The Great Controversy The Great Controversy | Page 253

horrible cruelties which Rome employed against heresy were resorted to
but rarely by Protestant rulers, yet the right of every man to worship God
according to the dictates of his own conscience was not acknowledged.
All were required to accept the doctrines and observe the forms of
worship prescribed by the established church. Dissenters suffered
persecution, to a greater or less extent, for hundreds of years.
In the seventeenth century thousands of pastors were expelled from
their positions. The people were forbidden, on pain of heavy fines,
imprisonment, and banishment, to attend any religious meetings except
such as were sanctioned by the church. Those faithful souls who could
not refrain from gathering to worship God were compelled to meet in
dark alleys, in obscure garrets, and at some seasons in the woods at
midnight. In the sheltering depths of the forest, a temple of God’s own
building, those scattered and persecuted children of the Lord assembled
to pour out their souls in prayer and praise. But despite all their
precautions, many suffered for their faith. The jails were crowded.
Families were broken up. Many were banished to foreign lands. Yet
God was with His people, and persecution could not prevail to silence
their testimony. Many were driven across the ocean to America and here
laid the foundations of civil and religious liberty which have been the
bulwark and glory of this country.
Again, as in apostolic days, persecution turned out to the furtherance
of the gospel. In a loathsome dungeon crowded with profligates and
felons, John Bunyan breathed the very atmosphere of heaven; and there
he wrote his wonderful allegory of the pilgrim’s journey from the land
of destruction to the celestial city. For over two hundred years that
voice from Bedford jail has spoken with thrilling power to the hearts
of men. Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress and Grace Abounding to the Chief
of Sinners have guided many feet into the path of life.
Baxter, Flavel, Alleine, and other men of talent, education, and deep
Christian experience stood up in valiant defense of

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