[250] Star, Feb. 7, 1914, p. 304.
[251] Star, Feb. 7, 1914, p. 298.
[252] "Glad Tidings," Tablets, p. 90.
[253] The Bab's body, at the time of his martyrdom at Tabriz, was thrown to the dogs. It was rescued, taken to Teheran and interred. After many years it was secretly transferred to Acca. The Bab's house in Shiraz was first of all a shrine, and pilgrimage to it is enjoined in the "Akdas." Another is the mausoleum over the grave of the martyrs at Teheran. Similarly at Ispahan ("A Year Among the Persians," p. 13). Abdul Baha seems to desire to increase reverence for shrines and inculcates such honour for the martyrs as will soon develop into superstition. In the "Visiting Tablets for Martyrs," he says (pp. 9-12): "Blessed is the one who attains to visit thy grave. Blessed is the forehead that is set against thy tomb. Blessed is the person who lights a lamp at thy resting-place." "I beg God to make thy sepulchre a mine of mercy, a depository of gifts, and to encompass it with manifold signs." A chant for the pilgrim begins: "O peerless martyr! Verily I salute thy pure dust and thy holy blessed tomb. The everlasting abode is for such as visit thy tomb."
[254] "Table Talks," pp. 13, 17.
[255] Rev. H. H. Jessup, D. D., refers to this incident as published in the Literary Digest (Outlook, Ibid., and "Fifty-three Years in Syria," p. 687). He said to Abbas Effendi, "An American woman has stated that she came to Haifa and when she entered your room she felt that she was in the presence of the very Son of God, the Christ, and that she held out her arms, crying, 'My Lord, my Lord,' and rushed to you, kneeling at your blessed feet sobbing like a child. Can this be right to accept worship?" "I left Abbas Effendi with the painful feeling that he was accepting divine honour from simple-minded women from America and receiving their gifts of gold without protest or rebuke."
[256] New York Outlook, June, 1901, pp. 45, 46.
[257] Mrs. Grundy, Ibid., p. 73.
[258] Page 212.
[259] See "Ten Days in the Light at Acca," pp. 71-73; "My Visit to Acca," p. 21; "In Galilee," p. 69; "Heavenly Vista," p. 22; "Daily Lessons," p. 80; "Flowers from Acca," p. 36; "Table Talks," p. 14.