se and serve Thy loved ones... O Lord, My
Lord! Hasten My ascension unto Thy sublime Threshold ... and My arrival at
the Door of Thy grace beneath the shadow of Thy most great mercy..."

Through the dreams He dreamed, through the conversations He held, through
the Tablets He revealed, it became increasingly evident that His end was
fast approaching. Two months before His passing He told His family of a
dream He had had. "I seemed," He said, "to be standing within a great
mosque, in the inmost shrine, facing the Qiblih, in the place of the Imam
himself. I became aware that a large number of people were flocking into
the mosque. More and yet more crowded in, taking their places in rows
behind Me, until there was a vast multitude. As I stood I raised loudly
the call to prayer. Suddenly the thought came to Me to go forth from the
mosque. When I found Myself outside I said within Myself: 'For what reason
came I forth, not having led the prayer? But it matters not; now that I
have uttered the Call to prayer, the vast multitude will of themselves
chant the prayer.'" A few weeks later, whilst occupying a solitary room in
the garden of His house, He recounted another dream to those around Him.
"I dreamed a dream," He said, "and behold, the Blessed Beauty
(Baha'u'llah) came and said to Me: 'Destroy this room.'" None of those
present comprehended the significance of this dream until He Himself had
soon after passed away, when it became clear to them all that by the
"room" was meant the temple of His body.

A month before His death (which occurred in the 78th year of His age, in
the early hours of the 28th of November, 1921) He had referred expressly
to it in some words of cheer and comfort that He addressed to a believer
who was mourning the loss of his brother. And about two weeks before His
passing He had spoken to His faithful gardener in a manner that clearly
indicated He knew His end to be nigh. "I am so fatigued," He observed to
him, "the hour is come when I must leave everything and take My flight. I
am too weary to walk." He added: "It was during the closing days of the
Blessed Beauty, when I was engaged in gathering together His papers which
were strewn over the sofa in His writing chamber in Bahji, that He turned
to Me and said: 'It is of no use to gather them, I must leave them and
flee away.' I also have finished My work. I can do nothing more. Therefore
must I leave it, and take My departure."

Till the very last day