Hadassah had, in the meantime, been enduring the martyrdom of the heart.
When Zarah, under the escort of Abishai, left her home to attend the celebration of the holy feast, Hadassah sent her soul with her, though failing health chained back the aged2 lady's feeble body. In thought, Hadassah shared the memorial feast; in thought, partook of the sacrifice and joined in the hymns3 of praise. Her mind dwelt on the circumstances attending the celebration of the first Passover, when, with loins girded and staff in hand, the fathers of Israel had taken their last meal in Egypt, before starting for the Promised Land.
"Is not this the Promised Land still?" thought Hadassah; "though those who are as the Canaanites of old now hold it--though unhallowed worship be offered on Mount Zion, and images be set up within the walls of Jerusalem. Yea, it is to Israel the Promised Land, till every prophecy be fulfilled; till the King come to Zion, lowly and riding on an ass1 (Zech. ix. 9); till--oh, most mysterious word!--the thirty pieces of silver be weighed out as the price of the Lord and cast to the potter (Zech. xi. 12, 18); till He shall speak peace to the heathen, and His dominion4 be from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth (Zech. ix. 10). Faith looks backward on fulfilled prophecy with gratitude5, on yet unfulfilled prophecy with hope. Zion's brightest days are to come. Her Lord crowned her with glory in the days of old; but in the days which will rise on her yet, He shall Himself be to her as a diadem6 of beauty!" (Isa. xxviii. 5.)
Absorbed in such high contemplations, with hopes intensified7 by the victories of Maccabeus--which seemed to her types and pledges of greater triumphs to come--time did not pass wearily with Hadassah until the hour arrived for Zarah's expected return. Even the delay of that return did not at first seriously alarm Hadassah; circumstances might render it safer for the maiden8 to linger at Salathiel's house; she might even be pressed to remain there during the night, should Syrians be lurking9 about in the paths amidst the hills. Hadassah had so often attended meetings in the elder's dwelling10, with or without her grand-daughter, that habit had made her regard such attendance as less perilous11 than it was now to be proved to have been.
But Hadassah on this night could not retire to rest. She could not close her eyes in sleep until they had again looked upon her whom the Hebrew lady fondly called her "white dove."
Midnight stole on, and Hadassah's heart, notwithstanding her courage and faith, became burdened with heavy anxiety. She made Anna lie down and rest; while she herself, notwithstanding her state of indisposition, kept watch by the door.
Presently her ear caught the sound of footsteps, hurried yet stealthy. Hadassah heard danger in that sound, and opened the door without waiting to know who came, or whether the steps would be arrested at her threshold. The light which the widow held in her hand fell on a countenance13 ghastly with fear; she recognized the face of Salathiel, and knew before he uttered a word that he had come as the messenger of disaster.
"The enemy came--we fled over the roofs--Abishai is slain--Zarah in the hands of the Syrians!"
Such were the tidings which fell like a sentence of death on the ear of Hadassah! Salathiel could not wait to tell more; he must overtake his family and with them flee for his life; and he passed away again into darkness, almost as swiftly as the lightning passes, but, like the lightning, leaving behind a token of where it has been in the tree which it has blasted!
Hadassah did not shriek14, nor sink, nor swoon, but she felt as one who has received a death-blow. She stood repeating over and over to herself the latter part of Salathiel's brief but fearful announcement, as if it were too terrible to be true. Had Zarah been taken from her by natural cause, the Hebrew lady would have bowed her head like Job, and have blessed the name of the Lord in mournful submission15; but the thought of Zarah in the hands of the Syrians caused an agony of grief more like that of Jacob, when he gazed on the blood-stained garment of his son and refused to be comforted.
For Hadassah loved the young maiden whom she had reared with the intensity16 of which a strong and fervent17 nature like hers perhaps alone is capable. Zarah was all that was left to her grandmother in the world, the sole relic18 remaining of the treasures which she once had possessed19. It may be permitted to me here, as a digression, to give a brief account of Hadassah's former life, that the reader may better understand her position at the point reached in my story.
Few women had appeared to enjoy a brighter lot than Hadassah, when beautiful, gifted, and beloved, a happy wife, a rejoicing mother, she had dwelt near Bethsura in Idumea, the possessor of more than competence20, and the dispenser of benefits to many around her. Hadassah had in her youthful days an ambitious spirit, a somewhat haughty21 temper, and a love of command, which had to a certain degree marred22 the beauty of a character which was essentially23 noble.
Grief soon came, however, to humble24 the spirit and to soften25 the temper. Hadassah was early left a widow, and heavily the grief of bereavement26 fell upon one whose love had been passionate27 and deep. Two children, however--a daughter and son--remained to console her. Around these, and especially her boy, the affections of Hadassah clung but too closely. Abner was almost idolized by his mother. If ambition remained in her heart, it was ambition for him. He was her pride, her delight, the object of her fondest hopes; Abner's very faults seemed almost to become graces, viewed through the medium of Hadassah's intense love.
Many years now flowed on, with little to disturb their even tenor28. Miriam, the only daughter of Hadassah, was married to Abishai; Abner was united to a fair maiden whom his mother could receive love as a daughter indeed.
The Hebrew widow lived her early days over again in her children, and life was sweet to her still.
Then came blow upon blow in fearful succession, each inflicting29 a deep wound on the heart of Hadassah. Both the young wives were taken in the prime of their days, within a few weeks of each other--Miriam dying childless, Naomi leaving but one little daughter behind. But the heaviest, most crushing stroke was to come!
When Seleucus, King of Pergamos, with the concurrence30 of the Romans, had placed Antiochus on the throne of Syria, the new monarch31 had speedily shown himself an active enemy of the faith held by his subjects in Judaea. Onias, their venerable High Priest, was deposed32, and the traitor33 Jason raised to hold an office which he disgraced. A gymnasium was built by him in Jerusalem; reverence34 for Mosaic36 rites37 was discouraged. Both by his example and his active exertions38, Jason, the unworthy successor of Aaron, sought to obliterate39 the distinction between Jew and Gentile, and bring all to one uniformity of worldliness and irreligion. In the words of the historian:[1] "The example of a person in his commanding position drew forth40 and gave full scope to the more lax dispositions41 which existed among the people, especially among the younger class, who were enchanted42 with the ease and freedom of the Grecian customs, and weary of the restraints and limitations of their own. Such as these abandoned themselves with all the frenzy43 of a new excitement, from which all restraint had been withdrawn44, to the license45 which was offered to them. The exercises of the gymnasium seem to have taken their minds with the force of fascination46."
To temptations such as these, a disposition12 like that of Abner was peculiarly accessible. His religion had never been the religion of the heart; his patriotism48 was cold, he prided himself upon being a citizen of the world. Unhappily, after the death of his wife, Abner had become weary of Bethsura, and had gone up to Jerusalem to divert his mind from painful associations. He there came under the influence of Jason, and plunged49 into amusement in a too successful effort to divert his mind from sorrow.
Ambition soon added its powerful lure50 to that of pleasure. Abner met the newly-made king shortly after his accession, and at once attracted the attention and won the favour of the monarch. There was nothing but the Hebrew's faith between him and the highest distinctions which a royal friend could bestow51. Abner yielded to the brilliant temptation; he parted with his religion (more than nominal52 it never had been), changed his name to that of Pollux, abandoned all his former friends and pursuits, and attached himself entirely53 to the Syrian court, then usually residing at Antioch.
Abner, or, as we have called him, Pollux, dared not face his mother after he had turned his back upon all which she had taught him to revere35. The apostate54 never went near Bethsura again; he kept far away from the place where he had passed his innocent childhood, the place where slept the relics55 of his young Jewish wife. Abner wrote to Hadassah to inform her of what he termed the change in his opinions; told her that he had given up an antiquated56 faith, commended his little daughter to her care, and asked her to forget that she herself had ever given birth to a son.
Hadassah, after receiving this epistle, lay for weeks at the point of death, and fears were at first entertained for her reason. She arose at last from her sick-bed a changed, almost broken-hearted woman. As soon as it was possible for her to travel, the widow left Bethsura for ever. She could not endure the sight of aught to remind her of happier days; she could not bear to meet any one who might speak to her of her son. Hadassah's first object was to seek out Abner, and, with all the persuasions57 which a mother could use, to try to draw him back from a course which must end in eternal destruction. But Abner was not to be found in Jerusalem, nor in any part of the country around it. He had carefully concealed58 from his mother his new name--the Hebrew was lost in the Syrian--Abner was dead indeed to his family and to his country--and to Hadassah the courtier Pollux was utterly59 a stranger.
It was long, very long, before Hadassah gave up her search for Abner, and she never gave up either her love or her hope for her son. Affection with her was like the vein60 in the marble, a part of itself, which nought61 can wash out or remove. There was scarcely a waking hour in which the mother did not pray for her wanderer; he was often present to her mind in dreams. And the character of Hadassah was elevated and purified by the grief which she silently endured. The dross62 of ambition and pride was burned away in the furnace of affliction; the impetuous high-spirited woman refined into the saint. Exquisitely63 beautiful is the remark made by a gifted writer:[2] "Everything of moment which befalls us in this life, which occasions us some great sorrow for which in this life we see not the uses, has nevertheless its definite object.... It may seem but a barren grief in the history of a life, it may prove a fruitful joy in the history of a soul."
Hadassah's intense, undying affection for her unworthy son, led her to regard with peculiar47 affection the child whom he had left to her care. She loved Zarah both for his sake and her own. Zarah was the one flower left in the desert over which the simoom had swept; her smile was to the bereaved64 mother as the bright smile of hope. Hadassah, as she watched the opening virtues65 of Abner's daughter, could not, would not believe that the parent of Zarah could ever be finally lost. God would surely hear a mother's prayers, and save Abner from the fate of an apostate. All that Hadassah asked of Heaven was to see her son once again in the path of duty, and then she would die happy. The love for Abner which still lived in the widow's bosom66, was like the unseen fires that glow unseen beneath the surface of the earth, only known by the warmth of the springs that gush67 up into light. Even as those springs was the love of the widow for Abner's daughter.
[1] Dr. Kitto.
[2] Lord Lytton.
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1
ass
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| n.驴；傻瓜，蠢笨的人 | |
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aged
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| adj.年老的，陈年的 | |
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hymns
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
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dominion
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| n.统治，管辖，支配权；领土，版图 | |
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gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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diadem
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| n.王冠，冕 | |
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intensified
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| v.（使）增强， （使）加剧( intensify的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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lurking
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| 潜在 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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perilous
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| adj.危险的，冒险的 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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intensity
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| n.强烈，剧烈；强度；烈度 | |
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fervent
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| adj.热的，热烈的，热情的 | |
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relic
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| n.神圣的遗物，遗迹，纪念物 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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competence
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| n.能力，胜任，称职 | |
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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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marred
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| adj. 被损毁, 污损的 | |
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essentially
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| adv.本质上，实质上，基本上 | |
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humble
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| adj.谦卑的，恭顺的；地位低下的；v.降低，贬低 | |
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25
soften
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| v.(使)变柔软；(使)变柔和 | |
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bereavement
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| n.亲人丧亡，丧失亲人，丧亲之痛 | |
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passionate
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| adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的 | |
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tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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inflicting
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| 把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的现在分词 ) | |
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concurrence
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| n.同意；并发 | |
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monarch
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| n.帝王，君主，最高统治者 | |
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deposed
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| v.罢免( depose的过去式和过去分词 )；（在法庭上）宣誓作证 | |
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traitor
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| n.叛徒，卖国贼 | |
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reverence
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| n.敬畏，尊敬，尊严；Reverence:对某些基督教神职人员的尊称；v.尊敬，敬畏，崇敬 | |
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revere
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| vt.尊崇，崇敬，敬畏 | |
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mosaic
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| n./adj.镶嵌细工的，镶嵌工艺品的，嵌花式的 | |
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rites
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| 仪式，典礼( rite的名词复数 ) | |
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exertions
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| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
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obliterate
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| v.擦去，涂抹，去掉...痕迹，消失，除去 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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dispositions
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| 安排( disposition的名词复数 )； 倾向； （财产、金钱的）处置； 气质 | |
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enchanted
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| adj. 被施魔法的，陶醉的，入迷的 动词enchant的过去式和过去分词 | |
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frenzy
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| n.疯狂，狂热，极度的激动 | |
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withdrawn
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| vt.收回；使退出；vi.撤退，退出 | |
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license
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| n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许 | |
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fascination
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| n.令人着迷的事物，魅力，迷恋 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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49
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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50
lure
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| n.吸引人的东西，诱惑物；vt.引诱，吸引 | |
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bestow
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| v.把…赠与，把…授予；花费 | |
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nominal
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| adj.名义上的；(金额、租金)微不足道的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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apostate
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| n.背叛者，变节者 | |
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relics
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| [pl.］n.遗物，遗迹，遗产；遗体，尸骸 | |
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antiquated
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| adj.陈旧的，过时的 | |
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persuasions
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| n.劝说，说服（力）( persuasion的名词复数 )；信仰 | |
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concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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utterly
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| adv.完全地，绝对地 | |
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vein
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| n.血管，静脉；叶脉，纹理；情绪；vt.使成脉络 | |
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nought
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| n.／adj.无，零 | |
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dross
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| n.渣滓；无用之物 | |
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exquisitely
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| adv.精致地；强烈地；剧烈地；异常地 | |
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bereaved
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| adj.刚刚丧失亲人的v.使失去（希望、生命等）( bereave的过去式和过去分词)；（尤指死亡）使丧失（亲人、朋友等）；使孤寂；抢走（财物） | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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66
bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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gush
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| v.喷，涌；滔滔不绝(说话)；n.喷，涌流；迸发 | |
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