CHAPTER IV. MIRACLES OF THE MARTYRS AND OTHERS

Polycarp was martyred in the second century. The historian says:MIRP 59.1

“Three days before he was seized, he had a vision while he was praying. He saw his pillow consumed by fire; and turning to the company, he said prophetically, ‘I must be burnt alive!’ Upon hearing that the persons in search of him were just at hand, he retired to another village. Immediately the officers came to his house, and not finding him, they seized two servants, one of whom was induced, by torture, to confess the place of his retreat. Certainly it was impossible to conceal him, since even those of his own household discovered him. And the Tetrarch, called Cleronomus Herod, hastened to introduce him into the stadium; that so he might obtain his lot as a follower of Christ; and that those who betrayed him, might share with Judas. Taking then the servant as their guide, they went out about supper time, with their usual arms, as against a robber; and arriving late, they found him lying in an upper room at the end of the house, whence he might have made his escape, but he would not, saying, ‘The will of the Lord be done.’ Hearing that they were arrived, he came down and conversed with them; and all who were present admired his age and constancy. Some said, ‘Is it worth while to take pains to apprehend so aged a person?’ He immediately ordered meat and drink to be set before them, as much as they pleased, and begged them to allow him one hour to pray without molestation; which being granted, he prayed standing, and was so full of the grace of God, that he could not cease from speaking for two hours. The hearers were astonished, and many of them repented that they were come to seize so divine a character.MIRP 59.2

“When he had finished his prayers, having made mention of all whom he had ever known, small and great, noble and vulgar, and of the whole Catholic ^{1The word “Catholic,” here signifies only universal. This being in the second century, the Roman Catholic church was not yet established.} church throughout the world, the hour of departing being come, they set him on an ass and led him to the city.MIRP 60.1

“The Irenarch, Herod, and his father Nicetes, met him, who taking him up into their chariot, began to advise him, asking, ‘What harm is it to say, Lord Caesar!—and to sacrifice and be safe?’ At first he was silent, but being pressed, he said, ‘I will not follow your advice.’ When they could not persuade him, they treated him abusively, and thrust him out of the chariot, so that in falling he bruised his thigh. But he, still unmoved as if he had suffered nothing, went on cheerfully under the conduct of his guards to the stadium. There the tumult being so great that few could hear any thing, a voice from heaven said to Polycarp, as he entered on the stadium, ‘Be strong, Polycarp, and behave yourself like a man!’ ^{2On this Milner has the following note: “The reader should remember that miraculous interpositions of various kinds were still frequent in the church.”} None saw the speaker, but many of us heard the voice. When he was brought to the tribunal, there was a great tumult, as soon as it was generally understood that Polycarp was apprehended. The proconsul asked him if he was Polycarp, to which he assented. The former then began to exhort him,—’Have pity on thy own great age, and the like. Swear by the fortune of Caesar, repent; say, ‘Take away the atheists.’ Polycarp, with a grave aspect, beholding all the multitude, waving his hand to them, and looking up to heaven, said, ‘Take away the atheists.’ The proconsul urging him, and saying, ‘Swear and I will release thee,—reproach Christ,’ Polycarp said, ‘Eighty and six years have I served him, and he hath never wronged me, and how can I blaspheme my King who hath saved me?’ The proconsul still urging, ‘Swear by the fortune of Caesar.’ Polycarp said, ‘If you still vainly contend to make me swear by the fortune of Caesar, as you speak, affecting an ignorance of my real character, hear me frankly declaring what I am. I am a Christian; and if you desire to learn the Christian doctrine, assign me a day, and hear.’ The proconsul said, ‘Persuade the people.’ Polycarp said, ‘I have thought proper to address you; for we are taught to pay all honor to magistracies and powers appointed by God, which is consistent with a good conscience. But I do not hold them worthy that I should apologize before them.’ ‘I have wild beasts,’ says the proconsul: ‘I will expose you to them, unless you repent.’ ‘Call them, replies the martyr.’ ‘Our minds are not to be changed from the better to the worse; but it is a good thing to be changed from evil to good.’ ‘I will tame your spirit by fire,’ says the other, ‘since you despise the wild beasts, unless you repent.’ ‘You threaten me with fire,’ answers Polycarp, ‘which burns for a moment, and will be soon extinct; but you are ignorant of the future judgment, and of the fire of eternal punishment reserved for the ungodly. But why do you delay? Do what you please.’ Saying this and more, he was filled with confidence and joy, and grace shone in his countenance; so that he was far from being confounded by the menaces; on the contrary the proconsul was visibly embarrassed: he sent, however, the heralds to proclaim thrice, in the midst of the assembly, ‘Polycarp hath professed himself a Christian.’ Upon this all the multitude, both of Gentiles and of Jews, who dwelt at Smyrna, with insatiate rage shouted aloud, ‘This is the doctor of Asia, the father of Christians, the subverter of our gods, who hath taught many not to sacrifice nor to adore.’ They now begged Phillip, the Asiarch, to let out a lion against Polycarp, but he refused, observing, that the amphitheatrical spectacles of the wild beasts were finished. They then unanimously shouted, that he should be burnt alive (for his vision was of necessity to be accomplished)... . Immediately the usual appendages of burning were placed about him. And when they were going to fasten him to the stake, he said, ‘Let me remain as I am; for He who giveth me strength to sustain the fire, will enable me also, without your securing me with nails, to remain unmoved in the fire.’ Upon which they bound him without nailing him. And he, putting his hands behind him, and being bound as a distinguished victim selected from a great flock, a burnt offering acceptable to God Almighty, said, ‘O Father of thy beloved and blessed Son, Jesus Christ, through whom we have attained a knowledge of thee, O God of angels and principalities, and of all creation, and of all the just who live in thy sight, I bless thee, that thou hast accounted me worthy of this day, and this hour, to receive my portion in the number of martyrs, in the cup of Christ, for the resurrection to eternal life both of soul and body in the incorruption of the Holy Ghost; among whom may I be received before thee this day as a sacrifice well favored and acceptable, which thou, the faithful and true God, hast prepared, promised beforehand, and fulfilled accordingly. Wherefore I praise thee for all these things, I bless thee, I glorify thee, by the eternal High Priest, Jesus Christ, thy well-beloved Son; through whom, with him in the Holy Spirit, be glory to thee, both now and forever, Amen.’MIRP 60.2

And when he had pronounced amen, aloud, and finished prayer, the officers lighted the fire, and a great flame bursting out,—we, to whom it was given to see, and who also were reserved to relate to others that which happened,—saw a wonder. For the flame, forming the appearance of an arch, as the sail of a vessel filled with wind, was as a wall round about the body of the martyr; which was in the midst, not as burning flesh, but as gold and silver refined in a furnace. We received also in our nostrils such a fragrance, as arises from frankincense, or some other precious perfume. At length the impious, observing that his body could not be consumed by the fire, ^{1The historian states that subsequently he was burnt, and his bones collected by his friends.} ordered the confector to approach, and to plunge his sword into his body. Upon this a quantity of blood gushed out, so that the fire was extinguished, and all the multitude were astonished to see the difference thus providentially made between the unbelievers and the elect; of whom the admiral personage before us was doubtless one, in our age an apostolical and prophetical teacher, the bishop of the Catholic church of Smyrna. For, whatever he declared, was fulfilled and will be fulfilled.”—Milner’s History, Church pp. 76-78. See also Eusebius’ Eccl. Hist., Book iv, chap. 15.MIRP 63.1

The following miracle was said to have been wrought in the fifth century. Wesley relates thatMIRP 64.1

“Hunneric, an Arian prince, in his persecution of the orthodox in Afric, ordered the tongues of a certain society of them to be cut out by the roots. But, by a surprising instance of God’s good providence, they were enabled to speak articulately and distinctly without their tongues. And so continuing to make open profession of the same doctrine, they became not only preachers, but living witnesses of its truth.”—Wesley’s Works, Vol. v, p. 746.MIRP 64.2

Abraham Holmes was martyred about the beginning of the seventh century. On the scaffold he prayed fervently for the downfall of antichrist and deliverance of England. On his trial, when urged by the king and council to retract, he made the following noble reply:MIRP 64.3

“I am an aged man, and what remains to me of life is not worth a falsehood or a baseness. I have always been a republican; and I am so still.” “He was,” says the historian “sent back to the West and hanged. The people remarked with awe and wonder that the beasts which were to drag him to the gallows became restive and went back. Holmes himself doubted not that the angel of the Lord, as in the old time, stood in the way, sword in hand, invisible to human eyes, but visible to the inferior animals. ‘Stop, gentlemen,’ he cried, ‘let me go on foot.’ There is more in this than you think. Remember how the ass saw him whom the prophet could not see.”—Macaulay’s Hist. of England, Vol. I, p. 435.MIRP 64.4

In the fifteenth century James Baynham, a reputable citizen of London, when chained to the stake, embraced the fagots, and said: “O ye papists, behold! ye look for miracles; here now you see a miracle; for in this fire I feel no more pain than if I were in bed; for it is sweet to me as a bed of roses.”—Blanchard’s Book of Martyrs, p. 207.MIRP 65.1

Thomas Tompkins had his hand burnt over a wax candle of three or four wicks; but he declared to one James Hinse, “that his spirit was so rapt that he felt no pain! In which burning he never shrank till the sinews burst and the water spirted into Mr. Harpsfield’s face.”—Id. p. 231.MIRP 65.2

Mrs. Jones, an eminently pious woman, was instantly healed. Mr. Wesley says:MIRP 65.3

“She had various physicians, but still grew worse and worse; till, perceiving herself to be no better, she left them off. She had a continual pain in her groin, with such a prolapsus uteri, as soon confined her to her bed. There she lay two months helpless and hopeless; till a thought came one day into her mind, ‘Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me whole! Be it according to thy will!’ Immediately the pain and the distress ceased. Feeling herself well, she rose and dressed herself. Her husband coming in and seeing her in tears, asked, ‘Are those tears of serious joy?’ She said, ‘Of joy!’ on which they wept together. From that hour she felt no pain, but enjoyed perfect health. I think our Lord never wrought a plainer miracle, even in the days of his flesh.”—Wesley’s Journal Vol. IV, p. 748.MIRP 65.4

Martin Luther, the great reformer, says:MIRP 66.1

“A woman at Isenack, lying very sick, had endured horrible paroxysms, which no physician was able to cure; for her indisposition was directly the work of the Devil, and an unnatural thing, occasioned by devilish frightenings, insomuch that she fell into a faint swooning, and thereupon had four paroxysms, each enduring the space of three or four hours; her hands and feet bended in the manner of a horn. She was chill and cold, her tongue rough and dry; her body, by reason of the disease, was much swelled; she, seeing Luther, who came to visit her, was much rejoiced thereat, raised herself up and said, ‘Ah! my loving father in Christ, I have a heavy burden upon me. Pray to God for me; and so she fell down into her bed again—whereupon Luther fetched a deep sigh, and said, ‘God, rebuke and command thee Satan, that thou suffer this his creature to be in peace!’ Then turning himself to the standers-by, he said, ‘She is plagued of the Devil in the body, but the soul is safe and shall be preserved. Therefore let us give thanks to God and pray for her.’ And so they all repeated aloud the Lord’s prayer. After which Luther concluded with these words, ‘Lord God, heavenly Father, who hast commanded us to pray for the sick, we beseech thee through thy only beloved Son, that thou wouldst deliver this thy servant from her sickness, and from the hands of the Devil. Spare, O Lord, her soul, which together with her body thou hast purchased and redeemed from the power of sin, of death, and of the Devil.’ Whereupon the sick woman said, Amen. The night following she took good rest, and the next day was graciously delivered from her disease and sickness.”—Table Talk, p. 359.MIRP 66.2

The following extract shows at least that a bishop of the Church of England believed in miracles in his time, and also that such faith was general in his day—the seventeenth century:MIRP 67.1

“A poor woman of the parish had a sadly afflicted son. When about a year old, having previously had his health very well, and all his teeth, ‘he was,’ his mother tells us, ‘taken with fits, both inward and outward, which were so violent that he lost the use of his legs,’ and his teeth fell out. He crawled on his back for five years. At the age of six he was baptized by Ken. ‘About a week and odd days after, sitting at the door in his chair, one of his playmates called him Tattie. The child (which never spoke before) answered, ‘My name is not Tattie—my name is Matthew; Dr. Ken has baptized me.’ About a fortnight after, sitting at the door in a chair, he started up and went among his play fellows without being bid, and without leading; and that very day month following his baptism, he went in my hand to the church in which he was baptized (which is near a quarter of a mile from my then dwelling), and answered several questions of the church catechism. The mother’s letter signed, Sarah Cante, is among the Baker MSS. in the British Museum Library. The cure seems to have been permanent as well as speedy. It is not more remarkable than many recorded in medical history, but it doubtless produced a great effect among a hundred population, in an age of little information. Dr. Ken himself was among the credulous. He is said to have spoken of the occurrence thirteen years after as ‘a great miracle.’ The remark was in accordance with the spirit of the age. Almost every leading man of the day would have expressed the same opinion, and could be proved to have done so in many a similar case.”—Life of Bishop Ken (Bishop of Bath and Wells) pp. 49, 50.MIRP 67.2

A case of curing blindness, as related in Bramwell’s Memoir:MIRP 68.1

“William Greensmith, son of Thomas Greensmith, of Watnall, near Nottingham, when about nine years of age was severely afflicted with a scrofulous humor in his eyes, so that he was unable to bear the light even with bandages upon them. Mr. Bramwell was then in Nottingham circuit, and went in his regular turn to preach in Mr. Greensmith’s house. On one of these occasions he remained all night; and previous to his departure the next morning, when his horse was brought to the door, he asked where the boy was who had sore eyes. Mrs. Greensmith replied that he was in a dark room behind the door. He wished him to be called out. He came and stood near Mr. Bramwell, who put his hand on the boy’s head, and looked upward as if in ejaculatory prayer. He then went out, leaving the child standing, while the latter, as if conscious of some important change, pulled off his bandages, looked through the window, and asked if Mr. Bramwell was gone. On perceiving that his eyes were perfectly healed, all the family were completely astonished. He is now about thirty years of age, and has never since had any complaint in his organs of sight.”—Memoir, p. 157.MIRP 68.2

“In returning to Canterbury I called upon Mr. Kingsford, a man of substance as well as piety. He informed me, ‘Seven years ago I so entirely lost the use of my ankles and knees, that I could no more stand than a new-born child......I could not move from place to place, but on crutches. All the advice I had, profited me nothing. In this state I continued about six years. Last year I went on business to London, then to Bristol and Bath. At Bath I sent for a physician; but before he came, as I sat reading the Bible, I thought, Asa sought to the physicians, and not to God; but God can do more for me than any physician. Soon after I heard a noise in the street; and, rising up, found I could stand. Being much surprised, I walked several times about the room, then I walked into the square, and afterward on the Bristol road: and from that time I have been perfectly well, having as full a use of all my limbs as I had seven years ago.’” Wesley’s Journal, Vol. IV, p. 682.MIRP 69.1

Again Wesley says:MIRP 69.2

“Many came: among the rest was one William Kirkman, a Weaver, near Old Nichol street. I asked him, ‘What complaint have you?’ ‘O, sir,’ said he, ‘a cough, a very sore cough. I can get no rest day nor night.’ I asked, ‘How long have you had it?’ He replied, ‘About three-score years; it began when I was eleven years old.’ I was nothing glad that this man should come first, fearing our not curing him might discourage others. However, I looked up to God, and said, ‘Take this three or four times a day. If it does you no good, it will do you no harm.’ He took it two or three days. His cough was cured, and has not returned to this day.”—Wesley’s Journal, Vol. V, p. 187.MIRP 69.3

To the following, “Dr. Middleton absolves you from all boasting, in relation to the miracle you worked upon Kirkman,” Mr. Wesley replies, “Dr. Middleton does me too much honor, in taking notice of so inconsiderable a person. But miracle or no miracle, the fact is plain: William Kirkman is, I apprehend, yet alive and able to certify for himself, that he had that cough three-score years, and that since that time it has not returned.”—Id. p. 363.MIRP 70.1

Speaking of this in another place he says: “Now let the candid man judge, does humility require me to deny a notorious fact? If not, which is vanity? to say I by my own skill have restored this man to health, or to say God did it by his own almighty power?”MIRP 70.2