Bahá'u'lláh and the New EraEsslemont, J. E. (John Ebenezer)
Religion
Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era
Esslemont, J. E. (John Ebenezer)
Bahai Faith; Bahá'u'lláh, 1817-1892
Return to Holy Land
He was then in His seventieth year, and His long and arduous labors,
culminating in these strenuous Western tours, had worn out His physical
frame. After His return He wrote the following pathetic Tablet to the
believers in East and West:—
Friends, the time is coming when I shall be no longer with you. I
have done all that could be done. I have served the Cause of
Bahá’u’lláh to the utmost of my ability. I have labored night and
day all the years of my life.
Oh, how I long to see the believers shouldering the
responsibilities of the Cause! Now is the time to proclaim the
Kingdom of Abhá (i.e. The Most Glorious!). Now is the hour of
union and concord! Now is the day of the spiritual harmony of the
friends of God! ...
I am straining my ears toward the East and toward the West, toward
the North and toward the South, that haply I may hear the songs of
love and fellowship raised in the meetings of the believers. My
days are numbered, and save this there remains none other joy for
me.
Oh, how I yearn to see the friends united, even as a shining
strand of pearls, as the brilliant Pleiades, as the rays of the
sun, the gazelles of one meadow!
The mystic nightingale is singing for them; will they not listen?
The bird of paradise is warbling; will they not hear? The Angel of
the Kingdom of Abhá is calling to them; will they not hearken? The
Messenger of the Covenant is pleading; will they not heed?
Ah! I am waiting, waiting to hear the glad news that the believers
are the embodiment of sincerity and loyalty, the incarnation of
love and amity and the manifestation of unity and concord!
Will they not rejoice my heart? Will they not satisfy my
yearnings? Will they not heed my pleadings? will they not fulfill
my hopes? Will they not answer my call?
I am waiting, I am patiently waiting!
The enemies of the Bahá’í Cause, whose hopes had risen high when the Báb
fell a victim to their fury, when Bahá’u’lláh was driven from His native
land and made a prisoner for life, and again at the passing of
Bahá’u’lláh—these enemies once more took heart when they saw the physical
weakness and weariness of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá after His return from His Western
travels. But again their hopes were doomed to disappointment. In a short
time ‘Abdu’l-Bahá was able to write:—
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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