Reformed Covenanter
Cancelled Commissioner
Times of persecution press severely on the weak and timid; but experience has decisively proved, that so far from these being the circumstances from which true religion has the most to apprehend, the very contrary is undeniable. The constancy with which the victims of bigotry bore their bodily sufferings, though heightened by all the ingenious devices which the most devilish malignity could invent, and the divine support which they manifestly experienced under the severest tortures, operated more powerfully in favour of Christianity, than all the terrors of a cruel death against it; so that it even passed into an axiom, “The blood of the martyrs was the seed of the church.” In seasons of persecution men are naturally driven to fundamentals. They are necessarily prompted to examine their own hearts, and to endeavour to ascertain their title to the blessed hopes and privileges of true Christians.
For the reference, see William Wilberforce on seasons of persecution.
For the reference, see William Wilberforce on seasons of persecution.
