19 August 1565 A.D. John Knox Preaches Before Lord Darnley
19
August 1565 A.D. John Knox
Preaches Before Lord Darnley
The PCA historians tell it at: http://www.thisday.pcahistory.org/2014/04/april-13-john-knox-sermon-on-isaiah-26/
O, That All Men Would Humble Themselves in the Presence
of Our God.
A good Lord’s Day pastime, the following sermon by John
Knox is one of the few committed to writing by him. His text is Isaiah 26:13-21
. The historical setting of the sermon is explained in
this preface:
. The historical setting of the sermon is explained in
this preface:
“Henry
Darnley (king of Scotland by his marriage with queen Mary,) went sometimes to
mass with the queen, and sometimes attended the protestant sermons. To silence
the rumours then circulated of his having forsaken the reformed religion, he,
on the 19th of August, 1565, attended service at St. Giles’s church, sitting on
a throne which had been prepared for him. Knox preached that day on Isaiah
xxvi.13, 14, and happened to prolong the service beyond the usual time. In one
part of the sermon, he quoted these words of scripture, ‘I will give children
to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them: children are their
oppressors, and women rule over them.’ In another part he referred to God’s
displeasure against Ahab, because he did not correct his idolatrous wife
Jezebel. No particular application of these passages was made by Knox, but the
king considered them as reflecting upon the queen and himself, and returned to
the palace in great wrath. He refused to dine, and went out to hawking.
That
same afternoon Knox was summoned from his bed to appear before the council. He
went accompanied by several respectable inhabitants of the city. The secretary
informed him of the king’s displeasure at his sermon, and desired that he would
abstain from preaching for fifteen or twenty days. Knox answered, that he had
spoken nothing but according to his text, and if the church would command him
either to preach or abstain, he would obey so far as the word of God would
permit him. The king and queen left Edinburgh during the week following, and it
does not appear that Knox was actually suspended from preaching.”
The
following are Knox’s reasons for the publication of this Sermon, extracted from
his preface to the first edition.
“If
any will ask, To what purpose this sermon is set forth? I answer, To let such
as satan has not altogether blinded, see upon how small occasions great offence
is now conceived. This sermon is it, for which, from my bed, I was called
before the council; and after long reasoning, I was by some forbidden to preach
in Edinburgh, so long as the king and queen were in town. This sermon is it,
that so offends such as would please the court, and will not appear to be
enemies to the truth; yet they dare affirm, that I exceeded the bounds of God’s
messenger. I have therefore faithfully committed unto writing whatsoever I
could remember might have been offensive in that sermon; to the end, that the
enemies of God’s truth, as well as the professors of the same, may either note
unto me wherein I have offended, or at the least cease to condemn me before
they have convinced me by God’s manifest word.”
A SERMON ON ISAIAH XXVI.
Isaiah 26:13-16, etc. – O Lord our God, other lords besides thee
have had dominion over us; but by thee only will we make mention of thy
name. They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall
not rise; therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their
memory to perish. Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, thou hast
increased the nation, thou art glorified; thou hast removed it far unto the
ends of the earth. Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured
out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them, &c.
, etc. – O Lord our God, other lords besides thee
have had dominion over us; but by thee only will we make mention of thy
name. They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall
not rise; therefore hast thou visited and destroyed them, and made all their
memory to perish. Thou hast increased the nation, O Lord, thou hast
increased the nation, thou art glorified; thou hast removed it far unto the
ends of the earth. Lord, in trouble have they visited thee, they poured
out a prayer when thy chastening was upon them, &c.
As
the skilful mariner (being master,) having his ship tossed with a vehement
tempest, and contrary winds, is compelled oft to traverse, lest that, either by
too much resisting to the violence of the waves, his vessel might be
overwhelmed; or by too much liberty granted, might be carried whither the fury
of the tempest would, so that his ship should be driven upon the shore, and
make shipwreck; even so doth our prophet Isaiah in this text, which now you
have heard read. For he, foreseeing the great desolation that was decreed in
the council of the Eternal, against Jerusalem and Judah, namely, that the whole
people, that bare the name of God, should be dispersed; that the holy city
should be destroyed; the temple wherein was the ark of the covenant, and where
God had promised to give his own presence, should be burnt with fire; and the
king taken, his sons in his own presence murdered, his own eyes immediately
after be put out; the nobility, some cruelly murdered, some shamefully led away
captives; and finally, the whole seed of Abraham rased, as it were, from the
fate of the earth. The prophet, I say, fearing these horrible calamities, doth,
as it were, sometimes suffer himself, and the people committed to his charge,
to be carried away with the violence of the tempest, without further resistance
than by pouring forth his and their dolorous complaints before the majesty of
God, as in the 13th, 17th, and 18th verses of this present text we may read. At
other times he valiantly resists the desperate tempest, and pronounces the
fearful destruction of all such as trouble the church of God; which he
pronounces that God will multiply, even when it appears utterly to be
exterminated. But because there is no final rest to the whole body till the
Head return to judgment, he exhorts the afflicted to patience, and promises a
visitation whereby the wickedness of the wicked shall be disclosed, and finally
recompensed in their own bosoms.
These
are the chief points of which, by the grace of God, we intend more largely at
this present to speak;
First, The
prophet saith, “O Lord our God, other lords besides thee have ruled us.”
This,
no doubt, is the beginning of the dolorous complaint, in which he complains of
the unjust tyranny that the poor afflicted Israelites sustained during the time
of their captivity. True it is, that the prophet was gathered to his fathers in
peace, before this came upon the people: for a hundred years after his decease
the people were not led away captive; yet he, foreseeing the assurance of the
calamity, did before-hand indite and dictate unto them the complaint, which
afterward they should make. But at the first sight it appears, that the
complaint has but small weight; for what new thing was it, that other lords
than God in his own person ruled them, seeing that such had been their
government from the beginning? For who knows not, that Moses, Aaron, and
Joshua, the judges, Samuel, David, and other godly rulers, were men, and not
God; and so other lords than God ruled them in their greatest prosperity.
For
the better understanding of this complaint, and of the mind of the prophet, we
must, first, observe from whence all authority flows; and, secondly,
to what end powers are appointed by God: which two points being discussed, we
shall better understand, what lords and what authority rule beside God, and who
they are in whom God and his merciful presence rules.
The first is
resolved to us by the words of the apostle, saying, “There is no power but of
God.” David brings in the eternal God speaking to judges and rulers, saying, “I
have said, ye are gods, and sons of the Most High.” (Psal. lxxxii.) And
Solomon, in the person of God, affirmeth the same, saying, “By me kings reign,
and princes discern the things that are just.” From which place it is evident,
that it is neither birth, influence of stars, election of people, force of
arms, nor finally, whatsoever can be comprehended under the power of nature,
that makes the distinction betwixt the superior power and the inferior, or that
establishes the royal throne of kings; but it is the only and perfect ordinance
of God, who willeth his terror, power, and majesty, partly to shine in the
thrones of kings, and in the faces of judges, and that for the profit and
comfort of man. So that whosoever would study to deface the order of government
that God has established, and allowed by his holy word, and bring in such a
confusion, that no difference should be betwixt the upper powers and the
subjects, does nothing but avert and turn upside down the very throne of God,
which he wills to be fixed here upon earth; as in the end and cause of this
ordinance more plainly shall appear: which is the second point
we have to observe, for the better understanding of the prophet’s words and
mind.
The
end and cause then, why God imprints in the weak and feeble flesh of man this
image of his own power and majesty, is not to puff up flesh in opinion of
itself; neither yet that the heart of him, that is exalted above others, should
be lifted up by presumption and pride, and so despise others; but that he
should consider he is appointed lieutenant to One, whose eyes continually watch
upon him, to see and examine how he behaves himself in his office. St. Paul, in
few words, declares the end wherefore the sword is committed to the powers,
saying, “It is to the punishment of the wicked doers, and unto the praise of
such as do well.” Rom. xiii.
Of
which words it is evident, that the sword of God is not committed to the hand
of man, to use as it pleases him, but only to punish vice and maintain virtue,
that men may live in such society as is acceptable before God. And this is the
true and only cause why God has appointed powers in this earth.
For
such is the furious rage of man’s corrupt nature, that, unless severe
punishment were appointed and put in execution upon malefactors, better it were
that man should live among brutes and wild beasts than among men. But at this
present I dare not enter into the description of this common-place; for so
should I not satisfy the text, which by God’s grace I purpose to explain. This
only by the way — I would that such as are placed in authority should consider,
whether they reign and rule by God, so that God rules them; or if they rule
without, besides, and against God, of whom our prophet hero complains.
If
any desire to take trial of this point, it is not hard; for Moses, in the
election of judges, and of a king, describes not only what persons shall be
chosen to that honour, but also gives to him that is elected and chosen, the
rule by which he shall try himself, whether God reign in him or not, saying,
“When he shall sit upon the throne of his kingdom, he shall write to himself an
exemplar of this law, in a book by the priests and Levites; it shall be with
him, and he shall lead therein, all the days of his life: that he may learn to
fear the Lord his God, and to keep all the words of his law, and these
statutes, that he may do them; that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren,
and that he turn not from the commandment, to the right hand, or to the left.”
Deut. xvii.
The
same is repeated to Joshua, in his inauguration to the government of the
people, by God himself, saying, “Let not the book of this law depart from thy
mouth, but meditate in it day and night, that thou mayest keep it, and do
according to all that which is written in it. For then shall thy way be
prosperous, and thou shall do prudently.” Josh. i.
The first thing
then that God requires of him, who is called to the honour of a king, is, The
knowledge of his will revealed in his word.
The second is,
An upright and willing mind, to put in execution such things as God commands in
his law, without declining to the right, or to the left hand.
Kings
then have not an absolute power, to do in their government what pleases them,
but their power is limited by God’s word; so that if they strike where God has
not commanded, they are but murderers; and if they spare where God has
commanded to strike, they and their throne are criminal and guilty of the
wickedness which abounds upon the face of the earth, for lack of punishment.
O
that kings and princes would consider what account shall be craved of them, as
well of their ignorance and misknowledge of God’s will, as for the neglecting
of their office! But now, to return to the words of the prophet. In the person
of the whole people he complains unto God, that the Babylonians (whom he calls,
“other lords besides God,” both because of their ignorance of God, and by
reason of their cruelty and inhumanity,) had long ruled over them in great
rigour, without pity or compassion upon the ancient men, and famous matrons:
for they, being mortal enemies to the people of God, sought by all means to
aggravate their yoke, yea, utterly to exterminate the memory of them, and of
their religion, from the face of the earth.
After
the first part of this dolorous complaint, the prophet declares the
protestation of the people, saying, “Nevertheless in thee shall we remember thy
name,” (others read it, But we will remember thee only, and thy name;) but in
the Hebrew there is no conjunction copulative in that sentence. The mind of the
prophet is plain, namely, that notwithstanding the long sustained affliction,
the people of God declined not to a false and vain religion, but remembered
God, who sometime appeared to them in his merciful presence; which although
they saw not then, yet they would still remember his name — that is, they would
call to mind the doctrine and promise, which formerly they heard, although in
their prosperity they did not sufficiently glorify God, who so mercifully ruled
in the midst of them. The temptation, no doubt, of the Israelites was great in
those days; they were carried captives from the land of Canaan, which was to
them the gage and pledge of God’s favour towards them: for it was the
inheritance that God promised to Abraham, and to his seed for ever. The league
and covenant of God’s protection appeared to have been broken — they lamentably
complain that they saw not their accustomed signs of God’s merciful presence.
The true prophets were few, and the abominations used in Babylon were
exceedingly many: and so it might have appeared to them, that in vain it was
that they were called the posterity of Abraham, or that ever they had received
the law, or form of right religion from God. That we may the better feel it in
ourselves, the temptation, I say, was even such, as if God should utterly
destroy all order and policy that this day is within his church — that the true
preaching of the word should be suppressed — the right use of sacraments
abolished — idolatry and papistical abomination erected up again; and
therewith, that our bodies should be taken prisoners by Turks, or other
manifest enemies of God, and of all godliness. Such, I say, was their
temptation; how notable then is this their confession that in bondage they
make, namely, That they will remember God only; although he has appeared to
turn his face from them, they will remember his name, and will call to mind the
deliverance promised!
Hereof
have we to consider, what is our duty, if God bring us to the like extremity,
as for our offences and unthankfulness justly he may. This confession is not
the fair flattering words of hypocrites, lying and bathing in their pleasures; but
it is the mighty operation of the Spirit of God, who leaves not his own
destitute of some comfort, in their most desperate calamities. This then is our
duty, not only to confess our God in time of peace and quietness, but he
chiefly craves, that we avow him in the midst of his and our enemies; and this
is not in us to do, but it behoves that the Spirit of God work in us, above all
power of nature; and thus we ought earnestly to meditate before the battle rise
more vehement, which appears not to be far off. But now must we somewhat more
deeply consider these judgments of God.
This
people dealt with thus, as we have heard, were the only people upon the face of
the earth to whom God was rightly known; among them only were his laws,
statutes, ordinances, and sacrifices, used and put in practice; they only
invocated his name; and to them alone had he promised his protection and
assistance. What then should be the cause, that he should give them over unto
this great reproach; and bring them into such extremity that his own name, in
them, should be blasphemed? The prophet Ezekiel, who saw this horrible
destruction, forespoken by Isaiah, put into just execution, gives an answer in
these words, “I gave unto them laws that were good, in the which whosoever
should walk, should live in them; but they would not walk in my ways, but
rebelled against me; and therefore, I have given unto them laws that are not
good, and judgments, in the which they shall not live.” (Ezek. xx.) The writers
of the books of Kings and Chronicles declare this in more plain words, saying,
“The Lord sent unto them his prophets, rising early, desiring of them to return
unto the Lord, and to amend their wicked ways, for he would have spared his
people, and his tabernacle; but they mocked his servants, and would not return
unto the Lord their God to walk in his ways.” (2 Kings xvii.) Yea, Judah itself
kept not the precepts of the Lord God, but walked in the manners and ordinances
of Israel; that is, of such as then had declined to idolatry from the days of
Jeroboam; and therefore, the Lord God abhorred the whole seed of Israel, that
is, the whole body of the people; he punished them, and gave them into the
hands of those that spoiled them, and so he cast them out from his presence.
Hereof
it is evident, that their disobedience unto God, and unto the voices of his
prophets, was the cause of their destruction. Now have we to take heed how we
should use the good laws of God; that is, his will revealed unto us in his
word; and that order of justice, which by him, for the comfort of man, is
established amongst men. There is no doubt but that obedience is the most
acceptable sacrifice unto God, and that which above all things he requires; so
that when he manifests himself by his word, men should follow according to
their vocation and commandment. Now so it is, that God, by that great Pastor
our Lord Jesus, now manifestly in his word calls us from all impiety, as well
of body as of mind, to holiness of life, and to his spiritual service; and for
this purpose he has erected the throne of his mercy among us, the true
preaching of his word, together with the right administration of his
sacraments: but what our obedience is, let every man examine his own
conscience, and consider what statutes and laws we would have to be given unto
us.
Wouldst
thou, O Scotland! have a king to reign over thee in justice, equity, and mercy?
Subject thou thyself to the Lord thy God, obey his commandments, and magnify
thou the word that calleth unto thee, “This is the way, walk in it;” (Isa.
xxx.) and if thou wilt not, flatter not thyself; the same justice remains this
day in God to punish thee, Scotland, and thee Edinburgh especially, which
before punished the land of Judah, and the city of Jerusalem. Every realm or
nation, saith the prophet Jeremiah, that likewise offendeth, shall be likewise
punished. (Jer. ix.) But if thou shalt see impiety placed in the seat of
justice above thee, so that in the throne of God (as Solomon complains, Eccles.
iii.) reigns nothing but fraud and violence, accuse thine own ingratitude and
rebellion against God; for that is the only cause why God takes away “the
strong man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, the prudent and the
aged, the captain and the honourable, the counsellor and the cunning artificer;
and I will appoint, saith the Lord, children to be their princes, and babes
shall rule over them. Children are extortioners of my people, and women have
rule over them.” Isa. iii.
If
these calamities, I say, apprehend us, so that we see nothing but the
oppression of good men, and of all godliness, and that wicked men without God
reign above us; let us accuse and condemn ourselves, as the only cause of our
own miseries. For if we had heard the voice of the Lord our God, and given
upright obedience unto the same, God would have multiplied our peace, and would
have rewarded our obedience before the eyes of the world. But now let us hear
what the prophet saith further: “The dead shall not live,” saith he, “neither
shall the tyrants, nor the dead arise, because thou hast visited and scattered
them, and destroyed all their memory,” verse 14.
From
this 14th verse, unto the end of the 19th, it appears, that the prophet
observes no order; yea, that he speaks things directly repugning(6) one to
another; for,first, he saith, “The dead shall not live:” afterwards, he
affirms, “Thy dead men shall live.” Secondly, he saith, “Thou hast
visited and scattered them, and destroyed all their memory.” Immediately after,
he saith, “Thou hast increased thy nation, O Lord, thou hast increased thy
nation. They have visited thee, and have poured forth a prayer before thee.”
Who,
I say, would not think, that these are things not only spoken without good
order and purpose, but also manifestly repugning one to another? For to live,
and not to live, to be so destroyed that no memorial remains, and to be so
increased that the coasts of the earth shall be replenished, seems to import
plain contradiction. For removing of this doubt, and for better understanding
the prophet’s mind, we must observe, that the prophet had to do with divers
sorts of men; he had to do with the conjured(7) and manifest enemies of God’s
people, the Chaldeans or Babylonians; even so, such as profess Christ Jesus
have to do with the Turks and Saracens. He had to do with the seed of Abraham,
whereof there were three sorts. The ten tribes were all degenerated from the
true worshipping of God, and corrupted with idolatry, as this day are our
pestilent papists in all realms and nations; there rested only the tribe of Judah
at Jerusalem, where the form of true religion was observed, the law taught, and
the ordinances of God outwardly kept. But yet there were in that body, I mean,
in the body of the visible church, a great number that were hypocrites, as this
day yet are among us that profess the Lord Jesus, and have refused papistry;
also not a few that were licentious livers; some that turned their back to God,
that is, had forsaken all true religion; and some that lived a most abominable
life, as Ezekiel saith in his vision; and yet there were some godly, as a few
wheat-corns, oppressed(8) and hid among the multitude of chaff: now, according
to this diversity, the prophet keeps divers purposes, and yet in most perfect
order.
And
first, after the first part of the complaint of the afflicted as we have heard,
in vehemency of spirit he bursts forth against all the proud enemies of God’s
people, against all such as trouble them, and against all such as mock and
forsake God, and saith, “The dead shall not live, the proud giants shall not
rise; thou hast scattered them, and destroyed their memorial.” In which words
he contends against the present temptation and dolorous state of God’s people,
and against the insolent pride of such as oppressed them; as if the prophet
should say, O ye troublers of God’s people! howsoever it appears to you in this
your bloody rage, that God regards not your cruelty, nor considers what
violence you do to his poor afflicted, yet shall you he visited, yea, your
carcases shall fall and lie as stinking carrion upon the face of the earth, you
shall fall without hope of life, or of a blessed resurrection; yea, howsoever
you gather your substance, and augment your families, you shall be so
scattered, that you shall leave no memorial of you to the posterities to come,
but that which shall be execrable and odious.
Hereof
the tyrants have their admonition, and the afflicted church inestimable
comfort: the tyrants that oppress, shall receive the same end which they did
who have passed before; that is, they shall die and fall with shame, without
hope of resurrection, as is aforesaid. Not that they shall not arise to their
own confusion and just condemnation; but that they shall not recover power, to
trouble the servants of God; neither yet shall the wicked arise, as David
saith, in the counsel of the just. Now the wicked have their councils, their
thrones, and finally handle(9) (for the most part) all things that are upon the
face of the earth; but the poor servants of God are reputed unworthy of men’s
presence, envied and mocked; yea, they are more vile before these proud
tyrants, than is the very dirt and mire which is trodden under foot. But in
that glorious resurrection, this state shall be changed; for then shall such as
now, by their abominable living and cruelty, destroy the earth, and molest
God’s children, see Him whom they have pierced; they shall see the glory of
such as now they persecute, to their terror and everlasting confusion. The
remembrance hereof ought to make us patient in the days of affliction, and so
to comfort us, that when we see tyrants in their blind rage tread under foot
the saints of God, we despair not utterly, as if there were neither wisdom,
justice, nor power above in the heavens, to repress such tyrants, and to
redress the dolours of the unjustly afflicted. No, brethren, let us be assured,
that the right hand of the Lord will change the state of things that are most
desperate. In our God there is wisdom and power, in a moment to change the joy
and mirth of our enemies into everlasting mourning, and our sorrows into joy
and gladness that shall have no end.
Therefore,
in these apparent calamities, (and marvel not that I say apparent calamities,
for he that sees not a fire is begun, that shall burn more than we look for,
unless God of his mercy quench it,(10) is more than blind,) let us not be
discouraged, but with unfeigned repentance let us return to the Lord our God;
let us accuse and condemn our former negligence, and steadfastly depend upon
his promised deliverance; so shall our temporal sorrows be converted into
everlasting joy. The doubt that might be moved concerning the destruction of
those whom God exalteth, shall be discussed, if time will suffer, after we have
passed throughout the text. The prophet, now proceeds, and saith, “Thou hast
increased the nations, O Lord, thou hast increased the nations; thou art made
glorious, thou hast enlarged all the coasts of the earth. Lord, in trouble,”
&c. verses 15, 16.
In
these words the prophet gives consolation to the afflicted, assuring them, that
how horrible soever the desolation should be, yet should the seed of Abraham be
so multiplied, that it should replenish the coasts of the earth; yea, that God
should be more glorified in their affliction, than he was during the time of
their prosperity. This promise, no doubt, was incredible when it was made; for
who could have been persuaded, that the destruction of Jerusalem should have
been the means whereby the nation of the Jews should have been increased?
seeing that much rather it appeared, that the overthrow of Jerusalem should
have been the very abolishing of the seed of Abraham: but we must consider, to
what end it was that God revealed himself to Abraham, and what is contained in
the promise of the multiplication of his seed, and the benediction promised
thereto.
First,
God revealed himself to Abraham, to let all flesh understand, by the means of
his word, that God first called man, and revealed himself unto him; that flesh
can do nothing but rebel against God; for Abraham, no doubt, was an idolater,
before God called him from Ur of the Chaldees. The promise was made, that the
seed of Abraham should be multiplied as the stars of heaven, and as the sand of
the sea; which is not simply to be understood of his natural seed, although it
was sometimes greatly increased; but rather of such as should become the
spiritual seed of Abraham, as the apostle speaks. Now, if we be able to prove,
that the right knowledge of God, his wisdom, justice, mercy, and power, were
more amply declared in their captivity, than at any time before, then we cannot
deny, but that God, even when to man’s judgment he had utterly rased them from
the face of the earth, did increase the nation of the Jews, so that he was
glorified in them, and extended the coasts of the earth for their habitation.
And, for the better understanding hereof, let us shortly try the histories from
their captivity to their deliverance; and after the same, to the coming of the
Messiah.
No
doubt satan intended, by the dispersion of the Jews, so to have profaned the
whole seed of Abraham, that among them neither should have remained the true
knowledge of God, nor yet the spirit of sanctification, but that all should
have come to a like contempt of God. For, I pray you, for what purpose was it,
that Daniel and his fellows were taken into the king’s court, were commanded to
be fed at the king’s table, and were put to the schools of their diviners,
soothsayers, and astrologers? It may be thought that it proceeded of the king’s
humanity, and of a zeal which he had, that they should be brought up in virtue
and good learning; and I doubt not but it was so understood by a great number
of the Jews. But the secret practice of the devil was understood by Daniel,
when he refused to defile himself with the king’s meat, which was forbidden to
the seed of Abraham in the law of their God. Well, God began shortly after to
show himself mindful of his promise made by his prophet, and to trouble
Nebuchadnezzar himself, by showing to him a vision in his dream; which the more
troubled him, because he could not forget the terror of it, neither yet could
he remember what the vision and the parts thereof were. Whereupon were called
all the diviners, interpreters of dreams, and soothsayers, of whom the king
demanded, if they could let him understand what he had dreamed: but while they
answered, that such a question used not to be demanded of any soothsayer or
magician, for the resolution thereof only appertained to the gods, whose
habitation was not with men, the charge was given, that they all should be
slain: and amongst the rest, Daniel, whose innocence the devil envied, was
sought to have suffered the same judgment. He claimed, and asked time to
disclose that secret; (I only touch the history, to let you see by what means
God increased his knowledge) which being granted, the vision was revealed unto
him; he shewed the same unto the king, with the true interpretation of it;
adding, that the knowledge thereof came not from the stars, but only from the
God of Abraham, who alone was and is the true God. Which being understood, the
king burst forth in his confession, saying, “Of a truth your God is the most
excellent of all gods, and he is Lord of kings, and only he that revealeth
secrets, seeing that thou couldst open this secret.” And when Nebuchadnezzar
after that, being puffed up with pride by the counsel of his wicked nobility,
would make an image, before which he would that all tongues and nations subject
to him should make adoration; and when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, would
not obey his unjust commandment, and so were cast into the flaming furnace of
fire; and yet by God’s angels were so preserved, that no smell of fire remained
on their persons or garments; this same king gave a more notable confession,
saying, “The Lord God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, is to be praised,
who hath sent his angels, and delivered his worshippers that put trust in him,
who have done against the king’s commandment; who have rather given their own
bodies to torment, than that they would worship another god, except their own
God. By me therefore is there made a decree, that whosoever shall blaspheme the
God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, he shall be cut in pieces, and his
house shall be made detestable.” Dan. iii.
Thus
we see how God began, even almost in the beginning of their captivity, to
notify his name, to multiply his knowledge, and set forth as well his power as
his wisdom, and true worshipping, by those that were taken prisoners, yea, that
were despised, and of all men contemned; so that the name and fear of the God
of Abraham was never before notified to so many realms and nations. This
wondrous work of God proceeded from one empire to another; for Daniel being
promoted to great honour by Darius king of the Persians and Medes, fell into a
desperate danger; for he was committed to prison among lions, because he was
found breaking the king’s injunction; not that the king desired the destruction
of God’s servants, but because the corrupt idolaters, who in hatred of Daniel
had procured that law to be made, urged the king against his nature; but God,
by his angel, stopped the lions’ mouths, and so preserved his servant; which
being considered, with the sudden destruction of Daniel’s enemies by the same
lions, king Darius, besides his own confession, wrote to all people, tongues,
and nations, after this form; “It is decreed by me, That in all the dominions
of my kingdom, men shall fear and reverence the God of Daniel, because he is
the Living God, abiding for ever, whose kingdom shall not be destroyed, and his
dominion remaineth; who saveth and delivereth, and sheweth signs and wonders in
heaven and in earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the lions.”
This
knowledge was yet further increased in the days of Cyrus, who giving freedom to
the captives to return to their own native country, gave this confession; “Thus
saith Cyrus the king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God
of heaven given unto me, and hath commanded me, that a house be built to him in
Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever therefore of you, that are of his
people, let the Lord his God be with him, and let him pass up to Jerusalem, and
let him build the house of the Lord God of Israel; for he only is God that is
in Jerusalem.” (Ezra i.) Time will not suffer me to treat the points of this
confession, neither yet did I for that purpose adduce the history; but only to
let us see, how constantly God kept his promise in increasing his people, and
in augmenting his true knowledge beyond men’s expectation, when both they that
were the seed of Abraham, and the religion which they professed, appeared
utterly to have been extinguished. I say, he brought freedom out of bondage,
light out of darkness, and life out of death. I am not ignorant, that the
building of the temple, and the reparation of the walls of Jerusalem, were long
stayed, so that the work had many enemies; but the hand of God so prevailed in
the end, that a decree was made by Darius, (by him I suppose that succeeded to
Cambyses,) not only that all things necessary for the building of the temple,
and for the sacrifices that were to be burnt there, should be ministered upon
the king’s charges; but also, that “whosoever should hinder that work, or
change that decree, that a tree should be taken out of his house, and that he
should be hanged thereupon; yea, that his house should be made a dunghill,”
(Ezra vi.); and thereto he added a prayer, saying, “The God of heaven, who hath
placed his name there, root out every king and people, (O that kings and
nations would understand!) that shall put his hand, either to change or to hurt
this house of God that is in Jerusalem.” And so, in despite of satan, was the
temple built, the walls repaired, and the city inhabited; and in the most
desperate dangers it was preserved, until the promised Messiah, the glory of
the second temple, came, manifested himself to the world, suffered and rose
again, according to the scriptures; and so, by sending forth his gospel from
Jerusalem, replenished the earth with the true knowledge of God; and so did God
in perfection increase the nation, and the spiritual seed of Abraham.
Wherefore,
dear brethren, we have no small consolation, if the state of all things be this
day rightly considered. We see in what fury and rage the world, for the most
part, is now raised, against the poor church of Jesus Christ, unto which he has
proclaimed liberty, after the fearful bondage of that spiritual Babylon, in
which we have been holden captives longer space than Israel was prisoner in
Babylon itself: for if we shall consider, upon the one part, the multitude of
those that live wholly without Christ; and, upon the other part, the blind rage
of the pestilent papists; what shall we think of the small number of them that
profess Christ Jesus, but that they are as a poor sheep, already seized in the
claws of the lion; yea, that they, and the true religion which they profess,
shall in a moment be utterly consumed?
But
against this fearful temptation, let us be armed with the promise of God,
namely, that he will be the protector of his church; yea, that he will multiply
it, even when to man’s judgment it appears utterly to be exterminated. This
promise has our God performed, in the multiplication of Abraham’s seed, in the
preservation of it when satan laboured utterly to have destroyed it, and in
deliverance of the same, as we have heard, from Babylon. He hath sent his Son
Christ Jesus, clad in our flesh, who hath tasted of all our infirmities, (sin
excepted,) who hath promised to be with us to the end of the world; he hath
further kept promise in the publication, yea, in the restitution of his
glorious gospel. Shall we then think that he will leave his church destitute in
this most dangerous age? Only let us cleave to his truth, and study to conform
our lives to the same, and he shall multiply his knowledge, and increase his
people. But now let us hear what the prophet saith more:
“Lord,
in trouble have they visited thee, they poured out a prayer when thy chastening
was upon them,” verse 16.
The
prophet means, that such as in the time of quietness did not rightly regard God
nor his judgments, were compelled, by sharp corrections, to seek God; yea, by
cries and dolorous complaints to visit him. True it is, that such obedience
deserves small praise before men; for who can praise, or accept that in good
part, which comes as it were of mere compulsion? And yet it is rare, that any
of God’s children do give unfeigned obedience, until the hand of God turn them.
For if quietness and prosperity make them not utterly to forget their duty,
both towards God and man, as David for a season, yet it makes them careless,
insolent, and in many things unmindful of those things that God chiefly craves
of them; which imperfection being espied, and the danger that thereof might
ensue, our heavenly Father visits the sins of his children, but with the rod of
his mercy, by which they are moved to return to their God, to accuse their
former negligence, and to promise better obedience in all times hereafter; as
David confessed, saying, “Before I fell in affliction I went astray, but now
will I keep thy statutes.”
But
yet, for the better understanding of the prophet’s mind, we may consider how
God doth visit man, and how man doth visit God; and what difference there is
betwixt the visitation of God upon the reprobate, and his visitation upon the
chosen.
God
sometimes visits the reprobate in his hot displeasure, pouring upon them his
plagues for their long rebellion; as we have heard before, that he visited the
proud, and destroyed their memory. At other times God is said to visit his
people, being in affliction, to whom he sends comfort or promise of
deliverance, as he visited the seed of Abraham, when oppressed in Egypt. And
Zacharias said, that God had visited his people, and sent unto them hope of deliverance,
when John the Baptist was born. But of none of these visitations our prophet
here speaks, but of that only which we have already touched; namely, when God
layeth his correction upon his own children, to call them from the venomous
breasts of this corrupt world, that they suck not in over great abundance the
poison thereof; and he doth, as it were, wean them from their mother’s breasts,
that they may learn to receive other nourishment. True it is, that this weaning
(or speaning, as we term it) from worldly pleasure, is a thing strange to the
flesh. And yet it is a thing so necessary to God’s children, that, unless they
are weaned from the pleasures of the world, they can never feed upon that
delectable milk of God’s eternal verity; for the corruption of the one either
hinders the other from being received, or else so troubles the whole powers of
man, that the soul can never so digest the truth of God as he ought to do.
Although
this appears hard, yet it is most evident; for what can we receive from the
world, but that which is in the world? What that is, the apostle John teaches;
saying, “Whatsoever is in the world, is either the lust of the eyes, the lust
of the flesh, or the pride of life.” (1 John ii.) Now, seeing that these are
not of the Father, but of the world, how can it be, that our souls can feed
upon chastity, temperance, and humility, so long as our stomachs are
replenished with the corruption of these vices?
Now
so it is, that flesh can never willingly refuse these fore-named, but rather
still delights itself in every one of them; yea, in them all, as the examples
are but too evident.
It
behoves therefore, that God himself shall violently pull his children from
these venomous breasts, that when they lack the liquor and poison of the world,
they may visit him, and learn to be nourished of him. Oh if the eyes of worldly
princes should be opened, that they might see with what humour and liquor their
souls are fed, while their whole delight consists in pride, ambition, and the
lusts of the corrupt flesh! We understand then how God doth visit men, as well
by his severe judgments, as by his merciful visitation of deliverance from
troubles, or by bringing trouble upon his chosen for their humiliation; and now
it remains to understand how man visits God. Man doth visit God, when he
appears in his presence, be it for the hearing of his word, or for the
participation of his sacraments; as the people of Israel, besides the
observation of their sabbaths and daily oblations, were commanded thrice a-year
to present themselves before the presence of the tabernacle; and as we do, and
us often as we present ourselves to the hearing of the word. For there is the
footstool, yea, there is the face and throne of God himself, wheresoever the
gospel of Jesus Christ is truly preached, and his sacraments rightly
ministered.
But
men may on this sort visit God hypocritically; for they may come for the
fashion, they may hear with deaf ears; yea, they may understand, and yet never
determine with themselves to obey that which God requires: and let such men be
assured, that He who searches the secrets of hearts will be avenged of all
such; for nothing can be more odious to God, than to mock him in his own
presence. Let every man therefore examine himself, with what mind, and what
purpose, he comes to hear the word of God; yea, with what ear he hears it, and
what testimony his heart gives unto him, when God commands virtue, and forbids
impiety.
Repinest
thou when God requires obedience? Thou hearest to thine own condemnation. Mockest
thou at God’s threatenings? Thou shalt feel the weight and truth of them,
albeit too late, when flesh and blood cannot deliver thee from his hand. But
the visitation, whereof our prophet speaks, is only proper to the sons of God,
who, in the time when God takes from them the pleasures of the world, or shows
his angry countenance unto them, have recourse unto him, and, confessing their
former negligence, with troubled hearts, cry for his mercy. This visitation is
not proper to all the afflicted, but appertains only to God’s children: for the
reprobates can never have access to God’s mercy in time of their tribulation,
and that because they abuse his long patience, as well as the manifold benefits
they receive from his hands; for as the same prophet heretofore saith, “Let the
wicked obtain mercy, yet shall he never learn wisdom, but in the land of
righteousness,” that is, where the true knowledge of God abounds, “he will do
wickedly.” Which is a crime above all others abominable; for to what end is it
that God erects his throne among us, but that we should fear him? Why does he
reveal his holy will unto us, but that we should obey it? Why does he deliver
us from trouble, but that we should be witnesses unto the world, that he is
gracious and merciful?
Now,
when men hearing their duty, and knowing what God requires of them, do
malapertly fight against all equity and justice, what I pray you, do they else,
but make manifest war against God? Yea, when they have received from God such
deliverance, that they cannot deny but that God himself hath in his great mercy
visited them, and yet they continue wicked as before; what deserve they but
effectually to be given over unto a reprobate sense, that they may headlong run
to ruin, both of body and soul? It is almost incredible that a man should be so
enraged against God, that neither his plagues, nor yet his mercy showed, should
move him to repentance; but because the Scriptures bear witness of the one and
the other, let us cease to marvel, and let us firmly believe, that such things
as have been, are even at present before our eyes, albeit many, blinded by
affection, cannot see them.
Ahab,
as it is written in the book of the Kings, received many notable benefits of
the hand of God, who visited him in divers sorts, sometimes by his plagues,
sometimes by his word, and sometimes by his merciful deliverance. He made him
king, and, for the idolatry used by him and his wife, he plagued the whole of
Israel by famine; he revealed to him his will, and true religion, by the prophet
Elijah; he gave unto him sundry deliverances, but one most special, when proud
Benhadad came to besiege Samaria, and was not content to receive Ahab’s gold,
silver, sons, daughters, and wives, but also required, that his servants should
have at their pleasure whatsoever was delectable in Samaria. True it is, that
his elders and people willed him not to hear the proud tyrant, but who made
unto him the promise of deliverance? And who appointed and put his army in
order? Who assured him of victory? The prophet of God only, who assured him,
that by the servants of the princes of the provinces, who in number were only
two hundred thirty-and-two, he should defeat the great army, in which there
were two-and-thirty kings, with all their forces. And as the prophet of God
promised, so it came to pass; victory was obtained, not once only, but twice,
and that by the merciful visitation of the Lord.
But
how did Ahab visit God again for his great benefit received? Did he remove his
idolatry? Did he correct his idolatrous wife Jezebel? No, we find no such
thing; but the one and the other we find to have continued and increased in
their former impiety: but what was the end thereof? The last visitation of God
was, that dogs licked the blood of the one, and did eat the flesh of the other.
In few words then we understand, what difference there is betwixt the
visitation of God upon the reprobate, and his visitation upon his chosen. The
reprobate are visited, but never truly humbled, nor yet amended; the chosen
being visited, they sob, and they cry unto God for mercy; which being obtained,
they magnify God’s name, and afterwards manifest the fruits of repentance. Let
us therefore that bear these judgments of our God, call for the assistance of
his Holy Spirit, that howsoever it pleaseth him to visit us, we may stoop under
his merciful hands, and unfeignedly cry to him when he corrects us; and so
shall we know in experience, that our cries and complaints were not in vain.
But let us hear what the prophet saith further:
“Like
as a woman with child, that draweth near her travail, is in sorrow, and crieth
in her pains, so have we been in thy sight, O Lord; we have conceived, we have
borne in vain, as though we should have brought forth the wind. Salvations were
not made to the earth, neither did the inhabitants of the earth fall,” verses
17, 18.
This
is the second part of the prophet’s complaint, in which he, in the person of
God’s people, complains, that of their great affliction there appeared no end.
This same similitude is used by our Master Jesus Christ; for when he speaks of
the troubles of his church, he compares them to the pains of a woman travailing
in child-birth. But it is to another end; for there he promises exceeding and
permanent joy after a sort, though it appear trouble. But here is the trouble
long and vehement, albeit the fruit of it was not suddenly espied. He speaks no
doubt of that long and dolorous time of their captivity, in which they
continually laboured for deliverance, but obtained it not before the complete
end of seventy years. During which time, the earth, that is, the land of Judah,
which sometimes was sanctified unto God, but was then given to be profaned by
wicked people, got no help, nor perceived any deliverance: for the inhabitants
of the world fell not; that is, the tyrants and oppressors of God’s people were
not taken away, but still remained and continued blasphemers of God, and
troublers of his church. But because I perceive the hours to pass more swiftly
than they have seemed at other times, I must contract that which remains of
this text into certain points.
The
prophet first contends against the present despair; afterwards he introduces
God himself calling upon his people; and, last of all, he assures his
afflicted, that God will come, and require account of all the blood-thirsty
tyrants of the earth.
First,
Fighting against the present despair, he saith, “Thy dead shall live, even my
body (or with my body) shall they arise; awake and sing, ye that dwell in the
dust; for thy dew is as the dew of herbs,” verse 19.
The
prophet here pierces through all impediments that nature could object; and, by
the victory of faith, he overcomes, not only the common enemies, but the great
and last enemy of all, death itself; for this would he say, Lord, I see nothing
for thy chosen, but misery to follow misery, and one affliction to succeed
another; yea, in the end I see, that death shall devour thy dearest children.
But yet, O Lord! I see thy promise to be true, and thy love to remain towards
thy chosen, even when death appears to have devoured them: “For thy dead shall
live, yea, not only shall they live, but my very dead carcase shall arise;” and
so I see honour and glory to succeed this temporal shame, I see permanent joy
to come after trouble, order to spring out of this terrible confusion; and,
finally, I see that life shall devour death, so that death shall be destroyed,
and so thy servants shall have life. This, I say, is the victory of faith, when
to the midst of death, through the light of God’s word, the afflicted see life.
Hypocrites, in the time of quietness and prosperity, can generally confess,
that God is true to his promises; but bring them to the extremity, and there
the hypocrite ceases further to trust to God, than he seeth natural means,
whereby God useth to work. But the true faithful, when all hope of natural
means fail, flee to God himself, and to the truth of his promise, who is above
nature; yea, whose works are not so subject to the ordinary course of nature,
that when nature fails, his power and promise fail also therewith.
Let
us further observe, That the prophet here speaks not of all the dead in
general, but saith, “Thy dead, O Lord, shall live:” in which words he makes a
difference betwixt those that die in the Lord, and those that die in their
natural corruption, and in the old Adam. Die in the Lord can none, except those
that live in him, (I mean, of those that attain to the years of discretion;)
and none live in him, but those that, with the apostle, can say, “I live, and
yet not I, but Christ Jesus that dwelleth in me: the life that I now live, I
have by the faith of the Son of God.” (Gal. ii.) Not that I mean, that the
faithful have at all hours such a sense of the life everlasting, that they fear
not the death and the troubles of this life; no, not so; for the faith of God’s
children is weak, yea, and in many things imperfect. But I mean, that such as
in death, and after death shall live, must communicate in this life with Jesus
Christ, and must be regenerated by the seed of life; that is, by the word of
the everlasting God, which whosoever despises, refuses life and joy
everlasting.
The
prophet transfers all the promises of God to himself, saying, “Even my dead
body shall arise;” and immediately after, gives commandment and charge to the
dwellers in the dust, that is, to the dead carcases of those that were
departed, (for the spirit and soul of man dwells not in the dust,) “That they
should awake, that they should sing and rejoice;” for they should arise and
spring up from the earth, even as the herbs do, after they have received the
dew from above.
Time
will not suffer that these particulars be so largely treated as ought, and as I
gladly would do; therefore let us consider, that the prophet, in transferring
the power and promise of God to himself, does not claim to himself any
particular prerogative above the people of God, as that he alone should live
and arise, and not they also; but he does it, to let them understand that he
taught a doctrine whereof he was certain; yea, and whereof they should have
experience after his death. As if he should say, My words appear to you now to
be incredible, but the day will come, that I shall be taken from you, my
carcase shall be inclosed in the bosom of the earth; and you shall be led away
captives to Babylon, where you shall remain many days and years, as it were
buried in your sepulchres.
But
then call to mind what I said unto you before hand, that my body shall arise;
even so shall you rise from your graves out of Babylon, and be restored to your
own country, and city of Jerusalem; this, I doubt not, is the true meaning of
the prophet. The charge that he gives to the dwellers in the dust, is to
express the power of God’s word, whereby he not only gives life, where death
apparently had prevailed; but also, by it, he calls things that are not, even
as though they were. True it is, that the prophet Isaiah saw not the
destruction of Jerusalem, much less could he see the restitution of it with his
corporeal eyes; but he leaves this, as it were, in testament with them — that
when they were in the extremity of all bondage, they should call to mind what
the prophet of God had before spoken.
And
lest that his doctrine, and this promise of God made unto them by his mouth,
should have been forgotten, as we are ever prone and ready to forget God’s
promises when we are pressed with any sorrow, God raised up unto them, in the
midst of their calamity, his prophet Ezekiel, unto whom, among many other
visions, he gave this — The hand of the Lord first led him in a place, which
was full of dry and dispersed bones. (Ezek. xxxvii.) The question was demanded
of the prophet, If these bones, being wondrous dry, could live? The prophet
answered, The knowledge thereof appertained unto God. Charge was given unto
him, that he should speak unto the dry bones, and say, “Thus saith the Lord God
to these bones, Behold, I will give you breath, and you shall live: I will give
unto you sinews, flesh, and skin, and you shall live.” And while the prophet
spake as he was commanded, he heard a voice, and he saw every bone join its
fellow; he saw them covered with flesh and skin, albeit there was no spirit of
life in them. He was commanded again to speak, and to say, “Thus saith the Lord
God, Come, O Spirit, from the four quarters, and blow on these that are slain,
that they may live.” And as he prophesied, the spirit of life came; they lived,
and stood upon their feet. Then the Lord interprets what this vision meant,
saying “O son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they
say, Our bones are dried, our hope is perished, we are plainly cut off. But
behold, saith the Lord, I will open your graves, I will bring you forth of
them, ye shall live, and come unto the land of Israel, and ye shall know that I
am the Lord.”
This
vision, I say, given to the prophet, and by the prophet preached to the people,
when they thought that God had utterly forgotten them, compelled them more
diligently to advert to what the former prophets had spoken. It is no doubt but
that they carried with them both the prophecy of Isaiah and Jeremiah, so that
the prophet Ezekiel is a commentary to these words of Isaiah, where he saith,
“Thy dead, O Lord, shall live, with my body they shall arise.” The prophet
brings in this similitude of the dew, to answer unto that part of their
fidelity, who can believe no further of God’s promises than they are able to
apprehend by natural judgment; as if he would say, Think ye this impossible,
that God should give life unto you, and bring you to an estate of a commonwealth
again, after that ye are dead, and as it were rased from the face of the earth?
But why do you not consider what God worketh from year to year in the order of
nature? Sometimes you see the face of the earth decked and beautified with
herbs, flowers, grass, and fruits; again you see the same utterly taken away by
storms, and the vehemence of the winter: what does God to replenish the earth
again, and to restore the beauty thereof? He sends down his small and soft dew,
the drops whereof, in their descending, are neither great nor visible, and yet
thereby are the pores and secret veins of the earth, which before by vehemence
of frost and cold were shut up, opened again, and so does the earth produce
again the like herbs, flowers, and fruits. Shall you then think, that the dew
of God’s heavenly grace will not be as effectual in you to whom he hath made
his promise, as it is in the herbs and fruits which from year to year bud forth
and decay? If you do so, the prophet would say your unbelief is inexcusable; because
you neither rightly weigh the power, nor the promise of your God.
The
like similitude the apostle Paul uses against such as called the resurrection
in doubt, because by natural judgment they could not apprehend that flesh once
putrified, and dissolved as it were into other substance, should rise again,
and return again to the same substance and nature: “O fool,” saith he, “that
which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die; and that which thou sowest,
thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare corn, as it falleth, of
wheat, or some other, but God giveth it a body as it pleaseth him, even to
every seed his own body.” In which words and sentence, the apostle sharply
rebukes the gross ignorance of the Corinthians, who began to call in doubt the
chief article of our faith, the resurrection of the flesh after it was once
dissolved, because that natural judgment, as he said, reclaimed thereto.(11) He
reproves, I say, their gross ignorance, because they might have seen and
considered some proof and document thereof in the very order of nature; for
albeit the wheat, or other corn, cast in the earth, appears to die or putrify,
and so to be lost, yet we see that it is not perished, but that it fructifies
according to God’s will and ordinance.
Now,
if the power of God be so manifest in raising up of the fruits of the earth,
unto which no particular promise is made by God, what shall be his power and
virtue in raising up our bodies, seeing that thereto he is bound by the solemn
promise of Jesus Christ his Eternal Wisdom, and the Verity itself that cannot
lie? Yea, seeing that the members must once communicate with the glory of the
Head, how shall our bodies, which are flesh of his flesh, and bone of his
bones, lie still for ever in corruption, seeing that our Head, Jesus Christ, is
now exalted in his glory? Neither yet is this power and good-will of God to be
restrained unto the last and general resurrection only, but we ought to
consider it in the marvellous preservation of his church, and in the raising up
of the same from the very bottom of death, when by tyrants it has been
oppressed from age to age.
Now,
of the former words of the prophet, we have to gather this comfort; that if at
any time we see the face of the church within this realm so defaced, as I think
it shall be sooner than we look for — when we shall see, I say, virtue to be
despised, vice to be maintained, the verity of God to be impugned, lies and
men’s inventions holden in authority — and finally, when we see the true
religion of our God, and the zealous observers of the same, trodden under the
feet of such as in their heart say, that “There is no God,” (Psal. xiv.); let
us then call to mind what have been the wondrous works of our God from the
beginning — that it is his proper office to bring light out of darkness, order
out of confusion, life out of death: and finally, that this is He that calleth
things that are not, even as if they were, as before we have heard. And if in
the day of our temptation, which in my judgment approaches fast, we are thus
armed, if our incredulity cannot utterly be removed, yet shall it so be
corrected, that damnable despair oppress us not. But now let us hear how the
prophet proceeds: –
“Come,
thou my people, enter within thy chamber, shut thy door after thee, hide thyself
a very little while, until the indignation pass over.”
Here
the prophet brings in God, lovingly, calling upon his people to come to
himself, and to rest with him, until such time as the fury and sharp plagues
should be executed upon the wicked and disobedient. It may appear at the first
sight, that all these words of the prophet, in the person of God, calling the
people unto rest, are spoken in vain; for we neither find chambers, nor rest,
more prepared for the dearest children of God, so far as man’s judgment can
discern, than for the rebellious and disobedient; for such as fell not by the
edge of the sword, or died not of pestilence, or by hunger, were either carried
captives unto Babylon, or else departed afterwards into Egypt, so that none of
Abraham’s seed had either chamber or quiet place to remain in within the land
of Canaan. For the resolution hereof, we must understand, That albeit the
chambers whereunto God called his chosen be not visible, yet notwithstanding
they are certain, and offer unto God’s children a quiet habitation in spirit,
howsoever the flesh be travailed and tormented.
The
chambers then are God’s sure promises, unto which God’s people are commanded to
resort; yea, within which they are commanded to close themselves in the time of
greatest adversity. The manner of speaking is borrowed from that judgment and
foresight which God has printed in this our nature; for when men espy great
tempests appearing to come, they will not willingly remain uncovered in the
fields, but straightway they will draw them to their houses or holds, that they
may escape the vehemence of the same; and if they fear any enemy pursues them,
they will shut their doors, to the end that the enemy should not suddenly have
entry.
After
this manner God speaks to his people; as if he should say, The tempest that
shall come upon this whole nation shall be so terrible, that nothing but
extermination shall appear to come upon the whole body. But thou my people,
that hearest my word, believest the same, and tremblest at the threatenings of
my prophets, now, when the world does insolently resist — let such, I say,
enter within the secret chamber of my promises, let them contain themselves
quietly there; yea, let them shut the door upon them, and suffer not
infidelity, the mortal enemy of my truth, and of my people that depend
thereupon, to have free entry to trouble them, yea, further to murder, in my
promise; and so shall they perceive that my indignation shall pass, and that
such as depend upon me shall be saved.
Thus
we may perceive the meaning of the prophet; whereof we have first to observe,
that God acknowledges them for his people who are in the greatest affliction;
yea, such as are reputed unworthy of men’s presence are yet admitted within the
secret chamber of God. Let no man think that flesh and blood can suddenly
attain to that comfort; and therefore most expedient it is, that we be
frequently exercised in meditation of the same. Easy it is, I grant, in time of
prosperity, to say, and to think, that God is our God, and that we are his
people; but when he has given us over into the hands of our enemies, and
turned, as it were, his back unto us, then, I say, still to reclaim him to be
our God, and to have this assurance, that we are his people, proceeds wholly
from the Holy Spirit of God, as it is the greatest victory of faith, which
overcomes the world; for increase whereof, we ought continually to pray.
This
doctrine we shall not think strange, if we consider how suddenly our spirits
are carried away from our God, and from believing his promise. So soon as any
great temptation apprehends us, then we begin to doubt if ever we believed
God’s promise, if God will fulfil them to us, if we abide in his favour, if he
regards and looks upon the violence and injury that is done unto us; and a
multitude of such cogitations which before lurked quietly in our corrupted
hearts, burst violently forth when we are oppressed with any desperate
calamity. Against which this is the remedy — once to apprehend, and still to
retain God to be our God, and firmly to believe, that we are his people whom he
loves, and will defend, not only in affliction, but even in the midst of death
itself.
Again,
Let us observe, That the judgments of our God never were, nor yet shall be so
vehement upon the face of the earth, but that there has been, and shall be,
some secret habitation prepared in the sanctuary of God, for some of his
chosen, where they shall be preserved until the indignation pass by; and that
God prepares a time, that they may glorify him again, before the face of the
world, which once despised them. And this ought to be unto us no small comfort
in these appearing dangers, namely, that we are surely persuaded, that how
vehement soever the tempest shall be, it yet shall pass over, and some of us
shall be preserved to glorify the name of our God, as is aforesaid.
Two
vices lurk in this our nature: the one is, that we cannot tremble at God’s
threatenings, before the plagues apprehend us, albeit we see cause most just
why his fierce wrath should burn as a devouring fire; the other is, that when
calamities before pronounced, fall upon us, then we begin to sink down in
despair, so that we never look for any comfortable end of the same.
To
correct this our mortal infirmity, in time of quietness we ought to consider
what is the justice of our God, and how odious sin is; and, above all, how
odious idolatry is in His presence, who has forbidden it, and who has so
severely punished it in all ages from the beginning: and in the time of our
affliction we ought to consider, what have been the wondrous works of our God,
in the preservation of his church when it hath been in uttermost extremity. For
never shall we find the church humbled under the hands of traitors, and cruelly
tormented by them, but we shall find God’s just vengeance fall upon the cruel
persecutors, and his merciful deliverance shewed to the afflicted. And, in
taking of this trial, we should not only call to mind the histories of ancient
times, but also we should diligently mark what notable works God hath wrought,
even in this our age, as well upon the one as upon the other. We ought not to
think, that our God bears less love to his church this day, than what he has
done from the beginning; for as our God in his own nature is immutable, so his
love towards his elect remains always unchangeable. For as in Christ Jesus he
hath chosen his church, before the beginning of all ages; so by him will he
maintain and preserve the same unto the end. Yea, he will quiet the storms, and
cause the earth to open her mouth, and receive the raging floods of violent
waters, cast out by the dragon, to drown and carry away the woman, which is the
spouse of Jesus Christ, unto whom God for his own name’s sake will be the
perpetual Protector. Rev. xii.
This
saw that notable servant of Jesus Christ, Athanasius, who being exiled from
Alexandria by that blasphemous apostate Julian the emperor, said unto his
flock, who bitterly wept for his envious banishment, “Weep not, but be of good
comfort, for this little cloud will suddenly vanish.” He called both the
emperor himself and his cruel tyranny a little cloud; and albeit there was
small appearance of any deliverance to the church of God, or of any punishment
to have apprehended the proud tyrants, when the man of God pronounced these
words, yet shortly after God did give witness, that those words did not proceed
from flesh nor blood, but from God’s very Spirit. For not long after, being in
warfare, Julian received a deadly wound, whether by his own hand, or by one of
his own soldiers, the writers clearly conclude not; but casting his own blood
against the heaven, he said, “At last thou hast overcome, thou Galilean:” so in
despite he termed the Lord Jesus. And so perished that tyrant in his own
iniquity; the storm ceased, and the church of God received new comfort.
Such
shall be the end of all cruel persecutors, their reign shall be short, their
end miserable, and their name shall be left in execrations to God’s people; and
yet shall the church of God remain to God’s glory, after all storms. But now
shortly, let us come to the last point:
“For
behold,” saith the prophet, “the Lord will come out of his place, to visit the
iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth upon them; and the earth shall
disclose her blood, and shall no more hide her slain.” (Verse 21.) Because that
the final end of the troubles of God’s chosen shall not be, before the Lord
Jesus shall return to restore all things to their full perfection.
The
prophet brings forth the eternal God, as it were, from his own place and
habitation, and therewith shows the cause of his coming to be, that he might
take account of all such as have wrought wickedly; for that he means, where he
saith, “He will visit the iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth upon them.”
And lest any should think the wrong doers are so many, that they cannot be
called to an account, he gives unto the earth as it were an office and charge,
to bear witness against all those that have wrought wickedly, and chiefly
against those that have shed innocent blood from the beginning; and saith,
“That the earth shall disclose her blood, and shall no more hide her slain
men.”
If
tyrants of the earth, and such as delight in the shedding of blood, should be
persuaded that this sentence is true, they would not so furiously come to their
own destruction; for what man can be so enraged, that he would willingly do
even before the eyes of God that which might provoke his Majesty to anger, yea,
provoke him to become his enemy for ever, if he understood how fearful a thing
it is to fall into the hands of the living God?
The
cause then of this blind fury of the world is the ignorance of God, and that
men think that God is but an idol; and that there is no knowledge above, that
beholds their tyranny; nor yet justice that will, nor power that can, repress
their impiety. But the Spirit of truth witnesses the contrary, affirming, that
as the eyes of the Lord are upon the just, and as his ears are ready to receive
their sobbing and prayers, so is his visage angry against such as work iniquity;
he hateth and holdeth in abomination every deceitful and blood-thirsty man,
whereof he has given sufficient document from age to age, in preserving the
one, or at least in avenging their cause, and in punishing the other.
Where
it is said, “That the Lord will come from his place, and that he will visit the
iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth upon them, and that the earth shall
disclose her blood;” we have to consider, what most commonly has been, and what
shall be, the condition of the church of God, namely, that it is not only
hated, mocked, and despised, but that it is exposed as a prey unto the fury of
the wicked; so that the blood of the children of God is spilt like unto water
upon the face of the earth.
The
understanding whereof, albeit it is unpleasant to the flesh, yet to us it is
most profitable, lest that we, seeing the cruel treatment of God’s servants,
begin to forsake the spouse of Jesus Christ, because she is not so dealt with
in this unthankful world, as the just and upright dealings of God’s children do
deserve. But contrariwise, for mercy they receive cruelty, for doing good to
many, of all the reprobate they receive evil; and this is decreed in God’s
eternal council, that the members may follow the trace of the Head; to the end that
God in his just judgment should finally condemn the wicked. For how should he
punish the inhabitants of the earth, if their iniquity deserve it not? How
should the earth disclose our blood, if it should not be unjustly spilt? We
must then commit ourselves into the hands of our God, and lay down our necks;
yea, and patiently suffer our blood to be shed, that the righteous Judge may
require account, as most assuredly he will, of all the blood that hath been
shed, from the blood of Abel the just, till the day that the earth shall
disclose the same. I say, every one that sheds, or consents to shed the blood
of God’s children, shall be guilty of the whole; so that all the blood of God’s
children shall cry vengeance, not only in general, but also in particular, upon
every one that has shed the blood of any that unjustly suffered.
And
if any think it strange, that such as live this day can be guilty of the blood
that was shed in the days of the apostles, let them consider, that the Verity
itself pronounced, That all the blood that was shed from the days of Abel, unto
the days of Zacharias, should come upon the unthankful generation that heard
his doctrine and refused it. (Matt. xxiii.)
The
reason is evident; for as there are two heads and captains that rule over the
whole world, namely, Jesus Christ, the Prince of justice and peace, and satan,
called the prince of the world; so there are but two armies that have continued
battle from the beginning, and shall fight unto the end. The quarrel which the
army of Jesus Christ sustains, and which the reprobate persecute, is the same,
namely, The eternal truth of the eternal God, and the image of Jesus Christ
printed in his elect — so that whosoever in any age persecutes any one member
of Jesus Christ for his truth’s sake, subscribes, as it were with his hand, to
the persecution of all that have passed before him.
And
this ought the tyrants of this age deeply to consider; for they shall be
guilty, not only of the blood shed by themselves, but of all, as is said, that
has been shed for the cause of Jesus Christ from the beginning of the world.
Let
the faithful not be discouraged, although they be appointed as sheep to the
slaughter-house; for He, for whose sake they suffer, shall not forget to avenge
their cause. I am not ignorant that flesh and blood will think that kind of
support too late; for we had rather be preserved still alive, than have our
blood avenged after our death. And truly, if our felicity stood in this life,
or if temporal death should bring unto us any damage, our desire in that behalf
were not to be disallowed or condemned: but seeing that death is common to all,
and that this temporal life is nothing but misery, and that death fully joins
us with our God, and gives unto us the possession of our inheritance, why
should we think it strange to leave this world and go to our Head and sovereign
Captain, Jesus Christ?
Lastly,
We have to observe this manner of speaking, where the prophet saith, that “the
earth shall disclose her blood:” in which words the prophet would accuse the
cruelty of those that dare so unmercifully and violently force, from the
breasts of the earth, the dearest children of God, and cruelly cut their
throats in her bosom, who is by God appointed the common mother of mankind, so
that she unwillingly is compelled to open her mouth and receive their blood.
If
such tyranny were used against any woman, as violently to pull her infant from
her breasts, cut the throat of it in her own bosom, and compel her to receive
the blood of her dear child in her own mouth, all nations would hold the act so
abominable, that the like had never been done in the course of nature. No less
wickedness commit they that shed the blood of God’s children upon the face of
their common mother, the earth, as I said before. But be of good courage, O
little and despised flock of Christ Jesus! for He that seeth your grief, hath
power to revenge it; he will not suffer one tear of yours to fall, but it shall
be kept and reserved in his bottle, till the fulness thereof be poured down
from heaven, upon those that caused you to weep and mourn. This your merciful
God, I say, will not suffer your blood for ever to be covered with the earth;
nay, the flaming fires that have licked up the blood of any of our brethren;
the earth that has been defiled with it, I say, with the blood of God’s
children; for otherwise, to shed the blood of the cruel blood-shedders, is to
purge the land from blood, and as it were to sanctify it: the earth, I say,
shall purge herself of it, and show it before the face of God; yea, the beasts,
fowls, and other creatures whatsoever, shall be compelled to render that which
they have received, be it flesh, blood, or bones, that appertained to thy
children, O Lord! which altogether thou shalt glorify, according to thy promise,
made to us in our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, thy well-beloved Son; to whom,
with thee, and the Holy Ghost, be honour, praise, and glory, for ever and ever.
Amen.
Let
us now humble ourselves in the presence of our God, and from the bottom of our hearts
let us desire him to assist us with the power of his Holy Spirit; that albeit,
for our former negligence, God gives us over into the hands of others than such
as rule in his fear; that yet he let us not forget his mercy, and the glorious
name that hath been proclaimed amongst us; but that we may look through the
dolorous storm of his present displeasure, and see as well what punishment he
has appointed for the cruel tyrants, as what reward he has laid in store for
such as continue in his fear to the end. That it would further please him to
assist, that albeit we see his church so diminished, that it appears to be
brought, as it were, to utter extermination, we may be assured, that in our God
there is great power and will, to increase the number of his chosen, until they
are enlarged to the uttermost parts of the earth. Give us, O Lord! hearts to
visit thee in time of affliction; and albeit we see no end of our dolours, yet
our faith and hope may conduct us to the assured hope of that joyful resurrection,
in which we shall possess the fruit of that for which we now labour. In the
mean time, grant unto us, O Lord! to repose ourselves in the sanctuary of thy
promise, that in thee we may find comfort, till this thy great indignation,
begun amongst us, may pass over, and thou thyself appear to the comfort of
thine afflicted, and to the terror of thine and our enemies.
Let us pray with heart and mouth,
Almighty
God, and merciful Father, &c. Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit; for
the terrible roaring of guns,(12) and the noise of armour, do so pierce my
heart, that my soul thirsteth to depart.
– —
– — – — -
The last day of August, 1565, at four of the clock in the
afternoon, written indigestedly, but yet truly so far as memory would serve, of
those things that in public I spake on Sunday, August 19; for which I was
discharged(13) to
preach for a time.
Be
merciful to thy flock, O Lord! and at thy good pleasure put an end to my
misery.
JOHN
KNOX.
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