BahÃĄâ•Žuâ•ŽllÃĄh and the New Era - Knowledge Rush

74 Baháâuâlláh and the New Erathey took the command of God for a mockery, a sport, and aplaything; and they think that they do well, and that they areharboured in the citadel of security. The matter is not as theysuppose: to-morrow they shall see what they [now] deny.We are about to shift from this most remote place of banishment[Adrianople] unto the prison of Acre. And, accordingto what they say, it is assuredly the most desolate of the citiesof the world, the most unsightly of them in appearance, themost detestable in climate, and the foulest in water; it is asthough it were the metropolis of the owl; there is not heardfrom its regions aught save the sound of its hooting. And in itthey intend to imprison the servant, and to shut in our facesthe doors of leniency and take away from us the good thingsof the life of the world during what remaineth of our days.By God, though weariness should weaken me, and hungershould destroy me, though my couch should be made of thehard rock and my associates of the beasts of the desert, I willnot blench, but will be patient, as the resolute and determinedare patient, in the strength of God, the King of Pre-existence,the Creator of the nations; and under all circumstances I givethanks unto God. And we hope of His graciousness (exaltedis He) ... that He will render [all men’s] faces sincere towardHim, the Mighty, the Bounteous. Verily He answereth himwho prayeth unto Him, and is near unto him who calleth onHim. And we ask Him to make this dark calamity a bucklerfor the body of His saints, and to protect them thereby fromsharp swords and piercing blades. Through affliction hathHis light shone and His praise been bright unceasingly: thishath been His method through past ages and bygone times. ATraveller’s Narrative (Episode of the Báb), pp. 145–147.