Leading Articles in the Reviews. 



87 



BEHAISM. 



In the Xorth Ainericau Review Mr. James T. Bixby 

 tells us what Behaism is. He says it is in its origin 

 an oute;ro\vth of ISabiism. The man afterwards railed 

 the Bab. or Gateway of Revelation, was Mirza Ali 

 Muhammad, born in i8io at .Shiraz. He was a self- 

 m ide business man, but was very devout and upright, 

 and found time to attend the lectures of the leader of 

 the Shaykhi School. Seyyid Kazim. When this leader 

 died, Mirza Ali Muhammad assumed the headship. 

 Previously considered illiterate, he now improvised 

 Arabic poems, which led him to be proclaimed as the 

 long-expected Bab. In 1844 he announced himself to 

 the pilgrims at Mecca as the forerunner of the Imam- 

 Mahdi. He denounced the vices of the clergy, and was 

 said to have performed wonderful miracles. He was 

 imprisoned by the authorities, then he was declared 

 himself to be the long-expected Imam-Mahdi. 



A WONDERFUL DE.4TH. 



His followers multiplied. They renounced the 

 outward forms of Islam ; repression resulted in insur- 

 rection . — 



The Babis resisted the Government troops with amazing 

 heroism ; ami when arrested, tortured, and executed they 

 endured martyrdom with the most pathetic fortitude. The 

 heresy spread more and more. So the stupid Prime Minister 

 thought to stamp it out for good and all by nutting the Bab 

 himself to death. Then a most dramatic thing happened, 

 almost one of the great miracles of history. The Bab, after having 

 endured the worst indignities and cruelties with Christ-like 

 patience and fidelity, was at length hung up by ropes against the 

 brick wall of the military barracks to be shot to death. 



The second volley was fired at the Bab. When the smoke 

 rolled away, wonder of wonders ! The Bab had disappeared. 

 The people cried, " lie has gone up to heaven." The officers 

 were beside themselves. Was it a trick or a miracle? .\t 

 length they found him alive and calm in the guard-room, 

 serenely writing on the wall a stanza breathing a spirit of 

 dauntless courage. The soldiers ran a sword into him and then 

 hung him up again on the wall, and by another volley ended his 

 mortal life. 



In 1852 three Itabis tried to assassinate the Sh.ah. Because of 

 this hundreds of innocent fellow-believers were condemned to 

 death, which they met most nobly. The cruelties and tortures 

 which the liabis suffered at this time are only paralleled by 

 those inflicted on the early Christians in Nero's time ; and the 

 heroism and martyr faith and fortitude of the liabis were as 

 lu'troos as those of any Christian martyr. 



THE FIRST SUCCESSOR. 



The Bab's first successor, Subh-i-Ezel, after fourteen 

 vears' rule, was replaced by his half-brother, .Mirza 

 Huscvn .Mi. His Arabic poetry was accepted as proof 

 of his beinn the revelation of the perfect divinity, and 

 he was lallcd henceforth the Beha'u'Uah, or simply 

 the Beha, of whom the liab was only a precursor. After 

 obtaining the undivided headship of his sect, he lived 

 twenty ye.irs at Akka, writing the Scriptures of the 

 faith. He died in 1892 at the age of seventy-five. 



THE PRESENT HEAD. 



His son Abbas has succeeded him. The writer 

 says : — 



In the brief penonal acquaintance with the head of the new 

 faith, with which I have been honoureil, .Xbbos has imprcsMd 



me as a inan 01 great mental ability, tact, and persuasive 

 power J friendly in disposition, aftable in his manners, and 

 amiable and progressive in his spirit. He is wisely putting the 

 emphasis in the Behai community more and more on those 

 great principles of international fellowship and friendly rela- 

 tions between diverse faiths and races that best realise the 

 essence of the Christian spirit. Moreover, he has practically 

 exemplified these principles in his own pacific conduct and 

 charitable activities. The descriptions that visitors to Akka 

 have given of his daily personal benefactions are, indeed, 

 beautiful and impressive. The warm welcome and cordial 

 greetings which he has received here have been most credit- 

 able to the breadth and kindliness uf American Christianity. 

 THE CREED. 



Mr. Bixby thus describes the chief doctrines of 

 Behaism : — 



What are the chief doctrines of Behaism ? First, that of the 

 Divine Unity, the Self-Existent One ; from him both the 

 worlds and humanity emanate. A. favourite name by which 

 the Behais call themselves is " The Unitarians." As men 

 cannot know the Eternal Invisible Essence, there occur from 

 time to time manifestations or mirrors of the Primal Will. .\\\ 

 the great prophets and sages and their revelations were words 

 of God. Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad were each 

 successively more full of grace and truth than his predecessor. 

 But each was an incomplete Manifestation. Beha fulfilled them 

 with a higher and fuller Revelation of the Divine Unity not to 

 be improved upon for thousands of years. 



The chief reforms of Beha put first the abolition of 

 religious warfare and the promotion of the " most 

 great peace." 



A MODERN WIXCKELREID. 



In Cornhill for [uly Taprell Dorling describes very 

 vividly a scene in the Russo-Japanese war. The 

 Japanese troops had assaulted again and again in vain 

 the Russian earthworks at the top of a hill. The 

 Japanese major has been shot down, and the second 

 lieutenant takes command. He prepares his troops for 

 yet another charge : — 



The Second Lieutenant meanwhile is doing a most peculiar 

 thing, for, calling to one of his men, he tells him to bring eight 

 or nine hand-grenades. The soldier obeys, and the officer, 

 divesting himself of his sword and other accoutrements, fastens 

 them at equal intervals round his body with a length of cord, 

 taking care to bring the ends of the long flexible fuses to the 

 front, lie then joins these together so that they may all be 

 ignited at once, and, beckoning to the soldier, gives him some 

 instruction in a low voice. • 



Again the crashing volleys ring out, and again (he casualties 

 occur as before, but the Second Lieutenant and his attendant 

 soldier — the former puffing at a cigarette — are not touched, and 

 reach the Russian trench-line together. The officer gives one 

 la.st cheer to urge on his men, and then presses the lighted end 

 of the cigarette well into the priming of the fuses at his waist. 

 Satisfying himself that they are well alight, he lakes a flying 

 leap on to the bristling bayonets below, impaling himself, as he 

 does so, upon as many of llieir |X)ints as he can gather into his 

 body. Id another instant, and before the surprised Russians 

 can withdraw their weapons, there is a thundering report, and 

 bits of flesh from dismeml)ercd human bodies are flung upwards 

 by the force of the explosion, while a rain of blowl ami particles 

 of flesh bespatters all those in the vicinity. Of the heroic 

 Japanese officer there i» no trace ; but by converting his lo<ly 

 into a living grenade he has killed a dozen of the enemy, and 

 into the gap thus foinicil his men tumble pell-mell. Within 

 twenty-four hours the hill for which Ihey have been fighting, ihe 

 key to the position, is in the hands of the Japanese. The Rising 

 Sun banner bos once mure been triumphant. 



