n your
hands; the resourcefulness you display by the measures you have initiated
for the furtherance of the Cause; the magnificent response with which you
have met the piteous call of your suffering brethren of the East--all
proclaim your worthiness of the unexampled efforts which, in your country
more than in any other land, 'Abdu'l-Baha has exerted for the spread of
the Revelation of Baha'u'llah.

Twofold Teaching Method

In connection with the World Unity Conferences, which you have organized,
I desire to assure you of my heartfelt appreciation of such a splendid
conception. I am profoundly impressed by the generous assistance
spontaneously offered by those who, faithful to their other obligations,
have risen to insure the financial success of such a noble Plan. I am
grateful to those local Assemblies and individuals who have given it their
whole-hearted support in their respective fields.

As to the policy that should be adopted with regard to these Conferences
and other Baha'i activities in general, it appears increasingly evident
that as the Movement grows in strength and power the National Spiritual
Assemblies should be encouraged, if circumstances permit and the means at
their disposal justify, to resort to the twofold method of directly and
indirectly winning the enlightened public to the unqualified acceptance of
the Baha'i Faith. The one method would assume an open, decisive and
challenging tone. The other, without implying in any manner the slightest
departure from strict loyalty to the Cause of God, would be progressive
and cautious. Experience will reveal the fact that each of the methods in
its own special way might suit a particular temperament and class of
people, and that each in the present state of a constantly fluctuating
society, should be judiciously attempted and utilized.

It is, I feel, for the National representatives of the believers in every
land to utilize and combine both methods, the outspoken as well as the
gradual, in such a manner as to secure the greatest benefits and the
fullest advantage for this steadily-growing Cause. Every staunch and
high-minded believer is thoroughly convinced of the unfailing efficacy of
every humanitarian undertaking which boldly and unreservedly proclaims the
source of its motive power to be the consciousness of the Revelation of
Baha'u'llah. Yet, if we but call to mind the practice generally adopted by
'Abdu'l-Baha, we cannot fail to perceive the