“We must not object that the bodies of the holy martyrs are given over to the hands of their persecutors, since this is not allowed for their condemnation but to try them. As gold does not burn in the furnace but is tested, so the souls of the elect, tried by the fire of tribulation, are made purer before their Creator…”
Rabanus Maurus, 9th c. — ON ECCLESIASTICUS 3:18
Original
22For in all things, O Lord, thou didst magnify thy people, and glorify them, neither didst thou lightly regard them: but didst assist them in every time and place.
Modern
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In context
20The fire had power in the water, forgetting his own virtue: and the water forgat his own quenching nature.
21On the other side, the flames wasted not the flesh of the corruptible living things, though they walked therein; neither melted they the icy kind of heavenly meat that was of nature apt to melt.