It was, in fact, an ecclesiastical crisis, as the authors of the _Traveller's Narrative_, as well as the Ezelite historian, distinctly recognize. Baha-'ullah, too,--to give him his nobler name--endorses this view when he says, 'Then, in secret, the Sayyid of Isfahan circumvented him, and together they did that which caused a great calamity.' It was, therefore, indeed a crisis, and the chief blame is laid on Sayyid Muhammad. [Footnote: _TN_, p. 94. 'He (i.e. Sayyid Muhammad) commenced a secret intrigue, and fell to tempting Mirza Yahya, saying, "The fame of this sect hath risen high in the world; neither dread nor danger remaineth, nor is there any fear or need for caution before you."'] Subh-i-Ezel is still a mere youth and easily imposed upon; the Sayyid ought to have known better than to tempt him, for a stronger teacher was needed in this period of disorganization than the Ezelites could produce. Mirza Yahya was not up to the leadership, nor was he entitled to place himself above his much older brother, especially when he was bound by the tie of gratitude. 'Remember,' says Baha-'ullah, 'the favour of thy master, when we brought thee up during the nights and days for the service of the Religion. Fear God, and be of those who repent. Grant that thine affair is dubious unto me; is it dubious unto thyself?' How gentle is this fraternal reproof!
There is but little more to relate that has not been already told in the sketch of Baha-'ullah. He was, at any rate, harmless in Cyprus, and had no further opportunity for religious assassination. One cannot help regretting that his sun went down so stormily. I return therefore to the question of the honorific names of Mirza Yahya, after which I shall refer to the singular point of the crystal coffin and to the moral character of Subh-i-Ezel.
Among the names and titles which the Ezelite book called _Eight Paradises_ declares to have been conferred by the Bab on his young disciple are Subh-i-Ezel (or Azal), Baha-'ullah, and the strange title _Mir'at_ (Mirror). The two former--'Dawn of Eternity' and 'Splendour of God'--are referred to elsewhere. The third properly belongs to a class of persons inferior to the 'Letters of the Living,' and to this class Subh-i-Ezel, by his own admission, belongs. The title Mir'at, therefore, involves some limitation of Ezel's dignity, and its object apparently is to prevent Subh-i-Ezel from claiming to be 'He whom God will make manifest.' That is, the Bab in his last years had an intuition that the eternal day would not be ushered into existence by this impractical nature.