Justice was travestied.

Pillage and robbery were of common occurrence.

Roads were bad and unsafe for travel.
Sanitary arrangements were shockingly defective.
Yet, notwithstanding all this, the light of spiritual life was not extinct in Persia.

Here and there, amid the prevailing worldliness and superstition, could still be found some saintly souls, and in many a heart the longing for God was cherished, as in the hearts of Anna and Simeon before the appearance of Jesus.

Many were eagerly awaiting the coming of a promised Messenger of God, and confident that the time of His advent was at hand.