I have on two recent occasions given expression to the profound sense of inspiring confidence and joyous gratitude which recent happenings in the Cause—evident manifestations of the steady evolution of a living Faith—must needs evoke in the heart of every thoughtful and observing believer. And as I contemplate the far-reaching possibilities involved in a careful handling of those forces which Bahá’u’lláh’s almighty arm has now released, I cannot help reflecting upon the dominant share which the American friends, at home as well as in distant lands, have contributed to this rejuvenation of the Cause of God, and the decisive part it is theirs to play in its eventual victory.

Your letters, dated June 17, July 11, July 20, August 3 and 16, and October 2, 1926, all of which have been forwarded during my days of retirement and rest, have proved an added source of thankfulness, of joy and strength to me. They have clearly revealed by their spirit, as well as by the nature and variety of their contents, the sustained devotion, the unabated confidence, and the increasing vigor and efficiency with which you are initiating, coordinating, and consolidating the manifold activities of the Cause in North America.

The range and character of the problems confronting you, as revealed by the careful perusal of the minutes of your meetings, the steady increase in the number and effectiveness of vigorously functioning Centers in Central and Northern Europe, and the growing significance and complexity of the work that has to be necessarily conducted from the Holy Land, have all served to strengthen the feeling of absolute necessity for the formation in Haifa of some sort of an International Bahá’í Secretariat, which both in an advisory and executive capacity will have to aid and assist me in my vast and exacting labors. I have anxiously considered this important matter in all its bearings during the past few months, and have accordingly requested three well-informed, capable representatives from America, Europe and the East to visit the Holy Land this fall, that we