Martyrs Mirror 229OF THE TENTH GENERAL PERSECUTION OF THE CHRISTIANS, UNDER DIOCLETIAN, COM; MENCED A. D. 302

Various eminent writers have made mention of this awful and lamentable deed of the Emperor Diocletian, and they cannot sufficiently wonder at two things: In the first place, that any one who is at all a human being could commit such great cruelties on his fellow men, as Diocletian inflicted upon the Christians. In the second place, that the Christians, frail men as they were, could endure all this, and not only this, but that many of them, from love to Jesus Christ, and because of the certain hope of their reward, manifested great joy in their sufferings. We shall first speak of the former, and then of the latter as follows.