" Witness Faber, Farellus, Ruff [injus, and many others in France ; and witness our brethren who were forced to fly to New England.
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through all places of the empire ; because the oftener they were mown down, the more they grew, as TertuUian witnesseth ; and the more we are cut down by the sword of persecution, saith the same author, the more still we increase. Persecuted saints are like camomile, which grows and spreads by being trod upon ; the more persecutors tread upon the people of God, the more they will spread and grow. Austin has long since observed, that though there were many thou- sand Christians put to death for professing Christ, yet they were never the fewer for being slain. Julian the apostate devised all manner of torments to terrify the people of God, and to suppress them, and yet they increased and multiplied so fast, that at last he thought it his best course to give over persecuting of them, and this he did, not out of love to them, but because the more they were persecuted, the more they increased.
In Dioclesian's time, under whom the last and worst of the ten per- secutions fell — for then Christian religion was more desperately opposed and persecuted than ever — and yet then religion prospered and pre- vailed more than ever ; so that Dioclesian himself, observing that the more he sought to blot out the name of Christ, the more legible it was, and the more he laboured to block up the way of Christ, the more passable it was, and that whatever of Christ he thought to root out, it rooted the deeper, and rose the higher : thereupon he resolved to engage no further, but retired to a private life.i
And it is very observable, that the Eeformation in Germany was much furthered by the very opposition that the Papists made against it ; yea, and it is not to be forgotten, that when two kings wrote against Luther — viz., Henry the Eighth of England, and Ludovicus of Hungary, this kingly title being entered into the controversy, made men more diligently and curiously to examine the matter, by which means there was stirred up in men a general inclination to Luther's opinion.
I have read of one who, observing the Christian religion to be so furiously persecuted by bloody Nero, concluded that surely that must needs be good, yea, very good, which was so cruelly persecuted by Nero, who was so bad, so very bad. If men would sit down and study which way to make most proselytes to such and such opinions and practices that are diflPerent from their own, certainly they cannot pitch upon a better way than to persecute those that differ from them. It is the sword of the Spirit, and not the sword of persecution, that will reduce the erroneous. When the disease lies in the head, the remedy must be answerable to the disease. Certainly a man shall as soon conquer a castle by spiritual arguments, as he shall conquer a conscience by club-law. When our Lord Jesus Christ sent forth his disciples to make a conquest upon an ignorant, erroneous, and deluded world, he did not send them forth with swords, pistols, or any such military weapons. Oh no ! but he sent them forth under the choice anointings of his Spirit, and with his everlasting gospel, and by these means he turned the world upside down, — these were the means by which he turned sinners from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to Jesus Christ, Acts xxvi. 18. The weapons that the
HeB. XII. 14.] AND BEAUTY OF HOLINESS. 285
apostles used were not carnal, but spiritual : 2 Cor. x. 4, 5, ' For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual, and mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down ima- ginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the know- ledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.' i Satan had many strongholds, and sin had many strongholds, and carnal reason had many strongholds, and the world had many strongholds in sinners' hearts ; and yet all these strongholds, forts, towers, castles, &c. , were not able to stand before the apostles' spiritual weapons ; they all come tumbling down before the Spirit and the word of the Lord in the mouths of his faithful minis- ters ; by the spiritual weapons Satan was disarmed, and rebellious transgressors were conquered, captivated, and subdued to the obedience of the Lord Jesus. But,
[3.] Thirdly, The troubles, afflictions, and persecutions that be/all you in the pursuit after holiness, may issue in the conversion and salvation of others ; as is evident in Acts viii., which chapter I recom- mend to your most serious perusal. So in that 2 Tim. ii. 9, 10, ' Wherein I suffer trouble as an evil doer, even unto bonds, but the word of God is not bound,' (though Paul was fettered, yet the word was free,) ' therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.' 2 Paul, for preaching of the gospel clearly and faith- fully, was imprisoned at Kome, and handled as if he had been a male- factor, all which he was contented to suffer upon these very grounds, that the elect might be called, converted, saved, and glorified. It is very observable, that though Paul was a prisoner, yet he preached ; though he was in bonds, yet he preached; and though he was ac- counted as an evil-doer, yet he preached, that the elect might be sanctified and saved. Though his persecutors did lay irons upon his legs, yet they did not lay a law of silence upon his lips ; and though they shut him up from going to others, yet they did not shut out others from coming to hear him ; for even in bonds he exercised his ministerial office. As cruel as his persecutors were, they would not shut the prison doors upon them that waited on his ministry. 3 So Philemon^ was converted by Paul when he was in bonds : Philem. 10, ' I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds.' Paul had a blessing going along with his ministry, when he was in bonds, as well as when he was at liberty. Onesimus was con- verted when Paul was a prisoner. God made Paul's prison to be a paradise to Onesimus ; Paul by his preaching, patience, and cheerful- ness in suffering, converts Onesimus to the faith. Prisons in these times were turned into churches ; and so they were in Queen Mary's days,5 for as bloody as her reign was, most of the prisons in England were turned into Christian schools and churches, saith Mr Foxe : so that there was no greater comfort than for Christians to resort to prisons, and to hear the martyi's to pray and preach, and to behold their holy, humble, heavenly, gracious conversation. 6 So the afilic-
^ Vide Calvin, Beza, and Estins. ' StA touto, For this cause.
3 Several of Paul's epistles were written when he was in bonds.
<Qu. 'Onesimus'?— Ed. « [Foxe] Acts and Mon., fol. 1457. ^ Ibid., 1381.
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