hat
ye suffer not yourselves to become changed, for as ye change, most men
will, likewise, change. This, verily, is an injustice unto yourselves and
unto others.... Ye are even as a spring. If it be changed, so will the
streams that branch out from it be changed. Fear God, and be numbered with
the godly. In like manner, if the heart of man be corrupted, his limbs
will also be corrupted. And similarly, if the root of a tree be corrupted,
its branches, and its offshoots, and its leaves, and its fruits, will be
corrupted."

"Say: O concourse of divines!" He thus appeals to them, "Be fair, I adjure
you by God, and nullify not the Truth with the things ye possess. Peruse
that which We have sent down with truth. It will, verily, aid you, and
will draw you nigh unto God, the Mighty, the Great. Consider and call to
mind how when Muhammad, the Apostle of God, appeared, the people denied
Him. They ascribed unto Him what caused the Spirit [Jesus] to lament in
His Most Sublime Station, and the Faithful Spirit to cry out. Consider,
moreover, the things which befell the Apostles and Messengers of God
before Him, by reason of what the hands of the unjust have wrought. We
make mention of you for the sake of God, and remind you of His signs, and
announce unto you the things ordained for such as are nigh unto Him in the
most sublime Paradise and the all-highest Heaven, and I, verily, am the
Announcer, the Omniscient. He hath come for your salvation, and hath borne
tribulations that ye may ascend, by the ladder of utterance, unto the
summit of understanding.... Peruse, with fairness and justice, that which
hath been sent down. It will, verily, exalt you through the truth, and
will cause you to behold the things from which ye have been withheld, and
will enable you to quaff His sparkling Wine."

WORDS ADDRESSED TO MUSLIM ECCLESIASTICS

Let us now consider more particularly the specific references, and the
words directly addressed, to Muslim ecclesiastics by the Bab and
Baha'u'llah. The Bab, as attested by the Kitab-i-Iqan, has "specifically
revealed an Epistle unto the divines of every city, wherein He hath fully
set forth the character of the denial and repudiation of each of them."
Whilst in Isfahan, that time-honored stronghold of Muslim ecclesiasticism,
He, through the medium of its governor, Manu_ch_ihr _Kh_an, invited in
writing the divines of that city to engage in a contest with Him, in
order, as He expressed it, to "es