CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY GIFT FROM
Alfred C. Barnes
The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924029308503
THE
FOURTH BOOK
OF MACCABEES:
CONTAINING
REFLECTIONS ON RELIGIOUS PRINCIPLE: LIKEWISE, AN ACCOUNT OF HELIODORUS’ ATTEMPT TO PLUNDER THE TEMPLE: AND THE HISTORY OF ELEAZAR AND THE SEVEN BRETHREN PERSECUTED EVEN TO DEATH FOR THEIR ADHERENCE TO RELIGION.
CHAPTER XVII
B.C. 167
The praise of the mother continues.
Moreover, some of the guards related, that when she herself was about to be seized and put to death, in order that nobody might touch a her person, she threw herself b upon the pile. O mother, who with thy seven sons hast overthrown the tyrant’s violence and defeated his wicked de vices; and hast demonstrated the nobleness of Faith!
For thou, as a house c firmly supported on the pillar of thy children, didst bear without bending the shock of the tyrants’ tortures. Be of good cheer, therefore, O holy minded mother, having a firm hope d in God of a reward for thy endurance. Not so majestic stands the moon in heaven, surrounded by the stars; as thou, having robed in the light e of religion thy seven sons, equal to stars, art become honourable in God’s sight, and with them art fixed in heaven. For the generation of thy family was truly from the son f of Abraham.
Now if it were in my power to portray g , as in a picture, thy religious story, would not men shudder at beholding the mother of seven children undergoing in the cause of religion various tortures even unto death? And indeed it would be right moreover to inscribe upon the tomb itself these words, which are set down for a memorial to those of our nation: “Here are entombed an aged priest, and an aged woman, and seven sons, through the violence of a tyrant, who wished to destroy the civil polity of the Hebrews. Who also have avenged h their nation, looking unto God, and enduring the torments unto death.”
For in truth the struggle which was made by them was divine. For at that time Virtue directed the games i, adjudging the victory by en durance, in immortality, in eternal life. And the first combatant k was Eleazar: and the mother of the seven children was in the struggle: and the brothers were combatants. Their antagonist was, and the spectators were, the world and humanity. And religion was declared conqueror, and she crowned her own champions.
Who did not admire the champions of divine legislation? Who were not astonished at them? The tyrant himself, at all events, and all his council, most exceedingly wondered at their patient endurance. Through which also they now are standing beside the throne of God and are leading a life of blessedness. For Moses truly has said m , “and all his saints are in thy hand.” They, therefore, having been sanctified through 19 God, have been honoured not only with this honour, but also with the additional praise that through their exertions the enemy did not overcome our nation: and that the tyrant was punished, and the country was cleansed from sin they having become as it were a devoted offering h for the sin of the nation. And through the blood of those pious men, and their propitiatory death.
Divine Providence effectually saved Israel, which before was overwhelmed with evils. For the tyrant Antiochus, beholding the bravery of their virtue, and their patience under torments, proclaimed their constancy by a herald, for an example to his own soldiers. And he kept them in his service as noble and brave men, both for pitched battle and for siege of cities : and by their aid he routed and vanquished all his enemies.
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