from the world. He also (probably as _Bab_, 'Ali Muhammad having
assumed the rank of _Nukta_, Point) conferred new names (those of
prophets and saints) on the worthiest of the Babis, [Footnote: This is
a Muslim account. See _NH_, p. 303.] which suggests that this Hero of
God had felt his way to the doctrine of the equality of the saints in
the Divine Bosom. Of course, this great truth was very liable to
misconstruction, just as much as when the having all things in common
was perverted into the most objectionable kind of communism.
[Footnote: _NH_, p. 55.]

'Thus,' the moralist remarks, 'did they live happily together in
content and gladness, free from all grief and care, as though
resignation and contentment formed a part of their very nature.'

Of course, the new names were given with a full consciousness of the
inwardness of names. There was a spirit behind each new name; the
revival of a name by a divine representative meant the return of the
spirit. Each Babi who received the name of a prophet or an Imam
knew that his life was raised to a higher plane, and that he was to
restore that heavenly Being to the present age. These re-named
Babis needed no other recompense than that of being used in the
Cause of God. They became capable of far higher things than before,
and if within a short space of time the Bab, or his Deputy, was to
conquer the whole world and bring it under the beneficent yoke of the
Law of God, much miraculously heightened courage would be needed. I am
therefore able to accept the Muslim authority's statement. The
conferring of new names was not to add fuel to human vanity, but
sacramentally to heighten spiritual vitality.

Not all Babis, it is true, were capable of such insight. From the