CHAP. XII.

THE sixth brother being despatched at last, by being thrown into a boiling cauldron, the seventh, and youngest, appeared, whom, when the tyrant saw fettered and pinioned, and though so implacably outrageous against the rest of his brethren, his heart began to relent. Calling upon him, therefore, to approach the tribunal, he endeavoured to sooth him with these words :

"You see what kind of deaths your brothers have undergone ; but their disobedience and contumacy have been the sole means of all their torments, and the cruelties they have sustained. Yet you, if you obey not my commands, shall be exposed to the same, nay, worse torments, and so suffer an immature death; but if you comply with my desires, I will take you into the number of my friends, you shall have a considerable post in my kingdom, and be a governor in the state." Not content with these persuasions to the son, he addressed himself to the mother, with seeming compassion for her loss, entreating her to prevail upon her child, in pity to her at least, to save this small remnant of the family, and not to bring on her the affliction of having all her offspring so sadly torn away at once. But his mother addressing him in the Hebrew tongue, exhorted him to suffer, as we shall show in the sequel. Upon this he suddenly exclaimed, "Take off my fetters, for I have something to communicate to the king, and all his friends." The king and his nobles hearing the promise the young man made, seemed greatly rejoiced; and his chains were immediately knocked off. Taking the advantage of this circumstance, he thus exclaimed ;

66

Impious and cursed tyrant, have you no fears nor apprehensions in your mind, after having received at the hands of the Almighty the kingdom and riches you enjoy, than to put to death his servants, and torment his worshippers? These cruelties shall be returned with an eternal punishment from the hands of the Divine vengeance. Is your conscience touched with no scruples, inhuman monster, thus to deprive of their tongues those who share alike the same nature and passions with you, and who are born of

the same elements, and thus put innocent persons to cruel torments, and take away their lives in the most unmerciful and barbarous manner? They have undergone a glorious death, and shown how much their piety and observance was for the maintenance of the true religion; whereas thou, impious man, shall be exposed to ills you little dream of, for taking away unjustly the lives of those who were worshippers of the Supreme Being. For this reason I will suffer death, and, in my last pangs, discover how much my desire was to follow the brave example of my brothers. I beg and entreat the God of my fathers that he would be propitious and merciful to our nation; but that he may chastise you while you live; and after death, that your punishment may be augmented." Having finished this address, he threw himself into the boiling cauldron, and so gave up the ghost.

CHAP. XIII.

FROM these particulars we have enumerated, it must be confessed that reason, guided and supported by religion, has power over the passions, when we see seven brothers in perfect agreement, and upon the same principle, despising and vanquishing the most exquisite pains, and even death itself. Is it not manifest, that had these men been governed by their passions, they had submitted to pollute themselves with unlawful meats, refused no condition to procure ease and safety, and been totally subdued? But since they combatted these passions by a judicious use of reason, we are bound to acknowledge, with abundant praise to the holy martyrs who suffered, that, as they despised the most dreadful torments, so reason never more discovered its dominion over the subject passions than in those instances. For as the moles and forts upon the shore break all the force of the waves and weather, and render the harbour commodious and safe to ride in, so did this seven-fold fortification of reason protect the harbour of piety from all the storms and boisterous inundations of passion.

How moving, how affecting a sight was such a company, encouraging and assisting each other in the exercise of their piety, like the voices which contribute, every one by his distinct part, to make up a perfect melody! With such a harmony of hearts did

they exclaim: "Let us die like brethren in the defence of our laws; let us imitate the brave example of the three Assyrian youths, who defied the furnace of the king of Babylon, in fighting for the cause of virtue; let us never despair, nor once be cast down. When religion and a good conscience are at stake, let us abandon all ignoble fears, and act with becoming resolution."Another said, "Assume courage, my brother, and suffer all with an insurmountable bravery of mind." Others of them recognized ancient facts. "Remember whence you derive your origin, and what father Isaac could suffer in the cause of piety." Then in general looking on each other with countenances serene, and highly pleased, they exclaimed, "Let us cheerfully consecrate our bodies to God. Let us pay him back the lives he lent us for his service, and devote these bodies to the defence of his most holy law. Why should we stand in fear of one who only seems to kill the body? The only danger worthy of our dread is that of souls abandoned to torments everlasting, which can never be the fate of such as keep and honour the truth. Let us then arm ourselves with a holy fortitude, so shall Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, receive us when we die, and all our pious ancestors congratulate and applaud our constancy."

As they were dragged one by one to the place of execution, those whose turn was not yet come, encouraged those that went before them, with words to this purport: "Brethren, do not dishonour us, nor elude the expectation of your brethren who have already suffered death."

These must have been very engaging exhortations; for none can be insensible what charms, what powerful influence so near a relation carries with it; what tender affections the All-wise Providence hath infused into their hearts, who have derived their being from the same father and mother, been maintained at one common table, conversed perpetually together under the same roof, instructed by the same teachers, and initiated in the same religion. Such was the affection, such the endearments, and, of course, such were the weight and efficacy of the admonitions and mutual encouragements of these seven brothers to one another; for they were brought up in the same faith, trained up in the exercise of the same virtues, and the better men they were, the better VOL IV.

58

they must love each other. Natural affections are never so happily improved as by perfect agreement in goodness, and united zeal in the love and service of God. And as each of these would

love the rest more tenderly in proportion as he himself was more religious, so would he necessarily, in the same proportion, aud upon the same account, become more worthy to be beloved by all the rest. And yet we may observe in this very case, a mighty conquest of reason over passion; for though the brethren had all the tender concern that nature and blood, birth and education, acquaintance and personal worth, could inspire them with, yet these manifold endearments were so vanquished and borne down when religion lay at stake, that, in a cause so noble, the very tortures and deaths of their dearest relations gave a sensible satisfaction to those of the number who yet survived, and were the undaunted, nay, even pleased, spectators of them.

CHAP. XIV.

THE pious and virtuous youths not only excited one another to suffer these terrible conflicts so as to make them surmount all the pains they might be put to, but also were the cause that their brothers, during their torments, bore every thing with astonishing resignation. Oh! minds more absolute than the most sovereign princes, and more free than liberty itself! Not one of them was observed to betray any fears, nor have any scruples on the approach of death; but all, as with one accord, running the race of immortality, embraced death amidst their torments. As the hands and feet obey the motions of the mind, and so direct themselves, even so did these youths, from a motive of piety, consent to die in its cause. As the number of days in which the world was created give us the idea of God, and show the perfection of his majesty and goodness, so do these most renowned martyrs, by running the whole circle of pains and tortures, compose one finished piece of constancy and courage, and teach us that perfection of fortitude which banishes the slavish fear of death. But alas! how far short of this pattern do we stop! we, who cannot so much as hear or read without trembling and amazement, what they not only

heard, not only saw, but felt and bore without the least disorder of mind.

Nor ought we to wonder that reason in man should have this dominion over his passions, when the mind of a woman contemned more cruelties than these, and of a different nature. For the mother of these seven youths had such presence of mind as to be a spectator of the tortures her children endured. Reflect on the force of natural affection, how diffuse to one's offspring: nay, this we observe in the brute creation, who have a tincture of the same kind of affection and love for their young as mankind. But there is no necessity for producing examples of brute animals to confirm this love for their young, when the very bees, at the time they are employed about making their honey, revenge themselves on those that approach them, and cause their stings to do the office of swords, and other military weapons, upon those that would attack their little ones.

CHAP. XV.

BUT so true a daughter of Abraham was the mother of these gallant youths, that even compassion for her own children could not break in upon her duty. Such was her noble zeal, that, when two things were offered to her choice, religion and the present safety, and great preferment of seven sons, she wisely gave the preference to the former, which leads to eternal life and happiness. By what language shall I describe those tender passions of parents, that union of nature between them and their children, which, in a wonderful manner, draws upon their offspring the same lines and features of body, and impresses the same dispositions of soul? how can I represent the concern they feel for these images and parts of themselves, when in any manner of distress? How especially that of mothers, whose weaker minds, and natural excess of fondness, render them still more sensibly touched by whatever affects their children, than fathers are wont or expected to be? This mother was more under the influence of such affection than mothers in common. Seven painful births had made as many additions to this love; and every time her travail was repeated it was a fresh exercise of it, a fresh and strong endearment towards all for whom she had endured the same pangs.