Vol. 2

—CHAPTER XIII. 197Sect. II. Persecutions. The assistance of theHoly Ghost. Perseverance." 7. And when ye shall hear of wars, and rumoursof wars, be ye not troubled : for such things mustneeds be; but the end shall not be yet."That person well deserves to be envied, who,amidst the most tempestuous troubles of this world,lives in a profound calm, as a citizen of anotherworld raised above this. When a man once thoroughlyknows thispresent world, what its spirit is,and what the end of it is to be, he is prepared for allevents, and is troubled at nothing. We do not sufficientlyconsider all the commotions of empires, andwars of nations, as being in the hand of God, andmaking part of his judgments. All these thingsmust needs come to pass, but wo unto those by whomthey come !" 8. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdomagainst kingdom ; and there shall be earthquakesin divers places, and there shall be famines andtroubles :these are the beginnings of sorrows."All the afflictions and miseries of this life are butthe be";innin(T of hell to the wicked : but to the electthey are a purification. To the former they are theoccasion of new sins; to the latter, they are, as itwere, a glass, which represents to them their rebellionagainst God, the insurrection of their passions,their immoderate fears of the evils of this life, theirvain hopes, and their hunger after its false enjoyments; and at the same time, a means of makingsome little amends for all these disorders by repentanceand mortification.