And
how should a man know what manner of comforts the Holy Ghost doth
use to give at the jail and the gibbet, when himself for
righteousness never was there?
Persecution of the godly was never intended of God for their
destruction, but for their glory, and to make them shine the more
when they are beyond this valley of the shadow of death.
"We that are Christians have been trained up by his Son in his
school this many a day, and have been told what a God our Father is,
what an arm he has, and with what a voice he can thunder; how he can
deck himself with majesty and excellency, and array himself with
beauty and glory; how he can cast abroad the rage of his wrath, and
behold every one that is proud and abase him. Have we not talked of
what he did at the Red sea and in the land of Ham, many years ago;
and have we forgot him now? Have we not vaunted and boasted of our
God, both in church, pulpit, and books, and spake to the praise of
them that attempted to drive antichrist out of the world with their
lives and their blood instead of stones; and are we afraid of our
God? He was God, a Creator, then; and is he not God now? and will he
not be as good to us as to them that have gone before us? or would
we limit him to appear in such ways as only smile upon our flesh,
and have him stay and not show himself in his heart-shaking
dispensations until we are dead and gone? What if we must now go to
heaven, and what if he is thus come to fetch us to himself? If we
have been as wise as serpents and innocent as doves--if we can say,
Neither against the law of the Jews, neither against the temple, nor
against Caesar, have we offended any thing at all--of what should we
be afraid? Let heaven and earth come together; I dare say they will
not hurt us.
Pages:
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322