18 ATTACKS FROM CHURCH MISSIONARIES
"The Guardian has read very carefully the letters your Assembly has received from the Spiritual Assemblies of Urbana and Chicago, reporting the criticisms that have been advanced by Rev. John Elder, a missionary from Iran. While he is certain that such attacks from church missionaries are destined to increase in number and force in the future, he feels that for the present they do not constitute a challenge so grave and widespread as to justify any strong action by your Assembly. Later on, when the very progress of the Cause on the one hand, and the corresponding decline in ecclesiastical organizations on the other, will inevitably incite Christian ecclesiastical leaders to vehemently oppose and undermine the Faith, the believers will then have a real chance to defend and vindicate the Cause. Under present conditions it would be inadvisable for the American community to give such issues too much prominence." (7:1)

19 BAB, DECLARATION OF
"In regard to the question submitted to your Assembly by the Baha'i group at Maui, Hawaii, concerning the passage on page 88 of the book `Baha'i Administration,' (7:2)

"...The Guardian wishes me to inform you that the festivals of the Declaration of the Bab and the birthday of Abdu'l- Baha referred to in that passage as having been celebrated on the twenty- second of November, 1925, by the Baha'is of the Orient, are based on the lunar calendar. For this reason the date of the celebration is not fixed, but shifts every year. Eventually as the Master has explicitly stated, a uniform system will have to be established by the International House of Justice." (7:3)

20 BAB'S PHOTOGRAPH
"May I also draw your attention to the fact that the Bab's photograph which appeared in Nicolas' book, Siyyid Ali Muhammad dit le Bab, many years ago, is not authentic, although it presents great similarity to the original drawings of the Bab's portrait." (7:4)

21 BAHA'I DISPENSATION (Duration of)
"Concerning your question relative to the duration of the Baha'i Dispensation. There is no contradiction between Baha'u'llah's statement in the Iqan about the renewal of the City of God once every thousand years, and that of the Guardian in the Dispensation to the effect that the Baha'i cycle will extend over a period of at least 500,000 years. The apparent contradiction is due to the confusion of the terms cycle and dispensation. For while the Dispensation of Baha'u'llah will last for at least one thousand years, His Cycle will extend still farther, to at least 500,000 years. (7:5)

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