As to the particular tenets of the Maronites, before their adhesion to the Church of Rome, it is said, they denied the procession of the Holy Ghost, observed Saturday as well as the Lord’s day, condemned fourth marriages as unlawful; held that all souls were created together, and that those of good men do not enter into heaven till after the resurrection; that they administered the eucharist to children, and communicated in both kinds.
In 1180, the Maronites were above 40,000 in number, and very valiant. They did the kings of Jerusalem great service against the Saracens.
Besides several convents of Maronite monks, there is one of nuns, who are highly esteemed for their sanctity. This edifice is no more than a church, in which the nuns are shut up close, like pigeons in their holes, in little corners or cells, which are so low, that few of them can stand upright, or turn themselves round in them.
MARRIAGE. (See Matrimony.)
MARTINMAS. A festival formerly kept on the 11th of November, in honour of St. Martin, bishop of Tours, in France, who, after distinguishing himself by destroying the heathen altars and images remaining in his day, died in the year 400, having been bishop about twenty-six years.
MARTYR. One who lays down his life, or suffers death, for the sake of religion. The word is Greek, and properly signifies a “witness.” It is applied, by way of eminence, to those who suffer in witness of the truth of the gospel.
The Christian Church has abounded with martyrs, and history is filled with surprising accounts of their singular constancy and fortitude under the most cruel torments human nature was capable of suffering. The primitive Christians were falsely accused by their enemies of paying a sort of Divine worship to martyrs. Of this we have an instance in the answer of the Church of Smyrna to the suggestion of the Jews, who, at the martyrdom of Polycarp, desired the heathen judge not to suffer the Christians to carry off his body, lest they should leave their crucified master, and worship him in his stead. To which they answered, “We can neither forsake Christ, nor worship any other: for we worship him as the Son of God, but love the martyrs as the disciples and followers of the Lord, for the great affection they have shown to their King and Master.” A like answer was given at the martyrdom of Fructuosus, in Spain; for when the judge asked Eulogius, his deacon, whether he would not worship Fructuosus, as thinking that, though he refused to worship heathen idols, he might yet be inclined to worship a Christian martyr, Eulogius replied, “I do not worship Fructuosus, but him whom Fructuosus worships.”
The first martyr in the Christian Church was St. Stephen. His memory is celebrated on the day which bears his name. In the collect for that day, he is expressly named the “first Martyr St. Stephen,” and we are there taught to pray God, that we may “learn to love and bless our persecutors, by following this blessed martyr’s example.” The Church loves to dwell on the memory of those who have yielded up even their lives in a faithful attachment to their Redeemer, and who, from the midst of the fires, could rejoice in God, and trust in his grace. In that beautiful hymn, the Te Deum, their memory is celebrated in the words,—“The noble army of martyrs praise thee.” And well may they be counted “an army,” whether we consider their numbers or their valour; and a “noble army,” because, as true soldiers of Christ, these have fought against sin with their lives in their hands, and, in the apostolic phrase, “have resisted unto blood.”
The Church of England can boast of the only royal martyr. Our glorious martyr, King Charles I., having been dethroned by the Presbyterians, was murdered by the Independents.—Broughton.
MARTYRDOM. The death of a martyr.