which could not be mistaken, served to confirm the fears and
misgivings that had assailed His companions. "I saw," He wrote in a
Tablet, "the Prophets and the Messengers gather and seat themselves around
Me, moaning, weeping and loudly lamenting. Amazed, I inquired of them the
reason, whereupon their lamentation and weeping waxed greater, and they
said unto me: 'We weep for Thee, O Most Great Mystery, O Tabernacle of
Immortality!' They wept with such a weeping that I too wept with them.
Thereupon the Concourse on high addressed Me saying: '...Erelong shalt
Thou behold with Thine own eyes what no Prophet hath beheld.... Be
patient, be patient.'... They continued addressing Me the whole night
until the approach of dawn." "Oceans of sorrow," Nabil affirms, "surged in
the hearts of the listeners when the Tablet of the Holy Mariner was read
aloud to them.... It was evident to every one that the chapter of
Ba_gh_dad was about to be closed, and a new one opened, in its stead. No
sooner had that Tablet been chanted than Baha'u'llah ordered that the
tents which had been pitched should be folded up, and that all His
companions should return to the city. While the tents were being removed
He observed: 'These tents may be likened to the trappings of this world,
which no sooner are they spread out than the time cometh for them to be
rolled up.' From these words of His they who heard them perceived that
these tents would never again be pitched on that spot. They had not yet
been taken away when the messenger arrived from Ba_gh_dad to deliver the
afore-mentioned communication from the governor."

By the following day the Deputy-Governor had delivered to Baha'u'llah in a
mosque, in the neighborhood of the governor's house, 'Ali Pa_sh_a's
letter, addressed to Namiq Pa_sh_a, couched in courteous language,
inviting Baha'u'llah to proceed, as a guest of the Ottoman government, to
Constantinople, placing a sum of money at His disposal, and ordering a
mounted escort to accompany Him for His protection. To this request
Baha'u'llah gave His ready assent, but declined to accept the sum offered
Him. On the urgent representations of the Deputy that such a refusal would
offend the authorities, He reluctantly consented to receive the generous
allowance set aside for His use, and distributed it, that same day, among
the poor.

The effect upon the colony of exiles of this sudden intelligence was
instantaneous and overwhelming. "That day," wrote an ey