While in Edinburgh ‘Abdu’l-Baha is reported to have mentioned
the following account to a group of Baha’is:
‘Abdu’l-Baha spoke to us about Miss Wardlaw
Ramsey, a Scottish Christian missionary in Akka. She was a most zealous
missionary; and though not friendly towards the Cause, the Master showed her
all manner of kindness because she was very faithful to her Christ.
‘Abdu’l-Baha would tell her: "Miss Ramsey! Do you know
how much I love you? Look in your heart and see how much you hate me; to that
extent I love you!" In response, she would try to turn her back upon Him.
While holding the Bible in her hand, she used to go from
house to house and read passages from it from morning till evening. For a long
time she used to go to ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s House and read passages from the Bible to
the members of the Household. They would listen to her most attentively every
time. Finally she thought that she had converted them. One day while she was
reading a passage, one of the members of the family asked her about the meaning
of the verse she had just read. Unable to provide an explanation, they told her
that this was a prophecy about the appearance of Baha’u’llah and asked her if
she could see it in that light. She became very upset and left the house.
She was very charitable. She spent all her funds in the work she was doing there. She had 12 girls educated at her own expense in the college in Beirut. She would often give money to the poor in Akka. For forty years she labored very faithfully and when she was 70 years old she decided to return to Scotland. She felt that she was too old to be of any use to her church in Akka. ‘Abdu’l-Baha gave her a farewell banquet.
The Master indicated that He liked her very much and hoped
to see her in Scotland so He could tell her: ‘See, how I have come to see you!’
(Adapted from an account related by ‘Abdu’l-Bah in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1913,
recorded by Ahmad Sohrab; ‘Abdu’l-Baha in Edinburgh – Sohrab’s Diary Letters’)
