But of all the various “Manuals of Martyrdom” which were put into the hands of those who desired to receive a special training against the day of trial, none seemed to have been efficacious, easy of comprehension, persuasive—like the words of S. Matthew’s Gospel. These were evidently committed to memory and murmured again and again in the sore hour of trial.
Such sayings as these—they were the Lord’s own words, the sufferer knew: “Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness’ sake; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “How[111] strait is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life.” “Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”
“Whosoever, therefore, shall confess Me before men, him will I confess (acknowledge) before My Father which is in heaven.” “But whosoever shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father which is in heaven.”
“He that loveth father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.” “And he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.”
“If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”
“And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren or sisters, or father or mother, or wife or children, or lands for My Name’s sake, shall receive an hundred fold, and shall inherit everlasting life.”
But the “training for martyrdom” to which a number of Christians in the first, second, and third centuries voluntarily gave themselves was by no means confined to the mastering of the contents of a small collection of carefully prepared treatises, or to the listening to eloquent and burning exhortations of devoted teachers, or even to the constant dwelling on the words of the Divine Master. This training included a prolonged and carefully balanced practice in austerities which would accustom the body to self-denial and to suffering, so that when the agony of the trial really began, the body, thoroughly enured to endurance, would be able to meet pain without flinching.
In this training for the mortal combat in which victory was so all-important to the cause, no efforts were spared—painful and laborious exercises, long fasting, watching and prayer, which would render the body insensible to fatigue, capable of bearing any suffering however poignant, were constantly practised. This training sometimes went on for a long while before a fitting opportunity presented itself of a public trial.
It was the want of this—the absence of this long and careful training alluded to in the beautiful and evangelical letter describing the Lyons and Vienne martyrdoms, which was the cause of many of the earlier failures, and shrinking from the agony of martyrdom, of some of the Lyons sufferers.