but it was not the will of Providence that this should continue much
longer. A release was at hand.

It was the insurrection of Zanjan which changed the tone of the
courtiers and brought near to the Bab a glorious departure. Not, be
it observed, except indirectly, his theosophical novelties; the
penalty of death for deviations from the True Faith had long fallen
into desuetude in Persia, if indeed it had ever taken root there.
[Footnote: Gobineau, p. 262.] Only if the Kingdom of Righteousness
were to be brought in by the Bab by material weapons would this
heresiarch be politically dangerous; mere religious innovations did
not disturb high Court functionaries. But could the political leaders
any longer indulge the fancy that the Bab was a mere mystic dreamer?
Such was probably the mental state of Mirza Taki Khan when he wrote
from Tihran, directing the governor to summon the Bab to come once
more for examination to Tabriz. The governor of Azarbaijan at this
time was Prince Hamze Mirza.

The end of the Bab's earthly Manifestation is now close upon us. He
knew it himself before the event, [Footnote: _NH_, pp. 235,
309-311, 418 (Subh-i-Ezel).] and was not displeased at the
presentiment. He had already 'set his house in order,' as regards the
spiritual affairs of the Babi community, which he had, if I
mistake not, confided to the intuitive wisdom of Baha-'ullah. His
literary executorship he now committed to the same competent hands.
This is what the Baha'is History (_The Travellers Narrative_)
relates,--

'Now the Sayyid Bab ... had placed his writings, and even his ring
and pen-case, in a specially prepared box, put the key of the box in