their Counterfeits The one were meek the other angry and furious The one humble the other haughty The one ready to do good to those by whom they suffer'd the other desirous of revenge The one loved their Enemies the other only contemn'd them The one were forward to excuse their folly the other to aggravate and upbraid them with it The one smiled upon their persecutors and blessed them the other look'd as if they would pour out Anathema's and excommunicate them from all their charitable thoughts Nothing was more peaceable and quiet than the one while the other were tumultuous and violent The Martyrs were submissive and easily govern'd but the other were boisterous and violent It was proper to the former to appear with a modest chearfulness and a humble confidence but the other seemed to be surly rather than well satisfied bold rather than well assured And therefore no wonder that these Holy Souls so mightily prevailed over all the powers of darkness in what shape soever they appeared and that they overcame as St. John writes the Dragon that old Serpent the Devil by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony not loving their lives unto the death And no wonder also they had such a lively hope in God and could look up so stedfastly to Jesus as this blessed Martyr did expecting that he would receive their Spirits with the kindest affection unto himself For they had attained to the Baptism wherewith he the King of glory was Baptized A Baptism as St. Cyprian calls Martyrdom In gratia majus De Exhort Martyrii in potestate sublimius c. In grace greater in power more sublime in honour more precious A Baptism in which the Angels baptize in which God and his Christ rejoyce A baptism after which no man sins which consummates the encrease of our faith and parting us from the world straight-way unites us to God In the baptism of water is received remission of sins but in this of blood the Crown of Virtues And a very noble Crown sure it was that such faithful followers might hope to receive from the hands of so gracious a Master For being so much advanced above the world while they were in it and having done him such eminent Service they could not doubt of his favour in lifting them up to live with himself in exceeding great bliss when his Enemies would not permit them to live here any longer If there were any thrones higher than other in those heavenly places where St. Stephen saw our Saviour they might very well expect to be promoted to them to reign with him there in endless glory and to be honoured here on earth with perpetual praises I. For from all this you cannot but see how sit and just it is that we should make most solemn commemorations of those to whom the Christian world stands so deeply obliged and that the Church should give a kind of first-fruits of them unto this glorious Martyr Orat. XXII whom St. Gregory Naz. calls 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the first fruits of those who suffered after Christ This the ancient Christians did with so great affection that their Enemies calumniated it and said they worshipped them No says St. Cyril in his VI Book against Julian where he justifies this practice excellently and therefore give me leave to contract a long discourse he hath about it There is no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Man-worship among Christians For we have not made a God of a Man nor adore one that is not by nature God when we worship Christ himself But acknowledging that man who appeared to be the Word of God by whom all things were made we go to him as God for so he is As for the Martyrs we neither call them Gods nor give them any Divine Worship Yet we cannot but honour them or rather we crown them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 with the highest honours As those who have generously contended for the truth and resolutely preserved the purity of our Faith and propounded themselves as certain Images of that so much admired fortitude and gallantry to all the world There can be no absurdity in it but rather it is necessary that they who excelled in such famous deeds should be crowned with endless honour Did not common reason teach the ancient Greeks as much For those that hazarded their lives at Marathon for the safety of their Country and those that stoutly opposed the Army of Xerxes in after-times the Athenians were wont meeting together every year at their Graves to crown with their Encomiums and high commendations as men that dyed a glorious death And your Plato says That they who live excellently and dye bravely should be honoured as more than men and their Tombs become venerable It is no wonder then that we account the Holy Martyrs worthy 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of all respect and reverence and that we honour their very Monuments making a perpetual never-fading commemoration of them serve in stead of a small recompence of such illustrious vertue Thus He. And it is very well known how in those days their names were solemnly rehearsed in the Publick Liturgies of the Church Which custom though it be not still continued yet their memory is ever precious we honour them with due praise we make mention of their noble deeds with hearty thanksgivings to God for them Laudamus glorificamus admiramur c. to speak in the words of St. Austin or whoever he was that wrote the Book de excidio urbis we praise we glorifie we admire the holy Martyrs we celebrate their days with a pious solemnity we venerate their worth and as far as we can we imitate them and endeavour to do as they did For by their zealous labours and sufferings Infidels were converted lapsed Christians recovered the doubtful confirmed the luke-warm inflamed the fervour of the pious doubled and all Posterity excited both to adore the power of the Divine Grace in them and also to hope in God for the like Grace to help in time of need Those are the two reasons St. Basil gives why those that loved the Martyrs were so unwearied in their commemoration of them In XL. Martyres Because the honour which is given to our pious fellow-servants is a demonstration of our affection to our common Master And he that entertains brave men with due respect will not fail to imitate them on the like occasion II. And that I must needs say is the greatest honour we can do them to propound them always to our selves as our patterns and to follow them in their constant love to God to Religion and to all Mankind whatsoever we suffer for it True Christian Piety and Vertue if we will allow the Martyrs to have had any judgment is the most valuable thing in the whole world for they preferred it before their lives And therefore all Infidelity is a direct reproach to those blessed Souls representing them as a company of rash
more than any thing else the force and vertue of any mans mind As Complaints continual Repinings and violent Commotions argue weakness and infirmity so silent Meekness chearful Submission and quiet composed Patience when we suffer wrongfully speak an Heart indued with strength and fortitude The World indeed thinks those most powerful who can do wrong and not be punished for it they that can irresistably overpower and oppress others have gained the Titles of Mighty Illustrious and Magnanimous but in a right estimation of things these Titles belong to such Souls as can suffer all the evil that those men do with an humble constancy and meek resignation of themselves to the Will of God These are the truly Great and Unconquerable Spirits these ought most to be admired and renowned for they remain Victorious even over their insulting Enemies they triumph over those that lead them captive Who find a stop put to the course of their Conquests when they meet with such Spirits as cannot be subdued nay are in pain and inwardly grieved to see men suffer chearfully more than they can lay upon them Jacuit inter poenas poenis suis fortior Epist XXXIV c. says S. Cyprian of Celerinus He lay tormented stronger than the torments he indured freer in prison than they that shut him in higher when flat upon the ground than they that trampled on him more at liberty in chains than they that bound him sublimer by far when condemned than they that sate on the Bench and judged him It was a sublime Spirit indeed that posssed these mens Breasts for it raised them by these means not only above the common rank of mankind and above all those who had astonished the World with their Greatness and Power but far above those gods whom the Nations worshipped Most of which had left no Records but of their Amours their Pleasures and Volupteous Enjoyments and none of which had made themselves remarkable for patient Innocence and pious Passing by injuries without any thought or desire of revenge This was a thing proper to the Christian Hero's as the Martyrs and Confessors may be justly called who became hereby more than Men and as some of the Ancients ventured to say more than Angels 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 by the Agonies and Conflicts they endured in their bodies excelling those Natures which have no bodies and consequently no such pains and miseries to contend withal as those Souls incumbred with Flesh overcame Which proclaimed so loudly the Power of the Ineffable Father in them as Justin one of these Martyrs speaks that they won the hearts of sober Pagans to the Service of that God who inspired his worshippers with such meek and humble but resolved and undaunted Spirits Which is the second thing II. That Christianity was hereby marvellously promoted and made a great progress in the World though this seemed to be the ready way to extinguish it Celsus himself as great an enemy as he was to Christianity was put to his shifts and forced to quit his former Principles when he came to consider the sufferings of the Martyrs Though he was an Epicuraean in his other Writings Lib. 1. contra Cels as Origen tells us yet when he set himself to dispute against Christian Religion he could not but confess that it was a Generous and Worthy thing to lay down their Lives in the Defence of it and that nothing was more base than for a Man to flinch from a true Opinion for fear of danger For he goes on to acknowledg when he was in this good mood that there is in Man 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 something better than his earthy part which is says he of kin to God And therefore all well-bred Souls desire to be near to their Original and would willingly know more of him A worthy Confession which the power of Truth sometimes extorts from its greatest Enemies And it was eminently verified in this holy Martyr of whom we may speak truly in his words that being well bred in the School of Christ 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he desired by all means to be with his Heavenly Kindred Which he knew would not lessen the Family of Christ here on earth but rather increase it and make it more numerous For as skilful Wrestlers says S. Greg. Nyss by yielding a little and bowing their bodies under those that contend with them more easily overthrow them and lay them flat on the ground So did this grrat Stephen bruise the mighty Adversary the Devil by falling to the earth himself Then it was that the Apostles were driven away from Jerusalem and began to run throughout the World This was the occasion of the Publishing of the Word every where to the ruine of the Devil's Kingdom And besides this his wonderful Piety and compassionate Kindness even to his Persecutors we may rationally think touch'd some of their Hearts and made them relent and turn to God For at that very time when they were murdering him he like a Spiritual Priest as the fore-named Father speaks whose blood was sprinkled against their will before God interceded with great charity for them saying Lord lay not this sin to their charge When their brutish fury was a little over and they reflected on what had passed with some coolness they could not sure but some of them be melted with such ardent love as well as astonished at such rare courage For in succeeding times it is certain Christian Patience had such effect upon many hearts that it gave a great stroke to their conversion unto Christ Justin whom I mentioned before professes That the first thing that inclined him to the faith of Christ was the devout constancy which he beheld in those who suffered for it And Tertullian avows in his Apology to all the Pagan world that Cicero Seneca Pyrrho Callinicus with all the rest of their great Writers who had exhorted men to indure pain and death could never make so many Disciples by their Eloquent words as simple Christians had done by their deeds Illa ipsa obstinatio quam ex probatis Magistra est That very obstinate Resolution which you upbraid us withal is a Mistress that instructs the world Who is there that beholds it and is not moved to enquire into the cause And who is there that takes the pains to enquire into the cause and doth not become a Proselyte to this Religion and who is there that becomes a Proselyte to it and is not ready also to lose his life for it that he may obtain the favour of God with the expence of his blood And indeed it may be questioned whether the Apostles and their followers did more amaze the world by the wonder of their Miracles or by their stupendious patience under the most cruel Torments This I think is certain That the Divine manner of their suffering was a thing less controverted than their prodigious astonishing works They I mean who disputed the last could not but admire and
commend the first They ascribed their Miracles sometime to the power of evil spirits But their meek and Lamb-like Patience their tender-hearted Charity to those that hated them their forgiving their Enemies their praying for their Persecutors their blessing those that cursed them and obliging those that reviled and abused them these things the Devil himself knew not how to calumniate no more than he knew how to counterfeit His Agents and Factors had not the heart to suffer any thing but loved their ease and their pleasure though they appeared with a very strange power of marvels and signs and lying wonders As Jannes and Jambres 2 Tim. 3.8 says St. Paul withstood Moses so did these also resist the Truth which was preached by the Apostles That is as those Egyptian Magicians vied a while with Moses in strange works and astonishing operations whereby they sought to impair his credit with the people So did these new Juglers contend for some time with the Apostles and hoped to gain as great admiration by imitating their Miracles But they were not more desirous all this time to shew themselves in mighty works than they were craftily careful to shun all pain and trouble for their cause For it is expresly noted as a part of their Character by the same St. Paul Philip. III. 18. that they were Enemies to the Cross of Christ in which the Apostles gloried and rejoyced II Cor. XII 9 10. And here it will not be unfit to note these two things I. First That what glory soever there was in Miracles as they did at last so outshine all Imposters that they quite eclipsed them no less than Moses did the Magicians it never appeared more illustrious than when the Apostles exercised perfect patience under the sorest distresses Then the Divine vertue in them broke out and shone most brightly When they were weak then were they strong as St. Paul speaks in the place forenamed When they were crushed by the power of their Enemies then they most amazed them by discovering this mighty power of Christ in such weak and earthen Vessels What could be more astonishing than to see those who were fast manacled and fettered unloose their own and others bands shake the foundations of Prisons open without any Key or other Instrument the Dores which were strongly lock'd and barr'd upon them Nay unchain not only fast-bound bodies but also miserably inthralled Souls Was it not a great wonder to see Jaylors come and crouch to those whom they had newly scourged desiring to be unbound and absolved by their chained Captives and yeilding themselves voluntary Prisoners to those whom they had violently kept in durance Yet this we read in the Story of the blessed St. Paul Act. XVI who then triumphed when he sate in the Stocks then appeared illustrious when he was thrust into a Dungeon for that 's the meaning of the inner Prison there mentioned then was highly honoured insomuch that they were ready to kiss his Stripes when he was treated as a man of no account Here the Apostles and their Successors left all their opposers far behind them who fled from dangers and timerously avoided all pain and trouble or endured them with a base and abject Spirit which sunk when it wanted the peoples breath to blow it up They were far from taking pleasure in infirmities in reproaches in necessities in persecutions in distresses having no hopes to win any glory by this means as St. Paul did who demonstrated his Apostleship in all patience as well as in signs and wonders and mighty deeds II Cor. XII 10.12 But true Patience is such an admirable property that the Devil hath not the power to attain so much as a shadow of it It is too beautiful for his deformed nature and crooked disposition being a composition of all those lovely virtues and graces of the Holy Spirit to which he is a perfect stranger He can sometime transform himself into an Angel of Light but when do we find him in the form of a truly resigned and contented sufferer This is the unalienable Prerogative of Christ and the great Champions of his Faith who with such a Charity as St. Paul describes I Cor. XIII 4 5 6 7. every property of which is the Character of Patience as Tertullian hath truly observed endured all the contempt hatred and cruelty of the world accounting it a great honour and gain no disparagement or damage at all to be vile and to lose all they had for the sake of their Dear Lord and Master Christ Jesus There did it is true arise in after Ages such sturdy Spirits for instance the Circumcellions a part of the Donatists Faction as would endure any thing with a barbarous resolution for the credit of those Dotages wherewith they troubled the world But they were wholly void of that ancient Spirit which had ever been in Christian sufferers They had nothing of that Modestissima Patientia as the Author of the Book de Duplici Martyrio speaks that most Modest Patience wherewith Christian Religion inspired its followers Illud placidum illud mansuetum c. That sweet that soft that gentle and tender that humbly sublime as his Phrase is and sublimely humble Spirit was no where to be found but among the Martyrs who never spake a worse word when they were condemned than Deo gratias thanks be to God which was the common form wherein they received their Sentence from the mouth of their Judges That 's the second thing I have to add II. That when some Impostors endeavoured to imitate the resolution of the Apostles and Martyrs in exposing even their lives for the sake of their vain imaginations they were not able to imitate them at all in the Divine manner of their sufferings It is excellently said by St. Gregory Nazianzen in his Funeral Oration for his Father Orat. XIX That this blessed Martyr St. Stephen offered to God a greater thing than Death viz. Long-suffering meekness and forgiving of his Enemies He opposed as the other Gregory speaks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. to their anger a patient spirit to their threats silence to their hatred ardent love to their malignity good will to their false accusations preaching of the Truth If the false Apostles and other pretenders could have appeared in this handsom dress their delusion had been very dangerous But here they halted and knew not how to follow the genuine Disciples of Christ Jesus Their hardiness as St. Austin speaks of the surly Sect before-mentioned many of which would kill themselves and force others to kill them was to be admired for it was very great but their patience was not to be admired for it was none at all They suffered much evil that they might do the more They cared not what others did to them but withal they cared not what they did to others This was a remarkable difference which is all the time will give me leave to mention between the Christian Martyrs and