# To The Readers In General.

Date not assigned · Historical source

Source: Martyrs’ Mirror. Original heading: TO THE READERS IN GENERAL.



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 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.

Amos was called a conspirator, and forbidden
not only the city in which he prophesied, but also
the land of the ten tribes of Israel. Amos 7:10–13.

All these, and many more, endured much suffering
and many conflicts yet not unto blood or death.
But those of whom we shall speak now, suffered the
bitterness of death, and are therefore, in this respect,
of higher rank than they who have preceded, just
as the loss of life is a severer test than to suffer in
the body or to lose temporal possessions; which is
the only difference between the two classes named.

This bloody army of the spiritual champions, who
fought unto blood and death for the Lord, commenced
with the beginning of the world, as though
God’s saints were born to suffer and fight; and as
though God had designed, that his church should
be tried from the beginning and all through, even
as gold in the furnace that her purity might become
the more manifest.

In the beginning we see, Abel who, having in
faith offered unto God a lamb as a sacrifice, was
slain in the field by Cain, his brother. Gen. 4:8; 1
John 3:12.

In the days of Ahab and Jezebel many prophets
of God were slain by the sword of the rebellious
and disobedient in Israel, so that Elijah thought he
alone was left. 1 Kings 19:14.

When the Spirit of God came upon Zechariah,
the son of Jehoiada, so that he said to the disobedient
people: “Why transgress ye the commandments,
of the Lord, that ye cannot prosper? because ye
have forsaken the Lord, he hath also forsaken you,”
they took stones and killed him at the commandment
of the king in the court of the house of the
Lord. 2 Chron. 24:21.

When Urijah, the son of Shemaiah, of Kirjath-jearim
prophesied in the name of the Lord against
the city of Jerusalem, his life was sought, so that he
fled into Egypt. But Jehoiakim the king sent men
who fetched him back, and he slew him with the
sword, and buried his dead body among the common
people. Jer. 26:20–23.

The god-fearing young men, named Shadrach,
Meshach and Abed-nego, who refused to worship the
image of King Nebuchadnezzar, were cast, bound, in
their coats, their hosen, and their hats, and their
other garments just as they were, into a fiery furnace,
in which they would have been immediately
consumed, if God had not preserved them. Dan.
3:21–23.

The prophet Daniel, because he would not worship
king Darius, but only the true God of Israel,
was cast into a den of lions, to be torn by them; but
God protected him as he did those mentioned before.
Dan. 6:16.

Onias, the high priest, who, in a very praiseworthy
and peaceful manner, led and kept the people
at Jerusalem, so that foreign kings were moved
to honor the city and the temple of God with gifts,
was falsely accused by Simon the Benjamite, removed
from his office by Jason, his own brother,
and stabbed to death without regard of justice and
equity by perjured Andronicus; for the which cause
not only the Jews, but also many gentiles took great
indignation. Compare 2 Macc. 3:1,2 with 4:1,34.

Two women, who had their children, circumcised
according to the law of God, were led round
about the city, with their babes tied to their breasts,
and then cast down headlong from the wall. 2 Maccabees
6:10.

Some who had hid themselves in caves, to keep
the Sabbath or day of rest of the Lord, and who
would not defend themselves against the enemies,
13
when it was discovered to Philip the tyrant, were
burned. 2 Macc. 6:11.

Eleazar, an old man of ninety years, because he
would not sin against the law of God by eating forbidden
meat, nor set an evil example to young persons,
nor dissimulate, had to carry his hoary hairs
with blood to the grave, and die a cruel death
through many stripes. 2 Macc. 6:27–31.

Seven brethren, for the same cause, were scourged
with rods and thongs, had their tongues cut out,
their hands and feet cut off, and were roasted in
pans, and killed in this terrible manner to the last
one, together with their mother, who had witnessed
it all, and likewise refused to depart from the law of
God. 2 Macc. 7.

This last mentioned class, from Abel to the Maccabees,
are the true army of God and the heroes of
the old covenant who, for the honor of God and the
law of their fathers, did not spare their lives.

These the writer of the epistle to the Hebrews has
in view when he speaks of the great cloud of witnesses,
who, looking through faith for the fulfillment
of the promises of God and the coming of the Son of
God, in the flesh endured all sufferings, conflicts,
and, at last, death, bravely and with an undismayed
heart. But the others, says he, meaning the steadfast
saints of God of whom we have spoken, had
trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover,
of bonds and imprisonment: they were stoned,
they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain
with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins
and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
of whom the world was not worthy. Heb. 11:36–38.

Hence the whole volume of holy Scriptures, especially
the Old Testament, seems to be almost exclusively,
a book of martyrs, as we have stated in
the beginning; appearing from the examples which
we have adduced, and of which we could point out
many more, if it were necessary.

As regards the heroes of the new covenant, that
is, those who since the advent of Christ, and for the
testimony of the holy gospel, have fought the good
fight, even unto blood, yea, death; have finished
their course; and steadfastly kept the faith, notwithstanding
the various horrible torments; it would be
impossible to speak briefly of it here, and do the
subject full justice; for which reason we have done
this in the following two books, to which we would
refer the reader.

All this was written for a perpetual remembrance
of the steadfast and blessed martyrs; concerning
whom it is the will of God that they should not only
always be remembered here among men, but whom
he himself purposes never to forget but to remember
them with everlasting mercy.





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