THE Character of the True Church. IN A SERMON Preached at the French Church in the Savoy, Upon these Words, How goodly are thy Tents, O Jacob, and thy Tabernacles, O Israel, Numb. XXIV. v. 5. By A. D'Astor de Laussac, formerly a Prior and an Archdeacon of the Church of Rome.  
LONDON, Printed for Matt. Wotton, at the Three Daggers in Fleetstreet, and sold by A. Baldwin in Warwick-lame. 1700.   

ADVERTISEMENT.  
A Person who is deeply touched with the miseries which poor French Protestants suffer while there, and more rigorously for but attempting to get away (though with the loss of their Estates) was mightily pleased to find, by reading the Original of this discourse, that a Romish Priest of their Nation had been so far from acting in those Cruelties, that he had quitted his Preferments, to become of himself a Refugee, being forced only by the power of Truth to yield at last to the Conviction of his Conscience (which he owns he had long resisted) and that in their chiefest Church, the Savoy, he had made a free and open Abjuration of all the errors of Popery, giving very many weighty Reasons whereby he was moved to Renounce it; which, uttered with concern by such a New Convert, could not but draw great attention, and thereby (as also by his example) 〈…〉 ●…lent to work that 〈…〉 Faith, which he 〈…〉 and confirm in hi●… 〈…〉  
An earnest desire; and hope of good effects by those motives, if more known amongst us, made the said Person wish they were in English. This the Author hearing, got the Sermon Translated, and brought it to him, by whose encouragement he has now Printed it. for a second and more public Abjuring of all Popish Superstitions, with the methods still used in France, (and now more severely than ever) to make Proselytes by Persecution.  
England (not many years ago) was in manifest danger of the like, and several large steps had hastily been made here to that end; but the King of Kings suddenly overturned that confidence, when at the highest, and by his mighty hand, the Religion of this Church, and the Laws of this Kingdom, were strangely rescued from the violence of Arbitrary Power, and are now peaceably reestablished; which amazing mercies should by this Nation with most hearty thankfulness be for ever remembered, to the Glory of God, and Honour of the King, his Instrument in that Wonderful Revolution.   

NUMB. XXIV. 5. How goodly are thy Tents, O Jacob, and thy Tabernacles, O Israel.  
THese words spoke Balaam, and blessed Israel, not so much in reference to any greatness or magnificence he saw in that people, as by reason of some extraordinary and miraculous influence he felt within himself. This false Prophet, drawn away by the motion of his own heart, which God suffered him to be led by, followed the second Messengers of the King of Moab; and though he appeared sensible of his fault, when frightened by the Angel of the Lord, yet all his ways, and all the subtle contrivances of his hypocrisy easily persuade us, that in order to prosecute the pressing instances of Balak, and satisfy his own desire, his real intention was to curse Israel. But no sooner does he think himself at liberty again, and just ready to execute his pernicious design, but he feels within himself an inward power that stops him, a secret and incomprehensible motion, which in an instant turns his heart in the behalf of Israel, and forces him to cry out in spite of Balak, nay, and in spite of himself, How goodly are thy Tents, O Jacob, and thy Tabernacles, O Israel.  
No doubt but you are beforehand with me in applying this accident to my present circumstance. You have here before you a Minister of error and falsehood, who comes to join with you in the profession of a truth he has but too long withstood. One, who though engaged by his Birth, Education and Ministry, to persecute your holy Religion, yet is now thoroughly convinced of his past blindness, ready to turn into blessings the curses he formerly pronounced against you. How should I curse, whom God has not cursed!  
'Tis not expected I should pretend any way to extenuate or lessen my errors and mistakes. I have, I own it to my shame and confusion, I have for many years stifled the saving impulses of Grace; and at the very time it pleased Almighty God to enlighten me in his ways, and to open my eyes to the purity of the Evangelical Doctrine; I did but too long defer my conversion, and was at a stand between God and the World. God alone, from whom nothing can be hid, knows what struggles and agonies I underwent. But at last his efficacious Grace triumphed over the hardness of my heart. He drew me over to him by the ties of meekness and gentleness. I am the least of Christ's Disciples, unworthy to be called a Minister of the Gospel, since I persecuted the Church of God: but by the grace of God, I am what I am. Clouds of error and ignorance, sentiments of flesh and blood, prejudices of birth and education, groundless shame, which force so many to withhold the truth in unrighteousness, all your illusions are now dissipated, you have given way to the bright and shining light of the Gospel, which alone is able to enlighten our minds, and to that victorious grace, that can in a moment destroy all our ill habits, and change the affections of our hearts. Since than it has pleased God in his infinite compassion, to open my eyes, and lose my tongue, since it has pleased him to put these words in my mouth, why should not I cry out with Balaam, How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel!  
The following discourse being more particularly designed for your edification than instruction, I shall pass by the different acceptations these words may admit of. I thought it therefore most proper to gather from thence the principal motives that prompted me to embrace the doctrine of the Reformed Churches, by showing that therein I find the distinguishing characters of the true Church of Christ. I discover in your Communion the Church of Christ, because 'tis the authority of the word of God that has preserved in it the purity of the Faith. This is the first character; the second is, that the purity of the Faith draws upon it the persecutions which the world doth exercise against it.  
'Tis the Church of Christ, since it goes by no other rule than that of his Gospel.  
'Tis the Church of Christ, since it suffers persecution for his name, and for his truth. These shall be the two heads of the discourse.  
The Christian World is particularly divided into two different Communions: they agree in many effential points of Religion, but differ in the principle that occasioned their separation, and gives each of them a particular Character. The Church of Rome uses the Holy Scripture, to attribute a supreme Authority to its Ministry, which makes it head not only to be as the oracle of God, but the sole Interpreter of the truths therein contained, and the infallible judge of controversies on that occasion.  
The Religion that protests against the authority which the Romish Ministry has assumed over the Scripture, looks upon the Word of God as the only rule of the Christian Faith, and gives the Scripture so great an authority over the Ministry, that Christianity is no longer liable to its decisions, than as they are conformable to Divine Revelation.  
The authority which this Supreme Minister has assumed over the world of God, has by degrees altered the purity of the Faith, by adding to, or taking from what Christ had established; whereas the authority which the word of God has reassumed over the Ministry, has re-established the purity of that Faith which Christianity enjoyed in the golden days of the Church. Hence arises the diversity of Communions, one of which pulls up out of the field of the Lord what the other had sown: from this opposition proceeded the animosities of the Church of Rome against the Protestants. But Christ has taken care to comfort his Church in this distress it labours under, telling it withal, that he had been hated first: Reformation is for no other reason odious, but because it roots up those plants our Heavenly Father had not planted, and pulls down from the heavenly edifice what had been built with wood, hay, and stubble. 
1 Cor. 3. 12.   
If the Ministry, using the authority assumed, had only set up some new curious doctrine interwoven with human opinions, I own it won'd have been hard for the purity of saith to have born with it; but yet rather than break unity it would have been necessary to have waited till the Lord had tried every man's work, 
Ibid. v. 13  as St Paul has expressed it.  
But no less than the Church itself was aimed at. No other foundation, says St Paul, can any man lay but that which has been laid, viz. Jesus Christ: 'Tis not only the death of Christ, his resurrection, his ascension, and sitting at the right hand of God, that are the foundation of the Church; all these mysteries would have been needless, had they been unknown; and they had been unknown, that not God spoke by his Prophets, by Jesus Christ, and his Apostles. Now the word of God, wherein are set forth all these mysteries, has been the seed of the Faith, and Faith having subjected Reason to its authority, has been the foundation of the Church. And this is its character set forth by Christ himself, when he said, 
Mat. 7.24.  Whosoever hears my say, and doth them; I will liken him to a wise man, who built his house upon a rock; whereas he that hears and doth them not, 
〈◊〉. v. 26.  shall be like a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. Whence it clearly appears, that the true and only foundation of Christian Religion, was the subjecting of human understanding to the word of God.  
Now to establish a Church merely upon the authority of a Ministry, that sets us for a rule of Faith, what is rather grounded upon tradition, than upon revelation, is building a house upon the sand, because 'tis no more than to hear the word of God, and not to be conformable to its authority, to lay another foundation than what has been laid. 'Twas then necessary to find out another principle, to return to the original foundation of the Church, that is, to look upon Holy Writ, as the only rule of Faith, and the only foundation of the authority of that Ministry Christians are to be led by.  
Nay, it seems evident, that Faith coming from hearing, and hearing from the Word, there is so great an affinity between the word of God and Faith, that the faithful's submission to the authority of the Scripture is one of those truths, which Reason and Revelation do not more clearly prove than every Christians natural suggestion. The being of a God is a truth resulting from a natural instinct. 'Tis a natural instinct in Christianity that there is a Church; and in that Church, generally taken, 'tis a natural notion that the faithful must be ruled by the word of God. What occasioned that numberless train of false Gods among the Pagans, but that natural notion man always carried along with him, of some true Divinity, from whom he derived his being, life, and motion? Whence comes it in Christianity, that all Heretics have been seen to give their Sect the name of a Church, but because there never was any Christian that owned Christ for the Saviour of the world, but was sensible there was a Church, wherein the faithful might attain Salvation? and why was there never any Heretic in all these supposed Churches, but what endeavoured to authorise his opinions by the Scripture? This is such a natural notion, as cannot but convince any reasonable mind, that Christians must have the word of God for the rule of their faith, since by that same word they have faith conveyed to them: And if in Morals, Hypocrisy is a homage Vice pays to Virtue, it may be said in Religion, that that affectation in Heretics of being grounded upon the Scripture, is an homage Error pays to the Truth, whose original source, and infallible witness is in that Holy Word, it being to the Church of Christ, what the mercy-seat, whence were pronounced the oracles of God, was to Israel of old. How could we judge better of the Church of Christ, than by the model himself has left us, Thou art Peter, 
Mat. 1.18.  and upon this rock will I build my Church; he does not say upon thee, Peter, but upon the rock, that is, upon that Christ Simon had but just confessed, because the Church could neither be founded upon the person nor upon the Ministry of St Peter, but upon the confession that Apostle had made of Christ, who is the fundamental Stone of the Spiritual Building; Christ does not say here, thou shalt build my Church, for man is not able to build the Church of God, but I will build my Church, because the character that distinguishes the Church of Christ from all such as might usurp that name, is, that Christ is the foundation of it, and the Masterbuilder; in this Spiritual Edifice no other hand must be seen but that of Christ, that is, his will, his power, his spirit, and the authority of his word. And though St Peter, and the other Disciples have been associated to that great work, yet 'tis Christ's hand alone that has wrought all by them. They indeed preached, but Christ converted; they wrought Miracles, but 'twas through his name; they baptised, but Christ performed the regeneration; in a word, 'twas Christ edified his Church. How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob! This is certainly the character of Christ's Church, since it receives no other truth but that he brought upon earth, no other solemnities but those he consecrated, no other Sacraments but those he constituted, no other expiatory Sacrifice but that of his death, nor any other merit but that of his blood. This is doubtless the Church of Christ, since all is founded upon his word, all is edified by his doctrine, all is referred to his glory.  
'Tis not so with the Church which Papal authority has set up, which would needs force Christianity to follow it as the Church of Christ. How many rules of faith! how many acts of piety, which have no solid foundation in Holy Writ! That's a building wherein Christ's hand appears much less than those of the bvilders, since in it the authority of the Scripture gives way to that of the Ministry, as if that were become the original source of Divine Revelation.  
One would think our Saviour, who knew all things, had a mind to prevent the errors whereinto men were like to fall, by taking a Church of men's setting up insensibly upon Earth in the name of Christ, for that which he had founded himself in the fullness of time; and indeed he does prevent it by the precautions he takes in the establishment of the Apostolical Ministry, which he associates to the building of his Church. He chooses for Apostles, men of the lowest rank of the people, ignorant, unlearned, self-interested, fearful, in a word, men who were no way proportionate to the work they were designed for. Why did he leave them in this state of infirmity, till the coming down of the Holy Ghost, but that the trial of their weakness might make them sensible, 'twas Jesus Christ, who acted in them at the very time they were building up his Church, that so they might not arrogate to themselves the success of it, though their hands were employed in the Structure? Why was our Saviour pleased to particularise the failings and infirmities of his Apostles, but as a precaution to posterity, which might have attributed to them the glory of having edified his Church. His wisdom having discovered to them their natural insufficiency, leaves no room in them for presumption; by showing them they had no virtue but what came from above: it characterizes the Church of God, by Christ's hand alone that built it.  
I am not ignorant how that the Evangelical Ministry must last to the end of the world; how Christ promised his Apostles he would be always with them; and how this promise is to be fulfilled in the Succession of the Ministry. But divine wisdom uses the same caution in the succession as in the establishment thereof. What character does he give to the succession of the Ministry? no other than the succession of his doctrine; I send you, as my Father has sent me, Go and teach all nations, 
Mat. 28  baptising them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you, and lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the World. These last words include a promise made to the Ministry, and a condition imposed in order to partake of the promise, teaching them, as I have commanded you, that's the condition on which he promises to be with them. They are sent by Christ, as Christ was by the Father. Christ sent by his Heavenly Father, makes the truth of his mission appear by the transcendency of his miracles, which are so many proofs of his Divinity, by the apparition of the Holy Ghost, that declares him to men for the beloved Son of God. But he does not impose the necessity of believing his Doctrine, otherwise than as it is conformable to the Father that sent him. Whence proceeds this admirable conduct? But from this reason, that the Evangelical Ministry was to be exercised by men; the gifts of the Holy Ghost were to longer to accompany the Ministry, than was requisite to establish the Faith; after that, the Church was to be directed by the Holy Ghost. Jesus Christ was to be with the Ministry, but after an invisible manner. If the visible succession of the Ministry had been a sufficient proof of its mission, than some hypocrite or other, sitting in the Apostolical Chair, might have pretended to have acted by the spirit of God, when there was no such thing. The faithful might have been imposed upon, unless Christ had promised his Apostles to be with them, setting them this Law withal, to teach as he had commanded them, and unless he had charactarized the ministry by the succession of his doctrine, so that every ministry that teaches not what the Apostles have taught, or that sets for a rule of saith another thing than they taught, is not looked upon as the Apostolical Ministry. Boast he never so much of having succeeded St. Peter, unless he have the succession of the Doctrine, he has no right to it, he must not impose. The truth Christian Religion obliges us to believe came to us from the Father by the Son, from the Son of God by the Holy Ghost, from the Holy Ghost by the Apostles by their Successors. Now, to know whether they be the true Successors of the Apostles, is but to examine whether the truth they profess, the Religion they propose, flow from the primitive Spring. How goodly are the tents, O Jacob! How great must our happiness be, who live in the bosom of a Church, which holds it for an axiom of faith to be conformable to God's Holy Word, which is so happy as to be directed by a Ministry, that may without controversy say, the Religion we preach comes not from ourselves, we are not the Authors of it, 'tis the very same the Apostles left us in the Gospel, the Apostles received from the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost derived it from the bosom of the word incarnate, the word incarnate from the bosom of the Heavenly Father.  
Thus by the Authority of the word of God, is the succession and purity of Faith preserved in the Christian World. Such is the necessity of this grand principle, that no sooner came the Church to forget it but it fell into a most deplorable condition. Look back into those all at once happy, and unhappy days, when Peace succeeding that persecution which the Church had so long groaned under, corrupted Christianity, which all the subtlety of Heretics and cruelty of Tyrants were not able to oppress. The Church became great in wealth and dignity, but at the same time small in virtue; the salt of the earth vanished away, all fell into corruption. Both Pastors and Flock had much at the same time a general disgust for heavenly things; the sacred fire of the Altar went out by degrees, whilst no other burnt thereon, but that of Lust and Ambition: The Children of Eli made it their main business to increase the rights and advantages of Priesthood; the Church, of a Heavenly Kingdom became a Temporal Reign; the Apostolical Chair became a Throne, whereon the Apostles Successors were not ashamed to exact those Divine Honours the Apostles themselves had rejected; and the Holy Scripture, the authority whereof had till then governed the Church, became itself Captive to the ambition of the Ministry; it violated its natural sense, and so forced it to be establish an authority till then unknown.  
When faith was in its purity, the Scripture lodged the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven in the Hands of the whole Apostolical College, in whose name St Peter had answered Jesus Christ. But when the faith was once corrupted, than the Scripture was forced to allow none but Peter to be entrusted with them, and such as flattered themselves to be his successors.  
When faith was in its purity, the Scripture delivered up the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven as a patent whereby they were impower'd to the preach the Gospel, by which the gates of Heaven were open to believers, and shut to unbelievers. But when the same faith was once corrupted, than the Scripture was made to signify by those keys, the power not only of preaching the Gospel, but even of interpreting it after an infallible manner, and of filling up with their traditions what was deficient.  
When faith was in its purity, this power of binding and losing was received by the Apostles, as a lawful power to explain in Religion what was legal or illegal, what good, or what ill. But after the Corruption of the faith, this power of binding and losing erected a tribunal, where Christ's pretended Ministers investing themselves with the Power of remitting sins, which is an essential attribute of God, loosed sinners by their Absolution, or bound them by the refusal of the same. Nay, this power had different degrees of jurisdiction according to the different ministers in whom it was lodgged; and being considered as in its centre, there was a tribunal set up, whence proceeded Indulgences, and Excommunications, which bound Christians according as they were subject or rebellious to this new authority.  
This authority, this Supreme degree of spiritual jurisdiction, was none indeed of those truth's Christianity most depended upon, but it so much favoured the spirit of ambition and power, that laying aside the thoughts of Christ's having condemned it in the Apostolical College, they were easily seduced by this fair outside. What endeavours were used, in order to back with arguments from the Scripture, the authority of the Ministry that was just set up? But methinks this was placing the Ark before Dagon's Idol, which fell before it. This authority in judging arbitrarily, and excommunicating all such as would not subscribe to what the word of God had not determined; this jurisdiction, I say, fell before the moderation of Christ, that would not condemn unbelievers, because his business was not to judge, but to save the world; 
〈◊〉. 12. ●8.  they have one that shall judge them, said our Saviour, making his word to be the sole judge of controversies. This arbitrary power usurped over Consciences, could not maintain itself, when so plainly contradicted by the Scripture in the Apostles behaviour, who had always refused it, referring the faithful to the word of God: The Idol fell before the Ark. The Scripture overthrows the authority the Ministry had assumed; but us Ministers being more cautious in this than the Philistines, who did not send away the Ark till after the falling of the Idol; the effects of their authority were felt, before any could examine into the nature of it; the Shepherd's Crook became a Scourge for all such as would not condescend to their decrees.  
Thus it was that the word of God lost by degrees the privilege of being the Rule of our Faith. 'Twas by this means the authority of the Scripture became tributary to the ambition of the Ministry; and if ancient Philosophers were given over to the lust of their hearts, for having made the truth captive to injustice, so God exercised the same punishment upon the Ministers of his Gospel; they were given over to their own hearts desires, for deviating from the rule Christ had set them, by which they should have preserved the purity of faith; By this desire of the heart, I don't mean the ignominious passions, that punished the pride of those ancient Heathens: No, there is in man's heart a more refined and exalted desire, he is still more fond of, which is that he always had of being the Arbiter of his Religion: 'Twas to satisfy that desire, that the Gentiles made themselves Gods. For this the Jews made themselves a pleasing idea of the Messiah they expected; 'twas by this same desire, which the Latin Ministry so blindly followed, that they begun to edify their Church by the authority of Christ, as Christ had edified his own by the Ministry of the Apostles.  
Hence arose the worship of images, connived at till then, as mere ornaments to Churches; hence was renewed the use of Apotheosis, by that pompous way of canonising of Saints: Their Relics were exposed upon their Altars, their Indulgences were used to set off the solemnities designed for them. What strange alterations did Christ's Sacraments then receive? Nay, the very ceremonies the Apostles had used, were erected into Sacraments; and the Sacraments Christ had instituted were altered, either in their substance, or in their exterior part. No longer was the Supper of the Lord a Sacrament of his body, but his very individual body: 'Twas no longer a memorial of his passion, but an expiatory Sacrifice. 'Twas no longer the use of the substance, that was altered, but the very substance itself. 'Twas no longer a deep veneration, and respect, due to the sacred sign of Christ's body, but a real adoration rendered to the Sacrament as to Christ himself. In a word, Rome Christianized had the same fate with Pagan Rome, which lost that Religion their Ancestors professed, by having adopted that of all those nations, they had a mind to bring under their power. Modern Rome had the misfortune to change the image of an incorruptible God into that of a corruptible man, and a spiritual and divine worship into a carnal and superstitious one.  
At the sight of so amazing a revolution that occasioned such woeful distractions in the Church, I cannot forbear using the words of the Prophet Jeremiah, bewailing the lamentable condition of Jerusalem. 
Lam. 3.  How is the Gold become dim! How comes the doctrine of Christ, formerly so pure and so bright in the golden age of the Church, how comes it now to be wrapped up in the clouds of tradition? How is the finest gold changed? How is that Christian piety, so lively, so sublime of old, become now so lukewarm and so despicable? It formerly raised Christian hearts to Jesus Christ sitting at the right hand of the Father, but now it makes them stoop to the worshipping of him in the Sacrament of his body, which is but a means to convey his graces to us. How comes it to pass that so pure a worship, whereof the sole object was God, and Christ as Mediator, is now divided between God and the creatures? How are the precious sons of Zion, 
Ibid.  comparable to fine gold, esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter! How comes it to pass that Christians, who in the golden days of the Church were looked upon as so many Gods come down from Heaven, are now so much altered, how comes their Religion to be so earthly? They formerly carried Christ in their hearts; they expressed these mysteries in every action of their lives, and now they think Christ can hardly be found but in Images of him; so frail, so corrupt is their piety, that they would think themselves without any Religion, were they once without their Images and Relics, were they once deprived of the priuledge of procuring themselves Patrons among the Saints. Whence comes so deplorable a change! Can we look upon the Church in this condition, as that new Jerusalem, St. John saw coming down from heaven, paepared as a Bride adored for her Husband; 
Revil. 21.2.  Alas! if it be the same Jerusalem, it shares in the same fate with that, whose sad condition Jeremiah bewailed, and we may say with him, how doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people. 
Lam. 1  How is she become as a widow. She that was great among the Nations, and Princess among the Provinces, how is she become tributary! Such was the fate of Christ's Church. It was formerly full of worshippers, who worshipped in spirit and in truth; but after it was gone to decay, there were hardly seen any Christians, but such as were carnal, idolatrous or superstitions. Christ her Spouse had indeed promised to be with her till the end of the world, provided she taught that Doctrine he had deposited with her; but her Ministers were backward in performing the conditions imposed; they followed not so much the Scripture, as the interpretations they gave it, according to their particular interest and designs: therefore Christ abandoned them. They preached the imaginations of their hearts, they set them forth as rules of faith, by means of that authority they usurped over men's Consciences. Hence came the deplorable state of the Church, which was found insensibly burdened with more precepts and ceremonies than the Synagogue; hence it was that the Church which had triumphed over the world, became herself tributary; in the flock, tributary to ambition; in the ministry, tributary to those superstitions, which ignorance or slackness of piety had introduced into the flock.  
You need not wonder at the strangeness of this proceeding; God suffered it to be so, the better to display his incomprehensible wisdom. By permitting disorder and corruption to invade the Church, occasioned by the pretended infallible authority the ministry had assumed over the word of God: He would make Christianity sensible of the indispensable necessity of submitting the Ministry to his Holy Word, as he had ordered it. The Church is represented to us as terrible as an Army drawn up in battle array. For what makes an Army terrible to the enemy, but good order and discipline? What made the primitive Church so powerful and glorious? Terrible it was to the world, because the truth and efficacy of its doctrine submitted the flesh to the spirit; terrible to Tyrants, because it placed the pleasures of this present life far belew the glorious advantages of a future state; it became terrible to error, because it submitted reason to faith, tradition to revelation, the authority the Ministry has over the people, to the authority the word of God ought to have over the Ministry. God, saith St Paul, has set some Apostles, some Prophets, some Pastors and Teachers, for the edifying of the Church, that the faithful might not be like Children tossed up and down with every wind of doctrine. 
Acts 20.  The Holy Ghost, saith the same Apostle, has set some overseers to feed the Church of God, which he has purchased with his own blood. We own this ordination to be by God's appointment, we respect this Ministry upon that account; but the Ministry is of the nature of relative beings, it is not set up for itself, the Ministry has a relation to God who established it; and for that reason, all that it teaches in Religion must be referred to the glory of God. Now, that relation does not appear, and is not made good, when that faith the Ministry would set up, has too great a relation to its own particular interest; 
Acts 20.  the Holy Ghost has appointed Overseers and Pastors to govern the Church of God; 'tis true their flock must listen to them, in order to be instructed, but then they themselves must listen to the Holy Ghost, 
John. 16.13, 14.  who speaks by the word of God. When the spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth; for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you. Here is, as it were, the finger of God pointing out the subordination of the Ministry to the Holy Ghost, who guides it; the Holy Ghost does not speak of himself, he glorifies the Saviour that sent him, by receiving from him what he teaches the Apostles. And must not this order last for ever? Is it possible there should have been a time, when the Ministry had power to decide by its own authority, when it might be dispensed from glorifying the Holy Ghost, by taking out of those Sacred Writings he himself dictated, those rules of faith it would impose upon the flock.  
If this subordination had lasted, if the Ministry had been in every particular ruled by the word of God, would the worship of Images have been set up, so expressly contradicted therein; would not the hand of Ezekias, that broke down the Brazen Serpent, whereby the people were led to Idolatry, have taken away under the Gospel a worship, that proves so often a rock of offence to Christians? Would not the Angel that took up the body of Moses, lest divine honours should be paid him, have hid the relics of Saints in their Graves, rather than have permitted them to be carried in pomp about their Churches, and upon their Altars, there to receive such honours and adorations as are only due to God? If the Gospel had been consulted, would Christians, that pretend to works of supererogation, be otherwise thought of than unprofitable Servants? Would the Supper of the Lord have been taken for the real and substantial body of Christ, rather than for the virtue and efficacy thereof, if regard had been had to the style of the Gospel, that always gives to the sign the name of the thing signified, and oftentimes attributes to the effect the name of the cause that produces it. If Christ has edified his Church by himself, or his Apostles, how comes it that the Gospel makes no particular mention of Transubstantiation, of the Sacrifice, and worshipping of the Sacrament? The first of these is a continual Miracle, the Sacrifice of the Altar is one of the essential parts of piety, the worshipping of the Sacrament is such, as must necessarily, if of divine institution, make men that neglect it, guilty of the highest Profanation; but if forbidden, of an abominable Idolatry. How comes the Gospel to be so silent in this matter? Why did the Holy Ghost, who inspired the Apostles with all the fundamental truths, conceal such important ones from them? What! is God so jealous under the Mosaical dispensation, of the methods the people of Israel were to use in his worship, as to prescribe the very lest ceremonies, nay the smallest vessels they should use in their Sacrifices; and can it be thought under the dispensation of the Gospel, that Christ, who came to teach men how to worship in purity and in truth, and establish a Religion far more excellent than that of the Law, should have left it to tradition alone, to set rules for the most essential part of Christian worship? The Church than is not of Christ's, not of his Apostles setting up, those that succeeded after the establishment of the Faith, are they that laid the foundation or Christian Religion. But how does this appear probable? Except the Lord build the house, 
Psal. 128.  they labour in vain that build it. Let them insist never so much upon the antiquity, rank, and profound learning of their Doctors that taught these particular opinions; in Christ's Religion, there must be seen at lest Christ's hand in those of the Gospel Ministers; that is, the will of Christ, and the doctrine of the Gospel must be the foundation of faith and piety. 
1 Pet. 1.  All flesh is as grass, saith St Peter, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away, but the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which is preached unto you by the Gospel. 'Tis that holy word which has always been the foundation of the Christian faith; 'tis the only rule of faith in the Church of Christ. When Religion was upon its decline, tradition took place of the Gospel, it became the foundation of faith, by means of the authority the Ministry had assumed over the word of God; but when the purity of Christianity was re-established, the word of God was reinstated in all its prerogatives, which the Lord had given it over the Ministry; and it may be said of the Reformation, what the Prophet said of the establishment of the Church; The same stone which the bvilders refused is become the head stone in the corner. 
Psal. 118.  This is the Lords do and it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord has made: we will rejoice and be glad in it. The authority of the word of God, is undoubtedly that corner stone of the spiritual building, whereby you are reunited with the primitive Christians, since you believe nothing but what they believed. 'Tis God Almighty himself that hath purified his Church, by restoring it to that order he had at first established. The Son of God being sent into the world to enlighten all men, and the Holy Ghost which Christ sent to his Apostles, have secretly reformed in the Christian Faith, all that was not established by the Gospel. God has restored the purity of the Gospel to its lustre, and that ought to be the subject of your joy, since persecution that attends it, serves to set off the glorious character of the Church of Christ, and that's the second head of this discourse.  
Balak thinks to compass his designs upon Israel, and rid himself more easily of them, if he can but get Balaam to curse them; he makes him look on all sides; but the more he strives to curse them, the more he finds himself constrained to bless them. Thus the Church of Rome tries all ways to render the Protestant Religion odious; they expose it in its Reformation, Reformers, Temper, and in its forsaking, as they pretend, the ancient Ministry. But as Balaam, withheld by the spirit of God, was proof against all the crafty contrivances of Balak, so a Christian, who is enlightened by the Gospel, will always look upon the Reformed Church, as Balaam did upon Israel; 'tis a people that shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the Nations. 
Numb. 23.  The Lord their God is with them, and the shout of a King is among them. In a word, he will cry out, notwithstanding all worldly designs and Polices, How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! This is to be understood of a Christian enlightened by the Spirit of God, thoroughly convinced of the maxims of the Gospel, and that thinks seriously on his Salvation; for among Christians, who only bear the name of such, and whose Religion is their Interest, there are many, who know the truth to be in that Church Christ has revived; but some forsake it, because 'tis forsaken in their native Country; others persecute it, because 'tis persecuted by the world. But what matters it, if Religion be obscure to worldly-minded-men, who shut up their eyes to the truth, when they may be thereby exposed to misery and contempt? what matters it, if it be opposed by such Christians as find it their particular interest and advantage to be animated with a mistaken zeal? 'twould be very unjust to judge of a Church by the opinion the world conceives of it; for whether we consider the Church as exposed to the contempt and reproaches the world strives to over-cloud it with, or raised to lustre and splendour, in spite of the world itself, those very clouds are as bright and glorious, as that glittering light and purity it shines with in the eyes of true Christians; and herein do we see the oracle of the Prophet David accomplished; there is a day that discovers to us another day, and a night that discovers to us another night. The beauty of the primitive Church, is a day, 
Psal. 19.3.  that discovers to us the excellency of the revived Church; the motives of hatred and persecutions, Christ and the primitive Church have undergone, form as it were a night, that discovers to us the principle of disgraces and oppositions, that overpower the Church wherein Christ has renewed the purity of Faith, which was in primitive Christians. Who will not then admire the beauty of that revived Church, so conspicuous for its uniformity with the primitive Church? And who will forsake that Church, because 'tis reviled by worldlings? because 'tis hated and persecuted in some parts of the world, as Christ and the primitive Christians were.  
This opposition the Church of Christ meets with in the world, is one of the fairest strokes to set off its beauty; 'tis a Seal the Heavenly Father has sealed it with, by a happy conformity with Christ. Behold this Child, said Simeon, is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against. Would not one think, 
〈…〉.  he made a description of the reformed Church, that having brought again Christianity to purity of Faith, revives piety in some, and stirs up envy and animosity in others, who make it the scope of their contradictions. Let us consider first the principle of oppositions the Church of Christ meets with in the world, and then we will examine the different objections raised against it, whereby it will appear, that all the methods the world takes to sully and obscure its glory, do but advance it to a higher degree.  
How comes it that reformation has always been attended with such hatred and contempt, that nothing has been left unpractised in order to suppress it in Christianity? To find out the cause of this, we must search into the principle of that hatred and envy the Synagogue and the Gentiles bore to Christ and his Church; and this is that night which discovers to us another night; what shall we do with this man, said the Synagogue, 
〈…〉  speaking of the Saviour of the world. This man does many miracles, if we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him.  
From this jealousy which the Ministers of the Law conceived against him, arose that envy and implacable hatred they bore him. He was no longer looked upon but as a Seducer, who came with his new Doctrine to disturb Peace and Religion. His miracles were attributed to the power of the Devil, and after that all endeavours used to cry him down in the minds of people, proved fruitless, his life was openly conspired against, choosing rather to sacrifice him, and put him to death, than that the whole Nation (as they feared) should perish. What made Christianity so odious to the Gentiles? nothing else but the pulling down of Images, and abolishing of superstitions, the world had been buried in for so considerable a time. The application is easy and plain: could that Religion which protested against the authority usurped by the Ministry, have been reformed, by taking the Scripture for the only rule of its Faith and Worship, without enforcing the Christian world to the necessity of a reformation in those Doctrines of the Church, and those practical parts of Piety, which Christ and his Apostles had not established. It made the necessity of a Reformation so apparent and manifest to the eyes of posterity, that those Ministers have made it their business to stifle the thoughts of it, both in themselves and in their Flock. Hence it is, that they being highly offended, have omitted nothing in order to render this Church odious to the people, who were much more inclined to receive this impression, because Reformation seemed to take away their Gods from them, by suppressing some acts of devotion, that made up the fundamental parts of their Piety. Hence part of Christendom has been seen to conspire the ruin of the Church Christ had reestablished, choosing rather to sacrifice it to an indiscreet zeal, than that humane traditions, the use whereof so much flattered the corruption and pride of the heart, should receive the least prejudice. How goodly are thy Tents, O Jacob! How glorious it is for a Church which Christ has revived, to be hated for the same reasons, that made him odious to such as would not receive his Faith! And how shameful it is for a Christian Society to fall into the same blindness, and injustice of the Synagogue, by labouring to suppress a Church, for believing and professing what the primitive Christians believed!  
This is the principle of those oppositions, which the revived Church of Christ meets with in the World; their nature and progress will appear in those, which Christ himself underwent here on earth; the Son of man shall be mocked, scourged, and put to Death. 'Twas endeavoured at first to run down and ridicule Reformation, upon the account of newness imputed to its doctrine and Ministry; and when that would not do, to discredit it in the minds of Christians, 'twas attacked with open force: Why did we murmur at it? 'Twas God permitted it so to be, to set off more gloriously the antiquity of the Church he has re-established, by that very novelty imputed to it; 'tis God permits it to be assaulted with open force, the better to manifest the spirit and constancy of primitive Christians. The Church Christ has restored, is not different from that he at first set up; 'tis the same mystical body, formed at one time, and reformed in another. But yet 'tis the same Church, and the Divine Wisdom, that would make this uniformity to appear, gives Reformation the same fate, which his primitive Church had; it is loaded with reproaches, and oppressed by a mistaken Zeal of Religion, as the primitive Church was. But all the oppositions it meets with from the World, serve so much the more to increase its glory.  
The Doctrine of Christ in the primitive Church was accused of novelty; the Ministers of the Law objected the antiquity of the Law of Moses, as the Latin Ministry objected to the Protestant Church, the antiquity of the Church of Rome. The doctrine of Christ was indeed new, if compared with the traditions the Law was clogged with; but compared with the Law itself, the Gospel was more ancient than. Tradition, whereof the antiquity was objected. Such is the newness wherewith they strive to disgrace the Reformation; 'tis new indeed, if compared with human traditions, which that Ministry makes part of the doctrine and worship of Christian Religion; but, if compared with divine revelation, Reformation is as ancient as the Gospel itself, which is the only rule of that faith and worship it professes: and if the Apostle St Paul faith, that Jesus Christ was yesterday, to day, and for ever; we may reasonably say that that Religion which leads Christians by the authority of the Scripture, is the same which sanctified those that preceded the coming of the Messiah, those that succeeded the establishment of Evangelical faith, and will sanctify those that shall be saved till the end of all things. You are not then, Christians, separated from the mystical body of Christ, strangers to the Covenant, as they would impose upon you, since you profess a Religion founded only upon Holy, Writ, you are Citizens of the Holy City, Servants of the house of God, built upon the foundation of Prophets and Apostles, upon the Cornerstone, which is Jesus Christ. That's the new doctrine you profess.  
But where was this Ministry before the Reformation? It was in the midst of you, and you did not know it. The Evangelical Ministry was in the Latin one, which still preserved the fundamental points of Religion, though it were already very much corrupted with traditional innovations. This Ministry imposed upon Christianity, because that, notwithstanding, it preached what Christ had taught in his Gospel, yet it did not seem to act by the spirit of God, in that they thought their authority sufficient to alter Religion as they pleased; in this last respect they were fallen away in the sight of God, though they still remained in their Apostolical functions in the sight of men, giving them sufficient food for their Salvation, so long as their hearts were at liberty to sift the ore from the dress. An instance of this we have in the old law; Eli a Priest of Israel was cast off in the sight of God; the Priesthood was transferred upon Samuel's head; and yet Eli and his Children exercised the functions of it, till such time as God had prescribed Samuel to officiate in, who lived in the Temple, though neither Eli nor the people knew any thing of what God designed him for. Thus he left the Scribes and Pharisees in Moses' Chair. Thus he left the Arian Bishops in the Chair of Orthodox Christians; and if he has preserved the true Israelites under the Ministry of the Law, faithful Christians under the Arian Ministry, may not he have preserved the purity of Primitive Christians under the corruption of the Roman Ministry? And if God permitted at last the division of this Ministry, under which he had till then preserved his Church, can any one doubt of the same individual Church being still in one of those two Ministries, that has revived the purity of the Faith, which was in the primitive Christians, without being drawn away by that Flood of human traditions, wherein Ambition, Interest, and Superstition had a greater share than Religion? Can any one doubt of Christ's Church's being in that Ministry, whereof the particular character is the grounding of Christian Faith and Worship, upon what Christ and his Apostles edified?  
If God suffered Christianity for many ages to be buried in ignorance and superstition, 'twas a just punishment which he was willing to inflict upon an unfaithful Spouse, whom he had in a manner left to herself, for despising his Laws. He had established his Church in the early days of Christianity, after having left Mankind a long time involved in the clouds of Idolatry and Jewish traditions; he re-established it once more, by opening the eyes of the Christian World, to see the a buses and vanities of human traditions, and made it unexpectedly shine forth like the Morning Sun, rising all of a sudden from the bosom of a dismal night, that so many ages of obscurity had been forming; how great soever the corruption of Christianity had been, yet the Gates of Hell did not prevail against it. But was it not enough for Almighty God to have preserved a single Spark of that sacred Fire, that was almost extinguished upon the Altar of the Church? Was it not enough for him to have kept some hidden Fountain of that Water that springs forth into Life Eternal? But that great God who can give life and take it away as he pleases, who leads to the chambers of death, and is able to bring back, seemed to have suffered the Gates of Hell to prevail a while against his Church, only to make that same Church more gloriously to triumph over them. He suffered it so to be, that the strength of his arm might be as conspicuous in the re-establishing of his Church, as in the setting of it up. If the progress of Reformation be but considered, which all of a sudden opened the eyes of the world to the vanities of human traditions; who can doubt, but that it was the hand of God alone, that wrought it? That the number of Gospel-Ministers has been seen to multiply, whilst the Ministry was loaden with Riches, Honours, and Dignities, is not at all to be wondered at; the spirit of the world alone is sufficient for that; but that the number of Gospel-Ministers has been seen to multiply, when the Ministry was destitute of temporal advantages; nay, when to desire the Ministry, was to desire an occasion of Martyrdom, this is not certainly the Spirit of the World, 'tis the Spirit of God alone, who induces men to embrace such a party. That the Christian people have been seen wholly addicted to the practice of human Traditions and Superstitions, is the consequence of the corruption of so many successive ages of ignorance; But that all of a sudden part of Christendom has been seen to awake from a deep lethargy, to embrace a worship wholly spiritual, destitute of all worldly pomp, closely pursued by envy and persecution; in a word, to make up so numerous a Communion, though it were by some accounted folly, and to others proved a shunbling block, sure it must be the virtue of his spirit, and the efficacy of his word, that ●…ound the advancement of the new revived Church, as it did that of the primitive one.  
Who can sufficiently admire the conduct of divine wisdom, which has preserved two Ministries, so directly opposite, in the bosom of the same Church, as it formerly preserved Eli and Samuel in the same Temple: or rather, who can choose but admire the wisdom of God, in preserving in the bosom of one and the same Church these two Ministries, as it formerly preserved Jacob and Esau, in the bosom of one common Mother? This is like the two Nations that shared the World between them. This is something very nearly resembling the division made between these two Brothers, wherein the transferring the Birthright upon Jacob, stirs up in Esau an implacable hatred against him. Herein appears the wisdom of God, who having observed how the primitive Church was fallen into corruption in the midst of Peace, exposes the revived Church to continual persecutions, to keep up its purity, and distinguish the spirit that animates it, from the spirit of the Ministry that uses all endeavours to oppress it.  
In the Communion of Rome, I observe a Ministry that banishes Christians from the Church of Christ, merely for being conformable to his word; a Ministry that uses a temporal power to suppress Christians, whose only crime consists in preferring the Scripture before Tradition. Is this the spirit of Christ, who made his word the sole judge of controversies? Is this the spirit of St Paul, who pronounces cursing against the Angels, and against himself, if he preach any thing but the Gospel? Is this the spirit of St Peter, who meekly submits to what remonstrances and oppositions St Paul used against him? Or is it not rather generally indiscreet zeal of the Apostles, when they would have had fire to come down from Heaven, not knowing what Spirit they were of?  
Here I see Pastors dispersed, fallen Victims to the authority of the opposite Ministry, who animated with the Spirit of St Paul, say after this great Apostle: You think yourselves wise in Christ, and we are accounted as fools for the glory of Christ; you are strong, and we are weak: You are in pomp and magnificence, and we, for preaching the Gospel, are forced to wander up and down, exposed to hunger, thirst, and nakedness: You curse us, and we return blessings: you excommunicate us, and we pray for you. Is it the spirit of the world that makes this Pastor take up with so vile and despicable a condition? No, that inspires nothing but vanity; 'tis not the spirit of the flesh, that inspires nothing but softness; 'tis not the spirit of the Devil, it breathes nothing but vengeance. Now, Christians, to which of these two Ministries, think ye, shall posterity attribute the spirit of God to?  
Jesus Christ, after having put the Pastors to this trial, does not seem to have wholly abandoned the flock to persecution, to show that his arm is not shortened, and that, notwithstanding the corruption of the present age, the strength and purity of faith had still been preserved in that very Communion, Rome made such slight account of. 'Twas by faith Abraham left his Country, obeying the voice of God, though he knew not whether he was to go. By that same faith it is this people have left their Country, to follow the voice of Christ, though they knew not how divine providence should dispose of 'em: 'Twas by faith Abraham sacrificed his Son: 'Tis by faith that fathers expose their children to death, by the hazards they run in a long Voyage, rather than let their children imbibe so pernicious a doctrine: By faith Moses preferred the reproaches of Christ before the pleasures of a great King's Court: By faith, so many persons, as remarkable for their birth as their piety, have been willing to forgo their rank, estates, and hopes of advancement, to bear our Saviour's Cross, in all the hardships of a voluntary banishment. By and upon the account of Faith, so many Christian Souls have suffered imprisonment, the Galleys, and submitted to the rigour of a shameful death; they might have redeemed their lives and liberty, but they would not, fully persuaded they shall sinned a better in the Resurrection, preferring the Cross of Christ before the enjoyment of those temporal advantages they must have bought with the price of their Religion; How goodly are thy Tents, O Jacob, and thy Tabernacles, O Israel. How glorious is it for Reformation to be at odds with the World, and yet so far above its reach, by Jesus Christ, that encourages and fortifies it! But how shameful for those of the Church of Rome, who think they may do any thing under the specious pretence of extirpating Heresy, to have cast off the weapons of the Spirit, that St Paul recommends, and to make use of an unheard of violence, which was but an occasion for those very Christians Rome looked upon as Heretics, to spread the good odour of Christ and his Doctrine; among those pretended Heretics, some knew how to die for the Faith, though they knew not how to dispute concerning the Faith, others knew how to sacrifice all to their Faith, because they knew by the Gospel, they had no other Country but Heaven, no prize but their Soul, nor any other treasure but their Religion. Does not that Invisible and Almighty hand, that bears up these sufferers, by displaying in them the spirit and virtue of the primitive Christians, make those of the Church of Rome sensible, they were in open war with God, when they thought they were only acting against rebellious children? Let them hid themselves under the bushel, and expose upon the Candlestick a Christian Society, they in vain endeavour to suppress. Do not they, who so much boasted of having triumphed over the Reformation, perceive they bury their own Church under this pretended triumph? How can they think a Christian and impartial posterity will look upon their Religion as Christ's, so long as they fill the Christian world with so many thousand barbarities they have used against them, contrary to the spirit of the Gospel? Can they boast of having augmented the flock of Christ, with those whom fear, interest, or hypocrisy hath forced into their Communion, and not their own choice? How shall they be able to justify before God and men the profane, destribution of the Sacrament to so many timorous and unworthy Christians, whom they know to have complied only with the time, and not with the truth?  
But lastly, though that Religion God so visibly protects, should still be for a long time unknown to the Christian world, yet it will be never the less true: What matters it, if that mysterious fiery pillar that guides God's people in the deserts of this life be darkness to the Egyptians, provided it give light to the Israelites; though the whose world should conspire the ruin of the Church, wherein Christ has revived the purity of the faith, what can Israel fear, since they are under the protection of the Almighty, that makes the blindness of men's hearts instrumental to the designs of his providence; and stops the current of men's passions when he pleases? Balak has no power over Balaam's heart, because God had suspended his desires; Balaam, though never so ill affected, could never curse Israel, because God had not cursed him: and why should you, Christians, fear the World? If you are the blessed of God, not all mankind together can bring a curse upon you: Wherefore Sanctify yourselves in that state, his providence has placed you in: omit nothing, in order to be a holy people, consecrated to the Lord; that same God, who made Balaam bless Israel, may one day force blessings from those very persons, that now curse you; the Arm of the Lord is not shortened. He is able to make your faith to Triumph; and have you not many instances of this already, who daily see Proselytes come among you, converted to the Faith, by having opposed the Faith; the very enemies of your Religion become the Professors and Assertors of it; how unspeakable a joy it is! What comfort for a Church, to derive so glorious a fertility from that state flesh and blood looked upon as in its last agony, There is but one simple thing, Christians, can stop the blessings God so abundantly showers upon your Church, which is the being unfaithful to your vocation. 'Tis not you properly, who made God your choice, by forsaking all for the faith; 'tis God himself has made choice of you in the Christian World, to maintain the glory of his name, and display the Spirit of Christianity in your Communion; but alas! how deplorable would it be, if after having begun with the Spirit, you should now think of ending with the flesh! How sad a thing would it be, if your heart, listening to the suggestions of nature, should be led away towards that Earthly Country, you have once sacrificed to your faith! St Paul saith, those ancient Patriarches I mentioned to you, dwelled very contendedly under Tents, notwithstanding the hardships attending that condition; opportunities of returning into their Country were not wanting; but their minds did not run that way, because they desired a far better, that is a heavenly one; therefore God was not ashamed to be called their God. You have indeed opportunities, and are at liberty to return into your Country; but is there any thing can possibly tempt you; your dear Zion lies in the dust; the ways of Zion do mourn, her her Priests sigh, her Virgins are affliected, and she is in bittenrness; would your hearts now be less moved at this deplorable sight, which your eyes formerly could not bear? Could you be so bold as to tempt the Lord, after you have been convineed of your weakness by your flight? could you promise yourselves, he would support you in those danges your slackness of piety would expose you to? so many thousand Christians, who long to be in the same happy circumstances with you, are now engaged with the enemies of your Salvation and theirs. Why would you damp their courage by your inconstancy; Israel is fight with Amaleck; let us endeavour to lift up pure and undefiled hands to Heaven, to bring down upon him blessings from above. A Christian Life is nothing but a Pilgrimage; there is no place upon earth, proves a banishment to him; Heaven is the only Country we ought to long after; purity of Faith and the liberty of professing it, is the most solid, and only happiness a Christian can meet with in this World; could you be forgerful of that excessive love, where with Christ has so highly favoured you? And who of us, ought not out of a deep sense for so singular a favour, cry out with the Apostle, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or famine, or persecution, or nakedness? No sure, in all these calamities the elect always remain victorious through the assistance of him that loveth them. If the Lord be my light, if the Lord be my strength, I may boldly say, I am sure neither life, nor death, nor things present, nor things to come shall ever separate me from the love, which is in Christ Jesus. One day within the Courts of his Church is better than a thousand in the Tents of the ungodly. What can shake my faith in a Church. where of Christ is the foundation, the masterbuilder, and the head? Has the World any thing that can strike me with terror, whilst I am in a Church, wherein Christ turns all to the glory of his Children, and confusion of his enemies? Christ is gain to me, whether I live or die. But I shall not die; I am certain I shall live to sing the infinite mercies of that Almighty God, who having made known to me the beauty of Israe upon earth, shall through his mercy introduce me into the Heavenly Jerusalem; to which place God of his great mercy bring us all for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with