beasts, that I may be found the
pure bread of Christ. Rather entice the beasts to my sepulchre, that
they may leave nothing of my body, that, being dead, I may not be
troublesome to any. Then shall I be a true disciple of Jesus Christ,
when the world shall not see so much as my body. Pray to Christ for me,
that in this I may become a sacrifice to God. I do not, as Peter and
Paul, command you; they were apostles, I am an inconsiderable person:
they were free, I am even yet a slave. But if I suffer, I shall then
become the freeman of Jesus Christ, and shall arise a freeman in him.
Now I am in bonds for him, I learn to have no worldly or vain desires.
From Syria even unto Rome, I fight with wild beasts, both by sea and
land, both night and day, bound to ten leopards, that is, to a band of
soldiers; who are the worse for kind treatment. But I am the more
instructed by their injuries; yet am I not thereby justified.[6] I
earnestly wish for the wild beasts that are prepared for me, which I
heartily desire may soon dispatch me; whom I will entice to devour me
entirely and suddenly, and not serve me as they have done some whom they
have been afraid to touch; but if they are unwilling to meddle with me,
I will even compel them to it.[7] Pardon me this matter, I know what is
good for me. Now I begin to be a disciple. So that I have no desire
after any thing visible or invisible, that I may attain to Jesus Christ.
Let fire, or the cross, or the concourse of wild beasts, let cutting or
tearing of the flesh, let breaking of bones and cutting off limbs, let
the shattering in pieces of my whole body, and all the wicked torments
of the devil come upon me, so I may but attain to Jesus Christ. All the
compass of the earth, and the kingdoms of this world, will profit me
nothing. It is better for me to die for the sake of Jesus Christ, than
to rule unto the ends of the earth. Him I seek who died for us: Him I
desire who rose again for us. He is my gain at hand. Pardon me,
brethren: be not my hinderance in attaining to life, for Jesus Christ is
the life of the faithful; while I desire to belong to God, do not ye
yield me back to the world. Suffer me to partake of the pure light. When
I shall be there, I shall be a man of God. Permit me to imitate the
passion of Christ my God. If any one has him within himself, let him
consider what I desire, and let him have compassion on me, as knowing
how I am straitened. The prince of this world endeavors