A history of the work of redemption. Containing the outlines of a body of…

Thus I have briefly considered the principal events of providence which concern the success of the gospel of Christ from Constantine to the rise of Antichrist.

2dly ▪ I come now to the second part of the time from Constantine to the destruction of Antichrist, viz. that which reaches from the rise of Antichrist to the reformation by Luther and others This is the darkest and most dismal day that ever the christian church saw, and probably the darkest that ever it will see. The time of the church's affliction and persecution, as was observed before, is from Christ's resurrection till the destruction o• Antichrist, excepting what the day is, as it were, shortened by some intermissions and times of respite, which God gives i• the e•ect's sake. But this time, from the rise of Antichrist till the Reformation, was a space wherein the Christian church was in its greatest depth of depression, and its darkest time of all. The true church in this space was for many hundred years in a state of great obscurity▪ like the woman in the wilderness: indeed she was almost hid from sight and observation. In speaking of the events of this space of time, I would, 1. Take notice of the great machinations and works of the devil against the kingdom of Christ during this time; 2. How the church of Christ was upheld during this time.

2dly ▪ I come now to the second part of the time from Constantine to the destruction of Antichrist, viz. that which reaches from the rise of Antichrist to the refo•mation by Luther and others This is the darkest and most dismal day that ever the christian church saw, and probably the darkest that ever it will see. The time of the church's affliction and persecution, as was observed before, is from Christ's resurrection till the destruction o• Anichrist, excepting what the day is, as it were, shortened by some intermissions and times of respite, which God gives i the eect's sake. But this time, from the rise of Antichrist till the Reformation, was a space wherein the Christian church was in its greatest depth of depression, and its darkest time of all. The true church in this space was for many hundred years in a state of great obscurity like the woman in the wilderness: indeed she was almost hid from sight and observation. In speaking of the events of this space of time, I would, 1. Take notice of the great machinations and works of the devil against the kingdom of Christ during this time; 2. How the church of Christ was upheld during this time.