Hope for deliverance

That the simple reader may the better understand the meaning of the Prophet, this I adde, the people in the captivity of Babylon were so oppressed, and so destitute of all hope ever to be restored to any dignity or liberty again, that to them it appeared alike possible to raise the dead carcasses of such as were buried in their graves, as to deliver them from the hands of the proud and puissant Babylonians. And therefore doth not only Isaiah, who long before saw their bondage, and the redemption from the same, but also Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who did see it with their eyes, with great boldness and constancy affirm, that they should be delivered from that bondage; that they should be married with God; and so should be chosen again, as our Prophet here speaketh, which is not to be referred to the part of God, but to the apprehension of the people, who thought themselves utterly forsaken and rejected of God. Against this temptation the Prophet saith, “God shall choose Israel again,” that is, shall restore them to the former dignity, yea, to a greater. And that should He do in such sort, that they should know that he was God, merciful, constant, and immutable of his promise. And so the renovation of the league, in such sort that the world might see that God favored Israel, is called the New election and New marriage, not that God had ever in himself decreed and purposed that the Messiah and blessed seed should descend of any other nation, but of the seed of Abraham and house of David; but that the people, in the time of their affliction, had received such a wound, by reason of their grievous plagues and former offenses, that they thought that God had utterly rejected them. Let the Prophets be read with indifferent judgment, and this, I doubt not, shall appear most true.
—Knox, John:

Further reading from this can be read @ Knoxdaily

Hope for deliverance

That the simple reader may the better understand the meaning of the Prophet, this I adde, the people in the captivity of Babylon were so oppressed, and so destitute of all hope ever to be restored to any dignity or liberty again, that to them it appeared alike possible to raise the dead carcasses of such as were buried in their graves, as to deliver them from the hands of the proud and puissant Babylonians. And therefore doth not only Isaiah, who long before saw their bondage, and the redemption from the same, but also Jeremiah and Ezekiel, who did see it with their eyes, with great boldness and constancy affirm, that they should be delivered from that bondage; that they should be married with God; and so should be chosen again, as our Prophet here speaketh, which is not to be referred to the part of God, but to the apprehension of the people, who thought themselves utterly forsaken and rejected of God. Against this temptation the Prophet saith, “God shall choose Israel again,” that is, shall restore them to the former dignity, yea, to a greater. And that should He do in such sort, that they should know that he was God, merciful, constant, and immutable of his promise. And so the renovation of the league, in such sort that the world might see that God favored Israel, is called the New election and New marriage, not that God had ever in himself decreed and purposed that the Messiah and blessed seed should descend of any other nation, but of the seed of Abraham and house of David; but that the people, in the time of their affliction, had received such a wound, by reason of their grievous plagues and former offenses, that they thought that God had utterly rejected them. Let the Prophets be read with indifferent judgment, and this, I doubt not, shall appear most true.
—Knox, John:

Further reading from this can be read @ Knoxdaily

Persecution turns to blessing

Of these, and other testimonies of the Scripture, we may consider (dearly beloved Brethren) that the infinite goodness of our Father, turned the same things, whereby Satan and his members intend to destroy and oppress the true religion of God, to the advancement and setting forth thereof: And that no less in these latter, wicked, and dangerous days, than he did in any age before us. Which thing shall openly declare this godly Work, subsequent. the counsel of Satan in the persecution†1 of us, first, was to stop the wholesome wind of Christ’s Evangel to blow upon the parts where we converse and dwell; and secondly, so to oppress ourselves by corporal affliction, and worldly calamities, that no place should we find to godly study.†2 But by the great mercy and infinite goodness of God our Father, shall these his counsels be frustrated and vain. For in despite of him, and all his wicked members, shall yet that same word (O Lord! this I speak, confiding in thy holy promise) openly be proclaimed in that same country. [John Knox]

Full Text

The acts and articles warred against Parliament in the Scottish Reformation II

I’ve decided to delete this blog post from here, (it being too long for a blog post) and repost it with the whole statement at my Covenanted Reformation site.

Honour to all the brave and true

Honor to all the brave and true! Everlasting honor to brave old Knox, one of the truest of the true! That in the moment while he and his cause, amid civil broils, in convulsion and confusion, were still but struggling for life, he sent the schoolmaster forth to all corners, and said, “Let the people be taught!” This is but one, and indeed a comparatively inconsiderable, item in his great message to men. His message in its true compass was: “Let men know that they are men; created by God, responsible to God; who work in any meanest moment of time what will last through eternity.” This great message Knox did deliver, with a man’s voice and strength; and found a people to believe him. [THOMAS CARLYLE]

John Knox-The man

John Knox was born in 1514 in Haddington Scotland and died in 1572. He was a Scottish Reformer and disciple of George Wishart.
      In 1546, he was taken to France and made a galley slave. In 1549 he was freed and went to England where he became a preacher at Berwick. He preached against the Catholic errors of the mass and drew the unfavorable attention of the Catholic powers. Knox was summoned to appear in the black Friars’ Church of Edinburgh to face his accusers, who backed down. He was burned in effigy.
      In 1554 at John Calvin’s urging, he became the pastor of the English congregation at Frankfurt, but was dismissed after a dispute over the Book of Common Prayer. 1555 brought him to Geneva where he pastored. In 1559 he returned to Scotland. He died on November 24, 1572 and was buried in the churchyard of St. Giles on November 26. John Knox is the father of Presbyterianism. Today, the Presbyterian church maintains the spiritual gifts have ceased. That is, tongues, prophesying, etc. do not occur. They were only for apostolic times. If that is true, then John Knox was either deceived in his practice or in simple theological error. Which is it?

Knox prophesied the future.

John Knox was an eminent wrestler with God in prayer. . . He was likewise warm and empathetic in his preaching, in which such prophetical expressions as dropped from him had the most remarkable accomplishment. As an instance of this, when he was confined in the castle of St. Andrews, he foretold both the manner of their surrender, and their deliverance from the French galleys. . ." ("The Scots Worthies," by John Howie, of Lochgoin. Edingburgh and London: Oliphant, Anderson, & Ferrier, 1870, page 57)

At another time, he thus addressed himself to her [Queen Mary] husband, Henry, Lord Darnley, while in the king’s seat in the High Church of Edinburgh: "Have you, for the pleasure of that dainty dame, cast the psalm-book into the fire? The Lord shall strike both head and tail." Both King and queen died violent deaths. He likewise said, when the Castle of Edinburgh held out for the Queen against the Regent, that "the Castle should spue out the captain (meaning Sir William Kircaldy of Grange) with shame, that he should not come out at the gate, but over the wall, and that the tower called Davis Tower, should run like a sand-glass; which was fulfilled a few years after — Kircaldy being obliged to come over the wall on a ladder, with a staff in his hand, and the said fore-work of the Castle running down like a sand-brae." (page 57)

One day after this, Mr. David Lindsay coming to see him, he said, "Well, brother, I thank God I have desired all this day to have had you, that I might send you to that man in the Castle, the Laird of Grange, whom you know I have loved dearly. Go, I pray you, and tell him from me, in the name of God, that unless he leave that evil course wherein he has entered, neither shall that rock (meaning the Castle of Edinburgh, which he then kept out against the King) afford him any help, nor the carnal wisdom of that man, whom he counteth half a god (meaning Maitland of Lethington); but he shall be pulled out of that next, and brought down over the wall with shame, and his carcase shall be hung before the sun; so God hath assured me."
      The truth of this seemed to appear in short time thereafter; for it was thought that Lethington poisoned himself, to escape public punishment. He lay unburied in the steeple of Leith, until his body was quite corrupted; but Sir William Kircaldy of Grange was, on the 3rd of August next, executed at the Cross of Edinburgh. . . Accordingly, when he was cast over the ladder, with his face towards the east, and when all present thought he was dead, he lifted up his hands, which were bound, and let them fall softly down again, as if praising God for His great mercy towards him. (pages 60-61)

"If you act thus, God will be with you; if otherwise, He shall deprive you of all these benefits, and your end shall be shameful and ignominious." This threatening, as Morton to his melancholy experience confessed, was literally accomplished. At his execution, in June 1581, he called to mind John Knox’s words, and acknowledged, that in what he had said to him he had been a true prophet. (page 61)

John Knox was low in stature, and of a weakly constitution; which made Mr. Thomas Smeaton, one of his contemporaries, say, "I know not if God ever placed a more godly and great spirit in a body so little and frail. I am certain, that there can scarcely be found another in whom more gifts of the Holy Ghost, for the comfort of the Church of Scotland, did shine." (page 69)

     It should be quite obvious that Knox moved mightily in the Spirit and exercised at least one of the charismatic gifts known as prophecy.

     In light of these prophecies, a cessationist might ask, "What if he was wrong in his prophecies? Then what do you do?"
     There was no record of him being wrong. The question then is, "What do you do when he is correct? After all, he was a godly man, reformed in theology, and, apparently, not a cessationist. Do you know more than John Knox or are you closer to God than he?
     
     I mean no malice in this questions, but do you think that John Knox would be kicked out of the Presbyterian Church for his ‘unorthodox’ beliefs and practices?

Source: Calvinist Corner

A sorrow no words can express

I seem to be there again, and so until it lifts at least some quotes and pics will likely fill the majority of my blog:  This John Knox quote seemed relevant, personally right now.

These things I put you in mind of, beloved mother, that, albeit your pains sometimes are so horrible, that you find no release nor comfort, neither in spirit nor body; yet if the heart can only sob unto God, despair not; you shall obtain your heart's desire, and you are not destitute of faith. For at such time as the flesh, natural reason, the law of God, the present torment, and the devil, at once do cry,"God is angry, and therefore is there neither help nor remedy to be hoped for at his hands" ­ at such time, I say, to sob unto God is the demonstration of the secret seed of God, which is hid in God's elect children; and that sobs only are a more acceptable sacrifice unto God, than, without this cross, to give our bodies to be burnt, even for the truth's sake. For if God is present by [the] assistance of his Holy Spirit, or no doubt is in our conscience, but we stand assuredly in God's favour, what can corporeal trouble hurt the soul or mind? seeing the bitter frosty wind cannot hurt the body itself, which is most warmly covered and clad from violence of the cold.   [John Knox]

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A sorrow no words can express

I seem to be there again, and so until it lifts at least some quotes and pics will likely fill the majority of my blog:  This John Knox quote seemed relevant, personally right now.

These things I put you in mind of, beloved mother, that, albeit your pains sometimes are so horrible, that you find no release nor comfort, neither in spirit nor body; yet if the heart can only sob unto God, despair not; you shall obtain your heart's desire, and you are not destitute of faith. For at such time as the flesh, natural reason, the law of God, the present torment, and the devil, at once do cry,"God is angry, and therefore is there neither help nor remedy to be hoped for at his hands" ­ at such time, I say, to sob unto God is the demonstration of the secret seed of God, which is hid in God's elect children; and that sobs only are a more acceptable sacrifice unto God, than, without this cross, to give our bodies to be burnt, even for the truth's sake. For if God is present by [the] assistance of his Holy Spirit, or no doubt is in our conscience, but we stand assuredly in God's favour, what can corporeal trouble hurt the soul or mind? seeing the bitter frosty wind cannot hurt the body itself, which is most warmly covered and clad from violence of the cold.   [John Knox]

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Comfort From John Knox

I was reminded of this quote by John Knox, after reading at Raging Calvinst's blog this morn, as I believe it maybe from the same piece. I posted this Knox quote a year or two ago on an old blog space, but I don't believe it is on this current space:

The very sons of God, in the time of their trouble, is to impute unto God some other affection than there is, or can be in him, towards his children; and sometimes to complain upon God, as that he did those things which, in very deed, he cannot do to his elect. David and Job often complained that God had left them, had become their enemy, regarded not their prayers, and took no heed to deliver them. And yet it is impossible that God shall either leave his chosen, or that he shall despise the humble petitions of such as do incall his support. But such complaints are the voices of the flesh, wherewith God is not offended so as to reject his elect, [12]but pardons them among their innumerable infirmities and sins. And therefore, dearly beloved, despair you not, albeit the flesh sometimes bursts out in heavy complaints, as it were, against God. You are not more perfect than were David and Job; and you cannot be so perfect as Christ himself was, who, upon the cross, cried, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? (Matt. 27:46). Consider, dear mother, how lamentable and horrible were those words to the only Son of God. And David, in the eighty-eighth psalm (which, for the better understanding, I desire you to read) complains upon God, that night and day he had cried, and yet he was not delivered; "But," says he, "my soul is filled with dolour; I am as a man without strength. I am like unto those that are gone down into the pit, of whom thou hast no more mind; like unto those that are cut off by thy hand. Thou hast put me in a deep dungeon. All thy wrath lieth upon me. Why leavest thou me, Lord? Why hidest thou thy face so far from me? Thou hast removed all my friends from me. Thou hast made me odious unto them (Ps. 88:3-8). And thus he ends his psalm and complaint, without mention of any comfort received. And Job, in diverse places of his book, makes even the like complaints; sometimes saying that God was his enemy, and had set him, as it were, a mark to shoot at; and, therefore, that his soul desires actual destruction (cf. Job 16:13).But to our matter: of these precedents it is plain that God\'s elect, before you, suffered the like cross as presently you suffer; that they have complained as you complain; that they have thought themselves abject [cast off] as you have thought, and yet may [still] think yourself; and yet, nevertheless, they were sure in God\'s favour. Hope, dear mother, and look you for the same; hope (I say) against hope. How horrible the pain is to suffer that cross none can express, except such as have proved it. Fearful it is, for the very pain itself; but most fearful it is, for that the godly, so tormented, judges God to be angry, in fury, and in rage against them, as is before expressed. Seeing we have found this cross to appertain to God\'s children, it shall be profitable to search out the causes of the same. Plain it is, that not only God works all to the profit of his elect, but also that he works it of such love towards them, and with such wisdom, that otherwise things could not be. And to understand this is very profitable, partly to satisfy the grudging complaints of the flesh, which in trouble, commonly does question, Why does God this or that? And albeit the flesh in this earth can never be fully satisfied; but even as hunger and thirst from time to time assault it, so do other more gross imperfections. Yet the inward man, with sobs unto God, knowing the causes why the very just are sorely troubled and tormented in body and spirit in this life, receives sure comfort, and gets some stay of God's mercy, by knowing the causes of the trouble.  John Knox

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John Knox's Christocracy

This will likely be my last post for now on John Knox.  But I want to post a bit about the Christocracy he envisaged and spent his labours working towards. My how much of this puts Calvinist's today to shame.

He believed no one who was poverty stricken or in need of any kind, that was not of their own making–he gave them the name of "Impotent Beggars" as they could do nothing to change their estate–should be left in need and not taken care of by the church.  Widows, orphans, the disabled, those fallen on hard financial times and had no way to provide for themselves or their families.

Those known as "sturdy beggars" however, were not given the same fall back for being taken care of. These were people who were physically strong and could work, or who had fallen on hard times through their own neglect, sin, and issues that go against the Word of God.  But the impotent beggars he wanted relief to be provided to them by the church and the church taking care of their own.

In Geneva when Knox was there, as a student under John Calvin he saw how the hospital took care of the elderly, the very young and vulnerable and those too sick to take care of themselves, immigrants etc, and he wanted this implemented in Scotland and England.

In his document "A Brief exhortation to England"  he laid out much of his vision.

He believed Christian education should be the foundation for the preservation of Protestantism. He urged for Christian schools to be founded in every town, in which the Church had the right to over-see the schools to see as they were teaching first and foremost from principles from the Word of God.  He wanted Reformed churches to approve the teachers appointed to make sure they were suited to there calling.

• He wanted colleges and grammar schools in every town in Scotland and England.
• Scholarships to go on to higher education to be funded by those from within the church so that low status and financial straits never prevented someone having a good education and a good, solid grounding in the Word of God. Status shouldn't dictate education
• Those judged unfit for higher education were to be fully trained in vocations, so that they would be able to honestly earn their living, as Scripture says everyone should who is able.
• He believed in universal education for both boys and girls–though in that era girls were not permitted or it seen fitting for them to go on to colleges or universities.
• Attention was paid to the needs of the poor.

The goal was to train the youth, and to make them godly in whatever vocation they chose. They had to prove their character and godliness before being admitted to universities.

David Chiltern, said of John Knox:

Knox's continuing contribution is not just that of the Kirk of Scotland, which after four centuries still uses his order of Geneva in worship. Nor is it just that of a nation freed from bondage to sin and ignorance status tyranny. It is rather Knox's firm insistence and life-long demonstration that all men are religious in every aspect of life, and that no institution, high or low, can be seperated from its responsibility to God. That the greatest liberty is found in the greatest subservience to God's Law. That there is One Supreme King before whom all others must bow [Source unknown]

Where have all the John Knox's today gone? I find that a sobering thought.

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