In His letter to the _Sh_ah He powerfully pleaded the cause of the oppressed Babs and asked to be brought face to face with those who had instigated their persecution.

Needless to say, this request was not complied with; Badi, the young and devoted Baha'i who delivered the letter of Baha'u'llah, was seized and martyred with fearful tortures, hot bricks being pressed on his flesh! In the same letter Baha'u'llah gives a most moving account of His own sufferings and longings:-- O King, I have seen in the way of God what no eye hath seen and no ear hath heard.

Friends have disclaimed me; ways are straitened unto me; the pool of safety is dried up; the plain of ease is [scorched] yellow.

How many calamities have descended, and how many will descend! I walk advancing toward the Mighty, the Bounteous, while behind me glides the serpent.

My eyes rain down tears until my bed is drenched; but my sorrow is not for myself.
By God, my head longeth for the spears for the love of its Lord, and I never pass by a tree but my heart addresseth it [saying], "O would that thou wert cut down in my name and my body were crucified upon thee in the way of my Lord;" yea, because I see mankind going astray in their intoxication, and they know it not: they have exalted their lusts, and put aside their God, as though they took the command of God for a mockery, a sport, and a plaything; and they think that they do well, and that they are harboured in the citadel of security.