thee and turn upon those whom thou sendest the lip of scorn and the eye
of pride, and will none of their teachings, and so do despite to the
spirit of thy grace, and crucify the Lord afresh, then do thou, O Lord,
come upon them as once upon the cities of the plain in the times of
thine anger. Let fire from Heaven consume them. Let the earth yawn and
swallow them up. Tear up the foundations of this modern Babylon; level
to the earth her proud walls; and let her stand for a reproach, and a
hissing, and a scorn; through all generations; so that men shall say as
they pass by, lo! the fate of them that held to their idols rather than
serve the living God; their proud palaces are now dwellings of dragons,
and over her ruins the trees of the forest are now spreading their
branches. But yet, O Lord, may this never be; but may a way of escape be
made for them through thy mercy. And to this end may we thy servants, to
whom thou hast given the sword of the spirit, gird it upon our sides,
lift up our voices and spare not, day and night, morning and evening, in
the public place, and at the corners of the streets; in all places, and
in every presence, proclaiming the good news of salvation. Let not
cowardice seal our lips. Whether before gentile or jew, emperor or
slave, may we speak as becomes the Lord's anointed. Warm the hearts of
the cold and dead; put fire into them; fire from thine own altar. The
world, O Lord, and its honors and vanities, seduce thine own servants
from thee. They are afraid, they are cold, they are dead, and the enemy
lifts himself up and triumphs. For this we would mourn and lament. Give
us, O Lord, the courage and the zeal of thine early apostles and
teachers so that no fear of tortures and death may make us traitors to
Christ and thee.'
It was a long time that he went on in this strain, inveighing, with heat
and violence, against all who withdrew their hand from the work, or
abated their zeal. When he had ceased, and we stood waiting to judge
whether the service were wholly ended, the voices of the whole family
apparently, were joined together in a hymn of praise--Macer's now more
gentle and subdued, as if to hear himself the tones of the children and
of his wife who accompanied him. The burden of the hymn was also a
prayer for a spirit of fidelity and a temper of patience, in the cause
of truth and Christ. It was worship in the highest sense, and none
within the dwelling could have joined more heartily than we did who
stood without.
When it was ended, and with it evidently the evening service, we
approached, and knocked for admittance. Macer appeared holding a light
above his head, and perceiving who his guests were, gave us cordial
welcome, at the same time showing us into his small apartment and
placing stools for our accommodation. The room in which we were was
small and vaulted, and built of stone in the most solid manner. I saw at
once that it was one of the smaller rooms of the ancient bath, which
had escaped entire destruction and now served as a comfortable
habitation. A door on the inner side appeared to connect it with a
number of similar apartments. A table in the centre and a few stools, a
shelf on which were arranged the few articles which they possessed both
for cooking and eating their food, constituted the furniture of the
room. In the room next beyond I could see pallets of straw laid upon the
floor, which served for beds. Macer, his wife, and six children,
composed the family then present; the two elder sons being yet absent at
their work, in the shop of Demetrius. The mother held at her breast an
infant of a year or more; one of three years sprang again upon his
father's lap, as he resumed his seat after our entrance, whence he had
apparently been just dislodged; the rest, sitting in obscure parts of
the room, were at first scarcely visible. The wife of Macer expressed
heartily her pleasure at seeing us, and said even more by her flushed
and animated countenance than by her words. The severe countenance of
Macer himself relaxed and gave signs of satisfaction.
'I owe you, Piso,' he said, 'many thanks for mercies shown to my wife
and my little ones here, and I am glad to see you among us. We are far
apart enough as the world measures such things, but in Christ we are
one. At such times as these, when the Prince of Darkness rules, we ought
if ever to draw toward each other, that so we may make better our common
defence. I greet you as a brother--I trust to love you as one.'
I told him that nothing should be wanting on my part toward a free and
friendly intercourse; that from all I had heard of him I had conceived a
high regard for him, and owed him more thanks for what he had done in
behalf of our religion, than he could me for any services I had rendered
him.
'Me?' said he, and his head fell upon his bosom. 'What have I done for
Christ to deserve the thanks of any? I have preached and I have prayed;
I have opposed heresies and errors; I have wrestled with the enemies and
corrupters of our faith within our own body and without; but the fruit
seems nothing. The gentile is still omnipotent--heresy and error still
abound.'
'Yes, Macer,' I replied, 'that is certainly so, and may be so for many
years to come, but still we are gaining. He who can remember twenty
years can count a great increase. After the testimony borne by the
martyrs of the Decian persecution to their faith, and all the proof they
gave of sincere attachment to the doctrine of Christ, crowds have
entered the church, an hundred for every one whose blood then flowed.'
'And now,' said Macer, his eye kindling with its wild fires, 'the church
is dead! The truest prayer that the Christian can now offer is, that it
would please God to try us again as it were by fire! We slumber, Piso!
The Christians are not now the Nazarites they were in the first age of
the church. Divisions have crept in; tares have been sown with the
wheat, and have come up, and are choking the true plants of God. I know
not but that the signs of terror which are scaring the heavens ought
rather to be hailed as tokens of love. Better a thousand perish on the
rack or by the axe, than that the church itself faint away and die.'
'It will not do,' said Probus, 'always to depend upon such remedies of
our sloth and heresies. Surely it were better to prosper in some other
and happier way. All I think we can say of persecution, and of the
oppositions of our enemies, is this, that if it be in the providence of
God that they cannot be avoided, we have cause to bless him that their
issue is good rather than evil; that they serve as tests by which the
genuine is tried and proved; that they give the best and highest
testimony to the world that man can give, of his sincerity; that they
serve to bind together into one compact and invincible phalanx the
disciples of our common master, however in many things they may divide
and separate. But, were it not better, if we could attain an equal good
without the suffering?'
'I believe that to be impossible,' said Macer. 'Since Jesus began his
ministry, persecution has been the rod that has been laid upon the
church without sparing, and the fruit has been abundant. Without it,
like these foolish children, we might run riot in all iniquity.'
'I do not say that the rod has not been needed,' answered Probus, 'nor
that good has not ensued; but only, that it would be better, wiser, and
happier, to reach the same good without the rod; just as it is better
when your children, without chastisement, fulfil your wishes and perform
their tasks. We hope and trust that our children will grow up to such
virtue, that they will no longer need the discipline of suffering to
make them better. Ought we not to look and pray for a period to arrive
in the history of the church, when men shall no longer need to be lashed
and driven, but shall of themselves discern what is best and cleave to
it?'
'That might indeed be better,' replied the other; 'but the time is not
come for it yet. The church I say is corrupt, and it cries out for
another purging. Christians are already lording it over one another. The
bishop of Rome sets himself up, as a lord, over subjects. A Roman Cæsar
walks it not more proudly. What with his robes of state, and his seat of
gold, and his golden rod, and his altar set out with vessels of gold and
silver, and his long train of menials and subordinates, poor simple
Macer, who learned of Christ, as he hopes, is at a loss to discern the
follower of the lowly Jesus, but takes Felix, the Christian servant, for
some Fronto of a Heathen temple! Were the power mine, as the will is,
never would I stay for Aurelian, but my own arm should sweep from the
places they pollute the worst enemies of the Saviour. Did Jesus die that
Felix might flaunt his peacock's feathers in the face of Rome?'
'We cannot hope, Macer,' answered Probus, 'to grow up to perfection at
once. I see and bewail the errors at which you point as well as you. But
if, to remove them, we bring down the heavy arm of Rome upon our
heads--the remedy may prove worse than the disease.'
'No. That could not be! Let those who with open eyes abuse the gifts of
God, perish! If this faith cannot be maintained undefiled by Heathen
additions, let it perish!'
'But God dealeth not so with us,' continued Probus; 'he beareth long and
patiently. We are not destroyed because in the first years of our life
we do not rise to all virtue, but are spared to fourscore. Ought we not
to manifest a like patience and forbearance? By waiting patiently we
shall see our faults, and one by one correct them. There is still some
reason and discernment left among us. We are not all fools and blind.
And the faults which we correct ourselves, by our own action, and the
conviction of our own minds acting freely and voluntarily, will be more
truly corrected, than if we are but frightened away from them for a time
by the terrors of the Roman sword. I think, Macer, and so thinks Piso,
that, far from seeking to inflame the common mind, and so drawing upon
us the evils which are now with reason apprehended, we should rather aim
to ward them off.'
'Never!' cried Macer with utmost indignation. 'Shall the soldier of the
cross shrink--'
'No, Macer, he need not shrink. Let him stand armed in panoply complete;
prompt to serve, willing to die; but let him not wantonly provoke an
enemy who may not only destroy him, that were a little thing, but, in
the fury of the onset, thousands with him, and, perhaps, with them the
very faith for which they die! The Christian is not guiltless
who--though it be in the cause of Christ--rushes upon unnecessary death.
You, Macer, are not only a Christian and soldier of Jesus Christ, but a
man, who, having received life from the Creator, have no right wantonly
to throw it away. You are a husband, and you are bound to live for your
wife;--these are your children, and you are bound to live for them.'
'He,' said Macer, solemnly, 'who hateth not father and mother and wife
and children and brethren and sister, yea and his own life also, cannot
be my disciple.'
'Yes,' replied Probus, 'that is true; we are to be ready and willing to
suffer for Christ and truth; but not to seek it. He who seeks martyrdom
is no martyr. Selfish passions have then mingled their impure current
with that of love to God, and the sacrifice is not without spot and
blemish. Jesus did not so; nor his first followers. When the Lord was
persecuted in one city, he staid not there to inflame it more and more;
he fled to another. Paul and Peter and Barnabas stood ever for their
rights; they suffered not wrong willingly. When the ark of truth is
intrusted to few hands, they must bear it forward boldly, but with care,
else are they at a blow cut off, and the ark with its precious burden
borne away and lost--or miracles alone can rescue it. But when the time
comes that no prudence or care will avail, then they may not refuse the
issue, but must show that life is nothing in comparison of truth and
God.'
'Probus,' said Macer, 'I like not your timid counsels. 'Tis not by such
that Christ's cause shall ever advance, or that period ever come when
he, the long-looked and waited for, shall descend, and the millenial
reign begin. Life is nothing to me and less than nothing. I hold it as
dirt and dross. And if by throwing it away I can add such a commentary
to my preaching as shall strike a single Pagan heart, I shall not have
died in vain; and if the blood that shall flow from these veins, may
serve but as a purge, to carry off the foul humors that now fester and
rage in the body of the church, thrice happy shall I be to see it flow.
And for these--let them be as the women and children of other times, and
hold not back when their master calls. Arria! do thou set before thee
St. Blandina, and if the Lord let thee be as her, thou wilt have cause
to bless his name.'
'Never, Macer, would I shrink from any trial to which the Lord in his
wisdom might call me--that you know. But has not Probus uttered a truth,
when he says, that we are not innocent, and never glorious, when we
seek death? that he who seeks martyrdom is no martyr? Listen, Macer, to
the wisdom of Probus and the noble Piso. Did you not promise that you
would patiently hear them?'
'Woman--I have heard them--their words are naught, stark naught, or
worse. Where would have been the blessed gospel at this hour, had it
been committed to such counsels? Even under Nero would it have died for
want of those who were willing to die for it. I am a soldier of the
cross, whose very vocation it is to fight and die. And if I may but die,
blessed Jesus, for thee! then may I hope that thou wilt deal mercifully
with thy servant at thy judgment-seat. I hear thy voice ever sounding in
my ear, reproving me for my cowardice. Have patience with me, and I will
give thee all. And if labor, and torture, and death, would but cancel
sin!--But alas! even they may not suffice.'
'Then, dear father,' said one of his daughters who had drawn near and
seated herself at his knee, while the others had gathered round, 'then
will we add ourselves to the sacrifice.'
'Would you?' said Macer--in an absent, musing way--as if some other
thought were occupying him.
Thinking that his love of his children, evidently a very strong
affection in him, might be made to act as a restraint, I said, 'that I
feared he greatly exposed his little family to unnecessary danger.
Already had his dwelling been once assailed, and the people were now
ripe for any violence. This group of little ones can ill encounter a
rude and furious mob.'
'They can die, can they not?' said Macer. 'Is that difficult, or
impossible? If the Lord need them, they are his. I can ask no happier
lot for them than that by death they may glorify God. And what is it to
die so, more than in another way? Let them die in their beds, and whom
do they benefit? They die then to themselves, and no one is the gainer;
let them die by the sword of Varus, or by the stones of the populace,
and then they become themselves stones in the foundation of that temple
of God, of which Jesus is the chief corner-stone, and they are glorious
forever. What say you, Cicer, will you die for Christ?'
The little fellow hid his head in his father's bosom at this sudden
appeal, but soon drew it out and said,
'I would rather die for you, father.'
'Ah!' said Macer, 'how am I punished in my children! Cicer, would you
not die for Christ?'
'I would die for him if you wish it.'
'Macer,' said Probus, 'do you not see how God has bound you and this
family into one? and he surely requires you not to separate yourself,
their natural protector, from them forever; still less, to involve them
in all the sufferings which, taking the course you do, may come upon
them at any hour.'
'Probus! their death would give me more pleasure than their life, dying
for Christ. I love them now and here, fondly as ever parent loved his
children,--but what is now, and here? Nothing. The suffering of an hour
or of a moment joins us together again, where suffering shall be no
more, and death no more. To-morrow! yes, to-morrow! would I that the
wrath of these idol-worshippers might be turned against us. Rome must be
roused; she sleeps the sleep of death; and the church sleeps it too;
both need that they who are for the Lord should stand forth, and, not
waiting to be attacked, themselves assail the enemy, who need but to be
assailed with the zeal and courage of men, who were once to be found in
the church, to be driven at all points.'
'But, father,' said the daughter who had spoken before, 'other
Christians think not so. They believe for the most part, as I hear, with
Probus and Piso, that on no account should we provoke the gentiles, or
give them cause of complaint against us; they think that to do so would
greatly harm us; that our duty is to go on the even tenor of our way,
worshipping God after our own doctrine, and in our own manner, and
claiming and exercising all our rights as citizens, but abstaining from
every act that might rouse their anger, or needlessly irritate
them--irritated, necessarily, almost beyond bearing, by the wide and
increasing prosperity of our faith, and the daily falling away of the
temple worshippers. Would it be right, dearest father, to do that which
others approved not, and the effect of which might be, not only to draw
down evil upon your and our heads, but upon thousands of others? We
cannot separate ourselves from our brethren; if one suffer all will
suffer--'
'Ælia, my daughter, there is a judge within the breast, whom I am bound
to obey rather than any other counsellor, either man or woman. I cannot
believe, because another believes, a certain truth. Neither can I act in
a certain way because others hold it their duty to act so. I must obey
the inward voice, and no other. If I abandon this, I am lost--I am on
the desert without sun, moon or stars to guide me. All the powers of
the earth could not bribe nor drag me from that which I hold to be the
true order of conduct for me; shown by the finger of God to be such.'
'But, father,' continued the daughter, pursuing her object, 'are we not
too lately entered among the Christians to take upon us a course which
they condemn? It is but yesterday that we were among the enemies of this
faith. Are we to-day to assume the part of leaders? Would not modesty
teach us a different lesson?'
'Modesty has nothing to do with truth,' said Macer. 'He who is wholly a
Christian to-day, is all that he can be to-morrow, or next year. I am as
old in faith and zeal as Piso, Probus, or Felix. No one can believe
more, or more heartily, by believing longer. Nay, it is they who are
newly saved who are most sensible to the blessing. Custom in religion as
in other things dulls the soul. Were I a Christian much longer before
God called me to serve him by suffering or death, I fear I should be
then spiritually dead, and so worse than before I believed. Let it be
to-morrow, O Lord, that I shall glorify thee!'
It was plain that little impression was to be made upon the mind of
Macer. But we ceased not to urge him farther, his wife and elder
children uniting with us in importunate entreaty and expostulation. But
all in vain. In his stern and honest enthusiasm he believed all
prudence, cowardice; all calculation, worldliness; all moderation and
temperance, treason to the church and Christ. Yet none of the natural
current of the affections seemed to be dried up or poisoned. No one
could be more bound to his wife and children; and, toward us, though in
our talk we spared him not, he ever maintained the same frank and open
manner--yielding never an inch of ground, and uttering himself with an
earnestness and fury such as I never saw in another; but, soon as he had
ceased speaking, subsiding into a gentleness that seemed almost that of
a woman, and playfully sporting with the little boy that he held on his
knee.
Soon as our conversation was ended, Macer, turning to his wife,
exclaimed,
'But what hinders that we should set before our visiters such
hospitality as our poor house affords? Arria, have we not such as may
well enough entertain Christians?'
Ælia, at a word from her mother, and accompanied by her sister,
immediately busied themselves in the simple rites of hospitality, and
soon covered the table which stood in the centre of the room with bread,
lettuces, figs, and a flask of wine. While they were thus engaged, I
could not but observe the difference in appearance of the two elder
sisters, who, with equal alacrity, were setting out the provisions for
our repast. One was clad like the others of the family in the garments
common to the poor. The other--she who had spoken--was arrayed, not
richly, but almost so, or, I should rather say, fancifully, and with
studied regard to effect. While I was wondering at this, and seeking in
my own mind for its explanation, I was interrupted in my thoughts by
Macer.
'Thanks to Aurelian, Piso, we are able, though poor, as you see, and
dwelling in these almost subterranean vaults, to live above the fear of
absolute want. But especially are we indebted for many of our comforts,
and for such luxury as this flask of Massican, to my partly gentile
daughter, Ælia, whom you behold moving among us, as if by her attire she
were not of us--but Cicer's heart is not truer--and who will, despite
her faith and her father's bidding, dance and sing for the merriment of
these idolaters. Never before, I believe, had Christian preacher a
dancing-girl for a daughter.'
A deep blush passed over the features of the daughter as she answered,
'But, father, you know that in my judgment--and whose in this matter is
so to be trusted?--I am in no way injured by my art, and it adds
somewhat to the common stock. I see not why I need be any the less a
Christian, because I dance; especially, as with me, it is but one of the
forms of labor. Were it forbidden by our faith, or could it be shown to
be to me an evil, I would cease. But most sure I am it is neither. Let
me now appeal to Probus for my justification, and to Piso.'
'Doubtless,' said Probus, 'those Christians are right who abstain from
the theatres, the amphitheatres, the circuses, and from the places of
public amusement where sights and sounds meet ear and eye such as the
pure should never hear or see, and such as none can hear or see and
maintain their purity. The soul is damaged in spite of herself. But for
these arts of music and dancing, practised for the harmless
entertainment of those who feast their friends,--where alone I warrant
Ælia is found--who can doubt that she is right? Were not the reception
of the religion of Christ compatible with indulgence in innocent
amusement, or the practice of harmless arts such as these, few, I fear,
would receive it. Christianity condemns many things, which, by Pagans,
are held to be allowable, but not everything.'
'Willingly would I abandon my art,' said Ælia,' did I perceive it to
injure the soul; or could I in other ways buy bread for our household.
So dearly do I prize this new-found faith, that for its sake, were it to
be retained in no other way, would I relinquish it, and sink into the
deeper poverty that would then be ours, or drudge at some humbler toil.'
'Do it, do it, Ælia,' said Macer; 'and the Lord will love thee all the
more. 'Tis the only spot on thy white and glistering robes. The Lord
loves not more than I to see thee wheeling and waving to and fro, to
supply mirth to those, who, mayhap, would crucify thee the next hour, as
others crucified thy master.'
Tears fell from the eyes of the fair girl as she answered,
'Father, it shall be as you wish. Not willingly, but by constraint, have
I labored as I have. God will not forsake us, and will, I cannot doubt,
open some new path of labor for me--if indeed the disorders of the times
do not first scatter or destroy us.'
I here said to Macer and his daughter, that there need be no hesitation
about abandoning the employment in question, from any doubt concerning a
future occupation; if Ælia would but accompany her mother, when next she
went to visit Julia, I could assure her of obtaining there all she could
desire.
At this the little boy, whom Macer held, clapped his hands and cried out
with joy--'Ah! then will Ælia be always with us and go away no more;'
and flying to his sister was caught by her in her arms.
The joy diffused throughout the little circle at this news was great.
All were glad that Ælia was to dance and sing no more, for all wished
her at home, and her profession had kept her absent almost every day.
The table was now spread, and we sat down to the frugal repast, Macer
first offering a prayer to God.
'It is singular,' said he, when we were seated,'that in my Heathen
estate, I ever asked the blessing of the gods before I ate. Nay, and
notwithstanding the abominations of my life, was often within the
temples a worshipper. I verily believe there are many Christians who
pray less than the Heathen, and less after they become Christian than
before.'