Ezekiel 9. Pass through the city, and put a sign on the foreheads of those who mourn for the abomina
Ezekiel 9.
Pass through the city, and put a sign on the foreheads of those who mourn for the abominations that are committed.
When I reflect upon the state of Christ's true Church (beloved in the Lord) immediately after His death and passion, and consider the changes and great upheavals in the commonwealth of Judea before its ultimate destruction, I cannot help but fear that similar plagues will befall the realm of England for similar offenses. In my fear, which God knows I lament and mourn, I also find cause for rejoicing, knowing that God's most merciful providence is just as watchful over His weak and feeble servants in the realm of England today as it was over His oppressed flock in Judea.
The state of Christ's Church between His death and resurrection, from His resurrection to the sending of the Holy Ghost upon His disciples, and from that time to the final destruction of Jerusalem, is clearly witnessed in Scripture. It was a time of great affliction without worldly comfort and consolation, marked by severe persecution that wreaked havoc upon the Church of God. The mutations and troubles in Judea and Jerusalem before their destruction, as recorded in histories, especially by Josephus and Egesippus, are well-documented. They witnessed the rule of cruel, tyrannous, and ungodly rulers who oppressed the people and stripped them of their freedoms. This oppression led to sedition and, subsequently, brutal tyranny, including the burning alive of many people in the name of justice. The city and countryside were filled with widespread murder to the point where fathers feared their sons and brothers feared each other. This unrest continued until God's severe judgment was unleashed upon those who obstinately rejected and persecuted Christ Jesus and His doctrine.
Turning back to the treatment and preservation of Christ's Church at that time, it is evident that it faced severe persecution, yet it continued to grow and multiply. It was forced to flee from city to city, from realm to realm, and from one nation to another. Nevertheless, it was miraculously preserved, and a significant number of those banished and exiled from Jerusalem by the wicked priests remained alive until God's judgment was executed upon that exceedingly wicked generation. The remembrance of this, beloved in the Lord, brings such comfort and consolation to my heart that neither my tongue nor my pen can fully express it. My hope and expectation are firmly rooted in the belief that just as Christ Jesus appeared to His disciples when they were overwhelmed by anguish and despair, and as He increased their number under the most severe persecution, so shall He do for His afflicted flock in the realm of England today.
First, I say this is my hope: that a just vengeance shall be taken upon those bloodthirsty tyrants by whom Christ Jesus, in His members, is now crucified amongst you. Afterward, His truth shall become so evident to the comfort of those who now mourn that they shall hear and recognize the voice of their own Pastor. Our merciful God shall do this to let us know and understand in practice that His promises are infallible. He will not treat us according to the weakness of our corrupt nature, which is always ready to turn from God, to distrust
His promises, and to forget the benefits and comfort we have received from His hand when trouble and extreme danger are upon us.
Therefore, beloved in the Lord, even though you may find your hearts sometimes assailed by sorrow, grumbling, or a kind of despair, do not fall into utter despair, nor be excessively troubled, as if Christ Jesus would never visit you again. No, dear brethren, not so.
Such imperfections also afflicted Christ's own Apostles for a long
time, but they did not prevent His return to them. Likewise, our weakness and imperfections shall not hinder or obscure the radiance of His countenance and the comfort of His word shining upon us once more, provided that we do not persist in obstinacy, impenitence, and treacherous hearts like Judas. I do not doubt that all the members of Christ's body are sometimes permitted to fall, even the most fervent professors who, from being strong adherents of the truth, may become fearful deniers of the most obvious truth.
However, they are not permitted to continue in blasphemy, unbelief, and despair until the end, as is evident from the example of Christ's
Apostles.
To better understand our current time and circumstances within the realm of England and how they resemble the situation of Christ's disciples immediately after His death, let us consider what happened to them before and after His death. Before Christ's passion, He had instructed them about many things related to the kingdom of God, which they did not fully understand at the time and did not properly appreciate. He also repeatedly warned them that He, their Master, would suffer a cruel death, that they would be ashamed, slandered, and offended in Him, that they would flee from Him, and that they would face persecution and trouble. Alongside these sorrowful tidings, He promised to rise on the third day, to rise for them again for their comfort and consolation, and to deliver them mightily from all troubles and adversities.
However, what impact did all these warnings have on Christ's disciples before His death or during the extreme anguish shortly thereafter? Did they anticipate and fear the trouble before it arrived?
Did they expect any comfort when the predicted trouble came? It is evident that such thoughts did not enter their hearts. Before Christ's death, their primary concern was worldly honour, which they
sometimes discussed and argued about, even when Christ was earnestly preaching about His impending crucifixion. After His death, they were so overwhelmed by anguish, care, sorrow, and despair that neither the testimony of the women, who claimed to have seen Christ, nor the empty tomb, nor the angels who appeared to announce His resurrection, nor even the actual presence and words of Christ Jesus Himself could completely dispel their doubts.
Their minds wavered, and they could not be fully convinced that their Lord and Master had indeed risen, fulfilling His previous promises.
In this regard, I see the true professors of Christ's holy Gospel in the realm of England today. These days of our current distress and tribulation were foretold and proclaimed long before they arrived.
The frailty and weakness of our human nature were also evident to us. However, who among us would have believed that these days of trouble were so close at hand? Or that such a brief tempest would overthrow such a great multitude? I believe no one within the entire realm. For all appeared to live in a careless security as if the unchanging decree of God, declaring that whoever desires to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, had no relevance to our time. Many had such bold confidence, or rather, a vain persuasion in their own strength that, had they continued without backsliding, they might have been considered more like angels than men.
But, beloved in the Lord, the sword of anguish and sorrow has now pierced the tender heart of Christ's mother (that is, His very church), revealing the thoughts of many hearts. The fire has come, and just as it has burned away the stubble, hay, and wood, it has also revealed such dross and dust that the entire mass appears to be confused.
Who now recalls the same voice that foretold our sorrows, which also foretold our everlasting comfort with Christ Jesus? Who delights
now in His admirable promises? Who rejoices under the cross?
Instead, who does not fear, tremble, grumble, and lament as if there were no help in God, or as if He does not regard the trouble we endure? These are the imperfections that continually remain in our corrupt nature. The knowledge of this should compel us to cry out earnestly: "O Lord, increase our faith, be merciful to us, and let us not perish in the deep forever." If we do this with unfeigned hearts, then Christ Jesus shall yet appear to comfort us, and His power shall be known to the praise and glory of His own name, despite all His sworn enemies. This is the chief and primary reason for my comfort and consolation in these most dolorous days, that neither our infirmities nor daily despair can prevent Christ Jesus from returning to us.
The other cause of my comfort and consolation is that I am assured the judgment of these tyrants who now oppress us shall not escape, and vengeance shall fall upon them without delay. They have sufficiently revealed the malice of their hearts. They have violated the law and holy ordinances of the Lord our God. They have spoken against His eternal truth. They have banished His truth and established their own lies. They persecute the innocent daily and openly uphold murder. Their hearts are hardened, and their faces have become as shameless as harlots, so that there is no hope of repentance or amendment from them. Therefore, destruction shall suddenly befall them. But what kind of plagues they shall be struck with in this life and whom God shall appoint to execute His judgments on them, I leave to His good pleasure and further revelation.
However, their manifest iniquity assures me that they cannot escape the punishment they justly deserve for long. Meanwhile, beloved brethren, two things you must avoid. First, do not presume to take
revenge into your own hands, but leave vengeance to Him who alone can repay them according to their malicious intent.
Secondly, do not harbour carnal hatred towards these blind, cruel, and malicious tyrants, but learn from Christ to pray for your persecutors. Lament and bewail that the Devil has so prevailed against them that they are rushing headlong, body and soul, to perpetual perdition. Note well that I say we must not hate them with a carnal hatred, i.e. only because they trouble our bodies. There is a spiritual hatred, which David called a perfect hatred, engendered by the Holy Spirit in the hearts of God's elect against the rebellious despisers of His holy statutes. It is when we lament more that God's glory is suppressed and that Christ's flock is deprived of their wholesome food than when our bodies are persecuted. With this hatred, Jeremiah was inflamed when he prayed, "Let me see your vengeance taken upon your enemies, O Lord." With this hatred, we may hate tyrants and earnestly pray for their destruction, be they kings or queens, princes or prelates. Furthermore, you should note that prayers made with the fervency of this hatred are so acceptable before God that often the one who prays obtains the very thing that the words of their prayer mean. As David, Jeremiah, and other prophets saw with their own eyes, the hot vengeance of God poured out upon the cruel tyrants of their time. I am convinced that some who today sigh and groan under your tyrannical bishops will see the same upon the pestilent Papists within the realm of England. My assertion is not based on mere conjecture or human fantasy but on the usual cause of God's judgments against manifest despisers of His commandments, which has been consistent from the beginning.
Firstly, to rebuke and notify such sins by His messengers that are not known to be sins before the world. Secondly, to provoke them to repentance.
Thirdly, to allow the reprobate to declare their own impenitence before the world. Lastly, to pour upon them such manifest vengeance that His church may be instructed in both His power and His severe judgments against disobedience. This was the order of His judgment against Pharaoh, Saul, Jeroboam, Herod, the Scribes and Pharisees, and the entire city of Jerusalem. We have heard and seen the first three stages of the Lord's judgment executed against the Pestilent
Papists within the Realm of England. We have heard their summons and citations duly executed by the messengers of God's Word. We have heard them accused and convicted before their own faces of theft and murder, blasphemy against God, idolatry, and finally, of all abominations. These crimes were laid to their charge in their own presence, and they were unable to deny them, so potent, plain, and evident was God's Word, by which their secret sores and festering wounds were exposed and revealed. We know that God, in His leniency, has granted them ample time for conversion and repentance. Yet, the little progress made in that regard is evident in these present days. Their malice is increasing, and their obstinacy has grown to such a degree that none could be greater. Are we then to think that God will abandon His cause, as if He were powerless against tyrants? Not so, dear brethren, not so. As assuredly as our
God lives, some of His elect were stirred up by His Spirit to perceive the great abominations of these tyrants in our age. These messengers, despite their tyranny, were preserved by God to proclaim and notify sins that the world did not recognize as such.
Just as we have observed their continued malice against God, His eternal truth, and the messengers of that truth, we will assuredly witness God's severe judgments poured out upon them in this temporal life. Some among us may bear witness to the generations that will follow, testifying to the wondrous works that the Lord has already wrought and will continue to work in our age. However, these plagues, like the Word of God that came before them, will not
work true repentance in them. In their blind rage, they will rebel against God's Majesty. For the deadly venom of their malicious father, the Devil, can never be purged from their corrupt hearts.
Therefore, after witnessing these plagues, some of which we have heard and seen—for what a plague it was for the false Bishop of Durham to be called a murderer and thief to his face and to be convicted of it, a fact he could not deny, and neither he nor any of his proxies or divine doctors present with him dared to speak in his defense— Firstly, to rebuke and make known through His messengers sins that are not recognized as sins by the world. Secondly, to encourage them to repent.
Thirdly, to allow the reprobate to reveal their own impenitence before the world. Lastly, to unleash such obvious vengeance upon them that His church may be instructed in both His power and His severe judgments against disobedience. This was the order of His judgment against Pharaoh, Saul, Jeroboam, Herod, the Scribes and Pharisees, and the entire city of Jerusalem. We have heard and witnessed the first three stages of the Lord's judgment executed against the Pestilent Papists within the Realm of England. We have heard their summons and citations duly carried out by the messengers of God's Word. We have heard them accused and convicted before their own faces of theft and murder, blasphemy against God, idolatry, and, finally, of all abominations. These crimes were charged against them in their own presence, and they were unable to deny them, so potent, clear, and evident was God's Word.
It exposed and revealed their hidden sores and festering wounds. We know that God, in His leniency, has granted them ample time for conversion and repentance. Yet, it is evident in these present days how little progress has been made in that regard. Their malice is
growing, and their obstinacy has reached such a level that none could be greater. Are we then to think that God will abandon His cause, as if He were powerless against tyrants? Not so, dear brethren, not so.
Just as surely as our God lives, some of His elect were stirred up by His Spirit to perceive the great abominations of these tyrants in our age. These messengers, despite the tyranny they faced, were preserved by God to proclaim and make known sins that the world did not recognize as sins. Just as we have observed their continued malice against God, His eternal truth, and the messengers of that truth, we will surely witness God's severe judgments poured out upon them in this temporal life. Some among us may bear witness to the generations that will follow, testifying to the wondrous works that the Lord has already wrought and will continue to work in our age. However, these plagues, like the Word of God that came before them, will not work true repentance in them. In their blind rage, they will rebel against God's Majesty. For the deadly venom of their malicious father, the Devil, can never be purged from their corrupt hearts. Therefore, after witnessing these plagues, some of which we have heard and seen—for what a plague it was for the false Bishop of Durham to be called a murderer and thief to his face and to be convicted of it, a fact he could not deny, and neither he nor any of his proxies or divine doctors present with him dared to speak in his defense— After these plagues, of which some we have seen and the rest we shortly expect, awaits them the unquenchable fire prepared for their portion. Therefore, once again, dearly beloved in our Saviour Jesus
Christ, hope against hope, even against all worldly appearances. Just as God is unchanging, He will assuredly raise up someone like Jehu to execute His vengeance upon those bloodthirsty tyrants and obstinate idolaters. So, patiently await the appointed time for our correction and the full ripening of their malicious intentions. Do not
be discouraged, even though the Bishops have emerged victorious.
The Benjamites, natural brethren to our Bishops, defenders of wickedness and abominable adultery, twice prevailed against the Israelites, who fought at God's command. You should consider, beloved brethren, that God's counsels are profound and inscrutable.
The most just person is innocent in His sight. There may be secret reasons why God sometimes permits the most wicked to prevail and triumph in the most unjust actions. However, He will not delay long in executing His wrath and justly deserved vengeance upon those who are proud murderers, obstinate idolaters, and impenitent malefactors. Therefore, they have no great reason to rejoice. Even though they have once prevailed against flesh, God will soon bring them to utter confusion and great shame forever. Let Winchester and his cruel council devise and plan until their wits fail, how the kingdom of his father, the Antichrist of Rome, may prosper. Let them drink the blood of God's saints until they are drunk, and their bellies burst. Yet they will never prevail for long in their attempts. Their counsels and determinations will be like the dream of a hungry and thirsty man who, in his sleep, dreams that he is eating or drinking.
But after he wakes up, his pain continues, and his soul is unsatisfied and not eased. In the same way, these tyrants, after their profound counsels, long deliberations, and determined resolutions, will come to understand that the hope of hypocrites will be frustrated. A kingdom begun with tyranny and blood can neither be stable nor lasting. The glory, riches, and supporters of such a kingdom will be like straw in the flame of fire, entirely consumed in a flash. Their places will become heaps of stones, their congregations will be desolate, and those who depend on their support will fall into destruction and disgrace with them.
Therefore, beloved brethren in our Saviour Jesus Christ, since neither our imperfections nor our frail weaknesses can hinder Christ