necessary to supplement the laws of
the Kitab-i-Aqdas, the members of the Universal House of Justice, it
should be borne in mind, are not, as Baha'u'llah's utterances clearly
imply, responsible to those whom they represent, nor are they allowed to
be governed by the feelings, the general opinion, and even the convictions
of the mass of the faithful, or of those who directly elect them. They are
to follow, in a prayerful attitude, the dictates and promptings of their
conscience. They may, indeed they must, acquaint themselves with the
conditions prevailing among the community, must weigh dispassionately in
their minds the merits of any case presented for their consideration, but
must reserve for themselves the right of an unfettered decision. "God will
verily inspire them with whatsoever He willeth," is Baha'u'llah's
incontrovertible assurance. They, and not the body of those who either
directly or indirectly elect them, have thus been made the recipients of
the divine guidance which is at once the life-blood and ultimate safeguard
of this Revelation. Moreover, he who symbolizes the hereditary principle
in this Dispensation has been made the interpreter of the words of its
Author, and ceases consequently, by virtue of the actual authority vested
in him, to be the figurehead invariably associated with the prevailing
systems of constitutional monarchies.

Nor can the Baha'i Administrative Order be dismissed as a hard and rigid
system of unmitigated autocracy or as an idle imitation of any form of
absolutistic ecclesiastical government, whether it be the Papacy, the
Imamate or any other similar institution, for the obvious reason that upon
the international elected representatives of the followers of Baha'u'llah
has been conferred the exclusive right of legislating on matters not
expressly revealed in the Baha'i writings. Neither the Guardian of the
Faith nor any institution apart from the International House of Justice
can ever usurp this vital and essential power or encroach upon that sacred
right. The abolition of professional priesthood with its accompanying
sacraments of baptism, of communion and of confession of sins, the laws
requiring the election by universal suffrage of all local, national, and
international Houses of Justice, the total absence of episcopal authority
with its attendant privileges, corruptions and bureaucratic tendencies,
are further evidences of the non-autocratic character of the Baha'i
Administra