Things therefore must have their course in the church in the
wilderness till the mystery of God shall be fulfilled. God will get
to himself great glory by permitting the hoar, the man of sin and
the dragon, to revel in the church of God; for they by setting up
and contending for their darkness, and calling it the light, and by
setting it against that light which is light in very deed, do not
only prove the power of truth where it is, but illustrate it so much
the more; for as black sets off white, and darkness light, so error
sets off truth. He that calls a man a horse, doth but fix the belief
of his humanity so much the more in the apprehension of all rational
creatures.
It is not therefore to be wondered at that we hear both parties
plead so much for their authority, crying out against each other as
those that destroy religion. So doth the church, so doth the man of
sin. The living child is mine, saith one. Nay, but the dead child is
thine, and the living child is mine, says the other. And thus they
spake before the king.
The church will not give place, for she knows she has the truth; the
dragon and his angels, they will not give place, but as beaten back
by the power of truth. Therefore there will, there must, there
cannot but be a spiritual warfare here, and that until one of the
two is destroyed, and its body given to the burning flame.
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