THE afflicted Virgin, to whom these moving things were said, finding that she should but lose her diswasions on Didymus, thought fit to address herself once more, to the President; and with humble Gestures, accompany’d with Looks, and with a Voice, that would have soften’d any that were not invincibly Obdurate, she told him; Though Sir, the Arguments us’d by this Gentleman, had far better prov’d than they have, that, of us two, he is the fittest person to be condemn’d; yet I hope, where you Preside with so much Authority, he will not fare the worse for being generous; and that what he has done, will be more prevalent with you, than what he has said. Ever since he was capable of bearing Arms, he employ’d them in the service of the Emperors; and in their Camps chearfully follow’d the Roman Eagles, where-ever they durst fly: And after his having this day hazarded himself so generously, out of compassion to a distress’d Virgin; what examples of gallantry may not be expected from such a Courage, engag’d by his Gratitude, when he shall act for the acquest of Glory, and the Service of his Country? If a guilty intention be necessary to make an action so, his will not be found to be Criminal; since he did not intend the violation of any Law, but to second, what we are told to be, the design of all just Laws; which is, to protect the Innocent, and encourage Vertue. But if by a rigid interpretation of the Law, he may be brought within the reach of it; I hope his Misdemeanor will not appear so great, but that your Clemency may allow him all that I beg for him, which is, that he may be permitted to repair a mistake in the exercise of his vertue, by the continuation of those Services in the Roman Army, which will be far more useful to the publick than his death, in his present circumstances, can be. To this Theodora would perhaps have added, (though she could scarce have done it, without some reluctancy from her modesty) The things, Sir, that he has been pleas’d to act and hazard for me, may persuade you, that if, contrary to my prayers and hopes, you should design severity towards him, you may more sensibly punish him, by my death, than by more immediate inflictions on himself. And ‘tis like she would have enforc’d her arguments and intreaties, for a Person for whom she was so much and so justly concern’d, when the President· vex’d to find that both of them so little valu’d Life, whose deprivation was the most formidable thing he could threaten them with, prevented her, by saying, with a stern countenance, No, I will hear no more, having heard but too much already: It does not become a Roman Magistrate, to suffer any longer with patience; that Prisoners and Criminals should daringly disobey the Laws, slight all their threats, and glory in their violation. What each of you has said to prove himself guilty, affords abundant reason to condemn you both. Wherefore, since you cannot agree among your selves, I will be your Umpire, and give both of you what each desires and merits. You, Obstinate Maid, sayes he, turning to Theodora, shall dye for having broken Prison. You Disobedient Soldier, sayes he to Didymus, shall dye for having perswaded and further’d her Escape. But to specifie your chiefest Crime, than which there needs no other, nor can be a greater, you both shall dye because you are Christians, and consequently Enemies to the Roman Emperors, and the Gods that made them so.
This fatal Doom being pronounc’d, the Judge order’d the condemn’d Prisoners to be taken aside, and strongly guarded, till all things were in readiness for their Execution: Which preparatives he gave order to hasten. Yet finding by the discontented looks, and confus’d murmurs, of the bystanders, that the Charms and Innocence of Theodora, and the Youth, Courage and Friendship, of both the no less generous than unfortunate Prisoners, made his Sentence o be far less lik’d, than were the persons & behavior of those it had pass’d upon; declar’d, that whilst he was dispatching other publick business, he permitted any that should have Charity enough to make a hopeless Attempt, to endeavour to convert those obstinate miscreants: Adding withal an intimation, that even they might speed in their suit, if they would seasonably, with incense in their hands, flee to the Altars of the Gods, and humbly implore of Them, Pardon and Safety.
This respite, as it expos’d the generous Couple to have their constancy assaulted by Infidels, ambitious of making such illustrious Persons Proselytes, so it gave them the welcom opportunity, of interchanging some discourse with one another.
These Conferences were begun by Didymus; who seeing himself upon the point of final Separation from his admirable Mistress, could not forbear feeling in himself such disorders, as on all other sad occasions, his great Courage had kept him from resenting. And this unusual commotion of mind, was uneasie enough to oblige him to say, to the fair Person that occasion’d it; Though, Madam, the military course of life I have with some forwardness pursu’d, has accustom’d me to meet Death in variety of formidable Shapes and Dresses, without being discompos’d by it; yet when I see the world going to be rob’d of its noblest Ornament, and my self to be depriv’d of the person I most love and admire in it; and when I see this matchless Person ready to he ravish’d from us, both in the flow’r of her age, and by the infamous hand of an Executioner; I think it were rather stupidness not to be afflicted, than any weakness to be deeply so.
I was· answer’d Theodora, so fully satisfy’d before, of your Friendship and Compassion; that this new grief of yours, as ‘tis a very needless proof of them, so ‘tis a very unwelcom one. For, if I were to allow any thing to grieve me, when I am entring into the fulness of Joy, it ought to be, that I find your good nature renders this seemingly distress’d Condition of mine very uneasie to You; which through Gods assistance, is very little so to me; and yet will be less so, if, congratulating rather than deploring our Martyrdom, you will ease me of the justest and greatest part of my Grief, that consists in being unhappily accessory to yours, and seeing you needlesly troubl’d at mine. That circumstance, adds she, of my death, which I perceive much afflicts you, might in my opinion more justly lessen, than aggravate your Sorrow. For, I look upon it rather as a Favour, than an Infelicity, that I am early remov’d out of the World, where I see, and suffer, and (which is worst of all) do, so much Ill. To be early rescu’d from the Snares of a Dangerous and Persecuting Age, and preserv’d from the Evil to come, is rather a Privilege, than a Calamity, to those that are duely sensible, as I desire to be, that one can never arrive unseasonably at Heaven, nor be too early happy. And, in this persuasion (continues Theodora,) I am confirm’d by considering, that the First of those who are recorded to have religiously deceas’d, in the old Testament, and in the new, just Abel, and John the Baptist; both of them dy’d young, and perish’d by the hands of those that Persecuted them for their Piety. And even that spotless Lamb of God who did no sin, but by his Satisfaction, Precepts, and Example, takes away the sin of the World; was sacrific’d almost in the flow’r of his Age: So little is it an unhappiness, or a mark of Gods disfavour, to escape the toyles and dangers of a troublesom Navigation, by being early, though by a boisterous Wind, blown into the Port. And, if it could become a Woman to encourage a Heroe, I should exhort both you and my self too, generous Didymus, (continues she) to entertain our present Condition with Sentiments becoming Christians. And, as it does not trouble me directly, so it ought not to trouble you upon the score of sympathy; that I am secur’d from the hazards and inconveniencies of Age: But be pleas’d to make use of that Courage, now at the end of your daies, that you have constantly express’d in the course of your life. And, do not, I beseech you, repine, either that you or I, is to fall by the hand of an Executioner. For that seeming, and but seeming Ignominy, was the lot both of our Saviour’s immediate Harbinger, and of our Saviour himself. And, when we consider for whom, and for what, we suffer; we may find reason enough to assume the sentiments of the Apostles, who, after having been misus’d by the Jewish Council, went from their presence rejoycing, that they had been thought worthy to Suffer for His name; (Acts 5. 41) for whom we are going to suffer the like things. For, Didymus, Gods gracious Providence has not left us to perish, by ling’ring or tormenting Sickness, or troublesom Old Age; nor yet for some common Cause, or some unimportant End. But all in our fate is noble: And what to others is meer Death, a debt due to Nature, or the punishment of Sin, to us is Martyrdom, the noblest act of Christianity, and shortest way to Everlasting Glory.
A Discourse that relish’d so much more of a Martyr than of a Virgin, gave Didymus a rise to continue a Conversation, by which he found himself as well assisted, as charm’d; and therefore observing the serenity of his Mistresses looks, to be little inferiour to the beauty of her face, and remembring what instances she had that day given of an altogether extraordinary Piety and Courage; was, by the sentiments these reflections produ’cd in him, prompted to tell her: I should be justly inconsolable, Madam, to see my self and the world, upon the point of being depriv’d of so admirable a Person, as Theodora has, by this daies various Tryals, manifested Her self to be; if I were not confident, that my Loss will be as short as great; and that in the State we are now entring upon, I shall be allow’d what approaching Death will deny me in this, and shall find in Heaven the endearing happiness of conversing with Her more freely, than our Persecutions and Her Reservedness would here permit. For Madam, (continues He,) I am Friend enough to my own Felicity, to believe assuredly, that those who shall be happy enough to meet in Heaven, will know one another there, and have their joyes hightned by the remembrance of what past between them upon Earth. For in the blest State we are hastening to, our Faculties, and consequently our memory, will not only be gratify’d with Suitable Objects, but be improv’d by enlarg’d Capacities. And even in a condition short of that we this day expect; mens knowledge has been advanc’d, at least as much as is necessary for our knowing one another, without the helps that are ordinarily requisite to make us do so. As soon as ever Adam saw Eve, he could confidently say of her, that she was bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh. When Noah awak’d from his Sleep, he could tell that during his sleep, his younger Son had behav’d himself irreverently towards him. When our Saviour was tranfigur’d on M. Tabor, the three chos’n disciples that attended him presently knew Moses & Elias, (Matt. 11. 4) whom they had never seen before, (Luke 9. 31) in spite of the Diguise that the Glory they appear’d in put upon them. St. Paul tells his Thessalonians, (1 Thes. 2. 19, 20) they shall be his joy & crown, before their common Lord at his appearing: To the truth of which it seems requisite, that both the Preachers and the Converts shall be publickly known at that great appearance, and Assembly of the first born, whose names are written in Heaven; and consequently, that men there shall know one another. Our Divine Redeemer, continues Didymus, teaches us, that there is Joy in the presence of the holy Angels over a repenting Sinner; which argues, that whether they know of his Conversion in a more intuitive way, or by the information of those Angels, that are some times sent to this lower world about human affairs, they yet have a knowledg of particular persons, and take notice of particular things that concern them. And, which makes exceedingly for my present purpose, he elsewhere introduces Abraham in Paradice, calling upon the uncharitable Rich Man, to remember what his own and Lazarus’s differing States had been upon Earth: And, which is yet more, to shew, that even in the place of utter Darkness and Torment, the Memory of past things and persons is not obliterated; the Rich Man is introduc’d, as remembring not only Lazarus, but his own five Brothers, and their dangerous Condition.
The pause that Didymus made, after these words, invited Theodora to tell him: Since, generous Didymus, I have observ’d our soundest Teachers to be of differing opinions about the Subject of your Discourse, and that they do not look upon it as an Article of Faith, either that the Blessed do, or that they do not, know one another in Heaven; I presume I may be allow’d to think, that if they do, (which I know is the most receiv’d Opinion) they do it in likelihood with other sentiments than we commonly imagine. For, when the beloved Disciple teaches, that, though we be here the Children of God, it does not yet appear what we shall be; and adds only in general, that, when our Saviour, or that Bless’d State, shall be manifested, we shall be like Him: When, I say, I reflect on this, and some things of the same import; I am prone to fear, that we judge too much of our future glorious State, by wrong measures, taken from our present frail and mean Condition. And I am apt to think, that we must stay till we come to Heaven, before we shall frame Ideas suitable to the Prerogatives of its Bless’d Inhabitants. I think our Notions will then be rais’d, as well as our Dust, and our Love, and other Affections, will be transfigur’d, as well as our Bodies. If we know one another, though our mutual Love may perhaps be greater than it ever was on Earth, yet it will not be upon the former Accounts; but will be as well better grounded, as better regulated. That external Beauty, pursues the fair Speaker, that here is so much doted on and overvalu’d, will there be found so much inferiour to that of every Glorify’d Body, that the difference and degrees of it will be very inconsiderable, and unable to make differing impressions on those that shall remember them: As the refulgent splendor of the Sun obscures all the Stars, and keeps our eyes from being any more affected by the greatest and brightest, than by any of the rest. So that our kindness to one another will be very little grounded upon External Qualities, which will there either cease, or be eclips’d; nor upon secular Relations, which will there affect us far less, than our being nearly related to our common Lord; our resemblance to whom will be the chief, as well as justest Ground of our mutual esteem and affection. When Children of the same Parents have been early parted, and long bred in distant places; though when they are grown men and women, they chance to meet again, ‘tis observ’d, that at first they know not one another any more than meer strangers: and when they are inform’d of their Relation, ‘tis not the little accidents that happen’d to them at play; nor some features, that perhaps pleas’d one of them in the others Face, but are now very much chang’d by Time and Growth; that produce their new kindness: but the knowledge that they are Children of the same Father, and their finding in each other personal qualities, fit to adorn their present State, and thereby to challenge kindness and esteem. And if some years absence can produce so great a Change, as to make our nearest Relations unknowable by us; and make us look with pity, on the fondnesses that trifles produc’d in us in our infancy: What Changes, may we think, must be made on those that convers’d together upon Earth, when after numerous ages, they shall meet in Heaven, with minds as much chang’d and improv’d as their bodies will then be? Shall we not by the grounds of a vertuous Complacency, be more affected and united, than we are now by natural Relations, or by external Beauty, and those other trifles that here produce the greatest Fondnesses?
But Theodora, (answers the surpriz’d Didymus) can you be so rigid as to think, that pure and vertuous Affections cannot be admitted into Heaven; since the Scripture informs us, that not only Joy & Desire are to be found even among the Angels, (who are said to rejoyce at a sinners Conversion, and desire to pry into the Mysteries of our Religion) but Care and Actings for opposite Ends; (as when the Angel of Persia withstood Michael, and the Angel that talk’d to Daniel.) (Dan. 10. 13)
I do not absolutely deny, Theodora replies, that the Blessed know one another in Heaven. And, saies she, with a light change of colour, I am so far inclin’nd to believe it is true, as, for Didymus’s sake, to wish it so. But, as I lately told you, I am not apt to think, the sentiments occasion’d by that knowledge, will be such as most men imagine. Besides those Reasons that you have ingeniously laid together, I think your perswasion of the Saints mutual knowledge the more probable, because it seems not readily conceivable, how at the great Day of Judgement, the Justice of God, in rewarding and punishing particular Vertues and Crimes, can be manifested to the world, without discovering the Persons by whom they were perform’d: Since Personal Circumstances do very much alter the nature of moral Actions. And since the happy residents in heav’n, will have an eternity alow’d them to converse with one another in; it seems highly probable, that in their various Conferences, they will meet with, at least sometime or other, occasions, that by less sagacity than their enlightened minds will then be endow’d with, may be improv’d to the discovery of the Persons they were formerly acquainted with. But on the other side, (continues Theodora) we shall have such noble and charming Entertainments to employ our attention, as will engross it from the little and despicable Objects, (as we shall then think them) that now amuse or busie us; as when we behold such a pompous Solemnity as a Roman Triumph, the variety of splendid and magnificent Objects, that Successively present themselves to our view, make us so intent upon those surprizing Spectacles, that even the nearest and dearest Relations, though perhaps gazing at the same Sight, out of the same windows, are apt to forget one another. And (continues she) even when the Saints actually know and remember one another, they may love and converse, upon terms very differing from those, that were suitable to their mortal Condition. Yes, Didymus, (adds she) As there will be no such difference of Ages and Sexes, in Heaven, as there are on Earth; since all shall there be like the Angels, and have Bodies conform’d to the Glorious Body of their Redeemer: So, the Rational Friendships, that will be practis’d in that happy Place, will receive their measures from the new and personal Excellencies of the Friends; from their being Rivals in the Love of God; and from their differing degrees of resemblance to Him, that is the Brightness of his Glory, and the express Image of His Person. But, concludes Theodora, we need not spend more time in discoursing conjecturally about Questions, wherein the Change, we are now going to make, will soon bring us to be resolv’d. And in the mean time, we may well rest satisfy’d, with this assurance, That since Heaven is a Place, or State· where we shall be Bless’d with the Fulness of Joy; to know and converse with each other, will be there found, either a part of our Felicity, or not necessary to it.