'As for the Books of their Law, destroy them utterly; let not a word remain in the whole land. Publish this order against the Book; and if, after my will has been declared, any man is found to have a copy in his possession, let him be put to death.'

Horrible as it seems, all these wicked commands were carried out. A sow was slaughtered on the altar, and an image of Jupiter set up in G.o.d's Holy Temple. More cruel than all, the Book of the Law was torn and trodden underfoot.

Throughout Jerusalem and all the cities of Palestine bands of soldiers went everywhere searching for copies of the Scriptures. Torn to fragments, burnt with fire, often, alas! drenched with the life-blood of those who loved them, now, indeed, the Books of the Bible were in terrible danger, for the most powerful king of the fierce heathen world was fighting directly against them!

'_O G.o.d, the heathen are come into Thine inheritance; Thy holy Temple have they defiled; they have laid Jerusalem on heaps.... The blood of Thy servants have they shed like water round about Jerusalem; and there was none to bury them._' (Psalm lxxix.)

So the cry went up from those faithful hearts who still dared to serve the true G.o.d.

The altar--the Temple itself--was now defiled, made 'unclean'; the Book of the Law had been torn to fragments; but His people could still cry to the Lord, and He heard.

They did not obey the wicked heathen king; and the stories of their courage thrill our hearts as we read them, for they show us what those saints of old suffered rather than deny their G.o.d.

'_They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being dest.i.tute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the world was not worthy)._'

(Hebrews xi. 37, 38.)

It was of these times especially that the writer of Hebrews was thinking when he penned those words.

Seven young men, the sons of one woman, were with their mother brought before the king's officer--or, as some say, before the king himself--for refusing to break the laws of G.o.d.

They were cruelly beaten, but one of them cried:

'What wouldst thou ask of us? We are ready to die, rather than to transgress the laws of our fathers!'

The torturers thereupon seized the brave fellow, and so cruelly tormented him that he died, his mother and brothers being forced to look on.

But though their faces grew pale as death, and they quivered with anguish to see their loved one suffer, they gazed steadfastly at each other.

'The Lord looketh upon us, the Lord G.o.d hath comfort in us,' they said.

Then the second son was taken, and before he died he cried with a loud voice, looking his heathen judge full in the face:

'Thou, like a fury, takest us out of this present life, but the King of the world shall raise us up, who have died for His laws, unto life everlasting!'

But when it came to the turn of the youngest son even the heathen judge was anxious to spare him, and he promised the lad honour and great riches if he would but turn from his faith.

But the youth stepped out before them all, his boyish face as brave as a man's and his boyish voice as steady.

'Whom wait ye for?' he asked. 'I will obey the Commandments of the Law that was given unto our fathers by Moses; but thou shalt not escape the hands of G.o.d.

'We suffer for our sins, but our pain is short. See, I offer up my body and life for the Laws of my fathers, beseeching G.o.d to be merciful to my nation, and that thou at last mayest confess that He alone is G.o.d!'

Last of all, after her sons, the mother died as well.[4]

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE JEWS OF ANTIOCHUS' TIMES COVERED THEIR HOUSES AND TOMBS WITH HEATHEN GREEK ORNAMENTS THAT THEY MIGHT BE 'IN THE FASHION.'

HERE IS THE CORNICE OF ONE OF THEM, DECORATED IN EXACTLY THE SAME WAY AS THE GREEK IDOL-TEMPLES]

But the saints of G.o.d did not die in vain; their victories over pain and death fired the hearts that had grown so cold, and awakened the careless into active life. Those who had forsaken the religion of their fathers returned by hundreds to G.o.d, confessing their sins, and pleading for pardon.

So the very fierceness of the trial proved a blessing, and the days of torture were followed by a revival of faith in G.o.d, and devotion to His service.

Now there was an old priest named Mattathias who, with his four sons, had never listened to the cunning temptations of the heathen Greeks.

All his life he had served G.o.d with his whole heart, and had brought up his sons to follow in his steps. When Mattathias and his sons heard what was being done at Jerusalem, they clothed themselves in sackcloth and wept, praying, and fasting continually, beseeching G.o.d to forgive His people, and to put away their sins.

In a little while the king's officers came to the heathen altar at Modin, the town where the old priest lived.

'Sacrifice to Jupiter, our master's G.o.d!' they said. 'Sacrifice, as all Jews shall be forced to do, or die!'

But the old man looked the Greek straight in the face. 'Though all the nations in the world obey the king, yet will I and my sons walk in the covenant of our fathers. G.o.d forbid that we should forsake His Law.'

As he spoke a backsliding Jew stepped up to the altar to sacrifice.

The old priest's eyes flashed fire, and in an instant he had struck him down, and the Greek officer with him.

Quivering with indignation Mattathias then turned to the startled people: 'Whosoever loves G.o.d, let him follow me!'

And he turned and fled swiftly through the streets of the city.

Many followed him at once. Others joined him later in the strong camp he formed in the mountains, until at last he was at the head of an army.

Wonderful it is to read how, little by little, this army of G.o.d's people drove the heathen from the cities of Judah; how they overturned the heathen altars, and cast down the images of the false G.o.ds; and how, at last, they came to Jerusalem, cleansed the Temple, and purified the golden altar from the stains of heathen sacrifices.

Then, tenderly and reverently, they gathered together all that was left of the copies of their Scriptures, weeping as they saw the poor fragments, blackened with fire, stained with blood, and scrawled all over with the horrible figures of heathen G.o.ds.

As to-day we read in the clean white pages of our Bible, let us remember this scene and of the time when those torn and blood-stained fragments were all that remained to the world.

But, thank G.o.d, when all the pieces had been collected together, there was plenty of material from which to make fresh copies; and no sooner had peace been restored to the city than the scribes set to work, with eager, loving care.

The Book had become doubly precious now! Its written words were indeed sacred, for the blood of martyrs had fallen upon them, and men and women, and little children, too, had chosen to die by hundreds rather than to deny them.

[1] With all his cleverness, Alexander, while still quite young, drank himself to death.

[2] In the days of Joshua, who bought the office of High Priest under the reign of Antiochus, so many priests took part in the games that the regularity of the Temple services suffered.

[3] From 'Maccabees,' an old Jewish history, which is sometimes bound up with our Bible.

[4] This is taken from 'Maccabees.'

CHAPTER VII

TWO FAMOUS VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPTURES

[Ill.u.s.tration: (drop cap B) Samaritan Book of the Law]

By the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea, on the coast of Egypt, lies Alexandria, a busy and prosperous city of to-day.