vi.]

THE DYING CHRISTIAN.

301

"I have fought

who can say with our apostle, the good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith." Yes, verily, brethren, if there be a time more interesting than another in the life of a good man, if there be a more moral lesson to be learned from his experience, or if the inspiration of a brighter hope be to be derived from his serenity of thought, it is when he is about to put off this clay, and ascend to the regions of eternity. First, he knows that nothing can postpone the hour: "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand:" here is no repining at the shortness of life, nor any wistful eye cast back on all the man is leaving; here is no lamenting over the mouth: of the grave; you hear not a murmur escape the lips of the dying Christian. Secondly, there is the complacency with which he regards his past life; not in the language of boasting, nor in the pride of self-righteousness; but, simply, that the faith which, from the beginning, was the gift of God, has been kept by him; the course which must necessarily be run is finished, and all human things, like the shore in the distance, are fast receding from the sight. And, thirdly, there is the blessed and cheering hope of immortality: "henceforward there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day,

302

THE PALM OF MARTYRDOM.

[LECT.

and not to me only (for the Christian's feelings are never selfish), but unto all them also that love his appearing." These are the words of St. Paul; and they are the words of a person evidently prepared for and expecting death. There is every reason to conclude, that it happened to Paul according to his anticipation; and that, on his second appearance, he was condemned to die. As a Roman citizen, he was beheaded. Tradition says, he was taken three miles out of the city, to a place called " Aquæ Salviæ," now named theTre Fontane," and there put to death', Lucina, a Roman matron, burying him in her field, by the side of the road to Ostia. Over a sepulchral stone, bearing the inscription Paulo," Constantine is said to have reared one of the first Christian churches, and I need not describe to you the Basilica which is now rising again from its ruins, in the solitude of a district afflicted with the malaria2. However

1 As Baronius only cites the authority of the Roman Martyrology for the " Aquæ Salvia" being the scene of St. Paul's sufferings, I may despair of finding any other.-(See Annales Ecclesiast. A. D. 69. Nero, 13.) The story of the "Three Fountains" is, of course, not a matter of faith!

2 The great authority for the antiquity of the churches in Rome is Anastasius Bibliothecarius, who wrote in the ninth century; but there is also a document in the Vatican Library which mentions St. Paul's Church on the Via Ostiensis, as existing in the year 386, and affords further proof that it had existed

vi.]

CRUELTY OF NERO,

&c.

303

these things may be, the apostle must have finished his course in the year 66 or the beginning of 67, having been a preacher of the Gospel for 32 years. He was probably involved in the calamity that burst upon the Christians in Rome, with which you are all doubtless acquainted; I mean the dreadful persecutions which took place under Nero, upon pretext of the Christians having set fire to the city. The evils which Christ had foretold would happen to his faithful followers, had now arrived: we have to contemplate the sheep of the flock in the midst of wolves. This very city became the theatre in which innocent blood was shed. It is not from the pen of a Christian, but from that of a Heathen writer, that we learn the end of those who were "the beloved of God, and called to be saints." The account which Tacitus has left us of this first persecution of God's Church, although painful, affords a testimony to the primitive faith which is above all suspicion. "The persons suspected of having burnt the city were," observes the histo

for some time previous to that period. (See Itinerario di Roma da A. Nibby. Tom. II. p. 478. edit. 1830.) The more modern but splendid Basilica was destroyed by fire in July 1823; and had it not been for the law of " præmunire," the royal protector of St. Paul's at Rome (such was the king of England in Papal times) might have contributed towards restoring it.

12 TL VI HAT. BIL VE DU ZD

Sick Time te me remet vi gral na kome ko. the likes vilder ting that ungeE F ESTA in

of the vort s sie u zime and be well saanud Tie fra creientei vere fose wão pen are themseis: i den tragi means often a amense number of others were demand. They were declared guilty, ace o much on the charge of setting fire to the dity, as for their hatred of mankind in general. In being put to death they had also to endure mockery: for instance, they were covered with ekina of wild beasts, in order to be torn to pieces by dogs; otherwise, they were fastened to crosses, or wrapped up in combustibles, so that when evening came on they might be burnt upon the lamp-posts. Nero gave up his own gardens for that exhibition, and he introduced the sports of the circus, at which he appeared in the costume of a charioteer, mixing with the populace, or else exhibiting in the chariot race. Hence it happened," continues the historian,

"that the suf

vi.]

TOWARDS THE CHRISTIANS.

305

ferers, although guilty, and deserving the most exemplary punishments, became objects of commiseration for it was evident they were not destroyed for the general good of society, but for the sake of gratifying the cruelty of a single individual'." It is not always that we have a proof of the real character of the Christian, even by the act of martyrdom; but these are the persons of whom Paul himself had said, but six years previously, "that they had obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to them, and being then made free from sin, had become servants of righteousness:" such also were the persons of whom a writer, remarkable in other respects for his candour and veracity, could say the things I have just read to you, a melancholy example of the perversity of degraded human nature when ignorantly handling the things of God! Paul may probably have wept over those dreadful scenes of carnage; but what would have been his feelings if he had seen them repeated, by those professing Christianity, against one another? Whether Heathen or Christian by name, however, it matters not; until all shall know the truth as it is in Jesus, persecution will never cease and perhaps it is designed as a means for stirring up the faithful people in God's

Tacit. Ann. lib. xv. chap. 44.