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The rabbis had so multiplied them that a Pharisee could boast of fasting “twice in the week.” The disciples of John the Baptist were taught to fast frequently, not as an empty form, but to express the solemn character of the ministry of John who had come preaching “repentance unto remission of sins.” It was not strange, therefore, that the enemies of Jesus came to him with a complaint and with the question, “The disciples of John fast often, and make supplications; likewise also the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink.” In his reply Jesus stated distinctly the view his followers should take, not only of fasting but of all religious forms: “Can ye make the sons of the bride-chamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them?
After this, hearing that Wesete was to hold his wedding in Skaane, he went to the feast disguised as a beggar; and when all were sunken in wine and sleep, he battered the bride-chamber with a beam.
When the night came, the eunuchs threw open the doors of the bride-chamber and stood on either hand; whereupon the bride entered, among her damsels, like the moon among stars or a pearl of matchless beauty in a string of lesser pearls, and seated herself upon a couch of alabaster inlaid with pearls and jewels, that had been set for her there.
Prompted by the genie and the presence of the perie, he returned to the hall, from whence he slips into the bride-chamber, where he sat down, expecting the success of his adventure. After a while the bride arrived, conducted by an old matron, who came no farther than the door, without looking in to see whether it were hump-back or another that was there, and then retired.
I vowed that if shame and disgrace were to supply the inheritance I had forfeited, I would not stand alone amidst the scorn of the pitiless world. In the vision of my agony, I saw, afar, the altar dressed and the bride-chamber prepared; and I breathed my curse, strong as prophecy, on the marriage-hearth and the marriage-bed.
Then I will order one of my slaves to fetch a purse, and, giving it to the tire-women, command them to lead her to the bride-chamber. When they leave me alone with the bride, I will not look at her or speak to her, but will sit by her with averted face, that she may say I am high of soul.
Then they will carry her to the bride-chamber, and meanwhile I will rise and change my clothes for a richer suit.
They dragged her, a struggling captive, to the bride-chamber which made the other end of the house, and when they emerged, blushing and giggling and subdued, the fun began with Tom McChesney. He gave the young men a pretty fight indeed, and long before they had him conquered the elder guests had made their escape through door and window.
But to the general these finer threads are indiscernible. What touches them in the Shakesperean poetry, and most rightly touches them and us all, are topics eternally old, yet of eternal freshness, the perennial truisms of the grave and the bride-chamber, of shifting fortune, of the surprises of destiny, and the emptiness of the answered vow.
And the saint thus answered: "Ye must first, with the mouth of your heart and of your body, devoutly receive the flesh and the blood of your Spouse, so that, being quickened with the living food, and having tasted of death, ye may pass from this impure world unto the starry bride-chamber."
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