"Thy Compass, Which Is God's Word......"

         The following is five vignettes from a book referenced at the end of the following post originally published five years ago. I was in a state prison this morning visiting a friend incarcerated there. The visiting room was packed with inmates, their families and friends and it was a moving experience. On the way home I stopped at a college campus. It also was packed with families of possible future students being shown around the campus. If you have followed my blog for any amount of time you may be tired of this anecdote; Martin Luther was asked what he would do if he knew for certain that the Lord Jesus was to return the very next day. Luther's answer was "I'd plant a tree."  It would be irresponsible to our families not to plan for the future and it would be irresponsible as citizens not to pray for wisdom and discernment...and strength....in at least attempting to elect wise and honorable leaders but there is also reality to face.
         Our nation is collapsing from within. Every pillar is under attack. Please pay particular attention to Hugh Latimer's comment on what England's "well-being" depended, that is if you read that far. It is the height of absurdity for us look to this year's elections or next year's presidential election as if they hold the key to our survival. It's beyond presumption to think that we can stop our fall or even defend ourselves against our enemies without national repentence and God's mercy upon us. But we, as a general consensus anyway, no longer attribute our existence to Him. Difficult days are ahead and that is even with God's mercy. Yes, plant that tree...make those plans.... always adding "should the Lord will it," but be prepared also for God's judgement upon our nation for we have gone beyond tempting Him to punish us....to goading Him and mocking the mere mention of His righteous judgement upon a nation.

Of No Worldly Tyrant Be Thou Dread........2009
        
         John Hooper was a bishop in the Anglican church during the reign of Henry VIII and the glorious reign of Edward VI. He lived through the beginnings of the English Reformation and struggled, preaching often three and four times a day, against the forces that worked against the Gospel. He was burned at the state for his faithfulness in 1555 during the reign of Queen Mary. He is attributed with writing this poetry with a piece of coal on the wall of his jail cell:

Content thyself with patience
With Christ to bear the cross of pain;
Who can or will recompense
a thousand-fold, with joys again.
Let nothing cause thy heart to fail:
Launch out thy boat, hoist up thy sail,
Put from the shore;
And be thou sure thou shall remain
For evermore.........
Do not despair;
Of no worldly tyrant be thou dread;
Thy compass, which is God's Word, shall thee lead,
And the wind is fair.

Rowland Taylor was a pastor during the same period and was called to account as a villain for preaching the Gospel. When friends advised him not to report his response was:
What will ye have me do? I am now old, and have already lived too long, to see these terrible and most wicked days. Fly you, and do as your conscience leadeth you. I am fully determined, with God's grace, to go to the Bishop, and to tell him, to his beard, that he doth naught. God shall hereafter raise up teachers of His people, which shall, with much more diligence and fruit, teach them than I have done. For God will not forsake His church, though now for a time He trieth and correcteth us, and not without just cause. Rowland Taylor was also burned at the stake.

Bishop Hugh Latimer wrote: My wish is, that men may write on their hearts that the well-being of England depends not on commerce, or clever politicians, or steam, or armies, or navies, or gold, or iron, or coal, or corn, but on the maintenance of the principles of the English Reformation. Before being burned at the stake he turned to another martyr and famously said: Be of good comfort, Master Ridley, and play the man; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.

In 1552 John Bradford wrote of his time period as similar to that of Noah and often forewarned the people of the plagues which would be brought to pass. He also was martyred and wrote: When I consider the cause of my condemnation, I cannot but lament that I do no more rejoice than I do, for it is God's verity and truth.

Nickolas Ridley was a chaplain to Henry VIII and later the Bishop of London and also ran afoul of Queen Mary for preaching the Gospel. In a farewell letter to prisoners he wrote: Farewell, dear brethren, farewell! And let us comfort our hearts in all troubles, and in death, with the Word of God: for heaven and earth shall perish, but the Word of the Lord endureth forever.

I write this post, originally posted in 2009, as encouragement to myself as well as anyone else! In order to secure our blessings today we must know what transpired in the past, and we ignore the sacrifices of others to our own peril. How trivial are the entertainments of today when compared to the sacrifices and most of all the faithfulness of those who came before us.


Referenced: Five English Reformers......19th century Anglican Preacher in England J. C. Ryle. Available at www.cvbbs.com