§. V.

His Church in the Wilderness, Rev. 12. ver.

1.

6. &c.

Hird Objection, p.31,The Church is com pared, First, To a Woman perfecuted into a Wilderness, Rev. 12. ver. 6. Secondly, To a Lodge in a Garden of Cucumbers, to a befieged City, Ifa. 1. ver. 8. Lastly, she will be fo little Vifible, that Faith fhall hardly be found upon the Earth.

Anf. IF Mr. L. had Peevish Adverfaries, they might Oblige him to Answer several untoward Queftions. First, Where the Scripture tell us, that the Woman perfecuted by the Dragon, is not the Virgin Mary? Ver. 5, She brought forth a Manchild, whe was to Rule all Nations with a Rod of Iron: a known Prophefy of CHRIST, Pf. 2. v. 9.. as read by the Septuagint: and Rev. 19. v.15,16. Secondly, If the Woman Perfecuted be the Church: Where does the Scripture fay, that She is not the Church in Heaven? There appeared, fays. St. John ver. 1. a great Wonder in heaven, a Woman cloathed with the Sun, &c.Thirdly, Is there no Church upon Earth, but the whole Church? And if the Woman was the whole Church, what was the Remnant of her Seed, ver. 17? Fourthly, How do we know, that the Time of her being in the Wilderness, will be more than Three years and a half or as St. John calls it, ver. 6, a Thousand two Hundred and Threefcore days; which are Seventeen days lefs than Three years and a half? Fifthly, That the Woman, whofoever She be, was Invisible either to the Dragon, or to her Per

N 1

fecutors?

fecutors? Sixthly, Whether the Servants of God, in the time of Perfecution,ought not Spiritually to Retire into Heaven, faying with St. Paul, Our Converfation is in Heaven, Philip. 3. v. 20? These and the like Questions, fhould be clearly refolv'd, to give the Argument any Force. I fhall only fay this, Man that it is Evident, the Woman is not the whole Church on Earth. For, ver. 17. The Dragon was wroth with the Woman: and went to make War with the Remnant of her Seed, which keep the Commandments of God, and the Teftimony of fefus Chrift.

2. THE Second Part of the Objection, is of the fame Stamp. For the Prophet tells us, he fpeaks of the Jews. Ver. 1, The Vision of Ifaiah the Son of Amoz, which he faw concerning Juda and Jerufalem. Ver. 7, Your Country is Defolate, your Cities are Burnt with Fire, your Land Strangers devour. Ver. 8, And the Daughter of Sion is left as a Cottage in a Vineyard, as a Lodge in a Garden, as a Befieged City. Ver. 9. Except the Lord of Hofts had left unto us a very fmall Remnant, we should have been as Sodom and Gomorrah. Which St. Paul understands of the Jews, Rom. 9. ver. 27, 29. So does a Gentleman, whom Mr. L. knows, if he knows himself, thirteen Lines After. I might alfo Ask whether a Befieged City, or a Lodge in a Garden of Chucumbers, or the Jews, in the Defolation mention'd by the Prophet, were Invisible,

or not?

3. The Third Part, being only a Relapfe into his firft Miftake, I fhall Refer him once more to St. Augustin, (') upon those words of the Re

(') Lib 20. de Civitate Dei. cap. 8. Poft hæc, inquit, oportet cum folvi modico tempore. Si hoc eft Diabolum ligari & includi, Ecclefiam non poffe Seducere: Hæc ergo

velation

velation (at the coming of Antichrift) he must be loofed a little Time, Rev. 20. ver. 3. If tying up the Devil, fays St. Auguftin, be hindering him from Seducing the Church; Does the Loofing of him fignifie, that he hath Power to Seduce it? By no means. Which I have thought fit to take Notice of, left any one fhould imagine, that, even in that little Time, in which the Devil will be Loofed, the Church will not Continue upon the Earth. But, both the Time will be Short: for we read [Rev. 12. ver. 6. and II. ver. 2. chap. 13. ver. 5.] that Three Years and Six Months will be the Time, in which time he will ufe his, and his Adherents utmost Force and Fury: and Thofe, he must fight against, will be fuch, as neither his Violence nor Treachery will be able to Subdue.

But whether in thofe Three years and a half; when the Faith fhall be most furiously Affaulted, there will be any new Converts to it, or not, may be fame Question. We should rather believe; that as Some will fall, at that Time, from the Church, fa will others be Converted to it. Thus St. Augustin. But, had he the Gift of Prophefy? Let them Con fute him, that have it

erit Solutio ejus, ut poffit? Abfit.Quod nunc prop terea commemorandum putavi, ne quis exiftimet eo ipfo parvo tempore, quo folvetur Diabolus, in hâc terrâ Ec clefiam non futuram. — Tunc autem Solvetur, quando & breve tempus erit: nam tribus annis & fex menfibus legitur, totis fuis fuorumque viribus fæviturus: & tales erunt, cum quibus ei belligerendum eft, ut vinci tanto ejus impetu infidiifque non poffint.-Utrum au

tem etiam. ultimis tribus annis & menfibus fex, quando Solutus totis viribus fæviturus eft, aliquis, in quâ non fu erat, fit acceffurus ad fidem, nonnulla quæftio eft.Id potius eft credendum, nec qui cadant de Ecclefià, nec qui accedant ad Ecclefiam, illo tempore defuturos.

"F

1.Durth Objection, pag. 27. NotwithStanding the Promife, Ifaiah 59. ver. 21. yet they were all gone out of the way, they were together become abominable, there were none that did good,no not one, that all the World might become Guilty before God,(as well the Church as the rest of theWorld)Rom.3.ver 12, 19. AndSecondly, Of the Church it is faid,Ifa. 1. ver. 5,6. The whole Head is Sick, and the whole Heart Faint; from the Sole of the Foot even unto the Head, there is no Soundness in it, but Wounds, and Bruifes, and Putrifying Sores. And Thirdly, God Jays, Jerem. 12. ver. 8, 9. Mine Heritage is to me a Lion in the Foreft, it cryeth out a gainst me, as a Speckled Bird, &c.

Ant. A Man must have more than Ordinary Penetration, to difcover, how thefe Texts belong more to the Purpose, than to the Squaring of the Circle.

THE First, indeed may prove, that both Jews and Gentiles are all under Sin (Rom. 3. v. 9.) till they be Juftified by Chrift. Muft we then Conclude, that (because all Men are Sinners) Christ never had a Church? Or that the Church can be, without being Holy? This, evidently makes that Article of our Creed, Falfe, I believe the Holy Catkolick Church. Which were no lefs than Blafphemy to Affirm, fays Archbishop Laud, Of the Church, p. 142.

THE Second, (If we believe the Prophet, ver. 1.) is faid of Juda and Jerufalem St. Paul tells us

the

the fame, Rom. 9. v. 29. So does Mr. L. p. 31. For, fpeaking of the Church of the Jews, Ifaiah, fays he, reprefents her as moft Filthy and Corrupted, chap. 1. ver. 4, 5, 6. And how could he (as he does p. 27) understand the Prophets words, of the Catholick Church, without reflecting Severely upon Chrift? The whole Body is Sick, fays the Prophet. Is not Chrift Head of the whole Church, Ephef. 4. v. 15, 16, &c. Or, does Mr. L. acknowledge any other?

THE Third, Defcribes the Synagogue crying out against her Lord, Crucifie him, Crucifie him, But, what if it were to be refer'd to the Wicked in the Church? However we fee by this, that any Text is good enough against the Papifts, and the Old Church of England.

LET US hear how St. Auguftin answer'd the Donatifts, urging the like Arguments. () The Scripture, fays he, often reprehends the Wicked that are in the Church, as if all were fuch, and none at all remain'd Good.Wherefore thefe Men, either out of Ignozance oz Malice, Collect thofe Texts, which were defign'd either against the Bad, who will always be mix'd with the good in this Life, or elfe relate to the Destruction of the Jews, and Turn them against the Church of God, that it may

() Lib. de Unitate Ecclefiæ, cap. 13. Plerumque Sermo divinus, impias turbas Ecclefiæ Sic redarguit, tanquam omnes tales fint, & nullus bonus omnino remanferit.. Ifti ergo vel imperitè vel fallaciter agentes, colligunt de Scripturis talia, quæ vel in malos bonis ufque in finem permixtos, vel de vaftatione prioris populi Judæorum dicta reperiuntur ; & volunt ea detorquere in Ecclefiam Dei, ut tanquàm defeciffe ac periiffe de toto Orbe videatur. Definant ergo talia, proferre, fi refpondere huic Epiftolæ volunt,

feem