2. God will in the greatest exigencies find out means for the
landscapes, and other fancies at his pleasure, which communicate some beauty and lustre to the work, but that was not the principal design of the workman. That Redeemer which bears the church upon his heart, will create a stability for it; it is a part of his priestly office to have a care of the lamps; it is one of his titles to be he that walks in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, Rev. 2:1. Priests under the law were to look to the great candlestick in the temple, supply the lamps with oil, and make them clean, Lev. 24:3, 4. The church indeed may be eclipsed, but not extinguished; if it be not conspicuous on the mountain, yet it shall be hid in the wilderness.
There shall be sprinklings of professors among all people. God will leaven the places where they are into Christianity, and cause them to fructify and grow up in purity and glory: Micah 5:7, 'And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people, as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.' It tarries not for man. It attends not the power of man, the precepts of man, or inventions of man; but whose descent is from heaven, and is carried on not by human power, but by the divine Spirit and providence; it shall be firmer than all worldly power, and the strongest kings: Isa. 2:2, 'And the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established upon the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills.' Above mountains and hills, to which sometimes the powers of the world are compared,
Zech. 4:7. That providence which gave the church at first a footing in the world upon a weak foundation to outward appearance, in spite of men and devils will preserve it, and not suffer it to be blown up; he will shadow the church with his wings in a perpetual succession of the choicest mercies.
2. God will in the greatest exigencies find out means for the protection of his church. This will be till his providence be at an end.
When God hath removed one instrument of his church's protection, he hath his choice of others, whom he can raise and spirit for his work. When those upon whom the church's hopes hang are taken off, he can raise things that are unlikely to supply the place. As the Internet accidentally had a grasshopper leapt upon his instrument,