Bahá'u'lláh and the New EraEsslemont, J. E. (John Ebenezer)
Religion
Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era
Esslemont, J. E. (John Ebenezer)
Bahai Faith; Bahá'u'lláh, 1817-1892
This National Spiritual Assembly, which, pending the establishment
of the Universal House of Justice, will have to be re-elected once
a year, obviously assumes grave responsibilities, for it has to
exercise full authority over all the local Assemblies in its
province, and will have to direct the activities of the friends,
guard vigilantly the Cause of God, and control and supervise the
affairs of the Movement in general.
Vital issues, affecting the interests of the Cause in that country
such as the matter of translation and publication, the
Ma_sh_riqu’l-A_dh_kár, the Teaching Work, and other similar
matters that stand distinct from strictly local affairs, must be
under the full jurisdiction of the National Assembly.
It will have to refer each of these questions, even as the local
Assemblies, to a special Committee, to be elected by the members
of the National Spiritual Assembly, from among all the friends in
that country, which will bear to it the same relation as the local
committees bear to their respective local Assemblies.
With it, too, rests the decision whether a certain point at issue
is strictly local in its nature, and should be reserved for the
consideration and decision of the local Assembly, or whether it
should fall under its own province and be regarded as a matter
which ought to receive its special attention....
... it is bounden duty, in the interest of the Cause we all love
and serve, of the members of the incoming National Assembly, once
elected by the delegates at Convention time, to seek and have the
utmost regard, individually as well as collectively, for the
advice, the considered opinion and the true sentiments of the
assembled delegates. Banishing every vestige of secrecy, of undue
reticence, of dictatorial aloofness, from their midst, they should
radiantly and abundantly unfold to the eyes of the delegates, by
whom they are elected, their plans, their hopes, and their cares.
They should familiarize the delegates with the various matters
that will have to be considered in the current year, and calmly
and conscientiously study and weigh the opinions and judgments of
the delegates. The newly elected National Assembly, during the few
days when the Convention is in session and after the dispersal of
the delegates, should seek ways and means to cultivate
understanding, facilitate and maintain the exchange of views,
deepen confidence, and vindicate by every tangible evidence their
one desire to serve and advance the common weal....
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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