was ready to
persecute.

The first order against the Christians was a proclamation requiring that
all soldiers, and all persons who held any office under the emperor,
should sacrifice to the heathen gods (A.D. 298). And five years after
this, Galerius, who was a cruel man, and very bitter against the
Christians (although his wife was supposed to be one), persuaded
Diocletian to begin a persecution in earnest.

Diocletian did not usually live at Rome, like the earlier emperors, but
at Nicomedia, a town in Asia Minor, on the shore of the Propontis (now
called the Sea of Marmora). And there the persecution began, by his
sending forth an order that all who would not serve the gods of Rome
should lose their offices; that their property should be seized, and, if
they were persons of rank, they should lose their rank. Christians were
no longer allowed to meet for worship; their churches were to be
destroyed, and their holy books were to be sought out and burnt (Feb.
24, 303). As soon as this proclamation was set forth, a Christian tore
it down, and broke into loud reproaches against the emperors. Such
violent acts and words were not becoming in a follower of Him, "who,
when he was reviled, reviled not again, and when he suffered, threatened
not" (1 _Peter_ ii. 23). But the man who had forgotten himself so far,
showed the strength of his principles in the patience with which he bore
the punishment of what he had done, for he was roasted alive at a slow
fire, and did not even utter a groan.

This was in February, 303; and before the end of that year, Diocletian
put forth three more proclamations against the Christians. One of them
ordered that the Christian teachers should be imprisoned; and very soon
the prisons were filled with bishops and clergy, while the evil-doers
who were usually confined in them were turned loose. The next
proclamation ordered that the prisoners should either sacrifice or be
tortured; and the fourth directed that not only the bishops and clergy,
but all Christians, should be required to sacrifice, on pain of torture.

These cruel laws were put in execution. Churches were pulled down,
beginning with the great church of Nicomedia, which was built on a
height, and overlooked the emperor's palace. All the Bibles and
service-books that could be found, and a great number of other Christian
writings, were thrown into the flames; and many Christians, who refused
to give up their holy books, were put to death