Seasonable truths in evil-times in several sermons / lately preached in and about London

But secondly, is it not a gre•• matter to have the favour of God the Father, the heart of God ⟨p. 68⟩drawn out unto us, to be amiable and beautiful in the eyes of God the Father? Now look when a man doth forsake any worldly interest for God, then he is beautiful in the eyes of God; never so amiable or beautiful in the eyes of God, as then. Take it thus:

Beauty raises Persecution, and Persecution raises Beauty: they are mutual causes.

Beauty raises Persecution, and Persecution raises Beauty: they are matual causes.

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