r behalf.

November 25, 1937

ARCHBREAKER OF COVENANT

The Hand of Omnipotence has removed the archbreaker of Baha'u'llah's
Covenant, his hopes shattered, his plottings frustrated, the society of
his fellow-conspirators extinguished. God's triumphant Faith forges on,
its unity unimpaired, its purpose unsullied, its stability unshaken. Such
a death calls for neither exultation nor recrimination, but evokes
overwhelming pity at so tragic a downfall unparalleled in religious
history.

Cablegram December 20, 1937

CERTAIN VITAL REQUIREMENTS OF SEVEN YEAR PLAN

The Seven Year Plan, with which the immediate fortunes of the American
Baha'i community are so closely interwoven, demands, at this critical
stage in its development, serious and prayerful consideration of certain
vital requirements, without which such a stupendous task can never be
brought to a successful completion. The evolution of the Plan imposes a
three-fold obligation, which all individual believers, all local
Assemblies, as well as the National Assembly itself, must respectively
recognize and conscientiously fulfil. Each and every believer, undaunted
by the uncertainties, the perils and the financial stringency afflicting
the nation, must arise and insure, to the full measure of his or her
capacity, that continuous and abundant flow of funds into the national
Treasury, on which the successful prosecution of the Plan must chiefly
depend. Upon the local Assemblies, whose special function and high
privilege is to facilitate the admission of new believers into the
community, and thereby stimulate the infusion of fresh blood into its
organic institutions, a duty no less binding in character devolves. To
them I wish particularly to appeal, at this present hour, when the call of
God is being raised throughout the length and breadth of both continents
in the New World, to desist from insisting too rigidly on the minor
observances and beliefs, which might prove a stumbling block in the way of
any sincere applicant, whose eager desire is to enlist under the banner of
Baha'u'llah. While conscientiously adhering to the fundamental
qualifications already laid down, the members of each and every Assembly
should endeavor, by their patience, their love, their tact and wisdom to
nurse, subsequent to his admission, the new-comer into Baha'i maturity,
and win him over gradually to the unreserved acceptance of whatever has
been ordained in the teachings