BY WILLIAM G INTON BERRY
(1873--1926)
THE EARLY CHRISTIANS !!!!!!!CHAPTER # 1
# 1 _Christ our Saviour, in the Gospel of St Matthew, hearing the confession of Simon Peter, who, first of all other, openly acknowledge Him to be the Son of God, and perceiving the secret hand of His Father therein, called him (alluding to his name) a rock, upon which rock He would build His Chruch so strong, that the gates of hell should not prevail against it. In which words three things are to be noted: First, that Christ will have a Church in this world. Secondly, that the same Church should mightily be impugned, not only by the world, but also by the uttermost strength and powers of all hell. And, thirdly, that the same Church, notwithstanding the uttermost of the devil and all his malice, should continue.
# 2 _Which prophecy of Christ we see wonderfully to be verified, insomuch that the whole course of the Church to this day may seem nothing else but a verifying of the said prophecy. First, that Christ hath set up a Church, needeth no declaration. Secondly, what force of princes, kings, monarchs, governors, and rulers of this world, with their subjects, publicly and privately, with all their strength and cunning, have bent themselves against this Church! And, thirdly, how he said Church, all this notwithstanding, hath yet endured and holden its own! What storms and tempests it hath overpast, wondrous it is to behold: for the more evident declaration whereof, I have addressed this present history, to the end, first, that the wonderful works of God in His Church might appear to His glory; also that, the continuance and proceedings of the Church, from time to time, being set forth, more knowledge and experience may rebound thereby, to the profit of the reader and edification of Christian faith.
# 3 _At the first preaching of Christ, and coming of the Gospel, who should rather have known and received him than the Pharisees and Scribes of that people which had His law? and yet who persecuted and rejected Him more than they themselves? What followed? They, in refusing Christ to be their King, and choosing rather to be subject unto
Ceasar, wereby the said Ceasar at length destroyed.
# 4 _The like example of God's wrathful punishment is to be noted no less in the Romans themselves. For when Tiberius Ceasar, having learnt by letters from Pontius Pilate of the doings of Christ, of His miracles, resurrection, and ascension into heaven, and how He was received as God of many, himself moved with belief of the same, did confer thereon with the whole senate of Roman, and proposed to have Christ adored as God; they, not agreeing thereunto, refused Him, because that, contrary to the law of the Romans, He was consecrated (said they) for God before the senate of Roman had so decreed and approved Him. Thus the vain senate (being contented with the emperor to reign over them, and not contented with the meek King of glory, the Son of God, to be their King) were scourged and entrapped for their unjust refusing, by the same way which they themselves did perfer. For as they perferred the emperor, and rejected Christ, so the just permission of God did stir up their own emperors against them in such sort, that the senators themselves were almost all destroyed, and the whole city most horribly afflicted for the space almost of three hundred years.
These are true stories of men and woman for Jesus Christ. These are there story told. It takes a man or woman to stand up for Jesus, name!!!!!!!!
I pray, and hope, for all of you views will get a lesson out of these stories.
Just to see what christians, martyrs, go through for the name of Jesus.
I myself have wrote to some of these men, and woman, who, are in prison for preaching the Gospel of Christ. I prayer that they will be release from prison soon. My God be with them.
# 5 _For first, the same Tiberius, who, for a great part of his reign, was a moderate and a tolerable prince, afterward was to them a sharp and heavy tyrant, who neither favoured his own mother, nor spared his nephews nor the princes of the city, such as were his own counsellors, of whom, being of the number of twenty, he left not past two or three alive. Suetonius reporteth him to be so stern of nature, and tyrannical, that in one day he recordeth twenty persons to be drawn to the place of execution. In whose reign through the just punishment of God, Pilate, under whom Christ was crucified, was apprehended and sent to Rome, deposed, then banished to the town of Vienne in Dauphiny, and at length did slay himself. Agrippa the elder, also, by him was cast into prison, albeit afterward he was restored.
# 6 _After the death of Tiberius, succeeded Caligula, Claudius Nero and Domitius Nero; which three were likewise scourges to the Senate and people of Rome. The first commanded himself to be worshipped as god, and temples to be erected in his name, and used to sit in the temple among the gods, requiring his images to be set up in all temples, and also in the temple of Jerusalem; which caused great distubance among the Jews, and then began the abomination of desolation spoken of in the Gospel to be set up in the holy place. His cruelty of disposition, or else displeasure towards the Romans, was such that he wished that all the people of Rome had but one neck, that he, at his pleasure, might destroy such a mulitude. By this said Caligula, Herod Antipas, the muderer of John Baptist and condemner of Christ, was condemned to perpetual banishment, where he died miserably. Caiaphas also, who wickedly sat upon Christ, was the same time removed from the high priest's room, and Jonathan set in his place.
# 7 _The raging fierceness of this Caligula had not thus ceased, had not he been cut off by the hands of a tribune and other genteman, who slew him in the fourth year of his reign. Ater whose death were found in his closet two small books, one called the Sword, the other the Dagger: in which books were contained the names of those senators and noblemen of Rome, whom he had purposed to put to death. Besides this Sword and Dagger, there was found also a coffer, whenin divers kinds of poisons were kept in glasses and vessels, for the purpose of destroying a wonderful number of people; which poisons, afterward being thrown into the sea, destroyed a great number of fish.
# 8 _But that which this Caligula had only conceived, the same did the other two, which came after, bring to pass; namely, Claudius Nero, who reigned thirteen years with no little cruelty; but especially the thrid of these Neros, called Domitius Nero, who, succeeding after Claudius, reigned fourteen years with such fury and tyranny that he slew the most part of the sentors and destroyed the whole order of knighthood in Rome. So prodigious a monster of nature was he (more like a beast, yea rather a devil than a man), that he seemed to be born to the destruction of men. Such was his wretched cruelty, that he caused to be put to death his mother, his brother-in-law, his sister, his wife and his instructors, Seneca and Lucan. Moreover, he commanded Rome to be set on fire in twelve places, and so continued it six days and seven nights in burning, while that he, to see the example how Troy burned, sang the verses of Homer. And to avoid the infamy thereof, he laid the fault upon the Christian men, and caused them to be persecuted.
# 9 _And so continued this miserable emperor till at last the senate, proclaiming him a public enemy unto mankind, condemned him to be drawn through the city, and to be whipped to death; for the fear whereof, he, flying the hands of his enemies, in the night fled to a manor of his servant's in the country, where he was forced to slay himself, complaining that he had then neither friend nor enemy left, that would do so much for him.
# 10 _The Jews, in the year threescore and ten, about forth years after the passion of Christ, were destroyed by Titus, and Vespasian his father, (who succeeded after Nero in the empire) to the number of eleven hundred thousand, besides those which Vespasian slew in subduing the country of Galilee. They were sold and sent into Egypt and other provinces to vile slavery, to the number of seventeen thousand; two thousand were brought with Titus in his yriumph; of whom, part he gave to be devoured of the wild beasts, part otherwise most cruelly were slain.
# 11 _As I have set forth the justice of God upon these Roman persecutors, so now we declare their persecutions raised up against the people and servants of Christ, within the space of three hundred years; which persecutions in number commonly are counted to be ten, besides the persecutions first moved by the Jews, in Jerusalem and other places, against the apostles. After the martyrdom of Stephen, suffered next James the holy apostle of Christ, and brother of John. 'When this James,' saith Clement, 'was brought to the tribunal seat, he that brought him and was the cause of his trouble, seeing him to be condemned and that he should suffer death, was in such sort moved therewith in heart and conscience that as he went to the execution he confessed himself also, of his own accord, to be a Christian. And so were they led forth together, where in the way he desired of James to forgive him what he had done. After that James had a little paused with himself upon the matter, turning to him he saith "Peace be to thee, brother;" and kissed him. And both were beheaded together, A. D. 36.'
# 12 _Thomas preached to the Parthians, Medes and Persians, also to the Carmanians, Hyrcanians, Bactrians and Magians. He suffered in Calamina, a city of India, being slain with a dart. Simon, who was brother to Jude, and to James the younger, who all were the sons of Mary Cleophas and of Alpeus, was Bishop of Jerusalem after James, and was crucified in a city of Egypt in the time of Trajan the emperor. Simon the apostle, called Cananeus and Zelotes, preached in Mauritania, and in the country of Africa, and in Britain: he was likewise crucified.
# 13 _Mark, the evangelist and first Bishop of Alexandria, preached the Gospel in Egypt, and there, drawn with ropes unto the fire, was burnt and afterwards buried in a place called there 'Bucolus,' under the reign of Trajan the emperor. Bartholomew is said also to have preached to the Indians, and to have translated the Gospel of St Matthew into their tongue. At last in Albinopolis, a city of greater Armenia, after divers persecutions, he was beaten down with staves, then crucified; and after, being excoriate, he was beheaded.
# 14 _Of Andrew the apostle and brother to Peter, thus writeth Jerome. 'Andrew did preach, in the year fourscore of our Lord Jesus Christ, to the Scythians and Sogdians, to the Sacae, and in a city which is called Sebastopolis, where the Ethiopians do now inhabit. He was buried in Patrae, a city of Achaia, being crucified by Egeas, the governor of the Edessenes.' Bernard, and St Cypraian, do make mention of the confession and martyrdom of this blessed apostle; whereof partly out of these, partly out of other credible writers, we have collected after this manner: When Andrew, through his diligent preaching, had brought many to the faith of Christ, Egeas the governor, knowing this, resorted to Patrae, to the intent he might constrain as many as did believe Christ to be God, by the whole consent of the senate, to do sacrifice unto the idols, and so give divine honours unto them. Andrew, thinking good at the beginning to resist the wicked counsel and the doings of Egeas, went unto him, saying to this effect unto him: 'that it behoved him who was judge of men, first to know his judge which dwelleth in heaven, and then to worship Him being known; and so, in worshipping the true God, to revoke his mind from false gods and blind idols.' These words spake Andrew to the proconsul.
# 15 _But Egeas,greatly therewith discontented, demanded of him, whether he was the same Andrew that did overthrow the temple of the gods, and persuade men to be of that superstitious sect which the Romans of late had commanded to be abolished and rejected. Andrew did plainly affirm that the princes of the Romans did not understand the truth and that the Son of God, coming from heaven into the world for man's sake, hath taught and declared how those idols, whom they so honoured as gods, were not only not gods, but also most cruel devils; enemies to mankind, teaching the people nothing else but that wherewith God is offended, and, being offended, turneth away and regardeth them not; and so by the wicked service of the devil, they do fall headlong into all wickedness, and, after their departing, nothing remaineth unto them, but their evil deeds.
# 16_But the proconsul charged and commanded Andrew not to teach and preach such things any more; or, if he did, he should be fastened to the cross with all speed. Andrew, abiding in his former mind very constant, answered thus concerning the punishment which he threatened: ' He would not have preached the honour and glory of the cross, if he had feared the death of the cross.' Whereupon sentence of condemnation was pronounced; that Andrew, teacing and enterprising a new sect, and taking away the religion of their gods, ought to be crucified. Andrew, going toward the place, and seeing afar off the cross prepared, did change neither countenance nor colour, neither did his blood shrink, neither did he fail in his speech, his body fainted not, neither was his mind molested, nor did his understanding fail him, as it is the manner of men to do, but out of the abundance of his heart his mouth did speak, and fervent charity did appear in his words as kindled sparks; he said, 'O cross, most welcome and long looked for! with a willing mind, joyfully and desirously, I come to thee, being the scholar of Him which did hang on thee: because I have always been thy lover, and have coveted to embrace thee.'
# 17 _Matthew, otherwise named Levi, first of a publican made an apostle, wrote his Gospel to the Jews in the Hebrew tongue. After he had converted to the faith Ethiopia and all Egypt, Hircaus, their king, sent one to run him through with a spear.
# 18 _ Philip, the holy apostle, after he had much laboured among the barbarous nations in preaching the word of salvation to them, at length suffered, in Hierapolis, a city of Phrygia, being there crucified and stoned to death; where also he was buried, and his daughters also with him.
# 19 _Of James, the brother of the Lord, thus we read: James, took in hand to govern the Church with the apostles, being counted of all men, from the time of our Lord, to be a just and perfect man. He drank no wine nor any strong drink, neither did he eat any animal food; the razor never came upon his head. To him only was it lawful to enter into the holy place, for he was not clothed with woollen, but with linen only; and he used to enter into the temple alone, and there, falling upon his knees, ask remission for the people; so that his knees, by oft kneeling (for worshipping God, and craving forgiveness for the people), lost the sense of feeling, being benumbed and hardened like the knees of a camel. He was, for the excellency of his just life, called 'The Just,' and, 'the safeguard of the people.'
# 20 _When many therefore of their chief men did believe, there was a tumult made of the Jews, Scribes and Pharisees, saying; There is danger, lest all the people should look for this Jesus, as the Christ. Therefore they gathered themselves together, and said to James, 'We beseech thee restrain the people, for they believe in Jesus, as though he were Christ; we pray thee persuade all them which come unto the feast of the passover to think rightly of Jesus; for we all give heed to thee, and all the people do testify of thee that thou art just, and that thou dost not accept the person of any man. Therefore persuade the people that they be not deceived about Jesus, for all the people and we ourselves are ready to obey thee. Therefore stand upon the pinnacle of the temple, that thou mayest be seen above, and that thy words may be heard of all the people; for all the tribes with many Gentiles are come together for the passover.'
# 21 _And thus the forenamed Scribes and Pharisees did set James upon the battlements of the temple, and they cried unto him, and said, 'Thou just man, whom we all ought to obey, this people is going astray after Jesus which is crucified.'And he answer with a loud voice, 'Why do you ask me of Jesus the Son of Man? He sitteth on the right hand of the Most High, and shall come in the clouds of heaven.'
# 22 _Whereupon many were persuaded and glorified God, upon this witness of James, and said, 'Hosannah to the Son of David.' Then the Scribes and the Pharisees said among themselves, 'We have done evil, that we have caused such a testimony of Jesus; let us go up, and throw him down, that others, being moved with fear, may deny that faith.' And they cried out, saying, 'Oh, oh, this just man also is seduced.' Therefore they went up to throw down the just man. Yet he was not killed by the fall, but, turning, fell upon his knees, saying, 'O Lord God, Father, I beseech thee to forgive them, for they know not what they do.' And they said among, themselves, 'Let us stone the just man, James; and they took him to smite him with stones. But while they were smiting him with stones, a priest, said to them, 'Leave off, what do ye? The just man prayeth for you.' And one of those who were present, a fuller, took an instrument, wherewith they did use to beat and purge cloth, and smote the just man on his head; and so he finished his testimony. And they buried him in the same place. He was a true witness for Christ to the Jews and the Gentiles.
# 23 _Now let us comprehend the persecutions raised by the Romans against the Christians in the primitive age of the Church, during the space of three hundred years. Wherein marvellous it is to see and read the numbers incredible of Christian innocents that were tomented and slain. Whose kinds of punishments, although they were divers, yet the manner of constancy in all these martyrs was one. And yet, notwithstanding the sharpness of these so many and sundry torments, and also the like cruelness of the tormentors, such was the number of these constant saints that suffered, or rather such was the power of the Lord in His saints, that, as unto which the number of five thousand martyrs cannot be ascribed, except only the first day of January.'
# 24 _Thefirst of these ten persecutions was stirred up by Nero about the year of our Lord threescore and four. The tyrannous rage of which emperor was very fierce against the Christians, 'insomuch that (as Eusebius recordeth) a man might then see cities full of men's bodies, the old there lying together with the young, and the dead bodies of woman cast out naked, without all reverence of that sex, in the open streets.' Many there were of the Christians in those days, who, seeing the filthy abominations and intolerable cruelty of Nero, though that he was antichrist.
# 25 _In this persecution, among many other saints, the blessed apostle Peter was condemned to death, and crucified, as some to write, at Rome; albeit some others, and not without cause, do doubt thereof. Hegesippus saith that Nero sought matter against Peter to put him to death; which, when the people perceived, they entreated Peter with much ado that he would fly the city. Peter, through their importunity at length persuaded, prepared himself to avoid. But, coming to the gate, he saw the Lord Christ come to meet him, to Whom he, worshipping, said, 'Lord, whither dost Thou go?' To whom He answered and said, 'I am come again to be crucified.' By this, Peter, perceiving his suffering to be understood, returned back into the city. Jerome saith that he was crucified, his head being down and his feet upward, himself so requiring, because he was (he said) unworthy to be crucified after the same form and manner as the Lord was.
# 26 _Paul, the apostle, who before was called Saul, after his great travail and unspeakable labours in promoting the Gospel of Christ, suffered also in this first persection under Nero. Abdias, declareth that unto his execution Nero sent two of his esquires, Ferega and Parthemius, to bring him word of his death. They, coming to Paul instructing the people, desired him to pray for them, that they might believe; who told them that shortly after they should believe and be baptised at his sepulchre. This done, the soldiers came and led him out of the city to the place of execution, where he, after his prayers made, gave his neck to the sword.
# 27 _The first persecution ceased under Vespasian who gave some rest to the poor Christians. After whose reign was moved, not long after, the second persecution, by the emperor Domitian, brother of Titus. He, first beginning mildly and modestly, afterward did so far outage in pride intolerable, that he commanded himself to be worshipped as god, and that images of gold and silver in his honour should be set up in the capitol. In this persecution, John, the apostle and evangelist, was exiled by the said Domitian into Patmos. After the death of Domitian, he being slain and his acts repealed by the senate, John was released, and came to Ephesus in the year fourscore and seventeen; where he continued until the time of Trajan, and there governed the churches in Asia, where also he wrote his Gospel; and so lived till the year after the passion of our Lord, threescore and eight, which was the year of his age about one hundred.
# 28 _Clement of Alexandria addeth a certain history of the holy apostle, not unworthy to be remembered of such as delight in things honset and profitable The word be these: When John was returned to Ephesus from the isle of Patmos, he was requested to resort to the places bordering near unto him. Whereupon, when he was come to a certain city, and had comforted the brethren, he beheld a young man robust in body, of a beautiful countenance, and of a fervent mind. Looking earnestly at the newly-appointed bishop, John said: 'I most solemnly commend this man to thee, in presence here of Christ and of the Church.'
# 29 _When the bishop had received of him this charge, and had promised his faithful diligence therein, again the second time John spake unto him, and charged him as before. This done, John returned to Ephesus. The bishop, receiving the young man committed to his charge, brought him home, kept him, and nourished him, and at length baptized him; and after that, he gradually relaxed his care and oversight of him, trusting that he had given him the best safeguard possible in putting the Lord's seal upon him.
# 30 _The young man thus having his liberty more, it chanced that certain of his old companions and acquaintances, being idle, dissolute, and hardened in wickedness, did join in company with him, who first invited him to sumptuous and riotous banquets; then enticed him to go forth with them in the night to rob and steal; after that he was allured by them unto greater mischief and wickedness. Wherein, by custom of time, and by little and little, he, becoming more expert, and being of a good wit, and a stout courage, like unto a wild or unbroken horse, leaving the right way and running at large without bridle, was carried headlong to the profundity of all misorder and outrage. And thus, utterly forgetting and rejecting the wholesome doctrine of salvation which he had learned before, he entered so far in the way of perdition, that he cared not how much further he proceeded in the dame. And so, associating unto him a band of companions and fellow thieves, he took upon himself to be as head and captain among them, in committing all kind of murder and felony.
# 31 _It chanced that John was sent for to those quarters again, and came. Meeting the bishop afore specified, he requireth of him the pledge, which, in the presence of Christ and of the congregation then present, he left in his hands to keep. The bishop, something amazed at the words of John, supposing he had meant them of some money committed to his custody, which he had not received (and yet durst not mistrust John, nor contrary his words), could not tell what to answer. Then John, perceiving his perplexity, and uttering his meaning more plainly: 'The young man,' saith he, 'and the soul of our brother committed to your custody, I do require.' Then the bishop, with a loud voice sorrowing and weeping, said, 'He is dead.' To whom John said, 'How and by what death?' To other said, 'He is dead to God, for he became an evil and abandoned man, and at length a robber. And now he doth frequent the mountain instead of the Church, with a company of villains and thieves, like unto himself.'
# 32 _Here the apostle rent his garments, and, with a great lamentation, said, 'A fine keeper of his brother's soul I left here! get me a horse, and let me have a guide with me:' which being done, his horse and man procured, he hasted from the Church, and coming to the place, was taken of thieves that lay on the watch. But he, neither flying nor refusing, said, 'I came hither for the purpose: lead me,' said he, 'to your captain.' So he being brought, the captian all armed fiercely began to look upon him; and eftsoons coming to the knowledge of him, was stricken with confusion and shame, and began to fly. But the old man followed him as much as he might, forgetting his age, and crying, 'My son, why dost thou fly from thy father? an armed manfrom one naked, a young man from an old man? Have pity on me, my son, and fear not, for there is yet hope of salvation. I will make answer for thee unto Christ; I will die for thee, if need be; as Christ hath died for us, I will give my life for thee; believe me, Christ hath sent me.'
# 33 _He, hearing these things, first, as in a maze, stood still, and therewith his courage was abated. After that he had cast down his weapons, by and by he trembled, yea, and wept bitterly; and, coming to the old man, embraced him, and spake unto him with weeping (as well as he could), being even then baptized afresh with tears, only his right hand being hid and covered.
# 34 _Then the apostle, after that he had promised that he should obtain remission of our Saviour, prayed, falling down upon his knees, and kissing his murderous right hand (which for shame he durst not show before) as now purged through repentance, and brought him back to the Church. And when he had prayed for him with continual prayer and daily fastings, and had comforted and confirmed his mind with many sentences, he left him restored to the Church again; a great example of sicere penitence and proof of regeneration, and a trophy of the future resurrection.
# 35 _The causes why the Roman emperors did so persecute the Christians were chiefly these__fear and hatred. First, fear, for that the emperors and senate, of blind ignorance, not knowing the manner of Christ's kingdom, feared and misdoubted lest the same would subvert their empery; and therefore sought they all means possible, how, by death and all kinds of torments, utterly to extinguish the name and memory of the Christians.
# 36 _Secondly, hatred, partly for that this world, of its own natural condition, hath ever hated and maliced the people of God, from the first beginning of the world. Partly again, for that the Chritians being of a contrary nature and religion, serving only the true living God, despised their false gods, spake against their idolatrous worshippings, and many times stopped the power of Satan working in their idols: and therefore Satan, the prince of this world, stirred up the Roman prices and blind idolaters to bear the more hatred and spite against them. Whatsoever mishappened to the city or provinces of Rome, either famine, pestilence, earthquake, wars, wonders, unseasonableness of weather, or what other evils soever, it was imputed to the Christians.
# 37 _The tyrants and organs of Satan were not contented with death only, to bereave the life from the body. The kinds of death were divers, and no less horrible than divers. Whatsoever the cruelness of man's invention could devise for the punishment of man's body, was practised against the Christians__stripes and scourgings, drawings, tearings, stonings, plates of iron laid unto them burning hot, deep dungeons, racks, strangling in prisons, the teeth of wild beasts, gridirons, gibbets and gallows, tossing upon the horns of bulls. Moreover, when they were thus killed, their bodies were laid in heaps, and dogs there left to keep them, that no man might come to bury them, neither would any prayer obtain them to be interred.
# 38 _And yet, notwithstanding all these continual persecutions and horrible punishments, the Church daily increased, deeply rooted in the doctrine of the apostles and of men apostolical, and watered plenteously with the blood of Saints. In the thrid persecution Pliny the second, a man learned and famous, seeing the lamentable slaughter of Christians, and moved therewith to pity, wrote to Trajan, certifying him that there many thousands to them daily put to death, of which none did any thing contrary to the Roman laws worthy persecution. 'The whole account they gave of their crime or error (whichever it is to be called) amounted only to this,__viz. that they were accustomed on a stated day to meet before day-light, and to repeat together a set form of prayer to Christ as a God, and to bind themselves by an obligation__not indeed to commit wickedness; but, on the contrary,__never to commit theft, robbery or adultery, never to falsify their word, never to defraud any man: after which it was their custom to separate, and reassemble to partake in common of a harmless meal.'
# 39 _In this persecution, suffered the blessed martyr, Ignatius, who is had in famous reverence among very many. This Ignatius was appointed to the bishopric of Antioch next after Peter in succession. Some do say, that he, being sent from Syria to Rome, because he professed Christ, was given to the wild beasts to be devoured. It is also said of him, that when he passed through Asia, being under the most strict custody of his keepers, he strengthened and confirmed the churches through all the cities as he went, both with his exhortations and preaching of the Word of God. Accordingly, having come to Smyrna, he wrote to the church at Rome, exhorting them not to use means for his deliverance from martyrdom, lest they should deprive him of that which he most longed and hoped for. 'Now I begin to be a disciple. I care for nothing, of visible or invisible things, so that I may but win Christ. Let fire and the cross, let the companies of wild beasts, let breaking of bones and tearing of limbs, let the grinding of the whole body, and all the malice of the devil, come upon me; be it so, only may I win Christ Jesus!' And even when he was sentenced to be thrown to the beasts, such was the burning desire that he had to suffer, that he spake, what time he heard the lions roaring, saying, 'I am the wheat of Christ: I am going to be ground with the teeth of wild beasts, that I may be found pure bread.'
# 40 _After the decease of the quiet and mild prince Antoninus Pius followed his son Marcus Aurslius, about the year of our Lord 161, a man of nature more stern and severe; and, although in study of philosophy and in civil govrnment no less commendable, yet, toward the Christians sharp and fierce; by whom was moved the fourth persecution. In the time of the same Marcus a great number of them which truly professed Christ suffered most cruel torments and punishments, among whom was Polycarp, the worthy bishop of Smyrna. Of whose end and martyrdom I thought it here not inexpedient to commit to history so much as Eusebius declareth to be taken out of a certain letter or epistle, written by them of his (Polycarp's) own church to all the brethren throughout the world.
# 41 _Three days before he was apprehended, as he was praying at night, he fell asleep, and saw in a dream the pillow take fire under his head, and presently consumed. Waking thereupon, he forth-with related the vision to those about him, and prophesied that he should be burnt alive for Christ's sake. When the persons who were in search of him were close at hand, he was induced, for the love of the brethren, to retire to another village, to which, notwithstanding, the pursuers soon followed him; and having caught a couple of boys dwelling thereabout, they whipped one of them till he directed them to Polycarp's retreat. The pursuers having arrived late in the day, found him gone to bed in the top room of the house, whence he might have escaped into another house, if he would; but this he refused to do, saying, 'The will of the Lord be done.'
# 42 _Hearing that they were come, he came down, and spoke to them with a cheerful and pleasant countenance: so that they were wonder-struck, who, having never known the man before, now beheld his venerable age and the gravity and composure of his manner, and wondered why they should be so earnest for the apprehension of soold a man. He immediately ordered a table to be laid for them, and exhorted them to eat heartily, and begged them to allow him one hour to pray without molestation; which being granted, he rose and began to pray, and was so full of the grace of God, that they who were present and heard his prayers were astonished, and many now felt sorry that so venerable and godly a man should be put to death.
# 43 _Whe he had finished his prayers, wherein he made mention of all whom he had ever been connected with, small and great, noble and vulgar, and of the whole catholic Church throughout the world, the hour being come for their departure, they set him on an ass and brought him to the city. There met him the irenarch Herod, and his father Nicetes, who taking him up into their chariot, began to exhort him, saying, 'What harm is it to say "Lord Ceasar," and to sacrifice, and save yourself?' At first he was silent: but being pressed to speak, he said, 'I will not do as you advise me.' When they saw that he was not to be persuaded, they gave him rough language, and pushed himhastily down, so that in descending from the chariot he graze his shin. But he, unmoved as if he had suffered nothing, went to cheerfully, under the conduct of his guards, to the Stadium. There, the noise being so great that few could hear anything, a voice from heaven said to Polycarp as he entered the Stadium, 'Be strong, Polycarp, and play the man.' No one saw him that spake, but many people heard the voice. When he was brought to the tribunal, there was a great tumult as soon as it was generally understood that Polycarp was apprehended. The proconsul asked him, if he were Polycarp. When he assented, the former counselled him to deny Christ, saying, 'Consider thyself, and have pity on thy own great age'; and many oter such-like speeches which they are wont to make:__'Say, "Away with the atheists.'' ' Then Polycarp, with a grave aspect, beholding all the multitude in the Stadium, and waving his hand to them, gave a deep sigh, and, looking up to heaven,said, 'Take away the atheists.'
# 44 _The proconsul then urged him, saying, 'Swear, and I will release thee;__reproach Christ.' Polycarp answered, 'Eighty and six years have served him, and he never once wronged me; how then shall I blaspheme my King, who hath saved me? The proconsul again urged him, 'Swear by the fortune of Caesar.' Polycarp replied, 'Since you still vainly strive to make me swear by the fortune of Caesar, as you express it, affecting ignorance of my real character, hear me frankly declaring what I am__I am a Christian__and if you desire to learn the Christian doctrine, assign me a day, and you shall hear.' Hereupon the proconsul said, 'I have wild beasts; and I will expose you to them, unless you repent.'
# 45 _Call for them,' replied Polycarp; 'for repentance with us is a wicked thing, if it is to be a change from the better to the worse, but a good thing if it is to be a change from evil to good.'
'I will tame thee with fire,' said the proconsul, 'since you despise the wild beasts, unless you repent.' Then said Polycarp, 'You threaten me with fire, which burns for an hour, and is soon extinguished; but the fire of the future judgment, and of eternal punishment reserved for the ungodly, you are ignorant of. But why do you delay? Do whatever you please.'
# 46 _The proconsul sent the herald to proclaim thrice in the middle of the Stadium, 'Polycarp hath professed himself a Christian.' Which words were no sooner spoken, but the whole multitude, both of Gentiles and Jews, dwelling at Smyrna, with outrageous fury shouted aloud, 'This is the doctor of Asia, the father of the Christians, and the subverter of our gods, who hath taught many not to sacrifice nor adore.' They now called on Philip, the asiarch to let loose a lion against Polycarp. But he refused, alleging that he had closed his exhibition. They then unanimously shouted, that he should be burnt alive. For his vision must needs be accomplished__the vision which he had when he was praying, and saw his pillow burnt. The people immediately gather wood and other dry matter from the workshops and baths: in which service the Jews (with their usual malice) were particularly forward to help. When they would have fastened him to the stake, he said, 'Leave me as I am; for he who giveth me strength to sustain the fire, will enable me also, without your securing me with nails, to remain without flinching in the pile.' Upon which they bound him without nailing him. So he said thus:__' O Father, I bless thee that thou hast counted me worthy to receive my portion among the number of martyrs.'
# 47 _As soon as he had uttered the word 'Amen,' the officers lighted the fire. The flame, forming the appearance of an arch, as the sail of a vessel filled with wind, surrounded, as with a wall, the body of the martyr; which was in the midst, not as burning flesh, but as gold and silver refining in the furnace. We received also in our nostrils such a fragrance as proceeds from frankincense or some other precious perfume. At length the wicked people, observing that his body could not be consumed with the fire, ordered the confector to approach, and to plunge his sword into his body. Upon this such a quantity of blood gushed out, that the fire was extinguished. But the envious, malignant, and spiteful enemy of the just studied to prevent us from obtaining his poor body. For some persons suggested to Nicetes, to go to the proconsul, and entreat him not to deliver the body to the Christians, 'lest,' said they, 'leaving the crucified one, they should begin to worship him. And they said these things upon the suggestions are arguments of the Jews, who also watched us when we were going to take the body from the pile. The centurion, perceiving the malevolance of the Jews, placed the body in the midst of the fire and burned it. Then we gathered up his bones__more precious than gold and jewels__and deposited them in a proper place.
# 48 _In the same persecution suffered the glorious and most constant martyrs of Lyons and Vienne, two cities in France; giving a glorious testimony, and to all Christian men a spectacle or example of singular fortitude in Christ our Saviour. Their history is set forth be their own churches, where they did suffer:
# 49 _The whole fury of the multitude, the governor, and the soldiers, was spent of Sanctus of Vienne, the deacon, and on Maturus, a lare convert indeed, but a magnanimous wrestler in spiritual things; and on Attalus of Pergamos, a man who had ever been a pillar and support of our church; and lastly on Blandina, through whom Christ showed that those things that appear unsightly and contemptible among men are most honourable in the presence of God, on account of love to His name exhibited in real energy, and not in boasting and pompous pretences. For__while we all feared, and among the rest while her mistress according to the flesh, who herself was one of the noble army of martyrs, dreaded that she would not be able to witness a good confession, because of the weakness of her body;__Blandina was endued with so much fortitude, that those who successively tortured her from morning to night were quite worn out with fatigue, owned themselves conquered and exhausted of their whole apparatus of tortures, and were amazed to see her still breathing whilst her body was torn and laid open. The blessed woman recovered fresh vigour in the act of confession; and it was an evident annihilation of all her pains, to say__'I am a Christian, and no evil is committed among us.'
# 50 _Sanctus, having sustained in a manner more than human the most barbarous indignities, while the impious hoped to extort from him something injurious to the Gospel, through the duration and intenseness of his sufferings, resisted with so much firmness, that he would neither tell his own name, nor that of his nation or state, nor whether he was a freeman or a slave; but to every interrogatory he answered ' I am a Christian.' This, he repeatedly owned, was to him both name, and country, and family, and everything.
# 51 _The faithful, while they were dragged along, proceeded with cheerful steps; their countenances shone with much grace and glory; their bonds were as the most beautiful ornaments; and they themselves looked as brides adorned with their richest array, breathing the fragrance of Christ. They were put to death in various ways: or, in other words, they wove a chaplet of various odours and flowers, and presented it to the Father.
# 52 _Maturus, Sanctus, Blandina, and Attalus, were led to the wild beasts into the amphitheatre to be the common spectacle of Gentile inhumanity. They were exposed to all the barbarities which the mad populace with shouts demanded, and above all to the hot iron chair, in which their bodies were roasted and emitted a disgusting smell. These after remaining alive a long time, expired at length. Blandina, suspended from a stake, was exposed as food to the wild beasts; she was seen suspended in the form of a cross and employed in vehement supplication. The sight inspired her fellow-combatants with much alacrity, while they beheld with their bodily eyes, in the person of their sister, the figure of Him Who was crucified for them. None of the beasts at that time touched her: she was taken down from the stake and thrown again into prison. Weak and contemptible as she might be deemed, yet when clothed with Christ, the mighty and invincible champion, she became victorious over the enemy in a variety of encounters, and was crowned with immortality.
# 53 _Attalus also was vehemently demanded by the multitude, for he was a person of great reputation among us. He advanced in all the cheerfulness and serenity of a good conscience;__an experienced Christian, and ever ready and active in bearing testimony to the truth. He was led round the amphitheatre, and a tablet carried before him, inscribed 'This is Attalus the Christian.' The rage of the people would have had him dispatched immediately; but the governor, understanding that he was a Roman, ordered him back to prison: and concerning him and others, who could plead the same privilege of Roman citizenship, he wrote to the emperor and waited for his instructions. Ceasar sent orders that the confessors of Christ should be put to death. Roman citizens had the privilege of dying by decollation; the rest were exposed to wild beasts.
