" Why? "That thy way may be known
upon earth, and thy saving health among all nations." So David:
"Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy
free Spirit; then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners
shall be converted unto thee."
So then, we must not desire to come out of trials and afflictions
alone or by ourselves, but that in our deliverance the salvation of
many may be concerned.
In every affliction and persecution, the devil's design is to impair
Christ's kingdom; wherefore, no marvel that God designs in our
deliverance the impairing and lessening the kingdom of sin and
Satan. Wherefore, O thou church of God, which art now upon the waves
of affliction and temptation, when thou comest out of the furnace,
if thou come out at the bidding of God, there shall come out with
thee the fowl, the beast, and abundance of creeping things. Gen.
8:17. "O Judah, he hath set a harvest for thee, when I returned the
captivity of my people."
PERSECUTION.
There are several degrees of suffering for righteousness: there is
the scourge of the tongue, the ruin of an estate, the loss of
liberty, a jail, a gibbet, a stake, a dagger. Now answerable to
these are the comforts of the Holy Ghost prepared, like to like,
part proportioned to part; only the consolations are said to abound.
Pages:
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320