Bishop Cyprian (mid-3rd-century AD), in a letter commending the martyrs, addresses those who might yet face persecution.
"I not only beseech but exhort the rest of you... If the battle shall call you out, if the day of your contest shall come engage bravely, fight with constancy, as knowing that you are fighting under the eyes of a present Lord, that you are attaining by the confession of His name to His own glory; who is not such a one as that He only looks on His servants, but He Himself also wrestles in us, Himself is engaged, Himself also in the struggles of our conflict not only crowns, but is crowned. But if before the day of your contest, of the mercy of God, peace shall supervene {come first}, let there still remain to you the sound will and the glorious conscience {ready to endure suffering}."
Cyprian, Epistle 8.
(Cyprian himself was beheaded on September 14, 258 AD)
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