and fierce animosities engendered by
religious differences; they tolerate all creeds having a common end for
good, and seek to soften the hearts of those who persecute them, by
showing that they but wish for peace on earth and goodwill to all men.
They have a widespread organization throughout Persia, and many learned
Moullas and Syuds have secretly joined them. They have always been firm
in their faith, even unto death, rejecting the offer of life in return
for a declaration against the Bab, him whom they regard as the messenger
of good tidings.

An acknowledged authority on the Bab, the founder of this creed, has
written that he 'directed the thoughts and hopes of his disciples to
this world, not to an unseen world.' From this it was inferred he did
not believe in a future state, nor in anything beyond this life. Of
course, among the followers of a new faith, liberal and broad in its
views, continued fresh developments of belief must be expected; and with
reference to the idea that the Babis think not of a hereafter, I was
told that they believe in the re-incarnation of the soul, the good after
death returning to life and happiness, the bad to unhappiness. A Babi,
in speaking of individual pre-existence, said to me, 'You believe in a
future state; why, then, should you not believe in a pre-existent state?
Eternity is without beginning and without end,' This idea of
re-incarnation, generally affecting all Babis, is, of course, an
extension of the original belief regarding the re-incarnation of the
Bab, and the eighteen disciple-prophets who compose the sacred college
of the sect.

Some time ago signs began to appear of a general feeling that the
persecution of the Babis must cease. Many in high places see this, and
probably say it, and their sympathy becomes known. At one time a high
Mohammedan Church dignitary speaks regarding tolerance and progress in a
manner which seems to mean that he sees no great harm in the new sect.
Then a soldier, high in power and trust, refers to the massacres of
Babis in 1890 and 1891 as not only cruel acts, but as acts of insane
folly, 'for,' he said, 'to kill a Babi is like cutting down a
chenar-tree, from the root of which many stems spring up, and one
becomes many.' Then a Moulla, speaking of the necessity of a more humane
treatment of the Babis, and others of adverse creeds, says that he looks
for the time when all conditions of men will be equally treated, and all
creeds and class