deed, I never cared
to know them until lately. I have heard all the usual reports about
their immorality, their secret vice, their treasonable doctrines. I
believed all this until lately.

"A few days ago I was in the Coliseum. There, first, I learned something
about the Christians. I saw the gladiator Macer, a man to whom fear was
utterly unknown, lay down his life calmly rather than do what he
believed to be wrong. I saw an old man meet death with a peaceful smile;
and above all, I saw a band of young girls give themselves up to the
wild beasts with a song of triumph on their lip:

"'Unto Him that loved us,
That washed us from our sins.'"

As Marcellus spoke a wonderful effect was produced. The eyes of his
listeners glistened with eagerness and joy. When he mentioned Macer they
looked at each other with meaning glances; when he spoke of the old man,
Honorius bowed his head; and when he spoke of the children and murmured
the words of their song, they turned away their faces and wept.

"For the first time in my life I saw death conquered. I myself can meet
death without terror, and so can every soldier when he comes in the
battle-field. It, is our profession. But these people rejoiced in death.
Here were not soldiers, but children, who carried the same wonderful
feeling in their hearts.

"Since then I have thought of nothing else. Who is he that loved you?
Who is he that washes you from your sins? Who is he that causes this
sublime courage and hope to arise within you? What is it that supports
you here? Who is he to whom you were just now praying?

"I have a commission to lead soldiers against you and destroy you. But I
wish to learn more of you first. And I swear by the Supreme that my
present visit shall bring no harm to you. Tell me, then, the Christian's
secret."

"Your words," said Honorius, "are true and sincere. Now I know that you
are no spy or enemy, but an inquiring soul sent here by the Spirit to
learn that which you have long been seeking. Rejoice, for he that cometh
unto Christ shall be in no wise cast out.

"You see before you men and women who have left friends, and home, and
honor, and wealth, to live here in want, and fear, and sorrow, and they
count all this as nothing for Christ, yes, they count even their own
lives nothing. They give up all for Him who loved them.

"You are right, Marcellus, in thinking that there is some great power
which can do all this: It is not fanaticism, nor