Consolation Derived from a Review of Christian Martyrdom
The sufferings of Clirlst’s faithful martyrs not only furnish an attestation to the truth of Christianity, but evince its power to support thie soul under the greatest sufferings. And herein the study is one eminently piomotive of consolation.
One of the great evils which have been wrought by Popery is that it has cast suspicion and rebuke on many good things which belong as much to us as to them, but which we can scarcely use with liberty for fe?r of superstition. This has remarkably been the case in reiard to the sufferinss of the saints. At a very early age, unsuspecting the evil which should follow, survivinofriends besan to honour the remains and frequent the tombs of the martyrs; hence followed, in irresistible progress, the consecration of set days, the doctrine of supererogatory merit, the canonization of saints, and the worship of relics. Notwithstanding all this, we, my brethren, have an interest in the heroic work of the martyrs: they are ours as well as Kome’s; and we are not to be cheated out of our right to the example, proof, and incitement afforded by them, because a corrupt nhurch has made their names the watchword of error. This lias been beautifully expressed by one of the brightest luminaries of the modern Anglican cliurcL, who sufficiently proved himself the foe of Popery and its imitations. “It is likely enough,” says the late Dr. Arnold,” that Gibbon has truly accused the general statements of exaggeration. But this is a thankless labour, such as Lingard and others have undertaken with respect to the St. Bartholomew massacre, and the Irish massacre of 1642. Divide the sum total of rej)uted martyrs by twenty — by fifty, if you will — but, after all, you have a number of persons, of all ages and sexes, suffering cruel torments, and a death for conscience’ sake and for Christ’s, and by their sufferings manifestly, with God’s blessing, insuring the triumph of Christ’s gospel. Neither, do I think, do we consider the existence of this martyr-spirit half enough. I do not think that pleasure is a sin. The Stoics of old, and the ascetic Christians since, who have said so, have in saying so overstepped the simplicity and the wisdom of Christian truth. But though pleasure is not a sin, yet surely the contemplation of suffering for Christ’s sake is a thing most needful for us in our days, from whom in our daily life suffering seems so far removed. And as God’s grace enabled rich and delicate persons, women, and even children, to endure all extremities of pain and reproach in times past, so there is the same grace no less mighty now; and if we do not close ourselves against it, it might in us be no less glorified in a time of trial. And that such time of trial will come, my children, in
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your days, if not in mine, I do believe fully, l)otli from the teaching of man’s wisdom and of God’s.”
When our Lord, in j)redicting the arrest and trial of his disciples, says to them, “And it shall turn to you for a testimony;” the meaning is, your persecutions, when foes shall lay their hands on you, this shall turn to you for a testimony: it shall aiford you an opportunity to testify for Christ in the most striking circumstances, and with the greatest effect. The word rendered “testimony” is kindred to our word martyr which is only the Greek for %vitiiess one who bears testimony. Ye shall, by means of your faith and endurance, be witnesses for my gospel. Let me, then, call your attention to the lessons to be drawn from the testimony of the martyrs. But first, we must consider who and what the martyrs were.
L A inarty) it has already been said, is a witness; but, in the language of the church, one who bears witness to Christianity by his death; while the term confessor was applied to those who, before persecuting magistrates, firmly hazarded punishment for confessing Christ. The confessor became a martyr by shedding his blood. In this sense we constantly speak of “martyrs and confessors.” The ancient historians reckon exactly ten persecutions; but it is scarcely possible to confine the number to this. They arose from the iron determination of the heathen powers to suppress the true religion; for I pass over the earlier persecutions under the Jews, from Stephen onward. 1 desire to afford some oiS CONSOLATIOJVT.
glimpses of the scenes of martyrdom, confining myself to ancient authorities, and uncontradicted narratives. The name of Nero has a black celebrity. “Examine your records,” said Tertullian, in his Apology; “there you will find that Nero was the first that persecuted this [Christian] doctrine .... He that knows who he was, may also know, that Nero could condemn only what was great and good.” It is believed that Paul was a martyr under Nero. I will not enter into the question as to the number of the martyrs. Though superstition has exaggerated in this point, we cannot deny the concurrent testimony of all ancient records, that thousands on thousands were slain for Christ’s sake. Those who were lowest, such as paupers and slaves, escaped most easily; the ministers, the learned, and men of wealth, were sure to be summoned to this ordeal. The persecution, which was closed by the death of Nero, broke out afresh under his imitator, Domitian. Then names have come down to posterity besprinkled with the same blood. “Nero,” says Tertullian, “was content to have executions, ordered at a distance; Domitian chose to have them under his own eyes.” The mild and gentle Trajan was a persecutor. Happily there remains to us a portion of his correspondence with Pliny the Younger, who was, under him, governor of Bithynia. This gives ns the assurance derived from Gentile testimony. Pliny writes to his sovereign to know what is to be done, when so many thousand Christians are willing to go to the stake. Hear the account given by this heathen ma*
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gistrafce; it forms part of a state paper, or official report: “I have taken tlii course with those who are brought before me. I asked them if they were Christians; if they confessed, I asked them, again, threatening punishment; if they persisted, I commanded them to he executed. The case demands your orders, from the vast numbers who are in danger; for many of all ranks and ages, both men and women, will be arrested, as the j)estilence of this superstition has overspread, not only cities, but towns and country villages.”
During this reign suffered Clement of Rome, Simon of Jerusalem, and Ignatius of Antioch. The last is memorable. He was condemned by Trajan himself, who ordered him to be sent from Asia to Home, and there to be thrown to wild beasts. But his journey was a missionary toui*, in which he probably did more than in all his life toward the strengthening of the brethren. “From Syria even to Home,” says he, “I fight with beasts, by land and sea, day and night; bound with ten leopards (that is, a guard of soldiers,) who are worse for the favours I do them. I pray that the beasts may despatch me quickly; but I know what is best for me. Now I begin to be a disciple, desiring nothing of things seen or unseen, that so I may gain Christ. Let fire, cross, droves of ravenous beasts, wounds and convulsions come upon me, so only that I may enjoy Jesus Christ.”
Under Adrian, the successor of Trajan, an incident occurred in proconsular Asia which is instructtive. Tertullian relates, that when Arrius Antoninus was beginning to persecute in a certain city, the whole of the population beset his tribunal, and openly avowed themselves to be Christians. He could only order a few to be executed as examples.
As, however, a far more distinct impression is made on our minds by a few particular incidents, than by general enumerations, I will dwell a little on the famous instance of the churches of Vienne and Lyons on the Khone, in the second century. This persecution raged under the philosophic emperor M*. Aurelius Antoninus, and we are better acquainted with the details, because the historian Eusebius has preserved letters written on the subject, by these churches, to their brethren in Asia Minor.^* There is something very affecting in the letters of these simple-hearted people, penned amidst the very horrors of which they tell. The populace had been inflamed by the calumnies of the age which accused the Christian assemblies of licentious and bloody crimes. “The Christians,” say the letters, “nobly sustained all the evils that were heaped upon them by the mob — outcries, blows, plunder, stoning, imprisonment. Then they were hurried to the Forum, and when examined by the tribune and magistrates, in presence of the multitude, they were shut up in prison till the arrival of the governor.”” They seemed unprepared indeed and inexperienced, and too weak for the mighty conflict. About ten fell away, caus-
* Euseb. %. i. 55.
ing excessive sorrow to the brethren. We were filled with suspense and anguish lest the remainder should apostatize.” There were arrests every day, till all the more zealous members of the two churches were collected. Particular mention is made of a poor servant-woman named Blandina. “For whilst we were all trembling, and her earthly mistress, who was herself one of th’^’, contending martyrs, was apprehensive lest by the weakness of the flesh she should not make a bold profession, Blandina was filled with such power, that her ingenious tormentors, who relieved and succeeded one another from morning till night, confessed that they were overcome, and had nothing more that they could inflict on her.”” Wrestling nobly in the fight, this blessed saint, from time to time, found strength to say, ‘I am a Christian! JSTo wickedness is carried on by us.’ ‘’
From Sanctus, another martyr, no extent of torture could extort any declaration but this, “Christianus sum .^ I am a Christian!” Pothinus, a venerable minister, ftiore than ninety years of age, and very infirm, seemed to live only that Christ might triumph in him. After being delivered over to the blows and indignities of the mob, he lay two days in prison, and then died of the injuries. On the last day of the gladiatorial games, Blandina, already named, and Ponticus (a Christian boy aged fifteen) were brought in, as they were every day, to see the torments of the rest.” Force was used to make them swear by their idols, and when they continued firm and denied the gods, the mob be*
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came outrageous, pitying neither the sex of one nor the youth of the other. Hence they subjected them to every horrible suffering, and led them through the whole round of torture, ever and anon striving to make them swear, but in vain. The boy (as the heathens could see) was encouraged and upheld by the words of a Christian sister; he nobly bore the whole sufferings, and gave up his life.” I forbear describing the death of Blandina by a wild beast, though it is detailed. “Even the Gentiles confessed that no woman among them had ever endured sufferings as many and as great as these.” Allow me to remind you, my brethren, that the essential thing in lall these persecutions is, that these martyrs died testifying; it turned to them for a testimony.
Instead of pursuing the account of persecutions under successive emperors, let me add two testimonies of ancient writers; you will not fail to give them that weight which belongs to declarations recorded at the time. The first is by Sulpicius Severus, an elegant writer of the fourth century: “Under the reign of Diocletian and Maximian, for ten years the persecution constantly preyed on the Lord’s people, during which the whole world was full of the sacred blood of martyrs. Never was the world moj e exhausted by wars, and never did we conquer by a greater triumph. tLan when wdth ten years’ suffering we could not be overcome.”
The other is Tertullian. “Good governors,” said he, “you may torment, air ict, and vex us; youi wickedness tries our innocency, and therefore God lets US suffer it; but all your cruelty is to no purpose; it is “but a stronger invitation to bring others to our sect. The oftener we are mowed clown, the ranker do we spring up again. The Uood of the Christians is the seed of the church. Many of your philosophers have exhorted their hearers to patience under suffering and death; as Cicero in his Tusculans Seneca, Diogenes, Pyrrho, and Callinicus; but they could never make so many disciples, by all their fine discourses, as the Christians have by acts. That very obstinacy you charge upon us serves to instruct others. For who, beholding such things, will not be moved to inquire what is the truth from which they proceeded? and when he has found it, will he not embrace it? and having embraced it, will he not desire to suffer for it? Therefore we give thanks for your sentence, knowing that the judgments of men do not agree with those of God; for when we are condemned by you, we are absolved by Him.”
“Without intending to enlarge on their history, I may add, that the principle is equally illustrated in the case of all those witnesses for the truth, in later ages, who have suffered under a wicked hierarchy, even down to the poor expatriated Portuguese, from the island of Madeira. Thus the Waldenses. They were just as really persecuted by the popes as ever their fathers were by the emperors. Between 1176 and 1226, there was such havoc of them, that even the Archbishops of Aix, Aries, and Narbonne, consulting with the inquisitors, expressed some pity at the multitudes who were cast into prison. In tho year 12 GO, the number of Waldenses was reckoned at eight hundred thousand. The Albigenses wre so numerous that they were made the object of a crusade. To recount the martyrdoms of Protestantism would be to recite the folios of the pious and laborious Foxe. The name of Smithfield can never be forgotten by descendants of Great Britain. In these, as in the ancient times, the arrest and j)ersecution of God’s people turned to them for a testimony; affording only so many new opportunities of publicly avowing the truth of Christianity. The general result is sufficiently clear, that in every age Christians have been found ready to hazard the greatest sufferings rather than deny Christ, and have gone out of the world in torments of body, but triumph of soul, declaring their belief of the gospel.
II. (1.) Among the invaluable lessons to be deduced from the sufferings of Christian martyrs, the first is this: They fmmish attestation to the trntli of Christianity. They thus turned to those who suffered for a testimony. The great foundation of the credibility of divine messengers is the miracles which were wrought to certify their legation. The Apostles and many of the primitive Christians attested the truth by martyrdom. This is a fact as undeniable as any in history. Do I hear you object, that martyrdom may be suffered for falsehood as well as truth; our reply is, that the objection does not meet the point of the reasoning. Our argument is not that the martyrdom directly proves the doctrine to be true, but that it proves the sincerity of him who testifies. In regard to the miracles of Christianity, prove the sincerity, and you prove the facts. These facts, it admits of easy proof, are of such a nature, that the reporters could not be deceived. The primitive martyrs had the opportunity of arrivins: at absolute truth, with resrard to the facts alleged; and their dying for the truth is in the circumstances as strong proof of the miracles as the case admits. Never forget that they could one and all have escaped all their torments, by denying these facts, or by the simplest renunciation of Christianity. Here I will quote another passage from Pliny, in regard to those who were apprehended under the charge of being Christians: “A paper was presented, accusing certain persons therein named of being Christians. These, when, after my example, they invoked the gods, and offered wine and incense to your statue, which for that purpose I caused to be brought, and when, moreover, they had blasphemed the name of Christ (which, it is said, none who are true Christians will ever do), I dismissed.” All the tortures of the heathen were intended to bring them to this denial. A single word, a single morsel of incense, an inclination of the head, would have saved their lives. But, no! they died under excruciating pains, rather than renounce. No man, woman, or child suffered for Christianity under any other compulsion than that of conscience. “Every martyr made a voluntary sacrifice of himself to maintain the truth, and to preserve a good conscience.” Christianity was not then a religion of imposture.
These men were sincere. No rational mind can doubt it. Multitudes of persons gave the strongest possible testimony to their belief of certain facts, which passed under their own observation, and in which they could not have been deceived. The case of later martyrs, though not so cogent, as to the proof of the original facts, is equally so, as to their own sincerity of belief. These sufferers were true believers. The system under which they suffered was one that connnanded the mind’s conviction. And the strength of this conviction is measured by the intensity of the sufferings endured, and the terror of the evils threatened. What, therefore, must we say of the sincerity which resists the greatest of mortal apprehensions, namely, that of death! An instance may possibly be found here and there of some fanatical or obstinate villain, who from insane pride may die for what he believes untrue; but here are multitudes of all conditions, and in various ages. If, in deed, this does not prove sincerity of belief, it would be vain to look for any such proof.
(2.) The history of the martyrs is a testimony to the power of Christianity to support the soul tinder great sufferings and this is the main point in our present discussion. “Persons of all ages, of all conditions in life, and of both sexes, exhibited under protracted and cruel torments, a fortitude, a patience, a meekness, a spirit of charity and forgiveness, a cheerfulness, yea, often a triumphant joy, of which there are no examples to be found in the history of the world. They rejoiced when they were arretted; cheerfully bade adieu to their nearest and dearest relations; gladly embraced the stake; welcomed the wild beasts let loose to devom’ them; smiled on the horrible apparatus by which their sinews were to be stretched, and their bones dislocated and broken; uttered no complaints; gave no indication of pain, when their bodies were enveloped in flames; and when condemned to die, begged of their friends to interpose no obstacle to their felicity (for such they esteemed martyrdom), not even by prayers for their deliverance.” “What sustained these sufferers? It v as their belief in Christianity. They never pretended that it was aught beside. If any thing may be regarded as established, even by the concessions of adversaries, it is that the Christian system imparted to the humblest and weakest a fortitude and a constancy which were unknown to the schools of philosophy. This was, indeed, the chief mortification of the persecutors. Exhausting their whole resources in vain against aged men, feeble women, and inexperienced children, they were at length driven to wilder means, as discovering that Christianity could not be quenched in blood. These aspects of martyrdom, my brethren, ought by no means to be neglected. That thousands should have died so supported is i.ot an uninteresting fact in the world’s history.” !^vither,” says the noble Arnold,” should we forget those who, by their sufferings, were more than conquerors, not for themselves only, but for us, in securing to us the safe and triumphant existence -of Christ’s blessed faith — in securing to us the possibility (these are the words of a clergyman of the Church of England), nay, the actual enjoyment, had it not been for the Antichrist of the priesthood, of Christ’s holy and glorious church, the congregation and commonwealth of Christ’s people.*
O my brethren, we should have higher views of Christ and of his religion, if we could enter more fully into the conflicts of those who have suffered for his sake; if we could trace the growth of Christian martyrdom from its first fainting origin, when the shuddering soul dreaded the hour of coming trial; through the hours, days, weeks, and months of prayer and meditation; up to the critical moment when all was surrendered and all ventured for Christ; if we could comprehend the resignation, the peace, and the victorious confidence of the instant, when the soul reached its highest joy in dissolution, and just hovering between time and eternity forgot its pangs in the visions of God. O what are gibbets, fires, wild beasts, or inquisitorial racks, to one who already feels his union with Christ, and knows that death is swallowed up in victory!
(3.) The martyrdom of God’s children is a testimony that God xvill he ivitli tis in our oion coming trials. The argument is easy: He who was with them will be with us. It is God’s presence with the martyr which sustains him, and makes him callous to the knife or the torture, and deaf to the fierce clamours of the multitude. I believe that tlic soul
* Life, p 498.
may be so raised above suffering of the body as to be as though it knew them not. We have seen it many times in smaller degree, in our common human observation. But the record of early Christians and of those who suffered under popery, shows that grace actually neutralized bodily anguish.
But what we are now to observe is, that this sustaining power is not confined to the dungeon, the arena, or the stake. Martyrs are not the only sufferers; and wherever there are Christian sufferers, there is Christ. In vehement diseases; in long-continued and exhausting pains of body; in paroxysms of anguish; in nervous trepidations, sinkings and horrors; weaknesses more hard to bear than pain; and in the convulsions of death; the bodies of believei’S often call for the same sustaining power which was granted to the martyrs, and they receive it. There is no affliction which can befall us, that is too great for grace. Let me not confine myself to distresses of the outer man. There are wounds of soul which are greater than all wounds of body. The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear! None, my brethren, unless sustained by Him who “healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.”
As our Lord told his disciples that persecutions and arrests would surely come upon them, but that this ought not to dishearten, as it should turn to them for a testimony, and thus they should be able more abundantly to show forth the power of God: so he seems to tell us, that trials and adversities will overtake us, but that this shall turn to us for a testimony, and offer new occasions to glorify our supporting God. We cannot tell what our troubles shall be; and we cannot tell what our consolations shall be under them. It is not the plan of our Lord to give us his special grace before it is needed. We are not therefore to be discouraged because we have not at this moment that boldness and resolution which shall be needed in the emergency. God will never be wanting. He has said, “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” If God be for us, who can be against us! Esj)ecially in the inevitable houj* of death, when you have passed beyond the reach of physicians and dearest friends, and when those who love you best will be mute and motionless beside your bed; when your limbs have already stretched themselves for the coffin, and your glassy eyes fixed themselves in their last position; — when your soul shall be falling back on its faith (if it has any) and looking forward to its impending judgment * in that hour, the God of the martyrs will be with you! Let every recorded triumph of faith be to you for a testimony. “I tremble,” said dying Beza, “lest having come to the end of my voyage, I now make shipwreck, in the very harbour.” No, no — Christ will not forsake his people in the hour of their extremity. It is indeed a time, when Satan often rages, because his time is short; but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. We ought often to be entertaining thoughts of death, and of our own dying; and among
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felie considerations which help to prepare for this hour, one is the support which God has given in former times to those who were dying violent deaths for his sake. Do not think that this will make death more dreadful. All the contrary.
The writer may be pardoned for making an observation in his own person. Belonging to a profession which often calls me to stand by dying beds, I do here testify, that I have never had the dread of death so much removed, as when I have seen it triumphed over by the true believer, even amidst great pangs of body. O readers (every one of whom is soon to die — though some, perhaps, have little preparation), may God give you the wisdom to be securing that provision for the great hour, which is derived from his gospel! For be assured, the faith of the martyrs is what must be your stay in that tremendous moment.
4. Finally; as it is not forbidden to mingle reproof with consolation, the testimony of martyrs in their pangs is a testimony against our liiketvarmness and unbelief. It is impossible to reflect on their history and not own this. Theirs was Christianity in earnest. How different from ours! Suppose a mighty persecution to break out in our day; our churches to be closed; our ministry to be imprisoned, or chased away; our Bibles to be burnt. Suppose coming to the communion to be the same as coming to peril or death. Suppose the name of Christ a reproach and the dominant population anned against us; is it not your belief that many a
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Christian cliurcli would “be thinned, and that many a high professor would be found, like Simon Peter, denying in the outer hall? Of this there were some examples in early times, and some examples even among Christians. They were called Lapsi the lapsed. But O with what bitterness did they lament their weakness, even to the end of life! You remember the recantation of Cranmer, and how soon, how bitterly, and how constantly he repented of it. His dying prayer breathes lowliness for the sin:” O God the Son, thou wast not made man, nor was this great mystery wrought, for few or small offences’’ &c. Then he confessed before the people his inconstancy with great profusion of tears, saying, “the great tiling that troubled his conscience was, that for fear of death he had written with his hand contrary to the truth which he thought in his heart. “And titerefore (cried the old man, in the holy violence of zeal), my hand shall be punished fii’st. If I may come at the fire, it shall be first burnt!” At the stake, accordingly, he stretched out his hand, which was distinctly seen to be burning alive, and cried, “TJiis hand liafh offended T Surely he could say, “Like Peter, I have sinned; but by grace, like Peter, I have wept!” God has chosen to let the great and learned sometimes fall, to show us what is in man; and to hold up the timid woman and the feeble child, to show us what is in God. But, fellow-Christians, what preparation have you for trials,^losses, fears, pains, ])ereavements, and death? If you can so ill bear
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the dally crosses of life, and are so easily affrighted l»y the sneers or the inconveniences that befall you; if amidst these days of easy and honourable Christianity, ye find it so hard to be Christians, how will it be when you come into the billows of mighty conflict? And the quotation may be repeated:” If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses; and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then lioiv loilt thou do in the swellings of Jordan r’
Let such things bring us to a most serious consideration of the temper of our religion. Those provisions suit the calm which are utterly insufficient in the tempest. The religion of the martyrs, need I say it, was a religion all in earnest. They died for it, they died by it. It caused them to die; but it caused them to die rejoicing. Christ was their alL ‘When holy Poly carp was summoned to deny Christ, he replied: ‘• Eighty and six years have I served him, and he hath done me no harm: how can I revile my King, who hath saved me V When Robert Glover, in Queen Mary’s reign, was preparing for his death, he prayed all night long for strength and courage, and seemed to find none, till on a sudden he was so replenished with comfort and heavenly joys, that he cried out to his friend Bernher,” Austin, He is come! he is come r and went to the stake with the alacrity of one going to the chief festival of life. Now, these men were in earnest; and theirs was an earnest faith; it was their very life: to them, to live was
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Christ; to die was gain. My brethren, how is It with us? I say not, are we ready for martyrdom, for this would be no fair criterion; but are we deeply concerned with the things of God? have they so entered our souls as to be our very life? Are we pressing on, against difficulties and oppositions, with a heart-felt conviction, that union with Christ is every thing? Are we awake to our great necessities, and to the solemn realities which are impending over us? Have we deliberately renounced this world for our rest and portion, as a great bubble, and laid hold on eternal life? Is our faith in any respect” the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen V
Deeply consider, that the visible church has tares among the wheat; and that on the good foundation of gold are built much wood, hay, stubble, which shall not endure the flames. I see no way of arriving at high confidence, but by casting ourselves into religion as the all-absorbing interest. Our half-way Christianity, operative on Sabbaths and in the sanctuary, is not the thing we need. Every suffering of disciples in former days of conflict and confession, oucfht to rebuke and stimulate us. God has graciously given us prosperity, harvest, peace. But that robe of consistency, which Satan cannot wrest from us by the keen wind of adversity, we sometimes let slip under the sunshine of worldly favour. There are summer as well as winter dangers. It is recorded of a certain man that on reading the New Testament, he exclaimed, “Either this is not Cliiistianity or we are not Christians!” The same might be said of some among us. For what signs do we read concerning primitive believers, and the evidences of their faith? They “had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments; they were stoned, they were sawn asunder; were tempted, were slain with the sword; they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; they wandered in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.” It is remarkable that the most eminent piety has been nurtured under tribulations. Baxter’s Saint’s Rest, in part, and Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, and many of the seraphic letters of Samuel Butherford, were written in prison. Shall we, therefore, desire prisons, and pray for persecution? I trow not. Let us be thankfid for our prosperity; but let us mark its dangers. Sound, unbroken health, honom* among men, domestic comforts, great wealth; these are not usually the means of exalted piety. Against the temptations of these we should be vigilantly preparing ourselves. And to aid us, we should be often contemplating the lives and deaths of those who by faith and patience inherit the promises.
The crowning act of the martyrs’ Christianity was their despising this mortal life, and deliberately throwing it away for the sake of another. And is this peculiar to martyrdom? What saith our Lord? If any man hate not his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. The martyrs gave up life
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rather than give up Christ. And can we hope to compound for any thing less? It is of the very essence of all genuine religious experience, that Christ is above all. We are not to count our own lives dear to us. And this state of mind is to be attained only by higher measures of faith, and by keeping the souPs eye intently fixed on the person of the Lord Jesus, until we be ravished with his love, and ready to die that we may be with him for ever. But I must bring these observations to a close, especially when I reflect how many there are who not only have not these eminent traits of piety, but have no faith whatever; and to whom all that can be said on this subject must be matter oi wearmess, if not of incredulity. Perhaps it may profit even them to reflect, that the way to heaven is not without difficulties; and that many shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able. Among high professors, some shall perish. Among true believers, some shall be saved “as by fire.” ‘’ xlnd if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?”