tive Order and of its inclination to democratic methods in the
administration of its affairs.

Nor is this Order identified with the name of Baha'u'llah to be confused
with any system of purely aristocratic government in view of the fact that
it upholds, on the one hand, the hereditary principle and entrusts the
Guardian of the Faith with the obligation of interpreting its teachings,
and provides, on the other, for the free and direct election from among
the mass of the faithful of the body that constitutes its highest
legislative organ.

Whereas this Administrative Order cannot be said to have been modeled
after any of these recognized systems of government, it nevertheless
embodies, reconciles and assimilates within its framework such wholesome
elements as are to be found in each one of them. The hereditary authority
which the Guardian is called upon to exercise, the vital and essential
functions which the Universal House of Justice discharges, the specific
provisions requiring its democratic election by the representatives of the
faithful--these combine to demonstrate the truth that this divinely
revealed Order, which can never be identified with any of the standard
types of government referred to by Aristotle in his works, embodies and
blends with the spiritual verities on which it is based the beneficent
elements which are to be found in each one of them. The admitted evils
inherent in each of these systems being rigidly and permanently excluded,
this unique Order, however long it may endure and however extensive its
ramifications, cannot ever degenerate into any form of despotism, of
oligarchy, or of demagogy which must sooner or later corrupt the machinery
of all man-made and essentially defective political institutions.

Dearly-beloved friends! Significant as are the origins of this mighty
administrative structure, and however unique its features, the happenings
that may be said to have heralded its birth and signalized the initial
stage of its evolution seem no less remarkable. How striking, how edifying
the contrast between the process of slow and steady consolidation that
characterizes the growth of its infant strength and the devastating onrush
of the forces of disintegration that are assailing the outworn
institutions, both religious and secular, of present-day society!

The vitality which the organic institutions of this great, this
ever-expanding Order so strongly exhibit; the obstacles which the high