1. Then, Since fo many open their Mouths against Perfecution, and doubtlefs for that Reafon, are taken for Men of wonderful Temper and Moderation; and fince fo many Persons of all Sects and Parties, are very apt to complain of Perfecution, whofe Cafes, yet,can never poffibly be the fame; we fhall enquire, what Perfecution, on which fo very odious a Character is generally fix'd, really is. And here, if we confider it in a general Senfe, it implies a Way of vexing or creating Trouble to any Perfon or Perfons in a publick Manner, or by any Means which may be taken Noticesof by others: And fo every one, who fuffers for Adultery, Murder,. Theft, Sacrilege, or any other greivous Crime by publick and known Laws, is perfecuted; i. e. he is vifibly or fenfibly vex'd and molefted for his Fault; and this whether by any Corporeal Punishment, fuch as the Rack, the Wheel, the Gallows, &c. or by any rough and fevere Words or Satyrical Expreffions, fuch as may give Anguish and Disturbance to the Mind. Of this latter kind of Vexation of the Mind, holy Job fpeaks,when he expoftulates with his unkind and Job 19. miftaken Friends in those pathetic Terms, Why do ye perfecute me as God, and are not fatisfy'd with my Flesh? i.e. Why do ye impeach my Innocence in fo extraordinary and violent a Manner, and don't acknowledge, that I undergo Trouble enough in fuffering in my Body in fo very fevere a Manner? And again, he tells them in the fame Senfe, Ye fhould Jay, why perfecute we him, i.e. Why do we fo unkindly cenfure and condemn him, and add to the inward Anguifh of his troubled Soul, Seeing the Root of the Matter is in

22, 28.

me?

me? Of Perfecution in the former, or Corporeal, Senfe, the Author of the Wisdom of Solomon fpeaks, when he tells us of God, That he might have per-Wild. 11. fecuted the wicked Egyptians with his Vengeance. He 20. might have punifh'd them fenfibly with extraordinary Plagues, fent upon them immediately from Heaven. And, again, fpeaking concerning the rebellious Egyptians, The ungodly who deny'd to know Wild. 16. thee, fays he, were fcourged by the Strength of thine 16. Arm; with ftrange Rains, Hails and Showers were they perfecuted. And to the fame Purpose, David fpeaks when he prays against his Enemies, Let Pfal.35.6. their Way be dark and flippery, fays he, and let the Angel of the Lord perfecute them, i. e. vex and punish them with thy Judgments so as the World may fee and take Notice of thy Juftice upon them. Now, none but ill Men can complain of, or reflect on this kind of Perfecution, fince it is attributed to God Himself, who can do no Wrong, or who can injure no Man.

But when we speak of Perfecution in an ordinary Way,and as it is very frequently mention'd too in Scripture; or when we apply it to the particular Members, or to the aggregate Body of the Church of Chrift; we take it in a more reftrain'd Senfe, and with us, it commonly fignifies fome Affliction or Punishment laid by wicked and ungodly Men upon fuch as are more righteous than themselves, and that with a Defign to deter them from, or to punish them for, Piety or Vertue. So Pelagius the firft of that Name Bishop of Rome, in an Epiftle to Naifes the Emperor's Governour of Italy, urges it very well, "No Man can juftly be call'd a Perfecu

tor,

tor, but he who endeavours by VioNon perfequitur nifi "lence to compel Men to Sin: For he qui ad malum cogit: «who punishes any Man for the Ill he qui enim vel malum jam factum punit,vel "has already done, or who, under a probibet ne fiat, non "Penalty,forbids the doing what is ill; perfequitur ille, fed "that Man is no Perfecutor, but shews diligit. Pelag. Epift. «his Kindness as a Friend to fuch as 2. ad Naifetem. .co may fall under his Lafh." In this

12.

Senfe it was, that the unbelieving World gave all Disturbance poffible to the faithful Servants of God, in their Eftates, in their Bodies, and in their Lives, and by fo doing they accomplish'd 2 Tim. 3. that Apoftolical Declaration, All who will live godly in Chrift Jefus, muft fuffer Perfecution. This was the common Lot of the Chriftian Churches for fome Ages, while the Roman Empire, the greatest then in the known World, was in the Hand of Infidels. So dy'd the Prophets too in elder Times, under the bloody Hands of ingrateful Jews: And fo the Lord of Life and Glory Himself was perfecuted to Death by the fame more than barbarous Nation. So fell that noble Army of Martyrs after our Saviour's Afcenfion into Heaven: And fo, even to this Day, They who fear God and work Righteousness, groan under the implacable Maiice of obftinate and ungodly Wretches.

These cruel Perfecutors indeed, made the poor bleeding Churches mourn: Thefe made them fend up their earneft Supplications to Heaven, in whofe Power the Hearts of Governors and Princes were, that they might have fome Refpite, at leaft, fome fhort Breathing Time from thofe dreadful Storms they were every Moment tofs'd with: And yet even in the midst of all these Difficulties, the true and faith

ful

ful Churches of Chrift were more than Conquerors. And tho' in thofe early Days Chriftians fought to God by Prayer for an Alleviaation of their Miseries; tho' by the visible Innocence of their Lives, and the Sweetness and Complaifance of their general Converfations, they endeavoured to reconcile an incredulous and malignant World to themselves and to their Religion; yet when a Perfecution was once rais'd, they being confcious to themselves of the Goodness of their Cause, unask'd, unfought for, offer'd their Bodies to the Racks and Wheels and Flames, or whatever elfe the Devil or wicked Men could invent to torment them with; rather than they would quit the fmalleft Particle of Evangelical Truth, or renounce the least important Claufe of their Chriftian Faith. They look'd on these Perfecutions as Providential Trials of their Faith; and therefore, tho' they always pray'd against them, as they ought, yet according to St. James's Rule, They accounted it all Joy, when they fell into divers Jam. 1. 2, Temptations, knowing that the Trial of their Faith,3, 4. wrought, Patience; and if Patience had once its perfect Work, they themselves too fhould be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. "For fays "Tertullian, What other Iffue,

what other Effe&t has Perfecu"tion, but that it is the Way of "Approbation or Reprobation by which the Lord tries his own? Perfecution fignifies as "much as an Effay or Trial, by which the pure and the reprobate Silver is diftinguish'd one from the other. This Perfecution

Quis eft enim Exitus Perfecutionis, quis Effectus alius nifi probatio & reprobatio,qua fuos utique Dominus examinavit? Hoc Namen Judicium eft Perfecutio, per quam quis aut probatus aut reprobatus judicatur: Hæc pala illa, quæ & nunc Dominicam Aream purgat, Ecclefiam frilicet, confufum Acervum Fidelium eventilans, & difcernens Frumentum Martyrum paleas Negatorum. Ter. de fuga in Perfecutione.

"fecution is that Fan, which winnoweth our "Master's Floor, his Church; blowing on the mingled Heap of Believers, and dividing the good Wheat of the Martyrs, from the Chaff ce of fuch as deny him when they are upon the "Trial. And as the fame Father urges afterwards," When is God fo much believ'd in as He ought

Sed quando Deus magis creditur nifi quum magis timeturr in tempore Perfecutionis? Ecclefia in Attonito eft :Tunc & Fides in Expeditione follicitior, & difciplinatior in Fejuniis & Stationibus & Orationibus & Humilitate, in alterutra Diligentia & Dilectione & San&itate & Sobrietate; non enim vacatur nifi Timori & Spei. Id. ibid.

to be? When is he fo much "fear'd as in a Time of Per"fecution? The Church at "fuch a Time is under a migh

ty Confternation: Then Faith

is more carefully exercis'd: It "is under a more fevere Course "of Difcipline, in obferving "Fafts and Stationary Days; in cc Prayers and Humiliations, in "all Kind of Diligence, in Love, Holinefs and Sobriety more exact than at other Times; "For Chriftians have no Time to spend in any

Thing at fuch a Seafon, but in Fear and Hope.' It was upon these Confiderations, that the Primitive Martyrs, as obliged to give Thanks for all Things, fo in particular, they were thankful to God for that Honour conferr'd upon them, to die for the Name of Jefus Chrift, and for the Sake of that holy Religion which was founded in and by him; of which Alacrity in Sufferings they had an authentick Example in the Apoftles themselves, and those who were their first Companions in preaching the Gospel. For they, when they were beaten, by Order of the Jewifh Council for their Activity and Zeal in executing that Commiffion, which they had receiv'd

from