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| Chapter II.—The wonderful constancy of the martyrs.
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Chapter II.—The wonderful constancy
of the martyrs.
All the
martyrdoms, then, were blessed and noble which took place according to
the will of God. For it becomes us who profess422
| 422 Literally, “who are more
pious.” | greater piety than others, to ascribe the
authority over all things to God. And truly,423
| 423 The account now returns to the illustration
of the statement made in the first sentence. | who can fail to
admire their nobleness of mind, and their patience, with that love
towards their Lord which they displayed?—who, when they were so
torn with scourges, that the frame of their bodies, even to the very
inward veins and arteries, was laid open, still patiently endured, while
even those that stood by pitied and bewailed them. But they reached such
a pitch of magnanimity, that not one of them let a sigh or a groan escape
them; thus proving to us all that those holy martyrs of Christ, at the
very time when they suffered such torments, were absent from the body, or
rather, that the Lord then stood by them, and communed with them. And,
looking to the grace of Christ, they despised all the torments of this
world, redeeming themselves from eternal punishment by [the suffering of]
a single hour. For this reason the fire of their savage executioners
appeared cool to them. For they kept before their view escape from that
fire which is eternal and never shall be quenched, and looked forward
with the eyes of their heart to those good things which are laid up for
such as endure; things “which ear hath not heard, nor eye seen,
neither have entered into the heart of man,”424
but were revealed by the Lord to them, inasmuch as they were no
longer men, but had already become angels. And, in like manner, those who
were condemned to the wild beasts endured dreadful tortures, being
stretched out upon beds full of spikes, and subjected to various other
kinds of torments, in order that, if it were possible, the tyrant might,
by their lingering tortures, lead them to a denial [of Christ].E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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