Underground, but heaven bound
Posted on May 4, 2007
Filed Under Christian Growth, Weylan Deaver
by Weylan Deaver
John Foxe (1517-1587) was an Englishman who compiled a book about Christians who suffered for their faith. The title is still available as Foxe’s Christian Martyrs Of The World. One chapter deals with the saints persecuted under the notoriously wicked emperor, Nero, which commenced in Rome about three decades after the church of Christ first began in Jerusalem. He describes the incredible conditions under which the Roman saints were forced to worship (pp. 38-40).
In those dark days the Christians had no churches and dared not meet in public, so they tried to find some secret places where they could gather together without being disturbed. Now it happened that, just outside the city of Rome there were deep tunnels or caves in the rock, called catacombs, which had been dug long before to get stone for building the city. The rock had been hollowed out into many galleries, with here and there a vaulted chamber, where several passage-ways crossed or met. Slaves and convicts worked in these places, and they became known to the Christians as a safe place in which to hide. They also buried their dead in some of these caves, in niches or shelves cut in the sides of the galleries, and over the bodies they placed their names, with loving inscriptions, some of which remain plainly visible to this day. The Christians used to meet for religious services in these gloomy, underground chambers, in which they could worship God without fear of being thrown to the lions or given over to the flames.
At night these Christian men and women might be seen stealing forth from their homes, carefully looking behind them from time to time to see that they were not followed; then, hastening to the outskirts of the great city, they entered the dark openings in the rock and passed along the gloomy galleries. Soon they heard sweet music, and a vaulted chamber, brightly lighted, came into view at the end of the dark tunnel; men and women, dressed in white robes, were there singing a psalm of joy.
Early brethren were glad to assemble for fellowship and worship in a dark, dank cave. They had to look over their shoulder as they went, for fear of being followed and arrested. We have a beautiful, spacious, air conditioned building. Conditions are not cramped—you can have a whole pew to yourself, if you like. Water does not drip on our heads from the ceiling. Bodies are not buried along the walls. Rats are not scurrying along the corridors. The lights are bright. The seats are padded. You don’t have to walk since you can drive up to the front door in an air conditioned car. Parking is free. And the authorities are not going to follow you here. Now, why was it, again, that you have difficulty getting to Bible class and evening worship?
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