torted, "followed My counsels, the
affairs of the government would not have reached so critical a stage."
Mirza Aqa _Kh_an was thereupon reminded of the conversation he had had
with Him on the occasion of the Bab's martyrdom, when he had been warned
that "the flame that has been kindled will blaze forth more fiercely than
ever." "What is it that you advise me now to do?" he inquired from
Baha'u'llah. "Command the governors of the realm," was the instant reply,
"to cease shedding the blood of the innocent, to cease plundering their
property, to cease dishonoring their women, and injuring their children."
That same day the Grand Vizir acted on the advice thus given him; but any
effect it had, as the course of subsequent events amply demonstrated,
proved to be momentary and negligible.

The relative peace and tranquillity accorded Baha'u'llah after His tragic
and cruel imprisonment was destined, by the dictates of an unerring
Wisdom, to be of an extremely short duration. He had hardly rejoined His
family and kindred when a decree from Nasiri'd-Din _Sh_ah was communicated
to Him, bidding Him leave the territory of Persia, fixing a time-limit of
one month for His departure and allowing Him the right to choose the land
of His exile.

The Russian Minister, as soon as he was informed of the Imperial decision,
expressed the desire to take Baha'u'llah under the protection of his
government, and offered to extend every facility for His removal to
Russia. This invitation, so spontaneously extended, Baha'u'llah declined,
preferring, in pursuance of an unerring instinct, to establish His abode
in Turkish territory, in the city of Ba_gh_dad. "Whilst I lay chained and
fettered in the prison," He Himself, years after, testified in His Epistle
addressed to the Czar of Russia, Nicolaevitch Alexander II, "one of thy
ministers extended Me his aid. Whereupon God hath ordained for thee a
station which the knowledge of none can comprehend except His knowledge.
Beware lest thou barter away this sublime station." "In the days," is yet
another illuminating testimony revealed by His pen, "when this Wronged One
was sore-afflicted in prison, the minister of the highly esteemed
government (of Russia)--may God, glorified and exalted be He, assist
him!--exerted his utmost endeavor to compass My deliverance. Several times
permission for My release was granted. Some of the 'ulamas of the city,
however, would prevent it. Finally, My freedom was gained thr