# A Babi Pamphlet

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> Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: W. A. Rice, A Babi Pamphlet, bahai-library.com.
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> 
> https://archive.org/details/1902TheChurchMissionaryIntelligencer
> 
> The Church Missionary Intelligencer
> A Monthly Journal of Missionary Information
> 
> Vol. LIII.
> Vol. XXVII. New Series
> 
> A BABI PAMPHLET.
> 
> W.A. Rice
> 
> “From hence they proceed to a higher point, which is persuading of men credulous and overcapable of such
> pleasing errors, that it is the special illumination of the Holy Ghost, whereby they discern those things in the word,
> which others reading yet discern them not.
> “Most sure it is, that when men’s affections do frame their opinion, they are in defence of error more earnest a
> great deal, than (for the most part) sound believers in the maintenance of truth apprehended according to the nature
> of that evidence which Scripture yieldeth. … It is not therefore the fervent earnestness of their persuasion, but the
> soundness of those reasons whereupon the same is built, which must declare their opinions in these things to have
> been wrought by the Holy Ghost, and not by the fraud of that evil spirit, which is even in his illusions strong.”
> — Hooker, Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Preface, chap. iii.
> 
> I.
> 
> THE Babi Pamphlet, of which an account is given below, is a little manuscript book of 118 small pages, written in
> the beautiful Persian character, but, like most native books, with very few stops or spaces to show where paragraphs
> and sentences begin and end. It came into my possession in the following way. A Persian friend, a Babi, used often
> to come and see me, and we occasionally discussed points of Babi doctrine. The pamphlet was shown to me by him,
> because it contained a passage bearing upon a question we had been considering. He suggested that a copy should be
> made for me in town, the price of which was five kraus (about 2s.); and the manuscript when finished was corrected
> by the author himself, who is a leading exponent of Babi teaching here.
> The little book was written in the first instance for a European friend of the author’s, as a duty of friendship, in
> order to acquaint him, and through him other Christians, with the weighty matters therein
> 
> mentioned, relating to the latest divine manifestation, viz. Behaullah, who is declared to be Jesus returned again, and
> in one remarkable passage “the everlasting father” himself. It was originally composed before Behaullah’s death in
> 1892.
> We here see a deliberate attempt made to convert Christians to Babiism by means of arguments derived from
> their own Bible, many passages of which are quoted, chiefly from the Prophets and Gospels; and we are able to
> study the manner in which a Babi champion sets about his task. We who have to acknowledge and experience the
> difficulty of successfully approaching the subtle, mystic Oriental mind, cannot help noting with satisfaction his
> ineffective handling of weapons borrowed from the Christian armoury.
> Few probably go so far as a well-known Indian missionary, who reads all the unorthodox books he can lay his
> hand upon, in order to keep himself sound in the faith. The reading of such a pamphlet as this, though in places it
> may provoke a smile, challenges the reader to bring forth and test his reasons for the hope that is in him, and re-
> examine the grounds of his acceptance of those articles of his belief which are here called in question (1 Cor. xi. 19).
> It is always interesting, and sometimes amusing or even humiliating, to see ourselves as others see us. This is a
> point well worth a missionary’s consideration, not so much for his own sake, as for the honour of the message with
> which he is entrusted, in order that he may be prepared to satisfy legitimate curiosity, remove prejudice and
> misconception, and give a true and right idea of his motives and spirit. This is only a part of the study of the native
> mind and character, and the best way of dealing with them, so incumbent on every worker among them — their
> religious attitude and environment, their habits of thought and reasoning; telling arguments and aspects of truth,
> points of vantage and agreement; and, in addition to the needs of the human heart in general, the particular state and
> standpoint of the individuals who come to us, often shown by their questions and gropings after truth. Thus may we
> be able to apply the heavenly medicine of God’s Word with greater clearness, definiteness, and precision.
> The little pamphlet before us is specially worthy of notice in this connexion, in that it shows us the working of a
> native mind in an unusual field. Its aim is not to overthrow the foundations of Christianity, but to approach the
> Christian with a missionary purpose, to enlighten his understanding, to rouse him from the sleep of careless
> indifference in which he lies, to wean him from his errors and misconceptions of Jesus’ life and work and teaching,
> and to persuade him to forsake his obsolete creed and embrace the only true and binding religion in existence in the
> world to-day.
> The votaries of this new sect of Mohammedanism are to be found everywhere throughout Persia, and in all
> walks of life. They have more in common with the Christian than the ordinary Mohammedan has. They
> acknowledge his Scriptures as genuine. They are taught to treat all men with brotherly kindness and courtesy; and
> they readily mix with Europeans where this can be done without fear of attracting undue attention. For they still
> outwardly conform to Mohammedanism, arguing that the duty of self-preservation and providing for those
> 
> dependent on them is a paramount one, and that there is no obligation to make an open profession of their faith in
> such a land of bigotry and intolerance. In certain places the Babis are said to number the bulk of the population.
> Wherever he may be, the missionary is not likely to be long before coming into contact with them and becoming
> acquainted with some of their special characteristics in the field of religious discussion — their pertinacity, their
> assumption of superior enlightenment, their unproven assertions of vast numbers of adherents in Europe and
> America (the only alleged fact to support such statements being the numbers of letters said to have been received
> from these followers by the leaders of the movement,) their special pleading, and their method of handling the
> Christian Scriptures. This last is very sad. Quotations are made solely to support preconceived ideas, without
> reference to history or context, and without regard to time or place, and with a real and painful want of appreciation
> of the scope of the Bible and of the divine plan of salvation therein unfolded. The Bible is not regarded as containing
> the sum total of revealed truth. It is a convenient field from which to glean arguments to prove this latter-day
> theophany, which has superseded all previous manifestations, and which it is the duty of all to acknowledge.
> The Babi use of the Scriptures is very disappointing. After hearing that, in their acceptance of them as genuine,
> this sect is favourably distinguished from other Mohammedans, it is not unnatural to hope that they will be prepared
> to assign them a position and authority and interpret them in a similar way to the general practice of the Christian
> Church. In place of this, the Babi ignores, denies, or explains away everything which it does not suit him to believe,
> and forces into the words of the sacred book, or rather into his own interpretation of them, everything he desires to
> find there; e.g. the fact of the Resurrection is impugned, and the word is explained in a different sense; the
> Ascension is denied; the miracles are not actual occurrences, but are to be figuratively explained in a spiritual sense;
> the writers of the New Testament are to be regarded as men liable to error in their apprehension and transmission of
> the teaching of Jesus; while the prophets are quoted in the most independent manner, and forced to give testimony to
> the so-called present manifestation, which is only one of a series each suited to the moral and spiritual condition of
> the particular age to which it was vouchsafed. Thus it may truly be said that Christ is Moses come again, and
> Behaullah is Christ. The difficulty of argument with men, often earnest and eloquent, holding such views, and
> making such use of the Bible to uphold them, may be easily imagined.
> 
> II.
> 
> It is now time to give some account of the pamphlet itself. At the head of it are placed the numbers 152 and 9,
> both of which, according to the abjad notation, are the numerical equivalent of the word Beha, and the brief
> invocation, “In the name of the incomparable Lord.”
> The introduction is devoted to the praise of the one Divine Being, Who has purposed that all men and all
> nations should live together in love and harmony, in the enjoyment of the same law and religion, and has sent the
> Holy Spirit to rouse the careless and indifferent — of which
> 
> glorious day of unity and harmony the prophets have spoken beforehand. (Joel ii 28, 29.)
> While in Yezd, the author of the pamphlet met a European, with whom he was greatly charmed, and who
> continued to refer to him in his letters even after his return to London.1 After a time the writer of the pamphlet went
> to Shiraz, and enjoyed the society of his friends there, gathering an ear from every harvest-stole of love, and some
> treasure from every retreat. Among these was the delightful news that his European acquaintance of Yezd was in
> correspondence with a dear and honoured friend in Shiraz, the very pearl of integrity and sincerity, and had laid firm
> hold of the rope of inquiry and was clinging fast to the skirt of truth-seeking. To help him in this admirable
> endeavour, to acquaint him with the proofs, from reason and Scripture, of this most holy, latest, and supreme affair,
> which has created so great a stir in all quarters of the world, is a very congenial task to the writer, as well as
> incumbent on him as a friend. His desire and aim is, that the followers of the religion of Jesus may arrive at the
> knowledge of this merciful manifestation, viz. His Excellency, Behaullah (exalted be his name!), and by means of
> the new Holy Spirit obtain life, and enter the new kingdom of the Lord of hosts, and drink of the heavenly water
> which giveth life eternal.
> Those who would obtain these blessings must first of all purify their ears and hearts from all that they have
> previously heard from their fellows, and all that has come down to them by tradition from their predecessors, and
> use their God-given powers of mind and intelligence to discern truth from falsehood.
> Christ’s rejection by the Jews is full of solemn instruction and warning for to-day. How came it to pass that the
> Jews persecuted and finally crucified their expected Messiah? What was it that intervened between the Seeker and
> the Sought, and drew a veil between the Lover and his Beloved, on the very morn of His arrival, and of the rising of
> the Sun of Beauty from the horizon of glory? — It has ever been thus. The manifestations of the Deity have always
> been repugnant to the understanding and ideas of mankind. The Jews only imperfectly understood their Scriptures,
> and clung tenaciously to preconceived notions, and to this day curse and revile His Excellency Jesus. God intended
> the manifestation of Christ (which is the same as that of Moses in a different guise) to be a test of the religious
> professors of that day: and those who discerned Him were only a few poor and despised fishermen and tax-
> gatherers.
> The Christians of the present age have been similarly proved, and most of them have failed to stand the test.
> They are adhering to the letter of Scripture, and looking for a literal descent of Jesus from the skies above them,
> with the sound of the angels’ trump. And all the while He has come again, and His followers have failed to
> recognize Him as His Excellency Behaullah (exalted be his name and his praise!) who is the manifestation of the
> eternal Beauty, the
> 
> sublime Luminary, who descended a few years ago from the “heaven” of power with glory and the sound of the
> trumpet; whose message (typified by the angels’ trump) has reached the ears of all mankind, and multitudes from
> different nations and religions have joyfully accepted it and placed his yoke upon their necks, while professing
> Christians have not yet raised their heads from the sleep of indifference.
> No one, asserts the writer, will ever descend from the visible heaven. The Christians, who cherish this
> expectation, are committing a precisely similar error to that of the Jews, who interpreted the lying down of the wolf
> with the lamb, &c. (Isa. xi.) as a sign of the Messiah’s coming, in a literal sense. The signs of Christ’s Second
> Coming are figurative. And when Behaullah claims to be Christ returned again, on the evidence of these signs thus
> understood, the Christians are only asked to explain them in the same way as they interpret the words of Christ in
> which He says He is the living Bread which came down from heaven (John vi.).
> This leads on naturally to the important question of the recognition of God’s messengers to man. If, according
> to the Gospel narrative, incredible though it seem, Jesus after His resurrection with the same material body was not
> 
> The friend here alluded to is Dr. Browne, author of A Year Among the Persians, who in that work speaks in high terms of the
> Babi leader’s eloquence, and describes him as “one of the most distinguished poets who have consecrated their talents to the
> glory of the New Theophany.”
> recognized by one of the Apostles, how are the people of the present age, who have never seen Him, to recognize
> Him when He returns?
> “I would possess clear penetrating eyes,
> To recognize the King in every guise.” (1)
> 
> The manifestations of Truth, though differing outwardly, are in reality one, and are absolutely identical in spirit and
> purport: all are waves of one sea, and lights from one horizon.
> “The souls of wolves and dogs do not in harmony accord:
> United are the glorious souls of Lions of the Lord.” (2)
> 
> These pure essences appear in some appointed city in every age, issuing forth from the invisible world into the
> world of sense, with a law and precepts suitable for the guidance of God’s servants in that age, and with an
> invitation to all men to enter the everlasting kingdom. The manifestation can only be apprehended with unprejudiced
> eyes, on the strength of the proofs shown forth by itself. Men may not demand their own proofs, nor will miracles be
> granted on request. (Cp. Jesus’ refusal, Matt. xii. 38, 39.)
> The miracles of Jesus are declared not to have been, as Christians believe, actual occurrences, but parables of
> spiritual truth. This theory is maintained both (a) on general grounds, and (b) from the words of Christ Himself.
> (а) Had the miracles of Jesus, it is said, been visible facts, the Jews could not have been so incredulous as to ask
> for a yet further sign (Matt. xii. 38); no one could have refused to believe Him, but, on the contrary, large numbers
> would have accepted His teaching, especially from among those who had been benefited by His miracles, and the
> fame thereof would have drawn vast numbers from all parts to participate in them.
> (b) Again, had the miracles actually happened, as reported, Jesus would not have said, “There shall no sign be
> given” (Matt. xii. 39). As
> 
> for “the sign of the prophet Jonas,” the Jews did not see it, and the story rests on the authority of Mary Magdalene.
> The figurative and parabolic character of the miracles of Jesus is still further illustrated by His words in such
> passages as Matt. viii. 21, 22, and 13-15, where the “dull ears” and “closed eyes” and “the dead” are clearly to be
> understood in a spiritual sense; John vi., in spite of which all the Apostles died, showing that the life spoken of is
> that of the soul, not of the body; and Matt. xvii. 20 (quoted as such, but in reality an inaccurate quotation and
> combination of parts of that verse and John xiv. 12), “Whosoever hath faith as a mustard-seed, these works that I do,
> he can do also,” in virtue of which the Christians are challenged to show a single miracle of bodily healing, and told
> that their failure will show one of two things, either that Christ's miracles were spiritual, or that there is not one true
> follower of Christ among them able to do his Master's works.
> Who, then, are the true followers of Christ to-day? Those who, as in Christ’s own time, are true to their
> convictions in spite of opposition and danger. This description obviously cannot apply to the Christians of this age,
> who are wealthy, powerful, and honoured everywhere. Their missionaries, drawing their salaries and secure from
> insult, and claiming to be the host of salvation wherever they go, invite inquirers to prove their sincerity by abusing
> the head of their own religion, and then bestow large stipends upon them: whereas the sincerity of converts ought
> rather to be proved by giving money than by receiving it. The lady missionaries, attractive in face and dress, try to
> draw people to the churches by playing and singing. This is not Apostolic practice. This is not taking up the cross, or
> preaching the strait gate and the narrow way. Let this one text judge and decide between Christians and Babis!
> These Christian missionaries are the very false prophets foretold by Christ as one of the signs of His second coming
> (Matt. xxiv. 24). They were scarcely heard of 300, 200, or even 100 years ago; but now that this new and glorious
> manifestation (Behaullah) has come, which his followers regard as Christ's return, the rising of the sun of truth is
> necessarily accompanied by the appearance of the false teachers foretold by Christ. We may further see the
> fulfilment of 2 Pet. ii. 1-3 in the large sums expended by the State and the Christian body on the comfortable living
> of the preachers and the subsidizing of the converts. We hear Christ’s terrible denunciation pronounced against them
> (Matt. vii. 22). He has descended under the name of “the Lord” from the heaven of power, and is dwelling at Sion
> (!), as foretold by Zechariah (ii. 10), and the Christian preachers and professors are alike in error and blind to his
> presence.
> “ ’Twere good to bring, to test the thing, the precious touchstone rare,
> And put to shame all in His name who false deceivers are.” (3)
> All people cherish the belief that their religion will remain unchanged until the Resurrection, and resent any
> proposed alteration. But the Resurrection (qiyamat) is not what they think, but “the arising (qiyam) of the promised
> manifestation from the invisible world into the sphere of visible existence.” (See John xi., especially verse 25.)
> Christ's second coming (Matt, xxiii. 29; xxv. 13; Mark xiii., especially verses 31-fin.; Luke xii. 35) is Behaullah's
> descent from the “heaven
> 
> of grace, clemency and munificence,” and His warnings in the Gospel directed against carelessness and negligence
> are explained away by the Christians conformably with their prejudices as referring to sudden death or the day of
> Resurrection and Judgment (e.g. Luke xvii. 30) — the very words of Scripture being thus used to hide the truth, as
> was done by the Jews also.
> “Tis sleep unseasonable keeps thee from thy way,
> Else would not seem ill-timed the morning call to pray.” (4)
> 
> God’s own test of the truth or falsity of a new manifestation ought to be applied, instead of asking for signs and
> miracles, and making the non-appearance of certain expected signs a reason for unbelief:
> “The sight of prophet’s face appears a miracle in sooth
> To him whose heart a relish hath for blessed light of truth.”(5)
> 
> This Divine test is found in Deut. xviii. 18, Isa. xliv. 24-26, and Acts v. (Gamaliel’s counsel), viz. that false
> pretenders will be brought to nought, and the word of God’s true messengers established. No false prophet, declares
> the writer, has ever succeeded in establishing a new religion, with a new law and holy book; otherwise the religion
> of Jesus Himself might fall under suspicion.
> This test is next elaborately applied in the pamphlet to the Babi religion, and the conclusion drawn, that a faith
> like this, which started with no external aids or advantages, which is contrary to men’s cherished opinions, invites to
> risk of impoverishment and hazard of life, and has been so bitterly opposed and persecuted, and in spite of all has
> achieved such remarkable success, must be from God. The founder of a new religion must be prepared to suffer
> distress and persecution, as was the case with Christ, the First Point (the Bab), and Behaullah, whose sufferings are
> mentioned.
> First of all, there were his constant persecutions and imprisonments in Persia; then twelve years spent in
> Baghdad, while his enemies and the ‘ulama were constantly day and night seeking to kill that “tree of the Paradise of
> God”; next his sojourn in Constantinople and six years’ imprisonment in Adrianople, and finally his deportation to
> Akka by the Porte in conjunction with the Powers, in the hope that the unhealthiness of the place and the absence of
> the society of friends would put an end to his life. But, notwithstanding all, his religion grew and flourished all the
> time, for neither can the sun be hidden with mud plaster, nor the religion of God exterminated by hatred. Honour,
> instead of despite, became the portion of Behaullah’s friends at Akka. The place itself was transformed under the
> benign influence of the august stranger. The climate improved, the ruined places were repaired, and fine gardens and
> buildings sprang into existence, while from all parts crowds thronged to see the manifestation of God residing there.
> We now come to the longest section of the pamphlet — the Scriptural proofs brought forward to attest the
> Divine mission of Behaullah, many of which are highly ingenious and curious.
> (a) Behaullah’s Sojourn at Akka. — Akka is the “Valley of Achor,” the “door of hope” of Hos. ii. 15, “the
> strong city” of Ps. lx. 9; cviii. 10. Behaullah’s residence there fulfils Isa. xxv. 6-9, which foretells the spiritual and
> temporal bounties he bestowed on those who thronged to see him. The expression “wines on the lees well refined”
> points to
> 
> the tea with which his guests were regaled, which is the only beverage answering this description.2 Of Christ, on the
> other hand, nothing of the kind is recorded, and He fulfilled none of the particulars mentioned in the prophecy. (One
> of the most singular features in the application of Scripture in this pamphlet is the way in which prophecies referring
> to Zion or Jerusalem by name are quietly transferred to Behaullah and his residence at Akka.)
> 
> See Smith’s Bible Dictionary, art. “Wine,” “if it [the wine] were designed to be kept for some time, a certain amount of lees was
> added to give it body (Isa. xxv. 6). The wine consequently required to be ‘refined’ or strained previously to being brought to
> table (Isa. xxv. 6).”
> (b) The Jews and Behaullah. — A few passages (Jer. ii. 26; ix. 16; xxiv. 9, 10), which speak of Judah’s
> punishment, are adduced, and their fulfilment seen in the abasement of the Jews after Christ’s death. Many other
> passages are also brought forward which speak of the salvation and glory of the Jews “in the last days” — the
> fulfilment of which has been reserved, as is here alleged, for the present dispensation of Behaullah, in which the
> Jews in all countries enjoy a peace and freedom from oppression and ill-treatment, and legal protection, unknown
> before. Every particular given in these prophecies with reference to this glorious time has been fulfilled, down to the
> giving of the “new name, which the mouth of the Lord shall name” (Isa. lxii. 2), viz. the name of the “desired land”
> given by Behaullah to Akka. (It is not shown in what way his mission has wrought such happy results for the Jews
> everywhere.) The “new heart” and the “new spirit” of Ezek. xxxvi. 24-27 are referred to the conversion of Jews to
> Babiism.
> (c) Other prophecies are mentioned, the fulfilment of which is claimed for Behaullah instead of Christ. Thus,
> Joel iii. 16 (“The Lord shall roar out of Zion,” &c.), cannot, it is said, have been fulfilled in Christ, Who was always
> wandering in retirement in deserts and on mountains, and not able to remain as much as four days in a single place
> because of the enmity of the Jews. Isa. xl. 3, 9, 10 (“Prepare ye the way of the Lord,” &c.) similarly does not allude
> to Christ, for Whom no such thing was done, but to the railway made before Behaullah’s going to Akka. In
> connexion with Ps. cii. 16 (“When the Lord shall build up Zion,” &c.), mention is made of the large colony of
> monks and merchants near Akka,3 who rightly expected the Lord’s return at that very spot, but, through their gross
> carelessness, failed to discern Him in Behaullah, who fulfilled the prophecy (!) by staying there for a while and
> having intercourse with them on his way to Akka. With reference to Isa. ii. 2-4, the jealous ambitions of the
> Christian Powers and their ceaseless invention of deadly explosives effectually prevent us from seeing the fulfilment
> of the prophet’s words under the Christian dispensation. But Ps. xlvi. 9
> 
> (“He maketh wars to cease,” &c.), has been fulfilled (though it must be confessed it requires a large amount of
> oblivion to perceive it!) by Behaullah, who (in his “Epistles to the Kings”) forbade war and the greed of conquest
> and the use of murderous weapons, and enjoined peace, good-will, and brotherliness, which, however, it is
> judiciously added, must not be expected to come to pass all at once.
> Four interesting applications of Scripture are still to be noticed: —
> (i.) “The everlasting Father” of Isa. ix. 6 cannot, we are told, be Christ, but does refer to Behaullah, who is in
> truth “the mighty God, the everlasting father.” foretold in the Parable of the Vineyard (Matt, xxi.), in which, after the
> murder of the son, comes “the lord of the vineyard” himself! (This, it need hardly be said, is quite in harmony with
> the theory of Divine manifestations so often referred to; but at first sight it sounds very strange to hear Behaullah at
> one time spoken of as Christ, and at another as God the Father.)
> (ii.) Dan. viii. 13, 14. The “two thousand and three hundred days” point, so it is asserted, to this manifestation.
> No explanation is given in the pamphlet, nor could the author himself give any satisfactory one when asked on two
> occasions to do so.
> (iii.) Mal. iv. is quoted in full, and the Hebrew “Elijah” declared to be the same as the Arabic “Ali,” which
> accordingly denotes Mir-ya Ali Muhammad, the Bab and forerunner of Behaullah.
> (iv.) 2 Thess. ii. 1-8. Subh-i-Ezel, “the Morning of Eternity” (a portrait of whom is given as the frontispiece to
> Browne’s New History of the Bab), who was the original successor of the Bab, and for a time after his death
> commanded the allegiance of his followers, is so unfortunate as to show forth in himself, according to our writer, the
> signs which mark the man of sin, who is destroyed by the breath of the Lord’s mouth — i.e. the signs of Behaullah.
> He is treated in consequence to a very emphatic condemnation, and a crowning instance is here seen of Christian
> blindness to the truth in their failure to understand the supposed allusion of the prophecy. The writer expresses a
> wish that four fair-minded men of understanding would visit both Akka and Cyprus and judge between the rival
> claims of Behaullah and Subh-i-Ezel. But, he sadly laments, there is no desire to search for truth, otherwise it could
> be easily ascertained.
> “Ever ready is the FRIEND for distraught lover’s heart to feel:
> The Rev. Wm. Jones, who has travelled much, and visited Persia last year [1900] on his way to India, gave me the following
> information about the colony at Haifa, near Akka, alluded to above: — “I am afraid 1 know very little of the German colonies
> except that they are looking for the visible appearance of Christ in Palestine to rule over the whole world, I suppose. There are
> two colonies, one at Haifa and one at Jerusalem. They live in families, have a church building where they meet every Sunday,
> and a school-house where the children are educated. Their houses are neat and clean. They have gardens and fruit trees, and a
> number of them have become well off in this world. I presume they look for Christ to reign a thousand years, but I saw little of
> themselves — my information is mostly second hand.”
> Were you sick, sir, there’s PHYSICIAN close at hand your grief to feel.” (6)
> 
> The writer concludes with an appeal for earnest, serious inquiry, without delay or hindrance from worldly
> concerns and business, points a warning from the results of prejudiced unbelief in the case of the Jews, not one of
> whom, he says, has ever yet repented of his errors; requests his friend to read the pamphlet often, and finally
> expresses the hope that its arguments and Scriptural proofs will lead him, and through him those who are still
> careless and indifferent, to the present light of truth.
> Christian and Jew are both conciliated by Babiism through the acceptance of their Scriptures, and invited to lay
> aside their prejudices and slavish adherence to the letter of Scripture, and embrace the present fulfilment of what the
> prophets long ago foretold.
> The Mohammedan, often dissatisfied with Islam as he finds it, is
> 
> appealed to by a religion which teaches justice and brotherhood, which does not bid him break with the past, but
> pass above and beyond it into fuller light, under the guidance of the divine guide sent for the present age. It is a
> religion adorned with a glorious roll of martyrs and heroes, while at the same time it comfortably allows its
> adherents to conform outwardly to the prevailing faith, and save themselves the inconvenience of presenting to the
> wrath or cupidity of powers secular or spiritual so inviting a bait as that of a renegade from the faith.
> Babiism is just as truly as Mohammedanism a “religion without faith.” It has added more prophets to the
> already long list of 124,000 accepted by Mohammedans, but it has not recognized the uniqueness of the personality
> and redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in this case, as always, the Truth vindicates itself in no more
> striking way than in the capacity for error of those who are unacquainted with, or refuse to accept, the truth as it is in
> Jesus.
> Our duty is a plain one. It is no new one, but simply the privilege of letting in the light (with God’s help)
> through every opportunity accorded to us. Very much remains to be done. But we know that the power of Truth is
> not broken, but that it will prevail — yea, and DOES prevail!
> W. A.
> RICE.
> 
> Shiraz, Persia.
> 
> ****
> 
> Sources of Verses quoted in Pamphlet.
> 
> A Persian friend tells me that (1), (2), and (5) are from the Masnavi, (3) and (6) from Hafiz, and (4) from Sadi. In the
> latter, the original reference was to the Jews.
>
> — *A Babi Pamphlet (Used by permission of the curator)*