I think that this is one of the instances of bada'a in the Writings. Here is is
translated as "creation": ". . . the Beauty of the Unseen hath shone forth
above the horizon of creation" Prayers and Meditations p. 311.
Khazeh Fananapazir once said that bada'a is from the same root as Badi’. I
understand Badi’ to mean unique, wonderful, new, unprecedented, never before
seen, among other meanings. So I gather that the application to God changing
His mind – (a very anthropomorphic concept, as we are talking about universal
Mind and not limited, linear, rational, dinky little human mind) -- has to do
with originating something new.
My view of the ending of the line of Guardians is that it is not the failure of
a promise. The Guardian functioning with the House was anticipated by the
Master, but in the second part of His Will He does not mention the Guardianship
and provides for the House to function infallibly without the Guardian; and
Baha’u’llah in the Aqdas foreshadows the possibility of the ending of the line
of Guardians before the House is established (Aqdas Note 66).
It is my understanding that the continuation of the line of Guardians
functioning with the House was one of several options. Another option
anticipated was that the House would have come into being right after the
Master’s passing, and that Shoghi Effendi would not have functioned without the
House. Another was the way it actually came about.
I compare this to Baha’u’llah revealing verses, then casting them into the
river. (GPB 138) It was God’s Will to reveal them; but then, as Baha’u’llah
says, no one was found worthy to hear them. Perhaps the Guardian and House
functioning together was the desired approach, but humanity was not found
worthy. That doesn’t mean that the clear Covenant was not fulfilled.
As to the verse about day not being followed by night, Shoghi Effendi did
relate this to the line of Guardians. It means that guidance remains on the
earth until the next Manifestation comes – there is no “night”. The guidance
promised to the Guardian in the Master’s Will, is the same guidance promised to
the House, in the same verse. (Master’s Will, p. 11). The House also takes
this approach:
“The election of the Universal House of Justice was greeted with great joy by
the world-wide Bahá'í community, for it ensured the continuation of divine
guidance until the advent of the next Manifestation of God, thereby fulfilling
the prophecy that there would come a ‘Day which shall not be followed by
night.’"
(The Universal House of Justice, Messages 1963 to 1986, p. xxvii; also see
letter in the Scholarship Compilation).
As to whether the Guardian, in referring to the “machinery” remaining behind
after Baha’u’llah into future Dispensations, and whether this refers to the
House of Justice always being on the earth:
It should also be borne in mind that the machinery of the Cause has been so
fashioned, that whatever is deemed necessary to incorporate into it in order to
keep it in the forefront of all progressive movements, can, according to the
provisions made by Bahá'u'lláh, be safely embodied therein. To this testify the
words of Bahá'u'lláh, as recorded in the Eighth Leaf of the exalted Paradise:
"It is incumbent upon the Trustees of the House of Justice to take counsel
together regarding those things which have not outwardly been revealed in the
Book, and to enforce that which is agreeable to them. God will verily inspire
them with whatsoever He willeth, and He, verily, is the Provider, the
Omniscient."
(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 22)
And finally the tenth part of this mighty process must be the penetration of
that light, in the course of numerous crusades and of successive epochs of both
the Formative and Golden Ages of the Faith, into all the remaining territories
of the globe through the erection of the entire machinery of Bahá'u'lláh's
Administrative Order in all territories, both East and West, the stage at which
the light of God's triumphant Faith shining in all its power and glory will
have suffused and enveloped the entire planet.
(Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Baha'i World - 1950-1957, p. 155)
The House of Justice is the crown of that machinery.
Brent
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