Dear Brent,
In the early days of the House, that is, for the first few years, every
communication was signed by the House. The idea of the "Secretariat" came
later as the number of such communications increased.
Presently, as you note, letters actually signed by the House are pretty rare --
Ridvan letters and other special occasion letters (though even individuals have
received communications in the recent times that were signed by the House
itself).
There is no question that both kind of communications represent the will of the
House and are binding, and both are produced through the supervision of the
House. But there are differences. After all, one is over the signature of a
non-House member and the other is over the signature of UHJ. One requires only
5 members of the House to approve (by initialing), while the other often
requires the full membership of the House to approve and to initial. One is
drafted often by non-House members (subject to alterations by the House
members), while the other is often produced by the House members themselves and
goes through a more rigorous screening process. (e.g. the Peace Letter was
reworked by the House itself 13 times.)
Setting aside the issue of mechanics, ask yourself: If you were a body that
was burdened by infallibility, how would you ensure that it remained intact
over many generations?
The answer is simple: You absolutely minimize the occasions where *potential*
for errors could appear.
But how do you that when you have to produce several hundred letters a day (and
whole lot more in the years to come)? Simple: You create a secondary body
that will act as your mouthpiece, but is not burdened by the infallibility
issue.
It is a brilliant idea! And the only way to protect infallibility of the House
over long term.
I like to share a few more thoughts, but will do that later today when I have a
bit more time.
Regards,
Ahang.
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