N00255:48
A sermon wherein is showed that the church of God is sometimes a subject…A sermon wherein is shewed that the church of God is sometimes a subject…
A sermon wherein is showed that the church of God is sometimes a subject of great persecution; preached on a public fast at Boston in New-England: occasioned by the tidings of a great persecution raised against the Protestants in France. / By Increase Mather, teacher to a church of Christ. ; [Eight lines of quotations]A sermon wherein is shewed that the church of God is sometimes a subject of great persecution; preached on a publick fast at Boston in New-England: occasioned by the tidings of a great persecution raised against the Protestants in France. / By Increase Mather, teacher to a church of Christ. ; [Eight lines of quotations]
printed for Samuel Sewall, 1682
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Reas. 1. Sin is the cause of it. Be sure, that sin which is in the hearts of the persecutors themselves, even the Natural Enmity, which they have against godliness, and godly men, is the Reason of the persecution caused by them. There is enmity in the seed of the serpent against the seed of the woman Gen. 3. 15. and from that enmity persecution does arise. Cain (the first persecutor) persecuted Abel to death because of this. Sore eyes cannot bear the light: Nor can guilty sinners endure the light of Gods Image appearing in the spirits, and in the conversations of His Saints. Tigres (they say) are put in a Rage by a fragrant Smell brought near unto them: Truly, the fragrant graces of the Saints, put the Tigres of the world into a cursed Rage at them.
Yea, and many times the sins which Gods people themselves are subject to, are the procuring cause of great persecution. By their own sins they provoke the Lord to put a sword into the Hands of their Enemies. The sins found amongst the Churches of Christ, do this. For indeed, their transgressions do most of all dishonour, and displease Him. If his Sons, and his Daughters provoke him, He will surely ⟨p. 10⟩scourge them in the open sight of others. For Three sins especially:
1. Apostasy. When Solomon did forsake God, the Lord raised up these, and those Adversaries against him, 1 Kings, 11. 9, 14. The Babylonian persecution came on the Jews because their backslidings were increased. Therefore were they torn in pieces by Evening-wolves, by Lions, and by Leopards,