Yet, notwithstanding all this, the light of spiritual life was not extinct in Persia. Here and there, amid the prevailing worldliness and superstition, could still be found some saintly souls, and in many a heart the longing for God was cherished, as in the hearts of Anna and Simeon before the appearance of Jesus. Many were eagerly awaiting the coming of a promised Messenger of God, and confident that the time of His advent was at hand. Such was the state of affairs in Persia when the Báb, the Herald of a new era, set all the country in commotion with His message. Early Life Mírzá ‘Alí Muḥammad, Who afterwards assumed the title of Báb (i.e. Gate), was born at _Sh_íráz, in the south of Persia, on the 20th of October 1819 A.D.(5) He was a Siyyid, that is, a descendant of the Prophet Muḥammad. His father, a well-known merchant, died soon after His birth, and He was then placed under the care of a maternal uncle, a merchant of _Sh_íráz, who brought Him up. In childhood He learned to read, and received the elementary education customary for children.(6) At the age of fifteen He went into business, at first with His guardian, and afterward with another uncle who lived at Bú_sh_ihr, on the shore of the Gulf of Persia. As a youth He was noted for great personal beauty and charm of manner, and also for exceptional piety, and nobility of character. He was unfailing in His observance of the prayers, fasts and other ordinances of the Muḥammadan religion, and not only obeyed the letter, but lived in the spirit of the Prophet’s teachings. He married when about twenty-two years of age. Of this marriage one son was born, who died while still an infant, in the first year of the Báb’s public ministry. Declaration On reaching His twenty-fifth year, in response to divine command, He declared that “God the Exalted had elected Him to the station of Bábhood.” In “A Traveller’s Narrative”(7) we read that:—“What he intended by the term Báb was this, that he was the channel of grace from some great Person still behind the veil of glory, who was the possessor of countless and boundless perfections, by whose will he moved, and to the bond of whose love he clung.”—A Traveller’s Narrative (Episode of the Báb), p. 3.