First, I say, Beauty raises Persecution. Persecution you shall find doth always fall upon the beautiful piece of Religion, upon those that are the most beautiful pieces of Religion. So long as Christ our Saviour lived, persecution lay upon him, and not upon the Apostles: when Christ was dead, then the Apostles were the most beautiful piece, and then the persecution lay upon them especially. When the Apostles were gone off the stage, in the Primitive times, the Persecution always fell upon the most eminent Saints. Persecution always falls upon the beauty of Religion. In Matth. 13 we find that persecution is compared to the scorching of the Sun: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; speaking of the stony ground: which is expounded in vers. 21. by persecution: For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word. The scorching sun here, is interpreted to be persecution. And you shall find that the scorching Sun falls with most prejudice upon the greatest beauty: the greatest beauty suffers most by the scorching sun. Truly so persecution falls upon the beauty of Religion: you may see it in Cant. 1. there the Spouse is described in her beauty: If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, &c. I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaohs ⟨p. 69⟩chariots. Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. But saith she, at vers. 5. I am black but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Here's her beauty: what then? Look not upon me because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me. The sun hath looked upon me: what's that? Persecution: My mothers children were angry with me. The scorching sun of Persecution hath fallen upon my beauty. That's the thing I speak of, namely, that Persecution always falls upon the beautiful piece of Religion.
First, I say, Beauty raises Persecution. Persecution you shall find doth always fall upon the beautiful piece of Religion, upon those that are the most beautiful pieces of Religion. So long as Christ our Saviour liv'd, persecution lay upon him, and not upon the Apostles: when Christ was dead, then the Apostles were the most beautiful piece, and then the persecution lay upon them especially. When the Apostles were gone off the stage, in the Primitive times, the Persecution always fell upon the most eminent Saints. Persecution always falls upon the beauty of Religion. In Matth. 13 we finde that persecution is compared to the scorching of the Sun: And when the sun was up, they were scorched; speaking of the stony ground: which is expounded in vers. 21. by persecution: For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word. The scorching sun here, is interpreted to be persecution. And you shall finde that the scorching Sun falls with most prejudice upon the greatest beauty: the greatest beauty suffers most by the scorching sun. Truly so persecution falls upon the beauty of Religion: you may see it in Cant. 1. there the Spouse is described in her beauty: If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, &c. I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in Pharaohs ⟨p. 69⟩chariots. Thy cheeks are comely with rows of jewels, thy neck with chains of gold. But saith she, at vers. 5. I am black but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. Here's her beauty: what then? Look not upon me because I am black, because the sun hath look'd upon me. The sun hath look'd upon me: what's that? Persecution: My mothers children were angry with me. The scorching sun of Persecution hath fallen upon my beauty. That's the thing I speak of, namely, that Persecution always falls upon the beautiful piece of Religion.
