Guardian ad litem

“ And perhaps the word “guardian” in the fullest sense ought to be applied to this higher class only who preserve us against foreign enemies and maintain peace among our citizens at home, that the one may not have the will, or the others the power, to harm us. The young men whom we before called guardians may be more properly designated auxiliaries and supporters of the principles of the rulers. ”

“ This power of one man over another, used cruelly sometimes, because the habits and customs of the time were rough, but not really abused on the whole, was limited, in his view, to a sort of guardianship, founded, not on the strength of the guardian who had thus found means to impose his will, but on the feebleness of the ward, whose consciousness of weakness led him to accept an indispensable authority, guidance, and protection. ”

“ Hence, any real, or supposed, persons adopted as protectors, guardians, or patrons, are mahuzzim, or munitions of strength and safety. Now the god whom the Little Horn of the Goat honoured in his kingdom, was a god of guardian saints, who are regarded by his worshippers as protectors and towers of strength and security against all "the ills that flesh is heir to." Such a god is the Bishop of Rome ”

“ The other is not. Each of these men has equal powers. Each one of these is trustee for you, and guardian of you. But one has no power superior to the other. This is what the will distinctly lays down. Of course, Miss Dalton, you will perceive that the first necessary thing is to know this, What are the powers of a guardian? Is it not?”
Edith bowed. The mention of two guardians had filled her with eager curiosity, but she repressed this feeling for the present, so as not to interrupt the lawyer in his speech. ”

“ I answer that, Each man has an angel guardian appointed to him. This rests upon the fact that the guardianship of angels belongs to the execution of Divine providence concerning men. But God's providence acts differently as regards men and as regards other corruptible creatures, for they are related differently to incorruptibility. For men are not only incorruptible in the common species, but also in the proper forms of each individual, which are the rational souls, which cannot be said of other incorruptible things. ”

“ Be on the reserve with those about you, and above all, trust not the man who calls himself your guardian; he has an eye over him which he little suspects, and he will have an account to settle, not with the obscure and friendless Charles Duncan, but with an arm of power, which shall crush him, as the spoiler of the widow and the orphan. ”

“ What folly, to hope for protection from those things which are unable to protect themselves! What perversity, to have recourse to the guardianship of those which, when injured, are themselves unavenged, unless vengeance is exacted by their worshippers! Where, then, is truth? Where no violence can be applied to religion; where there appears to be nothing which can be injured; where no sacrilege can be committed. ”

“ The five hundred and odd prisoners were, as it were, the Doctor's chessmen. He marshalled them this way and that, checkmating their vile souls and bodies while they were in his care. If they passed out of it into their own, he took no heed. They might make what they liked of themselves. But if they died, and, as the phrase runs, chose the Guardianship of God, he buried them temporarily in the gaol graveyard with all possible sanitary precautions, against the time when relations or friends might appear to claim the corpse. ”

“ And think not I say this only from our boyish love; think not I have placed my life in thy hands only from that servile loyalty to a single man, which the false chivalry of Christendom imposes as a sacred creed upon its knights and nobles. But I speak and act but from one principle —to save the religion of, my father and the land of my birth: for this I have risked my life against the foe ”

“ Here is that enemy of yours, Leo, or rather of your Court; by his example alone we may learn that an enemy is not more baneful than a flatterer. For what did he bring about by his flattery, except evils which no king could have brought about? At this day the name of the Court of Rome stinks in the nostrils of the world, the papal authority is growing weak, and its notorious ignorance is evil spoken of. We should hear none of these things, if Eccius had not disturbed the plans of Miltitz and myself for peace. ”

“ All this care and vigilance He uses in your regard, to preserve you from evil. Oh what a happiness it is to rest under the protection of so powerful and so beneficent a guardian!
II. This guardian of yours will to-day enter the fortress of your soul, in the holy Eucharist, to strengthen and defend it against your mortal enemy the devil, who surrounds it day and night, seeking its destruction. This divine table, this holy banquet, is instituted chiefly as a means of defence against our enemies: "Thou hast prepared a table before me," says the prophet, "against them that afflict me." ”

“ The guardians must be guardians, not boon companions.We mean our guardians to be true Bsaviours and not the destroyers of the State, whereas our opponent is thinking of peasants at a festival, who are enjoying a life of revelry, not of citizens who are doing their duty to the State. ”

“ That in such cases we must not be our own avengers, nor judges in our own cause. We must rather receive than give the second blow, which makes the quarrel; we are allowed to defend ourselves, but not to avenge ourselves: the magistrate (if it be necessary for the preserving of the public peace, and the restraining and terrifying of evil-doers) is to be the avenger, Rom. ”

“ If I do not seek out this man, if I do not expose to him my knowledge of his pursuit and unhallowed persecution of you, if I do not effectually prohibit and prevent their continuance, think well, what security have I for your future peace of mind,—nay, even for the safety of your honour or your life? ”

“ There hath been with me, more than once, a stern old man, whose voice freezes the blood within my veins; he questions me of my father, and in the tone of a foe who would entrap from the child something to the peril of the sire. That man—thou knowest him, gracious queen—he cannot have the power to harm my father?"
"Peace, maiden! the man thou speakest of is the priest of God, and the innocent have nothing to dread from his reverend zeal. ”

“ By this body all the difficult problems are to be resolved and the Guardian of the Cause of God is its sacred head and the distinguished member for life of that body. Should he not attend in person its deliberations, he must appoint one to represent him. Should any of the members commit a sin, injurious to the common weal, the Guardian of the Cause of God hath at his own discretion the right to expel him, whereupon the people must elect another one in his stead. ”

“ Death and dishonour! Pacify! ‘Cardinal,’ I said, and I felt his soul shrivel at my gaze, ‘my power I received from the people—to the people alone I render it. For my soul, man’s word cannot scathe it. Thou, haughty priest, thou thyself art the accursed, if, puppet and tool of low cabals and exiled tyrants, thou breathest but a breath in the name of the Lord of Justice, for the cause of the oppressor, and against the rights of the oppressed.’ With that I left him, and now—”
“Ay, now—now what will happen? Excommunication! In the metropolis of the Church, too—the superstition of the people! ”

“ There are no intrigues more difficult to guard against than those which are concealed under a pretence of duty, or under the name of some intimate connection. For you can easily avoid one who is openly an adversary, by guarding against him ”

“ It is on young and active Bahá’ís, like you, that the Guardian centers all his hopes for the future progress and expansion of the Cause and it is on their shoulders that he lays all the responsibility for the upkeep of the spirit of selfless service among their fellow-believers. ”

“ The Institution of Guardianship It must be also clearly understood by every believer that the institution of Guardianship does not under any circumstances abrogate, or even in the slightest degree detract from, the powers granted to the Universal House of Justice by Bahá’u’lláh in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, and repeatedly and solemnly confirmed by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in His Will. ”

“ So that all the power the magistrate hath over the church is temporal, not spiritual; and all the power the church hath over the magistrate is spiritual, not temporal. And as the church hath no temporal power over the magistrate, in ordine ad bonum spirituale; so the magistrate [194] hath no spiritual power over the church in ordine ad bonum temporale.
“Secondly, the delinquency of either party calleth for the exercise of the power of terror from the other part; for no rulers ordained of God are a terror to good works, but to evil, Rom. ”

“ But if no such guilt be ours, then why should not our courage be as good as our cause? If not only by the warrant, but by the imperative bidding of Heaven, we have taken up arms, then why should we not, as under the banner of Heaven, bear them to the end? ”

“ I think I’ve learned that—hum! that a good guardian might be a handy thing to have in the house. A reg’lar legal guardian, I mean. Otherwise—”
“Otherwise?”
“Otherwise there might be too many disinterested volunteer substitutes for the job. Maybe I’m wrong, but I doubt it.”
“Have you made up your mind to be that guardian?”
“Not yet. I haven’t made up my mind to anything yet. Now, Mr. Sylvester, while we’re waitin’ for what comes next—you’ve ordered enough grub to victual a ship—s’pose you just run over what your firm knows about ’Bije. That is, if I ain’t askin’ too much.” ”

“ Each warden, in the presence of the opposite warden and the inhabitants of both the Marches, “Swore by the High God that reigneth above all Kings and Realms, and to whom all Christians owe obedience, that he shall (in the name of God) do, exercise and use his office without respect of person, Malice, Favour, or Affection, diligently or undelayedly, according to his Vocation or Charge that he beareth under God and his Prince, and he shall do justice upon all Complaints presented unto him, upon every Person complained upon under this Rule. ”

“ Had we the power, would we hold the wicked down and whip them? No; for, except in self-defence, it is our duty to plead with them and offer them the terms of life and salvation—to give them all the opportunity God has designed them to have. But what would they do, if they could get the advantage of this people? ”

“ For if our Lord required those who heard him to obey the Roman authorities, he would also require us to obey the duly constituted authorities under which we live at any time. For the cruel and persecuting pagan empire of Rome was surely no more worthy of respect and obedience than any other under which our lot is like to be cast. ”

“ In this chapter we shall consider: (1) the different kinds of guardianship and how guardians are appointed; (2) who may be guardians; (3) the powers, rights, and duties of guardians; (4) actions arising out of guardianship; (5) how guardianship ends. ”

“ How much more so when they slay the righteous, and account the followers of justice themselves as enemies, yea, as more than enemies; who, though they eagerly seek their lives, and property, and children by sword and fire, yet are spared when conquered ”

“ So long as any secular safeguard is retained, so long as any residual prudential guarantee is clung to, so long the surrender is incomplete, the vital crisis is not passed, fear still stands sentinel, and mistrust of the divine obtains: we hold by two anchors, looking to God, it is true, after a fashion, but also holding by our proper machinations. ”

“ Exalted as is the position and vital as is the function of the institution of the Guardianship in the Administrative Order of Bahá’u’lláh, and staggering as must be the weight of responsibility which it carries, its importance must, whatever be the language of the Will, be in no wise over-emphasized. ”

“ Whether a bondman or slave may defend himself against his lord and master that designs to kill him? Whether a Monk may defend himself against his Abbot who designs to kill him? Whether the son may lawfully defend himself against the father who designs to kill him? ”

“ The lord-lieutenant, then, is a passive instrument in the hands of wicked men--he is made, for a purpose, grossly, inhumanly, to abuse the royal prerogative of mercy, of which the King himself is but a trustee for the benefit of his people. ”

“ I suppose he calls himself your guardian. If he says no, you are of age. I just want you to believe that I am strong enough to put my arms around you and to carry you away to my own world and keep you there, although an army of Mr. ”

“ Therefore the magistrate is bound by his soul's salvation to protect and guard all innocent and peaceful men, until a certain voice of God comes and is heard to say, Now shalt thou no longer protect this man—as Abraham also heard a voice that he should slay his son, contrary to the commandment, Thou shalt not kill. ”

“ It seemed, in fact, as if each man felt so completely safe, felt so certain that his guard would never fail him, and at the same time felt so sure that his crony's guard was equally faultless, that there was no danger of his injuring his chum, that each attacked the other precisely as he attacked any other adversary. ”

“ Be on your guard, therefore, against such persons, that ye admit not of a snare for your own souls. And act so that your life shall be without offence to all men, lest ye become as "a snare upon a watchtower, and as a net which is spread out." ”

“ If thou would'st guard thyself, guard against wrath alway;
'Gainst wrath who guards not, him his wrath shall slay.
If a man would guard himself, let him guard against anger; if he do not guard it, anger will kill him. ”