Exhortation to Martyrdom
Exhortatio ad martyrium
Opening address to Ambrose and Protoctetus§Preface
Preface"Those weaned from milk, drawn from the breast: affliction upon affliction expect; hope upon hope expect; yet a little, yet a little — through contempt of lips, through another tongue." (Isaiah 28:9–11) And you, then — after Isaiah — as no longer carnal nor babes 'in Christ,' advanced 'in' your intelligible 'stature,' most godly Ambrose and most pious Protoctetus, no longer 'having need of milk' but of 'solid food' — hear, as 'weaned from milk' and 'drawn from the breast,' in what way, as for weaned athletes, no simple affliction but an 'affliction upon affliction' is prophesied. He who does not push away the affliction 'upon affliction,' but as a noble athlete 'expects' it, straightway expects 'hope upon hope' too — which, after a little of the affliction 'upon affliction,' he shall enjoy. For such is the 'yet a little, yet a little.' (1 Corinthians 3:1) (Hebrews 5:12) (Luke 2:52)
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Do not be ashamed of Christ before the nations§1
1But even if they cheapen and disparage us — strangers to the dialect of holy Scripture calling us impious or fools — let us remember that our hope 'in hope,' to be rendered us 'in a little while,' shall be rendered 'through contempt of lips, through another tongue.' (Isaiah 28:11) And who would not expect 'affliction upon affliction,' to straightway expect 'hope upon hope' too — reckoning with Paul that 'the sufferings of this present time are not worthy' (Romans 8:18) — by which we as it were buy blessedness — 'toward the coming glory to be revealed unto us' (Romans 8:18) by God? Especially since 'the present light of our affliction' — 'light' to those weighed down by encompassing things, both being and called so — the more surpassingly it exceeds, works for us the greater, fuller weight of eternal glory: if, in the season of the afflicters, who wish as it were to press our souls, we turn our ruling faculty away from the toilsome things, and look not at the present toils but at what, through endurance in them, lies stored for those who lawfully contended in Christ — by God's grace, who multiplies benefactions beyond the worth of the contender's labors, granting so much as befits the greatly-giving God to give — who does not haggle, and knowingly magnifies his own graces upon those who, with all power, by despising the earthen vessel, displayed whole-souled love toward him.
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Loving God with the whole soul§2
2With whole soul, I think, God is loved by those who tear and rend her, through great eagerness to commune with God, not only from this 'corpse' of a body but from every body — for whom laying aside 'the body' 'of humiliation' happens without even distraction or any dragging, when occasion gives, through deemed death, to strip off 'the body of death' and be heard praying apostolically, saying: 'Wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' (Romans 7:24) For who of those groaning 'in the tent,' weighed down by the corruptible body, will not also give thanks, first saying 'Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?' (Romans 7:24–25) — seeing that, through converse, delivered 'from the body of death,' he shall holily utter the 'Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord'? But if this seems hard to anyone, he has not 'thirsted toward' God the strong, 'the living,' nor longed for God as the hind longs 'for the springs of waters' (Psalm 42:2–5); nor said, 'When shall I come and appear before God's face?'; nor reckoned with himself what the prophet, reckoning — when 'Where is thy God?' was said to him 'daily' — poured 'his soul' over himself, rebuking her if ever she became faint through weakness and troubled, and saying: 'I shall pass through to the place of the wondrous tent, unto God's house, with voice of exultation and confession, the sound of feasting.' (Psalms 42:4)
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Remember the contest set before you§3
3I prayed, then, that you, through the whole present contest, remembering the great reward laid up in the heavens for the persecuted and reproached 'for righteousness' and for the Son of Man, may rejoice and exult and leap — as the apostles once rejoiced, 'counted worthy to be dishonored for his name.' (Matthew 5:10–12) And if ever you perceive a shrinking about your soul, let the mind of Christ in us say to her, who wills, so far as she can, to confound him too: 'Why art thou downcast, O soul? And why troublest thou me? Hope in God, for I shall confess to him.' (Psalm 42:5) And again — would that the soul be nowise troubled, but even before the tribunals and bare swords borne against the neck be guarded by God's peace that surpasses 'all mind,' and calm, reckoning that those absent 'from the body' go home to the Lord of all himself! But if we are not so great as to keep untroubled always — though the soul's trouble be not poured out nor shown to outsiders, that we may have room for defense before God, saying to him, 'My God, my soul is troubled toward myself.' (Psalm 42:5–6,11) The word also urges us to remember what stands thus in Isaiah: 'Fear not men's reproach, and by their contempt be not defeated.' For it is plainly absurd — with God manifestly present in heaven's motion and all therein, and in the works wrought on earth and sea by his divine craft, in all kinds of animals' and plants' births and constitutions and foods and growths — to wink and not see God, but turn the eyes to fear those who in a little shall die and be handed to their deserved judgment (Philippians 4:7) (2 Corinthians 5:8) (Isaiah 51:7–8).
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Noble contests and manful deaths§4
4Many have contended nobly for what is fitting, and some died manfully with courage, keeping their purpose for the common Master; the lovers of wisdom cared for prudence in the words to be examined, and the righteous gave themselves to righteousness, purposing to live justly. Against every virtue wars either 'the mind of the flesh,' or, more often, outward things. But for godliness alone wars the 'choice' 'race, the royal priesthood, the holy nation, the people for possession.' (1 Peter 2:9) The rest of men show, short of seeming, that — if things antagonistic to the godly exist — they purpose to die for godliness, preferring death with godliness to life with ungodliness. And each who wishes to be of the choice race is persuaded to hear God saying in every season — even when those who, on pretext of being polytheists, are atheists, plot against him — the 'Thou shalt have no other gods beside me,' (Exodus 20:3) and the 'The name of other gods you shall not remember in your hearts, nor be named from your mouth.' (Exodus 23:13) That is why God is 'believed in the heart' by such 'unto righteousness,' and 'confessed with the mouth' by such 'unto salvation' — who grasp that neither shall they be justified unless they so believe God with their heart so disposed, nor be in salvation unless, as the disposition is, so too the word. For they deceive themselves who think the 'for with the heart is believed unto righteousness' (Romans 10:10) suffices toward obtaining an end in Christ — even if the 'but with the mouth confession is made unto salvation' be not added. One might even say it is rather honoring with lips, with the heart 'far' from God, than honoring him 'with the heart,' when the mouth confesses not 'unto salvation.'
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Deny yourselves and take up the cross§5
5If he who says 'Thou shalt make thee no idol nor any likeness,' (Exodus 20:4–5) and what follows — wherein the 'thou shalt not worship them' differs from the 'nor shalt thou serve them' — says this, might not one disposed toward idols serve them, while one not disposed but, through cowardice — which he calls compliance — playing the hypocrite toward them to seem godly like the many, serve not but worship the idols? I would say those who on the tribunal deny Christianity, or before the tribunal, serve not but worship the idols — taking the name of the Lord God, 'God,' in vain upon soulless matter. So too the profaned people worshiped but served not idols, 'unto the daughters of Moab.' For it stands written in these very words that they called them to the sacrifices of their idols, and the people ate of their sacrifices, 'and worshiped their idols, and were joined to Belphegor.' (Numbers 25:1–3) And observe that it is not said 'and served their idols' — for it was not possible, under one season's moment, with such signs and wonders, to be persuaded by the women with whom they fornicated to deem the idols gods. Perhaps so too at the calf-making in Exodus they 'worshiped,' not serving the calf they saw coming to be.
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Idolatry and the confession of the one God§6
6We must deem the standing trial to have become a proof and testing-place of our love toward the Divine. For 'the Lord shall tempt you,' as written in Deuteronomy, 'to know whether you love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul.' (Deuteronomy 13:3–4) But you, being tempted, 'shall go after the Lord your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments' (Deuteronomy 13:4) — especially the 'Thou shalt have no other gods beside me' — 'and hear his voice, and be added to him': with him taking you from the places here, and adding you to himself, 'unto,' as the Apostle named it, 'the increase of God' in him.
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Every evil word is an abomination to the Lord§7
7And if 'every evil word is an abomination to the Lord' thy God, how great an abomination must the evil word of denial be deemed, and the evil word of proclaiming another god, and the evil oath — by man's fortune, a thing without substance? When it is set before us, remember him who taught the 'But I say to you, swear not at all.' (Matthew 5:34) For if he who swears by heaven 'slights the throne of God,' (Matthew 5:34) and he who swears by earth impiously deifies what is called 'the footstool of God's feet,' and he who swears by Jerusalem sins — though it is a city of the great King — and he who swears by his own head offends: how great a sin must swearing by someone's fortune be deemed? Remember then too the 'for every idle word you shall give account in the day of judgment.' (Matthew 12:36) For what other word is so idle as the word in denial? But the enemy will likely wish to outwit us, by whatever means, toward worshiping 'the sun or the moon or all the order from heaven.' (Deuteronomy 17:3) But we shall say that God's Word commanded not these. For in no way must creatures be worshiped, with the Creator present, who endures and cries toward the prayer of all. Nor would the sun itself wish to be worshiped by those of God's portion — likely not by anyone else either — but imitating him who said, 'Why callest thou me good? None is good but one, God, the Father,' (Mark 10:18) it will as it were say to one willing to worship it: 'Why callest thou me God? One is the true God. And why worshipest thou me? For the Lord thy God shalt thou worship, and him only shalt thou serve. I too am generated. Why wilt thou worship the worshiper? For I too worship and serve God and the Father, and, obeying his commands, 'by vanity' I am subjected 'through him who subjected, in hope' — and I shall be freed 'from the slavery of corruption,' now myself bound in a corruptible body, 'into the freedom of the glory of God's children.'
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Martyrdom as a second baptism§8
8We must expect impiety's prophet too — perhaps not one but more — speaking to us as the Lord's 'word' what the Lord 'commanded not,' or a wisdom-word foreign to wisdom, to kill us with his mouth's word. But even then, when the sinner stands against us, let us say: 'But I as one deaf heard not, and as one dumb who opens not his mouth. And I became as a man who hears not.' For deafness toward impious words is fair, when we despair of correcting those who say the worse (Psalm 38:13-14).
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Blood and sacrifice of the martyrs§9
9Useful for us to consider, in seasons of provocations to the contrary, what God, wishing to teach, means when he says the 'I am the Lord thy God, jealous.' (Exodus 20:5) I suppose that, as a bridegroom turns the bride toward living chastely — gathering her whole self to the bridegroom, guarding in every way against pouring toward another —... [soul proclaiming another god, not confessing the truly one and only Lord]. And I suppose that, as 'he who is joined to a harlot is one body,' (1 Corinthians 6:16) so he who confesses someone — especially in the season of torture and examination of faith — is mingled and united with the confessed; while he who denies, by denial itself, as by a dividing sword, suffers division from him whom he denies, severed from him whom he denied. Therefore consider: lest, as consequent and necessary — to the confessor, to be confessed; to the denier, to be denied — was said the 'Whoever shall confess in me before men, I too shall confess in him before my Father in the heavens.' (Matthew 10:32) And the Logos himself, the Truth itself, might say to confessor and denier: 'With what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you.' (Luke 6:38) Thou, then, who measured with the measure of confession toward me, and filled the measure of confession, shalt receive the measure of confession from me, 'shaken, pressed, overflowing' — which shall be given 'into thy bosom.' And thou who measured with the measure of denial, denying me, shalt receive the measure answering thy denial's measure: denial of thee by me.
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Sharing Christ’s cup§10
10How a measure of confession is filled — or not filled but lacking — we may thus consider. If through the whole time of examination and trial we give no place to the devil in our hearts — who wishes to stain us with evil reasonings of denial, or double-mindedness, or any plausibility provoking toward things hostile to martyrdom and perfection — and if, besides, we stain not ourselves with any word foreign to confession, and bear all reproach and mockery and laughter and ill-fame and pity from our opponents — who deem us pitiable, supposing us deceived and foolish, calling us erring — and if we be not dragged, tugged by affection for children or their mother or any deemed dearest in life, toward possession or toward this living — but, turning from all these, become wholly God's, and of the life with him and beside him, as to share with his Only-begotten and his sharers: then may we say we filled the measure of confession. But if in even one thing we fall short, we filled it not but stained confession's measure, mixing something foreign with it. Therefore we shall need what those need who built upon the foundation 'wood' or 'hay' or 'straw.' (1 Corinthians 3:12)
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Covenants and the terms we made with God§11
11We must also know this: that we received God's so-called covenants upon compacts we made with him, undertaking to live according to Christianity. And in our compacts with God was the whole conduct after the Gospel, saying: 'If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever will save his soul shall lose it; but whoever shall lose his soul for my sake shall save it.' (Matthew 16:24–27) Often we grew more inspired hearing also the 'For what shall a man profit, if he gain the whole world but lose his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man shall come in his Father's glory with his angels, and then he shall render to each according to his deed.' That one must deny himself, take up his own cross, and follow Jesus, not Matthew alone — whose wording we set out — recorded, but Luke and Mark too. Hear Luke saying: 'And he said to all: If anyone will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever will save his soul shall lose it; but whoever shall lose his soul for my sake shall save it. For what is a man profited, gaining the whole world but losing or forfeiting himself?' (Luke 9:23–25) And Mark: 'And calling the crowd with his disciples, he said to them: If anyone will follow after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever will save his own soul shall lose it; but whoever shall lose for the Gospel's sake shall save it. And what shall it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?' Long since, then, we owed to deny ourselves and say the 'No longer I.' Now let it appear whether, taking up our cross, we followed Jesus — which came to be, if 'Christ in us,' if we will to save our soul, that we may receive it back, better than soul(?) — and lose it by martyrdom. For if we lose it for Christ's sake, casting it upon him in death through him, we shall procure it true salvation. But if the contrary, we shall hear that he who gained the whole sensible world profits nothing, through his own destruction or being forfeited himself. Once one loses his soul or forfeits it — though he gain the whole world — he cannot give it in 'exchange' for the perishing 'soul.' For what is fashioned 'after God's image' is more precious than all bodies. One alone could give an exchange for our formerly perishing soul: he who bought us with his own 'precious blood.' (Mark 8:34–37) (Galatians 2:20) (1 Peter 1:18–19)
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Isaiah’s deeper words on suffering§12
12But by deeper words, Isaiah says: 'I gave Egypt and Ethiopia and Syene as thy exchange; since thou becamest precious before me.' (Isaiah 43:3–4) The exact word concerning this and the rest — if, loving learning in Christ, and wishing already to surpass learning 'through a mirror' and 'in a riddle,' you hasten to him who called — you shall know not yet 'face to face,' as friends of the heavenly Father and Teacher. For friends learn in form, not through riddles — with bare wisdom, apart from voices and words and symbols and types — assailing the nature of intelligibles and beauty of truth. If you believe Paul was 'caught up to the third heaven,' (2 Corinthians 12:2) 'caught up into Paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which a man may not speak' (2 Corinthians 12:4) — you shall consistently know that, of the unspeakable words then revealed to Paul — after which he came down from the third heaven — you shall know more and greater straightway, without coming down after knowledge: if, taking up the cross, you follow after Jesus, whom we have as 'great High Priest, passed through the heavens.' (Hebrews 4:14) And yourselves, not departing from behind him, shall pass through the heavens — surpassing not only earth and earth's mysteries but heavens and theirs. For stored with God are far greater spectacles than these, which no nature in a body — unless first freed from all body — can hold. I am persuaded that what sun and moon and the star-choir saw — and holy angels, whom God made 'spirit' 'and a flame of fire' (Psalm 104:4) —....
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Pre-martyrs and greater witness§13
13And furthermore, if one of the pre-martyrs — having more than many martyrs the love of learning in Christ — shall ascend the sooner: to thee, priest Ambrose, looking intently, the Gospel voice shows how either none ever, or very few, shall attain so choice and fuller a blessedness — in which thou too shalt be, if thou swim the contest undoubting (Matthew 19:28).
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Leaving father and mother for Christ§14
14As Peter once said to the Savior, 'Behold, we left all and followed thee; what then shall we have?' (Matthew 19:27–29) And Jesus said to them — plainly to the apostles — 'Amen, I say to you: you who followed me, in the regeneration, when God sits on his throne of glory, you too shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who left brothers or sisters or parents or children or fields or houses for my name's sake shall receive manifold, and inherit eternal life.' For the sake of these words, I would have prayed — possessing on earth as much as you, Ambrose, and more — to become a witness in Christ God, to 'receive manifold' — or as Mark says, 'hundredfold.' For a hundredfold is far more than the few we leave, if we go to martyrdom, with them hundredfolded. For this, if I bear witness, I wished to leave children too, with fields and houses — that with God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, 'from whom every family in the heavens and on earth is named,' (Ephesians 3:15) I might be called father of manifold, holier children — or, to speak boundedly, hundredfold ones. And if there are fathers of whom it was said to Abraham, 'But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, nursed in a good old age' (Genesis 15:15) — one might say (I know not if truly) that those fathers perhaps once bore witness, leaving children — for which they became fathers of fathers: of the patriarch Abraham and other such patriarchs. For likely those who left children and bore witness become fathers not of babes but of fathers (Ephesians 3:15).
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Rich and poor in the contest of martyrdom§15
15But if anyone, harshly emulating greater gifts and blessing rich witnesses and father-witnesses who shall beget hundredfold children and receive hundredfold fields and houses, asks whether those, beyond the poor witnesses in life, shall have their intelligible possession multiplied — say to him that, as those who endured tortures and pains showed their virtue in witness brighter than the unexamined in these, so those who, besides loving body and loving life, cut and rent asunder so many worldly bonds — using great love toward God, truly taking up the living Word of God, operative, 'sharper than every two-edged sword' (Hebrews 4:12) — could, cutting so many bonds and furnishing themselves wings as an eagle, return 'unto the house of their ruler.' (Proverbs 23:5) Worthy, then — as to the unexamined in tortures and pains first place is yielded to those who in joint-wrenching racks and varied torments and fire displayed endurance — so the word suggests we poor, though we bear witness, yield first place to you, who through love in Christ toward God trample deceptive glory, hunted by many, and so great possession, and affection for children.
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Fear not those who kill the body§16
16Together, keep the holy multiplication Scripture promises — of brothers and children and parents and fields and houses. But wife is not counted with these. For it is not said, 'Everyone who left brothers or sisters or parents or children or fields or houses or wife for my name's sake shall receive manifold.' 'For in the resurrection of the dead they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels in the heavens.' (Matthew 19:29) (Matthew 22:30)
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Confessing before men§17
17What Jesus said, then, settling the people on the holy land, Scripture might now say to us. The wording runs: 'Now fear the Lord, and serve him in uprightness and righteousness.' (Joshua 24:14–18) And to us, persuaded to commit idolatry, it will say this and what follows, running thus: 'Put away the strange gods your fathers served beyond the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.' (Joshua 24:14) At the beginning, when you were about to be catechized, it would rightly have been said to you: 'But if it please you not to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you shall serve — whether the gods of your fathers beyond the river, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell.' And your catechist would have said to you, 'But I and my house shall serve the Lord, for he is holy.' Now these have no place being said to you. For then you said, 'Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods. The Lord our God himself is God, who brought us and our fathers up from Egypt, and kept us in all the way we walked in.' But in the godliness compacts too, you answered your catechists of old with this: 'We too shall serve the Lord; for this is our God.' If, then, he who transgresses compacts with men is a truce-breaker, foreign to salvation — what of those who, by denying, annul the compacts they made with God, running back to Satan, whom at baptism they renounced? To such must be said the words Eli spoke to his sons: 'If a man sinning sin against a man, they shall pray for him; but if he sin against the Lord, who shall pray for him?'
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We are a spectacle to the world§18
18But since our contest is a spectacle to the world — 'for we are made a theater to the world and angels and men' (1 Corinthians 4:9) — let us consider who beholds: God the president, angels clapping as rivers clap with hands, saints rejoicing. Hades too below stirs, saying to the denier: 'Hades below was embittered meeting thee; all the giants rose to thee.' (Isaiah 14:9) Choose then before whom to contend nobly: before God and angels unto glory, or before Hades unto shame. 'He who loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.' (Matthew 10:37) And Elijah's word stands: 'How long halt ye on both hams? If the Lord be God, go after him; but if Baal, go after him.' (1 Kings 18:21)
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Sheep for the slaughter§19
19Likely we shall be reproached too, and hear: 'Where is your God? You suffer, you are tortured, you die — where is the help from him?' But the Psalms taught us beforehand to bear reproach: 'Thou madest us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision to them about us.' (Psalm 44:13) We have not forgotten thee, nor dealt unrighteously in thy covenant; our heart turned not back. For reproach for Christ's sake is glory: 'If ye be reproached for Christ, blessed are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you.' (Psalm 44:13)
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Reckoned as sheep in this life§20
20In this life we are reckoned as sheep — 'we are reckoned as sheep of slaughter' (Psalm 44:21–22) — who know the secrets of the heart. If we spread our hands to a strange god, God who searches hearts shall find it out. But stretching hands to him in confession, we are sent as sheep in wolves' midst, and the wolves cannot devour whom the Shepherd keeps. 'Son, honor the Lord, and thou shalt be strong' (Proverbs 7:1) — honoring him by confession unto death.
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The secret martyrdom of daily death§21
21But not the open martyrdom alone: secretly too the soul is crowned that denies itself through love toward God. 'The testimony of our conscience' (2 Corinthians 1:12) — this too is martyrdom before God, who 'knoweth the secrets of the heart.' (Psalm 44:21) For 'for thy sake we are killed all the day' (2 Corinthians 1:12) — the daily death of the self-denied. Blessed then are the pure in conscience, whether before tribunals or in secret, for God seeth in secret and rewardeth.
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The dead better than the living — Eleazar§22
22'Better are the dead than the living,' (Ecclesiastes 4:2) says Qoheleth — that we may not fear death but desire it when the confession calls. Eleazar the aged scribe would not even pretend to eat swine's flesh: spitting it out, he went willingly to the rack, 'leaving the young a noble example, willingly and manfully to die a good death for the revered and holy laws.' (2 Maccabees 6:18–31) So we too, refusing base compliance, shall leave children and brethren an example worth more than life.
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The seven brothers and their mother§23
23After Eleazar, the seven brethren with their mother. The first, spokesman, said: 'What wilt thou ask and learn from us? We are ready to die rather than transgress our fathers' (2 Maccabees 7:2–6) laws.' Set in the pan and fried, yet breathing, he exhorted the rest to look to God's all-seeing eye and to the president of the contest, who strengthens the willing, and died praying them to manful endurance.
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Tried as gold in the furnace§24
24The second, his skin with the hair torn off, cried with his last breath: 'Thou, miscreant, releasest us from this present life; but the King of the world shall raise us, who died for his laws, unto eternal reviving of life.' (2 Maccabees 7:7–9) Avenging spirit, learn that tortures loose the body but bind the tortured unto judgment.
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The mother’s courage§25
25The third held out tongue and hands undaunted: 'These I had from heaven, and for his laws I despise them, and from him I hope to receive them back.' (2 Maccabees 7:10–11) O noble exchange — members lent for a little, to be received incorruptible!
The fourth: 'It is good, being put to death by men, to wait for hope from God, to be raised by him; for as for thee, there shall be no resurrection unto life.' (2 Maccabees 7:14–19) The fifth: 'Thou hast authority among men, being mortal; do what thou wilt. But think not our nation forsaken by God: abide a little and see his great power, how he will torment thee and thy seed.' (2 Maccabees 7:10–19) The sixth: 'Deceive not thyself vainly; we suffer for our own sins against our God — yet think not thou shalt go unpunished, who fightest against those made godlike by the Word.'
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Creation from nothing confessed§26
26Last the youngest, with his mother. The tyrant promised riches and friendship, and bade the mother persuade her son to live. She in the fathers' tongue: 'My son, pity me, who bore thee nine months, nursed thee three years, reared thee; look on heaven and earth and all in them, and know God made them not from things that are — so too mankind comes to be. Fear not this tormentor, but, worthy of thy brethren, accept death, that in mercy I may receive thee with them.' (2 Maccabees 7:20–31) He answered: 'For whom wait ye? I obey not the king's command, but the law given through Moses. And thou, contriver of all evil against the Hebrews, shalt not escape God's hands.' So the seven with their mother were perfected, and the tyrant learned godliness is unconquered.
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The mother’s dew of piety§27
27What dew of piety fell on that mother, who saw seven sons perfected in one day and stood nobly! 'My strength and my hymn is the Lord, and he is become my salvation.' (Exodus 15:2) And 'I can all things in him who strengtheneth me.' (Philippians 4:13) By divine power she exhorted in a tongue the tyrant understood not, and nursed seven martyrs unto heaven in a single day.
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What shall I render — the cup of salvation§28
28'What shall I render to the Lord for all he rendered to me? The cup of salvation I will take, and call on the Lord's name.' The 'cup of salvation' in the Psalms is the martyr's death — which is why 'I will take the cup of salvation' is followed by 'Precious before the Lord is the death of his holy ones.' Precious then comes death to us, God's holy ones — not the common, as it were idle death of godliness, but a choice one: through Christianity and godliness and holiness. 'Can ye drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?' (Mark 10:38) And elsewhere: 'I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!' (Luke 12:50) Consider whether the baptism after martyrdom, as the Savior's cleansing came to be for the world, itself comes to be for many unto healing. For as those who served the Mosaic altar were deemed to minister forgiveness of sins through blood of goats and bulls, so the souls of the beheaded for Jesus' testimony, not idly attending the heavenly altar, minister to prayers forgiveness of sins. And as Jesus Christ the High Priest offered himself a sacrifice, so the priests whose High Priest he is offer themselves a sacrifice — seen by their own place at the altar. But of priests, the blameless offering blameless sacrifices healed the Divine; those stained with blemishes, which Moses recorded in Leviticus, were fenced from the altar. Who is the blameless priest offering a blameless victim but he who holds the confession and fills every number the martyrdom-word requires (Psalm 116:12–15)?
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The Savior’s cup and courage§29
29But likely someone, through the 'Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me,' (Matthew 26:39) will deem the Savior cowardly concerning death. To whom we must say that, if all Scripture is one instrument of one God, the same Lord who says 'let this cup pass' also says in the Psalms, 'The Lord is my light and my savior; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the defender of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? When evildoers drew near to eat my flesh, my tormentors and enemies fainted and fell. Though a camp stand against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise against me, in this I hope.' (Psalm 27:1-3) And Matthew, Mark, Luke record the Gethsemane words diversely: 'let this pass from me' / 'bear away' / 'Abba, Father, all things are possible to thee; bear away this cup from me' (Mark 14:36) — and all add 'but not as I will.' See then whether you can say: since every martyrdom accomplishing an exodus is called a cup, he declined not the genus of martyrdom who said 'let this cup pass from me' (Matthew 26:39) (for he said 'let this pass,' not 'let the cup pass') but perhaps this kind. Consider the Savior beholding the kinds, so to call them, of cups, and what comes through each, and grasping with deepest wisdom the differences — declining this kind of exodus-martyrdom and secretly asking another, heavier, that a more universal benefit reaching more may be accomplished through another cup: which was not yet the Father's will to come to be — the Father dispensing more wisely than the Son's wish and than what the Savior saw in way and order. Clearly in the Psalms the 'salvation' 'cup' is the martyrs' death.
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Martyrdom-baptism and forgiveness§30
30Is forgiveness of sins to be had without baptism? And when, by Gospel laws, to be baptized again with water and Spirit unto forgiveness? Baptism to us is given: that of martyrdom — so it is named, as plain from 'Can ye drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?' (Mark 10:38) and 'I have a baptism to be baptized with.' (Luke 12:50)
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Winter before the Song’s spring§31
31Let us not marvel if the martyrs' blessedness — to come in deep peace and calm and fair weather — must begin from something gloomier and, so to call it, wintry. First the narrow and afflicted road must be walked in winter, displaying the helmsmanship of the blessed each gained — that afterwards may come what in the Song of Songs is said to the bride who swam through winter: 'He answers, my kinsman says to me: Rise, come, my neighbor, my fair one, my dove. For lo, winter passed, the rain went, went its way.' And you still remember: no hearing 'winter passed' unless the present winter be warred robustly. After winter passes and rain departs, 'flowers shall appear' (Song of Solomon 2:12) — for 'planted in the Lord's house, in our God's courts they shall blossom.' And know this: persuaded by Jesus to leave idols and polytheist atheism, the enemy cannot persuade us to idolatry but wills to force us — working on whom he gets authority such things as to make the tempted either martyrs or idolaters. Often even now he says, 'All these will I give thee, if falling thou worship me.' Let us beware lest we idolatrize and subject ourselves to demons — for 'the idols of the nations are demons.' What a thing, leaving Christ's kindly yoke and 'light burden,' to subject oneself again to demons' (Matthew 11:30) yoke and bear heaviest sin's burden — after knowing 'ash is the heart' of idol-servers and 'their life viler than clay,' (Wisdom 15:10) and saying 'lies did our fathers gain, idols, and in them is no rain.'
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Nebuchadnezzar’s image and the three youths§32
32Not long ago alone Nebuchadnezzar set up the golden image, nor then alone threatened Ananias, Azarias, Misael — if they worship not — to cast them 'into the furnace of fire'; but even now Nebuchadnezzar says the same to us, true Hebrews in testing. Let us, that heavenly dew be assayed quenching all fire from us and cooling our ruling faculty, imitate those saints — lest even now Haman will the Mordecais, you, to worship him. But you, say: 'I will not set glory of men above glory of God.'
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Refuse every creature besides the Creator§33
33Not only images of gold and silver must we refuse, but every creature besides the Creator: sun and moon and stars, and Bel the Babylonians' idol, and the dragon — which Daniel refused, though commanded by the king to worship. 'I worship nothing,' he said, 'but the Lord my God.' And Job's word: 'If seeing the sun shining, or the moon full, my heart secretly rejoiced, and I kissed my hand to them' (Job 31:26–28) — reckoning star-worship as denial. So we: though the persecutor point to sun, moon, host of heaven, or Bel, or dragon, or emperor's image — we worship the Lord alone.
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Promises of martyrdom to the apostles§34
34Observe further: the prophecies and promises concerning martyrdom were said to the apostles alone. Hear Matthew: 'Behold, I send you as sheep in wolves' (Matthew 10:16–23,28–33) midst. Be wise as serpents, guileless as doves. Beware of men: they shall hand you to councils, and scourge you in synagogues; and before governors and kings shall ye be brought for my sake, for testimony to them and the nations. But when they hand you, be not anxious how or what ye speak: it shall be given you in that hour what ye speak. For not ye speak, but your Father's Spirit speaks in you. Brother shall hand brother to death, and father child; children shall rise against parents and kill them. And ye shall be hated by all for my name: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. When they persecute you in this city, flee to another.' And Luke: 'Settle in your hearts not to practice apology: for I will give you mouth and wisdom, which all opposers cannot withstand or contradict. Ye shall be handed by parents and brethren and kin and friends, and kill some of you; and ye shall be hated by all for my name. And a hair of your head shall not perish. In your patience possess ye your souls.' (Luke 21:14–19) And Mark: 'Take heed to yourselves: they shall hand you to councils and synagogues; ye shall be beaten, and stand before governors and kings for my sake, for testimony to them. And to all nations must the Gospel first be preached. And when they lead handing you, be not anxious beforehand what ye speak; but what be given you in that hour, speak: for not ye speak, but the Holy Spirit. Brother shall hand brother to death, and father child; children shall rise against parents and kill them. And ye shall be hated by all for my name: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.' (Mark 13:9–13) Fear not then those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul: 'fear him who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.' (Matthew 10:28) Are not two sparrows sold for a penny, and one falls not without the Father? But even your head's hairs are all numbered. Whoever shall confess in me before men, I too shall confess in him before my Father in the heavens; but whoever shall deny me before men, I too shall deny him before my Father. For whoever shall be ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man too shall be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.' And Isaiah: 'Be my witnesses, and I witness, saith the Lord God, and the boy whom I chose, that ye may know and believe and understand that I am.' (Isaiah 43:10) To friends, not slaves, these are said — for 'no longer do I call you slaves, but friends.' (John 15:14–15)
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Confess Christ, God’s Firstborn and Image§35
35Who, reckoning such things, would not confess before men, that Christ, God's Firstborn and Image, may confess him before his Father? And who would not confess before the angels Christ the Son of Man — of David's seed, of Abraham's seed, born of woman — that, being approved, he may be commended as confessor? For gold is proved in the furnace, and acceptable men in the furnace of humiliation. But who, fearing men, denies — denies the Son of Man before men, and shall be denied before the angels (Luke 12:8–9) (Matthew 10:32–33).
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Not denying — to Ambrose and Protoctetus§36
36And not only toward not denying does this profit, Ambrose — priest bearing Christ's cross, with Protoctetus — but toward filling up what lacks of Christ's afflictions in the flesh, for his body the church. For as the cherubim with flaming sword guarding Paradise's road are passed by none unworthy, but admit the worthy through confession's fire — the denial-wood burning away — so, treading the serpent under feet, given authority 'to tread on serpents and scorpions,' (Luke 10:19) the martyr enters Paradise, whence Adam fell, and finds the tree of life (Genesis 3:24) (Luke 10:19).
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Jesus endured the cross, despising shame§37
37Despising shame, Jesus endured the cross — 'who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising shame.' (Hebrews 12:2) Let us too despise the shame of men. For he brings not peace but a sword — dividing son from father, daughter from mother — that the Word, sharper than any two-edged sword, may divide in us the earthy image from the heavenly, soul from spirit, joints from marrow. 'I came to cast fire on the earth — and how I wish it were kindled! I have a baptism to be baptized with.' (Luke 12:49-50) Hate then father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters — yea, and one's own soul too — hating lawfully what hinders godliness: a good hatred, that perfect love may remain toward God alone (Hebrews 4:12) (Luke 12:49–50) (Luke 14:26) (John 12:25).
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Take thought for the sons of the slain§38
38'Take thought for the sons of the slain' — for your seed, Ambrose, shall be reckoned though slain with you: 'for not the children of the flesh are children of God, but the children of the promise are reckoned for seed.' (Romans 9:8) If you love son or daughter more than Christ, you are not worthy; but loving Christ more, you gain them too — for 'he who loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and he who loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And he who taketh not his cross and followeth me is not worthy of me. He that findeth his soul shall lose it; and he that loseth his soul for my sake shall find it.' (Matthew 10:37–39)
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The Spirit speaks through the willing§39
39Take pattern through preparation unto martyrdom: the Spirit speaks through the willing — 'for it is not ye that speak.' (Matthew 10:20) If the world hate you, know it hated Christ first; 'if ye were of the world, the world would love its own.' (John 15:18) 'He that endureth to the end shall be saved.' (Matthew 10:22) As gold proved in fire, our faith — 'much more precious than gold that perisheth, though proved by fire' (1 Peter 1:6–7) — shall be found unto praise at Christ's revelation. 'In pains thou shalt bring forth' (Genesis 3:16) — Eve's sentence turned: through birth-pangs of confession unto the new birth. Love not the world, nor things in the world — 'for all in the world, lust of flesh, lust of eyes, pride of life, is not of the Father.' (1 John 2:16) Be one, as Christ prayed 'that they all may be one' — one soul in the contest, washed by blood-baptism at the heavenly altar.
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Do not taste the demons’ table§40
40But if any, from much love of life, yield and taste the demons' table — 'ye cannot drink the Lord's cup and demons' cup; ye cannot share the Lord's table and demons' table' — remember Isaiah: 'Ye who forsake the Lord, who forget my holy mountain, who prepare a table for the demon and fill a fortune-cup' (Isaiah 65:11) — what portion awaits? 'Ye shall eat, but be hungry; drink, but thirst; my servants shall rejoice, but ye be ashamed.' (Isaiah 65:11–15) 'I am the vine' — drink the new wine with Christ in the Father's kingdom, not the fortune-cup with demons. 'He that denieth the Son hath neither the Father; he that confesseth the Son hath the Father also.' (Matthew 26:29) (1 John 2:22–23)
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Lay down our souls for the brothers§41
41'Herein we know love, that he laid down his soul for us; and we ought to lay down our souls for the brethren.' (1 John 3:16) And tribulation works patience, patience proof, proof hope — and hope confoundeth not. 'If after the manner of men I fought beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me?' (1 Corinthians 15:32) As Paul fought, so we — destroyed(?) in Germany(?) for the Gospel — shall conquer with Christ. For 'as the sufferings of Christ abound unto us, so through Christ aboundeth our comfort also.' (2 Corinthians 1:5)
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Christ’s sufferings and present comfort§42
42'As the sufferings of Christ abound, so our comfort.' (2 Corinthians 1:5–7) 'The present season is acceptable; behold, now the day of salvation.' (2 Corinthians 6:2) Triumph with Christ, who 'stripped principalities and authorities, triumphed over them.' (Colossians 2:15) Commend yourselves as God's ministers: 'in much patience, in afflictions, necessities, distresses, stripes, prisons, tumults, labors, watchings, fastings; in pureness, knowledge, longsuffering, kindness, holy spirit, love unfeigned, word of truth, power of God; through arms of righteousness right and left; through glory and dishonor, evil report and good' (2 Corinthians 6:3–10) — 'as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, not killed; as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, making many rich; as having nothing, possessing all.'
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Ministers approved in glory and dishonor§43
43Show knowledge by works — as ministers commended 'in glory and dishonor, as deceivers and true; as unknown and well known; as dying, and behold we live.' (2 Corinthians 6:4–10) Let no stumbling-block be given, that the ministry be not blamed, but in all things commending: through honor won by confession and dishonor borne from torturers, through good report of angels and evil report of men — deceivers in persecutors' eyes, true before God.
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Call to mind the former days§44
44Paul says to those beginning the contest: 'Call to mind the former days, in which, enlightened, ye endured a great contest of sufferings; partly made a gazing-stock by reproaches and afflictions, partly fellows of those so used. For ye both sympathized with the prisoners and took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing ye have for yourselves a better and abiding substance. Cast not away therefore your boldness, which hath great recompense. For ye have need of patience, that, doing God's will, ye may receive the promise.' You then, enlightened long ago, having endured the former contest — now perfect it by the latter, that, doing God's will through both, ye receive the promise (Hebrews 10:32–36).
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Idols are nothing — and still hostile§45
45Since some, not beholding the earthly intent of the hostile power's assault, suppose the idols nothing — hear: the demons, dwelling in earth's thick air, are fatted by sacrifice-smoke and blood, and by such food grow strong to deceive. 'He that sacrificeth to gods shall be uprooted' — save to the Lord alone. To sacrifice is to feed demons and subject oneself to them: 'the things the nations sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I would not ye have fellowship with demons.' (1 Corinthians 10:20) Flee then the demons' table, lest, fed by you, they boast to have overcome God's soldiers (Exodus 22:20).
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Names by nature, not by convention§46
46Names are by nature, not by convention: as 'mind' names what beholds intelligibles, and 'soul' what animates, so 'God' names the good Maker, and 'Zeus' names — if any bear it — no god at all, but a demon rejoicing in stolen honor. Know then whom you confess and whom you deny: confess by nature's names the true God, and deny the conventional lies. Lift mind toward intelligibles, casting off the corruptible body that weighs down the much-plotting mind — 'for the corruptible body weigheth down the soul, and the earthly tent presseth the much-plotting mind.' Freed, rest with Christ.
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The wise man who built on the rock§47
47Every one who heareth my words and doeth them shall be likened to a wise man who built his house on rock: rain fell, rivers came, winds blew and beat on that house — and it fell not, for it was founded on rock. And every one hearing and doing not shall be likened to a fool who built on sand: rain, rivers, winds — and it fell, and its fall was great. Rains and rivers and winds are the hostile powers assailing in persecution; the rock is Christ confessed, the sand denial's cowardice. Box not as beating air, but lawfully: 'I run not as uncertainly; I fight not as beating air; but I buffet my body and bring it into bondage.' (1 Corinthians 9:26–27)
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The sower and the kinds of soil§48
48The sower sowed: some seed fell by the wayside, some on rocky places, some among thorns, some on good ground — and yielded, one a hundredfold. Rocky ground received with joy but, having no root, in tribulation and persecution for the word straightway is offended. Good ground is he who heareth the word and understandeth, bearing fruit unto martyrdom hundredfold. Be God's tillage, God's building: 'for we are God's fellow-workers; God's tillage, God's building ye are.' Planted in the Lord's house, blossom in the courts of our God, and taste paradise's pleasures, which eye saw not (Matthew 13:3–23) (1 Corinthians 3:9) (Psalm 92:13) (1 Corinthians 2:9).
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The martyrs’ blood cries out§49
49Abel's blood cries from the ground — and how much more the martyrs' precious blood, which buys others from death! 'For ye were bought with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, of Christ.' And 'I, if lifted from earth, will draw all unto me.' (John 12:32) Lifted on the cross of confession, the martyr draws many unto salvation — as Peter was told, 'signifying by what death he shall glorify God.' (John 21:19) So glorify God by death, and live (John 21:19).
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John’s word on the manner of his death§50
50Know this too: the word spoken through John we learned, saying, 'These things said he, signifying by what death he shall glorify God.' (John 21:19) Every death for Christ glorifies the Father — whether by sword or fire or beasts or bonds. Let the manner be what God wills; ours is the willingness. For the confession hallows every manner, and every manner perfects the confessor.
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Closing prayer for Ambrose and Protoctetus§51
51These things, to my power, as I was able, have been dictated to you — which I pray may prove useful for the present contest. But if you, most worthy now, see more of God's mysteries, grasping greater and richer things, and more helpful to the purpose than these — things beside which, as childish and cheap, you shall despise mine — I too would pray such concerning you. For what lies before you is not to accomplish your course through us, but to accomplish it somehow. And would it be accomplished through diviner and wiser words, surpassing all human nature — words and wisdom of God!
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