Selected quad for the lemma: lord_n
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A28990
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The martyrdom of Theodora and of Didymus by a person of honour.
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Boyle, Robert, 1627-1691.
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1687
(1687)
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Wing B3987; ESTC R2732
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80,960
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270
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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 't is a very needless proof of them so 't is 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 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 whom they had never seen before in spite of the Diguise that the Glory they appear'd in put upon them St. Paul tells his Thessalonians 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