8. They said in their hearts, Let us destroy them together. It was no idle wish; their cruelty was sincere, deep-seated, a matter
of their inmost heart. Not a remnant of the people of God would have been left
if oppressors could have had their way. The church of God has gone through
baptisms of blood and fire, but it is all the brighter for them. They have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. Here is no allusion to
places called synagogues, but to assemblies; and as no assemblies for worship
were held but in one place, the ruin of the temple was the destruction of all
the holy gatherings, and so in effect all the meeting-places were destroyed.
One object of persecutors has always been to put an end to all conventicles, as
they have called them. Keep them from meeting and you will scatter them, so
have the foemen said; but, glory be to God, saints are independent of walls,
and have met on the hillside, by the moss, or in the catacombs, or in a boat at
sea. Yet has the attempt been almost successful, and the hunt so hot that the
faithful have wandered in solitude, and their solemn congregations have been,
under such circumstances, few and far between. What sighs and cries have in such
times gone up to the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth. How happy are we that we
can meet for worship in any place we choose, and none dare molest us.
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