of
responsibility which it carries, its importance must, whatever be the
language of the Will, be in no wise over-emphasized. The Guardian of the
Faith must not under any circumstances, and whatever his merits or his
achievements, be exalted to the rank that will make him a co-sharer with
'Abdu'l-Baha in the unique position which the Center of the Covenant
occupies--much less to the station exclusively ordained for the
Manifestation of God. So grave a departure from the established tenets of
our Faith is nothing short of open blasphemy. As I have already stated, in
the course of my references to 'Abdu'l-Baha's station, however great the
gulf that separates Him from the Author of a Divine Revelation it can
never measure with the distance that stands between Him Who is the Center
of Baha'u'llah's Covenant and the Guardians who are its chosen ministers.
There is a far, far greater distance sepa