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A40142
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Concerning persecution in all ages to this day ... G. Fox.
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Fox, George, 1624-1691.
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1682
(1682)
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Wing F1769; ESTC R15836
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12,055
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22
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to hear let him hear But what became of the great City and the whore or the false Church and the Beast and the Dragon with all his false Prophets are not they at the end burned and cast into the Lake of Fire and the lamb and the saints have the victory And David declareth how he was Persecuted and said Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my Soul let them be as Chaff before the Wind c. Let their Way be Darkness and Slippery c. False Witnesses rise up and lay to my Charge things that I Knew not they rewarded him Evill for good to the spoiling of his Soul and his Adversaries gathered themselves together against him with hypocriticall Mockery in feasts they gnash upon me with their Teeth yea they open their mouthes wide against me and Say Aha Aha c. but God will save his afflicted people and bring down the high looks of of them that afflict them And David mourned by reason of Affliction and said I am afflicted and ready to dye from my youth upward c. and said Lord remember David in all his Afflictions and he said The wicked in his pride persecuted the poor My times are in thy hand O Lord deliver me from the hand of my Enemies and them that persecute me And also David cryed to the Lord and said How many are the days of thy Servant wilt thou execute Judgment on them that persecute me They persecute me wrongfully help thou me the proud have digged a pit for me which are not after thy Law and they that do so now are not after thy Gospel And David said O Lord my God in thee I put my trust save me and deliver me from all them that persecute me for the Lord heareth the poor and despiseth not the prisoners let the Heaven and Earth praise him the Sea and every thing that moveth therein And David saith they that sate in the Gate spake against me and I was the Song of the Drunkards and do not the Drunkards make Songs of God's people now And you may see the sufferings and afflictions of Job by the Caldeans and Sabeans and the Tryals and Temptations of his Wife and his pretended Friends and also he saith in his afflictions they that are younger than I have me in derision whose Fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flocks the Children of Fools Children of base men now am I their Song yea I am their by word they abhor me c. and spare not to spit in my face upon my right hand rises the youth they put away my feet they rise up against me c. they marr my path set forward my Calamity c. But you may see how the Lord delivered Job out of all his afflictions and miseries for it was alwayes the wicked that abused the righteous in their sufferings and afflictions And Jeremiah said O Lord my strength and my fortress and my refuge in the day of affliction The Lord is the fortress and refuge and strength of all his people in the day of their afflictions and persecutions and did not the Lord confound all Jeremiah's persecutors did not Jeremiah tell his persecutors the Lord is with me as a terrible one therefore my persecutors shall stumble and they shall not prevail they shall be greatly ashamed for they shall not prosper and their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten And did not this come upon the persecutors that put Jeremiah in Prison and Dungeon was not Jeremiah delivered and his persecutors went into Captivity and he set at Liberty from his Prison Jer. 52. you may see what became of his persecutors whether they did not go into Captivity and into Prison And Isaiah speaking by Prophecy of Christ how he was oppressed and afflicted yet he opened not his Mouth and was not he brought as a Lamb to Pilate's and to the Jews Slaughter and as a Sheep before the Shearers and he was taken from Prison and from Judgment who shall declare the Generation of the suffering-Lamb slain from the foundation of the World for the Transgression of his people was he stricken the Smiters and the Afflictors and the Opposers and Imprisoners Despisers and Rejectors cannot declare the Generation of Christ the Lamb of God And Isaiah saith If thou loose the Bonds of wickedness to undo the heavy burthen and let the oppressed go free c. if thou draw out thy Soul to the hungry and satisfie the afflicted Soul then shall thy Light rise in obscurity But what will become of such that do oppress and lay their burthens and afflict the Just Their Light will be darkness And the Lord saith speaking of the Children of Israel In all their afflictions he was afflicted and the Angel of his presence saved them in his Love and in his pitty he redeemed them and he bore them and carryed them all the days of old and God said I sent my Angel before thee to keep thee in the way c. And when the Children of Israel cryed unto the Lord he heard their voice and delivered them from their persecutors and afflictions And the Lord said I have surely seen the afflictions of my people which are in Aegypt and have heard their Cry by reason of their Task-masters for I know their sorrows So here you may see the Lord doth hear their Cryes and is sensible of the afflictions and Sorrows of his People therefore commandeth his people Not to afflict the widow nor the Fatherless nor the stranger for if they did they would cry unto the Lord and he would make their Wives Widows and their Children Fatherless And Amos Cryed Wo unto such that Chant to the sound of the Violl and Invent to themselves Instruments of Musick like unto David that Drink Wine in Bowles and anoint themselves with Chief Oyntments but they are not grieved for the Afflictions of Joseph for I know your manifold Transgressions and your mighty Sins they afflict the Just and that is it that afflicts the Just in our Age and are not sensible of the afflictions of Joseph nor of the Afflictions of the righteous in our age And Christ saith And shall not God avenge his own Elect with Cryes day and night unto him And did not Christ tell the Jews how they had slain and persecuted the Prophets And he said how that they should Persecute his Apostles and Prophets And what are become of those persecuting Jews And Christ said to his Disciples They shall lay hands on you and persecute you delivering you up to the Councils Scourge you in the Synagogues and cast you into Prison being brought before Kings Rulers for my name sake and it shall turn to you for a Testimony settle it therefore in your hearts not to meditate before what ye shall answer for I will give you a mouth and Wisdom saith Christ which all your Adversaries shall not be able to gain-say nor resist
Imprisonments and afflictions and torments the saints went through in the 11th of Hebrews And saith Peter if when you do well and suffer for it ye take it patiently this is acceptable with God for even hereunto were ye called if a man for Conscience sake towards God suffer grief this is thank-worthy because Christ also suffered for us leaving us an Example that we should follow his steps who when he was reviled he reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to God who judges righteously for Christ hath once suffered for sin the Just for the Unjust that he might bring us to God forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the Flesh arm your selves likewise with the same mind for he that hath suffered in the Flesh hath ceased from sin but the God of all grace who hath called us into his eternal glory saith the Apostle by Christ Jesus after that you have suffered a while make you perfect stablish strengthen and settle you cast all your care upon God for he careth for you and Rejoice inasmuch as you are made pertakers of Christs Sufferings c. and think it not strange concerning the fiery tryalls which are to try you as though some strange thing had happened unto you for if ye be Reproacht and suffer for the name of Christ happly are ye for the Spirit of Glory and of God rests upon you on their part he is evill Spoken of but on your part he is Glorified if any man Suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him gloryfie God on this behalf wherefore let them that Suffer according to the Will of God commit the keeping of their Souls to him in well-doing as to a Faithful Creator and if ye suffer for Righteousness sake happy are ye and be not affraid of their Terrour neither be troubled having a good conscience that whereas they speak evill of you as evill doers they may be ashamed that falsly accuse your good Conversation for it is better if the will of God so be that ye suffer for Well doing than for Evil-doing for we both labour and suffer Reproach because we trust in the living God who is the Saviour of all men especially of them that believe And the Apostle said He was appointed a Teacher of the Gentiles for the which Cause he also suffered c. but he was not ashamed for he knew in whom he believed and said Though he suffered as an Evil-doer even unto Bonds but the Word of God is not bound nay the eternal word of God that lives and abides and endures forever by which all things were made and created this word of God cannot be bound by that which was created by it and doth not live and endure forever therefore saith the Apostle I endure all things for the Elects sake that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Iesus with eternall Glory it is a faithful saying if we be dead with Christ we shall also live with him and if we suffer with Christ we shall also reign with him and if we deny him he also will deny us c. And you may see what Persecutions and Afflictions came upon the Apostle at Antioch and at Iconium and at Listra what Persecutions he endured but out of them all the Lord delivered him yea and all that will Live godly in Christ Iesus shall suffer Persecution Mark shall if they live Godly but evil men and Seducers shall wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived therefore he exhorts Timothy to watch in all things and endure Afflictions c. for he was ready to be offered up for the time of his departure was at hand and he had fought the good fight and finisht his course and kept the faith and there was a Crown of Righteousness laid up for him which the Lord the Righteous Judge will give him at the Last Day and not to him only but unto all them also that Love his appearing for God hath not given to us a Spirit of Fear but of Power of Love and of a sound mind therefore the Apostle saith unto Timothy Be not thou therefore ashamed of our Lord nor of me his prisoner but be thou a pertaker of the affliction for the Gospell according to the Power of God who hath saved us and called us by a holy calling c. And Iohn saith I know thy works Tribulations and poverty but thou art rich fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer behold the Devill shall cast some of you into prison that you may be tryed and ye shall have Tribulation Ten dayes but be thou faithfull to death and I will give thee a Crown of life this was spoken to the Church in Smyrna And you may see in the 11th Chap. how the witnesses of Christ suffered and when they had taken away their Lives and the dead Bodies lay in the Streets of the great City which is spiritually called Sodom and Aegypt so not naturally called so where Christ our Lord Saviour was crucified that was through the great Letter Professors the Jews before the Witness was slain but after three dayes and a half the Spirit of Life from God entred into the Witnesses and they stood upon their Feet which frightned their Enemies and the Witnesses were called up to heaven and the same hour there was a great Earthquake and the tenth part of the City fell and was shaken down so here was the reward upon the City and the Persecuting Citizens And again you may see how the Dragon persecuted the Woman the True Church which brought forth the Man Child after he was cast out of Heaven by Michael and his Angels but the Woman or True Church was nourished for a Time and Times and Half a Time in the Wilderness and the Earth helped the Woman and the Earth opened her Mouth and swallowed up the Flood which the Dragon cast out of his Mouth after her and the Dragon was wroth with the Woman and went to make war with the Remnant of her Seed which kept the Commands of God and have the Testimony of Jesus Now you may see what the Devil the Dragon and all his Followers persecute and what his Wrath is against the true Church the Woman that brought forth the Man Child and they that kept the Commands of God and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ and then the Dragon he gave his wicked persecuting Power to the Beast and he also was to continue Forty Two Months and he got up in such a Rage in the Devil's power that he opened his Mouth in Blasphemy against God to blaspheme his Name and his Tabernacle and mark them that dwell in Heaven not them that dwell upon the Earth for all that dwell in the Earth worship him but those whose Names are written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the World to wit they do not worship him He that hath an Ear