rating the Guardian from the
Center of the Covenant than there is between the Center of the Covenant
and its Author.

No Guardian of the Faith, I feel it my solemn duty to place on record, can
ever claim to be the perfect exemplar of the teachings of Baha'u'llah or
the stainless mirror that reflects His light. Though overshadowed by the
unfailing, the unerring protection of Baha'u'llah and of the Bab, and
however much he may share with 'Abdu'l-Baha the right and obligation to
interpret the Baha'i teachings, he remains essentially human and cannot,
if he wishes to remain faithful to his trust, arrogate to himself, under
any pretense whatsoever, the rights, the privileges and prerogatives which
Baha'u'llah has chosen to confer upon His Son. In the light of this truth
to pray to the Guardian of the Faith, to address him as lord and master,
to designate him as his holiness, to seek his benediction, to celebrate
his birthday, or to commemorate any event associated with his life would
be tantamount to a departure from those established truths that are
enshrined within our beloved Faith. The fact that the Guardian has been
specifically endowed with such power as he may need to reveal the purport
and disclose the implications of the utterances of Baha'u'llah and of
'Abdu'l-Baha does not necessarily confer upon him a station co-equal with
those Whose words he is called upon to interpret. He can exercise that
right and discharge this obligation and yet remain infinitely inferior to
both of them in rank and different in nature.

To the integrity of this cardinal principle of our Faith the words, the
deeds of its present and future Guardians must abundantly testify. By
their conduct and example they must needs establish its truth upon an
unassailable foundation and transmit to future generations unimpeachable
evidences of its reality.

For my own part to hesitate in recognizing so vital a truth or to
vacillate in proclaiming so firm a conviction must constitute a shameless
betrayal of the confidence reposed in me by 'Abdu'l-Baha and an
unpardonable usurpation of the authority with which He Himself has been
invested.

A word should now be said regarding the theory on which this
Administrative Order is based and the principle that must govern the
operation of its chief institutions. It would be utterly misleading to
attempt a comparison between this unique, this divinely-conceived Order
and any of the diverse systems which the mi