Messages to Canada | Page 2

to the mass of that spiritually-minded people.
Though its people be firmly entrenched in their religious sectarianism and strongly attached to their religious doctrines and traditions, yet who can doubt that with courage and persistence, kindliness and wisdom, the all-conquering words of Bah��'u'll��h can fail to break down all these barriers of prejudice and religious exclusiveness and conquer this longstanding stronghold of sectarian belief!
Surely the efficacy of the universal Teachings of Bah��'u'll��h as applied to the cherished and time-honoured religious traditions of the East, has been sufficiently demonstrated to justify at present our confident hopes for the future and speedy re-awakening of that land.
May the small company of the steadfast followers of 'Abdu'l-Bah�� in Canada be filled with the outpourings of the Divine Grace that are being showered so mightily in these days upon the friends of God the world over, and may they arise with undiminished fervour to carry out to their fullest measure the last wishes and instructions of our departed Master for that great and flourishing Dominion!
With all good wishes,
Your brother and co-worker, SHOGHI.
Haifa, Palestine. January 2, 1923.

THE BIRTH OF THE INDEPENDENT CANADIAN BAH��'�� COMMUNITY AND THE FIVE YEAR PLAN. 1948-53

THE BIRTH OF THE INDEPENDENT CANADIAN BAH��'�� COMMUNITY AND THE FIVE YEAR PLAN. 1948-53

Letter of April 14, 1948
April 14, 1948.
ELECTION OF FIRST NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AND ANNOUNCEMENT OF FIVE YEAR PLAN
To the First Canadian National Convention.
Hearts uplifted in thanksgiving to Bah��'u'll��h for the epoch-making event of the coming of age of the dearly beloved Canadian Bah��'�� Community, the formation of the first National Convention in the City of Montreal and the forthcoming election of Canada's National Assembly constituting the ninth pillar of the institution of the Universal House of Justice. I acknowledge with reverent gratitude and deepest joy the marvellous influence of the operation of the initial stage in 'Abdu'l-Bah��'s Divine Plan enabling the northernmost community of the followers of the Faith on the American continent to pass the stage of infancy and attain the status, and to assume the functions of, an independent existence within the World Bah��'�� Community. I recall on this auspicious occasion with profound emotion the heroic services to the mother community of May Maxwell(1) whose life and death forged unbreakable links binding the body of the Canadian believers to the sister communities of the United States and Latin America. I am moved to appeal to assembled delegates to arise in conjunction with the first Canadian National Assembly, as a token of gratitude for the manifold blessings of Divine Providence, to initiate in the hour of the birth of their national activities a Five Year Plan designed to associate them, formally and systematically and independently, with their sister community of the United States, in the common task of the prosecution of their world-encompassing mission. The fulfillment of this collective task confronting the rapidly maturing community necessitates the incorporation of the Canadian National Assembly, the establishment of National Bah��'�� Endowments, doubling the number of Local Assemblies throughout the Dominion and raising to one hundred the total number of localities where Bah��'��s reside throughout the Provinces, the constitution of a group in Newfoundland and the formation of a nucleus of the Faith in the Territory of Greenland, singled out for special mention by the Author of the Divine Plan, and the participation of Eskimos and Red Indians in membership to share administrative privileges in local institutions of the Faith in Canada. I fondly hope and ardently pray that the celebration of the first centenary of the Birth of Bah��'u'll��h's prophetic mission will witness the triumphant consummation of the first historic Plan launched by the Canadian Bah��'�� Community in a land whose future greatness and glory, both materially and spiritually, the Centre of Bah��'u'll��h's Covenant twice emphatically proclaimed in His immortal Tablets.(2)
SHOGHI.

Letter of November 4, 1948
November 4, 1948.
National Spiritual Assembly of the Bah��'��s of Canada.
Your letter to our beloved Guardian, dated October 6th, has been received, and he has instructed me to answer you on his behalf.
AVOID BLANKET RULINGS
Our teachings, as outlined in the Advent of Divine Justice, on the subject of living a chaste life, should be emphasized, but certainly no ruling what-so-ever should be laid down in this matter. The Bah��'��s have certainly not yet reached that stage of moral perfection where they are in a position to too harshly scrutinize the private lives of other souls, and each individual should be accepted on the basis of his faith, and sincere willingness to try to live up to the Divine Standards; further than this we cannot go at present.
Now that your Assembly is formed, and is embarking on its independent existence as a National Body, he wishes to emphasize a point which he is constantly stressing to other National Bodies: you must avoid issuing rules and regulations. The fundamentals laid down in the Bah��'�� Administration must,