PERSECUTION   “Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.” (Matt. 5:11-12)   “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own….” (John 15:19; see also 15:20)   *** There is still that same spirit of antagonism existing between truth and error that there was then. Let a man join this Church; *** probably a good man, and esteemed by his neighbours, and continued so; but when he became a servant of God, the powers of darkness were let loose upon him; men began to persecute him and speak evil of him, and his name was cast out as evil. This is the lot of every man that receives the truth–I don’t care where he comes from.” (John Taylor, J.D. 7:195)