N20568:752
The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being…
The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of martyrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].The new and complete book of martyrs; or, An universal history of martyrdom: being Fox's Book of marytrs, revised and corrected, with additions and great improvements. : Containing an authentic account of the lives, persecutions and sufferings of the holy martyrs; and the many dreadful persecutions against the Church of Christ in all parts of the world, by pagans, Jews, Turks, papists, and others, from earliest ages of the church to the present period. ... The whole forming at once a general Christian martyrology, and a complete history of persecutions. / By the Rev. Mr. John Fox, M.A. late of Magdalen College, Oxford. ; Now revised, corrected and improved, with many additional articles, relating to the acts and monuments of the church. By Paul Wright, D.D. ; Embellished with forty elegant copper plate engravings. ; In two volumes. Vol. I[-II].
New-York: printed by William Durell, 1794
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Volume 1 › Chapter 3 › An Account of the Persecution under JULIAN the Apostate.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
THE emperor, Julian the apostate, died of a wound which he received in his Persian expedition, A. D. 363, and even while expiring, uttered the most horrid blasphemies. He was succeeded by Jovian, who restored peace to the church.
AFTER the decease of Jovian, Valentinian succeeded to the empire, and associated to himself Valens, who had the command in the east.
VALENS was a great favourer of Arianism, and so incensed against the christians, that he ordered, on a certain day, all of them in Edessa to be slain, while they were at their devotions in their churches. The officers, however, being more compassionate than the emperor, privately gave notice to the christians not to assemble on the day appointed, so that they might escape death, and themselves be excused for non-performance of duty.
THE christians thanked the officers for their advice, but disregarded both that, and the emperor's menaces, sooner than they would neglect their duty. They accordingly repaired to church, and the troops being compelled, by the positiveness of the command, were put in motion to destroy them. As they marched along, a woman, with a child in her arms, broke through the ranks, when the officer ordered her to be brought before him, and asked her whither she was going? She replied, to church, whther others were making all the haste they could. "Have you not heard (says the officer) of the emperor's order, to put to death all who are found there?" I have, said she, and for that cause I make the more haste. And whither, said the officer, do you lead that child? I take him, replied she, with me, that he also may be reckoned in the number of the martyrs." Upon this the humane officer returned to the emperor, and told him, that all the christians were prepared to die in defence of their faith, and represented to him how rash it would be to murder so great a multitude, and entreated the emperor to drop the design, at least for the present, which he at length complied with.