Moses his choice with his eye fixed upon Heaven, discovering the happy condition of…

Those ten fearful Persecutions in the Primitive times, from the time of Domitius Nero, unto Constantine, doth set out fully unto us the truth of this argument: for three hundred years together, the name of a Christian was death, except now and then, the Churches had some little breathings. Brightman speaking of the stories of those times, says, that every page, and leaf, is as it were all red, coloured in blood: the Covenant of grace is a bloody Covenant, both in regard of the blood of Christ, first sealing it, and the blood of the blessed Martyrs, adding likewise their seals in confirming of it. In that Treatise that goes under the name of Cyprian, de duplici Martyrio; speaking of that place, 1 John 5. 8. Three bear witness on earth, the Spirit, water and blood; the third is applied to the blood of the Martyrs in those times.

Those ten fearful Perfecutions in the Primitive times, from the time of Domitius Nero, unto Constantine, doth set out fully unto us the truth of this argument: for three hundred years together, the name of a Christian was death, except now and then, the Churches had some little breathings. Brightman speaking of the stories of those times, says, that every page, and leaf, is as it were all red, coloured in blood: the Covenant of grace is a bloody Covenant, both in regard of the blood of Christ, first sealing it, and the blood of the blessed Martyrs, adding likewise their seals in confirming of it. In that Treatise that goes under the name of Cyprian, de duplici Martyrio; speaking of that place, 1 Iohn 5. 8. Three bear witness on earth, the Spirit, water and blood; the third is applyed to the blood of the Martyrs in those times.

It is a most heart-breaking meditation to consider the ragings, madness and fury of the Heathens against the Christians in those times. Jerome in an Epistle to Cromatius, says, that there was no day in a whole year, unto which the number of five thousand Martyrs cannot be ascribed, except only the first day of January. Vincentius reports, that at Aquileia, the Emperor gave leave to every man that would, to kill the Christians; All the policy, wit, strength of