{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_42557/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_42557","id":"gutenberg_42557","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/42557","summary":null,"tags":["Category: British Literature","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Rutherford, Samuel, 1600?-1661 -- Correspondence"],"text":"Transcriber's note:\n\nText enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_).\n\nSmall capital text has been replaced with all capitals.\n\nText enclosed by equal signs is in bold face (=bold=).\n\nThe carat character (^) indicates that the following letter is\nsuperscripted (example: yo^r).\n\nVariations in spelling, punctuation and hyphenation have been retained\nexcept in obvious cases of typographical error.\n\nPage 80: \"and cause you to come up out of your graves\"--The transcriber\nhas inserted the missing word \"to\".\n\nPage 87: \"the world, to conquer's men's souls\"--Replaced \"conquer's\"\nwith \"conquer\".\n\nPage 293: Missing footnote anchor [242] has been inserted by the\ntranscriber.\n\nFor the eBook version the bookcover was created by the transcriber and\nis placed in the public domain.\n\n\n * * * * *\n\n LETTERS\n\n OF\n\n SAMUEL RUTHERFORD\n\n[Illustration: RUTHERFORD'S WALK.]\n\n[Illustration: title page]\n\n\n LETTERS\n\n OF\n\n SAMUEL RUTHERFORD\n\n _With a Sketch of his Life_\n\n AND\n\n _Biographical Notices of His Correspondents_\n\n BY THE\n\n REV. ANDREW A. BONAR, D.D.\n AUTHOR OF \"MEMOIR AND REMAINS OF ROBERT MURRAY M'CHEYNE\"\n\n THIRD EDITION\n\n LONDON\n THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY\n 56 PATERNOSTER ROW AND 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nMost justly does the old Preface to the earlier Editions begin by\ntelling the Reader that \"These Letters have no need of any man's\nepistle commendatory, the great Master having given them one, written\nby His own hand on the hearts of all who favour the things of God.\"\nEvery one who knows these \"Letters\" at all, is aware of their most\npeculiar characteristic, namely, the discovery they present of the\nmarvellous intercourse carried on between the writer's soul and his\nGod.\n\nThis Edition will be found to be the most complete that has hitherto\nappeared. It is the same as that of 1863, in two vols., with two\nslight alterations, viz. the footnotes are for the most part removed\nto the Glossary, and a few of the notices are condensed, but nothing\nomitted of any importance. On the other hand, one or two slight\nadditions have been made. Attending carefully to the chronological\narrangement, the Editor has sought, by biographical, topographical,\nand historical notices, to put the Reader in possession of all that\nwas needed to enable him to enter into the circumstances in which each\nLetter was written, so far as that could be done. The appended\nGlossary of Scottish words and expressions (many of them in reality\nold English), the Index of Places and Persons, the Index of Special\nSubjects, and the prefixed Contents of Each Letter, will, it is\nconfidently believed, be found both interesting and useful. The Sketch\nof Rutherford's Life may be thought too brief; but the limits within\nwhich such a Sketch must necessarily be confined, when occupying the\nplace of a mere Introduction, rendered brevity inevitable.\n\nEvery Letter hitherto published is to be found in this Edition. The\nten additional Letters of the Edition 1848, along with two more, added\nsince that time, are all inserted in their chronological place. The\npublishers have taken great pains with the typography.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\n PAGE\n\n Sketch of _Samuel Rutherford_, 1\n\n 1. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Children to be Dedicated to God, 33\n\n 2. To _a Christian Gentlewoman, on the death of a\n Daughter._--Christ's Sympathy with, and Property in\n us--Reasons for Resignation, 34\n\n 3. To _Lady Kenmure, on occasion of illness and spiritual\n depression_.--Acquiescence in God's Purpose--Faith in\n exercise--Encouragement in view of Sickness and\n Death--Public Affairs, 36\n\n 4. To _Lady Kenmure, on death of her infant Daughter_.--\n Tribulation the Portion of God's People, and intended\n to wean them from the World, 40\n\n 5. To _Lady Kenmure, when removing from Anwoth_.--Changes--\n Loss of Friends--This World no abiding Place, 42\n\n 6. To _Marion M'Naught, telling of his Wife's illness_.--Inward\n Conflict, arising from Outward Trial, 44\n\n 7. To _Lady Kenmure_.--The Earnest of the Spirit--Communion\n with Christ--Faith in the Promises, 46\n\n 8. To _Marion M'Naught_.--His Wife's Illness--Wrestlings with\n God, 49\n\n 9. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Recommending a Friend to her\n Care--Prayers asked, 50\n\n 10. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Submission, Perseverance, and Zeal\n recommended, 50\n\n 11. To _Lady Kenmure_.--God's Inexplicable Dealings with His\n People well ordered--Want of Ordinances--Conformity\n to Christ--Troubles of the Church--Mr. Rutherford's\n Wife's Death, 52\n\n 12. To _Marion M'Naught_.--God Mixeth the Cup--The Reward of\n the Wicked--Faithfulness--Forbearance--Trials, 54\n\n 13. To _Marion M'Naught, when exposed to reproach for her\n principles_.--Jesus a Pattern of Patience under\n Suffering, 57\n\n 14. To _Marion M'Naught, in prospect of the Lord's Supper_.--\n Abundance in Jesus--The Restoration of the Jews--\n Enemies of God, 58\n\n 15. To _Marion M'Naught_.--The threatened Introduction of the\n Service-Book--Troubles of the Church--Private Wrongs, 60\n\n 16. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Proposal to Remove him from Anwoth--\n Babylon's Destruction, and Christ's Coming--The Young\n invited, 62\n\n 17. To _Marion M'Naught_.--The Prospects of the Church--\n Arminianism--Call to Prayer--No Help but in Christ, 64\n\n 18. To _Marion M'Naught, in prospect of the Lord's Supper_.--\n Prayer Solicited--The Church's Prospects, 66\n\n 19. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Encouragement to Abound in Faith from\n the Prospect of Glory--Christ's Unchangeableness, 67\n\n 20. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Assurance of Christ's Love under\n Trials--Fulness of Christ--Hope of Glory, 69\n\n 21. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Self-denial--Hope of Christ's Coming--\n Loving God for Himself, 72\n\n 22. To _John Kennedy_.--Deliverance from Shipwreck--Recovery\n from threatened Death--Use of Trials--Remembrance\n of Friends, 74\n\n 23. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Exhorting to remember her Espousal to\n Christ--Tribulation a Preparation for the Kingdom--\n Glory in the End, 77\n\n 24. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Christ and His Garden--Provision\n of Ordinances in the Church--Our Children, 80\n\n 25. To _a Gentleman at Kirkcudbright, excusing himself from\n visiting_, 83\n\n 26. To _Marion M'Naught, after her dangerous illness_.--Use\n of Sickness--Reproaches--Christ our Eternal Feast--\n Fasting, 83\n\n 27. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Love to Christ and Submission to His\n Cross--Believers kept--The Heavenly Paradise, 85\n\n 28. To _Lady Kenmure, after the death of a child_.--The State\n of the Church, Cause for God's Displeasure--His Care\n of His Church--The Jews--Afflicted Saints, 87\n\n 29. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Christ with His People in the\n Furnace of Affliction--Prayer, 89\n\n 30. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Rank and Prosperity hinder Progress--\n Watchfulness--Case of Relatives, 90\n\n 31. To _Lady Kenmure_.--A Union for Prayer Recommended, 92\n\n 32. To _Marion M'Naught_.--State and Prospects of the\n Church--Satan, 94\n\n 33. To _Marion M'Naught_.--In Prospect of Going to the\n Lord's Table, 95\n\n 34. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Prospects of the Church--Christ's\n Care for the Children of Believers, 96\n\n 35. To _Lady Kenmure, on the death of a child_.--God Measures\n our Days--Bereavements Ripen us for the Harvest, 97\n\n 36. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Choice of a Commissioner for\n Parliament, 99\n\n 37. To _Lady Kenmure_.--On the Death of Lord Kenmure--Design\n of, and duties under, Affliction, 100\n\n 38. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Christ's Care of His Church, and\n His Judgments on her Enemies, 102\n\n 39. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Preparation for Death and Eternity, 103\n\n 40. To _Lady Kenmure_.--When Mr. Rutherford had the Prospect\n of being Removed from Anwoth, 105\n\n 41. To _Marion M'Naught_.--The Church's Trials--Comfort\n under Temptations--Deliverance--A Message to the\n Young, 106\n\n 42. To _Lady Kenmure_.--The World passeth away--Special\n Portions of the Word for the Afflicted--Call to\n Kirkcudbright, 108\n\n 43. To _Marion M'Naught_.--When Mr. Rutherford was in\n difficulty as to accepting a Call to Kirkcudbright,\n and Cramond, 111\n\n 44. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Troubles threatening the Church, 113\n\n 45. To _Marion M'Naught_.--In the Prospect of the Lord's\n Supper, and of Trials to the Church, 113\n\n 46. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Tossings of Spirit--Her Children\n and Husband, 114\n\n 47. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Submission to God's Arrangements, 116\n\n 48. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Troubles from False Brethren--\n Occurrences--Christ's Coming--Intercession, 117\n\n 49. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Spoiling of Goods--Call to\n Kirkcudbright--The Lord Reigneth, 119\n\n 50. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Christ coming as Captain of\n Salvation--His Church's Conflict and Covenant--The\n Jews--Last Days' Apostasy, 121\n\n 51. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Public Temptations--The Security\n of every Saint--Occurrences in the Country-side, 123\n\n 52. To _Marion M'Naught_.--In the Prospect of her Husband\n being compelled to receive the Commands of the\n Prelates--Saints are yet to Judge, 125\n\n 53. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Encouragement under Trial by\n prospect of Brighter Days, 126\n\n 54. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Public Wrongs--Words of Comfort, 126\n\n 55. To _Marion M'Naught_.--When he had been threatened with\n Persecution for Preaching the Gospel, 128\n\n 56. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Reasons for Resignation--Security of\n Saints--The End of Time, 129\n\n 57. To _Marion M'Naught_.--In the Prospect of Removal to\n Aberdeen, 131\n\n 58. To _Lady Kenmure_.--On occasion of Efforts to introduce\n Episcopacy, 131\n\n 59. To _Earlston, Elder_.--No Suffering for Christ unrewarded--\n Loss of Children--Christ in Providence, 132\n\n 60. To _Marion M'Naught_.--When he was under Trial by the\n High Commission, 135\n\n 61. To _Lady Kenmure, on the evening of his banishment to\n Aberdeen_.--His only Regrets--The Cross unspeakably\n Sweet--Retrospect of his Ministry, 136\n\n 62. To _Lady Culross, on the occasion of his banishment to\n Aberdeen_.--Challenges of Conscience--The Cross\n no Burden, 138\n\n 63. To _Mr. Robert Cunningham, at Holywood, in Ireland_.--\n Consolation to a Brother in Tribulation--His own\n Deprivation of Ministry--Christ worth Suffering for, 140\n\n 64. To _Alexander Gordon of Earlston_.--His Feelings upon\n Leaving Anwoth, 143\n\n 65. To _Robert Gordon of Knockbreck, on his way to\n Aberdeen_.--How Upheld on the Way, 144\n\n 66. To _Robert Gordon of Knockbreck, after arriving at\n Aberdeen_.--Challenges of Conscience--Ease in Zion, 144\n\n 67. To _William Fullerton, Provost of Kirkcudbright_.--\n Encouragement to Suffer for Christ, 145\n\n 68. To _John Fleming, Bailie of Leith_.--The Sweetness and\n Faithfulness of Christ's Love, 147\n\n 69. To _Lady Kenmure_.--His Enjoyment of Christ in Aberdeen--\n A Sight of Christ exceeds all Reports--Some ashamed\n of Him and His, 148\n\n 70. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Exercise under Restraint from\n Preaching--The Devil--Christ's Loving-kindness--\n Progress, 150\n\n 71. To _Mr. Hugh M'Kail, Minister of Irvine_.--Christ to be\n Trusted amid Trial, 152\n\n 72. To _William Gordon of Roberton_.--How Trials are\n Misimproved--The Infinite Value of Christ--Despised\n Warnings, 153\n\n 73. To _Earlston, the Elder_.--Satisfaction with Christ's\n Ways--Private and Public Causes of Sorrow, 156\n\n 74. To _Lady Culross_.--Suspicions of God's Ways--God's Ways\n always Right--Grace Grows under Trial, 157\n\n 75. To _John Kennedy, Bailie of Ayr_.--Longing after\n Discoveries of Christ--His Long-suffering--Trying\n Circumstances, 158\n\n 76. To _Robert Gordon of Knockbreck_.--Benefit of Affliction, 161\n\n 77. To _Lady Boyd_.--Aberdeen--Experience of himself Sad--\n Taking Pains to win Grace, 163\n\n 78. To _Lord Boyd_.--Encouragement to Exertion for Christ's\n Cause, 164\n\n 79. To _Margaret Ballantine_.--Value of the Soul, and Urgency\n of Salvation, 166\n\n 80. To _Marion M'Naught_.--His Comfort under Tribulations,\n and the Prison a Palace, 168\n\n 81. To _Mr. John Meine (jun.)_.--Experience--Patient\n Waiting--Sanctification, 169\n\n 82. To _John Gordon of Cardoness, Elder_.--Win Christ at all\n Hazards--Christ's Beauty--A Word to Children, 170\n\n 83. To _the Earl of Lothian_.--Advice as to Public\n Conduct--Everything to be endured for Christ, 174\n\n 84. To _Jean Brown_.--The Joys of this Life embittered by\n Sin--Heaven an Object of Desire--Trial a Blessed\n Thing, 177\n\n 85. To _John Kennedy, Bailie of Ayr_.--The Reasonableness of\n Believing under all Affliction--Obligations to\n Free Grace, 179\n\n 86. To _Lord Craighall_.--Episcopalian Ceremonies--How to\n Abide in the Truth--Desire for Liberty to preach\n Christ, 181\n\n 87. To _Elizabeth Kennedy_.--Danger of Formality--Christ\n wholly to be Loved--Other Objects of Love, 183\n\n 88. To _Janet Kennedy_.--Christ to be kept at every\n sacrifice--His incomparable Loveliness, 185\n\n 89. To _the Rev. Robert Blair_.--God's Arrangements sometimes\n Mysterious, 187\n\n 90. To _the Rev. John Livingstone_.--Resignation--Enjoyment--\n State of the Church, 190\n\n 91. To _Mr. Ephraim Melvin_.--Kneeling at the Lord's Supper\n a species of Idolatry, 192\n\n 92. To _Mr. Robert Gordon of Knockbreck_.--Visits of\n Christ--The Things which Affliction Teaches, 195\n\n 93. To _Lady Kenmure_.--God's Dealings with Scotland--The Eye\n to be directed Heavenward, 197\n\n 94. To _Lady Kenmure_.--The Times--Christ's Sweetness in\n Trouble--Longing after Him, 198\n\n 95. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Christ's Cross Sweet--His Coming to\n be Desired--Jealous of any Rival, 200\n\n 96. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Christ all Worthy--Anwoth, 201\n\n 97. To _Alexander Gordon of Earlston_.--Christ Endeared by\n Bitter Experiences--Searchings of Heart--Fears\n for the Church, 202\n\n 98. To _Mr. Alexander Colville of Blair_.--Increasing\n Experience of Christ's Love--God with His Saints, 204\n\n 99. To _Earlston, Younger_.--Christ's Ways Misunderstood--His\n increasing Kindness--Spiritual Delicacy--Hard to be\n Dead to the World, 205\n\n 100. To _Lady Cardoness_.--The One Thing Needful--Conscientious\n Acting in the World--Advice under Dejecting Trials, 208\n\n 101. To _Jonet Macculloch_.--Christ's Sufficiency--Stedfastness\n in the Truth, 210\n\n 102. To _Alexander Gordon of Knockgray_.--Grounds of Praise--\n Affliction tends to misrepresent Christ--Idols, 211\n\n 103. To _Lady Cardoness, Elder_.--Christ and His Cause\n Recommended--Heavenly-mindedness--Caution against\n Compliances--Anxiety about his Parish, 213\n\n 104. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Painstaking in the Knowledge of\n Christ--Unusual enjoyment of His Love--Not Easy\n to be a Christian--Friends must not mislead, 215\n\n 105. To _a Gentlewoman, upon the death of her Husband_.--\n Resignation under Bereavement--His own Enjoyment\n of Christ's Love, 217\n\n 106. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Weak Assurance--Grace different\n from Learning--Self-accusations, 218\n\n 107. To _Lady Boyd_.--Consciousness of Defects no argument of\n Christ being unknown--His Experience in Exile, 220\n\n 108. To _Lady Kaskiberry_.--Gratitude for Kindness--Christ's\n Presence felt, 222\n\n 109. To _Lady Earlston_.--Following Christ not Easy--Children\n not to be over-loved--Joy in the Lord, 223\n\n 110. To _Mr. David Dickson_.--God's Dealings--The Bitter\n Sweetened--Notes on Scripture, 224\n\n 111. To _Jean Brown_.--Christ's Untold Preciousness--A Word\n to her Boy, 226\n\n 112. To _Mr. John Fergushill_.--The Rod upon God's Children--\n Pain from a sense of Christ's Love--His Presence a\n Support under Trials--Contentedness with Him alone, 227\n\n 113. To _Mr. Robert Douglas_.--Greatness of Christ's Love\n revealed to those who suffer for Him, 229\n\n 114. To _William Rigg of Athernie_.--Sustaining Power of\n Christ's Love--Satan's Opposition--Yearnings for\n Christ Himself--Fears for the Church, 230\n\n 115. To _Mr. Alexander Henderson_.--Sadness because of\n Christ's Headship not set forth--His Cause\n attended with Crosses--The Believer seen of all, 232\n\n 116. To _Lord Loudon_.--Blessedness of Acting for Christ--His\n Love to His Prisoner, 234\n\n 117. To _Mr. William Dalgleish, Minister of Kirkdale and\n Kirkmabreck_.--Christ's Kindness--Dependence on\n Providence--Controversies, 237\n\n 118. To _Mr. Hugh M'Kail, Minister at Irvine_.--Christ's\n Bountiful Dealings--Joy in Christ through the Cross, 239\n\n 119. To _Mr. David Dickson_.--Joyful Experience--Cup\n Overflowing in Exile, 240\n\n 120. To _Mr. Matthew Mowat, Minister at Kilmarnock_.--\n Plenitude of Christ's Love--Need to use Grace\n aright--Christ the Ransomer--Desire to proclaim\n His Gospel--Shortcomings and Sufferings, 242\n\n 121. To _William Halliday_.--Diligence in securing Salvation, 245\n\n 122. To a _Gentlewoman after the death of her Husband_.--Vanity\n of Earthly Possessions--Christ a sufficient\n Portion--Design of Affliction, 245\n\n 123. To _John Gordon of Cardoness, Younger_.--Reasons for\n being earnest about the Soul, and for Resignation, 247\n\n 124. To _John Gordon of Cardoness, Elder_.--Call to\n Earnestness about Salvation--Intrusion of Ministers, 248\n\n 125. To _Lady Forret_.--Sickness a Kindness--Christ's Glooms\n better than the World's Joys, 249\n\n 126. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Adherence to Duty amidst\n Opposition--Power of Christ's Love, 250\n\n 127. To _John Carsen_.--Nothing worth the Finding but Christ, 251\n\n 128. To the _Earl of Cassillis_.--Honour of testifying for\n Christ, 252\n\n 129. To _Mr. Robert Gordon, Bailie of Ayr_.--Christ above All, 253\n\n 130. To _John Kennedy, Bailie of Ayr_.--Christ's Love--The\n Three Wonders--Desires for His Second Coming, 254\n\n 131. To _Jean Brown_.--His Wisdom in our Trials--Rejoicing\n in Tribulation, 257\n\n 132. To _Jean Macmillan_.--Strive to enter In, 259\n\n 133. To _Lady Busbie_.--Complete Surrender to Christ--No\n Idols--Trials discover Sins--A Free Salvation--The\n Marriage Supper, 260\n\n 134. To _John Ewart, Bailie of Kirkcudbright_.--The Cross no\n Burden--Need of Sure Foundation, 262\n\n 135. To _William Fullerton, Provost of Kirkcudbright_.--Fear\n not them who kill the Body--Unexpected Favour, 263\n\n 136. To _Robert Glendinning, Minister of Kirkcudbright_.--\n Prepare to meet thy God--Christ his Joy, 264\n\n 137. To _William Glendinning_.--Perseverance against Opposition, 265\n\n 138. To _Mr. Hugh Henderson, Minister of the Gospel_.--Trials\n selected by God--Patience--Looking for the Judge, 266\n\n 139. To _Lord Balmerinoch_.--His happy Obligations to\n Christ--Emptiness of the World, 267\n\n 140. To _Lady Mar, Younger_.--No Exchange for Christ, 269\n\n 141. To _James Macadam_.--The Kingdom taken by Force, 270\n\n 142. To _William Livingstone_.--Counsel to a Youth, 271\n\n 143. To _William Gordon of Whitepark_.--Nothing lost by\n Trials--Longing for Christ Himself, because of\n His Love, 272\n\n 144. To _Mr. George Gillespie, Minister of Kirkcaldy_.--\n Suspicions of Christ's Love Removed--Three Desires, 273\n\n 145. To _Jean Gordon_.--God the Satisfying Portion--Adherence\n to Christ, 275\n\n 146. To _Mr. James Bruce, Minister of the Gospel_.--Misjudging\n of Christ's Ways, 276\n\n 147. To _John Gordon, at Rusco_.--Pressing into Heaven--To\n be a Christian no Easy Attainment--Sins to be\n Avoided, 277\n\n 148. To _Lady Hallhill_.--Christ's Crosses better than\n Egypt's Treasures, 278\n\n 149. To _John Osburn, Provost of Ayr_.--Adherence to\n Christ--His Approbation worth all Worlds, 280\n\n 150. To _John Henderson, in Rusco_.--Continuing in Christ--\n Preparedness for Death, 281\n\n 151. To _John Meine, Senior_.--Enjoyment of God's Love--Need\n of Help--Burdens, 281\n\n 152. To _Mr. Thomas Garven_.--A Prisoner's Joys--Love of\n Christ--The Good Part--Heaven in Sight, 283\n\n 153. To _Bethaia Aird_.--Unbelief under Trials--Christ's\n Sympathy, 284\n\n 154. To _Alexander Gordon of Knockgray_.--Prospective Trials, 286\n\n 155. To _Grizzel Fullerton, daughter of Marion M'Naught_.--The\n One Thing Needful--Christ's Love, 286\n\n 156. To _Patrick Carsen_.--Early Devotedness to Christ, 287\n\n 157. To _the Laird of Carleton_.--Increasing Sense of\n Christ's Love--Resignation--Deadness to Earth--\n Temptations--Infirmities, 288\n\n 158. To _Lady Busbie_.--Christ all Worthy--Best at our\n Lowest--Sinfulness of the Land--Prayers, 290\n\n 159. To _John Fleming, Bailie of Leith_.--Directions for\n Christian Conduct, 292\n\n 160. To _Alexander Gordon of Earlston_.--Hungering after\n Christ Himself rather than His Love, 295\n\n 161. To _John Stuart, Provost of Ayr_.--Commercial\n Misfortunes--Service-Book--Blessedness of Trials, 298\n\n 162. To _John Stuart, Provost of Ayr_.--The Burden of a\n Silenced Minister--Spiritual Shortcomings, 302\n\n 163. To _John Stuart, Provost of Ayr_.--View of Trials\n past--Hard Thoughts of Christ--Crosses--Hope, 304\n\n 164. To _Ninian Mure, one of the family of\n Cassincarrie_.--A Youth Admonished, 307\n\n 165. To _Mr. Thomas Garven_.--Personal Insufficiency--Grace\n from Christ alone--Longings after Him, 308\n\n 166. To _Cardoness, the Elder_.--A Good Conscience--Christ\n kind to Sufferers--Responsibility--Youth, 310\n\n 167. To _Lady Boyd_.--Lessons learned in the School of\n Adversity, 312\n\n 168. To _Mr. David Dickson_.--Christ's Infinite Fulness, 315\n\n 169. To _the Laird of Carleton_.--God's Working\n Incomprehensible--Longing after any Drop of\n Christ's Fulness, 317\n\n 170. To _Robert Gordon of Knockbreck_.--Longing for\n Christ's Glory--Felt guiltiness--Longing for\n Christ's Love--Sanctification, 319\n\n 171. To _the Laird of Moncrieff_.--Concert in Prayer--\n Stedfastness to Christ--Grief misrepresents\n Christ's Glory, 321\n\n 172. To _John Clark_.--Marks of Difference betwixt Christians\n and Reprobates, 323\n\n 173. To _Cardoness, the Younger_.--Warning and Advice as\n to Things of Salvation, 324\n\n 174. To _Lord Craighall_.--Idolatry Condemned, 326\n\n 175. To _John Laurie_.--Christ's Love--A Right Estimate of\n Him--His Grace, 330\n\n 176. To _the Laird of Carleton_.--A Christian's Confession\n of Unworthiness--Desire for Christ's Honour--Present\n Circumstances, 331\n\n 177. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Christ Suffering in His Church--\n His Coming--Outpourings of Love from Him, 335\n\n 178. To _Lady Culross_.--Christ's Management of Trials--What\n Faith can do--Christ not Experience--Prayers, 337\n\n 179. To _Mr. John Nevay_.--Christ's Love Sharpened in\n Suffering--Kneeling at the Communion--Posture\n at Ordinances, 340\n\n 180. To _John Gordon of Cardoness, the Elder_.--Longings\n for those under his former Ministry--Delight in\n Christ and His Appearing--Pleading with his Flock, 344\n\n 181. To _Earlston, the Younger_.--Dangers of Youth--Christ\n the best Physician--Four Remedies against\n Doubting--Breathing after Christ's Honour, 348\n\n 182. To _Alexander Gordon of Knockgray_.--Joy in God--Trials\n work out Glory to Christ, 353\n\n 183. To _Mr. J---- R----_.--Christ the Purifier of His\n Church--Submission to His Ways, 355\n\n 184. To _Mr. William Dalgleish, Minister of the Gospel_.--The\n Fragrance of the Ministry--A Review of his Past\n and Present Situation, and of his Prospects, 358\n\n 185. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Longing to be Restored to his\n Charge, 361\n\n 186. To _Robert Stuart_.--Christ chooses His own in the\n Furnace--Need of a Deep Work--The God-Man, a\n World's Wonder, 363\n\n 187. To _Lady Gaitgirth_.--Christ Unchangeable, though not\n always Enjoyed--His Love never yet fully poured\n out--Himself His People's Cautioner, 366\n\n 188. To _Mr. John Fergushill of Ochiltree_.--Desponding\n Views of his own State--Ministerial Diligence--\n Christ's Worth--Self-seeking, 368\n\n 189. To _John Stuart, Provost of Ayr_.--Hope for Scotland--\n Self-submission--Christ Himself sought for by\n Faith--Stability of Salvation--His Ways, 371\n\n 190. To _the Laird of Carsluth_.--Necessity of making sure\n of Salvation--Vanity of the World--Nothing worth\n having but Christ--Flight of Time, 373\n\n 191. To _the Laird of Cassincarrie_.--Earnestness about\n Salvation--Christ Himself sought, 376\n\n 192. To _Lady Cardoness_.--Grace--The Name of Christ to be\n Exalted--Everything but God fails us, 378\n\n 193. To _Sibylla Macadam_.--Christ's Beauty and Excellence, 380\n\n 194. To _Mr. Hugh Henderson, Minister of Dalry_.--The Ways of\n Providence--Believing Patience, 381\n\n 195. To _Lady Largirie_.--Christ the Exclusive Object of\n Love--Preparation for Death, 383\n\n 196. To _Earlston, the Younger_.--Sufferings--Hope of Final\n Deliverance--The Believer in Safe Keeping--The\n Recompense Marred by Temptations, 384\n\n 197. To _Mr. William Dalgleish, Minister of the Gospel_.--\n Thoughts as to God's Arrangements--Winning Souls\n to be Supremely Desired--Longings for Christ, 386\n\n 198. To _the Laird of Cally_.--Spiritual Sloth--Danger of\n Compromise--Self, the Root of all Sin--\n Self-renunciation, 388\n\n 199. To _John Gordon of Cardoness, the Younger_.--Dangers of\n Youth--Early Decision, 390\n\n 200. To _Robert Gordon, Bailie of Ayr_.--The Misery of mere\n Worldly Hope--Earnestness about Salvation, 393\n\n 201. To _Alexander Gordon of Earlston_.--Christ's Kingdom to\n be Exalted over all; and more Pains to be taken to\n Win farther into Him, 395\n\n 202. To _the Laird of Cally_.--Youth a Precious Season--\n Christ's Beauty, 397\n\n 203. To _William Gordon, at Kenmure_.--Testimony to Christ's\n Worth--Marks of Grace in Conviction of Sin and\n Spiritual Conflict, 399\n\n 204. To _Margaret Fullerton_.--Christ, not Creatures, worthy\n of all Love--Love not to be measured by Feeling, 401\n\n 205. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Difficulties in the way to the\n Kingdom--Christ's Love, 402\n\n 206. To _Lady Kenmure_.--The Use of Sufferings--Fears under\n them--Desire that Christ be Glorified, 404\n\n 207. To _John Henderson of Rusco_.--Practical Hints, 407\n\n 208. To _Alexander Colville of Blair_.--Regrets for not being\n able to Preach--Longings for Christ, 408\n\n 209. To _Mr. John Nevay_.--Christ's Surpassing Excellency--His\n Cause in Scotland, 409\n\n 210. To _Lady Boyd_.--His Soul Fainting for Christ's Matchless\n Beauty--Prayer for a Revival, 410\n\n 211. To _a Christian Gentlewoman_.--God's Skill to bless by\n Affliction--Unkindness of Men--Near the Day of\n Meeting the Lord, 412\n\n 212. To _William Glendinning_.--Search into Christ's\n Loveliness--What he would Suffer to see it--His\n Coming to Deliver, 414\n\n 213. To _Robert Lennox of Disdove_.--Men's Folly in\n Undervaluing Christ--It is He that satisfieth--\n Admiration of Him, 416\n\n 214. To _Mr. James Hamilton, Minister of the Gospel_.--\n Suffering for Christ's Headship--How Christ\n visited him in Preaching, 418\n\n 215. To _Mistress Stuart_.--Personal Unworthiness--Longing\n after Holiness--Winnowing Time, 421\n\n 216. To _Mr. Hugh M'Kail, Minister of Irvine_.--Advantages\n of our Wants and Distempers--Christ Unspeakable, 423\n\n 217. To _Alexander Gordon of Garloch_.--Free Grace finding\n its Materials in us, 425\n\n 218. To _John Bell, Elder_.--Danger of Trusting to a Name\n to Live--Conversion no Superficial Work--\n Exhortation to Make Sure, 427\n\n 219. To _Mr. John Row, Minister of the Gospel_.--Christ's\n Crosses better than the World's Joys--Christ\n Extolled, 429\n\n 220. To _Lord Craighall_.--Duty of being disentangled from\n Christ-dishonouring Compliances, 430\n\n 221. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Her Prayers for Scotland not\n Forgotten, 430\n\n 222. To _Lady Culross_.--Christ's Way of Showing Himself the\n Best--What Fits for Him--Yearning after Him\n insatiably--Domestic Matters, 431\n\n 223. To _Alexander Gordon of Knockgray_.--State of the\n Church--Believers purified by Affliction--Folly\n of seeking Joy in a Doomed World, 434\n\n 224. To _Fulwood, the Younger_.--Vanity of the World in the\n light of Death and Christ--The Present Truth--\n Christ's Coming, 436\n\n 225. To _his Parishioners_.--Protestation of Care for their\n Souls, and for the Glory of God--Delight in his\n ministry, and in his Lord--Efforts for their\n Souls--Warnings against Errors of the Day--Awful\n words to the Backslider--Intense Admiration of\n Christ--A Loud Call to All, 438\n\n 226. To _Lady Kilconquhar_.--The Interests of the Soul and\n Urgent--Folly of the World--Christ altogether\n Lovely--His Pen fails to set forth Christ's\n Unspeakable Beauty, 445\n\n 227. To _Lord Craighall_.--Standing for Christ--Danger\n from Fear, or Promises of Men--Christ's Requitals--\n Sin against the Holy Ghost, 449\n\n 228. To _Mr. James Fleming, Minister of the Gospel_.--\n Glory Gained to Christ--Spiritual Deadness--Help\n to Praise Him--The Ministry, 451\n\n 229. To _Mr. Hugh M'Kail, Minister of Irvine_.--The\n Law--This World under Christ's Control for the Believer, 454\n\n 230. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Believer Safe though Tried--Delight\n in Christ's Truth, 455\n\n 231. To _Lord Lindsay of Byres_.--The Church's Desolations--The\n End of the World, and Christ's Coming--His\n Attractiveness, 457\n\n 232. To _Lord Boyd_.--Seeking Christ in Youth--Its\n Temptations--Christ's Excellence--The Church's\n Cause concerns the Nobles, 457\n\n 233. To _Fulk Ellis_.--Friends in Ireland--Difficulties in\n Providence--Unfaithfulness to Light--Constant Need\n of Christ, 463\n\n 234. To _James Lindsay_.--Desertions, their Use--Prayers of\n Reprobates, and how the Gospel affects their\n Responsibility, 466\n\n 235. To _Lord Craighall_.--Fear God, not Man--Sign of\n Backsliding, 470\n\n 236. To _Mr. James Hamilton, Minister of the Gospel_.--\n Christ's Glory not affected by His People's\n Weakness, 471\n\n 237. To _the Laird of Gaitgirth_.--Truth worth Suffering\n for--Light Sown, but the Evil of this World till\n Christ comes, 471\n\n 238. To _Lady Gaitgirth_.--Christ and Example in Bearing\n Crosses--The extent to which Children should be\n Loved--Why Saints Die, 473\n\n 239. To _Mr. Matthew Mowat, Minister of Kilmarnock_.--What\n am I?--Longing to Act for Christ--Unbelief--Love in the\n Hiding of Christ's Face--Christ's Reproach, 474\n\n 240. To _Mr. John Meine, Jun._--Christ the Same--Youthful\n Sins--No Dispensing with Crosses, 476\n\n 241. To _John Fleming, Baillie of Leith_.--Riches of Christ\n Fail Not--Salvation--Vanity of Created Comforts--\n Longing for more of Christ, 477\n\n 242. To _Lady Rowallan_.--Jesus the Best Choice, and to be\n made sure of--The Cross and Jesus inseparable--\n Sorrows only Temporary, 478\n\n 243. To _Marion M'Naught_.--His own Prospects--Hopes--\n Salutations, 480\n\n 244. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Proceedings of Parliament--Private\n Matters--Her Daughter's Marriage, 481\n\n 245. To _Lady Boyd_.--Imperfections--Yearnings after Christ--\n Christ's Supremacy not inconsistent with Civil\n Authority, 483\n\n 246. To _Mr. Thomas Garven_.--Heaven's Happiness--Joy in the\n Cross, 485\n\n 247. To _Janet Kennedy_.--The Heavenly Mansions--Earth a\n Shadow, 486\n\n 248. To _Margaret Reid_.--Benefits of the Cross, if we are\n Christ's, 487\n\n 249. To _James Bautie_.--Spiritual Difficulties Solved, 489\n\n 250. To _Lady Largirie_.--Part with all for Christ--No\n Unmixed Joy here, 494\n\n 251. To _Lady Dungueich_.--Jesus or the World--Scotland's\n Trials and Hopes, 495\n\n 252. To _Janet Macculloch_.--Cares to be cast on Christ--\n Christ a Steady Friend, 496\n\n 253. To _Mr. George Gillespie_.--Christ the True Gain, 497\n\n 254. To _Mr. Robert Blair_.--Personal Unworthiness--God's\n Grace--Prayer for Others, 498\n\n 255. To _Lady Carleton_.--Submission to God's Will--Wonders\n in the Love of Christ--No debt to the World, 500\n\n 256. To _William Rigge of Athernie_.--The Law--Grace--Chalking\n out Providences for ourselves--Prescribing to His\n Love, 501\n\n 257. To _Lady Graighall_.--The Comforts of Christ's Cross--\n Desires for Christ, 503\n\n 258. To _Lord Loudon_.--The Wisdom of adhering to Christ's\n Cause, 504\n\n 259. To _David Dickson_.--Danger of Worldly Ease--Personal\n Occurrences, 507\n\n 260. To _Alexander Gordon of Earlston_.--All Crosses Well\n Ordered--Providences, 508\n\n 261. To _Lady Kilconquhair_.--The Kingdom to be taken by\n Violence, 510\n\n 262. To _Robert Lennox of Disdove_.--Increasing Experience\n of Christ's Love--Salvation to be made sure, 512\n\n 263. To_ Marion M'Naught_.--Hope in Trial--Prayer and\n Watchfulness, 513\n\n 264. To _Thomas Corbet_.--Godly Counsels--Following Christ, 514\n\n 265. To _Mr. George Dunbar, Minister of the Gospel_.--Christ's\n Love in Affliction--The Saint's Support and Final\n Victory, 515\n\n 266. To _John Fleming, Bailie of Leith_.--Comfort Abounding\n under Trials, 517\n\n 267. To _William Glendinning, Bailie of Kirkcudbright_.--The\n Past and the Future--Present Happiness, 517\n\n 268. To _the Earl of Cassillus_.--Anxiety for the Prosperity\n of Zion--Encouragement for the Nobles to Support\n it--The Vanity of this World, and the Folly and\n Misery of forsaking Christ--The One Way to Heaven, 519\n\n 269. To _his Parishioners at Anwoth_.--Exhortationn to abide\n in the Truth, in prospect of Christ's Coming--\n Scriptural Mode of Observing Ordinanaces such as\n the Sabbath, Family Prayer, and the Lord's Supper--\n Judgments Anticipated, 521\n\n 270. To _Lady Busbie_.--His Experience of Christ's Love--State\n of the Land and Church--Christ not duly Esteemed--\n Desire after Him, and for a Revival, 524\n\n 271. To _Earlston, Younger_.--Prosperity under the Cross--Need\n of Security, and being founded on Christ, 526\n\n 272. To _John Gordon_.--Christ all Worthy--This World a Clay\n Prison--Desire for a Revival of Christ's Cause, 527\n\n 273. To _William Rigge of Athernie_.--Comfort in Trials from\n the Knowledge of Christ's Power and Work--\n Corruption--Free Grace, 529\n\n 274. To _James Murray_.--The Christian Life a Mystery to the\n World--Chrsit's Kindness, 530\n\n 275. To _Mr. John Fergushill_.--Spiritual Longings under\n Christ's Cross--How to bear it--Christ Precious,\n and to be had without Money--The Church, 531\n\n 276. To _William Glendinning_.--Sweetness of Trial--Swiftness\n of Time--Prevalence of Sin, 534\n\n 277. To _Lady Boyd_.--Sense of Unworthiness--Obligation to\n Grace--Christ's Absence--State of the Land, 536\n\n 278. To _The Earl of Cassillis_.--Ambition--Christ's Royal\n Prerogative--Prelacy, 538\n\n 279. To _Marion M'Naught_.--A Spring-tide of Christ's Love, 540\n\n 280. To _John Gordon of Rusco_.--Heaven hard to be won--\n Many come short in Attaining--Idol Sins to be\n renounced--Likeness to Christ, 541\n\n 281. To _Lord Loudoun_.--True Honour in maintaining\n Christ's Cause--Prelacy--Light of Eternity, 543\n\n 282. To _Lady Robertland_.--Afflictions purify--The World's\n Vanity--Christ's wise love, 545\n\n 283. To _Thomas Macculloch of Nether Ardwell_.--Earnest Call\n to Diligence--Circumspect Walking, 548\n\n 284. To _the Professors of Christ and His Truth in Ireland_.--\n The Way to Heaven ofttimes through Persecution--\n Christ's Worth--Making sure our Profession--\n Self-denial--No Compromise--Tests of Sincerity--His\n own Desire for Christ's Glory, 549\n\n 285. To _Robert Gordon of Knockbreck_.--Not the Cross, but\n Christ the Object of Attraction--Too little expected\n from Him--Spiritual Deadness, 555\n\n 286. To _the Parishioners of Kilmalcolm_.--Spiritual Sloth--\n Advice to Beginniers--A Dead Ministry--Languor--\n Obedience--Want of Christ's Felt Presence--Assurance\n Important--Prayer Meetings, 559\n\n 287. To _Lady Kenmure_.--On the Death of her Child--Christ\n Shares His People's Sorrows, 565\n\n 288. To _the Persecuted Church in Ireland_.--Christ's Legacy\n of Trouble--God's Dealings with Scotland in giving\n Prosperity--Christ takes Half of all Sufferings--\n Steadfastness for His Crown--His Love should lead\n to Holiness, 568\n\n 289. To _Dr. Alexander Leighton_.--Public Blessings alleviate\n Private Sufferings--Trials Light when viewed in the Light\n of Heaven--Christ worthy of Suffering for, 575\n\n 290. To _a Person unknown_.--Anent Private Worship, 578\n\n 291. To _Henry Stuart, and Family, Prisoners of Christ at\n Dublin_.--Faith's preparation for Trial--The World's\n Rage against Christ--The Immensity of His Glorious\n Beauty--Folly of Persecution--Victory Sure, 579\n\n 292. To _Mrs. Pont, Prisoner at Dublin_.--Support under\n Trials--The Master's Reward, 585\n\n 293. To _Mr. James Wilson_.--Advices to a Doubting Soul--\n Mistakes about his Interest in God's Love--\n Temptation--Perplexity about Prayer--Want of\n Feeling, 588\n\n 294. To _Lady Boyd_.--Sins of the Land--Dwelling in Christ--\n Faith awake sees all well, 591\n\n 295. To _John Fenwick_.--Christ the Fountain--Freeness of\n God's Love--Faith to be exercised under Frowns--\n Grace for Trials--Hope of Christ yet to be exalted\n on the Earth, 593\n\n 296. To _Peter Stirling_.--Believers' Graces all from Christ--\n Aspiration after more Love to Him--His Reign Desired, 599\n\n 297. To _Lady Fingast_.--Faith's Misgivings--Spiritual Darkness\n not Grace--Chrit's Love Inimitable, 600\n\n 298. To _Mr. David Dickson, on the Death of his Son_.--God's\n Sovereignty, and Discipline by Affliction, 602\n\n 299. To _Lady Boyd, on the Loss of several Friends_.--Trust\n even though slain--Second Causes not to be\n regarded--God's thoughts of Peace therein--All in\n Mercy, 603\n\n 300. To _Agnes Macmath, on the Death of a Child_.--Reason for\n Resignation, 607\n\n 301. To _Mr. Matthew Mowat, Minister of Kilmarnock_.--\n Worthiness of God's Love as manifested in Christ--\n Heaven with Christ, 608\n\n 302. To _Lady Kenmure, on her Husband's Death_.--God's Method\n in Affliction--Future Glory, 609\n\n 303. To _Lady Boyd_.--Sin of the Land--Read Prayers--Brownism, 611\n\n 304. To _James Murray's Wife_.--Heaven a Reality--\n Steadfastness to be grounded on Christ, 612\n\n 305. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Sins of the Times--Practical Atheism, 613\n\n 306. To _Mr. Thomas Wylie, Minister of Borgue_.--Sufficiency\n of Divine Grace--Call to England to assist at\n Westminster Assembly--Felt Unworthiness, 614\n\n 307. To _a Young Man in Anwoth_.--Necessity of Godliness in\n its Power, 615\n\n 308. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Westminster Assembly--Religious\n Sects, 616\n\n 309. To _Lady Boyd_.--Proceedings of Westminster Assembly, 618\n\n 310. To _Mistress Taylor, on her Son's Death_.--Suggestions\n for Comfort under Sorrow, 620\n\n 311. To _Barbara Hamilton_.--On Death of her Son-in-Law--\n God's Purposes, 623\n\n 312. To _Mistress Hume, on her Husband's Death_.--God's\n Voice in the Rod, 625\n\n 313. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Christ's Designs in Sickness and\n Sorrow, 626\n\n 314. To _Barbara Hamilton, on her Son-in-Law slain in\n Battle_.--God does all\n Things Well, and with Design, 627\n\n 315. To _a Christian Friend, on the Death of his Wife_.--God\n the First Cause--The End of Affliction, 629\n\n 316. To _a Christian Brother, on the Death of his\n Daughter_.--Consolation in her having gone before--\n Christ the Best Husband, 630\n\n 317. To _a Christian Gentlewoman_.--Views of Death and\n Heaven--Aspirations, 632\n\n 318. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Christ never in our Debt--Riches of\n Christ--Excellence of the Heavenly State, 635\n\n 319. To _Mr. James Guthrie_.--Prospects for Scotland--His own\n Darkness--Christ's Ability, 636\n\n 320. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Trials cannot Injure Saints--\n Blessedness in Seeing Christ, 638\n\n 321. To _Lady Ardross, in Fife, on her Mother's Death_.--\n Happiness of Heaven, and Blessedness of Dying\n in the Lord, 639\n\n 322. To _M. O._--Gloomy Prospects for the Backsliding\n Church--The Misunderstandings of Believers cause\n of great grief--The Day of Christ, 640\n\n 323. To _Earlston the Elder_.--Christ's Way of Afflicting\n the Best--Obligation to Free Grace--Enduring\n the Cross, 642\n\n 324. To _Mr. George Gillespie_.--Prospect of Death--Christ\n the true support in Death, 644\n\n 325. To _Sir James Stewart, Lord Provost of Edinburgh_.--\n Declining Chair in Edinburgh, 645\n\n 326. To _Mistress Gillespie, Widow of George Gillespie_.--On\n the Death of a Child--God Afflicts in order to save\n us from the World, 646\n\n 327. To _the Earl of Balcarras_.--Regarding some\n Misunderstanding, 648\n\n 328. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Singleness of Aim--Judgment\n in regard to Adversaries, 649\n\n 329. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Courage in Days of Rebuke--\n God's Arrangements all Wise, 651\n\n 330. To _William Guthrie_.--Depression under Dark Trials--\n Dangers of Compliance, 652\n\n 331. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Courage in the Lord's\n Cause--Duty in regard to Providence to be\n observed--Safety in this, 654\n\n 332. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Christ's Cause deserves\n Service and Suffering from us, 656\n\n 333. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker, when taken Prisoner_.--\n Comforting Thoughts to the Afflicted--Darkness\n of the Times--Fellowship in Christ's Sufferings--\n Satisfaction with His Providences, 658\n\n 334. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Comfort under the Cloud\n hanging over Scotland--Dissuasion from Leaving\n Scotland, 662\n\n 335. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Difference between what is Man's\n and Christ's, and between Christ Himself and His\n Blessings, 663\n\n 336. To _Lady Ralston, Ursula Mure_.--Duty of Preferring\n to Live rather than Die--Want of Union in the\n judgments of the Godly, 665\n\n 337. To _a Minister of Glasgow_.--Encouraging Words to a\n Suffering Brother--Why men shrink from Christ's\n Testimony, 668\n\n 338. To _Lady Kenmure_.--A Word to Cheer in Times of Darkness, 671\n\n 339. To _Grizzel Fullerton_.--Exhortation to Follow Christ\n fully when others are cold, 672\n\n 340. To _Mr. Thomas Wylie_.--Regarding a Letter of Explanation, 673\n\n 341. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Present Need helped by past Experience, 674\n\n 342. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Deadness--Hopes of\n Refreshment--Distance from God--Nearness Delighted\n in, 675\n\n 343. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--The State of the Land, 678\n\n 344. To _Mr. John Scot, at Oxnam_.--Excuse for Absence from\n Duty, 679\n\n 345. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Thoughts for a Time of Sickness\n about the Life to Come, 680\n\n 346. To _Simeon Ashe_.--Views of the Presbyterians as to\n Allegiance to the Protector, 681\n\n 347. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Unkindness of the Creature--God's\n Sovereignty in permitting His Children to be\n Injured by Men, 682\n\n 348. To _Lady Kenmure_.--God's Dealings with the Land, 683\n\n 349. To _Mr. John Scot, at Oxnam_.--Protesters' Toleration, 683\n\n 350. To _Mr. John Scot, at Oxnam_.--Gloomy Times--Means of\n promoting Godliness, 684\n\n 351. To _Mr. James Durham, Minister of Glasgow, some few\n days before his Death_.--Man's Ways not God's\n Ways, 685\n\n 352. To _Mr. John Scot, at Oxnam_.--Adherence to the\n Testimony against Toleration, 686\n\n 353. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Trials--Deadness of the Spirit--\n Danger of False Security, 686\n\n 354. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Prevailing Declension, Decay, and\n Indifference to God's Dealings--Things Future, 688\n\n 355. To _the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright_.--Union--\n Humiliation--Choice of a Professor, 689\n\n 356. To _Mr. John Murray, Minister at Methven._--A Synod\n Proposal for Union--Brethren under Censure, 691\n\n 357. To _Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Trail, and the rest of their\n Brethren imprisoned in the Castle of Edinburgh_.--\n On Suffering for Christ--God's Presence ever with\n His People--Firmness and Constancy, 692\n\n 358. To _Several Brethren_.--Reasons for Petitioning his\n Majesty after his return, and for owning such as were\n censured while about so necessary a Duty, 694\n\n 359. To _a Brother Minister_.--Judgment of a Draught of a\n Petition, to have been presented to the Committee of\n Estates, 696\n\n 360. To _Lady Kenmure, on the Imprisonment of her Brother,\n the Marquis of Argyle_.--God's Judgments--Calls\n to Flee to Him--The Results of timid Compliance, 698\n\n 361. To _Mistress Craig, upon the Death of her hopeful\n Son_.--Nine Reasons for Resignation, 699\n\n 362. To _Mr. James Guthrie, Minister of the Gospel at\n Stirling_.--Stedfast though Persecuted--Blessedness\n of Martyrdom, 701\n\n 363. To _Mr. Robert Campbell_.--Stedfastness to Protest\n against Prelacy and Popery, 703\n\n 364. To _Believers at Aberdeen_.--Sinful Conformity and\n Schismatic Designs reproved, 701\n\n 365. To _Mr. John Murray, Minister at Methven_.--Proposal of\n a Season of Prayer, 708\n\n * * * * *\n\n Index of the Chief Places and Individuals referred to in\n the Letters, 711\n\n Index of Special Subjects, 715\n\n Glossary, 718\n\n * * * * *\n\n APPENDIX.\n\n Editions of Rutherford's Letters, 736\n\n Sample of the old Orthography, 740\n\n Last Words; Poem by Mrs. Cousin, 741\n\n\n\n\nSKETCH\n\nOF\n\nSAMUEL RUTHERFORD.\n\n\n\"Wherever the palm-tree is, there is water,\" says the Eastern proverb;\nand so, wherever the godly flourish, there, we are sure, must the Word\nof God be found. In the history of the Reformation we read of Brother\nMartin, a poor monk at Basle, whose hope of salvation rested solely on\nthe Lord Jesus, long before Luther sounded the silver trumpet that\nsummoned sin-convinced souls to the One Sacrifice. Having written out\nhis confession of faith, his statement of reliance on the\nrighteousness of Christ alone, the monk placed the parchment in a\nwooden box, and shut up the wooden box in a hole of the wall of his\ncell. It was not till last century that this box, with its interesting\ncontents, was discovered: it was brought to light only when the old\nwall of the monastery was taken down. The palm-tree speaks of the\nexistence of water at its root; the pure Word of God taught this man\nhis simple faith. And herein we learn how it was that Basle so early\nbecame a peculiar centre of light in that region; the prayer and the\nfaith of that hidden one, and others like-minded, and the Word on\nwhich they fed, may explain it all.\n\nThere is a fact not unlike the above in the history of the district\nwhere Samuel Rutherford laboured so lovingly. The people of that shire\ntell that there was found, some generations ago, in the wall of the\nold castle of Earlston, in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, a copy of\n\"Wickliffe's Bible.\" It was deposited in that receptacle in order to\nbe hid from the view of enemies; but from time to time it was the lamp\nof light to a few souls, who, perhaps in the silence of night, found\nopportunity to draw it out of its ark, and peruse its pages. It seems\nthat the Lollards of Kyle (the adjoining district) had brought it to\nEarlston. We know that there were friends and members of the family of\nEarlston who embraced the Gospel even in those days. In the sixteenth\ncentury, some of the ancestors of Viscount Kenmure are found holding\nthe doctrines of Wickliffe, which had been handed down to them. May we\nnot believe that the Gordons of Earlston, in after days, were not a\nlittle indebted to the faith and prayers of these ancient witnesses\nwho hid the sacred treasure in the castle wall? As in the case of the\nmonk of Basle, their faith and patience were acknowledged in after\ndays by the blessing sent down on that quarter, when the Lord, in\nremembrance of His hidden ones, both raised up the Gordons of\nEarlston, with many others of a like spirit, and also sent thither His\nservant Samuel Rutherford, to sound forth the Word of Life, and make\nthe lamp of truth blaze, like a torch, over all that region.\n\nSamuel Rutherford was born about the year 1600. His father is\nunderstood to have been a respectable farmer. He had two brothers,\nJames and George. But the place of his birth was not near the scene of\nhis after labours. It is almost certain that Nisbet, a village of\nRoxburghshire close to the Teviot, in the parish of Crailing, was his\nbirthplace; the name Rutherford frequently occurs in the churchyard.\nNot long ago, there were some old people in that parish who remembered\nthe gable-end of the house in which it was said that he was born, and\nwhich, from respect to his memory, was permitted to stand as long as\nit could keep together. And there was there a village well where, when\nvery young, Samuel nearly lost his life.[1] He had been amusing\nhimself with some companions, when he fell in, and was left there till\nthey ran and procured assistance; but on returning to the spot they\nfound him seated on a knoll, cold and dripping, yet uninjured. He told\nthem that \"A bonnie white man came and drew him out of the well!\"\nWhether or not he really fancied that an angel had delivered him, we\ncannot tell; but it is plain that, at all events, his boyish thoughts\nwere already wandering in the region of the sky.\n\n [1] This village well is about three feet deep. It is now closed up\n and worked by a pump.\n\nHe owed little to his native place. There was not so much of Christ\nknown in that parish then as there is now; for in after days he\nwrites, \"My soul's desire is, that the place to which I owe my first\nbirth--in which, I fear, Christ was scarcely named, as touching any\nreality of the power of godliness--may blossom as the rose\" (Letter\ncccxxxiv.). We have no account of his revisiting these scenes of his\nearly life, though he thus wrote to his friend, Mr. Scott, minister of\nthe adjoining parish of Oxnam. Like Donald Cargill, born in Perthshire\nyet never known to preach there even once, Rutherford had his labours\nin other parts of the land, distant from his native place. In this\narrangement we see the Master's sovereignty. The sphere is evidently\none of God's choosing for the man, instead of being the result of the\nman's gratifying his natural predilections. It accords, too, with the\nexample of the Master, who never returned to Bethlehem, where He was\nborn, to do any of His works.\n\nJedburgh is a town three or four miles distant from Nisbet, and\nthither Samuel went for his education; either walking to it, and\nreturning home at evening,--as a school-boy would scarcely grudge to\ndo,--or residing in the town for a season. The school at that time met\nin a part of the ancient Abbey, called, from this circumstance, the\nLatiners' Alley. In the year 1617 we find him farther from\nhome,--removed to Edinburgh, which, forty years before, had become the\nseat of a College, though not as yet a University. There he obtained,\nin 1621, the degree of Master of Arts. A single specimen (not elegant,\nhowever) of his Latin verse remains in the lines he prefixed to an\nedition of Row's \"Hebrew Grammar,\" published at Glasgow, 1644--\n\n Verba Sion\u00e6\u00e6 gentis, submersa tenebris\n Cimmeriis, mendax Kimchius ore crepat.\n Qu\u00e6 vos Rabbini sinuosa \u00e6nigmata vultis,\n Nunc facilem linguam dicite qu\u00e6so sacram.\n Falleris, Hippocrates; male parc\u00e6 stamina vit\u00e6\n Curta vocas, artem vociferare \u03bc\u03b1\u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd;\n Sit cita mors, rapido sit et hora fugacior Euro,\n Bellerophont\u00e6is vita volato rotis:\n Rou\u00e6i Hebracis sit mors male grata Camoenis.\n Haec relege, ast artem dixeris esse brevem.\n\nSoon after, he was appointed Regent, or Professor, of Humanity, though\nthere were three other competitors; for his talents had attracted the\nnotice of many. But, on occasion of a rumour that charged him with\nsome irregularity--whether with or without foundation, it is now\ndifficult to ascertain--he demitted his office in 1625, and led a\nprivate life, attending prelections on theology, and devoting himself\nto that study.\n\nThat there could not have been anything very serious in the rumour,\nmay be inferred from the fact that no church court took any notice of\nthe matter, though these were days when the reins of discipline were\nnot held with a slack hand. But it is not unlikely that this may have\nbeen the time of which he says in a letter, \"I knew a man who wondered\nto see any in this life laugh or sport.\"[2] It may have been then that\nhe was led by the Spirit to know the things that are freely given us\nof God.[3] We have no proof that he was converted at an earlier\nperiod, but rather the opposite. He writes, \"Like a fool as I was, I\nsuffered my sun to be high in the heaven, and near afternoon, before\never I took the gate by the end.\"[4] And again, \"I had stood sure, if\nin my youth I had borrowed Christ for my bottom.\"[5] The clouds\nreturned after the rain; family trials, and other similar dealings of\nProvidence, combined to form his character as a man of God and as a\npastor.\n\n [2] Letter ccxxiv.\n\n [3] 1 Cor. ii. 12.\n\n [4] Letter clxxvii.\n\n [5] Letter ccxli.\n\nIn 1627 he was settled at Anwoth,[6] a parish situated in the\nStewartry of Kirkcudbright, on the river Fleet, near the Solway. The\nchurch stood in a wide hollow, or valley, at the foot of the Boreland\nHill. Embosomed in wood, with neither the smoke nor the noise of a\nvillage near, it must always have been a romantic spot--the very ideal\nof a country church, set down to cherish rural godliness. Though at\nthis period Episcopacy had been obtruded upon Scotland, and many\nfaithful ministers were suffering on account of their resistance to\nits ceremonies and services, yet he appears to have been allowed to\nenter on his charge without any compliance being demanded, and\n\"without giving any engagement to the bishop.\" He began his ministry\nwith the text, John ix. 39. The same Lord that would not let Paul and\nTimothy preach in Asia,[7] nor in Bithynia, and yet sent to the one\nregion the beloved John,[8] and to the other the scarcely less beloved\nPeter,[9] in this instance prevented John Livingstone going to Anwoth,\nwhich the patron had designed, and sent Rutherford instead. This was\nthe more remarkable, because Livingstone was sent to Ancrum, the\nparish that borders on Nisbet, while he who was by birth related to\nthat place was despatched to another spot. This is the Lord's doing.\nMinisters must not choose according to the flesh.\n\n [6] See notice of the topography at Letter cxcviii. It is a mile and a\n half from the modern Gatehouse of Fleet, a clean, English-looking\n village.\n\n [7] Acts xvi. 6, 7.\n\n [8] Rev. i. 11.\n\n [9] 1 Pet. i. 1.\n\nDuring the first years of his labours here, the sore illness of his\nwife was a bitter grief to him. Her distress was very severe. He\nwrites of it: \"She is sore tormented night and day.--My life is bitter\nunto me.--She sleeps none, and cries as a woman travailing in birth;\nmy life was never so wearisome.\"[10] She continued in this state for\nno less than a year and a month, ere she died. Besides all this, his\ntwo children had been taken from him. Such was the discipline by which\nhe was trained for the duties of a pastor, and by which a shepherd's\nheart of true sympathy was imparted to him.\n\n [10] Letter xviii.\n\nThe parish of Anwoth had no large village near the church. The people\nwere scattered over a hilly district, and were quite a rural flock.\nBut their shepherd knew that the Chief Shepherd counted them worth\ncaring for; he was not one who thought that his learning and talents\nwould be ill spent if laid out in seeking to save souls, obscure and\nunknown. See him setting out to visit! He has just laid aside one of\nhis learned folios, to go forth among his flock. See him passing along\nyonder field, and climbing that hill on his way to some cottage, his\n\"quick eyes\" occasionally glancing on the objects around, but his\n\"face upward\" for the most part, as if he were gazing into heaven. He\nhas time to visit, for he rises at three in the morning, and at that\nearly hour meets his God in prayer and meditation, and has space for\nstudy besides. He takes occasional days for catechising. He never\nfails to be found at the sick-beds of his people. Men said of him, \"He\nis _always_ praying, _always_ preaching, _always_ visiting the sick,\n_always_ catechising, _always_ writing and studying.\" He was known to\nfall asleep at night talking of Christ, and even to speak of Him\nduring his sleep. Indeed, himself speaks of his dreams being of\nChrist.[11]\n\n [11] Letter cclxxxvi.\n\nHis preaching could not but arrest attention. Though his elocution was\nnot good, and his voice rather shrill, he was, nevertheless, \"one of\nthe most moving and affectionate preachers in his time, or perhaps in\nany age of the church.\"[12] \"In the pulpit (says one of his friends),\nhe had a strange utterance--a kind of skreigh, that I never heard the\nlike. Many times I thought he would have flown out of the pulpit when\nhe came to speak of Jesus Christ.\" An English merchant said of him,\neven in days when controversy had sorely vexed him and distracted his\nspirit, \"I came to Irvine, and heard a well-favoured, proper old man\n(David Dickson), with a long beard, and that man showed me all my\nheart. Then I went to St. Andrews, where I heard a sweet,\nmajestic-looking man (R. Blair), and he showed me the majesty of God.\nAfter him I heard a little, fair man (Rutherford), and he showed me\n_the loveliness of Christ_.\"[13]\n\n [12] \"Wodrow's Church Hist.\" i. 205.\n\n [13] \"M'Crie's Sketches.\"\n\nAnwoth was dear to him rather as the sphere appointed him by his\nMaster, than because of the fruit he saw of his labours. Two years\nafter being settled there, he writes, \"I see exceedingly small fruit\nof my ministry. I would be glad of one soul, to be a crown of joy and\nrejoicing in the day of Christ.\" His people were \"like hot iron, which\ncooleth when out of the fire.\" In a sermon on Song ii. 8, he complains\nof it being spiritually _winter_ in Anwoth. \"The very repairing of\nGod's house, in our own parish church, is a proof. Ye need not go any\nfarther. The timber of the house of God rots, and we cannot move a\nwhole parish to spend twenty or thirty pounds Scots upon the house of\nGod, to keep it dry.\" Still he laboured in hope, and laboured often\nalmost beyond his strength. Once he says, \"I have a grieved heart\ndaily in my calling.\" He speaks of his pained breast, at another time,\non the evening of the Lord's day, when his work was done.[14] But he\nhad seasons of refreshing to his own soul at least; especially when\nthe Lord's Supper was dispensed. Of these seasons he frequently\nspeaks. He asks his friend, Marion M'Naught, to help with her prayers\non such an occasion, \"that being one of the days wherein Christ was\nwont to make merry with His friends.\"[15] It was then that with\nspecial earnestness he besought the Father to distribute \"the great\nLoaf, Christ, to the children of His family.\"\n\n [14] Letter clxxxv.\n\n [15] Letter xiv.\n\nAnother church was filled, but not altogether by parishioners.[16]\nMany came from great distances; among others, several that were\nconverted, seventeen years before, under John Welsh, at Ayr. These all\nhelped him by their prayers, as did also a goodly number of godly\npeople in the parish itself, who were the fruit of the ministry of his\npredecessor. Yet over the unsaved he yearned most tenderly. At one\ntime we hear him say, \"I would lay my dearest joys in the gap between\nyou and eternal destruction.\"[17] At another, \"My witness is in\nheaven, your heaven, would be two heavens to me, and your salvation\ntwo salvations.\" He could appeal to his people, \"My day-thoughts and\nmy night-thoughts are of you;\" and he could appeal to God, \"O my Lord,\njudge if my ministry be not dear to me; but not so dear by many\ndegrees as Christ my Lord.\"[18]\n\n [16] The oak pulpit out of which he preached was preserved till a few\n years ago. The old church (60 feet by 18) is in the shape of a barn,\n and could hold only 250 sitters. It is now entirely a ruin. The years\n 1631 and 1633 were carved on some of the seats--perhaps the seats of\n the Gordons, or other heritors. We may add, while speaking of this old\n edifice, where \"the swallows building their nest,\" seemed to the\n exiled pastor \"blessed birds,\" that the rusty key of that kirk-door is\n now deposited in the New College, Edinburgh, sent to the museum there\n as a precious relic several years ago by a friend, through Dr. Welsh.\n The church is now roofless, its walls overgrown with ivy, in which the\n sparrows build their nests at will. The tomb of Lady Cardoness, an\n antique pile at the side of the wall, was removed in 1878, though the\n slabs are preserved.\n\n [17] Letter ccxvii.\n\n [18] Letter ccxvii.\n\nAll classes of people of Anwoth were objects of his care. He\nmaintained a friendly intercourse with people of high rank, and very\nmany of his Letters are addressed to such persons. He seems to have\nbeen remarkably blessed to the gentry in the neighbourhood--more far\nthan to the common people. There was at that time some friend of\nChrist to be found in almost every gentleman's seat many miles around\nAnwoth.\n\n[Illustration: OLD CHURCH OF ANWOTH.]\n\nBut the _herd boys_ were not beneath his special attention. He writes\nof them when at Aberdeen, and exclaims, \"O if I might but speak to\nthee, or your herd boys, of my worthy Master.\"[19] He had a heart for\n_the young_ of all classes, so that he would say of two children of\none of his friends, \"I pray for them by name;\"[20] and could thus take\ntime to notice one, \"Your daughter desires a Bible and a gown. I hope\nshe shall use the Bible well, which, if she do, the gown is the better\nbestowed.\" He lamented over the few that cry \"Hosanna\" in their\nyouth. \"Christ is an _unknown_ Christ to young ones; and therefore\nthey seek Him not, because they know Him not.\"\n\n [19] Letter clxiii.\n\n [20] Letter xiv.\n\nHe dealt with _individual parishioners_ so closely and so personally\nas to be able to appeal to them regarding his faithfulness in this\nmatter. He addresses one of them, Jean M'Millan: \"I did what I could\nto put you within grips of Christ; I told you Christ's testament and\nlatter-will plainly.\"[21] He so carried them on his heart (like the\npriest with the twelve tribes on his breastplate), that he could\ndeclare to Gordon of Cardoness, \"Thoughts of your soul depart not from\nme in my sleep.\"[22] \"My soul was taken up when others were sleeping,\nhow to have Christ betrothed with a bride in that part of the land,\"\nviz. Anwoth.[23] He so prayed over them and for them, that he fears\nnot to say, \"_There_ I wrestled with the angel and prevailed. Woods,\ntrees, meadows, and hills, are my witnesses that I drew on a fair\nmatch betwixt Christ and Anwoth.\"[24] It is related that, on first\ncoming to the parish, there was a piece of ground on Mossrobin farm,\nin the hollow of a hill, where on Sabbath afternoon the people used to\nplay at foot-ball. On one occasion he repaired to that spot, and\npointed out their sin, solemnly calling on the objects round to be\nwitnesses against them, especially three large stones[25] close at\nhand on the slope of the hill, two of which still remain, and are\ncalled \"_Rutherford's Witnesses_.\" The third was wantonly dislodged\nsome years ago; and it is said that the other two were removed to the\nother side of the stone dyke, where they are now, for the sake of\nsecurity. This is the spot which is especially taken notice of by Dr.\nChalmers, in recording a visit to Anwoth and its neighbourhood (Life,\nvol. iii. 130):--\n\n \"_Wednesday, August 23, 1826._--Started at five o'clock; ordered\n the gig forward on the public road to meet us after a scramble of\n about two miles among the hills, in the line of 'Rutherford's\n Memorials.' Went first to his church; the identical fabric he\n preached in, and which is still preached in.[26] The floor is a\n causeway. There are dates of 1628[27] and 1633 on some old carved\n seats. The pulpit is the same, and I sat in it. It is smaller\n than Kilmany, and very rude and simple. The church bell is said\n to have been given him by Lady Kenmure, one of his correspondents\n in his Letters. It is singularly small for a church, having been\n the Kenmure house bell. We then passed to the new church that is\n building; but I am happy to say the old fabric and Rutherford's\n pulpit are to be spared. It is a cruel circumstance that they\n pulled down (and that only three weeks ago) his dwelling-house,\n his old manse; which has not been used as a manse for a long\n time, but was recently occupied. It should have been spared. Some\n of the masons who were ordered to pull it down refused it, as\n they would an act of sacrilege, and have been dismissed from\n their employment. We went and mourned over the rubbish of the\n foundation. Then ascended a bank, still known by the name of\n _Rutherford's Walk_.[28] Then went further among the hills, to\n _Rutherford's Witnesses_,--so many stones which he called to\n witness against some of his parishioners who were amusing\n themselves at the place with some game on the Sunday, and whom he\n meant to reprove. The whole scene of our morning's walk was wild,\n and primitive, and interesting.\"\n\n [21] Letter cxxxii.\n\n [22] Letter clxxx.\n\n [23] Letter clxxxvi.\n\n [24] Letter cclxxvii.\n\n [25] Josh. xxiv. 27.\n\n [26] It has not been preached in since the year 1827.\n\n [27] A mistake for 1631.\n\n [28] It was a walk among trees, close to the manse.\n\n Once, while in Anwoth, his labours were interrupted (Letter xii.) by a\ntertian fever which laid him aside for thirteen weeks. Even when well\nrecovered he could for a long time only preach on the Sabbath:\nvisiting and catechising were at a stand. This was just before his\nwife's death in 1630, and he writes in the midst of it, \"Welcome,\nwelcome, cross of Christ, if Christ be with it.\" \"An afflicted life\nlooks very like the way that leads to the kingdom.\" And some years\nthereafter, when his mother (who came from Nisbet and resided with him\nsix years after his first wife's death) was in a dangerous illness, he\ntouchingly informs one of his correspondents, to whom he writes from\nAnwoth, \"_My mother_ is weak, and I think shall leave me alone; but I\nam not alone, because _Christ's Father_ is with me.\"[29]\n\n [29] Letter xlix.\n\nAnd what was his recreation? The manse of Anwoth had many visits of\nkind friends, who, in Rutherford's fellowship, felt that saying\nverified, \"They that dwell under His shadow shall return; they shall\nrevive as the corn.\"[30] The righteous compassed him about, because\nthe Lord had dealt bountifully with him. His Letters would be enough\nof themselves to show that his friendship and counsel were sought by\nthe godly on all sides. One of his visitors was his own brother,\nGeorge, at Kirkcudbright. This good man was a teacher in that town,\nwho often repaired to Anwoth to take sweet counsel with Samuel; and\nthen, together, they talked of and prayed for their only other brother\nJames, an officer in the Dutch service, who had sympathy with their\nviews, and, in after days, conveyed to Samuel the invitation to become\nProfessor at Utrecht. Visits of those friends who resided near were\nnot unfrequent--such as the Gordons, Viscount Kenmure and his lady,\nand Marion M'Naught. But at times Anwoth manse was lighted up by the\nglad visit of unexpected guests. There is a tradition that Archbishop\nUsher, passing through Galloway, turned aside on a Saturday to enjoy\nthe congenial society of Rutherford. He came, however, in disguise;\nand being welcomed as a guest, took his place with the rest of the\nfamily when they were catechised, as was usual, that evening. The\nstranger was asked, \"How many commandments are there?\" His reply was\n\"_Eleven_.\"[31] The pastor corrected him; but the stranger maintained\nhis position, quoting our Lord's words, \"_A_ NEW COMMANDMENT _I give\nunto you, that ye love one another_.\" They retired to rest, all\ninterested in the stranger. Sabbath morning dawned. Rutherford arose\nand repaired, as was his custom, for meditation to a walk that\nbordered on a thicket,[32] but was startled by hearing the voice of\nprayer--prayer too from the heart, and in behalf of the souls of the\npeople that day to assemble. It was no other than the holy Archbishop\nUsher; and soon they came to an explanation, for Rutherford had begun\nto suspect he had \"entertained angels unawares.\" With great mutual\nlove they conversed together; and at the request of Rutherford, the\nArchbishop went up to the pulpit, conducted the usual service of the\nPresbyterian pastor, and preached on \"the New Commandment.\"\n\n [30] Hos. xiv. 7.\n\n [31] In the parish church of Chiseldon, North Wilts, there are to be\n seen Eleven Commandments inscribed on a slab (which is affixed to the\n chancel arch); the additional one consisting of our Saviour's\n precept--\"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another\"\n (John xiii. 34). The church is quite an ancient one, dating back to\n 1641.\n\n [32] The place is still pointed out by tradition, as \"Rutherford's\n Walk.\" It was close to the old manse, which was pulled down many years\n ago. It stood about a quarter of a mile from the church, and bore the\n name, _Bushy Bield_, or _Bush o' Bield, i.e._, the bush of shelter.\n Some make it _Bush o' Biel_, and say it is a corruption of\n _Bosco-bello_, fair-wood, _Boscobel_.\n\n[Illustration: BUSH O' BEILD--RUTHERFORD'S HOUSE.]\n\nScarcely less interesting is the record of another unlooked-for\nmeeting. Rutherford had one day left home to go to the neighbouring\ntown of Kirkcudbright, the next day being a day of humiliation in that\nplace. Having no doubt spent some time with his like-minded brother,\nhe turned his steps to the house of another friend, Provost Fullerton,\nwhose wife was Marion M'Naught. While sitting with them in friendly\nconverse a knock at the door was heard, and then a step on the\nthreshold. It was worthy Mr. Blair, who, on his way from London to\nPortpatrick, had sought out some of his godly friends, that with them\nhe might be refreshed ere he returned to Ireland. He told them, when\nseated, that \"he had a desire to visit both Mr. Rutherford at Anwoth,\nand Marion M'Naught at Kircudbright; but not knowing how to accomplish\nboth, had prayed for direction at the parting of the road, and laid\nthe bridle on the horse's neck. The horse took the way to\nKirkcudbright, and there he found both the friends he so longed to\nsee.\" It was a joyful and refreshing meeting on all sides. Wodrow\ntells[33] another incident that, in part, bears some resemblance to\nthis. Rutherford had been reasoning at Stirling with the Marquis of\nArgyle, and had set out homeward. But his horse was very troublesome,\nand he was feeling in his mind that he should have been more urgent\nand plain! He returned, and dealt freely this time. And now his horse\nwent on pleasantly all the way.\n\n [33] \"Analecta,\" vol. ii. p. 161.\n\nIn 1634 he attended the remarkable deathbed of Lord Kenmure, a\nnarrative of which he published fifteen years after, in \"The Last and\nHeavenly Speeches and Glorious Departure of John Viscount Kenmure.\"\nThe inroads of Episcopacy were at this time threatening to disquiet\nAnwoth. His own domestic afflictions were still affecting him; for he\nwrites that same year, in referring to his wife's death many years\nbefore, \"which wound is not yet fully healed and cured.\" About that\ntime, too, there was a proposal (never carried into effect) to call\nhim to Cramond near Edinburgh,[34] and another to get him settled at\nKirkcudbright.\n\n [34] Letter xliii. His friend and neighbour Mr. Dalgleish, minister of\n Kirkdale and Kirkmabreck, was translated to Cramond in 1639.\n\nMeanwhile he persevered in study as well as in labours, and with no\ncommon success. He had a metaphysical turn, as well as great\nreadiness in using the accumulated learning of other days. It might be\ninstructive to inquire why it is that wherever godliness is healthy\nand progressive, we almost invariably find learning in the Church of\nChrist attendant on it: while on the other hand, neglect of study is\nattended sooner or later by decay of vital godliness. Not that all are\nlearned in such times; but there is always an element of the kind in\nthe circle of those whom the Lord is using. The energy called forth by\nthe knowledge of God in the soul leads on to the study of whatever is\nlikely to be useful in the defence or propagation of the truth;\nwhereas, on the other hand, when decay is at work and lifelessness\nprevailing, sloth and ease creep in, and theological learning is\nslighted as uninteresting and dry. With Samuel Rutherford and his\ncontemporaries we find learning side by side with vital, and\nsingularly deep, godliness. Gillespie, Henderson, Blair, Dickson, and\nothers, are well-known examples. Nor less distinguished was\nRutherford, who was led by circumstances in 1636 to publish his\nelaborate defence of grace against the Arminians, in Latin. Its title\nis, \"Exercitationes de Gratia.\" So highly was it esteemed at\nAmsterdam, where it was published, that a second edition was printed\nthat very year; and repeated invitations were addressed soon after to\nthe author to come to Holland, and occupy one or other of their\nDivinity chairs. Soon after, the contest for _Christ's kingly office_\nbecame increasingly earnest and keen. To Rutherford it appeared no\nsmall matter. \"I could wish many pounds added to my cross to know that\nby my suffering Christ was set forward in His _kingly office_ in this\nland.\"[35] July 27, 1636, was a day that put his principles to the\ntest. He was called before the High Commission Court, because of\nnonconformity to the acts of Episcopacy, and because of His work\nagainst the Arminians. The Court was presided over by Sydserff, Bishop\nof Galloway, and was held at Wigton, about ten miles from Anwoth,\naccross the Bay. He appeared in person there, and defended himself.\nThe issue could not be doubtful, though Lord Lorn made every exertion\nin his behalf. He was deprived of his ministerial office, which he had\nexercised at Anwoth for a period of nine years,[36] and banished to\nAberdeen. The next day (writing at evening on the subject), he tells\nof his sentence, and calls it, \"The honour that I have prayed for\nthese sixteen years.\" He made up his mind to leave Anwoth at once,\nobserving, with a submissiveness which we might wonder at in\n\n [35] Letter cxv. _See also_ Letter liv.\n\n [36] Letter cclxix. the author of \"Lex Rex,\" \"I propose to obey the\n king, who has power over my body.\" His only alarm was lest this\n separation from his flock might be a chastisement on him from the\n Lord, \"because I have not been so faithful in the end as I was in the\n two first years of my ministry, when sleep departed from mine eyes\n through care for Christ's lambs.\"[37]\n\n [37] Letter cix.\n\nOn leaving Anwoth he directed his steps by Irvine, spending a night\nthere with his beloved friend David Dickson. What a night that must\nhave been! To hear these two in solemn converse! The one could not\nperhaps handle the harp so well as the other; for David Dickson could\nexpress his soul's weary longings and its consoling hopes in such\nstrains as that which has made his name familiar in Scotland, \"O\nmother dear Jerusalem;\" but Rutherford, nevertheless, had so much of\npoetry and sublime enthusiasm in his soul, that any poet could\nsympathise with him to the full. Many of his letters \"from _Christ's\npalace_ in Aberdeen\" are really strains of true poetry. What else is\nsuch an effusion as this, when, rising on eagles' wings, he exclaims,\n\"A land that has more than four summers in the year! What a singing\nlife is there! There is not a dumb bird in all that large field, but\nall sing and breathe out heaven, joy, glory, dominion, to the High\nPrince of that new-found land. And verily the land is sweeter that He\nis the glory of that land.\"[38] \"O how sweet to be wholly Christ's,\nand wholly in Christ; to dwell in Immanuel's high and blessed land,\nand live in that sweetest air, where no wind bloweth but the\nbreathings of the Holy Ghost, no sea nor floods flow but the pure\nwater of life that floweth from under the throne and from the Lamb, no\nplanting, but the tree of life that yieldeth twelve manner of fruits\nevery month! What do we here but sin and suffer? O when shall the\nnight be gone, the shadows flee away, and the morning of the long,\nlong day, without cloud or night, dawn? The Spirit and the bride say,\n'Come!' O when shall the Lamb's wife be ready, and the Bridegroom say,\n'Come?'\"[39] Whoever compares such breathings with David Dickson's\nhymn will see how congenial were their feelings and their hopes, and\neven their mode of expressing what they felt and hoped, though the one\nused prose and the other tried more memorable verse.\n\n [38] Letter cccxxiii.\n\n [39] Letter cccxxxiv.\n\nWe follow Rutherford to Aberdeen, the capital of the North, whither he\nwas accompanied by a deputation of his affectionate parishioners from\nAnwoth, in whose company he would forget the length and tediousness\nof the way. He arrived here in September 1636. This town was at that\ntime the stronghold of Episcopacy and Arminianism, and in it the state\nof religion was very low. \"It consisted of Papists, and men of\nGallio's naughty faith.\"[40] The clergy and doctors took the\nopportunity of Rutherford's arrival to commence a series of attacks on\nthe special doctrines of grace which he held. But in disputation he\nfoiled them; and when many began to feel drawn to him in consequence\nof his earnest dealings and private exhortations, there was a proposal\nmade to remove him from the town. \"So cold,\" writes he, \"is northern\nlove!\" But (added he) \"_Christ and I will bear it_;\"[41] deeply\nfeeling his union to Him who said to Saul, \"Why persecutest thou\n_Me?_\" Often, on the streets,[42] he was pointed as \"_the banished\nminister_;\" and hearing of this, he remarked, \"I am not ashamed of my\ngarland.\" He had visitors from Orkney, and from Caithness, to the\ngreat annoyance of his persecutors.[43] Some blamed him for not being\n\"_prudent enough_,\" as we have seen men ready to do in similar cases\nin our own day; but he replies, \"_It is ordinary that that should be\npart of the cross of those who suffer for Him_.\" Still he enjoyed, in\nhis solitude, occasional intercourse with some of the godly ones,\namong whom were Lady Pitsligo, Lady Burnet of Largs, Andrew Cant, and\nJames Martin. His deepest affliction was separation from his flock at\nAnwoth. Nothing can exceed his tender sorrow over this flock.[44]\n\n [40] Letter lxvi. Dr. James Sibbald, said to have been a man of great\n learning, was minister in one of the churches of New Aberdeen.\n Rutherford attended his preaching, and finding that he taught\n Arminianism, testified against him.\n\n [41] Letter cxvii.\n\n [42] The impression of some readers might be that he was in prison.\n But he never was so. He was _in exile_; but the whole town was his\n _prison_. He was, in this respect, like Shimei confined to Jerusalem\n (Letters lxviii., lxix., etc.). His house was in the Upper Kirkgate.\n\n [43] Letter clxi.\n\n [44] Letter clxxxi.\n\n[Illustration: MARKET CROSS, ABERDEEN]\n\nIt was a saying of his own, \"Gold may be gold, and bear the King's\nstamp upon it, when it is trampled upon by men.\" And this was true of\nhimself. But he came out of his trial not only unscorched, but, as his\nmany letters from Aberdeen show, greatly advanced in every grace. The\nLatin lines prefixed to the early editions of these Letters scarcely\nexaggerate when they sing--\n\n \"Quod Chebar et Patmos divinis vatibus olim;\n Huic fuerant sancto claustra Abred\u00e6a viro.\"\n\nBut we err if we suppose that it was only while there that he\nexperienced that almost ecstatic enjoyment of his Lord. He carried it\naway with him; for is not this the same strain as pervades his\nLetters, when, preaching in 1644, before the House of Commons in\nLondon, he exclaims, \"O for eternity's leisure, to look on Him, to\nfeast upon a sight of His face! O for the long summer day of endless\nages to stand beside Him and enjoy Him! O time, O sin, be removed out\nof the way! O day! O fairest of days, dawn!\"\n\nHe was, during part of two years, closely confined to that town,\nthough not in prison; but in 1638 public events had taken another\nturn. The Lord had stirred up the spirit of the people of Scotland,\nand the covenant was again triumphant in the land. Rutherford hastened\nback to Anwoth. During his absence, \"For six quarters of a year,\" say\nhis parishioners, \"no sound of the Word of God was heard in our kirk.\"\nThe swallows had made their nests there undisturbed for two summers.\n\nHis Letters do not refer to the proceedings of the Glasgow Assembly of\n1638. It is well known, however, that he was no mere indifferent\nspectator to what then took place, but was present, and was member of\nseveral committees which at that time sat on the affairs of the\nchurch. Presbytery being fully restored by that Assembly, it was\nthought right that one so gifted should be removed to a more important\nsphere. He was sent by the church to several districts to promote the\ncause of Reformation and the Covenant; and at length, in spite of his\nreluctance, arising chiefly from love to his flock--his rural flock at\nAnwoth--he was constrained to yield to the united opinion of his\nbrethren, and be removed to the Professor's Chair in St. Andrews in\n1639, and become Principal of the New College. He bargained to be\nallowed to preach regularly every Sabbath in his new sphere; for he\ncould not endure silence when he might speak a word for his Lord. He\nseems to have preached also, as occasion offered, in the parishes\naround, especially at Scoonie, in which the village of Leven\nstands.[45]\n\n [45] \"In 1650, Mr. Samuel Rutherford, minister of St. Andrews, did\n preach the preparation sermon in Cant. v. 2. Mr. Samuel had a lecture\n on Monday following on the 20th chapter of Matthew's Gospel.\"\n\n \"_1651, July 13._--The comm. was given at Scoonie. Mr. Alex.\n Moncrieff, m. there, did preach the Preparation Sermon, and on Monday\n morning Mr. Sa. Rutherford did preach; his text at both occasions was\n Luke vii. 36 till 39 ver. At this time was present, besides Mr. Sa.\n Rutherford, Mr. Ja. Guthrie, and Mr. David Bennet, Mr. Ephraim Melvin,\n and Mr. William Oliphant, m. in Dumfermlin. Thither did resort many\n strangers, so that the throng was great. Mr. Ephraim and Mr. D. Bennet\n both did sit within the pulpit while the minister had his sermon.\" So\n again, \"In _1652, June 13_.--Mr. S. R. of St. Andrews, did preach on\n the Sabbath afternoon; his lecture Luke xiv.; his sermon Luke vii. 36,\n 38, to end. Mr. S. did exhort on Monday following, on his foresaid\n text, Luke vii. 40, 44.\" Once more, \"_1653, Aug. 11_.--A fast keepit\n at Scoonie kirk, Mr. S. R. in the morning, lecture, Jonah ii.; his\n text, Rev. iii. 1, at end. Afternoon preached on same; his lecture\n Psalms cxxx., cxxxi.\" \"_1654, Jan. 4._--Being Saturday, there was a\n Preparation Sermon for a Thanksgiving preached at Scoonie in Fyfe, for\n the continuance of the Gospel in the land and for the spreading of it\n in some places of the Highlands in Scotland, where in some families\n two and in some families one, began to call on God by prayer. Mr.\n Samuel Rutherford, m. in St. Andrews, preached on Saturday; his text,\n Isa. xlix. 9, 10, 11, 12. On the Sabbath, Mr. Alex Moncrieff, m., then\n preached; his lecture, 1 Thess. ch. i.; his text, Coloss. i. 27. In\n the afternoon of the Sabbath, Mr. Samuel preached again upon his\n forementioned text. On Monday morning, Mr. Samuel had a lecture on\n Psal. lxxxviii. He did read the whole Psalm. Observe, that on Saturday\n Mr. Samuel had this expression in his prayer after sermon, desiring\n that the Lord would rebuke Presbyteries and others that had taken the\n keys and the power in their hands, and keeped out, and would suffer\n none to enter (meaning in the ministry) but such as said as they\n said.\"--\"Lamont's Diary.\"\n\nHis hands were necessarily filled with work in his new sphere; yet\nstill he relaxed nothing of his diligence in study. Nor did he lack\nanything of former blessing. It was here the English merchant heard\nhim preach so affectingly on the loveliness of Christ; while such was\nhis success as a Professor that \"the University became a Lebanon out\nof which were taken cedars for building the house of God throughout\nthe land.\"\n\nIn the year 1640, he married his second wife, Jean M'Math, \"a woman,\"\nsays one, \"of such worth, that I never knew any among men exceed him,\nnor any among women exceed her. He who heard either of them pray or\nspeak, might have learnt to bemoan his own ignorance. Oh how many\ntimes I have been convinced, by observing them, of the evil of\nunseriousness unto God, and unsavouriness in discourse.\" They had\nseven children; but only one survived the father, a little daughter,\nAgnes, who does not seem to have been a comfort to her godly\nmother.[46]\n\n [46] In the \"Statistical Account of Scotland\" it is stated that in\n 1642 he was presented to the church of Mid-Calder. But he must have\n declined it at once; for in 1643 Mr. Hugh Kennedy is found the\n ordained and settled pastor of that parish.\n\nIn July 1643, the Westminster Assembly began their sittings; and to it\nhe was sent up as one of the Commissioners from the Church of\nScotland. A sketch of a \"Shorter Catechism\" exists in MS., in the\nlibrary of the Edinburgh University, in _Rutherford's handwriting_,\nvery much resembling the Catechism as it now stands, from which it has\nbeen inferred that he had the principal hand in drawing it up for the\nAssembly. He continued four years attending the sittings of this\nfamous synod, and was of much use in their deliberations. So prominent\na part did he take, that the great Milton has singled him out for\nattack in his lines, \"On the new forcers of conscience, under the Long\nParliament.\" Milton knew him only as an opponent of his sectarian and\nindependent principles, and so could scorn measures proposed by \"Mere\nA. S.[47] and Rutherford.\" But had he known the soul of the man, would\nnot even Milton have found a sublimity of thought and feeling in his\nadversary, that at times approached his own lofty poesy? How\ninteresting, in any point of view, to find the devoted pastor of\nAnwoth, on the streets of London, crossing the path of England's\ngreatest poet.\n\n [47] A. S. stands for _Adam Stewart_, who wrote a pamphlet,\n \"Zerubbabel to Sanballat.\"\n\nDuring his residence in London he was tried with many afflictions.\nSeveral of his family died; and his own health began to give way, so\nthat he and his brother minister, Mr. G. Gillespie, visited Epsom to\ndrink the waters. Yet such was the amazing spirit of the man, under a\nsense of duty, that amid the trials and bustle of that time he wrote,\n\"The Due Right of Presbyteries,\" \"Lex Rex,\" _i.e._ \"The Law, The\nKing,\" and \"Trial and Triumph of Faith.\" Nor was he soured by\ncontroversy. In the preface to one of his controversial works, he\ndiscovers his large-hearted charity and manly impartiality in regard\nto what he saw in these parts. He writes: \"I judge that in England the\nLord hath many names, and a fair company, that shall stand at the side\nof Christ when He shall render up the kingdom to the Father; and that\nin that renowned nation there be men of all ranks, wise, valorous,\ngenerous, noble, heroic, faithful, religious, gracious, learned.\"[48]\n\n [48] Preface to \"Survey of the Spiritual Antichrist.\"\n\nReturning home to St. Andrews, he resumed his labours both in the\ncollege and in the pulpit with all his former zeal. In 1644, it\nappears from the old minutes of Lanark Presbytery, a vacancy having\noccurred, Rutherford was unanimously called to Lanark. He was inclined\nto go, but the Presbytery of St. Andrews refused to loose him. He had\noften preached at Lanark. He declined two invitations to the\nprofessorship in Holland; one from Harderwyck in 1648, the other from\nUtrecht in 1651; though the former offered the chair both of Divinity\nand of Hebrew. He joined the Protestors in determinedly opposing the\nproceedings of the Commission of Assembly, who had censured such as\nprotested against the admission to power of persons in the class of\nmalignants. His friend David Dickson keenly opposed him, and Mr. Blair\nalso, though less violently.[49] It was this controversy that made\nJohn Livingstone say, in a letter to Blair, \"Your and Mr. D. Dickson's\naccession to these resolutions is the saddest thing I have seen in my\ntime. My wife and I have had more bitterness in this respect, these\nseveral months, than ever we had since we knew what bitterness meant.\"\nRutherford wrote too violently on this matter.[50] Some say he was\nnaturally hot and fiery; but at this time all parties were greatly\nexcited. Still he did not lose his brotherly love--the same brotherly\nlove that led him so fervently to embrace Archbishop Usher as a\nfellow-believer. We may get a lesson for our times from his remarks on\noccasion of these bitter controversies. \"It is hard when saints\nrejoice in the sufferings of saints, and redeemed ones hurt, and go\nnigh to hate, redeemed ones. For contempt of the communion of saints,\nwe have need of new-born crosses, scarce ever heard of before.--Our\nstar-light hideth us from ourselves, and hideth us from one another,\nand Christ from us all.\" And then he subjoins (and is he not borne out\nby the words of the Lord in John xvii. 22?): \"A doubt it is if we\nshall have fully one heart till we shall enjoy one heaven.\" The state\nof things lay heavy on his mind: \"I am broken and wasted by the wrath\nthat is upon this land.\"\n\n [49] When the Lord's Supper was to be dispensed, Blair in vain used\n every argument to induce Rutherford to take part with himself and Mr.\n Wood in serving tables; and, being forced to do it alone, began thus:\n \"We must have water in our wine while here. O to be above, where there\n will be no mistakes!\"--\"Wodrow's Anal.\"\n\n [50] \"Brodie's Diary\" (May 27, 1653) says that S. R. in a conference\n in \"Warriston's Chambers\" retorted, that he had heard much of peace\n with men, but would like better to hear of a peace with God, and with\n sin, that His wrath may be turned away, without which a patched peace\n would be little effectual (p. 43). In June a longer conference (pp.\n 48, 49, 50).\n\nIt was in 1651 that he published his work \"De Divin\u00e2 Providenti\u00e2,\" a\nwork in which he assailed Jesuits, Socinians, and Arminians. Richard\nBaxter (tinged as he was with the Arminian theology), in referring to\nthis treatise, remarked (says Wodrow), that \"His Letters were the best\npiece, and this work the worst, he had ever read.\" Of course, this was\nthe language of controversy, for the book is one of great ability. It\nwas this work, indeed, that drew forth several invitations from\nforeign Universities. The ten years that followed were times of much\ndistraction, being the times of Cromwell and the Commonwealth, as well\nas of the Protesters and Resolutioners. In 1651 the Scottish nation\nresolved to crown Charles II., as lawful king, at Scone; and when the\nyoung king was at St. Andrews, in prospect of that event, he visited\nthe colleges. It fell to Rutherford to deliver, on that occasion, an\noration in Latin before His Majesty, on a subject which he could\nhandle well, both as a patriot and a Christian, \"The Duty of Kings.\"\n\nMilton sings--\n\n \"God doth not need\n Either man's work, or His own gifts; His state\n Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed,\n And post o'er land and ocean without rest:\n _They also serve who only stand and wait_.\"\n\nIt is mentioned in \"Lamont's Diary,\" 27th Sept. 1653, that at the\nProvincial Synod of Fyfe, which met at St. Andrews, Mr. Samuel\nRutherford presented a paper to the Moderator, relating to the sins of\nthe ministry, which was not accepted. Upon the refusal of it, some\nwords passed between Rutherford and Mr. Robert Blair, the Moderator,\nanent the public business. At the close of that meeting, two English\nofficers entered; upon which they were asked, \"If they had come to sit\nand voice with them?\" They said, \"No; only to see that they ruled\nnothing in prejudice to the Commonwealth.\" The days were evil, and\nRutherford was longing now for such quiet service. He sometimes refers\nto this desire; he wishes for a harbour in his latter days; only (adds\nhe), \"failing is serving\"--and he did delight in serving his Lord to\nthe last.[51] His friend M'Ward, in an advertisement prefixed to the\nearlier editions of the Letters, bitterly laments the loss of a\nCommentary on Isaiah, on which \"this true Zechariah, who had\nunderstanding in the visions of God,\"[52] employed his leisure time\nduring the closing years of his life.[53] \"His heart travailed more,\"\nsays he, \"in birth of this piece than ever I knew him of any; neither\nwas there ever anything he put his hand to that would have so\npowerfully persuaded this panter after the enjoyment of his Master's\ncompany, to have had his heaven and the immediate fruition of God\nsuspended for a season, as the eager desire he had to finish this work\nbefore he finished his course.\" But all these papers were carried off,\nand never recovered. So true is it, that of the seed we sow, we \"know\nnot whether shall prosper, either this or that\" (Eccles. xi. 6).\n\n [51] In 1655, we find in \"Diary of Brodie of Brodie,\" p. 141:--\"Quhil\n Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Blair, Mr. Wood, and many others, are labouring in\n places, and as we hear come small speed; Oh, is it not a marvel that\n _we_ should be discouraged!\"\n\n [52] 2 Chron. xxvi. 5.\n\n [53] He planned a Commentary on Hosea in 1657, but the design was not\n executed. Reference is made to this in Letter cx.\n\nWhen Charles II. was fully restored, and had begun to adopt arbitrary\nmeasures, Rutherford's work, \"Lex Rex,\" was taken notice of by the\nGovernment; for, reasonable as are its principles in defence of the\nliberty of subjects, its spirit of freedom was intolerable to rulers,\nwho were, step by step, advancing to acts of cruelty and death.\nIndeed, it was so hateful to them, that they burnt it, in 1661, first\nat Edinburgh, by the hands of the hangman; and then, some days after,\nby the hands of the infamous Sharpe, under the windows of its author's\nCollege in St. Andrews. He was next deposed from all his offices; and,\nlast of all, was summoned to answer at next Parliament a charge of\nhigh treason. But the citation came too late. He was already on his\ndeathbed, and on hearing of it, calmly remarked, that he had got\nanother summons before a superior Judge and judicatory, and sent the\nmessage, \"I behove to answer my first summons; and, ere your day\narrive, I will be where few kings and great folks come.\"\n\nWe have no account of the nature of his last sickness, except that it\nwas a lingering disease. He had a daughter who died a few weeks before\nhimself. All that is told us of his deathbed is characteristic of the\nman. At one time he spoke much of \"the white stone\" and \"the new\nname.\" When he was on the threshold of glory, ready to receive the\nimmortal crown, he said, \"Now my tabernacle is weak, and I would think\nit a more glorious way of going home to lay down my life for the\ncause, at the Cross of Edinburgh or St. Andrews; but I submit to my\nMaster's will.\" Some days before his death, after a fainting fit, he\nsaid, \"Now I feel, I believe, I enjoy, I rejoice.\" And turning to Mr.\nBlair, \"I feed on manna: I have angels' food. My eyes shall see my\nRedeemer. I know that He shall stand on earth at the latter day, and I\nshall be caught up in the clouds to meet Him in the air.\"[54] When\nasked, \"What think ye now of Christ?\" he replied, \"I shall live and\nadore Him. Glory, glory to my Creator and Redeemer for ever. Glory\nshineth in Immanuel's land.\" The same afternoon he said, \"I shall\nsleep in Christ; and when I awake, I shall be satisfied with His\nlikeness. O for arms to embrace Him!\" Then he cried aloud, \"O for a\nwell-tuned harp!\" This last expression he used more than once, as if\nalready stretching out his hand to get his golden harp, and join the\nredeemed in their new song. He also said on another occasion, \"I hear\nHim saying to me, 'Come up hither.'\" His little daughter Agnes (the\nonly survivor of six children), eleven years of age, stood by his\nbedside; he looked on her, and said, \"I have left her upon the Lord.\"\nWell might the man say so, who could so fully testify of his portion\nin the Lord, as a goodly heritage. To four of his brethren, who came\nto see him, he said, \"My Lord and Master is chief of ten thousands of\nthousands. None is comparable to Him, in heaven or in earth. Dear\nbrethren, do all for _Him_. Pray _for Christ_. Preach _for Christ_. Do\nall for _Christ_; beware of men-pleasing. The Chief Shepherd will\nshortly appear.\" He often called Christ \"His Kingly King.\" While he\nspoke even rapturously, \"I shall shine! I shall see Him as He is! I\nshall see Him reign, and all His fair company with Him, and I shall\nhave my large share\"--he at the same time would protest, \"I renounce\nall that ever He made me will or do as defiled or imperfect as coming\nfrom myself. I betake myself to Christ for sanctification as well as\njustification.\" Repeating 1 Cor. i. 30, he said, \"I close with it! Let\nHim be so. He is my all and all.\" \"If He should slay me ten thousand\ntimes I will trust.\" He spoke as if he knew the hour of his departure;\nnot perhaps as Paul (2 Tim. iv. 6) or Peter (2 Peter i. 14), yet still\nin a manner that seems to indicate that the Lord draws very near His\nservants in that hour, and gives glimpses of what He is doing. On the\nlast day of his life, in the afternoon, he said, \"This night will\nclose the door, and fasten my anchor within the veil, and I shall go\naway in a sleep by five o'clock in the morning.\" And so it was. He\nentered Immanuel's land at that very hour, and is now (as himself\nwould have said) \"sleeping in the bosom of the Almighty,\" till the\nLord come.\n\n [54] \"Lamont's Diary,\" p. 133.\n\nWe may add his latest words. \"There is nothing now between me and the\nResurrection but 'This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise.'\" He\ninterrupted one speaking in praise of his painfulness in the ministry,\n\"I disclaim all. The port I would be in at is redemption and\nforgiveness of sin through His blood.\" Two of his biographers record\nthat his last words were, \"Glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel's land!\"\nas if he had caught a glimpse of its mountain-tops.\n\nIt was at St. Andrews he died, on 30th March 1661, and there he was\nburied. \"Lamont's Diary,\" p. 133, says: \"He was interred on the 30th\nof March, in the ordinary burial place.\" Had he lived a few weeks his\nmight have been the cruel death endured by his friend James Guthrie,\nwhom he had encouraged, by his letters, in stedfastness to the end.\nThe sentence which the Parliament passed, when told that he was dying,\ndid him no dishonour. When they had voted that he should not die in\nthe College, Lord Burleigh rose and said, \"Ye cannot vote him out of\nheaven.\"\n\nHis death was lamented throughout the land; and to this day few names\nare so well known and honoured. So great was the reverence which some\nof the godly had for this man of God, that they requested to be buried\nwhere his body was laid. This was Thomas Halyburton's dying\nrequest.[55] An old man in the parish of Crailing (in which Nisbet,\nhis birthplace, is situated) remembers the veneration entertained for\nhim by the great-grandfather of the present Marquis of Lothian. This\ngood Marquis used to lift his hat, as often as he passed the spot\nwhere stood the cottage in which Samuel Rutherford was born. He was\ntwice married. His widow survived him fourteen years.\n\n [55] See (ch. vi.) of \"Memoir of Halyburton,\" who, on his deathbed,\n quoted Rutherford's words, \"Glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel's land.\"\n\n[Illustration: RUINS OF ST. ANDREWS CATHEDRAL.]\n\nIf ever there was any portrait of him, it is not now known. The\nportraits sometimes given of him are all imaginary. We are most\nfamiliar with the likeness of his soul. There is one expressive line\nin the epitaph on his tombstone, in the churchyard at the boundary\nwall opposite the door of St Regulus' Tower--\n\n \"What tongue, what pen, or skill of men,\n Can famous Rutherford commend!\n His learning justly raised his fame,\n True godliness adorn'd his name.\n He did converse with things above,\n _Acquainted with Immanuel's love_.\"\n\nA monument to his memory was erected in 1842, by subscription, on the\nBoreland Hill, in the parish of Anwoth. It is sixty feet in height,\nand thus, seen all around, it seems to remind the inhabitants of that\nregion how God once visited His people there.\n\n * * * * *\n\nHis letters have long been famous among the godly. The present edition\nof them has several things to recommend it. 1. The Letters are\nchronologically arranged. 2. They have biographical notices prefixed\nto a large number of them. Most of these are from the pen of the Rev.\nJames Anderson. The present editor has added, here and there,\ntopographical notes that seemed to have some interest, most of them\ngleaned on the spot. The explanatory notes in the edition by the Rev.\nC. Thomson, 1836, have often been consulted with much advantage. 3.\nThere are contents prefixed to each Letter, describing generally what\nare the main subjects of each. 4. _There are some new letters inserted\nin this collection; and there is a facsimile of an unpublished letter\ndirected to the Provost of Edinburgh_, at the time when there was an\nattempt made to call Rutherford to that city. The letter, which is\npreserved in the Records of the Edinburgh Town Council, entreats them\nto drop the matter. It is written in a very small hand, as was usual\nwith him, and the seal on it has the armorial bearing of the\nRutherford family.\n\n[Illustration: RUTHERFORD'S MONUMENT ON BORELAND HILL.]\n\nIf it be asked how it came about that these letters should have been\nat first printed in an order entirely unchronological, the explanation\nis simple: The first edition appeared in 1664, and in it there were\nonly two hundred and eighty-four of his letters gathered and\npublished; but many being edified thereby, an edition soon appeared\nwith sixty-eight more letters appended. All these seem to have been\nprinted very much in the order in which they came to hand, and the\nadditional sixty-eight, more especially, disturbed all arrangement.\nThe collector was Mr. M'Ward,[56] who, as a student, being much\nbeloved by Rutherford, went to the Westminster Assembly with him as\nhis amanuensis or secretary. He was afterwards successor to Andrew\nGray in Glasgow, and finally minister in Rotterdam. He gave them to\nthe public with an enthusiastic recommendation, under the title,\n\"Joshua Redivivus;[57] published for the use of all the people of God,\nbut more particularly for those who are now, or afterwards may be, put\nto suffering for Christ and His cause; by a well-wisher to the work\nand people of God. John xvi. 2; 2 Thessal. i. 6.\" The edition was in\nduodecimo, and was printed at Rotterdam. Not only were the Letters\nfirst published in Holland, but also, in 1674, there appeared a Dutch\ntranslation of them at Flushing.\n\n [56] In \"Lamont's Diary,\" April 1650, we read of \"Mr. Robert Makeward,\n sometime servant (_i.e._ secretary) to Mr. Samuel Rutherford, minister\n of St. Andrews.\"\n\n [57] Why \"_Joshua_\"? Did he think of the faithful witnessing in Joshua\n xxiv.? Or is the reference to Joshua as one of the spies? _See_ Letter\n cxviii.\n\nIt will be noticed, in reading the Letters as they stand\nchronologically, that at times the pen of the ready writer ran on with\namazing rapidity. He has written many in one day when his heart was\noverflowing. It was easy to write when the Lord was pouring on him the\nunction that teacheth all things. He would have written still more,\nbut he had heard that people looked up to him and overpraised his\nLetters. During his confinement at Aberdeen, he wrote about two\nhundred and twenty of these letters.\n\nThere are a few distasteful expressions in these epistolary effusions,\nthe sparks of a fancy that sought to appropriate everything to\nspiritual purposes; but as to extravagance in the thoughts conveyed,\nthere is none. An old Memoir of Richard Cameron, the martyr, mentions\nat the close that it had become a fashion among \"profane preachers and\nexpectants\" to say of these Letters, \"They are fit only for old\nwives.\" Dr. Love, on the other hand, protests, \"The haughty contempt\nof that book which is in the heart of many will be ground for\ncondemnation when the Lord cometh to make inquisition after such\nthings\" (Letter xiv.). The extravagance in sentiment alleged against\nthem by some is just that of Paul, when he spoke of knowing \"the\nheight and depth, length and breadth,\" of the love of Christ; or that\nof Solomon, when the Holy Ghost inspired him to write \"The Song of\nSongs.\" Rather would we say of these Letters, what Livingstone in a\nletter says of John Welsh's dying words, \"O for a sweet fill of this\nfanatic humour!\" In modern days, Richard Cecil has said of Rutherford,\n\"He is one of my classics; he is a real original;\" and, in older\ntimes, Richard Baxter, some of whose theological leanings might have\nprejudiced him, if anything could, said of his Letters, \"Hold off the\nBible, such a book the world never saw.\" They were long ago translated\ninto Dutch, and of late years they have been translated into German.\nBoth in these, and in his other writings, we see sufficient proof that\nhad he cultivated literature as a pursuit, he might have stood high in\nthe admiration of men.[58]\n\n [58] Even in his controversial works, sparks of the same poetic fire\n fly out when opportunity occurs. In his Treatise \"De Divina\n Providenti\u00e2,\" the following paragraph occurs, extolling the glory of\n Godhead wisdom. \"Comparentur cum illa increata sapientia Dei Patris\n umbratiles scintillul\u00e6 creat\u00e6 gloriol\u00e6 quotquot nominis celebritate\n inclaruerunt. Delirat _Plato_. Mentitur _Aristoteles_. _Cicero_\n balbutit, h\u00e6sitat, nescit Latine loqui. _Demosthenes_ mutus et\n elinguis obstupescit; virtutis viam ignorat _Seneca_; nihil canit\n _Homerus_; male canit _Virgilius!_ Accedant ad Christum qui virtutis\n gloria fulgent! _Aristides_ virtutem mentitur. _Fabius_ cespitat, a\n via justiti\u00e6 deviat. _Socrates_ ne hoc quidem scit, se nihil scire.\n _Cato_ levis et futilis est; _Solon_ est mundi et voluptatum servus et\n mancipium, non legislator. _Pythagoras_ nec sophos, nec philosophus\n est. _Bias_ nec mundi nec inanis glori\u00e6 contemptor. _Alexander Macedo_\n ignavus est,\" &c. Another work bears this title: \"Exercitationes\n Apologetic\u00e6 pro Divin\u00e2 Grati\u00e2, studio et industria Samuelis\n Rh\u00e6torfortis, Anwetensis, in Gallovidi\u00e2, Scoti\u00e6 provinci\u00e2 Pastoris.\"\n The preface, or dedication, to _Gordon of Kenmure_, is very\n characteristic, ending thus: \"Non enim ignoras in hac valle miseriarum\n minime sistendum, neque tentorium figendum; ad \u00e6ternitatem ipsam (quod\n vere magnum nomen est & ineffabile) te vocari; crescere iter,\n decrescere diem, omnia alia aliena, tempus tantum nostrum esse, si\n modo nostrum est.\" In this preface he calls himself \"_Pastor\n Anwetensis_,\" the old spelling of Anwoth being _Anweth_.\n\nHis correspondents were chiefly persons residing either in Galloway,\nwhere Anwoth was, or in Ayrshire; for these two counties at that time\nwere rich in godly men of some standing.\n\nHis pen suggests often, by a few strokes, very much that is profound\nand impressive. There is something not easily forgotten in the words\nused to express the Church's indestructibleness when he says, \"The\nbush has been burning these five thousand years, and _no man yet saw\nthe ashes of that fire_\" (Letter cccxvii.). How much truth is conveyed\nin that saying, \"Losses for Christ are but goods given out in bank in\nChrist's hand.\" There is an ingenious use of Scripture that often\ndelights the reader; as when he speaks of \"The corn on the house-tops\nthat never got the husbandman's prayer,\" or of \"Him that counteth the\nbasons and knives of His house (Ezra i. 9, 10), and bringeth them back\nsafe to His second temple\" (Letter cccxxxiii.).\n\nIt is a curious fact that only in Letter cccxxv., does he speak of the\nHoly Spirit, though elsewhere (see \"Life of Grace\") very full are his\nstatements of the Spirit's work. The truth is, a man full of the Holy\nGhost is full of Christ and testifies to Him.\n\nThese letters will ever be precious to--\n\n1. _All who are sensible of their own, and the Church's decay and\ncorruptions._--The wound and the cure are therein so fully opened out:\nself is exposed, specially _spiritual self_. He will tell you, \"There\nis as much need to watch over grace, as to watch over sin.\" He will\nshow you God in Christ, to fill up the place usurped by self. The\nsubtleties of sin, idols, snares, temptations, self-deceptions, are\ndragged into view from time to time. And what is better still, the\ncords of Christ are twined round the roots of these bitter plants,\nthat they may be plucked up.\n\nNor is it otherwise in regard to corruption in public, and in the\nChurch. We do not mean merely the open corruption of error, but also\nthe secret \"grey hairs\" of decay. Hear him cry, \"There is universal\ndeadness on all that fear God. O where are the sometime quickening\nbreathings and influences from heaven that have refreshed His hidden\nones!\" And then he laments, in the name of the saints, \"We are half\nsatisfied with our witheredness; nor have we as much of his strain who\ndoth eight times breathe out that suit (Psalm cxix.), Quicken me!\" \"We\nlive far from the well, and complain but dryly of our dryness.\"\n\n2. _All who delight in the Surety's imputed righteousness._--If\nthoroughly aware of the body of sin in ourselves we cannot but feel\nthat we need a _person_ in our stead--the person of the God-man in the\nroom of our guilty person. \"To us a Son is given;\" not salvation only,\nbut a Saviour. \"He gave _Himself_ for _us_.\"\n\nThese letters are ever leading us to the Surety and His righteousness.\nThe eye never gets time to rest long on anything apart from Him and\nHis righteousness. We are shown the deluge-waters undried up, in order\nto lead us into the ark again: \"I had fainted, had not want and penury\nchased me to the storehouse of all.\"\n\n3. _All who rejoice in the Gospel of free grace._--Lord Kenmure having\nsaid to him, \"Sin causeth me to be jealous of His love to such a man\nas I have been,\" he replied, \"Be jealous of yourself, my Lord, but not\nof Jesus Christ.\" In his \"Trial and Triumph of Faith\" he remarks, \"As\nholy walking is a duty coming from us, it is no ground of true peace.\nBelievers often seek in themselves what they should seek in Christ.\"\nIt is to the like effect he says in one of his letters, \"Your heart is\nnot the compass that Christ saileth by,\"--turning away his friend\nfrom looking inward, to look upon the heart of Jesus. And this is his\nmeaning, when he thus lays the whole burden of salvation on the Lord,\nand leaves nothing for us but acceptance, \"Take ease to thyself, and\nlet Him bear all.\"[59] Then, pointing us to the risen Saviour as our\npledge of complete redemption, \"Faith may dance, because Christ\nsingeth;\"[60] \"Faith _apprehendeth pardon_, but never payeth a penny\nfor it.\"[61] On his death-bed he said to his friends, \"I disclaim all\nthat ever God made me will or do, and I look upon it as defiled and\nimperfect.\" And so in his Letters he will admit of no addition, or\nintermixture of other things, \"The Gospel is like a small hair that\nhath no breadth, and will not cleave in two.\"[62] He exhorts to\n_Assurance_ as being the way to be humbled very low before God:\n\"Complaining is but a humble backbiting and traducing of Christ's new\nwork in the soul.\" \"Make meikle of assurance, for it keepeth your\nanchor fixed.\"[63] He warns us, in his \"Trial and Triumph of Faith,\"\n\"not to be too desirous of keen awakenings to chase us to Christ. Let\nChrist tutor me as he thinketh good. He has seven eyes: I have but\none, and that too dim.\" In a similar strain he writes:--\"The law shall\nnever be my doomster, by Christ's grace; I shall find a sure enough\ndoom in the Gospel to humble and cast me down. _There cannot be a more\nhumble soul than a believer. It is no pride in a drowning man to catch\nhold of a rock._\"[64] How much truth there is here! Naaman never was\nhumble in any degree, until he felt himself _completely healed_ of his\nscaly leprosy; but truly he was humbled and humble then. And what one\nword is there that suggests so many humbling thoughts as that word\n\"_grace_\"?\n\n [59] Letter clxxxii.\n\n [60] Letter clxxxiii.\n\n [61] Letter clxxxii.\n\n [62] Letter cclxxix.\n\n [63] Letter cclxxxviii.\n\n [64] Letter ccxxx.\n\n4. _All who seek to grow in holiness._--The Holy Ghost delights to\nshow us the glorious Godhead, in the face of Jesus. And this is a very\nfrequent theme in these Letters. \"Take Christ for sanctification, as\nwell as justification,\" is often his theme. And in him we see a man\nwho seems to have fought for _holiness_ as unceasingly and as eagerly\nas other men seek for _pardon and peace_. In him \"_Holiness to the\nLord_\" seems written on every affection of the heart, and on every\nfresh-springing thought.\n\nFellowship with the living God is a distinguishing feature in the\nholiness given by the Holy Ghost; we get \"access by one Spirit to the\nFather through Him.\"[65] Rutherford could sometimes say, \"I have been\nso near Him that I have said, 'I take instruments that this is the\nLord.'\"[66] And he could from experience declare, \"I dare avouch, the\nsaints know not the length and largeness of the sweet Earnest, and of\nthe sweet green sheaves before the harvest, that might be had on this\nside of the water, _if we should take more pains_.\"[67] \"I am every\nway in your case, as hard-hearted and dead as any man, but yet I speak\nto Christ through my sleep.\"[68] All this is from the pen of a man who\nwas a metaphysician, a controversialist, a leader in the church, and\nlearned in ancient and scholastic lore. Why are there not such\ngracious, as well as great men now?\n\n [65] Ephes. ii. 18.\n\n [66] Letter xcix.\n\n [67] Letter ccii.\n\n [68] Letter cclxxxvi.\n\n5. _All afflicted persons._--Here he had the very \"tongue of the\nlearned, to speak a word in season to him that was weary.\" And with\nwhat tender sympathy does he speak, leading the mourner so gently to\nthe heart of Jesus! He knew the heart of a stranger, for he had been a\nstranger. \"Let no man after me slander Christ for His cross.\"[69] Yes,\nsays he, His most loved are often His most tried: \"The lintel-stone\nand pillars of His New Jerusalem suffer more knocks of God's hammer\nand tools than the common side-wall stones.\"[70] Even as to reproach\nand calumny, he declares, \"I love Christ's worst reproaches.\"\n\n [69] Letter cvii.\n\n [70] Letter cii.\n\nIt was to Hugh M'Kail, uncle of the youthful martyr, that he penned\nthe words, \"Some have written me that I am possibly too joyful of the\ncross; but my joy overleapeth the cross--it is bounded and terminated\non Christ.\"[71] And there it was he found a well of comfort never dry.\n\n [71] Letter ccvi.\n\n6. _All who love the Person of Christ._--We have too often been\nsatisfied with speculative truth and abstract doctrine. On the one\nhand, the orthodox have too often rested in the statements of our\nCatechisms and Confessions; and, on the other, the \"Election-doubters\"\n(as Bunyan would have called them) have pressed their favourite dogma,\nthat Christ died for all men, as if mere assent to a proposition could\nsave the soul. Rutherford places the truth before us in a more\naccurate, and also more savoury way, full of life and warmth. The\nPerson of Him who gave Himself for His church is held up in all its\nattractiveness. With him, it is ever the Person as much as the work\ndone; or rather, never the one apart from the other. Like Paul, he\nwould fain know _Him_, as well as the power of His resurrection.[72]\n\n [72] Phil. iii. 10.\n\nOnce, when Lord Kenmure asked him, \"What will Christ be like when He\ncometh?\" his reply was, \"_All lovely_.\" And this is everywhere the\nfavourite theme with him. At times he tells of His love. \"His love\nsurroundeth and surchargeth me.\"[73] \"If His love was not in heaven, I\nshould be unwilling to go thither.\"[74] Often he checks his pen to\ntell of _Christ Himself_, \"Welcome, welcome, sweet, sweet cross of\nChrist;\"--then correcting his language, \"Welcome, fair, lovely, _royal\nKing, with Thine own cross_.\"[75] \"O if I could doat as much upon\n_Himself_ as I do upon His love.\"[76] \"I fear I make more of His love\nthan of _Himself_.\"[77] How startling yet how true, is this remark, \"I\nsee that in communion with Christ we may make more gods than\none,\"[78]--meaning that we may be tempted to make the enjoyment itself\nour god. It was his habitual aim to pass through privileges, joys,\neven fellowship, to God Himself: \"I have casten this work upon Christ,\nto get me _Himself_.\"[79] \"I would be farther in upon Christ than at\nHis joys; in, where love and mercy lodgeth; beside His heart.\"[80] \"He\nwho sitteth on the throne is His lone a sufficient heaven.\"[81] \"Sure\nI am He is the far best half of heaven.\"[82]\n\n [73] Letter civ.\n\n [74] Letter civ.\n\n [75] Letter lxi.\n\n [76] Letter clx.\n\n [77] Letter clxxix.\n\n [78] Letter clxviii.\n\n [79] Letter clxxxvii.\n\n [80] Letter cclxxxvi.\n\n [81] Letter ccclii.\n\n [82] Letter cclxxix.\n\nIn a word, such was his soul's view of the living Person, that he\nwrites, \"Holiness is not _Christ_, nor the blossoms and flowers of the\ntree of life, nor the tree itself.\"[83] He had found out the true\nfountain-head, and would direct all Zion's travellers thither. And let\na man try this; let the Holy Spirit lead a man to this _Person_;--and\nsurely his experience will be, \"None ever came up dry from David's\nwell.\"\n\n [83] Letter cccxxxvi.\n\n7. _All who love that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the\ngreat God our Saviour._--The more we love the Person of Christ, the\nmore ought we to love His appearing; and the more we cherish both\nfeelings, the holier shall we become. Rutherford abounds in\naspirations for that day; he is one who \"looks for and hastens unto\nthe coming of the day of God!\" While in exile at Aberdeen in 1637, he\nwrites, \"O when will we meet! O how long is it to the dawning of the\nmarriage day! O sweet Jesus, take wide steps! O my Lord, come over\nmountains at one stride! O my Beloved, flee as a roe or young hart\nupon the fountains of separation.\" Now and then he utters the\nexpression of an intense desire for the restoration of Israel to\ntheir Lord, and the fulness of the Gentiles; but far oftener his\ndesires go forth to his Lord Himself. \"O fairest among the sons of\nmen, why stayest Thou so long away? O heavens, move fast! O time, run,\nrun, and hasten the marriage day!\" To Lady Kenmure his words are, \"The\nLord hath told you what you should be doing till He come. 'Wait and\nhasten,' saith Peter, 'for the coming of the Lord.' Sigh and long for\nthe dawning of that morning, and the breaking of that day, of the\ncoming of the Son of Man, when the shadows shall flee away. Wait with\nthe wearied night-watch for the breaking of the eastern sky.\" Those\nsaints who feel most keenly the world's enmity, and the Church's\nimperfection, are those who will most fervently love their Lord's\nappearing. It was thus with Daniel on the banks of Ulai, and with John\nin Patmos; and Samuel Rutherford's most intense aspirations for that\nday are breathed out in Aberdeen.\n\nHis description of himself on one occasion is, \"A man often borne down\nand hungry, and waiting for the marriage supper of the Lamb.\"[84] He\nis now gone to the \"mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense;\"\nand there he no doubt still wonders at the unopened, unsearchable\ntreasures of Christ. But O for his insatiable desires Christward! O\nfor ten such men in Scotland to stand in the gap!--men who all day\nlong find nothing but Christ to rest in, whose very sleep is a\npursuing after Christ in dreams, and who intensely desire to \"awake\nwith His likeness.\"\n\n [84] Letter lxiii.\n\n\n\n\nLIST OF HIS WORKS.\n\n\n 1. _Exercitationes Apologetic\u00e6 pro Divina Gratia._ Amstelodami,\n 12mo, 1636. Franeker\u00e6, 1651.\n\n 2. _A Peaceable and Temperate Plea for Paul's Presbytery in\n Scotland._ London, 4to, 1642.\n\n 3. _A Sermon before the House of Commons, on_ Daniel vi. 26.\n London, 4to, 1644.\n\n 4. _A Sermon before the House of Lords, on_ Luke vii. 22; Mark\n iv. 38; Matt. viii. 26. London, 4to, 1645.\n\n 5. _\"Lex Rex:\" The Law and the Prince._ London, 4to, 1644. In\n Fullarton's _Scottish Nation_, 1862, mention is made\n of another work which is in reality the same as this; on\n _Civil Polity_. London, 4to, 1657. It is not, however, a\n separate work, but merely one of the editions of the\n well-known _Lex Rex_--the edition of 1657, which has the\n following title:--_Lex Rex; a Treatise of Civil Polity;\n being a Resolution of Forty-three Questions concerning\n Prerogative, Right, and Privilege, in reference to the\n Supreme Prince and People_. The change in the title was a\n device of the printer, in order to elude the Government,\n who sought to suppress the book.\n\n 6. _The Due Right of Presbyteries._ London, 4to, 1644.\n\n 7. _The Trial and Triumph of Faith._ London, 4to, 1645.\n\n 8. _The Divine Right of Church Government and Excommunication._\n London, 4to, 1646. Appended to this is _A Dispute touching\n Scandal and Christian Liberty_.\n\n 9. _Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself._ London, 4to,\n 1647.\n\n 10. _A Survey of the Spiritual Antichrist._ London, 1648. To\n which is appended, _A Modest Survey of the Secrets of\n Antinomianism_.\n\n 11. _A Free Disputation against Pretended Liberty of Conscience._\n London, 4to, 1649.\n\n 12. _The Last and Heavenly Speeches of John Gordon, Viscount\n Kenmure._ Edinburgh, 4to, 1649.\n\n 13. _Disputatio Scholastica de Divina Providentia._ Edinburgh,\n 4to, 1651.\n\n 14. _The Covenant of Life Opened._ Edinburgh, 4to, 1655.\n\n 15. _A Survey of Mr. Hooker's Church Discipline; or, A Survey of\n the Survey of that Summe of Discipline penned by Mr.\n Thomas Hooker._ London, 4to, 1658.\n\n 16. _Influences of the Life of Grace._ The last work published in\n his lifetime. London, 4to, 1659. The original title page\n adds:--\"_A Practical Treatise concerning the way, manner,\n and means of having and improving spiritual dispositions\n and quickening influences from Christ, the Resurrection\n and the Life._\"\n\n\nPOSTHUMOUS.\n\n 17. _Joshua Redivivus; or, Mr. Rutherford's Letters._ First\n Edition, 12mo, 1664. No printer's name and no place\n mentioned.\n\n 18. _Examen Arminianismi._ Ultrajecti (Utrecht), 12mo, 1668.\n\n 19. _A Testimony left by Mr. S. Rutherford to the Work of\n Reformation in Great Britain and Ireland before his\n death._ Date uncertain.\n\n 20. _Twelve Communion Sermons._ Glasgow, 1876. This collection\n includes _Christ's Napkin_; and Song ii. 14-17, _Christ\n and the Dove's Heavenly Salutation_. These have internal\n evidence in their favour, viz. the language and general\n strain of thought. Add to these _The Lamb's Marriage_,\n Rev. xix. 7; and another on Song ii. 1-8 appended to a\n second edition, 1877, with the title, \"Fourteen Communion\n Sermons,\" 1877.\n\n 21. _The Cruel Watchmen. The Door of Salvation Opened._\n Edinburgh, 1735. Song v. 7, 8, 9, 10. These two are\n doubtful; at all events, very imperfect, as usually\n printed. The old edition of _The Cruel Watchmen_ is good.\n\n 22. There is a _Treatise on Prayer; The Power and Prevalency of\n Truth and Prayer evidenced, in a Practical Discourse\n upon_ Matt. ix. 27-31. Printed in the year 1713. It is a\n small duodecimo of 111 pp., and has this note appended:\n \"The rest of this Discourse cannot be found, it being\n above fifty years since the author died.\"\n\n An old _Catalogue of the most Vendible Books_, in 1658, gives\n as one of his works, _A Rationale on the Book of Common\n Prayer_, 8vo. But this is a mistake; Antony Sparrow wrote\n the book entitled, _The Rationale, or Practical Exposition\n of the Book of Common Prayer_.\n\n The Diaries of Brodie of Brodie (Spalding Club--Preface p.\n xix.), refer to \"Shorthand Notes of two Sermons by S.\n Rutherford.\" Brodie used to correspond with him, for we\n find, August 6, 1655: \"Mr. Rutherford exhorted me in his\n letter that my right hand might not know what my left\n hand did; and he says that he knows not but that the Lord\n may divorce the mother, but be a sanctuary to the little\n ones.\" We find further that S. R. wrote urging Brodie \"to\n present Mr. Thomas Ross to Ila.\"\n\n 23. _Quaint Sermons_ (eighteen in number), by S. R., never before\n published, with a prefatory note by Rev. And. A. Bonar.\n Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1885.\n\n\n\n\nLETTERS.\n\n\n\n\nI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _on the return home of her daughter_.\n\n [In the early editions the date stands \"1624,\" by a mistake for\n \"1627;\" for Rutherford was not settled in Anwoth in 1624.\n\n For a full notice of _Marion M'Naught_, see what is prefixed to\n Letter VI.]\n\n(_CHILDREN TO BE DEDICATED TO GOD._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED AND DEAR SISTER,--My love in Christ remembered. I have\nsent to you your daughter Grizel with Robert Gordon, who came to fetch\nher. I am in good hopes that the seed of God is in her, as in one born\nof God; and God's seed will come to God's harvest. I have her promise\nshe shall be Christ's. For I have told her she may promise much in His\nworthy name; for He becomes caution to His Father for all such as\nresolve and promise to serve Him. I will remember her to God. I trust\nyou will acquaint her with good company, and be diligent to know with\nwhom she loveth to haunt. Remember Zion, and our necessities. I bless\nyour daughter from our Lord, and pray the Lord to give you joy and\ncomfort of her. Remember my love to your husband, to William and\nSamuel your sons. The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.\n\n Yours at all power in the Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _June 6, 1627_.\n\n\n\n\nII.--_To a Christian Gentlewoman on the death of her daughter._\n\n(_CHRIST'S SYMPATHY WITH, AND PROPERTY IN US--REASONS FOR\nRESIGNATION._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered to you. I was indeed sorrowful\nat my departure from you, especially since ye were in such heaviness\nafter your daughter's death. Yet I do persuade myself, ye know that\nthe weightiest end of the cross of Christ that is laid upon you lieth\nupon your strong Saviour; for Isaiah saith, \"In all your afflictions\nHe is afflicted\" (Isa lxiii. 9). O blessed Second who suffereth with\nyou! and glad may your soul be even to walk in the fiery furnace with\none like unto the Son of Man, who is also the Son of God. Courage! up\nyour heart! When ye do tire, He will bear both you and your burden\n(Ps. lv. 22). Yet a little while and ye shall see the salvation of\nGod. Remember of what age your daughter was, and that just so long was\nyour lease of her. If she was eighteen, nineteen, or twenty years old,\nI know not; but sure I am, seeing her term was come, and your lease\nrun out, ye can no more justly quarrel your great Superior for taking\nHis own at His just term day, than a poor farmer can complain that his\nmaster taketh a portion of his own land to himself when his lease is\nexpired. Good mistress, if ye would not be content that Christ would\nhold from you the heavenly inheritance which is made yours by His\ndeath, shall not that same Christ think hardly of you if ye refuse to\ngive Him your daughter willingly, who is a part of His inheritance and\nconquest? I pray the Lord to give you all your own, and to grace you\nwith patience to give God His also. He is an ill debtor who payeth\nthat which he hath borrowed with a grudge. Indeed, that long loan of\nsuch a good daughter, an heir of grace, a member of Christ (as I\nbelieve), deserveth more thanks at your Creditor's hands, than that ye\nshould gloom and murmur when He craveth but His own. I believe you\nwould judge them to be but thankless neighbours who would pay you a\nsum of money after this manner. But what? Do you think her lost, when\nshe is but sleeping in the bosom of the Almighty? Think her not absent\nwho is in such a friend's house. Is she lost to you who is found to\nChrist? If she were with a dear friend, although you should never see\nher again, your care for her would be but small. Oh, now, is she not\nwith a dear Friend? and gone higher, upon a certain hope that ye\nshall, in the Resurrection, see her again, when (be ye sure) she shall\nneither be hectic nor consumed in body? You would be sorry either to\nbe, or to be esteemed, an atheist; and yet, not I, but the Apostle,\nthinketh those to be hopeless atheists who mourn excessively for the\ndead (Thess. iv. 13). But this is not a challenge on my part. I do\nspeak this only fearing your weakness; for your daughter was a part of\nyourself; and, therefore, nature in you, being as it were cut and\nhalved, will indeed be grieved. But ye have to rejoice, that when a\npart of you is on earth, a great part of you is glorified in heaven.\nFollow her, but envy her not; for indeed it is self-love in us that\nmaketh us mourn for them that die in the Lord. Why? Because for them\nwe cannot mourn, since they are never happy till they be dead;\ntherefore we mourn for our own private respect. Take heed, then, that\nin showing your affection in mourning for your daughter, ye be not,\nout of self-affection, mourning for yourself. Consider what the Lord\nis doing in it. Your daughter is plucked out of the fire, and she\nresteth from her labours; and your Lord, in that, is trying you, and\ncasting you in the fire. Go through all fires to your rest; and now\nremember that the eye of God is upon the bush burning and not\nconsumed; and He is gladly content that such a weak woman as you\nshould send Satan away, frustrate of his design. Now honour God, and\nshame the strong roaring lion, when ye seem weakest. Should such an\none as ye faint in the day of adversity? Call to mind the days of old.\nThe Lord yet liveth. Trust in Him, although He should slay you. Faith\nis exceeding charitable, and believeth no evil of God.[85] Now is the\nLord laying, in the one scale of the balance, your making conscience\nof submission to His gracious will, and in the other, your affection\nand love to your daughter. Which of the two will ye then choose to\nsatisfy? Be wise, then; and as I trust ye love Christ better than a\nsinful woman, pass by your daughter, and kiss the Lord's rod. Men do\nlop the branches off their trees round about, to the end they may grow\nup high and tall. The Lord hath this way lopped your branch in taking\nfrom you many children, to the end you should grow upward, like one of\nthe Lord's cedars, setting your heart above, where Christ is, at the\nright hand of the Father. What is next, but that your Lord cut down\nthe stock after He hath cut the branches? Prepare yourself; you are\nnearer your daughter this day than you were yesterday. While ye\nprodigally spend time in mourning for her, ye are speedily posting\nafter her. Run your race with patience. Let God have His own; and ask\nof Him, instead of your daughter which He hath taken from you, the\ndaughter of faith, which is patience; and in patience possess your\nsoul. Lift up your head: ye do not know how near your redemption doth\ndraw, Thus recommending you to the Lord, who is able to establish you,\nI rest, your loving and affectionate friend in the Lord Jesus,\n\n ANWOTH, _April 23, 1628_.\n\n S. R.\n\n [85] So in his \"sermon before the House of Lords,\" 1645: \"Faith\n thinketh no evil of Christ.\" Also Letters XX. and XCII.: \"Love\n believeth no evil.\"\n\n[Illustration: KENMURE HOUSE.]\n\n\n\n\nIII.--_To the_ VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE, _on occasion of illness and\nspiritual depression_.\n\n [LADY JANE CAMPBELL, Viscountess of Kenmure, was the third\n daughter of Archibald Campbell, seventh Earl of Argyle, and\n sister to the Marquis of Argyle who was beheaded in 1661. She was\n a woman distinguished, in her day, for the depth of her piety,\n and her warm attachment to the Presbyterian interest in Scotland.\n Nor was she less distinguished for generosity and munificence,\n than for piety. Her bounty was in a particular manner extended to\n those whom suffering for conscience' sake had reduced to poverty\n or exile. In the year 1628 she was married to Sir John Gordon of\n Lochinvar, afterwards Viscount Kenmure and Lord Gordon of\n Lochinvar, which is not far from Carsphairn. This union did not\n last many years. In 1634 she became a widow, his Lordship having\n died at Kenmure Castle, on the 12th of September that year, in\n the 35th year of his age. But her sorrow on this occasion was\n alleviated by the Christian resignation and faith which he was\n enabled to exercise under his last illness. To this noble man she\n had two daughters, who died in infancy, one about the beginning\n of the year 1629, and the other in 1634, as may be gathered from\n allusions to these bereavements, contained in two consolatory\n letters written to her by Rutherford in these years. She had\n also, by the same marriage, a son, John, second Viscount of\n Kenmure, who, however, died under age and unmarried, in August\n 1649. This event forms the subject of a letter written to her by\n Rutherford the 1st of October that year. She married a second\n husband, on the 21st of September 1640, the Hon. Sir Henry\n Montgomery of Giffen, second son of Alexander, fifth Earl of\n Eglinton; but this marriage was without issue. Sir Henry's\n religious views were congenial to her own; and he is described as\n an \"active and faithful friend of the Lord's kirk.\" She was soon\n left a widow a second time, in which state she lived till a very\n venerable age, having survived the Restoration a number of years,\n as appears from the fact that Livingstone, at the time of his\n death (which took place at Rotterdam in 1672), speaks of her as\n the oldest acquaintance he then had alive in Scotland. She was a\n regular correspondent of Rutherford, the last of whose letters to\n her is dated July the 24th, 1661, after the execution of her\n brother above mentioned. Nor after Mr. Rutherford's death was she\n unmindful of his widow. \"Madam,\" says Mr. M'Ward, in a letter to\n her, \"Mrs. Rutherford gives me often an account of the singular\n testimony which she met with of your Ladyship's affection to her\n and her daughter.\"\n\n _Kenmure Castle_ is well seen from the road that leads along the\n banks of the Ken. The loch, the river, the old baronial house,\n combine to attract notice. It is built on an insulated knoll,\n well wooded all around. It is four miles from Dalry, and the\n approach is through an avenue of lime-trees. The old garden has a\n hedge of very lofty beech trees, and a curious dial with a Latin\n inscription, dated \"1623. _Joannes Bonar_ fecit\"--the name of the\n person who (it is said) brought it from the Continent.]\n\n(_ACQUIESCENCE IN GOD'S PURPOSE--FAITH IN EXERCISE--ENCOURAGEMENT IN\nVIEW OF SICKNESS AND DEATH--PUBLIC AFFAIRS._)\n\n\nMADAM,--All dutiful obedience in the Lord remembered. I have heard of\nyour Ladyship's infirmity and sickness with grief; yet I trust ye have\nlearned to say, \"It is the Lord, let Him do whatsoever seemeth good in\nHis eyes.\" It is now many years since the apostate angels made a\nquestion, whether their will or the will of their Creator should be\ndone; and since that time, froward mankind hath always in that same\nsuit of law compeared to plead with them against God, in daily\nrepining against His will. But the Lord being both party and judge,\nhath obtained a decreet, and saith, \"My counsel shall stand, and I\nwill do all my pleasure\" (Isa. xlvi. 10). It is then best for us, in\nthe obedience of faith, and in an holy submission, to give that to God\nwhich the law of His almighty and just power will have of us.\nTherefore, Madam, your Lord willeth you, in all states of life, to\nsay, \"Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven:\" and herein shall\nye have comfort, that He, who seeth perfectly through all your evils,\nand knoweth the frame and constitution of your nature, and what is\nmost healthful for your soul, holdeth every cup of affliction to your\nhead, with His own gracious hand. Never believe that your\ntender-hearted Saviour, who knoweth the strength of your stomach,\nwill mix that cup with one drachm-weight of poison. Drink then with\nthe patience of the saints, and the God of patience bless your physic.\n\nI have heard your Ladyship complain of deadness, and want of the\nbestirring power of the life of God. But courage! He who walked in the\ngarden, and made a noise that made Adam hear His voice, will also at\nsome times walk in your soul, and make you hear a more sweet word.\nYet, ye will not always hear the noise and the din of His feet, when\nHe walketh. Ye are, at such a time, like Jacob mourning at the\nsupposed death of Joseph, when Joseph was living. The new creature,\nthe image of the second Adam, is living in you; and yet ye are\nmourning at the supposed death of the life of Christ in you. Ephraim\nis bemoaning and mourning (Jer. xxxi. 18), when he thinketh God is far\noff and heareth not; and yet God is like the bridegroom (Song ii. 9),\nstanding only behind a thin wall and laying to His ear; for He saith\nHimself, \"I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself.\" I have good\nconfidence, Madam, that Christ Jesus, whom your soul through forests\nand mountains is seeking, is within you. And yet I speak not this to\nlay a pillow under your head, or to dissuade you from a holy fear of\nthe loss of your Christ, or of provoking and \"stirring up the Beloved\nbefore He please,\" by sin. I know, in spiritual confidence, the devil\nwill come in, as in all other good works, and cry \"Half mine;\" and so\nendeavour to bring you under a fearful sleep, till He whom your soul\nloveth be departed from the door, and have left off knocking. And,\ntherefore, here the Spirit of God must hold your soul's feet in the\ngolden mid-line, betwixt confident resting in the arms of Christ, and\npresumptuous and drowsy sleeping in the bed of fleshly security.\nTherefore, worthy lady, so count little of yourself, because of your\nown wretchedness and sinful drowsiness, that ye count not also little\nof God, in the course of His unchangeable mercy. For there be many\nChristians most like unto young sailors, who think the shore and the\nwhole land doth move, when the ship and they themselves are moved;\njust so, not a few do imagine that God moveth and saileth[86] and\nchangeth places, because their giddy souls are under sail, and subject\nto alteration, to ebbing and flowing. But \"the foundation of the Lord\nabideth sure.\" God knoweth that ye are His own. Wrestle, fight, go\nforward, watch, fear, believe, pray; and then ye have all the\ninfallible symptoms of one of the elect of Christ within you.\n\n [86] So it is in the earlier editions; not \"faileth.\"\n\nYe have now, Madam, a sickness before you; and also after that a\ndeath. Gather then now food for the journey. God give you eyes to see\nthrough sickness and death, and to see something beyond death. I doubt\nnot but that, if hell were betwixt you and Christ, as a river which ye\nbehoved to cross ere you could come at Him, but ye would willingly put\nin your foot, and make through to be at Him, upon hope that He would\ncome in Himself, in the deepest of the river, and lend you His hand.\nNow, I believe your hell is dried up, and ye have only these two\nshallow brooks, sickness and death, to pass through; and ye have also\na promise that Christ shall do more than meet you, even that He shall\ncome Himself, and go with you foot for foot, yea and bear you in His\narms. O then! O then! for the joy that is set before you; for the love\nof the Man (who is also \"God over all, blessed for ever\"), that is\nstanding upon the shore to welcome you, run your race with patience.\nThe Lord go with you. Your Lord will not have you, nor any of His\nservants, to exchange for the worse. Death in itself includeth both\nthe death of the soul and the death of the body; but to God's children\nthe bounds and the limits of death are abridged and drawn into a more\nnarrow compass. So that when ye die, a piece of death shall only seize\nupon you, or the least part of you shall die, and that is the\ndissolution of the body; for in Christ ye are delivered from the\nsecond death; and, therefore, as one born of God, commit not sin\n(although ye cannot live and not sin), and that serpent shall but eat\nyour earthly part. As for your soul, it is above the law of death. But\nit is fearful and dangerous to be a debtor and servant to sin; for the\ncount of sin ye will not be able to make good before God, except\nChrist both count and pay for you.\n\nI trust also, Madam, that ye will be careful to present to the Lord\nthe present estate of this decaying kirk. For what shall be concluded\nin Parliament anent[87] her, the Lord knoweth. Sure I am, the decree\nof a most fearful parliament in heaven is at the very point of coming\nforth, because of the sins of the land. For \"we have cast away the law\nof the Lord, and despised the words of the Holy One of Israel\" (Isa.\nv. 24). \"Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar\noff; truth is fallen in the streets, and equity cannot enter\" (Isa.\nlix. 14). Lo! the prophet, as if he had seen us and our kirk,\nresembleth _Justice_ to be handled as an enemy holden out at the ports\nof our city [so is she banished!], and _Truth_ to a person sickly and\ndiseased, fallen down in a deadly swooning fit in the streets, before\nhe can come to an house. \"The priests have caused many to stumble at\nthe law, and have corrupted the covenant of Levi\" (Mal. ii. 3). \"But\nwhat will they do in the end?\" Therefore give the Lord no rest for\nZion. Stir up your husband, your brother,[88] and all with whom ye are\nin favour and credit, to stand upon the Lord's side against Baal. I\nhave good hope that your husband loveth the peace and prosperity of\nZion. The peace of God be upon him, for his intended courses anent the\nestablishment of a powerful ministry in this land. Thus, not willing\nto weary your Ladyship further, I commend you now, and always, to the\ngrace and mercy of that God who is able to keep you, that ye fall not.\nThe Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Your Ladyship's servant at all dutiful obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _July 27, 1628_.\n\n [87] \"In reference to her,\"--alluding to the known design of Charles\n I. to enforce conformity to Episcopacy.\n\n [88] The Marquis of Argyle.\n\n\n\n\nIV.--_To the Elect and Noble Lady, my_ LADY KENMURE, _on occasion of\nthe death of her infant daughter_.\n\n(_TRIBULATION THE PORTION OF GOD'S PEOPLE, AND INTENDED TO WEAN THEM\nFROM THE WORLD._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Saluting your Ladyship with grace and mercy from God our\nFather, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,--I was sorry, at my departure,\nleaving your Ladyship in grief, and would still be grieved at it, if I\nwere not assured that ye have One with you in the furnace, whose\nvisage is like unto the Son of God. I am glad that ye have been\nacquainted from your youth with the wrestlings of God, and that ye get\nscarce liberty to swallow down your spittle, being casten from furnace\nto furnace, knowing if ye were not dear to God, and if your health did\nnot require so much of Him, He would not spend so much physic upon\nyou. All the brethren and sisters of Christ must be conform to His\nimage and copy in suffering (Rom. viii. 29). And some do more vively\nresemble the copy than others. Think, Madam, that it is a part of your\nglory to be enrolled among those whom one of the elders pointed out to\nJohn, \"These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have\nwashed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.\"\nBehold your Forerunner going out of the world all in a lake of blood,\nand it is not ill to die as He did. Fulfil with joy the remnant of the\ngrounds and \"remainders of the afflictions of Christ\" in your body\n(Col. i. 24). Ye have lost a child: nay she is not lost to you who is\nfound to Christ. She is not sent away, but only sent before, like unto\na star, which going out of our sight doth not die and evanish, but\nshineth in another hemisphere. Ye see her not, yet she doth shine in\nanother country. If her glass was but a short hour, what she wanteth\nof time that she hath gotten of eternity; and ye have to rejoice that\nye have now some plenishing up in heaven. Build your nest upon no tree\nhere; for ye see God hath sold the forest to death; and every tree\nwhereupon we would rest is ready to be cut down, to the end we may\nfly[89] and mount up, and build upon the Rock, and dwell in the holes\nof the Rock. What ye love besides Jesus, your husband, is an\nadulterous lover. Now it is God's special blessing to Judah, that He\nwill not let her find her paths in following her strange lovers.\n\"Therefore, behold I will hedge up her way with thorns, and make a\nwall that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her\nlovers, but she shall not overtake them\" (Hos. ii. 6, 7). O thrice\nhappy Judah, when God buildeth a double stone wall betwixt her and the\nfire of hell! The world, and the things of the world, Madam, is the\nlover ye naturally affect beside your own husband Christ. The hedge of\nthorns and the wall which God buildeth in your way, to hinder you from\nthis lover, is the thorny hedge of daily grief, loss of children,\nweakness of body, iniquity of the time, uncertainty of estate, lack of\nworldly comfort, fear of God's anger for old unrepented-of sins. What\nlose ye, if God twist and plait the hedge daily thicker? God be\nblessed, the Lord will not let you find your paths. Return to your\nfirst husband. Do not weary, neither think that death walketh towards\nyou with a slow pace. Ye must be riper ere ye be shaken. Your days are\nno longer than Job's, that were \"swifter than a post, and passed away\nas the ships of desire, and as the eagle that hasteth for the prey\"\n(ix. 25, 26, margin). There is less sand in your glass now than there\nwas yesternight. This span-length of ever-posting time will soon be\nended. But the greater is the mercy of God, the more years ye get to\nadvise, upon what terms, and upon what conditions, ye cast your soul\nin the huge gulf of never-ending eternity. The Lord hath told you what\nye should be doing till He come. \"Wait and hasten,\" saith Peter, \"for\nthe Coming of our Lord.\" All is night that is here, in respect of\nignorance and daily ensuing troubles, one always making way to\nanother, as the ninth wave of the sea to the tenth; therefore sigh and\nlong for the dawning of that morning, and the breaking of that day of\nthe Coming of the Son of Man, when the shadows shall flee away.\nPersuade yourself the King is coming; read His letter sent before Him,\n\"Behold, I come quickly\" (Rev. iii. 11). Wait with the wearied\nnight-watch for the breaking of the eastern sky, and think that ye\nhave not a morrow. As the wise father said, who, being invited against\nto-morrow to dine with his friend, answered, \"Those many days I have\nhad no morrow at all.\" I am loth to weary you. Show yourself a\nChristian, by suffering without murmuring, for which sin fourteen\nthousand and seven hundred were slain (Numb. xvi. 49). In patience\npossess your soul. They lose nothing who gain Christ. Thus remembering\nmy brother's and my wife's humble service to your Ladyship, I commend\nyou to the mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus, assuring you that your\nday is coming, and that God's mercy is abiding you. The Lord Jesus be\nwith your spirit.\n\n Yours in the Lord Jesus at all dutiful obedience,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Jan. 15, 1629_.\n\n [89] In the earlier editions it is given \"fly\" throughout; not \"flee.\"\n\n\n\n\nV.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE, _upon her removal with her husband from the\nparish of Anwoth_.\n\n(_CHANGES AND LOSS OF FRIENDS--THIS WORLD NO ABIDING PLACE._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Saluting you in Jesus Christ,--to my grief I must bid you (it\nmay be, for ever) farewell, in paper, having small assurance ever to\nsee your face again till the last general assembly, where the whole\nchurch universal shall meet; yet promising, by His grace, to present\nyour Ladyship and your burdens to Him who is able to save you, and\ngive you an inheritance with the saints, after a more special manner\nthan ever I have done before.[90]\n\n [90] Lord Kenmure and his lady resided at Rusco, in the parish of\n Anwoth, during the first two years of Rutherford's ministry there; but\n they were now about to leave it. See Letter CXLVII.\n\nYe are going to a country where the Sun of righteousness, in the\nGospel, shineth not so clearly as in this kingdom; but if ye would\nknow where He whom your soul loveth doth rest, and where He feedeth at\nthe noontide of the day, wherever ye be, get you forth by the\nfootsteps of the flock, and feed yourself beside the shepherds' tents\n(Song i. 7, 8), that is, ask for some of the watchmen of the Lord's\ncity, who will tell you truly, and will not lie, where ye shall find\nHim whom your soul loveth. I trust ye are so betrothed in marriage to\nthe true Christ, that ye will not give your love to any false Christ.\nYe know not how soon your marriage-day will come; nay, is not eternity\nhard upon you? It were time, then, that ye had your wedding garment in\nreadiness. Be not sleeping at your Lord's Coming. I pray God you may\nbe upon your feet standing when He knocketh. Be not discouraged to go\nfrom this country to another part of the Lord's earth: \"The earth is\nHis, and the fulness thereof.\" This is the Lord's lower house; while\nwe are lodged here, we have no assurance to lie ever in one chamber,\nbut must be content to remove from one corner of our Lord's nether\nhouse to another, resting in hope that, when we come up to the Lord's\nupper city, \"Jerusalem that is above,\" we shall remove no more,\nbecause then we shall be at home. And go wheresoever ye will, if your\nLord go with you, ye are at home; and your lodging is ever taken\nbefore night, so long as He who is Israel's dwelling-house is your\nhome (Psa. xc. 1). Believe me, Madam, my mind is that ye are well\nlodged, and that in your house there are fair ease-rooms and pleasant\nlights, if ye can in faith lean down your head upon the breast of\nJesus Christ: and till this be, ye shall never get a sound sleep.\nJesus, Jesus, be your shadow and your covering. It is a sweet\nsoul-sleep to lie in the arms of Christ; for His breath is very sweet.\n\nPray for poor friendless Zion. Alas! no man will speak for her now,\nalthough at home in her own country she hath good friends, her husband\nChrist, and His Father her Father-in-law. Beseech your husband to be a\nfriend to Zion, and pray for her.\n\nI have received many and divers dashes and heavy strokes since the\nLord called me to the ministry; but indeed I esteem your departure\nfrom us amongst the weightiest. But I perceive God will have us to be\ndeprived of whatsoever we idolize, that He may have His own room. I\nsee exceeding small fruit of my ministry, and would be glad to know of\none soul to be my crown and rejoicing in the day of Christ. Though I\nspend my strength in vain, yet my labour is with my God (Isa. xlix.\n4). I wish and pray that the Lord would harden my face against all,\nand make me to learn to go with my face against a storm. Again I\ncommend you, body and spirit, to Him who hath loved us, and washed us\nfrom our sin in His own blood. Grace, grace, grace for ever be with\nyou. Pray, pray continually.\n\n Your Ladyship's at all dutiful obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Sept. 14, 1629_.\n\n[Illustration: KIRKCUDBRIGHT.]\n\n\n\n\nVI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _on occasion of the illness of his wife_.\n\n[MARION M'NAUGHT was daughter to the Laird of Kilquhanatie, in\nKirkpatrick Durham (see Letter XXV.), the representative of an ancient\nfamily, now extinct, and connected also with the house of Kenmure,\nthrough her mother, Margaret Gordon, sister to Lord Kenmure. She\nbecame the wife of William Fullerton, Provost of Kirkcudbright, and\nwas a woman extensively known and held in honour by the most eminent\nChristians and ministers of her day, on account of her rare godliness\nand public spirit. We find in \"The Last and Heavenly Speeches of\nViscount Kenmure,\" that by the special desire of that nobleman (who\nwas her relative), she was in continual attendance on him as he lay on\nhis deathbed. Her name is sometimes spelt \"M'Knaight,\" or\n\"M'Knaichte,\" the modern \"Macknight.\" She had three children--one\ndaughter, Grizzel, and two sons, Samuel and William,--who are often\naffectionately remembered in Rutherford's letters to her. The\nfollowing epitaph was inscribed on her tomb, in the churchyard of\nKirkcudbright:--\n\n \"Marion M'Naught, sister to John M'Naught of Kilquhanatie, an\n ancient and honourable baron, and spouse to William Fullerton,\n Provost of Kirkcudbright, died April 1643, age 58.\n\n _Sexum animis, pietate genus, genorosa, locumque\n Virtute exsuperans, conditur hoc tumulo._\"\n\n The tombstone was lost sight of, but in 1863 was discovered again\n in removing the earth for a grave close by. It was only in 1860\n that her house (in which the meeting between Blair and Rutherford\n took place) was pulled down. It stood at the foot of the High\n Street, which was then the principal street of the town.\n\n A relative of this lady's husband, Fullerton of Carlton (see\n Letter CLVII.), wrote on her the following acrostic:--\n\n M More happy than imagin\u00e8d can be,\n A And blessed, are such as with heart sincere\n R Resolve to cleave to Christ, to live and die\n I In Him, with Him, and for Him to appear.\n O O what transcendent glory grows from grace!\n N None but--no, not--the soul refin\u00e8d shall\n M' Make to appear; that life, that light, that peace,\n K Known only to the pure possessors all.\n N Now, _THOU_, by grace, art into glory gone,\n A And gained the garland of eternal bliss,\n I In seeing Him who, on that glorious throne,\n C Created, uncreated, glory is.\n H Heaven's quire did sing at thy conversion sweet,\n T Time posts thy final comforts to complete.\n\n (_Append. to \"Minute-Book of Committee of Covenanters.\"_)]\n\n\n(_INWARD CONFLICT ARISING FROM OUTWARD TRIAL._)\n\n\nLOVING AND DEAR SISTER,--If ever you would pleasure me, entreat the\nLord for me, now when I am so comfortless, and so full of heaviness,\nthat I am not able to stand under the burthen any longer. The Almighty\nhath doubled His stripes upon me, for my wife is so sore tormented\nnight and day, that I have wondered why the Lord tarrieth so long. My\nlife is bitter unto me, and I fear the Lord be my contrair party. It\nis (as I now know by experience) hard to keep sight of God in a storm,\nespecially when He hides Himself, for the trial of His children. If He\nwould be pleased to remove His hand, I have a purpose to seek Him more\nthan I have done. Happy are they that can win away with their soul. I\nam afraid of His judgments. I bless my God that there is a death, and\na heaven. I would weary to begin again to be a Christian, so bitter is\nit to drink of the cup that Christ drank of, if I knew not that there\nis no poison in it. God give us not of it till we vomit again, for we\nhave sick souls when God's physic works not. Pray that God would not\nlead my wife into temptation. Woe is my heart, that I have done so\nlittle against the kingdom of Satan in my calling; for he would fain\nattempt to make me blaspheme God in His face. I believe, I believe, in\nthe strength of Him who hath put me in His work, he shall fail in that\nwhich he seeks. I have comfort in this, that my Captain, Christ, hath\nsaid, I must fight and overcome the world, and with a weak, spoiled,\nweaponless devil, \"the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing\nin me\" (John xvi. 33, and xiv. 30). Desire Mr. Robert[91] to remember\nme, if he love me. Grace, grace be with you, and all yours.\n\n [91] Mr. Robert Glendinning, then minister of Kirkcudbright. His grave\n may be seen there.\n\nRemember Zion. There is a letter procured from the King by Mr. John\nMaxwell to urge conformity, to give the communion at Christmas in\nEdinburgh.[92] Hold fast that which you have, that no man take the\ncrown from you. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Nov. 17, 1629_.\n\n [92] Mr. J. Maxwell here mentioned was at this time a minister in\n Edinburgh, and afterwards became Bishop of Ross,--a man of talent, but\n devoid of principle, whose aim was to secure the favour of the\n notorious Laud, by forwarding his designs for forcing Episcopacy upon\n the Scottish people. The letter above referred to was from the King,\n urging the adoption of the English service.\n\n\n\n\nVII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_THE EARNEST OF THE SPIRIT--COMMUNION WITH CHRIST--FAITH IN THE\nPROMISES._)\n\n\nMADAM,--I have longed exceedingly to hear of your life and health, and\ngrowth in the grace of God. I lacked the opportunity of a bearer, in\nrespect I did not understand of the hasty departure of the last, by\nwhom I might have saluted your Ladyship, and therefore I could not\nwrite before this time. I entreat you, Madam, let me have two lines\nfrom you concerning your present condition. I know ye are in grief and\nheaviness; and if it were not so, ye might be afraid, because then\nyour way should not be so like the way that (our Lord saith) leadeth\nto the New Jerusalem. Sure I am, if ye knew what were before you, or\nif ye saw but some glances of it, ye would with gladness swim through\nthe present floods of sorrow, spreading forth your arms out of desire\nto be at land. If God have given you the Earnest of the Spirit, as\npart of payment of God's principal sum, ye have to rejoice; for our\nLord will not lose His earnest, neither will He go back or repent Him\nof the bargain. If ye find at some time a longing to see God, joy in\nthe assurance of that sight, howbeit that feast be but like the\nPassover, that cometh about only once a year. Peace of conscience,\nliberty of prayer, the doors of God's treasure cast up to the soul,\nand a clear sight of Himself looking out, and saying, with a smiling\ncountenance, \"_Welcome to Me, afflicted soul_;\" this is the earnest\nthat He giveth sometimes, and which maketh glad the heart, and is an\nevidence that the bargain will hold. But to the end ye may get this\nearnest, it were good to come oft into terms of speech with God, both\nin prayer and hearing of the word. For this is the house of wine,\nwhere ye meet with your Well-Beloved. Here it is where He kisseth you\nwith the kisses of His mouth, and where ye feel the smell of His\ngarments; and they have indeed a most fragrant and glorious smell. Ye\nmust, I say, wait upon Him, and be often communing with Him, whose\nlips are as lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh, and by the moving\nthereof He will assuage your grief; for the Christ that saveth you is\na speaking Christ; the church knoweth Him by His voice (Song ii. 8),\nand can discern His tongue amongst a thousand. I say this to the end\nye should not love those dumb masks of antichristian ceremonies, that\nthe church[93] where ye are for a time hath cast over the Christ whom\nyour soul loveth. This is to set before you a dumb Christ. But when\nour Lord cometh, He speaketh to the heart in the simplicity of the\nGospel.\n\n [93] Episcopal.\n\nI have neither tongue nor pen to express to you the happiness of such\nas are in Christ. When ye have sold all that ye have, and bought the\nfield wherein this pearl is, ye will think it no bad market; for if ye\nbe in Him, all His is yours, and ye are in Him; therefore, \"because He\nliveth, ye shall live also\" (John xiv. 19). And what is that else, but\nas if the Son had said, \"I will not have heaven except My redeemed\nones be with Me: they and I cannot live asunder. Abide in Me, and I in\nyou.\" O sweet communion, when Christ and we are through-other,[94] and\nare no longer two! \"Father, I will that those whom Thou hast given Me\nbe with Me where I am, to behold My glory that Thou hast given Me\"\n(John xvii. 24). Amen, dear Jesus, let it be according to that word. I\nwonder that ever your heart should be cast down, if ye believe this\ntruth. I and they are not worthy of Jesus Christ, who will not suffer\nforty years' trouble for Him, since they have such glorious promises.\nBut we fools believe those promises as the man that read Plato's\nwritings concerning the immortality of the soul: so long as the book\nwas in his hand he believed all was true, and that the soul could not\ndie; but so soon as he laid by the book, he began to imagine that the\nsoul is but a smoke or airy vapour, that perisheth with the expiring\nof the breath. So we at starts do assent to the sweet and precious\npromises; but, laying aside God's book, we begin to call all in\nquestion. It is faith indeed to believe without a pledge, and to hold\nthe heart constant at this work; and when we doubt, to run to the Law\nand to the Testimony, and stay there. Madam, hold you here: here is\nyour Father's testament,--read it; in it He hath left to you\nremission of sins and life everlasting. If all that ye have here be\ncrosses and troubles, down-castings, frequent desertions, and\ndeparture of the Lord, who is suiting you in marriage, courage! He who\nis wooer and suitor should not be an household man with you till ye\nand He come up to His Father's house together. He purposeth to do you\ngood at your latter end (Deut. viii. 16), and to give you rest from\nthe days of adversity (Ps. xciv. 13). \"It is good to bear the yoke of\nGod in your youth\" (Lam. iii. 27). \"Turn in to your stronghold as a\nprisoner of hope\" (Zech. ix. 12). \"For the vision is for an appointed\ntime; but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry,\nwait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry\" (Hab. ii.\n3). Hear Himself saying, \"Come, My people\" (rejoice, He calleth on\nyou!), \"enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee;\nhide thyself, as it were for a little moment, till the indignation be\npast\" (Isa. xxvi. 20). Believe, then, believe and be saved; think not\nhard if ye get not your will, nor your delights in this life; God will\nhave you to rejoice in nothing but Himself. God forbid that ye should\nrejoice in anything but in the cross of Christ (Gal. vi. 14).\n\n [94] Mixed up with each other.\n\nOur church, Madam, is decaying,--she is like Ephraim's cake (Hos. vii.\n9); \"and grey hairs are here and there upon her, and she knoweth it\nnot.\" She is old and grey-haired, near the grave, and no man taketh it\nto heart. Her wine is sour and is corrupted. Now if Phinehas's wife\ndid live she might travail in birth and die, to see the ark of God\ntaken, and the glory depart from our Israel. The power and life of\nreligion is away. \"Woe be to us! for the day goeth away, for the\nshadows of the evening are stretched out\" (Jer. vi. 4). Madam, Zion is\nthe ship wherein ye are carried to Canaan; if she suffer shipwreck, ye\nwill be cast overboard upon death and life, to swim to land upon\nbroken boards. It were time for us, by prayer, to put upon our\nmaster-pilot, Jesus, and to cry, \"Master, save us; we perish.\" Grace,\ngrace be with you. We would think it a blessing to our kirk to see you\nhere; but our sins withhold good things from us. The great Messenger\nof the Covenant preserve you in body and spirit.\n\n Yours in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Feb. 1, 1630_.\n\n\n\n\nVIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _on occasion of his wife's illness_.\n\n(_WRESTLINGS WITH GOD._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--My love in Jesus Christ remembered. I am in good health;\nhonour to my Lord; but my wife's disease increaseth daily, to her\ngreat torment and pain night and day. She has not been in God's house\nsince our communion, neither out of her bed. I have hired a man to\nEdinburgh to Doctor Jeally and to John Hamilton.[95] I can hardly\nbelieve her disease is ordinary, for her life is bitter to her; she\nsleeps none, but cries as a woman travailing in birth. What will be\nthe event, He that hath the keys of the grave knoweth. I have been\nmany times, since I saw you, that I have besought the Lord to loose\nher out of body, and to take her to her rest. I believe the Lord's\ntide of afflictions will ebb again; but at present I am exercised with\nthe wrestlings of God, being afraid of nothing more than this, that\nGod has let loose the tempter upon my house. God rebuke him and his\ninstruments. Because Satan is not cast out but by fasting and prayer,\nI entreat you remember our estate to our Lord, and entreat all good\nChristians whom ye know, but especially your pastor,[96] to do the\nsame. It becomes us still to knock, and to lie at the Lord's door,\nuntil we die knocking. If He will not open, it is more than He has\nsaid in His word. But He is faithful. I look not to win away to my\nhome without wounds and blood. Welcome, welcome cross of Christ, if\nChrist be with it. I have not a calm spirit in the work of my calling\nhere, being daily chastised; yet God hath not put out my candle, as He\ndoes to the wicked. Grace, grace be with you and all yours.\n\n Yours in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n [95] Probably a relative of his wife, whose name was Eupham Hamilton.\n He was an apothecary in Edinburgh, and is mentioned among the godly in\n Livingstone's \"Characteristics.\"\n\n [96] The Rev. Mr. Robert Glendinning, then minister of Kirkcudbright.\n\n\n\n\nIX.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _recommending a friend to her love_.\n\n(_PRAYERS ASKED_.)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. At the desire of this bearer,\nwhom I love, I thought to request you if ye can help his wife with\nyour advice, for she is in a most dangerous and deadly-like condition.\nFor I have thought she was changed in her carriage and life, this\nsometime bypast, and had hope that God would have brought her home;\nand now, by appearance, she will depart this life, and leave a number\nof children behind her. If ye can be entreated to help her, it is a\nwork of mercy. My own wife is still in exceeding great torment night\nand day. Pray for us, for my life was never so wearisome to me. God\nhath filled me with gall and wormwood; but I believe (which holds up\nmy head above the water), \"It is good for a man,\" saith the Spirit of\nGod, \"that he bear the yoke in his youth\" (Lam. iii. 27).\n\nI do remember you. I pray you be humble and believe; and I entreat you\nin Jesus Christ, pray for John Stuart and his wife, and desire your\nhusband to do the same. Remember me heartily to Jean Brown. Desire her\nto pray for me and my wife: I do remember her. Forget not Zion. Grace,\ngrace upon them, and peace, that pray for Zion. She is the ship we\nsail in to Canaan. If she be broken on a rock, we will be cast\noverboard, to swim to land betwixt death and life. The grace of Jesus\nbe with your husband and children.\n\n Yours in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n\n\n\nX.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_SUBMISSION, PERSEVERANCE AND ZEAL RECOMMENDED._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED AND DEAR SISTER IN CHRIST,--I could not get an answer\nwritten to your letter till now, in respect of my wife's disease; and\nshe is yet mightily pained. I hope that all shall end in God's mercy.\nI know that an afflicted life looks very like the way that leads to\nthe kingdom; for the Apostle hath drawn the line and the King's\nmarket-way, \"through much tribulation, to the kingdom\" (Acts xiv. 22;\n1 Thess. iii. 4). The Lord grant us the whole armour of God.\n\nYe write to me concerning your people's disposition, how that their\nhearts are inclined toward the man ye know, and whom ye desire most\nearnestly yourself. He would most gladly have the Lord's call for\ntransplantation; for he knows that all God's plants, set by His own\nhand, thrive well; and if the work be of God, He can make a\nstepping-stone of the devil himself for setting forward the work. For\nyourself, I would advise you to ask of God a submissive heart. Your\nreward shall be with the Lord, although the people be not gathered (as\nthe prophet speaks); and suppose the word[97] do not prosper, God\nshall account you \"a repairer of the breaches.\" And take Christ\ncaution, ye shall not lose your reward. Hold your grip fast. If ye\nknew the mind of the glorified in heaven, they think heaven come to\ntheir hand at an easy market, when they have got it for threescore or\nfourscore years wrestling with God. When ye are come thither, ye shall\nthink, \"All I did, in respect of my rich reward, now enjoyed of free\ngrace, was too little.\" Now then, for the love of the Prince of your\nsalvation, who is standing at the end of your way, holding up in His\nhand the prize and the garland to the race-runners, Forward, forward;\nfaint not. Take as many to heaven with you as ye are able to draw. The\nmore ye draw with you, ye shall be the welcomer yourself. Be no\nniggard or sparing churl of the grace of God; and employ all your\nendeavours for establishing an honest ministry in your town, now when\nye have so few to speak a good word for you. I have many a grieved\nheart daily in my calling. I would be undone, if I had not access to\nthe King's chamber of presence, to show Him all the business. The\ndevil rages, and is mad to see the water drawn from his own mill; but\nwould to God we could be the Lord's instruments to build the Son of\nGod's house.\n\n [97] Work?\n\nPray for me. If the Lord furnish not new timber from Lebanon to build\nthe house, the work will cease. I look to Him, who hath begun well\nwith me. I have His handwrite, He will not change. Your daughter is\nwell, and longs for a Bible. The Lord establish you in peace. The Lord\nJesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours at all power in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n\n\n\nXI.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n (_GOD'S INEXPLICABLE DEALINGS WITH HIS PEOPLE WELL ORDERED--WANT\n OF ORDINANCES--CONFORMITY TO CHRIST--TROUBLES OF THE\n CHURCH--DEATH OF MR. RUTHERFORD'S WIFE._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied upon you. I received\nyour Ladyship's letter, in the which I perceive your case in this\nworld smelleth of a fellowship and communion with the Son of God in\nHis sufferings. Ye cannot, ye must not, have a more pleasant or more\neasy condition here, than He had, who \"through afflictions was made\nperfect\" (Heb. ii. 10). We may indeed think, Cannot God bring us to\nheaven with ease and prosperity? Who doubteth but He can? But His\ninfinite wisdom thinketh and decreeth the contrary; and we cannot see\na reason of it, yet He hath a most just reason. We never with our eyes\nsaw our own soul; yet we have a soul. We see many rivers, but we know\nnot their first spring and original fountain; yet they have a\nbeginning. Madam, when ye are come to the other side of the water, and\nhave set down your foot on the shore of glorious eternity, and look\nback again to the waters and to your wearisome journey, and shall see,\nin that clear glass of endless glory, nearer to the bottom of God's\nwisdom, ye shall then be forced to say, \"If God had done otherwise\nwith me than He hath done, I had never come to the enjoying of this\ncrown of glory.\" It is your part now to believe, and suffer, and hope,\nand wait on; for I protest, in the presence of that all-discerning\neye, who knoweth what I write and what I think, that I would not want\nthe sweet experience of the consolations of God for all the bitterness\nof affliction. Nay, whether God come to His children with a rod or a\ncrown, if He come Himself with it, it is well. Welcome, welcome,\nJesus, what way soever Thou come, if we can get a sight of Thee! And\nsure I am, it is better to be sick, providing Christ come to the\nbedside and draw by the curtains, and say, \"Courage, I am Thy\nsalvation,\" than to enjoy health, being lusty and strong, and never to\nbe visited of God.\n\nWorthy and dear lady, in the strength of Christ, fight and overcome.\nYe are now yourself alone, but ye may have, for the seeking, three\nalways in your company, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I trust they\nare near you. Ye are now deprived of the comfort of a lively\nministry; so was Israel in their captivity; yet hear God's promise to\nthem: \"Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God, although I have cast\nthem far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them\namong the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in\nthe countries where they shall come\" (Ezek. xi. 16). Behold a\nsanctuary! for a sanctuary, God Himself in the place and room of the\ntemple of Jerusalem! I trust in God, that carrying this temple about\nwith you, ye shall see Jehovah's beauty in His house.\n\nWe are in great fears of a great and fearful trial to come upon the\nkirk of God; for these, who would build their houses and nests upon\nthe ashes of mourning Jerusalem, have drawn our King upon hard and\ndangerous conclusions against such as are termed Puritans, for the\nrooting of them out. Our prelates (the Lord take the keys of His house\nfrom these bastard porters!) assure us that, for such as will not\nconform, there is nothing but imprisonment and deprivation.[98] The\nspouse of Jesus will ever be in the fire; but I trust in my God she\nshall not consume, because of the good-will of Him who dwelleth in the\nBush; for He dwelleth in it with good-will. All sorts of crying sins\nwithout controlment abound in our land. The glory of the Lord is\ndeparting from Israel, and the Lord is looking back over His shoulder,\nto see if any one will say, \"Lord, tarry,\" and no man requesteth Him\nto stay. Corrupt and false doctrine is openly preached by the\nidol-shepherds of the land. For myself, I have daily griefs, through\nthe disobedience unto, and contempt of, the word of God. I was\nsummoned before the High Commission by a profligate person in this\nparish, convicted of incest. In the business, Mr. Alexander\nColvill[99] (for respect to your Ladyship) was my great friend, and\nwrote a most kind letter to me. The Lord give him mercy in that day.\nUpon the day of my compearance, the sea and winds refused to give\npassage to the Bishop of St. Andrews.[100] I entreat your Ladyship,\nthank Mr. Alexander Colvill with two lines of a letter.\n\n [98] The prelates, when the Courts of High Commission were erected in\n 1610, were invested with the powers of imprisoning and depriving\n Nonconformists.\n\n [99] One of the judges.\n\n [100] Archbishop Spottiswoode.\n\nMy wife now, after long disease and torment, for the space of a year\nand a month, is departed this life. The Lord hath done it; blessed be\nHis name. I have been diseased of a fever tertian for the space of\nthirteen weeks, and am yet in the sickness, so that I preach but once\non the Sabbath with great difficulty. I am not able either to visit\nor examine the congregation. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Your Ladyship's at all obedience,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _June 26, 1630_.\n\n\n\n\nXII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_GOD MIXETH THE CUP--THE WICKED HAVE THEIR\nREWARD--FAITHFULNESS--FORBEARANCE--TRIALS._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED AND DEAR SISTER,--My love in the Lord Jesus remembered. I\nunderstand that you are still under the Lord's visitation, in your\nformer business with your enemies, which is God's dealing. For, till\nHe take His children out of the furnace that knoweth how long they\nshould be tried, there is no deliverance; but after God's highest and\nfullest tide, that the sea of trouble is gone over the souls of His\nchildren, then comes the gracious long-hoped-for ebbing and drying up\nof the waters. Dear sister, do not faint; the wicked may hold the\nbitter cup to your head, but God mixeth it, and there is no poison in\nit. They strike, but God moves the rod; Shimei curseth, but it is\nbecause the Lord bids Him. I tell you, and I have it from Him before\nwhom I stand for God's people, that there is a decreet given out, in\nthe great court of the highest heavens, that your present troubles\nshall be dispersed as the morning cloud, and God shall bring forth\nyour righteousness, as the light of the noontide of the day. Let me\nintreat you, in Christ's name, to keep a good conscience in your\nproceedings in that matter, and beware of yourself: yourself is a more\ndangerous enemy than I, or any without you. Innocence and an upright\ncause is a good advocate before God, and shall plead for you, and win\nyour cause. And count much of your Master's approbation and His\nsmiling. He is now as the king that is gone to a far country. God\nseems to be from home (if I may say so), yet He sees the ill servants,\nwho say, \"Our Master deferreth His coming,\" and so strike their\nfellow-servants. But patience, my beloved; Christ the King is coming\nhome; the evening is at hand, and He will ask an account of His\nservants. Make a fair, clear count to Him. So carry yourself as at\nnight you may say, Master, I have wronged none; behold, you have your\nown with advantage. O! your soul then will esteem much of one of God's\nkisses and embracements, in the testimony of a good conscience. The\nwicked, howbeit they be casting many evil thoughts, bitter words, and\nsinful deeds behind their back, yet they are, in so doing, clerks to\ntheir own process, and doing nothing all their life but gathering\ndittayes against themselves; for God is angry at the wicked every day.\nAnd I hope your present process shall be sighted one day by Him, who\nknoweth your just cause; and the bloody tongues, crafty foxes,\ndouble-ingrained hypocrites, shall appear as they are before His\nmajesty, when He shall take the mask off their faces. And O, thrice\nhappy shall your soul be then, when God finds you covered with nothing\nbut the white robe of the saint's innocence, and the righteousness of\nJesus Christ.\n\nYou have been of late in the King's wine-cellar, where you were\nwelcomed by the Lord of the inn, upon condition that you walk in love.\nPut on love, and brotherly kindness, and long-suffering; wait as long\nupon the favour and turned hearts of your enemies as your Christ\nwaited upon you, and as dear Jesus stood at your soul's door, with\ndewy and rainy locks, the long cold night. Be angry, but sin not. I\npersuade myself, that holy unction within you, which teacheth you all\nthings, is also saying, \"Overcome evil with good.\" If that had not\nspoken in your soul, at the tears of your aged pastor, you would not\nhave agreed, and forgiven his foolish son, who wronged you; but my\nMaster bade me tell you, God's blessing shall be upon you for it; and\nfrom Him I say, Grace, grace, grace, and everlasting peace be upon\nyou. It is my prayer for you, that your carriage may grace and adorn\nthe Gospel of that Lord who hath graced you. I heard your husband also\nwas sick; but I beseech you in the bowels of Jesus, welcome every rod\nof God, for I find not in the whole book of God a greater note of the\nchild of God, than to fall down and kiss the feet of an angry God. And\nwhen He seems to put you away from Him, and loose your hands that grip\nHim, to look up in faith, and say, \"I shall not, I will not, be put\naway from Thee. Howbeit Thy Majesty draw to free Thyself of me, yet,\nLord, give me leave to hold, and cleave unto Thyself.\" I will pray,\nthat your husband may return in peace. Your decreet comes from heaven;\nlook up thither, for many (says Solomon) seek the face of the ruler,\nbut every man's Judgment cometh from the Lord. And be glad that it is\nso, for Christ is the clerk of your process, and will see that all go\nright; and I persuade myself He is saying, \"Yonder servants of mine\nare wronged; for My blood, Father, give them justice.\" Think you not,\ndear sister, but our High Priest, our Jesus, the Master of requests,\npresents our bills of complaint to the great Lord Justice? Yea I\nbelieve it, since He is our Advocate, and Daniel calls Him the\nSpokesman, whose hand presents all to the Father.\n\nFor other business, I say nothing, till the Lord give me to see your\nface. I am credibly informed, that multitudes of England, and\nespecially worthy preachers, and silenced preachers of London, are\ngone to New England; and I know one learned holy preacher, who hath\nwritten against the Arminians, who is gone thither.[101] Our Blessed\nLord Jesus, who cannot get leave to sleep with His spouse in this\nland, is going to seek an inn where He will be better entertained. And\nwhat marvel? Wearied Jesus, after He had travelled from Geneva, by the\nministry of worthy Mr. Knox, and was laid in His bed, and reformation\nbegun, and the curtains drawn, had not gotten His dear eyes well\ntogether, when irreverent bishops came in, and with the din and noise\nof ceremonies, holy days, and other Romish corruptions, they awake our\nBeloved. Others came to His bedside, and drew the curtains, and put\nhands on His servants, banished, deprived, and confined them; and for\nthe pulpit they got a stool and a cold fire in the Blackness;[102] and\nthe nobility drew the covering off Him, and have made Him a poor naked\nChrist, spoiling His servants of the tithes and kirk rents. And now\nthere is such a noise of crying sins in the land, as the want of the\nknowledge of God, of mercy, and truth; such swearing, whoring, lying,\nand blood touching blood; that Christ is putting on His clothes, and\nmaking Him,[103] like an ill-handled stranger, to go to other lands.\nPray Him, sister, to lie down again with His beloved.\n\n [101] The emigration of preachers and people to New England was the\n consequence of the persecuting measures pursued by Archbishop Laud for\n enforcing conformity, in the prosecution of his favourite scheme of\n bringing the Church of England as near to that of Rome as could\n consort with his own supremacy and that of his sovereign. About\n seventy ministers and four thousand other persons emigrated to the\n American continent to escape the tyranny of Laud and his agents.\n\n [102] Blackness Castle, on the Forth, was used as a prison.\n\n [103] In the sense of making a show of or appearing as if He would go;\n Luke xxiv. 28.\n\nRemember my dearest love to John Gordon, to whom I will write when I\nam strong, and to John Brown, Grissel, Samuel, and William; grace be\nupon them. As you love Christ, keep Christ's favour, and put not upon\nHim when He sleeps, to awake Him before He please. The Lord Jesus be\nwith your spirit.\n\n Your brother in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _July 21, 1630_.\n\n\n\n\nXIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _when exposed to reproach for her\nprinciples_.\n\n(_JESUS A PATTERN OF PATIENCE UNDER SUFFERING._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED SISTER,--I have been thinking, since my departure from\nyou, of the pride and malice of your adversaries; and ye may not\n(since ye have had the Book of Psalms so often) take hardly with this;\nfor David's enemies snuffed at him, and through the pride of their\nheart said, \"The Lord will not require it\" (Ps. x. 13). I beseech you,\ntherefore, in the bowels of Jesus, set before your eyes the patience\nof your forerunner Jesus, who, when He was reviled, reviled not again;\nwhen He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him who\njudgeth righteously (1 Pet. ii. 23). And since your Lord and Redeemer\nwith patience received many a black stroke on His glorious back, and\nmany a buffet of the unbelieving world, and says of Himself, \"I gave\nMy back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the\nhair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting\" (Isa. iv. 6); follow\nHim, and think it not hard that you receive a blow with your Lord.\nTake part with Jesus of His sufferings, and glory in the marks of\nChrist. If this storm were over, you must prepare yourself for a new\nwound; for, five thousand years ago, our Lord proclaimed deadly war\nbetwixt the Seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent. And marvel\nnot that one town cannot keep the children of God and the children of\nthe devil, for one belly could not keep Jacob and Esau (Gen. xxv. 22);\none house could not keep peaceably together Isaac, the son of the\npromise, and Ishmael, the son of the handmaid (Gen. xxi. 10). Be you\nupon Christ's side of it, and care not what flesh can do. Hold\nyourself fast by your Saviour, howbeit you be buffeted, and those that\nfollow Him. Yet a little while and the wicked shall not be. \"We are\ntroubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not\nin despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not\ndestroyed\" (2 Cor. iv. 8, 9). If you can possess your soul in\npatience, their day is coming. Worthy and dear sister, know to carry\nyourself in trouble; and when you are hated and reproached, the Lord\nshows it to you--\"All this is come upon us, yet have we not gotten\nThee, neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant\" (Ps. xliv. 17).\n\"Unless Thy law had been my delight, I had perished in mine\naffliction\" (Ps. cxix. 92). Keep God's covenant in your trials. Hold\nyou by His blessed word, and sin not. Flee anger, wrath, grudging,\nenvying, fretting. Forgive an hundred pence to your fellow-servant,\nbecause your Lord hath forgiven you ten thousand talents. For I assure\nyou by the Lord, your adversaries shall get no advantage against you,\nexcept you sin and offend your Lord in your sufferings. But the way to\novercome is by patience, forgiving and praying for your enemies, in\ndoing whereof you heap coals upon their heads, and your Lord shall\nopen a door to you in your troubles. Wait upon Him, as the night watch\nwaiteth for the morning. He will not tarry. Go up to your watch-tower,\nand come not down; but by prayer, and faith, and hope, wait on. When\nthe sea is full, it will ebb again; and so soon as the wicked are come\nto the top of their pride, and are waxed high and mighty, then is\ntheir change approaching. They that believe make not haste.\n\nRemember Zion, forget her not, for her enemies are many; for the\nnations are gathered together against her. \"But they know not the\nthoughts of the Lord, neither understand they His counsel: for He\nshall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. Arise and thresh, O\ndaughter of Zion\" (Micah iv. 12, 13). Behold, God hath gathered His\nenemies together, as sheaves to the threshing. Let us stay and rest\nupon these promises. Now again, I trust in our Lord you shall by faith\nsustain yourself, and comfort yourself in your Lord, and be strong in\nHis power; for you are in the beaten and common way to heaven when you\nare under our Lord's crosses. You have reason to rejoice in it, more\nthan in a crown of gold; and rejoice, and be glad to bear the\nreproaches of Christ. I rest, recommending you and yours for ever to\nthe grace and mercy of God.\n\n Yours in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Feb. 11, 1631_.\n\n\n\n\nXIV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _in the prospect of a Communion season_.\n\n(_ABUNDANCE IN JESUS--THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS--ENEMIES OF GOD._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED IN THE LORD,--You are not unacquainted with the day of\nour Communion. I entreat, therefore, the aid of your prayers for that\ngreat work, which is one of our feast days, wherein our Well-beloved\nJesus rejoiceth, and is merry with His friends.\n\nGood cause have we to wonder at His love, since the day of His death\nwas such a sorrowful day to Him, even the day when His mother, the\nkirk, crowned Him with thorns, and He had many against Him, and\ncompeared His lone in the fields against them all; yet He delights\nwith us to remember that day. Let us love Him, and be glad and rejoice\nin His salvation. I am confident that you shall see the Son of God\nthat day, and I dare in His name invite you to His banquet. Many a\ntime you have been well entertained in His house; and He changes not\nupon His friends, nor chides them for too great kindness. Yet I speak\nnot this to make you leave off to pray for me, who have nothing of\nmyself, but in so far as daily I receive from Him, who is made of His\nFather a running-over fountain, at which I and others may come with\nthirsty souls, and fill our vessels. Long hath this well been standing\nopen to us. Lord Jesus, lock it not up again upon us. I am sorry for\nour desolate kirk; yet I dare not but trust, so long as there be any\nof God's lost money here He shall not blow out the candle. The Lord\nmake fair candlesticks in His house, and remove the blind lights.\n\nI have been this time bypast thinking much of the incoming of the kirk\nof the Jews.[104] Pray for them. When they were in their Lord's house,\nat their Father's elbow, they were longing for the incoming of their\nlittle sister, the kirk of the Gentiles. They said to their Lord, \"We\nhave a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for\nour sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?\" (Cant. viii. 8).\nLet us give them a meeting. What shall we do for our elder sister, the\nJews? Lord Jesus, give them breasts. That were a glad day to see us\nand them both sit down to one table, and Christ at the head of the\ntable. Then would our Lord come shortly with his fair guard to hold\nHis great court.\n\n [104] So in his \"Trial of Faith\" p. 133 (published 1655).\n\nDear sister, be patient, for the Lord's sake, under the wrongs that\nyou suffer of the wicked. Your Lord shall make you see your desire on\nyour enemies. Some of them shall be cut off; \"they shall shake off\ntheir unripe grapes as the vine, and cast off their flower as the\nolive\" (Job. xv. 33): God shall make them like unripe sour grapes,\nshaken off the tree with the blast of God's wrath; and therefore pity\nthem, and pray for them. Others of them must remain to exercise you.\nGod hath said of them, Let the tares grow up until harvest (Matt.\nxiii. 30). It proves you to be your Lord's wheat. Be patient; Christ\nwent to heaven with many a wrong. His visage and countenance was all\nmarred more than the sons of men. You may not be above your Master;\nmany a black stroke received innocent Jesus, and He received no mends,\nbut referred them all to the great court-day, when all things shall be\nrighted. I desire to hear from you within a day or two, if Mr. Robert\nremain in his purpose to come and help us. God shall give you joy of\nyour children. I pray for them by their names. I bless you from our\nLord, your husband and children. Grace, grace, and mercy be multiplied\nupon you.\n\n Yours in the Lord for ever,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _May 7, 1631_.\n\n\n\n\nXV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT _on occasion of the threatened introduction\nof the Episcopalian Service-Book_.\n\n(_TROUBLES OF THE CHURCH--PRIVATE WRONGS._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED SISTER,--My love in Christ remembered. I have received a\nletter from Edinburgh, certainly informing me that the English\nservice, and the organs, and King James' Psalms, are to be imposed\nupon our kirk; and that the bishops are dealing for a General\nAssembly. A. R. hath confirmed the news also, and says he spoke with\nSir William Alexander,[105] who is to come down with his prince's\nwarrant for that effect. I am desired in the received letter to\nacquaint the best-affected about me with that storm: therefore I\nentreat you, and charge you in the Lord's name, pray; but do not\ncommunicate this to any till I see you. My heart is broken at the\nremembrance of it, and it was my fear, and answereth to my last letter\nexcept one, that I wrote unto you. Dearly beloved, be not casten down,\nbut let us, as our Lord's doves, take us to our wings (for other\narmour we have none), and flee into the hole of the rock. It is true\nA. R. says, the worthiest men in England are banished, and silenced,\nabout the number of sixteen or seventeen choice Gospel preachers, and\nthe persecution is already begun. Howbeit I do not write this unto you\nwith a dry face, yet I am confident in the Lord's strength, Christ and\nHis side shall overcome; and you shall be assured; the kirk were not a\nkirk, if it were not so. As our dear Husband, in wooing His kirk,\nreceived many a black stroke, so His bride, in wooing Him, gets many\nblows, and in this wooing there are strokes upon both sides. Let it be\nso. The devil will not make the marriage go back, neither can he tear\nthe contract; the end shall be mercy. Yet notwithstanding of all this,\nwe have no warrant of God to leave off all lawful means. I have been\nwriting unto you the counsels and draughts of men against the kirk;\nbut they know not, as Micah says, the counsel of Jehovah. The great\nmen of the world may make ready the fiery furnace for Zion; but trow\nye that they can cause the fire to burn? No. He that made the fire, I\ntrust, shall not say amen to their decreets. I trust in my Lord, that\nGod hath not subscribed their bill, and their conclusions have not yet\npassed our great King's seal. Therefore, if ye think good, address\nyourself first to the Lord, and then to A. R., anent the business that\nyou know.\n\n [105] Sir W. Alexander of Menstrie, afterwards Earl of Stirling.\n\nI am most unkindly handled by the presbytery; and (as if I had been a\nstranger, and not a member of that seat, to sit in judgment with them)\nI was summoned by their order as a witness against B. A. But they have\ngot no advantage in that matter. Other particulars you shall hear, God\nwilling, at meeting.\n\nAnent the matter betwixt you and I. E., I remember it to God. I\nentreat you in the Lord, be submissive to His will; for the higher\nthat their pride mounts up, they are the nearer to a fall. The Lord\nwill more and more discover that man. Let your husband, in all matters\nof judgment, take Christ's part, for the defence of the poor and\nneedy, and the oppressed, for the maintenance of equity and justice in\nthe town. And take you no fear. He shall take your part, and then you\nare strong enough. What? Howbeit you receive indignities for your\nLord's sake, let it be so. When He shall put His holy hand up to your\nface in heaven, and dry your face, and wipe the tears from your eyes,\njudge if ye will not have cause then to rejoice. Anent other\nparticulars, if you would speak with me, appoint any of the first\nthree days of the next week in Carletoun,[106] when Carletoun is at\nhome, and acquaint me with your desires. And remember me to God, and\nmy dearest affection to your husband; and for Zion's sake hold not\nyour peace. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, and your\nhusband and children.\n\n Yours in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _June 2, 1631_.\n\n [106] Carleton, in Galloway (see note at Letter CLVII.), not far from\n Anwoth, where Mr. Fullerton, a true friend, resided.\n\n\n\n\nXVI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _on occasion of a proposal to remove him\nfrom Anwoth_.\n\n(_BABYLON'S DESTRUCTION AND CHRIST'S COMING--THE YOUNG INVITED._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND DEAR MISTRESS,--My dearest love in Christ remembered. As to\nthe business which I know you would so fain have taken effect, my\nearnest desire is, that you stand still. Haste not, and you shall see\nthe salvation of God. The great Master Gardener, the Father of our\nLord Jesus Christ, in a wonderful providence, with His own hand (I\ndare, if it were for edification, swear it), planted me here,[107]\nwhere, by His grace, in this part of His vineyard, I grow.--I dare not\nsay but Satan and the world (one of his pages whom he sends on his\nerrands) have said otherwise. And here I will abide till the great\nMaster of the Vineyard think fit to transplant me. But when He sees\nmeet to loose me at the root, and to plant me where I may be more\nuseful, both as to fruit and shadow, and when He who planted pulleth\nup that He may transplant, who dare put to their hand and hinder? If\nthey do, God shall break their arm at the shoulder blade, and do His\nturn. When our Lord is going west, the devil and world go east; and do\nyou not know that it hath been ever this way betwixt God and the\nworld--God drawing, and they holding, God \"yea,\" and the world \"nay\"?\nBut they fall on their back and are frustrate, and our Lord holdeth\nHis grip.\n\n [107] At Anwoth.\n\nWherefore doth the word say, that our Christ, the Goodman of this\nhouse, His dear kirk, hath feet like fine brass, as if they burned in\na furnace (Rev. i. 15)? For no other cause but because where our Lord\nsetteth down His brazen feet, He will forward; and whithersoever He\nlooketh, He will follow His look; and His feet burn all under them,\nlike as fire doth stubble and thorns. I think He hath now given the\nworld a proof of His exceeding great power, when He is doing such\ngreat things, wherein Zion is concerned, by the sword of the Swedish\nking,[108] as of a Gideon. As you love the glory of God, pray\ninstantly (yea engage all your praying acquaintance, and take their\nfaithful promise to do the like) for this king, and every one that\nZion's King armeth, to execute the written vengeance on Babylon. Our\nLord hath begun to loose some of Babylon's corner stones. Pray to Him\nto hold on, for that city must fall, and the birds of the air and the\nbeasts of the earth must make a banquet of Babylon; for He hath\ninvited them to eat the flesh of that whore, and to drink her blood.\nAnd the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto her, and\nshameful spewing shall be upon her glory. He whose word must stand\nhath said, \"Take this cup at the hand of the Lord, and drink and be\ndrunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more\" (Jer. xxv. 27). Our\nJesus is setting up Himself, as His Father's ensign (Isa. xi. 10), as\nGod's fair white colours, that His soldiers may all flock about Him.\nLong, long may these colours stand. It is long since He displayed a\nbanner against Babylon in the fight of men and angels. Let us rejoice\nand triumph in our God. The victory is certain; for when Christ and\nBabel wrestle, then angels and saints may prepare themselves to sing,\n\"Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen.\" Howbeit that Prince of\nrenown, precious Jesus, be now weeping and bleeding in His members,\nyet Christ will laugh again; and it is time enough for us to laugh,\nwhen our Lord Christ laugheth,--and that will be shortly. For when we\nhear of wars and rumours of wars, the Judge's feet are then before the\ndoor, and He must be in heaven giving order to the angels to make\nthemselves ready, and prepare their hooks and sickles for that great\nharvest. Christ will be upon us in haste; watch but a little, and ere\nlong the skies will rive, and that fair lovely person, Jesus, shall\ncome in the clouds, freighted and loaded with glory. And then all\nthese knaves and foxes that destroyed the vines shall call to the\nhills, and cry to the mountains to cover them, and hide them from the\nface of Him who sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the\nLamb.\n\n [108] Gustavus Adolphus.\n\nRemember me to your husband, and desire him from me to help Christ,\nand to take His part, and in judgment sit ever beside Him, and receive\na blow patiently for His sake; for He is worthy to be suffered for,\nnot only to blows, but also to blood. He shall find that innocency and\nuprightness in judgment shall hold its feet and make him happy, when\njouking will not do it. I speak this because a person said to me, \"I\npray God the country be not in worse case now when the provost and\nbailies are agreed, than formerly,\"--to whom I replied, \"I trust the\nprovost is agreed with the man's person, but not with his faults.\" I\npray for you, with my whole soul and desire, that your children may\nwalk in the truth, and that the Lord may shine upon them, and make\ntheir faces to shine, when the faces of others shall blush. I dare\npromise them, in His name, whose truth I preach, if they will but try\nGod's service, that they shall find Him the sweetest Master that ever\nthey served. And desire them from me but to try for a while the\nservice of this blessed Master, and then, if His service be not sweet,\nif it afford not what is pleasant to the soul's taste, change Him upon\ntrial, and seek a better. Christ is an unknown Christ to the young\nones; and therefore they seek Him not, because they know Him not. Bid\nthem come and see, and seek a kiss of His mouth; and then they will\nfind His mouth is so sweet, that they will be everlastingly chained\nunto Him by their own consent. If I have any credit with your\nchildren, I entreat them in Christ's name to try what truth and\nreality is in what I say, and leave not His service till they have\nfound me a liar. I give you, your husband, and them, to His keeping to\nwhom I have,[109] and dare venture myself and soul, even to our dear\nFriend Jesus Christ, in whom I am,\n\n Yours,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n [109] To whom I have given, and dare venture to give.\n\n\n\n\nXVII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _when in distress as to prospects of the\nChurch_.\n\n(_ARMINIANISM--CALL TO PRAYER--NO HELP BUT IN CHRIST._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED SISTER,--My dearest love in Christ remembered to you.\nKnow that I am in great heaviness for the pitiful case of our Lord's\nkirk. I hear the cause why Dr. Burton[110] is committed to prison is\nhis writing and preaching against the Arminians. I therefore entreat\nthe aid of your prayers for myself, and the Lord's captives of hope,\nand for Zion. The Lord hath let and daily lets me see clearly, how\ndeep furrows Arminianism and the followers of it draw upon the back of\nGod's Israel (but our Lord cut the cords of the wicked!). \"Zion said,\nThe Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me\" (Isa. xlix.\n14). \"Zion weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are upon her\ncheeks; amongst all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her\nfriends have dealt treacherously with her; they are become her\nenemies\" (Lam. i. 2). \"Our silver is become dross, our wine mixed with\nwater\" (Isa. i. 22). \"How is the gold become dim! how is the most\nfine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the\ntop of every street. The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine\ngold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands\nof the potter!\" (Lam. ix. 1, 2). It is time now for the Lord's secret\nones, who favour the dust of Zion, to cry, \"How long, Lord?\" and to go\nup to their watch-tower, and to stay there, and not to come down until\nthe vision speak; for it shall speak (Hab. ii. 3). In the mean time,\nthe just shall live by faith. Let us wait on and not weary. I have not\na thread to hang upon and rest, but this one, \"Can a woman forget her\nsucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her\nwomb? Yea, she may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have\ngraven thee upon the palms of My hands; Thy walls are continually\nbefore Me\" (Isa. xlix. 15, 16). For all outward helps do fail; it is\ntime therefore for us to hang ourselves, as our Lord's vessels, upon\nthe nail that is fastened in a sure place. We would make stakes of our\nown fastening, but they will break. Our Lord will have Zion on His own\nnail. Edom is busy within us, and Babel without us, against the\nhandful of Jacob's seed. It were best that we were upon Christ's side\nof it, for His enemies will get _the stalks to keep_, as the proverb\nis. Our greatest difficulty will be to win upon the rock now, when the\nwind and waves of persecution are so lofty and proud. Let sweet Jesus\ntake us by the hand. Neither must we think that it will be otherwise;\nfor it is told to the souls under the altar, \"That their\nfellow-servants must be killed as they were\" (Rev. vi. 11). Surely, it\ncannot be long to the day. Nay, hear Him say, \"Behold, I come, My dear\nbride; think not long. I shall be at you at once. I hear you, and am\ncoming.\" Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus, come quickly; for the\nprisoners of hope are looking out at the prison windows, to see if\nthey can behold the King's ambassador coming with the King's warrant\nand the keys. I write not to you by guess now, because I have a\nwarrant to say unto you, the garments of Christ's spouse must be once\nagain dyed in blood, as long ago her husband's were. But our Father\nsees His bleeding Son. What I write unto you, show it to I. G. Grace,\ngrace, grace and mercy be with you, your husband, and children.\n\n Yours in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n [110] Henry Burton, an able divine of the Church of England, wrote\n several vigorous pieces against Popery, and against Montague's\n \"Appello C\u00e6sarem.\"\n\n\n\n\nXVIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _in the prospect of a Communion\nseason_.\n\n(_PRAYER SOLICITED--THE CHURCH'S PROSPECTS._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--My love in Christ as remembered. Our Communion is on\nSabbath come[111] eight days. I will entreat you to recommend it to\nGod, and to pray for me in that work. I have more sins upon me now\nthan the last time. Therefore I will beseech you in Christ, seek this\npetition to me from God, that the Lord would give me grace to vow and\nperform new obedience. I have cause to suit this of you; and show it\nto Thomas Carson, Fergus and Jean Brown, for I have been and am\nexceedingly cast down, and am fighting against a malicious devil, of\nwhom I can win little ground. I would think a spoil plucked from him,\nand his trusty servant sin, a lawful and just conquest. And it were no\nsin to take from him, in the name of the Goodman of our house, our\nKing Jesus. I invite you to the banquet. He saith, ye shall be dearly\nwelcome to Him. And I desire to believe (howbeit not without great\nfear) He shall be as hearty in His own house as He has been before.\nFor me, it is but small reckoning; but I would fain have our Father\nand Lord to break the great fair loaf, Christ, and to distribute His\nslain Son amongst the bairns of His house, and that if any were a\nstep-bairn, in respect of comfort and sense, it were rather myself\nthan His poor bairns. Therefore bid our Well-beloved come to His\ngarden and feed among the lilies.\n\n [111] Sabbath that comes eight days after this.\n\nAnd as concerning Zion, I hope our Lord, who sent His angel (Zech. ii.\n1, 2) with a measuring line in his hand to measure the length and\nbreadth of Jerusalem, in token He would not want a foot length or inch\nof His own free heritage, shall take order with those who have taken\naway many acres of His own land from Him. And God will build Jerusalem\nin the old sted and place where it was before. In this hope rejoice\nand be glad. Christ's garment was not dipped in blood for nothing, but\nfor His Bride, whom He bought with strokes. I will desire you to\nremember my old suits to God, God's glory and the increase of light,\nthat I dry not up. For your town, hope and believe that the Lord will\ngather in His loose sheaves among you to His barn, and send one with a\nwell-toothed, sharp hook, and strong gardies, to reap His harvest. And\nthe Lord Jesus be Husbandman, and oversee the growing. Remember my\nlove to your husband and to Samuel. Grace upon you and your children.\nLord, make them corner-stones in Jerusalem, and give them grace in\ntheir youth to take band with the fair Chief Corner-stone, who was\nhewed out of the mountain without hands, and got many a knock with His\nFather's forehammer, and endured them all, and the stone did neither\ncleave nor break. Upon that stone make your soul to lie. King Jesus be\nwith your spirit.\n\n Your friend in his well-beloved Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n\n\n\nXIX.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_ENCOURAGEMENT TO ABOUND IN FAITH FROM THE PROSPECT OF\nGLORY--CHRIST'S UNCHANGEABLENESS._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Having saluted you in the Lord Jesus, I thought it my duty,\nhaving the occasion of this bearer, to write again unto your ladyship,\nthough I have no new purpose but what I wrote of before. Yet ye cannot\nbe too often awakened to go forward towards your city, since your way\nis long, and (for anything ye know) your day is short. And your Lord\nrequireth of you, as ye advance in years and steal forward insensibly\ntowards eternity, that your faith may grow and ripen for the Lord's\nharvest. For the great Husbandman giveth a season to His fruits that\nthey may come to maturity, and having gotten their fill of the tree\nthey may then be shaken and gathered in for use; whereas the wicked\nrot upon the tree, and their branch shall not be green. \"He shall\nshake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower\nas the olive\" (Job xv. 33). It is God's mercy to you, Madam, that He\ngiveth you your fill, even to loathing, of this bitter world, that ye\nmay willingly leave it, and, like a full and satisfied banqueter,[112]\nlong for the drawing of the table. And at last, having trampled under\nyour feet all the rotten pleasures that are under sun and moon, and\nhaving rejoiced as though ye rejoiced not, and having bought as though\nye possessed not (1 Cor. vii. 30), ye may, like an old crazy ship,\narrive at our Lord's harbour, and be made welcome, as one of those who\nhave ever had one foot loose from the earth, longing for that place\nwhere your soul shall feast and banquet for ever and ever upon a\nglorious sight of the incomprehensible Trinity, and where ye shall see\nthe fair face of the man Christ, even the beautiful face that was once\nfor your cause more marred than any of the visages of the sons of men\n(Isa. lii. 14), and was all covered with spitting and blood. Be\ncontent to wade through the waters betwixt you and glory with Him,\nholding His hand fast, for He knoweth all the fords. Howbeit ye may be\nducked, but ye cannot drown, being in His company; and ye may all the\nway to glory see the way bedewed with His blood who is the Forerunner.\nBe not afraid, therefore, when ye come even to the black and swelling\nriver of death, to put in your foot and wade after Him. The current,\nhow strong soever, cannot carry you down the water to hell: the Son of\nGod, His death and resurrection, are stepping-stones and a stay to\nyou; set down your feet by faith upon these stones, and go through as\non dry land. If ye knew what He is preparing for you, ye would be too\nglad. He will not (it may be) give you a full draught till you come up\nto the well-head and drink, yea, drink abundantly, of the pure river\nof the water of life, that proceedeth out from the throne of God and\nof the Lamb (Rev. xxii. 1). Madam, tire not, weary not; I dare find\nyou the Son of God caution, when ye are got up thither, and have cast\nyour eyes to view the golden city, and the fair and never-withering\nTree of Life, that beareth twelve manner of fruits every month, ye\nshall then say, \"Four-and-twenty hours' abode in this place is worth\nthreescore and ten years' sorrow upon earth.\" If ye can but say, that\nye long earnestly to be carried up thither (and I hope you cannot for\nshame deny Him the honour of having wrought that desire in your soul),\nthen hath your Lord given you an earnest. And, Madam, do ye believe\nthat our Lord will lose His earnest, and rue of the bargain, and\nchange His mind, as if He were a man that can lie, or the son of man\nthat can repent? Nay, He is unchangeable, and the same this year that\nHe was the former year. And His Son Jesus, who upon earth ate and\ndrank with publicans and sinners, and spake and conferred with whores\nand harlots, and put up His holy hand and touched the leper's filthy\nskin, and came evermore nigh sinners, even now in glory, is yet that\nsame Lord. His honour, and His great court in heaven, hath not made\nHim forget His poor friends on earth. In Him honours change not\nmanners, and He doth yet desire your company. Take Him for the old\nChrist, and claim still kindness to Him, and say, \"O it is so; He is\nnot changed, but I am changed.\" Nay, it is a part of His unchangeable\nlove, and an article of the new covenant, to keep you that ye cannot\ndispone Him, nor sell Him. He hath not played fast and loose with us\nin the covenant of grace, so that we may run from Him at our pleasure.\nHis love hath made the bargain surer than so; for Jesus, as the\ncautioner, is bound for us (Heb. vii. 22). And it cannot stand with\nHis honour to die in the borrows (as we use to say), and lose thee,\nwhom He must render again to the Father when He shall give up the\nkingdom to Him. Consent and say \"Amen\" to the promises, and ye have\nsealed that God is true, and Christ is yours. This is an easy market.\nYe but look on with faith; for Christ suffered all, and paid all.\n\n [112] Allusion to Horace, _Sat._ i. 1, 19. One of the few allusions to\n the classics that occur in Rutherford.\n\nMadam, fearing I be tedious to your Ladyship, I must stop here,\ndesiring always to hear that your Ladyship is well, and that ye have\nstill your face up the mountain. Pray for us, Madam, and for Zion,\nwhereof ye are a part. We expect a trial. God's wheat in this land\nmust go through Satan's sieve, but their faith shall not fail. I am\nstill wrestling in our Lord's work, and have been tried and tempted\nwith brethren who look awry to the Gospel. Now He that is able to keep\nyou unto that day preserve your soul, body, and spirit, and present\nyou before His face with His own Bride, spotless and blameless.\n\nYour Ladyship's, to be commanded always in the Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Nov. 26, 1631_.\n\n\n\n\nXX.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_ASSURANCE OF CHRIST'S LOVE UNDER TRIALS--FULNESS OF CHRIST--HOPE OF\nGLORY._)\n\n\nMADAM,--I am grieved exceedingly that your Ladyship should think, or\nhave cause to think, that such as love you in God, in this country,\nare forgetful of you. For myself, Madam, I owe to your Ladyship all\nevidences of my high respect (in the sight of my Lord, whose truth I\npreach, I am bold to say it) for His rich grace in you.\n\nMy Communion, put off till the end of a longsome and rainy harvest,\nand the presbyterial exercise (as the bearer can inform your\nLadyship), hindered me to see you. And for my people's sake (finding\nthem like hot iron, that cooleth being out of the fire, and that is\npliable to no work), I do not stir abroad; neither have I left them at\nall, since your Ladyship was in this country, save at one time only,\nabout two years ago. Yet I dare not say but it is a fault, howbeit no\ndefect in my affection; and I trust to make it up again, so soon as\npossibly I am able to wait upon you.\n\nMadam, I have no new purpose to write unto you, but of that which I\nthink (nay, which our Lord thinketh) needful, that one thing, Mary's\ngood part, which ye have chosen (Luke x. 42). Madam, all that God\nhath, both Himself and the creatures, He is dealing and parting\namongst the sons of Adam. There are none so poor as that they can say\nin His face, \"He hath given them nothing.\" But there is no small odds\nbetwixt the gifts given to lawful bairns and to bastards; and the more\ngreedy ye are in suiting, the more willing He is to give, delighting\nto be called open-handed. I hope your Ladyship laboureth to get\nassurance of the surest patrimony, even God Himself. Ye will find in\nChristianity, that God aimeth, in all His dealings with His children,\nto bring them to a high contempt of, and deadly feud with the world,\nand to set an high price upon Christ, and to think Him One who cannot\nbe bought for gold, and well worthy the fighting for. And for no other\ncause, Madam, doth the Lord withdraw from you the childish toys and\nthe earthly delights that He giveth unto others, but that He may have\nyou wholly to Himself. Think therefore of the Lord, as of one who\ncometh to woo you in marriage, when ye are in the furnace. He seeketh\nHis answer of you in affliction, to see if ye will say, Even so I take\nHim. Madam, give Him this answer pleasantly, and in your mind do not\nsecretly grudge nor murmur. When He is striking you in love, beware to\nstrike again: that is dangerous; for those who strike again shall get\nthe last blow.\n\nIf I hit not upon the right string, it is because I am not acquainted\nwith your Ladyship's present condition; but I believe your Ladyship\ngoeth on foot, laughing, and putting on a good countenance before the\nworld, and yet ye carry heaviness about with you. Ye do well, Madam,\nnot to make them witnesses of your grief, who cannot be curers of it.\nBut be exceedingly charitable of your dear Lord. As there be some\nfriends worldly of whom ye will not entertain an ill thought, far more\nought ye to believe good evermore of your dear friend, that lovely\nfair person, Jesus Christ. The thorn is one of the most cursed, and\nangry, and crabbed weeds that the earth yieldeth, and yet out of it\nspringeth the rose, one of the sweetest-smelled flowers, and most\ndelightful to the eye, that the earth hath. Your Lord shall make joy\nand gladness out of your afflictions; for all His roses have a\nfragrant smell. Wait for the time when His own holy hand shall hold\nthem to your nose; and if ye would have present comfort under the\ncross, be much in prayer, for at that time your faith kisseth Christ\nand He kisseth the soul. And oh! if the breath of His holy mouth be\nsweet, I dare be caution, out of some small experience, that ye shall\nnot be beguiled; for the world (yea, not a few number of God's\nchildren) know not well what that is which they call a Godhead. But,\nMadam, come near to the Godhead, and look down to the bottom of the\nwell; there is much in Him, and sweet were that death to drown in such\na well. Your grief taketh liberty to work upon your mind, when ye are\nnot busied in the meditation of the ever-delighting and all-blessed\nGodhead. If ye would lay the price ye give out (which is but some few\nyears' pain and trouble) beside the commodities ye are to receive, ye\nwould see they are not worthy to be laid in the balance together: but\nit is nature that maketh you look what ye give out, and weakness of\nfaith that hindereth you to see what ye shall take in. Amend your\nhope, and frist your faithful Lord awhile. He maketh Himself your\ndebtor in the new covenant. He is honest; take His word: \"Affliction\nshall not spring up the second time\" (Nahum i. 9). \"He that overcometh\nshall inherit all things\" (Rev. xxi. 7). Of all things, then, which ye\nwant in this life, Madam, I am able to say nothing, if that be not\nbelieved which ye have in Rev. iii. 5, 21: \"The overcomer shall be\nclothed in white raiment. To the overcomer I will give to sit with Me\nin My throne, as I overcame, and am set down with My Father in His\nthrone.\" Consider, Madam, if ye are not high up now, and far ben in\nthe palace of our Lord, when ye are upon a throne in white raiment, at\nlovely Christ's elbow. O thrice fools are we, who, like new-born\nprinces weeping in the cradle, know not that there is a kingdom before\nthem! Then let our Lord's sweet hand square us and hammer us, and\nstrike off the knots of pride, self-love, and world-worship, and\ninfidelity, that He may make us stones and pillars in His Father's\nhouse (Rev. iii. 12). Madam, what think ye to take binding with the\nfair corner-stone Jesus? The Lord give you wisdom to believe and hope\nyour day is coming. I hope to be witness of your joy, as I have been a\nhearer and beholder of your grief. Think ye much to follow the heir of\nthe crown, who had experience of sorrows, and was acquainted with\ngrief? (Isa. liii. 3). It were pride to aim to be above the King's\nSon: it is more than we deserve, that we are _equals_ in glory, in a\nmanner. Now commending you to the dearest grace and mercy of God, I\nrest\n\n Your Ladyship's, at all obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Jan. 4, 1632_.\n\n\n\n\nXXI.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_SELF-DENIAL--HOPE OF CHRIST'S COMING--LOVING GOD FOR HIMSELF._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Understanding (a little after the writing of my last letter)\nof the going of this bearer, I would not omit the opportunity of\nremembering your Ladyship, still harping upon that string, which in\nour whole lifetime is never too often touched upon (nor is our lesson\nwell enough learned), that there is a necessity of advancing in the\nway to the kingdom of God, of the contempt of the world, of denying\nourself and bearing of our Lord's cross, which is no less needful for\nus than daily food. And among many marks that we are on this journey,\nand under sail toward heaven, this is one, when the love of God so\nfilleth our hearts, that we forget to love, and care not much for the\nhaving, or wanting of, other things; as one extreme heat burneth out\nanother. By this, Madam, ye know, ye have betrothed your soul in\nmarriage to Christ, when ye do make but small reckoning of all other\nsuitors or wooers; and when ye can (having little in hand, but much in\nhope) live as a young heir, during the time of his non-age and\nminority, being content to be as hardly handled and under as precise a\nreckoning as servants, because his hope is upon the inheritance. For\nthis cause God's bairns take well with spoiling of their goods,\nknowing in themselves that they have in heaven a better and an\nenduring substance (Heb. x. 34). That day that the earth and the works\ntherein shall be burned with fire (2 Pet. iii. 10), your hidden hope\nand your life shall appear. And therefore, since ye have not now many\nyears to your endless eternity, and know not how soon the sky above\nyour head will rive, and the Son of man will be seen in the clouds of\nheaven, what better and wiser course can ye take, than to think that\nyour one foot is here, and your other foot in the life to come, and to\nleave off loving, desiring, or grieving for the wants that shall be\nmade up when your Lord and ye shall meet, and when ye shall give in\nyour bill, that day, of all your wants here? If your losses be not\nmade up, ye have place to challenge the Almighty; but it shall not be\nso. Ye shall then rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and\nyour joy shall none take from you (1 Pet. i. 8; John xvi. 22). It is\nenough, that the Lord hath promised you great things, only let the\ntime of bestowing them be in His own carving. It is not for us to set\nan hour-glass to the Creator of time. Since He and we differ only in\nthe term of payment; since He hath promised payment, and we believe\nit, it is no great matter. We will put that in His own will, as the\nfrank buyer, who cometh near to what the seller seeketh, useth at last\nto refer the difference to his own will, and so cutteth off the course\nof mutual prigging. Madam, do not prigg with your frank-hearted and\ngracious Lord about the time of the fulfilling of your joys. It will\nbe; God hath said it; bide His harvest, wait upon His whitsunday.[113]\nHis day is better than your day; He putteth not the hook in the corn\ntill it be ripe and full-eared. The great Angel of the covenant bear\nyou company, till the trumpet shall sound, and the voice of the\nArchangel awaken the dead. Ye shall find it your only happiness, under\nwhatever thing disturbeth and crosseth the peace of your mind, in this\nlife, to love nothing for itself, but only God for Himself. It is the\ncrooked love of some harlots, that they love bracelets, ear-rings, and\nrings better than the lover that sendeth them. God will not so be\nloved; for that were to behave as harlots, and not as the chaste\nspouse, to abate from our love when these things are pulled away. Our\nlove to Him should begin on earth, as it shall be in heaven; for the\nbride taketh not, by a thousand degrees, so much delight in her\nwedding garment as she doth in her bridegroom; so we, in the life to\ncome, howbeit clothed with glory as with a robe, shall not be so much\naffected with the glory that goeth about us, as with the bridegroom's\njoyful race and presence. Madam, if ye can win to this here, the field\nis won; and your mind, for anything ye want, or for anything your Lord\ncan take from you, shall soon be calmed and quieted. Get Himself as a\npawn, and keep Him, till your dear Lord come, and loose the pawn, and\nrue upon you, and give you all again that He took from you, even a\nthousand talents for one penny. It is not ill to lend God willingly,\nwho otherwise both will and may take from you against your will. It\nis good to play the usurer with Him, and take in, instead of ten of\nthe hundred, an hundred of ten, often an hundred of one.\n\n [113] His term-day.\n\nMadam, fearing to be tedious to you, I break off here, commending you\n(as I trust to do while I live), your person, ways, burdens, and all\nthat concerneth you, to that Almighty who is able to bear you and your\nburdens. I still remember you to Him, who will cause you one day to\nlaugh. I expect that, whatever ye can do, by word or deed, for the\nLord's friendless Zion, ye will do it. She is your mother; forget her\nnot; for the Lord intendeth to melt and try this land, and it is high\ntime we were all upon our feet, and falling about to try what claim we\nhave to Christ. It is like the bridegroom will be taken from us, and\nthen we shall mourn. Dear Jesus, remove not, else take us with Thee.\nGrace, grace be with you for ever.\n\n Your Ladyship's, at all dutiful obedience,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Jan. 14, 1632_.\n\n\n\n\nXXII.--_To_ JOHN KENNEDY. (_Letter_ LXXV.)\n\n(_DELIVERANCE FROM SHIPWRECK--RECOVERY FROM THREATENED DEATH--USE OF\nTRIALS--REMEMBRANCE OF FRIENDS._)\n\n\nMY LOVING AND MOST AFFECTIONATE IN CHRIST,--I salute you with grace,\nmercy, and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nI promised to write to you, and although late enough, yet I now make\nit good. I heard with grief of your great danger of perishing by the\nsea, and of your merciful deliverance with joy. Sure I am, brother,\nthat Satan will leave no stone unrolled, as the proverb is, to roll\nyou off your Rock, or at least to shake and unsettle you: for at that\nsame time the mouths of wicked men were opened in hard speeches\nagainst you, by land, and the prince of the power of the air was angry\nwith you by sea. See then how much ye are obliged to that malicious\nmurderer, who would beat you with two rods at one time; but, blessed\nbe God, his arm is short; if the sea and wind would have obeyed him,\nye had never come to land. Thank your God, who saith, \"I have the keys\nof hell and of death\" (Rev. i. 18); \"I kill, and I make alive\" (Deut.\nxxxii. 39); \"The Lord bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up\" (1\nSam. ii. 6). If Satan were jailor, and had the keys of death and of\nthe grave, they should be stored with more prisoners. Ye were knocking\nat these black gates, and ye found the doors shut; and we do all\nwelcome you back again.\n\nI trust that ye know that it is not for nothing that ye are sent to us\nagain. The Lord knew that ye had forgotten something that was\nnecessary for your journey; that your armour was not as yet thick\nenough against the stroke of death. Now, in the strength of Jesus\ndespatch your business; that debt is not forgiven, but fristed: death\nhath not bidden you farewell, but hath only left you for a short\nseason. End your journey ere the night come upon you. Have all in\nreadiness against the time that ye must sail through that black and\nimpetuous Jordan; and Jesus, Jesus, who knoweth both those depths and\nthe rocks, and all the coasts, be your pilot. The last tide will not\nwait you for one moment. If ye forget anything, when your sea is full,\nand your foot in that ship, there is no returning again to fetch it.\nWhat ye do amiss in your life to-day, ye may amend it to-morrow; for\nas many suns as God maketh to arise upon you, ye have as many new\nlives; but ye can die but once, and if ye mar or spill that business,\nye cannot come back to mend that piece of work again. No man sinneth\ntwice in dying ill; as we die but once, so we die but ill or well\nonce. You see how the number of your months is written in God's book;\nand as one of the Lord's hirelings, ye must work till the shadow of\nthe evening come upon you, and ye shall run out your glass even to the\nlast pickle of sand. Fulfil your course with joy, for we take nothing\nto the grave with us, but a good or evil conscience. And, although the\nsky clear after this storm, yet clouds will engender another.\n\nYe contracted with Christ, I hope, when first ye began to follow Him,\nthat ye would bear His cross. Fulfil your part of the contract with\npatience, and break not to Jesus Christ. Be honest, brother, in your\nbargaining with Him; for who knoweth better how to bring up children\nthan our God? For (to lay aside His knowledge, of the which there is\nno finding out) He hath been practised in bringing up His heirs these\nfive thousand years; and His bairns are all well brought up, and many\nof them are honest men now at home, up in their own house in heaven,\nand are entered heirs to their Father's inheritance. Now, the form of\nHis bringing up was by chastisements, scourging, correcting,\nnurturing; and see if He maketh exception of any of His bairns: no,\nHis eldest Son and His Heir, Jesus, is not excepted (Rev. iii. 19;\nHeb. xii. 7, 8, and ii. 10). Suffer we must; ere we were born, God\ndecreed it; and it is easier to complain of His decree than to change\nit. It is true, terrors of conscience cast us down; and yet without\nterrors of conscience we cannot be raised up again: fears and\ndoubtings shake us; and yet without fears and doubtings we would soon\nsleep, and lose our grips of Christ. Tribulation and temptations will\nalmost loosen us to the root; and yet, without tribulations and\ntemptations, we can now no more grow than herbs or corn without rain.\nSin, and Satan, and the world will say, and cry in our ear, that we\nhave a hard reckoning to make in judgment; and yet none of these\nthree, except they lie, dare say in our face that our sin can change\nthe tenor of the new covenant. Forward, then, dear brother, and lose\nnot your grips. Hold fast the truth: for the world, sell not one\ndram-weight of God's truth, especially now, when most men measure\ntruth by time, like young seamen setting their compass by a cloud; for\nnow time is father and mother to truth, in the thoughts and practices\nof our evil time. The God of truth establish us; for, alas! now there\nare none to comfort the prisoners of hope, and the mourners in Zion.\nWe can do little, except pray and mourn for Joseph in the stocks. And\nlet their tongue cleave to the roof of their mouth who forget\nJerusalem now in her day; and the Lord remember Edom, and render to\nhim as he hath done to us.\n\nNow, brother, I shall not weary you; but I entreat you to remember my\ndearest love to Mr. David Dickson, with whom I have small\nacquaintance; yet I bless the Lord, I know that he both prayeth and\ndoeth for our dying kirk. Remember my dearest love to John Stuart,\nwhom I love in Christ; and show him from me that I do always remember\nhim, and hope for a meeting. The Lord Jesus establish him more and\nmore, though he be already a strong man in Christ. Remember my\nheartiest affection in Christ to William Rodger,[114] whom I also\nremember to God. I wish that the first news I hear of him and you, and\nall that love our common Saviour in those bounds, may be, that they\nare so knit and linked, and kindly fastened in love with the Son of\nGod, that ye may say, \"Now if ye would ever so fain escape out of\nChrist's hands, yet love hath so bound us, that we cannot get our\nhands free again; He hath so ravished our hearts, that there is no\nloosening of His grips; the chains of His soul-ravishing love are so\nstrong, that neither the grave nor death will break them.\" I hope,\nbrother, yea I doubt not of it, that ye lay me, and my first entry to\nthe Lord's vineyard, and my flock, before Him who hath put me into His\nwork. As the Lord knoweth, since first I saw you, I have been mindful\nof you. Marion M'Naught doth remember most heartily her love to you,\nand to John Stuart.[115] Blessed be the Lord! that in God's mercy I\nfound in this country such a woman, to whom Jesus is dearer than her\nown heart, when there be so many that cast Christ over their shoulder.\nGood brother, call to mind the memory of your worthy father, now\nasleep in Christ; and, as his custom was, pray continually, and\nwrestle, for the life of a dying, breathless kirk. And desire John\nStuart not to forget poor Zion; she hath few friends, and few to speak\none good word for her.\n\n [114] Livingstone in his \"Memor. Characteristics\" mentions this godly\n man, a merchant in Ayr.\n\n [115] See Letter CLXI.\n\nNow I commend you, your whole soul, and body, and spirit, to Jesus\nChrist and His keeping, hoping that ye will live and die, stand and\nfall, with the cause of our Master, Jesus. The Lord Jesus Himself be\nwith your spirit.\n\n Your loving brother in our Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Feb. 2, 1632_.\n\n\n\n\nXXIII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_EXHORTING TO REMEMBER HER ESPOUSAL TO CHRIST--TRIBULATION A\nPREPARATION FOR THE KINGDOM--GLORY IN THE END._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Your Ladyship will not (I know) weary nor offend, though I\ntrouble you with many letters. The memory of what obligations I am\nunder to your Ladyship, is the cause of it.\n\nI am possibly impertinent in what I write, because of my ignorance of\nyour present estate; but for all that is said, I have learned of Mr.\nW. D.[116] that ye have not changed upon, nor wearied of your sweet\nMaster, Christ, and His service; neither were it your part to change\nupon Him who \"resteth in His love.\" Ye are among honourable company,\nand such as affect grandeur and court. But, Madam, thinking upon your\nestate, I think I see an improvident wooer coming too late to seek a\nbride, because she is contracted already, and promised away to\nanother; and so the wooer's busking and bravery (who cometh to\nyou[117] as \"who but he?\") are in vain. The outward pomp of this busy\nwooer, a beguiling world, is now coming in to suit[118] your soul too\nlate, when ye have promised away your soul to Christ many years ago.\nAnd I know, Madam, what answer ye may now justly make to the late\nsuitor; even this: \"Ye are too long of coming; my soul, the bride, is\naway already, and the contract with Christ subscribed, and I cannot\nchoose, but I must be honest and faithful to Him.\" Honourable lady,\nkeep your first love, and hold the first match with that\nsoul-delighting, lovely Bridegroom, our sweet, sweet Jesus, fairer\nthan all the children of men, \"the Rose of Sharon,\" and the fairest\nand sweetest smelled rose in all His Father's garden. There is none\nlike Him; I would not exchange one smile of His lovely face with\nkingdoms. Madam, let others take their silly, feckless heaven in this\nlife. Envy them not; but let your soul, like a tarrowing and\nmislearned child, take the dorts (as we use to speak), or cast at all\nthings and disdain them, except one only: either Christ or nothing.\nYour well-beloved, Jesus, will be content that ye be here devoutly\nproud, and ill to please, as one that contemneth all husbands but\nHimself. Either the King's Son, or no husband at all; this is humble,\nand worthy ambition. What have ye to do to dally with a whorish and\nfoolish world? Your jealous Husband will not be content that ye look\nby Him to another: He will be jealous indeed, and offended, if ye kiss\nanother but Himself. What weights do burden you, Madam, I know not;\nbut think it great mercy that your Lord from your youth hath been\nhedging in your outstraying affections, that they may not go a-whoring\nfrom Himself. If ye were His bastard, He would not nurture you so. If\nye were for the slaughter, ye would be fattened. But be content; ye\nare His wheat, growing in our Lord's field (Matt. xiii. 25, 38); and\nif wheat, ye must go under our Lord's threshing-instrument, in His\nbarn-floor, and through His sieve (Amos ix. 9), and through His mill\nto be bruised (as the Prince of your salvation, Jesus, was) (Isa.\nliii. 10), that ye may be found good bread in your Lord's house. Lord\nJesus, bless the spiritual husbandry, and separate you from the chaff,\nthat dow not bide the wind. I am persuaded your glass is spending\nitself by little and little; and if ye knew who is before you, ye\nwould rejoice in your tribulations. Think ye it a small honour to\nstand before the throne of God and the Lamb? and to be clothed in\nwhite, and to be called to the marriage supper of the Lamb? and to be\nled to the fountain of living waters, and to come to the Well-head,\neven God Himself, and get your fill of the clear, cold, sweet,\nrefreshing water of life, the King's own well? and to put up your own\nsinful hand to the tree of life and take down and eat the sweetest\napple in all God's heavenly paradise, Jesus Christ, your life and your\nLord? Up your heart! shout for joy! Your King is coming to fetch you\nto His Father's house.\n\n [116] Mr. William Dalgleish, minister at Kirkmabreck.\n\n [117] A proverbial expression, as in Herbert's Poem, 84:\n\n \"Then came brave Glory passing by,\n With silks that whistled, Who but he.\"\n\n\n [118] Z. Boyd's _Last Battle_, p. 185.\n\nMadam, I am in exceeding great heaviness, God thinking it best for my\nown soul thus to exercise me, thereby, it may be, to fit me to be His\nmouth to others. I see and hear, at home and abroad, nothing but\nmatter of grief and discouragement, which indeed maketh my life\nbitter. And I hope in God never to get my will in this world. And I\nexpect ere long a fiery trial upon the Church; for as many men almost\nin England and Scotland, as many false friends to Christ, and as many\npulling and drawing to pull the crown off His holy head! and for fear\nthat our Beloved stay amongst us (as if His room[119] were more\ndesirable than Himself), men are bidding Him go seek His lodging.\nMadam, if ye have a part in silly, friendless Zion (as I know ye\nhave), speak a word on her behalf to God and man. If ye can do nothing\nelse, speak for Jesus, and ye shall thereby be a witness against this\ndeclining age. Now, from my very soul, laying and leaving you on the\nLord, and desiring a part in your prayers (as, my Lord knoweth, I\nremember you), I deliver over your body, spirit, and all your\nnecessities, to the hands of our Lord, and remain for ever\n\nYour Ladyship's, in your sweet Lord Jesus and mine,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Feb. 13, 1632_.\n\n [119] His place.\n\n\n\n\nXXIV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_CHRIST AND HIS GARDEN--PROVISION OF ORDINANCES IN THE CHURCH--OUR\nCHILDREN._)\n\n\nBELOVED MISTRESS,--My dearest love in Christ remembered to you. Know\nthat Mr. Abraham[120] showed me there is to be a meeting of the\nbishops at Edinburgh shortly. The causes are known to themselves. It\nis our part to hold up our hands for Zion. Howbeit, it is reported,\nthey came sad from court. It is our Lord's wisdom, that His kirk\nshould ever hang by a thread; and yet the thread breaketh not, being\nhanged upon Him who is the sure Nail in David's house (Isa. xxii. 23),\nupon whom all the vessels, great and small, do hang; and the Nail (God\nbe thanked) neither crooketh nor can be broken. Jesus, that Flower of\nJesse set without hands, getteth many a blast, and yet withers not,\nbecause He is His Father's noble Rose, casting a sweet smell through\nheaven and earth, and must grow; and in the same garden grow the\nsaints, God's fair and beautiful lilies, under wind and rain, and all\nsun-burned, and yet life remaineth at the root. Keep within His\ngarden, and you shall grow with them, till the Great Husbandman, our\ndear Master Gardener, come and transplant you from the lower part of\nHis vineyard up to the higher, to the very heart of His garden, above\nthe wrongs of the rain, sun, or wind. And then, wait upon the times of\nthe blowing of the sweet south and north wind of His gracious Spirit,\nthat may make you cast a sweet smell in your Beloved's nostrils; and\nbid your Beloved come down to His garden, and eat of His pleasant\nfruits (Cant. iv. 16). And He will come. You will get no more but this\nuntil you come up to the Well-head, where you shall put up your hand\nand take down the apples of the tree of life, and eat under the shadow\nof that tree. These apples are sweeter up beside the tree than they\nare down here in this piece of a clay prison-house. I have no joy but\nin the thoughts of these times. Doubt not of your Lord's part and the\nspouse's part; she shall be in good case. That word shall stand, \"I\nshall be as the dew to Israel: he shall grow up as the lily, and cast\nout his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, his beauty shall\nbe as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon\" (Hosea xiv. 5, 6).\nChrist shall set up His colours, and His ensign for the nations, and\nshall gather together the outcasts of Israel (Isa. xi. 12). \"Then the\nLord said to me, Son of man, these dead bones are the whole house of\nIsrael: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, our hope is lost; we\nare cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy unto them, and say, Thus\nsaith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and\ncause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land\nof Israel\" (Ezek. xxxvii. 11, 12). These promises are not wind, but\nthe breast of our beloved Christ, which we must suck and draw comfort\nout of. Ye have cause to pity those poor creatures that stand out\nagainst Christ, and the building of His house. Silly men! they have\nbut a feckless and silly heaven, nothing but meat and cloth, and laugh\na day or two in the world, and then in a moment go down to the grave;\nand they shall not be able to hinder Christ's building. He that is\nMaster of work will lead stones to the wall over their belly.\n\n [120] Possibly, Mr. Abraham Henderson; a staunch defender of\n Presbytery, who, in 1605, persisted, along with eight of his brethren,\n in convening at Aberdeen, in face of prohibition, in order to maintain\n a protest in behalf of the Church's inherent right to meet in General\n Assembly. (See Forbes' \"Apolog. Narration,\" p. 136.)\n\nAnd for that present tumult that the children of this world raise\nanent the planting of your town with a pastor, believe and stay upon\nGod, as you still shame us all in believing. Go forward in the\nstrength of the Lord; and I say from my Lord, before whom I stand,\nhave your eyes upon none but the Lord of armies, and the Lord shall\neither let you see what you long to see, or then else fulfil your joy\nmore abundantly another way. You and yours, and the children of God\nwhom you care for in this town, shall have as much of the Son of God's\nsupper cut and laid upon your trenchers, be who he will that carveth,\nas shall feed you to eternal life. And be not cast down for all that\nis done: your reward is laid up with God. I hope to see you laugh and\nleap for joy. Will the temple be built without din and tumult? No;\nGod's stones in His house in Germany are laid with blood; and the Son\nof God no sooner begins to chop and hew stones with His hammer, but as\nsoon the sword is drawn. If the work were of men, the world would set\ntheir shoulders to yours; but, in Christ's work, two or three must\nfight against a Presbytery (though His own court) and a city. This\nproveth that it is Christ's errand, and therefore that it shall\nthrive. Let them lay iron chains cross over the door,--stay, and\nbelieve, and wait, whill the Lion of the tribe of Judah come. And He\nthat comes from heaven clothed with the rainbow, and hath the little\nbook in His hand, when He taketh a grip of their chains, He will lay\nthe door on the broadside, and come in, and go up to the pulpit, and\ntake the man with Him whom He hath chosen for His work. Therefore, let\nme hear from you, whether you be in heaviness, or rejoicing under\nhope, that I may take part of your grief, and bear it with you, and\nget part of your joy, which is to me also as my own joy.\n\nAnd as to what are your fears anent the health or life of your dear\nchildren, lay it upon Christ's shoulders: let Him bear all. Loose your\ngrips of them all; and when your dear Lord pulleth, let them go with\nfaith and joy. It is a tried faith to kiss a Lord that is taking from\nyou. Let them be careful, during the short time that they are here, to\nrun and get a grip of the prize. Christ is standing in the end of\ntheir way, holding up the garland of endless glory to their eyes, and\nis crying, \"Run fast, and come and receive.\" Happy are they (if their\nbreath serve them) to run and not to weary, whill their Lord, with His\nown dear hand, puts the crown upon their head. It is not long days,\nbut good days, that make life glorious and happy; and our dear Lord is\ngracious to us, who shorteneth and hath made the way to glory shorter\nthan it was; so that the crown that Noah did fight for five hundred\nyears, children may now obtain it in fifteen years. And heaven is in\nsome sort better for us now than it was to Noah, for the man Christ is\nthere now, who was not come in the flesh in Noah's days. You shall\nshow this to your children, whom my soul in Christ blesseth, and\nentreat them by the mercies of God, and the bowels of Jesus Christ, to\ncovenant with Jesus Christ to be His, and to make up the bond of\nfriendship betwixt their souls and their Christ, that they may have\nacquaintance in heaven, and a friend at God's right hand. Such a\nfriend at court is much worth.\n\nNow I take my leave of you, praying my Christ and your Christ to\nfulfil your joy; and more graces and blessings from our sweet Lord\nJesus to your soul, your husband's and children, than ever I wrote of\nthe letters of A, B, C, to you. Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours in my sweet Master, Jesus Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _March 9, 1632_.\n\n\n\n\nXXV.--_To a Gentlewoman at Kirkcudbright, excusing himself from\nvisiting._\n\n\nMISTRESS,--I beseech you to have me excused if the daily employments\nof my calling shall hinder me to see you according as I would wish;\nfor I dare not go abroad, since many of my people are sick, and the\ntime of our Communion draweth near. But frequent the company of your\nworthy and honest-hearted pastor, Mr. Robert (Glendinning), to whom\nthe Lord hath given the tongue of the learned, to minister a word in\nseason to the weary. Remember me to him and to your husband. The Lord\nJesus be with your spirit. Your affectionate friend,\n\n S. R.\n\n\n\n\nXXVI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _after her dangerous illness_.\n\n(_USE OF SICKNESS--REPROACHES--CHRIST OUR ETERNAL FEAST--FASTING._)\n\n\nDEARLY-BELOVED MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. You are not\nignorant what our Lord in His love-visitation hath been doing with\nyour soul, even letting you see a little sight of that dark trance you\nmust go through ere you come to glory. Your life hath been near the\ngrave, and you were at the door, and you found the door shut and fast:\nyour dear Christ thinking it not time to open these gates to you till\nyou have fought some longer in His camp. And therefore He willeth you\nto put on your armour again, and to take no truce with the devil or\nthis present world. You are little obliged to any of the two; but I\nrejoice in this, that when any of the two comes to suit your soul in\nmarriage, you have an answer in readiness to tell them,--\"You are too\nlong a-coming; I have many a year since promised my soul to another,\neven to my dearest Lord Jesus, to whom I must be true.\" And therefore\nyou are come back to us again to help us to pray for Christ's fair\nbride, a marrow dear to Him.\n\nBe not cast down in heart to hear that the world barketh at Christ's\nstrangers, both in Ireland and in this land; they do it because their\nLord hath chosen them out of this world. And this is one of our Lord's\nreproaches, to be hated and ill-entreated by men. The silly stranger,\nin an uncouth country, must take with a smoky inn and coarse cheer, a\nhard bed, and a barking, ill-tongued host. It is not long to the day,\nand he will to his journey upon the morrow, and leave them all.\nIndeed, our fair morning is at hand, the day-star is near the rising,\nand we are not many miles from home. What matters ill entertainment in\nthe smoky inns of this miserable life? We are not to stay here, and we\nwill be dearly welcome to Him whom we go to. And I hope, when I shall\nsee you clothed in white raiment, washed in the blood of the Lamb, and\nshall see you even at the elbow of your dearest Lord and Redeemer, and\na crown upon your head, and following our Lamb and lovely Lord\nwhithersoever He goeth,--you will think nothing of all these days; and\nyou shall then rejoice, and no man shall take your joy from you. It is\ncertain there is not much sand to run in your Lord's sand-glass, and\nthat day is at hand; and till then your Lord in this life is giving\nyou some little feasts.\n\nIt is true, you see Him not now as you shall see Him then. Your\nwell-beloved standeth now behind the wall looking out at the window\n(Cant. ii. 9), and you see but a little of His face. Then, you shall\nsee all His face and all the Saviour,--a long, and high, and broad\nLord Jesus, the loveliest person among the children of men. O joy of\njoys, that our souls know there is such a great supper preparing for\nus even! Howbeit we be but half-hungered of Christ here, and many a\ntime dine behind noon,[121] yet the supper of the Lamb will come in\ntime, and will be set before us before we famish and lose our\nstomachs. You have cause to hold up your heart in remembrance and hope\nof that fair, long summer day; for in this night of your life, wherein\nyou are in the body absent from the Lord, Christ's fair moonlight in\nHis word and sacraments, in prayer, feeling, and holy conference, hath\nshined upon you, to let you see the way to the city. I confess our\ndiet here is but sparing; we get but tastings of our Lord's comforts;\nbut the cause of that is not because our Steward, Jesus, is a niggard,\nand narrow-hearted, but because our stomachs are weak, and we are\nnarrow-hearted. But the great feast is coming, and the chambers of\nthem made fair and wide to take in the great Lord Jesus. Come in,\nthen, Lord Jesus, to hungry souls gaping for thee! In this journey\ntake the Bridegroom as you may have Him, and be greedy of His smallest\ncrumbs; but, dear Mistress, buy none of Christ's delicates-spiritual\nwith sin, or fasting against your weak body. Remember you are in the\nbody, and it is the lodging-house; and you may not, without offending\nthe Lord, suffer the old walls of that house to fall down through want\nof necessary food. Your body is the dwelling-house of the Spirit; and\ntherefore, for the love you carry to the sweet Guest, give a due\nregard to His house of clay. When He looseth the wall, why not?\nWelcome Lord Jesus! But it is a fearful sin in us, by hurting the body\nby fasting, to loose one stone or the least piece of timber in it, for\nthe house is not our own. The Bridegroom is with you yet; so fast as\nthat also you may feast and rejoice in Him. I think upon your\nmagistrates; but He that is clothed in linen, and hath the writer's\ninkhorn by His side, hath written up their names in heaven already.\nPray and be content with His will; God hath a council-house in heaven,\nand the end will be mercy unto you. For the planting of your town with\na godly minister, have your eye upon the Lord of the harvest. I dare\npromise you, God in this life shall fill your soul with the fatness of\nHis house, for your care to see Christ's bairns fed. And your\nposterity shall know it, to whom[122] I pray for mercy, and that they\nmay get a name amongst the living in Jerusalem; and if God portion\nthem with His bairns, their rent is fair, and I hope it shall be so.\nThe Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours ever in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Sept. 19, 1632_.\n\n [121] _Noon_, or a little before it, was then the usual hour for\n dinner.\n\n [122] In regard to whom I pray for the mercy Paul sought for the house\n of Onesiphorus (2 Tim. i. 6).\n\n\n\n\nXXVII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_LOVE TO CHRIST AND SUBMISSION TO HIS CROSS--BELIEVERS KEPT--THE\nHEAVENLY PARADISE._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Having saluted you with grace and mercy from God our Father,\nand from our Lord Jesus Christ, I long both to see your Ladyship, and\nto hear how it goeth with you.\n\nI do remember you, and present you and your necessities to Him who is\nable to keep you, and present you blameless before His face with joy;\nand my prayer to our Lord is, that ye may be sick of love for Him, who\ndied of love for you,--I mean your Saviour Jesus. And O sweet were\nthat sickness to be soul-sick for Him! And a living death it were, to\ndie in the fire of the love of that soul-lover, Jesus! And, Madam, if\nye love Him, ye will keep His commandments; and this is not one of the\nleast, to lay your neck cheerfully and willingly under the yoke of\nJesus Christ. For I trust your Ladyship did first contract and bargain\nwith the Son of God to follow Him upon these terms, that by His grace\nye should endure hardship, and suffer affliction, as the soldier of\nChrist. They are not worthy of Jesus who will not take a blow for\ntheir Master's sake. As for our glorious Peace-maker, when He came to\nmake up the friendship betwixt God and us, God bruised Him, and struck\nHim; the sinful world also did beat Him, and crucify Him, yet He took\nbuffets of both parties, and (honour to our Lord Jesus!) He would not\nleave the field for all that, till He had made peace betwixt the\nparties. I persuade myself your sufferings are but like your Saviour's\n(yea, incomparably less and lighter), which are called but a \"bruising\nof His heel\" (Gen. iii. 15); a wound far from the heart. Your life is\nhid with Christ in God (Col. iii. 3), and therefore ye cannot be\nrobbed of it. Our Lord handleth us, as fathers do their young\nchildren; they lay up jewels in a place, above the reach of the short\narm of bairns, else bairns would put up their hands and take them\ndown, and lose them soon. So hath our Lord done with our spiritual\nlife. Jesus Christ is the high coffer in the which our Lord hath hid\nour life; we children are not able to reach up our arm so high as to\ntake down that life and lose it; it is in our Christ's hand. O long,\nlong may Jesus be Lord Keeper of our life! and happy are they that\ncan, with the Apostle (2 Tim. i. 12), lay their soul in pawn in the\nhand of Jesus, for He is able to keep that which is committed in pawn\nto Him against that day. Then, Madam, so long as this life is not\nhurt, all other troubles are but touches in the heel. I trust ye will\nsoon be cured. Ye know, Madam, kings have some servants in their court\nthat receive not present wages in their hand, but live upon their\nhopes: the King of kings also hath servants in His court that for the\npresent get little or nothing but the heavy cross of Christ, troubles\nwithout and terrors within; but they live upon hope; and when it\ncometh to the parting of the inheritance, they remain in the house as\nheirs. It is better to be so than to get present payment, and a\nportion in this life, an inheritance in this world (God forgive me,\nthat I should honour it with the name of an inheritance, it is rather\na farm-room!), and then in the end to be casten out of God's house,\nwith this word, \"Ye have received your consolation, ye will get no\nmore.\" Alas! what get they? The rich glutton's heaven (Luke xvi. 25).\nO but our Lord maketh it a silly heaven! \"He fared well,\" saith our\nLord, \"and delicately every day.\" O no more? a silly heaven! Truly no\nmore, except that he was clothed in purple, and that is all. I\npersuade myself, Madam, ye have joy when ye think that your Lord hath\ndealt more graciously with your soul. Ye have gotten little in this\nlife, it is true indeed: ye have then the more to crave, yea, ye have\nall to crave; for, except some tastings of the first fruits, and some\nkisses of His mouth whom your soul loveth, ye get no more. But I\ncannot tell you what is to come. Yet I may speak as our Lord doth of\nit. The foundation of the city is pure gold, clear as crystal; the\ntwelve ports are set with precious stones; if orchards and rivers\ncommend a soil upon earth, there is a paradise there, wherein groweth\nthe tree of life that beareth twelve manner of fruits every month,\nwhich is seven score and four harvests in the year; and there is there\na pure river of water of life, proceeding out of the throne of God and\nof the Lamb; and the city hath no need of the light of the sun or\nmoon, or of a candle, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb is the\nlight thereof. Madam, believe and hope for this, till ye see and\nenjoy. Jesus is saying in the Gospel, Come and see; and He is come\ndown in the chariot of truth, wherein He rideth through the world, to\nconquer men's souls (Ps. xlv. 4), and is now in the world saying, \"Who\nwill go with Me? will ye go? My Father will make you welcome, and give\nyou house-room; for in My Father's house are many dwelling-places.\"[123]\nMadam, consent to go with Him. Thus I rest, commending you to God's\ndearest mercy.\n\n Yours in the Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n [123] \u039c\u03cc\u03bd\u03b1\u03c2.\n\n\n\n\nXXVIII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE, _after the death of a child_.\n\n(_THE STATE OF THE CHURCH, CAUSE FOR GOD'S DISPLEASURE--HIS CARE OF\nHIS CHURCH--THE JEWS--AFFLICTED SAINTS._)\n\n\nMADAM,--I am afraid now (as many others are) that, at the sitting down\nof our Parliament, our Lord Jesus and His spouse shall be roughly\nhandled. And it must be so, since false and declining Scotland, whom\nour Lord took off the dunghill and out of hell, and made a fair bride\nto Himself, hath broken her faith to her sweet Husband, and hath put\non the forehead of a whore. And therefore He saith He will remove.\nWould God we could stir up ourselves to lay hold upon Him, who, being\nhighly provoked with the handling He hath met with, is ready to\ndepart! Alas! we do not importune Him by prayer and supplication to\nabide amongst us! If we could but weep upon Him, and in the holy\npertinacity of faith wrestle with Him, and say, \"We will not let Thee\ngo,\" it may be that then, He, who is easy to be intreated, would yet,\nnotwithstanding of our high provocations, condescend to stay and feed\namong the lilies, till that fair and desirable day break, and the\nshadows flee away. Ah! what cause of mourning is there, when our gold\nis become dim, and the visage of our Nazarites, sometime whiter than\nsnow, is now become blacker than a coal, and Levi's house, once\ncomparable to fine gold, is now changed, and become like vessels in\nwhom He hath no pleasure! Madam, think upon this, that when our Lord,\nwho hath His handkerchief to wipe the face of the mourners in Zion,\nshall come to wipe away all tears from their eyes, He may wipe yours\nalso, in the passing, amongst others. I am confident, Madam, that our\nLord will yet build a new house to Himself, of our rejected and\nscattered stones, for our Bridegroom cannot want a wife. Can He live a\nwidower? Nay, He will embrace both us, the little young sister, and\nthe elder sister, the Church of the Jews; and there will yet be a day\nof it. And therefore we have cause to rejoice, yea, to sing and shout\nfor joy. The Church hath been, since the world began, ever hanging by\na small thread, and all the hands of hell and of the wicked have been\ndrawing at the thread. But, God be thanked, they only break their arms\nby pulling, but the thread is not broken; for the sweet fingers of\nChrist our Lord have spun and twisted it. Lord, hold the thread whole!\n\nMadam, stir up your husband to lay hold upon the covenant, and to do\ngood. What hath he to do with the world? It is not his inheritance.\nDesire him to make home-over, and put to his hand to lay one stone or\ntwo upon the wall of God's house before he go hence. I have heard\nalso, Madam, that your child is removed; but to have or want is best,\nas He pleaseth. Whether she be with you, or in God's keeping, think it\nall one; nay, think it the better of the two by far that she is with\nHim. I trust in our Lord that there is something laid up and kept for\nyou; for our kind Lord, who hath wounded you, will not be so cruel as\nnot to allay the pain of your green wound; and, therefore, claim\nChrist still as your own, and own Him as your One thing. So resting, I\nrecommend your Ladyship, your soul and spirit, in pawn to Him who\nkeepeth His Father's pawns, and will make an account of them\nfaithfully, even to that fairest amongst the sons of men, our sweet\nLord Jesus, the fairest, the sweetest, the most delicious Rose of all\nHis Father's great field. The smell of that Rose perfume your soul!\n\n Your Ladyship's, in his sweetest Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _April 1, 1633_.\n\n\n\n\nXXIX.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_CHRIST WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THE FURNACE OF AFFLICTION--PRAYER._)\n\n\nDEAR SISTER,--I longed much to have conferred with you at this time. I\nam grieved at anything in your house that grieveth you; and shall, by\nmy Lord's grace, suit my Lord to help you to bear your burden, and to\ncome in behind you, and give you and your burdens a put up the\nmountain. Know you not that Christ wooeth His wife in the furnace?\n\"Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee\nin the furnace of affliction\" (Isa. xlviii. 10). He casteth His love\non you when you are in the furnace of affliction. You might indeed be\ncasten down if He brought you in and left you there; but when He\nleadeth you through the waters, think ye not that He has a sweet, soft\nhand? You know His love-grip already; you shall be delivered, wait on.\nJesus will make a road, and come and fetch home the captive. You shall\nnot die in prison; but your strokes are such as were your Husband's,\nwho was wounded in the house of His friends. Strokes are not newings\nto Him, and neither are they to you. But your winter night is near\nspent; it is near-hand the dawning. I will see you leap for joy. The\nkirk shall be delivered. This wilderness shall bud and grow up like a\nrose. Christ got a charter of Scotland from His Father; and who will\nbereave Him of His heritage, or put our Redeemer out of His mailing,\nuntil His tack be run out? I must have you praying for me: I am black\nshamed for evermore now with Christ's goodness; and in private, on the\n17th and 18th of August, I got a full answer of my Lord to be a graced\nminister, and a chosen arrow hidden in His own quiver. But know this,\nassurance is not keeped but by watching and prayer; and, therefore,\ndear mistress, help me. I have gotten now (honour to my Lord!) the\ngate to open the slote, and shut the bar of His door; and I think it\neasy to get anything from the King by prayer, and to use holy violence\nwith Him. Christ was in Carsphairne[124] kirk, and opened the people's\nhearts wonderfully. Jesus is looking up that water; and minting to\ndwell amongst them. I would we could give Him His welcome home to the\nmoors. Now peace and grace be upon you and all yours.\n\n Yours in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Aug. 20, 1633_.\n\n [124] The village and church of _Carsphairn_ stood not far from\n Kenmure Castle, and very near Earlston and Knockgray. The road from\n Dalmellington is bare, with steep, rocky hills on either side of the\n glen. The \"Ken\" may be meant by \"that water\" in the next sentence.\n\n\n\n\nXXX.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_RANK AND PROSPERITY HINDER PROGRESS--WATCHFULNESS--CASE OF\nRELATIVES._)\n\n\nMADAM,--I determined, and was desirous also, to have seen your\nladyship, but because of a pain in my arm I could not. I know ye will\nnot impute it to any unsuitable forgetfulness of your Ladyship, from\nwhom, at my first entry to my calling in this country (and since\nalso), I received such comfort in my affliction as I trust in God\nnever to forget, and shall labour by His grace to recompense in the\nonly way possible to me; and that is, my presenting your soul, person,\nhouse, and all your necessities, in prayer to Him, whose I hope you\nare, and who is able to keep you till that Day of Appearance, and to\npresent you before His face with joy.\n\nI am confident your Ladyship is going forward in the begun journey to\nyour Lord and Father's home and kingdom. Howbeit ye want not\ntemptations within and without. And who among the saints hath ever\ntaken that castle without stroke of sword? the Chief of the house, our\nElder Brother, our Lord Jesus, not being excepted, who won His own\nhouse and home, due to Him by birth, with much blood and many blows.\nYour Ladyship hath the more need to look to yourself, because our Lord\nhath placed you higher than the rest, and your way to heaven lieth\nthrough a more wild and waste wilderness than the way of many of your\nfellow-travellers,--not only through the midst of this wood of thorns,\nthe cumbersome world, but also through these dangerous paths, the\nvain-glory of it; the consideration whereof hath often moved me to\npity your soul, and the soul of your worthy and noble husband. And it\nis more to you to win heaven, being ships of greater burden, and in\nthe main sea, than for little vessels, that are not so much in the\nmercy and reverence of the storms, because they may come quietly to\ntheir port by launching alongst the coast. For the which cause ye do\nmuch, if in the midst of such a tumult of business, and crowd of\ntemptations, ye shall give Christ Jesus His own court and His own due\nplace in your soul. I know and am persuaded, that that lovely One,\nJesus, is dearer to you than many kingdoms; and that ye esteem Him\nyour Well-beloved, and the Standard-bearer among ten thousand (Cant.\nv. 10). And it becometh Him full well to take the place and the\nboard-head in your soul before all the world. I knew and saw Him with\nyou in the furnace of affliction; for there he wooed you to Himself,\nand chose you to be His; and now He craveth no other hire of you but\nyour love, and that He get no cause to be jealous of you. And,\ntherefore, dear and worthy lady, be like to the fresh river, that\nkeepeth its own fresh taste in the salt sea. This world is not worthy\nof your soul. Give it not a good-day when Christ cometh in competition\nwith it. Be like one of another country. Home! and stay not; for the\nsun is fallen low, and nigh the tops of the mountains, and the shadows\nare stretched out in great length. Linger not by the way. The world\nand sin would train you on, and make you turn aside. Leave not the way\nfor them; and the Lord Jesus be at the voyage!\n\nMadam, many eyes are upon you, and many would be glad your Ladyship\nshould spill a Christian, and mar a good professor. Lord Jesus, mar\ntheir godless desires, and keep the conscience whole without a crack!\nIf there be a hole in it, so that it take in water at a leak, it will\nwith difficulty mend again. It is a dainty, delicate creature, and a\nrare piece of the workmanship of your Maker; and therefore deal gently\nwith it, and keep it entire, that amidst this world's glory your\nLadyship may learn to entertain Christ. And whatsoever creature your\nLadyship findeth not to smell of Him, may it have no better relish to\nyou than the white of an egg.\n\nMadam, it is a part of the truth of your profession to drop words in\nthe ears of your noble husband continually of eternity, judgment,\ndeath, hell, heaven, the honourable profession, the sins of his\nfather's house. He must reckon with God for his father's debt:\nforgetting of accounts payeth no debt. Nay, the interest of a\nforgotten bond runneth up with God to interest upon interest. I\nknoweth he looketh homeward, and loveth the truth; but I pity him with\nmy soul because of his many temptations. Satan layeth upon men a\nburden of cares above a load,[125] and maketh a pack-horse of men's\nsouls when they are wholly set upon this world. We owe the devil no\nsuch service. It were wisdom to throw off that load into a mire, and\ncast all our cares over upon God.\n\n [125] A burden above a load, or a load above a burden, is a phrase for\n a very heavy weight.\n\nMadam, think ye have no child. Subscribe a bond to your Lord that she\nshall be His if He take her; and thanks, and praise, and glory to His\nholy name shall be the interest for a year's loan of her. Look for\ncrosses, and while it is fair weather mend the sails of the ship.\n\nNow hoping your Ladyship will pardon my tediousness, I recommend your\nsoul and person to the grace and mercy of our sweet Lord Jesus, in\nwhom I am,\n\n Your Ladyship's, at all dutiful obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Nov. 15, 1633_.\n\n\n\n\nXXXI.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_A UNION FOR PRAYER RECOMMENDED._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Having received a letter from some of the worthiest of the\nministry in this kingdom, the contents whereof I am desired to\ncommunicate to such professors in these parts as I know love the\nbeauty of Zion, and are afflicted to see the Lord's vineyard trodden\nunder foot by the wild boars out of the wood, who lay it waste, I\ncould not but also desire your Ladyship's help to join with the rest,\ndesiring you to impart it to my Lord your husband, and if ye think it\nneedful, I shall write to his Lordship, as Mr. G. G.[126] shall\nadvertise me.\n\n [126] Mr. George Gillespie; see Letter cxliv.\n\nKnow, therefore, that the best affected of the ministry have thought\nit convenient and necessary, at such a time as this, that all who love\nthe truth should join their prayers together, and cry to God with\nhumiliation and fasting. The times, which are agreed upon, are the two\nfirst Sabbaths of February next, and the six days intervening betwixt\nthese Sabbaths, as they may conveniently be had, and the first\nSabbath of every quarter. And the causes, as they are written to me,\nare these:\n\n1. Besides the distresses of the Reformed churches abroad, the many\nreigning sins of uncleanness, ungodliness, and unrighteousness in this\nland, the present judgments on the land, and many more hanging over\nus, whereof few are sensible, or yet know the right and true cause of\nthem.\n\n2. The lamentable and pitiful estate of a glorious church (in so short\na time, against so many bonds), in doctrine, sacrament, and\ndiscipline, so sore persecuted, in the persons of faithful pastors and\nprofessors, and the door of God's house kept so straight by bastard\nporters, insomuch that worthy instruments, able for the work, are held\nat the door, the rulers having turned over religion into policy, and\nthe multitude ready to receive any religion that shall be enjoined by\nauthority.\n\n3. In our humiliation, besides that we are under a necessity of\ndeprecating God's wrath, and vowing to God sincerely new obedience,\nthe weakness, coldness, silence, and lukewarmness of some of the best\nof the ministry, and the deadness of professors, who have suffered the\ntruth both secretly to be stolen away, and openly to be plucked from\nus, would be confessed.\n\n4. Atheism, idolatry, profanity, and vanity, should be confessed; our\nking's heart recommended to God; and God intreated, that He would stir\nup the nobles and the people to turn from their evil ways.\n\nThus, Madam, hoping that your Ladyship will join with others, that\nsuch a work be not slighted, at such a necessary time, when our kirk\nis at the overturning, I will promise to myself your help, as the Lord\nin secrecy and prudence shall enable you, that your Ladyship may\nrejoice with the Lord's people, when deliverance shall come; for true\nand sincere humiliation come always speed with God. And when\nauthority, king, court, and churchmen oppose the truth, what other\narmour have we but prayer and faith? whereby, if we wrestle with Him,\nthere is ground to hope that those who would remove the burdensome\nstone (Zech. xii. 3) out of its place, shall but hurt their back, and\nthe stone shall not be moved, at least not removed.\n\nGrace, grace be with you, from Him who hath called you to the\ninheritance of the saints in light.\n\nYour Ladyship's at all submissive obedience in his sweet Lord Jesus.\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Jan. 23, 1634_.\n\n\n\n\nXXXII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE CHURCH--SATAN._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. I am in care and fear for\nthis work of our Lord's, now near approaching, because of the danger\nof the time; and I dare not for my soul be silent, to see my Lord's\nhouse burning, and not cry \"Fire, fire!\" Therefore, seek from our Lord\nwisdom spiritual, and not black policy, to speak with liberty our\nLord's truth.--I am cast down, and would fain have access and presence\nto The King that day, even howbeit I should break up iron doors. I\nbelieve you will not forget me; and you will desire Jean Brown, Thomas\nCarson, and Marion Carson, to help me. Pray for well-cooked meat and a\nheartsome Saviour, with joy crying, \"Welcome in My Father's name.\"\n\nI am confident Zion shall be well; the Bush shall burn and not\nconsume, for the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush. But the Lord\nis making on a fire in Jerusalem, and purposeth to blow the bellows,\nand to melt the tin and brass, and bring out a fair beautiful bride\nout of the furnace, that will be married over again upon the new\nHusband, and sing as in the days of her youth, when the contract of\nmarriage is written over again. But I fear the bride be hidden for a\ntime from the dragon that pursueth the woman with child. But what,\nhowbeit we go and lurk in the wilderness for a time? for the Lord will\ntake His kirk to the wilderness and speak to her heart.\n\nNothing casteth me down, but only I fear the Lord will cast down the\nshepherd's tents, and feed his own in a secret place. But let us,\nhowever matters frame, cast over the affairs of the bride upon the\nBridegroom; the government is upon His shoulders, and He dow bear us\nall well enough. That fallen star, the prince of the bottomless pit,\nknoweth it is near the time when he shall be tormented; and now in his\nevening he has gathered his armies, to win one battle or two, in the\nedge of the evening, at the sun going down. And when our Lord has been\nwatering His vineyards in France, and Germany, and Bohemia, how can we\nthink ourselves Christ's sister, if we be not like Him, and our other\ngreat sisters? I cannot but think, seeing the ends of the earth are\ngiven to Christ (Psa. ii. 8), and Scotland is the end of the earth,\nand so we are in Christ's charter-tailzie, but our Lord will keep His\npossession. We fall by promise and law to Christ. He won us with the\nsweat of His brow, if I may say so; His Father promised Him His\nliferent of Scotland. Glory, glory to our King! long may He wear His\ncrown. O Lord, let us never see another King! O let Him come down like\nrain upon the new-mown grass!\n\nI had you in remembrance on Saturday in the morning last, in a great\nmeasure, and was brought, thrice on end, in remembrance of you in my\nprayer to God. Grace, grace be your portion.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _March 2, 1634_.\n\n\n\n\nXXXIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_IN PROSPECT OF A COMMUNION SEASON._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. Please you understand, to my\ngrief, our Communion is delayed till Sabbath come eight days; the\nlaird and lady hath earnestly desired me to delay it, because the\nlaird is sick, and he fears he be not able to travel, because he has\nlately taken physic. The Lord bless that work. Commend it to God as\nyou love me, for I love not Satan's thorns cast in the Lord's way. The\nLord rebuke him. I trust in God's mercy, Satan has gotten but a delay,\nbut no free discharge that his kingdom shall not be hurt. Commend the\nlaird to your God. I pray you advertise your people, that they be not\ndisappointed in coming here. Show such of them as you love in Christ,\nfrom me, that Jesus Christ will be welcome, when He comes, in that He\nhas sharpened their desires for eight days space. Your daughter is\nwell, I hope, every way. Forget not God's kirk; they are but bastards,\nand not sons and daughters, that mourn not for Zion. Lord hear us! No\nfurther. Jesus Christ be with your spirit. I shall remember you and\nyour new house. Lord Jesus go from the one house to the other.\n\n Yours at all power in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n\n\n\nXXXIV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_PROSPECTS OF THE CHURCH--CHRIST'S CARE FOR THE CHILDREN OF\nBELIEVERS._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED SISTER,--My old and dearest love in Christ remembered.\nKnow that I have been visiting my Lady Kenmure. Her child is with the\nLord. I entreat you, visit her, and desire the goodwife[127] of\nBarcapple to visit her, and Knockbrecks (Mr. Gordon), if you see him\nin the town. My Lord her husband is absent, and I think she will be\nheavy. You know what Mr. W. Dalgleish and I desired you to deal for,\nat my Lord Kirkcudbright's hand. Send me word if you obtained anything\nat my Lord's hands, anent the giving up of our names to the High\nCommission; for I hear it is not for nothing that the Bishop hath\ntaken that course. Our Lord knows best what is good for an old kirk\nthat has fallen from her first love, and hath forgotten her Husband\ndays without number. A trial is like to come on; but I am sure our\nHusbandman Christ shall lose chaff, but no corn at all. Yet there is a\ndry wind coming, but neither to fan nor to purge. Happy are they who\nare not blown away with the chaff, for we will but suffer temptation\nfor ten days; but those who are faithful to the death shall receive\nthe crown of life. I hear daily what hath been spoken of myself, most\nunjustly and falsely; and no marvel, the dragon, with the swing of his\ntail, hath made the third part of the stars to fall from heaven, and\nthe fallen stars would have many to fall with them. If ever Satan was\nbusy, now, when he knoweth his time is short, he is busy. \"Yet a\nlittle while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.\" I\nknow, ere it be long, the Lord shall come and redd all pleas betwixt\nus and our enemies. Now welcome, Lord Jesus, go fast.\n\n [127] _Barcaple_ is in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in the parish\n of Tongueland.\n\nSend me word about Grizel, your daughter, whom I remember in Christ;\nand desire her to cast herself in His arms who was born of a woman,\nand, being the Ancient of days, was made a young weeping child. It was\nnot for nothing that our brother Jesus was an infant. It was that He\nmight pity infants of believers, who were to come out of the womb into\nthe world. I believe our Lord Jesus shall be waiting on, with mercy,\nmercy, mercy, to the end of that battle, and bring her through with\nlife and peace, and a sign of God's favour. I will expect\nadvertisement from you, and especially if you fear her. Mistress, you\nremember that I said to you anent your love to me and my brother,\nbegun in Christ; you know we are here but strangers, and you have not\nyet found us a dry well, as others have been. Be not overcome of any\nsuspicion. I trust in God that the Lord, who knit us together, shall\nkeep us together. It is time now that the lambs of Jesus should all\nrun together, when the wolf is barking at them; yet I know, ere God's\nbairns want a cross, their love among themselves shall be a cross; but\nour Lord giveth love for another end. I know you will, with love,\ncover infirmities; and our Lord give you wisdom in all things. I think\nlove hath broad shoulders, and will bear many things, and yet neither\nfaint nor sweat, nor fall under the burden.\n\nCommend me to your husband and dear Grizel. I think on her. Lord Jesus\nbe in the furnace with her, and then she will but smoke and not burn.\nDesire Mr. Robert[128] to excuse my not seeing of him at his house. I\nhave my own reasons therefor.[129] Grace, mercy, and peace be with\nyou.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _April 25, 1634_.\n\n [128] Mr. Robert Glendinning, the minister.\n\n [129] \"For this;\" as in our metre version, Ps. cvi. 40, etc.\n\n\n\n\nXXXV.--_To my LADY KENMURE, on the death of a child_.\n\n(_GOD MEASURES OUR DAYS--BEREAVEMENTS RIPEN US FOR THE HARVEST._)\n\n\nMADAM,--All submissive and dutiful obedience in our Lord Jesus\nremembered. I trust I need not much entreat your Ladyship to look to\nHim who hath stricken you at this time; but my duty, in the memory of\nthat comfort I found in your Ladyship's kindness, when I was no less\nheavy (in a case not unlike that), speaketh to me to say something\nnow. And I wish I could ease your Ladyship, at least with words. I am\npersuaded your Physician will not slay you, but purge you, seeing He\ncalleth Himself the Chirurgeon, who maketh the wound and bindeth it up\nagain; for to lance a wound is not to kill, but to cure the patient\n(Deut. xxxii. 39). I believe faith will teach you to kiss a striking\nLord; and so acknowledge the sovereignty of God (in the death of a\nchild) to be above the power of us mortal men, who may pluck up a\nflower in the bud and not be blamed for it. If our dear Lord pluck up\none of His roses, and pull down sour and green fruit before harvest,\nwho can challenge Him? For He sendeth us to His world, as men to a\nmarket, wherein some stay many hours, and eat and drink, and buy and\nsell, and pass through the fair, till they be weary; and such are\nthose who live long, and get a heavy fill of this life. And others\nagain come slipping in to the morning market, and do neither sit nor\nstand, nor buy nor sell, but look about them a little, and pass\npresently home again; and these are infants and young ones, who end\ntheir short market in the morning, and get but a short view of the\nFair. Our Lord, who hath numbered man's months, and set him bounds\nthat he cannot pass (Job xiv. 5), hath written the length of our\nmarket, and it is easier to complain of the decree than to change it.\n\nI verily believe, when I write this, your Lord hath taught your\nLadyship to lay your hand on your mouth. But I shall be far from\ndesiring your Ladyship, or any others, to cast by a cross, like an old\nuseless bill that is only for the fire; but rather would wish each\ncross were looked in the face seven times, and were read over and over\nagain. It is the messenger of the Lord, and speaks something; and the\nman of understanding will hear the rod, and Him that hath appointed\nit. Try what is the taste of the Lord's cup, and drink with God's\nblessing, that ye may grow thereby. I trust in God, whatever speech it\nutter to your soul, this is one word in it,--\"Behold, blessed is the\nman whom God correcteth\" (Job v. 17); and that it saith to you, \"Ye\nare from home while here; ye are not of this world, as your Redeemer,\nChrist, was not of this world.\" There is something keeping for you,\nwhich is worth the having. All that is here is condemned to die, to\npass away like a snowball before a summer sun; and since death took\nfirst possession of something of yours, it hath been and daily is\ncreeping nearer and nearer to yourself, howbeit with no noise of feet.\nYour Husbandman and Lord hath lopped off some branches already; the\ntree itself is to be transplanted to the high garden. In a good time\nbe it. Our Lord ripen your Ladyship. All these crosses (and indeed,\nwhen I remember them, they are heavy and many,--peace, peace be the\nend of them!) are to make you white and ripe for the Lord's\nharvest-hook. I have seen the Lord weaning you from the breasts of\nthis world. It was never His mind it should be your patrimony; and\nGod be thanked for that. Ye look the liker one of the heirs. Let the\nmovables go; why not? They are not yours. Fasten your grips upon the\nheritage; and our Lord Jesus make the charters sure, and give your\nLadyship to grow as a palm-tree on God's mount Zion; howbeit shaken\nwith winds, yet the root is fast. This is all I can do, to recommend\nyour case to your Lord, who hath you written upon the palms of His\nhand. If I were able to do more, your Ladyship may believe me that\ngladly I would. I trust shortly to see your Ladyship. Now He who hath\ncalled you confirm and stablish your heart in grace, unto the Day of\nthe Liberty of the Sons of God.\n\nYour Ladyship's at all submissive obedience in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _April 29, 1634_.\n\n\n\n\nXXXVI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_CHOICE OF A COMMISSIONER FOR PARLIAMENT._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. I hear this day\nyour town is to choose a commissioner for the Parliament; and I was\nwritten to from Edinburgh, to see that good men should be chosen in\nyour bounds. And I have heard this day that Robert Glendoning or John\nEwart look to be chosen. I beseech you see this be not. The Lord's\ncause craveth other witnesses to speak for Him than such men; and,\ntherefore, let it not be said that Kirkcudbright, which is spoken of\nin this kingdom for their religion, hath sent a man to be their mouth\nthat will speak against Christ. Such a time as this will not fall out\nonce in half an age. I would intreat your husband to take it upon him.\nIt is an honourable and necessary service for Christ; and shew him\nthat I wrote unto you for that effect. I fear William Glendoning hath\nnot skill and authority. I am in great heaviness. Pray for me, for we\nmust take our life in our hand in this ill time. Let us stir up\nourselves, to lay our Lord's bride and her wrongs before our Husband\nand Lord. Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _May 20_.\n\n\n\n\nXXXVII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_ON THE DEATH OF LORD KENMURE--DESIGNS OF AND DUTIES OF AFFLICTION._)\n\n\nMY VERY NOBLE AND WORTHY LADY,--So oft as I call to mind the comforts\nthat I myself, a poor friendless stranger, received from your Ladyship\nhere in a strange part of the country, when my Lord took from me the\ndelight of mine eyes (Ezek. xxiv. 16), as the Word speaketh (which\nwound is not yet fully healed and cured), I trust your Lord shall\nremember that, and give you comfort now at such a time as this,\nwherein your dearest Lord hath made you a widow, that ye may be a free\nwoman for Christ, who is now suiting for marriage-love of you. And\ntherefore, since you lie alone in your bed, let Christ be as a bundle\nof myrrh, to sleep and lie all the night betwixt your breasts (Cant.\ni. 13), and then your bed is better filled than before. And seeing,\namongst all crosses spoken of in our Lord's Word, this giveth you a\nparticular right to make God your Husband (which was not so yours\nwhile your husband was alive), read God's mercy out of this\nvisitation; albeit I must out of some experience say, the mourning for\nthe husband of your youth be, by God's own mouth, the heaviest worldly\nsorrow (Joel i. 8). And though this be the weightiest burden that ever\nlay upon your back; yet ye know (when the fields are emptied and your\nhusband now asleep in the Lord), if ye shall wait upon Him who hideth\nHis face for a while, that it lieth upon God's honour and truth to\nfill the field, and to be a Husband to the widow. See and consider\nthen what ye have lost, and how little it is. Therefore, Madam, let me\nintreat you, in the bowels of Christ Jesus, and by the comforts of His\nSpirit, and your appearance before Him, let God, and men, and angels\nnow see what is in you. The Lord hath pierced the vessel; it will be\nknown whether there be in it wine or water. Let your faith and\npatience be seen, that it may be known your only beloved first and\nlast hath been Christ. And, therefore, now ware your whole love upon\nHim; He alone is a suitable object for your love and all the\naffections of your soul. God hath dried up one channel of your love by\nthe removal of your husband. Let now that speat run upon Christ. Your\nLord and lover hath graciously taken out your husband's name and your\nname out of the summonses that are raised at the instance of the\nterrible sin-revenging Judge of the world against the house of the\nKenmures. And I dare say that God's hammering of you from your youth\nis only to make you a fair carved stone in the high upper temple of\nthe New Jerusalem. Your Lord never thought this world's vain painted\nglory a gift worthy of you; and therefore would not bestow it on you,\nbecause He is to propine you with a better portion. Let the movables\ngo; the inheritance is yours. Ye are a child of the house, and joy is\nlaid up for you; it is long in coming, but not the worse for that. I\nam now expecting to see, and that with joy and comfort, that which I\nhoped of you since I knew you fully, even that ye have laid such\nstrength upon the Holy One of Israel, that ye defy troubles, and that\nyour soul is a castle that may be besieged, but cannot be taken. What\nhave ye to do here? This world never looked like a friend upon you. Ye\nowe it little love. It looked ever sour-like upon you. Howbeit ye\nshould woo it, it will not match with you; and therefore never seek\nwarm fire under cold ice. This is not a field where your happiness\ngroweth; it is up above, where there are a great multitude, which no\nman can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,\nstanding before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white\nrobes, and palms in their hands (Rev. vii. 9). What ye could never get\nhere ye shall find there. And withal consider how in all these trials\n(and truly they have been many) your Lord hath been loosing you at the\nroot from perishing things, and hunting after you to grip your soul.\nMadam, for the Son of God's sake, let Him not miss His grip, but stay\nand abide in the love of God, as Jude saith (Jude 21).\n\nNow, Madam, I hope your Ladyship will take these lines in good part;\nand wherein I have fallen short and failed to your Ladyship, in not\nevidencing what I was obliged to your more-than-undeserved love and\nrespect, I request for a full pardon for it. Again, my dear and noble\nlady, let me beseech you to lift up your head, for the day of your\nredemption draweth near. And remember, that star that shined in\nGalloway is now shining in another world. Now I pray that God may\nanswer, in His own style, to your soul, and that He may be to you the\nGod of all consolations. Thus I remain,\n\n Your Ladyship's at all dutiful obedience in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Sept. 14, 1634_.\n\n\n\n\nXXXVIII.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_CHRIST'S CARE OF HIS CHURCH, AND HIS JUDGMENTS ON HER ENEMIES._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--My dearest love in Christ remembered. I entreat you charge\nyour soul to return to rest, and to glorify your dearest Lord in\nbelieving; and know that for the good-will of Him that dwelleth in the\nbush, the burning kirk shall not be consumed to ashes; but \"Blessing\nshall come on the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him\nthat was separate from his brethren\" (Deut. xxxiii. 16). And are not\nthe saints separate from their brethren, and sold and hated? \"For the\narchers have sorely grieved Joseph, and shot at him and hated him; but\nhis bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong\nby the hands of the mighty God of Jacob\" (Gen. xlix. 23, 24). From Him\nis the Shepherd and the Stone of Israel. The Stone of Israel shall not\nbe broken in pieces; it is hammered upon by the children of this\nworld, and we shall live and not die. Our Lord hath done all this, to\nsee if we will believe, and not give over; and I am persuaded you must\nof necessity stick by your work. The eye of Christ hath been upon all\nthis business; and He taketh good heed to who is for Him, and who is\nagainst Him. Let us do our part, as we would be approved of Christ.\nThe Son of God is near to His enemies. If they were not deaf, they may\nhear the dinn of His feet; and He will come with a start upon His\nweeping bairns, and take them on His knee, and lay their head in His\nbosom, and dry their watery eyes. And this day is fast coming. \"Yet a\nlittle time, and the vision will speak, it will not tarry\" (Hab. ii.\n3). These questions betwixt us and our adversaries will all be decided\nin yonder day, when the Son of God shall come, and redd all pleas; and\nit will be seen whether we or they have been for Christ, and who have\nbeen pleading for Baal. It is not known what we are now; but when our\nlife shall appear in glory, then we shall see who laughs fastest that\nday. Therefore, we must possess our souls in patience, and go into our\nchamber and rest, while the indignation be past. We shall not weep\nlong when our Lord shall take us up, in the day that He gathereth His\njewels. \"They that feared the Lord spoke often one to another, and the\nLord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written\nbefore Him, for them that feared the Lord, and thought upon His name\"\n(Mal. iii. 16). I shall never be of another faith, but that our Lord\nis heating a furnace for the enemies of His kirk in Scotland. It is\ntrue the spouse of Christ hath played the harlot, and hath left her\nfirst Husband, and the enemies think they offend not, for we have\nsinned against the Lord; but they shall get the devil to their thanks.\nThe rod shall be cast into the fire, that we may sing as in the days\nof our youth. My dear friend, therefore, lay down your head upon\nChrist's breast. Weep not; the Lion of the tribe of Judah will arise.\nThe sun is gone down upon the prophets, and our gold is become dim,\nand the Lord feedeth His people with waters of gall and wormwood; yet\nChrist standeth but behind the wall, His bowels are moved for\nScotland. He waiteth, as Isaiah saith, that He may show mercy. If we\ncould go home, and take our brethren with us, weeping with our face\ntowards Zion, asking the way thitherward, He would bring back our\ncaptivity. We may not think that God has no care of His honour, while\nmen tread it under their feet; He will clothe Himself with vengeance,\nas with a cloak, and appear against our enemies for our deliverance.\nYe were never yet beguiled, and God will not now begin with you.\nWrestle still with the angel of the covenant, and you shall get the\nblessing. Fight! He delighteth to be overcome by wrestling.\n\nCommend me to Grizel. Desire her to learn to know the adversaries of\nthe Lord, and to take them as her adversaries, and to learn to know\nthe right gate into the Son of God. O but acquaintance with the Son of\nGod, to say, \"My Well-beloved is mine, and I am His,\" is a sweet and\nglorious course of life, that none know but those who are sealed and\nmarked in the forehead with Christ's mark, and the new name, that\nChrist writeth upon His own. Grace, grace, and mercy be with you.\n\n Yours in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Sept. 25, 1634_.\n\n\n\n\nXXXIX.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_PREPARATION FOR DEATH AND ETERNITY._)\n\n\nMADAM,--All dutiful obedience in our Lord remembered. I know ye are\nnow near one of those straits in which ye have been before. But\nbecause your outward comforts are fewer, I pray Him whose ye are to\nsupply what ye want another way. For howbeit we cannot win to the\nbottom of His wise providence, who ruleth all; yet it is certain this\nis not only good which the Almighty hath done, but it is _best_. He\nhath reckoned all your steps to heaven; and if your Ladyship were\nthrough this water, there are the fewer behind; and if this were the\nlast, I hope your Ladyship hath learned by on-waiting to make your\nacquaintance with death, which being to the Lord, the woman's seed,\nJesus, only a bloody heel and not a broken head (Gen. iii. 15), cannot\nbe ill to His friends, who get far less of death than Himself.\nTherefore, Madam, seeing ye know not but the journey is ended, and ye\nare come to the water-side, in God's wisdom look all your papers and\nyour counts, and whether ye be ready to receive the kingdom of heaven\nas a little child, in whom there is little haughtiness and much\nhumility. I would be far from discouraging your Ladyship; but there is\nan absolute necessity that, near eternity, we look ere we leap, seeing\nno man winneth back again to mend his leap. I am confident your\nLadyship thinketh often upon it, and that your old Guide shall go\nbefore you and take your hand. His love to you will not grow sour, nor\nwear out of date, as the love of men, which groweth old and\ngrey-haired often before themselves. Ye have so much the more reason\nto love a better life than this, because this world hath been to you a\ncold fire, with little heat to the body, and as little light, and much\nsmoke to hurt the eyes. But, Madam, your Lord would have you thinking\nit but dry breasts, full of wind and empty of food. In this late\nvisitation that hath befallen your Ladyship, ye have seen God's love\nand care, in such a measure that I thought our Lord brake the sharp\npoint off the cross, and made us and your Ladyship see Christ take\npossession and infeftment upon earth, of him who is now reigning and\ntriumphing with the hundred forty and four thousand who stand with the\nLamb on Mount Zion. I know the sweetest of it is bitter to you; but\nyour Lord will not give you painted crosses. He pareth not all the\nbitterness from the cross, neither taketh He the sharp edge quite from\nit; then it should be of your waling and not of His, which should have\nas little reason in it as it should have profit for us. Only, Madam,\nGod commandeth you now to believe and cast anchor in the dark night,\nand climb up the mountain. He who hath called you, establish you and\nconfirm you to the end.\n\nI had a purpose to have visited your Ladyship; but when I thought\nbetter upon it, the truth is, I cannot see what my company would\nprofit you; and this hath broken off my purpose, and no other thing.\nI know many honourable friends and worthy professors will see your\nLadyship, and that the Son of God is with you, to whose love and\nmercy, from my soul, I recommend your Ladyship, and remain,\n\nYour Ladyship's at all dutiful obedience, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Nov. 29, 1634_.\n\n\n\n\nXL.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_WHEN MR. RUTHERFORD HAD THE PROSPECT OF BEING REMOVED FROM ANWOTH._)\n\n\nMADAM,--My humble obedience in the Lord remembered. Know it hath\npleased the Lord to let me see, by all appearance, that my labours in\nGod's house here are at an end; and I must now learn to suffer, in the\nwhich I am a dull scholar. By a strange providence, some of my papers,\nanent the corruptions of this time, are come to the King's hand. I\nknow, by the wise and well-affected I shall be censured as not wise\nnor circumspect enough; but it is ordinary, that that should be a part\nof the cross of those who suffer for Him. Yet I love and pardon the\ninstrument; I would commit my life to him, howbeit by him this hath\nbefallen me. But I look higher than to him. I make no question of your\nLadyship's love and care to do what ye can for my help, and am\npersuaded that, in my adversities, your Ladyship will wish me well. I\nseek no other thing but that my Lord may be honoured by me in giving a\ntestimony. I was willing to do Him more service; but seeing He will\nhave no more of my labours, and this land will thrust me out, I pray\nfor grace to learn to be acquaint with misery, if I may give so rough\na name to such a mark of those who shall be crowned with Christ. And\nhowbeit I will possibly prove a faint-hearted, unwise man in that, yet\nI dare say I intend otherwise; and I desire not to go on the lee-side\nor sunny side of religion, or to put truth betwixt me and a storm: my\nSaviour did not so for me, who in His suffering took the windy side of\nthe hill. No farther; but the Son of God be with you.\n\n Your Ladyship's in the Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Dec. 5, 1634_.\n\n\n\n\nXLI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_THE CHURCH'S TRIALS--COMFORT UNDER TEMPTATIONS--DELIVERANCE--A\nMESSAGE TO THE YOUNG._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED SISTER,--My love in Christ remembered. I hear of good\nnews anent our kirk; but I fear that our King will not be resisted,\nand therefore let us not be secure and careless. I do wonder if this\nkirk come not through our Lord's fan, since there is so much chaff in\nit; howbeit I persuade myself, the Son of God's wheat will not be\nblown away. Let us be putting on God's armour, and be strong in the\nLord. If the devil and Zion's enemies strike a hole in that armour,\nlet our Lord see to that;--let us put it on, and stand. We have Jesus\non our side; and they are not worthy such a Captain, who would not\ntake a blow at His back. We are in sight of His colours; His banner\nover us is love; look up to that white banner, and stand, I persuade\nyou, in the Lord of victory.\n\nMy brother writeth to me of your heaviness, and of temptations that\npress you sore. I am content it be so: you bear about with you the\nmark of the Lord Jesus. So it was with the Lord's apostle, when he was\nto come with the Gospel to Macedonia (2 Cor. vii. 5): his flesh had no\nrest; he was troubled on every side, and knew not what side to turn\nhim unto; without were fightings, and within were fears. In the great\nwork of our redemption, your lovely, beautiful, and glorious Friend\nand Well-beloved Jesus, was brought to tears and strong cries; so as\nHis face was wet with tears and blood, arising from a holy fear and\nthe weight of the curse. Take a drink of the Son of God's cup, and\nlove it the better that He drank of it before you. There is no poison\nin it. I wonder many times that ever a child of God should have a sad\nheart, considering what their Lord is preparing for them.\n\nIs your mind troubled anent that business that we have now in hand in\nEdinburgh.[130] I trust in my Lord, the Lord shall in the end give to\nyou your heart's desire; even howbeit the business frame not, the Lord\nshall feed your soul, and all the hungry souls in that town. Therefore\nI request you in the Lord, pray for a submissive will, and pray as\nyour Lord Jesus bids you, \"Thy will be done on earth, as it is in\nheaven.\" And let it be that your faith be brangled with temptations,\nbelieve ye that there is a tree in our Lord's garden that is not often\nshaken with wind from all the four airts? Surely there is none. Rebuke\nyour soul, as the Lord's prophet doth: \"Why art thou cast down, O my\nsoul? why art thou disquieted within me?\" (Psalm xliii. 11). That was\nthe word of a man who was at the very over-going of the brae and\nmountain; but God held a grip of him. Swim through your temptations\nand troubles to be at that lovely, amiable person, Jesus, to whom your\nsoul is dear. In your temptations run to the promises: they be our\nLord's branches hanging over the water, that our Lord's silly,\nhalf-drowned children may take a grip of them; if you let that grip\ngo, you will fall to the ground. Are you troubled with the case of\nGod's kirk? Our Lord will evermore have her betwixt the sinking and\nthe swimming. He will have her going through a thousand deaths, and\nthrough hell, as a cripple woman, halting, and wanting the power of\nher one side (Micah iv. 6, 7), that God may be her staff. That broken\nship will come to land, because Jesus is the pilot. Faint not; you\nshall see the salvation of God,--else say, that God never spake His\nword by my mouth; and I had rather never have been born, ere it were\nso with me. But my Lord hath sealed me. I dare not deny I have also\nbeen in heaviness since I came from you, fearing for my unthankfulness\nthat I be deserted. But the Lord will be kind to me, whether I will or\nnot. I repose that much in His rich grace, that He will be loath to\nchange upon me. As you love me, pray for me in this particular.\n\n [130] Efforts to obtain redress from grievances inflicted by the\n prelatic party.\n\nAfter advising with Carletoun, I have written to Mr. David Dickson\nanent Mr. Hugh M'Kail,[131] and desired him to write his mind to\nCarletoun, and Carletoun to Edinburgh, that they may particularly\nremember Mr. Hugh to the Lord; and I happened upon a convenient trusty\nbearer by God's wonderful providence.\n\n [131] See Letter LXXI.\n\nNo further. I recommend you to the Lord's grace, and your husband and\nchildren. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n EDINBURGH, 1634.\n\n_P.S._--MISTRESS,--I had not time to give my advice to your daughter\nGrizel; you shall carry my words therefore to her. Show her now, that\nin respect of her tender age, she is in a manner as clean paper, ready\nto receive either good or ill; and that it were a sweet and glorious\nthing for her to give herself up to Christ, that He may write upon her\nHis Father's name, and His own new name. And desire her to acquaint\nherself with the Book of God; the promises that our Lord writes upon\nHis own, and performeth in them and for them, are contained there. I\npersuade you, when I think that she is in the company of such parents,\nand hath occasion to learn Christ, I think Christ is wooing her soul;\nand I pray God she may not refuse such a husband. And therefore I\ncharge her, and beseech her by the mercies of God, by the wounds and\nblood of Him who died for her, by the word of truth, which she\nheareth, and can read, by the coming of the Son of God to judge the\nworld, that she would fulfil your joy, and learn Christ, and walk in\nChrist. She shall think this the truth of God many years after this;\nand I will promise to myself, in respect of the beginnings that I have\nseen, that she shall give herself to Him that gave Himself for her.\nLet her begin at prayer; for if she remember her Creator in the days\nof her youth, He will claim kindness to her in her old age. It shall\nbe a part of my prayers, that this may be effectual in her, by Him who\nis able to do exceeding abundantly, to whose grace again I recommend\nyou, and her, and all yours.\n\n\n\n\nXLII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_THE WORLD PASSETH AWAY--SPECIAL PORTIONS OF THE WORD FOR THE\nAFFLICTED--CALL TO KIRKCUDBRIGHT._)\n\n\nMADAM,--The cause of my not writing to your Ladyship was not my\nforgetfulness of you, but the want of the opportunity of a convenient\nbearer; for I am under more than a simple obligation to be kind (on\npaper, at least) to your Ladyship. I bless our Lord, through Christ,\nwho hath brought you home again to your own country from that\nplace,[132] where ye have seen with your eyes that which our Lord's\ntruth taught you before, to wit, that worldly glory is nothing but a\nvapour, a shadow, the foam of the water, or something less and\nlighter, even nothing; and that our Lord hath not without cause said\nin His Word, \"The countenance,\" or fashion, \"of this world passeth\naway\" (1 Cor. vii. 31)--in which place our Lord compareth it to an\nimage in a looking-glass, for it is the looking-glass of Adam's sons.\nSome come to the glass, and see in it the picture of _honour_,--and\nbut a picture indeed, for true honour is to be great in the sight of\nGod; and others see in it the shadow of _riches_,--and but a shadow\nindeed, for durable riches stand as one of the maids of Wisdom upon\nher left hand (Prov. iii. 16); and a third sort see in it the face of\npainted _pleasures_, and the beholders will not believe but the image\nthey see in this glass is a living man, till the Lord come and break\nthe glass in pieces and remove the face, and then, like Pharaoh\nawakened, they say, \"And behold it was a dream.\" I know your Ladyship\nthinketh yourself little in the common of this world, for the\nfavourable aspect of any of these three painted faces; and blessed be\nour Lord that it is so. The better for you, Madam; they are not worthy\nto be wooers, to suit in marriage your soul, that look to no higher\nmatch than to be married upon painted clay. Know, therefore, Madam,\nthe place whither our Lord Jesus cometh to woo a bride, it is even in\nthe furnace: for if ye be one of Zion's daughters (which I ever put\nbeyond all question, since I first had occasion to see in your\nLadyship such pregnant evidences of the grace of God), the Lord, who\nhath His fire in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem (Isa. xxxi. 9), is\npurifying you in the furnace. And therefore be content to live in it,\nand every day to be adding and sewing-to a pasment to your wedding\ngarment, that ye may be at last decored and trimmed as a bride for\nChrist, a bride of His own busking, beautified in the hidden man of\nthe heart. \"Forgetting your father's house, so shall the King greatly\ndesire your beauty\" (Psalm xlv. 11). If your Ladyship be not changed\n(as I hope ye are not), I believe ye esteem yourself to be of those\nwhom God hath tried these many years, and refined as silver. But,\nMadam, I will show your Ladyship a privilege that others want, and ye\nhave, in this case. Such as are in prosperity, and are fatted with\nearthly joys, and increased with children and friends, though the Word\nof God is indeed written to such for their instruction, yet to you,\nwho are in trouble (spare me, Madam, to say this), from whom the Lord\nhath taken many children, and whom He hath exercised otherwise, there\nare some chapters, some particular promises in the Word of God, made\nin a most special manner, which should never have been yours, so as\nthey now are, if you had your portion in this life, as others. And,\ntherefore, all the comforts, promises, and mercies God offereth to the\nafflicted, they are as so many love-letters written to you. Take them\nto you, Madam, and claim your right, and be not robbed. It is no small\ncomfort, that God hath written some scriptures to you, which He hath\nnot written to others. Ye seem rather in this to be envied than\npitied; and ye are indeed in this, like people of another world, and\nthose that are above the ordinary rank of mankind, whom our King and\nLord, our Bridegroom Jesus, in His love-letter to His well-beloved\nspouse, hath named beside all the rest. He hath written comforts and\nHis hearty commendations in the 54th of Isaiah, 4, 5; Psalm cxlvii. 2,\n3, to you. Read these and the like, and think your God is like a\nfriend that sendeth a letter to a whole house and family, but speaketh\nin His letter to some by name, that are dearest to Him in the house.\nYe are, then, Madam, of the dearest friends of the Bridegroom. If it\nwere lawful, I would envy you, that God honoured you so above many of\nHis dear children. Therefore, Madam, your part is, in this case\n(seeing God taketh nothing from you but that which He is to supply\nwith His own presence), to desire your Lord to know His own room, and\ntake it even upon Him to come in, in the room of dead children.\n\"Jehovah, know Thy own place, and take it to Thee,\" is all ye have to\nsay.\n\n [132] Edinburgh.\n\nMadam, I persuade myself that this world is to you an unco inn; and\nthat ye are like a traveller, who hath his bundle upon his back, and\nhis staff in his hand, and his feet upon the door-threshold. Go\nforward, honourable and elect lady, in the strength of your Lord (let\nthe world bide at home and keep the house), with your face toward Him,\nwho longeth more for a sight of you than ye can do for Him. Ere it be\nlong, He will see us. I hope to see you laugh as cheerfully after\nnoon, as ye have mourned before noon. The hand of the Lord, the hand\nof the Lord be with you in your journey. What have ye to do here? This\nis not your mountain of rest. Arise, then, and set your foot up the\nmountain; go up out of the wilderness, leaning upon the shoulder of\nyour Beloved (Song viii. 5). If ye knew the welcome that abideth you\nwhen ye come home, ye would hasten your pace; for ye shall see your\nLord put up His own holy hand to your face, and wipe all tears from\nyour eyes; and I trow, then ye shall have some joy of heart.\n\nMadam, paper willeth me to end before affection. Remember the estate\nof Zion; pray that Jerusalem may be as Zechariah prophesied, \"a\nburdensome stone for all\" (Zech. xii. 3), that whosoever boweth down\nto roll the stone out of the way, may hurt and break the joints of\ntheir back, and strain their arms, and disjoint their shoulder-blades.\nAnd pray Jehovah that the stone may lie still in its own place, and\nkeep band with the cornerstone. I hope it shall be so; He is a skilled\nMaster-builder who laid it.\n\nI would, Madam, under great heaviness be refreshed with two lines from\nyour Ladyship, which I refer to your own wisdom. Madam, I would seem\nundutiful not to show you, that great solicitation is made by the town\nof Kirkcudbright for to have the use of my poor labours amongst them.\nIf the Lord shall call, and His people cry, who am I to resist? But\nwithout His seen calling, and till the flock whom I now oversee be\nplanted with one to whom I dare intrust Christ's spouse, gold nor\nsilver nor favour of men, I hope, shall not loose me. I leave your\nLadyship, praying more earnestly for grace and mercy to be with you,\nand multiplied upon you, here and hereafter, than my pen can express.\nThe Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Your Ladyship's at all obedience in the Lord.\n\n KIRKCUDBRIGHT.\n\n\n\n\nXLIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_WHEN MR. RUTHERFORD WAS IN DIFFICULTY AS TO ACCEPTING A CALL TO\nKIRKCUDBRIGHT, AND CRAMOND._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND DEAR MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. I am\ngrieved at the heart to write anything to you to breed heaviness to\nyou; and what I have written, I wrote with much heaviness. But I\nentreat you in Christ's name, when my soul is under wrestlings, and\nseeking direction from our Lord (to whom His vineyard belongeth)\nwhither I shall go, give me liberty to advise, and try all airts and\npaths, to see whether He goeth before me and leadeth me. For if I were\nassured of God's call to your town, let my arm fall from my\nshoulder-blade and lose power, and my right eye be dried up (which is\nthe judgment of the idol shepherd) (Zech. xi. 17), if I would not swim\nthrough the water without a boat ere I sat His bidding. But if ye knew\nmy doubtings and fears in that, ye would suffer with me. Whether they\nbe temptations or impediments cast in by my God, I know not. But you\nhave now cause to thank God; for seeing the Bishop hath given you such\na promise, he will give you an honest man more willingly than he will\npermit me to come to you. And, as I ever entreated you, put the\nbusiness out of your hand in the Lord's reverence;[133] and try of\nHim, if ye have warrant of Him to seek no man in the world but one\nonly, when there are choice of good men to be had. Howbeit they be too\nscarce, yet they are. And what God saith to me in the business, I\nresolve by His grace to do; for I know not what He will do with me.\nBut God shall fill you with joy ere this business be ended; for I\npersuade myself our Lord Jesus hath stirred you up already to do good\nin the business, and ye shall not lose your reward.\n\n [133] Referring to a promise made to the people of Kirkcudbright by\n the Bishop of Galloway, to give them a man according to their own\n mind, provided they would not choose Mr. Rutherford.\n\nI have heard your husband and Samuel have been sick. The man who is\ncalled _the Branch_ and _God's fellow_, who standeth before His\nFather, will be your stay and help (Zech. xiii. 7). I would I were\nable to comfort your soul. But have patience, and stand still; he that\nbelieveth maketh not haste. This matter of Cramond, cast in at this\ntime, is either a temptation, having fallen out at this time; or then\nit will clear all my doubts, and let you see the Lord's will. But I\nnever knew my own part in the business till now. I thought I was more\nwilling to have embraced the charge in your town, than I am, or am\nable to win to. I know ye pray that God would resolve me what to do;\nand will interpret me, as love biddeth you, which \"thinketh not ill,\nand believeth all things, and hopeth all things.\" Would ye have more\nthan the Son of God? and ye have Him already. And ye shall be fed by\nthe carver of the meat, be he who he will; and those who are hungry\nlook more to the meat than to the carver.\n\nI cannot see you the next week. If my lady come home, I must visit\nher. The week thereafter will be a Presbytery at Girthon. God will\ndispose of the meeting. Grace upon you, and your seed, and husband.\nThe Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n\n\n\nXLIV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_TROUBLES THREATENING THE CHURCH._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED SISTER,--My love in Jesus Christ remembered. Your\ndaughter is well, thanks be to God. I trust in Him ye shall have joy\nof her; the Lord bless her. I am now presently going about\ncatechising. The bearer is in haste. Forget not poor Zion; and the\nLord remember you, for we shall be shortly winnowed. Jesus, pray for\nus, that our faith fail not! I would wish to see you a Sabbath with\nus, and we shall stir up one another, God willing, to seek the Lord;\nfor it may be He hide Himself from us ere it be long. Keep that which\nyou have: ye will get more in heaven. The Lord send us to the shore\nout of all the storms, with our silly souls sound and whole with us;\nfor if liberty of conscience come, as is rumoured, the best of us will\nbe put to our wits to seek how to be freed. But we shall be like those\nwho have their chamber to go in unto, spoken of in Isaiah (Isa. xxvi.\n20). Read the place yourself, and keep you within your house while the\nstorm be passed. If you can learn a ditty against C., try, and cause\ntry, that ye may see the Lord's righteous judgment upon the devil's\ninstruments. We are not much obliged to his kindness. I wish all such\nwicked doers were cut off.\n\nThese in haste. I bless you in God's name, and all yours. Your\ndaughter desires a Bible and a gown. I hope she shall use the Bible\nwell, which if she do, the gown is the better bestowed. The Lord Jesus\nbe with your spirit.\n\n Yours for ever in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n\n\n\nXLV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_IN THE PROSPECT OF THE COMMUNION, AND OF TRIALS TO THE CHURCH._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED SISTER IN CHRIST,--You shall understand I have received a\nletter from Edinburgh, that it is suspected that there will be a\nGeneral Assembly, or then some meeting of the bishops; and that at\nthis synod there will be some commissioners chosen by the Bishop;\nwhich news have so taken up my mind that I am not so settled for\nstudies as I have been before, and therefore was never in such fear\nfor the work. But because it is written to me as a secret, I dare not\nreveal it to any but to yourself, whom I know. And therefore, I\nentreat you not for any comfort of mine, who am but one man, but for\nthe glory and honour of Jesus Christ, the Master of the banquet, be\nmore earnest with God; and, in general, show others of your Christian\nacquaintance my fears for myself. I can be content of shame in that\nwork, if my Lord and Master be honoured; and therefore petition our\nLord especially to see to His own glory, and to give bread to His\nhungry bairns, howbeit I go hungry away from the feast. Bequest Mr.\nRobert[134] from me, if he come not, to remember us to our Lord.\n\n [134] Mr. Robert Glendinning.\n\nI have neither time, nor a free disposed mind, to write to you anent\nyour own case. Send me word if all your children and your husband be\nwell. Seeing they are not yours, but your dear Lord's, esteem them but\nas borrowed, and lay them down at God's feet. Your Christ to you is\nbetter than they all. You will pardon my unaccustomed short letter;\nand remember me and that honourable feast to our Lord Jesus. He was\nwith us before. I hope He will not change upon us; but I fear I have\nchanged upon Him. But, Lord, let old kindness stand. Jesus Christ be\nwith your spirit.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n\n\n\nXLVI.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_TOSSINGS OF SPIRIT--HER CHILDREN AND HUSBAND._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED AND DEAR SISTER,--My tender affection in Christ\nremembered. I left you in as great heaviness as I was in since I came\nto this country; but I know you doubt not but that (as the truth is in\nChrist) my soul is knit to your soul, and to the soul of all yours;\nand I would, if I could, send you the largest part of my heart\ninclosed in this letter. But by fervent calling upon my Lord, I have\nattained some victory over my heart, which runneth often not knowing\nwhither, and over my beguiling hopes, which I know now better than I\ndid. I trust in my Lord to hold aloof from the enticings of a seducing\nheart, by which I am daily cosened; and I mind not (by His grace who\nhath called me according to His eternal purpose) to come so far within\nthe grips of my foolish mind, gripping about any folly coming its way\nas the woodbine or ivy goeth about the tree.\n\nI adore and kiss the providence of my Lord, who knoweth well what is\nmost expedient for me, and for you and your children; and I think of\nyou as of myself, that the Lord, who in His deep wisdom turneth about\nall the wheels and turning of such changes, shall also dispose of that\nfor the best to you and yours. In the presence of my Lord, I am not\nable, howbeit I would, to conceive amiss of you in that matter. Grace,\ngrace for ever be upon you and your seed, and it shall be your\nportion, in despite of all the powers of darkness. Do not make more\nquestion of this. But the Lord saw a nail in my heart loose, and He\nhath now fastened it. Honour be to His Majesty.\n\nI hear your son is entered to the school. If I had known of the day, I\nwould have begged from our Lord that He would have put the book in his\nhand with His own hand. I trust in my Lord it is so; and I conceive a\nhope to see him a star, to give light in some room of our Lord's\nhouse; and purpose, by the Lord's grace, as I am able (if our Lord\ncall you to rest before me), when you are at your home, to do to the\nuttermost of my power to help him every way in grace and learning, and\nhis brothers, and all your children. And I hope you would expect that\nof me.\n\nFurther, you shall know that Mr. W. D.[135] is come home, who saith it\nis a miracle that your husband, in this process before the Council,\nescaped both discredit and damage. Let it not be forgotten he was, in\nour apprehension, to our grief, cast down and humbled in the Lord's\nwork, in that matter betwixt him and the bailie: now the Lord hath\nhonoured him, and made him famous for virtue, honesty, and integrity,\ntwo several times, before the nobles of this kingdom. Your Lord\nliveth. We will go to His throne of grace again; His arm is not\nshortened.\n\n [135] William Dalgleish, minister of Kirkdale and Kirkmabreck. See\n Letter CXVII.\n\nThe King is certainly expected. Ill is feared; we have cause for our\nsins to fear that the Bridegroom shall be taken from us. By our sins\nwe have rent His fair garments, and we have stirred up and awakened\nour Beloved. Pray Him to tarry, or then to take us with Him. It were\ngood that we should knock and rap at our Lord's door. We may not tire\nto knock oftener than twice or thrice. He knoweth the knock of His\nfriends.\n\nI am still what I was ever to your dear children, tendering their\nsoul's happiness, and praying that grace, grace, grace, mercy, and\npeace from God, even God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus, may be\ntheir portion; and that now, while they are green and young, their\nhearts may take band with Jesus, the Cornerstone: and win once in, in\nour Lord and Saviour's house, and then they will not get leave to\nflit. Pray for me, and especially for humility and thankfulness. I\nhave always remembrance of you, and your husband, and dear children.\nThe Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours evermore in my dear Lord Jesus and yours,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n\n\n\nXLVII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_SUBMISSION TO GOD'S ARRANGEMENTS._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND BELOVED MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. I have\nsent you a letter from Mr. David Dick[136] concerning the placing of\nMr. Hugh M'Kail with themselves; therefore I write to you now only to\nentreat you in Christ not to be discouraged thereat. Be submissive to\nthe will of your dear Lord, who knoweth best what is good for your\nsoul and your town both; for God can come over greater mountains than\nthese, we believe; for He worketh His greatest works contrary to\ncarnal reason and means. \"My ways are not,\" saith our Lord, \"as your\nways; neither are my thoughts as your thoughts\" (Isa. lv. 8). I am no\nwhit put from my belief for all that. Believe, pray, and use means. We\nshall cause Mr. John Kerr, who conveyed myself to Lochinvar,[137] to\nuse means to seek a man, if Mr. Hugh fail us. Our Lord has a little\nbride among you, and I trust He will send one to woo her to our sweet\nLord Jesus. He will not want His wife for the suiting, and He has\nmeans in abundance in His hand to open all the slots and bars that\nSatan draws over the door. He cometh to His bride leaping over the\nmountains, and skipping over the hills. His way to His spouse is full\nof stones, mountains, and waters, yet He putteth in His foot and\nwadeth through. He will not want her; and therefore refresh me with\ntwo words concerning your confidence and courage in our Lord, both\nabout that, and about His own Zion; for He wooeth His wife in the\nBurning Bush; and for \"the good-will of Him that dwelleth in the\nBush,\" the bush is not consumed. It is better to weep with Jerusalem\nin the forenoon, than to weep with Babel after noon, in the end of the\nday. Our day of laughter and rejoicing is coming. Yet a little while,\nand ye shall see the salvation of God. I long to see you, and to hear\nhow your children are, especially Samuel. Grace be their heritage and\nportion from the Lord, and the Lord be their lot, and then their\ninheritance shall please them well. Remember my love to your husband.\nThe Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours in his sweetest Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n [136] David Dickson.\n\n [137] About four miles east from Earlston. It has a small loch, where\n are ruins of an old castle.\n\n\n\n\nXLVIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_TROUBLES FROM FALSE BRETHREN--OCCURRENCES--CHRIST'S\nCOMING--INTERCESSION._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED SISTER,--I know you have heard of the success of our\nbusiness in Edinburgh. I do every Presbytery day see the faces of my\nbrethren smiling upon me, but their tongues convey reproaches and lies\nof me a hundred miles off, and have made me odious to the Bishop of\nSt. Andrews, who said to Mr. W. Dalgleish that ministers in Galloway\nwere his informers. Whereupon no letter of favour could be procured\nfrom him for effectuating of our business; only I am brought in the\nmouths of men, who otherwise knew me not, and have power (if God shall\npermit) to harm me. Yet I entreat you, in the bowels of Christ Jesus,\nbe not cast down. I fear your sorrow exceed because of this; and I am\nnot so careful for myself in the matter as for you. Take\ncourage;--your dearest Lord will light your candle, which the wicked\nwould fain blow out; and, as sure as our Lord liveth, your soul shall\nfind joy and comfort in this business. Howbeit you see all the hounds\nin hell let loose to mar it, their iron chains to our dear and mighty\nLord are but straws, which He can easily break. Let not this\ntemptation stick in your throat; swallow it, and let it go down; our\nLord give you a drink of the consolations of His Spirit, that it may\ndigest. You never knew one in God's book who put to their hand to the\nLord's work for His kirk, but the world and Satan did bark against\nthem, and bite also where they had power. You will not lay one stone\non Zion's walls but they will labour to cast it down again.\n\nFor myself, the Lord letteth me see now greater evidence of a calling\nto Kirkcudbright than ever He did before; and therefore pray, and\npossess your soul in patience. Those that were doers in the business\nhave good hopes that it will yet go forward and prosper. As for the\ndeath of the King of Sweden (which is thought to be too true), we can\ndo nothing else but reverence our Lord, who doth not ordinarily hold\nZion on her rock by the sword, and arm of flesh and blood, but by His\nown mighty and outstretched arm. Her King that reigneth in Zion yet\nliveth, and they are plucking Him round about to pull Him off His\nthrone; but His Father hath crowned him, and who dare say, \"It is ill\ndone\"? The Lord's bride will be up and down, above the water swimming\nand under the water sinking, until her lovely and mighty Redeemer and\nHusband set His head through the skies, and come with His fair court\nto red all their pleas, and give them the hoped-for inheritance: and\nthen we shall lay down our swords and triumph, and fight no more. But\ndo not think, for all this, that our Lord and Chief Shepherd will want\none weak sheep, or the silliest dying lamb, that He hath redeemed. He\nwill tell His flock, and gather them all together, and make a faithful\naccount of them to the Father who gave them to Him. Let us learn to\nturn our eyes off men, that our whorish hearts doat not on them, and\nwoo our old Husband, and make Him our darling. For, \"thus saith the\nLord to the enemies of Zion, Drink ye, and be drunk, and spue, and\nfall, and rise no more, because of the sword that I send amongst you.\nAnd it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to\ndrink, then shalt thou say to them, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Ye\nshall certainly drink\" (Jer. xxv. 27, 28). You see our Lord brewing a\ncup of poison for His enemies, which they must drink, and because of\nthis have sore bowels and sick stomachs, yea, burst. But when Zion's\ncaptivity is at an end, \"the children of Israel shall come, they and\nthe children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and\nseek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with their\nfaces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord\nin an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten\" (Jer. i. 45).\nThis is spoken to us, and for us, who with woe hearts ask, \"What is\nthe way to Zion?\" It is our part who know how to go to our Lord's\ndoor, and to knock by prayer, and how to lift Christ's slot, and shut\nthe bar of His chamber door, to complain and tell Him how the Lord\nhandleth us, and how our King's business goeth, that He may get up and\nlend them a blow, who are tigging and playing with Christ and His\nspouse. You have also, dear Mistress, house troubles, in sickness of\nyour husband and bairns, and in spoiling of your house by thieves;\ntake these rods in patience from your Lord. He must still move you\nfrom vessel to vessel, and grind you as our Lord's wheat, to be bread\nin His house. But when all these strokes are over your head, what will\nye say to see your well-beloved Christ's white and ruddy face, even\nHis face who is worthy to bear the colours among ten thousand? (Cant.\nv. 10). Hope and believe to the end. Grace for ever be multiplied upon\nyou, your husband, and children.\n\n Your own in his dearest Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n EDINBURGH, _Dec. 1634_.\n\n\n\n\nXLIX.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_SPOILING OF GOODS--CALL TO KIRKCUDBRIGHT--THE LORD REIGNETH._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED AND DEAR SISTER,--My love in Christ remembered. God hath\nbrought me home from a place where I have been exercised with great\nheaviness, and I have found at home new matter of great heaviness, yet\ndare not but in all things give thanks.\n\nIn my business in Edinburgh,[138] I have not sinned nor wronged my\nparty,--by his own confession, and by the confession of his friends, I\nhave given of my goods for peace and the saving of my Lord's truth\nfrom reproaches, which is dearer to me than all I have. My mother is\nweak, and I think shall leave me alone; but I am not alone, because\nChrist's Father is with me.\n\n [138] See note, Letter XII.\n\nFor your business anent your town I see great evidence; but Satan and\nhis instruments are against it, and few set their shoulders to\nChrist's shoulder to help Him. But He will do all His lone; and I dare\nnot but exhort you to believe, and persuade you, that the hungry in\nyour city shall be fed; and as for the rest that want a stomach, the\nparings of God's loaf will suffice them; and, therefore, believe it\nshall be well. I may not leave my mother to come and confer with you\nof all particulars. I have given such directions to our dear friend as\nI can; but the event is in our dear Lord's hands.\n\nGod's Zion abroad flourisheth, and His arm is not shortened with us,\nif we could believe. There is scarcity and a famine of the word of God\nin Edinburgh. Your sister Jane laboureth mightily in our business; but\nhath not as yet gotten an answer from I. P. Mr. A. C.[139] will work\nwhat he can. My Lady saith she can do little, and that it suiteth not\nher nor her husband well to speak in such an affair. I told her my\nmind plainly.\n\n [139] Probably Mr. Alexander Colville, mentioned Letter XI.\n\nI long to know of your estate. Remember me heartily to your dear\nhusband. Grace be the portion of your bairns. I know you are mindful\nof the green wound of our sister kirk in Ireland. Bid our Lord lay a\nplaister to it (He hath good skill to do so), and set others to work.\nGrace, grace upon your soul, and body, and all yours.\n\n Yours in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n [The following brief note, addressed to Marion M'Naught, may be\n read as a sort of postscript to the foregoing, though generally\n printed as a separate Letter.]\n\nDEAR MISTRESS,--I have not time this day to write to you; but God,\nknowing my present state and necessities of my calling, will, I hope,\nspare my mother's life for a time, for the which I have cause to thank\nthe Lord. I entreat you, be not cast down for that which I wrote\nbefore to you anent the planting of a minister in your town. Believe,\nand you shall see the salvation of God. I write this, because when you\nsuffer, my heart suffereth with you. I do believe your soul shall have\njoy in your labours and holy desires for that work. Grace upon you,\nand your husband, and children.\n\n Yours ever in Christ,\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n\n\n\nL.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n (_CHRIST COMING AS CAPTAIN OF SALVATION--HIS CHURCH'S CONFLICT\n AND COVENANT--THE JEWS--LAST DAYS APOSTASY_.)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED AND DEAR SISTER,--I know your heart is cast down for the\ndesolation like to come upon this kirk and the appearance that an\nhireling shall be thrust in upon Christ's flock in that town; but send\na heavy heart up to Christ, it shall be welcome. Those who are with\nthe beast and the dragon, must make war with the Lamb; \"but the Lamb\nshall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and\nthey who are with Him are called and chosen, and faithful\" (Rev. xvii.\n14). Our ten days shall have an end; all the former things shall be\nforgotten when we shall be up before the throne. Christ hath been ever\nthus in the world; He hath always the defender's part, and hath been\nstill in the camp, fighting the Church's battles. The enemies of the\nSon of God will be fed with their own flesh, and shall drink their own\nblood; and therefore, their part of it shall at last be found hard\nenough: so that we may look forward and pity them. Until the number of\nthe elect be fulfilled, Christ's garments must be rolled in blood. He\ncometh from Edom, from the slaughter of His enemies, \"clothed with\ndyed garments, glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness of\nHis strength.\" Who is this (saith he) that appears in this glorious\nposture? Our great He! that He who is mighty to save, whose glory\nshineth while He sprinkleth the blood of His adversaries, and staineth\nall His raiment. The glory of His righteous revenges shineth forth in\nthese stains (Isa. lxiii. 1). But seeing our world is not here-away,\nwe poor children, far from home, must steal through many waters,\nweeping as we go, and withal believing that we do the Lord's\nfaithfulness no wrong, seeing He hath said, \"I, even I, am He that\ncomforteth you: who art thou, that shouldest be afraid of a man that\nshall die, and of the son of man that shall be made as grass?\" (Isa.\nli. 12). \"When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee;\nand through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou\nwalkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; neither shall the\nflames kindle upon thee\" (Isa. xliii. 2).\n\nThere is a cloud gathering and a storm coming. This land shall be\nturned upside down; and if ever the Lord spake to me (think on it),\nChrist's bride will be glad of a hole to hide her head in, and the\ndragon may so prevail as to chase the woman and her man-child over\nsea. But there shall be a gleaning, two or three berries left in the\ntop of the olive-tree, of whom God shall say, \"Destroy them not, for\nthere is a blessing in them.\" Thereafter there shall be a fair\nsun-blink on Christ's old spouse, and a clear sky, and she shall sing\nas in the days of her youth. The Antichrist and the great red dragon\nwill lop Christ's branches, and bring His vine to a low stump, under\nthe feet of those who carry the mark of the beast; but the Plant of\nRenown, the Man whose name is the Branch, will bud forth again and\nblossom as the rose, and there shall be fair white flourishes again,\nwith most pleasant fruits, upon that tree of life. A fair season may\nHe have! Grace, grace be upon that blessed and beautiful tree! under\nwhose shadow we shall sit, and His fruit shall be sweet to our taste.\nBut Christ shall woo His handful in the fire, and choose His own in\nthe furnace of affliction. But be it so; He dow not, He will not slay\nHis children. Love will not let Him make a full end. The covenant will\ncause Him hold His hand. Fear not, then, saith the First and the Last,\nHe who was dead and is alive. We see not Christ sharpening and\nfurbishing His sword for His enemies; and therefore our faithless\nhearts say, as Zion did, \"The Lord hath forsaken me.\" But God\nreproveth her, and saith, \"Well, well, Zion, is that well said? Think\nagain on it, you are in the wrong to Me. Can a woman forget her\nsucking child, that she should not have compassion on the fruit of her\nwomb? Yea, she may; yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have\nengraven thee upon the palms of My hands\" (Isa. xlix. 15, 16). You\nbreak your heart and grow heavy, and forget that Christ hath your name\nengraven on the palms of His hand in great letters. In the name of the\nSon of God, believe that buried Scotland, dead and buried with her\ndear Bridegroom, shall rise the third day again, and there shall be a\nnew growth after the old timber is cut down.\n\nI recommend you, and your burdens and heavy heart, to the supporting\nof His grace and good-will who dwelt in the Bush, to Him who was\nseparated from His brethren. Try your husband afar off, to see if he\ncan be induced to think upon going to America.\n\nO to see the sight, next to Christ's Coming in the clouds, the most\njoyful! our elder brethren the Jews and Christ fall upon one another's\nnecks and kiss each other! They have been long asunder; they will be\nkind to one another when they meet. O day! O longed-for and lovely\nday-dawn! O sweet Jesus, let me see that sight which will be as life\nfrom the dead, Thee and Thy ancient people in mutual embraces.[140]\n\n [140] In the Preface to his \"Peaceable Plea,\" he expresses the same\n yearnings towards the Jews. And also in \"Trial of Faith,\" sermon xiii.\n\nDesire your daughter to close with Christ upon terms of suffering for\nHim; for the cross is an old mealing and plot of ground that lyeth to\nChrist's house. Our dear Chief had aye that rent lying to His\ninheritance. But tell her the day is near the dawning, the sky is\nriving; our Beloved will be on us, ere ever we be aware. The\nAntichrist, and death and hell, and Christ's enemies and ours, will be\nbound and cast into the bottomless pit. The Lord Jesus be with your\nspirit.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _April 22, 1635_.\n\n\n\n\nLI.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_PUBLIC TEMPTATIONS--THE SECURITY OF EVERY SAINT--OCCURRENCES IN THE\nCOUNTRY-SIDE._)\n\n\nLOVING AND DEAR SISTER,--For Zion's sake hold not your peace, neither\nbe discouraged, for the on-going of this persecution. Jehovah is in\nthis burning Bush. The floods may swell and roar, but our ark shall\nswim above the waters; it cannot sink, because a Saviour is in it.\nBecause our Beloved was not let in by His spouse when He stood at the\ndoor, with His wet and frozen head, therefore He will have us to seek\nHim awhile; and while we are seeking, the watchmen who go about the\nwalls have stricken the poor woman, and have taken away her veil from\nher. But yet a little while and our Lord will come again. Scotland's\nsky will clear again; her moment must go over. I dare in faith say and\nwrite (I am not dreaming), Christ is but seeking (what He will have\nand make) a clean glistering bride out of the fire. God send Him His\nerrand, but He cannot want what He seeks. In the meantime, one way or\nother, He shall find, or make a nest for His mourning dove. What is\nthis we are doing, breaking the neck of our faith? We are not come as\nyet to the mouth of the Red Sea; and howbeit we were, for His honour's\nsake, He must dry it up. It is our part to die gripping and holding\nfast His faithful promise. If the Beast should get leave to ride\nthrough the land, to seal such as are his, he will not get one lamb\nwith him, for these are secured and sealed as the servants of God. In\nGod's name, let Christ take His barn-floor, and all that is in it, to\na hill, and winnow it. Let Him sift His corn, and sweep His house, and\nseek His lost gold. The Lord shall cog the rumbling wheels, or turn\nthem; for the remainder of wrath doth He restrain. He can loose the\nbelt of kings; to God, their belt, wherewith they are girt, is knit\nwith a single draw-knot.\n\nAs for a pastor to your town, your conscience can bear you witness you\nhave done your part. Let the Master of the vineyard now see to His\ngarden, seeing you have gone on, till He hath said, \"Stand still.\" The\nwill of the Lord be done. But a trial is not, to give up with God and\nbelieve no more. I thank my God in Christ, I find the force of my\ntemptation abated, and its edge blunted, since I spoke to you last. I\nknow not if the tempter be hovering, until he find the dam gather\nagain, and me more secure; but it hath been my burden, and I am yet\nmore confident the Lord will succour and deliver.\n\nI intend, God willing, that our Communion shall be celebrated the\nfirst Sabbath after Pasch. Our Lord, that great Master of the feast,\nsend us one hearty and heartsome supper, for I look it shall be the\nlast. But we expect, when the shadows shall flee away, and our Lord\nshall come to His garden, that He shall feed us in green pastures\nwithout fear. The dogs shall not then be hounded out amongst the\nsheep. I earnestly desire your prayers for assistance at our work, and\nput others with you to do the same. Remember me to your husband, and\ndesire your daughter to be kind to Christ, and seek to win near Him;\nHe will give her a welcome unto His house of wine, and bring her into\nthe King's chamber. O how will the sight of His face, and the smell of\nHis garments, allure and ravish the heart! Now, the love of the lovely\nSon of God be with you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, 1635.\n\n\n\n\nLII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n (IN THE PROSPECT OF HER HUSBAND BEING COMPELLED TO RECEIVE THE\n COMMAND OF THE PRELATES--SAINTS ARE YET TO JUDGE.)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED MISTRESS,--I charge you in the name of the Son of God, to\nrest upon your Rock, that is higher than yourself. Be not afraid of a\nman, who is a worm, nor of the son of man, who shall die. God be your\nfear. Encourage your husband. I would counsel you to write to\nEdinburgh to some advised lawyers, to understand what your husband, as\nthe head magistrate, may do in opposing any intruded minister, and in\nhis carriage toward the new prelate,[141] if he command him to\nimprison or lay hands upon any, and, in a word, how far he may in his\noffice disobey a prelate, without danger of law. For if the Bishop\ncome to your town, and find not obedience to his heart, it is like he\nwill command the Provost to assist him against God and the truth. Ye\nwill have more courage under the persecution. Fear not; take Christ\ncaution,[142] who said, \"There shall not one hair of your head perish\"\n(Luke xxi. 18). Christ will not be in your common to have you giving\nout anything for Him, and not give you all incomes with advantage. It\nis His honour His servants should not be herried and undone in His\nservice. You were never honoured till now. And if your husband be the\nfirst magistrate who shall suffer for Christ's name in this\npersecution, he may rejoice that Christ hath put the first garland on\nhis head and upon yours. Truth will yet keep the crown of the causey\nin Scotland. Christ and truth are strong enough. They judge us now; we\nshall one day judge them, and sit on twelve thrones and judge the\ntwelve tribes. Believe, believe; for they dare not pray; they dare not\nlook Christ in the face. They have been false to Christ, and He will\nnot sit with the wrong. Ye know it is not our cause; for if we would\nquit our Lord, we might sleep for the present in a sound skin, and\nkeep our place, means, and honour, and be dear to them also; but let\nus once put all we have over in Christ's hand. Fear not for my papers;\nI shall despatch them, but ye will be examined for them. The Spirit\nof Jesus give you inward peace. Desire your husband from me to prove\nhonest to Christ; he shall not be a loser at Christ's hand.\n\n Yours ever in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _July 8, 1635_.\n\n [141] Bishop Sydserff wished to force a minister upon the people of\n Kirkcudbright, in room of Mr. Glendinning, whom he ordered to be\n imprisoned, because he would not conform to Episcopacy. Provost\n Fullarton (husband of M. M'Naught), along with other magistrates,\n refused to imprison Mr. Glendinning. See note at Letter LXVII.\n\n [142] Surety.\n\n\n\n\nLIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_ENCOURAGEMENT UNDER TRIAL BY PROSPECT OF BRIGHTER DAYS._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. Having appointed a meeting\nwith Mr. David Dickson, and knowing that B. will not keep the\nPresbytery, I cannot see you now. Commend my journey to God. My soul\nblesseth you for your last letter. Be not discouraged; Christ will not\nwant the Isles-men. \"The Isles shall wait for His law.\" We are His\ninheritance, and He will sell no part of His inheritance. For the sins\nof this land, and our breach of the covenant, contempt of the Gospel,\nand our defection from the truth, He hath set up a burning furnace in\nour Mount Zion; but I say it, and will bide by it, the grass shall yet\ngrow green on our Mount Zion. There shall be dew all the night upon\nthe lilies, amongst which Christ feedeth, until the day break, and the\nshadows flee away. And the moth shall eat up the enemies of Christ.\nLet them make a fire of their own, and walk in the light thereof, it\nshall not let them see to go to their bed; but they shall lie down in\nsorrow (Isa. l. 11). Therefore, rejoice and believe. This in haste.\nGrace, grace be with you and yours.\n\n Yours in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n\n\n\nLIV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_PUBLIC WRONGS--WORDS OF COMFORT._)\n\n\nLOVING AND DEAR SISTER,--I fear that you be moved and cast down,\nbecause of the late wrong that your husband received in your Town\nCouncil. But I pray you comfort yourself in the Lord; for a just cause\nbides under the water only as long as wicked men hold their hand\nabove it; their arm will weary, and then the just cause shall swim\nabove, and the light that is sown for the righteous shall spring and\ngrow up. If ye were not strangers here, the dogs of the world would\nnot bark at you. You may see all windings and turnings that are in\nyour way to heaven out of God's Word; for He will not lead you to the\nkingdom at the nearest, but you must go through \"honour and dishonour,\nby evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as\nunknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as\nchastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, and yet always rejoicing\" (2\nCor. vi. 8, 10). The world is one of the enemies that we have to fight\nwith, but a vanquished and overcome enemy, and like a beaten and\nforlorn soldier; for our Jesus hath taken the armour from it. Let me\nthen speak to you in His words: \"Be of good courage,\" saith the\nCaptain of our salvation, \"for I have overcome the world.\" You shall\nneither be free of the scourge of the tongue, nor of disgraces (even\nif it were buffetings and spittings upon the face, as was our\nSaviour's case), if you follow Jesus Christ. I beseech you in the\nbowels of our Lord Jesus, keep a good conscience, as I trust you do.\nYou live not upon men's opinion; gold may be gold, and have the king's\nstamp upon it, when it is trampled upon by men. Happy are you, if,\nwhen the world trampleth upon you in your credit and good name, yet\nyou are the Lord's gold, stamped with the King of heaven's image, and\nsealed by the Spirit unto the day of your redemption. Pray for the\nspirit of love; for \"love beareth all things; it believeth all things,\nhopeth all things, and endureth all things\" (1 Cor. xiii. 7).\n\nAnd I pray you and your husband, yea, I charge you before God, and the\nLord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, pray for these your\nadversaries, and read this to your husband from me, and let both of\nyou put on, as the elect of God, bowels of mercies. And, sister,\nremember how many thousands of talents of sins your Master hath\nforgiven you. Forgive ye therefore your fellow-servants one talent.\nFollow God's command in this, and \"seek not after your own heart, and\nafter your own eyes,\" in this matter, as the Spirit speaks (Numb. xv.\n39). Ask never the counsel of your own heart here; the world will blow\nup your heart now, and cause it swell, except the grace of God cause\nit fall. Jesus, even Jesus, the Eternal Wisdom of the Father, give you\nwisdom. I trust God shall be glorified in you. And a door shall be\nopened unto you, as to the Lord's \"prisoners of hope,\" as Zechariah\nspeaks. It is a benefit to you, that the wicked are God's fan to purge\nyou. And I hope they shall blow away no corn, or spiritual graces, but\nonly your chaff. I pray you, in your pursuit, have so recourse to the\nlaw of men, that you wander not from the law of God. Be not cast down:\nif you saw Him who is standing on the shore, holding out His arms to\nwelcome you on land, you would not only wade through a sea of wrongs,\nbut through hell itself to be at Him. And I trust in God you see Him\nsometimes. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit, and all yours.\n\n Your brother in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n\n\nLV.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n (_WHEN HE HAD BEEN THREATENED WITH PERSECUTION FOR PREACHING THE\n GOSPEL--THE SAINTS SHALL YET WIN THE DAY._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND WELL-BELOVED MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. I\nknow ye have heard of the purpose of my adversaries, to try what they\ncan do against me at this Synod for the work of God in your town when\nI was at your Communion. They intend to call me in question at the\nSynod for treasonable doctrine. Therefore help me with your prayers,\nand desire your acquaintance to help me also. Your ears heard how\nChrist was there. If He suffer His servant to get a broken head in His\nown kingly service, and not either help or revenge the wrong, I never\nsaw the like of it. There is not a night drunkard, time-serving, idle,\nidol shepherd to be spoken against: I am the only man; and because it\nis so, and I know God will not help them lest they be proud, I am\nconfident their process shall fall asunder. Only be ye earnest with\nGod for hearing, for an open ear, and reading of the bill, that He may\nin heaven hear both parties, and judge accordingly. And doubt not,\nfear not; they shall not, who now ride highest, put Christ out of His\nkingly possession in Scotland. The pride of man and his rage shall\nturn to the praise of our Lord. It is an old feud, that the rulers of\nthe earth, the dragon and his angels, have carried to the Lamb and His\nfollowers; but the followers of the Lamb shall overcome by the Word of\nGod. And believe this, and wait on a little, till they have got their\nwomb full of clay and gravel, and they shall know (howbeit stolen\nwaters be sweet) Esau's portion is not worth his hunting. Commend me\nto your husband, and send me word how Grizel is. The Son of God lead\nher through the water. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH.\n\n\n\n\nLVI.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_REASONS FOR RESIGNATION--SECURITY OF SAINTS--THE END OF TIME._)\n\n\nMADAM,--I received your Ladyship's letter from J. G.[143] I thank our\nLord ye are as well at least as one may be who is not come home. It is\na mercy in this stormy sea to get a second wind; for none of the\nsaints get a first, but they must take the winds as the Lord of the\nseas causeth them to blow, and the inn as the Lord and Master of the\ninns hath ordered it. If contentment were here, heaven were not\nheaven. Whoever seek the world to be their bed, shall at best find it\nshort and ill-made, and a stone under their side to hold them waking,\nrather than a soft pillow to sleep upon. Ye ought to bless your Lord\nthat it is not worse. We live in a sea where many have suffered\nshipwreck, and have need that Christ sit at the helm of the ship. It\nis a mercy to win to heaven, though with much hard toil and heavy\nlabour, and to take it by violence ill and well as it may be. Better\ngo swimming and wet through our waters than drown by the way;\nespecially now when truth suffereth, and great men bid Christ sit\nlower and contract Himself in less bounds, as if He took too much\nroom.\n\n [143] J. Gordon.\n\nI expect our new prelate[144] shall try my sitting. I hang by a\nthread, but it is (if I may speak so) of Christ's spinning. There is\nno quarrel more honest or honourable than to suffer for truth. But the\nworst is, that this kirk is like to sink, and all her lovers and\nfriends stand afar off; none mourn with her, and none mourn for her.\nBut the Lord Jesus will not be put out of His conquest so soon in\nScotland. It will be seen that the kirk and truth will rise again\nwithin three days, and Christ again shall ride upon His white horse;\nhowbeit His horse seem now to stumble, yet he cannot fall. The fulness\nof Christ's harvest in the end of the earth is not yet come in. I\nspeak not this because I would have it so, but upon better grounds\nthan my naked liking. But enough of this sad subject.\n\n [144] Sydserff.\n\nI long to be fully assured of your Ladyship's welfare, and that your\nsoul prospereth, especially now in your solitary life when your\ncomforts outward are few, and when Christ hath you for the very\nuptaking. I know His love to you is still running over, and His love\nhath not so bad a memory as to forget you and your dear child, who\nhath two fathers in heaven, the one the Ancient of Days. I trust in\nHis mercy He hath something laid up for him above, however it may go\nwith him here. I know it is long since your Ladyship saw that this\nworld had turned your stepmother and did forsake you. Madam, you have\nreason to take in good part a lean dinner and spare diet in this life,\nseeing your large supper of the Lamb's preparing will recompense all.\nLet it go, which was never yours but only in sight, not in property.\nThe time of your loan will wear shorter and shorter, and time is\nmeasured to you by ounce weights; and then I know your hope shall be a\nfull ear of corn and not blasted with wind. It may be your joy that\nyour anchor is up within the veil, and that the ground it is cast upon\nis not false but firm. God hath done His part: I hope ye will not deny\nto fish and fetch home all your love to Himself; and it is but too\nnarrow and short for Him if it were more. If ye were before pouring\nall your love (if it had been many gallons more) in upon your Lord, if\ndrops fell by in the in-pouring, He forgiveth you. He hath done now\nall that can be done to win beyond it all, and hath left little to woo\nyour love from Himself, except one only child. What is His purpose\nherein He knoweth best, who hath taken your soul in tutoring. Your\nfaith may be boldly charitable of Christ, that however matters go, the\nworst shall be a tired traveller, and a joyful and sweet welcome home.\nThe back of your winter night is broken. Look to the east, the day sky\nis breaking. Think not that Christ loseth time, or lingereth\nunsuitably. O fair, fair, and sweet morning! We are but as sea\npassengers. If we look right, we are upon our country coast: our\nRedeemer is fast coming, to take this old worm-eaten world, like an\nold moth-eaten garment, in His two hands, and to roll it up and lay it\nby Him. These are the last days, and an oath is given, by God Himself,\nthat time shall be no more (Rev. x. 6); and when time itself is old\nand grey-haired, it were good we were away. Thus, Madam, ye see I am,\nas my custom is tedious in my lines. Your Ladyship will pardon it.\nThe Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Your Ladyship's at all obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Jan. 18, 1636_.\n\n\n\n\nLVII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_IN THE PROSPECT OF REMOVAL TO ABERDEEN._)\n\n\nHONOURED AND DEAREST IN THE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.\nI am well, and my soul prospereth. I find Christ with me. I burden no\nman; I want nothing; no face looketh on me but it laugheth on me.\nSweet, sweet is the Lord's cross. I overcome my heaviness. My\nBridegroom's love-blinks fatten my weary soul. I soon go to my King's\npalace at Aberdeen. Tongue, and pen, and wit, cannot express my joy.\n\nRemember my love to Jean Gordon, to my sister, Jean Brown, to Grizel,\nto your husband. Thus in haste. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n EDINBURGH, _April 5, 1636_.\n\n_P.S._--My charge is to you to believe, rejoice, sing, and triumph.\nChrist has said to me, Mercy, mercy, grace and peace for Marion\nM'Naught.\n\n\n\n\nLVIII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_ON OCCASION OF EFFORTS TO INTRODUCE EPISCOPACY._)\n\n\nRIGHT HONOURABLE,--I cannot find a time for writing some things I\nintended on Job, I have been so taken up with the broils that we are\nencumbered with in our calling. For our prelate will have us either to\nswallow our light over, and digest it contrary to our stomachs\n(howbeit we should vomit our conscience and all, in this troublesome\nconformity), or then he will try if deprivation can convert us to the\nceremonial faith.[145]\n\n [145] Conformity to episcopal forms.\n\nI write to your Ladyship, Madam, not as distrusting your affection or\nwillingness to help me, as your Ladyship is able by yourself or\nothers, but to advertise you that I hang by a small thread. For our\nlearned prelate, because we cannot see with his eyes so far in a\nmill-stone as his light doeth, will not follow his Master, meek Jesus,\nwho waited upon the wearied and short-breathed in the way to\nheaven.[146] Where all see not alike, and some are weaker, He carrieth\nthe lambs in His bosom, and leadeth gently those that are with young.\nBut we must either see all the evil of ceremonies to be but as\nindifferent straws, or suffer no less than to be casten out of the\nLord's inheritance! Madam, if I had time I would write more at length,\nbut your Ladyship will pardon me till a fitter occasion. Grace be with\nyou and your child, and bear you company to your best home.\n\n Your Ladyship's in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _June 8, 1636_.\n\n [146] Alluding to Gen. xxxii. 14, and Isa. xl. 11.\n\n\n\n\nLIX.--_To_ EARLSTON, _Elder_.\n\n\n [ALEXANDER GORDON of Earlston was descended from the house of\n Gordon of Lochinvar, and the residence of his family at first was\n Gordon of Airds (about a mile from the New Galloway Railway\n Station, on a wooded height, in the parish of Kells). His\n great-grandfather, Alexander Gordon of Airds, having married\n Margaret, eldest daughter of John Sinclair of Earlston, the issue\n of that union came to possess the lands of Earlston. (Nisbet's\n \"Heraldry.\") It is a tradition that old Gordon of Airds imbibed\n Wickliffite views, when he was on a sort of embassy to the\n English Borderers, and that he propagated the truth by bringing\n home an English Wickliffite to be tutor to his eldest son. Having\n obtained a New Testament in the vulgar tongue, he read it at\n meetings which were held in the woods of Airds, in a secluded\n spot, at the junction of the Ken and the Dee, where the loch\n begins.[147] The truth circulated rapidly through the whole\n province of Galloway.\n\n [147] It is probably the little mound in the wood called \"Low's\n Seat,\" from its being the favourite resort of a local poet of\n that name.\n\n There are some interesting traditions about old Gordon of Airds.\n He was compelled, when a youth, to sign the sentence that doomed\n Patrick Hamilton to death, 1528; and this very circumstance led\n him to inquire more fully into the truth. He lived to the age of\n one hundred and one, dying in 1586. A traveller, coming to crave\n the hospitality of Airds one evening, was courteously received by\n a youth, who, however, referred him to his father. His father in\n turn referred him to an older man, the grandfather of the boy;\n and then this grey-haired grand-sire said, \"Sir, you must ask _my\n father_,\"--the patriarch who sat in the arm-chair and conducted\n worship that evening. (Agnew's \"Sheriffs of Galloway.\")\n\n _Earlston_, or Erliston, or Earleston, is not far from\n Carsphairn. As you come from Dalry, in Glenkens, you see the roof\n of the ancient residence appearing from among the trees that grow\n up the sloping ridge at the foot of which it stands. In front of\n the grim old tower there is a fine lawn, a remnant of better\n days, and a linn not far off. There is another _Earlston_, in the\n parish of Borgue, a quite modern mansion, built by a descendant\n of this ancient family, and called after the name of the original\n property.\n\n The grace of God, which had early chosen this family, continued\n to favour it for many generations. Alexander Gordon, Rutherford's\n friend, was worthy of his ancestors. Livingstone, in his\n \"Characteristics,\" speaks of him as \"a man of great spirit, but\n much subdued by inward exercise. For wisdom, courage, and\n righteousness, he might have been a magistrate in any part of\n the earth.\" He warmly espoused the side of the Presbyterians. In\n the end of July 1635, he was summoned by the Bishop of Glasgow to\n appear before the High Commission, for preventing the intrusion\n of an unpopular nominee of the bishop into a vacant parish. But\n Lord Lorn, afterwards the martyred Marquis of Argyle, having\n appeared with him before that court, and affirmed that Earlston\n had done this by his direction as patron of the parish, the\n matter was deferred to a future day. This letter of Rutherford\n probably refers to the vexatious proceedings instituted against\n him in regard to this matter. He was afterwards summoned by\n Sydserff, Bishop of Galloway, fined five hundred merks, and\n banished to Montrose. The Privy Council, however, afterwards\n dispensed with his banishment upon the payment of his fine.\n Earlston was a member of the Assembly which met at Glasgow, in\n 1638, as commissioner from the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright. His\n name appears among the members of Parliament in 1641, as member\n for the shire of Galloway. He was married to Elizabeth, daughter\n of John Gordon of Muirfad, by whom he had several children. His\n eldest son, William, who succeeded him, is retoured heir of his\n father on the 23rd of January 1655. In the avenue leading to\n Earlston, there is a very large old oak, still shown as that in\n the thick foliage of which this William Gordon hid, and so\n escaped his pursuers, in the days of the persecution. But in\n 1679, on his way to join the rising at Bothwell, he was shot by a\n troop of dragoons, and lies buried in Glassford Churchyard, where\n is a monument to his memory.]\n\n * * * * *\n\n(_NO SUFFERING FOR CHRIST UNREWARDED--LOSS OF CHILDREN--CHRIST IN\nPROVIDENCE._)\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--I have heard of the mind and malice of your\nadversaries against you. It is like they will extend the law they\nhave, in length and breadth, answerable to their heat of mind. But it\nis a great part of your glory that the cause is not yours, but your\nLord's whom you serve. And I doubt not but Christ will count it His\nhonour to back His weak servant; and it were a shame for Him (with\nreverence to His holy name) that He should suffer Himself to be in the\ncommon of such a poor man as ye are, and that ye should give out for\nHim and not get in again. Write up your depursments for your Master\nChrist, and keep the account of what ye give out, whether name,\ncredit, goods, or life, and suspend your reckoning till nigh the\nevening; and remember that a poor weak servant of Christ wrote it to\nyou, that ye shall have Christ, a King, caution for your incomes and\nall your losses. Reckon not from the forenoon. Take the Word of God\nfor your warrant; and for Christ's act of cautionary, howbeit body,\nlife, and goods go for Christ your Lord, and though ye should lose the\nhead for Him, yet \"there shall not one hair of your head perish; in\npatience, therefore, possess your soul.\"[148] And because ye are the\nfirst man in Galloway called out and questioned for the name of Jesus,\nHis eye hath been upon you, as upon one whom He designed to be among\nHis witnesses. Christ hath said, \"Alexander Gordon shall lead the ring\nin witnessing a good confession,\" and therefore He hath put the\ngarland of suffering for Himself first upon your head. Think yourself\nso much the more obliged to Him, and fear not; for He layeth His right\nhand on your head. He who was dead and is alive will plead your cause,\nand will look attentively upon the process from the beginning to the\nend, and the Spirit of glory shall rest upon you. \"Fear none of these\nthings which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of\nyou into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation\nten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of\nlife\"[149] (Rev. ii. 10). This lovely One, Jesus, who also became the\nSon of man, that He might take strokes for you, write the\ncross-sweetening and soul-supporting sense of these words in your\nheart!\n\n [148] Luke xxi. 18, 19.\n\n [149] Zech. xii. 2, 6.\n\nThese rumbling wheels of Scotland's ten days' tribulation are under\nHis look who hath seven eyes. Take a house on your head, and slip\nyourself by faith in under Christ's wings till the storm be over. And\nremember, when they have drunken us down, Jerusalem will be a cup of\ntrembling and of poison.[150] They shall be fain to vomit out the\nsaints; for Judah \"shall be a hearth of fire in a sheaf, and they\nshall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the\nleft.\" Woe to Zion's enemies! they have the worst of it; for we have\nwrit for the victory. Sir, ye were never honourable till now. This is\nyour glory, that Christ hath put you in the roll with Himself and with\nthe rest of the witnesses who are come out of great tribulation, and\nhave washen their garments and made them white in the blood of the\nLamb. Be not cast down for what the servants of Antichrist cast in\nyour teeth, that ye are a head to and favourer of the Puritans, and\nleader to that sect. If your conscience say, \"Alas! here is much din\nand little done\" (as the proverb is), because ye have not done so much\nservice to Christ that way as ye might and should, take courage from\nthat same temptation. For your Lord Christ looketh upon that very\nchallenge as an hungering desire in you to have done more than ye did;\nand that filleth up the blank, and He will accept of what ye have done\nin that kind. If great men be kind to you, I pray you overlook them;\nif they smile on you, Christ but borroweth their face to smile through\nthem upon His afflicted servant. Know the well-head; and for all that,\nlearn the way to the well itself. Thank God that Christ came to your\nhouse in your absence and took with Him some of your children. He\npresumed that much on your love, that ye would not offend;[151] and\nhowbeit He should take the rest, He cannot come upon your wrong side.\nI question not, if they were children of gold, but ye think them well\nbestowed upon Him.\n\n [150] Zech. xii. 2, 6.\n\n [151] Stumble; be offended.\n\nExpound well these two rods on you, one in your house at home, another\non your own person abroad. Love thinketh no evil. If ye were not\nChrist's wheat, appointed to be bread in His house, He would not grind\nyou. But keep the middle line, neither despise nor faint (Heb. xii.\n5). Ye see your Father is homely with you. Strokes of a father\nevidence kindness and care; take them so. I hope your Lord hath\nmanifested Himself to you, and suggested these, or more choice\nthoughts about His dealing with you. We are using our weak moyen and\ncredit for you up at our own court, as we dow. We pray the King to\nhear us, and the Son of Man to go side for side with you, and hand in\nhand in the fiery oven, and to quicken and encourage your unbelieving\nheart when ye droop and despond. Sir, to the honour of Christ be it\nsaid, my faith goeth with my pen now. I am presently believing Christ\nshall bring you out. Truth in Scotland shall keep the crown of the\ncauseway yet. The saints shall see religion go naked at noon-day, free\nfrom shame and fear of men. We shall divide Shechem, and ride upon the\nhigh places of Jacob. Remember my obliged respects and love to Lady\nKenmure and her sweet child.\n\n Yours ever in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _July 6, 1636_.\n\n\n\n\nLX.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_WHEN HE WAS UNDER TRIAL BY THE HIGH COMMISSION._)\n\n\nMY DEAR AND WELL-BELOVED IN CHRIST,--I am yet under trial, and have\nappeared before Christ's forbidden lords,[152] for a testimony against\nthem. The Chancellor and the rest tempted me with questions, nothing\nbelonging to my summons, which I wholly declined, notwithstanding of\nhis threats. My newly printed book against Arminians[153] was one\nchallenge; not lording the prelates[154] was another. The most part\nof the bishops, when I came in, looked more astonished than I, and\nheard me with silence. Some spoke for me; but my Lord ruled it so as I\nam filled with joy in my sufferings, and I find Christ's cross sweet.\nWhat they intend against the next day I know not. Be not secure, but\npray. Our Bishop of Galloway said, If the Commission should not give\nhim his will of me (with an oath he said), he would write to the King.\nThe Chancellor summoned me in judgment to appear that day eight days.\nMy Lord has brought me a friend from the Highlands of Argyle, my Lord\nof Lorn,[155] who hath done as much as was within the compass of his\npower. God gave me favour in his eyes. Mr. Robert Glendinning is\nsilenced, till he accepts a colleague. We hope to deal yet for him.\nChrist is worthy to be entrusted. Your husband will get an easy and\ngood way of his business. Ye and I both shall see the salvation of God\nupon Joseph separate from his brethren. Grace be with you.\n\n\n S. R.\n\n EDINBURGH, 1636.\n\n [152] The prelates; alluding to 1 Pet. v. 3.\n\n [153] _Exercitat. Apol. pro Divin\u00e2 Grati\u00e2_, published this year (1636)\n at Amsterdam.\n\n [154] Calling them \"Lords.\"\n\n [155] Brother to Lady Kenmure, and afterwards the celebrated Marquis\n of Argyle. See Letter LXI. also.\n\n\n\n\nLXI.--_To the truly Noble and Elect Lady, my LADY VISCOUNTESS OF\nKENMURE, on the evening of his banishment to Aberdeen._\n\n(_HIS ONLY REGRETS--THE CROSS UNSPEAKABLY SWEET--RETROSPECT OF HIS\nMINISTRY._)\n\n\nNOBLE AND ELECT LADY,--That honour that I have prayed for these\nsixteen years, with submission to my Lord's will, my kind Lord hath\nnow bestowed upon me, even to suffer for my royal and princely King\nJesus, and for His kingly crown, and the freedom of His kingdom that\nHis Father hath given Him. The forbidden lords have sentenced me with\ndeprivation, and confinement within the town of Aberdeen. I am charged\nin the King's name to enter against the 20th day of August next, and\nthere to remain during the King's pleasure, as they have given it out.\nHowbeit Christ's green cross, newly laid upon me, be somewhat heavy,\nwhile I call to mind the many fair days sweet and comfortable to my\nsoul and to the souls of many others, and how young ones in Christ are\nplucked from the breast, and the inheritance of God laid waste; yet\nthat sweet smelled and perfumed cross of Christ is accompanied with\nsweet refreshments, with the kisses of a King, with the joy of the\nHoly Ghost, with faith that the Lord hears the sighing of a prisoner,\nwith undoubted hope (as sure as my Lord liveth) after this night to\nsee daylight, and Christ's sky to clear up again upon me, and His poor\nkirk; and that in a strange land, among strange faces, He will give\nfavour in the eyes of men to His poor oppressed servant, who dow not\nbut love that lovely One, that princely One, Jesus, the Comforter of\nhis soul. All would be well, if I were free of old challenges for\nguiltiness, and for neglect in my calling, and for speaking too little\nfor my Well-beloved's crown, honour, and kingdom. O for a day in the\nassembly of the saints to advocate for King Jesus! If my Lord also go\non now to quarrels I die, I cannot endure it. But I look for peace\nfrom Him, because He knoweth I dow bear men's feud, but I dow not bear\nHis feud. This is my only exercise, that I fear I have done little\ngood in my ministry; but I dare not but say, I loved the bairns of the\nwedding-chamber, and prayed for and desired the thriving of the\nmarriage, and coming of His kingdom.\n\nI apprehend no less than a judgment upon Galloway, and that the Lord\nshall visit this whole nation for the quarrel of the Covenant. But\nwhat can be laid upon me, or any the like of me, is too light for\nChrist. Christ dow bear more, and would bear death and burning quick,\nin His quick servants, even for this honourable cause that I now\nsuffer for. Yet for all my complaints (and He knoweth that I dare not\nnow dissemble), He was never sweeter and kinder than He is now. One\nkiss now is sweeter than ten long since; sweet, sweet is His cross;\nlight, light and easy is His yoke. O what a sweet step were it up to\nmy Father's house through ten deaths, for the truth and cause of that\nunknown, and so not half well loved, Plant of Renown, the Man called\nthe Branch, the Chief among ten thousands, the fairest among the sons\nof men! O what unseen joys, how many hidden heart-burnings of love,\nare in the \"remnants of the sufferings of Christ!\" (Col. i. 24.) My\ndear worthy Lady, I give it to your Ladyship, under my own hand, my\nheart writing as well as my hand,--welcome, welcome, sweet, sweet and\nglorious cross of Christ; welcome, sweet Jesus, with Thy light cross.\nThou hast now gained and gotten all my love from me; keep what Thou\nhast gotten! Only woe, woe is me, for my bereft flock, for the lambs\nof Jesus, that I fear shall be fed with dry breasts. But I spare now.\nMadam, I dare not promise to see your Ladyship, because of the little\ntime I have allotted me; and I purpose to obey the King, who hath\npower of my body; and rebellion to kings is unbeseeming Christ's\nministers. Be pleased to acquaint my Lady Mar[156] with my case. I\nwill look that your Ladyship and that good lady will be mindful to God\nof the Lord's prisoner, not for my cause, but for the Gospel's sake.\nMadam, bind me more, if more can be, to your Ladyship, and write\nthanks to your brother, my Lord of Lorn, for what he hath done for me,\na poor unknown stranger to his Lordship. I shall pray for him and his\nhouse, while I live. It is his honour to open his mouth in the\nstreets, for his wronged and oppressed Master Christ Jesus. Now,\nMadam, commending your Ladyship and the sweet child to the tender\nmercies of mine own Lord Jesus, and His good-will who dwelt in the\nBush,\n\n I am yours in his own sweetest Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n EDINBURGH, _July 28, 1636_.\n\n [156] See Letter CXL.\n\n\n\n\nLXII.--_To the LADY CULROSS, on occasion of his banishment to\nAberdeen._\n\n\n [ELIZABETH MELVILLE, wife of James Colvill, the eldest son of\n Alexander, Commendator of Culross, was the daughter of Sir James\n Melville of Halhill, in Fife. Her father was ambassador from\n Queen Mary to Queen Elizabeth, and a privy councillor to King\n James VI. He was also a man of piety, who (says Livingstone),\n \"professed he had got assurance from the Lord, that himself,\n wife, and all his children, should meet in heaven.\" Lady Culross\n held a high place among the eminent Christians of her day.\n Livingstone says: \"She was famous for her piety, and for her\n dream concerning her spiritual condition, which she put in verse,\n which was published by others. Of all that ever I saw, she was\n most unwearied in religious exercises; and the more she enjoyed\n access to God therein she hungered the more.\" She was present at\n the famous Communion at Shotts in June 1636, when the sermon\n preached by Livingstone, on the Monday after, was the means, it\n is believed, of the conversion of not less than five hundred\n individuals. The night before had been spent in prayer by a great\n number of Christians in a large room of the inn where she slept;\n and the minister who should have preached on Monday having fallen\n sick, it was at her suggestion that the other ministers assisting\n on that occasion, to whom Livingstone was a stranger, laid upon\n him the work of addressing the people. There is a poem written by\n her, entitled \"Ane Godlie Dream;\" and there is still preserved a\n sonnet of her composition, which she sent to Mr. John Welsh when\n he was imprisoned in Blackness, 1605:--\n\n \"My dear brother, with courage bear the cross,\n Joy shall be joined with all thy sorrow here.\n High is thy hope, disdain this earthly dross,\n Once shall you see the wished day appear.\n\n \"Now it is dark, thy sky cannot be clear;\n After the clouds it shall be calm anon;\n Wait on His will whose blood hath bought thee dear:\n Extol His name, though outward joys be gone.\n\n \"Look to the Lord, thou art not left alone,\n Since He is thine, what pleasure canst thou take!\n He is at hand, and hears thy every groan:\n End out thy fight, and suffer for His sake.\n\n \"A sight most bright thy soul shall shortly see,\n When store of glore thy rich reward shall be.\"\n\n --_Wodrow_ MSS. Adv. Lib. Edin. vol. xxix.]\n\n(_CHALLENGES OF CONSCIENCE--THE CROSS NO BURDEN._)\n\nMADAM,--Your letter came in due time to me, now a prisoner of Christ,\nand in bonds for the Gospel. I am sentenced with deprivation and\nconfinement within the town of Aberdeen. But O my guiltiness, the\nfollies of my youth, the neglects in my calling, and especially in not\nspeaking more for the kingdom, crown, and sceptre of my royal and\nprincely King Jesus, do so stare me in the face, that I apprehend\nanger in that which is a crown of rejoicing to the dear saints of God.\nThis, before my compearance, which was three several days, did trouble\nme, and burdeneth me more now; howbeit Christ, and in Him God\nreconciled, met me with open arms, and trysted me precisely at the\nentry of the door of the Chancellor's hall, and assisted me so to\nanswer, as that the advantage is not theirs but Christ's. Alas! that\nis no cause of wondering that I am thus borne down with challenges;\nfor the world hath mistaken me, and no man knoweth what guiltiness is\nin me so well as these two, who keep my eyes now waking and my heart\nheavy, I mean (1) my heart and conscience, and (2) my Lord, who is\ngreater than my heart.\n\nShew your brother that I desire him, while he is on the watch-tower,\nto plead with his mother, and to plead with this land, and spare not\nto cry for my sweet Lord Jesus His fair crown, that the interdicted\nand forbidden lords are plucking off His royal head. If I were free of\nchallenges, and a High Commission within my soul, I would not give a\nstraw to go to my Father's house through ten deaths, for the truth and\ncause of my lovely, lovely One, Jesus. But I walk in heaviness now. If\nye love me, and Christ in me, my dear Lady, pray, pray for this only,\nthat bygones betwixt my Lord and me may be bygones, and that He would\npass from the summons of His High Commission, and seek nothing from\nme, but what He will do for me and work in me. If your ladyship knew\nme as I do myself, ye would say, \"Poor soul, no marvel.\" It is not my\napprehension that createth this cross to me; it is too real, and hath\nsad and certain grounds. But I will not believe that God will take\nthis advantage of me, when my back is at the wall. He who forbiddeth\nto add affliction to affliction, will He do it Himself? Why should He\npursue a dry leaf and stubble? Desire Him to spare me now. Also the\nmemory of the fair feast-days, that Christ and I had in His\nbanqueting-house of wine, and of the scattered flock once committed\nto me, and now taken off my hand by Himself, because I was not so\nfaithful in the end as I was in the two first years of my entry, when\nsleep departed from my eyes, because my soul was taken up with a care\nfor Christ's lambs,--even these add sorrow to my sorrow. Now my Lord\nhath only given me this to say, and I write it under mine own hand (be\nye the Lord's servant's witness), welcome, welcome, sweet, sweet cross\nof Christ; welcome, fair, fair, lovely, royal King with Thine own\ncross. Let us all three go to heaven together. Neither care I much to\ngo from the south of Scotland to the north, and to be Christ's\nprisoner amongst unco faces, in a place of this kingdom, which I have\nlittle reason to be in love with. I know Christ shall make Aberdeen my\ngarden of delights. I am fully persuaded that Scotland shall eat\nEzekiel's book, that is written within and without, \"lamentation, and\nmourning, and woe\" (Ezek. ii. 10). But the saints shall get a drink of\nthe well that goeth through the streets of the New Jerusalem, to put\nit down. Thus hoping that ye will think upon the poor prisoner of\nChrist, I pray, grace, grace be with you.\n\n Your Ladyship's in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n EDINBURGH, _July 30, 1636_.\n\n\n\n\nLXIII.--_To MR. ROBERT CUNNINGHAM, Minister of the Gospel at Holywood,\nin Ireland._\n\n\n [MR. ROBERT CUNNINGHAM was for some time employed as chaplain to\n the Earl of Buccleuch's regiment in Holland. On the return of the\n troops to Scotland, he removed to the north of Ireland, where he\n was admitted minister of Holywood in 1615. \"He was the one man to\n my discerning,\" says Livingstone, \"of all that ever I saw, who\n resembled most the meekness of Jesus Christ in his whole\n carriage, and was so far reverenced by all, even the most wicked,\n that he was oft troubled with that Scripture, 'Woe to you when\n all men speak well of you.'\" He continued to labour in his\n charge, and in the surrounding district, with great success,\n until the Presbyterian ministers began to be molested for their\n nonconformity. Owing to the singular gentleness of Cunningham's\n disposition, he was for some time less subjected to trouble than\n his brethren; but at length, on the 12th of August 1636, he and\n four other ministers (among whom was Mr. Hamilton mentioned in\n the close of this letter) were formally deposed for refusing to\n subscribe certain canons, one of which was kneeling at the Lord's\n Supper. Not long after, he, with some of his deposed brethren,\n came over to Scotland; but he did not long survive his arrival.\n He died at Irvine, on the 29th of March 1637, scarcely eight\n months after this letter was written. A little before he expired,\n his wife sitting on the front of his bed with her hand clasped in\n his, after committing to God his flock at Holywood, his friends\n and his children, he added, \"And last of all, I recommend to Thee\n this gentlewoman, who is no more my wife.\" His affectionate wife\n bursting into tears, he sought by comfortable words to allay her\n grief; but in the act of so doing, fell asleep in Jesus.]\n\n(_CONSOLATION TO A BROTHER IN TRIBULATION--HIS OWN DEPRIVATION OF\nMINISTRY--CHRIST WORTH SUFFERING FOR._)\n\nWELL-BELOVED AND REVEREND BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.\nUpon acquaintance in Christ, I thought good to take the opportunity of\nwriting to you. Seeing it hath seemed good to the Lord of the harvest\nto take the hooks out of our hands for a time, and to lay upon us a\nmore honourable service, even to suffer for His name, it were good to\ncomfort one another in writing. I have had a desire to see you in the\nface; yet now being the prisoner of Christ, it is taken away. I am\ngreatly comforted to hear of your soldier's stately[157] spirit, for\nyour princely and royal Captain Jesus our Lord, and for the grace of\nGod in the rest of our dear brethren with you.\n\n [157] See Glossary.\n\nYou have heard of my trouble, I suppose. It hath pleased our sweet\nLord Jesus to let loose the malice of these interdicted lords in His\nhouse to deprive me of my ministry at Anwoth, and to confine me, eight\nscore miles from thence, to Aberdeen; and also (which was not done to\nany before) to inhibit me to speak at all in Jesus' name, within this\nkingdom, under the pain of rebellion. The cause that ripened their\nhatred was my book against the Arminians, whereof they accused me, on\nthose three days I appeared before them. But, let our crowned King in\nZion reign! By His grace the loss is theirs, the advantage is Christ's\nand truth's. Albeit this honest cross gained some ground on me, and my\nheaviness and my inward challenges of conscience for a time were\nsharp, yet now, for the encouragement of you all, I dare say it, and\nwrite it under my hand, \"Welcome, welcome, sweet, sweet cross of\nChrist.\" I verily think the chains of my Lord Jesus are all overlaid\nwith pure gold, and that His cross is perfumed, and that it smelleth\nof Christ, and that the victory shall be by the blood of the Lamb, and\nby the word of His truth, and that Christ, lying on His back, in His\nweak servants, and oppressed truth, shall ride over His enemies'\nbellies, and shall \"strike through kings in the day of His wrath\"\n(Psa. cx. 4). It is time we laugh when He laugheth; and seeing He is\nnow pleased to sit[158] with wrongs for a time, it becometh us to be\nsilent until the Lord hath let the enemies enjoy their hungry, lean,\nand feckless paradise. Blessed are they who are content to take\nstrokes with weeping Christ. Faith will trust the Lord, and is not\nhasty, nor headstrong; neither is faith so timorous as to flatter a\ntemptation, or to bud and bribe the cross. It is little up or little\ndown[159] that the Lamb and His followers can get no law-surety, nor\ntruce with crosses; it must be so, till we be up in our Father's\nhouse. My heart is woe indeed for my mother Church, that hath played\nthe harlot with many lovers. Her Husband hath a mind to sell her for\nher horrible transgressions; and heavy will the hand of the Lord be\nupon this backsliding nation. The ways of our Zion mourn; her gold has\nbecome dim, her white Nazarites are black like a coal. How shall not\nthe children weep, when the Husband and the mother cannot agree! Yet I\nbelieve Scotland's sky shall clear again; that Christ shall build\nagain the old waste places of Jacob; that our dead and dry bones shall\nbecome one army of living men, and that our Well-beloved may yet feed\namong the lilies, until the day break and the shadows flee away (Song\niv. 5, 6). My dear brother, let us help one another with our prayers.\nOur King shall mow down His enemies, and shall come from Bozrah with\nHis garments all dyed in blood. And for our consolation shall He\nappear, and call His wife Hephzibah, and His land Beulah (Isa. lxii.\n4); for He will rejoice over us and marry us, and Scotland shall say,\n\"What have I to do any more with idols?\" Only let us be faithful to\nHim that can ride through hell and death upon a windlestrae, and His\nhorse never stumble; and let Him make of me a bridge over a water, so\nthat His high and holy name may be glorified in me. Strokes with the\nsweet Mediator's hand are very sweet. He was always sweet to my soul;\nbut since I suffered for Him, His breath hath a sweeter smell than\nbefore. Oh that every hair of my head, and every member and every bone\nin my body, were a man to witness a fair confession for Him! I would\nthink all too little for Him. When I look over beyond the line, and\nbeyond death, to the laughing side of the world, I triumph, and ride\nupon the high places of Jacob; howbeit otherwise I am a faint,\ndead-hearted, cowardly man, oft borne down, and hungry in waiting for\nthe marriage supper of the Lamb. Nevertheless, I think it the Lord's\nwise love that feeds us with hunger, and makes us fat with wants and\ndesertions.\n\n [158] Endure.\n\n [159] Of little moment.\n\nI know not, my dear brother, if our worthy brethren be gone to sea or\nnot. They are on my heart and in my prayers. If they be yet with you,\nsalute my dear friend, John Stuart, my well-beloved brethren in the\nLord, Mr. Blair, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Livingston, and Mr. M'Clelland,[160]\nand acquaint them with my troubles, and entreat them to pray for the\npoor afflicted prisoner of Christ. They are dear to my soul. I seek\nyour prayers and theirs for my flock: their remembrance breaketh my\nheart. I desire to love that people, and others my dear acquaintance\nin Christ, with love in God, and as God loveth them. I know that He\nwho sent me to the west and south, sends me also to the north. I will\ncharge my soul to believe and to wait for Him, and will follow His\nprovidence, and not go before it, nor stay behind it. Now, my dear\nbrother, taking farewell in paper, I commend you all to the word of\nHis grace, and to the work of His Spirit, to Him who holdeth the seven\nstars in His right hand, that you may be kept spotless till the day of\nJesus our Lord.\n\n I am your brother in affliction in our sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n From IRVINE, being on my journey to Christ's\n Palace in Aberdeen, _August 4, 1636_.\n\n [160] Correspondents who, because of the oppressive measures of the\n prelates, intended to proceed to New England. There was a M'Lelland\n of Balmagachan, near Roberton, in the parish of Borgue; but this is\n not he. This was John M'Lelland, sometime minister of Kirkcudbright,\n a friend of R. Blair's.\n\n\n\n\nLXIV.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Earlston._\n\n(_HIS FEELINGS UPON LEAVING ANWOTH._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--I find small hopes of Q.'s business.[161] I\nintend, after the council-day, to go on to Aberdeen. The Lord is with\nme: I care not what man can do. I burden no man, and I want nothing.\nNo king is better provided than I am. Sweet, sweet, and easy is the\ncross of my Lord. All men I look in the face (of whatsoever\ndenomination, nobles and poor, acquaintance and strangers) are\nfriendly to me. My Well-beloved is some kinder and more warmly than\nordinary, and cometh and visiteth my soul. My chains are overgilded\nwith gold. Only the remembrance of my fair days with Christ in Anwoth,\nand of my dear flock (whose case is my heart's sorrow), is vinegar to\nmy sugared wine. Yet both sweet and sour feed my soul. No pen, no\nwords, no ingine can express to you the loveliness of my only, only\nLord Jesus. Thus, in haste, making for my palace at Aberdeen, I bless\nyou, your wife, your eldest son, and other children. Grace, grace be\nwith you.\n\n [161] Probably \"Queensberry.\"\n\n Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n EDINBURGH, _Sept. 5, 1636_.\n\n\n\n\nLXV.--_To ROBERT GORDON of Knockbreck, on his way to Aberdeen._\n\n\n [ROBERT GORDON of Knockbrex, in the parish of Borgue, which\n adjoins Anwoth, is, by Livingstone in his \"Characteristics,\"\n described as \"a single-hearted and painful Christian, much\n employed at parliaments and public meetings after the year 1638.\"\n He was a member of the famous Assembly which met at Glasgow in\n 1638, as commissioner from the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright. The\n precise date of his death is uncertain; but we find, in 1657,\n John Gordon in Garloch, five miles from Dalry, is retoured \"heir\n of Robert Gordon of Knockbreck, his granduncle, in the lands of\n Knockbreck.\" (_Inq. Retor. Abbrev. Kirkcudbright_, No. 274.) This\n John Gordon, and Robert, his brother, were executed together at\n Edinburgh on the 7th of December 1666, for having been engaged in\n the rising at Pentland. (See Letter CCXVII.) They inherited, and\n suffered for, the principles of Robert Gordon of Knockbreck,\n their granduncle, to whom this letter was written.\n\n _Knockbrex_ stands near the sea-shore, amid thick woods, looking\n down on the opening of _Wigtown Bay_. But a modern mansion has\n taken the place of Gordon's residence.]\n\n * * * * *\n\n(_HOW UPHELD ON THE WAY._)\n\nMY DEAREST BROTHER,--I see Christ thinketh shame (if I may speak so)\nto be in such a poor man's common as mine. I burden no man; I want\nnothing; no face hath gloomed upon me since I left you. God's sun and\nfair weather conveyeth me to my time-paradise in Aberdeen. Christ hath\nso handsomely fitted for my shoulders this rough tree of the cross, as\nthat it hurteth me no ways. My treasure is up in Christ's coffers; my\ncomforts are greater than ye can believe; my pen shall lie for penury\nof words to write of them. God knoweth I am filled with the joy of the\nHoly Ghost. Only my memory of you, my dearest in the Lord, my flock\nand others, keepeth me under, and from being exalted above measure.\nChrist's sweet sauce hath this sour mixed with it; but O such a sweet\nand pleasant taste! I find small hopes of Q.'s matter. Thus in haste.\nRemember me to your wife, and to William Gordon. Grace be with you,\n\n Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n EDINBURGH, _Sept. 5, 1636_.\n\n\n\n\nLXVI.--_To ROBERT GORDON of Knockbreck, after arriving at Aberdeen._\n\n(_CHALLENGES OF CONSCIENCE--EASE IN ZION._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I am, by God's\nmercy, come now to Aberdeen, the place of my confinement, and settled\nin an honest man's house. I find the town's-men cold, general, and dry\nin their kindness; yet I find a lodging in the heart of many\nstrangers. My challenges are revived again, and I find old sores\nbleeding of new; dangerous and painful is an under-cotted conscience;\nyet I have an eye to the blood that is physic for such sores. But,\nverily, I see Christianity is conceived to be more easy and lighter\nthan it is; so that I sometimes think I never knew anything but the\nletters of that name; for our nature contenteth itself with little in\ngodliness. Our \"Lord, Lord,\" seemeth to us ten \"Lord-Lords.\" Little\nholiness in our balance is much, because it is our own holiness; and\nwe love to lay small burdens upon our soft natures, and to make a fair\ncourt-way to heaven. And I know it were necessary to take more pains\nthan we do, and not to make heaven a city more easily taken than God\nhath made it. I persuade myself that many runners shall come short,\nand get a disappointment. Oh! how easy is it to deceive ourselves, and\nto sleep, and wish that heaven may fall down in our laps! Yet for all\nmy Lord's glooms, I find Him sweet, gracious, loving, kind; and I want\nboth pen and words to set forth the fairness, beauty, and sweetness of\nChrist's love, and the honour of this cross of Christ, which is\nglorious to me, though the world thinketh shame thereof. I verily\nthink that the cross of Christ would blush and think shame of these\nthin-skinned worldings, who are so married to their credit that they\nare ashamed of the sufferings of Christ. O the honour to be scourged\nand stoned with Christ, and to go through a furious-faced death to\nlife eternal! But men would have law-borrows against Christ's cross.\n\nNow, my dear brother, forget not the prisoner of Christ, for I see\nvery few here who kindly fear God. Grace be with you. Let my love in\nChrist and hearty affection be remembered to your kind wife, to your\nbrother John, and to all friends. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 20, 1636_.\n\n\n\n\nLXVII.-_For WILLIAM FULLARTON, Provost of Kirkcudbright._\n\n\n [WILLIAM FULLARTON, as has been formerly noticed, was the husband\n of Marion M'Naught. His religious principles were the same with\n those of his excellent wife, and he was a man of virtue,\n integrity, and piety. He proved himself the patron of the\n oppressed in the case of Mr. Robert Glendinning, the aged\n minister of Kirkcudbright; to which case there is evident\n allusion in this letter. Mr. Glendinning having refused to\n conform to Prelacy, and to receive, as his assistant and\n successor, a man whom Bishop Sydserff intruded upon him and the\n people of Kirkcudbright, the bishop suspended him from his\n office, and sentenced him to be imprisoned. Provost Fullarton,\n and the other magistrates of the burgh (one of whom was Mr.\n William Glendinning, son of the minister), indignant at such\n tyrannical proceedings, refused to incarcerate their own pastor,\n then nearly eighty years of age, and were determined, with the\n great body of the inhabitants of the town, to attend upon his\n ministry. Sydserff, too proud and violent to allow his authority\n to be thus despised, caused Bailie Glendinning to be imprisoned\n in Kirkcudbright, and the other magistrates to be confined within\n the town of Wigtown, while he sentenced the aged minister to\n remain within the bounds of his parish, and forbade him to\n exercise any part of his ministerial functions. But he found it\n impossible, by all the means he could employ, to reduce these\n refractory magistrates to obedience. The firmness which Fullarton\n manifested on this occasion is warmly commended by Rutherford.]\n\n * * * * *\n\n(_ENCOURAGEMENT TO SUFFER FOR CHRIST._)\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND VERY DEAR FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou.--I am in good case, blessed be the Lord, remaining here in this\nunco town a prisoner for Christ and His truth. And I am not ashamed of\nHis cross. My soul is comforted with the consolations of His sweet\npresence, for whom I suffer.\n\nI earnestly entreat you to give your honour and authority to Christ,\nand for Christ; and be not dismayed for flesh and blood, while you are\nfor the Lord, and for His truth and cause. And howbeit we see truth\nput to the worse for the time, yet Christ will be a friend to truth,\nand will do for those who dare hazard all that they have for Him and\nfor His glory. Sir, our fair day is coming, and the court will change,\nand wicked men will weep after noon, and sorer than the sons of God,\nwho weep in the morning. Let us believe and hope for God's salvation.\n\nSir, I hope I need not write to you for your kindness and love to my\nbrother,[162] who is now to be distressed for the truth of God as well\nas I am. I think myself obliged to pray for you, and your worthy and\nkind bed-fellow and children, for your love to him and me also. I hope\nyour pains for us in Christ shall not be lost. Thus recommending you\nto the tender mercy and loving-kindness of God, I rest,\n\n Your very loving and affectionate brother,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 21, 1636_.\n\n [162] His brother was a teacher in Kirkcudbright, and between him and\n Samuel there was a warm attachment, and strong sympathies. He, too,\n suffered persecution for his adherence to the cause of Presbytery. For\n this, and his zealous support of Mr. Glendinning, whom the Bishop of\n Galloway treated with such cruelty, he was in November 1636 condemned\n to resign his charge, and remove from Kirkcudbright before the ensuing\n term of Whitsunday.\n\n\n\n\nLXVIII.--_To JOHN FLEMING, Bailiffe (Bailie) of Leith_.\n\n [Of Mr. Fleming nothing can be ascertained, unless it is he who\n is mentioned by Livingston as being a merchant in Edinburgh, a\n man of note among the godly.]\n\n(_THE SWEETNESS AND FAITHFULNESS OF CHRIST'S LOVE._)\n\n\nMY VERY WORTHY FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received\nyour letter. I bless the Lord through Jesus Christ, I find His word\ngood, \"I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction\" (Isa. xlviii.\n10). \"I will be with him in trouble\" (Ps. xci. 15). I never expected\nother at Christ's hand but much good and comfort; and I am not\ndisappointed. I find my Lord's cross overgilded and oiled with\ncomforts. My Lord hath now shown me the white side of His cross. I\nwould not exchange my weeping in prison with the Fourteen\nPrelates'[163] laughter, amidst their hungry and lean joys. This world\nknoweth not the sweetness of Christ's love; it is a mystery to them.\n\n [163] Referring probably to the number of prelates (consisting of two\n archbishops and twelve bishops) who were members of the High\n Commission by whom he was sentenced to imprisonment.\n\nAt my first coming here, I found great heaviness, especially because\nit had pleased the prelates to add this gentle cruelty to my former\nsufferings (for it is gentle to them), to inhibit the ministers of the\ntown to give me the liberty of a pulpit. I said, What aileth Christ at\nmy service? But I was a fool; He hath chid Himself friends with me. If\nye and others of God's children shall praise His great name, who\nmaketh worthless men witnesses for Him, my silence and sufferings\nshall preach more than my tongue could do. If His glory be seen in me,\nI am satisfied; for I want for no kindness from Christ. And, sir, I\ndare not smother His liberality. I write it to you, that ye may\npraise, and desire your brother and others to join with me in this\nwork.\n\nThis land shall be made desolate. Our iniquities are full; the Lord\nsaith, we shall drink, and spue, and fall. Remember my love to your\ngood kind wife. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Nov. 13, 1636_.\n\n\n\n\nLXIX.--_To the Noble and Christian Lady the_ VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.\n\n (_HIS ENJOYMENT OF CHRIST IN ABERDEEN--A SIGHT OF CHRIST EXCEEDS\n ALL REPORTS--SOME ASHAMED OF HIM AND HIS._)\n\n\nMY VERY HONOURABLE AND DEAR LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.\nI cannot forget your Ladyship, and that sweet child. I desire to hear\nwhat the Lord is doing to you and him. To write to me were charity. I\ncannot but write to my friends, that Christ hath trysted me in\nAberdeen; and my adversaries have sent me here to be feasted with love\nbanquets with my royal, high, high, and princely King Jesus. Madam,\nwhy should I smother Christ's honesty? I dare not conceal His goodness\nto my soul; He looked fremed and unco-like upon me when I came first\nhere; but I believe Himself better than His looks. I shall not again\nquarrel Christ for a gloom, now He hath taken the mask off His face,\nand saith, \"Kiss thy fill;\" and what can I have more when I get great\nheaven in my little arms? Oh, how sweet are the sufferings of Christ\nfor Christ! God forgive them that raise an ill report upon the sweet\ncross of Christ. It is but our weak and dim eyes, and our looking only\nto the black side that makes us mistake. Those who can take that\ncrabbed tree handsomely upon their back, and fasten it on cannily,\nshall find it such a burden as wings unto a bird, or sails to a ship.\nMadam, rue not of your having chosen the better part. Upon my\nsalvation, this is Christ's truth I now suffer for. If I found but\ncold comfort in my sufferings, I would not beguile others; I would\nhave told you plainly. But the truth is, Christ's crown, His sceptre,\nand the freedom of His kingdom, is that which is now called in\nquestion; because we will not allow that Christ should pay tribute and\nbe a vassal to the shields of the earth, therefore the sons of our\nmother are angry at us. But it becometh not Christ to hold any man's\nstirrup. It were a sweet and honourable death to die for the honour of\nthat royal and princely King Jesus. His love is a mystery to the\nworld. I would not have believed that there was so much in Christ as\nthere is. \"Come and see\" maketh Christ to be known in His excellency\nand glory. I wish all this nation knew how sweet His breath is. It is\nlittle to see Christ in a book, as men do the world in a card. They\ntalk of Christ by the book and the tongue, and no more; but to come\nnigh Christ, and hause Him, and embrace Him, is another thing. Madam,\nI write to your honour, for your encouragement in that honourable\nprofession Christ hath honoured you with. Ye have gotten the sunny\nside of the brae, and the best of Christ's good things. He hath not\ngiven you the bastard's portion; and howbeit ye get strokes and sour\nlooks from your Lord, yet believe His love more than your own feeling,\nfor this world can take nothing from you that is truly yours, and\ndeath can do you no wrong. Your rock doth not ebb and flow, but your\nsea. That which Christ hath said, He will bide by it. He will be your\ntutor. You shall not get you charters of heaven to play you with. It\nis good that ye have lost your credit with Christ, and that Lord\nFree-will shall not be your tutor. Christ will lippen the taking you\nto heaven, neither to yourself, nor any deputy, but only to Himself.\nBlessed be your tutor. When your Head shall appear, your Bridegroom\nand Lord, your day shall then dawn, and it shall never have an\nafternoon, nor an evening shadow. Let your child be Christ's; let him\nstay beside you as thy Lord's pledge that you shall willingly render\nagain, if God will.\n\nMadam, I find folks here kind to me; but in the night, and under their\nbreath. My Master's cause may not come to the crown of the causeway.\nOthers are kind according to their fashion. Many think me a strange\nman, and my cause not good; but I care not much for man's thoughts or\napprobation. I think no shame of the cross. The preachers of the town\npretend great love, but the prelates have added to the rest this\ngentle cruelty (for so they think of it), to discharge me of the\npulpits of this town. The people murmur and cry out against it; and to\nspeak truly (howbeit Christ is most indulgent to me otherwise), my\nsilence on the Lord's day keeps me from being exalted above measure,\nand from startling in the heat of my Lord's love. Some people affect\nme, for the which cause, I hear the preachers here purpose to have my\nconfinement changed to another place; so cold is northern love; but\nChrist and I will bear it. I have wrestled long with this sad silence.\nI said, what aileth Christ at my service? and my soul hath been at a\npleading with Christ, and at yea and nay. But I will yield to Him,\nproviding my suffering may preach more than my tongue did; for I give\nnot Christ an inch but for twice as good again. In a word, I am a\nfool, and He is God. I will hold my peace hereafter.\n\nLet me hear from your Ladyship, and your dear child. Pray for the\nprisoner of Christ, who is mindful of your Ladyship. Remember my\nobliged obedience to my good Lady Marr. Grace, grace be with you. I\nwrite and pray blessings to your sweet child.\n\n Yours in all dutiful obedience in his only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Nov. 22, 1636_.\n\n\n\n\nLXX.--_To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my_ LADY\nVISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.\n\n(_EXERCISE UNDER RESTRAINT FROM PREACHING--THE DEVIL--CHRIST'S LOVING\nKINDNESS--PROGRESS._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received your Ladyship's\nletter. It refreshed me in my heaviness. The blessing and prayer of a\nprisoner of Christ come upon you. Since my coming hither, Galloway\nsent me not a line, except what my brother, Earlston, and his son, did\nwrite. I cannot get my papers transported; but, Madam, I want not\nkindness of one who hath the gate of it. Christ (if He had never done\nmore for me since I was born) hath engaged my heart, and gained my\nblessing in this house of my pilgrimage. It pleaseth my Well-beloved\nto dine with a poor prisoner, and the King's spikenard casteth a\nfragrant smell. Nothing grieveth me, but that I eat my feasts my lone,\nand that I cannot edify His saints. O that this nation knew what is\nbetwixt Him and me; none would scar at the cross of Christ! My silence\neats me up, but He hath told me He thanketh me no less, than if I were\npreaching daily. He sees how gladly I would be at it; and therefore my\nwages are going to the fore, up in heaven, as if I were still\npreaching Christ. Captains pay duly bedfast soldiers, howbeit they\ndo[164] nor march, nor carry armour. \"Though Israel be not gathered,\nyet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be\nmy strength\" (Isa. xlix. 5). My garland, \"the banished minister\" (the\nterm of Aberdeen), ashameth me not. I have seen the white side of\nChrist's cross; how lovely hath He been to His oppressed servant! \"The\nLord executeth judgment for the oppressed, He giveth food to the\nhungry: the Lord looseth the prisoner; the Lord raiseth them that are\nbowed down: the Lord preserveth the stranger\" (Ps. cxlvi. 7, 9). If it\nwere come to exchanging of crosses, I would not exchange my cross with\nany. I am well pleased with Christ, and He with me; I hope none shall\nhear us.[165] It is true for all this, I get my meat with many\nstrokes, and am seven times a-day up and down, and am often anxious\nand cast down for the case of my oppressed brother; yet I hope the\nLord will be surety for His servant. But now upon some weak, very weak\nexperience, I am come to love a rumbling and raging devil best. Seeing\nwe must have a devil to hold the saints waking, I wish a cumbersome\ndevil, rather than a secure and sleeping one.[166] At my first coming\nhither, I took the dorts at Christ, and took up a stomach against Him;\nI said, He had cast me over the dike of the vineyard, like a dry tree.\nBut it was His mercy, I see, that the fire did not burn the dry tree;\nand now, as if my Lord Jesus had done that fault, and not I (who\nbelied my Lord), He hath made the first mends, and He spake not one\nword against me, but hath come again and quickened my soul with His\npresence. Nay, now I think the very annuity and casualties of the\ncross of Christ Jesus my Lord, and these comforts that accompany it,\nbetter than the world's set-rent. O how many rich off-fallings are in\nmy King's house! I am persuaded, and dare pawn my salvation on it,\nthat it is Christ's truth I now suffer for. I know His comforts are no\ndreams; He would not put His seal on blank paper, nor deceive His\nafflicted ones that trust in Him.\n\n [164] Some editions read \"dow,\"--are not able.\n\n [165] In Thomson's edition this is explained by referring to Proverbs\n xiv. 10.\n\n [166] \"Trial of Faith,\" p. 462, 1655, uses the same words.\n\nYour Ladyship wrote to me that ye are yet an ill scholar. Madam, ye\nmust go in at heaven's gates, and your book in your hand, still\nlearning. You have had your own large share of troubles, and a double\nportion; but it saith your Father counteth you not a bastard;\nfull-begotten bairns are nurtured (Heb. xii. 8). I long to hear of the\nchild. I write the blessings of Christ's prisoner and the mercies of\nGod to him. Let him be Christ's and yours betwixt you, but let Christ\nbe whole play-maker. Let Him be the leader; and you the borrower, not\nan owner.\n\nMadam, it is not long since I did write to your Ladyship that Christ\nis keeping mercy for you; and I bide by it still, and now write it\nunder my hand. Love Him dearly. Win in to see Him; there is in Him\nthat which you never saw. He is aye nigh; He is a tree of life, green\nand blossoming, both summer and winter. There is a nick in\nChristianity, to the which whosoever cometh, they see and feel more\nthan others can do. I invite you of new to come to Him. \"Come and\nsee,\" will speak better things of Him than I can do. \"Come nearer\"\nwill say much. God never thought this world a portion worthy of you.\nHe would not even you to a gift of dirt and clay; nay, He will not\ngive you Esau's portion, but reserves the inheritance of Jacob for\nyou. Are ye not well married now? Have you not a good husband now?\n\nMy heart cannot express what sad nights I have had for the virgin\ndaughter of my people. Woe is me, for my time is coming. \"Behold, the\nday, behold, the day is come; the morning hath gone forth, the rod\nhath blossomed, pride hath budded, violence is risen up in a rod of\nwickedness, the sun is gone down upon our prophets.\" A dry wind upon\nScotland, but neither to fan nor to cleanse; but out of all question,\nwhen the Lord hath cut down the forest, the aftergrowth of Lebanon\nshall flourish; they shall plant vines in our mountains, and a cloud\nshall yet fill the temple. Now the blessing of our dearest Lord Jesus,\nand the blessing of him that is \"separate from his brethren,\" come\nupon you.\n\n Yours, at Aberdeen, the prisoner of Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n\n\n\nLXXI.--_To_ MR. HUGH M'KAIL.\n\n\n [MR. HUGH M'KAIL was at this time minister of Irvine. Previous to\n his settlement in that parish, Rutherford was very desirous of\n seeing him settled assistant and successor to Mr. Robert\n Glendinning, the aged minister of Kirkcudbright; the people too\n had an eye to him, but were disappointed, having been anticipated\n by the parish of which he was now pastor. He and Mr. William\n Cockburn were appointed by the General Assembly of 1644 to visit\n the north of Ireland for three months, with the view of promoting\n the interests of the Presbyterian Church in that country. He was\n ultimately translated to Edinburgh. In the unhappy controversy\n between the Resolutioners and Protesters, M'Kail took the side of\n the former; but was among the more moderate of the party. Baillie\n often refers to him in his letters. He died in the beginning of\n the year 1660, and was buried in the Greyfriars' churchyard,\n Edinburgh. (Lamont's \"Diary,\" p. 121.) He was the brother of Mr.\n Matthew M'Kail of Bothwell, who was the father of the youthful\n Hugh M'Kail, and young Hugh, who nobly suffered in 1666, was\n educated in Edinburgh, under the superintendence of this uncle.]\n\n\n\n\n(_CHRIST TO BE TRUSTED AMID TRIAL._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I thank you for your letter. I cannot but\nshow you, that as I never expected anything from Christ, but much good\nand kindness, so He hath made me to find it in the house of my\npilgrimage. And believe me, brother, I give it to you under mine own\nhand-writ, that whoso looketh to the white side of Christ's cross, and\ncan take it up handsomely with faith and courage, shall find it such\na burden as sails are to a ship, or wings to a bird. I find that my\nLord hath overgilded that black tree, and hath perfumed it, and oiled\nit with joy and consolation. Like a fool, once I would chide and plead\nwith Christ, and slander Him to others, of unkindness.[167] But I\ntrust in God, not to call His glooms unkind again; for He hath taken\nfrom me my sackcloth; and I verily cannot tell you what a poor Joseph\nand prisoner (with whom my mother's children were angry) doth now\nthink of kind Christ. I will chide no more, providing He will quit me\nall by-gones; for I am poor. I am taught in this ill weather to go on\nthe lee-side of Christ, and to put Him in between me and the storm;\nand (I thank God) I walk on the sunny side of the brae. I write it\nthat ye may speak in my behalf the praises of my Lord to others, that\nmy bonds may preach. O if all Scotland knew the feasts, and\nlove-blinks, and visits that the prelates have sent unto me! I will\nverily give my Lord Jesus a free discharge of all that I, like a fool,\nlaid to His charge, and beg Him pardon, to the mends. God grant that\nin my temptations I come not on His wrong side again, and never again\nfall a raving against my Physician in my fever.\n\n [167] At one time I would have falsely charged Him with unkindness.\n\nBrother, plead with your mother while ye have time. A pulpit would be\na high feast to me; but I dare not say one word against Him who hath\ndone it. I am not out of the house as yet. My sweet Master saith, I\nshall have house-room at His own elbow; albeit their synagogue will\nneed force to cast me out. A letter were a work of charity to me.\nGrace be with you. Pray for me.\n\n Your brother and Christ's prisoner,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Nov. 22, 1636_.\n\n\n\n\nLXXII.--_To WILLIAM GORDON of Roberton_.\n\n [WILLIAM GORDON of Roberton, in the parish of Borgue in Galloway,\n close to Knockbrex, was the father of William Gordon of Roberton,\n who joined with the Covenanters in the rising at Pentland in\n 1666, and was killed, \"to the great loss of the country where he\n lived,\" says Wodrow, \"and his own family, his aged father having\n no more sons.\" Mary, a daughter of this venerable old man, to\n whom this letter is addressed, suffered much for nonconformity at\n the hands of Claverhouse and his friends. She was married to John\n Gordon of Largmore (which is in Kells, near Kenmure Castle), who,\n in the battle at Pentland, was severely wounded, and, returning\n to his own house, died in the course of a few days. The old man\n did not long survive the death of his son and son-in-law; for, on\n the 8th of September 1668, Mary Gordon is retoured heir of\n William Gordon of Roberton, her father. In Kells churchyard, near\n the gate, there is a short epitaph: \"Here lyes the corpse of\n Roger Gordon of Largmore, who dyed March 2, 1662, aged 72 years;\n and of John Gordon of Largmore his grandchild, who dyed January\n 6, 1667, of his wounds got at Pentland in defence of the\n Covenanted Reformation.\"]\n\n(_HOW TRIALS ARE MISIMPROVED--THE INFINITE VALUE of CHRIST--DESPISED\nWARNINGS._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. So often as I think\non our case, in our soldier's night-watch, and of our fighting life in\nthe fields, while we are here, I am forced to say, prisoners in a\ndungeon, condemned by a judge to want the light of the sun, and moon,\nand candle, till their dying day, are no more, nay, not so much, to be\npitied as we are. For they are weary of their life, they hate their\nprison; but we fall to, in our prison, where we see little, to drink\nourselves drunk with the night-pleasures of our weak dreams; and we\nlong for no better life than this. But at the blast of the last\ntrumpet, and the shout of the archangel, when God shall take down the\nshepherd's tent of this fading world, we shall not have so much as a\ndrink of water, of all the dreams that we now build on. Alas! that the\nsharp and bitter blasts on face and sides, which meet us in this life,\nhave not learned us mortification, and made us dead to this world! We\nbuy our own sorrow, and we pay dear for it, when we spend out our\nlove, our joy, our desires, our confidence, upon an handful of snow\nand ice, that time will melt away to nothing, and go thirsty out of\nthe drunken inn when all is done. Alas! that we inquire not for the\nclear fountain, but are so foolish as to drink foul, muddy, and rotten\nwaters, even till our bed-time. And then in the Resurrection, when we\nshall be awakened, our yesternight's sour drink and swinish dregs\nshall rift up upon us; and sick, sick, shall many a soul be then.\n\nI know no wholesome fountain but one. I know not a thing worth the\nbuying but heaven; and my own mind is, if comparison were made betwixt\nChrist and heaven, I would sell heaven with my blessing, and buy\nChrist. O if I could raise the market for Christ, and heighten the\nmarket a pound for a penny, and cry up Christ in men's estimation ten\nthousand talents more than men think of Him! But they are cheapening\nHim,[168] and crying Him down, and valuing Him at their unworthy\nhalfpenny; or else exchanging and bartering Christ with the miserable\nold fallen house of this vain world. Or then they lend Him out upon\ninterest, and play the usurers with Christ: because they profess Him,\nand give out before men that Christ is their treasure and stock; and\nin the mean time, praise of men, and a name, and ease, and the summer\nsun of the Gospel, is the usury they would be at. So, when the trial\ncometh, they quit the stock for the interest, and lose all. Happy are\nthey who can keep Christ by Himself alone, and keep Him clean and\nwhole till God come and count with them. I know that in your hard and\nheavy trials long since, ye thought well and highly of Christ; but,\ntruly, no cross should be old to us. We should not forget them because\nyears are come betwixt us and them, and cast them byhand as we do old\nclothes. We may make a cross old in time, new in use, and as fruitful\nas in the beginning of it. God is where and what He was seven years\nago, whatever change may be in us. I speak not this as if I thought ye\nhad forgotten what God did, to have your love long since, but that ye\nmay awake yourself in this sleepy age, and remember fruitfully of\nChrist's first wooing and suiting of your love, both with fire and\nwater, and try if He got His answer, or if ye be yet to give Him it.\nFor I find in myself, that water runneth not faster through a sieve\nthan our warnings slip from us; I have lost and casten byhand many\nsummons the Lord sent to me; and therefore the Lord hath given me\ndouble charges, that I trust in God shall not rive me. I bless His\ngreat name, who is no niggard in holding-in crosses upon me, but\nspendeth largely His rods, that He may save me from this perishing\nworld. How plentiful God is in means of this kind is esteemed by many\none of God's unkind mercies; but Christ's cross is neither a cruel nor\nunkind mercy, but the love-token of a father. I am sure, a lover\nchasing us for our weal, and to have our love, should not be run away\nfrom, or fled from. God send me no worse mercy than the sanctified\ncross of Christ portendeth, and I am sure I should be happy and\nblessed.\n\n [168] Bringing down the price, perhaps alluding to Zech. xi. 31.\n\nPray for me, that I may find house-room in the Lord's house to speak\nin His name. Remember my dearest love in Christ to your wife. Grace,\ngrace be unto you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1636.\n\n\n\n\nLXXIII.--_To_ EARLSTON, _Elder_.\n\n \"And they overcame the dragon by the blood of the Lamb, and by\n the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto\n the death.\"--REV. xii. 11.\n\n(_CHRIST'S LIBERALITY--HIS OWN MISAPPREHENSIONS OF CHRIST._)\n\n\nMUCH-HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long to see\nyou in paper, and to be refreshed by you. I cannot but desire you, and\ncharge you to help me to praise Him who feedeth a poor prisoner with\nthe fatness of His house. O how weighty is His love! O but there is\nmuch telling in Christ's kindness! The Amen, the Faithful and True\nWitness, hath paid me my hundred-fold, well told, and one to the\nhundred. I complained of Him, but He is owing me nothing now. Sir, I\ncharge you to help me to praise His goodness, and to proclaim to\nothers my Bridegroom's kindness, whose love is better than wine. I\ntook up an action against Christ, and brought a plea against His love,\nand libelled unkindness against Christ my Lord, and I said, \"This is\nmy death; He hath forgotten me.\" But my meek Lord held His peace, and\nbeheld me, and would not contend for the last word of flyting. And now\nHe hath chided Himself friends with me. And now I see He must be God,\nand I must be flesh. I pass from my summons; I acknowledge He might\nhave given me my fill of it, and never troubled Himself. But now He\nhath taken away the mask; I have been comforted; He could not smother\nHis love any longer to a prisoner and a stranger. God grant that I may\nnever buy a plea against Christ again, but may keep good quarters with\nHim. I want here no kindness,[169] no love-tokens; but O wise is His\nlove! for, notwithstanding of this hot summer-blink, I am kept low\nwith the grief of my silence. For His word is in me as a fire in my\nbowels; and I see the Lord's vineyard laid waste, and the heathen\nentered into the sanctuary: and my belly is pained, and my soul in\nheaviness, because the Lord's people are gone into captivity, and\nbecause of the fury of the Lord, and that wind (but neither to fan nor\npurge) which is coming upon apostate Scotland. Also I am kept awake\nwith the late wrong done to my brother; but I trust you will counsel\nand comfort him. Yet, in this mist, I see and believe the Lord will\nheal this halting kirk, \"and will lay her stones with fair colours,\nand her foundations with sapphires, and will make her windows of\nagates, and her gates carbuncles\" (Isa. liv. 11, 12). \"And for brass\nHe will bring gold.\" He hath created the smith that formed the sword:\nno weapon in war shall prosper against us. Let us be glad and rejoice\nin the Lord, for His salvation is near to come. Remember me to your\nwife and your son John. And I entreat you to write to me. Grace, grace\nbe with you.\n\n Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Dec. 30, 1636_.\n\n [169] I have no want of.\n\n\n\n\nLXXIV.--_To the_ LADY CULROSS.\n\n \"These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed\n their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.\"--REV.\n vii. 14.\n\n(_HIS OWN MISCONCEPTION OF CHRIST'S WAYS--CHRIST'S KINDNESS._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied upon you. I greatly long\nto be refreshed with your letter. I am now (all honour and glory to\nthe King eternal, immortal, and invisible!) in better terms with\nChrist than I was. I, like a fool, summoned my Husband and Lord, and\nlibelled unkindness against Him; but now I pass from that foolish\npursuit; I give over the plea. He is God, and I am man. I was loosing\na fast stone, and digging at the ground-stone, the love of my Lord, to\nshake and unsettle it. But, God be thanked, it is fast; all is sure.\nIn my prison He hath shown me daylight; He dought not hide His love\nany longer. Christ was disguised and masked, and I apprehended it was\nnot He; but He hath said, \"It is I, be not afraid;\" and now His love\nis better than wine. O that all the virgins had part of the\nBridegroom's love whereupon He maketh me to feed. Help me to praise. I\ncharge you, Madam, help me to pay praises; and tell others, the\ndaughters of Jerusalem, how kind Christ is to a poor prisoner. He hath\npaid me my hundred-fold; it is well told me, and one to the hundred. I\nam nothing behind with Christ. Let not fools, because of their lazy\nand soft flesh, raise a slander and an ill report upon the cross of\nChrist. It is sweeter than fair.\n\nI see grace groweth best in winter. This poor persecuted kirk, this\nlily amongst the thorns, shall blossom, and laugh upon the gardener;\nthe husbandman's blessing shall light upon it. O if I could be free of\njealousies of Christ, after this, and believe, and keep good quarters\nwith my dearest Husband! for He hath been kind to the stranger. And\nyet in all this fair hot summer weather, I am kept from saying, \"It is\ngood to be here,\"[170] with my silence, and with grief to see my\nmother wounded and her veil taken from her, and the fair temple casten\ndown. My belly is pained, my soul is heavy for the captivity of the\ndaughter of my people, and because of the fury of the Lord, and His\nfierce indignation against apostate Scotland. I pray you, Madam, let\nme have that which is my prayer here, that my sufferings may preach to\nthe four quarters of this land; and, therefore, tell others how\nopen-handed Christ had been to the prisoner and the oppressed\nstranger. Why should I conceal it? I know no other way how to glorify\nChrist, but to make an open proclamation of His love, and of His soft\nand sweet kisses to me in the furnace, and of His fidelity to such as\nsuffer for Him. Give it me under your hand, that ye will help me to\npray and praise; but rather to praise and rejoice in the salvation of\nGod. Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours in his dearest and only, only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Dec. 30, 1636_.\n\n [170] My being silenced as to preaching, and my grief, keep me from\n saying.\n\n[Illustration: AYR.]\n\n\n\n\nLXXV.--_To JOHN KENNEDY, Bailiffe (i.e. Bailie) of Ayr._\n\n [JOHN KENNEDY was the son of Hugh Kennedy, Provost of Ayr. Hugh\n was an eminent Christian, and did much to promote the cause of\n religion in the place where he lived. John Welsh, minister of\n Ayr, bore this high testimony to him in a letter written to him\n in France: \"Happy is that city, yea, happy is that nation that\n has a Hugh Kennedy in it. I have myself certainly found the\n answer of his prayers from the Lord in my behalf.\" On his\n death-bed, he was filled \"with inexpressible joy in the Holy\n Ghost, beyond what it was possible to comprehend.\" (Wodrow, in\n his life of Boyd of Trochrig.) John, his son, possessed much of\n the spirit and character of his father. \"He was,\" says Fleming\n (\"Fulfilling of the Scriptures\"), \"as choice a Christian as was\n at that time.\" The same writer records a remarkable escape from\n imminent peril at sea which Kennedy experienced; which may be the\n deliverance to which Rutherford refers in a subsequent letter. It\n happened thus: John Stewart, Provost of Ayr, another of\n Rutherford's correspondents, who had gone to France, having\n loaded a ship at Rochelle with various commodities for Scotland,\n proceeded to England by the nearest way, and thence to Ayr. After\n waiting a considerable time for the arrival of his vessel, he was\n told that it was captured by the Turks. This information,\n however, proved to be incorrect, for it at length arrived in the\n roads; upon hearing of which, Kennedy, an intimate friend of\n Stewart, was so overjoyed, that he went out to it in a small\n boat. But a storm suddenly arising, he was driven past the\n vessel, and the general belief of the onlookers from the shore\n was that he and his boat were swallowed up; indeed, the storm\n increased to such a degree of violence as to threaten even the\n shipwreck of the vessel. Deeply affected at the apprehended loss\n of his friend, Stewart shut himself up in entire seclusion for\n three days; but at the very time he had gone to visit Kennedy's\n wife under her supposed bereavement, Kennedy, who had been driven\n to another part of the coast, but had reached the land in safety,\n made his appearance, to the great joy of all. Kennedy was a\n member of the Scottish Parliament in the years 1644-5-6, for the\n burgh of Ayr, and is styled in the roll, \"John Kennedy, Provost\n of Ayr.\" He was also a member of the General Assemblies of\n 1642-3-4-6 and 7, and his name appears among the ruling elders in\n the commission for the public affairs of the kirk in all these\n years. His brother Hugh (also an elder of the Church) was\n frequently a member of the General Assembly, and, as we learn\n from \"Baillie's Letters,\" had an active share in the proceedings\n of the Covenanters during the reign of Charles I. There are\n lineal descendants of this family in Ayr at this day; one of\n them, like his ancestor, was lately Provost of the town.]\n\n(_LONGING AFTER CLEARER VIEWS OF CHRIST--HIS LONG-SUFFERING--TRYING\nCIRCUMSTANCES._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long to\nsee you in this northern world on paper; I know it is not\nforgetfulness that ye write not. I am every way in good ease, both in\nsoul and body; all honour and glory be to my Lord. I want nothing but\na further revelation of the beauty of the unknown Son of God. Either I\nknow not what Christianity is, or we have stinted a measure of so many\nounce weights, and no more, upon holiness; and there we are at a\nstand, drawing our breath all our life. A moderation in God's way is\nnow much in request. I profess that I have never taken pains to find\nout Him whom my soul loveth; there is a gate yet of finding out Christ\nthat I have never lighted upon. Oh, if I could find it out! Alas, how\nsoon are we pleased with our own shadow in a glass! It were good to be\nbeginning in sad earnest to find out God, and to seek the right tread\nof Christ. Time, custom, and a good opinion of ourselves, our good\nmeaning, and our lazy desires, our fair shows, and the world's\nglistering lustres, and these broad passments and buskings of\nreligion, that bear bulk in the kirk, is that wherewith most satisfy\nthemselves. But a bed watered with tears, a throat dry with praying,\neyes as a fountain of tears for the sins of the land, are rare to be\nfound among us. Oh if we could know the power of godliness!\n\nThis is one part of my case; and another is, that I, like a fool, once\nsummoned Christ for unkindness, and complained of His fickleness and\ninconstancy, because He would have no more of my service nor\npreaching, and had casten me out of the inheritance of the Lord. And\nnow I confess that this was but a bought plea, and I was a fool. Yet\nHe hath borne with me. I gave Him a fair advantage against me, but\nlove and mercy would not let Him take it; and the truth is, now He\nhath chided Himself friends with me, and hath taken away the mask, and\nhath renewed His wonted favour in such a manner that He hath paid me\nmy hundred-fold in this life, and one to the hundred. This prison is\nmy banqueting-house; I am handled as softly and delicately as a dawted\nchild. I am nothing behind (I see) with Christ; He can, in a month,\nmake up a year's losses. And I write this to you, that I may entreat,\nnay, adjure and charge you, by the love of our Well-beloved, to help\nme to praise; and to tell all your Christian acquaintance to help me,\nfor I am as deeply drowned in His debt as any dyvour can be. And yet\nin this fair sun-blink I have something to keep me from startling, or\nbeing exalted above measure; His word is as fire shut up in my bowels,\nand I am weary with forbearing. The ministers in this town are saying\nthat they will have my prison changed into less bounds, because they\nsee God with me. My mother hath borne me a man of contention, one that\nstriveth with the whole earth. The late wrongs and oppressions done to\nmy brother keep my sails low; yet I defy crosses to embark me in such\na plea against Christ as I was troubled with of late. I hope to\nover-hope and over-believe my troubles. I have cause now to trust\nChrist's promise more than His gloom.\n\nRemember my hearty affection to your wife. My soul is grieved for the\nsuccess of our brethren's journey to New England; but God hath\nsomewhat to reveal that we see not. Grace be with you. Pray for the\nprisoner.\n\n Yours, in his only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Jan. 1, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nLXXVI.--_To ROBERT GORDON of Knockbrex._\n\n(_BENEFIT OF AFFLICTION._)\n\n\nMY DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied upon you.--I\nam almost wearying, yea, wondering, that ye write not to me: though I\nknow it is not forgetfulness.\n\nAs for myself, I am every way well, all glory to God. I was before at\na plea with Christ (but it was bought by me, and unlawful), because\nHis whole providence was not yea and nay to my yea and nay, and\nbecause I believed Christ's outward look better than His faithful\npromise. Yet He hath in patience waited on, whill I be come to myself,\nand hath not taken advantage of my weak apprehensions of His goodness.\nGreat and holy is His name! He looketh to what I desire to be, and not\nto what I am. One thing I have learned. If I had been in Christ, by\nway of adhesion only, as many branches are, I should have been burnt\nto ashes, and this world would have seen a suffering minister of\nChrist (of something once in show) turned into unsavoury salt. But my\nLord Jesus had a good eye that the tempter should not play foul play,\nand blow out Christ's candle. He took no thought of my stomach, and\nfretting and grudging humour, but of His own grace. When He burnt the\nhouse, He saved His own goods. And I believe that the devil and the\npersecuting world shall reap no fruit of me, but burnt ashes: for He\nwill see to His own gold, and save that from being consumed with the\nfire.\n\nOh, what owe I to the file, to the hammer, to the furnace of my Lord\nJesus! who hath now let me see how good the wheat of Christ is, that\ngoeth through His mill, and His oven, to be made bread for His own\ntable. Grace tried is better than grace, and it is more than grace; it\nis glory in its infancy. I now see that godliness is more than the\noutside, and this world's passments and their buskings. Who knoweth\nthe truth of grace without a trial? Oh, how little getteth Christ of\nus, but that which He winneth (to speak so) with much toil and pains!\nAnd how soon would faith freeze without a cross! How many dumb crosses\nhave been laid upon my back, that had never a tongue to speak the\nsweetness of Christ, as this hath! When Christ blesseth His own\ncrosses with a tongue, they breathe out Christ's love, wisdom,\nkindness, and care of us. Why should I start at the plough of my\nLord, that maketh deep furrows on my soul? I know that He is no idle\nHusbandman, He purposeth a crop. O that this white, withered\nlea-ground were made fertile to bear a crop for Him, by whom it is so\npainfully dressed; and that this fallow-ground were broken up! Why was\nI (a fool!) grieved that He put His garland and His rose upon my\nhead--the glory and honour of His faithful witnesses? I desire now to\nmake no more pleas with Christ. Verily He hath not put me to a loss by\nwhat I suffer; He oweth me nothing; for in my bonds how sweet and\ncomfortable have the thoughts of Him been to me, wherein I find a\nsufficient recompense of reward!\n\nHow blind are my adversaries, who sent me to a banqueting-house, to a\nhouse of wine, to the lovely feasts of my lovely Lord Jesus, and not\nto a prison, or place of exile! Why should I smother my Husband's\nhonesty, or sin against His love, or be a niggard in giving out to\nothers what I get for nothing? Brother, eat with me, and give thanks.\nI charge you before God, that ye speak to others, and invite them to\nhelp me to praise! Oh, my debt of praise, how weighty it is, and how\nfar run up! O that others would lend me to pay, and learn me to\npraise! Oh, I am a drowned dyvour! Lord Jesus, take my thoughts for\npayments. Yet I am in this hot summer-blink with the tear in my eye;\nfor (by reason of my silence) sorrow, sorrow hath filled me; my harp\nis hanged upon the willow-trees, because I am in a strange land. I am\nstill kept in exercise with envious brethren; my mother hath borne me\na man of contention.\n\nWrite to me your mind anent Y. C.: I cannot forget him; I know not\nwhat God hath to do with him:--and your mind anent my parishioners'\nbehaviour, and how they are served in preaching; or if there be a\nminister as yet thrust in upon them, which I desire greatly to know,\nand which I much fear.\n\nDear brother, ye are in my heart, to live and to die with you. Visit\nme with a letter. Pray for me. Remember my love to your wife. Grace,\ngrace be with you; and God, who heareth prayer, visit you, and let it\nbe unto you according to the prayers of\n\n Your own brother, and Christ's prisoner,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Jan. 1, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nLXXVII.--_To my_ LADY BOYD.\n\n [LADY BOYD, whose maiden name was Christian Hamilton, was the\n eldest daughter of Thomas, first Earl of Haddington. She was\n first married to Robert, ninth Lord Lindsay of Byres, who died in\n 1616. She married for her second husband, Robert, sixth Lord\n Boyd, who died in August 1628. Lady Boyd was distinguished for\n piety, and a zealous Presbyterian. Livingstone gives her a place\n among \"some of the professors in the Church of Scotland of his\n acquaintance, who were eminent for grace and gifts;\" eulogizes\n her as \"a rare pattern of Christianity, grave, diligent, and\n prudent;\" and adds, \"She used every night to write what had been\n the case of her soul all the day, and what she had observed of\n the Lord's dealing.\" He speaks of residing for some time, during\n the course of his ministry, in the house of Kilmarnock, with \"the\n worthy Lady Boyd.\" Some of her letters are given by Wodrow in his\n life of Boyd of Trochrig (pp. 166, 272.) She used to reside much\n at Badenheath, in the parish of Chryston, near Glasgow, and there\n John Livingston visited her.]\n\n(_ABERDEEN--EXPERIENCE OF HIMSELF SAD--PRESSING FORWARDS._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. The Lord hath brought me\nto Aberdeen, where I see God in few. This town hath been advised upon\nof purpose for me; it consisteth either of Papists, or men of Gallio's\nnaughty faith. It is counted wisdom, in the most, not to countenance a\nconfined minister; but I find Christ neither strange nor unkind; for I\nhave found many faces smile upon me since I came hither. I am heavy\nand sad, considering what is betwixt the Lord and my soul, which none\nseeth but He. I find men have mistaken me; it would be no art (as I\nnow see) to spin small,[171] and make hypocrisy a goodly web, and to\ngo through the market as a saint among men, and yet steal quietly to\nhell, without observation: so easy is it to deceive men. I have\ndisputed whether or no I ever knew anything of Christianity, save the\nletters of that name. Men see but as men, and they call ten twenty,\nand twenty an hundred; but O! to be approved of God in the heart and\nin sincerity is not an ordinary mercy. My neglects while I had a\npulpit, and other things whereof I am ashamed to speak, meet me now,\nso as God maketh an honest cross my daily sorrow. And, for fear of\nscandal and stumbling, I must bide this day of the law's pleading: I\nknow not if this court kept within my soul be fenced in Christ's name.\nIf certainty of salvation were to be bought, God knoweth, if I had ten\nearths, I would not prig with God. Like a fool, I believed, under\nsuffering for Christ, that I myself should keep the key of Christ's\ntreasures, and take out comforts when I listed, and eat and be fat:\nbut I see now a sufferer for Christ will be made to know himself, and\nwill be holden at the door as well as another poor sinner, and will be\nfain to eat with the bairns, and to take the by-board, and glad to do\nso. My blessing on the cross of Christ that hath made me see this! Oh!\nif we could take pains for the kingdom of heaven! But we sit down upon\nsome ordinary marks of God's children, thinking we have as much as\nwill separate us from a reprobate; and thereupon we take the play and\ncry, \"Holiday!\" and thus the devil casteth water on our fire, and\nblunteth our zeal and care. But I see heaven is not at the door; and I\nsee, howbeit my challenges be many, I suffer for Christ, and dare\nhazard my salvation upon it; for sometimes my Lord cometh with a fair\nhour, and O! but His love be sweet, delightful, and comfortable. Half\na kiss is sweet; but our doting love will not be content with a right\nto Christ, unless we get possession; like the man who will not be\ncontent with rights to bought land, except he get also the ridges and\nacres laid upon his back to carry home with him! However it be, Christ\nis wise; and we are fools, to be browden and fond of a pawn in the\nloof of our hand. Living on trust by faith may well content us. Madam,\nI know your Ladyship knoweth this, and that made me bold to write of\nit, that others might reap somewhat by my bonds for the truth; for I\nshould desire, and I aim at this, to have my Lord well spoken of and\nhonoured, howbeit He should make nothing of me but a bridge over a\nwater. Thus, recommending your Ladyship, your son, and children to His\ngrace, who hath honoured you with a name and room among the living in\nJerusalem, and wishing grace to be with your Ladyship, I rest,\n\n Your Ladyship's in his sweetest Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n [171] Spin fine.\n\n\n\n\nLXXVIII.--_To my_ LORD BOYD.\n\n [ROBERT, seventh LORD BOYD, was the only son of Robert, sixth\n Lord Boyd, by Lady Christian Hamilton, mentioned in the preceding\n letter. His father (who was cousin of the famous Robert Boyd of\n Trochrig, two miles from Girvan, and under whom he studied at\n Saumur) died in August 1628, at the early age of 33. Young Robert\n was served heir to his father the 9th of May 1629. His earthly\n course was, however, brief; for he died of a fever on the 17th of\n November 1640, aged about 24. He was married to Lady Anne\n Fleming, second daughter of John, second Earl of Wigtown. Lord\n Boyd warmly espoused the side of the Covenanters; and though not\n a member of the General Assembly held at Glasgow in 1638, he\n attended its meetings and took a deep interest in its\n proceedings.]\n\n(_ENCOURAGEMENT TO EXERTION FOR CHRIST'S CAUSE._)\n\n\nMY VERY HONOURABLE AND GOOD LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your\nLordship. Out of the worthy report that I hear of your Lordship's zeal\nfor this borne-down and oppressed Gospel, I am bold to write to your\nLordship, beseeching you by the mercies of God, by the honour of our\nroyal and princely King Jesus, by the sorrows, tears, and desolation\nof your afflicted mother-Church, and by the peace of your conscience,\nand your joy in the day of Christ, that your Lordship would go on, in\nthe strength of your Lord, and in the power of His might, to bestir\nyourself, for the vindicating of the fallen honour of your Lord Jesus.\nOh, blessed hands for evermore, that shall help to put the crown upon\nthe head of Christ again in Scotland! I dare promise, in the name of\nour Lord, that this will fasten and fix the pillars and the stakes of\nyour honourable house upon earth, if you lend and lay in pledge in\nChrist's hand, upon spiritual hazard, life, estate, house, honour,\ncredit, moyen, friends, the favour of men (suppose kings with three\ncrowns), so being that ye may bear witness, and acquit yourself as a\nman of valour and courage to the Prince of your salvation, for the\npurging of His temple, and sweeping out the lordly Diotrepheses,\ntime-courting Demases, corrupt Hymen\u00e6uses and Philetuses, and other\nsuch oxen, that with their dung defile the temple of the Lord. Is not\nChrist now crying, \"Who will help Me? who will come out with Me, to\ntake part with Me, and share in the honour of My victory over these\nMine enemies, who have said, We will not have this man to rule over\nus?\"\n\nMy very honourable and dear Lord, join, join (as ye do) with Christ.\nHe is more worth to you and your posterity than this world's\nMay-flowers, and withering riches and honour, that shall go away as\nsmoke, and evanish in a night vision, and shall, in one half-hour\nafter the blast of the archangel's trumpet, lie in white ashes. Let me\nbeseech your Lordship to draw by the lap of time's curtain, and to\nlook in through the window to great and endless eternity, and consider\nif a worldly price (suppose this little round clay globe of this ashy\nand dirty earth, the dying idol of the fools of this world, were all\nyour own) can be given for one smile of Christ's God-like and\nsoul-ravishing countenance. In that day when so many joints and knees\nof thousand thousands wailing shall stand before Christ, trembling,\nshouting, and making their prayers to hills and mountains to fall upon\nthem, and hide them from the face of the Lamb, oh, how many would sell\nlordships and kingdoms that day, and buy Christ! But, oh, the market\nshall be closed and ended ere then! Your Lordship hath now a blessed\nventure of winning court with the Prince of the kings of the earth. He\nHimself weeping; truth borne down and fallen in the streets, and an\noppressed Gospel; Christ's bride with watery eyes and spoiled of her\nveil, her hair hanging about her eyes, forced to go in ragged apparel;\nthe banished, alienated, and imprisoned prophets of God, who have not\nthe favour of liberty to prophesy in sackcloth, all these, I say, call\nfor your help. Fear not worms of clay; the moth shall eat them as a\ngarment. Let the Lord be your fear; He is with you, and shall fight\nfor you; and ye shall make the heart of this your mother-Church to\nsing for joy. The Lamb and His armies are with you, and the kingdoms\nof the earth are the Lord's. I am persuaded that there is not another\ngospel, nor another saving truth, than that which ye now contend for.\nI dare hazard my heaven and salvation upon it, that this is the only\nsaving way to glory.\n\nGrace, grace, be with your Lordship.\n\nYour Lordship's at all respectful obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nLXXIX.--_To_ MARGARET BALLANTINE.\n\n [This name is not found among the people of the parish of Anwoth.\n Like John Laurie, Letter CLXXV., she may have been some one at a\n distance.]\n\n(_VALUE OF THE SOUL AND URGENCY OF SALVATION._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you.--It is more than time\nthat I should have written to you; but it is yet good time, if I could\nhelp your soul to mend your pace, and to go more swiftly to your\nheavenly country. For truly ye have need to make all haste, because\nthe inch of your day that remaineth will quickly slip away; for\nwhether we sleep or wake, our glass runneth. The tide bideth no man.\nBeware of a beguile in the matter of your salvation. Woe, woe for\nevermore, to them that lose that prize. For what is behind, when the\nsoul is once lost, but that sinners warm their bits of clay houses at\na fire of their own kindling, for a day or two (which doth rather\nsuffocate with its smoke than warm them); and at length they lie down\nin sorrow, and are clothed with everlasting shame! I would seek no\nfurther measure of faith to begin withal than to believe really and\nstedfastly the doctrine of God's justice, His all-devouring wrath, and\neverlasting burning, where sinners are burnt, soul and body, in a\nriver and great lake of fire and brimstone. Then they would wish no\nmore goods than the thousandth part of a cold fountain-well to cool\ntheir tongues. They would then buy death with enduring of pain and\ntorment for as many years as God hath created drops of rain since the\ncreation. But there is no market of buying or selling life or death\nthere. O, alas! the greatest part of this world run to the place of\nthat torment rejoicing and dancing, eating, drinking, and sleeping. My\ncounsel to you is, that ye start in time to be after Christ; for if ye\ngo quickly, Christ is not far before you; ye shall overtake Him. O\nLord God, what is so needful as this, \"Salvation, salvation!\" Fy upon\nthis condemned and foolish world, that would give so little for\nsalvation! Oh, if there were a free market for salvation proclaimed in\nthat day when the trumpet of God shall awake the dead, how many buyers\nwould be then! God send me no more happiness than that salvation which\nthe blind world, to their eternal woe, letteth slip through their\nfingers. Therefore, look if ye can give out your money (as Isaiah\nspeaketh) (lv. 2) for bread, and lay Christ and His blood in wadset\nfor heaven. It is a dry and hungry bairn's part of goods that Esaus\nare hunting for here. I see thousands following the chase, and in the\npursuit of such things, while in the meantime they lose the blessing;\nand, when all is done, they have caught nothing to roast for supper,\nbut lie down hungry. And, besides, they go to bed, when they die,\nwithout a candle; for God saith to them, \"This ye shall have at My\nhand, ye shall lie down in sorrow\" (Isa. l. 11). And truly this is as\nill-made a bed to lie upon as one could wish; for he cannot sleep\nsoundly, nor rest sweetly, who hath sorrow for his pillow. Rouse,\nrouse up, therefore, your soul, and speer[172] how Christ and your\nsoul met together. I am sure that they never got Christ, who were not\nonce sick at the yolk of the heart for Him. Too, too many whole souls\nthink that they have met with Christ, who had never a wearied night\nfor the want of Him: but, alas! what richer are men, that they dreamed\nthe last night they had much gold, and, when they awoke in the\nmorning, they found it was but a dream? What are all the sinners in\nthe world, in that day when heaven and earth shall go up in a flame of\nfire, but a number of beguiled dreamers? Every one shall say of his\nhunting and his conquest, \"Behold, it was a dream!\" Every man in that\nday will tell his dream. I beseech you, in the Lord Jesus, beware,\nbeware of unsound work in the matter of your salvation: ye may not, ye\ncannot, ye dow not want Christ. Then after this day, convene all your\nlovers before your soul, and give them their leave; and strike hands\nwith Christ, that thereafter there may be no happiness to you but\nChrist, no hunting for anything but Christ, no bed at night, when\ndeath cometh, but Christ. Christ, Christ, who but Christ! I know this\nmuch of Christ, that He is not ill to be found, nor lordly of His\nlove. Woe had been my part of it for evermore, if Christ had made a\ndainty of Himself to me. But, God be thanked, I gave nothing for\nChrist. And now I protest before men and angels that Christ cannot be\nexchanged, that Christ cannot be sold, that Christ cannot be weighed.\nWhere would angels, or all the world, find a balance to weigh Him in?\nAll lovers blush when ye stand beside Christ! Woe upon all love but\nthe love of Christ! Hunger, hunger for evermore be upon all heaven but\nChrist! Shame, shame for evermore be upon all glory but Christ's\nglory. I cry death, death upon all lives but the life of Christ. Oh,\nwhat is it that holdeth us asunder? O that once we could have a fair\nmeeting!\n\nThus recommending Christ to you and you to Him, for evermore, I rest.\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n [172] Ask.\n\n\n\n\nLXXX.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_HIS COMFORT UNDER TRIBULATION, AND THE PRISON A PALACE._)\n\n\nMY DEARLY BELOVED SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I\ncomplain that Galloway is not kind to me in paper. I have received no\nletters these sixteen weeks but two. I am well. My prison is a palace\nto me, and Christ's banqueting-house. My Lord Jesus is as kind as they\ncall Him. O that all Scotland knew my case, and had part of my feast!\nI charge you in the name of God, I charge you to believe. Fear not\nthe sons of men; the worms shall eat them. To pray and believe now,\nwhen Christ seems to give you a nay-say, is more than it was before.\nDie believing; die, and Christ's promise in your hand. I desire, I\nrequest, I charge your husband and that town,[173] to stand for the\ntruth of the Gospel. Contend with Christ's enemies; and I pray you\nshow all professors whom you know my case. Help me to praise. The\nministers here envy me; they will have my prison changed. My mother\nhath borne me a man of contention, and one that striveth with the\nwhole earth. Remember my love to your husband. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Jan. 3, 1637_.\n\n [173] Kirkcudbright.\n\n\n\n\nLXXXI.--_To_ MR. JOHN MEINE (_Jun_.).\n\n [MR. JOHN MEINE was the son of John Meine, merchant in Edinburgh,\n \"a solid and stedfast professor of the truth of God.\" His mother\n was Barbara Hamilton, a notice of whom see Letter CCCXIII. He was\n now, it would appear from an allusion in the close of this\n letter, a student of theology, with a view to the holy ministry.\n Halyburton on his deathbed spake of this letter as one in which\n was to be found \"More practical religion than in a large\n volume.\"]\n\n(_EXPERIENCE--PATIENT WAITING--SANCTIFICATION._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I have\nbeen too long in answering your letter, but other business took me up.\nI am here waiting, if the fair wind will turn upon Christ's sails in\nScotland, and if deliverance be breaking out to this over-clouded and\nbenighted kirk. O that we could contend, by prayers and supplications,\nwith our Lord for that effect! I know that He hath not given out His\nlast doom against this land. I have little of Christ, in this prison,\nbut groanings, and longings, and desires. All my stock of Christ is\nsome hunger for Him, and yet I cannot say but I am rich in that. My\nfaith, and hope, and holy practice of new obedience, are scarce worth\nthe speaking of. But blessed be my Lord, who taketh me, light, and\nclipped, and naughty, and feckless as I am. I see that Christ will not\nprig with me, nor stand upon stepping-stones; but cometh in at the\nbroadside without ceremonies, or making it nice, to make a poor,\nransomed one His own. O that I could feed upon His breathing, and\nkissing, and embracing, and upon the hopes of my meeting and His!\nwhen love-letters shall not go betwixt us, but He will be messenger\nHimself! But there is required patience on our part, till the\nsummer-fruit in heaven be ripe for us. It is in the bud; but there be\nmany things to do before our harvest come. And we take ill with it,\nand can hardly endure to set our paper-face to one of Christ's storms\nand to go to heaven with wet feet, and pain, and sorrow. We love to\ncarry a heaven to heaven with us, and would have two summers in one\nyear, and no less than two heavens. But this will not do for us: one\n(and such a one!) may suffice us well enough. The man, Christ, got but\none only, and shall we have two?\n\nRemember my love in Christ to your father; and help me with your\nprayers. If ye would be a deep divine, I recommend to you\nsanctification. Fear Him, and He will reveal His covenant to you.\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Jan. 5, 1637_.\n\n[Illustration: CARDONESS CASTLE.]\n\n\n\n\nLXXXII.--_To JOHN GORDON of Cardoness, Elder._\n\n [JOHN GORDON of Cardoness, in the parish of Anwoth, was descended\n from Gordon of Lochinvar; but little is known concerning him. His\n name appears the first of 188 signatures attached to an\n unsuccessful petition of the elders and parishioners of Anwoth,\n presented to the Commission of the General Assembly 1638, for\n Rutherford being continued minister of that parish, when counter\n applications were made by the city of Edinburgh and the\n University of St. Andrews for the transference of his services.\n From Rutherford's letters to him, we learn that he was at this\n time far advanced in life. He was naturally a man of strong\n passions, by which it would appear he had, in the previous part\n of his life, been led astray.\n\n The old castle of _Cardoness_ stands on a tongue of land, at the\n mouth of the river Fleet, about a mile from Gatehouse. It is\n built on a rocky height, overhanging the public road, and looking\n toward the bay. You see an old square-built tower, or fortalice,\n raising its grey head from among the tall trees that now surround\n it. Tradition tells of an old proprietor, that he was in league\n with Gr\u00e6me, the Border outlaw; and how, in consequence of his\n daring and God-defying deeds, the chief and his whole family\n perished in the _Black Loch_, a small loch in the parish of\n Anwoth, at Woodend, 26 ft. deep. Though not a descendant, John\n Gordon seems to have been a man of like strong passions with that\n old chieftain, till subdued by grace.]\n\n(_WIN CHRIST AT ALL HAZARDS--CHRIST'S BEAUTY--A WORD TO CHILDREN._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I have longed\nto hear from you, and to know the estate of your soul, and the estate\nof that people with you.\n\nI beseech you, Sir, by the salvation of your precious soul, and the\nmercies of God, to make good and sure work of your salvation, and try\nupon what ground-stone ye have builded. Worthy and dear Sir, if ye be\nupon sinking sand, a storm of death, and a blast, will lose Christ and\nyou, and wash you close off the rock. Oh, for the Lord's sake, look\nnarrowly to the work!\n\nRead over your life, with the light of God's day-light and sun; for\nsalvation is not casten down at every man's door. It is good to look\nto your compass, and all ye have need of, ere you take shipping; for\nno wind can blow you back again. Remember, when the race is ended, and\nthe play either won or lost, and ye are in the utmost circle and\nborder of time, and shall put your foot within the march of eternity,\nand all your good things of this short night-dream shall seem to you\nlike the ashes of a bleeze of thorns or straw, and your poor soul\nshall be crying, \"Lodging, lodging, for God's sake!\" then shall your\nsoul be more glad at one of your Lord's lovely and homely smiles, than\nif ye had the charters of three worlds for all eternity. Let pleasures\nand gain, will and desires of this world, be put over into God's\nhands, as arrested and fenced goods that ye cannot intromit with. Now,\nwhen ye are drinking the grounds of your cup, and ye are upon the\nutmost end of the last link of time, and old age, like death's long\nshadow, is casting a covering upon your days, it is no time to court\nthis vain life, and to set love and heart upon it. It is near\nafter-supper; seek rest and ease for your soul in God through Christ.\n\nBelieve me, that I find it to be hard wrestling to play fair with\nChrist, and to keep good quarters with Him, and to love Him in\nintegrity and life, and to keep a constant course of sound and solid\ndaily communion with Christ. Temptations are daily breaking the thread\nof that course, and it is not easy to cast a knot again; and many\nknots make evil work. Oh, how fair have many ships been plying before\nthe wind, that, in an hour's space, have been lying in the sea-bottom!\nHow many professors cast a golden lustre, as if they were pure gold,\nand yet are, under that skin and cover, but base and reprobate metal!\nAnd how many keep breath in their race many miles, and yet come short\nof the prize and the garland! Dear sir, my soul would mourn in secret\nfor you, if I knew your case with God to be but false work. Love to\nhave you anchored upon Christ maketh me fear your tottering and slips.\nFalse under-water, not seen in the ground of an enlightened\nconscience, is dangerous; so is often falling, and sinning against\nlight. Know this, that those who never had sick nights or days in\nconscience for sin, cannot have but such a peace with God as will\nundercoat and break the flesh again, and end in a sad war at death.\nOh, how fearfully are thousands beguiled with false hide, grown over\nold sins, as if the soul were cured and healed!\n\nDear Sir, I always saw nature mighty, lofty, heady, and strong in you;\nand that it was more for you to be mortified and dead to the world,\nthan for another common man. Ye will take a low ebb, and a deep cut,\nand a long lance, to go to the bottom of your wounds in saving\nhumiliation, to make you a won prey for Christ. Be humbled; walk\nsoftly. Down, down, for God's sake, my dear and worthy brother, with\nyour topsail. Stoop, stoop! it is a low entry to go in at heaven's\ngate. There is infinite justice in the party ye have to do with; it is\nHis nature not to acquit the guilty and the sinner. The law of God\nwill not want one farthing of the sinner. God forgetteth not both the\ncautioner and the sinner; and every man must pay, either in his own\nperson (oh, Lord save you from that payment!), or in his cautioner,\nChrist. It is violence to corrupt nature for a man to be holy, to lie\ndown under Christ's feet, to quit will, pleasure, worldly love,\nearthly hope, and an itching of heart after this farded and\nover-gilded world, and to be content that Christ trample upon all.\nCome in, come in to Christ, and see what ye want, and find it in Him.\nHe is the short cut (as we used to say), and the nearest way to an\noutgate of all your burdens. I dare avouch that ye shall be dearly\nwelcome to Him; my soul would be glad to take part of the joy ye\nshould have in Him. I dare say that angels' pens, angels' tongues,\nnay, as many worlds of angels as there are drops of water in all the\nseas, and fountains, and rivers of the earth, cannot paint Him out to\nyou. I think His sweetness, since I was a prisoner, hath swelled upon\nme to the greatness of two heavens. Oh for a soul as wide as the\nutmost circle of the highest heaven that containeth all, to contain\nHis love! And yet I could hold little of it. O world's wonder! Oh, if\nmy soul might but lie within the smell of His love, suppose I could\nget no more but the smell of it! Oh, but it is long to that day when I\nshall have a free world of Christ's love! Oh, what a sight to be up in\nheaven, in that fair orchard of the new paradise; and to see, and\nsmell, and touch, and kiss that fair field-flower, that ever-green\nTree of life! His bare shadow were enough for me; a sight of Him would\nbe the earnest of heaven to me. Fy, fy upon us! that we have love\nlying rusting beside us, or, which is worse, wasting upon some\nloathsome objects, and that Christ should lie His lone. Wo, wo is me!\nthat sin hath made so many madmen, seeking the fool's paradise, fire\nunder ice, and some good and desirable things, without and apart from\nChrist. Christ, Christ, nothing but Christ, can cool our love's\nburning languor. O thirsty love! wilt thou set Christ, the well of\nlife, to thy head, and drink thy fill? Drink, and spare not; drink\nlove, and be drunken with Christ! Nay, alas! the distance betwixt us\nand Christ is a death. Oh, if we were clasped in other's arms! We\nshould never twin again, except heaven twinned and sundered us; and\nthat cannot be.\n\nI desire your children to seek this Lord. Desire them from me, to be\nrequested, for Christ's sake, to be blessed and happy, and to come and\ntake Christ, and all things with Him. Let them beware of glassy and\nslippery youth, of foolish young notions, of worldly lusts, of\ndeceivable gain, of wicked company, of cursing, lying, blaspheming,\nand foolish talking. Let them be filled with the Spirit; acquaint\nthemselves with daily praying; and with the storehouse of wisdom and\ncomfort, the good word of God. Help the souls of the poor people. O\nthat my Lord would bring me again among them, that I might tell unco\nand great tales of Christ to them! Receive not a stranger to preach\nany other doctrine to them.\n\nPray for me, His prisoner of hope. I pray for you without ceasing. I\nwrite my blessing, earnest prayers, the love of God, and the sweet\npresence of Christ to you, and yours, and them. Grace, grace, grace be\nwith you.\n\n Your lawful and loving pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nLXXXIII.--_To the_ EARL OF LOTHIAN.\n\n [WILLIAM, third EARL OF LOTHIAN, to whom this letter is\n addressed, was the eldest son of Robert, first Earl of Ancrum;\n and he acquired the title of Earl of Lothian by his marriage with\n Anne Ker, Countess of Lothian, by whom he succeeded to the estate\n and titles of Lothian in 1624. In 1638 he manifested great zeal\n for the Covenant. He was a member of the General Assembly which\n met at Glasgow that year, as elder for the Presbytery of\n Dalkeith. Hostilities having again commenced in 1640, his\n Lordship was in the Scottish army that invaded England, and\n defeated the Royalists at Newburn. In 1643 he was sent from\n Scotland by the Privy Council, with the approbation of Charles I.\n In 1644 he commanded, with the Marquis of Argyle, the forces sent\n against the Marquis of Montrose, whom he obliged to retreat, and\n then delivered up his commission to the Committee of Estates, who\n passed an act in approbation of his services. He was president of\n the Committee despatched by the Parliament to the King in\n December 1646, with their final propositions. He protested\n against the raising of an army in 1648 to rescue the King from\n the hands of the English, without receiving from His Majesty\n assurance that he would secure the religious liberties of his\n Scottish subjects,--an attempt which was called the \"Engagement.\"\n But while resisting the arbitrary measures of his prince, he was\n of sincere and ardent loyalty. No sooner was it known that the\n Parliament of England intended to proceed against Charles I.\n before the High Court of Justice, than he and other commissioners\n were sent, in name of the kingdom of Scotland, to remonstrate\n against their proceedings in regard to the sacred person of the\n king. He took a solemn protest against their proceedings, for\n which he was put under arrest, sent with a guard to Gravesend,\n and thence to Scotland. On his return he received the thanks of\n Parliament for his conduct on this occasion; and, along with the\n Earl of Cassillis, was despatched to Breda in 1650 to invite King\n Charles to Scotland. His Lordship died in the year 1675. By Anne,\n Countess of Lothian, he had five sons and nine daughters.]\n\n(_ADVICE AS TO PUBLIC CONDUCT--EVERYTHING TO BE ENDURED FOR CHRIST._)\n\n\nRIGHT HONOURABLE, AND MY VERY WORTHY AND NOBLE LORD,--Out of the\nhonourable and good report that I hear of your Lordship's good-will\nand kindness, in taking to heart the honourable cause of Christ, and\nHis afflicted Church and wronged truth in this land, I make bold to\nspeak a word on paper, to your Lordship, at this distance, which I\ntrust your Lordship will take in good part. It is to your Lordship's\nhonour and credit, to put to your hand, as ye do (all honour to God!),\nto the falling and tottering tabernacle of Christ, in this your\nmother-Church, and to own Christ's wrongs as your own wrongs. O\nblessed hand, which shall wipe and dry the watery eyes of our weeping\nLord Jesus, now going mourning in sackcloth in His members, in His\nspouse in His truth, and in the prerogative royal of His kingly power!\nHe needeth not service and help from men; but it pleaseth His wisdom\nto make the wants and losses, the sores and wounds of His spouse, a\nfield and an office-house for the zeal of His servants to exercise\nthemselves in. Therefore, my noble and dear Lord, go on, go on in the\nstrength of the Lord against all opposition, to side with wronged\nChrist. The defending, and warding of strokes off Christ's bride, the\nKing's daughter, is like a piece of the rest of the way to heaven,\nknotty, rough, stormy, and full of thorns. Many would follow Christ,\nbut with a reservation that, by open proclamation, Christ would cry\ndown crosses, and cry up fair weather, and a summer sky and sun, till\nwe were all fairly landed at heaven. I know that your Lordship hath\nnot so learned Christ; but that ye intend to fetch heaven, suppose\nthat your father were standing in your way, and to take it with the\nwind on your face; for so both storm and wind were on the fair face of\nyour lovely Forerunner, Christ, all His way. It is possible that the\nsuccess answer not your desire in this worthy cause. What then? duties\nare ours, but events are the Lord's; and I hope, if your Lordship, and\nothers with you, will go on to dive to the lowest ground and bottom of\nthe knavery and perfidious treachery to Christ of the accursed and\nwretched prelates, the Antichrist's first-born, and the first-fruit of\nhis foul womb, and shall deal with our Sovereign (law going before\nyou) for the reasonable and impartial hearing of Christ's bill of\ncomplaints, and set yourselves singly to seek the Lord and His face,\nthat your righteousness shall break through the clouds which prejudice\nhath drawn over it, and that ye shall, in the strength of the Lord,\nbring our banished and departing Lord Jesus home again to His\nsanctuary. Neither must your Lordship advise with flesh and blood in\nthis; but wink, and in the dark, reach your hand to Christ, and follow\nHim. Let not men's fainting discourage you; neither be afraid of men's\ncanny wisdom, who, in this storm, take the nearest shore, and go to\nthe lee and calm side of the Gospel, and hide Christ (if ever they had\nHim) in their cabinets, as if they were ashamed of Him, or as if\nChrist were stolen wares, and would blush before the sun.\n\nMy very dear and noble Lord, ye have rejoiced the hearts of many,\nthat ye have made choice of Christ and His Gospel, whereas such great\ntemptations do stand in your way. But I love your profession the\nbetter that it endureth winds. If we knew ourselves well, to want\ntemptations is the greatest temptation of all. Neither is father, nor\nmother, nor court, nor honour, in this over-lustred world with all its\npaintry and farding, anything else, when they are laid in the balance\nwith Christ, but feathers, shadows, night-dreams, and straws. Oh, if\nthis world knew the excellency, sweetness, and beauty of that high and\nlofty One, the Fairest among the sons of men, verily they would see,\nthat if their love were bigger than ten heavens, all in circles beyond\neach other, it were all too little for Christ our Lord! I hope that\nyour choice will not repent you, when life shall come to that twilight\nbetwixt time and eternity, and ye shall see the utmost border of time,\nand shall draw the curtain, and look into eternity, and shall one day\nsee God take the heavens in His hands, and fold them together, like an\nold holely garment, and set on fire this clay part of the creation of\nGod, and consume away into smoke and ashes the idol-hope of poor\nfools, who think that there is not a better country than this low\ncountry of dying clay. Children cannot make comparison aright betwixt\nthis life and that which is to come; and, therefore, the babes of this\nworld, who see no better, mould, in their own brain, a heaven of their\nown coining, because they see no farther than the nearest side of\ntime.\n\nI dare lay in pawn my hope of heaven, that this reproached way is the\nonly way of peace. I find it is the way that the Lord hath sealed with\nHis comforts now, in my bonds for Christ; and I verily esteem and find\nchains and fetters for that lovely One, Christ, to be watered over\nwith sweet consolations, and the love-smiles of that lovely\nBridegroom, for whose coming we wait. And when He cometh, then shall\nthe blacks and whites of all men come before the sun; then shall the\nLord put a final decision upon the pleas that Zion hath with her\nadversaries. And as fast as time passeth away (which neither sitteth,\nnor standeth, nor sleepeth), as fast is our hand-breadth of this short\nwinter-night flying away, and the sky of our long-lasting day drawing\nnear its breaking.\n\nExcept your Lordship be pleased to plead for me against the tyranny of\nprelates, I shall be forgotten in this prison; for they did shape my\ndoom according to their new, lawless canons, which is, that a deprived\nminister shall be utterly silenced, and not preach at all; which is a\ncruelty, contrary to their own former practices.\n\nNow, the only wise God, the very God of peace, confirm, strengthen,\nand establish your Lordship upon the stone laid in Zion, and be with\nyou for ever.\n\nYour Lordship's at all respectful obedience in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nLXXXIV.--_To_ JEAN BROWN.\n\n [JEAN BROWN was the mother of the well-known Mr. John Brown,\n minister of Wamphray in Annandale, who, after the restoration of\n Charles II., was ejected from his charge and banished from the\n King's dominions for his opposition to Prelacy. She was a woman\n of intelligence and piety.]\n\n(_THE JOYS OF THIS LIFE EMBITTERED BY SIN--HEAVEN AN OBJECT OF\nDESIRE--TRIAL A BLESSED THING._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. I long to hear how\nyour soul prospereth. I earnestly desire your on-going toward your\ncountry. I know that ye see your day melteth away by little and\nlittle, and that in a short time ye shall be put beyond time's bounds;\nfor life is a post that standeth not still, and our joys here are born\nweeping, rather than laughing, and they die weeping. Sin, sin, this\nbody of sin and corruption embittereth and poisoneth all our\nenjoyments. O that I were where I shall sin no more! O to be freed of\nthese chains and iron fetters, which we carry about with us! Lord,\nloose the sad prisoners! Who of the children of God have not cause to\nsay, that they have their fill of this vain life? and, like a full and\nsick stomach, to wish at mid-supper that the supper were ended, and\nthe table drawn, that the sick man might win to bed, and enjoy rest?\nWe have cause to tire at mid-supper of the best messes that this world\ncan dress up for us; and to cry to God, that He would remove the table\nand put the sin-sick souls to rest with Himself. O for a long play-day\nwith Christ, and our long-lasting vacance of rest! Glad may their\nsouls be that are safe over the frith, Christ having paid the fraught.\nHappy are they who have passed their hard and wearisome time of\napprenticeship, and are now freemen and citizens in that joyful, high\ncity, the New Jerusalem.\n\nAlas! that we should be glad of and rejoice in our fetters, and our\nprison-house, and this dear inn, a life of sin, where we are absent\nfrom our Lord, and so far from our home. O that we could get bonds and\nlaw-suretyship of our love, that it fasten not itself on these\nclay-dreams, these clay-shadows, and worldly vanities! We might be\noftener seeing what they are doing in heaven, and our hearts more\nfrequently upon our sweet treasure above. We smell of the smoke of\nthis lower house of the earth, because our hearts and our thoughts are\nhere. If we could haunt up with God, we should smell of heaven and of\nour country above; and we should look like our country, and like\nstrangers, or people not born or brought up hereaway. Our crosses\nwould not bite[174] upon us if we were heavenly-minded. I know of no\nobligation which the saints have to this world, seeing we fare but\nupon the smoke of it; and, if there be any smoke in the house, it\nbloweth upon our eyes. All our part of the table is scarce worth a\ndrink of water; and when we are stricken, we dare not weep, but steal\nour grief away betwixt our Lord and us, and content ourselves with\nstolen sorrow behind backs. God be thanked that we have many things\nthat so stroke us against the hair that we may pray, \"God keep our\nbetter home, God bless our Father's house; and not this smoke, that\nbloweth us to seek our best lodging.\" I am sure that this is the best\nfruit of the cross, when we, from the hard fare of the dear inn, cry\nthe more that God would send a fair wind, to land us, hungered and\noppressed strangers, at the door of our Father's house, which now is\nmade, in Christ, our kindly heritage. Oh! then, let us pull up the\nstakes and stoups of our tent, and take our tent on our back, and go\nwith our flitting to our best home; for here we have no continuing\ncity.\n\n [174] Leave the mark of their teeth.\n\nI am waiting in hope here, to see what my Lord will do with me. Let\nHim make of me what He pleaseth; providing He make glory to Himself\nout of me, I care not. I hope, yea, I am now sure, that I am for\nChrist, and all that I can or may make is for Him. I am His\neverlasting dyvour, and still shall be; for, alas, I have nothing for\nHim, and He getteth but little service of me! Pray for me, that our\nLord would be pleased to give me houseroom, that I may serve Him in\nthe calling which He hath called me unto. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nLXXXV.--_To JOHN KENNEDY, Bailie of Ayr_.\n\n(_THE REASONABLENESS OF BELIEVING UNDER ALL AFFLICTION--OBLIGATIONS TO\nFREE GRACE._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND WELL-BELOVED BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto\nyou.--I am yet waiting what our Lord will do for His afflicted Church,\nand for my re-entry to my Lord's house. O that I could hear the\nforfeiture of Christ (now casten out of His inheritance) recalled and\ntaken off by open proclamation; and that Christ were restored to be a\nfreeholder and a landed heritor in Scotland; and that the courts\nfenced in the name of the bastard prelates (their godfather, the\nPope's, bailiffs and sheriffs) were cried down! Oh, how sweet a sight\nwere it to see all the tribes of the Lord in this land fetching home\nagain our banished King, Christ, to His own palace, His sanctuary, and\nHis throne! I shall think it mercy to my soul, if my faith will\nout-watch all this winter-night, and not nod nor slumber till my\nLord's summer-day dawn upon me. It is much if faith and hope, in the\nsad nights of our heavy trial, escape with a whole skin, and without\ncrack or crook. I confess that unbelief hath not reason to be either\nfather or mother to it,[175] for unbelief is always an irrational\nthing; but how can it be, but that such weak eyes as ours must cast\nwater in a great smoke, or that a weak head should not turn giddy when\nthe water runneth deep and strong? But God be thanked that Christ in\nHis children can endure a stress and a storm, howbeit soft nature\nwould fall down in pieces. O that I had that confidence as to rest on\nthis, though He should grind me into small powder, and bray me into\ndust, and scatter the dust to the four winds of heaven, that my Lord\nwould gather up the powder, and make me up a new vessel again, to bear\nChrist's name to the world! I am sure that love, bottomed and seated\nupon the faith of His love to me, would desire and endure this, and\nwould even claim and threep kindness upon Christ's strokes, and kiss\nHis love-glooms, and both spell and read salvation upon the wounds\nmade by Christ's sweet hands. O that I had but a promise made from the\nmouth of Christ, of His love to me! and then, howbeit my faith were as\ntender as paper, I think longing, and dwining, and greening of sick\ndesires would cause it to bide out the siege till the Lord came to\nfill the soul with His love. And I know also, that in that case faith\nwould bide green and sappy at the root, even at mid-winter, and stand\nout against all storms. However it be, I know that Christ winneth\nheaven in despite of hell.\n\n [175] Unbelief has not its origin in _reason_.\n\nBut I owe as many praises and thanks to free grace as would lie\nbetwixt me and the utmost border of the highest heaven, suppose ten\nthousand heavens were all laid above other. But oh! I have nothing\nthat can hire or bud grace; for if grace would take hire, it were no\nmore grace. But all our stability, and the strength of our salvation,\nis anchored and fastened upon free grace; and I am sure that Christ\nhath by His death and blood casten the knot so fast, that the fingers\nof the devils and hell-fulls of sins cannot loose it. And that bond of\nChrist (that never yet was, nor ever shall, nor can be registrated)\nstandeth surer than heaven, or the days of heaven, as that sweet\npillar of the covenant whereon we all hang. Christ, with all His\nlittle ones under His two wings and in the compass or circle of His\narms, is so sure, that, cast Him and them into the ground of the sea,\nHe shall come up again and not lose one. An odd one cannot, nor shall,\nbe lost in the telling.\n\nThis was always God's aim, since Christ came into the play betwixt Him\nand us, to make men dependent creatures; and, in the work of our\nsalvation, to put created strength, and arms and legs of clay, quite\nout of place, and out of office and court. And now God hath\nsubstituted in our room, and accepted His Son, the Mediator, for us\nand all that we can make. If this had not been, I would have skinked\nover and foregone my part of paradise and salvation, for a breakfast\nof dead, moth-eaten earth; but now I would not give it, nor let it go\nfor more than I can tell. And truly they are silly fools, and ignorant\nof Christ's worth, and so full ill-trained and tutored, who tell\nChrist and heaven over the board for two feathers or two straws of the\ndevil's painted pleasures, only lustred on the outer side. This is our\nhappiness now, that our reckonings at night, when eternity shall come\nupon us, cannot be told. We shall be so far gainers, and so far from\nbeing super-expended (as the poor fools of this world are, who give\nout their money, and get in but black hunger), that angels cannot lay\nour counts, nor sum our advantage and incomes. Who knoweth how far it\nis to the bottom of our Christ's fulness, and to the ground of our\nheaven? Who ever weighed Christ in a pair of balances? Who hath seen\nthe foldings and plies, and the heights and depths of that glory which\nis in Him, and kept for us? O for such a heaven as to stand afar off,\nand see, and love, and long for Him, whill time's thread be cut, and\nthis great work of creation dissolved, at the coming of our Lord!\n\nNow to His grace I recommend you. I beseech you also to pray for a\nre-entry to me into the Lord's house, if it be His good will.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Jan. 6, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nLXXXVI.--_To my_ LORD CRAIGHALL.\n\n [SIR JOHN HOPE, LORD CRAIGHALL, was the eldest son of Sir Thomas\n Hope (Lord Advocate of Scotland in the time of James VI. and\n Charles I.) His property, Craighall, is in the parish of\n Inveresk, near Edinburgh. Sir Thomas was the most eminent lawyer\n of his day, and was first brought into notice by the ability with\n which he defended the cause of John Forbes, John Welsh, and the\n other ministers who were tried for high treason at Linlithgow, on\n account of their holding a General Assembly at Aberdeen in 1605.\n Craighall is in the parish of Ceres, in Fife,[176] a fine old\n castellated ruin. John, second baronet, was admitted a Lord of\n Session 27th July 1632, and became President of the Court, and in\n 1645 was appointed one of the Privy Council. His name appears on\n the roll of members of the General Assemblies 1645-1649, and of\n the commissions which these Assemblies appointed. In Lamont's\n \"Diary\" we read (1659), \"The Laird of Craighall, in Fyfe,\n depairted out of this lyfe on Sabbath at nyght, and was interred\n at Ceres.\"]\n\n [176] There is a village of _Craighall_ near Inveresk, in the\n barony of Pinkie, which got its name from this family, just as\n there is an _Earlston_ in Borgue parish, called from the old\n Earlston.\n\n\n\n(_EPISCOPALIAN CEREMONIES--HOW TO ABIDE IN THE TRUTH--DESIRE FOR\nLIBERTY TO PREACH CHRIST._)\n\n\nMY LORD,--I received Mr. L.'s[177] letter with your Lordship's and his\nlearned thoughts in the matter of ceremonies. I owe respect to the\nman's learning, for that I hear him to be opposed to Arminian\nheresies. But, with reverence of that worthy man, I wonder to hear\nsuch popish-like expressions as he hath in his letter, as, \"Your\nLordship may spare doubtings, when the King and Church have agreed in\nthe settling of such orders; and the Church's direction in things\nindifferent and circumstantial (as if indifferent and circumstantial\nwere all one!) should be the rule of every private Christian.\" I only\nviewed the papers two hours' space, the bearer hastening me to write.\nI find the worthy man not so seen in this controversy as some\nturbulent men of our country, whom he calleth \"refusers of\nconformity;\" and let me say it, I am more confirmed in nonconformity,\nwhen I see such a great wit play the agent so slenderly. But I will\nlay the blame on the weakness of the cause, not on the meanness of Mr.\nL.'s learning. I have been, and still am confident, that Britain[178]\ncannot answer one argument, _a scandalo_: and I longed much to hear\nMr. L. speak to the cause; and I would say, if some ordinary divine\nhad answered as Mr. L. doth, that he understood not the nature of a\nscandal; but I dare not vilify that worthy man so. I am now upon the\nheat of some other employment. I shall (but God willing) answer this,\nto the satisfying of any not prejudiced.\n\n [177] Who is here meant cannot now be well ascertained. It may have\n been Mr. Loudian, of whom Baillie says, \"He was an excellent\n philosophe, sound and orthodox, opposite to Canterbury's way, albeit\n too conform. I counselled oft Glasgow to have him for their Divinity\n Lecturer\" (\"Letters and Journals,\" i. 77).\n\n [178] All the divines in Britain.\n\nI will not say that every one is acquainted with the reason in my\nletter, from God's presence and bright shining face in suffering for\nthis cause. Aristotle never knew the medium of the conclusion: and\nChrist saith few know it (Rev. ii. 17). I am sure that conscience\nstanding in awe of the Almighty, and fearing to make a little hole in\nthe bottom for fear of under-water, is a strong medium to hold off an\nerroneous conclusion in the least wing, or lith, of sweet, sweet\ntruth, that concerneth the royal prerogative of our kingly and highest\nLord Jesus. And my witness is in heaven, that I saw neither pleasure,\nnor profit, nor honour, to hook me, or catch me, in entering into\nprison for Christ, but the wind on my face for the present. And if I\nhad loved to sleep in a whole skin, with the ease and present delight\nthat I saw on this side of sun and moon, I should have lived at ease,\nand in good hopes to fare as well as others. The Lord knoweth that I\npreferred preaching of Christ, and still do, to anything, next to\nChrist Himself. And their new canons took my one, my only joy, from\nme, which was to me as the poor man's one ewe, that had no more! And,\nalas! there is little lodging in their hearts for pity or mercy, to\npluck out a poor man's one eye for a thing indifferent; _i.e._ for\nknots of straw, and things (as they mean) off the way to heaven. I\ndesire not that my name take journey, and go a pilgrim to Cambridge,\nfor fear I come into the ears of authority. I am sufficiently burnt\nalready.\n\nIn the mean time, be pleased to try if the Bishop of St. Andrews,[179]\nand Glasgow (Galloway's ordinary),[180] will be pleased to abate from\nthe heat of their wrath, and let me go to my charge. Few know the\nheart of a prisoner; yet I hope that the Lord will hew His own glory\nout of as knotty timber as I am. Keep Christ, my dear and worthy Lord.\nPretended paper-arguments from[181] angering the mother-Church (that\ncan reel, and nod, and stagger), are not of such weight as peace with\nthe Father, and Husband. Let the wife gloom, I care not, if the\nHusband laugh.\n\nRemember my service to my Lord your father, and mother, and lady.\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours at all obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Jan. 24, 1637_.\n\n [179] John Spottiswoode.\n\n [180] James Law, Bishop of Glasgow, was the deputy of Sydserff, the\n Bishop of Galloway.\n\n [181] Arguments drawn from the risk of provoking.\n\n\n\n\nLXXXVII.--_To_ ELIZABETH KENNEDY.\n\n[ELIZABETH KENNEDY was the sister of Hugh Kennedy, Provost of Ayr, and\na woman as eminent for piety and prayer as her brother. Wodrow records\nof her that, being much afflicted with the stone, she was advised to\nsubmit to a surgical operation. Several meetings for prayer took place\namong the godly at Ayr in reference to her case. When the surgeon came\nto perform the operation, one of these meetings was going on in the\nhouse, and they continued so long in prayer as nearly to exhaust his\npatience; but before they had concluded, the stone dissolved, and\nwithout surgical aid she obtained immediate relief. (_Wodrow's_\n\"Analecta,\" vol. ii.)]\n\n(_DANGER OF FORMALITY--CHRIST WHOLLY TO BE LOVED--OTHER OBJECTS OF\nLOVE._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I have long had a\npurpose of writing unto you, but I have been hindered. I heartily\ndesire that ye would mind your country, and consider to what airt your\nsoul setteth its face; for all come not home at night who suppose that\nthey have set their face heavenward. It is a woful thing to die, and\nmiss heaven, and to lose house-room with Christ at night: it is an\nevil journey where travellers are benighted in the fields. I persuade\nmyself that thousands shall be deceived and ashamed of their hope.\nBecause they cast their anchor in sinking sands, they must lose it.\nTill now I knew not the pain, labour, nor difficulty that there is to\nwin at home: nor did I understand so well, before this, what that\nmeaneth, \"The righteous shall scarcely be saved.\" Oh, how many a poor\nprofessor's candle is blown out, and never lighted again! I see that\nordinary profession, and to be ranked amongst the children of God, and\nto have a name among men, is now thought good enough to carry\nprofessors to heaven. But certainly a name is but a name, and will\nnever bide a blast of God's storm. I counsel you not to give your\nsoul or Christ rest, nor your eyes sleep, till ye have gotten\nsomething that will bide the fire, and stand out the storm. I am sure,\nthat if my one foot were in heaven, and if then He should say, \"Fend\nthyself, I will hold my grips of thee no longer,\" I should go no\nfarther, but presently fall down in as many pieces of dead nature.\n\nThey are happy for evermore who are over head and ears in the love of\nChrist, and know no sickness but love-sickness for Christ, and feel no\npain but the pain of an absent and hidden Well-beloved. We run our\nsouls out of breath and tire them, in coursing and galloping after our\nnight-dreams (such are the rovings of our miscarrying hearts), to get\nsome created good thing in this life, and on this side of death. We\nwould fain stay and spin out a heaven to ourselves, on this side of\nthe water; but sorrow, want, changes, crosses, and sin, are both woof\nand warp in that ill-spun web. Oh, how sweet and dear are those\nthoughts that are still upon the things which are above! and how happy\nare they who are longing to have little sand in their glass, and to\nhave time's thread cut, and can cry to Christ, \"Lord Jesus, have over;\ncome and fetch the dreary[182] passenger!\" I wish that our thoughts\nwere more frequently than they are upon our country. Oh, but heaven\ncasteth a sweet smell afar off to those who have spiritual smelling!\nGod hath made many fair flowers; but the fairest of them all is\nheaven, and the Flower of all flowers is Christ. Oh! why do we not fly\nup to that lovely One? Alas that there is such a scarcity of love, and\nof lovers, to Christ amongst us all! Fie, fie, upon us, who love fair\nthings, as fair gold, fair houses, fair lands, fair pleasures, fair\nhonours, and fair persons, and do not pine and melt away with love to\nChrist! Oh! would to God I had more love for His sake! O for as much\nas would lie betwixt me and heaven, for His sake! O for as much as\nwould go round about the earth, and over the heaven, yea, the heaven\nof heavens, and ten thousand worlds, that I might let all out upon\nfair, fair, only fair Christ! But, alas! I have nothing for Him, yet\nHe hath much for me. It is no gain to Christ that He getteth my\nlittle, feckless span-length and hand-breadth of love.\n\n [182] Sorrowful.\n\nIf men would have something to do with their hearts and their\nthoughts, that are always rolling up and down (like men with oars in a\nboat), after sinful vanities, they might find great and sweet\nemployment to their thoughts upon Christ. If those frothy,\nfluctuating, and restless hearts of ours would come all about Christ,\nand look into His love, to bottomless love, to the depth of mercy, to\nthe unsearchable riches of His grace, to inquire after and search into\nthe beauty of God in Christ, they would be swallowed up in the depth\nand height, length and breadth of His goodness. Oh, if men would draw\nthe curtains, and look into the inner side of the ark, and behold how\nthe fullness of the Godhead dwelleth in Him bodily! Oh! who would not\nsay, \"Let me die, let me die ten times, to see a sight of Him?\" Ten\nthousand deaths were no great price to give for Him. I am sure that\nsick, fainting love would heighten the market, and raise the price to\nthe double for Him. But, alas! if men and angels were rouped, and sold\nat the dearest price, they would not all buy a night's love, or a\nfour-and-twenty-hours' sight of Christ! Oh, how happy are they who get\nChrist for nothing! God send me no more, for my part of paradise, but\nChrist: and surely I were rich enough, and as well heavened as the\nbest of them, if Christ were my heaven.\n\nI can write no better thing to you, than to desire you, if ever ye\nlaid Christ in a count, to take Him up and count over again: and weigh\nHim again and again: and after this have no other to court your love,\nand to woo your soul's delight, but Christ. He will be found worthy of\nall your love, howbeit it should swell upon you from the earth to the\nuppermost circle of the heaven of heavens. To our Lord Jesus and His\nlove I commend you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nLXXXVIII.--_To_ JANET KENNEDY.\n\n [This seems to be the wife of Mr. John Fergushill; see Letter\n CXII.]\n\n(_CHRIST TO BE KEPT AT EVERY SACRIFICE--HIS INCOMPARABLE LOVELINESS._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. Ye are not a little\nobliged to His rich grace, who hath separated you for Himself, and for\nthe promised inheritance with the saints in light, from this condemned\nand guilty world. Hold fast Christ, contend for Him; it is a lawful\nplea to go to holding and drawing for Christ; and it is not possible\nto keep Christ peaceably, having once gotten Him, except the devil\nwere dead. It must be your resolution to set your face against Satan's\nnorthern tempests and storms, for salvation. Nature would have heaven\nto come to us while sleeping in our beds. We would all buy Christ, so\nbeing we might make price ourselves. But Christ is worth more blood\nand lives than either ye or I have to give Him. When we shall come\nhome, and enter to the possession of our Brother's fair kingdom, and\nwhen our heads shall find the weight of the eternal crown of glory,\nand when we shall look back to pains and sufferings, then shall we see\nlife and sorrow to be less than one step or stride from a prison to\nglory; and that our little inch of time-suffering is not worthy of our\nfirst night's welcome-home to heaven. Oh, what then shall be the\nweight of every one of Christ's kisses! Oh, how weighty, and of what\nworth shall every one of Christ's love-smiles be! Oh, when once He\nshall thrust a wearied traveller's head betwixt His blessed breasts,\nthe poor soul will think one kiss of Christ hath fully paid home forty\nor fifty years' wet feet, and all its sore hearts, and light (2 Cor.\niv. 17) sufferings it had in following after Christ! Oh,\nthrice-blinded souls, whose hearts are charmed and bewitched with\ndreams, shadows, feckless things, night-vanities, and night-fancies of\na miserable life of sin! Shame on us who sit still, fettered with the\nlove and liking of the loan of a piece of dead clay! Oh, poor fools,\nwho are beguiled with painted things, and this world's fair weather,\nand smooth promises, and rotten, worm-eaten hopes! May not the devil\nlaugh to see us give out our souls, and get in but corrupt and\ncounterfeit pleasures of sin? O for a sight of eternity's glory, and a\nlittle tasting of the Lamb's marriage-supper! Half a draught, or a\ndrop of the wine of consolation, that is up at our banqueting-house,\nout of Christ's own hand, would make our stomachs loathe the brown\nbread and the sour drink of a miserable life. Oh, how far are we\nbereaved of wit, to chafe, and hunt, and run, till our souls be out of\nbreath, after a condemned happiness of our own making! And do we not\nsit far in our own light to make it a matter of bairn's play, to skink\nand drink over[183] paradise, and the heaven that Christ did sweat\nfor, even for a blast of smoke, and for Esau's morning breakfast? O\nthat we were out of ourselves, and dead to this world, and this world\ndead and crucified to us! And, when we should be close out of love and\nconceit of any masked and farded lover whatsoever, then Christ would\nwin and conquer to Himself a lodging in the inmost yolk of our heart.\nThen Christ should be our night-song and morning-song; then the very\nnoise and din of our Well-beloved's feet, when He cometh, and His\nfirst knock or rap at the door, should be as news of two heavens to\nus. O that our eyes and our soul's smelling should go after a blasted\nand sun-burnt flower, even this plastered, fair-outsided world: and\nthen we have neither eye nor smell for the Flower of Jesse, for that\nPlant of renown, for Christ, the choicest, the fairest, the sweetest\nrose that ever God planted! Oh, let some of us die to smell the\nfragrance of Him; and let my part of this rotten world be forfeited\nand sold for evermore, providing I may anchor my tottering soul upon\nChrist! I know that it is sometimes at this, \"Lord, what wilt Thou\nhave for Christ?\" But, O Lord, canst Thou be budded, and propined with\nany gift for Christ? O Lord, can Christ be sold? or rather, may not a\npoor needy sinner have Him for nothing? If I can get no more, oh, let\nme be pained to all eternity, with longing for Him! The joy of\nhungering for Christ should be my heaven for evermore. Alas, that I\ncannot draw souls and Christ together! But I desire the coming of His\nkingdom, and that Christ, as I assuredly hope He will, would come upon\nwithered Scotland, as rain upon the new-mown grass. Oh, let the King\ncome! Oh, let His kingdom come! Oh, let their eyes rot in their\neyeholes (Zech. xiv. 12), who will not receive Him home again to reign\nand rule in Scotland. Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n [183] Drink the health of the buyer over the concluded bargain.\n\n\n\n\nLXXXIX.--_To my Well-beloved and Reverend Brother_, MR. ROBERT BLAIR.\n\n [MR. ROBERT BLAIR was born at Irvine in 1593. After completing\n his education at the College of Glasgow, he there held for\n several years the office of regent, during which time he was\n licensed as a probationer for the holy ministry. Having a strong\n desire to go to France, he was encouraged to this by M. Basnage,\n a French Protestant minister who visited Scotland in 1622. But\n Providence ordered his lot otherwise. He was induced to accept of\n the charge of Bangor, in Ireland, and was admitted in the year\n 1623. Here he laboured with great diligence and success; and\n there being in the same part of the country several other devout\n ministers, by mutual co-operation, they were instrumental in\n producing in the north of Ireland a change upon an ignorant and\n irreligious people, much resembling the effects of the preaching\n of the Gospel in the apostolic age. But this good work was not\n allowed to go on unopposed. In the autumn of 1631 he was\n suspended from his ministry by the Bishop of Down; in May 1632 he\n was deposed; and in November 1634 solemnly excommunicated; and\n all this simply for nonconformity. In these circumstances, he and\n some other ministers similarly situated, together with a\n considerable number of people, formed the purpose of going to New\n England, and actually embarked in 1636; but the tempestuous state\n of the weather forced them to return. He then came over to\n Scotland, and in 1638 became minister of Ayr, from which by a\n sentence of the General Assembly he was soon translated to St.\n Andrews, where he and Rutherford lived in the warmest friendship\n until the rise of the controversy between the Resolutioners and\n Protesters, which in some degree disturbed their mutual good\n understanding. Rutherford was a strong Protester: Blair regretted\n the extremes, as he conceived, to which both parties went; and,\n with Mr. James Durham of Glasgow, endeavoured to restore harmony\n between them, but without success. In 1661 he was summoned before\n the Privy Council for a sermon he had preached, in which he bore\n testimony to the covenanted Reformation, as well as against the\n defections of the times. He was sentenced to be confined to his\n own house, but afterwards permitted to retire to Musselburgh. He\n next removed to Kirkcaldy, and from thence to Meikle Couston, in\n the parish of Aberdour, where he died on the 27th of April 1666.\n (See Life of Robert Blair, issued by the Wodrow Society, 1848.)]\n\n(_GOD'S ARRANGEMENTS SOMETIMES MYSTERIOUS._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEARLY BELOVED BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace from God\nour Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, be unto you.\n\nIt is no great wonder, my dear brother, that ye be in heaviness for a\nseason, and that God's will (in crossing your design and desires to\ndwell amongst a people whose God is the Lord) should move you. I deny\nnot but ye have cause to inquire what His providence speaketh in this\nto you; but God's directing and commanding Will can by no good logic\nbe concluded from events of providence. The Lord sent Paul on many\nerrands for the spreading of His Gospel, where he found lions in his\nway. A promise was made to His people of the Holy Land, and yet many\nnations were in the way, fighting against, and ready to kill them that\nhad the promise, or to keep them from possessing that good land which\nthe Lord their God had given them. I know that ye have most to do with\nsubmission of spirit; but I persuade myself that ye have learned, in\nevery condition wherein ye are cast, therein to be content, and to\nsay, \"Good is the will of the Lord, let it be done.\" I believe that\nthe Lord tacketh His ship often to fetch the wind, and that He\npurposeth to bring mercy out of your sufferings and silence, which (I\nknow from mine own experience) is grievous to you. Seeing that He\nknoweth our willing mind to serve Him, our wages and stipend is\nrunning to the fore with our God, even as some sick soldiers get pay,\nwhen they are bedfast and not able to go to the field with others.\n\"Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of\nthe Lord, and my God shall be my strength\" (Isa. xlix. 5). And we are\nto believe it shall be thus ere all the play be played. \"The violence\ndone to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon\" (and the great whore's\nlovers), \"shall the inhabitants of Zion say; and my blood be upon\nChaldea, shall Jerusalem say.\"[184] And, \"Behold, I will make\nJerusalem a cup of trembling to all the people round about, when they\nshall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in\nthat day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: they\nthat burden themselves with it shall be broken in pieces, though all\nthe people of the earth be gathered together against it.\"[185] When\nthey have eaten and swallowed us up, they shall be sick and vomit us\nout living men again; the devil's stomach cannot digest the Church of\nGod. Suffering is the other half of our ministry, howbeit the hardest;\nfor we would be content that our King Jesus should make an open\nproclamation, and cry down crosses, and cry up joy, gladness, ease,\nhonour, and peace. But it must not be so; through many afflictions we\nmust enter into the kingdom of God. Not only by them, but through\nthem, must we go; and wiles will not take us past the cross. It is\nfolly to think to steal to heaven with a whole skin.\n\n [184] Jer. li. 35.\n\n [185] Zech. xii. 2, 3.\n\nFor myself, I am here a prisoner confined in Aberdeen, threatened to\nbe removed to Caithness, because I desire to edify in this town; and\nam openly preached against in the pulpits in my hearing, and tempted\nwith disputations by the doctors, especially by D. B.[186] Yet I am\nnot ashamed of the Lord Jesus, His garland, and His crown. I would not\nexchange my weeping with the painted laughter of the fourteen\nprelates. At my first coming here I took the dorts at Christ, and\nwould, forsooth, summon Him for unkindness. I sought a plea of my\nLord, and was tossed with challenges whether He loved me or not; and\ndisputed over again all that He had done to me, because His word was a\nfire shut up in my bowels, and I was weary with forbearing, because I\nsaid I was cast out of the Lord's inheritance. But now I see that I\nwas a fool. My Lord miskent all, and did bear with my foolish\njealousies; and miskent that ever I wronged His love. And now He has\ncome again with mercy under His wings. I pass from my (oh witless!)\nsummons: He is God, I see, and I am man. Now it hath pleased Him to\nrenew His love to my soul, and to dawt His poor prisoner. Therefore,\ndear brother, help me to praise and show the Lord's people with you\nwhat He hath done to my soul, that they may pray and praise. And I\ncharge you in the name of Christ, not to omit it. For this cause I\nwrite to you, that my sufferings may glorify my royal King, and edify\nHis Church in Ireland. He knoweth how one of Christ's love coals hath\nburnt my soul with a desire to have my bonds to preach His glory,\nwhose cross I now bear. God forgive you if you do it not; but I hope\nthe Lord will move your heart, to proclaim in my behalf the sweetness,\nexcellency, and glory of my royal King. It is but our soft flesh that\nhath raised a slander on the Cross of Christ: I see now the white side\nof it; my Lord's chains are all over-gilded. Oh, if Scotland and\nIreland had part of my feast! And yet I get not my meat but with many\nstrokes. There are none here to whom I can speak; I dwell in Kedar's\ntents. Refresh me with a letter from you. Few know what is betwixt\nChrist and me.\n\n [186] Dr Robert Baron, Professor of Divinity in the Marischal College\n of Aberdeen, one of the learned doctors of that city, whose dispute,\n in 1638, with Alexander Henderson, David Dickson, and Andrew Cant, on\n the subject of the Covenant, excited at the time so much attention.\n\nDear brother, upon my salvation, this is His truth that we suffer for.\nChrist would not seal a blank charter to souls. Courage, courage! joy,\njoy for evermore! Oh, joy unspeakable and glorious! O for help to set\nmy crowned King on high! O for love to Him who is altogether\nlovely,--that love which many waters cannot quench, neither can the\nfloods drown!\n\nI remember you, and bear your name on my breast to Christ. I beseech\nyou, forget not His afflicted prisoner. Grace, mercy, and peace be\nwith you. Salute in the Lord, from me, Mr. Cunningham, Mr.\nLivingstone, Mr. Ridge,[187] Mr. Colwart,[188] &c.\n\n Your brother, and fellow-prisoner,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Feb. 7, 1637_.\n\n [187] Mr. John Ridge was an English minister, whom opposition to\n ceremonial impositions on conscience led to leave his native country\n for Ireland. He was admitted to the vicarage of Antrim on the 7th of\n July 1619, in which he laboured with success for many years; but being\n deposed by Henry Leslie, the Bishop of Down, for nonconformity, he\n came over to Irvine, where he died.\n\n [188] Mr. Henry Colwart was also a native of England; and, like Mr.\n Ridge, left the land of his birth, and went to Ireland. He was\n admitted to the pastoral charge of Oldstone in 1630; but, being\n deposed by Bishop Leslie for refusing to submit to the innovations of\n Prelacy, he came over to Scotland, and was admitted minister of\n Paisley, where he died.\n\n\n\n\nXC.--_To his Reverend and Dear Brother_, MR. JOHN LIVINGSTONE.\n\n [JOHN LIVINGSTONE (the son of Alexander Livingstone, minister\n first at Monyabroch or Kilsyth, and afterwards at Lanark) was\n born at Monyabroch on the 21st of January 1603. At the College of\n Glasgow, he enjoyed the advantage of having as his regent for two\n years the famous Robert Blair, for whom he continued ever after\n to retain the highest veneration. He was first settled minister\n at Killinchie, in Ireland, towards the close of the year 1630,\n but had not laboured above twelve months in that charge when he\n was suspended by the Bishop of Down, for nonconformity. To enjoy\n religious liberty, he set out with Mr. Blair and others in their\n intended emigration to America; but, with the rest, was forced by\n the adverse state of the weather to return. Shortly after, he\n received calls from two parishes, Stranraer and Stewarton, but\n preferred the call from the former, and his induction took place\n on the 5th of July 1638. Here he continued in the assiduous\n discharge of his pastoral functions until 1648, when, by the\n sentence of the General Assembly, he was translated to the parish\n of Ancrum, in the Presbytery of Jedburgh. Upon the death of\n Charles I., he was sent to the Hague, and afterwards to Breda, as\n one of the commissioners from the Church of Scotland to treat\n with his son Charles II., whose character he had the penetration\n to discover. In the controversy between the Resolutioners and\n Protesters, Livingstone took the side of the latter, but was\n dissatisfied with the violence manifested by his party. After the\n restoration of Charles II., being summoned to appear before the\n Privy Council in 1662, he appeared; but, declining to engage to\n observe the anniversary of the death of Charles I., and to take\n the oath of allegiance in the precise way in which it was\n dictated to him, he was sentenced to quit his native land within\n two months. Having repaired to Rotterdam, he preached\n occasionally to the Scottish congregation there, and devoted the\n remainder of his life to the cultivation of Biblical literature.\n He died in that city on the 9th of August 1672, in the seventieth\n year of his age.\n\n It was this same Livingstone that was so blessed in awakenings.\n By a sermon which he preached in 1630 at the Kirk-of-Shotts, on\n the Monday after the dispensation of the Lord's Supper, five\n hundred souls, it is believed, were converted. On a similar\n occasion, at Holywood, in the north of Ireland, in one day, he\n was the instrument of awakening double that number to inquiry\n after salvation. (See Brief Historical Relation of the Life of\n John Livingston in \"Select Biographies,\" vol. i., Wodrow Society,\n 1845.)]\n\n(_RESIGNATION--ENJOYMENT--STATE OF THE CHURCH_.)\n\n\nMY REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I\nlong to hear from you, and to be refreshed with the comforts of The\nBride of our Lord Jesus in Ireland. I suffer with you in grief, for\nthe dash that your desires to be at New England have received of late;\nbut if our Lord, who hath skill to bring up His children, had not seen\nit your best, it would not have befallen you. Hold your peace, and\nstay yourselves upon the Holy One of Israel. Hearken to what He hath\nsaid in crossing of your desires; He will speak peace to His people.\n\nI am here removed from my flock, and silenced, and confined in\nAberdeen, for the testimony of Jesus. And I have been confined in\nspirit also with desertions and challenges. I gave in a bill of\nquarrels, and complaints of unkindness against Christ, who seemed to\nhave cast me over the dyke of the vineyard as a dry tree, and\nseparated me from the Lord's inheritance; but high, high and loud\npraises be to our royal crowned King in Zion, that He hath not burnt\nthe dry branch. I shall yet live, and see His glory.\n\nYour mother-Church, for her whoredom, is like to be cast off. The\nbairns may break their hearts to see such chiding betwixt the husband\nand the wife. Our clergy is upon a reconciliation with the Lutherans;\nand the Doctors are writing books, and drawing up a common confession,\nat the Council's command. Our Service Book is proclaimed with sound\nof trumpet. The night is fallen down upon the prophets! Scotland's\nday of visitation is come. It is time for the bride to weep, while\nChrist is a-saying that He will choose another wife. But our sky will\nclear again; the dry branch of cut-down Lebanon will bud again and be\nglorious, and they shall yet plant vines upon our mountains.\n\nNow, my dear brother, I write to you for this end, that ye may help me\nto praise; and seek help of others with you, that God may be glorified\nin my bonds. My Lord Jesus hath taken the withered, dry stranger, and\nHis prisoner broken in heart, into His house of wine. Oh, oh, if ye,\nand all Scotland, and all our brethren with you, knew how I am\nfeasted! Christ's honey-combs drop comforts. He dineth with His\nprisoner, and the King's spikenard casteth a smell. The devil cannot\nget it denied that we suffer for the apple of Christ's eye, His royal\nprerogatives, as King and Lawgiver. Let us not fear or faint. He will\nhave His Gospel once again rouped in Scotland, and have the matter\ngoing to voices, to see who will say, \"Let Christ be crowned King in\nScotland.\" It is true that Antichrist stirreth his tail; but I love a\nrumbling and raging devil in the kirk (since the Church militant\ncannot or may not want a devil to trouble her), rather than a subtle\nor sleeping devil. Christ never yet got a bride without stroke of\nsword. It is now nigh the Bridegroom's entering into His chamber; let\nus awake and go in with Him.\n\nI bear your name to Christ's door; I pray you, dear brother, forget me\nnot. Let me hear from you by a letter; and I charge you, smother not\nChrist's bounty towards me. I write what I have found of Him in the\nhouse of my pilgrimage. Remember my love to all our brethren and\nsisters there.\n\nThe Keeper of the vineyard watch for His besieged city, and for you.\n\n Your brother, and fellow-sufferer,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Feb. 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nXCI.--_To_ MR. EPHRAIM MELVIN.\n\n [EPHRAIM MELVIN, or MELVILLE, was first ordained minister of\n Queensferry, and afterwards translated to Linlithgow, where he\n died. His ministry was signally blessed of God for bringing many\n to the saving knowledge of the truth, among whom were some who\n afterwards became eminent ministers of the Gospel in their day.\n One of these was the famous Mr. James Durham of Glasgow.\n Happening, with his pious wife, a daughter of the laird of\n Duntervie, to pay a visit to her mother, also a religious woman,\n in Queensferry, when the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was to\n be observed in that place, his mother-in-law, upon the Saturday,\n desired him to go with her to hear sermon. Being then a stranger\n to true religion, he was disinclined to go, and said, with a tone\n of indifference, \"that he had not come there to hear sermon;\" but\n upon being pressed, to gratify his pious relative, he went. The\n discourse which he heard, though plain and ordinary, was\n delivered with an affection and earnestness that arrested the\n attention of Durham, and so impressed him, that on coming home he\n said to his mother-in-law, \"Your minister preached very\n seriously, and I shall not need to be pressed to go to hear\n to-morrow.\" Accordingly he went, and Mr. Melvin, choosing for his\n text these words, \"To you which believe, He is precious,\" 1 Peter\n ii. 7, opened up the preciousness of Christ with such unction and\n seriousness, that it proved, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the\n means of his conversion. In that sermon he closed with Christ,\n and then took his seat at the Lord's Table, though to that day he\n had been an absolute stranger to believing. He was accustomed\n afterwards to call Mr. Melvin his father, when he spoke of him or\n to him. On another occasion, Mr. Melvin, by a sermon which he\n preached at Stewarton, when a probationer and chaplain to the\n excellent Lady Boyd, was the instrument of converting Mr. John\n Stirling in the fourteenth or sixteenth year of his age--one who\n proved a useful minister in his day, \"Some say also,\" remarks\n Wodrow, \"that he was a spiritual father to Mr. John Dury of\n Dalmeny, a man much esteemed of in his time, as having a taking\n and soaring gift of preaching, much like Mr. William Guthrie's\n gift.\" When Rutherford heard of Melvin's death, he is represented\n to have said, \"And is Ephraim dead? He was an interpreter among a\n thousand.\" (Wodrow's \"Anal.,\" vol. iii.)]\n\n(_THE IDOLATRY OF KNEELING AT THE COMMUNION_.)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I received your letter, and am contented,\nwith all my heart, that our acquaintance in our Lord continue.\n\nI am wrestling as I dow, up the mount with Christ's cross: my Second\nis kind and able to help.\n\nAs for your questions, because of my manifold distractions, and\nletters to multitudes, I have not time to answer them. What shall be\nsaid in common for that shall be imparted to you; for I am upon these\nquestions. Therefore spare me a little, for the Service Book would\ntake a great time. But I think; \"Sicut deosculatio religiosa imaginis,\naut etiam elementorum, est in se idololatria externa, etsi intentio\ndeosculandi, tota, quanta in actu est, feratur in Deum \u03c0\u03c1\u03c9\u03c4\u03bf\u03c4\u03c5\u03c0\u1f78\u03bd;\nita, geniculatio coram pane, quando, nempe, ex instituto,\ntotus homo externus et internus versari debeat circa elementaria\nsigna, est adoratio relativa, et adoratio ipsius panis. Ratio:\nIntentio adorandi objectum materiale, non est de essenti\u00e2 extern\u00e6\nadorationis, ut patet in deosculatione religios\u00e2. Sic geniculatio\ncoram imagine Babylonic\u00e2 est externa adoratio imaginis, etsi tres\npueri mente intendissent adorare Jehovam. Sic, qui ex metu solo, aut\nspe pretii, aut inanis glori\u00e6, geniculatur coram aureo vitulo\nJeroboami (quod ab ipso rege, qui null\u00e2 religione inductus, sed\nlibidine dominandi tantum, vitulum erexit, factitatum esse, textus\nsatis luculenter clamat), adorat vitulum extern\u00e2 adoratione. Esto\nquod putaret vitulum esse meram creaturam, et honore nullo dignum:\nquia geniculatio, sive nos nolumus, sive volumus, ex instituto Dei et\nnatur\u00e6, in actu religioso, est symbolum religios\u00e6 adorationis. Ergo,\nsicut panis significat corpus Christi, etsi absit actus omnis nostr\u00e6\nintentionis; sic religiosa geniculatio, sublat\u00e2 omni intentione\nhuman\u00e2, est externa adoratio panis, coram quo adoramus, ut coram signo\nvicario et repr\u00e6sentativo Dei.\" [As the religious homage done to an\nimage, or even to elements, is in itself an external act of idolatry,\nin so far as the act is concerned, although the _intention_ of such\nhomage may be directed to God the Great First Cause,--so the act of\nkneeling to a piece of bread, seeing that, according to the ordinance,\nthe whole man, internal and external, ought to be engaged in the\nelementary signs, is a relative act of worship and an adoration of the\nbread itself. The reason is: an _intention_ to worship a material\nobject is not of the essence of external adoration, as appears in a\nreligious act of homage. Thus, the bending of the knee before the\nBabylonish image is an external act of worship, even though the three\nyouths had no intention to worship any but the true God; and in like\nmanner, those who, from fear or the hope of reward or vain-glory, bend\nthe knee to Jeroboam's golden calf (which the text clearly enough\nproclaims to have been done by the king himself, from no religious\nmotive but the mere desire to rule), do pay adoration to the calf by\nthe external act, although, no doubt, they may suppose the calf a mere\ncreated object and unworthy of honour,--because the act of homage,\nwhether we mean it or not, is, from the ordinance of God and nature, a\nsymbol of worship. Therefore, as the bread denotes the body of Christ\n(even though that idea be not present to the mind), so in like manner,\nkneeling, when used as a religious service, is the external adoration\nof that bread, in presence of which we bow as before the delegated\nrepresentative of God, be our intention what it may.][189]\n\n [189] The Latin is to be accounted for as being an extract from some\n learned treatise. It is in substance what we find in Calderwood's\n \"Altare Damascenum,\" p. 595.\n\nThus recommending you to God's tender mercy, I desire that you would\nremember me to God. Sanctification will settle you most in the truth.\n\n Grace be with you, Brother in Christ Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nXCII.--_To_ ROBERT GORDON _of Knockbrex_.\n\n(_VISITS OF CHRIST--THE THINGS WHICH AFFLICTION TEACHES._)\n\n\nMY VERY WORTHY AND DEAR FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.\nThough all Galloway should have forgotten me, I would have expected a\nletter from you ere now; but I will not expound it to be forgetfulness\nof me.\n\nNow, my dear brother, I cannot show you how matters go betwixt Christ\nand me. I find my Lord going and coming seven times a day. His visits\nare short; but they are both frequent and sweet. I dare not for my\nlife think of a challenge of my Lord. I hear ill tales, and hard\nreports of Christ, from The Tempter and my flesh; but love believeth\nno evil. I may swear that they are liars, and that apprehensions make\nlies of Christ's honest and unalterable love to me. I dare not say\nthat I am a dry tree, or that I have no room at all in the vineyard;\nbut yet I often think that the sparrows are blessed, who may resort to\nthe house of God in Anwoth, from which I am banished.\n\nTemptations, that I supposed to be stricken dead and laid upon their\nback, rise again and revive upon me; yea, I see that while I live,\ntemptations will not die. The devil seemeth to brag and boast as much\nas if he had more court with Christ than I have; and as if he had\ncharmed and blasted my ministry, that I shall do no more good in\npublic. But his wind shaketh no corn.[190] I will not believe that\nChrist would have made such a mint to have me to Himself, and have\ntaken so much pains upon me as He hath done, and then slip so easily\nfrom possession, and lose the glory of what He hath done. Nay, since I\ncame to Aberdeen, I have been taken up to see the new land, the fair\npalace of the Lamb; and will Christ let me see heaven, to break my\nheart, and never give it to me? I shall not think my Lord Jesus giveth\na dumb earnest, or putteth His seals to blank paper, or intendeth to\nput me off with fair and false promises. I see that now which I never\nsaw well before. (1.) I see faith's necessity in a fair day is never\nknown aright; but now I miss nothing so much as faith. Hunger in me\nrunneth to fair and sweet promises; but when I come, I am like a\nhungry man that wanteth teeth, or a weak stomach having a sharp\nappetite that is filled with the very sight of meat, or like one\nstupefied with cold under the water, that would fain come to land, but\ncannot grip anything casten to him. I can let Christ grip me, but I\ncannot grip Him. I love to be kissed, and to sit on Christ's knee; but\nI cannot set my feet to the ground, for afflictions bring the cramp\nupon my faith. All that I dow do is to hold out a lame faith to\nChrist, like a beggar holding out a stump, instead of an arm or leg,\nand cry, \"Lord Jesus, work a miracle!\" Oh, what would I give to have\nhands and arms to grip strongly, and fold heartsomely about Christ's\nneck, and to have my claim made good with real possession! I think\nthat my love to Christ hath feet in abundance, and runneth swiftly to\nbe at Him, but it wanteth hands and fingers to apprehend Him. I think\nthat I would give Christ every morning my blessing, to have as much\nfaith as I have love and hunger; at least, I miss faith more than love\nor hunger.\n\n [190] Does no harm.\n\n(2.) I see that mortification, and to be crucified to the world, is\nnot so highly accounted of by us as it should be. Oh, how heavenly a\nthing it is to be dead, and dumb, and deaf to this world's sweet\nmusic! I confess it hath pleased His Majesty to make me laugh at the\nchildren, who are wooing this world for their match. I see men lying\nabout the world, as nobles about a king's court; and I wonder what\nthey are all doing there. As I am at this present, I would scorn to\ncourt such a feckless and petty princess, or buy this world's kindness\nwith a bow of my knee. I scarce now either hear or see what it is that\nthis world offereth me; I know that it is little which it can take\nfrom me, and as little that it can give me. I recommend mortification\nto you above anything; for, alas! we but chase feathers flying in the\nair, and tire our own spirits for the froth and over-gilded clay of a\ndying life. One sight of what my Lord hath let me see within this\nshort time is worth a world of worlds.\n\n(3.) I thought courage, in the time of trouble for Christ's sake, a\nthing that I might take up at my foot. I thought that the very\nremembrance of the honesty of the cause would be enough. But I was a\nfool in so thinking. I have much ado now to win to one smile. But I\nsee that joy groweth up in heaven, and it is above our short arm.\nChrist will be steward and dispenser Himself, and none else but He;\ntherefore, now, I count much of one dramweight of spiritual joy. One\nsmile of Christ's face is now to me as a kingdom; and yet He is no\nniggard to me of comforts. Truly I have no cause to say that I am\npinched with penury, or that the consolations of Christ are dried up:\nfor He hath poured down rivers upon a dry wilderness the like of\nme,[191] to my admiration; and in my very swoonings, He holdeth up my\nhead, and stayeth me with flagons of wine, and comforteth me with\napples. My house and bed are strewed with kisses of love. Praise,\npraise with me. Oh, if ye and I betwixt us could lift up Christ upon\nHis throne, howbeit all Scotland should cast Him down to the ground!\n\n [191] Such as I am!\n\nMy brother's case toucheth me near. I hope that ye will be kind to\nhim, and give him your best counsel.\n\nRemember my love to your brother, to your wife, and G. M.[192] Desire\nhim to be faithful, and to repent of his hypocrisy; and say that I\nwrote it to you. I wish him salvation. Write to me your mind anent C.\nE. and C. Y., and their wives, and I. G., or any others in my parish.\nI fear that I am forgotten amongst them; but I cannot forget them.\n\n [192] All those whose initials are given are understood to have been\n parishioners of his at Anwoth.\n\nThe prisoner's prayers and blessings come upon you. Grace, grace be\nwith you.\n\n Your brother, in the Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Feb. 9, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nXCIII.--_To the Honourable and truly Noble Lady, the_ VISCOUNTESS OF\nKENMURE.\n\n(_GOD'S DEALINGS WITH SCOTLAND--THE EYE TO BE DIRECTED HEAVENWARD._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your Ladyship.--I long to hear\nfrom you.\n\nI am here waiting, if a good wind, long looked for, will at length\nblow into Christ's sails, in this land. But I wonder if Jesus be not\ncontent to suffer more yet in His members and cause, and in the beauty\nof His house, rather than He should not be avenged upon this land. I\nhear that many worthy men, who see more in the Lord's dealings than I\ncan take up with my dim sight, are of a contrary mind, and do believe\nthat the Lord is coming home again to His house in Scotland. I hope He\nis on His journey that way; yet I look not but that He will feed this\nland with their own blood, before He establish His throne amongst us.\n\nI know that your honour is not looking after things here-away. Ye have\nno great cause to think that your stock and principal is under the\nroof of these visible heavens; and I hope that ye would think yourself\na beguiled and cozened soul if it were so. I should be sorry to\ncounsel your Ladyship to make a covenant with time, and this life; but\nrather desire you to hold in fair generals, and afar off from this\nill-founded heaven that is on this side of the water. It speaketh\nsomewhat when our Lord bloweth the bloom off our daft hopes in this\nlife, and loppeth the branches off our worldly joys, well nigh the\nroot, on purpose that they should not thrive. Lord, spill my fool's\nheaven in this life, that I may be saved for ever. A forfeiture of the\nsaint's part of the yolk and marrow of short-laughing worldly\nhappiness, is not such a real evil as our blinded eyes conceive.\n\nI am thinking long now for some deliverance more than before. But I\nknow I am in an error. It is possible I am not come to that measure of\ntrial which the Lord is seeking in His work. If my friends in Galloway\nwould effectually do for my deliverance, I should exceedingly rejoice;\nbut I know not but the Lord hath a way whereof He will be the only\nreaper of praises.\n\nLet me know with the bearer how the child is. The Lord be his father\nand tutor, and your only comforter. There is nothing here, where I am,\nbut profanity and atheism. Grace, grace, be with your Ladyship.\n\n Your Ladyship's, at all obliged obedience, in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Feb. 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nXCIV.--_To the Noble and Christian Lady, the_ VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.\n\n(_THE TIMES--CHRIST'S SWEETNESS IN TROUBLE--LONGING AFTER HIM._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I would not omit the\noccasion to write to your Ladyship with the bearer. I am glad that the\nchild is well. God's favour, even in the eyes of men, be seen upon\nhim!\n\nI hope that your Ladyship is thinking upon these sad and woful days\nwherein we now live, when our Lord, in His righteous judgment, is\nsending the kirk the gate she is going to Rome's brothel-house to seek\na lover of her own, seeing that she hath given up with Christ her\nHusband. Oh, what sweet comfort, what rich salvation, is laid up for\nthose who had rather wash and roll their garments in their own blood,\nthan break out[193] from Christ by apostacy! Keep yourself in the love\nof Christ, and stand far aback from the pollutions of the world. Side\nnot with these times; and hold off from coming nigh the signs of a\nconspiracy with those that are now come out against Christ, that ye\nmay be one kept for Christ only. I know that your Ladyship thinketh\nupon this, and how you may be humbled for yourself and this\nbacksliding land; for I avouch, that wrath from the Lord is gone out\nagainst Scotland. I think aye the longer the better of my royal and\nworthy Master. He is become a new Well-beloved to me now, in renewed\nconsolations, by the presence of the Spirit of grace and glory.\nChrist's garments smell of the powder of the merchant, when He cometh\nout of His ivory chambers. Oh, His perfumed face, His fair face, His\nlovely and kindly kisses, have made me, a poor prisoner, see that\nthere is more to be had of Christ in this life than I believed! We\nthink all is but a little earnest, a four-hours, a small tasting, that\nwe have, or that is to be had, in this life (which is true compared\nwith the inheritance); but yet I know it is more: it is the kingdom of\nGod within us. Wo, wo is me, that I have not ten loves for that one\nLord Jesus; and that love faileth, and drieth up in loving Him; and\nthat I find no way to spend my love desires, and the yolk of my heart\nupon that fairest and dearest One. I am far behind with my narrow\nheart. Oh, how ebb a soul have I to take in Christ's love! for let\nworlds be multiplied, according to angels' understanding, in millions,\nwhill they weary themselves, these worlds would not contain the\nthousandth part of His love. Oh, if I could yoke in amongst the thick\nof angels, and seraphims, and now glorified saints, and could raise a\nnew love-song of Christ, before all the world! I am pained with\nwondering at new-opened treasures in Christ. If every finger, member,\nbone, and joint, were a torch burning in the hottest fire in hell, I\nwould that they could all send out love praises, high songs of praise\nfor evermore, to that Plant of Renown, to that royal and high Prince,\nJesus my Lord. But alas! His love swelleth in me, and findeth no vent.\nAlas! what can a dumb prisoner do or say for Him! O for an ingine to\nwrite a book of Christ and His love! Nay, I am left of Him bound and\nchained with His love. I cannot find a loosed soul to lift up His\npraises, and give them out to others. But oh! my day-light hath thick\nclouds; I cannot shine in His praises. I am often like a ship plying\nabout to seek the wind; I sail at great leisure, and cannot be blown\nupon that loveliest Lord. Oh, if I could turn my sails to Christ's\nright airth, and that I had my heart's wishes of His love! But I but\nmar His praises: nay, I know no comparison of what Christ is, and what\nHis worth is. All the angels, and all the glorified, praise Him not so\nmuch as in halves. Who can advance Him, or utter all His praises? I\nwant nothing; unknown faces favour me; enemies must speak good of the\ntruth; my Master's cause purchaseth commendations.\n\n [193] _Off_, probably.\n\nThe hopes of my enlargement, from appearances, are cold. My faith hath\nno bed to sleep upon but omnipotency. The good-will of the Lord, and\nHis sweetest presence, be with you and that child. Grace and peace be\nyours.\n\n Your Ladyship's, in all duty in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nXCV.--_To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, the_ VISCOUNTESS OF\nKENMURE.\n\n(_CHRIST'S CROSS SWEET--HIS COMING TO BE DESIRED--JEALOUS OF ANY\nRIVAL._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your Ladyship. I would not omit\nto write a line with this Christian bearer; one in your Ladyship's own\ncase, driven near to Christ, in and by her affliction. I wish that my\nfriends in Galloway forget me not. However it be, Christ is so good, I\nwill have no other tutor, suppose I could have wale and choice of ten\nthousand beside. I think now five hundred heavy hearts for Him too\nlittle. I wish that Christ, now weeping, suffering, and contemned of\nmen, were more dear and desirable to many souls than He is. I am sure\nthat if the saints wanted Christ's cross, so profitable, and so sweet,\nthey might, for the gain and glory of it, wish it were lawful either\nto buy or borrow His cross. But it is a mercy that the saints have it\nlaid to their hand for nothing; for I know no sweeter way to heaven\nthan through free grace and hard trials together; and one of these\ncannot well want another.\n\nO that time would post faster, and hasten our looked-for communion\nwith that fairest, fairest among the sons of men! O that the day would\nfavour us and come, and put Christ and us into each other's arms! I am\nsure that a few years will do our turn, and the soldier's hour-glass\nwill soon run out. Madam, look to your lamp, and look for your Lord's\nComing, and let your heart dwell aloof from that sweet child. Christ's\njealousy will not admit of two equal loves in your Ladyship's heart.\nHe must have one, and that the greatest; a little one to a creature\nmay and must suffice a soul married to Him. \"Thy Maker is thine\nHusband\" (Isa. liv. 5). I would wish you well, and my obligations\nthese many years byegone speak no less to me; but more I can neither\nwish, nor pray, nor desire for your Ladyship, than Christ singled and\nwaled out from all created good things, or Christ howbeit wet in His\nown blood, and wearing a crown of thorns. I am sure that the saints,\nat their best, are but strangers to the weight and worth of the\nincomparable sweetness of Christ. He is so new, so fresh in excellency\nevery day of new, to those that search more and more in Him, as if\nheaven could furnish us as many new Christs (if I may so speak) as\nthere are days betwixt Him and us; and yet He one and the same. Oh, we\nlove an unknown lover when we love Christ!\n\nLet me hear how the child is every way. The prayers of a prisoner of\nChrist be upon him. Grace for evermore, even whill glory perfect it,\nbe with your Ladyship.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nXCVI.--_To the Noble and Christian Lady, the_ VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.\n\n(CHRIST ALL WORTHY--ANWOTH.)\n\n\nMADAM,--Notwithstanding the great haste of the bearer, I would bless\nyour Ladyship on paper, desiring, that since Christ hath ever envied\nthat the world should have your love by Him,[194] that ye give\nyourself out for Christ, and that ye may be for no other. I know none\nworthy of you but Christ.\n\n [194] More than He; setting Him aside.\n\nMadam, I am either suffering for Christ, and this is the sure and good\nway; or, I have done with heaven, and shall never see God's face,\nwhich, I bless Him, cannot be.\n\nI write my blessing to that sweet child, that ye have borrowed from\nGod. He is no heritage to you, but a loan; love him as folks do\nborrowed things. My heart is heavy for you.\n\nThey say that the kirk of Christ hath neither son nor heir, and\ntherefore that her enemies shall possess her. But I know that she is\nnot that ill-friended; her Husband is her heir, and she His heritage.\n\nIf my Lord would be pleased, I should desire that some be dealt with,\nfor my return to Anwoth. But if that never be, I thank God Anwoth is\nnot heaven; preaching is not Christ. I hope to wait on.\n\nLet me hear how your child is, and your Ladyship's mind and hopes of\nhim; for it would ease my heart to know that he is well.\n\nI am in good terms with Christ; but oh, my guiltiness! Yet He bringeth\nnot pleas betwixt Him and me to the streets, and before the sun.\n\nGrace, grace for ever more be with your Ladyship.\n\n Your Ladyship's, at all obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nXCVII.--_To_ ALEXANDER GORDON _of Earlston_.\n\n(_CHRIST ENDEARED BY BITTER EXPERIENCES--SEARCHINGS OF HEART--FEAR FOR\nTHE CHURCH._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received your\nletter, which refreshed me. Except from your son, and my brother, I\nhave seen few letters from my acquaintance in that country; which\nmaketh me heavy. But I have the company of a Lord who can teach us all\nto be kind, and hath the right gate of it. Though, for the present, I\nhave seven ups and downs every day, yet I am abundantly comforted and\nfeasted with my King and Well-beloved daily. It pleaseth Him to come\nand dine with a sad prisoner, and a solitary stranger. His spikenard\ncasteth a smell. Yet my sweet hath some sour mixed with it, wherein I\nmust acquiesce; for there is no reason that His comforts be too cheap,\nseeing they are delicates. Why should He not make them so to His own?\nBut I verily think now, that Christ hath led me up to a nick in\nChristianity that I was never at before; I think all before was but\nchildhood and bairn's play. Since I departed from you, I have been\nscalded, whill the smoke of hell's fire went in at my throat, and I\nwould have bought peace with a thousand years' torment in hell; and I\nhave been up also, after these deep down-castings and sorrows, before\nthe Lamb's white throne, in my Father's inner court, the Great King's\ndining-hall. And Christ did cast a covering of love on me. He hath\ncasten a coal into my soul, and it is smoking among the straw and\nkeeping the hearth warm. I look back to what I was before, and I laugh\nto see the sand-houses I built when I was a child.\n\nAt first the remembrance of the many fair feast-days with my Lord\nJesus in public, which are now changed into silent Sabbaths, raised a\ngreat tempest, and (if I may speak so) made the devil ado in my soul.\nThe devil came in, and would prompt me to make a plea with Christ, and\nto lay the blame on Him as a hard master. But now these mists are\nblown away, and I am not only silenced as to all quarrelling, but\nfully satisfied. Now, I wonder that any man living can laugh upon the\nworld, or give it a hearty good-day. The Lord Jesus hath handled me\nso, that, as I am now disposed, I think never to be in this world's\ncommons again for a night's lodging. Christ beareth me good company.\nHe hath eased me, when I saw it not, lifting the cross off my\nshoulders, so that I think it to be but a feather, because underneath\nare everlasting arms. God forbid it come to bartering or nifferings of\ncrosses; for I think my cross so sweet, that I know not where I would\nget the like of it. Christ's honey-combs drop so abundantly, that they\nsweeten my gall. Nothing breaketh my heart, but that I cannot get the\ndaughters of Jerusalem to tell them of my Bridegroom's glory. I charge\nyou in the name of Christ, that ye tell all that ye come to of it; and\nyet it is above telling and understanding. Oh, if all the kingdom were\nas I am, except my bonds! They know not the love-kisses that my only\nLord Jesus wasteth on a dawted prisoner. On my salvation, this is the\nonly way to the New City. I know that Christ hath no dumb seals. Would\nHe put His privy-seal upon blank paper? He hath sealed my sufferings\nwith His comforts. I write this to confirm you. I write now what I\nhave seen as well as heard. Now and then my silence burneth up my\nspirit; but Christ hath said, \"Thy stipend is running up with interest\nin heaven, as if thou wert preaching;\" and this from a King's mouth\nrejoiceth my heart. At other times I am sad, dwelling in Kedar's\ntents.\n\nThere are none (that I yet know of) but two persons in this town that\nI dare give my word for. And the Lord hath removed my brethren and my\nacquaintance far from me; and it may be, that I shall be forgotten in\nthe place where the Lord made me the instrument to do some good. But I\nsee that this is vanity in me; let Him make of me what He pleaseth, if\nHe make salvation out of it to me. I am tempted and troubled, that all\nthe fourteen prelates[195] should have been armed of God against me\nonly, while the rest of my brethren are still preaching. But I dare\nnot say one word but this, \"It is good, Lord Jesus, because Thou hast\ndone it.\"\n\n [195] See Letter LXVIII.\n\nWo is me for the virgin-daughter! wo is me for the desolation of the\nvirgin-daughter of Scotland! Oh, if my eyes were a fountain of tears,\nto weep day and night for that poor widow-kirk, that poor miserable\nharlot! Alas, that my Father hath put to the door on my poor\nharlot-mother! O for that cloud of black wrath, and fury of the\nindignation of the Lord, that is hanging over the land!\n\nSir, write to me, I beseech you. I pray you also be kind to my\nafflicted brother. Remember my love to your wife; and the prayer and\nblessing of the prisoner of Christ be on you. Frequent your meetings\nfor prayer and communion with God: they would be sweet meetings to me.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Feb. 16, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nXCVIII.--_To the Worthy and much Honoured MR. ALEXANDER COLVILLE of\nBlair._\n\n [ALEXANDER COLVILLE of Blair (which is in the parish of Carnock,\n Fifeshire) early commended himself to the gratitude of Rutherford\n by befriending him under prelatic persecutions. When Rutherford\n in 1630 was summoned before the High Commission Court, this\n gentleman, being one of the judges, exerted himself in his\n behalf; and his influence, together with the absence of the\n Archbishop of St Andrews, occasioned the desertion of the diet,\n and put a stop to the proceedings against the obnoxious minister.\n (See Letter XI.) As we learn from this letter, he also showed\n much kindness to Rutherford's brother on his trial before the\n High Commission in November 1636, for his nonconformity and\n zealous support of Mr. Glendinning, the injured minister of\n Kirkcudbright. Colville was an elder of the Church, and his name\n appears on the roll of the members of the General Assemblies\n 1645, 1646, 1648, and 1649, and of the Commissions appointed by\n these Assemblies. We find him after this, in co-operation with\n another individual, delating Mr. Robert Bruce, minister of\n Ballagray, of which they were parishioners, on the ground that\n they were not edified by his doctrine.]\n\n(_INCREASING EXPERIENCE OF CHRIST'S LOVE--GOD WITH HIS SAINTS._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. The bearer\nhereof, Mr. R. F., is most kind to me; I desire you to thank him. But\nnone is so kind as my only royal King and Master, whose cross is my\ngarland. The King dineth with His prisoner, and His spikenard casteth\na smell. He hath led me up to such a pitch and nick of joyful\ncommunion with Himself, as I never knew before. When I look back to\nby-gones, I judge myself to have been a child at A, B, C with Christ.\nWorthy Sir, pardon me, I dare not conceal it from you; it is as a fire\nin my bowels. (In His presence who seeth me I speak it!) I am pained,\npained with the love of Christ; He hath made me sick, and wounded me.\nHunger for Christ outrunneth faith; I miss faith more than love. Oh,\nif the three kingdoms would come and see! Oh, if they knew His\nkindness to my soul! It hath pleased Him to bring me to this, that I\nwill not strike sails to this world, nor flatter it, nor adore this\nclay idol that fools worship. As I am now disposed, I think that I\nshall neither borrow nor lend[196] with it; and yet I get my meat from\nChrist with nurture; for seven times a-day I am lifted up, and casten\ndown. My dumb Sabbaths burden my heart, and make it bleed. I want not\nfearful challenges, and jealousies sometimes of Christ's love, that He\nhath casten me over the dyke of the vineyard as a dry tree. But this\nis my infirmity. By His grace I take myself in these ravings. It is\nkindly that faith and love both be sick, and fevers are kindly to most\njoyful communion with Christ.\n\n [196] \"Neither borrow nor lend,\" have no dealings with it.\n\nYe are blessed who avouch Christ openly before The Prince of this\nkingdom, whose eyes are upon you. It is your glory to lift Him up on\nHis throne, to carry His train, and bear up the hem of His robe royal.\nHe hath an hiding-place for Mr. Alexander Colville against the storm:\ngo on, and fear not what man can do. The saints seem to have the worst\nof it (for apprehension can make a lie of Christ and His love); but it\nis not so. Providence is not rolled upon unequal and crooked wheels;\nall things work together for the good of those who love God, and are\ncalled according to His purpose. Ere it be long, we shall see the\nwhite side of God's providence.\n\nMy brother's case hath moved me not a little. He wrote to me your care\nand kindness. Sir, the prisoner's blessings and prayers, I trust,\nshall not go past you. He that is able to keep you, and to present you\nbefore the presence of His face with joy, establish your heart in the\nlove of Christ.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Feb. 19, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nXCIX.--_To EARLSTON, Younger._\n\n [WILLIAM GORDON, to whom this letter is addressed, was the eldest\n son of Alexander Gordon of Earlston, formerly noticed (Letter\n LIX.). He exhibited in youth much of the piety and public spirit\n of his father. His well-known attachment to the cause of\n Presbytery rendered him early obnoxious to Charles II. and the\n Malignant party. When that monarch came to Scotland in 1651, and\n held a Parliament, he was fined for his compliance with the\n English; and on his refusing to pay the fine, soldiers were sent\n out to extract it by compulsion from his tenants, who were almost\n ruined by the driving away of their cattle and the robbing of\n their houses. He was again fined by Middleton, in 1662, and\n summoned before the Privy Council. On the 1st of March 1664,\n sentence of banishment from the kingdom was pronounced upon him\n for keeping conventicles, and for refusing to engage to refrain\n from such meetings in all time coming. Whither he went is not\n known; but the Council, on being petitioned, granted him licence\n to return until the 15th of March ensuing, at the same time\n requiring him to \"depart and remain forth of the kingdom the said\n day, in case the said Lords give order therefor\" (\"Decr. Secr.\n Council,\" Register House, Edin.). After this he remained at home,\n but his end was near, for, setting out to join the forces of the\n Covenanters at Bothwell, in the beginning of the year 1679, after\n the defeat (either on the day of it, or the day after), he was\n met by a party of English dragoons, who, upon his refusing to\n surrender, killed him on the spot. \"Thus fell,\" says Howie, in\n the \"Scots Worthies,\" \"a renowned Gordon, a gentleman of good\n parts and endowments; a man devoted unto religion and godliness,\n and a prime supporter of the Presbyterian interest in that part\n of the country where he lived.\" He was married to Mary, daughter\n of Sir John Hope, second baronet of Craighall, and President of\n the Court of Session, by his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir\n Archibald Murray of Blackbarony. His eldest son, Alexander,\n succeeded him.]\n\n[Illustration: BOTHWELL BRIDGE.]\n\n(_CHRIST'S WAYS MISUNDERSTOOD--HIS INCREASING KINDNESS--SPIRITUAL\nDELICACY--HARD TO BE DEAD TO THE WORLD._)\n\n\nHONOURED AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I\nreceived your letter, which refreshed my soul.\n\nI thank God that the court is closed; I think shame of my part of it.\nI pass now from my unjust summons of unkindness libelled against\nChrist my Lord. He is not such a Lord and Master as I took Him to be;\nverily He is God, and I am dust and ashes. It took Christ's glooms to\nbe as good as Scripture speaking wrath; but I have seen the other side\nof Christ, and the white side of His cross now. I behoved to come to\nAberdeen to learn a new mystery in Christ, that His promise is better\nto be believed than His looks, and that the devil can cause Christ's\nglooms to speak a lie to a weak man. Nay, verily, I was a child\nbefore; all by-gones are but bairn's play. I would I could begin to be\na Christian in sad earnest. I need not blame Christ if I be not one,\nfor He hath showed me heaven and hell in Aberdeen. But the truth is,\nfor all my sorrow, Christ is nothing in my debt, for comforts have\nrefreshed my soul. I have heard and seen Him in His sweetness, so as I\nam almost saying, it is not He that I was wont to meet with. He\nsmileth more cheerfully, His kisses are more sweet and soul-refreshing\nthan the kisses of the Christ I saw before were, though He be the\nsame. Or rather, the King hath led me up to a measure of joy and\ncommunion with my Bridegroom that I never attained to before, so that\noften I think that I will neither borrow nor lend with this\nworld.[197] I will not strike sail to crosses, nor flatter them to be\nquit of them, as I have done. Come all crosses, welcome, welcome! so\nthat I may get my heartful of my Lord Jesus. I have been so near Him,\nthat I have said, \"I take instruments that this is the Lord. Leave a\ntoken behind Thee, that I may never forget this.\" Now, what can Christ\ndo more to dawt one of His poor prisoners? Therefore, Sir, I charge\nyou in the name of my Lord Jesus, praise with me, and show unto others\nwhat He hath done unto my soul. This is the fruit of my sufferings,\nthat I desire Christ's name may be spread abroad in this kingdom, in\nmy behalf. I hope in God not to slander Him again. Yet in this, I get\nnot my feasts without some mixture of gall; neither am I free of old\njealousies, for He hath removed my lovers and friends far from me; He\nhath made my congregation desolate, and taken away my crown. And my\ndumb Sabbaths are like a stone tied to a bird's foot, that wanteth not\nwings,--they seem to hinder me to fly, were it not that I dare not say\none word, but, \"Well done, Lord Jesus.\"\n\n [197] See Letter XCVIII.\n\nWe can, in our prosperity, sport ourselves, and be too bold with\nChrist; yea, be that insolent, as to chide with Him; but under the\nwater we dare not speak. I wonder now of my sometime boldness, to\nchide and quarrel Christ, to nickname providence when it stroked me\nagainst the hair; for now, swimming in the waters, I think my will is\nfallen to the ground of the water: I have lost it. I think that I\nwould fain let Christ alone, and give Him leave to do with me what He\npleaseth, if He would smile upon me. Verily, we know not what an evil\nit is to spill and indulge ourselves, and to make an idol of our will.\nI was once that I would not eat except I had waled meat; now I dare\nnot complain of the crumbs and parings under His table. I was once\nthat I would make the house ado, if I saw not the world carved and set\nin order to my liking; now I am silent when I see God hath set\nservants on horseback, and is fattening and feeding the children of\nperdition. I pray God, that I may never find my will again. Oh, if\nChrist would subject my will to His, and trample it under His feet,\nand liberate me from that lawless lord!\n\nNow, Sir, in your youth gather fast; your sun will mount to the\nmeridian quickly, and thereafter decline. Be greedy of grace. Study\nabove anything, my dear brother, to mortify your lusts. Oh, but pride\nof youth, vanity, lusts, idolizing of the world, and charming\npleasures, take long time to root them out! As far as ye are advanced\nin the way to heaven, as near as ye are to Christ, as much progress as\nye have made in the way of mortification, ye will find that ye are far\nbehind, and have most of your work before you. I never took it to be\nso hard to be dead to my lusts and to this world. When the day of\nvisitation cometh, and your old idols come weeping about you, ye will\nhave much ado not to break your heart. It is best to give up in time\nwith them, so as ye could at a call quit your part of this world for a\ndrink of water, or a thing of nothing. Verily I have seen the best of\nthis world, a moth-eaten, threadbare coat: I purpose to lay it aside,\nbeing now old and full of holes. O for my house above, not made with\nhands!\n\nPray for Christ's prisoner; and write to me. Remember my love to your\nmother. Desire her, from me, to make ready for removing; the Lord's\ntide will not bide her; and to seek an heavenly mind, that her heart\nmay be often there. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, and Christ's prisoner,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Feb. 20, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nC.--_To the_ LADY CARDONESS.\n\n(_THE ONE THING NEEDFUL--CONSCIENTIOUS ACTING IN THE WORLD--ADVICE\nUNDER DEJECTING TRIALS._)\n\n\nMY DEARLY BELOVED, AND LONGED-FOR IN THE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and\npeace be to you--I long to hear how your soul prospereth, and how the\nkingdom of Christ thriveth in you. I exhort you and beseech you in the\nbowels of Christ, faint not, weary not. There is a great necessity of\nheaven; ye must needs have it. All other things, as houses, lands,\nchildren, husband, friends, country, credit, health, wealth, honour,\nmay be wanted; but heaven is your one thing necessary, the good part\nthat shall not be taken from you. See that ye buy the field where the\npearl is. Sell all, and make a purchase of salvation. Think it not\neasy; for it is a steep ascent to eternal glory; many are lying dead\nby the way, that were slain with security.\n\nI have now been led by my Lord Jesus to such a nick in Christianity,\nas I think little of former things. Oh, what I want! I want so many\nthings, that I am almost asking if I have anything at all. Every man\nthinketh he is rich enough in grace, till he take out his purse, and\ntell his money, and then he findeth his pack but poor and light in the\nday of a heavy trial. I found that I had not to bear my expenses, and\nI should have fainted, if want and penury had not chased me to the\nstorehouse of all.\n\nI beseech you to make conscience of your ways. Deal kindly, and with\nconscience, with your tenants. To fill a breach or a hole, make not a\ngreater breach in the conscience. I wish plenty of love to your soul.\nLet the world be the portion of bastards; make it not yours. After the\nlast trumpet is blown, the world and all its glory will be like an old\nhouse that is burnt to ashes, and like an old fallen castle, without a\nroof. Fy, fy upon us, fools! who think ourselves debtors to the world!\nMy Lord hath brought me to this, that I would not give a drink of cold\nwater for this world's kindness. I wonder that men long after, love,\nor care for these feathers. It is almost an unco world to me. To think\nthat men are so mad as to block with dead earth! To give out\nconscience, and get in clay again, is a strange bargain!\n\nI have written my mind at length to your husband. Write to me again\nhis case. I cannot forget him in my prayers; I am looking up (Ps. v.\n3). Christ hath some claim to him. My counsel is, that ye bear with\nhim when passion overtaketh him: \"A soft answer putteth away wrath.\"\nAnswer him in what he speaketh, and apply yourself in the fear of God\nto him; and then ye will remove a pound weight of your heavy cross,\nthat way, and so it shall become light.\n\nWhen Christ hideth Himself, wait on, and make din till He return; it\nis not time then to be carelessly patient. I love to be grieved when\nHe hideth His smiles. Yet believe His love in a patient onwaiting and\nbelieving in the dark. Ye must learn to swim and hold up your head\nabove the water, even when the sense of His presence is not with you\nto hold up your chin. I trust in God that He will bring your ship safe\nto land. I counsel you to study sanctification, and to be dead to this\nworld. Urge kindness on Knockbrex. Labour to benefit by his company;\nthe man is acquainted with Christ.\n\nI beg the help of your prayers, for I forget not you. Counsel your\nhusband to fulfil my joy, and to seek the Lord's face. Show him, from\nme, that my joy and desire is to hear that he is in the Lord. God\ncasteth him often in my mind, I cannot forget him. I hope Christ and\nhe have something to do together. Bless John from me. I write\nblessings to him, and to your husband, and to the rest of your\nchildren. Let it not be said, \"I am not in your house,\" through\nneglect of the Sabbath exercise.\n\n Your lawful and loving pastor in his only, only Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Feb. 20, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCI.--_To_ JONET MACCULLOCH.\n\n [No doubt this lady was one of the _Maccullochs_ of _Ardwell_, a\n residence near Anwoth, next to Cardoness. The Letter, CLXXXIV.,\n to Mr. Thomas Macculloch of _Nether Ardwell_, relates apparently\n to another of the same house. The house is very pleasantly\n situated near the mouth of the Fleet. The old mansion-house of\n Ardwell, or Ardwall, bore the name of \"Nether Ardwell;\" it\n occupied a spot about a hundred yards distant from the present\n mansion, lying towards the shore, a little below where the bay\n receives the waters of the Fleet. \"Higher Ardwell\" was towards\n the north: a farm near Bushy Bield (Rutherford's old manse, which\n was originally a mansion house) still bears that name. The family\n of the Maccullochs, who were intimate with Rutherford, still\n retain the property. They are an ancient family; for William\n Macculloch got a feu charter of the lands of Nether Ardwell from\n his cousin, or uncle, Macculloch of Cardoness and Myreton, in\n 1587. It is the wife of this William Macculloch, in all\n probability, of whom the following lines speak, on the tomb at\n the south side of the raised pile in the old churchyard:--\n\n Dumb, senseless statue of a painted stone,\n What means this boast? Thy captive is but clay.\n Thou gainest nothing but some lifeless bones;\n Her choicest part, her soul, triumphs for aye.\n Then, gazing friends, do not her death deplore;\n You lose, while she doth gain for evermore.\n\n \"Margrat Maklellan, goodwife of Ardwell, departed this life 1620.\n \u00c6tatis su\u00e6 31.\"\n\n We may add, the grand-daughter of this lady, to whom the lines on\n the monument refer, was mother of the martyr, John Bell of\n Whyteside.]\n\n(_CHRIST'S SUFFICIENCY--STEDFASTNESS IN THE TRUTH._)\n\n\nDEAR SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear how\nyour soul prospereth.\n\nI am as well as a prisoner of Christ can be, feasted and made fat with\nthe comforts of God. Christ's kisses are made sweeter to my soul than\never they were. I would not change my Master with all the kings of\nclay upon the earth. Oh! my Well-beloved is altogether lovely and\nloving. I care not what flesh can do.\n\nI persuade my soul that I delivered the truth of Christ to you. Slip\nnot from it, for any bosts or fear of men. If ye go against the truth\nof Christ that I now suffer for, I shall bear witness against you in\nthe day of Christ.\n\nSister, fasten your grip fast on Christ. Follow not the guises of this\nsinful world. Let not this clay portion of earth take up your soul: it\nis the portion of bastards, and ye are a child of God; and, therefore,\nseek your Father's heritage. Send up your heart to see the dwelling\nhouse and fair rooms in the New City. Fy, fy upon those who cry, \"Up\nwith the world and down with conscience and heaven!\" We have bairn's\nwits, and therefore we cannot prize Christ aright. Counsel your\nhusband, and mother, to make them ready for eternity. That day is\ndrawing nigh.\n\nPray for me, the prisoner of Christ. I cannot forget you.\n\n Your lawful pastor and brother,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Feb. 20, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCII.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Knockgray_.\n\n [Knockgray is a farm-like house, enclosed by trees, at the foot\n of the hills of Carsphairn. It is on your right hand, coming from\n Earlston to Carsphairn, after passing the little hill of\n Dundeuch. \"Alexander Gordon of Knockgray,\" says Livingstone, who\n personally knew him, \"was a rare Christian in his time. His\n chief, the Laird of Lochinvar, put him out of his land mostly for\n his religion; yet, being thereafter restored by that man's son,\n Lord Viscount of Kenmure, he told me the Lord had blessed him, so\n as he had ten thousand sheep\" (\"Select Biograph.\" vol. i.). From\n what Rutherford says in a subsequent letter addressed to\n him,--\"Christ's ways were known to you long before I (who am but\n a child) knew anything of Him,\"--it may be concluded that he was\n much older than Rutherford. The venerable old man was apprehended\n in his own house by one Captain Stuart; by whom also he seems to\n have been carried to Edinburgh, and there incarcerated.\n Alexander, his son (the grandson of Rutherford's correspondent),\n had also his own share of persecution under the intolerant reign\n of Charles II. He suffered much by garrisons put into his house,\n by the loss of household articles which they carried away, and by\n the forfeiture of his property. (Wodrow, MSS. vol. xxxvii.)]\n\n(_GROUNDS OF PRAISE--AFFLICTION TEMPTS TO MISREPRESENT\nCHRIST--IDOLS._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long to hear how\nyour soul prospereth. I expected letters from you ere now.\n\nAs for myself, I am here in good case, well feasted with a great King.\nAt my coming here, I was that bold as to take up a jealousy of\nChrist's love. I said I was cast over the dyke of the Lord's vineyard,\nas a dry tree; but I see that if I had been a withered branch, the\nfire would have burned me long ere now. Blessed be His high name, who\nhath kept sap in the dry tree. And now, as if Christ hath done the\nwrong, He hath made the mends, and hath miskent my ravings; for a man\nunder the water cannot well command his wit, far less his faith and\nlove. Because it was a fever, my Lord Jesus forgave me that amongst\nthe rest. He knoweth that in our afflictions we can find a spot in the\nfairest face that ever was, even in Christ's face. I would not have\nbelieved that a gloom should have made me to misken my old Master; but\nwe must be whiles[198] sick. Sickness is but kindly to both faith and\nlove. But oh, how exceedingly is a poor dawted prisoner obliged to\nsweet Jesus! My tears are sweeter to me than the laughter of the\nfourteen prelates is to them. The worst of Christ, even His chaff, is\nbetter than the world's corn.\n\n [198] Occasionally.\n\nDear Brother, I beseech you, I charge you in the name and authority of\nthe Son of God, to help me to praise His Highness; and I charge you\nalso to tell all your acquaintance, that my Master may get many\nthanks. Oh, if my hairs, all my members, and all my bones, were\nwell-tuned tongues, to sing the high praises of my great and glorious\nKing! Help me to lift Christ up upon His throne, and to lift Him up\nabove the thrones of the clay-kings, the dying sceptre-bearers of this\nworld. The prisoner's blessing, the blessing of him that is separate\nfrom his brethren, be upon them all who will lend me a lift in this\nwork. Show this to that people with you to whom I sometimes preached.\n\nBrother, my Lord hath brought me to this, that I will not flatter the\nworld for a drink of water. I am no debtor to clay; Christ hath made\nme dead to that. I now wonder that ever I was such a child, long\nsince, as to beg at such beggars! Fy upon us, who woo such a\nblack-skinned harlot, when we may get such a fair, fair match in\nheaven! O that I could give up this clay-idol, this masked, painted,\nover-gilded dirt, that Adam's sons adore! We make an idol of our will.\nAs many lusts in us, as many gods; we are all godmakers. We are like\nto lose Christ, the true God, in the throng of those new and false\ngods. Scotland hath cast her crown off her head; the virgin-daughter\nhath lost her garland. Wo, wo to our harlot mother. Our day is coming;\na time when women shall wish they had been childless, and fathers\nshall bless miscarrying wombs and dry breasts; many houses great and\nfair shall be desolate. This kirk shall sit on the ground all the\nnight, and the tears shall run down her cheeks. The sun hath gone down\nupon her prophets. Blessed are the prisoners of hope, who can run into\ntheir stronghold, and hide themselves for a little, till the\nindignation be overpast.\n\nCommend me to your wife, your daughters, your son-in-law, and to A. T.\nWrite to me the case of your kirk. Grace be with you.\n\nI am much moved for my brother. I entreat for your kindness and\ncounsel to him.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Feb. 23, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCIII.--_To the LADY CARDONESS, Elder_.\n\n(_CHRIST AND HIS CAUSE RECOMMENDED--HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS--CAUTION\nAGAINST COMPLIANCES--ANXIETY ABOUT HIS PARISH._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND WELL-BELOVED IN THE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou. I long to hear from you on paper, that I may know how your soul\nprospereth. My desire and longing is to hear that ye walk in the\ntruth, and that ye are content to follow the despised but most lovely\nSon of God.\n\nI cannot but recommend Him unto you, as your Husband, your\nWell-beloved, your Portion, your Comfort, and your Joy. I speak this\nof that lovely One, because I praise and commend the ford (as we used\nto speak) as I find it. He hath watered with His sweet comforts an\noppressed prisoner. He was always kind to my soul; but never so kind\nas now, in my greatest extremities. I dine and sup with Christ. He\nvisiteth my soul the visitations of love, in the night-watches.\n\nI persuade my soul that this is the way to heaven, and His own truth\nI now suffer for. I exhort you in the name of Christ to continue in\nthe truth which I delivered unto you. Make Christ sure to your soul;\nfor your day draweth nigh to an end. Many slide back now, who seemed\nto be Christ's friends, and prove dishonest to Him; but be ye faithful\nto the death, and ye shall have the crown of life. This span-length of\nyour days (whereof the spirit of God speaketh, Ps. xxxix. 5) shall,\nwithin a short time, come to a finger-breadth, and at length to\nnothing. Oh, how sweet and comfortable will the feast of a good\nconscience be to you, when your eye-strings shall break, your face wax\npale, and the breath turn cold, and your poor soul come sighing to the\nwindows of the house of clay of your dying body, and shall long to be\nout, and to have the jailor to open the door, that the prisoner may be\nset at liberty! Ye draw nigh the water-side: look your accounts; ask\nfor your Guide to take you to the other side. Let not the world be\nyour portion; what have ye to do with dead clay? Ye are not a bastard,\nbut a lawfully begotten child; therefore set your heart on the\ninheritance. Go up beforehand, and see your lodging. Look through all\nyour Father's rooms in heaven: in your Father's house are many\ndwelling-places. Men take a sight of lands ere they buy them. I know\nthat Christ hath made the bargain already; but be kind to the house ye\nare going to, and see it often. Set your heart on things that are\nabove, where Christ is at the right hand of God.\n\nStir up your husband to mind his own country at home. Counsel him to\ndeal mercifully with the poor people of God under him. They are\nChrist's, and not his; therefore, desire him to show them merciful\ndealing and kindness, and to be good to their souls. I desire you to\nwrite to me. It may be that my parish forget me; but my witness is in\nheaven that I dow not, I do not, forget them. They are my sighs in the\nnight, and my tears in the day. I think myself like a husband plucked\nfrom the wife of his youth. O Lord, be my Judge: what joy would it be\nto my soul to hear that my ministry hath left the Son of God among\nthem, and that they are walking in Christ! Remember my love to your\nson and daughter. Desire them from me to seek the Lord in their youth,\nand to give Him the morning of their days. Acquaint them with the word\nof God and prayer.\n\nGrace be with you. Pray for the prisoner of Christ; in my heart I\nforget you not.\n\n Your lawful and loving pastor, in his only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 6, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCIV.--_To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my LADY VISCOUNTESS\nOF KENMURE._\n\n(_PAINSTAKING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST--UNUSUAL ENJOYMENT OF HIS\nLOVE--NOT EASY TO BE A CHRISTIAN--FRIENDS MUST NOT MISLEAD._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am refreshed with your\nletter. The right hand of Him to whom belong the issues from death\nhath been gracious to that sweet child. I dow not, I do not, forget\nhim and your Ladyship in my prayers.\n\nMadam, for your own case. I love careful, and withal, _doing_\ncomplaints of want of practice; because I observe many who think it\nholiness enough to complain, and set themselves at nothing: as if to\nsay \"I am sick\" could cure them. They think complaints a good charm\nfor guiltiness. I hope that ye are wrestling and struggling on, in\nthis dead age, wherein folks have lost tongue, and legs, and arms for\nChrist. I urge upon you, Madam, a nearer communion with Christ, and a\ngrowing communion. There are curtains to be drawn by in Christ, that\nwe never saw, and new foldings of love in Him. I despair that ever I\nshall win to the far end of that love, there are so many plies in it.\nTherefore, dig deep; and sweat, and labour, and take pains for Him;\nand set by as much time in the day for Him as you can. He will be won\nwith labour.\n\nI, His exiled prisoner, sought Him, and He hath rued upon me, and hath\nmade a moan for me, as He doth for His own,[199] and I know not what\nto do with Christ. His love surroundeth and surchargeth me. I am\nburdened with it; but oh, how sweet and lovely is that burden! I dow\nnot keep it within me. I am so in love with His love, that if His love\nwere not in heaven, I should be unwilling to go thither. Oh, what\nweighing, and what telling is in Christ's love! I fear nothing now so\nmuch as the losing[200] of Christ's cross, and of the love-showers\nthat accompany it. I wonder what He meaneth, to put such a slave at\nthe board-head, at His own elbow. O that I should lay my black mouth\nto such a fair, fair, fair face as Christ's! But I dare not refuse to\nbe loved. The cause is not in me, why He hath looked upon me, and\nloved me for He got neither bud nor hire of me. It cost me nothing, it\nis good-cheap love. Oh, the many pound-weights of His love under which\nI am sweetly pressed!\n\n [199] Jer. xxxi. 20; Hos. xi. 8.\n\n [200] The fear to be deprived of it. Early editions give \"_laughing_,\"\n which seems a misprint.\n\nNow, Madam, I persuade you, that the greatest part but play with\nChristianity; they put it by-hand easily. I thought it had been an\neasy thing to be a Christian, and that to seek God had been at the\nnext door; but O the windings, the turnings, the ups and the downs\nthat He hath led me through! And I see yet much way to the ford. He\nspeaketh with my reins in the night-season; and in the morning, when I\nawake, I find His love-arrows, that He shot at me, sticking in my\nheart. Who will help me to praise? Who will come to lift up with me,\nand set on high, His great love? And yet I find that a fire-flaught of\nchallenges will come in at midsummer, and question me. But it is only\nto keep a sinner in order.\n\nAs for friends, I will not think the world to be the world if that\nwell go not dry. I trust, in God, to use the world as a canny or\ncunning master doth a knave servant (at least God give me grace to do\nso!): he giveth him no handling nor credit, only he intrusteth him\nwith common errands, wherein he cannot play the knave. I pray God that\nI may not give this world the credit of my joys, and comforts, and\nconfidence. That were to put Christ out of His office. Nay, I counsel\nyou, Madam, from a little experience, let Christ keep the great seal,\nand intrust Him so as to hing your vessels, great and small, and pin\nyour burdens, upon the Nail fastened in David's house (Isa. xxii. 23).\nLet me not be well, if ever they get the tutoring of my comforts.\nAway, away with irresponsal tutors that would play me a slip, and then\nChrist would laugh at me, and say, \"Well-wared! try again ere you\ntrust.\" Now woe is me, for my whorish mother, the Kirk of Scotland!\nOh, who will bewail her!\n\nNow the presence of the great Angel of the Covenant be with you and\nthat sweet child.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCV.--_To a Gentlewoman, upon the death of her husband._\n\n(_RESIGNATION UNDER BEREAVEMENT--HIS OWN ENJOYMENT OF CHRIST'S LOVE._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.\n\nI cannot but rejoice, and withal be grieved, at your case. It hath\npleased the Lord to remove your husband (my friend, and this kirk's\nfaithful professor[201]) soon to his rest; but shall we be sorry that\nour loss is his gain, seeing his Lord would want his company no\nlonger? Think not much of short summons; for, seeing he walked with\nhis Lord in his life, and desired that Christ should be magnified in\nhim at his death, ye ought to be silent and satisfied. When Christ\ncometh for His own, He runneth fast: mercy, mercy to the saints goeth\nnot at leisure. Love, love in our Redeemer is not slow; and withal He\nis homely with you, who cometh at His own hand to your house, and\nintromitteth, as a friend, with anything that is yours. I think He\nwould fain borrow and lend with you. Now he shall meet with the\nsolacious company, the fair flock, and blessed bairn-teme of the\nfirst-born, banqueting at the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is a\nmercy that the poor wandering sheep get a dyke-side in this stormy\nday, and a leaking ship a safe harbour, and a sea-sick passenger a\nsound and soft bed ashore. Wrath, wrath, wrath from the Lord is coming\nupon this land that he hath left behind him. Know, therefore, that the\nwounds of your Lord Jesus are the wounds of a lover, and that He will\nhave compassion upon a sad-hearted servant; and that Christ hath said,\nHe will have the husband's room in your heart. He loved you in your\nfirst husband's time, and He is but wooing you still. Give Him heart\nand chair, house and all. He will not be made companion with any\nother. Love is full of jealousies: He will have all your love; and who\nshould get it but He? I know that ye allow it upon Him. There are\ncomforts both sweet and satisfying laid up for you: wait on. First\nChrist; He is an honest debtor.\n\n [201] Confessor.\n\nNow for mine own case. I think some poor body would be glad of a\ndawted prisoner's leavings. I have no scarcity of Christ's love: He\nhath wasted more comforts upon His poor banished servant than would\nhave refreshed many souls. My burden was once so heavy, that one ounce\nweight would have casten the balance, and broken my back; but Christ\nsaid, \"Hold, hold!\" to my sorrow, and hath wiped a bluthered face,\nwhich was foul with weeping. I may joyfully go my Lord's errands, with\nwages in my hands. Deferred hopes need not make me dead-sweir (as we\nused to say): my cross is both my cross and my reward. O that men\nwould sound His high praise! I love Christ's worst reproaches, His\nglooms, His cross, better than all the world's plastered glory. My\nheart is not longing to be back again from Christ's country; it is a\nsweet soil I am come to. I, if any in the world, have good cause to\nspeak much good of Him. Oh, hell were a good-cheap price to buy Him\nat! Oh, if all the three kingdoms were witnesses to my pained, pained\nsoul, overcome with Christ's love!\n\nI thank you most kindly, my dear sister, for your love to, and tender\ncare of, my brother. I shall think myself obliged to you if ye\ncontinue his friend. He is more to me than a brother now, being\nengaged to suffer for so honourable a Master and cause.\n\nPray for Christ's prisoner; and grace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCVI.--_To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my LADY KENMURE._\n\n(_WEAK ASSURANCE--GRACE DIFFERENT FROM LEARNING--SELF-ACCUSATIONS._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Upon the offered opportunity of this worthy bearer, I could\nnot omit to answer the heads of your letter.\n\n_1stly_, I think not much to set down on paper some good things anent\nChrist (that sealed and holy thing),[202] and to feed my soul with raw\nwishes to be one with Christ; for a wish is but broken and half love.\nBut verily to obey this, \"Come and see,\" is a harder matter! Oh, I\nhave smoke rather than fire, and guessings rather than real assurances\nof Him. I have little or nothing to say, that I am as one who hath\nfound favour in His eyes; but there is some pining and mismannered\nhunger, that maketh me miscall and nickname Christ as a changed Lord.\nBut alas! it is ill-flitten. I cannot believe without a pledge. I\ncannot take God's word without a caution, as if Christ had lost and\nsold His credit, and were not in my books responsal, and law-biding.\nBut this is _my_ way; for _His_ way is, \"After that ye believed, ye\nwere sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise\" (Eph. i. 13).\n\n [202] Luke i. 35.\n\n_2ndly_, Ye write, \"that I am filled with knowledge, and stand not in\nneed of these warnings.\" But certainly my light is dim when it cometh\nto handy-grips. And how many have full coffers, and yet empty bellies!\nLight, and the saving use of light, are far different. Oh, what need\nthen have I to have the ashes blown away from my dying-out fire! I may\nbe a book-man, and (yet) be an idiot and stark fool in Christ's way!\nLearning will not beguile Christ. The Bible beguiled the Pharisees,\nand so may I be misled. Therefore, as night-watchers hold one another\nwaking by speaking to one another, so have we need to hold one another\non foot: sleep stealeth away the light of watching, even the light\nthat reproveth sleeping. I doubt not but more would fetch heaven, if\nthey believed not heaven to be at the next door. The world's negative\nholiness--\"no adulterer, no murderer, no thief, no cozener\"--maketh\nmen believe they are already glorified saints. But the sixth chapter\nto the Hebrews may affright us all, when we hear that men may take (a\ntaste) of the gifts and common graces of the Holy Spirit, and a taste\nof the powers of the life to come, to hell with them. Here is\nreprobate silver, which yet seemeth to have the King's image and\nsuperscription upon it!\n\n_3rdly_, I find you complaining of yourself. And it becometh a sinner\nso to do. I am not against you in that. Sense of death is a sib\nfriend, and of kin and blood to life; the more sense, the more life;\nthe more sense of sin, the less sin. I would love my pain, and\nsoreness, and my wounds, howbeit these should bereave me of my night's\nsleep, better than my wounds without pain. Oh, how sweet a thing it is\nto give Christ His handful of broken arms and legs, and disjointed\nbones!\n\n_4thly_, Be not afraid for little grace. Christ soweth His living\nseed, and He will not lose His seed. If He have the guiding of my\nflock and state, it shall not miscarry. Our spilled works, losses,\ndeadness, coldness, wretchedness, are the ground upon which the Good\nHusbandman laboureth.\n\n_5thly_, Ye write, \"that His compassions fail not, notwithstanding\nthat your service to Christ miscarrieth.\" To which I answer:\n\nGod forbid that there were buying and selling, and blocking for as\ngood again, betwixt Christ and us; for then free grace might go to\nplay, and a Saviour sing dumb, and Christ go to sleep. But we go to\nheaven with light shoulders; and all the bairn-teme, and the vessels\ngreat and small that we have, are fastened upon the sure Nail (Isa.\nxxii. 23, 24). The only danger is, that we give grace more to do than\nGod giveth it; that is, by turning His grace into wantonness.\n\n_6thly_, Ye write, that \"few see your guiltiness, and that ye cannot\nbe free with many, as with me.\" I answer: Blessed be God, that Christ\nand we are not heard before men's courts. It is at home, betwixt Him\nand us, that pleas are taken away.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n\n\n\nCVII.--_To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my LADY BOYD._\n\n(_CONSCIOUSNESS OF DEFECTS NO ARGUMENT OF CHRIST BEING UNKNOWN--HIS\nEXPERIENCE IN EXILE._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you, from God our Father, and\nfrom our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nI cannot but thank your Ladyship for your letter, that hath refreshed\nmy soul. I think myself many ways obliged to your Ladyship for your\nlove to my afflicted brother, now embarked with me in that same cause.\nHis Lord hath been pleased to put him on truth's side. I hope that\nyour Ladyship will befriend him with your counsel and countenance in\nthat country, where he is a stranger. And your Ladyship needeth not\nfear but your kindness to His own will be put up into Christ's\naccounts.\n\nNow, Madam, for your Ladyship's case. I rejoice exceedingly that the\nFather of lights hath made you see that there is a nick in\nChristianity, which ye contend to be at; and that is, to quit the\nright eye, and the right hand, and to keep the Son of God. I hope your\ndesire is to make Him your garland, and that your eye looketh up the\nmount, which certainly is nothing but the new creature. Fear not,\nChrist will not cast water upon your smoking coal; and then who else\ndare do it if He say nay? Be sorry at corruption, and be not secure.\nThat companion lay with you in your mother's womb, and was as early\nfriends with you as the breath of life. And Christ will not have it\notherwise; for He delighteth to take up fallen bairns, and to mend\nbroken brows. Binding up of wounds is His office (Isa. lxi. 1).\n\n_First_, I am glad that Christ will get employment of His calling in\nyou. Many a whole soul is in heaven which was sickerer than ye are. He\nis content that ye lay broken arms and legs on His knee, that He may\nspelk them. _Secondly_, hiding of His face is wise love. His love is\nnot fond, doting, and reasonless, to give your head no other pillow\nwhill ye be in at heaven's gates, but to lie between His breasts, and\nlean upon His bosom. Nay, His bairns must often have the frosty cold\nside of the hill, and set down both their bare feet among thorns. His\nlove hath eyes, and, in the meantime, is looking on. Our pride must\nhave winter weather to rot it. But I know that Christ and ye will not\nbe heard;[203] ye will whisper it over betwixt yourselves, and agree\nagain. For the anchor-tow abideth fast within the vail; the end of it\nis in Christ's ten fingers: who dare pull, if He hold? \"I, the Lord\nthy God, will hold thy right hand, saying, Fear not, I will help thee.\nFear not, Jacob\" (Isa. xli. 13, 14). The sea-sick passenger shall come\nto land; Christ will be the first to meet you on the shore. I hope\nthat your ladyship will keep the King's highway. Go on (in the\nstrength of the Lord), in haste, as if ye had not leisure to speak to\nthe innkeepers by the way. He is over beyond time, on the other side\nof the water, who thinketh long for you.\n\n [203] No one will ever hear the chiding. See Note, Letter LXX.\n\nFor my unfaithful self, Madam, I must say a word. At my first coming\nhither, the devil made many a black lie of my Lord Jesus, and said the\ncourt was changed, and He was angry, and would give an evil servant\nhis leave at mid-term.[204] But He gave me grace not to take my leave.\nI resolved to bide summons, and sit, howbeit it was suggested and\nsaid, \"What should be done with a withered tree, but over the dyke\nwith it?\" But now, now (I dare not, I dow not keep it up!), who is\nfeasted as His poor exiled prisoner. I think shame of the board-head\nand the first mess, and the royal King's dining-hall, and that my\nblack hand should come upon such a Ruler's table. But I cannot mend\nit; Christ must have His will: only He paineth my soul so sometimes\nwith His love, that I have been nigh to pass modesty, and to cry out.\nHe hath left a smoking, burning coal in my heart, and gone to the door\nHimself, and left me and it together. Yet it is not desertion; I know\nnot what it is, but I was never so sick for Him as now. I durst not\nchallenge my Lord, if I got no more for heaven; it is a dawting cross.\nI know He hath other things to do than to play with me, and to\ntrindle an apple with me, and that this feast will end. O for\ninstruments in God's name, that this is He! and that I may make use of\nit, when, it may be, a near friend within me will say, and when it\nwill be said by a challenging devil, \"Where is thy God?\" Since I know\nthat it will not last, I desire but to keep broken meat. But let no\nman after me slander Christ for His cross.\n\n [204] Discharge His servant before the term.\n\nThe great Lord of the Covenant, who brought from the dead the great\nShepherd of His sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant establish\nyou, and keep you and yours to His appearance.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCVIII.--_To the_ LADY KASKEBERRY.\n\n [This lady was wife to _James Schoneir_ of _Kaskeberrie_, or\n Kaskeberrian, in Fife. His name occurs as elder to the General\n Assembly in 1647, and he was ruling elder in the Presbytery of\n Kirkcaldy. (Lamont's \"Diary,\" 1650.) His lady died in 1655, and\n was buried in Kinglassie church.]\n\n(_GRATITUDE FOR KINDNESS--CHRIST'S PRESENCE FELT._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear how your\nLadyship is. I know not how to requite your Ladyship's kindness; but\nyour love to the saints, Madam, is laid up in heaven. I know it is for\nyour well-beloved Christ's sake that ye make His friends so dear to\nyou, and concern yourself so much in them.\n\nI am, in this house of pilgrimage, every way in good case: Christ is\nmost kind and loving to my soul. It pleaseth Him to feast, with His\nunseen consolations, a stranger and an exiled prisoner; and I would\nnot exchange my Lord Jesus with all the comfort out of heaven. His\nyoke is easy, and His burden is light.\n\nThis is His truth which I now suffer for; for He hath sealed it with\nHis blessed presence. I know that Christ shall yet win the day, and\ngain the battle in Scotland. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCIX.--_To the_ LADY EARLSTON.\n\n [This was probably Lady Earlston, senior, as may be inferred from\n Rutherford's reminding her that her \"afternoon sun will soon go\n down.\" Her maiden name was Elizabeth Gordon, she being the\n daughter of John Gordon of Muirfad, near Creeton, in the north\n extremity of Kirkmabreck, next parish to Anwoth (the same who was\n afterwards designed of Penningham), the second son of Sir John\n Gordon of Lochinvar, and brother to Sir John Gordon of Lochinvar,\n father of first Lord Kenmure. (Nisbet's \"Heraldry,\" vol. i.)\n _Muirfad_ is now a little croft,--a plain, one-storeyed house,\n with a clump of willows and oaks round it, near Palnure Station.]\n\n(FOLLOWING CHRIST NOT EASY--CHILDREN NOT TO BE OVER-LOVED--JOY IN THE\nLORD.)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear how your\nsoul prospereth. I exhort you to go on in your journey; your day is\nshort, and your afternoon sun will soon go down. Make an end of your\naccounts with your Lord; for death and judgment are tides that bide no\nman. Salvation is supposed to be at the door, and Christianity is\nthought an easy task; but I find it hard, and the way strait and\nnarrow, were it not that my Guide is content to wait on me, and to\ncare for a tired traveller. Hurt not your conscience with any known\nsin. Let your children be as so many flowers borrowed from God: if the\nflower die or wither, thank God for a summer loan of them, and keep\ngood neighbourhood, to borrow and lend[205] with Him. Set your heart\nupon heaven, and trouble not your spirit with this clay-idol of the\nworld, which is but vanity, and hath but the lustre of the rainbow in\nthe air, which cometh and goeth with a flying March-shower. Clay is\nthe idol of bastards, not the inheritance of the children.\n\n [205] To be on good terms with.\n\nMy Lord hath been pleased to make many unknown faces laugh upon me,\nand hath made me well content of a borrowed fireside, and a borrowed\nbed. I am feasted with the joys of the Holy Ghost, and my royal King\nbeareth my charges honourably. I love the smell of Christ's sweet\nbreath better than the world's gold. I would I had help to praise Him.\n\nThe great Messenger of the Covenant, the Son of God, establish you on\nyour Rock, and keep you to the day of His coming.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.\n\n[Illustration: IRVINE.]\n\n\n\n\nCX.--_To his Reverend and Dear Brother_, MR. DAVID DICKSON.\n\n [DAVID DICKSON (sometimes shortened into DICK), born in 1583, was\n the only son of Mr. John Dickson, a pious and wealthy merchant in\n Glasgow. After finishing his studies at the University of\n Glasgow, he was admitted Professor of Philosophy in that\n University, which office he held for eight years. In 1618 he was\n ordained minister of Irvine, where he laboured with much\n acceptance and success. In 1622, refusing to practise the\n ceremonies then imposed upon the Church by the Perth Articles, he\n was summoned by James Law, Archbishop of Glasgow, to appear\n before the High Commission Court. He appeared, but declined the\n authority of the Court in ecclesiastical matters. The result was,\n that he was deprived of his charge at Irvine, and banished to\n Turriff, in Aberdeenshire. There, however, he was employed every\n Sabbath by the incumbent of the parish. Yielding to the\n solicitations of the Earl of Eglinton and the town of Irvine, the\n Bishop granted him liberty to return to his old charge about the\n end of July 1623. He resumed his pastoral duties with increased\n ardour; and in addition to his Sabbath labours, preached every\n Monday (the market-day of Irvine), for the benefit of the rural\n population. Great numbers, particularly from the neighbouring\n parish of Stewarton, attending these meetings, the result was the\n famous Stewarton Revival, which lasted from 1623 to 1630. After\n the renewal of the National Covenant, in 1638, Dickson, who was\n then distinguished as a leader, in conjunction with Alexander\n Henderson and Andrew Cant, was sent on a mission to Aberdeen, to\n explain the Covenant to the inhabitants who were hostile to it,\n when the celebrated controversy between the three commissioners\n and the doctors of Aberdeen, on the subject, took place. In 1642\n he was appointed Professor of Divinity in the University of\n Glasgow, in which office he was associated with the celebrated\n Robert Baillie. He was afterwards translated to the same office\n in the University of Edinburgh. In the differences between the\n Resolutioners and Protesters, he took the side of the former;\n but, on seeing how matters went upon the restoration of Charles\n II., is reported to have said to one who visited him on his\n deathbed, that the Protesters were the truest prophets. He died\n in December 1662. Dickson was a man of more than ordinary\n talents, of extensive theological acquirements, of a very\n intrepid spirit, and a popular preacher. He was the author of\n various works, which have been highly esteemed.]\n\n(_GOD'S DEALINGS--THE BITTER SWEETENED--NOTES ON SCRIPTURE._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAREST BROTHER,--What joy have I out of heaven's gates,\nbut that my Lord Jesus be glorified in my bonds? Blessed be ye of the\nLord who contribute anything to my obliged and indebted praises. Dear\nbrother, help me, a poor dyvour, to pay the interest; for I cannot\ncome nigh to render the principal. It is not jest nor sport which\nmaketh me to speak and write as I do: I never before came to that nick\nor pitch of communion with Christ that I have now attained to. For my\nconfirmation, I have been these two Sabbaths or three in private,\ntaking instruments in the name of God, that my Lord Jesus and I have\nkissed each other in Aberdeen, the house of my pilgrimage. I seek not\nan apple to play me with (He knoweth, whom I serve in the spirit!),\nbut a seal. I but beg earnest, and am content to suspend and frist\nglory whill supper-time. I know that this world will not last with me;\nfor my moonlight is noonday light, and my four hours above my feasts\nwhen I was a preacher; at which time, also, I was embraced very often\nin His arms. But who can blame Christ to take me on behind Him (if I\nmay say so), on His white horse, or in His chariot, paved with love,\nthrough a water? Will not a father take his little dawted Davie in his\narms, and carry him over a ditch or a mire? My short legs could not\nstep over this lair, or sinking mire; and, therefore, my Lord Jesus\nwill bear me through. If a change come, and a dark day (so being that\nHe will keep my faith without flaw or crack), I dare not blame Him,\nhowbeit I get no more whill I come to heaven. But ye know that the\nphysic behoved to have sugar: my faith was fallen aswoon, and Christ\nbut held up a swooning man's head. Indeed, I pray not for a dawted\nbairn's diet: He knoweth that I would have Christ, sour or sweet,--any\nway, so being it be Christ indeed. I stand not now upon pared apples,\nor sugared dishes, but I cannot blame Him to give, and I must gape and\nmake a wide mouth. Since Christ will not pantry up joys, He must be\nwelcome who will not bide away. I seek no other fruit than that He may\nbe glorified. He knoweth that I would take hard fare to have His name\nset on high.\n\nI bless you for your counsel. I hope to live by faith, and swim\nwithout a mass or bundle of joyful sense under my chin; at least to\nventure, albeit I should be ducked.\n\nNow for my case: I think that the council should be essayed, and the\nevent referred to God;--duties are ours, and events are God's.\n\nI shall go through yours upon the Covenant at leisure, and write to\nyou my mind thereanent; and anent the Arminian contract betwixt the\nFather and the Son. I beseech you, set to, to go through\nScripture.[206] Yours on the Hebrews is in great request with all who\nwould be acquainted with Christ's Testament. I purpose, God willing,\nto set about Hosea, and to try if I can get it to the press here.\n\n [206] Rutherford seems here to allude to a plan of furnishing short\n commentaries on the whole Bible, which was suggested and set on foot\n by Dickson at the beginning of the seventeenth century. \"The Hebrews,\"\n as is mentioned in this letter, together with \"The Psalms\" and\n \"Matthew,\" were undertaken by Dickson; and \"Hosea,\" which Rutherford\n here intimates his intention to undertake, but never accomplished, was\n contributed by Hutchison in his stead. In the Preface to one of the\n earliest editions of the Letters, a complaint is made that some one\n was secreting a MS. commentary of Rutherford's upon \"Isaiah.\"\n\nIt refresheth me much that ye are so kind to my brother. I hope your\ncounsel will do him good. I recommend him to you, since I am so far\nfrom him. I am glad that the dying servant of God, famous and faithful\nMr. Cunningham, sealed your ministry before he fell asleep.\n\n Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXI.--_To_ JEAN BROWN.\n\n(_CHRIST'S UNTOLD PRECIOUSNESS--A WORD TO HER BOY._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED AND DEAR SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I\nreceived your letter, which I esteem an evidence of your Christian\naffection to me, and of your love to my honourable Lord and Master. My\ndesire is, that your communion with Christ may grow, and that your\nreckonings may be put by-hand with your Lord ere you come to the\nwater-side.\n\nOh, who knoweth how sweet Christ's kisses are! Who hath been more\nkindly embraced and kissed than I, His banished prisoner? If the\ncomparison could stand, I would not exchange Christ with heaven\nitself. He hath left a dart and arrow of love in my soul, and it\npaineth me till He come and take it out. I find pain of those wounds,\nbecause I would have possession. I know now that this worm-eaten\napple, the plastered, rotten world, which the silly children of this\nworld are beating, and buffeting, and pulling each other's ears for,\nis a portion for bastards, good enough; and that it is all they have\nto look for. I am not offended that my adversaries stay at home at\ntheir own fireside, with more yearly rent than I. Should I be angry\nthat the Goodman of this house of the world casteth a dog a bone to\nhurt his teeth? He hath taught me to be content with a borrowed\nfireside, and an unco bed; and I think I have lost nothing, the income\nis so great. Oh, what telling is in Christ! Oh, how weighty is my fair\ngarland, my crown, my fair supping-hall in glory, where I shall be\nabove the blows and buffetings of prelates! Let this be your desire,\nand let your thoughts dwell much upon that blessedness that abideth\nyou in the other world. The fair side of the world will be turned to\nyou quickly, when ye shall see the crown. I hope that ye are near your\nlodging. Oh, but I would think myself blessed, for my part, to win to\nthe house before the shower come on; for God hath a quiver full of\narrows to shoot at and shower down upon Scotland.\n\nYe have the prayers of a prisoner of Christ. I desire Patrick to give\nChrist his young love, even the flower of it; and to put it by all\nothers. It were good to start soon to the way; he should thereby have\na great advantage in the evil day. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours only in his Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXII.--_To_ MR. JOHN FERGUSHILL.\n\n [MR. JOHN FERGUSHILL'S mother was Janet Kennedy, sister or near\n relative to Hugh Kennedy of Ayr. He was at this time minister of\n Ochiltree, a parish in the centre of Ayrshire, in the district of\n Kyle. When Mr. Robert Blair was translated from Ayr to St.\n Andrews by the General Assembly, 1639, Fergushill was, by the\n same Assembly, appointed his successor. He died in 1644. He is\n mentioned by Livingstone, as one of the \"many of the godly and\n able ministers\" in Scotland. He was a member of the famous\n Glasgow Assembly, 1638. Lady Gaitgirth's mansion was near\n Ochiltree; see Letter CLXXXVII.]\n\n(_THE ROD UPON GOD'S CHILDREN--PAIN FROM A SENSE OF CHRIST'S LOVE--HIS\nPRESENCE A SUPPORT UNDER TRIALS--CONTENTEDNESS WITH HIM ALONE._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND WELL-BELOVED IN THE LORD,--I was refreshed with your\nletter. I am sorry for that lingering and longsome visitation that is\nupon your wife; but I know that ye take it as the mark of a lawfully\nbegotten child, and not of a bastard, to be under your Father's rod.\nTill ye be in heaven, it will be but foul weather; one shower up and\nanother down. The lintel-stone and pillars of the New Jerusalem suffer\nmore knocks of God's hammer and tool than the common side-wall stones.\nAnd if twenty crosses be written for you in God's book, they will come\nto nineteen, and then at last to one, and after that to nothing, but\nyour head shall lie betwixt Christ's breasts for evermore and His own\nsoft hand shall dry your face, and wipe away your tears. As for public\nsufferings for His truth, your Master also will see to these. Let us\nput Him into His own office, to comfort and deliver. The gloom of\nChrist's cross is worse than itself.\n\nI cannot keep up what He hath done to my soul. My dear brother, will I\nnot get help of you to praise, and to lift Christ up on high? He hath\npained me with His love, and hath left a love-arrow in my heart, that\nhath made a wound, and swelled me up with desires, so that I am to be\npitied for want of real possession. Love would have the company of the\nparty loved; and my greatest pain is the want of Him, not of His joys\nand comforts, but of a near union and communion.\n\nThis is His truth, I am fully persuaded, which I now suffer for; for\nChrist hath taken upon Him to be witness to it by His sweet comforts\nto my soul; and shall I think Him a false witness? or that He would\nsubscribe blank paper? I thank His high and dreadful name for what He\nhath given. I hope to keep His seal and His pawn till He come and\nloose it Himself. I defy hell to put me off it. But He is Christ, and\nHe hath met with His prisoner; and I took instruments in His own hand,\nthat it was He, and none other for Him. When the devil fenceth a\nbastard-court[207] in my Lord's ground, and giveth me forged summons,\nit will be my shame to misbelieve, after such a fair broad seal. And\nyet Satan and my apprehension sometimes make a lie of Christ, as if He\nhated me. But I dare believe no evil of Christ. If He would cool my\nlove-fever for Himself with real presence and possession, I would be\nrich; but I dare not be mislearned and seek more in that kind, howbeit\nit be no shame to beg at Christ's door. I pity my adversaries. I\ngrudge not that my Lord keepeth them at their own fireside, and hath\ngiven me a borrowed fireside: let the Goodman of the house cast the\ndog a bone, why should I take offence? I rejoice that the broken bark\nshall come to land, and that Christ will, on the shore, welcome the\nsea-sick passenger. We have need of a great stock against this day of\ntrial that is coming. There is neither chaff nor corn in Scotland, but\nit shall once[208] pass through God's sieve. Praise, praise, and pray\nfor me; for I cannot forget you. I know that ye will be friendly to my\nafflicted brother, who is now embarked in the same cause with me. Let\nhim have your counsel and comforts.\n\n [207] Opens and constitutes an unauthorized court.\n\n [208] Sooner or later.\n\nRemember my love in Christ to your wife; her health is coming, and her\nsalvation sleepeth not. Ye have the prayers and blessing of a prisoner\nof Christ. Sow fast, deal bread plentifully. The pantry-door will be\nlocked on the bairns, in appearance, ere long. Grace, grace, be with\nyou.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXIII.--_To his Reverend and Dear Brother_, MR. ROBERT DOUGLAS.\n\n [ROBERT DOUGLAS, one of the ablest and most respected ministers\n of the Church of Scotland in his day, was the illegitimate son of\n Mr. Douglas, who was the son of Sir G. Douglas, Governor of\n Lochleven Castle. (Wodrow's \"Analecta,\" iv. 226.) Having finished\n his preparations for the ministry, he was ordained to be chaplain\n for the forces that served under the celebrated Gustavus of\n Sweden. It is said that, in one of Gustavus' engagements,\n surveying the battle from an eminence, and observing something\n wrong in the left wing of the army which threatened to prove\n disastrous, he either personally or by a messenger acquainted the\n commanding officer with the circumstance, and that this\n information led to victory. When he left the army, the Swedish\n monarch parted with him reluctantly, saying, \"There is a man who,\n for wisdom and prudence, might be a counsellor to any king in\n Europe. He might be a moderator to any assembly in the world; and\n he might be a general to conduct any army, for his skill in\n military affairs.\" (_Ibid._ iv. 221.) During this period, he\n committed to memory the greater part of the Bible, having almost\n no other book to read. Returning to his own country, he was\n admitted colleague to Mr. James Simson, minister of Kirkcaldy, in\n 1630. Thence he was translated to Edinburgh in 1641. For a time\n he was deceived by the duplicity of James Sharp, but at last he\n detected his real character; and when the traitor (shortly before\n he went up to London to be consecrated Archbishop) happened to\n meet with him, and addressed him as \"Brother,\" Mr. Douglas,\n disgusted at his hypocrisy, exclaimed, \"Brother! no more brother.\n James, if my conscience had been of the make of yours, I could\n have been Bishop of St. Andrews sooner than you.\" In 1669 he was\n admitted indulged minister at Pencaitland, where he died at an\n advanced age in 1674, and was buried in Edinburgh. (Wodrow's\n \"History\" and \"Analecta.\")]\n\n(GREATNESS OF CHRIST'S LOVE REVEALED TO THOSE WHO SUFFER FOR HIM.)\n\n\nMY VERY REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou.--I long to see you on paper. I cannot but write you, that this\nwhich I now suffer for is Christ's truth; because He hath been pleased\nto seal my sufferings with joy unspeakable and glorious. I know that\nHe will not put His seal upon blank paper; Christ hath not dumb seals,\nneither will He be a witness to a lie. I beseech you, my dear brother,\nto help me to praise, and to lift Christ up on His throne above the\nshields of the earth. I am astonished and confounded at the greatness\nof His kindness to such a sinner. I know that Christ and I shall never\nbe even; I shall die in His debt. He hath left an arrow in my heart\nthat paineth me for want of real possession; and hell cannot quench\nthis coal of God's kindling. I wish no man to slander Christ or His\ncross for my cause; for I have much cause to speak much good of Him.\nHe hath brought me to a nick and degree of communion with Himself that\nI knew not before. The din and gloom of our Lord's cross is more\nfearful and hard than the cross itself. He taketh the bairns in His\narms when they come to a deep water; at least, when they lose ground,\nand are put to swim, then His hand is under their chin.\n\nLet me be helped by your prayers; and remember my love to your kind\nwife. Grace be with you.\n\n Your brother, and Christ's prisoner,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXIV.--_To the much Honoured WILLIAM RIGG, of Athernie, in Fife, near\nLeven._\n\n [WILLIAM RIGG of Athernie, in the capacity of one of the bailies\n of Edinburgh, \"gave great evidence\" (says Livingstone) \"that he\n had the spirit of a magistrate beyond many, being a terror to all\n evil-doers.\" He took an active part against all attempts to\n introduce Prelacy, and contributed liberally to the printing of\n such books as \"crossed the course of Conformity.\" In March 1624,\n a committee of the Privy Council, by the authority of the King,\n deprived Rigg of his office, fined him in fifty thousand pounds\n Scots, and ordered him to be warded in Blackness Castle till the\n sum was paid, and afterwards to be confined in Orkney. This\n sentence, however, was afterwards mitigated. He was distinguished\n above most for devoting a large portion of his income to\n religious purposes. Such was his liberality, that one said, \"To\n my certain knowledge, he spends yearly more on pious uses than\n all my estate is worth; and mine will be towards 8 or 9000 merks\n (about \u00a3350) in the year.\" He was a man of much prayer, and\n generally commenced with deep and bitter complaints and\n confession of sin, but ended with unspeakable assurance, and joy\n and thanksgiving. His death took place on the 2nd of January\n 1644, and is thus recorded by Sir Thomas Hope, in his \"Diary\"\n (p. 201): \"This day, my worthy cousin, William Rigg of Athernie,\n departed, at his house of Athernie, having taken bed on Sunday of\n before, and died on the third day. The Lord prepare me; for this,\n next to my dearest son, is a heavy stroke.\" The old house of\n _Athernie_ stood a little inland from the present mansion; only a\n gable of the old house remains. It overlooked a pretty glen\n through which runs a burn that falls into the sea near the\n churchyard of _Scoonie_.]\n\n(_SUSTAINING POWER OF CHRIST'S LOVE--SATAN'S OPPOSITION--YEARNINGS FOR\nCHRIST HIMSELF--FEARS FOR THE CHURCH._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received your\nlong-looked-for and short letter. I would that ye had spoken more to\nme, who stand in need. I find Christ, as ye write, aye the longer the\nbetter; and therefore cannot but rejoice in His salvation, who hath\nmade my chains my wings, and hath made me a king over my crosses, and\nover my adversaries. Glory, glory, glory to His high, high and holy\nname! Not one ounce, not one grain-weight more is laid on me than He\nhath enabled me to bear; and I am not so much wearied to suffer as\nZion's haters are to persecute. Oh, if I could find a way, in any\nmeasure, to strive to be even with Christ's love! But that I must give\nover. Oh, who would help a dyvour to pay praises to the King of\nsaints, who triumpheth in His weak servants!\n\nI see that if Christ but ride upon a worm or feather, His horse will\nneither stumble nor fall. The worm Jacob is made by Him a new, sharp\nthreshing instrument, having teeth, to thresh the mountains, and beat\nthem small, and to make the hills as chaff, and to fan them so as the\nwind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them (Isa.\nxli. 14-16). Christ's enemies are but breaking their own heads in\npieces, upon the Rock laid in Zion; and the stone is not removed out\nof its place. Faith hath cause to take courage from our very\nafflictions; the devil is but a whetstone to sharpen the faith and\npatience of the saints. I know that he but heweth and polisheth\nstones, all this time, for the new Jerusalem.\n\nBut in all this, three things have much moved me, since it hath\npleased my Lord to turn my moon-light into day-light. _First_, He hath\nyoked me to work, to wrestle with Christ's love; of longing wherewith\nI am sick, pained, fainting, and like to die because I cannot get\nHimself; which I think a strange sort of desertion. For I have not\nHimself, whom if I had, my love-sickness would cool, and my fever go\naway; at least, I should know the heat of the fire of complacency,\nwhich would cool the scorching heat of the fire of desire. (And yet I\nhave no penury of His love!) And so I dwine, I die, and He seemeth not\nto rue on me. I take instruments in His hand, that I would have Him,\nbut I cannot get Him; and my best cheer is black hunger. I bless Him\nfor that feast.\n\n_Secondly_, Old challenges now and then revive, and cast all down. I\ngo halting and sighing, fearing there be an unseen process yet coming\nout, and that heavier than I can answer. I cannot read distinctly my\nsurety's act of cautionary for me in particular, and my discharge; and\nsense, rather than faith, assureth me of what I have; so unable am I\nto go but by a hold.[209] I could, with reverence of my Lord, forgive\nChrist, if He would give me as much faith as I have hunger for Him. I\nhope the pardon is now obtained, but the peace is not so sure to me as\nI would wish. Yet, one thing I know, there is not a way to heaven but\nthe way which He hath graced me to profess and suffer for.\n\n [209] Ps. lxxiii. 23.\n\n_Thirdly_, Wo, wo is me for the virgin-daughter of Scotland, and for\nthe fearful desolation and wrath appointed for this land! And yet all\nare sleeping, eating and drinking, laughing and sporting, as if all\nwere well. Oh, our dim gold! our dumb, blind pastors! The sun is gone\ndown upon them, and our nobles bid Christ fend for Himself, if He be\nChrist. It were good that we should learn in time the way to our\nstronghold.\n\nSir, howbeit not acquainted, remember my love to your wife. I pray God\nto establish you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 9, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXV.--_To_ MR. ALEXANDER HENDERSON.\n\n [ALEXANDER HENDERSON, the well-known hero of the Second\n Reformation, was born in the year 1583, and received his\n education at the University of St. Andrews. After having taught\n for several years a class of philosophy and rhetoric in that\n University, he obtained a presentation to the parish of Leuchars,\n in 1612. Being at that time unimpressed with spiritual truth, he\n was a defender of the principles and measures of the prelatic\n party in the Church. His settlement was on these accounts so\n unpopular, that on the day of his ordination the church-doors\n were secured by the people, and the members of Presbytery,\n together with the presentee, were obliged to break in by the\n window. But his soul was soon after visited by the Holy Spirit,\n and underwent an entire change. He became leader in effecting\n that revolution in the ecclesiastical affairs of Scotland which\n commenced about the year 1637. He was Moderator of the famous\n Assembly which met at Glasgow in 1638, and by that Assembly was\n translated to Edinburgh. In the civil war, Henderson was\n appointed by the Covenanters to act as one of their commissioners\n in treating with his Majesty Charles I. In 1642 he was delegated\n by the Commission of the General Assembly to sit as one of their\n commissioners in the Westminster Assembly of Divines, which kept\n him in London for several years. He died on the 12th of August\n 1646, in the 63rd year of his age, shortly after his return from\n England. Baillie, in his speech to the General Assembly in the\n following year, pronounced him, \"the fairest ornament after Mr.\n John Knox, of incomparable memory, that ever the Church of\n Scotland did enjoy.\"]\n\n(_SADNESS BECAUSE CHRIST'S HEADSHIP NOT SET FORTH--HIS CAUSE ATTENDED\nWITH CROSSES--THE BELIEVER SEEN OF ALL._)\n\n\nMY REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I received your letters. They are as\napples of gold to me; for with my sweet feasts (and they are above the\ndeserving of such a sinner, high and out of measure), I have sadness\nto ballast me, and weight me a little. It is but His boundless wisdom\nwhich hath taken the tutoring of His witless child; and He knoweth\nthat to be drunken with comforts is not safest for our stomachs.\nHowever it be, the din and noise and glooms of Christ's cross are\nweightier than itself. I protest to you (my witness is in heaven),\nthat I could wish many pound weights added to my cross, to know that\nby my sufferings Christ were set forward in His kingly office in this\nland. Oh, what is my skin to His glory; or my losses, or my sad heart,\nto the apple of the eye of our Lord and His beloved Spouse, His\nprecious truth, His royal privileges, the glory of manifested justice\nin giving of His foes a dash, the testimony of His faithful servants\nwho do glorify Him, when He rideth upon poor, weak worms, and\ntriumpheth in them! I desire you to pray, that I may come out of this\nfurnace with honesty, and that I may leave Christ's truth no worse\nthan I found it; and that this most honourable cause may neither be\nstained nor weakened.\n\nAs for your cause, my reverend and dearest brother, ye are the talk of\nthe north and south; and looked to, so as if ye were all crystal\nglass. Your motes and dust would soon be proclaimed and trumpets blown\nat your slips. But I know that ye have laid help upon One that is\nmighty. Intrust not your comforts to men's airy and frothy applause,\nneither lay your down-castings on the tongues of salt mockers and\nreproachers of godliness. \"As deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and\nyet well known\" (2 Cor. vi. 8, 9). God hath called you to Christ's\nside, and the wind is now in Christ's face in this land; and seeing ye\nare with Him, ye cannot expect the lee-side, or the sunny side of the\nbrae. But I know that ye have resolved to take Christ upon any terms\nwhatsoever. I hope that ye do not rue, though your cause be hated, and\nprejudices are taken up against it. The shields of the world think our\nMaster cumbersome wares, and that He maketh too great din, and that\nHis cords and yokes make blains, and deep scores in their neck.\nTherefore they kick. They say, \"This man shall not reign over us.\"\n\nLet us pray one for another. He who hath made you a chosen arrow in\nHis quiver, hide you in the hollow of His hand!\n\n I am yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 9, 1637_.\n\n[Illustration: LOUDON CASTLE.]\n\n\n\n\nCXVI.--_To the Right Honourable my_ LORD LOUDON.\n\n [JOHN CAMPBELL, first Earl of Loudon, and the son of Sir James\n Campbell of Lawers, was a man of distinguished talents, and of a\n very decided character. In the history of his country he makes no\n small figure as a strenuous opponent of the attempts made by\n Charles I. to impose Prelacy and arbitrary power on Scotland. He\n was a member of the General Assembly which met at Glasgow in\n 1638, in the business of which he took an active part. When the\n King, dissatisfied with the proceedings of this Assembly, put\n himself at the head of an army to reduce his Scottish subjects to\n submission, Loudon had a leading hand in the measures then\n adopted for preserving the religion and liberties of Scotland, as\n secured by the ecclesiastical and civil laws of the kingdom. In\n the skirmish at Newburn, where the King's forces were defeated by\n the Scottish army, he commanded a brigade of horse. In 1641, when\n peace was restored between the King and his Scottish subjects,\n Loudon was made Lord Chancellor of Scotland, a situation which he\n held till after the execution of Charles I., and the calling home\n of Charles II. by the Scots in 1650. Malignants being again\n brought into places of power and trust, he demitted his office.\n He continued, however, strongly to adhere to the cause of\n Charles, in consequence of which he was excepted from Cromwell's\n act of indemnity, and his estates forfeited. But all that he had\n suffered for the royal cause did not recommend him to the favour\n of the unprincipled government of Charles II. His name is in the\n list of Middleton's fines (imposed upon the gentlemen of Ayrshire\n in 1662) for \u00a312,000. He felt convinced that, should his life be\n spared, he would fall an early victim to the vengeance of his\n enemies, and often exhorted his pious lady to beseech the Lord\n that he might not live to the next session of Parliament, else he\n would share the same fate with the Marquis of Argyle. His wish\n was granted; for he died at Edinburgh, March 15, 1662.\n Rutherford's \"Divine Right of Church Government and\n Excommunication,\" printed at London in 1646, is dedicated to this\n nobleman, who was then Chancellor of the University of St\n Andrews. His son James, second Earl of Loudon, was subjected to\n no small persecution under the dominancy of Prelacy; and, seeking\n refuge in Holland, took up his residence at Leyden, where he died\n on the 29th of October 1684.]\n\n(_BLESSEDNESS OF ACTING FOR CHRIST--HIS LOVE TO HIS PRISONER._)\n\n\nMY VERY NOBLE AND HONOURABLE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou.--I make bold to write to your Lordship, that you may know the\nhonourable cause which ye are graced to profess is Christ's own truth.\nYe are many ways blessed of God, who have taken upon you to come out\nto the streets with Christ on your forehead, when so many are ashamed\nof Him, and hide Him (as it were) under their cloak, as if He were a\nstolen Christ. If this faithless generation, and especially the nobles\nof this kingdom, thought not Christ dear wares, and religion\nexpensive, hazardous, and dangerous, they would not slip from His\ncause as they do, and stand looking on with their hands folded behind\ntheir back when louns are running with the spoil of Zion on their\nback, and the boards of the Son of God's tabernacle. Law and justice\nare to be had by any, especially for money and moyen; but Christ can\nget no law, good-cheap or dear. It were the glory and honour of you,\nwho are the nobles of this land, to plead for your wronged Bridegroom\nand His oppressed spouse, as far as zeal and standing law will go with\nyou. Your ordinary logic from the event, \"that it will do no good to\nthe cause, and, therefore, silence is best till the Lord put to His\nown hand,\" is not (with reverence to your Lordship's learning) worth a\nstraw. Events are God's. Let us do,[210] and not plead against God's\noffice. Let Him sit at His own helm, who moderateth all events. It is\nnot a good course to complain that we cannot get a providence of gold,\nwhen our laziness, cold zeal, temporizing, and faithless fearfulness\nspilleth good providence.\n\n [210] Act.\n\nYour Lordship will pardon me: I am not of that mind, that tumults or\narms is the way to put Christ on His throne; or that Christ will be\nserved and truth vindicated, only with the arm of flesh and blood.\nNay, Christ doth His turn with less din, than with garments rolled in\nblood. But I would that the zeal of God were in the nobles to do their\npart for Christ; and I must be pardoned to write to your Lordship\nthus.\n\nI dow not, I dare not, but speak to others what God hath done to the\nsoul of His poor, afflicted exile-prisoner. His comfort is more than I\never knew before. He hath sealed the honourable cause which I now\nsuffer for, and I shall not believe that Christ will put His amen and\nring[211] upon an imagination. He hath made all His promises good to\nme, and hath filled up all the blanks with His own hand. I would not\nexchange my bonds with the plastered joy of this whole world. It hath\npleased Him to make a sinner the like of me an ordinary banqueter in\nHis house-of-wine, with that royal, princely One, Christ Jesus. Oh,\nwhat weighing, oh, what telling is in His love! How sweet must He be,\nwhen that black and burdensome tree, His own cross, is so perfumed\nwith joy and gladness! O for help to lift Him up by praises on His\nroyal throne! I seek no more than that His name may be spread abroad\nin me, that meikle good may be spoken of Christ on my behalf; and this\nbeing done, my losses, place, stipend, credit, ease, and liberty,\nshall all be made up to my full contentment and joy of heart.\n\n [211] As if sealing it by His ring as in marriage, or as Esth. iii.\n 10.\n\nI shall be confident that your Lordship will go on in the strength of\nthe Lord, and keep Christ, and avouch Him, that He may read your name\npublicly before men and angels. I shall entreat your Lordship to\nexhort and encourage that nobleman, your chief,[212] to do the same.\nBut I am wo[213] that many of you find a new wisdom, which deserveth\nnot such a name. It were better that men would see that their wisdom\nbe holy, and their holiness wise.\n\n [212] The Earl of Argyle.\n\n [213] Sorrowful.\n\nI must be bold to desire your Lordship to add to your former favours\nto me (for the which your Lordship hath a prisoner's blessing and\nprayers) this, that ye would be pleased to befriend my brother, now\nsuffering for the same cause; for as he is to dwell nigh your\nLordship's bounds, your Lordship's word and countenance may help him.\n\nThus recommending your Lordship to the saving grace and tender mercy\nof Christ Jesus our Lord, I rest, your Lordship's obliged servant in\nChrist,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 9, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXVII.--_To MR. WILLIAM DALGLEISH, Minister of the Gospel._\n\n [MR. WILLIAM DALGLEISH was minister of the conjunct parishes of\n _Anwoth_, _Kirkdale_, and _Kirkmabreck_. He preached at Anwoth\n only every alternate week; but so abundantly blessed were his\n labours to the people, that when he surrendered (_quoad sacra_)\n the charge of Anwoth to Rutherford, upon its being formed into a\n distinct parochial charge, not only many of the humbler class of\n the parishioners, but the proprietors too, had embraced the\n doctrines of the Gospel. Dalgleish strictly adhered to\n Presbyterian principles, and on that account was subjected to\n trouble.\n\n In 1635 he was deprived of his charge as minister of the united\n parishes of Kirkdale and Kirkmabreck. In 1637, when Episcopacy\n began to be the losing cause, he returned to his flock. His name\n appears on the roll of the members of the famous Assembly which\n met at Glasgow in 1638; and in 1639 he was translated to Cramond,\n as successor to Mr. William Colville, afterwards Principal of the\n University of Edinburgh; to whom he appears to have been related,\n as the name of his wife was Elizabeth Colville. He was the\n intimate friend of the well-known Alexander Henderson, who by his\n latter will ordained his executor \"to deliver to my dear\n acquaintance Mr. John Duncan, at Culross, and Mr. William\n Dalgleish, minister at Cramond, all my manuscripts and papers\n which are in my study, and that belong to me any where else; and\n after they have received them, to destroy or preserve and keep\n them, as they shall judge convenient for their own private or the\n public good.\" In 1662 Dalgleish was ejected for nonconformity,\n and died before the Revolution.\n\n _Kirkmabreck_ was a pendicle of the Abbey of Dundrennan, which is\n seven miles from Kirkcudbright. The farms and cottages that bear\n this name are about two miles from the shore, a little way up on\n the high ground, but the church and churchyard lie in a hollow,\n between the Larg and the Cairnharrow hills. Part of the old\n ivy-covered walls, and the gable of the church, still remain. One\n modern tomb in the churchyard is marked by a granite pillar, 20\n feet high. It is the grave of Dr. Thomas Brown. The inscription\n on the west side reads thus:--\"Thomas, M.D., Professor of Moral\n Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, who died 2nd August\n 1820, aged 43 years. Janet, who died 5th August 1824, aged 51.\"\n\n The Statistical Account speaks of Old Mortality having renovated\n some of the grave-stones, but all traces of his work have\n disappeared. In that old church Samuel Rutherford preached his\n sermons on Zech. xiii. 7, 9, at a Communion in 1630. In 1634 he\n preached on Luke xiv. 16, at the preparation before the\n Communion; and on another occasion, on Isaiah xlix. 1-4.\n\n The parish extends along the shore, to the village of Creetown in\n one direction, and in the other, to the old castle and farm of\n _Carsluth_. The old tower and ruined walls of this castle, built\n of granite from the neighbouring quarries, stand embosomed in\n trees, on a spot commanding a fine view of the bay. _Barholm\n Castle_ also is in this parish, and was the spot where John Knox\n was secreted previous to his escape to the Continent. His\n signature was long shown on the wall of one of the rooms. The old\n towers, overgrown with ivy, peep out from the thick woods on the\n right of the road from Kirkdale to Creetown. The modern mansion\n stands on a wooded eminence, on the other side of Creetown. Not\n more than a mile from this old castle, is the ruined church of\n _Kirkdale_, on the edge of a wood, and considerably above the\n house. It resembles the churches of Kirkmabreck and Anwoth in\n shape, having been long and narrow. The inscriptions on the old\n tombstones are so worn as to be illegible. The churchyard has\n been enclosed, and at the gate the eye is sure to rest on a small\n tablet in the side wall, with these words:--\n\n \"But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and\n stand in thy lot at the end of the days\" (Dan. xii. 13.)]\n\n(_CHRIST'S KINDNESS--DEPENDENCE ON PROVIDENCE--CONTROVERSIES._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am\nwell. My Lord Jesus is kinder to me than ever He was. It pleaseth Him\nto dine and sup with His afflicted prisoner. A King feasteth me, and\nHis spikenard casteth a sweet smell. Put Christ's love to the trial,\nand put upon it our burdens, and then it will appear love indeed. We\nemploy not His love, and therefore we know it not. I verily count the\nsufferings of my Lord more than this world's lustred and over-gilded\nglory. I dare not say but my Lord Jesus hath fully recompensed my\nsadness with His joys, my losses with His own presence. I find it a\nsweet and rich thing to exchange my sorrows with Christ's joys, my\nafflictions with that sweet peace I have with Himself.\n\nBrother, this is His own truth I now suffer for. He hath sealed my\nsufferings with His own comforts, and I know that He will not put His\nseal upon blank paper. His seals are not dumb nor delusive, to confirm\nimaginations and lies. Go on, my dear brother, in the strength of the\nLord, not fearing man who is a worm, nor the son of man that shall\ndie. Providence hath a thousand keys, to open a thousand sundry doors\nfor the deliverance of His own, when it is even come to a _conclamatum\nest_.[214] Let us be faithful, and care for our own part, which is to\ndo and suffer for Him, and lay Christ's part on Himself, and leave it\nthere. Duties are ours, events are the Lord's. When our faith goeth to\nmeddle with events, and to hold a court (if I may so speak) upon God's\nprovidence, and beginneth to say, \"How wilt Thou do this and that?\" we\nlose ground. We have nothing to do there. It is our part to let the\nAlmighty exercise His own office, and steer His own helm. There is\nnothing left to us, but to see how we may be approved of Him, and how\nwe may roll the weight of our weak souls in well-doing upon Him who is\nGod Omnipotent: and when that we thus essay miscarrieth, it will be\nneither our sin nor cross.\n\n [214] \"All is over.\"\n\nBrother, remember the Lord's word to Peter; \"Simon, lovest thou\nme?--Feed my sheep.\" No greater testimony of our love to Christ can\nbe, than to feed carefully and faithfully His lambs.\n\nI am in no better neighbourhood with the ministers here than before:\nthey cannot endure that any speak of me, or to me. Thus I am, in the\nmean time, silent, which is my greatest grief. Dr. Barron[215] hath\noften disputed with me, especially about Arminian controversies, and\nfor the ceremonies. Three yokings laid him by; and I have not been\ntroubled with him since. Now he hath appointed a dispute before\nwitnesses; I trust that Christ and truth will do for themselves.\n\n [215] Barron was of the family of Kinnaird in Fifeshire. He became\n minister of the parish of Keith; in 1624 was appointed to a charge in\n Aberdeen. In 1625 he was nominated Professor of Divinity in Marischal\n College there. He was a determined opponent of such men as Rutherford\n and Dickson, and at length resigned his chair and retired to Berwick,\n where he died in 1639.\n\nI hope, brother, that ye will help my people; and write to me what ye\nhear the Bishop is to do with them. Grace be with you.\n\n Your brother in bonds,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n\n\n\nCXVIII.--_To MR. HUGH MACKAIL, Minister of the Gospel at Irvine._\n\n(_CHRIST'S BOUNTIFUL DEALINGS--JOY IN CHRIST THROUGH THE CROSS._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I bless you for your letter. He is come\ndown as rain upon the mown grass; He hath revived my withered root;\nand He is the dew of herbs. I am most secure in this prison: salvation\nis for walls in it; and what think ye of these walls? He maketh the\ndry plant to bud as the lily, and to blossom as Lebanon:--the great\nHusbandman's blessing cometh down upon the plants of righteousness.\nWho may say this, my dear brother, if I, His poor exiled stranger and\nprisoner, may not say it? Howbeit all the world should be silent, I\ncannot hold my peace. Oh, how many black accounts have Christ and I\nrounded over together in the house of my pilgrimage! and how fat a\nportion He hath given to a hungry soul! I had rather have Christ's\nfour-hours, than have dinner and supper both in one from any other.\nHis dealing, and the way of His judgments, are past finding out. No\npreaching, no book, no learning, could give me that which it behoved\nme to come and get in this town. But what of all this, if I were not\nmisted, and confounded, and astonished how to be thankful, and how to\nget Him praised for evermore! And, what is more, He hath been pleased\nto pain me with His love, and my pain groweth through want of real\npossession.\n\nSome have written to me, that I am possibly too joyful of the cross;\nbut my joy overleapeth the cross, it is bounded and terminated upon\nChrist. I know that the sun will overcloud and eclipse, and that I\nshall again be put to walk in the shadow: but Christ must be welcome\nto come and go, as He thinketh meet. Yet He would be more welcome to\nme, I trow, to come than to go. And I hope He pitieth and pardoneth\nme, in casting apples to me at such a fainting time as this. Holy and\nblessed is His name! It was not my flattering of Christ that drew a\nkiss from His mouth. But He would send me as a spy into this\nwilderness of suffering, to see the land and try the ford; and I\ncannot make a lie of Christ's cross. I can report nothing but good\nboth of Him and it, lest others should faint. I hope, when a change\ncometh, to cast anchor at midnight upon the Rock which He hath taught\nme to know in this daylight; whither I may run, when I must say my\nlesson without book, and believe in the dark. I am sure it is sin to\ntarrow at Christ's good meat, and not to eat when He saith, \"Eat, O\nwell-beloved, and drink abundantly.\" If He bear me on His back, or\ncarry me in His arms over this water, I hope for grace to set down my\nfeet on dry ground, when the way is better. But this is slippery\nground: my Lord thought good I should go by a hold, and lean on my\nWell-beloved's shoulder. It is good to be ever taking from Him. I\ndesire that He may get the fruit of praises, for dawting and thus\ndandling me on His knee: and I may give my bond of thankfulness, so\nbeing I have Christ's back-bond again for my relief, that I shall be\nstrengthened by His powerful grace to pay my vows to Him. But, truly,\nI find that we have the advantage of the brae upon our enemies: we are\nmore than conquerors through Him who loved us; and they know not\nwherein our strength lieth.\n\nPray for me. Grace be with you.\n\n Your brother in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n\n\n\nCXIX.--_To_ MR. DAVID DICKSON.\n\n(_JOYFUL EXPERIENCE--CUP OVERFLOWING IN EXILE._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you.--I\nfind that great men, especially old friends, scaur to speak for me.\nBut my kingly and royal Master biddeth me to try His moyen to the\nuttermost, and I shall find a friend at hand. I still depend upon\nHim; His court is still as before; the prisoner is welcome to Him. The\nblack, crabbed tree of my Lord's cross hath made Christ and my soul\nvery entire. He is my song in the night. I am often laid in the dust\nwith challenges, and apprehensions of His anger; and then, if a\nmountain of iron were laid upon me, I cannot be heavier; and with much\nwrestling I win into the King's house of wine. And yet, for the most\npart, my life is joy; and such joy through His comforts, as I have\nbeen afraid lest I should shame myself and cry out, for I can scarce\nbear what I get. Christ giveth me a measure heaped up, pressed down,\nand running over; and, believe it, His love paineth more than prison\nand banishment. I cannot get the way of Christ's love. Had I known\nwhat He was keeping for me, I should never have been so faint-hearted.\nIn my heaviest times, when all is lost, the memory of His love maketh\nme think Christ's glooms are but for the fashion.[216] I seek no more\nthan a vent to my wine;[217] I am smothered and ready to burst for\nwant of vent. Think not much of persecution. It is before you; but it\nis not as men conceive of it. My sugared cross forceth me to say this\nto you, ye shall have waled meat. The sick bairn is ofttime the\nspilled bairn; he shall command all the house. I hope that ye help a\ntired prisoner to praise and pray. Had I but the annual of annual[218]\nto give to my Lord Jesus, it would ease my pain. But, alas! I have\nnothing to pay, He will get nothing of poor me; but I am wo that I\nhave not room enough in my heart for such a stranger. I am not cast\ndown to go farther north. I have good cause to work for my Master, for\nI am well paid beforehand; I am not behind, howbeit I should not get\none smile more till my feet be up within the King's dining-hall.\n\n [216] Frowns for form's sake.\n\n [217] Alluding to Job xxxii. 19.\n\n [218] The smallest return, the quit-rent of a quit-rent.\n\nI have gone through yours upon the Covenant;[219] it hath edified my\nsoul, and refreshed a hungry man. I judge it sharp, sweet, quick, and\nprofound. Take me at my word, I fear that it get no lodging in\nScotland.\n\n [219] \"_Therapeutica Sacra_; seu de curandis casibus conscienti\u00e6 circa\n regenerationem per F\u0153derum Divinorum applicationem,\" is the title\n of the book.\n\nThe brethren of Ireland write not to me; chide with them for that. I\nam sure that I may give you and them a commission (and I will abide by\nit), that you tell my Beloved that I am sick of love. I hope in God to\nleave some of my rust and superfluities in Aberdeen. I cannot get a\nhouse in this town wherein to leave drink-silver in my Master's name,\nsave one only. There is no sale for Christ in the north; He is like to\nlie long on my hand, ere any accept Him. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n\n\n\nCXX.--_To_ MR. MATTHEW MOWAT.\n\n [MATTHEW MOWAT, son to the Laird of Busbie (Letter CXXXIII.), was\n minister of Kilmarnock. He was one of the seven leading ministers\n in the west whom the Parliament, after the restoration of Charles\n II., brought before them with the view of extorting their\n acquiescence in the establishment of Prelacy; which, if effected,\n it was apprehended would have an influence in leading others to\n comply. They were all put in prison, and refusing (though several\n times brought before the Parliament), to take the oath of\n allegiance without explanation, inasmuch as it involved the oath\n of supremacy, they were more severely treated. Livingstone\n describes Mowat as \"one of a meek, sweet disposition, straight\n and zealous for the truth.\" Rutherford, who highly valued him,\n says in one of his letters, \"I cannot speak to a man so sick of\n love to Christ as Mr. Matthew Mowat;\" and in another, \"I am\n greatly in love with Mr. Matthew Mowat, for I see him really\n stampt with the image of God.\" The time of his death is unknown.\n Some additional notices of him are to be found in Wodrow's\n \"Analecta,\" vol. iii.]\n\n(_PLENITUDE OF CHRIST'S LOVE--NEED TO USE GRACE ARIGHT--CHRIST THE\nRANSOMER--DESIRE TO PROCLAIM HIS GOSPEL--SHORTCOMINGS AND\nSUFFERINGS_.)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I am a very far mistaken man. If others\nknew how poor my stock was, they would not think upon the like of me,\nbut with compassion. For I am as one kept under a strict tutor; I\nwould have more than my tutor alloweth me. But it is good that a\nbairn's wit is not the rule which regulateth my Lord Jesus. Let Him\ngive what He will, it shall aye be above merit, and my ability to gain\ntherewith. I would not wish a better stock, whill heaven be my stock,\nthan to live upon credit at Christ's hands, daily borrowing. Surely,\nrunning-over love (that vast, huge, boundless love of Christ that\nthere is telling[220] in for man and angels!) is the only thing I most\nfain would be in hands with. He knoweth that I have little but the\nlove of that love; and that I shall be happy, suppose I never get\nanother heaven but only an eternal, lasting feast of that love. But\nsuppose my wishes were poor, He is not poor: Christ, all the seasons\nof the year, is dropping sweetness. If I had vessels, I might fill\nthem; but my old, riven, and running-out dish, even when I am at the\nWell, can bring little away. Nothing but glory will make tight and\nfast our leaking and rifty vessels. Alas! I have skailed more of\nChrist's grace, love, faith, humility, and godly sorrow, than I have\nbrought with me. How little of the sea can a child carry in his hand!\nAs little dow I take away of my great Sea, my boundless and\nrunning-over Christ Jesus.\n\n [220] Which will try the skill of men and angels to estimate.\n\nI have not lighted upon the right gate of putting Christ to the bank,\nand making myself rich with Him. My misguiding and childish\ntrafficking with that matchless Pearl, that heaven's Jewel, the Jewel\nof the Father's delights, hath put me to a great loss. O that He would\ntake a loan of me, and my stock, and put His name in all my bonds, and\nserve Himself heir to the poor, mean portion which I have, and be\naccountable for the talent Himself! Gladly would I put Christ into my\nroom to guide all; and let me be but a servant to run errands, and act\nby His direction. Let me be His interdicted heir. Lord Jesus, work\nupon my minority, and let Him win a pupil's blessing! Oh, how would I\nrejoice to have this work of my salvation legally fastened upon\nChrist! A back-bond of my Lord Jesus that it should be forthcoming to\nthe orphan, would be my happiness. Dependency on Christ were my surest\nway; if Christ were my foundation, I were sure enough. I thought the\nguiding of grace had been no art;[221] I thought it would come of\nwill; but I would spill my own heaven yet, if I had not burdened\nChrist with all. I but lend my bare name to the sweet covenant;\nChrist, behind and before, and on either side, maketh all sure. God\nwill not take an Arminian cautioner. Freewill is a weather-cock,\nturning at a serpent's tongue, a tutor that cowped our Father Adam,\nunto us; and brought down the house, and sold the land, and sent the\nfather, and mother, and all the bairns through the earth to beg their\nbread. Nature in the Gospel hath but a cracked credit. Oh, well to my\npoor soul for evermore, that my Lord called grace to the council, and\nput Christ Jesus, with free merits and the blood of God, foremost in\nthe chase to draw sinners after a Ransomer! Oh, what a sweet block was\nit by way of buying and selling, to give and tell down a ransom for\ngrace and glory to dyvours! Oh, would to my Lord that I could cause\npaper and ink to speak the worth and excellency, the high and loud\npraises of a Brother-ransomer! The Ransomer needeth not my report,\nbut, oh, if He would take it, and make use of it! I should be happy if\nI had an errand to this world, but for some few years, to spread\nproclamations, and outcries, and love-letters of the highness, the\nhighness for evermore, the glory, the glory for evermore, of the\nRansomer, whose clothes were wet and dyed in blood! albeit, after I\nhad done that, my soul and body should go back to their mother\n_Nothing_ that their Creator brought them once out from, as from their\nbeginning. But why should I pine away, and pain myself with wishes?\nand not believe, rather, that Christ will hire such an outcast as I\nam, a masterless body, put out of the house by the sons of my mother,\nand give me employment and a calling, one way or other, to set out\nChrist and His wares to country buyers, and propose Christ unto, and\npress Him upon some poor souls, that fainer than their life would\nreceive Him?\n\n [221] Required no skill, but would come as I chose.\n\nYou complain heavily of \"your shortcoming in practice, and venturing\non suffering for Christ.\" You have many marrows. For the first, I\nwould put you off a sense of wretchedness. Hold on! Christ never yet\nslew a sighing, groaning child: more of that would make you won goods,\nand a meet prey for Christ. Alas! I have too little of it, for\nventuring on suffering. I had not so much free gear when I came to\nChrist's camp as to buy a sword. I wonder[222] that Christ should not\nlaugh at such a soldier. I am no better yet; but faith liveth and\nspendeth upon our Captain's charges, who is able to pay for all. We\nneed not pity Him, He is rich enough.\n\n [222] In most editions, it is \"_a_ wonder,\" as if in way of\n exclamation.\n\nYe desire me also \"Not to mistake Christ under a mask.\" I bless you,\nand thank God for it. But alas! masked or bare-faced, kissing or\nglooming, I mistake Him: yea, I mistake Him the farthest when the mask\nis off; for then I play me with His sweetness. I am like a child that\nhath a gilded book, that playeth with the ribbons and the gilding, and\nthe picture on the first page, but readeth not the contents of it.\nCertainly, if my desires to my Well-beloved were fulfilled, I could\nprovoke devils, and crosses, and the world, and temptations to the\nfield; but oh! my poor weakness maketh me lie behind the bush and hide\nme.\n\nRemember my service and my blessing to my Lord. I am mindful of him as\nI am able. Desire him from a prisoner, to come and visit my good\nMaster, and feel but the smell of His love. It setteth him well,\nhowbeit he be young, to make Christ his garland. I could not wish him\nin a better case, than in a fever of love-sickness for Christ.\n\nRemember my bonds. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCXXI.--_To_ WILLIAM HALLIDAY.\n\n[The name \"Halliday\" occurs on the tombstones of the old churchyard of\nAnwoth. No doubt this correspondent was one of his flock at Anwoth.\nOne of the name lies buried in the old churchyard, with the following\ninscription on her tombstone:--\n\n\"_Margat_ (_i.e. Margaret_) _Halliday_, spouse of John Bell in\nArchland, who departed this life anno 1631, Jan. 27, \u00e6tat. su\u00e6 76. O\ndeath, I will be thy death! Now is Christ risen from the dead, and is\nthe first froot (_i.e._ fruits) of them that ...\" (broken off.)\n\n_Archland_ is the same place as _Henton_, in the parish of Anwoth, a\nnotice of which is given at Letter CCXIX., addressed to this John\nBell.]\n\n(_DILIGENCE IN SECURING SALVATION._)\n\n\nLOVING FRIEND,--I received your letter.--I wish that ye take pains for\nsalvation. Mistaken grace, and somewhat like conversion which is not\nconversion, is the saddest and most doleful thing in the world. Make\nsure of salvation, and lay the foundation sure, for many are beguiled.\nPut a low price upon the world's clay; but a high price upon Christ.\nTemptations will come, but if they be not made welcome by you, ye have\nthe best of it. Be jealous over yourself and your own heart, and keep\ntouches with God. Let Him not have a faint and feeble soldier of you.\nFear not to back Christ, for He will conquer and overcome. Let no man\nscaur at Christ, for I have no quarrels at His cross; He and His cross\nare two good guests, and worth the lodging. Men would fain have Christ\ngood-cheap; but the market will not come down. Acquaint yourself with\nprayer. Make Christ your Captain and your armour. Make conscience of\nsinning[223] when no eye seeth you. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in Christ Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n [223] Be conscientious as to sinning when out of sight of men.\n\n\n\n\nCXXII.--_To a Gentlewoman, after the death of her Husband._\n\n(_VANITY OF EARTHLY POSSESSIONS--CHRIST A SUFFICIENT PORTION--DESIGN\nOF AFFLICTION._)\n\n\nDEAR AND LOVING SISTER,--I know that ye are minding your sweet\ncountry, and not taking your inn, the place of your banishment, for\nyour home. This life is not worthy to be the thatch, or outer wall, of\nthe paradise of your Lord Jesus, that He did sweat for to you, and\nthat He keepeth for you. Short, and silly, and sand-blind were our\nhope, if it could not look over the water to our best heritage, and if\nit stayed only at home about the doors of our clay house.\n\nI marvel not, my dear sister, that ye complain that ye come short of\nyour old wrestlings which ye had for a blessing; and that now you find\nit not so. Bairns are but hired to learn their lesson when they first\ngo to school. And it is enough that those who run a race see the gold\nonly, at the starting-place; and possibly they see little more of it,\nor nothing at all till they win to the rinks-end, and get the gold in\nthe loof of their hand. Our Lord maketh delicates and dainties of His\nsweet presents and love-visits to His own: but Christ's love, under a\nveil, is love. If ye get Christ, howbeit not the sweet and pleasant\nway ye would have Him, it is enough; for the Well-beloved cometh not\nour way; He must wale His own gate Himself. For worldly things, seeing\nthere are meadows and fair flowers in your way to heaven, a smell in\nthe bygoing is sufficient. He that would reckon and tell all the\nstones in his way, in a journey of three or four hundred miles, and\nwrite up in his count-book all the herbs and the flowers growing in\nhis way, might come short of his journey. You cannot stay, in your\ninch of time, to lose your day (seeing that you are in haste, and the\nnight and your afternoon will not bide you), in setting your heart on\nthis vain world. It were your wisdom to read your account-book, and to\nhave in readiness your business, against the time you come to death's\nwater-side. I know that your lodging is taken; your forerunner,\nChrist, hath not forgotten that; and therefore you must set yourself\nto your \"one thing,\" which you cannot well want.\n\nIn that our Lord took your husband to Himself, I know it was that He\nmight make room for Himself. He cutteth off your love to the creature,\nthat ye might learn that God only is the right owner of your love.\nSorrow, loss, sadness, death, are the worst of things that are, except\nsin. But Christ knoweth well what to make of them, and can put His own\nin the cross's common, so that we shall be obliged to affliction, and\nthank God who taught us to make our acquaintance with such a rough\ncompanion, who can hale us to Christ. You must learn to make your\nevils your great good; and to spin comforts, peace, joy, communion\nwith Christ, out of your troubles, which are Christ's wooers, sent to\nspeak for you[224] to Himself. It is easy to get good words, and a\ncomfortable message from our Lord, even from such rough serjeants as\ndivers temptations. Thanks to God for crosses! When we count and\nreckon our losses in seeking God, we find that godliness is great\ngain. Great partners of a shipful of gold are glad to see the ship\ncome to the harbour;--surely we, and our Lord Jesus together, have a\nshipful of gold coming home, and our gold is in that ship. Some are so\nin love, or, rather, in lust, with this life, that they sell their\npart of the ship for a little thing. I would counsel you to buy hope,\nbut sell it not, and give not away your crosses for nothing. The\ninside of Christ's cross is white and joyful, and the far-end of the\nblack cross is a fair and glorious heaven of ease. And seeing Christ\nhath fastened heaven to the far-end of the cross, and He will not\nloose the knot Himself, and none else can (for when Christ casteth a\nknot, all the world cannot loose it), let us then count it exceeding\njoy when we fall into divers temptations.\n\n [224] See 1 Kings ii. 18.\n\nThus recommending you to the tender mercy and grace of our Lord, I\nrest, your loving brother,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n\n\n\nCXXIII.--_To JOHN GORDON of Cardoness, Younger._\n\n [JOHN GORDON of Cardoness, younger, like his father, previously\n noticed (Letter LXXXII.), was naturally a man of strong passions.\n Judging from this letter, he appears not only to have been\n neglectful of religion, but to have freely indulged in the\n follies and vices of youth. Rutherford warns him of his sin and\n danger with much freedom and affectionate earnestness; and these\n warnings, it is to be hoped, were not in vain. He was in the\n Covenanters' army, in England, in 1644, as appears from a letter\n of his preserved among the Wodrow MSS. It is dated \"Sunderland,\n 28th March 1644,\" and is addressed to Mr. Thomas Wylie. It is\n written in a religious strain. After referring to the success of\n the army, and to the account of this drawn up by Mr. Robert\n Douglas, it contains in the close the following passage:--\"I\n entreat you be kind to my wife, and deal with her neither to take\n my absence, nor the form of coming from her, in evil part; for,\n in God's presence, public duties and nothing else removed me, or\n marred the form of my removal. Be earnest with her that she seek\n a nearer acquaintance with Christ: and fail not to pray for her\n and her family, and me.\" (Wodrow MSS., vol. xxix.)]\n\n(_REASONS FOR BEING EARNEST ABOUT THE SOUL, AND FOR RESIGNATION._)\n\n\nHONOURED AND DEAR BROTHER,--I wrote of late to you: multitudes of\nletters burden me now. I am refreshed with your letter.\n\nI exhort you in the bowels of Christ, set to work for your soul. And\nlet these bear weight with you, and ponder them seriously: _1st_,\nWeeping and gnashing of teeth in utter darkness, or heaven's joy.\n_2ndly_, Think what ye would give for an hour, when ye shall lie like\ndead, cold, blackened clay. _3rdly_, There is sand in your glass yet,\nand your sun is not gone down. _4thly_, Consider what joy and peace\nare in Christ's service. _5thly_, Think what advantage it will be to\nhave angels, the world, life and death, crosses, yea, and devils, all\nfor you, as the King's serjeants and servants, to do your business.\n_6thly_, To have mercy on your seed, and a blessing on your house.\n_7thly_, To have true honour, and a name on earth that casteth a sweet\nsmell. _8thly_, How ye will rejoice when Christ layeth down your head\nunder His chin, and betwixt His breasts, and drieth your face, and\nwelcometh you to glory and happiness. _9thly_, Imagine what pain and\ntorture is a guilty conscience; what slavery to carry the devil's\ndishonest loads. _10thly_, Sin's joys are but night-dreams, thoughts,\nvapours, imaginations, and shadows. _11thly_, What dignity it is to be\na son of God. _12thly_, Dominion and mastery over temptations, over\nthe world and sin. _13thly_, That your enemies should be the tail, and\nyou the head.\n\nFor your bairns, now at rest (I speak to you and your wife, and cause\nher read this). _1st_, I am a witness for Barbara's glory in heaven.\n_2ndly_, For the rest, I write it under my hand, there are days coming\non Scotland when barren wombs, and dry breasts, and childless parents\nshall be pronounced blessed. They are, then, in the lee of the harbour\nere the storm come on. 3_rdly_, They are not lost to you that are laid\nup in Christ's treasury in heaven. _4thly_, At the Resurrection, ye\nshall meet with them; thither they are sent before, but not sent\naway.[225] _5thly_, Your Lord loveth you, who is homely to take and\ngive, borrow and lend. _6thly_, Let not bairns be your idols; for God\nwill be jealous, and take away the idol, because He is greedy of your\nlove wholly.\n\n [225] He alludes to the almost classical saying, \"Pr\u00e6missi, non\n amissi.\" See Letter IV.\n\nI bless you, your wife, and children. Grace for evermore be with you.\n\n Your loving pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n\n\n\nCXXIV.--_To JOHN GORDON of Cardoness, Elder._\n\n(_CALL TO EARNESTNESS ABOUT SALVATION--INTRUSION OF MINISTERS._)\n\n\nHONOURABLE, AND DEAREST IN THE LORD,--Your letter hath refreshed my\nsoul. My joy is fulfilled if Christ and ye be fast together. Ye are my\njoy and my crown. Ye know that I have recommended His love to you. I\ndefy the world, Satan, and sin. His love hath neither brim nor bottom\nin it. My dearest in Christ, I write my soul's desire to you. Heaven\nis not at the next door. I find Christianity to be a hard task; set to\nin your evening. We would all keep both Christ and our right eye, our\nright hand and foot; but it will not do with us. I beseech you, by the\nmercies of God, and your compearance before Christ, look Christ's\naccount-book and your own together, and collate them. Give the remnant\nof your time to your soul. This great idol-god, the world, will be\nlying in white ashes on the day of your compearance; and why should\nnight-dreams, and day-shadows, and water-froth, and May-flowers run\naway with your heart? When we win to the water-side, and black death's\nriver-brink, and put our foot into the boat, we shall laugh at our\nfolly. Sir, I recommend unto you the thoughts of death, and how ye\nwould wish your soul to be when ye shall lie cold, blue, ill-smelling\nclay.\n\nFor any hireling to be intruded, I, being the King's prisoner, cannot\nsay much; but, as God's minister, I desire you to read Acts i. 15, 16,\nto the end, and Acts vi. 2-5, and ye shall find that God's people\nshould have a voice in choosing church-rulers and teachers. I shall be\nsorry if, willingly, ye shall give way to his unlawful intrusion upon\nmy labours. The only wise God direct you.\n\nGod's grace be with you.\n\n Your loving pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n\n\n\nCXXV.--_To the_ LADY FORRET.\n\n [LADY FORRET was, we suppose, a \"saint in C\u00e6sar's household;\" for\n Lord Forret (originally Mr. David Balfour) was one of\n Lauderdale's friends, appointed to watch the outed ministers in\n Fife. See \"Blair's Life,\" by Row.]\n\n(_SICKNESS A KINDNESS--CHRIST'S GLOOMS BETTER THAN THE WORLD'S JOYS._)\n\n\nWORTHY MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear\nfrom you. I hear Christ hath been that kind as to visit you with\nsickness, and to bring you to the door of the grave: but ye found the\ndoor shut (blessed be His glorious name!) whill ye be riper for\neternity. He will have more service of you; and, therefore, He seeketh\nof you that henceforth ye be honest to your new husband, the Son of\nGod. We have idol-love, and are whorishly inclined to love other\nthings beside our Lord; and, therefore, our Lord hunteth for our love\nmore ways than one or two. O that Christ had His own of us! I know He\nwill not want you, and that is a sweet wilfulness in His love: and ye\nhave as good cause, on the other part, to be headstrong and peremptory\nin your love to Christ, and not to part, nor divide your love betwixt\nHim and the world. If it were more, it is little enough, yea, too\nlittle for Christ.\n\nI am now, every way, in good terms with Christ. He hath set a banished\nprisoner as a seal on His heart, and as a bracelet on His arm. That\ncrabbed and black tree of the cross laugheth upon me now; the alarming\nnoise of the cross is worse than itself. I love Christ's glooms better\nthan the world's worm-eaten joys. Oh, if all the kingdom were as I am,\nexcept these bonds! My loss is gain; my sadness joyful; my bonds,\nliberty; my tears comfortable. This world is not worth a drink of cold\nwater. Oh, but Christ's love casteth a great heat! Hell, and all the\nsalt sea, and the rivers of the earth, cannot quench it.\n\nI remember you to God; ye have the prayers of a prisoner of Christ.\nGrace, grace, be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 9, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXXVI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_ADHERENCE TO DUTY AMIDST OPPOSITION--POWER OF CHRIST'S LOVE._)\n\n\nLOVING AND DEAR SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. Your\nletter hath refreshed my soul. You shall not have my advice to make\nhaste to go out of that town; for if you remove out of Kirkcudbright,\nthey will easily undo all. You are at God's work, and in His way\nthere. Be strong in the Lord; the devil is weaker than you are,\nbecause stronger is He that is in you than he that is in the world.\nYour care of and love showed towards me, now a prisoner of Christ, is\nlaid up for you in heaven, and you shall know that it is come up in\nremembrance before God.\n\nPray, pray for my desolate flock; and give them your counsel, when ye\nmeet with any of them. It shall be my grief to hear that a wolf enter\nin upon my labours; but if the Lord permit it, I am silent. My sky\nshall clear, for Christ layeth my head in His bosom, and admitteth me\nto lean there. I never knew before what His love was in such a\nmeasure. If He leave me, He leaveth me in pain, and sick of love; and\nyet my sickness is my life and health. I have a fire within me; I defy\nall the devils in hell, and all the prelates in Scotland, to cast\nwater on it.\n\nI rejoice at your courage and faith. Pray still, as if I were on my\njourney to come and be your pastor. What iron gates or bars are able\nto stand it out against Christ? for when He bloweth, they open to Him.\n\nI remember your husband. Grace, grace, be with you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 11, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXXVII.--_To_ JOHN CARSEN.\n\n [John Carsen was the son of Andrew Carsen, merchant and burgess\n of Kirkcudbright. He was retoured heir of his father 13th May\n 1635.--\"Inquir. Gener.\" _No._ 2121. There are still several of\n the name in Kirkcudbright, and it is found often in the\n churchyard. There is \"Bailie John Carsen\" in the \"Minute-book of\n Comm. of Covenanters,\" along with Bailie Ewart; and is called\n \"Carsen of _Senwick_.\"]\n\n(_NOTHING WORTH THE FINDING, BUT CHRIST._)\n\n\nMY WELL-BELOVED AND DEAR FRIEND,--Every one seeketh not God, and far\nfewer find Him; because they seek amiss. He is to be sought for above\nall things, if men would find what they seek. Let feathers and shadows\nalone to children, and go seek your Well-beloved. Your only errand to\nthe world, is to woo Christ; therefore, put other lovers from about\nthe house, and let Christ have all your love, without minching or\ndividing it. It is little enough, if there were more of it. The\nserving of the world and sin hath but a base reward and smoke instead\nof pleasures, and but a night-dream for true ease to the soul. Go\nwhere you will, your soul shall not sleep sound but in Christ's bosom.\nCome in to Him, and lie down, and rest you on the slain Son of God,\nand inquire for Him. I sought Him; and now, a fig for all the\nworm-eaten pleasures, and moth-eaten glory out of heaven, since I have\nfound Him, and in Him all I can want or wish! He hath made me a king\nover the world. Princes cannot overcome me. Christ hath given me the\nmarriage kiss, and He hath my marriage-love: we have made up a full\nbargain, that shall not go back on either side. Oh, if ye, and all in\nthat country, knew what sweet terms of mercy are betwixt Him and me!\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 11, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXXVIII.--_To the_ EARL OF CASSILLIS.\n\n [JOHN KENNEDY, sixth EARL OF CASSILLIS, was the son of Gilbert\n Kennedy, master of Cassillis, which is six miles from Ayr. He was\n served heir to his uncle, John, fifth Earl of Cassillis, in 1616.\n His Lordship was a person of considerable talents, of great\n virtue, and a zealous Covenanter. Having studied under Dr.\n Cameron, Principal of the College of Glasgow, a great defender of\n absolute government, he could not yield to some clauses in the\n first draught of the Covenant, which seemed to vindicate the use\n of defensive arms against the King; but he agreed to the Covenant\n as it now stands. He sat in the Glasgow Assembly, 1638, as elder\n from the Presbytery of Ayr; and was one of the three ruling\n elders sent to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster in 1643. He\n was one of the commissioners who, in March 1650, went from\n Scotland to Breda, to treat with Charles II. He attended at the\n crowning of Charles at Scone, January 1, 1651. So strongly\n attached was he to the royal family, that when on one occasion\n Cromwell summoned him to a meeting, instead of attending it, he,\n along with some ministers and his chaplain, kept a day of fasting\n and prayer in his family. On the other hand, such was his\n hostility to the measures of the court, in establishing Prelacy\n and in ejecting the Presbyterian ministers from their charges,\n that he seldom paid stipend to any of the curates intruded into\n their places till compelled by a charge of horning. Wodrow\n designates him \"the great and worthy Earl of Cassillis.\" \"I have\n this account,\" says he, \"of the Earl of Cassillis, that he was\n singularly pious, and a man of a very high spirit, who carried\n with a great state and majesty. His carriage in his family was\n most exemplary and religious. He was very much in secret duty,\n and had his hours wherein none had access to him. Upon the\n Sabbath his carriage was singular. He usually wrote the sermon,\n and at night caused his chaplain to examine all his servants and\n his children, even after they were pretty big, upon the sermon;\n and every one behoved to give their notes; and after all, many\n times he took out his own papers and read to them. When at\n Edinburgh, Lauderdale sent a servant to him upon a Sabbath night,\n telling him he was coming to wait on him. Presently he called Mr.\n Violant, his chaplain, and ordered him to go out and meet\n Lauderdale, and tell him that if he designed a Sabbath day's\n visit he was very welcome, but he would discourse upon no other\n thing with him but what was suitable to the day. Lauderdale came\n up, and discoursed with him,--as he could very well do,--only\n upon points of divinity\" (Wodrow's \"Analecta\"). His Lordship died\n at his own house in the West in 1668.\n\n The mansion is near Dalrymple. It is on the banks of the Doon,\n and embosomed in wood, with the hill called _The Dounans_ facing\n the house. It is a confused pile of building. A long avenue of\n fine old trees leads up to it.]\n\n(_HONOUR OF TESTIFYING FOR CHRIST_.)\n\n\nMY VERY NOBLE AND HONOURABLE LORD,--I make bold (out of the honourable\nand Christian report I hear of your Lordship, having no other thing to\nsay but that which concerneth the honourable cause which the Lord hath\nenabled your Lordship to profess) to write this, that it is your\nLordship's crown, your glory, and your honour, to set your shoulder\nunder the Lord's glory, now falling to the ground, and to back Christ\nnow, when so many think it wisdom to let Him fend for Himself. The\nshields of the earth ever did, and do still believe that Christ is a\ncumbersome neighbour, and that it is a pain to hold up His yeas and\nnays. They fear that He take their chariots, and their crowns, and\ntheir honour from them; but my Lord standeth in need of none of them\nall. But it is your glory to own Christ and His buried truth; for, let\nmen say what they please, the plea with Zion's enemies in this day of\nJacob's trouble is, if Christ should be King, and no mouth speak laws\nbut His? It concerneth the apple of Christ's eye, and His royal\nprivileges, what is now debated; and Christ's kingly honour is come to\nyea and nay. But let me be pardoned, my dear and noble Lord, when I\nbeseech you by the mercies of God, by the comfort of the Spirit, by\nthe wounds of our dear Saviour, by your compearance before the Judge\nof quick and dead, to stand for Christ, and to back Him. Oh, if the\nnobles had done their part, and been zealous for the Lord! it had not\nbeen as it is now. But men think it wisdom to stand beside Christ till\nHis head be broken, and sing dumb. There is a time coming when Christ\nwill have a thick court, and He will be the glory of Scotland; and He\nwill make a diadem, a garland, a seal upon His heart, and a ring upon\nHis finger, of those who have avouched Him before this faithless\ngeneration. Howbeit, ere that come, wrath from the Lord is ordained\nfor this land.\n\nMy Lord, I have cause to write this to your Lordship; for I dare not\nconceal His kindness to the soul of an afflicted, exiled prisoner. Who\nhath more cause to boast in the Lord than such a sinner as I, who am\nfeasted with the consolations of Christ, and have no pain in my\nsufferings, but the pain of soul-sickness of love for Christ, and\nsorrow that I cannot help to sound aloud the praises of Him who hath\nheard the sighing of the prisoner, and is content to lay the head of\nHis oppressed servant in His bosom, under His chin, and let Him feel\nthe smell of His garments? It behoved me to write this, that your\nLordship might know that Christ is as good as He is called; and to\ntestify to your Lordship, that the cause, which your Lordship now\nprofesseth before the faithless world, is Christ's, and that your\nLordship shall have no shame of it.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Your Lordship's obliged servant,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXXIX.--_To MR. ROBERT GORDON, Bailie of Ayr._\n\n [ROBERT GORDON was a merchant in Ayr. In Paterson's \"History of\n the County of Ayr,\" he and his partner merchants are mentioned as\n having, in 1644, supplied the Scots army in Ireland, at a certain\n price, with a large quantity of meal and beans. He was cousin to\n John, Viscount of Kenmure, whose \"Last and Heavenly Speeches and\n Glorious Departure\" were published by Rutherford, and to which\n there is a reference in the beginning of this letter. It was to\n him that Kenmure said, \"Robert, I know you have light and\n understanding; and though you have no need to be instructed by\n me, yet have you need to be incited\" (p. 94). Gordon was\n frequently a member of the Town Council of Ayr; in 1631 as Dean\n of Guild, and in 1632 as Bailie. In 1638 and 1647 he held the\n office of Provost. He was a man of piety, and a zealous supporter\n of the Presbyterian cause. In an old parchment copy of the\n National Covenant 1638 (in the possession of Hugh Cowan, Esquire,\n Ayr), Gordon's signature appears, as well as the signatures of\n the other members of the Town Council, some of whom were\n Rutherford's correspondents, as John Kennedy, John Osborne, and\n John Stewart. The above copy of the National Covenant is signed\n by Rothes, Montrose, and other men of rank, being one of the\n copies sent at that time by the Covenanters from Edinburgh to the\n various burghs throughout the country to be subscribed.]\n\n(_CHRIST ABOVE ALL._)\n\n\nWORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear from\nyou on paper. Remember your chief's speeches[226] on his death-bed. I\npray you, sir, sell all, and buy the Pearl. Time will cut you from\nthis world's glory; look what will do you good, when your glass shall\nbe run out. And let Christ's love bear most court in your soul, and\nthat court will bear down the love of other things. Christ seeketh\nyour help in your place; give Him your hand. Who hath more cause to\nencourage others to own Christ than I have? for He hath made me sick\nof love, and left me in pain to wrestle with His love. And love is\nlike to fall aswoon through His absence. I mean not that He deserteth\nme, or that I am ebb of comforts; but this is an unco pain.--O that I\nhad a heart and a love to render to Him back again! Oh, if\nprincipalities and powers, thrones and dominions, and all the world\nwould help me to praise! Praise Him in my behalf.\n\n [226] The words of Lord Kenmure.\n\nRemember my love to your wife. I thank you most kindly for your love\nto my brother. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXXX.--_To JOHN KENNEDY, Bailie of Ayr._\n\n(_CHRIST'S LOVE--THE THREE WONDERS--DESIRES FOR HIS SECOND COMING._)\n\n\nGRACE, mercy, and peace be to you. Your not writing to me cannot bind\nme up from remembering you now and then, that at least ye may be a\nwitness, and a third man, to behold on paper what is betwixt Christ\nand me. I was in his eyes like a young orphan, wanting known parents,\ncasten out in the open fields; either Christ behoved to take me up,\nand to bring me home to His house and fireside, else I had died in the\nfields. And now I am homely with Christ's love, so that I think the\nhouse mine own, and the Master of the house mine also. Christ inquired\nnot, when He began to love me, whether I was fair, or black, or\nsun-burnt; love taketh what it may have. He loved me before this time,\nI know; but now I have the flower of _His_ love; His love is come to a\nfair bloom, like a young rose opened up out of the green leaves; and\nit casteth a strong and fragrant smell. I want nothing but ways of\nexpressing Christ's love. A full vessel would have a vent. Oh, if I\ncould smoke out, and cast out coals, to make a fire in many breasts of\nthis land! Oh! it is a pity that there were not many imprisoned for\nChrist, were it for no other purpose than to write books and\nlove-songs of the love of Christ. This love would keep all created\ntongues of men and angels in exercise, and busy night and day, to\nspeak of it. Alas! I can speak nothing of it, but wonder at three\nthings in His love:--_First_, freedom. O that lumps of sin should get\nsuch love for nothing! _Secondly_, the sweetness of His love. I give\nover either to speak or write of it; but those that feel it, may\nbetter bear witness what it is. But it is so sweet, that, next to\nChrist Himself, nothing can match it. Nay, I think that a soul could\nlive eternally blessed only on Christ's love, and feed upon no other\nthing. Yea, when Christ in love giveth a blow, it doeth a soul good;\nand it is a kind of comfort and joy to it to get a cuff with the\nlovely, sweet, and soft hand of Jesus. And, _thirdly_, what power and\nstrength are in His love! I am persuaded it can climb a steep hill,\nwith hell upon its back; and swim through water and not drown; and\nsing in the fire, and find no pain; and triumph in losses, prisons,\nsorrows, exile, disgrace, and laugh and rejoice in death. O for a\nyear's lease of the sense of His love without a cloud, to try what\nChrist is! O for the coming of the Bridegroom! Oh, when shall I see\nthe Bridegroom and the Bride meet in the clouds, and kiss each other!\nOh, when will we get our day, and our heart's fill of that love! Oh,\nif it were lawful to complain of the famine of that love, and want of\nthe immediate vision of God! O time, time! how dost thou torment the\nsouls of those that would be swallowed up of Christ's love, because\nthou movest so slowly! Oh, if He would pity a poor prisoner, and blow\nlove upon me, and give a prisoner a taste or draught of that\nsweetness, which is glory as it were begun, to be a confirmation that\nChrist and I shall have our fill of each other for ever! Come hither,\nO love of Christ, that I may once kiss thee before I die! What would I\nnot give to have time, that lieth betwixt Christ and me, taken out of\nthe way, that we might once meet! I cannot think but that, at the\nfirst sight I shall see of that most lovely and fairest face, love\nwill come out of His two eyes, and fill me with astonishment. I would\nbut desire to stand at the outer side of the gates of the New\nJerusalem, and look through a hole of the door, and see Christ's face.\nA borrowed vision in this life would be my borrowed and begun heaven,\nwhill the long, long-looked-for day dawn. It is not for nothing that\nit is said, \"Christ in you the hope of glory\" (Col. i. 27). I will be\ncontent of no pawn of heaven but Christ Himself; for Christ, possessed\nby faith here, is young heaven, and glory in the bud. If I had that\npawn, I would bide horning and hell both, ere I gave it again. All\nthat we have here is scarce the picture of glory. Should not we young\nbairns long and look for the expiring of our minority? It were good to\nbe daily begging propines and love-gifts, and the Bridegroom's\nfavours; and, if we can do no more, to seek crumbs, and hungry dinners\nof Christ's love, to keep the taste of heaven in our mouth whill\nsupper-time. I know it is far after noon, and nigh the marriage-supper\nof the Lamb; the table is covered already. O Well-beloved, run, run\nfast! O fair day, when wilt thou dawn! O shadows, flee away! I think\nhope and love, woven through other, make our absence from Christ\nspiritual torment. It is a pain to wait on; but hope that maketh not\nashamed swalloweth up that pain. It is not unkindness that keepeth\nChrist and us so long asunder. What can I say to Christ's love? I\nthink more than I can say. To consider, that when my Lord Jesus may\ntake the air (if I may so speak), and go abroad, yet He will be\nconfined and keep the prison with me! But, in all this sweet communion\nwith Him, what am I to be thanked for? I am but a sufferer. Whether I\nwill or not, He will be kind to me; as if He had defied my guiltiness\nto make Him unkind, He so beareth His love in on me. Here I die with\nwondering, that justice hindereth not love; for there are none in\nhell, nor out of hell, more unworthy of Christ's love. Shame may\nconfound and scaur me once to hold up my black mouth to receive one of\nChrist's undeserved kisses. If my innerside were turned out, and all\nmen saw my vileness, they would say to me, \"It is a shame for thee to\nstand still whill Christ kiss thee and embrace thee.\" It would seem\nto become me rather to run away from His love, as ashamed at my own\nunworthiness; nay, I may think shame to take heaven, who have so\nhighly provoked my Lord Jesus. But seeing Christ's love will shame me,\nI am content to be shamed. My desire is, that my Lord would give me\nbroader and deeper thoughts, to feed myself with wondering at His\nlove. I would I could weigh it, but I have no balance for it. When I\nhave worn my tongue to the stump, in praising of Christ, I have done\nnothing to Him. I must let Him alone, for my withered arms will not go\nabout His high, wide, long, and broad love. What remaineth, then, but\nthat my debt to the love of Christ lie unpaid for all eternity? All\nthat are in heaven are black-shamed with His love as well as I. We\nmust all be dyvours together; and the blessing of that houseful, or\nheavenful, of dyvours shall rest for ever upon Him. Oh, if this land\nand nation would come and stand beside His inconceivable and glorious\nperfections, and look in, and love, and adore! Would to God I could\nbring in many lovers to Christ's house! But this nation hath forsaken\nthe Fountain of living waters. Lord, cast not water on Scotland's\ncoal. Wo, wo will be to this land, because of the day of the Lord's\nfierce anger that is so fast coming.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Your affectionate brother, in our Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXI.--_To_ JEAN BROWN.\n\n(_HIS WISDOM IN OUR TRIALS--REJOICE IN TRIBULATION._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I am glad that ye go on\nat Christ's back, in this dark and cloudy time. It were good to sell\nother things for Him; for when all these days are over, we shall find\nit our advantage that we have taken part with Christ. I confidently\nbelieve that His enemies shall be His footstool, and that He will make\ngreen flowers dead, withered hay, when the honour and glory shall fall\noff them, like the bloom or flower of a green herb shaken with the\nwind. It were not wisdom for us to think that Christ and the Gospel\nwould come and sit down at our fireside; nay, but we must go out of\nour own warm houses, and seek Christ and His Gospel. It is not the\nsunny side of Christ that we must look to, and we must not forsake\nHim for want of that; but must set our face against what may befall us\nin following on, till He and we be through the briers and bushes, on\nthe dry ground. Our soft nature would be borne through the troubles of\nthis miserable life in Christ's arms; and it is His wisdom, who\nknoweth our mould, that His bairns go wet-shod and cold-footed to\nheaven. Oh, how sweet a thing were it for us to learn to make our\nburdens light, by framing our hearts to the burden, and making our\nLord's will a law!\n\nI find Christ and His cross not so ill to please, nor yet such\ntroublesome guests, as men call them; nay, I think patience should\nmake the water which Christ giveth us good wine, and His dross good\nmetal. And we have cause to wait on; for, ere it be long, our Master\nwill be at us, and bring this whole world out, before the sun and\ndaylight, in their blacks and whites. Happy are they who are found\nwatching. Our sand-glass is not so long as we need to weary; time will\neat away and root out our woes and sorrow. Our heaven is in the bud,\nand growing up to an harvest. Why then should we not follow on, seeing\nour span-length of time will come to an inch? Therefore I commend\nChrist to you, as your last-living, and longest-living Husband, and\nthe staff of your old age. Let Him now have the rest of your days. And\nthink not much of a storm upon the ship that Christ saileth in: there\nshall no passenger fall overboard, but the crazed ship and the\nsea-sick passenger shall come to land safe.\n\nI am in as sweet communion with Christ as a poor sinner can be; and am\nonly pained that He hath much beauty and fairness, and _I_ little\nlove; He great power and mercy, and _I_ little faith; He much light,\nand _I_ bleared eyes. O that I saw Him in the sweetness of His love,\nand in His marriage-clothes, and were over head and ears in love with\nthat princely one, Christ Jesus my Lord! Alas, my riven dish, and the\nrunning-out vessel, can hold little of Christ Jesus!\n\nI have joy in this, that I would not refuse death before[227] I put\nChrist's lawful heritage in men's trysting; and what know I, if they\nwould have pleased both Christ and me? Alas, that this land hath put\nChrist to open rouping, and to an \"Any man bids more?\" Blessed are\nthey who would hold the crown on His head, and buy Christ's honour\nwith their own losses.\n\n [227] I would die, ere ever I would put Christ's property at the\n disposal of men who may choose to appoint their own times.\n\nI rejoice to hear that your son John[228] is coming to visit Christ,\nand taste of His love. I hope that he will not lose his pains, nor rue\nof that choice. I had always (as I said often to you) a great love to\ndear Mr. John Brown, because I thought I saw Christ in him more than\nin his brethren. Fain would I write to him, to stand by my sweet\nMaster; and I wish ye would let him read my letter, and the joy I\nshall have if he will appear for, and side with, my Lord Jesus. Grace\nbe with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.\n\n [228] The same who was afterwards so well known as minister of\n Wamphray.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXII.--_To_ JEAN MACMILLAN.\n\n [There were Macmillans at Dalshangan, near Carsphairn, noted as\n Covenanters. But the name is a common one, and this correspondent\n was probably an Anwoth parishioner.]\n\n(_STRIVE TO ENTER IN._)\n\n\nLOVING SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I cannot come to\nyou to give you my counsel; and howbeit I would come, I cannot stay\nwith you. But I beseech you to keep Christ, for I did what I could to\nput you within grips of Him. I told you Christ's testament and\nlatter-will plainly, and I kept nothing back that my Lord gave me; and\nI gave Christ to you with good will. I pray you to make Him your own,\nand go not from that truth which I taught you, in one hair-breadth.\nThat truth will save you if you follow it. Salvation is not an easy\nthing, and soon gotten. I often told you that few are saved, and many\ndamned: I pray you to make your poor soul sure of salvation, and the\nseeking of heaven your daily task. If ye never had a sick night and a\npained soul for sin, ye have not yet lighted upon Christ. Look to the\nright marks of having closed with Christ. If ye love Him better than\nthe world, and would quit all the world for Him, then that saith the\nwork is sound. Oh, if ye saw the beauty of Jesus, and smelled the\nfragrance of His love, you would run through fire and water to be at\nHim? God send you Him.\n\nPray for me, for I cannot forget you. Grace be with you.\n\n Your loving pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXIII.--_To the_ LADY BUSBIE.\n\n [LADY BUSBIE is probably the mother-in-law of R. Blair,\n Rutherford's intimate friend. R. Blair married Catherine,\n daughter of Hugh Montgomery, Laird of Busbie, in Ayrshire, in\n 1635. In Welsh's \"Life\" mention is made of \"Mouat of Bushby,\"\n eight miles from Ayr. He was father of Matthew Mouat of\n Kilmarnock.]\n\n(_COMPLETE SURRENDER TO CHRIST--NO IDOLS--TRIALS DISCOVER SINS--A FREE\nSALVATION--THE MARRIAGE SUPPER_.)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am glad to hear that\nChrist and ye are one, and that ye have made Him your \"one thing,\"\nwhereas many are painfully toiled in seeking many things, and their\nmany things are nothing. It is only best that ye set yourself apart,\nas a thing laid up and out of the gate, for Christ alone; for ye are\ngood for no other thing than Christ; and He hath been going about you\nthese many years, by afflictions, to engage you to Himself. It were a\npity and a loss to say Him nay. Verily I could wish that I could swim\nthrough hell, and all the ill weather in the world, and Christ in my\narms. But it is my evil and folly, that except Christ come unsent for,\nI dow not go to seek Him: when He and I fall a-reckoning, we are both\nbehind, He in payment, and I in counting; and so marches lie still\nunredd, and accounts uncleared betwixt us. O that He would take His\nown blood for counts and miscounts, that I might be a free man, and\nnone had any claim to me but only, only Jesus. I will think it no\nbondage to be rouped, comprised, and possessed by Christ as His\nbondman.\n\nThink well of the visitation of your Lord; for I find one thing, which\nI saw not well before, that when the saints are under trials, and well\nhumbled, little sins raise great cries and war-shouts in the\nconscience; and in prosperity, conscience is a pope, to give\ndispensations, and let out and in, and give latitude and elbow-room to\nour heart. Oh, how little care we for pardon at Christ's hand, when we\nmake dispensations! And all is but bairns' play, till a cross without\nbeget a heavier cross within, and then we play no longer with our\nidols. It is good still to be severe against ourselves; for we but\ntransform God's mercy into an idol, and an idol that hath a\ndispensation to give, for the turning of the grace of God into\nwantonness. Happy are they who take up God, wrath, justice, and sin,\nas they are in themselves, for we have miscarrying light, that parteth\nwith the child, when we have good resolutions only. But, God be\nthanked, that salvation is not rolled upon our wheels.\n\nOh, but Christ hath a saving eye! salvation is in His eyelids! When He\nfirst looked on me, I was saved; it cost Him but a look to make hell\nquit of me! Oh, but merits, free merits, and the dear blood of God,\nwere the best gate that ever we could have gotten out of hell! Oh,\nwhat a sweet, oh, what a safe and sure way is it, to come out of hell\nleaning on a Saviour! That Christ and a sinner should be one, and have\nheaven betwixt them, and be halvers of salvation, is the wonder of\nsalvation. What more humble could love be? And what an excellent smell\ndoth Christ cast on His lower garden, where there grow but wild\nflowers, if we speak by way of comparison. But there is nothing but\nperfect garden flowers in heaven, and the best plenishing that is\nthere is Christ. We are all obliged to love heaven for Christ's sake.\nHe graceth heaven, and all His Father's house, with His presence. He\nis a Rose that beautifieth all the upper garden of God; a leaf of that\nRose of God for smell is worth a world. O that He would blow His smell\nupon a withered and dead soul! Let us, then, go on to meet with Him,\nand to be filled with the sweetness of His love. Nothing will hold Him\nfrom us. He hath decreed to put time, sin, hell, devils, men, and\ndeath out of the way, and to rid the rough way betwixt us and Him,\nthat we may enjoy one another. It is strange and wonderful, that He\nwould think long in heaven without us; and that He would have the\ncompany of sinners to solace and delight Himself withal in heaven. And\nnow the supper is abiding us. Christ, the Bridegroom, with desire is\nwaiting on, till the bride, the Lamb's wife, be busked for the\nmarriage, and the great hall be redd for the meeting of that joyful\ncouple. Oh, fools! what do we here? and why sit we still? Why sleep we\nin the prison? Were it not best to make us wings, to flee up to our\nblessed Match, our Marrow, and our fellow Friend.\n\nI think, Mistress, that ye are looking thereaway, and that this is\nyour second or third thought. Make forward; your Guide waiteth on you.\n\nI cannot but bless you for your care and kindness to the saints. God\ngive you to find mercy, in that day of our Lord Jesus; to whose saving\ngrace I recommend you.\n\n Yours, in our Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXIV.--_To JOHN EWART, Bailie of Kirkcudbright_.\n\n [JOHN EWART's name often occurs in the \"Minute Book of Comm. of\n Covenanters,\" as residing in Kirkcudbright. He is understood to\n be the father of the John Ewart who was sentenced to banishment,\n 1663, for refusing to take part in quelling a tumult raised at\n the intrusion of a curate in room of the ejected minister of\n Kirkcudbright. (Wodrow's \"Hist.\") A descendant of his at\n Stranraer has a small silver cup, which has been handed down from\n his ancestors.]\n\n(_THE CROSS NO BURDEN--NEED OF SURE FOUNDATION._)\n\n\nMY VERY WORTHY AND DEAR FRIEND,--I cannot but most kindly thank you\nfor the expressions of your love. Your love and respect to me is a\ngreat comfort to me.\n\nI bless His high and glorious name, that the terrors of great men have\nnot affrighted me from openly avouching the Son of God. Nay, His cross\nis the sweetest burden that ever I bare; it is such a burden as wings\nare to a bird, or sails are to a ship, to carry me forward to my\nharbour. I have not much cause to fall in love with the world; but\nrather to wish that He who sitteth upon the floods would bring my\nbroken ship to land, and keep my conscience safe in these dangerous\ntimes; for wrath from the Lord is coming on this sinful land.\n\nIt were good that we prisoners of hope know of our stronghold to run\nto, before the storm come on; therefore, Sir, I beseech you by the\nmercies of God, and comforts of His spirit, by the blood of your\nSaviour, and by your compearance before the sin-revenging Judge of the\nworld, keep your garments clean, and stand for the truth of Christ,\nwhich ye profess. When the time shall come that your eye-strings shall\nbreak, your face wax pale, your breath grow cold, and this house of\nclay shall totter, and your one foot shall be over the march, in\neternity, it will be your comfort and joy that ye gave your name to\nChrist. The greatest part of the world think heaven at the next door,\nand that Christianity is an easy task; but they will be beguiled.\nWorthy Sir, I beseech you, make sure work of salvation. I have found\nmy experience, that all I could do hath had much ado in the day of my\ntrial; and, therefore, lay up a sure foundation for the time to come.\n\nI cannot requite you for your undeserved favours to me and my now\nafflicted brother. But I trust to remember you to God. Remember me\nheartily to your kind wife.\n\n Yours, in his only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXV.--_To WILLIAM FULLERTON, Provost of Kirkcudbright._\n\n(_FEAR NOT THEM WHO KILL THE BODY--UNEXPECTED FAVOUR._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I am much\nobliged to your love in God.\n\nI beseech you, Sir, let nothing be so dear to you as Christ's truth,\nfor salvation is worth all the world, and, therefore, be not afraid of\nmen that shall die. The Lord will do for you in your suffering for\nHim, and will bless your house and seed; and ye have God's promise,\nthat ye shall have His presence in fire, water, and in seven\ntribulations. Your day shall wear to an end, and your sun go down. In\ndeath it will be your joy that ye have ventured all ye have for\nChrist; and there is not a promise of heaven made but to such as are\nwilling to suffer for it. It is a castle taken by force. This earth is\nbut the clay portion of bastards; and, therefore, no wonder that the\nworld smile on its own; but better things are laid up for His\nlawfully-begotten bairns, whom the world hateth.\n\nI have experience to speak this; for I would not exchange my prison\nand sad nights with the court, honour, and ease of my adversaries. My\nLord is pleased to make many unknown faces to laugh upon me, and to\nprovide a lodging for me; and He Himself visiteth my soul with feasts\nof spiritual comforts. Oh, how sweet a Master is Christ! Blessed are\nthey who lay down all for Him.\n\nI thank you kindly for your love to my distressed brother. Ye have the\nblessing and prayers of the prisoner of Christ to you, your wife and\nyour children.\n\nRemember my love and blessing to William and Samuel. I desire them in\ntheir youth to seek the Lord, and to fear His great name; to pray\ntwice a-day, at least, to God, and to read God's word; to keep\nthemselves from cursing, lying, and filthy talking.\n\nNow the only wise God, and the presence of the Son of God, be with you\nall.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXVI.--_To ROBERT GLENDINNING, Minister of Kirkcudbright._\n\n(_PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD--CHRIST HIS JOY._)\n\n\nMY DEAR FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I thank you most\nkindly for your care of me, and your love and respective[229] kindness\nto my brother in his distress. I pray the Lord that ye may find mercy\nin the day of Christ; and I entreat you, Sir, to consider the times\nwhich ye live in, and that your soul is more worth to you than the\nwhole world, which, in the day of the blowing of the Last Trumpet,\nshall lie in white ashes, as an old castle burned to nothing. And\nremember that judgment and eternity is before you. My dear and worthy\nfriend, let me entreat you in Christ's name, and by the salvation of\nyour soul, and by your compearance before the dreadful and\nsin-revenging Judge of the world, to make your accounts ready. Redd\nthem ere ye come to the water-side; for your afternoon will wear\nshort, and your sun fall low and go down; and ye know that this long\ntime your Lord hath waited on you. Oh, how comfortable a thing it will\nbe to you, when time shall be no more, and your soul shall depart out\nof the house of clay to vast and endless eternity, to have your soul\ndressed up, and prepared for your Bridegroom! No loss is comparable to\nthe loss of the soul; there is no hope of regaining that loss. Oh, how\njoyful would my soul be to hear that ye would start to the gate, and\ncontend for the crown, and leave all vanities and make Christ your\ngarland! Let your soul put away your old lovers, and let Christ have\nyour whole love.\n\n [229] Perhaps this word means kindness that had respect to his special\n needs.\n\nI have some experience to write of this to you. My witness is in\nheaven, that I would not exchange my chains and bonds for Christ, and\nmy sighs, for ten worlds' glory. I judge this clay-idol, which Adam's\nsons are rouping, and selling their souls for, not worth a drink of\ncold water. Oh, if your soul were in my soul's stead, how sick would\nye be of love for that fairest One, that Fairest among the sons of\nmen! May-flowers, and morning vapour, and summer mist, posteth not so\nfast away as these worm-eaten pleasures which we follow. We build\ncastles in the air, and night-dreams are our daily idols that we doat\non. Salvation, salvation is our only necessary thing. Sir, call home\nyour thoughts to this work, to inquire for your Well-beloved. This\nearth is the portion of bastards: seek the Son's inheritance, and let\nChrist's truth be dear to you.\n\nI pawn my salvation on it, that this is the honour of Christ's kingdom\nwhich I now suffer for (and this world, I hope, shall not come between\nme and my garland); and that this is the way to life. When ye and I\nshall lie lumps of pale clay upon the ground, our pleasures, that we\nnow naturally love, shall be less than nothing in that day. Dear\nbrother, fulfil my joy, and betake you to Christ without further\ndelay. Ye will be fain at length to seek Him, or do infinitely worse.\nRemember my love to your wife. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXVII.--_To_ WILLIAM GLENDINNING.\n\n [WILLIAM GLENDINNING was the son of Mr. Robert Glendinning,\n minister of Kirkcudbright. A short time before this letter was\n written, he was ordered to be imprisoned in Kirkcudbright by\n Bishop Sydserff, for refusing to incarcerate his father, whom\n that intolerant prelate had suspended from his office, and had\n ordered to be imprisoned, because he would neither conform to\n Episcopacy, nor admit as his assistant a creature of the Bishop.\n He was a member of the General Assembly of Glasgow 1638, being\n returned by the burgh of Kirkcudbright, of which he was then\n Provost. During the subsequent years, he was frequently a member\n of the General Assembly; and his name appears as a member of\n Parliament for the burgh of Kirkcudbright, and sent by the\n Committee of Estates, in 1644, 1645, and 1646.]\n\n(_PERSEVERANCE AGAINST OPPOSITION._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I\nthank you most kindly for your care and love to me, and in particular\nto my brother, in his distress in Edinburgh.[230] Go on through your\nwaters without wearying; your Guide knoweth the way; follow Him, and\ncast your cares and temptations upon Him. And let not worms, the sons\nof men, affright you; they shall die, and the moth shall eat them.\nKeep your garland; there is no less at the stake, in this game betwixt\nus and the world, than our conscience and salvation. We have need to\ntake heed to the game, and not to yield to them. Let them take other\nthings from us; but here, in matters of conscience, we must hold and\ndraw with kings, and set ourselves in terms of opposition with the\nshields of the earth. Oh, the sweet communion, for evermore, that hath\nbeen between Christ and His prisoner! He wearieth not to be kind. He\nis the fairest sight I see in Aberdeen, or in any part that ever my\nfeet were in.\n\n [230] Rutherford here refers to the trial of his brother George,\n schoolmaster and reader in Kirkcudbright, before the High Commission,\n at Edinburgh, in November the preceding year, for his nonconformity\n and zealous support of Mr. Robert Glendinning, the persecuted minister\n of Kirkcudbright. As previously noticed (Letter LXVII.), he was\n condemned to resign his office, and to remove from Kirkcudbright\n before the ensuing term of Whitsunday. When at Edinburgh, and on his\n trial, he experienced much kindness from several of the correspondents\n of our author, who, in his letters to them, makes the most heartfelt\n grateful acknowledgments. After his ejection, \"he seems,\" says Murray,\n \"to have taken refuge in Ayrshire; for in a letter to Lord Loudon,\n Rutherford speaks of his brother as being nigh his Lordship's bounds;\n and every individual whom he addressed on his behalf (after his\n removal from Kirkcudbright) was connected with that county. The\n kindness and the frequency with which, in his letters, he speaks of\n him, do honour to his heart\" (\"Life of Rutherford,\" p. 93).\n\nRemember my hearty kindness to your wife. I desire her to believe, and\nlay her cares on God, and make fast work of salvation. Grace be with\nyou.\n\n Yours in his only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXVIII.--_To_ MR. HUGH HENDERSON.\n\n [HUGH HENDERSON was first minister of Dalry, a parish in the\n district of Cunningham, Ayrshire; and afterwards of Dumfries. We\n meet with his name as minister of Dalry in 1643, when he was\n nominated as one of the eight ministers whom the General Assembly\n appointed to visit Ireland by pairs, each pair for three months\n successively, to instruct, comfort, and encourage the\n Presbyterians in that country, who had been deprived of their\n ministers through the tyranny of the prelates. In 1645 he was\n appointed by the General Assembly chaplain to Colonel Stuart's\n regiment; and in 1648 translated to Dumfries. Shortly after the\n restoration of Charles II., he, and all the ministers of the\n Presbytery of Dumfries, were, by the order of the King's\n Commissioner, carried prisoners to Edinburgh, for refusing to\n observe the 29th day of May as a religious anniversary, in\n commemoration of the King's birth and restoration. But he and the\n rest (with the exception of two) at last yielded so far as to\n engage simply to preach on that day, knowing it would be the day\n of their ordinary weekly sermon; a promise hardly compatible with\n straightforwardness, being something like a disingenuous attempt\n to make it appear that they were complying with the statute of\n Parliament, when they were merely discharging a professional\n duty. Henderson exhibited more consistency and stedfastness the\n subsequent year, when he preferred being expelled from his charge\n to conforming to Prelacy. He was ejected in the close of the year\n 1662, by the Earl of Middleton. After this, Henderson frequently\n preached in his own house in Galloway.]\n\n(_TRIALS SELECTED BY GOD--PATIENCE--LOOKING FOR THE JUDGE._)\n\n\nMY REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I hear that you bear the marks of\nChrist's dying about with you, and that your brethren have cast you\nout for your Master's sake. Let us wait on till the evening, and till\nour reckoning in black and white come before our Master. Brother,\nsince we must have a devil to trouble us, I love a raging devil best.\nOur Lord knoweth what sort of devil we have need of: it is best that\nSatan be in his own skin, and look like himself. Christ weeping\nlooketh like Himself also, with whom Scribes and Pharisees were at yea\nand nay, and sharp contradiction.\n\nYe have heard of the patience of Job. When he lay in the ashes, God\nwas with him, clawing and curing his scabs, and letting out his boils,\ncomforting his soul; and He took him up at last. That God is not dead\nyet; He will stoop and take up fallen bairns. Many broken legs since\nAdam's days hath He spelked, and many weary hearts hath He refreshed.\nBless Him for comfort. Why? None cometh dry from David's well. Let us\ngo among the rest, and cast down our toom buckets into Christ's ocean,\nand suck consolations out of Him. We are not so sore stricken, but we\nmay fill Christ's hall with weeping. We have not gotten our answer\nfrom Him yet. Let us lay up our broken pleas to a full sea, and keep\nthem till the day of Christ's Coming. We and this world will not be\neven till then: they would take our garment from us; but let _us_ hold\nand _them_ draw.\n\nBrother, it is a strange world if we laugh not. I never saw the like\nof it, if there be not \"paiks the man,\" for this contempt done to the\nSon of God. We must do as those who keep the bloody napkin to the\nBailie, and let him see blood; we must keep our wrongs to our Judge,\nand let Him see our bluddered and foul faces. Prisoners of hope must\nrun to Christ, with the gutters that tears have made on their cheeks.\n\nBrother, for myself, I am Christ's dawted one for the present; and I\nlive upon no deaf nuts, as we use to speak. He hath opened fountains\nto me in the wilderness. Go, look to my Lord Jesus: His love to me is\nsuch, that I defy the world to find either brim or bottom to it. Grace\nbe with you.\n\n Your brother, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXXXIX.--_To my_ LORD BALMERINOCH.\n\n [JOHN ELPHINSTON, second LORD BALMERINOCH, was the only son by\n the first marriage of the Honourable Sir James Elphinston, first\n Lord Balmerinoch. He distinguished himself in 1633 for his\n opposition to the measures of the Court in favour of Prelacy, and\n particularly for opposing in Parliament the Act concerning the\n King's prerogative in imposing Apparel on Churchmen, and also the\n Act ratifying the Acts previously made for settling the estate of\n Bishops. Soon after he was libelled and condemned to death as\n guilty of treason. However, after a long and severe imprisonment,\n he obtained from his Majesty a free though reluctant pardon. True\n to his former principles, he still continued to oppose the\n measures then pursued by Government, and particularly the\n attempts to introduce the Service Book into Scotland. He was a\n member of the Glasgow Assembly 1638, being returned as elder for\n the Presbytery of Edinburgh. \"His Lordship,\" says Wood, \"was,\n without exception, the best friend the Covenanters had, as he not\n only assisted that party with his advice on all occasions, but\n also supplied them with large sums of money, by which he\n irreparably injured the very ample fortune he inherited from his\n father. He lived in habits of strict friendship with the chief\n leaders of the Presbyterians, and was particularly intimate with\n Sir Archibald Johnston of Warriston. He had so strong a sense of\n justice, that, having reason to suspect his father had made too\n advantageous a purchase of the lands of Balumby, in the county of\n Forfar, he, of his own accord, gave 10,000 merks to the heir of\n that estate, by way of compensation\" (Wood's \"Cramond\"). He died\n suddenly in 1649, at the very time when commissioners (of whom he\n was one) were sent to treat with Charles II. in Holland.\n (Lamont's \"Diary,\" p. 1.)]\n\n(_HIS HAPPY OBLIGATIONS TO CHRIST--EMPTINESS OF THE WORLD._)\n\n\nMY VERY NOBLE AND TRULY HONOURABLE LORD,--I make bold to write news to\nyour Lordship from my prison, though your Lordship have experience\nmore than I can have. At my first entry here, I was not a little\ncasten down with challenges, for old, unrepented-of sins; and Satan\nand my own apprehensions made a lie of Christ, that He hath casten a\ndry, withered tree over the dyke of the vineyard. But it was my folly\n(blessed be His great name), the fire cannot burn the dry tree. He is\npleased now to feast the exiled prisoner with His lovely presence; for\nit suiteth Christ well to be kind, and He dineth and suppeth with such\na sinner as I am. I am in Christ's tutoring here. He hath made me\ncontent with a borrowed fireside, and it casteth as much heat as mine\nown. I want nothing but real possession of Christ; and He hath given\nme a pawn of that also, which I hope to keep till He come Himself to\nloose the pawn. I cannot get help to praise His high name. He hath\nmade me king over my losses, imprisonment, banishment; and only my\ndumb Sabbaths stick in my throat. But I forgive Christ's wisdom in\nthat. I dare not say one word; He hath done it, and I will lay my hand\nupon my mouth. If any other hand had done it to me, I could not have\nborne it.\n\nNow, my Lord, I must tell your Lordship that I would not give a drink\nof cold water for this clay idol, this plastered world. I testify, and\ngive it under my own hand, that Christ is most worthy to be suffered\nfor. Our lazy flesh, which would have Christ to cry down crosses by\nopen proclamation, hath but raised a slander upon the cross of Christ.\nMy Lord, I hope that ye will not forget what He hath done for your\nsoul. I think that ye are in Christ's count-book, as His obliged\ndebtor.\n\nGrace, grace be with your spirit.\n\n Your Lordship's obliged servant,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXL.--_To my LADY MAR, Younger._\n\n [LADY MAR, younger, whose maiden name was Christian Hay, was the\n wife of John Erskine, eighth Earl of Mar. She became a widow in\n 1654, his Lordship having died in that year. Her son, John,\n became ninth Earl of Mar, and her daughter, Elizabeth, was\n married to Archibald, Lord Napier. Lady Mar, senior, was Lady\n Mary Stewart, daughter of Esme, Duke of Lennox, second wife of\n John, Lord Erskine, seventh Earl of Mar. She died in the house of\n Sir Thomas Hope, in the Cowgate, Edinburgh, and was buried at\n Alloa, 11th May 1644. (Sir Thomas Hope's \"Diary,\" p. 205.) It was\n for her that, in 1625, the book of devotion, called \"The Countess\n of Mar's Sanctuary, or Arcadia,\" was drawn up--a little work of\n which only two copies were known to be in existence, till\n reprinted in 1862, at Edinburgh.]\n\n(_NO EXCHANGE FOR CHRIST._)\n\n\nMY VERY NOBLE AND DEAR LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I\nreceived your Ladyship's letter, which hath comforted my soul. God\ngive you to find mercy in the day of Christ.\n\nI am in as good terms and court with Christ as an exiled, oppressed\nprisoner of Christ can be. I am still welcome to His house; He knoweth\nmy knock, and letteth in a poor friend. Under this black, rough tree\nof the cross of Christ, He hath ravished me with His love, and taken\nmy heart to heaven with Him. Well and long may He brook it. I would\nnot niffer Christ with all the joys that man or angel can devise\nbeside Him. Who hath such cause to speak honourably of Christ as I\nhave? Christ is King of all crosses, and He hath made His saints\nlittle kings under Him; and He can ride and triumph upon weaker bodies\nthan I am (if any can be weaker), and His horse will neither fall nor\nstumble.\n\nMadam, your Ladyship hath much ado with Christ, for your soul,\nhusband, children, and house. Let Him find much employment for His\ncalling with you; for He is such a friend as delighteth to be burdened\nwith suits and employments; and the more ye lay on Him, and the more\nhomely ye be with Him, the more welcome. O the depth of Christ's\nlove! It hath neither brim nor bottom. Oh, if this blind world saw His\nbeauty! When I count with Him for His mercies to me, I must stand\nstill and wonder, and go away as a poor dyvour, who hath nothing to\npay. Free forgiveness is payment. I would that I could get Him set on\nhigh; for His love hath made me sick, and I die except I get real\npossession.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Your Ladyship's, at all obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXLI.--_To_ JAMES MACADAM.\n\n [John Livingstone (\"Histor. Relation\"), along with Marion\n M'Naught and other such, mentions John Macadam and Christian\n Macadam of Waterhead, near Carsphairn, as eminent Christians. The\n person to whom this letter is addressed may have been one of that\n family. The famous road engineer in our day, Macadam, born at\n Waterhead, was descended from this ancient family.\n\n It seems that the Christian Macadam mentioned above was\n afterwards Lady Cardoness; and because of her connection with\n this correspondent of Rutherford's, we may give the inscription\n on her tomb. The tomb is part of the enclosed pile close to the\n old Anwoth church. The inscription is on the north side of the\n pile:--\n\n \"Christian M'Adam, Lady Cardynes. Departed 16th June of 1628.\n \u00c6tatis su\u00e6, 33.\n\n \"Ye gazers on the trophy of a tomb,\n Send out one groan for want of her whose life,\n Twice born on earth, now is in earth's womb.\n Lived long a virgin, now a spotless wife.\n Church keeps her godly life, the tomb her corpse,\n And earth her precious name. Who then does lose?\n Her husband? No, since heaven her soul doth gain.\"]\n\n(_THE KINGDOM TAKEN BY FORCE._)\n\n\nMY VERY DEAR AND WORTHY FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I\nlong to hear of your growing in grace, and of your advancing in your\njourney to heaven. It will be the joy of my heart to hear that ye hold\nyour face up the brae, and wade through temptations without fearing\nwhat man can do. Christ shall, when He ariseth, mow down His enemies,\nand lay bulks[231] (as they use to speak) on the green, and fill the\npits with dead bodies (Ps. cx. 6; \"the places\"). They shall lie like\nhandfuls of withered hay, when He ariseth to the prey. Salvation,\nsalvation is the only necessary thing. This clay idol, the world, is\nnot to be sought; it is a morsel not for you, but for hunger-bitten\nbastards. Contend for salvation. Your Master, Christ, won heaven with\nstrokes: it is a besieged castle; it must be taken with violence. Oh,\nthis world thinketh heaven but at the next door, and that godliness\nmay sleep in a bed of down till it come to heaven! But that will not\ndo it.\n\n [231] Carcases; properly, the _trunk_, or _bulk_ of the man. In some\n editions it is written \"bouks;\" but \"_bulks_\" is in all the old\n editions.\n\nFor myself, I am as well as Christ's prisoner can be; for by Him I am\nmaster and king of all my crosses. I am above the prison, and the lash\nof men's tongues; Christ triumpheth in me. I have been casten down,\nand heavy with fears, and haunted with challenges. I was swimming in\nthe depths, but Christ had His hand under my chin all the time, and\ntook good heed that I should not lose breath; and now I have gotten my\nfeet again, and there are love-feasts of joy, and spring-tides of\nconsolation betwixt Christ and me. We agree well; I have court with\nHim; I am still welcome to His house. Oh, my short arms cannot fathom\nHis love! I beseech you, I charge you, to help me to praise. Ye have a\nprisoner's prayers, therefore forget me not.\n\nI desire Sibylla to remember me dearly to all in that parish who know\nChrist, as if I had named them.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXLII.--_To my very dear brother_, WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE.\n\n [Probably one of his Anwoth parishioners. There are Livingstones\n in that neighbourhood to this day.]\n\n(_COUNSEL TO A YOUTH._)\n\n\nMY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--I rejoice to hear that Christ hath run away\nwith your young love, and that ye are so early in the morning matched\nwith such a Lord; for a young man is often a dressed lodging for the\ndevil to dwell in. Be humble and thankful for grace; and weigh it not\nso much by weight, as if it be true. Christ will not cast water on\nyour smoking coal; He never yet put out a dim candle that was lighted\nat the Sun of Righteousness. I recommend to you prayer and watching\nover the sins of your youth; for I know that missive letters go\nbetween the devil and young blood. Satan hath a friend at court in the\nheart of youth; and there pride, luxury, lust, revenge, forgetfulness\nof God, are hired as his agents. Happy is your soul if Christ man the\nhouse, and take the keys Himself, and command all, as it suiteth Him\nfull well to rule all wherever He is. Keep Christ, and entertain Him\nwell. Cherish His grace; blow upon your own coal; and let Him tutor\nyou.\n\nNow for myself: know that I am fully agreed with my Lord. Christ hath\nput the Father and me into each other's arms. Many a sweet bargain He\nmade before, and He hath made this among the rest. I reign as king\nover my crosses. I will not flatter a temptation, nor give the devil a\ngood word: I defy hell's iron gates. God hath passed over my\nquarrelling of Him at my entry here, and now He feedeth and feasteth\nwith me.\n\nPraise, praise with me; and let us exalt His name together.\n\n Your brother in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXLIII.--_To WILLIAM GORDON of Whitepark._\n\n [This may be a son of George Gordon, who is recorded as heir to\n the estate of \"Whytpark,\" March 20, 1628. It was not, in the\n parish of Anwoth, but close to Castle Douglas.]\n\n(_NOTHING LOST BY TRIALS--LONGING FOR CHRIST HIMSELF BECAUSE OF HIS\nLOVE._)\n\n\nWORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. I long to hear from\nyou. I am here the Lord's prisoner and patient, handled as softly by\nmy Physician as if I were a sick man under a cure. I was at hard terms\nwith my Lord, and pleaded with Him, but I had the worst side. It is a\nwonder that He should have suffered the like of me to have nicknamed\nthe Son of His love, Christ, and to call Him a changed Lord, who hath\nforsaken me. But misbelief hath never a good word to speak of Christ.\nThe dross of my cross gathered a scum of fears in the fire--doubtings,\nimpatience, unbelief, challenging of Providence as sleeping, and as\nnot regarding my sorrow; but my goldsmith, Christ, was pleased to take\noff the scum, and burn it in the fire. And, blessed be my Refiner, He\nhath made the metal better, and furnished new supply of grace, to\ncause me hold out weight; and I hope that He hath not lost one\ngrain-weight by burning His servant. Now His love in my heart casteth\na mighty heat; He knoweth that the desire I have to be at Himself\npaineth me. I have sick nights and frequent fits of love-fevers for\nmy Well-beloved. Nothing paineth me now but want of His presence. I\nthink it long till day. I challenge time as too slow in its pace, that\nholdeth my only fair one, my love, my Well-beloved from me. Oh, if we\nwere together once! I am like an old crazed ship that hath endured\nmany storms, and that would fain be in the lee of the shore, and\nfeareth new storms; I would be that nigh heaven, that the shadow of it\nmight break the force of the storm, and the crazed ship might win to\nland. My Lord's sun casteth a heat of love and beam of light on my\nsoul. My blessing thrice every day upon the sweet cross of Christ! I\nam not ashamed of my garland, \"the banished minister,\" which is the\nterm of Aberdeen. Love, love defieth reproaches. The love of Christ\nhath a corslet of proof on it, and arrows will not draw blood of it.\nWe are more than conquerors through the blood of Him that loved us\n(Rom. viii. 37). The devil and the world cannot wound the love of\nChrist. I am further from yielding to the course of defection than\nwhen I came hither. Sufferings blunt not the fiery edge of love. Cast\nlove into the floods of hell, it will swim above. It careth not for\nthe world's busked and plastered offers. It hath pleased my Lord so to\nline my heart with the love of my Lord Jesus, that, as if the field\nwere already won, and I on the other side of time, I laugh at the\nworld's golden pleasures, and at this dirty idol which the sons of\nAdam worship. This worm-eaten god is that which my soul hath fallen\nout of love with.\n\nSir, ye were once my hearer: I desire now to hear from you and your\nwife. I salute her and your children with blessings. I am glad that ye\nare still handfasted with Christ. Go on in your journey, and take the\ncity by violence. Keep your garments clean. Be clean virgins to your\nhusband the Lamb. The world shall follow you to heaven's gates: and ye\nwould not wish it to go in with you. Keep fast Christ's love. Pray for\nme, as I do for you.\n\nThe Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXLIV.--_To_ MR. GEORGE GILLESPIE.\n\n [GEORGE GILLESPIE was the son of Mr. John Gillespie, some time\n minister of the Gospel at Kirkcaldy. He was licensed to preach\n the Gospel some time prior to 1638: and in April, that year, was\n ordained minister of Wemyss. In 1642, by the General Assembly he\n was translated to one of the churches in Edinburgh, where he\n continued till his death. Gillespie possessed talents of the\n highest order; and so much were these appreciated that, young as\n he was, he was one of the four ministers sent as commissioners\n from the Church of Scotland to the Westminster Assembly in 1643.\n There he attracted general notice, by the cogency of argument,\n and the rare learning which he showed in pleading the cause of\n Presbytery and opposing Erastianism. At one of the meetings of\n that Assembly, when the learned Selden had delivered a long and\n an elaborate discourse in favour of Erastianism, to which none\n seemed prepared to reply, Gillespie, who was still a young man,\n was observed to be writing. A venerable friend went to his chair,\n and asked if he had taken notes, but found that he had written\n nothing except these words, frequently repeated, \"Give light,\n Lord.\" His friend urged him to answer. Gillespie at last rose,\n and in an extempore speech refuted Selden with a power of\n reasoning and an amount of learning which excited the admiration\n of all present. Selden himself is said to have observed, after\n hearing this reply, \"That young man, by a single speech, has\n swept away the labour and the learning of ten years of my life!\"\n Gillespie died in December 1648, in the 36th year of his age.\n During his last illness he enjoyed little comfort, but was strong\n in the faith of adherence to the divine promises--a subject on\n which he insisted much in his sermons. When asked if he had any\n comfort, he said, \"No; but though the Lord allow me no comfort,\n yet I will _believe_ that my Beloved is mine, and that I am His.\"\n To two ministers, who asked what advice he had to give them, he\n answered: \"I have little experience of the ministry, having been\n in it only nine years; but I can say that I have got more\n assistance in the work of preaching from prayer than study; and\n much more help from the assistance of the Spirit than from\n books.\" And yet he was known to have been an indefatigable\n student. He is the author of various works, which are chiefly\n controversial, such as \"The English Popish Ceremonies,\" and\n \"Aaron's Rod Blossoming.\"]\n\n(_SUSPICIONS OF CHRIST'S LOVE REMOVED THREE DESIRES._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I received your letter. As for my case,\nbrother, I bless His glorious name, that my losses are my gain, my\nprison a palace, and my sadness joyfulness. At my first entry, my\napprehensions so wrought upon my cross, that I became jealous of the\nlove of Christ, as being by Him thrust out of the vineyard, and I was\nunder great challenges, as ordinarily melted gold casteth forth a\ndrossy scum, and Satan and our corruption form the first words that\nthe heavy cross speaketh, and say, \"God is angry, He loveth you not.\"\nBut our apprehensions are not canonical;[232] they indite lies of God\nand Christ's love. But since my spirit was settled, and the clay has\nfallen to the bottom of the well, I see better what Christ was doing.\nAnd now my Lord is returned with salvation under His wings. Now I want\nlittle of half a heaven, and I find Christ every day so sweet,\ncomfortable, lovely, and kind, that three things only trouble me:\n_1st_, I see not how to be thankful, or how to get help to praise that\nRoyal King, who raiseth up those that are bowed down. _2nd_, His love\npaineth me, and woundeth my soul, so that I am in a fever for want of\nreal presence. _3rd_, An excessive desire to take instruments in God's\nname, that this is Christ and His truth, which I now suffer for; yea,\nthe apple of the eye of Christ's honour, even the sovereignty and\nroyal privileges of our King and Lawgiver, Christ. And, therefore, let\nno man scaur at Christ's cross, or raise an ill report upon Him or it;\nfor He beareth the sufferer and it both.\n\n [232] Authentic Scripture.\n\nI am here troubled with the disputes of the great doctors (especially\nwith Dr. B.[233]) in Ceremonial and Arminian controversies, for all\nare corrupt here; but, I thank God, with no detriment to the truth, or\ndiscredit to my profession. So, then, I see that Christ can triumph in\na weaker man nor I; and who can be more weak? But His grace is\nsufficient for me.\n\n [233] Dr. Robert Barron.\n\nBrother, remember our old covenant, and pray for me, and write to me\nyour case. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXLV.--_To_ JEAN GORDON.\n\n(_GOD THE SATISFYING PORTION--ADHERENCE TO CHRIST._)\n\n\nMY VERY DEAR AND LOVING SISTER,--Grace mercy, and peace be to you.--I\nlong to hear from you. I exhort you to set up the brae to the King's\ncity, that must be taken by violence. Your afternoon's sun is wearing\nlow. Time will eat up your frail life, like a worm gnawing at the root\nof a May-flower. Lend Christ your heart. Set Him as a seal there. Take\nHim in within, and let the world and children stand at the door. They\nare not yours; make you and them[234] for your proper owner, Christ.\nIt is good that He is your Husband and their Father. What missing can\nthere be of a dying man, when God filleth His chair? Give hours of the\nday to prayer. Fash Christ (if I may speak so), and importune Him; be\noften at His gate; give His door no rest. I can tell you that He will\nbe found. Oh, what sweet fellowship is betwixt Him and me! I am\nimprisoned, but He is not imprisoned. He hath shamed me with His\nkindness. He hath come to my prison, and run away with my heart and\nall my love. Well may He brook it! I wish that my love get never an\nowner but Christ. Fy, fy upon old lovers, that held us so long\nasunder! We shall not part now. He and I shall be heard, before He\nwin out of my grips. I resolve to wrestle with Christ, ere I quit Him.\nBut my love to Him hath casten my soul into a fever, and there is no\ncooling of my fever, till I get real possession of Christ. O strong,\nstrong love of Jesus, thou hast wounded my heart with thine arrows! Oh\npain! Oh pain of love for Christ! Who will help me to praise?\n\nLet me have your prayers. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.\n\n [234] This seems to mean mould, or fashion, yourself and them.\n\n\n\n\nCXLVI.--_To MR. JAMES BRUCE, Minister of the Gospel_.\n\n [MR. JAMES BRUCE was minister of Kingsbarns, in the Presbytery of\n St Andrews; admitted in 1630. Prelacy and the English ceremonies\n had then, for a considerable time, been imposed upon the Church\n of Scotland. But Bruce, like many other of her ministers, being\n in principle decidedly favourable to Presbytery, refused to\n conform. He was, however, permitted to continue in his charge,\n the Bishops at that time removing very few, because the\n introduced ceremonies were so unpopular, that it was judged\n dangerous and impolitic to enforce a rigid and universal\n compliance with them. Bruce made an early public appearance\n against the attempts of the Court to impose the Anglo-Popish\n liturgy, or Service Book, in 1637. He was a member of the Glasgow\n Assembly, 1638. He died at Kingsbarns, May 26, 1662, when the\n storm of persecution was about to break upon the Church of\n Scotland, being thus taken away from the evil to come.]\n\n(_MISJUDGING OF CHRIST'S WAYS._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND WELL-BELOVED BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou.--Upon the nearest acquaintance (that we are Father's children), I\nthought good to write to you. My case, in my bonds for the honour of\nmy royal Prince and King, Jesus, is as good as becometh the witness of\nsuch a sovereign King. At my first coming hither, I was in great\nheaviness, wrestling with challenges; being burdened in heart (as I am\nyet), for my silent Sabbaths, and for a bereaved people, young ones\nnew-born, plucked from the breast, and the children's table drawn. I\nthought I was a dry tree cast over the dyke of the vineyard. But my\nsecret conceptions of Christ's love, at His sweet and long-desired\nreturn to my soul, were found to be a lie of Christ's love, forged by\nthe tempter and my own heart. And I am persuaded it was so. Now there\nis greater peace and security within than before; the court is raised\nand dismissed, for it was not fenced in God's name. I was far mistaken\nwho should have summoned Christ for unkindness; misted faith, and my\nfever, conceived amiss of Him. Now, now, He is pleased to feast a\npoor prisoner, and to refresh me with joy unspeakable and glorious! so\nas the Holy Spirit is witness that my sufferings are for Christ's\ntruth; and God forbid that I should deny the testimony of the Holy\nSpirit and make Him a false witness. Now, I testify under my hand, out\nof some small experience, that Christ's cause, even with the cross, is\nbetter than the king's crown; and that His reproaches are sweet, His\ncross perfumed, the walls of my prison fair and large, my losses gain.\n\nI desire you, my dear brother, to help me to praise, and to remember\nme in your prayer to God. Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in our Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXLVII.--_To JOHN GORDON, at Rusco, in the Parish of Anwoth,\nGalloway._\n\n [It is said that \"Rusco\" means \"a boggy place,\" referring to the\n original state of the place. The old tower or castle still stands\n on a gentle slope, three miles from Gatehouse and two from\n Anwoth, but uninhabited. The wooded height of Castramont was part\n of the domain. It was at this old mansion (Rusco) that Robert\n Campbell, laird of Kinzeancleugh, the friend of John Knox, died\n of fever, in 1574, when on a visit to Gordon of Lochinvar,\n \"expressing his confidence of victory, and his desire to depart\n and be with Christ.\"]\n\n(_PRESSING INTO HEAVEN--A CHRISTIAN NO EASY ATTAINMENT--SINS TO BE\nAVOIDED._)\n\n\nMY WORTHY AND DEAR BROTHER,--Misspend not your short sand-glass, which\nrunneth very fast; seek your Lord in time. Let me obtain of you a\nletter under your hand, for a promise to God, by His grace, to take a\nnew course of walking with God. Heaven is not at the next door; I find\nit hard to be a Christian. There is no little thrusting and thringing\nto thrust in at heaven's gates; it is a castle taken by force;--\"Many\nshall strive to enter in, and shall not be able.\"\n\nI beseech and obtest you in the Lord, to make conscience of rash and\npassionate oaths, of raging and sudden avenging anger, of night\ndrinking, of needless companionry, of Sabbath-breaking, of hurting any\nunder you by word or deed, of hating your very enemies. \"Except ye\nreceive the kingdom of God as a little child,\" and be as meek and\nsober-minded as a babe, \"ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God.\"\nThat is a word which should touch you near, and make you stoop and\ncast yourself down, and make your great spirit fall. I know that this\nwill not be easily done, but I recommend it to you, as you tender\nyour part of the kingdom of heaven.\n\nBrother, I may, from new experience, speak of Christ to you. Oh, if ye\nsaw in Him what I see! A river of God's unseen joys has flowed from\nbank to brae over my soul since I parted with you. I wish that I\nwanted part, so being ye might have; that your soul might be sick of\nlove for Christ, or rather satiated with Him. This clay-idol, the\nworld, would seem to you then not worth a fig; time will eat you out\nof possession of it. When the eye-strings break, and the breath\ngroweth cold, and the imprisoned soul looketh out of the windows of\nthe clay-house, ready to leap out into eternity, what would you then\ngive for a lamp full of oil? Oh seek it now.\n\nI desire you to correct and curb banning, swearing, lying, drinking,\nSabbath-breaking, and idle spending of the Lord's day in absence from\nthe kirk, as far as your authority reacheth in that parish.\n\nI hear that a man is to be thrust into that place, to the which I have\nGod's right. I know that ye should have a voice by God's word in that\n(Acts i. 15, 16, to the end; vi. 3-5). Ye would be loath that any\nprelate should put you out of your possession earthly; and this is\nyour right. What I write to you, I write to your wife. Grace be with\nyou.\n\n Your loving Pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXLVIII.--_To the_ LADY HALLIHILL.\n\n[LADY HALLIHILL, whose maiden name was Learmonth, was the wife of Sir\nJames Melville of Hallhill, in Fife, the son of Sir James Melville of\nHallhill, a privy councillor to King James VI., and an accomplished\nstatesman and courtier in his day, who died in 1617. (Douglas'\n\"Peerage,\" vol. ii.) Consequently, this lady was sister-in-law to Lady\nCulross, formerly noticed. Livingstone, who was personally acquainted\nwith her, describes her as \"eminent for grace and gifts;\" and whose\n\"memory was very precious and refreshing\" to him.]\n\n(_CHRIST'S CROSSES BETTER THAN EGYPT'S TREASURES_.)\n\n\nDEAR AND CHRISTIAN LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I longed\nmuch to write to your Ladyship; but now, the Lord offering a fit\noccasion, I would not omit to do it.\n\nI cannot but acquaint your Ladyship with the kind dealing of Christ\nto my soul, in this house of my pilgrimage, that your Ladyship may\nknow that He is as good as He is called. For at my first entry into\nthis trial (being casten down and troubled with challenges and\njealousies of His love, whose name and testimony I now bear in my\nbonds), I feared nothing more than that I was casten over the dyke of\nthe vineyard, as a dry tree. But, blessed be His great name, the dry\ntree was in the fire, and was not burnt; His dew came down and\nquickened the root of a withered plant. And now He is come again with\njoy, and hath been pleased to feast His exiled and afflicted prisoner\nwith the joy of His consolations. Now I weep, but am not sad; I am\nchastened, but I die not; I have loss, but I want nothing; this water\ncannot drown me, this fire cannot burn me, because of the good-will of\nHim that dwelt in The Bush. The worst things of Christ, His\nreproaches, His cross, are better than Egypt's treasures. He hath\nopened His door, and taken into His house-of-wine a poor sinner, and\nhath left me so sick of love for my Lord Jesus, that if heaven were at\nmy disposing, I would give it for Christ, and would not be content to\ngo to heaven, except I were persuaded that Christ were there. I would\nnot give, nor exchange, my bonds for the prelates' velvets; nor my\nprison for their coaches; nor my sighs for all the world's laughter.\nThis clay-idol, the world, hath no great court in my soul. Christ hath\ncome and run away to heaven with my heart and my love, so that neither\nheart nor love is mine: I pray God, that Christ may keep both without\nreversion. In my estimation, as I am now disposed, if my part of this\nworld's clay were rouped and sold, I would think it dear of a drink of\nwater. I see Christ's love is so kingly, that it will not abide a\nmarrow; it must have a throne all alone in the soul. And I see that\napples beguile bairns, howbeit they be worm-eaten. The moth-eaten\npleasures of this present world make bairns believe ten is a hundred,\nand yet all that are here are but shadows. If they would draw by the\ncurtain that is hung betwixt them and Christ, they should see\nthemselves fools who have so long miskenned the Son of God. I seek no\nmore, next to heaven, than that He may be glorified in a prisoner of\nChrist; and that in my behalf many would praise His high and glorious\nname who heareth the sighing of the prisoner.\n\nRemember my service to the laird, your husband; and to your son, my\nacquaintance. I wish that Christ had his young love, and that in the\nmorning he would start to the gate, to seek that which the world\nknoweth not, and, therefore, doth not seek it.\n\nThe grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCXLIX.--_To the much honoured JOHN OSBURN, Provost of Ayr._\n\n[OF JOHN OSBURN, merchant in Ayr, and at this time chief magistrate of\nthat burgh, little is now known. He died about the close of the year\n1653, or beginning of the following year, as appears from his son\nDavid being retoured his heir on 17th January 1654. He appears on the\nlist of the gentlemen in Ayrshire whom Middleton fined in 1662.]\n\n(_ADHERENCE TO CHRIST--HIS APPROBATION WORTH ALL WORLDS._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Upon our small\nacquaintance, and the good report I hear of you, I could not but write\nto you. I have nothing to say, but that Christ, in that honourable\nplace He hath put you in, hath intrusted you with a dear pledge, which\nis His own glory; and hath armed you with His sword to keep the\npledge, and make a good account of it to God. Be not afraid of men.\nYour Master can mow down His enemies, and make withered hay of fair\nflowers. Your time will not be long; after your afternoon will come\nyour evening, and after evening, night. Serve Christ. Back Him; let\nHis cause be your cause; give not an hair-breadth of truth away; for\nit is not yours, but God's. Then, since ye are going, take Christ's\ntestificate with you out of this life--\"Well done, good and faithful\nservant!\" His \"well done\" is worth a shipful of \"good-days\" and\nearthly honours. I have cause to say this, because I find Him truth\nitself. In my sad days, Christ laugheth cheerfully, and saith, \"All\nwill be well!\" Would to God that all this kingdom, and all that know\nGod, knew what is betwixt Christ and me in this prison--what kisses,\nembracements, and love communion! I take His cross in my arms with\njoy; I bless it, I rejoice in it. Suffering for Christ is my garland.\nI would not exchange Christ for ten thousand worlds! nay, if the\ncomparison could stand, I would not exchange Christ with heaven.\n\nSir, pray for me, and the prayers and blessing of a prisoner of Christ\nmeet you in all your straits. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in Christ Jesus, his Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCL.--_To his loving Friend_, JOHN HENDERSON. [See Letter CCVII.]\n\n(_CONTINUING IN CHRIST--PREPAREDNESS FOR DEATH._)\n\n\nLOVING FRIEND,--Continue in the love of Christ, and the doctrine which\nI taught you faithfully and painfully, according to my measure. I am\nfree of your blood. Fear the dreadful name of God. Keep in mind the\nexaminations[235] which I taught you, and love the truth of God.\nDeath, as fast as time fleeth, chaseth you out of this life; it is\npossible that ye may make your reckoning with your Judge before I see\nyou. Let salvation be your care, night and day, and set aside hours\nand times of the day for prayer. I rejoice to hear that there is\nprayer in your house. See that your servants keep the Lord's day. This\ndirt and god of clay (I mean the vain world) is not worth the seeking.\n\n [235] Perhaps (see in Letter CLXVI.) his instructions on the Catechism\n are meant.\n\nAn hireling pastor is to be thrust in upon you, in the room to which I\nhave Christ's warrant and right. Stand to your liberties, for the word\nof God alloweth you a vote in choosing your pastor.\n\nWhat I write to you, I write to your wife. Commend me heartily to her.\nThe grace of God be with you.\n\n Your loving Friend and Pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLI.--_To JOHN MEINE, Senior._\n\n[JOHN MEINE, merchant in Edinburgh, was a man of enlightened piety,\nand a decided Presbyterian. His zeal and stedfastness in maintaining\nPresbyterian principles exposed him to the resentment of the court and\nprelates. Having, with other citizens of Edinburgh, encouraged\nNonconforming ministers, by accompanying them to the court when they\nwere dragged before the High Commission, he was, without citation or\ntrial, banished to Wigtown by the Privy Council, according to the\norders of the king. But the execution of the sentence was suspended.\nIn regard to the Perth Articles, he would make no compromise. In 1624,\nwhen the Town Council, Session, and citizens of Edinburgh, convened,\naccording to an ancient custom observed among them from the time of\nthe Reformation, to remove such grounds of difference as might have\narisen, before uniting in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, Meine\nstrongly pleaded that the ordinance should be solemnised without\nkneeling, a ceremony with which (he said) he could not comply. On\naccount of his zeal in this matter, he was summoned before the Privy\nCouncil. The result was, that in June that year, he was sentenced to\nbe banished to the north and confined within the town of Elgin. About\nthe beginning of January next year, he obtained liberty for a few days\nto visit his family, but on the understanding that he should\nafterwards return to his place of confinement. However, the death of\nJames VI. on the 27th of March that year, put an end to his trouble\nfor a time. Livingstone, describing him in his Memorable\nCharacteristics, says, \"He used, summer and winter, to rise about\nthree in the morning, and always sing some psalm as he put on his\nclothes. He spent till six o'clock alone in religious exercises, and\nat six worshipped God with his family, and then went to his shop.\"\nMeine was married to Barbara Hamilton, sister to the first wife of the\nfamous Robert Blair.]\n\n(_ENJOYMENT OF GOD'S LOVE--NEED OF HELP--BURDENS._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I wonder that ye\nsent me not an answer to my last letter, for I stand in need of it. I\nam in some piece of court, with our great King, whose love would cause\na dead man to speak, and live. Whether my court will continue or not,\nI cannot well say; but I have His ear frequently, and (to His glory\nonly I speak it) no penury of the love-kisses of the Son of God. He\nthinketh good to cast apples to me in my prison to play withal, lest I\nshould think long and faint. I must give over all attempts to fathom\nthe depth of His love. All I can do is, but to stand beside His great\nlove, and look and wonder. My debts of thankfulness affright me; I\nfear that my creditor get a dyvour-bill and ragged account.\n\nI would be much the better of help. Oh for help! and that ye would\ntake notice of my case. Your not writing to me maketh me think ye\nsuppose that I am not to be bemoaned, because He sendeth comfort. But\nI have pain in my unthankfulness, and pain in the feeling of His love,\nwhill I am sick again for real presence and real possession of Christ.\nYet there is no gowked (if I may so speak), nor fond love in Christ.\nHe casteth me down sometimes for old faults; and I know that He\nknoweth well that sweet comforts are swelling, and therefore sorrow\nmust take a vent to the wind.\n\nMy dumb Sabbaths are undercoating wounds. The condition of this\noppressed kirk, and my brother's case (I thank you and your wife for\nyour kindness to him), hold my sore smarting, and keep my wounds\nbleeding. But the groundwork standeth sure. Pray for me. Grace be with\nyou. Remember me to your wife.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLII.--_To_ MR. THOMAS GARVEN.\n\n[This correspondent was one of the ministers of Edinburgh. Letters\nCLXV. and CCXLVII. also are addressed to him. Brodie, in his \"Diary,\"\nJune 1662, speaks of hearing him preach.]\n\n(_A PRISONER'S JOYS--LOVE OF CHRIST--THE GOOD PART--HEAVEN IN SIGHT._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I bless you for your letter; it was a\nshower to the new-mown grass. The Lord hath given you the tongue of\nthe learned. Be fruitful and humble.\n\nIt is possible that ye may come to my case, or the like; but the water\nis neither so deep, nor the stream so strong, as it is called. I think\nmy fire is not so hot; my water is dry land, my loss rich loss. Oh,\nif[236] the walls of my prison be high, wide, and large, and the place\nsweet! No man knoweth it, no man, I say, knoweth it, my dear brother,\nso well as He and I; no man can put it down in black and white as my\nLord hath sealed it in my heart. My poor stock hath grown since I came\nto Aberdeen; and if any had known the wrong I did, in being jealous of\nsuch an honest lover as Christ, who withheld not His love from me,\nthey would think the more of it. But I see, He must be above me in\nmercy. I will never strive with Him; to think to recompense Him is\nfolly. If I had as many angels' tongues, as there have fallen drops of\nrain since the creation, or as there are leaves of trees in all the\nforests of the earth, or stars in the heaven, to praise, yet my Lord\nJesus would ever be behind with me.[237] We will never get our\naccounts fitted. A pardon must close the reckoning; for His comforts\nto me in this honourable cause have almost put me beyond the bounds of\nmodesty; howbeit I will not let every one know what is betwixt us.\nLove, love (I mean Christ's love), is the hottest coal that ever I\nfelt. Oh, but the smoke of it be hot! Cast all the salt sea on it, it\nwill flame; hell cannot quench it; many many waters will not quench\nlove. Christ is turned over to His poor prisoner in a mass and globe\nof love. I wonder that He should waste so much love upon such a waster\nas I am; but He is no waster, but abundant in mercy. He hath no\nniggard's alms, when He is pleased to give. Oh that I could invite all\nthe nation to love Him! Free grace is an unknown thing. This world\nhath heard but a bare name of Christ, and no more. There are infinite\nplies in His love that the saints will never win to unfold; I would it\nwere better known, and that Christ got more of His own due than He\ndoth.\n\n [236] \"Oh if;\" _q.d._, What will you say if I tell you that the walls\n of my prison are, etc.\n\n [237] Never have got His due from me.\n\nBrother, ye have chosen the good part, who have taken part with\nChrist. Ye will see Him win the field, and shall get part of the spoil\nwhen He divideth it. They are but fools who laugh at us; for they see\nbut the backside of the moon, yet our moonlight is better than their\ntwelve-hours' sun. We have gotten the New Heavens, and, as a pledge of\nthat, the Bridegroom's love-ring. The children of the wedding-chamber\nhave cause to skip and leap for joy; for the marriage-supper is\ndrawing nigh, and we find the four-hours sweet and comfortable. O\ntime, be not slow! O sun, move speedily, and hasten our banquet! O\nBridegroom, be like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains! O\nWell-beloved, run fast, that we may once meet!\n\nBrother, I restrain myself for want of time. Pray for me; I hope to\nremember you. The good-will of Him who dwelt in the bush, the tender\nmercies of God in Christ, enrich you. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLIII.--_To_ BETHAIA AIRD.\n\n[The name _Aird_ is not uncommon in the history of the Church. _Mr.\nWm. Aird_ was a noted minister in Edinburgh in Livingstone's days.\nWodrow's \"History\" mentions _Aird of Muirkirk_, and also _John Aird_\nof Milton. In the memoir of Walter Pringle of Greenknow, we find\n_James Aird_ was his intimate friend. But whether this correspondent\nwas related to any of them, we know not. She may have been simply an\nAnwoth parishioner.]\n\n(_UNBELIEF UNDER TRIAL--CHRIST'S SYMPATHY AND LOVE._)\n\n\nWORTHY SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. I know that ye\ndesire news from my prison, and I shall show you news. At my first\nentry hither, Christ and I agreed not well upon it. The devil made a\nplea in the house, and I laid the blame upon Christ; for my heart was\nfraughted with challenges, and I feared that I was an outcast, and\nthat I was but a withered tree in the vineyard, and but held the sun\noff the good plants with my idle shadow, and that, therefore, my\nMaster had given the evil servant the fields, to send him. Old\nguiltiness (as witness) said, \"All is true.\" My apprehensions were\nwith child of faithless fears, and unbelief put a seal and amen to\nall. I thought myself in a hard case. Some said I had cause to rejoice\nthat Christ had honoured me to be a witness for Him; and I said in my\nheart, \"These are words of men, who see but mine outside, and cannot\ntell if I be a false witness or not.\"\n\nIf Christ had in this matter been as wilful and short as I was, my\nfaith had gone over the brae, and broken its neck. But we were well\nmet,--a hasty fool, and a wise, patient, and meek Saviour. He took no\nlaw-advantage of my folly, but waited on till my ill-blood was fallen,\nand my drumbled and troubled well began to clear. He was never a whit\nangry at the fever-ravings of a poor tempted sinner; but He mercifully\nforgave, and came (as it well becometh Him), with grace and new\ncomfort, to a sinner who deserved the contrary, And now He is content\nto kiss my black mouth, to put His hand into mine, and to feed me with\nas many consolations as would feed ten hungry souls. Yet I dare not\nsay that He is a waster of comforts, for no less would have borne me\nup; one grain-weight less would have casten the balance.\n\nNow, who is like to that royal King, crowned in Zion! Where shall I\nget a seat for real Majesty to set Him on? If I could set Him as far\nabove the heaven as thousand thousands of heights devised by men and\nangels, I should think Him but too low. I pray you, for God's sake, my\ndear sister, to help me to praise. His love hath neither brim nor\nbottom; His love is like Himself, it passeth all natural\nunderstanding. I go to fathom it with my arms; but it is as if a child\nwould take the globe of sea and land in his two short arms. Blessed\nand holy is His name! This must be His truth which I now suffer for;\nfor He would not laugh upon a lie, nor be witness with His comforts to\na night-dream.\n\nI entreat for your prayers; and the prayer and blessing of a prisoner\nof Christ be upon you. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLIV.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Knockgray, near Carsphairn._\n\n(_PROSPECTIVE TRIALS._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--I have not leisure to write to you. Christ's ways were\nknown to you long before I, who am but a child, knew anything of Him.\nWhat wrong and violence the prelates may, by God's permission, do unto\nyou, for your trial, I know not; but this I know, that your ten days'\ntribulation will end. Contend to the last breath for Christ.\nBanishment out of these kingdoms is determined against me, as I hear;\nthis land dow not bear me. I pray you, to recommend my case and bonds\nto my brethren and sisters with you. I intrust more of my spiritual\ncomfort to you and them that way, my dear brother, than to many in\nthis kingdom besides. I hope that ye will not be wanting to Christ's\nprisoner.\n\nFear nothing; for I assure you that Alexander Gordon of Knockgray\nshall win away and get his soul for a prey. And what can he then want\nthat is worth the having? Your friends are cold (as ye write); and so\nare those in whom I trusted much. Our Husband doth well in breaking\nour idols in pieces. Dry wells send us to the fountain. \"My life is\nnot dear to me, so being I may fulfil my course with joy.\" I fear that\nye must remove; your new hireling will not bear your discountenancing\nof him, for the prelate is afraid that Christ get you; and that he\nhath no will to.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord and Master,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCLV.--_To_ GRIZZEL FULLERTON.\n\n[GRIZZEL FULLERTON was the daughter of William Fullerton, Provost of\nKirkcudbright, and Marion M'Naught. See Letter VI.]\n\n(_THE ONE THING NEEDFUL--CHRIST'S LOVE._)\n\n\nDEAR SISTER,--I exhort you in the Lord, to seek your one thing, Mary's\ngood part, that shall not be taken from you. Set your heart and soul\non the children's inheritance. This clay-idol, the world, is but for\nbastards, and ye are His lawfully-begotten child. Learn the way (as\nyour dear mother hath done before you) to knock at Christ's door. Many\nan alms of mercy hath Christ given to her, and hath abundance behind\nto give to you. Ye are the seed of the faithful, and born within the\ncovenant; claim your right. I would not exchange Christ Jesus for ten\nworlds of glory. I know now (blessed be my Teacher!) how to shute the\nlock, and unbolt my Well-beloved's door; and He maketh a poor stranger\nwelcome when He cometh to His house. I am swelled up and satisfied\nwith the love of Christ, that is better than wine. It is a fire in my\nsoul; let hell and the world cast water on it, they will not mend\nthemselves. I have now gotten the right gate of Christ. I recommend\nHim to you above all things. Come and find the smell of His breath;\nsee if His kisses be not sweet. He desireth no better than to be much\nmade of; be homely with Him, and ye shall be the more welcome; ye know\nnot how fain Christ would have all your love. Think not this is\nimagination and bairns' play, which we make din for. I would not\nsuffer for it, if it were so. I dare pawn my heaven for it, that it is\nthe way to glory. Think much of truth, and abhor these ways devised by\nmen in God's worship.\n\nThe grace of Christ be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLVI.--_To_ PATRICK CARSEN.\n\n[This was, perhaps, the son of John Carsen, formerly noticed. See\nLetter CXXVII.]\n\n(_EARLY DEVOTEDNESS TO CHRIST._)\n\n\nDEAR AND LOVING FRIEND,--I cannot but, upon the opportunity of a\nbearer, exhort you to resign the love of your youth to Christ; and in\nthis day, while your sun is high and your youth serveth you, to seek\nthe Lord and His face. For there is nothing out of heaven so necessary\nfor you as Christ. And ye cannot be ignorant but your day will end,\nand the night of death shall call you from the pleasures of this life:\nand a doom given out in death standeth for ever--as long as God\nliveth! Youth, ordinarily, is a post and ready servant for Satan, to\nrun errands; for it is a nest for lust, cursing, drunkenness,\nblaspheming of God, lying, pride, and vanity. Oh, that there were such\nan heart in you as to fear the Lord, and to dedicate your soul and\nbody to His service! When the time cometh that your eye-strings shall\nbreak, and your face wax pale, and legs and arms tremble, and your\nbreath shall grow cold, and your poor soul look out at your prison\nhouse of clay, to be set at liberty; then a good conscience, and your\nLord's favour, shall be worth all the world's glory. Seek it as your\ngarland and crown.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLVII.--_To_ CARLETON.\n\n[Livingstone, in his Characteristics, mentions two persons of this\nname: \"Fullerton of Carleton, in Galloway, a grave and cheerful\nChristian;\" and \"Cathcart of Carleton, in Carrick, an old, experienced\nChristian,\" in much repute among the religious of his day, for his\nskill in solving cases of conscience, and dealing with persons under\nspiritual affliction. But it seems clear that Rutherford's\ncorrespondent was _John Fullerton of Carleton_, in the parish of\nBorgue. For, in Letter XV. he is spoken of as in Galloway. In the\n\"Minutes of Comm. of Covenanters,\" we find the following estates put\nside by side, all of them a few miles from Anwoth, viz. \"_Roberton_\nand _Carleton_, Caillie and Rusco, Carsluth and Cassincarrie.\" His\nlady's name appears prefixed to Letter CCLVI.\n\nThis, too, was the Carleton that wrote the Acrostic on Marion M'Naught\n(see note on Letter V.). He was the author of a poem--\"The Turtle\nDove, under the absence and presence of her only _Choice_.\n1664,\"--dedicated by the author to Lady Jane Campbell, Viscountess\nKenmure, with whom he was connected. He also wrote \"A Manifesto of the\nKingdom of Scotland in favour of the League and Covenant,\" in verse.\n(See \"Minutes of Comm. of Covenanters.\")]\n\n(_INCREASING SENSE OF CHRIST'S LOVE--RESIGNATION--DEADNESS TO\nEARTH--TEMPTATIONS--INFIRMITIES._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--I will not impute your not writing to me to\nforgetfulness. However, I have One above who forgetteth me not--nay,\nHe groweth in His kindness. It hath pleased His holy Majesty to take\nme from the pulpit, and teach me many things, in my exile and prison,\nthat were mysteries to me before.\n\nI see His bottomless and boundless love and kindness, and my\njealousies and ravings, which, at my first entry into this furnace,\nwere so foolish and bold, as to say to Christ, who is truth itself, in\nHis face, \"Thou liest.\" I had well nigh lost my grips. I wondered if\nit was Christ or not; for the mist and smoke of my perturbed heart\nmade me mistake my Master, Jesus. My faith was dim, and hope frozen\nand cold; and my love, which caused jealousies, had some warmness, and\nheat, and smoke, but no flame at all. Yet I was looking for some good\nof Christ's old claim to me, though[238] I had forfeited all my\nrights. But the tempter was too much upon my counsels, and was still\nblowing the coal. Alas! I knew not well before how good skill my\nIntercessor and Advocate, Christ, hath of pleading, and of pardoning\nme such follies. Now He is returned to my soul with healing under His\nwings; and I am nothing behind with Christ[239] now; for He hath\noverpaid me, by His presence, the pain I was put to by on-waiting, and\nany little loss that I sustained by my witnessing against the wrongs\ndone to Him. I trow it was a pain to my Lord to hide Himself any\nlonger. In a manner, He was challenging His own unkindness, and\nrepented Him of His glooms. And now, what want I on earth that Christ\ncan give to a poor prisoner? Oh, how sweet and lovely is He now! Alas!\nthat I can get none to help me to lift up my Lord Jesus upon His\nthrone, above all the earth.\n\n [238] \"I thought\" is the old reading, but it has no meaning.\n\n [239] Christ has paid me all my claim.\n\n_2ndly_, I am now brought to some measure of submission, and I resolve\nto wait till I see what my Lord Jesus will do with me. I dare not now\nnickname, or speak one word against, the all-seeing and over-watching\nprovidence of my Lord. I see that providence runneth not on broken\nwheels. But I, like a fool, carved a providence for my own ease, to\ndie in my nest, and to sleep still till my grey hairs, and to lie on\nthe sunny side of the mountain, in my ministry at Anwoth. But now I\nhave nothing to say against a borrowed fireside, and another man's\nhouse, nor Kedar's tents, where I live, being removed far from my\nacquaintance, my lovers, and my friends. I see that God hath the world\non His wheels, and casteth it as a potter doth a vessel on the wheel.\nI dare not say that there is any inordinate or irregular motion in\nprovidence. The Lord hath done it. I will not go to law with Christ,\nfor I would gain nothing of that.\n\n_3rdly_, I have learned some greater mortification; and not to mourn\nafter, or seek to suck, the world's dry breasts. Nay, my Lord hath\nfilled me with such dainties, that I am like to a full banqueter, who\nis not for common cheer. What have I to do to fall down upon my knees,\nand worship mankind's great idol, the world? I have a better God than\nany claygod: nay, at present, as I am now disposed, I care not much to\ngive this world a discharge of my life-rent of it, for bread and\nwater. I know that it is not my home, nor my Father's house; it is but\nHis foot-stool, the outer close of His house, His out-fields and\nmuir-ground. Let bastards take it. I hope never to think myself in\nits common, for honour or riches. Nay, now I say to laughter, \"Thou\nart madness.\"\n\n_4thly_, I find it to be most true, that the greatest temptation out\nof hell is to live without temptations. If my waters should stand,\nthey would rot. Faith is the better of the free air, and of the sharp\nwinter storm in its face. Grace withereth without adversity. The devil\nis but God's master fencer, to teach us to handle our weapons.\n\n_5thly_, I never knew how weak I was, till now when He hideth Himself,\nand when I have Him to seek, seven times a day. I am a dry and\nwithered branch, and a piece of dead carcass, dry bones, and not able\nto step over a straw. The thoughts of my old sins are as the summons\nof death to me, and my late brother's case hath stricken me to the\nheart. When my wounds are closing, a little ruffle[240] causeth them\nto bleed afresh; so thin-skinned is my soul, that I think it is like a\ntender man's skin that may touch nothing. Ye see how short I would\nshoot of the prize, if His grace were not sufficient for me.\n\n [240] It is written \"rifle\" in old editions.\n\nWo is me for the day of Scotland! Wo, wo is me for my harlot-mother;\nfor the decree is gone forth! Women of this land shall call the\nchildless and miscarrying wombs blessed. The anger of the Lord is gone\nforth, and shall not return, till He perform the purpose of His heart\nagainst Scotland. Yet He shall make Scotland a new, sharp instrument,\nhaving teeth to thresh the mountains, and fan the hills as chaff.\n\nThe prisoner's blessing be upon you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLVIII.--_To the_ LADY BUSBIE. [See Letter CXXXIII.]\n\n(_CHRIST ALLWORTHY AND BEST AT OUR LOWEST--SINFULNESS OF THE\nLAND--PRAYERS._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--I know that ye are thinking sometimes what Christ is doing\nin Zion, and that the haters of Zion may get the bottom of our cup,\nand the burning coals of our furnace that we have been tried in, those\nmany years bygone. Oh, that this nation would be awakened to cry\nmightily unto God, for the setting up of a new tabernacle to Christ\nin Scotland. Oh, if this kingdom knew how worthy Christ were of His\nroom! His worth was ever above man's estimation of Him.\n\nAnd for myself I am pained at the heart, that I cannot find myself\ndisposed to leave myself and go wholly into Christ. Alas! that there\nshould be one bit of me out of Him, and that we leave too much liberty\nand latitude for ourselves, and our own ease, and credit, and\npleasures, and so little room for all-love-worthy Christ. Oh, what\npains and charges it costeth Christ ere He get us! and when all is\ndone, we are not worth the having. It is a wonder that He should seek\nthe like of us. But love overlooketh blackness and fecklessness; for\nif it had not been so, Christ would never have made so fair and\nblessed a bargain with us as the covenant of grace is. I find that in\nall our sufferings Christ is but redding marches, that every one of us\nmay say, \"Mine, and thine;\" and that men may know by their crosses,\nhow weak a bottom nature is to stand upon in trial; that the end which\nour Lord intendeth, in all our sufferings, is to bring grace into\ncourt and request amongst us. I should succumb and come short of\nheaven, if I had no more than my own strength to support me; and if\nChrist should say to me, \"Either do or die,\" it were easy to determine\nwhat should become of me. The choice were easy, for I behoved to die\nif Christ should pass by with straitened bowels; and who then would\ntake us up in our straits? I know we may say that Christ is kindest in\nHis love, when we are at our weakest; and that if Christ had not been\nto the fore, in our sad days, the waters had gone over our soul. His\nmercy hath a set period, and appointed place, how far and no farther\nthe sea of affliction shall flow, and where the waves thereof shall be\nstayed. He prescribeth how much pain and sorrow, both for weight and\nmeasure, we must have. Ye have, then, good cause to recall your love\nfrom all lovers, and give it to Christ. He who is afflicted in all\nyour afflictions, looketh not on you in your sad hours with an\ninsensible heart or dry eyes.\n\nAll the Lord's saints may see that it is lost love which is bestowed\nupon this perishing world. Death and judgment will make men lament\nthat ever their miscarrying hearts carried them to lay and lavish out\ntheir love upon false appearances and night-dreams. Alas! that Christ\nshould fare the worse, because of His own goodness in making peace and\nthe Gospel to ride together; and that we have never yet weighed the\nworth of Christ in His ordinances, and that we are like to be\ndeprived of the well, ere we have tasted the sweetness of the water.\nIt may be that with watery eyes, and a wet face, and wearied feet, we\nseek Christ, and shall not find Him. Oh, that this land were humbled\nin time, and by prayers, cries, and humiliation, would bring Christ in\nat the church-door again, now when His back is turned towards us, and\nHe is gone to the threshold, and His one foot, as it were, is out of\nthe door! I am sure that His departure is our deserving; we have\nbought it with our iniquities; for even the Lord's own children are\nfallen asleep, and, alas! professors are made all of shows and\nfashions, and are not at pains to recover themselves again. Every one\nhath his set measure of faith and holiness, and contenteth himself\nwith but a stinted measure of godliness, as if that were enough to\nbring him to heaven. We forget that as our gifts and light grow, so\nGod's gain and the interest of His talents, should grow also; and that\nwe cannot pay God with the old use and wont (as we use to speak) which\nwe gave Him seven years ago; for this were to mock the Lord, and to\nmake price with Him as we list. Oh, what difficulty is there in our\nChristian journey, and how often come we short of many thousand things\nthat are Christ's due! and we consider not how far our dear Lord is\nbehind with us.\n\nMistress, I cannot render you thanks, as I would, for your kindness to\nmy brother, an oppressed stranger; but I remember you unto the Lord as\nI am able. I entreat you to think upon me, His prisoner, and pray that\nthe Lord would be pleased to give me room to speak to His people in\nHis name.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord and Master,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCLIX.--_To JOHN FLEMING, Bailie of Leith._ [Letter LXVIII.]\n\n(_DIRECTIONS FOR CHRISTIAN CONDUCT._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND DEARLY BELOVED IN THE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be\nunto you. I received your letter. I wish that I could satisfy your\ndesire in drawing up, and framing for you, a Christian directory. But\nthe learned have done it before me, more judiciously than I can;\nespecially Mr. Rogers,[241] Greenham,[242] and Perkins.[243]\nNotwithstanding, I shall show you what I would have been at myself;\nhowbeit I came always short of my purpose.\n\n [241] Dr. Daniel Rogers, a Puritan divine, author of a treatise called\n \"David's Cost; or, What it will cost to serve God aright,\" \"Naaman the\n Syrian,\" and others. He was born in 1573, educated at Cambridge,\n suffered from the persecution of Laud, and died in 1652 at the age of\n eighty. He was a man of great talents, deep humility and devotion, but\n of a temper so bold that a friend said of him, \"He had grace enough\n for _two_ men, but not enough for himself.\"\n\n [242] Richard Greenham, a Puritan, who was born in 1531, and died of\n the plague 1591. He was the author of several sermons and practical\n treatises. (See Brooke's \"Lives of the Puritans,\" vol. ii.)\n\n [243] Dr. Wm. Perkins, an English divine, who lived in the end of the\n sixteenth century, and was the author of several practical and\n doctrinal treatises; among others, the one here referred to, \"A Case\n of Conscience, and Thirteen Principles of Religion,\" published after\n his death. He was a strict Calvinist, and took part in the controversy\n against Arminianism. He used so to apply the terrors of the law to the\n conscience, that oftentimes his hearers fell down before him. It was\n also said that he pronounced the word \"_Damnation_\" with such an\n emphasis and pathos as left a doleful echo in the ear long after. He\n wrote on all his books, \"Thou art a minister of the Word: mind thy\n business.\"\n\n1. That hours of the day, less or more time, for the word and prayer,\nbe given to God; not sparing the twelfth hour, or mid-day, howbeit it\nshould then be the shorter time.\n\n2. In the midst of worldly employments, there should be some thoughts\nof sin, death, judgment, and eternity, with at least a word or two of\nejaculatory prayer to God.\n\n3. To beware of wandering of heart in private prayers.\n\n4. Not to grudge, howbeit ye come from prayer without sense of joy.\nDown-casting, sense of guiltiness, and hunger, are often best for us.\n\n5. That the Lord's-day, from morning to night, be spent always either\nin private or public worship.\n\n6. That words be observed, wandering and idle thoughts be avoided,\nsudden anger and desire of revenge, even of such as persecute the\ntruth, be guarded against; for we often mix our zeal with our\nwild-fire.\n\n7. That known, discovered, and revealed sins, that are against the\nconscience, be eschewed, as most dangerous preparatives to hardness of\nheart.\n\n8. That in dealing with men, faith and truth in covenants and\ntrafficking be regarded, that we deal with all men in sincerity; that\nconscience be made of idle and lying words; and that our carriage be\nsuch, as that they who see it may speak honourably of our sweet Master\nand profession.\n\n9. I have been much challenged--1. For not referring all to God as the\nlast end; that I do not eat, drink, sleep, journey, speak, and think\nfor God. 2. That I have not benefited by good company; and that I left\nnot some word of conviction, even upon natural and wicked men, as by\nreproving swearing in them; or because of being a silent witness to\ntheir loose carriage; and because I intended not in all companies to\ndo good. 3. That the woes and calamities of the kirk, and of\nparticular professors, have not moved me. 4. That at the reading of\nthe life of David, Paul, and the like, when it humbled me, I (coming\nso far short of their holiness) laboured not to imitate them, afar off\nat least, according to the measure of God's grace. 5. That unrepented\nsins of youth were not looked to, and lamented for. 6. That sudden\nstirrings of pride, lust, revenge, love of honours, were not resisted\nand mourned for. 7. That my charity was cold. 8. That the experiences\nI had of God's hearing me, in this and the other particular, being\ngathered, yet in a new trouble I had always (once at least) my faith\nto seek, as if I were to begin at A, B, C again. 9. That I have not\nmore boldly contradicted the enemies speaking against the truth,\neither in public church meetings, or at tables, or ordinary\nconference. 10. That in great troubles I have received false reports\nof Christ's love, and misbelieved Him in His chastening; whereas the\nevent hath said, \"All was in mercy.\" 11. Nothing more moveth me, and\nweighteth my soul, than that I could never from[244] my heart, in my\nprosperity, so wrestle in prayer with God, nor be so dead to the\nworld, so hungry and sick of love for Christ, so heavenly-minded, as\nwhen ten stone-weight of a heavy cross was upon me. 12. That the cross\nextorted vows of new obedience, which ease hath blown away, as chaff\nbefore the wind. 13. That practice was so short and narrow, and light\nso long and broad. 14. That death hath not been often meditated upon.\n15. That I have not been careful of gaining others to Christ. 16. That\nmy grace and gifts bring forth little or no thankfulness.\n\n [244] Should probably be \"_from_;\" though it is \"for\" in other\n editions.\n\nThere are some things, also, whereby I have been helped, as--1. I have\nbeen benefited by riding alone a long journey, in giving that time to\nprayer. 2. By abstinence, and giving days to God. 3. By praying for\nothers; for by making an errand to God for them, I have gotten\nsomething for myself. 4. I have been really confirmed, in many\nparticulars, that God heareth prayers; and, therefore, I used to pray\nfor anything, of how little importance soever. 5. He enabled me to\nmake no question, that this mocked way, which is nicknamed, is the\nonly way to heaven.\n\nSir, these and many more occurrences in your life, should be looked\ninto; and, 1. Thoughts of Atheism should be watched over, as, \"If\nthere be a God in heaven?\" which will trouble and assault the best at\nsome times. 2. Growth in grace should be cared for above all things;\nand falling from our first love mourned for. 3. Conscience made of\npraying for the enemies, who are blinded.\n\nSir, I thank you most kindly for the care of my brother, and of me\nalso. I hope it is laid up for you, and remembered in heaven.\n\nI am still ashamed with Christ's kindness to such a sinner as I am. He\nhath left a fire in my heart, that hell cannot cast water on, to\nquench or extinguish it. Help me to praise, and pray for me, for ye\nhave a prisoner's blessing and prayers.\n\nRemember my love to your wife. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours in Christ Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _March 15, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLX.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Earlston._\n\n(_HUNGERING AFTER CHRIST HIMSELF RATHER THAN HIS LOVE._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you.--I\nlong to hear from you. I have received few letters since I came\nhither; I am in need of a word. A dry plant should have some watering.\n\nMy case betwixt Christ my Lord, and me, standeth between love and\njealousy, faith and suspicion of His love; it is a marvel He keepeth\nhouse with me. I make many pleas with Christ, but He maketh as many\nagreements with me. I think His unchangeable love hath said, \"I defy\nthee to break Me and change Me.\" If Christ had such changeable and new\nthoughts of my salvation as I have of it, I think I should then be at\na sad loss. He humoureth not a fool like me in my unbelief, but\nrebuketh me, and fathereth kindness upon me. Christ is more like the\npoor friend and needy prisoner begging love, than I am. I cannot, for\nshame, get Christ said \"nay\" of my whole love, for He will not want\nHis errand for the seeking. God be thanked that my Bridegroom tireth\nnot of wooing. Honour to Him! He is a wilful[245] suitor of my soul.\nBut as love is His, pain is mine, that I have nothing to give Him. His\naccount-book is full of my debts of mercy, kindness, and free love\ntowards me. Oh that I might read with watery eyes! Oh that He would\ngive me the interest of interest to pay back! Or rather, my soul's\ndesire is, that He would comprise my person, soul and body, love, joy,\nconfidence, fear, sorrow, and desire, and drive the poind, and let me\nbe rouped, and sold to Christ, and taken home to my creditor's house\nand fireside.\n\n [245] In the sense of not to be turned from His purpose.\n\nThe Lord knoweth that, if I could, I would sell myself without\nreversion to Christ. O sweet Lord Jesus, make a market, and overbid\nall my buyers! I dare swear that there is a mystery in Christ which I\nnever saw; a mystery of love. Oh, if He would lay by the lap of the\ncovering that is over it, and let my greening soul see it! I would\nbreak the door, and be in upon Him, to get a wombful of love; for I am\nan hungered and famished soul. Oh, sir, if you, or any other, would\ntell Him how sick my soul is, dying for want of a hearty draught of\nChrist's love! Oh, if I could dote (if I may make use of that word in\nthis case) as much upon Himself as I do upon His love! It is a pity\nthat Christ Himself should not rather be my heart's choice, than\nChrist's manifested love. It would satisfy me, in some measure, if I\nhad any bud to give for His love. Shall I offer Him my praises? Alas!\nHe is more than praises. I give it over to get Him exalted according\nto His worth, which is above what can be known.\n\nYet all this time I am tempting Him, to see if there be both love and\nanger in Him against me. I am plucked from His flock (dear to me!),\nand from feeding His lambs; I go, therefore, in sackcloth, as one who\nhath lost the wife of his youth. Grief and sorrow are suspicious, and\nspew out against Him the smoke of jealousies; and I say often, \"Show\nme wherefore Thou contendest with me. Tell me, O Lord: read the\nprocess against me.\" But I know that I cannot answer His allegations;\nI shall lose the cause when it cometh to open pleading. Oh, if I could\nforce my heart to believe dreams to be dreams! Yet when Christ giveth\nmy fears the lie, and saith to me, \"Thou art a liar,\" then I am glad.\nI resolve to hope to be quiet, and to lie on the brink on my side,\ntill the water fall and the ford be ridable. And, howbeit there be\npain upon me, in longing for deliverance that I may speak of Him in\nthe great congregation, yet I think there is joy in that pain and\non-waiting; and I even rejoice that He putteth me off for a time, and\nshifteth me. Oh, if I could wait on for all eternity, howbeit I should\nnever get my soul's desire, so being He were glorified! I would wish\nmy pain and my ministry could live long to serve Him; for I know that\nI am a clay vessel, and made for His use. Oh, if my very broken sherds\ncould serve to glorify Him! I desire Christ's grace to be willingly\ncontent, that my hell (excepting His hatred and displeasure, which I\nput out of all play, for submission to this is not called for) were a\npreaching of His glory to men and angels for ever and ever! When all\nis done, what can I add to Him? or what can such a clay-shadow as I\ndo? I know that He needeth not me. I have cause to be grieved, and to\nmelt away in tears, if I had grace to do it (Lord, grant it to me!),\nto see my Well-beloved's fair face spitted upon by dogs, to see loons\npulling the crown off my royal King's head; to see my harlot-mother\nand my sweet Father agree so ill, that they are going to skail and\ngive up house. My Lord's palace is now a nest of unclean birds. Oh, if\nharlot, harlot Scotland would rue upon her provoked Lord, and pity her\ngood Husband, who is broken with her whorish heart! But these things\nare hid from her eyes.\n\nI have heard of late of your new trial by the Bishop of Galloway.[246]\nFear not clay, worms' meat. Let truth and Christ get no wrong in your\nhand. It is your gain if Christ be glorified; and your glory to be\nChrist's witness. I persuade you, that your sufferings are Christ's\nadvantage and victory; for He is pleased to reckon them so. Let me\nhear from you. Christ is but winning a clean kirk out of the fire; He\nwill win this play. He will not be in your common for any charges ye\nare at in His service. He is not poor, to sit in your debt; He will\nrepay an hundred-fold more, it may be, even in this life.\n\nThe prayers and blessings of Christ's prisoner be with you.\n\n Your brother, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n [246] The Bishop of Galloway held this year a High Commission Court in\n Galloway, in which, besides fining some gentlemen, and confining the\n magistrates of Kirkcudbright to Wigtown, for matters of nonconformity,\n he fined Gordon of Earlston for his absence, five hundred merks, and\n banished him to Montrose. (Baillie's \"Letters and Journals.\") This, no\n doubt, is the \"new trial by the Bishop of Galloway,\" to which\n Rutherford refers. See Letter LIX.\n\n\n\n\nCLXI.--_To JOHN STUART, Provost of Ayr._\n\n[JOHN STUART, Provost of Ayr, is described by Livingstone as \"a godly\nand zealous Christian of a long standing,\" and from his earliest\nyears. Inheriting, after the death of his father, considerable\nproperty, he largely applied it to benevolent purposes. Such was his\ndisinterested love to those who were the friends of Christ and His\ntruth, that he called a number of them whose straitened condition he\nknew, to meet with him in Edinburgh; and after some time spent in\nprayer, told them he had brought a little money to lend to each of\nthem, which they were not to offer to pay back till he required it, at\nthe same time requiring them to promise not to make this known during\nhis life. Not long after (the plague raging with severity in Ayr, and\ntrade becoming, in consequence, much depressed) he himself fell into\npecuniary difficulties, which made him at that time remove from the\ncountry. Borrowing a little money, he went over to France, and coming\nto Rochelle, loaded a ship with salt and other commodities, which he\npurchased at a very cheap rate. He then returned the nearest way to\nEngland, and thence to Ayr, in expectation of the ship's return. After\nwaiting long, he was informed that it was taken by the Turks, which,\nconsidering the loss which others in that case would sustain, much\nafflicted him. But it at last arrived in the Road. It was on this\noccasion that his friend John Kennedy, going out to the vessel in a\nsmall boat, was driven away by a storm. (See notice of Kennedy, Letter\nLXXV.) Stuart having sold the commodities which he brought from\nFrance, not only was enabled by the profits to pay all his debts, but\ncleared twenty thousand merks. (Fleming's \"Fulfilling of the\nScriptures.\") He joined with Mr. Blair, Mr. Livingstone, and others,\nin their plan of emigrating to New England, though they were forced to\ngive it up. This good man was much afflicted on his death-bed, so that\none day he said, \"I testify, that except when I slept, or was in\nbusiness, I was not these ten years without thoughts of God, so long\nas I would be in going from my own house to the cross; and yet I doubt\nmyself, and am in great agony, yea, at the brink of despair.\" But a\nday or two before he died, all his doubts were dispelled; and to Mr.\nFerguson, the pious minister of Ayr, he said, referring to his\nstruggle with temptations at that time, \"I have been fighting and\nworking out my salvation with fear and trembling, and now I bless God\nit is perfected, sealed, confirmed, and all fears are gone.\"]\n\n(_COMMERCIAL MISFORTUNES--SERVICE-BOOK--BLESSEDNESS OF TRIAL._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. I long to\nhear from you, being now removed from my flock, and the prisoner of\nChrist at Aberdeen. I would not have you to think it strange that your\njourney to New England hath gotten such a dash.[247] It indeed hath\nmade my heart heavy; yet I know it is no dumb providence, but a\nspeaking one, whereby our Lord speaketh His mind to you, though for\nthe present ye do not well understand what He saith. However it be, He\nwho sitteth upon the floods hath shown you His marvellous kindness in\nthe great depths. I know that your loss is great, and your hope is\ngone far against you; but I entreat you, sir, expound aright our\nLord's laying all hindrances in the way. I persuade myself that your\nheart aimeth at the footsteps of the flock, to feed beside the\nshepherds' tents, and to dwell beside Him whom your soul loveth; and\nthat it is your desire to remain in the wilderness, where the Woman is\nkept from the Dragon. (Rev. xii. 14.) And this being your desire,\nremember that a poor prisoner of Christ said it to you, that that\nmiscarried journey is with child to you of mercy and consolation; and\nshall bring forth a fair birth on which the Lord will attend. Wait on;\n\"He that believeth maketh not haste\" (Isa. xxviii. 16).\n\n [247] See note at Letter LXIII.\n\nI hope that ye have been asking what the Lord meaneth, and what\nfurther may be His will, in reference to your return. My dear brother,\nlet God make of you what He will, He will end all with consolation,\nand will make glory out of your sufferings; and would you wish better\nwork? This water was in your way to heaven, and written in your Lord's\nbook; ye behoved to cross it, and, therefore, kiss His wise and\nunerring providence. Let not the censures of men, who see but the\noutside of things, and scarce well that, abate your courage and\nrejoicing in the Lord. Howbeit your faith seeth but the black side of\nprovidence; yet it hath a better side, and God will let you see it.\nLearn to believe Christ better than His strokes, Himself and His\npromises better than His glooms. Dashes and disappointments are not\ncanonical Scripture; fighting for the promised land seemed to cry to\nGod's promise, \"Thou liest.\" If our Lord ride upon a straw, His horse\nshall neither stumble nor fall. \"For we know that all things work\ntogether for good to them that love God\" (Rom. viii. 28); _ergo_,\nshipwreck, losses, etc., work together for the good of them that love\nGod. Hence I infer, that losses, disappointments, ill-tongues, loss of\nfriends, houses, or country, are God's workmen, set on work to work\nout good to you, out of everything that befalleth you. Let not the\nLord's dealing seem harsh, rough, or unfatherly, because it is\nunpleasant. When the Lord's blessed will bloweth across your desires,\nit is best, in humility, to strike sail to Him, and to be willing to\nbe led any way our Lord pleaseth. It is a point of denial of yourself,\nto be as if ye had not a will, but had made a free disposition of it\nto God, and had sold it over to Him; and to make use of His will for\nyour own is both true holiness, and your ease and peace. Ye know not\nwhat the Lord is working out of this, but ye shall know it hereafter.\n\nAnd what I write to you, I write to your wife. I compassionate her\ncase, but entreat her not to fear nor faint. This journey is a part of\nher wilderness to heaven and the promised land, and there are fewer\nmiles behind. It is nearer the dawning of the day to her than when\nshe went out of Scotland. I should be glad to hear that ye and she\nhave comfort and courage in the Lord.\n\nNow, as concerning our kirk; our Service-Book is ordained, by open\nproclamation and sound of trumpet, to be read in all the kirks of the\nkingdom.[248] Our prelates are to meet this month about our\nCanons,[249] and for a reconciliation betwixt us and the Lutherans.\nThe Professors of Aberdeen University are charged to draw up the\nArticles of an uniform Confession; but reconciliation with Popery is\nintended. This is the day of Jacob's visitation; the ways of Zion\nmourn, our gold is become dim, the sun is gone down upon our prophets.\nA dry wind, but neither to fan nor to cleanse, is coming upon this\nland; and all our ill is coming from the multiplied transgressions of\nthis land, and from the friends and lovers of Babel among us. \"The\nviolence done to me and to my flesh be upon thee, Babylon, shall the\ninhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,\nshall Jerusalem say.\"[250]\n\n [248] The Service-Book, or Liturgy, at this time imposed upon\n Scotland, was that of England, but with numerous alterations. The Act\n of Privy Council, enjoining the use of the Service-Book, is dated 20th\n December 1636; and it was next day proclaimed at the cross of\n Edinburgh: but it was not published till towards the end of May 1637.\n Its title is, \"The Booke of Common Prayer and Administration of the\n Sacraments and other parts of Divine Service, for the use of the\n Church of Scotland. Edinburgh, 1637.\" This book was extremely\n obnoxious to the great body of the ministers and people of Scotland,\n both from the manner of its introduction, which was by the sole\n authority of the King, without the Church having been even consulted\n in the matter, and from the doctrines which it contained, in which it\n approached nearer to the Roman Missal than the English liturgy. It was\n drawn up by James Wedderburn, Bishop of Dunblane, and John Maxwell,\n Bishop of Ross, with the assistance of Sydserff, Bishop of Galloway,\n and Ballenden, Bishop of Aberdeen. It was revised by Archbishop Laud,\n and Wren, Bishop of Norwich. Kirkton mentions that he saw the original\n copy corrected by Laud's own hands, and that all his corrections\n approached towards Popery and the Roman Missal. (Kirkton's \"History,\"\n p. 30.)\n\n [249] \"The Book of Canons\" was, in obedience to the King's orders,\n drawn up by four of the Scottish bishops,--Sydserff of Galloway,\n Maxwell of Ross, Ballenden of Aberdeen, and Whiteford of Dunblane. It\n received the Royal sanction, and became law in 1635. This book, like\n the Service-Book which followed it, was extremely obnoxious to the\n people of Scotland, because it was imposed solely by Royal authority,\n and from the nature of the canons themselves, which prescribed a\n variety of ceremonial and superstitious rites in the observance of\n baptism and the Lord's Supper; invested bishops with uncontrollable\n power; inculcated the doctrine of the King's supremacy in matters\n ecclesiastical as well as civil,--affirming that no meeting of General\n Assembly could be held unless called by the King's authority; with\n other unscriptural innovations.\n\n [250] Jer. li. 35.\n\nNow for myself: I was three days before the High Commission, and\naccused of treason preached against our King. (A minister being\nwitness, went well nigh to swear it.) God hath saved me from their\nmalice. _1stly_, They have deprived me of my ministry; _2ndly_,\nSilenced me, that I exercise no part of the ministerial function\nwithin this kingdom, under the pain of rebellion; _3rdly_, Confined my\nperson within the town of Aberdeen, where I find the ministers working\nfor my confinement in Caithness or Orkney, far from them, because some\npeople here (willing to be edified) resort to me. At my first entry, I\nhad heavy challenges within me, and a court fenced (but I hope not in\nChrist's name), wherein it was asserted that my Lord would have no\nmore of my services, and was tired of me; and, like a fool, I summoned\nChrist also for unkindness. My soul fainted, and I refused comfort,\nand said, \"What ailed Christ at me? for I desired to be faithful in\nHis house.\" Thus, in my rovings and mistakings, my Lord Jesus bestowed\nmercy on me, who am less than the least of all saints. I lay upon the\ndust, and bought a plea from Satan against Christ, and He was content\nto sell it. But at length Christ did show Himself friends with me, and\nin mercy pardoned and passed my part of it, and only complained that a\ncourt should be holden in His bounds without His allowance. Now I pass\nfrom my compearance; and, as if Christ had done the fault, He hath\nmade the mends, and returned to my soul; so that now His poor prisoner\nfeedeth on the feasts of love. My adversaries know not what a courtier\nI am now with my Royal King, for whose crown I now suffer. It is but\nour soft and lazy flesh that hath raised an ill report of the cross of\nChrist. O sweet, sweet is His yoke! Christ's chains are of pure gold;\nsufferings for Him are perfumed. I would not give my weeping for the\nlaughing of all the fourteen prelates; I would not exchange my sadness\nwith the world's joy. O lovely, lovely Jesus, how sweet must Thy\nkisses be, when Thy cross smelleth so sweetly! Oh, if all the three\nkingdoms had part of my love-feast, and of the comfort of a dawted\nprisoner!\n\nDear Brother, I charge you to praise for me, and to seek help of our\nacquaintance there to help me to praise. Why should I smother Christ's\nhonesty to me? My heart is taken up with this, that my silence and\nsufferings may preach. I beseech you in the bowels of Christ, to help\nme to praise. Remember my love to your wife, to Mr. Blair, and Mr.\nLivingstone, and Mr. Cunningham. Let me hear from you, for I am\nanxious what to do. If I saw a call for New England, I would follow\nit. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours in our Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCLXII.--_To_ JOHN STUART, _Provost of Ayr_.\n\n(_THE BURDEN OF A SILENCED MINISTER--SPIRITUAL SHORTCOMINGS._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND DEAREST IN CHRIST,--Grace, mercy, and peace from God\nour Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, be upon you.\n\nI expected the comfort of a letter to a prisoner from you, ere now. I\nam here, Sir, putting off a part of my inch of time; and when I awake\nfirst in the morning (which is always with great heaviness and\nsadness), this question is brought to my mind, \"Am I serving God or\nnot?\" Not that I doubt of the truth of this honourable cause wherein I\nam engaged; I dare venture into eternity, and before my Judge, that I\nnow suffer for the truth--because that I cannot endure that my Master,\nwho is a freeborn King, should pay tribute to any of the shields or\npotsherds of the earth. Oh that I could hold the crown upon my\nprincely King's head with my sinful arm, howbeit it should be struck\nfrom me in that service, from the shoulder-blade. But my closed mouth,\nmy dumb Sabbaths, the memory of my communion with Christ, in many\nfair, fair days in Anwoth, whereas now my Master getteth no service of\nmy tongue as then, hath almost broken my faith in two halves. Yet in\nmy deepest apprehensions of His anger, I see through a cloud that I am\nwrong; and He, in love to my soul, hath taken up the controversy\nbetwixt faith and apprehensions, and a decreet is passed on Christ's\nside of it, and I subscribe the decreet. The Lord is equal in His\nways, but my guiltiness often overmastereth my believing. I have not\nbeen well known: for except as to open outbreakings, I want nothing of\nwhat Judas and Cain had; only He hath been pleased to prevent me in\nmercy, and to cast me into a fever of love for Himself, and His\nabsence maketh my fever most painful. And beside, He hath visited my\nsoul and watered it with His comforts. But yet I have not what I\nwould. The want of real and felt possession is my only death. I know\nthat Christ pitieth me in this.\n\nThe great men, my friends that did[251] for me, are dried up like\nwinter-brooks of water. All say, \"No dealing for that man; his best\nwill be to be gone out of the kingdom.\" So I see they tire of me. But,\nbelieve me, I am most gladly content that Christ breaketh all my\nidols in pieces. It hath put a new edge upon my blunted love to\nChrist; I see that He is jealous of my love, and will have all to\nHimself. In a word, these six things are my burden: 1. I am not in the\nvineyard as others are; it may be, because Christ thinketh me a\nwithered tree, not worth its room. But God forbid! 2. Woe, woe, woe is\ncoming upon my harlot-mother, this apostate kirk! The time is coming\nwhen we shall wish for doves' wings to flee and hide us. Oh, for the\ndesolation of this land! 3. I see my dear Master Christ going His lone\n(as it were), mourning in sackcloth. His fainting friends fear that\nKing Jesus shall lose the field. But He must carry the day. 4. My\nguiltiness and the sins of youth are come up against me, and they\nwould come into the plea in my sufferings, as deserving causes in\nGod's justice; but I pray God, for Christ's sake, that he may never\ngive them that room. 5. Woe is me, that I cannot get my royal,\ndreadful, mighty, and glorious Prince of the kings of the earth set on\nhigh. Sir, ye may help me and pity me in this; and bow your knee, and\nbless His name, and desire others to do it, that He hath been pleased,\nin my sufferings, to make Atheists, Papists, and enemies about me say,\n\"It is like that God is with this prisoner.\" Let hell and the powers\nof hell (I care not) be let loose against me to do their worst, so\nbeing that Christ, and my Father, and His Father, be magnified in my\nsufferings. 6. Christ's love hath pained me: for howbeit His presence\nhath shamed me, and drowned me in debt, yet He often goeth away when\nmy love to Him is burning. He seemeth to look like a proud wooer, who\nwill not look upon a poor match that is dying of love. I will not say\nHe is lordly. But I know He is wise in hiding Himself from a child and\na fool, who maketh an idol and a god of one of Christ's kisses, which\nis idolatry. I fear that I adore His comforts more than Himself, and\nthat I love the apples of life better than the tree of life.\n\n [251] Acted for me; as Ps. cix. 21.\n\nSir, write to me. Commend me to your wife. Mercy be her portion. Grace\nbe with you.\n\n Yours, in his dearest Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCLXIII.--_To JOHN STUART, Provost of Ayr._\n\n(_VIEW OF TRIALS PAST--HARD THOUGHTS OF CHRIST--CROSSES--HOPE._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND DEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou.--I was refreshed and comforted with your letter. What I wrote to\nyou, for your comfort, I do not remember; but I believe that love will\nprophesy homeward,[252] as it would have it. I wish that I could help\nyou to praise His great and holy name who keepeth the feet of His\nsaints, and hath numbered all your goings. I know that our dearest\nLord will pardon and pass by our honest errors and mistakes, when we\nmind His honour; yet I know that none of you have seen the other half,\nand the hidden side, of your wonderful return home to us again. I am\nconfident ye shall yet say, that God's mercy blew your sails back to\nIreland again.\n\n [252] The ministers, after their return to this country, were settled\n in various parishes; Messrs. Blair at Ayr, Livingstone at Stranraer,\n M'Clelland at Kirkcudbright, and Hamilton at Dumfries. They were\n zealous promoters of all the measures by which the triumph of the\n Presbyterian Church in Scotland was ultimately secured; and all of\n them were members of the celebrated Assembly held at Glasgow in 1638.\n Speaking of their return, Row of Ceres says: \"Neither the prelates and\n conformists, nor they themselves, knew that within a year the Lord\n would not only root out the prelates in Scotland, and, after that, out\n of England and Ireland, but make some of them, especially Messrs.\n Blair, Livingstone, and M'Clelland, to be very instrumental in the\n work of reformation\" (\"Life of Robert Blair,\" Wodrow Society).\n\nWorthy and dear Sir, I cannot but give you an account of my present\nestate, that ye may go an errand for me to my high and royal Master,\nof whom I boast all the day. I am as proud of His love (nay, I bless\nmyself, and boast more of my present lot) as any poor man can be of an\nearthly king's court, or of a kingdom. _First_, I am very often\nturning both the sides of my cross, especially my dumb and silent\nSabbaths; not because I desire to find a crook or defect in my Lord's\nlove, but because my love is sick with fancies and fear. Whether or\nnot the Lord hath a process leading against my guiltiness, that I have\nnot yet well seen, I know not. My desire is to ride fair, and not to\nspark dirt (if, with reverence to Him, I may be permitted to make use\nof such a word) in the face of my only, only Well-beloved; but fear of\nguiltiness is a talebearer betwixt me and Christ, and is still\nwhispering ill tales of my Lord, to weaken my faith. I had rather that\na cloud went over my comforts by these messages, than that my faith\nshould be hurt; for, if my Lord get no wrong by me, verily I desire\ngrace not to care what become of me. I desire to give no faith nor\ncredit to my sorrow, that can make a lie of my best friend Christ.\nWoe, woe be to them all who speak ill of Christ! Hence these thoughts\nawake with me in the morning, and go to bed with me. Oh, what service\ncan a dumb body do in Christ's house! Oh, I think the word of God is\nimprisoned also! Oh, I am a dry tree! Alas, I can neither plant nor\nwater! Oh, if my Lord would make but dung of me, to fatten and make\nfertile His own corn-ridges in Mount Zion! Oh, if I might but speak to\nthree or four herdboys[253] of my worthy Master, I would be satisfied\nto be the meanest and most obscure of all the pastors in this land,\nand to live in any place, in any of Christ's basest outhouses! But He\nsaith, \"Sirrah, I will not send you; I have no errands for you\nthereaway.\" My desire to serve Him is sick of jealousy, lest He be\nunwilling to employ me. _Secondly_, This is seconded by another. Oh!\nall that I have done in Anwoth, the fair work that my Master began\nthere, is like a bird dying in the shell; and what will I then have to\nshow of all my labour, in the day of my compearance before Him, when\nthe Master of the vineyard calleth the labourers, and giveth them\ntheir hire? _Thirdly_, But truly, when Christ's sweet wind is in the\nright airth, I repent, and I pray Christ to take law-burrows of my\nquarrelous unbelieving sadness and sorrow. Lord, rebuke them that put\nill betwixt a poor servant like me and his good Master. Then I say,\nwhether the black cross will or not, I must climb on hands and feet up\nto my Lord. I am now ruing from my heart that I pleasured the law (my\nold dead husband) so far as to apprehend wrath in my sweet Lord Jesus.\nI had far rather take a hire to plead for the grace of God, for I\nthink myself Christ's sworn debtor; and the truth is (to speak of my\nLord what I cannot deny), I am over head and ears, drowned in many\nobligations to His love and mercy.\n\n [253] Boys, like David, keeping the sheep or cattle.\n\nHe handleth me some time so, that I am ashamed almost to seek more for\na four-hours, but to live content (till the marriage-supper of the\nLamb) with that which He giveth. But I know not how greedy and how ill\nto please love is. For either my Lord Jesus hath taught me ill\nmanners, not to be content with a seat, except my head lie in His\nbosom, and except I be fed with the fatness of His house; or else I am\ngrown impatiently dainty, and ill to please, as if Christ were\nobliged, under this cross, to do no other thing but bear me in His\narms, and as if I had claim by merit for my suffering for Him. But I\nwish He would give me grace to learn to go on my own feet, and to\nlearn to do without His comforts, and to give thanks and believe, when\nthe sun is not in my firmament, and when my Well-beloved is from home,\nand gone another errand. Oh, what sweet peace have I, when I find that\nChrist holdeth and I draw; when I climb up and He shuteth me down;\nwhen I grips Him and embrace Him, and He seemeth to loose the grips\nand flee away from me! I think there is even a sweet joy of faith, and\ncontentedness, and peace, in His very tempting unkindness, because my\nfaith saith, \"Christ is not in sad earnest with me, but trying if I\ncan be kind to His mask and cloud that covereth Him, as well as to His\nfair face.\" I bless His great name that I love His vail which goeth\nover His face, whill God send better; for faith can kiss God's\ntempting reproaches when He nicknameth a sinner, \"A dog, not worthy to\neat bread with the bairns\" (Mark vii. 27, 28). I think it an honour\nthat Christ miscalleth me, and reproacheth me. I will take that well\nof Him, howbeit I would not bear it well if another should be that\nhomely; but because I am His own (God be thanked), He may use me as He\npleaseth. I must say, the saints have a sweet life between them and\nChrist. There is much sweet solace of love between Him and them, when\nHe feedeth among the lilies, and cometh into His garden, and maketh a\nfeast of honeycombs, and drinketh His wine and His milk, and crieth,\n\"Eat, O friends: drink, yea, drink abundantly, O well-beloved.\" One\nhour of this labour is worth a shipful of the world's drunken and\nmuddy joy; nay, even the gate[254] to heaven is the sunny side of the\nbrae, and the very garden of the world. For the men of this world have\ntheir own unchristened and profane crosses; and woe be to them and\ntheir cursed crosses both; for their ills are salted with God's\nvengeance, and our ills seasoned with our Father's blessing. So that\nthey are no fools who choose Christ, and sell all things for Him. It\nis no bairns' market, nor a blind block; we know well what we get, and\nwhat we give.\n\n [254] Before we come to heaven, the very way (gate) to heaven is\n pleasant.\n\nNow, for any resolution to go to any other kingdom, I dare not speak\none word.[255] My hopes of enlargement are cold, my hopes of re-entry\nto my Master's ill-dressed vineyard again are far colder. I have no\nseat for my faith to sit on, but bare omnipotency, and God's holy arm\nand good-will. Here I desire to stay, and ride at anchor, and winter,\nwhill God send fair weather again, and be pleased to take home to His\nhouse my harlot-mother. Oh, if her husband would be that kind, as to\ngo and fetch her out of the brothel-house, and chase her lovers to the\nhills! But there will be sad days ere it come to that. Remember my\nbonds. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in our Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n [255] Rutherford appears sometimes to have entertained the idea of\n removing abroad, should he succeed in obtaining his liberty. In a\n preceding letter to Stuart, he names New England; and some of his\n friends thought that he might be honourably and usefully employed\n abroad. Robert Baillie, in a letter to Mr. William Spang, minister at\n Campvere, dated January 29, 1637, says: \"Alwayes I take the man\n [Rutherford] to be among the most learned and best ingynes of our\n nation. I think he were verie able for some profession in your\n colledges of Utrecht, Groningen, or Rotterdam; for our King's\n dominions, there is no appearance he will ever gett living into them.\n If you could quietly procure him a calling, I think it were a good\n service to God to relieve one of his troubled ministers; a good to the\n place he came to, for he is both godlie and learned; yea, I think by\n time he might be ane ornament to our natione\" (Bailie's \"Letters and\n Journals,\" vol. i. p. 9).\n\n\n\n\nCLXIV.--_To_ NINIAN MURE [see Letter CXCI.], _one of the family of\nCassincarrie_.\n\n [We do not know more of _Ninian Mure_ than that he was a\n parishioner of Anwoth. The name \"_Mure_\" is found on several\n tombs in the old churchyard, of which the oldest and most\n interesting is the following, on the east side of the enclosed\n pile:--\n\n \"Walking with God in purity of life,\n In Christ I died, and endit all my strife.\n For in my saul Christ here did dwell by grace;\n Now dwells my saul in glory of His face.\n Therefore my body shall not here remain,\n But to full glory surely rise again.\"\n \"_Marion Mure_, goodwife of Cullindock,\n Departed this life, anno 1612.\"]\n\n(_A YOUTH ADMONISHED_.)\n\n\nLOVING FRIEND,--I received your letter. I entreat you now, in the\nmorning of your life, to seek the Lord and His face. Beware of the\nfollies of dangerous youth, a perilous time for your soul. Love not\nthe world. Keep faith and truth with all men in your covenants and\nbargains. Walk with God, for He seeth you. Do nothing but that which\nye may and would do if your eye-strings were breaking, and your breath\ngrowing cold. Ye heard the truth of God from me, my dear heart, follow\nit, and forsake it not. Prize Christ and salvation above all the\nworld. To live after the guise and course of the rest of the world\nwill not bring you to heaven; without faith in Christ, and repentance,\nye cannot see God. Take pains for salvation; press forward toward the\nmark for the prize of the high calling. If ye watch not against evils\nnight and day, which beset you, ye will come behind. Beware of lying,\nswearing, uncleanness, and the rest of the works of the flesh; because\n\"for these things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of\ndisobedience.\" How sweet soever they may seem for the present, yet the\nend of these courses is the eternal wrath of God, and utter darkness,\nwhere there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Grace be with you.\n\n Your loving pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCLXV.--_To_ MR. THOMAS GARVEN.\n\n [THOMAS GARVEN, one of the ministers of Edinburgh. \"R. Blair's\n Life,\" by Row, tells of his being banished from the town by the\n King in 1662, for his adherence to Presbytery.]\n\n(_PERSONAL INSUFFICIENCY--GRACE FROM CHRIST ALONE--LONGINGS AFTER\nHIM._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I am\nsorry that what joy and sorrow drew from my imprisoned pen in my\nlove-fits hath made you and many of God's children believe that there\nis something in a broken reed the like of me. Except that Christ's\ngrace hath bought such a sold body, I know not what else any may think\nof me, or expect from me. My stock is less (my Lord knoweth that I\nspeak truth) than many believe. My empty sounds have promised too\nmuch. I should be glad to lie under Christ's feet, and kep and receive\nthe off-fallings, or the old pieces of any grace, that fall from His\nsweet fingers to forlorn sinners. I lie often, unco-like, looking at\nthe King's windows. Surely I am unworthy of a seat in the King's\nhall-floor; I but often look afar off, both feared and fremmed-like,\nto that fairest face, fearing He bid me look away from Him. My\nguiltiness riseth up upon me, and I have no answer for it. I offered\nmy tongue to Christ, and my pains in His house: and what know I what\nit meaneth, when Christ will not receive my poor propine? When love\nwill not take, we expone that it will neither take nor give, borrow\nnor lend. Yet Christ hath another sea-compass which He saileth by,\nthan my short and raw thoughts. I leave His part of it to Himself. I\ndare not expound His dealing as sorrow and misbelief often dictate to\nme. I look often with bleared and blind eyes to my Lord's cross; and\nwhen I look to the wrong side of His cross, I know that I miss a step\nand slide. Surely, I see that I have not legs of my own for carrying\nme to heaven: I must go in at heaven's gates, borrowing strength from\nChrist.\n\nI am often thinking, \"Oh, if He would but give me leave to love Him,\nand if Christ would but open up His wares, and the infinite plies, and\nwindings, and corners of His soul-delighting love, and let me see it,\nbackside and foreside; and give me leave but to stand beside it, like\na hungry man beside meat, to get my fill of wondering, as a preface to\nmy fill of enjoying!\" But, verily, I think that my foul eyes would\ndefile His fair love to look to it. Either my hunger is over humble\n(if that may be said), or else I consider not what honour it is to get\nleave to love Christ. Oh, that He would pity a prisoner, and let out a\nflood upon the dry ground! It is nothing to Him to fill the like of\nme; one of His looks would do me meikle world's good, and Him no ill.\nI know that I am not at a point yet with Christ's love: I am not yet\nfitted for so much as I would have of it. My hope sitteth neighbour\nwith meikle black hunger: and certainly I dow not but think that there\nis more of that love ordained for me than I yet comprehend, and that I\nknow not the weight of the pension which the King will give me. I\nshall be glad if my hungry bill get leave to lie beside Christ,\nwaiting on an answer. Now I should be full and rejoice, if I got a\npoor man's alms of that sweetest love; but I confidently believe that\nthere is a bed made for Christ and me, and that we shall take our fill\nof love in it. And I often think, when my joy is run out, and at the\nlowest ebb, that I would seek no more than my rights passed the King's\ngreat seal, and that these eyes of mine could see Christ's hand at the\npen.\n\nIf your Lord call you to suffering, be not dismayed; there shall be a\nnew allowance of the King for you when you come to it. One of the\nsoftest pillows Christ hath is laid under His witnesses' head, though\noften they must set down their bare feet among thorns. He hath brought\nmy poor soul to desire and wish, \"Oh that my ashes, and the powder I\nshall be dissolved into, had well-tuned tongues to praise Him!\"\n\nThus in haste, desiring your prayers and praises, I recommend you to\nmy sweet, sweet Master, my honourable Lord, of whom I hold all. Grace\nbe with you.\n\n Your own, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\nCLXVI.--_To CARDONESS, the Elder._\n\n(_A GOOD CONSCIENCE--CHRIST KIND TO\nSUFFERERS--RESPONSIBILITY--YOUTH._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--I long to hear how your soul prospereth. I wonder\nthat ye write not to me; for the Holy Ghost beareth me witness, that I\ncannot, I dare not, I dow not,[256] forget you, nor the souls of those\nwith you, who are redeemed by the blood of the great Shepherd. Ye are\nin my heart in the night-watches; ye are my joy and crown in the day\nof Christ. O Lord, bear me witness, if my soul thirsteth for anything\nout of heaven, more than for your salvation. Let God lay me in an\neven-balance, and try me in this.\n\n [256] Letter CIV. might suggest \"do not\" to be the right word.\n\nLove heaven; let your heart be on it. Up, up, and visit the new Land\nand view the fair City, and the white Throne, and the Lamb, the\nbride's Husband in His Bridegroom's clothes, sitting on it. It were\ntime that your soul cast itself, and all your burdens, upon Christ. I\nbeseech you by the wounds of your Redeemer, and by your compearance\nbefore Him, and by the salvation of your soul, lose no more time; run\nfast, for it is late. God hath sworn by Himself, who made the world\nand time, that time shall be no more (Rev. x. 6). Ye are now upon the\nvery border of the other life. Your Lord cannot be blamed for not\ngiving you warning. I have taught the truth of Christ to you, and\ndelivered unto you the whole counsel of God; and I have stood before\nthe Lord for you, and I will yet still stand. Awake, awake to do\nrighteously. Think not to be eased of the burdens and debts that are\non your house by oppressing any, or being rigorous to those that are\nunder you. Remember how I endeavoured to walk before you in this\nmatter, as an example. \"Behold, here am I, witness against me, before\nthe Lord and His Anointed: whose ox or whose ass have I taken? Whom\nhave I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed?\" (1 Sam. xii. 3). Who knoweth\nhow my soul feedeth upon a good conscience, when I remember how I\nspent this body in feeding the lambs of Christ?\n\nAt my first entry hither, I grant, I took a stomach against my Lord,\nbecause He had casten me over the dyke of the vineyard, as a dry tree,\nand would have no more of my service. My dumb Sabbaths broke my heart,\nand I would not be comforted. But now He whom my soul loveth is come\nagain, and it pleaseth Him to feast me with the kisses of His love. A\nKing dineth with me, and His spikenard casteth a sweet smell. The Lord\nis my witness above, that I write my heart to you. I never knew, by my\nnine years' preaching, so much of Christ's love, as He has taught me\nin Aberdeen, by six months' imprisonment. I charge you in Christ's\nname to help me to praise; and show that people and country the\nloving-kindness of the Lord to my soul, that so my sufferings may\nsomeway preach to them when I am silent. He hath made me to know now\nbetter than before, what it is to be crucified to the world. I would\nnot now give a drink of cold water for all the world's kindness. I owe\nno service to it: I am not the flesh's debtor. My Lord Jesus hath\ndawted His prisoner, and hath thoughts of love concerning me. I would\nnot exchange my sighs with the laughing of adversaries. Sir, I write\nthis to inform you, that ye may know that it is the truth of Christ I\nnow suffer for, and that He hath sealed my suffering with the comforts\nof His Spirit on my soul; and I know that He putteth not His seal upon\nblank paper.\n\nNow, sir, I have no comfort earthly, but to know that I have espoused,\nand shall present a bride to Christ in that congregation. The Lord\nhath given you much, and therefore He will require much of you again.\nNumber your talents, and see what you have to render back. Ye cannot\nbe enough persuaded of the shortness of your time. I charge you to\nwrite to me, and in the fear of God to be plain with me, whether or\nnot ye have made your salvation sure. I am confident, and hope the\nbest; but I know that your reckonings with your Judge are many and\ndeep. Sir, be not beguiled, neglect not your one thing (Phil. iii.\n13), your one necessary thing (Luke x. 42), the good part that shall\nnot be taken from you. Look beyond time: things here are but\nmoonshine. They have but children's wit who are delighted with\nshadows, and deluded with feathers flying in the air.\n\nDesire your children, in the morning of their life, to begin and seek\nthe Lord, and to remember their Creator in the days of their youth\n(Eccles. xii. 1), to cleanse their way, by taking heed thereto,\naccording to God's word (Ps. cxix. 9). Youth is a glassy age. Satan\nfinds a swept chamber, for the most part, in youthhood, and a\ngarnished lodging for himself and his train. Let the Lord have the\nflower of their age; the best sacrifice is due to Him. Instruct them\nin this, that they have a soul, and that this life is nothing in\ncomparison of eternity. They will have much need of God's conduct in\nthis world, to guide them by[257] those rocks upon which most men\nsplit; but far more need when it cometh to the hour of death, and\ntheir compearance before Christ. Oh that there were such an heart in\nthem, to fear the name of the great and dreadful God, who hath laid up\ngreat things for those that love and fear Him! I pray that God may be\ntheir portion. Show others of my parishioners, that I write to them my\nbest wishes, and the blessings of their lawful pastor. Say to them\nfrom me, that I beseech them, by the bowels of Christ, to keep in mind\nthe doctrine of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, which I taught\nthem; that so they may lay hold on eternal life, striving together for\nthe faith of the Gospel, and making sure salvation to themselves. Walk\nin love, and do righteousness; seek peace; love one another. Wait for\nthe coming of our Master and Judge. Receive no doctrine contrary to\nthat which I delivered to you. If ye fall away, and forget it, and\nthat Catechism which I taught you, and so forsake your own mercy, the\nLord be Judge betwixt you and me. I take heaven and earth to witness,\nthat such shall eternally perish. But if they serve the Lord, great\nwill their reward be when they and I shall stand before our Judge. Set\nforward up the mountain, to meet with God; climb up, for your Saviour\ncalleth on you. It may be that God will call you to your rest, when I\nam far from you; but ye have my love, and the desires of my heart for\nyour soul's welfare. He that is holy, keep you from falling, and\nestablish you, till His own glorious appearance.\n\n Your affectionate and lawful pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n [257] Guide them past.\n\n\n\n\nCLXVII.--_To my_ LADY BOYD. [Letter CVII.]\n\n(_LESSONS LEARNED IN THE SCHOOL OF ADVERSITY._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord\nJesus Christ, be multiplied upon you.\n\nI have reasoned with your son[258] at large; I rejoice to see him set\nhis face in the right airth, now when the nobles love the sunny side\nof the Gospel best, and are afraid that Christ want soldiers, and\nshall not be able to do for Himself.\n\n [258] Lord Boyd. See Letter LXXVIII.\n\nMadam, our debts of obligation to Christ are not small; the freedom of\ngrace and of salvation is the wonder of men and angels. But mercy in\nour Lord scorneth hire. Ye are bound to lift Christ on high, who hath\ngiven you eyes to discern the devil now coming out in his whites, and\nthe idolatry and apostasy of the time, well washen with fair\npretences; but the skin is black and the water foul. It were art, I\nconfess, to wash a black devil, and make him white.\n\nI am in strange ups and downs, and seven times a day I lose ground. I\nam put often to swimming; and again my feet are set on the Rock that\nis higher than myself. He hath now let me see four things which I\nnever saw before: _1st_, That the Supper shall be great cheer, that is\nup in the great hall with the Royal King of glory, when the\nfour-hours, the standing drink,[259] in this dreary wilderness, is so\nsweet. When He bloweth a kiss afar off to His poor heart-broken\nmourners in Zion, and sendeth me but His hearty commendations till we\nmeet, I am confounded with wonder to think what it shall be, when the\nFairest among the sons of men shall lay a King's sweet soft cheek to\nthe sinful cheeks of poor sinners. O time, time, go swiftly, and\nhasten that day! Sweet Lord Jesus, post! come, flying like a young\nhart or a roe upon the mountains of separation. I think that we should\ntell the hours carefully, and look often how low the sun is. For love\nhath no \"Ho!\" it is pained, pained in itself, till it come into grips\nwith the party beloved.\n\n [259] When even the slight afternoon meal and the cup handed to one at\n the door is so sweet.\n\n_2ndly._ I find Christ's absence to be love's sickness and love's\ndeath. The wind that bloweth out of the airth where my Lord Jesus\nreigneth is sweet-smelled, soft, joyful, and heartsome to a soul burnt\nwith absence. It is a painful battle for a soul sick of love to fight\nwith absence and delays. Christ's \"Not yet\" is a stounding of all the\njoints and liths[260] of the soul. A nod of His head, when He is under\na mask, would be half a pawn. To say, \"Fool, what aileth thee? He is\ncoming,\" would be life to a dead man. I am often in my dumb Sabbaths\nseeking a new plea with my Lord Jesus (God forgive me!), and I care\nnot if there be not two or three ounce-weight of black wrath in my\ncup.\n\n [260] \"Joist\" was in some old editions.\n\n_3rdly._ For the third thing, I have seen my abominable vileness; if I\nwere well known, there would none in this kingdom ask how I do. Many\ntake my ten to be a hundred, but I am a deeper hypocrite, and\nshallower professor, than every one believeth. God knoweth I feign\nnot. But I think my reckonings on the one page written in great\nletters, and His mercy to such a forlorn and wretched dyvour on the\nother, to be more than a miracle. If I could get my finger-ends upon a\nfull assurance, I trow that I would grip fast; but my cup wanteth not\ngall. And, upon my part, despair might be almost excused, if every one\nin this land saw my inner side. But I know that I am one of them who\nhave made great sale, and a free market, to free grace. If I could be\nsaved, as I would fain believe, sure I am that I have given Christ's\nblood, His free grace, and the bowels of His mercy, a large field to\nwork upon; and Christ hath manifested His art, I dare not say to the\nuttermost (for He can, if He would, forgive all the devils and damned\nreprobates, in respect of the wideness of His mercy), but I say to an\nadmirable degree.\n\n_4thly._ I am stricken with fear of unthankfulness. This apostate kirk\nhath played the harlot with many lovers. They are spitting in the face\nof my lovely King, and mocking Him, and I dow not mend it; and they\nare running away from Christ in troops, and I dow not mourn and be\ngrieved for it. I think Christ lieth like an old forcasten[261]\ncastle, forsaken of the inhabitants; all men run away now from Him.\nTruth, innocent truth, goeth mourning and wringing her hands in\nsackcloth and ashes. Woe, woe, woe is me, for the virgin daughter of\nScotland! Woe, woe to the inhabitants of this land! for they are gone\nback with a perpetual backsliding.\n\n [261] Not used; cast off.\n\nThese things take me so up, that a borrowed bed, another man's\nfireside, the wind upon my face (I being driven from my lovers and\ndear acquaintance, and my poor flock), find no room in my sorrow. I\nhave no spare or odd sorrow for these; only I think the sparrows and\nswallows that build their nests in the kirk of Anwoth, blessed birds.\nNothing hath given my faith a harder back-set[262] till it crack\nagain, than my closed mouth. But let me be miserable myself alone; God\nkeep my dear brethren from it. But still I keep breath; and when my\nroyal, and never, never-enough-praised King returneth to His sinful\nprisoner, I ride upon the high places of Jacob. I divide Shechem (Ps.\nlx. 6), I triumph in His strength. If this kingdom would glorify the\nLord in my behalf! I desire to be weighed in God's even balance in\nthis point, if I think not my wages paid to the full. I shall crave no\nmore hire of Christ.\n\n [262] A thrust back. In a sermon at Anwoth, 1630, on Zech. xiii. 7, he\n says, \"God gives a back-set and fall under temptation.\"\n\nMadam, pity me in this, and help me to praise Him; for whatever I be,\nthe chief of sinners, a devil, and a most guilty devil, yet it is the\napple of Christ's eye, His honour and glory, as the Head of the\nChurch, that I suffer for now, and that I will go to eternity with.\n\nI am greatly in love with Mr. M. M.;[263] I see him stamped with the\nimage of God. I hope well of your son, my Lord Boyd.\n\n [263] Mr. Matthew Mowat, minister of Kilmarnock. See notice of him,\n Letter CXX.\n\nYour Ladyship and your children have a prisoner's prayers. Grace be\nwith you.\n\n Your Ladyship's, at all obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _May 1, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLXVIII.--_To his reverend and dear Brother_, MR. DAVID DICKSON.\n\n(_CHRIST'S INFINITE FULNESS._)\n\n\nMY REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I fear that ye have never known me\nwell. If ye saw my inner side, it is possible that ye would pity me,\nbut you would hardly give me either love or respect: men mistake me\nthe whole length of the heavens. My sins prevail over me, and the\nterrors of their guiltiness. I am put often to ask, if Christ and I\ndid ever shake hands together in earnest. I mean not that my\nfeast-days are quite gone, but I am made of extremes. I pray God that\nye never have the woful and dreary experience of a closed mouth; for\nthen ye shall judge the sparrows, that may sing on[264] the church of\nIrvine, blessed birds. But my soul hath been refreshed and watered,\nwhen I hear of your courage and zeal for your never-enough-praised,\npraised Master, in that ye put the men of God, chased out of Ireland,\nto work.[265] Oh, if I could confirm you! I dare say, in God's\npresence, \"That this shall never hasten your suffering, but will be\nDavid Dickson's feast and speaking joy (viz.), that while he had time\nand leisure, he put many to work, to lift up Jesus, his sweet Master,\nhigh in the skies.\" O man of God, go on, go on; be valiant for that\nPlant of renown, for that Chief among ten thousands, for that Prince\nof the kings of the earth. It is but little that I know of God; yet\nthis I dare write, that Christ will be glorified in David Dickson,\nhowbeit Scotland be not gathered.\n\n [264] _On_, not \"_in_,\" as in old editions.\n\n [265] When Mr. Robert Blair and Mr. John Livingstone, who had been\n deposed in Ireland by the Bishop of Down, were obliged to leave that\n country, they came over to Irvine in 1637, to Mr. Dickson. Dickson had\n been advised by some respectable gentlemen not to ask them to preach,\n lest the bishops should thereby take occasion to remove him from his\n ministry. But his reply was: \"I dare not be of their opinion, nor\n follow their counsel, so far as to discountenance these worthies, now\n when they are suffering for holding fast the name of Christ, and every\n letter of that blessed name, as not to employ them as in former times.\n Yea, I would think my so doing would provoke the Lord, so that I might\n upon another account be deposed, and not have so good a conscience\"\n (\"Life of Robert Blair\").\n\nI am pained, pained, that I have not more to give my sweet Bridegroom.\nHis comforts to me are not dealt with a niggard's hand; but I would\nfain learn not to idolise comfort, sense, joy, and sweet, felt\npresence. All these are but creatures, and nothing but the kingly\nrobe, the gold ring, and the bracelets of the Bridegroom; the\nBridegroom Himself is better than all the ornaments that are about\nHim. Now, I would not so much have these as God Himself, and to be\nswallowed up of love to Christ. I see that in delighting in a\ncommunion with Christ, we may make more gods than one. But, however,\nall was but bairns' play between Christ and me till now. If one would\nhave sworn unto me, I would not have believed what may be found in\nChrist. I hope that ye pity my pain that much, in my prison, as to\nhelp me yourself, and to cause others help me, a dyvour, a sinful\nwretched dyvour, to pay some of my debts of praise to my great King.\nLet my God be judge and witness, if my soul would not have sweet ease\nand comfort, to have many hearts confirmed in Christ, and enlarged\nwith His love, and many tongues set on work to set on high my royal\nand princely Well-beloved. Oh that my sufferings could pay tribute to\nsuch a king! I have given over wondering at His love; for Christ hath\nmanifested a piece of art upon me, that I never revealed to any\nliving. He hath gotten fair and rich employment, and sweet sale, and a\ngoodly market for His honourable calling of showing mercy, on me the\nchief of sinners. Every one knoweth not so well as I do, my\nwofully-often broken covenants. My sins against light, working[266] in\nthe very act of sinning, have been met with admirable mercy: but,\nalas! He will get nothing back again but wretched unthankfulness. I am\nsure, that if Christ pity anything in me next to my sin, it is pain of\nlove for an armful and soulful of Himself, in faith, love, and begun\nfruition. My sorrow is, that I cannot get Christ lifted off the dust\nin Scotland, and set on high, above all the skies, and heaven of\nheavens.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _May 1, 1637_.\n\n [266] The sense may be, \"My sins against light which was at work even\n when I was in the act of sinning.\"\n\n\n\n\nCLXIX.--_To the_ LAIRD OF CARLETON.\n\n(_GOD'S WORKING INCOMPREHENSIBLE--LONGING AFTER ANY DROP OF CHRIST'S\nFULNESS._)\n\n\nWORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received your\nletter, and am heartily glad that our Lord hath begun to work for the\napparent delivery of this poor oppressed kirk. Oh that salvation would\ncome for Zion!\n\nI am for the present hanging by hope, waiting what my Lord will do\nwith me, and if it will please my sweet Master to send me amongst you\nagain, and keep out a hireling from my poor people and flock. It were\nmy heaven till I come home, even to spend this life in gathering in\nsome to Christ. I have still great heaviness for my silence, and my\nforced standing idle in the market, when this land hath such a\nplentiful, thick harvest. But I know that His judgments, who hath done\nit, pass finding out. I have no knowledge to take up the Lord in all\nHis strange ways, and passages of deep and unsearchable providences.\nFor the Lord is before me, and I am so bemisted that I cannot follow\nHim; He is behind me, and following at the heels, and I am not aware\nof Him; He is above me, but His glory so dazzleth my twilight of short\nknowledge, that I cannot look up to Him. He is upon my right hand, and\nI see Him not; He is upon my left hand, and within me, and goeth and\ncometh, and His going and coming are a dream to me; He is round about\nme, and compasseth all my goings, and still I have Him to seek. He is\nevery way higher, and deeper, and broader than the shallow and ebb\nhandbreadth of my short and dim light can take up; and, therefore, I\nwould that my heart could be silent, and sit down in the\nlearnedly-ignorant wondering at the Lord, whom men and angels cannot\ncomprehend. I know that the noon-day light of the highest angels, who\nsee Him face to face, seeth not the borders of His infiniteness. They\napprehend God near hand; but they cannot comprehend Him. And,\ntherefore, it is my happiness to look afar off, and to come near to\nthe Lord's back parts, and to light my dark candle at His brightness,\nand to have leave to sit and content myself with a traveller's light,\nwithout the clear vision of an enjoyer. I would seek no more till I\nwere in my country, than a little watering and sprinkling of a\nwithered soul, with some half out-breakings and half out-lookings of\nthe beams, and small ravishing smiles of the fairest face of a\nrevealed and believed-on Godhead. A little of God would make my soul\nbank-full. Oh that I had but Christ's odd off-fallings; that He would\nlet but the meanest of His love-rays and love-beams fall from Him, so\nas I might gather and carry then with me! I would not be ill to please\nwith Christ, and vailed visions of Christ; neither would I be dainty\nin seeing and enjoying of Him: a kiss of Christ blown over His\nshoulder, the parings and crumbs of glory that fall under His table in\nheaven, a shower like a thin May-mist of His love, would make me\ngreen, and sappy, and joyful, till the summer-sun of an eternal glory\nbreak up (Song ii. 17). Oh that I had anything of Christ! Oh that I\nhad a sip, or half a drop, out of the hollow of Christ's hand, of the\nsweetness and excellency of that lovely One! Oh that my Lord Jesus\nwould rue upon me, and give me but the meanest alms of felt and\nbelieved salvation! Oh, how little were it for that infinite sea, that\ninfinite fountain of love and joy, to fill as many thousand thousand\nlittle vessels (the like of me) as there are minutes of hours since\nthe creation of God! I find it true that a poor soul, finding half a\nsmell of the Godhead of Christ, hath desires (paining and wounding the\npoor hearts so with longings to be up at Him) that make it sometimes\nthink, \"Were it not better never to have felt anything of Christ, than\nthus to lie dying twenty deaths, under these felt wounds, for the want\nof Him?\" Oh, where is He? O Fairest, where dwellest Thou? O\nnever-enough admired Godhead, how can clay win up to Thee? how can\ncreatures of yesterday be able to enjoy Thee? Oh, what pain is it,\nthat time and sin should be so many thousand miles betwixt a loved and\nlonged-for Lord and a dwining and love-sick soul, who would rather\nthan all the world have lodging with Christ! Oh, let this bit of love\nof ours, this inch and half-span length of heavenly longing, meet with\nThy infinite love! Oh, if the little I have were swallowed up with the\ninfiniteness of that excellency which is in Christ! Oh that we little\nones were in at the greatest Lord Jesus! Our wants should soon be\nswallowed up with His fulness.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _May 10, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLXX.--_To_ ROBERT GORDON _of Knockbrex_.\n\n(_LONGING FOR CHRIST'S GLORY--FELT GUILTINESS--LONGING FOR CHRIST'S\nLOVE--SANCTIFICATION._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received your\nletter from Edinburgh.\n\nI would not wish to see another heaven, whill I get mine own heaven,\nbut a new moon like the light of the sun, and a new sun like the light\nof seven days shining upon my poor self, and the Church of Jews and\nGentiles, and upon my withered and sunburnt mother, the Church of\nScotland, and upon her sister Churches, England and Ireland; and to\nhave this done, to the setting on high of our great King! It\nmattereth[267] not, howbeit I were separate from Christ, and had a\nsense of ten thousand years' pain in hell, if this were. O blessed\nnobility! O glorious, renowned gentry! Oh, blessed were the tribes in\nthis land to wipe my Lord Jesus' weeping face, and to take the\nsackcloth off Christ's loins, and to put His kingly robes upon Him!\nOh, if the Almighty would take no less wager of me than my heaven to\nhave it done! But my fears are still for wrath once upon Scotland. But\nI know that her day will clear up, and that glory shall be upon the\ntop of the mountains, and joy at the voice[268] of the married wife,\nonce again. Oh that our Lord would make us to contend, and plead, and\nwrestle by prayers and tears, for our Husband's restoring of His\nforfeited heritage in Scotland.\n\n [267] _Mattereth?_ In other editions it is \"_maketh_.\"\n\n [268] \"_Noise_,\" in old editions.\n\nDear brother, I am for the present in no small battle, betwixt felt\nguiltiness, and pining longings and high fevers for my Well-beloved's\nlove! Alas! I think that Christ's love playeth the niggard to me, and\nI know it is not for scarcity of love. There is enough in Him, but my\nhunger prophesieth of in-holding and sparingness in Christ; for I have\nbut little of Him, and little of His sweetness. It is a dear summer\nwith me; yet there is such joy in the eagerness and working of hunger\nfor Christ, that I am often at this, that if I had no other heaven\nthan a continual hunger for Christ, such a heaven of ever-working\nhunger were still a heaven to me. I am sure that Christ's love cannot\nbe cruel; it must be a ruing, a pitying, a melting-hearted love; but\nsuspension of that love I think half a hell, and the want of it more\nthan a whole hell. When I look to my guiltiness, I see that my\nsalvation is one of our Saviour's greatest miracles, either in heaven\nor earth. I am sure I may defy any man to show me a greater wonder.\nBut, seeing I have no wares, no hire, no money for Christ, He must\neither take me with want, misery, corruption, or then want me. Oh, if\nHe would be pleased to be compassionate and pitiful-hearted to my\npining fevers of longing for Him; or then give me a real pawn to keep,\nout of His own hand, till God send a meeting betwixt Him and me! But I\nfind neither as yet. Howbeit He who is absent be not cruel nor unkind,\nyet His absence is cruel and unkind. His love is like itself; His love\nis _His_ love; but the covering and the cloud, the vail and the mask\nof His love, is more wise than kind, if I durst speak my\napprehensions. I lead no process now against the suspension and delay\nof God's love; I would with all my heart frist till a day ten heavens,\nand the sweet manifestations of His love. Certainly I think that I\ncould give Christ much on His word; but my whole pleading is about\nintimated and borne-in assurance of _His_ love. Oh, if He would\npersuade me of[269] my heart's desire of His love at all, He should\nhave the term-day of payment at His own cowing.[270] But I know that\nraving unbelief speaketh its pleasure, while it looketh upon\nguiltiness and this body of corruption. Oh how loathsome and\nburdensome is it to carry about a dead corpse, this old carrion of\ncorruption! Oh how steadable a thing is a Saviour, to make a sinner\nrid of his chains and fetters!\n\n [269] Convince me that He intends to gratify my heart's desire.\n\n [270] Carving.\n\nI have now made a new question, whether Christ be more to be loved,\nfor giving Sanctification or for free Justification. And I hold that\nHe is more and most to be loved for sanctification. It is in some\nrespect greater love in Him to sanctify, than to justify; for He\nmaketh us most like Himself in His own essential portraiture and\nimage, in sanctifying us. Justification doth but make us happy, which\nis to be like angels only. Neither is it such a misery to lie a\ncondemned man, and under unforgiven guiltiness, as to serve sin, and\nwork the works of the devil; and, therefore, I think sanctification\ncannot be bought: it is above price. God be thanked for ever, that\nChrist was a told-down price for sanctification. Let a sinner, if\npossible, lie in hell for ever, if He make him truly holy; and let him\nlie there burning in love to God, rejoicing in the Holy Ghost, hanging\nupon Christ by faith and hope,--that is heaven in the heart and bottom\nof hell!\n\nAlas! I find a very thin harvest here, and few to be saved.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his lovely and longed-for Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXI.--_To the_ LAIRD OF MONCRIEFF.\n\n[SIR JOHN MONCRIEFF, of that ilk, was the eldest son of William\nMoncrieff of that ilk, by his wife Anne, daughter of Robert Murray of\nAbercarnie, who was his second wife. He was a zealous Covenanter, and\na ruling elder in the parish of Carnbee, in which he resided. His name\nappears in the list of the General Assembly's Commission for the\npublic affairs of the Church, in the years 1646 and 1648; and he was\nan active member of the Presbytery of St. Andrews. He died about the\nclose of the year 1650. Lady Leyes, to whom reference is made in this\nletter, was his third sister Jean, married to Hay of Leyes, in\nAberdeenshire (Douglas' \"_Baronage of Scotland_,\" p. 46).]\n\n(_CONCERT IN PRAYER--STEDFASTNESS TO CHRIST--GRIEF MISREPRESENTS\nCHRIST'S GLORY._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. Although not\nacquainted, yet at the desire of your worthy sister, the Lady Leys,\nand upon the report of your kindness to Christ and His oppressed\ntruth, I am bold to write to you, earnestly desiring you to join with\nus (so many as in these bounds profess Christ), to wrestle with God,\none day of the week, especially the Wednesday, for mercy to this\nfallen and decayed kirk, and to such as suffer for Christ's name; and\nfor your own necessities, and the necessities of others who are by\ncovenant engaged in that business. For we have no other armour in\nthese evil times but prayer, now when wrath from the Lord is gone out\nagainst this backsliding land. For ye know we can have no true public\nfasts, neither are the true causes of our humiliation ever laid before\nthe people.\n\nNow, very worthy Sir, I am glad in the Lord, that the Lord reserveth\nany of your place, or of note, in this time of common apostasy, to\ncome forth in public to hear Christ's name before men, when the great\nmen think Christ a cumbersome neighbour, and that religion carrieth\nhazards, trials, and persecutions with it. I persuade myself that it\nis your glory and your garland, and shall be your joy in the day of\nChrist, and the standing of your house and seed, to inherit the earth,\nthat you truly and sincerely profess Christ. Neither is our King, whom\nthe Father hath crowned in Mount Zion, so weak, that He cannot do for\nHimself and His own cause. I verily believe that they are blessed who\ncan hold the crown upon His head, and carry up the train of His robe\nroyal, and that He shall be victorious, and triumph in this land. It\nis our part to back our royal King, howbeit there was not six in all\nthe land to follow Him. It is our wisdom now to take up, and discern,\nthe devil and the antichrist coming out in their whites, and the\napostasy and idolatry of this land washen with foul waters. I confess\nthat it is art to wash the devil till his skin be white.\n\nFor myself, Sir, I have bought a plea against Christ, since I came\nhither, in judging my princely Master angry at me, because I was cast\nout of the vineyard as a withered tree, my dumb Sabbaths working me\nmuch sorrow. But I see now that sorrow hath not eyes to read love\nwritten upon the cross of Christ; and, therefore, I pass from my rash\nplea. Woe, woe is me, that I should have received a slander of\nChrist's love to my soul! And for all this, my Lord Jesus hath\nforgiven all, as not willing to be heard[271] with such a fool; and is\ncontent to be, as it were, confined with me, and to bear me company,\nand to feast a poor oppressed prisoner. And now I write it under my\nhand, worthy Sir, that I think well and honourably of this cross of\nChrist. I wonder that He will take any glory from the like of me. I\nfind when He but sendeth His hearty commendations to me, and but\nbloweth a kiss afar off, I am confounded with wondering what the\nsupper of the Lamb will be, up in our Father's dining-palace of glory,\nsince the four-hours in this dismal wilderness, and (when in prisons\nand in our sad days), a kiss of Christ, are so comfortable. Oh, how\nsweet and glorious shall our case be, when that Fairest among the sons\nof men will lay His fair face to our now sinful faces, and wipe away\nall tears from our eyes! O time, time, run swiftly and hasten this\nday! O sweet Lord Jesus, come flying like a roe or a young hart! Alas!\nthat we, blind fools, are fallen in love with moonshine and shadows.\nHow sweet is the wind that bloweth out of the airth where Christ is!\nEvery day we may see some new thing in Christ; His love hath neither\nbrim nor bottom. Oh, if I had help to praise Him! He knoweth that if\nmy sufferings glorify His name, and encourage others to stand fast for\nthe honour of our supreme Lawgiver, Christ, my wages then are paid to\nthe full. Sir, help me to love that never-enough-praised Lord. I find\nnow, that the faith of the saints, under suffering for Christ, is fair\nbefore the wind, and with full sails carried upon Christ. And I hope\nto lose nothing in this furnace but dross; for Christ can triumph in a\nweaker man than I am, if there be any such. And when all is done, His\nlove paineth me, and leaveth me under such debt to Christ, as I can\nneither pay principal nor interest. Oh, if He would comprise myself,\nand if I were sold to Him as a bondman, and that He would take me home\nto His house and fireside; for I have nothing to render to Him! Then,\nafter me, let no man think hard of Christ's sweet cross; for I would\nnot exchange my sighs with the painted laughter of all my adversaries.\nI desire grace and patience to wait on, and to lie upon the brink,\ntill the water fill and flow. I know that He is fast coming.\n\n [271] Not willing to be heard disputing with such a fool.\n\nSir, ye will excuse my boldness: and, till it please God that I see\nyou, ye have the prayers of a prisoner of Christ; to whom I recommend\nyou, and in whom I rest.\n\n Yours, at all obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _May_ 14, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXII.--_To_ JOHN CLARK (_supposed to be one of his Parishioners at\nAnwoth_).\n\n(_MARKS OF DIFFERENCE BETWIXT CHRISTIANS AND REPROBATES._)\n\n\nLOVING BROTHER,--Hold fast Christ without wavering, and contend for\nthe faith, because Christ is not easily gotten nor kept. The lazy\nprofessor hath put heaven as it were at the very next door, and\nthinketh to fly up to heaven in his bed, and in a night-dream; but,\ntruly, that is not so easy a thing as most men believe. Christ Himself\ndid sweat ere He wan this city, howbeit He was the freeborn heir. It\nis Christianity, my Heart, to be sincere, unfeigned honest, and\nupright-hearted before God, and to live and serve God, suppose there\nwas not one man nor woman in all the world dwelling beside you, to\neye you. Any little grace that ye have, see that it be sound and true.\n\nYe may put a difference betwixt you and reprobates, if ye have these\nmarks:--1. If ye prize Christ and His truth so as ye will sell all and\nbuy Him; and suffer for it. 2. If the love of Christ keepeth you back\nfrom sinning, more than the law, or fear of hell. 3. If ye be humble,\nand deny your own will, wit, credit, ease, honour, the world, and the\nvanity and glory of it. 4. Your profession must not be barren, and\nvoid of good works. 5. Ye must in all things aim at God's honour; ye\nmust eat, drink, sleep, buy, sell, sit, stand, speak, pray, read, and\nhear the word, with a heart-purpose that God may be honoured. 6. Ye\nmust show yourself an enemy to sin, and reprove the works of darkness,\nsuch as drunkenness, swearing, and lying, albeit the company should\nhate you for so doing. 7. Keep in mind the truth of God, that ye heard\nme teach, and have nothing to do with the corruptions and new guises\nentered into the house of God. 8. Make conscience of your calling, in\ncovenants, in buying and selling. 9. Acquaint yourself with daily\npraying; commit all your ways and actions to God, by prayer,\nsupplication, and thanksgiving; and count not much of being mocked;\nfor Christ Jesus was mocked before you.\n\nPersuade yourself, that this is the way of peace and comfort which I\nnow suffer for. I dare go to death and into eternity with it, though\nmen may possibly see another way. Remember me in your prayers, and the\nstate of this oppressed church. Grace be with you.\n\n Your soul's well-wisher,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXIII.--_To CARDONESS, the Younger._ [Letter CXXIII.]\n\n(_WARNING AND ADVICE AS TO THINGS OF SALVATION._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--I long to hear whether or not your soul be\nhand-fasted with Christ. Lose your time no longer: flee the follies of\nyouth: gird up the loins of your mind, and make you ready for meeting\nthe Lord. I have often summoned you, and now I summon you again, to\ncompear before your Judge, to make a reckoning of your life. While ye\nhave time, look upon your papers, and consider your ways. Oh that\nthere were such an heart in you, as to think what an ill conscience\nwill be to you, when ye are upon the border of eternity, and your one\nfoot out of time! Oh then, ten thousand thousand floods of tears\ncannot extinguish these flames, or purchase to you one hour's release\nfrom that pain! Oh, how sweet a day have ye had! But this is a\nfair-day that runneth fast away. See how ye have spent it, and\nconsider the necessity of salvation! and tell me, in the fear of God,\nif ye have made it sure. I am persuaded that ye have a conscience that\nwill be speaking somewhat to you. Why will ye die, and destroy\nyourself? I charge you in Christ's name, to rouse up your conscience,\nand begin to indent and contract with Christ in time, while salvation\nis in your offer. This is the accepted time, this is the day of\nsalvation. Play the merchant; for ye cannot expect another market-day\nwhen this is done. Therefore, let me again beseech you to \"consider,\nin this your day, the things that belong to your peace, before they be\nhid from your eyes.\" Dear brother, fulfil my joy, and begin to seek\nthe Lord while He may be found. Forsake the follies of deceiving and\nvain youth: lay hold upon eternal life. Whoring, night-drinking, and\nthe misspending of the Sabbath, and neglecting of prayer in your\nhouse, and refusing of an offered salvation, will burn up your soul\nwith the terrors of the Almighty, when your awakened conscience shall\nflee in your face. Be kind and loving to your wife: make conscience of\ncherishing her, and not being rigidly austere. Sir, I have not a\ntongue to express the glory that is laid up for you in your Father's\nhouse, if ye reform your doings, and frame your heart to return to the\nLord. Ye know that this world is but a shadow, a short-living\ncreature, under the law of time. Within less than fifty years, when ye\nlook back to it, ye shall laugh at the evanishing vanities thereof, as\nfeathers flying in the air, and as the houses of sand within the\nsea-mark, which the children of men are building. Give up with\ncourting of this vain world: seek not the bastard's moveables, but the\nson's heritage in heaven. Take a trial of Christ. Look unto Him, and\nHis love will so change you, that ye shall be taken with Him, and\nnever choose to go from Him. I have experience of His sweetness, in\nthis house of my pilgrimage here. My Witness, who is above, knoweth\nthat I would not exchange my sighs and tears with the laughing of the\nFourteen Prelates.[272] There is nothing that will make you a\nChristian indeed, but a taste of the sweetness of Christ. \"Come and\nsee,\" will speak best to your soul. I would fain hope good of you. Be\nnot discouraged at broken and spilled resolutions; but to it, and to\nit again! Woo about Christ, till ye get your soul espoused as a chaste\nvirgin to Him. Use the means of profiting with your conscience; pray\nin your family, and read the word. Remember how our Lord's day was\nspent when I was among you. It will be a great challenge to you before\nGod, if ye forget the good that was done within the walls of your\nhouse on the Lord's day; and if ye turn aside after the fashions of\nthis world, and if ye go not in time to the kirk, to wait on the\npublic worship of God, and if ye tarry not at it, till all the\nexercises of religion be ended. Give God some of your time both\nmorning and evening, and afternoon; and in so doing, rejoice the heart\nof a poor oppressed prisoner. Rue upon your own soul, and from your\nheart fear the Lord.\n\n [272] The Bishops whom the King sought to thrust on Scotland.\n\nNow He that brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of His\nsheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, establish your heart with\nHis grace, and present you before His presence with joy.\n\n Your affectionate and loving pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXIV.--_To my_ LORD CRAIGHALL. [Letter LXXXVI.]\n\n(_IDOLATRY CONDEMNED._)\n\n\nMY LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I am not only content,\nbut I exceedingly rejoice, that I find any of the rulers of this land,\nand especially your Lordship so to affect Christ and His truth, as\nthat ye dare, for His name, come to yea and nay with monarchs in their\nface. I hope that He who hath enabled you for that, will give more, if\nye show yourself courageous, and (as His word speaketh), \"a man in the\nstreets,\" for the Lord (Jer. v. 1). But I pray your Lordship, give me\nleave to be plain with you, as one who loveth both your honour and\nyour soul. I verily believe that there was never idolatry at Rome,\nnever idolatry condemned in God's word by the prophets, if religious\nkneeling before a consecrated creature, standing in room of Christ\ncrucified, in that very act, and that for reverence of the elements\n(as our Act cleareth), be not idolatry.[273] Neither will your\n_intention_ help, which is not of the essence of worship; for then,\nAaron saying, \"To-morrow shall be a feast for Jehovah,\" that is, for\nthe golden calf, should not have been guilty of idolatry: for he\n_intended_ only to decline the lash of the people's fury, not to\nhonour the calf. Your intention to honour Christ is nothing, seeing\nthat religious kneeling, by God's institution, doth necessarily import\nreligious and divine adoration, suppose that our intention were both\ndead and sleeping; otherwise, kneeling before the image of God and\ndirecting prayer to God were lawful, if our intention go right. My\nLord, I cannot in these bounds dispute; but if Cambridge and Oxford,\nand the learning of Britain, will answer this argument, and the\nargument from active scandal, which your Lordship seemeth to stand\nupon, I will turn a formalist, and call myself an arrant fool (by\ndoing what I have done) in my suffering for this truth. I do much\nreverence Mr. L.'s[274] learning; but, my Lord, I will answer what he\nwriteth in that, to pervert you from the truth; else repute me, beside\nan hypocrite, an ass also. I hope ye shall see something upon that\nsubject (if the Lord permit), that no sophistry in Britain shall\nanswer. Courtiers' arguments, for the most part, are drawn from their\nown skin, and are not worth a straw for your conscience. A Marquis' or\na King's word, when ye stand before Christ's tribunal, shall be\nlighter than the wind. The Lord knoweth that I love your true honour,\nand the standing of your house; but I would not that your honour or\nhouse were established upon sand, and hay, and stubble.\n\n [273] See Letter XCII.\n\n [274] Probably Mr. Loudian. Letter LXXXVI., note.\n\nBut let me, my very dear and worthy Lord, most humbly beseech you, by\nthe mercies of God, by the consolations of His Spirit, by the dear\nblood and wounds of your lovely Redeemer, by the salvation of your\nsoul, by your compearance before the awful face of a sin-revenging and\ndreadful Judge, not to set in comparison together your soul's peace,\nChrist's love, and His kingly honour now called in question, with your\nplace, honour, house, or ease, that an inch of time will make out of\nthe way. I verily believe that Christ is now begging a testimony of\nyou, and is saying, \"And will ye also leave Me?\" It is possible that\nthe wind shall not blow so fair for you all your life, for coming out\nand appearing before others to back and countenance Christ, the\nfairest among the sons of men, the Prince of the kings of the earth.\n\"Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be afraid of their\nrevilings: for the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm\nshall eat them like wool\" (Isa. li. 7, 8). When the Lord will begin,\nHe will make an end, and mow down His adversaries; and they shall lie\nbefore Him like withered hay, and their bloom be shaken off them.\nConsider how many thousands in this kingdom ye shall cause to fall\nand stumble, if ye go with them; and that ye shall be out of the\nprayers of many who do now stand before the Lord for you and your\nhouse. And further; when the time of your accounts cometh, and your\none foot shall be within the border of eternity, and the eyestrings\nshall break, and the face wax pale, and the poor soul shall look out\nat the windows of the house of clay, longing to be out, and ye shall\nfind yourself arraigned before the Judge of quick and dead, to answer\nfor your putting to your hand, with the rest confederated against\nChrist, to the overturning of His ark, and the loosing of the pins of\nChrist's tabernacle in this land, and shall certainly see yourself\nmired in a course of apostasy--then, then, a king's favour and your\nworm-eaten honour shall be miserable comforters to you! The Lord hath\nenlightened you with the knowledge of His will; and as the Lord\nliveth, they lead you and others to a communion with great Babel, the\nmother of fornications. God said of old, and continueth to say the\nsame to you, \"Come out of her, My people, lest ye be partakers of her\nplagues.\" Will ye, then, go with them, and set your lip to the whore's\ngolden cup, and drink of the wine of the wrath of God Almighty with\nthem? Oh, poor hungry honour! Oh, cursed pleasure! and, oh, damnable\nease, bought with the loss of God! How many will pray for you! what a\nsweet presence shall ye find of Christ under your sufferings, if ye\nwill lay down your honours and place at the feet of Christ. What a\nfair recompense of reward! I avouch before the Lord that I am now\nshowing you a way how the house of Craighall may stand on sure\npillars. If ye will set it on rotten pillars, ye cruelly wrong your\nposterity. Ye have the word of a King for an hundred-fold more in this\nlife (if it be good for you), and for life everlasting also. Make not\nChrist a liar, in distrusting His promise. Kings of clay cannot back\nyou when you stand before Him. A straw for them and their hungry\nheaven, that standeth on this side of time! A fig for the day's-smile\nof a worm! Consider who have gone before you to eternity, and would\nhave given a world for a new occasion of avouching that truth. It is\ntrue they call it not substantial, and we are made a scorn to those\nthat are at ease, for suffering these things for it. But it is not\ntime to judge of our losses by the morning; stay till the evening, and\nwe will count with the best of them.\n\nI have found by experience, since the time of my imprisonment (my\nwitness is above), that Christ is sealing this honourable cause with\nanother and a nearer fellowship than ever I knew before; and let God\nweigh me in an even balance in this, if I would exchange the cross of\nChrist or His truth, with the fourteen prelacies, or what else a King\ncan give. My dear Lord, venture to take the wind on your face for\nChrist. I believe that if He should come from heaven in His own\nperson, and seek the charters of Craighall from you, and a demission\nof your place, and ye saw His face, ye would fall down at His feet and\nsay, \"Lord Jesus, it is too little for Thee.\" If any man think it not\na truth to die for, I am against him. I dare go to eternity with it,\nthat this day the honour of our Lawgiver and King, in the government\nof His own free kingdom (who should pay tribute to no dying king), is\nthe true \"state of the question.\"[275] My Lord, be ye upon Christ's\nside of it, and take the word of a poor prisoner (nay, the Lord Jesus\nbe surety for it), that ye have incomparably made the wisest choice.\nFor my own part, I have so been in this prison, that I would be\nhalf-ashamed to seek more till I be up at the Well-head. Few know in\nthis world the sweetness of Christ's breath, the excellency of His\nlove, which hath neither brim nor bottom. The world hath raised a\nslander upon the cross of Christ, because they love to go to heaven by\ndry land, and love not sea-storms. But I write it under my hand (and\nwould say more, if possibly a reader would not deem it hypocrisy),\nthat my obligation to Christ for the smell of His garments, for His\nlove-kisses these thirty weeks, standeth so great, that I should (and\nI desire also to choose to) suspend my salvation, to have many tongues\nloosed in my behalf to praise Him. And, suppose in person I never\nentered within the gates of the New Jerusalem, yet so being Christ may\nbe set on high, and I had the liberty to cast my love and praises for\never over the wall to Christ, I would be silent and content. But oh,\nHe is more than my narrow praises! O time, time, flee swiftly, that\nour communion with Jesus may be perfected!\n\n [275] \"_Status qu\u00e6stionis_,\" a phrase in logical works--the way of\n stating a matter to be discussed.\n\nI wish that your Lordship would urge Mr. L. to give his mind in the\nceremonies; and be pleased to let me see it as quickly as can be, and\nit shall be answered.\n\nTo His rich grace I recommend your Lordship, and shall remain,\n\n Yours, at all respectful obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _June 8, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXV.--_To_ JOHN LAURIE (_probably some one at a distance, like Lady\nRobertland in Stewarton_).\n\n(_CHRIST'S LOVE--A RIGHT ESTIMATE OF HIM--HIS GRACE._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--I am sorry that ye, or so many in this kingdom, should\nexpect so much of me, an empty reed. Verily I am a noughty[276] and\npoor body; but if the tinkling of the iron chains of my Lord Jesus on\nlegs and arms could sound the high praises of my royal King, whose\nprisoner I am, oh, how would my joy run over! If my Lord would bring\nedification to one soul by my bonds, I am satisfied. But I know not\nwhat I can do to such a princely and beautiful Well-beloved; He is far\nbehind with me.[277] Little thanks to me, to say to others that His\nwind bloweth on me, who am but withered and dry bones; but, since ye\ndesire me to write to you, either help me to set Christ on high, for\nHis running-over love, in that the heat of His sweet breath hath\nmelted a frozen heart; else I think that ye do nothing for a prisoner.\n\n [276] Worthless; good for nothing. It is, however, written \"naughty,\"\n evil, in old editions.\n\n [277] He has so fully paid me.\n\nI am fully confirmed, that it is the honour of our Lawgiver which I\nsuffer for now. I am not ashamed to give our letters of recommendation\nof Christ's love to as many as will extol the Lord Jesus and His\nCross. If I had not sailed this sea-way to heaven, but had taken the\nland-way, as many do, I should not have known Christ's sweetness in\nsuch a measure. But the truth is, let no man thank me, for I caused\nnot Christ's wind to blow upon me. His love came upon a withered\ncreature, whether I would or not; and yet by coming it procured from\nme a welcome. A heart of iron, and iron doors, will not hold Christ\nout. I give Him leave to break iron locks and come in, and that is\nall. And now I know not whether pain of love for want of possession,\nor sorrow that I dow not thank Him, paineth me the most; but both work\nupon me. For the first: oh that He would come and satisfy the longing\nsoul, and fill the hungry soul with these good things! I know indeed\nthat my guiltiness may be a bar in His way; but He is God, and ready\nto forgive. And for the other: woe, woe is me, that I cannot find a\nheart to give back again my unworthy little love for His great\nsea-full of love to me! Oh that He would learn me this piece of\ngratitude! Oh that I could have leave to look in through the hole of\nthe door, to see His face and sing His praises! or could break up one\nof His chamber-windows, to look in upon His delighting beauty, till my\nLord send more! Any little communion with Him, one of His love-looks,\nshould be my begun heaven. I know that He is not lordly, neither is\nthe Bridegroom's love proud, though I be black, and unlovely, and\nunworthy of Him. I would seek but leave, and withal grace, to spend my\nlove upon Him. I counsel you to think highly of Christ, and of free,\nfree grace, more than ye did before; for I know that Christ is not\nknown amongst us. I think that I see more of Christ than ever I saw;\nand yet I see but little of what may be seen. Oh that He would draw by\nthe curtains, and that the King would come out of His gallery and His\npalace, that I might see Him! Christ's love is young glory and young\nheaven; it would soften hell's pain to be filled with it. What would I\nrefuse to suffer, if I could get but a draught of love at my heart's\ndesire! Oh, what price can be given for Him. Angels cannot weigh Him.\nOh, His weight, His worth, His sweetness, His overpassing beauty! If\nmen and angels would come and look to that great and princely One,\ntheir ebbness could never take up His depth, their narrowness could\nnever comprehend His breadth, height, and length. If ten thousand\nthousand worlds of angels were created, they might all tire themselves\nin wondering at His beauty, and begin again to wonder of new. Oh that\nI could win nigh Him, to kiss His feet, to hear His voice, to feel the\nsmell of His ointments! But oh, alas! I have little, little of Him.\nYet I long for more.\n\nRemember my bonds, and help me with your prayers; for I would not\nniffer or exchange my sad hours with the joy of my velvet adversaries.\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours in His sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _June 10, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXVI.--_To_ CARLETON.\n\n(_A CHRISTIAN'S CONFESSION OF UNWORTHINESS--DESIRE FOR CHRIST'S\nHONOUR--PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND MUCH HONOURED,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I\nreceived your letter from my brother, to which I now answer\nparticularly.\n\nI confess two things of myself: _1st_, Woe, woe is me, that men should\nthink there is anything in me! He is my witness, before whom I am as\ncrystal, that the secret house-devils that bear me too often company,\nand that this sink of corruption which I find within, make me go with\nlow sails. And if others saw what I see, they would look by[278] me,\nbut not to me.\n\n [278] Look past me.\n\n_2ndly_, I know that this shower of His free grace behoved to be on\nme, otherwise I should have withered. I know, also, that I have need\nof a buffeting tempter, that grace may be put to exercise, and I kept\nlow.\n\nWorthy and dear brother in the Lord Jesus, I write that from my heart\nwhich ye now read. _1st_, I avouch that Christ, and sweating and\nsighing under His cross, is sweeter to me by far, than all the\nkingdoms in the world could possibly be. 2_ndly_, If you, and my\ndearest acquaintance in Christ, reap any fruit by my suffering, let me\nbe weighed in God's even balance, if my joy be not fulfilled. What am\nI, to carry the marks of such a great King! But, howbeit I am a sink\nand sinful mass, a wretched captive of sin, my Lord Jesus can hew\nheaven out of worse timber than I am; if worse can be. _3rdly_, I now\nrejoice with joy unspeakable and glorious, that I never purposed to\nbring Christ, or the least hoof or hair-breadth of truth, under\ntrysting.[279] I desired to have and keep Christ all alone; and that\nHe should never rub clothes with that black-skinned harlot of Rome. I\nam now fully paid home, so that nothing aileth me for the present, but\nlove-sickness for a real possession of my fairest Well-beloved. I\nwould give Him my bond under my faith and hand, to frist heaven an\nhundred years longer, so being He would lay His holy face to my\nsometimes wet cheeks. Oh, who would not pity me, to know how fain I\nwould have the King shaking the tree of life upon me, or letting me\ninto the well of life with my old dish, that I might be drunken with\nthe fountain here in the house of my pilgrimage! I cannot, nay, I\nwould not, be quit of Christ's love. He hath left the mark behind\nwhere He gripped. He goeth away and leaveth me and His burning love to\nwrestle together, and I can scarce win my meat of His love, because of\nHis absence. My Lord giveth me but hungry half-kisses, which serve to\nfeed pain and increase hunger, but do not satisfy my desires; His\ndieting of my soul for this race maketh me lean. I have gotten the\nwale and choice of Christ's crosses, even the tithe and the flower of\nthe gold of all crosses, to bear witness to the truth; and herein\nfind I liberty, joy, access, life, comfort, love, faith, submission,\npatience, and resolution to take delight in on-waiting. And withal, in\nmy race, He hath come near me, and let me see the gold and crown.\nWhat, then, want I but fruition and real enjoyment, which is reserved\nto my country?[280] Let no man think he shall lose at Christ's hands\nin suffering for Him. _4thly_, As for these present trials, they are\nmost dangerous; for people are stolen off their feet with well-washen\nand white-skinned pretences of indifferency. But it is the power of\nthe great antichrist working in this land. Woe, woe, woe be to\napostate Scotland! There is wrath, and a cup of the red wine of the\nwrath of God Almighty in the Lord's hand, that they shall drink and\nspue, and fall and not rise again. The star called \"Wormwood and gall\"\nis fallen into the fountains and rivers, and hath made them bitter.\nThe sword of the Lord is furbished against the idol-shepherds of the\nland. Women shall bless the barren womb and miscarrying breast; all\nhearts shall be faint, and all knees shall tremble. An end is coming;\nthe leopard and the lion shall watch over our cities; houses great and\nfair shall be desolate without an inhabitant. The Lord hath said,\n\"Pray not for this people, for I have taken My peace from them.\" Yet\nthe Lord's third part shall come through the fire, as refined gold for\nthe treasure of the Lord, and the outcasts of Scotland shall be\ngathered together again, and the wilderness shall blossom as the\nflower, and bud, and grow as the rose of Sharon; and great shall be\nthe glory of the Lord upon Scotland. _5thly_, I am here assaulted with\nthe learned and pregnant wits of this kingdom. But, all honour be to\nmy Lord, truth but laughs at bemisted and blind scribes, and disputers\nof this world; and God's wisdom confoundeth them, and Christ\ntriumpheth in His own strong truth, that speaketh for itself. _6thly_,\nI doubt not but my Lord is preparing me for heavier trials. I am most\nready at the good pleasure of my Lord, in the strength of His grace,\nfor anything He will be pleased to call me to; neither shall the\nblack-faced messenger, Death, be holden at the door, when it shall\nknock. If my Lord will take honour of the like of me, how glad and\njoyful will my soul be! Let Christ come out with me to a hotter battle\nthan this, and I will fear no flesh. I know that my Master shall win\nthe day, and that He hath taken the ordering of my sufferings into His\nown hand. _7thly_, As for my deliverance that miscarrieth; I am here,\nby my Lord's grace, to lay my hand on my mouth, to be silent, and wait\non. My Lord Jesus is on His journey for my deliverance; I will not\ngrudge that He runneth not so fast as I would have Him. On-waiting\ntill the swelling rivers fall, and till my Lord arise as a mighty man\nafter strong wine, will be my best. I have not yet resisted to blood.\n_8thly_, Oh, how often am I laid in the dust, and urged by the tempter\n(who can ride his own errands upon our lying apprehensions) to sin\nagainst the unchangeable love of my Lord! When I think upon the\nsparrows and swallows that build their nests in the kirk of Anwoth,\nand of my dumb Sabbaths, my sorrowful, bleared eyes look asquint upon\nChrist, and present Him as angry. But in this trial (all honour to our\nprincely and royal King!) faith saileth fair before the wind, with\ntopsail up, and carrieth the passenger through. I lay inhibitions upon\nmy thoughts, that they receive no slanders of my only, only Beloved.\nLet Him even say out of His own mouth, \"There is no hope;\" yet I will\ndie in that sweet beguile, \"It is not so, I shall see the salvation of\nGod.\" Let me be deceived really, and never win to dry land; it is my\njoy to believe under the water, and to die with faith in my hand,\ngripping Christ. Let my conceptions of Christ's love go to the grave\nwith me, and to hell with me; I may not, I dare not quit them. I hope\nto keep Christ's pawn: if He never come to loose it, let Him see to\nHis own promise. I know that presumption, howbeit it be made of\nstoutness, will not thus be wilful in heavy trials.\n\n [279] To bring under man's appointment the smallest part of Christ's\n truth.\n\n [280] Till I reach the heavenly country?\n\nNow my dearest in Christ, the great Messenger of the Covenant, the\nonly wise and all-sufficient Jehovah, establish you to the end. I hear\nthat the Lord hath been at your house, and hath called home your wife\nto her rest. I know, Sir, that ye see the Lord loosing the pins of\nyour tabernacle, and wooing your love from this plastered and\nover-gilded world, and calling upon you to be making yourself ready to\ngo to your Father's country, which shall be a sweet fruit of that\nvisitation. Ye know, \"to send the Comforter,\" was the King's word when\nHe ascended on high. Ye have claim to, and interest in, that promise.\n\nRemember my love in Christ to your father. Show him that it is late\nand black night with him. His long lying at the water-side is that he\nmay look his papers ere he take shipping, and be at a point for his\nlast answer before his Judge and Lord.\n\nAll love, all mercy, all grace and peace, all multiplied saving\nconsolations, all joy and faith in Christ, all stability and\nconfirming strength of grace, and the good-will of Him that dwelt in\nThe Bush, be with you.\n\n Your unworthy brother, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _June 15, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXVII.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_CHRIST SUFFERING IN HIS CHURCH--HIS COMING--OUTPOURINGS OF LOVE FROM\nHIM._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND DEAREST IN THE LORD,--I ever loved (since I knew you) that\nlittle vineyard of the Lord's planting in Galloway; but now much more,\nsince I have heard that He who hath His fire in Zion, and His furnace\nin Jerusalem, hath been pleased to set up a furnace amongst you with\nthe first in this kingdom. He who maketh old things new, seeing\nScotland an old, drossy, and rusted kirk, is beginning to make a new,\nclean bride of her, and to bring a young, chaste wife to Himself out\nof the fire. This fire shall be quenched, so soon as Christ has\nbrought a clean spouse through the fire! Therefore, my dearly beloved\nin the Lord, fear not a worm. \"Fear not, worm Jacob\" (Isa. xli. 15).\nChrist is in that plea, and shall win the plea. Charge an unbelieving\nheart, under the pain of treason against our great and royal King\nJesus, to dependence by faith, and quiet on-waiting on our Lord. Get\nyou into your chambers, and shut the doors about you. In, in with\nspeed to your stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. Ye doves, fly into\nChrist's windows till the indignation be over, and the storm be past.\nGlorify the Lord in your sufferings, and take His banner of love, and\nspread it over you. Others will follow you, if they see you strong in\nthe Lord. Their courage will take life from your Christian carriage.\nLook up and see who is coming! Lift up your head, He is coming to\nsave, in garments dyed in blood, and travelling in the greatness of\nHis strength. I laugh, I smile, I leap for joy, to see Christ coming\nto save you so quickly. Oh, such wide steps Christ taketh! Three or\nfour hills are but a step to Him; He skippeth over the mountains.\nChrist hath set a battle betwixt His poor weak saints and His enemies.\nHe waleth the weapons for both parties, and saith to the enemies,\n\"Take you a sword[281] of steel, law, authority, parliaments, and\nkings upon your side; that is your armour.\" And He saith to His\nsaints, \"I give you a feckless tree-sword in your hand, and that is\nsuffering, receiving of strokes, spoiling of your goods; and with your\ntree-sword ye shall get and gain the victory.\" Was not Christ dragged\nthrough the ditches of deep distresses and great straits? And yet\nChrist, who is your Head, hath won through with His life, howbeit not\nwith a whole skin. Ye are Christ's members, and He is drawing His\nmembers through the thorny hedge up to heaven after Him. Christ one\nday will not have so much as a pained toe. But there are great pieces\nand portions of Christ's mystical body not yet within the gates of the\ngreat high city, the New Jerusalem; and the dragon will strike at\nChrist, so long as there is one bit or member of Christ's body out of\nheaven. I tell you, Christ will make new work out of old, forcasten\nScotland, and gather the old broken boards of His tabernacle, and pin\nthem and nail them together. Our bills and supplications are up in\nheaven; Christ hath coffers full of them. There is mercy on the other\nside of this His cross; a good answer to all our bills is agreed upon.\n\n [281] In old editions, \"_word_;\" but the contrast, \"tree-sword\" (sword\n of _wood_, instead of _steel_), shows the true reading.\n\nI must tell you what lovely Jesus, fair Jesus, King Jesus hath done to\nmy soul. Sometimes He sendeth me out a standing drink,[282] and\nwhispereth a word through the wall; and I am well content of kindness\nat the second hand: His bode[283] is ever welcome to me, be what it\nwill. But at other times He will be messenger Himself, and I get the\ncup of salvation out of His own hand (He drinking to me), and we\ncannot rest till we be in other's arms. And oh, how sweet is a fresh\nkiss from His holy mouth! His breathing that goeth before a kiss upon\nmy poor soul is sweet, and hath no fault but that it is too short. I\nam careless, and stand not much on this, howbeit loins, and back, and\nshoulders, and head should rive in pieces in stepping up to my\nFather's house. I know that my Lord can make long, and broad, and\nhigh, and deep glory to His name, out of this bit feckless body; for\nChrist looketh not what stuff He maketh glory out of.\n\n [282] It is like the stirrup-cup.\n\n [283] Offer made in order to bargain.\n\nMy dearly beloved, ye have often refreshed me. But this is put up in\nmy Master's account; ye have Him debtor for me. But if ye will do\nanything for me (as I know ye will) now in my extremity, tell all my\ndear friends that a prisoner is fettered and chained in Christ's love\n(Lord, never loose the fetters!); and ye and they together take my\nheartiest commendations to my Lord Jesus, and thank Him for a poor\nfriend.\n\nI desire your husband to read this letter. I send him a prisoner's\nblessing. I will be obliged to him, if he will be willing to suffer\nfor my dear Master. Suffering is the professor's golden garment; there\nshall be no losses on Christ's side of it. Ye have been witnesses of\nmuch joy betwixt Christ and me at communion feasts, the remembrance\nwhereof (howbeit I be feasted in secret) holeth my heart; for I am put\nfrom the board-head and the King's first mess to His by-board. And His\nbroken meat is sweet unto me; I thank my Lord for borrowed crumbs, no\nless than when I feasted at the communion table at Anwoth and\nKirkcudbright. Pray that I may get one day of Christ in public, such\nas I have had long since, before my eyes be closed. Oh that my Master\nwould take up house again, and lend me the keys of His wine-cellar\nagain, and God send me borrowed drink till then!\n\nRemember my love to Christ's kinsmen with you. I pray for Christ's\nFather's blessing to them all. Grace be with you; a prisoner's\nblessing be with you. I write it and abide by it, God will be glorious\nin Marion M'Naught, when this stormy blast shall be over. O woman\nbeloved of God, believe, rejoice, be strong in the Lord! Grace is thy\nportion.\n\n Your brother, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _June 15, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXVIII.--_To_ LADY CULROSS. [Letter LXXIV.]\n\n(_CHRIST'S MANAGEMENT OF TRIALS--WHAT FAITH CAN DO--CHRIST NOT\nEXPERIENCE--PRAYERS._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I dare not say that I\nwonder that ye have never written to me in my bonds, because I am not\nignorant of the cause; yet I could not but write to you.\n\nI know not whether joy or heaviness in my soul carrieth it away.\nSorrow, without any mixture of sweetness, hath not often love-thoughts\nof Christ; but I see that the devil can insinuate himself, and ride\nhis errands upon the thoughts of a poor distressed prisoner. I am\nwoe[284] that I am making Christ my unfriend, by seeking pleas against\nHim, because I am the first in the kingdom put to utter silence, and\nbecause I cannot preach my Lord's righteousness in the great\ncongregation. I am, notwithstanding, the less solicitous how it go,\nif there be not wrath in my cup. But I know that I but claw my wounds\nwhen my Physician hath forbidden me. I would believe in the dark upon\nluck's head, and take my hazard of Christ's good-will, and rest on\nthis, that in my fever my Physician is at my bedside, and that He\nsympathizeth with me when I sigh. My borrowed house, and another man's\nbed and fireside, and other losses, have no room in my sorrow; a\ngreater heat to eat out a less fire, is a good remedy for some\nburning. I believe that when Christ draweth blood, He hath skill to\ncut the right vein; and that He hath taken the whole ordering and\ndisposing of my sufferings. Let Him tutor me, and tutor my crosses, as\nHe thinketh good. There is no danger nor hazard in following such a\nguide, howbeit He should lead me through hell, if I could put faith\nforemost, and fill the field with a quiet on-waiting, and believing to\nsee the salvation of God. I know that Christ is not obliged to let me\nsee both the sides of my cross, and turn it over and over that I may\nsee all. My faith is richer to live upon credit, and Christ's borrowed\nmoney, than to have much on hand. Alas! I have forgotten that faith in\ntimes past hath stopped a leak in my crazed bark, and half filled my\nsails with a fair wind. I see it a work of God that experiences are\nall lost, when summons of improbation, to prove our charters of Christ\nto be counterfeits, are raised against poor souls in their heavy\ntrials.\n\n [284] Sad.\n\nBut let me be a sinner, and worse than the chief of sinners, yea, a\nguilty devil, I am sure that my Well-beloved is God. And when I say\nthat Christ is God, and that my Christ is God, I have said all things,\nI can say no more. I would that I could build as much on this, \"My\nChrist is God,\" as it would bear. I might lay all the world upon it. I\nam sure, that Christ untried, and untaken-up in the power of His love,\nkindness, mercies, goodness, wisdom, long-suffering, and greatness, is\nthe rock that dim-sighted travellers dash their foot against, and so\nstumble fearfully. But my wounds are sorest, and pain me most, when I\nsin against His love and mercy. And if He would set me and my\nconscience by the ears together, and resolve not to red the plea, but\nlet us deal it betwixt us, my spitting upon the fair face of Christ's\nlove and mercies by my jealousies, unbelief, and doubting, would be\nenough to sink me. Oh, oh, I am convinced! O Lord, I stand dumb before\nThee for this! Let me be mine own judge in this, and I take a dreadful\ndoom upon me for it. For I still misbelieve, though I have seen that\nmy Lord hath made my cross as if it were all crystal, so as I can see\nthrough it Christ's fair face and heaven; and that God hath honoured a\nlump of sinful flesh and blood the like of me, to be Christ's\nhonourable lord-prisoner. I ought to esteem the walls of the thieves'\nhole (if I were shut up in it), or any stinking dungeon, all hung with\ntapestry, and most beautiful, for my Lord Jesus; and yet, I am not so\nshut up but that the sun shineth upon my prison, and the fair wide\nheaven is the covering of it. But my Lord, in His sweet visits, hath\ndone more; for He maketh me to find that He will be a confined\nprisoner with me. He lieth down and riseth up with me; when I sigh, He\nsigheth; when I weep, He suffereth with me; and I confess that here is\nthe blessed issue of my sufferings already begun, that my heart is\nfilled with hunger and desire to have Him glorified in my sufferings.\n\nBlessed be ye of the Lord, Madam, if ye would help a poor dyvour, and\ncause others of your acquaintance in Christ to help me to pay my debt\nof love, even real praises to Christ my Lord. Madam, let me charge you\nin the Lord, as ye shall answer to Him, to help me in this duty (which\nHe hath tied about my neck with a chain of such singular expressions\nof His loving-kindness), to set on high Christ; to hold in my honesty\nat His hands[285]; for I have nothing to give to Him. Oh that He would\narrest and comprise my love and my heart for all! I am a dyvour, who\nhave no more free goods in the world for Christ save that; it is both\nthe whole heritage I have, and all my moveables besides. Lord, give\nthe thirsty man a drink. Oh, to be over the ears in the well! Oh, to\nbe swattering and swimming over head and ears in Christ's love! I\nwould not have Christ's love entering into me, but I would enter into\nit, and be swallowed up of that love. But I see not myself here; for I\nfear I make more of His love than of Himself; whereas Himself is far\nbeyond and much better than His love. Oh, if I had my sinful arms\nfilled with that lovely one Christ! Blessed be my rich Lord Jesus, who\nsendeth not away beggars from His house with a toom dish. He filleth\nthe vessels of such as will come and seek. We might beg ourselves rich\n(if we were wise) if we could hold out our withered hands to Christ,\nand learn to suit and seek, ask and knock. I owe my salvation for\nChrist's glory, I owe it to Christ; and desire that my hell, yea, a\nnew hell, seven times hotter than the old hell, might buy praises\nbefore men and angels to my Lord Jesus; providing always that I were\nfree of Christ's hatred and displeasure. What am I, to be forfeited\nand sold in soul and body, to have my great and royal King set on high\nand extolled above all? Oh, if I knew how high to have Him set, and\nall the world far, far beneath the soles of His feet? Nay, I deserve\nnot to be the matter of His praises, far less to be an agent in\npraising of Him. But He can win His own glory out of me, and out of\nworse than I (if any such be), if it please His holy majesty so to do.\nHe knoweth that I am not now flattering Him.\n\n [285] To keep up my character with Him.\n\nMadam, let me have your prayers, as ye have the prayers and blessing\nof him that is separated from his brethren. Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Your own, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _June 15, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXIX.--_To his reverend and loving Brother_, MR. JOHN NEVAY.\n\n [MR. JOHN NEVAY, or NEAVE, was minister of Newmills, in the\n parish of Loudon, and chaplain to the Earl of Loudon. In all the\n questions which divided the Covenanters in his day, he adhered to\n what may be called the strict party, being opposed to the Public\n Resolutions. After the restoration of Charles II., Nevay, in\n 1662, was obliged to subscribe an engagement to remove forth of\n the king's dominions before the 1st of February, and not to\n return under pain of death. He reached Holland, and lived for\n some time in Rotterdam. On the 26th of July 1670, a letter of\n Charles II. was laid before the assembled States of Holland,\n accusing Nevay and other two ministers, Mr. Robert Trail and Mr.\n Robert M'Ward (who was secretary to Rutherford at the Westminster\n Assembly, and who first edited his \"Letters\"), all residing\n within the jurisdiction of the States, of writing and publishing\n _pasquils_ against his Majesty's Government. However, it would\n appear that he still continued at Rotterdam, and died there.\n Wodrow describes him as \"a person of very considerable parts, and\n bright piety.\" Robert M'Ward, in 1677, thus writes: \"Oh! when I\n remember that burning and shining light, worthy and warm Mr.\n Livingstone, who used to preach as within the sight of Christ,\n and the glory to be revealed; _acute and distinct Nevay_;\n judicious and neat Simson; fervent, serious, and zealous\n Trail;--when I remember, I say, that all these great luminaries\n are now set and removed by death from our people, and out of our\n pulpit, in so short a time, what matter of sorrow presents itself\n to my eye!\" Nevay cultivated the art of poetry, and is the author\n of a paraphrase (called by Wodrow \"a handsome paraphrase\") of the\n Song of Solomon in Latin verse. The General Assembly entertained\n so high an opinion of his poetical talents, that they appointed\n him, in August 1647, along with three other ministers, to revise\n Rons' metrical version of the Psalms. The portion assigned to him\n for revisal was the last thirty psalms of that version. After his\n death, a volume of sermons, preached by him on \"the Covenant of\n Grace,\" was published at Glasgow in 1748, 12mo. His son married\n Sarah Van Brakel, whose poetical compositions are favourably\n exhibited in her elegy upon a popular preacher, and who was a\n kind friend to the British refugees.]\n\n(_CHRIST'S LOVE SHARPENED IN SUFFERING--KNEELING AT THE\nCOMMUNION--POSTURES AT ORDINANCES._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I\nreceived yours of April 11, as I did another of March 25, and a letter\nfor Mr. Andrew Cant.[286]\n\n [286] Mr. Andrew Cant was at this time minister of Pitsligo, in\n Buchan, Aberdeenshire. He had been previously minister of Alford. In\n 1639 he was removed from Pitsligo to Newbottle, and in 1640 to the New\n Town of Aberdeen, where he became Professor of Theology in Marischal\n College. In this situation he continued till the year after the\n restoration of Charles II. Rutherford's \"Lex Rex\" having then, by the\n orders of the State, been publicly burnt, and the author himself\n summoned before Parliament to answer an accusation of high treason,\n Cant, indignant at such ungenerous treatment of a great and good man,\n condemned it in one of his sermons. For this he was accused of treason\n before the magistrates. Whereupon he demitted his charge, and came to\n dwell with his son at Liberton. In 1663 he was formally deposed by the\n Bishop and Synod of Aberdeen, and died not long after, aged\n seventy-nine. He is the author of a treatise on \"The Titles of our\n Blessed Saviour.\"\n\nI am not a little grieved that our mother church is running so quickly\nto the brothel-house, and that we are hiring lovers, and giving gifts\nto the Great Mother of Fornications (Rev. xvii. 5). Alas, that our\nHusband is like to quit us so shortly! It were my part (if I were\nable) when our Husband is departing, to stir up myself to take hold of\nHim, and keep Him in this land; for I know Him to be a sweet\nsecond,[287] and a lovely companion to a poor prisoner.\n\n [287] Helper.\n\nI find that my extremity hath sharpened the edge of His love and\nkindness, so that He seemeth to divise new ways of expressing the\nsweetness of His love to my soul. Suffering for Christ is the very\nelement wherein Christ's love liveth, and exerciseth itself, in\ncasting out flames of fire, and sparks of heat, to warm such a frozen\nheart as I have. And if Christ weeping in sackcloth be so sweet, I\ncannot find any imaginable thoughts to think what He will be, when we\nclay-bodies (having put off mortality) shall come up to the\nmarriage-hall and great palace, and behold the King clothed in his\nrobes royal, sitting on His throne. I would desire no more for my\nheaven beneath the moon, while I am sighing in this house of clay, but\ndaily renewed feasts of love with Christ, and liberty now and then to\nfeed my hunger with a kiss of that fairest face, that is like the sun\nin his strength at noon-day. I would willingly subscribe an ample\nresignation to Christ of the fourteen prelacies of this land, and of\nall the most delightful pleasures on earth, and forfeit my part of\nthis clay god, this earth, which Adam's foolish children worship, to\nhave no other exercise than to lie on a love-bed with Christ, and fill\nthis hungered and famished soul with kissing, embracing, and real\nenjoying of the Son of God; and I think that then I might write to my\nfriends, that I had found the Golden World, and look out and laugh at\nthe poor bodies who are slaying one another for feathers. For verily,\nbrother, since I came to this prison, I have conceived a new and\nextraordinary opinion of Christ which I had not before. For, I\nperceive, we frist all our joys to Christ till He and we be in our own\nhouse above, as married parties, thinking that there is nothing of it\nhere to be sought or found, but only hope and fair promises; and that\nChrist will give us nothing here but tears, sadness, and crosses; and\nthat we shall never feel the smell of the flowers of that high garden\nof paradise above, till we come there. Nay, but I find that it is\npossible to find young glory, and a young green paradise of joy, even\nhere. I know that Christ's kisses will cast a more strong and\nrefreshful smell of incomparable glory and joy in heaven than they do\nhere; because a drink of the well of life, up at the well's head, is\nmore sweet and fresh by far than that which we get in our borrowed,\nold, running-out vessels, and our wooden dishes here. Yet I am now\npersuaded it is our folly to frist all till the term-day, seeing\nabundance of earnest will not diminish anything of our principal sum.\nWe dream of hunger in Christ's house while we are here, although He\nalloweth feasts to all the bairns within God's household. It were\ngood, then, to store ourselves with more borrowed kisses of Christ,\nand with more borrowed visits, till we enter heirs to our new\ninheritance, and our Tutor put us in possession of our own when we are\npast minority. Oh that all the young heirs would seek more, and a\ngreater, and a nearer communion with my Lord Tutor, the prime heir of\nall, Christ! I wish that, for my part, I could send you, and that\ngentleman who wrote his commendations to me, into the King's innermost\ncellar and house of wine, to be filled with love. A drink of this love\nis worth the having indeed. We carry ourselves but too nicely with\nChrist our Lord; and our Lord loveth not niceness, and dryness, and\nunconess in friends. Since needforce that we must be in Christ's\ncommon, then let us be in His common; for it will be no otherwise.\n\nNow, for my present case in my imprisonment: deliverance (for any\nappearance that I see) looketh cold-like. My hope, if it looked to or\nleaned upon men, would wither soon at the root, like a May flower. Yet\nI resolve to ease myself with on-waiting on my Lord, and to let my\nfaith swim where it loseth ground. I am under a necessity either of\nfainting (which I hope my Master, of whom I boast all the day, will\navert), or then to lay my faith upon Omnipotency, and to wink and\nstick by my grip. And I hope that my ship shall ride it out, seeing\nChrist is willing to blow His sweet wind in my sails, and mendeth and\ncloseth the leaks in my ship, and ruleth all. It will be strange if a\nbelieving passenger be casten overboard.\n\nAs for your master, my lord and my lady,[288] I shall be loath to\nforget them. I think my prayers (such as they are) are debt due to\nhim; and I shall be far more engaged to his Lordship, if he be fast\nfor Christ (as I hope he will) now when so many of his coat and\nquality slip from Christ's back, and leave Him to fend for Himself.\n\n [288] John Campbell, first Earl of Loudon, and his lady, Margaret\n Campbell, Baroness of Loudon, daughter of George Campbell, master of\n Loudon.\n\nI entreat you to remember my love to that worthy gentleman, A. C., who\nsaluted me in your letter: I have heard that he is one of my Master's\nfriends, for the which cause I am tied to him. I wish that he may more\nand more fall in love with Christ.\n\nNow for your question:--As far as I rawly conceive, I think that God\nis praised two ways: _1st_. By a _concional_[289] profession of His\nhighness before men, such as is the very hearing of the word, and\nreceiving of either of the sacraments; in which acts by profession, we\ngive out to men, that He is our God with whom we are in covenant, and\nour Lawgiver. Thus eating and drinking in the Lord's Supper, is an\nannunciation and profession before men, that Christ is our slain\nRedeemer. Here, because God speaketh to us, not we to Him, it is not a\nformal thanksgiving, but an annunciation or predication of Christ's\ndeath--_concional_, not _adorative_--neither hath it God for the\nimmediate object, and therefore no kneeling can be here.\n\n [289] An act in which we address men, not God.\n\n_2ndly._ There is another praising of God, _formal_, when we are\neither formally blessing God, or speaking His praises. And this I take\nto be twofold:--1. When we directly and formally direct praises and\nthanksgiving to God. This may well be done kneeling, in token of our\nrecognizance of His Highness; yet not so but that it may be done\nstanding or sitting, especially seeing joyful elevation (which should\nbe in praising) is not formally signified by kneeling. 2. When we\nspeak good of God, and declare His glorious nature and attributes,\nextolling Him before men, to excite men to conceive highly of Him. The\nformer I hold to be worship every way immediate, else I know not any\nimmediate worship at all; the latter hath God for the subject, not\nproperly the object, seeing the predication is directed to men\nimmediately, rather than to God; for here we speak _of_ God by way of\npraising, rather than _to_ God. And, for my own part, as I am for the\npresent minded, I see not how this can be done kneeling, seeing it is\n_pr\u00e6dicatio Dei et Christi, non laudatio aut benedictio Dei_. [A\npreaching of God and Christ, and not a praising or blessing of God.]\nBut observe, that it is formal praising of God, and not merely\nconcional, as I distinguished in the first member; for, in the first\nmember, any speaking of God, or of His works of creation, providence,\nand redemption, is indirect and concional praising of Him, and\nformally preaching, or an act of teaching, not an act of predication\nof His praises. For there is a difference betwixt the simple relation\nof the virtues of a thing (which is formally teaching), and the\nextolling of the worth of a thing by way of commendation, to cause\nothers to praise with us.\n\nThus recommending you to God's grace,[290] I rest, yours, in his sweet\nLord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _June 15, 1637_.\n\n [290] In some editions it is \"sweet grace;\" but not so in the\n earliest.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXX.--_To the much Honoured JOHN GORDON of Cardoness, the Elder._\n\n(_LONGINGS FOR THOSE UNDER HIS FORMER MINISTRY--DELIGHT IN CHRIST AND\nHIS APPEARING--PLEADING WITH HIS FLOCK._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND DEAREST IN MY LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou. My soul longeth exceedingly to hear how matters go betwixt you\nand Christ; and whether or not there be any work of Christ in that\nparish, that will bide the trial of fire and water. Let me be weighed\nof my Lord in a just balance, if your souls lie not weighty upon me.\nYe go to bed and ye rise with me: thoughts of your soul, my dearest in\nour Lord, depart not from me in my sleep. Ye have a great part of my\ntears, sighs, supplications, and prayers. Oh, if I could buy your\nsoul's salvation with any suffering whatsoever, and that ye and I\nmight meet with joy up in the rainbow, when we shall stand before our\nJudge! Oh, my Lord, forbid that I have any hard thing to depone\nagainst you in that day! Oh that He who quickeneth the dead would give\nlife to my sowing among you! What joy is there (next to Christ) that\nstandeth on this side of death, which would comfort me more, than that\nthe souls of that poor people were in safety, and beyond all hazard of\nbeing lost!\n\nSir, show the people this; for when I write to you, I think I write to\nyou all, old and young. Fulfil my joy, and seek the Lord. Sure I am,\nthat once I discovered my lovely, royal, princely Lord Jesus to you\nall. Woe, woe, woe shall be your part of it for evermore, if the\nGospel be not the savour of life to you. As many sermons as I\npreached, as many sentences as I uttered, as many points of dittay\nshall there be, when the Lord shall plead with the world, for the evil\nof their doings. Believe me, I find heaven a city hard to be won. \"The\nrighteous shall scarcely be saved.\" Oh, what violence of thronging\nwill heaven take! Alas! I see many deceiving themselves; for we\nwill[291] all to heaven now! Every foul dog, with his foul feet, will\nin at the nearest, to the new and clean Jerusalem. All say they have\nfaith; and the greatest part in the world know not, and will not\nconsider, that a slip in the matter of their salvation is the most\npitiable slip that can be; and that no loss is comparable to this\nloss. Oh, then, see that there be not a loose pin in the work of your\nsalvation; for ye will not believe how quickly the Judge will come.\nAnd for yourself, I know that death is waiting, and hovering, and\nlingering at God's command. That ye may be prepared, then, ye had need\nto stir your time, and to take eternity and death to your riper\nadvisement. A wrong step, or a wrong stot, in going out of this life,\nin one property is like the sin against the Holy Ghost, and can never\nbe forgiven, because ye cannot come back again through the last water\nto mourn for it. I know your accounts are many, and will take telling\nand laying, and reckoning betwixt you and your Lord. Fit your\naccounts, and order them. Lose not the last play, whatever ye do, for\nin that play with death your precious soul is the prize: for the\nLord's sake spill not the play, and lose not such a treasure. Ye know\nthat, out of love which I had to your soul, and out of desire which I\nhad to make an honest account of you, I testified my displeasure and\ndisliking of your ways very often, both in private and public. I am\nnot now a witness of your doings, but your Judge is always your\nwitness. I beseech you by the mercies of God, by the salvation of your\nsoul, by your comfort when your eye-strings shall break, and the face\nwax pale, and the soul shall tremble to be out of the lodging of clay,\nand by your compearance before your awful Judge, after the sight of\nthis letter to take a new course with your ways, and now, in the end\nof your day, make sure of heaven. Examine yourself if ye be in good\nearnest in Christ; for some are partakers of the Holy Ghost, and taste\nof the good word of God, and of the powers of the life to come, and\nyet have no part in Christ at all. Many think they believe, but never\ntremble: the devils are farther on than these (James ii. 19). Make\nsure to yourself that ye are above ordinary professors. The sixth part\nof your span-length and hand-breadth of days is scarcely before you.\nHaste, haste, for the tide will not bide. Put Christ upon all your\naccounts and your secrets. Better it is that you give Him your\naccounts in this life, out of your own hand, than that, after this\nlife, He take them from you. I never knew so well what sin was as\nsince I came to Aberdeen, howbeit I was preaching of it to you. To\nfeel the smoke of hell's fire in the throat for half an hour; to stand\nbeside a river of fire and brimstone broader than the earth; and to\nthink to be bound hand and foot, and casten into the midst of it\nquick, and then to have God locking the prison door, never to be\nopened for all eternity! Oh how it will shake a conscience that hath\nany life in it! I find the fruits of my pains to have Christ and that\npeople once fairly met, now meet my soul in my sad hours. And I\nrejoice that I gave fair warning of all the corruptions now entering\ninto Christ's house; and now many a sweet, sweet, soft kiss, many\nperfumed, well-smelled kisses, and embracements have I received of my\nroyal Master. He and I have had much love together. I have for the\npresent a sick dwining life, with much pain, and much love-sickness\nfor Christ. Oh, what would I give to have a bed made to my wearied\nsoul in His bosom! I would frist heaven for many years, to have my\nfill of Jesus in this life, and to have occasion to offer Christ to my\npeople, and to woo many people to Christ. I cannot tell you what sweet\npain and delightsome torments are in Christ's love; I often challenge\ntime, that holdeth us sundry. I profess to you, I have no rest, I have\nno ease, whill I be over head and ears in love's ocean. If Christ's\nlove (that fountain of delight) were laid as open to me as I would\nwish, oh, how I would drink, and drink abundantly! oh, how drunken\nwould this my soul be! I half call His absence cruel; and the mask and\nvail on Christ's face a cruel covering, that hideth such a fair, fair\nface from a sick soul. I dare not challenge Himself, but His absence\nis a mountain of iron upon my heavy heart. Oh, when shall we meet? Oh,\nhow long it is to the dawning of the marriage-day! O sweet Lord Jesus,\ntake wide steps! O my Lord, come over mountains at one stride! O my\nBeloved, be like a roe or a young hart on the mountains of Separation\n(Song ii. 17). Oh, if He would fold the heavens together like an old\ncloak, and shovel time and days out of the way, and make ready in\nhaste the Lamb's wife for her Husband! Since He looked upon me, my\nheart is not mine own; He hath run away to heaven with it. I know that\nit was not for nothing that I spake so meikle good of Christ to you in\npublic. Oh, if the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, were paper, and\nthe sea ink, and the multitude of mountains pens of brass, and I able\nto write that paper, within and without, full of the praises of my\nfairest, my dearest, my loveliest, my sweetest, my matchless, and my\nmost marrowless and marvellous Well-beloved! Woe is me, I cannot set\nHim out to men and angels! Oh, there are few tongues to sing\nlove-songs of His incomparable excellence! What can I, poor prisoner,\ndo to exalt Him? or what course can I take to extol my lofty and\nlovely Lord Jesus? I am put to my wits' end, how to get His name made\ngreat. Blessed they who would help me in this! How sweet are Christ's\nback parts? Oh, what then is His face? Those that see His face, how\ndow they get their eye plucked off Him again! Look up to Him and love\nHim. Oh, love and live! It were life to me if you would read this\nletter to that people, and if they did profit by it. Oh, if I could\ncause them to die of love for Jesus! Charge them, by the salvation of\ntheir souls, to hang about Christ's neck, and take their fill of His\nlove, and follow Him as I taught them. Part by no means with Christ.\nHold fast what ye have received. Keep the truth once delivered. If ye\nor that people quit it in an hair, or in a hoof, ye break your\nconscience in twain; and who then can mend it, and cast a knot on it?\nMy dearest in the Lord, stand fast in Christ; keep the faith; contend\nfor Christ. Wrestle for Him, and take men's feud for God's favour;\nthere is no comparison betwixt these. Oh that the Lord would fulfil my\njoy, and keep the young bride that is at Anwoth to Christ!\n\n [291] Insist on being admitted to.\n\nAnd now, whoever they be that have returned to the old vomit since my\ndeparture, I bind upon their back, in my Master's name and authority,\nthe long-lasting, weighty vengeance and curse of God. In my Lord's\nname I give them a doom of black, unmixed, pure wrath, which my\nMaster will ratify and make good, when we stand together before Him,\nexcept they timeously repent and turn to the Lord. And I write to\nthee, poor mourning and broken-hearted believer, be thou who thou\nwilt, of the free salvation, Christ's sweet balm for thy wounds, O\npoor, humble believer! Christ's kisses for thy watery cheeks! Christ's\nblood of atonement for thy guilty soul! Christ's heaven for thy poor\nsoul, though once banished out of paradise! And my Master will make\ngood my word ere long. Oh that people were wise! Oh that people were\nwise! Oh that people would speer out Christ, and never rest whill they\nfind Him. Oh, how my soul will mourn in secret, if my nine years'\npained head, and sore breast, and pained back, and grieved heart, and\nprivate and public prayers to God, will all be for nothing among that\npeople! Did my Lord Jesus send me but to summon you before your Judge,\nand to leave your summons at your houses? Was I sent as a witness only\nto gather your dittays? Oh, may God forbid! Often did I tell you of a\nfan of God's word[292] to come among you, for the contempt of it. I\ntold you often of wrath, wrath from the Lord, to come upon Scotland;\nand yet I bide by my Master's word. It is quickly coming! desolation\nfor Scotland, because of the quarrel of a broken covenant.\n\n [292] Perhaps this should be _wind_, not \"_word_;\" alluding to Jer.\n iv. 12.\n\nNow, worthy Sir, now my dear people, my joy, and my crown in the Lord,\nlet Him be your fear. Seek the Lord, and His face: save your souls.\nDoves! flee to Christ's windows. Pray for me, and praise for me. The\nblessing of my God, the prayers and blessing of a poor prisoner, and\nyour lawful pastor, be upon you.\n\n Your lawful and loving pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _June 16, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXI.--_To_ EARLSTON, _the Younger_.\n\n(_DANGERS OF YOUTH--CHRIST THE BEST PHYSICIAN--FOUR REMEDIES AGAINST\nDOUBTING--BREATHINGS AFTER CHRIST'S HONOUR._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND WELL-BELOVED IN THE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace\nbe to you. Your letters give a dash to my laziness in writing.\n\nI must first tell you, that there is not such a glassy, icy, and\nslippery piece of way betwixt you and heaven, as Youth; and I have\nexperience to say with me here, and to seal what I assert. The old\nashes of the sins of my youth are new fire of sorrow to me. I have\nseen the devil, as it were, dead and buried, and yet rise again, and\nbe a worse devil than ever he was; therefore, my brother, beware of a\ngreen young devil, that hath never been buried. The devil in his\nflowers (I mean the hot, fiery lusts and passions of youth) is much to\nbe feared: better yoke with an old grey-haired, withered, dry devil.\nFor in youth he findeth dry sticks, and dry coals, and a hot\nhearth-stone; and how soon can he with his flint cast fire, and with\nhis bellows blow it up, and fire the house! Sanctified thoughts,\nthoughts made conscience of, and called in, and kept in awe, are green\nfuel that burn not, and are a water for Satan's coal. Yet I must tell\nyou, that the whole saints now triumphant in heaven, and standing\nbefore the throne, are nothing but Christ's forlorn and beggarly\ndyvours. What are they but a pack of redeemed sinners? But their\nredemption is not only past the seals, but completed; and yours is on\nthe wheels, and in doing.\n\nAll Christ's good bairns go to heaven with a broken brow, and with a\ncrooked leg. Christ hath an advantage of you, and I pray you to let\nHim have it; He will find employment for His calling in you. If it\nwere not with you as ye write, grace should find no sale nor market in\nyou; but ye must be content to give Christ somewhat to do. I am glad\nthat He is employed that way. Let your bleeding soul and your sores be\nput in the hand of this expert Physician; let young and strong\ncorruptions and His free grace be yoked together, and let Christ and\nyour sins deal it betwixt them. I shall be loath to put you off your\nfears, and your sense of deadness: I wish it were more. There be some\nwounds of that nature, that their bleeding should not be soon stopped.\nYe must take a house beside the Physician. It will be a miracle if ye\nbe the first sick man whom He put away uncured, and worse than He\nfound you. Nay, nay, Christ is honest, and in that is flyting-free\nwith sinners. \"Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out\"\n(John vi. 37). Take ye that. It cannot be presumption to take that as\nyour own, when you find that your wounds stound you. Presumption is\never whole at the heart, and hath but the truant sickness, and\ngroaneth only for the fashion. Faith hath sense of sickness, and\nlooketh, like a friend, to the promises; and, looking to Christ\ntherein, is glad to see a known face. Christ is as full a feast as ye\ncan have to hunger. Nay, Christ, I say, is not a full man's leavings.\nHis mercy sendeth always a letter of defiance to all your sins, if\nthere were ten thousand more of them.\n\nI grant you that it is a hard matter for a poor hungry man to win his\nmeat upon hidden Christ: for then the key of His pantry-door, and of\nthe house of wine, is a-seeking and cannot be had. But hunger must\nbreak through iron locks. I bemoan them not who can make a din, and\nall the fields ado, for a lost Saviour. Ye must let Him hear it (to\nsay so) upon both sides of His head, when He hideth Himself; it is no\ntime then to be bird-mouthed and patient. Christ is rare indeed, and a\ndelicacy to a sinner. He is a miracle, and a world's wonder, to a\nseeking and a weeping sinner; but yet such a miracle as shall be seen\nby them who will come and see. The seeker and sigher, is at last a\nsinger and enjoyer; nay, I have seen a dumb man get alms from Christ.\nHe that can tell his tale, and send such a letter to heaven as he hath\nsent to Aberdeen, it is very like he will come speed with Christ. It\nbodeth God's mercy to complain heartily for sin. Let wrestling be with\nChrist till He say, \"How is it, sir, that I cannot be quit of your\nbills, and your misleared cries?\" and then hope for Christ's blessing;\nand His blessing is better than ten other blessings. Think not shame\nbecause of your guiltiness; necessity must not blush to beg. It\nstandeth you hard to want Christ; and, therefore, that which idle\non-waiting cannot do, misnurtured crying and knocking will do.\n\nAnd for doubtings, because you are not as you were long since with\nyour Master: consider three things. _1st_, What if Christ had such\ntottering thoughts of the bargain of the new covenant betwixt you and\nHim, as you have? _2ndly_, Your heart is not the compass which Christ\nsaileth by. He will give you leave to sing as you please, but He will\nnot dance to your daft spring. It is not referred to you and your\nthoughts, what Christ will do with the charters betwixt you and Him.\nYour own misbelief hath torn them; but He hath the principal in heaven\nwith Himself. Your thoughts are no parts of the new covenant; dreams\nchange not Christ. _3rdly_, Doubtings are your sins; but they are\nChrist's drugs, and ingredients that the Physician maketh use of for\nthe curing of your pride. Is it not suitable for a beggar to say at\nmeat, \"God reward the winners\"?[293] for then he saith that he knoweth\nwho beareth the charges of the house. It is also meet that ye should\nknow, by experience, that faith is not nature's ill-gotten bastard,\nbut your Lord's free gift, that lay in the womb of God's free grace.\nPraised be the Winner! I may add a _4thly_, In the passing of your\nbill and your charters, when they went through the Mediator's great\nseal, and were concluded, faith's advice was not sought. Faith hath\nnot a vote beside Christ's merits: blood, blood, dear blood, that came\nfrom your Cautioner's holy body, maketh that sure work. The use, then,\nwhich ye have of faith now (having already closed with Jesus Christ\nfor justification) is, to take out a copy of your pardon; and so ye\nhave peace with God upon the account of Christ. For, since faith\napprehendeth pardon, but never payeth a penny for it, no marvel that\nsalvation doth not die and live, ebb or flow, with the working of\nfaith. But because it is your Lord's honour to believe His mercy and\nHis fidelity, it is infinite goodness in our Lord, that misbelief\ngiveth a dash to our Lord's glory, and not to our salvation. And so,\nwhoever want (yea, howbeit God here bear with the want of what we are\nobliged to give Him, even the glory of His grace by believing), yet a\npoor covenanted sinner wanteth not. But if guiltiness were removed,\ndoubtings would find no friend, nor life; and yet faith is to believe\nthe removal of guiltiness in Christ. A reason why ye get less now (as\nye think) than before, as I take it, is, because, at our first\nconversion, our Lord putteth the meat in young bairns' mouths with His\nown hand; but when we grow to some further perfection, we must take\nheaven by violence, and take by violence from Christ what we get. And\nHe can, and doth hold, because He will have us to draw. Remember now\nthat ye must live upon violent plucking. Laziness is a greater fault\nnow than long since. We love always to have the pap put in our mouth.\n\n [293] Those who got this meat for us.\n\nNow for myself; alas! I am not the man I go for in this nation; men\nhave not just weights to weigh me in. Oh, but I am a silly, feckless\nbody, and overgrown with weeds; corruption is rank and fat in me. Oh,\nif I were answerable to this holy cause, and to that honourable\nPrince's love for whom I now suffer! If Christ should refer the matter\nto me (in His presence I speak it), I might think shame to vote my own\nsalvation. I think Christ might say, \"Thinkest thou not shame to claim\nheaven, who doest so little for it?\" I am very often so, that I know\nnot whether I sink or swim in the water. I find myself a bag of light\nfroth. I would bear no weight (but vanities and nothings weigh in\nChrist's balance) if my Lord cast not in borrowed weight and metal,\neven Christ's righteousness, to weigh for me. The stock I have is not\nmine own; I am but the merchant that trafficketh with other folks'\ngoods. If my creditor, Christ, should take from me what He hath lent,\nI should not long keep the causeway; but Christ hath made it mine and\nHis. I think it manhood to play the coward, and jouk in the lee-side\nof Christ; and thus I am not only saved from my enemies, but I obtain\nthe victory. I am so empty, that I think it were an alms-deed in\nChrist, if He would win a poor prisoner's blessing for evermore, and\nfill me with His love. I complain that when Christ cometh, He cometh\nalways to fetch fire; He is ever in haste, He may not tarry; and poor\nI (a beggarly dyvour) get but a standing visit and a standing kiss,\nand but, \"How doest thou?\" in the by-going. I dare not say He is\nlordly, because He is made a King now at the right hand of God; or is\ngrown miskenning and dry to His poor friends: for He cannot make more\nof His kisses than they are worth. But I think it my happiness to love\nthe love of Christ: and when He goeth away, the memory of His sweet\npresence is like a feast in a dear summer. I have comfort in this,\nthat my soul desireth that every hour of my imprisonment were a\ncompany of heavenly tongues to praise Him on my behalf, howbeit my\nbonds were prolonged for many hundred years. Oh that I could be the\nman who could procure my Lord's glory to flow like a full sea, and\nblow like a mighty wind upon all the four airths of Scotland, England,\nand Ireland! Oh, if I could write a book of His praises! O Fairest\namong the sons of men, why stayest Thou so long away? O heavens, move\nfast! O time, run, run, and hasten the marriage-day! for love is\ntormented with delays. O angels, O seraphims, who stand before Him, O\nblessed spirits who now see His face, set Him on high! for when ye\nhave worn your harps in His praises, all is too little, and is\nnothing, to cast the smell of the praise of that fair Flower, the\nfragrant Rose of Sharon, through many worlds!\n\nSir, take my hearty commendations to Him, and tell Him that I am sick\nof love.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _June 16, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXII.--_To his honoured and dear Brother_, ALEXANDER GORDON _of\nKnockgray_.\n\n(_JOY IN GOD--TRIALS WORK OUT GLORY TO CHRIST._)\n\n\nDEAREST AND TRULY HONOURED BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou. I have seen no letter from you since I came to Aberdeen. I will\nnot interpret it to be forgetfulness. I am here in a fair prison:\nChrist is my sweet and honourable fellow-prisoner, and I His sad and\njoyful lord-prisoner,[294] if I may speak so. I think this cross\nbecometh me well, and is suitable to me in respect of my duty to\nsuffer for Christ, howbeit not in regard of my deserving to be thus\nhonoured. However it be, I see that Christ is strong, even lying in\nthe dust, in prison, and in banishment. Losses and disgraces are the\nwheels of Christ's triumphant chariot. In the sufferings of His own\nsaints, as He intendeth their good, so He intendeth His own glory, and\nthat is the butt His arrows shoot at. And Christ shooteth not at\nrovers, He hitteth what He purposeth to hit; therefore He doth make\nHis own feckless and weak nothings, and those who are the contempt of\nmen, \"a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth, to thresh the\nmountains, and beat them small, and to make the hills as chaff, and to\nfan them\" (Isa. xli. 15, 16). What harder stuff, or harder grain for\nthreshing out, than high and rocky mountains? But the saints are God's\nthreshing instruments, to beat them all into chaff. Are we not God's\nleem vessels? and yet when they cast us over a house we are not broken\ninto sherds. We creep in under our Lord's wings in the great shower,\nand the water cannot come through those wings. It is folly then for\nmen to say, \"This is not Christ's plea, He will lose the wad-set; men\nare like to beguile Him:\" that were indeed a strange play. Nay, I dare\npledge my soul, and lay it in pawn on Christ's side of it, and be\nhalf-tiner, half-winner with my Master! Let fools laugh the fool's\nlaughter, and scorn Christ, and bid the weeping captives in Babylon\n\"sing us one of the songs of Zion, play a spring to cheer up your\nsad-hearted God!\" We may sing upon luck's-head beforehand, even in our\nwinter-storm, in the expectation of a summer sun, at the turn of the\nyear. No created powers in hell, or out of hell, can mar the music of\nour Lord Jesus, nor spoil our song of joy. Let us then be glad, and\nrejoice in the salvation of our Lord; for faith had never yet cause\nto have wet cheeks, and hanging down brows, or to droop or die. What\ncan ail faith, seeing Christ suffereth Himself (with reverence to Him\nbe it spoken) to be commanded by it, and Christ commandeth all things?\nFaith may dance because Christ singeth; and we may come into the\nchoir, and lift our hoarse and rough voices, and chirp, and sing, and\nshout for joy with our Lord Jesus. We see oxen go to the shambles,\nleaping and startling; we see God's fed oxen, prepared for the day of\nslaughter, go dancing and singing down to the black chambers of hell;\nand why should we go to heaven weeping, as if we were like to fall\ndown through the earth for sorrow? If God were dead (if I may speak\nso, with reverence of Him who liveth for ever and ever), and Christ\nburied, and rotten among the worms, we might have cause to look like\ndead folks; but \"the Lord liveth, and blessed be the Rock of our\nsalvation\" (Ps. xviii. 46). None have right to joy but we; for joy is\nsown for us, and an ill summer or harvest will not spill the crop. The\nchildren of this world have much robbed joy that is not well-come. It\nis no good sport they laugh at: they steal joy, as it were, from God;\nfor He commandeth them to mourn and howl (James v. 1). Then let us\nclaim our leal-come and lawfully conquessed joy.\n\n [294] In Luther's style, he playfully speaks of himself as if raised\n to nobility among prisoners.\n\nMy dear brother, I cannot but speak what I have felt; seeing my Lord\nJesus hath broken a box of spikenard upon the head of His poor\nprisoner, and it is hard to hide a sweet smell. It is a pain to\nsmother Christ's love; it will be out whether we will or not. If we\ndid but speak according to the matter, a cross for Christ should have\nanother name; yea, a cross, especially when He cometh with His arms\nfull of joys, is the happiest hard tree that ever was laid upon my\nweak shoulder. Christ and His cross together are sweet company, and a\nblessed couple. My prison is my palace, my sorrow is with child of\njoy, my losses are rich losses, my pain easy pain, my heavy days are\nholy and happy days. I may tell a new tale of Christ to my friends.\nOh, if I could make a love song of Him, and could commend Christ, and\ntune His praises aright! Oh, if I could set all tongues in Great\nBritain and Ireland to work, to help me to sing a new song of my\nWell-beloved! Oh, if I could be a bridge over a water for my Lord\nJesus to walk upon, and keep His feet dry! Oh, if my poor bit heaven\ncould go betwixt my Lord and blasphemy, and dishonour! (Upon condition\nHe loved me.) Oh that my heart could say this word, and abide by it\nfor ever! Is it not great art and incomparable wisdom in my Lord, who\ncan bring forth such fair apples out of this crabbed tree of the\ncross? Nay, my Father's never-enough admired providence can make a\nfair face[295] out of a black devil. Nothing can come wrong to my Lord\nin His sweet working. I would even fall sound asleep in Christ's arms,\nand my sinful head on His holy breast, while He kisseth me; were it\nnot that often the wind turneth to the north, and whiles my sweet Lord\nJesus is so that He will neither give nor take, borrow nor lend with\nme. I complain that He is not social; I half call Him proud and lordly\nof His company, and nice of His looks, which yet is not true. It would\ncontent me to give, howbeit He should not take. I should be content to\nwant His kisses at such times, providing He would be content to come\nnear-hand, and take my wersh, dry, and feckless kisses. But at that\ntime He will not be entreated, but let a poor soul stand still and\nknock, and never let-on him that He heareth; and then the old\nleavings, and broken meat, and dry sighs, are greater cheer than I can\ntell. All I have then is, that howbeit the law and wrath have gotten a\ndecreet against me, I can yet lippen that meikle good in Christ as to\nget a suspension, and to bring my cause in reasoning again before my\nWell-beloved. I desire but to be heard, and at last He is content to\ncome and agree the matter with a fool, and forgive freely, because He\nis God. Oh, if men would glorify Him, and taste of Christ's sweetness!\n\n [295] \"Feast\" is in most editions.\n\nBrother, ye have need to be busy with Christ for this whorish kirk; I\nfear lest Christ cast water upon Scotland's coal. Nay, I know that\nChrist and His wife will be heard: He will plead for the broken\ncovenant. Arm you against that time.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _June 16, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXIII.--_To_ MR. J---- R----.\n\n [It is highly probable that the individual to whom this letter is\n addressed was John Row, son of John Row, minister of Carnock, a\n grandson of John Row the reformer, and contemporary of Knox. In\n 1632 he was appointed master of the Grammar School of Perth, in\n which situation he continued for some years. The year after his\n appointment, he was in some danger of expulsion, for refusing to\n join in the observance of the Lord's Supper after the manner\n enjoined by the Perth Articles. At the time when this letter was\n written, he appears to have been exposed to a similar danger. In\n 1641 he was ordained minister of St. Nicholas Church, Aberdeen;\n and in 1652 was elevated to be Principal of King's College. Row\n was a man of learning, and was the author of the first Hebrew\n grammar printed in Scotland. He died in 1646.]\n\n(_CHRIST THE PURIFIER OF HIS CHURCH--SUBMISSION TO HIS WAYS._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. Upon the report\nwhich I hear of you, without any further acquaintance, except our\nstraitest bonds in our Lord Jesus, I thought good to write unto you,\nhearing of your danger to be thrust out of the Lord's house for His\nname's sake. Therefore, my earnest and humble desire to God is, that\nye may be strengthened in the grace of God, and, by the power of His\nmight, to go on for Christ, not standing in awe of a worm that shall\ndie. I hope that ye will not put your hand to the ark to give it a\nwrong touch,[296] and to overturn it, as many now do, when the archers\nare shooting sore at Joseph, whose bow shall abide in its strength. We\nowe to our royal King and princely Master a testimony. Oh, how blessed\nare they who can ward a blow off Christ, and His borne-down truth! Men\nthink Christ a gone man now, and that He shall never get up His head\nagain; and they believe that His court is failed, because He suffereth\nmen to break their spears and swords upon Him, and the enemies to\nplough Zion, and make long and deep their furrows on her back. But it\nwould not be so, if the Lord had not a sowing for His ploughing. What\ncan He do, but melt an old drossy kirk, that He may bring out a new\nbride out of the fire again? I think that Christ is just now repairing\nHis house, and exchanging His old vessels with new vessels, and is\ngoing through this land, and taking up an inventory and a roll of so\nmany of Levi's sons, and good professors, that He may make them new\nwork for the Second Temple; and whatsoever shall be found not to be\nfor the work, shall be casten over the wall. When the house shall be\nbuilded, He will lay by His hammers, as having no more to do with\nthem. It is possible that He may do worse to them than lay them by;\nand I think the vengeance of the Lord, and the vengeance of His\ntemple, shall be upon them.\n\n [296] In old editions, \"totch;\" and explained to be a sudden push,\n such a push, too, as sets the object in motion. The allusion is to 2\n Sam. vi. 6.\n\nI desire no more than to keep weight when I am past the fire; and I\ncan now, in some weak measure, give Christ a testimonial of a lovely\nand loving companion under suffering for Him. I saw Him before, but\nafar off. His beauty, to my eyesight, groweth. A fig, a straw for a\nten worlds' plastered glory, and for childish shadows, the idol of\nclay (this god, the world) that fools fight for! If I had a lease of\nChrist of my own dating (for whoever once cometh nigh-hand, and taketh\na hearty look of Christ's inner side, shall never wring nor wrestle\nthemselves out of His love-grips again), I would rest contentedly in\nmy prison, yea, in my prison without light of sun or candle, providing\nChrist and I had a love-bed, not of mine, but of Christ's own making,\nthat we might lie together among the lilies, till the day break and\nthe shadows flee away. Who knoweth how sweet a drink of Christ's love\nis! Oh, but to live on Christ's love is a king's life! The worst\nthings of Christ, even that which seemeth to be the refuse of Christ,\nHis hard cross, His black cross, is white and fair; and the cross\nreceiveth a beautiful lustre and a perfumed smell from Jesus. My dear\nbrother, scaur not at it.\n\nWhile ye have time to stand upon the watch-tower and speak, contend\nwith this land. Plead with your harlot-mother, who hath been a\ntreacherous half-marrow to her husband Jesus. For I would think\nliberty to preach one day the root and top of my desires; and would\nseek no more of the blessings that are to be had on this side of time,\ntill I be over the water, than to spend this my crazy clay-house in\nHis service, and saving of souls. But I hold my peace, because He hath\ndone it. My shallow and ebb thoughts are not the compass which Christ\nsaileth by. I leave His ways to Himself, for they are far, far above\nme: only I would contend with Christ for His love, and be bold to make\na plea with Jesus, my Lord, for a heart-fill of His love; for there is\nno more left to me. What standeth beyond the far end of my sufferings,\nand what shall be the event, He knoweth, and I hope, to my joy, will\nmake me know, when God will unfold His decrees concerning me. For\nthere are windings, and tos and fros, in His ways, which blind bodies\nlike us cannot see.\n\nThus much for farther acquaintance; so, recommending you, and what is\nbefore you, to the grace of God, I rest,\n\n Your very loving brother in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _June 16, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXIV.--_To_ MR. WILLIAM DALGLEISH. [Letter CXVII.]\n\n(_THE FRAGRANCE OF THE MINISTRY--A REVIEW OF HIS PAST AND PRESENT\nSITUATION, AND OF HIS PROSPECTS._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND WELL-BELOVED BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto\nyou. I have heard somewhat of your trials in Galloway. I bless the\nLord, who hath begun first in that corner to make you a new kirk to\nHimself. Christ hath the less ado behind, when He hath refined you.\n\nLet me entreat you, my dearly beloved, to be fast to Christ. My\nwitness is above, my dearest brother, that ye have added much joy to\nme in my bonds, when I hear that ye grow in the grace and zeal of God\nfor your Master. Our ministry, whether by preaching or suffering, will\ncast a smell through the world both of heaven and hell (2 Cor. ii. 15,\n16). I persuade you, my dear brother, that there is nothing out of\nheaven, next to Christ, dearer to me than my ministry; and the worth\nof it, in my estimation, is swelled, and paineth me exceedingly. Yet I\nam content, for the honour of my Lord, to surrender it back again to\nthe Lord of the vineyard. Let Him do with it, and me both, what He\nthinketh good. I think myself too little for Him.\n\nAnd, let me speak to you, how kind a fellow-prisoner is Christ to me!\nBelieve me, this kind of cross (that would not go by my door, but\nwould needs visit me) is still the longer the more welcome to me. It\nis true, my silent Sabbaths have been, and still are, as glassy ice,\nwhereon my faith can scarce hold its feet, and I am often blown on my\nback, and off my feet, with a storm of doubting; yet truly, my bonds\nall this time cast a mighty and rank smell of high and deep love in\nChrist. I cannot, indeed, see through my cross to the far end; yet I\nbelieve I am in Christ's books, and in His decree (not yet unfolded to\nme), a man triumphing, dancing, and singing, on the other side of the\nRed Sea, and laughing and praising the Lamb, over beyond time, sorrow,\ndeprivation, prelates' indignation, losses, want of friends, and\ndeath. Heaven is not a fowl flying in the air (as men use to speak of\nthings that are uncertain); nay, it is well paid for. Christ's\ncomprisement lieth on[297] glory for all the mourners in Zion, and\nshall never be loosed. Let us be glad and rejoice, that we have\nblood, losses, and wounds, to show our Master and Captain at His\nappearance, and what we suffered for His cause.\n\n [297] \"To lie on\" is for a thing to be a matter of duty or obligation,\n or of legal security. Christ has laid His comprisement on glory; He\n hath taken care that the mourners in Zion be secured in possession of\n glory.\n\nWoe is me, my dear brother, that I say often, \"I am but dry bones,\nwhich my Lord will not bring out of the grave again;\" and that my\nfaithless fears say, \"Oh, I am a dry tree, that can bear no fruit; I\nam a useless body, who can beget no children to the Lord in His\nhouse!\" Hopes of deliverance look cold and uncertain, and afar off, as\nif I had done with it. It is much for Christ (if I may say so) to get\nlaw-borrows of my sorrow, and of my quarrelous heart. Christ's love\nplayeth me fair play. I am not wronged at all; but there is a tricking\nand false heart within me, that still playeth Christ foul play. I am a\ncumbersome neighbour to Christ: it is a wonder that He dwelleth beside\nthe like of me. Yet I often get the advantage of the hill above my\ntemptations, and then I despise temptation, even hell itself, and the\nstink of it, and the instruments of it, and am proud of my honourable\nMaster. And I resolve, whether contrary winds will or not, to fetch\nChrist's harbour; and I think a wilful and stiff contention with my\nLord Jesus for His love very lawful. It is sometimes hard to me to win\nmy meat upon Christ's love, because my faith is sick, and my hope\nwithereth, and my eyes wax dim; and unkind and comfort-eclipsing\nclouds go over the fair and bright Sun, Jesus; and then, when I and\ntemptation tryst the matter together, we spill all through unbelief.\nSweet, sweet for evermore would my life be, if I could keep faith in\nexercise! But I see that my fire cannot always cast light; I have even\na \"poor man's hard world,\" when He goeth away. But surely, since my\nentry hither, many a time hath my fair sun shined without a cloud: hot\nand burning hath Christ's love been to me. I have no vent to the\nexpression of it; I must be content with stolen and smothered desires\nof Christ's glory. Oh, how far is His love behind the hand with\nme![298] I am just like a man who hath nothing to pay his thousands of\ndebt: all that can be gotten of him is to seize upon his person.\nExcept Christ would seize upon myself, and make the readiest payment\nthat can be of my heart and love to Himself, I have no other thing to\ngive Him. If my sufferings could do beholders good, and edify His\nkirk, and proclaim the incomparable worth of Christ's love to the\nworld, oh, then would my soul be overjoyed, and my sad heart be\ncheered and calmed!\n\n [298] Far from receiving what I owe to it.\n\nDear brother, I cannot tell what is become of my labours among that\npeople! If all that my Lord builded by me be casted down, and the\nbottom be fallen out of the profession of that parish, and none stand\nby Christ, whose love I once preached as clearly and plainly as I\ncould (though far below its worth and excellence) to that people; if\nso, how can I bear it! And if another make a foul harvest, where I\nhave made a painful and honest sowing, it will not soon digest with\nme. But I know that His ways pass finding out. Yet my witness, both\nwithin me and above me, knoweth. And my pained breast upon the Lord's\nDay at night, my desire to have had Christ awful, and amiable, and\nsweet to that people, is now my joy. It was my desire and aim to make\nChrist and them one; and, if I see my hopes die in the bud, ere they\nbloom a little, and come to no fruit, I die with grief. O my God, seek\nnot an account of the violence done to me by my brethren, whose\nsalvation I love and desire. I pray that they and I be not heard as\ncontrary parties in the day of our compearance before our Judge, in\nthat process, led by them against my ministry which I received from\nChrist. I know that a little inch, and less than the third part of\nthis span-length and hand-breadth of time, which is posting away will\nput me without the stroke, and above the reach, of either brethren or\nfoes; and it is a short-lasting injury done to me, and to my pains in\nthat part of my Lord's vineyard. Oh, how silly an advantage is my\ndeprivation to men, seeing that my Lord Jesus hath many ways to\nrecover His own losses, and is irresistible to compass His own\nglorious ends, that His lily may grow amongst thorns, and His little\nkingdom exalt Himself, even under the swords and spears of contrary\npowers!\n\nBut, my dear brother, go on in the strength of His rich grace, whom ye\nserve. Stand fast for Christ. Deliver the Gospel off your hand, and\nyour ministry to your Master, with a clean and undefiled conscience.\nLoose not a pin of Christ's tabernacle. Do not so much as pick with\nyour nail at one board or border of the ark. Have no part or dealing,\nupon any terms, in a hoof (Exod. x. 26), in a closed window (Dan. vi.\n10), or in a bowing of your knee, in casting down of the temple. But\nbe a mourning and speaking witness against them who now ruin Zion. Our\nMaster will be on us all now in a clap, ere ever we wit. That day will\ndiscover all our whites and our blacks, concerning this controversy of\npoor oppressed Zion. Let us make our part of it good, that it may be\nable to abide the fire, when hay and stubble shall be burned to ashes.\nNothing, nothing, I say, nothing, but sound sanctification can abide\nthe Lord's fan. I stand to my testimony that I preached often of\nScotland.--\"Lamentation, mourning, and woe abideth thee, O Scotland! O\nScotland! the fearful quarrel of a broken covenant standeth good with\nthy Lord!\"\n\nNow, remember my love to all my friends, and to my parishioners, as if\nI named each of them particularly. I recommend you, and God's people,\ncommitted by Christ to your trust, to the rich grace of our\nall-sufficient Lord. Remember my bonds. Praise my Lord, who beareth me\nup in my sufferings. As ye find occasion, according to the wisdom\ngiven you, show our acquaintance what the Lord hath done to my soul.\nThis I seek not, verily, to hunt my own praise, but that my sweetest\nand dearest Master may be magnified in my sufferings. I rest,\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _June 16, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXV.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_LONGING TO BE RESTORED TO HIS CHARGE._)\n\n\nDEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST,--Grace, mercy, and peace be\nto you. Few know the heart of a stranger and prisoner. I am in the\nhands of mine enemies. I would that honest and lawful means were\nessayed for bringing me home to my charge, now when Mr. A. R. and Mr.\nH. R. are restored. It concerneth you of Galloway most, to use\nsupplications and addresses for this purpose, and try if by fair means\nI can be brought back again. As for liberty, without I be restored to\nmy flock, it is little to me; for my silence is my greatest prison.\nHowever it be, I wait for the Lord; I hope not to rot in my\nsufferings: Lord, give me submission to wait on. My heart is sad that\nmy days flee away, and I do no service to my Lord in His house, now\nwhen His harvest and the souls of perishing people require it. But His\nways are not like my ways, neither can I find Him out. Oh that He\nwould shine upon my darkness, and bring forth my morning light from\nunder the thick cloud that men have spread over me! Oh that the\nAlmighty would lay my cause in a balance and weigh me, if my soul was\nnot taken up, when others were sleeping, how to have Christ betrothed\nwith a bride, in that part of the land! But that day that my mouth was\nmost unjustly and cruelly closed, the bloom fell off my branches, and\nmy joy did cast the flower. Howbeit, I have been casting myself under\nGod's feet, and wrestling to believe under a hidden and covered Lord;\nyet my fainting cometh before I eat, and my faith hath bowed with the\nsore cast, and under this almost insupportable weight! Oh that it\nbreak not! I dare not say that the Lord hath put out my candle, and\nhath casten water upon my poor coal, and broken the stakes of my\ntabernacle; but I have tasted bitterness, and eaten gall and wormwood,\nsince that day on which my Master laid bonds upon me to speak no more.\nI speak not this because the Lord is unco to me, but because\nbeholders, that stand on dry land, see not my sea-storm. The witnesses\nof my sad cross are but strangers to my sad days and nights. Oh that\nChrist would let me alone, and speak love to me, and come home to me,\nand bring summer with Him! Oh that I might preach His beauty and\nglory, as once I did, before my clay-tent be removed to darkness! and\nthat I might lift Christ off the ground! and my branches might be\nwatered with the dew of God, and my joy in His work might grow green\nagain, and bud, and send out a flower! But I am but a short-sighted\ncreature, and my candle casteth not light afar off. He knoweth all\nthat is done to me; how that when I had but one joy, and no more, and\none green flower that I esteemed to be my garland, He came in one hour\nand dried up my flower at the root, and took away mine only eye, and\nmy one only crown and garland. What can I say? Surely my guiltiness\nhath been remembered before Him, and He was seeking to take down my\nsails, and to land the flower of my delights, and to let it lie on the\ncoast, like an old broken ship, that is no more for the sea. But I\npraise Him for this waled stroke. I welcome this furnace; God's wisdom\nmade choice of it for me, and it must be best, because it was His\nchoice. Oh that I may wait for Him till the morning of this benighted\nkirk break out! This poor, afflicted kirk had a fair morning, but her\nnight came upon her before her noon-day, and she was like a traveller,\nforced to take house in the morning of his journey. And now her\nadversaries are the chief men in the land; her ways mourn; her gates\nlanguish: her children sigh for bread; and there is none to be instant\nwith the Lord, that He would come again to His house, and dry the face\nof His weeping spouse, and comfort Zion's mourners, who are waiting\nfor Him. I know that He will make corn to grow upon the top of His\nwithered Mount Zion again.\n\nRemember my bonds, and forget me not. Oh that my Lord would bring me\nagain amongst you with abundance of the Gospel of Christ! But, oh,\nthat I may set down my desires where my Lord biddeth me! Remember my\nlove in the Lord to your husband; God make him faithful to Christ! and\nmy blessing to your three children. Faint not in prayer for this kirk.\nDesire my people not to receive a stranger and intruder upon my\nministry. Let me stand in that right and station that my Lord Jesus\ngave me.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord and Master,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXVI.--_To_ ROBERT STUART.\n\n [This ROBERT STUART was probably the son of Provost Stuart of\n Ayr, to whom several letters are addressed. Allusion is made to\n his early conversion.]\n\n(_CHRIST CHOOSES HIS OWN IN THE FURNACE--NEED OF A DEEP WORK--THE\nGOD-MAN, A WORLD'S WONDER._)\n\n\nMY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. Ye are\nheartily welcome to my world of suffering, and heartily welcome to my\nMaster's house. God give you much joy of your new Master. If I have\nbeen in the house before you, I were not faithful to give the house an\nill name, or to speak evil of the Lord of the family; I rather wish\nGod's Holy Spirit (O Lord, breathe upon me with that Spirit!), to tell\nyou the fashions of the house (Ezek. xliii. 11). One thing I can say,\nby on-waiting ye will grow a great man with the Lord of the house.\nHang on till ye get some good from Christ. Lay all your loads and your\nweights by faith upon Christ; take ease to yourself, and let Him bear\nall. He can, He dow,[299] He will bear you, howbeit hell were upon\nyour back. I rejoice that He is come, and hath chosen you in the\nfurnace; it was even there where ye and He set tryst. That is an old\ngate of Christ's: He keepeth the good old fashion with you, that was\nin Hosea's days: \"Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her\ninto the wilderness, and speak to her heart\" (Hos. ii. 14, margin).\nThere was no talking to her heart, while He and she were in the fair\nand flourishing city, and at ease; but out in the cold, hungry, waste\nwilderness, He allured her, He whispered news into her ear there, and\nsaid, \"Thou art Mine.\" What would ye think of such a bode? Ye may soon\ndo worse than say, \"Lord, hold all; Lord Jesus, a bargain be it, it\nshall not go back on my side.\"\n\n [299] Should we not read \"_doth_?\"\n\nYe have gotten a great advantage in the way of heaven, that ye have\nstarted to the gate in the morning. Like a fool, as I was, I suffered\nmy sun to be high in the heaven, and near afternoon, before ever I\ntook the gate by the end. I pray you now keep the advantage ye have.\nMy heart, be not lazy; set quickly up the brae on hands and feet, as\nif the last pickle of sand were running out of your glass, and death\nwere coming to turn the glass. And be very careful to take heed to\nyour feet, in that slippery and dangerous way of youth that ye are\nwalking in. The devil and temptations now have the advantage of the\nbrae of you, and are upon your wand-hand, and your working-hand. Dry\ntimber will soon take fire. Be covetous and greedy of the grace of\nGod, and beware that it be not a holiness which cometh only from the\ncross; for too many are that way disposed. \"When He slew them, then\nthey sought Him, and they returned and inquired early after God.\"\n\"Nevertheless, they did flatter Him with their mouth, and they lied\nunto Him with their tongues\" (Ps. lxxviii. 34, 36). It is part of our\nhypocrisy, to give God fair, white words,[300] when He hath us in His\ngrips (if I may speak so), and to flatter Him till He win to the fair\nfields again. Try well green godliness, and examine what it is that ye\nlove in Christ. If ye love but Christ's sunny side, and would have\nonly summer weather and a land-gate, not a sea-way to heaven, your\nprofession will play you a slip, and the winter-well will go dry again\nin summer.\n\n [300] Plausible speeches.\n\nMake no sport nor bairn's play of Christ; but labour for a sound and\nlively sight of sin, that ye may judge yourself an undone man, a\ndamned slave of hell and of sin, one dying in your own blood, except\nChrist come and rue upon you, and take you up. And therefore, make\nsure and fast work of conversion. Cast the earth deep; and down, down\nwith the old work, the building of confusion, that was there before;\nand let Christ lay new work, and make a new creation within you. Look\nif Christ's rain goeth down to the root of your withered plants, and\nif His love wound your heart whill it bleed with sorrow for sin, and\nif ye can pant and fall aswoon, and be like to die for that lovely\none, Jesus. I know that Christ will not be hid where He is; grace will\never speak for itself, and be fruitful in well-doing. The sanctified\ncross is a fruitful tree; it bringeth forth many apples.\n\nIf I should tell you by some weak experience, what I have found in\nChrist, ye or others could hardly believe me. I thought not the\nhundredth part of Christ long since, that I do now, though, alas! my\nthoughts are still infinitely below His worth. I have a dwining,\nsickly, and pained life, for a real possession of Him; and am troubled\nwith love-brashes and love-fevers; but it is a sweet pain. I would\nrefuse no conditions, not hell excepted (reserving always God's\nhatred), to buy possession of Jesus. But, alas! I am not a merchant,\nwho have any money to give for Him: I must either come to a good-cheap\nmarket, where wares are had for nothing, else I go home empty. But I\nhave casten this work upon Christ to get me Himself. I have His faith,\nand truth, and promise, as a pawn of His, all engaged that I shall\nobtain that which my hungry desires would be at; and I esteem that the\nchoice of my happiness. And for Christ's cross, especially the garland\nand flower of all crosses, to suffer for His name, I esteem it more\nthan I can write or speak to you. And I write it under mine own hand\nto you, that it is one of the steps of the ladder up to our country;\nand Christ (whoever be one) is still at the heavy end of this black\ntree, and so it is but as a feather to me. I need not run at\nleisure,[301] because of a burden on my back; my back never bare the\nlike of it; the more heavily crossed for Christ, the soul is still the\nlighter for the journey.\n\n [301] I am not obliged to run slowly.\n\nNow, would to God that all cold-blooded, faint-hearted soldiers of\nChrist would look again to Jesus, and to His love; and when they look,\nI would have them to look again and again, and fill themselves with\nbeholding of Christ's beauty; and I dare say then that Christ would\ncome into great court and request with many. The virgins would flock\nfast about the Bridegroom; they would embrace and take hold of Him,\nand not let Him go. But when I have spoken of Him, till my head rive,\nI have said just nothing. I may begin again. A Godhead, a Godhead is a\nworld's wonder. Set ten thousand thousand new-made worlds of angels\nand elect men, and double them in number, ten thousand, thousand,\nthousand times; let their heart and tongues be ten thousand thousand\ntimes more agile and large, than the heart and tongues of the seraphim\nthat stand with six wings before Him (Isa. vi. 2), when they have said\nall for the glorifying and praising of the Lord Jesus, they have but\nspoken little or nothing; His love will abide all possible creatures\npraise. Oh, if I could wear this tongue to the stump, in extolling His\nhighness! But it is my daily-growing sorrow, that I am confounded with\nHis incomparable love, and that He doeth so great things for my soul,\nand hath got never yet anything of me worth the speaking of. Sir, I\ncharge you, help me to praise Him; it is a shame to speak of what He\nhath done for me, and what I do to Him again. I am sure that Christ\nhath many drowned dyvours[302] in heaven beside Him; and when we are\nconvened, man and angel, at the great day, in that fair last meeting,\nwe are all but His drowned dyvours: it is hard to say who oweth Him\nmost. If men could do no more, I would have them to wonder: if ye\ncannot be filled with Christ's love, we may be filled with wondering.\n\n [302] Drowned over head and ears in His debt.\n\nSir, I would that I could persuade you to grow sick for Christ, and to\nlong after Him, and be pained with love for Himself. But His tongue is\nin heaven who can do it. To Him and His rich grace I recommend you.\n\nI pray you, pray for me, and forget not to praise.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _June 17, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXVII.--_To the_ LADY GAITGIRTH.\n\n[LADY GAITGIRTH, or ISABEL BLAIR, daughter to John Blair of that ilk,\nby Grizel his wife, daughter to Robert, Lord Semple, was the wife of\nJames Chalmers of Gaitgirth. To him she had five sons and five\ndaughters. Mr. Fergushill of Ochiltree resided in the vicinity; see\nLetter CXII. Her husband, to whom Rutherford expresses his obligations\nin the close of this letter, was a man of worth. He was made\nSheriff-Principal of Ayrshire in 1632; and in 1633, he and Sir William\nCunningham of Cunninghamhead represented Ayrshire in Parliament.\nEmbracing the cause of the Covenant, he, in 1641, with Cassilis and\nCaprington, were sent as commissioners from the Scottish Parliament to\nNewcastle; and in 1649 he had a troop in Colonel Robert Montgomery's\nHorse (Robertson's \"Ayrshire Families\"). His great-grandfather, James\nChalmers of Gaitgirth, who lived at the time of the Reformation, was a\nvery zealous reformer, and is described by Knox, Calderwood, and\nSpottiswood, as one of the boldest and most daring men of any who took\npart in that important revolution.\n\nThe name is often written Gathgirth and Gadgirth. It is in the parish\nof Coylton, about four miles from Monkton. The modern mansion occupies\nthe fine site of the old, on a wooded knoll that overhangs the river\nAyr, at one point commanding a view of ARRAN and Goatfell. It is a\nsmall estate.]\n\n(_CHRIST UNCHANGEABLE, THOUGH NOT ALWAYS ENJOYED--HIS LOVE NEVER YET\nFULLY POURED OUT--HIMSELF HIS PEOPLE'S CAUTIONER._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long to know how\nmatters stand betwixt Christ and your soul. I know that ye find Him\nstill the longer the better; time cannot change Him in His love. Ye\nmay yourself ebb and flow, rise and fall, wax and wane; but your Lord\nis this day as He was yesterday. And it is your comfort that your\nsalvation is not rolled upon wheels of your own making, neither have\nye to do with a Christ of your own shaping. God hath singled out a\nMediator (Ps. lxxxix. 19), strong and mighty: if ye and your burdens\nwere as heavy as ten hills or hells, He is able to bear you, and save\nyou to the uttermost. Your often seeking to Him cannot make you a\nburden to Him. I know that Christ compassionateth you, and maketh a\nmoan for you, in all your dumps, and under your downcastings; but it\nis good for you that He hideth Himself sometimes. It is not niceness,\ndryness, nor coldness of love, that causeth Christ to withdraw, and\nslip in under a curtain and a vail, that ye cannot see Him; but He\nknoweth that ye could not bear with upsails, a fair gale, a full moon,\nand a high spring-tide of His felt love, and always a fair summer-day\nand a summer-sun of a felt and possessed and embracing Lord Jesus. His\nkisses and His visits to His dearest ones are thin-sown. He could not\nlet out His rivers of love upon His own, but these rivers would be in\nhazard of loosening a young plant at the root;[303] and He knoweth\nthis of you. Ye should, therefore, frist Christ's kindness, as to its\nsensible and full manifestations, till ye and He be above sun and\nmoon. That is the country where ye will be enlarged for that love\nwhich ye dow not now contain.\n\n [303] The river Ayr flows close to Gaitgirth; so that, in time of\n flood, Lady Gaitgirth would often see an exemplification of what is\n alluded to,--the water loosening the tree's roots.\n\nCast the burden of your sweet babes upon Christ, and lighten your\nheart, by laying your all upon Him: He will be their God. I hope to\nsee you up the mountain yet, and glad in the salvation of God. Frame\nyourself for Christ, and gloom not upon His cross. I find Him so\nsweet, that my love, suppose I would charge it to remove from Christ,\nwould not obey me: His love hath stronger fingers than to let go its\ngrips of us bairns, who cannot go but by such a hold as Christ. It is\ngood that we want legs of our own, since we may borrow from Christ;\nand it is our happiness that Christ is under an act of cautionary for\nheaven, and that Christ is booked in heaven as the principal debtor\nfor such poor bodies as we are.\n\nI request you to give the laird, your husband, thanks for his care of\nme, in that he hath appeared in public for a prisoner of Christ. I\npray and write mercy, and peace, and blessings to him and his.\n\nGrace, grace be with you for ever.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXVIII.--_To MR. JOHN FERGUSHILL of Ochiltree._\n\n(_DESPONDING VIEWS OF HIS OWN STATE--MINISTERIAL DILIGENCE--CHRIST'S\nWORTH--SELF-SEEKING._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy and peace be to you. My\nlongings and desires for a sight of the new-builded tabernacle of\nChrist again in Scotland, that tabernacle that came down from heaven,\nhath now taken some life again, when I see Christ making a mint to sow\nvengeance among His enemies. I care not, if this land be ripe for such\na great, wonderful mercy; but I know He must do it, whenever it is\ndone, without hire. I find the grief of my silence, and my fear to be\nholden at the door of Christ's house, swelling upon me; and the truth\nis, were it not that I am dawted now and then with pieces of Christ's\nsweet love and comforts, I fear I should have made an ill browst of\nthis honourable cross, that I know such a soft and silly-minded body\nas I am is not worthy of. For I have little in me but softness, and\nsuperlative and excessive apprehensions of fear, and sadness, and\nsorrow; and often God's terrors do surround me, because Christ looketh\nnot so favourably upon me as a poor witness would have Him. And I\nwonder how I have past a year and a quarter's imprisonment without\nshaming my sweet Lord, to whom I desire to be faithful; and I think I\nshall die but even[304] minting and aiming to serve and honour my Lord\nJesus. Few know how toom and empty I am at home; but it is a part of\nmarriage-love and husband-love, that my Lord Jesus goeth not to the\nstreets with His chiding against me. It is but stolen and concealed\nanger that I find and feel, and His glooms to me are kept under roof,\nthat He will not have mine enemies hear what is betwixt me and Him.\nAnd, believe me, I say the truth in Christ, that the only gall and\nwormwood in my cup, and that which hath filled me with fear, hath\nbeen, lest my sins, that sun and moon and the Lord's children were\nnever witness to, should have moved my Lord to strike me with dumb\nSabbaths. Lord, pardon my soft and weak jealousies, if I be here in an\nerror.\n\n [304] Only just attempting.\n\nMy very dear brother, I would have looked for larger and more\nparticular letters from you, for my comfort in this; for your words\nbefore have strengthened me. I pray you to mend this; and be thankful\nand painful, while ye have a piece or corner of the Lord's vineyard to\ndress. Oh, would to God that I could have leave to follow you, to\nbreak the clods! But I wish I could command my soul to be silent, and\nto wait upon the Lord. I am sure that while Christ lives, I am well\nenough friend-stead. I hope that He will extend His kindness and power\nfor me; but God be thanked it is not worse with me than a cross for\nChrist and His truth. I know that He might have pitched upon many more\nchoice and worthy witnesses, if He had pleased; but I seek no more (be\nwhat timber I will, suppose I were made of a piece of hell) than that\nmy Lord, in His infinite art, hew glory to His name, and enlargement\nto Christ's kingdom, out of me. Oh that I could attain to this, to\ndesire that my part of Christ might be laid in pledge for the\nheightening of Christ's throne in Britain! Let my Lord redeem the\npledge; or, if He please, let it sink and drown unredeemed. But what\ncan I add to Him? or what way can a smothered and borne-down prisoner\nset out Christ in open market, as a lovely and desirable Lord to many\nsouls? I know that He seeth to His own glory better than my ebb\nthoughts can dream of; and that the wheels and paces of this poor\ndistempered kirk are in His hands; and that things shall roll as\nChrist will have them:--only, Lord, tryst the matter so, as Christ may\nbe made a householder and lord again in Scotland, and wet faces for\nHis departure may be dried at His sweet and much-desired welcome-home!\nI see that, in all our trials, our Lord will not mix our wares and His\ngrace overhead through other; but He will have each man to know his\nown, that the like of me may say in my sufferings, \"This is Christ's\ngrace, and this is but my coarse stuff: This is free grace, and this\nis but nature and reason.\" We know what our legs would play us, if\nthey should carry us through all our waters. And the least thing our\nLord can have of us, is to know we are grace's dyvours, and that\nnature is of a base house and blood, and grace is better born, and of\nkin and blood to Christ, and of a better house. Oh that I were free of\nthat idol which they call _myself_; and that _Christ_ were for\n_myself_; and _myself_ a decourted cypher, and a denied and forsworn\nthing! But that proud thing, _myself_, will not play, except it ride\nup side for side with Christ, or rather have place before Him. O\n_myself_ (another devil, as evil as the prince of devils!), if thou\ncouldst give Christ the way, and take thine own room, which is to sit\nas low as nothing or corruption! Oh, but we have much need to be\nransomed and redeemed by Christ from that master-tyrant, that cruel\nand lawless lord, _ourself_. Nay, when I am seeking Christ, and am out\nof myself, I have the third part of a squint eye upon that vain, vain\nthing, _myself, myself_, and something of mine own. But I must hold\nhere.\n\nI desire you to contribute your help, to see if I can be restored to\nmy wasted and lost flock. I see not how it can be, except the lords\nwould procure me a liberty to preach; and they have reason. 1. Because\nthe opposers and my adversaries have practised their new canons upon\nme, whereof one is, that no deprived minister preach, under the pain\nof excommunication. 2. Because my opposing of these canons was a\nspecial thing that incensed Sydserff against me.[305] 3. Because I was\njudicially accused for my book against the Arminians, and commanded by\nthe Chancellor to acknowledge that I had done a fault in writing\nagainst Dr. Jackson, a wicked Arminian.[306] Pray for a room in the\nhouse to me.\n\nGrace, grace be (as it is) your portion.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n [305] Thomas Sydserff, now Bishop of Galloway, was the chief\n instrument in procuring Rutherford's banishment to Aberdeen. He was\n minister of the College Church, Edinburgh; and afterwards successively\n Bishop of Brechin, Galloway, and Orkney. He early imbibed Arminian\n principles, and promoted the measures of Archbishop Laud, and was\n supposed to lean to Popery, it being generally believed that he wore\n under his coat a crucifix of gold. All this rendered him so unpopular,\n that, on appearing in the streets of Edinburgh in 1637, when great\n excitement existed on account of the Service-Book, he was attacked by\n the matrons of the city. He had equal reason to \"cry to the gentlemen\n for help\" under similar attacks in other places. At the Restoration of\n Charles II. he was the only surviving bishop in Scotland. He was then\n nominated to the see of Orkney, but survived his promotion little more\n than a year.\n\n [306] Dr. Thomas Jackson, Dean of Peterborough, first held Calvinistic\n sentiments, but afterwards became an Arminian,--a change which\n recommended him to the favour and patronage of Archbishop Laud. He was\n a man of talent, and the author of various theological works, of which\n his \"Commentary on the Apostles' Creed\" is the most important.\n Rutherford's book against the Arminians, here referred to, in which he\n treated Jackson with little ceremony, and which was one cause of his\n banishment by the High Commission Court, is entitled, \"Exercitationes\n Apologetic\u00e6 pro Divin\u00e2 Grati\u00e2.\" It was published at Amsterdam in the\n beginning of the year 1636, and gained the author no small reputation\n abroad. Baillie, in giving an account of Rutherford's trial before the\n High Commission Court, says: \"They were animate also against him for\n taxing Cameron in his book; and most, for his indiscreet railing at\n Jackson\" (\"Letters and Journals\").\n\n\n\n\nCLXXXIX.--_To JOHN STUART, Provost of Ayr._ [Letter CLXIII.]\n\n(_HOPE FOR SCOTLAND--SELF-SUBMISSION--CHRIST HIMSELF IS SOUGHT FOR BY\nFAITH--STABILITY OF SALVATION--HIS WAYS._)\n\n\nWORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long for the time\nwhen I shall see the beauty of the Lord in His house; and would be as\nglad of it as of any sight on earth, to see the halt, the blind, and\nthe lame, come back to Zion with supplications (Jer. xxxi. 8, 9),\n\"Going and weeping, and seeking the Lord; asking the way to Zion, with\ntheir faces thitherward\" (Jer. l. 4, 5); and to see the Woman\ntravailing in birth, delivered of the man-child of a blessed\nreformation. If this land were humbled, I would look that our skies\nshould clear, and our day dawn again; and ye should then bless Christ,\nwho is content to save your travel, and to give Himself to you, in\npure ordinances, on this side of the sea. I know the mercy of Christ\nis engaged by promise to Scotland, notwithstanding He bring wrath, as\nI fear He will, upon this land.\n\nI am waiting on for enlargement, and half content that my faith bow,\nif Christ, while He bow it, keep it unbroken; for who goeth through a\nfire without a mark or a scald? I see the Lord making use of this\nfire, to scour His vessels from their rust. Oh that my will were\nsilent, and \"as a child weaned from the breasts\"! (Ps. cxxxi.). But,\nalas! who hath a heart that will give Christ the last word in flyting,\nand will hear and not speak again? Oh! contestations and quarrelous\nreplies (as a soon-saddled spirit, \"I do well to be angry, even to the\ndeath\") (Jonah iv. 9) smell of the stink of strong corruption. O\nblessed soul, that could sacrifice his will, and go to heaven, having\nlost his will and made resignation of it to Christ! I would seek no\nmore than that Christ were absolute King over my will, and that my\nwill were a sufferer in all crosses, without meeting Christ with such\na word, \"Why is it thus?\" I wish still, that my love had but leave to\nstand beside beautiful Jesus, and to get the mercy of looking to Him,\nand burning for Him, suppose that possession of Him were suspended,\nand fristed till my Lord fold together the leaves and two sides of the\nlittle shepherds' tents of clay. Oh, what pain is in longing for\nChrist, under an over-clouded and eclipsed assurance! What is harder\nthan to burn and dwine with longing and deaths of love, and then to\nhave blanks and uninked paper for[307] assurance of Christ in real\nfruition or possession? Oh how sweet were one line, or half a letter,\nof a written assurance under Christ's own hand! But this is our\nexercise daily, that guiltiness shall overmist and darken assurance.\nIt is a miracle to believe; but, for a sinner to believe, is two\nmiracles. But oh, what obligations of love are we under to Christ, who\nbeareth with our wild apprehensions, in suffering them to nickname\nsweet Jesus, and to put a lie upon His good name! If He had not been\nGod, and if long-suffering in Christ were not like Christ Himself, we\nshould long ago have broken Christ's mercies in two pieces, and put an\niron bar on our salvation, that mercy should not have been able to\nbreak or overleap. But long-suffering in God is God Himself; and that\nis our salvation; and the stability of our heaven is in God. He knew\nwho said, \"Christ in you the hope of glory\" (Col. i. 27) (for our\nhope, and the bottom and pillars of it, is Christ-God!), that sinners\nare anchor-fast, and made stable in God. So that if God do not change\n(which is impossible), then my hope shall not fluctuate. Oh, sweet\nstability of sure-bottomed salvation! Who could win heaven, if this\nwere not so? and who could be saved, if God were not God, and if He\nwere not such a God as He is? Oh, God be thanked that our salvation is\ncoasted, and landed, and shored upon Christ, who is Master of winds\nand storms! And what sea-winds can blow the coast or the land out of\nits place? Bulwarks are often casten down, but coasts are not removed:\nbut suppose that were or might be, yet God cannot reel nor remove. Oh\nthat we go from this strong and immoveable Lord, and that we loosen\nourselves (if it were in our power) from Him! Alas! our green and\nyoung love hath not taken with Christ, being unacquainted with Him. He\nis such a wide, and broad, and deep, and high, and surpassing\nsweetness, that our love is too little for Him. But oh, if our love,\nlittle as it is, could take band with His great and huge sweetness,\nand transcendent excellency! Oh, thrice blessed, and eternally\nblessed are they, who are out of themselves, and above themselves,\nthat they may be in love united to Him!\n\n [307] _For_; _i.e._ instead of.\n\nI am often rolling up and down the thoughts of my faint and sick\ndesires of expressing Christ's glory before His people. But I see not\nthrough the throng of impediments, and cannot find eyes to look\nhigher; and so I put many things in Christ's way to hinder Him, that I\nknow He would but laugh at, and with one stride set His foot over them\nall. I know not if my Lord will bring me to His sanctuary or not; but\nI know that He hath the placing of me, either within or without the\nhouse, and that nothing will be done without Him. But I am often\nthinking and saying within myself, that my days flee away, and I see\nno good, neither yet Christ's work thriving; and it is like that the\ngrave shall prevent[308] the answer of my desires of saving souls as I\nwould. But, alas! I cannot make right work of His ways; I neither\nspell nor read my Lord's providence aright. My thoughts go away that I\nfear they meet not God; for it is likely that God will not come the\nway of my thoughts. And I cannot be taught to crucify to Him my wisdom\nand desires, and to make Him King over my thoughts; for I would have a\nprincedom over my thoughts, and would boldly and blindly prescribe to\nGod, and guide myself in a way of my own making. But I hold my peace\nhere; let Him do His will.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweetest Lord and Master,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n [308] Come before.\n\n\n\n\nCXC.--_To_ CARSLUTH (_Kirkmabreck_).\n\n [The name of the person to whom this letter is addressed, was\n Robert Brown of Carsluth. He was a man of considerable property\n in the part of the country where Rutherford's lot was cast\n previous to his imprisonment. He must have died about the\n beginning of the year 1658, as on the 27th of April, that year,\n Thomas Brown of Carsluth is retoured heir of Robert Brown of\n Carsluth, his father, in the 7 merkland of Carsluth, etc. (\"Inq.\n Retor. Abbrev. Kirkcud.\"). Brown of Carsluth was an ancient\n family. Gilbert Brown, abbot of New Abbey, near Dumfries, who\n disputed with John Welsh, was of the family.\n\n On the shore of Wigtown Bay, not far from Creetown, you see the\n old tower-like house, with a farm, well wooded. It is near the\n modern residence of Kirkdale.]\n\n(_NECESSITY OF MAKING SURE OF SALVATION--VANITY OF THE WORLD--NOTHING\nWORTH HAVING BUT CHRIST--FLIGHT OF TIME._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--I long to hear how your soul prospereth. I\nearnestly desire you to try how matters stand between your soul and\nthe Lord. Think it no easy matter to take heaven by violence.\nSalvation cometh now to the most part of men in a night-dream. There\nis no scarcity of faith now, such as it is; for ye shall not now light\nupon the man who will not say he hath faith in Christ. But, alas!\ndreams make no man's rights.\n\nWorthy Sir, I beseech you in the Lord to give your soul no rest till\nye have real assurance, and Christ's rights confirmed and sealed to\nyour soul. The common faith, and country-holiness, and week-day zeal,\nthat is among people, will never bring men to heaven. Take pains for\nyour salvation; for in that day, when ye shall see many men's labours\nand conquests and idol-riches lying in ashes, when the earth and all\nthe works thereof shall be burnt with fire, oh how dear a price would\nyour soul give for God's favour in Christ! It is a blessed thing to\nsee Christ with up-sun, and to read over your papers and soul-accounts\nwith fair day-light. It will not be time to cry for a lamp when the\nBridegroom is entered into His chamber, and the door shut. Fy, fy upon\nblinded and debased souls, who are committing whoredom with this\nidol-clay, and hunting a poor, wretched, hungry heaven, a hungry\nbreakfast, a day's meat from this hungry world, with the forfeiting of\nGod's favour, and the _drinking over_ their heaven (_over the board_,\nas men used to speak), for the laughter and sports of this short\nforenoon! All that is under this vault of heaven, and betwixt us and\ndeath, and on this side of sun and moon, is but toys, night-visions,\nhead-fancies, poor shadows, watery froth, godless vanities at their\nbest, and black hearts, and salt and sour miseries, sugared over and\nconfected with an hour's laughter or two, and the conceit of riches,\nhonour, vain, vain court, and lawless pleasures. Sir, if ye look both\nto the laughing side and to the weeping side of this world, and if ye\nlook not only upon the skin and colour of things, but into their\ninwards, and the heart of their excellency, ye shall see that one look\nof Christ's sweet and lovely eye, one kiss of His fairest face, is\nworth ten thousand worlds of such rotten stuff, as the foolish sons of\nmen set their hearts upon. Oh, Sir, turn, turn your heart to the\nother side of things, and get it once free of these entanglements, to\nconsider eternity, death, the clay bed, the grave, awsome judgment,\neverlasting burning quick in hell, where death would give as great a\nprice (if there were a market, wherein death might be bought and sold)\nas all the world. Consider heaven and glory. But, alas! why speak I of\nconsidering those things, which have not entered into the heart of man\nto consider? Look into those depths (without a bottom) of loveliness,\nsweetness, beauty, excellency, glory, goodness, grace, and mercy, that\nare in Christ; and ye shall then cry down the whole world, and all the\nglory of it, even when it is come to the summer-bloom; and ye shall\ncry, \"Up with Christ, up with Christ's Father, up with eternity of\nglory!\" Sir, there is a great deal less sand in your glass than when I\nsaw you, and your afternoon is nearer even-tide now than it was. As a\nflood carried back to the sea, so doth the Lord's swift post, Time,\ncarry you and your life with wings to the grave. Ye eat and drink, but\ntime standeth not still; ye laugh, but your day fleeth away; ye sleep,\nbut your hours are reckoned and put by hand. Oh how soon will time\nshut you out of the poor, and cold, and hungry inn of this life! And\nthen what will yesterday's short-born pleasures do to you, but be as a\nsnow-ball melted away many years since? Or worse! for the memory of\nthese pleasures useth to fill the soul with bitterness. Time and\nexperience will prove this to be true; and dying men, if they could\nspeak, would make this good. Lay no more on the creatures than they\nare able to carry. Lay your soul and your weights upon God. Make Him\nyour only, only Best-beloved. Your errand to this life is to make sure\nan eternity of glory to your soul, and to match your soul with Christ.\nYour love, if it were more than all the love of angels in one, is\nChrist's due: other things worthy in themselves, in respect of Christ,\nare not worth a windlestraw, or a drink of cold water. I doubt not but\nin death ye shall see all things more distinctly, and that then the\nworld shall bear no more bulk than it is worth, and that then it shall\ncouch and be contracted into nothing; and ye shall see Christ longer,\nhigher, broader, and deeper than ever He was. O blessed conquest, to\nlose all things, and to gain Christ! I know not what ye have, if ye\nwant Christ! Alas! how poor is your gain, if the earth were all yours\nin free heritage, holding it of no man of clay, if Christ be not\nyours! Oh, seek all midses, lay all oars in the water, put forth all\nyour power, and bend all your endeavours, to put away and part with\nall things, that ye may gain and enjoy Christ. Try and search His\nword, and strive to go a step above and beyond ordinary professors;\nand resolve to sweat more and run faster than they do, for salvation.\nMen's midway, cold, and wise courses in godliness, and their\nneighbour-like, cold, and wise pace to heaven, will cause many a man\nto want his lodging at night, and to lie in the fields. I recommend\nChrist and His love to your seeking; and yourself to the tender mercy\nand rich grace of our Lord.\n\nRemember my love in Christ to your wife. I desire her to learn to make\nher soul's anchor fast upon Christ Himself. Few are saved. Let her\nconsider what joy the smiles of God in Christ will be, and what the\nlove-kisses of sweet, sweet Jesus, and a welcome home to the New\nJerusalem from Christ's own mouth will be to her soul, when Christ\nwill fold together the clay tent of her body, and lay it by His hand\nfor a time, till the fair morning of the general resurrection. I\navouch before God, man, and angel, that I have not seen, nor can\nimagine, a lover to be comparable to lovely Jesus. I would not\nexchange or niffer Him with ten heavens. If heaven could be without\nHim, what could we do there? Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Your soul's eternal well-wisher,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCXCI.--_To_ CASSINCARRIE.\n\n [The mansion of Cassincarrie is a mile from Creetown, in\n Kirkmabreck parish. It stands near the road, just after you pass\n the stone quarries that help to build Liverpool. It is so\n directly opposite Wigtown, that from the windows we might suppose\n the godly proprietor looking across, and praying for the martyrs\n Margaret Wilson and Margaret M'Lachlan, in 1685.[309] This\n correspondent of Rutherford was probably the son of John Mure of\n Cassincarrie, who was the second son of John Mure of Rowallan.\n Had he been John Mure of Cassincarrie, elder, he would now have\n been on the borders of ninety years of age, as his eldest\n brother, William Mure of Rowallan, died in 1616, aged sixty-nine;\n and in that case, Rutherford would doubtless have enforced his\n solemn admonitions by pointed allusions to his advanced period of\n life. His son, therefore, is very likely the person to whom this\n letter is addressed (Robertson's \"Ayrshire Families,\" vol. iii.\n p. 361).]\n\n [309] The exact historical truth of these two martyrdoms is attested\n beyond denial by the full record, entered only a few years after the\n event, in the Minutes of the Kirk-Session of Penningham, with which\n the martyrs were connected.\n\n(_EARNESTNESS ABOUT SALVATION--CHRIST HIMSELF TO BE SOUGHT._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I have been too\nlong in writing to you. I am confident that ye have learned to prize\nChrist, and His love and favour, more than ordinary professors who\nscarce see Christ with half an eye, because their sight is taken up\nwith eyeing and liking the beauty of this over-gilded world, that\npromiseth fair to all its lovers, but in the push of a trial, when\nneed is, can give nothing but a fair beguile.\n\nI know that ye are not ignorant that men come not to this world, as\nsome do to a market, to see and to be seen; or as some come to behold\na May-game, and only to behold, and to go home again. Ye come hither\nto treat with God, and to tryst with Him in His Christ for salvation\nto your soul, and to seek reconciliation with an angry, wrathful God,\nin a covenant of peace made to you in Christ; and this is more than\nordinary sport, or the play that the greatest part of the world give\ntheir heart unto. And, therefore, worthy Sir, I pray you, by the\nsalvation of your soul, and by the mercy of God, and your compearance\nbefore Christ, do this in sad earnest, and let not salvation be your\nby-work or your holy-day's talk only, or a work by the way. For men\nthink that this may be done on three days' space on a feather bed,\nwhen death and they are fallen in hands together, and that with a word\nor two they shall make their soul-matters right. Alas! this is to sit\nloose and unsure in the matters of our salvation. Nay, the seeking of\nthis world, and of the glory of it, is but an odd[310] and by-errand\nthat we may slip, so being we make salvation sure. Oh, when will men\nlearn to be that heavenly-wise as to divorce from and free their soul\nof all idol-lovers, and make Christ the only, only One, and trim and\nmake ready their lamps, while they have time and day! How soon will\nthis house skail, and the inn, where the poor soul lodgeth, fall to\nthe earth! How soon will some few years pass away! and then, when the\nday is ended, and this life's lease expired, what have men of world's\nglory but dreams and thoughts? Oh how blessed a thing is it to labour\nfor Christ, and to make Him sure! Know and try in time your holding of\nHim, and the rights and charters of heaven, and upon what terms ye\nhave Christ and the Gospel, and what Christ is worth in your\nestimation, and how lightly ye esteem other things, and how dearly\nChrist! I am sure, that if ye see Him in His beauty and glory, ye\nshall see Him to be all things, and that incomparable jewel of gold\nthat ye should seek, howbeit ye should sell, wadset, and forfeit your\nfew years' portion of this life's joys. O happy soul for evermore, who\ncan rightly compare this life with that long-lasting life to come, and\ncan balance the weighty glory of the one with the light golden vanity\nof the other! The day of the Lord is now near-hand, and all men shall\ncome out in their blacks and whites, as they are; there shall be no\nborrowed lying colours in that day, when Christ shall be called\nChrist, and no longer nicknamed. Now men borrow Christ and His white\ncolour, and the lustre and farding of Christianity; but how many\ncounterfeit masks will be burned, in the day of God, in the fire that\nshall burn the earth and the works that are on it? And howbeit Christ\nhave the hardest part of it now, yet in the presence of my Lord, whom\nI serve in the spirit, I would not niffer or exchange Christ's prison,\nbonds, and chains, with the gold chains and lordly rents, and smiling\nand happy-like heavens of the men of this world. I am far from\nthoughts of repenting because of my losses and bonds for Christ. I\nwish that all my adversaries were as I am, except my bonds. Worthy,\nworthy, worthy for evermore is Christ, for whom we should suffer pains\nlike hell's pains; far more the short hell that the saints of God have\nin this life. Sir, I wish that your soul may be more acquainted with\nthe sweetness of Christ. Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours in his only Lord and Master,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n [310] To be attended to at a leisure moment.\n\n\n\n\nCXCII.--_To the_ LADY CARDONESS.\n\n(_GRACE--THE NAME OF CHRIST TO BE EXALTED--EVERYTHING BUT GOD FAILS\nUS._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--I beseech you in the Lord Jesus to make every day more and\nmore of Christ; and try your growth in the grace of God, and what new\nground ye win daily on corruption. For travellers are day by day\neither advancing farther on, and nearer home, or else they go not\nright about to compass their journey.\n\nI think still the better and better of Christ. Alas! I know not where\nto set Him, I would so fain have Him high! I cannot set heavens above\nheavens till I were tired with numbering, and set Him upon the\nhighest step and storey of the highest of them all; but I wish I could\nmake Him great through the world, suppose my loss, and pain, and shame\nwere set under the soles of His feet, that He might stand upon me.\n\nI request that you faint not; because this world and ye are at yea and\nnay, and because this is not a home that laugheth upon you. The wise\nLord, who knoweth you, will have it so, because He casteth a net for\nyour love, to catch it and gather it in to Himself. Therefore, bear\npatiently the loss of children, and burdens, and other discontentments,\neither within or without the house: your Lord in them is seeking you,\nand seek ye Him. Let none be your love and choice, and the flower of\nyour delights, but your Lord Jesus. Set not your heart upon the world,\nsince God hath not made it your portion; for it will not fall to you\nto get two portions, and to rejoice twice, and to be happy twice, and\nto have an upper heaven, and an under heaven too. Christ our Lord, and\nHis saints, were not so; and, therefore, let go your grip of this\nlife, and of the good things of it: I hope that your heaven groweth\nnot hereaway. Learn daily both to possess and miss Christ, in His\nsecret bridegroom-smiles. He must go and come, because His infinite\nwisdom thinketh it best for you. We shall be together one day. We\nshall not need to borrow light from sun, moon, or candle. There shall\nbe no complaints on either side, in heaven. There shall be none there,\nbut He and we, the Bridegroom and the bride; devils, temptations,\ntrials, desertions, losses, sad hearts, pain, and death, shall be all\nput out of play; and the devil must give up his office of tempting.\nOh, blessed is the soul whose hope hath a face looking straight out to\nthat day. It is not our part to make a treasure here; anything, under\nthe covering of heaven, which we can build upon, is but ill ground and\na sandy foundation. Every good thing, except God, wanteth a bottom,\nand cannot stand its lone; how then can it bear the weight of us? Let\nus not lay a load on a windlestraw. There shall nothing find my\nweight, or found my happiness, but God. I know that all created power\nwould sink under me, if I should lean down upon it; and, therefore, it\nis better to rest on God, than to sink or fall; and we weak souls must\nhave a bottom and a being-place, for we cannot stand our lone. Let us\nthen be wise in our choice, and choose and wale our own blessedness,\nwhich is to trust in the Lord. Each one of us hath a whore and idol,\nbesides our Husband Christ; but it is our folly to divide our narrow\nand little love; it will not serve two. It is best then to hold it\nwhole and together, and to give it to Christ; for we get double\ninterest for our love, when we lend it to, and lay it upon Christ; and\nwe are sure, besides, that the stock cannot perish.\n\nNow I can say no more. Remember me. I have God's right to that people;\nhowbeit by the violence of men, stronger than I, I am banished from\nyou, and chased away. The Lord give you mercy in the day of Christ. It\nmay be that God will clear my sky again; howbeit there is small\nappearance of my deliverance. But let Him do with me what seemeth good\nin His own eyes. I am His clay; let my Potter frame and fashion me as\nHe pleaseth. Grace be with you.\n\n Your lawful and loving pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCXCIII.--_To_ SIBYLLA MACADAM. [See notice, Letter CXLI.]\n\n(_CHRIST'S BEAUTY AND EXCELLENCE._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I can bear witness in my\nbonds, that Christ is still the longer the better; and no worse, yea,\ninconceivably better than He is (or can be) called. I think it half a\nheaven to have my fill of the smell of His sweet breath, and to sleep\nin the arms of Christ my Lord, with His left hand under my head and\nHis right hand embracing me. There is no great reckoning to be made of\nthe withering of my flower, in comparison of the foul and manifest\nwrongs done to Christ. Nay, let never the dew of God lie upon my\nbranches again, let the bloom fall from my joy, and let it wither, let\nthe Almighty blow out my candle, so being the Lord might be great\namong Jews and Gentiles, and His oppressed church delivered. Let\nChrist fare well, suppose I should eat ashes. I know that He must be\nsweet Himself, when His cross is so sweet. And it is the part of us\nall, if we marry Himself, to marry the crosses, losses, and reproaches\nalso, that follow Him. For mercy followeth Christ's cross. His prison,\nfor beauty, is made of marble and ivory; His chains, that are laid on\nHis prisoners, are golden chains; and the sighs of the prisoners of\nhope are perfumed with comforts, the like whereof cannot be bred or\nfound on this side of sun and moon. Follow on after His love; tire not\nof Christ, but come in, and see His beauty and excellency, and feed\nyour soul upon Christ's sweetness. This world is not yours, neither\nwould I have your heaven made of such metal as mire and clay. Ye have\nthe choice and wale of all lovers in heaven or out of heaven, when ye\nhave Christ, the only delight of God His Father. Climb up the mountain\nwith joy, and faint not; for time will cut off the men who pursue\nChrist's followers. Our best things here have a worm in them; our\njoys, besides God, in the inner half are but woes and sorrows. Christ,\nChrist is that which our love and desires can sleep sweetly and rest\nsafely upon.\n\nNow the very God of peace establish you in Christ. Help a prisoner\nwith your prayers, and entreat that our Lord would be pleased to visit\nme with a sight of His beauty in His house, as He has sometimes done.\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCXCIV.--_To_ MR. HUGH HENDERSON, _Minister of Dalry, Ayrshire_.\n\n(_THE WAYS OF PROVIDENCE--BELIEVING PATIENCE._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Who knoweth but the wind may turn into the\nwest again, upon Christ and His desolate bride in this land; and that\nChrist may get His summer by course again? For He hath had ill-weather\nthis long time, and could not find law or justice for Himself and His\ntruth these many years. I am sure the wheels of this crazed and broken\nkirk run all upon no other axle-tree, nor is there any other to roll\nthem, and cog them, and drive them, than the wisdom and good pleasure\nof our Lord. And it were a just trick and glorious of never-sleeping\nProvidence, to bring our brethren's darts, which they have shot at us,\nback upon their own heads. Suppose they have two strings to their bow,\nand can take one as another faileth them, yet there are more than\nthree strings upon our Lord's bow; and, besides, He cannot miss the\nwhite that He shooteth at. I know that He shuffleth up and down in His\nhand the great body of heaven and earth; and that kirk and\ncommonwealth are, in His hand, like a stock of cards, and that He\ndealeth the play to the mourners of Zion, and to those that say, \"Lie\ndown, that we may go over you,\" at His own sovereign pleasure: and I\nam sure that Zion's adversaries, in this play, shall not take up their\nown stakes again. Oh how sweet a thing is it to trust in Him! When\nChrist hath sleeped out His sleep (if I may speak so of Him who is the\nWatchman of Israel, that neither slumbereth nor sleepeth), and His\nown are tried, He will arise as a strong man after wine, and make bare\nHis holy arm, and put on vengeance as a cloak, and deal vengeance,\nthick and double, amongst the haters of Zion. It may be that we may\nsee Him sow and send down maledictions and vengeances as thick as\ndrops of rain or hail upon His enemies; for our Lord oweth them a\nblack day, and He useth duly to pay His debts. Neither His friend and\nfollowers, nor His foes and adversaries shall have it to say, \"That He\nis not faithful and exact in keeping His word.\"\n\nI know of no bar in God's way but Scotland's guiltiness; and He can\ncome over that impediment, and break that bar also, and then say to\nguilty Scotland, as He said, \"Not for your sakes\" (Ezek. xxxvi. 22,\n23), etc. On-waiting had ever yet a blessed issue; and to keep the\nword of God's patience, keepeth still the saints dry in the water,\ncold in the fire, and breathing and blood-hot in the grave. What are\nprisons of iron walls, and gates of brass, to Christ? Not so good as\nfail dykes, fortifications of straw, or old tottering walls. If He\ngive the word, then chains will fall off the arms and legs of His\nprisoners. God be thanked, that our Lord Jesus hath the tutoring of\nking, and court, and nobles; and that He can dry the gutters and the\nmires in Zion, and lay causeways to the temple with the carcases of\nbastard lord-prelates and idol shepherds. The corn on the housetops\ngot never the husbandman's prayers, and so is seen[311] on it, for it\nfilleth not the hand of mowers. Christ, and truth, and innocency,\nworketh even under the earth; and verily there is hope for the\nrighteous. We see not what conclusions pass in heaven anent all the\naffairs of God's house. We need not give hire to God to take vengeance\nof His enemies, for justice worketh without hire. Oh that the seed of\nhope would grow again, and come to maturity! and that we would\nimportune Christ, and double our knocks at His gate, and cast our\ncries and shouts over the wall, that He might come out, and make our\nJerusalem the praise of the whole earth, and give us salvation for\nwalls and bulwarks! If Christ bud, and grow green, and bloom, and bear\nseed again in Scotland, and His Father send Him two summers in one\nyear, and bless His crop, what cause have we to rejoice in the free\nsalvation of our Lord, and to set up our banners in the name of our\nGod! Oh that He would hasten the confusion of the leprous strumpet,\nthe mother and mistress of abominations in the earth, and take graven\nimages out of the way, and come in with the Jews in troops, and agree\nwith His old outcast and forsaken wife, and take them again to His bed\nof love. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in our Master and Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n [311] Is left there unreaped; Ps. cxxix. 8.\n\n\n\n\nCXCV.--_To the_ LADY LARGIRIE.\n\n [She was wife of the proprietor of Castermadie, in the Stewartry\n of Kirkcudbright. The place was called also _Largero_, or\n Largerie, in the parish of Twynholm, near Kirkcudbright.]\n\n(_CHRIST THE EXCLUSIVE OBJECT OF LOVE--PREPARATION FOR DEATH._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I exhort you in the\nLord, to go on in your journey to heaven; and to be content with such\nfare by the way as Christ and His followers have had before you; for\nthey had always the wind on their faces, and our Lord hath not changed\nthe way to us for our ease, but will have us following our sweet\nGuide. Alas, how doth sin clog us in our journey, and retard us! What\nfools are we, to have a by-good, or any other love, or match, to our\nsouls, beside Christ! It were best for us, like ill bairns, who are\nbest heard at home, to seek our own home, and to sell our hopes of\nthis little clay inn and idol of the earth, where we are neither well\nsummered nor well wintered. Oh that our souls would so fall at odds\nwith the love of this world, as to think of it as a traveller doth of\na drink of water, which is not any part of his treasure, but goeth\naway with the using! for ten miles' journey maketh that drink to him\nas nothing. Oh that we had as soon done with this world, and could as\nquickly despatch the love of it! But as a child cannot hold two apples\nin his little hand, but the one putteth the other out of its room, so\nneither can we be masters and lords of two loves. Blessed were we, if\nwe could make ourselves master of that invaluable treasure, the love\nof Christ; or rather suffer ourselves to be mastered and subdued to\nChrist's love, so as Christ were our \"all things,\" and all other\nthings our nothings, and the refuse of our delights. Oh let us be\nready for shipping, against the time our Lord's wind and tide call for\nus! Death is the last thief, that will come without din or noise of\nfeet, and take our souls away, and we shall take our leave of time,\nand face eternity; and our Lord will lay together the two sides of\nthis earthly tabernacle, and fold us, and lay us by, as a man layeth\nby clothes at night, and put the one half of us in a house of clay,\nthe dark grave, and the other half of us in heaven or hell. Seek to be\nfound of your Lord in peace, and gather in your flitting, and put your\nsoul in order; for Christ will not give a nail-breadth of time to our\nlittle sand-glass.\n\nPray for Zion, and for me, His prisoner, that He would be pleased to\nbring me amongst you again, full of Christ, and fraughted and loaden\nwith the blessing of His Gospel.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his only Lord and Master,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCXCVI.--_To EARLSTON, the Younger._\n\n(_SUFFERINGS--HOPE OF FINAL DELIVERANCE--THE BELIEVER IN SAFE\nKEEPING--THE RECOMPENSE MARRED BY TEMPTATIONS._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND DEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou.--I long to hear from you. I remain still a prisoner of hope, and\ndo think it service to the Lord to wait on still with submission, till\nthe Lord's morning sky break, and His summer day dawn. For I am\npersuaded that it is a piece of the chief errand of our life (on which\nGod sent us for some years, down to this earth, among devils and men,\nthe firebrands of the devil, and temptations), that we might suffer\nfor a time here amongst our enemies; otherwise He might have made\nheaven to wait on us, at our coming out of the womb, and have carried\nus home to our country, without letting us set down our feet in this\nknotty and thorny life. But seeing a piece of suffering is carved to\nevery one of us, less or more, as infinite Wisdom hath thought good,\nour part is to harden and habituate our soft and thin-skinned nature\nto endure fire and water, devils, lions, men, losses, wo hearts, as\nthose that are looked upon by God, angels, men, and devils. Oh, what\nfolly is it, to sit down and weep upon a decree of God, that is both\ndeaf and dumb to our tears, and must stand still as unmoveable as God\nwho made it! For who can come behind our Lord, to alter or better what\nHe hath decreed and done? It were better to make windows in our\nprison, and to look out to God and our country, heaven, and to cry\nlike fettered men who long for the King's free air, \"Lord, let Thy\nkingdom come! Oh, let the Bridegroom come! And, O day, O fair day, O\neverlasting summer day, dawn and shine out, break out from under the\nblack night sky, and shine!\" I am persuaded that, if every day a\nlittle stone in the prison-walls were broken, and thereby assurance\ngiven to the chained prisoner, lying under twenty stone of irons upon\narms and legs, that at length his chain should wear into two pieces,\nand a hole should be made at length as wide as he might come safely\nover to his long-desired liberty; he would, in patience, wait on, till\ntime should hole the prison-wall and break his chains. The Lord's\nhopeful prisoners, under their trials, are in that case. Years and\nmonths will take out, now one little stone, then another, of this\nhouse of clay; and at length time shall win out the breadth of a fair\ndoor, and send out the imprisoned soul to the free air in heaven. And\ntime shall file off, by little and little, our iron bolts which are\nnow on legs and arms, and outdate and wear our troubles threadbare and\nholey, and then wear them to nothing; for what I suffered yesterday, I\nknow, shall never come again to trouble me.\n\nOh that we could breathe out new hope, and new submission every day,\ninto Christ's lap! For, certainly, a weight of glory well weighed,\nyea, increasing to a far more exceeding and eternal weight, shall\nrecompense both weight and length of light, and clipped, and\nshort-dated crosses. Our waters are but ebb, and come neither to our\nchin, nor to the stopping of our breath. I may see (if I would borrow\neyes from Christ) dry land, and that near. Why then should we not\nlaugh at adversity, and scorn our short-born and soon-dying\ntemptations? I rejoice in the hope of that glory to be revealed, for\nit is no uncertain glory which we look for. Our hope is not hung upon\nsuch an untwisted thread as, \"I imagine so,\" or \"It is likely;\" but\nthe cable, the strong towe of our fastened anchor, is the oath and\npromise of Him who is eternal verity. Our salvation is fastened with\nGod's own hand, and with Christ's own strength, to the strong stoup of\nGod's unchangeable nature, \"I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye\nsons of Jacob are not consumed\" (Mal. iii. 6). We may play, and dance,\nand leap upon our worthy and immoveable Rock. The ground is sure and\ngood, and will bide hell's brangling, and devils' brangling, and the\nworld's assaults.\n\nOh, if our faith could ride it out against the high and proud waves\nand winds, when our sea seemeth to be all on fire! Oh, how oft do I\nlet my grips go! I am put to swimming and half sinking. I find that\nthe devil hath the advantage of the ground in this battle; for he\nfighteth on known ground, in our corrupt nature. Alas! that is a\nfriend near of kin and blood to himself, and will not fail to fall\nfoul upon us. And hence it is, that He who saveth to the uttermost,\nand leadeth many sons to glory, is still righting my salvation; and\ntwenty times a-day I ravel my heaven, and then I must come with my\nill-ravelled work to Christ, to cumber Him (as it were) to right it,\nand to seek again the right end of the thread, and to fold up again my\neternal glory with His own hand, and to give a right cast of His holy\nand gracious hand to my marred and spilled salvation. Certainly it is\na cumbersome thing to keep a foolish child from falls, and broken\nbrows, and weeping for this and that toy, and rash running, and\nsickness, and bairns' diseases; ere he win through them all, and win\nout of the mires, he costeth meikle black cumber and fashery to his\nkeepers. And so is a believer a cumbersome piece of work, and an\nill-ravelled hesp (as we use to say), to Christ. But God be thanked;\nfor many spilled salvations, and many ill-ravelled hesps hath Christ\nmended, since first He entered Tutor to lost mankind. Oh, what could\nwe bairns do without Him! How soon would we mar all! But the less of\nour weight be upon our own feeble legs, and the more that we be on\nChrist the strong Rock, the better for us. It is good for us that ever\nChrist took the cumber of us; it is our heaven to lay many weights and\nburdens upon Christ, and to make Him all we have, root and top,\nbeginning and ending of our salvation. Lord, hold us here.\n\nNow to this Tutor, and rich Lord, I recommend you. Hold fast till He\ncome; and remember His prisoner.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his and your Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCXCVII.--_To_ MR. WILLIAM DALGLEISH. [Letter CXVII.]\n\n(_THOUGHTS AS TO GOD'S ARRANGEMENTS--WINNING SOULS TO BE SUPREMELY\nDESIRED--LONGINGS FOR CHRIST._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I\nreceived your letter. I bless our high and only wise Lord, who hath\nbroken the snare that men had laid for you; and I hope that now He\nwill keep you in His house, in despite of the powers of hell. Who\nknoweth, but the streets of our Jerusalem shall yet be filled with\nyoung men, and with old men, and boys, and women with child? and that\nthey shall plant vines in the mountains of Samaria? I am sure that the\nwheels, paces, and motions of this poor church are tempered and ruled,\nnot as men would, but according to the good pleasure and infinite\nwisdom of our only wise Lord.\n\nI am here, waiting in hope that my innocency, in this honourable\ncause, shall melt this cloud that men have casten over me. I know that\nmy Lord had His own quarrels against me, and that my dross stood in\nneed of this hot furnace. But I rejoice in this, that fair truth,\nbeautiful truth (whose glory my Lord cleareth to me more and more),\nbeareth me company; that my weak aims to honour my Master, in bringing\nguests to His house, now swell upon me in comforts; that I am not\nafraid to want a witness in heaven; and that it was my joy to have a\ncrown put upon Christ's head in that country. Oh, what joy would I\nhave, to see the wind turn upon the enemies of the cross of Christ,\nand to see my Lord Jesus restored, with the voice of praise, to His\nown free throne again! and to be brought amongst you, to see the\nbeauty of the Lord's house!\n\nI hope that country will not be so silly as to suffer men to pluck you\naway from them; and that ye will use means to keep my place empty, and\nto bring me back again to the people to whom I have Christ's right,\nand His church's lawful calling.\n\nDear brother, let Christ be dearer and dearer to you. Let the conquest\nof souls be top and root, flower and bloom of your joys and desires,\non this side of sun and moon. And in the day when the Lord shall pull\nup the four stakes of this clay tent of the earth, and the last pickle\nof sand shall be at the nick of falling down in your watch-glass, and\nthe Master shall call the servants of the vineyard to give them their\nhire, ye will esteem the bloom of this world's glory like the colours\nof the rainbow, that no man can put into his purse and treasure. Your\nlabour and pains will then smile upon you.\n\nMy Lord now hath given me experience (howbeit weak and small) that our\nbest fare here is hunger. We are but at God's by-board in this lower\nhouse; we have cause to long for supper-time, and the high table, up\nin the high palace. This world deserveth nothing but the outer court\nof our soul. Lord, hasten the marriage-supper of the Lamb! I find it\nstill peace to give up with this present world, as with an old\ndecourted and cast off lover. My bread and drink in it is not so much\nworth, that I should not loathe the inns, and pack up my desires for\nChrist, whom[312] I have sent out to the feckless creatures in it.\n\n [312] Pack up for Christ the desires which I used to send out to the\n worthless things of earth.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Your affectionate brother, and Christ's prisoner,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCXCVIII.--_To the_ LAIRD OF CALLY.\n\n[Of JOHN LENNOX, Laird of Cally, near Girthon, in the Stewartry of\nKirkcudbright, to whom this letter is addressed, little is now known.\nHe must have died previous to the 26th of January 1647, as at that\ndate John Lennox of Cally is retoured heir of John Lennox of Cally,\nhis father, \"in the 20 pound land of Caliegertown, the 10 merk land of\nBurley, with mill and fishings of the same, within the parish of\nGirthon.\"\n\nThe modern mansion of Cally may be said, with its woods, to overhang\nthe village of _Gatehouse_, which also is entirely modern, and got its\nname from the fact that the lodge, or gatehouse, of Cally was the\nfirst house built on that spot. The old house has disappeared, any\nremnant of it being quite hid by the fine old trees of the mansion. It\nis properly in the parish of Girthon, but borders on Anwoth. The land\nof \"Calie-gerton,\" mentioned in the above extract, is evidently \"Cally\nin Girthon.\" _Gatehouse_ is one-half in Anwoth, and one-half in\nGirthon. The old parish church of Girthon is very like that of Anwoth,\nand more ivy-covered. It is in shape the same, 64 feet by 20. The\nmartyr _Lennox_ is buried close to the door; a slab marks the spot. It\nis 2\u00bd miles from Gatehouse. The Free Church of Anwoth is in\nGatehouse, the church being on the _Girthon_ side of the stream (the\nFleet), and the manse on the _Anwoth_ side. The Fleet (which is\nnavigable by very small vessels thus far) was formerly called Avon,\n\"the water;\" and this is the syllable that appears in both Girth-ON\nand An-WOTH,--the former signifying \"the village (or enclosure) on the\nwater;\" and the latter, \"the _ford_ of the water;\" unless \"woth\" be\nfor \"_worth_,\" village. The meaning of \"Cally\" seems to be \"wood,\"\nfrom the Gaelic, \"coille.\"]\n\n(_SPIRITUAL SLOTH--DANGER OF COMPROMISE--SELF, THE ROOT OF ALL\nSIN--SELF-RENUNCIATION._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear\nhow your soul prospereth. I have that confidence that your soul\nmindeth Christ and salvation. I beseech you, in the Lord, to give more\npains and diligence to fetch heaven than the country-sort of lazy\nprofessors, who think their own faith and their own godliness, because\nit is their own, best; and content themselves with a coldrife custom\nand course, with a resolution to summer and winter in that sort of\nprofession which the multitude and the times favour most; and are\nstill shaping and clipping and carving their faith, according as it\nmay best stand with their summer sun and a whole skin; and so breathe\nout hot and cold in God's matters, according to the course of the\ntimes. This is their compass which they sail towards heaven by,\ninstead of a better. Worthy and dear Sir, separate yourself from\nsuch, and bend yourself to the utmost of your strength and breath, in\nrunning fast for salvation; and, in taking Christ's kingdom, use\nviolence. It cost Christ and all His followers sharp showers and hot\nsweats, ere they won to the top of the mountain; but still our soft\nnature would have heaven coming to our bedside when we are sleeping,\nand lying down with us that we might go to heaven in warm clothes. But\nall that came there found wet feet by the way, and sharp storms that\ndid take the hide off their face, and found tos and fros, and ups and\ndowns, and many enemies by the way.\n\nIt is impossible that a man can take his lusts to heaven with him;\nsuch wares as these will not be welcome there. Oh, how loath are we to\nforego our packalds and burdens, that hinder us to run our race with\npatience! It is no small work to displease and anger nature, that we\nmay please God. Oh, if it be hard to win one foot, or half an inch,\nout of our own will, out of our own wit, out of our own ease and\nworldly lusts (and so to deny ourself, and to say, \"It is not I but\nChrist, not I but grace, not I but God's glory, not I but God's love\nconstraining me, not I but the Lord's word, not I but Christ's\ncommanding power as King in me!\"), oh, what pains, and what a death is\nit to nature, to turn me, myself, my lust, my ease, my credit, over\ninto, \"My Lord, my Saviour, my King, and my God, my Lord's will, my\nLord's grace!\" But, alas! that idol, that whorish creature, _myself_,\nis the master-idol we all bow to. What made Eve miscarry? and what\nhurried her headlong upon the forbidden fruit, but that wretched thing\n_herself_? What drew that brother-murderer to kill Abel? That\nwild[313] _himself_. What drove the old world on to corrupt their\nways? Who, but _themselves_, and their own pleasure? What was the\ncause of Solomon's falling into idolatry and multiplying of strange\nwives? What, but _himself_, whom he would rather pleasure than God?\nWhat was the hook that took David and snared him first in adultery,\nbut his _self-lust_? and then in murder, but his _self-credit_ and\n_self-honour_? What led Peter on to deny his Lord? Was it not a piece\nof _himself_, and _self-love_ to a whole skin? What made Judas sell\nhis Master for thirty pieces of money, but a piece of _self-love_,\nidolizing of avaricious _self_? What made Demas to go off the way of\nthe Gospel, to embrace this present world? Even _self-love_ and love\nof gain for himself. Every man blameth the devil for his sins; but\nthe great devil, the house-devil of every man, the house-devil that\neateth and lieth in every man's bosom, is that idol that killeth all,\n_himself_. Oh, blessed are they who can deny themselves, and put\nChrist in the room of themselves! Oh, would to the Lord that I had not\na _myself_, but Christ; nor a _my lust_, but Christ; nor a _my ease_,\nbut Christ; nor a _my honour_, but Christ! O sweet word! \"_I_ live no\nmore, but Christ liveth in me!\" (Gal. ii. 20). Oh, if every one would\nput away himself, his own self, his own ease, his own pleasure, his\nown credit, and his own twenty things, his own hundred things, which\nhe setteth up, as idols, above Christ! Dear Sir, I know that ye will\nbe looking back to your old self, and to your self-lust, and\nself-idol, which ye set up in the lusts of youth above Christ.\n\n [313] Untamed, unruly.\n\nWorthy Sir, pardon this my freedom of love; God is my witness, that it\nis out of an earnest desire after your soul's eternal welfare that I\nuse this freedom of speech. Your sun, I know, is lower, and your\nevening sky and sunsetting nearer, than when I saw you last: strive to\nend your talk before night, and to make Christ _yourself_, and to\nacquaint your love and your heart with the Lord. Stand now by Christ\nand His truth, when so many fail foully, and are false to Him. I hope\nthat ye love Him and His truth: let me have power with you, to confirm\nyou in Him. I think more of my Lord's sweet cross than of a crown of\ngold, and a free kingdom lying to it.\n\nSir, I remember you in my prayers to the Lord, according to my\npromise. Help me with your prayers, that our Lord would be pleased to\nbring me amongst you again, with the Gospel of Christ.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweetest Lord and Master,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCXCIX.--_To JOHN GORDON of Cardoness, the Younger._\n\n(_DANGERS OF YOUTH--EARLY DECISION._)\n\n\nDEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I\nlong exceedingly to hear of the case of your soul, which hath a large\nshare both of my prayers and careful thoughts. Sir, remember that a\nprecious treasure and prize is upon this short play that ye are now\nupon. Even the eternity of well or wo to your soul standeth upon the\nlittle point of your well or ill-employed, short, and swift-posting\nsand-glass. Seek the Lord while He may be found; the Lord waiteth upon\nyou. Your soul is of no little price. Gold or silver of as much bounds\nas would cover the highest heaven round about, cannot buy it. To live\nas others do, and to be free of open sins that the world crieth shame\nupon, will not bring you to heaven. As much civility and country\ndiscretion as would lie between you and heaven will not lead you one\nfoot, or one inch, above condemned nature. And therefore take pains\nupon seeking of salvation, and give your will, wit, humour, the green\ndesires of youth's pleasures off your hand, to Christ. It is not\npossible for you to know, till experience teach you, how dangerous a\ntime youth is. It is like green and wet timber. When Christ casteth\nfire on it, it taketh not fire. There is need here of more than\nordinary pains, for corrupt nature hath a good back-friend of youth.\nAnd sinning against light will put out your candle, and stupify your\nconscience, and bring upon it more coverings and skin, and less\nfeeling and sense of guiltiness; and when that is done, the devil is\nlike a mad horse that hath broken his bridle, and runneth away with\nhis rider whither he listeth. Learn to know that which the apostle\nknew, the deceitfulness of sin. Strive to make prayer, and reading,\nand holy company, and holy conference your delight; and when delight\ncometh in, ye shall by little and little smell the sweetness of\nChrist, till at length your soul be over head and ears in Christ's\nsweetness. Then shall ye be taken up to the top of the mountain with\nthe Lord, to know the ravishments of spiritual love, and the glory and\nexcellency of a seen, revealed, felt, and embraced Christ: and then ye\nshall not be able to loose yourself off Christ, and to bind your soul\nto old lovers. Then, and never till then, are all the paces, motions,\nwalkings, and wheels of your soul in a right tune, and in a spiritual\ntemper.\n\nBut if this world and the lusts thereof be your delight, I know not\nwhat Christ can make of you; ye cannot be metal to be a vessel of\nglory and mercy. As the Lord liveth, thousand thousands are beguiled\nwith security, because God, and wrath, and judgment are not terrible\nto them. Stand in awe of God, and of the warnings of a checking and\nrebuking conscience. Make others to see Christ in you, moving, doing,\nspeaking, and thinking. Your actions will smell of Him, if He be in\nyou. There is an instinct in the new-born babes of Christ, like the\ninstinct of nature that leads birds to build their nests, and bring\nforth their young, and love such and such places, as woods, forests,\nand wildernesses, better than other places. The instinct of nature\nmaketh a man love his mother-country above all countries; the instinct\nof renewed nature, and supernatural grace, will lead you to such and\nsuch works, as to love your country above, to sigh to be clothed with\nyour house not made with hands, and to call your borrowed prison here\nbelow a borrowed prison, and to look upon it servant-like and\npilgrim-like. And the pilgrim's eye and look is a disdainful-like,\ndiscontented cast of his eye, his heart crying after his eye, \"Fy, fy,\nthis is not like my country.\"\n\nI recommend to you the mending of a hole, and reforming of a failing,\none or other, every week; and put off a sin, or a piece of it, as\nanger, wrath, lust, intemperance, every day, that ye may more easily\nmaster the remnant of your corruption. God hath given you a wife; love\nher, and let her breasts satisfy you; and, for the Lord's sake, drink\nno waters but out of your own cistern. Strange wells are poison.\nStrive to learn some new way against your corruption from the man of\nGod, Mr. W. D. [William Dalgleish], or other servants of God. Sleep\nnot sound, till ye find yourself in that case that ye dare look death\nin the face, and durst hazard your soul upon eternity. I am sure that\nmany ells and inches of the short thread of your life are by-hand\nsince I saw you; and that thread hath an end; and ye have no hands to\ncast a knot, and add one day, or a finger-breadth, to the end of it.\nWhen hearing, and seeing, and the outer walls of the clay house shall\nfall down, and life shall render the besieged castle of clay to death\nand judgment, and ye find your time worn ebb, and run out, what\nthoughts will you then have of idol-pleasures, that possibly are now\nsweet? What bud or hire would you then give for the Lord's favour? and\nwhat a price would you then give for pardon? It were not amiss to\nthink, \"What if I were to receive a doom, and to enter into a furnace\nof fire and brimstone? What if it come to this, that I shall have no\nportion but utter darkness? And what if I be brought to this, to be\nbanished from the presence of God, and to be given over to God's\nserjeants, the devil and the power of the second death?\" Put your\nsoul, by supposition, in such a case, and consider what horror would\ntake hold of you, and what ye would then esteem of pleasing yourself\nin the course of sin. Oh, dear Sir, for the Lord's sake awake to live\nrighteously, and love your poor soul! And after ye have seen this my\nletter, say with yourself, \"The Lord will seek an account of this\nwarning which I have received.\"\n\nLodge Christ in your family. Receive no stranger hireling as your\npastor. I bless your children. Grace be with you.\n\n Your lawful and loving pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCC.--_To ROBERT GORDON, Bailie of Ayr._ [Letter CXXIX.]\n\n(_THE MISERY OF MERE WORLDLY HOPE--EARNESTNESS ABOUT SALVATION._)\n\n\nWORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear from\nyou. Our Lord is with His afflicted kirk, so that this Burning Bush is\nnot consumed to ashes. I know that submissive on-waiting for the Lord\nwill at length ripen the joy and deliverance of His own, who are truly\nblessed on-waiters. What is the dry and miscarrying hope of all them\nwho are not in Christ, but confusion and wind? Oh, how pitifully and\nmiserably are the children of this world beguiled, whose wine cometh\nhome to them water, and their gold brass and tin! And what wonder,\nthat hopes builded upon sand should fall and sink? It were good for us\nall to abandon the forlorn, and blasted, and withered hope which we\nhave had in the creature; and let us henceforth come and drink water\nout of our own well, even the fountain of living waters, and build\nourselves and our hope upon Christ our Rock. But, alas! that that\nnatural love which we have to this borrowed home that we were born in,\nand that this clay city, the vain earth, should have the largest share\nof our heart! Our poor, lean, and empty dreams of confidence in\nsomething beside God are no farther travelled than up and down the\nnoughty[314] and feckless creatures. God may say of us, as He said,\n\"Ye rejoice in a thing of nought\" (Amos vi. 13). Surely we spin our\nspider's web with pain, and build our rotten and tottering house upon\na lie, and falsehood, and vanity.\n\n [314] In which there is nothing. Other editions read \"_naughty_,\"\n _i.e._ evil.\n\nOh, when will we learn to have thoughts higher than the sun and moon!\nand learn our joy, hope, confidence, and our soul's desires to look up\nto our best country, and to look down to clay tents, set up for a\nnight's lodging or two in this uncouth land! and laugh at our childish\nconceptions and imaginations that suck our joy out of creatures--wo,\nsorrow, losses, and grief! O sweetest Lord Jesus! O fairest Godhead!\nO Flower of men and angels! why are we such strangers to, and far-off\nbeholders of, Thy glory? Oh, it were our happiness for evermore, that\nGod would cast a pest, a botch, a leprosy, upon our part of this great\nwhore, a fair and well-busked world, that clay might no longer deceive\nus! But oh that God may burn and blast our hope here-away, rather than\nthat our hope should live to burn us! Alas! the wrong side of Christ\n(to speak so), His black side, His suffering side, His wounds, His\nbare coat, His wants, His wrongs, the oppressions of men done to Him,\nare turned towards men's eyes; and they see not the best and fairest\nside of Christ, nor see they His amiable face and His beauty, that men\nand angels wonder at.\n\nSir, lend your thoughts to these things, and learn to contemn this\nworld, and to turn your eyes and heart away from beholding the masked\nbeauty of all things under time's law and doom. See Him who is\ninvisible, and His invisible things. Draw by the curtain, and look in\nwith liking and longing to a kingdom undefiled, that fadeth not away,\nreserved for you in the heaven. This is worthy of your pains, and\nworthy of your soul's sweating, and labouring, and seeking after,\nnight and day. Fire will fly over the earth and all that is in it;\neven destruction from the Almighty. Fy, fy, upon that hope, that shall\nbe dried up by the root! Fy upon the drunken night-bargains, and the\ndrunken and mad covenants that sinners make with death and hell after\ncups, and when men's souls are mad and drunken with the love of this\nlawless life. They think to make a nest for their hopes, and take\nquarters and conditions of hell and death, that they shall have ease,\nlong life, peace; and in the morning, when the last trumpet shall\nawake them, then they rue the block. It is time, and high time, for\nyou to think upon death and your accounts, and to remember what ye\nare, and where ye will be before the year of our Lord 1700. I hope ye\nare thinking upon this. Pull at your soul, and draw it aside from the\ncompany that it is with and round, and whisper into it news of\neternity, death, judgment, heaven, and hell. Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCI.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Earlston._\n\n(_CHRIST'S KINGDOM TO BE EXALTED OVER ALL; AND MORE PAINS TO BE TAKEN\nTO WIN FARTHER UNTO HIM._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--It is like, if\nye, the gentry and nobility of this nation, be \"men in the streets\"\n(as the word speaketh Jer. v. 1) for the Lord, that He will now\ndeliver His flock, and gather and rescue His scattered sheep, from the\nhands of cruel and rigorous lords that have ruled over them with\nforce. Oh that mine eyes might see the moon-light turn to the light of\nthe sun! But I still fear that the quarrel of a broken covenant in\nScotland standeth before the Lord.\n\nHowever it be, I avouch it before the world, that the tabernacle of\nthe Lord shall again be in the midst of Scotland, and the glory of the\nLord shall dwell in beauty, as the light of many days in one, in this\nland. Oh, what could my soul desire more (next to my Lord Jesus),\nwhile I am in this flesh, but that Christ and His kingdom might be\ngreat among Jews and Gentiles; and that the isles, and amongst them\noverclouded and darkened Britain, might have the glory of a noon-day's\nsun! Oh that I had anything (I will not except my part in Christ) to\nwadset or lay in pledge, to redeem and buy such glory to my highest\nand royal Prince, my sweet Lord Jesus! My poor little heaven were well\nbestowed, if it could stand a pawn for ever to set on high the glory\nof my Lord. But I know that He needeth not wages nor hire at my hand;\nyea, I know, if my eternal glory could weigh down in weight its lone,\nall the eternal glory of the blessed angels, and of all the spirits of\njust and perfect men, glorified and to be glorified, oh, alas! how far\nam I engaged to forego it for, and give it over to Christ, so being He\nmight thereby be set on high above ten thousand thousand millions of\nheavens, in the conquest of many, many nations to His kingdom! Oh that\nHis kingdom would come! Oh that all the world would stoop before Him!\nO blessed hands that shall put the crown upon Christ's head in\nScotland! But, alas! I can scarce get leave to ware my love on Him. I\ncan find no ways to lay out my heart upon Christ; and my love, that I\nwith my soul bestow on Him, is like to die upon my hand. And I think\nit no bairn's play to be hungered with Christ's love. To love Him and\nto want Him, wanteth little of hell. I am sure that He knoweth now my\njoy would swell upon me, from a little well to a great sea, to have\nas much of His love, and as wide a soul answerable to comprehend it,\ntill I cried, \"Hold, Lord! no more.\" But I find that He will not have\nme to be mine own steward, nor mine own carver. Christ keepeth the\nkeys of Christ (to speak so), and of His own love; and He is a wiser\ndistributor than I can take up. I know that there is more in Him than\nwould make me run over like a coast-full sea. I were happy for\nevermore to get leave to stand but beside Christ and His love, and to\nlook in; suppose I were interdicted of God to come near-hand, touch,\nor embrace, kiss, or set to my sinful head, and drink myself drunk\nwith that lovely thing. God send me that which I would have! For now I\nverily see, more clearly than before, our folly in drinking dead\nwaters, and in playing the whore with our soul's love upon running-out\nwells, and broken sherds of creatures of yesterday, which time will\nunlaw with the penalty of losing their being and natural ornaments.\nOh, when a soul's love is itching (to speak so) for God; and when\nChrist, in His boundless and bottomless love, beauty, and excellency,\ncometh and rubbeth up and exciteth that love, what can be heaven, if\nthis be not heaven? I am sure that this bit feckless, narrow, and\nshort love of regenerated sinners was born for no other end, than to\nbreathe, and live, and love, and dwell in the bosom and betwixt the\nbreasts of Christ. Where is there a bed or a lodging for the saint's\nlove, but Christ? Oh that He would take ourselves off our hand! for\nneither we nor the creatures can be either due conquest, or lawful\nheritage, to love. Christ, and none but Christ, is Lord and Proprietor\nof it. Oh, alas, how pitiful is it, that so much of our love goeth by\nHim! Oh, but we be wretched masters of our soul's love. I know it to\nbe the depth of bottomless and unsearchable providence, that the\nsaints are suffered to play the whore from God, and that their love\ngoeth a-hunting, when God knoweth that it shall roast nothing of that\nat supper time (Prov. xii. 27). The renewed would have it otherwise;\nand why is it so, seeing our Lord can keep us without nodding,\ntottering, or reeling, or any fall at all? Our desires, I hope, shall\nmeet with perfection; but God will have our sins an office-house for\nGod's grace, and hath made sin a matter of an unlaw and penalty for\nthe Son of God's blood. And howbeit sin should be our sorrow, yet\nthere is a sort of acquiescing and resting upon God's dispensation\nrequired of us, that there is such a thing in us as sin, whereupon\nmercy, forgiveness, healing, curing, in our sweet Physician, may find\na field to work upon. Oh, what a deep is here, that created wit\ncannot take up! However matters go, it is our happiness to win new\nground daily in Christ's love, and to purchase a new piece of it\ndaily, and to add conquest to conquest, till our Lord Jesus and we be\nso near each other, that Satan shall not draw a straw or a thread\nbetwixt us.\n\nAnd, for myself, I have no greater joy, in my well-favoured bonds for\nChrist, than that I know time will put Him and me together; and that\nmy love and longing hath room and liberty, amidst my bonds and foes\n(whereof there are not a few here of all ranks), to go to visit the\nborders and outer coasts of the country of my Lord Jesus, and see, at\nleast afar off and darkly, the country which shall be mine\ninheritance, which is the due of my Lord Jesus, both through birth and\nconquest. I dare avouch to all that know God, that the saints know not\nthe length and largeness of the sweet earnest, and of the sweet green\nsheaves before the harvest, that might be had on this side of the\nwater, if we would take more pains: and that we all go to heaven with\nless earnest, and lighter purses of the hoped-for sum, than otherwise\nwe might do, if we took more pains to win further in upon Christ, in\nthis pilgrimage of our absence from Him.\n\nGrace, grace and glory be your portion.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCII.--_To the_ LAIRD OF CALLY.\n\n(_YOUTH A PRECIOUS SEASON--CHRIST'S BEAUTY._)\n\n\nWORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I have been too long,\nI confess, in writing to you. My suit now to you, in paper, since I\nhave no access to speak to you as formerly, is, that ye would lay the\nfoundation sure in your youth. When ye begin to seek Christ, try, I\npray you, upon what terms ye covenant to follow Him, and lay your\naccount what it may cost you; that neither summer nor winter, nor well\nnor woe, may cause you change your Master, Christ. Keep fair to Him,\nand be honest and faithful, that He find not a crack in you. Surely ye\nare now in the throng of temptations. When youth is come to its\nfairest bloom, then the devil, and the lusts of a deceiving world, and\nsin, are upon horseback, and follow with upsails. If this were not so,\nPaul needeth not to have written to a sanctified and holy youth,\nTimothy (a faithful preacher of the Gospel), to flee the lusts of\nyouth. Give Christ your virgin love; you cannot put your love and\nheart into a better hand. Oh! if ye knew Him, and saw His beauty, your\nlove, your liking, your heart, your desires, would close with Him, and\ncleave to Him. Love, by nature, when it seeth, cannot but cast out its\nspirit and strength upon amiable objects, and good things, and things\nlove-worthy; and what fairer thing than Christ? O fair sun, and fair\nmoon, and fair stars, and fair flowers, and fair roses, and fair\nlilies, and fair creatures; but O ten thousand thousand times fairer\nLord Jesus! Alas, I wronged Him in making the comparison this way! O\nblack sun and moon, but O fair Lord Jesus! O black flowers, and black\nlilies and roses, but O fair, fair, ever fair Lord Jesus! O all fair\nthings black and deformed, without beauty, when ye are beside that\nfairest Lord Jesus! O black heaven, but O fair Christ! O black angels,\nbut surpassingly fair Lord Jesus! I would seek no more to make me\nhappy for evermore, but a thorough and clear sight of the beauty of\nJesus, my Lord. Let my eyes enjoy His fairness, and stare Him for ever\nin the face, and I have all that can be wished. Get Christ rather than\ngold or silver; seek Christ, howbeit ye should lose all things for\nHim.\n\nThey take their marks by the moon,[315] and look asquint, in looking\nto fair Christ, who resolve for the world and their ease, and for\ntheir honour, and court, and credit, or for fear of losses and a sore\nskin, to turn their backs upon Christ and His truth. Alas, how many\nblind eyes and squint lookers look this day in Scotland upon Christ's\nbeauty, and they see a spot in Christ's fair face! Alas, they are not\nworthy of Christ who look this way upon Him, and see no beauty in Him\nwhy they should desire Him! God send me my fill of His beauty, if it\nbe possible that my soul can be full of His beauty here. But much of\nChrist's beauty needeth not abate the eager appetite of a soul (sick\nof love for Himself) to see Him in the other world, where He is seen\nas He is.\n\n [315] A proverb for being changeable, or for judging by imperfect\n evidence.\n\nI am glad, with all my heart, that ye have given your greenest\nmorning-age to this Lord Jesus. Hold on, and weary not; faint not.\nResolve upon suffering for Christ; but fear not ten days' tribulation,\nfor Christ's sour cross is sugared with comforts, and hath a taste of\nChrist Himself. I esteem it to be my glory, my joy, and my crown, and\nI bless Him for this honour, to be yoked with Christ, and married to\nHim in suffering, who therefore was born, and therefore came into the\nworld, that He might bear witness to the truth. Take pains, above all\nthings, for salvation; for without running, fighting, sweating,\nwrestling, heaven is not taken. Oh, happy soul, that crosseth nature's\nstomach, and delighteth to gain that fair garland and crown of glory!\nWhat a feckless loss is it for you to go through this wilderness, and\nnever taste sin's sugared pleasures! What poorer is a soul to want\npride, lust, love of the world, and the vanities of this vain and\nworthless world? Nature hath no cause to weep at the want of such toys\nas these. Esteem it your gain to be an heir of glory. Oh, but this is\nan eye-look to a fair rent! The very hope of heaven, under troubles,\nis like wind and sails to the soul, and like wings, when the feet come\nout of the snare. Oh, for what stay we here? Up, up, after our Lord\nJesus! This is not our rest, nor our dwelling. What have we to do in\nthis prison, except only to take meat and house-room in it for a time?\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Your soul's well-wisher, and Christ's prisoner,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCIII.--_To WILLIAM GORDON at Kenmure._\n\n [This maybe the same correspondent as he to whom Letter LXXII. is\n addressed. He may have been on a visit to Kenmure.]\n\n(_TESTIMONY TO CHRIST'S WORTH--MARKS OF GRACE IN CONVICTION OF SIN AND\nSPIRITUAL CONFLICT._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I have been long in\nanswering your letter, which came in good time to me. It is my aim and\nhearty desire, that my furnace, which is of the Lord's kindling, may\nsparkle fire upon standers-by, to the warming of their hearts with\nGod's love. The very dust that falleth from Christ's feet, His old\nragged clothes, His knotty and black cross, are sweeter to me than\nkings' golden crowns, and their time-eaten pleasures. I should be a\nliar and false witness, if I would not give my Lord Jesus a fair\ntestimonial with my whole soul. My word, I know, will not heighten\nHim: He needeth not such props under His feet to raise His glory high.\nBut, oh that I could raise Him the height of heaven, and the breadth\nand length of ten heavens, in the estimation of all His young lovers!\nfor we have all shapen Christ but too narrow and too short, and\nformed conceptions of His love, in our conceit, very unworthy of it.\nOh that men were taken and catched with His beauty and fairness! they\nwould give over playing with idols, in which there is not half room\nfor the love of one soul to expatiate itself. And man's love is but\nheart-hungered in gnawing upon bare bones, and sucking at dry breasts.\nIt is well wared[316] they want who will not come to Him who hath a\nworld of love, and goodness, and bounty for all. We seek to thaw our\nfrozen hearts at the cold smoke of the short-timed creature, and our\nsouls gather neither heat, nor life, nor light; for these cannot give\nto us what they have not in themselves. Oh that we could thrust in\nthrough these thorns, and this throng of bastard lovers, and be\nravished and sick of love for Christ! We should find some footing, and\nsome room, and sweet ease for our tottering and witless souls in our\nLord. I wish it were in my power, after this day, to cry down all love\nbut the love of Christ, and to cry down all gods but Christ, all\nsaviours but Christ, all well-beloveds but Christ, and all\nsoul-suitors and love-beggars but Christ.\n\n [316] Their poverty is well-deserved who.\n\nYe complain that ye want a mark of the sound work of grace and love in\nyour soul. For answer, consider for your satisfaction (till God send\nmore) 1 John iii. 14. And as for your complaint of deadness and\ndoubtings, Christ will, I hope, take your deadness and you together.\nThey are bodies full of holes, running boils, and broken bones which\nneed mending, that Christ the Physician taketh up: whole vessels are\nnot for the Mediator Christ's art. Publicans, sinners, whores,\nharlots, are ready market-wares for Christ. The only thing that will\nbring sinners within a cast of Christ's drawing arm is that which ye\nwrite of, some feeling of death and sin. That bringeth forth\ncomplaints; and, therefore, out of sense complain more, and be more\nacquaint with all the cramps, stitches, and soul-swoonings that\ntrouble you. The more pain, and the more night-watching, and the more\nfevers, the better. A soul bleeding to death, till Christ were sent\nfor, and cried for in all haste, to come and stem the blood, and close\nup the hole in the wound with His own hand and balm, were a very good\ndisease, when many are dying of a whole heart. We have all too little\nof hell-pain and terrors that way; nay,[317] God send me such a hell\nas Christ hath promised to make a heaven of. Alas! I am not come that\nfar on the way, as to say in sad earnest, \"Lord Jesus, great and\nsovereign Physician, here is a pained patient for Thee.\" But the\nthing that we mistake is the want of victory. We hold that to be the\nmark of one that hath no grace. Nay, say I, the want of _fighting_\nwere a mark of no grace; but I shall not say the want of _victory_ is\nsuch a mark. If my fire and the devil's water make crackling like\nthunder in the air, I am the less feared; for where there is fire, it\nis Christ's part, which I lay and bind upon Him, to keep in the coal,\nand to pray the Father that my faith fail not, if I in the meantime be\nwrestling, and doing, and fighting, and mourning. For prayer putteth\nnot Paul's devil (the thorn in the flesh, and the messenger of Satan)\nto the door at first; but our Lord will have them to try every one,\nand let Paul fend for himself, by God's help, God keeping the stakes,\nand moderating the play. And ye do well not to doubt, if the\nground-stone be sure, but to try if it be so; for there is great odds\nbetween doubting that we have grace, and trying if we have grace. The\nformer may be sin, but the latter is good. We are but loose in trying\nour free-holding of Christ, and making sure work of Christ. Holy fear\nis a searching of the camp, that there be no enemy within our bosom to\nbetray us, and a seeing that all be fast and sure. For I see many\nleaky vessels fair before the wind, and professors who take their\nconversion upon trust, and they go on securely, and see not the\nunder-water, till a storm sink them. Each man had need twice a-day,\nand oftener, to be riped, and searched with candles.\n\n [317] \"_May_\" God send me?\n\nPray for me, that the Lord would give me house-room again, to hold a\ncandle to this dark world.--Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord and Master,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCIV.--_To_ MARGARET FULLERTON.\n\n(_CHRIST, AND NOT CREATURES, WORTHY OF ALL LOVE--LOVE NOT TO BE\nMEASURED BY FEELING._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am glad that ever ye\ndid cast your love on Christ; fasten more and more love every day on\nHim. Oh, if I had a river of love, a sea of love that would never go\ndry, to bestow upon Him! But, alas, the pity! Christ hath beauty for\nme, but I have not love for Him. Oh, what pain is it to see Christ in\nHis beauty, and then to want a heart and love for Him! But I see that\nwant we must, till Christ lend us, never to be paid again. Oh that He\nwould empty these vaults and lower houses (of these poor souls) of\nbastard and base lovers, which we follow! And verily, I see no object\nin heaven or in earth that I could ware this much of love upon, that I\nhave upon Christ. Alas! that clay, and time, and shadows, run away\nwith our love, which is ill spent upon any but upon Christ. Each fool\nat the day of judgment will seek back his love from the creatures,\nwhen he shall see them all in a fair fire. But they shall prove\nirresponsal debtors; and, therefore, it is best here, that we look ere\nwe leap, and look ere we love.\n\nI find now under His cross, that I would fain give Him more than I\nhave to give Him, if giving were in my power; but I rather wish Him my\nheart, than give Him it. Except He take it, and put Himself in\npossession of it (for I hope[318] He hath a market-right to me, since\nHe hath ransomed me), I see not how Christ can have me. Oh that He\nwould be pleased to be more homely with my soul's love, and to come\ninto my soul, and take His own! But when He goeth away and hideth\nHimself, all is to me that I had of Christ as if it had fallen into\nthe sea-bottom. Oh that I should be so fickle in my love, as to love\nHim only by the eyes and the nose! that is, to love Him only in as far\nas fond and foolish sense carrieth me, and no more; and when I see\nnot, and smell not, and touch not, then I have all to seek. I cannot\nlove _perqueer_, nor rejoice _perqueer_. But this is our weakness,\ntill we be at home, and shall have aged men's stomachs to bear\nChrist's love.\n\n [318] No doubt He hath--_q.d._ I trust none denies.\n\nPray for me, that our Lord would bring me back to you, with a new\nblessing of the Gospel of Christ. I forget not you. Grace, grace be\nwith you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCV.--_For the Right Honourable my_ LADY VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.\n\n(_DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY TO THE KINGDOM--CHRIST'S LOVE._)\n\n\nMY VERY NOBLE AND DEAR LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--The\nLord hath brought me safely to Aberdeen: I have gotten lodging in the\nhearts of all I meet with. No face that hath not smiled upon me; only\nthe indwellers of this town are dry, cold, and general. They consist\nof Papists, and men of Gallio's metal, firm in no religion; and it is\ncounted no wisdom here to countenance a confined and silenced\nprisoner. But the shame of Christ's cross shall not be my shame.\nQueensberry's attempt seemeth to sleep, because the Bishop of Galloway\nwas pleased to say to the treasurer that I had committed treason;\nwhich word blunted the treasurer's borrowed zeal. So I thank God, who\nwill not have me to anchor my soul upon false ground, or upon flesh\nand blood; it is better to be fastened within the vail.\n\nI find my old challenges reviving again, and my love often jealous of\nChrist's love, when I look upon my own guiltiness. And I verily think\nthat the world hath too soft an opinion of the gate to heaven, and\nthat many shall get a blind and sad beguile for heaven. For there is\nmore ado than a cold and frozen \"Lord, Lord.\" It must be a way\nnarrower and straiter than we conceive; for \"the righteous shall\n_scarcely_ be saved.\" It were good to take a more judicious view of\nChristianity; for I have been doubting if ever I knew any more of\nChristianity than the letters of the name.\n\nI will not lie on my Lord. I find often much joy and unspeakable\ncomfort in His sweet presence, who sent me hither; and I trust, this\nhouse of my pilgrimage shall be my palace, my garden of delights, and\nthat Christ will be kind to poor sold Joseph, who is separated from\nhis brethren. I would be sometimes too hot, and too joyful, if the\nheart-breaks at the remembrance of sin, and fair, fair feast-days with\nKing Jesus, did not cool me, and sour my sweet joys. Oh, how sweet is\nthe love of Christ! and how wise is that love! But let faith frist and\ntrust a while; it is no reason sons should offend, that the father\ngiveth them not twice a-year hire, as he doth to hired servants.\nBetter that God's heirs live upon _hope_, than upon _hire_.\n\nMadam, your Ladyship knoweth what Christ hath done to have all your\nlove; and that He alloweth not His love[319] upon your dear child.\nKeep good quarters with Christ in your love. I verily think that\nChrist hath said, \"I must needs-force have Jean Campbell for Myself;\"\nand He hath laid many oars in the water, to fish and hunt home-over\nyour heart to heaven. Let Him have His prey, He will think you well\nwon, when He hath gotten you. It is good to have recourse often, and\nto have the door open, to our stronghold. For the sword of the Lord,\nthe sword of the Lord is for Scotland! And yet two or three berries\nshall be left in the top of the olive-tree.\n\n [319] Does not permit you to give the child that love which belongs to\n Himself.\n\nIf a word can do my brother good in his distress, I know your Ladyship\nwill be willing and ready to speak it, and more also. Now the only\nwise God, and your only, only One, He who dwelt in The Bush, be with\nyou. I write many kisses and many blessings in Christ to your dear\nchild: the blessings of his father's God, the blessings due to the\nfatherless and the widow, be yours and his.\n\n Your Ladyship's in his only, only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\nPOSTSCRIPT.\n\nMadam, be pleased at a fit time to try my Lord of Lorn's mind, if his\nLordship would be pleased that I dedicate another work against the\nArminians, to his honourable name.[320] For howbeit I would compare no\npatron to his Lordship, and though I have sufficient experience of his\nlove, yet it is possible that his Lordship may think it not expedient\nat this time. But I expect your Ladyship's answer, and I hope that\nyour Ladyship will be plain.\n\n [320] \"What his Lordship's answer was, we are not informed; but\n Rutherford did not publish any book at that time, or for some years\n afterwards, though it is not improbable that, while under confinement,\n he devoted himself much to theological study\" (Murray's \"Life of\n Rutherford\").\n\n\n\n\nCCVI.--_For the Right Honourable my_ LADY VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.\n\n(_THE USE OF SUFFERINGS--FEARS UNDER THEM--DESIRE THAT CHRIST BE\nGLORIFIED._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your Ladyship.--I long to hear\nfrom you, and that dear child; and for that cause I trouble you with\nletters.\n\nI am for the present thinking the sparrows and the swallows, that\nbuild their nests in Anwoth, blessed birds. The Lord hath made all my\ncongregation desolate. Alas! I am oft at this, \"Show me wherefore Thou\ncontendest with me.\" O earth, earth, cover not the violence done to\nme. I know it is my faithless jealousy, in this my dark night, to take\na friend for a foe; yet hath not my Lord made any plea with me. I\nchide with Him, but He giveth me fair words. Seeing my sins and the\nsins of my youth deserved strokes, how am I obliged to my Lord, who\namongst many crosses hath given me a waled and chosen cross, to suffer\nfor the name of my Lord Jesus! Since I must have chains, He would put\ngolden chains on me, watered over with many consolations. Seeing I\nmust have sorrow (for I have sinned, O Preserver of mankind!), He\nhath waled out for me joyful sorrow,--honest, spiritual, and glorious\nsorrow. My crosses come through mercy and love's fingers, from the\nkind heart of a Brother, Christ my Lord; and, therefore, they must be\nsweet and sugared. Oh, what am I! such a lump, such a rotten mass of\nsin, to be counted a bairn worthy to be nurtured, and stricken with\nthe best and most honourable rod in my Father's house, the golden rod,\nwherewith my eldest Brother, the Lord, Heir of the inheritance, and\nHis faithful witnesses were stricken withal.\n\nIt would be thought that I should be thankful and rejoice. But my\nbeholders and lovers in Christ have eyes of flesh, and have made my\none to be ten, and I am somebody in their books. My witness is above,\nthat there are armies of thoughts within me saying the contrary, and\nlaughing at their wide mistake. If my inner side were seen, my\ncorruption would appear: I would lose and forfeit love and respect at\nthe hands of any that love God: pity would come in the place of these.\nOh, if they would yet set me lower, and my well-beloved Christ higher!\nI would I had grace and strength of my Lord to be joyful, and\ncontentedly glad and cheerful, that God's glory might ride, and openly\ntriumph before the view of men, angels, devils, earth, heaven, hell,\nsun, moon, and all God's creatures, upon my pain and sufferings;\nproviding always, that I felt not the Lord's hatred and displeasure.\n\nBut I fear that His fair glory be but soiled in coming through such a\nfoul creature as I am. If I could be the sinless matter of glorifying\nChrist, howbeit to my loss, pain, sufferings, and extremity of\nwretchedness, how would my soul rejoice! But I am far from this. He\nknoweth that His love hath made me a prisoner, and bound me hand and\nfoot; but it is my pain that I cannot win loose, nor get loose hands\nand a loosed heart, to do service to my Lord Jesus, and to speak His\nlove. I confess that I have neither tongue nor pen to do it. Christ's\nlove is more than my praises, and above the thoughts of the angel\nGabriel, and all the mighty hosts that stand before the throne of God.\nI think shame, I am sad and cast down, to think that my foul tongue,\nand my polluted heart, should come in to help others to sing aloud the\npraises of the love of Christ: all I dow do, is to wish the choir to\ngrow throng,[321] and to grow in the extolling of Christ. Wo, wo is me\nfor my guiltiness seen to few! My hidden wounds, still bleeding\nwithin me, are before the eyes of no man; but if my sweet Lord Jesus\nwere not still bathing, washing, balming, healing, and binding them\nup, they should rot, and break out to my shame.\n\n [321] Grow into a multitude.\n\nI know not what will be the end of my suffering. I have seen but the\none side of my cross; what will be the other side, He knoweth who hath\nHis fire in Zion. Let Him lead me, if it were through hell. I thank my\nLord, that my on-waiting and holding my peace as I do (to see what\nmore Christ will do to me), is my joy. Oh, if my ease, joy, pleasure\nfor evermore, were laid in wadset and in pledge, to buy praises to\nChrist! But I am far from this. It is easy for a poor soul, in the\ndeep debt of Christ's love, to spit farther[322] than he dow leap or\njump, and to feed upon broad wishes that Christ may be honoured; but\nin performance I am stark nought. I have nothing, nothing to give\nChrist but poverty. Except He would comprise and arrest my soul and my\nlove (oh, oh, if He would do that!), I have nothing for Him. He may\nindeed seize upon a dyvour's person, soul and body; but he hath no\ngoods for Christ to meddle with. But how glad would my soul be, if He\nwould forfeit my love and never give it me again!\n\n [322] To show a wish to get at more than he can accomplish.\n\nMadam, I would be glad to hear that Christ's claim to you were still\nthe more, and that you were still going forward, and that you were\nnearer Him. I do not honour Christ myself; but I wish all others to\nmake sail to Christ's house. I would I could invite you to go into\nyour Well-beloved's house-of-wine, and that upon my word; you would\nthen see a new mystery of love in Christ that you never saw before.\n\nI am somewhat encouraged in that your Ladyship is not dry and cold to\nChrist's prisoner, as some are. I hope it is put up in my Master's\ncount-book. I am not much grieved that my jealous Husband break in\npieces my idols, that either they dare not or will not do for me. My\nMaster needeth not their help, but they had need to be that\nserviceable as to help Him. Madam, I have been that bold as to put you\nand that sweet child into the prayers of Mr. Andrew Cant, Mr. James\nMartin, the Lady Leyes, and some others in this country that truly\nlove Christ. Be pleased to let me hear how the child is. The blessings\nthat came \"upon the head of Joseph, and on the top of the head of him\nwho was separated from his brethren,\" and the \"good-will of Him who\ndwelt in The Bush,\" be seen upon him and you. Madam, I can say, by\nsome little experience, more now than before of Christ to you. I am\nstill upon this, that if you seek, there is a pose, a hidden treasure,\nand a gold mine in Christ, you never yet saw. Then come and see.\n\nThus recommending you to God's dearest mercy, I rest, your own, in his\nsweet Lord Jesus, at all obedience,\n\n S. R.\n\n My Lady Marischall[323] is very kind to me, and her son also.\n\n ABERDEEN, _June 17, 1637_.\n\n [323] Lady Marischall, whose maiden name was Margaret Erskine, being\n the eldest daughter of John Erskine, seventh Earl of Mar, by Lady\n Margaret Stewart, daughter to Esme, Duke of Lennox, was the wife of\n William, sixth Earl of Marischall. In 1635 she became a widow, his\n Lordship having died on the 28th of October that year, aged about\n fifty. She had to him seven children, four sons and three daughters\n (Douglas' \"Peerage\").\n\nLady Marischall's son, whose kindness also Rutherford gratefully\nrecords, was William, who succeeded his father. He was a devoted\nadherent of Charles II.; and entering with zeal into the engagement in\n1648 for the King's liberation, commanded a regiment of horse at the\nbattle of Preston, where the Scottish army was routed by the English.\nWhen he and others of the King's friends, who had assembled at Alyth\nin 1650 for the support of the royal cause, were surprised by a large\nbody of English horse, the Earl and some of his friends were sent\nprisoners to the Tower of London by sea, where he was kept for a long\ntime. He died in 1670, at his house of Inverringie.\n\n\n\n\nCCVII.--TO JOHN HENDERSON, _in Rusco_.\n\n [He was probably tenant in the farm of Rusco, which is at the\n foot of the hill Castramont, a farm on the property of Gordon of\n Rusco.]\n\n(_PRACTICAL HINTS_.)\n\n\nLOVING FRIEND,--I earnestly desire your salvation. Know the Lord and\nseek Christ. You have a soul that cannot die: see for a lodging to\nyour poor soul; for that house of clay will fall. Heaven or nothing!\neither Christ or nothing! Use prayer in your house, and set your\nthoughts often upon death and judgment. It is dangerous to be loose in\nthe matter of your salvation. Few are saved; men go to heaven in ones\nand twos, and the whole world lieth in sin. Love your enemies, and\nstand by the truth which I have taught you, in all things. Fear not\nmen, but let God be your fear. Your time will not be long: make the\nseeking of Christ your daily task. Ye may, when ye are in the fields,\nspeak to God. Seek a broken heart for sin; for without that there is\nno meeting with Christ. I speak this to your wife, as well as to\nyourself. I desire your sister, in her fears and doubtings, to fasten\nher grips on Christ's love. I forbid her to doubt; for Christ loveth\nher, and hath her name written in His book. Her salvation is fast\ncoming. Christ her Lord is not slow in coming, nor slack in His\npromise.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Your loving pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n\n\n\nCCVIII.--_To MR. ALEXANDER COLVILLE of Blair._ [Letter XCIX.]\n\n(_REGRETS FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO PREACH--LONGINGS FOR CHRIST._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I would desire\nto know how my Lord took my letter, which I sent him, and how he is. I\ndesire nothing, but that he may be fast and honest to my royal Master\nand King.\n\nI am well every way, all praise to Him in whose books I must stand for\never as His debtor! Only my silence paineth me. I had one joy out of\nheaven, next to Christ my Lord, and that was to preach Him to this\nfaithless generation; and they have taken that from me. It was to me\nas the poor man's one eye, and they have put out that eye. I know that\nthe violence done to me, and His poor bereft bride, is come up before\nthe Lord; and, suppose that I see not the other side of my cross, or\nwhat my Lord will bring out of it, yet I believe that the vision shall\nnot tarry, and that Christ is on His journey for my deliverance. He\ngoeth not slowly, but passeth over ten mountains at one stride. In the\nmeantime, I am pained with His love, because I want real possession.\nWhen Christ cometh, He stayeth not long; but certainly, the blowing of\nHis breath upon a poor soul is heaven upon earth; and when the wind\nturneth into the north, and He goeth away, I die, till the wind change\ninto the west, and He visit His prisoner. But He holdeth me not often\nat His door. I am richly repaid for suffering for Him. Oh, if all\nScotland were as I am, except my bonds! Oh, what pain I have, because\nI cannot get Him praised by my sufferings! Oh that heaven (within and\nwithout) and the earth were paper, and all the rivers, fountains, and\nseas were ink, and I able to write all the paper (within and without)\nfull of His praises, and love, and excellency, to be read by man and\nangel! Nay, this is little; I owe my heaven to Christ; and do desire,\nhowbeit I should never enter in at the gates of the new Jerusalem, to\nsend my love and my praises over the wall to Christ. Alas, that time\nand days lie betwixt Him and me, and adjourn our meeting! It is my\npart to cry, \"Oh, when will the night be past, and the day dawn, that\nwe shall see one another!\"\n\nBe pleased to remember my service to my Lord, to whom I wrote; and\nshow him that, for his affection to me, I cannot but pray for him, and\nearnestly desire that Christ miss him not out of the roll of those who\nare His witnesses, now when His kingly honour is called in question.\nIt is his honour to hold up Christ's royal train, and to be an\ninstrument to hold the crown upon Christ's head. Show him, because I\nlove his true honour and standing, that this is my earnest desire for\nhim.\n\nNow I bless you; and the prayers of Christ's prisoner come upon you;\nand His sweetest presence, whom ye serve in the Spirit, accompany you.\n\n Yours, at all obliged obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _June 23, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCIX.--_To his Reverend and Dear Brother_, MR. JOHN NEVAY. [Letter\nCLXXIX.]\n\n(_CHRIST'S SURPASSING EXCELLENCY--HIS CAUSE IN SCOTLAND._)\n\n\nMY REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I\nhave exceedingly many whom I write to, else I would be kinder in\npaper.\n\nI rejoice that my sweet Master hath any to back Him. Thick, thick may\nmy royal King's court be. Oh that His kingdom might grow! It were my\njoy to have His house full of guests.\n\nExcept that I have some cloudy days, for the most part I have a king's\nlife with Christ. He is all perfumed with the powders of the merchant;\nHe hath a king's face, and a king's smell. His chariot, wherein He\ncarrieth His poor prisoner, is of the wood of Lebanon; it is paved\nwith love. Is not that soft ground to walk or lie on? I think better\nof Christ than ever I did; my thoughts of His love grow and swell on\nme. I never write to any of Him so much as I have felt. Oh, if I could\nwrite a book of Christ, and of His love! Suppose I were made white\nashes, and burnt for this same truth that men count but as knots of\nstraw, it were my gain, if my ashes could proclaim the worth,\nexcellency, and love of my Lord Jesus. There is much telling of\nChrist: I give over the weighing of Him; heaven would not be the beam\nof a balance to weigh Him in. What eyes be on me, or what wind of\ntongues be on me, I care not: let me stand in this stage in the fool's\ncoat, and act a fool's part to the rest of this nation. If I can set\nmy Well-beloved on high, and witness fair for Him, a fig for their\nhosanna. If I can roll myself in a lap of Christ's garment, I shall\nlie there, and laugh at the thoughts of dying bits of clay.\n\nBrother, we have cause to weep for our harlot-mother; her Husband is\nsending her to Rome's brothel-house, which is the gate she liketh\nwell. Yet I persuade you that there shall be a fair after-growth for\nChrist in Scotland, and that this church shall sing the Bridegroom's\nwelcome home again to His own house. The worms shall eat them first,\nere they cause Christ to take good-night at Scotland. I am here\nassaulted with the Doctors' guns;[324] but I bless the Father of\nlights, that they draw not blood of truth. I find no lodging in the\nhearts of natural men, who are cold friends to my Master.\n\n [324] The Aberdeen Doctors.\n\nI pray you, remember my love to that gentleman, A. C. My heart is knit\nto him, because he and I have one Master. Remember my bonds, and\npresent my service to my Lord and my Lady.[325] I wish that Christ may\nbe dearer to them than He is to many of their place.\n\n [325] The Earl of Loudon and his lady.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _July 5, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCX.--_To my_ LADY BOYD.\n\n(_HIS SOUL FAINTING FOR CHRIST'S MATCHLESS BEAUTY--PRAYER FOR A\nREVIVAL._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Few, I believe, know the\npain and torment of Christ's fristed love: fristing with Christ's\npresence is a matter of torment. I know a poor soul that would lay all\noars in the water for a banquet or feast of Christ's love. I cannot\nthink but it must be uptaking and sweet, to see the white and red of\nChrist's fair face; for He is white and ruddy, and the chiefest among\nten thousand (Cant. v. 10). I am sure that must be a well-made face of\nHis: heaven must be in His visage; glory, glory for evermore must sit\non His countenance. I dare not curse the mask and covering that are on\nHis face; but oh, if there were a hole in it! Oh, if God would tear\nthe mask! Fy, fy upon us! we were never ashamed till now, that we do\nnot proclaim our pining and languishing for Him. I am sure that never\ntongue spake of Christ as He is. I am still of that mind, and still\nwill be, that we wrong and undervalue that holy, holy One, in having\nsuch short and shallow thoughts of His weight and worth. Oh, if I\ncould but have leave to stand beside and see the Father weigh Christ\nthe Son, if it were possible! But how every one of them comprehendeth\nanother, we, who have eyes of clay, cannot comprehend. But it is a\npity for evermore, and more than shame, that such an one as Christ\nshould sit in heaven His lone for us. To go up thither once-errand and\non purpose to see, were no small glory. Oh that He would strike out\nwindows, and fair and great lights, in this old house, this\nfallen-down soul, and then set the soul near-hand Christ, that the\nrays and beams of light and the soul-delighting glances of the fair,\nfair Godhead might shine in at the windows, and fill the house! A\nfairer, and more near, and direct, sight of Christ would make room for\nHis love; for we are but pinched and straitened in His love. Alas, it\nwere easy to measure and weigh all the love that we have for Christ,\nby inches and ounces! Alas, that we should love by measure and weight,\nand not rather have floods and feasts of Christ's love! Oh that Christ\nwould break down the old narrow vessels of these narrow and ebb souls,\nand make fair, deep, wide, and broad souls, to hold a sea and a full\ntide (flowing over all its banks) of Christ's love!\n\nOh that the Almighty would give me my request! that I might see Christ\ncome to His temple again, as He is minting, and, it is like, minding\nto do. And if the land were humbled, the judgments threatened are with\nthis reservation (I know), \"If ye will turn and repent.\" Oh, what a\nheaven should we have on earth, to see Scotland's moon like the light\nof the sun, and Scotland's sun-light sevenfold, like the light of\nseven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His\npeople, and healeth the stroke of their wound! (Isa. xxx. 26). Alas,\nthat we will not pull and draw Christ to His old tents again, to come\nand feed among the lilies, till the day break, and the shadows flee\naway! Oh that the nobles would go on, in the strength and courage of\nthe Lord, to bring our lawful King Jesus home again! I am persuaded\nthat He shall return again in glory to this land; but happy were they,\nwho would help to convoy Him to His sanctuary, and set Him again up\nupon that mercy-seat, betwixt the cherubim. O sun, return to darkened\nBritain! O fairest among all the sons of men, O most excellent One,\ncome home again! come home, and win the praises and blessings of the\nmourners in Zion, the prisoners of hope, that wait for Thee! I know\nthat He can also triumph in suffering, and weep and reign, and die and\ntriumph, and remain in prison and yet subdue His enemies; but how\nhappy were I to see the coronation-day of Christ, to see His mother,\nwho bare Him, put the crown upon His head again, and cry with\nshouting, till the earth should ring, \"Let Jesus, our King, live and\nreign for evermore!\"\n\nGrace, grace be with your Ladyship.\n\n Your Ladyship's, at all obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCXI.--_To a Christian Gentlewoman._\n\n(_GOD'S SKILL TO BLESS BY AFFLICTION--UNKINDNESS OF MEN--NEAR THE DAY\nOF MEETING THE LORD._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Though not acquainted,\nyet at the desire of a Christian brother, I have thought good to write\na line unto you, entreating you, in the Lord Jesus, under your trials\nto keep an ear open to Christ, who can speak for Himself, howbeit your\nvisitations,[326] and your own sense, should dream hard things of His\nlove and favour. Our Lord never getteth so kind a look of us, nor our\nlove in such a degree, nor our faith in such a measure of\nstedfastness, as He getteth out of the furnace of our tempting fears\nand sharp trials. I verily believe (and two sad proofs in me say no\nless), that if our Lord would grind our whorish lusts into powder, the\nvery old ashes of our corruption would take life again, and live, and\nhold us under so much bondage, that may humble us, and make us sad,\ntill we be in that country where we shall need no physic at all. Oh,\nwhat violent means doth our Lord use to gain us to Him, as if indeed\nwe were a prize worthy His fighting for! And be sure, if leading would\ndo the turn, He would not use pulling of the hair, and drawing: but\nthe best of us will bide a strong pull of our Lord's right arm ere we\nfollow Him. Yet I say not this, as if our Lord always measured\nafflictions by so many ounce-weights, answerable to the grain-weights\nof our guiltiness. I know that He doth in many (and possibly in you)\nseek nothing so much as faith, that can endure summer and winter in\ntheir extremity. Oh, how precious to the Lord are faith and love, that\nwhen threshed, beaten, and chased away, and bosted as it were by God\nHimself, doth yet look warm-like, love-like, kind-like, and life-like,\nhome-over to Christ, and would be in at Him, ill and well as it may\nbe.\n\n [326] The afflictions wherewith you have been visited, and your\n feelings.\n\nThink it not much that your husband, or the nearest to you in the\nworld, proveth to have the bowels and mercy of the ostrich, hard, and\nrigorous, and cruel; for the Lord taketh up such fallen ones as these\n(Ps. xxvii. 10). I could not wish a sweeter life, or more satisfying\nexpressions of kindness, till I be up at that Prince of kindness, than\nthe Lord's saints find, when the Lord taketh up men's refuse, and\nlodgeth this world's outlaws, whom no man seeketh after. His breath is\nnever so hot, His love casteth never such a flame, as when this world,\nand those who should be the helpers of our joy, cast water on our\ncoal. It is a sweet thing to see them cast out, and God taken in; and\nto see them throw us away as the refuse of men, and God take us up as\nHis jewels and His treasure. Often He maketh gold of dross, as once He\nmade the cast-away stone, \"the stone rejected by the builders,\" the\nhead of the corner. The princes of this world would not have our Lord\nJesus as a pinning in the wall, or to have any place in the building;\nbut the Lord made Him the master-stone of power and place. God be\nthanked, that this world hath not power to cry us down so many pounds,\nas rulers cry down light gold, or light silver. We shall stand for as\nmuch as our master-coiner Christ, whose coin, arms, and stamp we bear,\nwill have us. Christ hath no miscarrying balance. Thank your Lord, who\nchaseth your love through two kingdoms, and followeth you and it over\nsea, to have you for Himself, as He speaketh (Hos. iii. 3). For God\nlayeth up His saints, as the wale and the choice of all the world, for\nHimself; and this is like Christ and His love. Oh, what in heaven, or\nout of heaven, is comparable to the smell of Christ's garments! Nay,\nsuppose that our Lord would manifest His art, and make ten thousand\nheavens of good and glorious things, and of new joys, devised out of\nthe deep of infinite wisdom, He could not make the like of Christ; for\nChrist is God, and God cannot be made. And therefore, let us hold\nwith Christ, howbeit we might have our wale and will of a host of\nlovers, as many as three heavens could contain.\n\nOh that He and we were together! Oh, when Christ and ye shall meet\nabout the utmost march and borders of time, and the entry into\neternity, ye shall see heaven in His face at the first look, and\nsalvation and glory sitting in His countenance, and betwixt His eyes.\nFaint not; the miles to heaven are but few and short. He is making a\ngreen bed (as the word speaketh, Cant. i. 16) of love, for Himself and\nyou. There are many heads lying in Christ's bosom, but there is room\nfor yours among the rest; and, therefore, go on, and let hope go\nbefore you. Sin not in your trials, and the victory is yours. Pray,\nwrestle, and believe, and ye shall overcome and prevail with God, as\nJacob did. No windlestraws, no bits of clay, no temptations, which are\nof no longer life than an hour, will then be able to withstand you,\nwhen once you have prevailed with God.\n\nHelp me with your prayers, that it would please the Lord to give me\nhouse-room again, to speak of His righteousness in the great\ncongregation, if it may seem good in His sight.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _July 6, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXII.--_To William Glendinning._ [Letter CXXXVII.]\n\n(_SEARCH INTO CHRIST'S LOVELINESS--WHAT HE WOULD SUFFER TO SEE\nIT--CHRIST'S COMING TO DELIVER._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--Ye are heartily welcome to that honour that Christ hath\nmade common to us both, which is to suffer for His name. Verily I\nthink it my garland and crown; and if the Lord should ask of me my\nblood and life for this cause, I would gladly, in His strength, pay\ndue debt to Christ's honour and glory, in that kind. Acquaint yourself\nwith Christ's love, and ye shall not miss to find new golden mines and\ntreasures in Christ. Nay, truly, we but stand beside Christ, we go not\nin to Him to take our fill of Him. But if He would do two things,--(1)\nDraw the curtains, and make bare His holy face; and then (2) Clear our\ndim and bleared eyes, to see His beauty and glory. He should find many\nlovers. I would seek no more happiness than a sight of Him so\nnear-hand, as to see, hear, smell, and touch, and embrace Him. But oh\nclosed doors, and vails, and curtains, and thick clouds hold me in\npain, while I find the sweet burning of His love, that many waters\ncannot quench! Oh, what sad hours have I, when I think that the love\nof Christ scaureth at me, and bloweth by me! If my Lord Jesus would\ncome to bargaining for His love, I think He might make the price\nHimself. I should not refuse ten thousand years in hell, to have a\nwide soul enlarged and made wider, that I might be exceedingly, even\nto the running-over, filled with His love. Oh, what am I, to love such\na One, or to be loved by that high and lofty One! I think the angels\nmay blush to look upon Him; and what am I, to fyle such infinite\nbrightness with my sinful eyes! Oh that Christ would come near, and\nstand still, and give me leave to look upon Him! for to look seemeth\nthe poor man's privilege, since he may, for nothing and without hire,\nbehold the sun. I should have a king's life, if I had no other thing\nto do, than for evermore to behold and eye my fair Lord Jesus: nay,\nsuppose I were holden out at heaven's fair entry, I should be happy\nfor evermore, to look through a hole in the door, and see my dearest\nand fairest Lord's face. O great King, why standest Thou aloof? Why\nremainest Thou beyond the mountains? O Well-beloved, why dost Thou\npain a poor soul with delays? A long time out of Thy glorious presence\nis two deaths and two hells to me. We must meet, I must see Him, I dow\nnot want Him. Hunger and longing for Christ hath brought on such a\nnecessity of enjoying Christ, that, cost me what it will, I cannot but\nassure Christ that I will not, I dow not want Him; for I cannot master\nnor command Christ's love. Nay, hell (as I now think), and all the\npains in it, laid on me alone, would not put me from loving. Yea,\nsuppose that my Lord Jesus would not love me, it is above my strength\nor power to keep back or imprison the weak love which I have, but it\nmust be out to Christ. I would set heaven's joy aside, and live upon\nChrist's love its lone. Let me have no joy but the warmness and fire\nof Christ's love; I seek no other, God knoweth. If this love be taken\nfrom me, the bottom is fallen out of all my happiness and joy; and,\ntherefore, I believe that Christ will never do me that much harm, as\nto bereave a poor prisoner of His love. It were cruelty to take it\nfrom me; and He, who is kindness itself, cannot be cruel.\n\nDear brother, weary not of my sweet Master's chains; we are so much\nthe sibber to Christ that we suffer. Lodge not a hard thought of my\nroyal King. Rejoice in His cross. Your deliverance sleepeth not. He\nthat will come is not slack of His promise. Wait on for God's timeous\nsalvation; ask not when, or how long? I hope He shall lose nothing of\nyou in the furnace, but dross. Commit your cause in meekness\n(forgiving your oppressors) to God, and your sentence shall come back\nfrom Him laughing. Our Bridegroom's day is posting fast on; and this\nworld, that seemeth to go with a long and a short foot, shall be put\ninto two ranks. Wait till your ten days (Rev. ii. 10) be ended, and\nhope for the crown. Christ will not give you a blind in the end.\n\nCommend me to your wife and father, and to Bailie M. A.; and send this\nletter to him.\n\nThe prayers of Christ's prisoner be upon you, and the Lord's presence\naccompany you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _July 6, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXIII.--_To ROBERT LENNOX of Disdove._\n\n [_Disdove_, or Disdow, is a farm about two miles from Gatehouse\n and a mile from Girthon Manse, a single mansion among trees.\n _Lennox's_ name often occurs in the \"Minute-book of Comm. of\n Covenanters.\" Was he connected with _Lennox of Cally_?]\n\n(_MEN'S FOLLY IN UNDERVALUING CHRIST--IT IS HE THAT\nSATISFIETH--ADMIRATION OF HIM._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I beseech you in\nthe Lord Jesus, make fast and sure work of life eternal. Sow not\nrotten seed: every man's work will speak for itself, what his seed\nhath been. Oh, how many see I, who sow to the flesh! Alas, what a crop\nwill that be, when the Lord shall put in His hook to reap this world\nthat is ripe and white for judgment!\n\nI recommend to you holiness and sanctification, and that you keep\nyourself clean from this present evil world. We delight to tell our\nown dreams, and to flatter our own flesh with the hope which we have.\nIt were wisdom for us to be free, plain, honest, and sharp with our\nown souls, and to charge them to brew better, that they may drink\nwell, and fare well, when time is melted away like snow in a hot\nsummer. Oh, how hard a thing is it, to get the soul to give up with\nall things on this side of death and doomsday! We say that we are\nremoving and going from this world; but our heart stirreth not one\nfoot off its seat. Alas! I see few heavenly-minded souls, that have\nnothing upon the earth but their body of clay going up and down this\nearth, because their soul and the powers of it are up in heaven, and\nthere their hearts live, desire, enjoy, rejoice. Oh! men's souls have\nno wings; and, therefore, night and day they keep their nest, and are\nnot acquainted with Christ. Sir, take you to your one thing, to\nChrist, that ye may be acquainted with the taste of His sweetness and\nexcellency; and charge your love not to dote upon this world, for it\nwill not do your business in that day, when nothing will come in good\nstead to you but God's favour. Build upon Christ some good, choice,\nand fast work; for when your soul for many years hath taken the play,\nand hath posted, and wandered through the creatures, ye will come home\nagain with the wind.[327] They are not good, at least not the soul's\ngood. It is the infinite Godhead that must allay the sharpness of your\nhunger after happiness, otherwise there shall still be a want of\nsatisfaction to your desires: and if He should cast in ten worlds into\nyour desires, all shall fall through, and your soul will still cry,\n\"Red hunger! black hunger!\" But I am sure there is sufficient for you\nin Christ, if ye had seven souls and seven desires in you.\n\n [327] Like a ship running before the wind.\n\nOh, if I could make my Lord Jesus market-sweet, lovely, desirable, and\nfair to all the world, both to Jew and Gentile! Oh, let my part of\nheaven go for it, so being He would take my tongue to be His\ninstrument, to set out Christ in His whole braveries of love, virtue,\ngrace, sweetness, and matchless glory, to the eyes and hearts of Jews\nand Gentiles! But who is sufficient for these things? Oh, for the help\nof angels' tongues, to make Christ eye-sweet and amiable to many\nthousands! Oh, how little doth this world see of Him, and how far are\nthey from the love of Him, seeing there is so much loveliness, beauty,\nand sweetness in Christ, that no created eye did ever yet see! I would\nthat all men knew His glory, and that I could put many in at the\nBridegroom's chamber-door, to see His beauty, and to be partakers of\nHis high, and deep, and broad, and boundless love. Oh, let all the\nworld come nigh and see Christ, and they shall then see more than I\ncan say of Him! Oh, if I had a pledge or pawn to lay down for a seaful\nof His love! that I could come by so much of Christ, as would satisfy\ngreening and longing for Him, or rather increase it, till I were in\nfull possession! I know that we shall meet; and therein I rejoice.\n\nSir, stand fast in the truth of Christ that ye have received. Yield to\nno winds, but ride out, and let Christ be your anchor, and the only\nHe, whom ye shall look to see in peace. Pray for me, His prisoner,\nthat the Lord would send me among you to feed His people.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCXIV.--_To_ MR. JAMES HAMILTON.\n\n [James Hamilton was educated for the ministry in Scotland, but\n going over to Ireland, he continued for some time to act as\n steward or agent for his uncle, Lord Claneboy. He commenced his\n labours as a preacher of the Gospel in 1624, and in the following\n year was settled at Ballywater, in the county of Down, in which\n charge, says Robert Blair, \"he was painful, successful, and\n constant, notwithstanding he had many temptations to follow\n promotion, which he might easily have obtained\" (Blair's \"Life\").\n In August 1636, he and several of his brethren in the ministry\n were deposed by Henry Leslie, Bishop of Down, for refusing to\n subscribe the canons then imposed on ministers in Ireland. He was\n one of those who that year embarked for New England, but who were\n forced to return by the adverse state of the weather. After his\n coming over to Scotland, he became minister of Dumfries, and\n subsequently of Edinburgh, where he continued to labour for\n fifteen years. He was a member of the famous Assembly held at\n Glasgow in 1638. In March 1644, he and Mr. Weir, minister of\n Dalserf, were appointed to administer the Solemn League and\n Covenant in Ireland. On their return to Scotland, falling in with\n the noted Alaster Macdonnell, the two ministers, with several\n others (including Hamilton's father-in-law, Mr. Watson, a\n minister in Ireland), were taken prisoners, and carried to Castle\n Meagrie, or Mingarry, on the coast of Ardnamurchan, where they\n suffered incredible hardships, which brought Mr. Weir and Mr.\n Watson to their graves. Hamilton was liberated in May 1645, after\n an imprisonment of ten months. In August 1651, when the Committee\n of Estates and of the General Assembly, of which he was a member,\n were sitting at Alyth, they were apprehended by a party of horse\n sent out by Monk, and were shipped for the Tower of London, where\n Hamilton was kept two years. Continuing faithful to the\n principles, he was ejected from his charge in 1662, upon which he\n retired to Inveresk, and died on the 10th of March 1666. \"He was\n naturally of an excellent temperament both of body and mind;\n always industrious and facetious in all the several provinces and\n scenes of his life; he was delightful to his friends and\n acquaintances, yea beloved of his enemies; he was bold for truth,\n and tenacious in everything of moment, though naturally, and in\n his own things, among the mildest of men; rich in learning,\n intelligent, judicious, he was great in esteem with the greatest\n and wisest\" (Reid's \"History of the Presbyterian Church in\n Ireland\"). Blair, in his \"Life\" (p. 136, Wodrow Edit.), mentions\n another James Hamilton, minister, first at Killileagh, in\n Ireland, and then at Ballantrae, in Scotland. Blair's first wife\n was sister to the wife of this James Hamilton of Killileagh, and\n her name was Catherine Montgomery of Busby.]\n\n(_SUFFERING FOR CHRIST'S HEADSHIP--HOW CHRIST VISITED HIM IN\nPREACHING_.)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be\nto you.--Our acquaintance is neither in bodily presence, nor on paper;\nbut as sons of the same Father, and sufferers for the same truth.\n\nLet no man doubt that the _state of our question_,[328] we are now\nforced to stand to by suffering exile and imprisonment, is, If Jesus\nshould reign over His kirk, or not? Oh, if my sinful arm could hold\nthe crown on His head, howbeit it should be stricken off from the\nshoulder-blade! For your ensuing and feared trial, my very dearest in\nour Lord Jesus, alas! what am I, to speak comfort to a soldier of\nChrist, who hath done a hundred times more for that worthy and\nhonourable cause than I can do? But I know, those of whom the world\nwas not worthy wandered up and down in deserts, and in mountains, and\nin dens and caves of the earth; and while there is one member of\nmystical Christ out of heaven, that member must suffer strokes, till\nour Lord Jesus draw in that member within the gates of the New\nJerusalem, which He will not fail to do at last; for not one toe or\nfinger of that body, but it shall be taken in within the city. What\ncan be our part, in this pitched battle betwixt the Lamb and the\nDragon, but to receive the darts in patience, that rebound off us upon\nour sweet Master; or rather light first upon Him, and then rebound off\nHim upon His servants? I think it a sweet north wind, that bloweth\nfirst upon the fair face of the Chief among ten thousand, and then\nlighteth upon our sinful and black faces. When once the wind bloweth\noff Him upon me, I think it hath a sweet smell of Christ; and so must\nbe some more than a single cross. I know that ye have a guard about\nyou, and your attendance and train for your safety is far beyond your\npursuer's force or fraud. It is good, under feud, to be near our\nward-house,[329] and stronghold. We can do little to resist them who\npersecute us and oppose Him, but keep our blood and our wounds to the\nnext court-day, when our complaints shall be read. If this day be not\nChrist's, I am sure the morrow shall be His.\n\n [328] \"_Status qu\u00e6stionis_\"--a theological phrase for the way of\n stating a matter under discussion.\n\n [329] _Ward-house_ seems the true reading, though \"warhouse\" is in the\n old editions.\n\nAs for anything I do in my bonds, when now and then a word falleth\nfrom me, alas! it is very little. I am exceedingly grieved that any\nshould conceive anything to be in such a broken and empty reed. Let no\nman impute it to me, that the free and unbought wind (for I gave\nnothing for it) bloweth upon an empty reed. I am His over-burdened\ndebtor. I cry, \"Down with me, down, down with all the excellency of\nthe world; and up, up with Christ!\" Long, long may that fair One, that\nholy One, be on high! My curse be upon them that love Him not. Oh,\nhow glad would I be, if His glory would grow out and spring up out of\nmy bonds and sufferings! Certainly, since I became His prisoner, He\nhath won the yolk and heart of my soul. Christ is even become a new\nChrist to me, and His love greener than it was. And now I strive no\nmore with Him: His love shall carry it away. I lay down myself under\nHis love. I desire to sing, and to cry, and to proclaim myself, even\nunder the water, in His common, and eternally indebted to His\nkindness. I will not offer to quit commons with Him (as we used to\nsay), for that will not be. All, all for evermore to be Christ's! What\nfurther trials are before me, I know not; but I know that Christ will\nhave a saved soul of me, over on the other side of the water, on the\nyonder-side of crosses, and beyond men's wrongs.\n\nI had but one eye, and that they have put out. My one joy, next to the\nflower of my joys, Christ, was to preach my sweetest, sweetest Master,\nand the glory of His kingdom; and it seemed no cruelty to them to put\nout the poor man's one eye. And now I am seeking about to see if\n_suffering_ will speak my fair One's praises; and I am trying if a\ndumb man's tongue can raise one note, or one of Zion's springs, to\nadvance my Well-beloved's glory. Oh, if He would make some glory to\nHimself out of a dumb prisoner! I go with child of His word: I cannot\nbe delivered. None here will have my Master: alas! what aileth them at\nHim?\n\nI bless you for your prayers. Add to them praises: as I am able, I pay\nyou home. I commend your diving in Christ's Testament; I would I could\nset out the dead man's good-will to His friends, in His sweet\nTestament. Speak a prisoner's hearty commendations to Christ. Fear\nnot, your ten days (Rev. ii. 10) will over. Those that are gathered\nagainst Mount Zion, their eyes shall melt away in their eye-holes, and\ntheir tongues consume away in their mouths, and Christ's withered\ngarden shall grow green again in Scotland. My Lord Jesus hath a word\nhid in heaven for Scotland, not yet brought out.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _July 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXV.--_To_ MISTRESS STUART.\n\n[MRS. STUART is the wife of Provost Stuart of Ayr, of whom see an\naccount, Letter CLXI.]\n\n(_PERSONAL UNWORTHINESS--LONGING AFTER HOLINESS--WINNOWING TIME._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am sorry that ye take\nit so hardly that I have not written to you.\n\nI am judged to be that which I am not. I fear that if I were put into\nthe fire, I should melt away, and fall down in shreds of painted\nnature; for truly I have little stuff at home that is worth the eye of\nGod's servants. If there be anything of Christ's in me (as I dare not\ndeny some of His work), it is but a spunk of borrowed fire, that can\nscarce warm myself, and hath little heat for standers-by. I would fain\nhave that which ye and others believe I have; but ye are only\nwitnesses to my outer side, and to some words on paper. Oh that He\nwould give me more than _paper-grace_ or _tongue-grace_! Were it not\nthat want paineth me, I should have a skailed house, and gone\na-begging long since. But Christ hath left me with some hunger, that\nis more hot than wise, and is ready often to say, \"If Christ longed\nfor me as I do for Him, we should not be long in meeting; and if He\nloved my company as well as I do His, even while I am writing this\nletter to you, we should fly into each other's arms.\" But I know there\nis more will than wit in this languor and pining love for Christ; and\nno marvel, for Christ's love would have hot harvest[330] long ere\nmidsummer. But if I have any love to Him, Christ hath both love to me,\nand wit to guide His love. And I see that the best thing I have hath\nas much dross beside it as might curse me and it both; and, if it were\nfor no more, we have need of a Saviour to pardon the very faults, and\ndiseases, and weakness of the new man, and to take away (to say so)\nour godly sins, or the sins of our sanctification, and the dross and\nscum of spiritual love. Wo, wo is me! Oh, what need is there, then, of\nChrist's calling, to scour, and cleanse, and wash away an ugly old\nbody of sin, the very image of Satan! I know nothing surer than that\nthere is an office for Christ amongst us. I wish for no other heaven\non this side of the last sea that I must cross, than this service of\nChrist, to make my blackness beauty, my deadness life, my guiltiness\nsanctification. I long much for that day, when I shall be holy. Oh,\nwhat spots are yet unwashen! Oh that I could change the skin of the\nleopard and the Moor, and niffer it with some of Christ's fairness!\nWere my blackness and Christ's beauty carded through-other (as we use\nto speak), His beauty and holiness would eat up my filthiness. But,\noh, I have not casten old Adam's hue and colour yet. I trow that the\nbest of us hath a smell yet of the old loathsome body of sin and\nguiltiness. Happy are they for evermore who can employ Christ, and set\nHis blood and death on work, to make clean work to God of foul souls.\nI know that it is our sin that we would have sanctification on the\nsunny side of the hill, and holiness with nothing but summer, and no\ncrosses at all. Sin hath made us as tender as if we were made of paper\nor glass. I am often thinking, what would I think of Christ and\nburning quick together! of Christ and torturing, and hot melted lead\npoured in at mouth and navel! Yet I have some weak experience (but\nvery weak indeed), that suppose Christ and hell's torments were\nmarried together, and if there were no finding of Christ at all except\nI went to hell's furnace, that there, and in no other place, I could\nmeet with Him, I trow, that (if I were as I have been since I was His\nprisoner) I would beg lodging for God's sake in hell's hottest\nfurnace, that I might rub souls with Christ. But God be thanked, I\nshall find Him in a better lodging. We get Christ better-cheap than\nso: when He is rouped to us, we get Him but with a shower of summer\ntroubles in this life, as sweet and soft to believers as a May-dew.\n\n [330] Christ's love in the soul would fain cause it to desire harvest.\n\nI would have you and myself helping Christ mystical to weep for His\nwife. And oh that we could mourn for Christ buried in Scotland, and\nfor His two slain witnesses, killed because they prophesied! If we\ncould so importune and solicit God, our buried Lord and His two buried\nwitnesses should rise again. Earth, and clay, and stone, will not bear\ndown Christ and the Gospel in Scotland. I know not if I shall see the\nsecond temple, and the glory of it; but the Lord hath deceived me if\nit be not to be reared up again. I would wish to give Christ His\nwelcome home again. My blessing, my joy, my glory, and love be on the\nHome-comer.\n\nI find no better use of suffering than that Christ's winnowing putteth\nchaff and corn in the saints to sundry places, and discovereth our\ndross from His gold, so as corruption and grace are so seen, that\nChrist saith in the furnace, \"That is Mine, and this is thine. The\nscum and the grounds, thy stomach against the persecutors, thy\nimpatience, thy unbelief, thy quarrelling, these are thine; and faith,\non-waiting, love, joy, courage, are Mine.\" Oh, let me die one of\nChrist's on-waiters, and one of His attendants!\n\nI know that your heart and Christ are married together; it were not\ngood to make a divorce. Rue not of that meeting and marriage with such\na Husband. Pray for me, His prisoner. Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCXVI.--MR. HUGH MACKAIL _of Irvine_.\n\n(_ADVANTAGES OF OUR WANTS AND DISTEMPERS--CHRIST UNSPEAKABLE._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I\nreceived your letter. I bless you for it.\n\nMy dry root would take more dew and summer's-rain than it getteth,\nwere it not that Christ will have dryness and deadness in us to work\nupon. If there were no timber to work upon, art would die, and never\nbe seen. I see that grace hath a field, to play upon and to course up\nand down, in our wants; so that I am often thanking God, not for\nguiltiness, but for guiltiness for Christ to whet and sharpen His\ngrace upon. I am half content to have boils for the sake of the\nplasters of my Lord Jesus. Sickness hath this advantage, that it\ndraweth our sweet Physician's hand, and His holy and soft fingers, to\ntouch our withered and leper skins. It is a blessed fever that\nfetcheth Christ to the bedside. I think my Lord's \"How doest thou with\nit, sick body?\" is worth all my pained nights. Surely, I have no more\nfor Christ than emptiness and want; take or leave, He will get me no\notherwise. I must sell myself and my wants to Him; but I have no price\nto give for Him. If He would put a fair and real seal upon His love to\nme, and bestow upon me a larger share of Christ's love (which I would\nfainest be in hands with of anything; I except not heaven itself), I\nshould go on sighing and singing under His cross. But the worst is,\nmany take me for somebody, because the wind bloweth upon a withered\nprisoner; but the truth is, that I am both lean and thin in that,\nwherein many believe I abound. I would, if bartering were in my\npower, niffer joy with Christ's love and faith, and instead of the hot\nsunshine, be content to walk under a cloudy shadow with more grief and\nsadness, to have more faith, and a fair occasion of setting forth and\ncommending Christ, and to make that lovely One, that fair One, that\nsweetest and dearest Lord Jesus, market-sweet for many ears and hearts\nin Scotland. And, if it were in my power, to roup Christ to the three\nkingdoms, and withal persuade buyers to come, and to take such sweet\nwares as Christ, I would think to have many sweet bargains betwixt\nChrist and the sons of men. I would that I could be humble and go with\na low sail; I would that I had desires with wings, and running upon\nwheels, swift, and active, and speedy, in longing for Christ's honour.\nBut I know that my Lord is as wise here as I dow be thirsty; and\ninfinitely more zealous of His honour than I can be hungry for the\nmanifestation of it to men and angels. But, oh that my Lord would take\nmy desires off my hand, and a thousand-fold more unto them, and sow\nspiritual inclinations upon them, for the coming of Christ's kingdom\nto the sons of men, that they might be higher, and deeper, and longer,\nand broader! For my longest measures are too short for Christ, my\ndepth is ebb, and the breadth of my affections to Christ narrowed and\npinched. Oh for an ingine and a wit, to prescribe ways to men how\nChrist might be all, in all the world! Wit is here behind affection,\nand affection behind obligation. Oh, how little dow I give to Christ,\nand how much hath He given me! Oh that I could sing grace's praises,\nand love's praises! seeing that I was like a fool soliciting the Law,\nand making moyen to the Law's court for mercy, and found challenges\nthat way. But now I deny that judge's power; for I am Grace's man. I\nhold not worth a drink of water, the Law, or any lord but Jesus:--and\ntill I bethought me of this, I was slain with doubtings, and fears,\nand terrors. I praise the new court, and the new landlord, and the new\nsalvation, purchased in the name of Jesus and at His instance. Let the\nOld Man, if he please, go make his moan to the Law, and seek\nacquaintance thereaway, because he is condemned in that court; I hope\nthat the New Man (I and Christ together) will not be heard;[331] and\nthis is the more soft and the more easy way for me and for my cross\ntogether. Seeing that Christ singeth my welcome home, and taketh me\nin, and maketh short accounts and short work of reckoning betwixt me\nand my Judge, I must be Christ's man, and His tenant, and subject to\nHis court. I am sure that suffering for Christ could not be borne\notherwise; but I give my hand and my faith to all who would suffer for\nChrist, that they shall be well handled, and fare well in the same\nway, that I have found the cross easy and light.\n\n [331] Not be heard lifting up His voice in that court of the Law.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _July_ 8, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCXVII.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Garloch._\n\n [ALEXANDER GORDON was proprietor of Garloch, an estate lying in\n Kells, about five miles N. W. of New Galloway. It is often\n corrupted into \"Garroch.\" He was brother to Robert Gordon of\n Knockbrex, formerly noticed. He was a warm promoter of the\n Presbyterian cause in his day. Livingstone describes him as a\n \"very gracious person;\" and mentions him as present at a private\n meeting for prayer and Christian conference, with a number of\n \"eminent Christians.\" John Gordon of Knockbrex, and his brother\n Robert, who were publicly executed in 1666, for being concerned\n in the insurrection at Pentland Hills, were the grandchildren of\n the subject of this notice. See Letter LXV. They were tried for\n high treason and rebellion, and sentenced to be hanged at the\n Cross of Edinburgh upon the 7th of December that year, their\n goods confiscated, their bodies thereafter dismembered, and their\n heads fixed on the gate of Kirkcudbright. Other eight were at the\n same time condemned; and the arms of all the ten (because they\n had with uplifted hands renewed the Covenant at Lanark, previous\n to the engagement) were to be cut off and sent to that town, to\n be fixed on the top of the prison. This sentence was executed in\n all its parts. The case of all the sufferers, but particularly\n that of the Gordons, who, as Wodrow informs us, \"were youths of\n shining piety, and good learning and parts,\" excited much\n sympathy. When turned off the ladder, the two brothers clasped\n each other in their arms, and in this affectionate embrace\n endured the pangs of death. \"They were lovely and pleasant in\n their lives, and in their death they were not divided.\"\n\n Livingstone, in the beginning of his \"Historical Relation of his\n Life,\" mentions meetings which he used to hold at Airds (where\n Gordon of Earlston at one time resided), and at _Garloch_, or, as\n it is printed in different editions, Gairleuch or Garleuch.\n Gordon of Garloch was a warm friend to the truth. Gordon, the\n \"translator of Tacitus,\" was a descendant of this family.]\n\n(_FREE GRACE FINDING ITS MATERIALS IN US._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--If Christ were as I\nam, that time could work upon Him to alter Him, or that the morrow\ncould bring a new day to Him, or bring a new mind to Him, as it is to\nme a new day, I could not keep a house or a covenant with Him. But I\nfind Christ to be Christ, and that He is far, far, even infinite\nheavens' height above men; and that is all our happiness. Sinners can\ndo nothing but make wounds, that Christ may heal them; and make debts,\nthat He may pay them; and make falls, that He may raise them; and make\ndeaths, that He may quicken them; and spin out and dig hells for\nthemselves, that He may ransom them. Now, I will bless the Lord that\never there was such a thing as the free grace of God, and a free\nransom given for sold souls: only, alas! guiltiness maketh me ashamed\nto apply to Christ, and to think it pride in me to put out my unclean\nand withered hand to such a Saviour. But it is neither shame nor pride\nfor a drowning man to swim to a rock, nor for a shipbroken soul to run\nhimself ashore upon Christ. Suppose once I be guilty,[332] needforce I\ndow not, I cannot, go by Christ. We take in good part that pride, viz.\nthat beggars beg from the richer; and who so poor as we? and who so\nrich as He who selleth fine gold (Rev. iii. 18). I see, then, it is\nour best (let guiltiness plead what it listeth) that we have no mean\nunder the covering of heaven, but to creep in lowly and submissively\nwith our wants to Christ. I have also cause to give His cross a good\nname and report. Oh, how worthy is Christ of my feckless and light\nsuffering! and how hath He deserved at my hands that, for His honour\nand glory, I should lay my back under seven hells' pains in one, if He\ncall me to that! But, alas! my soul is like a ship run on ground\nthrough ebbness of water. I am sanded, and my love is stranded, and I\nfind not how to bring it on float again. It is so cold and dead, that\nI see not how to being it to a flame. Fy, fy upon the meeting that my\nlove hath given Christ. Wo, wo is me! I have a lover Christ, and yet I\nwant love for Him! I have a lovely and desirable Lord, who is\nlove-worthy, and who beggeth my love and heart, and I have nothing to\ngive Him! Dear brother, come further in on Christ, and see a new\ntreasure in Him. Come in, and look down, and see angels' wonder, and\nheaven and earth's wonder of love, sweetness, majesty, and excellency\nin Him.\n\n [332] Suppose for once that I were guilty, I dare not pass Christ by.\n\nI forget you not; pray for me, that our Lord would be pleased to send\nme among you again, fraughted and full of Christ.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCXVIII.--_To_ JOHN BELL, _Elder_.\n\n [There is in the churchyard of Anwoth a tombstone to one of this\n name, who died a martyr, and who lived at _Whiteside_. This\n person may have been related to him. His name appears at a\n petition of the elders and parishioners of Anwoth, presented to\n the Commission of the General Assembly, against the removal of\n Rutherford from that parish, when applications were made from St.\n Andrews and Edinburgh respectively to obtain him. He is\n designated \"John Bell of Hentoun\" (Murray's \"Life of Rutherford,\"\n p. 356). Rutherford here reminds him that \"old age was come upon\n him.\" He appears, however, to have lived many years after this;\n for so late as January 13, 1657, Marion Bell is retoured \"heir of\n John Bell of Hentoun, her grandsir,\" who was probably\n Rutherford's correspondent. On the same day she is retoured heir\n of \"James Bell of Campbelltown in (Twynholm parish), her\n guidsir;\" and of \"John Bell of Campbelltown, her father.\"\n _Henton_ is a small croft, close to the school-house at Laggan,\n as you go toward the sea-side from Ardwell to Kirkdale. It was\n once a separate property. Before old Anwoth church was pulled\n down (see Murray's \"Life of Rutherford\"), there stood a seat or\n pew, on which were cut the letters \"J. B.\" and the date \"1631,\"\n understood to belong to this same person. And (though his\n martyrdom occurred after Rutherford was gone to his rest) it may\n be interesting here to notice that the ancestor of the martyr,\n _John Bell of Whiteside_, in Anwoth, was connected with this\n family. Whiteside is half a mile N.E. from Rutherford's Witnesses\n on the Skyreburn Road. The ruins of the house where Bell stayed\n are pointed out, half a mile from the modern farm; and almost in\n the bed of the burn. Near the old ruin is a cave where he died.\n The martyr's mother, too, was the grand-daughter of \"The guidwife\n of Ardwell\" (see Letter CI.). His tomb (renewed a few years ago)\n is a flat stone near the west end of the old church, with the\n date 1685.\n\n \"This monument shall tell posterity\n That blessed Bell of Whiteside here doth lie;\n Who at command of bloody Lag was shot,\n A murder strange which should not be forgot.\n Douglas of Morton did him quarters give,\n Yet cruel Lag would not let him survive.\n This martyr sought some time to recommend\n His soul to God, before his days did end:\n The tyrant said, 'What, Devil? Ye've prayed eneuch\n These long seven years on mountain and in cleugh.'\n So instantly caused him, with other four,\n Be shot to death upon Kirkconnel Moor.\n So thus did end the lives of these dear saints\n For their adhering to the Covenants.\"\n\n On the wall is an old slab which contains what seems to be a\n general motto for the Bells' burying-ground.]\n\n(_DANGER OF TRUSTING TO A NAME--CONVERSION NO SUPERFICIAL\nWORK--EXHORTATION TO MAKE SURE._)\n\n\nMY VERY LOVING FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I have\nvery often and long expected your letter; but if ye be well in soul\nand body, I am the less solicitous.\n\nI beseech you, in the Lord Jesus, to mind your country above; and now,\nwhen old age (the twilight going before the darkness of the grave, and\nthe falling low of your sun before your night) is come upon you,\nadvise with Christ, ere ye put your foot into the ship, and turn your\nback on this life. Many are beguiled with this, that they are free of\nscandalous and crying abominations; but the tree that bringeth not\nforth good fruit is for the fire. The man that is not born again\ncannot enter into the kingdom of God. Common honesty will not take men\nto heaven. Alas! that men should think that ever they met with Christ,\nwho had never a sick night, through the terrors of God in their souls,\nor a sore heart for sin! I know that the Lord hath given you light,\nand the knowledge of His will; but that is not all, neither will that\ndo your turn. I wish you an awakened soul, and that ye beguile not\nyourself in the matter of your salvation. My dear brother, search\nyourself with the candle of God, and try if the life of God and Christ\nbe in you. Salvation is not casten to every man's door. Many are\ncarried over sea and land to a far country in a ship, while-as they\nsleep much of all the way; but men are not landed at heaven sleeping.\nThe righteous are scarcely saved; and many run as fast as either you\nor I, who miss the prize and the crown. God send me salvation, and\nsave me from a disappointment, and I seek no more. Men think it but a\nstride, or step over to heaven; but, when so few are saved (even of a\nnumber \"like the sand of the sea--but a handful and a remnant,\" as\nGod's word saith), what cause have we to shake ourselves, and to ask\nour poor soul, \"Whither goest thou? where shalt thou lodge at night?\nwhere are thy charters and writs of thy heavenly inheritance?\" I have\nknown a man turn a key in a door, and lock it by.[333] Many men leap\nover, as they think, and leap in. Oh, see! see that ye give not your\nsalvation a wrong cast, and think all is well, and leave your soul\nloose and uncertain. Look to your building, and to your ground-stone,\nand what signs of Christ are in you, and set this world behind your\nback. It is time, now in the evening, to cease from your ordinary\nwork, and high time to know of your lodging at night. It is your\nsalvation that is in dependence; and that is a great and weighty\nbusiness, though many make light of the matter.\n\n [333] Mislock, or turn the key so as to push the bolt past the socket\n into which it should have been put.\n\nNow, the Lord enable you by His grace to work it out.\n\n Your lawful and loving pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCXIX.--_To_ MR. JOHN ROW.\n\n [John Row, minister of Carnock, was probably the person to whom\n this letter is addressed. It could not be his son, of the same\n name, who afterwards became minister of St. Nicholas Church,\n Aberdeen, and Principal of King's College; for he was at this\n time master of the grammar school of Perth, and did not qualify\n himself for the ministry till after the overthrow of Prelacy in\n 1638. John Row of Carnock, the third son of John Row (minister of\n Perth, a distinguished Reformer and co-adjutor of Knox), was born\n at Perth about the close of the year 1568. He was ordained\n minister of Carnock at the end of the year 1592, where he\n laboured with great assiduity and success. He opposed the Perth\n Articles, and the introduction of Prelacy, with uncompromising\n zeal. He is the author of a History of the Kirk of Scotland,\n which has been printed by the Wodrow Society. He died on the 26th\n of June 1646, aged seventy-eight.]\n\n(_CHRIST'S CROSSES BETTER THAN THE WORLD'S JOYS--CHRIST EXTOLLED._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I received yours. I bless His high and\ngreat name, that I like my sweet Master still the longer the better; a\nsight of His cross is more awsome than the weight of it. I think the\nworst things of Christ, even His reproaches and His cross (when I look\non these not with bleared eyes), far rather to be chosen than the\nlaughter and worm-eaten joys of my adversaries. Oh that they were as I\nam, except my bonds! My witness is above, that my ministry, next to\nChrist, is dearest to me of anything; but I lay it down at Christ's\nfeet, for His glory and His honour as supreme Lawgiver, which is\ndearer to me.\n\nMy dear brother, if ye will receive the testimony of a poor prisoner\nof Christ, who dare not now dissemble for the world, I believe\ncertainly, and expect thanks from the Prince of the kings of the\nearth, for my poor hazards (such as they are) for His honourable\ncause, whom I can never enough extol for His running-over love to my\nsad soul, since I came hither. Oh that I could get Him set on high and\npraised! I seek no more, as the top and root of my desires, than that\nChrist may make glory to Himself, and edification to the weaker (Phil.\ni. 14), out of my sufferings. I desire ye would help me both to pray\nand praise.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _July 8, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXX.--_To my Lord_ CRAIGHALL.\n\n(_DUTY OF BEING DISENTANGLED FROM CHRIST--DISHONOURING COMPLIANCES._)\n\n\nMY LORD,--I persuade myself that, notwithstanding the greatness of\nthis temptation, ye will not let Christ want a witness of you, to avow\nHim before this evil generation. And if ye advise with God's truth\n(the perfect testament of Christ, that forbiddeth all men's additions\nto His worship), and with the truly learned, and with all the\nsanctified in this land, and with that warner within you (which will\nnot fail to speak against you, in God's time, if ye be not now fast\nand fixed for Christ), I hope then that your Lordship will acquit\nyourself as a man of courage for Christ, and refuse to bow your knee\nsuperstitiously and idolatrously to wood or stone, or any creature\nwhatsoever. I persuade myself that when ye shall take good night at\nthis world, ye shall think it God's truth I now write.\n\nSome fear that your Lordship hath obliged yourself to his Majesty by\npromise to satisfy his desire. If it be so, my dear and worthy Lord,\nhear me for your soul's good. Think upon swimming ashore after this\nshipwreck, and be pleased to write your humble apology to his Majesty;\nit may be that God will give you favour in his eyes. However it be,\nfar be it from you to think a promise made out of weakness, and\nextorted by the terror of a king, should bind you to wrong your Lord\nJesus. But for myself, I give no faith to that report, but I believe\nthat ye will prove fast to Christ. To His grace I recommend you.\n\n Your Lordship's, at all obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _July 8, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_HER PRAYERS FOR SCOTLAND NOT FORGOTTEN._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND DEAREST IN THE LORD,--I rejoice that you are a partaker of\nthe sufferings of Christ. Faint not, keep breath, believe; howbeit\nmen, and husband, and friends prove weak, yet your strength faileth\nnot. It is not pride for a drowning man to grip to the rock. It is\nyour glory to lay hold on your Rock. O woman greatly beloved! I\ntestify and avouch it in my Lord, that the prayers ye sent to heaven\nthese many years bygone are come up before the Lord, and shall not be\nforgotten. What it is that will come, I cannot tell; but I know that,\nas the Lord liveth, these cries shall bring down mercy. I charge you,\nand those people with you, to go on without fainting or fear, and\nstill believe, and take no nay-say. If ye leave off, the field is\nlost; if ye continue, our enemies shall be a tottering wall, and a\nbowing fence. I write it (and keep this letter), utter, utter\ndesolation shall be to your adversaries, and to the haters of the\nVirgin-daughter of Scotland. The bride will yet sing, as in the days\nof her youth. Salvation shall be her walls and bulwarks. The dry\nolive-tree shall bud again, and dry dead bones shall live; for the\nLord will prophesy to the dry bones, and the Spirit shall come upon\nthem, and we shall live.\n\nI rejoice to hear of John Carson! I shall not forget him. Remember me\nto Grizel and Jean Brown. Your husband hath made me heavy; but be\ncourageous in the Lord. I send blessings to Samuel and William. Show\nthem that I will them to seek God in their youth.\n\nGrace is yours.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _July 8, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXII.--_To my_ LADY CULROSS. [Letter LXII.]\n\n(_CHRIST'S WAY OF SHOWING HIMSELF THE BEST--WHAT FITS FOR\nHIM--YEARNING AFTER HIM INSATIABLY--DOMESTIC MATTERS._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am much refreshed with\nyour letter, now at length come to me. I find my Lord Jesus cometh not\nin that precise way that I lay wait for Him; He hath a gate of His\nown. Oh, how high are His ways above my ways! I see but little of Him.\nIt is best not to offer to learn Him a lesson, but to give Him\nabsolutely His own will, in coming, going, ebbing, flowing, and in the\nmanner of His gracious working. I want nothing but a back-burden of\nChrist's love. I would go through hell, and the thick of the damned\ndevils, to have a hearty feast of Christ's love; for He hath fettered\nme with His love, and run away, and left me a chained man.\n\nWo is me, that I was so loose, rash, vain, and graceless, in my\nunbelieving thoughts of Christ's love! But what can a soul, under a\nnon-entry (when my rights were wadset and lost), do else, but make a\nfalse libel against Christ's love! I know that yourself, Madam, and\nmany more, will be witness against me, if I repent not of my\nunbelief; for I have been seeking the Pope's wares, some hire for\nGrace within myself. I have not learned, as I should do, to put my\nstock and all my treasure into Christ's hand; but I would have a stock\nof mine own; and ere I was aware, I was taking hire to be the Law's\nadvocate, to seek justification by works. I forgot that grace is the\nonly garland that is worn in heaven upon the heads of the glorified.\nAnd now I half rejoice, that I have sickness for Christ to work upon.\nSince I must have wounds, well is my soul, I have a day's work for my\nPhysician, Christ. I hope to give Christ His own calling: it setteth\nHim full well to cure diseases.\n\nMy ebbings are very low, and the tide is far out when my Beloved goeth\naway; and then I cry, \"Oh, cruelty! to put out the poor man's one\neye;\" and this was my joy next to Christ, to preach my Well-beloved.\nThen I make a noise about Christ's house, looking unco-like in at His\nwindow, and casting my love and my desires over the wall, till God\nsend better. I am often content that my bill lie in heaven till the\nday of my departure, providing I had assurance that mercy shall be\nwritten on the back of it. I would not care for on-waiting; but when I\ndraw in a tired arm, and an empty hand withal, it is much to me to\nkeep my thoughts in order. But I will not get a gate[334] for Christ's\nlove. When I have done all I can, I would fain yield to His stream,\nand row with Christ, and not against Him. But while I live, I see that\nChrist's kingdom in me will not be peaceable, so many thoughts in me\nrise up against His honour and kingly power. Surely I have not\nexpressed all His sweet kindness to me. I spare to do it, lest I be\ndeemed to seek myself; but His breath hath smelled of the powders of\nthe merchant, and of the King's spikenard. I think that I conceive new\nthoughts of heaven, because the card and the map of heaven which He\nletteth me now see is so fair and so sweet. I am sure that we are\nniggards, and sparing bodies in seeking. I verily judge that we know\nnot how much may be had in this life; there is yet something beyond\nall that we see, that seeking would light upon. Oh that my\nlove-sickness would put me to a business, when all the world are found\nsleeping, to cry and knock! But the truth is, that since I came hither\nI have been wondering that, after my importunity to have my fill of\nChrist's love, I have not gotten a real sign, but have come from Him\ncrying, \"Hunger! hunger!\" I think that Christ letteth me see meat in\nmy extremity of hunger, and giveth me none of it. When I am near the\napple, He draweth back His hand, and goeth away to cause me follow;\nand again, when I am within an arm-length of the apple, He maketh a\nnew break to the gate,[335] and I have Him to seek of new. He seemeth\nnot to pity my dwining and swooning for His love. I dare sometimes put\nmy hunger over to Him to be judged, if I would not buy Him with a\nthousand years in the hottest furnace in hell, so being I might enjoy\nHim. But my hunger is fed by want and absence. I hunger and I have\nnot; but my comfort is to lie and wait on, and to put my poor soul and\nmy sufferings into Christ's hand. Let Him make anything out of me, so\nbeing He be glorified in my salvation; for I know that I am made for\nHim. Oh that my Lord may win His own gracious end in me! I will not be\nat ease, while I but stand so far aback. Oh, if I were near Him and\nwith Him, that this poor soul might be satisfied with Himself!\n\n [334] Fix the way in which He is to show His love. Perhaps we should\n read \"set\" for \"get.\"\n\n [335] Rushes off again toward the road.\n\nYour son-in-law, W. G., is now truly honoured for his Lord and\nMaster's cause. When the Lord is fanning Zion, it is a good token that\nhe is a true branch of the vine, that the Lord beginneth first to\ndress him. He is strong in his Lord, as he hath written to me, and his\nwife is his encourager, which should make you rejoice.\n\nAs for your son, who is your grief, your Lord waited on you and me,\ntill we were ripe, and brought us in. It is your part to pray and wait\nupon Him. When he is ripe, he will be spoken for. Who can command our\nLord's wind to blow? I know that it shall be your good in the latter\nend. That is one of your waters to heaven, ye could not go about;[336]\nthere are the fewer behind. I remember you and him, and yours, as I am\nable; but, alas! I am believed to be something, and I am nothing but\nan empty reed. Wants are my best riches, because I have these supplied\nby Christ.\n\n [336] One of the rivers which you could not avoid crossing.\n\nRemember my dearest love to your brother.[337] I know that he pleadeth\nwith his harlot-mother for her apostasy. I know also that ye are kind\nto my worthy Lady Kenmure, a woman beloved of the Lord, who hath been\nvery mindful of my bonds. The Lord give her, and her child, to find\nmercy in the day of Christ! Great men are dry and cold in doing for\nme; the tinkling of the chains for Christ affrighteth them: but let my\nLord break all my idols, I will yet bless Him. I am obliged to my Lord\nLorn: I wish him mercy.\n\n [337] James Melville of Hallhill, who succeeded his father, Sir James\n Melville. By a charter of the barony of Burntisland, granted to him\n 16th January 1638, he became Sir James Melville of Burntisland\n (Douglas' \"Peerage,\" vol. ii. p. 112).\n\nRemember my bonds with praises; and pray for me, that my Lord may\nleaven the north by my bonds and sufferings.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXIII.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Knockgray._\n\n(_STATE OF THE CHURCH--BELIEVERS PURIFIED BY AFFLICTION--FOLLY OF\nSEEKING JOY IN A DOOMED WORLD._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--There is no\nquestion but our mother-church hath a Father, and that she shall not\ndie without an heir: her enemies shall not make Mount Zion their\nheritage. We see that whithersoever Zion's enemies go, suppose they\ndig many miles under ground, yet our Lord findeth them out: and He\nhath vengeance laid up in store for them, and the poor and needy shall\nnot always be forgotten. Our hope was drooping and withering, and man\nwas saying, \"What can God make out of the old dry bones of this buried\nkirk?\" The prelates and their followers were a grave above us. It is\nlike that our Lord is to open our graves, and purposeth to cause His\ntwo slain witnesses to rise on the third day. Oh, how long wait I to\nhear our weeping Lord Jesus sing again, and triumph and rejoice, and\ndivide the spoil!\n\nI find it hard work to believe when the course of providence goeth\ncross-wise to our faith, and when misted souls in a dark night cannot\nknow east by west, and our sea-compass seemeth to fail us. Every man\nis a believer in daylight: a fair day seemeth to be made all of faith\nand hope. What a trial of gold is it to smoke it a little above the\nfire! but to keep gold perfectly yellow-coloured amidst the flames,\nand to be turned from vessel to vessel, and yet to cause our furnace\nto sound, and speak, and cry the praises of the Lord, is another\nmatter. I know that my Lord made me not for fire, howbeit He hath\nfitted me in some measure for the fire. I bless His high name that I\nwax not paler, neither have I lost the colour of gold; and that His\nfire hath made me somewhat thin, and that my Lord may pour me into any\nvessel He pleaseth. For a small wager I may justly quit my part of\nthis world's laughter, and give up with time, and cast out with the\npleasures of this world.\n\nI know a man who wondered to see any in this life laugh or sport.\nSurely our Lord seeketh this of us, as to any rejoicing in present\nperishing things. I see above all things, that we may sit down, and\nfold legs and arms, and stretch ourselves upon Christ, and laugh at\nthe feathers that children are chasing here. For I think the men of\nthis world like children in a dangerous storm in the sea, that play\nand make sport with the white foam of the waves thereof, coming in to\nsink and drown them; so are men making fool's sports with the white\npleasures of a stormy world, that will sink them. But, alas! what have\nwe to do with their sports which they make? If Solomon said of\nlaughter, that it was madness, what may we say of this world's\nlaughing and sporting themselves with gold and silver, and honours,\nand court, and broad large conquests, but that they are poor souls, in\nthe height and rage of a fever gone mad? Then a straw, a fig, for all\ncreated sports and rejoicing out of Christ! Nay, I think that this\nworld, at its prime and perfection, when it is come to the top of its\nexcellency and to the bloom, might be bought with an halfpenny; and\nthat it would scarce weigh the worth of a drink of water. There is\nnothing better than to esteem it our crucified idol (that is, dead and\nslain), as Paul did (Gal. vi. 14). Then let pleasures be crucified,\nand riches be crucified, and court and honour be crucified. And since\nthe apostle saith that the world is crucified to him, we may put this\nworld to the hanged man's doom, and to the gallows: and who will give\nmuch for a hanged man? as little should we give for a hanged and\ncrucified world. Yet, what a sweet smell hath this dead carrion to\nmany fools in the world! and how many wooers and suitors findeth this\nhanged carrion! Fools are pulling it off the gallows, and contending\nfor it. Oh, when will we learn to be mortified men, and to have our\nfill of those things that have but their short summer quarter of this\nlife! If we saw our Father's house, and that great and fair city, the\nNew Jerusalem, which is up above sun and moon, we would cry to be over\nthe water, and to be carried in Christ's arms out of this borrowed\nprison.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXIV.--_To FULWOOD, the Younger._\n\n [WILLIAM SEMPLE of Fulwood, in the parish of Houston, near\n Kilmalcolm, in Renfrewshire, was probably connected with Semple\n of Beltrees, in the parish of Lochwinnoch.]\n\n(_VANITY OF THE WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF DEATH AND CHRIST--THE PRESENT\nTRUTH--CHRIST'S COMING._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Upon the\nreport of this worthy bearer concerning you, I thought good to speak a\nword to you. It is enough for acquaintance that we are one in Christ.\n\nMy earnest desire to you is, that ye would, in the fear of God,\ncompare your inch and hand-breadth of time with vast eternity, and\nyour thoughts of this now fair, blooming, and green world, with the\nthoughts which ye will have of it when corruption and worms will make\ntheir house in your eye-holes, and eat your flesh, and make that body\ndry bones. If ye so do, I know then that your light of this world's\nvanity shall be more clear than now it is; and I am persuaded ye will\nthen think that men's labours for this clay idol are to be laughed at.\nTherefore, come near, and take a view of that transparent beauty that\nis in Christ, which would busy the love of ten thousand millions of\nworlds and angels, and hold them all at work. Surely I am grieved,\nthat men will not spend their whole love upon that royal and princely\nWell-beloved, that high and lofty One; for it is cursed love that\nrunneth another way than upon Him. As for myself, if I had ten loves\nand ten souls, oh, how glad would I be, if He would break in upon me\nand take possession of them all! Wo, wo is me, that He and I are so\nfar asunder! I hope we shall be in one country and one house together.\nTruly pain of love-sickness for Jesus maketh me to think it long,\nlong, long to the dawning of that day. Oh that He would cut short\nyears and months and hours, and over-leap time, that we might meet!\n\nAnd for this truth, Sir, that ye profess, I avow before the world of\nmen and angels, that it is the way, and the only way to our country;\nthe rest are by-ways; and, that what I suffer for is the apple of\nChrist's eye, even His honour as Lawgiver and King of His church. I\nthink death too little ere I forsook it.[338] Do not, Sir, I beseech\nyou in the Lord, make Christ's court thinner by drawing back from Him\n(it is too thin already); for I dare pledge my heaven upon it, that He\nwill win His plea, and that the fools who plea against Him shall lose\nthe wager, which is their part of salvation, except they take better\nheed to their ways. Sir, free grace, that we give no hire for, is a\njewel that our Lord giveth to few. Stand fast in the hope that you are\ncalled unto. Our Master will rend the clouds, and will be upon us\nquickly, and clear our cause, and bring us all out in our blacks and\nwhites. Clean, clean garments, in the Bridegroom's eye, are of great\nworth. Step over this hand-breadth of world's glory into our Lord's\nnew world of grace, and ye will laugh at the feathers that children\nare chasing in the air. I verily judge, that this inn, which men are\nbuilding their nest in, is not worth a drink of cold water. It is a\nrainy and smoky house: best we come out of it, lest we be choked with\nthe smoke thereof. Oh that my adversaries knew how sweet my sighs for\nChrist are, and what it is for a sinner to lay his head between\nChrist's breasts, and to be over head and ears in Christ's love! Alas,\nI cannot cause paper to speak the height, and breadth, and depth of\nit! I have not a balance to weigh the worth of my Lord Jesus. Heaven,\nten heavens, would not be the beam of a balance to weigh Him in. I\nmust give over praising Him. Angels see but little of Him. Oh, if that\nfair one would take the mask off His fair face, that I might see Him!\nA kiss of Him through His mask is half a heaven. O day, dawn! O time,\nrun fast! O Bridegroom, post, post fast, that we may meet! O heavens,\ncleave in two, that that bright face and head may set itself through\nthe clouds! Oh that the corn were ripe, and this world prepared for\nHis hook! Sir, be pleased to remember a prisoner's bonds. Grace be\nwith you.\n\n [338] \"Ere I could be induced to forsake what concerns His honour, I\n must be made to suffer something far more and worse than death.\"\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _July 10, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXV.--_To his Parishioners._\n\n (_PROTESTATION OF CARE FOR THEIR SOULS AND GLORY OF GOD--DELIGHT\n IN HIS MINISTRY, AND IN HIS LORD--EFFORTS FOR THEIR\n SOULS--WARNING AGAINST ERRORS OF THE DAY--AWFUL WORDS TO THE\n BACKSLIDER--INTENSE ADMIRATION OF CHRIST--A LOUD CALL TO ALL._)\n\n\nDEARLY BELOVED AND LONGED-FOR IN THE LORD, my crown and my joy in the\nday of Christ,--Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and\nfrom our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nI long exceedingly to know if the oft-spoken-of match betwixt you and\nChrist holdeth, and if ye follow on to know the Lord. My day-thoughts\nand my night-thoughts are of you: while ye sleep I am afraid of your\nsouls, that they be off the rock. Next to my Lord Jesus and this\nfallen kirk, ye have the greatest share of my sorrow, and also of my\njoy; ye are the matter of the tears, care, fear, and daily prayers of\nan oppressed prisoner of Christ. As I am in bonds for my high and\nlofty One, my royal and princely Master, my Lord Jesus; so I am in\nbonds for you. For I should have slept in my warm nest, and kept the\nfat world in my arms, and the cords of my tabernacle should have been\nfastened more strongly; I might have sung an evangel of ease to my\nsoul and you for a time, with my brethren, the sons of my mother, that\nwere angry at me, and have thrust me out of the vineyard; if I would\nhave been broken, and drawn on to mire you, the Lord's flock, and to\ncause you to eat pastures trodden upon with men's feet, and to drink\nfoul and muddy waters. But truly the Almighty was a terror to me, and\nHis fear made me afraid. O my Lord, judge if my ministry be not dear\nto me, but not so dear by many degrees as Christ my Lord! God knoweth\nthe sad and heavy Sabbaths I have had, since I laid down at my\nMaster's feet my two shepherd's staves. I have been often saying, as\nit is written, \"My enemies chased me sore like a bird, without cause:\nthey have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me\"\n(Lam. iii. 52, 53). For, next to Christ, I had but one joy, the apple\nof the eye of my delights, to preach Christ my Lord; and they have\nviolently plucked that away from me. It was to me like the poor man's\none eye; and they have put out that eye, and quenched my light in the\ninheritance of the Lord. But my eye is toward the Lord: I know that I\nshall see the salvation of God, and that my hope shall not always be\nforgotten. And my sorrow shall want nothing to complete it, and to\nmake me say, \"What availeth it me to live?\" if ye follow the voice of\na stranger, of one that cometh into the sheep-fold not by Christ the\ndoor, but climbeth up another way. If the man build his hay and\nstubble upon the golden foundation, Christ Jesus (already laid among\nyou), and ye follow him, I assure you, the man's work shall burn and\nnever bide God's fire: and ye and he both shall be in danger of\neverlasting burning except ye repent. Oh, if any pain, any sorrow, any\nloss that I can suffer for Christ, and for you, were laid in pledge to\nbuy Christ's love to you! and that I could lay my dearest joys, next\nto Christ my Lord, in the gap betwixt you and eternal destruction! O\nif I had paper as broad as heaven and earth, and ink as the sea and\nall the rivers and fountains of the earth, and were able to write the\nlove, the worth, the excellency, the sweetness, and due praises of our\ndearest and fairest Well-beloved! and then if ye could read and\nunderstand it! What could I want, if my ministry among you should make\na marriage between the little bride in those bounds and the\nBridegroom? Oh, how rich a prisoner were I, if I could obtain of my\nLord (before whom I stand for you) the salvation of you all! Oh, what\na prey had I gotten, to have you catched in Christ's net! Oh, then I\nhad cast out my Lord's lines and His net with a rich gain! Oh then,\nwell-wared pained breast, and sore back, and crazed body, in speaking\nearly and late to you! My witness is above; your heaven would be two\nheavens to me, and the salvation of you all as two salvations to me. I\nwould subscribe a suspension, and a fristing of my heaven for many\nhundred years (according to God's good pleasure), if ye were sure in\nthe upper lodging, in our Father's house, before me. I take to witness\nheaven and earth against you, I take instruments in the hands of that\nsun and daylight that beheld us, and in the hands of the timber and\nwalls of that kirk, if I drew not up a fair contract of marriage\nbetwixt you and Christ, if I went not with offers betwixt the\nBridegroom and you, and your conscience did bear you witness, your\nmouths confessed, that there were many fair trysts and meetings drawn\non betwixt Christ and you at communion feasts, and other occasions?\nThere were bracelets, jewels, rings, and love-letters, sent to you by\nthe Bridegroom. It was told you what a fair dowry ye should have, and\nwhat a house your Husband and ye should dwell in, and what was the\nBridegroom's excellency, sweetness, might, power, the eternity and\nglory of His kingdom, the exceeding deepness of His love, who sought\nHis black wife through pain, fires, shame, death, and the grave, and\nswimmed the salt sea for her, undergoing the curse of the law, and\nthen[339] was made a curse for you; and ye then consented, and said,\n\"Even so I take Him.\" I counsel you to beware of the new and strange\nleaven of men's inventions, beside and against the word of God,\ncontrary to the oath of this kirk, now coming among you. I instructed\nyou of the superstition and idolatry in kneeling in the instant of\nreceiving the Lord's Supper, and of crossing in baptism, and of the\nobserving of men's days, without any warrant of Christ our perfect\nLawgiver. Countenance not the surplice, the attire of the mass-priest,\nthe garment of Baal's priests. The abominable bowing to altars of tree\n(wood) is coming upon you. Hate, and keep yourselves from idols.\nForbear in any case to hear the reading of the new fatherless\nService-Book,[340] full of gross heresies, popish and superstitious\nerrors, without any warrant of Christ, tending to the overthrow of\npreaching. You owe no obedience to the bastard canons; they are\nunlawful, blasphemous, and superstitious. All the ceremonies that lie\nin Antichrist's foul womb, the wares of that great mother of\nfornications, the kirk of Rome, are to be refused. Ye see whither they\nlead you. Continue still in the doctrine which ye have received. Ye\nheard of me the whole counsel of God. Sew no clouts upon Christ's\nrobe. Take Christ, in His rags and losses, and as persecuted by men,\nand be content to sigh and pant up the mountain, with Christ's cross\non your back. Let me be reputed a false prophet (and your conscience\nonce said the contrary), if your Lord Jesus will not stand by you and\nmaintain you, and maintain your cause against your enemies.\n\n [339] Thus.\n\n [340] See Letter CLXI. The Service-Book, which has no author's name.\n\nI have heard, and my soul is grieved for it, that since my departure\nfrom you, many among you are turned back from the good old way, to the\ndog's vomit again. Let me speak to these men. It was not without God's\nspecial direction, that the first sentence that ever my month uttered\nto you was that, \"And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this\nworld, that they which see not might see; and that they which see\nmight be made blind\" (John ix. 39). Is it possible that my first\nmeeting and yours may be when we shall both stand before the dreadful\nJudge of the world; and in the name and authority of the Son of God,\nmy great King and Master, I write, by these presents, summonses to\nthose men. I arrest their souls and bodies to the day of our\ncompearance. Their eternal damnation standeth subscribed, and sealed\nin heaven, by the hand-writing of the great Judge of quick and dead;\nand I am ready to stand up, as a preaching witness against such to\ntheir face, on that day, and to say \"Amen\" to their condemnation,\nexcept they repent. The vengeance of the Gospel is heavier than the\nvengeance of the Law; the Mediator's malediction and vengeance is\ntwice vengeance; and that vengeance is the due portion of such men.\nAnd there I leave them as bond men, aye and whill they repent and\namend.\n\nYe were witnesses how the Lord's day was spent while I was among you.\nO sacrilegious robber of God's day, what wilt thou answer the Almighty\nwhen He seeketh so many Sabbaths back again from thee? What will the\ncurser, swearer, and blasphemer do, when his tongue shall be roasted\nin that broad and burning lake of fire and brimstone? And what will\nthe drunkard do, when tongue, lungs, and liver, bones, and all, shall\nboil and shall fry in a torturing fire? He shall be far from his\nbarrels of strong drink then; and there is not a cold well of water\nfor him in hell. What shall be the case of the wretch, the covetous\nman, the oppressor, the deceiver, the earth-worm, who can never get\nhis wombful of clay (Ps. xvii. 14), when, in the day of Christ, gold\nand silver must lie burnt in ashes, and he must compear and answer his\nJudge, and quit his clayey and noughty heaven? Wo, wo, for evermore,\nbe to the time-turning atheist, who hath one god and one religion for\nsummer, and another god and another religion for winter, and the day\nof fanning, when Christ fanneth all that is in His barn-floor: who\nhath a conscience for every fair and market, and the soul of him\nrunneth upon these oiled wheels, time, custom, the world, and command\nof men. Oh, if the careless atheist, and sleeping man, who edgeth by\nall with, \"God forgive our pastors if they lead us wrong, we must do\nas they command,\" and layeth down his head upon time's bosom, and\ngiveth his conscience to a deputy, and sleepeth so, whill the smoke of\nhell-fire fly up in his throat, and cause him to start out of his\ndoleful bed! Oh, if such a man would awake! Many woes are for the\nover-gilded and gold-plastered hypocrite. A heavy doom is for the liar\nand white-tongued flatterer; and the flying book of God's fearful\nvengeance, twenty cubits long, and ten cubits broad, that goeth out\nfrom the face of God, shall enter into the house, and in upon the\nsoul of him that stealeth, and sweareth falsely by God's name (Zech.\nv. 2, 3). I denounce eternal burning, hotter than Sodom's flames, upon\nthe men that boil in filthy lusts of fornication, adultery, incest,\nand the like wickedness. No room, no, not a foot-breadth, for such\nvile dogs within the clean Jerusalem. Many of you put off all with\nthis, \"God forgive us, we know no better.\" I renew my old answer: the\nJudge is coming in flaming fire, with all His mighty angels, to render\nvengeance to all those that know not God, and believe not (2 Thess. i.\n8). I have often told you that security will slay you. All men say\nthey have faith: as many men and women now, as many saints in heaven.\nAnd all believe (say ye); so that every foul dog is clean enough, and\ngood enough, for the clean and new Jerusalem above. Every man hath\nconversion and the new birth; but it is not leal come. They had never\na sick night for sin; conversion came to them in a night-dream. In a\nword, hell will be empty at the day of judgment, and heaven pang full!\nAlas! it is neither easy nor ordinary to believe and to be saved. Many\nmust stand, in the end, at heaven's gates (Luke xiii. 25). When they\ngo to take out their faith, they take out a fair nothing, or (as ye\nuse to speak) a blaflum. Oh, lamentable disappointment! I pray you, I\ncharge you in the name of Christ, make fast work of Christ and\nsalvation.\n\nI know there are some believers among you, and I write to you, O poor\nbroken-hearted believers: all the comforts of Christ in the Old and\nNew Testaments are yours. Oh, what a Father and Husband ye have! Oh,\nif I had pen and ink, and ingine to write of Him! Let heaven and earth\nbe consolidated into massy and pure gold, it will not weigh the\nthousandth part of Christ's love to a soul, even to me a poor\nprisoner. Oh, that is a massy and marvellous love! Men and angels!\nunite your force and strength in one, ye shall not heave nor poise it\noff the ground. Ten thousand worlds, as many worlds as angels can\nnumber, and then as a new world of angels can multiply, would not all\nbe the balk of a balance to weigh Christ's excellency, sweetness, and\nlove. Put ten earths into one, and let a rose grow greater than ten\nwhole earths, or whole worlds, oh, what beauty would be in it, and\nwhat a smell would it cast! But a blast of the breath of that fairest\nRose in all God's paradise, even of Christ Jesus our Lord, one look of\nthat fairest face, would be infinitely in beauty, and smell, above all\nimaginable and created glory. I wonder that men dow bide off Christ.\nI would esteem myself blessed, if I could make an open proclamation,\nand gather all the world, that are living upon the earth, Jew and\nGentile, and all that shall be born till the blowing of the last\ntrumpet, to flock round about Christ, and to stand looking, wondering,\nadmiring, and adoring His beauty and sweetness. For His fire is hotter\nthan any other fire, His love sweeter than common love, His beauty\nsurpasseth all other beauty. When I am heavy and sad, one of His\nlove-looks would do me meikle worlds' good. Oh, if ye would fall in\nlove with Him, how blessed were I! how glad would my soul be to help\nyou to love Him! But amongst us all, we could not love Him enough. He\nis the Son of the Father's love, and God's delight; the Father's love\nlieth all upon Him. Oh, if all mankind would fetch all their love and\nlay it upon Him! Invite Him, and take Him home to your houses, in the\nexercise of prayer morning and evening, as I often desired you;\nespecially now, let Him not want lodging in your houses, nor lie in\nthe fields, when He is shut out of pulpits and kirks. If ye will be\ncontent to take heaven by violence and the wind on your face for\nChrist and His cross, I am here one who hath some trial of Christ's\ncross, and I can say, that Christ was ever kind to me, but He\novercometh Himself (if I may speak so) in kindness while I suffer for\nHim. I give you my word for it, Christ's cross is not so evil as they\ncall it; it is sweet, light, and comfortable. I would not want the\nvisitations of love, and the very breathings of Christ's mouth when He\nkisseth, and my Lord's delightsome smiles and love-embracements under\nmy sufferings for Him, for a mountain of gold, or for all the honours,\ncourt, and grandeur of velvet kirkmen.[341] Christ hath the yoke and\nheart of my love. \"I am my Beloved's, and my Well-beloved is mine.\"\n\n [341] High Churchmen.\n\nOh that ye were all hand-fasted to Christ! O my dearly-beloved in the\nLord, I would I could change my voice, and had a tongue tuned by the\nhands of my Lord, and had the art of speaking of Christ, that I might\npoint out to you the worth, and highness, and greatness, and\nexcellency of that fairest and renowned Bridegroom! I beseech you by\nthe mercies of the Lord, by the sighs, tears, and heart's-blood of our\nLord Jesus, by the salvation of your poor and precious souls, set up\nthe mountain, that ye and I may meet before the Lamb's throne amongst\nthe congregation of the first-born. Lord grant that that may be the\ntrysting-place! that ye and I may put up our hands together, and\npluck and eat the apples off the tree of life, and that we may feast\ntogether, and drink together of that pure river of the water of life,\nthat cometh out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Oh, how little\nis your hand-breadth and span-length of days here! Your inch of time\nis less than when ye and I parted. Eternity, eternity is coming,\nposting on with wings; then shall every man's blacks and whites be\nbrought to light. Oh, how low will your thoughts be of this\nfair-skinned but heart-rotten apple, the vain, vain, feckless world,\nwhen the worms shall make them houses in your eye-holes, and shall eat\noff the flesh from the balls of your cheeks, and shall make that body\na number of dry bones! Think not that the common gate of serving God,\nas neighbours and others do, will bring you to heaven. Few, few are\nsaved. The devil's court is thick and many; he hath the greatest\nnumber of mankind for his vassals. I know this world is a forest of\nthorns in your way to heaven; but you must go through it. Acquaint\nyourselves with the Lord: hold fast Christ; hear His voice only. Bless\nHis name; sanctify and keep holy His day; keep the new commandment,\n\"Love one another;\" let the Holy Spirit dwell in your bodies; and be\nclean and holy. Love not the world: lie not, love and follow truth:\nlearn to know God. Keep in mind what I taught you; for God will seek\nan account of it, when I am far from you. Abstain from all evil, and\nall appearance of evil: follow good carefully, and seek peace and\nfollow after it: honour your king, and pray for him. Remember me to\nGod in your prayers; I dow not forget you. I told you often while I\nwas with you, and now I write it again, heavy, sad, and sore is that\nstroke of the Lord's wrath that is coming upon Scotland. Wo, wo, wo to\nthis harlot-land! for they shall take the cup of God's wrath from His\nhands, and drink, and spue, and fall, and not rise again. In, in, in\nwith speed to your stronghold, ye prisoners of hope, and hide you\nthere whill the anger of the Lord pass! Follow not the pastors of this\nland, for the sun is gone down upon them. As the Lord liveth, they\nlead you from Christ, and from the good old way. Yet the Lord will\nkeep the holy city, and make this withered kirk to bud again like a\nrose, and a field blessed of the Lord.\n\nThe grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. The prayers and\nblessings of a prisoner of Christ, in bonds for Him, and for you, be\nwith you all. Amen.\n\n Your lawful and loving pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _July 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXVI.--_To the_ LADY KILCONQUHAR.\n\n [LADY KILCONQUHAR, whose maiden name was Helen Murray, being the\n third daughter of Sir Archibald Murray of Blackbarony, was the\n wife of Sir John Carstairs of Kilconquhar, in the county of Fife.\n Her mother, Margaret Maule, was of the family of Panmure. Their\n youngest daughter, Bethia, in 1656, married Thomas Rigg of\n Athernie. The house of Kilconquhar (called Kinneucher by the\n people) is near the loch and the village, with Elie not far off\n on one side, and Balcarras on the other. The loch with its swans,\n the woods, and the sea so near, make it a pleasant spot.]\n\n(_THE INTERESTS OF THE SOUL MOST URGENT--FOLLY OF THE WORLD--CHRIST\nALTOGETHER LOVELY--HIS PEN FAILS TO SET FORTH CHRIST'S UNSPEAKABLE\nBEAUTY._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am glad to hear that\nye have your face homewards towards your Father's house, now when so\nmany are for a home nearer hand. But your Lord calleth you to another\nlife and glory than is to be found hereaway; and, therefore, I would\ncounsel you to make sure the charters and rights which ye have to\nsalvation. You came to this life about a necessary and weighty\nbusiness, to tryste with Christ anent your precious soul, and the\neternal salvation of it. This is the most necessary business ye have\nin this life; and your other adoes beside this are but toys, and\nfeathers, and dreams, and fancies. This is in the greatest haste, and\nshould be done first. Means are used in the Gospel to draw on a\nmeeting betwixt Christ and you. If ye neglect your part of it, it is\nas if ye would tear the contract before Christ's eyes, and give up the\nmatch, that there may be no more communing about that business. I know\nthat other lovers beside Christ are in suit of you, and your soul hath\nmany wooers; but I pray you to make a chaste virgin of your soul, and\nlet it love but one. Most worthy is Christ alone of all your soul's\nlove, howbeit your love were higher than the heaven, and deeper than\nthe lowest of this earth, and broader than this world. Many, alas! too\nmany, make a common strumpet of their soul for every lover that cometh\nto the house. Marriage with Christ would put your love and your heart\nby the gate, out of the way, and out of the eye of all other unlawful\nsuitors; and then you have a ready answer for all others, \"I am\nalready promised away to Christ; the match is concluded, my soul hath\na husband already, and it cannot have two husbands.\" Oh, if the world\ndid but know what a smell the ointments of Christ cast, and how\nravishing His beauty (even the beauty of the fairest of the sons of\nmen) is, and how sweet and powerful His voice is, the voice of that\none Well-beloved! Certainly, where Christ cometh, He runneth away with\nthe soul's love, so that it cannot be commanded. I would far rather\nlook but through the hole of Christ's door, to see but the one half of\nHis fairest and most comely face (for He looketh like heaven!),\nsuppose I should never win in to see His excellency and glory to the\nfull, than enjoy the flower, the bloom, and the chiefest excellency of\nthe glory and riches of ten worlds. Lord, send me, for my part, but\nthe meanest share of Christ that can be given to any of the indwellers\nof the New Jerusalem. But I know my Lord is no niggard: He can, and it\nbecometh Him well to give more than my narrow soul can receive. If\nthere were ten thousand thousand millions of worlds, and as many\nheavens full of men and angels, Christ would not be pinched to supply\nall our wants, and to fill us all. Christ is a well of life; but who\nknoweth how deep it is to the bottom? This soul of ours hath love, and\ncannot but love some fair one. And oh, what a fair One, what an only\nOne, what an excellent, lovely, ravishing One, is Jesus! Put the\nbeauty of ten thousand thousand worlds of paradises, like the garden\nof Eden in one; put all trees, all flowers, all smells, all colours,\nall tastes, all joys, all sweetness, all loveliness, in one: oh, what\na fair and excellent thing would that be! And yet it would be less to\nthat fair and dearest Well-beloved, Christ, than one drop of rain to\nthe whole seas, rivers, lakes, and fountains of ten thousand earths.\nOh, but Christ is heaven's wonder, and earth's wonder! What marvel\nthat His bride saith (Cant. v. 16), \"He is altogether lovely!\" Oh that\nblack souls will not come and fetch all their love to this fair One!\nOh, if I could invite and persuade thousands, and ten thousand times\nten thousand of Adam's sons, to flock about my Lord Jesus, and to come\nand take their fill of love! Oh, pity for evermore, that there should\nbe such a one as Christ Jesus, so boundless, so bottomless, and so\nincomparable in infinite excellency and sweetness, and so few to take\nHim! Oh, oh, ye poor, dry, and dead souls, why will ye not come hither\nwith your toom vessels, and your empty souls, to this huge, and fair,\nand deep, and sweet well of life, and fill all your toom vessels? Oh\nthat Christ should be so large in sweetness and worth, and we so\nnarrow, so pinched, so ebb, and so void of all happiness. And yet men\nwill not take Him! They lose their love miserably, who will not bestow\nit upon this lovely One. Alas! these five thousand years, Adam's\nfools, his waster (Prov. xviii. 9) heirs, have been wasting and\nlavishing out their love and their affections upon black lovers, and\nblack harlots, upon bits of dead creatures, and broken idols, upon\nthis and that feckless creature; and have not brought their love and\ntheir heart to Jesus. Oh, pity, that Fairness hath so few lovers! Oh,\nwo, wo to the fools of this world, who run by Christ to other lovers!\nOh, misery, misery, misery, that comeliness can scarce get three or\nfour hearts in a town or country! Oh that there is so much spoken, and\nso much written, and so much thought of creature vanity; and so little\nspoken, so little written, and so little thought of my great, and\nincomprehensible, and never enough wondered at Lord Jesus! Why should\nI not curse this forlorn and wretched world, that suffereth my Lord\nJesus to lie His lone? O damned souls! O miskenning world! O blind, O\nbeggarly and poor souls! O bewitched fools! what aileth you at Christ,\nthat you run so from Him? I dare not challenge providence, that there\nare so few buyers, and so little sale for such an excellent one as\nChrist. (O the depth, and, O the height of my Lord's ways, that pass\nfinding out!) But oh, if men would once be wise, and not fall so in\nlove with their own hell as to pass by Christ, and misken Him! But let\nus come near, and fill ourselves with Christ, and let His friends\ndrink, and be drunken, and satisfy our hollow and deep desires with\nJesus. Oh, come all and drink at this living well; come, drink and\nlive for evermore; come, drink and welcome! \"Welcome,\" saith our\nfairest Bridegroom. No man getteth Christ with ill will; no man cometh\nand is not welcome. No man cometh and rueth his voyage; all men speak\nwell of Christ who have been at Him: men and angels who know Him will\nsay more than I dow do, and think more of Him than they can say. Oh,\nif I were misted and bewildered in my Lord's love! Oh, if I were\nfettered and chained to it! Oh, sweet pain, to be pained for a sight\nof Him! Oh, living death, oh, good death, oh, lovely death, to die for\nlove of Jesus! Oh that I should have a sore heart, and a pained soul,\nfor the want of this and that idol! Wo, wo to the mistakings of my\nmiscarrying heart, that gapeth and crieth for creatures, and is not\npained, and cut, and tortured, and in sorrow, for the want of a\nsoul's-fill of the love of Christ! Oh that Thou wouldst come near, my\nBeloved! O my fairest One why standeth Thou afar! Come hither, that I\nmay be satiated with Thy excellent love. Oh for a union! oh for a\nfellowship with Jesus! Oh that I could buy with a price that lovely\nOne, even suppose that hell's torments for a while were the price! I\ncannot believe but Christ will rue upon His pained lovers, and come\nand ease sick hearts, who sigh and swoon for want of Christ. Who dow\nbide Christ's love to be nice? What heaven can be there liker to hell,\nthan to lust, and green, and dwine, and fall a swoon for Christ's\nlove, and to want it? Is not this hell and heaven woven through-other?\nIs not this pain and joy, sweetness and sadness, to be in one web, the\none the weft, the other the warp? Therefore, I would that Christ would\nlet us meet and join together, the soul and Christ in each other's\narms. Oh what meeting is like this, to see blackness and beauty,\ncontemptibleness and glory, highness and baseness, even a soul and\nChrist, kiss each other! Nay, but when all is done, I may be wearied\nin speaking and writing; but, oh, how far am I from the right\nexpression of Christ or His love? I can neither speak nor write\nfeeling, nor tasting, nor smelling: come feel, and smell, and taste\nChrist and His love, and ye shall call it more than can be spoken. To\nwrite how sweet the honeycomb is, is not so lovely as to eat and suck\nthe honeycomb. One night's rest in a bed of love with Christ will say\nmore than heart can think, or tongue can utter. Neither need we fear\ncrosses, nor sigh nor be sad for anything that is on this side of\nheaven, if we have Christ. Our crosses will never draw blood of the\njoy of the Holy Ghost, and peace of conscience. Our joy is laid up in\nsuch a high place, as temptations cannot climb up to take it down.\nThis world may bost Christ, but they dare not strike; or, if they\nstrike, they break their arm in fetching a stroke upon a rock. Oh that\nwe could put our treasures in Christ's hand, and give him our gold to\nkeep, and our crown. Strive, Mistress, to thring through the thorns of\nthis life, to be at Christ. Tine not sight of Him in this cloudy and\ndark day. Sleep with Him in your heart in the night. Learn not at the\nworld to serve Christ, but speer at Himself the way; the world is a\nfalse copy, and a lying guide to follow.\n\nRemember my love to your husband. I wish all to him that I have\nwritten here. The sweet presence, the long-lasting good-will of our\nGod, the warmly and lovely comforts of our Lord Jesus, be with you.\nHelp me His prisoner in your prayers; for I remember you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _August 8, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXVII.--_To my_ LORD CRAIGHALL.\n\n(_STANDING FOR CHRIST--DANGER FROM FEAR, OR PROMISES OF MEN--CHRIST'S\nREQUITALS--SIN AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT._)\n\n\nMY LORD,--I received one letter of your Lordship's from C., and\nanother of late from A. B., wherein I find your Lordship in perplexity\nwhat to do. But let me entreat your Lordship not to cause yourself to\nmistake Truth and Christ, because they seem to encounter with your\npeace and ease. My Lord, remember that a prisoner hath written this to\nyou, that, \"as the Lord liveth, if ye put to your hand with other\napostates in this land, to pull down the sometime beautiful tabernacle\nof Christ in this land, and join hands with them in one hair-breadth\nto welcome Antichrist to Scotland, there is wrath gone out from the\nLord against you and your house.\" If the terror of a king hath\novertaken you, and your Lordship looketh to sleep in your nest in\npeace, and to take the nearest shore, there are many ways (too, too\nmany ways) how to shift Christ with some ill-washen and foul\ndistinctions. But assure yourself, suppose a king should assure you\nthat he would be your god (as shall never be) for that piece of\nservice, your clay god shall die. And your carnal counsellors, when\nyour conscience shall storm against you, and ye complain to them, will\nsay, \"What is this to us?\" Believe not that Christ is weak, or that He\nis not able to save. Of two fires that you cannot pass, take the\nleast. Some few years will bring us all out in our blacks and whites\nbefore our Judge. Eternity is nearer to you than you are aware of. To\ngo on in a course of defection, when an enlightened conscience is\nstirring, and looking you in the face, and crying within you, \"That\nyou are going in an evil way,\" is a step to the sin against the Holy\nGhost. Either many of this land are near that sin, or else I know not\nwhat it is. And if this, for which I now suffer, be not the way of\npeace and the King's highway to salvation, I believe there is not a\nway at all. There is not such breadth and elbow-room in the way to\nheaven as men believe.\n\nHowbeit this day be not Christ's, the morrow shall be His. I believe\nassuredly that our Lord will repair the old waste places and His\nruined houses in Scotland; and that this wilderness shall yet blossom\nas the rose. My very worthy and dear Lord, wait upon Him who hideth\nHis face from the house of Jacob, and look for Him. Wait patiently a\nlittle upon the Bridegroom's return again, that your soul may live,\nand that ye may rejoice with the Lord's inheritance. I dare pawn my\nsoul and life for it, that if ye take this storm with borne-down\nChrist, your sky shall quickly clear, and your fair morning dawn.\nThink (as the truth is) that Christ is just now saying, \"And will ye\nalso leave Me?\" Ye have a fair occasion to gratify Christ now, if ye\nwill stay with Him, and want the night's sleep with your suffering\nSaviour one hour, now when Scotland hath fallen asleep, and leaveth\nChrist to fend for Himself. I profess myself but a weak, feeble man.\nWhen I came first to Christ's camp, I had nothing to maintain this\nwar, or to bear me out in this encounter; and I am little better yet.\nBut since I find furniture, armour, and strength from the consecrated\nCaptain, the Prince of our salvation, who was perfected through\nsuffering, I esteem suffering for Christ a king's life. I find that\nour wants qualify us for Christ. And, howbeit your Lordship write that\nye despair to attain to such a communion and fellowship (which I would\nnot have you to think), yet, would ye nobly and courageously venture\nto make over to Christ, for His honour now lying at the stake, your\nestate, place, and honour, He would lovingly and largely requite you,\nand give you a king's word for a recompense. Venture upon Christ's\n\"Come,\" and I dare swear ye will say, \"I bless the Lord who gave me\ncounsel\" (Ps. xvi. 7). My very worthy Lord, many eyes, in both the\nkingdoms, are upon you now, and the eye of our Lord is upon you.\nAcquit yourself manfully for Christ; spill not this good play.\nSubscribe a blank submission, and put it into Christ's hands. Win, win\nthe blessings and prayers of your sighing and sorrowful mother-church\nseeking your help: win Christ's bond (who is a King of His word), for\na hundredfold more even in this life.\n\nIf a weak man[342] hath passed a promise to a king, to make slip to\nChrist (if we look to flesh and blood, I wonder not of it; possibly I\nmight have done worse myself), add not further guiltiness to go on in\nsuch a scandalous and foul way. Remember that there is a wo, wo to him\nby whom offences come. This wo came out of Christ's mouth, and it is\nheavier than the wo of the law. It is the Mediator's vengeance, and\nthat is two vengeances to those who are enlightened. Free yourself\nfrom unlawful anguish, about advising and resolving. When the truth is\ncome to your hand, hold it fast; go not again to make a new search\nand inquiry for truth. It is easy to cause conscience to believe as ye\nwill, not as ye know. It is easy for you to cast your light into\nprison, and detain God's truth in unrighteousness: but that prisoner\nwill break ward, to your incomparable torture. Fear your light, and\nstand in awe of it: for it is from God. Think what honour it is in\nthis life also to be enrolled to the succeeding ages amongst Christ's\nwitnesses, standing against the re-entry of Antichrist. I know\ncertainly that your light, looking to two ways, and to the two sides,\ncrieth shame upon the course that they would counsel you to follow.\nThe way that is halver and copartner with the smoke of this fat world\n(Ps. xxxvii. 20), and wit and ease, smelleth strong of a foul and\nfalse way.\n\n [342] That is, If you, in a moment of weakness, have made a rash\n promise that gives Christ the go-by.\n\nThe Prince of peace, He who brought again from the dead the great\nShepherd of His sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, establish\nyou, and give you sound light, and counsel you to follow Christ.\nRemember my obliged service to my Lord your father, and mother, and\nyour lady.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\nYour Lordship's, at all obliged obedience, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _August 10, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXVIII.--_To_ MR. JAMES FLEMING.\n\n [JAMES FLEMING was minister of Abbey St. Bathans, now called\n Yester, a parish in the Presbytery of Haddington, East Lothian.\n He had previously lived some time in England, and is described by\n Livingstone as \"an ingenuous, single-hearted man.\" Livingstone\n was related to him, having been married to the eldest daughter of\n his brother, Bartholomew Fleming, merchant in Edinburgh, and was\n present with him at his \"gracious death.\" Fleming was opposed to\n Prelacy, and the ceremonies which James VI. and Charles I. were\n so zealous in attempting to impose on the Church of Scotland. In\n the controversy occasioned by the Public Resolutions, he took the\n side of the party favourable to them. He was first married to\n Martha, eldest daughter of John Knox, the celebrated Scottish\n Reformer. He married a second wife, by whom he had the well-known\n Robert Fleming, the author of the \"Fulfilling of the Scriptures,\"\n who was minister of Cambuslang, and afterwards of the Scottish\n congregation in Rotterdam, whither he retired some years after\n his ejection for nonconformity, on the restoration of Charles\n II.]\n\n(_GLORY GAINED TO CHRIST--SPIRITUAL DEADNESS--HELP TO PRAISE HIM--THE\nMINISTRY._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND WELL-BELOVED IN OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou.--I received your letter, which hath refreshed me in my bonds. I\ncannot but testify unto you, my dear brother, what sweetness I find in\nour Master's cross; but, alas, what can I either do or suffer for\nHim! If I my lone had as many lives as there have been drops of rain\nsince the creation, I would think them too little for that lovely One,\nour Well-beloved; but my pain and my sorrow is above my sufferings,\nthat I find not ways to set out the praises of His love to others. I\nam not able, by tongue, pen, or sufferings, to provoke many to fall in\nlove with Him: but He knoweth, whom I love to serve in the Spirit,\nwhat I would do and suffer by His own strength, so being that I might\nmake my Lord Jesus lovely and sweet to many thousands in this land. I\nthink it amongst God's wonders, that He will take any praise or glory,\nor any testimony to His honourable cause, from such a forlorn sinner\nas I am. But when Christ worketh, He needeth not ask the question, by\nwhom He will be glorious. I know (seeing His glory at the beginning\ndid shine out of poor nothing, to set up such a fair house for men and\nangels, and so many glorious creatures, to proclaim His goodness,\npower, and wisdom) that, if I were burnt to ashes, out of the smoke\nand powder of my dissolved body He could raise glory to Himself. His\nglory is His end: oh that I could join with Him to make it my end! I\nwould think that fellowship with Him sweet and glorious. But, alas!\nfew know the guiltiness that is on my part: it is a wonder, that this\ngood cause hath not been marred and spilled in my foul hands. But I\nrejoice in this, that my sweet Lord Jesus hath found something ado,\neven a ready market for His free grace and incomparable and matchless\nmercy, in my wants. Only my loathsome wretchedness and my wants have\nqualified me for Christ, and the riches of His glorious grace. He\nbehoved to take me for nothing, or else to want me. Few know the\nunseen and private reckonings betwixt Christ and me; yet His love, His\nboundless love would not bide away, nor stay at home with Himself. And\nyet I do not make it welcome as I ought, when it is come unsent-for\nand without hire.\n\nHow joyful is my heart, that ye write that ye are desirous to join\nwith me in praising; for it is a charity to help a dyvour to pay his\ndebts. But when all have helped me, my name shall stand in His\naccount-book under ten thousand thousands of sums unpaid. But it\neaseth my heart that His dear servants will but speak of my debts to\nsuch a sweet Creditor. I desire that He may lay me in His own balance\nand weigh me, if I would not fain have a feast of His boundless love\nmade to my own soul, and to many others. One thing I know, that we\nshall not at all be able to come near His excellency with eye, heart,\nor tongue; for He is above all created thoughts. All nations before\nHim are as nothing, and less than nothing: He sitteth in the circuit\nof heaven, and the inhabitants of the earth are as grasshoppers before\nHim. Oh that men would praise Him!\n\nYe complain of your private case. Alas! I am not the man to speak to\nsuch an one as ye are. Any sweet presence which I have had in this\ntown, is, I know, for this cause, that I might express and make it\nknown to others. But I never find myself nearer Christ, that royal and\nprincely One, than after a great weight and sense of deadness and\ngracelessness. I think that the sense of our wants, when withal we\nhave a restlessness and a sort of spiritual impatience under them and\ncan make a din, because we want Him whom our soul loveth, is that\nwhich maketh an open door to Christ. And when we think we are going\nbackward, because we feel deadness, we are going forward; for the more\nsense, the more life; and no sense argueth no life. There is no\nsweeter fellowship with Christ than to bring our wounds and our sores\nto Him. But for myself, I am ashamed of Christ's goodness and love,\nsince the time of my bonds; for He hath been pleased to open up new\ntreasures of love and felt sweetness, and give visitations of love and\naccess to Himself, in this strange land. I would think a fill of His\nlove young and green heaven. And when He is pleased to come, and the\ntide is in, and the sea full, and the King and a poor prisoner\ntogether in the house-of-wine, the black tree of the cross is not so\nheavy as a feather. I cannot, I dow not, but give Christ an honourable\nand glorious testimony.\n\nI see that the Lord can ride through His enemies' bands, and triumph\nin the sufferings of His own; and that this blind world seeth not that\nsufferings are Christ's armour, wherein He is victorious. And they who\ncontend with Zion see not what He is doing, when they are set to work,\nas under-smiths and servants, to the work of refining the saints.\nSatan's hand also, by them, is at the melting of the Lord's vessels of\nmercy, and their office in God's house is to scour and cleanse vessels\nfor the King's table. I marvel not to see them triumph, and sit at\nease in Zion; for our Father must lay up His rods, and keep them\ncarefully for His own use. Our Lord cannot want fire in His house: His\nfurnace is in Zion, and His fire in Jerusalem. But little know the\nadversaries the counsel and the thoughts of the Lord.\n\nAnd for your complaints of your ministry. I now think all I do too\nlittle. Plainness, freedom, watchfulness, fidelity, shall swell upon\nyou, in exceeding large comforts, in your sufferings. The feeding of\nChrist's lambs in private visitations and catechising, in painful\npreaching, and fair, honest, and free warning of the flock, is a\nsufferer's garland. Oh, ten thousand times blessed are they, who are\nhonoured of Christ to be faithful and painful in wooing a bride to\nChrist! My dear brother, I know that ye think more on this than I can\nwrite; and I rejoice that your purpose is, in the Lord's strength, to\nback your wronged Master; and to come out, and call yourself Christ's\nman, when so many are now denying Him, as fearing that Christ cannot\ndo for Himself and them. I am a lost man for ever, or this, this is\nthe way to salvation, even this way, which they call heresy, that men\nnow do mock and scoff at. I am confirmed now that Christ will accept\nof His servant's sufferings as good service to Him at the day of His\nAppearance; and that, ere it be long, He will be upon us all, and men\nin their blacks and whites shall be brought out before God, angels,\nand men. Our Master is not far off. Oh, if we could wait on and be\nfaithful! The good-will of Him who dwelt in The Bush, the tender\nfavour and love, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with you.\n\nHelp me with your prayers; and desire, from me, other brethren to take\ncourage for their Master.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _August 15, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXIX.--_To MR. HUGH MACKAIL of Irvine._\n\n(_THE LAW--THIS WORLD UNDER CHRIST'S CONTROL FOR THE BELIEVER._)\n\n\nMY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--Ye know that men may take their sweet fill of\nthe sour Law, in Grace's ground, and betwixt the Mediator's breasts.\nAnd this is the sinner's safest way; for there is a bed for wearied\nsinners to rest them in, in the New Covenant, though no bed of\nChrist's making to sleep in. The Law shall never be my doomster, by\nChrist's grace. If I get no more good of it (I shall find a sore\nenough doom in the Gospel to humble, and to cast me down), it is, I\ngrant, a good rough friend to follow a traitor to the bar, and to back\nhim till he come to Christ. We may blame ourselves, who cause the Law\nto crave well-paid debt, to scare us away from Jesus, and dispute\nabout a righteousness of our own, a world in the moon, a chimera, and\na night-dream that pride is father and mother to. There cannot be a\nmore humble soul than a believer; it is no pride for a drowning man to\ncatch hold of a rock.\n\nI rejoice that the wheels of this confused world are rolled, and\ncogged, and driven according as our Lord willeth. Out of whatever\nairth the wind blow, it will blow us on our Lord. No wind can blow our\nsails overboard; because Christ's skill, and honour of His wisdom, are\nempawned and laid down at the stake for the sea-passengers, that He\nshall put them safe off His hand on the shore, in His Father's known\nbounds, our native home ground.\n\nMy dear brother, scaur not at the cross of Christ. It is not seen yet\nwhat Christ will do for you, when it cometh to the worst: He will keep\nHis grace till ye be at a strait, and then bring forth the decreed\nbirth for your salvation (Zeph. ii. 2). Ye are an arrow of His own\nmaking; let Him shoot you against a wall of brass, your point shall\nkeep whole. I cannot, for multitude of letters and distraction of\nfriends, prepare what I would for the times: I have not one hour of\nspare time, suppose the day were forty hours long.\n\nRemember me in prayer. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 5, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXX.--_To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_BELIEVER SAFE THOUGH TRIED--DELIGHT IN CHRIST'S TRUTH._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your Ladyship.--God be thanked\nye are yet in possession of Christ, and that sweet child. I pray God\nthat the former may be a sure heritage, and the latter a loan for your\ncomfort, while ye do good to His poor, afflicted, withered Mount Zion.\nAnd who knoweth but our Lord hath comforts laid up in store for her\nand you! I am persuaded that Christ hath bought you past the devil,\nand hell, and sin, so that they have no claim to you; and that is a\nrich and invaluable mercy. Long since, ye were half challenging\ndeath's cold kindness, in being so slow and sweer to come to loose a\ntired prisoner; but ye stand in need of all the crosses, losses,\nchanges, and sad hearts that befell you since that time. Christ\nknoweth that the body of sin unsubdued will take them all, and more:\nwe know that Paul had need of the devil's service, to buffet him; and\nfar more we. But, my dear and honourable Lady, spend your sand-glass\nwell. I am sure that you have law to raise a suspension against all\nthat devils, men, friends, worlds, losses, hell, or sin, can decree\nagainst you. It is good that your crosses will but convoy you to\nheaven's gates: in, they cannot go; the gates shall be closed upon\nthem, when ye shall be admitted to the throne. Time standeth not\nstill, eternity is hard at our door. Oh, what is laid up for you!\ntherefore, harden your face against the wind. And the Lamb, your\nHusband, is making ready for you. The Bridegroom would fain have that\nday, as gladly as your Honour would wish to have it. He hath not\nforgotten you.\n\nI have heard a rumour of the prelates' purpose to banish me. But let\nit come, if God so will: the other side of the sea is my Father's\nground, as well as this side. I owe bowing to God, but no servile\nbowing to crosses: I have been but too soft in that. I am comforted\nthat[343] I am persuaded fully, that Christ is halfer with me in this\nwell-born and honest cross; and if He claim right to the best half of\nmy troubles (as I know He doth to the whole), I shall remit over to\nChrist what I shall do in this case. I know certainly, that my Lord\nJesus will not mar nor spill my sufferings; He hath use for them in\nHis house.\n\n [343] In having this persuasion.\n\nOh, what it worketh on me to remember that a stranger, who cometh not\nin by the door, shall build hay and stubble upon the golden foundation\nwhich I laid amongst that people at Anwoth! But I know that Providence\nlooketh not asquint, but looketh straight out, and through all men's\ndarkness. Oh that I could wait upon the Lord! I had but one eye, one\njoy, one delight, even to preach Christ; and my mother's sons were\nangry at me, and have put out the poor man's one eye, and what have I\nbehind? I am sure that this sour world hath lost my heart deservedly;\nbut oh that there were a daysman to lay his hands upon us both, and\ndetermine upon my part of it. Alas, that innocent and lovely truth\nshould be sold! My tears are little worth, but yet for this thing I\nweep. I weep, alas, that my fair and lovely Lord Jesus should be\nmiskent in His own house! It reckoneth little of five hundred the like\nof me; yet the water goeth not over faith's breath.[344] Yet our King\nliveth.\n\n [344] It is of little consequence what hundreds like me feel; yet, at\n the same time, I can say that faith is not drowned in me.\n\nI write the prisoner's blessings: the good-will, and long-lasting\nkindness, with the comforts of the very God of peace, be to your\nLadyship, and to your sweet child. Grace, grace be with you.\n\nYour Honour's, at all obedience, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 5, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXXI.--_To the Right Honourable my_ LORD LINDSAY.\n\n[JOHN, TENTH LORD LINDSAY, resided at Byres, a house near _Balgonie_,\nwhich in old charters is mentioned along with _Pitcruvie_ as belonging\nto the Lindsays. He was the son of Robert, ninth Lord Lindsay, by his\nwife Lady Christian Hamilton, eldest daughter of Thomas, first Earl of\nHaddington. (See Letter LXXVII.) He was born about 1596, and was\ncreated Earl of Lindsay, 8th May 1633. On the 23rd of July 1644 he was\nconstituted Lord High Treasurer of Scotland; and on the forfeiture of\nLudovick, Earl of Crawford, he had the title and estate of that\nnobleman conferred on him by Act of Parliament, 26th July the same\nyear, so that he was thereafter designed Earl of Crawford and Lindsay.\nHaving entered with zeal into the \"Engagement\" for raising an army to\nattempt the rescue of the King in 1648, he was deprived of his offices\nby the Act of Classes, and excluded from Parliament till King Charles\nII. came to Scotland in 1650, when a coalition of parties took place.\nFor the same reason, he fell under a censure of the church; but was\nrestored in July 1650. On the Restoration, he was reinstated in his\noffices of High Treasurer of Scotland and Extraordinary Lord of\nSession. He warmly opposed the Act Rescissory, annulling all the\nParliaments since 1633, as a terrible precedent, destroying the whole\nsecurity of government. In 1633, scrupling to take the declaration, he\nresigned his situation as Lord High Treasurer for Scotland. Next year\nhe gave up his place of Extraordinary Lord of Session, and retired to\nhis country seat. \"He was a man of great virtue, of good abilities,\nand of an exemplary life in all respects. He died at Tyninghame in\n1676, aged about eighty\" (Douglas' \"Peerage\"). Rutherford's treatise,\nentitled \"A Peaceable and Temperate Plea for Paul's Presbytery in\nScotland, printed at London in 1642,\" is dedicated to this nobleman.]\n\n(_THE CHURCH'S DESOLATIONS--THE END OF THE WORLD, AND CHRIST'S\nCOMING--HIS ATTRACTIVENESS._)\n\n\nRIGHT HONOURABLE AND MY VERY GOOD LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyour Lordship.--Pardon my boldness to express myself to your Lordship\nat this so needful a time, when your wearied and friendless\nmother-kirk is looking round about her, to see if any of her sons doth\nreally bemoan her desolation. Therefore, my dear and worthy Lord, I\nbeseech you in the bowels of Christ, pity that widow-like sister and\nspouse of Christ. I know that her Husband is not dead, but He seemeth\nto be in another country, and seeth well, and beholdeth who are His\ntrue and tender-hearted friends, who dare venture under the water to\nbring out to dry land sinking truth; and who of the nobles will cast\nup their arm, to ward a blow off the crowned head of our royal\nLawgiver who reigneth in Zion, who will plead and contend for Jacob in\nthe day of his controversy.\n\nIt is now time, my worthy and noble Lord, for you who are the little\nnurse-fathers, under our sovereign prince, to put on courage for the\nLord Jesus, and to take up a fallen orphan, speaking out of the dust,\nand to embrace in your arms Christ's Bride. He hath no more in\nScotland that is the delight of His eyes, than that one little sister,\nwhose breasts were once well-fashioned. She once ravished her\nWell-beloved with her eyes, and overcame Him with her beauty: \"She\nlooked forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun,\nterrible as an army with banners: her stature was like the palm-tree,\nand her breasts like clusters of grapes, and she held the King in the\ngalleries\" (Cant. iv. 9; vi. 10; vii. 5, 7). But now the crown is\nfallen from her head, and her gold waxed dim, and our white Nazarites\nare become black as the coal. Blessed are they who will come out and\nhelp Christ against the mighty! The shields of the earth and the\nnobles are debtors to Christ for their honour, and should bring their\nglory and honour to the New Jerusalem (Rev. xxi. 24). Alas, that great\nmen should be so far from subjecting themselves to the sweet yoke of\nChrist, that they burst His bonds asunder, and think they dow not go\non foot when Christ is on horseback, and that every nod of Christ,\ncommanding as King, is a load like a mountain of iron. And, therefore,\nthey say, \"This man shall not reign over us; we must have another king\nthan Christ in His own house.\" Therefore, kneel to Christ, and kiss\nthe Son, and let Him have your Lordship's vote, as your alone\nLawgiver. I am sure that when you leave the old waste inn of this\nperishing life, and shall reckon with your host, and depart hence, and\ntake shipping, and make over for eternity, which is the yonder side of\ntime (and a sand-glass of threescore short years is running out), to\nlook over your shoulder then to that which ye have done, spoken, and\nsuffered for Christ, His dear Bride that He ransomed with that blood\nwhich is more precious than gold, and for truth, and the freedom of\nChrist's kingdom, your accounts will more sweetly smile and laugh upon\nyou than if you had two worlds of gold to leave to your posterity. O\nmy dear Lord, consider that our Master, eternity, and judgment, and\nthe Last Reckoning, will be upon us in the twinkling of an eye. The\nblast of the last trumpet, now hard at hand, will cry down all Acts of\nParliament, all the determinations of pretended assemblies, against\nChrist our Lawgiver. There will be shortly a proclamation by One\nstanding in the clouds, \"that time shall be no more,\" and that courts\nwith kings of clay shall be no more; and prisons, confinements,\nforfeitures of nobles, wrath of kings, hazard of lands, houses, and\nname, for Christ, shall be no more. This world's span-length of time\nis drawn now to less than half an inch, and to the point of the\nevening of the day of this old gray-haired world. And, therefore, be\nfixed and fast for Christ and His truth for a time; and fear not him\nwhose life goeth out at his nostrils, who shall die as a man. I am\npersuaded Christ is responsal and law-biding, to make recompense for\nanything that is hazarded or given out for Him. Losses for Christ are\nbut our goods given out in bank, in Christ's hand. Kings earthly are\nwell-favoured little clay-gods, time's idols; but a sight of our\ninvisible King shall decry and darken all the glory of this world. At\nthe day of Christ, truth shall be truth, and not treason. Alas! it is\npitiful that silence, when the thatch of our Lord's house hath taken\nfire, is now the flower and bloom of court and state wisdom; and to\ncast a covering over a good profession (as if it blushed at the\nlight), is thought a canny and sure way through this life. But the\nsafest way, I am persuaded, is to tine and win with Christ, and to\nhazard fairly for Him; for heaven is but a company of noble venturers\nfor Christ. I dare hazard my soul, that Christ will grow green, and\nblossom like the Rose of Sharon yet in Scotland, howbeit now His leaf\nseemeth to wither, and His root to dry up.\n\nYour noble ancestors have been enrolled amongst the worthies of this\nnation, as the sure friends of the Bridegroom, and valiant for Christ:\nI hope that you will follow on to come to the streets for the same\nLord. The world is still at yea and nay with Christ. It shall be your\nglory, and the sure foundation of your house (now when houses are\ntumbling down, and birds building their nests, and thorns and briers\nare growing up, where nobles did spread a table), if you engage your\nestate and nobility for this noble King Jesus, with whom the created\npowers of the world are still in tops. All the world shall fall before\nHim, and (as God liveth!) every arm lifted up to take the crown off\nHis royal head, or that refuseth to hold it on His head, shall be\nbroken from the shoulder-blade. The eyes that behold Christ weep in\nsackcloth, and wallow in His blood, and will not help, even these eyes\nshall rot away in their eye-holes. Oh, if ye and the nobles of this\nland saw the beauty of that world's wonder, Jesus our King, and the\nglory of Him who is angels' wonder, and heaven's wonder for\nexcellency! Oh, what would men count of clay estates, of time-eaten\nlife, of worm-eaten and moth-eaten worldly glory, in comparison of\nthat fairest, fairest of God's creation, the Son of the Father's\ndelights! I have but small experience of suffering for Him; but let my\nJudge and Witness in heaven lay my soul in the balance of justice, if\nI find not a young heaven, and a little paradise of glorious comforts\nand soul-delighting love-kisses of Christ, here beneath the moon, in\nsuffering for Him and His truth; and that the glory, joy, and peace,\nand fire of love, which I thought had been kept whill supper-time,\nwhen we shall get leisure to feast our fill upon Christ, I have felt\nin glorious beginnings, in my bonds for this princely Lord Jesus. Oh!\nit is my sorrow, my daily pain, that men will not come and see. I\nwould now be ashamed to believe that it should be possible for any\nsoul to think that he could be a loser for Christ, suppose he should\nlend Christ the Lordship of Lindsay, or some such great worldly\nestate. Therefore, my worthy and dear Lord, set now your face against\nthe opposites of Jesus, and let your soul take courage to come under\nHis banner, to appear, as His soldier, for Him; and the blessings of a\nfalling kirk, the prayers of the prisoners of hope who wait for Zion's\njoy, and the good-will of Him who dwelt in The Bush, and it burned\nnot, shall be with you.\n\nTo His saving grace I recommend your Lordship and your house; and am\nstill Christ's prisoner, and your Lordship's obliged servant, in his\nsweet Lord Jesus.\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXXII.--_To my_ LORD BOYD.\n\n(_SEEKING CHRIST IN YOUTH--ITS TEMPTATIONS--CHRIST'S EXCELLENCE--THE\nCHURCH'S CAUSE CONCERNS THE NOBLES._)\n\n\nMY VERY HONOURABLE AND GOOD LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou.--I am glad to hear that you, in the morning of your short day,\nmind Christ, and that you love the honour of His crown and kingdom. I\nbeseech your Lordship to begin now to frame your love, and to cast it\nin no mould but one, that it may be for Christ only; for when your\nlove is now in the framing and making, it will take best with Christ.\nIf any other than Jesus get a grip of it, when it is green and young,\nChrist will be an unco and strange world to you. Promise the lodging\nof your soul first away to Christ, and stand by your first covenant,\nand keep to Jesus, that He may find you honest. It is easy to master\nan arrow, and to set it right, ere the string be drawn; but when once\nit is shot, and in the air, and the flight begun, then ye have no more\npower at all to command it. It were a blessed thing, if your love\ncould now level only at Christ, that His fair face were the black of\nthe mark ye shot at. For when your love is loosed, and out of your\ngrips, and in its motion to fetch home an idol, and hath taken a\nwhorish gadding journey, to seek an unknown and strange lover, ye\nshall not then have power to call home the arrow, or to be master of\nyour love; and ye will hardly give Christ what ye scarcely have\nyourself.\n\nI speak not this, as if youth itself could fetch heaven and Christ.\nBelieve it, my Lord, it is hardly credible what a nest of dangerous\ntemptations youth is; how inconsiderate, foolish, proud, vain, heady,\nrash, profane, and careless of God, this piece of your life is; so\nthat the devil findeth in that age a garnished and well-swept house\nfor himself, and seven devils worse than himself. For then affections\nare on horseback, lofty and stirring; then the old man hath blood,\nlust, much will, and little wit, and hands, feet, wanton eyes, profane\nears, as his servants, and as a king's officers at command, to come\nand go at his will. Then a green conscience is as supple as the twig\nof a young tree. It is for every way, every religion; every lewd\ncourse prevaileth with it. And, therefore, oh, what a sweet couple,\nwhat a glorious yoke, are youth and grace, Christ and a young man!\nThis is a meeting not to be found in every town. None who have been at\nChrist can bring back to your Lordship a report answerable to His\nworth; for Christ cannot be spoken of, or commended according to His\nworth. \"Come and see,\" is the most faithful messenger to speak of Him:\nlittle persuasion would prevail where this was. It is impossible, in\nthe setting out of Christ's love, to lie and pass over truth's line.\nThe discourses of angels, or love-books written by the congregation of\nseraphim (all their wits being conjoined and melted into one), would\nfor ever be in the nether side of truth, and of plentifully declaring\nthe thing as it is. The infiniteness, the boundlessness of that\nincomparable excellency that is in Jesus, is a great word. God send\nme, if it were but the relics and leavings, or an ounce-weight or two,\nof His matchless love; and suppose I never got another heaven\n(provided this blessed fire were evermore burning), I could not but be\nhappy for ever. Come hither, then, and give out your money wisely for\nbread; come hither, and bestow your love.\n\nI have cause to speak this, because, except you possess and enjoy\nChrist, ye will be a cold friend to His spouse; for it is love to the\nhusband that causeth kindness to the wife. I dare swear it were a\nblessing to your house, the honour of your honour, the flower of your\ncredit, now in your place, and as far as ye are able, to lend your\nhand to your weeping mother, even your oppressed and spoiled\nmother-kirk. If ye love her, and bestir yourself for her, and hazard\nthe Lordship of Boyd for the recovery of her vail, which the smiting\nwatchmen have taken from her, then surely her Husband will scorn to\nsleep in your common, or reverence. Bits of lordships are little to\nHim who hath many crowns on His head, and the kingdoms of the world in\nthe hollow of His hand. Court, glory, honour, riches, stability of\nhouses, favour of princes, are all on His finger-ends. Oh what glory\nwere it to lend your honour to Christ, and to His Jerusalem! Ye are\none of Zion's born sons; your honourable and Christian parents would\nventure you upon Christ's errands. Therefore, I beseech you, by the\nmercies of God, by the death and wounds of Jesus, by the hope of your\nglorious inheritance, and by the comfort and hope of the joyful\npresence ye would have at the water-side, when ye are putting your\nfoot in the dark grave, take courage for Christ's truth, and the\nhonour of His free kingdom. For, howbeit ye be a young flower, and\ngreen before the sun, ye know not how soon death will cause you cast\nyour bloom, and wither root, and branch, and leaves; and, therefore,\nwrite up what ye have to do for Christ, and make a treasure of good\nworks, and begin in time. By appearance ye have the advantage of the\nbrae. See what ye can do for Christ, against those who are waiting\nwhill Christ's tabernacle fall, that they may run away with the boards\nthereof, and build their nests on Zion's ruins. They are blind who see\nnot louns now pulling up the stakes, and breaking the cords, and\nrending the curtains of Christ's sometime beautiful tent in this land.\nAntichrist is lifting that tent up upon his shoulders, and going away\nwith it; and when Christ and the Gospel are out of Scotland, dream not\nthat your houses shall thrive, and that it will go well with the\nnobles of the land. As the Lord liveth! the streams of your waters\nshall become pitch, and the dust of your land brimstone, and your land\nshall become burning pitch, and the owl and the raven shall dwell in\nyour houses; and where your table stood, there shall grow briers and\nnettles (Isa. xxxiv. 9, 11). The Lord gave Christ and His Gospel as a\npawn to Scotland. The watchmen have fallen foul, and lost their part\nof the pawn; and who seeth not, that God hath dried up their right\neye, and their right arm, and hath broken the shepherds' staves, and\nthat men are trading in their hearts upon such unsavoury salt, that is\ngood for nothing else! If ye, the nobles, put away the pawn also, and\nrefuse to plead the controversy of Zion with the professed enemies of\nJesus, ye have done with it. Oh! where is the courage and zeal now of\nthe ancient nobles of this land, who with their swords, and hazard of\nlife, honour, and houses, brought Christ to our hands? And now the\nnobles cannot but be guilty of shouldering out Christ, and of\nmurdering the souls of their posterity, if they shall hide themselves,\nand lurk in the lee-side of the hill, till the wind blow down the\ntemple of God. It goeth now under the name of wisdom, for men to cast\ntheir cloak over Christ and their profession; as if Christ were stolen\ngoods, and durst not be avouched. Though this be reputed a piece of\npolicy, yet God esteemeth such men to be but state fools and court\ngowks,[345] whatever they, or other heads-of-wit[346] like to them,\nthink of themselves; since their damnable silence is the ruin of\nChrist's kingdom. Oh, but it be true honour and glory to be the fast\nfriends of the Bridegroom, and to own Christ's bleeding head, and His\nforsaken cause, and to contend legally, and in the wisdom of God, for\nour sweet Lord Jesus, and His kingly crown! But I will believe that\nyour Lordship will take Christ's honour to heart, and be a man in the\nstreets (as the prophet speaketh) (Jer. v. 1) for the Lord and His\ntruth. To His rich grace and sweet presence, and the everlasting\nconsolation of the promised Comforter, I recommend your Lordship, and\nam your Lordship's, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.\n\n [345] Dunces.\n\n [346] Wiseacres.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXXIII.--_To his Worthy and much Honoured Friend_ FULK ELLIS.\n\n [FULK ELLIS was the eldest son of Major Edmond Ellis of\n Carrickfergus, an English colonist. Edmond was a man of\n distinguished piety, and a zealous Covenanter. \"Through all the\n difficulties and vicissitudes of those trying times,\" says Dr.\n Reid, \"he was a consistent Presbyterian, and a truly eminent\n Christian. Several of his devout sayings on his death-bed (he\n died 11th June 1651) have been preserved.\" Fulk also followed the\n military profession, in which he held the rank of captain, and\n embarked in the same cause with his father. \"He and his company\n (who were all from Ireland) joined the Scottish force in\n resisting the arms of Charles in 1640, and were at the battle of\n Newburn. He shared in the supplies forwarded to the different\n companies of the army from their parishes in Scotland. He\n returned to Ireland after the rebellion; and was captain and\n major in Sir John Clotworthy's regiment of foot, and is believed\n to have fallen in action near Desert-martin, in the county of\n Derry, in September 1643. His descendants, of the same name,\n still reside at Carrickfergus\" (Reid's \"Hist. of Presbyt. Ch.\").]\n\n(_FRIENDS IN IRELAND--DIFFICULTIES IN PROVIDENCE--UNFAITHFULNESS TO\nLIGHT--CONSTANT NEED OF CHRIST._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND MUCH HONOURED IN OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou.\n\n1. I am glad of our more than paper acquaintance. Seeing we have one\nFather, it reckoneth the less, though we never see one another's face.\nI profess myself most unworthy to follow the camp of such a worthy and\nrenowned Captain as Christ. Oh, alas! I have cause to be grieved, that\nmen expect anything of such a wretched man as I am. It is a wonder to\nme, if Christ can make anything of my naughty, short, and narrow love\nto Him; surely it is not worth the uptaking.\n\n2. As for our lovely and beloved church in Ireland, my heart bleedeth\nfor her desolation; but I believe that our Lord is only lopping the\nvine-trees, but not intending to cut them down, or root them out. It\nis true (seeing we are _heart-atheists_ by nature, and cannot take\nprovidence aright, because we halt and crook ever since we fell), we\ndream of a halting providence; as if God's yard, whereby He measureth\njoy and sorrow to the sons of men, were crooked and unjust, because\nservants ride on horseback, and princes go on foot. But our Lord\ndealeth good and evil, and some one portion or other to both, by\nounce-weights, and measureth them in a just and even balance. It is\nbut folly to measure the Gospel by summer or winter weather: the\nsummer-sun of the saints shineth not on them in this life. How should\nwe have complained, if the Lord had turned the same providence that we\nnow stomach at upside down, and had ordered matters thus, that first\nthe saints should have enjoyed heaven, glory, and ease, and then\nMethuselah's days of sorrow and daily miseries? We would think a short\nheaven no heaven. Certainly His ways pass finding out.\n\n3. Ye complain of the evil of _heart-atheism_: but it is to a greater\natheist than any man can be, that ye write of that. Oh, light findeth\nnot that reverence and fear which a plant of God's setting should find\nin our soul! How do we by nature, as others, detain and hold captive\nthe truth of God in unrighteousness, and so make God's light a bound\nprisoner? And even when the prisoner breaketh the jail, and cometh out\nin belief of a Godhead, and in some practice of holy obedience, how\noften do we, of new, lay hands on the prisoner, and put our light\nagain in fetters? Certainly there cometh great mist and clouds from\nthe lower part of our souls, our earthly affections, to the higher\npart, which is our conscience, either natural or renewed: as smoke in\na lower house breaketh up, and defileth the house above. If we had\nmore practice of obedience, we should have more sound light. I think,\nlay aside all other guiltiness, that this one, the violence done to\nGod's candle in our soul, were a sufficient dittay against us. There\nis no helping of this but by striving to stand in awe of God's light.\nLeft light tells tales of us we desire little to hear; but since it is\nnot without God that light sitteth neighbour to will (a lawless lord),\nno marvel that such a neighbour should leaven our judgment, and darken\nour light. I see there is a necessity that we protest against the\ndoings of the Old Man, and raise up a party against our worst half, to\naccuse, condemn, sentence, and with sorrow bemoan, the dominion of\nsin's kingdom; and withal make law, in the New Covenant, against our\nguiltiness. For Christ once condemned sin in the flesh, and we are to\ncondemn it over again. And if there had not been such a thing as the\ngrace of Jesus, I should have long since given up with heaven, and\nwith the expectation to see God. But grace, grace, free grace, the\nmerits of Christ for nothing, white and fair, and large Saviour-mercy\n(which is another sort of thing than creature-mercy, or Law-mercy,\nyea, a thousand degrees above angel-mercy), have been, and must be,\nthe rock that we drowned souls must swim to. New washing, renewed\napplication of purchased redemption, by that sacred blood that sealeth\nthe free Covenant, is a thing of daily and hourly use to a poor\nsinner. Till we be in heaven, our issue of blood shall not be quite\ndried up; and, therefore, we must resolve to apply peace to our souls\nfrom the new and living way; and Jesus, who cleanseth and cureth the\nleprous soul, lovely Jesus, must be our song on this side of heaven's\ngates. And even when we have won the castle, then must we eternally\nsing, \"Worthy, worthy is the Lamb, who hath saved us, and washed us in\nHis own blood.\"\n\nI would counsel all the ransomed ones to learn this song, and to drink\nand be drunk with the love of Jesus. O fairest, O highest, O loveliest\nOne, open the well! Oh, water the burnt and withered travellers with\nthis love of Thine! I think it is possible on earth to build a young\nNew Jerusalem, a little new heaven, of this surpassing love. God\neither send me more of this love, or take me quickly over the water,\nwhere I may be filled with His love. My softness cannot take with\nwant. I profess I bear not hunger of Christ's love fair. I know not if\nI play foul play with Christ, but I would have a link of that chain of\nHis providence mended, in pining and delaying the hungry on-waiters.\nFor myself, I could wish that Christ would let out upon me more of\nthat love. Yet to say Christ is a niggard to me, I dare not; and if I\nsay I have abundance of His love, I should lie. I am half\nstraitened[347] to complain, and cry, \"Lord Jesus, hold Thy hand no\nlonger.\"\n\n [347] Constrained; perhaps Luke xii. 50 was in his thoughts.\n\nWorthy Sir, let me have your prayers, in my bonds. Grace be with you,\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXXIV.--_To_ JAMES LINDSAY (_a friend of R. Blair and other\nministers_).\n\n [We have no means of ascertaining who this correspondent was.]\n\n(_DESERTIONS, THEIR USE--PRAYERS OF REPROBATES, AND HOW THE GOSPEL\nAFFECTS THEIR RESPONSIBILITY._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--The constant and daily observing of God's going alongst\nwith you, in His coming, going, ebbing, flowing, embracing and\nkissing, glooming and striking, giveth me (a witless and lazy observer\nof the Lord's way and working) a heavy stroke. Could I keep sight of\nHim, and know when I want, and carry as became me in that condition, I\nwould bless my case.\n\nBut 1. For desertions. I think them like lying lea of lean and weak\nland for some years, whill it gather sap for a better crop. It is\npossible to gather gold, where it may be had, with moonlight. Oh, if I\ncould but creep one foot, or half a foot, nearer in to Jesus, in such\na dismal night as that when He is away, I should think it an happy\nabsence!\n\n2. If I knew that the Beloved were only gone away for trial, and\nfurther humiliation, and not smoked out of the house with new\nprovocations, I would forgive desertions and hold my peace at His\nabsence. But Christ's bought absence (that I bought with my sin), is\ntwo running boils at once, one upon each side; and what side then can\nI lie on?\n\n3. I know that, as night and shadows are good for flowers, and\nmoonlight and dews are better than a continual sun, so is Christ's\nabsence of special use, and that it hath some nourishing virtue in it,\nand giveth sap to humility, and putteth an edge on hunger, and\nfurnisheth a fair field to faith to put forth itself, and to exercise\nits fingers in gripping it seeth not what.\n\n4. It is mercy's wonder, and grace's wonder, that Christ will lend a\npiece of the lodging, and a back-chamber beside Himself, to our lusts;\nand that He and such swine should keep house together in our soul.\nFor, suppose they couch and contract themselves into little room when\nChrist cometh in, and seem to lie as dead under His feet, yet they\noften break out again; and a foot of the Old Man, or a leg or arm\nnailed to Christ's cross, looseth the nail, or breaketh out again! And\nyet Christ, beside this unruly and misnurtured neighbour, can still be\nmaking heaven in the saints, one way or other. May I not say, \"Lord\nJesus, what doest Thou here?\" Yet here He must be. But I will not lose\nmy feet to go on into this depth and wonder; for free mercy and\ninfinite merits took a lodging to Christ and us beside such a\nloathsome guest as sin.\n\n5. Sanctification and mortification of our lusts are the hardest part\nof Christianity. It is in a manner, as natural to us to leap when we\nsee the New Jerusalem, as to laugh when we are tickled: joy is not\nunder command, or at our nod, when Christ kisseth. But oh, how many of\nus would have Christ divided into two halves, that we might take the\nhalf of Him only! We take His office, Jesus, and Salvation: but \"Lord\"\nis a cumbersome word, and to obey and work out our own salvation, and\nto perfect holiness, is the cumbersome and stormy north-side of\nChrist, and that which we eschew and shift.\n\n6. For your question, the access that reprobates have to Christ (which\nis none at all, for to the Father in Christ neither can they, nor will\nthey come, because Christ died not for them; and yet, by law, God and\njustice overtaketh them), I say, first, there are with you more worthy\nand learned than I am, Messrs. Dickson, Blair, and Hamilton, who can\nmore fully satisfy you. But I shall speak in brief what I think of it\nin these assertions. _First_, All God's justice toward man and angels\nfloweth from an act of absolute sovereign free-will of God, who is our\nFormer and Potter, and we are but clay; for if He had forbidden to eat\nof the rest of the trees of the garden of Eden, and commanded Adam to\neat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, that command no doubt\nhad been as just as this,--\"Eat of all the trees, but not at all of\nthe Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.\" The reason is, because His\nwill is before His justice, by order of nature; and what is His will\nis His justice. And He willeth not things without Himself because they\nare just; God cannot, God needeth not hunt sanctity, holiness, or\nrighteousness from things without Himself, and so not from the actions\nof men or angels; because His will is essentially holy and just, and\nthe prime rule of holiness and justice, as the fire is naturally\nlight, and inclineth upward, and the earth heavy, and inclineth\ndownward. The _second_ assertion, then, that God saith to reprobates,\n\"Believe in Christ (who hath not died for your salvation), and ye\nshall be saved,\" is just and right; because His eternal and\nessentially just will hath so enacted and decreed. Suppose natural\nreason speak against this, this is the deep and special mystery of the\nGospel. God hath obliged, hard and fast, all the reprobates of the\nvisible church to believe this promise, \"He that believeth shall be\nsaved:\" and yet, in God's decree and secret intention, there is no\nsalvation at all decreed and intended to reprobates. And yet the\nobligation of God, being from His sovereign free-will, is most just,\nas is said in the first assertion. _Third_ assertion: The righteous\nLord hath right over the reprobates and all reasonable creatures that\nviolate His commandments. This is easy. _Fourth_ assertion: The faith\nthat God seeketh of reprobates, is, that they rely upon Christ, as\ndespairing of their own righteousness, leaning wholly, and withal\nhumbly, as weary and laden, upon Christ, as on the resting-stone laid\nin Zion. But He seeketh not that, without being weary of their sin,\nthey rely upon Christ, as mankind's Saviour; for to rely on Christ,\nand not to be weary of sin, is presumption, not faith. Faith is ever\nneighbour to a contrite spirit; and it is impossible that faith can be\nwhere there is not a cast-down and contrite heart, in some measure,\nfor sin. Now it is certain, that God commandeth no man to presume.\n_Fifth_ assertion: Then reprobates are not absolutely obliged to\nbelieve that Christ died for them in particular. For, in truth,\nneither reprobates nor others are obliged to believe a lie; only, they\nare obliged to believe that Christ died for them, if they be first\nweary, burdened, sin-sick, and condemned in their own consciences, and\nstricken dead and killed with the Law's sentence, and have indeed\nembraced Him as offered; which is a second and subsequent act of\nfaith, following after a coming to Him and a closing with Him. _Sixth_\nassertion: Reprobates are not formally guilty of contempt of God, and\nmisbelief, because they apply not Christ and the promises of the\nGospel to themselves in particular; for so they should be guilty\nbecause they believe not a lie, which God never obliged them to\nbelieve. _Seventh_ assertion: Justice hath a right to punish\nreprobates, because out of pride of heart, confiding in their own\nrighteousness, they rely not upon Christ as a Saviour of all them that\ncome to Him. This God may justly oblige them unto, because in Adam\nthey had perfect ability to do; and men are guilty because they love\ntheir own inability, and rest upon themselves, and refuse to deny\ntheir own righteousness, and to take them to Christ, in whom there is\nrighteousness for wearied sinners. _Eighth_ assertion: It is one thing\nto rely, lean, and rest upon Christ, in humility and weariness of\nspirit, and denying our own righteousness, believing Him to be the\nonly righteousness of wearied sinners; and it is another thing to\nbelieve that Christ died for me, John, Thomas, Anna, upon an intention\nand decree to save us by name. For, 1st, The first goeth first, the\nlatter is always after in due order; 2ndly, The first is faith, the\nsecond is a fruit of faith; and, 3rdly, The first obligeth reprobates\nand all men in the visible kirk, the latter obligeth only the weary\nand laden, and so only the elect and effectually called of God.\n_Ninth_ assertion: It is a vain order; \"I know not if Christ died for\nme, John, Thomas, Anna, by name; and, therefore, I dare not rely on\nHim.\" The reason is, because it is not faith to believe God's\nintention and decree of election at the first, ere ye be wearied. Look\nfirst to your intention and soul. If ye find sin a burden, and can and\ndo rest, under that burden, upon Christ; if this be once, now come and\nbelieve _in particular_, or rather _apply by sense_ (for, in my\njudgment, it is a _fruit_ of belief, not _belief_), and feeling the\ngoodwill, intention, and gracious purpose of God anent your salvation.\nHence, because there is malice in reprobates, and contempt of Christ,\nguilty they are, and justice hath law against them, and (which is the\nmystery) they cannot come up to Christ, because He died not for them.\nBut their sin is, that they love their inability to come to Christ;\nand he who loveth his chains, deserveth chains. And thus in short.\nRemember my bonds.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXXV.--_To my_ LORD CRAIGHALL.\n\n(_FEAR GOD, NOT MAN--SIGN OF BACKSLIDING._)\n\n\nMY LORD,--I cannot expound your Lordship's contrary tides, and these\ntemptations wherewith ye are assaulted, to be any other thing than\nChrist trying you, and saying unto you, \"And will ye also leave Me?\" I\nam sure that Christ hath a great advantage against you, if ye play\nfoul play to Him, in that the Holy Spirit hath done His part, in\nevidencing to your conscience that this is the way of Christ, wherein\nye shall have peace; and the other, as sure as God liveth, is the\nAntichrist's way. Therefore, as ye fear God, fear your light, and\nstand in awe of a convincing conscience. It is far better for your\nLordship to keep your conscience, and to hazard in such an honourable\ncause your place, than wilfully, and against your light, to come under\nguiltiness. Kings cannot heal broken consciences; and when death and\njudgment shall comprise your soul, your counsellors, and others,\ncannot become caution to justice for you. Ere it be long, our Lord\nwill put a final determination to Acts of Parliament, and men's laws,\nand will clear you, before men and angels, of men's unjust sentences.\nYe receive honour, and place, and authority, and riches, and\nreputation from your Lord, to set forward and advance the liberties\nand freedom of Christ's kingdom. Men, whose consciences are made of\nstoutness, think little of such matters, which, notwithstanding,\nencroach directly upon Christ's prerogative-royal. So would men think\nit a light matter for Uzzah to put out his hand to hold the Lord's\nfalling ark; but it cost him his life. And who doubteth but a carnal\nfriend will advise you to shut your window, and pray beneath your\nbreath. \"Ye make too great a din with your prayers;\" so would a\nhead-of-wit speak, if ye were in Daniel's place. But men's over-gilded\nreasons will not help you, when your conscience is like to rive with a\ndouble charge. Alas, alas! when will this world learn to submit their\nwisdom to the wisdom of God? I am sure that your Lordship hath found\nthe truth. Go not then to search for it over again; for it is common\nfor men to make doubts, when they have a mind to desert the truth.\nKings are not their own men; their ways are in God's hand. I rejoice,\nand am glad, that ye resolve to walk with Christ, howbeit His court be\nthin. Grace be with your Lordship.\n\nYour Lordship's, in his sweet Master and Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept_. 7, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXXVI.--_To_ MR. JAMES HAMILTON. [Letter CCXV.]\n\n(_CHRIST'S GLORY NOT AFFECTED BY HIS PEOPLE'S WEAKNESS._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Peace be to you from God our Father, and\nfrom our Lord Jesus.--I am laid low, when I remember what I am, and\nthat my outside casteth such a lustre when I find so little within. It\nis a wonder that Christ's glory is not defiled, running through such\nan unclean and impure channel. But I see that Christ will be Christ,\nin the dreg and refuse of men. His art, His shining wisdom, His\nbeauty, speak loudest in blackness, weakness, deadness, yea, in\nnothing. I see nothing, no money, no worth, no good, no life, no\ndeserving, is the ground that Omnipotency delighteth to draw glory out\nof. Oh, how sweet is the inner side of the walls of Christ's house,\nand a room beside Himself! My distance from Him maketh me sad. Oh that\nwe were in other's arms! Oh that the middle things betwixt us were\nremoved! I find it a difficult matter to keep all stots with Christ.\nWhen He laugheth, I scarce believe it, I would so fain have it true.\nBut I am like a low man looking up to a high mountain, whom weariness\nand fainting overcometh. I would climb up, but I find that I do not\nadvance in my journey as I would wish; yet I trust that He will take\nme home against night. I marvel not that Antichrist, in his slaves, is\nso busy: but our crowned King seeth and beholdeth, and will arise for\nZion's safety.\n\nI am exceedingly distracted with letters, and company that visit me;\nwhat I can do, or time will permit, I shall not omit. Excuse my\nbrevity, for I am straitened. Remember the Lord's prisoner: I desire\nto be mindful of you. Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept_. 7, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXXVII.--_To the_ LAIRD OF GAITGIRTH. [Letter CLXXXVII.]\n\n(_TRUTH WORTH SUFFERING FOR--LIGHT SOWN, BUT EVIL IN THIS WORLD TILL\nCHRIST COME._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I can do no\nmore than thank you on paper, and remember you to Him whom I serve,\nfor kindness and care of a prisoner.\n\nI bless the Lord, that the cause I suffer for needeth not to blush\nbefore kings: Christ's white, honest, and fair truth needeth neither\nto wax pale for fear, nor to blush for shame. I bless the Lord, who\nhath graced you to own Christ now, when so many are afraid to profess\nHim, and hide Him, for fear they suffer loss by avouching Him. Alas,\nthat so many in these days are carried with the times! As if their\nconscience rolled upon oiled wheels, so do they go any way the wind\nbloweth them; and, because Christ is not market-sweet, men put Him\naway from them.\n\nWorthy and much honoured Sir, go on to own Christ, and His oppressed\ntruth:--the end of sufferings for the Gospel, is rest and gladness.\nLight and joy are sown for the mourners in Zion, and the harvest\n(which is of God's making, for time and manner) is near. Crosses have\nright and claim to Christ in His members, till legs and arms, and\nwhole mystical Christ, be in heaven. There will be rain, and hail, and\nstorms, in the saint's clouds, ever till God cleanse with fire the\nworks of the creation, and till He burn the botch-house of heaven and\nearth, that men's sins have subjected unto vanity.\n\nThey are blessed who suffer and sin not; for suffering is the badge\nthat Christ hath put upon His followers. Take what way we can to\nheaven, the way is hedged up with crosses; there is no way but to\nbreak through them. Wit and wiles, shifts and laws, will not find out\na way round the cross of Christ; but we must through. One thing, by\nexperience, my Lord hath taught me, that the waters betwixt this and\nheaven may all be ridden, if we be well horsed; I mean, if we be in\nChrist; and not one shall drown by the way, but such as love their own\ndestruction. Oh, if we could wait on for a time, and believe in the\ndark the salvation of God! At least we are to believe good of Christ,\ntill He gives us the slip (which is impossible); and to take His word\nfor caution, that He shall fill up all the blanks in His promises, and\ngive us what we want. But to the unbeliever, Christ's testament is\nwhite, blank, unwritten paper.\n\nWorthy and dear Sir, set your face to heaven, and make you a stoop at\nall the low entries in the way, that ye may receive the kingdom as a\nchild. Without this (He that knew the way said) there is no entry in.\nOh, but Christ is willing to lead a poor sinner! Oh what love my poor\nsoul hath found in Him, in the house of my pilgrimage! Suppose that\nlove in heaven and earth were lost, I dare swear it may be found in\nChrist.\n\nNow the very God of peace establish you, till the day of the glorious\nappearance of Christ.\n\n Your own, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXXVIII.--_To the_ LADY GAITGIRTH.\n\n(_CHRIST AN EXAMPLE IN BEARING CROSSES--THE EXTENT TO WHICH CHILDREN\nSHOULD BE LOVED--WHY SAINTS DIE._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND CHRISTIAN LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou.--I long to hear how it goeth with you and your children.\n\nI exhort you not to lose breath, nor to faint in your journey. The way\nis not so long to your home as it was; it will wear to one step or an\ninch at length, and ye shall come ere long to be within your\narm-length of the glorious crown. Your Lord Jesus did sweat and pant\nere He got up that mount; He was at \"Father, save Me!\" with it. It was\nHe who said, \"I am poured out like water; all My bones are out of\njoint.\" Christ was as if they had broken Him upon the wheel: \"My heart\nis like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels.\" \"My strength is\ndried up like a potsherd\" (Ps. xxii. 14, 15). I am sure ye love the\nway the better that His holy feet trod it before you. Crosses have a\nsmell of crossed and pained Christ. I believe that your Lord will not\nleave you to die your lone in the way. I know that ye have sad hours,\nwhen the Comforter is hid under a vail, and when ye inquire for Him,\nand find but a toom nest. This, I grant, is but a cold \"good-day,\"\nwhen the seeker misseth Him whom the soul loveth; but even His\nunkindness is kind, His absence lovely, His mask a sweet sight, till\nGod send Christ Himself, in His own sweet presence. Make His sweet\ncomforts your own, and be not strange and shame-faced with Christ.\nHomely dealing is best for Him; it is His liking. When your winter\nstorms are over, the summer of your Lord shall come. Your sadness is\nwith child of joy; He will do you good in the latter end.\n\nTake no heavier lift of your children than your Lord alloweth. Give\nthem room beside your heart, but not in the yolk of your heart, where\nChrist should be; for then they are your idols, not your bairns. If\nyour Lord take any of them home to His house, before the storm come\non, take it well. The owner of the orchard may take down two or three\napples off his own trees before midsummer, and ere they get the\nharvest-sun: and it would not be seemly that his servant, the\ngardener, should chide him for it. Let our Lord pluck His own fruit at\nany season He pleaseth. They are not lost to you; but are laid up so\nwell as that they are coffered in heaven, where our Lord's best jewels\nlie. They are all free goods that are there; death can have no law to\narrest anything that is within the walls of the New Jerusalem.\n\nAll the saints, because of sin, are like old rusty horologues that\nmust be taken down, and the wheels scoured and mended, and set up\nagain in better case than before. Sin hath rusted both soul and body:\nour dear Lord by death taketh us down to scour the wheels of both, and\nto purge us perfectly from the root and remainder of sin; and we shall\nbe set up in better case than before. Then pluck up your heart; heaven\nis yours! and that is a word which few can say.\n\nNow, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and the very God of peace,\nconfirm and establish you, to the day of the appearance of Christ our\nLord.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXXXIX.--_To_ MR. MATTHEW MOWAT. [Letter CXX.]\n\n(_WHAT AM I?--LONGING TO ACT FOR CHRIST--UNBELIEF--LOVE IN THE HIDING\nOF CHRIST'S FACE--CHRIST'S REPROACH._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I am refreshed with your letters. I would\ntake all well at my Lord's hands that He hath done, if I knew that I\ncould do my Lord any service in my suffering; suppose my Lord would\nmake a stop-hole of me, to fill a hole in the wall of His house, or a\npinning in Zion's new work. For any place of trust in my Lord's house,\nas steward, or chamberlain, or the like, surely I think myself (my\nvery dear brother, I speak not by any proud figure or trope) unworthy\nof it; nay, I am not worthy to stand behind the door. If my head, and\nfeet, and body were half out, half in, in Christ's house, so that I\nsaw the fair face of the Lord of the house, it would still my greening\nand love-sick desires. When I hear that the men of God are at work,\nand speaking in the name of our Lord Jesus, I think myself but an\noutcast, or outlaw, chased from the city to lie on the hills, and\nlive amongst the rocks and out-fields. Oh that I might but stand in\nChrist's out-house, or hold a candle in any low vault of His house!\nBut I know this is but the vapours that arise out of a quarrelous and\nunbelieving heart to darken the wisdom of God; and your fault is just\nmine, that I cannot believe my Lord's bare and naked word. I must\neither have an apple to play me with, and shake hands with Christ, and\nhave seal, caution, and witness to His word, or else I count myself\nloose; howbeit, I have the word and faith of a King! Oh, I am made of\nunbelief, and cannot swim but where my feet may touch the ground!\nAlas! Christ under my temptations is presented to me as lying\nwaters,[348] as a dyvour and a cozener! We can make such a Christ as\ntemptations, casting us into a night-dream, do feign and devise; and\ntemptations represent Christ ever unlike Himself, and we, in our\nfolly, listen to the tempter.\n\n [348] Jerem. xv. 18.\n\nIf I could minister one saving word to any, how glad would my soul be!\nBut I myself, which is the greatest evil, often mistake the cross of\nChrist. For I know, if we had wisdom, and knew well that ease slayeth\nus fools, we would desire a market where we might barter or niffer our\nlazy ease with a profitable cross; howbeit there be an outcast natural\nbetwixt our desires and tribulation. But some give a dear price, and\ngold, for physic which they love not, and buy sickness, howbeit they\nwish rather to have been whole than to be sick. But surely, brother,\nye shall have my advice (howbeit, alas! I cannot follow it myself),\nnot to contend with the honest and faithful Lord of the house; for, go\nHe or come He, He is aye gracious in His departure. There are grace,\nand mercy, and loving-kindness upon Christ's back parts; and when He\ngoeth away, the proportion of His face, the image of that fair Sun\nthat stayeth in eyes, senses, and heart, after He is gone, leaveth a\nmass of love behind it in the heart. The sound of His knock at the\ndoor of His Beloved, after He is gone and passed, leaveth a share of\njoy and sorrow both. So we have something to feed upon till He return:\nand He is more loved in His departure, and after He is gone, than\nbefore, as the day in the declining of the sun, and towards the\nevening, is often most desired.\n\nAnd as for Christ's cross, I never received evil of it, but what was\nof mine own making: when I miscooked Christ's physic, no marvel that\nit hurt me. For since it was on Christ's back, it hath always a sweet\nsmell, and these 1600 years it keepeth the smell of Christ. Nay, it\nis older than that too; for it is a long time since Abel first\nhandselled the cross, and had it laid upon his shoulder; and down from\nhim, all alongst to this very day, all the saints have known what it\nis. I am glad that Christ Jesus hath such a relation to this cross,\nand that it is called \"the cross of our Lord Jesus\" (Gal. vi. 14), His\nreproach (Heb. xiii. 13), as if Christ would claim it as His proper\ngoods, and so it cometh into the reckoning among Christ's own\nproperty. If it were simple evil, as sin is, Christ, who is not the\nauthor nor owner of sin, would not own it.\n\nI wonder at the enemies of Christ (in whom malice hath run away with\nwit, and will is up, and wit down), that they would essay to lift up\nthe Stone laid in Zion. Surely it is not laid in such sinking ground\nas that they can raise it, or remove it; for when we are in their\nbelly, and they have swallowed us down, they will be sick, and spue us\nout again. I know that Zion and her Husband cannot both sleep at once;\nI believe that our Lord once again will water with His dew the\nwithered hill of Mount Zion in Scotland, and come down, and make a new\nmarriage again, as He did long since. Remember our Covenant.\n\nYour excuse for your advice to me is needless. Alas! many sit beside\nlight, as sick folks beside meat, and cannot make use of it. Grace be\nwith you.\n\n Your brother in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXL.--_To MR. JOHN MEINE, Jun._ [See Letter LXXXI.]\n\n(_CHRIST THE SAME--YOUTHFUL SINS--NO DISPENSING WITH CROSSES._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--I received your letter. I cannot but testify under mine\nown hand, that Christ is still the longer the better, and that this\ntime is the time of loves. When I have said all I can, others may\nbegin and say that I have said nothing of Him. I never knew Christ to\nebb or flow, wax or wane. His winds turn not; when He seemeth to\nchange, it is but we who turn our wrong side to Him. I never had a\nplea with Him, in my hardest conflicts, but of mine own making. Oh\nthat I could live in peace and good neighbourhood with such a second,\nand let Him alone! My unbelief made many black lies, but my\nrecantation to Christ is not worth the hearing. Surely He hath borne\nwith strange gawds in me; He knoweth my heart hath not natural wit to\nkeep quarters with such a Saviour.\n\nYe do well to fear your backsliding. I had stood sure if I had, in my\nyouth, borrowed Christ to be my bottom. But he that beareth his own\nweight to heaven shall not fail to slip and sink. Ye had not need to\nbe barefooted among the thorns of this apostate generation, lest a\nstob strike up into your foot, and cause you to halt all your days.\nAnd think not that Christ will do with you in the matter of suffering\nas the Pope doth in the matter of sin. Ye shall not find that Christ\nwill sell a dispensation, or give a dyvour's protection against\ncrosses. Crosses are proclaimed as common accidents to all the saints,\nand in them standeth a part of our communion with Christ; but there\nlieth a sweet casualty to the cross, even Christ's presence and His\ncomforts, when they are sanctified.\n\nRemember my love to your father and mother. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXLI.--_To JOHN FLEMING, Bailie of Leith._\n\n(_RICHES OF CHRIST FAIL NOT--SALVATION--VANITY OF CREATED\nCOMFORTS--LONGING FOR MORE OF CHRIST._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED IN THE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am\nstill in good terms with Christ: however my Lord's wind blow, I have\nthe advantage of the calm and sunny side of Christ. Devils, and hell,\nand devil's servants, are all blown blind, in pursuing the Lord's\nlittle bride. They shall be as a night-dream who fight against Mount\nZion.\n\nWorthy Sir, I hope that ye take to heart the worth of your calling.\nThis great fair and meeting of the people shall skail, and the port is\nopen for us. As fast as time weareth out, we fly away; eternity is at\nour elbow. Oh, how blessed are they who in time make Christ sure for\nthemselves! Salvation is a great errand. I find it hard to fetch\nheaven. Oh that we would take pains on our lamps, for the Bridegroom\nis coming! The other side of this world shall be turned up\nincontinently, and up shall be down: and those that are weeping in\nsackcloth will triumph on white horses, with Him whose name is The\nWord of God. Those dying idols, the fair creatures that we whorishly\nlove better than our Creator, shall pass away like snow-water. The\nGodhead, the Godhead! a communion with God in Christ! To be halvers\nwith Christ of the purchased house and inheritance in heaven, should\nbe our scope and aim.\n\nFor myself, when I lay my accounts, oh what telling, oh what weighing\nis in Christ! Oh how soft are His kisses! Oh love, love surpassing in\nJesus! I have no fault to that love, but that it seemeth to deal\nniggardly with me; I have little of it. Oh that I had Christ's seen\nand read bond, subscribed by Himself, for my fill of it! What garland\nhave I, or what crown, if I looked right on things, but Jesus! Oh,\nthere is no room in us on this side of the water for that love. This\nnarrow bit of earth, and these ebb and narrow souls can hold little of\nit, because we are full of rifts. I would that glory, glory would\nenlarge us (as it will), and make us tight, and close up our seams and\nrifts, that we might be able to comprehend it--which is yet\nincomprehensible.\n\nRemember my love to your wife. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXLII.--_To the_ LADY ROWALLAN.\n\n [LADY ROWALLAN, whose maiden name was Sarah Brisbane, being the\n fourth daughter of John Brisbane of Bishoptown, was the third\n wife of Sir William Mure of Rowallan (Robertson's \"Ayrshire\n Families\"). \"In 1639 Lady Rowallan lost her husband, who died in\n the sixty-third year of his age. He was a man of strong body, and\n delighted much in hunting and hawking.\" (\"The History and Descent\n of the House of Rowallan. By Sir William Mure, Knight, of\n Rowallan.\")\n\n _Rowallan_ is a mile and a half from the village of Kilmaurs, in\n which churchyard is a curious tomb of the old Glencairn family.\n Rowallan Castle was not large; it is now nearly a ruin, though\n the gardener's family occupy two rooms. It was a mansion as well\n as a castle. It stands on a rocky ledge, with the ground sinking\n low on all sides, and a burn flowing near, which sometimes in\n rainy seasons formed a lakelet, and could at any time be dammed\n up so as to form a moat to protect the castle.\n\n It is so situated that you do not see it until close upon it, and\n hence was all the better fitted for a place of meeting in\n Covenanting times. The room on the highest floor, near the\n turret, is pointed out as that in which conventicles were held.\n More than a hundred could assemble in it. The old campstools used\n to be preserved, but now only the remains of two exist. Another\n turret is said to be that from the window of which King Robert\n II.'s queen escaped in olden days.]\n\n(_JESUS THE BEST CHOICE, AND TO BE MADE SURE OF--THE CROSS AND JESUS\nINSEPARABLE--SORROWS ONLY TEMPORARY._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Though not acquainted, I am bold in Christ to speak to your\nLadyship on paper. I rejoice in our Lord Jesus, on your behalf, that\nit hath pleased Him, whose love to you is as old as Himself, to\nmanifest the favour of His love in Christ Jesus to your soul, in the\nrevelation of His will and mind to you, now when so many are shut up\nin unbelief. O the sweet change which ye have made, in leaving the\nblack kingdom of this world and sin, and coming over to our\nBridegroom's new kingdom, to know, and be taken with the love of the\nbeautiful Son of God! I beseech you, Madam, in the Lord, to make now\nsure work, and see that the old house be casten down, and razed from\nthe foundation, and that the new building of your soul be of Christ's\nown laying; for then wind nor storm shall neither loose it, nor shake\nit asunder. Many now take Christ by guess; be sure that it be He, and\nonly He, whom ye have met with. His sweet smell, His lovely voice, His\nfair face, His sweet working in the soul, will not lie; they will soon\ntell if it be Christ indeed; and I think that your love to the saints\nspeaketh that it is He. And, therefore, I say, be sure that ye take\nChrist Himself, and take Him with His Father's blessing: His Father\nalloweth Him well upon you. Your lines are well fallen; it could not\nhave been better, nor so well with you, if they had not fallen in\nthese places. In heaven, or out of heaven, there is nothing better,\nnothing so sweet and excellent as the thing ye have lighted on; and\ntherefore hold you with Christ. Joy, much joy may ye have of Him: but\ntake His cross with Himself cheerfully. Christ and His cross are not\nseparable in this life; howbeit Christ and His cross part at heaven's\ndoor, for there is no houseroom for crosses in heaven. One tear, one\nsigh, one sad heart, one fear, one loss, one thought of trouble,\ncannot find lodging there: they are but the marks of our Lord Jesus\ndown in this wide inn, and stormy country, on this side of death.\nSorrow and the saints are not married together; or, suppose it were\nso, heaven would make a divorce. I find that His sweet presence eateth\nout the bitterness of sorrow and suffering. I think it a sweet thing\nthat Christ saith of my cross, \"Half mine;\" and that He divideth these\nsufferings with me, and taketh the larger share to Himself; nay, that\nI and my whole cross are wholly Christ's. Oh, what a portion is\nChrist! Oh that the saints would dig deeper in the treasures of His\nwisdom and excellency!\n\nThus recommending your Ladyship to the good-will and tender mercies of\nour Lord, I rest, your Ladyship's, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXLIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_HIS OWN PROSPECTS--HOPES--SALUTATIONS._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND DEAREST IN OUR SWEET LORD JESUS,--Grace mercy, and\npeace, from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus.\n\nI know that the Lord will do for your town. I hear that the Bishop is\nafraid to come amongst you: for so it is spoken in this town. And many\nhere rejoice now to pen a supplication to the Council, for bringing me\nhome to my place, and for repairing other wrongs done in the country:\nand see if you can procure that three or four hundred in the country,\nnoblemen, gentlemen, countrymen, and citizens, subscribe it; the more\nthe better. It may be that it will affright the Bishop; and, by law,\nno advantage can be taken against you for it. I have not time to write\nto Carleton and to Knockbrex; but I would you did speak them in it,\nand let them advise with Carleton. Mr. A. thinketh well of it, and I\nthink the others will approve it.\n\nI am still in good case with Christ; my court is no less than it was;\nthe door of the Bridegroom's house-of-wine is open, when such a poor\nstranger as I come athort. I change, but Christ abideth still the\nsame.\n\nThey have put out my one poor eye, my only joy, to preach Christ, and\nto go errands betwixt Him and His bride. What my Lord will do with me,\nI know not: it is like that I shall not winter in Aberdeen; but where\nit shall be else, I know not. There are some blossomings of Christ's\nkingdom in this town, and the smoke is rising, and the ministers are\nraging; but I love a rumbling and roaring devil best.\n\nI beseech you in the Lord, my dear sister, to wait for the salvation\nof God. Slack not your hands in meeting to pray. Fear not flesh and\nblood: we have been all over-feared, and that gave louns the\nconfidence to shut me out of Galloway.\n\nRemember my love to John Carsen, and Mr. John Brown.[349] I never\ncould get my love off that man: I think Christ hath something to do\nwith him. Desire your husband from me, not to think ill of Christ for\nHis cross. Many misken Christ, because He hath the cross on His back;\nbut He will cause us all to laugh yet. I beseech you, as ye would do\nanything for me, to remember my Lady Marischal to God, and her son the\nEarl Marischal, especially her Christian daughter, my Lady\nPitsligo.[350]\n\n [349] This was Mr. John Brown who became minister of Wamphray.\n\n [350] Lady Jane, second daughter of Lady Marischal, who was married to\n Lord Pitsligo. See note to Letter CCVI.\n\nI shall go to death with it, that Christ will return again to\nScotland, with salvation in His wings, and to Galloway.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXLIV.[351]--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n [351] _Aberdeen_ is affixed to this letter; and if written from\n _Aberdeen_ it must have been in 1637. Hence the letter is inserted\n here. At the same time, the reference to events points to some time\n about 1633. It is possible that \"_Aberdeen_\" is a mistake for\n _Anwoth_.\n\n \"And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all\n people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in\n pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together\n against it.\"--ZECH. xii. 13.\n\n(_PROCEEDINGS OF PARLIAMENT--PRIVATE MATTERS--HER DAUGHTER'S\nMARRIAGE._)\n\n\nWELL-BELOVED SISTER,--I have been sparing to write to you because I\nwas heavy at the proceedings of our late Parliament.[352] Where law\nshould have been, they would not give our Lord Jesus fair law and\njustice, nor the benefit of the house, to hear either the just\ngrievances, or the humble supplications of the servants of God.[353]\nNothing resteth, but that we lay our grievances before our crowned\nKing, Jesus, who reigneth in Zion. And howbeit it be true, that the\nActs of the Perth Assembly for conformity are established, and the\nKing's power to impose the surplice, and other mass-apparel, upon\nministers, be confirmed,[354] yet what men conclude is not Scripture.\nKings have short arms to overturn Christ's throne; and our Lord hath\nbeen walking and standing upon His feet at this Parliament, when\nfifteen earls and lords, and forty-four commissioners for burghs, with\nsome barons, have voted for our kirk,[355] in face of a king who, with\nmuch awe and terror, with his own hand, wrote up the voters for or\nagainst himself.[356] Long before this kirk, in the second Psalm, the\nends of the earth (Scotland and England) were gifted of the Father to\nHis Son, Christ; and that is an old Act of Parliament decreed by our\nLord, and printed four thousand years ago. Their Acts are but yet\nprinting. The first Act shall stand, let all the potentates of the\nworld, who love Christ's room better than Himself, rage as they\nplease. Though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, yet\nthere is a river that cometh out of the sanctuary, and the streams of\nit refresh the city of God. That well is not yet cried down in\nScotland, nor can it dry up: therefore, still believe and trust in\nGod's salvation. If you knew the whole proceedings, it is the Lord's\nmercy that matters have gone at our Parliament, as they have gone. The\nLord Jesus, in our King's ears, to His great provocation and grief,\nhath gotten many witnesses; and we saw in all the Son of God\noverturning their policy, and making the world know how well He loveth\nHis poor sun-burnt bride in Scotland. The Lord liveth, and blessed be\nthe God of our salvation.\n\n [352] The Parliament held at Edinburgh in June 1633.\n\n [353] Mr. Thomas Hog, minister of the Gospel at Dysart, in his own\n name, and in the name of other ministers, before the sitting down of\n the Parliament, presented a paper, entitled, \"Grievances and Petitions\n concerning the Disordered Estate of the Reformed Kirk within this\n realm of Scotland,\" to Sir John Hay, Clerk Register, to be laid before\n the Parliament.\n\n [354] The reference here is to two Acts passed by the Parliament in\n June 1633, the one ratifying all Acts made before in favour of the\n church, and consequently ratifying the Acts of Perth, and other Acts\n made for settling and advancing the estate of bishops; the other,\n asserting the King's prerogative of enjoining churchmen to wear\n whatever apparel he chose.\n\n [355] This was the number of members of Parliament who voted against\n the above Acts.\n\n [356] \"The King's taking pen and paper in hand in the time of the\n voting, was a sufficient ground of apprehending fear\" (Scot's\n \"Apologetical Narration\").\n\nFor the matter betwixt your husband and Carleton, I trust in God it\nshall be removed. It hath grieved me exceedingly. I have dealt with\nCarleton, and shall deal. Put it off yourself upon the Lord, that it\nburden you not.\n\nI have heard of your daughter's marriage: I pray the Lord Jesus to\nsubscribe the contract, and to be at the banquet, as He was at the\nmarriage of Cana of Galilee. Show her from me, that though it be true\nthat God's children have prayed for her, yet the promise of God is\nmade to her prayers and faith especially: and, therefore, I would\nentreat her to seek the Lord to be at the wedding. Let her give\nChrist the love of her virginity and espousals, and choose Him first\nas her Husband, and that match shall bless the other. It is a new\nworld she entereth into, and therefore she hath need of new\nacquaintance with the Son of God, and of a renewing of her love to\nHim, whose love is better than wine. \"The time is short: let the\nmarried be as though they were not married; they that weep, as though\nthey weeped not; they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; they\nthat buy, as though they possessed not; they that use this world, as\nthough they used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away\"\n(1 Cor. vii. 29, 30, 31). Grace, grace be her portion from the Lord. I\nknow that you have a care on you of it, that all be right: but let\nChrist bear all. You need not pity Him, if I may say so; put Him to\nit, He is strength enough.\n\nThe Spirit of the Lord Jesus be with you.\n\n Your friend, in his dearest friend, Christ Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n\n\n\nCCXLV.--To my LADY BOYD.\n\n(_IMPERFECTIONS--YEARNINGS AFTER CHRIST--CHRIST'S SUPREMACY NOT\nINCONSISTENT WITH CIVIL AUTHORITY._)\n\n\nMY VERY HONOURABLE AND CHRISTIAN LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou.--I received your letter, and am well pleased that your thoughts\nof Christ stay with you, and that your purpose still is, by all means,\nto take the kingdom of heaven by violence; which is no small conquest.\nAnd it is a degree of watchfulness and thankfulness, also, to observe\nsleepiness and unthankfulness. We have all good cause to complain of\nfalse light, that playeth the thief and stealeth away the lantern,\nwhen it cometh to the practice of constant walking with God. Our\njourney is ten times a-day broken into ten pieces. Christ getteth but\nonly broken, and halved, and tired work of us, and, alas! too often\nagainst the hair.[357]\n\n [357] Against the grain.\n\nI have been somewhat nearer the Bridegroom; but when I draw nigh, and\nsee my vileness, for shame I would be out of His presence again. But\nyet, desire of His soul-refreshing love putteth blushing me under an\narrest. Oh, what am I, so loathsome a burden of sin, to stand beside\nsuch a beautiful and holy Lord, such a high and lofty One who\ninhabiteth eternity! But since it pleaseth Christ to condescend to\nsuch an one as I, let shamefacedness be laid aside, and lose itself in\nHis condescending love. I would heartily be content to keep a corner\nof the King's hall. Oh, if I were at the yonder end of my weak\ndesires, then should I be where Christ, my Lord and lover, liveth and\nreigneth; there I should be everlastingly solaced with the sight of\nHis face, and satisfied with the surpassing sweetness of His matchless\nlove. But truly now I stand in the nether side of my desires; and with\na drooping head, and panting heart, I look up to fair Jesus, standing\nafar off from us, whill corruption and death shall scour and refine\nthe body of clay, and rot out the bones of the old man of sin. In the\nmeantime we are blessed in sending word to the Beloved, that we love\nto love Him; and till then, there is joy in wooing, suiting, lying\nabout His house, looking in at the windows, and sending a poor soul's\ngroans and wishes through a hole of the door to Jesus, till God send a\nglad meeting. And blessed be God, that after a low ebb, and so sad a\nword, \"Lord Jesus, it is long since I saw Thee,\" that even then our\nwings are growing, and the absence of sweet Jesus breedeth a new\nfleece of desires and longings for Him. I know that no man hath a\nvelvet cross, but the cross is made of that which God will have it.\nBut verily, howbeit it be no warrantable market to buy a cross,[358]\nyet I dare not say, \"Oh that I had liberty to sell Christ's cross,\"\nlest therewith, also, I should sell joy, comfort, sense of love,\npatience, and the kind visits of a Bridegroom. And, therefore, blessed\nbe God we get crosses unbought and good-cheap. Sure I am, it were\nbetter to buy crosses for Christ than to sell them: howbeit neither be\nallowed to us.\n\n [358] No one is warranted, in God's market, to buy such a thing as a\n trial; we must not bring trials on ourselves.\n\nAnd for Christ's joyful coming and going, which your Ladyship speaketh\nof, I bear with it, as love can permit. It should be enough to me, if\nI were wise, that Christ will have joy and sorrow halvers of the life\nof the saints, and that each of them should have a share of our days;\nas the night and the day are kindly partners and halvers of time, and\ntake it up betwixt them. But if sorrow be the greedier halver of our\ndays here, I know that joy's day shall dawn, and do more than\nrecompense all our sad hours. Let my Lord Jesus (since He willeth to\ndo so) weave my bit and span-length of time with white and black, well\nand wo, with the Bridegroom's coming and His sad departure, as warp\nand woof in one web; and let the rose be neighboured with the thorn;\nyet hope that maketh not ashamed hath written a letter and lines of\nhope to the mourners in Zion, that it shall not be long so. When we\nare over the water, Christ shall cry down crosses, and up heaven for\nevermore! and down hell, and down death, and down sin, and down\nsorrow! and up glory, up life, up joy for evermore! In this hope, I\nsleep quietly in Christ's bosom whill He come who is not slack; and\nwould sleep so, were it not that the noise of the devil, and of sin's\nfeet, and the cries of an unbelieving heart, awaken me. But, for the\npresent, I have nothing whereof I can accuse Christ's cross. Oh, if I\ncould please myself in Christ only!\n\nI hope, Madam, that your sons will improve their power for Jesus. For\nthere is no danger, neither is there any question or justling betwixt\nChrist and authority (though our enemies falsely state the question),\nas if Christ and authority could not abide under one roof. The\nquestion only is, betwixt Christ and men in authority. Authority is\nfor and from Christ, and sib to Him; how then can He make a plea with\nit? Nay, the truth is, worms and gods of clay are risen up against\nChrist. If the fruit of your Ladyship's womb be helpers of Christ, ye\nhave good ground to rejoice in God.\n\nAll that your Ladyship can expect for your good-will to me and my\nbrother (a wronged stranger for Christ), is the prayers of a prisoner\nof Jesus, to whom I recommend your Ladyship, and your house and\nchildren; and in whom I am, Madam,\n\n Your Ladyship's in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 8, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXLVI.--_To_ MR. THOMAS GARVEN. [Letter CLII.]\n\n(_HEAVEN'S HAPPINESS--JOY IN THE CROSS._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I rejoice that ye\ncannot be quit of Christ (if I may speak so), but that He must, He\nwill have you. Betake yourself to Christ, my dear brother. It is a\ngreat business to make quit of superfluities, and of those things\nwhich Christ cannot dwell with. I am content with my own cross, that\nChrist hath made mine by an eternal lot, because it is Christ's and\nmine together. I marvel not that winter is without heaven, for there\nis no winter within it: all the saints, therefore, have their own\nmeasure of winter, before their eternal summer. Oh for the long day,\nand the high sun, and the fair garden, and the King's Great City up\nabove these visible heavens! What God layeth on let us suffer; for\nsome have one cross, some seven, some ten, some half a cross. Yet all\nthe saints have whole and full joy; and seven crosses have seven joys.\nChrist is cumbered with me (to speak so) and my cross; but He falleth\nnot off from me; we are not at variance. I find the very glooms of\nChrist's wooing a soul sweet and lovely. I had rather have Christ's\nbuffet and love-stroke, than another king's kiss. Speak evil of Christ\nwho will, I hope to die with love thoughts of Him. Oh that there are\nso few tongues in heaven and earth to extol Him! I wish His praises go\nnot down amongst us. Let not Christ be low and lightly esteemed in the\nmidst of us: but let all hearts and all tongues cast in their portion,\nand contribute something to make Him great in Mount Zion.\n\nThus recommending you to His grace, and remembering my love to your\nwife and mother, and your kind brother, R. B.,[359] and entreating you\nto remember my bonds, I rest,\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 8, 1637_.\n\n [359] Probably, Robert Blair.\n\n\n\n\nCCXLVII.--_To_ JANET KENNEDY. [Letter LXXXVIII.]\n\n(_THE HEAVENLY MANSIONS--EARTH A SHADOW._)\n\n\nLOVING AND DEAR SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I\nreceived your letter. I know that the favour of Christ in you (whom\nthe virgins love to follow) cannot be blown away with winds, either\nfrom hell, or the evil-smelled air of this defiled world. Sit far\naback from the walls of this pesthouse, even the pollutions of this\ndefiling world. Keep your taste, your love, and hope in heaven; it is\nnot good that your love and your Lord should be in two sundry\ncountries. Up, up after your lover, that ye and He may be together. A\nKing from heaven hath sent for you: by faith He showeth you the New\nJerusalem, and taketh you alongst in the Spirit, through all the\nease-rooms and dwelling-houses in heaven, and saith, \"All these are\nthine; this palace is for thee and Christ.\" And if ye only had been\nthe chosen of God, Christ would have built that one house for you and\nHimself: now it is for you and many others also. Take with you in your\njourney what you may carry with you, your conscience, faith, hope,\npatience, meekness, goodness, brotherly kindness; for such wares as\nthese are of great price in the high and new country whither ye go. As\nfor other things, which are but the world's vanity and trash, since\nthey are but the house-sweepings, ye will do best not to carry them\nwith you. Ye found them here; leave them here, and let them keep the\nhouse. Your sun is well turned and low; be nigh your lodging against\nnight. We go one and one out of this great market, till the town be\nempty, and the two lodgings, heaven and hell, be filled. At length\nthere will be nothing in the earth but toom walls and burnt ashes;\nand, therefore, it is best to make away. Antichrist and his master are\nbusy to plenish hell, and to seduce many: and stars, great\nchurch-light, are falling from heaven, and many are misled and\nseduced, and make up with their faith, and sell their birthrights, by\ntheir hungry hunting for I know not what. Fasten your grips fast upon\nChrist. I verily esteem Him the best aught[360] that I have. He is my\nsecond in prison. Having Him, though my cross were as heavy as ten\nmountains of iron, when He putteth His sweet shoulder under me and it,\nmy cross is but a feather. I please myself in the choice of Christ; He\nis my wale in heaven and earth. I rejoice that He is in heaven before\nme. God send a joyful meeting; and, in the meantime, the traveller's\ncharges for the way, I mean a burden of Christ's love, to sweeten the\njourney, and to encourage a breathless runner; for when I lose breath,\nclimbing up the mountain, He maketh new breath.\n\n [360] Property.\n\nNow the very God of peace establish you to the day of His appearance.\n\n Yours, in his only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 9, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXLVIII.--_To_ MARGARET REID. [_Probably an Anwoth parishioner._]\n\n(_BENEFITS OF THE CROSS, IF WE ARE CHRIST'S._)\n\n\nMY VERY DEAR AND WORTHY SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou.--Ye are truly blessed of the Lord, however a sour world gloom\nupon you, if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not\nmoved away from the hope of the Gospel. It is good that there is a\nheaven, and it is not a night-dream or a fancy. It is a wonder that\nmen deny not that there is a heaven, as they deny there is a way to it\nbut of men's making. You have learned of Christ that there is a\nheaven: contend for it, and contend for Christ. Bear well and\nsubmissively the hard cross of this step-mother world, that God will\nnot have to be yours. I confess it is hard, and I would I were able to\nease you of your burden; but believe me, that this world (which the\nLord will not have to be yours) is but the dross, the refuse, and scum\nof God's creation, the portion of the Lord's hired servants; the\nmovables, not the heritage; a hard bone casten to the dogs holden out\nof the New Jerusalem, whereupon they rather break their teeth than\nsatisfy their appetite. It is your Father's blessing, and Christ's\nbirthright, that our Lord is keeping for you. And I persuade you, that\nyour seed, also, shall inherit the earth (if that be good for them),\nfor that is promised to them; and God's bond is as good, and better,\nthan if men would give every one of them a bond for a thousand\nthousands. Ere ye were born, crosses, in number, measure, and weight,\nwere written for you, and your Lord will lead you through them. Make\nChrist sure, and the blessings of the earth shall be at Christ's back.\nI see many professors for the fashion follow on, but they are\nprofessors of glass; I would cause a little knock of persecution ding\nthem in twenty pieces, and so the world would laugh at the shreds.\nTherefore, make fast work. See that Christ lay the ground-stone of\nyour profession; for wind, and rain, and spaits will not wash away His\nbuilding. His works have no shorter date than to stand for evermore. I\nshould twenty times have perished in my affliction, if I had not\nleaned my weak back, and laid my pressing burden both, upon the stone,\nthe Foundation-stone, the Corner-stone laid in Zion: and I desire\nnever to rise off this stone.\n\nNow, the very God of peace confirm and establish you unto the day of\nthe blessed appearance of Christ Jesus. God be with you.\n\n Yours, in his dearest Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n\n\n\nCCXLIX.--_To_ JAMES BAUTIE.\n\n [JAMES BAUTIE, in 1637, seems to have been preparing for the\n ministry. He became chaplain to the regiment of the Lord of Ards,\n in Ireland, and was ordained minister over the Presbyterian\n congregation at Ballywater, in the county of Down, in 1642. He\n was clerk to the Presbytery in 1644. Refusing to take the oath of\n fidelity to the Commonwealth in 1650, he was first imprisoned,\n and then banished out of the kingdom. We know nothing of his\n after history. Another person is found occupying his charge in\n 1661. The name \"Bautie\" is now unknown. It may, however, be the\n same as \"Beatie,\" or \"Beattie,\" a name very common in\n Dumfriesshire. But see note in the Index.]\n\n(_SPIRITUAL DIFFICULTIES SOLVED._)\n\n\nLOVING BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you.--I received your\nletter, and render you thanks for the same; but I have not time to\nanswer all the heads of it, as the bearer can inform you.\n\n1. Ye do well to take yourself at the right stot[361] when ye wrong\nChrist by doubting and misbelief. For this is to nickname Christ, and\nterm Him a liar, which being spoken to our prince, would be hanging or\nbeheading. But Christ hangeth not always for treason. It is good that\nHe may registrate[362] a believer's bond a hundred times, and more\nthan seven times a day have law against us; and yet He spareth us, as\na man doth the son that serveth him. No tender-hearted mother, who may\nhave law to kill her sucking child, would put in execution that law.\n\n [361] The rebound of a ball. Ye do well to recall your thoughts ere\n they have gone too far.\n\n [362] A bond \"registered\" means kept on record, so that it cannot be\n taken out.\n\n2ndly, For your failings, even when ye have a set tryst with Christ,\nand when ye have a fair, seen advantage, by keeping your appointment\nwith Him, and salvation cometh to the very passing of the seals, I\nwould say two things.--1. Concluded and sealed salvation may go\nthrough and be ended, suppose you write your name to the tail of the\ncovenant with ink that can hardly be read. Neither think I ever any\nman's salvation passed the seals, but there was an odd trick or slip,\nin less or more, upon the fool's part who is infested in heaven. In\nthe most grave and serious work of our salvation, I think Christ had\never good cause to laugh at our silliness, and to put us on His\nmerits, that we might bear weight. 2. It is a sweet law of the New\nCovenant, and a privilege of the new burgh, that citizens pay\naccording to their means. For the New Covenant saith not, \"So much\nobedience by ounce-weights, and no less, under the pain of damnation.\"\nChrist taketh as poor men may give. Where there is a mean portion, He\nis content with the less, if there be sincerity; broken sums, and\nlittle, feckless obedience will be pardoned, and hold the foot with\nHim. Know ye not that our kindly Lord retaineth His good old heart\nyet? He breaketh not a bruised reed, nor quencheth the smoking flax;\nif the wind but blow, He holdeth His hand about it till it rise to a\nflame. The law cometh on with three O-yeses, \"with all the heart, with\nall the soul, and with all the strength;\" and where would poor folks,\nlike you and me, furnish all these sums? It feareth me (nay, it is\nmost certain), that, if the payment were to come out of our purse,\nwhen we should put our hand into our bag, we should bring out the\nwind, or worse. But the New Covenant seeketh not heap-mete, nor\nstented obedience, as the condition of it; because forgiveness hath\nalways place. Hence I draw this conclusion: that to think matters\nbetwixt Christ and us go back for want of heaped measure, is a piece\nof old Adam's pride, who would either be at legal payment, or nothing.\nWe would still have God in our common, and buy His kindness with our\nmerits. For beggarly pride is devil's honesty, and blusheth to be in\nChrist's common, and scarce giveth God a grammercy, and a lifted cap\n(except it be the Pharisee's unlucky, \"God, I thank Thee\"), or a bowed\nknee to Christ. It will only give a \"Good-day\" for a \"Good-day\" again;\nand if He dissemble His kindness, as it were in jest, and seem to\nmisken it, it in earnest spurneth with the heels, and snuffeth in the\nwind, and careth not much for Christ's kindness. \"If He will not be\nfriends, let Him go,\" saith pride. Beware of this thief, when Christ\noffereth Himself.\n\n3rdly, No marvel, then, of whisperings, Whether you be in the covenant\nor not? for pride maketh loose work of the covenant of grace, and will\nnot let Christ be full bargain-maker. To speak to you particularly and\nshortly:--1. All the truly regenerated cannot determinately tell you\nthe measure of their dejections; because Christ beginneth young with\nmany, and stealeth into their heart, ere they wit of themselves, and\nbecometh homely with them, with little din or noise. I grant that many\nare blinded, in rejoicing in a good-cheap conversion, that never cost\nthem a sick night. Christ's physic wrought in a dream upon them. But\nfor that; I would say, if other marks be found that Christ is indeed\ncome in, never make plea with him because he will not answer, \"Lord\nJesus, how camest Thou in? whether in at door or window?\" Make Him\nwelcome, since He is come. \"The wind bloweth where it listeth;\" all\nthe world's wit cannot perfectly render a reason why the wind should\nbe a month in the east, six weeks possibly in the west, and the space\nof only an afternoon in the south or north. Ye will not find out all\nthe nicks and steps of Christ's way with a soul, do what ye can; for\nsometimes He will come in stepping softly, like one walking beside a\nsleeping person, and slip to the door, and let none know He is there.\n2. Ye object: The truly regenerate should love God for Himself; and ye\nfear that ye love Him more for His benefits (as incitements and\nmotives to love Him) than for Himself. I answer: To love God for\nHimself, as the last end, and also for His benefits as incitements and\nmotives to love Him, may stand well together; as a son loveth his\nmother, because she is his mother, howbeit she be poor: and he loveth\nher for an apple also. I hope ye will not say, that benefits are the\nonly reason and bottom of your love; it seemeth there is a better\nfoundation for it. Always,[363] if a hole be in it, sew it up shortly.\n3. Ye feel not such mourning in Christ's absence as ye would. I\nanswer: That the regenerate mourn at all times, and all in like\nmeasure, for His absence, I deny. There are different degrees of\nmourning, less or more, as they have less or more love to Him, and\nless or more sense of His absence; but, some they must have. Sometimes\nthey miss not the Lord, and then they cannot mourn; howbeit, it is not\nlong so; at least, it is not always so. 4. Ye challenge yourself that\nsome truths find more credit with you than others. Ye do well; for God\nis true in the least, as well as in the greatest, and He must be so to\nyou. Ye must not call Him true in the one page of the leaf, and false\nin the other; for our Lord, in all His writings, never contradicted\nHimself yet. Although the best of the regenerate have slipped here,\nalways labour ye to hold your feet.\n\n4thly, Comparing the state of one truly regenerate, whose heart is a\ntemple of the Holy Ghost, and yours, which is full of uncleanness and\ncorruption, ye stand dumb and discouraged, and dare not sometimes call\nChrist heartsomely your own. I answer: 1. The best regenerate have\ntheir defilements, and, if I may speak so, their draff-poke, that will\nclog behind them all their days; and, wash as they will, there will be\nfilth in their bosom. But let not this put you from the well. I\nanswer: 2. Albeit there be some ounce-weights of carnality, and some\nsquint look, or eye in our neck to an idol, yet love in its own\nmeasure may be found. For glory must purify and perfect our love, it\nnever will till then be absolutely pure. Yet, if the idol reign, and\nhave the whole of the heart, and the keys of the house, and Christ\nonly be made an underling to run errands, all is not right; therefore,\nexamine well. 3. There is a twofold discouragement: one of unbelief,\nto conclude (and make doubt of the conclusion) for a mote in your eye,\nand a by-look to an idol; this is ill. There is another discouragement\nof sorrow for sin, when ye find a by-look to an idol; this is good,\nand matter of thanksgiving. Therefore, examine here also.\n\n [363] Notwithstanding.\n\n5thly, The assurance of Jesus's love, ye say, would be the most\ncomfortable news that ever ye heard. Answer: That may stop twenty\nholes, and loose many objections. That love hath telling in it, I\ntrow. Oh that ye knew and felt it, as I have done! I wish you a share\nof my feast; sweet, sweet hath it been to me. If my Lord had not given\nme this love, I should have fallen through the causeway of Aberdeen\nere now! But for you, hing on; your feast is not far off; ye shall be\nfilled ere ye go. There is as much in our Lord's pantry as will\nsatisfy all His bairns, and as much wine in His cellar as will quench\nall their thirst. Hunger on, for there is meat in hunger for Christ.\nNever go from Him, but fash Him (who yet is pleased with the\nimportunity of hungry souls) with a dish-full of hungry desires till\nHe fill you; and if He delay, yet come not ye away, albeit ye should\nfall aswoon at His feet.\n\n6thly, Ye crave my mind, whether sound comfort may be found in prayer,\nwhen conviction of a known idol is present. I answer: (1st), An idol,\nas an idol, cannot stand with sound comforts; for that comfort that is\ngotten at Dagon's feet is a cheat or blaflume. Yet sound comfort, and\nconviction of an eye to an idol, may as well dwell together as tears\nand joy. But let this do you no ill; I speak it for your\nencouragement, that ye may make the best of our joys ye can, albeit\nyou find them mixed with motes. (2ndly), Sole conviction (if alone,\nwithout remorse and grief) is not enough; therefore, lend it a tear if\nye dow win at it.\n\n7thly, Ye question; when ye win to more fervency sometimes with your\nneighbour in prayer than when you are alone, whether hypocrisy be in\nit or not? I answer, if this be always, no question a spice of\nhypocrisy is in it, which should be taken heed to. But possibly\ndesertion may be in private, and presence in public, and then the case\nis clear. A fit of applause may occasion by accident a rubbing of a\ncold heart, and so heat and life may come; but it is not the proper\ncause of that heat. Hence God, of His free grace, will ride His\nerrands upon our stinking corruption. But corruption is but a mere\noccasion and accident; as the playing on a pipe removed anger from the\nprophet, and made him fitter to prophesy (2 Kings iii. 15).\n\n8thly, Ye complain of Christ's short visits, that He will not bear you\ncompany one night; but when ye lie down warm at night, ye rise cold at\nmorning. Answer: I cannot blame you (nor any other that knoweth that\nsweet Guest), to bemoan His withdrawings, and to be most desirous of\nHis abode and company; for He would captivate and engage the affection\nof any creature that saw His face. Since He looked on me, and gave me\na sight of His fair love, He gained my heart wholly, and got away with\nit. Well, well may He brook it! He shall keep it long, ere I fetch it\nfrom Him. But I shall tell you what ye should do; treat Him well, give\nHim the chair and the board-head, and make Him welcome to the mean\nportion ye have. A good supper and kind entertainment maketh guests\nlove the inn the better. Yet sometimes Christ hath an errand\nelsewhere, for mere trial;[364] and then, though ye give Him king's\ncheer, He will away; as is clear in desertions for mere trial and not\nfor sin.\n\n [364] Merely for the purpose of trying the soul, Christ goes away\n elsewhere.\n\n9thly, Ye seek the difference betwixt the motions of the Spirit in\ntheir least measure, and the natural joys of your own heart. Answer:\nAs a man can tell if he joy and delight in his wife, as his wife; or\nif he delight and joy in her for satisfaction of his lust, but hating\nher person, and so loving her for her flesh, and not grieving when ill\nbefalleth her: so will a man's joy in God, and his whorish natural\njoy, be discovered. If he be sorry for anything that may offend the\nLord, it will speak the singleness of his love to Him.\n\n10thly, Ye ask the reason why sense overcometh faith, Answer: Because\nsense is more natural, and near of kin to our selfish and soft nature.\nYe ask, If faith, in that case, be sound? Answer: If it be chased\naway, it is neither sound nor unsound, because it is not faith. But it\nmight be and was faith, before sense did blow out the act of\nbelieving.\n\nLastly, Ye ask what to do, when promises are borne-in upon you, and\nsense of impenitency for sins of youth hindereth application. I\nanswer, if it be living sense, it may stand with application; and in\nthis case, put to your hand, and eat your meat in God's name. If\nfalse, so that the sins of youth are not repented of, then, as faith\nand impenitency cannot stand together, so neither that sense and\napplication can consist.\n\nBrother, excuse my brevity; for time straiteneth me, that I get not my\nmind said in these things, but must refer that to a new occasion, if\nGod offer it. Brother, pray for me. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his dearest Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCL.--_To the_ LADY LARGIRIE. [Letter CXCV.]\n\n(_PART WITH ALL FOR CHRIST--NO UNMIXED JOY HERE._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I hope ye know what\nconditions passed betwixt Christ and you, at your first meeting. Ye\nremember that He said, your summer days would have clouds, and your\nrose a prickly thorn beside it. Christ is unmixed in heaven, all\nsweetness and honey. Here we have Him with His thorny and rough cross;\nyet I know no tree that beareth sweeter fruit than Christ's cross,\nexcept I would raise a lying report on it. It is your part to take\nChrist, as He is to be had in this life. Sufferings are like a wood\nplanted round about His house, over door and window. If we could hold\nfast our grips of Him, the field were won. Yet a little while, and\nChrist shall triumph. Give Christ His own short time to spin out these\ntwo long threads of heaven and hell to all mankind, for certainly the\nthread will not break; and when He hath accomplished His work in Mount\nZion, and hath refined His silver, He will bring new vessels out of\nthe furnace, and plenish His house, and take up His house again.\n\nI counsel you to free yourself of clogging temptations, by overcoming\nsome, and contemning others, and watching over all. Abide true and\nloyal to Christ, for few now are fast to Him. They give Christ blank\npaper for a bond of service and attendance, now when Christ hath most\nado. To waste a little blood with Christ, and to put our part of this\ndrossy world in pawn over in His hand, as willing to quit it for Him,\nis the safest cabinet to keep the world in. But those who would take\nthe world and all their flitting on their back, and run away from\nChrist, shall fall by the way, and leave their burden behind them, and\nbe taken captive themselves. Well were my soul to have put all I have,\nlife and soul, over into Christ's hands. Let Him be forthcoming for\nall.\n\nIf any ask how I do? I answer, None can be but well that are in\nChrist: and if I were not so, my sufferings had melted me away in\nashes and smoke. I thank my Lord, that He hath something in me that\nHis fire cannot consume.\n\nRemember my love to your husband; and show him from me, that I desire\nhe may set aside all things, and make sure work of salvation, that it\nbe not a-seeking when the sand-glass is run out, and time and eternity\nshall tryst together. There is no errand so weighty as this. Oh that\nhe would take it to heart! Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in Christ Jesus his Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN.\n\n\n\n\nCCLI.--_To the_ LADY DUNGUEICH.\n\n [LADY DUNGEUCH, or DUNGUEICH, was sister to _Marion M'Naught_,\n for her own name was _Sarah M'Naught_, and she is mentioned in\n the Registers as \"second heir to her father, _John M'Naught of\n Kilquhannady_\" [or Kilquhanatie (Letter V.)], \"on 31st March\n 1646, in the three merk lands of Dumgeuich, in Lanarkshire.\" She\n married Samuel Lockhart, merchant burgess in Edinburgh.\n\n Near the Bridge of Deach, two miles from Carsphairn, not far from\n Earlston, there is the poor ruin of an old _Dundeuch_ castle on\n the roadside, mentioned in the life of John Semple. But that is\n not the same place, though resembling it in sound. The _Gordons_\n of Dengeuch (a branch of the Lochinvar family) were no doubt\n connected.]\n\n(_JESUS OR THE WORLD--SCOTLAND'S TRIALS AND HOPES._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--I long to hear from you, and how you go on with Christ. I\nam sure that Christ and you once met. I pray you to fasten your grips.\nThere is holding and drawing, and much sea-way to heaven, and we are\noften sea-sick; but the voyage is so needful, that we must on any\nterms take shipping with Christ. I believe it is a good country which\nwe are going to, and there is ill lodging in this smoky house of the\nworld, in which we are yet living. Oh, that we should love smoke so\nwell, and clay that holdeth our feet fast! It were our happiness to\nfollow after Christ, and to anchor ourselves upon the Rock in the\nupper side of the vail. Christ and Satan are now drawing to parties.\nAnd they are blind who see not Scotland divided into two camps, and\nChrist coming out with His white banner of love; and He hangeth that\nover the heads of His soldiers. And the other captain, the Dragon, is\ncoming out with a great black flag, and crieth, \"The world, the world!\nease, honour, and a whole skin, and a soft couch.\" And there lie they,\nand leave Christ to fend for Himself!\n\nMy counsel is, that ye come out and leave the multitude, and let\nChrist have your company. Let them take clay and this present world\nwho love it. Christ is a more worthy and noble portion: blessed are\nthose who get Him. It is good, ere the storm rise, to make ready all,\nand to be prepared to go to the camp with Christ, seeing He will not\nkeep the house, nor sit at the fireside with couchers. A shower for\nChrist is little enough. Oh, I find all too little for Him! Wo, wo, wo\nis me, that I have no propine for my Lord Jesus. My love is so\nfeckless, that it is a shame to offer it to Him! Oh, if it were as\nbroad as heaven, as deep as the sea, I would gladly bestow it upon\nHim! I persuade you, that God is wringing grapes of red wine for\nScotland; and that this land shall drink, and spue and fall. His\nenemies shall drink the thick of it, and the grounds[365] of it. But\nScotland's withered tree shall blossom again; and Christ shall make a\nsecond marriage with her, and take home His wife out of the furnace.\nBut, if our eyes shall see it, He knoweth who hath created time. Grace\nbe with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n [365] The dregs.\n\n\n\n\nCCLII.--_To_ JONET MACCULLOCH. [See Letter CI.]\n\n(_CARES TO BE CAST ON CHRIST--CHRIST A STEADY FRIEND._)\n\n\nLOVING SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Hold on your\ncourse, for, it may be, that I shall not soon see you. Venture through\nthe thick of all things after Christ, and lose not your Master,\nChrist, in the throng of this great market. Let Christ know how heavy,\nand how many a stone-weight you and your cares, burdens, crosses, and\nsins are. Let Him bear all. Make the heritage sure to yourself: get\ncharters and writs passed and through; and put on arms for the battle,\nand keep you fast by Christ. And then, let the wind blow out of what\nairth it will, your soul shall not be blown into the sea.\n\nI find Christ the most steadable friend and companion in the world to\nme now. The need and usefulness of Christ are seen best in trials. Oh,\nif He be not well worthy of His room! Lodge Him in house and heart;\nand stir up your husband to seek the Lord. I wonder that he hath never\nwritten to me: I do not forget him.\n\nI taught you the whole counsel of God, and delivered it to you. It\nwill be inquired for at your hands; have it in readiness against the\ntime that the Lord ask for it. Make you ready to meet the Lord; and\nrest and sleep in the love of that Fairest among the sons of men.\nDesire Christ's beauty. Give out all your love to Him, and let none\nfall by. Learn in prayer to speak to Him.\n\nHelp your mother's soul; and desire her, from me, to seek the Lord and\nHis salvation. It is not soon found: many miss it. Grace be with you.\n\n Your loving pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCLIII.--_To his Reverend and very dear Brother_, MR. GEORGE\nGILLESPIE.\n\n(_CHRIST THE TRUE GAIN._)\n\n\nMY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--I received yours. I am still with the Lord. His\ncross hath done that which I thought impossible once. Christ keepeth\ntryst in the fire and water with His own, and cometh ere our breath go\nout, and ere our blood grow cold.\n\nBlessed are they whose feet escape the great golden net that is now\nspread. It is happiness to take the crabbed, rough, and poor side of\nChrist's world, which is a lease of crosses and losses for Him. For\nChrist's incomes and casualties that follow Him are many; and it is\nnot a little one that a good conscience may be had in following Him.\nThis is true gain, and must be laboured for and loved.\n\nMany give Christ for a shadow; because Christ was rather _beside_\ntheir conscience, in a dead and reprobate light, than _in_ their\nconscience. Let us be ballasted with grace, that we be not blown over,\nand that we stagger not. Yet a little while, and Christ and His\nredeemed ones shall fill the field, and come out victorious. Christ's\nglory of triumphing in Scotland is yet in the bud, and in the birth;\nbut the birth cannot prove an abortion. He shall not faint nor be\ndiscouraged, till He hath brought forth judgment unto victory. Let us\nstill mind our Covenant; and the very God of peace be with you.\n\n Your brother in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 9, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLIV.--_To his Reverend and dear Brother_, MR. ROBERT BLAIR.\n\n(_PERSONAL UNWORTHINESS--GOD'S GRACE--PRAYER FOR OTHERS._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--The reason ye give for not writing to me\naffecteth me much, and giveth me a dash, when such an one as ye\nconceive an opinion of me, or of anything in me. The truth is, when I\ncome home to myself, oh, what penury do I find, and how feckless is my\nsupposed stock, and how little have I! He to whom I am as crystal, and\nwho seeth through me, and perceiveth the least mote that is in me,\nknoweth that I speak what I think and am convinced of: but men cast me\nthrough a gross and wide sieve. My very dear brother, the room of the\nleast of all saints is too great for the like of me. But lest this\nshould seem art to fetch home reputation, I speak no more of it. It is\nmy worth to be Christ's ransomed sinner and sick one. His relation to\nme is, that I am sick, and He is the Physician of whom I stand in\nneed. Alas! how often play I fast and loose with Christ! He bindeth, I\nloose; He buildeth, I cast down; He trimmeth up a salvation for me,\nand I mar it; I cast out with Christ, and He agreeth with me again,\ntwenty times a-day; I forfeit my kingdom and heritage, I lose what I\nhad; but Christ is at my back, and following on, to stoop and take up\nwhat falleth from me. Were I in heaven, and had the crown on my head,\nif free-will were my tutor, I should lose heaven. Seeing I lose myself\nwhat wonder I should let go, and lose Jesus, my Lord? Oh, well to me\nfor evermore, that I have cracked my credit with Christ, and cannot by\nlaw at all borrow from Him, upon my feckless and worthless bond and\nfaith! For my faith and reputation with Christ is, that I am a\ncreature that God will not put any trust into. I was, and am,\nbewildered with temptations, and wanted a guide to heaven. Oh what\nhave I to say of that excellent, surpassing, and supereminent thing,\nthey call, _The grace of God_, the way of free redemption in Christ!\nAnd when poor, poor I, dead in law, was sold, fettered, and imprisoned\nin justice's closet-ward, which is hell and damnation; when I, a\nwretched one, lighted upon noble Jesus, eternally kind Jesus,\ntender-hearted Jesus (nay, when He lighted upon me first, and knew\nme), I found that He scorned to take a price, or anything like hire,\nof angels, or seraphim, or any of His creatures. And, therefore, I\nwould praise Him for this, that the whole army of the redeemed ones\nsit rent-free in heaven. Our holding is better than blench: we are all\nfreeholders. And seeing that our eternal feu-duty is but thanks, oh\nwoful me! that I have but spilled thanks, lame, and broken, and\nmiscarried praises, to give Him. And so my silver is not good and\ncurrent with Christ, were it not that free merits have stamped it, and\nwashen it and me both! And for my silence I see somewhat better\nthrough it now. If my high and lofty One, my princely and royal\nMaster, say, \"Hold, hold thy peace, I lay bonds on thee, thou must\nspeak none,\" I would fain be content, and let my fire be smothered\nunder ashes, without light or flame! I cannot help it. I take laws\nfrom my Lord, but I give none.\n\nAs for your journey to F.,[366] ye do well to follow it. The camp is\nChrist's ordinary bed. A carried bed is kindly to the Beloved, down in\nthis lower house. It may be (and who knoweth but) our Lord hath some\ncenturions, whom ye are sent to. Seeing your angry mother denieth you\nlodging and house-room with her, Christ's call to unknown faces must\nbe your second wind, seeing ye cannot have a first.[367] Oh that our\nLord would water again with a new visit this piece-withered and dry\nhill of our widow, Mount Zion.\n\n [366] This probably means France, as Mr. Blair at this time resolved\n to go to that country as chaplain in Colonel Hepburn's regiment. He\n embarked at Leith, but seeing the excessive wickedness of some of the\n men, abandoned the enterprise, and returned to Edinburgh (Row's\n \"Continuation of Blair's Life,\" pp. 151-153).\n\n [367] In his \"Christ Dying and Drawing,\" p. 534 (1727), he uses the\n same figurative language: \"Compelled to arrive with a second wind, as\n a crossed seaman--who should have had the west wind, but finds the\n east wind is blowing, and so must just make the best of this second\n wind.\" You cannot get the favour of your mother, the church, which\n would have been a first wind to you, according to your desire;\n therefore, sail with this other wind, to wit, this call in Providence\n to visit foreign lands.\n\nMy dear brother, I shall think it comfort, if ye speak my name to our\nWell-beloved. Wherever ye are, I am mindful of you. Oh that the Lord\nwould yet make the light of the moon in Scotland as the light of the\nsun, and the light of the sun sevenfold brighter. For myself, as yet I\nhave received no answer whither to go. I wait on. Oh that Jesus had my\nlove! Let matters frame as they list, I have some more to do with\nChrist; yet I would fain we were nearer.\n\nNow the great Shepherd of the sheep, the very God of peace, establish\nand confirm you till the day of His coming.\n\n Yours, in his lovely and sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 9, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLV.--_To the_ LADY CARLETON. [Letter XV.]\n\n(_SUBMISSION TO GOD'S WILL--WONDERS IN THE LOVE OF CHRIST--NO DEBT TO\nTHE WORLD._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--My soul longeth once\nagain to be amongst you, and to behold that beauty of the Lord, that I\nwould see in His house; but I know not if He, in whose hands are all\nour ways, seeth it expedient for His glory. I owe my Lord, I know,\nsubmission of the spirit, suppose He would turn me into a stone, or\npillar of salt. Oh that I were he in whom my Lord could be glorified!\nsuppose my little heaven were forfeited, to buy glory to Him before\nmen and angels; suppose my want of His presence, and separation from\nChrist, were a pillar as high as ten heavens for Christ's glory to\nstand upon, above all the world. What am I to Him? How little am I\n(though my feathers stood out as broad as the morning light) to such a\nhigh, to such a lofty, to such a never-enough-admired and glorious\nLord! My trials are heavy, because of my sad Sabbaths; but I know that\nthey are less than my high provocations. I seek no more than that\nChrist may be the gainer, and I the loser; that He may be raised and\nheightened, and I cried down, and my worth made dust before His glory.\nOh that Scotland, all with one shout, would cry up Christ, and that\nHis name were high in the land! I find the very utmost borders of\nChrist's high excellency and deep sweetness, heaven and earth's\nwonder. Oh, what is He? If I could but win in to see His inner side!\nOh, I am run dry of loving, and wondering, and adoring of that\ngreatest and most admirable One! Wo, wo is me, I have not half love\nfor Him! Alas, what can my drop do to His great sea! What gain is it\nto Christ, that I have casten my little sparkle into His great fire!\nWhat can I give to Him? Oh that I had love to fill a thousand worlds,\nthat I might empty my soul of it all upon Christ! I think I have just\nreason to quit my part of any hope or love that I have to this scum\n(and the refuse of the dross of God's workmanship), this vain earth. I\nowe to this stormy world (whose kindness and heart to me have been\nmade of iron, or a piece of wild sea-island that never a creature of\nGod lodged in) not a look: I owe it no love, no hope; and, therefore,\noh, if my love were dead to it, and my soul dead to it! What am I\nobliged to this house of my pilgrimage? A straw for all that God hath\nmade, to my soul's liking, except God, and that lovely One, Jesus\nChrist! Seeing I am not this world's debtor, I desire that I may be\nstripped of all confidence in anything but my Lord, that He may be for\nme, and I for my only, only, only Lord! that He may be the morning and\nevening tide, the top and the root of my joys, and the heart and\nflower and yolk of all my soul's delights! Oh, let me never lodge any\ncreature in my heart and confidence! Let the house be for Him. I\nrejoice, that sad days cut off a piece of the lease of my short life;\nand that my shadow, even while I suffer, weareth long, and my evening\nhasteneth on. I have cause to love home with all my heart, and to take\nthe opportunity of the day to hasten to the end of my journey, before\nthe night come on, wherein a man cannot see to walk or work; that\nonce, after my falls, I may at night fall in, weary and tired as I am,\ninto Christ's bosom, and betwixt His breasts. Our prison cannot be our\nbest country. This world looketh not like heaven and the happiness\nthat our tired souls would be at; and, therefore, it were good to seek\nabout for the wind, and hoist up our sails towards our New Jerusalem,\nfor that is our Christ. Remember a prisoner to Christ. Grace, grace be\nwith you.\n\n Yours, in his only Lord and Master,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCLVI.--_To WILLIAM RIGGE of Athernie._\n\n(_THE LAW--GRACE--CHALKING OUT PROVIDENCES FOR OURSELVES--PRESCRIBING\nTO HIS LOVE._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--Your letter, full of complaints,\nbemoaning your guiltiness, hath humbled me. But give me leave to say\nthat ye seem to be too far upon the law's side. Ye will not gain much\nto be the law's advocate. I thought ye had not been the law's but\ngrace's man; nevertheless, I am sure that ye desire to take God's part\nagainst yourself. Whatever your guiltiness be, yet, when it falleth\ninto the sea of God's mercy, it is but like a drop of blood fallen\ninto the great ocean. There is nothing here to be done, but to let\nChrist's doom light on \"the old man,\" and let him bear his\ncondemnation, seeing in Christ he was condemned; for the law hath but\npower over your worst half. Let the blame, therefore, lie where the\nblame should be; and let the new man be sure to say, \"I am comely as\nthe tents of Kedar, howbeit I be black and sunburnt, by sitting\nneighbour beside a body of sin.\" I seek no more here than room for\ngrace's defence, and Christ's white throne, whereto a sinner,\ncondemned by the law, may appeal. But the use that I make of it is, I\nam sorry that I am not so tender and thin-skinned;[368] though I am\nsure that Christ may find employment for His calling in me, if in any\nliving, seeing, from my youth upward, I have been making up the\nblackest process that any minister in the world, or any other, can\nanswer to. And, when I had done this, I painted a providence of my\nown, and wrote ease for myself, and a peaceable ministry, and the sun\nshining on me, till I should be in at heaven's gates; such green and\nraw thoughts had I of God! I thought also of a sleeping devil, that\nwould pass by the like of me, lying in muirs and outfields; so I\nbigged the gowk's nest and dreamed of dying at ease, and living in a\nfool's paradise. But since I came hither, I am often so as they would\nhave much rhetoric that could persuade me, that Christ hath not\nwritten wrath on my dumb and silent Sabbaths; which is a persecution\nof the latest edition, being used against none in this land, that I\ncan learn of, besides me. And often I lie under a non-entry, and would\ngladly sell all my joys to be confirmed free tenant of the King Jesus,\nand to have sealed assurances: but I see often blank papers. And my\ngreatest desires are these two:--1. That Christ would take me in hand\nto cure me, and undertake for a sick man. I know that I should not die\nunder His hand. And yet in this, while I still doubt, I believe\nthrough a cloud that sorrow (which hath no eyes) hath but put a vail\non Christ's love. 2. It pleaseth Him often, since I came hither, to\ncome with some short blinks of His sweet love. And then, because I\nhave none to help me to praise His love, and can do Him no service in\nmy own person (as I once thought I did in His temple), I die with\nwishes and desires to take up house and dwell at the well-side, and to\nhave Him praised and set on high. But, alas! what can the like of me\ndo, to get a good name raised upon my well-beloved Lord Jesus, suppose\nI could desire to be suspended for ever of my part of heaven, for His\nglory? I am sure, if I could get my will of Christ's love, and could\nonce be over head and ears in the believed, apprehended, and seen love\nof the Son of God, it were the fulfilling of the desires of the only\nhappiness I would be at. But the truth is, I hinder my communion with\nHim, because of the want of both faith and repentance, and because I\nwill make an idol of Christ's kisses. I will neither lead nor\ndrive,[369] except I see Christ's love run in my channel; and when I\nwait and look for Him the upper way, I see His wisdom is pleased to\nplay me a slip, and come the lower way. So that I have not the right\nart of guiding Christ; for there is art and wisdom required in guiding\nof Christ's love aright when we have gotten it. Oh, how far are His\nways above mine? Oh, how little of Him do I see! And when I am as dry\nas a burnt heath in a drouthy summer, and when my root is withered,\nhowbeit I think then that I would drink a sea-full of Christ's love,\nere ever I would let the cup go from my head, yet I get nothing but\ndelays, as if He would make hunger my daily food. I think myself also\nhungered of hunger. The rich Lord Jesus satisfy a famished man. Grace\nbe with you.\n\n Your own, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 10, 1637_.\n\n [368] The use I make of your letter is, it humbles me that I am not so\n tender as you, and \"_thin-skinned_,\" _i.e._ easily made to feel.\n\n [369] Be forced along; \"drive,\" as a neuter verb.\n\n\nCCLVII.--_To the_ LADY CRAIGHALL. [Letter LXXXVI.]\n\n(_THE COMFORTS OF CHRIST'S CROSS--DESIRES FOR CHRIST._)\n\n\nHONOURABLE AND CHRISTIAN LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I\ncannot but write to your Ladyship of the sweet and glorious terms I am\nin with the most joyful King that ever was, under this well-thriving\nand prosperous cross. It is my Lord's salvation, wrought by His own\nright hand, that the water doth not suffocate the breath of hope, and\njoyful courage, in the Lord Jesus; for His own person is still in the\ncamp with His poor soldier. I see that the cross is tied, with\nChrist's hand, to the end of an honest profession. We are but fools to\nendeavour to loose Christ's knot. When I consider the comforts of God,\nI durst not consent to sell or wadset my short liferent of the cross\nof the Lord Jesus. I know that Christ bought with His own blood a\nright to sanctified and blessed crosses, in so far as they blow me\nover the water to my long-desired home: and it were not good that\nChrist should be the buyer and I the seller. I know that time and\ndeath shall take sufferings fairly off my hand. I hope we shall have\nan honest parting at night, when this cold and frosty afternoon-tide\nof my evil and rough day shall be over. Well is my soul of either\nsweet or sour, that Christ hath any part or portion in: if He be at\nthe one end of it, it shall be well with me. I shall die ere I libel\nfaults against Christ's cross. It shall have my testimonial under my\nhand, as an honest and saving mean of Christ for mortification and\nfaith's growth. I have a stronger assurance, since I came over the\nForth,[370] of the excellency of Jesus, than I had before. I am rather\nabout Him than in Him, while I am absent from Him in this house of\nclay. But I would be in heaven, for no other cause than to essay and\ntry what boundless joy it must be to be over head and ears in my\nwell-beloved Christ's love. Oh that fair One hath my heart for\nevermore! But alas, it is over-little for Him! Oh, if it were better\nand more worthy for His sake! Oh, if I might meet with Him, face to\nface, on this side of eternity, and might have leave to plead with\nHim, that I am so hungered and famished here with the niggardly\nportion of His love that He giveth me! Oh that I might be carver and\nsteward myself, at mine own will, of Christ's love (if I may lawfully\nwish this!); then would I enlarge my vessel (alas! a narrow and ebb\nsoul), and take in a sea of His love. My hunger for it is hungry and\nlean, in believing that ever I shall be satisfied with that love: so\nfain would I have what I know I cannot hold. O Lord Jesus, delightest\nThou, delightest Thou, to pine and torment poor souls with the want of\nThy incomparable love? Oh, if I durst call Thy dispensation cruel! I\nknow that Thou Thyself art mercy, without either brim or bottom; I\nknow that Thou art a God bank-full of mercy and love; but, oh, alas!\nlittle of it cometh my way. I die to look afar off to that love,\nbecause I can get but little of it. But hope saith, \"This Providence\nshall ere long look more favourably upon poor bodies,\" and on me also.\nGrace be with your Ladyship's spirit.\n\n Your Ladyship's, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 10, 1637_.\n\n [370] He was banished to the north of the Firth of Forth.\n\n\n\n\nCCLVIII.--_To the Right Honourable my_ LORD LOUDON.\n\n(_THE WISDOM OF ADHERING TO CHRIST'S CAUSE._)\n\n\nRIGHT HONOURABLE,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your Lordship.--I\nrejoice exceedingly to hear that your Lordship hath a good mind to\nChrist, and His now borne-down truth. My very dear Lord, go on, in the\nstrength of the Lord, to carry your honours and worldly glory to the\nNew Jerusalem. For this cause your Lordship received these of the\nLord. This is a sure way for the establishment of your house, if ye be\nof those who are willing, in your place, to build Zion's old waste\nplaces in Scotland. Your Lordship wanteth not God's and man's law\nboth, now to come to the streets for Christ: and suppose the bastard\nlaws of man were against you, it is an honest and zealous[371] error,\nif here you slip against a point or punctilio of standing policy. When\nyour foot slippeth in such known ground, as is the royal prerogative\nof our high and most truly dread Sovereign (who hath many crowns on\nHis head), and the liberties of His house, He will hold you up.\nBlessed shall they be who take Babel's little ones, and dash their\nheads against the stones. I wish your Lordship may have a share of\nthat blessing, with other worthy nobles in our land.\n\n [371] Arising from zeal.\n\nIt is true that it is now accounted wisdom for men to be partners in\npulling up the stakes, and loosing the cords, of the tent of Christ.\nBut I am persuaded, that that wisdom is cried down in heaven, and\nshall never pass for true wisdom with the Lord, whose word crieth\nshame upon wit against Christ and truth; and, accordingly, it shall\nprove shame and confusion of face in the end. Our Lord hath given your\nLordship light of a better stamp, and learning also, wherein ye are\nnot behind the disputer and the scribe. Oh what a blessed thing is it\nto see nobility, learning, and sanctification, all concur in one! For\nthese ye owe yourself to Christ and His kingdom. God hath bewildered\nand bemisted the wit and the learning of the scribes and disputers of\nthis time; they look asquint to the Bible. This blinding and bemisting\nworld blindfoldeth men's light, that they are afraid to see straight\nout before them; nay, their very light playeth the knave, or worse, to\ntruth. Your Lordship knoweth that, within a little while, policy\nagainst truth shall blush, and the works of men shall be burned up,\neven their spider's-web who spin out many hundred ells and webs of\nindifference in the Lord's worship; more than ever Moses, who would\nhave[372] a hoof material (Exod. x. 26), and Daniel, who would have a\nlook out at a window a matter of life and death, than ever, I say,\nthese men of God dreamed of. Alas! that men dare to shape, carve, cut,\nand clip our King's princely testament in length and breadth, and in\nall dimensions, answerable to the conception of such policy, as a\nhead-of-wit thinketh a safe and trim way of serving God! How have men\nforgotten the Lord, that they dare to go against even that truth which\nonce they preached themselves, howbeit their sermons now be as thin\nsown as strawberries in a wood or wilderness! Certainly the sweetest\nand safest course is, for this short time of the afternoon of this old\nand declining world, to stand for Jesus. He hath said it, and it is\nour part to believe it, that ere it be long, \"Time shall be no more,\nand the heaven shall wax old, as a garment.\" Do we not see it already\nan old holie and threadbare garment. Doth not cripple and lame nature\ntell us, that the Lord will fold up the old garment, and lay it aside;\nand that the heavens shall be folded together as a scroll, and this\npesthouse shall be burnt with fire, and that both plenishing and walls\nshall melt with fervent heat? For at the Lord's coming, He will do\nwith this earth, as men do with a leper-house; He will burn the walls\nwith fire, and the plenishing of the house also (2 Pet. iii. 10, 12).\nMy very dear Lord, how will ye rejoice in that day, to have Christ,\nangels, heaven, and your own conscience to smile upon you? I am\npersuaded that one sick night, through the terrors of the Almighty,\nwould make men, whose conscience hath such a wide throat that an image\nlike a cathedral church, would go down it, have other thoughts of\nChrist and His worship, than now they please themselves with. The\nscarcity of faith in the earth saith, \"We are hard upon the last nick\nof time:\" blessed are those who keep their garments clean against the\nBridegroom's coming. There shall be spotted clothes, and many defiled\ngarments, at His last Coming; and, therefore, few found worthy to walk\nwith Him in white.\n\n [372] Would reckon.\n\nI am persuaded, my Lord, that this poor travailing Woman, our pained\nchurch, is with child of victory, and shall bring forth a Man-child\nall lovely and glorious, that shall be caught up to God and to His\nthrone, howbeit the dragon, in his followers, be attending the\nchildbirth pain, as an Egyptian midwife, to receive the birth and\nstrangle it. But they shall be disappointed who thirst for the\ndestruction of Zion. \"They shall be as when a hungry man dreameth that\nhe eateth, but, behold, he awaketh, and his soul is empty; or when a\nthirsty man dreameth that he drinketh, but, behold, he awaketh, and is\nfaint, and his soul is not satisfied: so shall it be,\" I say, \"with\nthe multitude of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion\" (Isa.\nxxix. 8). Therefore, the weak and feeble, those that are \"as signs and\nwonders in Israel,\" have chosen the best side, even the side that\nvictory is upon. And I think this is no evil policy.\n\nVerily, for myself, I am so well pleased with Christ, and His noble\nand honest-borne cross, this cross that is come of Christ's house and\nis of kin to Himself, that I should weep if it should come to\nniffering and bartering of lots and condition with those that are \"at\nease in Zion.\" I hold still my choice, and bless myself in it. I see\nand I believe that there is salvation in this way, which is everywhere\nspoken against. I hope to go to eternity, and to venture on the last\nevil to the saints (even upon death), fully persuaded that this only,\neven this, is the saving way for racked consciences, and for weary and\nladen sinners to find ease and peace for evermore in. And, indeed, it\nis not for any worldly respect that I speak so of it. The weather is\nnot so hot that I have great cause to startle in my prison, or to\nboast of that entertainment that my good friends, the prelates, intend\nfor me (which is, banishment), if they shall obtain their desire, and\neffectuate what they design. But let it come; I rue not that I made\nChrist my wale and my choice; I think Him aye the longer the better.\n\nMy Lord, it shall be good service to God, to hold your noble friend\nand chief[373] upon a good course for the truth of Christ. Now the\nvery God of peace establish your Lordship in Christ Jesus unto the\nend.\n\n Your Lordship's, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 10, 1637_.\n\n [373] The Earl of Argyle.\n\n\n\n\nCCLIX.--_To_ MR. DAVID DICKSON.\n\n(_DANGER OF WORLDLY EASE--PERSONAL OCCURRENCES._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND WELL-BELOVED BROTHER IN THE LORD,--I bless the Lord, who\nhath so wonderfully stopped the ongoing of that lawless process\nagainst you.[374] The Lord reigneth, and has a saving eye upon you and\nyour ministry; and, therefore, fear not what men can do. I bless the\nLord, that the Irish ministers find employment, and the professors\ncomfort of their ministry. Believe me, I durst not, as I am now\ndisposed, hold an honest brother out of the pulpit. I trust that the\nLord will guard you, and hide you in the shadow of His hand. I am not\npleased with any that are against you in that.\n\n [374] This is probably an allusion to a threat of the Archbishop of\n Glasgow, to prosecute Dickson for employing Blair, Livingstone, and\n Cunningham, after they had been silenced and ejected by the Irish\n prelates.\n\nI see this, that, in prosperity, men's conscience will not start at\nsmall sins; but if some had been where I have been since I came from\nyou, a little more would have caused their eyes to water, and trouble\ntheir peace. Oh how ready are we to incline to the world's hand! Our\narguments, being well examined, are often drawn from our skin; the\nwhole skin, and a peaceable tabernacle, is a topic-maxim in great\nrequest in our logic.\n\nI find a little brairding of God's seed in this town, for the which\nthe doctors have told me their mind, that they cannot bear with it,\nand have examined and threatened the people that haunt my company. I\nfear I get not leave to winter here; and whither I go I know not; I am\nready at the Lord's call. I would I could make acquaintance with\nChrist's cross, for I find comforts lie to, and follow upon, the\ncross. I suffer in my name, by them; but I take it as a part of the\ncrucifying of the old man. Let them cut the throat of my credit, and\ndo as they like best with it. When the wind of their calumnies hath\nblown away my good name from me, in the way to heaven, I know that\nChrist will take my name out of the mire, and wash it, and restore it\nto me again. I would have a mind (if the Lord would be pleased to give\nme it) to be a fool for Christ's sake. Sometimes, while I have Christ\nin my arms, I fall asleep in the sweetness of His presence, and He, in\nmy sleep, stealeth away out of my arms; and when I awake, I miss Him.\n\nI am much comforted with my Lady Pitsligo, a good woman, and\nacquainted with God's ways.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 11, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLX.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Earlston._\n\n(_ALL CROSSES WELL ORDERED--PROVIDENCES._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Howbeit I should have been glad to have seen you;\nyet, seeing that our Lord hath been pleased to break the snare of our\nadversaries, I heartily bless our Lord on your behalf. Our crosses for\nChrist are not made of iron; they are softer and of more gentle metal.\nIt is easy for God to make a fool of the devil, the father of all\nfools. As for me, I but breathe out what my Lord breatheth in. The\nscum and froth of my letters I father upon my own unbelieving heart. I\nknow that your Lord hath something to do with you, because Satan and\nmalice have shot sore at you; but your bow abideth in its strength. Ye\nshall not, by my advice, be a halver with Christ, to divide the glory\nof your deliverance betwixt yourself and Him, or any other second mean\nwhatsoever. Let Christ (as it setteth Him well) have all the glory and\ntriumph His lone. The Lord set Himself on high in you.\n\n1. I see that Christ can borrow a cross for some hours, and set His\nservants beside it, rather than under it, and win the plea too; yea,\nand make glory to Himself, and shame to His enemies, and comfort to\nHis children out of it. But whether Christ buy or borrow crosses, He\nis King of crosses, and King of devils, and King over hell, and King\nover malice. When He was in the grave, He came out, and brought the\nkeys with Him. He is Lord Jailor; nay, what say I? He is Captain of\nthe castle, and He hath the keys of death and hell. And what are our\ntroubles but little deaths? and He who commandeth the great castle\ncommandeth the little also.\n\n2. I see that a hardened face, and two skins upon our brows against\nthe winter hail and stormy wind, is meetest for a poor traveller, in a\nwinter journey to heaven. Oh, what art is it to learn to endure\nhardness, and to learn to go barefooted either through the devil's\nfiery coals, or his frozen waters!\n\n3. I am persuaded that a sea-venture with Christ maketh great riches:\nis not the ship of our King Jesus coming home, and shall not we get\npart of the gold? Alas! we fools miscount our gain when we seem\nlosers. Believe me, I have no challenges against this well-borne\ncross: for it is come of Christ's house, and is honourable, and is His\npropine. \"To you it is given to suffer.\"--Oh, what fools are we, to\nundervalue His gifts, and to lightly that which is true honour! For if\nwe could be faithful, our tackling shall not loose, or our mast break,\nor our sails blow into the sea. The bastard crosses, the kinless and\nbase-born crosses of worldings for evil-doing, must be heavy and\ngrievous; but our afflictions are light and momentary.\n\n4. I think myself happy that I have lost credit with Christ, and that\nin this bargain I am Christ's sworn dyvour,[375] to whom He will\nlippen nothing, no, not one pin in the work of my salvation. Let me\nstand in black and white in the dyvour-book, before Christ. I am happy\nthat my salvation is concredited[376] to Christ's mediation. Christ\noweth no faith to me, to lippen anything to me; but oh what faith and\ncredit I owe to Him! Let my name fall, and let Christ's name stand in\nhonour with men and angels. Alas! I have no room to spread out my\naffection before God's people; and I see not how I can shout out and\ncry out the loveliness, the high honour, and the glory of my fairest\nLord Jesus. Oh that He would let me have a bed to lie on, to be\ndelivered of my birth, that I might paint Him out in His beauty to\nmen, as I dow.\n\n [375] Admitted bankrupt; and in the next sentence, \"dyvour-book\" is\n the bankrupt-roll.\n\n [376] Entrusted fully.\n\n5. I wondered once at providence, and called white providence black\nand unjust, that I should be smothered in a town where no soul will\ntake Christ off my hand. But providence hath another lustre with God\nthan with my bleared eyes. I proclaim myself a blind body, who knoweth\nnot black and white, in the unco course of God's providence. Suppose\nthat Christ should set hell where heaven is, and devils up in glory\nbeside the elect angels (which yet cannot be), I would I had a heart\nto acquiesce in His way, without further dispute. I see that infinite\nwisdom is the mother of His judgments, and that His ways pass finding\nout.\n\n6. I cannot learn, but I desire to learn, to bring my thoughts, will,\nand lusts, in-under Christ's feet, that He may trample upon them. But,\nalas! I am still upon Christ's wrong side.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 12, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXI.--_To the_ LADY KILCONQUHAIR. [See Letter CCXXVI.]\n\n(_THE KINGDOM TO BE TAKEN BY VIOLENCE._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I received your letter.\nI am heartily content, that ye love and own this oppressed and wronged\ncause of Christ; and that now, when so many have miscarried, ye are in\nany measure taken with the love of Jesus. Weary not, but come in and\nsee if there be not more in Christ than the tongue of men and angels\ncan express. If ye seek a gate to heaven, the way is in Him, or He is\nit. What ye want is treasured up in Jesus; and He saith, all His are\nyours. Even His kingdom, He is content to divide it betwixt Him and\nyou: yea, His throne and His glory (Luke xxii. 29, 30; John xvii. 21;\nRev. iii. 21). And, therefore, take pains to climb up to that besieged\nhouse to Christ; for devils, men, and armies of temptations are lying\nabout the house, to hold out all that are out, and it is taken with\nviolence. It is not a smooth and easy way, neither will your weather\nbe fair and pleasant; but whosoever hath seen the invisible God, and\nthe fair City, makes no reckoning of losses or crosses. _In_ ye must\nbe, cost you what it will. Stand not for a price, and for all that ye\nhave, to win the castle. The rights to it are won to you, and it is\ndisponed to you in the testament of your Lord Jesus (and see what a\nfair legacy your dying Friend, Christ, hath left you!), and there\nwanteth nothing but possession. Then get up in the strength of the\nLord; get over the water to possess that good land. It is better than\na land of olives and wine-trees; for the Tree of Life, that beareth\ntwelve manner of fruits every month, is there before you; and a pure\nriver of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God\nand of the Lamb, is there. Your time is short; therefore lose no time.\nGracious and faithful is He who hath called you to His kingdom and\nglory. The city is yours by free conquest, and by promise; and,\ntherefore, let no unco lord-idol put you from your own. The devil hath\ncheated the simple heir of his paradise, and, by enticing us to taste\nof the forbidden fruit, hath as it were, bought us out of our kindly\nheritage. But our Lord Christ Jesus hath done more than bought the\ndevil by;[377] for He hath redeemed the wadset, and made the poor heir\nfree to the inheritance. If we knew the glory of our Elder Brother in\nheaven, we would long to be there to see Him, and to get our fill of\nheaven. We children think the earth a fair garden; but it is but God's\noutfield, and wild, cold, barren ground. All things are fading that\nare here. It is our happiness to make sure of Christ to ourselves.\n\n [377] Set aside.\n\nThus remembering my love to your husband, and wishing to him what I\nwrite to you, I commit you to God's tender mercy.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXII.--_To ROBERT LENNOX of Disdove._ [See Letter CCXIII.]\n\n(_INCREASING EXPERIENCE OF CHRIST'S LOVE--SALVATION TO BE MADE SURE._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND DEAR BROTHER,--I forget you not in my bonds. I know that\nyou are looking to Christ; and I beseech you to follow your look. I\ncan say more of Christ now by experience (though He be infinitely\nabove and beyond all that can be said of Him), than when I saw you. I\nam drowned over head and ears in His love. Sell, sell, sell all things\nfor Christ. If this whole world were the balk of a balance, it would\nnot be able to bear the weight of Christ's love; men and angels have\nshort arms to fathom it. Set your feet upon this piece of blue and\nbase clay of an over-gilded and fair plastered world. An hour's\nkissing of Christ's is worth a world of worlds.\n\nSir, make sure work of your salvation: build not upon sand; lay the\nfoundation upon the rock of Zion. Strive to be dead to this world, and\nto your will and lusts; let Christ have a commanding power and a\nking's throne in you. Walk with Christ, howbeit the world should take\nthe hide off your face: I promise you that Christ will win the field.\nYour pastors cause you to err. Except you see Christ's word, go not\none foot with them. Countenance not the reading of that Romish\nservice-book. Keep your garments clean, as ye would walk with the Lamb\nclothed in white. The wrongs which I suffer are upon record in heaven.\nOur great Master and Judge will be upon us all, and bring us before\nthe sun in our blacks and whites: blessed are they who watch and keep\nthemselves in God's love. Learn to discern the Bridegroom's tongue,\nand to give yourself to prayer and reading. Ye were often a hearer of\nme. I would put my heart's blood on the doctrine which I taught, as\nthe only way to salvation: go not from it, my dear brother. What I\nwrite to you, I write to your wife also. Mind heaven and Christ, and\nkeep the spunk of the love of Christ which you have gotten. Christ\nwill blow on it if ye entertain it; and your end shall be peace. There\nis a fire in our Zion, but our Lord is but seeking a new bride,\nrefined and purified, out of the furnace. I assure you, howbeit we be\nnicknamed Puritans, that all the powers of the world shall not prevail\nagainst us. Remember, though a sinful man write it to you, that those\npeople shall be in Scotland as a green olive-tree, and a field blessed\nof the Lord; and that it shall be proclaimed, \"Up, up with Christ,\nand down, down with all contrary powers.\"\n\nSir, pray for _me_ (I name _you_ to the Lord), for further evil is\ndetermined against me.\n\nRemember my love to Christian Murray and her daughter. I desire her,\nin the edge of her evening, to wait a little; the King is coming, and\nHe hath something that she never saw with Him. Heaven is no dream.\n\"Come and see\" will teach her best. Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 13, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXIII.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_HOPE IN TRIAL--PRAYER AND WATCHFULNESS._)\n\n\nDEAREST IN OUR LORD JESUS,--Count it your honour, that Christ hath\nbegun at you to refine you first. \"Fear not,\" saith the Amen, the True\nand Faithful Witness. I write to you, as my Master liveth, upon the\nword of my royal King, continue in prayer and in watching, and your\nglorious deliverance is coming! Christ is not far off. A fig, a straw,\nfor all the bits of clay that are risen against us! Ye shall thresh\nthe mountains, and fan them like chaff (Isa. xli. 15, 16). If ye slack\nyour hands at your meetings, and your watching to prayer, then it\nwould seem that our Rock hath sold us; but be diligent, and be not\ndiscouraged. I charge you in Christ, to rejoice, give thanks, believe,\nbe strong in the Lord. That burning bush in Galloway and Kirkcudbright\nshall not be burnt to ashes, for the Lord is in the bush. Be not\ndiscouraged that banishment is to be procured, by the King's warrant\nto the Council, against me: the earth is my Lord's. I am filled with\nHis sweet love, and running over. I rejoice to hear that ye are on\nyour journey. Such news as I hear, of all your faith and love, rejoice\nmy sad heart.\n\nPray for me, for they seek my hurt; but I give myself to prayer. The\nblessing of my Lord, and the blessing of a prisoner of Christ be with\nyou. O chosen and greatly beloved woman, faint not. Fy, fy; if ye\nfaint now, ye lose a good cause. Double your meetings; cease not for\nZion's sake, and hold not your peace till He make Jerusalem a praise\nin the earth.\n\n Yours, in Christ Jesus his Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXIV.--_To_ THOMAS CORBET. [_One of his Anwoth parishioners._]\n\n(_GODLY COUNSELS--FOLLOWING CHRIST._)\n\n\nDEAR FRIEND,--I forget you not. It will be my joy that ye follow after\nChrist till ye find Him. My conscience is a feast of joy to me, that I\nfought in singleness of heart, for Christ's love, to put you upon the\nKing's highway to our Bridegroom, and our Father's house. Thrice\nblessed are ye, my dear brother, if ye hold the way.\n\nI believe that ye and Christ once met; I hope ye will not sunder with\nHim. Follow the counsel of the man of God, Mr. William Dalgleish. If\nye depart from what I taught you in a hair-breadth, for fear or favour\nof men, or desire of ease in this world, I take heaven and earth to\nwitness that ill shall come upon you in the end. Build not your nest\nhere. This world is a hard, ill-made bed; no rest is in it for your\nsoul. Awake, awake, and make haste to seek that Pearl, Christ, that\nthis world seeth not. Your night and your Master Christ will be upon\nyou within a clap; your hand-breadth of time will not bide you. Take\nChrist, howbeit a storm follow Him. Howbeit this day be not yours and\nChrist's, the morrow will be yours and His. I would not exchange the\njoy of my bonds and imprisonment for Christ, with all the joy of this\ndirty and foul-skinned world. I have a love-bed with Christ, and am\nfilled with His love.\n\nI desire your wife to do what I write to you. Let her remember how\ndear Christ will be to her, when her breath turneth cold, and the\neye-strings shall break. Oh, how joyful should my soul be, to know\nthat I had brought on a marriage betwixt Christ and that people, few\nor many! If it be not so, I shall be wo to be a witness against them.\nUse prayer: love not the world: be humble, and esteem little of\nyourself. Love your enemies, and pray for them. Make conscience of\nspeaking truth, when none knoweth but God. I never eat, but I pray for\nyou all. Pray for me. Ye and I shall see one another up in our\nFather's house. I rejoice to hear that your eye is upon Christ. Follow\non, hing on, and quit Him not. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Your affectionate brother, in our Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXV.--_To_ MR. GEORGE DUNBAR.\n\n [GEORGE DUNBAR was minister of Ayr. Adhering with zeal to\n Presbytery, he was summoned before the High Commission Court in\n the beginning of the year 1622. On appearing, he gave in a paper\n declining its authority; but the Court passed sentence of\n deprivation upon him, and condemned him to be confined within\n Dumfries. He was ejected from this charge also. When the\n messenger of the Court came to his house on this last occasion,\n either to summon him or to intimate his sentence, a young\n daughter of his said, \"And Pharaoh's heart is still hardened!\"\n while all that Dunbar said was to bid his wife \"prepare her\n creels again;\" for, on the former occasion, the children, being\n young, behoved to be carried away on horseback in creels\n (Livingstone's \"Characteristics\"). He was for a long time\n prisoner at Blackness; but at length, being banished by the Privy\n Council, he removed to Ireland. He first preached at\n Carrickfergus, and ultimately settled at Larne, where he\n discharged his ministry with diligence and success. On being\n deposed by the Bishop of Down, in 1634, for nonconformity, he\n came over to Scotland, and after the triumph of Presbytery, in\n 1638, became minister of the parish of Calder, in Lothian, where\n he died.]\n\n(_CHRIST'S LOVE IN AFFLICTION--THE SAINT'S SUPPORT AND FINAL\nVICTORY._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEARLY BELOVED IN THE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be\nto you.--Because your words have strengthened many, I was silent,\nexpecting some lines from you in my bonds; and this is the cause why I\nwrote not to you. But now I am forced to break off and speak. I never\nbelieved, till now, that there was so much to be found in Christ on\nthis side of death and of heaven. Oh, the ravishments of heavenly joy\nthat may be had here, in the small gleanings of comforts that fall\nfrom Christ! What fools are we who know not, and consider not the\nweight and the telling that is in the very earnest-penny, and the\nfirst-fruits of our hoped-for harvest! How sweet, how sweet is our\ninfeftment! oh, what then must personal possession be! I find that my\nLord Jesus hath not miscooked or spilled this sweet cross; He hath an\neye on the fire and the melting gold, to separate the metal and the\ndross. Oh how much time would it take me to read my obligations to\nJesus my Lord, who will neither have the faith of His own to be burnt\nto ashes, nor yet will have a poor believer in the fire to be half\nraw, like Ephraim's unturned cake! This is the wisdom of Him who hath\nHis fire in Zion, and furnace in Jerusalem. I need not either bud or\nflatter temptations and crosses, nor strive to buy the devil or this\nmalicious world by, or redeem their kindness with half a hair-breadth\nof truth. He who is surety for His servant for good doth powerfully\noverrule all that. I see my prison hath neither lock nor door: I am\nfree in my bonds, and my chains are made of rotten straw; they shall\nnot bide one pull of faith. I am sure that there are those in hell who\nwould exchange their torments with our crosses, suppose they should\nnever be delivered, and give twenty thousand years' torment to boot,\nto be in our bonds for ever. And, therefore, we wrong Christ who sigh,\nand fear, and doubt, and despond in them. Our sufferings are washen in\nChrist's blood, as well as our souls; for Christ's merits brought a\nblessing to the crosses of the sons of God. And Jesus hath a back-bond\nof all our temptations, that the free-warders shall come out by law\nand justice, in respect of the infinite and great sum that the\nRedeemer paid. Our troubles owe us a free passage through them.\nDevils, and men, and crosses, are our debtors, death and all storms\nare our debtors, to blow our poor tossed bark over the water\nfraught-free, and to set the travellers on their own known ground.\nTherefore we shall die, and yet live. We are over the water some way\nalready. We are married, and our tocher-good is paid. We are already\nmore than conquerors. If the devil and the world knew how the court\nwith our Lord shall go, I am sure they would hire death to take us off\ntheir hand. Our sufferings are only the wreck and ruin of the black\nkingdom; and yet a little, and the Antichrist must play himself with\nbones and slain bodies of the Lamb's followers; but withal we stand\nwith the hundred forty and four thousand, who are with the Lamb, upon\nthe top of Mount Zion. Antichrist and his followers are down in the\nvalley ground: we have the advantage of the hill; our temptations are\nalways beneath. Our waters are beneath our breath:[378] \"as dying, and\nbehold we live.\" I never heard before of a living death, or a quick\ndeath, but ours: our death is not like the common death. Christ's\nskill, His handywork, and a new cast of Christ's admirable art, may be\nseen in our quick death. I bless the Lord, that all our troubles come\nthrough Christ's fingers, and that He casteth sugar among them, and\ncasteth in some ounce-weights of heaven, and of the Spirit of glory\nthat resteth on suffering believers, into our cup, in which there is\nno taste of hell. My dear brother, ye know all these better than I. I\nsend water to the sea, to speak of these things to you; but it easeth\nme to desire you to help me to pay my tribute of praise to Jesus. Oh\nwhat praises I owe Him! I would I were in my free heritage, that I\nmight begin to pay my debts to Jesus. I entreat for your prayers and\npraises. I forget not you.\n\n Your brother and fellow-sufferer in and for Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 17, 1637_.\n\n [378] Our head is high enough above the waters to let us breathe.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXVI.--_To JOHN FLEMING, Bailie of Leith._\n\n(_COMFORT ABOUNDING UNDER TRIALS._)\n\n\nWORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--The Lord hath brought\nme safe to this strange town. Blessed be His holy name, I find His\ncross easy and light, and I hope that He will be with His poor sold\nJoseph, who is separated from his brethren. His comforts have abounded\ntowards me, as if Christ thought shame (if I may speak so) to be in\nthe common of such a poor man as I am, and would not have me lose\nanything in His errands. My enemies have, beside their intention, made\nme more blessed, and have put me in a sweeter possession of Christ\nthan ever I had before; only the memory of the fair days I had with my\nWell-beloved, amongst the flock intrusted to me, keepeth me low, and\nsoureth my unseen joy (1 Cor. ii. 9). But it must be so, and He is\nwise who tutoreth me in this way. For[379] that which my brethren\nhave, and I want, and others of this world have, I am content; my\nfaith will frist God my happiness. No son is offended that his father\ngive him not hire twice a-year; for he is to abide in the house, when\nthe inheritance is to be divided. It is better that God's children\nlive upon hope, than upon hire.\n\n [379] As for that which.\n\nThus remembering my love to your worthy and kind wife, I bless you and\nher, and all yours, in the Lord's name.\n\n Yours, in his only, only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 20, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXVII.--_To WILLIAM GLENDINNING, Bailie of Kirkcudbright._\n\n(_THE PAST AND THE FUTURE--PRESENT HAPPINESS._)\n\n\nWORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am well, honour be\nto God! as well as a rejoicing prisoner of Christ can be, hoping that\none day He, for whom I now suffer, will enlarge me, and put me above\nthe threatenings of men.\n\nI am sometimes sad, heavy, and casten down, at the memory of the fair\ndays I had with Christ in Anwoth, Kirkcudbright, etc. The remembrance\nof a feast increaseth hunger in a hungry man. But who knoweth, but our\nLord will yet cover a table in the wilderness to His hungry bairns,\nand build the old waste places in Scotland, and bring home Zion's\ncaptives? I desire to see no more glorious sight, till I see the Lamb\non His throne, than to see Mount Zion all green with grass, and the\ndew lying upon the tops of the grass, and the crown put upon Christ's\nhead in Scotland again. And I believe it shall be so, and that Christ\nwill mow down His enemies, and fill the pits with their dead bodies.\n\nI find people here dry and unco. A man pointed at for suffering dare\nnot to be countenanced; so that I am like to sit my lone upon the\nground. But my Lord payeth me well home again; for I have neither\ntongue, nor pen, nor heart to express the sweetness and excellency of\nthe love of Christ. Christ's honeycombs drop honey and floods of\nconsolation upon my soul. My chains are gold: Christ's cross is all\nover-gilded and perfumed: His prison is the garden and orchard of my\ndelights. I would go through burning quick to my lovely Christ. I\nsleep in His arms all the night, and my head betwixt His breasts. My\nWell-beloved is altogether lovely. This is all nothing to that which\nmy soul hath felt. Let no man, for my cause, scaur at Christ's cross.\nIf my stipend, place, country, credit, had been an earldom, a kingdom,\nten kingdoms, and a whole earth, all were too little for the crown and\nsceptre of my royal King. Mine enemies, mine enemies have made me\nblessed! They have sent me to the Bridegroom's chamber. Love is His\nbanner over me. I live a king's life; I want nothing but heaven, and\npossession of the crown. My earnest is great; Christ is no niggard to\nme. Dear Brother, be for the Lord Jesus, and His heart-broken bride.\n\nI need not, I hope, remember my distressed brother to your care.\nRemember my love to your wife. Let Christ want nothing of us; His\ngarments shall be rolled in the blood of the slain of Scotland.\n\nGrace, grace be with you. Pray for Christ's prisoner.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 21, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXVIII.--_To the_ EARL OF CASSILLIS. [Letter CXXVIII.]\n\n(_ANXIETY FOR THE PROSPERITY OF ZION--ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE NOBLES TO\nSUPPORT IT--THE VANITY OF THIS WORLD, AND THE FOLLY AND MISERY OF\nFORSAKING CHRIST--THE ONE WAY TO HEAVEN._)\n\n\nMY VERY HONOURABLE AND NOBLE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your\nLordship.--Pardon me to express my earnest desire to your Lordship,\nfor Zion's sake, for whom we should not hold our peace. I know that\nyour Lordship will take my pleading on this behalf in the better part,\nbecause the necessity of a falling and weak church is urgent. I\nbelieve that your Lordship is one of Zion's friends, and that by\nobligation. For when the Lord shall count and write up the people, it\nshall be written, \"This man was born there;\" therefore, because your\nLordship is a born son of the house, I hope your desire is, that the\nbeauty and glory of the Lord may dwell in the midst of the city,\nwhereof your Lordship is a son. It must be, without all doubt, the\ngreatest honour of your place and house, to kiss the Son of God, and\nfor His sake to be kind to His oppressed and wronged Bride, who now,\nin the day of her desolation, beggeth help of you that are the shields\nof the earth. I am sure many kings, princes, and nobles, in the day of\nChrist's Second Coming, would be glad to run errands for Christ, even\nbarefooted, through fire and water. But in that day He will have none\nof their service. Now, He is asking if your Lordship will help Him\nagainst the mighty of the earth, when men are setting their shoulders\nto Christ's fair and beautiful tent in this land, to loose its stakes\nand to break it down. And certainly such as are not with Christ are\nagainst Him: and blessed shall your Lordship be of the Lord, blessed\nshall your house and seed be, and blessed shall your honour be, if ye\nempawn and lay in Christ's hand the Earldom of Cassillis (and it is\nbut a shadow in comparison of the city made without hands!), and lay\nit even at the stake, rather than Christ and borne-down truth want a\nwitness of you, against the apostacy of this land. Ye hold your lands\nof Christ; your charters are under His seal; and He who hath many\ncrowns on His head, dealeth, cutteth, and carveth pieces of this\nclay-heritage to men, at His pleasure. It is little your Lordship hath\nto give Him; He will not sleep long in your common, but shall surely\npay home your losses for His cause. It is but our bleared eyes that\nlook through a false glass to this idol-god of clay, and think\nsomething of it. They who are past with their last sentence to heaven\nor hell, and have made their reckoning, and departed out of this smoky\ninn, have now no other conceit of this world, but as a piece of\nbeguiling well-lustred clay. And how fast doth time (like a flood in\nmotion) carry your Lordship out of it! And is not eternity coming with\nwings? Court goeth not in heaven as it doth here. Our Lord (who hath\nall you, the nobles, lying in the shell of His balance) esteemeth you\naccording as ye are the Bridegroom's friends or foes. Your honourable\nancestors, with the hazard of their lives, brought Christ to our\nland;[380] and it shall be cruelty to the posterity if ye lose Him to\nthem. One of our tribes, Levi's sons, the watchmen, are fallen from\nthe Lord, and have sold their mother, and their father also, and the\nLord's truth, for their new velvet-world and their satin-church. If\nye, the nobles, play Christ the slip now, when His back is at the wall\n(if I may so speak), then may we say that the Lord hath casten water\nupon Scotland's smoking coal. But we hope better things of you. It is\nno wisdom (however it be the state-wisdom now in request) to be\nsilent, when they are casting lots for a better thing than Christ's\ncoat. All this land, and every man's part of the play for Christ, and\nthe tears of poor and friendless Zion (now going dool-like in\nsackcloth), are up in heaven before our Lord; and there is no\nquestion, but our King and Lord shall be master of the fields at\nlength. And we would all be glad to divide the spoil with Christ, and\nto ride in triumph with Him; but oh how few will take a cold bed of\nstraw in the camp with Him! How fain would men have a well-thatched\nhouse above their heads, all the way to heaven! And many now would go\nto heaven the land-way (for they love not to be sea-sick), riding up\nto Christ upon foot-mantles, and rattling coaches, and rubbing their\nvelvet with the princes of the land, in the highest seats. If this be\nthe way Christ called strait and narrow, I quit all skill of the way\nto salvation. Are they not now rouping Christ and the Gospel? Have\nthey not put our Lord Jesus to the market, and he who outbiddeth his\nfellow shall get Him? O my dear and noble Lord, go on (howbeit the\nwind be in your face) to back our princely Captain. Be courageous for\nHim. Fear not those who have no subscribed lease of days. The worms\nshall eat kings. Let the Lord Jehovah be your fear, and then, as the\nLord liveth, the victory is yours. It is true, many are striking up a\nnew way to heaven; but, my soul for theirs, if they find it, and if\nthis be not the only way, whose end is Christ's Father's house. And my\nweak experience, since the day I was first in bonds, hath confirmed me\nin the truth and assurance of this. Let doctors and learned men cry\nthe contrary, I am persuaded that this is the way. The bottom hath\nfallen out of both their wit and conscience at once; their book hath\nbeguiled them, for _we_ have fallen upon the true Christ. I dare\nhazard, if I alone had ten souls, my salvation upon this Stone that\nmany now break their bones upon.[381] Let them take this fat world.\nOh, poor and hungry is their paradise! Therefore let me entreat your\nLordship, by your compearance before Christ, now while this piece of\nthe afternoon of your day is before you (for ye know not when your sun\nwill turn, and eternity shall benight you), let your worldly glory,\nhonour, and might, be for our Lord Jesus. And to His rich grace, and\ntender mercy, and to the never-dying comforts of His gracious Spirit,\nI recommend your Lordship and noble house.\n\n Your Lordship's, at all obedience,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 9, 1637_.\n\n [380] It is \"hands\" in old editions.\n\n [381] Alluding to Matt. xxi. 44.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXIX.--_To his Parishioners at Anwoth._\n\n(_EXHORTATION TO ABIDE IN THE TRUTH, IN PROSPECT OF CHRIST'S\nCOMING--SCRIPTURAL MODE OF OBSERVING ORDINANCES SUCH AS THE SABBATH,\nFAMILY PRAYER, AND THE LORD'S SUPPER--JUDGMENTS ANTICIPATED._)\n\n\nDEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace from God our\nFather, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, be multiplied upon you.\n\nI long exceedingly to hear of your on-going and advancement in your\njourney to the kingdom of God. My only joy, out of heaven, is to hear\nthat the seed of God sown among you is growing and coming to a\nharvest. For I ceased not, while I was among you, in season and out of\nseason (according to the measure of grace given unto me), to warn and\nstir up your minds: and I am free from the blood of all men, for I\nhave communicated to you the whole counsel of God. And I now again\ncharge and warn you, in the great and dreadful name, and in the\nsovereign authority of the King of kings, and Lord of lords, and I\nbeseech you also by the mercies of God, and by the bowels of Christ,\nby your appearance before Christ Jesus our Lord, by all the plagues\nthat are written in God's book, by your part of the holy city, the New\nJerusalem, that ye keep the truth of God, as I delivered it to you,\nbefore many witnesses, in the sight of God and His holy angels. For\nnow the last days are come and coming, when many forsake Christ Jesus;\nand He saith to you, Will ye also leave Me?\n\nRemember that I forewarned you to forbear the dishonouring of the\nLord's blessed name, in swearing, blaspheming, cursing, and the\nprofaning of the Lord's Sabbath; willing you to give that day, from\nmorning to night, to praying, praising, hearing of the word,\nconferring, and speaking not your own words but God's words, thinking\nand meditating on God's nature, word, and work; and that every day, at\nmorning and at night (at least), ye should sanctify the Lord by\npraying in your houses, publicly in the hearing of all. That ye should\nin any sort forbear the receiving of the Lord's Supper but after the\nform that I delivered it to you, according to the example of Christ\nour Lord, that is, that ye should sit as banqueters, at one table with\nour King, and eat, and drink, and divide the elements, one to another.\n(The timber and stones of the church-wall shall bear witness, that my\nsoul was refreshed with the comforts of God in that supper!) And that\ncrossing in baptism was unlawful, and against Christ's ordinance. And\nthat no day besides the Sabbath (which is of His own appointment)\nshould be kept holy, and sanctified with preaching and the public\nworship of God, for the memory of Christ's birth, death, resurrection,\nand ascension; seeing such days so observed are unlawful,\nwill-worship, and not warranted in Christ's word. And that everything,\nin God's worship, not warranted by Christ's Testament and word, was\nunlawful. Also, that Idolatry, worshipping of God before hallowed\ncreatures, and adoring of Christ by kneeling before bread and wine,\nwas unlawful. And that ye should be humble, sober, modest, forbearing\npride, envy, malice, wrath, hatred, contention, debate, lying,\nslandering, stealing, and defrauding your neighbours in grass, corn,\nor cattle, in buying or selling, borrowing or lending, taking or\ngiving, in bargains or covenants; that ye should work with your own\nhands, and be content with that which God hath given you. That ye\nshould study to know God and His will, and keep in mind the doctrine\nof the Catechism, which I taught you carefully, and speak of it in\nyour houses, and in the fields, when ye lie down at night, and when ye\nrise in the morning; and that ye should believe in the Son of God, and\nobey His commandments, and learn to make your accounts in time with\nyour Judge, because death and judgment are before you.\n\nAnd if ye have now penury and want of that word, which I delivered to\nyou in abundance (yea to God's honour I speak it, without arrogating\nanything to myself, who am but a poor empty man, ye had as much of the\nword in nine years, while I was among you, as some others have had in\nmany), mourn for your loss of time, and repent. My soul pitieth you,\nthat ye should suck dry breasts, and be put to draw at dry wells. Oh\nthat ye would esteem highly the Lamb of God, your well-beloved Christ\nJesus, whose virtues and praises I preached unto you with joy, and\nwhich He did countenance and accompany with some power; and that ye\nwould call to mind the many fair days, and glorious feasts in our\nLord's house-of-wine, that ye and I have had with Christ Jesus!\n\nBut if there be any among you that take liberty to sin because I am\nremoved from amongst you, and forget that word of truth which ye\nheard, and turn the grace of God into wantonness, I here, under my\nhand, in the name of Christ my Lord, write to such persons all the\nplagues of God, and the curses that ever I preached in the pulpit of\nAnwoth, against the children of disobedience! And, as the Lord liveth,\nthe Lord Jesus shall make good what I write unto you. Therefore,\ndearly beloved, fulfil my joy. Fear the great and dreadful name of the\nLord. Seek God with me. Scotland's judgment sleepeth not: awake and\nrepent. The sword of the Lord shall go from the north to the south,\nfrom the east to the west, and through all the corners of the land,\nand that sword shall be drunk with your blood amongst the first; and I\nshall stand up as a witness against you, if you do not amend your ways\nand your doings, and turn to the Lord with all your heart.\n\nI beseech you also, my beloved in the Lord, my joy, and my crown, be\nnot offended at the sufferings of me, the prisoner of Jesus Christ. I\nam filled with joy and with the comforts of God. Upon my salvation, I\nknow and am persuaded it is for God's truth, and the honour of my King\nand royal Prince Jesus, I now suffer. And howbeit this town be my\nprison, yet Christ hath made it my palace, a garden of pleasures, a\nfield and orchard of delights. I know likewise, albeit I be in bonds,\nthat yet the word of God is not in bonds. My spirit also is in free\nward. Sweet, sweet have His comforts been to my soul: my pen, tongue,\nand heart have not words to express the kindness. love, and mercy of\nmy Well-beloved to me, in this house of my pilgrimage.\n\nI charge you to fear and love Christ, and to seek a house not made\nwith hands, but your Father's house above. This laughing and\nwhite-skinned world beguileth you; and if ye seek it more than God, it\nshall play you a slip, to the endless sorrow of your heart. Alas! I\ncould not make many of you fall in love with Christ, howbeit I\nendeavoured to speak much good of Him and to commend Him to you; which\nas it was your sin, so it is my sorrow! Yet, once again suffer me to\nexhort, beseech, and obtest you in the Lord, to think of His love, and\nto be delighted with Him, who is altogether lovely. I give ye the word\nof a King, that ye shall not repent it.\n\nYe are in my prayers night and day. I cannot forget you: I do not eat,\nI do not drink, but I pray for you all. I entreat you all and every\none of you, to pray for me. Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Your lawful and loving pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept_. 23, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXX.--_To the_ LADY BUSBIE. [Letter CXXXIII.]\n\n(HIS EXPERIENCE OF CHRIST'S LOVE--STATE OF THE LAND AND CHURCH--CHRIST\nNOT DULY ESTEEMED--DESIRES AFTER HIM, AND FOR A REVIVAL.)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Although not acquaint, yet because we are Father's\nchildren, I thought good to write unto you. Howbeit my first discourse\nand communing with you of Christ be in paper, yet I have cause, since\nI came hither, to have no paper thoughts of Him. For, in my sad days,\nHe is become the flower of my joys; and I but lie here living upon His\nlove, but cannot get so much of it as fain I would have; not because\nChrist's love is lordly, and looketh too high, but because I have a\nnarrow vessel to receive His love, and I look too low. But I give,\nunder my own hand-write, to you a testimonial of Christ and His cross,\nthat they are a sweet couple, and that Christ hath never yet been set\nin His own due chair of honour amongst us all. Oh, I know not where to\nset Him! Oh, for a high seat to that royal princely One! Oh that my\npoor withered soul had once a running-over flood of that love to put\nsap into my dry root, and that that flood would spring out to the\ntongue and pen, to utter great things, to thehigh and due\ncommendation of such a fair One! O holy, holy, holy One! Alas, there\nare too many dumb tongues in the world, and dry hearts, seeing there\nis employment in Christ for them all, and ten thousand worlds of men\nand angels more, to set on high and exalt the greatest Prince of the\nkings of the earth! Woe is me that bits of living clay dare come out\nto rush hard-heads with Him;[382] and that my unkind mother, this\nharlot-kirk, hath given her sweet half-marrow such a meeting. For this\nland hath given up with Christ, and the Lord is cutting Scotland in\ntwo halves, and sending the worst half, the harlot-sister, over to\nRome's brothel-house, to get her fill of Egypt's love. I would my\nsufferings (nay, suppose I were burnt quick to ashes) might buy an\nagreement betwixt His fairest and sweetest love, and His gaddy (Jer.\nii. 36) lewd wife. Fain would I give Christ His welcome-home to\nScotland again, if He would return. This is a black day, a day of\nclouds and darkness; for the roof-tree of the fair temple of my Lord\nJesus is fallen, and Christ's back is towards Scotland. Oh, thrice\nblessed are they who would hold Christ with their tears and prayers! I\nknow ye will help to deal with Him; for He shall return again to this\nland. The next day shall be Christ's, and there shall be a fair green\nyoung garden for Christ in this land, and God's summer-dew shall lie\non it all the night, and we shall sing again our new marriage-song to\nour Bridegroom, concerning His vineyard. But who knoweth whether we\nshall live and see it?\n\n [382] Perhaps referring to Job xv. 26, though some have referred to a\n game wherein \"_Hard-heads_,\" a small Scotch coin, was used. In his\n \"Christ Dying and Drawing,\" p. 178, he writes, \"Is it wisdom to knock\n hard-heads with God?\" So in Sermon on Zech. xiii. 7, 8.\n\nI hear the Lord hath taken pains to afflict and dress you, as a\nfruitful vine for Himself. Grow and be green, and cast out your\nbranches, and bring forth fruit. Fat and green and fruitful may ye be,\nin the true and sappy root. Grace, grace, free grace be your portion.\nRemember my bonds with prayers and praises.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXI.--_To EARLSTON, Younger._\n\n(_PROSPERITY UNDER THE CROSS--NEED OF SINCERITY, AND BEING FOUNDED ON\nCHRIST._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am well.\nChrist triumpheth in me, blessed be His name. I have all things. I\nburden no man. I see that this earth and the fulness thereof is my\nFather's. Sweet, sweet is the cross of my Lord. The blessing of God\nupon the cross of my Lord Jesus! My enemies have contributed (beside\ntheir design) to make me blessed. This is my palace, not my prison;\nespecially, when my Lord shineth and smileth upon His poor afflicted\nand sold Joseph, who is separated from his brethren. But often He\nhideth Himself; and there is a day of law, and a court of challenges\nwithin me; I know not if fenced in God's name. But, oh, my neglects!\noh, my unseen guiltiness! I imagined that a sufferer for Christ kept\nthe keys of Christ's treasure, and might take out his heart-full of\ncomforts when he pleased; but I see, a sufferer and a witness shall be\nholden at the door, as well as another poor sinner, and be glad to eat\nwith the bairns, and to take the by-board.\n\nThis cross hath let me see that heaven is not at the next door, and\nthat it is a castle not soon taken. I see, also, that it is neither\npain nor art to play the hypocrite. We have all learned to sell\nourselves for double price; and to make the people (who call ten\ntwenty, and twenty an hundred) esteem us half gods, or men fallen out\nof the clouds. But, oh, sincerity, sincerity, if I knew what sincerity\nmeaneth!\n\nSir, lay the foundation thus, and ye shall not soon shrink, nor be\nshaken. Make tight work at the bottom, and your ship shall ride\nagainst all storms, if withal your anchor be fastened on good ground;\nI mean within the vail. And verily I think this is all, to gain\nChrist. All other things are shadows, dreams, fancies, and nothing.\n\nSir, remember my love to your mother. I pray for mercy and grace to\nher; I wish her on-going toward heaven. As I promised to write, so\nshew her that I want nothing in my Lord's service. Christ will not be\nin such a poor man's common as mine. Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 22, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXII.--_To_ JOHN GORDON. [Letter CXLVII.]\n\n(_CHRIST ALL WORTHY--THIS WORLD A CLAY PRISON--DESIRE FOR A REVIVAL OF\nCHRIST'S CAUSE._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I have\nbeen too long in writing to you, but multitude of letters taketh much\ntime from me.\n\nI bless His great name whom I serve in the spirit, that if it come to\nvoting, amongst angels and men, how excellent and sweet Christ is,\neven in His reproaches and in His cross, I cannot but vote with the\nfirst that all that is in Him, both cross and crown, kisses and\nglooms, embracements, and frownings, and strokes, is sweet and\nglorious. God send me no more happiness in heaven, or out of heaven,\nthan Christ! for I find this world, when I have looked upon it on both\nsides, within and without, and when I have seen even the laughing and\nlovely side of it, to be but a fool's idol, a clay prison. Lord, let\nit not be the nest that my hope buildeth in. I have now cause to judge\nmy part of this earth not worth a blast of smoke, or a mouthful of\nbrown bread. I wish that my hope may take a running-leap, and skip\nover time's pleasure, sin's plastering and gold-foil, this vain earth,\nand rest upon my Lord. Oh, how great is our night-darkness in this\nwilderness! To have any conceit at all of this world is, as if a man\nshould close his handful of water, and, holding his hand in the river,\nto say that all the water of the flood is his; as if it were, indeed,\nall within the compass of his hand. Who would not laugh at the\nthoughts of such a crack-brain? Verily, they have but an handful of\nwater, and are but like a child clasping his two hands about a\nnight-shadow, who idolize any created hope, but God. I now lightly,\nand put the price of a dream, or fable, or black nothing, upon all\nthings but God, and that desirable and love-worthy One, my Lord Jesus.\nLet all the world be nothing (for nothing was their seed and mother),\nand let God be all things.\n\nMy very dear brother, know that ye are as near heaven as ye are far\nfrom yourself, and far from the love of a bewitching and whorish\nworld. For this world, in its gain and glory, is but the great and\nnotable common whore, that all the sons of men have been in fancy and\nlust withal these 5000 years. The children that they have begotten\nwith this uncouth and lustful lover are but vanity, dreams, gold\nimaginations, and night-thoughts. There is no good ground here, under\nthe covering of heaven, for men and poor wearied souls to set down\ntheir foot upon. Oh, He who is called God, that One whom they term\nJesus Christ, is worth the having indeed, even if I had given away all\nwithout, my eye-holes, my soul, and myself, for sweet Jesus my Lord!\nOh, let the claim be cancelled that the creatures have to me,--except\nthat claim my Lord Jesus hath to me! Oh that He would claim poor me,\nmy silly, light, and worthless soul! Oh that He would pursue His claim\nto the utmost point, and not want me! for it is my pain and remediless\nsorrow to want Him. I see nothing in this life but sinks, and mires,\nand dreams, and beguiling ditches, and ill ground for us to build\nupon.\n\nI am fully persuaded of Christ's victory in Scotland; but I fear that\nthis land be not yet ripe and white (John iv. 35) for mercy. Yet I\ndare be halver (upon my salvation) with the losses of the Church of\nScotland, that her foes, after noon, shall sing dool and sorrow for\nevermore, and that her joy shall once again be cried up, and her sky\nshall clear. But vengeance and burning shall be to her adversaries,\nand the sinners of this land. Oh that we could be awakened to prayers\nand humiliation! Then should our sun shine like seven suns in the\nheaven! then should the temple of Christ be builded upon the\nmountain-tops, and the land, from coast to coast, should be filled\nwith the glory of the Lord.\n\nBrother, your day-task is wearing short; your hour-glass of this\nspan-length and hand-breadth of life will quickly pass; and,\ntherefore, take order and course with matters betwixt you and Christ,\nbefore it come to open pleading. There are no quarters to be had of\nChrist, in open judgment. I know, that ye see your thread wearing\nshort, and that there are not many inches to the thread's end; and,\ntherefore, lose not time.\n\nRemember me, His prisoner, that it would please the Lord to bring me\nagain amongst you with abundance of the Gospel.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXIII.--_To WILLIAM RIGGE of Athernie._\n\n(_COMFORT IN TRIALS FROM THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST'S POWER AND\nWORK--THAT WILL SOON BE OVER--CORRUPTION--FREE GRACE._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--How\nsad a prisoner should I be, if I knew not that my Lord Jesus had the\nkeys of the prison Himself, and that His death and blood have bought a\nblessing to our crosses, as well as to ourselves! I am sure that\ntroubles have no prevailing right over us, if they be but our Lord's\nserjeants to keep us in His ward, while we are on this side of heaven.\nI am persuaded, also, that they shall not go over the bound-road, nor\nenter into heaven with us. For they find no welcome there, where\n\"there is no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither any more\npain;\" and, therefore, we shall leave them behind us. Oh, if I could\nget as good a gate of sin,[383] even this woful and wretched body of\nsin, as I get of Christ's cross! Nay, indeed, I think the cross\nbeareth both me and itself, rather than I it, in comparison of the\ntyranny of the lawless flesh, and wicked neighbour, that dwelleth\nbeside Christ's new creature. But, oh! this is that which presseth me\ndown, and paineth me. Jesus Christ in His saints sitteth neighbour\nwith an ill second, corruption, deadness, coldness, pride, lust,\nworldliness, self-love, security, falsehood, and a world of more the\nlike, which I find in me, that are daily doing violence to the new\nman. Oh, but we have cause to carry low sails, and to cleave fast to\nfree grace, free, free grace! Blessed be our Lord that ever that way\nwas found out. If my one foot were in heaven and my soul half in, if\nfree-will and corruption were absolute lords of me, I should never win\nwholly in. Oh, but the sweet, new, and living way, that Christ hath\nstruck up to our home, is a safe way! I find now, presence and access\na greater dainty than before; but yet the Bridegroom looketh through\nthe lattice, and through the hole of the door. Oh, if He and I were on\nfair dry land together, on the other side of the water!\n\n [383] Manner of dealing with sin.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Sept. 30, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXIV.--_To_ JAMES MURRAY.\n\n [This may be James Murray of whom Livingstone, in his\n \"Characteristics,\" writes, \"An Israelite indeed, in whom was no\n guile.\" He was a writer in Edinburgh; hence, perhaps, the\n expectation of news as to what Government was doing, in the close\n of the letter.]\n\n(_THE CHRISTIAN LIFE A MYSTERY TO THE WORLD--CHRIST'S KINDNESS._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--I received your letter. I am in good health of body,\nbut far better in my soul. I find my Lord no worse than His word. \"I\nwill be with him in trouble,\" is made good to me now. He heareth the\nsighing of the prisoner. Brother, I am comforted in my royal Prince\nand King. The world knoweth not our life; it is a mystery to them. We\nhave the sunny side of the world, and our paradise is far above\ntheirs; yea, our weeping is above their laughing, which is but like\nthe crackling of thorns under a pot. And, therefore, we have good\ncause to fight it out, for the day of our laureation is approaching. I\nfind my prison the sweetest place that ever I was in. My Lord Jesus is\nkind to me, and hath taken the mask off His face, and is content to\nquit me all bygones. I dare not complain of Him. And for my silence, I\nlay it before Christ: I hope it will be a speaking silence. He who\nknoweth what I would, knoweth that my soul desireth no more than that\nKing Jesus may be great in the north of Scotland, in the south, and in\nthe east and west, through my sufferings for the freedom of my Lord's\nhouse and kingdom. If I could keep good quarters, in time to come,\nwith Christ, I would fear nothing. But, oh, oh, I complain of my woful\noutbreakings! I tremble at the remembrance of a new outcast betwixt\nHim and me; and I have cause, when I consider what sickness and sad\ndays I have had for His absence who is now come! I find that Christ\ndow not be long unkind: our Joseph's bowels yearn within Him; He\ncannot smother love long; it must break out at length. Praise, praise\nwith me, brother, and desire my acquaintance to help me. I dare not\nconceal His love to my soul. I wish you all a part of my feast, that\nmy Lord Jesus may be honoured. I allow you not to hide Christ's bounty\nto me, when ye meet with such as know Christ.\n\nYe write nothing to me. What are the cruel mercies of the prelates\ntowards me? The ministers of this town, as I hear, intend that I\nshall be more strictly confined, or else transported, because they\nfind some people affect me. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in the sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Nov. 21, 1637_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXV.--_To_ MR. JOHN FERGUSHILL. [Letter CXII.]\n\n(_SPIRITUAL LONGINGS UNDER CHRIST'S CROSS--HOW TO BEAR IT--CHRIST\nPRECIOUS, AND TO BE HAD WITHOUT MONEY--THE CHURCH._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND WELL-BELOVED IN OUR LORD JESUS,--I must still provoke you\nto write by my lines. Whereat ye need not wonder, for the cross is\nfull of talk, and speak it must, either good or bad: neither can grief\nbe silent.\n\nI have no dittay nor indictment to bring against Christ's cross,\nseeing He hath made a friendly agreement betwixt me and it, and we are\nin terms of love together. If my former miscarriages, and my now\nsilent Sabbaths, seem to me to speak wrath from the Lord, I dare say\nit is but Satan borrowing the use and loan of my cowardly and feeble\napprehensions, which start at straws. I know that faith is not so\nfaint and foolish as to tremble at every false alarm. Yet I gather\nthis out of it: Blessed are they who are graced of God to guide a\ncross well, and, that there is some art required therein. I pray God\nthat I may not be so ill friendstead, as that Christ my Lord should\nleave me to be my own tutor, and my own physician. Shall I not think\nthat my Lord Jesus, who deserveth His own place very well, will take\nHis own place upon Him as it becometh Him, and that He will fill His\nown chair? For in this is His office, to comfort us, and those that\nare casten down, in all their tribulations (2 Cor. i. 4). Alas! I know\nthat I am a fool to seek a hole or defect in Christ's way with my\nsoul. If I have not a stock to present to Christ at His appearance,\nyet I pray God that I may be able, with joy and faith and constancy,\nto shew the Captain of my salvation, in that day, a bloody head[384]\nwhich I received in His service. Howbeit my faith hang by a small tack\nand thread, I hope that the tack shall not break; and, howbeit my Lord\ngot no service of me but broken wishes, yet I trust that those will be\naccepted upon Christ's account. I have nothing to comfort me, but\nthat I say, \"Oh! will the Lord disappoint an hungry on-waiter?\" The\nsmell of Christ's wine and apples (which surpass the uptaking of dull\nsense) bloweth upon my soul, and I get no more for the meantime. I am\nsure, that to let a famishing body see meat and give him none of it,\nis a double pain. Our Lord's love is not so cruel as to let a poor man\nsee Christ and heaven, and never give him more, for want of money to\nbuy: nay, I rather think Christ to be such fair market wares, as\nbuyers may have without money and without price. And thus I know that\nit shall not stand upon my want of money; for Christ upon His own\ncharges must buy my wedding-garment, and redeem the inheritance which\nI have forfeited, and give His word for one the like of me, who am not\nlaw-biding of myself. Poor folks must either borrow or beg from the\nrich; and the only thing that commendeth sinners to Christ is extreme\nnecessity and want. Christ's love is ready to make and provide a\nransom, and money for a poor body who hath lost his purse. \"Ho, ye\nthat have no money, come and buy\" (Isa. lv. 1), that is the poor man's\nmarket.\n\n [384] Any wound.\n\nNow, brother, I see that old crosses would have done nothing to me;\nand, therefore, Christ hath taken a new, fresh rod to me, that seemeth\nto talk with my soul[385] and make me tremble. I have often more ado\nnow with faith, when I lose my compass and am blown on a rock, than\nthose who are my beholders, standing upon the shore, are aware of. A\ncounsel to a sick man is sooner given than taken. Lord, send the\nwearied man a borrowed bed from Christ! I think often that it is after\nsupper with me, and I am heavy. Oh, but I would sleep soundly with\nChrist's left hand under my head, and His right hand embracing me. The\ndevil could not spill that bed. When I consider how tenderly Christ\nhath cared for me in this prison, I think that He hath handled me as\nthe bairn that is pitied and bemoaned. I desire no more till I be in\nheaven, but such a feast and fill of Christ's love as I would have;\nthis love would be fair and adorning passments which would beautify\nand set forth my black, unpleasant cross. I cannot tell, my dear\nbrother, what a great load I would bear, if I had a hearty fill of the\nlove of that lovely One, Christ Jesus. Oh, if ye would seek and pray\nfor that to me! I would give Christ all His love-styles and titles of\nhonour, if He would give me but this; nay, I would sell myself, if I\ncould, for that love.\n\n [385] See the first paragraph in this letter.\n\nI have been waiting to see what friends of place and power would do\nfor us. But when the Lord looseneth the pins of His own tabernacle, He\nwill have Himself to be acknowledged as the only builder-up thereof;\nand, therefore, I would take back again my hope that I lent and laid\nin pawn in men's hands, and give it wholly to Christ. It is no time\nfor me now to set up idols of my own. It were a pity to give an\nounce-weight of hope to any besides Christ. I think Him well worthy of\nall my hope, though it were as weighty as both heaven and earth. Happy\nwere I if I had anything that Christ would seek or accept of; but now,\nalas! I see not what service I can do to Him, except it be to talk a\nlittle, and babble upon a piece of paper, concerning the love of\nChrist. I am often as if my faith were wadset, so that I cannot\ncommand it; and then, when He hideth Himself, I run to the other\nextreme, in making each wing and toe of my case as big as a mountain\nof iron; and then misbelief can spin out an hell of heavy and\ndesponding thoughts. Then Christ seeketh law-borrows of my unbelieving\napprehensions, and chargeth me to believe His daylight at midnight.\nBut I make pleas with Christ, though it be ill my common[386] so to\ndo. It were my happiness, when I am in this house-of-wine and when I\nfind a feast-day, if I could \"hearken, and hear for the time to come\"\n(Isa. xlii. 23). But I see that we must be off our feet in wading a\ndeep water; and then Christ's love findeth timeous employment, at such\na dead-lift as that; and, besides, after broken brows, bairns learn to\nwalk more circumspectly. If I come to heaven any way, howbeit like a\ntired traveller upon my Guide's shoulder, it is good enough for those\nwho have no legs of their own for such a journey. I never thought\nthere had been need of so much wrestling to win to the top of that\nsteep mountain, as now I find.\n\n [386] Perhaps we should read: \"though it ill becometh me.\"\n\nWo is me for this broken and backsliding church! It is like an old\nbowing wall, leaning to the one side, and there are none of all her\nsons who will set a prop under her. I know that I need not bemoan\nChrist; for He careth for His own honour more than I can do; but who\ncan blame me to be wo (if I had grace so to be) to see my\nWell-beloved's fair face spitted upon, and His own crown plucked off\nHis head, and the ark of God taken and carried in the Philistines'\ncart, and the kine put to carry it, which will let it fall to the\nground? The Lord put to His own helping hand! I would desire you to\nprepare yourself for a fight with beasts (1 Cor. xv. 32): ye will not\nget leave to steal quietly to heaven, in Christ's company, without a\nconflict and a cross.\n\nRemember my bonds; and praise my Second, and Fellow-prisoner, Christ.\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in Christ Jesus his Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXVI.--_To_ WILLIAM GLENDINNING. [Letter CXXXVII.]\n\n(_SWEETNESS OF TRIAL--SWIFTNESS OF TIME--PREVALENCE OF SIN._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Your case is\nunknown to me, whether ye be yet our Lord's prisoner at Wigtown, or\nnot. However it be, I know that our Lord Jesus hath been inquiring for\nyou; and that He hath honoured you to bear His chains, which is the\ngolden end of His cross; and so hath waled out a chosen and honourable\ncross for you. I wish you much joy and comfort of it; for I have\nnothing to say of Christ's cross but much good. I hope that my ill\nword shall never meet either Christ or His sweet and easy cross. I\nknow that He seeketh of us an outcast with this house of clay, this\nmother prison, this earth, that we love full well. And verily, when\nChrist snuffeth my candle, and causeth my light to shine upward, it is\none of my greatest wonders, that dirt and clay hath so much court with\na soul not made of clay; and that our soul goeth out of kind so far as\nto make an idol of this earth, such a deformed harlot, as that it\nshould wrong Christ of our love. How fast, how fast doth our ship\nsail! and how fair a wind hath time, to blow us off these coasts and\nthis land of dying and perishing things! Alas! our ship saileth one\nway, and fleeth many miles in one hour, to hasten us upon eternity,\nand our love and hearts are sailing close backover and swimming\ntowards ease, lawless pleasure, vain honour, perishing riches; and to\nbuild a fool's nest I know not where, and to lay our eggs within the\nsea-mark, and fasten our bits of broken anchors upon the worst ground\nin the world, this fleeting and perishing life! And in the meanwhile,\ntime and tide carry us upon another life, and there is daily less and\nless oil in our lamps, and less and less sand in our watch-glass. Oh\nwhat a wise course were it for us to look away from the false beauty\nof our borrowed prison, and to mind, and eye, and lust for our\ncountry! Lord, Lord, take us home!\n\nAnd for myself: I think, if a poor, weak, dying sheep seek for an old\ndyke, and the lee-side of an hill, in a storm, I have cause to long\nfor a covert from this storm, in heaven. I know none will take my room\nover my head there. But, certainly sleepy bodies would be at rest and\na well-made bed, and an old crazed bark at a shore, and a wearied\ntraveller at home, and a breathless horse at the rink's end. I see\nnothing in this life but sin, and the sour fruits of sin: and, oh,\nwhat a burden is sin! And what a slavery and miserable bondage is it,\nto be at the nod, and yeas and nays, of such a lord-master as a body\nof sin! Truly, when I think of it, it is a wonder that Christ maketh\nnot fire and ashes of such a dry branch as I am. I would often lie\ndown under Christ's feet, and bid Him trample upon me, when I consider\nmy guiltiness. But seeing He hath sworn that sin shall not loose His\nunchangeable covenant, I keep house-room amongst the rest of the\nill-learned bairns, and must cumber the Lord of the house with the\nrest, till my Lord take the fetters off legs and arms, and destroy\nthis body of sin, and make a hole or breach in this cage of earth,\nthat the bird may fly out, and the imprisoned soul be at liberty. In\nthe meantime, the least intimation of Christ's love is sweet, and the\nhope of marriage with the Bridegroom holdeth me in some joyful\non-waiting, that, when Christ's summer-birds shall sing upon the\nbranches of the Tree of Life, I shall be tuned by God Himself to help\nthem to sing the home-coming of our Well-beloved and His bride to\ntheir house together. When I think of this, I think winters and\nsummers, and years and days, and time, do me a pleasure that they\nshorten this untwisted and weak thread of my life, and that they put\nsin and miseries by-hand, and that they shall carry me to my\nBridegroom in a clap.\n\nDear brother, pray for me, that it would please the Lord of the\nvineyard to give me room to preach His righteousness again to the\ngreat congregation.\n\nGrace, grace be with you. Remember me to your wife.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXVII.--_To my_ LADY BOYD.\n\n(_SENSE OF UNWORTHINESS--OBLIGATION TO GRACE--CHRIST'S ABSENCE--STATE\nOF THE LAND._)\n\n\nMADAM,--I would have written to your Ladyship ere now, but people's\nbelieving there is in me that which I know there is not, hath put me\nout of love with writing to any. For it is easy to put religion to a\nmarket and public fair; but, alas! it is not so soon made eye-sweet\nfor Christ.\n\nMy Lord seeth me a tired man, far behind. I have gotten much love from\nChrist, but I give Him little or none again. My white side cometh out\non paper to men; but at home and within I find much black work, and\ngreat cause of a low sail, and of little boasting. And yet, howbeit I\nsee challenges to be true, the manner of the tempter's pressing of\nthem is unhonest, and, in my thoughts, knavish-like. My peace is, that\nChrist may find outing and sale of His wares, in the like of me; I\nmean for saving grace.\n\nI wish all professors to fall in love with grace. All our songs should\nbe of His free grace. We are but too lazy and careless in seeking of\nit; it is all our riches we have here, and glory in the bud. I wish\nthat I could set out free grace. I was the law's man, and under the\nlaw, and under a curse; but grace brought me from under that hard\nlord, and I rejoice that I am grace's freeholder. I pay tribute to\nnone for heaven, seeing my land and heritage holdeth of Christ, my new\nKing. Infinite wisdom hath devised this excellent way of free-holding\nfor sinners. It is a better way to heaven than the old way that was in\nAdam's days. It hath this fair advantage, that no man's emptiness and\nwant layeth an inhibition upon Christ, or hindereth His salvation; and\nthat is far best for me. But our new Landlord putteth the names of\ndyvours, and Adam's forlorn heirs, and beggars, and the crooked and\nblind, in the free charters. Heaven and angels may wonder that we have\ngot such a gate of sin and hell. Such a back-entry out of hell as\nChrist made, and brought out the captives by, is more than my poor\nshallow thoughts can comprehend. I would think sufferings glory (and I\nam sometimes not far from it), if my Lord would give me a new alms of\nfree grace.\n\nI hear that the prelates are intending banishment for me; but, for\nmore grace, and no other hire, I would make it welcome. The bits of\nthis clay house, the earth, and the other side of the sea, are my\nFather's. If my sweet Lord Jesus would bud my sufferings with a new\nmeasure of grace, I were a rich man. But I have not now, of a long\ntime, found such high spring-tides as formerly. The sea is out, the\nwind of His Spirit calm; and I cannot buy a wind, or, by requesting\nthe sea, cause it to flow again; only I wait on upon the banks and\nshore-side, till the Lord send a full sea, that with upsails I may\nlift up Christ. Yet sorrow for His absence is sweet; and sighs, with\n\"Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth?\" have their own delights. Oh that I\nmay gather hunger against His long-looked-for return! Well were my\nsoul, if Christ were the element (mine own element), and that I loved\nand breathed in Him, and if I could not live without Him. I allow not\nlaughter upon myself when He is away; yet He never leaveth the house,\nbut He leaveth drink-money behind Him, and a pawn that He will return.\nWo, wo to me, if He should go away and take all His flitting with Him!\nEven to dream of Him is sweet. To build a house of pining wishes for\nHis return, to spin out a web of sorrow, and care, and languishing,\nand sighs, either dry or wet, as they may be (because He hath no\nleisure, if I may speak so, to make a visit, or to see a poor friend),\nsweeteneth and refresheth the thoughts of the heart. A misty dew will\nstand for rain, and do some good, and keep some greenness in the\nherbs, till our Lord's clouds rue upon the earth, and send down a\nwatering of rain. Truly I think Christ's misty dew a welcome message\nfrom heaven till my Lord's rain fall.\n\nWo, wo is me for the Lord's vineyard in Scotland! Howbeit the Father\nof the house embrace a child, and feed him, and kiss him; yet it is\nsorrow and sadness to the children that our poor mother hath gotten\nher leave, and that our Father hath given up house. It is an\nunheartsome thing to see our Father and mother agree so ill; yet the\nbastards, if they be fed, care not, O Lord, cast not water on\nScotland's smoking coal. It is a strange gate the saints go to heaven.\nOur enemies often eat and drink us, and we go to heaven through their\nbellies and stomachs, and they vomit the church of God undigested\namong their hands. And even while we are shut up in prisons by them,\nwe advance in our journey.\n\nRemember my service to my lord your son, who was kind to me in my\nbonds, and was not ashamed to own me. I would be glad that Christ got\nthe morning service of his life, now in his young years. It would\nsuit him well to give Christ his young and green love. Christ's stamp\nand seal would go far down in a young soul, if he would receive the\nthrust of Christ's stamp. I would desire him to make search for\nChrist; for nobles are now but dry friends to Christ.\n\nThe grace of God our Father, and the good-will of Him who dwelt in the\nbush, be with your Ladyship.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXVIII.--_To the_ EARL OF CASSILLIS.\n\n(_AMBITION--CHRIST'S ROYAL PREROGATIVE--PRELACY._)\n\n\nRIGHT HONOURABLE AND VERY GOOD LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyour Lordship.--I hope that your Lordship will be pleased to pardon my\nboldness, if, upon report of your zealous and forward mind, which I\nhear our Lord hath given you in this His honourable cause, when Christ\nand His Gospel are so foully wronged, I speak to your Lordship on\npaper, entreating your Lordship to go on in the strength of the Lord,\ntoward, and against a storm of antichristian wind, that bloweth upon\nthe face of this your poor mother-church, Christ's lily among the\nthorns. It is your Lordship's glory and happiness, when ye see such a\nblow coming upon Christ, to cast up your arm to prevent it. Neither is\nit a cause that needeth to blush before the sun, or to flee the\nsentence or censure of impartial beholders, seeing the question,\nindeed (if it were rightly stated), is about the prerogative-royal of\nour princely and royal Lawgiver, our Lord Jesus, whose ancient\nmarch-stones and land-bounds, our bastard lords and earthly generation\nof tyrannizing prelates have boldly and shamefully removed. And they\nwho have but half an eye may see, that it is the greedy desires of\ntime-idolizing Demases, and the itching scab of ambitious and climbing\nDiotrepheses (who love the goat's life, to climb till they cannot find\na way to set their soles on ground again), that hath made such a wide\nbreach in our Zion's beautiful walls. And these are the men who seek\nno hire for the crucifying of Christ, but His coat.\n\nOh, how forlorn and desolate is the bride of Christ made to all\npassers-by! Who seeth not Christ buried in this land, His prophets\nhidden in caves, silenced, banished and imprisoned? truth weeping in\nsackcloth before the judges, Parliament, and the rulers of the land?\nBut her bill is cast by them, and holiness hideth itself, fearing in\nthe streets for the reproaches and persecution of men. Justice is\nfallen aswoon in the gate; and the long shadows of the evening are\nstretched out upon us. Wo, wo to us, for our day flieth away! What\nremaineth, but that Antichrist set down his tent in the midst of us,\nexcept that your Lordship, and others with you, read Christ's\nsupplication, and give Him that which the most lewd and scandalous\nwretches in this land may have before a judge, even the poor man's\ndue, law and justice for God's sake? Oh, therefore, my noble and dear\nLord, as ye have begun, go on, in the mighty power and strength of the\nLord, to cause our Lord, in His Gospel, and afflicted members, to\nlaugh, and to cause the Christian churches (whose eyes are all now\nupon you) to sing for joy when Scotland's moon shall shine like the\nlight of the sun, and the sun like the light of seven days in one. Ye\ncan do no less than run and bear up the head of your swooning and\ndying mother-church, and plead for the production of her ancient\ncharters. They hold out and put out, they hold in and bring in, at\ntheir pleasure, men in God's house. They stole the keys from Christ\nand His church, and came in like the thief and the robber, not by the\ndoor, Christ; and now their song is, \"Authority, authority! obedience\nto church-governors!\" When such a bastard and lawless pretended\nstep-dame, as our Prelacy, is gone mad, it is your place, who are the\nnobles, to rise and bind them. At least, law should fetter such wild\nbulls as they are, who push all who oppose themselves to their\ndomination. Alas! what have we lost, since prelates were made\nmaster-coiners, to change our gold into brass, and to mix the Lord's\nwine with water! Blessed for ever shall ye be of the Lord, if ye help\nChrist against the mighty, and shall deliver the flock of God,\nscattered upon the mountains in the dark and cloudy day, out of the\nhands of these idol-shepherds. Fear not men who shall be moth-eaten\nclay, that shall be rolled up in a chest, and casten under the earth:\nlet the Holy One of Israel be your fear, and be courageous for the\nLord and His truth.\n\nRemember, that your accounts are coming upon you, with wings, as fast\nas time posteth. Remember, what \"peace with God\" in Christ, and the\npresence of the Son of God (the revealed and felt sweetness of His\nlove), will be to you, when eternity shall put time to the door, and\nye shall take good-night of time, and this little shepherd's tent of\nclay, this inn of a borrowed earth. I hope that your Lordship is now\nand then sending out thoughts to view this world's naughtiness,[387]\nand vanity, and the hoped-for glory of the life to come; and that ye\nresolve that Christ shall have yourself, and all yours, at command for\nHim, His honour and Gospel.\n\n [387] Some editions read _nothingness_.\n\nThus trusting that your Lordship will pardon my boldness, I pray that\nthe only wise God, the very God of peace, may preserve, strengthen,\nand establish you to the end.\n\nYour Lordship's, at all command and obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXIX.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.\n\n(_A SPRING-TIDE OF CHRIST'S LOVE._)\n\n\nMY DEAR AND WELL-BELOVED SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou.--I am well; honour to God. I have been before a court set up\nwithin me of terrors and challenges; but my sweet Lord Jesus hath\ntaken the mask off His face, and said, \"Kiss thy fill!\" and I will not\nsmother nor conceal the kindness of my King Jesus. He hath broken in\nupon the poor prisoner's soul, like the swelling of Jordan. I am bank\nand brim full; a great, high spring-tide of the consolations of Christ\nhave overflowed me. I would not give my weeping for the fourteen\nprelates' laughter. They have sent me here to feast with my King. His\nspikenard casteth a sweet smell. The Bridegroom's love hath run away\nwith my heart. O love, love, love! Oh, sweet are my royal King's\nchains! I care not for fire nor torture. How sweet were it to me to\nswim the salt sea for my new Lover, my second Husband, my first Lord!\nI charge you in the name of God, not to fear the wild beasts that\nentered into the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts. The false prophet is\nthe tail. God shall cut the tail from Scotland. Take your comfort and\ndroop not, despond not.\n\nPray for my poor flock: I would take a penance on my soul for their\nsalvation. I fear that the entering of a hireling upon my labours\nthere will cut off my life with sorrow. There I wrestled with the\nAngel and prevailed. Wood,[388] trees, meadows, and hills are my\nwitnesses, that I drew on a fair meeting betwixt Christ and Anwoth.\n\n [388] Perhaps specially referring to the wood adjoining Bushy Bield,\n the spot still called \"Rutherford's Walk.\"\n\nMy love to your husband, to dear Carleton, to my beloved brother\nKnockbrex.[389] Forget not Christ's prisoner. I long for a letter\nunder your own hand.\n\n Your friend and Christ's prisoner,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Nov. 22, 1637_.\n\n [389] Gordon of Knockbrex.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXX.--_To JOHN GORDON, at Rusco._[390] [Letter CCLXXII.]\n\n(_HEAVEN HARD TO BE WON--MANY COME SHORT IN ATTAINING--IDOL SINS TO BE\nRENOUNCED--LIKENESS TO CHRIST._)\n\n [390] This seems to have been the letter referred to by Mrs. Veitch,\n wife of Mr. William Veitch, minister of Dumfries, when she says: \"One\n day, having been at prayer, and coming into the room, where one was\n reading a letter of Mr. Rutherford's (then only in MS.), directed to\n one John Gordon of Rusco, giving an account how far one might go, and\n yet prove a hypocrite and miss heaven, it occasioned great exercise\n to me\" (\"Memoir of the Life of Mrs. William Veitch,\" p. 1).\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--I earnestly desire to know the case of your soul, and\nto understand that ye have made sure work of heaven and salvation.\n\n1. Remember, salvation is one of Christ's dainties He giveth but to a\nfew.\n\n2. That it is violent sweating and striving that taketh heaven.\n\n3. That it cost Christ's blood to purchase that house to sinners, and\nto set mankind down as the King's free tenants and freeholders.\n\n4. That many make a start toward heaven who fall on their back, and\nwin not up to the top of the mount. It plucketh heart and legs from\nthem, and they sit down and give it over, because the devil setteth a\nsweet-smelled flower to their nose (this fair busked world), wherewith\nthey are bewitched, and so forget or refuse to go forward.\n\n5. Remember, many go far on and reform many things, and can find\ntears, as Esau did; and suffer hunger for truth, as Judas did; and\nwish and desire the end of the righteous, as Balaam did; and profess\nfair, and fight for the Lord, as Saul did; and desire the saints of\nGod to pray for them, as Pharaoh and Simon Magus did; and prophesy and\nspeak of Christ, as Caiaphas did; and walk softly and mourn for fear\nof judgments, as Ahab did; and put away gross sins and idolatry, as\nJehu did; and hear the word of God gladly, and reform their life in\nmany things according to the word, as Herod did; and say to Christ,\n\"Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest,\" as the man who\noffered to be Christ's servant (Matt. viii. 19); and may taste of the\nvirtues of the life to come, and be partaker of the wonderful gifts of\nthe Holy Spirit, and taste of the good word of God, as the apostates\nwho sin against the Holy Ghost (Heb. vi.). And yet all these are but\nlike gold in clink and colour, and watered brass, and base metal.\nThese are written that we should try ourselves, and not rest till we\nbe a step nearer Christ than sun-burnt and withering professors can\ncome.\n\n6. Consider, it is impossible that your idol-sins and ye can go to\nheaven together; and that they who will not part with these can,\nindeed, love Christ at the bottom but only in word and show, which\nwill not do the business.\n\n7. Remember, how swiftly God's post time flieth away; and that your\nforenoon is already spent, your afternoon will come, and then your\nevening, and at last night, when ye cannot see to work. Let your heart\nbe set upon finishing of your journey, and summing and laying your\naccounts with your Lord. Oh how blessed shall ye be to have a joyful\nwelcome of your Lord at night! How blessed are they who, in time, take\nsure course with their souls! Bless His great name for what you\npossess in goods and children, ease and worldly contentment, that He\nhath given you; and seek to be like Christ in humility and lowliness\nof mind. And be not great and entire[391] with the world. Make it not\nyour god, nor your lover that ye trust unto, for it will deceive you.\n\n [391] As in Letter CXIX., \"Your heart wholly there.\"\n\nI recommend Christ and His love to you, in all things; let Him have\nthe flower of your heart and your love. Set a low price upon all\nthings but Christ, and cry down in your thoughts clay and dirt, that\nwill not comfort you when ye get summons to remove, and compear before\nyour Judge to answer for all the deeds done in the body. The Lord give\nyou wisdom in all things. I beseech you sanctify God in your speaking,\nfor holy and reverend is His name; and be temperate and sober.\nCompanionry with the bad is a sin, that holdeth many out of heaven.\n\nI will not believe that you will receive the ministry of a stranger,\nwho will preach a new and uncouth doctrine to you. Let my salvation\nstand for it, if I delivered not the plain and whole counsel of God to\nyou in His word. Read this letter to your wife, and remember my love\nto her, and request her to take heed to do what I write to you. I pray\nfor you and yours. Remember me in your prayers to our Lord, that He\nwould be pleased to send me amongst you again. Grace be with you.\n\n Your lawful and loving pastor,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, 1637.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXXI.--_To my_ LORD LOUDOUN.\n\n(_TRUE HONOUR IN MAINTAINING CHRIST'S CAUSE--PRELACY--LIGHT OF\nETERNITY._)\n\n\nRIGHT HONOURABLE AND VERY WORTHY LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou.--Hearing of your Lordship's zeal and courage for Christ our Lord\nin His honourable cause, I am bold (and plead pardon for it) to speak\nin paper by a line or two to your Lordship, since I have not access\nany other way, beseeching your Lordship, by the mercies of God, and by\nthe everlasting peace of your soul, and by the tears and prayers of\nour mother-church, to go on, as ye have worthily begun, in purging of\nthe Lord's house in this land, and plucking down the sticks of\nAntichrist's filthy nest, this wretched Prelacy, and that black\nkingdom whose wicked aims have ever been, and still are, to make this\nfat world the only compass they would have Christ and religion to sail\nby, and to mount up the Man of Sin, their godfather the Pope of Rome,\nupon the highest stair of Christ's throne, and to make a velvet church\n(in regard of Parliament grandeur and worldly pomp, whereof always\ntheir stinking breath smelleth), and to put Christ and truth in\nsackcloth and prison, and to eat the bread of adversity and drink the\nwater of affliction. Half an eye of any, not misted with the darkness\nof antichristian smoke, may see it thus in this land. And now our Lord\nhath begun to awaken the nobles and others to plead for borne-down\nChrist and His weeping Gospel.\n\nMy dear and noble Lord, the eye of Christ is upon you; the eyes of\nmany noble, many holy, many learned and worthy ones, in our\nneighbouring churches about, are upon you.[392] This poor church,\nyour mother and Christ's spouse, is holding up her hands and heart to\nGod for you, and doth beseech you with tears to plead for her Husband,\nHis kingly sceptre, and for the liberties that her Lord and King hath\ngiven to her, as to a free kingdom that oweth spiritual tribute to\nnone on earth, as being the freeborn princess and daughter to the King\nof kings. This is a cause that, before God, His angels, the world,\nbefore sun and moon, needeth not to blush. Oh, what glory and true\nhonour is it to lend Christ your hand and service, and to be amongst\nthe repairers of the breaches of Zion's walls, and to help to build\nthe old waste places, and stretch forth the curtains, and strengthen\nthe stakes of Christ's tent in this land! Oh, blessed are they who,\nwhen Christ is driven away, will bring Him back again, and lend Him\nlodging! And blessed are ye of the Lord! Your name and honour shall\nnever rot nor wither (in heaven at least), if ye deliver the Lord's\nsheep, that have been scattered in the dark and cloudy day, out of the\nhands of strange lords and hirelings, who with rigour and cruelty have\ncaused them to eat the pastures trodden upon with their foul feet, and\nto drink muddy water; and who have spun out such a world of yards of\nindifferences in God's worship, to make and weave a web for the\nAntichrist (which shall not keep any from the cold); as they mind\nnothing else, but that, by the bringing in of the Pope's foul tail\nfirst upon us (their wretched and beggarly ceremonies), they may\nthrust in after them the Antichrist's legs and thighs, and his belly,\nhead, and shoulders; and then cry down Christ and the Gospel, and up\nthe merchandise and wares of the great whore. Fear not, my worthy\nLord, to give yourself, and all ye have, out for Christ and His\nGospel. No man dare say (who did ever thus hazard for Christ), that\nChrist paid him not his hundred-fold in this life duly, and, in the\nlife to come, life everlasting. This is His own truth that ye now\nplead for; for God and man cannot but commend you to beg justice from\na just prince for oppressed Christ, and to plead that Christ, who is\nthe King's Lord, may be heard in a free court to speak for Himself,\nwhen the standing and established laws of our nation can strongly\nplead for Christ's crown in the pulpits, and His chair as Lawgiver in\nthe free government of His own house. But Christ will never be content\nand pleased with this land, neither shall His hot, fiery indignation\nbe turned away, so long as the prelate (the man that lay in\nAntichrist's foul womb, and the Antichrist's lord-bailiff) shall sit\nlord-carver in the courts of the Lord Jesus. The prelate is both the\negg and the nest to cleck and bring forth Popery. Plead, therefore, in\nChrist's behalf, for the plucking down of the nest, and the crushing\nof the egg; and let Christ's kingly office suffer no more unworthy\nindignities. Be valiant for your royal King, Jesus; contend for Him:\nyour adversaries shall be moth-eaten worms, and die as men. Christ and\nHis honour now lie on your shoulders, let Him not fall to the ground.\nCast your eye upon Him who is quickly coming to decide all the\ncontroversies in Zion. And remember that the sand in your night-glass\nwill run out; time with wings will flee away. Eternity is hard upon\nyou; and what will Christ's love-smiles, and the light of His lovely\nand soul-delighting countenance, be to you in that day, when God shall\ntake up in His right hand this little lodge of heaven (like as a\nshepherd lifteth up his little tent), and fold together the two leaves\nof His tent, and put the earth and all the plenishing of it into a\nfire, and turn this clay-idol, the god of Adam's sons, into smoke and\nwhite ashes! Oh, what hire and how many worlds would many then give to\nhave a favourable decreet of the Judge! Oh, what moneys would they not\ngive, to buy a mountain to be a grave above both soul and body, to\nhide them from the awesome looks of an angry Lord and Judge! I hope\nthat your Lordship thinketh upon this, and that ye mind loyalty to\nChrist, and to the King both.\n\n [392] We have already seen (note to Letter CXVI.) that John, Earl of\n Loudon, was one of the Scottish nobles who most zealously espoused the\n cause of the Second Reformation. In all the measures of the\n Covenanters for promoting the cause of the Covenant, he took a leading\n part; and from his high character, as well as his distinguished\n talents, his party reposed in him with the utmost confidence. Wodrow\n describes him as \"a nobleman of excellent endowments, great learning,\n singular wisdom and conduct, bewitching eloquence, joined with\n remarkable resolution and courage.\"\n\nNow the very God of peace, the only wise God, establish and strengthen\nyou upon the rock laid in Zion.\n\n Your Lordship's at all obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Jan. 4, 1638_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXXII.--_To the_ LADY ROBERTLAND.\n\n [This is probably the _Lady Robertland_ (her own name was\n _Fleming_) mentioned in Livingstone's \"Characteristics\" as \"one\n deeply exercised in mind, who often got as rare outgates.\" She\n was a great help to the poor people of _Stewarton_, during the\n time of the awakening there. One of her sayings was, \"With God,\n the most of mosts is lighter than nothing; and without God, the\n least of leasts is heavier than any burden.\"]\n\n(_AFFLICTIONS PURIFY--THE WORLD'S VANITY--CHRIST'S WISE LOVE._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I shall be glad to hear\nthat your soul prospereth, and that fruit groweth upon you, after the\nLord's husbandry and pains, in His rod that hath not been a stranger\nto you from your youth. It is the Lord's kindness that He will take\nthe scum off us in the fire. Who knoweth how needful winnowing is to\nus, and what dross we must want ere we enter into the kingdom of God?\nSo narrow is the entry to heaven, that our knots, our bunches and\nlumps of pride, and self-love, and idol-love, and world-love, must be\nhammered off us, that we may thring in, stooping low, and creeping\nthrough that narrow and thorny entry.\n\nAnd now for myself, I find it the most sweet and heavenly life to take\nup house and dwelling at Christ's fireside, and set down my tent upon\nChrist, that Foundation-stone, who is sure and faithful ground and\nhard under foot. Oh if I could win to it, and proclaim myself not the\nworld's debtor, nor a lover obliged to it, and that I mind not to hire\nor bud this world's love any longer; but defy both the kindness and\nfeud of God's whole creation whatsomever! especially the lower vault\nand clay part of God's creatures, this vain earth! For what hold I of\nHis world? A borrowed lodging and some years' house-room, and bread\nand water, and fire, and bed and candle, are all a part of the pension\nof my King and Lord; to whom I owe thanks, and not to a creature. I\nthank God that God is God, and Christ is Christ, and the earth the\nearth, and the devil the devil, and the world the world, and that sin\nis sin, and that everything is what it is; because He hath taught me\nin my wilderness not to shuffle my Lord Jesus, nor to intermix Him\nwith creature-vanities, nor to spin or twine Christ or His sweet love\nin one web, or in one thread, with the world and the things thereof.\nOh, if I could hold and keep Christ all alone, and mix Him with\nnothing! Oh, if I could cry down the price and weight of my cursed\nself, and cry up the price of Christ, and double, and triple, and\naugment, and heighten to millions the price and worth of Christ! I am\n(if I durst speak so, and might lawfully complain) so hungredly\ntutored by Christ Jesus my liberal Lord, that His nice love, which my\nsoul would be in hands with, flieth me; and yet I am trained on to\nlove Him, and lust, and long, and die for His love whom I cannot see.\nIt is a wonder to pine away with love for a covered and hid lover, and\nto be hungered with His love, so as a poor soul cannot get his fill of\nhunger for Christ. It is hard to be hungered of hunger,[393] whereof\nsuch abundance for other things is in the world. But sure, if we were\ntutors, and stewards, and masters, and lord-carvers of Christ's love,\nwe should be more lean and worse fed than we are. Our meat doeth us\nthe more good, that Christ keepeth the keys, and that the wind and the\nair of Christ's sweet breathing, and of the influence of His Spirit,\nis locked up in the hands of the good pleasure of Him who \"bloweth\nwhere He listeth.\"\n\n [393] Not to get even enough of hunger for Christ.\n\nI see there is a sort of impatient patience required in the want of\nChrist as to His manifestations, and waiting on. They thrive who wait\non His love, and the blowing of it, and the turning of His gracious\nwind; and they thrive who, in that on-waiting, make haste and din and\nmuch ado for their lost and hidden Lord Jesus. However it be, God feed\nme with Him any way. If He would come in, I shall not dispute the\nmatter, where He get a hole, or how He opened the lock. I should be\ncontent that Christ and I met, suppose He should stand on the other\nside of hell's lake and cry to me, \"Either put in your foot and come\nthrough, or else ye shall not have Me at all.\" But what fools are we\nin the taking up of Him and of His dealing! He hath a gate of His own\nbeyond the thoughts of men, that no foot hath skill to follow Him. But\nwe are still ill scholars, and will go in at heaven's gates wanting\nthe half of our lesson; and shall still be bairns, so long as we are\nunder time's hands, and till eternity cause a sun to arise in our\nsouls that shall give us wit. We may see how we spill and mar our own\nfair heaven and our salvation, and how Christ is every day putting in\none bone or other, in these fallen souls of ours, in the right place\nagain; and that on this side of the New Jerusalem, we shall still have\nneed of forgiving and healing grace. I find crosses Christ's carved\nwork that He marketh out for us, and that with crosses He figureth and\nportrayeth us to His own image, cutting away pieces of our ill and\ncorruption. Lord cut, Lord carve, Lord wound, Lord do anything that\nmay perfect Thy Father's image in us, and make us meet for glory.\n\nPray for me (I forget not you) that our Lord would be pleased to lend\nme house-room to preach His righteousness, and tell what I have heard\nand seen of Him. Forget not Zion that is now in Christ's caums, and in\nHis forge. God bring her out new work. Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Jan. 4, 1638_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXXIII.--_To his Reverent and Respected Friend, THOMAS MACCULLOCH\nof Nether Ardwell._ [See \"Ardwell\" in notice at Letter CI.]\n\n [This letter is given from the \"Christian Instructor\" for January\n 1839, furnished by one who had the MS. Why Rutherford calls his\n correspondent \"reverent,\" we do not know. It seems to mean\n \"REVERED,\" as in the address of Letter CCLXXXIV.][394]\n\n [394] The contributor who furnishes this letter to the \"Christian\n Instructor\" says: \"The _paper_ is small and dingy, and the mode of\n _folding_ is not exactly in modern style. But the _wax_ and the\n _impression_ on it are entire.\"\n\n(_EARNEST CALL TO DILIGENCE--CIRCUMSPECT WALKING._)\n\n\nREVERENT AND MUCH RESPECTED,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I\nlong to hear how your soul prospereth, and I expected you would have\nwritten to me. My earnest desire to you is, that you would seek the\nLord and His face. I know that you are not ignorant that your daylight\nis going fast away, and your sun declining. I beseech you by the\nmercies of God, and by the wounds of your redeeming Lord, and your\ndreadful compearance before the awesome Judge of quick and dead, make\nyour account clear and plain with your Judge and Lord, while ye have\nfair daylight, for your night is coming on. Therefore, I pray you,\njudge more of the worth of your soul, and know that if you are in\nChrist, and secure your own soul, you are blessed for ever. Few, few,\nyea very few, are saved. Grace is not casten down at every man's door;\ntherefore speed yourself and others upon seeking Christ and salvation;\nand learn to overcome, in the bitterness of your soul, your sins in\ntime. It is not easy to take heaven, as the word saith, \"by violence.\"\nKeep your tongue from cursing and swearing; refrain from wrath and\nmalice; forgive all men for Christ's sake, as you would have your Lord\nforgive you. I pray you, seeing your time is short, make speed in your\njourney to heaven, that you may secure a lodging to your soul against\nnight.\n\nRemember my love to your wife, William your son, and the rest of your\nchildren.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, at all hours, in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Jan. 5, 1638_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXXIV.--_To the Honourable, Reverend, and Well-beloved Professors\nof Christ and His truth in sincerity, in Ireland._\n\n [At the date of this letter the Presbyterian Church of Ireland\n was in a very depressed condition. In 1634 Robert Blair, with\n some other ministers, were deposed for nonconformity; in the\n autumn of 1636 five more were dealt with in the same manner, for\n the same cause; and all of them were ultimately forced to leave\n the country. The Presbyterians in Ireland were thus left to a\n great extent destitute of the ministry of the Word, which had\n been so eminently blessed of God. This letter was intended to\n confirm them in their adherence to the cause for which their\n ministers and themselves were suffering.]\n\n(_THE WAY TO HEAVEN OFTTIMES THROUGH PERSECUTION--CHRIST'S\nWORTH--MAKING SURE OUR PROFESSION--SELF-DENIAL--NO COMPROMISE--TESTS\nOF SINCERITY--HIS OWN DESIRE FOR CHRIST'S GLORY._)\n\n\nDEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD, AND PARTAKERS OF THE HEAVENLY\nCALLING,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you, and from God our Father,\nand from our Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nI always, but most of all now in my bonds (most sweet bonds for Christ\nmy Lord), rejoice to hear of your faith and love, and to hear that our\nKing, our Well-beloved, our Bridegroom, without tiring, stayeth still\nto woo you as His wife; and that persecutions, and mockings of\nsinners, have not chased away the Wooer from the house. I persuade you\nin the Lord, that the men of God, now scattered and driven from you,\nput you upon the right scent and pursuit of Christ: and, my salvation\non it (if ten heavens were mine), if this way, this way that I now\nsuffer for, this way that the world nicknameth and reproacheth, and no\nother way, be not the King's gate to heaven! And I shall never see\nGod's face (and, alas, I were a beguiled wretch if it were so!) if\nthis be not the only saving way to heaven. Oh that you would take a\nprisoner of Christ's word for it (nay, I know you have the greatest\nKing's word for it), that it shall not be your wisdom to speer out\nanother Christ, or another way of worshipping Him, than is now\nsavingly revealed to you. Therefore, though I never saw your faces,\nlet me be pardoned to write to you (ye honourable persons, ye faithful\npastors, yet amongst the flocks, and ye sincere professors of Christ's\ntruth, or any weak, tired strayers, who cast but half an eye after the\nBridegroom), if possibly I could, by any weak experience, confirm and\nstrengthen you in this good way, everywhere spoken against.\n\nI can with the greatest assurance (to the honour of our highest, and\ngreatest, and dearest Lord, let it be spoken!) assert (though I be but\na child in Christ, and scarce able to walk but by a hold, and the\nmeanest, and less than the least of saints), that we do not come nigh,\nby twenty degrees, to the due love and estimation of that fairest\namong the sons of men. For if it were possible that heaven, yea, ten\nheavens, were laid in the balance with Christ, I would think the smell\nof His breath above them all. Sure I am that He is the far best half\nof heaven, yea, He is all heaven, and more than all heaven; and my\ntestimony of Him is, that ten lives of black sorrow, ten deaths, ten\nhells of pain, ten furnaces of brimstone, and all exquisite torments,\nwere all too little for Christ, if our suffering could be a hire to\nbuy Him. Therefore, faint not in your sufferings and hazards for Him.\nI proclaim and cry, hell, sorrow, and shame upon all lusts, upon all\nby-lovers, that would take Christ's room over His head, in this little\ninch of love of these narrow souls of ours, that is due to sweetest\nJesus. O highest, O fairest, O dearest Lord Jesus, take Thine own from\nall bastard lovers. Oh that we could wadset and sell all our part of\ntime's glory, and time's good things, for a lease and tack of Christ\nfor all eternity! Oh how are we misted and mired with the love of\nthings that are on this side of time, and on this side of death's\nwater! Where can we find a match to Christ, or an equal, or a better\nthan He, among created things? Oh this world is out of all conceit,\nand all love, with our Well-beloved. Oh that I could sell my laughter,\njoy, ease, and all for Him; and be content with a straw bed, and bread\nby weight, and water by measure, in the camp of our weeping Christ! I\nknow that His sackcloth and ashes are better than the fool's laughter,\nwhich is like the crackling of thorns under a pot. But, alas! we do\nnot harden our faces against the cold north storms which blow upon\nChrist's fair face. We love well summer-religion, and to be that which\nsin has made us, even as thin-skinned as if we were made of white\npaper; and would fain be carried to heaven in a close-covered chariot,\nwishing from our hearts that Christ would give us surety, and His\nhandwrite, and His seal, or nothing but a fair summer until we be\nlanded in at heaven's gates!\n\nHow many of us have been here deceived, and have fainted in the day of\ntrial! Amongst you there are some of this stamp. I shall be sorry if\nmy acquaintance A. T. hath left you: I will not believe that he dare\nto stay away from Christ's side. I desire that ye shew him this from\nme; for I loved him once in Christ, neither can I change my mind\nsuddenly of him. But the truth is, that many of you, and too many also\nof your neighbour Church of Scotland, have been like a tenant that\nsitteth mail-free and knoweth not his holding whill his rights be\nquestioned. And now I am persuaded, that it will be asked at every one\nof us, on what terms we brook Christ; for we have sitten long\nmail-free. We found Christ without a wet foot; and He and His Gospel\ncame upon small charges to our doors: but now we must wet our feet to\nseek Him. Our evil manners, and the bad fashions of a people at ease\nfrom our youth, and like Moab not casten from vessel to vessel (Jer.\nxlviii. 11), have made us (like the standing waters), to gather a foul\nscum, and, when we are jumbled, our dregs come up, and are seen. Many\ntake but half a grip of Christ, and the wind bloweth them and Christ\nasunder. Indeed, when the mast is broken and blown into the sea, it is\nan art[395] then to swim upon Christ to dry land. It is even possible\nthat the children of God, in a hard trial, lay themselves down as\nhidden in the lee-side of a bush whill Christ their Master be taken,\nas Peter did; and lurk there, whill the storm be over-past. All of us\nknow the way to a whole skin; and the singlest heart that is hath a\nby-purse that will contain the denial of Christ, and a fearful\nbacksliding. Oh, how rare a thing it is to be loyal and honest to\nChrist, when He hath a controversy with the shields of the earth! I\nwish all of you would consider, that this trial is from Christ; it is\ncome upon you unbought. (Indeed, when we buy a temptation with our own\nmoney, no marvel that we be not easily free of it, and that God be not\nat our elbow to take it off our hand.) This is Christ's ordinary\nhouse-fire, that He maketh use of to try all the vessels of His house\nwithal. And Christ is now about to bring His treasure out before sun\nand moon, and to tell His money, and, in the telling, to try what\nweight of gold, and what weight of watered copper, is in His house. Do\nnot now jouk, or bow, or yield to your adversaries in a hair-breadth.\nChrist and His truth will not divide; and His truth hath not latitude\nand breadth, that ye may take some of it and leave other some of it.\nNay, the Gospel is like a small hair, that hath no breadth, and will\nnot cleave in two. It is not possible to twist and compound a matter\nbetwixt Christ and Antichrist; and, therefore, ye must either be for\nChrist, or ye must be against Him. It was but man's wit, and the wit\nof prelates and their godfather the Pope (that _man without\nlaw_[396]), to put Christ and His prerogatives royal, and His truth,\nor the smallest nail-breadth of His latter will, in the new calender\nof indifferences, and to make a blank of uninked paper in Christ's\ntestament that men may fill up; and to shuffle the truth, and matters\nwhich they call indifferent, through other, and spin both together,\nthat Antichrist's wares may sell the better. This is but the device\nand forged dream of men whose consciences are made of stoutness, and\nwho have a throat that a graven image, greater than the bounds of the\nkirk-door, would get free passage into. I am sure that when Christ\nshall bring us all out in our blacks and whites, at that day when He\nshall cry down time and the world, and when the glory of it shall lie\nin white ashes, like a May-flower cut down and which hath lost the\nblossom, there shall be few, yea none, that dare make any point, which\ntoucheth the worship and honour of our King and Lawgiver, to be\nindifferent. Oh that this misled and blindfolded world would see that\nChrist doth not rise and fall, stand or lie, by men's apprehensions!\nWhat is Christ the lighter, that men do with Him, by open\nproclamation, as men do with clipped and light money? They are now\ncrying down Christ some grain-weights, and some pounds or shillings;\nand they will have Him lie[397] for a penny or a pound, for one or for\na hundred, according as the wind bloweth from the east or from the\nwest. But the Lord hath weighed Him, and balanced Him already: \"This\nis my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him!\" His worth\nand His weight stand still. It is our part to cry, \"Up, up with\nChrist, and down, down with all created glory before Him.\" Oh that I\ncould heighten Him, and heighten His name, and heighten His throne! I\nknow, and am persuaded, that Christ shall again be high and great in\nthis poor, withered, and sun-burnt Kirk of Scotland; and that the\nsparks of our fire shall fly over the sea, and round about, to warm\nyou and other sister churches; and that this tabernacle of David's\nhouse, that is fallen, even the Son of David's waste places, shall be\nbuilt again. And I know the prison, crosses, persecutions, and trials\nof the two slain witnesses, that are now dead and buried (Rev. xi. 9),\nand of the faithful professors, have a back-door and back-entry of\nescape; and that death and hell, and the world, and the tortures,\nshall all cleave and split in twain, and give us free passage and\nliberty to go through toll-free: and we shall bring all God's good\nmetal out of the furnace again, and leave behind us but our dross and\nour scum. We may then beforehand proclaim Christ to be victorious. He\nis crowned King of Mount Zion: God did put the crown upon His head\n(Ps. ii. 6, and xxi. 3), and who dare take it off again? Out of\nquestion, He hath sore and grievous quarrels against His church: and\ntherefore He is called, \"He whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace\nis in Jerusalem\" (Isa. xxxi. 9). But when He hath performed His work\non Mount Zion, all Zion's haters shall be as the hungry and thirsty\nman, that dreameth he is eating and drinking, and behold, when he\nawakeneth, he is faint, and his soul empty. And this advantage we have\nalso, that He will not bring before sun and moon all the infirmities\nof His wife. It is the modesty of marriage-anger or husband-wrath,\nthat our sweet Lord Jesus will not come with chiding to the streets,\nto let all the world hear what is betwixt Him and us. His sweet glooms\nstay under roof, and that because He is God.\n\n [395] It requires skill.\n\n [396] Alluding to 2 Thess. ii. 8. \"\u1f0c\u03bd\u03bf\u03bc\u03bf\u03c2,\" that Lawless one.\n\n [397] Stand for.\n\nTwo special things ye are to mind: 1. Try and make sure your\nprofession; that ye carry not empty lamps. Alas! security, security is\nthe bane and the wrack of the most part of the world. Oh, how many\nprofessors go with a golden lustre, and are gold-like before men (who\nare but witnesses to our white skin), and yet are but bastard and base\nmetal! Consider how fair before the wind some do ply with up-sails and\nwhite, even to the nick of \"illumination,\" and \"tasting of the\nheavenly gift;\" and \"a share and part of the Holy Ghost;\" and \"the\ntasting of the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come\"\n(Heb. vi. 4, 5). And yet this is but a false nick of renovation, and,\nin a short time, such are quickly broken upon the rocks, and never\nfetch the harbour, but are sanded in the bottom of hell. Oh, make your\nhaven sure, and try how ye come by conversion; that it be not stolen\ngoods, in a white and well-lustred profession! A white skin over old\nwounds maketh an under-coating conscience. False under water, not\nseen, is dangerous, and that is a leak and rift in the bottom of an\nenlightened conscience; often falling and sinning against light. Wo,\nwo is me that the holy profession of Christ is made a stage garment by\nmany, to bring home a vain fame, and Christ is made to serve men's\nends! This is, as it were, to stop an oven with a king's robes.\n\nKnow, 2. Except men martyr and slay the body of sin in sanctified\nself-denial, they shall never be Christ's martyrs and faithful\nwitnesses. Oh, if I could be master of that house-idol, myself, my\nown mind, my own will, wit, credit, and ease, how blessed were I! Oh,\nbut we have need to be redeemed from ourselves, rather than from the\ndevil and the world! Learn to put out yourselves, and to put in Christ\nfor yourselves. It would make a sweet bartering and niffering, and\ngive old for new, if I could shuffle out self, and substitute Christ\nmy Lord, in place of myself; to say, \"Not I, but Christ; not my will,\nbut Christ's; not my ease, not my lust, not my feckless credit, but\nChrist, Christ.\" But, alas! in leaving ourselves, in setting Christ\nbefore our idol, self, we have yet a glaiked back-look to our old\nidol. O wretched idol, myself! when shall I see thee wholly decourted,\nand Christ wholly put in thy room? Oh, if Christ, Christ had the full\nplace and room of myself, that all my aims, purposes, thoughts, and\ndesires would coast and land upon Christ, and not upon myself! And,\nhowbeit we cannot attain to this denial of me and mine, that we can\nsay, \"I am not myself, myself is not myself, mine own is no longer\nmine own,\" yet our aiming at this in all we do shall be accepted: for\nalas! I think I shall die but minting and aiming to be a Christian. Is\nit not our comfort, that Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant, is\ncome betwixt us and God in the business, so that green and young\nheirs, the like of sinners, have now a Tutor that is God! And now, God\nbe thanked, our salvation is bottomed on Christ. Sure I am, the bottom\nshall never fall out of heaven and happiness to us. I would give over\nthe bargain a thousand times, were it not that Christ's free grace\nhath taken our salvation in hand.\n\nPray, pray and contend with the Lord, for your sister-church; for it\nwould appear that the Lord is about to speer for His scattered sheep,\nin the dark and cloudy day. Oh that it would please our Lord to set up\nagain David's old wasted and fallen tabernacle in Scotland, that we\nmight see the glory of the second temple in this land! Oh that my\nlittle heaven were wadset, to redeem the honour of my Lord Jesus among\nthe Jews and Gentiles! Let never dew lie upon my branches, and let my\npoor flower wither at the root, so that Christ were enthroned, and His\nglory advanced in all the world, and especially in these three\nkingdoms. But I know that He hath no need of me; what can I add to\nHim? But oh that He would cause His high and pure glory to run through\nsuch a foul channel as I am! And, howbeit He hath caused the blossom\nto fall off my one poor joy, that was on this side of heaven, even my\nliberty to preach Christ to His people, yet I am dead to that now, so\nthat He would hew and carve glory, glory for evermore, to my royal\nKing out of my silence and sufferings. Oh that I had my fill of His\nlove! But I know ill-manners make an unco and strange bridegroom.\n\nI entreat you earnestly for the aid of your prayers, for I forget not\nyou; and I salute, with my soul in Christ, the faithful pastors, and\nhonourable and worthy professors in that land. Now the God of peace,\nthat brought again our Lord Jesus from the dead, the great Shepherd of\nthe sheep, by the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect\nin every good work, to do His will, working in you that which is\nwell-pleasing in His sight. Grace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweetest Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _Feb. 4, 1638_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXXV.--_To_ ROBERT GORDON _of Knockbrex_.\n\n(_NOT OUR CROSS, BUT CHRIST, THE OBJECT OF ATTRACTION--TOO LITTLE\nEXPECTED FROM HIM--SPIRITUAL DEADNESS._)\n\n\nMY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you.--I thought\nto have answered your two letters on this occasion, though I cannot\nsay all that I would. Your timeous word, \"not to delight in the cross,\nbut in Him who sweeteneth it,\" came to me in due time. I find the\nconsolation and off-fallings that follow the cross of Christ so sweet,\nthat I almost forget myself. My desire and purpose is, when Christ's\nhoneycombs drop, neither to refuse to receive and feed upon His\ncomforts, nor yet to make joy my bastard-god, or my new-found heaven.\nBut what shall I say? Christ very often in His sweet comforts cometh\nunsent for, and it were a sin to close the door upon Him. It is not\nunlawful to love and delight in Christ's apples, when I am not\ndotingly wooing, nor eagerly begging kisses; but when they come clean\nfrom the timber[398] (like kindness itself, that cometh of its own\naccord), then I cannot but laugh upon Him who laugheth upon me. If joy\nand comforts come single and alone, without Christ Himself, I think I\nwould send them back again the gate they came, and not make them\nwelcome; but, when the King's train cometh, and the King in the midst\nof the company, oh how I am overjoyed with floods of love! I fear not\nthat too great spaits of love wash away the growing corn, and loose my\nplants at the roots. Christ doeth no skaith, where He cometh; but\ncertainly, I would wish such spiritual wisdom, as to love the\nBridegroom better than His gifts, His propines, or drink-money. I\nwould be further in upon Christ than at His joys. They but stand in\nthe outer side of Christ; I would wish to be in, as a seal upon His\nheart, in where His love and mercy lodgeth, beside His heart. My\nWell-beloved hath ravished me; but it is done with consent of both\nparties, and it is allowable enough. But, my dear brother, ere I part\nwith this subject, I must tell you (that ye may lift up my King in\npraises with me), Christ hath been keeping something these fourteen\nyears for me, that I have now gotten in my heavy days that I am in for\nHis name's sake, even an opened coffer of perfumed comforts, and fresh\njoys, coming new, and green, and powerful, from the fairest face of\nChrist my Lord. Let the sour law, let crosses, let hell be cried down;\nlove, love hath shamed me from my old ways. Whether I have a race to\nrun, or some work to do, I see not; but I think Christ seemeth to\nleave heaven (to say so), and His court, and come down to laugh, and\nplay, and sport with a daft bairn.\n\n [398] The tree.\n\nI am not thus plain with many I write to. It is possible I be\nmisconstructed, and deemed to seek a name. But my witness above\nknoweth that I seek to have a good name raised upon Christ. I observe\nit to be our folly, to seek little from Christ, because our four-hours\nmay not be our supper, nor our propines sent by the Bridegroom our\ntocher-good, nor our earnest our principal sum. But I trow that few of\nus know how much may be had of Christ for a four-hours, and a propine,\nand an earnest. We are like the young heir, who knoweth not the whole\nbounds of his own lordship. Certainly it is more than my part to say,\n\"O sweetest Lord Jesus, what howbeit I were split and broken into five\nthousand shreds or bits of clay, so being that every shred had a heart\nto love Thee, and every one as many tongues as there are in heaven to\nsing praises to Thee, before men and angels for evermore!\" Therefore,\nif my sufferings cry goodness, and praise, and honour upon Christ, my\nstipend is well paid. Each one knoweth not what a life Christ's love\nis. Scaur not at suffering for Christ; for Christ hath a chair, and a\ncushion, and sweet peace for a sufferer. Christ's trencher from the\nfirst mess of the high table is for a sinful witness. Oh, then,\nbrother, who but Christ! who but Christ! Hold your tongue off lovers,\nwhere He cometh out. O all flesh, O dust and ashes, O angels, O\nglorified spirits, O all the shields of the world, be silent before\nHim! Come hither, and behold our Bridegroom; stand still and wonder\nfor evermore at Him! Why cease we to love and wonder, to kiss and\nadore Him? It is a hard matter, that days lie betwixt Him and me, and\nhold us asunder. Oh, how long, how long! Oh, how many miles are there\nto my Bridegroom's dwelling-house! It is a pain to frist Christ's love\nany longer. But, it may be that a drunken man lose his feet, and miss\na step. Ye write to me \"Hall-binks are slippery.\" I do not think my\ndawting world will still[399] last, and that feasts will be my\nordinary food. I would have humility, patience, and faith to set down\nboth my feet, when I come to the north side of the cold and thorny\nhill. It is ill my common to be sweer to go an errand for Christ, and\nto take the wind upon my face for Him. Lord, let me never be a false\nwitness, to deny that I saw Christ take the pen in His hand, and\nsubscribe my writs.\n\n [399] Always.\n\nMy dear brother, ye complain to me that ye cannot hold sight of me.\nBut were I a footman, I would go at leisure; but sometimes the King\ntaketh me into His coach, and draweth me, and then I outrun myself.\nBut, alas! I am still a forlorn transgressor. Oh how unthankful! I\nwill not put you off your sense of darkness; but let me say this, \"Who\ngave you proctor-fee, to speak for the law, which can speak for itself\nbetter than ye can do?\" I would not have you to bring your dittay in\nyour own bosom with you to Christ. Let the \"old man\" and the \"new man\"\nbe summoned before Christ's white throne, and let them be confronted\nbefore Christ, and let each of them speak for themselves. I hope,\nhowbeit the new man complain of his lying among pots, which maketh the\nbeliever look black, yet he can also say, \"I am comely as the tents of\nKedar.\" Ye shall not have my advice not to bemoan your deadness; but I\nfind by some experience (which ye knew before I knew Christ), that it\nsuiteth not a ransomed man, of Christ's buying, to go and plea for the\nsour law, our old forcasten husband; for we are not now under the law\n(as a covenant), but under grace. Ye are in no man's common, but\nChrist's. I know that He bemoaneth you more than you do yourself. I\nsay this, because I am wearied of complaining. I thought it had been\nhumility to imagine that Christ was angry with me, both because of my\ndumb Sabbaths, and my hard heart; but I feel now nothing but aching\nwounds. My grief, whether I will or not, swelleth upon me. But let us\ndie in grace's hall-floor, pleading before Christ. I deny nothing\nthat the Mediator will challenge me of; but I turn it all back upon\nHimself. Let Him look His own old accounts, if He be angry; for He\nwill get no more of me. When Christ saith, \"I want repentance,\" I meet\nHim with this: \"True, Lord, but Thou art made a King and a Prince to\ngive me repentance\" (Acts v. 34). When Christ bindeth a challenge upon\nus, we must bind a promise back upon Him. Be wo, and lay yourself in\nthe dust before God (which is suitable), but withal let Christ take\nthe payment in His own hand, and pay Himself off the first end of His\nown merits; else He will come behind for anything that we can do. I am\nevery way in your case, as hard-hearted and dead as any man; but yet I\nspeak to Christ through my sleep. Let us then proclaim a free market\nfor Christ, and swear ourselves bare, and cry on Him to come without\nmoney and buy us, and take us home to our Ransom-payer's fireside, and\nlet us be Christ's free-boarders. Because we dow not pay the old, we\nmay not refuse to take on Christ's new debt of mercy; let us do our\nbest, Christ will still be behind with us,[400] and many terms will\nrun together. For my part, let me stand for evermore in His book, as a\nforlorn dyvour. I must desire to be thus far in His common of new, as\nto kiss His feet. I know not how to win to a heartsome fill and feast\nof Christ's love; for I dow neither buy, nor beg, nor borrow, and yet\nI cannot want it. I dow not want it! Oh, if I could praise Him! yea I\nwould rest content with a heart submissive and dying of love for Him.\nAnd, howbeit I never win personally in at heaven's gates, oh, would to\nGod I could send in my praises to my incomparable Well-beloved, or\ncast my love-songs of that matchless Lord Jesus over the walls, that\nthey might light in His lap, before men and angels!\n\n [400] Will not have got from us all He claims.\n\nNow, grace, grace be with you. Remember my love to your wife and\ndaughter, and brother John.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ABERDEEN, _June 11, 1638_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXXVI.--_To the Parishioners of Kilmalcolm._[401]\n\n [401] Kilmalcolm is a rural parish in Renfrewshire, and one of the\n most sequestered. It was once a favoured vineyard. Shortly after the\n Reformation, Knox dispensed the communion there when on a visit to\n Lord Glencairn, who resided within its bounds. In the days of the\n Covenant, Porterfield of Duchal, another heritor, exposed himself to\n much loss in maintaining the cause of truth. And, as is evident from\n Rutherford's letter, the number of those who feared the Lord, and\n thought upon His name, must have been considerable. There is nothing\n in history about them. \"Their life was hid,\" but their names are in\n \"the Lamb's Book of Life.\"\n\n(_SPIRITUAL SLOTH--ADVICE TO BEGINNERS--A DEAD\nMINISTRY--LANGUOR--OBEDIENCE--WANT OF CHRIST'S FELT\nPRESENCE--ASSURANCE IMPORTANT--PRAYER-MEETINGS._)\n\n\nWORTHY, AND WELL-BELOVED IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and\npeace be to you.--Your letters could not come to my hand in a greater\nthrong of business that I am now pressed with at this time, when our\nkirk requireth the public help of us all. Yet I cannot but answer the\nheads of both your letters, with provision that ye choose, after this,\na fitter time for writing. 1. I would not have you to pitch upon me,\nas the man able by letters to answer doubts of this kind, while there\nare in your bounds men of such great parts, most able for this work. I\nknow that the best are unable; yet it pleaseth that Spirit of Jesus to\nblow His sweet wind through a piece of dry stick, that the empty reed\nmay keep no glory to itself. But a minister can make no such wind as\nthis to blow; he is scarce able to lend it a passage to blow through\nHim. 2. Know that the wind of this Spirit hath a time when it bloweth\nsharp, and pierceth so strongly, that it would blow through an iron\ndoor; and this is commonly rather under suffering for Christ than at\nany other time. Sick children get of Christ's pleasant things, to play\nthem withal, because Jesus is most tender of the sufferer, for He was\na sufferer Himself. Oh, if I had but the leavings and the drawing of\nthe bye-board of a sufferer's table! But I leave this to answer yours.\n\nI. Ye write, that God's vows are lying on you; and security, strong\nand sib to nature, stealing on you who are weak. I answer: 1. Till we\nbe in heaven, the best have heavy heads, as is evident. Cant. v. 1;\nPs. xxx. 6; Job xxix. 18; Matt. xxvi. 33. Nature is a sluggard, and\nloveth not the labour of religion; therefore, rest should not be\ntaken, till we know that the disease is over, and in the way of\nturning, and that it is like a fever past the cool. And the quietness\nand the calms of the faith of victory over corruption should be\nentertained, in place of security; so that if I sleep, I should desire\nto sleep faith's sleep in Christ's bosom. 2. Know, also, that none who\nsleep sound can seriously complain of sleepiness. Sorrow for a\nslumbering soul is a token of some watchfulness of spirit. But this is\nsoon turned into wantonness, as grace in us too often is abused;\ntherefore, our waking must be watched over, else sleep will even grow\nout of watching, and there is as much need to watch over grace as to\nwatch over sin. Full men will soon sleep, and sooner than hungry men.\n3. For your weakness to keep off security, that like a thief stealeth\nupon you, I would say two things:--(1.) To \"want complaints of\nweakness\" is for heaven, and angels that never sinned, not for\nChristians in Christ's camp on earth. I think that our weakness maketh\nus the church of the redeemed ones, and Christ's field that the\nMediator should labour in. If there were no diseases on earth, there\nneed be no physicians on earth. If Christ had cried down weakness, He\nmight have cried down His own calling; but weakness is our Mediator's\nworld; sin is Christ's only, only fair and market. No man should\nrejoice at weakness and diseases; but I think that we may have a sort\nof gladness at boils and sores, because, without them, Christ's\nfingers (as a slain Lord) would never have touched our skin. I dare\nnot thank myself, but I dare thank God's depth of wise providence,\nthat I have an errand in me while I live, for Christ to come and visit\nme, and bring with Him His drugs and His balm. Oh, how sweet is it for\na sinner to put his weakness into Christ's strengthening hand, and to\nfather a sick soul upon such a Physician, and to lay weakness before\nHim to weep upon Him, and to plead and pray! Weakness can speak and\ncry, when we have not a tongue. \"And when I passed by thee, and saw\nthee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in\nthy blood, Live\" (Ezek. xvi. 6). The kirk could not speak one word to\nChrist then: but blood and guiltiness out of measure spake, and drew\nout of Christ pity, and a word of life and love. (2.) As for weakness,\nwe have it that we may employ Christ's strength because of our\nweakness. Weakness is to make us the strongest things; that is, when,\nhaving no strength of our own, we are carried upon Christ's shoulders,\nand walk as it were upon His legs. If our sinful weakness swell up to\nthe clouds, Christ's strength will swell up to the sun, and far above\nthe heaven of heavens.\n\nII. Ye tell me, that there is need of counsel for strengthening of new\nbeginners. I can say little to that, who am not well begun myself: but\nI know that honest beginnings are nourished by Him, even by lovely\nJesus, who never yet put out a poor man's dim candle that is wrestling\nbetwixt light and darkness. I am sure, that if new beginners would\nurge themselves upon Christ, and press their souls upon Him, and\nimportune Him for a draught of His sweet love, they could not come\nwrong to Christ. Come once in upon the right nick and step of His\nlovely love, and I defy you to get free of Him again. If any beginners\nfall off Christ again, and miss Him, they never lighted upon Christ as\nChrist: it was but an idol, like Jesus, which they took for Him.\n\nIII. Whereas ye complain of a dead ministry in your bounds; ye are to\nremember that the Bible among you is the contract of marriage; and the\nmanner of Christ's conveying His love to your heart is not so\nabsolutely dependent upon even lively preaching, as that there is no\nconversion at all, no life of God, but that which is tied to a man's\nlips. The daughters of Jerusalem have done often that which the\nwatchman could not do. Make Christ your minister. He can woo a soul at\na dykeside in the field. He needeth not us, howbeit the flock be\nobliged to seek Him in the shepherds' tents. Hunger, of Christ's\nmaking, may thrive even under stewards who mind not the feeding of the\nflock. O blessed soul, that can leap over a man, and look above a\npulpit up to Christ, who can preach home to the heart, howbeit we were\nall dead and rotten.\n\nIV. So to complain of yourselves, as to justify God, is right;\nproviding ye justify His Spirit in yourselves. For men seldom advocate\nagainst Satan's work and sin in themselves, but against God's work in\nthemselves. Some of the people of God slander God's grace in their\nsouls; as some wretches used to do, who complain and murmur of want\n(\"I have nothing,\" say they; \"all is gone, the ground yieldeth but\nweeds and windlestraws\"), whenas their fat harvest, and their money in\nbank, maketh them liars. But for myself, alas! I think it is not my\nsin; I have scarce wit to sin this sin. But I advise you to speak good\nof Christ, for His beauty and sweetness, and speak good of Him for His\ngrace to yourselves.\n\nV. Light remaineth, ye say, but ye cannot attain to painfulness. See\nif this complaint be not booked in the New Testament; and the place is\nlike this, \"To will is present with me, but how to perform that which\nis good I know not\" (Rom. vii. 18). But every one hath not Paul's\nspirit in complaining: for often, in us, complaining is but an humble\nbackbiting and traducing of Christ's new work in the soul. But for the\nmatter of the complaint; I would say, that the light of glory is\nperfectly obeyed in loving, and praising, and rejoicing, and resting\nin a seen and known Lord; but that light is not hereaway in any clay\nbody. For while we are here, light is (in the most) broader and longer\nthan our narrow and feckless obedience. But if there be light, with a\nfair train and a great back (I mean, armies) of challenging thoughts,\nand sorrow for coming short of performance in what we know and see\nought to be performed, then that sorrow for not doing is accepted of\nour Lord for doing. Our honest sorrow and sincere aims, together with\nChrist's intercession, pleading that God would welcome that which we\nhave, and forgive what we have not, must be our life, till we be over\nthe bound-road, and in the other country, where the law will get a\nperfect soul.\n\nVI. In Christ's absence, there is, as ye write, a willingness to use\nmeans, but heaviness after the use of them, because of formal and\nslight performance. In Christ's absence, I confess, the work lieth\nbehind. But if ye mean absence of comfort, and absence of sense of His\nsweet presence, I think that absence is Christ's trying of us, not\nsimply our sin against Him. Therefore, howbeit our obedience be not\nsugared and sweetened with joy (which is the sweetmeat bairns would\nstill be at), yet the less sense, and the more willingness in obeying,\nthe less formality in our obedience. Howbeit, we think not so; for I\nbelieve that many think obedience formal and lifeless, except the wind\nbe fair in the west, and sails filled with joy and sense, till souls,\nlike a ship fair before the wind, can spread no more sail. But I am\nnot of their mind, who think so. But if ye mean, by absence of Christ,\nthe withdrawing of His working grace, I see not how willingness to use\nmeans can be at all, under such an absence. Therefore, be humbled for\nheaviness in that obedience, and thankful for willingness; for the\nBridegroom is busking His spouse oftentimes, while she is half\nsleeping; and your Lord is working and helping more than ye see. Also,\nI recommend to you heaviness for formality, and for lifeless deadness\nin obedience. Be casten down, as much as ye will or can, for deadness;\nand challenge that dull and slow carcase of sin, that will neither\nlead nor drive, in your spiritual obedience. Oh, how sweet to lovely\nJesus are bills and grievances, given in against corruption and the\nbody of sin! I would have Christ, in such a case, fashed (if I may\nspeak so), and deaved with our cries, as ye see the Apostle doeth,\n\"Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of\nthis death?\" (Rom. vii. 24). Protestations against the law of sin in\nyou are law-grounds why sin can have no law against you. Seek to have\nyour protestation discussed and judged, and then shall ye find Christ\non your side of it.\n\nVII. Ye hold, that Christ must either have hearty service, or no\nservice at all. If ye mean that He will not have half a heart, or have\nfeigned service, such as the hypocrites give Him, I grant you that;\nChrist must have honesty or nothing. But if ye mean, He will have no\nservice at all where the heart draweth back in any measure, I would\nnot that were true for my part of heaven, and all that I am worth in\nthe world. If ye mind to walk to heaven without a cramp or a\ncrook,[402] I fear that ye must go your lone. He knoweth our dross and\ndefects; and sweet Jesus pitieth us, when weakness and deadness in our\nobedience is our cross, and not our darling.\n\n [402] Halting of any kind.\n\nVIII. The Liar (John viii. 44), as ye write, challengeth the work as\nformal; yet ye bless your Cautioner for the ground-work He hath laid,\nand dare not say but ye have assurance in some measure. To this I say:\n1. It shall be no fault to save Satan's labour, and challenge it\nyourselves,[403] or at least examine and censure; but beware of\nSatan's ends in challenging, for he mindeth to put Christ and you at\nodds. 2. Welcome home faith in Jesus, who washeth still, when we have\ndefiled our souls and made ourselves loathsome; and seek still the\nblood of atonement for faults little or meikle. Know the gate to the\nwell, and lie about it. 3. Make meikle of assurance, for it keepeth\nyour anchor fixed.\n\n [403] To anticipate Satan by jealously searching into it yourselves.\n\nIX. Outbreakings, ye say, discourage you, so that ye know not if ever\nye shall win again to such overjoying consolations of the Spirit in\nthis life, as formerly ye had; and, therefore, a question may be, If,\nafter assurance and mortification, the children of God be ordinarily\nfed with sense and joy? I answer: I see no inconvenience to think it\nis enough, in a race, to see the goal at the starting-place, howbeit\nthe runners never get a view of it till they come to the rink's end;\nand that our wise Lord thinketh it fittest that we should not always\nbe fingering and playing with Christ's apples. Our Well-beloved, I\nknow, will sport and play with His bride, as much as He thinketh will\nallure her to the rink's end. Yet I judge it not unlawful to seek\nrenewed consolations, providing, 1. The heart be submissive, and\ncontent to leave the measure and timing of them to Him. 2. Providing\nthey be sought to excite us to praise, and strengthen our assurance,\nand sharpen our desires after Himself. 3. Let them be sought, not for\nour humours or swellings of nature, but as the earnest of heaven. And\nI think many do attain to greater consolations after mortification,\nthan ever they had formerly. But I know that our Lord walketh here\nstill by a sovereign latitude, and keepeth not the same way, as to one\nhair-breadth, without a miss, toward all His children. As for the\nLord's people with you, I am not the man fit to speak to them. I\nrejoice exceedingly that Christ is engaging souls amongst you; but I\nknow that, in conversion, all the winning is in the first buying, as\nwe used to say. For many lay false and bastard foundations, and take\nup conversion at their foot, and get Christ for as good as\nhalf-nothing, and had never a sick night for sin; and this maketh\nloose work. I pray you to dig deep. Christ's palace-work, and His new\ndwelling, laid upon hell felt and feared, is most firm: and heaven,\ngrounded and laid upon such a hell, is surest work, and will not wash\naway with winter storms. It were good that professors were not like\nyoung heirs, that come to their rich estate long ere they come to\ntheir wit; and so is seen on it. The tavern, and the cards, and the\nharlots steal their riches[404] from them, ere ever they be aware what\nthey are doing. I know that a Christ bought with strokes is sweetest.\n4. I recommend to you conference and prayer at private meetings; for\nwarrant whereof, see Isa. ii. 3; Jer. l. 4, 5; Hos. ii. 1, 2; Zech.\nviii. 20-23; Mal. iii. 16; Luke xxiv. 13-17; John xx. 19; Acts xii.\n12; Col. iii. 16, and iv. 6; Ephes. iv. 29; 1 Pet. iv. 10; 1 Thess. v.\n14; Heb. iii. 13, and x. 25. Many coals make a good fire, and that is\na part of the communion of saints.\n\n [404] Some read \"ridges,\" _q.d._, their acres of land.\n\nI must entreat you, and your Christian acquaintance in the parish, to\nremember me to God in your prayers, and my flock and ministry, and my\ntransportation[405] and removal from this place, which I fear at this\nAssembly,[406] and be earnest with God for our mother-kirk. For want\nof time, I have put you all in one letter. The rich grace of our Lord\nJesus Christ be with you all.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, _Aug. 5, 1639_.\n\n [405] My being transferred to another part of the land.\n\n [406] About this time Rutherford (who, it will be observed from the\n place whence this letter is dated, was now relieved from confinement\n at Aberdeen) had received two separate calls, one from Edinburgh, to\n become one of the city ministers, and the other from St. Andrews, to\n the theological chair in that University. These competing calls were\n to come before the Assembly.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXXVII.--_To the_ VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.\n\n(_ON THE DEATH OF HER CHILD--CHRIST SHARES IN HIS PEOPLE'S SORROWS._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I know that ye are near\nmany comforters, and that the promised Comforter is near at hand also.\nYet, because I found your Ladyship comfortable to myself in my sad\ndays, which are not yet over my head, it is my part and more, in many\nrespects (howbeit I can do little, God knoweth, in that kind), to\nspeak to you in your wilderness lot.\n\nI know, dear and noble Lady, that this loss of your dear child[407]\ncame upon you, one piece and part of it after another; and that ye\nwere looking for it, and that now the Almighty hath brought on you\nthat which ye feared; and that your Lord gave you lawful warning. And\nI hope that for His sake who brewed and masked this cup in heaven, ye\nwill gladly drink, and salute and welcome the cross. I am sure, that\nit is not your Lord's mind to feed you with judgment and wormwood, and\nto give you waters of gall to drink (Ezek. xxxiv. 16; Jer. ix. 15). I\nknow that your cup is sugared with mercy; and that the withering of\nthe bloom, the flower, even the white and red of worldly joys, is for\nno other end than to buy out at the ground the reversion of your heart\nand love.\n\n [407] John, second Viscount Kenmure who died in 1639.\n\nMadam, subscribe to the Almighty's will; put your hand to the pen, and\nlet the cross of your Lord Jesus have your submissive and resolute\nAmen. If ye ask and try whose this cross is, I dare say that it is\nnot all your own, the best half of it is Christ's. Then your cross is\nno born-bastard, but lawfully begotten; it sprang not out of the dust\n(Job v. 6). If Christ and ye be halvers of this suffering, and He say,\n\"Half mine,\" what should ail you? And I am sure that I am here right\nupon the style of the word of God: \"The fellowship of Christ's\nsufferings\" (Phil. iii. 10); \"The remnant of the afflictions of\nChrist\" (Col. i. 24); \"The reproach of Christ\" (Heb. ii. 6). It were\nbut to shift the comforts of God, to say, \"Christ had never such a\ncross as mine: He had never a dead child, and so this is not His\ncross; neither can He, in that meaning, be the owner of this cross.\"\nBut I hope that Christ, when he married you, married you and all the\ncrosses and wo hearts that follow you. And the word maketh no\nexception. \"In _all_ their afflictions He was afflicted\" (Isa. lxiii.\n9). Then Christ bore the first stroke of this cross; it rebounded off\nHim upon you, and ye get it at the second hand, and ye and He are\nhalvers in it. And I shall believe, for my part, that He mindeth to\ndistil heaven out of this loss, and all others the like; for wisdom\ndevised it, and love laid it on, and Christ owneth it as His own, and\nputteth your shoulder beneath only a piece of it. Take it with joy, as\nno bastard cross, but as a visitation of God, well-born; and spend the\nrest of your appointed time, till your change come, in the work of\nbelieving. And let faith, that never yet made a lie to you, speak for\nGod's part of it, \"He will not, He doth not, make you a sea or a\nwhale-fish, that He keepeth you in ward\" (Job vii. 12). It may be,\nthat ye think not many of the children of God in such a hard case as\nyourself; but what would ye think of some, who would exchange\nafflictions? and give you to the boot? But I know that yours must be\nyour own alone, and Christ's together.\n\nI confess it seemed strange to me, that your Lord should have done\nthat which seemed to ding out the bottom of your worldly comforts; but\nwe see not the ground of the Almighty's sovereignty. \"He goeth by on\nour right hand, and on our left hand, and we see Him not.\" We see but\npieces of the broken links of the chains of His providence; and He\ncoggeth the wheels of His own providence, that we see not. Oh, let the\nFormer work His own clay into what frame He pleaseth! \"Shall any teach\nthe Almighty knowledge?\" If He pursue the dry stubble, who dare say,\n\"What doest Thou?\" Do not wonder to see the Judge of the world weave,\ninto one web, your mercies and the judgments of the house of Kenmure.\nHe can make one web of contraries.\n\nBut my weak advice (with reverence and correction), were, for you,\ndear and worthy Lady, to see how far mortification goeth on, and what\nscum the Lord's fire casteth out of you. I know that ye see your\nknottiness, since our Lord whiteth, and heweth, and plaineth you. And\nthe glancing of the furnace[408] is to let you see what scum or refuse\nye must want, and what froth is in nature, that must be boiled out and\ntaken off in the fire of your trials. I do not say that heavier\nafflictions prophesy heavier guiltiness; a cross is often but a false\nprophet in this kind. But I am sure that our Lord would have the tin\nand the bastard metal in you removed, lest the Lord say, \"The bellows\nare burnt, the lead is consumed in the fire, the Founder melteth in\nvain\" (Jer. vi. 29). And I shall hope that grief will not so far\nsmother your light, as not to practise this so necessary a duty, to\nconcur with Him in this blessed design.\n\n [408] The brightness of glowing heat.\n\nI would gladly plead for the Comforter's part of it, not against you,\nMadam (for I am sure ye are not his party[409]), but against your\ngrief, which will have its own violent incursions in your soul: and I\nthink it be not in your power to help it. But I must say, there are\ncomforts allowed upon you; and, therefore, want them not. When ye have\ngotten a running-over soul with joy now, that joy will never be missed\nout of the infinite ocean of delight, which is not diminished by\ndrinking at it, or drawing out of it. It is a Christian art to comfort\nyourself in the Lord; to say, \"I was obliged to render back again this\nchild to the Giver: and if I have had four years' loan of him, and\nChrist eternity's possession of him, the Lord hath kept condition with\nme. If my Lord would not have him and me to tryst both in one hour at\ndeath's door-threshold together, it is His wisdom so to do; I am\nsatisfied. My tryst is suspended, not broken off, nor given up.\"\nMadam, I would that I could divide sorrow with you, for your ease. But\nI am but a beholder: it is easy to me to speak; the God of comfort\nspeak to you, and allure you with His feasts of love.\n\n [409] An opposing party to him.\n\nMy removal from my flock is so heavy to me, that it maketh my life a\nburden to me; I had never such a longing for death. The Lord help and\nhold up sad clay. I fear that ye sin in drawing Mr. William Dalgleish\nfrom this country, where the labourers are few, and the harvest\ngreat.\n\nMadam, desire my Lord Argyle to see for provision to a pastor for his\npoor people. Grace be with you.\n\n Your Ladyship's at all obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n KIRKCUDBRIGHT, _Oct. 1, 1639_.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXXVIII.--_To the persecuted Church in Ireland._[410]\n\n [410] When the National Covenant had been solemnly renewed throughout\n almost the whole of Scotland, every means was used to prevent the\n Presbyterians in Ireland from entering into it. To accomplish this, an\n oath was imposed in May 1639, known by the name of the _Black Oath_,\n from the calamities which it occasioned. The oath is as follows:--\"I,\n ----, do faithfully swear, profess, and promise, that I will honour\n and obey my sovereign Lord, King Charles, and will bear faith and true\n allegiance unto him, and defend and maintain his royal power and\n authority; and that I will not bear arms, or do any rebellious or\n hostile act against his Majesty, King Charles, or protest against any\n his royal commands, but submit myself in all due obedience thereunto;\n and that I will not enter into any covenant, oath, or band of mutual\n defence and assistance against any person whatsoever by force, without\n his Majesty's sovereign and legal authority. And I do renounce and\n abjure all covenants, oaths, and bands whatsoever, contrary to what I\n have herein sworn, professed, and promised. So help me God, in Jesus\n Christ.\" All Scottish residents in Ulster, above the age of sixteen,\n were required to take this oath; and it was imposed equally on women\n and on men. Great numbers refusing to take it, the highest penalties\n of the law, short of death, were inflicted on them, and that, too,\n under circumstances of great cruelty. Such was the condition of the\n Presbyterians in Ireland at the date of this letter, which was written\n to comfort them under persecution, and to encourage their stedfastness\n (Reid's \"History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland\").\n\n(_CHRIST'S LEGACY OF TROUBLE--GOD'S DEALINGS WITH SCOTLAND IN GIVING\nPROSPERITY--CHRIST TAKES HALF OF ALL SUFFERINGS--STEDFASTNESS FOR HIS\nCROWN--HIS LOVE SHOULD LEAD TO HOLINESS._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED, REVEREND, AND DEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD,--Grace,\nmercy, and peace be to you all.--I know that there are many in this\nnation more able than I to speak to the sufferers for, and witnesses\nof, Jesus Christ; yet pardon me to speak a little to you, who are\ncalled in question for the Gospel once committed to you.\n\nI hope that ye are not ignorant that, as peace was left to you in\nChrist's testament, so the other half of the testament was a legacy of\nChrist's sufferings. \"These things have I spoken, that in Me ye might\nhave peace; in the world ye shall have trouble\" (John xvi. 33).\nBecause, then, ye are made assignees and heirs to a liferent of\nChrist's cross, think that fiery trial no strange thing; for the Lord\nJesus shall be no loser by purging the dross and tin out of His church\nin Ireland. His wine-press is but squeezing out the dregs, the scum,\nthe froth, and refuse of that church. I had once the proof of the\nsweet smell, and the honest and honourable peace, of that slandered\nthing, the cross of our Lord Jesus. But though, alas! these golden\ndays that then I had be now in a great part gone, yet I dare say, that\nthe issue and outgate of your sufferings shall be the advantage, the\ngolden reign and dominion of the Gospel, and the high glory of the\nnever-enough-praised Prince of the kings of the earth; and the\nchanging of the brass of the Lord's temple among you into gold, and\nthe iron into silver, and the wood into brass. Your officers shall yet\nbe peace, and your exactors righteousness (Isa. lx. 17, 18). Your old,\nfallen walls shall get a new name, and the gates of your Jerusalem\nshall get a new style. They shall call your walls Salvation, and your\ngates Praise. I know that Deputy,[411] prelates, Papists, temporizing\nlords, and proud mockers of our Lord, crucifiers of Christ for His\ncoat, and all your enemies, have neither fingers nor instruments of\nwar to pick out one stone out of your wall; for each stone of your\nwall is \"Salvation.\" I dare give you my royal and princely Master's\nword for it, that Ireland shall be a fair bride to Jesus, and Christ\nwill build on her a palace of silver (Cant. viii. 9). Therefore, weep\nnot as if there were no hope; fear not, put on strength, put on your\nbeautiful garments (Isa. lii. 1). Your foundation shall be sapphires,\nyour windows and gates precious stones (Isa. liv. 11, 12). Look over\nthe water, and behold and see who is on the dry land waiting for your\nlanding. Your deliverance is concluded, subscribed, and sealed in\nheaven. Your goods, that are taken from you for Christ and His truth's\nsake, are but arrested and laid in pawn, and not taken away. There is\nmuch laid up for you in His storehouse, whose the earth and the\nfulness thereof is. Your garments are spun, and your flocks are\nfeeding in the fields, your bread is laid up for you, your drink is\nbrewn, your gold and silver is at the bank, and the interest goeth on\nand groweth: and yet I hear that your taskmasters do rob and spoil\nyou, and fine you. Your prisons, my brethren, have two keys. The\nDeputy, prelates, and officers keep but the iron keys of the prison\nwherein they put you; but He that hath created the smith, hath other\nkeys in heaven; therefore ye shall not die in the prison. Other men's\nploughs are labouring for your bread; your enemies are gathering in\nyour rents. He that is kissing His bride on this side of the sea, in\nScotland, is beating her beyond the sea in Ireland, and feeding her\nwith the bread of adversity and the water of affliction; and yet He is\nthe same Lord to both.\n\n [411] Wentworth, Earl of Stafford, was at this time Deputy or Lord\n Lieutenant of Ireland. Previous to his appointment to that office,\n which was in 1632, the Scottish settlers in Ireland were not troubled\n on account of their nonconformity. After the Black Oath was imposed in\n this year, he declared that he would prosecute \"to the blood\" all who\n refused to take it, and drive them \"root and branch\" out of the\n kingdom. His violent and unconstitutional proceedings at length issued\n in his being arraigned for high treason before the English Parliament,\n and beheaded on Tower Hill, May 12, 1641, in the forty-ninth year of\n his age.\n\nAlas! I fear that Scotland be undone and slain with this great mercy\nof reformation, because there is not here that life of religion,\nanswerable to the huge greatness of the work that dazzleth our eyes.\nFor the Lord is rejoicing over us in this land, as the bridegroom\nrejoiceth over the bride: and the Lord hath changed the name of\nScotland. They call us now no more \"Forsaken,\" nor \"Desolate;\" but our\nland is called \"Hephzibah\" and \"Beulah\" (Isa. lxii. 4). For the Lord\ndelighteth in us, and this land is married to Himself. There is now an\nhighway made through our Zion, and it is called the \"Way of holiness;\"\nthe unclean shall not pass over it; the wayfaring men, though fools,\nshall not err in it. The wilderness doth rejoice and blossom as the\nrose; \"The ransomed of the Lord are returned back unto Zion, with\nsongs and everlasting joy upon their heads\" (Isa. xxxv. 10); the\nCanaanite is put out of our Lord's house: there is not a beast left to\ndo hurt (at least, professedly) in all the holy mountain of the Lord.\nOur Lord is fallen to wrestle with His enemies, and hath brought us\nout of Egypt; we have \"the strength of an unicorn\" (Num. xxiii. 22).\nThe Lord hath eaten up the sons of Babel; He hath broken their bones,\nand hath pierced them through with His arrows. We take them captives\nwhose captives we were, and we rule over our oppressors (Isa. xiv. 2).\nIt is not brick, nor clay, nor Babel's cursed timber and stones, that\nis in our second temple; but our princely King Jesus is building His\nhouse all palace-work and carved stones. It is the habitation of the\nLord.\n\nWe do welcome Ireland and England to our Well-beloved. We invite you,\nO daughters of Jerusalem, to come down to our Lord's garden, and seek\nour Well-beloved with us; for His love will suffice both you and us.\nWe do send you love-letters over the sea, to request you to come and\nto marry our King, and to take part of our bed. And we trust our Lord\nis fetching a blow upon the Beast, and the scarlet-coloured Whore, to\nthe end that He may bring in His ancient widow-wife, our dear sister,\nthe church of the Jews. Oh, what a heavenly heaven were it to see\nthem come in by this mean, and suck the breasts of their little\nsister, and renew their old love with their first Husband, Christ our\nLord! They are booked in God's word, as a bride contracted unto Jesus!\nOh for a sight, in this flesh of mine, of the prophesied marriage\nbetween Christ and them! The kings of Tarshish, and of the isles, must\nbring presents to our Lord Jesus (Ps. lxxii. 10). And Britain is one\nof the chiefest isles; why then but we may believe that our kings of\nthis island shall come in, and bring their glory to the New Jerusalem,\nwherein Christ shall dwell in the latter days? It is our part to pray,\n\"That the kingdoms of the earth may become Christ's.\"\n\nNow I exhort you, in the Lord Jesus, not to be dismayed nor afraid for\nthe two tails of these smoking firebrands, the fierce anger of the\nDeputy with civil power, and of the bastard prelates with the power of\nthe Beast; for they shall be cut off. They may well eat you and drink\nyou, but they shall be forced to vomit you out again alive. If two\nthings were firmly believed, sufferings would have no weight. If the\nfellowship of Christ's sufferings were well known, who would not\ngladly take part with Jesus? For Christ and we are halvers and\njoint-owners of one and the same cross: and, therefore, he that knew\nwell what sufferings were, as he esteemed all things but loss for\nChrist, and did judge them but dung, so did he also judge of them,\n\"that he might know the fellowship of His sufferings\" (Phil. iii. 10).\nOh, how sweet a sight is it, to see a cross betwixt Christ and us, to\nhear our Redeemer say, at every sigh, and every blow, and every loss\nof a believer, \"Half mine!\" So they are called \"The sufferings of\nChrist,\" and \"the reproach of Christ\" (Col. i. 24; Heb. xi. 26). As,\nwhen two are partners and owners of a ship, the half of the gain and\nhalf of the loss belong to each of the two; so Christ in our\nsufferings is half-gainer and half-loser with us. Yea, the heaviest\nend of the black tree of the cross lieth on your Lord: it falleth\nfirst upon Him, and it but reboundeth off Him upon you: \"The\nreproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon Me\" (Ps. lxix.\n9). Your sufferings are your treasure, and are greater riches than the\ntreasures of Egypt (Heb. xi. 26). And if your cross come through\nChrist's fingers ere it come to you, it receiveth a fair lustre from\nHim; it getteth a taste and relish of the King's spikenard, and of\nheaven's perfume. And the half of the gain, when Christ's shipful of\ngold cometh home, shall be yours. It is an augmenting of your treasure\nto be rich in suffering, \"to be in labours abundant, in stripes above\nmeasure\" (2 Cor. xi. 23); and to have the sufferings of Christ\nabounding in you (2 Cor. i. 5) is a part of heaven's stock. Your goods\nare not lost which they have plucked from you, for your Lord hath them\nin keeping; they are but arrested and seized upon. He shall loose the\narrest. Ye shall be fed with the heritage of Jacob, your father; for\nthe mouth of the Lord hath spoken it (Isa. lviii. 14).\n\nTill I shall be on the hall-floor of the highest palace, and get a\ndraught of glory out of Christ's hand, above and beyond time and\nbeyond death, I shall never (it is like) see fairer days than I saw\nunder that blessed tree of my Lord's cross. His kisses then were\nking's kisses. Those kisses were sweet and soul-reviving; one of them,\nat that time, was worth two and a half (if I may speak so) of Christ's\nweek-day kisses. Oh, sweet, sweet for evermore, to see a rose of\nheaven growing in as ill ground as hell! and to see Christ's love, His\nembracements, His dinners and suppers of joy, peace, faith, goodness,\nlong-suffering, and patience, growing and springing like the flowers\nof God's garden, out of such stony and cursed ground as the hatred of\nthe prelates, and the malice of their High Commission, and the\nAntichrist's bloody hand and heart! Is not here art and wisdom? Is not\nhere heaven indented in hell (if I may say so), like a jewel set with\nskill in a ring with the enamel of Christ's cross? The ruby and riches\nof glory, that grow up out of the cross, are beyond telling. Now, the\nblackest and hottest wrath, and most fiery and all-devouring\nindignation of the Judge of men and angels, shall come upon them who\ndeny our sweet Lord Jesus, and put their hand to that oath of\nwickedness now pressed. The Lord's coal at their heart shall burn them\nup both root and branch. The estates of great men that have done so,\nif they do not repent, shall consume away, and the ravens shall dwell\nin their houses, and their glory shall be shame. Oh, for the Lord's\nsake! keep fast by Christ, and fear not man that shall die and wither\nas the grass. The Deputy's bloom shall fall, and the prelates shall\ncast their flower, and the east wind of the Lord, of \"the Lord strong\nand mighty,\" shall blast and break them; therefore, fear them not.\nThey are but idols, that can neither do evil nor good. Walk not in the\nway of those people that slander the footsteps of our royal and\nprincely anointed King Jesus, now riding upon His white horse in\nScotland. Let Jehovah be your fear. That decree of Zion's deliverance,\npassed and sealed up before the throne, is now ripe and shall bring\nforth a child, even the ruin and fall of the prelates' black kingdom,\nand the Antichrist's throne, in these kingdoms. The Lord hath begun,\nand He shall make an end. Who did ever hear the like of this? Before\nScotland travailed, she brought forth; and before her pain came, she\nwas delivered of a man-child (Isa. lxvi. 7, 8).\n\nAnd when all is done, suppose there were no sweetness in our Lord's\ncross, yet it is sweet for His sake, for that lovely One, Jesus\nChrist, whose crown and royal supremacy is the question this day in\nGreat Britain, betwixt us and our adversaries. And who would not think\nHim worthy of the suffering for? What is burning quick, what is\ndrinking of our own heart's blood, and what is a draught of melted\nlead, for His glory? Less than a draught of cold water to a thirsty\nman, if the right price and due value were put on that worthy, worthy\nPrince, Jesus! Oh, who can weigh Him! Ten thousand thousand heavens\nwould not be one scale, or the half of the scale, of the balance to\nlay Him in. O black angels, in comparison of Him! O dim, and dark, and\nlightless sun, in regard of that fair Sun of righteousness! O feckless\nand worthless heaven of heavens, when they stand beside my worthy, and\nlofty, and high, and excellent Well-beloved! O weak and infirm\nclay-kings! O soft and feeble mountains of brass, and weak created\nstrength, in regard of our mighty and strong Lord of armies! O foolish\nwisdom of men and angels, when it is laid in the balance beside that\nspotless, substantial Wisdom of the Father! If heaven and earth, and\nten thousand heavens even (round about these heavens that now are),\nwere all in one garden of paradise, decked with all the fairest roses,\nflowers, and trees that can come forth from the art of the Almighty\nHimself; yet set but our one Flower that groweth out of the root of\nJesse beside that orchard of pleasure, one look of Him, one view, one\ntaste, one smell of His sweet Godhead would infinitely exceed and go\nbeyond the smell, colour, beauty, and loveliness of that paradise. Oh\nto be with child of His love! and to be suffocated (if that could be)\nwith the smell of His sweetness were a sweet fill and a lovely pain. O\nworthy, worthy, worthy loveliness! Oh, less of the creatures, and more\nof Thee! Oh, open the passage of the well of love and glory on us, dry\npits and withered trees! Oh, that Jewel and Flower of heaven! If our\nBeloved were not mistaken by us, and unknown to us, He would have no\nscarcity of wooers and suitors. He would make heaven and earth both\nsee that they cannot quench His love, for His love is a sea. Oh to be\na thousand fathoms deep in this sea of love! He, He Himself is more\nexcellent than heaven; for heaven, as it cometh into the souls and\nspirits of the glorified, is but a creature; and He is something (and\na great something) more than a creature. Oh, what a life were it to\nsit beside this Well of love, and drink and sing, and sing and drink!\nand then to have desires and soul-faculties stretched and extended\nout, many thousand fathoms in length and breadth, to take in seas and\nrivers of love!\n\nI earnestly desire to recommend this love to you, that this love may\ncause you to keep His commandments, and to keep clean fingers, and\nmake clean feet, that ye may walk as the redeemed of the Lord. Wo, wo\nbe to them who put on His name, and shame this love of Christ, with a\nloose and profane life! Their feet, tongue, and hands, and eyes, give\na shameless lie to the holy Gospel, which they profess. I beseech you\nin the Lord, to keep Christ and walk with Him: let not His fairness be\nspotted and stained by godless living. Oh, who can find in their heart\nto sin against love? and such a love as the glorified in heaven shall\ndelight to dive into, and drink of for ever? For they are evermore\ndrinking in love, and the cup is still at their head; and yet without\nloathing, for they still drink, and still desire to drink for ever and\never. Is not this a long-lasting supper?\n\nNow, if any of our country people, professing Christ Jesus, have\nbrought themselves under the stroke and wrath of the Almighty, by\nyielding to Antichrist in an hair-breadth, but especially by swearing\nand subscribing that blasphemous oath (which is the Church of\nIreland's black hour of temptation), I would entreat them, by the\nmercies of God at their last summons, to repent, and openly confess\nbefore the world to the glory of the Lord their denial of Christ. Or\notherwise, if either man or woman will stand and abide by that oath,\nthen, in the name and authority of the Lord Jesus, I let them see that\nthey forfeit their part of heaven! And let them look for no less than\na back-burden of the pure, unmixed wrath of God, and the plague of\napostates and deniers of our Lord Jesus.\n\nLet not me, a stranger to you, who never saw your face in the flesh,\nbe thought bold in writing to you: for the hope I have of a glorious\nchurch in that land, and the love of Christ, constraineth me. I know\nthat the worthy servants of Christ, who once laboured among you, cease\nnot to write to you also; and I shall desire to be excused that I do\njoin with them.\n\nPray for your sister-church in Scotland; and let me entreat you for\nthe aid of your prayers for myself, and flock, and ministry, and my\nfear of a transportation from this place of the Lord's vineyard.[412]\nNow the very God of peace sanctify you throughout. Grace be with you\nall.\n\n [412] See note, Letter CCLXXXVI. The decision of the Commission was,\n to translate him from Anwoth to the professorship at St. Andrews.\n\nYour brother and companion, in the kingdom and patience of Jesus\nChrist,\n\n S. R.\n\n ANWOTH, 1639.\n\n\n\n\nCCLXXXIX.--_To his Reverend and much honoured Brother, DR. ALEXANDER\nLEIGHTON, Christ's Prisoner in bonds at London._\n\n [DR. ALEXANDER LEIGHTON was descended of an ancient family in\n Forfarshire, whose chief seat was Ulys-haven, or Usen, near\n Montrose. Besides studying for the Christian ministry, he\n qualified himself as a physician, and, during the reign of James\n I., and the commencement of that of Charles I., practised\n medicine in London, as well as exercised his ministry there; but\n whether he had any fixed charge we are not informed. In his zeal\n for Presbyterian principles, and against the innovations of Laud,\n he published a work entitled \"An Appeal to the Parliament; or,\n Zion's Plea against the Prelacy.\" For this work he was arrested\n in 1629, and thrown into an abominable cell in Newgate. After\n lying there sixteen weeks in great misery, he was served with an\n information of the crimes of which he was accused, and charged to\n appear before the Star Chamber. He was then unable to attend,\n being under severe distress that had brought skin and hair almost\n wholly off his body; but the Star Chamber condemned the afflicted\n and aged divine to be degraded as a minister, to have one of his\n ears cut off, and one side of his nose slit, to be branded on the\n face with a red-hot iron, to stand in the pillory, to be whipped\n at a post, to pay a fine of \u00a31000, and to suffer imprisonment\n till the fine was paid. When this inhuman sentence was\n pronounced, Laud took off his hat, and holding up his hands, gave\n thanks to God, who had given the church victory over her enemies!\n The sentence was executed without mercy; and Leighton lay in\n prison until the meeting of the Long Parliament, that is, upwards\n of ten years. When liberated, he could hardly walk, see, or hear.\n He died in 1649. He was the father of the celebrated Robert\n Leighton, Archbishop of Glasgow. When this letter was written to\n him by Rutherford, he had languished many years in prison.]\n\n(_PUBLIC BLESSINGS ALLEVIATE PRIVATE SUFFERINGS--TRIALS LIGHT WHEN\nVIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN--CHRIST WORTHY OF SUFFERING FOR._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND MUCH HONOURED PRISONER OF HOPE,--Grace, mercy, and peace\nbe to you.-- It was not my part (whom our Lord hath enlarged) to\nforget you His prisoner.\n\nWhen I consider how long your night hath been, I think Christ hath a\nmind to put you in free grace's debt so much the deeper, as your\nsufferings have been of so long continuance. But what if Christ mind\nyou no joy but public joy, with enlarged and triumphing Zion. I\nthink, Sir, that ye would love best to share and divide your song of\njoy with Zion, and to have mystical Christ in Britain halfer and\ncopartner with your enlargement. I am sure that your joy, bordering\nand neighbouring with the joy of Christ's bride, would be so much the\nsweeter that it were public. I thought if Christ had halved my\nmercies, and delivered His bride and not me, that His praises should\nhave been double to what they are; but now two rich mercies conjoined\nin one have stolen from our Lord more than half-praises. Oh that mercy\nshould so beguile us, and steal away our counts and acknowledgment!\n\nWorthy Sir, I hope that I need not exhort you to go on in hoping for\nthe salvation of God. There hath not been so much taken from your time\nof ease and created joys, as eternity shall add to your heaven. Ye\nknow when one day in heaven hath paid you (yea, and overpaid your\nblood, bonds, sorrow, and sufferings), that it would trouble angels'\nunderstanding to lay the count of that surplus of glory which eternity\ncan and will give you. Oh but your sand-glass of sufferings and losses\ncometh to little, when it shall be counted and compared with the glory\nthat abideth you on the other side of the water! Ye have no leisure to\nrejoice and sing here, while time goeth about you, and where your\npsalms will be short; therefore, ye will think eternity, and the long\nday of heaven that shall be measured with no other sun, nor horologe,\nthan the long life of the Ancient of Days, to measure your praises,\nlittle enough for you. If your span-length of time be cloudy, ye\ncannot but think that your Lord can no more take your blood and your\nbands without the income and recompense of free grace, than He would\ntake the sufferings of Paul and His other dear servants, that were\nwell paid home beyond all counting (Rom. viii. 18). If the wisdom of\nChrist hath made you Antichrist's eyesore and his envy, ye are to\nthank God that such a piece of clay, as ye are, is made the field of\nglory to work upon. It was the Potter's aim that the clay should\npraise Him, and I hope it satisfieth you that your clay is for His\nglory. Oh, who can suffer enough for such a Lord! and who can lay out\nin bank, enough of pain, shame, losses, and tortures to receive in\nagain the free interest of eternal glory! (2 Cor. iv. 17). Oh, how\nadvantageous a bargaining is it with such a rich Lord! If your hand\nand pen had been at leisure to gain glory on paper, it had been but\npaper glory: but the bearing of a public cross so long, for the now\ncontroverted privileges of the crown and sceptre of free King Jesus,\nthe Prince of the kings of the earth, is glory booked in heaven.\nWorthy and dear brother, if ye go to weigh Jesus, His sweetness,\nexcellency, glory, and beauty, and lay foregainst Him your ounces or\ndrachms of suffering for Him, ye shall be straitened two ways. 1. It\nwill be a pain to make the comparison, the disproportion being by no\nunderstanding imaginable: nay, if heaven's arithmetic and angels' were\nset to work, they should never number the degrees of difference. 2. It\nwould straiten you to find a scale for the balance to lay that high\nand lofty One (that over-transcending Prince of excellency) in. If\nyour mind could fancy as many created heavens as time hath had\nminutes, trees have had leaves, and clouds have had raindrops, since\nthe first stone of the creation was laid, they should not make half a\nscale in which to bear and weigh boundless excellency. And, therefore,\nthe King whose marks ye are bearing, and whose dying ye carry about\nwith you in your body, is, out of all cry and consideration, beyond\nand above all our thoughts.\n\nFor myself, I am content to feed upon wondering, sometimes, at the\nbeholding but of the borders and skirts of the incomparable glory\nwhich is in that exalted Prince. And I think ye could wish for more\nears to give than ye have, since ye hope these ears ye now have given\nHim shall be passages to take in the music of His glorious voice. I\nwould fain both believe and pray for a new bride of Jews and Gentiles\nto our Lord Jesus, after the land of graven images shall be laid\nwaste; and that our Lord Jesus is on horseback, hunting and pursuing\nthe Beast; and that England and Ireland shall be well-sweeped chambers\nfor Christ and His righteousness to dwell in; for He hath opened our\ngraves in Scotland, and the two dead and buried witnesses are risen\nagain, and are prophesying. Oh that princes would glory and boast\nthemselves in carrying the train of Christ's robe royal in their arms!\nLet me die within half an hour after I have seen the temple of the Son\nof God enlarged, and the cords of Jerusalem's tent lengthened, to take\nin a more numerous company for a bride to the Son of God! Oh, if the\ncorner or foundation-stone of that house, that new house, were laid\nabove my grave!\n\nOh! who can add to Him who is that great All! If He would create suns\nand moons, new heavens, thousand and thousand degrees more perfect\nthan these that now are; and again, make a new creation ten thousand\nthousand degrees in perfection beyond that new creation; and again,\nstill for eternity multiply new heavens, they should never be a\nperfect resemblance of that infinite excellency, order, weight,\nmeasure, beauty, and sweetness that is in Him. Oh, how little of Him\ndo we see! Oh, how shallow are our thoughts of Him! Oh, if I had pain\nfor Him, and shame and losses for Him, and more clay and spirits for\nHim! and that I could go upon earth without love, desire, hope,\nbecause Christ hath taken away my love, desire, and hope to heaven\nwith Him!\n\nI know, worthy Sir, your sufferings for Him are your glory; and,\ntherefore, weary not. His salvation is near at hand, and shall not\ntarry.\n\nPray for me. His grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Nov. 22, 1639_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXC.--_To a Person unknown, anent Private Worship in time and place\nof public._[413]\n\n [413] From a copy among the Wodrow MSS., vol. xxix. 4to, No. 13.\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I do not know a private worship, set and\nintended, compatible with a public worship set and intended.\nEjaculations are fruits of public worship and breathings of the spirit\nin public speaking, but they are _aliquid cultus publici, non cultus\npublicus_ (something akin to public worship, but not public worship).\n2. I know not a member in the kirk who should have a worship _in\nspecie_ (in kind) different from the worship of the whole kirk; and so\nI do not see (saving better judgment) a lawfulness of private set\npraying, when there is another set worship of praising, reading, etc.\n3. I doubt if there should be any set worship in the kirk to which all\nthe hearers should not say Amen, even the rude and unbelievers (1 Cor.\nxiv. 23-25). But to a private prayer, when the worship is public, who\ncan say Amen? 4. I think the people may all fall to their private\nprayers and private reading, in time the minister preacheth, if he\nfall to praying when they are praising or hearing the word read. 5. I\ndare not say they have a Pharisee's mind who pray in public after a\nprivate manner, and join not with the public service of the kirk. But\n_in natura operis_ (in regard to the nature of the work), I think them\nmore pharisaical than the other case is Brownish.[414] 6. Brownism's\nlife is in separation; but the private supplicator, when the kirk is\npraising and hearing the word read, in my weak judgment, is in the act\nof separation; that I should not say,[415] they are ignorant of\nBrownism, who object this to such as will not kneel in pulpit. 7.\nNeither Scripture nor Act of our Assemblies doth allow this human\ncustom. I think they dare not be answerable to a General Assembly who\ndare call on them to censure for a human and unorderly custom against\nthe word of God so directly. 8. If such as go not to private pulpit\nprayer neglect private prayer before they come in public, they deserve\ncensure. Whatever hath been my practice before I examined this custom,\nI purpose now no more to confound worships. And thus recommending you\nto the grace of God, I rest,\n\n S. R.\n\n _January 16, 1640._\n\n [414] Savours of the sect called \"Brownists.\"\n\n [415] While at the same time I may add.\n\n\n\n\nCCXCI.--_To MR. HENRY STUART, his Wife, and two Daughters, all\nPrisoners of Christ at Dublin._\n\n [HENRY STUART was a gentleman of considerable property in\n Ireland. He himself, his wife, and family, consisting of two\n daughters and a domestic servant named James Gray, having refused\n to swear the \"Black Oath,\" were carried to Dublin by a\n serjeant-at-arms, and placed in close and rigorous confinement.\n On the 10th of August 1639, all of them were brought to trial in\n the Star Chamber. Stuart, being permitted to speak in his own\n defence, declared before the court, that he had no objection\n whatever to take the former part of the oath, \"promising _civil\n allegiance_, but that he could not take the latter part, which he\n conceived bound the swearer to yield unlimited _ecclesiastical\n obedience to the King_.\" Wentworth, who presided at the trial, in\n reply, admitted that this interpretation of the oath was quite\n correct, and concluded by pronouncing the sentence of the court.\n Stuart was fined \u00a35000, and his wife a similar sum; his\n daughters, \u00a32000 each; and Gray although only a servant, \u00a32000; a\n sum of \u00a316,000 in all; and they were to be detained at Dublin in\n prison till these exorbitant fines were paid. They were at length\n liberated by the Irish Parliament, which set itself in 1641 to\n remedy the evils of Strafford's Government, after they had\n suffered an imprisonment of a year and three months. But Stuart's\n property having been confiscated by Strafford, the family were\n reduced to great poverty. He retired to Scotland, of which he was\n a native, and applied, in the month of September 1641, to the\n Parliament sitting at Edinburgh, to recommend to the English\n Parliament to take measures for enabling him to recover his\n property. The Scottish Parliament did so, but the result of their\n application is unknown (Reid's \"History of the Presbyterian\n Church in Ireland,\" vol. i.).]\n\n(_FAITH'S PREPARATION FOR TRIAL--THE WORLD'S RAGE AGAINST CHRIST--THE\nIMMENSITY OF HIS GLORIOUS BEAUTY--FOLLY OF PERSECUTION--VICTORY\nSURE._)\n\n \"Fear none of these things, which ye shall suffer,\" etc.--REV. ii. 10.\n\n\nTRULY HONOURED, AND DEARLY BELOVED,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you\nfrom God our Father, and our Lord Jesus.\n\nThink it not strange, beloved in our Lord Jesus, that Satan can\ncommand keys of prisons, and bolts, and chains. This is a piece of the\ndevil's princedom that he hath over the world. Interpret and\nunderstand our Lord well in this. Be not jealous of His love, though\nHe make devils and men His under-servants to scour the rust off your\nfaith, and purge you from your dross. And let me charge you, O\nprisoners of hope, to open your window, and to look out by faith, and\nbehold heaven's post (that speedy and swift salvation of God), that is\ncoming to you. It is a broad river that faith will not look over: it\nis a mighty and a broad sea, that they of a lively hope cannot behold\nthe furthest bank and other shore thereof. Look over the water; your\nanchor is fixed within the vail; the one end of the cable is about the\nprisoner of Christ, and the other is entered within the vail, whither\nthe Forerunner is entered for you (Heb. vi. 19, 20). It can go\nstraight through the flames of the fire of the wrath of men, devils,\nlosses, tortures, death, and not a thread of it be singed or burnt:\nMen and devils have no teeth to bite it in two. Hold fast till He\ncome. Your cross is of the colour of heaven and Christ, and passmented\nover with the faith and comforts of the Lord's faithful covenant with\nScotland: and that dye and colour will abide foul weather, and neither\nbe stained nor cast the colour. Yet, it reflects a scad like the cross\nof Christ, whose holy hands, many a day lifted up to God, praying for\nsinners, were fettered and bound, as if those blessed hands had\nstolen, and shed innocent blood. When your lovely, lovely Jesus had no\nbetter than the thief's doom, it is no wonder that your process be\nlawless and turned upside down; for He was taken, fettered, buffeted,\nwhipped, spitted upon, before He was convicted of any fault, or\nsentenced. Oh, such a pair of sufferers and witnesses, as high and\nroyal Jesus and a poor piece of guilty clay marrowed together under\none yoke! Oh, how lovely is the cross with such a second!\n\nI believe that your prison is enacted in God's court not to keep you\ntill your hope breathe out its life and last. Your cross is under law\nto restore you again safe to your brethren and sisters in Christ. Take\nheaven's and Christ's back-bond for a fair back-door out of your\nsuffering. The Saviour is on His journey with salvation and\ndeliverance for Mount Zion; and the sword of the Lord is drunk with\nblood, and made fat with fatness. His sword is bathed in heaven\nagainst Babylon, for it is \"the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the\nyear of recompense for the controversy of Zion:\" and persuade\nyourselves the streams of the river of Babylon shall be pitch, and the\ndust of the land brimstone and burning pitch (Isa. xxxiv. 8, 9). And\nif your deliverance be joined with the deliverance of Zion, it shall\nbe two salvations to you.\n\nIt were good to be armed beforehand for death or bodily tortures for\nChrist; and to think what a crown of honour it is, that God hath given\nyou pieces of living clay to be tortured witnesses for saving truth;\nand that ye are so happy, as to have some pints of blood to give out\nfor the crown of that royal Lord, who hath caused you to avouch\nHimself before men. If ye can lend fines of three thousand pounds\nsterling for Christ, let heaven's register and Christ's count-book\nkeep in reckoning your depursements for Him. It shall be engraven and\nprinted in great letters upon heaven's throne, what you are willing to\ngive for Him. Christ's papers of that kind cannot be lost, or fall by.\n\nDo not wonder to see clay boist the great Potter, and to see blinded\nmen threaten the Gospel with death and burial, and to raze out truth's\nname. But where will they make a grave for the Gospel, and the Lord's\nbride? Earth and hell shall be but little bounds for their burial. Lay\nall the clay and rubbish of this inch of the whole earth above our\nLord's Spouse, yet it will not cover her nor hold her down; she shall\nlive and not die; she shall behold the salvation of God. Let your\nfaith frist God a little, and not be afraid for a smoking firebrand.\nThere is more smoke in Babylon's furnace than there is fire. Till\ndoomsday shall come, they shall never see the kirk of Scotland and our\nCovenant burnt to ashes; or, if it should be thrown into the fire, yet\nit cannot be so burnt or buried as not to have a resurrection. Angry\nclay's wind shall shake none of Christ's corn: He will gather in all\nHis wheat into His barn. Only let your fellowship with Christ be\nrenewed.\n\nYe are sibber to Christ now, when you are imprisoned for Him, than\nbefore; for now the strokes laid on you do come in remembrance before\nour Lord, and He can own His own wounds. A drink of Christ's love,\nwhich is better than wine, is the drink-silver which suffering for His\nmajesty leaveth behind it. It is not your sins which they persecute in\nyou, but God's grace, and loyalty to King Jesus. They see no treason\nin you to your prince the King of Britain, albeit they say so; but it\nis heaven in you that earth is fighting against. And Christ is owning\nHis own cause. Grace is a party that fire will not burn, nor water\ndrown. When they have eaten and drunken you, their stomach shall be\nsick, and they shall spue you out alive. Oh, what glory is it to be\nsuffering abjects (Ps. xxxv. 15) for the Lord's glory and royalty!\nNay, though His servants had a body to burn for ever for this Gospel,\nso being that the high glory of triumphing and exalted Jesus did rise\nout of these flames, and out of that burning body, oh what a sweet\nfire! oh what soul-refreshing torment would that be! What if the\npickles of dust and ashes of the burnt and dissolved body were\nmusicians to sing His praises, and the highness of that\nnever-enough-exalted Prince of ages? Oh, what love is it in Him that\nHe will have such musicians as we are, to tune that psalm of His\neverlasting praises in heaven! Oh, what shining and burning flames of\nlove are these, that Christ will divide His share of life, of heaven\nand glory, with you! (Luke xxii. 29; John xvii. 24; Rev. iii. 21). A\npart of His throne, one draught of His wine (His wine of glory and\nlife that cometh from under the throne of God and of the Lamb), and\none apple of the tree of life, will do more than make up all the\nexpenses and charges of clay, lent out for heaven. Oh! oh! but we have\nshort, and narrow, and creeping thoughts of Jesus, and do but shape\nChrist in our conceptions according to some created portraiture! O\nangels, lend in your help to make love-books and songs of our fair,\nand white, and ruddy Standard-bearer amongst ten thousand! O heavens!\nO heaven of heavens! O glorified tenants, and triumphing house-holders\nwith the Lamb, put in new psalms and love-sonnets of the excellency of\nour Bridegroom, and help us to set Him on high! O indwellers of earth\nand heaven, sea and air, and O all ye created beings within the bosom\nof the utmost circle of this great world, oh come help to set on high\nthe praises of our Lord! O fairness of creatures, blush before His\nuncreated beauty! O created strength, be amazed to stand before your\nstrong Lord of hosts! O created love, think shame of thyself before\nthis unparalleled love of heaven! O angel-wisdom, hide thyself before\nour Lord, whose understanding passeth finding out! O sun in thy\nshining beauty, for shame put on a web of darkness, and cover thyself\nbefore thy brightest Master and Maker! Oh, who can add glory, by doing\nor suffering, to the never-enough admired and praised Lover! Oh we can\nbut bring our drop to this sea, and our candle, dim and dark as it is,\nto this clear and lightsome Sun of heaven and earth! Oh but we have\ncause to drink ten deaths in one cup dry, to swim through ten seas, to\nbe at that land of praises, where we shall see that wonder of wonders,\nand enjoy this Jewel of heaven's jewels! O death, do thy utmost\nagainst us! O torments, O malice of men and devils, waste your\nstrength on the witnesses of our Lord's Testament! O devils, bring\nhell to help you in tormenting the followers of the Lamb! We will defy\nyou to make us too soon happy, and to waft us too soon over the water\nto the land where the noble Plant, the Plant of Renown, groweth. O\ncruel time, that tormenteth us, and suspendeth our dearest enjoyments\nthat we wait for, when we shall be bathed and steeped, soul and body,\ndown in the depths of this Love of Loves! O time, I say, run fast! O\nmotions, mend your pace? O well-beloved, be like a young roe on the\nmountains of separation! Post, post, and hasten our desired and\nhungered-for meeting. Love is sick to hear tell of to-morrow.\n\nAnd what, then, can come wrong to you, O honourable witnesses of His\nkingly truth? Men have no more of you to work upon than some inches\nand span-lengths of sick, coughing, and phlegmatic clay. Your spirits\nare above their Benches, Courts, or High Commissions. Your souls, your\nlove to Christ, your faith, cannot be summoned nor sentenced, nor\naccused nor condemned, by pope, deputy, prelate, ruler, or tyrant.\nYour faith is a free lord, and cannot be a captive. All the malice of\nhell and earth can but hurt the scabbard of a believer; and death, at\nthe worst, can get but a clay pawn[416] in keeping till your Lord\nmake[417] the King's keys, and open your graves. Therefore, upon\nluck's head (as we use to say) take your fill of His love, and let a\npost-way or causeway be laid betwixt your prison and heaven, and go up\nand visit your treasure. Enjoy your Beloved, and dwell upon His love,\ntill eternity come in time's room, and possess you of your eternal\nhappiness. Keep your love to Christ, lay up your faith in heaven's\nkeeping, and follow the Chief of the house of the martyrs that\nwitnessed a fair confession before Pontius Pilate. Your cause and His\nis all one. The opposers of His cause are like drunken judges and\ntransported, who, in their cups, would make acts and laws in their\ndrunken courts that the sun should not rise and shine on the earth,\nand send their officers and pursuivants to charge the sun and moon to\ngive no more light to the world; and would enact in their court-books,\nthat the sea, after once ebbing, should never flow again. But would\nnot the sun, moon, and sea break these acts, and keep their Creator's\ndirections? The devil (the great fool, and father of these\nunder-fools) is older and more malicious than wise, that setteth the\nspirits in earth on work to contend and clash with heaven's wisdom,\nand to give mandates and law-summons to our Sun, to our great Star of\nheaven, Jesus, not to shine in the beauty of His Gospel to the chosen\nand bought ones. O thou fair and fairest Sun of righteousness, arise\nand shine in Thy strength, whether earth or hell will or not. O\nvictorious, O royal, O stout, princely Soul-conqueror, ride\nprosperously upon truth; stretch out Thy sceptre as far as the sun\nshineth, and the moon waxeth and waneth. Put on Thy glittering crown,\nO Thou Maker of kings, and make but one stride, or one step of the\nwhole earth, and travel in the greatness of Thy strength (Isa. lxii.\n1, 2). And let Thy apparel be red, and all dyed with the blood of Thy\nenemies. Thou art fallen righteous Heir by line to the kingdoms of the\nworld.\n\n [416] A security of clay or earth. Often, in his sermon on Dan. vi.\n 26, before the House of Commons, 1644, he uses such expressions as,\n \"Clay triumpheth over angels and hell, through the strength of Jesus\"\n (p. 8); \"Men are but pieces of breathing, laughing, and then dying,\n clay\" (p. 41).\n\n [417] Is it not \"_take_?\"\n\nLaugh ye at the giddy-headed clay pots, and stout, brain-sick worms,\nthat dare say in good earnest, \"This man shall not reign over us!\" as\nthough they were casting the dice for Christ's crown, which of them\nshould have it. I know that ye believe the coming of Christ's kingdom;\nand that there is a hole out of your prison, through which ye see\ndaylight. Let not faith be dazzled with temptations from a dying\nDeputy,[418] and from a sick Prelate. Believe under a cloud, and wait\nfor Him when there is no moonlight nor starlight. Let faith live and\nbreathe, and lay hold on the sure salvation of God, when clouds and\ndarkness are about you, and appearance of rotting in the prison before\nyou. Take heed of unbelieving hearts, which can father lies upon\nChrist. Beware of \"Doth His promise fail for evermore?\" (Ps. lxxvii.\n8). For it was a man, and not God, that said it, who dreamed that a\npromise of God could fail, fall aswoon, or die. We can make God sick,\nor His promises weak, when we are pleased to seek a plea with Christ.\nO sweet, O stout word of faith, \"Though He may slay me, yet will I\ntrust in Him!\" (Job xiii. 15). O sweet epitaph, written upon the\ngrave-stone of a dying believer, namely, \"I died hoping, and my dust\nand ashes believe in life!\" Faith's eyes, that can see through a\nmill-stone, can see through a gloom of God, and under it read God's\nthoughts of love and peace. Hold fast Christ in the dark; surely ye\nshall see the salvation of God. Your adversaries are ripe and dry for\nthe fire. Yet a little while, and they shall go up in a flame; the\nbreath of the Lord, like a river of brimstone, shall kindle about them\n(Isa. xxx. 33).\n\n [418] Deputy, or Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.\n\nWhat I write to one, I write to you all that are sound-hearted in that\nkingdom, whom, in the bowels of Christ, I would exhort not to touch\nthat oath. Albeit the adversaries put a fair meaning on it, yet the\nswearer must swear according to the professed intent and godless\npractice of the oath-makers, which is known to the world. Otherwise I\nmight swear that the Creed is false, according to this private meaning\nand sense put upon it. Oh, let them not be beguiled to wash perjury\nand the denial of Christ and the Gospel with ink water, some foul and\nrotten distinctions. Wash, and wash again and again, the devil and the\nlie, it will be long ere their skin be white.\n\nI profess it should beseem men of great parts rather than me to write\nto you. But I love your cause, and desire to be excused; and must\nentreat for the help of your prayers, in this my weighty charge here\nfor the university and pulpit, and that ye would intreat your\nacquaintance also to help me. Grace be with you all. Amen.\n\nYour brother and companion, in the patience and kingdom of Jesus\nChrist,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, 1640.\n\n\n\n\nCCXCII.--_To MRS. PONT, Prisoner at Dublin._\n\n [MRS. PONT, whose maiden name was Isabel Stewart, was the wife of\n Mr. Pont, minister of a parish in the diocese of Raphoe. Pont\n declined to use the prescribed ceremonies of the church, and\n condemned the increasing severities towards nonconformists,\n together with the unscriptural jurisdiction of the prelates. It\n appears that he had also held meetings for worship and public\n preaching, contrary to the canons; and that his wife had in some\n way signalized herself by her opposition to Prelacy, and her\n frequenting these more private assemblies. John Leslie, Bishop of\n Raphoe, reporting the matter to Wentworth, was recommended to\n deprive Pont of his benefice, and \"to proceed against his wife in\n such way as her fault deserves, and the laws will bear.\" Pont\n himself escaped to Scotland, but his wife was imprisoned in the\n castle of Dublin. She lay in prison nearly three years, not being\n liberated till 1641 by the Irish Parliament. In May 1641 she\n presented a petition to the Irish House of Commons against the\n Bishop of Raphoe, for committing her to prison, and charging her\n with high treason, solely on his own authority. The House\n resolved that the Bishop, by his illegal conduct, had involved\n himself in the penalties of the statute of _pr\u00e6munire_; but no\n further proceedings appear to have been taken against him. \"In\n these proceedings,\" says Dr. Reid, \"Mrs. Pont is styled, 'Mrs.\n Isabel Pont _alias_ Stewart, widow;' whence it appears that her\n husband must have died soon after he had fled to Scotland\"\n (Reid's \"History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland,\" vol.\n i.). This lady afterwards came over to Scotland, and died on the\n 9th of November 1704. Wodrow visited her repeatedly under her\n last illness. He calls her \"this extraordinary person.\" On\n visiting her the night preceding her death, she said to him, \"I\n never had so few temptations as now. I am only waiting God's time\n of departure.\" Again calling upon her next morning, he says, \"I\n think her last breath went out just when I resigned her to God,\n as far as I could notice, about seven in the morning\"\n (\"Analecta,\" vol. i. p. 55).]\n\n(_SUPPORT UNDER TRIALS--THE MASTER'S REWARD._)\n\n\nWORTHY AND DEAR MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--The\ncause which ye suffer for, and your willingness to suffer, is ground\nenough of acquaintance for me to write to you; although I do confess\nmyself unable to speak for the encouragement of a prisoner of Christ.\n\nI know that ye have advantage beyond us who are not under sufferings;\nfor your sighing (Ps. cii. 20) is a written bill for the ears of your\nHead, the Lord Jesus; and your breathing (Lam. iii. 56), and your\nlooking up (Ps. v. 3, and lxix. 3). And, therefore, your meaning,\nhalf-spoken, half-unspoken, will seek no jailor's leave, but will go\nto heaven without leave of prelate or deputy, and be heartily welcome;\nso that ye may sigh and groan out your mind to Him who hath all the\nkeys of the king's three kingdoms and dominions. I dare believe that\nyour hope shall not die. Your trouble is a part of Zion's burning; and\nye know who guideth Zion's furnace, and who loveth the ashes of His\nburnt bride, because His servants love them (Ps. cii. 14). I believe\nthat your ashes, if ye were burnt for this cause, shall praise Him:\nfor the wrath of men and their malice shall make a psalm to praise the\nLord (Ps. lxxvi. 10). And, therefore, stand still, and behold and see\nwhat the Lord is to do for this island. His work is perfect (Deut.\nxxxii. 4). The nations have not seen the last end of His work; His end\nis more fair and more glorious than the beginning.\n\nYe have more honour than ye can be able to guide well, in that your\nbonds are made heavy for such an honourable cause. The seals of a\ncontrolled[419] Gospel, and the seals by bonds, and blood, and\nsufferings, are not committed to every ordinary professor. Some that\nwould back Christ honestly in summer-time, would but spill the beauty\nof the Gospel if they were put to suffering. And, therefore, let us\nbelieve that Wisdom dispenseth to every one here, as He thinketh good,\nwho beareth them up that bear the cross. And since our Lord hath put\nyou to that part which was the flower of His own sufferings, we all\nexpect that, as ye have in the strength of our Captain begun, so ye\nwill go on without fainting. Providence maketh use of men and devils\nfor the refining of all the vessels of God's house, small and great,\nand for doing of two great works at once in you, both for smoothing a\nstone to make it take band with Christ in Jerusalem's wall, and for\nwitnessing to the glory of this reproached and borne-down Gospel,\nwhich cannot die though hell were made a grave about it. It shall be\ntimeous joy for you, to divide joy betwixt you and Christ's laughing\nbride in these three kingdoms. And what if your mourning continue till\nmystical Christ (in Ireland and in Great Britain) and ye laugh both\ntogether? Your laughing and joy were the more blessed, that one sun\nshould shine upon Christ, the Gospel, and you, laughing altogether in\nthese three kingdoms. Your time is measured, and your days and hours\nof suffering from eternity were, by infinite Wisdom, considered. If\nheaven recompense not to your own mind inches of sorrow, then I must\nsay that infinite Mercy cannot get you pleased; but if the first kiss\nof the white and ruddy cheek of the Standard-bearer and Chief among\nten thousand thousand (Cant. v. 10), shall overpay your prison at\nDublin, in Ireland, then ye shall have no counts unanswered to give in\nto Christ. If your faith cannot see a nearer term-day, yet let me\ncharge your hope to give Christ a new day, till eternity and time meet\nin one point. A paid sum, if ever paid, is paid if no day be broken to\nthe hungry creditor. Take heaven's bond and subscribed obligation for\nthe sum (John xiv. 3). If hope can trust Christ, I know that He can,\nand will pay. But when all is done and suffered by you, ten hundred\ndeaths for lovely, lovely Jesus is but eternity's halfpenny; figures\nand cyphers cannot lay the proportion. Oh, but the surplus of Christ's\nglory is broad and large! Christ's items of eternal glory are hard and\ncumbersome to tell; and if ye borrow, by faith and hope, ten days or\nten hundred years from that eternity of glory that abideth you, ye\nare paid and more, in your own hand. Therefore, O prisoner of hope,\nwait on; posting, hasting salvation sleepeth not. Antichrist is\nbleeding, and in the way to death; and he biteth the sorest, when he\nbleedeth the fastest. Keep your intelligence betwixt you and heaven,\nand your court with Christ. He hath in heaven the keys of your prison,\nand can set you at liberty when He pleaseth. His rich grace support\nyou. I pray you to help me with your prayers. Grace be with you.\n\n [419] The Gospel, the preaching of which men are seeking to hinder.\n\nYour brother, in the patience and kingdom of Jesus Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, 1640.\n\n\n\n\nCCXCIII.--_To_ MR. JAMES WILSON.\n\n [There was a cotemporary of that name, the minister of Inch, in\n the Presbytery of Stranraer. There was also a _James Wilson_ who\n was a friend of Blair, and minister of Dysart in 1653. (See Row's\n \"Life of Blair.\") This letter indicates that the correspondent\n was a man of thought and education.]\n\n(_ADVICES TO A DOUBTING SOUL--MISTAKES ABOUT HIS INTEREST IN GOD'S\nLOVE--TEMPTATION--PERPLEXITY ABOUT PRAYER--WANT OF FEELING._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied upon you.--I\nbless our rich and only wise Lord, who careth so for His new creation\nthat He is going over it again, and trying every piece in you, and\nblowing away the motes of His new work in you. Alas! I am not so fit a\nphysician as your disease requireth. Sweet, sweet, lovely Jesus be\nyour physician, where His under-chirurgeons cannot do anything for\nputting in order the wheels, paces, and goings of a marred[420] soul.\nI have little time; but yet the Lord hath made me so to concern myself\nin your condition, that I dow not, I dare not, be altogether silent.\n\n [420] A soul that has been put out of order. The edition of 1675, and\n some others, has \"married soul.\"\n\nFirst: ye doubt, from 2 Cor. xiii. 5, whether ye be in Christ or not?\nand so, whether you are a reprobate or not? I answer three things to\nthe doubt.--1. Ye owe charity to all men, but most of all to lovely\nand loving Jesus, and some also to your self; especially to your\nrenewed self, because your new self is not yours, but another Lord's,\neven the work of His own Spirit. Therefore, to slander His work is to\nwrong Himself. Love thinketh no evil: if ye love grace, think not ill\nof grace in yourself. And ye think ill of grace in yourself when ye\nmake it but a bastard and a work of nature; for a holy fear that ye\nbe not Christ's, and withal a care and a desire to be His, and not\nyour own, is not, nay cannot be, bastard nature. The great Advocate\npleadeth hard for you; be upon the Advocate's side, O poor feared\nclient of Christ! Stay, and side with such a Lover, who pleadeth for\nno other man's goods than His own; for He (if I may say so) scorneth\nto be enriched with unjust conquest. And yet He pleadeth for you,\nwhereof your letter (though too, too full of jealousy) is a proof.\nFor, if ye were not His, your thoughts (which, I hope, are but the\nsuggestions of His Spirit, that only bringeth the matter into debate\nto make it sure to you) would not be such, nor so serious as these,\n\"Am I His?\" or \"Whose am I?\" 2. Dare ye forswear your Owner, and say\nin cold blood, \"I am not His\"? What nature or corruption saith at\nstarts in you, I regard not. Your thoughts of yourself, when sin and\nguiltiness round you in the ear, and when you have a sight of your\ndeservings, are Apocrypha, and not Scripture, I hope. Hear what the\nLord saith of you: \"He will speak peace.\" If your Master say, \"I quit\nyou,\" I shall then bid you eat ashes for bread, and drink waters of\ngall and wormwood. But, however Christ out of His own mouth should\nseem to say, \"I come not for thee,\" as He did, Matt. xv. 24; yet let\nme say that the words of the tempting Jesus[421] are not to be\nstretched as Scripture, beyond His intention, seeing His intention in\nspeaking them is to strengthen, not to deceive. And, therefore, here\nfaith may contradict what Christ seemeth at first to say, and so may\nye. I charge you by the mercies of God, be not that cruel to grace and\nthe new birth as to cast water on your own coal by misbelief. If ye\nmust die (as I know ye shall not), it were a folly to slay yourself.\n3. I hope that ye love the new birth and a claim to Christ, howbeit ye\ndo not make it good; and if ye were in hell, and saw the heavenly face\nof lovely, ten thousand times lovely Jesus, that hath God's hue, and\nGod's fair, fair and comely red and white, wherewith it is beautified\nbeyond comparison and imagination, ye could not forbear to say, \"Oh,\nif I could but blow a kiss from my sinful mouth from hell up to\nheaven, upon His cheeks that are a bed of spices as sweet flowers!\"\n(Cant. v. 13). I hope ye dare say, \"O fairest sight of heaven! O\nboundless mass of crucified and slain love for me, give me leave to\nwish to love Thee! O Flower and Bloom of heaven and earth's love! O\nangels' Wonder! O Thou, the Father's eternal, sealed Love! and O\nThou, God's old Delight! give me leave to stand beside Thy love, and\nlook in and wonder; and give me leave to wish to love Thee, if I can\ndo no more.\" 4. We being born in atheism, and bairns of the house that\nwe are come of, it is no new thing, my dear brother, for us to be\nunder jealousies and mistakes about the love of God. What think ye of\nthis, that the man, Christ, was tempted to believe there were but two\npersons in the blessed Godhead, and that the Son of God, the\nsubstantial and coeternal Son, was not the lawful Son of God? Did not\nSatan say, \"If Thou be the Son of God?\"\n\n [421] Jesus, when He puts us to trial (Gen. xxii.).\n\nSecondly: Ye say, that ye know not what to do. Your Head said once the\nsame word, or not far from it. \"Now is My soul troubled, and what\nshall I say?\" (John xii. 27). And faith answered Christ's \"What shall\nI say?\" with these words: \"O tempted Saviour, askest Thou, 'What shall\nI say?' Say, 'Pray, Father, save Me from this hour.'\" What course can\nye take but pray and frist Christ His own comforts? He is no dyvour;\ntake His word. \"Oh,\" say ye, \"I cannot pray?\" Answer--Honest sighing\nis faith breathing and whispering Him in the ear. The life is not out\nof faith where there is sighing, looking up with the eyes, and\nbreathing toward God. Hide not Thine ear at my breathing (Lam. iii.\n56). \"But what shall I do in spiritual exercises?\" ye say. Answer--1.\nIf ye knew particularly what to do, it were not a spiritual exercise.\n2. In my weak judgment, ye should first say, \"I would glorify God in\nbelieving David's salvation, and the Bride's marriage with the Lamb,\nand love the church's slain Husband, although I cannot for the present\nbelieve mine own salvation.\" 3. Say, \"I will not pass from my claim:\nsuppose Christ should pass from His claim to me, it shall not go back\nupon my side. Howbeit my love to Him be not worth a drink of water,\nyet Christ shall have it, such as it is.\" 4. Say, \"I shall rather\nspill twenty prayers, than not pray at all. Let my broken words go up\nto heaven: when they come up into the Great Angel's golden censer,\nthat compassionate Advocate will put together my broken prayers, and\nperfume them.\" Words are but the accidents[422] of prayer.\n\n [422] The incidental accompaniments.\n\n\"Oh,\" say ye, \"I am slain with hardness of heart, and troubled with\nconfused and melancholious thoughts.\" Answer--My dear brother, what\nwould ye conclude thence? That ye know not well who aughteth you? I\ngrant: \"Oh, my heart is hard! oh, my thoughts of faithless sorrow!\n_Ergo_, I know not who aughteth me,\" were good logic in heaven\namongst angels and the glorified; but down in Christ's hospital, where\nsick and distempered souls are under cure, it is not worth a straw.\nGive Christ time to end His work in your heart. Hold on, in feeling\nand bewailing your hardness; for that is softness to feel hardness. 2.\nI charge you to make psalms of Christ's praises for His begun work of\ngrace. Make Christ your music and your song; for complaining and\nfeeling of want doth often swallow up your praises. What think ye of\nthose who go to hell never troubled with such thoughts? If your\nexercises be the way to hell, God help me! I have a cold coal to blow\nat, and a blank paper for heaven. I give you Christ caution, and my\nheaven surety, for your salvation. Lend Christ your melancholy, for\nSatan hath no right to make a chamber in your melancholy. Borrow joy\nand comfort from the Comforter. Bid the Spirit do His office in you;\nand remember that faith is one thing, and the feeling and notice of\nfaith another. God forbid that _feeling_ were _proprium quarto\nmodo_[423] to all the saints; and that this were good reasoning, \"No\nfeeling, no grace.\" I am sure ye were not always, these twenty years\nby-past, actually knowing that ye live! yet all this time ye are\nliving. So it is with the life of faith.\n\n [423] This is a term of logic, and refers to the fourth kind of\n categorical proposition, in which some particular point is proved in\n the negative.\n\nBut, alas! dear brother, it is easy for me to speak words and\nsyllables of peace; but Isaiah telleth you, \"I create peace\" (Isa.\nlvii. 19). There is but one Creator, ye know. Oh that ye may get a\nletter of peace sent you from heaven!\n\nPray for me, and for grace to be faithful, and for gifts to be able,\nwith tongue and pen, to glorify God. I forget you not.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Jan. 8, 1640_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXCIV.--_To my_ LADY BOYD.\n\n(_SINS OF THE LAND--DWELLING IN CHRIST--FAITH AWAKE SEES ALL WELL._)\n\n\nMADAM,--I received your Ladyship's letter; but because I was still\ngoing through the country for the affairs of the church, I had no time\nto answer it.\n\nI had never more cause to fear than I have now, when my Lord hath\nrestored me to my second created heaven on earth, and hath turned my\napprehended fears into joys, and great deliverance to His church,\nwhereof I have my share and part. Alas! that weeping prayers, answered\nand sent back from heaven with joy, should not have laughing praises!\nOh that this land would repent, and lay burdens of praises upon the\ntop of the fair Mount Zion! Madam, except this land be humbled, a\nReformation is rather my wonder than belief, at this time. But surely\nit must be a wonder, and what is done already is a wonder. Our Lord\nmust restore beauty to His churches without hire; for we are sold\nwithout money, and now our buyers repent them of the bargain, and\nwould gladly give again better-cheap than they bought us. They\ndevoured Jacob, and eat up His people as bread; now Jacob is growing a\nliving child in their womb, and they would fain be delivered of the\nchild, and render the birth. Our Lord shall be midwife. Oh that this\nland be not like Ephraim, \"An unwise son, that stayeth too long in the\nplace of the breaking forth of children!\" Your Ladyship is blessed\nwith children who are honoured to build up Christ's waste places\nagain. I believe that your Ladyship will think them well bestowed on\nthat work, and that Zion's beauty is your joy. This is a mark and\nevidence from heaven, which helpeth weak ones to hold their grip, when\nother marks fail them.\n\nI hope that your Ladyship is at a good understanding with Christ, and\nthat, as becometh a Christian, ye take Him up aright; for many mistake\nand misshape Christ in His comings and goings. Your wants and falls\nproclaim that ye have nothing of your own but what ye borrow; nay,\nyourself is not your own, but Christ hath given Himself to you. Put\nChrist to the bank, and heaven shall be your interest and income. Love\nHim, for ye cannot over-love Him. Take up your house in Christ. Let\nHim dwell in you, and abide in Him; and then ye may look out of\nChrist, and laugh at the clay-heavens that the sons of men are seeking\nafter on this side of the water. Christ mindeth to make your losses\ngrace's great advantage. Christ will lose nothing of you; nay, not\neven your sins, for He hath a use for them, as well as for your\nservice; howbeit ye are to loathe yourself for these. I hope that ye\nfetch all the heaven ye have here in this life from that which is up\nabove, and that your anchor is casten as high and deep as Christ. (Oh,\nbut it is far and many a mile to the bottom!) If I had known long\nsince, as I do now (though still, alas! I am ignorant), what was in\nChrist, I would not have been so late in starting to the gate to seek\nHim. Oh what can I do or say to Him who hath made the North render me\nback again! A grave is no sure prison to Him for the keeping of dry\nbones. Wo is me, that my foolish sorrow and unbelief, being on\nhorseback, did ride so proudly and witlessly over my Lord's\nprovidence! But when my faith was asleep, Christ was awake; and now,\nwhen I am awake, I say He did all things well. O infinite wisdom! O\nincomparable loving-kindness! Alas, that the heart I have is so little\nand worthless for such a Lord as Christ is! Oh what odds find the\nsaints in hard trials, when they feel sap at their roots, betwixt them\nand sun-burned, withered professors! Crosses and storms cause them to\ncast their blooms and leaves. Poor worldlings, what will ye do when\nthe span-length of your forenoon's laughter is ended, and when the\nweeping side of providence is turned to you?\n\nI put all the favours which ye have bestowed on my brother upon\nChrist's score; in whose books are many such counts, and who will\nrequite them. I wish you to be builded more and more upon the stone\nlaid in Zion, and then ye shall be the more fit to have a hand in\nrebuilding our Lord's fallen tabernacle in this land; in which ye\nshall find great peace when ye come to grips with death, the king of\nterrors.\n\nThe God of peace be with your Ladyship, and keep you blameless till\nthe day of our Lord Jesus.\n\nYour Ladyship's, at all obedience in his sweet Lord and Master,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS.\n\n\n\n\nCCXCV.--_To his very dear Friend_, JOHN FENWICK.\n\n [MR. JOHN FENWICK was an Englishman, who suffered considerably\n for nonconformity. He is mentioned in Row's \"Life of R. Blair,\"\n where it is said that \"John Fenwick was one of the best of the\n Commissioners sent by Cromwell to visit the Universities.\" He was\n a Puritan and Nonconformist.]\n\n(_CHRIST THE FOUNTAIN--FREENESS OF GOD'S LOVE--FAITH TO BE EXERCISED\nUNDER FROWNS--GRACE FOR TRIALS--CHRIST YET TO BE EXALTED ON THE\nEARTH._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND DEAR FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to\nyou.--The necessary impediments of my calling have hitherto kept me\nfrom making a return to your letter, the heads whereof I shall now\nbriefly answer.\n\nI approve of your going to the Fountain, when your own cistern is\ndry. A difference there must be betwixt Christ's well and your\nborrowed water; and why but ye have need of emptiness and drying up,\nas well as ye have need of the well? Want and a hole there must be in\nour vessel, to leave room to Christ's art. His well hath its own need\nof thirsty drinkers, to commend infinite love which, from eternity,\ndid brew such a cellar of living waters for us.\n\nYe commend His free love; and it is well done. Oh, if I could help\nyou! and if I could be master-convener to gather an earth-full and an\nheaven-full of tongues, dipped and steeped in my Lord's well of love,\nor His wine of love, even tongues drunken with His love, to raise a\nsong of praises to Him, betwixt the east and west end, and furthest\npoints of the broad heavens! If I were in your case (as, alas! my dry\nand dead heart is not now in that garden), I would borrow leave to\ncome and stand upon the banks and coasts of that sea of love, and be a\nfeasted soul to see love's fair tide, free love's high and lofty\nwaves, each of them higher than ten earths, flowing in upon pieces of\nlost clay. Oh, welcome, welcome, great sea! Oh, if I had as much love,\nfor wideness and breadth, as twenty outmost shells and spheres of the\nheaven of heavens, that I might receive in a little flood of His free\nlove! Come, come, dear friend, and be pained that the King's\nwine-cellar of free love, and His banqueting-house (oh so wide, so\nstately! oh so God-like, so glory-like!) should be so abundant, so\noverflowing, and your shallow vessel so little to take in some part of\nthat love. But since it cannot come into you for want of room, enter\nyourself into this sea of love, and breathe under these waters, and\ndie of love; and live as one dead and drowned of this love.\n\nBut why do ye complain of waters going over your soul, and that the\nsmoke of the terrors of a wrathful Lord do almost suffocate you, and\nbring you to death's brink? I know that the fault is in your eyes, not\nin Him. It is not the rock that fleeth and moveth, but the green\nsailor. If your sense and apprehension be made judge of His love,\nthere is a graven image made presently, even a changed god, and a\nfoe-god, who was once (\"When ye washed your steps with butter, and the\nrock poured you out rivers of oil,\" Job xxix. 6) a Friend-God. Either\nnow or never, let God work. Ye had never, since ye were a man, such a\nfair field for faith; for a painted hell, and an apprehension of wrath\nin your Father, is faith's opportunity to try what strength is in it.\nNow, give God as large a measure of charity as ye have of sorrow.\nNow, see faith to be faith indeed, if ye can make your grave betwixt\nChrist's feet, and say, \"Though He should slay me, I will trust in\nHim. His believed love shall be my winding-sheet, and all my\ngrave-clothes; I shall roll and sew in my soul, my slain soul, in that\nweb, His sweet and free love; and let Him write upon my grave, 'Here\nlieth a believing dead man, breathing out and making a hole in death's\nbroadside, and the breath of faith cometh forth through the hole.'\"\nSee now if ye can overcome and prevail with God, and wrestle God's\ntempting to death, quite out of breath, as that renowned wrestler did:\n\"And by his strength he had power with God; yea, he had power over the\nangel and prevailed\" (Hosea xii. 3, 4). He is a strong man indeed who\novermatcheth heaven's Strength, and the Holy One of Israel, the strong\nLord: which is done by a secret supply of divine strength within,\nwherewith the weakest, being strengthened, overcome and conquer. It\nshall be great victory, to blow out the flame of that furnace ye are\nnow in, with the breath of faith. And when hell, men, malice, cruelty,\nfalsehood, devils, the seeming glooms of a sweet Lord, meet you in the\nteeth, if ye then, as a captive of hope, as one fettered in hope's\nprison, run to your stronghold, even from God glooming to God\nglooming, and believe the salvation of the Lord in the dark, which is\nyour only victory, your enemies (that are but pieces of malicious\nclay) shall die as men, and be confounded. But, that your troubles are\nmany at once, and arrows come in from all airths, from country,\nfriends, wife, children, foes, estate, and right down from God who is\nthe hope and stay of your soul, I confess is more, and very heavy to\nbe borne. Yet all these are not more than grace; all these bits of\ncoals casten into your sea of mercy cannot dry it up. Your troubles\nare many and great; yet not an ounce-weight beyond the measure of\ninfinite wisdom, I hope, nor beyond the measure of grace that He is to\nbestow. For our Lord never yet brake the back of His child, nor\nspilled His own work. Nature's plastering and counterfeit work He doth\noften break in shreds, and putteth out a candle not lighted at the Sun\nof righteousness; but He must cherish His own reeds (Isa. xlii. 3),\nand handle them softly (never a reed getteth a thrust with the\nMediator's hand!), to lay together the two ends of the reed. Oh, what\nbands and ligaments hath our Chirurgeon of broken spirits, to bind up\nall His lame and bruised ones with! Cast your disjointed spirit into\nHis lap; and lay your burden upon One who is so willing to take your\ncares and your fears off you, and to exchange and niffer your\ncrosses, and to give you new for old, and gold for iron; even to give\nyou garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness.\n\nIt is true, in great part, what ye write of this kirk, that the letter\nof religion only is reformed, and scarce that. I do not believe our\nLord will build His Zion in this land upon this skin of reformation.\nSo long as our scum remaineth, and our heart-idols are kept, this work\nmust be at a stand; and, therefore, our Lord must yet sift this land,\nand search us with candles. And I know that He will give and not sell\nus His kingdom. His grace and our remaining guiltiness must be\ncompared; and the one must be seen in the glory of it, and the other\nin the sinfulness of it. But I desire to believe, and would gladly\nhope to see, that the glancing and shining lustre of glory coming from\nthe diamonds and stones set in the crown of our Lord Jesus shall cast\nrays and beams many thousand miles about. I hope that Christ is upon a\ngreat marriage; and that His wooing and suiting of His excellent Bride\ndoth take its beginning from us, the ends of the earth. Oh, what joy\nand what glory would I judge it, if my heaven should be suspended till\nI might have leave to run on foot to be a witness of that\nmarriage-glory, and see Christ put on the glory of His last-married\nbride, and His last marriage-love on earth; when He shall enlarge His\nlove-bed, and set it upon the top of the mountains, and take in the\nElder Sister, the Jews, and the fulness of the Gentiles! It were\nheaven's honour and glory upon earth to be His lackey, to run at His\nhorse's foot, and hold up the train of His marriage-robe royal, in the\nday of our high and royal Solomon's espousals. But oh, what glory to\nhave a seat, or bed, in the chariot of King Jesus, that is bottomed\nwith gold, and paved, and lined over, and floored within with love,\nfor the daughters of Jerusalem (Cant. iii. 10). To lie upon such a\nKing's love, were a bed next to the flower of heaven's glory.\n\nI am sorry to hear you speak in your letter of a \"God angry at you,\"\nand of \"the sense of His indignation;\" which only ariseth from\nsuffering for Jesus all that is now come upon you. Indeed,\n\"apprehended wrath\" flameth out of such ashes as \"apprehended sin,\"\nbut not from \"suffering for Christ.\" But, suppose ye were in hell for\nbygones and for old debt, I hope ye owe Christ a great sum of charity,\nto believe the sweetness of His love. I know what it is to sin in that\nkind. It is to sin (if it were possible) the unchangeableness of a\nGodhead out of Christ, and to sin away a lovely and unchangeable God.\nPut more honest apprehensions upon Christ. Put on His own mask upon\nHis face, and not your vail made of unbelief, which speaketh as if He\nborrowed love to you, from you and your demerits and sinful\ndeservings. Oh, no! Christ is man, but He is not like man. He hath\nman's love in heaven, but it is lustred with God's love, and it is\nvery God's love ye have to do with. When your wheels go about, He\nstandeth still. Let God be God. And be ye a man, and have ye the\ndeserving of man, and the sin of one who hath suffered your\nWell-beloved to slip away, nay, hath refused Him entrance when He was\nknocking, till His head and locks were frozen: yet what is that to\nHim? His book keepeth your name, and is not printed and reprinted, and\nchanged, and corrected. And why but He should go to His place, and\nhide Himself? Howbeit His departure be His own good work, yet the\nbelief of it, in that manner, is your sin. But wait on till He return\nwith salvation, and cause you to rejoice in the latter end. It is not\nmuch to complain; but rather believe than complain, and sit in the\ndust, and close your mouth, till He make your sown light[424] grow\nagain. For your afflictions are not eternal; time will end them, and\nso shall ye at length see the Lord's salvation. His love sleepeth not,\nbut is still working for you. His salvation will not tarry nor linger;\nand suffering for Him is the noblest cross that is out of heaven. Your\nLord had the wale and choice of ten thousand other crosses beside\nthis, to exercise you withal; but His wisdom and His love waled and\nchoosed out this for you, beside them all. And take it as a choice\none, and make use of it so as ye look to this world as your\nstepmother, in your borrowed prison. For it is a love-look to heaven\nand the other side of the water that God seeketh; and this is the\nfruit, the flower and bloom growing out of your cross, that ye be a\ndead man to time, to clay, to gold, to country, to friends, wife,\nchildren, and all pieces of created nothings; for in them there is not\na seat nor bottom for soul's love. Oh, what room is for your love (if\nit were as broad as the sea) up in heaven, and in God! And what would\nnot Christ give for your love? God gave so much for your soul; and\nblessed are ye if ye have a love for Him, and can call in your soul's\nlove from all idols, and can make a God of God, a God of Christ, and\ndraw a line betwixt your heart and Him. If your deliverance came not,\nChrist's presence and His believed love must stand as caution and\nsurety for your deliverance, till your Lord send it in His blessed\ntime. For Christ hath many salvations, if we could see them; and I\nwould think it better-born comfort and joy that cometh from the faith\nof deliverance, and the faith of His love, than that which cometh from\ndeliverance itself. It is not much matter, if ye find ease to your\nafflicted soul, what be the means, either of your own wishing or of\nGod's choosing. The latter, I am sure, is best, and the comforts\nstrongest and sweetest. Let the Lord absolutely have the ordering of\nyour evils and troubles; and put them off you by recommending your\ncross and your furnace to Him who hath skill to melt His own metal,\nand knoweth well what to do with His furnace. Let your heart be\nwilling that God's fire have your tin, and brass, and dross. To\nconsent to want corruption is a greater mercy than many professors do\nwell know; and to refer the manner of God's physic to His own wisdom,\nwhether it be by drawing blood, or giving sugared drinks. That He\ncureth sick folks without pain, is a great point of faith; and to\nbelieve Christ's cross to be a friend, as He Himself is a Friend, is\nalso a special act of faith. But when ye are over the water, this case\nshall be a yesterday past a hundred years ere ye were born; and the\ncup of glory shall wash the memory of all this away, and make it as\nnothing. Only now take Christ in with you under your yoke, and let\npatience have her perfect work; for this haste is your infirmity. The\nLord is rising up to do you good in the latter end; put on the faith\nof His salvation, and see Him posting and hasting towards you.\n\n [424] Ps. xcvii. 11.\n\nSir, my employments (being so great) hinder me to write at more\nlength. Excuse me; I hope to be mindful of you. I shall be obliged to\nyou, if ye help me with your prayers for this people, this college,\nand my own poor soul.\n\nGrace be with you. Remember my love to your wife.\n\n Yours, in Christ Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Feb. 13, 1640_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXCVI.--_To the much honoured_ PETER STIRLING.\n\n [He may have been related to James Stirling, minister of Paisley,\n who, along with Sir J. Stuart of Goodtrees, wrote \"Naphtali;\" or\n to John Stirling, minister of Edinburgh, one who suffered much,\n and is referred to in the notice to Letter XCI.]\n\n(_BELIEVERS' GRACES ALL FROM CHRIST--ASPIRATION AFTER MORE LOVE TO\nHIM--HIS REIGN DESIRED._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--I received yours, and cannot but be\nashamed that mistaken love hath brought me into court[425] and account\nin the heart of God's children, especially of another nation. I should\nnot make a lie of the grace of God, if I should think I have little\nshare of it myself. Oh, how much better were it for me to stand in the\ncounting-table of many for a halfpenny, and to be esteemed a _liker_,\nrather than a _lover_ of Christ! If I were weighed, vanity would bear\ndown the scale, as having weight in the balance above me, except my\nlovely Saviour should cast in beside me some of His borrowed worth.\nAnd oh if I were writing now sincerely in this extenuation, which may\nbe (and I fear is) subtle and cozening pride! I would I could love\nsomething of heaven's worth, in you and all of your metal. Oh how\nhappy were I, if I could regain and conquer back from the creature my\nsold and lost love, that I might lay it upon heaven's Jewel, that\never, ever blooming Flower of the highest garden, even my\nsoul-redeeming and never-enough prized Lord Jesus! Oh that He would\nwash my love, and put it on the Mediator's wheel, and refine it from\nits dross and tin, that I might propine and gift that Lord, so\nlove-worthy, with all my love! Oh, if I could set a lease of thousands\nof years, and a suspension of my part of heaven's glory, and frist,\ntill a long day, my desired salvation, so being that I could, in this\nlower kitchen and undervault of His creation, be feasted with His\nlove, and that I might be a footstool to His glory before men and\nangels! Oh, if He would let out heaven's fountain upon withered me,\ndry and sapless me! If I were but sick of love for His love. And oh,\nhow would that sickness delight me! How sweet should that easing and\nrefreshing pain be to my soul!\n\n [425] Favour.\n\nI shall be glad to be a witness, to behold the kingdoms of the world\nbecome Christ's. I could stay out of heaven many years to see that\nvictorious triumphing Lord act that prophesied part of His\nsoul-conquering love, in taking into His kingdom the greater sister,\nthat kirk of the Jews, who sometime courted our Well-beloved for her\nlittle sister (Cant. viii. 8); to behold Him set up as an ensign and\nbanner of love, to the ends of the world. And truly we are to believe\nthat His wrath is ripe for the land of graven images, and for the\nfalling of that millstone into the midst of the sea. Grace be with\nyou.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _March 6. 1640_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXCVII.--_To the_ LADY FINGASK.\n\n [This lady has been supposed to be LADY ANNE MONCRIEFF, wife of\n Sir John Dundas of Fingask in Perthshire. She was daughter of\n William Moncrieff of that ilk, and her mother was one of the\n Murrays of Abercarnie. See notice prefixed to the letter to \"The\n Laird of Moncrieff.\" At the same time, it is not impossible that\n Rutherford, who was then at St. Andrews, may be writing to a lady\n in the neighbourhood; for we find (\"Inquisit. Retornat.\n Abbreviat.\") that the ancestors of the martyr Thomas Forret\n possessed the estate of \"_Fyngask_, in regalitate Sanct\u00e6\n Andre\u00e6.\"]\n\n(_FAITH'S MISGIVINGS--SPIRITUAL DARKNESS NOT GRACE--CHRIST'S LOVE\nINIMITABLE._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Though not acquainted,\nyet, at the desire of a Christian, I make bold to write a line or two\nunto you, by way of counsel, howbeit I be most unfit for that.\n\nI hear, and I bless the Father of lights for it, that ye have a spirit\nset to seek God, and that the posture of your heart is to look\nheavenward, which is a work and cast of the Mediator Christ's right\nhand, who putteth on the heart a new frame. For the which I would have\nyour Ladyship to see a tie and bond of obedience laid upon you, that\nall may be done, not so much from obligation of law, as from the tie\nof free love; that the law of ransom-paying by Christ may be the chief\nground of all our obedience, seeing that ye are not under the law, but\nunder grace. Withal, know that unbelief is a spiritual sin, and so not\nseen by nature's light; and that all which conscience saith is not\nScripture. Suppose that your heart bear witness against you for sins\ndone long ago: yet, because many have pardon with God that have not\npeace with themselves, ye are to stand and fall by Christ's esteem and\nverdict of you, and not by that which your heart saith. Suppose it\nmay, by accident, be a good sign to be jealous of your heavenly\nHusband's love, yet it is a sinful sign; as there be some happy sins\n(if I may speak so), not of themselves, but because they are\nneighboured with faith and love. And so, worthy Lady, I would have\nyou to hold by this, that the ancient love of an old husband standeth\nfirm and sure. And let faith hing by this small thread, that He loved\nyou before He laid the corner-stone of the world, and therefore He\ncannot change His mind; because He is God, and resteth in His love.\nNeither is sin in you a good reason wherefore ye should doubt of Him,\nor think, because sin hath put you in the courtesy and reverence of\njustice, that therefore He is wroth with you: neither is it\npresumption in you to lay the burden of your salvation on One mighty\nto save, so being that ye lay aside all confidence in yourself, your\nworth and righteousness. True faith is humble, and seeth no way to\nescape but only in Christ. And I believe that ye have put an esteem\nand high price upon Christ: and they cannot but believe, and so be\nsaved, who love Christ, and to whom He is precious; for the love of\nChrist has chosen Christ as a lover. And it were not like God, if ye\nshould choose Him as your liking, and He not choose you again. Nay, He\nhath prevented you in that, for ye have not chosen Him, but He hath\nchosen you.\n\nO consider His loveliness and beauty, and that there is nothing which\ncan commend and make fair heaven, or earth, or the creature, that is\nnot in Him in infinite perfection; for fair sun and fair moon are\nblack, and think shame to shine before His fairness (Isa. xxiv. 23;\nJob xxv. 5). Base heavens, and excellent Jesus! weak angels, and\nstrong and mighty Jesus! foolish angel-wisdom, and only wise Jesus!\nshort-living creature, and long-living and ever-living Ancient of\ndays! Miserable, and sickly, and wretched are those things that are\nwithin time's circle, and only, only blessed Jesus! If ye can wind-in\ninto His love (and He giveth you leave to love Him, and allurements\nalso), what a second heaven's paradise, a young heaven's glory, is it\nto be hot and burned with fevers of love-sickness for Him! And the\nmore your Ladyship drink of this love, there is the more room, and the\ngreater delight and desire for this love. Be homely, and hunger for a\nfeast and fill of His love; for that is the borders and march of\nheaven. Nothing hath a nearer resemblance to the colour, and hue, and\nlustre of heaven than Christ loved, and to breathe out love-words and\nlove-sighs for Him. Remember what He is. When twenty thousand millions\nof heaven's lovers have worn their hearts threadbare of love, all is\nnothing, yea, less than nothing, to His matchless worth and\nexcellency. Oh so broad and so deep as the sea of His desirable\nloveliness is! Glorified spirits, triumphing angels, the crowned and\nexalted lovers of heaven, stand without His loveliness (Ps. xvi. 2),\nand cannot put a circle on it. Oh if sin and time were from betwixt us\nand that royal King's love! that high Majesty (eternity's Bloom and\nFlower of high lustred beauty) might shine upon pieces of created\nspirits, and might bedew and overflow us, who are portions of endless\nmisery and lumps of redeemed sin.\n\nAlas! what do I? I but spill and lose words in speaking highly of Him\nwho will bide and be above the music and songs of heaven, and never be\nenough praised by us all; to whose boundless and bottomless love I\nrecommend your Ladyship, and am,\n\n Your Ladyship's, in Christ Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _March 27, 1640_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXCVIII.--_To his Reverend and dear Brother, MR. DAVID DICKSON, on\nthe Death of his Son._\n\n [\"When told that Mr. Dickson had some children removed by death,\n Mr. S. Rutherford presently called for a pen, and wrote a\n profitable letter to Mr. Dickson; 'for' (said he) 'when one arm\n is broken off and bleeds, it makes the other bleed with it'\"\n (Wodrow's \"Analecta\").]\n\n(_GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY, AND DISCIPLINE BY AFFLICTION._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Ye look like the house whereof ye are a\nbranch: the cross is a part of the liferent that lieth to all the sons\nof the house. I desire to suffer with you, if I could take a lift of\nyour house-trial off you; but ye have preached it ere I knew anything\nof God. Your Lord may gather His roses, and shake His apples, at what\nseason of the year He pleaseth. Each husbandman cannot make harvest\nwhen he pleaseth, as He can do. Ye are taught to know and adore His\nsovereignty, which He exerciseth over you, which yet is lustred with\nmercy. The child hath but changed a bed in the garden, and is planted\nup higher, nearer the sun, where he shall thrive better than in this\noutfield muir-ground. Ye must think your Lord would not want him one\nhour longer; and since the date of your loan of him was expired (as it\nis, if ye read the lease), let Him have His own with gain, as good\nreason were. I read on it an exaltation and a richer measure of grace,\nas the sweet fruit of your cross; and I am bold to say, that that\ncollege where your Master hath set you now shall find it.\n\nI am content that Christ is so homely with my dear brother David\nDickson, as to borrow and lend, and take and give with him. And ye\nknow what are called the visitations of such a friend: it is, Come to\nthe house, and be homely with what is yours. I persuade myself, upon\nHis credit, that He hath left drink-money, and that He hath made the\nhouse the better of Him. I envy[426] not His waking love, who saw that\nthis water was to be passed through, and that now the number of\ncrosses lying in your way to glory are fewer by one than when I saw\nyou. They must decrease. It is better than any ancient or modern\ncommentary on your text, that ye preach upon in Glasgow. Read and\nspell right, for He knoweth what He doeth. He is only lopping and\nsnedding a fruitful tree, that it may be more fruitful. I congratulate\nheartily with you His new welcome to your new charge.\n\n [426] Read \"envy not,\" that is, fret not at His love, which is fully\n awake to what it is doing.\n\nDearest brother, go on, and faint not. Something of yours is in\nheaven, beside the flesh of your exalted Saviour; and ye go on after\nyour own. Time's thread is shorter by one inch than it was. An oath is\nsworn and past the seals, whether afflictions will or not, ye must\ngrow, and swell out of your shell, and live, and triumph, and reign,\nand be more than a conqueror. For your Captain, who leadeth you on, is\nmore than conqueror, and He maketh you partaker of His conquest and\nvictory. Did not love to you compel me, I would not fetch water to the\nwell, and speak to one who knoweth better than I can do what God is\ndoing with him.\n\nRemember my love to your wife, to Mr. John,[427] and all friends\nthere. Let us be helped by your prayers, for I cease not to make\nmention of you to the Lord, as I can.\n\n [427] Dickson's eldest son, who became Clerk to the Exchequer of\n Scotland.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _May 28, 1640_.\n\n\n\n\nCCXCIX.--_To my LADY BOYD, on the loss of several Friends._\n\n(_TRUST EVEN THOUGH SLAIN--SECOND CAUSES NOT TO BE REGARDED--GOD'S\nTHOUGHTS OF PEACE THEREIN--ALL IN MERCY._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Impute it not to a\ndisrespective forgetfulness of your Ladyship, who ministered to me in\nmy bonds, that I write not to you.\n\nI wish that I could speak or write what might do good to your\nLadyship; especially now when I think we cannot but have deep thoughts\nof the deep and bottomless ways of our Lord, in taking away, with a\nsudden and wonderful stroke, your brethren and friends. Ye may know,\nthat all who die for sin die not in sin; and that \"none can teach the\nAlmighty knowledge.\" He answereth none of our courts,[428] and no man\ncan say, \"What doest Thou?\" It is true that your brethren saw not many\nsummers; but adore and fear the sovereignty of the great Potter, who\nmaketh and marreth His clay-vessels when and how it pleaseth Him.\n\n [428] When we summon Him into our court to explain.\n\nThe under-garden is absolutely His own, and all that groweth in it.\nHis absolute liberty is law-biding. The flowers are His own. If some\nbe but summer apples, He may pluck them down before others. Oh what\nwisdom is it to believe, and not to dispute; to subject the thoughts\nto His court, and not to repine at any act of His justice? He hath\ndone it: all flesh be silent! It is impossible to be submissive and\nreligiously patient, if ye stay your thoughts down among the confused\nrollings and wheels of second causes; as, \"Oh the place!\" \"Oh the\ntime!\" \"Oh if this had been, this had not followed!\" Oh the linking of\nthis accident with this time and place! Look up to the master-motion\nand the first wheel. See and read the decree of Heaven and the Creator\nof man, who breweth death to His children, and the manner of it. And\nthey see far into a millstone, and have eyes that make a hole to see\nthrough the one side of a mountain to the other, who can take up His\nways. \"How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding\nout!\" His providence halteth not, but goeth with even and equal legs.\nYet are they not the greatest sinners upon whom the tower of Siloam\nfell. Was not time's lease expired? and the sand of heaven's\nsand-glass, set by our Lord, run out? Is not he an unjust debtor who\npayeth due debt with chiding?\n\nI believe, Christian lady, your faith leaveth that much charity to our\nLord's judgments as to believe (howbeit ye be in blood sib to that\ncross) that yet ye are exempted and freed from the gall and wrath that\nis in it. I dare not deny but \"the king of terrors dwelleth in the\nwicked man's tabernacle: brimstone shall be scattered on his\nhabitation\" (Job xviii. 15); yet, Madam, it is safe for you to live\nupon the faith of His love whose arrows are over-watered and pointed\nwith love and mercy to His own, and who knoweth how to take you and\nyours out of the roll and book of the dead. Our Lord hath not the\neyes of flesh in distributing wrath to the thousandth generation\nwithout exception. Seeing ye are not under the law, but under grace,\nand married to another Husband, wrath is not the court that you are\nliable to.\n\nAs I would not wish, neither do I believe, that your Ladyship doth\n\"_despise_,\" so neither \"_faint_\" (Prov. iii. 11). Read and spell\naright all the words and syllables in the visitation, and miscall\nneither letter nor syllable in it. Come along with the Lord, and see;\nand lay no more weight upon the law than your Christ hath laid upon\nit. If the law's bill get an answer from Christ, the curses of it can\ndo more. And I hope you have resolved that, if He should grind you to\npowder, your dust and powder will believe His salvation.\n\nAnd who can tell what thoughts of love and peace our Lord hath to your\nchildren? I trust He will make them famous in executing the written\njudgments upon the enemies of the Lord (\"this honour hath all the\nsaints,\" Ps. cxlix. 9), and that they shall bear stones on their\nshoulders for building that fair city that is called \"The Lord is\nthere\" (Ezek. xlviii. 35). And happy shall they be who have a hand in\nthe sacking of Babel, and come out in the year of vengeance for the\ncontroversy of Zion, against the land of graven images. Therefore,\nMadam, let the Lord make out of your father's house any work, even of\njudgment, that He pleaseth. What is wrath to others is mercy to you\nand your house. It is faith's work to claim and challenge\nloving-kindness out of all the roughest strokes of God. Do that for\nthe Lord which ye will do for time: time will calm your heart at that\nwhich God hath done, and let our Lord have it now. What love ye did\nbear to friends now dead, seeing they stand now in no need of it, let\nit fall as just legacy to Christ. Oh how sweet to put out many strange\nlovers, and to put in Christ! It is much for our half-slain affections\nto part with that which we believe we have right unto; but the\nservant's will should be our will, and he is the best servant who\nretaineth least of his own will and most of his Master's. That much\nwisdom must be ascribed to our Lord, that He knoweth how to lead His\nown, in-through and out-through the little time-hells and the pieces\nof time-during wraths in this life; and yet keep safe His love,\nwithout any blur upon the old and great seal of free election. And,\nseeing His mountains of brass,[429] the mighty and strong decrees of\nfree grace in Christ, stand sure, and the covenant standeth fast for\never as the days of heaven, let Him strike and nurture. His striking\nmust be a very act of saving, seeing strokes upon His secret ones come\nfrom the soft and heavenly hand of the Mediator, and His rods are\nsteeped and watered in that flood and river of love that cometh from\nthe God-man's heart of our soul-loving and soul-redeeming JESUS.\n\n [429] Zech. vi. 1.\n\nI hope that ye are content to frist the Cautioner of mankind His own\nconquest, heaven, till He pay to you, and bring you to a state of\nglory, where He will never crook a finger upon, nor lift a hand to you\nagain. And be content, and withal greedily covetous of grace, the\ninterest and pledge of glory. If I did not believe your crop to be on\nthe ground, and (your part of that heaven of the saints-heaven) white\nand ruddy, fair, fair, and beautiful Jesus were come to the bloom and\nthe flower, and near your hook, I would not write this. But, seeing\ntime's thread is short, and ye are upon the entry of heaven's harvest,\nand Christ, the field of heaven's glory, is white and ripe-like, the\nlosses that I wrote of to your Ladyship are but summer-showers that\nwill only wet your garments for an hour or two, and the sun of the New\nJerusalem shall quickly dry the wet coat; especially seeing rains of\naffliction cannot stain the image of God, or cause grace to cast\ncolour. And, since ye will not alter upon Him who will not change upon\nyou, I durst, in my weakness, think myself no spiritual seer if I\nshould not prophesy that daylight is near, when such a morning-darkness\nis upon you; and that this trial of your Christian mind towards Him\n(whom you dare not leave, howbeit He should slay you) shall close with\na doubled mercy. It is time for faith to hold fast as much of Christ\nas ever ye had, and to make the grip stronger, and to cleave closer to\nHim, seeing Christ loveth to be believed in and trusted to. The glory\nof laying strength upon one that is mighty to save is more than we can\nthink. That piece of service, believing in a smiting Redeemer, is a\nprecious part of obedience. Oh what glory to Him to lay over the\nburden of our heaven upon Him that purchased for us an eternal\nkingdom! O blessed soul, who can adore and kiss His lovely free grace!\n\nThe rich grace of Christ be with your spirit.\n\n Yours, at all obedience in Christ Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Oct. 15, 1640_.\n\n\n\n\nCCC.--_To AGNES MACMATH, on the Death of a Child._\n\n [AGNES MACMATH was the daughter of Mr. Macmath, a merchant in\n Edinburgh, and the sister of Rutherford's second wife.]\n\n(_REASON FOR RESIGNATION._)\n\n\nDEAR SISTER,--If our Lord hath taken away your child, your lease of\nhim is expired; and seeing that Christ would want him no longer, it is\nyour part to hold your peace, and worship and adore the sovereignty\nand liberty that the Potter hath over the clay, and pieces of\nclay-nothings, that He gave life unto. And what is man to call and\nsummon the Almighty to His lower court down here? \"for He giveth\naccount of none of His doings.\" And if ye will take the loan of a\nchild, and give him back again to our Lord laughing (as His borrowed\ngoods should return to Him), believe that he is not gone away, but\nsent before; and that the change of the country should make you think,\nthat he is not lost to you who is found to Christ, and that he is now\nbefore you; and that the dead in Christ shall be raised again. A\ngoing-down star is not annihilated, but shall appear again. If he hath\ncasten his bloom and flower, the bloom is fallen in heaven, into\nChrist's lap. And as he was lent a while to time, so is he given now\nto eternity, which will take yourself. The difference of your shipping\nand his to heaven and Christ's shore, the land of life, is only in\nsome few years, which weareth every day shorter; and some short and\nsoon-reckoned summers will give you a meeting with him. But what! With\nhim? Nay, but with a better company; with the Chief and Leader of the\nheavenly troops, that are riding on white horses, that are triumphing\nin glory.\n\nIf death were a sleep that had no wakening, we might sorrow: but our\nHusband shall quickly be at the bedsides of all that lie sleeping in\nthe grave, and shall raise their mortal bodies. Christ was death's\nCautioner, who gave His word to come and loose all the clay-pawns, and\nset them at His own right hand; and our Cautioner, Christ, hath an act\nof law-surety upon death, to render back his captives. And that Lord\nJesus, who knoweth the turnings and windings that are in that black\ntrance of death, hath numbered all the steps of the stair up to\nheaven. He knoweth how long the turnpike is, or how many pair of\nstairs high it is; for He ascended that way Himself: \"I was dead and\nam alive\" (Rev. i. 18). And now He liveth at the right hand of God,\nand His garments have not so much as a smell of death.\n\nYour afflictions smell of the children's case; the bairns of the house\nare so nurtured (Heb. xii. 6, 7, 8). And suffering is no new life, it\nis but the rent of the sons; bastards have not so much of the rent.\nTake kindly and heartsomely with His cross, who never yet slew a child\nwith the cross. He breweth your cup: therefore, drink it patiently and\nwith the better will. Stay and wait on, till Christ loose the knot\nthat fasteneth His cross on your back; for He is coming to deliver.\nAnd I pray you, sister, learn to be worthy of His pains who\ncorrecteth. And let Him wring, and be ye washen; for He hath a\nFather's heart, and a Father's hand, who is training you up, and\nmaking you meet for the high hall. This school of suffering is a\npreparation for the King's higher house; and let all your visitations\nspeak all the letters of your Lord's summons. They cry--1. \"O vain\nworld!\" 2. \"O bitter sin!\" 3. \"O short and uncertain time!\" 4. \"O fair\neternity that is above sickness and death!\" 5. \"O kingly and princely\nBridegroom, hasten glory's marriage, shorten time's short-spun and\nsoon-broken thread, and conquer sin!\" 6. \"O happy and blessed death,\nthat golden bridge laid over by Christ my Lord, between time's\nclay-banks and heaven's shore!\" And the Spirit and the Bride say,\n\"Come!\" and answer ye with them, \"Even so, come, Lord Jesus! come\nquickly!\"\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Your Brother, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Oct. 15, 1640_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCI.--_To_ MR. MATTHEW MOWAT.\n\n(_WORTHINESS OF GOD'S LOVE AS MANIFESTED IN CHRIST--HEAVEN WITH\nCHRIST._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--What am I to answer you? Alas! my books\nare all bare, and show me little of God. I would fain go beyond books\ninto His house-of-love to Himself. Dear brother, neither you nor I are\nparties worthy of His love or knowledge. Ah! how hath sin bemisted and\nblinded us, that we cannot see Him. But for my poor self; I am pained\nand like to burst, because He will not take down the wall, and fetch\nHis uncreated beauty, and bring His matchless, white, and ruddy face\nout of heaven once-errand, that I may have heaven meeting me, ere I\ngo to it, in such a wonderful sight. Ye know that majesty and love do\nhumble; because homely love to sinners dwelleth in Him with majesty.\nYe should give Him all His own court-styles, His high and\nheaven-names. What am I, to shape conceptions of my highest Lord? How\nbroad, and how high, and how deep He is above and beyond what these\nconceptions are, I cannot tell: but for my own weak practice (which\nalas! can be no rule to one so deep in love-sickness with Christ as ye\nare), I would fain add to my thoughts and esteem of Him, and make Him\nmore high, and would wish a heart and love ten thousand times wider\nthan the utmost circle and curtain that goeth about the heaven of\nheavens, to entertain Him in that heart, and with that love. But that\nwhich is your pain, my dear brother, is mine also. I am confounded\nwith the thoughts of Him. I know that God is casten (if I may speak\nso) in a sweet mould, and lovely image, in the person of that Heaven's\nJewel, the Man Christ; and that the steps of that steep ascent and\nstairs to the Godhead is the flesh of Christ, the New and Living Way;\nand there is footing for faith in that curious Ark of the humanity,\nwherein dwelleth the Godhead, married upon our humanity. I would be in\nheaven, suppose I had not another errand than to see that dainty\ngolden Ark, and God personally looking out at ears and eyes and a body\nsuch as we sinners have, that I might wear my sinful mouth in kisses\non Him for evermore. And I know all the Three blessed Persons would be\nwell pleased that my piece of faint and created love should first\ncoast upon the Man Christ. I should see them all through Him.\n\nI am called from writing by my great employments in this town, and\nhave said nothing. But what can I say of Him? Let us go and see.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, 1640.\n\n\n\n\nCCCII.--_To my LADY KENMURE, on her Husband's Death._\n\n(_GOD'S METHOD IN AFFLICTION--FUTURE GLORY._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your Ladyship.--I am heartily\nsorry that your Ladyship is deprived of such a husband, and the Lord's\nkirk of so active and faithful a friend.[430] I know your Ladyship\nlong ago made acquaintance with that wherein Christ will have you to\nbe joined in a fellowship with Himself (even with His own cross), and\nhath taught you to stay your soul upon the Lord's good-will, who\ngiveth not account of His matters to any of us. When He hath led you\nthrough this water that was in your way to glory, there are fewer\nbehind: and His order in dismissing us, and sending us out of the\nmarket, one before another, is to be reverenced. One year's time of\nheaven shall swallow up all sorrows, even beyond all comparison. What,\nthen, will not a duration of blessedness so long as God shall live,\nfully and abundantly recompense! It is good that our Lord hath given a\ndebtor, obliged by gracious promises, far more in eternity than time\ncan take from you. And I believe that your Ladyship hath been, now\nmany years, advising and thinking what that glory will be, which is\nabiding the pilgrims and strangers on the earth when they come home,\nand which we may think of, love, and thirst for. But we cannot\ncomprehend it nor conceive of it as it is; far less we can over-think\nor over-love it. Oh, so long a Chapter, or rather so large a Volume,\nas Christ is, in that Divinity of Glory! There is no more of Him let\ndown now to be seen and enjoyed by His children, than as much as may\nfeed hunger in this life, but not satisfy it. Your Ladyship is a\ndebtor to the Son of God's cross, that is wearing out love and\naffiance in the creature out of your heart by degrees. Or rather the\nobligation standeth to His free grace who careth for your Ladyship in\nthis gracious dispensation; and who is preparing and making ready the\ngarments of salvation for you; and who calleth you with a new name,\nthat the mouth of the Lord hath named; and purposeth to make you a\ncrown of glory, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God (Isa. lxii.\n2, 3). Ye are obliged to frist Him more than one heaven; and yet He\ncraveth not a long day; it is fast coming, and is sure payment. Though\nye give no hire for Him, yet hath He given a great price and ransom\nfor you; and if the bargain were to make again, Christ would give no\nless for you than what He hath already given. He is far from ruing. I\nshall wish you no more (till time be gone out of the way), than the\nearnest of that which He hath purchased and prepared for you, which\ncan never be fully preached, written, or thought of, since it hath not\nentered into the heart to consider it.\n\n [430] Hon. Sir Henry Montgomery of Giffen, her Ladyship's second\n husband, died about this time. See Letter III.\n\nSo, recommending your Ladyship to the rich grace of our Lord Jesus, I\nam, and rest, your Ladyship's at all respectful observance in Christ\nJesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS.\n\n\n\n\nCCCIII.--_For the Right Honourable, my_ LADY BOYD.\n\n(_SIN OF THE LAND--READ PRAYERS--BROWNISM._)\n\n\nMADAM,--I doubt not but the debt of many more than ordinary favours to\nthis land layeth guiltiness upon this nation. The Lord hath put us in\nHis books as a favoured people in the sight of the nations, but we pay\nnot to Him the rent of the vineyard. And we might have had a gospel at\nan easier rate than this Gospel; but it would have had but as much\nlife as ink and paper have. We stand obliged to Him who hath in a\nmanner forced His love on us, and would but love us against our will.\n\nAnent read prayers. Madam, I could never see precept, promise, or\npractice for them, in God's word. Our church never allowed them, but\nmen took them up at their own choice. The word of God maketh reading\n(1 Tim. iv. 3) and praying (1 Thess. v. 17) two different worships. In\nreading, God speaketh to us (2 Kings xxii. 10, 11); in praying, we\nspeak to God (Ps. xxii. 2, xxviii. 1). I had never faith to think well\nof them. In my weak judgment, it were good if they were out of the\nservice of God. I cannot think them a fruit or effect of the Spirit of\nadoption, seeing the user cannot say of such prayers, \"Let the words\nof my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in Thy\nsight, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer,\" which the servants of God\nought to say of their prayers (Ps. xix. 14). For such prayers are\nmeditations set down in paper and ink, and cannot be his\nheart-meditations who useth them. The saints never used them, and God\nnever commanded them; and a promise to hear any prayers, except the\npouring out of the soul to God, we can never read.\n\nAs for separation from worship for some errors of a church, the\nindependency of single congregations, a church of visible saints, and\nother tenets of Brownists,[431] they are contrary to God's word. I\nhave a treatise at the press at London against these conceits, as\nthings which want God's word to warrant them.[432] The Lord lay it\nnot to their charge, who depart from the covenant of God with this\nland to follow such lying vanities.\n\n [431] The Brownists were a sect which owed their origin to Robert\n Brown, who studied at Cambridge. He maintained that every single\n congregation ought to have the complete power of jurisdiction within\n itself. In the year 1581 he organized a sect according to those\n principles. Yet afterwards he returned to the Church of England, and\n was presented to a living in Northamptonshire, of which he received\n the emoluments without discharging the duties. The sect he formed\n remained; but in process of time the name of Brownists was merged in\n that of Congregationalists or Independents.\n\n [432] The treatise to which Rutherford here refers is, no doubt, his\n work entitled, \"A Peaceable and Temperate Plea for Paul's Presbytery\n in Scotland, or a Modest Dispute of the Government of the Church of\n Scotland, wherein our Discipline is demonstrated to be the true\n Apostolic way of Divine Truth, and the arguments on the contrary are\n friendly dissolved, the grounds of separation, and the independency of\n particular congregations, in defence of Ecclesiastical Presbyteries,\n Synods, and Assemblies, are examined and tried.\" It was printed at\n London in 1642. \"This,\" says Murray, \"is one of the most temperate,\n judicious, and best written works he ever gave to the world. It\n corresponds in every respect with the promise which its title holds\n out; with this exception, that it is much more learned, dispassionate,\n and conclusive than the promise implies. It must have had a very\n considerable effect on public sentiment, and have served to pave the\n way for that introduction of the Presbyterian system into England\n which soon took place.\"\n\nI did see lately your daughter, the Lady Ardross.[433] The Lord hath\ngiven her a child and deliverance.\n\n [433] See notice on this lady prefixed to a subsequent Letter.\n\nNow, recommending your Ladyship to the rich grace of Christ, I rest\nyours at all respectful observance in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS.\n\n\n\n\nCCCIV.--_To_ JAMES MURRAY'S WIFE. [See Letter CCLXXIV.]\n\n(_HEAVEN A REALITY--STEDFASTNESS TO BE GROUNDED ON CHRIST._)\n\n\nMY VERY DEAR AND WORTHY SISTER,--You are truly blessed in the Lord,\nhowever a sour world gloom and frown on you, if ye continue in the\nfaith settled and grounded, and be not moved away from the hope of the\nGospel. It is good that there is a heaven, and it is not a night-dream\nand a fancy. It is a wonder that men deny not that there is a heaven,\nas they deny there is any way to it but of men's making. You have\nlearned of Christ that there is a heaven; contend for it and for\nChrist. Bear well and submissively the hard thrust of this stepmother\nworld, which God will not have to be yours. I confess it is hard, and,\nwould to God, I were able to lighten you of your burden; but believe\nme, this world, which the Lord will not have to be yours, is but the\ndross, refuse, and scum of God's creation, the portion of the Lord's\npoor hired servants, the moveables, not the heritage, a hard bone cast\nto the dogs holden out of the New Jerusalem, whereupon they rather\nbreak their teeth than satisfy their appetite. It is your father's\nblessing and Christ's birthright that our Lord is keeping for you; and\npersuade yourself also that (if it be good for them and you) your seed\nalso shall inherit the earth; for that is promised to them, and God's\nbond is as good as if He would give every one of them a bond for\nthousand thousands.\n\nEre ye were born, crosses in number, measure and weight, were written\nfor you; and your Lord will lead you through them. Make Christ sure,\nand the world and the blessings of the earth shall be at Christ's back\nand beck. I see many professors for the fashion, professors of glass;\nI would make a little knock of persecution ding them in twenty pieces,\nand the world would laugh at the shreds. Therefore, make fast work;\nsee that Christ be the ground-stone of your profession. The sore wind\nand rain will not wash away His building; His work hath no less date\nthan to stand for evermore. I should twenty times have perished in my\naffliction, if I had not laid my weak back and pressing burden, both,\nupon the Stone, the Corner-stone laid in Zion. I am not twice fain (as\nthe proverb is), but once and for ever, of this Stone. Now the God of\npeace establish you to the day of the appearance of Jesus Christ.\nYours,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS.\n\n\n\n\nCCCV.--_For the Right Honourable Lady, my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_SINS OF THE TIMES--PRACTICAL ATHEISM._)\n\n\nMADAM,--I am a little moved at your infirmity of body and health; I\nhope it is to you a real warning. \"And if in this life only we had\nhope, we should be of all men the most miserable.\" Sure the huge[434]\ngenerations of the seekers of the face of Jacob's God must be in a\nlife above the things that are now much taking with us; such as, to\nsee the sun, to enjoy this life in health, and some good worldly\naccommodations too. And if we be making that[435] sure, it is our\nwisdom. The times would make any that love the Lord sick and faint, to\nconsider how iniquity aboundeth, and how dull we are in observing sins\nin ourselves, and how quick-sighted to find them out in others, and\nwhat bondage we are in. And yet very often, when we complain of times,\nwe are secretly slandering the Lord's work and wise government of the\nworld, and raising a hard report of Him. \"He is good, and doeth good,\"\nand all His ways are equal.\n\n [434] Must even here be in possession of a life far superior to the\n things that at present attract us. \"_Huge_\" may mean \"vast as to\n number\" (Isa. xlviii. 19), and also, great in other respects.\n\n [435] If we are making this living above the world sure.\n\nMadam, I have been holding out to some others (oh, if I could to\nmyself!) some more of this, to read and study God well, and make the\nserious thoughts of a Godhead, and a Godhead in Christ, the work, and\nthe only work, all the day. Oh, we are little with God! and do all\nwithout God! We sleep and wake without Him; we eat, we speak, we\njourney, we go about worldly business and our calling without God!\nand, considering what deadness is upon the hearts of many, it were\ngood that some did not pray without God, and preach and praise, and\nread and confer of God without God! It is universally complained of,\nthat there is a strange deadness upon the land, and on the hearts of\nHis people. Oh, if we could help it! But He that watereth every moment\nHis garden of red wine must help it. I believe that He will burn the\nbriers and the thorns that come against Him.\n\nI desire to remember your Ladyship to God; but little can I do that\nway. His everlasting goodness will be with you.\n\n Yours, in the Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _July 24_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCVI.--_To_ MR. THOMAS WYLIE, _Minister of Borgue_.\n\n [MR. THOMAS WYLIE was minister of Borgue, a parish in the\n stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in which are to be seen, close to the\n sea-shore, the remains of what is supposed to have been one of\n the old Culdee churches, _Kirk Andrews_. He was afterwards\n translated to Mauchline, a parish in Ayrshire; but he remained\n there only a short time, having soon after his translation to it\n accepted a call to Kirkcudbright. But he was not allowed long to\n prosecute his useful labours in that place. Shortly after the\n restoration of Charles II., his fidelity to his Presbyterian\n principles rendering him obnoxious to the Government, he was, by\n a particular act of Privy Council, ejected from his charge, and\n banished to the north of Tay, with his family. In 1670 he went\n over to Ireland (where some of his relatives appear to have\n resided), and officiated in a congregation at Coleraine for\n nearly three years, when he returned to Scotland, and was settled\n minister of Fenwick, in the Presbytery of Irvine, under the\n second Indulgence. He died on July 20, 1676.]\n\n(_SUFFICIENCY OF DIVINE GRACE--CALL TO ENGLAND TO ASSIST AT\nWESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY--FELT UNWORTHINESS._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I neither can nor dow write to you anent\nthe business, in respect it is my case more as yours, and ye write to\nme that which I should write to you. If grace pay not our debts and\nbond-surety for us, I see not how I shall make a reckoning for one\nsoul, far less for multitudes; only it is God's will that we put\ngrace to the utmost, and engage Christ for His own work. If He refuse\ncharges to His own factors, the lost bankruptcy will redound to Him.\nBut He must not be a loser, nor can His glory suffer. But I must\nentreat you for the help of your prayers, as you will do for me\nanything out of heaven, and possible to you. I am now called for to\nEngland; the government of the Lord's house in England and Ireland is\nto be handled.[436] My heart beareth me witness, and the Lord who is\ngreater knoweth, my faith was never prouder than to be a common rough\ncountry barrowman in Anwoth; and that I could not look at the honour\nof being a mason to lay the foundation for many generations, and to\nbuild the waste places of Zion in another kingdom, or to have a hand\nor finger in that carved work in the cedar and almug trees in that new\ntemple. I desire but to lend a shut,[437] and cry, \"Grace, grace upon\nthe building.\" I hope ye will help my weakness in this; and seek help\nto me from others as if I had named them, and intercede for the favour\nof my Father's seas, winds, and tides, and for the victory of strong\nand prevailing truth.\n\n [436] On the 18th of August 1643, the General Assembly appointed a\n committee to proceed to London, to consult, treat, and conclude with\n the Assembly of Divines then sitting at Westminster, in all matters\n which might further the union of the churches of Scotland and England\n in one form of Church Government, one Confession of Faith, one\n Catechism, and one Directory for the worship of God. Of this committee\n Rutherford was one. The others were--Mr. Alexander Henderson, Mr.\n Robert Douglas, Mr. Robert Baillie, and Mr. George Gillespie,\n ministers; John Earl of Cassillis, John Lord Maitland, and Sir\n Archibald Johnston of Warriston, elders.\n\n [437] A push; but probably we should read \"shout.\"\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _20th Oct. 1643_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCVII.--_To a Young Man in Anwoth_.\n\n [This letter is from the \"Christian Instructor\" of January 1839,\n furnished by one who was in possession of the MS. It was written\n at _St. Andrews_, but both date and address are lost. It is\n supposed to have been addressed to one of his former\n parishioners, a young man in Anwoth, of some influence.]\n\n(_NECESSITY OF GODLINESS IN ITS POWER._)\n\n\nWORTHY SIR,--I am heartily glad that you have any mind of me, or my\nministry while I was with you. I wish you the fruit of it. I trust\nthat you strive for the power of godliness, that has been so preached\nin the land; for salvation cometh not to every man's door, and the\nway to heaven is a straiter and narrower passage than each man\nthinketh. And you are now in the most glassy part of your life, when\nit is easy to follow, and when the lusts of youth are rank and strong.\nAnd happy are you that can pass through these dangers with a good\nconscience. So my real advice is, that you acquaint yourself with\nprayer, and with searching the Scriptures of God, that He may show you\nthat good way that bringeth rest to the soul. The ordinary faith and\nthe country godliness will not save you. There must be more nor the\nrighteousness of the scribes and Pharisees ere ever a man enter the\nkingdom of God. And I shall desire that you will take to heart the\nworth and price of an immortal soul, and the necessity of dying, and\nthe fearful account of judgment at the back of death, that you may be\nsaved.\n\nAs for my ministry among you again, I can easier desire it than see\nthrough it. The Lord of the harvest take care for you, and send you a\npastor according to God's heart; and that's as rare as ever, for all\nour reformation.\n\nRemember my heart's love and respect to your mother and sister. Grace\nbe with you.\n\n Your sometime pastor and still friend in God,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS.\n\n\n\n\nCCCVIII.--_For the Right Honourable, my Lady_ VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.\n\n(_WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY--RELIGIOUS SECTS._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am glad to hear that\nyour Ladyship is in any tolerable health; and shall pray that the Lord\nmay be your Strength and Rock. Sure I am, that He took you out of the\nwomb; and you have been casten on Him from the breasts. I am confident\nthat He will not leave you till He crown the work begun in you.\n\nThere is nothing here but divisions in the Church and Assembly;[438]\nfor beside Brownists and Independents[439] (who, of all that differ\nfrom us, come nearest to walkers with God), there are many other\nsects here, of Anabaptists,[440] Libertines who are for all opinions\nin religion, fleshly and abominable Antinomians,[441] and\nSeekers,[442] who are for no church-ordinances, but expect apostles to\ncome and reform churches; and a world of others, all against the\ngovernment of presbyteries.[443] Luther observed, when he studied to\nreform, that two-and-thirty sundry sects arose; of all which I have\nnamed a part, except those called Seekers, who were not then arisen.\nHe said, God should crush them, and that they should rise again: both\nwhich we see accomplished. In the Assembly, we have well near ended\nthe government, and are upon the power of Synods, and I hope near at\nan end with them; and so I trust to be delivered from this prison\nshortly. The King hath dissolved the treaty of peace at Uxbridge, and\nadhereth to his sweet prelates, and would abate nothing but a little\nof the rigour of their courts, and a suspending of laws against the\nceremonies, not a taking away of them.[444] The not prospering of our\narmies there in Scotland is ascribed here to the sins of the land, and\nparticularly to the divisions and back-slidings of many from the\ncause, and the not executing of justice against bloody malignants.\n\n [438] The Assembly of Divines at Westminster.\n\n [439] The Independents are well known. Their real founder is\n considered to have been one Mr. John Robinson, who became a Brownist\n and was admitted pastor of the English church at Leyden. When he died,\n many of his congregation went from Leyden into New England, whither\n they carried his opinions, which spread widely there, and then by\n letters and other means were conveyed back into Old England.\n\n [440] The Anabaptists of England at that time are not to be confounded\n with the fanatics of the same name who appeared in Germany in 1521,\n soon after the dawn of the Reformation. The peculiar opinions of\n English Anabaptists were, that baptism ought to be administered only\n to adults, and that the mode of it ought to be by immersion, or\n dipping. They were divided into _General_ and _Particular_, the former\n holding Arminian views of Christian doctrine, while the latter were\n strictly Calvinistic.\n\n [441] The Antinomians professed to hold doctrinal sentiments rigidly\n Calvinistic; but they deduced from them conclusions deeply injurious\n to the interests of religion and morality.\n\n [442] Of the _Seekers_ or _Expecters_, Pagitt has given the following\n account:--\"They deny that there is any true church, or any true\n minister, or any ordinances: some of them affirm the church to be in\n the wilderness, and they are asking for it there; others say that it\n is in the smoke of the temple, and that they are groping for it there\"\n (\"Heresiography,\" p. 141).\n\n [443] Thomas Edwards, in his \"Gangr\u00e6na,\" enumerates sixteen sorts of\n sectaries of that time. 1. Independents; 2. Brownists; 3. Chiliasts,\n or Millennaries; 4. Antinomians; 5. Anabaptists; 6. Manifestarians, or\n Arminians; 7. Libertines; 8. Familists; 9. Enthusiasts; 10. Seekers\n and Waiters; 11. Perfectists; 12. Socinians; 13. Arians; 14.\n Antitrinitarians; 15. Antiscripturists; 16. Sceptics and Questionists,\n who question everything in matters of religion. In these different\n sects there were many subdivisions.\n\n [444] In the contest between Charles I. and his English Parliament,\n Charles was induced to make proposals of a treaty to the Parliament.\n Uxbridge was fixed on as the place for conducting the treaty; and\n commissioners from the King, the Parliament, and Scotland, were\n appointed. But they found it impracticable to come to any agreement.\n He alludes to this in his sermon before the House of Lords.\n\nMy wife here, under the physicians, remembereth her service to your\nLadyship. So recommending you to the rich grace of Christ, I rest,\nyour Ladyship's, at all obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, _March 4, 1644_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCIX.--_For the Right Honourable, my_ LADY BOYD.\n\n(_PROCEEDINGS OF THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I received your letter on\nMay 19th.\n\nWe are here debating, with much contention of disputes, for the just\nmeasures of the Lord's temple. It pleaseth God, that sometimes enemies\nhinder the building of the Lord's house; but now friends, even\ngracious men (so I conceive of them), do not a little hinder the work.\nThomas Goodwin,[445] Jeremiah Burroughs,[446] and some others, four or\nfive, who are for the Independent way, stand in our way, and are\nmighty opposites to presbyterial government. We have carried through\nsome propositions for the Scripture right of presbytery, especially in\nthe church of Jerusalem (Acts ii. iv. v. vi. and xv.), and the church\nof Ephesus, and are going on upon other grounds of truth; and by the\nway have proven, that ordination of pastors belongeth not to a single\ncongregation, but to a college of presbyters, whose it is to lay hands\nupon Timothy and others (1 Tim. iv. 14, v. 17; Acts xiii. 1, 2, 3, vi.\n5, 6). We are to prove that one single congregation hath not power to\nexcommunicate, which is opposed not only by Independent men, but by\nmany others. The truth is, we have at times grieved spirits with the\nwork; and for my part, I often despair of the reformation of this\nland, which saw never anything but the high places of their fathers,\nand the remnants of Babylon's pollutions; and except that, \"not by\nmight, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord,\" I should think\nGod hath not yet thought it time for England's deliverance. For the\ntruth is, the best of them almost have said, \"A half reformation is\nvery fair at the first;\" which is no other thing than, \"It is not time\nyet to build the house of the Lord.\" And for that cause, many houses,\ngreat and fair in the land, are laid desolate.\n\n [445] Thomas Goodwin, a distinguished Puritan divine, and latterly\n pastor of a church in London, styled by Anthony Wood \"one of the\n Atlasses and patriarchs of Independency.\" He was in high favour with\n Cromwell. He was born at Rolesby, in Norfolk, in 1600, and died in\n 1679. His works extended to five volumes folio, and are invaluable. In\n his exposition of the first and part of the second chapter of the\n Epistle to the Ephesians, there is an admirable defence of Calvinism.\n\n [446] Jeremiah Burroughs, another eminent Puritan divine, was also a\n minister in London. He was born in 1599, and died in 1646. He is the\n author of numerous theological works, which, if not important, are\n useful. It is said that the divisions of the times broke his heart.\n\nMultitudes of Anabaptists, Antinomians, Familists,[447]\nSeparatists,[448] are here. The best of the people are of the\nIndependent way. As for myself, I know no more if there be a sound\nChristian (setting aside some, yea, not a few learned, some zealous\nand faithful ministers whom I have met with) at London (though I doubt\nnot but there are many), than if I were in Spain; which maketh me\nbless God that the communion of saints, how desirable soever, yet is\nnot the thing, even that great thing, Christ and the remission of\nsins. If Jesus were unco,[449] as His members are here, I should be in\na sad and heavy condition.\n\n [447] The sect of the _Familists_ or _Family of Love_, have been\n associated with one David George of Delft, who, in 1544, fled out of\n Holland to Basle, giving it out that he was banished from the Low\n Countries, and changed his name, calling himself John of Brugg. He\n affirmed that he was the true David whom God had promised to send to\n restore again the kingdom of Israel, and wrote various books in\n support of his pretensions. He died on the 16th of September 1556.\n After him rose up one Henry Nicholas, born in Amsterdam, who\n maintained the same doctrine, but applied it to himself and not to\n David George. (See Works of Greenham, p. 219, H. N.) One Christopher\n Vivet, a joiner dwelling in Southwark, who had been in Queen Mary's\n days an Arian, translated out of Dutch into English several of the\n books of Henry Nicholas, among which was his \"Evangelium Regni.\" The\n claims of Nicholas were those of a fanatic, and his system was a lie.\n (Pagitt's \"Heresiography,\" pp. 81-91.)\n\n [448] The \"Separatists\" were a kind of Anabaptists, so called because\n they pretended to be separate from the rest of the world. They\n condemned fine clothes. To them that laughed they would cry, \"Woe be\n to you that laugh, for hereafter ye shall mourn.\" They did look sadly,\n and fetched deep sighs; they avoided marriage meetings, feasts, music;\n and condemned the bearing of arms and Covenants. (Pagitt's\n \"Heresiography,\" p. 30.)\n\n [449] Strange.\n\nThe House of Peers are rotten men, and hate our Commissioners and our\ncause both. The life that is is in the House of Commons, and many of\nthem also have their religion to choose. The sorrows of a travailing\nwoman are come on the land. Our army is lying about York, and have\nblocked up them of Newcastle,[450] and six thousand Papists and\nMalignants, with Mr. Thomas Sydserf, and some Scottish prelates; and\nif God deliver them into their hands (considering how strong the\nParliament's armies are, how many victories God hath given them since\nthey entered into covenant with Him, and how weak the King is), it may\nbe thought the land is near a deliverance. But I rather desire it than\nbelieve it.\n\n [450] In the end of the year 1643, the Scottish army raised by the\n Convention of Estates for the assistance of the English Parliament\n marched into England, and, having joined the Parliamentary forces,\n blockaded Newcastle, as Rutherford here describes.\n\nWe offered this day to the Assembly a part of a directory for worship,\nto shoulder out the service-book. It is taken into consideration by\nthe Assembly.\n\nYour son Lindsay[451] is well: I receive letters from him almost every\nweek.\n\n Yours at all obedience in God,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, _May 25, 1644_.\n\n [451] Afterwards Earl of Crawford. See notice of, Letter CCXXXI.\n\n\n\n\nCCCX.--_To_ MISTRESS TAYLOR, _on her son's death_. [_Her son was a\nparishioner of Mr. Blair._]\n\n(_SUGGESTIONS FOR COMFORT UNDER SORROW._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Though I have no\nrelation worldly or acquaintance with you, yet (upon the testimony and\nimportunity of your elder son now at London, where I am, but chiefly\nbecause I esteem Jesus Christ in you to be in place of all relations)\nI make bold, in Christ, to speak my poor thoughts to you concerning\nyour son lately fallen asleep in the Lord, who was sometime under the\nministry of the worthy servant of Christ, my fellow-labourer, Mr.\nBlair, by whose ministry I hope he reaped no small advantage. I know\nthat grace rooteth not out the affections of a mother, but putteth\nthem on His wheel who maketh all things new, that they may be refined:\ntherefore, sorrow for a dead child is allowed to you, though by\nmeasure and ounce-weights. The redeemed of the Lord have not a\ndominion, or lordship, over their sorrow and other affections, to\nlavish out Christ's goods at their pleasure. \"For ye are not your own,\nbut bought with a price;\" and your sorrow is not your own. Nor hath He\nredeemed you by halves; and therefore, ye are not to make Christ's\ncross no cross. He commandeth you to weep: and that princely One, who\ntook up to heaven with Him a man's heart to be a compassionate High\nPriest, became your fellow and companion on earth by weeping for the\ndead (John xi. 35). And, therefore, ye are to love that cross, because\nit was once at Christ's shoulders before you: so that by His own\npractice He hath over-gilded and covered your cross with the\nMediator's lustre. The cup ye drink was at the lip of sweet Jesus, and\nHe drank of it; and so it hath a smell of His breath, and I conceive\nthat ye love it not the worse that it is thus sugared. Therefore,\ndrink, and believe the resurrection of your son's body. If one coal of\nhell could fall off the exalted head, Jesus (Jesus the Prince of the\nkings of the earth!), and burn me to ashes, knowing I were a partner\nwith Christ, and a fellow-sharer with Him (though the unworthiest of\nmen), I think that I should die a lovely death in that fire with Him.\nThe worst things of Christ, even His cross, have much of heaven from\nHimself; and so hath your Christian sorrow, being of kin to Christ in\nthat kind. If your sorrow were a bastard (and not of Christ's house\nbecause of the relation ye have to Him, in conformity to His death and\nsufferings), I should the more compassionate your condition; but the\nkind and compassionate Jesus, at every sigh you give for the loss of\nyour now glorified child (so I believe, as is meet), with a man's\nheart crieth, \"Half mine.\"\n\nI was not a witness to his death, being called out of the kingdom;\nbut, if you will credit those whom I do credit (and I dare not lie),\nhe died comfortably. It is true, he died before he did so much service\nto Christ on earth, as I hope and heartily desire that your son Mr.\nHugh (very dear to me in Jesus Christ) will do. But that were a real\nmatter of sorrow if this were not to counterbalance it, that he hath\nchanged service-houses, but hath not changed services or Master. \"And\nthere shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb\nshall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him\" (Rev. xxii. 3). What\nhe could have done in this lower house, he is now upon that same\nservice in the higher house; and it is all one: it is the same service\nand the same Master, only there is a change of conditions. And ye are\nnot to think it a bad bargain for your beloved son, where he hath gold\nfor copper and brass, eternity for time.\n\nI believe that Christ hath taught you (for I give credit to such a\nwitness of you as your son Mr. Hugh) not to sorrow because he died.\nAll the knot must be, \"He died too soon, he died too young, he died in\nthe morning of his life.\" This is all; but sovereignty must silence\nyour thoughts. I was in your condition; I had but two children, and\nboth are dead since I came hither.[452] The supreme and absolute\nFormer of all things giveth not an account of any of His matters. The\ngood Husbandman may pluck His roses, and gather in His lilies at\nmid-summer, and, for aught I dare say, in the beginning of the first\nsummer month; and He may transplant young trees out of the lower\nground to the higher, where they may have more of the sun, and a more\nfree air, at any season of the year. What is that to you or me? The\ngoods are His own. The Creator of time and winds did a merciful injury\n(if I dare borrow the word) to nature, in landing the passenger so\nearly. They love the sea too well who complain of a fair wind, and a\ndesirable tide, and a speedy coming ashore, especially a coming ashore\nin that land where all the inhabitants have everlasting joy upon their\nheads. He cannot be too early in heaven. His twelve hours were not\nshort hours. And withal if ye consider this; had ye been at his\nbed-side, and should have seen Christ coming to him, ye would not, ye\ncould not, have adjourned Christ's free love, who would want him no\nlonger.\n\n [452] He had lost two children before going to London, and the above\n is in reference to the death of other two after he came thither.\n\nAnd dying in another land, where his mother could not close his eyes,\nis not much. Who closed Moses' eyes? And who put on his winding-sheet?\nFor aught I know, neither father, nor mother, nor friend, but God\nonly. And there is as expeditious, fair, and easy a way betwixt\nScotland and heaven, as if he had died in the very bed he was born in.\nThe whole earth is his Father's; any corner of his Father's house is\ngood enough to die in.\n\nIt may be that the living child (I speak not of Mr. Hugh) is more\ngrief to you than the dead. Ye are to wait on, if at any time God will\ngive him repentance. Christ waited as long possibly on you and me,\ncertainly longer on me; and if He should deny repentance to him, I\ncould say something to that. But I hope better things of him.\n\nIt seemeth that Christ will have this world your stepdame. I love not\nyour condition the worse. It may be a proof that ye are not a child of\nthis lower house, but a stranger. Christ seeth it not good only, but\nyour only good, to be led thus to heaven. And think this a favour,\nthat He hath bestowed on you free, free grace, that is, mercy without\nhire: ye paid nothing for it. And who can put a price upon anything of\nroyal and princely Jesus Christ? And God hath given to you to suffer\nfor Him the spoiling of your goods. Esteem it as an act of free grace\nalso. Ye are no loser, having Himself; and I persuade myself, that if\nye could prize Christ, nothing could be bitter to you.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Your brother and well-wisher,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, 1645.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXI.--_To_ BARBARA HAMILTON.\n\n[BARBARA HAMILTON was the wife of Mr. John Mein, merchant, Edinburgh,\nnoticed before (see Letter CLI.), and sister to the first wife of the\nfamous Mr. Robert Blair. She was a woman of eminent piety, and also\ndistinguished for her public spirit. When Mr. Blair, and other\nPresbyterian ministers, who had been deposed by the bishops in Ireland\nfor nonconformity, had come over to Scotland in 1637, she, finding\nthat they were threatened with still harsher treatment from the\nScottish prelates, suggested a petition to the Privy Council, for\nliberty to these ministers to preach the Gospel publicly, engaging\nthat she and some other like-minded women would put it into the hands\nof the Treasurer as he went into the Council. Blair drew it up; upon\nwhich she convened a considerable number of the religious matrons of\nEdinburgh, and ranged them in a line from the Council-house door to\nthe street. The oldest matron was appointed to present the petition to\nthe Treasurer. The Treasurer, suspecting that it was something which\nwould be disagreeable to the Council, put the aged petitioner aside,\nand went quickly from her towards the Council-house door. Observing\nthis, Barbara Hamilton immediately stepped forward, and, taking the\npaper out of the old feeble woman's hand, came up to the Treasurer,\nand \"did with her strong arm and big hand fast grip his gardie\" (i.e.\narm), saying, \"Stand, my Lord! in Christ's name, I charge you, till I\nspeak to you.\" His Lordship, looking back, replies, \"Good woman, what\nwould you say to me?\" \"There is,\" said she, \"a humble supplication of\nMr. Blair's. All that he petitions for, is that he may have liberty to\npreach the Gospel. I charge you to befriend the matter, as you would\nexpect God to befriend you in your distress, and at your death!\" He\nreplied, \"I shall do my endeavour, and what I can in it.\" The result\nwas, that Blair's supplication was granted by the Council. The\nfollowing letter, which Rutherford addresses to this lady, was written\non the occasion of the death of her son-in-law, probably Mr. William\nHume, minister, who was married to her daughter Barbara Mein. (See\nLetter CCCXII.)]\n\n(_ON DEATH OF HER SON-IN-LAW--GOD'S PURPOSES._)\n\n\nWORTHY FRIEND,--Grace be to you. I do unwillingly write unto you of\nthat which God hath done concerning your son-in-law; only, I believe\nye look not below Christ, and the highest and most supreme act of\nProvidence, which moveth all wheels. And certainly, what came down\nenacted and concluded in the great book before the throne, and signed\nand subscribed with the hand which never did wrong, should be kissed\nand adored by us.\n\nWe see God's decrees when they bring forth their fruits, all actions,\ngood and ill, sweet and sour, in their time; but we see not presently\nthe after-birth of God's decree, namely, His blessed end, and the good\nthat He bringeth out of the womb of His holy and spotless counsel. We\nsee His working, and we sorrow; the end of His counsel and working\nlieth hidden, and underneath the ground, and therefore we cannot\nbelieve. Even amongst men, we see hewn stones, timber, and an hundred\nscattered parcels and pieces of an house, all under-tools, hammers,\nand axes, and saws; yet the house, the beauty and use[453] of so many\nlodgings and ease-rooms, we neither see nor understand for the\npresent; these are but in the mind and head of the builder, as yet. We\nsee red earth, unbroken clods, furrows, and stones; but we see not\nsummer, lilies, roses, the beauty of a garden.\n\n [453] \"_Ease_\" in older editions.\n\nIf ye give the Lord time to work (as often[454] he that believeth\nmaketh haste, but not speed), His end is under ground, and ye shall\nsee it was your good, that your son hath changed dwelling-places, but\nnot his Master. Christ thought good to have no more of his service\nhere; yet, \"His servants shall serve Him\" (Rev. xxii. 3). He needeth\nnot us nor our service, either on earth or in heaven. But ye are to\nlook to Him who giveth the hireling both his leave and his wages, for\nhis naked aim and purpose to serve Christ, as well as for his labours.\nIt is put up in Christ's account, that such a labourer did sweat forty\nyears in Christ's vineyard; howbeit he got not leave to labour so\nlong, because He who accepteth of the will for the deed counteth so.\nNone can teach the Lord to lay an account.\n\n [454] _Q.d._, You need this advice, as too often even believers make\n haste.\n\nHe numbereth the drops of rain, and knoweth the stars by their names;\nit would take us much studying to give a name to every star in the\nfirmament, great or small.\n\nSee Lev. x. 3, \"And Aaron held his peace.\" Ye know his two sons were\nslain, whilst they offered strange fire to the Lord. Command your\nthoughts to be silent. If the soldiers of Newcastle had done this, ye\nmight have stomached; but the weapon was in another hand. Hear the rod\nwhat it preacheth, and see the name of God (Micah vi. 9), and know\nthat there is somewhat of God and heaven in the rod. The majesty of\nthe unsearchable and bottomless ways and judgments of God is not seen\nin the rod; and the seeing of them requireth the eyes of the man of\nwisdom. If the sufferings of some other with you in that loss could\nease you, ye want them not. But He can do no wrong. He cannot halt;\nHis goings are equal who hath done it. I know our Lord aimeth at more\nmortification; let Him not come in vain to your house, and lose the\npains of a merciful visit. God, the Founder, never melteth in vain;\nhowbeit to us He seemeth often to lose both fire and metal. But I know\nye are more in this work than I can be. There is no cause to faint or\nbe weary.\n\nGrace be with you; and the rich consolations of Jesus Christ sweeten\nyour cross, and support you under it. I rest,\n\n Yours, in his Lord and Master,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, _Oct. 15, 1645_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXII.--_To MISTRESS HUME, on her Husband's Death._\n\n [This lady, it is highly probable, was Barbara Mein, the daughter\n of Barbara Hamilton, noticed above, and the wife of Mr. William\n Hume, minister, who had gone to England with the Covenanters'\n army, and who died at Newcastle, probably from wounds inflicted\n by the army. In the Index of the unprinted Acts of the General\n Assembly of 1645, there is an Act entitled, \"Recommendation of\n Barbara Mein's Petition to the Parliament;\" and in the Index of\n the unprinted Acts of the General Assembly of 1646, there is an\n Act entitled, \"Act in favours of Barbara Mein, relict of umwhile\n Mr. William Hume, minister.\" The object of this letter is to\n comfort Mrs. Hume under that painful bereavement.]\n\n(_GOD'S VOICE IN THE ROD._)\n\n\nLOVING SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--If ye have\nanything better than the husband of your youth, ye are Jesus Christ's\ndebtor for it. Pay not then your debts with grudging. Sorrow may\ndiminish from the sweet fruit of righteousness; but quietness,\nsilence, submission, and faith, put a crown upon your sad losses. Ye\nknow whose voice the voice of a crying rod is (Micah vi. 9). The name\nand majesty of the Lord is written on the rod; read and be instructed.\nLet Christ have the room of the husband. He hath now no need of you,\nor of your love; for he enjoyeth as much of the love of Christ as his\nheart can be capable of. I confess that it is a dear-bought\nexperience, to teach you to undervalue the creature; yet it is not too\ndear if Christ think it so. I know that the disputing of your thoughts\nagainst his going thither, the way and manner of his death, the\ninstruments, the place, the time, will not ease your spirits; except\nye rise higher than second causes, and be silent because the Lord hath\ndone it. If we measure the goings of the Almighty, and His ways (the\nbottom whereof we see not), we quite mistake God. Oh, how little a\nportion of God do we see! He is far above our ebb and narrow thoughts.\nHe ruled the world in wisdom, ere we, creatures of yesterday, were\nborn; and will rule it when we shall be lodging beside the worm and\ncorruption. Only learn heavenly wisdom, self-denial, and\nmortification, by this sad loss. I know that it is not for nothing\n(except ye deny God to be wise in all He doeth) that ye have lost one\non earth. There hath been too little of your love and heart in heaven,\nand therefore the jealousy of Christ hath done this. It is a mercy\nthat He contendeth with you and all your lovers. I should desire no\ngreater favour for myself than that Christ laid a necessity, and took\non such bonds upon Himself: \"Such a one I must have, and such a soul\nI cannot live in heaven without\" (John x. 16). And, believe it; it is\nincomprehensible love that Christ saith, \"If I enjoy the glory of My\nFather and the crown of heaven, far above men and angels, I must use\nall means, though ever so violent, to have the company of such a one\nfor ever and ever.\" If, with the eyes of wisdom, as a child of wisdom,\nye justify your mother, the Wisdom of God (whose child ye are), ye\nwill kiss and embrace this loss, and see much of Christ in it. Believe\nand submit; and refer the income of the consolations of Jesus, and the\nevent of the trial, to your heavenly Father, who numbereth all your\nhairs. And put Christ into His own room in your love; it may be He\nhath either been out of His own place, or in a place of love inferior\nto His worth. Repair Christ in all His wrongs done to Him, and love\nHim for a Husband; and He that is a Husband to the widow will be that\nto you which He hath taken from you.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Your sympathizing brother,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, _Oct. 15, 1645_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXIII.--_To the_ VISCOUNTESS KENMURE.\n\n(_CHRIST'S DESIGNS IN SICKNESS AND SORROW._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your Ladyship.--Though Christ\nlose no time, yet, when sinful men drive His chariot, the wheels of\nHis chariot move slowly. The woman, Zion, as soon as she travailed,\nbrought forth her children; yea, \"before she travailed, she brought\nforth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child\" (Isa.\nlxvi. 7): yet the deliverance of the people was with the woman's going\nwith child seventy years. That is more than nine months. There be many\noppositions in carrying on the work; but I hope that the Lord will\nbuild His own Zion, and evidence to us that it is done, \"not by might\nnor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord.\"\n\nMadam, I have heard of your infirmities of body, and sickness. I know\nthe issue shall be mercy to you, and that God's purpose, which lieth\nhidden under ground to you, is to commend the sweetness of His love\nand care to you from your youth. And if all the sad losses, trials,\nsicknesses, infirmities, griefs, heaviness, and inconstancy of the\ncreature, be expounded (as sure I am they are) the rods of the\njealousy of an Husband in heaven, contending with all your lovers on\nearth, though there were millions of them, for your love, to fetch\nmore of your love home to heaven, to make it single, unmixed, and\nchaste, to the Fairest in heaven and earth, to Jesus the Prince of\nages, ye will forgive (to borrow that word) every rod of God, and \"not\nlet the sun go down on your wrath\" against any messenger of your\nafflicting and correcting Father. Since your Ladyship cannot but see\nthat the mark at which Christ hath aimed these twenty-four years and\nabove, is, to have the company and fellowship of such a sinful\ncreature in heaven with Him for all eternity; and, because He will not\n(such is the power of His love) enjoy His Father's glory, and that\ncrown due to Him by eternal generation, without you, by name (John\nxvii. 24, x. 16, xiv. 3), therefore, Madam, believe no evil of Christ:\nlisten to no hard reports that His rods make of Him to you. He hath\nloved you, and washed you from your sins; and what would ye have more?\nIs that too little, except He adjourn all crosses, till ye be where ye\nshall be out of all capacity to sigh or be crossed? I hope that ye can\ndesire no more, no greater, nor more excellent suit, than Christ and\nthe fellowship of the Lamb for evermore. And if that desire be\nanswered in heaven (as I am sure it is, and ye cannot deny but it is\nmade sure to you), the want of these poor accidents, of a living\nhusband, of many children, of an healthful body, of a life of ease in\nthe world, without one knot in the rush, are nobly made up, and may be\ncomfortably borne.\n\nGrace, grace be with your Ladyship.\n\n Your Ladyship's, at all obedience in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, _Oct. 16, 1645_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXIV.--_To BARBARA HAMILTON, on her Son-in-law slain in battle._\n[Letter CCCXII.]\n\n(_GOD DOES ALL THINGS WELL, AND WITH DESIGN._)\n\n\nLOVING SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I have heard with\ngrief that Newcastle hath taken one more in a bloody account than\nbefore, even your son-in-law and my friend. But I hope you have\nlearned that much of Christ as not to look to wheels rolled round\nabout on earth. Earthen vessels are not to dispute with their Former.\nPieces of shining clay may, by reasoning and contending with the\npotter, mar the work of Him \"who hath His fire in Zion, and His\nfurnace in Jerusalem;\" as bullocks sweating and wrestling in the\nfurrow make their yoke more heavy. In quietness and rest ye shall be\nsaved. If men do anything contrary to your heart, we may ask both,\n\"Who did it?\" and \"What is done?\" and \"Why?\" When God hath done any\nsuch thing, we are to inquire, \"Who hath done it?\" and to know that\nthis cometh from the Lord, who is \"wonderful in counsel;\" but we are\nnot to ask, \"What?\" or \"Why?\" If it be from the Lord as certainly\nthere is no evil in the city without Him (Amos iii. 6), it is enough;\nthe fairest face of His spotless way is but coming, and ye are to\nbelieve His works as well as His word. Violent death is a sharer with\nChrist in His death, which was violent. It maketh not much what way we\ngo to heaven: the happy home is all, where the roughness of the way\nshall be forgotten. He is gone home to a Friend's house, and made\nwelcome, and the race is ended: time is recompensed with eternity, and\ncopper with gold. God's order is in wisdom; the husband goeth home\nbefore the wife. And the throng of the market shall be over ere it be\nlong, and another generation be where we now are, and at length an\nempty house, and not one of mankind shall be upon the earth, within\nthe sixth part of an hour after the earth and works that are therein\nshall be burnt up with fire. I fear more that Christ is about to\nremove, when He carrieth home so much of His plenishing beforehand.\n\nWe cannot teach the Almighty knowledge. When He was directing the\nbullet against His servant to fetch out the soul, no wise man could\ncry to God, \"Wrong, wrong, Lord, for he is Thine own!\" There is no\nmist over His eyes who is \"wonderful in counsel.\" If Zion be builded\nwith your son-in-law's blood, the Lord (deep in counsel) can glue\ntogether the stones of Zion with blood, and with that blood which is\nprecious in His eyes. Christ hath fewer labourers in His vineyard than\nHe had, but more witnesses for His cause and the Lord's covenant with\nthe three nations. What is Christ's gain is not your loss. Let not\nthat, which is His holy and wise will, be your unbelieving sorrow.\n\nThough I really judge that I had interest in His dead servant, yet,\nbecause he now liveth to Christ, I quit the hopes which I had of his\nsuccessful labouring in the ministry. I know he now praiseth the grace\nthat he was to preach; and if there were a better thing on his head\nnow in heaven than a crown, or anything more excellent than heaven, he\nwould cast it down before His feet who sitteth on the throne. Give\nglory, therefore, to Christ, as he now doeth, and say, \"Thy will be\ndone.\"\n\nThe grace and consolation of Christ be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, _Nov. 15, 1645_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXV.-_-To a Christian Friend, upon the death of his Wife._\n\n(_GOD THE FIRST CAUSE--THE END OF AFFLICTION._)\n\n\nWORTHY FRIEND,--I desire to suffer with you, in the loss of a loving\nand good wife, now gone before (according to the method and order of\nHim of whose understanding there is no searching out) whither ye are\nto follow. He that made yesterday to go before this day, and the\nformer generation, in birth and life, to have been before this present\ngeneration, and hath made some flowers to grow and die and wither in\nthe month of May, and others in June, cannot be challenged in the\norder He hath made of things without souls; and some order He must\nkeep also here, that one might bury another. Therefore I hope ye shall\nbe dumb and silent, because the Lord hath done it.\n\nWhat creatures or under-causes do, in sinful mistakes, is ordered in\nwisdom by your Father, at whose feet your own soul and your heaven\nlieth; and so the days of your wife. If the place she hath left were\nany other than a prison of sin, and the home she is gone to any other\nthan where her Head and Saviour is King of the land, your grief had\nbeen more rational. But I trust your faith of the resurrection of the\ndead in Christ to glory and immortality, will lead you to suspend your\nlonging for her, till the morning and dawning of that day when the\narchangel shall descend with a shout, to gather all the prisoners out\nof the grave, up to Himself. To believe this is best for you; and to\nbe silent, because He hath done it, is your wisdom.\n\nIt is much to come out of the Lord's school of trial wiser, and more\nexperienced in the ways of God; and it is our happiness, when Christ\nopeneth a vein, that He taketh nothing but ill blood from His sick\nones. Christ hath skill to do; and (if our corruption mar not) the art\nof mercy in correcting. We cannot of ourselves take away the tin, the\nlead, and the scum that remaineth in us; and if Christ be not\nMaster-of-work, and if the furnace go its lone (He not standing nigh\nthe melting of His own vessel), the labour were lost, and the Founder\nshould melt in vain. God knoweth some of us have lost much fire,\nsweating, and pains, to our Lord Jesus; and the vessel is almost\nmarred, the furnace and rod of God spilled, \"the daylight[455] burnt,\nand the reprobate metal not taken away,\" so as some are to answer to\nthe Majesty of God for the abuse of many good crosses, and rich\nafflictions lost without the quiet fruit of righteousness. It is a sad\nthing when the rod is cursed, that never fruit shall grow on it. And\nexcept Christ's dew fall down, and His summer-sun shine, and His grace\nfollow afflictions to cause them to bring forth fruit to God, they are\nso fruitless to us, that our evil ground (rank and fat enough for\nbriers) casteth up a crop of noisome weeds. \"The rod\" (as the prophet\nsaith) \"blossometh, pride buddeth forth, violence riseth up into a rod\nof wickedness\" (Ezek. vii. 10, 11). And all this hath been my case\nunder many rods since I saw you.\n\n [455] The allusion is to Jer. vi. 29, and in that passage \"daylight\"\n is a variation from our common version. Could Rutherford have been\n reading Jeremiah in the Septuagint Greek version? There the word is\n \u03c6\u03c5\u03c3\u03b7\u03c4\u1f74\u03c1, \"blowpipe,\" or \"_bellows_;\" but we might suppose\n that his eye mistook the word for \u03c6\u03c9\u03c3\u03c4\u1f74\u03c1, \"lightgiver,\"\n \"_window-light_.\" The Scotch phrase, \"to burn daylight,\" means to\n waste time and opportunity.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, 1645.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXVI.--_To a Christian Brother, on the death of his Daughter._\n\n(_CONSOLATION IN HER HAVING GONE BEFORE--CHRIST THE BEST HUSBAND._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND BELOVED IN THE LORD,--It may be that I have been too long\nsilent, but I hope that ye will not impute it to forgetfulness of you.\n\nAs I have heard of the death of your daughter with heaviness of mind\non your behalf, so am I much comforted that she hath evidenced to\nyourself and other witnesses the hope of the resurrection of the dead.\nAs sown corn is not lost (for there is more hope of that which is sown\nthan of that which is eaten) (1 Cor. xv. 42, 43), so also is it in the\nresurrection of the dead: the body \"is sown in corruption, it is\nraised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in\nglory.\" I hope that ye wait for the crop and harvest; \"for if we\nbelieve that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep\nin Jesus will God bring with Him\" (1 Thess. iv. 14). Then they are not\nlost who are gathered into that congregation of the first-born, and\nthe general assembly of the saints. Though we cannot outrun nor\novertake them that are gone before, yet we shall quickly follow them;\nand the difference is, that she hath the advantage of some months or\nyears of the crown before you and her mother. As we do not take it ill\nif our children outrun us in the life of grace, why then are we sad if\nthey outstrip us in the attainment of the life of glory? It would seem\nthat there is more reason to grieve that children live behind us, than\nthat they are glorified and die before us. All the difference is in\nsome poor hungry accidents of time, less or more, sooner or later. So\nthe godly child, though young, died an hundred years old; and ye could\nnot now have bestowed her better, though the choice was Christ's, not\nyours.\n\nAnd I am sure, Sir, ye cannot now say that she is married against the\nwill of her parents. She might more readily, if alive, fall into the\nhands of a worse husband; but can ye think that she could have fallen\ninto the hands of a better? And if Christ marry with your house, it is\nyour honour, not any cause of grief, that Jesus should portion any of\nyours, ere she enjoy your portion. Is it not great love? The patrimony\nis more than any other could give; as good a husband is impossible; to\nsay a better is blasphemy. The King and Prince of ages can keep them\nbetter than ye can do. While she was alive, ye could entrust her to\nChrist, and recommend her to His keeping; now, by an after-faith, ye\nhave resigned her unto Him in whose bosom do sleep all that are dead\nin the Lord. Ye would have lent her to glorify the Lord upon earth,\nand He hath borrowed her (with promise to restore her again) (1 Cor.\nxv. 53; 1 Thess. iv. 15, 16) to be an organ of the immediate\nglorifying of Himself in heaven. Sinless glorifying of God is better\nthan sinful glorifying of Him. And sure your prayers concerning her\nare fulfilled. I shall desire, if the Lord shall be pleased the same\nway to dispose of her mother, that ye have the same mind. Christ\ncannot multiply injuries upon you. If the fountain be the love of God\n(as I hope it is), ye are enriched with losses.\n\nYe knew all I can say better, before I was in Christ, than I can\nexpress it. Grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in Christ Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, _Jan. 6, 1646_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXVII.--_To a Christian Gentlewoman._\n\n(_VIEWS OF DEATH AND HEAVEN--ASPIRATIONS._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--If death, which is\nbefore you and us all, were any other thing than a friendly\ndissolution, and a change, not a destruction of life, it would seem a\nhard voyage to go through such a sad and dark trance,[456] so thorny a\nvalley, as is the wages of sin. But I am confident the way ye know,\nthough your foot never trod in that black shadow. The loss of life is\ngain to you. If Christ Jesus be the period, the end, and lodging-home,\nat the end of your journey, there is no fear; ye go to a friend. And\nsince ye have had communion with Him in this life, and He hath a pawn\nor pledge of yours, even the largest share of your love and heart, ye\nmay look death in the face with joy.\n\n [456] Passage.\n\nIf the heart be in heaven, the remnant of you cannot be kept the\nprisoner of the second death. But though He be the same Christ in the\nother life that ye found Him to be here, yet He is so far in His\nexcellency, beauty, sweetness, irradiations, and beams of majesty,\nabove what He appeared here, when He is seen as He is, that ye shall\nmisken Him, and He shall appear a new Christ. And His kisses,\nbreathings, embracements, the perfume, the ointment of His name poured\nout on you, shall appear to have more of God, and a stronger smell of\nheaven, of eternity, of a Godhead, of majesty and glory, there than\nhere; as water at the fountain, apples in the orchard and beside the\ntree, have more of their native sweetness, taste, and beauty, than\nwhen transported to us some hundred miles.\n\nI mean not that Christ can lose any of His sweetness in the carrying,\nor that He, in His Godhead and loveliness of presence, can be changed\nto the worse, betwixt the little spot of the earth that ye are in, and\nthe right hand of the Father far above all heavens. But the change\nwill be in you, when ye shall have new senses, and the soul shall be a\nmore deep and more capacious vessel, to take in more of Christ; and\nwhen means (the chariot, the Gospel, that He is now carried in, and\nordinances that convey Him) shall be removed. Sure ye cannot now be\nsaid to see Him face to face; or to drink of the wine of the highest\nfountain, or to take in seas and tides of fresh love immediately,\nwithout vessels, midses, or messengers, at the Fountain itself, as ye\nwill do a few days hence, when ye shall be so near as to be with\nChrist (Luke xxiii. 43; John xvii. 24; Phil. i. 23; 1 Thess. iv. 17).\n\nYe would, no doubt, bestow a day's journey, yea, many days' journey on\nearth, to go up to heaven, and fetch down anything of Christ; how much\nmore may ye be willing to make a journey to go in person to heaven (it\nis not lost time, but gained eternity) to enjoy the full Godhead! And\nthen, in such a manner as He is there! not in His week-day's apparel,\nas He is here with us, in a drop or the tenth part of a night's dewing\nof grace and sweetness; but He is there in His marriage-robe of glory,\nricher, more costly, more precious, in one hem or button of that\ngarment of Fountain majesty than a million of worlds. Oh, the well is\ndeep! Ye shall then think that preachers, and sinful ambassadors on\nearth, did but spill and mar His praises, when they spoke of Him and\npreached His beauty.\n\nAlas! we but make Christ black and less lovely, in making such\ninsignificant, and dry, and cold, and low expressions of His highest\nand transcendent super-excellency to the daughters of Jerusalem. Sure\nI have often, for my own part, sinned in this thing. No doubt angels\ndo not fulfil their task, according to their obligation, in that\nChrist keeps their feet from falling with the lost devils; though I\nknow they are not behind in going to the utmost of created power. But\nthere is sin in our praising, and sin in the quantity, besides other\nsins. But I must leave this; it is too deep for me. Go and see, and we\ndesire to go with you; but we are not masters of our own diet.[457]\nIf, in that last journey, ye tread on a serpent in the way, and\nthereby wound your heel, as Jesus Christ did before you, the print of\nthe wound shall not be known at the resurrection of the just. Death is\nbut an awesome step, over time and sin, to sweet Jesus Christ, who\nknew and felt the worst of death, for death's teeth hurt Him. We know\ndeath hath no teeth now, no jaws, for they are broken. It is a free\nprison; citizens pay nothing for the grave. The jailor who had the\npower of death is destroyed: praise and glory be to the First-begotten\nof the dead.\n\n [457] _Diet_, used for fixed time.\n\nThe worst possible that may be is, that ye leave behind you children,\nhusband, and the church of God in miseries. But ye cannot get them to\nheaven with you for the present. Ye shall not miss them, and Christ\ncannot miscount one of the poorest of His lambs. No lad, no girl, no\npoor one shall be a-missing, ere[458] ye see them again, in the day\nthat the Son shall render up the kingdom to His Father.\n\n [458] None shall be longer missed than just till the time when ye\n shall see them again.\n\nThe evening and the shadow of every poor hireling is coming. The sun\nof Christ's church in this life is declining low. Not a soul of the\nmilitant company will be here within a few generations; our Husband\nwill send for them all. It is a rich mercy that we are not married to\ntime longer than the course be finished.\n\nYe may rejoice that ye go not to heaven till ye know that Jesus is\nthere before you; that when ye come thither, at your first entry ye\nmay feel the smell of His ointments, His myrrh, aloes, and cassia. And\nthis first salutation of His will make you find it is no uncomfortable\nthing to die. Go and enjoy your gain; live on Christ's love while ye\nare here, and all the way.\n\nAs for the church which ye leave behind you, the government is upon\nChrist's shoulders, and He will plead for the blood of His saints. The\nBush hath been burning above five thousand years, and we never yet saw\nthe ashes of this fire. Yet a little while, and the vision shall not\ntarry: it will speak, and not lie. I am more afraid of my duty, than\nof the Head Christ's government. He cannot fail to bring judgment to\nvictory. Oh that we could wait for our hidden life! Oh that Christ\nwould remove the covering, draw aside the curtain of time, and rend\nthe heavens, and come down! Oh that shadows and night were gone, that\nthe day would break, and that He who feedeth among the lilies would\ncry to His heavenly trumpeters, \"Make ready, let us go down and fold\ntogether the four corners of the world, and marry the bride!\" His\ngrace be with you.\n\nNow, if I have found favour with you, and if ye judge me faithful, my\nlast suit to you is that ye would leave me a legacy; and that is, that\nmy name may be, at the very last, in your prayers: as I desire also,\nit may be in the prayers of those of your Christian acquaintance with\nwhom ye have been intimate.\n\n Your brother, in his own Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, _Jan. 9, 1646_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXVIII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_CHRIST NEVER IN OUR DEBT--RICHES OF CHRIST--EXCELLENCE OF THE\nHEAVENLY STATE._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--It is the least of the\nprincely and royal bounty of Jesus Christ to pay a king's debts, and\nnot to have His servants at a loss. His gold is better than yours, and\nHis hundred-fold is the income and rent of heaven, and far above your\nrevenues. Ye are not the first who have casten up your accounts that\nway. Better have Christ your factor than any other; for He tradeth to\nthe advantage of His poor servants. But if the hundred-fold in this\nlife be so well told (as Christ cannot pay you with miscounting or\ndeferred hope), oh, what must the rent of that land be which rendereth\n(every day and hour of the years of long eternity) the whole rent of a\nyear, yea, of more than thousand thousands of ages, even the weighty\nincome of a rich kingdom, not every summer once, but every moment!\n\nThat sum of glory will take you and all the angels telling.[459] To be\na tenant to such a Landlord, where every berry and grape of the large\nfield beareth no worse fruit than glory, fulness of joy, and pleasures\nthat endure for evermore! I leave it to yourself to think what a\nsummer, what a soil, what a garden must be there; and what must be the\ncommodities of that highest land, where the sun and the moon are under\nthe feet of the inhabitants! Surely the land cannot be bought with\ngold, blood, banishment, loss of father and mother, husband, wife,\nchildren. We but dwell here because we can do no better. It is need,\nnot virtue, to be sojourners in a prison; to weep and sigh, and, alas!\nto sin sixty or seventy years in a land of tears. The fruits that grow\nhere are all seasoned and salted with sin.\n\n [459] Will require all your power, and that of angels too, to unfold.\n\nOh how sweet is it that the company of the first-born should be\ndivided into two great bodies of an army, and some in their country,\nand some in the way to their country! If it were no more than once to\nsee the face of the Prince of this good land, and to be feasted for\neternity with the fatness, sweetness, dainties of the rays and beams\nof matchless glory, and incomparable fountain-love, it were a\nwell-spent journey to creep hands and feet through seven deaths and\nseven hells, to enjoy Him up at the well-head. Only let us not weary:\nthe miles to that land are fewer and shorter than when we first\nbelieved. Strangers are not wise to quarrel with their host, and\ncomplain of their lodging. It is a foul way, but a fair home. Oh that\nI had but such grapes and clusters out of the land as I have sometimes\nseen and tasted in the place whereof your Ladyship maketh mention! But\nthe hope of it in the end is a heartsome convoy in the way. If I see\nlittle more of the gold[460] till the race be ended, I dare not\nquarrel. It is the Lord! I hope His chariot will go through these\nthree kingdoms, after our sufferings shall be accomplished.\n\n [460] In a sermon preached at Kircudbright, in 1634, on Heb. xii. 1-3,\n he says, \"This condemns those who will not run one foot in the race\n except the gold be in their hand.\"\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Your Ladyship's, in Jesus Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, _Jan. 26, 1646_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXIX.--_To_ Mr. J. G.[461]\n\n [461] Perhaps Mr. James Guthrie, minister of Stirling; afterwards\n beheaded in 1661, at the Cross of Edinburgh, and his head fixed on the\n Nether Bow.\n\n(_PROSPECTS FOR SCOTLAND--HIS OWN DARKNESS--ABILITY OF CHRIST._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I shall with my soul desire the peace of\nthese kingdoms, and I do believe it will at last come, as a river and\nas the mighty waves of the sea; but oh that we were ripe and in\nreadiness to receive it! The preserving of two or three, or four or\nfive berries, in the utmost boughs of the olive-tree, after the\nvintage, is like to be a great matter ere all be done; yet I know that\na cluster in both kingdoms shall be saved, for a blessing is in it.\nBut it is not, I fear, so near to the dawning of the day of salvation\nbut the clouds must send down more showers of blood to water the\nvineyard of the Lord, and to cause it to blossom. Scotland's scum is\nnot yet removed; nor is England's dross and tin taken away; nor the\nfilth of our blood \"purged by the spirit of judgment, and the spirit\nof burning.\" But I am too much on this sad subject.\n\nAs for myself, I do esteem nothing out of heaven, and next to a\ncommunion with Jesus Christ, more than to be in the hearts and prayers\nof the saints. I know that He feedeth there among the lilies, till the\nday break; but I am at low ebb, as to any sensible communion with\nChrist; yea, as low as any soul can be, and do scarce know where I am;\nand do now make it a question, if any can go to Him, who dwelleth in\nlight inaccessible, through nothing but darkness. Sure, all that come\nto heaven have a stock in Christ; but I know not where mine is. It\ncannot be enough for me to believe the salvation of others, and to\nknow Christ to be the Honeycomb, the Rose of Sharon, the Paradise and\nEden of the saints, and First-born written in heaven, and not to see\nafar the borders of that good land.\n\nBut what shall I say? Either this is the Lord, making grace a new\ncreation, where there is pure nothing and sinful nothing to work upon,\nor I am gone. I should count my soul engaged to yourself, and others\nthere with you, if ye would but carry to Christ for me a letter of\ncyphers and nonsense (for I know not how to make language of my\ncondition), only showing that I have need of His love; for I know many\nfair and washen ones stand now in white before the throne, who were\nonce as black as I am. If Christ pass His word to wash a sinner, it is\nless to Him than a word to make fair angels of black devils! Only let\nthe art of free grace be engaged. I have not a cautioner to give\nsurety, nor doth a Mediator, such as He is in all perfection, need a\nmediator. But what I need, He knoweth; only, it is His depth of wisdom\nto let some pass millions of miles over score in debt, that they may\nstand between the winning and the losing, in need of more than\nordinary free grace.\n\nChrist hath been multiplying grace by mercy above these five thousand\nyears; and the later born heirs have so much greater guiltiness, that\nChrist hath passed more experiments and multiplied essays of\nheart-love on others, by misbelieving (after it is past all question,\nmany hundreds of ages), that Christ is the undeniable and now\nuncontroverted treasurer of multiplied redemptions. So now He is\nsaying, \"The more of the disease there is, the more of the physician's\nart of grace and tenderness there must be.\" Only, I know that no\nsinner can put infinite grace to it,[462] so as the Mediator shall\nhave difficulty, or much ado, to save this or that man. Millions of\nhells of sinners cannot come near to exhaust infinite grace.\n\n [462] \"_To put one to it_,\" is a phrase equivalent to, \"Cause him to\n be at a loss how to act.\"\n\nI pray you (remembering my love to your wife, and friends there), let\nme find that I have solicitors there amongst your acquaintance; and\nforget not Scotland.\n\n Your brother in Jesus Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, _Jan. 30, 1646_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXX.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_TRIALS CANNOT INJURE SAINTS--BLESSEDNESS IN SEEING CHRIST._)\n\n\nMADAM,--It is too like that the Lord's controversy with these two\nnations is but yet beginning, and that we are ripened and white for\nthe Lord's sickle.\n\nFor the particular condition your Ladyship is in, another might speak\n(if they would say all) of more sad things. If there was not a\nfountain of free grace to water dry ground, and an uncreated wind to\nbreathe on withered and dry bones, we were gone. The wheels of\nChrist's chariot (to pluck us out of the womb of many deaths) are\nwinged like eagles. All I have is, to desire to believe that Christ\nwill show all good-will to save; and as for your Ladyship, I know that\nour Lord Jesus carrieth on no design against you, but seeketh to save\nand redeem you. He lieth not in wait for your falls, except it be to\ntake you up. His way of redeeming is ravishing and taking. There are\nmore miracles of glorified sinners in heaven than can be on earth.\nNothing of you, Madam, nay, not even your leaf, can wither.\n\nVerily, it is a king's life to follow the Lamb. But when ye see Him in\nHis own country at home, ye will think ye never saw Him before: \"He\nshall be admired of all them that believe\" (2 Thess. i. 10). Ye may\njudge how far all your now sad days, and tossings, changes, losses,\nwants, conflicts, shall then be below you. Ye look to the cross: now\nit is above your head, and seemeth to threaten death, as having a\ndominion; but it shall then be so far below your thoughts, or your\nthoughts so far above it, that ye shall have no leisure to lend one\nthought to old-dated crosses, in youth, in age, in this country or in\nthat, from this instrument or from another, except it be to the\nheightening of your consolation, being now got above and beyond all\nthese.\n\nOld age, and \"waxing old as a garment,\" is written on the fairest face\nof the creation (Ps. cii. 26). Death, from Adam to the Second Adam's\nappearance, playeth the king and reigneth over all. The prime Heir\ndied; His children, whom the Lord hath given, follow Him. And we may\nspeak freely of the life which is here; were it heaven, there were not\nmuch gain in godliness. But there is a rest for the people of God.\nChrist-man possesseth it now one thousand six hundred years before\nmany of His members; but it weareth not out.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Your Ladyship's, in Christ Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, _Feb. 16, 1646_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXI.--_To the LADY ARDROSS, in Fife._ [_There is an Ardross near\nFerintosh in Ross-shire._]\n\n [LADY ARDROSS, whose maiden name was Helen Lindsay, was the\n daughter of Lady Christian Hamilton, eldest daughter of Thomas,\n first Earl of Haddington, by her first husband Robert, ninth Lord\n Lindsay of Byres. She was married to Sir William Scott of\n Ardross, son of Sir W. Scott of Elie. Her daughter, Euphemia,\n Countess of Dundonald, some thirty years after this, attended the\n field conventicles, and entertained the field preachers at her\n house. (Douglas' \"Peerage,\" vol. i. p. 386.) This letter was\n written to her on the occasion of the death of her mother, who\n was then Lady Boyd, having married for her second husband,\n Robert, sixth Lord Boyd. (See notice of Lady Boyd, Letter\n LXXVII.)]\n\n(_ON HER MOTHER'S DEATH--HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN, AND BLESSEDNESS OF DYING\nIN THE LORD._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--It hath seemed good, as I\nhear, to Him that hath appointed the bounds for the number of our\nmonths, to gather in a sheaf of ripe corn, in the death of your\nChristian mother, into His garner. It is the more evident that winter\nis near, when apples, without the violence of wind, fall of their own\naccord off the tree. She is now above the winter, with a little change\nof place, not of a Saviour; only she enjoyeth Him now without\nmessages, and in His own immediate presence, from whom she heard by\nletters and messengers before.\n\nI grant that death is to her a very new thing; but heaven was prepared\nof old. And Christ (as enjoyed in His highest throne, and as loaded\nwith glory, and incomparably exalted above men and angels, having such\na heavenly circle of glorified harpers and musicians above, compassing\nthe throne with a song) is to her a new thing, but so new as the first\nsummer-rose, or the first fruits of that heavenly field; or as a new\nparadise to a traveller, broken and worn out of breath with the sad\noccurrences of a long and dirty way.\n\nYe may easily judge, Madam, what a large recompense is made to all her\nservice, her walking with God, and her sorrows, with the first cast of\nthe soul's eye upon the shining and admirably beautiful face of the\nLamb, that is in the midst of that fair and white army which is there,\nand with the first draught and taste of the fountain of life, fresh\nand new at the well-head; to say nothing of the enjoying of that face\nwithout date, for more than this term of life which we now enjoy. And\nit cost her no more to go thither, than to suffer death to do her this\npiece of service: for by Him who was dead, and is alive, she was\ndelivered from the second death. What, then, is the first death to the\nsecond? Not a scratch of the skin of a finger to the endless second\ndeath. And now she sitteth for eternity mail-free, in a very\nconsiderable land, which hath more than four summers in the year. Oh,\nwhat spring-time is there! Even the smelling of the odours of that\ngreat and eternally blooming Rose of Sharon for ever and ever! What a\nsinging life is there! There is not a dumb bird in all that large\nfield; but all sing and breathe out heaven, joy, glory, dominion to\nthe high Prince of that new-found land. And, verily, the land is the\nsweeter that Jesus Christ paid so dear a rent for it. And He is the\nglory of the land: all which, I hope, doth not so much mitigate and\nallay your grief for her part (though truly this should seem\nsufficient), as the unerring expectation of the dawning of that day\nupon yourself, and the hope you have of the fruition of that same King\nand kingdom to your own soul. Certainly the hope of it, when things\nlook so dark-like on both kingdoms, must be an exceedingly great\nquickening to languishing spirits, who are far from home while we are\nhere. What misery, to have both a bad way all the day, and no hope of\nlodging at night! But He hath taken up your lodging for you.\n\nI can say no more now; but I pray that the very God of peace may\nestablish your heart to the end. I rest, Madam,\n\n Your Ladyship's, at all respective obedience in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, _Feb. 24, 1646_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXII.--_To_ M. O.\n\n [Perhaps, as Letter CXLIX., some one of Provost Osburn's family\n in Ireland.]\n\n(_GLOOMY PROSPECTS FOR THE BACKSLIDING CHURCH--THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS\nOF BELIEVERS CAUSE OF GREAT GRIEF--THE DAY OF CHRIST._)\n\n\nSIR,--I can write nothing for the present concerning these times\n(whatever others may think), but that which speaketh wrath and\njudgment to these kingdoms. If ever ye, or any of that land, received\nthe Gospel in truth (as I am confident ye and they did), there is here\na great departure from that faith, and our sufferings are not yet at\nan end. However, I dare testify and die for it, that once Christ was\nrevealed in the power of His excellency and glory to the saints there,\nand in Scotland, of which I was a witness. I pray God that none\ndeceive you, or take the crown from you. Hell, or the gates of hell,\ncannot ravel, mar, nor undo what Christ hath once done amongst you. It\nmay be that I am incapable of new light, and cannot receive that\nspirit whereof some vainly boast; but that \"which was from the\nbeginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,\nwhich we have looked upon, and our hands have handled\" (1 John i. 1),\neven \"the word of life,\" hath been declared to you. Thousands of\nthousands, walking in that light and that good old way, have gone to\nheaven, and are now before the throne. Truth is but one, and hath no\nnumbers. Christ and Antichrist are both now in the camp, and are come\nto open blows. Christ's poor ship saileth in the sea of blood; the\npassengers are so sea-sick of a high fever, that they miscall one\nanother. Christ, I hope, will bring the broken bark to land. I had\nrather swim for life and death on an old plank, or a broken board, to\nland with Christ, than enjoy the rotten peace we have hitherto had. It\nis like that the Lord will take a severe course with us, to cause the\nchildren of the family to agree together. I conceive that Christ hath\na great design of free grace to these lands; but His wheels must move\nover mountains and rocks. He never yet wooed a bride on earth, but in\nblood, in fire, and in the wilderness. A cross of our own choosing,\nhoneyed and sugared with consolations, we cannot have. I think not\nmuch of a cross when all the children of the house weep with me and\nfor me; and to suffer when we enjoy the communion of the saints is not\nmuch; but it is hard when saints rejoice in the suffering of saints,\nand redeemed ones hurt (yea, even go nigh to hate) redeemed ones.\n\nI confess I imagined there had no more been such an affliction on\nearth, or in the world, as that one elect angel should fight against\nanother; but, for contempt of the communion of saints, we have need of\nnew-born crosses, scarce ever heard of before. The saints are not\nChrist: there is no misjudging in Him; there is much in us; and a\ndoubt it is, if we shall have fully one heart till we shall enjoy one\nheaven. Our star-light hideth us from ourselves, and hideth us from\none another, and Christ from us all. But He will not be hidden from\nus. I shall wish that all the sons of our Father in that land were of\none mind, and that they be not shaken nor moved from the truth once\nreceived. Christ was in that Gospel, and Christ is the same now that\nHe was in The Prelates' time. That Gospel cannot sink; it will make\nyou free, and bear you out. Christ, the subject of it, is the chosen\nof God; and cometh from Bozrah, with garments dyed in blood. Ireland\nand Scotland both must be His field, in which He shall feed and gather\nlilies. Suppose (which yet is impossible) that some had an eternity of\nChrist in Ireland, and a sweet summer of the Gospel, and a feast of\nfat things for evermore in Ireland, and that one should never come to\nheaven, it should be a desirable life! The King's spikenard, Christ's\nperfume, His apples of love, His ointments, even down in this lower\nhouse of clay, are a choice heaven. Oh! what then is the King in His\nown land, where there is such a throne, so many King's palaces, ten\nthousand thousands of crowns of glory that want heads yet to fill\nthem? Oh, so much leisure as shall be there to sing! Oh, such a tree\nas groweth there in the midst of that Paradise, where the inhabitants\nsing eternally under its branches! To look in at a window, and see the\nbranches burdened with the apples of life, to be the last man that\nshall come in thither, were too much for me.\n\nI pray you to remember me to the Christians there; and remember our\nprivate covenant. Grace be with you.\n\n Your friend in the Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, _April 17, 1646_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXIII.--_To EARLSTON, Elder._\n\n(_CHRIST'S WAY OF AFFLICTING THE BEST--OBLIGATION TO FREE\nGRACE--ENDURING THE CROSS._)\n\n\nSIR,--I know that ye have learned long ago, ere I knew anything of\nChrist, that if we had the cross at our own election, we would either\nhave law-surety for freedom from it, or then we would have it honeyed\nand sugared with comforts, so as the sweet should overmaster the gall\nand wormwood. Christ knoweth how to breed the sons of His house, and\nye will give Him leave to take His own way of dispensation with you;\nand, though it be rough, forgive Him. He defieth you to have as much\npatience to Him as He hath borne to you. I am sure that there cannot\nbe a dram-weight of gall less in your cup; and ye would not desire He\nshould both afflict you and hurt your soul. When His people cannot\nhave a providence of silk and roses, they must be content with such an\none as He carveth for them. Ye would not go to heaven but with\ncompany; and ye may perceive that the way of those who went before you\nwas through blood, sufferings, and many afflictions. Nay, Christ, the\nCaptain, went in over the door-threshold of Paradise bleeding to\ndeath. I do not think but ye have learned to stoop (though ye, as\nothers, be naturally stiff), and that ye have found that the apples\nand sweet fruits, which grow on that crabbed tree of the cross, are as\nsweet as it is sour to bear it; especially considering that Christ\nhath borne the whole complete cross, and that His saints bear but bits\nand chips; as the Apostle saith, \"the remnants,\" or \"leavings,\" of the\ncross (Col. i. 24).\n\nI judge you ten thousand times happy, that ever ye were grace's\ndebtor; for certainly Christ hath engaged you over head and ears to\nfree grace. And take the debt with you to eternity, Immanuel's highest\nland, where ye find before you a houseful of Christ's everlasting\ndebtors; the less shame to you. Yea, and this lower kingdom of grace\nis but Christ's hospital, and guest-house of sick folks, whom the\nbrave and noble Physician, Christ, hath cured, upon a venture of life\nand death. And, if ye be near the water-side (as I know ye are), all\nthat I can say is this, Sir, that I feel by the smell of that land\nwhich is before you, that it is a goodly country, and it is well paid\nfor to your hand. And He is before you who will heartily welcome you.\nOh, to suck those breasts of full consolation above, and to drink\nChrist's new wine up in His Father's house, is some greater matter\nthan is believed; since it was brewed from eternity for the Head of\nthe house, and so many thousand crowned kings. Rubs in the way, where\nthe lodging is so good, are not much.\n\nHe that brought again from the dead the Great Shepherd of the sheep,\nby the blood of the eternal covenant, establish you to the end.\n\n Your friend and servant in Christ Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n LONDON, _May 15, 1646_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXIV.--_To his Reverend and worthy Brother_, MR. GEORGE\nGILLESPIE.[463]\n\n [463] Gillespie was lying on his deathbed when this letter was written\n to him by Rutherford, who had heard of the dangerous illness of his\n friend. He died on the 17th of December following.\n\n(_PROSPECT OF DEATH--CHRIST THE TRUE SUPPORT IN DEATH._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I cannot speak to you. The way ye know;\nthe passage is free and not stopped; the print of the footsteps of the\nForerunner is clear and manifest; many have gone before you. Ye will\nnot sleep long in the dust, before The Daybreak. It is a far shorter\npiece of the hinder-end of the night to you than to Abraham and Moses.\nBeside all the time of their bodies resting under corruption, it is as\nlong yet to their day as to your morning-light of awaking to glory,\nthough their spirits, having the advantage of yours, have had now the\nfore-start of the shore before you.\n\nI dare say nothing against His dispensation. I hope to follow quickly.\nThe heirs that are not there before you are posting with haste after\nyou, and none shall take your lodging over your head. Be not heavy.\nThe life of faith is now called for; _doing_ was never reckoned in\nyour accounts, though Christ in and by you hath done more than by\ntwenty, yea, an hundred grey-haired and godly pastors. Believing now\nis your last.[464] Look to that word, \"Nevertheless I live, yet not I,\nbut Christ liveth in me\" (Gal. ii. 20). Ye know the I that liveth, and\nthe _I_ that liveth not; it is not single _Ye_ that live. Christ by\nlaw liveth in the broken debtor; it is not a life by doing or holy\nwalking, but the living of Christ in you. If ye look to yourself as\ndivided from Christ, ye must be more than heavy. All your wants, dear\nbrother, be upon Him: ye are His debtors; grace must sum and subscribe\nyour accounts as paid. Stand not upon items, and small or little\nsanctification. Ye know that _inherent_ holiness must stand by, when\n_imputed_ is all. I fear the clay house is a-taking down and\nundermining: but it is nigh the dawning. Look to the east, the dawning\nof the glory is near. Your Guide is good company, and knoweth all the\nmiles, and the ups and downs in the way. The nearer the morning, the\ndarker. Some travellers see the city twenty miles off, and at a\ndistance; and yet within the eighth part of a mile they cannot see it.\nIt is all keeping that ye would now have, till ye need it; and if\nsense and fruition come both at once, it is not your loss. Let Christ\ntutor you as He thinketh good; ye cannot be marred, nor miscarry, in\nHis hand. Want is an excellent qualification; and \"no money, no\nprice,\" to you (who, I know, dare not glory in your own righteousness)\nis fitness warrantable enough to cast yourself upon Him who justifieth\nthe ungodly. Some see the gold[465] once, and never again till the\nrace's end. It is coming all in a sum together, when ye are in a more\ngracious capacity to tell it than now. \"Ye are not come to the mount\nthat burneth with fire, or unto blackness, darkness, and tempest; but\nye are come to Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, the\nheavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the\ngeneral assembly and church of the first-born which are written in\nheaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men\nmade perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to\nthe blood of sprinkling,\" etc.\n\n [464] Your believing now is your last believing; closing the whole\n course.\n\n [465] See Letter CCCXVIII.\n\nYe must leave the wife to a more choice Husband, and the children to a\nbetter Father.\n\nIf ye leave any testimony to the Lord's work and Covenant, against\nboth Malignants and Sectaries (which I suppose may be needful), let it\nbe under your hand, and subscribed before faithful witnesses.[466]\n\n [466] In this matter Gillespie complied with Rutherford's advice,\n having left behind him a testimony against both Malignants and\n Sectaries, subscribed by his own hand, on the 15th of December, only\n two days before he died.\n\n Your loving and afflicted brother,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Sept. 27, 1648_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXV.--_To SIR JAMES STEWART, Lord Provost of Edinburgh_.[467]\n\n [467] As an accurate facsimile of this letter from the original, among\n the papers of the Town Council of Edinburgh, is inserted here, it has\n been thought proper, in this instance, to retain Rutherford's\n orthography.\n\n [SIR JAMES STEWART of Kirkfield and Cultness, to whom this letter\n is addressed, was a man of high Christian excellence. \"Sir James\n Stewart,\" said the celebrated George Gillespie, \"has more\n sterling religion in ready cash than any man ever I knew; he is\n always agreeably composed and recollected, in a permanent devout\n frame of spirit, and such as I should wish to have in my last\n moments\" (\"Coltness Collections,\" p. 15). He was a zealous\n Covenanter, and suffered considerably for his principles during\n the persecution of Charles II. He died March 31, 1681, at his own\n house at Edinburgh, in the seventy-third year of his age, in the\n full assurance of faith. Rutherford wrote this letter on occasion\n of his own election to be Professor of Divinity in the College of\n Edinburgh.]\n\n\nRicht honorablee\n\nTHE mater of my transportation is so poor a contraversie, I truely not\nbeeing desyrous to be the subject of any dine[468] in the Generall\nAssemblie of the Kirk of Scotland whoe have greater bussines to doe,\nand haveing suffered once the paine of transportation, moist humbly\nintreat your w. [worships] that favour as to cast yo^r thoughts vpon\nsome fitter man; for as it is vnbeseemeing me to lie or dissemblee, so\nI must friely show you it will but mak me the subject of suffereing\nand passive obedience, and I trust your w. [worships] intend not that\nhurt to me, and I am persuaded it is not yo^r mind, it shall be my\nprayer to God, to send that worthie societie an hable[469] and pious\nman. Grace be with you.\n\n [468] _Din_, noise. The superfluous \"_e_,\" at the end of several of\n these words, may possibly have been a dash in the writing. \"Dine,\" for\n \"din\"; \"whoe,\" for \"who\"; \"humblee,\" for \"humble.\" Compare\n \"_honorable_,\" on the address of the letter with the same word in the\n commencement. (A kind friend, reading this letter carefully over,\n maintains that \"_dine_,\" or \"_din_,\" is not the word in the autograph,\n but that it is \"_drane_,\" which would mean that he did not wish _to be\n a drain_ on the time of the Assembly, who had greater business to\n attend to than this personal affair of his. But, so far as we are\n aware, that phrase, \"_to be a drain_,\" never occurs elsewhere in\n Rutherford's writings. What if the writer, in the agitation of the\n moment, allowed his pen to write \"drane,\" though he meant it to be\n \"dine\"?)\n\n [469] From French, \"habile,\" in which we see the etymology of\n \"_able_.\"\n\n Yours at all humblee\n observance in the Lord\n SAMUEL RUTHERFURD\n\n for the richt honorable my varie good lord,\n Sr James Steuart proveist of Edinbrugh and\n remanent magistrats Counsellers of the Citie.\n\n S Andrews the\n Last of Junii\n 1649\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXVI.--_To MISTRESS GILLESPIE, Widow of George Gillespie._\n\n(_ON THE DEATH OF A CHILD--GOD AFFLICTS IN ORDER TO SAVE US FROM THE\nWORLD._)\n\n\nDEAR SISTER,--I have heard how the Lord hath visited you, in removing\nthe child Archibald. I hope ye see that the setting down of the weight\nof your confidence and affection upon any created thing, whether\nhusband or child, is a deceiving thing; and that the creature is not\nable to bear the weight, but sinketh down to very nothing under your\nconfidence. And, therefore, ye are Christ's debtor for all providences\nof this kind, even in that He buildeth an hedge of thorns in your way:\nfor so ye see that His gracious intention is, to save you (if I may\nsay so) whether ye will or not.\n\nIt is a rich mercy that the Lord Christ will be Master of your will\nand of your delights, and that His way is so fair, for landing of\nhusband and children before-hand in the country whitherto ye are\njourneying. No matter how little ye be engaged to the world, since ye\nhave such experience of cross-dealing in it. Had ye been a child of\nthe house, the world would have dealt more warmly with its own. There\nis less of you out of heaven, in that the child is there and the\nhusband is there; but much more that your Head, Kinsman, and Redeemer\ndoth fetch home such as are in danger to be lost. And from this time\nforward, fetch not your comforts from such broken cisterns and dry\nwells. If the Lord pull at the rest, ye must not be the creature that\nwill hold when He draweth.\n\nTruly, to me your case is more comfortable than if the fireside were\nwell plenished with ten children. The Lord saw that ye were able, by\nHis grace, to bear the loss of husband and child; and that ye are that\nweak and tender as not to be able to stand under the mercy of a\ngracious husband, living and flourishing in esteem with authority, and\nin reputation for godliness and learning. For He knoweth the weight of\nthese mercies would crush you and break you. And as there is no\nsearching out of His understanding, so He hath skill to know what\nprovidence will make Christ dearest to you; and let not your heart\nsay, \"It is an ill-waled dispensation.\" Sure Christ, who hath seven\neyes, had before Him the good of a living husband and children for\nMargaret Murray, and the good of a removed husband and children\ntranslated to glory. Now that He hath opened His decree to you, say,\n\"Christ hath made for me a wise and gracious choice, and I have not\none word to say to the contrary.\" Let not your heart charge anything,\nnor unbelief libel injuries upon Christ because He will not let you\nalone, nor give you leave to play the adulteress with such as have not\nthat right to your love that Christ hath. I should wish that, at the\nreading of this, ye may fall down and make a surrender of those that\nare gone, and of those that are yet alive, to Him. And for you, let\nHim have all; and wait for Himself, for He will come, and will not\ntarry. Live by faith, and the peace of God guard your heart. He cannot\ndie whose ye are.\n\nMy wife suffereth with you,[470] and remembereth her love to you.\n\n Your brother in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Aug. 14, 1649_.\n\n [470] Rutherford was married a second time on 24th March 1649, about\n five months previous to the date of this Letter, to Jean M'Math.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXVII.--_To the_ EARL OF BALCARRAS.\n\n [ALEXANDER LINDSAY, second Lord Balcarras, and first Earl of\n Balcarras, to whom this letter is addressed, was a man of\n superior talents, and espoused the cause of the Covenant. He\n commanded a troop of horse in the Covenanters' army at the battle\n of Alford, 2nd July 1645, when General Baillie was defeated by\n Montrose. He was one of the Commissioners despatched by the\n Parliament of Scotland, 19th December 1646, to King Charles I.,\n with their last proposals, which his Majesty rejected; upon which\n the Scottish army surrendered him to the English Parliament, and\n retired from England. When, in 1648, troops were raised with the\n design of rescuing the King from the English Parliament, and\n restoring him to liberty and power, without requiring from him\n any concessions to his subjects, which was called \"The\n Engagement,\" Balcarras took an active part in this enterprise,\n for which Rutherford, by the way, tenders to him a reproof. On\n the arrival of Charles II. in Scotland, 1650, he repaired to his\n Majesty, by whom he was advanced to the dignity of Earl of\n Balcarras. He was High Commissioner to the General Assembly of\n the Church of Scotland which met at St. Andrews, 16th July 1651.\n In 1652 he settled with his family at St. Andrews, keeping up a\n correspondence with his exiled sovereign; and in 1653 again took\n arms, and joined in an ineffectual attempt to uphold the Royal\n cause against Cromwell. His estate, after this, being\n sequestrated, he withdrew to the Continent. His Lordship did not\n live to see the Restoration of Charles, having died of\n consumption in the prime of life, at Breda, on the 30th of August\n 1659. His mortal remains were brought over to Scotland, and\n interred at Balcarras. (Douglas' \"Peerage of Scotland.\") This\n letter is given from the original, among the Balcarras Papers,\n vol. ix., No. 135, Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. _Balcarras\n House_ is three miles from Largo. A tower on the crag above it\n marks it out from a distance. The old mansion has been nearly\n superseded, but you see carved on the walls the old motto,\n \"Astra, castra, lumen, Numen.\" In old books it is written\n \"_Balcarrs_.\"]\n\n(_REGARDING SOME MISUNDERSTANDING._)\n\n\nMY VERY HONOURABLE LORD,--I am sorry that your Lordship should be\noffended at any sinistrous misinformation concerning your supposed\ndiscountenancing of ministers. For the general I can say nothing,\nbeing utterly ignorant thereof. I hope your Lordship will make the\nbest use of it may be. For myself, I owe no thanks to any that have\nnamed me as the object of any discountenancing; for, truly, I value\nnot any of these when, as the conscience of my innocence showeth me\n(and, for aught known to me, truly) that I offended no nobleman in the\nkingdom, far less my Lord Balcarras, whose public deservings have been\nsuch as I esteem him to have been most instrumental in this work of\nGod. I hope, my Lord, you will pardon me to make a little exception in\nthe matter of the late sinful engagement. And therefore, my Lord, I\nentreat you to forget that business; for since your Lordship said of\nme, in your letter to Mr. David Forret,[471] more than I deserve, I\nshall be satisfied with it as an expiation, more than any\ndiscountenancing of me can amount unto by millions of degrees. And\ntherefore entreat your Lordship to accept of this for anything that\nany could say to your Lordship of that business. If I had thought so\nmuch of myself as the discountenancing of me had been a sinful neglect\n(whereas I know there is little ground for the contrary), I should\nhave spoken to your Lordship myself. So trusting your Lordship will\nrest satisfied, I am, your Lordship's, at power in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Dec. 24, 1649_.\n\n [471] Mr. David Forret, or Forrest, was minister of Kilconquhar. He\n had formerly been minister of Deninno, where he appears in 1639. He\n was translated thence to Forgan in 1640; and to Kilconquhar, May 27,\n 1646. He refused to conform to Prelacy in 1662, but was not ejected,\n and died February 26, 1672.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXVIII.--_To the worthy and much honoured_ COLONEL GILBERT KER.\n\n[COLONEL GILBERT KER was a leading man among the Covenanters. He was\none of the officers of the west country army, and adhered with great\nzeal to the Western Remonstrance, sent by that army to the Committee\nof Estates, which, among other things, condemned the treaty with the\nKing, accused many of the Committee of Estates of covetousness and\noppression, and opposed the invasion of England, or forcing a king\nupon that kingdom. In the year 1655 he was named Justice of Peace for\nRoxburghshire, but declined to accept; stating as his reasons, that he\nconsidered the employment sinful, not allowed by the word of God,\ncontrary to the Solemn League and Covenant, and an encroachment on the\nliberty of Christ's church.\n\nAt the restoration of Charles II., when those concerned in the Western\nRemonstrance were particularly marked out for the vengenance of the\nGovernment, he left the country, but was allowed by the Privy Council\nto return in the beginning of the year 1671. He must have died\nprevious to October 5, 1677; for at that date Mr. James Row, merchant\nin Edinburgh, his son-in-law, presents a petition to the Privy\nCouncil, praying that he might obtain the remission of a fine of five\nhundred merks, imposed on the deceased Colonel Gilbert Ker upon\naccount of a conventicle, and for the payment of which the petitioner\nhad become cautioner. This fine was remitted. (\"Register of Acts of\nPrivy Council.\")]\n\n(_SINGLENESS OF AIM--JUDGMENT IN REGARD TO ADVERSARIES._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND TRULY WORTHY,--I hope I shall not need to show you\nthat ye are in greater hazard from yourself, and your own spirit\n(which should be watched over, that your actings for God may be clean,\nspiritual, purely for God, for the Prince of the kings of the earth),\nthan ye can be in danger from your enemies. Oh how hard is it to get\nthe intentions so cut off from and raised above the creature, as to be\nwithout mixture of creature and carnal interest, and to have the soul,\nin heavenly actings, only, only eyeing Himself, and acting from love\nto God, revealed to us in Jesus Christ! Ye will find yourself, your\ndelights, your solid glory (far above the air and breathings of\nmouths, and the thin, short, poor applauses of men), before you in\nGod. All the creatures, all the swords, all the hosts in Britain, and\nin this poor globe of the habitable world, are but under Him single\ncyphers making no number; the product being nothing but painted men,\nand painted swords in a brod, without influence from Him. And oh what\nof God is in Gideon's sword, when it is \"The sword of the Lord!\"\n\nI wish a sword from heaven to you, and orders from heaven to you to go\nout; and as much peremptoriness of a heavenly will as to say, and\nabide by it, \"I will not, I shall not go out, unless Thou goest with\nme.\" I desire not to be rash in judging; but I am a stranger to the\nmind of Christ, if our adversaries, who have unjustly invaded us, be\nnot now in the camp of those that make war with the Lamb. But the Lamb\nshall overcome them at length; for He is the Lord of lords, and King\nof kings, and they who are with Him are called, and chosen, and\nfaithful. And though ye and I see but the dark side of God's\ndispensations this day towards Britain, yet the fair, beautiful, and\ndesirable close of it must be the confederacy of the nations of the\nworld with Britain's Lord of armies. And let me die in the comforts of\nthe faith of this, that a throne shall be set up for Christ in this\nisland of Britain (which is, and shall be, a garden more fruitful of\ntrees of righteousness, and which payeth and shall pay more thousands\nto the Lord of the vineyard than is paid in thrice the bounds of Great\nBritain upon earth), and there can be neither Papist, Prelate,\nMalignant, nor Sectary, who dare draw a sword against Him that sitteth\nupon the throne.\n\nSir, I shall wish a clean[472] army, so far as may be, that the shout\nof a King who hath many crowns may be among you; and that ye may fight\nin faith, and prevail with God first. Think it your glory to have a\nsword to act, and suffer, and die (if it please Him), so being ye may\nadd anything to the declarative glory of Christ, the Plant of Renown,\nImmanuel, God with us. Happy and thrice blessed are they by whose\nactings, or blood, or pain, or loss, the diadems and rubies of His\nhighest and most glorious crown (whose ye are) shall glister and shine\nin this quarter of the habitable world. Though He need not Gilbert\nKer, nor his sword, yet this honour have ye with His redeemed\nsoldiers, to call Christ High Lord-General, of whom ye hope for pay\nand all arrears well told. Go on, worthy Sir, in the courage of faith,\nfollowing the Lamb. Make not haste unbelievingly; but in hope and\nsilence keep the watch-tower, and look out. He will come in His own\ntime; His salvation shall not tarry. He will place salvation in\nBritain's Zion for Israel's glory.\n\n [472] Free from malignants. See note, Letter CCCXXX.\n\nHis good-will who dwelt in The Bush and it burned not, be yours, and\nwith you.\n\n I am yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Aug. 10, 1650_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXIX.--_To the worthy and much honoured_ COLONEL GILBERT KER.\n\n(_COURAGE IN DAYS OF REBUKE--GOD'S ARRANGEMENTS ALL WISE._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--What I wrote to you before, I spake not\nupon any private warrant. I am where I was. Cromwell and his army (I\nshall not say but there may be, and are, several sober and godly among\nthem, who have either joined through misinformation, or have gone\nalongst with the rest in the simplicity of their hearts, not knowing\nanything) fight in an unjust cause, against the Lord's secret ones.\nAnd now to the trampling of the worship of God, and persecuting the\npeople of God in England and Ireland, he hath brought upon his score\nthe blood of the people of God in Scotland. I entreat you, dear Sir,\nas ye desire to be serviceable to Jesus Christ, whose free grace\nprevented you when ye were His enemy, go on without fainting, equally\neschewing all mixtures with Sectaries[473] and Malignants.[474]\nNeither of the two shall ever be instrumental to save the Lord's\npeople, or build His house. And without prophesying, or speaking\nfurther than He, whose I am and whom I desire to serve, in the Gospel\nof His Son, shall warrant, I desire to hope and to believe there is a\nglory and a majesty of the Prince of the kings of the earth, that\nshall shine and appear in Great Britain, which shall darken all the\nglory of men, confound Sectaries and Malignants, and rejoice the\nspirits of the followers of the Lamb, and dazzle the eyes of the\nbeholders.\n\n [473] The Independents.\n\n [474] The Cavaliers.\n\nSir, I suppose that God is to gather Malignants and Sectaries, ere all\nbe done, as sheaves in a barn-floor; and to bid the daughters of Zion\narise, and thresh. I hope that ye will mix with none of them. I am\nabundantly satisfied, that our army, through the sinful miscarriage of\nmen, hath fallen; and dare say it is a better and a more comfortable\ndispensation, than if the Lord had given us the victory and the necks\nof the reproachers of the way of God; because He hath done it. For,\n1. More blood, blasphemies, cruelty, treachery, must be upon the\naccounts of the men whose land the Lord forbade us to invade. 2.\nVictory is such a burdening and weighty mercy, that we have not\nstrength to bear it as yet. 3. That was not the army, nor Gideon's\nthree hundred, by whom He is to save us; we must have one of our\nLord's carving. 4. Our enemies on both sides are not enough hardened,\nnor we enough mortified to multitude, valour, and creatures.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Your friend and servant, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Sept. 5, 1650_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXX.--_To MR. WILLIAM GUTHRIE, when the army was at Stirling, after\nthe defeat at Dunbar,[475] and the godly in the West were falsely\nbranded with intended compliance with the usurpers, about the time\nwhen those debates and that difference concerning the Public\nResolutions arose._[476]\n\n [475] The battle was fought between Cromwell and the Scots, and the\n latter were completely defeated, with great loss. It was fought on the\n 3rd September 1650.\n\n [476] After the battle of Dunbar, it was proposed that the restraints\n by which such as had, by various Acts of Parliament, been excluded\n from places of power and trust in the army and state, on account of\n their Malignancy, or opposition to the Covenant and liberties of the\n nation, should be removed. This was at first refused; but after the\n defeat at Hamilton, the Commission agreed to certain resolutions, for\n admitting into places of power and trust in the Army and State such as\n had been excluded by the Acts of Parliament referred to. These were\n called \"Public Resolutions,\" and they became a source of much\n dissension in the church. At last they were formally approved of by\n the General Assembly held in July 1651, at St. Andrews, and adjourned\n to Dundee. At the last sederunt at St. Andrews, Rutherford, who was\n strongly opposed to the Resolutions, gave in a protestation against\n the lawfulness of that Assembly. It was subscribed by twenty-one\n besides himself. Hence those opposed to the Public Resolutions were\n called \"Protesters,\" and those friendly to them, \"Resolutioners.\"\n\n [WILLIAM GUTHRIE was born at Pitforthy, in the shire of Angus, in\n the year 1620. He was the eldest son of the Laird of Pitforthy, a\n cadet of the old family of Guthrie, and by his mother's side was\n descended from the ancient house of Easter-Ogle. He attended the\n literary and philosophical classes at the University of St.\n Andrews, and studied theology under Rutherford. On the 7th of\n November 1644, he was ordained minister of Fenwick. There he\n continued successfully to discharge his ministry till the 24th of\n July 1664, when, for nonconformity, he was suspended from and\n discharged to exercise his ministry, and his church declared\n vacant, by order of Bishop Burnet. He died at Brechin on the 10th\n of October 1665.\n\n It may be mentioned here that William Guthrie of Fenwick was\n cousin to the famous James Guthrie, and was brought to Christ by\n Samuel Rutherford's ministry at St. Andrews, being one of his\n first fruits there. (\"Life\" by Wodrow.) It was he who wrote \"The\n Trial of a Saving Interest in Christ,\" so well known.]\n\n(_DEPRESSION UNDER DARK TRIALS--DANGER OF COMPLIANCE._)\n\n\nREVEREND BROTHER,--I did not dream of such shortness of breath, and\nfainting in the way toward our country. I thought that I had no more\nto do than die in my nest, and bow down my sinful head, and let Him\nput on the crown, and so end. I have suffered much; but this is the\nthickest darkness, and the straitest step of the way I have yet\ntrodden. I see more suffering yet behind, and, I fear, from the\nkeepers of the vine. Let me obtain of you, that you would press upon\nthe Lord's people that they would stand far off from these merchants\nof souls who have come in amongst you. If the way revealed in the word\nbe that way, we then know that these soul-cowpers and traffickers show\nnot the way of salvation. Alas, alas! poor I am utterly lost, my share\nof heaven is gone, and my hope is poor; I am perished, and I am cut\noff from the Lord, if hitherto out of the way! But I dare not judge\nkind Christ; for, if it may be but permitted (with reverence to His\ngreatness and highness be it spoken), I will, before witnesses,\nproduce His own hand that He said, \"This is the way, walk thou in it.\"\nAnd He cannot except against His own seal. I profess that I am almost\nbroken and a little sleepy, and would fain put off this body. But this\nis my infirmity, who would be under the shadow and covert of that Good\nLand, once[477] to be without the reach and blast of that terrible\nOne. But I am a fool: there is none that can overbid, or take my\nlodging over my head, since Christ hath taken it for me.\n\n [477] Once for all; completely.\n\nDear brother, help me, and get me the help of their prayers who are\nwith you in whom is my delight. You are much suspected of intended\ncompliance; I mean, not of you only, but of all the people of God with\nyou. It is but a poor thing the fulfilling of my joy; but let me\nobtest all the serious seekers of His face, His secret sealed ones, by\nthe strongest consolations of the Spirit, by the gentleness of Jesus\nChrist, that Plant of Renown, by your last accounts and appearing\nbefore God, when the White Throne shall be set up, be not deceived\nwith their fair words. Though my spirit be astonished at the cunning\ndistinctions which are found out in the matters of the Covenant, that\nhelp may be had against these men; yet my heart trembleth to\nentertain the least thought of joining with those deceivers.\n\nGrace, grace be with you. Amen.\n\n Your own brother, in our common Lord and Saviour,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXXI.--_To the worthy and much honoured_ COLONEL GILBERT KER.\n\n(_COURAGE IN THE LORD'S CAUSE--DUTY IN REGARD TO PROVIDENCE TO BE\nOBSERVED--SAFETY IN THIS._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--It is considerable that the Lord may,\nand often doth call to a work and yet hide Himself, and try the faith\nof His own. If I conceive aright, the Lord hath called you to act\nagainst that enemy; and the withdrawers of their sword (in my weak\napprehension) add their zeal unto, and take upon them the guilt of\nthat unjust invasion of this land made by Cromwell's army, and of the\nblood of the Lord's people in this kingdom; since the sword, put into\nthe hand of His children, is to execute wrath and vengeance upon\nevil-doers. The Lord's time of appearing for His broken land is\nreserved to the breathings of the Spirit of the Lord, such as came\nupon Gideon and Samson; and that is an act of princely and royal\nsovereignty in God. Ye are, Sir, to lay hold on opportunities of\nProvidence, and to wait for Him.\n\nAs for your particular treating by yourselves with the invaders of our\nland, I have no mind to it, and do look upon their way as a carrying\non of the mystery of iniquity; for Babylon is a seat of many names.\nSir, let[478] this controversy stand undecided till the Second\nAppearance of Jesus Christ, and our appeal lie before the throne\nundiscussed till that day, I hope to lie down in the grave in the\nfaith of the justness of our cause. I speak nothing of the maintaining\nthe greatness of men, not subordinate to the Prince of the kings of\nthe earth. I judge that the blood of the witnesses of Jesus is found\nupon the skirts of this society, as well as in Babylon's skirts. I\nbelieve that the way of the Lord is Colonel Gilbert Ker's strength and\nglory; and I should be content to want my part of him (which is, I\nconfess, precious and dear in Christ), so that he be spent in the\nservice of Him who will anon make inquisition for the blood of the\ntruly godly; which these men have shed, after fair warning that they\nwere the godly of Scotland.\n\n [478] Supposing that this controversy remains undecided.\n\nWorthy Sir, believe; faint not. Set your shoulder under the glory of\nJesus that is misprised in Scotland, and give a testimony for Him. He\nhath many names in Scotland, who shall walk with Him in white. This\ndespised Covenant shall ruin Malignants, Sectaries, and Atheists. Yet\na little while, and behold He cometh, and walketh[479] in the\ngreatness of His strength, and His garments dyed with blood. Oh, for\nthe sad and terrible day of the Lord upon England, their ships of\nTarshish, their fenced cities, etc., because of a broken covenant!\n\n [479] The Hebrew of Isa. lxiii. 1 is alluded to (\u05e6\u05b9\u05e2\u05b6\u05d4): \"_marching on_\n in the greatness of His strength.\" Rutherford, in the latter part of\n his life, studied Isaiah very closely. See Sketch of his Life.\n\nA conference with the enemy, not to hinder acting (Oh that the Lord\nwould thereby, or by some other way, remove the cloud that is over\nyou!), if authority should concur, were to be desired; but it can\nhardly be expected. However, in the way of duty, and in the silence of\nfaith, go on. If ye perish, ye are the first of the creation with whom\nthe Lord hath taken that dispensation. I should humbly desire you,\nSir, to look to that: \"Dying, and, behold, we live; killed all the day\nlong, and yet more than conquerors.\" There shall be the heat and\nwarmness of life in your graves and buried bones. But look not for the\nLord's coming the higher way only, for He may come the lower way. Oh,\nhow little of God do we see, and how mysterious is He! Christ known is\namongst the greatest secrets of God. Keep yourself in the love of God;\nand, in order to that, as far in obedience and subjection to the King\n(whose salvation and true happiness my soul desireth), and to every\nordinance of man for the Lord's sake, and to the fundamental laws of\nthis kingdom, as your Lord requireth. Sir, ye are in the hearts and\nprayers of the Lord's people in this kingdom, and in the other\ntwo.[480] The Lord hath said, \"There is blessing in the cluster of\ngrapes; destroy it not.\"\n\n [480] England and Ireland.\n\nGrace, grace be upon the head of him that is separated from his\nbrethren; and the good-will of Him that dwelt in The Bush be with you.\n\n Your servant, in his sweet Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n PERTH, _Nov. 23, 1650_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXXII.--_To the much honoured and truly worthy_ COLONEL GILBERT\nKER.\n\n(_CHRISTS CAUSE DESERVES SERVICE AND SUFFERING FROM US._)\n\n \"For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it\n shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it.\"--HAB.\n ii. 3, 4.\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--Your chains now shine as much for\nChrist (the cause being His) as your sword was made famous in acting\nfor that cause; and blessed are such as can willingly tender to Christ\nboth action and blood, doing and suffering. Resisting unto blood is\nlittle for that precious and never-enough exalted Redeemer, who, when\nye were a-buying, gave blood somewhat dearer than ye gave for Him,\neven the blood of God (Acts xx. 28). I know a man, who, upon the\nreceipt of a letter that ye were killed and the people of God\ndestroyed, wished that he might be quickly under the wall of the\nhigher palace from under the dint[481] of the storm, and who longed to\nhave the weather-beaten and crazy bark safely landed in that harbour\nof eternal quietness.\n\n [481] The blow, Zachary Boyd (\"Last Battle\") speaks of \"the dint of\n God's judgment-stroke.\"\n\nWhat further service Christ hath for you, I know not; it is enough\nthat in your captivity[482] ye offer your service to Christ. But if I\nsee anything, it looketh like a merciful defeat. I see the nobles and\nthe state falling off from Christ, and the night coming upon the\nprophets; which we should pray to prevent, because it is a rare thing\nto see a fallen star ever win up again to the firmament to shine. And\nwhat if this be the thick darkness going before the break of day?\nSure, Sir, the sun shall rise upon Scotland; but if I shall see it, or\nhow near is it to that day, I leave that to Him, even unto Jehovah,\nwho \"createth upon every dwelling-place in Mount Zion, and upon her\nassemblies, a cloud and a smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming\nfire by night.\" But, Sir, \"the wilderness shall rejoice and blossom as\na rose:\" and happy he who hath a bone, or an arm, to put the crown\nupon the head of our highest King, whose chariot is paved with love.\nWere there ten thousand millions of heavens created above these\nhighest heavens, and again as many above them, and as many above them\ntill angels were wearied with counting, it were but too low a seat to\nfix the princely throne of that Lord Jesus (whose ye are) above them\nall. Created heavens are too low a seat of majesty for Him. Since,\nthen, there is none equal to your Master and Prince who hath chosen\nout for you (amongst many sufferings for sin) that only cross which\ncometh nearest in likeness to His own cross, watered with consolation,\ntake courage, and comfort yourself in Him who hath chosen you to glory\nhereafter and to conformity with Him here. We fools would have a cross\nof our own choosing, and would have our gall and wormwood sugared, our\nfire cold, and our death and grave warmed with heat of life; but He\nwho hath brought many children to glory, and lost none, is our best\nTutor. I wish that, when I am sick, He may be keeper and comforter. I\njudge it a blessed Fall that we are forfeited heirs, broken and out of\ncredit, and that Christ is become a Tutor in the place of free-will,\nand that we are no more our own. I am broken and wasted with the wrath\nthat is on the land, and have been much tempted with a design to have\na pass from Christ; which, if I had, I would not stay to be a witness\nof our defection for any man's intreaty. But I know it is my softness\nand weakness, who would ever be ashore when a fit of sea-sickness\ncometh on; though I know I shall come soon enough to that desirable\ncountry, and shall not be displaced: none shall take my lodging.\n\n [482] On the 1st of December 1650, being Sabbath, the west country\n forces of the Covenanters were scattered at Hamilton by a party of\n English, under the conduct of Lambert. Several of them were killed,\n and Colonel Ker was wounded and taken. (Lamont's \"Diary,\" p. 24.)\n\nSir, many eyes are upon you, and the godly are exceedingly refreshed\nthat ye listen not to the ways of many about you, who with fair words\nmake merchandise of souls. Sir, if the way you are in be not the way\nof Christ, then wo to me, for I am eternally lost. But truly, the Lord\nChrist's dealings with Colonel Gilbert Ker hath proven to me, that the\nNew Testament and the covenant of grace is a piece that a solemn\nmeeting and assembly of all created angels (join all their wits\ntogether) could not have devised. Since, Sir, ye paid nothing for the\nchange that Christ made, and ye will take that debt of free grace to\nheaven with you (for what was Christ Jesus indebted to you, more than\nto all your kindred and name!), therefore, since ye are made His own,\nfollow no other way. What is my salvation, though I should lay it in\npawn (it is but a poor pledge), that this, this only is the way! But\nChrist is surety Himself that it is the way. The Forerunner went\nbefore you, and He is safely landed: and there is a fair company\nbefore you of such as \"have come out of great tribulation, and have\nwashed their garments, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,\"\nto whom these promises are now performed: \"He that overcometh shall\neat of the tree of life, that is in the midst of the paradise of God;\"\nand, \"God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall\nbe no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be\nany more pain\"--\"He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them;\nthey shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the\nsun light on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb that is in the midst of\nthe throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains\nof waters.\"\n\nI may, Sir, possibly keep you from better work. The God of peace, that\nbrought again from the dead the Great Shepherd of the sheep, through\nthe blood of the eternal covenant, make you perfect.\n\n Yours, in Jesus Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Jan. 7, 1651_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXXIII.--_To the much honoured and truly worthy COLONEL GILBERT\nKER, when taken prisoner._\n\n(_COMFORTING THOUGHTS TO THE AFFLICTED--DARKNESS OF THE\nTIMES--FELLOWSHIP IN CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS--SATISFACTION WITH HIS\nPROVIDENCES._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--I have heard of your continued\ncaptivity in England, as well as in this afflicted land. But, go where\nye will, ye cannot go from under your Shadow, which is broader than\nmany kingdoms. Ye change lodging and countries; but the same Lord is\nbefore you, if ye were carried away captive to the other side of the\nsun, or as far as the rising of the morning star. It is spoken to your\nmother (who hath yet received no bill of divorce), which was written\nto Judah, \"Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion,\nlike a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city,\nand thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon;\nthere shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from\nthe hand of thine enemies\" (Micah iv. 10). England shall be\naccountable for you, to render you back: \"I will say to the north,\n'Give up;' and to the south, 'Keep not back'\" (Isa. xliii. 6). It is a\nsermon that flesh and blood laugheth at: \"Prophesy upon these dry\nbones, and say unto them, 'O ye dry bones, hear the word of the\nLord!'\" It is a preaching to the cold grave: \"Thus saith the Lord\nunto the bones, 'Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye\nshall live; and I will lay sinews upon you, and bring up flesh upon\nyou, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall\nlive'\" (Ezek. xxxvii. 4, 5, 6). \"And the sea gave up the dead that\nwere in it\" (Rev. xx. 13). Berwick must render back the Scottish\ncaptives, and Colonel Gilbert Ker with them. \"For thus saith the Lord,\nyour Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, For your sake I have sent to\nBabylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans\nwhose cry is in the ships\" (Isa. xliii. 14). \"If any of thine be\ndriven out to the utmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord\nthy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee\" (Deut. xxx.\n4). \"Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will save My people from\nthe east country and from the west country, and I will bring them, and\nthey shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be My\npeople, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness\" (Zech.\nviii. 7, 8). Sir, ye are both booked by the Lord who writeth up the\npeople (Ps. lxxxvii. 5, 6), and counted to the Lord as one of the\nhouse and stock (Ps. xxii. 30). Fear not, faint not; all your hairs\nare numbered.\n\nIt is the desire of the people of God, that, as your bonds hitherto\nhave been exemplary to the strengthening of the feeble and to the\nstopping of the mouth of the adversary, without any declining to the\nright or left hand; so your sufferings in the place ye now go to, may\nbe (as we are confident in the Lord of you, and in humility boast of\nHis grace in you) savoury, convincing, and like unto this honourable\ncause, that will prevail in Britain, contrary to all the machinations\nand counsels of devils and men. And though there were no other ink in\nthe pen I now write with but some dewing of my last cooling blood,\nthis I purpose (His grace, whose I am, enabling me) to stand to. Sir,\nwe desire to adore no instruments; yet we conceive the shining and\nrays of grace from the Fountain, Jesus Christ, the fulness of the\nGodhead, bestowed on sinful men, hold forth the good thoughts of\nChrist to this poor land, whose multiplied graves, and whose souls\nunder the altar, slain by Sectaries and Malignants, cry aloud to\nheaven.\n\nI see nothing, Sir, if the Lord be not near (though I dare not say how\nsoon) to awake for the year of Zion's controversy. \"For my sword shall\nbe bathed in heaven\" (Isa. xxxiv. 5). Behold, it shall come down upon\nEngland, and on the residue of His enemies in Scotland. Wo is me for\nEngland! That land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat\nwith fatness; that pleasant land shall be a wilderness, and the dust\nof their land pitch; a judgment upon their walled towns, their\npleasant fields, their strong ships, etc., if they do not repent.\n\nYe have not, I conceive, seen such searching and trying times as now\nthese are. And yet the question will be drawn to a more narrow state,\nand multitudes will yet leave the cause; for we took all into the\ncovenant that offered to build with us. But Christ must have but a\nsmall remnant (few nobles, if any; few ministers; few professors),\nthough our way standeth unchanged. \"By honour and dishonour, by good\nreport and evil report: as deceivers and yet true; as unknown, yet\nwell known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not\nkilled\" (2 Cor. vi. 8, 9). Neither is this your condition alone, but\nthe experienced lot of all the saints that have gone before you. It is\none and the same cross of Christ; but there be sundry faces and\ndiverse circumstances in the same remnant (Col. i. 24), the sufferings\nof Christ and yours. Sir, to be delivered to soldiers, and in\ncaptivity, looketh like His suffering of whom Isaiah saith, \"He was\ntaken from prison, and from judgment\" (Isa. liii. 8): yea, and taken\nbound (John xviii. 12). When the cause is the truth of God, the lustre\nand face of suffering is so much the more lovely that it hath the hue\nand colour of Christ's sufferings, who endured contradiction of\nsinners and despised the shame. Oh it is a great word, \"Christ shamed,\nand Christ abased!\" But thus was the Head, and so are the members,\ndealt with in the world; and truly anything of Christ, even the worst\nof Him (to speak so), His reproach and shame, are lovely. Though\nsuperstitious love to the material cross He suffered upon be foolery,\nand doting upon the holy grave[483] be cursed idolatry; yet is there a\ncommunion with Him in His sufferings most desirable. \"But rejoice,\ninasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings\" (1 Pet. iv. 13):\nin which sense, the cup that His lip touched hath the sweeter taste,\neven though death were in it; the grave, because He did lie in it, is\nso much the softer and the more refreshful a bed of rest; and that\npart of the sky and clouds that the Beloved shall break through, and\ncome to judgment, is as lovely a piece of the created heaven as any\nis, if we may love the ground He goeth on the better. But all this is\nto be understood in a spiritual manner. The Lord calleth you, Sir,\nupon whom the Spirit of God and His glory resteth, to put your soul's\nAMEN to this dispensation; and requireth of us, that our desires\nfollow the now-declared decree of God concerning the desolation of our\nsinful land, so many ways guilty of a despised Gospel, and a broken\nCovenant; and that with all submission. Certainly, no man hath failed\nmore in this thing, than he who writeth to you. For I have brought my\nhealth into great hazard, and tormented my spirit with excessive\ngrief, for our present provocations, and the rendings of our kirk; and\nI see it is a challenging of, and a bold pleading against, Him upon\nwhose shoulder the government is (Isa. xxii. 22). The Father hath put\na glorious trust upon Christ: \"And I will fasten Him as a nail in a\nsure place, and He shall be for a glorious throne to His Father's\nhouse; and they shall hang upon Him all the glory of His Father's\nhouse, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity,\nfrom the vessels of cups even to all the vessels of flagons\" (Isa.\nxxii. 23, 24). Our unbelieving apprehensions do so quarrel at the\nprosperity of enemies in an evil cause, that we wrestle with defeats,\nspoiling, captivity of the godly, killing of His people, the wasting\nof our land, starving and famishing of the kingdom, which is worse\nthan the sword. But this is a sinful contradicting of the Lord's\nrevealed decree. His wisdom saith, \"Spoiling and desolation is best\nfor Scotland;\" and we say, \"Not,\" and so accuse Christ of\nmisgovernment, and of not being true to the trust put upon Him. But\nsince He doth not drag the government at His heels, but hath it upon\nHis shoulder, and since the Nail fastened in a sure place cannot be\nbroken,[484] nor can the smallest vessel fail to find sweet security\nin dependence upon Him, since all the weight of heaven and earth, of\nredeemed saints and confirmed angels, is upon His shoulder, I am a\nfool, and brutish to imagine that I can add anything to Christ's\nspecial care of and tenderness to His people. He who keepeth the\nbasins and knives of His house, and bringeth the vessels again to the\nsecond temple (Ezra i. 8-10), must have a more tender care of His\nredeemed ones than of a spoon, or of Peter's old shoes (Acts xii. 8),\nwhich yet must not be lost in His captivity. Oh for grace to suffer\nChrist to tutor His own minors and young heirs! But we cannot endure\nto be under the actings of His government; we love too much to be our\nown. Oh, how sweet to be wholly Christ's, and wholly in Christ! to be\nout of the creature's owning, and made complete in Christ! to live by\nfaith in Christ, and to be, once for all, clothed with the uncreated\nmajesty and glory of the Son of God, wherein He maketh all His friends\nand followers sharers! to dwell in Immanuel's high and blessed land,\nand live in that sweetest air where no wind bloweth but the breathings\nof the Holy Ghost, no seas nor floods flow but the pure water of life,\nthat proceedeth from under the throne and from the Lamb! no planting\nbut the Tree of Life that yieldeth twelve manner of fruits every\nmonth! What do we here but sin and suffer? Oh, when shall the night be\ngone, the shadows flee away, and the morning of that long, long day,\nwithout cloud or night, dawn? The Spirit and the bride say, \"Come.\"\nOh, when shall the Lamb's wife be ready, and the Bridegroom say,\n\"Come!\"\n\n [483] The Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.\n\n [484] Isa. xxii. 25 is alluded to, where the Hebrew word means either\n \"broken,\" or cut down. See note, p. 655.\n\nWorthy Sir, I mind you to the Hearer of prayer. Oh help me in that\nkind.\n\nThe Spirit of Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours, in his only Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _May 14, 1651_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXXIV.--_To the worthy and much honoured_ COLONEL GILBERT KER.\n\n(_COMFORT UNDER THE CLOUD HANGING OVER SCOTLAND--DISSUASION FROM\nLEAVING SCOTLAND._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--I know not why the people of God should\nnot take notice of the bonds of any who have blood in readiness to be\nlet out for His cause; and I judge it was not of you that ye died not\nin the undecided controversy which the Lord of the whole earth hath\nwith the men whom He hath sent against us.\n\nDear and much honoured in the Lord, let me entreat you to be far from\nthe thoughts of leaving this land. I see it, and find it, that the\nLord hath covered the whole land with a cloud in His anger. But though\nI have been tempted to the like, I had rather be in Scotland beside\nangry Jesus Christ, knowing that He mindeth no evil to us, than in\nEden or any garden in the earth; if we can remain united with the\nLord's remnant in the land.[485] He layeth up wrath for all sorts of\nadversaries in Britain. Though I should never see the glory of His\nglittering sword in Britain, I would be solaced in the innocent\nthought (far from revenge) that the saints shall dip their feet in the\nblood of the slain of the Lord. And truly, Sir, I suppose that ye\ncannot but come to these thoughts and weak desires before the Hearer\nof prayer, for as little as ye think of and value yourself. For me, if\nI could mind you in your bonds, I purpose not to stand to the account\nyou give, or thoughts ye have of yourself; though I know ye are not a\nwhit, more or less, before Him who weigheth His own according to the\nweight of imputed righteousness, for my apprehensions. Christ cannot\nmistake you, men may; and the calculation and esteem of free grace\nmaketh you to be what you are. I hope to see you an everlastingly\nobliged debtor to Him whom ye shall praise but never pay. And truly ye\nhave no riches but that debt: and I know that ye love to be engaged to\nJesus Christ, the most excellent of creditors. Much joy and sweetness\nmay ye have, in standing written in His book. I desire to do it\nmyself, and I would have you also highly to esteem the design of\nChrist, who hath raised the riches of the glory of so much grace above\nthe circle of the heaven of heavens, out of very nothings; and\ncontrived His thoughts of love, so that lumps of glorified clay should\nstand before Him, for all ages, the burdened and loaden debtors of\nfree, eternally free grace. Sir, ye cannot cast the count of the rents\nof your so great inheritance of glory.\n\n [485] Rutherford here refers to a call which he had received (on the\n death of De Maets, or Dematius) to fill the Chair of Divinity in the\n University of Utrecht, to which he was elected without being\n consulted. He, however, declined to accept the invitation. The call\n was conveyed to him first verbally, by his brother James, then an\n officer in a regiment lying at Grave in Brabant; and next formally in\n writing.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Your servant, in his own Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n EDINBURGH, _May 18, 1651_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXXV.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT IS MAN'S AND CHRIST'S, AND BETWEEN CHRIST\nHIMSELF AND HIS BLESSINGS._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--We are fallen in winnowing\nand trying times. I am glad that your breath serveth you to run to the\nend, in the same condition and way wherein ye have walked these twenty\nyears past. It is either the way of peace, or we are yet in our sins,\nand have missed the way. The Lord, it is true, hath stained the pride\nof all our glory; and now, last of all, the sun hath gone down upon\nmany of the prophets. But stumble not; men are but men, and God\nappeareth more and more to be God, and Christ is still Christ.\n\nMadam, a stronger than I am had almost stumbled me and cast me down.\nBut oh what mercy is it to discern between what is Christ's and what\nis man's, and what way the hue, colour, and lustre of gifts of grace\ndazzle and deceive our weak eyes! Oh to be dead to all things that are\nbelow Christ, were it even a created heaven and created grace!\nHoliness is not Christ; nor are the blossoms and flowers of the Tree\nof Life the tree itself. Men and creatures may wind themselves between\nus and Christ; and, therefore, the Lord hath done much to take out of\nthe way all betwixt Him and us. There are not in our way now, kings,\nnor armies, nor nobles, nor judicatories, nor strongholds, nor\nwatchmen, nor godly professors. The fairest things, and most eminent\nin Britain, are stained, and have lost their lustre; only, only Christ\nkeepeth His greenness and beauty, and remaineth what He was. Oh, if He\nwere more and more excellent to our apprehensions than ever He was\n(whose excellency is above all apprehensions), and still more and more\nsweet to our taste! I care for nothing, if so be that I were nearer to\nHim. And yet He fleeth not from me: I flee from Him, but He pursueth.\n\nI hear that your Ladyship hath the same esteem of the despised cause\nand covenant of our Lord that ye had before. Madam, hold you there. I\ndare and would gladly breathe out my spirit in that way, with a nearer\ncommunion and fellowship with the Father and the Son, and would seek\nno more but that I might die believing. And also I would hope, that\nthe earth should not cover the blood of the godly, slain in Scotland,\nbut that the Lord will make inquisition for their blood when the\nsufferings of the saints in these lands shall be fulfilled.\n\nThe good-will of Him that dwelt in The Bush be with you.\n\n Your Ladyship's, at all observance, in the Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n GLASGOW, _Sept. 28, 1651_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXXVI.--_To_ LADY RALSTON.[486]\n\n [486] Wodrow MSS. vol. xlv. 8vo, No. 13. \"This letter,\" says Wodrow,\n \"is taken from a copy; but is certainly Mr. Rutherford's to Lady\n Ralston of that ilk, which I have from her grandchild, and, as far as\n I can see, is not printed.\"\n\n [LADY RALSTON, whose maiden name was Ursula Mure, was daughter to\n William Mure of Glanderston, a respectable family in the county\n of Renfrew, and wife of William Ralston of that ilk. Mr.\n Alexander Dunlop, minister of Paisley, was married to one of her\n sisters, and Mr. John Carstairs to another. Lady Ralston was a\n woman of distinguished piety. Mr. Dunlop, who \"was most impartial\n in his judgment of persons of worth,\" spoke in the highest terms\n of her Christian character. One day, commending her to Mrs.\n Hastie, wife of Mr. Alexander Hastie, minister of Glasgow, he\n spoke so much to her commendation that Mr. Hastie said to him, \"I\n wonder to hear you speak so much to the praise of that lady; I\n think you speak more of her than of your own wife.\" He answered,\n \"Sanders, I love truly to be just to everybody. I think my wife\n is truly a good woman, and all the rest of the sisters are good\n women; but I must say, Lady Ralston is a person more than\n ordinary. I know very few come her length; yea, Sanders, I truly\n think shame to even myself to be a Christian beside her, when I\n look to her carriage. She is a very odd [singular] woman\"\n (Wodrow's \"Analecta\"). Mr. John Carstairs also bears testimony to\n her Christian excellence, and to the kindness she had shown to\n him and his family, particularly after his ejection from his\n church in Glasgow, in 1662, for conscience' sake.]\n\n(_DUTY OF PREFERRING TO LIVE RATHER THAN DIE--WANT OF UNION IN THE\nJUDGMENTS OF THE GODLY._)\n\n\nRIGHT WORTHY ESTEEMED IN YOUR EXCELLENT LORD JESUS,--With much desire\nI have longed to hear how you were, since I heard of your being so\nnear the harbour, as seemed; and now, to my great satisfaction, I am\ninformed of your recovery. As for yourself, I grant, to have entered\nin at the ports of the mansions of glory had been best by far; but,\nyet to stay a little longer here is much more comfortable to yours.\nTherefore, Mistress, dearly respected in the Lord, you are even\nheartily welcome, though to share yet further with Zion in her\nmanifold tribulations. Yea, I believe yourself thinks it no\ndisadvantage, but rather one great addition of honour, to come back\nand bear His reproach yet more, in a world of opposition to Him. For\n(to speak so) it is an advantage that is not to be had in heaven\nitself; for, although the inhabitants of that land agree in one to\nsing the song of the Lamb's praise and commendation, so it is\nhere-away, and here only, where we have occasion to endure shame and\ncontradiction for His worthy sake. Considering, therefore, the honour\nof the cross with the glory of the life to come, the saints are hereby\nrendered completely happy and honourable. It's much selfishness (as I\njudge it when I get seen best into the mystery of our Lord's cross) to\nmake post haste to be in the land of rest, when a storm of\npersecution is rising for Christ; for the sluggard and peevish spirit\nloves rest upon any terms, though never so dishonourable. It is in\neffect, then, far more honourable to seek conformity to Christ in His\ncross, than to[487] precipitate in desiring to be like Him in glory,\nand despise and fly away from His sufferings. We use to say they are\nvery evil-worthy of the sweet who will not endure the sour. I think\nChrist's pilgrim weeds (He being a Man of sorrows and griefs) are more\nhonourable than ever it became the like of us to wear; especially\nconsidering our poor base descent, whom He will have honoured with\nconformity to Himself. Woe's me that I, and many the like of me within\nthe land, look so frowardly on Christ's cross, as though it were not\nHis love-allowance to all His followers! It's plainly our gross\nignorance that is the cause thereof. Faith, I grant, would suffer\naffliction for Him with good-will, rather than the least iniquity\nshould be committed; but sense loves no bands. For faith, keeping the\nsway, puts oft-times the carnal man in bondage, and that occasions\nstrife betwixt the flesh and the spirit. The spirit smells no freedom\nor deliverance but that which comes from above; the flesh would aye\nhave deliverance, without examination of the terms, or wherefrom it\ncomes. As it is the mark of Christ's sheep, that they will hear His\nvoice, and will not acknowledge a stranger, so it is the mark of\nfaith, that it will only receive orders from heaven. When He declares\nHis mind for bands, it submits to bands, not replying objections to\nthe contrary; and again, when He says, \"Show yourselves, ye prisoners\nof hope,\" it discovers time and way, and obeys to come forth, but not\ntill then. But the flesh maketh ever haste, and the first and nearest\nease is aye its best choice. The Lord keep His dear people from\nwanting of any exercise that is measured out by Him to them, now when\nHe hides His face, lest we be turned aside to strange gods! And when\nHe shows Himself again (as He will assuredly do), we ken our\nchange.[488] It is far safer to dwell a little in faith's prison than\nin sense's fairest liberty. I see nothing so comfortable an evidence\nof God's staying into, and healing of, this broken and poor land, than\nthat faithful testimony of His precious servants (and strengthened\nonly by Him) against the late and sore defection.[489] Yet, if the\nLord had not left us a remnant, we had been as Sodom and like to\nGomorrah. And exalted be our God, only wise and free in His love, that\never any testimony was given! for the hour of temptation was very dark\nto all once. But to some He showed much light, and helped them with a\nlittle help. Others, also, able and dear to Him, He hath letten, as\nyet, remain under the cloud. But the mystery of His wisdom is so high\nin this, that I profess it may render all flesh humble in the dust,\nand to glory henceforth in nothing but in His upholding strength and\nfree love. Always,[490] when His due time comes, He will make His\nservants see that which they do not now see. But, alas! in the\nmeantime, there is no harder matter of our trouble to be looked to\nthan the grievous differences of judgments and affections among the\nLord's servants; which I know is much pondered by you. And I trust\nthat all our worthy dear friends will labour to the utmost, according\nto Christ's command, to have the breach made up again, that Satan get\nnot advantage therethrough; for I think nothing makes more for his\nends than the defacing of union amongst the Lord's dear ones. I think\nit should be amongst our many requests to Him \"in whom all the\nbuilding useth to be fitly framed together in love;\" yea, the\nobtaining of this request were a great advantage to the poor kirk. And\nif the Lord take pleasure in us, there is yet hope in Israel\nconcerning this thing; but if not, it is like to prove a probable\ntoken, amongst some others, of Christ's taking down His tabernacle in\nthis land: which, if He do, we will have sad days. But the\nconsideration of His pitiful compassion holds forth ground to believe\notherwise; upon which ground it is like that He will give us a door of\nhope, though He do not give full deliverance yet. For our hope is not\nperished yet from the Lord, because men and carnal reason say so; for\nnone of these are bands or rules to the Almighty! Yea, Zion's lowest\nebb shall be the first step to her rise. I have no other reason to\ngive but \"the zeal of the Lord of hosts [will] perform it\" (Isa. ix.\n7); and in confidence of it, I remain,\n\n [487] Too?\n\n [488] Come to know how much we are changed.\n\n [489] Rutherford alludes to the opposition made by the Protesters to\n the Public Resolutions.\n\n [490] Nevertheless.\n\n Yours in all trouble,\n\n S. R.\n\n _October 1651_.\n\nTender my respects to your dear husband, who is indeed precious in the\naccount of the honest here, for his faithfulness in the hour of\ntemptation.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXXVII.--_To a Minister of Glasgow_.[491]\n\n [491] From a copy among the Wodrow MSS. vol. xlv. 8vo, No. 14. \"I had\n it,\" says Wodrow, \"from the Laird of Ralston. It's a double, only\n written on the same sheet with the former to Lady Ralston, perhaps\n about the same time.\"\n\n [Wodrow annexes to this letter the following note:--\"To one of\n the ministers of Glasgow, who probably was deposed by the\n Resolutionists, or at least a sufferer for the protestation,--Mr.\n M'Ward perhaps, or Mr. Patrick Gillespie.\" The letter bears\n internal evidence of having been written to a minister of Glasgow\n who had been censured by the General Assembly which met at Dundee\n in 1651, for his opposition to the public resolutions. By that\n Assembly three ministers, Mr. James Guthrie of Stirling, Mr.\n Patrick Gillespie of Glasgow, and Mr. James Simpson of Airth,\n were deposed, and one, Mr. James Nasmith of Hamilton, suspended,\n on the ground of their having protested against the lawfulness of\n that Assembly. (\"Life of Robert Blair,\" p. 278.) There seems,\n then, little doubt that _Mr. Patrick Gillespie_ is the person to\n whom this letter was addressed. It could not have been Mr. Robert\n M'Ward, for he was licensed only in 1655, and did not become a\n minister of Glasgow till 1656, when he succeeded Mr. Andrew Gray\n in the Outer High Kirk; nor, though he enlisted himself on the\n side of the Protesters, does he appear to have suffered on that\n account. Mr. Patrick Gillespie was the son of Mr. John Gillespie\n (second minister of the collegiate charge of Kirkcaldy), and\n brother of the celebrated George Gillespie. He was born at\n Kirkcaldy in 1617, and was for some time minister of that parish,\n previous to his translation to Glasgow. After the death of\n Charles I. he favoured the Commonwealth, and was appointed by\n Cromwell Principal of the University of Glasgow, into which\n office he was installed after encountering much opposition. At\n the Restoration he was ejected from the Principalship, in which\n he was succeeded by the celebrated Robert Baillie. He was also\n imprisoned successively in the Castles of Edinburgh and Stirling;\n and upon the sitting of the Parliament in 1661, was impeached of\n high treason, on the alleged ground of his having compiled \"The\n Western Remonstrance,\" approved the pamphlet entitled \"The Causes\n of God's Wrath,\" and kept correspondence with Cromwell. But,\n having made concessions, he was shortly after liberated, and\n confined to Ormiston and six miles around it. \"His works speak\n for him,\" says Wodrow, \"and evidence him a person of great\n learning, solidity, and piety, particularly his excellent\n treatises upon 'The Covenants of Grace and Redemption.'\"]\n\n(_ENCOURAGING WORDS TO A SUFFERING BROTHER--WHY MEN SHRINK FROM\nCHRIST'S TESTIMONY._)\n\n\nSIR,--I long to see you, since you gave a public testimony for your\nMaster, and are become a sufferer for Him. Until I shall be able to\nsee you, I thought it duty to write to you that I remember you as I am\nable. Your zeal and faithfulness for our Master and your mother church\nhave made your name honourable and precious among many here; yea, have\nexceedingly refreshed the bowels of the saints. Upon my word, Sir, I\nsay the truth, you have their hearts and their approbation to what you\nhave done; and that you are approven of God, I doubt not: the seal\nwhereof, I hope, shall be in your heart, to feast your conscience with\npeace, and to cause your face shine in innocency. What you have done\nwith your fellow-witnesses, companions in tribulation, shall turn to\nyou for a testimony. Sir, when this General Assembly are gathered\ntogether to their fathers, and you wearing your crown up at the\nthrone, and following the Lamb, your name shall be precious and have a\nsavour of life amongst the saints. You shall have your mother's\nblessing, I mean the Church of Scotland, when you are dead and rotten.\nThough now you seem to be a man of strife and contention, yet you are\nno otherways for strife and contention than your Master before you,\nwho came not to send peace, but rather division and contention (Luke\nxii. 51) with the malignant party. Union in judgment, with men not\ntender of our Lord's interest, is a conjunction and union I hope you\nshall never think desirable. Sectarian separation, I am confident, you\nnever loved; though men, who are become transgressors in destroying\nwhat they have formerly been building, give it forth so. Woe's me,\nSir, that amongst so many hundred ministers in the Church of Scotland,\nso few are like to be found willing to give or approve of your and\nothers' faithful testimony. I think that, besides the evil of\nblindness that is in the mind of some, and the idolizing of man's\ninterest by others, an uncrucified world and over-loved stipends shall\nhinder many from coming your length. We are debtors to you, and to our\nLord Jesus Christ, that hath given to you to care for \"Zion, whom no\nman seeks after\" (Jer. xxx. 17); not caring for your own things, but\nthe things of God. Fair fall you that have quit all things to follow\nHim. To you, and to others that will continue with Christ, in this\nhour of tribulation, is appointed a kingdom. Sir, you had more credit\nand worldly greatness to lose than many honest ministers; and thanks\nbe to God that you have so learned Christ [as] to be made a man for\nChrist of no reputation, for Him. Your despised Master, who made\nHimself while He was amongst us a man of no reputation, is now exalted\nin glory. There is none now to gibe Him by bowing the knee, none now\nto spit in His face, none now to bring Him under mocking of the purple\nrobe, none to put on His head a crown of thorns. And as you now\npartake of His sufferings, so shall you hereafter of His glory. You\nshall sit honourably on thrones; and when the Chief Shepherd appears,\nyou shall receive the crown. I am convinced that it is for conscience\ntoward God that you suffer. The bottom of your testimony and suffering\nis not so narrow as some think, who study more to decline the cross\nthan to be tender for every truth. School-heads talk of fundamentals\nand non-fundamentals; and, say they, \"The present controversy is not\nabout fundamentals: ministers may keep their places, peace, and\nstipends, and make less din.\" But are non-fundamentals nothing? I\nwould choose rather not be brought up at school, than to grow so\nsubtile and wily by school distinctions, [as] to decline the cross.\nSir, you divide not from others for nothing; you contend not for\nnothing; you suffer not for nothing. They that will be unfaithful in\nlittle will be unfaithful in much. Mistake me not, as if I thought the\nground of your testimony a little thing and a trifle. I think you, and\nall that be faithful to God, are bound to follow it to bonds and to\nblood. That Christ ought to be a King in Scotland, and the people\nought to employ[492] the liberty that Christ hath bought to them with\nHis blood, is among fundamentals with me; and whether the way man\ngives and allows to men that have fought against the truth be not\nnaturally, and by interpretation, against this, judge. Sir, your\nMaster did put you in His vineyard. You have a testimony from many of\na faithful and diligent labourer. I hear that you are now violently\nthrust out. I think the Spirit of Christ would teach men sobriety and\nforbearance. I wish (and know you will join with me) that men's\nviolent dealing with you provoke not the Lord, to make this the last\nGeneral Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Always, I acknowledge you\none of the stars which the Lord hath in His hand, one of the angels of\nthe Church of Scotland, a faithful minister of the Gospel at Glasgow.\nYou have given a testimony for your Master; you shall get a meeting\nwhen He comes in the clouds. And though there should not be a General\nAssembly henceforth in the Church of Scotland, judicially to\nacknowledge you His minister, yet, in the General Assembly of angels\nand men, that your Master in the latter day shall call in the clouds,\nyou shall get a testimony of a minister of the Gospel; and from the\nShepherd and the Lord, the righteous Judge, you shall receive the\ncrown. I think there is a necessity laid on you to preach the Gospel,\nand to call people to the covenant of grace, wherever you can safely\ndo it. I know there are many that will yet receive you as an angel of\nGod, and yet will be followers of you and of Christ, \"receiving the\nword in much affliction, with joy in the Holy Ghost.\" The Lord give\nyou in all things to \"approve yourself as the minister of God, in much\npatience and affliction, in necessities, distresses, in stripes, in\nimprisonment, in labour, and watching, and fasting,--by honour and\ndishonour, in good report and ill report\" (2 Cor. vi. 4-6). For, now\nwe live if ye stand fast in the Lord. And the God of all peace, who\nhath called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you\nhave suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, and\nsettle you. Remember me to those that are your companions in\ntribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, and to\nyour wife, that will be a faithful helper to you in this time of your\naffliction.\n\n [492] Enjoy?\n\nBecause I am not able to see you yet, and fearing that when I come to\nGlasgow I shall not find you there, I thought good to write.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXXVIII.--_For the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, the_ LADY\nKENMURE.\n\n(_A WORD TO CHEER IN TIMES OF DARKNESS._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--The Lord is gracious who\nkeepeth your Ladyship in the furnace, when many put out their hand to\niniquity one way or other. We are now shouldering and casting down one\nanother in the dark, and the godly are hidden from the godly. We make\nour own chains heavier by joining with the Lord's enemies; hence new\nsufferings to all that dare not say \"a confederacy to those to whom\nthis people say a confederacy, nor fear their fear.\" (Isa. 8, 12.) As\nthat is my exercise now, who am not very far from being my lone\n(though I know in whom I have believed, at least I should know) in\nthis place; so I am afraid that the godly there comply with those\ndeclared enemies of God. It will be our strength to walk between\nenemies and malignants on either side. This is the day of Jacob's\ntrouble; yet these dry bones can, and must live. I know not if I shall\nsee it, but I hope to take this quietness and silence of faith, in the\nmidst of the noises of the alarm for war, to the grave with me, that\nthe Lord will build upon the church of Britain and Ireland a palace of\nsilver, inclosed with boards of cedar.\n\nDear Madam, faint not; the night is almost gone; \"for the vision is\nyet for an appointed time; but at the end it shall speak, and not lie:\nthough it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, and not\ntarry.\" Madam, weary not; none can outbid your lodging in heaven;\nthere is more given for it, by Him who hath bespoken it for Jean\nCampbell, and taken it for her, than any can offer. The ransom of\nblood standeth.\n\nMy wife remembereth her respects to your Ladyship. The child is well.\nMrs. Gillespie is well, we hear, but is not here.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours, in his own Lord Jesus Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Jan. 28, 1653_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXXXIX.--_For_ GRIZZEL FULLERTON. [Letter V.]\n\n(_EXHORTATION TO FOLLOW CHRIST FULLY WHEN OTHERS ARE COLD._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--Remembering well what relation I had to your dear mother\n(now blessed and perfected with glory),[493] and being confident that\nyourself looketh that way (which, except I be eternally lost, is the\nway of peace and of life), I should be ungrateful to forget those,\nwhom, by the covenant of the Lord, I cannot but remember to God.\n\n [493] Marion M'Naught, her mother, died 1643.\n\nI shall speak nothing to you of the present sad differences;[494] but\nif I have, or ever had, any nearness to God, that other way (which I\ntrust I shall never follow) is the way of man. And for the present\npowers,[495] I suffer from them, and look for more. God hath a\ncontroversy with them; and, my soul, enter not into their secrets!\nOnly, I would beseech, request, and obtest you in the Lord, and by\nyour appearance before Christ, to follow the way of the Lord and the\nsteps trod by the gracious in that place, which the Lord followed with\nlife and power. My heart is filled with sorrow, considering what\ncommunion with God some of that country had, and how much they were in\nedifying and helping one another, in His way; and how little of that\nthere is now in that country. Your mother kept in life, in that place,\nand quickened many about her to the seeking of God. My desire to you\nis, that you should succeed her in that way, and be letting a word\nfall to your brethren and others, that may encourage them to look\ntoward the way of God. You will have need of it ere it be long. See\nhow you may have a gracious minister, and no neutral there, to succeed\nand follow the servant of God now asleep in the Lord.[496] There is a\ngreat and wide difference between a name of godliness and the power of\ngodliness. That is hottest when there are fewest witnesses. The\ndeadness upon many, and the defection of the land, is great. Blessed\nare they who seek the Lord and His face.\n\n [494] The differences on account of the Public Resolutions. Letter\n CCCXXIX., note.\n\n [495] The Government of Cromwell.\n\n [496] Refers probably to J. M'Lellan, who had come from Ireland, and\n been admitted minister in Kirkcudbright in 1638, where he continued to\n live and labour till his death in 1650. He was a man early acquainted\n with God and His ways, a most upright and zealous Protestant, and one\n who knew not what it was to be afraid in the cause of God. Livingstone\n says that he was thought by many to have had somewhat of the spirit of\n prophecy; he foretold many sad events that would come on England. A\n little before his death he composed the following epitaph on\n himself:--\n\n \"Come, stingless death, have o'er; lo! here's my pass,\n In blood character'd, by His hand who was,\n And is, and shall be. Jordan, cut thy stream,\n Make channels dry; I bear my Father's name\n Stamped on my brow. I'm ravished with my crown;\n I shine so bright, down with all glory, down,\n That world can give. I see the peerless Port (Rev. xxi. 21),\n The Golden Street, the blessed soul's Resort,\n The Tree of Life. Floods gushing from the Throne,\n Call me to joys. Begone, short woes begone;\n I lived to die, but now I die to live;\n I do enjoy more than I did believe.\n The Promise me into Possession sends\n Faith in fruition, hope in having ends.\"\n\n --Livingstone's \"Characteristics,\" and Nicholson's \"Galloway,\"\n vol. ii.\n\nI shall entreat you to remember me to your husband, and all friends. I\ndesire to forget none who are in Christ.\n\n Your brother in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n EDINBURGH, _March 14, 1653_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXL.--_To_ MR. THOMAS WYLIE.[497]\n\n [497] From the original, among the Wodrow MSS. vol. xxix. 4to, No. 66.\n This letter is addressed on the back, \"For his Reverend and dear\n Brother, Mr. Thomas Wylie, Minister of the Gospel at Kirkcudbright,\n and Moderator of the Presbytery there.\"\n\n(_REGARDING A LETTER OF EXPLANATION._)\n\n\nRIGHT REVEREND,--I look on it as a significant expression of your\nrespect to me, and above all deserving in me, that you take notice of\nany appearance of clouds, or alienation of mind among brethren; and am\nglad of your testimony of my brother. I had no interest but brotherly\nadvice, and hearty desire of the real prospering of the work of the\nGospel. Nor was it either necessary or expedient, that your w[isdoms]\nshould be troubled and put to any presbyterial testimony, upon the\nground of a private missive letter, written by misinformation. I give\ncredit to your testimony, and judge much ought to be laid upon it,\nand shall think myself obliged to your w[isdoms], and look on it as a\ntestimony of your affectionate zeal to the work of God. The Lord of\nthe harvest thrust out labourers to His vineyard, and bless His work\nin your hands! Excuse me, dear and reverend, for my troubling you with\nany private misunderstanding. I am not a little refreshed to hear of\nyour care and zeal for the house of God.\n\nThe Lord be with your spirit.\n\n Your unworthy brother and fellow-labourer in the Gospel,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _March 23, 1653_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXLI.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_PRESENT NEED HELPED BY PAST EXPERIENCE._)\n\n\nMADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I know that ye think of an\noutgoing, and that your quartering in time, and your abode in this\nlife, is short; \"for we flee away as a shadow.\" The declining of the\nsun, and the lengthening of the shadow, say that our journey is short\nand near the end. I speak it, because I have warnings of my removal.\nMadam, I know not any against whom the Lord is not: for He is against\n\"the proud and lofty; the day of the Lord is upon all the cedars, upon\nall the high mountains, upon every high tower, and upon every fenced\nwall, upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures\"\n(Isa. ii. 12-16). I know not anything comparable to a nearness and\nspiritual communion with the Father and the Son Christ. There is much\ndeadness and witheredness upon many spirits sometime near to God; and\nI wish the Lord have not more to say and to do against the land.\n\nYe have, Madam, in your accounts, mercies, deliverances, rods,\nwarnings, plenty of means, consolations (when \"refuge failed, when ye\nlooked on the right hand, and behold no man would know you, nor care\nfor your soul,\" when young and weak), manifestations of God, the\noutgoings of the Lord for you, experiences, answers from the Lord; by\nall which, ye may be comforted now, and confirmed in the certain hope,\nthat grace, free grace, in a fixed and established Surety, shall\nperfect that good work in you. Happy they who see not and yet believe.\n\nGrace, grace, eternally in our Lord Jesus be with you.\n\n Yours, in the Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n EDINBURGH, _May 27, 1653_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXLII.--_For the Right Honourable and truly worthy_ COLONEL GILBERT\nKER.\n\n(_DEADNESS--HOPES OF REFRESHMENT--DISTANCE FROM GOD--NEARNESS\nDELIGHTED IN._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED IN THE LORD,--How it is with you may appear by your\nletters to some with us; but it is the complaint of not a few of such\nas were in Christ before me, that most of us inhabit and dwell in a\nparched land. The people of the Lord are like a land not rained upon.\nThough some dare not deny that this is the garden of the Beloved, and\nthe vineyard that the Lord doth keep and water every moment, yet, oh!\nwhere are the sometime quickening breathings and influences from\nheaven that have refreshed His hidden ones?\n\nThe causes of His withdrawings are unknown to us. One thing cannot be\ndenied, but that ways of high sovereignty and dominion of grace are\nfar out of the sight of angels and men; yea, and so above the fixed\nway of free promises (such as, \"This do, and He shall breathe and blow\nupon His garden\"), as He hath put forth a declaration to His hidden\nones in Scotland, that smarting, wrestlings, prayings, complaining,\ngracious missing, cannot earn the visits from on high, nor fetch down\nshowers upon the desert. It may be, when we are saying in our graves,\n\"Our bones are dry, and our hope gone,\" that temporal and spiritual\ndeliverance may come both together; and that He will cause us feel,\nboth the one way and the other, the good of His reign who shortly\ncometh to the throne. \"He shall come down like rain upon the mown\ngrass, as showers that water the earth.\" \"In His days shall the\nrighteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon\nendureth.\" \"He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also,\nand him that hath no helper.\" \"He shall redeem their soul from deceit\nand violence: and precious shall their blood be in His sight\" (Ps.\nlxxii. 6-16). And though we cannot pray home a sweet season that way,\nyet Christ must bring summer with Him when He cometh. \"There shall be\nan handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the\nfruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon.\"\n\nI know not if I apply prophecies as I would, rather than as they are.\nWhen the one Shepherd is set over them, even He who shall stand (oh\nhow much do we _lie!_) and feed in the strength of the Lord, the isles\n(and this the greatest of them), which wait for His law, are to look\nfor that; \"And I will make them, and the places round about My hill, a\nblessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season:\nthere shall be showers of blessing\" (Ezek. xxxiv. 26). How desirable\nmust every drop of such a shower be! And, \"I will be as the dew to\nIsrael: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as\nLebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the\nolive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon\" (Hosea xiv. 5, 6). And, \"Instead\nof the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier\nshall come up the myrtle-tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name,\nfor an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off\" (Isa. lv. 13). \"I\nwill plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah-tree, and the\noil-tree\" (Isa. xli. 19). \"I will pour water upon him that is thirsty,\nand floods upon the dry ground: I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed,\nand My blessing upon thine offspring.\" And it shall be no lost labour\nor fruitless husbandry; \"They shall spring up as among the grass, as\nwillows by the water-courses\" (Isa. xliv. 3, 4). But _when_ this shall\nbe in Scotland (and it must be) is better to believe than prophesy;\nand quietly to hope and sit still (for that is yet our strength), than\nto quarrel with Him, that the wheels of this chariot move leisurely.\n\nYet this can hardly say anything to us who do so much please ourselves\nin our deadness, and are almost gone from godly thirst and missing\ntoo, being half-satisfied with our witheredness. No doubt we have\nmarred His influences, and have not seconded nor smiled upon His\nactings upon us. Nor have we been much of his strain who doth eight\ntimes breathe out that suit, \"Quicken me, quicken me\" (Ps. cxix.). So\nmuch are we desirous to be acted upon by the Lord as blocks and\nstones; and so prodigal are we of His motions, as if they were no\nbetter to be husbanded. But it is good that it is not in our power to\nblast and undo His breathings; His wind bloweth where He listeth.\nCould we but lean, and cast a quiet spirit under the dewings and\nshowerings of Him that every moment watereth His vineyard, how happy\nand blessed were we! We neither open nor discern His knocking, nor do\nwe feel His hand put in through the keyhole, nor can we give any\nspiritual account of the walkings and motions of Christ, _when_ He\nstandeth behind the wall, _when_ He cometh skipping over the\nmountains, _when_ He cometh to His garden and feasteth, _when_ He\nfeedeth among the lilies, _when_ His spikenard casteth a smell, _when_\nHe knocketh and withdraweth, and is nowhere to be found. Oh, how\nlittle a portion of God we see! How little study we God! How rarely\nread we God, or are versed in the lively apprehensions of that great\nunknown All in All, the glorious Godhead, and the Godhead revealed in\nChrist! We dwell far from the well, and complain but dryly of our\ndryness and dulness. We are rather dry than thirsty.\n\nSir, there may be artificial pride in this humility; but for me, I\nneither know what He is, nor His Son's name, nor where He dwelleth. I\nhear a report of Christ great enough, and that is all. Oh! what is\nnearness to Him? What is that, to be \"in God,\" to \"dwell in God\"? What\na house must that be! (1 John iv. 13). How far are some from their\nhouse and home? how ill acquaint with the rooms, mansions, safety, and\nsweetness of holy security to be found in God! Oh, what estrangement!\nwhat wandering! what frequent conversing with self and the creature!\nIs not here \"the bed shorter than that a man can stretch himself on\nit? and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it?\"\n(Isa. xxviii. 20). When shall we attain to a living in only, only God!\nand be estranged from all the poor created nothings, the painted\nshadow-beings of yesterday, which, an hour and less before creation,\nwere dark waste negatives and empty nothings, and should so have been\nfor eternity, had the Lord suffered them to lie there for ever!\n\nIt is He, the great \"He, who sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and\nthe inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the\nheavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in,\nthat bringeth the princes to nothing, and maketh the judges of the\nearth as vanity\" (Isa. xl. 22, 23). And He, the only He, and there is\nno He beside Him (Isa. xliii. 10, 11, 13-25). Men or angels, they are\nnot any of them a _he_ to Him! But a living, breathing, dying nothing\nis _man_ at his best, a sick clay-vanity; and the _angel_, to Him, but\na more excellent, living and understanding nothing. Yet we live at a\ndistance from Him; and we die and wither when we are out of God. Oh,\nif we knew how nothing we are without Him!\n\nSir, we desire to mind your bonds; and are cheered and refreshed that\nwe hear of any of His manifestations, and His outgoings, which are\nprepared as the morning to you. We hope that we need not desire you\nnot to faint, and are confident that the anointing that abideth in you\nteacheth you so much. Wait upon the speaking vision: \"Behold, He\ncometh! behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him!\"\n(Isa. xl. 10).\n\nThe only wise God strengthen you with all might, according to His\nglorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.\n\n Yours, at all observance, in the Lord Jesus,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST ANDREWS, _July 1653_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXLIII.--_For the truly honourable_ COLONEL GILBERT KER.[498]\n\n [498] From a copy among the Wodrow MSS. vol. lix. folio, No. 5. There\n is probably an error as to the date of this letter. From an allusion\n in it to a vacancy in one of the professorships of St. Mary's or the\n New College of St. Andrews, explained in the following note, it\n appears to have been written in or subsequent to the year 1657.\n\n(_THE STATE OF THE LAND._)\n\n\nMUCH HONOURED,--I bless the Lord for His good hand, who declares that\nHis sovereign presence is alike in England and all places, and sways\nhearts as pleases Him. The book of holy providence is good marginal\nnotes on His revealed will, in His word, and speaks much to us, could\nwe read and understand what He writes, both in the one and the other.\nYou see He is not wanting to you; houses and lands are His. The Lord\nled Abraham from his own country to a land he knew not. It would\nappear He hath not opened His mind to you for leaving of this land,\nthough I be much afraid of a sick state, a sleeping ministry, a\ncovenant-breaking land, a number of dead professors; all these are\ngrey hairs here and there on Ephraim. Sure our ruin is sure if God let\nus alone; we shall rot in our lies. But what am I to determine of\nconclusions of mercy revealed to none, and thoughts of peace in the\nheart of the Lord towards an undeserving land? I should be glad to see\nyou, and shall desire He may lead you in the matter of your residence\nwhom ye desire to be your Guide and Counsellor. For me, I am, as to my\nbody, most weak and under daily summons; but I sit still and read not\nthe summons: as to my spirit, much out of court, because out of\ncommunion with the Lord, and far from what sometime hath been;\ndeadness, security, unbelief, and distance from God in the use of\nmeans, prevail more than ever.[499] I shall desire your help for\ngetting a third Professor. I am in this college between wind and\nweather. Dr. Colville[500] is for Mr. James Sharp;[501] I am for Mr.\nWilliam Rait, but know not the event.[502] My wife remembers her\nrespects to you. Grace be with you.\n\n [499] Rutherford was now Principal of St. Mary's or the New College of\n St. Andrews, a situation to which he was elevated about the close of\n the year 1647; and a vacancy having occurred in the Professorship of\n Ecclesiastical History, by the translation of Mr. James Wood to be\n Principal of St. Salvator's or the Old College of St. Andrews, in\n 1657, Rutherford was very desirous of seeing that situation filled by\n a suitable person.\n\n [500] Dr. Alexander Colville, who had been Professor of Divinity in\n the Protestant University of Sedan, was inducted one of the masters in\n the New College of St. Andrews in 1642. He conformed to Prelacy in\n 1662; became Principal of that College upon Rutherford's death; and\n died in 1666.\n\n [501] Afterwards Archbishop of St. Andrews.\n\n [502] Rutherford was strenuous in his exertions to secure the\n appointment of Mr. Rait, but without success. His colleague, Dr.\n Colville, succeeded in obtaining the appointment of Sharp to the\n vacant office, into which he was inducted on the 22nd of February\n 1661, about a month before Rutherford's death. Mr. Rait afterwards\n became minister of Dundee.\n\n Yours, at all obedience, in God,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _April 2, 1654_.\n\nRemember my love in Christ to Mr. Livingstone.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXLIV.--_For MR. JOHN SCOT, at Oxnam._.\n\n[MR. JOHN SCOT, minister of Oxnam, zealously adhered to the\nProtesters; and Rutherford's letters to him have chiefly a reference\nto the proceedings of that party. After the restoration of Charles\nII., Scot was imprisoned for some time, but suffered less than others\nof his brethren. On being set at liberty, he was allowed to return to\nhis parish, and to resume the exercise of his ministry. We find him\ncontinuing there down to 1664, when he was brought before the\nshort-lived High Commission Court, erected in the beginning of that\nyear, for having assisted at Communions which were reckoned contrary\nto law. How he was dealt with by that Court is not now known. In 1669\nhe became indulged minister of Oxnam. He must have died previous to\n1684, as in that year the name of \"Elizabeth Rae, relict of Mr. John\nScot, late minister of Oxnam,\" occurs among a list of names in the\nparish of Kelso, delated by the curate of that parish to the Committee\nof Privy Council which met at Jedburgh, with the view of proceeding\nagainst those guilty of \"church disorders,\" that is, against those who\ndeserted their own parish church, and attended conventicles.\n(\"Warrants of Privy Council.\")]\n\n(_EXCUSE FOR ABSENCE FROM DUTY._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--No man oweth more to the church of God\nwith you, than poor and wretched I. But when weakness of body, and the\nLord by it, did forbid me to undertake a lesser journey to Edinburgh,\nI am forbidden far more to journey thither. And believe it, nothing\nbesides this doth hinder. I am unable to overtake what the Lord hath\nlaid upon me here; and, therefore, I desire to submit to sovereignty,\nand must be silent. If my prayers and best desires to the Lord could\ncontribute anything for promoting of His work, my soul's desire is\nthat the wilderness, and that place to which I owe my first\nbreathing,[503] in which I fear Christ was scarce named, as touching\nany reality or power of godliness, may blossom as a rose.\n\n [503] This seems to refer to Nisbet, formerly a separate parish, but\n now annexed to Crailing, in the Presbytery of Jedburgh, and shire of\n Roxburgh. It is within two miles of the parish of Oxnam; and some\n thirty years ago a house there used to be pointed out, by an old\n villager, as that in which, according to tradition, Rutherford was\n born.\n\nSo desiring, and praying that His name may be great among you, and\nentreating that you may believe that the names of the Lord's\nadversaries shall be written in the earth, and that \"whoso will not\ncome up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem, to worship\nthe King, the Lord of Hosts, even upon them shall be no rain,\" and\nthat the Lord \"will create glory upon every assembly in Mount Zion,\" I\nrest, your own brother in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _June 15, 1655_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXLV.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_THOUGHTS FOR A TIME OF SICKNESS, ABOUT THE LIFE TO COME._)\n\n\nMADAM,--I have been so long silent, that I am almost ashamed now to\nspeak. I hear of your weakly condition of body, which speaketh some\nwarning to you to look for a longer life, where ye shall have more\nleisure to praise than time can give you here. It shall be loss to\nmany; but sure yourself, Madam, shall be only[504] free of any loss.\nAnd truly, considering what days we are now falling into, if sailing\nwere not serving of the Lord (which I can hardly attain to), a calm\nharbour were very good when storms are so high. The Forerunner, who\nhath landed first, must help to bring the sea-beaten vessel safe to\nthe port, and the sick passengers who are following the Forerunner\nsafe ashore. Much deadness prevaileth over some; but there is much\nlife in Him who is the Resurrection and the Life to quicken. Oh, what\nof our hid life is without us, and how little and poor a stock is in\nthe hand of some! The only wise God supply what is wanting. The more\nye want, and the more your joy hath run on, the more is owing to you\nby the promise of grace. Bygones of waterings from heaven, which your\nLadyship wanted in Kenmure, Rusco, the West, Glasgow, Edinburgh,\nEngland, etc., shall all come in a great sum together. The marriage\nsupper of the Lamb must not be marred with too large four-hours'\nrefreshment. Know, Madam, that He, who hath tutored you from the\nbreasts, knoweth how to time His own day-shinings and love-visits.\n\n [504] It shall do nothing but free you from evil.\n\nGrace, that runneth on, be with you.\n\n Yours, in the Lord, at all observance,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXLVI.--_To_ SIMEON ASHE.\n\n [MR. ASHE was a Puritan minister in London during the time of the\n civil wars. He died in 1662.]\n\n(_VIEWS OF THE PRESBYTERIANS AS TO ALLEGIANCE TO THE PROTECTOR._)\n\n\nREVEREND WORTHY SIR,--I would recommend to you the bearer, Mr. James\nSimpson,[505] a faithful preacher of the Gospel. Be pleased to hear\nhim. I trust he shall give you a true and faithful relation of our\naffairs. You may be pleased to believe me, that men who have borrowed\nyour ear to blacken the godly in the land, and who have now both\ndeserted us and the Covenant, and joined feet with the Malignant\nparty, and now have owned the present powers, and brought the intrants\nto the ministry to give under their hand a subscription, an engagement\n(the writ calls it, a resolution to live peaceably and unoffensively\nunder the present Government), so that no holy man can get any\nmaintenance in the land but such as will sinfully comply (and such as\ncannot, what an entry they have to that holy calling to embrace it!),\nthese men seek more their own things, than the things of Jesus Christ.\nAnd being backed by the whole multitude of the promiscuous generality,\nthroughout the land, who are for their way, as of old the prelatic\nconformists did, they do persecute the godly, and in pulpits and\npresbyteries declaim against us as implacable and separatists. You\nmay, Sir, by this, and what the bearer will make known to you,\nperceive what wrong the compliance of these men hath done to the cause\nof God. But I spare, and do beg the favour of your other care. The\ngrace of God be with you.\n\n [505] Mr. James Simpson was minister of Airth. He subscribed the\n protestation which Rutherford gave in against the lawfulness of the\n Assembly held at St. Andrews in July 1651; for which he was deposed\n from the ministry by the adjourned meeting at Dundee. After the\n Restoration he was accused in Parliament, by the King's advocate, of\n seditious practices, and banished by Parliament, without being heard.\n He removed to Holland, where he died. Simpson at this time had been\n sent up to London by the Protesters, to represent their cause to\n Cromwell and the ministers of the city, in opposition to the notorious\n James Sharp, afterwards Archbishop of St. Andrews, who had been sent\n up by the Resolutioners.\n\n I am your loving brother in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n 1656.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXLVII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_UNKINDNESS OF THE CREATURE--GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY IN PERMITTING HIS\nCHILDREN TO BE INJURED BY MEN._)\n\n\nMADAM,--I confess that I have cause to be grieved at my long silence\nor laziness in writing. I am also afflicted to hear, that such who\nwere debtors to your Ladyship for better dealing have served you with\nsuch prevarication. Ye know that crookedness is neither strong, nor\nlong enduring; and ye know likewise, that these things spring not out\nof the dust. It is sweet to look upon the lawless and sinful stirrings\nof the creature as ordered by a most holy hand in heaven. Oh, if some\ncould make peace with God! It would be our wisdom, and afford us much\nsweet peace, if oppressors were looked on as passive instruments, like\nthe saw or axe in the carpenter's hand. They are bidden (if such a\ndistinction may be admitted), but not commanded, of God (as Shimei\nwas, 2 Sam. xvi. 10), to do what they do.\n\nMadam, these many years the Lord hath been teaching you to read and\nstudy well the book of holy, holy, and spotless sovereignty, in\nsuffering from some nigh-hand, and some far off. Whoever be the\ninstruments, the replying of clay to the Potter, the Former of all, is\nunbeseeming the nothing-creature. I hope that He will clear you: but,\nwhen Zion's public evils lie not nigh some of us, and leave no\nimpression upon our hearts, it is no wonder that we be exercised with\ndomestic troubles. But I know that ye are taught of God to prefer\nJerusalem to your chiefest joy. Madam, there is no cause of fainting:\nwait upon the not-tarrying vision, for it will speak.\n\nThe only wise God be with you, and God, even your own God, bless you.\n\n Yours, at all observance, in God,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _June 1657_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXLVIII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_GOD'S DEALINGS WITH THE LAND._)\n\n\nMADAM,--I should not forget you; but my deadness under a threatening\nstroke, both of a falling church (a broken covenant, a despised\nremnant) and a craziness of body, that I cannot get a piece sickly\nclay carried about from one house or town to another, lieth most heavy\non me. The Lord hath removed Scotland's crown, for we owned not His\ncrown. We fretted at His catholic government of the world, and fretted\nthat He would not be ruled and led by us, in breaking our adversaries:\nand He maketh us to suffer and pine away in our iniquities, under the\nbroken government of His house. It is like, that it would be our snare\nto be tried with the honour of a peaceable Reformation: we might mar\nthe carved work of His house, worse than those against whom we cry\nout. It is like, that He hath bidden us lie on our left side three\nhundred and ninety days; and yet so astonishing is our stupidity, that\nwe moan not our sore side. Our gold is become dim, the visage of our\nNazarites is become black, the sun is gone down on our seers; the\ncrown is fallen from our heads; we roar like bears. Lord save us from\nthat, \"He that made them will not have mercy on them\" (Isa. xxvii.\n11). The heart of the scribe meditateth terror. Oh, Madam, if the Lord\nwould help us to more self-judging, and to make sure an interest in\nChrist! Ah, we forget eternity, and it approaches quickly. Grace be\nwith you.\n\n Your Ladyship's, at all obedience, in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Nov. 20, 1657_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCXLIX.--_For MR. JOHN SCOT, at Oxnam._\n\n [John Livingstone, in his letter to his parishioners at Ancrum,\n says: \"Oxnam is not far off from you, and I hope Mr. Scot doth\n and will declare for the sworn Reformation, and testify against\n present defection.\"]\n\n(_PROTESTERS' TOLERATION._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I saw from C. K. a testimony of your\nPresbytery against toleration, in which ye have been instrumental. The\nLord give strength to do more. I think it both rare and necessary, and\nwould account it a great mercy, if there were an addition of a\npostscript from divers ministers and elders, out of all the shires of\nScotland. It is really the mind of all the godly and tender in this\nland. It is believed by some, that the Protesting party hath quite\ngiven over the cause. I hope it is not so; but the Lord shall be yet\nvictorious in His most despised ones. Our darkness is great and thick,\nand there is much deadness; yet the Lord will be our light.\n\nThus recommending you to His grace whose ye are, I am, your own\nbrother, in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _April 2, 1658_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCL.--_For MR. JOHN SCOT, at Oxnam._\n\n(_GLOOMY TIMES--MEANS OF PROMOTING GODLINESS._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--Faint not; but be strong in the Lord, and in the power\nof His might. I look on it as a rich mercy that the Lord is with you,\nstrengthening you to quicken fainters, to warm and warn any that are\ncold or dead, or who deaden others. Believe that it will be your peace\nin the end. The times are sad; yet I persuade myself that the vision\nwill not tarry, but will speak. The Lord will loose our captive bonds.\nOh, blessed he, though alone, who is found fast and constant for the\ndesirable interest of Christ.\n\nMy humble advice would be, that you see to the placing[506] of the\ndeacon and the ruling elder, or to anything that may weaken the\nDiscipline. Our Second Book of Discipline should be heeded: Sessions\npurged. Oh! catechising and personal visiting, and speaking to them\n_sigillatim_ (one by one) concerning their interest in Christ and a\nstate of conversion, is little in practice. The practice of family\nfasts is scarce known to be an ordinance of God. It were good that ye\nshould confer with godly brethren in private, concerning the promoting\nof godliness, concerning Christian conference, and praying together,\nworshipping of God in families, and solitary fasts.\n\n [506] This seems to mean, the place assigned to the respective offices\n of elder and deacon.\n\nTo His grace who can direct, quicken, and strengthen you, I commend\nyou, and am your loving brother,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS.\n\n\n\n\n\nCCCLI.--_To MR. JAMES DURHAM, Minister of the Gospel at Glasgow, some\nfew days before his Death._\n\n [MR. JAMES DURHAM was ordained minister of Blackfriars Church,\n Glasgow, in November 1647. In September 1651 he was translated to\n the Inner High Church, Glasgow. He was a man at once\n distinguished for ardent piety and great talents. Robert Baillie\n counted him \"one of the most gracious, wise, and able preachers\n in this isle.\" \"He is the minister of my family,\" the same writer\n says, \"and almost the only minister in this place [Glasgow] of\n whom my soul gets good, and whom I respect in some things above\n all men I know.\" Durham was cut off in the prime of life. He died\n at Glasgow on the 25th of June 1658,--ten days after this letter\n was written to him,--in the thirty-sixth year of his age, much\n regretted by all. (See Letter XCI.) He wrote on the \"Book of\n Revelation,\" \"Christ Crucified,\" and some other excellent\n pieces.]\n\n(_MAN'S WAYS NOT GOD'S WAYS._)\n\n\nSIR,--I would ere now have written to you, had I not known that your\nhealth, weaker and weaker, could scarce permit you to hear or read. I\nneed not speak much. The Way ye know, and have preached to others the\nskill of the Guide, and the glory of the home beyond death. And when\nHe saith, \"Come and see,\" it will be your gain to obey, and go out and\nmeet the Bridegroom. What accession is made to the higher house of His\nkingdom should not be our loss, though it be real loss to the church\nof God. But we count one way, and the Lord counteth another way. He is\ninfallible, and the only wise God, and needeth none of us. Had He\nneeded the staying in the body of Moses and the prophets, He could\nhave taken another way. Who dare bid you cast your thoughts back on\nwife or children, when He hath said, \"Leave them to Me, and come up\nhither\"? Or who can persuade you to die or live, as if that were\narbitrary to us, and not His alone who hath determined the number of\nyour months? If so it seem good to Him, follow your Forerunner and\nGuide. It is an unknown land to you, who were never there before; but\nthe land is good, and the company before the throne desirable, and He\nwho sitteth on the throne is His lone a sufficient heaven.\n\nGrace, grace be with you.\n\n Yours in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _June 15, 1658_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCLII.--_For MR. JOHN SCOT, at Oxnam._\n\n(_ADHERENCE TO THE TESTIMONY AGAINST TOLERATION._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Your letter that came unto me, of August\n2nd, to be at Edinburgh upon August 2nd, was unknown to me by the\nsubscription. But since it was written for so honourable and\nwarrantable a truth of Christ, as a testimony against Toleration, if\nmy health would have permitted, and my daily menacing gravel, I should\nhave come to Edinburgh. What either counsel, countenance, or clearing,\nye could have had from the like of me, I cannot say; nor dare I speak\nmuch, but with a reserve of the help of His grace. I desire to\ndesire,[507] and purpose by strength from above, to own that cause,\nand to join with you and some in this church, besides your Presbytery,\nwho will own that cause. Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of\nHis might. This cloud will over,[508] could we live by faith, and wait\non a speaking, and a seemingly delaying vision. (Heb. ii. 3.) The Lord\nwill not tarry.\n\n [507] Perhaps, \"I desire to pray for.\"\n\n [508] Pass over.\n\nGrace be with you. Many are with you, but there is One who is above\nmillions.\n\n Your own brother,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _August 8, 1658_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCLIII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_TRIALS--DEADNESS OF SPIRIT--DANGER OF FALSE SECURITY._)\n\n\nMADAM,--I am ashamed of my long silence to your Ladyship. Your\ntossings and wanderings are known to Him upon whom ye have been cast\nfrom the breasts, and who hath been your God of old. The temporal loss\nof creatures, dear to you there, may be the more easily endured, that\nthe gain of One \"who only hath immortality\" groweth.\n\nThere is an universal complaint of deadness of spirit on all that know\nGod. He that writeth to you, Madam, is as deep in this as any, and is\nafraid of a strong and hot battle, before time be at a close. But no\nmatter, if the Lord crown all with the victorious triumphing of\nfaith. God teacheth us by terrible things in righteousness. We see\nmany things, but we observe nothing. Our drink is sour. Grey hairs are\nhere and there on us. We change many lords and rulers; but the same\nbondage of soul and body remaineth. We live little by faith, but much\nby sense, according to the times, and by human policy. The watchmen\nsleep, and the people perish for lack of knowledge. How can we be\nenlightened when we turn our back on the sun? and must we not be\nwithered when we leave the fountain? It should be my only desire to be\na minister, gifted with the white stone, and the new name written on\nit. I judge it were fit (now when tall professors and when many stars\nfall from heaven, and God poureth the isle of Great Britain from\nvessel to vessel, and yet we sit, and are settled on our lees) to\nconsider (as sometimes I do, but ah! rarely), how irrecoverable a wo\nit is to be under a beguile in the matter of eternity. And what if I,\nwho can have a subscribed testimonial of many who shall stand at the\nright hand of the Judge, shall miss Christ's approving testimony, and\nbe set upon the left hand among the goats? (Matt. vii. 22, xxv. 8-12\nand 33; Luke xiii. 25-27). There is such a beguile; and it befalleth\nmany; and what if it befall me, who have but too much art to cozen my\nown soul and others, with the flourish of ministerial, or country,\nholiness!\n\nDear lady, I am afraid of prevailing security. We watch little (I have\nrelation mainly to myself), we wrestle little. I am like one\ntravelling in the night, who seeth a spirit, and sweateth for fear,\nand careth not to tell it to his fellow, for fear of increasing his\nown fear. However, I am sure, when the Master is nigh His coming, it\nwere safe to write over a double, and a new copy, of our accounts of\nthe sins of nature, childhood, youth, riper years, and old age. What\nif Christ have another written representation of me than I have of\nmyself? Sure He is right; and if it contradict my mistaken and\nsinfully erroneous account of I myself, ah! where am I then? But,\nMadam, I discourage none. I know that Christ hath made a new\nmarriage-contract of love, and sealed it with His blood, and the\ntrembling believer shall not be confounded.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours, at all obedience, in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _May 26, 1658_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCLIV.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.\n\n(_PREVAILING DECLENSION, DECAY, AND INDIFFERENCE TO GOD'S\nDEALINGS--THINGS FUTURE._)\n\n\nMADAM,--I should be glad that the Lord would be pleased to lengthen\nout more time to you, that ye might, before your eyes be shut, see\nmore of the work of the right hand of the Lord, in reviving a now\nswooning and crushed land and church. Though I was lately knocking at\ndeath's gate, yet could I not get in, but was sent back for a\ntime.[509] It is well if I could yet do any service to Him; but, ah!\nwhat deadness lieth upon the spirit! And deadness breedeth distance\nfrom God. Madam, these many years the Lord hath let you see a clear\ndifference betwixt those who serve God and love His name, and those\nwho serve Him not. And I judge that ye look upon the way of Christ as\nthe only best way, and that ye would not exchange Christ for the\nworld's god, or their mammon, and that ye can give Christ a testimony\nof \"Chief among ten thousand.\" True it is that many of us have fallen\nfrom our first love; but Christ hath renewed His first love of our\nespousals to Himself, and multiplied the seekers of God all the\ncountry over, even where Christ was scarce named, east and west, south\nand north, above the number that our fathers ever knew.[510] But, ah!\nMadam, what shall be done or said of many fallen stars, and many near\nto God complying wofully, and sailing to the nearest shore? Yea, and\nwe are consumed in the furnace, but not melted; burned, but not\npurged. Our dross is not removed, but our scum remaineth in us; and in\nthe furnace we fret, we faint, and (which is more strange) we slumber.\nThe fire burneth round about us, and we lay it not to heart. Grey\nhairs are upon us, and we know it not.\n\n [509] Reading the Letters _chronologically_, we are now within two\n years of his death, but Lady Kenmure survived many years.\n\n [510] How interesting is this notice of Revival, prefacing and\n preparing the church for the days of sore trial that soon burst over\n Scotland!\n\nIt were now a desirable life to send away our love to heaven. And well\nit becometh us to wait for our appointed change, yet so as we should\nbe meditating thus: \"Is there a new world above the sun and moon? And\nis there such a blessed company harping and singing hallelujahs to the\nLamb up above? Why, then, are we taken with a vain life of sighing and\nsinning? Oh, where is our wisdom, that we sit still, laughing,\neating, sleeping prisoners, and do not pack up all our best things for\nthe journey, desiring always to be clothed with our house from above,\nnot made with hands!\" Ah! we savour not the things that are above, nor\ndo we smell of glory ere we come thither; but we transact and agree\nwith time, for a new lease of clay mansions. Behold, He cometh! We\nsleep, and turn all the work of duties into dispute of events for\ndeliverance. But the greatest haste, to be humbled for a broken and\nburied covenant, is first and last forgotten; and all our grief is,\nthe Lord lingereth, enemies triumph, godly ones suffer, atheists\nblaspheme. Ah! we pray not; but wonder that Christ cometh not the\nhigher way, by might, by power, by garments rolled in blood. What if\nHe come the lower way? Sure we sin, in putting the book in His hand,\nas if we could teach the Almighty knowledge. We make haste; we believe\nnot. Let the only wise God alone; He steereth well. He draweth\nstraight lines, though we think and say they are crooked. It is right\nthat some should die and their breasts full of milk; and yet we are\nangry that God dealeth so with them. Oh, if I could adore Him in His\nhidden ways, when there is darkness under His feet and darkness in His\npavilion, and clouds are about His throne! Madam, hoping, believing,\npatient praying, is our life. He loseth no time.\n\nThe Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours, at all obliged observance in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Sept. 12, 1659_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCLV.--_To the PRESBYTERY OF KIRKCUDBRIGHT, anent Union, with a\ndesire to have Mr. William Rait Professor at St. Andrews._[511]\n\n [511] From the original among the Wodrow MSS. vol. xxix. 4to, No. 88.\n The letter is addressed on the back, \"For the very Reverend and\n honoured of the Lord, the Moderator and Remanent Brethren of the\n Presbytery of Kirkcudbright.\" That Presbytery particularly\n distinguished itself by its earnest endeavours to restore harmony\n between the Resolutioners and Protesters; to which they were stirred\n up chiefly by Mr. Thomas Wylie. But their laudable efforts, though\n partially successful in allaying animosity, failed to heal the breach.\n On this subject, Mr. George Hutchison, in a letter to Mr. Thomas\n Wylie, dated March 12, 1660, says: \"That little essay towards union\n hath been followed with the blessing of much less animosity than was\n wont to be before, in actings and walkings one with another; though,\n as yet, it is to be regretted that little can be got done for healing\n particular ruptures of parishes and presbyteries, even upon seeming\n equal overtures; and, it fears me, some elsewhere are more stiff than\n needful in such an exigent. But I apprehend that either our trials or\n God's appearing, among others, may press the necessity of union more\n upon us\" (Wodrow's MSS. vol. xxix.).\n\n(_UNION--HUMILIATION--CHOICE OF A PROFESSOR._)\n\n\nREVEREND,--The desire of your W[isdoms] for union to me, who am below\nsuch a public mercy, and of so high concernment to the Church of\nScotland, ought to be most acceptable. The name of peace is savoury,\nboth good and pleasant. I so close with your godly and religious aim\ntherein, as judging the Lord hath from heaven suggested to you, and\ninspired your spirits with, a fervent thirst and intention to promote\nthe Gospel, that though I should judge myself (as in truth I am) lower\nthan to suit[512] from either Presbytery or Synod any favour, yet I\nshall, in all humility, beseech your W[isdoms] to prosecute with the\npower which Christ hath given you the work of union; and so much the\nmore that I must shortly put off this my tabernacle. I offer to your\nW[isdoms'] serious consideration, the evident necessity of union with\nGod, and of a serious and sound humiliation, and lying in the dust\nbefore the Lord for a broken covenant, declining from our former love,\nowning of such as we sometime judged to be malignant enemies and\nopposers of the work of reformation and of the sworn covenant of God,\ndespising of the offered salvation of the Gospel, and coldness and\nindifferency in purging the house of God, and other causes of the sad\njudgments which we now are under. And my last and humble suit to your\nW[isdoms] is, that ye would be pleased to take in with this union the\nplanting of the New College[513] with a third master. It is a matter\nthat concerns the whole Church of Scotland and seminary of the\nministry thereof, and cannot be done but by a General Assembly. If,\ntherefore, you have, dear brethren, judged me faithful of the Lord,\nand regard the work of the Lord, and the promoting of the kingdom of\nChrist (as I nothing doubt but it is the desire of your souls), give\ncommission to the brethren sent to treat for union, at the meeting in\nEdinburgh or elsewhere, to join their authority and power, such as now\nmay be had, to call, invite, and obtest some godly and able man, to\nembrace the charge of Professor in the College of Divinity in St.\nAndrews. And because Mr. William Rait, minister at Brechin, is a man\nfor learning, godliness, prudence, and eminent authority in the Church\nof Scotland, sought for to the ministry by the town of Edinburgh, and\nalso by Aberdeen, to preach the Gospel and to profess in the College,\nand hath the approbation of the present masters of the New College,\nthe godly ministers of the Synod of Fife, of the Presbytery of St.\nAndrews, ministers of the city of St. Andrews, it is my soul's desire,\nand the heart-cry of students in the College, and of the godly in the\ncity, that Mr. William Rait may be the man; and that your\ncommissioners may be moved to deal with the commissioners of the Synod\nof Fife and Angus for that effect; so shall you be instrumental to\nrepair our breaches, and build His house. So praying that your labours\nmay not be in vain in the Lord, I rest (the Lord Jesus be with your\nspirit!) your unworthy brother and fellow-labourer in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _the 23rd October 1659_.\n\n [512] Solicit.\n\n [513] At St. Andrews.\n\n\n\n\nCCCLVI.--_To MR. JOHN MURRAY, Minister at Methven._[514]\n\n [514] From the original among the Wodrow MSS. vol. xxvii. fol. No. 42.\n\n [MR. JOHN MURRAY was one of the Protesters (see Baillie's\n \"Letters\"); and was committed prisoner to the Castle of Edinburgh\n for meeting with a few of his brethren to draw up a\n congratulatory address to Charles II. upon his restoration,\n expressing their loyalty, and reminding him of the obligation of\n the Covenant. He was summoned to appear before the Parliament on\n the charge of high treason, but at length was liberated. About\n 1672 he was apprehended and imprisoned in the Tolbooth of\n Edinburgh for alleged house-conventicles. When set at liberty, he\n was confined to the parish of Queensferry, and ordained to wait\n upon ordinances and abstain from keeping conventicles, and to\n attend the parish church. (Wodrow's \"History,\" vol. ii.)]\n\n(_A SYNOD PROPOSAL FOR UNION--BRETHREN UNDER CENSURE._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I would gladly know the issue of your\nSynod. We did profess we could not be concluded[515] by the Synod of\nFife's [overtures] of union, but upon condition of the taking off the\ncensures of our brethren, which we think injuriously are inflicted.\nMuch is promised to us for the remedying of these censures. I shall\nbelieve when I see their performances. I hope you will see that the\nbrethren get no wrong, or the house of God in their persons; and send\nme a line of the conclusion of the Synod in that business. The paper\nof union is very general, and comes to no particulars: it only tells\nthe good of union, and contains some obtestations to us that insinuate\nthe unsavouriness of irregular courses; yet we thought it not safe to\nyield to any union of that kind, so long as our brethren are under the\ncensures.[516] I much doubt of their honest meaning, and that\nbarriers in the way of entrant ministers and elders be revived. And I\nsee no engagement, so much as verbal, for purging; but the contrary\npractice is here. Mr. Robert Anderson[517] is as much opposed as if he\nwere the most corrupt sectary or Jesuit.\n\n [515] Determined finally.\n\n [516] Murray, and the other Protesters in the Synod of Perth, acted\n upon a similar principle. As an instance of this, we may adduce the\n following extracts from a paper entitled, \"The desires of the brethren\n of the Protesting judgment in the Synod of Perth under-subscribing,\n unto the Moderator and remanent members of the Synod.\" They desire,\n \"1st, That the Synod will declare and enact, that none of the Acts\n made by the two controverted Assemblies at St. Andrews, Dundee, and at\n Edinburgh, in the years 1651 and 1652, appointing censure upon such as\n will not acknowledge the constitution of these Assemblies, and will\n not submit unto the Acts thereof, shall hereafter be of force within\n the bounds of this Synod.... 3. That the Synod will declare and enact,\n that notwithstanding of the supposed censures inflicted upon Mr. James\n Guthrie, minister at Stirling, and Mr. James Simpson, minister at\n Airth, by the pretended Assembly at St. Andrews and Dundee, and of the\n approbation or intimation thereof by the Synod, that the said Mr.\n James Guthrie and Mr. James Simpson are lawful standing ministers of\n the Gospel in the respective charges of Stirling and Airth, and\n capable to sit and vote in the Synod and in their own Presbytery, and\n of every other ministerial privilege and employment\" (Wodrow's MSS.\n vol. xxvii.).\n\n [517] A minister who is mentioned again in Letter CCCLXV.\n\nMy wife remembers her to you. Remember me to your own bed-fellow.\nGrace be with you.\n\n Your own brother,\n\n S. R.\n\n _St. Andrews_, _Jan. 25, 1660_.\n\n[Illustration: EDINBURGH CASTLE.]\n\n\n\n\nCCCLVII.--_To his Reverend and dear Brethren, MR. GUTHRIE, MR. TRAILL,\nand the rest of their brethren imprisoned in the Castle of Edinburgh._\n\n [The circumstances of the case to which this letter refers are\n these:--On the 23rd of August 1660, the following ministers, Mr.\n James Guthrie of Stirling, Mr. John Stirling and Mr. Robert\n Traill of Edinburgh, Mr. Alexander Moncrieff of Scoonie, Mr. John\n Semple of Carsfairn, Mr. Thomas Ramsay of Mordington, Mr. John\n Scot of Oxnam, Mr. Gilbert Hall of Kirkliston, Mr. John Murray of\n Methven, Mr. George Nairn of Burntisland, with two gentlemen,\n ruling elders, met in a private house in Edinburgh, to draw up an\n humble address to Charles II., congratulating his return, and\n expressing their entire and unfeigned loyalty, but at the same\n time reminding him of the obligation of the Covenant which he and\n the nation had sworn. Whilst thus employed, their papers were\n secured, by the order of the Committee of Estates; and they\n themselves were arrested, and committed close prisoners to the\n Castle of Edinburgh.]\n\n(_ON SUFFERING FOR CHRIST--GOD'S PRESENCE EVER WITH HIS\nPEOPLE--FIRMNESS AND CONSTANCY._)\n\n\nREVEREND, NOW VERY DEAR, AND MUCH HONOURED PRISONERS FOR CHRIST,--I\nam, as to the point of light, at the utmost of persuasion in that kind\nthat it is the cause of Christ which ye now suffer for, and not men's\ninterest. If it be for men, let us leave it; but if we plead for God,\nour own personal safety and man's deliverance will not be peace.\n\nThere is a salvation called \"the salvation of God,\" which is cleanly,\npure, spiritual, unmixed, near to the holy word of God. It is that\nwhich we would seek, even the favour of God that He beareth to His\npeople; not simple gladness, but the gladness and goodness of the\nLord's chosen. And sure, though I be the weakest of His witnesses, and\nunworthy to be among the meanest of them, and am afraid that the Cause\nbe hurt (but it cannot be lost) by my unbelieving faintness, I would\nnot desire a deliverance separated from the deliverance of the Lord's\ncause and people. It is enough to me to sing when Zion singeth, and to\ntriumph when Christ triumpheth. I should judge it an unhappy joy to\nrejoice when Zion sigheth. \"Not one hoof\" will be your peace. (Exod.\nx. 26.)\n\nIf Christ doth own me, let me be in the grave in a bloody\nwinding-sheet, and go from the scaffold in four quarters, to grave or\nno grave. I am His debtor, to seal with sufferings this precious\ntruth; but, oh! when it cometh to the push, I dare say nothing,\nconsidering my weakness, wickedness, and faintness. But fear not ye.\nYe are not, ye shall not be, alone: the Father is with you. It was not\nan unseasonable, but a seasonable and a necessary duty ye were about.\nFear Him who is Sovereign. Christ is captain of the castle and Lord of\nthe keys. The cooling well-spring, and refreshment from the promises,\nare more than the frownings of the furnace. I see snares and\ntemptations in capitulating, composing, ceding, minching with\ndistinctions of circumstances, formalities, compliments, and\nextenuations, in the cause of Christ. \"A long spoon: the broth is\nhell-hot.\"[518] Hold a distance from carnal compositions, and much\nnearness to the fountain, to the favour and refreshing light from the\nFather of lights speaking in His oracles. This is sound health and\nsalvation. Angels, men, Zion's elders, eye us; but what of all these?\nChrist is by us, and looketh on us, and writeth up all. Let us pray\nmore, and look less to men.\n\n [518] A proverb: \"They need a long spoon who sup with the devil.\"\n\nRemember me to Mr. Scott, and to all the rest. Blessings be upon the\nhead of such as are separated from their brethren. Joseph is a\nfruitful bough by a well.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\nYour loving brother and companion in the kingdom and patience of Jesus\nChrist,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, 1660.\n\n\n\n\nCCCLVIII.--_To_ SEVERAL BRETHREN. _Reasons for petitioning his Majesty\nafter his return, and for owning such as were censured[519] while\nabout so necessary a duty._\n\n [519] That is, the ministers mentioned in the note prefixed to the\n preceding letter, who were arrested and imprisoned by the Committee of\n Estates.\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BRETHREN,--It is a matter of difficulty to me to\nwrite at this distance, not having heard your debates. It seemeth that\nthe Lord calleth us to give information to the King's Majesty of\naffairs. The Lord's admirable providence, in bringing him to his\nthrone, and laying aside others who were sworn enemies to the cause\nand covenant of God, so that now the Government is in a right line, is\nto be adored. And I judge (without prescribing) that some should be\nsent to his Majesty to congratulate that providence; and that reason\nof our being so slow in rendering should be rendered.\n\n1. We should write, not in the name of the Kirk of Scotland, but in\nthe name of a most considerable number of godly ministers, elders, and\nprofessors, who both pray for the King, are obedient to his laws, and\nare under the oath of God for the sworn Reformation.\n\n2. It is better now, than after sentences and trouble, to have\nrecourse to him who is by place _parens patri\u00e6_.\n\n3. We should supplicate in all humility for protection and\ncountenance; far more for lawful liberty to fear the bond of the oath\nof the dreadful and most high Lord; avouching to his Majesty, that the\nLord, His holy name being interposed, will own that Covenant, and\nbless his Majesty with a happy and successful reign, in the owning\nthereof, and kissing of the Son of God. And when the Lord shall be\npleased to grant that to us which concerneth religion, the beauty of\nHis house, the propagating of the Gospel, the government of the Lord's\nkingdom, without Popery, Prelacy, unwritten traditions and ceremonies,\nlet his Majesty try our loyalty with what commands he will be pleased\nto lay on us, and see if we be found rebellious.\n\n4. We should disclaim such as have sinfully complied with the late\nusurpers; produce our written testimonies against them; our not\naccepting of offices and places of trust from them; our testimonies\nagainst their usurpation, covenant-breaking, toleration of all\nreligions, corrupt sectarian ways, for which the Lord hath broken\nthem.\n\n5. We are represented to his Majesty as such as would not consent that\nthe Remonstrance of the western forces[520] should be condemned by the\nCommission of the General Assembly; whereas, 1. We did humbly desire\nthat the judicature should not condemn nor censure that Remonstrance,\ntill the gentlemen were heard, and their reasons discussed. 2.\nWhatever demur was as to the banding or combining part of it, we were\nand are obliged to believe that they had no sectarian design therein,\nnor levelling intention. 3. They are gentlemen most loyal, and never\nwere enemies to his Majesty's royal power; but only desired that\nsecurity might be had for religion and the people of God, and persons\ndisaffected to religion and the sworn Covenant abandoned; otherwise\nthey were, and still are, willing to hazard lives and estates for the\njust greatness and safety of his Majesty in the maintenance of the\ntrue religion, Covenant, and cause of God. The only difficulty will\nbe, where to have fit men to send. But as it will be both sin and\nshame for us to desert our undeservedly now censured brethren, so it\nwill be our sin and reproach sinfully to comply with such things and\ncourses as we testified against, and confessed to God.\n\n [520] See notice of Colonel Gilbert Ker, p. 649.\n\nI can say no more at present but that I am your loving brother,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, 1660.\n\n\n\n\nCCCLIX.--_To a_ BROTHER MINISTER.\n\n Judgment of a draught or minute of a Petition, to have been\n presented to the Committee of Estates, by those Ministers who\n were then prisoners in the Castle of Edinburgh for that other\n well-known Petition to his Majesty, about which they were when\n seized upon and made prisoners.[521]\n\n [521] See note prefixed to Letter CCCLVII., p. 692.\n\n [\"But that no man may mistake or judge amiss of persons so fixed\n in the cause and faithful in their generations, know that this\n draught was not sent to Mr. Rutherford as a paper concluded and\n condescended upon among these brethren, whose love to truth made\n them in all things so tender that they were ever fond to abstain\n from all appearance of evil. It was more like the suggestion of\n some other men (wherein was laid before them what kind of address\n would most probably please, waiving the just measures of what was\n simply duty in their circumstances), than anything flowing from\n themselves, as the product of a mature deliberation. And,\n secondly, know (which confirmeth what was said), that whatever it\n was, or whoever gave the rise to it, yet it was never made use\n of, nor presented to the Committee of Estates, by any of these\n faithful men, whose praise, for their fidelity, fixedness, real\n and untainted integrity, is in the churches of Christ\" (Note by\n Mr. Robert M'Ward, the original editor of Rutherford's\n \"Letters\").]\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--I am, as ye know, straitened as another suffering man,\nbut dare not petition this Committee:--\n\n1. Because it draweth us to capitulate with such as have the advantage\nof the mount, the Lord so disposing for the present: and, to bring the\nmatters of Christ to yea and no (ye being prisoners and they the\npowers) is a hazard.\n\n2. A speaking to them in write, and passing in silence the sworn\nCovenant and the cause of God (which is the very present controversy),\nis contrary to the practice of Christ and the Apostles, who, being\naccused or not accused, avouched Christ to be the Son of God and the\nMessias, and that the dead must rise again, even when the adversary\nmisstated the question. Yea, silence on the cause of God, which\nadversaries persecute, seemeth a tacit deserting of the cause, when\nthe state of the question is known to beholders: and I know that the\nbrethren intend not to leave the cause.\n\n3. I know of no offence that you have given (I will not say what\noffence may be taken), either as to the matter or manner of your\npetition. For, if what you have done be a necessary duty laid aside by\nothers, a duty can never give an offence to Christ, and so none to\nmen; but Christians will look upon a pious, harmless, and innocent\npetition to the Prince, in the matters of the Lord's honour and the\ngood of His church (though proffered by one or two, when they are\nsilent whose it is to speak and act), as a seasonable duty.\n\n4. The draught of that petition, which you sent me, speaketh not one\nword of the Covenant of God for the adhering to which you now suffer,\nand which is the object of men's hatred, and the destruction whereof\nis the great work of the times. Your silence in this nick of time\nappeareth to be a non-confession of Christ before men; and you want\nnothing to beget an uncleanly deliverance but the profession of\nsilence.\n\n5. There is a promise and real purpose, as the petition saith, to live\npeaceably under the King's authority. But, 1. Ye do not answer\ncandidly and ingenuously the mind of the rulers, who, to your\nknowledge, mean a far other thing by authority than ye do. For _ye_\nmean, _his just authority_, his authority in the Lord, and his just\ngreatness, in the maintenance of true religion, as in the Covenant,\nConfession of Faith, and Catechisms, is expressed from the Word of\nGod: _they_ mean his _supreme authority_, and absolute prerogative\nabove laws, as their acts make clear, and as their practice is. For\nthey refused, to such as were unwilling to subscribe their bond, to\nadd \"authority in the Lord,\" or, \"just and lawful authority,\" or\n\"authority as it is expressed in the Covenant.\" But this draught of a\npetition, under your own hand, yieldeth the sense and meaning to them\nwhich they crave. 2. That authority for which they contend is\nexclusive of the sworn Covenant; so that, except ye had said, \"We\nshall be subject to the King's authority in the Lord, or according to\nthe sworn Covenant,\" ye say nothing to the point in hand; and that,\nsure, is not your meaning. 3. Whoever promised so much peaceable\nliving under his Majesty's authority, leaving out the exposition of\nthe fifth commandment, as your petition doth, may upon the very same\nground subscribe the bond refused by the godly; and so you pass from\nthe Covenant, and make all those by-past actings of this Kirk and\nState, these years by-past, to be horrid rebellion! And how deep that\nguiltiness draweth, consider.\n\n6. A condemning of the Remonstrance, simply and without any limitation\nand distinction, is a condemning of many precious ones in the land,\nand a passing from the causes of God's wrath, which is the chief\nmatter of the Remonstrance.\n\n7. That nothing is before your eyes but the exoneration of your\nconscience, is indeed believed by the godly who know you; but a\npassing in silence of the honest materials in your former petition to\nhis Majesty seemeth to be a deserting thereof, since, in all your\npetition, ye do not once say ye cannot but adhere to that pious\npetition, as your necessary duty. And, that ye intend in the petition\nthe happiness of his Majesty, is also believed.\n\nDear brother, show to our brethren, that the Lord Christ, in your\npersons, hath a stated question betwixt Him and the powers on earth.\nThe only wise God lead you now, when He hath brought you forth in\npublic, so to act as if ye did see Jesus Christ by you, and beholding\nyou. It is easy for such as are on the shore to throw a counsel to\nthose that are tossed in the sea; but, only by living by faith, and by\nfetching strength and comfort from Christ, can you be victorious, and\nhave right to the precious promises \"of the tree of life,\" \"of the\nhidden manna,\" of the gifted \"morning star,\" and the like, made to\nthose who overcome: to whose strength and grace, brethren who desire\nwith me to remember you do recommend you. I am, dear brother,\n\n Yours, in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, 1660.\n\n\n\n\nCCCLX.--_For the Right Honourable my_ LADY VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.\n\n [_On the imprisonment of the Marquis of Argyle._]\n\n(_GOD'S JUDGMENTS CALLING TO FLEE TO HIM--THE RESULT OF TIMID\nCOMPLIANCE._)\n\n\nMADAM,--It is not my part to be unmindful of you. Be not afflicted for\nyour brother, the Marquis of Argyle.[522] As to the main, in my weak\napprehension, the seed of God being in him, and love to the people of\nGod and His cause, it will be well. The making of particular reckoning\nwith the Lord, and of peace with God, and owning of His cause when too\nmany disown it, will make his peace with the King the surer.[523] The\nLord is beginning to reckon with such as did forsake His cause and\ncovenant; and until we return to Him, our peace shall not be like a\nriver and as the waves of the sea. However, the opening of the bosom\nto take in all the Malignants can produce no better fruits. The Lord\ncalleth us to flee into our chambers, and shut the doors, till the\nindignation be over. (Isa. xxvi. 20.) The lily among the thorns is so\nserved. He hideth Himself, and our mountain is removed, and we are\ntroubled. But the Lord reigneth; let the earth tremble, and let the\nearth rejoice. The Lord, without blood, broke the yoke of usurping\noppressors, and laid them aside: the same Lord can settle throne and\nkingdom on the pillars of heaven. But, oh, the controversy the Lord\nhath with Edom, and those who covenanted with us, and then sold us;\nand with those of whom the Holy Ghost speaketh, \"Thy prophets have\nseen vain and foolish things for thee; they have not discovered thine\niniquity to turn away thy captivity, but have seen for thee false\nburdens, and causes of banishment\" (Lam. ii. 14). The time of Jacob's\nsuffering is but short, and the vision will speak. Could we be from\nunder deadness, and watch unto wrestling and prayer with the Lord, and\nlive more by faith, we should be more than conquerors. Wait upon the\nLord; faint not.\n\n [522] A fortnight before this was written, viz. on 8th July 1660, the\n King had committed the Marquis to the Tower, on an unfounded charge of\n treason. Rutherford did not live to see the issue.\n\n [523] \"His heavenly King, whom he has faithfully owned, as well as in\n private conscientiously served, will on that account all the more\n stand by him, in the question of his earthly King being reconciled to\n him.\" The hopes of his friends, however, were not realized; for next\n year (on 27th May 1661) he was beheaded at Edinburgh.\n\nThe Lord Jesus be with your spirit.\n\n Yours, at all respective observance in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _July 24, 1660_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCLXI.--_For MISTRESS CRAIG, upon the Death of her hopeful Son, who\nwas drowned while washing himself in a river in France._\n\n(_NINE REASONS FOR RESIGNATION._)\n\n\nMISTRESS,--You have so learned Christ as now (in the furnace) what\ndross, what shining of faith may appear, must come forth. I heard of\nthe removal of your son, Mr. Thomas. Though I be dull enough in\ndiscerning, yet I was witness to some spiritual savouriness of the new\nbirth and hope of the resurrection, which I saw in the hopeful youth,\nwhen he was, as was feared, a-dying in this city. And, since it was\nwritten and advisedly appointed, in the spotless and holy decree of\nthe Lord, where, and before what witnesses, and in what manner,\nwhether by a fever, the mother being at the bed, or by some other way\nin a far country (dear patriarchs died in Egypt, precious to the Lord,\nand have wanted burials) (Ps. lxxix. 3), your safest way will be, to\nbe silent, and command the heart to utter no repining and fretting\nthoughts of the holy dispensation of God.\n\n1. The man is beyond the hazard of dispute; the precious youth is\nperfected and glorified.\n\n2. Had the youth lain, year and day, pained beside a witnessing\nmother, it had been pain and grief lengthened out to you in many\nportions, and every parcel would have been a little death. Now His\nholy Majesty hath, in one lump and mass, brought to your ears the\nnews, and hath not divided the grief into many portions.\n\n3. It was not yesterday's thought, nor the other year's statute, but a\ncounsel of the Lord of old; and \"who can teach the Almighty\nknowledge?\"\n\n4. There is no way of quieting the mind, and of silencing the heart of\na mother, but godly submission. The readiest way for peace and\nconsolation to clay vessels is, that it is a stroke of the Potter and\nFormer of all things. And since the holy Lord hath loosed the grip,\nwhen it was fastened sure on your part, I know that your light, and I\nhope that your heart, also, will yield. It is not safe to be at\npulling and drawing with the omnipotent Lord. Let the pull go with\nHim, for He is strong; and say, \"Thy will be done on earth as it is in\nheaven.\"\n\n5. His holy method and order is to be adored. Sometimes the husband\nbefore the wife, and sometimes the son before the mother. So hath the\nonly wise God ordered; and when he is sent before, and not lost, in\nall things give thanks.\n\n6. Meditate not too much on the sad circumstances, \"the mother was not\nwitness to the last sigh; possibly, cannot get leave to wind the son,\nnor to weep over his grave;\" and, \"he was in a strange land!\" There is\na like nearness to heaven out of all the countries of the earth.\n\n7. This did not spring out of the dust. Feed and grow fat by this\nmedicine and fare of the only wise Lord. It is the art and the skill\nof faith to read what the Lord writeth upon the cross, and to spell\nand construct right His sense. Often we miscall words and sentences of\nthe cross, and either put nonsense on His rods, or burden His Majesty\nwith slanders and mistakes, when He mindeth for us thoughts of peace\nand love, even to do us good in the latter end.\n\n8. It is but a private stroke on a family, and little to the public\narrows shot against grieved Joseph, and the afflicted, but ah! dead,\nsenseless, and guilty people of God. This is the day of Jacob's\ntrouble!\n\n9. There is a bad way of wilful swallowing of a temptation, and not\ndigesting it, or laying it out of memory without any victoriousness of\nfaith. The Lord, who forbiddeth fainting, forbiddeth also\ndespising.[524] But it is easier to counsel than to suffer: the only\nwise Lord furnish patience.\n\n [524] Proverbs iii. 2.\n\nIt were not amiss to call home the other youth. I am not a little\nafflicted for my Lady Kenmure's condition. I desire you, when ye see\nher, to remember my humble respects to her. My wife heartily\nremembereth her to you; and is wounded much in mind with your present\ncondition, and suffereth with you.\n\nGrace be with you.\n\n Yours in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Aug. 4, 1660_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCLXII.--_For my Reverend and dear Brother, Christ's Soldier in\nbonds, MR. JAMES GUTHRIE, Minister of the Gospel at Stirling_.\n\n(_STEDFAST THOUGH PERSECUTED--BLESSEDNESS OF MARTYRDOM._)\n\n\nDEAR BROTHER,--We are very often comforted with the word of promise;\nthough we stumble not a little at the work of holy providence, some\nearthly men flourishing as a green herb, and the people of God counted\nas sheep for the slaughter, and killed all the day long. And yet both\nword of promise, and work of providence, are from Him whose ways are\nequal, straight, holy, and spotless.\n\nAs for me, when I think of God's dispensations, He might justly have\nbrought to the market-cross, and to the light, my unseen and secret\nabominations; which would have been no small reproach to the holy name\nand precious truths of Christ. But in mercy He hath covered these, and\nshapen and carved out more honourable causes of suffering, of which we\nare unworthy.\n\nAnd now, dear brother, much dependeth upon the way and manner of\nsuffering, especially that His precious truths be owned with all\nheavenly boldness, and a reason of our hope given in meekness and\nfear; and the royal crown, and absolute supremacy of our Lord Jesus\nChrist, the Prince of the kings of the earth, avouched as becometh.\nFor certain it is that Christ will reign, the Father's King in Mount\nZion, and His sworn covenant will not be buried. It is not denied that\nour practical breach of covenant first, and then, our legal breach\nthereof by enacting the same mischief and framing it into a law, may\nheavily provoke our sweetest Lord. Yet there are a few names in the\nland that have not defiled their garments, and a holy seed on whom the\nLord will have mercy, like the four or five olive-berries on the top\nof the shaken olive-tree (Isa. xvii. 6): and their eye shall be toward\nthe Lord their Maker. Think it not strange that men devise against\nyou; whether it be to exile, the earth is the Lord's; or perpetual\nimprisonment, the Lord is your light and liberty; or a violent and\npublic death,[525] for the kingdom of heaven consisteth in a fair\ncompany of glorified martyrs and witnesses; of whom Jesus Christ is\nthe chief witness, who for that cause was born, and came into the\nworld. Happy are ye if you give testimony to the world of your\npreferring Jesus Christ to all powers. And the Lord will make the\ninnocency and Christian loyalty of His defamed and despised witnesses\nin this land to shine to after-generations, and will take The\nMan-Child up to God and to His throne, and prepare a hiding-place in\nthe wilderness for the mother, and cause the earth to help the Woman.\nBe not terrified; fret not. Forgive your enemies; bless, and curse\nnot; for, though both you and I should be silent, sad and heavy is the\njudgment and indignation of the Lord, that is abiding the unfaithful\nwatchmen of the Church of Scotland. The souls under the altar are\ncrying for justice, and there is an answer returned already. The\nLord's salvation will not tarry.\n\n [525] Such, as is well known, was the fate of Mr. James Guthrie, a few\n months after this was written. He was hanged at the cross of Edinburgh\n on the 1st of June 1661, and his head thereafter cut off and fixed on\n the Nether Bow.\n\nCast the burden of wife and children on the Lord Christ; He careth for\nyou and them. Your blood is precious in His sight. The everlasting\nconsolations of the Lord bear you up and give you hope; for your\nsalvation (if not deliverance) is concluded.\n\nYour own brother,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS, _Feb. 15, 1661_.\n\n\n\n\nCCCLXIII.--_To_ MR. ROBERT CAMPBELL.\n\n [MR. ROBERT CAMPBELL was minister of a parish in the Presbytery\n of Dunkeld. He was a Protester, and after the restoration of\n Charles II. was ejected for nonconformity to Prelacy.]\n\n(_STEDFASTNESS TO PROTEST AGAINST PRELACY AND POPERY._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Ye know that this is a time in which all\nmen almost seek their own things, and not the things of Jesus Christ.\nYe are your lone, as a beacon on the top of a mountain; but faint not:\nChrist is a numerous multitude Himself, yea, millions. Though all the\nnations were convened against Him round about, yet doubt not but He\nwill, at last, arise for the cry of the poor and needy.\n\nFor me, I am now near to eternity;[526] and, for ten thousand worlds I\ndare not venture to pass from the protestation against the corruptions\nof the time, nor go alongst with the shameless apostasy of the many\nsilent and dumb watchmen of Scotland. But I think it my last duty to\nenter a protestation in heaven, before the righteous Judge, against\nthe practical and legal breach of Covenant, and all oaths imposed on\nthe consciences of the Lord's people, and all popish, superstitious,\nand idolatrous mandates of men. Know that the overthrow of the sworn\nReformation, the introducing of Popery and the mystery of iniquity, is\nnow set on foot in the three kingdoms; and whosoever would keep their\ngarments clean are under that command, \"Touch not, taste not, handle\nnot.\"\n\n [526] Rutherford died on the 20th of March 1661, shortly after this\n letter was written.\n\nThe Lord calleth you, dear brother, to be still \"stedfast, unmoveable,\nand abounding in the work of the Lord.\" Our royal kingly Master is\nupon His journey, and will come, and will not tarry; and blessed is\nthe servant who shall be found watching when He cometh. Fear not men,\nfor the Lord is your light and salvation. It is true, it is somewhat\nsad and comfortless that ye are your lone; but so it was with our\nprecious Master: nor are ye your lone, for the Father is with you. It\nis possible that I shall not be an eyewitness to it in the flesh, but\nI believe He cometh quickly who will remove our darkness, and shine\ngloriously in the Isle of Britain, as a crowned King, either in a\nformally sworn covenant, or in His own glorious way; which I leave to\nthe determination of His infinite wisdom and goodness. And this is the\nhope and confidence of a dying man, who is longing and fainting for\nthe salvation of God.\n\nBeware of the ensnaring bonds and obligations, by any hand-writ or\notherwise, to give unlimited obedience to any authority, but only in\nthe Lord. For all innocent self-defence (which is according to the\nCovenant, the Word of God, and the laudable example of the reformed\nchurches) is now intended to be utterly subverted and condemned: and\nwhat is taken from Christ, as the flower of His prerogative-royal, is\nnow put upon the head of a mortal power; which must be that great idol\nof indignation that provoketh the eyes of His glory. Dear brother, let\nus mind the rich promises that are made to those that overcome,\nknowing that those that endure to the end shall be saved.\n\nThus recommending you to the rich grace of God, I remain,\n\n Your affectionate brother in Christ,\n\n S. R.\n\n\n\n\nCCCLXIV.--_To_ [Brethren in] ABERDEEN.\n\n(_SINFUL CONFORMITY AND SCHISMATIC DESIGNS REPROVED._)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEARLY BELOVED IN THE LORD,--Grace be to you, and peace\nfrom God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.\n\nThere were some who rendered thanks, with knees bowed to Him \"of whom\nis named the whole family in heaven and earth,\" when they heard of\n\"your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our\nLord Jesus;\" and rejoiced not a little, that where Christ was scarce\nnamed, in savouriness and power of the Gospel, even in Aberdeen, there\nChrist hath a few names precious to Him, who shall walk with Him in\nwhite. We looked on it (He knoweth whom we desire to serve in our\nspirit in the Gospel of His Son) as a part of the fulfilling of that,\n\"The wilderness and solitary place shall be glad for them; and the\ndesert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose\" (Isa. xxxv. 1). But now\nit is more grievous to us than a thousand deaths, when we hear that\nyou are shaken, and so soon removed from that which you once\nacknowledged to be the way of God. Dearly beloved, the sheep follow\nChrist, who calleth them by name: a stranger they will not follow, but\nthey flee from him, for they know not the voice of a stranger. Ye know\nthe way, by which ye were sealed to the day of redemption; and ye\nreceived the Spirit, by the hearing of faith. Part not with that way,\nexcept ye see there be no rest for your souls therein. Neither listen\nto them that say, \"Many were converted under episcopal as well as\nunder presbyterial government, and yet the godly gave testimony\nagainst bishops;\" for the instruments of conversion loathed\nEpiscopacy, with the ceremonies thereof, and never sealed it with\ntheir sufferings. We shall desire instances of any engaged by oaths,\nand sufferings of the faithful messengers of God, and the\nmanifestations of the Lord's presence, in the way ye now forsake, who\nyet turned from it, and went one step toward sinful separation (and\ndid it in that way ye now aim at), and did yet flourish and grow in\ngrace. But we can bring proofs of many who left it, and went further\non to abominable ways of error. And you have it not in your power\nwhere you shall lodge at night, having once left the way of God. And\nmany, we know, lost peace and communion with God, and fell into a\ncondition of withering, and not being able to find their lovers, were\nforced to return to their first Husband. We shall entreat you,\nconsider what a stumbling it is to malignant opposers of the way and\ncause of God (who with their ears heard you, and with their eyes saw\nyou, so strenuously take part with the godly in their sufferings, and\nprofess yourselves for religion truth, doctrine, government of the\nhouse of God, His Covenant and cause), if now you build again what you\nonce destroyed, and destroy what you builded. And shall you not make\nyourselves, by so doing, transgressors? How shall it wound the hearts\nof the godly, stain the profession, darken the glory of the Gospel,\nshake the faith of many, weaken the hands of all, if you (and you\nfirst of all in this kingdom) shall stretch out the hand to raze the\nwalls of our Jerusalem, by reason of which the Lord made her \"terrible\nas an army with banners!\" For when kings came, and saw the palaces and\nbulwarks thereof, they marvelled and were troubled, and hasted away;\nfear took hold upon them there, and pain as of a woman in travail. And\nwe shall be grieved, if you should be heirs to the guiltiness of\nbreaking down the same hedge of the vineyard, for the which the sad\nindignation of God pursueth this day the Royal Family, many Nobles,\nhouses great and fair, and all the Prelatical party in these three\nkingdoms. And when your dear brethren are weak and fainting, shall we\nbelieve that you will leave us, and be divided from this so blessed a\nconjunction? The Lord Jesus Christ, we trust, shall walk in the midst\nof the golden candlesticks, and be with us, if you will be gone from\nus. Beloved in the Lord, we cannot but be persuaded better things of\nyou; and we shall not conceal from you that we are ignorant what to\nanswer when we are reproved, on your behalf, in regard that your\nchange to another gospel-way (which the Lord avert!) is so much the\nmore scandalous, that the sudden alteration (unknown to us before) now\novertaketh you when men come amongst you against whom the furrows of\nthe fields of Scotland do complain. Forget not, dear brethren, that\nChrist hath now the fan in His hand, and this is also the day of the\nLord, that shall burn as an oven; and that Christ now sitteth as a\nrefiner of silver, purifying the sons of Levi, and purging them as\ngold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering of\nrighteousness; and those that keep the word of His (not their own)\npatience shall be delivered from the hour of temptation, that shall\ncome on all the earth to try them.\n\nIf ye exclude all non-converts from the visible city of God (in which,\ndaily, multitudes in Scotland, in all the four quarters of the land,\nabove whatever our fathers saw, throng into Christ), shall they not be\nleft to the lions and wild beasts of the forest, even to Jesuits,\nseminary-priests, and other seducers? For the magistrate hath no power\nto compel them to hear the Gospel, nor have ye any church-power over\nthem, as ye teach; and they bring not love to the Gospel and to Christ\nout of the womb with them; and so they must be left to embrace what\nreligion is most suitable to corrupt nature. Nor can it be a way\napproven by the Lord in Scripture, to excommunicate from the visible\nchurch (which is the office-house of the free grace of Christ, and His\ndraw-net) all the multitudes of non-converts, baptized, and visibly\nwithin the covenant of grace, which are in Great Britain, and all the\nreformed churches; and so to shut the gates of the Lord's gracious\ncalling upon all these (because they are not, in your judgment, chosen\nto salvation), when once you are within yourselves.[527] For how can\nthe Lord call Egypt His people, and Assyria the work of His hands, and\nall the Gentiles (who for numbers are as the flocks of Kedar, and the\nabundance of the sea) the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, if\nyou number infants (as many do), and all such as your charity cannot\njudge converts (as others do) among heathens and pagans, who have not\na visible claim and interest in Christ? The candlestick is not yours,\nnor the house; but Christ fixeth and removeth the one, and buildeth\nor casteth down the other, according to His sovereignty. We in\nhumility judge ourselves, though the chief of sinners, the sons of\nZion and of the seed of Christ; if ye remove from us, and carry from\nhence the candlestick, let our Father be judge, and show us why the\nLord hath bidden you come out from among us. We look upon this visible\nchurch, though black and spotted, as the hospital and guest-house of\nsick, halt, maimed, and withered, over which Christ is Lord,\nPhysician, and Master: and we would wait upon those that are not yet\nin Christ, as our Lord waited upon us and you both. We, therefore,\nyour brethren, children of one Father, cannot but with tears and\nexceeding sorrow of heart earnestly entreat, beseech, and obtest you,\nby the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, by His sufferings and precious\nransom which He paid for us both, by the consolations of His Spirit,\nby your appearance before the dreadful tribunal of our Lord Jesus,\nyea, and charge you before God and the same Lord Jesus, \"who shall\njudge the quick and the dead, at His appearing, and His kingdom;\"\nbreak not the spirits and hearts of those to whom ye are dear as their\nown soul. Forsake not the assemblies of the people of God; let us not\ndivide.\n\n [527] When you yourselves have got safe within.\n\nNot a few of the people of God in this shire of Fife (in whose name I\nnow write) dare say, if ye depart, that ye will leave Christ behind\nyou with us, and the golden candlesticks; and shut yourselves, we much\nfear, out of the hearts and prayers of thousands dear to Jesus Christ\nin Scotland. Therefore, before ye fix judgment and practice on any\nuntrodden path, let a day of humiliation be agreed upon by us all, and\nour Father's mind and will inquired, through our one common Saviour.\nAnd let us see one another's faces at best conveniency, and plead the\ninterest of Christ, and be comforted; and not be stumbled at your\nways.\n\nSo expecting your answer, we shall pray that the God of peace, who\nbrought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the\nsheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, may make you\nperfect in every work to do His will, working in you that which is\nwell-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ. And I shall remain,\n\n Your affectionate brother in the Lord,\n\n S. R.\n\n ST. ANDREWS.\n\n\n\n\nCCCLXV.--_To MR. JOHN MURRAY, Minister at Methven._[528] [See Letter\nCCCLVI.]\n\n [528] From the original among the Wodrow MSS. vol. xxvii. fol. No. 18.\n\n(_PROPOSAL OF A SEASON OF PRAYER_.)\n\n\nREVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--If I rightly apprehend our condition, we\nare in a way of declining. We were, within these few years, more in\nthe conscionable use of means, and the Lord did shine upon us in some\nmeasure; and now we are fallen from that which we were. It is judged\nfit by some (and many of our solidest professors) that if we cannot\nhave them in congregations, yet families and private persons may have\ndays of humiliation, at least the last Wednesday of every month or\nthereabout, according to the best conveniency of Providence. And if\nthis were gone about in your country, and in Stirlingshire, Fife, in\nMerse, Teviotdale, the West, in Nithsdale and Galloway, and other\nplaces, it would prove our strength and help; for we are few and very\nlow. Our adversaries are not idle; and there is a faintness and\nheartless discouragement on the spirits of many. These are to entreat\nthat you would combine with Mr. Robert Campbell,[529] Mr. John\nCruickshanks,[530] and other of our brethren in your bounds, to stir\nup one another that we may wrestle with the Lord for the remnant. I am\nconfident the Lord will yet be inquired of us for this. Though the\nsame particular day be not observed, yet, where many are on work, some\nsalvation from the Lord's arm is to be expected. I am decaying most\nsensibly, and I should look on it as a mercy if the Lord would send a\nwakening among His own. And blessed shall he be who shall blow the\ntrumpet to cause other sleeping ones awake, and shall help to build\nthe wastes, and the fallen tabernacle of David. I shall earnestly\ndesire you do bestir yourself herein.[531] I shall write to J----, and\nto others here, and do the best I can to give you a convenient\naccount; for nothing is left to us but that.\n\n [529] The minister to whom Letter CCCLXIII. is addressed.\n\n [530] Mr. John Crookshanks (as Wodrow spells the name), minister of\n Redgorton, in the Presbytery of Perth. He afterwards followed those\n who fought at Pentland Hills, in 1665, and was killed in the battle.\n\n [531] Is not this the very spirit of 2 Pet. i. 13, 14, \"Yea, I think\n it meet to stir you up, by putting you in remembrance; knowing that\n shortly I must put off this my tabernacle\"?\n\nSo remembering me to your wife, and expecting your help, I rest,\n\n Your own brother,\n\n S. R.\n\n [ST. ANDREWS.]\n\n S. R.\n\nMr. Robert Anderson is most eagerly desired for by the parishioners of\nLeuchars, and as strenuously opposed by our brethren here.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX\n\nOF\n\nTHE CHIEF PLACES AND INDIVIDUALS REFERRED TO IN THE LETTERS.\n\n(_The Figures refer to the Letters._)\n\n\n Aberdeen, Letter to People of, 364;\n referred to, 77, 243, 364.\n\n Abraham referred to, 324.\n\n Abraham, Mr., 24.\n\n Aird, Bethia, 153.\n\n Airds, 59, 217.\n\n Alexander, Sir William, 15.\n\n America, 75.\n\n Anabaptists, 308.\n\n Anderson, Mr. R., 356, 365.\n\n Anwoth, 92, 96, 157, 162, 163, 167, 177, 180, 184, 198, 206,\n 225, 230, 267, 269, 279, 306, 307.\n\n ---- Topography of, 198, and Life.\n\n Antinomians, 308.\n\n Ardross, Lady (H. Lindsay), 321.\n\n Ardwell, 101, 283.\n\n Argyle, Death of, 360.\n\n Ashe, Mr. Simeon, 345.\n\n Assembly, Westminster, 307, 310.\n\n Athernie (in Largo).--_See_ Rigg, 114.\n\n Ayr.--_See_ Kennedy, John.\n\n M. A., 212, 243.\n\n\n Baillie, Robert, 163, 307.\n\n Balcarras, Earl of, 327.\n\n Ballantyne, Margaret, 79.\n\n Balmerinoch, Lord, 139.\n\n Barcapple, 34.\n\n Barholm, 117 (notice).\n\n Barron, Dr. Robert, 89, 117, 144.\n\n Bautie, James, 249.\n\n Bell, John, 218.\n\n Berwick, 333.\n\n Blackness Castle, 12.\n\n Blair, Isabel.--_See_ Lady Gaitgirth.\n\n ---- Mr. Robert, 89, 254.\n\n Bohemia, 62.\n\n Bothwell Bridge, 206.\n\n Boyd, Lady, 77, 107, 167, 210, 245, 277, 294, 299, 303,\n 309, 321.\n\n ---- Lord, 78, 232.\n\n Boyne, 307.\n\n Brethren, to several, 358.\n\n Brisbane, Sarah.--_See_ Rowallan.\n\n Brother, to a Christian, 317.\n\n ---- to a minister, 358.\n\n Brown, Fergus, 18.\n\n ---- Jean, 18, 32, 84, 111, 131.\n\n ---- Patrick, 111.\n\n ---- of Wamphray, 131, 243.\n\n Brownists, 303.\n\n Bruce, Mr. James, 146.\n\n Bryce, 231.\n\n Burroughs, Jeremiah, 309.\n\n Burton, D., 17.\n\n ---- Henry, 17.\n\n Busbie, the Lady, 133, 120, 270.\n\n Byres, 231.\n\n A. B., 227.\n\n B., 53. R. B., 246.\n\n\n Caithness, 89.\n\n Cally, Laird of (John Lennox), 198, 202.\n\n Cambridge, 174.\n\n Campbell, John.--_See_ Earl of Loudon.\n\n ---- Lady Jane.--_See_ Kenmure.\n\n ---- Mr. Robert, 363, 365.\n\n Canons, Book of, 161.\n\n Cant, Mr. Andrew, 179, 206.\n\n Cardoness, the elder (_see_ John Gordon), 82, 166, 180.\n\n ---- the Lady (Gordon), 100, 103, 192 199.\n\n ---- the younger, 123, 173.\n\n Carleton, Fullerton of, letters to, 157, 169, 176 (referred to,\n 1, 15, 40, 243, 279).\n\n ---- Lady, 254.\n\n Carsen, John, 127, 243.\n\n ---- Marion, 32.\n\n ---- Patrick, 156.\n\n Carsluth, notice of, 190.\n\n Carsphairn, 28, 102, 357.\n\n Carstairs, John, 336.\n\n Caskeberrie.--_See_ Kaskiberry.\n\n Cassillis, Earl of (John Kennedy), 128, 268, 278.\n\n Cassincarrie (Mure), 191.\n\n Cathcart.--_See_ Carleton.\n\n Christian Brother, 316.\n\n ---- Friend, 291, 315.\n\n ---- Gentlewoman, 211, 317.\n\n Clark, John, 172.\n\n Colville, Mr. Alexander, 11, 98, 208, 343.\n\n Colwart, Mr. Henry, 90.\n\n Commentaries, proposed, 53, 110.\n\n Corbet, Thomas, 264.\n\n Covenant, 358, 359.\n\n Craig, Mrs., 361.\n\n Craighall, Lord, 86, 99, 174, 220, 227, 236, 257.\n\n Cramond, 43, and 117 (notice).\n\n Crawford, Earl of (_see_ Lindsay), 309.\n\n Cromwell, 329, 331, 339, 346.\n\n Cruickshanks, Mr. John, 365.\n\n Culross, Lady, 62, 74, 178, 222.\n\n Cunningham, Mr. R., 63, 110.\n\n A. C., 189, 209.\n\n Y. C., 76.\n\n C., 44.\n\n\n Dalgleish, William, 117, 184, 197, 287.\n\n Dalry.--_See_ Earlston.\n\n Dematius, note, 334.\n\n Dickson, Mr. David, 110, 119, 168, 259, 298;\n his son, John, 298.\n\n Disdow, 213, 262.\n\n Douglas, Robert, 113.\n\n Dunbar, Battle of, 329.\n\n Dunbar, Mr. George, 265.\n\n Dundrennan, 117 (note).\n\n Dungueich, the Lady, 251.\n\n Durham, Mr. James, 91, 352.\n\n Dury, Mr. John, 91 (notice).\n\n\n Earlston, elder, 59, 64, 73, 97, 160, 201, 260, 323.\n\n ---- the Lady (Eliz. Gordon), 109.\n\n ---- younger, 99, 181, 196, 271.\n\n Edinburgh Town Council, 325, 344, 345.\n\n Ellis, Fulk, 234.\n\n Episcopacy, 364, etc.\n\n Erskine, Margaret.--_See_ Lady Marischall.\n\n Ewart, John, 36, 134.\n\n Expecters, 308.\n\n C. E., 92.\n\n\n Familists, 310.\n\n Fenwick, John, 295.\n\n Fergushill, Mr. John, 112, 187, 188, 275.\n\n Fife, 364.\n\n Fingask, Lady (Moncrieff), 297.\n\n Fleming, Mr. James, 228.\n\n ---- John, 68, 159, 241, 266.\n\n Forret, Mr. David, 327.\n\n ---- Lady, 125.\n\n Forth, the, 257.\n\n France, 32, 254.\n\n Friend, a Christian, 291, 316.\n\n Fullarton, Margaret, 204.\n\n Fullerton, Grizzel, 5, 155, 339.\n\n ---- Mr. W., Provost of Kirkcudbright, 1, 52, 67, 135, 221.\n\n Fullwood, the younger, 224.\n\n F., 17, 254.\n\n R. F., 98.\n\n\n G. J., 17, 92, 320. (John Gordon?)\n\n Gaitgirth, Lady (Isabel Blair), 187, 239.\n\n ---- Laird of, 237.\n\n Galloway, 37.\n\n Galloway, Bishop of (_see_ Sydserff), 161.\n\n Garloch, 65 (notice), 217.\n\n Garven, Mr. Thomas, 152, 165, 246.\n\n Gentlewoman, to a Christian, 2, 211, 318.\n\n ---- on husband's death, 105, 122.\n\n ---- Letter to one at Kirkcudbright, 25.\n\n George, David, of Delft, 309.\n\n Gillespie, Mr. George, 144, 253, 324.\n\n ---- Mrs., 326.\n\n ---- Patrick, 337.\n\n Girthon, 198 (notice), 43.\n\n Glasgow, Bishop of, 86, 110.\n\n ---- to a minister of, 337.\n\n Glendinning, Mr. Robert, 36, 136.\n\n ---- William, 137, 267, 276.\n\n Glendoning, Robert, 36.\n\n ---- W., 36.\n\n Goodwin, Thomas, 309.\n\n Gordon, Alex., of Earlston, 59, 73.\n\n ---- of Garlock, 65 (notice).\n\n ---- Jean, 145.\n\n ---- John, at Rusco, 272, 280.\n\n ---- John, elder, of Cardoness.--_See_ C.\n\n ---- John, younger, of Cardoness.--_See_ Cardoness.\n\n ---- of Knockgray, 102.--_See_ K.\n\n ---- Mary, of Largmore, 72.\n\n ---- Robert, Bailie of Ayr, 129, 200.\n\n ---- Robert, of Knockbreck.--_See_ Knockbreck.\n\n ---- William, at Kenmure, 203.\n\n ---- William, of Roberton, 72.\n\n ---- William, younger, of Earlston.--_See_ Earlston.\n\n ---- William, of Whitepark, 143.\n\n Greenham, Richard, 159.\n\n Gustavus Adolphus, 16, 48.\n\n Guthrie, Rev. Mr. James, of Stirling, 319, 357, 362.\n\n ---- Mr. William of Fenwick, 330.\n\n J. G., 92, 319. (James Guthrie?)\n\n W. G., 222.\n\n\n Hall, Mr. Gilbert, 357.\n\n Hallhill, the Lady (Learmonth), 148.\n\n Halliday, William, 121.\n\n Hamilton, Barbara, 311, 315.\n\n ---- Euphan, 6.\n\n ---- Mr. James, 89, 137, 214.\n\n ---- John, 8.[532]\n\n Henderson, Mr. Alexander, 115.\n\n ---- Mr. Hugh, 138, 194.\n\n ---- Mr. John, in Rusco, 150, 207.\n\n Henton, 218.\n\n High Commission, 68, note.\n\n Hog, Mr. Thomas, 245.\n\n Hope, Sir John.--_See_ Craighall.\n\n Hume, Mrs., 314.\n\n ---- Mr. William, 312.\n\n Hutchison, George, 344.\n\n\n Independents, 308, 329.\n\n Ireland, 25, 119, 168, 233, 284, 288.\n\n\n Jackson, Dr. Thomas, 188.\n\n Jedburgh, 345.\n\n Job, Commentary upon, 58.\n\n Johnston, Sir Archibald, of Warriston, 307.\n\n\n Kaskeberry, the Lady (Schoneir), 108.\n\n Kells.--_See_ Garlock, and 72.\n\n Kenmure, Viscountess, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 19, 20, 21, 23, 27, 28, 30,\n 31, 35, 37, 39, 40, 42, 56, 58, 61, 69, 70, 93, 94, 95, 96,\n 104, 106, 205, 206, 230, 286, 287, 302, 305, 318, 320, 335,\n 338, 341, 360.\n\n Kennedy, Elizabeth, 77.\n\n ---- Janet, 88, 247.\n\n ---- John.--_See_ Earl of Cassillis.\n\n ---- John, Bailie of Ayr, 22, 75, 130.\n\n Ker, Col. Gilbert, 328, 329, 331, 332, 333, 334, 342, 343.\n\n ---- John, 47.\n\n Kerr, Robert, 71.\n\n Kilconquhar, Lady, 226, 261.\n\n Kilmalcolm, Parishioners, 286.\n\n Kirkcudbright, 6, 8, 25, 34, 36, 42, 43, 46, 49, 52, 67, 80, 134,\n 135, 136, 137, 177, 267, 339, 340, 355.\n\n Kirkdale, 117.\n\n Kirkmabreck, 109, 117.\n\n Knockbreck, Gordon of, 65, 66, 76, 92, 170, 285;\n referred to, 279.\n\n Knockgray, Gordon of, 102, 154, 182, 223;\n referred to, 243.\n\n Knox, John, 12.\n\n C. K., 349.\n\n\n Largirie, Lady, 195, 250.\n\n Largmore, 72.\n\n Laurie, John, 175.\n\n Law, James, 86, 110.\n\n Leighton, Dr. Alexander, 289.\n\n ---- Mr. Robert, 86.\n\n Lennox, John.--_See_ Cally.\n\n ---- Robert, 213, 262.\n\n Leys, Lady, 207.\n\n Lindsay, James, 234.\n\n ---- Lord, 231.\n\n Livingston, Mr. John, 90, 343.\n\n ---- Mr. William, 142.\n\n Lochinvar, 47, 109.\n\n Lorn, Lord, 59, 60, 61, 204;\n referred to, 222.\n\n Lothian, Earl of, 83.\n\n Loudian, Mr., 86, 174.\n\n Loudon, Lord (John Campbell), 116, 258, 281.\n\n\n Maitland, Lord John, 307.\n\n Malignants, 329, 330, 331, 333, 346, 356, 362.\n\n Mar, Lady, 61, 69, 140.\n\n Marischall, Lady (Margaret Erskine), 207.\n\n Martin, Mr. James, 206.\n\n Maxwell, Bishop of Ross, 6.\n\n M'Adam, James, 141.\n\n ---- Sibylla (his sister), 193, 141.\n\n M'Cleland, Mr., 63, 339.\n\n M'Culloch, Jonet, 101, 252.\n\n ---- Thomas, 283.\n\n M'Kail, Mr. Hugh, of Irvine, 71, 118, 216, 229.\n\n M'Math, Agnes, 300.\n\n ---- Jean, 326.\n\n M'Millan, Jean, 132.\n\n M'Naught, Grizzel, 1, 32, 88.\n\n ---- Jane, 49.\n\n ---- Marion, 1, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 24, 26, 29,\n 32, 33, 34, 36, 38, 41 (postscript), 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48,\n 49 (with postscript), 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 60, 80,\n 126, 177, 185, 221, 243, 244, 263, 279.\n\n M'Ward, Mr., 179, 337.\n\n Mein, Barbara, 314.\n\n ---- Mr. John, senior, 151.\n\n ---- Mr. John, junior, 81, 240.\n\n ---- Mrs., 312.\n\n Melville, Eliz.--_See_ Lady Culross.\n\n ---- of Hallhill, 224.\n\n Melvin, Mr. Ephraim, 91.\n\n Minister in Glasgow, 337.\n\n ---- to a Brother, 359.\n\n M. O., 324.\n\n Moncrieff, Mr. Alex., of Scoonie, 357.\n\n ---- Lady Ann, of Fingask, 295.\n\n ---- Laird of, 171.\n\n Montgomery, Sir Henry, 303.\n\n More, Dr., 311.\n\n Mowat, Mr. Matthew, 120, 167, 239, 301.\n\n Muirfad, 59, 109 (notice).\n\n Mure.--_See_ Lady Ralston.\n\n ----.--_See_ Rowallan, 242.\n\n ---- Ninian, 164.\n\n Murray, Christian, 262.\n\n ---- James, 274.\n\n ---- James, wife of, 304.\n\n Murray, John, 356, 365.\n\n ---- Margaret, 326.\n\n ---- Margaret (Mrs. Gillespie), 326.\n\n G. M., 92.\n\n M. M., 167.\n\n\n Nairn, Mr. George, 357.\n\n Nevay, Mr. John, 179, 209.\n\n Newcastle, 311.\n\n New England, 12, 75, 151, 153, 161.\n\n Newmills, 179.\n\n Nicholas, Henry, 310.\n\n Nisbet, 344; and, Life, p. 2.\n\n\n Ochiltree, 112 (notice).\n\n Ormiston, 337.\n\n Osburne, Provost of Ayr, 149.\n\n Oxford, 174.\n\n Oxnam.--_See_ Scott.\n\n N. O., 322.\n\n\n Parishioners of Anwoth, 225.\n\n Perkins, Dr. William, 159.\n\n Person unknown, anent public worship, 290.\n\n Persons unknown, 308.\n\n Perth Assembly, 244.\n\n Pitsligo, Lady (Marischall), 206, 243, 259.\n\n Pont, Mrs., 292.\n\n Porterfield of Duchal, 286.\n\n Prelacy, 363, 364, etc.\n\n Protesters, 334, 339, 344, 349, 356.\n\n Psalms, King James', 15.\n\n Puritans, 11, 59, 202, 262.\n\n J. P., 49.\n\n\n Q., 64, 65, 116.\n\n Queensberry, 205.\n\n\n Rait, Mr., 343, 355.\n\n Ralston, Lady (Mure), 336.\n\n Ramsay, Mr. Thomas, 357.\n\n Reid, Margaret, 248.\n\n Remonstrance, Western, 328, 351, 356, 359.\n\n Resolutioners, 330, 331, 336, 339.\n\n Ridge, Mr. John, 90.\n\n Rigg, William, of Athernie, 114, 256, 273;\n and notice, 226.\n\n Robertland, Lady, 282.\n\n Roberton, Gordon of, 72.\n\n Robinson, Mr. John, 309.\n\n Rodger, Mr. William, 88.\n\n Rogers, Dr. Daniel, 159.\n\n Ross, Bishop of, 6.\n\n Row, Rev. John, of Perth, 183.\n\n ---- John, of Carnock, 219.\n\n R. J. Rowallan, the Lady, 242.\n\n Rusco, 5 (note), 147, 207, 345.\n\n A. R., 185, 15.\n\n H. R., 185, 15.\n\n Rutherford's Brother George, 34, 73, 75,67, 98, 105, 107, 110,\n 112, 116, 136, 137, 151, 157, 158, 159, 205, 245, 267,\n 294, 340.\n\n ---- Brother James, 334 (note).\n\n ---- Children, 310.\n\n ---- Mother, 49.\n\n ---- Wife, 8, 11.\n\n\n Schoneir, James (_see_ Lady Kaskeberry), 108.\n\n Scott, Rev. John, of Oxnam, 349, 350, 352, 357.\n\n Sectaries, 329, 331, 333.\n\n Seekers, 308.\n\n Semple, Mr. John, of Carsphairn, 357.\n\n Senwick, 127.\n\n Separatists, 309.\n\n Service Book, 151, 161, 224, 262.\n\n Sharp, Mr. James, 48, 343.\n\n Sibbald, Dr. James. Life, xviii.\n\n Simpson, Mr. James, 346.\n\n Spain, 309.\n\n Spottiswoode, Archbishop, 11, 86.\n\n St. Andrews, 343, etc.\n\n ---- Bishop of, 48, 86.\n\n Stewart, Mr. Henry (Dublin), 291.\n\n ---- Sir James, Provost of Edinburgh, 325.\n\n Stirling, Mr. John, 91, 92, 357.\n\n ---- Peter, 296.\n\n Strafford, Earl of (Wentworth), 288.\n\n Stuart, John, of Ayr, 161, 162, 163, 189.\n\n ---- Mrs., 215.\n\n ---- Robert, 186.\n\n Sydserff, 52, 67, 86, 160.\n\n\n Taylor, Mrs., 310.\n\n Trail, R., 179, 357.\n\n A. T., 102, 284.\n\n\n Utrecht, 334 (note).\n\n Uxbridge Treaty, 308.\n\n\n Vivet, Christopher, 309.\n\n\n Watson, Mr., 214.\n\n Weir, Mr., 214.\n\n Welsh, John, 12.\n\n Westminster Assembly, 306, 308, 309.\n\n Whitepark, Gordon of, 143.\n\n Whiteside, Bell of, 218.\n\n Wigtown, 65, 67, 117, 191, 276.\n\n Wilson, Mr. James, 293.\n\n Wylie, Mr. Thomas, 306, 340, 355.\n\n\n C. Y., 92.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX OF SPECIAL SUBJECTS.\n\n(_The Reference is to the Number of the Letter._)\n\n\n Adversity, lessons of, 167.\n\n Affliction, 28, 29, 35, 37, 42, 76, 92, 94, 102, 112, 122, 167,\n 171, 186, 211, 223, 248, 265, 273, 282, 289, 298, 302,\n 312, 313, 315, 317, 323.\n\n Assurance, 106, 134, 190, 196, 286.\n\n ---- exhortation as to, 78, 91, 130.\n\n Atheism in the heart, 233, 234, 305.\n\n\n Backsliding, 225, 227, 234, 286.\n\n Believers, 56, 85, 201, 229, 291.\n\n Bereavements, 35, 37, 105.--_See_ Afflictions.\n\n Bible, 10.\n\n Blessings and Christ, difference between, 335.\n\n\n Cares, 252.--_See_ Trials.\n\n Catechism, 166, 260.\n\n Catechising, 228.\n\n Children of the godly, 1, 24, 34, 46, 82, 109, 111, 287.\n\n Children of the godly, loss of, 28, 59, 238, 287, 300, 326.\n\n Christ, in Himself, 7, 13, 19, 20, 69, 72, 82, 88, 94, 101, 105,\n 111, 112, 127, 140, 168, 169, 175, 186, 192, 202, 203, 209,\n 210, 211, 216, 226, 231, 285, 288, 291, 335.\n\n ---- Coming again, 16, 21, 26, 48, 50, 95, 130, 138, 170, 224,\n 231, 269, 291, 322.\n\n ---- interceding, 48.\n\n ---- in His liberality, 73, 74.\n\n ---- in His love, 20, 68, 70, 87, 112, 113, 120, 130, 143, 166,\n 170, 171, 187, 195, 212, 233, 254, 256, 257, 269,\n 270, 285, 295, 297.\n\n ---- in His sympathy, 2, 153, 177, 287, 288.\n\n ---- in His sufferings, 13, 176.\n\n ---- in our sufferings for Him, 59, 67, 95, 113, 116, 117, 148,\n 218, 290, 333.\n\n ---- in His ways, 71, 73, 74, 89, 99, 125, 131, 146, 189, 194,\n 222, 256, 326, 333, 351.\n\n ---- our conformity to Him, 11.\n\n Christ's cause, 78, 115, 245, 332.\n\n Christian walk, direction for, 159, 264, 269.\n\n Church, 26, 38, 41, 45, 50, 97, 276.\n\n ---- visible, members of, 364.\n\n Communion with Christ, 7, etc.\n\n ---- seasons, 14, 18, 20, 26, 33, 44, 45, 91, 313.\n\n Complaints, 305.\n\n Conflict, 6, 46, 280.\n\n Conscience, 30, 39, 62, 66, 166.\n\n Consolations, 54, 63, 66, 80, 266, 310, 334.\n\n Conversion, 218.\n\n Convictions, 218, 225.\n\n Counsels.--_See_ Christian Walk.\n\n Courage, 329, 331.\n\n Crosses, 61, 62, 95, 116, 118, 119, 134, 143, 146, 148, 219,\n 240, 242, 246, 248, 257.\n\n\n Darkness, days of, 338, 342.\n\n Deadness, 319, 342, 344, 345, 353, 354.\n\n Death, 3, 39, 150, 195, 238, 311, 324, 357.\n\n Death of a Husband, 105, 222, 302, 312;\n Son-in-Law, 314;\n Wife, 315;\n Daughter, 2, 316;\n Mother, 321;\n Child, 4, 28, 35, 310;\n Son, 298, 310, 360;\n Friend, 299, 300.\n\n Dejections, 249.\n\n Desertions, 6, 100, 228, 234.\n\n Devil, 3, 32, 70, 90, 114, 115, 138, 243.\n\n Difficulties, 205, 248, 250.\n\n Diligence, 77, 121, 123, 141, 147, 173, 186, 198, 261, 280, 283, 289.\n\n Doubtings, 106, 181, 203, 293.\n\n Duty, 126.\n\n\n Earnest of the Spirit, 7.\n\n Earnestness about the soul, 123, 124, 132, 191, 200, 201, 261.\n\n Evidences.--_See_ Marks.\n\n Experience, 341, etc.\n\n\n Faith, 7, 19, 95, 178, 182, 229, 291, 294.\n\n Fear of man, 235, etc.\n\n Feeling, 293, 295.\n\n Formality, 87, 198, 218.\n\n Free-will, 69, 120, 254, 273, etc.\n\n Friends, 5, 30, 104.\n\n\n Glory, 19, 20.\n\n God, 342.--_See_ Christ.\n\n Grace, 85, 106, 192, 217, 219, 233, 254, 273, 277, 323, 324.\n\n\n Headship of Christ, 115, 215, 245, 278, 281, 337, 359, 363.\n\n Heaven (_see_ Christ), 24, 246, 247, 304.\n\n Holiness, 104, 215.\n\n Humility, 82, 230, 285, 342.\n\n\n Idolatry (in kneeling at communion), 91, 174, 179.\n\n Idols, 102, 133, 191, 280.\n\n\n Jews, restoration of, 14, 28, 50, 194, 235, 289, 295, 296.\n\n Justification, 170.\n\n\n Law, 230.\n\n Life rather than dying, 336.\n\n Long-suffering, 12, etc.\n\n Lord's Supper, 269.\n\n\n Marks of salvation, 172, 203, 235, 284, 293.\n\n Martyrdom, prospect of, 362.\n\n Ministry, his own, and others, 61, 180, 184, 188, 214, 225, 228, 286.\n\n\n Non-fundamental truths, 337.\n\n\n Offences, 229.\n\n Old man, 256.\n\n Ordinances, 11, 24.\n\n\n Patience, 13, 21, 138, 196, 336.\n\n Persecution, 291, etc.\n\n Praise, 102, 304.\n\n Prayer, 17, 29, 249, 263, 269, 293, 319.\n\n ---- meeting, 263, 269, 286.\n\n ---- union for, 31, 171, 365.\n\n Prosperity, 30.\n\n Proverbs iii., 11.\n\n Providence, 11, 12, 89, 110, 194, 197, 234, 256, 260, 329, 331, 333.\n\n\n Reproach, 26, 238.\n\n Reprobates, 234.\n\n Resignation, 2, 3, 90;\n nine reasons for, 361.\n\n Revival, 354.\n\n\n Saints, 52.\n\n Salvation, 79, 82, 121, 135.--_See_ Diligence.\n\n ---- nature of, 133.\n\n Sanctification, 81, 170, 213, 215.\n\n Satan, 32.--_See_ Devil.\n\n Self, 12, 188, 189, 198, 284, 324.\n\n Self-deception, 353.\n\n Self-denial, 21, 284.\n\n Sickness, 3, 6, 26, 125, 313, 337, 345.\n\n Silence, 162, 163, 185, 197, 208, 294.\n\n Sin, 84, 276.\n\n ---- against the Holy Ghost, 227.\n\n ---- uses of, 197, 294.\n\n Sinners, awful words to, 225, 328, etc.\n\n Sloth, 198, 200, 260, 286.\n\n Soul's value, 79, 82.\n\n Sovereignty of God, 35, 298, 342, 347.\n\n Sparrows at Anwoth, 167, 168, 206.\n\n Submission, 10, 27, 47, 157, 183, 186, 255, 298, 300, 301.\n\n Suffering, design of, and blessings under, 113, 160, 161, 206,\n 265.--_See_ Trials, Afflictions.\n\n ---- words to a brother under, 329, 337, etc.\n\n\n Temptation, 41, 92, 157, 196, 293.\n\n ---- public, 51.\n\n Toleration, 349, 352.\n\n Trials, 3, 4, 12, 22, 23, 52, 61, 63, 71, 72, 74, 75, 80, 84,\n 131, 133, 138, 143, 160, 161, 166, 182, 206, 211, 230,\n 246, 257, 265, 266, 273, 276, 289, 291, 292, 320.\n\n\n Unbelief, 85, 153, 222, 239.\n\n Union among believers, 322, 336, 337, 355.\n\n\n Visible Church, 364.\n\n\n Warnings, 72, 173, 225, 227.\n\n Watchfulness, 30, 263, 353.\n\n World, 5, 42, 99, 100, 122, 139, 190, 192, 200, 223, 224, 229,\n 251, 255, 268, 272, 282.\n\n\n Youth, 16, 24, 41, 111, 142, 156, 164, 166, 173, 181, 186, 199,\n 202, 203, 232, 240, 287, 307.\n\n\n Zeal, 10, 233.\n\n\n\n\nGLOSSARY.\n\n[THE REFERENCES TO SPECIAL WORDS MAY SERVE THE PURPOSE OF A VERBAL\nINDEX.]\n\n(_The Figures refer to the Letters._)\n\n\n _Abjects_; persons in the lowest grade of society. 291.\n\n _Accidents_; incidental accompaniments, not essential. 293.\n\n _Account-book_; journal of translations. 122, 124.\n\n _Acquaint_; personally known.\n\n _Ado_; Adjective, in the sense of _a-stir_. 97, 99, 181.\n Noun; occupation,[533] trouble, concerns. 97, 99, 181, 184,\n 226, 250.\n\n _Affect_; to love, have affection to. 4, 67, 174, 274, etc.--So\n in Gal. iv. 17, etc.\n\n _After-supper_; latest part of the day, between supper and\n bed-time. 82.\n\n _Agent_; advocate. 86.\n\n _Airt_, or _airth_; quarter of the heavens, direction. 41,\n 167, 229, etc.\n\n _All_; \"to all power,\" to the utmost of my power.\n\n _Allow_; to give an allowance. 105, 242, 287.\n\n _Alone_; for only. 231, etc.\n\n _Alongst_; along, side by side with. 363.\n\n _Always_; although, notwithstanding.\n (Fr., _toute-fois_.) 249, 336, 337.\n\n _Anchor-tow_; the cable. 107.\n\n _And_, or _an_; the conjunction \"_if_.\" (Gr., \u1f10\u03b1\u03bd.)\n\n _Anent_; concerning, over-against. 110, 234, etc.\n\n _Annual_; yearly rent, quit-rent. 119.\n\n _Annuity_; quit-rent. 70.\n\n _As_; than. 306.\n --It is the German \"_als_,\" and is still a common word in the\n south of Scotland.\n\n _A-swoon_; in a swoon, or faint. 110, 186, 249.\n\n _Athort_; athwart, across. 243.\n\n _Aught_; to own. The Noun; possession, property. 247, 293.\n So used by Gavin Douglas.\n\n _Awsome_; fitted to overawe. 190, 219, 281, 317.\n\n\n _Back._ The Verb intr. means: \"to be unfortunate.\" 62.\n The Verb trans.: \"to help on.\" 128, 149, 200, 229, etc.\n In a sermon on Zech. xi. 9, \"The Godhead _backed_ him, and\n convoyed him to the bar of God's justice.\"\n\n _Back-bond_; a bond given after a former bond, declaring the\n person who gave the first bond free. 118, 265, 291.\n\n _Back-burden_; laid on a person's back. 288.\n\n _Back-entry_; back-door. 277.\n\n _Back-friend_; friend to back you or help. 199. So in a sermon\n on Rev. xix.\n\n _Back-over_; backward, quite in the other direction. 276.\n\n _Back-set_; a thrust back. 167.\n\n _Bailie_; magistrate. 138, etc.\n\n _Bairns_; children. 18, 20, 106, 293, etc.\n\n _Bairnteme_; family of children by one mother. 105, 106.\n Peden speaks of the Church \"with her bonny bairn-teme.\" In Norse,\n \"toma\" signifies to bring forth.\n\n _Balk_; beam for suspending scales. 225, 261.\n\n _Band_; a bond, engagement. 18.--\"_To take band with_\" is to unite,\n _q.d._, bind together. 46, 189, 292, 358.\n \"_Keep band_,\" the same. 42.\n\n _Bankful_; full like a river up to the top of its bank. 169, 257.\n\n _Bann_; to curse in the form of a minced oath. 147.\n\n _Beguile_, Noun; deception, trick, disappointment. 176, 205, 353.\n\n _Behind with one_; coming short of his due. 152, 157.\n\n _Being-place_; may be a misprint for \"_bigging_,\" _i.e._ building. 192.\n\n _Bemist_; involved in mist, like _benight_. 118, 169, 176.\n --See also \"_misted_.\" 59, 223.\n\n _Ben_; (_q.d._ being in), in the inner chamber, within. 20.\n\n _Beside_; apart from, contrary to. 266, 271.\n\n _Better cheap._--See _Cheap_.\n\n _Bidding_; command. \"_To sit a b._,\" to fail in prompt obedience. 43.\n\n _Bide_; stand, wait for, endure. 23, etc.\n --\"_Law-biding_,\" ready to meet the law, instead of fleeing. 106,\n 107, 222, 302.\n Knox's Work, vi. 593, etc.\n\n _Bide out_; hold out. 85.\n\n _Big_, Verb; to build.\n\n _Binding._ The phrase, \"to take binding,\" is the same as to \"take\n band.\" 20, 43.\n\n _Binks_; benches. 285.\n\n _Bird-mouthed_; mealy-mouthed. 181.\n In this phrase _bird_ is the _young_, or _chicken_; hence,\n the sense of softness.\n\n _Bite upon_; leave the mark of their teeth. 84.\n\n _Black-shame_; utter shame; so very dark. 130.\n So in 272 he writes, \"black nothing.\"\n\n _Blae_; pale, unsatisfactory hue. 262. As in the phrase, \"to\n look blue.\"\n\n _Blaflume_, or _blayflume_, or _bleflume_; a mere sham, air-bubble;\n from _blaw_, or blow. 225, 249.\n Same as \"blellum,\" one good for nothing.\n\n _Bleeze_; a sudden flaming up. 82.\n\n _Blench_; a piece of white money; a mere peppercorn or nominal rent.\n 254. (Fr., \"_blanc_.\")\n\n _Blenk_, or _blink_; a gleam, slight glance. 50, 57, etc.\n\n _Blind_; a cheat, disappointment. 212.\n\n _Block_; a bargain. The Verb; to bargain, plan, scheme. 20, 100,\n 106, 163, 200.\n\n _Bloom_; blossom. 90, 93, 184, 185, 193.\n\n _Bludder_, or _bluther_; to bleer, disfigure the face with weeping,\n or the like. 105, 138.\n\n _Board_; table. \"Boardhead,\" head of the dinner-table. 30, 104,\n 107, 177, 249.\n _Over the board_, 190.\n The seller, when he handed the goods to the buyer, \"over the\n board,\" drank good luck to him. And so this came to be a\n phrase for _formally giving up_ or renouncing.\n\n _Bode_; to offer with view to a bargain. 177, 186.\n It is allied in sense to \"_bait_.\" Sibbs uses \"_bawd_\" (on\n 2 Cor. i. 3).\n\n _Boist_, or _bost_, and sometimes written _boasts_; to threaten\n with a blow. 101, 211, 226, 291.\n It is connected with \"boisterous.\"\n\n _Borne in_; forcibly brought into the mind. 249.\n\n _Borrow and lend_; to have dealings with. 98, 109.\n\n _Borrows_; security in law, an Anglo-Saxon word.\n \"_To die in borrows_,\" to fail in security.--See _Burrows_.\n\n _Botch-house_; house spoilt and disfigured. 237.\n\n _Bouk_; from \"_bulk_;\" the corpse of man or beast. 141.\n\n _Bound-road_; boundary-line. 273, 286.\n\n _Brae_; declivity, slope of a hill. 69 141, etc.\n Above ordinary bounds.--\"From bank to brae.\" 147, etc.\n\n _Braird_; the sprouting up blade of young wheat, or the like. 259.\n\n _Brangle_; to shake into disorder, shake to and fro. 41, 196.\n\n _Brash_; a passing fit of sickness. 186.\n\n _Broadside_; openly, frankly. 81.\n --_Lay on the broadside_; lay flat. 24.\n\n _Brod_; same as _board_. 328, etc.\n\n _Brook_, or _bruke_; enjoy, possess. 140, 115, 249.\n\n _Browden_; eagerly desirous of, foolishly attached to. 77.\n\n _Browst_; a brewing, or what one brews for himself. 188. An\n ill-managed matter is \"an ill-browst.\"\n\n _Bud_; to bribe, try to win over by a gift. 63, 88, 277.\n\n _Bulks._--See _Bouk_.\n\n _Burrows_, or _borrows_; (Anglo-Saxon) a pledge or security.\n _Law-burrows_; security given not to injure the person or\n property of one. 61, 163, 184, 222.\n\n _Bushy-biel_ (see _Life_). In Scotch, _bield_ is a _shelter_.\n The name of Rutherford's house is said by some to have been\n \"_Bush o' Biel'_,\" the bush of shelter.\n In old Scott. Prov., we find, \"Every man bows to the _bush_\n he gets _bield_ frae.\"\n Yet it is more probable that the name is corrupted from _Bosco\n Beoll_, or _Boscobel_, \"the fair wood,\" like the celebrated\n spot in Shropshire where Charles I. hid in the oak.\n\n _Busk_; adorn, deck. 22, 42, 133, 143.\n\n _But_; only, only this and no more. 102, 188.\n\n _Buy a plea_; get up a charge, when properly there is no room for\n it. 74, 75, 161, 171, 284.\n\n \"_Buy up_;\" to bribe; or so to buy up as to set another aside.\n 261, 265.\n\n _By_, or _bye_; aside from, past, as in Acts xx. 16, \"sail by.\"\n 23, 105, 148, 160, 175.\n Also: Without, 96; beside, 359.--\"Lock-by,\" mislock, 218.\n\n _By-board_; side-table where the children sat. 77, 111, 197.\n\n _By-errand_; message done at leisure time, as being of little\n importance. 191, 199.\n\n _By-going_; passing by. 122.\n\n _By-gone_; passed away. 71, etc.\n\n _By-gones_; things forgotten. 62, 72.\n\n _By-good_, or _bye-good_; an object in addition to some other\n good. 195.\n\n _By-hand_; aside. 72, 276.\n\n _By-look_, side-look. 249.\n\n _By-past_; time that has elapsed, or recently, as a thing done. 190.\n\n _By-purse_; a side purse, away from the other. 284.\n\n _By-work_; work done at leisure time only. 191.\n\n\n _Canny_; prudent, cautious and skilful. Adv., _cannily_. 69.\n\n _Card_; chart or map. 69, 232.\n\n _Cast_; participle, _casten_: throw or fling. 324.\n --_Cast the balance_; turn the scale. 153.\n --\"_To cast at_;\" be sulky, quarrel with. 4, 23.\n --\"_To cast up_;\" to upbraid.\n --\"_To cast out with_;\" quarrel. 224, 254.\n --\"_Cast a knot_;\" tie so as not to slip. 122.\n\n _Cast_, a Noun; lot, fate. \"_Common cast_;\" a providence occurs\n often in Brown of Wamphray. 185, 265.\n\n _Casualty_; emoluments beyond the stated yearly dues paid to\n the superior. 240, 253.\n\n _Cauldrife_; susceptible of cold; lukewarm. 198.\n\n _Caums_; a mould. 282.\n --_Moulds_ being often made of pipe-clay, it became customary\n to call pipe-clay \"caum-stone.\"\n Baillie in his \"Letters\" spells it \"caulms.\"\n In Gaelic, _cuma_ means a _pattern_, or shape.\n\n _Causey_ (Fr., _chaus\u00e9e_); the public street. \"To keep the crown\n of the causey\" is to make bold appearance in the public\n street in open day. 52, 59, 69, 181.\n The streets in those days were raised in the middle, and had\n gullies on either side. The French had the phrase, \"Tenir\n le haut du pav\u00e9.\" See \"Notes and Queries,\" March 29, 1873.\n\n _Caution_; security, surety. 2, 19, etc.\n --Adj., _Cautionary_. 187. And as Noun, suretyship. 114.\n\n _Challenge_; charge, upbraiding, accusation. 2, 10, etc.\n\n _Cheap_ is connected with \"chapman;\" from the old English \"_chap_,\"\n a bargain. The phrase \"Better cheap.\" 216, 293.\n --And so \"_Good cheap_,\" properly \"_a good bargain_.\"\n\n _Chirurgeon_; surgeon. 293, 295. Greek and Latin word.\n\n _Clap_; something done unexpectedly. \"_In a clap_;\" like thunder\n suddenly heard. 264.\n\n _Clay_; earth, earthenware. 291, etc.\n --\"Clay-banks,\" 300. So \"Clay-heavens,\" 294;\n \"_clay-pawns_,\" 300, bodies of dust.\n\n _Cleck_; to hatch a brood, swarm. 281.\n\n _Clipped_; coin not of full weight. 81.\n\n _Clog_; to adhere; form an encumbrance. 249.\n --Used in old English.\n\n _Close_, a Noun; the lane or porch leading into the house. 157.\n\n _Close_, Adv.; \"_close off_,\" completely. 50, 82 (like the phrase\n close-shaven), 88.\n\n _Closet-ward_; guard-room. 254.\n\n _Coast_; to sail near land, sail from one port to another. 301.\n\n _Coastful_; full to the utmost shore. 201.\n\n _Cog_; to fix the teeth of a wheel, and so stop its motion; put on\n a drag. 51, 194, 229.\n\n _Coldlike_; like a fire going out; hope abating. 179.\n\n _Coldrife_, 198.\n --See _Cauldrife_. \"How coldrife and indifferent are ye!\" (Sermon\n on Isa. xlix. 1-4). Chilly, heartless.\n\n _Common_; alluding to persons sharing at a _common_ table in\n College. As this was a privilege enjoyed by special favour,\n \"_To be in one's common_\" is to be indebted to, under\n obligation to. 42, 52, 157, 252, etc.\n --\"_To quit commons_\" (214); to be freed from obligation by\n requiting the person.\n In 275 and 285, \"_It is ill my common_\" seems to mean, It\n ill becomes me, having no right.\n\n _Communion_; the dispensing of the Lord's Supper. 14, 20, 25, etc.\n\n _Companionry_; companionship. 147, 280.\n --The termination \"ry\" marks plurality in old English.\n\n _Compear_; appear judicially, at the bar. 3, etc.\n\n _Compearance_; the act of appearing in court in obedience to a\n citation.\n\n _Compose_; compromise. 357.\n --_Composition_, in same sense.\n\n _Comprize_; to arrest by a writ; attach by a legal process.\n 130, 160, 171.\n Seize for debt. 184, 206, etc.\n\n _Concional._ 179.--See _note_.\n\n _Concredit_; entrust. 260. Used often by Dickson on Job.\n\n _Conquest_; written also _conquess_; acquisition, made not by\n inheritance but by purchase and exertion. 2, 54, 79, 182,\n 190, 191.\n --\"The young heir knows not how hard the conquest was to his\n poor father\" (Sermon at Anwoth on Zech. xi. 9).\n\n _Conscionable_; according to conscience, reasonable, just. 365.\n\n _Considerable_; worthy of consideration or regard. 321, 331.\n\n _Construct_; for construe. 361, etc.\n\n _Contestation_; strife. 189.\n\n _Contrair_; adversary, contrary to. 6.\n\n _Convoy_; to accompany a friend on the way. 210, 230, 231.\n\n _Couchers_; cowards; or rather lazy fellows. Fr., _coucher_, to\n lie down. 251.\n\n _Count_; to lay the count. 289. To settle, balance.\n\n _Country_, in opposition to city; common, in contrast to fine.\n 153, 353.\n\n _Coup_; to upset, overturn. 120.\n\n _Court._ \"_No great court_;\" no influence. 78, 141, 148, 151,\n 158, 183, etc.\n --\"_To be in court_,\" in favour. See \"Sermons.\"\n\n _Cow_; to cut out, eat up, carve (Fr., _couper_). 170, 178.\n\n _Cripple_; halting. 258.\n\n _Crook_; to walk crookedly, lamely; halt. 233, 299.\n\n _Cry down_; depreciate, cause to lose good name. 280.\n --As a Noun. 289.\n --\"_Cry_,\" proclamation, 289.\n\n _Cuff_; a blow with the hand. 130.\n\n _Cumber_; trouble. 196.--Adj., \"cumbersome.\" 292.\n\n\n _Daft_; foolish, crazy. 93, 285.--\"A daft young heir\" (Sermon\n on Zech. xi. 9).\n\n _Dainty_; that has in it something fine, 301.\n\n _Dawted_; made a favourite, petted. 89, 98, 166.\n --\"_Dawted Davie_;\" a petted child. 110.\n --\"Better be God's sons than the world's dawties\" (Sermon\n on Isa. xlix. 1).\n\n _Daylight_; note in 315.\n\n _Dead_; in the expression, \"_Dead-sweer_,\" thoroughly lazy; as\n incapable of moving as one dead. 105.\n\n _Deaf nuts_; no kernel in them. 138.\n\n _Dear_; where provision is sold at a high price. 84.\n\n _Deave_, from _deaf_; to make deaf; distract. 286.\n\n _Decore_; to adorn. 42.--(Lat., _decorus_.)\n\n _Decourt_; to discard, send out of court. 188, 197, 284.\n\n _Decreet_; a judicial sentence. 3, 12, 132, etc.\n\n _Depone_; state as a witness. 180.\n\n _Depursement_; same as disbursement. 59.\n --_Q.d._, taking out of the purse, or _bourse_ (291).\n\n _Dew_; a Verb; to moisten. 333.\n\n _Din_; noise. 38, 59, 100, 155, 249, 282, 325.\n\n _Ding_; knock in with violence. 248.\n\n _Dint_; the stroke, or force. 332.\n --Zachary Boyd speaks of \"The dint of God's judgments.\"\n\n _Dispone_; make over. 19, 261.\n\n _Disrespective_; disrespectful. 300.\n --See _Respective_.\n\n _Ditty_, or _Dittay_; indictment, ground of accusation. 12,\n 44, 180, 233.\n\n _Do._ \"_To do for_;\" to act for; make effort for; accomplish\n a thing. 93, 116, 135, 162, 206, 228, 244.--See Ps. cix. 21.\n\n _Dool-like_; in mourning guise. 268.\n --_Dool_; grief; \"Dolor.\" 272.\n\n _Doomster_; pronouncer of sentence. 229.\n\n _Dorts_; the sulks, offence taken. 23, 70, 89.\n\n _Double_; a duplicate. 353.\n\n _Dow_; to be able; can. 23, 260, etc.\n --_Dought_ is the past tense. Hogg's \"Queen's Wake\" uses the\n perf.: \"She turned away and _dought_ luck nae mair.\" So\n Letter 74, \"dought.\"\n\n _Draff-poke_; the beggar's bag, for carrying anything put in.\n 249.\n --_Draff_; a useless thing; \"draught,\" Matt. xv. 17. \"Corruption\n like a draff-poke at my heels\" (Eliz. West).\n\n _Draught_; plans drawn out and sketched. 14.\n\n _Draw_; in the sense of \"_remove_;\" table drawn. 146.\n In Lady Montague's Letters, \"drawing-room, or _withdrawing_\n room, as they now say.\"\n\n _Draw by_; draw aside. 11.\n\n _Draw-knot_; a slip-knot, easily loosened. 51.\n\n _Dreary_; sad. 87.\n\n _Drink over the board_; renounce.\n\n _Drink-silver_; gift, or token of regard for kindness shown\n or service done,\n --a gift to servants. 119.\n --_Drink-money_, 277; the same.\n\n _Drouthy_; from \"drought;\" very dry. 256.\n\n _Drumbled_; made muddy; troubled water. 153.\n\n _Dry_; reserved, backward. 181, 182, 187, 206, etc.\n\n _Dumps_; bad humour. 187.\n\n _Dwine_; to pine away. 85, 169, etc.\n\n _Dyke_; a wall. 194, 276, etc.\n\n _Dyvour_; a debtor; sometimes a bankrupt\n --Fr., \"_Devoir_.\"\n\n\n _Earnest_; the foretaste. 179.\n\n _Ease-room_; a room for pleasure or repose. 5, 247, 311.\n\n _Ebb_, Adj.; shallow, like tide going back. 94, 120, etc.\n --_Ebbness._ 175.\n\n _Edge by_; push aside. 225.\n\n _Empawn_; lay down as pledge. 229, 268.\n\n _Enact_; to decree. 291.\n\n \"_End_;\" thrice on end. 324.\n --Thrice in succession.\n\n _Engyne_, or _ingyne_; Latin, _Ingenium_, disposition, ability,\n policy. 84, 94.\n --Power of mind. 64.\n\n _Entire_; no division or half-heartedness. 119, 280.\n\n _Errand_; business. 210, 250.--\"Ride his errands,\" 249, go on\n with his work.\n\n _Evangel_; good news generally. 224.\n\n _Even_; to put down one as capable of a thing; propose as fit\n for a person, 70.\n --The phrase, \"_Be even with_;\" have accounts settled, be\n quits. 113, 114.\n\n _Evil-worthy_; unworthy, ill-worth. 336.\n\n _Expone_; explain the sense. 165.\n\n _Eye_, Verb; to look for. 276.\n\n _Eye-sweet_; pleasant to the eye. 213, 277.\n\n\n _Fail_, or _feal_; turf. 194.\n\n _Fain_; glad. \"_Faintes_,\" most gladly.\n \"_Fain not twice_\" is glad to remain settled; not caring\n to rise after sitting down.\n \"Fain have taken effect,\" 16; desire to have carried through.\n\n _Fair_; a market. 172.\n\n _Fair_; Adj. in the phrase, \"_fair fire_,\" is commonly in Scotland\n \"a fair lowe,\" _i.e._ all a flame together. 204.\n --\"_Fair fall you_,\" good betide. 337.\n\n _Faird_, or _fard_; to paint (_q.d._ make _fair_), embellish,\n disguise. 82, 83, 88, 191.\n\n _Fair-outsided_. 88.\n --Applied to the world that is fair only on the outside.\n\n _Fall about_; search about. 21.\n --\"_Fall by_;\" be lost. 252, 291.\n --\"_Fall to_;\" engage in. 72, 288.\n --\"_Fall off_;\" forsake. 246.\n\n _Far_ \"The _far end_,\" the final issue. 184.\n\n _Fard_; paint, fine colouring. 82, 83.\n\n _Farm-room_; a rented room, like a tenant's firm.\n\n _Fash_ and _fashery_; trouble by importunity and about little\n things. 145, 196, 249, etc.\n\n _Fast_; firm. 74, 250.\n\n _Feared_; alarmed, timid. 293.\n\n _Feckless_; worthless, useless, pithless. 23, 24, etc.\n --Baxter in his \"Saints' Rest\" uses it.\n\n _Fenced_; guarded; also constituted; a law term, used of opening\n a Court and proclaiming the authority by which the Court\n was held and the object of it. 77, 82, 112, 146, 161.\n\n _Fend_; provide for, take care of. 87, 114, 129, etc. So Maxton\n on Ps. cxix. cxlv.\n\n _Fetch_; to make for a place. 83, 106, 184, 240, 241, 284.\n\n _Feu-duty_; yearly rent for ground on which a house is built. 254.\n\n _Find_; to feel, or find out. 155, 169, 192, 334.\n\n _Fire-flaught_; a flake of fire, a flash of lightning. 104.\n --In Row's \"Hist. of Scot.,\" \"extraordinary thunder and\n fire-flaught,\" p. 333.\n\n _Flitting_; removing furniture and goods to another place.\n 250, 277. (It is A.S.)\n\n _Flourish_; to blossom. 50.\n\n _Flyte_; to scold or chide. 189.\n --\"Flyting free;\" they have nothing to say against him. 181.\n\n _Foot._ The phrase, \"_hold the foot to it_,\" go on in the march.\n 249.\n\n _Foot-mantle_; a riding habit reaching to the feet. 268.\n --In a sermon on Zech. xi. 9, \"Gold, silks, velvets, and\n foot-mantles, and high horses.\"\n\n _For_; notwithstanding. 307.\n\n _Forcasten_; cast away, neglected. 167, 177, 285.\n\n _Fore_; surplus; the perquisite given over and above; something\n still remaining. 70, 80, 158.\n\n _Foregainst_; opposite. 289.\n\n _Forfeit_; declare to be forfeited. 206.\n\n _Forlorn_; prodigal. 167, 228, 285.\n --\"The lost forlorn son\" is the prodigal. (So in German.)\n\n _Forthcoming_; ready to come forward and speak. 250.\n\n _Four-hours_; the afternoon meal, taken four hours after the\n forenoon's. 94, 110, 118, 285.\n\n _Fourteen Prelates_; the number of Bishops in Scotland under\n Charles II.\n\n _Frame_; to fit or set (Judg. xii. 6; Hos. v. 4), set in a\n proper position; turn out, or succeed. 32, 41, 187,\n 232, 254, 287.\n\n _Fraught_; the same as _freight_. 84, 153, 195, 217.\n --\"Fraught-free;\" no fare to pay. 265.\n\n _Freeholding_; lands held for life. 203.\n\n _Free-ward_; liberty. 269.\n\n _Free-warders_; prisoners who have right to go free. 265.\n\n _Frem_, A. S., \"_fremd_;\" hence written \"_fremd_\" or\n \"_fremmyt_;\" strange, foreign, distant. 69, 165.\n\n _Friend-sted_; to befriend. 188, 275.\n\n _Frith_; strait; sea. 84.\n\n _Fryst_, or _frist_; to postpone possession or action,--the\n opposite of _tryst_. 176, 205, etc.\n Give credit to. 105.\n Put off a demand. 20.\n\n _Fyle_; to defile, _find guilt_. 212.\n\n\n _Gaddy_; fond of gadding about. 270.\n\n _Gardies_, or _gardess_; arms. 18.--It is\n the Gaelic word \"_gairdean_,\" an arm. In Row's \"Life of Blair\"\n (p. 154), \"Mrs. Hamilton came up to Traquair, and fest-grip\n his _gardie_.\"\n\n _Gate_; road, way, manner of doing. 29, 38, etc.\n --The phrase, \"_start to the gate_,\" begin early, soon on the\n road. 136, 148, 186, 294.\n\n _Gawd_; trick, bad custom. 240.\n --Used by Gawin Douglas and by Chaucer for a freak, and said to be\n from Fr., \"_gaudir_,\" to be merry.\n\n _Gear_; goods, substance, money. 120.\n\n _General_; not at all familiar. 205.\n \"In fair generals.\" 93.\n Not coming to close quarters.\n\n _Gifted_; bestowed as a favour. 353, 359.\n --Often so used in his \"Covenant of Life Opened.\" Make a\n present of.\n\n _Glaiked_, or _glaiket_; giddy, light. 284.\n\n _Glance_; bright as glowing metal. So in his sermon on Zech.\n xiii. 7. 287, 295.\n\n _Glister_; glitter, shine bright. 51.\n --See Luke ix. 21.\n\n _Gloom_; frown, sullen look. Verb and Noun. 187, 266, etc.\n --\"The sad and glooming cross\" (\"Christ Dying\").\n\n _Goodman_, or _gudeman_; one who holds his house or lands from a\n superior; unlike _laird_, who owns no superior but the king.\n 16, 18, etc.\n --_Goodwife_. 34.--See Luke xii. 39.\n\n _Good cheap_; very cheap, gratuitous.\n But probably _cheap_ is here a Noun, \"_chap_,\" equivalent to\n \"_bargain_.\" 104, 105, 121, 186, 215, 245, 249.\n --\"_Better cheap_.\" 216.\n --See _Cheap_.\n\n _Gone_; ruined, hopeless. 183.\n\n _Gowk_; a simpleton.\n --\"_Gowket_,\" acting like a simpleton, or put in a foolish\n position. 151, 232, 256.\n\n _Grace_; to give favour and honour to a person, to adorn; sometimes\n to get mercy. 12, 29, 133, 237, 275.\n\n _Grammercy_; thanks. 249.\n --French, \"grand-merci.\"\n\n _Green_; to long after. 85, 160, 213, 226, etc.\n\n _Grip_; a grasp, firm hold, clasp. 22, 24, etc.\n --\"Grips,\" close quarters, fight. 294.\n\n _Ground_; bottom. 85, 99, 203, 287.\n Out at the ground. 287.\n --\"_Ground-stone_;\" foundation-stone; from the very foundation.\n 74, 82, 248.\n --\"_Grounds_;\" dregs of a cup. 251.\n\n _Guide_; to manage or to make use of. 256, 275.\n\n _Guise_; manner, way (French). 101, 164, 172.\n --Bunyan, in his History of Badman: \"One _guise_ for abroad,\n another for home.\"\n\n _Gutters_; pools of dirty water, marks made by the tears that\n soil the face. 138, 194.\n\n\n _Hable_; able. Fr., _habile_. 325.\n --Rollock (Lect. li.), \"hability and strength.\" Trappe on Rom.\n vi. 22, \"Our hability for obedience.\"\n\n _Halfer_; an equal sharer. 200, 245, 249.\n --Written \"_halver_\" also.\n\n _Half-hungered_; left in a hungry state. 26.\n\n _Half-marrow_; a married partner. 183, 270.\n\n _Half-tiner_; half-loser. 182.\n\n _Hall_; the \"_hall-house_,\" or _ha-house_, the mansion-house. So\n in sermon on John xx. 13, 285.\n --_Hall-binks_; seats of honour.\n\n _Handfast_; to join hands in betrothing, to affiance. 143, 173, 225.\n\n _Handgrips_; grasping close. 87, 106.\n\n _Handsel_; to use for the first time. 239.\n\n _Handwrite_; written with one's own hand. 270.\n\n _Hard._\n --See _Heads_.\n\n _Hardly_; with difficulty. 232.\n\n _Haunt up_; be up frequently in his company. 84.\n --Fullerton of Earlton, in his \"Turtle Dove,\" speaks of Christ and\n His saints; \"with whom espoused now He _haunts_ in heavens\n of bliss.\"\n\n _Hause_; to clasp or close with. 69.\n --Gawin Douglas uses it for \"embrace;\" from \"hals,\" the neck or\n throat.\n\n _Have_; to \"_have over_,\" to let alone, be done with. 87, 106.\n\n _Head of Wit_; a wiseacre, one who affects to have much wisdom.\n 230, 234.\n --\"_Hard-heads_;\" the name of a small coin. 270.\n --Knox's \"History,\" etc. See note in Letter 270.\n\n _Heap-mete_; heaped up measure, full measure. 249.\n\n _Hear_; to attend, to treat, serve. 195.\n\n _Heartsome_; happy, cheerful. 32, 51, 167.\n --\"Clear, bright, and heartsome morning\" (Sermon on Zech. xi. 9).\n So heartful. 99.\n\n _Heaven-name_; name he bears in heaven. 301.\n\n _Hell-hot_; hot as hell. 357.\n\n _Hereaway_; in this quarter. 50, 286, 336, etc. In this present\n life, in this world.\n\n _Herry_; cruelly spoil, or rob. 52.\n\n _Hesp_; hank or hasp of yarn. 196.\n\n _Hide_; the skin. 198.\n --In \"Christ Dying,\" he speaks of the skin or hide of the\n visible hearers.\n\n _Hing_; for hang. 104, 249.\n\n _Ho_; cessation, to cause to stop. 167.\n\n _Hold-draw_; struggle with. 137.\n\n _Holding_; tenure. 284. So in sermon on Rev. xix.\n\n _Hole_ (sometimes spelt \"holl\"); to make a hole, to pierce, dig\n out. 103, 177, 196.\n --\"_Holey_,\" or \"_holie_;\" full of holes. 83, 196, 258.\n\n _Homely_; familiar, at home with one. 59, 105, 130, etc.\n\n _Home over_; homewards. 28, 205, 211, etc.\n\n _Homeward_; in its own favour. 163.\n\n _Honesty_; kindly dealing. 69-76.\n\n _Hook_; sickle, reaping-hook. 16, 21, 224, etc.\n \"Mowers with the scythe and hook.\" Sermon at Kirkmabreck, 1630.\n\n _Hope_; consider. 204, 295.\n\n _Horning_; a legal demand for payment of a debt under threat of\n imprisonment and being proclaimed rebels. It used to be\n proclaimed by sound of horn in the market-place. 130.\n\n _Horologue_; a watch. From the Greek.\n --An old tower at Montrose bore the name of \"The Horologue\n Tower.\" 238, 289.\n Rutherford in a sermon before the House of Lords speaks of\n \"Time's horologue, set agoing by God at the Creation.\"\n\n _House_; \"take up his house.\" 250.\n Enter on housekeeping.\n\n _Howbeit_; although.\n --See our Version of the Bible.\n\n _Huge_; vast, very great. 189, 288, etc.\n --\"I am _hugely_ pleased with your letter,\" says Waterland, in\n a letter to T. Boston (App. to Life). In Forbes, on Rev.\n xix., \"huge matter of God's praise.\" In Rutherford's\n Treatise on Prayer, \"heaven is a huge thing,\" p. 97.\n 305.\n\n _Hungredly_; on spare diet. 282.\n\n _Hungry of heart_; heart-hungered. 203.\n\n\n _If_; but that. 342.--_O if._ 206.\n\n _Ill_; in the phrase, \"_Ill to please_,\" difficult to please. 131.\n\n _Ill-flitten_; misplaced. 106. _Q.d._ removed to a wrong place.\n\n _Ill-friended_; without friends. 96.\n --Zachary Boyd uses this word in \"Last Battle,\" p. 410.\n\n _Ill-learned_; taught evil. 276.\n\n _Ill-ravelled_; sadly entangled. 196.\n\n _Ill-waled_; ill-selected. 326.\n\n _Ill-washen_; dirty. 227, etc.\n\n _Improbation_; action to prove forgery, or that the person had no\n right to what he claimed. 178.\n\n _Incontinently_; immediately, as if unable to restrain himself. 241.\n\n _Indent_ Its common English sense occurs in Letter 288, to set in\n corresponding notches.\n But also to sign a paper containing agreement to certain\n articles. 173.\n --Zachary Boyd's \"Samson\" has, \"As I indented, so I'll undertake.\"\n\n _Ingyne._ 64.\n --See _Engyne_.\n\n _Inhibit_; forbid.\n\n _Instant_; earnest. 16.\n\n _Instruct of_; instruct concerning. 225.\n\n _Instruments, to take_; to take documents from the hand of the\n proper party by way of attestation. 107, 110, 144, etc.\n\n _Interdict_; forbid by positive injunction to do or use a thing\n for a time, to enter on possession.\n\n _Into_; for in. 336.\n --Rollock (Lect. xlvii.): \"When the Spirit is wrestling _into\n us_.\"\n\n _Intromit_; intermeddle, a law phrase; handle. 82, 105.\n\n _In-under_; close under. 260.\n\n _Irresponsal_; not able to pay, insolvent. 104, 204.\n\n\n _Jealousy_; suspicion. So the Adjective. 74, 144, 148, 152, etc.\n\n _Jouk_; to bend down, in order to escape a storm or a stroke; to\n dissemble, compromise. 16, 181, 284.\n\n\n _Kep_; intercept, catch when falling. 165.\n\n _Kind_; nature. 276.\n --\"Man doth _his kind_ in committing evil,\" says Trappe on Gen.\n vii. 21; that is, does what his nature leads to.\n\n _Kindly_; what our kindred give us right to. 261. Also according\n to nature; natural. 66, 98, 102, 254.\n --In \"Christ Dying\" (p. 30) we find, \"The life of Christ had\n infirmities _kindly_ to it.\"\n\n _Kingly._ 55, 61, 281, 363; and used by him on his deathbed.\n\n _Kinless_; who have no kindred. 250.\n\n _Knot_; difficulty to be solved. 312.\n --Rollock (Lect. li.) speaks of \"getting office with a knot\"\n --a difficulty accompanying it.\n\n _Knottiness_; full of knots. 287.\n\n\n _Lair_; a bog. 110. \"To lair\" is to stick in the mire.\n\n _Laird._--See _Goodman_.\n\n _Lap_; the loose part or fold of a garment. 78.\n\n _Laureation_; obtaining or conferring academic honours. 274.\n\n _Law-biding._ 106, 231, 299.--See _Bide_.\n\n _Law-burrows_; giving a pledge not to injure.\n --See _Burrows_. 61, 66, 163, 184, 275, etc.\n\n _Lea_; an unploughed part of a field, where the grass grows. 75,\n 234.\n\n _Lead._ In the phrase, \"_Lead stones to a wall_;\" convey them,\n _q.d._ by leading the horse and cart. 24.\n\n _Leal_; honest, genuine, loyal. 182, 225.\n\n _Learn_; in the sense of \"to teach.\" 175, 199, 222.--(German,\n \"_lehren_.\")\n\n _Leave_; dismissal from a situation. 277, 311.\n\n _Leavings_; the overplus of the feast.\n\n _Leck_; a leak. 130.\n --In Row's \"History\" (398) we find, \"The ship being _leck_.\"\n\n _Leel-come_; what has been got in an honest way. 182.\n\n _Lee-side_; sheltered side. 115.\n\n _Leme_; earthen; our \"_loam_.\" Lat., \"_limus_.\" 182.\n --In Row's \"Hist.\" (260), \"A leme pig\" is an _earthen jug_.\n Rutherford in a sermon on Dan. vi. 26 speaks of the\n potter making a \"leme vessel.\"\n\n _Let_; to hinder.\n --\"_To let in_,\" to admit. To let on. 182. To seem to notice.\n\n _Lift_; part of a load. 298.\n\n _Lightly_, a Verb; to trifle with. 201, 260, 272. Knox and Rollock\n use this word.\n\n _Like_; same as _likely_; probable. 21, 267, 384.\n --\"_The like of_;\" such as. 92, 158, 275, 284, 336.\n\n _Lippen_; to trust, entrust. 69, 182, 260.\n\n _Lith_; a joint.\n --\"The shoulder-blade _out of lith_.\" Sermon, 1634. The A.S. word\n for the joints of the body. 86, 167.\n\n _Lone_; one's self, alone. 49, 162, 192, etc.\n\n _Long._ \"Think long;\" to weary for. 14, 93, etc.\n\n _Loof_; the palm of the hand.\n --Gaelic, \"_lambh_.\" 77, 122.\n\n _Look by_; neglect, look aside. 23.\n\n _Loun_; a rogue, worthless fellow; _q.d._ low one. 116, 160, 232,\n 241.\n\n _Love-blinks_; love-glances.\n\n _Low_; of low stature. 236.\n\n _Lucks-head_; chance of winning, prospect of success. 178, 182.\n Brown of Wamphray, p. 150, \"Swan-Song.\"\n\n _Lust_; to desire a thing. 226, 276.\n\n _Lustred_; made to shine, 89, 117, 191.\n --Noun, 75, 260, 289, 295, 297, 298. A fair, shining look.\n\n\n _Mail_; rent, tax.\n --\"_Mail free_;\" rent free. 29, 50, 284, 321.\n\n _Mailing_; sometimes written \"_mealing_;\" a farm, for which rent\n is paid. 29, 50.\n\n _Make_; to mould, turn to use. 145.\n\n _Make on_; to make up by putting the fuel in order. 32.\n\n _Make up with._ 247. Become friends with.\n\n _Man_, a Verb; \"to man the house,\" act as the goodman of the\n house, attending to visitors, etc. 142.\n\n _March-boundary_; limit. 82, etc.\n --\"March-stones;\" 278.\n In his Treatise on Prayer, he calls Christ, as God-man, \"the\n common march-stone.\"\n\n _Market-sweet_ (like \"eye-sweet\"); pleasing to the frequenters of\n the market; suitable for sale, and so set up in open market.\n 213, 216, 237.\n\n _Marrow_; a match, companion. 26, 133, 148, etc.\n --\"Marrowless\" occurs, 180.\n Unequalled; peerless.\n\n _Mask_; to infuse. 287.\n\n _Masterless_; owned of no one. 120.\n\n _Mealing._\n --See _Mailing_. 50.\n\n _Mean_; to consider, reckon. 86, 250.\n Noun; resource, 257.\n\n _Meikle_; much. \"Meikle world's good,\" as much as having a world's\n good things. 165, 180, 225.\n\n _Melancholious_; melancholy. 293.\n\n _Mends_; reparation of a wrong. 14.\n --\"_To the mends_;\" to boot, besides, add to that.\n\n _Midses_; means, instrumentality. 190, 317.\n\n _Mid-way_; courses. 190.--Half and half, undecided.\n\n _Minch_; cut into small pieces. 127.\n\n _Mind_; remember, take care to speak of. 333, 334, 342.\n\n _Mint_; to attempt, intend at doing, essay. 29, 92, 188, etc.\n\n _Mired_; plunged into mire, soiled. 174.\n\n _Misbelief_; wrong belief. 112, 143.\n\n _Miscall_; give wrong names to. 322, etc.\n\n _Misconstruct_; misconstrue. 285.\n\n _Miscount_; erroneous calculation. 133.\n\n _Misken_; to misunderstand, overlook, to treat as if unknown. 89,\n 99, 102, 148, 181, etc.\n\n _Misleard_; indiscreet, rude; _q.d. mislearned_. 112, 181.\n\n _Mismannered_; unmannerly. 106.\n\n _Misnurtured_; ill-disciplined, ill-trained. 181, 234.\n\n _Missive_; a letter empowering the person to act. 142.\n\n _Misted._\n --See _Bemisted_. 118, 146.\n Like one in a mist.\n\n _Moderate_, a Verb; to rule over a meeting. 203.\n --An ecclesiastical phrase from the Latin.\n\n _Moneys_; price. 281.\n\n _Moyen_; means; interest; influence. 59, 116, 119, etc.\n\n _Muir-ground_; waste land covered with heath. 157, 298.\n\n\n _Naughty_; vile, worthless. 77, 81, etc.\n --Bunyan calls Badman, \"a man left to himself, a _naughty_ man.\"\n\n _Nay-say_; denial. 80, 231.\n --In a sermon on Zech. xiii. 7: \"Christ gave the devil three\n nay-says.\"\n\n _Near-hand_; near at hand. 29, 79, 191, etc.\n\n _Need-force_; by sheer necessity; or, by hook or crook. 71, 179,\n 205, etc.\n Under plea of necessity.\n\n _Nether_; the lower; not high enough. 245.\n\n _Newings_; novelties; _q.d. new things_. 29.\n\n _Nice_; chary, capricious, ill to please. 81, 226.\n\n _Nick_; mark, notch, point. 70, 249, etc.\n\n _Niffer_; exchange, barter. 140, etc.\n\n _Nigh-hand_; near. 183, 347.\n\n _Night-glass_; hour-glass. 281.\n\n _Non-entry_; money, or rents, due to the superior by an heir on\n coming to his property; or the state of one who is heir,\n but has not yet got the legal investiture. 222, 256.\n\n _Nor_; than. 144, 307.\n\n _Noughty_; useless, worthless, nothing in it. 175, 200, 225.\n --Sibbs, \"Others that are nought\" (on 2 Cor. i. 4).\n\n _Nurture_; discipline. 70, 98, 206.\n --The Verb, to use discipline. 299.\n\n\n _Odds_; difference. 294.\n --Also _odd_; any leisure time.\n\n _Of._ The use of the preposition \"of\" is common and peculiar to the\n time in such phrases as \"Dear of a drink of water;\" at the\n price of. 148.\n --\"Content of.\" 45.\n --\"Understood of.\" 51.\n --Is it from the French\n\n \"de?\" Old Chaucer sings: \"And all the orient laugheth of delight\"\n (Knight's Tale).\n\n _Off-fallings_; droppings, remnants, 70, 169, 285. John Livingstone\n writes:\n \"Compared with Christ Himself, what is all this but the\n _off-fallings_.\"\n\n _Oh if._ 180, 204, etc.\n --\"_Oh if_,\" 152.\n What would you say if.\n\n _Oh that!_ in the sense of _Alas_! 189.\n So \"_Oh for_.\" 97.\n\n _Old-dated_; antiquated, 320.\n\n _Once_; one time or other, sooner or later. 62, 112, 143, 152,\n 170, 217, 255, 270, 330.\n Knox uses it often thus. Also, once for all; altogether.\n\n _Once-errand_; on the sole business. 210, 301.\n\n _Opposites_; opponents. 231.\n\n _Or._\n --See _Then_.\n\n _Order_; take order is an old English phrase for \"take measures.\"\n 18.\n\n _Ordinarily_; usually. 144.\n\n _Other_; ought else. 68, 77.\n --_Others_; each other. 82.\n\n _Out_, a Noun; laying out, exhibiting for sale. 277.\n\n _Outcast_; a contention, quarrel. 239, 274, 275.\n --In a sermon on Zech. xiii. 7 he says: \"After a sore _outcast_,\n there is greater love betwixt Christ and His people than\n before.\"\n\n _Outfield_; waste land, covered with heath. 256, 261.\n\n _Outgate_; way of escape, outlet. \"Make home over us, go homeward.\"\n\n _Over_; in the phrase \"_over-little_,\" too little. 257.\n\n _Overmist_; rise over like a mist. 189.\n\n _Over-watered_; plated over. 299.\n\n _Oyess_; the French _Oyez_; the crier's \"Hearken.\" The Verb, to\n denounce one by public proclamation. 249.\n\n\n _Paces_ (from French \"_peser_,\" to weigh, and old English \"to\n paise\"); the weights of a clock. He uses the same figure\n in a sermon on Song v. 1. 189, 197, 199, 292.\n\n _Packald_; burdens, things packed up. 198.\n\n _Packs_, or _paiks_; a severe blow. \"_Paiks_ the man,\" the man\n soundly beaten. 138.\n\n _Pact._ 230.\n\n _Paiks._\n --See _Packs_.\n\n _Painful_; taking pains, laborious. 188.\n --See _Baxter_, etc.\n\n _Paintry_; painting. 83.\n\n _Panged_; quite full, crammed; \"_Pang-full_.\" 225.\n\n _Pantry_, a Verb; to lock up in the cupboard. 110.\n\n _Pasch_; Passover, or Easter. 51. (Acts xii. 4; \u03c0\u03b1\u03c3\u03c7\u03b1.)\n\n _Pass from_; used of a summons; not enforce it.\n\n _Passments_; strips of lace sewed on dress by way of ornament. 42,\n 75, 275.\n\n _Pawn_; pledge. \"_Pawn-clay_;\" a thing of dust, and that is only\n partly ours. 77, 130, 139.\n\n _Perqueer_; the French _par c\u0153ur_; by heart, perfectly. 204.\n\n _Pertinacy_; same as pertinacity.\n\n _Pickle_; small grain. 22, 186, 197.\n\n _Piece-withered_; withered patches. 254.\n\n _Pinning_; a small stone to fill up a crevice. 211, 239. In a sermon\n on Zech. xi. 19 he says: \"Would they give Christ no room?\n Might they not have made Him _a pinning_?\" R. Blair's \"Life\"\n (p. 115). \"Weak _pinnings_ are very useful in building a wall;\n and so are _graces_, though they are not the foundation.\"\n\n _Playmaker_; director of the play. 70.\n\n _Plea_; a quarrel between parties. 240, etc.\n\n _Plenishing_; furniture, possessions. 4, 133, 258. The Verb, fill.\n 247, 250, 326.\n\n _Ply_; a fold or turn. Verb; to ply, applied to a ship. 95, 105,\n 152.\n\n _Poind_; to distrain, make seizure of goods. 160. \"Drive the\n poind\" is to drive away the cattle thus seized.\n\n _Point_; to fill up crevices in a wall with lime and little\n stones. 299.\n\n _Port_; gate. 241, 336, 339.\n --\"He went out at the ports, bearing His cross.\" Sermon on\n Heb. xii.\n\n _Pose_; a hoard, store. 206.\n --In a sermon by Rutherford, we find\n the \"_miser's hoard_\" called \"the wretch's pose.\"\n\n _Prevent_; anticipate. 297. Be first in acting.\n\n _Prig_; to chaffer or higgle about a thing. 21, 81.\n\n _Proctor-fee._ 285. A fee to the procurator, one who manages a\n cause, paid when the suit is ended.\n\n _Professor_; in the sense of confessing or professing the faith.\n 105, 284, 292, 304.\n\n _Propine_; Noun and Verb; hold out a gift, to present. 37, 88,\n 130, 165. Used as a Noun, 29.\n\n _Put_; to \"put\" as a ram, push, help.\n --\"_Put by_;\" to put away from, cause to pass by. 111.\n --\"_Put it down_;\" make it more easily swallowed. 62.\n --\"_Put off_;\" spend time. 162. Also, put aside as finished. 190.\n --\"_Put to_;\" apply; also to shut. 97, 275.\n --\"_Put upon_;\" urge, to set on one in the way of importunity.\n 7, 12.\n --To cause difficulty. 319.\n --\"_Put up_;\" push up. 29.\n\n\n _Quarrelous_; fault-finding, provoking to quarrels. 184, 189, 239.\n --He writes it \"_querulous_\" in his \"Christ Dying,\" p. 179:\n \"Querulous love-motions against the reality of Christ's\n love.\"\n\n _Quick_; alive. 61, 265.\n\n _Quit_; to set one free from. 224, 268.\n\n\n _Ragged_; torn and incomplete. 151.\n\n _Ravel_; disorderly twisting of threads. 196.\n\n _Reckon_; consider of importance. 230, 233.\n\n _Red_, Adj., in the phrase, \"_red hunger_,\" intensive. 213.\n --\"_Red war_,\" and \"_red wet_,\" means soaked in wet.\n\n _Redd up_; to clear up, settle. 34, 38, 48, 136, etc.\n\n _Refreshful_; full of refreshment. 333.\n\n _Registrate_; to register, to protest. 85, 249.\n --See _note_.\n\n _Repair_; make amends to. 312.\n\n _Resemble_; to represent. 3.\n\n _Respective_; to each individual. 136.\n --Is this Sibbs' meaning, \"Every saint has something lovely and\n respective in him\" (on 2 Cor. i. 1)? But, also, Sibbs\n uses it for _respectful_: \"Dependency is always very\n respective.\" And so Ferguson on Col. iii. 22: \"Servants\n respective to their masters.\"\n --See _Disrespective_. Letters 321, 360.\n\n _Responsal_; solvent, able to pay. 231.\n\n _Rest_; in the Latin sense, \"_remains_.\" 244.\n\n _Reverence_; _q.d._ rendering homage, power. 30, 43, 233, 298.\n --\"_I will not be in your reverence_\" was a phrase for, \"I will\n not submit to your dictation.\"\n\n _Reversion_; the right held by some one to the future possession\n of an estate. 148.\n\n _Rid_ (see _Redd_); annihilate. Participle, put away. 133.\n\n _Ridable_; can be crossed on horseback. 160.\n\n _Rifle_; same as _ruffle_. 158.\n\n _Rift_; a rent, crack. 241, 284.\n --Verb, to vomit, or come back with violent retching. 72.\n --_Rifty_; broken, full of rents. 120.\n\n _Right_, Verb; to put right. 196.\n\n _Rights_; title-deeds. 77.\n\n _Rink_; the ring, or race-course. 122, 276, 286.\n\n _Ripe_; to examine and search carefully. Connected with \"rip up.\"\n 203.\n\n _Rive_; rend, tear; break up. 16, 50, 72, etc.\n\n _Rooftree_; the beam that runs across the roof, and supports the\n rafters. 270.\n\n _Room_; place. 22, etc.\n\n _Round_; whisper or sing in the ear. (German, _raunen_.) 293.\n\n _Roup_; set up to sale by action. 37, 131, 199, etc.\n\n _Rovers_; \"at rovers,\" at random. 182.\n\n _Roving_; wandering through excitement of mind, raving. 161.\n\n _Rub_; trouble. 323.\n\n _Rue_; to repent, be sorry, 115.\n --\"_Rue upon_;\" take pity. 21, 69, 186, etc.\n\n _Run by_; run past. 226.\n\n _Rush_; to push forward with violence. 270.\n --See _note_.\n\n\n _Sad_; settled, solid, real. 62, 75, 99, 163, 191, 203.\n --It is from old English \"_set_,\" settled down. Wickliffe's Bible,\n Rom. xv. 1: \"We that are _sadder_ men\" (stronger).\n Pilkington on Neh. iv.: \"A good builder digs down to the\n _sad_ earth.\"\n\n _Salt_; bitter, unpleasant, sarcastic. 115.\n --In his \"Christ Dying,\" p. 690, he says: \"A violent death hath\n a _salter_ bite.\"\n\n _Sanded_; driven on the sands. 217.\n\n _Scad_; the red tinge of a burn. \"_Scadded_ and burnt in the\n furnace\" (Rutherford's \"Cov. of Life,\" p. 69). The tinge\n given by reflected light. 291. It is connected with\n \"_scald_.\"\n\n _Scaur_, or _scar_; to boggle, take fright. 70, 119, 183, etc.\n\n _School-heads_; worldly wise. 337.\n\n _Second_, Noun and Verb; one who helps.\n --Often used by Lord Kenmure in \"Last Speeches.\" 2, 91, 247.\n\n _Seen-in_; experienced in a matter. 86.\n\n _Set_; it becomes, 260; disposed, 120.\n --\"_Set to_;\" engage, set about. 110, 145, 179, 235.\n\n _Set-rent_; full rent.\n\n _Shake_; to push aside, push out.\n\n _Shell_ of a balance; the scale. 268.\n\n _Short_; in temper hasty, rash. 153.\n --\"_Shortly_;\" forthwith. 249.\n --\"_Short-dated_;\" lasting only a short time. 196.\n\n _Shute_; sometimes written _shoot_; to push in, shove back. 20, 29,\n 158, 163.\n --\"Satan shutes in his teeth,\" occurs in Rutherford's \"Christ\n Dying.\"\n\n _Sib_; nearly related to. 106, 212, 245, etc.\n --\"We behoved to be as _sib_ as brethren.\" Sermon.\n\n _Sicht_, or _sight_, a Verb; to examine narrowly, _q.d._ by close\n sight. 12. It occurs in Row's \"History\" often.\n\n _Sicker_; strong. 107.\n\n _Silly_; poor, frail, pitiful. 27, 184.\n\n _Silver_, or _siller_; money. 254.\n\n _Sing_; in the phrase, \"_Sing_ dumb,\" be reduced to silence. 128.\n\n _Singly_; with a single mind. 83.\n\n _Sink_; a common sewer. 272, 276.\n\n _Sit with_; to endure in patient silence. 52, 63. Submit to. 43.\n Treat with carelessness.\n\n _Skaill_; disperse, scatter. 160, 190, 241, etc.\n\n _Skaith_; harm. 285.\n\n _Skaur._\n --See _Scaur_.\n\n _Skink_; formally renounce, or bid farewell to. 85, 88.\n --In A.S., the Verb is \"to give drink;\" in German, \"_schenken_,\"\n to give. It is _q.d._ take leave by giving a present, or\n by drinking a farewell.\n\n _Slot_; a moveable bolt; bar. 29, 47, 48.\n\n _Sned_; to prune, lop off, make tidy. 298.\n\n _Solacious_; full of cheer, or comfort. 105.\n\n _Soldiers-stately_; in Letter 63. It might have been noticed that\n old editions make this one word equivalent to \"a spirit\n becoming a soldier;\" like Milton's \"timely-happy spirits.\"\n Joseph Alleine's \"Life\" has, \"holy-taking rhetoric.\" Others\n point thus, \"Your soldier's stately spirit.\" So,\n \"_heavenly-wise_.\" 191.\n\n _Some._ 64, 214. For somewhat.\n\n _Sometimes_; properly \"_some-time_;\" on former days, once on a\n time. 28, etc.\n --In our Version of the Bible, Eph. ii. 3; 1 Pet. iii. 20.\n\n _Soon-saddled_; hasty in temper. 189.\n --Little time taken to get on the saddle.\n\n _Soul-couper_; a jobber in souls. 330.\n --See _Coup_.\n\n _Souple_; same as _supple_. 132.\n\n _Spaits._\n --See _Speat_.\n\n _Sparing_; niggardly. 222.\n\n _Spark_; to squirt out. 163.\n\n _Sparkle_; to spark out, scatter sparks. 263.\n --Chaucer speaks of the shepherd seeking his \"_sparkeland sheep_,\"\n i.e. scattered.\n\n _Speat_, or _spait_; a flood, overflowing stream. 37, 248, 285.\n (Gaelic, \"_speid_\"), a river-flood.\n\n _Speed_; to \"come speed\" is to succeed.\n\n _Speir_, or _speer_; ask questions at.\n --\"_Speer out_,\" search out by questions. 180.\n\n _Spelk_; to truss, support by splinters. 107, 128. (Saxon word.)\n\n _Spill_; spoil, mar, or injure. 22, 310, etc.\n --So Ps. lxiii. 9, in Rous' version; a child spoiled by\n indulgence.\n\n _Spring_; a tune, sprightly air. 181, 182, 214.\n\n _Spunk_; a spark. 215.\n\n _Stalks._ In Letter 17, \"to keep the stalks,\" is the reading\n of some old editions; but in another Letter, 194, \"keep\n the stakes.\" If the former, the sense is, \"to get only\n the withered stalks to keep,\" Song ii. 14 specially; if\n the latter, \"get what they deposited.\"\n\n _Stand upon_; require the help of. 81.\n\n _Standing drink._ 177.--Like the stirrup-cup handed to a friend\n as he stood at the door.\n\n _Startle_; ran up and down in excitement, as cattle do in hot\n weather; act extravagantly. 69, 75, 182, 258.\n\n _Starts._ \"At starts;\" fitfully. 7, 293.\n --\"_Start to the gate._\"\n --See _Gate_.\n\n _State_; the mode of putting or stating a question. 214, 245,\n 278, 333, 359.\n --\"_Stated_;\" set down. 359.\n\n _Sted_; a place, a foundation for a house, a site. 18. So used\n by Gawin Douglas.\n --\"_Stedable_,\" _q.d._ able to furnish a foundation; available,\n serviceable. 170, 252.\n\n _Stent_; to fix at a certain rate, and no more. 249. In Fullerton's\n \"Turtle Dove:\" \"He stented twice on the horologue.\"\n\n _Still_; always, ever. 87, 108, 133, 285. In our metre version of\n the Psalms it occurs, _e.g._ Ps. ciii. 9, \"Keep His anger\n still.\"\n\n _Stob_; a stake sharpened at the end. 240.\n\n _Stock of cards_; a pack of. 194.\n\n _Stoop_; to make a stoop is to bow low. 287.\n\n _Stop-hole_; anything to fill up a hole. 239.\n\n _Stot_; a rebound. 249.\n --\"_To keep stots_;\" keep pace with, to rebound regularly. 236.\n\n _Stound_; a stroke that suddenly over-powers and produces\n faintness. 167.\n\n _Stoup_; a stake, post, prop. 84, 196.\n\n _Suit_; urge a suit, woo, solicit. 19, 26, 37, 355, etc.\n\n _Sundry_; separate. 247.\n --\"_Sunder_,\" part from, the Verb. 264.\n\n _Sure_; surely. 359, etc.\n\n _Suspension_; an act in law, suspending final execution of a\n sentence. 230.\n\n _Swatter_; to move, or toss about, as a duck in the water. 178.\n --R. Blair (see \"Life\" by Row) uses it in a poem,--\n\n \"Out of the dreary vale of tears\n My soul hath _swattered_ out.\"\n\n Rollock (Lect. xxxviii.): \"He swatters and swims.\"\n\n _Swear one's self bare_; swear that you have given up everything.\n 285.\n\n _Sweer_; lazy, reluctant. 178, 230, 285.\n\n\n _Tack_; stitch, hold, tie. 275.\n Also, possession by lease. 284.\n\n _Tailzie_; a Scotch law term for entail or charter of entail. 32.\n\n _Take up house_; enter on housekeeping. 250.\n --_I take myself_. 98.\n --_I retract my word._\n\n _Taken up with_; occupied with. 185.\n\n _Taking_; that is, attractive. 305. South's sermons has it.\n\n _Tarrow_; to be pettish at, reluctant. 23, 118.\n\n _Tell_; count up. 85, 167, 241, 249, 265.\n --\"_Telling_;\" something to mark down. 209.\n\n _Testificate_; certificate, testimony to character. 149.\n\n _That_; often for \"so;\" _e.g. that_ much. 41, 59, 85, 293.\n\n _Then_; in that case. 24, 39, 220, 238, 241.\n --\"_Or then_;\" if that be not so, otherwise. 43, 46, 72, 323.\n\n _Thereanent_; regarding this. 110.\n\n _Thereaway_; to or in that quarter. 133.\n\n _Therefor_; on account of this. 34.\n --See _note_.\n\n _Thick_; a crowd or throng. 209, 225, 251.\n --Adjective; very familiar with one. 94, 128.\n\n _Thieves'-hole_; a prison. 178.\n\n _Thin._ 223.\n --_Thin-skinned_; soft. 256.\n\n _Think long._ 16, 207, 133, 151, etc.\n --See _Long_.\n --It is still common to write, \"I think long after you.\"\n\n _Threap_; to assert vehemently, over and over. 85.\n\n _Thring_; to push in by force. 147, 226, 282.\n\n _Throng_; the multitude and the busy part. 206.\n --_Thronging_; crowding in. 180, 206.\n\n _Through other_; one thing blended with the other, promiscuously.\n 226, etc.\n\n _Tig_; dally, toy with. 48.\n --Also a civil sort of begging, when a new-married person brought\n his cart to the house of friends, that they might put in\n something to his store.\n\n _Timeous_; early, seasonable, opportune. 180, 212, 275.\n --So Knox uses it; and our metre version of Psalms, cxix. 148.\n\n _Tine_; to lose. 182, 226, etc.\n\n _To_; used for \"in comparison of,\" in the phrase, \"little to.\" 361.\n\n _Tocher_; a marriage dowry. \"Tocher-good.\" 265, 285.\n\n _Toom_; quite empty; nothing in it. 138, 178, 188, etc.\n\n _Topic-maxim_; a maxim for general use. 259, 260.\n\n _Tops_; to be \"on one's tops,\" to assault or oppose. 231.\n --\"To tope\" is to oppose. \"He has continued all his days _on tops\n with_ God, and will not make peace with Him.\" Durham\n Sermon 54, Isa. liii.\n\n _Totch_; a push. 183.\n --See _note_.\n\n _Touches_; to \"keep touches,\" 121, an English phrase for the exact\n performance of an engagement.\n\n _Towe_; rope made of tow, a hauser. 196.\n\n _Train_; to draw, entice. 30.\n --It is French, _tr\u00e2iner_.\n\n _Trance_; passage. Latin, _transitus_. 26.\n\n _Tree_; for the _wood_ of a tree. 225.\n --As in sermon on Rev. xix.\n\n _Trindle_; same as _trundle_. 107.\n\n _Truant_; pretended, like boys' pretences for play. 181.\n\n _Tryst_; to appoint a meeting at a certain place and time. Noun\n and Verb. 176, etc.\n\n _Turnpike_; stair that winds. 300.\n\n _Tutor_; to discipline. 282.\n\n _Twin_; to separate. 82.\n --It is _q.d._ to make into two.\n\n\n _Unco_; uncommon, strange. Same originally as _uncouth_, and so\n written very often.\n --Noun; _Unconess_; 179.\n\n _Undercote_, or _undercoat_; fester _under the skin_ (_coat_ is\n \"_cutis,_\" skin). 66, 82, 151, 284.\n --Calderwood in his \"History\" uses this word, v. 658.\n\n _Under-tools_; lesser tools. 311.\n\n _Under-water_; bilge-water. 82, 86, 203, 284.\n\n _Unfriend_; less than friendly. 178.\n\n _Unheartsome_; sad. 277.\n\n _Unlaw_; transgress the law; also, to fine for transgressing the\n law. 201.\n\n _Unrid_, or _unred_. 133.\n --It is _q.d. unred-up_; the boundaries not fixed.\n --In A.S., _unrid_ is \"disorderly.\"\n\n _Upsun_; the sun above the horizon.\n\n _Uptaking_; as a Noun, apprehension, 56, 275;\n as an Adjective, exhilarating, or exalting, 210.\n\n\n _Vaccane_, or _vacanse_; vacation, holidays. 84.\n\n _Vively_; in a lively manner, to the life. 4.\n\n _Voyage_; journey. 226.\n --The French \"voyage,\" from _via_.\n\n\n _Wad-fee_; the sum paid in hiring, as a pledge of the person\n being engaged.\n --_Wad_ is a pledge.\n --See Wed.\n\n _Wadset_; to pledge in mortgage, alienate by reversion. 79, 191,\n 201, 206, etc.\n --Noun, the money paid in hiring as a pledge of engagement. 182.\n\n _Wager_; something hazarded. 220.\n A pledge. 170.\n\n _Wair'd_, or _wared_.\n --See _Ware_.\n\n _Wale_; to choose (Noun and Verb), select out of other articles.\n 39, 192, etc.\n\n _Walkings_; weights of a clock. 199.\n --Possibly the _waggings_ of the pendulum, though some say it is\n the striking of the hour that \"_waukens up_.\" It is\n connected with _motions_. 292, 342.\n\n _Wandhand_; the hand that holds the rod, or whip, as the hand that\n guided the horse was the working hand. 186.\n\n _Want_; to be destitute of. 95.\n\n _Ward_; guard. 254.\n\n _Ware_; to expend, use. 37, 104, 201, 228, etc.\n\n _Warmly_; heart-warming. 227.\n\n _Washen_; washed or whitened, with fair appearance. 167.\n\n _Waster_, Adj.; prodigal, wasteful. 226.\n\n _Watch-glass_; hour-glass. 276.\n\n _Watered_; plated over. 206, 280.\n --\"The watering will go off and leave nothing but dross\" is a\n sentence in a sermon on Zech. xiii. 7.\n\n _Wed_; a pledge or fee. Written also _wad_.\n --Our \"wedding\" is a derivative, signifying the security or\n pledge given by the parties.\n\n _Weight_, or _wecht_; to put on a weight or burden, depress. 115,\n 159.\n In one of his sermons he says, \"Death did not weight the martyrs.\n \"--\"_To bear weight_,\" 249, is to stand the weighing.\n\n _Well_; a Noun for _weal_, welfare. 72, 202.\n --\"_Well is me_;\" it is good for me. 120, 222, 250, 257, etc.\n --\"_Wellcome_;\" come in an honest way. 162, 182.\n\n _Well-wared_; well laid out. 104.\n --Well deserved. 203.\n\n _Wersh_; saltless, insipid. 182.\n\n _While_, or _whill_; till. 12, 24, 44, etc.\n\n _Whiles_; at times. 102, 182.\n\n _White_; the _white_ is the mark aimed at, the bull's eye. 194.\n\n _Whiten._ 287. Like a stick from which the bark is stript.\n\n _Whitsunday_; term day. 21.\n\n \"_Who but he?_\" a non-such. 23.\n --See _note_.\n\n _Why but?_ why object although? 295.\n\n _Win_; reach, attain to. 21, 30.\n --\"_Win away_;\" to escape from. 6.\n\n _Wind in_; get your way into. 297.\n\n _Windlestrae_ or _windlestraw_; from _Windel_, to hoist about.\n Used in plaiting. A withered stalk of dog's-tail grass;\n metaphorically, a mere trifle. 63, 190, 192, 212.\n --In the \"Life\" of Pringle of Greenknow, a place is mentioned\n called \"The Windlestraw Law.\" So Durham on Job, p. 285.\n\n _Wit_; to know. Noun; wisdom, intelligence. 184, 282.\n --\"_Wit's head_;\" a wiseacre. 232, 235, 239, 249, 258.\n\n _Wo_, an Adjective; sorrowful. 116, 178, 196.\n --Generally written \"wae\" by Scotch writers.\n\n _Wombful_; bellyful. 225.\n\n _Won goods_; goods already got and secured. 128.\n\n _Work on_; it causes care. 230.\n\n _Wrack_; ruin, wreck. 284.\n\n _Wring_; squeeze out water; as Judges vi. 30. 300.\n\n _Writ_; a writing in law. 59, 285, 359.\n --\"_In write_;\" by written paper. 359.\n\n\n _Yoke_; yoke for work; set to, press in. 94, 119, 181, 202.\n --Noun, _yoking_, a setting to, contest, onset. 117. \"He yoked\n to the Jews early\" (sermon on Heb. xii. 1). So Durham on\n Isa. liii. 8.\n\n _Yonder_; far off in the distance. 245.\n --\"The yonder end.\"\n\n [532] Apothecary in Edinburgh. See Livingstone's \"Charact.\"\n\n [533] In a sermon at Kirkcudbright on Rev. xix. 11, he introduces\n the courtiers saying to Daniel, \"What need ye _make all the\n fields ado_ with your prayers?\"\n\n\nNOTE.\n\nThere are some words, such as \"_Ease-rooms_\" and \"_Heaven-name_,\" that\nseem to be Rutherford's own coining. But these are very few. On the\nother hand, there is in these Letters what was a characteristic of the\nstyle of the times, viz. the use of _synonymous words_, side by side.\nThus we have \"niffer and exchange;\" \"feast and banquet;\" \"unco and\nstrange;\" \"I dow not, I cannot;\" \"pledge and pawn;\" \"wale and choose;\"\nand many more. So Knox speaks of \"let and hindrance;\" \"gauge and\npledge.\" Zachary Boyd speaks of \"reekie smoke;\" \"kindly and natural;\"\n\"bag and baggage.\" In a Number of the \"Athen\u00e6um,\" March 1873, no less\nthan twenty instances of this sort, in \"Hamlet\" alone, are given from\nShakespeare.\n\n\n\n\nAPPENDIX.\n\n\nEDITIONS OF RUTHERFORD'S LETTERS.\n\nRow, in his \"History of the Kirk of Scotland\" (p. 396), wrote in 1650\nregarding these Letters:--\"Sundry have whole books full of them,\nwhilk, if they were printed, I am confident, through the Lord's rich\nmercy and blessing, would not fail to do much good.\" This was written\nfourteen years before any attempt had been made at collecting them for\npublication.\n\nI. The First Edition appeared in 1664, in duodecimo. The place of\npublication is not given on the title-page, these being days of\npersecution; but it is known to have been _Rotterdam_, in Holland,\nunder the superintending care of Mr. M'Ward, who was once Rutherford's\namanuensis. It is divided into two parts, the one containing 215\nLetters, the _other_, 71. It has a long recommendatory Preface,\ncontaining matter that is of no great interest to us now; but it\npreserves one weighty saying of this man of God on his deathbed. \"When\nhe was on the threshold of glory, ready to receive the immortal crown,\nhe said, 'Now my tabernacle is weak, and I would think it a more\nglorious way of going home, to lay down my life for the cause, at the\nCross of Edinburgh or St. Andrews; but I submit to my Master's will.'\"\n\nHere is the original title-page:--\n\n (_First Edition_)\n\n JOSHUA REDIVIVUS.\n\n OR,\n\n _Mr. Rutherford's Letters_,\n\n Divided in two Parts.\n\n _The First_,\n\n Containing those which were written from Aberdeen,\n where he was confined by a sentence of the High\n Commission; drawn forth against him, partly\n upon the account of his declining them, partly\n upon the account of his Non-Conformity.\n\n _The Second_,\n\n Containing some which were written from Anwoth\n before he was by the Prelates' Persecution thrust from\n his ministry; & others upon diverse occasions\n afterward, from St. Andrews, London, &c.\n\n Now published for the use of all the people of God,\n but more particularly for those who now are or afterward\n may be put to Suffering, for Christ and His cause.\n\n_By a Wellwisher to the Work & People of God._\n\n John xvi. 2. \"They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the\n time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth\n God service. V. 3. And these things will they do, because they\n have not known the Father, nor me.\"\n\n 2 Thess. i. 6. \"Seeing it is a righteous thing with God, to\n recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; V. 7. And to you\n who are troubled rest with us; when the Lord Jesus shall be\n revealed from heaven, with His mighty angels,\" &c.\n\nPrinted in the Year cI[c] I[c]c LXIIII By some mistake in reading the\nnumeral letters, booksellers' catalogues have spoken of editions in\n1662 and 1663; but there were none such. Such a mistake might easily\noccur in writing the numerals. In a _Manuscript of the Letters_\n(kindly forwarded to the Editor by Rev. A. B. Grosart, Kinross), the\ndate of the First Edition is written thus: cI\u2184 I\u2184c; LIIII. Here\nthere is, beyond doubt, a mistake; the X is omitted from LXIIII.; for\nthe MS. is merely a _copy of the First Edition_. It copies out the\ntitle-page in full, and then appends this note: \"_Intended to be\nwryten from the printed book, by the wryter, for particular use, and\nfor several reasons unnecessary to be inserted._\" Some of the\n\"Testimonies of the Martyrs\" are appended, as they appeared in the\n\"Cloud of Witnesses\" afterwards. There are now and then marginal\nnotes, all of which are simply hints as to what the Letter contains,\nthus: \"Cause of Rutherford's confinement;\" \"Comfort for the servants\nof God and for ministers.\" The existence, however, of such a MS.,\ncopied with such pains from a printed volume, tells the high esteem in\nwhich the Letters were held. We may note one small matter. In this MS.\nthe name \"_Bethaia_\" (so written in all the printed editions) is given\n\"_Bethia_;\" showing that the name was so written at _that_ time also,\nas it is always now.\n\n2. The _Second Edition._--It appeared in 1671, an exact reprint of the\nfirst, with the same title-page, etc. But it is very inaccurate;\n_e.g._ there are ten obvious misspellings of common words in the two\nfirst pages, not to speak of _bad punctuation_, which is a fault\ncommon to all the early editions.\n\n3. The _Third Edition_, in 1675, retains the original title-page,\nexcept that it has, \"In _Three_ Parts,\" and \"The _Second_ and\n_Third_.\" This last Part contains sixty-eight additional Letters. This\nedition is the one which subsequent editors follow. It omits the\noriginal \"Preface to the Christian Reader,\" and has only four\nintroductory pages, two of which are the advertisement about the lost\nMS. of Rutherford on _Isaiah_. It has a long \"Postscript,\" in which we\ncannot say there is much that is important.\n\n4. The Edition of 1692.\n\n5. The Edition of 1709. Edinburgh.\n\n6. The Edition of 1724. Edinburgh. 12mo. \"Printed by T. Lumsden and J.\nRitchie, and sold at their printing-house in the Fish Market, and by\nJohn Paton and James Thomson, booksellers in the Parliament Closs; and\nsold at Glasgow by John Robertson, James and John Browns, and Mrs.\nBrown, booksellers. 1724.\" It is marked \"The Fifth Edition.\" If this\nmeans the \"fifth\" of those editions that contain the \"Three Parts,\"\nthen our list is not complete. But it seems as if the editor had\noverlooked one of the earlier editions; and if so, this is the sixth.\n\n7. The Edition of 1738. Edinburgh. Marked \"Sixth Edition.\"\n\n8. The Edition of 1761. Edinburgh. In two vols.\n\n9. The Edition of 1765. Glasgow. A good edition. It has the author's\nTestimony and Dying Words, as well as the original Preface of the\nearliest edition. It is marked \"_Ninth_ Edition.\"\n\n10. The Edition of 1783. Glasgow. Marked \"Tenth Edition.\" 8vo. Printed\nby John Bryce.\n\n(The Eleventh Edition we have not seen, but it may be that of 1796.)\n\n11. The Edition of 1802. Aberdeen. Marked \"Twelfth Edition.\"\n\n12. The Edition of 1809. Edinburgh. Marked \"Thirteenth Edition.\"\n\n13. Another in 1818, \"One hundred and fifty-two Religious Letters,\" to\nwhich is added a Testimony to the Covenanted Work of Reformation\nbetween 1638 and 1649. Octavo.\n\n14. Another in 1821. With a brief notice of the author.\n\n15. The London Religious Tract Society's Edition, first published in\n1824. It is properly only a _selection_ of sixty Letters, with\nextracts from many others. It has \"Contents\" prefixed to each Letter.\n\n16. Another, 1824. Glasgow. With brief notice of the author.\n\n17. The Edition of 1825. One of \"Collins' Select Christian Authors.\"\nIt passed through three editions. It has a doctrinal Preface by Thomas\nErskine, Esq., and gives about one half of the Letters. It has not\nretained all the peculiar phraseology of the original; but it gives\nsome account of his life, and appends his \"Last Words,\" and his\n\"Testimony to the Covenanted Work of Reformation.\" _Kenmure_ is\nmisspelt \"_Kenmuir_\" in the edition of 1825, but corrected in the\nnext.\n\n18. The Edition of 1830. Glasgow.\n\n19. Another in 1834.\n\n20. The Edition of 1836. London: Baisler. Edited by Rev. Charles\nThomson. In two vols. It has valuable explanatory notes, and the\nLetters are, for the most part, arranged chronologically,--a great\nimprovement on the \"Three Parts\" of so many former editions.\n\n21. The Edition of 1839.\n\n22. The Edition of 1846. Aberdeen: King. This edition is in double\ncolumns.\n\n23. The Edition of 1848. Edinburgh: Whyte and Kennedy. With historical\nand biographical notices, by Rev. James Anderson. The Letters, so far,\nchronologically arranged, and ten additional Letters given. Contents\nalso, and indices; and a Sketch of Rutherford's Life.\n\n24. The Edition of 1857. London: Collingridge. Edited by Rev. D. A.\nDoubdney. It has the long Original Preface of 1664, and the Postscript\nof 1675; also a synopsis of each Letter. But it is not accurate,\nespecially as to proper names.\n\n25. The Edition of 1863. In two vols. It contains Letters 290, 325,\n327, 336, 337, 340, 343, 355, 356, 365, not found in any previous\nedition but that of 1848; as well as 283 and 307, added since then.\nThere are 365 in all; one for each day of the year, if any one\nchooses.\n\n26. An Edition in octavo, by Rev. J. M'Ewan, Edinburgh,--a reprint of\nthe old. 1867.\n\n27. _Extracts._--There have been abridgments in the form of\n\"Extracts,\" from time to time. We might give as samples, Jo. Wesley's\nExtracts (an edition in 1825); John Brown of Haddington's \"Pleasant\nand Practical Hints,\" selected from the Letters; and recently, \"Last\nWords of S. R., in verse, by A. R. C., with some of his sweet\nsayings.\" A variety of such have appeared.\n\n28. Edition 1875. By Dr. Thomas Smith. Preface by Dr. Duff.\n\n29. _Foreign Editions._--1. There is an _American_ Edition; a reprint,\nby Carter, New York, of the Edition of 1848.--2. A _Dutch_ translation\nappeared at Flushing in 1673. The translation made by Mr. Koelman,\nminister of Sluys, with a brief Life. Of this there have been frequent\nreprints; that of 1754 is in three vols. octavo; another in 1855,--a\nnew translation in double columns, published at Grave.--3. There is\nalso a _German_ translation (see \"Mission of Inquiry to the Jews,\n1839,\" ch. v.); but we are not able to give any account of it.\n\n30. This present Edition, 1891. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson, &\nFerrier. Reprinted 1894.\n\n\nSAMPLE OF THE OLD ORTHOGRAPHY.\n\n(Letter CCCLI.)\n\nSir I would ere now have writtin to you had I not knowin yo^r health\nweaker and weaker could scairclie permitt you to hear. I neid not\nspeak. The way you know and have preached to others the skill off the\nG\u016dijd and the glorie of the hom beyond death And qn he sayes com\nand sie it will be yo^r gaine to obey and goe out and meett the\nbrydgroom What accessioun is mad to the higher ho\u016ds off his kingdom\nsould not be our lose though it be a reall losse to the church of God\nBot we count on way and the Lord counts anoy^r way He is jnffallible\nand the onlie wyse God and needs non of us Had He needed Mosses and\nthe prophetts ther staying in the Bodie he could hav taken an oy^r way\nWho dar bid you cast your thoughts bak on wyff or children when he\nhath said Leav yam to me and com up hither or who cane perswad you to\ndie or liv as iff that wer abritarie to us and not his alon who hath\ndetermined the number off yo^r moneths. If so it seem good to him\nfollow your forrunner and G\u016dyd. It is ane unknowen land to you who\nwas never ther beffor bot the land is good and the company befor the\nthron desyreable and he who sittes on the throne is alon a sufficient\nheavin. Grac be with you\n\n St Andrews 15 jun. 1658. Yours in the Lord\n\n S R\n\n[_From a MS. vol. belonging to Mr. Lamb, Dundee._]\n\n\nLAST WORDS.\n\nMrs. A. R. Cousin, wife of Rev. W. Cousin, Free Church minister of\nMelrose, has woven into a delightful poem many of Samuel Rutherford's\nmost remarkable utterances. This piece has become almost a household\nhymn, known over all our country, and in America no less. It is\nentitled sometimes by its first line, \"The sands of time are sinking,\"\nand sometimes, \"The Last Words of S. R.,\" though it takes in many of\nhis sayings, besides his deathbed words.\n\n The sands of time are sinking, Letters 79, 147.\n The dawn of Heaven breaks,\n The summer morn I've sighed for,\n The fair sweet morn awakes:\n Dark, dark hath been the midnight,\n But dayspring is at hand,\n And glory--glory dwelleth Letter 323.\n In Immanuel's land.\n\n Oh! well it is for ever,\n Oh! well for evermore, Letter 4.\n My nest hung in no forest\n Of all this death-doom'd shore:\n Yea, let the vain world vanish,\n As from the ship the strand,\n While glory--glory dwelleth\n In Immanuel's land.\n\n There the Red Rose of Sharon Letters 181, 321.\n Unfolds its heartsome bloom,\n And fills the air of Heaven\n With ravishing perfume:--\n Oh! to behold it blossom,\n While by its fragrance fann'd\n Where glory--glory dwelleth\n In Immanuel's land.\n\n The King there in His beauty, Letters 165, 284,\n Without a veil, is seen: 291, 318.\n It were a well-spent journey,\n Though seven deaths lay between.\n The Lamb, with His fair army,\n Doth on Mount Zion stand,\n And glory--glory dwelleth\n In Immanuel's land.\n\n Oh! Christ He is the Fountain,\n The deep sweet well of love!\n The _streams_ on earth I've tasted, Letters 288, 317.\n More deep I'll drink above:\n There, to an _ocean_ fulness,\n His mercy doth expand,\n And glory--glory dwelleth\n In Immanuel's land.\n\n E'en Anwoth was not heaven--\n E'en preaching was not Christ; Letters 86, 96,\n And in my sea-beat prison 225, 335.\n My Lord and I held tryst:\n And aye my murkiest storm-cloud\n Was by a rainbow spann'd,\n Caught from the glory dwelling\n In Immanuel's land.\n\n But that He built a heaven\n Of His surpassing love,\n A little New Jerusalem,\n Like to the one above,-- Letter 233.\n \"Lord, take me o'er the water,\"\n Had been my loud demand,\n \"Take me to love's own country,\n Unto Immanuel's land.\"\n\n But flowers need night's cool darkness\n The moonlight and the dew;\n So Christ, from one who loved it,\n His shining oft withdrew; Letter 234.\n And then for cause of absence,\n My troubled soul I scann'd--\n But glory, shadeless, shineth\n In Immanuel's land.\n\n The little birds of Anwoth\n I used to count them blest,--\n Now, beside happier altars\n I go to build my nest: Letters 92, 167,\n O'er these there broods no silence, 206.\n No graves around them stand,\n For glory, deathless, dwelleth\n In Immanuel's land.\n\n Fair Anwoth by the Solway,\n To me thou still art dear!\n E'en from the verge of Heaven Letter 225.\n I drop for thee a tear.\n Oh! if one soul from Anwoth\n Meet me at God's right hand,\n My Heaven will be two Heavens,\n In Immanuel's land.\n\n I have wrestled on towards Heaven,\n 'Gainst storm, and wind, and tide:--\n Now, like a weary traveller, Letters 275, 326.\n That leaneth on his guide,\n Amid the shades of evening,\n While sinks life's ling'ring sand,\n I hail the glory dawning\n From Immanuel's land.\n\n Deep waters cross'd life's pathway,\n The hedge of thorns was sharp; Letter 137.\n Now these lie all behind me--\n Oh! for a well-tuned harp! Deathbed, p. 21.\n Oh! to join Halleluiah\n With yon triumphant band,\n Who sing, where glory dwelleth,\n In Immanuel's land.\n\n With mercy and with judgment\n My web of time He wove,\n And aye the dews of sorrow Letters 245, 295,\n Were lustred with His love. 298.\n I'll bless the hand that guided,\n I'll bless the heart that plann'd,\n When throned where glory dwelleth\n In Immanuel's land.\n\n Soon shall the cup of glory\n Wash down earth's bitterest woes,\n Soon shall the desert-briar Letters 20, 295.\n Break into Eden's rose:\n The curse shall change to blessing--\n The name on earth that's bann'd, Rev. ii. 17.\n Be graven on the white stone\n In Immanuel's land.\n\n Oh! I am my Belov\u00e8d's,\n And my Beloved is mine!\n He brings a poor vile sinner Letters 76, 116,\n Into His \"House of wine.\" 119, 148.\n I stand upon His merit,\n I know no other stand,\n Not e'en where glory dwelleth\n In Immanuel's land.\n\n I shall sleep sound in Jesus,\n Fill'd with His likeness rise,\n To live and to adore Him,\n To see Him with these eyes.\n 'Tween me and resurrection Page 21 of \"Life\".\n But Paradise doth stand;\n Then--then for glory dwelling\n In Immanuel's land!\n\n The Bride eyes not her garment,\n But her dear Bridegroom's face;\n I will not gaze at glory, Letters 21, 168.\n But on my King of Grace--\n Not at the crown He gifteth,\n But on His pierc\u00e8d hand:\n The _Lamb_ is all the glory\n Of Immanuel's land.\n\n I have borne scorn and hatred,\n I have borne wrong and shame,\n Earth's proud ones have reproach'd me,\n For Christ's thrice blessed name:--\n Where God His seal set fairest\n They've stamp'd their foulest brand;\n But judgment shines like noonday\n In Immanuel's land.\n\n They've summoned me before them,\n But there I may not come,--\n My Lord says, \"Come up hither,\"\n My Lord says, \"Welcome Home!\"\n My kingly King, at His white throne, Deathbed saying.\n My presence doth command,\n Where glory--glory dwelleth\n In Immanuel's land.\n\n\n\nMORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH\n\n\n\n\n_Oliphant, Anderson, & Ferrier's Publications._\n\nLIBRARY EDITION OF M'CHEYNE'S 'MEMOIR.'\n\nDemy 8vo, cloth extra, with additional matter and newly-engraved\nPortrait and facsimiles of Writing, price 5s.,\n\n\nMEMOIR AND REMAINS\n\nOF\n\nRev. ROBERT MURRAY M'CHEYNE,\n\nMINISTER OF ST. PETER'S CHURCH, DUNDEE.\n\nBY REV. ANDREW A. BONAR, D.D.\n\n 'How admirable an edition is this! the best five-shilling octavo\n you ever saw. And it is made richer than of old by new matter\n from the venerable editor's pen.'--_Expository Times._\n\n 'Among the many \"ideas\" which are rapidly bringing Messrs.\n Oliphant, Anderson, & Ferrier to the front rank among publishers,\n none strikes me as more happy than the beautiful editions they\n are issuing of religious classics. The latest is Dr. Andrew\n Bonar's famous \"Memoir and Remains of Robert Murray M'Cheyne.\" I\n happen to have the first edition in two small black volumes. It\n was issued in 1844, and the circulation must have considerably\n exceeded a hundred thousand. But no copy is so good to use as the\n latest, which is a model book in every way,--binding, paper, and\n type,--and which is enriched by additional notes from the pen of\n the revered author. It will rank as a standard edition of an\n immortal book.'--_The British Weekly._\n\n 'This issue of a book which has been so widely valued as to take\n the rank of an Evangelical classic is enriched with facsimiles of\n M'Cheyne's handwriting, while the venerable author has introduced\n some additional information on certain points. We wish the book a\n fresh career of usefulness in its new form.'--_Critical Review._\n\n Edinburgh & London:\n OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER.\n\n _And all Booksellers_.\n\n\nA CLOUD OF WITNESSES.\n\n New Edition, demy 8vo, cloth extra, with numerous Illustrations,\n and facsimile of original Title and Frontispiece, price 5s.,\n\n=A Cloud of Witnesses=: For the Royal Prerogatives of Jesus Christ;\nbeing the Last Speeches and Testimonies of those who have suffered for\nthe Truth in Scotland since the year 1680. Reprinted from the Original\nEditions, with Explanatory and Historical Notes. By the Rev. John H.\nThomson.\n\n EDINBURGH & LONDON:\n OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER.\n\n _And all Booksellers_.\n\n=The Scots Worthies.= By JOHN HOWIE of Lochgoin. Revised from the\nAuthor's Original Edition by the Rev. W. H. CARSLAW, M.A. The\nLandscapes and Ornaments by various artists, engraved under the\nsuperintendence of Mr. Williamson; the Historical Portraits by Mr.\nHector Chalmers, engraved by Messrs Schenck & M'Farlane. New edition,\ndemy 8vo, cloth extra, with upwards of 150 Illustrations, price 5s.\n\n \"The popularity of this book, long established, will certainly\n suffer no diminution from the manner in which it is presented to\n the reading public in this illustrated edition. It is a handsome\n volume, attractively bound, and beautifully printed; and the\n illustrations, equally appropriate and effective, at once\n stimulate and gratify historical interest--supplying indeed a\n 'National Portrait Gallery' of no small value and extent. Great\n care, too, has been bestowed upon the letterpress, the work of\n revision having been performed by a scholar who loves and knows\n the subject; and altogether the work seems to be nearly as fine\n an edition of the Scots Worthies as could be desired.\"--_Daily\n Review._\n\n \"The well-known house or Messrs Oliphant, Anderson, & Ferrier, of\n Edinburgh, has republished the Rev. W. H. Carslaw's edition of\n the Scots Worthies, and, in so doing, has put within the reach of\n everybody one of the most interesting and useful books in\n Scottish literature. More than one hundred years have elapsed\n since John Howie issued the first edition of the famous book. No\n man was better fitted for the task of embalming the worthies of\n the Scottish Covenant in the memories of his fellow-men, for he\n was a staunch Cameronian; his ancestors had suffered in the\n interests of the Church of Christ in Scotland; his home was the\n centre of the district in which many of the most tragic scenes of\n Scottish martyrology occurred; and, besides strict adherence to\n truth, he had a literary power which awakes surprise and\n admiration. The book was a household one in the Presbyterian\n homes in Scotland in its quaint early garb. An edition was issued\n with notes by the late William M'Gavin. author of 'The\n Protestant;' and other editions have followed. Mr. Carslaw's has\n already established itself in public favour, and well it may. It\n has all the quaintness of the original volume in a condensed\n form. It abounds in illustrations of well-executed views of\n Covenanter localities, from the Communion stones of Irongray to\n Dunnottar; of Scottish palaces, Falkland, Holyrood, etc.; of\n Scottish abbeys and churches--indeed it might almost be called an\n illustrated Gazetteer of Scotland. It likewise contains views of\n places in England, Ireland, and the Continent connected with\n Covenanting story, such as Westminster, Rotterdam, and\n Londonderry. It gives, moreover, a gallery of portraits, from\n George Wishart to Robert Traill; from Mary Queen of Scots to\n William III.; and from Archbishop Sharpe to Claverhouse. It is in\n every way elegantly and quaintly got up, the illustrations having\n old-fashioned elaborately-decorated borders. We know of no book\n more calculated to quicken the pulse of modern Protestantism, or\n to give in an attractively biographical form the history of the\n Church of Scotland through the lives, and doings, and deaths of\n her noblest sons. We therefore commend it to all who wish to\n remember the days of former generations, or to understand the\n glorious work done for Scotland in his chief book by the old\n farmer of Lochgoin.\"--_Christian Leader._\n\n \"The Scots Worthies. By John Howie of Lochgoin. An illustrated\n edition, revised from the author's original edition, by the Rev.\n W. H. Carslaw, M.A.--We are glad to see this reprint of our\n Scottish Acta Sanctorum. It is one of the books that, lying on\n cottage shelves, and conned over on cottars' Sabbath nights, has\n helped to make Scotchmen what they are. It will be a sad day for\n Scotland when she forgets the men whose deeds are so simply and\n so quaintly recorded by one who had himself the blood of the\n Covenant in his veins, and whose fathers resisted unto blood.\n Though this edition is inexpensive, the illustrations are\n admirably executed. We counsel those who have not the book in\n their libraries, so place it there, and put it in the way of\n their children.\"--_U. P. Record._\n\n\nFIRST SERIES.\n\n_Post 8vo, 288 pages, cloth gilt, price 2s. 6d._\n\n=BUNYAN CHARACTERS=\n\n LECTURES DELIVERED IN\n ST. GEORGE'S FREE CHURCH\n EDINBURGH: BY\n ALEXANDER WHYTE, D.D.\n\n\n CONTENTS.\n\n I. INTRODUCTORY.\n II. EVANGELIST.\n III. OBSTINATE.\n IV. PLIABLE.\n V. HELP.\n VI. MR. WORLDLY-WISEMAN.\n VII. GOODWILL.\n VIII. THE INTERPRETER.\n IX. PASSION.\n X. PATIENCE.\n XI. SIMPLE, SLOTH, AND PRESUMPTION.\n XII. THE THREE SHINING ONES AT THE CROSS.\n XIII. FORMALIST AND HYPOCRISY.\n XIV. TIMOROUS AND MISTRUST.\n XV. PRUDENCE.\n XVI. CHARITY.\n XVII. SHAME.\n XVIII. TALKATIVE.\n XIX. JUDGE HATE-GOOD.\n XX. FAITHFUL IN VANITY FAIR.\n XXI. BY-ENDS.\n XXII. GIANT DESPAIR.\n XXIII. KNOWLEDGE, A SHEPHERD.\n XXIV. EXPERIENCE, A SHEPHERD.\n XXV. WATCHFUL, A SHEPHERD.\n XXVI. SINCERE, A SHEPHERD.\n\n Edinburgh & London:\n OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER.\n\n _And all Booksellers._","title":"Letters of Samuel Rutherford: (Third Edition)","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":343395}