. The plate of churches
was carried off, and was turned to profane uses, as the vessels of the
Jewish temple had formerly been by Belshazzar.

The sufferings of the Christians were frightful, but after what has been
already said of such things, I shall not shock you by telling you much
about them here. Some were thrown to wild beasts; some were burnt alive,
or roasted on gridirons; some had their skins pulled off, or their flesh
scraped from their bones; some were crucified; some were tied to
branches of trees, which had been bent so as to meet, and then they were
torn to pieces by the starting asunder of the branches. Thousands of
them perished by one horrible death or other, so that the heathens
themselves grew tired and disgusted with inflicting or seeing their
sufferings; and at length, instead of putting them to death, they sent
them to work in mines, or plucked out one of their eyes, or lamed one of
their hands or feet, or set bishops to look after horses or camels, or
to do other work unfit for persons of their venerable character. And it
is impossible to think what miseries even those who escaped must have
undergone; for the persecution lasted ten years, and they had not only
to witness the sufferings of their own dear relations, or friends, or
teachers, but knew that the like might, at any hour, come on themselves.

It was in the East that the persecution was hottest and lasted longest;
for in Europe it was not much felt after the first two years. The
Emperor Constantius, who ruled over Gaul (now called France), Spain and
Britain, was kind to the Christians; and after his death, his son
Constantine was still more favourable to them. There were several
changes among the other emperors, and the Christians felt them for
better or for worse, according to the character of each emperor; but it
is needless to speak much of them in a little book like this. Galerius
went on in his cruelty until, at the end of eight years, he found that
it had been of no use towards putting down the Gospel, and that he was
sinking under a fearful disease, something like that of which Herod,
who had killed St. James, died (_Acts_ xii. 23). He then thought with
grief and horror of what he had done, and (perhaps in the hope of
getting some relief from the God of Christians) he sent forth a
proclamation allowing them to rebuild their churches, and to hold their
worship, and begging them to remember him in their prayers. Soon after
this he d