)

"As regards the meaning of the Baha'i Covenant: The Guardian considers the
existence of two forms of Covenant both of which are explicitly mentioned
in the literature of the Cause. First is the Covenant that every Prophet
makes with humanity or, more definitely, with His people that they will
accept and follow the coming Manifestation who will be the reappearance of
His reality. The second form of Covenant is such as the one Baha'u'llah
made with His people that they should accept the Master. This is merely to
establish and strengthen the succession of the series of Lights that
appear after every Manifestation. Under the same category falls the
Covenant the Master made with the Baha'is that they should accept His
administration after Him."

"The Most Great Covenant is different from the Everlasting Covenant."

44: COVENANT BREAKERS (EXPULSION AND REINSTATEMENT OF)

"The Guardian, like the Master before him, has not considered it advisable
to as yet permit any person or Assembly to put another person out of the
Cause of God. There is a sharp distinction between depriving a believer of
his voting rights, which is a severe disciplinary measure and not a
spiritual sanction, and pronouncing a former believer to be a truly
spiritually diseased soul, a soul in the condition the Master referred to
when, in His last cable to America before His ascension, He said: 'He who
sitteth with a leper catcheth leprosy.' The Guardian has, within the last
few years, considered the National Assemblies strong enough to wield the
instrument of sanction in the sense of depriving a Baha'i of his voting
rights. But no one but himself can pronounce a person to be in that
diseased condition we call 'Covenant Breaking' and no one but he can
reinstate a Covenant Breaker. No National Assembly has been given this
right and cannot therefore review the question or reinstate anyone..."

45: COVENANT BREAKERS (SHUN)

"...Baha'u'llah and the Master in many places and very emphatically have
told us to shun entirely all Covenant breakers as they are afflicted with
what we might try and define as a contagious spiritual disease; they have
also told us, however, to pray for them. These souls are not lost forever.
In the Aqdas, Baha'u'llah says that God will forgive Mirza Yahya if he
repents. It follows, therefore, that God will forgive any soul if he
repents. Most of them don't want to repent, unfortunately. If the leaders
can be fo