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Acts, what a bleſſed reformation there was but is the cloſe of the viz chap, and in the beginning of the 8th, ye ſee what a ſad interruption and ſcattering there is in the church and perſecution raiſed againſt it.
8th Inſt. And as there are many inſtances in the word, to there are many inſtances in the ſtory of the church, many great things were done by the apoſtles, and a glorious reformation there was in the bringing in of the Gentiles; but how dreadful a perſecution is raiſed through all the world.
9th Inſt. And there is a notable inſtance when the Lord began to reform the church from the darkneſs of popery, by that worthy inſtrument Luther: but ſhortly after, did not Charles the fifth raise a cruel war, again all the princes of Germany, and raiſed cruel edicts againſt till that clave to the church.
10th Inſt. And alſo, in the days of king Edward the ſixth, that good prince, what a glorious work was in England; but few years after that godly prince died, queen Mary ſucceeds, brings in popery, and raiſes a bitter perſecution againſt the ſaints of God.
11th Inſt. And ye cannot be ſo great ſtrangers to your own condition at home: how ſad an interruption the work of reformation met with from the prelates not long ago.
So that there is nothing more ordinary in the church than after the Lord has communicate himſelf in a ſpecial way in his power and glory, than to exerciſe them with ſad ſtorms and tempeſts on the back of it.
Concerning this diſpenſation, we would firſt, enquire a little into the grounds and reaſons of it, why the Lord ſees it fit to do ſo? Next, into the kinds of it, or in what ſeveral ways it is, that he ſees it fit to do ſo?
For the reaſons, grounds, and cauſes of it, we all not ſpeak of many, though many might be ſpoken of; but ſhortly touch ſome of the moſt common and obvious.
1ſt Reaſon. Firſt, The Lord makes ſuch a changing
