m pense and care have been incurred to embellish it with engravings, which will often be found to carry as striking a lesson, and as forcible an idea, as any description could} do. It is the result of much labor and care, and if it shall accomplish something toward making known the great mystery of iniquity, and of guarding against its wiles and its encroachments, the editor will think his toil well expended. In the following pages, we have aimed to observe a spirit of candor, and have not recorded a single word too highly colored for sober truth. We have aimed to give a faithful history of wicked acts-acts which every honest papist in his heart condemns. Our work's begun! we'll trace through each sad stage And with truth's pencil paint to all mankind, Fierce bulls, to toss the object into air; The dreadful pits, where dangerous serpents lurk, To finish inhumanity's great work; The melted draughts of lead, the thorny crown; The slings to dislocate, the bloody knife, CONTENTS. Persecutions in the first Ages of the World... Life of Jesus Christ, with his Sufferings and Martyrdom... Lives, Sufferings, and Martyrdom, of the Apostles..... The First Primitive Persecutions, under Nero..... The Second Primitive Persecutions, under Domitian............. The Third Primitive Persecutions, under the Roman Emperors.... The Fourth Primitive Persecutions, under the Roman Emperors The Fifth Primitive Persecutions, under the Roman Emperors... The Sixth Primitive Persecutions, under the Roman Emperors... The Seventh Primitive Persecutions, under the Roman Emperors The Eighth Primitive Persecutions, under the Roman Emperors The Ninth Primitive Persecutions, under the Roman Emperors. The Tenth Primitive Persecutions, under the Roman Emperors. The Persecutions under Julian the Apostate.... The Persecutions of the Christians by the Goths, etc........ Nicholas Ridley, Bishop of London Thomas Cranmer, the first Protestant Archbishop of Canterbury. Persecutions in England during the Reign of Queen Mary... Persecutions in Scotland during the Reign of Henry VIII..... The Life, Sufferings, and Martyrdom, of George Wishart.. Persecutions of Protestants in Ireland-The Irish Massacre... mm THE CHRISTIAN MARTYROLOGY. PERSECUTIONS IN THE FIRST AGES OF THE WORLD. A MONG primitive persecu- all respectively saved by the Almighty, cution of the righteous NOAH by the ac- In these early ages, the first general per- The children of Israel, after being freed from bondage, were successively persecuted by the Philistines, Ammonites, Egyptians, Ethiopians, Arabians, and Assyrians; and many of the prophets and chosen of God were persecuted by several of the kings of Judah and Israel. The three righteous children were thrown into the fiery furnace by Nebuchadnezzar; Daniel was cast into the lion's den by order of Darius; and Mordecai was persecuted by the malicious Haman: but these were But a little more than a century and a half before the birth of Christ, Antiochus seized upon and sacked the city of Jerusalem, plundered the temple, and murdered many of the Jews who refused to conform to his idolatry, by scourging, strangling, crucifying, and stifling them, and by closing up the mouths of the caves to which they fled for shelter. Antiochus and his idolatrous tormentors were, however, at length bravely opposed by Matthias, a priest, and his valiant sons, the principal of whom was Judas Maccabeus. This able commander, Judas, with his brave brothers, inspired the dispirited Jews with new courage, defeated the generals of Ar diochus, freed their country from bondage, and afterward turned their arms against the Edomites and Ammonites, over whom they were equally successful. At length Antiochus died a terrible death, cast to a leopard, but the beast refusing to touch him, he was suffered to languish till he expired with the excruciating pain and his flesh having been for some time before Machir, the third son, was bound to a globe till his bones were all dislocated; his head and face were then flayed, his tongue cut out, and being cast into a pan he was fried to death. Judas, the fourth son, after having his The Jews now entered into a treaty offensive and defensive with the Romans; but soon after lost their worthy champion, Judas Maccabeus, who was slain in a bloody {tongue cut out, was beat with ropes, and battle fought with the Greeks, under the then racked upon a wheel. command of their general, Bacchides. Antiochus Epiphanes, now reigning in Syria, and having some success against the Jews, went to Jerusalem, where he ordered Eleazer the priest to be put to death in the most cruel manner, for refusing to eat swine's flesh. Then seizing on a family of Maccabees, consisting of a matron named Salamona, and her seven sons, he carried them all to Antioch. Here he would fain have persuaded them to embrace his idolatry, which they nobly and unanimously refusing, he ordered them all to be put to death. Achas, the fifth son, was pounded in a large brazen mortar. Areth, the sixth son, was fastened to a pillar with his head downward, slowly roasted by a fire kindled at some distance; his tongue was then cut out, and he was lastly fried in a pan. Jacob, the seventh and youngest son, had his arms cut off, his tongue plucked out, and was then fried to death. They all bore their fate with the same intrepidity as their elder brother, and called upon the Almighty to receive them into heaven. Maccabeus, the eldest, was accordingly Salamona, the mother, after having in a stripped, stretched on the rack, and severely manner died seven deaths in beholding the beaten. He was next fastened to a wheel, {martyrdom of her children, was, by the and weights hung to his feet till his sinews tyrant's order, stripped naked, severely cracked. Afterward his tormenters threw scourged, her breasts cut off, and her body him into a fire till he was dreadfully scorch-fried till she expired. ed; then they drew him out, cut out his The tyrant who inflicted these cruelties tongue, and put him into a frying-pan, with was afterward struck with madness; and { a slow fire under it, till he died. As longthen his flesh became corrupted, and his as he had life, and power of expression, bowels mortified, which put an end to his under these exquisite torments, he fervently {wicked life. called upon God, and exhorted his brothers to a similar perseverance. After the second son had his hands fastened with chains, with which he was hung up, his skin was flayed off from the crown of his head to his knees. He was then "Thus the afflicted innocent expire, Calm in their sufferings, cheerful in the fire; |