Babism: A Failure ================= Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-06-19 1 clipping 1. Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Samuel Graham Wilson, Babism: A Failure, bahai-library.com. ────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────── THE 2,10 " 1'11091- ,z1 Missionary Boliol of mo VOL. IVII. BEl SERIES fOlio 11m OLD SERIBB JANUARY TO DECEMBER, 1904 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF REV. ARTHUR T. PIERSON, D.O. ASSOCIATE EDITORS REV. J. T. GRACEY, D.O. REV. D. L. LEONARD, D.O. REV. F. B. MEYER, B.A. MANAGING EDITOR DELA VAN L. PIERSOl' FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY 1904 Digitized by Google 1904J BABISM: A FAILURE 91 of supply with our present force of workers. Ten thousand day- schools could be opened within a month if we had enough teachers and the money to support them. The Church of Christ has the oppor- tunity of educating the next generation of Chinese. If neglected now the opportunity may never ocour again, and the evangelization of China will be incomparably harder. 4. Medical work. China's millions, covered with diseases loath- some to the eye and painful to the sense, have begun to realize the efficacy of foreign medicine, and welcome the medical missionary to and home. 5. Literature. The desire for literature has grown to such an extent that every Christian press has more work than it can well do, and twice the number is needed, or the present plants should be strength- ened and enlarged. " 6. Work among women. While all that precedes refe!S as well to the work among women as among men, the degraded position of woman in Eastern lands makes the opportunity for her elevation all the more important. Fathers are sending their girls to our Christian schools in large numbers, and the women who go into the homes with the Gospel for women were never so welcome as now. The greatest field in the world is white to the harvest. "Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth laborer's into his harvest." Perhaps he will send you, or will ask you to help him send. BABISM: A FAlLUR£-1 BY REV. S•. G. WILSON, TABRIZ, PEBSI.A. Author of .. Pendan LIfe aad Customs" Babism, or Bahaism, proclaims itself a new revelation, and haR been heralded by some as a great reform. What has it revealed either of troth or of law? What has it proposed or accomplished in the way of reform? An examination of Babism will show that neither as a revelation nor as a reform does it deserve a high place among the world's religions. 'fheologically Babism is a chaos of Divine manifestation. It has developed and set forth certain doctrines of Shiahism-as, for example, that of the Imams-as manifestations of the Divine attributes and of the Mehti, and certain tenets of the Ismielis and Sufis as to the in- carnation of the Divine Will or Reason. In the course of sixty years leveral claimants to the rank of manifestations or incarnations of God have risen among them. The original founder, Sayid Ali "Mohammed (1844), was for three years only the Bab (or Door) of commnnication with the absent Imam. He then became the Imam Mehti or the Imam Hussain, then the Nt('1cta or Point of Divine Unity, the center of the oirole of existence. After his martyrdom in Tabriz, his Digitized by Google 92 TBB KI8SJONA.a'Y .1IVtBW OB THB WORLD [February appointed successor was Subh-i-Azal or Hazreti Azal (the Dawn of or the Lord, the In his day there was a "chaos of Divine manifestations," viz., Hazreti Zahib and Janab-i-Azim and a number of others. Later (1864) Mirza HuBBain Ali was "manifested" under the title of Baha-Ullah, the" Splendor of God," and supplanted his half-brother Azal, who has lately died in Cyprus. The rank assigned to Baha is evident from a remark made by one of his friends to me: "He is very God of very God, the everlasting Father." An enemy has BBid: "Baha is not content with being God, he must needs be a creator of Gods." Since he "ascended"-that is, left his mortal body (1892)--his son Abbas Effendi, not content with being" the Son of God"á and with posing as the Master, Jesus, to Christians, and as the Imam HUBBBin to Shiah Moslems, is forcing a new schism by intro- ducing a new revelation and announcing" lam the manifestation of God. My paps are full of the milk of Godhead; whoever will, let him come and suck freely!' In these quickly succeeding dispensations, salvation-BBid to be-is by faith in the manifestation. We are also asked to believe that the holy angels and prophets have come to earth. One of my acquaintances is the angel Gabriel, anotller is Abbas. Baha BBYSá: "Four prophets come with me," namely, his sons, of whom Abbas Eft'endi is Jesus, Mirza Mohammed Ali is Mohammed, and the other two are Abraham and Moses. Alas! _that these prophets hate and curse each other. Alas I that" Gabriel " should be cursed and persecuted because he refuses to accept the latest emendations to the revelation. A J(aleidoacope of ReYeIatioaI Of this new revelation it be said, as Jacob said of his wages, have changed them seven times." Not only has the Bab altered his declaration regarding himself, but Subh-i-Azal made further changes. "In the hands of Baha," says Professor Browne, of Cambridge,t "Babism has undergone important modifications, and, indeed, has become almost a new religion." Abbas gives the kaleido- scope another whirl and puts many of the books of his father out of sight. For example, take their relation to Shiahism. The Bab in the Beyan declares "the substance of truth was confined to the Shiahs." Baha declared that the Shiahs were always heretics, but Abbas BByS the were true till they gave the decree for the execu- tion of the Bab; after that they became infidels. The books of revelation succeed each other so rapidly as to be bewildering. The Began and many volumes of the Bab have long since been laid aside. Manuscript copies of it can beá procured • Bee "Sacred 1II7Bterlea," p. 74. Chicago,lllOll. t Author of .. The Episode of the JIab" aud .. The New Risto..,..," and a speclaI authority OD BabI8m. The quotatlonB of this article and c1tBtioDB of historical facts are mostl7 from Prot_r Browne'. tranBlatloDl. Digitized by Google 1904] - BABIaK: A WA.lLUBB 93 only at a high price and in ex- purgated recensions. Baha wrote many books, and a number of them were printed in Bombay. Now all, except the "Ketabái- Akdas," are let alone, and their readiug is not specially recom- mended. It is rumored that Abbas is now preparing a new revelation for his followers. This will prob- ably be adapted for exportation into the United States! The Bahais profess to recei \'e the previous Scriptures, the Old and New Testaments, and the Koran. They are very familiar with them, but use a system of D'JDDI , •• • (OMBáIáAaam) or AbclDIáBaba. BY ....n .. D Bablat.e allegonca1mterpretatlon whereby be "looked DpoD ..... IDcarDaUOD 01 8_1.... they'can be made to mean any. aDd by ADler1C1U1 'oUowen .. CbrW retllrDecl weartb thing. Thus, the day of resur- rection is interpreted as the day in which a founder of a new dispen- sation was manifested. The resurrection of Jesus is called the time when the mission of Mohammed began. The prophecy that Christ will "come in the clouds" is iná terpreted to refer to ilis human- ity, which conceals ilis divinity as in a cloud. • What the Bahais believe abou t the future life is a puzzle. I have asked several men who have known the Bahai manifestations. and who have read their revelations, and one said : "In the last analysis they reject the future life." An- other said : "They believe in the transmigration of souls." A fer- vent Bahais of the old school said: "We believe in a future state so unthinkably ecstatic that if its joys were now rEl\'cale . . . . .. 286 Arithmetic of Heaven (a), H. C. Leee ••••• 776 - Tran.lation of BiMop ...oky 6.16 Armenia (TtrieJI), F.nerum College - Work in Braail.. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 228 Bumed •..•...................... 233 Bibles in theJapan_Army ............ 474 -lIarput, Trouble at.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 233 - Not Allowed to F.nter Persia. . . . . . . .. 71 - Rumors of M _... in.....•........ 788 - in the Celebes lalande. . . . . . . .. tOO - The Friend. of.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 89 Bieoenthal. Joachim. R. H .............. 006 Annenian Ma88aCJ'IIII, InV88tipting .... " 789 Bishop. Mi.. I. B .• Death of........... " 880 - - Reported ....................... MO Blind. Mi""ionary M....ine for the ...... 870 Annenian's Beq_ts to Mi""ions ...... " 786 Blindness in Mi..ion8, EditOl'ial ......... 702 Arnot, F. S. EditOl'iaI.................. 461 BU"". Daniel. Statue to ................. 632 Arnot, Fred S .• The Work of (a). A. T. BOOKS, NEW ..... 64.224.384.624.864,944 PierllOll..... .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 166 - After a Hundred years .............. 864 Artist'. Picture ofa DyinaChurnh ....... 937 - A Hundred Years of Mi..io08. D. L. WhyRin... AreWomin ......... 872 Leonard ......................... 64 AUSTRALIA, Civilising Without Chris- - At Our Own Doors. S. L. ....... 544 tianity in ...................... " 639 - Better New York. W. H. Tolman ...... 704 - Dark Comera of.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 319 - By Order of the Prophet. Alfred Henry 142 - Petition from Ialandeno in ............ 659 - Capt. Allen Gardiner................ 704 Australian Aboria:ines Decatlent. . . . . . . .. 959 - Child Life in Many Lands. H. Clay - Miaeion to South America. . . . . . . . . . .. 629 Trumbull .............•.......... 144 Austria. Loa VOIl Rom in•............ " 962 - Child Life in I\liMion Lands. R. E. Babiam, A Failure (a). S. G. WilBon ....91.207 Diflendorf. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 464 Bahaism (BabUtn).................... 91 -CbildrenoftheFo"",t.C. R. Youn•... 864 Baptist Convention at Cleveland. . . . . . .. 692 - China Martyrs of 1900, E. C. Forsyth .. 784 - Forward Movement ............... " 625 - China's Book of Martyrs, Luella Miner. 223 - Home .. i88ion...................... 66 - Development of Mu.lim Theology. D. - Miaaionary ......ine. Centenary.. . . .. 146 B.McDonald ..................... 784 - Southern S _................... 546 - Dr. Bamado. J. H. Babb ............. 464 Baron David and the Jews. F..ditOl'ial ..... 220 - Dux Cbristus. Wm. E. Griffis ......... 943 The Apoet\e to the (a). James I. - EvanKeliam, G. C. Morgan ........... 864 Good ............................ US - Evolution of My MiMion Views ....... 383 Baynao. Alfred H.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 631 - Fifteen Years Among the Topknot.. Beirut CoJlep, Model at St. Louis ....... 626 Mrs. l'nder... ood ............... 332.382 - 4 Press ............................. 871 - Fifty MiMionary Stories. Belle M. Belsian Treatment of Konco Natives (a). Brain ........................... 224 E. D.Morel ...................... 672 - Flight for Life. Ju. H. Roberto ..... " 144 Believe in Mi88ione. How to. • • . . . . . . . . .. 160 - For Chri.t in fáuh-Kien .............. 864 Benin. The City of Blood. (b) James - Famous Mi""ionariee of the Reformed JohDIIton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. S28 Church. J ..... J. Good ............... 224 Seq_t. to Mi""ion.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68 - Handbook of Modem Japan. Ernest Berea CoIlep. A Blo... at.. . . . . . . . . . . . .. 305 Clement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 223 - - and it. Mi88ion8 (a). D. L. Pierson .. 416 - Hi«her Hindui"", in Relation to Bedin Mi88ionary Society.. . . . . . . . . . . .. 787 Christianity. T. E. Slater ........... 222 Desant. "rs. on Idolatry ......•........ 562 Bible (A.....neall. BritisA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 -HoldingtheRopes, BelleM.&&in .... 784 - Indian and Chri.tian Opportunity. H. - Am.-iean Indian. .... . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 387 P. Beach.. .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303 - and the Mi88ionary (a). J. T. G..-y ... 117 - India'. Problem, KriMna or Chru.t. J. - for Queaha Indian8.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 787 P. Jon............................ 144 - in India. • • . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 709 - In Famine Land. J. E. Scott .......... 303 - - Japan ...•...................... 876 -Islam and the Oriental Churches, W. - -lAtin America (a). G. F. Arm8. .. .. 768 A. Shedd ........................ 883 Digitized by Google — Babism: A Failure (Used by permission of the curator)