First. The Church cannot be drowned. The Church of God may read that Motto on the Rainbow; Jer. XLVI. 28. I will not make a full end of thee. Our Saviour will always have a Church, yea, a Visible Church, in the World. Tho' it may fly for some Ages into the Valleys of Piedmont, yet even there it shall be Visible. No Flood shall utterly swallow it up. A Number of People visibly Embracing the Truths, and obeying the Laws of the only Saviour, will be always upon the Face of the Earth. We read, Psal. CXXV. 1 Of a Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. I will not say, This ⟨p. 53⟩was a Covenant for the Literal Mount Zion; for this has been Removed; the Hill was dug down, with a vast Labour of three years, in the Days of the Maccabaean Simeon. The Jews on certain Accounts of Policy, dug down their Zion with their own Hands. But, O Church of our Blessed JESUS, Thou art that Mount Zion. The most Ancient of all the Mountains, the most Lasting of all the Hills; Eternally Impregnable! No Flood can roll over the Top of the Holy Hill of Zion. There is a word in the BIBLE, which has been as an Ark for the Church of God, in the most Cloudy and Stormy Ages of it; That word, Mat. XVI. 18. I will build my Church, and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. I Incline to think, that our Saviour alludes to what occurred in the Flood which once Overthrew the Foundations of the Wicked. In that Flood, we read, The Fountains of the Great Deep were broken up; and, The Waters prevailed exceedingly upon the Earth; they prevailed, and the Mountains were covered. Yet the Family of the Just One perished not. Sirs, It will be so! Tho' the Bars of the Bottomless Pit should be broken up, and should pour out a Flood of Mischiefs on the Church, yet there shall not issue out such a Flood from thence, as to drown the Family of our Saviour. The Flood shall not prevail so far as to drown the Church in the World. Our Lord Sits King on the Floods, and sets Bounds to them; they shall not prevail to carry all before them. Had it not been for this Word, the Church had been drowned in the Days of Diocletian, ⟨p. 54⟩when he set up his Pillars, with this Inscription on them, Christiana Superstition Deleta. Wretch, The Inscription on the Rainbow about the Head of our Saviour, confounded thine!
First. The Church cannot be drown'd. The Church of God may read that Motto on the Rainbow; Jer. XLVI. 28. I will not make a full end of thee. Our Saviour will always have a Church, yea, a Visible Church, in the World. Tho' it may fly for some Ages into the Valleys of Piemont, yet even there it shall be Visible. No Flood shall utterly swallow it up. A Number of People visibly Embracing the Truths, and obeying the Laws of the only Saviour, will be always upon the Face of the Earth. We read, Psal. CXXV. 1 Of a Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever. I will not say, This ⟨p. 53⟩was a Covenant for the Literal Mount Zion; for this has been Removed; the Hill was dug down, with a vast Labour of three years, in the Days of the Maccabaean Simeon. The Jews on certain Accounts of Policy, dug down their Zion with their own Hands. But, O Church of our Blessed JESUS, Thou art that Mount Zion. The most Ancient of all the Mountains, the most Lasting of all the Hills; Eternally Impregnable! No Flood can roll over the Top of the Holy Hill of Zion. There is a word in the BIBLE, which has been as an Ark for the Church of God, in the most Cloudy and Stormy Ages of it; That word, Mat. XVI. 18. I will build my Church, and the Gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. I Incline to think, that our Saviour alludes to what occurred in the Flood which once Overthrew the Foundations of the Wicked. In that Flood, we read, The Fountains of the Great Deep were broken up; and, The Waters prevailed exceedingly upon the Earth; they prevailed, and the Mountains were covered. Yet the Family of the Just One perished not. Sirs, It will be so! Tho' the Bars of the Bottomless Pit should be broken up, and should pour out a Flood of Mischiefs on the Church, yet there shall not issue out such a Flood from thence, as to drown the Family of our Saviour. The Flood shall not prevail so far as to drown the Church in the World. Our Lord Sits King on the Floods, and sets Bounds to them; they shall not prevail to carry all before them. Had it not been for this Word, the Church had been drown'd in the Days of Dioclesian, ⟨p. 54⟩when he set up his Pillars, with this Inscription on them, Christiana Superstitione Deleta. Wretch, The Inscription on the Rainbow about the Head of our Saviour, confounded thine!
