The Portland daily press., 1869-01-12
Religious Intelligence.

The Chris Mirror, in summing up the
religious history of the past year. notices as one
of its marked features q movement TO popaldr-
ize religious effort. 1t says: "We use this
word in the good sense, of bringing the people
into the work of Christ; of throwing the res
possibility upon the membership of the church.
es. We lock upon this as one of the signs
of the times, and as an omen of good in the re-
lgious world"
The January number of "Hours at Home
has an interesting account of the sect of Bah
| lists, which has arisen in Persia during the
| past twenty five years, and now numbers its
| adherents by millions. Its rise and progress
have been as wonderful as the propagation of
Mohammedanism, upon which it is founded,
yet it seems to have attracted but slight atten-
tion. The founder of this sect was Mirza-Ai-
Mohammed, student of Kerbela, whose elc-
quence and devotion gained him the title of
the Select of God.' He proclaimed himselfas
the Bah, or Door through which alone divine-
knowledge could be obtained. The iunda-
mental doctrine of Babsm is the unity and
eternity of God, but unlike Islamism it admits
of emanations and incarnations. IN fact the
Babists believe nothing can exist except as an
emanation of divinity. "Verily, o my creator,
thou art one with me-" In the day of judg-
ment God will reabsorb into himself all that
| belongs to him. Great importance is attached
to marriage: polygamy is interdicted, though
| bigamy is allowed: the use of the veil is abol-
ished, and women are instructed that they
haye souls, which Tslamsm denies. Bah ap-
pears to have been we'll read in the works Of
Jewish and Christian writers as well as in those
European philosophers who are called inidel.
| He evidently aimed to introduce European
manners and modes of thought into Eastern
| life. He claimed to be the herald of a new dis
| pensation in which "men are to live not aecor
| ding to the letter, but the spirit of the law"
| and proposed to restore Islam in the same
| sense in which Christ restored Judaism. His
| theories have found many eloquent apostles
| and his sect has not been without its devoted
martyrs, whose blood has undoubtedly con-
tributed much to its wonderful growth.
| The New York Jewish Messenger denies
| that there is movement for the surrender of
the Jewish Sabbath, and says: "We assure our
readers of different religion, that there does
not exist in the whole camp of Israel the most
remote idea of superceding the day sanctifed
| by God and revelation, for one originating
from human beings. The Jewish Sabbath, the
seventh day of the week, is the palladium of
our religion and the safe guard of our institu-
tions its desecration-the greatest evil. 1t is
the bond of union, the connecting link be-
| tween God and Israel"
Mr.. 1. w. Newman and other liberal think
ers in England are moving for free religious
association there, similar to that organized at
| Boston Zion's Herald saws of those engaged
in this movement: "If any have denied the
faith, and arrayed themselves on the side Of
purest infdelity, as declared by Paul, and un-
derstood by the church in all ages, it is the
Free Religionists of to-day, whatever avowals
they may make to the contrary"
The Boston Pilot advises Catholic parents
to protest against the reading of the Scriptures
by their children at our common schools,