,
,
Baha'u'llah's
followers were once more filled with sorrow at this fresh calamity
and cruel suffering which was inflicted on their beloved Master .
But Baha'u'llah assured them that the prison gates would be thrown
open and the Message of God would be taken from the Holy
Land
to all parts of the earth as foretold in the Holy
Books.
.
And
so it was to be. Baha'u'llah, His family, and many of His followers who
had refused to be separated from Him were made to bear terrible hardships
in the prison of Acre,
but in time, the unfriendly population of the penal colony , the uncouth
prison guards, and even the officers in charge were slowly affected by
the spirit of the teachings of the noble prisoner Who had made His home
among them. The orders which were repeatedly received in Acre
concerning the severe measures that were to
be enforced against Baha'u'llah were gradually disregarded
by
those in charge of the prison, and the travelers who arrived from far distances,
often
on
foot, to visit Baha'u'llah were no more turned away from the city gates.
The time
came
when, after nine years of confinement, the highest religious official in
Acre
begged Baha'u'llah to terminate His imprisonment within the city
walls
and go to live in the country where a beautiful
mansion
had been rented for Him.
,,
Mansion
of Bahji where in Baha'u'llah
lived
for the rest of his life
.
Despite
the fact that the government never withdrew the prison sentence, Baha'u'llah
lived the last years of His life under conditions very different from what
His enemies had hoped.
once
again, a stream of visitors, people of every class and descriptions, came
from
the surrounding countries to hear His teachings. And His
ever-increasing
followers, now known as Bahai's,
took the
life-giving
Message from the Holy Land to the world outside.
.
..
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