Bibliography 2: #BIB00122

Key	BIB00122
Reference type	Book
Title	Studies in the Evidences of Christianity
Author	Bulfinch, Stephen G.
Year	1869
Date	1869
Publisher	William V. Spencer
Place published	Boston
Issue	10.
Abstract	Rev. Bulfinch (b. 1809) died Oct. 14, 1870 at his residence in Cambridge, Mass at age 61, only one year after the publication of this work. He was a well known Unitarian clergyman and author, and son of Charles Bulfinch (1763-1844), chief architect of the National Capitol building at Washington D.C. Stephen's brother was Thomas Bulfinch of Bulfinch's Mythology fame. Drawing from Mirza Kazem-Beg's work in Journal Asiatique (1866), he dedicates a full chapter (VIII) on the Babi Faith: "Still more recently than the appearance of the Mormon sect in the United States, a form of religious belief has arisen in the opposite quarter of the globe, remarkable alike from the character of its founder, its sudden success, and its tragic extinction, if indeed it can yet be considered as extinguished... "...He [the Bab] taught that the Supreme Being comprised in himself all infinite attributes; that the law of God was to be obeyed in the spirit rather than in the letter; that nothing which God had made was in itself impure; and that woman is not the slave of man, but his equal.... To these tenets, another was added, more dwelt on in the new Koran than aught else, -- that in Ali Mohammed the twelfth Imam had returned to life, and that he and his followers were to rule the world. "Instead, however, of seeking or priding himself on these honors, Ali Mohammed seems to have conducted himself with modesty and with prudence. He was repeatedly arrested, and subjected to examination, once before an assembly of dignitaries... Before this court it is said that he appeared with great dignity, making no answer to some questions, but declaring himself to be the expected Imam. This account, which bears marks of being copied from the examination of Jesus before the Jewish high priest, is the less credible, as such a claim would have led to his immediate condemnation to death. As it was, the Persian government acted towards him at this time with a lenity hardly to be expected in a Mohammedan despotism." [An account follows of the miraculous circumstances surrounding the martyrdom of the Bab, then the following:] "...In various respects, the history of Mirza Ali Mohammed, surnamed the Bab, presents startling resemblances to that of the Savior. Claiming descent from an ancient prophet king, he was yet, like Jesus, born in a lowly station; still he was regarded by his followers as the sovereign of his nation and of mankind, whose advent had been long foretold and ardently expected. After leading a life of purity, and uttering words of wisdom, he was put to death, through the hostility of his own government... "While we admit, too, the elevation of sentiment apparently in some of the doctrines of Babism, we cannot forget that these are derived, by direct descent, from the Gospel. It is well remarked by our historian [Kazem Beg], that if Mohammedanism is regarded as a schismatic form of Christianity, Babism may be considered a purified branch of that schism...." "...we find in [Babism] ... nothing in character or in doctrine to supersede the Christian system, or eclipse the glory of its Founder."
Notes	"Babism:" pp. vii, 129-140.
Language	English
Keywords	CHRISTIANITY; BABI FAITH
Number of pages	vii, 274

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