bless thee, I glorify thee through the eternal High Priest, Jesus
Christ, thy well-beloved Son, through whom glory be to thee with him in
the Holy Ghost, both now and evermore. Amen."

The flames did not immediately seize upon his body; so one of the
executioners--in mercy perhaps--plunged a sword into his body, and so
ended his sufferings. The centurion then placed the body in the midst of
the fire and burned it, "according to the custom of the Gentiles."

"Thus at last, taking up his bones, valued more than precious stones,
more tried than gold, we deposited them where they should be. There
also, as far as we can, the Lord will grant us to celebrate the natal
day of his martyrdom in joy and gladness, both in commemoration of those
who finished their contest before, and to prepare those that shall be
hereafter."

There is something wonderfully touching in this reference to the "natal
day of his martyrdom." Those who wrote it thought that the day on which
Polycarp was pierced by the sword was not the day of his death, but the
birthday of a new and happier life.

* * * * *

Justin, who from the manner of his death is often called Justin Martyr,
was a native of Samaria. He was of Roman parentage, and was born early
in the second century, and therefore must have been contemporary with
many persons who had seen some of the apostles.

Justin, who was addicted to philosophical pursuits, has given in one of
his works a very curious account of his studies and search after
religious truth. First, he thought to find it in the Stoic philosophy:

"I surrendered myself to a certain Stoic, and, having spent a
considerable time with him, when I had not acquired any further
knowledge of God--for he did not know it himself, and said such
instruction was unnecessary--I left him and betook myself to another,
who was called a Peripatetic, and, as he fancied, shrewd. And this man,
after having entertained me for a few days, requested me to settle the
fee, in order that our intercourse might not be unprofitable. Him, too,
for this reason I abandoned, believing him to be no philosopher at all."

Disgusted with the mercenary spirit of the Peripatetic, the inquirer
next determined to make a trial of Pythagorean philosophy. But the
celebrated Pythagorean teacher whom he consulted wished him to learn
music, astronomy, and geometry. Those kinds of knowledge, however, were
not what Justin wanted, and besides h