The Theater (1720) | Page 7

Hotspur reply'd humourously, _Why so it would have done at the same Season, if your Mother's Cat had but kitten'd, tho' your self had never been born_.
If we are to think so slightly of these uncommon Accidents, since the Fashion of the Times will call them so, I would fain be resolved in one Point, how it comes to pass, that the Birth and Death of so many eminent Persons, and of Consequence to the World, have been mark'd and usher'd in with such a Pomp of Prodigies. The same great Poet, whom I but now quoted, observes finely, that,
_When Beggars die, there are no Comets seen: The Heav'ns themselves blaze forth the Death of Princes._
The whole Concurrence of Historians, even of the most undoubted Authority, have struck in, and espoused this Opinion. They are not all Fools and superstitious Dotards, nor tied by any Obligations to record a Set of Miracles, which in their own private Thoughts they counted absurd, and laugh'd at. Every Pen, that has touch'd the Circumstance of _Julius C?sar's_ Death, has consented to relate the Strange Things, which both foresaw and foretold his Assassination. Shakespear has communicated these Terrors to his Audience with the utmost Art: The Night is attended with Thunder and Lightning; and _C?sar_ comes forth in his Night-gown, reflecting on the Unquietness of the Season, and ordering the Priests to do present Sacrifice: Calphurnia immediately follows him; and the Undauntedness of his Spirit, attack'd by the Tenderness of his Wife's Tears, gives an Occasion for the following Recital.
C?sar, _I never stood on Ceremonies; Yet now they fright me: There is one within, Besides the Things that we have heard and seen, Recounts most horrid Sights seen by the Watch. A Lioness hath whelped in the Streets; And Graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their Dead: Fierce fiery Warriours fight upon the Clouds, (In Ranks and Squadrons, and right Forms of War) Which drizzled Blood upon the_ Capitol. _The Noise of Battle hurried in the Air, Horses did neigh, and dying Men did groan, And Ghosts did shriek, and squeal about the Streets. O_ C?sar! _These Things are beyond all Use, And I do fear them_.
The Poet, tho' he has adorned this Description by his Art, has been careful to collect its Substance from the Historians. Every Particular is preserved to us by the Heathen Writers; and not a Heathen, that we know of, did ever dispute the Truth of it. The Love and Esteem which the Generality bore to the Person of _C?sar_, the Reverence which they paid to the Dignity of his Character, and the important Services which he had done the Commonwealth, contributed not only to convince them of these Prodigies, but to make some effort, that the Gods had received him into their Number.
The Use, which I intended from this Subject, is, that as Christians, who have more invaluable Obligations to remember, we should suffer our Faith and Gratitude to extend as least as far as the Pagans did. There was a dread Time (for the Commemoration whereof a Day is annually set a-part) _when the Sun was eclipsed, and Darkness was over all the Land; when the Vail of the Temple was rent asunder from the Top to the Bottom; when the Earth quaked, and Rocks were split; when the Graves were opened, and the Bodies of Saints, which slept in Death, arose and walked_. Let Atheists alone, and Freethinkers disbelieve the Terrors of that Hour. 'Twas fit that Nature should feel such Convulsions, when the Lord of Life suffered such Indignities.
I almost fear least my Readers should suspect that I am usurping the Province of the Pulpit, and therefore I shall continue this Discourse in the Words of a Poet, who will ever be esteemed in the English Tongue. When Adam is doom'd to be turn'd out of Paradise, Milton has by a happy Machinery supposed, that the Angel Michael is dispatched down to pronounce the Sentence, and mitigate it by shewing Adam in Vision, what should happen to his Posterity. Amongst the rest, the Incarnation is shadowed out; and the Angel tells him, that the Messiah shall spring from his Loins, and make a Satisfaction for the Punishment, which he by his Transgression had earned on himself and his Race.
_For this he shall live hated, be blasphem'd, Seis'd on by Force, judg'd, and to Death condemn'd, A shameful and accurst, nail'd to the Cross By his own Nation, slain for bringing Life; But to the Cross He nails thy Enemies The Law that is against thee, and the sins Of all Mankind, with him there crucified, Never to hurt them more, who rightly trust In this his Satisfaction: So he dies, But soon revives; Death over him no Power Shall long usurp: e'er the third dawning