man.' They retort, 'He is a sorcerer.' We say, 'Come, let us invoke God's curse on whomsoever is in error, leaving to Him the decision.' They reply, 'This is not permitted by our law.' We say, 'Let us kindle a fire and enter into the midst together.' They answer, 'You are mad.' We further say, 'Consider the godliness, piety and self-renunciation of those who believe.' They return us no answer." I propose to return the answer. 1. One characteristic of the Bahai leaders is _dishonesty in dealing with their history_. This sometimes takes the form of the suppression and concealment of documents, sometimes of the omission or perversion of essential facts or their presentation in such a way as to falsify history. In the writing of political history and in scheming for the triumph of a political party, we may expect crookedness in dealing with facts, but in the propagating of a new religion designed to supersede Christianity and Islam, and purporting to be an improvement on them, we do not expect to find dishonesty and misrepresentation. Yet this is exactly what we find, namely, "a readiness to ignore or suppress facts, writings or views (undoubtedly historical), which they regard as useless or hurtful to their aims."[385] When Mirza Husain Ali (Baha Ullah) started out as a "Manifestation," it was necessary to get rid of certain facts and beliefs held by Babis. He must reduce the Bab from his position as the Point of Divinity--the Lord of a new Dispensation, as well as supplant and supersede the Bab's successor, Subh-i-Azal.[386] Thoroughly to accomplish this object (after the Babis leaders had been put out of the way), the history was rewritten. While claiming that the Bab gave testimony to Baha and taking to themselves the glory of Babi heroism and martyrdoms, the Bahais relegated the "Bayan" and other "revelations" of the Bab, not yet a score of years old, to dust-covered oblivion.[387] Subh-i-Azal avers that they wilfully destroyed them. He writes[388] that thirty or more bound books of the Bab were given in trust by him to his relatives (Baha and his family) as trustees. "They carried off the trust," and "making strenuous efforts, got into their hands such of the books of the Point as were obtainable, with the idea of destroying them and rendering their own works attractive." Professor Browne[389] informs us that it was very difficult to obtain a Babi book from Persian Bahais and next to impossible to get a glimpse of one at Acca, where the Bahais had them concealed. The "holy, divine books" were shelved from motives of policy.