Let fire and the cross; let the crowds of wild beasts; let tearings … let shatterings of the whole body; and let all the evil torments of the devil come upon me: only let me attain to Jesus Christ.
– Ignatius of Antioch –
(35-107 AD)
Persecution
Blood of the Martyrs is the Seed of the Church – Tertullian
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.
– Tertullian –
(160-225 AD)
The Martyrdom of Polycarp
But the proconsul urged him and said, “Swear, and I will release thee; curse the Christ.” And Polycarp said, “Eighty and six years have I served him, and he hath done me no wrong; how then can I blaspheme my king who saved me?”
– The Martyrdom of Polycarp (in 155 AD) –
Not Going Under But Over – Catherine Booth
The waters are rising, but so am I. I am not going under, but over.
– Catherine Booth –
No Man Is Safe Apart From God – Oswald Chambers
Beware of the people who tell you life is simple. Life is such a mass of complications that no man is safe apart from God. Coming to Jesus does not simplify life; it simplifies my relationship to God.
– Oswald Chambers –
Men of Prayer Men of Steel – Leonard Ravenhill
Men of prayer must be men of steel, for they will be assaulted by Satan even before they attempt to assault his kingdom
– Leonard Ravenhill –
How to Suffer Well – Charles Spurgeon
Suffering saints are living seed. Oh, that God might help us to such faith, that when we come to suffer in life, or to expire in death, we may so glorify God that others may believe in him! May we preach sermons by our faith which shall be better than sermons in words.
– Charles Spurgeon –
from his sermon The Trial Of Your Faith – December, 1888
Affliction & Hardship is Good – Charles Spurgeon
Affliction is the best bit of furniture in my house. It is the best book in a minister’s library.
– Charles Spurgeon –
Gazing up During Persecution – John G. Paton
They encircled us in a deadly ring, and one kept urging another to strike the first blow or fire the first shot. My heart rose up to the Lord Jesus; I saw Him watching all the scene. My peace came back to me like a wave from God. I realized that I was immortal till my Master’s work with me was done. The assurance came to me, as if a voice out of Heaven had spoken, that not a musket would be fired to wound us, not a club prevail to strike us, not a spear leave the hand in which it was held vibrating to be thrown, not an arrow leave the bow, or a killing stone the fingers, without the permission of Jesus Christ, whose is all power in Heaven and on Earth. He rules all Nature, animate and inanimate, and restrains even the Savage of the South Seas. In that awful hour I saw His own words, as if carved in letters of fire upon the clouds of Heaven: “Seek, and ye shall find. Whatsoever ye shall ask in My Name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.” I could understand how Stephen and John saw the glorified Savior as they gazed up through suffering and persecution to the Heavenly Throne!
– John G. Paton –