A STRANGE DELUSION by E. J. B.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Feb 19, 1902

A STRANGE DELUSION.

By E. J. B.

A FRIEND sends a clipping from the Baltimore Morning Herald which gives an account of a large Bahaist meeting held in that city about the middle of January. Col. Nathaniel Ward Fitzgerald, of Washington, D. C., twice addressed the meeting. In his first address he presented “proofs of the fulfilment of the coming of Christ, taken from Daniel;” and in the next he took up his argument where he had dropped it, and presented more references confirming the belief of the followers of the Bab that the Son of God is now on earth in the person of Abbas Efendi, a prisoner in Syria. The religion he teaches is founded on the following data:—

In the year 1884, one Ali Mohammad made his appearance in Persia as an independent religious and philosophic teacher. His exposition of the teachings of Mohammed was to the orthodox Mohammedan at least most novel and startling. He claimed to teach nothing new, but simply to restore to its original purity the teachings of the “Prophet.” He called himself the “Bab” or “Gate,” a forerunner of one greater than he—a prototype of John the Baptist, as it were. Six years after his death one of his foremost disciples, Beh'u'llah, the “Blessed Perfection,” declared himself to be “him whom God should manifest,” and was so recognized by the majority of the “Babis.” For forty years he lived as the master and teacher of the “Babis,” and was an object of the deepest veneration on the part of his disciples. In 1892 he died, and according to a long-existing understanding, his mantle of authority and leadership descended upon his son, Abbas Efendi, who is to-day living in Syria, the acknowledged “master” of all “Babis.”

Massa Dulah and his son, who are disciples of Abbas Efendi, sent to this country to spread his message, were to have been present to speak at the meeting, but were detained in Washington. Advertisement of the meeting had been given out, however, and members of the sect residing in distant parts of this and adjoining States had come to hear the addresses. There were over a hundred present at the meeting.

It is not strange that Mohammedans should be carried away by this delusion; but it is strange that in this land of Bibles any should be found to believe, and even advocate, a doctrine so absurd. It is a sad but forcible illustration of the religious trend, showing the readiness of the human mind to accept the delusions Satan is preparing. E. J. B.