THE CHILD MARTYR by E. Payson Hammond

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 2, 1902

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 28, No. 27.

THE CHILD MARTYR.

By E. Payson Hammond

I HAVE been surprised to notice how many children have suffered death rather than deny Jesus. I want to tell you about one of these young martyrs. In Antioch, where the disciples were first called Christians, a deacon from the church of Cæsarea was called to cruel torture to force him to deny his Lord. While he was still being tortured, he declared his faith, saying, “There is but one God, and one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus.” His body was almost torn to pieces. The cruel Emperor Valerian seemed to enjoy looking upon his suffering. At length the martyr said to his tormentors, “Ask any Christian child whether it is better to worship one God, the Maker of heaven and earth, or the gods many and the lords many whom the Romans serve.” There stood by a Roman mother with her little boy, nine years old. The question was asked the child. He quickly replied, “God is one, and Christ is one with the Father.” The prosecutor was filled with fresh rage, and he cried out, “O base and wicked Christian, thou hast taught this child to answer thus.” Then turning to the boy, he said more mildly, “Child, who taught thee to speak thus?” The boy looked lovingly into his mother’s face, and said, “It was God that taught it to my dear mother, and she taught me that Jesus Christ loved little children, and so I learned to love Him for His first love for me.” “Let us see now what the love of Christ can do for you,” cried the

cruel judge, and at a sign from him the officers, who stood by with their rods, after the fashion of the Romans, quickly seized the poor boy, and made ready to torture him. “What can the love of Christ do for him now?” asked the judge, as the blood streamed from the tender flesh of the child. “It helps him,” answered the mother, “to bear what his Master endured for him when He died on the cross.” Again they smote the child, and every blow seemed to torture the agonized mother as much as the child. As the blows, faster and heavier, were laid upon the bleeding boy, they asked, “What can the love of Christ do for him now?” Tears fell from the heathens’ eyes as the mother replied, “It teaches him to forgive his tormentors.”

The boy watched his mother’s eye, and no doubt thought of the suffering of his Lord and Saviour, and when his tormentor asked him if he would serve the gods of the Romans, he still answered, “I will not deny Christ. There is no other God but one, and Jesus Christ is the Redeemer of the world. He loved us and died for us, and I love Him with all my heart.” The poor child at last fainted under the repeated strokes, and they cast his torn and bleeding body into his mother’s arms, saying, supposing that the boy was dead, “See now what the love of Christ has done for your Christian boy.” As the mother gently pressed him to her heart she answered, “That love will take him from the wrath of man to the peace of heaven, where God shall wipe away all tears.” But the boy had not yet passed over the river. Opening his eyes, he said, “Mother, can I have a drop of water from our cool well?” As he closed his eyes again the mother said, “Already, dearest, thou hast tasted of the well that springs up into everlasting life. Farewell, the Saviour calls for thee; for His sake may He grant thy mother grace to follow in thy bright path.” To the surprise of all, after they thought he had breathed his last, he raised his eyes, and, looking to where the other martyr stood, he said, in almost a whisper, “There is but one God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.” With these words on his parched lips he died.

Are you, my dear young friend, a Christian? If not, you can become one now. That same Jesus who suffered and died to save that little Roman boy, suffered on the cross for you, and is ready to give you a “new heart,” so that you will love Him so much that you will be willing to die a death of suffering rather than deny Him.

E. PAYSON HAMMOND.