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You are listening to Hovel Audio's
production of Fox's Book of Martyrs by

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John Fox, edited by William Byron Forbush.

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This book is read by Nadia May.

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This book is 283 pages long and is divided
into 23 chapters.

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This recording was produced in 2008 by
Hovel Audio, which owns the copyright.

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No portion of this recording may be
reproduced for any reason without prior

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written consent from Hovel Audio.

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Please visit www.christianaudio.com to
offer your impressions of this work and to

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explore additional titles.

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Fox's Book of Martyrs.

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Chapter 1.

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History of Christian Martyrs to the First
General Persecutions.

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Under Nero.

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Christ, our Saviour, in the Gospel of St.
Matthew, hearing the confession of Simon

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Peter, who, first of all, other,
openly acknowledged him to be the Son of

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God, and perceiving the secret hand of his
father therein, called him, alluding to

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his name, a rock, upon which rock he would
build his church, so strong that the gates

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of hell should not prevail against it.

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In which words three things are to be
noted.

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First, that Christ will have a church in
this world.

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Secondly, that the same church should
mightily be impugned, not only by the

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world, but also by the uttermost strength
and powers of all hell.

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And thirdly, that the same church,
notwithstanding the uttermost of the devil

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and all his malice, should continue.

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Which prophecy of Christ we see
wonderfully to be verified, insomuch that

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the whole course of the church to this day
may seem nothing else but a verifying of

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the said prophecy.

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First, that Christ hath set up a church,
needeth no declaration.

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Secondly, what force of princes,
kings, monarchs, governors and rulers of

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this world, with their subjects publicly
and privately, with all their strength and

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cunning, have bent themselves against this
church.

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And thirdly, how the said church,
all this notwithstanding, hath yet endured

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and holden its own.

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What storms and tempests it hath
overpassed, wondrous it is to behold.

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For the more evident declaration whereof,
I have addressed this present history.

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To the end, first, that the wonderful
works of God in his church might appear to

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his glory.

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Also, that the continuance and proceedings
of the church, from time to time being set

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forth, more knowledge and experience may
redound thereby to the profit of the

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reader and edification of Christian faith.

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As it is not our business to enlarge upon
our Saviour's history, either before or

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after his crucifixion, we shall only find
it necessary to remind our readers of the

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discomfiture of the Jews by his subsequent
resurrection.

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Although one apostle had betrayed him,
although another had denied him under the

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solemn sanction of an oath, and although
the rest had forsaken him, unless we may

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accept the disciple who was known unto the
high priest.

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The history of his resurrection gave a new
direction to all their hearts,

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and after the mission of the Holy Spirit
imparted new confidence to their minds.

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The powers with which they were endued
emboldened them to proclaim his name,

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to the confusion of the Jewish rulers and
the astonishment of Gentile proselytes.

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St. Stephen St. Stephen suffered the next
in order.

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His death was occasioned by the faithful
manner in which he preached the gospel to

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the betrayers and murderers of Christ.

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To such a degree of madness were they
excited that they cast him out of the city

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and stoned him to death.

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The time when he suffered is generally
supposed to have been at the Passover,

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which succeeded to that of our Lord's
crucifixion, and to the era of his

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ascension in the following spring.

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Upon this a great persecution was raised
against all who professed their belief in

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Christ as the Messiah or as a prophet.

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We are immediately told by St. Luke that
there was a great persecution against the

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church which was at Jerusalem,
and that they were all scattered abroad

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throughout the regions of Judea and
Samaria except the Apostles.

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About 2,000 Christians, with Nicanor,
one of the seven deacons, suffered

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martyrdom during the persecution that
arose about Stephen.

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James the Great The next martyr we meet
with, according to St. Luke, in the

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History of the Apostles Acts, was James
the son of Zebedee, the elder brother of

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John and a relative of our Lord,
for his mother Salome was cousin German to

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the Virgin Mary.

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It was not until ten years after the death
of Stephen that the second martyrdom took

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place, for no sooner had Herod Agrippa
been appointed governor of Judea than,

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with a view to ingratiate himself with
them, he raised a sharp persecution

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against the Christians, and determined to
make an effectual blow by striking at

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their leaders.

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The account given us by an eminent
primitive writer, Clemens Alexandrinus,

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ought not to be overlooked.

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But as James was led to the place of
martyrdom, his accuser was brought to

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repent of his conduct by the apostles'
extraordinary courage and undauntedness,

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and fell down at his feet to request his
pardon, professing himself a Christian,

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and resolving that James should not
receive the crown of martyrdom alone.

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Hence they were both beheaded at the same
time.

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Thus did the first apostolic martyr
cheerfully and resolutely receive that cup

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which he had told our Saviour he was ready
to drink.

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Timon and Parmenas suffered martyrdom
about the same time, the one at Philippi

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and the other in Macedonia.

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These events took place in A.D.

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44.

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Philip was born at Bethsaida in Galilee,
and was first called by the name of

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Disciple.

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He laboured diligently in Upper Asia,
and suffered martyrdom at Heliopolis in

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Phrygia.

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He was scourged, thrown into prison,
and afterwards crucified, A.D.

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54.

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Matthew, whose occupation was that of a
toll-gatherer, was born at Nazareth.

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He wrote his Gospel in Hebrew,
which was afterwards translated into Greek

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by James the Less.

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The scene of his labours was Parthia and
Ethiopia, in which latter country he

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suffered martyrdom, being slain with a
halberd in the city of Nadeba,

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A.D.

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60.

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James the Less is supposed by some to have
been the brother of our Lord by a former

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wife of Joseph.

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This is very doubtful, and accords too
much with the Catholic superstition that

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Mary never had any other children except
our Saviour.

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He was elected to the oversight of the
Churches of Jerusalem, and was the author

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of the epistle ascribed to James in the
Sacred Canon.

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At the age of 94, he was beat and stoned
by the Jews, and finally had his brains

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dashed out with a fuller's club.

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Matthias, of whom less is known than of
most of the other disciples, was elected

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to fill the vacant place of Judas.

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He was stoned at Jerusalem, and then
beheaded.

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Andrew was the brother of Peter.

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He preached the Gospel to many Asiatic
nations.

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But on his arrival at Edessa, he was taken
and crucified on a cross, the two ends of

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which were fixed transversely in the
ground, hence the derivation of the term

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St. Andrew's Cross.

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St. Mark was born of Jewish parents of the
tribe of Levi.

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He is supposed to have been converted to
Christianity by Peter, whom he served as

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an amanuensis, and under whose inspection
he wrote his Gospel in the Greek language.

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Mark was dragged to pieces by the people
of Alexandria at the great solemnity of

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Serapis, their idol, ending his life under
their merciless hands.

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Peter Among many other saints,
the blessed apostle Peter was condemned to

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death and crucified, as some do right at
Rome, albeit some others, and not without

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cause, do doubt thereof.

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Hegesippus said that Nero sought matter
against Peter to put him to death,

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which when the people perceived they
entreated Peter with much ado that he

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would fly the city.

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Peter, through their importunity,
at length persuaded, prepared himself to

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avoid.

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But coming to the gate he saw the Lord
Christ come to meet him, to whom he,

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worshipping, said, Lord, whither dost thou
go?

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To whom he answered and said, I am come
again to be crucified.

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By this Peter, perceiving his suffering to
be understood, returned into the city.

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Jerome saith that he was crucified,
his head being down and his feet upward,

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himself so requiring, because he was,
he said, unworthy to be crucified after

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the same form and manner as the Lord was.

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Paul Paul the apostle, who was before
called Saul, after his great travail and

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unspeakable labours in promoting the
gospel of Christ, suffered also in this

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first persecution under Nero.

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Abdias declareth that under his execution
Nero sent two of his esquires,

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Pherega and Parthemius, to bring him word
of his death.

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They, coming to Paul instructing the
people, desired him to pray for them that

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they might believe, who told them that
shortly after they should believe and be

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baptised at his sepulchre.

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This done, the soldiers came and led him
out of the city to the place of execution,

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where he, after his prayers made,
gave his neck to the sword.

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Jude, the brother of James, was commonly
called Thaddeus.

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He was crucified at Edessa, A.D.

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72.

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Bartholomew preached in several countries,
and having translated the gospel of

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Matthew into the language of India,
he propagated it in that country.

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He was at length cruelly beaten,
and then crucified by the impatient

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idolaters.

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Thomas, called Didymus, preached the
gospel in Parthia and India, where,

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exciting the rage of the pagan priests,
he was martyred by being thrust through

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with a spear.

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Luke, the evangelist, was the author of
the gospel which goes under his name.

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He travelled with Paul through various
countries, and is supposed to have been

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hanged on an olive tree by the idolatrous
priests of Greece.

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Simon, surnamed Xelotes, preached the
gospel in Mauritania, Africa, and even in

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Britain, in which latter country he was
crucified, A.D.

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74.

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John, the beloved disciple, was brother to
James the Great.

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The churches of Smyrna, Pergamos,
Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea,

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and Thyatira were founded by him.

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From Ephesus he was ordered to be sent to
Rome, where it is affirmed he was cast

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into a cauldron of boiling oil.

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He escaped, by miracle, without injury.

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Domitian afterwards banished him to the
Isle of Patmos, where he wrote the Book of

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Revelation.

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Nerva, the successor of Domitian,
recalled him.

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He was the only apostle who escaped a
violent death.

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Barnabas was of Cyprus, but of Jewish
descent.

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His death is supposed to have taken place
about A.D.

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73.

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And yet, notwithstanding all these
continual persecutions and horrible

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punishments, the church daily increased,
deeply rooted in the doctrine of the

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apostles and of men apostolical,
and watered plenteously with the blood of

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saints.

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Chapter 2.

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The Ten Primitive Persecutions.

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The First Persecution under Nero,
A.D.

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67 The first persecution of the church
took place in the year 67 under Nero,

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the sixth emperor of Rome.

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This monarch reigned for the space of five
years with tolerable credit to himself,

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but then gave way to the greatest
extravagance of temper and to the most

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atrocious barbarities, among other
diabolical whims, he ordered that the city

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of Rome should be set on fire,
which order was executed by his officers,

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guards and servants.

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While the imperial city was in flames,
he went up to the tower of Mycenaeus,

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played upon his harp, sung the song of the
burning of Troy, and openly declared that

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he wished the ruin of all things before
his death.

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Besides the noble pile called the Circus,
many other palaces and houses were

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consumed, several thousands perished in
the flames, were smothered in the smoke,

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or buried beneath the ruins.

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This dreadful conflagration continued nine
days, when Nero, finding that his conduct

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was greatly blamed and a severe odium cast
upon him, determined to lay the whole upon

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the Christians, at once to excuse himself
and have an opportunity of glutting his

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sight with new cruelties.

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This was the occasion of the first
persecution, and the barbarities exercised

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on the Christians were such as even
excited the commiseration of the Romans

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themselves.

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Nero even refined upon cruelty and
contrived all manner of punishments for

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the Christians that the most infernal
imagination could design.

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In particular, he had some sewed up in the
skins of wild beasts and then worried by

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dogs until they expired, and others
dressed in shirts made stiff with wax,

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fixed to axel trees, and set on fire in
his gardens in order to illuminate them.

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This persecution was general throughout
the whole Roman Empire, but it rather

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increased than diminished the spirit of
Christianity.

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In the course of it, St. Paul and St.
Peter were martyred.

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To their names may be added Erastus,
Chamberlain of Corinth, Aristarchus,

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the Macedonian, and Trophimus,
an Ephesian, converted by St. Paul,

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and fellow labourer with him Joseph,
commonly called Barcibus, and Ananias,

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Bishop of Damascus, each of the Seventy.

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The Second Persecution under Domitian,
A.D.

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81 The Emperor Domitian, who was naturally
inclined to cruelty, first slew his

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brother and then raised the second
persecution against the Christians.

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In his rage he put to death some of the
Roman Senators, some through malice and

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others to confiscate their estates.

14:12.450 --> 14:15.690
He then commanded all the lineage of David
be put to death.

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Among the numerous martyrs that suffered
during this persecution was Simeon,

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Bishop of Jerusalem, who was crucified,
and St. John, who was boiled in oil and

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afterwards banished to Patmos.

14:28.730 --> 14:32.970
Flavia, the daughter of a Roman Senator,
was likewise banished to Pontus.

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And a law was made that no Christian once
brought before the tribunal should be

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exempted from punishment without
renouncing his religion.

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A variety of fabricated tales were during
this reign composed in order to injure the

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Christians.

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Such was the infatuation of the pagans
that if famine, pestilence, or earthquakes

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afflicted any of the Roman provinces,
it was laid upon the Christians.

14:57.350 --> 15:02.170
These persecutions among the Christians
increased the number of informers,

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and many, for the sake of gain,
swore away the lives of the innocent.

15:07.950 --> 15:11.450
Another hardship was that when any
Christians were brought before the

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magistrates, a test oath was proposed,
when if they refused to take it,

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death was pronounced against them,
and if they confessed themselves

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Christians, the sentence was the same.

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The following were the most remarkable
among the numerous martyrs who suffered

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during this persecution.

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Dionysius the Areopagite was an Athenian
by birth, and educated in all the useful

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and ornamental literature of Greece.

15:37.330 --> 15:40.830
He then travelled to Egypt to study
astronomy, and made very particular

15:40.830 --> 15:45.250
observations on the great and supernatural
eclipse which happened at the time of our

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Saviour's crucifixion.

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The sanctity of his conversation and the
purity of his manners recommended him so

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strongly to the Christians in general that
he was appointed Bishop of Athens.

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Nicodemus, a benevolent Christian of some
distinction, suffered at Rome during the

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rage of Domitian's persecution.

16:04.350 --> 16:06.810
Protasius and Gervasius were martyred at
Milan.

16:08.110 --> 16:12.690
Timothy was the celebrated disciple of St.
Paul and Bishop of Ephesus, where he

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zealously governed the Church until A.D.

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97.

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At this period, as the pagans were about
to celebrate a feast called Categogion,

16:21.830 --> 16:25.390
Timothy, meeting the procession,
severely reproved them for their

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ridiculous idolatry, which so exasperated
the people that they fell upon him with

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their clubs and beat him in so dreadful a
manner that he expired of the bruises two

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days later.

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The Third Persecution under Trajan,
A.D.

16:42.380 --> 16:50.520
108 In the Third Persecution, Pliny II,
a man learned and famous, seeing the

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lamentable slaughter of Christians and
moved therewith to pity, wrote to Trajan

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certifying him that there were many
thousands of them daily put to death,

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of which none did anything contrary to the
Roman laws worthy of persecution.

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The whole account they gave of their crime
or error, whichever it is to be called,

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amounted only to this, namely that they
were accustomed on a stated day to meet

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before daylight and to repeat together a
set form of prayer to Christ as a God,

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and to bind themselves by an obligation,
not indeed to commit wickedness,

17:21.800 --> 17:26.880
but on the contrary never to commit theft,
robbery or adultery, never to falsify

17:26.880 --> 17:31.120
their word, never to defraud any man,
after which it was their custom to

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separate and reassemble to partake in
common of a harmless meal.

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In this persecution suffered the blessed
martyr Ignatius, who is held in famous

17:41.440 --> 17:42.820
reverence among very many.

17:44.240 --> 17:48.520
This Ignatius was appointed to the
bishopric of Antioch, next after Peter in

17:48.520 --> 17:48.940
succession.

17:49.780 --> 17:54.320
Some do say that he, being sent from Syria
to Rome because he professed Christ,

17:54.620 --> 17:56.960
was given to the wild beasts to be
devoured.

17:56.960 --> 18:01.340
It is also said of him that when he passed
through Asia, being under the most strict

18:01.340 --> 18:05.860
custody of his keepers, he strengthened
and confirmed the churches through all the

18:05.860 --> 18:09.780
cities as he went, both with his
exhortations and preaching of the word of

18:09.780 --> 18:10.080
God.

18:11.200 --> 18:14.360
Accordingly, having come to Smyrna,
he wrote to the church at Rome,

18:14.760 --> 18:18.900
exhorting them not to use means for his
deliverance from martyrdom, lest they

18:18.900 --> 18:21.660
should deprive him of that which he most
longed and hoped for.

18:22.380 --> 18:24.460
Now I begin to be a disciple.

18:24.980 --> 18:30.140
I care for nothing, of visible or
invisible things, so that I may but win

18:30.140 --> 18:30.620
Christ.

18:31.240 --> 18:36.220
Let fire and the cross, let the companies
of wild beasts, let breaking of bones and

18:36.220 --> 18:40.640
tearing of limbs, let the grinding of the
whole body and all the malice of the devil

18:40.640 --> 18:41.400
come upon me.

18:42.020 --> 18:44.780
Be it so, only may I win Christ Jesus.

18:45.720 --> 18:49.680
And even when he was sentenced to be
thrown to the beasts, such was the burning

18:49.680 --> 18:53.880
desire that he had to suffer, that he
spake, what time he heard the lions

18:53.880 --> 18:58.800
roaring, saying, I am the wheat of Christ,
I am going to be ground with the teeth of

18:58.800 --> 19:01.600
wild beasts, that I may be found pure
bread.

19:04.280 --> 19:08.540
Trajan being succeeded by Adrian,
the latter continued this third

19:08.540 --> 19:11.280
persecution with as much severity as his
predecessor.

19:12.440 --> 19:16.620
About this time, Alexander, Bishop of
Rome, with his two deacons were martyred,

19:16.960 --> 19:19.600
as were Quirinus and Hernes with their
families.

19:20.580 --> 19:24.200
Zenon, a noble Roman man, and about 10,000
other Christians.

19:25.420 --> 19:30.640
In Mount Ararat, many were crucified,
crowned with thorns and spears run into

19:30.640 --> 19:33.400
their sides in imitation of Christ's
passion.

19:34.340 --> 19:39.240
Eustachius, a brave and successful Roman
commander, was by the Emperor ordered to

19:39.240 --> 19:43.060
join in an idolatrous sacrifice to
celebrate some of his own victories.

19:43.060 --> 19:47.700
But his faith, being a Christian in his
heart, was so much greater than his

19:47.700 --> 19:49.840
vanity, that he nobly refused it.

19:50.560 --> 19:54.700
Enraged at the denial, the ungrateful
Emperor forgot the service of this skilful

19:54.700 --> 19:58.160
commander and ordered him and his whole
family to be martyred.

19:59.680 --> 20:04.920
At the martyrdom of Faustines and Jovita,
brothers and citizens of Bratia,

20:05.320 --> 20:09.640
their torments were so many and their
patience so great, that Calloserius,

20:09.800 --> 20:13.920
a pagan beholding them, was struck with
admiration and exclaimed in a kind of

20:13.920 --> 20:16.460
ecstasy, Great is the God of the
Christians!

20:17.060 --> 20:19.760
for which he was apprehended and suffered
a similar fate.

20:21.080 --> 20:25.000
Many other similar cruelties and rigors
were exercised against the Christians,

20:25.000 --> 20:30.140
until Quadratus, Bishop of Athens,
made a learned apology in their favor

20:30.140 --> 20:34.720
before the Emperor, who happened to be
there, and Aristides, a philosopher of the

20:34.720 --> 20:39.140
same city, wrote an elegant epistle,
which caused Adrian to relax in his

20:39.140 --> 20:41.340
severities and relent in their favor.

20:43.200 --> 20:44.960
Adrian, dying A.D.

20:45.140 --> 20:50.300
138, was succeeded by Antoninus Pius,
one of the most amiable monarchs that ever

20:50.300 --> 20:53.640
reigned and who stayed the persecutions
against the Christians.

20:56.180 --> 21:00.600
The Fourth Persecution under Marcus
Aurelius Antoninus, A.D.

21:00.880 --> 21:08.360
162 Marcus Aurelius followed about the
year of our Lord 161, a man of nature more

21:08.360 --> 21:13.320
stern and severe, and although in study of
philosophy and in civil government no less

21:13.320 --> 21:18.620
commendable, yet towards the Christians
sharp and fierce, by whom was moved the

21:18.620 --> 21:19.580
fourth persecution.

21:20.940 --> 21:24.980
The cruelties used in this persecution
were such that many of the spectators

21:24.980 --> 21:29.200
shuddered with horror at the sight and
were astonished at the intrepidity of the

21:29.200 --> 21:29.640
sufferers.

21:30.540 --> 21:34.320
Some of the martyrs were obliged to pass,
with their already wounded feet,

21:34.780 --> 21:38.720
over thorns, nails, sharp shells,
etc., upon their points.

21:39.340 --> 21:43.680
Others were scourged until their sinews
and veins lay bare, and after suffering

21:43.680 --> 21:47.760
the most excruciating tortures that could
be devised, they were destroyed by the

21:47.760 --> 21:48.860
most terrible deaths.

21:50.520 --> 21:54.780
Germanicus, a young man but a true
Christian, being delivered to the wild

21:54.780 --> 21:58.960
beasts on account of his faith,
behaved with such astonishing courage that

21:58.960 --> 22:02.840
several pagans became converts to a faith
which inspired such fortitude.

22:04.500 --> 22:09.240
Polycarp, the venerable bishop of Smyrna,
hearing that persons were seeking for him,

22:09.620 --> 22:11.820
escaped, but was discovered by a child.

22:13.320 --> 22:17.280
After feasting the guards who apprehended
him, he desired an hour in prayer,

22:17.700 --> 22:22.080
which being allowed, he prayed with such
fervency that his guards repented that

22:22.080 --> 22:23.640
they had been instrumental in taking him.

22:24.420 --> 22:28.440
He was, however, carried before the
proconsul, condemned and burnt in the

22:28.440 --> 22:28.900
marketplace.

22:30.220 --> 22:34.000
The proconsul then urged him, saying,
Swear, and I will release thee.

22:34.240 --> 22:35.160
Reproach Christ.

22:36.080 --> 22:40.460
Polycarp answered, Eighty and six years
have I served him, and he never once

22:40.460 --> 22:41.120
wronged me.

22:41.540 --> 22:44.620
How then shall I blaspheme my king who
hath saved me?

22:45.740 --> 22:50.040
At the stake to which he was only tied,
but not nailed as usual, as he assured

22:50.040 --> 22:54.000
them he should stand immovable,
the flames, on their kindling the faggots,

22:54.360 --> 22:57.280
encircled his body like an arch without
touching him.

22:57.280 --> 23:01.360
And the executioner, on seeing this,
was ordered to pierce him with a sword,

23:01.820 --> 23:05.360
when so great a quantity of blood flowed
out as extinguished the fire.

23:06.720 --> 23:10.620
But his body, at the instigation of the
enemies of the gospel, especially Jews,

23:11.120 --> 23:15.080
was ordered to be consumed in the pile,
and the request of his friends,

23:15.160 --> 23:17.200
who wished to give it Christian burial,
rejected.

23:18.160 --> 23:21.700
They nevertheless collected his bones and
as much of his remains as possible,

23:22.020 --> 23:24.140
and caused them to be decently interred.

23:26.800 --> 23:31.540
Metrodorus, a minister who preached
boldly, and Pionius, who made some

23:31.540 --> 23:34.860
excellent apologies for the Christian
faith, were likewise burnt.

23:35.860 --> 23:40.880
Carpus and Papulus, two worthy Christians,
and Agatonica, a pious woman, suffered

23:40.880 --> 23:43.400
martyrdom at Pergamopolis, in Asia.

23:45.220 --> 23:50.080
Felicitatis, an illustrious Roman lady of
a considerable family, and the most

23:50.080 --> 23:52.460
shining virtues, was a devout Christian.

23:52.460 --> 23:57.180
She had seven sons, whom she had educated
with the most exemplary piety.

23:58.520 --> 24:02.140
Januarius, the eldest, was scourged and
pressed to death with weights.

24:02.840 --> 24:06.900
Felix and Philip, the two next,
had their brains dashed out with clubs.

24:07.820 --> 24:11.060
Sylvanus, the fourth, was murdered by
being thrown from a precipice.

24:11.560 --> 24:16.400
And the three younger sons, Alexander,
Vitalis, and Marshal, were beheaded.

24:17.140 --> 24:19.880
The mother was beheaded with the same
sword as the three latter.

24:21.980 --> 24:25.760
Justin, the celebrated philosopher,
fell a martyr in this persecution.

24:26.740 --> 24:30.160
He was a native of Neapolis, in Samaria,
and was born A.D.

24:30.200 --> 24:30.520
103.

24:31.660 --> 24:34.580
Justin was a great lover of truth and a
universal scholar.

24:35.320 --> 24:40.160
He investigated the Stoic and Peripatetic
philosophy and attempted the Pythagorean.

24:40.980 --> 24:44.640
But the behaviour of one of its
professors, disgusting him, he applied

24:44.640 --> 24:47.200
himself to the Platonic, in which he took
great delight.

24:47.820 --> 24:52.520
About the year 133, when he was thirty
years of age, he became a convert to

24:52.520 --> 24:56.920
Christianity and then, for the first time,
perceived the real nature of truth.

24:57.780 --> 25:02.180
He wrote an elegant epistle to the
Gentiles and employed his talents in

25:02.180 --> 25:06.100
convincing the Jews of the truth of the
Christian rites, spending a great deal of

25:06.100 --> 25:10.740
time travelling until he took up his abode
in Rome and fixed his habitation upon the

25:10.740 --> 25:11.440
Viminal Mount.

25:11.440 --> 25:17.060
He kept a public school, taught many who
afterwards became great men, and wrote a

25:17.060 --> 25:19.660
treatise to confuse heresies of all kinds.

25:20.640 --> 25:23.460
As the pagans began to treat the
Christians with great severity,

25:24.140 --> 25:26.360
Justin wrote his first apology in their
favour.

25:27.300 --> 25:31.180
This piece displays great learning and
genius, and occasioned the Emperor to

25:31.180 --> 25:33.580
publish an edict in favour of the
Christians.

25:34.980 --> 25:40.360
Soon after, he entered into frequent
contests with Crescens, a person of a

25:40.360 --> 25:44.100
vicious life and conversation,
but a celebrated Cynic philosopher,

25:44.700 --> 25:48.980
and his arguments appeared so powerful,
yet disgusting to the Cynic, that he

25:48.980 --> 25:52.140
resolved on, and in the sequel
accomplished, his destruction.

25:53.500 --> 25:58.900
The second apology of Justin, upon certain
severities, gave Crescens the Cynic an

25:58.900 --> 26:03.380
opportunity of prejudicing the Emperor
against the writer of it, upon which

26:03.380 --> 26:05.980
Justin and six of his companions were
apprehended.

26:06.720 --> 26:11.000
Being commanded to sacrifice to the pagan
idols, they refused and were condemned to

26:11.000 --> 26:15.100
be scourged and then beheaded,
which sentence was executed with all

26:15.100 --> 26:16.320
imaginable severity.

26:18.300 --> 26:21.580
Several were beheaded for refusing to
sacrifice to the image of Jupiter,

26:22.180 --> 26:25.800
in particular Concordus, a deacon of the
city of Spoleto.

26:27.620 --> 26:31.480
Some of the restless northern nations,
having risen in arms against Rome,

26:31.860 --> 26:33.560
the Emperor marched to encounter them.

26:34.180 --> 26:38.360
He was, however, drawn into an ambuscade,
and dreaded the loss of his whole army.

26:39.100 --> 26:43.020
Enveloped with mountains, surrounded by
enemies, and perishing with thirst,

26:43.420 --> 26:45.520
the pagan deities were invoked in vain.

26:46.100 --> 26:49.660
When the men belonging to the Militine,
or Thundering Legion, who were all

26:49.660 --> 26:54.440
Christians, were commanded to call upon
their god for succour, a miraculous

26:54.440 --> 26:58.520
deliverance immediately ensued,
a prodigious quantity of rain fell,

26:58.940 --> 27:02.240
which, being caught by the men and filling
their dykes, afforded a sudden and

27:02.240 --> 27:03.260
astonishing relief.

27:04.160 --> 27:07.580
It appears that the storm, which
miraculously flashed in the face of the

27:07.580 --> 27:12.540
enemy, so intimidated them, that part
deserted to the Roman army, the rest were

27:12.540 --> 27:15.420
defeated, and the revolted provinces
entirely recovered.

27:16.740 --> 27:21.380
This affair occasioned the persecution to
subside for some time, at least in those

27:21.380 --> 27:25.600
parts immediately under the inspection of
the Emperor, but we find that it soon

27:25.600 --> 27:30.420
after raged in France, particularly Lyon,
where the tortures to which many of the

27:30.420 --> 27:33.500
Christians were put almost exceed the
powers of description.

27:34.840 --> 27:39.760
The principal of these martyrs were
Vettius Agathus, a young man, Blandina,

27:40.100 --> 27:46.460
a Christian lady of a weak constitution,
Sanctus, a deacon of Vienna, red-hot

27:46.460 --> 27:51.380
plates of brass were placed upon the
tenderest parts of his body, Biblius,

27:51.660 --> 27:56.780
a weak woman, once an apostate,
Attalus of Pergamos, and Pothinus,

27:56.880 --> 28:00.040
the venerable Bishop of Lyon, who was
ninety years of age.

28:01.340 --> 28:05.380
Blandina, on the day when she and the
three other champions were first brought

28:05.380 --> 28:10.000
into the amphitheatre, she was suspended
on a piece of wood fixed in the ground and

28:10.000 --> 28:14.600
exposed as food for the wild beasts,
at which time by her earnest prayers she

28:14.600 --> 28:19.000
encouraged others, but none of the wild
beasts would touch her, so that she was

28:19.000 --> 28:19.920
remanded to prison.

28:20.760 --> 28:24.620
When she was again produced for the third
and last time, she was accompanied by

28:24.620 --> 28:29.820
Ponticus, a youth of fifteen, and the
constancy of their faith so enraged the

28:29.820 --> 28:34.020
multitude that neither the sex of the one
nor the youth of the other were respected,

28:34.560 --> 28:37.320
being exposed to all manner of punishments
and tortures.

28:38.120 --> 28:42.160
Being strengthened by Blandina,
he persevered unto death, and she,

28:42.480 --> 28:46.940
after enduring all the torments heretofore
mentioned, was at length slain with a

28:46.940 --> 28:47.220
sword.

28:49.160 --> 28:53.780
When the Christians upon these occasions
received martyrdom, they were ornamented

28:53.780 --> 28:58.320
and crowned with garlands of flowers,
for which they in heaven received eternal

28:58.320 --> 28:59.420
crowns of glory.

29:01.720 --> 29:05.880
It has been said that the lives of the
early Christians consisted of persecution

29:05.880 --> 29:08.100
above ground and prayer below ground.

29:08.720 --> 29:11.660
Their lives are expressed by the Colosseum
and the Catacombs.

29:12.800 --> 29:17.400
Beneath Rome are the excavations which we
call the Catacombs, which were at once

29:17.400 --> 29:18.760
temples and tombs.

29:19.820 --> 29:23.060
The early Church of Rome might well be
called the Church of the Catacombs.

29:23.520 --> 29:27.800
There are some sixty Catacombs near Rome,
in which some six hundred miles of

29:27.800 --> 29:29.980
galleries have been traced, and these are
not all.

29:31.080 --> 29:35.460
These galleries are about eight feet high,
and from three to five feet wide,

29:36.020 --> 29:40.520
containing on either side several rows of
long, low, horizontal recesses,

29:40.680 --> 29:42.580
one above the other, like berths in a
ship.

29:43.400 --> 29:47.360
In these the dead bodies were placed,
and the front closed, either by a single

29:47.360 --> 29:50.720
marble slab or several great tiles laid in
mortar.

29:51.620 --> 29:56.060
On these slabs or tiles, epitaphs or
symbols are graved or painted.

29:56.820 --> 30:00.300
Both pagans and Christians buried their
dead in these Catacombs.

30:01.100 --> 30:04.420
When the Christian graves have been
opened, the skeletons tell their own

30:04.420 --> 30:05.280
terrible tale.

30:05.940 --> 30:09.520
Heads are found severed from the body,
ribs and shoulder blades are broken,

30:09.980 --> 30:12.000
bones are often calcined from fire.

30:12.840 --> 30:16.960
But despite the awful story of persecution
that we may read here, the inscriptions

30:16.960 --> 30:19.880
breathe forth peace and joy and triumph.

30:20.640 --> 30:21.360
Here are a few.

30:22.200 --> 30:25.440
Here lies Marcia, put to rest in a dream
of peace.

30:26.460 --> 30:29.580
Lawrence, to his sweetest son,
born away of angels.

30:30.320 --> 30:32.520
Victorious in peace and in Christ.

30:33.540 --> 30:35.240
Being called away, he went in peace.

30:37.280 --> 30:41.120
Remember when reading these inscriptions
the story the skeletons tell of

30:41.120 --> 30:43.400
persecution, of torture and of fire.

30:44.140 --> 30:47.880
But the full force of these epitaphs is
seen when we contrast them with the pagan

30:47.880 --> 30:52.440
epitaphs, such as, Live for the present
hour, since we are sure of nothing else.

30:53.080 --> 30:57.100
I lift my hands against the gods who took
me away at the age of twenty, though I had

30:57.100 --> 30:57.860
done no harm.

30:59.020 --> 31:01.080
Once I was not, now I am not.

31:01.280 --> 31:03.920
I know nothing about it, and it is no
concern of mine.

31:05.380 --> 31:09.760
Traveller, curse me not as you pass,
for I am in darkness and cannot answer.

31:12.020 --> 31:16.300
The most frequent Christian symbols on the
walls of the Catacombs are the good

31:16.300 --> 31:20.140
shepherd with a lamb on his shoulder,
a ship under full sail, harps,

31:20.500 --> 31:23.780
anchors, crowns, vines, and, above all,
the fish.

31:33.680 --> 31:37.440
Severus, having been recovered from a
severe fit of sickness by a Christian,

31:37.840 --> 31:42.400
became a great favourer of the Christians
in general, but the prejudice and fury of

31:42.400 --> 31:46.780
the ignorant multitude prevailing,
obsolete laws were put in execution

31:46.780 --> 31:47.720
against the Christians.

31:48.440 --> 31:53.240
The progress of Christianity alarmed the
pagans, and they revived the stale calumny

31:53.240 --> 31:57.760
of placing accidental misfortunes to the
account of its professors in A.D.

31:57.960 --> 31:58.600
192.

31:59.380 --> 32:04.340
But though persecuting malice raged,
yet the gospel shone with resplendent

32:04.340 --> 32:08.900
brightness, and, firm as an impregnable
rock, withstood the attacks of its

32:08.900 --> 32:10.520
boisterous enemies with success.

32:11.540 --> 32:15.480
Tertullian, who lived in this age,
informs us that if the Christians had

32:15.480 --> 32:19.680
collectively withdrawn themselves from the
Roman territories, the empire would have

32:19.680 --> 32:21.000
been greatly depopulated.

32:22.980 --> 32:27.100
Victor, Bishop of Rome, suffered martyrdom
in the first year of the third century,

32:27.420 --> 32:27.740
A.D.

32:27.780 --> 32:28.120
201.

32:29.080 --> 32:33.040
Leonidas, the father of the celebrated
Origen, was beheaded for being a

32:33.040 --> 32:33.360
Christian.

32:34.500 --> 32:39.300
Many of Origen's heroes likewise suffered
martyrdom, particularly two brothers named

32:39.300 --> 32:40.780
Plutarchus and Serranus.

32:41.300 --> 32:44.660
Another Serranus, Heron and Heraclides,
were beheaded.

32:45.540 --> 32:50.000
Rhaes had boiled pitch poured upon her
head and was then burnt, as was Marcella,

32:50.100 --> 32:50.460
her mother.

32:51.520 --> 32:55.600
Portaniana, the sister of Rhaes,
was executed in the same manner as Rhaes

32:55.600 --> 32:56.120
had been.

32:56.720 --> 33:01.680
But Basilides, an officer belonging to the
army, and ordered to attend her execution,

33:02.040 --> 33:02.960
became her convert.

33:04.640 --> 33:09.160
Basilides, being as an officer required to
take a certain oath, refused, saying that

33:09.160 --> 33:12.060
he could not swear by the Roman idols as
he was a Christian.

33:13.100 --> 33:16.300
Struck with surprise, the people could not
at first believe what they heard,

33:16.620 --> 33:20.320
but he had no sooner confirmed the same
than he was dragged before the judge,

33:20.640 --> 33:23.200
committed to prison, and speedily
afterward beheaded.

33:25.100 --> 33:29.500
Irenaeus, Bishop of Leon, was born in
Greece and received both a conventional

33:29.500 --> 33:31.020
and a Christian education.

33:31.020 --> 33:35.400
It is generally supposed that the account
of the persecutions at Leon was written by

33:35.400 --> 33:35.880
himself.

33:36.860 --> 33:41.440
He succeeded the martyr Pothinus as Bishop
of Leon and ruled his diocese with great

33:41.440 --> 33:42.040
propriety.

33:42.680 --> 33:46.200
He was a zealous opposer of heresies in
general and about A.D.

33:46.480 --> 33:49.260
187 he wrote a celebrated tract against
heresy.

33:51.360 --> 33:55.420
Victor, the Bishop of Rome, wanting to
impose the keeping of Easter there in

33:55.420 --> 33:59.280
preference to other places, it occasioned
some disorders among the Christians.

33:59.280 --> 34:04.240
In particular, Irenaeus wrote him a
synodical epistle in the name of the

34:04.240 --> 34:05.080
Gallic churches.

34:05.820 --> 34:10.200
This zeal in favour of Christianity
pointed him out as an object of resentment

34:10.200 --> 34:12.020
to the Emperor and in A.D.

34:12.300 --> 34:13.580
202 he was beheaded.

34:15.360 --> 34:20.260
The persecutions, now extending to Africa,
many were martyred in that quarter of the

34:20.260 --> 34:22.960
globe, the most particular of whom we
shall mention.

34:23.940 --> 34:28.480
Perpetua, a married lady of about
twenty-two years, those who suffered with

34:28.480 --> 34:32.580
her were Felicitas, a married lady,
big with child at the time of her being

34:32.580 --> 34:37.040
apprehended, and Revocatus, catechumen of
Carthage and a slave.

34:37.660 --> 34:41.360
The names of the other prisoners destined
to suffer upon this occasion were

34:41.360 --> 34:43.840
Saturninus, Secundulus and Sata.

34:44.720 --> 34:47.800
On the day appointed for their execution
they were led to the amphitheatre.

34:48.800 --> 34:52.480
Sata, Saturninus and Revocatus were
ordered to run the gauntlet between the

34:52.480 --> 34:55.100
hunters or such as had the care of the
wild beasts.

34:55.100 --> 35:00.200
The hunters being drawn up in two ranks,
they ran between and were severely lashed

35:00.200 --> 35:01.020
as they passed.

35:01.980 --> 35:05.640
Felicitas and Perpetua were stripped in
order to be thrown to a mad bull,

35:06.080 --> 35:09.080
which made his first attack upon Perpetua
and stunned her.

35:09.580 --> 35:12.400
He then darted at Felicitas and gored her
dreadfully.

35:12.900 --> 35:15.900
But not killing them, the executioner did
that office with a sword.

35:17.040 --> 35:19.660
Revocatus and Sata were destroyed by wild
beasts.

35:20.480 --> 35:23.960
Saturninus was beheaded and Secundulus
died in prison.

35:23.960 --> 35:28.200
These executions were in 205 on the 8th
day of March.

35:29.220 --> 35:34.380
Spiratus and twelve others were likewise
beheaded as was Andocles in France.

35:35.400 --> 35:39.520
Asclepiades, Bishop of Antioch,
suffered many tortures but his life was

35:39.520 --> 35:39.900
spared.

35:41.520 --> 35:45.880
Cecilia, a young lady of good family in
Rome, was married to a gentleman named

35:45.880 --> 35:46.200
Valerian.

35:47.040 --> 35:51.940
She converted her husband and brother who
were beheaded and the maximus or officer

35:51.940 --> 35:56.060
who led them to execution, becoming their
convert, suffered the same fate.

35:56.660 --> 36:01.200
The lady was placed naked in a scalding
bath and having continued there a

36:01.200 --> 36:04.960
considerable time, her head was struck off
with a sword, A.D.

36:05.500 --> 36:05.940
222.

36:07.360 --> 36:09.660
Callistus, Bishop of Rome, was martyred,
A.D.

36:10.160 --> 36:14.820
224, but the manner of his death is not
recorded and Urban, Bishop of Rome,

36:15.120 --> 36:16.860
met the same fate, A.D.

36:17.280 --> 36:17.720
232.

36:19.800 --> 36:23.120
The sixth persecution, under Maximinus,
A.D.

36:23.560 --> 36:24.120
235.

36:25.340 --> 36:26.100
A.D.

36:26.300 --> 36:28.380
235 was in the time of Maximinus.

36:29.320 --> 36:33.800
In Cappadocia, the president, Seremianus,
did all he could to exterminate the

36:33.800 --> 36:35.020
Christians from that province.

36:36.120 --> 36:40.680
The principal persons who perished under
this reign were Pontianus, Bishop of Rome,

36:41.000 --> 36:45.300
and Teros, a Grecian, his successor,
who gave offence to the government by

36:45.300 --> 36:50.220
collecting the acts of the martyrs,
Permacius and Quiritus, Roman senators

36:50.220 --> 36:55.160
with all their families, and many other
Christians, Simplicius, senator,

36:55.700 --> 37:00.280
Callipodius, a Christian minister thrown
into the Tiber, Marina, a noble and

37:00.280 --> 37:05.260
beautiful virgin, and Hippolytus,
a Christian prelate, tied to a wild horse

37:05.260 --> 37:06.840
and dragged until he expired.

37:07.740 --> 37:11.920
During this persecution, raised by
Maximinus, numberless Christians were

37:11.920 --> 37:16.360
slain without trial and buried
indiscriminately in heaps, sometimes fifty

37:16.360 --> 37:19.840
or sixty being cast into a pit together
without the least decency.

37:21.860 --> 37:24.980
The tyrant Maximinus dying, A.D.

37:25.180 --> 37:29.460
238, was succeeded by Gordian,
during whose reign, and that of his

37:29.460 --> 37:33.280
successor, Philip, the church was free
from persecution for the space of more

37:33.280 --> 37:34.100
than ten years.

37:34.740 --> 37:35.420
But in A.D.

37:35.780 --> 37:41.200
249, a violent persecution broke out in
Alexandria at the instigation of a pagan

37:41.200 --> 37:43.480
priest without the knowledge of the
emperor.

37:45.440 --> 37:48.860
The seventh persecution, under Decius,
A.D.

37:49.180 --> 37:49.720
249.

37:51.060 --> 37:54.520
This was occasioned partly by the hatred
he bore to his predecessor, Philip,

37:54.660 --> 37:58.740
who was deemed a Christian, and was partly
by his jealousy concerning the amazing

37:58.740 --> 38:03.400
increase of Christianity, for the heathen
temples began to be forsaken and the

38:03.400 --> 38:04.900
Christian churches thronged.

38:05.520 --> 38:10.360
These reasons stimulated Decius to attempt
the very extirpation of the name of

38:10.360 --> 38:14.880
Christian, and it was unfortunate for the
gospel that many errors had about this

38:14.880 --> 38:16.380
time crept into the church.

38:16.920 --> 38:21.200
The Christians were at variance with each
other, self-interest divided those whom

38:21.200 --> 38:25.420
social love ought to have united,
and the virulence of pride occasioned a

38:25.420 --> 38:26.820
variety of factions.

38:28.280 --> 38:32.320
The heathens in general were ambitious to
enforce the imperial decrees upon this

38:32.320 --> 38:36.180
occasion, and looked upon the murder of a
Christian as a merit to themselves.

38:36.960 --> 38:41.260
The martyrs upon this occasion were
innumerable, but the principle we shall

38:41.260 --> 38:42.320
give some account of.

38:43.900 --> 38:48.280
Fabian, the bishop of Rome, was the first
person of eminence who felt the severity

38:48.280 --> 38:49.280
of this persecution.

38:50.180 --> 38:54.140
The deceased emperor Philip, had on
account of his integrity, committed his

38:54.140 --> 38:55.820
treasure to the care of this good man.

38:56.600 --> 39:01.660
But Decius, not finding as much as his
avarice made him expect, determined to

39:01.660 --> 39:03.320
wreak his vengeance on the good prelate.

39:03.860 --> 39:07.360
He was accordingly seized, and on January
20, A.D.

39:07.480 --> 39:09.640
250, he suffered decapitation.

39:11.380 --> 39:16.260
Julian, a native of Cilicia, as we are
informed by St. Chrysostom, was seized

39:16.260 --> 39:17.560
upon for being a Christian.

39:18.040 --> 39:21.000
He was put into a leather bag,
together with a number of serpents and

39:21.000 --> 39:24.140
scorpions, and in that condition thrown
into the sea.

39:24.980 --> 39:30.160
Peter, a young man, amiable for the
superior qualities of his body and mind,

39:30.540 --> 39:32.960
was beheaded for refusing to sacrifice to
Venus.

39:33.880 --> 39:37.860
He said, I am astonished you should
sacrifice to an infamous woman,

39:38.200 --> 39:41.720
whose debaucheries even your own
historians record, and whose life

39:41.720 --> 39:44.460
consisted of such actions as your laws
would punish.

39:45.240 --> 39:49.180
No, I shall offer the true God the
acceptable sacrifice of praises and

39:49.180 --> 39:49.660
prayers.

39:50.860 --> 39:54.860
Optimus, the proconsul of Asia,
on hearing this, ordered the prisoner to

39:54.860 --> 39:59.360
be stretched upon a wheel, by which all
his bones were broken, and then he was

39:59.360 --> 40:00.180
sent to be beheaded.

40:03.080 --> 40:07.440
Nicomachus, being brought before the
proconsul as a Christian, was ordered to

40:07.440 --> 40:09.040
sacrifice to the pagan idols.

40:09.860 --> 40:14.460
Nicomachus replied, I cannot pay that
respect to devils, which is only due to

40:14.460 --> 40:15.000
the Almighty.

40:15.840 --> 40:19.980
This speech so much enraged the proconsul
that Nicomachus was put to the rack.

40:20.840 --> 40:24.860
After enduring the torments for a time,
he recanted, but scarcely had he given

40:24.860 --> 40:29.240
this proof of his frailty, that he fell
into the greatest agonies, dropped down on

40:29.240 --> 40:31.200
the ground, and expired immediately.

40:33.240 --> 40:37.160
Denisa, a young woman of only sixteen
years of age, who beheld this terrible

40:37.160 --> 40:42.740
judgment, suddenly exclaimed, O unhappy
wretch, why would you buy a moment's ease

40:42.740 --> 40:44.640
at the expense of a miserable eternity?

40:45.860 --> 40:50.460
Optimus, hearing this, called to her,
and Denisa, avowing herself to be a

40:50.460 --> 40:53.560
Christian, she was beheaded by his order
soon after.

40:55.380 --> 40:59.080
Andrew and Paul, two companions of
Nicomachus the martyr, A.D.

40:59.360 --> 41:04.060
251, suffered martyrdom by stoning,
and expired, calling on their blessed

41:04.060 --> 41:04.540
Redeemer.

41:06.300 --> 41:10.780
Alexander and Epimachus of Alexandria were
apprehended for being Christians,

41:11.240 --> 41:15.120
and, confessing the accusation,
were beat with staves, torn with hooks,

41:15.320 --> 41:16.820
and at length burnt in the fire.

41:17.540 --> 41:22.500
And we are informed in a fragment
preserved by Eusebius, that four female

41:22.500 --> 41:26.420
martyrs suffered on the same day and at
the same place, but not in the same

41:26.420 --> 41:27.640
manner, for these were beheaded.

41:29.200 --> 41:34.640
Lucian and Martian, two wicked pagans,
those skilful magicians, becoming converts

41:34.640 --> 41:39.140
to Christianity to make amends for their
former errors, lived the lives of hermits,

41:39.300 --> 41:41.400
and subsisted upon bread and water only.

41:42.480 --> 41:45.580
After some time spent in this manner,
they became zealous preachers,

41:45.780 --> 41:46.960
and made many converts.

41:48.260 --> 41:52.540
The persecution, however, raging at this
time, they were seized upon and carried

41:52.540 --> 41:55.240
before Sabinus, the governor of Bithynia.

41:55.720 --> 42:00.260
On being asked by what authority they took
upon themselves to preach, Lucian

42:00.260 --> 42:05.360
answered, that the laws of charity and
humanity obliged all men to endeavour the

42:05.360 --> 42:08.340
conversion of their neighbours,
and to do everything in their power to

42:08.340 --> 42:10.300
rescue them from the snares of the devil.

42:11.740 --> 42:16.240
Lucian, having answered in this manner,
Martian said, their conversion was by the

42:16.240 --> 42:20.240
same grace which was given to St. Paul,
who, from a zealous persecutor of the

42:20.240 --> 42:21.960
church, became a preacher of the gospel.

42:22.940 --> 42:26.860
The proconsul, finding that he could not
prevail with them to renounce their faith,

42:27.340 --> 42:31.340
condemned them to be burnt alive,
which sentence was soon after executed.

42:34.140 --> 42:38.720
Trypho and Respicius, two eminent men,
were seized as Christians and imprisoned

42:38.720 --> 42:39.280
at Nice.

42:40.060 --> 42:43.080
Their feet were pierced with nails,
they were dragged through the streets,

42:43.380 --> 42:47.120
scourged, torn with iron hooks,
scorched with lighted torches,

42:47.120 --> 42:50.360
and at length beheaded, February 1,
A.D.

42:50.640 --> 42:51.220
251.

42:53.140 --> 42:58.180
Agatha, a Sicilian lady, was not more
remarkable for her personal and acquired

42:58.180 --> 42:59.620
endowments than her piety.

43:00.460 --> 43:04.720
Her beauty was such that Quintian,
governor of Sicily, became enamoured of

43:04.720 --> 43:08.100
her, and made many attempts upon her
chastity without success.

43:08.960 --> 43:13.180
In order to gratify his passions with a
greater conveniency, he put the virtuous

43:13.180 --> 43:17.620
lady into the hands of Aphrodite,
a very infamous and licentious woman.

43:18.500 --> 43:21.800
This wretch tried every artifice to win
her to the desired prostitution,

43:22.780 --> 43:26.580
but found all her efforts were vain,
for her chastity was impregnable,

43:26.920 --> 43:30.420
and she well knew that virtue alone could
procure true happiness.

43:31.840 --> 43:36.260
Aphrodite acquainted Quintian with the
inefficacy of her endeavours, who,

43:36.640 --> 43:40.520
enraged to be foiled in his designs,
changed his lust into resentment.

43:40.520 --> 43:45.040
On her confessing that she was a
Christian, he determined to gratify his

43:45.040 --> 43:46.920
revenge as he could not his passion.

43:47.620 --> 43:51.820
Pursuant to his orders, she was scourged,
burnt with red-hot irons, and torn with

43:51.820 --> 43:52.580
sharp hooks.

43:53.360 --> 43:57.740
Having borne these torments with admirable
fortitude, she was next laid naked upon

43:57.740 --> 44:02.220
live coals intermingled with glass,
and then being carried back to prison,

44:02.320 --> 44:05.820
she there expired on February 5,
251.

44:07.580 --> 44:12.580
Cyril, Bishop of Cortina, was seized by
order of Lucius, the governor of that

44:12.580 --> 44:17.000
place, who nevertheless exhorted him to
obey the imperial mandate, perform the

44:17.000 --> 44:21.300
sacrifices, and save his venerable person
from destruction, for he was now

44:21.300 --> 44:22.640
eighty-four years of age.

44:23.820 --> 44:27.420
The good prelate replied that,
as he had long taught others to save their

44:27.420 --> 44:30.640
souls, he should only think now of his own
salvation.

44:30.640 --> 44:34.940
The worthy prelate heard his fiery
sentence without emotion, walked

44:34.940 --> 44:38.820
cheerfully to the place of execution,
and underwent his martyrdom with great

44:38.820 --> 44:39.460
fortitude.

44:41.580 --> 44:45.380
The persecution raged in no place more
than the island of Crete.

44:45.880 --> 44:50.240
For the governor, being exceedingly active
in executing the imperial decrees,

44:50.660 --> 44:52.800
that place streamed with pious blood.

44:54.020 --> 44:58.600
Babilus, a Christian of a liberal
education, became Bishop of Antioch,

44:58.740 --> 44:59.080
A.D.

44:59.420 --> 45:01.920
237, on the demise of Zabinus.

45:02.540 --> 45:06.120
He acted with inimitable zeal,
and governed the church with admirable

45:06.120 --> 45:08.460
prudence during the most tempestuous
times.

45:09.500 --> 45:13.900
The first misfortune that happened to
Antioch during his mission was the siege

45:13.900 --> 45:18.120
of it by Saper, king of Persia,
who, having overrun all Syria,

45:18.340 --> 45:22.300
took and plundered this city, among
others, and used the Christian inhabitants

45:22.300 --> 45:27.180
with greater severity than the rest,
but was soon totally defeated by Gordian.

45:28.900 --> 45:33.580
After Gordian's death, in the reign of
Decius, that emperor came to Antioch,

45:33.880 --> 45:37.920
where having a desire to visit an assembly
of Christians, Babilus opposed him,

45:38.060 --> 45:40.060
and absolutely refused to let him come in.

45:41.100 --> 45:44.880
The emperor dissembled his anger at that
time, but soon sending for the bishop,

45:44.940 --> 45:49.280
he sharply reproved him for his insolence,
and then ordered him to sacrifice to the

45:49.280 --> 45:51.980
pagan deities as an expiation for his
offence.

45:53.020 --> 45:56.900
This being refused, he was committed to
prison, loaded with chains, treated with

45:56.900 --> 46:01.080
great severities, and then beheaded
together with three young men who had been

46:01.080 --> 46:02.580
his pupils, A.D.

46:02.960 --> 46:03.480
251.

46:05.580 --> 46:09.900
Alexander, bishop of Jerusalem about this
time, was cast into prison, on account of

46:09.900 --> 46:13.520
his religion, where he died through the
severity of his confinement.

46:16.060 --> 46:20.360
Julianus, an old man lame with gout,
and Cronion, another Christian,

46:20.620 --> 46:25.160
were bound on the backs of camels,
severely scourged, and then thrown into a

46:25.160 --> 46:26.120
fire and consumed.

46:27.040 --> 46:31.340
Also forty virgins at Antioch,
after being imprisoned and scourged,

46:31.540 --> 46:32.040
were burned.

46:34.060 --> 46:39.380
In the year of our lord 251, the emperor
Decius, having erected a pagan temple at

46:39.380 --> 46:43.540
Ephesus, he commanded all who were in that
city to sacrifice to the idols.

46:44.600 --> 46:49.960
This order was nobly refused by seven of
his own soldiers, namely, Maximianus,

46:50.340 --> 46:55.920
Martianus, Joannus, Malchus, Dionysius,
Cyrean, and Constantinus.

46:56.720 --> 47:00.940
The emperor, wishing to win these soldiers
to renounce their faith by his entreaties

47:00.940 --> 47:05.020
and lenity, gave them a considerable
respite, until he returned from an

47:05.020 --> 47:05.480
expedition.

47:06.260 --> 47:09.660
During the emperor's absence, they escaped
and hid themselves in a cavern,

47:10.340 --> 47:13.900
which the emperor, being informed of at
his return, the mouth of the cave was

47:13.900 --> 47:16.280
closed up, and they all perished with
hunger.

47:18.960 --> 47:23.180
Theodora, a beautiful young lady of
Antioch, on refusing to sacrifice to the

47:23.180 --> 47:27.880
Roman idols, was condemned to the stews,
that her virtue might be sacrificed to the

47:27.880 --> 47:28.960
brutality of lust.

47:30.100 --> 47:34.920
Didymus, a Christian, disguised himself in
the habit of a Roman soldier, went to the

47:34.920 --> 47:39.640
house, informed Theodora who he was,
and advised her to make her escape in his

47:39.640 --> 47:40.140
clothes.

47:40.820 --> 47:44.720
This being effected, and a man found in
the brothel instead of a beautiful lady,

47:45.360 --> 47:49.720
Didymus was taken before the president,
to whom, confessing the truth and owning

47:49.720 --> 47:53.700
that he was a Christian, the sentence of
death was immediately pronounced against

47:53.700 --> 47:53.980
him.

47:55.100 --> 47:59.160
Theodora, hearing that her deliverer was
likely to suffer, came to the judge,

47:59.280 --> 48:03.220
threw herself at his feet, and begged that
the sentence might fall on her as the

48:03.220 --> 48:03.940
guilty person.

48:04.680 --> 48:08.580
But deaf to the cries of the innocent,
and insensible to the calls of justice,

48:09.040 --> 48:13.300
the inflexible judge condemned both,
when they were executed accordingly,

48:13.740 --> 48:16.520
being first beheaded, and their bodies
afterward burned.

48:18.860 --> 48:22.760
Secundianus, having been accused as a
Christian, was conveyed to prison by some

48:22.760 --> 48:23.160
soldiers.

48:24.020 --> 48:28.980
On the way, Varianus and Marcellinus said,
Where are you carrying the innocent?

48:29.820 --> 48:33.960
This interrogatory occasioned them to be
seized, and all three, after having been

48:33.960 --> 48:36.300
tortured, were hanged and decapitated.

48:38.480 --> 48:43.240
Origen, the celebrated presbyter and
catechist of Alexandria, at the age of

48:43.240 --> 48:47.920
sixty-four, was seized, thrown into a
loathsome prison, laden with fetters,

48:48.040 --> 48:52.020
his feet placed in the stocks,
and his legs extended to the utmost for

48:52.020 --> 48:53.400
several successive days.

48:53.400 --> 48:58.980
He was threatened with fire, and tormented
by every lingering means the most infernal

48:58.980 --> 49:00.500
imaginations could suggest.

49:01.500 --> 49:06.060
During this cruel temporizing,
the Emperor Decius died, and Gallus,

49:06.240 --> 49:10.080
who succeeded him, engaging in a war with
the Goths, the Christians met with a

49:10.080 --> 49:10.520
respite.

49:11.400 --> 49:15.560
In this interim, Origen obtained his
enlargement, and, retiring to Tyre,

49:15.600 --> 49:18.800
he there remained until his death,
which happened when he was in the

49:18.800 --> 49:20.340
sixty-ninth year of his age.

49:22.500 --> 49:27.120
Gallus, the Emperor, having concluded his
wars, a plague broke out in the Empire.

49:27.980 --> 49:32.260
Sacrifices to the pagan deities were
ordered by the Emperor, and persecutions

49:32.260 --> 49:37.320
spread from the interior to the extreme
parts of the Empire, and many fell martyrs

49:37.320 --> 49:40.620
to the impetuosity of the rabble,
as well as the prejudice of the

49:40.620 --> 49:41.300
magistrates.

49:42.040 --> 49:46.120
Among these were Cornelius, the Christian
bishop of Rome, and Lucius, his successor,

49:46.540 --> 49:47.520
in 253.

49:49.080 --> 49:53.800
Most of the errors which crept into the
Church at this time arose from placing

49:53.800 --> 49:58.220
human reason in competition with
revelation, but the fallacy of such

49:58.220 --> 50:02.560
arguments being proved by the most able
divines, the opinions they had created,

50:02.760 --> 50:05.520
vanished away like the stars before the
sun.

50:08.540 --> 50:11.860
The eighth persecution, under Valerian,
A.D.

50:12.060 --> 50:18.360
257, began under Valerian in the month of
April 257, and continued for three years

50:18.360 --> 50:19.140
and six months.

50:20.040 --> 50:24.680
The martyrs that fell in this persecution
were innumerable, and their tortures and

50:24.680 --> 50:26.280
deaths as various and painful.

50:27.100 --> 50:30.100
The most eminent martyrs were the
following, though neither rank,

50:30.380 --> 50:31.740
sex, nor age were regarded.

50:33.180 --> 50:37.440
Rufina and Secunda were two beautiful and
accomplished ladies, daughters of

50:37.440 --> 50:39.900
Asterius, a gentleman of eminence in Rome.

50:41.060 --> 50:45.600
Rufina, the elder, was designed in
marriage for Armentarius, a young

50:45.600 --> 50:50.160
nobleman, Secunda, the younger,
for Varinus, a person of rank and

50:50.160 --> 50:50.680
opulence.

50:51.560 --> 50:54.980
The suitors, at the time of the
persecutions commencing, were both

50:54.980 --> 50:59.000
Christians, but when danger appeared,
to save their fortunes, they renounced

50:59.000 --> 50:59.600
their faith.

51:00.320 --> 51:04.280
They took great pains to persuade the
ladies to do the same, but, disappointed

51:04.280 --> 51:08.040
in their purpose, the lovers were base
enough to inform against the ladies,

51:08.040 --> 51:12.140
who, being apprehended as Christians,
were brought before Junius Donatus,

51:12.340 --> 51:14.500
governor of Rome, where, A.D.

51:14.800 --> 51:17.780
257, they sealed their martyrdom with
their blood.

51:19.400 --> 51:23.380
Stephen, bishop of Rome, was beheaded in
the same year, and about that time

51:23.380 --> 51:28.520
Saturninus, the pious orthodox bishop of
Toulouse, refusing to sacrifice to idols,

51:28.980 --> 51:33.420
was treated with all the barbarous
indignities imaginable and fastened by the

51:33.420 --> 51:34.660
feet to the tail of a bull.

51:34.660 --> 51:39.080
Upon a signal given, the enraged animal
was driven down the steps of the temple,

51:39.580 --> 51:42.240
by which the worthy martyr's brains were
dashed out.

51:45.460 --> 51:47.820
Sextus succeeded Stephen as bishop of
Rome.

51:48.620 --> 51:52.640
He is supposed to have been a Greek,
by birth or by extraction, and had for

51:52.640 --> 51:55.620
some time served in the capacity of a
deacon under Stephen.

51:56.500 --> 52:01.440
His great fidelity, singular wisdom and
uncommon courage distinguished him upon

52:01.440 --> 52:06.340
many occasions, and the happy conclusion
of a controversy with some heretics is

52:06.340 --> 52:08.800
generally ascribed to his piety and
prudence.

52:09.900 --> 52:14.120
In the year 258, Marcianus, who had the
management of the Roman government,

52:14.660 --> 52:18.920
procured an order from the emperor
Valerian to put to death all the Christian

52:18.920 --> 52:22.620
clergy in Rome, and hence the bishop,
with six of his deacons, suffered

52:22.620 --> 52:24.120
martyrdom in 258.

52:26.000 --> 52:30.820
Let us draw near to the fire of martyred
Lawrence, that our cold hearts may be

52:30.820 --> 52:31.660
warmed thereby.

52:32.480 --> 52:37.060
The merciless tyrant, understanding him to
be not only a minister of the sacraments,

52:37.340 --> 52:41.820
but a distributor also of the church
riches, promised to himself a double prey

52:41.820 --> 52:43.720
by the apprehension of one soul.

52:44.820 --> 52:49.120
First, with a rake of avarice to scrape to
himself the treasure of poor Christians,

52:49.880 --> 52:54.540
then with a fiery fork of tyranny so to
toss and turmoil them that they should wax

52:54.540 --> 52:55.780
weary of their profession.

52:56.580 --> 53:01.220
With furious face and cruel countenance,
the greedy wolf demanded where this

53:01.220 --> 53:05.880
Lawrence had bestowed the substance of the
church, who, craving three days' respite,

53:05.980 --> 53:08.360
promised to declare where the treasure
might be had.

53:09.140 --> 53:12.800
In the meantime, he caused a good number
of poor Christians to be congregated.

53:13.700 --> 53:17.680
So, when the day of his answer was come,
the persecutor strictly charged him to

53:17.680 --> 53:18.600
stand to his promise.

53:19.500 --> 53:24.100
Then valiant Lawrence, stretching out his
arms over the poor, said, These are the

53:24.100 --> 53:25.620
precious treasure of the church.

53:26.020 --> 53:30.520
These are the treasure indeed in whom the
faith of Christ reigneth, in whom Jesus

53:30.520 --> 53:32.740
Christ hath his mansion place.

53:33.080 --> 53:37.300
What more precious jewels can Christ have
than those in whom he hath promised to

53:37.300 --> 53:37.640
dwell?

53:38.560 --> 53:41.540
For so it is written, I was unhungered,
and ye gave me meat.

53:41.680 --> 53:43.500
I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink.

53:43.800 --> 53:45.680
I was a stranger, and ye took me in.

53:46.560 --> 53:50.560
And again, inasmuch as ye have done it
unto one of the least of these my

53:50.560 --> 53:52.200
brethren, ye have done it unto me.

53:52.800 --> 53:57.320
What greater riches can Christ our Master
possess than the poor people in whom he

53:57.320 --> 53:58.340
loveth to be seen?

53:59.700 --> 54:03.860
Oh, what tongue is able to express the
fury and madness of the tyrant's heart?

54:04.280 --> 54:08.380
Now he stamped, he stared, he ramped,
he fared as one out of his wits.

54:08.780 --> 54:14.000
His eyes like fire glowed, his mouth like
a boar formed, his teeth like a hellhound

54:14.000 --> 54:14.500
grinned.

54:15.200 --> 54:19.080
Now, not a reasonable man, but a roaring
lion, he might be called.

54:20.160 --> 54:23.680
Kindle the fire, he cried, of wood,
make no spare.

54:23.980 --> 54:25.760
Hath this villain deluded the Emperor?

54:26.220 --> 54:29.840
Away with him, away with him, whip him
with scourges, jerk him with rods,

54:30.080 --> 54:32.400
buffet him with fists, brain him with
clubs.

54:33.100 --> 54:34.840
Jesteth the traitor with the Emperor?

54:35.400 --> 54:39.580
Pinch him with fiery tongs, gird him with
burning plates, bring out the strongest

54:39.580 --> 54:42.560
chains and the fire-forks and the grated
bed of iron.

54:42.560 --> 54:47.620
On the fire with it, bind the rebel hand
and foot, and when the bed is fire-hot,

54:47.760 --> 54:50.660
on with him, roast him, broil him,
toss him, turn him.

54:50.880 --> 54:55.260
On pain of our high displeasure,
do every man his office, O ye tormentors.

54:56.820 --> 54:59.340
The word was no sooner spoken,
but all was done.

55:00.220 --> 55:05.220
After many cruel handlings, this meek lamb
was laid, I will not say on his fiery bed

55:05.220 --> 55:07.680
of iron, but on his soft bed of down.

55:07.680 --> 55:13.560
So mightily God wrought with his martyr
Lawrence, so miraculously God tempered his

55:13.560 --> 55:18.720
element the fire, that it became not a bed
of consuming pain, but a pallet of

55:18.720 --> 55:19.860
nourishing rest.

55:23.580 --> 55:27.360
In Africa the persecution raged with
peculiar violence.

55:27.720 --> 55:31.820
Many thousands received the crown of
martyrdom, among whom the following were

55:31.820 --> 55:33.280
the most distinguished characters.

55:34.260 --> 55:38.980
Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage, an eminent
prelate and a pious ornament of the

55:38.980 --> 55:39.340
Church.

55:40.040 --> 55:43.900
The brightness of his genius was tempered
by the solidity of his judgment,

55:44.460 --> 55:48.060
and with all the accomplishments of the
gentleman he blended the virtues of a

55:48.060 --> 55:48.380
Christian.

55:49.160 --> 55:53.020
His doctrines were orthodox and pure,
his language easy and elegant,

55:53.320 --> 55:55.160
and his manners graceful and winning.

55:56.080 --> 55:58.820
In fine he was both a pious and polite
preacher.

56:00.020 --> 56:04.080
In his youth he was educated in the
principles of gentilism, and having a

56:04.080 --> 56:07.940
considerable fortune, he lived in the very
extravagance of splendor and all the

56:07.940 --> 56:08.860
dignity of pomp.

56:10.960 --> 56:16.420
About the year 246, Caecilius,
a Christian minister of Carthage,

56:16.640 --> 56:21.080
became the happy instrument of Cyprian's
conversion, on which account, and for the

56:21.080 --> 56:25.020
great love that he always afterward bore
for the author of his conversion,

56:25.420 --> 56:27.700
he was termed Caecilius Cyprian.

56:29.060 --> 56:33.420
Previous to his baptism he studied the
scriptures with care, and being struck

56:33.420 --> 56:37.100
with the beauties of the truths they
contained, he determined to practice the

56:37.100 --> 56:38.420
virtues therein recommended.

56:39.280 --> 56:43.080
Subsequent to his baptism he sold his
estate, distributed the money among the

56:43.080 --> 56:47.320
poor, dressed himself in plain attire,
and commenced a life of austerity.

56:48.140 --> 56:52.120
He was soon after made a presbyter,
and being greatly admired for his virtues

56:52.120 --> 56:57.740
and works, on the death of Donatus in AD
248, he was almost unanimously elected

56:57.740 --> 56:58.860
bishop of Carthage.

57:00.520 --> 57:05.120
Cyprian's care not only extended over
Carthage, but to Numidia and Mauretania.

57:06.160 --> 57:09.620
In all his transactions he took great care
to ask the advice of his clergy,

57:10.180 --> 57:14.340
knowing that unanimity alone could be of
service to the church, this being one of

57:14.340 --> 57:18.900
his maxims, that the bishop was in the
church, and the church in the bishop,

57:19.380 --> 57:23.380
so that unity can only be preserved by a
close connection between the pastor and

57:23.380 --> 57:23.880
his flock.

57:25.640 --> 57:31.400
In AD 250 Cyprian was publicly proscribed
by the Emperor Decius under the

57:31.400 --> 57:35.640
appellation of Caecilius Cyprian,
bishop of the Christians, and the

57:35.640 --> 57:40.120
universal cry of the pagans was,
Cyprian to the lions, Cyprian to the

57:40.120 --> 57:40.500
beasts.

57:41.440 --> 57:45.700
The bishop, however, withdrew from the
rage of the populace, and his effects were

57:45.700 --> 57:46.940
immediately confiscated.

57:47.860 --> 57:52.580
During his retirement he wrote thirty
pious and elegant letters to his flock,

57:52.860 --> 57:57.280
but several schisms that then crept into
the church gave him great uneasiness.

57:58.020 --> 58:02.400
The rigour of the persecution abating,
he returned to Carthage and did everything

58:02.400 --> 58:04.900
in his power to expunge erroneous
opinions.

58:05.700 --> 58:09.660
A terrible plague breaking out in
Carthage, it was as usual laid to the

58:09.660 --> 58:12.900
charge of the Christians, and the
magistrates began to persecute

58:12.900 --> 58:17.440
accordingly, which occasioned an epistle
from them to Cyprian, in answer to which

58:17.440 --> 58:19.760
he vindicates the cause of Christianity.

58:21.320 --> 58:26.800
AD 257 Cyprian was brought before the
proconsul Aspasius Paternus, who exiled

58:26.800 --> 58:28.700
him to a little city on the Libyan sea.

58:29.580 --> 58:34.020
On the death of this proconsul he returned
to Carthage, but was soon after seized and

58:34.020 --> 58:37.000
carried before the new governor,
who condemned him to be beheaded,

58:37.000 --> 58:42.360
which sentence was executed on the 14th of
September, AD 258.

58:43.200 --> 58:48.860
The disciples of Cyprian martyred in this
persecution were Lucius, Flavian,

58:49.220 --> 58:54.580
Victoricus, Remus, Montanus, Julian,
Primilus, and Donation.

58:56.660 --> 58:59.420
At Utica a most terrible tragedy was
exhibited.

59:00.100 --> 59:03.240
Three hundred Christians were,
by the orders of the proconsul,

59:03.600 --> 59:05.720
placed round a burning lime kiln.

59:05.720 --> 59:10.840
A pan of coals and incense being prepared,
they were commanded either to sacrifice to

59:10.840 --> 59:13.380
Jupiter or to be thrown into the kiln.

59:13.880 --> 59:17.860
Unanimously refusing, they bravely jumped
into the pit and were immediately

59:17.860 --> 59:18.620
suffocated.

59:20.160 --> 59:25.220
Fructuosus, bishop of Tarragon in Spain,
and his two deacons, Augurius and

59:25.220 --> 59:27.640
Eulogius, were burnt for being Christians.

59:28.820 --> 59:32.380
Alexander, Malchus, and Priscus,
three Christians of Palestine,

59:32.880 --> 59:36.820
with a woman of the same place,
voluntarily accused themselves of being

59:36.820 --> 59:40.640
Christians, on which account they were
sentenced to be devoured by tigers,

59:40.960 --> 59:43.180
which sentence was executed accordingly.

59:44.920 --> 59:50.560
Maxima, Donatilla, and Secunda,
three virgins of Tuberga, had gall and

59:50.560 --> 59:54.900
vinegar given them to drink, were then
severely scourged, tormented on a gibbet,

59:55.280 --> 59:59.400
rubbed with lime, scorched on a gridiron,
worried by wild beasts, and at length

59:59.400 --> 59:59.840
beheaded.

01:00:01.420 --> 01:00:05.500
It is here proper to take notice of the
singular but miserable fate of the emperor

01:00:05.500 --> 01:00:09.400
Valerian, who had so long and so terribly
persecuted the Christians.

01:00:10.320 --> 01:00:15.680
This tyrant, by a stratagem, was taken
prisoner by Sapphor, emperor of Persia,

01:00:15.900 --> 01:00:19.040
who carried him into his own country,
and there treated him with the most

01:00:19.040 --> 01:00:24.320
unexampled indignity, making him kneel
down as the meanest slave, and treading

01:00:24.320 --> 01:00:26.600
upon him as a footstool when he mounted
his horse.

01:00:27.600 --> 01:00:31.140
After having kept him for the space of
seven years in this abject state of

01:00:31.140 --> 01:00:35.860
slavery, he caused his eyes to be put out,
though he was then eighty-three years of

01:00:35.860 --> 01:00:36.180
age.

01:00:36.800 --> 01:00:41.720
This not satiating his desire of revenge,
he soon after ordered his body to be

01:00:41.720 --> 01:00:45.500
flayed alive and rubbed with salt,
under which torments he expired,

01:00:46.200 --> 01:00:50.100
and thus fell one of the most tyrannical
emperors of Rome, and one of the greatest

01:00:50.100 --> 01:00:51.640
persecutors of the Christians.

01:00:53.740 --> 01:00:54.140
A.D.

01:00:54.200 --> 01:00:58.700
260, Gallienus, the son of Valerian,
succeeded him, and during his reign,

01:00:58.920 --> 01:01:02.700
a few martyrs excepted, the church enjoyed
peace for some years.

01:01:05.610 --> 01:01:08.950
The Ninth Persecution, under Aurelian,
A.D.

01:01:09.430 --> 01:01:09.910
274.

01:01:11.030 --> 01:01:14.250
The principal sufferers were Felix,
Bishop of Rome.

01:01:14.790 --> 01:01:18.110
This prelate was advanced to the Roman Sea
in 274.

01:01:18.510 --> 01:01:23.090
He was the first martyr to Aurelian's
petulancy, being beheaded on the 22nd of

01:01:23.090 --> 01:01:24.590
December in the same year.

01:01:25.770 --> 01:01:30.010
Agapetus, a young gentleman who sold his
estate and gave the money to the poor,

01:01:30.410 --> 01:01:34.930
was seized as a Christian, tortured,
and then beheaded at Prinesti,

01:01:35.350 --> 01:01:37.470
a city within a day's journey of Rome.

01:01:38.830 --> 01:01:42.850
These are the only martyrs left upon
record during this reign, as it was soon

01:01:42.850 --> 01:01:46.190
put a stop to by the emperors being
murdered by his own domestics at

01:01:46.190 --> 01:01:46.830
Byzantium.

01:01:47.990 --> 01:01:52.210
Aurelian was succeeded by Tacitus,
who was followed by Probus, as the latter

01:01:52.210 --> 01:01:53.190
was by Charus.

01:01:53.870 --> 01:01:57.630
This emperor, being killed by a
thunderstorm, his sons Carnius and

01:01:57.630 --> 01:02:01.830
Numerian succeeded him, and during all
these reigns, the church had peace.

01:02:03.430 --> 01:02:05.890
Diocletian mounted the imperial throne,
A.D.

01:02:06.150 --> 01:02:06.710
284.

01:02:07.510 --> 01:02:09.450
At first, he showed great favour to the
Christians.

01:02:10.110 --> 01:02:14.950
In the year 286, he associated Maximian
with him in the empire, and some

01:02:14.950 --> 01:02:18.470
Christians were put to death before any
general persecution broke out.

01:02:19.050 --> 01:02:21.790
Among these were Felician and Primus,
two brothers.

01:02:23.330 --> 01:02:27.830
Marcus and Marcellianus were twins,
natives of Rome and of noble descent.

01:02:28.410 --> 01:02:32.450
Their parents were heathens, but the
tutors to whom the education of the

01:02:32.450 --> 01:02:35.210
children was entrusted brought them up as
Christians.

01:02:35.890 --> 01:02:39.370
Their constancy at length subdued those
who wished them to become pagans,

01:02:39.750 --> 01:02:43.490
and their parents and whole family became
converts to a faith they had before

01:02:43.490 --> 01:02:44.230
reprobated.

01:02:44.910 --> 01:02:49.190
They were martyred by being tied to posts
and having their feet pierced with nails.

01:02:50.050 --> 01:02:53.990
After remaining in this situation for a
day and a night, their sufferings were put

01:02:53.990 --> 01:02:56.470
an end to by thrusting lances through
their bodies.

01:02:57.990 --> 01:03:02.410
Zoe, the wife of the jailer who had the
care of the before-mentioned martyrs,

01:03:02.570 --> 01:03:07.270
was also converted by them, and hung upon
a tree with a fire of straw lighted under

01:03:07.270 --> 01:03:07.490
it.

01:03:08.090 --> 01:03:11.470
When her body was taken down, it was
thrown into a river with a large stone

01:03:11.470 --> 01:03:13.130
tied to it in order to sink it.

01:03:14.930 --> 01:03:19.610
In the year of Christ 286, a most
remarkable affair occurred.

01:03:19.610 --> 01:03:26.530
A legion of soldiers, consisting of 6,666
men, contained none but Christians.

01:03:27.650 --> 01:03:32.030
This legion was called the Theban Legion,
because the men had been raised in

01:03:32.030 --> 01:03:32.670
Thebaeus.

01:03:33.250 --> 01:03:37.310
They were quartered in the east,
until the Emperor Maximian ordered them to

01:03:37.310 --> 01:03:40.330
march to Gaul to assist him against the
rebels of Burgundy.

01:03:40.850 --> 01:03:45.170
They passed the Alps into Gaul under the
command of Mauritius, Candidas,

01:03:45.330 --> 01:03:49.550
and Exupernus, their worthy commanders,
and at length joined the Emperor.

01:03:50.430 --> 01:03:54.830
Maximian, about this time, ordered a
general sacrifice at which the whole army

01:03:54.830 --> 01:03:58.630
was to assist, and likewise he commanded
that they should take the oath of

01:03:58.630 --> 01:04:03.170
allegiance, and swear at the same time to
assist in the extirpation of Christianity

01:04:03.170 --> 01:04:04.170
in Gaul.

01:04:05.090 --> 01:04:10.390
Alarmed at these orders, each individual
of the Theban Legion absolutely refused

01:04:10.390 --> 01:04:13.110
either to sacrifice or take the oaths
prescribed.

01:04:14.070 --> 01:04:18.110
This so greatly enraged Maximian that he
ordered the legion to be decimated,

01:04:18.490 --> 01:04:22.750
that is, every tenth man to be selected
from the rest and put to the sword.

01:04:23.830 --> 01:04:28.190
This bloody order having been put in
execution, those who remained alive were

01:04:28.190 --> 01:04:33.870
still inflexible when a second decimation
took place, and every tenth man of those

01:04:33.870 --> 01:04:34.990
living was put to death.

01:04:36.150 --> 01:04:39.390
This second severity made no more
impression than the first had done.

01:04:39.790 --> 01:04:44.270
The soldiers preserved their fortitude and
their principles, but by the advice of

01:04:44.270 --> 01:04:47.510
their officers they drew up a loyal
remonstrance to the Emperor.

01:04:48.290 --> 01:04:51.190
This, it might have been presumed,
would have softened the Emperor,

01:04:51.570 --> 01:04:56.170
but it had a contrary effect, for enraged
at their perseverance and unanimity,

01:04:56.630 --> 01:05:00.150
he commanded that the whole legion should
be put to death, which was accordingly

01:05:00.150 --> 01:05:05.450
executed by the other troops who cut them
to pieces with their swords, September 22,

01:05:05.850 --> 01:05:06.690
286.

01:05:09.730 --> 01:05:13.710
Alban, from whom St. Alban's in
Hertfordshire received its name,

01:05:14.010 --> 01:05:15.530
was the first British martyr.

01:05:16.390 --> 01:05:20.650
Great Britain had received the Gospel of
Christ from Lucius, the first Christian

01:05:20.650 --> 01:05:24.770
king, but did not suffer from the rage of
persecution for many years after.

01:05:25.590 --> 01:05:30.030
He was originally a pagan, but converted
by a Christian ecclesiastic named

01:05:30.030 --> 01:05:32.990
Amphibolus, whom he sheltered on account
of his religion.

01:05:34.370 --> 01:05:38.110
The enemies of Amphibolus, having
intelligence of the place where he was

01:05:38.110 --> 01:05:40.350
secreted, came to the house of Alban.

01:05:40.350 --> 01:05:45.110
In order to facilitate his escape,
when the soldiers came, he offered himself

01:05:45.110 --> 01:05:46.870
up as the person they were seeking for.

01:05:47.530 --> 01:05:51.850
The deceit being detected, the governor
ordered him to be scourged, and then he

01:05:51.850 --> 01:05:55.870
was sentenced to be beheaded, June 22,
AD 287.

01:05:57.710 --> 01:06:02.290
The Venerable Bede assures us that,
upon this occasion, the executioner

01:06:02.290 --> 01:06:07.250
suddenly became a convert to Christianity,
and entreated permission to die for Alban

01:06:07.250 --> 01:06:08.070
or with him.

01:06:08.710 --> 01:06:12.830
Obtaining the latter request, they were
beheaded by a soldier who voluntarily

01:06:12.830 --> 01:06:14.950
undertook the task of executioner.

01:06:16.230 --> 01:06:22.210
This happened on the 22nd of June,
AD 287, at Verulam, now St Alban's in

01:06:22.210 --> 01:06:26.550
Hertfordshire, where a magnificent church
was erected to his memory about the time

01:06:26.550 --> 01:06:27.750
of Constantine the Great.

01:06:27.750 --> 01:06:33.850
The edifice, being destroyed in the Saxon
Wars, was rebuilt by Offa, King of Mercia,

01:06:34.170 --> 01:06:38.170
and a monastery erected adjoining to it,
some remains of which are still visible,

01:06:38.510 --> 01:06:40.630
and the church is a noble Gothic
structure.

01:06:42.650 --> 01:06:47.970
Faith, a Christian female of Aquitaine in
France, was ordered to be broiled upon a

01:06:47.970 --> 01:06:50.670
gridiron and then beheaded, AD 287.

01:06:52.310 --> 01:06:56.630
Quintin was a Christian and a native of
Rome, but determined to attempt the

01:06:56.630 --> 01:07:01.150
propagation of the gospel in Gaul,
with one Lucian they preached together in

01:07:01.150 --> 01:07:05.270
Amiens, after which Lucian went to
Bomaris, where he was martyred.

01:07:05.930 --> 01:07:09.090
Quintin remained in Picardy, and was very
zealous in his ministry.

01:07:10.230 --> 01:07:14.350
Being seized upon as a Christian,
he was stretched with pulleys until his

01:07:14.350 --> 01:07:19.870
joints were dislocated, his body was then
torn with wire scourges, and boiling oil

01:07:19.870 --> 01:07:21.910
and pitch poured on his naked flesh.

01:07:22.530 --> 01:07:26.850
Lighted torches were applied to his sides
and armpits, and after he had been thus

01:07:26.850 --> 01:07:31.390
tortured, he was remanded back to prison,
and died of the barbarities he'd suffered,

01:07:31.750 --> 01:07:34.310
October 31, AD 287.

01:07:34.730 --> 01:07:36.650
His body was sunk in the Somme.

01:07:39.440 --> 01:07:45.880
The tenth persecution under Diocletian,
AD 303, commonly called the Era of the

01:07:45.880 --> 01:07:50.160
Martyrs, was occasioned partly by the
increasing number and luxury of the

01:07:50.160 --> 01:07:54.320
Christians, and the hatred of Galerius,
the adopted son of Diocletian,

01:07:54.760 --> 01:07:59.040
who, being stimulated by his mother,
a bigoted pagan, never ceased persuading

01:07:59.040 --> 01:08:03.140
the Emperor to enter upon the persecution
until he had accomplished his purpose.

01:08:04.340 --> 01:08:09.180
The fatal day fixed upon to commence the
bloody work was the 23rd of February,

01:08:09.620 --> 01:08:15.060
AD 303, that being the day in which the
Terminalia was celebrated, and on which,

01:08:15.300 --> 01:08:19.540
as the cruel pagans boasted, they hoped to
put a termination to Christianity.

01:08:19.540 --> 01:08:25.180
On the appointed day the persecution began
in Nicomedia, on the morning of which the

01:08:25.180 --> 01:08:28.760
Prefect of that city repaired,
with a great number of officers and

01:08:28.760 --> 01:08:32.680
assistants, to the Church of the
Christians, where, having forced open the

01:08:32.680 --> 01:08:36.700
doors, they seized upon all the sacred
books, and committed them to the flames.

01:08:38.240 --> 01:08:41.980
The whole of this transaction was in the
presence of Diocletian and Galerius,

01:08:42.360 --> 01:08:46.700
who, not contented with burning the books,
had the Church levelled with the ground.

01:08:46.700 --> 01:08:51.560
This was followed by a severe edict,
commanding the destruction of all other

01:08:51.560 --> 01:08:56.180
Christian churches and books, and an order
soon succeeded to render Christians of all

01:08:56.180 --> 01:08:57.740
denomination outlaws.

01:08:59.020 --> 01:09:04.040
The publication of this edict occasioned
an immediate martyrdom, for a bold

01:09:04.040 --> 01:09:07.300
Christian not only tore it down from the
place to which it was affixed,

01:09:07.600 --> 01:09:10.500
but execrated the name of the Emperor for
his injustice.

01:09:11.240 --> 01:09:15.680
A provocation like this was sufficient to
call down pagan vengeance upon his head.

01:09:16.200 --> 01:09:19.980
He was accordingly seized, severely
tortured, and then burned alive.

01:09:21.060 --> 01:09:26.240
All the Christians were apprehended and
imprisoned, and Galerius privately ordered

01:09:26.240 --> 01:09:30.620
the Imperial Palace to be set on fire,
that the Christians might be charged as

01:09:30.620 --> 01:09:35.120
the incendiaries, and a plausible pretense
given for carrying on the persecution with

01:09:35.120 --> 01:09:36.180
the greater severities.

01:09:36.780 --> 01:09:41.200
A general sacrifice was commenced,
which occasioned various martyrdoms.

01:09:41.880 --> 01:09:46.220
No distinction was made of age or sex,
the name of Christian was so obnoxious to

01:09:46.220 --> 01:09:50.360
the pagans, that all indiscriminately fell
sacrifices to their opinions.

01:09:51.160 --> 01:09:55.380
Many houses were set on fire, and whole
Christian families perished in the flames,

01:09:55.900 --> 01:09:59.560
and others had stones fastened about their
necks, and being tied together,

01:09:59.660 --> 01:10:00.640
were driven into the sea.

01:10:01.430 --> 01:10:06.300
The persecution became general in all the
Roman provinces, but more particularly in

01:10:06.300 --> 01:10:11.460
the East, and as it lasted ten years,
it is impossible to ascertain the numbers

01:10:11.460 --> 01:10:14.920
martyred, or to enumerate the various
modes of martyrdom.

01:10:15.640 --> 01:10:20.500
Racks, scourges, swords, daggers,
crosses, poison and famine were made use

01:10:20.500 --> 01:10:25.280
of in various parts to dispatch the
Christians, and invention was exhausted to

01:10:25.280 --> 01:10:30.000
devise torches against such as had no
crime but thinking differently from the

01:10:30.000 --> 01:10:31.300
votaries of superstition.

01:10:32.500 --> 01:10:36.800
The city of Phrygia, consisting entirely
of Christians, was burnt, and all the

01:10:36.800 --> 01:10:38.420
inhabitants perished in the flames.

01:10:40.240 --> 01:10:45.180
Tired with slaughter, at length several
governors of provinces represented to the

01:10:45.180 --> 01:10:50.320
imperial court the impropriety of such
conduct, hence many were respited from

01:10:50.320 --> 01:10:54.800
execution, but though they were not put to
death, as much as possible was done to

01:10:54.800 --> 01:10:58.980
render their lives miserable, many of them
having their ears cut off, their noses

01:10:58.980 --> 01:11:03.520
slit, their right eyes put out,
their limbs rendered useless by dreadful

01:11:03.520 --> 01:11:08.240
dislocations, and their flesh seared in
conspicuous places with red-hot irons.

01:11:10.240 --> 01:11:14.600
It is necessary now to particularise the
most conspicuous persons who laid down

01:11:14.600 --> 01:11:17.620
their lives in martyrdom in this bloody
persecution.

01:11:18.900 --> 01:11:24.340
Sebastian, a celebrated martyr,
was born at Narbonne in Gaul, instructed

01:11:24.340 --> 01:11:28.840
in the principles of Christianity at
Milan, and afterward became an officer of

01:11:28.840 --> 01:11:30.080
the Emperor's Guard at Rome.

01:11:30.880 --> 01:11:35.740
He remained a true Christian in the midst
of idolatry, unallured by the splendours

01:11:35.740 --> 01:11:40.960
of a court, untainted by evil examples,
and uncontaminated by the hopes of

01:11:40.960 --> 01:11:41.540
preferment.

01:11:42.400 --> 01:11:46.420
Refusing to be a pagan, the Emperor
ordered him to be taken to a field near

01:11:46.420 --> 01:11:50.660
the city, termed the Campus Martius,
and there to be shot to death with arrows,

01:11:51.020 --> 01:11:53.200
which sentence was executed accordingly.

01:11:54.260 --> 01:11:58.220
Some pious Christians, coming to the place
of execution in order to give his body

01:11:58.220 --> 01:12:02.700
burial, perceived signs of life in him,
and immediately moving him to a place of

01:12:02.700 --> 01:12:07.180
security, they in a short time effected
his recovery, and prepared him for a

01:12:07.180 --> 01:12:11.040
second martyrdom, for as soon as he was
able to go out, he placed himself

01:12:11.040 --> 01:12:14.420
intentionally in the Emperor's way,
as he was going to the temple,

01:12:14.900 --> 01:12:18.800
and reprehended him for his various
cruelties and unreasonable prejudices

01:12:18.800 --> 01:12:19.760
against Christianity.

01:12:21.160 --> 01:12:25.400
As soon as Diocletian had overcome his
surprise, he ordered Sebastian to be

01:12:25.400 --> 01:12:29.100
seized, and carried to a place near the
palace, and beaten to death.

01:12:29.680 --> 01:12:33.620
And that the Christians should not either
use means again to recover or bury his

01:12:33.620 --> 01:12:36.660
body, he ordered that it should be thrown
into the common sewer.

01:12:37.380 --> 01:12:42.100
Nevertheless, a Christian lady named
Lucina found means to remove it from the

01:12:42.100 --> 01:12:45.680
sewer, and bury it in the catacombs,
or repositories of the dead.

01:12:46.980 --> 01:12:51.180
The Christians, about this time,
upon mature consideration, thought it

01:12:51.180 --> 01:12:53.600
unlawful to bear arms under a heathen
Emperor.

01:12:54.440 --> 01:12:58.040
Maximilian, the son of Fabius Victor,
was the first beheaded under this

01:12:58.040 --> 01:12:58.580
regulation.

01:13:00.820 --> 01:13:04.780
Vitus, a Sicilian of considerable family,
was brought up a Christian.

01:13:05.400 --> 01:13:10.160
When his virtues increased with his years,
his constancy supported him under all

01:13:10.160 --> 01:13:13.880
afflictions, and his faith was superior to
the most dangerous perils.

01:13:14.360 --> 01:13:19.020
His father Hylas, who was a pagan,
finding that he had been instructed in the

01:13:19.020 --> 01:13:22.820
principles of Christianity by the nurse
who brought him up, used all his

01:13:22.820 --> 01:13:27.240
endeavours to bring him back to paganism,
and at length sacrificed his son to the

01:13:27.240 --> 01:13:29.960
idols, June 14, A.D.

01:13:30.400 --> 01:13:30.880
303.

01:13:32.380 --> 01:13:35.940
Victor was a Christian of a good family at
Marseilles, in France.

01:13:36.400 --> 01:13:40.000
He spent a great part of the night in
visiting the afflicted and confirming the

01:13:40.000 --> 01:13:44.060
weak, which pious work he could not,
consistently with his own safety,

01:13:44.200 --> 01:13:48.800
perform in the daytime, and his fortune he
spent in relieving the distresses of poor

01:13:48.800 --> 01:13:49.240
Christians.

01:13:49.240 --> 01:13:55.140
He was at length, however, seized by the
Emperor Maximian's decree, who ordered him

01:13:55.140 --> 01:13:57.080
to be bound and dragged through the
streets.

01:13:57.820 --> 01:14:00.940
During the execution of this order,
he was treated with all manner of

01:14:00.940 --> 01:14:03.860
cruelties and indignities by the enraged
populace.

01:14:04.600 --> 01:14:08.140
Remaining still inflexible, his courage
was deemed obstinacy.

01:14:08.140 --> 01:14:12.460
Being by order stretched upon the rack,
he turned his eyes toward heaven and

01:14:12.460 --> 01:14:16.860
prayed to God to endue him with patience,
after which he underwent the tortures with

01:14:16.860 --> 01:14:18.300
most admirable fortitude.

01:14:20.280 --> 01:14:24.520
After the executioners were tired with
inflicting torments on him, he was

01:14:24.520 --> 01:14:25.540
conveyed to a dungeon.

01:14:26.300 --> 01:14:30.980
In his confinement, he converted his
jailers, named Alexander, Felician,

01:14:31.200 --> 01:14:32.040
and Longinus.

01:14:32.740 --> 01:14:36.760
This affair, coming to the ears of the
Emperor, he ordered them immediately to be

01:14:36.760 --> 01:14:39.260
put to death, and the jailers were
accordingly beheaded.

01:14:40.420 --> 01:14:44.100
Victor was then again put to the rack,
and mercifully beaten with batons,

01:14:44.320 --> 01:14:45.600
and again sent to prison.

01:14:46.240 --> 01:14:50.620
Being a third time examined concerning his
religion, he persevered in his principles.

01:14:51.280 --> 01:14:54.680
A small altar was then brought,
and he was commanded to offer incense upon

01:14:54.680 --> 01:14:55.400
it immediately.

01:14:56.240 --> 01:15:00.340
Fired with indignation at the request,
he boldly stepped forward, and with his

01:15:00.340 --> 01:15:02.920
foot overthrew both altar and idol.

01:15:03.660 --> 01:15:08.040
This so enraged the Emperor Maximian,
who was present, that he ordered the foot

01:15:08.040 --> 01:15:12.000
with which he had kicked the altar to be
immediately cut off, and Victor was thrown

01:15:12.000 --> 01:15:14.680
into a mill, and crushed to pieces with
the stones.

01:15:15.080 --> 01:15:15.480
A.D.

01:15:15.920 --> 01:15:16.360
303.

01:15:19.180 --> 01:15:23.820
Maximus, governor of Cilicia, being at
Tarsus, three Christians were brought

01:15:23.820 --> 01:15:24.580
before him.

01:15:25.260 --> 01:15:29.540
Their names were Taricus, an aged man,
Probus, and Andronicus.

01:15:30.260 --> 01:15:34.760
After repeated tortures and exhortations
to recant, they at length were ordered for

01:15:34.760 --> 01:15:35.320
execution.

01:15:36.140 --> 01:15:39.660
Being brought to the amphitheatre,
several beasts were let loose upon them,

01:15:39.940 --> 01:15:42.360
but none of the animals, though hungry,
would touch them.

01:15:43.200 --> 01:15:47.040
The keeper then brought out a large bear
that had that very day destroyed three

01:15:47.040 --> 01:15:51.940
men, but this voracious creature and a
fierce lioness both refused to touch the

01:15:51.940 --> 01:15:52.280
prisoners.

01:15:53.240 --> 01:15:56.980
Finding the design of destroying them by
means of wild beasts ineffectual,

01:15:57.580 --> 01:16:02.100
Maximus ordered them to be slain by the
sword on October 11, A.D.

01:16:02.380 --> 01:16:02.880
303.

01:16:05.540 --> 01:16:09.560
Romanus, a native of Palestine,
was deacon of the Church of Caesarea at

01:16:09.560 --> 01:16:12.080
the time of the commencement of
Diocletian's persecution.

01:16:13.020 --> 01:16:17.240
Being condemned for his faith at Antioch,
he was scourged, put to the rack,

01:16:17.460 --> 01:16:21.640
his body torn with hooks, his flesh cut
with knives, his face scarified,

01:16:21.760 --> 01:16:25.420
his teeth beaten from their sockets,
and his hair plucked up by the roots.

01:16:26.220 --> 01:16:30.040
Soon after, he was ordered to be
strangled, November 17, A.D.

01:16:30.380 --> 01:16:30.820
303.

01:16:32.820 --> 01:16:37.020
Susanna, the niece of Caius, Bishop of
Rome, was pressed by the Emperor

01:16:37.020 --> 01:16:40.460
Diocletian to marry a noble pagan who was
nearly related to him.

01:16:41.040 --> 01:16:45.000
Refusing the honour intended her,
she was beheaded by the Emperor's order.

01:16:46.700 --> 01:16:50.960
Dorotheus, the High Chamberlain of the
household to Diocletian, was a Christian,

01:16:51.160 --> 01:16:53.180
and took great pains to make converts.

01:16:54.920 --> 01:16:59.140
In his religious labours, he was joined by
Gorgonius, another Christian, and one

01:16:59.140 --> 01:17:00.160
belonging to the palace.

01:17:00.640 --> 01:17:03.020
They were first tortured and then
strangled.

01:17:03.900 --> 01:17:08.600
Peter, a eunuch belonging to the Emperor,
was a Christian of singular modesty and

01:17:08.600 --> 01:17:09.040
humility.

01:17:09.760 --> 01:17:13.760
He was laid on a gridiron and broiled over
a slow fire until he expired.

01:17:15.840 --> 01:17:19.860
Cyprian, known by the title of the
Magician to distinguish him from Cyprian

01:17:19.860 --> 01:17:22.640
Bishop of Carthage, was a native of
Antioch.

01:17:23.080 --> 01:17:27.360
He received a liberal education in his
youth, and particularly applied himself to

01:17:27.360 --> 01:17:31.640
astrology, after which he travelled for
improvement through Greece, Egypt,

01:17:32.000 --> 01:17:32.780
India, etc.

01:17:33.020 --> 01:17:37.220
In the course of time, he became
acquainted with Justina, a young lady of

01:17:37.220 --> 01:17:40.700
Antioch, whose birth, beauty, and
accomplishments rendered her the

01:17:40.700 --> 01:17:42.180
admiration of all who knew her.

01:17:43.220 --> 01:17:46.740
A pagan gentleman applied to Cyprian to
promote his suit with the beautiful

01:17:46.740 --> 01:17:47.420
Justina.

01:17:47.880 --> 01:17:52.620
This he undertook, but soon himself became
converted, burned his books of astrology

01:17:52.620 --> 01:17:57.460
and magic, received baptism, and felt
animated with a powerful spirit of grace.