2. No Society but the Church ever subsisted in the midst of a multitude of Enemies. Has she not been like a little Flock in the midst of many Wolves, which though they sucked the blood of some, yet could never reach the head or heart of the whole? The Devil hath a•tackt her, without vanquishing her; shaken her, without ruining her. The biting of the Serpent, according to the ancient promise, may bruise the heel, but not the head, and make an incurable wound in the Mystical Body. She hath been preserved in a hating world in spite of the enmity of it, by a Divine Wisdom that hath not regulated it self by the Methods of flesh and blood. His feeding the Israelites in the wilderness was a figure of what he would do to his Church, and he hath accomplished it to the Gospel-Church, as really as he did to the ancient Israel. While she hath been in a wilderness these 1200 years, and I hope somewhat upwards, she hath not wanted her Manna, nor her Rock; she hath been fed in her straits, and preserved in her combats; and as Christ reigns, so the Church lives, and hath her Table spread in the midst of her Enemies. What is 1100 years continuance of the Venetian Government, to so many thousand years preservation of the Church in the midst of Atheism, Paganism, Antichristianism, ever since it was first born and nursed in Adam's Family; and this hath been, when her friends have forsaken her; when her enemies have been confident of her ruin; when her self hath expected little else than destruction; when she hath thought sometimes in her straits, her God ignorant of her; when Hell hath poured out a flood, the carnal Earth hath sometimes found it their Interest to help her, though their enmity were irreconcilable against her, Rev. 12.16. The subtlety and power of her Enemies, that have found success in their other projects, have met with an unforeseen baffle, when they have armed against her. Men of the greatest abilities have proved fools, when they have exercised their wit against her. Ahithophel's wisdom was great when on David's side, and changed to folly when he shifted sides against him. A secret blast hath been upon the Projects of men, when they have turned against her upon secular Interests. In the greatest Judgments which have come, and shall come upon the world, when wonders shall be shown in the Heavens, and in the Earth, blood, fire, and pillars of smoke;
2. No Society but the Church ever subsisted in the midst of a multitude of Enemies. Has she not been like a little Flock in the midst of many Wolves, which though they suckt the blood of some, yet could never reach the head or heart of the whole? The Devil hath a•tackt her, without vanquishing her; shaken her, without ruining her. The biting of the Serpent, according to the ancient promise, may bruise the heel, but not the head, and make an incurable wound in the Mystical Body. She hath been preserved in a hating world in spight of the enmity of it, by a Divine Wisdom that hath not regulated it self by the Methods of flesh and blood. His feeding the Israelites in the wilderness was a figure of what he would do to his Church, and he hath accomplisht it to the Gospel-Church, as really as he did to the ancient Israel. While she hath been in a wilderness these 1200 years, and I hope somewhat upwards, she hath not wanted her Manna, nor her Rock; she hath been fed in her straits, and preserved in her combates; and as Christ reigns, so the Church lives, and hath her Table spread in the midst of her Enemies. What is 1100 years continuance of the Venetian Government, to so many thousand years preservation of the Church in the midst of Atheism, Paganism, Antichristianism, ever since it was first born and nurst in Adam's Family; and this hath been, when her friends have forsaken her; when her enemies have been confident of her ruine; when her self hath expected little else than destruction; when she hath thought sometimes in her straits, her God ignorant of her; when Hell hath poured out a flood, the carnal Earth hath sometimes found it their Interest to help her, though their enmity were irreconcileable against her, Rev. 12.16. The subtilty and power of her Enemies, that have found success in their other projects, have met with an unforeseen baffle, when they have armed against her. Men of the greatest abilities have proved fools, when they have exercised their wit against her. Achitophel's wisdom was great when on David's side, and changed to folly when he shifted sides against him. A secret blast hath been upon the Projects of men, when they have turned against her upon secular Interests. In the greatest Judgments which have come, and shall come upon the world, when wonders shall be shewn in the Heavens, and in the Earth, blood, fire, and pillars of smoke;
