A PARABLE.
“There was a day when a certain great king proposed a marriage for his son, prepared a dinner, and proffered to bequeath to his son one of his provinces, on the day of the marriage. The woman that was to be the bride was very fair and beautiful, her adorning was that of a crown with twelve precious diamonds set there and placed upon her head, holding in her hand a reflecting rod, by which the bright rays of the sun was brought to reflect upon the diamonds, giving light both day and night, so that she walked not in the dark, but as in the light of the noon day sun, to guide her steps.
Her features were fair and comely, decked with virtue, innocence, and loving kindness, administering to all who came under her care; she surpassed all women in wisdom, in faith, and other like precious gifts and graces. The surrounding neighborhood, together with the inhabitants of said province, looked upon her with jealousy and waged war against her and her intended espousal, and treated them as their worst enemies and succeeded in banishing the king's son from his province, which caused the woman to mourn with a great and grievous mourning until she was comforted by tidings from the great king, who promised to bring back his son again, and (seeing his dinner was despised) he would prepare a supper, and invite all the inhabitants of the province to come to the marriage supper of his son, and that his son should be made king over the whole province, and that he would cause the rod of iron which was in the bride's hand to reflect light over all the kingdoms in the province, as this son was the legal heir; and the different kingdoms should become the kingdoms of his son.
This glorious news gave encouragement to the intended bride and enabled her to stand firm through many hard battles; at last the emperor of the nation that was warring with the woman, changed his course and proclaimed peace. The emperor by this means hoped to become in possession of the rod of iron, which seemed to be destined to rule all nations; the woman now was overpowered and was embraced in the emperor's arms, and at this critical moment the king himself stepped forward just as the woman was ready to deliver up her authority to the emperor, and took the rod out of her hand and carried it home to his own dominions and rescued the woman out of the emperor's hands, and secreted her in a neighboring woods, that her life might be preserved.
This enraged the disappointed emperor with madness and revenge; he renewed the war, declared his greatness, claiming that he had received from the woman all the authority of the king's son, putting to death all who dared to deny his assertion.
“There was a day when a certain great king proposed a marriage for his son, prepared a dinner, and proffered to bequeath to his son one of his provinces, on the day of the marriage. The woman that was to be the bride was very fair and beautiful, her adorning was that of a crown with twelve precious diamonds set there and placed upon her head, holding in her hand a reflecting rod, by which the bright rays of the sun was brought to reflect upon the diamonds, giving light both day and night, so that she walked not in the dark, but as in the light of the noon day sun, to guide her steps.
Her features were fair and comely, decked with virtue, innocence, and loving kindness, administering to all who came under her care; she surpassed all women in wisdom, in faith, and other like precious gifts and graces. The surrounding neighborhood, together with the inhabitants of said province, looked upon her with jealousy and waged war against her and her intended espousal, and treated them as their worst enemies and succeeded in banishing the king's son from his province, which caused the woman to mourn with a great and grievous mourning until she was comforted by tidings from the great king, who promised to bring back his son again, and (seeing his dinner was despised) he would prepare a supper, and invite all the inhabitants of the province to come to the marriage supper of his son, and that his son should be made king over the whole province, and that he would cause the rod of iron which was in the bride's hand to reflect light over all the kingdoms in the province, as this son was the legal heir; and the different kingdoms should become the kingdoms of his son.
This glorious news gave encouragement to the intended bride and enabled her to stand firm through many hard battles; at last the emperor of the nation that was warring with the woman, changed his course and proclaimed peace. The emperor by this means hoped to become in possession of the rod of iron, which seemed to be destined to rule all nations; the woman now was overpowered and was embraced in the emperor's arms, and at this critical moment the king himself stepped forward just as the woman was ready to deliver up her authority to the emperor, and took the rod out of her hand and carried it home to his own dominions and rescued the woman out of the emperor's hands, and secreted her in a neighboring woods, that her life might be preserved.
This enraged the disappointed emperor with madness and revenge; he renewed the war, declared his greatness, claiming that he had received from the woman all the authority of the king's son, putting to death all who dared to deny his assertion.
The woman wandered in the wilderness for many days, lost the diamonds out of her crown and being destitute of the reflecting rod, she lay dormant in the wilderness; or in other words asleep, having nothing but the pale rays of the moon to guide her feet. She mourned, she wept, she lamented her untimely widowhood, longing for the return of her banished husband; in all this she was some comforted, waiting with hope and listening with great anxiety to hear the glad news, behold, the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him, put on thy former apparel and prepare thyself for the completion of the marriage; and all those who refuse this my second and last invitation, shall not taste of my supper; this glad news for her was promised to be declared by a messenger from the king who was to bring back the reflecting rod, and all its attending beauties, authorizing the same to be proclaimed to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people, saying, with a loud voice, fear the great king for he is about to execute judgment upon all the rebels.
MALKIYAHU
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