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tianity it therefore became a proverbial saying, "The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church." The behaviour of the Christians when suffering martyrdom convinced heathen spectators of the power and blessedness of the religion for which these people suffered and died; so that in the midst of persecution Christianity not only maintained its ground, but steadily advanced, till, in the fourth century of its existence, it ascended the throne of the Cæsars. If the Christians were not a majority in the empire, they were deemed sufficiently numerous to support the imperial throne; and Constantine, who occupied it, assumed the Christian profession. The growth of Christianity was not impeded, but rather promoted, by the persecutions which its professors endured.

3. Persecution served as a test of character. It separated from the church persons who had nothing of Christianity but the name; and it gave the sincere members the means of demonstrating the genuineness of their faith, and the fervour of their love to Christ. To the persecuted disciples of his Lord St. Peter therefore said, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." (1 Peter iv. 12, 13.) To the same effect our blessed Lord has said, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for My sake. Rejoice,

great is your reward in The sufferings of martyrs

and be exceeding glad: for heaven." (Matt. v. 10-12.) are brief, but the rewards of martyrdom are endless; so that suffering for Christ's sake in this world is no valid objection against the goodness of Divine providence. Viewed in connexion with the rewards of heaven, even martyrdom is a privilege and a blessing; and the continued existence of the church through ages of wasting persecution is a demonstrative proof that it is guarded and sustained by an almighty power. To "the noble army of martyrs" a special and appropriate reward will be assigned by Christ, for whose sake they laid down their lives.

4. It must not, however, be forgotten, that persecution on account of religion, and especially on account of the Christian religion, considered in itself, is a great and flagrant sin against both God and man, though overruled for good by infinite wisdom and mercy. It is a usurpation of God's authority,-for He only has dominion over the conscience, and an encroachment upon the most sacred rights of human nature. A fearful reckoning therefore awaits all who have slain the servants of Christ, or have otherwise injured them, on account of their subjection to Him, under whatever pretence the deed may have been perpetrated. "It is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you." (2 Thess. i. 6.) The greatest persecuting power that ever existed in the world is mystic "Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth," who has her seat upon the "seven mountains.” Her doom is sealed. She is "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of

Jesus," and must answer for all that she has done. (Rev. xvii. 5, 6, 9.) Terrible is the cry of innocent blood. "I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?" (Rev. vi. 9, 10.) That "loud voice," we have reason to believe, is still heard; and the day of retribution is hastening on, when righteous punishment will be inflicted upon persecutors, and an ample reward be conferred upon God's faithful witnesses. In the meanwhile, the church exists in undiminished numbers, and is in course of rapid extension in heathen lands, a perpetual monument of God's faithfulness and guardian

care.

CHAPTER IX.

THE RETRIBUTIONS OF PROVIDENCE.

THERE is a direct and established connexion between sin and punishment; for "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." (Rom. i. 18.) Provision is indeed made by the sacrifice of the cross for the forgiveness of the most heinous offences, and for the full and free justification of even the "ungodly:" but if that provision be neglected, the just penalty of sin will most certainly be inflicted; for "He is righteous that taketh vengeance." The full punishment of sin is reserved for a future state. It is in the day of judgment that the secrets of all hearts will be disclosed, the real character and conduct of every man declared, and a righteous doom awarded. Every sentence then pronounced will be irreversible; for the judgment of that day will be "eternal judgment." (Heb. vi. 2.)

Yet the entire punishment of sin is not in every instance reserved for a future state. In this life we often see it inflicted upon the guilty. Expulsion from the garden of Eden immediately followed the first transgression; the old world, abandoned to profligacy and irreligion, was destroyed by the general deluge; and "the cities of the plain" perished miserably, by fire

from heaven, as a warning to all that might be tempted to offend in the same manner.

Many examples are recorded in Holy Scripture of punishment inflicted upon individual offenders, and even upon families and communities: and the correspondence between the sin committed, and the punishment that followed, is often so manifest as to produce an impression upon every reflecting mind, that, whatever a subtle scepticism may suggest to the contrary, "verily He is a God that judgeth in the earth.” (Psalm lviii. 11.) Cases of this kind abound in the sacred writings; and to some of these we will now direct our attention.

In what manner Cain, the murderer of Abel, ended his days, we know not; but that his life was a life of misery the sacred narrative plainly declares. He was doomed to be "a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth;" the ground that he cultivated would not yield to him the produce which it yielded to other men; he therefore lived upon charity; and laboured under a continual apprehension that some one would slay him. His days

were consequently spent in terror; for he had a guilty conscience, and the curse of God rested upon him. (Gen. iv. 11-14.) In a subsequent age the decree of God went forth, "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." (Gen. ix. 6.) When Cain committed his fearful crime, the government of the world was patriarchal. Adam, under God, possessed the supreme authority; and supposing him to be truly penitent, and reconciled to God, we can easily believe that God would spare the father the pain of passing the sentence of death upon his own son, and that son his

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