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.
“IT IS I, BE NOT AFRAID.”
EXTRACTED FROM KNOX’S ADMONITION TO ENGLAND.
“Jesus spake unto them, saying, Be of good comfort, it is I, be not
afraid.” The natural man that cannot understand the power of God, would
have desired some other present comfort in so great a danger; as, either
to have had the heavens opened, to show unto them such light in that
darkness, that Christ might have been fully known by his own face; or
else, that the winds and raging waves of the seas suddenly should have
ceased; or some other miracle which had been subject to all their senses,
whereby they might have perfectly known that they were delivered from all
danger. And truly, it had been the same to Christ Jesus to have done any
of these, or any greater work, as to have said, “It is I, be not afraid:”
but willing to teach us the dignity and effectual power of his most holy
word, he uses no other instrument to pacify the great and horrible fear of
his disciples but his comfortable word, and lively voice. And this is not
done only at one time, but whensoever his church is in such a strait and
perplexity, that nothing appears but extreme calamity, desolation, and
ruin; then the first comfort that ever it receives, is by the means of his
word and promise; as may appear in the troubles and temptations of
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David, and Paul.
To Abraham was given no other defence, after he had discomfited four
kings, whose posterity and lineage, no doubt, he, being a stranger,
greatly feared, but only this promise of God made to him by his holy word,
“Fear not, Abraham, I am thy buckler;” that is, thy protection and
defence.
The same we find of Isaac, who flying from the place of his accustomed
habitation, compelled thereto by hunger, got no other comfort nor conduct
but this promise only, “I will be with thee.”
In all the journeys and temptations of Jacob the same is to be espied; as
when he fled from his father’s house for fear of his brother Esau; when he
returned from Laban; and when he feared the inhabitants of the region of
the Canaanites and Perizzites for the slaughter of the Shechemites
committed by his sons; he received no other defence, but only God’s word
and promise.
And this is most evident in Moses, and in the afflicted church under him
when Moses himself was in such despair, that he was bold to chide with
God, saying, “Why hast thou sent me? For since that time I have come to
Pharaoh, to speak in thy name, he hath oppressed this people; neither yet
hast thou delivered thy people.”
This same expostulation of Moses declares how sorely he was tempted; yea,
and what opinion he had conceived of God; that is, That God was either
impotent, and could not deliver his people from such a tyrant’s hand; or
else, That he was mutable, and unjust in his promises. And this same, and
sorer temptations, assaulted the people; for in anguish of heart, they
both refused God and Moses. And what means did God use to comfort them in
that great extremity? Did he straightway suddenly kill Pharaoh, the great
tyrant?—No. Did he send them a legion of angels to defend and deliver
them?—No such thing: but he only recites and beats into their ears his
former promises to them, which oftentimes they had before: and yet the
rehearsal of the same wrought so mightily in the heart of Moses, that not
only was bitterness and despair removed away, but also he was inflamed
with such boldness, that without fear he went in again to the presence of
the king, after he had been threatened and repulsed by him.