Page:Aelfric's Lives of Saints Vol 2.djvu/281

 and he  could  not  break  out  by  reason  of  the  burning.

Then he  bethought  himself,  and  saw  that  he  could  not

escape from  the  fire  by  any  mode  of  flight,

but through  God's  power  he  might  overcome  it.

Then he  left  the  door,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  flame

cried to  the  Almighty  God  with  single  mind

and continued  steadfast  in  the  peril;

and therewith  there  was  wrought  a  great  wonder  by  God's  help,

so that  the  fire  bent  from  him  on  either  side,

and he  remained  undismayed  in  the  midst  of  the  burning,

through the  Lord's  might,  as  if  he  were  in  dew.

Then his  monks  were  aroused  by  the  fire

where they  lay;    and  when  they  saw  the  flame

and broke  open  the  doors  and  parted  the  fire,

and dragged  Martin  from  the  midst  of  the  flame,

they thought  that  he  had  verily  been  burned  alive

in so  long  a  burning,  when  the  crackling  fire

aroused them  from  sleep;    and  he  said  afterward

that he  had  felt  the  burning  of  the  fire  about  him

so long  as  he  strove  with  the  bolts  of  the  doors;

but as  soon  as  he  crossed  himself  and  prayed  to  God,

all the  flame  about  him  bent  away,

and it  seemed  to  him  as  if  he  were  in  a  pleasant  dew.

He said  also  very  often  with  inward  groaning

that the  wily  devil  had  well  nigh  deceived  him,

when he  was  so  suddenly  shaken  out  of  sleep

that he  did  not  know  the  wisdom  of  at  once  praying,

but too  late  began  to  beseech  God

that He  would  deliver  him  from  the  peril  of  the  fire.

By this  he  who  readeth  this  book  may  understand

that Martin  was  not  tempted  to  his  destruction

through that  great  peril,  but  was  tried

even as  the  Apostle  Paul  said  in  his  epistle,

that he  himself  abode  in  the  midst  of  the  sea-depths

a day  and  a  night  unharmed,  by  God's  help.