grudge against any one; towards none doth he entertain any ill-feeling and
uttereth no word save for the good of the world. My supreme obligation,
however, of necessity, prompteth me to guard and preserve the Cause of
God. Thus, with the greatest regret, I counsel you saying:--"Guard ye the
Cause of God, protect His law and have the utmost fear of discord. This is
the foundation of the belief of the people of Baha (may my life be offered
up for them). 'His Holiness, the Exalted One, (the Bab) is the
Manifestation of the Unity and Oneness of God and the Forerunner of the
Ancient Beauty. His Holiness the Abha Beauty, (may my life be a sacrifice
for His steadfast friends) is the Supreme Manifestation of God and the
Dayspring of His Most Divine Essence. All others are servants unto Him and
do His bidding.'" Unto the Most Holy Book every one must turn and all that
is not expressly recorded therein must be referred to the Universal House
of Justice. That which this body, whether unanimously or by a majority
doth carry, that is verily the Truth and the Purpose of God himself. Whoso
doth deviate therefrom is verily of them that love discord, hath shown
forth malice and turned away from the Lord of the Covenant. By this House
is meant that Universal House of Justice which is to be elected from all
countries, that is, from those parts in the East and West where the loved
ones are to be found, after the manner of the customary elections in
Western countries such as those of England.

It is incumbent upon these members (of the Universal House of Justice) to
gather in a certain place and deliberate upon all problems which have
caused difference, questions that are obscure and matters that are not
expressly recorded in the Book. Whatsoever they decide has the same effect
as the Text itself. And inasmuch as this House of Justice hath power to
enact laws that are not expressly recorded in the Book and bear upon daily
transactions, so also it hath power to repeal the same. Thus for example,
the House of Justice enacteth today a certain law and enforceth it, and a
hundred years hence, circumstances having profoundly changed and the
conditions having altered, another House of Justice will then have power,
according to the exigencies of the time, to alter that law. This it can do
because that law formeth no part of the Divine Explicit Text. The House of
Justice is both the Initiator and the Abrogator of its own laws.

And now, one of the