A POSITION CONCERNING PERSECUTION.  
That Religion that persecutes a Righteous People for their Conscience towards God, is not worthy to be joined to, but to be had in Abomination by all sober People, as a Religion abhorred of God, and of all that truly know him.  
This is manifest by that which follows.  
1. FIrst, Its Pedigree or Race is thereby made manifest to be of the Evil one, and of affinity with Cain, and the persecuting Pharisees. Cain was the first of that Race that slew his Brother about Religion: and wherefore slew he him? even because his own works were evil, and his Brothers righteous, saith the Scripture, 1 Joh. 3.12. And even so it is now; The persecuting spirit seeks to slay a People more righteous than itself. So it hath been, so it is, and so it will be, as long as that spirit is permitted to act its part: and when it hath done, it must be turned out with its first father Cain, and be a vagabond from the Lord, and from the offspring of his People. Therefore consider and fear, all ye that are tainted therewith.  
The Pharisees, they gave place in themselves to the same spirit, under a pretence of Zeal and Holiness, as if by persecuting they would root out abominable Doctrines and Heresies contrary to Godliness, and contrary to established Traditions, delivered them of God, and his holy Prophets: But they perceived not in themselves that rotten root of enmity from whence this spirit sprang, and was influenced and stirred up: And therefore instead of rooting out what they would have rooted out, they rooted out themselves, out of the Inheritance of God, and cut off their Names from being the Disciples of Christ. And as it was with them, so will it be with all that follow them, in the same spirit of Persecution: And a short time will henceforth manifest it. The Pharisees thought to preserve themselves by rooting out and suppressing others, but the Wisdom of God turned it quite otherwise. They said, If we let them alone, all men will believe on this man, and join to him, and the Romans will come and take away our place and Nation: therefore they thought Persecution was the way to prevent that. But mark the Counsel and Wisdom of God: That way which they took to prevent their ruin and scattering, even that thing provoked the Lord to send the Romans to take away their place and Nation. And so that which they feared came upon them, because they would not suffer the innocent Seed, nor embrace it as the offspring of God. And these things were written for examples to them that come after them; that they may be wise by others falls; and may learn to kiss the Son, and his little ones, lest he be angry, and they perish out of the way, when his wrath is but a little kindled, Psal. 2.  
2. Consider that this Spirit that persecutes, be it in whom it will, it's but of the flesh, not of the Spirit of the Lord: for so the Scripture witnesseth, Gal. 4.29. But as it was then, he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. But, (mark the event!) What saith the Scripture? (that whereof one tittle shall not fail till all be fulfilled) Cast out the Bondwoman and her son, (that is, he that is born after the flesh and persecutes) for the son of the Bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the Freewoman. Mark! The portion of this Spirit that persecutes is to be cast out; it shall not be Heir with Christ in his Kingdom.  
3. Again, The Root of this Persecuting spirit is in that evil one which is called Apollyon, not in the saving Spirit which hath its name JESUS. Apollyon, is Destroyer, (Rev. 9.11.) the Spirit hath given that name to that nature; as he hath given the name Saviour or Jesus to the contrary nature. Thou shalt call his name JESUS, for he shall save, etc. And saith he, The Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save. Therefore the Destroyer can find no place in him, he hath no root nor foundation there; but the Persecutors Root, from whence he springs, is in Apollyon, that spirit that is contrary to Jesus, and shall go into Perdition.  
4. The Persecutors of the Innocent for Conscience-sake, have not the knowledge of God and of Christ. Joh. 16.3. These things will they do unto you, because they know not the Father nor me. The reason why men persecute, is, because they are ignorant of God. And their Persecution of others, is a manifest demonstration of their ignorance of God. He that knows all men's hearts, and comprehends all their knowledge, hath spoken it. A prate or talk of God and his Attributes, he accounts not the knowledge of God: for so, many Persecutors can talk largely enough. But he that knows the Father and the Son, is by that knowledge (according to the measure of it) sunk into the Nature of him known; and his Image renewing thereby, will appear in that person that knows him. For the knowledge of God is not a dead fruitless knowledge; but it's Life eternal, and raises up life in man, that he gins to live in the Image of God, whom now he gins to see and know. As he sees God, who is Light, so he gins to walk in the Light, and becomes a Child of Light, not of darkness: As he sees God, who is Love, and feels him so; so he receives the Image of his Nature by Impression upon his spirit, from that Spirit of God that gives the knowledge of God; and so he gins to live in that Nature also: and now being come to the feeling of the true Love, and beginning to spring up in that (which indeed is the true knowledge of God who is Love) he will now do no harm to his Neighbour: Persecution now ceaseth in him, being slain from the right ground, even from his knowing & feeling what God is: But while this persecuting spirit remains in any unslain and unsubdued, it's an evident token that they are not yet come to the true Knowledge of God, and of Christ, how highly soever they account of themselves, or are accounted of by others, for Christianity; he that denies this, must oppose the Words of the Son of God, who came to set Truth in the Earth: and woe will be to him that is found in the gainsaying of the Truth that he witnessed from the Father. So then, all Persecutors being destitute of the Knowledge of the Father and the Son, what Religion can they set up, out a persecuting Religion, which hath not the Knowledge of God and of Christ in it?  
Therefore let all that join themselves to Persecutors, consider to whom they join themselves; It's not to God, but to his enemies, that know Him not, nor his Children, though they think they do God service in persecuting.  
5. Again, Persecutors do not stand in wholesome counsel, as among men. Gamaliel will rise up in Judgement against them; He was a wise Counsellor; and he gave this counsel in his time; Let these men alone: if their way be of men, it will come to nought; But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; and besides this, lest perhaps ye be found fighters against God. Mark! here's a fruitless work, and a dangerous work: fruitless in that they cannot overthrow it: and dangerous in that they run a hazard of fight against God, while they seek to overthrow. So much Gamaliel could warn them of. But mark what was said to Saul, and you will see further, that Persecution of the Innocent is beyond all Perhaps, and is positively a fight against God, and no less than the persecuting of Christ himself; Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? You see Saul was fight against God, and witted it not. Therefore be warned, all ye that persecute the Innocent for their Conscience toward God.  
6. Persecutors and Rooters out even of the Tares, stand in direct opposition and defiance to the Command of Christ; for he hath said, Let alone. This very Question of Rooting out, is plainly and punctually propounded, and resolved by him under the Parable of the Tares, Mat. 13.28, 29. Shall we gather out the Tares, say the Servants? No, saith Christ, Let alone: And he hath given the Reason also, sufficient to satisfy any rational man; Lest ye pluck up therewith Wheat: Rather than any Wheat be plucked up, he will have the Tares to grow with it, until the Harvest. And he hath told us, whose office that shall be to gather out the Tares, and when, vers. 40, 41. What can be more punctual?  
Therefore none can attempt that work without open presumption and defiance to his Command: The Son of Man, who is the sour of the good Seed, knew that the Tares could not be gathered out without danger to the good Seed; therefore he hath not permitted it to be done, for the good Seeds sake. Now this is the best pretence that Persecutors can have for themselves, namely, To purge the Church from the Tares that would infest the Wheat: But Christ himself hath stripped them of this shelter; and hath put a bar to this work, for the good Seeds sake: and indeed it is the good Seed commonly that Persecutors fall upon: Tares are but a pretence, and that a rotten one too, seeing Christ hath forbidden that. Now, if they fall upon that which the Son of Man, the Seedsman, hath such care of, consider how acceptable will this be to Him that hath so expressed his care of the Wheat: will not his Anger be kindled? Yes surely; for if his Anger may be expected for not kissing the Son, Psal. 2. much more for going about to kill the Son, and to destroy Him.  
The former Powers were told the danger of these things, but they not regarding, but falling upon this Stone, have dashed themselves to pieces: and so must all that follow the same steps; for the Scriptures shall be fulfilled.  
7. He that hates his Brother, is a Murderer; and no Murderer hath eternal Life abiding in him, 1 John 3.15. Here is the height of wickedness, that which God will not suffer to go unrevenged, namely, Murder: He that hates his Brother stands in it; he stands a Murderer before the Lord; and is so pronounced here by his Servant: for the root of Murder is alive in him in hating his Brother. If the Persecutor of the Righteous say, he loves his Brother whom he persecutes, he is also a Liar as well as a Murderer; For, Love doth no ill to his Neighbour, but teaches to do to him, as we would it should be done to us. And therefore our Lord and Master, Christ Jesus, the innocent Lamb of God, and our Leader, charged home these two things upon the Pharisees, his Persecutors, who sought his destruction, and told them, Ye are of your Father the Devil, and the lusts of your Father ye are willing to do: He was a Murderer from the beginning, and stood not in the Truth, because there is no truth in him: When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he is a Liar, and the Father thereof.  
Consider therefore all ye that persecute the Innocent, and would cover it with a lie, as the Pharisees would have done, who went before you in that nature; I say, let it enter into your hearts, to take notice how you stand before the Lord, that you are already pronounced Murderers in hating your Brother; and fear the powerful hand of the Lord, and repent of the thoughts of your hearts against the Innocent; For he that toucheth an innocent person, toucheth the Apple of God's Eye: Let your hatred be turned into Love, and embrace the Son in his Servants that fear Him, lest his Anger be kindled against you, and ye perish out of his way, as others have done.  
8. This is the great Character of the great Whore, namely to destroy and drink the Blood of the Servants of the Lord: In her is found Blood, etc. And therefore the nearer that any come to this, the more they partake with the great Whore in her Sins; and the more they shall partake with her in her Plagues.  
9 Persecutors of the Innocent for Conscience sake, are usurpers of God's Throne and Prerogative; for God requireth that the Conscience be subjected unto Him; and he hath not given that Prerogative to any man or men upon Earth, to have the Consciences of men subjected to them singly, but only wherein his Authority binds them: and in matter of Worship, it's plain that his Authority hath set free all men from the Traditions of men. In vain therefore is that worship that hath no better a foundation than man's commanding of it. In vain, saith Christ (using the words of the Prophet) do ye worship me, teaching for Doctrines the Precepts of men.  
Therefore in this point our Liberty by Christ is proclaimed, and we ought to stand fast in it: and he that requires the contrary, stands opposite to Christ and his Work; forceth men to that which Christ hath proclaimed to be vain worship; and also is an usurper of God's Prerogative, in seeking to have the Consciences of men subjected unto him: And let all such usurpers of God's Throne and Prerogative, consider, that God will not give his Glory to another; but he will assuredly throw them out of his Throne, as a stone out of a sling; and He will redeem the Consciences of his People out of the hands of all such; for these are redeeming times; and the time draws on that the holy Apostles of the Lamb long ago had an eye after groaning in themselves, and waiting for the Adoption, to wit, the Redemption of our Body: And there is something of this secretly stamped upon the hearts of men; even to look after better things, a better Kingdom, better times, though they put this far off from themselves in the particular; for that noble spark of God in man, though it be embondaged itself in man, yet hath in it a groaning after liberty, yea, after the liberty of the Sons of God. There hath been a time, and that a long time, granted to the Man of Sin, the Son of Perdition, to sit in the Temple of God, over the Throne of God, for the punishing of all them that love unrighteousness; and strong delusions have been sent upon them to enslave their Consciences (their most noble part) unto men, because they loved not the Truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness; and so Antichrists kingdom is full of slaves: but that time is wearing out, and passing over; and God will turn his hand against that proud Spirit that durst usurp his Throne, and Prerogative over men's Consciences, in imposing the matters of his Worship upon them, without his command, after their own inventions and traditions, for the fulfilling of their own lusts, and earthly ends, and advantages. When the King of Assyria had done God's scourging work upon Israel, than the Lord takes notice of the proud heart of the King of Assyria in that work, and calls him to an account for helping forward the affliction, though upon a people that had transgressed: how much more will he do it for a people that subject their Consciences in his Worship and Service singly to him, and walk inoffensively and harmlessly among men in their generation?  
The Apostles of Christ Jesus, they durst not challenge power over men's Faith and Conscience, in imposing upon them what the Spirit commanded not; which thing of right had belonged to them, if to any, the Conscience and Faith being that which their work was exercised about. Therefore for them to look for it, whose work is to regulate the civil life of men, and to bear the Sword for Transgressor's, to keep them in peace, that they may not destroy one another, nor the Righteous, this is an usurpation which the Apostles durst not challenge to themselves.  
10. Again, Persecution argues a want of Truth on that part that persecutes: For wherefore do they fly to carnal weapons (such as the Apostles never used to subdue error with) and lay aside spiritual Weapons, such as the Apostles did use, and appointed to be used, for the stopping of the mouths of gainsayers? Is it not because they distrust their own weapons, or find themselves foiled, and not sufficiently defended by them, and therefore fly to Clubs, and Stocks, and Prisons, and Fines, and Traps, and Snares, and such like carnal weapons, for help? and so instead of laying their spiritual weapon to the Conscience, they use carnal weapons against the body and life, and outward being of people, and disturb and disquiet their outward life.  
11. Therefore, lastly, consider the end of Persecutors: They put the Innocent to trouble, therefore it is a righteous thing with God to render tribulation to them again. God is pleased, now and then to give manifest examples of his Justice upon persons that wrong and harm others; to let the Earth see, that there is a Revenger of Wrongs, that takes notice: and this he doth often for one wicked man against another: how much more than will he avenge the Cause of the Innocent, whom the World hath nothing against (because their lives are honest and unblameable) but only create Accusations and Traps against them in the matters of their God? as Nebuchadnezars Princes and Counsellors did against Daniel. I tell you he will avenge them speedily, saith Christ Jesus. Shall they subject their Consciences to God alone, to be guided and directed by him, and shall they be ensnared and trapped by men for so doing, and will not God avenge them? Yes surely, Their Judgement slumbers not, who shall so abuse the Heritage of God, and usurp his Throne, to sit upon the Consciences of his Servants. For consider, if it shall be imputed as so great a crime against men, I was naked, and ye clothed me not; I was hungry, and ye fed me not; a stranger, and ye took me not in; sick, and in Prison, and ye visited me not: If that will be accounted so great a crime; what will be said then to them that rob them of their Apparel, meat, drink, health, liberty? of whom it may be said, I had meat for myself and Family, but you took it out of their mouths; I had apparel, but you rob me of it; I had a habitation, but you cast me out of it; I had health and liberty, but you cast me into Prisons and holes, and rob me of both: for in as much as ye did it to one of the least of these my Brethren, ye did it unto me. If the other shall be taken notice of that did not help in time of need, what shall be said to these who did such injuries and wrongs to the least of the Servants of the Lord! It is worthy of your most serious thoughts to ponder it, all ye that would be rooting out, who have not minded the Premonition of our Lord Jesus Christ to the contrary.  
These things are written in love to the Righteous, who suffer Persecution; and in love to the Unrighteous who do persecute, that (if the Lord please to give you an ear) you may be kept from that great and desolating wickedness, which often immediately foreruns a People's destruction. It was the topping up of Israel's sins when they were led captive into Babylon. It was the topping up of the sins of the Jews also, when their Nation was left unto them desolate, after the days of Christ. It almost ruined the Papists in England, even their Persecution in the days of Queen Mary. And whether it was not the ground of the late long Wars in England let wise men consider: As also, whether it was not the desolating of that People that had been made successful in the Wars, by the immediate hand and strength of God, beyond their own prudence and visible power many times, as most parties have acknowledged. And now, if it be kept on foot still, whether it may not presage Ruin and Desolation to them that continue therein?  
And it is to be minded by all, That No Law of man, or other pretence, will excuse any man in this matter. He that partakes in Babylon's sins, (whereof this is none of the least) may expect to partake of Babylon's plagues. And all are guilty, as partakers, from the most violent actor in Persecution, to him that stands by and consents thereto in his heart. Paul charged that against himself, that he stood by and consented to the death of Stephen. To be angry with our Brother without a cause, Christ brings within the Law of Murder; how much more to persecute him without a cause will make one guilty?  
Let these things be weighed in all you that have any regard of God or man in your hearts, and let all bitterness and wrath and hatred be repent of, and be cast out; and let the Love of God arise in your hearts towards one another, to preserve the outward life of one another, as God doth yours, lest the measure ye meet to others be measured to you again.  
W. T.  
THE END.