Lecture

by Rev. Donald Cargill

(Being the lecture and discourse before that awful sentence pronounced by Mr Donald Cargill, at Torwood in Stirlingshire, Sept. 1680).

“And thou profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end.

Thus saith the Lord God, Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.

I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is, and I will give it him.” — Ezekiel xxi. 25, 26, 27.

Now, I have only one thing to beg of you, that you would not entertain prejudices against us before you hear us speak.

1. God is judge of the whole world, and this gives us assurance thereof — I say this gives assurance to all men, that God is judge of all. He will judge oppression. If He will not relieve the oppressed, I doubt not but He will reward oppressors.

2. God is a righteous Judge, and He will not suffer the wicked to pass unpunished. Now ye have heard that this word gives us assurance, that there is a Deity, a righteous Judge. The word shows us this, and the Lord knows whether or not it may be rightly applied to some. The words imply that the Lord is about to make a change. The Lord is wearied of many, and He knows whom to put in their place. He will give them their leave, but He is about to make a great change; and when He is about to make a great change, He will take away kings; He will take away princes; He will take away nobles, and He will lay waste many fair buildings. But ye may say, “Why will He make this great change?” He will do it, if it were no more but because men have taken away His authority. Now, He is saying to Britain, “Who rules here?” But ere it be long He will make them know who rules in Britain. “And thou profane wicked prince of Israel,” etc. By their profanity and wickedness, you may easily cast their horoscope. Now there is a great one fallen. It is not an ordinary death or an ordinary fall. It would in that case be too small a token of God’s displeasure. He must stigmatize with more than ordinary brands.

1st, We see that there is a great one fallen. The Lord is saying, “And thou profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come,” etc. As if the Lord has said, “The day is come when you must tyrannize no longer; you must live voluptuously no more.” O dreadful woe! whose day is come! Now must he leave all his pleasures. Now must he leave his court. Now must he leave all his voluptuousness. Now must he leave all his dishes. But we may say this one word of the wicked, of the most voluptuous that ever lived, that their day is coming, and great wickedness hastens and helps forward their day. “Whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end.” As if God had said, “I will shorten their voluptuous living. I will shorten their reigning. I will shorten their pleasure.” Oh, if they knew what was coming amongst them, “when their iniquity shall have an end!” Oh, blessed shall we account that day, when sin and iniquity shall fall and have an end! We are persuaded that this joy is allowed to devout persons in Scripture; when iniquity shall fall there shall be no more sinful and iniquitous laws. When the sinful lawgiver

shall fall, and God shall arise, iniquity shall fall and stop its mouth. But let them fall, be who they will; be they father, or mother, or brother, or be who they will, if God arise let them fall before Him.

2ndly, “Iniquity shall have an end. Thus saith the Lord, Remove the diadem; take off the crown.” The Lord stands by, and, as it were, disrobes the king. The Lord stands by, and gives orders to take the filthy garments from Joshua, and to clothe him with the change of raiment, and to “set a fair mitre upon his head.” Just the contrary is here. The Lord gives orders to disrobe the profane, wicked prince, to remove the diadem, and, in a word, to rend his insignia regalia. And is God saying, “Remove the diadem, take off the crown.” There may indeed be much blood shed in keeping it on. They may keep it for a while, but it shall fall, and they shall never recover it again. “Remove the diadem, take off the crown. This shall not be the same; exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.” Now, they must change places. If ours be ill, theirs shall be worse. We shall say this, that the worst change in all the earth is not like this change of a wicked magistrate; for their change is from the throne to eternal fire — from the crown to eternal fire. But let the man of low degree rejoice; for unto them their bringing low comes from mercy, but unto the wicked who are high, from wrath.

3rdly, It is to be observed concerning the overthrow of princes, that it is generally of great extent. “Overturn, overturn, overturn” may be applied to three states, or to these three sorts in the land, viz., king, nobles, priests, and people. We see, that one overturning sufficeth not. Alas! this overturning extends to many more, nay, it will go through. It is like an earthquake — it will not leave a house unshaken in all the city. “Overturn, overturn, overturn.” Ye think ye shall be free of it, Sirs; but as the Lord lives, ye shall have a part in this overturning.

In the next place, “This shall not be the same.” It is a contemptuous saying, a word of contempt. What does the Lord regard a magistrate, when he is an enemy to Him? Here He takes them all in together, in the very act of doing their wickedness, and says, “This shall not be the same.” They are all included. Is he now a king, a duke, an earl, a general? Still he is comprehended. They are all moth-eaten, they are already rotten down. It must not be, “This shall not be the same; it shall be no more.”

Lastly, It is questioned, how long shall this be? It is answered, “Until he comes whose right it is, and I will give it him.” For a while the Lord shall hold it, till He get a fit man, fit governors, or fit men for the

government. They are low, it may be, this day, whom He will make fit for it. And oh, that we could pray that He would raise up fit men for it! He never gave it to other men but by a wrathful permission, as He doth all such things. They get them by a permission in His wrath. And

1. There is an overturning.

2. A styling. He will in His own time put it in their hand, that will rule for Him.

3. Then He begins: “And thou profane, wicked prince of Israel.” Here observe a strange title given unto a king. But sure I am, it does not belong to or become a faithful minister to give any king, who is an enemy to God, any other name. Oh, the parasites, the court flatterers, the flattering creatures of this generation! It is a wonder to see so many of them. They are not like Job, or rather Elihu, that would not give flattering words or titles unto men. We should give greatness its due, but when employed against God, it ought to be testified against. It is strange that ministers would make us believe that the same titles, the same names, and the same obedience is due to them when apostatized and wicked, that is due to them in the right way. If our hearts be not right with regard to them, we will get a fall, I assure you. And take heed, Sirs, it is a good part of this day’s work to set your hearts right with respect to them.

4. What means Ezekiel by profane? Observe: it is either when a man neglects the worship of God altogether, or when he defiles all that he handles thereof. So he is said to be profane, who altogether neglects the worship of God, as Esau, who worshipped and sacrificed a while, but he soon left it, and for one morsel of meat sold his birth-right. He is most profane who defiles the worship of God as they do who go from their whoredoms to their sacraments, and from their sacraments to their whoredoms, as the princes and great men now do; so that they may justly be called profane and wicked men.

5. He is called “Wicked prince of Israel.” What is called wickedness? Why, wicked men are full of enmity against God, against His way, and against His people. That is wickedness. In a word, it is a stiff, stubborn kind of sinning — a stiff kind of wickedness in sinning. They will not submit nor bow to God at all.

Now let us see whether they are such or not who are called our rulers. Let every soul apply it without prejudice. Is not this the style that should be given them? They have sinned stubbornly, and they will not bow at all to God, “whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end.” But his day is come, “He shall be broken.” His day is coming. There have been

great lamentations for the death of kings, but he hath been so great a burden to the people, that in the event, there shall be as great a singing and rejoicing. I say, “When the wicked perish, there is shouting.” Their death shall be desired. When they are dead, it shall be as when the sea hath been long in a storm — it rages long after the wind is calm. “Thus saith the Lord, Remove the diadem: take off the crown.” This is the Lord’s disrobing of him. He is taking away the crown. As when a Popish priest turns Protestant, they take him out to some public place with all his priestly garments on, and then, beginning at the head, they take off the mitre and disrobe him from top to toe. Just so here: the Lord disrobes him, and He will take away the insignia regalia, as we said before.

Now He will do to some as if a king took in a beggar from a dunghill, set him on high, put his own robes upon him, and caused him to feast and be royally attended. Next day he takes him out and disrobes him, and sets him back where he was, whereby he becomes most contemptible. When the greatest and highest fall, they become the greatest contempt. The higher they are they shall become the more contemptible. “Exalt him that is low: and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn. And it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is, and I will give it him.”

Now they are sitting low indeed whom He will set up. Pray that the Lord would seek them out, and that the Lord would make a way for them, and that the Lord would give success in mercy, as there hath been success in judgment. Amen.