[154] Phelps, "Life of Abbas Effendi."
[155] Baha's "Words of Wisdom," p. 61. Notwithstanding these repudiations of Pantheism, nearly every investigator finds it at the basis of Bahai teaching.
[156] "Answered Questions," p. 23.
[157] Abdul Baha in Mrs. Grundy's "Ten Days in Acca."
[158] Ibid., p. 61: "The Blessed Perfection said in His Tablets that once He was Abraham, once Moses, once Jesus, once Mohammed and once the Bab. Baha Ullah is all the prophets, no matter by what name he chooses to call himself."
[159] "Bahai Proofs," p. 209.
[160] Pages 14-15.
[161] "Answered Questions," pp. 199-201. Mr. Sprague says: "The Bahai Faith teaches that the Universal Spirit, which is God, has manifested itself to every race at some time or other, and that it comes again and again, like the spring, to make all things new" ("A Year in India," p. viii).
[162] "Ikan," p. 175.
[163] "Bahai Proofs," pp. 156-160. At the time of Azal there was a whole "galaxy" of Manifestations. Baha wishes to stop the claimants, so he declares that none is to be expected "for a thousand or thousands of years." Persia has had numerous incarnations, so-called. They were found among the Ismielis, Assassins, Ali-Allahis and all the Ghulat. The veiled Prophet Mukanna, Babak and many pretenders have proclaimed themselves God. In truth Persia never lacks for an incarnation or two. One of these, of the Ali-Allahi sect, arrived in Tabriz some years ago, and made an appointment to visit me at three o'clock P. M. My somavar was set to boiling and I awaited his arrival. But he failed to keep his engagement because the Governor-General, the Amir-i-Nizam, heard of his presence in the city, and this God fled, forgetting to send me word not to expect him.