History of the Work of Redemption Vol I of the Works - Edwards - XIII - Period III continued

Required readingHistory of the Work of Redemption in Vol I of the Works by Jonathan Edwards (Available from Amazon or free here) - Read Part II of Period III.

My summary.

Today Edwards describes the success of redemption from the destruction of Jerusalem to the time of Constantine.

Edwards takes notice:

1. of the opposition made against it by the Roman empire;

2. how the work of the gospel went on notwithstanding all that opposition;

3. of the peculiar circumstances of tribulation and distress that the church was in just before their deliverance by Constantine; 

4. of the great revolution in Constantine's time.

What grabbed me

I appreciated Edwards' summary of the tenth persecution under the Roman empire: 'I now proceed to take notice of the peculiar circumstances of tribulation and distress just before Constantine the Great came to the throne. This distress they suffered under the tenth heathen persecution, which, as it was the last, so it was by far the heaviest and most severe. The church before this, after the ceasing of the ninth persecution, had enjoyed a time of quietness for about forty years together; but abusing their liberty, they began to grow cold and lifeless in religion, and contentions prevailed among them; by which they offended God to suffer this dreadful trial to come upon them. And Satan having lost ground so much, notwithstanding all his attempts, now seemed to bestir himself with more than ordinary rage. Those who were then in authority set themselves with the utmost violence to root out Christianity, by burning all Bibles, and destroying all Christians; and therefore they did not stand to try or convict them in a formal process, but fell upon them wherever they could. Sometimes they set fire to houses where multitudes were assembled, burning them altogether; at other times they slaughtered such multitudes that their persecutors were quite spent with the labour of killing and tormenting them; and in some populous places, so many were slain together, that the blood ran like torrents. It is related, that seventeen thousand martyrs were slain in one month's time; and that during the continuance of this persecution, in the province of Egypt alone, no less than one hundred and forty-four thousand Christians died by the violence of their persecutors, besides seven hundred thousand that died through the fatigues of banishment, or the public works to which they were condemned.'

Puts the persecutions of today into perspective. God's people have always experienced opposition from the evil one.

Next week's reading

Read Part III & IV of Period III.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.