Author: Ian? 6? 1 Murray (Ian Murray)

Translation: Anna

Proofreading: Zhang En

Let's review some historical scenes first.

1533, during the reign of Henry VIII. Young Cambridge graduate John? 6? John Frith (1) is detained in the Tower of London and is likely to face the death penalty. Thomas? 6? Thomas Moore tried to convert him to Roman Catholicism, urging him to hide his views to save his life, "until we see some ways to carry out reasonable religious reform." To this, Ding Doyle's friend Fries replied:

I can answer you for sure, I don't want to and I can't help but say; Because God's words are boiling in me, like a blazing flame, and need to be exported ... But if God's words, I mean biblical verses, can spread in English, I can assure you that I will never write again. [ 1]

1June 4, 533, John? 6? 1 French fries were burned to death in Smithfield. Let's skip more than 20 years to the day of 1555 in autumn and October; It was during the last round of persecution of the Reformation. Two men were taken to Oxford and burned at the stake. One is Nicholas? 6? 1 nicolas ridley, wearing a black fur coat and casual shoes:

Then Lord Latimer, dressed in a shabby Bristol tweed robe, was very old, with a tied hat and a cloth towel on his head, ready to be burned at the stake ... Lord Ridley looked back and saw Lord Latimer following him, so he said to him, "Oh, are you going there too?" "Yes," said Lord Latimer, "I will go with you as soon as possible ..." (in front of the stake) They brought a bundle of firewood, lit it and put it at Lord ridley's feet. Lord Latimer said to him, "Take courage, Lord Ridley, and be a man. Today we are going to light a candle in England. I believe it will never go out. " ..... When Dr. Ridley saw the flame approaching him, he gave an amazing cry: "Lord, Lord, accept my soul!" Lord Latimer shouted on the other side, "Oh, Father, accept my soul! " " [2]

The candles lit during the reign of Elizabeth and Jacob I are the story of the rise of Puritanism. In order to see the Puritan pulpit, let's go to the church in Dade, Essex, and see what happened on a Tuesday in 162 1. There was a weekly class that day, which was given by the permanent lecturer John? 6? 1 by Professor John Rogers. As usual, the spacious church was crowded with people, and one of the audience was Catherine of Cambridge? 6? 1 A friend from the hall rode over. Another Cambridge graduate said that in those days, people often said, "Come on, let's make a fire in Dade Town!" "

That friend of St. Catherine's is Thomas? 6? 1 Thomas Goodwin, he is already a missionary, but he is not the kind of missionary who went to listen that day. Rogers preached the word of God according to the Bible, which showed that he had received a wonderful revelation from God. He began to persuade people to play the role of God and said, "I gave you my Bible for so long, but you ignored it. It was placed in every house, covered with dust and cobwebs. You don't want to see it. Isn't that how you use my bible? Well, then I won't give you the Bible any more. " Then he grabbed the Bible on the platform and took it away. However, he suddenly changed his role and almost knelt down. in the name of people excitedly shouted to God: "Lord, no matter what you do to us, don't take away your Bible, kill our children, burn down our house and destroy our property;" Leave your Bible! "The whole church is as quiet as a grave. Rogers once again played the role of God: "Are you telling the truth? All right, I'll call you back later. (He puts the Bible back on the platform) I'll give it to you. I want to see how you use it, whether you love it more, whether you value it more and live by it more. "

Goodwin never forgot how God felt that day and what he heard in the church in Dade Town. Finally, he returned to his horse, ready to return. "He fell dizzy on the horse's neck and cried for a quarter of an hour before he had the strength to get on the horse." [3]

Forty years later, Rogers' fear became a reality in most parts of the country, and a new round of persecution appeared. Nearly 2000 Bible lecturers and teachers were expelled from their churches and schools, and the unified law promulgated on August 24th, 1662 prohibited them from preaching again. Edmund is one of the silent priests? 6? Karami, 1, has served in St. Mary's Church in Burleigh, armand, in central London for many years. Let's go back to1Sunday, February 28th, 662, to the former congregation in karami, where they heard his voice for the last time four months ago. On this winter day, they gathered together as usual to prepare for worship, but the priest appointed to lead this week did not come. It is conceivable that many members of the congregation are quietly and anxiously waiting for the development of things. Then, an impossible illegal thing happened Karami, 62, stood up to pray and preach. He knew the danger he would incur, but he told people that he had "great love" for them and would not let them "be sent home without a sermon and leave without a blessing". So he continued from 1 Samuel 4: 13, "It's time for Eli to sit in a roadside seat and watch, worrying about the ark of God." Instead of talking about the government, he did something more difficult and spiritual-he blamed himself and his audience for what happened: "Mr. Bradford, the holy martyr said in his prayer, Lord, the gospel was introduced during the papacy of Queen Mary, but I was ungrateful ... Oh, dear people, it is because of your sins and mine that the ark of God is in danger." Karami was arrested and imprisoned for this. [4]

Compared with another more famous victim, karami's prison life is short. 1672, John? 6? 1 Bunyan has been imprisoned 12 years. Say a few words of obedience and he will be free and reunited with his wife and family. However, in the preface of Confessions of My Faith published in the same year, he told us why we chose to stay in prison. He said that the world's persecution of "faith" and "holiness" should not "surprise anyone who believes in the Bible". He wrote:

In my long prison life ... I will be forbidden by the Holy Spirit. 4: 12; 1 John 3: 13), I'm afraid I'll be very surprised at this ... I've made up my mind to have Almighty God as my help and shield, and I'm willing to suffer. If this fragile life can last, even if I have moss on my eyebrows, I don't want to go against my beliefs and principles. [5]

The word "enthusiasm" does not appear in these events and introductions, but it is easy to see and extremely obvious. In fact, we can go further and say that the whole conflict, jokingly called "Puritanism", is basically a conflict about enthusiasm. The label "Puritans" is to vilify them with words that mean "excessive justice". In the 16 and 17 centuries, nothing angered the nominal religious world more than this clear Puritan principle: "If we are not enthusiastic about faith, then we have no faith at all, no matter what we claim to be." [6] Or William? 6? In the words of william perkins (1), "It is better to be a Jew or a Turk than to be lukewarm about true faith, or to have no faith at all." [7] Secular Christians responded (as they have always said) that enthusiasm is not the basic component of Christian faith. They believe that people who go to church, whether priests or congregations, can go to heaven without enthusiasm. Their spokesman, charles ii, said, "He thought deeply about God's mercy and couldn't believe that God would curse their creation because they enjoyed a little illegal happiness ... He believed that he could always reach the gate of heaven." [8] If the Puritans believed this and denied enthusiasm, their whole history would be very different. Their enemies will become their friends, they will not resist the king, they will not leave New England, there will be no great separation of 1662, and no lecturers will suffer in prison; We can add another one, and there won't be any books we want to read today.

Notes and references

[1] cited by: R. Demus, william tyndale, London: Relief Association, 1904, p. 4 19.

[2] John Fox's Behavior and Monument, edited. G. Townsend, Volume 7, London: Seeley, burnside and Seeley, 1847, pp. 547-550.

[3] John Howe told this story and quoted it from: James Nicole, The Works of Thomas Goodwin, Volume 1, Edinburgh, 186 1, pp. XVII-III, and John Winter, The Life of John Angel, The Complete Works of Oliver Heywood, Idle, 1827, vol. 1, p.52 1. The evidence shows that this happened in1620/kloc.

[4] This speech was reproduced in The Big Ejection sermon, London: Flag of Truth, 1962.

[5] john bunyan's works, edited, Volume 2, Republic of China. Edinburgh: Flag of Truth, 199 1, pp. 593-594.

[6] William Athol, Philemon's Commentary, London, 1633, p. 433.

[7] The works of famous and trustworthy Christian priests are in Cambridge University, william perkins, Volume 3, London, 163 1, p. 366.

[8] Arthur Bryant, King of charles ii, London, 193 1, p. 357 "At that time, religious restraint was considered a virtue, but later Jesus Christ would spit us out of his mouth." Enthusiastic Christians, Selected Works of Christopher Love, Representative of Glasgow, 1805, vol. 1, p. 44 1. "The world almost allows ecstasy to be realized by violence under any circumstances, but it doesn't think the most important one is justified." The body of Richard Cecil. J. Pratt, London: N.D. Knight, p. 190.