Acts 12

REFLECTIONS UPON CHAP. XII.—Whether should we here most admire the wickedness of men in promoting, or the wisdom of God in overruling, the persecutions of his church! Alas, what selfishness, pride, rashness, and cruelty, to murder one of the best, the most useful of men! And infernal the malice to take pleasure in it. But men-pleasers will lead themselves at last into the greatest guilt: and success in one sin will embolden them to commit another. The united and fervent prayers of the saints will prove in the end too hard for all that oppose them. If God bestow his Spirit of grace and supplication, to make intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered, deliverance is at hand. 127 142* And in their extremity, though often not till then, he will rise up for their help. And, if ordinary means cannot avail for their preservation, he will work miracles for them. Nay, even by ordinary means he can hide them from their most inveterate foes. But proud persecutors quickly meet with an avenging God. The prudent submission of neighbours, and the servile flattery of friends, but lift them up that their destruction may be the more terrible. God seasonably cuts them off in the midst of their pomp and grandeur; and makes their fall, as well as their fury, subservient to the propagation of the gospel. 12 A