wonder what became of her. If Naaman did what he ought, he sent her back
to her home, and gave her all the gold and silver he had offered to
Elisha. I am quite inclined to believe this for several reasons. Naaman
was a _reasonable_ man. When he was told to "go and wash himself seven
times in Jordan," he was surprised and angry, because it was so
different from what he had expected, and because he thought it was an
insult to his own great rivers. But when his servants reminded him that
it was just as easy to do a little thing as a great thing, he saw the
wisdom of it, and let good sense triumph over pride. He was also a
_generous_ man, as the gifts he offered to Elisha show. And he was
_conscientious_, or he would not have asked Elisha about bowing down in
the temple of Rimmon as a part of his duty to the king. All through he
showed himself _grateful_. Yes; I think he went back to Syria not only
with "the flesh of a little child," but with a child's heart. And
because he was reasonable and generous and conscientious and grateful,
he did not forget the little maid who was at the bottom of the whole
affair. He owed quite as much to her as to Elisha; for people who start
good enterprises deserve more praise and reward than those who carry
them out. So, when he reached home and met his wife and children--why,
it was almost like coming back from the dead!--his first thought must
have been of the little maid. We can imagine the great Naaman taking her
in his arms with tears, and saying, "What can I do for you, my little
maid? Tell me what you most want, and I will give it to you, even if it
is the half of my possessions." We know that Eastern princes often said
such things when their fancy or their gratitude was deeply stirred; they
gave full course to all their feelings, good and bad. Perhaps she had
become fond of Naaman's wife, and would like to stay with her. Perhaps
they told her they would adopt her, and clothe her with rich damask and
jewels of gold and silver. But I doubt if she was a child who cared more
for such things than for her parents and her home. And as she heard the
story of Naaman's cure, and of Elisha and the Jordan, her mind went back
to her native land and to her home, and a great longing filled her
heart to see it again, and to live the old life with her parents and
brothers and sisters. The Jews do not easily forget their country nor
their families; and this little maid was a true Jewess. It might be a
fine thing to live in a palace and wear jewels, but she would rather go
home, and tend the sheep and goats, and pick the grapes, and go to the
fountain for water. Perhaps she had lived on the slope of Hermon, where
the dew fell heavily every night, and the brooks ran full all summer;
for Naaman's march home led near it.
We found her in Damascus a slave; but we will leave her at home among
the vines and flowers and kids, with father and mother and mates, for
sh'e was a child who lived in her affections rather than in her
ambitions.
The chief thing she teaches us is the beauty and blessedness of
returning good for evil. Long before Christ's day she was Christ's own
child; for she loved her enemies, and prayed for those who had
persecuted her.
HERE FOLLOWETH THE HISTORY OF JOB
_Read on the first Sunday of September_
There was a man in the land of Uz named Job, and this man was simple,
rightful and dreading God, and going from all evil. He had seven sons
and three daughters, and his possession was seven thousand sheep, three
thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, five hundred asses, and his
family and household passing much and great. He was a great man and rich
among all the men of the orient. And his sons went daily each to other
house making great feasts, ever each one as his day came, and they sent
for their three sisters for to eat and drink with them. When they had
thus feasted each other, Job sent to them and blessed and sanctified
them, and rising every day early, he offered sacrifices for them all,
saying: Lest my children sin and bless not God in their hearts. And thus
did Job every day.
On a day when the sons of God were tofore our Lord, Satan came and was
among them, to whom our Lord said: Whence comest thou? Which answered, I
have gone round about the earth and through walked it. Our Lord said to
him: Hast thou not considered my servant Job, that there is none like
unto him in the earth, a man simple, rightful, dreading God, and going
from evil? To whom Satan answered: Doth Job dread God idly? If so were
that thou overthrewest him, his house and all his substance round about,
he should soon forsake thee. Thou hast blest the work of his hands, and
his possession is increased much in the earth, but stretch out thy hand
a little, and touch all that he hath in possession, and he shall soon
grudge and not bless thee. Then said our Lord to Satan: Lo! all that
which he owneth and hath in possession, I will it be in thy hand and
power, but on his person ne body set not thy hand. Satan departed and
went from the face of our Lord. On a day as his sons and daughters ate,
and drank wine, in the house of the oldest brother, there came a
messenger to Job which said: The oxen eared in the plough and the ass
pastured in the pasture by them, and the men of Sabea ran on them, and
smote thy servants, and slew them with sword, and I only escaped for to
come and to show it to thee. And whiles he spake came another and said:
The fire of God fell down from heaven and hath burned thy sheep and
servants and consumed them, and I only escaped for to come and show it
to thee. And yet whiles he spake came another and said: The Chaldees
made three hosts and have enveigled thy camels and taken them, and have
slain thy servants with sword, and I only escaped for to bring thee
word. And yet he speaking another entered in and said: Thy sons and
daughters, drinking wine in the house of thy first begotten son,
suddenly came a vehement wind from the region of desert and smote the
four corners of the house, which falling oppressed thy children, and
they be all dead, and I only fled for to tell it to thee. Then Job
arose, and cut his coat, and did do shave his head, and falling down to
the ground, worshipped and adored God, saying: I am come out naked from
the womb of my mother and naked shall return again thereto. Our Lord
hath given and our Lord hath taken away, as it hath pleased our Lord, so
it is done, the name of our Lord be blessed. In all these things Job
sinned not with his lips, ne spake nothing follily against our Lord, but
took it all patiently.
After this it was so that on a certain day when the children of God
stood tofore our Lord, Satan came and stood among them, and God said to
him: Whence comest thou? To whom Satan answered: I have gone round the
earth, and walked through it. And God said to Satan, Hast thou not
considered my servant Job that there is no man like him in the earth, a
man simple, rightful, dreading God, and going from evil, and yet
retaining his innocency? Thou hast moved me against him that I should
put him to affliction without cause. To whom Satan said: Skin for skin,
and all that ever a man hath he shall give for his soul. Nevertheless,
stretch thine hand and touch his mouth and his flesh, and thou shalt see
that he shall not bless thee. Then said God to Satan: I will well that
his body be in thine hand, but save his soul and his life. Then Satan
departed from the face of our Lord and smote Job with the worst blotches
and blains from the plant of his foot, unto the top of his head, which
was made like a lazar [leper] and was cast out and sat on the dunghill.
Then came his wife to him and said: Yet thou abidest in thy simpleness,
forsake thy God and bless him no more, and go die. Then Job said to her:
Thou hast spoken like a foolish woman; if we have received and taken
good things of the hand of our Lord, why shall we not sustain and suffer
evil things? In all these things Job sinned not with his lips. Then
three men that were friends of Job, hearing what harm was happed and
come to Job, came ever each one from his place to him, that one was
named Eliphas the Temanite, another Bildad the Shuhite, and the third,
Zophar Naamathite. And when they saw him from far they knew him not, and
crying they wept. They came for to comfort him, and when they considered
his misery they tare their clothes and cast dust on their heads, and sat
by him seven days and seven nights, and no man spake to him a word,
seeing his sorrow. Then after that Job and they talked and spake
together of his sorrow and misery, of which S. Gregory hath made a great
book called: The morals of S. Gregory, which is a noble book and a great
work.
But I pass over all the matters and return unto the end, how God
restored Job again to prosperity. It was so that when these three
friends of Job had been long with Job, and had said many things each of
them to Job, and Job again to them, our Lord was wroth with these three
men and said to them: Ye have not spoken rightfully, as my servant Job
hath spoken. Take ye therefore seven bulls and seven wethers and go to
my servant Job and offer ye sacrifice for you. Job my servant shall pray
for you. I shall receive his prayer and shall take his visage. They went
forth and did as our Lord commanded them. And our Lord beheld the visage
of Job, and saw his penance when he prayed for his friends. And our Lord
added to Job double of all that Job had possessed. All his brethren came
to him, and all his sisters, and all they that tofore had known him, and
ate with him in his house, and moved their heads upon him, and comforted
him upon all the evil that God had sent to him. And each of them gave
him a sheep and a gold ring for his ears. Our Lord blessed more Job in
his last days than he did in the beginning. And he had then after
fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen,
one thousand asses. And he had seven sons and three daughters. And the
first daughter's name was Jemima, the second Kezia, and the third
Keren-happuch. There was nowhere found in the world so fair women as
were the daughters of Job. Their father Job gave to them heritage among
their brethren, and thus Job by his patience gat so much love of God,
that he was restored double of all his losses. And Job lived after, one
hundred and forty years, and saw his sons and the sons of his sons unto
the fourth generation, and died an old man, and full of days.
THE DESTRUCTION OF SENNACHERIB
The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold,
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold,
And the sheen of their spears was like stars on the sea,
When the blue wave rolls nightly on deep Galilee.
Like the leaves of the forest when summer is green,
That host with their banners at sunset were seen;
Like the leaves of the forest when autumn hath blown,
That host on the morrow lay wither'd and strown.
For the Angel of Death spread his wings on the blast,
And breathed in the face of the foe as he pass'd;
And the eyes of the sleepers wax'd deadly and chill,
And their hearts but once heaved, and forever grew still.
And there lay the steed with his nostril all wide,
But through it there roll'd not the breath of his pride:
And the foam of his gasping lay white on the turf,
And cold as the spray of the rock-beating surf.
And there lay the rider, distorted and pale,
With the dew on his brow, and the rust on his mail;
And the tents were all silent, the banners alone,
The lances unlifted, the trumpet unblown.
And the widows of Ashur are loud in their wail,
And the idols are broke in the temple of Baal,
And the might of the Gentile, unsmote by the sword,
Hath melted like snow in the glance of the Lord!
_--Lord Byron_
HERE FOLLOWETH THE HISTORY OF TOBIT
_Which is read the third Sunday of September_
Tobit of the tribe and of the city of Nephthali, which is in the
overparts of Galilee upon Aser, after the way that leadeth men westward,
having on his left side the city of Sepheth, was taken in the days of
Salmanazar, King of the Assyrians, and put in captivity, yet he forsook
not the way of truth, but all that he had or could get he departed daily
with his brethren of his kindred which were prisoners with him. And
howbeit that he was youngest in all the tribe of Nephthali yet did he
nothing childishly. Also when all other went unto the golden calves that
Jeroboam, King of Israel, had made, this Tobit only fled the fellowship
of them all, and went to Jerusalem into the temple of our Lord. And
there he adored and worshipped the Lord God of Israel, offering truly
his first fruits and tithes insomuch that in the third year he
ministered unto proselytes and strangers all the tithe. Such things and
other like to these he observed while he was a child, and when he came
to age and was a man he took a wife named Anna, of his tribe, and begat
on her a son, naming after his own name Tobias, whom from his childhood
he taught to dread God and abstain him from all sin. Then after when he
was brought by captiviy with his wife and his son into the city of
Nineveh with all his tribe, and when all ate of the meats of the
Gentiles and Paynims, this Tobit kept his soul clean and was never
defouled in the meats of them. And because he remembered our Lord in all
his heart, God gave him grace to be in the favor of Salmanazar the king
which gave to him power to go where he would. Having liberty to do what
he would, he went then to all them in captivity and gave to them
warnings of health. When he came on a time in Rages, city of the Jews,
he had such gifts as he had been honored with of the king, ten besants
of silver. And when he saw one Gabael being needy which was of his
tribe, he lent him the said weight of silver upon his obligation. Long
time after this when Salmanazar the king was dead, Sennacherib his son
reigned for him, and hated, and loved not, the children of Israel. And
Tobit went unto all his kindred and comforted them, and divided to every
each of them as he might of his faculties and goods.
He fed the hungry and gave to the naked clothes, and diligently he
buried the dead men and them that were slain. After this when
Sennacherib returned, fleeing the plague from the Jewry, that God had
sent him for his blasphemy, and he, being wroth, slew many of the
children of Israel, and Tobit always buried the bodies of them, which
was told to the king, which commanded to slay him, and took away all his
substance. Tobit then with his wife and his son hid him and fled away
all naked, for many loved him well. After this, forty-five days, the
sons of the king slew the king, and then returned Tobit unto his house,
and all his faculties and goods were restored to him again. After this
on a high festival day of our Lord when that Tobit had a good dinner in
his house, he said to his son: Go and fetch to us some of our tribe
dreading God, that they may come and eat with us. And he went forth and
anon he returned telling to his father that one of the children of
Israel was slain and lay dead in the street. And anon he leapt out of
his house, leaving his meat, and fasting came to the, body, took it and
bare it in to his house privily, that he might secretly bury it when the
sun went down. And when he had hid the corpse, he ate his meat with
wailing and dread, remembering that word that our Lord said by Amos the
prophet: The day of your feast shall be turned into lamentation and
wailing. And when the sun was gone down he went and buried him. All his
neighbors reproved and chid him, saying for this cause they were
commanded to be slain, and unnethe [hardly] thou escapedst the
commandment of death, and yet thou buriest dead men. But Tobit, more
dreading God than the king, took up the bodies of dead men and hid them
in his house, and at midnight he buried them.
It happed on a day after this that when he was weary of burying dead
men, he came home and laid him down by a wall and slept. And he became
blind. This temptation suffered God to fall to him, that it should be an
example to them that shall come after him of his patience, like as it
was of holy Job. For from his infancy he dreaded ever God and kept his
precepts and was not grudging against God for his blindness, but he
abode immovable in the dread of God, giving and rendering thankings to
God all the days of his life. For like as Job was assailed so was Tobit
assailed of his kinsmen, scorning him and saying to him: Where is now
thy hope and reward for which thou gavest thy alms and madest
sepulchres? Tobit blamed them for such words, saying to them: In no wise
say ye not so, for we be the sons of holy men, and we abide that life
that God shall give to them that never shall change their faith from
him. Anna his wife went daily to the work of weaving, and got by the
labor of her hands their livelihood as much as she might. Whereof on a
day she gat a kid and brought it home. When Tobit heard the voice of the
kid bleating, he said: See that it be not stolen, yield it again to the
owner, for it is not lawful for us to eat ne touch anything that is
stolen. To that his wife all angry answered: Now manifestly and openly
is thine hope made vain, and thy alms lost. And thus with such and like
words she chid him. Then Tobit began to sigh and began to pray our Lord
with tears saying: O Lord, thou art rightful, and all thy dooms be true,
and all thy ways be mercy, truth, and righteousness. And now, Lord,
remember me, and take now no vengeance of my sins, ne remember not my
trespasses, ne the sins of my fathers. For'we have not obeyed thy
commandments, therefore we be betaken in to direption, captivity, death,
fables, and into reproof and shame to all nations in which thou hast
dispersed us. And now, Lord, great be thy judgments, for we have not
done according to thy precepts, ne have not walked well tofore thee. And
now, Lord, do to me after thy will, and command my spirit to be received
in peace, it is more expedient to me to die than to live.
The same day it happed that Sara, daughter of Raguel in the city of
Medes, that she was rebuked and heard reproof of one of the handmaidens
of her father. For she had been given to seven men, and a devil named
Asmodeus slew them as soon as they would have gone to her; therefore the
maid reproved her saying: We shall never see son ne daughter of thee on
the earth, thou slayer of thy husbands. Wilt thou slay me as thou hast
slain seven men? With this voice and rebuke she went up in the upperest
cubicle of the house. And three days and three nights she ate not, ne
drank not, but was continually in prayers beseeching God for to deliver
her from this reproof and shame. And on the third day, when she had
accomplished her prayer, blessing our Lord she said: Blessed be thy
name, God of our fathers, for when thou art wroth thou shalt do mercy
and in a time of tribulation thou forgivest sins to them that call to
thee. Unto thee, Lord, I convert my visage, and unto thee I address mine
eyes. I ask and require thee that thou assoil me from the bond of the
reproof and shame, or certainly upon the earth keep me. Thou knowest
well, Lord, that I never desired man, but I have kept clean my soul. I
never meddled me with players, ne never had part of them that walk in
lightness. I consented for to take an husband with thy dread. Or I was
unworthy to them or haply they were unworthy to me, or haply thou hast
conserved and kept me for some other man. Thy counsel is not in man's
power. This knoweth every man that worshippeth thee, for the life of him
if it be in probation shall be crowned, and if it be in tribulation it
shall be delivered, and if it be in correction, it shall be lawful to
come to mercy. Thou hast none delectation in our perdition, for after
tempest thou makest tranquillity, and after weeping and shedding of
tears thou bringest in exultation and joy. Thy name, God of Israel, be
blessed, world without end.
In that same time were the prayers of them both heard in the sight of
the glory of the high God. And the holy angel of God, Raphael, was sent
to heal them both. Of whom in one time were the prayers recited in the
sight of our Lord God. Then when Tobit supposed his prayers to be heard
that he might die, he called to him his son Tobias, and said to him:
Hear, my son, the words of my mouth, and set them in thy heart as a
fundament. When God shall take away my soul, bury my body, and thou
shalt worship thy mother all the days of her life, thou owest to
remember what and how many perils she hath suffered for thee in her
womb. When she shall have accomplished the time of her life, bury her by
me. All the days of thy life have God in thy mind, and beware that thou
never consent to sin, ne to disobey ne break the commandments of God. Of
thy substance do alms, and turn never thy face from any poor man, so do
that God turn not his face from thee. As much as thou mayst, be
merciful, if thou have much good give abundantly, if thou have but
little, yet study to give and to depart thereof gladly, for thou makest
to thee thereof good treasure and meed in the day of necessity, for alms
delivereth a man from all sin and from death, and suffereth not his soul
to go in to darkness. Alms is a great sikerness [surety] tofore the high
God unto all them that do it. Beware, my son, keep thee from all
uncleanness, and suffer not thyself to know that sin; and suffer never
pride to have domination in thy wit, ne in thy word, that sin was the
beginning of all perdition. Whosomever work to thee any thing, anon
yield to him his meed and hire, let never the hire of thy servant ne
meed of thy mercenary remain in no wise with thee. That thou hatest to
be done to thee of other, see that thou never do to an other. Eat thy
bread with the hungry and needy, and cover the naked with thy clothes.
Ordain thy bread and wine upon the sepulture of a righteous man, but eat
it not ne drink it with sinners. Ask and demand counsel of a wise man.
Always and in every time bless God and desire of him that he address thy
ways, and let all thy counsels abide in him. I tell to thee, my son,
that when thou wert a little child I lent to Gabael ten besants of
silver, dwelling in Rages the city of Medes, upon an obligation, which I
have by me. And therefore spere [search] and ask how thou mayst go to
him, and thou shalt receive of him the said weight of silver and restore
to him his obligation. Dread thou not, my son; though we lead a poor
life, we shall have much good if we dread God and go from sin and do
well. Then young Tobias answered to his father: All that thou hast
commanded me I shall do, father; but how I shall get this money I wot
never; he knoweth not me, ne I know not him; what token shall I give
him? And also I know not the way thither. Then his father answered to
him and said: I have his obligation by me, which when thou shewest him,
anon he shall pay thee. But go now first and seek for thee some true
man, that for his hire shall go with thee whiles I live, that thou mayst
receive it.
Then Tobias went forth and found a fair young man girt up and ready for
to walk, and not knowing that it was the angel of God, saluted him and
said: From whence have we thee, good young man? And he answered: Of the
children of Israel. And Tobias said to him: Knowest thou the way that
leadeth one into the region of Medes? To whom he answered: I know it
well, and all the journeys I have oft walked and have dwelled with
Gabael our brother which dwelled in Rages the city of Medes, which
standeth in the hill of Ecbathanis. To whom Tobias said: I pray thee
tary here a while till I have told this to my father. Then Tobias went
in to his father and told to him all these things, whereon his father
marvelled and prayed him that he should bring him in. Then the angel
came in and saluted the old Tobit and said: Joy be to thee always. And
Tobit said: What joy shall be to me that sit in darkness, and see not
the light of heaven. To whom the youngling said: Be of strong belief; it
shall not be long but of God thou shalt be cured and healed. Then said
Tobit to him: Mayst thou lead my son unto Gabael in Rages city of Medes,
and when thou comest again I shall restore to thee thy meed. And the
angel said: I shall lead him thither and bring him again to thee. To
whom Tobit said: I pray thee to tell me of what house or of what kindred
art thou. To whom Raphael the angel said: Thou needest not to ask the
kindred of him that shall go with thy son, but lest haply I should not
deliver him to thee again: I am Azarias son of great Ananias. Tobit
answered: Thou art of a great kindred, but I pray thee be not wroth,
though I would know thy kindred. The angel said to him: I shall safely
lead thy son thither, and safely bring him and render him to thee again.
Tobit then answered saying: Well mote ye walk, and our Lord be in your
journey, and his angel fellowship with you. Then, when all was ready
that they should have with them by the way, young Tobias took leave of
his father and mother, and bade them farewell. When they should depart
the mother began to weep and say: Thou has taken away and sent from us
the staff of our old age, would God that thilke [that] money had never
been for which thou hast sent him, our poverty sufficeth enough to us
that we might have seen our son. Tobit said to her: Weep not, our son
shall come safely again and thine eyes shall see him. I believe that the
good angel of God hath fellowship with him, and shall dispose all
things that shall be needful to him, and that he shall return again to
us with joy. With this the mother ceased of her weeping and was still.