902 / 1054
524
r
Row
it
comes
to
pafjè`
that
tht Saints
fx
èrperfecation.
his
Difciples
and
.Apoftles
that
were,
neerefi
to
him, and
by
this armed them for perfecution which every one of them
af-
terwards futfered, even unto
death,
fave only
one.
Now
if
you
íhould
ask
me
fiat,
How
it
cornes
to
paffe
that
they
fufler
perfecution.
Firfi,
From
the Devil
:
Secondly,, From the
nature
of
wicked men
:
--
Thirdly,
From the
holy ends that God
hath in
the
fulferings
of
his
people.
Firft,
From
the
Devil,
he
is
the
old Serpent,
the
Sco
:pion,
the old Dragon
:
Satan,.that
liignifies an
adverfary,
a
roaring
Lyon, that
Peeks
whom he may
devour
:
The Devil!
doth, inh-
nicely
hate
God,
and hating
God
he
mutt needs
hate
all
that
belongs
to
him, or
any
thing
fo far
as
it
bath
any
thing
of
mod
in
it
:
The Devils
fin
ft
is
a
fin
of
mallice,
and
therefore of the
fame
nature with
the
fin
a'gainft
the
Holy
Ghoft
Now
this
is
the
nature
of the
fin
againit
the
Holy Ghoft, that
it
makes
any
one
that
bath
committed it to hate
God,
and
to
hate
any
thing
of God
that they
fee any
where,
and.
therefore to with
all
hurt
unto
others
As
I
remember
I
have heard
a
Rory
of
a
man
that
was
thought to
fnagainfi
the
Holy
Ghoft,
and
they asi
t
him,
though he
had no
thoughts
to
be faved himfelf,
yet whe-
ther
he would
not
have his wife and
children
to
be
faved,.this
was
the
anfwer he gave There
was
a
time
indeed
that
I
wozalil
have
been
glad
to
have had
my
wife
and children
faved,. bat
now
I
mi
fh
that
both they
and
all the
world were
damned, and
meetly
from hence,
upon
his
hatred
to
God,
it
was
not
fo
much
in
ha-
tred
to his
wife and
children,
or
to
the
world, but
becaufe
he
hated God,
and would have
all
to
be
enemies to
God
as
him-
felf
was,
this
is
the
nature
of the
fin again&
the
Holy Ghoft,
though
I
do not
think
but
it
may
be
committed,
where this
is
not expreffed, but there
is
this
kind
of
mallice:
Now
the
De-
vili
havingcomn
fitted
the
Gnofthe
fame
nature,
becaufe
of
their
hatred
to
God,
they hate the
Image o -God,
and
hate
all
things
that
have
any
tendency
unto
God,
aid
therefore
if pof-
fibly
they can;
they would
have none
to
be fav'd; but
if
they
cannot hinder
but
that
fume
íhal!
be
fav'd,
they refolve that
they
(hall
br;rfat
I
witxas
much difficulty
as,
they can
helper.