33. Zion’s Lament
33
Zion’s Lament1
Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me.
—Isaiah 49:14–16
Know that I am in great heaviness for the pitiful case of our Lord’s kirk. I hear that the reason why Dr. Burton2 is committed to prison is his writing and preaching against the Arminians. I therefore entreat the aid of your prayers for myself and the Lord’s captives of hope and for Zion. The Lord has let and daily lets me see clearly how deep furrows Arminianism and the followers of it draw upon the back of God’s Israel (but our Lord cut the cords of the wicked!). “Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me” (Isa. 49:14). “[Zion] weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies” (Lam 1:2). “Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water” (Isa. 1:22). “How is the gold become dim! How is the most fine gold changed! The stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the top of every street. The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands of the potter!” (Lam. 4:1–2).
It is time now for the Lord’s secret ones, who favor the dust of Zion, to cry, “How long, Lord?” and to go up to their watchtower, and to stay there, and not to come down until the vision speak; for it shall speak (Hab. 2:3). In the meantime, the just shall live by faith. Let us wait on and not weary. I have not a thread to hang upon and rest but this one: “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are continually before me” (Isa. 49:15–16). For all outward helps do fail; it is time therefore for us to hang ourselves, as our Lord’s vessels, upon the nail that is fastened in a sure place. We would make stakes of our own fastening, but they will break. Our Lord will have Zion on His own nail.
Edom is busy within us and Babel without us against the handful of Jacob’s seed. It were best that we were upon Christ’s side of it, for His enemies will get the stalks to keep,3 as the proverb is. Our greatest difficulty will be to win upon the rock now, when the wind and waves of persecution are so lofty and proud. Let sweet Jesus take us by the hand. Neither must we think that it will be otherwise; for it is told to the souls under the altar that “their fellowservants…should be killed as they were” (Rev. 6:11). Surely, it cannot be long till the day. Nay, hear Him say, “Behold, I come, My dear bride; think not long. I shall be at you at once. I hear you and am coming.” Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus, come quickly; for the prisoners of hope are looking out at the prison windows to see if they can behold the King’s ambassador coming with the King’s warrant and the keys. I do not write to you by guess now, because I have a warrant to say unto you that the garments of Christ’s spouse must be once again dyed in blood, as long ago her Husband’s were. But our Father sees His bleeding Son.
1. Letters, no. 17, 64–65.
2. Dr. Burton was Henry Burton, an able divine of the Church of England who wrote several vigorous pieces against popery and against Montague’s Appello Cæsarem.
3. Christ’s enemies will get only withered stalks to keep.