PREFACE TO SECOND PART

Christian Reader:

In this our address we shall present to you nothing new or uncommon, but -that which in former times a certain lover of the holy and blessed martyrs communicated to his contemporaries, for general edification, concerning the faith and steadfast death of many of them; except a few, passages in the beginning, and also a little -further on (which do not properly belong here; and to which we have affixed certain marks to prevent mistakes.) These we have omitted here, and added, in brackets[], something of our own, concerning which we stand ready to give an answer if required.

Having concluded a certain censure concerning those of Horn, the above writer speaks thus of the immovable confidence of the pious confessors of Jesus Christ, "We are fully confident that all these witnesses were unanimous in regard to the -essential articles of faith; they all believed.in the one eternal, true God, the Father, and in His only Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour. They all had respect to the sacrifice of the unspotted Lamb, in whom the Father had placed the reconciliation of our sins. They committed, yea, by the covenant of baptism, obligated themselves to serve this Lord, whom the Father had ordained as their teacher and lawgiver. They waited for the blessed resurrection and glorious recompense promised to all those who, through the grace of the Spirit, in the race of the Christian vocation, earnestly and steadfastly run for the prize set before them. They certainly, which is the most important, showed by their deeds, that they had not only a lip faith, and literal knowledge, which is found only in the brains of men, but an effectual and true faith, which, dwelling also in the heart and mind, is inspired by love, and through which they, according to the example of the saints, conquered all things.";

Proceeding to the sufferings of the martyrs, he says:, "Contemplate the suffering which these pious martyrs endured, and how wonderfully God wrought with them; how manfully, constantly and patiently they fought, through the effective and ardent love of God, confirming the truth of what is said in Cant. 8:6, namely, that 'Love is strong as death, and jealousy cruel as the grave.' For, here you see as in a mirror, that neither conjugal longing and love, nor parental affection and solicitude, nor the desirable company of near and confiding friends, nor anything which God has put into His creatures, for the delight of man, could move or restrain these heroes; but that they, contemning all this, an(: separating from wife, children, rela ives and friends, house and property, they gave themselves up to severe bonds and imprisonment, to every adversity and hardship, to cruel tortures and martyrdom, undaunted by the threats of the most awful death on the one hand, and unmoved by the many fair promises, to forsake the wholesome truth, the love of God, and the blessed hope on the other; so that they could freely say with the holy apostle Paul: 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?' Romans 8:35. But they found and showed it to be true that according to the testimony of the apostle, neither death, nor life, nor things present, nor things to come, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Verses 38 and 39. Through this love they overcame all things, and performed glorious deeds beyond the power of man. Weak women exhibited more than manly strength. Maidens and young men in the bloom of youth were enabled, by the help of God, to despise the alluring world, with all her fair and great promises; and these young and tender branches, by faith and patience, conquered the mighty of this world; the simple and unlearned confounded the sage doctors; so that these, silenced frequently through the truth, disputed with threats of fire and sword, and, though in vain, defended themselves thereby; manifesting in this manner their impotence and malice. Christ strikingly fulfilled in them the promise made to His disciples, Matt. 10:19, namely, that He would give unto them what they should speak in that hour when they should be brought before kings and governors. In sight of scaffolds and wheels, of fire and sword, they fearlessly confessed the truth, so that the judges and inquisitors were sometimes astonished, sometimes confounded, and sometimes enraged and startled. Of this boldness, the martyrs themselves boasted in their letters, thanking God, for, knowing their own weakness, they experienced the strength of God in the cross, so that they could take upon themselves with a composed yea, with a joyful mind, that from which human nature beyond measure seemed to recoil and flee. Yea, they were filled with such an exuberant and great joy, begotten in them through the unhindered contemplation of the heavenly glory in faith and hope, that they would have preferred no royal banquet to this parting feast.

They were endowed with such strength that even cruel and inhuman torture could not extort from them the names of their fellow brethren, so that, filled with divine and brotherly love, they sacrificed their bodies for their fellow believers. The brother-