# To The Readers In General. · Page 1 of 3 [Previous page: OF THE GREATER DANGER THERE IS AT THIS TIME, THAN IN THE BLOODY AND DISTRESSING TIMES OF THE MARTYRS.4](/en/stories/mm-of-the-greater-danger-there-is-at-this-time-than-in-the-bloody-and-distressing-times-of-the-martyrs-4/part-4/) · [Book contents](/en/sources/martyrs-mirror/#book-contents) · [Next page: TO THE READERS IN GENERAL.](/en/stories/mm-to-the-readers-in-general/part-2/) Good friends and fellow citizens: Of old, among the heathen, the greatest and highest honors were accorded to the brave and triumphant warriors, who, risking their lives in the land of the enemy, conquered, and carried off the victory.[12](/en/stories/mm-footnotes/#Footnote_12) Thus Homer, the foremost of the writers of heroic poetry in Greece, has, in twenty-four books, extolled and embellished with many eulogies the warlike deeds of Ulysses. Quintus Curtius described, in ten books, the deeds of Alexander, the son of Philip of Macedonia: how triumphantly he conquered and subjugated Europe, Asia, India, and the countries bordering on the eastern Ocean, till he ultimately lost his life in Babylonia. Plutarch composed a voluminous work devoted to the praise of illustrious and valiant men. Titus Livius has written of the Roman heroes, how praiseworthily they acquitted themselves in behalf of the country of Romulus. Virgilius Maro and others eulogized the emperor Augustus. And this usage has obtained from ancient times, and obtains yet, in every land, yea, throughout the whole world. We say nothing of the honor and praise, which, many years after their death, was bestowed in public theatres, upon those who had been sacrificed to idols, for the narration of it would consume too much time. But God, in his word, goes higher and farther yet, in this respect. He has caused the conflict, the sufferings, and the triumphs of his spiritual courageous heroes, children and favorites to be written, in language the most touching, glorious and triumphant, as an everlasting memorial for their descendants, and not only this, but as a full assurance of their happiness; so that they should always be remembered, and never forgotten. Yea, the whole volume of holy Scriptures seems to be nothing else than a book of martyrs, replete with numerous, according to the flesh, sorrowful, but according to the spirit, happy, examples of the holy and steadfast martyrs, whose sufferings, conflicts and triumphs have been recorded in as holy and worthy a manner as it is possible to imagine. 12 However, they are variously spoken of, according to the importance of their merits. Some of them suffered and fought much, but not unto blood, nor unto death; there victory and their honor are, therefore, not represented as of the highest degree. Others, however, suffered and fought not only unto blood and death, for the Lord’s name, but even to the greatest pain and most bitter death. We shall first speak of the former class, and then of the latter; yet the last shall surpass the first. Abraham, the father of the faithful, and Isaac and Jacob, to whom God had promised the possession of the land of Canaan, lived, nevertheless, as strangers in the land of promise, and, sometimes, had to endure hunger, thirst and oppression. Compare Gen. 12:10; 26:20; 31:22,23 with Hebr. 11:9. Moses, the friend of God, had to flee from Pharaoh into the land of Midian, where he sat down by a well. Ex. 2:15. Afterwards he came very near being stoned by the disobedient in Israel. Ex. 17:4. David, a man after God’s own heart, was several times in peril of being transfixed to the wall by a javelin, 1 Sam. 18:11; 19:10; yea, his life was in such danger, that he complained to Jonathan: “There is but a step between me and death.” 1 Sam. 20:3. For this reason he often called upon God for help, that he might not meet with an untimely death. Among other things he says: “Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death.” Ps. 13:2. In the days of Ahab and Jezebel a hundred prophets of the Lord had to flee on account of persecution, and were hid in a cave, and fed with bread and water, by one Obadiah. 1 Kings 18:13. Elijah, for the same reason, was compelled to turn eastward and hide himself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 1 Kings 17:3. His life was afterwards made so bitter to him, that he fled into the wilderness by Beer-sheba, sat down under a juniper tree, and prayed, “O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.” 1 Kings 19:4. When Elisha, the servant of Elijah, proclaimed the word of the Lord in the city of Samaria, the king of Samaria swore, that the head of Elisha should not stand on him that day. 2 Kings 6:31. The prophet Micaiah, who had foretold in the name of the Lord the truth to the king of Israel, had to eat the bread of sorrow, and drink the water of sadness, in the prison in which he was confined, until the king was slain in a battle. 1 Kings 22:27–37. Jeremiah was cast into a mire-pit, in which he sunk down so deeply that he was in danger of death, until he was saved through Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian. Jer. 38:6–13. ## Original source [Read this passage on Project Gutenberg](https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/65855/pg65855-images.html#TO_THE_READERS_IN_GENERAL) [Edition details](https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/65855) [Previous page: OF THE GREATER DANGER THERE IS AT THIS TIME, THAN IN THE BLOODY AND DISTRESSING TIMES OF THE MARTYRS.4](/en/stories/mm-of-the-greater-danger-there-is-at-this-time-than-in-the-bloody-and-distressing-times-of-the-martyrs-4/part-4/) · [Book contents](/en/sources/martyrs-mirror/#book-contents) · [Next page: TO THE READERS IN GENERAL.](/en/stories/mm-to-the-readers-in-general/part-2/) --- Page: https://history.truechristian.church/en/stories/mm-to-the-readers-in-general/ [Contribute a correction or addition](https://github.com/trueChristian/history.truechristian.church/issues/new?title=Correction%3A+To+The+Readers+In+General.+%C2%B7+Page+1+of+3&body=%23%23+Page+or+topic%0ATo+The+Readers+In+General.+%C2%B7+Page+1+of+3%0A%0APage%3A+https%3A%2F%2Fhistory.truechristian.church%2Fen%2Fstories%2Fmm-to-the-readers-in-general%2F%0A%0ARecord%3A+mm-to-the-readers-in-general%0A%0A%23%23+Correction+or+addition%0A%0A%0A%0A%23%23+Sources+and+evidence%0APlease+include+book%2Fpage+references%2C+archive+links%2C+or+first-hand+documentation.%0A%0A%0A%0A%23%23+Image+credit+%28if+applicable%29%0ACreator%2C+source%2C+and+permission+or+public-domain+basis.%0A%0A%0A%0ASubmitted+for+review%3B+this+issue+does+not+publish+changes+automatically.)