CHAPTER XXI
The Passing of Abdu'l- Baha
Abdu'l- Baha's great work was now ended. The historic Mission with which His Father had, twenty- nine years previously, invested Him had been gloriously consummated. A memorable chapter in the history of the first Baha'i century had been written. The Heroic Age of the Baha'i Dispensation, in which He had participated since its inception, and played so unique a role, had drawn to a close. He had suffered as no disciple of the Faith, who had drained the cup of martyrdom, had suffered, He had labored as none of its greatest heroes had labored. He had witnessed triumphs such as neither the Herald of the Faith nor its Author had ever witnessed. (309:1)

At the close of His strenuous Western tours, which had called forth the last ounce of His ebbing strength, He had written: "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 Baha'u'llah to the utmost of My ability. I have labored night and day all the years of My life. O how I long to see the believers shouldering the responsibilities of the Cause!... My days are numbered, and save this there remains none other joy for me." Several years before He had thus alluded to His passing: "O ye My faithful loved ones! Should at any time afflicting events come to pass in the Holy Land, never feel disturbed or agitated. Fear not, neither grieve. For whatsoever thing happeneth will cause the Word of God to be exalted, and His Divine fragrances to be diffused." And again: "Remember, whether or not I be on earth, My presence will be with you always." "Regard not the person of Abdu'l- Baha," He thus counselled His friends in one of His last Tablets, "for He will eventually take His leave of you all; nay, fix your gaze upon the Word of God... The loved ones of God must arise with such steadfastness that should, in one moment, hundreds of souls even as Abdu'l- Baha Himself be made a target for the darts of woe, nothing whatsoever shall affect or lessen their ... service to the Cause of God." (309:2)

In a Tablet addressed to the American believers, a few days before He passed away, He thus vented His pent- up longing to depart from this world: "I have renounced the world and the people thereof... In the cage of this world I flutter even as a frightened bird, and yearn every day to take My flight unto Thy Kingdom. Ya Baha'u'l- Abha! Make Me drink of the cup of sacrifice, and set Me free." He revealed a prayer less than six months before His ascension in honor of a kinsman of the Bab, and in it wrote: "`O Lord! My bones are weakened, and the hoar hairs glisten on My head ... and I have now reached old age, failing in My powers.'... No strength is there left in Me wherewith to arise 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..." (309:3)

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