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                  |  | The World Order of Bahá'u'lláh | Pages 5-7 |  |  | Local and National Houses of Justice
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	| 1 | It should be carefully borne in mind that the local as well as the 
international Houses of Justice have been expressly enjoined by 
the Kitáb-i-Aqdas; that the institution of the National Spiritual 
Assembly, as an intermediary body, and referred to in the Master's 
Will as the "Secondary House of Justice," has the express sanction 
 
 
of `Abdu'l-Bahá; and that the method to be pursued for the election 
of the International and National Houses of Justice has been set 
forth by Him in His Will, as well as in a number of His Tablets.  
Moreover, the institutions of the local and national Funds, that 
are now the necessary adjuncts to all local and national spiritual 
assemblies, have not only been established by `Abdu'l-Bahá in the 
Tablets He revealed to the Bahá'ís of the Orient, but their importance 
and necessity have been repeatedly emphasized by Him in His 
utterances and writings.  The concentration of authority in the hands 
of the elected representatives of the believers; the necessity of the 
submission of every adherent of the Faith to the considered judgment 
of Bahá'í Assemblies; His preference for unanimity in decision; 
the decisive character of the majority vote; and even the 
desirability for the exercise of close supervision over all Bahá'í 
publications, have been sedulously instilled by `Abdu'l-Bahá, as evidenced 
by His authenticated and widely-scattered Tablets.  To accept 
His broad and humanitarian Teachings on one hand, and to reject 
and dismiss with neglectful indifference His more challenging and 
distinguishing precepts, would be an act of manifest disloyalty to 
that which He has cherished most in His life. |  |  
	| 2 | That the Spiritual Assemblies of today will be replaced in time 
by the Houses of Justice, and are to all intents and purposes identical 
and not separate bodies, is abundantly confirmed by `Abdu'l-Bahá 
Himself.  He has in fact in a Tablet addressed to the members of the 
first Chicago Spiritual Assembly, the first elected Bahá'í body instituted 
in the United States, referred to them as the members of the 
"House of Justice" for that city, and has thus with His own pen 
established beyond any doubt the identity of the present Bahá'í 
Spiritual Assemblies with the Houses of Justice referred to by 
Bahá'u'lláh.  For reasons which are not difficult to discover, it has 
been found advisable to bestow upon the elected representatives of 
Bahá'í communities throughout the world the temporary appellation 
of Spiritual Assemblies, a term which, as the position and aims of 
the Bahá'í Faith are better understood and more fully recognized, 
will gradually be superseded by the permanent and more appropriate 
designation of House of Justice.  Not only will the present-day Spiritual 
Assemblies be styled differently in future, but they will be enabled 
 
 
also to add to their present functions those powers, duties, 
and prerogatives necessitated by the recognition of the Faith of 
Bahá'u'lláh, not merely as one of the recognized religious systems 
of the world, but as the State Religion of an independent and Sovereign 
Power.  And as the Bahá'í Faith permeates the masses of 
the peoples of East and West, and its truth is embraced by the 
majority of the peoples of a number of the Sovereign States of the 
world, will the Universal House of Justice attain the plenitude of 
its power, and exercise, as the supreme organ of the Bahá'í Commonwealth, 
all the rights, the duties, and responsibilities incumbent 
upon the world's future super-state. |  |  
	| 3 | It must be pointed out, however, in this connection that, contrary 
to what has been confidently asserted, the establishment of 
the Supreme House of Justice is in no way dependent upon the 
adoption of the Bahá'í Faith by the mass of the peoples of the world, 
nor does it presuppose its acceptance by the majority of the inhabitants 
of any one country.  In fact, `Abdu'l-Bahá, Himself, in one of 
His earliest Tablets, contemplated the possibility of the formation 
of the Universal House of Justice in His own lifetime, and but for 
the unfavorable circumstances prevailing under the Turkish régime, 
would have, in all probability, taken the preliminary steps for its 
establishment.  It will be evident, therefore, that given favorable 
circumstances, under which the Bahá'ís of Persia and of the adjoining 
countries under Soviet rule, may be enabled to elect their 
national representatives, in accordance with the guiding principles 
laid down in `Abdu'l-Bahá's writings, the only remaining obstacle 
in the way of the definite formation of the International House of 
Justice will have been removed.  For upon the National Houses of 
Justice of the East and the West devolves the task, in conformity 
with the explicit provisions of the Will, of electing directly the 
members of the International House of Justice.  Not until they are 
themselves fully representative of the rank and file of the believers 
in their respective countries, not until they have acquired the weight 
and the experience that will enable them to function vigorously in 
the organic life of the Cause, can they approach their sacred task, 
and provide the spiritual basis for the constitution of so august a 
body in the Bahá'í world. |  |  | 
 
 
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