The Foxe Book of Martyrs

Man, I've been reading this thing, which is just filled with page after page of brutal killings of the early christians. It's quite cool, and I thought the part about the graves was quite touching. Opening up some of the graves, so many of the bodies obviously are terribly mangled, burned, beaten, and torn apart, and yet, to read their epitaphs show none of it.

Here is a short excerpt from the book.

"Here lies Marcia, put to rest in a dream of peace."

"Lawrence to his sweetest son, borne away of angels."

"Victorious in peace and in Christ."

"Being called away, he went in peace."

Remember when reading these inscriptions the story the skeletons tell of persecution, of torture, and of fire.

But the full force of these epitaphs is seen when we contrast them with the pagan epitaphs, such as:

"Live for the present hour, since we are sure of nothing else."

"I lift my hands against the gods who took me away at the age of twenty though I had done no harm."

"Once I was not. Now I am not. I know nothing about it, and it is no concern of mine."

"Traveler, curse me not as you pass, for I am in darkness and cannot answer."