First CRC Library

This volume begins with the ministry of the apostle John and the writing of the Fourth Gospel. It continues with the great evangelistic bishops of the early church – Ignatius, Polycarp, Irenaeus; early defenders of the faith such as Justin and Origen; and many of the early martyrs such as Perpetua of Carthage. As more and more converts were discovered in the army, imperial bureaucracy and general population, Roman emperors and governors increasingly saw the new religion as rebellion against the state. They required suspected Christians to burn incense to the divinity of the emperor. Thousands refused and were savagely put to death – torn apart by lions or wild bulls in arenas for sport, crucified along roadsides, or tortured to death in dungeons. Far from destroying the church, however, the courageous deaths of the martyrs drew even more converts.