Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 1.djvu/511

 and the  earth;  to  Him  alone  we  sacrifice,  and  to  His  Holy  Child Jesus   Christ,    who    for   our   need    came    in    flesh    in    the    Holy Ghost, who  from  the  Father  and  the   Son  inexplicably  proceedeth,  and  sanctifieth  all  creatures;  to  this  Indivisible  Trinity  we  pray  with  humility;  to  this   God  we  frequently  bring   offerings, and send  our  supplications  to  him  with  purity  of  body  and  soul, and with  confession    of  mind   and   mouth;   we    offer   Him   these fittingly, and  we  will  never  offer  to  thy  accursed  idols,  lest  we bring  ourselves  into  defilement,  and  afterward  into  the  misery  of everlasting  hell;  to  God  alone  we  commit  our  needs,  and  to  Him we commend  our  souls ;   Him  will  we  never  deny,  but  will  ever worship Him."     When  Decius,  the  emperor,  heard  these  words,  176 then  he  did  not  oppose  each  one  separately,  but  he  bade  men  cut off  from  each  their   sword- scabbards,  and  bade  men   bind  them firmly  with  bonds,  and  said  to  them  all;  "  Since  ye  will  not  offer to  the  great  gods,  ye  shall  never  henceforth  be  to  me  so  worthy nor so  dear  as  ye  were  before;  but  ye  shall  be  separated  from  me, and from  every  mirth,  until  I  urge  you  again,  and  then  I  will proceed against  you  more  severely,  when  I  want  to  have  an  accusation  against  you. It seemeth  to  me  indeed  to  be  unadvisable, yet I  leave  you  unbeheaded — that  ye  so  miserably  undo  and  destroy yourselves  and  your  flourishing  youth   in  tortures  and   in woes  and  in  divers  miseries. But I  yet  grant  you  now  some  respite, that ye  may  bethink  yourselves  and  bring  yourselves  to  a  better mind, that  ye  may  save  for  yourselves  your  fair  life."

When the  emperor  had  thus  spoken  to  them,  then,  because  they were dear  to  him,  he  bade  men  unbind  them  all  again  and  send them away  unbound,  that  they  might  all  travel  away  freely whithersoever they  would;  and  the  emperor  went  to  men  of  other cities, and  wrought  the  same  that  he  had  before  practised,  and vexed Christian  men  to  the  utmost  of  his  power.

Then Maximianus,  the  Saint  of  God,  and  his  six  companions, God's chosen  ones,  after  they  had  received  the   respite  and  had some leisure,  they  then  fully  completed  the  holy  work  which  they had begun  ere  they  stood  before  the  emperor. For they  received from their   kinsmen  abundant  treasure,  immense  [quantities  of]