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The works of Nathaniel Lardner - The Christian Researcher - Home

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220 Credibilily <strong>of</strong> the Gospel History.<br />

' eminent virtue tlie most renoM'iied martyr <strong>of</strong> our age.<br />

' Urbanus, having first made trial <strong>of</strong> bis knowledge by diners<br />

' questions <strong>of</strong> rhetoric and philosophy and polite literature,<br />

' required him to sacrifice; when he saw that Paniphilus<br />

' refused to obey his orders, and despised all his threatenings,<br />

' he commanded that he should be tortured in the severest<br />

' manner : Avhen he had again and again raked his sides<br />

' with his torturing irons, the cruel wretch, being as it were<br />

' satiated with his flesh, though he had gained nothing but<br />

' vexation and dishonour, ordered him to be had away tothe<br />

' rest <strong>of</strong> the confessors in prison.'<br />

And afterwards :<br />

' But'' it is time to give an account <strong>of</strong><br />

' the most glorious spectacle <strong>of</strong> those who were perfected by<br />

' martyrdom together with Pamphilus, whose memory must<br />

' always be precious to me: they were in all twelve, and<br />

' were honoured >vith a resemblance <strong>of</strong> the prophets, or<br />

'<br />

'<br />

rather the apostles, both in grace and number ; the chief <strong>of</strong><br />

whom was Pamphilus, and the only one who had the honour<br />

' <strong>of</strong> the presbyter's <strong>of</strong>fice at Cacsarea; a man, who, through-<br />

' out his whole life, excelled in every virtue ; in contempt<br />

' and renunciation <strong>of</strong> this world, in liberality to the indigent, in<br />

' disregard <strong>of</strong> all earthly honours and preferments to Avhich<br />

' he might have aspired, and in an abstemious philosophical<br />

' course <strong>of</strong> life : but he was especially eminent and remark-<br />

' able above all men <strong>of</strong> our time for' an unfeigned zeal for<br />

* the holy scriptures, and for unwearied application in what-<br />

*<br />

'<br />

ever he undertook ; whether it were kind <strong>of</strong>fices to his<br />

friends, or to others who sought his aid : but a fuller ac-<br />

' count <strong>of</strong> these, and his other virtues and services, has been<br />

' already given by us in a distinct work <strong>of</strong> three books,<br />

* comprising the history <strong>of</strong> his life. At present wc go on<br />

* with our narration concerning the martyrs.'<br />

That work to our great grief is lost : but there is a passage<br />

<strong>of</strong> it in Jerom, which I shall here transcribe :<br />

' Eusebius,"<br />

• lb. cap. xi. p. 336. A. B. C.<br />

' Trj irtpi ra Srtia \oyia yinjmoTary ffne^y. ib. B.<br />

" Ipse eniiii Eusebius amator et praeco et contubernalis Pamphili tres libros<br />

scripsit olegantissimos, vitatn Paniphilis continentes: in quibus quum caetera<br />

mJris laudibus prcedicaret, humihtatem ejus ferret in coelum, etiam hoc in<br />

tertio libro addidif : Quis studiosonim amicus non fuit Pamphili ? Si quos<br />

videbat ad victum necessariis indigerc, prailDtbat large quae poterat, Scripluras<br />

quoque sanclas non ad legcnduni tantum, scd ad habendum, tribuebat promptissime;<br />

nee solum viris, sed et t'eminis, quas vidisset lectioni dcditas. Unde<br />

etmultos codices praeparabat, ut, quum necesfitas proposcisset, volentibus<br />

largiretur. Et ipse quidem proprii o[)eris nihil omnino scripsit, exceptis<br />

epistolis, quas ad amicus i'orle niittcbat • in tantum se humilitate dejecerat.<br />

Veterum aulem tractafus scriptonim legebat studiosissimo, et in eorum medi-<br />

(ationc jugiter versabatur. Ilieron. adv. Kuf. col. 357, 359. T. iv. Ed. Bencd.

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