A supplement to the several discourses upon various divine subjects

1. 'Tis testified by its present standing, when other Empires have sunk by Age or violence.

God hath promised the stability and eminency of the Mountain of the Lord's house above all the Mountains, the strongest Power, and most compacted Empires of the world, sometimes signified to us by that title, Isa. 2.2. And in the midst of his destroying Plagues, and his milder Anger with the Church, she hath a Charter of security, Jer. 30.11. Though I make a full end of all Nations, yet will I not make an end of thee. Further, the reasons why Kingdoms and Nations are pulled up by the roots, and utterly wasted, is not only because they are inveterate enemies, but refuse her easy chains, and decline her service, Isa. 60.12. The Nation and Kingdom that will not serve thee, shall perish; yea those Nations shall be utterly wasted. The warrant for the execution of such is as firmly sealed by Heaven, as the Patent for the Churches preservation; 'tis repeated with an Emphasis. The persecuted Church hath still been lifted up, when the Assyrian, Persian, and Greek Monarchies have fallen in pieces, and left no footsteps of their Grandeur. The prosperity of worldly Kingdoms is no better than a fire of straw that blazeth and vanisheth, it hath but the brittle foundation of humane Policy, and an establishment by a temporary Providence; the everlasting Covenant, and the Basis of Divine Truth and Love cannot be claimed by any but the Church; not a Kingdom can be pitched upon in all the Records of History, that hath maintained its standing, triumphed over its enemies, and subsisted at such a rate, and by unusual and unheard of Methods, as the Church hath done. Those that have been best guarded by Laws, hedged in with the best Methods of Government, and armed with a strong power to protect them, have found something or other rising from their own bowels, or their enemies Power to procure their dissolution. But the Church, though dashed against so many Rocks, has yet floated above the deluge of those Commotions that have sunk other Societies. The Kings of the world could never yet boast of a full Conquest of her, or brag that she hath been subjected to the same condition with themselves; she hath born up her head in the midst of earthly Revolutions, and met with her preservation or resurrection, where carnal Interests have found their Funeral.