Succour

“ She knocks, and raises the Court
Enter Orithie, Semanthe, with other Ladies and Courtiers, as out of their beds
Orb. Come, come! help me to weep myself away,
And melt into a grave! for life is but
Repentance' nurse, and will conspire with memory
To make my hours my tortures.160
Ori. What scene of sorrow's this? Both dead?
Orb. Dead? Ay,
And 'tis but half death's triumphs this: the king
And prince lie somewhere, just such empty trunks
As these.
Ori. The prince? Then in grief's burthen I
Must bear a part.
Sem. The noble Ariaspes!165
Valiant Ziriff, too! ”

“ Well, certainly, that prayer seemed to take us all right up and put us down in heaven! and when I opened my eyes, and saw the roses and asparagus-bushes on the manteltree-piece, I had to ask myself, 'Where have I been?' Oh, Miss Scudder, her afflictions have been sanctified to her!—and really, when I see her going on so, I feel she can't be long for us. They say, dying grace is for dying hours; and I'm sure this seems more like dying grace than anything that I ever yet saw. ”

“ Concerning the Resurrection, I conceive the difficulty to lie not so much upon our Lord as us, it being with easy reason imagined, that He, which can make a body, can lay it down and take it up again. There is something more that urges and presses us; for in our estate we promise ourselves hereafter, there will be no need of food, copulation, or excrement: to what purpose should we have a mouth, belly, or less comely parts? it being strange to imagine God to have created man, for a moment of time, a body consisting of particulars which should be useless to all eternity. ”

“ Nevertheless, taking pity on me, my lord the Archbishop caused the relics of St. Gatien to be brought, and the moment the shrine had touched my bed the said Succubus was obliged to depart, leaving an odour of sulphur and of hell, which made the throats of my servants, friends, and others sore for a whole day. Then the celestial light of God having enlightened my soul, I knew I was, through my sins and my combat with the evil spirit, in great danger of dying. ”

“ But I felt as though I was sore all over my body. When I went out into the cold winter weather the cold would smart what seemed to be sores on my face, and when I got to the chapel to preach I felt ashamed to get up before the audience because I thought the folks would see the sores on my face, although I knew it was an imposition of the devil. When I got into the pulpit I told the people how I felt, and asked them to pray, and immediately the feeling left me. I learned the lesson not to be willing to take a devil's sickness in order to get people healed. ”

“ His love for all creatures, a love unspeakable, was another ground of sorrow; in proportion to His love for them, did He grieve intensely for all their sins, which separated them from Him. He grieved for every mortal sin which had been, or which ever should be, committed by all men who had lived, or hereafter should live, upon the earth; for every mortal sin separates the soul of the sinner from the Soul of the Lord, to which by charity it was united. ”

“ With their bones scarcely skinned over, your wretched people present themselves before you, beaten down and helpless, with the aspect rather of death itself than of living men, imploring your succor in the name of Him who has appointed you to reign over them,—who made you a man, that you might be merciful to other men,—and who made you the father of your subjects, that you might be compassionate to these your helpless children. ”

“ Beauty and innocence in Death's embrace,
It seemed a mournful thing to waken them.
Another prayer arose—and he, whose faith
Had power o'er Nature's elements, to seal
The dripping cloud, to wield the lightning's dart,
And soon, from death escaping, was to soar
On car of flame up to the throne of God,
Long, long, with labouring breast, and lifted eyes,
Solicited in anguish. On the dead
Once more the prophet gazed. ”

“ Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord. From henceforth now, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; for their works follow them.
14 And I saw, and behold a white cloud; and upon the cloud one sitting like to the Son of man, having on his head a crown of gold, and in his hand a sharp sickle.
15 And another angel came out from the temple crying with a loud voice to him that sat upon the cloud: Thrust in thy sickle, and reap, because the hour is come to reap: for the harvest of the earth is ripe. ”

“ Though I approach with all humility in presenting these Poems to your ladyship, yet dare I not despair of their acceptation, since it were a kind of felony to offer them to any other. They come to you at so many capacities, that they seem rather to return and rebound back to you, as the famous Arcadia was sent to that excellent Lady, who was sister to that great author. Your ladyship best knows, that I now bring the last Remains of your incomparable brother, Sir John Suckling. ”

“ Hear how subtle the demon is, and stand firm against her artifices. While listening to the first response of the aforesaid Succubus, I saw with horror that the irons placed upon her feet and hands left no mark there, and was astonished at her hidden strength and at her apparent weakness. Then my mind was troubled suddenly at the sight of the natural perfections with which the devil was endowed. ”

“ She meant to go and die in her father’s stead.
“No, no!” cried the three brothers. “We will go and seek this Beast, and either he or we must die!”
“It is all in vain,” said the father. “You do not know the Beast. He is more mighty than you can think. No! you must stay and care for your sisters. At the end of three months I shall go back and die.” The merchant then went to his room, and there he found the chest of gold. ”

“ But no convent walls are so strong as to shut great nature out; and even within these sacred precincts the ascetics found that they were not free from the temptations of their arch-enemy. In consequence of this, a belief sprang up, and spread from its original source into the outer world, in a class of devils called incubi and succubi, who roamed the earth with no other object than to tempt people to abandon their purity of life. ”

“ And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I ate.
14 And the LORD God said to the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life: 15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
16 To the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children ”

“ For when she looked down into the jar there was a great rattlesnake coiled up over the smooth white skull.
So she ran and called her father and told him in great fright what she had seen.
“Ah!” said the father, for he was a very wise priest-chief, “thou shouldst not meddle with things. Thou shouldst keep quiet,” said he. He then arose and went into the room. Then he approached the jar, and, looking down into it, said: “Have mercy upon us, my child, my father. Become as thou art. Disguise not thyself in hideous forms, but as thou hast been, be thou.” ”

“ He swung the sacred censer high above the trembling band,
But where the burning sign of wrath did in his forehead flame,
Behold! the avenging doom of heaven, the livid plague-spot came:
And low his princely head declin'd, in bitterness of woe,
While from the temple-gate he sped,—a leper white as snow. ”

“ As I thought of the impossibility of rendering succor to those shrinking females, as I dwelt on the lingering agonies they would have to endure, as I pictured to myself the brig sinking before our eyes, and we all powerless to prevent it, a thrill of horror shivered through every nerve of my system, my blood ran cold, my brain reeled around, and I could with difficulty prevent myself from falling, so great was my emotion. ”

“ Philatel. Speak to her yourself:
She's so incens'd against me,
She will not welcome happiness, because25
I bring it.
Prince. Fair ornament of grief, why are you troubled?
Can you believe there's anything within
My power which you shall mourn for? if you have
Any fears, impart them; any desires,30
Give them a name, and I will give the rest.
You wrong the greatness of my love to doubt
The goodness of it.
Sabrina. Alas! I do not doubt your love, my lord:
I fear it: 'tis that which does undo me.35
For 'tis not Samorat that's prisoner now:
It is the Prince's rival. ”

“ The Fragmenta Aurea of Sir John Suckling were published in 1646, four years after their author's death, 'by a friend to perpetuate his memory.' A second edition followed in 1648, and in 1658 a third edition contained an additional collection of poems and letters and the unfinished tragedy of The Sad One. The success of these volumes was aided doubtless by the reputation for high accomplishment and ready wit which Suckling had enjoyed, by the part which he had taken in the public affairs of a critical epoch, by his sudden disappearance, and the mystery which attended his death. ”

“ Enter Thersames from the vaults; she stabs him, as he riseth
Ther. Unkindly done!
Agl. The prince's voice! defend it, goodness!
Ther. What art
Thou that thus poorly hast destroy'd a life?25
Agl. O sad mistake! 'tis he.
Ther. Hast thou no voice?
Agl. I would I had not, nor a being neither.
Ther. Aglaura? it cannot be.
Agl. O still believe so, sir!
For 'twas not I indeed, but fatal love.30
Ther. Love's wounds us'd to be gentler than these were;
The pains they give us have some pleasure in them,
And that these have not.
Enter Ziriff with a taper
O do not say 'twas you ”

“ The morrow of this day will be Eternity and then He will render to you a hundredfold for the joys which you have sacrificed for Him. He knows the extent of your sacrifice, He knows that the grief of those dear to you increases your own still more ”

“ This might be sufficient to make you acknowledge that these are the real and genuine works of Sir John Suckling; but, if you can yet doubt, let any judicious soul seriously consider the freedom of the fancy, richness of the conceipt, proper expression, with that air and spirit diffus'd through every part; and he will find such a perfect resemblance with what hath been formerly known, that he cannot with modesty doubt them to be his. ”

“ Let us be taught by these thorns, as Gideon taught the men of Succoth, to hate sin, and be uneasy under it, and to be in love with Jesus Christ, who is here a lily among thorns. If we be at any time afflicted with a thorn in the flesh, let it be our comfort, that our high priest is touched with the feelings of our infirmities, having himself known what thorns in the flesh meant. 3. Are kings attended with the acclamations of their subjects, O king, live for ever? ”

“ But on this occasion some quite peculiar ceremonies were introduced, and the ram is called by a strange name—“the ram of consecration.” When Aaron and his sons have again declared their connection with the animal by laying their hands upon it, it is slain. And then the blood is applied to the tip of their right ear, the thumb of their right hand, and the great toe of their right foot, that the ear may hearken, and the best energies obey, and their life become as that of the consecrated animal, their bodies being presented, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God. ”

“ Speaking of the tribulations of the saints, St. Cyprian asks”What are they to the servants of God, whom Paradise invites ?" (Ep, ad Demetr.) Is it much for those to whom the eternal goods of Heaven are promised, to embrace the short afflictions of this life?
10. In fine, the scourges of Heaven are sent not for our injury, but for our good. ”Let us believe that these scourges of the Lord, with which, like servants, we are chastised, have happened for our amendment, and not for our destruction." (Judith viii. 27.) ”God," says St. Augustine, ”is angry when he does not scourge the sinner." ”

“ If left alone he would be a cactus flowering obscurely touched by nothing except the ravaging sandstorms within, an ascetic monk whose insights would languish within the intact internal life of a temporary being, a fetus barely alive in a dead woman's body—if this were really what he wanted. ”

“ A suction so powerful, felt along radii so vast, and a consciousness, at the same time, that upon other radii still more vast, both by land and by sea, the same suction is operating, night and day, summer and winter, and hurrying forever into one centre the infinite means needed for her infinite purposes, and the endless tributes to the skill or to the luxury of her endless population, crowds the imagination with a pomp to which there is nothing corresponding upon this planet, either amongst the things that have been or the things that are. ”

“ Those who are possessed by demons can speak with the tongue drawn out of their mouth, through the belly and by other natural parts; they speak unknown languages, cause earthquakes, make thunder, clear up the weather, drag up trees by the roots, move a mountain from one place to another, raise castles in the air and put them back in their places without injury, and can fascinate and dazzle the human eye.
“Incubi are demons in the disguise of men, who copulate with female sorcerers; succubi are demons disguised as women, who practice vile habits not only on sleeping, but wakeful men.” ”

“ Zir. Safely, I'm sure, my lord! you know 'tis not
Our custom, where the king's dislike once swells
To hate, there to engage ourselves. Court friendship
Is a cable, that in storms is ever cut;15
And I made bold with it. Here is the warrant seal'd;
And, for the execution of it, if
You think we are not strong enough, we may
Have Iolas; for him the king did name.
Ari. And him I would have nam'd.20
Zir. But is he not too much the prince's, sir? ”