Erastus

“ Exit Piston.
Erastus.
Ah, virtuous lamps of ever-turning heavens,
Incline her mind to play, and mine to win!
Nor do I covet but what is mine own:
Then shall I let Perseda understand,
How jealousy had arm'd her tongue with malice.
Ah! were she not Perseda, whom my heart
No more can fly, than iron can adamant,
Her late unkindness would have chang'd my mind.
Enter Guelpio and Julio, with Piston.
Guelpio.
How now, Erastus? wherein may we pleasure thee?
Erastus.
Sirs, thus it is: we must in mummery
Unto Lucina, neither for love nor hate ”

“ Erastus.
Then view my tears, that plead for innocence.
Perseda.
[Pg 297]
What are thy tears, but Circe's magic seas,
Where none 'scape wreck'd but blindfold mariners?
Erastus.
If words and tears displease, then view my looks,
That plead for mercy at thy rigorous hands.
Perseda.
What are thy looks, but like the cockatrice,
That seeks to wound poor silly passengers?
Erastus.
If words, nor tears, nor looks may win remorse,
What then remains? for my perplexed heart
Hath no interpreters but words, or tears, or looks.
Perseda.
And they are all as false as thou thyself. ”

“ Erastus.
'Tis not my country, but Philippo's wrath
(It must be told) for Ferdinando's death,
Whom I in honour's cause have reft of life.
Soliman.
Nor suffer this or that to trouble thee:
Thou shalt not need Philippo nor his isle;
Nor shalt thou war against thy countrymen:
I like thy virtue in refusing it.
But, that our oath may have his current course,
Brusor, go levy men;
Prepare a fleet t' assault and conquer Rhodes.
Meantime Erastus and I will strive
By mutual kindness to excel each other.
Brusor, begone; and see not Soliman,
Till thou hast brought Rhodes in subjection. ”

“ I don't think those three fellows will dare attack us, especially when they see Erastus. They know him all right, from sad experience. You see 'Rastus used to be something of a prizefighter in a small way among his kind, and nothing delights him half so much as a scrap once in a while ”

“ As Erastus kept silent, Paul continued. "I have also become convinced once more, of the power of the Church offices as a guide to the ignorant. Only by prayer can these demoniacal powers be subdued. In spite of all reason I had been helpless without preaching and praying."
"You are forgetting the miracles," said Erastus sarcastically. Paul looked at him abashed. "Why do you attain your good intentions by deception and evident quackery? How about that miracle on the Kreuzweg?" ”

“ At the corner of the gable-house opposite the church, Erastus saw the baptist Werner standing, looking down from some raised steps, with socratic irony on the mob. He also met Xylander in the crowd, whose jolly brown eyes gleamed with pleasure at the turmoil going on around him.
"What are the people crying about?" he asked Erastus.
"If they only knew themselves. Crying seems to be to them the great object of life." Even the haggard philosopher Pithopöus, who overtopped by a head all his neighbours, was threading his way through the throng to his usual Tusculum. ”

“ Better sit still than rise and overta'en.
[Pg 260]
Erastus.
Counsel me not, for my intent is sworn,
And be my fortune, as my love deserves!
Perseda.
So be thy fortune, as thy features serve,
And then Erastus lives without compare.
Enter a Messenger.
Here comes a messenger to haste me hence.—
I know your message, hath the princess
Sent for me?
Messenger.
She hath, and
Desires you to consort her to the triumphs. [Exit.
Enter Piston.
Piston.
Who saw my master? O sir, are you here?
The prince and all th' outlandish [386] gentlemen
Are ready to go to the triumphs ”

“ When I have miss'd thee, how I have lamented,
As if my thoughts had been assured true!
Thus in my youth; now, since I grew a man,
I have persevered to let thee know
The meaning of my true heart's constancy,
Then be not nice, Perseda, as women wont
To hasty lovers, whose fancy soon is fled;
My love is of a long continuance,
And merits not a stranger's recompense.
Perseda.
Enough, Erastus, thy Perseda knows;
She whom thou wouldst have thine, Erastus, knows.
Erastus.
Nay, my Perseda knows, and then 'tis well.
Perseda.
Ay, watch you [r] vantages? ”

“ If he be caught let him look out for the stake. He will not have tortured Laurenzano to pieces in vain if I can only lay my hand on him."
"The poor young man," sighed Erastus.
"There is something I wished to beg of you. The young Lazarus still lies in the Tower, as the physician of the hospital whom I sent to him, declared, that he must not be moved. You are master of your art. My conscience would be much relieved if you could only manage to cobble him up again. I will look after his future welfare." ”

“ Yet grieve I that Erastus should so die.
Hieronimo.
Erastus, Solyman saluteth thee,
And lets thee wit by me his highness' will,
Which is, thou shouldst be thus employed.
[Stabs him.
Bell'-Imperia.
Ay me, Erastus!
See, Solyman, Erastus slain!
Balthazar.
Yet liveth Solyman to comfort thee:
Fair queen of beauty, let not favour die,
But with a gracious eye behold his grief,
That with Perseda's beauty is increas'd,
[Pg 163] If by Perseda's grief be not releas'd.
Bell'-Imperia.
Tyrant, desist soliciting vain suits ”

“ Erastus shook his head: "In such a time great changes certainly often take place. I am interested in the young man, yea more, as often as I see him I have compassion on him. He is as handsome as you are, perhaps handsomer, but his expression does not exhibit happiness and contentment of mind. Can I help you, we are now neighbours. I dwell in the 'new building' as the Kurfürst often requires my medical advice. For a lame man my quarters are rather high up between Jupiter and Serapis, and I look down on the heads of all the planets and christian virtues. ”

“ He ineffectually resisted the efforts of the Calvinists, led by Caspar Olevianus, to introduce the Presbyterian polity and discipline, which were established at Heidelberg in 1570, on the Genevan model. One of the first acts of the new church system was to excommunicate Erastus on a charge of Socinianism, founded on his correspondence with Transylvania. The ban was not removed till 1575, Erastus declaring his firm adhesion to the doctrine of the Trinity. His position, however, was uncomfortable, and in 1580 he returned to Basel, where in 1583 he was made professor of ethics. ”

“ You must however testify, with as far as I am concerned the necessary mental reservation, if that quiets your conscience, that Erastus has often spoken to you in private as if he were tainted with Unitarianism, has denied the Holy Trinity, and praised the works of Servetus and Blandrata. You know as well as I do that he is in reality a heretic, deserving therefore of any punishment. As to your silly assignation with his daughter you have only to say, that you wished to prove to your satisfaction, whether she in reality did go at suspicious hours to the Kreuzweg, as had been reported to you. ”

“ Paul did Ananias, whosoever had opposed him. By sun-down the village was purified, the sick brought into the Church. Whosoever fell ill, was carried there, in case he could not be properly taken care of at home, and every day the Parson inspects the houses with the old people, to see that nothing is neglected."
"He is indeed a wonderful man," remarked Erastus.
"He is a Catholic," said the old woman in a low tone, "he administers the last unction to the dying." ”

“ ERASTUS, THOMAS (1524–1583) , German-Swiss theologian, whose surname was Lüber, Lieber, or Liebler, was born of poor parents on the 7th of September 1524, probably at Baden, canton of Aargau, Switzerland. In 1540 he was studying theology at Basel. The plague of 1544 drove him to Bologna and thence to Padua as student of philosophy and medicine. In 1553 he became physician to the count of Henneberg, Saxe-Meiningen, and in 1558 held the same post with the elector-palatine, Otto Heinrich, being at the same time professor of medicine at Heidelberg. ”

“ I'll be the glass, and thou that heav'nly sun,
From whence I'll borrow what I do achieve:
And, sweet Perseda, unnoted though I be,
Thy beauty yet shall make me known ere night.
Perseda.
Young slips are never graff'd in windy days;
Young scholars never enter'd with the rod.
Ah, my Erastus, these [385] are Europe's knights,
That carry honour graven in their helms,
And they must win it dear, that win it thence:
Let not my beauty prick thee to thy bane ”

“ These words suggest that the apostle had lately visited Troas on the coast of Asia Minor. Again, he remarks—"Erastus abode at Corinth, but Trophimus have I left at Miletum sick." [153:6] Any ordinary reader would at once infer from this observation that the writer had just arrived from Miletum. [153:7] The language of the concluding verses of the Acts warrants the impression that Paul's confinement had ended some time before the book was completed ”

“ We have seen the very means which the enemies of this people have devised, and intended for their enslavement become before us as chaff, as thorns crackling under the pot, as a broken yoke to be used to kindle the fires of freedom and liberty. ”

“ He controls the elements that war in the heavens,—the fearful thunderstorm—that darkens the firmament and that shakes the earth with its roar, the vivid lightnings that add terror to the scene, the tumultuous waves that leap and dash in the fury of the gale, and the earthquake that bellows forth its lurid flames, which make men tremble at the gaze. ”

“ And God said, let us make man in our own image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. ”

“ When the Lord says to his people, here is a beautiful earth I have formed for you, and there are the elements within your reach—the grasses, the streams of water which flow pure as the breezes of heaven, free to all ”

“ Do the women, when they pray, remember their husbands? Do you pray for brother Brigham? Yes, you should always pray for him. But when you pray for him, do you pray also for your own husband, that he may have the inspiration of the Almighty to lead and govern his family as the lord? Do you uphold your husband before God as your lord? ”

“ And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. ”

“ Hundreds and thousands in different parts of the world have witnessed the dawn of this light, have heard the sound thereof in the distance, have gone in search of it, have captured the first ray that penetrated their minds and followed it until it has led them finally to the possession of eternal life. ”

“ While, on the other hand, those who love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil, are fighting against the light and will shun it when it approaches, like the thief at the approach of the officer of the law, and conceals himself in darkness. ”

“ He has sent out His word throughout the earth. He has sent His servants abroad carrying, as it were, a torch in their hand—the light of the Gospel, inviting all to come to it, that as many as love the light may see it and follow it as one would follow a light in a dark place, or until the dawn of day. ”

“ We have become like a city that is set on a hill, we cannot be hid. We have become a strong people, and they do not know what to do with us. Every drop of innocent blood which they shed, will spread the Gospel the faster. ”

“ It is almost impossible for them to arrive at any other conclusion, and where, in the history of the world, is it chronicled of any great astronomer that he was an infidel? any one that has the mind, and whose researches have enabled him to stretch out and begin to comprehend and fathom the greatness of the works of creation, that has not in the most humble and reverential manner acknowledged God? ”

“ How can such persons learn and understand the truth? As Jesus said to the Scribes and Pharisees anciently, "How can ye believe which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only." ”

“ And truly it is as Paul has said of it—good news, glad tidings of great joy revealed to all people; joy to the righteous, and will be a joy to all people who appreciate it, henceforth and forever. And that we as a people may be worthy of it, walking in the light, and that our pathway may grow brighter and brighter until the perfect day, is my prayer in the name of Jesus. ”

“ When we have trusted in the Lord our God, kept his commandments and revered his laws, he has not betrayed us nor forsaken us in trouble; but he has ever stood by us and led us forth out of affliction, and has given unto us Governors and Judges and Counsellors after his own heart, to feed this people with knowledge and understanding—to lead them forth in the paths of peace, unity, and love. ”

“ I say it does not become us to give way to these sentiments and feelings which are common with unbelievers, with the world, or with the unenlightened, who have not a knowledge of God, who have not been favored with the light of revelation, who have not discerned the signs of the times; for we are not the children of darkness, but the children of light. Light has come unto us. ”