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| Persecution is from the Devil.
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23. Persecution is from the Devil.
Seeing therefore that such are the commands of
our Saviour, and that such is the conduct of the Saints, let these
persons, to whom one cannot give a name suitable to their
character,—let them, I say, tell us, from whom they learnt to
persecute? They cannot say, from the Saints1496
| 1496 Hist. Arian. §§33, 67. | .
No, but from the Devil (that is the only answer which is left to
them);—from him who says, ‘I will persue, I will overtake1497
.’ Our Lord commanded to flee, and the
saints fled: but persecution is a device of the Devil, and one which he
desires to exercise against all. Let them say then, to which we ought
to submit ourselves; to the words of the Lord, or to their
fabrications? Whose conduct ought we to imitate, that of the Saints, or
that of those whose example these men have adopted? But since it is
likely they cannot determine this question (for, as Esaias said, their
minds and their consciences are blinded, and they think ‘bitter
to be sweet,’ and ‘light darkness1498
’) let some one come forth from among
us Christians, and put them to rebuke, and cry with a loud voice,
‘It is better to trust in the Lord, than to attend to the foolish
sayings of these men; for the “words” of the Lord have
“eternal life1499
,” but the
things which these utter are full of iniquity and blood.’E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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