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the Philiſtines by the miniſtry of his ſervant Samuel, and a glorious bleſſed work of reformation there was, but all that was again deſtroyed by the hand of Saul; and perſecution raiſed against 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 worn 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 land of Sennacherib; ſo ſcarcely 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 foundation of the Lord's houſe is laid: but in a little while the work is interrupted, till the ſecond year of Darius the king, by the deriſion and enmity of wicked men.
6th Inſt. Alike 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 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, chapters of the
