{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p class=\"c005\">All the martyrdoms, then, were blessed and noble which\r\ntook place according to the will of God. For it becomes us\r\nwho profess<a id=\"r398\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f398\"><sup>[398]</sup></a> greater piety than others, to ascribe the authority\r\nover all things to God. And truly,<a id=\"r399\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f399\"><sup>[399]</sup></a> who can fail to admire\r\ntheir nobleness of mind, and their patience, with that love\r\ntowards their Lord which they displayed?—who, when they\r\nwere so torn with scourges, that the frame of their bodies,\r\neven to the very inward veins and arteries, was laid open, still\r\npatiently endured, while even those that stood by pitied and\r\nbewailed them. But they reached such a pitch of magnanimity,\r\nthat not one of them let a sigh or a groan escape them;\r\nthus proving to us all that those holy martyrs of Christ, at\r\nthe very time when they suffered such torments, were absent\r\nfrom the body, or rather, that the Lord then stood by them,\r\nand communed with them. And, looking to the grace of\r\nChrist, they despised all the torments of this world, redeeming\r\nthemselves from eternal punishment by [the suffering of] a\r\nsingle hour. For this reason the fire of their savage executioners\r\nappeared cool to them. For they kept before their\r\nview escape from that fire which is eternal and never shall be\r\nquenched, and looked forward with the eyes of their heart to\r\nthose good things which are laid up for such as endure; things\r\n“which ear hath not heard, nor eye seen, neither have\r\nentered into the heart of man,”<a id=\"r400\"></a><a class=\"c009 pginternal\" href=\"#f400\"><sup>[400]</sup></a> but were revealed by the\r\nLord to them, inasmuch as they were no longer men, but had\r\nalready become angels. And, in like manner, those who were\r\ncondemned to the wild beasts endured dreadful tortures,\r\nbeing stretched out upon beds full of spikes, and subjected\r\nto various other kinds of torments, in order that, if it were\r\npossible, the tyrant might, by their lingering tortures, lead\r\nthem to a denial [of Christ].</p>","headings":["The Writings of the Apostolic Fathers","THE MARTYRDOM OF POLYCARP.","THE ENCYCLICAL EPISTLE OF THE CHURCH AT SMYRNA CONCERNING THE MARTYRDOM OF THE HOLY POLYCARP.","Chap. ii.—The wonderful constancy of the martyrs."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg77576-paragraph-139"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"c021c359f2cad3f80cca04f571a3f6a5bb3a20439778c71958d206621360bc6f","edition_title":"The writings of the Apostolic Fathers","edition_translators":["Alexander Roberts","James Donaldson","Frederick Crombie"],"edition_year":1870,"explicit_reference_candidates":[{"book":"1CO","chapter":2,"kind":"unreviewed","source_notation":"1 Cor. ii. 9","verse":9,"verse_end":9}],"headings":[],"id":"pg77576-f400","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Project Gutenberg metadata: Public domain in the USA. Historical 1870 English edition; electronic transcription subject to Project Gutenberg reuse terms.","source_anchor":"f400","source_ebook":77576,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\" id=\"f400\">\n<p class=\"c006\"><span class=\"label\"><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#r400\">400</a>. </span>1 <abbr title=\"Corinthians\">Cor.</abbr> <abbr title=\"two\">ii.</abbr> 9.</p>\n</div>","source_sha256":"5cef11d737d7f5d65aa99f44ca2d8e967d725f3bed872960330e88c0905597a9","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/77576/pg77576-images.html#f400","text_sha256":"af6fcbefa9223641805f92b1760534b5a218e9d6484b19c2a6cc07aec84d42d4","verified":false,"work_id":null}