Who Persecute, and Why?

Notes

1. Persecute—"(1) To pursue in a manner to injure, vex, or afflict; to cause to suffer pain from hatred or malignity; to harass; to beset in an annoying way. (2) Especially to afflict, harass, or punish for adherence to a particular creed or system of religious principles, or to a mode of worship."—Webster. The punishment of criminals through the enforcement of right laws can never be persecution. To hang murderers or imprison thieves is not persecution. From the very nature of the case, persecution implies an injustice done by one person to another.

2. The love of God in the heart leads one to act like God. Of Him we read that He makes His sun to "rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." Matt. 5:45. He is "longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9. Unlike the persecutor, He takes no pleasure in the death of him that dieth. Eze. 18:32. He blesses all, He loves all, and is patient and kind and long-suffering to all. His true children will act in like manner. Christ commanded us to do so, "that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven." Matt. 5:45.

3. This is an important point. This text (Gal. 4:29) throws great light on the subject of persecution. It shows who persecutes, and who are the persecuted. He that is born of the flesh, of the carnal mind, which is not subject to the law of God (Rom. 8:7), he it is that persecutes. His old, unrenewed, selfish nature leads him to despise and treat with contempt and violence those whose lives, by their purity and holiness, differ from his life. Those who have been born "again," "from above" (John 3:1-7, margin), "after the Spirit," these will bear the fruits of the Spirit, which are "love, joy, peace, longsuffering," etc. (Gal. 5:22). These will not persecute. Viewed from this standpoint, it is not difficult to see why the Saviour told Nicodemus that, except a man was born of the Spirit, he could not enter the kingdom of God.

4. Whatever the circumstances may be, the persecutor cannot be right, for persecution itself is wrong. Even though the persecutor were defending the truth, his persecution would be wrong. Thomas Clarke, an English writer, has well said, "There are many who do not seem to be sensible that all violence in religion is irreligious, and that, whoever is wrong, the persecutor cannot be right."

5. This text (1 John 3:12) reveals the secret of all religious persecution. The godly are a constant rebuke to the wicked. Their refusal to conform to the ways of the ungodly, and especially those of the ungodly who make a religious profession, is a standing challenge to the righteousness of the course of the ungodly, which they cannot brook, and they naturally crave the power either to force the godly to conform to that which they cannot convince them of by facts, Scripture, or logic, having none, or to put them out of their sight. A Catholic priest of New Zealand spoke truly to his congregation when he said: "If you would read the word of God, you would find that from the beginning all good people were persecuted because they were good. Abel was slain by his brother because he was good, and Cain could not endure the sight of him."—Father des Chesnais, in N. Z. Kaikoura Star, April 10, 1884.

That is the reason Sunday keepers dislike and persecute Sabbath keepers. Sabbath keeping is right, and those who keep the Sabbath are a rebuke to those who keep Sunday. "The Protestant world to-day see in the little company keeping the Sabbath a Mordecai in the gate."—Testimony No. 32, p. 206.

That is the reason so many dislike the name Seventh-day Adventist. It is a witness to the truth, and a rebuke to apostasy and worldliness. It calls to mind the Creator and Redeemer, He who is the "Alpha and Omega" (Rev. 1:11), the "Beginning and Finisher of our faith" (Heb. 12:2, margin); and, hence, those who do not like to retain God in their knowledge (Rom. 1:28) are not favorably disposed toward the name. "The name Seventh-day Adventist is a standing rebuke to the Protestant world."—Testimonies, vol. 1, p. 223.

"God does not force the conscience of any man, but the powers of darkness have been trying to compel the consciences of men ever since Abel fell under the pitiless Cain, because Abel's works were righteous and his own were sinful."—Mrs. E. G. White, in Review, April 15, 1890.

6. "Persecution in its varied forms is the development of a principle which will exist as long as Satan exists, and Christianity has vital power. No man can serve God without enlisting against himself the opposition of the hosts of darkness. Evil angels will assail him, alarmed that his influence is taking the prey from their hands. Evil men, rebuked by his example, will unite with them in seeking to separate him from God by alluring temptations. When these do not succeed, then a compelling power is employed to force the conscience."—Great Controversy, p. 610.

"The Lord permits conflicts to prepare the soul for peace."—Id., p. 633.

"Let there be a revival of the faith and power of the early church, and the spirit of persecution will be revived, and the fires of persecution will be rekindled."—Id., p. 48.

7. "When the servants of Christ move actively through the land to contend against prevailing errors and superstitions, they are doing the work which the Lord has given them, standing in defense of the gospel, but when, through Satan's malice, they are persecuted, their active labor hindered, and they cast into prison, as was Paul, and finally dragged to the scaffold or the stake, it is then that the truth gains a greater triumph. Those who before doubted, are convinced of their sincerity, as they thus seal their faith with their blood. From the martyr's ashes springs an abundant harvest for the garner of God. . . . It is in the darkness of affliction, bereavement, trial, and persecution, that the light of Christian faith shines brightest. . . . Patience as well as courage has its victories. Converts may be made by meekness in trial no less than by boldness in enterprise. If Christians would be reconciled to the apparent suspension of their usefulness, and would cheerfully rest from the strife, and lay off the burden of labor, they would learn sweet lessons at the feet of Jesus, and would see that their Master is using them as effectively when they seem to be withdrawn from employment as when in more active labor."—Sketches from the Life of Paul, pp. 293, 294.

"Persecution, moreover, will never advance the cause that pretends to defend. The ashes of the martyrs are the seed of the Christian church."—Elector Frederick, in Wylie's History of the Waldenses, p. 126.