The "lightnings," the "thunders," the
"earthquake" which must needs accompany the revelation of the "Ark of His
Testament," had all come to pass.

'Abdu'l-Baha's grief over so tragic a development, following so swiftly
upon His Father's ascension, was such that, despite the triumphs witnessed
in the course of His ministry, it left its traces upon Him till the end of
His days. The intensity of the emotions which this somber episode aroused
within Him were reminiscent of the effect produced upon Baha'u'llah by the
dire happenings precipitated by the rebellion of Mirza Yahya. "I swear by
the Ancient Beauty!," He wrote in one of His Tablets, "So great is My
sorrow and regret that My pen is paralyzed between My fingers." "Thou
seest Me," He, in a prayer recorded in His Will, thus laments, "submerged
in an ocean of calamities that overwhelm the soul, of afflictions that
oppress the heart... Sore trials have compassed Me round, and perils have
from all sides beset Me. Thou seest Me immersed in a sea of unsurpassed
tribulation, sunk into a fathomless abyss, afflicted by Mine enemies and
consumed with the flame of hatred kindled by My kinsmen with whom Thou
didst make Thy strong Covenant and Thy firm Testament..." And again in
that same Will: "Lord! Thou seest all things weeping over Me, and My
kindred rejoicing in My woes. By Thy glory, O my God! Even amongst Mine
enemies some have lamented My troubles and My distress, and of the envious
ones a number have shed tears because of My cares, My exile and My
afflictions." "O Thou the Glory of Glories!," He, in one of His last
Tablets, had cried out, "I have renounced the world and its people, and am
heart-broken and sorely afflicted because of the unfaithful. In the cage
of this world I flutter even as a frightened bird, and yearn every day to
take My flight unto Thy Kingdom."

Baha'u'llah Himself had significantly revealed in one of His Tablets--a
Tablet that sheds an illuminating light on the entire episode: "By God, O
people! Mine eye weepeth, and the eye of 'Ali (the Bab) weepeth amongst
the Concourse on high, and Mine heart crieth out, and the heart of
Muhammad crieth out within the Most Glorious Tabernacle, and My soul
shouteth and the souls of the Prophets shout before them that are endued
with understanding... My sorrow is not for Myself, but for Him Who shall
come after Me, in the shadow of My Cause, with manifest and undoubted
sovereignty, inasmuch as they will not welcome