43 COVENANT (Meaning of Baha'i)
"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." (16:1)

"The Most Great Covenant is different from the Everlasting Covenant." (16:2)

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..." (16:3)

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