"vernment in the year 258, having procured an order from the em peror Valerian, to put to death all the Christian clergy in Rome, and "the senate having testified their obedience to this mandate, Sextus "was one of the first who felt its severity. Cyprian tells us, that he was beheaded August 6, A, D. 258; and that six of his deacons suf"fered with him." Here then we have another admission in favour of the "great fidelity, singular wisdom, and courage," as well as prudence in suppressing heresy, of the bishops of Rome, who are now looked upon as the ten-headed monster described in the apocalypse, by the Biblezealots and Popery-haters among Protestants.

But the most invidious trick at deception on the part of these modern editors of Fox remains to be pointed out. The next martyr described is St. Lawrence, who was so cruelly broiled on a gridiron in this persecution. In the very sheet detailing the martyrdom of Sixtus and his deacon Lawrence, the modern editors have given a representation of the latter, and, such is their scrupulous adherence to correctness, that they have not only made the saint an old man, but they have actually introduced a figure in the back ground, clothed in the pontifical habits of a pope, to impress on the minds of the vulgar and unthinking that Lawrence suffered by order of the pope, and therefore became a victim to the cruelties of Popery, when the fact was, the pope had suffered martyrdom only three days before him, and consequently could not be present at the execution of his deacon. It is recorded of St. Lawrence by St. Ambrose (Amb. 1. i. Officior, c. 41, & 1. ii, c. 28.), St. Augustin (Aug. tract, 27, in Joan. at Serm. de Sanctus), and later authors, that" when Lawrence the deacon saw his bishop Sixtus about to “be carried away to martyrdom, he began to weep, not for the other's sufferings, but for his own remaining behind him? wherefore he “cried unto him in these words: whither do you go, O Father, with" out your son; and whither do you hasten, O holy priest, without "you deacon? You were never wont to offer sacrifice without a

minister; what then hath displeased you in me, that you leave me "behind you? Have you proved me perhaps to be a coward? Make “trial, I pray you, whether you have chosen unto yourself a fit minister, to whom you have committed the dispensing of our Lord's blood? and then, seeing that you have not denied unto me the fellowship of "administering sacraments, do not deny me the fellowship of shed"ding my blood also with you."

Now this language of St. Lawrence does not savour much of Protestantism, though it does of Catholicism. He here talks plainly of assisting his bishop at the holy sacrifice of the mass, which Protestants condemn upon oath as idolatrous and superstitious; and when we take into consideration the speech of the prefect of Rome, before whom St Lawrence appeared, we shall find the prefect speaking very like" Protestant-ascendency." According to Prudentius, who was the glory of the ancient Christian poets, and wrote a famous book On the Crown of Martyrs, somewhere about the close of the fourth century, the prefect addressed Lawrence thus: "You often complain "that we treat you with cruelty; but no tortures are here thought of; "Lonly inquire mildly after what concerns you. I am informed that your priests offer in gold, that the sacred blood is received in silver

cups, and that in

in gold candles our nocturnal sacrifices you have wax tapers fixed

Bring to light these concealed treasures; the prince has need of them the maintenance of his forces. I am told, that according to your doctrine, you must render to Cæsar the things that belong to him, I do not think that your God causeth money to be coined; he brought none into the world with him; he only brought words. Give us therefore the money, and be rich in words." Lawrence, however, anticipating that he should soon be called to God, from what the holy pope Sixtus had told him, had already expended the treasure he held among the poor widows and orphans, and had even sold the sacred vessels to increase the sum, laying it all out in the same manner, He however promised to shew the tyrant the treasures of the church. Accordingly, he gathered together a great number of the decrepid, the blind, the lame, the maimed, the lepers, orphans, widows, and virgins, and then invited the prefect to come and see them. The prefect was astonished and enraged at what he saw, and demanded to see the treasures which had been promised. St. Lawrence answered, "What are you displeased at? The gold which you so eagerly desire is a vile metal, and serves to incite men to all manner of crimes. The light of heaven is the true gold which these poor objects enjoy. Their bodily weakness and sufferings are the subject of their patience, and the highest advantages; vices and passions are the real diseases by which the great ones of the world are often most truly miserable and despicable. Behold in these poor persons the treasures which I promised to shew you; to which I will add pearls and precious stones, those widows and consecrated virgins, which are the church's crown, by which it is pleasing to Christ; it hath no other riches; make use of them for the advantage of Rome, of the emperor, and yourself." This sight before him, and the speech of the saint, inflamed the prefect with fury, and he ordered Lawrence to be broiled on a gridiron, under which the coals were partly extinguished, that his sufferings might be the greater. The prefect insulted the martyr, whilst his body was broiling, but, Lawrence continued in earnest prayer, imploring the divine mercy, for the conversion of Rome, for the sake of SS. Peter and Paul, who had there begun to plant the cross of Christ, and watered it with their blood.o

God. The poet implores the mercy of Christ for himself, and begs he may obtain by the prayers of the martyrs what his own cannot. St. Austin assures us that God wrought in Rome an incredible number of miracles through the intercession of St Lawrence St. Gregory of Tours, Fortunatus, and others relate several performed in other places. It appears from the sacramentary of pope Gelasius, "that his feast has been kept, with a vigil and an octave at least ever since the fifth age. In the reign of Constantine the great, a church built over his tomb, on the road to Tibur, which is called St. Lawrence's without the walls; it is one of the five patriarchal churches in Rome, Seven other famous churches in that city bear the name of f this glorious saint." sinstinus M bus sib au o From these authorities it is an unquestionable fact, that the "godly. martyr Lawrence held the Popish doctrines, as they are termed by Protestants, of the mass and praying to saints, which were consequently the doctrines of the primitive Christians, and therefore ought to be the doctrines of Protestants, if the latter would believe what John Fox says are orthodox doctrines, Miracles are also here clearly established to have been performed since the time of the apostles, and the veneration of relics and the invocation of saints was also práce tised in these times. But what can we think of the conduct of the modern editors of the Book of Martyrs, in representing the bishop of Rome as superintending the execution of his deacon Lawrence, when they admit, in their relation of this persecution, that the bishop or pope of Rome was himself a martyr? This proceeding must be considered

by every unbiassed mind a most shameful trick to deceive the superficial and nd unwary. It is calculated, certainly, " to excite a hatred and abhorrence of Popery and its professors," but must be far, very far, from diffusing a knowledge and love of the genuine principles of Christianity While we are remarking on this palpable and malicious misrepresentation of an historical fact, we feel called upon to state, that scarcely one cut that has appeared in this edition of the Book of Martyrs is correct in its delineation, while others are absolutely indecent, and deserve the notice of the Vice Suppressing society much more than some things that have attracted the vigilance of its officers. After an account of St. Lawrence's death, we have a detail of the sufferings and conduct of St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, but in the usual confused and unintelligible manner. Fox says, Fourteen years previous to this period the persecution raged in Africa with great violence; and many thousands received the crown of martyrdom, among whom the following were the most distinguished characters, "He then names Cyprian, who, he says, was beheaded in the year 258, and eight of his disciples, who, according to his words, were martyred in *this persecution. Now what can we gather from these words, four18 teen years previous to this persecution?". Docs.Fox, mean that Cyprian suffered twice that is, some time in the "fourteen years previous," and again in this persecution. The previous period must allude to the seventh general persecution, and Cyprian suffered in the eighth. In fact he was martyred a few weeks after pope Sixtus and his deacon Lawrence, the two latter in the month of August, 258, and the former in September following. However, we will let this pass, and now look

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into the character given by Fox of this great light of the primitive age. "Cyprian, bishop of Carthage," writes Fox, "was an eminent prelate, and a pious ornament of the church. HIS DOCTRINES WERE "ORTHODOX AND PURE; his language easy and elegant; and "his manners graceful....Before his baptism he studied the scriptures "with care, and being struck with the beauties of the truths they con¶ tained, he determined to practice the virtues they recommended.... "Soon after his baptism he was made a presbyter (that is, a priest); and being greatly admired for his virtues and his works, on the death "of Donatus, in A. D. 244, he was almost unanimously elected bishop of Carthage. The care of Cyprian not only extended over Carthage, "but to Numidia and Mauritania. In all his transactions he took great care to ask the advice of his clergy, knowing that UNANI86 MITY ALONE could be of service to THE CHURCH: this being one of his maxims, That the bishop was in the church, and the church "in the bishop; so that unity can only be preserved by a close connexion between the pastor and his flock.' Very good, John Fox; but before we proceed any further, let us here ask your wise editors, if this language of St. Cyprian be ORTHODOX, and you have admitted that it is so; if the bishop be in the church and the church in the bishop, what become of the numerous sects that have no bishops at all but reject episcopacy as savouring of Popery and contrary to scripture The Catholics have ever held this doctrine of St. Cyprian, who learned it from the apostles; and the greater part of the Protestants renounce it, and will have no bishops: consequently they can have no church. For example, the covenanters of Scotland abolished episcopacy, the Swedenborgians, the Wesleyans, the Independents, the Quakers, the Jumpers, the Shakers, and we know not how many other denominations of religionists, contend they can do without them: what them is the natural result? Common sense tells us, that what is orthodox cannot be heterodox; that is, what is sound and pure cannot be unsound and heretical; consequently, those who reject episcopacy stand condemned of heresy by this famous Book of Martyrs, which is pub lished to " diffuse among fellow-believers (In what?) a knowledge and "love of the genuine principles of Christianity."

Fox goes on, "In the year 250, he (Cyprian) was publicly proscribed by the emperor Decius....The bishop, however, withdrew "from the rage of the populace, and his effects were immediately "confiscated." During his retirement he wrote thirty pious letters to "This flock but several schisms that then crept into the church gave him great uneasiness. The rigour of the persecution abating, he returned, and did every thing in his power to expunge erroneous opinions " and false doctrines. A terrible plague now breaking out at Carthage, "it was as usual laid to the charge of the Christians; and the magistrates began to persecute accordingly, which occasioned an epis"tle from them to Cyprian, in answer to which he vindicates the cause of Christianity."- These "erroneous opinions and false doctrines" should have been pointed out to the "fellow-believers," as well as the orthodox doctrines opposed to them by St. Cyprian; but such a line of procedure did not suit the plan of the modern editors of Fox any more than Fox himself, whose object was to blind and not to

testant one,

enlighten. Among other errors contested by St. Cyprian, was that of the Libellatici, or Lapsed, before mentioned, and the schisms alluded to were raised by Novatus, an infamous priest of Carthage, and one Felicissimus, who had with five priests opposed the election of St. Cyprian to the see of Carthage, These men attempted to sow divisions in the church, and ensnared many to join with them in their impiety, which occasioned the holy bishop to write his work On the Unity of the Church. He also defended the doctrines now rejected by Protestants, and admitted by Catholics, as the subjoined extracts will shew, and consequently he was an orthodox Catholic bishop and martyr, and not a Produrmio cds of ban od mody.29.12006 On the Authority and Marks of the Church, that is, of the Catholic church, he writes, "Christ says to his apostles, and through them, to "all ministers, who, by a regular ordination, succeed to them, he that "heareth you, heareth me, and he that despiseth you, despiseth me. (Luke, x, 16.) And thence have schisms and heresies arisen, when "the bishop, who is one, and who presides over the church, is proudly "despised, Ep. lxvi. p. 166, Edit. Oxon. 1682. The reason why revelation is to be preferred to human reason is thus stated: "Because "they turn not their eyes to th the fountain of truth; nor is the head "sought for, nor the doctrine of the heavenly Father upheld. Which things, would any one seriously ponder, no long inquiry would be necessary. The proof is easy. Christ addresses Peter: I say to thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it....He that does not hold this unity of the church, can he think that he holds the faith? He that opposes and withstands the church, can he trust that he is in the church?" De Unit. Eccl. p. 105, 106, 108. Edit. Oxon, 1682.

the

On the Unity and Visibility of the Church, he says, "The church is one, widely extended by its fecundity; as there are many rays of "light, but one sun; many branches of a tree, but one root deeply fixed; many streams of water, but one source. Take a ray from the sun; the unity of light allows not division: break a branch from the tree, the branch cannot germinate; cut off the stream from its source, the stream dries up. So the church-sends forth her rays over t whole earth: yet is the light one-and its unity is undivided." Ibid. 108. "God is one, and Christ is one, and his church is one, and faith is one, and his people, connected by one solid bond, is one. Unity cannot be severed; nor the one body, by laceration, be divided. Whatever is separated from the stock, cannot live; cannot breathe apart; it loses the substance of life." Ibid. p. 119. "The church, im* brued with the light of the Lord, sends forth her rays, over the whole "earth; yet is the light one, every where diffused, and its unity undivided; she extends her branches, by the power of her fecundity, "into all regions, and her streams are as widely spread: yet the head is one, and the spring is one." Ibid. 108.

On the apostolical succession and power of the Church to remit sins, he writes, "Peter, upon whom the church had been built by our "Lord, speaking in the name of all, and with the voice of the church, answered: Lord to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. Signifying and shewing, that they who depart from Christ,