, and a glorious bleſſed work of reformation there was, but all that was again deſtroyed by the hand of Saul, and perſecution raiſed again the church of God.
3d Inſt. A third inſtance ye will find, if ye will read the hiſtory of the reign of Hezekiah and Manaſſeh kings of Judah, as it is recorded in the ſecond book of Chronicles; there was a great reformation in the days of Hezekiah, a covenant ſworn by the king, princes, prieſts, and the whole body of the land ; all corruption cast out, the pure worship and ordinances of God set up, but there was a dreadful trial by the hand of Sennacherib; fearcely was Hezekiah well in his grave, till Manasseh ſucceeds in his room, and brings in corruption and perſecution, both at once.
4th Inſt. A fourth inſtance was in the days of Joſiah, how much of the power, and glory of the Lord is manifeſted; but how ſad a trial comes on the back of it, that the church ſeems to be wholly defaced by the king of Babylon.
5th Inſt. A fifth inſtance we will find, after the return of Iſrael out of Babylon ; in the iv. of Ezra, the fonndation of the Lord’s house is laid; but in a little while the work interrupted, till the ſecond year of Darius the king, by the deriſion and enmity of wicked men.
6th Inſt. A like inſtance you ſhall alſo find in the New Teſtament; look what a length our bleſſed Lord brought the work of the goſpel, but what follows in the xvi. of John, 31ſt. and 32d. verſes, Do ye now believe? Behold the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye ſhall be ſcattered, every man to his own, and ſhall leave me alone. And he is crucified, and laid in his grave, and a ſtone laid on the grave’s mouth, and little appearance that ever there ſhould have been more mention of him, in the land of the living.
7th Inſt. Then look another inſtance, in the days of the apoſtles, in the i, ii, iii, iv, and v. chapters of the Acts, what a bleſſed reformation there was; but in the cloſe of the vi. chapter, and in the beginning of the viith, ye ſee what a ſad interruption and ſcattering there
