the evolution of our
beloved Cause. I am indeed inclined to welcome these expressed
apprehensions inasmuch as they afford me an opportunity to familiarize the
elected representatives of the believers with the origin and the character
of the institutions which stand at the very basis of the World Order
ushered in by Baha'u'llah. We should feel truly thankful for such futile
attempts to undermine our beloved Faith--attempts that protrude their ugly
face from time to time, seem for a while able to create a breach in the
ranks of the faithful, recede finally into the obscurity of oblivion, and
are thought of no more. Such incidents we should regard as the
interpositions of Providence, designed to fortify our faith, to clarify
our vision, and to deepen our understanding of the essentials of His
Divine Revelation.

Sources of the Baha'i World Order

It would, however, be helpful and instructive to bear in mind certain
basic principles with reference to the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Baha,
which, together with the Kitab-i-Aqdas, constitutes the chief depository
wherein are enshrined those priceless elements of that Divine
Civilization, the establishment of which is the primary mission of the
Baha'i Faith. A study of the provisions of these sacred documents will
reveal the close relationship that exists between them, as well as the
identity of purpose and method which they inculcate. Far from regarding
their specific provisions as incompatible and contradictory in spirit,
every fair-minded inquirer will readily admit that they are not only
complementary, but that they mutually confirm one another, and are
inseparable parts of one complete unit. A comparison of their contents
with the rest of Baha'i sacred Writings will similarly establish the
conformity of whatever they contain with the spirit as well as the letter
of the authenticated writings and sayings of Baha'u'llah and 'Abdu'l-Baha.
In fact, he who reads the Aqdas with care and diligence will not find it
hard to discover that the Most Holy Book itself anticipates in a number of
passages the institutions which 'Abdu'l-Baha ordains in His Will. By
leaving certain matters unspecified and unregulated in His Book of Laws,
Baha'u'llah seems to have deliberately left a gap in the general scheme of
Baha'i Dispensation, which the unequivocal provisions of the Master's Will
have filled. To attempt to divorce the one from the other, to insinuate
that the Teachings of Ba