ly considered and approved by the Spiritual Assembly in
his locality; and if this (as is undoubtedly the case) is a matter that
pertains to the general interest of the Cause in that land, then it is
incumbent upon the Spiritual Assembly to submit it to the consideration
and approval of the national body representing all the various local
assemblies. Not only with regard to publication, but all matters without
any exception whatsoever, regarding the interests of the Cause in that
locality, individually or collectively, should be referred exclusively to
the Spiritual Assembly in that locality, which shall decide upon it,
unless it be a matter of national interest, in which case it shall be
referred to the national body. With this national body also will rest the
decision whether a given question is of local or national interest. (By
national affairs is not meant matters that are political in their
character, for the friends of God the world over are strictly forbidden to
meddle with political affairs in any way whatever, but rather things that
affect the spiritual activities of the body of the friends in that land).

Full harmony, however, as well as co-operation among the various local
assemblies and the members themselves, and particularly between each
assembly and the national body, is of the utmost importance, for upon it
depends the unity of the Cause of God, the solidarity of the friends, the
full, speedy and efficient working of the spiritual activities of His
loved ones.

Large issues in such spiritual activities that affect the Cause in general
in that land, such as the management of the "Star of the West" and any
periodical which the National Body may decide to be a Baha'i organ, the
matter of publication, or reprinting Baha'i literature and its
distribution among the various assemblies, the means whereby the teaching
campaign may be stimulated and maintained, the work of the
Ma_sh_riqu'l-A_dh_kar, the racial question in relation to the Cause, the
matter of receiving Orientals and associating with them, the care and
maintenance of the precious film exhibiting a phase of the Master's
sojourn in the United States of America as well as the original matrix and
the records of His voice, and various other national spiritual activities,
far from being under the exclusive jurisdiction of any local assembly or
group of friends, must each be minutely and fully directed by a special
board, elected by the National Body, con