[2.] Secondly, Persecutions do but raise, ivhet, and stir up a more earnest and vehement spirit of prayer among the persecuted saints : 2 Rev. vi. 9, 10, ' And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held : and they cried with a loud voice, saying. How long, 0 Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and. avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth ? ' The blood of
^ Both good and evil angels are at God's beck, ready to execute rengeance upon hla and his people's enemies and persecutors ; and therefore the text may be understood of both.
^ See Acts It. 17, 21, 29, 31, compared ; and Luke ztUL 7 ; Lam. v. 59-61, &c.
268 THE NECESSITY, EXCELLENCY, RARITY, [HeB. XII. 14.
the persecuted cries aloud for vengeance upon the persecutors.! By the ' souls under the altar,' you are to understand the persons of the saints which were martyred and lay slain upon the ground, like sacri- fices at the foot of the altar, under the Roman persecuting emperors. There is no blood that cries so loud, and that makes so great a noise in heaven, as the blood of the martyrs, as the blood of butchered per- secuted saints. Persecutors, like these Roman emperors, in all ages have causelessly and cruelly destroyed the people of Grod ; they delight in the blood of saints, they love to wallow in the blood of saints, they take pleasure in glutting themselves with the blood of saints, they make no conscience of watering the earth, nor of colouring the sea, nor of quenching the flames with the blood of the saints, yea, if it were pos- sible, they would willingly swim to heaven through their hearts' blood, whom Christ has purchased with his own most precious blood — ^as all historians know, and as you may all know if you would but search a little into ecclesiastical histories — and therefore it is no wonder if the blood of the martyrs cry aloud for vengeance upon such des- perate persecutors. The blood and prayers of persecuted saints will first or last bring down wrath and ruin upon their persecutors. Persecution puts an edge, yea, a sharp edge, upon the prayers of the saints : Acts xii. 5, ' Peter therefore was kept in prison ; but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God for him.' 2 The Greek word e/crei^? signifies earnest and stretched-out prayer. When Peter was in prison, sleeping between two soldiers, and bound with two chains, and the keepers standing before the prison door, oh, how earnest ! oh, how instant ! oh, how fervent ! oh, how vehement ! oh, how constant were the saints in their prayers for his deliverance! oh, their hearts, their souls, their spirits were in their prayers ! oh, their prayers were no cold prayers, no formal prayers, no lukewarm prayers, nor no dull or drowsy prayers, but their prayers were full of life, and full of warmth, and full of heat. They knew Herod's bloody intention to destroy this holy apostle by his imprisoning of him, and by the chains that were put on him, and by the strong guards that were set upon him, and by his bathing of his sword in the innocent blood of James, that his hand might be the more apt and ready for further acts of murder and cruelty ; and oh, how did the con- sideration of these things whet and provoke their spirits to prayer ! ^ Oh, now they wUl have no nay, now they will give God no rest till he has overturned the tyrant's counsel and designs, and sent his angel to open the prison doors, and to knock ofi" Peter's chains, and to deliver him from the wrath and fury of Herod ; and their prayers were successful, as is evident in the 12th verse, ' And when he had con- sidered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the mother of John, whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together pray- ing,' or rather, as the original has it, ' where many thronged together
^ Blood hath as many tongues as drops to cry for vengeance, which made king James say, that if God did leave him to kill a man, he would think God did not love him, 1 Cor. vi. 20 ; 1 Peter i. 18, 19.
2 All these circumstances do wonderfully declare the power of God in his deliverance. Some say he had sixteen, others say he had twenty soldiers for his guard ; the greater was his deliverance.
3 James was the first of the apostles that died a violent death.
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 269
to pray.' l The violence and rage of their persecutors did so raise, whet, and encourage them to prayer, that they throng together, they crowded together to pray, yea, when others were a-sleeping they were a-praying, and their prayers were no sleepy prayers, they were no lazy dronish prayers, nor they were no book-prayers, but they were power- ful and prevalent prayers ; for as so many Jacobs, or as so many princes, they prevaOed with God ; they prayed and wept, and wept and prayed ; they called and cried, and cried and called ; they begged and bounced, and they bounced and begged ; and they never left knocking at heaven's gates till Peter's chains were knocked off, and Peter given into their arms, yea, their bosoms, as an answer of prayer. Oh the power and force of joint prayer, when Christians do not only beseech God, but besiege him, and beset him too, and when they will not let him go till he has blessed them, and answered their prayers and the desires of their souls ! I have read that Mary Queen of Scots, that was mother to king James, was wont to say, ' that she was more afraid of Mr Knox's prayers, and the prayers of those Christians that walked with him, than she was of a knocking army of ten thousand men.' And that is a remarkable passage of the psalmist, Ps. cix. 3, 4, ' They compassed me about also with words of hatred ; and fought against me without a cause. For my love they are my adversaries : but I give myself unto prayer ; ' or as the Hebrew has it, ' but I am prayer, or a man of prayer.' 2 Persecuted saints are men of prayer, yea, they are as it were made up all of prayer. David prayed before, but, oh, when his enemies fell a-persecuting of him, then he gave up himself whoUy to prayer. Oh, then he was more earnest, more fervent, more frequent, more diligent, more constant, and more abundant in the work of prayer ! When Numa, king of the Komans, was told that his enemies were in arms against him, he did but laugh at it, and answered, ' And I do sacrifice ; ' 3 so when persecutors arm themselves against the people of God, they do but divinely smile and laugh at it, and give themselves the more up to prayer. When men arm against them, then they arm themselves with all their might to the work of prayer ; and woe, woe to them that have armies of prayers marching against them. But,