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submissiveness, and, on receiving such instruction, they conformed
their conduct and behavior thereto. Formerly exception
was taken to the words, deeds, demeanor, morals, and
conduct of this sect: now objection is made in Persia to their
tenets and spiritual state. Now this is beyond the power of
man, that he should be able by interference or objection to
change the heart and conscience, or meddle with the convictions
of anyone. For in the realm of conscience naught but the
ray of God's light can command, and on the throne of the
heart none but the pervading power of the King of Kings
should rule. Thus it is that one can arrest and suspend [the
action of] every faculty except thought and reflection; for a
man cannot even by his own volition withhold himself from
reflection or thought, nor keep back his musings and imaginings.
At all events the undeniable truth is this, that for nigh upon thirty-five years no action opposed to the government or prejudicial to the nation has emanated from this sect or been witnessed [on their part], and that during this long period, notwithstanding the fact that their numbers and strength are double what they were formerly, no sound has arisen from any place, except that every now and then learned doctors and eminent scholars (really for the extension of this report through the world and the awakening of men) sentence some few to death. For such interference is not destruction but edification when thou regardest the truth, which will not thereby become quenched and forgotten, but rather stimulated and advertised.
I will at least relate one short anecdote of what actually took
place. A certain person violently molested and grievously
injured a certain