the resurrection of eternal life.” The third when told to stretch forth his tongue cried out undismayed; here it is, and my hands too: “These I have from heaven, but for the laws of God I now despise them, because I hope to receive them again from Him.” And the fourth: “It is better, being put to death by men, to look for hope from God, to be raised up again by Him.” And so with all the others down to the very youngest. The mother looking on at the martyrdom of her sons, not like the mothers of to-day who weep and moan if the least accident happens their children, kept on crying out to them full of joy and consolation: Raise your eyes to heaven, my dear children! let them burn and maim you as they will: “The Creator of the world, He will restore to you again in His mercy both breath and life, as now you despise yourselves for the sake of His laws.”[1]
Nay, even heathens. Christians, what a shame for us! They had but the light of the Old Law, and we in the full blaze of the noon-day sun of the Gospel show by our actions that we are blinder than they! What a shame for us who make profession of a religion which adores a crucified God who rose again from the dead, to be so weak and tender about ourselves, so anxious to fly the cross, so fearful of the least discomfort, not to speak of death itself, as if we had no faith in the resurrection! lam ashamed of myself when I read even of the heathen philosopher Anaxagoras; he was called on to defend himself against a man who wished to deprive him of a splendid property he had. “What!” he exclaimed; “are a fewacres of land worth so much trouble? If I have to go to law it must be for something worth while.” All his friends were in dignant that he was so careless in such a matter, in which others were wont to spare no trouble; whereupon he raised his eyes to heaven, and pointing upwards, said: “That, that is my country, that is my inheritance; it is for the things that are there I care, not for those that are on earth.”[2] Could a Christian have given a better answer than that heathen? Meanwhile many of us have fine words on our lips, but quite different desires in our hearts, showing that we care far more for the things of earth than for the eternal goods that we have to expect in heaven.
- ↑ Tu quidem, scelestissime, in præsenti vita nos perdis; sed rex mundi defunctos nos pro suis legibus in æternae vitæ resurrectione suscitabit. E cœloista possideo, sed propter Dei leges nunc hæc ipsa despicio, quoniam ab ipso me ea recepturum spero. Potius est ab hominibus morti datos spem expectare a Deo, iterum ab ipso resuscitandos. Mundi Creator, spiritum vobis iterum cum misericordia reddet et vitam, sicut nunc vosmetipsos despicitis propter leges ejus.—II. Mach. vii. 9, 11, 14, 23.
- ↑ Illa, illa patria mea est, illa hæreditas mea; illa ego euro, non ea quæ super terram.
