XXV.

In such wise did the father threaten and wrathfully retire. But the

son entered his own bedchamber, and lifted up his eyes to the proper

judge of his cause, and cried out of the depth of his heart, "O Lord my

God, my sweet hope and unerring promise, the sure refuge of them that

are wholly given up to thee, with gracious and kindly eye look upon the

contrition of my heart, and leave me not, neither forsake me. But,

according to thine unerring pledge, be thou with me, thine unworthy and

sorry servant. Thee I acknowledge and confess, the maker and provider

of all creation. Therefore do thou thyself enable me to continue in

this good confession, until my dying breath: look upon me, and pity me;

and stand by and keep me unhurt by any working of Satan. Look upon me,

O King: for my heart is enkindled with longing after thee, and is

parched as with burning thirst in the desert, desiring thee, the well

of immortality. Deliver not to the wild beasts my soul that confesseth

thee: forget not the soul of the poor for ever; but grant me that am a

sinner throughout my length of days to suffer all things for thy name's

sake and in the confession of thee, and to sacrifice my whole self unto

thee. For, with thy might working in them, even the feeble shall wax

exceeding strong; for thou only art the unconquerable ally and merciful

God, whom all creation blesseth, glorified for ever and ever. Amen."

When he had thus prayed, he felt divine comfort stealing over his

heart, and, fulfilled with courage, he spent the whole night in prayer.

Meanwhile the king communed with Araches, his friend, as touching his

son's matters, and signified to him his son's sheer audacity and

unchangeable resolution. Araches gave counsel that he should, in his

dealings with him, show the utmost kindness and courtesy, in the hope,

perchance, of alluring him by flattering attentions. The day

following, the king came to his son, and sat down, and called him to

his side. He embraced and kissed him affectionately, coaxing him

gently and tenderly, and said, "O my darling and well-beloved son,

honour thou thy father's grey hairs: listen to my entreaty, and come,

do sacrifice to the gods; thus shalt thou win their favour, and receive

at their hands length of days, and the enjoyment of all glory and of an

undisputed kingdom, and happiness of every sort. Thus shalt thou be

well pleasing to me thy father throughout life and be honoured and

lauded of all men. It is a great count in the score of praise to be

obedient to thy father, especially in a good cause, and to gain the

goodwill of the gods. What thinkest thou, my son? Is it that I have

willingly declined from the right, and chosen to travel on the wrong

road: or that, from ignorance and inexperience of the good, I have

given myself to destruction? Well, if thou thinkest that I willingly

prefer the evil to the profitable, and choose death before life, thou

seemest to me, son, completely to have missed the goal in judging.

Dost thou not see to what discomfort and trouble I often expose myself

in mine expeditions against my foes, or when I am engaged in divers

other business for the public good, not sparing myself even hunger and

thirst, if need be, the march on foot, or the couch on the ground? As

for riches and money, such is my contempt and scorn thereof, that I

have at times ungrudgingly lavished all the stores of my palace, to

build mighty temples for the gods, and to adorn them with all manner of

splendour, or else to distribute liberal largess to my soldiers.

Possessing then, as I also do, this contempt of pleasure and this

courage in danger, what zeal would I not have devoted to contemning all

else, and winning my salvation, had I only found that the religion of

the Galileans were better than mine own? But, if thou condemnest me

for ignorance and inexperience of the good, consider how many sleepless

nights I have spent, with some problem before me, oft-times no very

important one, giving myself no rest until I had found the clear and

most apt solution.

Seeing then that I reckon that not even the least of these temporal

concerns is unworthy of thought until all be fitly completed for the

advantage of all and seeing that all (I ween) bear me witness that no

man under the sun can search out secrets with more diligence than I,

how then could I have considered divine things, that call for worship

and serious consideration, unworthy of thought, and not rather have

devoted all my zeal and might, all my mind and soul to the

investigation thereof, to find out the right and the true? Aye, and I

have laboriously sought thereafter. Many nights and days have I spent

thus: many wise and learned men have I called to my council; and with

many of them that are called Christians have I conversed. By untiring

enquiry and ardent search I have discovered the pathway of truth,

witnessed by wise men honoured for their intelligence and wit,--that

there is none other faith than ours. This is the path that we tread

to-day, worshipping the most puissant gods, and holding fast to that

sweet and delightsome life, given by them to all men, fulfilled with

all manner of pleasure and gladness of heart, which the leaders and

priests of the Galileans have in their folly rejected; so that, in hope

of some other uncertain life, they have readily cast away this sweet

light, and all those pleasures which the gods have bestowed on us for

enjoyment, and all the while know not what they say, nor whereof they

confidently affirm.

"But thou, dearest son, obey thy father, who, by diligent and honest

search, hath found the real good. Lo, I have shown thee that, neither

willingly, I no, nor by way of ignorance, have I failed of the good,

but rather that I have found and laid hold thereon. And I earnestly

desire that thou too shouldest not wander as a fool, but shouldest

follow me. Have respect then unto thy father. Dost thou not know how

lovely a thing it is to obey one's father, and please him in all ways?

Contrariwise, how deadly and cursed a thing it is to provoke a father

and despise his commands? As many as have done so, have come to a

miserable end. But be not thou, my son, one of their number. Rather

do that which is well pleasing to thy sire, and so mayest thou obtain

all happiness and inherit my blessing and my kingdom!"

The high-minded and noble youth listened to his father's windy

discourse and foolish opposition, and recognized therein the devices of

the crooked serpent, and how standing at his right hand he had prepared

a snare for his feet, and was scheming how to overthrow his righteous

soul, and hinder him of the prize laid up in store. Therefore the

prince set before his eyes the commandment of the Lord, which saith, "I

came not to send peace, but strife and a sword. For I am come to set a

man at variance against his father, and a daughter against her mother,

and so forth; and "He that loveth father or mother more than me is not

worthy of me"; and "Whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also

deny before my Father which is in heaven." When he had considered

these things, and fettered his soul with divine fear, and strengthened

it with longing desire and love, right opportunely he remembered the

saying of Solomon, "There is a time to love, and a time to hate; a time

of war, and a time of peace." First of all he prayed in silence, and

said, "Have mercy of me, Lord God, have mercy of me; for my soul

trusteth in thee; and under the shadow of thy wings I shall hope till

wickedness overpass. I shall cry to the highest God; to God that did

well to me," and the rest of the psalm.

Then said Ioasaph to the king, "To honour one's father, and to obey his

commands, and to serve him with good will and affection is taught us by

the Lord of us all, who hath implanted in our hearts this natural

affection. But, when loving devotion to our parents bringeth our soul

into peril, and separateth her from her Maker, then we are commanded,

at all costs, to cut it out, and, on no account, to yield to them that

would depart us from God, but to hate and avoid them, even if it be our

father that issueth the abominable command, or our mother, or our king,

or the master of our very life. Wherefore it is impossible for me, out

of devotion to my father, to forfeit God. So, prithee, trouble not

thyself, nor me: but be persuaded, and let us both serve the true and

living God, for the objects of thy present worship are idols, the works

of men's hands, devoid of breath, and deaf, and give nought but

destruction and eternal punishment to their worshippers.

"But if this be not thy pleasure, deal with me even as thou wilt: for I

am a servant of Christ, and neither flatteries nor torments shall

separate me from his love, as I told thee yesterday, swearing it by my

Master's name, and confirming the word with surest oath. But, whereas

thou saidest that thou didst neither wilfully do wrong, nor didst fail

of the mark through ignorance, but after much laborious enquiry hadst

ascertained that it was truly a good thing to worship idols and to be

riveted to the pleasures of the passions--that thou art wilfully a

wrong doer, I may not say. But this I know full well, and would have

thee know, O my father, that thou art surrounded with a dense mist of

ignorance, and, walking in darkness that may be felt, seest not even

one small glimmer of light. Wherefore thou hast lost the right

pathway, and wanderest over terrible cliffs and chasms. Holding

darkness for light, and clinging to death as it were life, thou deemest

that thou art well advised, and hast reflected to good effect: but it

is not so, not so. The objects of thy veneration are not gods but

statues of devils, charged with all their filthy power; nor is the

life, which thou pronouncest sweet and pleasant, and thinkest to be

full of delight and gladness of heart, such in kind: but the same is

abominable, according to the word of truth, and to be abhorred. For

for a time it sweeteneth and tickleth the gullet, but afterwards it

maketh the risings more bitter than gall (as said my teacher), and is

sharper than any two-edged sword.

"How shall I describe to thee the evils of this life? I will tell

them, and they shall be more in number than the sand. For such life is

the fishhook of the devil, baited with beastly pleasure, whereby he

deceiveth and draggeth his prey into the depth of hell. Whereas the

good things, promised by my Master, which thou callest 'the hope of

some other uncertain life,' are true and unchangeable; they know no

end, and are not subject to decay. There is no language that can

declare the greatness of yonder glory and delight, of the joy

unspeakable, and the everlasting gladness. As thou thyself seest, we

all die; and there is no man that shall live and not see death. But

one day we shall all rise again, when our Lord Jesus Christ shall come,

the Son of God, in unspeakable glory and dread power, the only King of

kings, and Lord of lords; to whom every knee shall bow, of things in

heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth. Such terror

shall he then inspire that the very powers of heaven shall be shaken:

and before him there shall stand in fear thousand thousands, and ten

thousand times ten thousand of Angels and Archangels, and the whole

world shall be full of fear and terror. For one of the Archangels

shall sound with the trump of God, and immediately the heavens shall be

rolled together as a scroll; and the earth shall be rent, and shall

give up the dead bodies of all men that ever were since the first man

Adam until that day. And then shall all men that have died since the

beginning of the world in the twinkling of an eye stand alive before

the judgement seat of the immortal Lord, and every man shall give

account of his deeds. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun;

they that believed in the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, and ended this

present life in good works. And how can I describe to thee the glory

that shall receive them at that day? For though I compare their

brightness and beauty to the light of the sun or to the brightest

lightning flash, yet should I fail to do justice to their brightness.

Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart

of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him, in

the kingdom of heaven, in the light which no man can approach unto, in

his unspeakable and unending glory.

"Such joys and such bliss shall the righteous obtain, but they that

have denied the only true God and not known their Maker and Creator,

but have worshipped foul devils, and rendered homage to dumb idols, and

loved the pleasures of this vain world, and, like swine, wallowed in

the mire of sinful lusts, and made their lives a headquarters for all

wickedness, shall stand naked and laid bare, downright ashamed and

downcast, pitiable in appearance and in fact, set forth for a reproach

to all creation. All their life in word, deed and thought shall come

before their faces. Then, after this bitter disgrace and unbearable

reproach, shall they be sentenced to the unquenchable and light-less

fire of Gehenna, unto the outer darkness, the gnashing of teeth and the

venomous worm. This is their portion, this their lot, in the which

they shall dwell together in punishment for endless ages, because they

rejected the good things offered them in promise, and, for the sake of

the pleasure of sin for a season, made choice of eternal punishment.

For these reasons--to obtain that unspeakable bliss, to enjoy that

ineffable glory, to equal the Angels in splendour, and to stand with

boldness before the good and most sweetest Lord, to escape those bitter

and unending punishments and that galling shame--time after time, were

it not worth men's while to sacrifice their riches and bodies, nay,

even their very lives? Who is so cowardly, who so foolish, as not to

endure a thousand temporal deaths, to escape eternal and everlasting

death, and to inherit life, blissful and imperishable, and to shine in

the light of the blessed and life-giving Trinity?"