202

CHAPTER XXII.

MARTYRS.

"Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection."-HEB. xi. 35.

"STILL

TILL Antiochus could not let Egypt alone. A third time he invaded it, but it was not as on either of the other occasions; for this time he was unsuccessful.

"Well, all this would not matter to us just now, if this king had not had so much to do with the Jews. I dare say they would have been glad enough if he would just have remained in Egypt; but the Egyptians had asked help from the Romans, and they threatened him with war in his own country, if he did not go back. 'Ships of Chittim shall come against him; therefore shall he be grieved, and return, and have indignation against the holy covenant: so shall he do; he shall even return and have intelligence with them that forsake the holy covenant.'

"Ah! with Jason and Menelaus," exclaimed Martin. "That's plain enough. And how it must have frightened those who read it! for the next thing is, that 'arms were to stand on his part, and that they were to pollute the sanctuary, and take away the daily sacrifice, and place the abomination that maketh desolate.'

66

Yes; because swine's flesh was forbidden, one of the king's chief agents in the persecution, Atheneas, had a great sow offered up on the altar," Mrs. Conway went

on. "It is really wonderful how such a man, and without a right to the throne, could keep his power so long as this Antiochus Epiphanes did. It was by flattering the wicked, and having intelligence,' that is, making friends with those that did wickedly against the covenant,' no doubt; and the good people who had to stand by, spectators of all this flood of evil, or to hide away in dens and caves of the earth for fear, knew it well too. But was there no remedy?

"As you say, I have no doubt that the students of this prophecy would often be hunting in it for a gleam of hope; and I think they must have been arrested by the end of the thirty-second verse: the words are striking: They that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.'

"We read that there were many who chose martyrdom, rather than conformity to these idolatrous practices, and that in the caves and fastnesses of the land numbers secretly worshipped the God of their fathers.

"But sometimes the poor people were surprised even in these hiding-places.

"Once a large company amounting to a thousand persons were assembled for worship on the Sabbath day, when Philip, the governor of the province, came suddenly upon them with his troops. He, however, does not seem to have been quite so cold-blooded as his fellows; for he offered them life if they would apostatize, and allowed them time to think of it; at least, in some way they escaped that week. But persecution sometimes seems to raise men's courage, and even to make them careless of life. One can hardly credit it, and yet so it was, that these poor people actually assembled again, and apparently in the same spot, on the very next Sabbath, when the whole body were cut to pieces. "Exasperated beyond expression at the firmness of so

many in the nation, Antiochus went himself to Jerusalem to superintend the executions and tortures.

"His favourite test seems to have been the eating of swine's flesh; and the first victim whom he chose was a very venerable old man named Eleazar. He was a scribe, famous for his piety, and ninety years of age. It is said that his example of stedfastness gave many courage to endure.

"This good old man was brought to a public spot, and then the soldiers forced swine's flesh into his mouth; but he positively refused to swallow it. At first the soldiers themselves seemed to feel some pity, and suggested that he might get some other food, and eat that in public, to deceive the king.

"And how many would have yielded to that suggestion! Yet the old man only answered no; that would have had as bad an effect on his brethren as if he really ate what was prohibited by the law, and that therefore he would in God's sight be just as guilty. On that the soldiers pronounced him proud and obstinate, and led him off to execution. He died declaring his faith and trust, and his readiness to suffer for the law of his God.

"And we read of another case, of a whole family who counted not their lives dear to them, so that they might finish their course with hope. This family consisted of a mother and her seven sons. One after another the young men bore the torture under which they died, encouraging each other and their mother to the end; she suffered last of all. It is said that the first that spoke had his tongue and the extremities of his body. cut off, and that afterwards he was fried in a frying-pan; the others all the while strengthening one another by reminding each other that their God saw them. Then they brought the second out, and tore off the skin of his head, asking would he eat before he was punished in

every limb of his body?' But he answered, 'No.' So he was tormented to death in like manner, saying, when he was at the last gasp, Thou like a fury takest us out of this present life, but the King of the world shall raise us up, who have died for His laws, unto everlasting life.'

"And the third put out his tongue, and held out his hands, saying, 'These I had from heaven, and for His laws I despise them; and from Him I hope to receive them again.'

"The king and his friends, we read, marvelled at this young man's courage; yet they went on with their bloody work, mangling the fourth in like manner, he also expressing his hope of a happy resurrection, while he said to the king, 'But as for thee, thou shalt have no resurrection to life.'

"And the fifth, almost as it were forgetting his own agonies, bid the king not to think that the Jewish nation was forsaken of God; but to wait awhile and see how He would torment him and his seed.

"The sixth, acknowledging that for their sins God had allowed these things to happen to their nation, yet warned the king not to strive against God, or rather not to think that he would escape unpunished.

“But_the_mother was marvellous above all,' say the authors of the books of the Maccabees; for, though she witnessed all their sufferings, she exhorted every one to stand firm, assuring them of a glorious resurrection.

"And when the king tempted the youngest with promises of all sorts of riches and greatness, and bid the mother join her persuasions to his, she only laughed the cruel tyrant to scorn, and prayed the young man to take his death patiently, that she might receive him again with his brethren.

"Then the king, provoked with his fervent, determined

words, handled him worst of all; and last of all the mother died.

"This history is given in both the books of Maccabees, -the first of which is counted as good history, the second as less reliable. It is from the second book that the details and speeches of this story are taken; but they seem so borne out by St. Paul's words in Heb. xii., that I could not forbear repeating them for you. ' Afflicted, tormented, . . . . these all having received a good report through faith, received not the promise;' that is, to them its fulfilment was still in the distance. Nevertheless, these all died in faith, seeing it afar off, and confessing that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth, who sought a better country.'

Strong truly to endure and suffer were these martyrs of the olden time; but now you shall hear how some were strong also to do exploits.

And

"In those days there was a priest named Mattathias, who lived in a town then called Modin, now Sobah, on the coast; and he had five sons, Johanan, or John, Simon, Judas called Maccabeus, Eleazar, and Jonathan. this family was mourning over the state of the land, and clad in sackcloth, when the king's officers came to Judea to carry out there the cruel edict. Well, the first thing that

the officers did was to summon Mattathias as a 'ruler and an honourable man, strengthened with sons and brethren,' to set an example of obedience to the king's commandment. They were told that if they complied, gold and silver would be their reward, and they would be counted the king's friends.

"But Mattathias was very bold; he remembered the deeds of his ancestors, Phinehas of old, and perhaps thought of the words, 'They that do know their God shall be strong and do exploits.'

"So when the king's message was brought him, he