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The Next Citation.
IF this Rule of Christ had been kept to, Anti-christs power could never have got up, nor the poor innocent Lambs so often have been Worried by the Wolves.
Confirm. It is most certainly true, if the wrong Authority and Government had been kept down; if the Aspiring, lofty Spirit, which exalts it self, and loves to have the Preheminence, over that which it should be subject to both in it self and others, had been judged, beat down, denied, turned from, &c. how could the spirit of Antichrist, which is the spirit that would be Exalting it self above all that is indeed of God, have got up? This is the Wolf that worries the Lambs: and if this Power and Spirit be kept out of the Church, how can there be any Wolf found there, to Worry the innocent Lambs, and sheep of Christ?
Quest. But did ever Anti-Christ's Power get up by the excercise of the Power of Christ in his Church? Doth not that Power turn against Anti-Christ, and keep out Anti-Christ? Did that Power ever Worry the Lambs? Nay, rather, doth it not cherish, feed, build up and preserve the Lambs? And is it possible but Anti-Christs Power should get up, unless this Power be watched to, and observed in its Ordering, and Governing the Church, and discovering the subtle working of the Wolvish Spirit of Anti-Christ; which appears in the Sheeps Cloathing, and may pretend to the Light within, that it might draw Men from that which is indeed the Light within, into that which is indeed Darkness in the Sight of the Lord, and in the Sight of all that are kept truly Living, and Sensible by Him?