Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

366 THE THIRD AGE OF THE MARTYR CHURCH.bius, the soldiers surrounded a Christian t wunit it with all its inhabitants, " men, women, anchildren calling upon the name of Christ, the Godof all."47 " And in devising various kinds of torturesthey aim at gaining a victory. They are wellaware that it is a struggle between champions.myself saw in Bithynia a governor beside himselfin joy, as if he had subdued some barbarousnation, because one who for two years had withgreat virtue resisted was seen to fail. I They inflicttherefore exquisite pains, only avoiding to putthe tortured to death, as if it were only deaththat made them blessed, and not likewise thosetorments which in proportion to their severityproduce a greater glory by the virtue which theyexhibit."48Eusebius declares that such cruelties were perpetratednot for a short time, but during severalyears ; that ten, twenty, thirty, sixty, and as manyas a hundred men, women, and children would beslain in a day by various tortures. " When I wasin Egypt myself I saw a crowd in one day, somebeheaded, some burnt; with my own eyes I beheldthe marvellous ardour, the truly divine virtueand alacrity of those who believed in Christ._ »Scarcely was sentence passed against the first,when a fresh number hastened before the tribunal,professing themselves Christians: with joy, gaiety,and smiles they received the award of death, sing-"47 Euseb. Hist. viii. 11, *8 Lactantius, as above.