baynes, wood and other drye matter for that purpose, & especially the Iewes were most seruicable for that matter, after their accustomed maner. And thus the pile being layd, and that now he had put of his garments and vndone his gyrdel, and was about to pull of his shooes, whiche thing hee hadde not done before, MarginaliaAn exāple of brotherly loue.for that all the faithful sort among them selues striued (as it were) who should first touche his bodye at their farewell, because for the good conuersation of hys lyfe, yea and that whē he was but a yong man, he was had in great estimation of al men. Therefore straightwaye those instrumentes which are requisite to such a bonfire, were brought vnto him, and when they woulde haue nayled him to the stake with yron hoopes, he said: let me alone as I am, of he that hath geuen me strength to suffer and abyde the fire, shall also geue power, that withoute thys your prouision of nayles, I shall abide, and styrre not in the mydst of this fire or pyle of wood. MarginaliaThe wylling minde of Polycarpus to suffer.Which thing whē thei heard, they did not nayle him, but bound him. Therfore when his handes were bound behinde him, euen as the chiefest Ramme taken out of a great flocke, hee was sacrificed an acceptable burnt offring vnto the omnipotēt God, saying: MarginaliaHis prayer before hys death.O father of thy welbeloued & blessed sonne Iesus Christ, by whō we haue attained the knowledge of thee, the God of Angels and powers, and of euerye creature, and of euery kinde of iust men which liue before thee, I geue thee thankes that thou hast vouchsafed to graunt me this day and houre that I may haue my part amongest the number of Martyrs in the cuppe of Christ vnto the resurrection of eternal life both of bodye and soule, in the incorruption of the holy spirite, among whom I shalbe this day receaued into thy sight for a fat and an acceptable sacrifice: and as thou hast prepared, and reuealed the same before this time, so hast thou accomplished the same, which canst not lye, MarginaliaThe thankesgeuing of Polycarpus.O thou most true God. Wherefore I in like case for al thinges praise thee, blesse thee, and glorifie thee by our euerlasting Byshop Iesus Christe thy deare and welbeloued sonne, by whom to thee O father, with him also and the holy gost be glory now and for euermore. Amen.

And as soone as he had made an end of this woord, Amen, and finished his praier, the tormentors beganne to kindle the fire, & as the flame flashed out vehemently: we to whom it was geuen to discerne the same, sawe a maruelous matter, which were also to this purpose preserued, that we might shewe the same to other. MarginaliaA miracle shewed.For the fire, being made in the similitude of a roufe or vaute of a house, & after the maner of a shipmans sayle, when it is filled with wynde, compassed aboute the bodye of the Martyr, as with a certayne walle, and was in the middle of the same, not as fleshe that burned, but as golde and siluer when it is tryed in the fire. And surely we smelt a sauour so sweete, as if Myrre or some other precious Balme had geuen a sent. At the laste when those wicked ones saw, that his body coulde not be consumed by the fyre, they commaunded one of the tormentours to come vnto him, & thrust him through with his sword. MarginaliaAn exāple of muche cruelty.Which thing being done, so great a quantitie of bloude ranne out of his bodye, that the fire was quenched therwith, and the whole multitude marueled that there was so much and so great diuersitie betwene the infidels & the electe, of whom thys Polcarpus was one, being a Disciple of the Apostles, and a prophetical instructour of our times, & Byshop of the catholique church of Smyrna, for what word so euer he spake, both it was and shal be accomplished. But the subtill, enuious, and contentious aduersarye of the stocke of iuste men, when he saw the worthines and maiestie of this mans Martyrdome, and that his conuersation euen from the beginning of hys lyfe, was not able to be reproued, and that he was adourned nowe with the crowne of Martyrdome, and had gotte or obtayned that incomparable benefite, gauethis in great charge, that we should not take and deuide his bodye, for there were many which had a desyre to do the same, that they might be partakers of some parte of his holy fleshe. Therefore many there were which whispered Niceta the father of Herode, & his brother Dalces in the eare, that they shoulde admonysh the Proconsull, that in no case he should deliuer his body, least (sayth he) they leaue Christ and beginne to workship him. And thys spake they, because the Iewes hadde geuen them secret warning, and prouoked them therunto: MarginaliaThe Iewes enemies alwayes to the Christians.who also watched vs that we should not take him out of the fyre, not being ignoraunt howe that we ment, at no time to forsake Christ, which gaue his lyfe for the saluation of the whole world, (as many I meane as are elected to saluatiō by him) neyther yet that we could worship any other. For why? him we worship as the sonne of God, but the Martyrs do we loue as the Disciples and followers of their LordMarginaliaMarke that hee sayth we loue them, and worship them not. (and that worthely) for theyr abundaunt loue towardes theyr king and maister, of whom we also desyre and wyshe to bee the companions, and to be made his Disciples. When therfore the Centurion saw and perceaued the labour and endeuour of the Iewes, the corps beyng laid abroad, they burnt the same, as is their maner to doo.

MarginaliaTwelue Martyrs put to death at Smyrna.These thinges chaunced to Policarpus that holye man, and also to the. xij. that came from Philadelphia, suffring martyrdome at Smyrna, whiche Policarpus onely is specially aboue all the rest had in memorye, to be spoken of in all places amongest the Gentiles. And this was the ende of that worthy martyr and disciple of the Apostles Policarpus. Whose historye the bretheren of the congregation at Smirna, haue written in thys their Epistle aboue recited. Ex Euseb.

MarginaliaEx Irenæo. li. 4. cap. 14.Ireneus in his. 3. booke against heresies, the. 3. chap. and Eusebius in hys. 4. booke, and. 14. chapter of hys Ecclesiasticall historye reporteth this woorthye saying of Polycarpus: This Policarpus (sayth he) meeting at a certayne time Martion the hereticke, who sayde vnto him, doest thou not knowe me? made aunswer: I knowe that thou art the first begotten of Sathan. So greate feare of the euil that might ensue thereof, had the disciples of the Apostles, that they woulde not so muche as speake to them whom they knew to be the deprauers of the verity, euen as Paule sayth: The hereticke, after the first and second admonition, shoonne, and auoyde: Knowing that he which is such a one, is peruers or froward, and damneth him selfe. Thys most holy Confessour and Martyr of Christe Policarpus suffered death in the fourth persecution after Nero, when Marcus Antoninus, and Lucius Awrelius Commodus raigned, anno Domini. 167. as Vrsperg. affirmeth, an. 170. as Eusebius witnesseth in his Chronicles the. 7. before the Calendes of February.

MarginaliaGermanicus
Ex Euseb. lib. 4. cap. 15. Histor. ecclesi.Of Germanicus mencion is made aboue in the stori of Polycarpus, of whom writeth Eusebius lib, 4. cap. 15. noting hym to be a yong man, and most constantlye to perseuer in the profession of Christes doctrine, whom when the Proconsul went about to perswade, to remember his age, and to fauour himselfe, being in the floure of his age, he would not be allured: but constantlye and boldly, and of his own accord incited and prouoked the wilde beast to come vpon him, and to deuour him, to be delyuered more spedely out of this wretched life. Hæc Euseb. An. 170.

Thus haue ye heard out of the Epistle of the brethrē of Smyrna, the whole order and life of Policarpus, MarginaliaThe old age of Polycarpus.by the which it may appeare that he was a very aged man who had serued Christ. lxxxvi. yeres since the first knowledge of him, and serued also in the ministery about the space of. xvij. yeares. MarginaliaPolycarpus the scholer of IohnThis Policarpus was the scholler and hearer of Iohn the Euangelist, and was placed by the sayd Iohn in Smyrna. Of him also Ignatius ma-