Hear, therefore, O ye kings, and understand; learn, ye that be judges of the ends of the earth; serve the Lord with fear, and approach him with trembling. Receive instruction, and understand it, lest the Lord be angry, and ye perish from the right way. Why do ye rage, O ye people; and ye nations, why do ye imagine vain things against the Lord! Ye kings of the earth, and ye princes, why are ye united together against Christ, the Holy One of God? How long will ye seek lies, and hate truth. Be converted, and turn to the Lord our God, and harden not your hearts. For one cannot but know that he who persecutes God’s servants, persecutes God himself; since he has said: “Whatsoever men shall do unto you, they shall do to me, and not to you.” Zech. 2:8.
But, my dear, pray tell me, in what manner I have deserved to be condemned? Is it that I have not answered the most illustrious senators, my lords, according to their pleasure? If I have said anything, it was not I at all that said it, since the Lord says that before the authorities it will not be us that speak, but the Spirit of our Father which will be in us. Matt. 10:30. Now, if the Lord is faithful and true, which he is in truth, I am innocent. It was he who made me speak. And what am I, that I could withstand the will of God? Acts 11:17. Therefore, he that would reprove such words, reproves the word of the Lord, who worked in me. But if he thinks that the Lord is not to be reproved, O then let him not accuse me any more, since I am innocent of this work; for I did what I would not, I spoke what I thought not. But if the things which I have spoken are not good and true, and this is found and proven to me, then I will confess that they proceeded from me alone, and not from God; but if I have said things that are good and proved, and cannot with justice be reproved, whether we will or not, it will have to be acknowledged that they proceeded from the Lord. Now, if all this is so, who then will accuse me? The most wise people? Who will condemn me? The most righteous judges? (who are nevertheless unwise and unjust.)
Do what you will: shall the words of the Lord be made void? shall the gospel be of account no longer? Certainly not; but the kingdom of God shall be only the more precious and sweet to the true Israelites, and come the sooner to the chosen of Jesus Christ. But they who do such things, shall experience the great judgment of God. They that kill the righteous shall not escape unpunished. 2 Thessalonians 1:6.
O most beloved, lift up your eyes, and take to heart the counsel of God. Not long ago the Lord showed you a sign of pestilence, in order to lead you to repentance; but if this will not be received, he will unsheathe the sword entirely, and smite with the sword, pestilence and famine the people which exalts the horn against Christ. May God, through his mercy, avert this scourge from this place. To all believers their most zealous servant, the imprisoned and bound Algerius.
Written in the most delightful pleasure garden of the prison, called Leonia, the 12th of July, A. D. 1557.[268]
HOW ALGERIUS WAS OFFERED UP.
This Algerius,[269] though very young in years, was a student from the kingdom of Naples, and studied at Padua, where a brother who spoke his language came to him, of whom he diligently inquired the way and the will of the Lord, listening very earnestly, and was forthwith baptized into the Lord’s death, which he immediately afterwards manfully and undauntedly as a bold hero and young soldier of Christ, forcibly proved with the deed, and sealed with his blood, and thus became like his master, since he was also, even as Christ, when he came up out of Jordan, immediately assailed by the enemy, the tempter and his instruments, and cast into prison, in which he went through and endured many severe conflicts, but was always greatly strengthened and comforted with great joy, by the Lord, whom he had set before his eyes, as his present writing abundantly shows, which he wrote in prison at Padua to the brethren in Italy, to strengthen and comfort them in their sorrow, which had come upon them on his account, because they were solicitous for him as being a novice in the faith. But the Lord clothed him with great power, and hence, through him, as one of his chief weapons, glorified his name. For after many temptations, he was sent to Venice, where the entire Senate or nobility tried to prevail upon him, as did the tempter finally try to do with Christ, and meant, by solemn entreaties, flattery, and the offer of all manner of worldly aid and friendship, certainly to catch and alienate him, which was not one of the least darts; but, as an immovable pillar, he rejected it all and despised it for Christ’s sake, in order that he might with Moses and Paul win and keep Christ alone. Matt. 4:8; Eph. 6:16; Phil. 3:8; Hebrews 11:26.
When they could not prevail upon him, though they tried for a long time, he was therefore sent to Rome, and delivered to the Pope, where he finally, after severe and hard imprisonment, offered up his life in great steadfastness, as a sweet savor, to the Lord, very eagerly and joyfully following in the footsteps of all his forefathers and the glorious confessors of Christ; and thus he richly partook of the sufferings of his Lord and Master; yea, his end was crowned with great triumphant praise even also by all his despisers, and thus the desired cup was drained.
Many different means having been tried with him, he was at last sentenced to be burnt, but not in the same manner as others, who were, also on account of the faith, with shortened pain, executed according to the Italian or French custom of being first hanged and strangled, and then burnt. But this pious Algerius was held in greater honor by the Lord Christ, and for this reason also had to begin and bring to a triumphant issue a far more exalted and honorable conflict.
Having been brought in a wagon to the place called Mercado, a final attempt was made upon him. A Carthusian monk—in Rome called Capadocines[270], and holy people—was appointed to take him in hand. The same constantly held a crucifix before him, and admonished him, to remember once more, before his departure, his Lord and Redeemer, and not to die thus hardened and desperate in error. At the same time he constantly held before his eyes the crucifix, which Algerius vigorously pushed aside with his hands, which had not been bound, as I understand, saying aloud in his language, with his eyes lifted up to heaven: “My Lord and God lives above in heaven,” etc.