tell the Jews, boldly and fearlessly, that _they_ were the _murderers_
of the Lord of Glory, and that, however great a stumbling-block the
Cross might be to them, there was no other name given under heaven
by which men could be saved, but the name of Jesus. Because they
declared, even at Athens, the seat of learning and refinement, the
self-evident truth, that "they be no gods that are made with men's
hands," and exposed to the Grecians the foolishness of worldly wisdom,
and the impossibility of salvation but through Christ, whom they
despised on account of the ignominious death he died. Because at Rome,
the proud mistress of the world, they thundered out the terrors of the
law upon that idolatrous, war-making, and slaveholding community. Why
were the martyrs stretched upon the rack, gibbetted and burnt, the
scorn and diversion of a Nero, whilst their tarred and burning bodies
sent up a light which illuminated the Roman capital? Why were the
Waldenses hunted like wild beasts upon the mountains of Piedmont, and
slain with the sword of the Duke of Savoy and the proud monarch of
France? Why were the Presbyterians chased like the partridge over the
highlands of Scotland--the Methodists pumped, and stoned, and pelted
with rotten eggs--the Quakers incarcerated in filthy prisons, beaten,
whipped at the cart's tail, banished and hung? Because they dared
to _speak_ the _truth_, to _break_ the unrighteous _laws_ of their
country, and chose rather to suffer affliction with the people of God,
"not accepting deliverance," even under the gallows. Why were Luther
and Calvin persecuted and excommunicated, Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer
burnt? Because they fearlessly proclaimed the truth, though that truth
was contrary to public opinion, and the authority of Ecclesiastical
councils and conventions. Now all this vast amount of human suffering
might have been saved. All these Prophets and Apostles, Martyrs,
and Reformers, might have lived and died in peace with all men, but
following the example of their great pattern, "they despised the