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Title: Letters of Samuel Rutherford - (Third Edition)
Author: Rutherford, Samuel
Language: English
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* * * * *
LETTERS
OF
SAMUEL RUTHERFORD
[Illustration: RUTHERFORD'S WALK.]
[Illustration: title page]
LETTERS
OF
SAMUEL RUTHERFORD
_With a Sketch of his Life_
AND
_Biographical Notices of His Correspondents_
BY THE
REV. ANDREW A. BONAR, D.D.
AUTHOR OF "MEMOIR AND REMAINS OF ROBERT MURRAY M'CHEYNE"
THIRD EDITION
LONDON
THE RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY
56 PATERNOSTER ROW AND 65 ST. PAUL'S CHURCHYARD
PREFACE.
Most justly does the old Preface to the earlier Editions begin by
telling the Reader that "These Letters have no need of any man's
epistle commendatory, the great Master having given them one, written
by His own hand on the hearts of all who favour the things of God."
Every one who knows these "Letters" at all, is aware of their most
peculiar characteristic, namely, the discovery they present of the
marvellous intercourse carried on between the writer's soul and his
God.
This Edition will be found to be the most complete that has hitherto
appeared. It is the same as that of 1863, in two vols., with two
slight alterations, viz. the footnotes are for the most part removed
to the Glossary, and a few of the notices are condensed, but nothing
omitted of any importance. On the other hand, one or two slight
additions have been made. Attending carefully to the chronological
arrangement, the Editor has sought, by biographical, topographical,
and historical notices, to put the Reader in possession of all that
was needed to enable him to enter into the circumstances in which each
Letter was written, so far as that could be done. The appended
Glossary of Scottish words and expressions (many of them in reality
old English), the Index of Places and Persons, the Index of Special
Subjects, and the prefixed Contents of Each Letter, will, it is
confidently believed, be found both interesting and useful. The Sketch
of Rutherford's Life may be thought too brief; but the limits within
which such a Sketch must necessarily be confined, when occupying the
place of a mere Introduction, rendered brevity inevitable.
Every Letter hitherto published is to be found in this Edition. The
ten additional Letters of the Edition 1848, along with two more, added
since that time, are all inserted in their chronological place. The
publishers have taken great pains with the typography.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
Sketch of _Samuel Rutherford_, 1
1. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Children to be Dedicated to God, 33
2. To _a Christian Gentlewoman, on the death of a
Daughter._--Christ's Sympathy with, and Property in
us--Reasons for Resignation, 34
3. To _Lady Kenmure, on occasion of illness and spiritual
depression_.--Acquiescence in God's Purpose--Faith in
exercise--Encouragement in view of Sickness and
Death--Public Affairs, 36
4. To _Lady Kenmure, on death of her infant Daughter_.--
Tribulation the Portion of God's People, and intended
to wean them from the World, 40
5. To _Lady Kenmure, when removing from Anwoth_.--Changes--
Loss of Friends--This World no abiding Place, 42
6. To _Marion M'Naught, telling of his Wife's illness_.--Inward
Conflict, arising from Outward Trial, 44
7. To _Lady Kenmure_.--The Earnest of the Spirit--Communion
with Christ--Faith in the Promises, 46
8. To _Marion M'Naught_.--His Wife's Illness--Wrestlings with
God, 49
9. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Recommending a Friend to her
Care--Prayers asked, 50
10. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Submission, Perseverance, and Zeal
recommended, 50
11. To _Lady Kenmure_.--God's Inexplicable Dealings with His
People well ordered--Want of Ordinances--Conformity
to Christ--Troubles of the Church--Mr. Rutherford's
Wife's Death, 52
12. To _Marion M'Naught_.--God Mixeth the Cup--The Reward of
the Wicked--Faithfulness--Forbearance--Trials, 54
13. To _Marion M'Naught, when exposed to reproach for her
principles_.--Jesus a Pattern of Patience under
Suffering, 57
14. To _Marion M'Naught, in prospect of the Lord's Supper_.--
Abundance in Jesus--The Restoration of the Jews--
Enemies of God, 58
15. To _Marion M'Naught_.--The threatened Introduction of the
Service-Book--Troubles of the Church--Private Wrongs, 60
16. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Proposal to Remove him from Anwoth--
Babylon's Destruction, and Christ's Coming--The Young
invited, 62
17. To _Marion M'Naught_.--The Prospects of the Church--
Arminianism--Call to Prayer--No Help but in Christ, 64
18. To _Marion M'Naught, in prospect of the Lord's Supper_.--
Prayer Solicited--The Church's Prospects, 66
19. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Encouragement to Abound in Faith from
the Prospect of Glory--Christ's Unchangeableness, 67
20. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Assurance of Christ's Love under
Trials--Fulness of Christ--Hope of Glory, 69
21. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Self-denial--Hope of Christ's Coming--
Loving God for Himself, 72
22. To _John Kennedy_.--Deliverance from Shipwreck--Recovery
from threatened Death--Use of Trials--Remembrance
of Friends, 74
23. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Exhorting to remember her Espousal to
Christ--Tribulation a Preparation for the Kingdom--
Glory in the End, 77
24. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Christ and His Garden--Provision
of Ordinances in the Church--Our Children, 80
25. To _a Gentleman at Kirkcudbright, excusing himself from
visiting_, 83
26. To _Marion M'Naught, after her dangerous illness_.--Use
of Sickness--Reproaches--Christ our Eternal Feast--
Fasting, 83
27. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Love to Christ and Submission to His
Cross--Believers kept--The Heavenly Paradise, 85
28. To _Lady Kenmure, after the death of a child_.--The State
of the Church, Cause for God's Displeasure--His Care
of His Church--The Jews--Afflicted Saints, 87
29. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Christ with His People in the
Furnace of Affliction--Prayer, 89
30. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Rank and Prosperity hinder Progress--
Watchfulness--Case of Relatives, 90
31. To _Lady Kenmure_.--A Union for Prayer Recommended, 92
32. To _Marion M'Naught_.--State and Prospects of the
Church--Satan, 94
33. To _Marion M'Naught_.--In Prospect of Going to the
Lord's Table, 95
34. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Prospects of the Church--Christ's
Care for the Children of Believers, 96
35. To _Lady Kenmure, on the death of a child_.--God Measures
our Days--Bereavements Ripen us for the Harvest, 97
36. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Choice of a Commissioner for
Parliament, 99
37. To _Lady Kenmure_.--On the Death of Lord Kenmure--Design
of, and duties under, Affliction, 100
38. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Christ's Care of His Church, and
His Judgments on her Enemies, 102
39. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Preparation for Death and Eternity, 103
40. To _Lady Kenmure_.--When Mr. Rutherford had the Prospect
of being Removed from Anwoth, 105
41. To _Marion M'Naught_.--The Church's Trials--Comfort
under Temptations--Deliverance--A Message to the
Young, 106
42. To _Lady Kenmure_.--The World passeth away--Special
Portions of the Word for the Afflicted--Call to
Kirkcudbright, 108
43. To _Marion M'Naught_.--When Mr. Rutherford was in
difficulty as to accepting a Call to Kirkcudbright,
and Cramond, 111
44. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Troubles threatening the Church, 113
45. To _Marion M'Naught_.--In the Prospect of the Lord's
Supper, and of Trials to the Church, 113
46. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Tossings of Spirit--Her Children
and Husband, 114
47. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Submission to God's Arrangements, 116
48. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Troubles from False Brethren--
Occurrences--Christ's Coming--Intercession, 117
49. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Spoiling of Goods--Call to
Kirkcudbright--The Lord Reigneth, 119
50. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Christ coming as Captain of
Salvation--His Church's Conflict and Covenant--The
Jews--Last Days' Apostasy, 121
51. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Public Temptations--The Security
of every Saint--Occurrences in the Country-side, 123
52. To _Marion M'Naught_.--In the Prospect of her Husband
being compelled to receive the Commands of the
Prelates--Saints are yet to Judge, 125
53. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Encouragement under Trial by
prospect of Brighter Days, 126
54. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Public Wrongs--Words of Comfort, 126
55. To _Marion M'Naught_.--When he had been threatened with
Persecution for Preaching the Gospel, 128
56. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Reasons for Resignation--Security of
Saints--The End of Time, 129
57. To _Marion M'Naught_.--In the Prospect of Removal to
Aberdeen, 131
58. To _Lady Kenmure_.--On occasion of Efforts to introduce
Episcopacy, 131
59. To _Earlston, Elder_.--No Suffering for Christ unrewarded--
Loss of Children--Christ in Providence, 132
60. To _Marion M'Naught_.--When he was under Trial by the
High Commission, 135
61. To _Lady Kenmure, on the evening of his banishment to
Aberdeen_.--His only Regrets--The Cross unspeakably
Sweet--Retrospect of his Ministry, 136
62. To _Lady Culross, on the occasion of his banishment to
Aberdeen_.--Challenges of Conscience--The Cross
no Burden, 138
63. To _Mr. Robert Cunningham, at Holywood, in Ireland_.--
Consolation to a Brother in Tribulation--His own
Deprivation of Ministry--Christ worth Suffering for, 140
64. To _Alexander Gordon of Earlston_.--His Feelings upon
Leaving Anwoth, 143
65. To _Robert Gordon of Knockbreck, on his way to
Aberdeen_.--How Upheld on the Way, 144
66. To _Robert Gordon of Knockbreck, after arriving at
Aberdeen_.--Challenges of Conscience--Ease in Zion, 144
67. To _William Fullerton, Provost of Kirkcudbright_.--
Encouragement to Suffer for Christ, 145
68. To _John Fleming, Bailie of Leith_.--The Sweetness and
Faithfulness of Christ's Love, 147
69. To _Lady Kenmure_.--His Enjoyment of Christ in Aberdeen--
A Sight of Christ exceeds all Reports--Some ashamed
of Him and His, 148
70. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Exercise under Restraint from
Preaching--The Devil--Christ's Loving-kindness--
Progress, 150
71. To _Mr. Hugh M'Kail, Minister of Irvine_.--Christ to be
Trusted amid Trial, 152
72. To _William Gordon of Roberton_.--How Trials are
Misimproved--The Infinite Value of Christ--Despised
Warnings, 153
73. To _Earlston, the Elder_.--Satisfaction with Christ's
Ways--Private and Public Causes of Sorrow, 156
74. To _Lady Culross_.--Suspicions of God's Ways--God's Ways
always Right--Grace Grows under Trial, 157
75. To _John Kennedy, Bailie of Ayr_.--Longing after
Discoveries of Christ--His Long-suffering--Trying
Circumstances, 158
76. To _Robert Gordon of Knockbreck_.--Benefit of Affliction, 161
77. To _Lady Boyd_.--Aberdeen--Experience of himself Sad--
Taking Pains to win Grace, 163
78. To _Lord Boyd_.--Encouragement to Exertion for Christ's
Cause, 164
79. To _Margaret Ballantine_.--Value of the Soul, and Urgency
of Salvation, 166
80. To _Marion M'Naught_.--His Comfort under Tribulations,
and the Prison a Palace, 168
81. To _Mr. John Meine (jun.)_.--Experience--Patient
Waiting--Sanctification, 169
82. To _John Gordon of Cardoness, Elder_.--Win Christ at all
Hazards--Christ's Beauty--A Word to Children, 170
83. To _the Earl of Lothian_.--Advice as to Public
Conduct--Everything to be endured for Christ, 174
84. To _Jean Brown_.--The Joys of this Life embittered by
Sin--Heaven an Object of Desire--Trial a Blessed
Thing, 177
85. To _John Kennedy, Bailie of Ayr_.--The Reasonableness of
Believing under all Affliction--Obligations to
Free Grace, 179
86. To _Lord Craighall_.--Episcopalian Ceremonies--How to
Abide in the Truth--Desire for Liberty to preach
Christ, 181
87. To _Elizabeth Kennedy_.--Danger of Formality--Christ
wholly to be Loved--Other Objects of Love, 183
88. To _Janet Kennedy_.--Christ to be kept at every
sacrifice--His incomparable Loveliness, 185
89. To _the Rev. Robert Blair_.--God's Arrangements sometimes
Mysterious, 187
90. To _the Rev. John Livingstone_.--Resignation--Enjoyment--
State of the Church, 190
91. To _Mr. Ephraim Melvin_.--Kneeling at the Lord's Supper
a species of Idolatry, 192
92. To _Mr. Robert Gordon of Knockbreck_.--Visits of
Christ--The Things which Affliction Teaches, 195
93. To _Lady Kenmure_.--God's Dealings with Scotland--The Eye
to be directed Heavenward, 197
94. To _Lady Kenmure_.--The Times--Christ's Sweetness in
Trouble--Longing after Him, 198
95. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Christ's Cross Sweet--His Coming to
be Desired--Jealous of any Rival, 200
96. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Christ all Worthy--Anwoth, 201
97. To _Alexander Gordon of Earlston_.--Christ Endeared by
Bitter Experiences--Searchings of Heart--Fears
for the Church, 202
98. To _Mr. Alexander Colville of Blair_.--Increasing
Experience of Christ's Love--God with His Saints, 204
99. To _Earlston, Younger_.--Christ's Ways Misunderstood--His
increasing Kindness--Spiritual Delicacy--Hard to be
Dead to the World, 205
100. To _Lady Cardoness_.--The One Thing Needful--Conscientious
Acting in the World--Advice under Dejecting Trials, 208
101. To _Jonet Macculloch_.--Christ's Sufficiency--Stedfastness
in the Truth, 210
102. To _Alexander Gordon of Knockgray_.--Grounds of Praise--
Affliction tends to misrepresent Christ--Idols, 211
103. To _Lady Cardoness, Elder_.--Christ and His Cause
Recommended--Heavenly-mindedness--Caution against
Compliances--Anxiety about his Parish, 213
104. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Painstaking in the Knowledge of
Christ--Unusual enjoyment of His Love--Not Easy
to be a Christian--Friends must not mislead, 215
105. To _a Gentlewoman, upon the death of her Husband_.--
Resignation under Bereavement--His own Enjoyment
of Christ's Love, 217
106. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Weak Assurance--Grace different
from Learning--Self-accusations, 218
107. To _Lady Boyd_.--Consciousness of Defects no argument of
Christ being unknown--His Experience in Exile, 220
108. To _Lady Kaskiberry_.--Gratitude for Kindness--Christ's
Presence felt, 222
109. To _Lady Earlston_.--Following Christ not Easy--Children
not to be over-loved--Joy in the Lord, 223
110. To _Mr. David Dickson_.--God's Dealings--The Bitter
Sweetened--Notes on Scripture, 224
111. To _Jean Brown_.--Christ's Untold Preciousness--A Word
to her Boy, 226
112. To _Mr. John Fergushill_.--The Rod upon God's Children--
Pain from a sense of Christ's Love--His Presence a
Support under Trials--Contentedness with Him alone, 227
113. To _Mr. Robert Douglas_.--Greatness of Christ's Love
revealed to those who suffer for Him, 229
114. To _William Rigg of Athernie_.--Sustaining Power of
Christ's Love--Satan's Opposition--Yearnings for
Christ Himself--Fears for the Church, 230
115. To _Mr. Alexander Henderson_.--Sadness because of
Christ's Headship not set forth--His Cause
attended with Crosses--The Believer seen of all, 232
116. To _Lord Loudon_.--Blessedness of Acting for Christ--His
Love to His Prisoner, 234
117. To _Mr. William Dalgleish, Minister of Kirkdale and
Kirkmabreck_.--Christ's Kindness--Dependence on
Providence--Controversies, 237
118. To _Mr. Hugh M'Kail, Minister at Irvine_.--Christ's
Bountiful Dealings--Joy in Christ through the Cross, 239
119. To _Mr. David Dickson_.--Joyful Experience--Cup
Overflowing in Exile, 240
120. To _Mr. Matthew Mowat, Minister at Kilmarnock_.--
Plenitude of Christ's Love--Need to use Grace
aright--Christ the Ransomer--Desire to proclaim
His Gospel--Shortcomings and Sufferings, 242
121. To _William Halliday_.--Diligence in securing Salvation, 245
122. To a _Gentlewoman after the death of her Husband_.--Vanity
of Earthly Possessions--Christ a sufficient
Portion--Design of Affliction, 245
123. To _John Gordon of Cardoness, Younger_.--Reasons for
being earnest about the Soul, and for Resignation, 247
124. To _John Gordon of Cardoness, Elder_.--Call to
Earnestness about Salvation--Intrusion of Ministers, 248
125. To _Lady Forret_.--Sickness a Kindness--Christ's Glooms
better than the World's Joys, 249
126. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Adherence to Duty amidst
Opposition--Power of Christ's Love, 250
127. To _John Carsen_.--Nothing worth the Finding but Christ, 251
128. To the _Earl of Cassillis_.--Honour of testifying for
Christ, 252
129. To _Mr. Robert Gordon, Bailie of Ayr_.--Christ above All, 253
130. To _John Kennedy, Bailie of Ayr_.--Christ's Love--The
Three Wonders--Desires for His Second Coming, 254
131. To _Jean Brown_.--His Wisdom in our Trials--Rejoicing
in Tribulation, 257
132. To _Jean Macmillan_.--Strive to enter In, 259
133. To _Lady Busbie_.--Complete Surrender to Christ--No
Idols--Trials discover Sins--A Free Salvation--The
Marriage Supper, 260
134. To _John Ewart, Bailie of Kirkcudbright_.--The Cross no
Burden--Need of Sure Foundation, 262
135. To _William Fullerton, Provost of Kirkcudbright_.--Fear
not them who kill the Body--Unexpected Favour, 263
136. To _Robert Glendinning, Minister of Kirkcudbright_.--
Prepare to meet thy God--Christ his Joy, 264
137. To _William Glendinning_.--Perseverance against Opposition, 265
138. To _Mr. Hugh Henderson, Minister of the Gospel_.--Trials
selected by God--Patience--Looking for the Judge, 266
139. To _Lord Balmerinoch_.--His happy Obligations to
Christ--Emptiness of the World, 267
140. To _Lady Mar, Younger_.--No Exchange for Christ, 269
141. To _James Macadam_.--The Kingdom taken by Force, 270
142. To _William Livingstone_.--Counsel to a Youth, 271
143. To _William Gordon of Whitepark_.--Nothing lost by
Trials--Longing for Christ Himself, because of
His Love, 272
144. To _Mr. George Gillespie, Minister of Kirkcaldy_.--
Suspicions of Christ's Love Removed--Three Desires, 273
145. To _Jean Gordon_.--God the Satisfying Portion--Adherence
to Christ, 275
146. To _Mr. James Bruce, Minister of the Gospel_.--Misjudging
of Christ's Ways, 276
147. To _John Gordon, at Rusco_.--Pressing into Heaven--To
be a Christian no Easy Attainment--Sins to be
Avoided, 277
148. To _Lady Hallhill_.--Christ's Crosses better than
Egypt's Treasures, 278
149. To _John Osburn, Provost of Ayr_.--Adherence to
Christ--His Approbation worth all Worlds, 280
150. To _John Henderson, in Rusco_.--Continuing in Christ--
Preparedness for Death, 281
151. To _John Meine, Senior_.--Enjoyment of God's Love--Need
of Help--Burdens, 281
152. To _Mr. Thomas Garven_.--A Prisoner's Joys--Love of
Christ--The Good Part--Heaven in Sight, 283
153. To _Bethaia Aird_.--Unbelief under Trials--Christ's
Sympathy, 284
154. To _Alexander Gordon of Knockgray_.--Prospective Trials, 286
155. To _Grizzel Fullerton, daughter of Marion M'Naught_.--The
One Thing Needful--Christ's Love, 286
156. To _Patrick Carsen_.--Early Devotedness to Christ, 287
157. To _the Laird of Carleton_.--Increasing Sense of
Christ's Love--Resignation--Deadness to Earth--
Temptations--Infirmities, 288
158. To _Lady Busbie_.--Christ all Worthy--Best at our
Lowest--Sinfulness of the Land--Prayers, 290
159. To _John Fleming, Bailie of Leith_.--Directions for
Christian Conduct, 292
160. To _Alexander Gordon of Earlston_.--Hungering after
Christ Himself rather than His Love, 295
161. To _John Stuart, Provost of Ayr_.--Commercial
Misfortunes--Service-Book--Blessedness of Trials, 298
162. To _John Stuart, Provost of Ayr_.--The Burden of a
Silenced Minister--Spiritual Shortcomings, 302
163. To _John Stuart, Provost of Ayr_.--View of Trials
past--Hard Thoughts of Christ--Crosses--Hope, 304
164. To _Ninian Mure, one of the family of
Cassincarrie_.--A Youth Admonished, 307
165. To _Mr. Thomas Garven_.--Personal Insufficiency--Grace
from Christ alone--Longings after Him, 308
166. To _Cardoness, the Elder_.--A Good Conscience--Christ
kind to Sufferers--Responsibility--Youth, 310
167. To _Lady Boyd_.--Lessons learned in the School of
Adversity, 312
168. To _Mr. David Dickson_.--Christ's Infinite Fulness, 315
169. To _the Laird of Carleton_.--God's Working
Incomprehensible--Longing after any Drop of
Christ's Fulness, 317
170. To _Robert Gordon of Knockbreck_.--Longing for
Christ's Glory--Felt guiltiness--Longing for
Christ's Love--Sanctification, 319
171. To _the Laird of Moncrieff_.--Concert in Prayer--
Stedfastness to Christ--Grief misrepresents
Christ's Glory, 321
172. To _John Clark_.--Marks of Difference betwixt Christians
and Reprobates, 323
173. To _Cardoness, the Younger_.--Warning and Advice as
to Things of Salvation, 324
174. To _Lord Craighall_.--Idolatry Condemned, 326
175. To _John Laurie_.--Christ's Love--A Right Estimate of
Him--His Grace, 330
176. To _the Laird of Carleton_.--A Christian's Confession
of Unworthiness--Desire for Christ's Honour--Present
Circumstances, 331
177. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Christ Suffering in His Church--
His Coming--Outpourings of Love from Him, 335
178. To _Lady Culross_.--Christ's Management of Trials--What
Faith can do--Christ not Experience--Prayers, 337
179. To _Mr. John Nevay_.--Christ's Love Sharpened in
Suffering--Kneeling at the Communion--Posture
at Ordinances, 340
180. To _John Gordon of Cardoness, the Elder_.--Longings
for those under his former Ministry--Delight in
Christ and His Appearing--Pleading with his Flock, 344
181. To _Earlston, the Younger_.--Dangers of Youth--Christ
the best Physician--Four Remedies against
Doubting--Breathing after Christ's Honour, 348
182. To _Alexander Gordon of Knockgray_.--Joy in God--Trials
work out Glory to Christ, 353
183. To _Mr. J---- R----_.--Christ the Purifier of His
Church--Submission to His Ways, 355
184. To _Mr. William Dalgleish, Minister of the Gospel_.--The
Fragrance of the Ministry--A Review of his Past
and Present Situation, and of his Prospects, 358
185. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Longing to be Restored to his
Charge, 361
186. To _Robert Stuart_.--Christ chooses His own in the
Furnace--Need of a Deep Work--The God-Man, a
World's Wonder, 363
187. To _Lady Gaitgirth_.--Christ Unchangeable, though not
always Enjoyed--His Love never yet fully poured
out--Himself His People's Cautioner, 366
188. To _Mr. John Fergushill of Ochiltree_.--Desponding
Views of his own State--Ministerial Diligence--
Christ's Worth--Self-seeking, 368
189. To _John Stuart, Provost of Ayr_.--Hope for Scotland--
Self-submission--Christ Himself sought for by
Faith--Stability of Salvation--His Ways, 371
190. To _the Laird of Carsluth_.--Necessity of making sure
of Salvation--Vanity of the World--Nothing worth
having but Christ--Flight of Time, 373
191. To _the Laird of Cassincarrie_.--Earnestness about
Salvation--Christ Himself sought, 376
192. To _Lady Cardoness_.--Grace--The Name of Christ to be
Exalted--Everything but God fails us, 378
193. To _Sibylla Macadam_.--Christ's Beauty and Excellence, 380
194. To _Mr. Hugh Henderson, Minister of Dalry_.--The Ways of
Providence--Believing Patience, 381
195. To _Lady Largirie_.--Christ the Exclusive Object of
Love--Preparation for Death, 383
196. To _Earlston, the Younger_.--Sufferings--Hope of Final
Deliverance--The Believer in Safe Keeping--The
Recompense Marred by Temptations, 384
197. To _Mr. William Dalgleish, Minister of the Gospel_.--
Thoughts as to God's Arrangements--Winning Souls
to be Supremely Desired--Longings for Christ, 386
198. To _the Laird of Cally_.--Spiritual Sloth--Danger of
Compromise--Self, the Root of all Sin--
Self-renunciation, 388
199. To _John Gordon of Cardoness, the Younger_.--Dangers of
Youth--Early Decision, 390
200. To _Robert Gordon, Bailie of Ayr_.--The Misery of mere
Worldly Hope--Earnestness about Salvation, 393
201. To _Alexander Gordon of Earlston_.--Christ's Kingdom to
be Exalted over all; and more Pains to be taken to
Win farther into Him, 395
202. To _the Laird of Cally_.--Youth a Precious Season--
Christ's Beauty, 397
203. To _William Gordon, at Kenmure_.--Testimony to Christ's
Worth--Marks of Grace in Conviction of Sin and
Spiritual Conflict, 399
204. To _Margaret Fullerton_.--Christ, not Creatures, worthy
of all Love--Love not to be measured by Feeling, 401
205. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Difficulties in the way to the
Kingdom--Christ's Love, 402
206. To _Lady Kenmure_.--The Use of Sufferings--Fears under
them--Desire that Christ be Glorified, 404
207. To _John Henderson of Rusco_.--Practical Hints, 407
208. To _Alexander Colville of Blair_.--Regrets for not being
able to Preach--Longings for Christ, 408
209. To _Mr. John Nevay_.--Christ's Surpassing Excellency--His
Cause in Scotland, 409
210. To _Lady Boyd_.--His Soul Fainting for Christ's Matchless
Beauty--Prayer for a Revival, 410
211. To _a Christian Gentlewoman_.--God's Skill to bless by
Affliction--Unkindness of Men--Near the Day of
Meeting the Lord, 412
212. To _William Glendinning_.--Search into Christ's
Loveliness--What he would Suffer to see it--His
Coming to Deliver, 414
213. To _Robert Lennox of Disdove_.--Men's Folly in
Undervaluing Christ--It is He that satisfieth--
Admiration of Him, 416
214. To _Mr. James Hamilton, Minister of the Gospel_.--
Suffering for Christ's Headship--How Christ
visited him in Preaching, 418
215. To _Mistress Stuart_.--Personal Unworthiness--Longing
after Holiness--Winnowing Time, 421
216. To _Mr. Hugh M'Kail, Minister of Irvine_.--Advantages
of our Wants and Distempers--Christ Unspeakable, 423
217. To _Alexander Gordon of Garloch_.--Free Grace finding
its Materials in us, 425
218. To _John Bell, Elder_.--Danger of Trusting to a Name
to Live--Conversion no Superficial Work--
Exhortation to Make Sure, 427
219. To _Mr. John Row, Minister of the Gospel_.--Christ's
Crosses better than the World's Joys--Christ
Extolled, 429
220. To _Lord Craighall_.--Duty of being disentangled from
Christ-dishonouring Compliances, 430
221. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Her Prayers for Scotland not
Forgotten, 430
222. To _Lady Culross_.--Christ's Way of Showing Himself the
Best--What Fits for Him--Yearning after Him
insatiably--Domestic Matters, 431
223. To _Alexander Gordon of Knockgray_.--State of the
Church--Believers purified by Affliction--Folly
of seeking Joy in a Doomed World, 434
224. To _Fulwood, the Younger_.--Vanity of the World in the
light of Death and Christ--The Present Truth--
Christ's Coming, 436
225. To _his Parishioners_.--Protestation of Care for their
Souls, and for the Glory of God--Delight in his
ministry, and in his Lord--Efforts for their
Souls--Warnings against Errors of the Day--Awful
words to the Backslider--Intense Admiration of
Christ--A Loud Call to All, 438
226. To _Lady Kilconquhar_.--The Interests of the Soul and
Urgent--Folly of the World--Christ altogether
Lovely--His Pen fails to set forth Christ's
Unspeakable Beauty, 445
227. To _Lord Craighall_.--Standing for Christ--Danger
from Fear, or Promises of Men--Christ's Requitals--
Sin against the Holy Ghost, 449
228. To _Mr. James Fleming, Minister of the Gospel_.--
Glory Gained to Christ--Spiritual Deadness--Help
to Praise Him--The Ministry, 451
229. To _Mr. Hugh M'Kail, Minister of Irvine_.--The
Law--This World under Christ's Control for the Believer, 454
230. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Believer Safe though Tried--Delight
in Christ's Truth, 455
231. To _Lord Lindsay of Byres_.--The Church's Desolations--The
End of the World, and Christ's Coming--His
Attractiveness, 457
232. To _Lord Boyd_.--Seeking Christ in Youth--Its
Temptations--Christ's Excellence--The Church's
Cause concerns the Nobles, 457
233. To _Fulk Ellis_.--Friends in Ireland--Difficulties in
Providence--Unfaithfulness to Light--Constant Need
of Christ, 463
234. To _James Lindsay_.--Desertions, their Use--Prayers of
Reprobates, and how the Gospel affects their
Responsibility, 466
235. To _Lord Craighall_.--Fear God, not Man--Sign of
Backsliding, 470
236. To _Mr. James Hamilton, Minister of the Gospel_.--
Christ's Glory not affected by His People's
Weakness, 471
237. To _the Laird of Gaitgirth_.--Truth worth Suffering
for--Light Sown, but the Evil of this World till
Christ comes, 471
238. To _Lady Gaitgirth_.--Christ and Example in Bearing
Crosses--The extent to which Children should be
Loved--Why Saints Die, 473
239. To _Mr. Matthew Mowat, Minister of Kilmarnock_.--What
am I?--Longing to Act for Christ--Unbelief--Love in the
Hiding of Christ's Face--Christ's Reproach, 474
240. To _Mr. John Meine, Jun._--Christ the Same--Youthful
Sins--No Dispensing with Crosses, 476
241. To _John Fleming, Baillie of Leith_.--Riches of Christ
Fail Not--Salvation--Vanity of Created Comforts--
Longing for more of Christ, 477
242. To _Lady Rowallan_.--Jesus the Best Choice, and to be
made sure of--The Cross and Jesus inseparable--
Sorrows only Temporary, 478
243. To _Marion M'Naught_.--His own Prospects--Hopes--
Salutations, 480
244. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Proceedings of Parliament--Private
Matters--Her Daughter's Marriage, 481
245. To _Lady Boyd_.--Imperfections--Yearnings after Christ--
Christ's Supremacy not inconsistent with Civil
Authority, 483
246. To _Mr. Thomas Garven_.--Heaven's Happiness--Joy in the
Cross, 485
247. To _Janet Kennedy_.--The Heavenly Mansions--Earth a
Shadow, 486
248. To _Margaret Reid_.--Benefits of the Cross, if we are
Christ's, 487
249. To _James Bautie_.--Spiritual Difficulties Solved, 489
250. To _Lady Largirie_.--Part with all for Christ--No
Unmixed Joy here, 494
251. To _Lady Dungueich_.--Jesus or the World--Scotland's
Trials and Hopes, 495
252. To _Janet Macculloch_.--Cares to be cast on Christ--
Christ a Steady Friend, 496
253. To _Mr. George Gillespie_.--Christ the True Gain, 497
254. To _Mr. Robert Blair_.--Personal Unworthiness--God's
Grace--Prayer for Others, 498
255. To _Lady Carleton_.--Submission to God's Will--Wonders
in the Love of Christ--No debt to the World, 500
256. To _William Rigge of Athernie_.--The Law--Grace--Chalking
out Providences for ourselves--Prescribing to His
Love, 501
257. To _Lady Graighall_.--The Comforts of Christ's Cross--
Desires for Christ, 503
258. To _Lord Loudon_.--The Wisdom of adhering to Christ's
Cause, 504
259. To _David Dickson_.--Danger of Worldly Ease--Personal
Occurrences, 507
260. To _Alexander Gordon of Earlston_.--All Crosses Well
Ordered--Providences, 508
261. To _Lady Kilconquhair_.--The Kingdom to be taken by
Violence, 510
262. To _Robert Lennox of Disdove_.--Increasing Experience
of Christ's Love--Salvation to be made sure, 512
263. To_ Marion M'Naught_.--Hope in Trial--Prayer and
Watchfulness, 513
264. To _Thomas Corbet_.--Godly Counsels--Following Christ, 514
265. To _Mr. George Dunbar, Minister of the Gospel_.--Christ's
Love in Affliction--The Saint's Support and Final
Victory, 515
266. To _John Fleming, Bailie of Leith_.--Comfort Abounding
under Trials, 517
267. To _William Glendinning, Bailie of Kirkcudbright_.--The
Past and the Future--Present Happiness, 517
268. To _the Earl of Cassillus_.--Anxiety for the Prosperity
of Zion--Encouragement for the Nobles to Support
it--The Vanity of this World, and the Folly and
Misery of forsaking Christ--The One Way to Heaven, 519
269. To _his Parishioners at Anwoth_.--Exhortationn to abide
in the Truth, in prospect of Christ's Coming--
Scriptural Mode of Observing Ordinanaces such as
the Sabbath, Family Prayer, and the Lord's Supper--
Judgments Anticipated, 521
270. To _Lady Busbie_.--His Experience of Christ's Love--State
of the Land and Church--Christ not duly Esteemed--
Desire after Him, and for a Revival, 524
271. To _Earlston, Younger_.--Prosperity under the Cross--Need
of Security, and being founded on Christ, 526
272. To _John Gordon_.--Christ all Worthy--This World a Clay
Prison--Desire for a Revival of Christ's Cause, 527
273. To _William Rigge of Athernie_.--Comfort in Trials from
the Knowledge of Christ's Power and Work--
Corruption--Free Grace, 529
274. To _James Murray_.--The Christian Life a Mystery to the
World--Chrsit's Kindness, 530
275. To _Mr. John Fergushill_.--Spiritual Longings under
Christ's Cross--How to bear it--Christ Precious,
and to be had without Money--The Church, 531
276. To _William Glendinning_.--Sweetness of Trial--Swiftness
of Time--Prevalence of Sin, 534
277. To _Lady Boyd_.--Sense of Unworthiness--Obligation to
Grace--Christ's Absence--State of the Land, 536
278. To _The Earl of Cassillis_.--Ambition--Christ's Royal
Prerogative--Prelacy, 538
279. To _Marion M'Naught_.--A Spring-tide of Christ's Love, 540
280. To _John Gordon of Rusco_.--Heaven hard to be won--
Many come short in Attaining--Idol Sins to be
renounced--Likeness to Christ, 541
281. To _Lord Loudoun_.--True Honour in maintaining
Christ's Cause--Prelacy--Light of Eternity, 543
282. To _Lady Robertland_.--Afflictions purify--The World's
Vanity--Christ's wise love, 545
283. To _Thomas Macculloch of Nether Ardwell_.--Earnest Call
to Diligence--Circumspect Walking, 548
284. To _the Professors of Christ and His Truth in Ireland_.--
The Way to Heaven ofttimes through Persecution--
Christ's Worth--Making sure our Profession--
Self-denial--No Compromise--Tests of Sincerity--His
own Desire for Christ's Glory, 549
285. To _Robert Gordon of Knockbreck_.--Not the Cross, but
Christ the Object of Attraction--Too little expected
from Him--Spiritual Deadness, 555
286. To _the Parishioners of Kilmalcolm_.--Spiritual Sloth--
Advice to Beginniers--A Dead Ministry--Languor--
Obedience--Want of Christ's Felt Presence--Assurance
Important--Prayer Meetings, 559
287. To _Lady Kenmure_.--On the Death of her Child--Christ
Shares His People's Sorrows, 565
288. To _the Persecuted Church in Ireland_.--Christ's Legacy
of Trouble--God's Dealings with Scotland in giving
Prosperity--Christ takes Half of all Sufferings--
Steadfastness for His Crown--His Love should lead
to Holiness, 568
289. To _Dr. Alexander Leighton_.--Public Blessings alleviate
Private Sufferings--Trials Light when viewed in the Light
of Heaven--Christ worthy of Suffering for, 575
290. To _a Person unknown_.--Anent Private Worship, 578
291. To _Henry Stuart, and Family, Prisoners of Christ at
Dublin_.--Faith's preparation for Trial--The World's
Rage against Christ--The Immensity of His Glorious
Beauty--Folly of Persecution--Victory Sure, 579
292. To _Mrs. Pont, Prisoner at Dublin_.--Support under
Trials--The Master's Reward, 585
293. To _Mr. James Wilson_.--Advices to a Doubting Soul--
Mistakes about his Interest in God's Love--
Temptation--Perplexity about Prayer--Want of
Feeling, 588
294. To _Lady Boyd_.--Sins of the Land--Dwelling in Christ--
Faith awake sees all well, 591
295. To _John Fenwick_.--Christ the Fountain--Freeness of
God's Love--Faith to be exercised under Frowns--
Grace for Trials--Hope of Christ yet to be exalted
on the Earth, 593
296. To _Peter Stirling_.--Believers' Graces all from Christ--
Aspiration after more Love to Him--His Reign Desired, 599
297. To _Lady Fingast_.--Faith's Misgivings--Spiritual Darkness
not Grace--Chrit's Love Inimitable, 600
298. To _Mr. David Dickson, on the Death of his Son_.--God's
Sovereignty, and Discipline by Affliction, 602
299. To _Lady Boyd, on the Loss of several Friends_.--Trust
even though slain--Second Causes not to be
regarded--God's thoughts of Peace therein--All in
Mercy, 603
300. To _Agnes Macmath, on the Death of a Child_.--Reason for
Resignation, 607
301. To _Mr. Matthew Mowat, Minister of Kilmarnock_.--
Worthiness of God's Love as manifested in Christ--
Heaven with Christ, 608
302. To _Lady Kenmure, on her Husband's Death_.--God's Method
in Affliction--Future Glory, 609
303. To _Lady Boyd_.--Sin of the Land--Read Prayers--Brownism, 611
304. To _James Murray's Wife_.--Heaven a Reality--
Steadfastness to be grounded on Christ, 612
305. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Sins of the Times--Practical Atheism, 613
306. To _Mr. Thomas Wylie, Minister of Borgue_.--Sufficiency
of Divine Grace--Call to England to assist at
Westminster Assembly--Felt Unworthiness, 614
307. To _a Young Man in Anwoth_.--Necessity of Godliness in
its Power, 615
308. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Westminster Assembly--Religious
Sects, 616
309. To _Lady Boyd_.--Proceedings of Westminster Assembly, 618
310. To _Mistress Taylor, on her Son's Death_.--Suggestions
for Comfort under Sorrow, 620
311. To _Barbara Hamilton_.--On Death of her Son-in-Law--
God's Purposes, 623
312. To _Mistress Hume, on her Husband's Death_.--God's
Voice in the Rod, 625
313. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Christ's Designs in Sickness and
Sorrow, 626
314. To _Barbara Hamilton, on her Son-in-Law slain in
Battle_.--God does all
Things Well, and with Design, 627
315. To _a Christian Friend, on the Death of his Wife_.--God
the First Cause--The End of Affliction, 629
316. To _a Christian Brother, on the Death of his
Daughter_.--Consolation in her having gone before--
Christ the Best Husband, 630
317. To _a Christian Gentlewoman_.--Views of Death and
Heaven--Aspirations, 632
318. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Christ never in our Debt--Riches of
Christ--Excellence of the Heavenly State, 635
319. To _Mr. James Guthrie_.--Prospects for Scotland--His own
Darkness--Christ's Ability, 636
320. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Trials cannot Injure Saints--
Blessedness in Seeing Christ, 638
321. To _Lady Ardross, in Fife, on her Mother's Death_.--
Happiness of Heaven, and Blessedness of Dying
in the Lord, 639
322. To _M. O._--Gloomy Prospects for the Backsliding
Church--The Misunderstandings of Believers cause
of great grief--The Day of Christ, 640
323. To _Earlston the Elder_.--Christ's Way of Afflicting
the Best--Obligation to Free Grace--Enduring
the Cross, 642
324. To _Mr. George Gillespie_.--Prospect of Death--Christ
the true support in Death, 644
325. To _Sir James Stewart, Lord Provost of Edinburgh_.--
Declining Chair in Edinburgh, 645
326. To _Mistress Gillespie, Widow of George Gillespie_.--On
the Death of a Child--God Afflicts in order to save
us from the World, 646
327. To _the Earl of Balcarras_.--Regarding some
Misunderstanding, 648
328. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Singleness of Aim--Judgment
in regard to Adversaries, 649
329. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Courage in Days of Rebuke--
God's Arrangements all Wise, 651
330. To _William Guthrie_.--Depression under Dark Trials--
Dangers of Compliance, 652
331. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Courage in the Lord's
Cause--Duty in regard to Providence to be
observed--Safety in this, 654
332. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Christ's Cause deserves
Service and Suffering from us, 656
333. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker, when taken Prisoner_.--
Comforting Thoughts to the Afflicted--Darkness
of the Times--Fellowship in Christ's Sufferings--
Satisfaction with His Providences, 658
334. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Comfort under the Cloud
hanging over Scotland--Dissuasion from Leaving
Scotland, 662
335. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Difference between what is Man's
and Christ's, and between Christ Himself and His
Blessings, 663
336. To _Lady Ralston, Ursula Mure_.--Duty of Preferring
to Live rather than Die--Want of Union in the
judgments of the Godly, 665
337. To _a Minister of Glasgow_.--Encouraging Words to a
Suffering Brother--Why men shrink from Christ's
Testimony, 668
338. To _Lady Kenmure_.--A Word to Cheer in Times of Darkness, 671
339. To _Grizzel Fullerton_.--Exhortation to Follow Christ
fully when others are cold, 672
340. To _Mr. Thomas Wylie_.--Regarding a Letter of Explanation, 673
341. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Present Need helped by past Experience, 674
342. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Deadness--Hopes of
Refreshment--Distance from God--Nearness Delighted
in, 675
343. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--The State of the Land, 678
344. To _Mr. John Scot, at Oxnam_.--Excuse for Absence from
Duty, 679
345. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Thoughts for a Time of Sickness
about the Life to Come, 680
346. To _Simeon Ashe_.--Views of the Presbyterians as to
Allegiance to the Protector, 681
347. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Unkindness of the Creature--God's
Sovereignty in permitting His Children to be
Injured by Men, 682
348. To _Lady Kenmure_.--God's Dealings with the Land, 683
349. To _Mr. John Scot, at Oxnam_.--Protesters' Toleration, 683
350. To _Mr. John Scot, at Oxnam_.--Gloomy Times--Means of
promoting Godliness, 684
351. To _Mr. James Durham, Minister of Glasgow, some few
days before his Death_.--Man's Ways not God's
Ways, 685
352. To _Mr. John Scot, at Oxnam_.--Adherence to the
Testimony against Toleration, 686
353. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Trials--Deadness of the Spirit--
Danger of False Security, 686
354. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Prevailing Declension, Decay, and
Indifference to God's Dealings--Things Future, 688
355. To _the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright_.--Union--
Humiliation--Choice of a Professor, 689
356. To _Mr. John Murray, Minister at Methven._--A Synod
Proposal for Union--Brethren under Censure, 691
357. To _Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Trail, and the rest of their
Brethren imprisoned in the Castle of Edinburgh_.--
On Suffering for Christ--God's Presence ever with
His People--Firmness and Constancy, 692
358. To _Several Brethren_.--Reasons for Petitioning his
Majesty after his return, and for owning such as were
censured while about so necessary a Duty, 694
359. To _a Brother Minister_.--Judgment of a Draught of a
Petition, to have been presented to the Committee of
Estates, 696
360. To _Lady Kenmure, on the Imprisonment of her Brother,
the Marquis of Argyle_.--God's Judgments--Calls
to Flee to Him--The Results of timid Compliance, 698
361. To _Mistress Craig, upon the Death of her hopeful
Son_.--Nine Reasons for Resignation, 699
362. To _Mr. James Guthrie, Minister of the Gospel at
Stirling_.--Stedfast though Persecuted--Blessedness
of Martyrdom, 701
363. To _Mr. Robert Campbell_.--Stedfastness to Protest
against Prelacy and Popery, 703
364. To _Believers at Aberdeen_.--Sinful Conformity and
Schismatic Designs reproved, 701
365. To _Mr. John Murray, Minister at Methven_.--Proposal of
a Season of Prayer, 708
* * * * *
Index of the Chief Places and Individuals referred to in
the Letters, 711
Index of Special Subjects, 715
Glossary, 718
* * * * *
APPENDIX.
Editions of Rutherford's Letters, 736
Sample of the old Orthography, 740
Last Words; Poem by Mrs. Cousin, 741
SKETCH
OF
SAMUEL RUTHERFORD.
"Wherever the palm-tree is, there is water," says the Eastern proverb;
and so, wherever the godly flourish, there, we are sure, must the Word
of God be found. In the history of the Reformation we read of Brother
Martin, a poor monk at Basle, whose hope of salvation rested solely on
the Lord Jesus, long before Luther sounded the silver trumpet that
summoned sin-convinced souls to the One Sacrifice. Having written out
his confession of faith, his statement of reliance on the
righteousness of Christ alone, the monk placed the parchment in a
wooden box, and shut up the wooden box in a hole of the wall of his
cell. It was not till last century that this box, with its interesting
contents, was discovered: it was brought to light only when the old
wall of the monastery was taken down. The palm-tree speaks of the
existence of water at its root; the pure Word of God taught this man
his simple faith. And herein we learn how it was that Basle so early
became a peculiar centre of light in that region; the prayer and the
faith of that hidden one, and others like-minded, and the Word on
which they fed, may explain it all.
There is a fact not unlike the above in the history of the district
where Samuel Rutherford laboured so lovingly. The people of that shire
tell that there was found, some generations ago, in the wall of the
old castle of Earlston, in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, a copy of
"Wickliffe's Bible." It was deposited in that receptacle in order to
be hid from the view of enemies; but from time to time it was the lamp
of light to a few souls, who, perhaps in the silence of night, found
opportunity to draw it out of its ark, and peruse its pages. It seems
that the Lollards of Kyle (the adjoining district) had brought it to
Earlston. We know that there were friends and members of the family of
Earlston who embraced the Gospel even in those days. In the sixteenth
century, some of the ancestors of Viscount Kenmure are found holding
the doctrines of Wickliffe, which had been handed down to them. May we
not believe that the Gordons of Earlston, in after days, were not a
little indebted to the faith and prayers of these ancient witnesses
who hid the sacred treasure in the castle wall? As in the case of the
monk of Basle, their faith and patience were acknowledged in after
days by the blessing sent down on that quarter, when the Lord, in
remembrance of His hidden ones, both raised up the Gordons of
Earlston, with many others of a like spirit, and also sent thither His
servant Samuel Rutherford, to sound forth the Word of Life, and make
the lamp of truth blaze, like a torch, over all that region.
Samuel Rutherford was born about the year 1600. His father is
understood to have been a respectable farmer. He had two brothers,
James and George. But the place of his birth was not near the scene of
his after labours. It is almost certain that Nisbet, a village of
Roxburghshire close to the Teviot, in the parish of Crailing, was his
birthplace; the name Rutherford frequently occurs in the churchyard.
Not long ago, there were some old people in that parish who remembered
the gable-end of the house in which it was said that he was born, and
which, from respect to his memory, was permitted to stand as long as
it could keep together. And there was there a village well where, when
very young, Samuel nearly lost his life.[1] He had been amusing
himself with some companions, when he fell in, and was left there till
they ran and procured assistance; but on returning to the spot they
found him seated on a knoll, cold and dripping, yet uninjured. He told
them that "A bonnie white man came and drew him out of the well!"
Whether or not he really fancied that an angel had delivered him, we
cannot tell; but it is plain that, at all events, his boyish thoughts
were already wandering in the region of the sky.
[1] This village well is about three feet deep. It is now closed up
and worked by a pump.
He owed little to his native place. There was not so much of Christ
known in that parish then as there is now; for in after days he
writes, "My soul's desire is, that the place to which I owe my first
birth--in which, I fear, Christ was scarcely named, as touching any
reality of the power of godliness--may blossom as the rose" (Letter
cccxxxiv.). We have no account of his revisiting these scenes of his
early life, though he thus wrote to his friend, Mr. Scott, minister of
the adjoining parish of Oxnam. Like Donald Cargill, born in Perthshire
yet never known to preach there even once, Rutherford had his labours
in other parts of the land, distant from his native place. In this
arrangement we see the Master's sovereignty. The sphere is evidently
one of God's choosing for the man, instead of being the result of the
man's gratifying his natural predilections. It accords, too, with the
example of the Master, who never returned to Bethlehem, where He was
born, to do any of His works.
Jedburgh is a town three or four miles distant from Nisbet, and
thither Samuel went for his education; either walking to it, and
returning home at evening,--as a school-boy would scarcely grudge to
do,--or residing in the town for a season. The school at that time met
in a part of the ancient Abbey, called, from this circumstance, the
Latiners' Alley. In the year 1617 we find him farther from
home,--removed to Edinburgh, which, forty years before, had become the
seat of a College, though not as yet a University. There he obtained,
in 1621, the degree of Master of Arts. A single specimen (not elegant,
however) of his Latin verse remains in the lines he prefixed to an
edition of Row's "Hebrew Grammar," published at Glasgow, 1644--
Verba Sionææ gentis, submersa tenebris
Cimmeriis, mendax Kimchius ore crepat.
Quæ vos Rabbini sinuosa ænigmata vultis,
Nunc facilem linguam dicite quæso sacram.
Falleris, Hippocrates; male parcæ stamina vitæ
Curta vocas, artem vociferare μακραν;
Sit cita mors, rapido sit et hora fugacior Euro,
Bellerophontæis vita volato rotis:
Rouæi Hebracis sit mors male grata Camoenis.
Haec relege, ast artem dixeris esse brevem.
Soon after, he was appointed Regent, or Professor, of Humanity, though
there were three other competitors; for his talents had attracted the
notice of many. But, on occasion of a rumour that charged him with
some irregularity--whether with or without foundation, it is now
difficult to ascertain--he demitted his office in 1625, and led a
private life, attending prelections on theology, and devoting himself
to that study.
That there could not have been anything very serious in the rumour,
may be inferred from the fact that no church court took any notice of
the matter, though these were days when the reins of discipline were
not held with a slack hand. But it is not unlikely that this may have
been the time of which he says in a letter, "I knew a man who wondered
to see any in this life laugh or sport."[2] It may have been then that
he was led by the Spirit to know the things that are freely given us
of God.[3] We have no proof that he was converted at an earlier
period, but rather the opposite. He writes, "Like a fool as I was, I
suffered my sun to be high in the heaven, and near afternoon, before
ever I took the gate by the end."[4] And again, "I had stood sure, if
in my youth I had borrowed Christ for my bottom."[5] The clouds
returned after the rain; family trials, and other similar dealings of
Providence, combined to form his character as a man of God and as a
pastor.
[2] Letter ccxxiv.
[3] 1 Cor. ii. 12.
[4] Letter clxxvii.
[5] Letter ccxli.
In 1627 he was settled at Anwoth,[6] a parish situated in the
Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, on the river Fleet, near the Solway. The
church stood in a wide hollow, or valley, at the foot of the Boreland
Hill. Embosomed in wood, with neither the smoke nor the noise of a
village near, it must always have been a romantic spot--the very ideal
of a country church, set down to cherish rural godliness. Though at
this period Episcopacy had been obtruded upon Scotland, and many
faithful ministers were suffering on account of their resistance to
its ceremonies and services, yet he appears to have been allowed to
enter on his charge without any compliance being demanded, and
"without giving any engagement to the bishop." He began his ministry
with the text, John ix. 39. The same Lord that would not let Paul and
Timothy preach in Asia,[7] nor in Bithynia, and yet sent to the one
region the beloved John,[8] and to the other the scarcely less beloved
Peter,[9] in this instance prevented John Livingstone going to Anwoth,
which the patron had designed, and sent Rutherford instead. This was
the more remarkable, because Livingstone was sent to Ancrum, the
parish that borders on Nisbet, while he who was by birth related to
that place was despatched to another spot. This is the Lord's doing.
Ministers must not choose according to the flesh.
[6] See notice of the topography at Letter cxcviii. It is a mile and a
half from the modern Gatehouse of Fleet, a clean, English-looking
village.
[7] Acts xvi. 6, 7.
[8] Rev. i. 11.
[9] 1 Pet. i. 1.
During the first years of his labours here, the sore illness of his
wife was a bitter grief to him. Her distress was very severe. He
writes of it: "She is sore tormented night and day.--My life is bitter
unto me.--She sleeps none, and cries as a woman travailing in birth;
my life was never so wearisome."[10] She continued in this state for
no less than a year and a month, ere she died. Besides all this, his
two children had been taken from him. Such was the discipline by which
he was trained for the duties of a pastor, and by which a shepherd's
heart of true sympathy was imparted to him.
[10] Letter xviii.
The parish of Anwoth had no large village near the church. The people
were scattered over a hilly district, and were quite a rural flock.
But their shepherd knew that the Chief Shepherd counted them worth
caring for; he was not one who thought that his learning and talents
would be ill spent if laid out in seeking to save souls, obscure and
unknown. See him setting out to visit! He has just laid aside one of
his learned folios, to go forth among his flock. See him passing along
yonder field, and climbing that hill on his way to some cottage, his
"quick eyes" occasionally glancing on the objects around, but his
"face upward" for the most part, as if he were gazing into heaven. He
has time to visit, for he rises at three in the morning, and at that
early hour meets his God in prayer and meditation, and has space for
study besides. He takes occasional days for catechising. He never
fails to be found at the sick-beds of his people. Men said of him, "He
is _always_ praying, _always_ preaching, _always_ visiting the sick,
_always_ catechising, _always_ writing and studying." He was known to
fall asleep at night talking of Christ, and even to speak of Him
during his sleep. Indeed, himself speaks of his dreams being of
Christ.[11]
[11] Letter cclxxxvi.
His preaching could not but arrest attention. Though his elocution was
not good, and his voice rather shrill, he was, nevertheless, "one of
the most moving and affectionate preachers in his time, or perhaps in
any age of the church."[12] "In the pulpit (says one of his friends),
he had a strange utterance--a kind of skreigh, that I never heard the
like. Many times I thought he would have flown out of the pulpit when
he came to speak of Jesus Christ." An English merchant said of him,
even in days when controversy had sorely vexed him and distracted his
spirit, "I came to Irvine, and heard a well-favoured, proper old man
(David Dickson), with a long beard, and that man showed me all my
heart. Then I went to St. Andrews, where I heard a sweet,
majestic-looking man (R. Blair), and he showed me the majesty of God.
After him I heard a little, fair man (Rutherford), and he showed me
_the loveliness of Christ_."[13]
[12] "Wodrow's Church Hist." i. 205.
[13] "M'Crie's Sketches."
Anwoth was dear to him rather as the sphere appointed him by his
Master, than because of the fruit he saw of his labours. Two years
after being settled there, he writes, "I see exceedingly small fruit
of my ministry. I would be glad of one soul, to be a crown of joy and
rejoicing in the day of Christ." His people were "like hot iron, which
cooleth when out of the fire." In a sermon on Song ii. 8, he complains
of it being spiritually _winter_ in Anwoth. "The very repairing of
God's house, in our own parish church, is a proof. Ye need not go any
farther. The timber of the house of God rots, and we cannot move a
whole parish to spend twenty or thirty pounds Scots upon the house of
God, to keep it dry." Still he laboured in hope, and laboured often
almost beyond his strength. Once he says, "I have a grieved heart
daily in my calling." He speaks of his pained breast, at another time,
on the evening of the Lord's day, when his work was done.[14] But he
had seasons of refreshing to his own soul at least; especially when
the Lord's Supper was dispensed. Of these seasons he frequently
speaks. He asks his friend, Marion M'Naught, to help with her prayers
on such an occasion, "that being one of the days wherein Christ was
wont to make merry with His friends."[15] It was then that with
special earnestness he besought the Father to distribute "the great
Loaf, Christ, to the children of His family."
[14] Letter clxxxv.
[15] Letter xiv.
Another church was filled, but not altogether by parishioners.[16]
Many came from great distances; among others, several that were
converted, seventeen years before, under John Welsh, at Ayr. These all
helped him by their prayers, as did also a goodly number of godly
people in the parish itself, who were the fruit of the ministry of his
predecessor. Yet over the unsaved he yearned most tenderly. At one
time we hear him say, "I would lay my dearest joys in the gap between
you and eternal destruction."[17] At another, "My witness is in
heaven, your heaven, would be two heavens to me, and your salvation
two salvations." He could appeal to his people, "My day-thoughts and
my night-thoughts are of you;" and he could appeal to God, "O my Lord,
judge if my ministry be not dear to me; but not so dear by many
degrees as Christ my Lord."[18]
[16] The oak pulpit out of which he preached was preserved till a few
years ago. The old church (60 feet by 18) is in the shape of a barn,
and could hold only 250 sitters. It is now entirely a ruin. The years
1631 and 1633 were carved on some of the seats--perhaps the seats of
the Gordons, or other heritors. We may add, while speaking of this old
edifice, where "the swallows building their nest," seemed to the
exiled pastor "blessed birds," that the rusty key of that kirk-door is
now deposited in the New College, Edinburgh, sent to the museum there
as a precious relic several years ago by a friend, through Dr. Welsh.
The church is now roofless, its walls overgrown with ivy, in which the
sparrows build their nests at will. The tomb of Lady Cardoness, an
antique pile at the side of the wall, was removed in 1878, though the
slabs are preserved.
[17] Letter ccxvii.
[18] Letter ccxvii.
All classes of people of Anwoth were objects of his care. He
maintained a friendly intercourse with people of high rank, and very
many of his Letters are addressed to such persons. He seems to have
been remarkably blessed to the gentry in the neighbourhood--more far
than to the common people. There was at that time some friend of
Christ to be found in almost every gentleman's seat many miles around
Anwoth.
[Illustration: OLD CHURCH OF ANWOTH.]
But the _herd boys_ were not beneath his special attention. He writes
of them when at Aberdeen, and exclaims, "O if I might but speak to
thee, or your herd boys, of my worthy Master."[19] He had a heart for
_the young_ of all classes, so that he would say of two children of
one of his friends, "I pray for them by name;"[20] and could thus take
time to notice one, "Your daughter desires a Bible and a gown. I hope
she shall use the Bible well, which, if she do, the gown is the better
bestowed." He lamented over the few that cry "Hosanna" in their
youth. "Christ is an _unknown_ Christ to young ones; and therefore
they seek Him not, because they know Him not."
[19] Letter clxiii.
[20] Letter xiv.
He dealt with _individual parishioners_ so closely and so personally
as to be able to appeal to them regarding his faithfulness in this
matter. He addresses one of them, Jean M'Millan: "I did what I could
to put you within grips of Christ; I told you Christ's testament and
latter-will plainly."[21] He so carried them on his heart (like the
priest with the twelve tribes on his breastplate), that he could
declare to Gordon of Cardoness, "Thoughts of your soul depart not from
me in my sleep."[22] "My soul was taken up when others were sleeping,
how to have Christ betrothed with a bride in that part of the land,"
viz. Anwoth.[23] He so prayed over them and for them, that he fears
not to say, "_There_ I wrestled with the angel and prevailed. Woods,
trees, meadows, and hills, are my witnesses that I drew on a fair
match betwixt Christ and Anwoth."[24] It is related that, on first
coming to the parish, there was a piece of ground on Mossrobin farm,
in the hollow of a hill, where on Sabbath afternoon the people used to
play at foot-ball. On one occasion he repaired to that spot, and
pointed out their sin, solemnly calling on the objects round to be
witnesses against them, especially three large stones[25] close at
hand on the slope of the hill, two of which still remain, and are
called "_Rutherford's Witnesses_." The third was wantonly dislodged
some years ago; and it is said that the other two were removed to the
other side of the stone dyke, where they are now, for the sake of
security. This is the spot which is especially taken notice of by Dr.
Chalmers, in recording a visit to Anwoth and its neighbourhood (Life,
vol. iii. 130):--
"_Wednesday, August 23, 1826._--Started at five o'clock; ordered
the gig forward on the public road to meet us after a scramble of
about two miles among the hills, in the line of 'Rutherford's
Memorials.' Went first to his church; the identical fabric he
preached in, and which is still preached in.[26] The floor is a
causeway. There are dates of 1628[27] and 1633 on some old carved
seats. The pulpit is the same, and I sat in it. It is smaller
than Kilmany, and very rude and simple. The church bell is said
to have been given him by Lady Kenmure, one of his correspondents
in his Letters. It is singularly small for a church, having been
the Kenmure house bell. We then passed to the new church that is
building; but I am happy to say the old fabric and Rutherford's
pulpit are to be spared. It is a cruel circumstance that they
pulled down (and that only three weeks ago) his dwelling-house,
his old manse; which has not been used as a manse for a long
time, but was recently occupied. It should have been spared. Some
of the masons who were ordered to pull it down refused it, as
they would an act of sacrilege, and have been dismissed from
their employment. We went and mourned over the rubbish of the
foundation. Then ascended a bank, still known by the name of
_Rutherford's Walk_.[28] Then went further among the hills, to
_Rutherford's Witnesses_,--so many stones which he called to
witness against some of his parishioners who were amusing
themselves at the place with some game on the Sunday, and whom he
meant to reprove. The whole scene of our morning's walk was wild,
and primitive, and interesting."
[21] Letter cxxxii.
[22] Letter clxxx.
[23] Letter clxxxvi.
[24] Letter cclxxvii.
[25] Josh. xxiv. 27.
[26] It has not been preached in since the year 1827.
[27] A mistake for 1631.
[28] It was a walk among trees, close to the manse.
Once, while in Anwoth, his labours were interrupted (Letter xii.) by a
tertian fever which laid him aside for thirteen weeks. Even when well
recovered he could for a long time only preach on the Sabbath:
visiting and catechising were at a stand. This was just before his
wife's death in 1630, and he writes in the midst of it, "Welcome,
welcome, cross of Christ, if Christ be with it." "An afflicted life
looks very like the way that leads to the kingdom." And some years
thereafter, when his mother (who came from Nisbet and resided with him
six years after his first wife's death) was in a dangerous illness, he
touchingly informs one of his correspondents, to whom he writes from
Anwoth, "_My mother_ is weak, and I think shall leave me alone; but I
am not alone, because _Christ's Father_ is with me."[29]
[29] Letter xlix.
And what was his recreation? The manse of Anwoth had many visits of
kind friends, who, in Rutherford's fellowship, felt that saying
verified, "They that dwell under His shadow shall return; they shall
revive as the corn."[30] The righteous compassed him about, because
the Lord had dealt bountifully with him. His Letters would be enough
of themselves to show that his friendship and counsel were sought by
the godly on all sides. One of his visitors was his own brother,
George, at Kirkcudbright. This good man was a teacher in that town,
who often repaired to Anwoth to take sweet counsel with Samuel; and
then, together, they talked of and prayed for their only other brother
James, an officer in the Dutch service, who had sympathy with their
views, and, in after days, conveyed to Samuel the invitation to become
Professor at Utrecht. Visits of those friends who resided near were
not unfrequent--such as the Gordons, Viscount Kenmure and his lady,
and Marion M'Naught. But at times Anwoth manse was lighted up by the
glad visit of unexpected guests. There is a tradition that Archbishop
Usher, passing through Galloway, turned aside on a Saturday to enjoy
the congenial society of Rutherford. He came, however, in disguise;
and being welcomed as a guest, took his place with the rest of the
family when they were catechised, as was usual, that evening. The
stranger was asked, "How many commandments are there?" His reply was
"_Eleven_."[31] The pastor corrected him; but the stranger maintained
his position, quoting our Lord's words, "_A_ NEW COMMANDMENT _I give
unto you, that ye love one another_." They retired to rest, all
interested in the stranger. Sabbath morning dawned. Rutherford arose
and repaired, as was his custom, for meditation to a walk that
bordered on a thicket,[32] but was startled by hearing the voice of
prayer--prayer too from the heart, and in behalf of the souls of the
people that day to assemble. It was no other than the holy Archbishop
Usher; and soon they came to an explanation, for Rutherford had begun
to suspect he had "entertained angels unawares." With great mutual
love they conversed together; and at the request of Rutherford, the
Archbishop went up to the pulpit, conducted the usual service of the
Presbyterian pastor, and preached on "the New Commandment."
[30] Hos. xiv. 7.
[31] In the parish church of Chiseldon, North Wilts, there are to be
seen Eleven Commandments inscribed on a slab (which is affixed to the
chancel arch); the additional one consisting of our Saviour's
precept--"A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another"
(John xiii. 34). The church is quite an ancient one, dating back to
1641.
[32] The place is still pointed out by tradition, as "Rutherford's
Walk." It was close to the old manse, which was pulled down many years
ago. It stood about a quarter of a mile from the church, and bore the
name, _Bushy Bield_, or _Bush o' Bield, i.e._, the bush of shelter.
Some make it _Bush o' Biel_, and say it is a corruption of
_Bosco-bello_, fair-wood, _Boscobel_.
[Illustration: BUSH O' BEILD--RUTHERFORD'S HOUSE.]
Scarcely less interesting is the record of another unlooked-for
meeting. Rutherford had one day left home to go to the neighbouring
town of Kirkcudbright, the next day being a day of humiliation in that
place. Having no doubt spent some time with his like-minded brother,
he turned his steps to the house of another friend, Provost Fullerton,
whose wife was Marion M'Naught. While sitting with them in friendly
converse a knock at the door was heard, and then a step on the
threshold. It was worthy Mr. Blair, who, on his way from London to
Portpatrick, had sought out some of his godly friends, that with them
he might be refreshed ere he returned to Ireland. He told them, when
seated, that "he had a desire to visit both Mr. Rutherford at Anwoth,
and Marion M'Naught at Kircudbright; but not knowing how to accomplish
both, had prayed for direction at the parting of the road, and laid
the bridle on the horse's neck. The horse took the way to
Kirkcudbright, and there he found both the friends he so longed to
see." It was a joyful and refreshing meeting on all sides. Wodrow
tells[33] another incident that, in part, bears some resemblance to
this. Rutherford had been reasoning at Stirling with the Marquis of
Argyle, and had set out homeward. But his horse was very troublesome,
and he was feeling in his mind that he should have been more urgent
and plain! He returned, and dealt freely this time. And now his horse
went on pleasantly all the way.
[33] "Analecta," vol. ii. p. 161.
In 1634 he attended the remarkable deathbed of Lord Kenmure, a
narrative of which he published fifteen years after, in "The Last and
Heavenly Speeches and Glorious Departure of John Viscount Kenmure."
The inroads of Episcopacy were at this time threatening to disquiet
Anwoth. His own domestic afflictions were still affecting him; for he
writes that same year, in referring to his wife's death many years
before, "which wound is not yet fully healed and cured." About that
time, too, there was a proposal (never carried into effect) to call
him to Cramond near Edinburgh,[34] and another to get him settled at
Kirkcudbright.
[34] Letter xliii. His friend and neighbour Mr. Dalgleish, minister of
Kirkdale and Kirkmabreck, was translated to Cramond in 1639.
Meanwhile he persevered in study as well as in labours, and with no
common success. He had a metaphysical turn, as well as great
readiness in using the accumulated learning of other days. It might be
instructive to inquire why it is that wherever godliness is healthy
and progressive, we almost invariably find learning in the Church of
Christ attendant on it: while on the other hand, neglect of study is
attended sooner or later by decay of vital godliness. Not that all are
learned in such times; but there is always an element of the kind in
the circle of those whom the Lord is using. The energy called forth by
the knowledge of God in the soul leads on to the study of whatever is
likely to be useful in the defence or propagation of the truth;
whereas, on the other hand, when decay is at work and lifelessness
prevailing, sloth and ease creep in, and theological learning is
slighted as uninteresting and dry. With Samuel Rutherford and his
contemporaries we find learning side by side with vital, and
singularly deep, godliness. Gillespie, Henderson, Blair, Dickson, and
others, are well-known examples. Nor less distinguished was
Rutherford, who was led by circumstances in 1636 to publish his
elaborate defence of grace against the Arminians, in Latin. Its title
is, "Exercitationes de Gratia." So highly was it esteemed at
Amsterdam, where it was published, that a second edition was printed
that very year; and repeated invitations were addressed soon after to
the author to come to Holland, and occupy one or other of their
Divinity chairs. Soon after, the contest for _Christ's kingly office_
became increasingly earnest and keen. To Rutherford it appeared no
small matter. "I could wish many pounds added to my cross to know that
by my suffering Christ was set forward in His _kingly office_ in this
land."[35] July 27, 1636, was a day that put his principles to the
test. He was called before the High Commission Court, because of
nonconformity to the acts of Episcopacy, and because of His work
against the Arminians. The Court was presided over by Sydserff, Bishop
of Galloway, and was held at Wigton, about ten miles from Anwoth,
accross the Bay. He appeared in person there, and defended himself.
The issue could not be doubtful, though Lord Lorn made every exertion
in his behalf. He was deprived of his ministerial office, which he had
exercised at Anwoth for a period of nine years,[36] and banished to
Aberdeen. The next day (writing at evening on the subject), he tells
of his sentence, and calls it, "The honour that I have prayed for
these sixteen years." He made up his mind to leave Anwoth at once,
observing, with a submissiveness which we might wonder at in
[35] Letter cxv. _See also_ Letter liv.
[36] Letter cclxix. the author of "Lex Rex," "I propose to obey the
king, who has power over my body." His only alarm was lest this
separation from his flock might be a chastisement on him from the
Lord, "because I have not been so faithful in the end as I was in the
two first years of my ministry, when sleep departed from mine eyes
through care for Christ's lambs."[37]
[37] Letter cix.
On leaving Anwoth he directed his steps by Irvine, spending a night
there with his beloved friend David Dickson. What a night that must
have been! To hear these two in solemn converse! The one could not
perhaps handle the harp so well as the other; for David Dickson could
express his soul's weary longings and its consoling hopes in such
strains as that which has made his name familiar in Scotland, "O
mother dear Jerusalem;" but Rutherford, nevertheless, had so much of
poetry and sublime enthusiasm in his soul, that any poet could
sympathise with him to the full. Many of his letters "from _Christ's
palace_ in Aberdeen" are really strains of true poetry. What else is
such an effusion as this, when, rising on eagles' wings, he exclaims,
"A land that has more than four summers in the year! What a singing
life is there! There is not a dumb bird in all that large field, but
all sing and breathe out heaven, joy, glory, dominion, to the High
Prince of that new-found land. And verily the land is sweeter that He
is the glory of that land."[38] "O how sweet to be wholly Christ's,
and wholly in Christ; to dwell in Immanuel's high and blessed land,
and live in that sweetest air, where no wind bloweth but the
breathings of the Holy Ghost, no sea nor floods flow but the pure
water of life that floweth from under the throne and from the Lamb, no
planting, but the tree of life that yieldeth twelve manner of fruits
every month! What do we here but sin and suffer? O when shall the
night be gone, the shadows flee away, and the morning of the long,
long day, without cloud or night, dawn? The Spirit and the bride say,
'Come!' O when shall the Lamb's wife be ready, and the Bridegroom say,
'Come?'"[39] Whoever compares such breathings with David Dickson's
hymn will see how congenial were their feelings and their hopes, and
even their mode of expressing what they felt and hoped, though the one
used prose and the other tried more memorable verse.
[38] Letter cccxxiii.
[39] Letter cccxxxiv.
We follow Rutherford to Aberdeen, the capital of the North, whither he
was accompanied by a deputation of his affectionate parishioners from
Anwoth, in whose company he would forget the length and tediousness
of the way. He arrived here in September 1636. This town was at that
time the stronghold of Episcopacy and Arminianism, and in it the state
of religion was very low. "It consisted of Papists, and men of
Gallio's naughty faith."[40] The clergy and doctors took the
opportunity of Rutherford's arrival to commence a series of attacks on
the special doctrines of grace which he held. But in disputation he
foiled them; and when many began to feel drawn to him in consequence
of his earnest dealings and private exhortations, there was a proposal
made to remove him from the town. "So cold," writes he, "is northern
love!" But (added he) "_Christ and I will bear it_;"[41] deeply
feeling his union to Him who said to Saul, "Why persecutest thou
_Me?_" Often, on the streets,[42] he was pointed as "_the banished
minister_;" and hearing of this, he remarked, "I am not ashamed of my
garland." He had visitors from Orkney, and from Caithness, to the
great annoyance of his persecutors.[43] Some blamed him for not being
"_prudent enough_," as we have seen men ready to do in similar cases
in our own day; but he replies, "_It is ordinary that that should be
part of the cross of those who suffer for Him_." Still he enjoyed, in
his solitude, occasional intercourse with some of the godly ones,
among whom were Lady Pitsligo, Lady Burnet of Largs, Andrew Cant, and
James Martin. His deepest affliction was separation from his flock at
Anwoth. Nothing can exceed his tender sorrow over this flock.[44]
[40] Letter lxvi. Dr. James Sibbald, said to have been a man of great
learning, was minister in one of the churches of New Aberdeen.
Rutherford attended his preaching, and finding that he taught
Arminianism, testified against him.
[41] Letter cxvii.
[42] The impression of some readers might be that he was in prison.
But he never was so. He was _in exile_; but the whole town was his
_prison_. He was, in this respect, like Shimei confined to Jerusalem
(Letters lxviii., lxix., etc.). His house was in the Upper Kirkgate.
[43] Letter clxi.
[44] Letter clxxxi.
[Illustration: MARKET CROSS, ABERDEEN]
It was a saying of his own, "Gold may be gold, and bear the King's
stamp upon it, when it is trampled upon by men." And this was true of
himself. But he came out of his trial not only unscorched, but, as his
many letters from Aberdeen show, greatly advanced in every grace. The
Latin lines prefixed to the early editions of these Letters scarcely
exaggerate when they sing--
"Quod Chebar et Patmos divinis vatibus olim;
Huic fuerant sancto claustra Abredæa viro."
But we err if we suppose that it was only while there that he
experienced that almost ecstatic enjoyment of his Lord. He carried it
away with him; for is not this the same strain as pervades his
Letters, when, preaching in 1644, before the House of Commons in
London, he exclaims, "O for eternity's leisure, to look on Him, to
feast upon a sight of His face! O for the long summer day of endless
ages to stand beside Him and enjoy Him! O time, O sin, be removed out
of the way! O day! O fairest of days, dawn!"
He was, during part of two years, closely confined to that town,
though not in prison; but in 1638 public events had taken another
turn. The Lord had stirred up the spirit of the people of Scotland,
and the covenant was again triumphant in the land. Rutherford hastened
back to Anwoth. During his absence, "For six quarters of a year," say
his parishioners, "no sound of the Word of God was heard in our kirk."
The swallows had made their nests there undisturbed for two summers.
His Letters do not refer to the proceedings of the Glasgow Assembly of
1638. It is well known, however, that he was no mere indifferent
spectator to what then took place, but was present, and was member of
several committees which at that time sat on the affairs of the
church. Presbytery being fully restored by that Assembly, it was
thought right that one so gifted should be removed to a more important
sphere. He was sent by the church to several districts to promote the
cause of Reformation and the Covenant; and at length, in spite of his
reluctance, arising chiefly from love to his flock--his rural flock at
Anwoth--he was constrained to yield to the united opinion of his
brethren, and be removed to the Professor's Chair in St. Andrews in
1639, and become Principal of the New College. He bargained to be
allowed to preach regularly every Sabbath in his new sphere; for he
could not endure silence when he might speak a word for his Lord. He
seems to have preached also, as occasion offered, in the parishes
around, especially at Scoonie, in which the village of Leven
stands.[45]
[45] "In 1650, Mr. Samuel Rutherford, minister of St. Andrews, did
preach the preparation sermon in Cant. v. 2. Mr. Samuel had a lecture
on Monday following on the 20th chapter of Matthew's Gospel."
"_1651, July 13._--The comm. was given at Scoonie. Mr. Alex.
Moncrieff, m. there, did preach the Preparation Sermon, and on Monday
morning Mr. Sa. Rutherford did preach; his text at both occasions was
Luke vii. 36 till 39 ver. At this time was present, besides Mr. Sa.
Rutherford, Mr. Ja. Guthrie, and Mr. David Bennet, Mr. Ephraim Melvin,
and Mr. William Oliphant, m. in Dumfermlin. Thither did resort many
strangers, so that the throng was great. Mr. Ephraim and Mr. D. Bennet
both did sit within the pulpit while the minister had his sermon." So
again, "In _1652, June 13_.--Mr. S. R. of St. Andrews, did preach on
the Sabbath afternoon; his lecture Luke xiv.; his sermon Luke vii. 36,
38, to end. Mr. S. did exhort on Monday following, on his foresaid
text, Luke vii. 40, 44." Once more, "_1653, Aug. 11_.--A fast keepit
at Scoonie kirk, Mr. S. R. in the morning, lecture, Jonah ii.; his
text, Rev. iii. 1, at end. Afternoon preached on same; his lecture
Psalms cxxx., cxxxi." "_1654, Jan. 4._--Being Saturday, there was a
Preparation Sermon for a Thanksgiving preached at Scoonie in Fyfe, for
the continuance of the Gospel in the land and for the spreading of it
in some places of the Highlands in Scotland, where in some families
two and in some families one, began to call on God by prayer. Mr.
Samuel Rutherford, m. in St. Andrews, preached on Saturday; his text,
Isa. xlix. 9, 10, 11, 12. On the Sabbath, Mr. Alex Moncrieff, m., then
preached; his lecture, 1 Thess. ch. i.; his text, Coloss. i. 27. In
the afternoon of the Sabbath, Mr. Samuel preached again upon his
forementioned text. On Monday morning, Mr. Samuel had a lecture on
Psal. lxxxviii. He did read the whole Psalm. Observe, that on Saturday
Mr. Samuel had this expression in his prayer after sermon, desiring
that the Lord would rebuke Presbyteries and others that had taken the
keys and the power in their hands, and keeped out, and would suffer
none to enter (meaning in the ministry) but such as said as they
said."--"Lamont's Diary."
His hands were necessarily filled with work in his new sphere; yet
still he relaxed nothing of his diligence in study. Nor did he lack
anything of former blessing. It was here the English merchant heard
him preach so affectingly on the loveliness of Christ; while such was
his success as a Professor that "the University became a Lebanon out
of which were taken cedars for building the house of God throughout
the land."
In the year 1640, he married his second wife, Jean M'Math, "a woman,"
says one, "of such worth, that I never knew any among men exceed him,
nor any among women exceed her. He who heard either of them pray or
speak, might have learnt to bemoan his own ignorance. Oh how many
times I have been convinced, by observing them, of the evil of
unseriousness unto God, and unsavouriness in discourse." They had
seven children; but only one survived the father, a little daughter,
Agnes, who does not seem to have been a comfort to her godly
mother.[46]
[46] In the "Statistical Account of Scotland" it is stated that in
1642 he was presented to the church of Mid-Calder. But he must have
declined it at once; for in 1643 Mr. Hugh Kennedy is found the
ordained and settled pastor of that parish.
In July 1643, the Westminster Assembly began their sittings; and to it
he was sent up as one of the Commissioners from the Church of
Scotland. A sketch of a "Shorter Catechism" exists in MS., in the
library of the Edinburgh University, in _Rutherford's handwriting_,
very much resembling the Catechism as it now stands, from which it has
been inferred that he had the principal hand in drawing it up for the
Assembly. He continued four years attending the sittings of this
famous synod, and was of much use in their deliberations. So prominent
a part did he take, that the great Milton has singled him out for
attack in his lines, "On the new forcers of conscience, under the Long
Parliament." Milton knew him only as an opponent of his sectarian and
independent principles, and so could scorn measures proposed by "Mere
A. S.[47] and Rutherford." But had he known the soul of the man, would
not even Milton have found a sublimity of thought and feeling in his
adversary, that at times approached his own lofty poesy? How
interesting, in any point of view, to find the devoted pastor of
Anwoth, on the streets of London, crossing the path of England's
greatest poet.
[47] A. S. stands for _Adam Stewart_, who wrote a pamphlet,
"Zerubbabel to Sanballat."
During his residence in London he was tried with many afflictions.
Several of his family died; and his own health began to give way, so
that he and his brother minister, Mr. G. Gillespie, visited Epsom to
drink the waters. Yet such was the amazing spirit of the man, under a
sense of duty, that amid the trials and bustle of that time he wrote,
"The Due Right of Presbyteries," "Lex Rex," _i.e._ "The Law, The
King," and "Trial and Triumph of Faith." Nor was he soured by
controversy. In the preface to one of his controversial works, he
discovers his large-hearted charity and manly impartiality in regard
to what he saw in these parts. He writes: "I judge that in England the
Lord hath many names, and a fair company, that shall stand at the side
of Christ when He shall render up the kingdom to the Father; and that
in that renowned nation there be men of all ranks, wise, valorous,
generous, noble, heroic, faithful, religious, gracious, learned."[48]
[48] Preface to "Survey of the Spiritual Antichrist."
Returning home to St. Andrews, he resumed his labours both in the
college and in the pulpit with all his former zeal. In 1644, it
appears from the old minutes of Lanark Presbytery, a vacancy having
occurred, Rutherford was unanimously called to Lanark. He was inclined
to go, but the Presbytery of St. Andrews refused to loose him. He had
often preached at Lanark. He declined two invitations to the
professorship in Holland; one from Harderwyck in 1648, the other from
Utrecht in 1651; though the former offered the chair both of Divinity
and of Hebrew. He joined the Protestors in determinedly opposing the
proceedings of the Commission of Assembly, who had censured such as
protested against the admission to power of persons in the class of
malignants. His friend David Dickson keenly opposed him, and Mr. Blair
also, though less violently.[49] It was this controversy that made
John Livingstone say, in a letter to Blair, "Your and Mr. D. Dickson's
accession to these resolutions is the saddest thing I have seen in my
time. My wife and I have had more bitterness in this respect, these
several months, than ever we had since we knew what bitterness meant."
Rutherford wrote too violently on this matter.[50] Some say he was
naturally hot and fiery; but at this time all parties were greatly
excited. Still he did not lose his brotherly love--the same brotherly
love that led him so fervently to embrace Archbishop Usher as a
fellow-believer. We may get a lesson for our times from his remarks on
occasion of these bitter controversies. "It is hard when saints
rejoice in the sufferings of saints, and redeemed ones hurt, and go
nigh to hate, redeemed ones. For contempt of the communion of saints,
we have need of new-born crosses, scarce ever heard of before.--Our
star-light hideth us from ourselves, and hideth us from one another,
and Christ from us all." And then he subjoins (and is he not borne out
by the words of the Lord in John xvii. 22?): "A doubt it is if we
shall have fully one heart till we shall enjoy one heaven." The state
of things lay heavy on his mind: "I am broken and wasted by the wrath
that is upon this land."
[49] When the Lord's Supper was to be dispensed, Blair in vain used
every argument to induce Rutherford to take part with himself and Mr.
Wood in serving tables; and, being forced to do it alone, began thus:
"We must have water in our wine while here. O to be above, where there
will be no mistakes!"--"Wodrow's Anal."
[50] "Brodie's Diary" (May 27, 1653) says that S. R. in a conference
in "Warriston's Chambers" retorted, that he had heard much of peace
with men, but would like better to hear of a peace with God, and with
sin, that His wrath may be turned away, without which a patched peace
would be little effectual (p. 43). In June a longer conference (pp.
48, 49, 50).
It was in 1651 that he published his work "De Divinâ Providentiâ," a
work in which he assailed Jesuits, Socinians, and Arminians. Richard
Baxter (tinged as he was with the Arminian theology), in referring to
this treatise, remarked (says Wodrow), that "His Letters were the best
piece, and this work the worst, he had ever read." Of course, this was
the language of controversy, for the book is one of great ability. It
was this work, indeed, that drew forth several invitations from
foreign Universities. The ten years that followed were times of much
distraction, being the times of Cromwell and the Commonwealth, as well
as of the Protesters and Resolutioners. In 1651 the Scottish nation
resolved to crown Charles II., as lawful king, at Scone; and when the
young king was at St. Andrews, in prospect of that event, he visited
the colleges. It fell to Rutherford to deliver, on that occasion, an
oration in Latin before His Majesty, on a subject which he could
handle well, both as a patriot and a Christian, "The Duty of Kings."
Milton sings--
"God doth not need
Either man's work, or His own gifts; His state
Is kingly; thousands at His bidding speed,
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
_They also serve who only stand and wait_."
It is mentioned in "Lamont's Diary," 27th Sept. 1653, that at the
Provincial Synod of Fyfe, which met at St. Andrews, Mr. Samuel
Rutherford presented a paper to the Moderator, relating to the sins of
the ministry, which was not accepted. Upon the refusal of it, some
words passed between Rutherford and Mr. Robert Blair, the Moderator,
anent the public business. At the close of that meeting, two English
officers entered; upon which they were asked, "If they had come to sit
and voice with them?" They said, "No; only to see that they ruled
nothing in prejudice to the Commonwealth." The days were evil, and
Rutherford was longing now for such quiet service. He sometimes refers
to this desire; he wishes for a harbour in his latter days; only (adds
he), "failing is serving"--and he did delight in serving his Lord to
the last.[51] His friend M'Ward, in an advertisement prefixed to the
earlier editions of the Letters, bitterly laments the loss of a
Commentary on Isaiah, on which "this true Zechariah, who had
understanding in the visions of God,"[52] employed his leisure time
during the closing years of his life.[53] "His heart travailed more,"
says he, "in birth of this piece than ever I knew him of any; neither
was there ever anything he put his hand to that would have so
powerfully persuaded this panter after the enjoyment of his Master's
company, to have had his heaven and the immediate fruition of God
suspended for a season, as the eager desire he had to finish this work
before he finished his course." But all these papers were carried off,
and never recovered. So true is it, that of the seed we sow, we "know
not whether shall prosper, either this or that" (Eccles. xi. 6).
[51] In 1655, we find in "Diary of Brodie of Brodie," p. 141:--"Quhil
Mr. Rutherford, Mr. Blair, Mr. Wood, and many others, are labouring in
places, and as we hear come small speed; Oh, is it not a marvel that
_we_ should be discouraged!"
[52] 2 Chron. xxvi. 5.
[53] He planned a Commentary on Hosea in 1657, but the design was not
executed. Reference is made to this in Letter cx.
When Charles II. was fully restored, and had begun to adopt arbitrary
measures, Rutherford's work, "Lex Rex," was taken notice of by the
Government; for, reasonable as are its principles in defence of the
liberty of subjects, its spirit of freedom was intolerable to rulers,
who were, step by step, advancing to acts of cruelty and death.
Indeed, it was so hateful to them, that they burnt it, in 1661, first
at Edinburgh, by the hands of the hangman; and then, some days after,
by the hands of the infamous Sharpe, under the windows of its author's
College in St. Andrews. He was next deposed from all his offices; and,
last of all, was summoned to answer at next Parliament a charge of
high treason. But the citation came too late. He was already on his
deathbed, and on hearing of it, calmly remarked, that he had got
another summons before a superior Judge and judicatory, and sent the
message, "I behove to answer my first summons; and, ere your day
arrive, I will be where few kings and great folks come."
We have no account of the nature of his last sickness, except that it
was a lingering disease. He had a daughter who died a few weeks before
himself. All that is told us of his deathbed is characteristic of the
man. At one time he spoke much of "the white stone" and "the new
name." When he was on the threshold of glory, ready to receive the
immortal crown, he said, "Now my tabernacle is weak, and I would think
it a more glorious way of going home to lay down my life for the
cause, at the Cross of Edinburgh or St. Andrews; but I submit to my
Master's will." Some days before his death, after a fainting fit, he
said, "Now I feel, I believe, I enjoy, I rejoice." And turning to Mr.
Blair, "I feed on manna: I have angels' food. My eyes shall see my
Redeemer. I know that He shall stand on earth at the latter day, and I
shall be caught up in the clouds to meet Him in the air."[54] When
asked, "What think ye now of Christ?" he replied, "I shall live and
adore Him. Glory, glory to my Creator and Redeemer for ever. Glory
shineth in Immanuel's land." The same afternoon he said, "I shall
sleep in Christ; and when I awake, I shall be satisfied with His
likeness. O for arms to embrace Him!" Then he cried aloud, "O for a
well-tuned harp!" This last expression he used more than once, as if
already stretching out his hand to get his golden harp, and join the
redeemed in their new song. He also said on another occasion, "I hear
Him saying to me, 'Come up hither.'" His little daughter Agnes (the
only survivor of six children), eleven years of age, stood by his
bedside; he looked on her, and said, "I have left her upon the Lord."
Well might the man say so, who could so fully testify of his portion
in the Lord, as a goodly heritage. To four of his brethren, who came
to see him, he said, "My Lord and Master is chief of ten thousands of
thousands. None is comparable to Him, in heaven or in earth. Dear
brethren, do all for _Him_. Pray _for Christ_. Preach _for Christ_. Do
all for _Christ_; beware of men-pleasing. The Chief Shepherd will
shortly appear." He often called Christ "His Kingly King." While he
spoke even rapturously, "I shall shine! I shall see Him as He is! I
shall see Him reign, and all His fair company with Him, and I shall
have my large share"--he at the same time would protest, "I renounce
all that ever He made me will or do as defiled or imperfect as coming
from myself. I betake myself to Christ for sanctification as well as
justification." Repeating 1 Cor. i. 30, he said, "I close with it! Let
Him be so. He is my all and all." "If He should slay me ten thousand
times I will trust." He spoke as if he knew the hour of his departure;
not perhaps as Paul (2 Tim. iv. 6) or Peter (2 Peter i. 14), yet still
in a manner that seems to indicate that the Lord draws very near His
servants in that hour, and gives glimpses of what He is doing. On the
last day of his life, in the afternoon, he said, "This night will
close the door, and fasten my anchor within the veil, and I shall go
away in a sleep by five o'clock in the morning." And so it was. He
entered Immanuel's land at that very hour, and is now (as himself
would have said) "sleeping in the bosom of the Almighty," till the
Lord come.
[54] "Lamont's Diary," p. 133.
We may add his latest words. "There is nothing now between me and the
Resurrection but 'This day thou shalt be with Me in paradise.'" He
interrupted one speaking in praise of his painfulness in the ministry,
"I disclaim all. The port I would be in at is redemption and
forgiveness of sin through His blood." Two of his biographers record
that his last words were, "Glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel's land!"
as if he had caught a glimpse of its mountain-tops.
It was at St. Andrews he died, on 30th March 1661, and there he was
buried. "Lamont's Diary," p. 133, says: "He was interred on the 30th
of March, in the ordinary burial place." Had he lived a few weeks his
might have been the cruel death endured by his friend James Guthrie,
whom he had encouraged, by his letters, in stedfastness to the end.
The sentence which the Parliament passed, when told that he was dying,
did him no dishonour. When they had voted that he should not die in
the College, Lord Burleigh rose and said, "Ye cannot vote him out of
heaven."
His death was lamented throughout the land; and to this day few names
are so well known and honoured. So great was the reverence which some
of the godly had for this man of God, that they requested to be buried
where his body was laid. This was Thomas Halyburton's dying
request.[55] An old man in the parish of Crailing (in which Nisbet,
his birthplace, is situated) remembers the veneration entertained for
him by the great-grandfather of the present Marquis of Lothian. This
good Marquis used to lift his hat, as often as he passed the spot
where stood the cottage in which Samuel Rutherford was born. He was
twice married. His widow survived him fourteen years.
[55] See (ch. vi.) of "Memoir of Halyburton," who, on his deathbed,
quoted Rutherford's words, "Glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel's land."
[Illustration: RUINS OF ST. ANDREWS CATHEDRAL.]
If ever there was any portrait of him, it is not now known. The
portraits sometimes given of him are all imaginary. We are most
familiar with the likeness of his soul. There is one expressive line
in the epitaph on his tombstone, in the churchyard at the boundary
wall opposite the door of St Regulus' Tower--
"What tongue, what pen, or skill of men,
Can famous Rutherford commend!
His learning justly raised his fame,
True godliness adorn'd his name.
He did converse with things above,
_Acquainted with Immanuel's love_."
A monument to his memory was erected in 1842, by subscription, on the
Boreland Hill, in the parish of Anwoth. It is sixty feet in height,
and thus, seen all around, it seems to remind the inhabitants of that
region how God once visited His people there.
* * * * *
His letters have long been famous among the godly. The present edition
of them has several things to recommend it. 1. The Letters are
chronologically arranged. 2. They have biographical notices prefixed
to a large number of them. Most of these are from the pen of the Rev.
James Anderson. The present editor has added, here and there,
topographical notes that seemed to have some interest, most of them
gleaned on the spot. The explanatory notes in the edition by the Rev.
C. Thomson, 1836, have often been consulted with much advantage. 3.
There are contents prefixed to each Letter, describing generally what
are the main subjects of each. 4. _There are some new letters inserted
in this collection; and there is a facsimile of an unpublished letter
directed to the Provost of Edinburgh_, at the time when there was an
attempt made to call Rutherford to that city. The letter, which is
preserved in the Records of the Edinburgh Town Council, entreats them
to drop the matter. It is written in a very small hand, as was usual
with him, and the seal on it has the armorial bearing of the
Rutherford family.
[Illustration: RUTHERFORD'S MONUMENT ON BORELAND HILL.]
If it be asked how it came about that these letters should have been
at first printed in an order entirely unchronological, the explanation
is simple: The first edition appeared in 1664, and in it there were
only two hundred and eighty-four of his letters gathered and
published; but many being edified thereby, an edition soon appeared
with sixty-eight more letters appended. All these seem to have been
printed very much in the order in which they came to hand, and the
additional sixty-eight, more especially, disturbed all arrangement.
The collector was Mr. M'Ward,[56] who, as a student, being much
beloved by Rutherford, went to the Westminster Assembly with him as
his amanuensis or secretary. He was afterwards successor to Andrew
Gray in Glasgow, and finally minister in Rotterdam. He gave them to
the public with an enthusiastic recommendation, under the title,
"Joshua Redivivus;[57] published for the use of all the people of God,
but more particularly for those who are now, or afterwards may be, put
to suffering for Christ and His cause; by a well-wisher to the work
and people of God. John xvi. 2; 2 Thessal. i. 6." The edition was in
duodecimo, and was printed at Rotterdam. Not only were the Letters
first published in Holland, but also, in 1674, there appeared a Dutch
translation of them at Flushing.
[56] In "Lamont's Diary," April 1650, we read of "Mr. Robert Makeward,
sometime servant (_i.e._ secretary) to Mr. Samuel Rutherford, minister
of St. Andrews."
[57] Why "_Joshua_"? Did he think of the faithful witnessing in Joshua
xxiv.? Or is the reference to Joshua as one of the spies? _See_ Letter
cxviii.
It will be noticed, in reading the Letters as they stand
chronologically, that at times the pen of the ready writer ran on with
amazing rapidity. He has written many in one day when his heart was
overflowing. It was easy to write when the Lord was pouring on him the
unction that teacheth all things. He would have written still more,
but he had heard that people looked up to him and overpraised his
Letters. During his confinement at Aberdeen, he wrote about two
hundred and twenty of these letters.
There are a few distasteful expressions in these epistolary effusions,
the sparks of a fancy that sought to appropriate everything to
spiritual purposes; but as to extravagance in the thoughts conveyed,
there is none. An old Memoir of Richard Cameron, the martyr, mentions
at the close that it had become a fashion among "profane preachers and
expectants" to say of these Letters, "They are fit only for old
wives." Dr. Love, on the other hand, protests, "The haughty contempt
of that book which is in the heart of many will be ground for
condemnation when the Lord cometh to make inquisition after such
things" (Letter xiv.). The extravagance in sentiment alleged against
them by some is just that of Paul, when he spoke of knowing "the
height and depth, length and breadth," of the love of Christ; or that
of Solomon, when the Holy Ghost inspired him to write "The Song of
Songs." Rather would we say of these Letters, what Livingstone in a
letter says of John Welsh's dying words, "O for a sweet fill of this
fanatic humour!" In modern days, Richard Cecil has said of Rutherford,
"He is one of my classics; he is a real original;" and, in older
times, Richard Baxter, some of whose theological leanings might have
prejudiced him, if anything could, said of his Letters, "Hold off the
Bible, such a book the world never saw." They were long ago translated
into Dutch, and of late years they have been translated into German.
Both in these, and in his other writings, we see sufficient proof that
had he cultivated literature as a pursuit, he might have stood high in
the admiration of men.[58]
[58] Even in his controversial works, sparks of the same poetic fire
fly out when opportunity occurs. In his Treatise "De Divina
Providentiâ," the following paragraph occurs, extolling the glory of
Godhead wisdom. "Comparentur cum illa increata sapientia Dei Patris
umbratiles scintillulæ creatæ gloriolæ quotquot nominis celebritate
inclaruerunt. Delirat _Plato_. Mentitur _Aristoteles_. _Cicero_
balbutit, hæsitat, nescit Latine loqui. _Demosthenes_ mutus et
elinguis obstupescit; virtutis viam ignorat _Seneca_; nihil canit
_Homerus_; male canit _Virgilius!_ Accedant ad Christum qui virtutis
gloria fulgent! _Aristides_ virtutem mentitur. _Fabius_ cespitat, a
via justitiæ deviat. _Socrates_ ne hoc quidem scit, se nihil scire.
_Cato_ levis et futilis est; _Solon_ est mundi et voluptatum servus et
mancipium, non legislator. _Pythagoras_ nec sophos, nec philosophus
est. _Bias_ nec mundi nec inanis gloriæ contemptor. _Alexander Macedo_
ignavus est," &c. Another work bears this title: "Exercitationes
Apologeticæ pro Divinâ Gratiâ, studio et industria Samuelis
Rhætorfortis, Anwetensis, in Gallovidiâ, Scotiæ provinciâ Pastoris."
The preface, or dedication, to _Gordon of Kenmure_, is very
characteristic, ending thus: "Non enim ignoras in hac valle miseriarum
minime sistendum, neque tentorium figendum; ad æternitatem ipsam (quod
vere magnum nomen est & ineffabile) te vocari; crescere iter,
decrescere diem, omnia alia aliena, tempus tantum nostrum esse, si
modo nostrum est." In this preface he calls himself "_Pastor
Anwetensis_," the old spelling of Anwoth being _Anweth_.
His correspondents were chiefly persons residing either in Galloway,
where Anwoth was, or in Ayrshire; for these two counties at that time
were rich in godly men of some standing.
His pen suggests often, by a few strokes, very much that is profound
and impressive. There is something not easily forgotten in the words
used to express the Church's indestructibleness when he says, "The
bush has been burning these five thousand years, and _no man yet saw
the ashes of that fire_" (Letter cccxvii.). How much truth is conveyed
in that saying, "Losses for Christ are but goods given out in bank in
Christ's hand." There is an ingenious use of Scripture that often
delights the reader; as when he speaks of "The corn on the house-tops
that never got the husbandman's prayer," or of "Him that counteth the
basons and knives of His house (Ezra i. 9, 10), and bringeth them back
safe to His second temple" (Letter cccxxxiii.).
It is a curious fact that only in Letter cccxxv., does he speak of the
Holy Spirit, though elsewhere (see "Life of Grace") very full are his
statements of the Spirit's work. The truth is, a man full of the Holy
Ghost is full of Christ and testifies to Him.
These letters will ever be precious to--
1. _All who are sensible of their own, and the Church's decay and
corruptions._--The wound and the cure are therein so fully opened out:
self is exposed, specially _spiritual self_. He will tell you, "There
is as much need to watch over grace, as to watch over sin." He will
show you God in Christ, to fill up the place usurped by self. The
subtleties of sin, idols, snares, temptations, self-deceptions, are
dragged into view from time to time. And what is better still, the
cords of Christ are twined round the roots of these bitter plants,
that they may be plucked up.
Nor is it otherwise in regard to corruption in public, and in the
Church. We do not mean merely the open corruption of error, but also
the secret "grey hairs" of decay. Hear him cry, "There is universal
deadness on all that fear God. O where are the sometime quickening
breathings and influences from heaven that have refreshed His hidden
ones!" And then he laments, in the name of the saints, "We are half
satisfied with our witheredness; nor have we as much of his strain who
doth eight times breathe out that suit (Psalm cxix.), Quicken me!" "We
live far from the well, and complain but dryly of our dryness."
2. _All who delight in the Surety's imputed righteousness._--If
thoroughly aware of the body of sin in ourselves we cannot but feel
that we need a _person_ in our stead--the person of the God-man in the
room of our guilty person. "To us a Son is given;" not salvation only,
but a Saviour. "He gave _Himself_ for _us_."
These letters are ever leading us to the Surety and His righteousness.
The eye never gets time to rest long on anything apart from Him and
His righteousness. We are shown the deluge-waters undried up, in order
to lead us into the ark again: "I had fainted, had not want and penury
chased me to the storehouse of all."
3. _All who rejoice in the Gospel of free grace._--Lord Kenmure having
said to him, "Sin causeth me to be jealous of His love to such a man
as I have been," he replied, "Be jealous of yourself, my Lord, but not
of Jesus Christ." In his "Trial and Triumph of Faith" he remarks, "As
holy walking is a duty coming from us, it is no ground of true peace.
Believers often seek in themselves what they should seek in Christ."
It is to the like effect he says in one of his letters, "Your heart is
not the compass that Christ saileth by,"--turning away his friend
from looking inward, to look upon the heart of Jesus. And this is his
meaning, when he thus lays the whole burden of salvation on the Lord,
and leaves nothing for us but acceptance, "Take ease to thyself, and
let Him bear all."[59] Then, pointing us to the risen Saviour as our
pledge of complete redemption, "Faith may dance, because Christ
singeth;"[60] "Faith _apprehendeth pardon_, but never payeth a penny
for it."[61] On his death-bed he said to his friends, "I disclaim all
that ever God made me will or do, and I look upon it as defiled and
imperfect." And so in his Letters he will admit of no addition, or
intermixture of other things, "The Gospel is like a small hair that
hath no breadth, and will not cleave in two."[62] He exhorts to
_Assurance_ as being the way to be humbled very low before God:
"Complaining is but a humble backbiting and traducing of Christ's new
work in the soul." "Make meikle of assurance, for it keepeth your
anchor fixed."[63] He warns us, in his "Trial and Triumph of Faith,"
"not to be too desirous of keen awakenings to chase us to Christ. Let
Christ tutor me as he thinketh good. He has seven eyes: I have but
one, and that too dim." In a similar strain he writes:--"The law shall
never be my doomster, by Christ's grace; I shall find a sure enough
doom in the Gospel to humble and cast me down. _There cannot be a more
humble soul than a believer. It is no pride in a drowning man to catch
hold of a rock._"[64] How much truth there is here! Naaman never was
humble in any degree, until he felt himself _completely healed_ of his
scaly leprosy; but truly he was humbled and humble then. And what one
word is there that suggests so many humbling thoughts as that word
"_grace_"?
[59] Letter clxxxii.
[60] Letter clxxxiii.
[61] Letter clxxxii.
[62] Letter cclxxix.
[63] Letter cclxxxviii.
[64] Letter ccxxx.
4. _All who seek to grow in holiness._--The Holy Ghost delights to
show us the glorious Godhead, in the face of Jesus. And this is a very
frequent theme in these Letters. "Take Christ for sanctification, as
well as justification," is often his theme. And in him we see a man
who seems to have fought for _holiness_ as unceasingly and as eagerly
as other men seek for _pardon and peace_. In him "_Holiness to the
Lord_" seems written on every affection of the heart, and on every
fresh-springing thought.
Fellowship with the living God is a distinguishing feature in the
holiness given by the Holy Ghost; we get "access by one Spirit to the
Father through Him."[65] Rutherford could sometimes say, "I have been
so near Him that I have said, 'I take instruments that this is the
Lord.'"[66] And he could from experience declare, "I dare avouch, the
saints know not the length and largeness of the sweet Earnest, and of
the sweet green sheaves before the harvest, that might be had on this
side of the water, _if we should take more pains_."[67] "I am every
way in your case, as hard-hearted and dead as any man, but yet I speak
to Christ through my sleep."[68] All this is from the pen of a man who
was a metaphysician, a controversialist, a leader in the church, and
learned in ancient and scholastic lore. Why are there not such
gracious, as well as great men now?
[65] Ephes. ii. 18.
[66] Letter xcix.
[67] Letter ccii.
[68] Letter cclxxxvi.
5. _All afflicted persons._--Here he had the very "tongue of the
learned, to speak a word in season to him that was weary." And with
what tender sympathy does he speak, leading the mourner so gently to
the heart of Jesus! He knew the heart of a stranger, for he had been a
stranger. "Let no man after me slander Christ for His cross."[69] Yes,
says he, His most loved are often His most tried: "The lintel-stone
and pillars of His New Jerusalem suffer more knocks of God's hammer
and tools than the common side-wall stones."[70] Even as to reproach
and calumny, he declares, "I love Christ's worst reproaches."
[69] Letter cvii.
[70] Letter cii.
It was to Hugh M'Kail, uncle of the youthful martyr, that he penned
the words, "Some have written me that I am possibly too joyful of the
cross; but my joy overleapeth the cross--it is bounded and terminated
on Christ."[71] And there it was he found a well of comfort never dry.
[71] Letter ccvi.
6. _All who love the Person of Christ._--We have too often been
satisfied with speculative truth and abstract doctrine. On the one
hand, the orthodox have too often rested in the statements of our
Catechisms and Confessions; and, on the other, the "Election-doubters"
(as Bunyan would have called them) have pressed their favourite dogma,
that Christ died for all men, as if mere assent to a proposition could
save the soul. Rutherford places the truth before us in a more
accurate, and also more savoury way, full of life and warmth. The
Person of Him who gave Himself for His church is held up in all its
attractiveness. With him, it is ever the Person as much as the work
done; or rather, never the one apart from the other. Like Paul, he
would fain know _Him_, as well as the power of His resurrection.[72]
[72] Phil. iii. 10.
Once, when Lord Kenmure asked him, "What will Christ be like when He
cometh?" his reply was, "_All lovely_." And this is everywhere the
favourite theme with him. At times he tells of His love. "His love
surroundeth and surchargeth me."[73] "If His love was not in heaven, I
should be unwilling to go thither."[74] Often he checks his pen to
tell of _Christ Himself_, "Welcome, welcome, sweet, sweet cross of
Christ;"--then correcting his language, "Welcome, fair, lovely, _royal
King, with Thine own cross_."[75] "O if I could doat as much upon
_Himself_ as I do upon His love."[76] "I fear I make more of His love
than of _Himself_."[77] How startling yet how true, is this remark, "I
see that in communion with Christ we may make more gods than
one,"[78]--meaning that we may be tempted to make the enjoyment itself
our god. It was his habitual aim to pass through privileges, joys,
even fellowship, to God Himself: "I have casten this work upon Christ,
to get me _Himself_."[79] "I would be farther in upon Christ than at
His joys; in, where love and mercy lodgeth; beside His heart."[80] "He
who sitteth on the throne is His lone a sufficient heaven."[81] "Sure
I am He is the far best half of heaven."[82]
[73] Letter civ.
[74] Letter civ.
[75] Letter lxi.
[76] Letter clx.
[77] Letter clxxix.
[78] Letter clxviii.
[79] Letter clxxxvii.
[80] Letter cclxxxvi.
[81] Letter ccclii.
[82] Letter cclxxix.
In a word, such was his soul's view of the living Person, that he
writes, "Holiness is not _Christ_, nor the blossoms and flowers of the
tree of life, nor the tree itself."[83] He had found out the true
fountain-head, and would direct all Zion's travellers thither. And let
a man try this; let the Holy Spirit lead a man to this _Person_;--and
surely his experience will be, "None ever came up dry from David's
well."
[83] Letter cccxxxvi.
7. _All who love that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the
great God our Saviour._--The more we love the Person of Christ, the
more ought we to love His appearing; and the more we cherish both
feelings, the holier shall we become. Rutherford abounds in
aspirations for that day; he is one who "looks for and hastens unto
the coming of the day of God!" While in exile at Aberdeen in 1637, he
writes, "O when will we meet! O how long is it to the dawning of the
marriage day! O sweet Jesus, take wide steps! O my Lord, come over
mountains at one stride! O my Beloved, flee as a roe or young hart
upon the fountains of separation." Now and then he utters the
expression of an intense desire for the restoration of Israel to
their Lord, and the fulness of the Gentiles; but far oftener his
desires go forth to his Lord Himself. "O fairest among the sons of
men, why stayest Thou so long away? O heavens, move fast! O time, run,
run, and hasten the marriage day!" To Lady Kenmure his words are, "The
Lord hath told you what you should be doing till He come. 'Wait and
hasten,' saith Peter, 'for the coming of the Lord.' Sigh and long for
the dawning of that morning, and the breaking of that day, of the
coming of the Son of Man, when the shadows shall flee away. Wait with
the wearied night-watch for the breaking of the eastern sky." Those
saints who feel most keenly the world's enmity, and the Church's
imperfection, are those who will most fervently love their Lord's
appearing. It was thus with Daniel on the banks of Ulai, and with John
in Patmos; and Samuel Rutherford's most intense aspirations for that
day are breathed out in Aberdeen.
His description of himself on one occasion is, "A man often borne down
and hungry, and waiting for the marriage supper of the Lamb."[84] He
is now gone to the "mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense;"
and there he no doubt still wonders at the unopened, unsearchable
treasures of Christ. But O for his insatiable desires Christward! O
for ten such men in Scotland to stand in the gap!--men who all day
long find nothing but Christ to rest in, whose very sleep is a
pursuing after Christ in dreams, and who intensely desire to "awake
with His likeness."
[84] Letter lxiii.
LIST OF HIS WORKS.
1. _Exercitationes Apologeticæ pro Divina Gratia._ Amstelodami,
12mo, 1636. Franekeræ, 1651.
2. _A Peaceable and Temperate Plea for Paul's Presbytery in
Scotland._ London, 4to, 1642.
3. _A Sermon before the House of Commons, on_ Daniel vi. 26.
London, 4to, 1644.
4. _A Sermon before the House of Lords, on_ Luke vii. 22; Mark
iv. 38; Matt. viii. 26. London, 4to, 1645.
5. _"Lex Rex:" The Law and the Prince._ London, 4to, 1644. In
Fullarton's _Scottish Nation_, 1862, mention is made
of another work which is in reality the same as this; on
_Civil Polity_. London, 4to, 1657. It is not, however, a
separate work, but merely one of the editions of the
well-known _Lex Rex_--the edition of 1657, which has the
following title:--_Lex Rex; a Treatise of Civil Polity;
being a Resolution of Forty-three Questions concerning
Prerogative, Right, and Privilege, in reference to the
Supreme Prince and People_. The change in the title was a
device of the printer, in order to elude the Government,
who sought to suppress the book.
6. _The Due Right of Presbyteries._ London, 4to, 1644.
7. _The Trial and Triumph of Faith._ London, 4to, 1645.
8. _The Divine Right of Church Government and Excommunication._
London, 4to, 1646. Appended to this is _A Dispute touching
Scandal and Christian Liberty_.
9. _Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself._ London, 4to,
1647.
10. _A Survey of the Spiritual Antichrist._ London, 1648. To
which is appended, _A Modest Survey of the Secrets of
Antinomianism_.
11. _A Free Disputation against Pretended Liberty of Conscience._
London, 4to, 1649.
12. _The Last and Heavenly Speeches of John Gordon, Viscount
Kenmure._ Edinburgh, 4to, 1649.
13. _Disputatio Scholastica de Divina Providentia._ Edinburgh,
4to, 1651.
14. _The Covenant of Life Opened._ Edinburgh, 4to, 1655.
15. _A Survey of Mr. Hooker's Church Discipline; or, A Survey of
the Survey of that Summe of Discipline penned by Mr.
Thomas Hooker._ London, 4to, 1658.
16. _Influences of the Life of Grace._ The last work published in
his lifetime. London, 4to, 1659. The original title page
adds:--"_A Practical Treatise concerning the way, manner,
and means of having and improving spiritual dispositions
and quickening influences from Christ, the Resurrection
and the Life._"
POSTHUMOUS.
17. _Joshua Redivivus; or, Mr. Rutherford's Letters._ First
Edition, 12mo, 1664. No printer's name and no place
mentioned.
18. _Examen Arminianismi._ Ultrajecti (Utrecht), 12mo, 1668.
19. _A Testimony left by Mr. S. Rutherford to the Work of
Reformation in Great Britain and Ireland before his
death._ Date uncertain.
20. _Twelve Communion Sermons._ Glasgow, 1876. This collection
includes _Christ's Napkin_; and Song ii. 14-17, _Christ
and the Dove's Heavenly Salutation_. These have internal
evidence in their favour, viz. the language and general
strain of thought. Add to these _The Lamb's Marriage_,
Rev. xix. 7; and another on Song ii. 1-8 appended to a
second edition, 1877, with the title, "Fourteen Communion
Sermons," 1877.
21. _The Cruel Watchmen. The Door of Salvation Opened._
Edinburgh, 1735. Song v. 7, 8, 9, 10. These two are
doubtful; at all events, very imperfect, as usually
printed. The old edition of _The Cruel Watchmen_ is good.
22. There is a _Treatise on Prayer; The Power and Prevalency of
Truth and Prayer evidenced, in a Practical Discourse
upon_ Matt. ix. 27-31. Printed in the year 1713. It is a
small duodecimo of 111 pp., and has this note appended:
"The rest of this Discourse cannot be found, it being
above fifty years since the author died."
An old _Catalogue of the most Vendible Books_, in 1658, gives
as one of his works, _A Rationale on the Book of Common
Prayer_, 8vo. But this is a mistake; Antony Sparrow wrote
the book entitled, _The Rationale, or Practical Exposition
of the Book of Common Prayer_.
The Diaries of Brodie of Brodie (Spalding Club--Preface p.
xix.), refer to "Shorthand Notes of two Sermons by S.
Rutherford." Brodie used to correspond with him, for we
find, August 6, 1655: "Mr. Rutherford exhorted me in his
letter that my right hand might not know what my left
hand did; and he says that he knows not but that the Lord
may divorce the mother, but be a sanctuary to the little
ones." We find further that S. R. wrote urging Brodie "to
present Mr. Thomas Ross to Ila."
23. _Quaint Sermons_ (eighteen in number), by S. R., never before
published, with a prefatory note by Rev. And. A. Bonar.
Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1885.
LETTERS.
I.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _on the return home of her daughter_.
[In the early editions the date stands "1624," by a mistake for
"1627;" for Rutherford was not settled in Anwoth in 1624.
For a full notice of _Marion M'Naught_, see what is prefixed to
Letter VI.]
(_CHILDREN TO BE DEDICATED TO GOD._)
WELL-BELOVED AND DEAR SISTER,--My love in Christ remembered. I have
sent to you your daughter Grizel with Robert Gordon, who came to fetch
her. I am in good hopes that the seed of God is in her, as in one born
of God; and God's seed will come to God's harvest. I have her promise
she shall be Christ's. For I have told her she may promise much in His
worthy name; for He becomes caution to His Father for all such as
resolve and promise to serve Him. I will remember her to God. I trust
you will acquaint her with good company, and be diligent to know with
whom she loveth to haunt. Remember Zion, and our necessities. I bless
your daughter from our Lord, and pray the Lord to give you joy and
comfort of her. Remember my love to your husband, to William and
Samuel your sons. The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.
Yours at all power in the Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _June 6, 1627_.
II.--_To a Christian Gentlewoman on the death of her daughter._
(_CHRIST'S SYMPATHY WITH, AND PROPERTY IN US--REASONS FOR
RESIGNATION._)
MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered to you. I was indeed sorrowful
at my departure from you, especially since ye were in such heaviness
after your daughter's death. Yet I do persuade myself, ye know that
the weightiest end of the cross of Christ that is laid upon you lieth
upon your strong Saviour; for Isaiah saith, "In all your afflictions
He is afflicted" (Isa lxiii. 9). O blessed Second who suffereth with
you! and glad may your soul be even to walk in the fiery furnace with
one like unto the Son of Man, who is also the Son of God. Courage! up
your heart! When ye do tire, He will bear both you and your burden
(Ps. lv. 22). Yet a little while and ye shall see the salvation of
God. Remember of what age your daughter was, and that just so long was
your lease of her. If she was eighteen, nineteen, or twenty years old,
I know not; but sure I am, seeing her term was come, and your lease
run out, ye can no more justly quarrel your great Superior for taking
His own at His just term day, than a poor farmer can complain that his
master taketh a portion of his own land to himself when his lease is
expired. Good mistress, if ye would not be content that Christ would
hold from you the heavenly inheritance which is made yours by His
death, shall not that same Christ think hardly of you if ye refuse to
give Him your daughter willingly, who is a part of His inheritance and
conquest? I pray the Lord to give you all your own, and to grace you
with patience to give God His also. He is an ill debtor who payeth
that which he hath borrowed with a grudge. Indeed, that long loan of
such a good daughter, an heir of grace, a member of Christ (as I
believe), deserveth more thanks at your Creditor's hands, than that ye
should gloom and murmur when He craveth but His own. I believe you
would judge them to be but thankless neighbours who would pay you a
sum of money after this manner. But what? Do you think her lost, when
she is but sleeping in the bosom of the Almighty? Think her not absent
who is in such a friend's house. Is she lost to you who is found to
Christ? If she were with a dear friend, although you should never see
her again, your care for her would be but small. Oh, now, is she not
with a dear Friend? and gone higher, upon a certain hope that ye
shall, in the Resurrection, see her again, when (be ye sure) she shall
neither be hectic nor consumed in body? You would be sorry either to
be, or to be esteemed, an atheist; and yet, not I, but the Apostle,
thinketh those to be hopeless atheists who mourn excessively for the
dead (Thess. iv. 13). But this is not a challenge on my part. I do
speak this only fearing your weakness; for your daughter was a part of
yourself; and, therefore, nature in you, being as it were cut and
halved, will indeed be grieved. But ye have to rejoice, that when a
part of you is on earth, a great part of you is glorified in heaven.
Follow her, but envy her not; for indeed it is self-love in us that
maketh us mourn for them that die in the Lord. Why? Because for them
we cannot mourn, since they are never happy till they be dead;
therefore we mourn for our own private respect. Take heed, then, that
in showing your affection in mourning for your daughter, ye be not,
out of self-affection, mourning for yourself. Consider what the Lord
is doing in it. Your daughter is plucked out of the fire, and she
resteth from her labours; and your Lord, in that, is trying you, and
casting you in the fire. Go through all fires to your rest; and now
remember that the eye of God is upon the bush burning and not
consumed; and He is gladly content that such a weak woman as you
should send Satan away, frustrate of his design. Now honour God, and
shame the strong roaring lion, when ye seem weakest. Should such an
one as ye faint in the day of adversity? Call to mind the days of old.
The Lord yet liveth. Trust in Him, although He should slay you. Faith
is exceeding charitable, and believeth no evil of God.[85] Now is the
Lord laying, in the one scale of the balance, your making conscience
of submission to His gracious will, and in the other, your affection
and love to your daughter. Which of the two will ye then choose to
satisfy? Be wise, then; and as I trust ye love Christ better than a
sinful woman, pass by your daughter, and kiss the Lord's rod. Men do
lop the branches off their trees round about, to the end they may grow
up high and tall. The Lord hath this way lopped your branch in taking
from you many children, to the end you should grow upward, like one of
the Lord's cedars, setting your heart above, where Christ is, at the
right hand of the Father. What is next, but that your Lord cut down
the stock after He hath cut the branches? Prepare yourself; you are
nearer your daughter this day than you were yesterday. While ye
prodigally spend time in mourning for her, ye are speedily posting
after her. Run your race with patience. Let God have His own; and ask
of Him, instead of your daughter which He hath taken from you, the
daughter of faith, which is patience; and in patience possess your
soul. Lift up your head: ye do not know how near your redemption doth
draw, Thus recommending you to the Lord, who is able to establish you,
I rest, your loving and affectionate friend in the Lord Jesus,
ANWOTH, _April 23, 1628_.
S. R.
[85] So in his "sermon before the House of Lords," 1645: "Faith
thinketh no evil of Christ." Also Letters XX. and XCII.: "Love
believeth no evil."
[Illustration: KENMURE HOUSE.]
III.--_To the_ VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE, _on occasion of illness and
spiritual depression_.
[LADY JANE CAMPBELL, Viscountess of Kenmure, was the third
daughter of Archibald Campbell, seventh Earl of Argyle, and
sister to the Marquis of Argyle who was beheaded in 1661. She was
a woman distinguished, in her day, for the depth of her piety,
and her warm attachment to the Presbyterian interest in Scotland.
Nor was she less distinguished for generosity and munificence,
than for piety. Her bounty was in a particular manner extended to
those whom suffering for conscience' sake had reduced to poverty
or exile. In the year 1628 she was married to Sir John Gordon of
Lochinvar, afterwards Viscount Kenmure and Lord Gordon of
Lochinvar, which is not far from Carsphairn. This union did not
last many years. In 1634 she became a widow, his Lordship having
died at Kenmure Castle, on the 12th of September that year, in
the 35th year of his age. But her sorrow on this occasion was
alleviated by the Christian resignation and faith which he was
enabled to exercise under his last illness. To this noble man she
had two daughters, who died in infancy, one about the beginning
of the year 1629, and the other in 1634, as may be gathered from
allusions to these bereavements, contained in two consolatory
letters written to her by Rutherford in these years. She had
also, by the same marriage, a son, John, second Viscount of
Kenmure, who, however, died under age and unmarried, in August
1649. This event forms the subject of a letter written to her by
Rutherford the 1st of October that year. She married a second
husband, on the 21st of September 1640, the Hon. Sir Henry
Montgomery of Giffen, second son of Alexander, fifth Earl of
Eglinton; but this marriage was without issue. Sir Henry's
religious views were congenial to her own; and he is described as
an "active and faithful friend of the Lord's kirk." She was soon
left a widow a second time, in which state she lived till a very
venerable age, having survived the Restoration a number of years,
as appears from the fact that Livingstone, at the time of his
death (which took place at Rotterdam in 1672), speaks of her as
the oldest acquaintance he then had alive in Scotland. She was a
regular correspondent of Rutherford, the last of whose letters to
her is dated July the 24th, 1661, after the execution of her
brother above mentioned. Nor after Mr. Rutherford's death was she
unmindful of his widow. "Madam," says Mr. M'Ward, in a letter to
her, "Mrs. Rutherford gives me often an account of the singular
testimony which she met with of your Ladyship's affection to her
and her daughter."
_Kenmure Castle_ is well seen from the road that leads along the
banks of the Ken. The loch, the river, the old baronial house,
combine to attract notice. It is built on an insulated knoll,
well wooded all around. It is four miles from Dalry, and the
approach is through an avenue of lime-trees. The old garden has a
hedge of very lofty beech trees, and a curious dial with a Latin
inscription, dated "1623. _Joannes Bonar_ fecit"--the name of the
person who (it is said) brought it from the Continent.]
(_ACQUIESCENCE IN GOD'S PURPOSE--FAITH IN EXERCISE--ENCOURAGEMENT IN
VIEW OF SICKNESS AND DEATH--PUBLIC AFFAIRS._)
MADAM,--All dutiful obedience in the Lord remembered. I have heard of
your Ladyship's infirmity and sickness with grief; yet I trust ye have
learned to say, "It is the Lord, let Him do whatsoever seemeth good in
His eyes." It is now many years since the apostate angels made a
question, whether their will or the will of their Creator should be
done; and since that time, froward mankind hath always in that same
suit of law compeared to plead with them against God, in daily
repining against His will. But the Lord being both party and judge,
hath obtained a decreet, and saith, "My counsel shall stand, and I
will do all my pleasure" (Isa. xlvi. 10). It is then best for us, in
the obedience of faith, and in an holy submission, to give that to God
which the law of His almighty and just power will have of us.
Therefore, Madam, your Lord willeth you, in all states of life, to
say, "Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven:" and herein shall
ye have comfort, that He, who seeth perfectly through all your evils,
and knoweth the frame and constitution of your nature, and what is
most healthful for your soul, holdeth every cup of affliction to your
head, with His own gracious hand. Never believe that your
tender-hearted Saviour, who knoweth the strength of your stomach,
will mix that cup with one drachm-weight of poison. Drink then with
the patience of the saints, and the God of patience bless your physic.
I have heard your Ladyship complain of deadness, and want of the
bestirring power of the life of God. But courage! He who walked in the
garden, and made a noise that made Adam hear His voice, will also at
some times walk in your soul, and make you hear a more sweet word.
Yet, ye will not always hear the noise and the din of His feet, when
He walketh. Ye are, at such a time, like Jacob mourning at the
supposed death of Joseph, when Joseph was living. The new creature,
the image of the second Adam, is living in you; and yet ye are
mourning at the supposed death of the life of Christ in you. Ephraim
is bemoaning and mourning (Jer. xxxi. 18), when he thinketh God is far
off and heareth not; and yet God is like the bridegroom (Song ii. 9),
standing only behind a thin wall and laying to His ear; for He saith
Himself, "I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself." I have good
confidence, Madam, that Christ Jesus, whom your soul through forests
and mountains is seeking, is within you. And yet I speak not this to
lay a pillow under your head, or to dissuade you from a holy fear of
the loss of your Christ, or of provoking and "stirring up the Beloved
before He please," by sin. I know, in spiritual confidence, the devil
will come in, as in all other good works, and cry "Half mine;" and so
endeavour to bring you under a fearful sleep, till He whom your soul
loveth be departed from the door, and have left off knocking. And,
therefore, here the Spirit of God must hold your soul's feet in the
golden mid-line, betwixt confident resting in the arms of Christ, and
presumptuous and drowsy sleeping in the bed of fleshly security.
Therefore, worthy lady, so count little of yourself, because of your
own wretchedness and sinful drowsiness, that ye count not also little
of God, in the course of His unchangeable mercy. For there be many
Christians most like unto young sailors, who think the shore and the
whole land doth move, when the ship and they themselves are moved;
just so, not a few do imagine that God moveth and saileth[86] and
changeth places, because their giddy souls are under sail, and subject
to alteration, to ebbing and flowing. But "the foundation of the Lord
abideth sure." God knoweth that ye are His own. Wrestle, fight, go
forward, watch, fear, believe, pray; and then ye have all the
infallible symptoms of one of the elect of Christ within you.
[86] So it is in the earlier editions; not "faileth."
Ye have now, Madam, a sickness before you; and also after that a
death. Gather then now food for the journey. God give you eyes to see
through sickness and death, and to see something beyond death. I doubt
not but that, if hell were betwixt you and Christ, as a river which ye
behoved to cross ere you could come at Him, but ye would willingly put
in your foot, and make through to be at Him, upon hope that He would
come in Himself, in the deepest of the river, and lend you His hand.
Now, I believe your hell is dried up, and ye have only these two
shallow brooks, sickness and death, to pass through; and ye have also
a promise that Christ shall do more than meet you, even that He shall
come Himself, and go with you foot for foot, yea and bear you in His
arms. O then! O then! for the joy that is set before you; for the love
of the Man (who is also "God over all, blessed for ever"), that is
standing upon the shore to welcome you, run your race with patience.
The Lord go with you. Your Lord will not have you, nor any of His
servants, to exchange for the worse. Death in itself includeth both
the death of the soul and the death of the body; but to God's children
the bounds and the limits of death are abridged and drawn into a more
narrow compass. So that when ye die, a piece of death shall only seize
upon you, or the least part of you shall die, and that is the
dissolution of the body; for in Christ ye are delivered from the
second death; and, therefore, as one born of God, commit not sin
(although ye cannot live and not sin), and that serpent shall but eat
your earthly part. As for your soul, it is above the law of death. But
it is fearful and dangerous to be a debtor and servant to sin; for the
count of sin ye will not be able to make good before God, except
Christ both count and pay for you.
I trust also, Madam, that ye will be careful to present to the Lord
the present estate of this decaying kirk. For what shall be concluded
in Parliament anent[87] her, the Lord knoweth. Sure I am, the decree
of a most fearful parliament in heaven is at the very point of coming
forth, because of the sins of the land. For "we have cast away the law
of the Lord, and despised the words of the Holy One of Israel" (Isa.
v. 24). "Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar
off; truth is fallen in the streets, and equity cannot enter" (Isa.
lix. 14). Lo! the prophet, as if he had seen us and our kirk,
resembleth _Justice_ to be handled as an enemy holden out at the ports
of our city [so is she banished!], and _Truth_ to a person sickly and
diseased, fallen down in a deadly swooning fit in the streets, before
he can come to an house. "The priests have caused many to stumble at
the law, and have corrupted the covenant of Levi" (Mal. ii. 3). "But
what will they do in the end?" Therefore give the Lord no rest for
Zion. Stir up your husband, your brother,[88] and all with whom ye are
in favour and credit, to stand upon the Lord's side against Baal. I
have good hope that your husband loveth the peace and prosperity of
Zion. The peace of God be upon him, for his intended courses anent the
establishment of a powerful ministry in this land. Thus, not willing
to weary your Ladyship further, I commend you now, and always, to the
grace and mercy of that God who is able to keep you, that ye fall not.
The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Your Ladyship's servant at all dutiful obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _July 27, 1628_.
[87] "In reference to her,"--alluding to the known design of Charles
I. to enforce conformity to Episcopacy.
[88] The Marquis of Argyle.
IV.--_To the Elect and Noble Lady, my_ LADY KENMURE, _on occasion of
the death of her infant daughter_.
(_TRIBULATION THE PORTION OF GOD'S PEOPLE, AND INTENDED TO WEAN THEM
FROM THE WORLD._)
MADAM,--Saluting your Ladyship with grace and mercy from God our
Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,--I was sorry, at my departure,
leaving your Ladyship in grief, and would still be grieved at it, if I
were not assured that ye have One with you in the furnace, whose
visage is like unto the Son of God. I am glad that ye have been
acquainted from your youth with the wrestlings of God, and that ye get
scarce liberty to swallow down your spittle, being casten from furnace
to furnace, knowing if ye were not dear to God, and if your health did
not require so much of Him, He would not spend so much physic upon
you. All the brethren and sisters of Christ must be conform to His
image and copy in suffering (Rom. viii. 29). And some do more vively
resemble the copy than others. Think, Madam, that it is a part of your
glory to be enrolled among those whom one of the elders pointed out to
John, "These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have
washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."
Behold your Forerunner going out of the world all in a lake of blood,
and it is not ill to die as He did. Fulfil with joy the remnant of the
grounds and "remainders of the afflictions of Christ" in your body
(Col. i. 24). Ye have lost a child: nay she is not lost to you who is
found to Christ. She is not sent away, but only sent before, like unto
a star, which going out of our sight doth not die and evanish, but
shineth in another hemisphere. Ye see her not, yet she doth shine in
another country. If her glass was but a short hour, what she wanteth
of time that she hath gotten of eternity; and ye have to rejoice that
ye have now some plenishing up in heaven. Build your nest upon no tree
here; for ye see God hath sold the forest to death; and every tree
whereupon we would rest is ready to be cut down, to the end we may
fly[89] and mount up, and build upon the Rock, and dwell in the holes
of the Rock. What ye love besides Jesus, your husband, is an
adulterous lover. Now it is God's special blessing to Judah, that He
will not let her find her paths in following her strange lovers.
"Therefore, behold I will hedge up her way with thorns, and make a
wall that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her
lovers, but she shall not overtake them" (Hos. ii. 6, 7). O thrice
happy Judah, when God buildeth a double stone wall betwixt her and the
fire of hell! The world, and the things of the world, Madam, is the
lover ye naturally affect beside your own husband Christ. The hedge of
thorns and the wall which God buildeth in your way, to hinder you from
this lover, is the thorny hedge of daily grief, loss of children,
weakness of body, iniquity of the time, uncertainty of estate, lack of
worldly comfort, fear of God's anger for old unrepented-of sins. What
lose ye, if God twist and plait the hedge daily thicker? God be
blessed, the Lord will not let you find your paths. Return to your
first husband. Do not weary, neither think that death walketh towards
you with a slow pace. Ye must be riper ere ye be shaken. Your days are
no longer than Job's, that were "swifter than a post, and passed away
as the ships of desire, and as the eagle that hasteth for the prey"
(ix. 25, 26, margin). There is less sand in your glass now than there
was yesternight. This span-length of ever-posting time will soon be
ended. But the greater is the mercy of God, the more years ye get to
advise, upon what terms, and upon what conditions, ye cast your soul
in the huge gulf of never-ending eternity. The Lord hath told you what
ye should be doing till He come. "Wait and hasten," saith Peter, "for
the Coming of our Lord." All is night that is here, in respect of
ignorance and daily ensuing troubles, one always making way to
another, as the ninth wave of the sea to the tenth; therefore sigh and
long for the dawning of that morning, and the breaking of that day of
the Coming of the Son of Man, when the shadows shall flee away.
Persuade yourself the King is coming; read His letter sent before Him,
"Behold, I come quickly" (Rev. iii. 11). Wait with the wearied
night-watch for the breaking of the eastern sky, and think that ye
have not a morrow. As the wise father said, who, being invited against
to-morrow to dine with his friend, answered, "Those many days I have
had no morrow at all." I am loth to weary you. Show yourself a
Christian, by suffering without murmuring, for which sin fourteen
thousand and seven hundred were slain (Numb. xvi. 49). In patience
possess your soul. They lose nothing who gain Christ. Thus remembering
my brother's and my wife's humble service to your Ladyship, I commend
you to the mercy and grace of our Lord Jesus, assuring you that your
day is coming, and that God's mercy is abiding you. The Lord Jesus be
with your spirit.
Yours in the Lord Jesus at all dutiful obedience,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Jan. 15, 1629_.
[89] In the earlier editions it is given "fly" throughout; not "flee."
V.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE, _upon her removal with her husband from the
parish of Anwoth_.
(_CHANGES AND LOSS OF FRIENDS--THIS WORLD NO ABIDING PLACE._)
MADAM,--Saluting you in Jesus Christ,--to my grief I must bid you (it
may be, for ever) farewell, in paper, having small assurance ever to
see your face again till the last general assembly, where the whole
church universal shall meet; yet promising, by His grace, to present
your Ladyship and your burdens to Him who is able to save you, and
give you an inheritance with the saints, after a more special manner
than ever I have done before.[90]
[90] Lord Kenmure and his lady resided at Rusco, in the parish of
Anwoth, during the first two years of Rutherford's ministry there; but
they were now about to leave it. See Letter CXLVII.
Ye are going to a country where the Sun of righteousness, in the
Gospel, shineth not so clearly as in this kingdom; but if ye would
know where He whom your soul loveth doth rest, and where He feedeth at
the noontide of the day, wherever ye be, get you forth by the
footsteps of the flock, and feed yourself beside the shepherds' tents
(Song i. 7, 8), that is, ask for some of the watchmen of the Lord's
city, who will tell you truly, and will not lie, where ye shall find
Him whom your soul loveth. I trust ye are so betrothed in marriage to
the true Christ, that ye will not give your love to any false Christ.
Ye know not how soon your marriage-day will come; nay, is not eternity
hard upon you? It were time, then, that ye had your wedding garment in
readiness. Be not sleeping at your Lord's Coming. I pray God you may
be upon your feet standing when He knocketh. Be not discouraged to go
from this country to another part of the Lord's earth: "The earth is
His, and the fulness thereof." This is the Lord's lower house; while
we are lodged here, we have no assurance to lie ever in one chamber,
but must be content to remove from one corner of our Lord's nether
house to another, resting in hope that, when we come up to the Lord's
upper city, "Jerusalem that is above," we shall remove no more,
because then we shall be at home. And go wheresoever ye will, if your
Lord go with you, ye are at home; and your lodging is ever taken
before night, so long as He who is Israel's dwelling-house is your
home (Psa. xc. 1). Believe me, Madam, my mind is that ye are well
lodged, and that in your house there are fair ease-rooms and pleasant
lights, if ye can in faith lean down your head upon the breast of
Jesus Christ: and till this be, ye shall never get a sound sleep.
Jesus, Jesus, be your shadow and your covering. It is a sweet
soul-sleep to lie in the arms of Christ; for His breath is very sweet.
Pray for poor friendless Zion. Alas! no man will speak for her now,
although at home in her own country she hath good friends, her husband
Christ, and His Father her Father-in-law. Beseech your husband to be a
friend to Zion, and pray for her.
I have received many and divers dashes and heavy strokes since the
Lord called me to the ministry; but indeed I esteem your departure
from us amongst the weightiest. But I perceive God will have us to be
deprived of whatsoever we idolize, that He may have His own room. I
see exceeding small fruit of my ministry, and would be glad to know of
one soul to be my crown and rejoicing in the day of Christ. Though I
spend my strength in vain, yet my labour is with my God (Isa. xlix.
4). I wish and pray that the Lord would harden my face against all,
and make me to learn to go with my face against a storm. Again I
commend you, body and spirit, to Him who hath loved us, and washed us
from our sin in His own blood. Grace, grace, grace for ever be with
you. Pray, pray continually.
Your Ladyship's at all dutiful obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Sept. 14, 1629_.
[Illustration: KIRKCUDBRIGHT.]
VI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _on occasion of the illness of his wife_.
[MARION M'NAUGHT was daughter to the Laird of Kilquhanatie, in
Kirkpatrick Durham (see Letter XXV.), the representative of an ancient
family, now extinct, and connected also with the house of Kenmure,
through her mother, Margaret Gordon, sister to Lord Kenmure. She
became the wife of William Fullerton, Provost of Kirkcudbright, and
was a woman extensively known and held in honour by the most eminent
Christians and ministers of her day, on account of her rare godliness
and public spirit. We find in "The Last and Heavenly Speeches of
Viscount Kenmure," that by the special desire of that nobleman (who
was her relative), she was in continual attendance on him as he lay on
his deathbed. Her name is sometimes spelt "M'Knaight," or
"M'Knaichte," the modern "Macknight." She had three children--one
daughter, Grizzel, and two sons, Samuel and William,--who are often
affectionately remembered in Rutherford's letters to her. The
following epitaph was inscribed on her tomb, in the churchyard of
Kirkcudbright:--
"Marion M'Naught, sister to John M'Naught of Kilquhanatie, an
ancient and honourable baron, and spouse to William Fullerton,
Provost of Kirkcudbright, died April 1643, age 58.
_Sexum animis, pietate genus, genorosa, locumque
Virtute exsuperans, conditur hoc tumulo._"
The tombstone was lost sight of, but in 1863 was discovered again
in removing the earth for a grave close by. It was only in 1860
that her house (in which the meeting between Blair and Rutherford
took place) was pulled down. It stood at the foot of the High
Street, which was then the principal street of the town.
A relative of this lady's husband, Fullerton of Carlton (see
Letter CLVII.), wrote on her the following acrostic:--
M More happy than imaginèd can be,
A And blessed, are such as with heart sincere
R Resolve to cleave to Christ, to live and die
I In Him, with Him, and for Him to appear.
O O what transcendent glory grows from grace!
N None but--no, not--the soul refinèd shall
M' Make to appear; that life, that light, that peace,
K Known only to the pure possessors all.
N Now, _THOU_, by grace, art into glory gone,
A And gained the garland of eternal bliss,
I In seeing Him who, on that glorious throne,
C Created, uncreated, glory is.
H Heaven's quire did sing at thy conversion sweet,
T Time posts thy final comforts to complete.
(_Append. to "Minute-Book of Committee of Covenanters."_)]
(_INWARD CONFLICT ARISING FROM OUTWARD TRIAL._)
LOVING AND DEAR SISTER,--If ever you would pleasure me, entreat the
Lord for me, now when I am so comfortless, and so full of heaviness,
that I am not able to stand under the burthen any longer. The Almighty
hath doubled His stripes upon me, for my wife is so sore tormented
night and day, that I have wondered why the Lord tarrieth so long. My
life is bitter unto me, and I fear the Lord be my contrair party. It
is (as I now know by experience) hard to keep sight of God in a storm,
especially when He hides Himself, for the trial of His children. If He
would be pleased to remove His hand, I have a purpose to seek Him more
than I have done. Happy are they that can win away with their soul. I
am afraid of His judgments. I bless my God that there is a death, and
a heaven. I would weary to begin again to be a Christian, so bitter is
it to drink of the cup that Christ drank of, if I knew not that there
is no poison in it. God give us not of it till we vomit again, for we
have sick souls when God's physic works not. Pray that God would not
lead my wife into temptation. Woe is my heart, that I have done so
little against the kingdom of Satan in my calling; for he would fain
attempt to make me blaspheme God in His face. I believe, I believe, in
the strength of Him who hath put me in His work, he shall fail in that
which he seeks. I have comfort in this, that my Captain, Christ, hath
said, I must fight and overcome the world, and with a weak, spoiled,
weaponless devil, "the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing
in me" (John xvi. 33, and xiv. 30). Desire Mr. Robert[91] to remember
me, if he love me. Grace, grace be with you, and all yours.
[91] Mr. Robert Glendinning, then minister of Kirkcudbright. His grave
may be seen there.
Remember Zion. There is a letter procured from the King by Mr. John
Maxwell to urge conformity, to give the communion at Christmas in
Edinburgh.[92] Hold fast that which you have, that no man take the
crown from you. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours in the Lord,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Nov. 17, 1629_.
[92] Mr. J. Maxwell here mentioned was at this time a minister in
Edinburgh, and afterwards became Bishop of Ross,--a man of talent, but
devoid of principle, whose aim was to secure the favour of the
notorious Laud, by forwarding his designs for forcing Episcopacy upon
the Scottish people. The letter above referred to was from the King,
urging the adoption of the English service.
VII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_THE EARNEST OF THE SPIRIT--COMMUNION WITH CHRIST--FAITH IN THE
PROMISES._)
MADAM,--I have longed exceedingly to hear of your life and health, and
growth in the grace of God. I lacked the opportunity of a bearer, in
respect I did not understand of the hasty departure of the last, by
whom I might have saluted your Ladyship, and therefore I could not
write before this time. I entreat you, Madam, let me have two lines
from you concerning your present condition. I know ye are in grief and
heaviness; and if it were not so, ye might be afraid, because then
your way should not be so like the way that (our Lord saith) leadeth
to the New Jerusalem. Sure I am, if ye knew what were before you, or
if ye saw but some glances of it, ye would with gladness swim through
the present floods of sorrow, spreading forth your arms out of desire
to be at land. If God have given you the Earnest of the Spirit, as
part of payment of God's principal sum, ye have to rejoice; for our
Lord will not lose His earnest, neither will He go back or repent Him
of the bargain. If ye find at some time a longing to see God, joy in
the assurance of that sight, howbeit that feast be but like the
Passover, that cometh about only once a year. Peace of conscience,
liberty of prayer, the doors of God's treasure cast up to the soul,
and a clear sight of Himself looking out, and saying, with a smiling
countenance, "_Welcome to Me, afflicted soul_;" this is the earnest
that He giveth sometimes, and which maketh glad the heart, and is an
evidence that the bargain will hold. But to the end ye may get this
earnest, it were good to come oft into terms of speech with God, both
in prayer and hearing of the word. For this is the house of wine,
where ye meet with your Well-Beloved. Here it is where He kisseth you
with the kisses of His mouth, and where ye feel the smell of His
garments; and they have indeed a most fragrant and glorious smell. Ye
must, I say, wait upon Him, and be often communing with Him, whose
lips are as lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh, and by the moving
thereof He will assuage your grief; for the Christ that saveth you is
a speaking Christ; the church knoweth Him by His voice (Song ii. 8),
and can discern His tongue amongst a thousand. I say this to the end
ye should not love those dumb masks of antichristian ceremonies, that
the church[93] where ye are for a time hath cast over the Christ whom
your soul loveth. This is to set before you a dumb Christ. But when
our Lord cometh, He speaketh to the heart in the simplicity of the
Gospel.
[93] Episcopal.
I have neither tongue nor pen to express to you the happiness of such
as are in Christ. When ye have sold all that ye have, and bought the
field wherein this pearl is, ye will think it no bad market; for if ye
be in Him, all His is yours, and ye are in Him; therefore, "because He
liveth, ye shall live also" (John xiv. 19). And what is that else, but
as if the Son had said, "I will not have heaven except My redeemed
ones be with Me: they and I cannot live asunder. Abide in Me, and I in
you." O sweet communion, when Christ and we are through-other,[94] and
are no longer two! "Father, I will that those whom Thou hast given Me
be with Me where I am, to behold My glory that Thou hast given Me"
(John xvii. 24). Amen, dear Jesus, let it be according to that word. I
wonder that ever your heart should be cast down, if ye believe this
truth. I and they are not worthy of Jesus Christ, who will not suffer
forty years' trouble for Him, since they have such glorious promises.
But we fools believe those promises as the man that read Plato's
writings concerning the immortality of the soul: so long as the book
was in his hand he believed all was true, and that the soul could not
die; but so soon as he laid by the book, he began to imagine that the
soul is but a smoke or airy vapour, that perisheth with the expiring
of the breath. So we at starts do assent to the sweet and precious
promises; but, laying aside God's book, we begin to call all in
question. It is faith indeed to believe without a pledge, and to hold
the heart constant at this work; and when we doubt, to run to the Law
and to the Testimony, and stay there. Madam, hold you here: here is
your Father's testament,--read it; in it He hath left to you
remission of sins and life everlasting. If all that ye have here be
crosses and troubles, down-castings, frequent desertions, and
departure of the Lord, who is suiting you in marriage, courage! He who
is wooer and suitor should not be an household man with you till ye
and He come up to His Father's house together. He purposeth to do you
good at your latter end (Deut. viii. 16), and to give you rest from
the days of adversity (Ps. xciv. 13). "It is good to bear the yoke of
God in your youth" (Lam. iii. 27). "Turn in to your stronghold as a
prisoner of hope" (Zech. ix. 12). "For the vision is for an appointed
time; but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry,
wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry" (Hab. ii.
3). Hear Himself saying, "Come, My people" (rejoice, He calleth on
you!), "enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee;
hide thyself, as it were for a little moment, till the indignation be
past" (Isa. xxvi. 20). Believe, then, believe and be saved; think not
hard if ye get not your will, nor your delights in this life; God will
have you to rejoice in nothing but Himself. God forbid that ye should
rejoice in anything but in the cross of Christ (Gal. vi. 14).
[94] Mixed up with each other.
Our church, Madam, is decaying,--she is like Ephraim's cake (Hos. vii.
9); "and grey hairs are here and there upon her, and she knoweth it
not." She is old and grey-haired, near the grave, and no man taketh it
to heart. Her wine is sour and is corrupted. Now if Phinehas's wife
did live she might travail in birth and die, to see the ark of God
taken, and the glory depart from our Israel. The power and life of
religion is away. "Woe be to us! for the day goeth away, for the
shadows of the evening are stretched out" (Jer. vi. 4). Madam, Zion is
the ship wherein ye are carried to Canaan; if she suffer shipwreck, ye
will be cast overboard upon death and life, to swim to land upon
broken boards. It were time for us, by prayer, to put upon our
master-pilot, Jesus, and to cry, "Master, save us; we perish." Grace,
grace be with you. We would think it a blessing to our kirk to see you
here; but our sins withhold good things from us. The great Messenger
of the Covenant preserve you in body and spirit.
Yours in the Lord,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Feb. 1, 1630_.
VIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _on occasion of his wife's illness_.
(_WRESTLINGS WITH GOD._)
MISTRESS,--My love in Jesus Christ remembered. I am in good health;
honour to my Lord; but my wife's disease increaseth daily, to her
great torment and pain night and day. She has not been in God's house
since our communion, neither out of her bed. I have hired a man to
Edinburgh to Doctor Jeally and to John Hamilton.[95] I can hardly
believe her disease is ordinary, for her life is bitter to her; she
sleeps none, but cries as a woman travailing in birth. What will be
the event, He that hath the keys of the grave knoweth. I have been
many times, since I saw you, that I have besought the Lord to loose
her out of body, and to take her to her rest. I believe the Lord's
tide of afflictions will ebb again; but at present I am exercised with
the wrestlings of God, being afraid of nothing more than this, that
God has let loose the tempter upon my house. God rebuke him and his
instruments. Because Satan is not cast out but by fasting and prayer,
I entreat you remember our estate to our Lord, and entreat all good
Christians whom ye know, but especially your pastor,[96] to do the
same. It becomes us still to knock, and to lie at the Lord's door,
until we die knocking. If He will not open, it is more than He has
said in His word. But He is faithful. I look not to win away to my
home without wounds and blood. Welcome, welcome cross of Christ, if
Christ be with it. I have not a calm spirit in the work of my calling
here, being daily chastised; yet God hath not put out my candle, as He
does to the wicked. Grace, grace be with you and all yours.
Yours in the Lord,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
[95] Probably a relative of his wife, whose name was Eupham Hamilton.
He was an apothecary in Edinburgh, and is mentioned among the godly in
Livingstone's "Characteristics."
[96] The Rev. Mr. Robert Glendinning, then minister of Kirkcudbright.
IX.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _recommending a friend to her love_.
(_PRAYERS ASKED_.)
MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. At the desire of this bearer,
whom I love, I thought to request you if ye can help his wife with
your advice, for she is in a most dangerous and deadly-like condition.
For I have thought she was changed in her carriage and life, this
sometime bypast, and had hope that God would have brought her home;
and now, by appearance, she will depart this life, and leave a number
of children behind her. If ye can be entreated to help her, it is a
work of mercy. My own wife is still in exceeding great torment night
and day. Pray for us, for my life was never so wearisome to me. God
hath filled me with gall and wormwood; but I believe (which holds up
my head above the water), "It is good for a man," saith the Spirit of
God, "that he bear the yoke in his youth" (Lam. iii. 27).
I do remember you. I pray you be humble and believe; and I entreat you
in Jesus Christ, pray for John Stuart and his wife, and desire your
husband to do the same. Remember me heartily to Jean Brown. Desire her
to pray for me and my wife: I do remember her. Forget not Zion. Grace,
grace upon them, and peace, that pray for Zion. She is the ship we
sail in to Canaan. If she be broken on a rock, we will be cast
overboard, to swim to land betwixt death and life. The grace of Jesus
be with your husband and children.
Yours in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
X.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_SUBMISSION, PERSEVERANCE AND ZEAL RECOMMENDED._)
WELL-BELOVED AND DEAR SISTER IN CHRIST,--I could not get an answer
written to your letter till now, in respect of my wife's disease; and
she is yet mightily pained. I hope that all shall end in God's mercy.
I know that an afflicted life looks very like the way that leads to
the kingdom; for the Apostle hath drawn the line and the King's
market-way, "through much tribulation, to the kingdom" (Acts xiv. 22;
1 Thess. iii. 4). The Lord grant us the whole armour of God.
Ye write to me concerning your people's disposition, how that their
hearts are inclined toward the man ye know, and whom ye desire most
earnestly yourself. He would most gladly have the Lord's call for
transplantation; for he knows that all God's plants, set by His own
hand, thrive well; and if the work be of God, He can make a
stepping-stone of the devil himself for setting forward the work. For
yourself, I would advise you to ask of God a submissive heart. Your
reward shall be with the Lord, although the people be not gathered (as
the prophet speaks); and suppose the word[97] do not prosper, God
shall account you "a repairer of the breaches." And take Christ
caution, ye shall not lose your reward. Hold your grip fast. If ye
knew the mind of the glorified in heaven, they think heaven come to
their hand at an easy market, when they have got it for threescore or
fourscore years wrestling with God. When ye are come thither, ye shall
think, "All I did, in respect of my rich reward, now enjoyed of free
grace, was too little." Now then, for the love of the Prince of your
salvation, who is standing at the end of your way, holding up in His
hand the prize and the garland to the race-runners, Forward, forward;
faint not. Take as many to heaven with you as ye are able to draw. The
more ye draw with you, ye shall be the welcomer yourself. Be no
niggard or sparing churl of the grace of God; and employ all your
endeavours for establishing an honest ministry in your town, now when
ye have so few to speak a good word for you. I have many a grieved
heart daily in my calling. I would be undone, if I had not access to
the King's chamber of presence, to show Him all the business. The
devil rages, and is mad to see the water drawn from his own mill; but
would to God we could be the Lord's instruments to build the Son of
God's house.
[97] Work?
Pray for me. If the Lord furnish not new timber from Lebanon to build
the house, the work will cease. I look to Him, who hath begun well
with me. I have His handwrite, He will not change. Your daughter is
well, and longs for a Bible. The Lord establish you in peace. The Lord
Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours at all power in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
XI.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_GOD'S INEXPLICABLE DEALINGS WITH HIS PEOPLE WELL ORDERED--WANT
OF ORDINANCES--CONFORMITY TO CHRIST--TROUBLES OF THE
CHURCH--DEATH OF MR. RUTHERFORD'S WIFE._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied upon you. I received
your Ladyship's letter, in the which I perceive your case in this
world smelleth of a fellowship and communion with the Son of God in
His sufferings. Ye cannot, ye must not, have a more pleasant or more
easy condition here, than He had, who "through afflictions was made
perfect" (Heb. ii. 10). We may indeed think, Cannot God bring us to
heaven with ease and prosperity? Who doubteth but He can? But His
infinite wisdom thinketh and decreeth the contrary; and we cannot see
a reason of it, yet He hath a most just reason. We never with our eyes
saw our own soul; yet we have a soul. We see many rivers, but we know
not their first spring and original fountain; yet they have a
beginning. Madam, when ye are come to the other side of the water, and
have set down your foot on the shore of glorious eternity, and look
back again to the waters and to your wearisome journey, and shall see,
in that clear glass of endless glory, nearer to the bottom of God's
wisdom, ye shall then be forced to say, "If God had done otherwise
with me than He hath done, I had never come to the enjoying of this
crown of glory." It is your part now to believe, and suffer, and hope,
and wait on; for I protest, in the presence of that all-discerning
eye, who knoweth what I write and what I think, that I would not want
the sweet experience of the consolations of God for all the bitterness
of affliction. Nay, whether God come to His children with a rod or a
crown, if He come Himself with it, it is well. Welcome, welcome,
Jesus, what way soever Thou come, if we can get a sight of Thee! And
sure I am, it is better to be sick, providing Christ come to the
bedside and draw by the curtains, and say, "Courage, I am Thy
salvation," than to enjoy health, being lusty and strong, and never to
be visited of God.
Worthy and dear lady, in the strength of Christ, fight and overcome.
Ye are now yourself alone, but ye may have, for the seeking, three
always in your company, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I trust they
are near you. Ye are now deprived of the comfort of a lively
ministry; so was Israel in their captivity; yet hear God's promise to
them: "Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God, although I have cast
them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them
among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in
the countries where they shall come" (Ezek. xi. 16). Behold a
sanctuary! for a sanctuary, God Himself in the place and room of the
temple of Jerusalem! I trust in God, that carrying this temple about
with you, ye shall see Jehovah's beauty in His house.
We are in great fears of a great and fearful trial to come upon the
kirk of God; for these, who would build their houses and nests upon
the ashes of mourning Jerusalem, have drawn our King upon hard and
dangerous conclusions against such as are termed Puritans, for the
rooting of them out. Our prelates (the Lord take the keys of His house
from these bastard porters!) assure us that, for such as will not
conform, there is nothing but imprisonment and deprivation.[98] The
spouse of Jesus will ever be in the fire; but I trust in my God she
shall not consume, because of the good-will of Him who dwelleth in the
Bush; for He dwelleth in it with good-will. All sorts of crying sins
without controlment abound in our land. The glory of the Lord is
departing from Israel, and the Lord is looking back over His shoulder,
to see if any one will say, "Lord, tarry," and no man requesteth Him
to stay. Corrupt and false doctrine is openly preached by the
idol-shepherds of the land. For myself, I have daily griefs, through
the disobedience unto, and contempt of, the word of God. I was
summoned before the High Commission by a profligate person in this
parish, convicted of incest. In the business, Mr. Alexander
Colvill[99] (for respect to your Ladyship) was my great friend, and
wrote a most kind letter to me. The Lord give him mercy in that day.
Upon the day of my compearance, the sea and winds refused to give
passage to the Bishop of St. Andrews.[100] I entreat your Ladyship,
thank Mr. Alexander Colvill with two lines of a letter.
[98] The prelates, when the Courts of High Commission were erected in
1610, were invested with the powers of imprisoning and depriving
Nonconformists.
[99] One of the judges.
[100] Archbishop Spottiswoode.
My wife now, after long disease and torment, for the space of a year
and a month, is departed this life. The Lord hath done it; blessed be
His name. I have been diseased of a fever tertian for the space of
thirteen weeks, and am yet in the sickness, so that I preach but once
on the Sabbath with great difficulty. I am not able either to visit
or examine the congregation. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Your Ladyship's at all obedience,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _June 26, 1630_.
XII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_GOD MIXETH THE CUP--THE WICKED HAVE THEIR
REWARD--FAITHFULNESS--FORBEARANCE--TRIALS._)
WELL-BELOVED AND DEAR SISTER,--My love in the Lord Jesus remembered. I
understand that you are still under the Lord's visitation, in your
former business with your enemies, which is God's dealing. For, till
He take His children out of the furnace that knoweth how long they
should be tried, there is no deliverance; but after God's highest and
fullest tide, that the sea of trouble is gone over the souls of His
children, then comes the gracious long-hoped-for ebbing and drying up
of the waters. Dear sister, do not faint; the wicked may hold the
bitter cup to your head, but God mixeth it, and there is no poison in
it. They strike, but God moves the rod; Shimei curseth, but it is
because the Lord bids Him. I tell you, and I have it from Him before
whom I stand for God's people, that there is a decreet given out, in
the great court of the highest heavens, that your present troubles
shall be dispersed as the morning cloud, and God shall bring forth
your righteousness, as the light of the noontide of the day. Let me
intreat you, in Christ's name, to keep a good conscience in your
proceedings in that matter, and beware of yourself: yourself is a more
dangerous enemy than I, or any without you. Innocence and an upright
cause is a good advocate before God, and shall plead for you, and win
your cause. And count much of your Master's approbation and His
smiling. He is now as the king that is gone to a far country. God
seems to be from home (if I may say so), yet He sees the ill servants,
who say, "Our Master deferreth His coming," and so strike their
fellow-servants. But patience, my beloved; Christ the King is coming
home; the evening is at hand, and He will ask an account of His
servants. Make a fair, clear count to Him. So carry yourself as at
night you may say, Master, I have wronged none; behold, you have your
own with advantage. O! your soul then will esteem much of one of God's
kisses and embracements, in the testimony of a good conscience. The
wicked, howbeit they be casting many evil thoughts, bitter words, and
sinful deeds behind their back, yet they are, in so doing, clerks to
their own process, and doing nothing all their life but gathering
dittayes against themselves; for God is angry at the wicked every day.
And I hope your present process shall be sighted one day by Him, who
knoweth your just cause; and the bloody tongues, crafty foxes,
double-ingrained hypocrites, shall appear as they are before His
majesty, when He shall take the mask off their faces. And O, thrice
happy shall your soul be then, when God finds you covered with nothing
but the white robe of the saint's innocence, and the righteousness of
Jesus Christ.
You have been of late in the King's wine-cellar, where you were
welcomed by the Lord of the inn, upon condition that you walk in love.
Put on love, and brotherly kindness, and long-suffering; wait as long
upon the favour and turned hearts of your enemies as your Christ
waited upon you, and as dear Jesus stood at your soul's door, with
dewy and rainy locks, the long cold night. Be angry, but sin not. I
persuade myself, that holy unction within you, which teacheth you all
things, is also saying, "Overcome evil with good." If that had not
spoken in your soul, at the tears of your aged pastor, you would not
have agreed, and forgiven his foolish son, who wronged you; but my
Master bade me tell you, God's blessing shall be upon you for it; and
from Him I say, Grace, grace, grace, and everlasting peace be upon
you. It is my prayer for you, that your carriage may grace and adorn
the Gospel of that Lord who hath graced you. I heard your husband also
was sick; but I beseech you in the bowels of Jesus, welcome every rod
of God, for I find not in the whole book of God a greater note of the
child of God, than to fall down and kiss the feet of an angry God. And
when He seems to put you away from Him, and loose your hands that grip
Him, to look up in faith, and say, "I shall not, I will not, be put
away from Thee. Howbeit Thy Majesty draw to free Thyself of me, yet,
Lord, give me leave to hold, and cleave unto Thyself." I will pray,
that your husband may return in peace. Your decreet comes from heaven;
look up thither, for many (says Solomon) seek the face of the ruler,
but every man's Judgment cometh from the Lord. And be glad that it is
so, for Christ is the clerk of your process, and will see that all go
right; and I persuade myself He is saying, "Yonder servants of mine
are wronged; for My blood, Father, give them justice." Think you not,
dear sister, but our High Priest, our Jesus, the Master of requests,
presents our bills of complaint to the great Lord Justice? Yea I
believe it, since He is our Advocate, and Daniel calls Him the
Spokesman, whose hand presents all to the Father.
For other business, I say nothing, till the Lord give me to see your
face. I am credibly informed, that multitudes of England, and
especially worthy preachers, and silenced preachers of London, are
gone to New England; and I know one learned holy preacher, who hath
written against the Arminians, who is gone thither.[101] Our Blessed
Lord Jesus, who cannot get leave to sleep with His spouse in this
land, is going to seek an inn where He will be better entertained. And
what marvel? Wearied Jesus, after He had travelled from Geneva, by the
ministry of worthy Mr. Knox, and was laid in His bed, and reformation
begun, and the curtains drawn, had not gotten His dear eyes well
together, when irreverent bishops came in, and with the din and noise
of ceremonies, holy days, and other Romish corruptions, they awake our
Beloved. Others came to His bedside, and drew the curtains, and put
hands on His servants, banished, deprived, and confined them; and for
the pulpit they got a stool and a cold fire in the Blackness;[102] and
the nobility drew the covering off Him, and have made Him a poor naked
Christ, spoiling His servants of the tithes and kirk rents. And now
there is such a noise of crying sins in the land, as the want of the
knowledge of God, of mercy, and truth; such swearing, whoring, lying,
and blood touching blood; that Christ is putting on His clothes, and
making Him,[103] like an ill-handled stranger, to go to other lands.
Pray Him, sister, to lie down again with His beloved.
[101] The emigration of preachers and people to New England was the
consequence of the persecuting measures pursued by Archbishop Laud for
enforcing conformity, in the prosecution of his favourite scheme of
bringing the Church of England as near to that of Rome as could
consort with his own supremacy and that of his sovereign. About
seventy ministers and four thousand other persons emigrated to the
American continent to escape the tyranny of Laud and his agents.
[102] Blackness Castle, on the Forth, was used as a prison.
[103] In the sense of making a show of or appearing as if He would go;
Luke xxiv. 28.
Remember my dearest love to John Gordon, to whom I will write when I
am strong, and to John Brown, Grissel, Samuel, and William; grace be
upon them. As you love Christ, keep Christ's favour, and put not upon
Him when He sleeps, to awake Him before He please. The Lord Jesus be
with your spirit.
Your brother in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _July 21, 1630_.
XIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _when exposed to reproach for her
principles_.
(_JESUS A PATTERN OF PATIENCE UNDER SUFFERING._)
WELL-BELOVED SISTER,--I have been thinking, since my departure from
you, of the pride and malice of your adversaries; and ye may not
(since ye have had the Book of Psalms so often) take hardly with this;
for David's enemies snuffed at him, and through the pride of their
heart said, "The Lord will not require it" (Ps. x. 13). I beseech you,
therefore, in the bowels of Jesus, set before your eyes the patience
of your forerunner Jesus, who, when He was reviled, reviled not again;
when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him who
judgeth righteously (1 Pet. ii. 23). And since your Lord and Redeemer
with patience received many a black stroke on His glorious back, and
many a buffet of the unbelieving world, and says of Himself, "I gave
My back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the
hair; I hid not my face from shame and spitting" (Isa. iv. 6); follow
Him, and think it not hard that you receive a blow with your Lord.
Take part with Jesus of His sufferings, and glory in the marks of
Christ. If this storm were over, you must prepare yourself for a new
wound; for, five thousand years ago, our Lord proclaimed deadly war
betwixt the Seed of the Woman and the seed of the Serpent. And marvel
not that one town cannot keep the children of God and the children of
the devil, for one belly could not keep Jacob and Esau (Gen. xxv. 22);
one house could not keep peaceably together Isaac, the son of the
promise, and Ishmael, the son of the handmaid (Gen. xxi. 10). Be you
upon Christ's side of it, and care not what flesh can do. Hold
yourself fast by your Saviour, howbeit you be buffeted, and those that
follow Him. Yet a little while and the wicked shall not be. "We are
troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not
in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not
destroyed" (2 Cor. iv. 8, 9). If you can possess your soul in
patience, their day is coming. Worthy and dear sister, know to carry
yourself in trouble; and when you are hated and reproached, the Lord
shows it to you--"All this is come upon us, yet have we not gotten
Thee, neither have we dealt falsely in Thy covenant" (Ps. xliv. 17).
"Unless Thy law had been my delight, I had perished in mine
affliction" (Ps. cxix. 92). Keep God's covenant in your trials. Hold
you by His blessed word, and sin not. Flee anger, wrath, grudging,
envying, fretting. Forgive an hundred pence to your fellow-servant,
because your Lord hath forgiven you ten thousand talents. For I assure
you by the Lord, your adversaries shall get no advantage against you,
except you sin and offend your Lord in your sufferings. But the way to
overcome is by patience, forgiving and praying for your enemies, in
doing whereof you heap coals upon their heads, and your Lord shall
open a door to you in your troubles. Wait upon Him, as the night watch
waiteth for the morning. He will not tarry. Go up to your watch-tower,
and come not down; but by prayer, and faith, and hope, wait on. When
the sea is full, it will ebb again; and so soon as the wicked are come
to the top of their pride, and are waxed high and mighty, then is
their change approaching. They that believe make not haste.
Remember Zion, forget her not, for her enemies are many; for the
nations are gathered together against her. "But they know not the
thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they His counsel: for He
shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. Arise and thresh, O
daughter of Zion" (Micah iv. 12, 13). Behold, God hath gathered His
enemies together, as sheaves to the threshing. Let us stay and rest
upon these promises. Now again, I trust in our Lord you shall by faith
sustain yourself, and comfort yourself in your Lord, and be strong in
His power; for you are in the beaten and common way to heaven when you
are under our Lord's crosses. You have reason to rejoice in it, more
than in a crown of gold; and rejoice, and be glad to bear the
reproaches of Christ. I rest, recommending you and yours for ever to
the grace and mercy of God.
Yours in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Feb. 11, 1631_.
XIV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _in the prospect of a Communion season_.
(_ABUNDANCE IN JESUS--THE RESTORATION OF THE JEWS--ENEMIES OF GOD._)
WELL-BELOVED IN THE LORD,--You are not unacquainted with the day of
our Communion. I entreat, therefore, the aid of your prayers for that
great work, which is one of our feast days, wherein our Well-beloved
Jesus rejoiceth, and is merry with His friends.
Good cause have we to wonder at His love, since the day of His death
was such a sorrowful day to Him, even the day when His mother, the
kirk, crowned Him with thorns, and He had many against Him, and
compeared His lone in the fields against them all; yet He delights
with us to remember that day. Let us love Him, and be glad and rejoice
in His salvation. I am confident that you shall see the Son of God
that day, and I dare in His name invite you to His banquet. Many a
time you have been well entertained in His house; and He changes not
upon His friends, nor chides them for too great kindness. Yet I speak
not this to make you leave off to pray for me, who have nothing of
myself, but in so far as daily I receive from Him, who is made of His
Father a running-over fountain, at which I and others may come with
thirsty souls, and fill our vessels. Long hath this well been standing
open to us. Lord Jesus, lock it not up again upon us. I am sorry for
our desolate kirk; yet I dare not but trust, so long as there be any
of God's lost money here He shall not blow out the candle. The Lord
make fair candlesticks in His house, and remove the blind lights.
I have been this time bypast thinking much of the incoming of the kirk
of the Jews.[104] Pray for them. When they were in their Lord's house,
at their Father's elbow, they were longing for the incoming of their
little sister, the kirk of the Gentiles. They said to their Lord, "We
have a little sister, and she hath no breasts: what shall we do for
our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?" (Cant. viii. 8).
Let us give them a meeting. What shall we do for our elder sister, the
Jews? Lord Jesus, give them breasts. That were a glad day to see us
and them both sit down to one table, and Christ at the head of the
table. Then would our Lord come shortly with his fair guard to hold
His great court.
[104] So in his "Trial of Faith" p. 133 (published 1655).
Dear sister, be patient, for the Lord's sake, under the wrongs that
you suffer of the wicked. Your Lord shall make you see your desire on
your enemies. Some of them shall be cut off; "they shall shake off
their unripe grapes as the vine, and cast off their flower as the
olive" (Job. xv. 33): God shall make them like unripe sour grapes,
shaken off the tree with the blast of God's wrath; and therefore pity
them, and pray for them. Others of them must remain to exercise you.
God hath said of them, Let the tares grow up until harvest (Matt.
xiii. 30). It proves you to be your Lord's wheat. Be patient; Christ
went to heaven with many a wrong. His visage and countenance was all
marred more than the sons of men. You may not be above your Master;
many a black stroke received innocent Jesus, and He received no mends,
but referred them all to the great court-day, when all things shall be
righted. I desire to hear from you within a day or two, if Mr. Robert
remain in his purpose to come and help us. God shall give you joy of
your children. I pray for them by their names. I bless you from our
Lord, your husband and children. Grace, grace, and mercy be multiplied
upon you.
Yours in the Lord for ever,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _May 7, 1631_.
XV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT _on occasion of the threatened introduction
of the Episcopalian Service-Book_.
(_TROUBLES OF THE CHURCH--PRIVATE WRONGS._)
WELL-BELOVED SISTER,--My love in Christ remembered. I have received a
letter from Edinburgh, certainly informing me that the English
service, and the organs, and King James' Psalms, are to be imposed
upon our kirk; and that the bishops are dealing for a General
Assembly. A. R. hath confirmed the news also, and says he spoke with
Sir William Alexander,[105] who is to come down with his prince's
warrant for that effect. I am desired in the received letter to
acquaint the best-affected about me with that storm: therefore I
entreat you, and charge you in the Lord's name, pray; but do not
communicate this to any till I see you. My heart is broken at the
remembrance of it, and it was my fear, and answereth to my last letter
except one, that I wrote unto you. Dearly beloved, be not casten down,
but let us, as our Lord's doves, take us to our wings (for other
armour we have none), and flee into the hole of the rock. It is true
A. R. says, the worthiest men in England are banished, and silenced,
about the number of sixteen or seventeen choice Gospel preachers, and
the persecution is already begun. Howbeit I do not write this unto you
with a dry face, yet I am confident in the Lord's strength, Christ and
His side shall overcome; and you shall be assured; the kirk were not a
kirk, if it were not so. As our dear Husband, in wooing His kirk,
received many a black stroke, so His bride, in wooing Him, gets many
blows, and in this wooing there are strokes upon both sides. Let it be
so. The devil will not make the marriage go back, neither can he tear
the contract; the end shall be mercy. Yet notwithstanding of all this,
we have no warrant of God to leave off all lawful means. I have been
writing unto you the counsels and draughts of men against the kirk;
but they know not, as Micah says, the counsel of Jehovah. The great
men of the world may make ready the fiery furnace for Zion; but trow
ye that they can cause the fire to burn? No. He that made the fire, I
trust, shall not say amen to their decreets. I trust in my Lord, that
God hath not subscribed their bill, and their conclusions have not yet
passed our great King's seal. Therefore, if ye think good, address
yourself first to the Lord, and then to A. R., anent the business that
you know.
[105] Sir W. Alexander of Menstrie, afterwards Earl of Stirling.
I am most unkindly handled by the presbytery; and (as if I had been a
stranger, and not a member of that seat, to sit in judgment with them)
I was summoned by their order as a witness against B. A. But they have
got no advantage in that matter. Other particulars you shall hear, God
willing, at meeting.
Anent the matter betwixt you and I. E., I remember it to God. I
entreat you in the Lord, be submissive to His will; for the higher
that their pride mounts up, they are the nearer to a fall. The Lord
will more and more discover that man. Let your husband, in all matters
of judgment, take Christ's part, for the defence of the poor and
needy, and the oppressed, for the maintenance of equity and justice in
the town. And take you no fear. He shall take your part, and then you
are strong enough. What? Howbeit you receive indignities for your
Lord's sake, let it be so. When He shall put His holy hand up to your
face in heaven, and dry your face, and wipe the tears from your eyes,
judge if ye will not have cause then to rejoice. Anent other
particulars, if you would speak with me, appoint any of the first
three days of the next week in Carletoun,[106] when Carletoun is at
home, and acquaint me with your desires. And remember me to God, and
my dearest affection to your husband; and for Zion's sake hold not
your peace. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you, and your
husband and children.
Yours in the Lord,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _June 2, 1631_.
[106] Carleton, in Galloway (see note at Letter CLVII.), not far from
Anwoth, where Mr. Fullerton, a true friend, resided.
XVI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _on occasion of a proposal to remove him
from Anwoth_.
(_BABYLON'S DESTRUCTION AND CHRIST'S COMING--THE YOUNG INVITED._)
WORTHY AND DEAR MISTRESS,--My dearest love in Christ remembered. As to
the business which I know you would so fain have taken effect, my
earnest desire is, that you stand still. Haste not, and you shall see
the salvation of God. The great Master Gardener, the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, in a wonderful providence, with His own hand (I
dare, if it were for edification, swear it), planted me here,[107]
where, by His grace, in this part of His vineyard, I grow.--I dare not
say but Satan and the world (one of his pages whom he sends on his
errands) have said otherwise. And here I will abide till the great
Master of the Vineyard think fit to transplant me. But when He sees
meet to loose me at the root, and to plant me where I may be more
useful, both as to fruit and shadow, and when He who planted pulleth
up that He may transplant, who dare put to their hand and hinder? If
they do, God shall break their arm at the shoulder blade, and do His
turn. When our Lord is going west, the devil and world go east; and do
you not know that it hath been ever this way betwixt God and the
world--God drawing, and they holding, God "yea," and the world "nay"?
But they fall on their back and are frustrate, and our Lord holdeth
His grip.
[107] At Anwoth.
Wherefore doth the word say, that our Christ, the Goodman of this
house, His dear kirk, hath feet like fine brass, as if they burned in
a furnace (Rev. i. 15)? For no other cause but because where our Lord
setteth down His brazen feet, He will forward; and whithersoever He
looketh, He will follow His look; and His feet burn all under them,
like as fire doth stubble and thorns. I think He hath now given the
world a proof of His exceeding great power, when He is doing such
great things, wherein Zion is concerned, by the sword of the Swedish
king,[108] as of a Gideon. As you love the glory of God, pray
instantly (yea engage all your praying acquaintance, and take their
faithful promise to do the like) for this king, and every one that
Zion's King armeth, to execute the written vengeance on Babylon. Our
Lord hath begun to loose some of Babylon's corner stones. Pray to Him
to hold on, for that city must fall, and the birds of the air and the
beasts of the earth must make a banquet of Babylon; for He hath
invited them to eat the flesh of that whore, and to drink her blood.
And the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto her, and
shameful spewing shall be upon her glory. He whose word must stand
hath said, "Take this cup at the hand of the Lord, and drink and be
drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more" (Jer. xxv. 27). Our
Jesus is setting up Himself, as His Father's ensign (Isa. xi. 10), as
God's fair white colours, that His soldiers may all flock about Him.
Long, long may these colours stand. It is long since He displayed a
banner against Babylon in the fight of men and angels. Let us rejoice
and triumph in our God. The victory is certain; for when Christ and
Babel wrestle, then angels and saints may prepare themselves to sing,
"Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen." Howbeit that Prince of
renown, precious Jesus, be now weeping and bleeding in His members,
yet Christ will laugh again; and it is time enough for us to laugh,
when our Lord Christ laugheth,--and that will be shortly. For when we
hear of wars and rumours of wars, the Judge's feet are then before the
door, and He must be in heaven giving order to the angels to make
themselves ready, and prepare their hooks and sickles for that great
harvest. Christ will be upon us in haste; watch but a little, and ere
long the skies will rive, and that fair lovely person, Jesus, shall
come in the clouds, freighted and loaded with glory. And then all
these knaves and foxes that destroyed the vines shall call to the
hills, and cry to the mountains to cover them, and hide them from the
face of Him who sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the
Lamb.
[108] Gustavus Adolphus.
Remember me to your husband, and desire him from me to help Christ,
and to take His part, and in judgment sit ever beside Him, and receive
a blow patiently for His sake; for He is worthy to be suffered for,
not only to blows, but also to blood. He shall find that innocency and
uprightness in judgment shall hold its feet and make him happy, when
jouking will not do it. I speak this because a person said to me, "I
pray God the country be not in worse case now when the provost and
bailies are agreed, than formerly,"--to whom I replied, "I trust the
provost is agreed with the man's person, but not with his faults." I
pray for you, with my whole soul and desire, that your children may
walk in the truth, and that the Lord may shine upon them, and make
their faces to shine, when the faces of others shall blush. I dare
promise them, in His name, whose truth I preach, if they will but try
God's service, that they shall find Him the sweetest Master that ever
they served. And desire them from me but to try for a while the
service of this blessed Master, and then, if His service be not sweet,
if it afford not what is pleasant to the soul's taste, change Him upon
trial, and seek a better. Christ is an unknown Christ to the young
ones; and therefore they seek Him not, because they know Him not. Bid
them come and see, and seek a kiss of His mouth; and then they will
find His mouth is so sweet, that they will be everlastingly chained
unto Him by their own consent. If I have any credit with your
children, I entreat them in Christ's name to try what truth and
reality is in what I say, and leave not His service till they have
found me a liar. I give you, your husband, and them, to His keeping to
whom I have,[109] and dare venture myself and soul, even to our dear
Friend Jesus Christ, in whom I am,
Yours,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
[109] To whom I have given, and dare venture to give.
XVII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _when in distress as to prospects of the
Church_.
(_ARMINIANISM--CALL TO PRAYER--NO HELP BUT IN CHRIST._)
WELL-BELOVED SISTER,--My dearest love in Christ remembered to you.
Know that I am in great heaviness for the pitiful case of our Lord's
kirk. I hear the cause why Dr. Burton[110] is committed to prison is
his writing and preaching against the Arminians. I therefore entreat
the aid of your prayers for myself, and the Lord's captives of hope,
and for Zion. The Lord hath let and daily lets me see clearly, how
deep furrows Arminianism and the followers of it draw upon the back of
God's Israel (but our Lord cut the cords of the wicked!). "Zion said,
The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me" (Isa. xlix.
14). "Zion weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are upon her
cheeks; amongst all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her
friends have dealt treacherously with her; they are become her
enemies" (Lam. i. 2). "Our silver is become dross, our wine mixed with
water" (Isa. i. 22). "How is the gold become dim! how is the most
fine gold changed! the stones of the sanctuary are poured out in the
top of every street. The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine
gold, how are they esteemed as earthen pitchers, the work of the hands
of the potter!" (Lam. ix. 1, 2). It is time now for the Lord's secret
ones, who favour the dust of Zion, to cry, "How long, Lord?" and to go
up to their watch-tower, and to stay there, and not to come down until
the vision speak; for it shall speak (Hab. ii. 3). In the mean time,
the just shall live by faith. Let us wait on and not weary. I have not
a thread to hang upon and rest, but this one, "Can a woman forget her
sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her
womb? Yea, she may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have
graven thee upon the palms of My hands; Thy walls are continually
before Me" (Isa. xlix. 15, 16). For all outward helps do fail; it is
time therefore for us to hang ourselves, as our Lord's vessels, upon
the nail that is fastened in a sure place. We would make stakes of our
own fastening, but they will break. Our Lord will have Zion on His own
nail. Edom is busy within us, and Babel without us, against the
handful of Jacob's seed. It were best that we were upon Christ's side
of it, for His enemies will get _the stalks to keep_, as the proverb
is. Our greatest difficulty will be to win upon the rock now, when the
wind and waves of persecution are so lofty and proud. Let sweet Jesus
take us by the hand. Neither must we think that it will be otherwise;
for it is told to the souls under the altar, "That their
fellow-servants must be killed as they were" (Rev. vi. 11). Surely, it
cannot be long to the day. Nay, hear Him say, "Behold, I come, My dear
bride; think not long. I shall be at you at once. I hear you, and am
coming." Amen; even so come, Lord Jesus, come quickly; for the
prisoners of hope are looking out at the prison windows, to see if
they can behold the King's ambassador coming with the King's warrant
and the keys. I write not to you by guess now, because I have a
warrant to say unto you, the garments of Christ's spouse must be once
again dyed in blood, as long ago her husband's were. But our Father
sees His bleeding Son. What I write unto you, show it to I. G. Grace,
grace, grace and mercy be with you, your husband, and children.
Yours in the Lord,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
[110] Henry Burton, an able divine of the Church of England, wrote
several vigorous pieces against Popery, and against Montague's
"Appello Cæsarem."
XVIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _in the prospect of a Communion
season_.
(_PRAYER SOLICITED--THE CHURCH'S PROSPECTS._)
MISTRESS,--My love in Christ as remembered. Our Communion is on
Sabbath come[111] eight days. I will entreat you to recommend it to
God, and to pray for me in that work. I have more sins upon me now
than the last time. Therefore I will beseech you in Christ, seek this
petition to me from God, that the Lord would give me grace to vow and
perform new obedience. I have cause to suit this of you; and show it
to Thomas Carson, Fergus and Jean Brown, for I have been and am
exceedingly cast down, and am fighting against a malicious devil, of
whom I can win little ground. I would think a spoil plucked from him,
and his trusty servant sin, a lawful and just conquest. And it were no
sin to take from him, in the name of the Goodman of our house, our
King Jesus. I invite you to the banquet. He saith, ye shall be dearly
welcome to Him. And I desire to believe (howbeit not without great
fear) He shall be as hearty in His own house as He has been before.
For me, it is but small reckoning; but I would fain have our Father
and Lord to break the great fair loaf, Christ, and to distribute His
slain Son amongst the bairns of His house, and that if any were a
step-bairn, in respect of comfort and sense, it were rather myself
than His poor bairns. Therefore bid our Well-beloved come to His
garden and feed among the lilies.
[111] Sabbath that comes eight days after this.
And as concerning Zion, I hope our Lord, who sent His angel (Zech. ii.
1, 2) with a measuring line in his hand to measure the length and
breadth of Jerusalem, in token He would not want a foot length or inch
of His own free heritage, shall take order with those who have taken
away many acres of His own land from Him. And God will build Jerusalem
in the old sted and place where it was before. In this hope rejoice
and be glad. Christ's garment was not dipped in blood for nothing, but
for His Bride, whom He bought with strokes. I will desire you to
remember my old suits to God, God's glory and the increase of light,
that I dry not up. For your town, hope and believe that the Lord will
gather in His loose sheaves among you to His barn, and send one with a
well-toothed, sharp hook, and strong gardies, to reap His harvest. And
the Lord Jesus be Husbandman, and oversee the growing. Remember my
love to your husband and to Samuel. Grace upon you and your children.
Lord, make them corner-stones in Jerusalem, and give them grace in
their youth to take band with the fair Chief Corner-stone, who was
hewed out of the mountain without hands, and got many a knock with His
Father's forehammer, and endured them all, and the stone did neither
cleave nor break. Upon that stone make your soul to lie. King Jesus be
with your spirit.
Your friend in his well-beloved Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
XIX.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_ENCOURAGEMENT TO ABOUND IN FAITH FROM THE PROSPECT OF
GLORY--CHRIST'S UNCHANGEABLENESS._)
MADAM,--Having saluted you in the Lord Jesus, I thought it my duty,
having the occasion of this bearer, to write again unto your ladyship,
though I have no new purpose but what I wrote of before. Yet ye cannot
be too often awakened to go forward towards your city, since your way
is long, and (for anything ye know) your day is short. And your Lord
requireth of you, as ye advance in years and steal forward insensibly
towards eternity, that your faith may grow and ripen for the Lord's
harvest. For the great Husbandman giveth a season to His fruits that
they may come to maturity, and having gotten their fill of the tree
they may then be shaken and gathered in for use; whereas the wicked
rot upon the tree, and their branch shall not be green. "He shall
shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower
as the olive" (Job xv. 33). It is God's mercy to you, Madam, that He
giveth you your fill, even to loathing, of this bitter world, that ye
may willingly leave it, and, like a full and satisfied banqueter,[112]
long for the drawing of the table. And at last, having trampled under
your feet all the rotten pleasures that are under sun and moon, and
having rejoiced as though ye rejoiced not, and having bought as though
ye possessed not (1 Cor. vii. 30), ye may, like an old crazy ship,
arrive at our Lord's harbour, and be made welcome, as one of those who
have ever had one foot loose from the earth, longing for that place
where your soul shall feast and banquet for ever and ever upon a
glorious sight of the incomprehensible Trinity, and where ye shall see
the fair face of the man Christ, even the beautiful face that was once
for your cause more marred than any of the visages of the sons of men
(Isa. lii. 14), and was all covered with spitting and blood. Be
content to wade through the waters betwixt you and glory with Him,
holding His hand fast, for He knoweth all the fords. Howbeit ye may be
ducked, but ye cannot drown, being in His company; and ye may all the
way to glory see the way bedewed with His blood who is the Forerunner.
Be not afraid, therefore, when ye come even to the black and swelling
river of death, to put in your foot and wade after Him. The current,
how strong soever, cannot carry you down the water to hell: the Son of
God, His death and resurrection, are stepping-stones and a stay to
you; set down your feet by faith upon these stones, and go through as
on dry land. If ye knew what He is preparing for you, ye would be too
glad. He will not (it may be) give you a full draught till you come up
to the well-head and drink, yea, drink abundantly, of the pure river
of the water of life, that proceedeth out from the throne of God and
of the Lamb (Rev. xxii. 1). Madam, tire not, weary not; I dare find
you the Son of God caution, when ye are got up thither, and have cast
your eyes to view the golden city, and the fair and never-withering
Tree of Life, that beareth twelve manner of fruits every month, ye
shall then say, "Four-and-twenty hours' abode in this place is worth
threescore and ten years' sorrow upon earth." If ye can but say, that
ye long earnestly to be carried up thither (and I hope you cannot for
shame deny Him the honour of having wrought that desire in your soul),
then hath your Lord given you an earnest. And, Madam, do ye believe
that our Lord will lose His earnest, and rue of the bargain, and
change His mind, as if He were a man that can lie, or the son of man
that can repent? Nay, He is unchangeable, and the same this year that
He was the former year. And His Son Jesus, who upon earth ate and
drank with publicans and sinners, and spake and conferred with whores
and harlots, and put up His holy hand and touched the leper's filthy
skin, and came evermore nigh sinners, even now in glory, is yet that
same Lord. His honour, and His great court in heaven, hath not made
Him forget His poor friends on earth. In Him honours change not
manners, and He doth yet desire your company. Take Him for the old
Christ, and claim still kindness to Him, and say, "O it is so; He is
not changed, but I am changed." Nay, it is a part of His unchangeable
love, and an article of the new covenant, to keep you that ye cannot
dispone Him, nor sell Him. He hath not played fast and loose with us
in the covenant of grace, so that we may run from Him at our pleasure.
His love hath made the bargain surer than so; for Jesus, as the
cautioner, is bound for us (Heb. vii. 22). And it cannot stand with
His honour to die in the borrows (as we use to say), and lose thee,
whom He must render again to the Father when He shall give up the
kingdom to Him. Consent and say "Amen" to the promises, and ye have
sealed that God is true, and Christ is yours. This is an easy market.
Ye but look on with faith; for Christ suffered all, and paid all.
[112] Allusion to Horace, _Sat._ i. 1, 19. One of the few allusions to
the classics that occur in Rutherford.
Madam, fearing I be tedious to your Ladyship, I must stop here,
desiring always to hear that your Ladyship is well, and that ye have
still your face up the mountain. Pray for us, Madam, and for Zion,
whereof ye are a part. We expect a trial. God's wheat in this land
must go through Satan's sieve, but their faith shall not fail. I am
still wrestling in our Lord's work, and have been tried and tempted
with brethren who look awry to the Gospel. Now He that is able to keep
you unto that day preserve your soul, body, and spirit, and present
you before His face with His own Bride, spotless and blameless.
Your Ladyship's, to be commanded always in the Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Nov. 26, 1631_.
XX.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_ASSURANCE OF CHRIST'S LOVE UNDER TRIALS--FULNESS OF CHRIST--HOPE OF
GLORY._)
MADAM,--I am grieved exceedingly that your Ladyship should think, or
have cause to think, that such as love you in God, in this country,
are forgetful of you. For myself, Madam, I owe to your Ladyship all
evidences of my high respect (in the sight of my Lord, whose truth I
preach, I am bold to say it) for His rich grace in you.
My Communion, put off till the end of a longsome and rainy harvest,
and the presbyterial exercise (as the bearer can inform your
Ladyship), hindered me to see you. And for my people's sake (finding
them like hot iron, that cooleth being out of the fire, and that is
pliable to no work), I do not stir abroad; neither have I left them at
all, since your Ladyship was in this country, save at one time only,
about two years ago. Yet I dare not say but it is a fault, howbeit no
defect in my affection; and I trust to make it up again, so soon as
possibly I am able to wait upon you.
Madam, I have no new purpose to write unto you, but of that which I
think (nay, which our Lord thinketh) needful, that one thing, Mary's
good part, which ye have chosen (Luke x. 42). Madam, all that God
hath, both Himself and the creatures, He is dealing and parting
amongst the sons of Adam. There are none so poor as that they can say
in His face, "He hath given them nothing." But there is no small odds
betwixt the gifts given to lawful bairns and to bastards; and the more
greedy ye are in suiting, the more willing He is to give, delighting
to be called open-handed. I hope your Ladyship laboureth to get
assurance of the surest patrimony, even God Himself. Ye will find in
Christianity, that God aimeth, in all His dealings with His children,
to bring them to a high contempt of, and deadly feud with the world,
and to set an high price upon Christ, and to think Him One who cannot
be bought for gold, and well worthy the fighting for. And for no other
cause, Madam, doth the Lord withdraw from you the childish toys and
the earthly delights that He giveth unto others, but that He may have
you wholly to Himself. Think therefore of the Lord, as of one who
cometh to woo you in marriage, when ye are in the furnace. He seeketh
His answer of you in affliction, to see if ye will say, Even so I take
Him. Madam, give Him this answer pleasantly, and in your mind do not
secretly grudge nor murmur. When He is striking you in love, beware to
strike again: that is dangerous; for those who strike again shall get
the last blow.
If I hit not upon the right string, it is because I am not acquainted
with your Ladyship's present condition; but I believe your Ladyship
goeth on foot, laughing, and putting on a good countenance before the
world, and yet ye carry heaviness about with you. Ye do well, Madam,
not to make them witnesses of your grief, who cannot be curers of it.
But be exceedingly charitable of your dear Lord. As there be some
friends worldly of whom ye will not entertain an ill thought, far more
ought ye to believe good evermore of your dear friend, that lovely
fair person, Jesus Christ. The thorn is one of the most cursed, and
angry, and crabbed weeds that the earth yieldeth, and yet out of it
springeth the rose, one of the sweetest-smelled flowers, and most
delightful to the eye, that the earth hath. Your Lord shall make joy
and gladness out of your afflictions; for all His roses have a
fragrant smell. Wait for the time when His own holy hand shall hold
them to your nose; and if ye would have present comfort under the
cross, be much in prayer, for at that time your faith kisseth Christ
and He kisseth the soul. And oh! if the breath of His holy mouth be
sweet, I dare be caution, out of some small experience, that ye shall
not be beguiled; for the world (yea, not a few number of God's
children) know not well what that is which they call a Godhead. But,
Madam, come near to the Godhead, and look down to the bottom of the
well; there is much in Him, and sweet were that death to drown in such
a well. Your grief taketh liberty to work upon your mind, when ye are
not busied in the meditation of the ever-delighting and all-blessed
Godhead. If ye would lay the price ye give out (which is but some few
years' pain and trouble) beside the commodities ye are to receive, ye
would see they are not worthy to be laid in the balance together: but
it is nature that maketh you look what ye give out, and weakness of
faith that hindereth you to see what ye shall take in. Amend your
hope, and frist your faithful Lord awhile. He maketh Himself your
debtor in the new covenant. He is honest; take His word: "Affliction
shall not spring up the second time" (Nahum i. 9). "He that overcometh
shall inherit all things" (Rev. xxi. 7). Of all things, then, which ye
want in this life, Madam, I am able to say nothing, if that be not
believed which ye have in Rev. iii. 5, 21: "The overcomer shall be
clothed in white raiment. To the overcomer I will give to sit with Me
in My throne, as I overcame, and am set down with My Father in His
throne." Consider, Madam, if ye are not high up now, and far ben in
the palace of our Lord, when ye are upon a throne in white raiment, at
lovely Christ's elbow. O thrice fools are we, who, like new-born
princes weeping in the cradle, know not that there is a kingdom before
them! Then let our Lord's sweet hand square us and hammer us, and
strike off the knots of pride, self-love, and world-worship, and
infidelity, that He may make us stones and pillars in His Father's
house (Rev. iii. 12). Madam, what think ye to take binding with the
fair corner-stone Jesus? The Lord give you wisdom to believe and hope
your day is coming. I hope to be witness of your joy, as I have been a
hearer and beholder of your grief. Think ye much to follow the heir of
the crown, who had experience of sorrows, and was acquainted with
grief? (Isa. liii. 3). It were pride to aim to be above the King's
Son: it is more than we deserve, that we are _equals_ in glory, in a
manner. Now commending you to the dearest grace and mercy of God, I
rest
Your Ladyship's, at all obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Jan. 4, 1632_.
XXI.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_SELF-DENIAL--HOPE OF CHRIST'S COMING--LOVING GOD FOR HIMSELF._)
MADAM,--Understanding (a little after the writing of my last letter)
of the going of this bearer, I would not omit the opportunity of
remembering your Ladyship, still harping upon that string, which in
our whole lifetime is never too often touched upon (nor is our lesson
well enough learned), that there is a necessity of advancing in the
way to the kingdom of God, of the contempt of the world, of denying
ourself and bearing of our Lord's cross, which is no less needful for
us than daily food. And among many marks that we are on this journey,
and under sail toward heaven, this is one, when the love of God so
filleth our hearts, that we forget to love, and care not much for the
having, or wanting of, other things; as one extreme heat burneth out
another. By this, Madam, ye know, ye have betrothed your soul in
marriage to Christ, when ye do make but small reckoning of all other
suitors or wooers; and when ye can (having little in hand, but much in
hope) live as a young heir, during the time of his non-age and
minority, being content to be as hardly handled and under as precise a
reckoning as servants, because his hope is upon the inheritance. For
this cause God's bairns take well with spoiling of their goods,
knowing in themselves that they have in heaven a better and an
enduring substance (Heb. x. 34). That day that the earth and the works
therein shall be burned with fire (2 Pet. iii. 10), your hidden hope
and your life shall appear. And therefore, since ye have not now many
years to your endless eternity, and know not how soon the sky above
your head will rive, and the Son of man will be seen in the clouds of
heaven, what better and wiser course can ye take, than to think that
your one foot is here, and your other foot in the life to come, and to
leave off loving, desiring, or grieving for the wants that shall be
made up when your Lord and ye shall meet, and when ye shall give in
your bill, that day, of all your wants here? If your losses be not
made up, ye have place to challenge the Almighty; but it shall not be
so. Ye shall then rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and
your joy shall none take from you (1 Pet. i. 8; John xvi. 22). It is
enough, that the Lord hath promised you great things, only let the
time of bestowing them be in His own carving. It is not for us to set
an hour-glass to the Creator of time. Since He and we differ only in
the term of payment; since He hath promised payment, and we believe
it, it is no great matter. We will put that in His own will, as the
frank buyer, who cometh near to what the seller seeketh, useth at last
to refer the difference to his own will, and so cutteth off the course
of mutual prigging. Madam, do not prigg with your frank-hearted and
gracious Lord about the time of the fulfilling of your joys. It will
be; God hath said it; bide His harvest, wait upon His whitsunday.[113]
His day is better than your day; He putteth not the hook in the corn
till it be ripe and full-eared. The great Angel of the covenant bear
you company, till the trumpet shall sound, and the voice of the
Archangel awaken the dead. Ye shall find it your only happiness, under
whatever thing disturbeth and crosseth the peace of your mind, in this
life, to love nothing for itself, but only God for Himself. It is the
crooked love of some harlots, that they love bracelets, ear-rings, and
rings better than the lover that sendeth them. God will not so be
loved; for that were to behave as harlots, and not as the chaste
spouse, to abate from our love when these things are pulled away. Our
love to Him should begin on earth, as it shall be in heaven; for the
bride taketh not, by a thousand degrees, so much delight in her
wedding garment as she doth in her bridegroom; so we, in the life to
come, howbeit clothed with glory as with a robe, shall not be so much
affected with the glory that goeth about us, as with the bridegroom's
joyful race and presence. Madam, if ye can win to this here, the field
is won; and your mind, for anything ye want, or for anything your Lord
can take from you, shall soon be calmed and quieted. Get Himself as a
pawn, and keep Him, till your dear Lord come, and loose the pawn, and
rue upon you, and give you all again that He took from you, even a
thousand talents for one penny. It is not ill to lend God willingly,
who otherwise both will and may take from you against your will. It
is good to play the usurer with Him, and take in, instead of ten of
the hundred, an hundred of ten, often an hundred of one.
[113] His term-day.
Madam, fearing to be tedious to you, I break off here, commending you
(as I trust to do while I live), your person, ways, burdens, and all
that concerneth you, to that Almighty who is able to bear you and your
burdens. I still remember you to Him, who will cause you one day to
laugh. I expect that, whatever ye can do, by word or deed, for the
Lord's friendless Zion, ye will do it. She is your mother; forget her
not; for the Lord intendeth to melt and try this land, and it is high
time we were all upon our feet, and falling about to try what claim we
have to Christ. It is like the bridegroom will be taken from us, and
then we shall mourn. Dear Jesus, remove not, else take us with Thee.
Grace, grace be with you for ever.
Your Ladyship's, at all dutiful obedience,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Jan. 14, 1632_.
XXII.--_To_ JOHN KENNEDY. (_Letter_ LXXV.)
(_DELIVERANCE FROM SHIPWRECK--RECOVERY FROM THREATENED DEATH--USE OF
TRIALS--REMEMBRANCE OF FRIENDS._)
MY LOVING AND MOST AFFECTIONATE IN CHRIST,--I salute you with grace,
mercy, and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
I promised to write to you, and although late enough, yet I now make
it good. I heard with grief of your great danger of perishing by the
sea, and of your merciful deliverance with joy. Sure I am, brother,
that Satan will leave no stone unrolled, as the proverb is, to roll
you off your Rock, or at least to shake and unsettle you: for at that
same time the mouths of wicked men were opened in hard speeches
against you, by land, and the prince of the power of the air was angry
with you by sea. See then how much ye are obliged to that malicious
murderer, who would beat you with two rods at one time; but, blessed
be God, his arm is short; if the sea and wind would have obeyed him,
ye had never come to land. Thank your God, who saith, "I have the keys
of hell and of death" (Rev. i. 18); "I kill, and I make alive" (Deut.
xxxii. 39); "The Lord bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up" (1
Sam. ii. 6). If Satan were jailor, and had the keys of death and of
the grave, they should be stored with more prisoners. Ye were knocking
at these black gates, and ye found the doors shut; and we do all
welcome you back again.
I trust that ye know that it is not for nothing that ye are sent to us
again. The Lord knew that ye had forgotten something that was
necessary for your journey; that your armour was not as yet thick
enough against the stroke of death. Now, in the strength of Jesus
despatch your business; that debt is not forgiven, but fristed: death
hath not bidden you farewell, but hath only left you for a short
season. End your journey ere the night come upon you. Have all in
readiness against the time that ye must sail through that black and
impetuous Jordan; and Jesus, Jesus, who knoweth both those depths and
the rocks, and all the coasts, be your pilot. The last tide will not
wait you for one moment. If ye forget anything, when your sea is full,
and your foot in that ship, there is no returning again to fetch it.
What ye do amiss in your life to-day, ye may amend it to-morrow; for
as many suns as God maketh to arise upon you, ye have as many new
lives; but ye can die but once, and if ye mar or spill that business,
ye cannot come back to mend that piece of work again. No man sinneth
twice in dying ill; as we die but once, so we die but ill or well
once. You see how the number of your months is written in God's book;
and as one of the Lord's hirelings, ye must work till the shadow of
the evening come upon you, and ye shall run out your glass even to the
last pickle of sand. Fulfil your course with joy, for we take nothing
to the grave with us, but a good or evil conscience. And, although the
sky clear after this storm, yet clouds will engender another.
Ye contracted with Christ, I hope, when first ye began to follow Him,
that ye would bear His cross. Fulfil your part of the contract with
patience, and break not to Jesus Christ. Be honest, brother, in your
bargaining with Him; for who knoweth better how to bring up children
than our God? For (to lay aside His knowledge, of the which there is
no finding out) He hath been practised in bringing up His heirs these
five thousand years; and His bairns are all well brought up, and many
of them are honest men now at home, up in their own house in heaven,
and are entered heirs to their Father's inheritance. Now, the form of
His bringing up was by chastisements, scourging, correcting,
nurturing; and see if He maketh exception of any of His bairns: no,
His eldest Son and His Heir, Jesus, is not excepted (Rev. iii. 19;
Heb. xii. 7, 8, and ii. 10). Suffer we must; ere we were born, God
decreed it; and it is easier to complain of His decree than to change
it. It is true, terrors of conscience cast us down; and yet without
terrors of conscience we cannot be raised up again: fears and
doubtings shake us; and yet without fears and doubtings we would soon
sleep, and lose our grips of Christ. Tribulation and temptations will
almost loosen us to the root; and yet, without tribulations and
temptations, we can now no more grow than herbs or corn without rain.
Sin, and Satan, and the world will say, and cry in our ear, that we
have a hard reckoning to make in judgment; and yet none of these
three, except they lie, dare say in our face that our sin can change
the tenor of the new covenant. Forward, then, dear brother, and lose
not your grips. Hold fast the truth: for the world, sell not one
dram-weight of God's truth, especially now, when most men measure
truth by time, like young seamen setting their compass by a cloud; for
now time is father and mother to truth, in the thoughts and practices
of our evil time. The God of truth establish us; for, alas! now there
are none to comfort the prisoners of hope, and the mourners in Zion.
We can do little, except pray and mourn for Joseph in the stocks. And
let their tongue cleave to the roof of their mouth who forget
Jerusalem now in her day; and the Lord remember Edom, and render to
him as he hath done to us.
Now, brother, I shall not weary you; but I entreat you to remember my
dearest love to Mr. David Dickson, with whom I have small
acquaintance; yet I bless the Lord, I know that he both prayeth and
doeth for our dying kirk. Remember my dearest love to John Stuart,
whom I love in Christ; and show him from me that I do always remember
him, and hope for a meeting. The Lord Jesus establish him more and
more, though he be already a strong man in Christ. Remember my
heartiest affection in Christ to William Rodger,[114] whom I also
remember to God. I wish that the first news I hear of him and you, and
all that love our common Saviour in those bounds, may be, that they
are so knit and linked, and kindly fastened in love with the Son of
God, that ye may say, "Now if ye would ever so fain escape out of
Christ's hands, yet love hath so bound us, that we cannot get our
hands free again; He hath so ravished our hearts, that there is no
loosening of His grips; the chains of His soul-ravishing love are so
strong, that neither the grave nor death will break them." I hope,
brother, yea I doubt not of it, that ye lay me, and my first entry to
the Lord's vineyard, and my flock, before Him who hath put me into His
work. As the Lord knoweth, since first I saw you, I have been mindful
of you. Marion M'Naught doth remember most heartily her love to you,
and to John Stuart.[115] Blessed be the Lord! that in God's mercy I
found in this country such a woman, to whom Jesus is dearer than her
own heart, when there be so many that cast Christ over their shoulder.
Good brother, call to mind the memory of your worthy father, now
asleep in Christ; and, as his custom was, pray continually, and
wrestle, for the life of a dying, breathless kirk. And desire John
Stuart not to forget poor Zion; she hath few friends, and few to speak
one good word for her.
[114] Livingstone in his "Memor. Characteristics" mentions this godly
man, a merchant in Ayr.
[115] See Letter CLXI.
Now I commend you, your whole soul, and body, and spirit, to Jesus
Christ and His keeping, hoping that ye will live and die, stand and
fall, with the cause of our Master, Jesus. The Lord Jesus Himself be
with your spirit.
Your loving brother in our Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Feb. 2, 1632_.
XXIII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_EXHORTING TO REMEMBER HER ESPOUSAL TO CHRIST--TRIBULATION A
PREPARATION FOR THE KINGDOM--GLORY IN THE END._)
MADAM,--Your Ladyship will not (I know) weary nor offend, though I
trouble you with many letters. The memory of what obligations I am
under to your Ladyship, is the cause of it.
I am possibly impertinent in what I write, because of my ignorance of
your present estate; but for all that is said, I have learned of Mr.
W. D.[116] that ye have not changed upon, nor wearied of your sweet
Master, Christ, and His service; neither were it your part to change
upon Him who "resteth in His love." Ye are among honourable company,
and such as affect grandeur and court. But, Madam, thinking upon your
estate, I think I see an improvident wooer coming too late to seek a
bride, because she is contracted already, and promised away to
another; and so the wooer's busking and bravery (who cometh to
you[117] as "who but he?") are in vain. The outward pomp of this busy
wooer, a beguiling world, is now coming in to suit[118] your soul too
late, when ye have promised away your soul to Christ many years ago.
And I know, Madam, what answer ye may now justly make to the late
suitor; even this: "Ye are too long of coming; my soul, the bride, is
away already, and the contract with Christ subscribed, and I cannot
choose, but I must be honest and faithful to Him." Honourable lady,
keep your first love, and hold the first match with that
soul-delighting, lovely Bridegroom, our sweet, sweet Jesus, fairer
than all the children of men, "the Rose of Sharon," and the fairest
and sweetest smelled rose in all His Father's garden. There is none
like Him; I would not exchange one smile of His lovely face with
kingdoms. Madam, let others take their silly, feckless heaven in this
life. Envy them not; but let your soul, like a tarrowing and
mislearned child, take the dorts (as we use to speak), or cast at all
things and disdain them, except one only: either Christ or nothing.
Your well-beloved, Jesus, will be content that ye be here devoutly
proud, and ill to please, as one that contemneth all husbands but
Himself. Either the King's Son, or no husband at all; this is humble,
and worthy ambition. What have ye to do to dally with a whorish and
foolish world? Your jealous Husband will not be content that ye look
by Him to another: He will be jealous indeed, and offended, if ye kiss
another but Himself. What weights do burden you, Madam, I know not;
but think it great mercy that your Lord from your youth hath been
hedging in your outstraying affections, that they may not go a-whoring
from Himself. If ye were His bastard, He would not nurture you so. If
ye were for the slaughter, ye would be fattened. But be content; ye
are His wheat, growing in our Lord's field (Matt. xiii. 25, 38); and
if wheat, ye must go under our Lord's threshing-instrument, in His
barn-floor, and through His sieve (Amos ix. 9), and through His mill
to be bruised (as the Prince of your salvation, Jesus, was) (Isa.
liii. 10), that ye may be found good bread in your Lord's house. Lord
Jesus, bless the spiritual husbandry, and separate you from the chaff,
that dow not bide the wind. I am persuaded your glass is spending
itself by little and little; and if ye knew who is before you, ye
would rejoice in your tribulations. Think ye it a small honour to
stand before the throne of God and the Lamb? and to be clothed in
white, and to be called to the marriage supper of the Lamb? and to be
led to the fountain of living waters, and to come to the Well-head,
even God Himself, and get your fill of the clear, cold, sweet,
refreshing water of life, the King's own well? and to put up your own
sinful hand to the tree of life and take down and eat the sweetest
apple in all God's heavenly paradise, Jesus Christ, your life and your
Lord? Up your heart! shout for joy! Your King is coming to fetch you
to His Father's house.
[116] Mr. William Dalgleish, minister at Kirkmabreck.
[117] A proverbial expression, as in Herbert's Poem, 84:
"Then came brave Glory passing by,
With silks that whistled, Who but he."
[118] Z. Boyd's _Last Battle_, p. 185.
Madam, I am in exceeding great heaviness, God thinking it best for my
own soul thus to exercise me, thereby, it may be, to fit me to be His
mouth to others. I see and hear, at home and abroad, nothing but
matter of grief and discouragement, which indeed maketh my life
bitter. And I hope in God never to get my will in this world. And I
expect ere long a fiery trial upon the Church; for as many men almost
in England and Scotland, as many false friends to Christ, and as many
pulling and drawing to pull the crown off His holy head! and for fear
that our Beloved stay amongst us (as if His room[119] were more
desirable than Himself), men are bidding Him go seek His lodging.
Madam, if ye have a part in silly, friendless Zion (as I know ye
have), speak a word on her behalf to God and man. If ye can do nothing
else, speak for Jesus, and ye shall thereby be a witness against this
declining age. Now, from my very soul, laying and leaving you on the
Lord, and desiring a part in your prayers (as, my Lord knoweth, I
remember you), I deliver over your body, spirit, and all your
necessities, to the hands of our Lord, and remain for ever
Your Ladyship's, in your sweet Lord Jesus and mine,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Feb. 13, 1632_.
[119] His place.
XXIV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_CHRIST AND HIS GARDEN--PROVISION OF ORDINANCES IN THE CHURCH--OUR
CHILDREN._)
BELOVED MISTRESS,--My dearest love in Christ remembered to you. Know
that Mr. Abraham[120] showed me there is to be a meeting of the
bishops at Edinburgh shortly. The causes are known to themselves. It
is our part to hold up our hands for Zion. Howbeit, it is reported,
they came sad from court. It is our Lord's wisdom, that His kirk
should ever hang by a thread; and yet the thread breaketh not, being
hanged upon Him who is the sure Nail in David's house (Isa. xxii. 23),
upon whom all the vessels, great and small, do hang; and the Nail (God
be thanked) neither crooketh nor can be broken. Jesus, that Flower of
Jesse set without hands, getteth many a blast, and yet withers not,
because He is His Father's noble Rose, casting a sweet smell through
heaven and earth, and must grow; and in the same garden grow the
saints, God's fair and beautiful lilies, under wind and rain, and all
sun-burned, and yet life remaineth at the root. Keep within His
garden, and you shall grow with them, till the Great Husbandman, our
dear Master Gardener, come and transplant you from the lower part of
His vineyard up to the higher, to the very heart of His garden, above
the wrongs of the rain, sun, or wind. And then, wait upon the times of
the blowing of the sweet south and north wind of His gracious Spirit,
that may make you cast a sweet smell in your Beloved's nostrils; and
bid your Beloved come down to His garden, and eat of His pleasant
fruits (Cant. iv. 16). And He will come. You will get no more but this
until you come up to the Well-head, where you shall put up your hand
and take down the apples of the tree of life, and eat under the shadow
of that tree. These apples are sweeter up beside the tree than they
are down here in this piece of a clay prison-house. I have no joy but
in the thoughts of these times. Doubt not of your Lord's part and the
spouse's part; she shall be in good case. That word shall stand, "I
shall be as the dew to Israel: he shall grow up as the lily, and cast
out his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, his beauty shall
be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon" (Hosea xiv. 5, 6).
Christ shall set up His colours, and His ensign for the nations, and
shall gather together the outcasts of Israel (Isa. xi. 12). "Then the
Lord said to me, Son of man, these dead bones are the whole house of
Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, our hope is lost; we
are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy unto them, and say, Thus
saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and
cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land
of Israel" (Ezek. xxxvii. 11, 12). These promises are not wind, but
the breast of our beloved Christ, which we must suck and draw comfort
out of. Ye have cause to pity those poor creatures that stand out
against Christ, and the building of His house. Silly men! they have
but a feckless and silly heaven, nothing but meat and cloth, and laugh
a day or two in the world, and then in a moment go down to the grave;
and they shall not be able to hinder Christ's building. He that is
Master of work will lead stones to the wall over their belly.
[120] Possibly, Mr. Abraham Henderson; a staunch defender of
Presbytery, who, in 1605, persisted, along with eight of his brethren,
in convening at Aberdeen, in face of prohibition, in order to maintain
a protest in behalf of the Church's inherent right to meet in General
Assembly. (See Forbes' "Apolog. Narration," p. 136.)
And for that present tumult that the children of this world raise
anent the planting of your town with a pastor, believe and stay upon
God, as you still shame us all in believing. Go forward in the
strength of the Lord; and I say from my Lord, before whom I stand,
have your eyes upon none but the Lord of armies, and the Lord shall
either let you see what you long to see, or then else fulfil your joy
more abundantly another way. You and yours, and the children of God
whom you care for in this town, shall have as much of the Son of God's
supper cut and laid upon your trenchers, be who he will that carveth,
as shall feed you to eternal life. And be not cast down for all that
is done: your reward is laid up with God. I hope to see you laugh and
leap for joy. Will the temple be built without din and tumult? No;
God's stones in His house in Germany are laid with blood; and the Son
of God no sooner begins to chop and hew stones with His hammer, but as
soon the sword is drawn. If the work were of men, the world would set
their shoulders to yours; but, in Christ's work, two or three must
fight against a Presbytery (though His own court) and a city. This
proveth that it is Christ's errand, and therefore that it shall
thrive. Let them lay iron chains cross over the door,--stay, and
believe, and wait, whill the Lion of the tribe of Judah come. And He
that comes from heaven clothed with the rainbow, and hath the little
book in His hand, when He taketh a grip of their chains, He will lay
the door on the broadside, and come in, and go up to the pulpit, and
take the man with Him whom He hath chosen for His work. Therefore, let
me hear from you, whether you be in heaviness, or rejoicing under
hope, that I may take part of your grief, and bear it with you, and
get part of your joy, which is to me also as my own joy.
And as to what are your fears anent the health or life of your dear
children, lay it upon Christ's shoulders: let Him bear all. Loose your
grips of them all; and when your dear Lord pulleth, let them go with
faith and joy. It is a tried faith to kiss a Lord that is taking from
you. Let them be careful, during the short time that they are here, to
run and get a grip of the prize. Christ is standing in the end of
their way, holding up the garland of endless glory to their eyes, and
is crying, "Run fast, and come and receive." Happy are they (if their
breath serve them) to run and not to weary, whill their Lord, with His
own dear hand, puts the crown upon their head. It is not long days,
but good days, that make life glorious and happy; and our dear Lord is
gracious to us, who shorteneth and hath made the way to glory shorter
than it was; so that the crown that Noah did fight for five hundred
years, children may now obtain it in fifteen years. And heaven is in
some sort better for us now than it was to Noah, for the man Christ is
there now, who was not come in the flesh in Noah's days. You shall
show this to your children, whom my soul in Christ blesseth, and
entreat them by the mercies of God, and the bowels of Jesus Christ, to
covenant with Jesus Christ to be His, and to make up the bond of
friendship betwixt their souls and their Christ, that they may have
acquaintance in heaven, and a friend at God's right hand. Such a
friend at court is much worth.
Now I take my leave of you, praying my Christ and your Christ to
fulfil your joy; and more graces and blessings from our sweet Lord
Jesus to your soul, your husband's and children, than ever I wrote of
the letters of A, B, C, to you. Grace, grace be with you.
Yours in my sweet Master, Jesus Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _March 9, 1632_.
XXV.--_To a Gentlewoman at Kirkcudbright, excusing himself from
visiting._
MISTRESS,--I beseech you to have me excused if the daily employments
of my calling shall hinder me to see you according as I would wish;
for I dare not go abroad, since many of my people are sick, and the
time of our Communion draweth near. But frequent the company of your
worthy and honest-hearted pastor, Mr. Robert (Glendinning), to whom
the Lord hath given the tongue of the learned, to minister a word in
season to the weary. Remember me to him and to your husband. The Lord
Jesus be with your spirit. Your affectionate friend,
S. R.
XXVI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _after her dangerous illness_.
(_USE OF SICKNESS--REPROACHES--CHRIST OUR ETERNAL FEAST--FASTING._)
DEARLY-BELOVED MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. You are not
ignorant what our Lord in His love-visitation hath been doing with
your soul, even letting you see a little sight of that dark trance you
must go through ere you come to glory. Your life hath been near the
grave, and you were at the door, and you found the door shut and fast:
your dear Christ thinking it not time to open these gates to you till
you have fought some longer in His camp. And therefore He willeth you
to put on your armour again, and to take no truce with the devil or
this present world. You are little obliged to any of the two; but I
rejoice in this, that when any of the two comes to suit your soul in
marriage, you have an answer in readiness to tell them,--"You are too
long a-coming; I have many a year since promised my soul to another,
even to my dearest Lord Jesus, to whom I must be true." And therefore
you are come back to us again to help us to pray for Christ's fair
bride, a marrow dear to Him.
Be not cast down in heart to hear that the world barketh at Christ's
strangers, both in Ireland and in this land; they do it because their
Lord hath chosen them out of this world. And this is one of our Lord's
reproaches, to be hated and ill-entreated by men. The silly stranger,
in an uncouth country, must take with a smoky inn and coarse cheer, a
hard bed, and a barking, ill-tongued host. It is not long to the day,
and he will to his journey upon the morrow, and leave them all.
Indeed, our fair morning is at hand, the day-star is near the rising,
and we are not many miles from home. What matters ill entertainment in
the smoky inns of this miserable life? We are not to stay here, and we
will be dearly welcome to Him whom we go to. And I hope, when I shall
see you clothed in white raiment, washed in the blood of the Lamb, and
shall see you even at the elbow of your dearest Lord and Redeemer, and
a crown upon your head, and following our Lamb and lovely Lord
whithersoever He goeth,--you will think nothing of all these days; and
you shall then rejoice, and no man shall take your joy from you. It is
certain there is not much sand to run in your Lord's sand-glass, and
that day is at hand; and till then your Lord in this life is giving
you some little feasts.
It is true, you see Him not now as you shall see Him then. Your
well-beloved standeth now behind the wall looking out at the window
(Cant. ii. 9), and you see but a little of His face. Then, you shall
see all His face and all the Saviour,--a long, and high, and broad
Lord Jesus, the loveliest person among the children of men. O joy of
joys, that our souls know there is such a great supper preparing for
us even! Howbeit we be but half-hungered of Christ here, and many a
time dine behind noon,[121] yet the supper of the Lamb will come in
time, and will be set before us before we famish and lose our
stomachs. You have cause to hold up your heart in remembrance and hope
of that fair, long summer day; for in this night of your life, wherein
you are in the body absent from the Lord, Christ's fair moonlight in
His word and sacraments, in prayer, feeling, and holy conference, hath
shined upon you, to let you see the way to the city. I confess our
diet here is but sparing; we get but tastings of our Lord's comforts;
but the cause of that is not because our Steward, Jesus, is a niggard,
and narrow-hearted, but because our stomachs are weak, and we are
narrow-hearted. But the great feast is coming, and the chambers of
them made fair and wide to take in the great Lord Jesus. Come in,
then, Lord Jesus, to hungry souls gaping for thee! In this journey
take the Bridegroom as you may have Him, and be greedy of His smallest
crumbs; but, dear Mistress, buy none of Christ's delicates-spiritual
with sin, or fasting against your weak body. Remember you are in the
body, and it is the lodging-house; and you may not, without offending
the Lord, suffer the old walls of that house to fall down through want
of necessary food. Your body is the dwelling-house of the Spirit; and
therefore, for the love you carry to the sweet Guest, give a due
regard to His house of clay. When He looseth the wall, why not?
Welcome Lord Jesus! But it is a fearful sin in us, by hurting the body
by fasting, to loose one stone or the least piece of timber in it, for
the house is not our own. The Bridegroom is with you yet; so fast as
that also you may feast and rejoice in Him. I think upon your
magistrates; but He that is clothed in linen, and hath the writer's
inkhorn by His side, hath written up their names in heaven already.
Pray and be content with His will; God hath a council-house in heaven,
and the end will be mercy unto you. For the planting of your town with
a godly minister, have your eye upon the Lord of the harvest. I dare
promise you, God in this life shall fill your soul with the fatness of
His house, for your care to see Christ's bairns fed. And your
posterity shall know it, to whom[122] I pray for mercy, and that they
may get a name amongst the living in Jerusalem; and if God portion
them with His bairns, their rent is fair, and I hope it shall be so.
The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours ever in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Sept. 19, 1632_.
[121] _Noon_, or a little before it, was then the usual hour for
dinner.
[122] In regard to whom I pray for the mercy Paul sought for the house
of Onesiphorus (2 Tim. i. 6).
XXVII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_LOVE TO CHRIST AND SUBMISSION TO HIS CROSS--BELIEVERS KEPT--THE
HEAVENLY PARADISE._)
MADAM,--Having saluted you with grace and mercy from God our Father,
and from our Lord Jesus Christ, I long both to see your Ladyship, and
to hear how it goeth with you.
I do remember you, and present you and your necessities to Him who is
able to keep you, and present you blameless before His face with joy;
and my prayer to our Lord is, that ye may be sick of love for Him, who
died of love for you,--I mean your Saviour Jesus. And O sweet were
that sickness to be soul-sick for Him! And a living death it were, to
die in the fire of the love of that soul-lover, Jesus! And, Madam, if
ye love Him, ye will keep His commandments; and this is not one of the
least, to lay your neck cheerfully and willingly under the yoke of
Jesus Christ. For I trust your Ladyship did first contract and bargain
with the Son of God to follow Him upon these terms, that by His grace
ye should endure hardship, and suffer affliction, as the soldier of
Christ. They are not worthy of Jesus who will not take a blow for
their Master's sake. As for our glorious Peace-maker, when He came to
make up the friendship betwixt God and us, God bruised Him, and struck
Him; the sinful world also did beat Him, and crucify Him, yet He took
buffets of both parties, and (honour to our Lord Jesus!) He would not
leave the field for all that, till He had made peace betwixt the
parties. I persuade myself your sufferings are but like your Saviour's
(yea, incomparably less and lighter), which are called but a "bruising
of His heel" (Gen. iii. 15); a wound far from the heart. Your life is
hid with Christ in God (Col. iii. 3), and therefore ye cannot be
robbed of it. Our Lord handleth us, as fathers do their young
children; they lay up jewels in a place, above the reach of the short
arm of bairns, else bairns would put up their hands and take them
down, and lose them soon. So hath our Lord done with our spiritual
life. Jesus Christ is the high coffer in the which our Lord hath hid
our life; we children are not able to reach up our arm so high as to
take down that life and lose it; it is in our Christ's hand. O long,
long may Jesus be Lord Keeper of our life! and happy are they that
can, with the Apostle (2 Tim. i. 12), lay their soul in pawn in the
hand of Jesus, for He is able to keep that which is committed in pawn
to Him against that day. Then, Madam, so long as this life is not
hurt, all other troubles are but touches in the heel. I trust ye will
soon be cured. Ye know, Madam, kings have some servants in their court
that receive not present wages in their hand, but live upon their
hopes: the King of kings also hath servants in His court that for the
present get little or nothing but the heavy cross of Christ, troubles
without and terrors within; but they live upon hope; and when it
cometh to the parting of the inheritance, they remain in the house as
heirs. It is better to be so than to get present payment, and a
portion in this life, an inheritance in this world (God forgive me,
that I should honour it with the name of an inheritance, it is rather
a farm-room!), and then in the end to be casten out of God's house,
with this word, "Ye have received your consolation, ye will get no
more." Alas! what get they? The rich glutton's heaven (Luke xvi. 25).
O but our Lord maketh it a silly heaven! "He fared well," saith our
Lord, "and delicately every day." O no more? a silly heaven! Truly no
more, except that he was clothed in purple, and that is all. I
persuade myself, Madam, ye have joy when ye think that your Lord hath
dealt more graciously with your soul. Ye have gotten little in this
life, it is true indeed: ye have then the more to crave, yea, ye have
all to crave; for, except some tastings of the first fruits, and some
kisses of His mouth whom your soul loveth, ye get no more. But I
cannot tell you what is to come. Yet I may speak as our Lord doth of
it. The foundation of the city is pure gold, clear as crystal; the
twelve ports are set with precious stones; if orchards and rivers
commend a soil upon earth, there is a paradise there, wherein groweth
the tree of life that beareth twelve manner of fruits every month,
which is seven score and four harvests in the year; and there is there
a pure river of water of life, proceeding out of the throne of God and
of the Lamb; and the city hath no need of the light of the sun or
moon, or of a candle, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb is the
light thereof. Madam, believe and hope for this, till ye see and
enjoy. Jesus is saying in the Gospel, Come and see; and He is come
down in the chariot of truth, wherein He rideth through the world, to
conquer men's souls (Ps. xlv. 4), and is now in the world saying, "Who
will go with Me? will ye go? My Father will make you welcome, and give
you house-room; for in My Father's house are many dwelling-places."[123]
Madam, consent to go with Him. Thus I rest, commending you to God's
dearest mercy.
Yours in the Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
[123] Μόνας.
XXVIII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE, _after the death of a child_.
(_THE STATE OF THE CHURCH, CAUSE FOR GOD'S DISPLEASURE--HIS CARE OF
HIS CHURCH--THE JEWS--AFFLICTED SAINTS._)
MADAM,--I am afraid now (as many others are) that, at the sitting down
of our Parliament, our Lord Jesus and His spouse shall be roughly
handled. And it must be so, since false and declining Scotland, whom
our Lord took off the dunghill and out of hell, and made a fair bride
to Himself, hath broken her faith to her sweet Husband, and hath put
on the forehead of a whore. And therefore He saith He will remove.
Would God we could stir up ourselves to lay hold upon Him, who, being
highly provoked with the handling He hath met with, is ready to
depart! Alas! we do not importune Him by prayer and supplication to
abide amongst us! If we could but weep upon Him, and in the holy
pertinacity of faith wrestle with Him, and say, "We will not let Thee
go," it may be that then, He, who is easy to be intreated, would yet,
notwithstanding of our high provocations, condescend to stay and feed
among the lilies, till that fair and desirable day break, and the
shadows flee away. Ah! what cause of mourning is there, when our gold
is become dim, and the visage of our Nazarites, sometime whiter than
snow, is now become blacker than a coal, and Levi's house, once
comparable to fine gold, is now changed, and become like vessels in
whom He hath no pleasure! Madam, think upon this, that when our Lord,
who hath His handkerchief to wipe the face of the mourners in Zion,
shall come to wipe away all tears from their eyes, He may wipe yours
also, in the passing, amongst others. I am confident, Madam, that our
Lord will yet build a new house to Himself, of our rejected and
scattered stones, for our Bridegroom cannot want a wife. Can He live a
widower? Nay, He will embrace both us, the little young sister, and
the elder sister, the Church of the Jews; and there will yet be a day
of it. And therefore we have cause to rejoice, yea, to sing and shout
for joy. The Church hath been, since the world began, ever hanging by
a small thread, and all the hands of hell and of the wicked have been
drawing at the thread. But, God be thanked, they only break their arms
by pulling, but the thread is not broken; for the sweet fingers of
Christ our Lord have spun and twisted it. Lord, hold the thread whole!
Madam, stir up your husband to lay hold upon the covenant, and to do
good. What hath he to do with the world? It is not his inheritance.
Desire him to make home-over, and put to his hand to lay one stone or
two upon the wall of God's house before he go hence. I have heard
also, Madam, that your child is removed; but to have or want is best,
as He pleaseth. Whether she be with you, or in God's keeping, think it
all one; nay, think it the better of the two by far that she is with
Him. I trust in our Lord that there is something laid up and kept for
you; for our kind Lord, who hath wounded you, will not be so cruel as
not to allay the pain of your green wound; and, therefore, claim
Christ still as your own, and own Him as your One thing. So resting, I
recommend your Ladyship, your soul and spirit, in pawn to Him who
keepeth His Father's pawns, and will make an account of them
faithfully, even to that fairest amongst the sons of men, our sweet
Lord Jesus, the fairest, the sweetest, the most delicious Rose of all
His Father's great field. The smell of that Rose perfume your soul!
Your Ladyship's, in his sweetest Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _April 1, 1633_.
XXIX.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_CHRIST WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THE FURNACE OF AFFLICTION--PRAYER._)
DEAR SISTER,--I longed much to have conferred with you at this time. I
am grieved at anything in your house that grieveth you; and shall, by
my Lord's grace, suit my Lord to help you to bear your burden, and to
come in behind you, and give you and your burdens a put up the
mountain. Know you not that Christ wooeth His wife in the furnace?
"Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee
in the furnace of affliction" (Isa. xlviii. 10). He casteth His love
on you when you are in the furnace of affliction. You might indeed be
casten down if He brought you in and left you there; but when He
leadeth you through the waters, think ye not that He has a sweet, soft
hand? You know His love-grip already; you shall be delivered, wait on.
Jesus will make a road, and come and fetch home the captive. You shall
not die in prison; but your strokes are such as were your Husband's,
who was wounded in the house of His friends. Strokes are not newings
to Him, and neither are they to you. But your winter night is near
spent; it is near-hand the dawning. I will see you leap for joy. The
kirk shall be delivered. This wilderness shall bud and grow up like a
rose. Christ got a charter of Scotland from His Father; and who will
bereave Him of His heritage, or put our Redeemer out of His mailing,
until His tack be run out? I must have you praying for me: I am black
shamed for evermore now with Christ's goodness; and in private, on the
17th and 18th of August, I got a full answer of my Lord to be a graced
minister, and a chosen arrow hidden in His own quiver. But know this,
assurance is not keeped but by watching and prayer; and, therefore,
dear mistress, help me. I have gotten now (honour to my Lord!) the
gate to open the slote, and shut the bar of His door; and I think it
easy to get anything from the King by prayer, and to use holy violence
with Him. Christ was in Carsphairne[124] kirk, and opened the people's
hearts wonderfully. Jesus is looking up that water; and minting to
dwell amongst them. I would we could give Him His welcome home to the
moors. Now peace and grace be upon you and all yours.
Yours in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Aug. 20, 1633_.
[124] The village and church of _Carsphairn_ stood not far from
Kenmure Castle, and very near Earlston and Knockgray. The road from
Dalmellington is bare, with steep, rocky hills on either side of the
glen. The "Ken" may be meant by "that water" in the next sentence.
XXX.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_RANK AND PROSPERITY HINDER PROGRESS--WATCHFULNESS--CASE OF
RELATIVES._)
MADAM,--I determined, and was desirous also, to have seen your
ladyship, but because of a pain in my arm I could not. I know ye will
not impute it to any unsuitable forgetfulness of your Ladyship, from
whom, at my first entry to my calling in this country (and since
also), I received such comfort in my affliction as I trust in God
never to forget, and shall labour by His grace to recompense in the
only way possible to me; and that is, my presenting your soul, person,
house, and all your necessities, in prayer to Him, whose I hope you
are, and who is able to keep you till that Day of Appearance, and to
present you before His face with joy.
I am confident your Ladyship is going forward in the begun journey to
your Lord and Father's home and kingdom. Howbeit ye want not
temptations within and without. And who among the saints hath ever
taken that castle without stroke of sword? the Chief of the house, our
Elder Brother, our Lord Jesus, not being excepted, who won His own
house and home, due to Him by birth, with much blood and many blows.
Your Ladyship hath the more need to look to yourself, because our Lord
hath placed you higher than the rest, and your way to heaven lieth
through a more wild and waste wilderness than the way of many of your
fellow-travellers,--not only through the midst of this wood of thorns,
the cumbersome world, but also through these dangerous paths, the
vain-glory of it; the consideration whereof hath often moved me to
pity your soul, and the soul of your worthy and noble husband. And it
is more to you to win heaven, being ships of greater burden, and in
the main sea, than for little vessels, that are not so much in the
mercy and reverence of the storms, because they may come quietly to
their port by launching alongst the coast. For the which cause ye do
much, if in the midst of such a tumult of business, and crowd of
temptations, ye shall give Christ Jesus His own court and His own due
place in your soul. I know and am persuaded, that that lovely One,
Jesus, is dearer to you than many kingdoms; and that ye esteem Him
your Well-beloved, and the Standard-bearer among ten thousand (Cant.
v. 10). And it becometh Him full well to take the place and the
board-head in your soul before all the world. I knew and saw Him with
you in the furnace of affliction; for there he wooed you to Himself,
and chose you to be His; and now He craveth no other hire of you but
your love, and that He get no cause to be jealous of you. And,
therefore, dear and worthy lady, be like to the fresh river, that
keepeth its own fresh taste in the salt sea. This world is not worthy
of your soul. Give it not a good-day when Christ cometh in competition
with it. Be like one of another country. Home! and stay not; for the
sun is fallen low, and nigh the tops of the mountains, and the shadows
are stretched out in great length. Linger not by the way. The world
and sin would train you on, and make you turn aside. Leave not the way
for them; and the Lord Jesus be at the voyage!
Madam, many eyes are upon you, and many would be glad your Ladyship
should spill a Christian, and mar a good professor. Lord Jesus, mar
their godless desires, and keep the conscience whole without a crack!
If there be a hole in it, so that it take in water at a leak, it will
with difficulty mend again. It is a dainty, delicate creature, and a
rare piece of the workmanship of your Maker; and therefore deal gently
with it, and keep it entire, that amidst this world's glory your
Ladyship may learn to entertain Christ. And whatsoever creature your
Ladyship findeth not to smell of Him, may it have no better relish to
you than the white of an egg.
Madam, it is a part of the truth of your profession to drop words in
the ears of your noble husband continually of eternity, judgment,
death, hell, heaven, the honourable profession, the sins of his
father's house. He must reckon with God for his father's debt:
forgetting of accounts payeth no debt. Nay, the interest of a
forgotten bond runneth up with God to interest upon interest. I
knoweth he looketh homeward, and loveth the truth; but I pity him with
my soul because of his many temptations. Satan layeth upon men a
burden of cares above a load,[125] and maketh a pack-horse of men's
souls when they are wholly set upon this world. We owe the devil no
such service. It were wisdom to throw off that load into a mire, and
cast all our cares over upon God.
[125] A burden above a load, or a load above a burden, is a phrase for
a very heavy weight.
Madam, think ye have no child. Subscribe a bond to your Lord that she
shall be His if He take her; and thanks, and praise, and glory to His
holy name shall be the interest for a year's loan of her. Look for
crosses, and while it is fair weather mend the sails of the ship.
Now hoping your Ladyship will pardon my tediousness, I recommend your
soul and person to the grace and mercy of our sweet Lord Jesus, in
whom I am,
Your Ladyship's, at all dutiful obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Nov. 15, 1633_.
XXXI.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_A UNION FOR PRAYER RECOMMENDED._)
MADAM,--Having received a letter from some of the worthiest of the
ministry in this kingdom, the contents whereof I am desired to
communicate to such professors in these parts as I know love the
beauty of Zion, and are afflicted to see the Lord's vineyard trodden
under foot by the wild boars out of the wood, who lay it waste, I
could not but also desire your Ladyship's help to join with the rest,
desiring you to impart it to my Lord your husband, and if ye think it
needful, I shall write to his Lordship, as Mr. G. G.[126] shall
advertise me.
[126] Mr. George Gillespie; see Letter cxliv.
Know, therefore, that the best affected of the ministry have thought
it convenient and necessary, at such a time as this, that all who love
the truth should join their prayers together, and cry to God with
humiliation and fasting. The times, which are agreed upon, are the two
first Sabbaths of February next, and the six days intervening betwixt
these Sabbaths, as they may conveniently be had, and the first
Sabbath of every quarter. And the causes, as they are written to me,
are these:
1. Besides the distresses of the Reformed churches abroad, the many
reigning sins of uncleanness, ungodliness, and unrighteousness in this
land, the present judgments on the land, and many more hanging over
us, whereof few are sensible, or yet know the right and true cause of
them.
2. The lamentable and pitiful estate of a glorious church (in so short
a time, against so many bonds), in doctrine, sacrament, and
discipline, so sore persecuted, in the persons of faithful pastors and
professors, and the door of God's house kept so straight by bastard
porters, insomuch that worthy instruments, able for the work, are held
at the door, the rulers having turned over religion into policy, and
the multitude ready to receive any religion that shall be enjoined by
authority.
3. In our humiliation, besides that we are under a necessity of
deprecating God's wrath, and vowing to God sincerely new obedience,
the weakness, coldness, silence, and lukewarmness of some of the best
of the ministry, and the deadness of professors, who have suffered the
truth both secretly to be stolen away, and openly to be plucked from
us, would be confessed.
4. Atheism, idolatry, profanity, and vanity, should be confessed; our
king's heart recommended to God; and God intreated, that He would stir
up the nobles and the people to turn from their evil ways.
Thus, Madam, hoping that your Ladyship will join with others, that
such a work be not slighted, at such a necessary time, when our kirk
is at the overturning, I will promise to myself your help, as the Lord
in secrecy and prudence shall enable you, that your Ladyship may
rejoice with the Lord's people, when deliverance shall come; for true
and sincere humiliation come always speed with God. And when
authority, king, court, and churchmen oppose the truth, what other
armour have we but prayer and faith? whereby, if we wrestle with Him,
there is ground to hope that those who would remove the burdensome
stone (Zech. xii. 3) out of its place, shall but hurt their back, and
the stone shall not be moved, at least not removed.
Grace, grace be with you, from Him who hath called you to the
inheritance of the saints in light.
Your Ladyship's at all submissive obedience in his sweet Lord Jesus.
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Jan. 23, 1634_.
XXXII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_STATE AND PROSPECTS OF THE CHURCH--SATAN._)
MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. I am in care and fear for
this work of our Lord's, now near approaching, because of the danger
of the time; and I dare not for my soul be silent, to see my Lord's
house burning, and not cry "Fire, fire!" Therefore, seek from our Lord
wisdom spiritual, and not black policy, to speak with liberty our
Lord's truth.--I am cast down, and would fain have access and presence
to The King that day, even howbeit I should break up iron doors. I
believe you will not forget me; and you will desire Jean Brown, Thomas
Carson, and Marion Carson, to help me. Pray for well-cooked meat and a
heartsome Saviour, with joy crying, "Welcome in My Father's name."
I am confident Zion shall be well; the Bush shall burn and not
consume, for the good will of Him that dwelt in the bush. But the Lord
is making on a fire in Jerusalem, and purposeth to blow the bellows,
and to melt the tin and brass, and bring out a fair beautiful bride
out of the furnace, that will be married over again upon the new
Husband, and sing as in the days of her youth, when the contract of
marriage is written over again. But I fear the bride be hidden for a
time from the dragon that pursueth the woman with child. But what,
howbeit we go and lurk in the wilderness for a time? for the Lord will
take His kirk to the wilderness and speak to her heart.
Nothing casteth me down, but only I fear the Lord will cast down the
shepherd's tents, and feed his own in a secret place. But let us,
however matters frame, cast over the affairs of the bride upon the
Bridegroom; the government is upon His shoulders, and He dow bear us
all well enough. That fallen star, the prince of the bottomless pit,
knoweth it is near the time when he shall be tormented; and now in his
evening he has gathered his armies, to win one battle or two, in the
edge of the evening, at the sun going down. And when our Lord has been
watering His vineyards in France, and Germany, and Bohemia, how can we
think ourselves Christ's sister, if we be not like Him, and our other
great sisters? I cannot but think, seeing the ends of the earth are
given to Christ (Psa. ii. 8), and Scotland is the end of the earth,
and so we are in Christ's charter-tailzie, but our Lord will keep His
possession. We fall by promise and law to Christ. He won us with the
sweat of His brow, if I may say so; His Father promised Him His
liferent of Scotland. Glory, glory to our King! long may He wear His
crown. O Lord, let us never see another King! O let Him come down like
rain upon the new-mown grass!
I had you in remembrance on Saturday in the morning last, in a great
measure, and was brought, thrice on end, in remembrance of you in my
prayer to God. Grace, grace be your portion.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _March 2, 1634_.
XXXIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_IN PROSPECT OF A COMMUNION SEASON._)
MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. Please you understand, to my
grief, our Communion is delayed till Sabbath come eight days; the
laird and lady hath earnestly desired me to delay it, because the
laird is sick, and he fears he be not able to travel, because he has
lately taken physic. The Lord bless that work. Commend it to God as
you love me, for I love not Satan's thorns cast in the Lord's way. The
Lord rebuke him. I trust in God's mercy, Satan has gotten but a delay,
but no free discharge that his kingdom shall not be hurt. Commend the
laird to your God. I pray you advertise your people, that they be not
disappointed in coming here. Show such of them as you love in Christ,
from me, that Jesus Christ will be welcome, when He comes, in that He
has sharpened their desires for eight days space. Your daughter is
well, I hope, every way. Forget not God's kirk; they are but bastards,
and not sons and daughters, that mourn not for Zion. Lord hear us! No
further. Jesus Christ be with your spirit. I shall remember you and
your new house. Lord Jesus go from the one house to the other.
Yours at all power in the Lord,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
XXXIV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_PROSPECTS OF THE CHURCH--CHRIST'S CARE FOR THE CHILDREN OF
BELIEVERS._)
WELL-BELOVED SISTER,--My old and dearest love in Christ remembered.
Know that I have been visiting my Lady Kenmure. Her child is with the
Lord. I entreat you, visit her, and desire the goodwife[127] of
Barcapple to visit her, and Knockbrecks (Mr. Gordon), if you see him
in the town. My Lord her husband is absent, and I think she will be
heavy. You know what Mr. W. Dalgleish and I desired you to deal for,
at my Lord Kirkcudbright's hand. Send me word if you obtained anything
at my Lord's hands, anent the giving up of our names to the High
Commission; for I hear it is not for nothing that the Bishop hath
taken that course. Our Lord knows best what is good for an old kirk
that has fallen from her first love, and hath forgotten her Husband
days without number. A trial is like to come on; but I am sure our
Husbandman Christ shall lose chaff, but no corn at all. Yet there is a
dry wind coming, but neither to fan nor to purge. Happy are they who
are not blown away with the chaff, for we will but suffer temptation
for ten days; but those who are faithful to the death shall receive
the crown of life. I hear daily what hath been spoken of myself, most
unjustly and falsely; and no marvel, the dragon, with the swing of his
tail, hath made the third part of the stars to fall from heaven, and
the fallen stars would have many to fall with them. If ever Satan was
busy, now, when he knoweth his time is short, he is busy. "Yet a
little while, and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry." I
know, ere it be long, the Lord shall come and redd all pleas betwixt
us and our enemies. Now welcome, Lord Jesus, go fast.
[127] _Barcaple_ is in the stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in the parish
of Tongueland.
Send me word about Grizel, your daughter, whom I remember in Christ;
and desire her to cast herself in His arms who was born of a woman,
and, being the Ancient of days, was made a young weeping child. It was
not for nothing that our brother Jesus was an infant. It was that He
might pity infants of believers, who were to come out of the womb into
the world. I believe our Lord Jesus shall be waiting on, with mercy,
mercy, mercy, to the end of that battle, and bring her through with
life and peace, and a sign of God's favour. I will expect
advertisement from you, and especially if you fear her. Mistress, you
remember that I said to you anent your love to me and my brother,
begun in Christ; you know we are here but strangers, and you have not
yet found us a dry well, as others have been. Be not overcome of any
suspicion. I trust in God that the Lord, who knit us together, shall
keep us together. It is time now that the lambs of Jesus should all
run together, when the wolf is barking at them; yet I know, ere God's
bairns want a cross, their love among themselves shall be a cross; but
our Lord giveth love for another end. I know you will, with love,
cover infirmities; and our Lord give you wisdom in all things. I think
love hath broad shoulders, and will bear many things, and yet neither
faint nor sweat, nor fall under the burden.
Commend me to your husband and dear Grizel. I think on her. Lord Jesus
be in the furnace with her, and then she will but smoke and not burn.
Desire Mr. Robert[128] to excuse my not seeing of him at his house. I
have my own reasons therefor.[129] Grace, mercy, and peace be with
you.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _April 25, 1634_.
[128] Mr. Robert Glendinning, the minister.
[129] "For this;" as in our metre version, Ps. cvi. 40, etc.
XXXV.--_To my LADY KENMURE, on the death of a child_.
(_GOD MEASURES OUR DAYS--BEREAVEMENTS RIPEN US FOR THE HARVEST._)
MADAM,--All submissive and dutiful obedience in our Lord Jesus
remembered. I trust I need not much entreat your Ladyship to look to
Him who hath stricken you at this time; but my duty, in the memory of
that comfort I found in your Ladyship's kindness, when I was no less
heavy (in a case not unlike that), speaketh to me to say something
now. And I wish I could ease your Ladyship, at least with words. I am
persuaded your Physician will not slay you, but purge you, seeing He
calleth Himself the Chirurgeon, who maketh the wound and bindeth it up
again; for to lance a wound is not to kill, but to cure the patient
(Deut. xxxii. 39). I believe faith will teach you to kiss a striking
Lord; and so acknowledge the sovereignty of God (in the death of a
child) to be above the power of us mortal men, who may pluck up a
flower in the bud and not be blamed for it. If our dear Lord pluck up
one of His roses, and pull down sour and green fruit before harvest,
who can challenge Him? For He sendeth us to His world, as men to a
market, wherein some stay many hours, and eat and drink, and buy and
sell, and pass through the fair, till they be weary; and such are
those who live long, and get a heavy fill of this life. And others
again come slipping in to the morning market, and do neither sit nor
stand, nor buy nor sell, but look about them a little, and pass
presently home again; and these are infants and young ones, who end
their short market in the morning, and get but a short view of the
Fair. Our Lord, who hath numbered man's months, and set him bounds
that he cannot pass (Job xiv. 5), hath written the length of our
market, and it is easier to complain of the decree than to change it.
I verily believe, when I write this, your Lord hath taught your
Ladyship to lay your hand on your mouth. But I shall be far from
desiring your Ladyship, or any others, to cast by a cross, like an old
useless bill that is only for the fire; but rather would wish each
cross were looked in the face seven times, and were read over and over
again. It is the messenger of the Lord, and speaks something; and the
man of understanding will hear the rod, and Him that hath appointed
it. Try what is the taste of the Lord's cup, and drink with God's
blessing, that ye may grow thereby. I trust in God, whatever speech it
utter to your soul, this is one word in it,--"Behold, blessed is the
man whom God correcteth" (Job v. 17); and that it saith to you, "Ye
are from home while here; ye are not of this world, as your Redeemer,
Christ, was not of this world." There is something keeping for you,
which is worth the having. All that is here is condemned to die, to
pass away like a snowball before a summer sun; and since death took
first possession of something of yours, it hath been and daily is
creeping nearer and nearer to yourself, howbeit with no noise of feet.
Your Husbandman and Lord hath lopped off some branches already; the
tree itself is to be transplanted to the high garden. In a good time
be it. Our Lord ripen your Ladyship. All these crosses (and indeed,
when I remember them, they are heavy and many,--peace, peace be the
end of them!) are to make you white and ripe for the Lord's
harvest-hook. I have seen the Lord weaning you from the breasts of
this world. It was never His mind it should be your patrimony; and
God be thanked for that. Ye look the liker one of the heirs. Let the
movables go; why not? They are not yours. Fasten your grips upon the
heritage; and our Lord Jesus make the charters sure, and give your
Ladyship to grow as a palm-tree on God's mount Zion; howbeit shaken
with winds, yet the root is fast. This is all I can do, to recommend
your case to your Lord, who hath you written upon the palms of His
hand. If I were able to do more, your Ladyship may believe me that
gladly I would. I trust shortly to see your Ladyship. Now He who hath
called you confirm and stablish your heart in grace, unto the Day of
the Liberty of the Sons of God.
Your Ladyship's at all submissive obedience in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _April 29, 1634_.
XXXVI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_CHOICE OF A COMMISSIONER FOR PARLIAMENT._)
WELL-BELOVED MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. I hear this day
your town is to choose a commissioner for the Parliament; and I was
written to from Edinburgh, to see that good men should be chosen in
your bounds. And I have heard this day that Robert Glendoning or John
Ewart look to be chosen. I beseech you see this be not. The Lord's
cause craveth other witnesses to speak for Him than such men; and,
therefore, let it not be said that Kirkcudbright, which is spoken of
in this kingdom for their religion, hath sent a man to be their mouth
that will speak against Christ. Such a time as this will not fall out
once in half an age. I would intreat your husband to take it upon him.
It is an honourable and necessary service for Christ; and shew him
that I wrote unto you for that effect. I fear William Glendoning hath
not skill and authority. I am in great heaviness. Pray for me, for we
must take our life in our hand in this ill time. Let us stir up
ourselves, to lay our Lord's bride and her wrongs before our Husband
and Lord. Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _May 20_.
XXXVII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_ON THE DEATH OF LORD KENMURE--DESIGNS OF AND DUTIES OF AFFLICTION._)
MY VERY NOBLE AND WORTHY LADY,--So oft as I call to mind the comforts
that I myself, a poor friendless stranger, received from your Ladyship
here in a strange part of the country, when my Lord took from me the
delight of mine eyes (Ezek. xxiv. 16), as the Word speaketh (which
wound is not yet fully healed and cured), I trust your Lord shall
remember that, and give you comfort now at such a time as this,
wherein your dearest Lord hath made you a widow, that ye may be a free
woman for Christ, who is now suiting for marriage-love of you. And
therefore, since you lie alone in your bed, let Christ be as a bundle
of myrrh, to sleep and lie all the night betwixt your breasts (Cant.
i. 13), and then your bed is better filled than before. And seeing,
amongst all crosses spoken of in our Lord's Word, this giveth you a
particular right to make God your Husband (which was not so yours
while your husband was alive), read God's mercy out of this
visitation; albeit I must out of some experience say, the mourning for
the husband of your youth be, by God's own mouth, the heaviest worldly
sorrow (Joel i. 8). And though this be the weightiest burden that ever
lay upon your back; yet ye know (when the fields are emptied and your
husband now asleep in the Lord), if ye shall wait upon Him who hideth
His face for a while, that it lieth upon God's honour and truth to
fill the field, and to be a Husband to the widow. See and consider
then what ye have lost, and how little it is. Therefore, Madam, let me
intreat you, in the bowels of Christ Jesus, and by the comforts of His
Spirit, and your appearance before Him, let God, and men, and angels
now see what is in you. The Lord hath pierced the vessel; it will be
known whether there be in it wine or water. Let your faith and
patience be seen, that it may be known your only beloved first and
last hath been Christ. And, therefore, now ware your whole love upon
Him; He alone is a suitable object for your love and all the
affections of your soul. God hath dried up one channel of your love by
the removal of your husband. Let now that speat run upon Christ. Your
Lord and lover hath graciously taken out your husband's name and your
name out of the summonses that are raised at the instance of the
terrible sin-revenging Judge of the world against the house of the
Kenmures. And I dare say that God's hammering of you from your youth
is only to make you a fair carved stone in the high upper temple of
the New Jerusalem. Your Lord never thought this world's vain painted
glory a gift worthy of you; and therefore would not bestow it on you,
because He is to propine you with a better portion. Let the movables
go; the inheritance is yours. Ye are a child of the house, and joy is
laid up for you; it is long in coming, but not the worse for that. I
am now expecting to see, and that with joy and comfort, that which I
hoped of you since I knew you fully, even that ye have laid such
strength upon the Holy One of Israel, that ye defy troubles, and that
your soul is a castle that may be besieged, but cannot be taken. What
have ye to do here? This world never looked like a friend upon you. Ye
owe it little love. It looked ever sour-like upon you. Howbeit ye
should woo it, it will not match with you; and therefore never seek
warm fire under cold ice. This is not a field where your happiness
groweth; it is up above, where there are a great multitude, which no
man can number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white
robes, and palms in their hands (Rev. vii. 9). What ye could never get
here ye shall find there. And withal consider how in all these trials
(and truly they have been many) your Lord hath been loosing you at the
root from perishing things, and hunting after you to grip your soul.
Madam, for the Son of God's sake, let Him not miss His grip, but stay
and abide in the love of God, as Jude saith (Jude 21).
Now, Madam, I hope your Ladyship will take these lines in good part;
and wherein I have fallen short and failed to your Ladyship, in not
evidencing what I was obliged to your more-than-undeserved love and
respect, I request for a full pardon for it. Again, my dear and noble
lady, let me beseech you to lift up your head, for the day of your
redemption draweth near. And remember, that star that shined in
Galloway is now shining in another world. Now I pray that God may
answer, in His own style, to your soul, and that He may be to you the
God of all consolations. Thus I remain,
Your Ladyship's at all dutiful obedience in the Lord,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Sept. 14, 1634_.
XXXVIII.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_CHRIST'S CARE OF HIS CHURCH, AND HIS JUDGMENTS ON HER ENEMIES._)
MISTRESS,--My dearest love in Christ remembered. I entreat you charge
your soul to return to rest, and to glorify your dearest Lord in
believing; and know that for the good-will of Him that dwelleth in the
bush, the burning kirk shall not be consumed to ashes; but "Blessing
shall come on the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him
that was separate from his brethren" (Deut. xxxiii. 16). And are not
the saints separate from their brethren, and sold and hated? "For the
archers have sorely grieved Joseph, and shot at him and hated him; but
his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong
by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob" (Gen. xlix. 23, 24). From Him
is the Shepherd and the Stone of Israel. The Stone of Israel shall not
be broken in pieces; it is hammered upon by the children of this
world, and we shall live and not die. Our Lord hath done all this, to
see if we will believe, and not give over; and I am persuaded you must
of necessity stick by your work. The eye of Christ hath been upon all
this business; and He taketh good heed to who is for Him, and who is
against Him. Let us do our part, as we would be approved of Christ.
The Son of God is near to His enemies. If they were not deaf, they may
hear the dinn of His feet; and He will come with a start upon His
weeping bairns, and take them on His knee, and lay their head in His
bosom, and dry their watery eyes. And this day is fast coming. "Yet a
little time, and the vision will speak, it will not tarry" (Hab. ii.
3). These questions betwixt us and our adversaries will all be decided
in yonder day, when the Son of God shall come, and redd all pleas; and
it will be seen whether we or they have been for Christ, and who have
been pleading for Baal. It is not known what we are now; but when our
life shall appear in glory, then we shall see who laughs fastest that
day. Therefore, we must possess our souls in patience, and go into our
chamber and rest, while the indignation be past. We shall not weep
long when our Lord shall take us up, in the day that He gathereth His
jewels. "They that feared the Lord spoke often one to another, and the
Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written
before Him, for them that feared the Lord, and thought upon His name"
(Mal. iii. 16). I shall never be of another faith, but that our Lord
is heating a furnace for the enemies of His kirk in Scotland. It is
true the spouse of Christ hath played the harlot, and hath left her
first Husband, and the enemies think they offend not, for we have
sinned against the Lord; but they shall get the devil to their thanks.
The rod shall be cast into the fire, that we may sing as in the days
of our youth. My dear friend, therefore, lay down your head upon
Christ's breast. Weep not; the Lion of the tribe of Judah will arise.
The sun is gone down upon the prophets, and our gold is become dim,
and the Lord feedeth His people with waters of gall and wormwood; yet
Christ standeth but behind the wall, His bowels are moved for
Scotland. He waiteth, as Isaiah saith, that He may show mercy. If we
could go home, and take our brethren with us, weeping with our face
towards Zion, asking the way thitherward, He would bring back our
captivity. We may not think that God has no care of His honour, while
men tread it under their feet; He will clothe Himself with vengeance,
as with a cloak, and appear against our enemies for our deliverance.
Ye were never yet beguiled, and God will not now begin with you.
Wrestle still with the angel of the covenant, and you shall get the
blessing. Fight! He delighteth to be overcome by wrestling.
Commend me to Grizel. Desire her to learn to know the adversaries of
the Lord, and to take them as her adversaries, and to learn to know
the right gate into the Son of God. O but acquaintance with the Son of
God, to say, "My Well-beloved is mine, and I am His," is a sweet and
glorious course of life, that none know but those who are sealed and
marked in the forehead with Christ's mark, and the new name, that
Christ writeth upon His own. Grace, grace, and mercy be with you.
Yours in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Sept. 25, 1634_.
XXXIX.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_PREPARATION FOR DEATH AND ETERNITY._)
MADAM,--All dutiful obedience in our Lord remembered. I know ye are
now near one of those straits in which ye have been before. But
because your outward comforts are fewer, I pray Him whose ye are to
supply what ye want another way. For howbeit we cannot win to the
bottom of His wise providence, who ruleth all; yet it is certain this
is not only good which the Almighty hath done, but it is _best_. He
hath reckoned all your steps to heaven; and if your Ladyship were
through this water, there are the fewer behind; and if this were the
last, I hope your Ladyship hath learned by on-waiting to make your
acquaintance with death, which being to the Lord, the woman's seed,
Jesus, only a bloody heel and not a broken head (Gen. iii. 15), cannot
be ill to His friends, who get far less of death than Himself.
Therefore, Madam, seeing ye know not but the journey is ended, and ye
are come to the water-side, in God's wisdom look all your papers and
your counts, and whether ye be ready to receive the kingdom of heaven
as a little child, in whom there is little haughtiness and much
humility. I would be far from discouraging your Ladyship; but there is
an absolute necessity that, near eternity, we look ere we leap, seeing
no man winneth back again to mend his leap. I am confident your
Ladyship thinketh often upon it, and that your old Guide shall go
before you and take your hand. His love to you will not grow sour, nor
wear out of date, as the love of men, which groweth old and
grey-haired often before themselves. Ye have so much the more reason
to love a better life than this, because this world hath been to you a
cold fire, with little heat to the body, and as little light, and much
smoke to hurt the eyes. But, Madam, your Lord would have you thinking
it but dry breasts, full of wind and empty of food. In this late
visitation that hath befallen your Ladyship, ye have seen God's love
and care, in such a measure that I thought our Lord brake the sharp
point off the cross, and made us and your Ladyship see Christ take
possession and infeftment upon earth, of him who is now reigning and
triumphing with the hundred forty and four thousand who stand with the
Lamb on Mount Zion. I know the sweetest of it is bitter to you; but
your Lord will not give you painted crosses. He pareth not all the
bitterness from the cross, neither taketh He the sharp edge quite from
it; then it should be of your waling and not of His, which should have
as little reason in it as it should have profit for us. Only, Madam,
God commandeth you now to believe and cast anchor in the dark night,
and climb up the mountain. He who hath called you, establish you and
confirm you to the end.
I had a purpose to have visited your Ladyship; but when I thought
better upon it, the truth is, I cannot see what my company would
profit you; and this hath broken off my purpose, and no other thing.
I know many honourable friends and worthy professors will see your
Ladyship, and that the Son of God is with you, to whose love and
mercy, from my soul, I recommend your Ladyship, and remain,
Your Ladyship's at all dutiful obedience, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Nov. 29, 1634_.
XL.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_WHEN MR. RUTHERFORD HAD THE PROSPECT OF BEING REMOVED FROM ANWOTH._)
MADAM,--My humble obedience in the Lord remembered. Know it hath
pleased the Lord to let me see, by all appearance, that my labours in
God's house here are at an end; and I must now learn to suffer, in the
which I am a dull scholar. By a strange providence, some of my papers,
anent the corruptions of this time, are come to the King's hand. I
know, by the wise and well-affected I shall be censured as not wise
nor circumspect enough; but it is ordinary, that that should be a part
of the cross of those who suffer for Him. Yet I love and pardon the
instrument; I would commit my life to him, howbeit by him this hath
befallen me. But I look higher than to him. I make no question of your
Ladyship's love and care to do what ye can for my help, and am
persuaded that, in my adversities, your Ladyship will wish me well. I
seek no other thing but that my Lord may be honoured by me in giving a
testimony. I was willing to do Him more service; but seeing He will
have no more of my labours, and this land will thrust me out, I pray
for grace to learn to be acquaint with misery, if I may give so rough
a name to such a mark of those who shall be crowned with Christ. And
howbeit I will possibly prove a faint-hearted, unwise man in that, yet
I dare say I intend otherwise; and I desire not to go on the lee-side
or sunny side of religion, or to put truth betwixt me and a storm: my
Saviour did not so for me, who in His suffering took the windy side of
the hill. No farther; but the Son of God be with you.
Your Ladyship's in the Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Dec. 5, 1634_.
XLI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_THE CHURCH'S TRIALS--COMFORT UNDER TEMPTATIONS--DELIVERANCE--A
MESSAGE TO THE YOUNG._)
WELL-BELOVED SISTER,--My love in Christ remembered. I hear of good
news anent our kirk; but I fear that our King will not be resisted,
and therefore let us not be secure and careless. I do wonder if this
kirk come not through our Lord's fan, since there is so much chaff in
it; howbeit I persuade myself, the Son of God's wheat will not be
blown away. Let us be putting on God's armour, and be strong in the
Lord. If the devil and Zion's enemies strike a hole in that armour,
let our Lord see to that;--let us put it on, and stand. We have Jesus
on our side; and they are not worthy such a Captain, who would not
take a blow at His back. We are in sight of His colours; His banner
over us is love; look up to that white banner, and stand, I persuade
you, in the Lord of victory.
My brother writeth to me of your heaviness, and of temptations that
press you sore. I am content it be so: you bear about with you the
mark of the Lord Jesus. So it was with the Lord's apostle, when he was
to come with the Gospel to Macedonia (2 Cor. vii. 5): his flesh had no
rest; he was troubled on every side, and knew not what side to turn
him unto; without were fightings, and within were fears. In the great
work of our redemption, your lovely, beautiful, and glorious Friend
and Well-beloved Jesus, was brought to tears and strong cries; so as
His face was wet with tears and blood, arising from a holy fear and
the weight of the curse. Take a drink of the Son of God's cup, and
love it the better that He drank of it before you. There is no poison
in it. I wonder many times that ever a child of God should have a sad
heart, considering what their Lord is preparing for them.
Is your mind troubled anent that business that we have now in hand in
Edinburgh.[130] I trust in my Lord, the Lord shall in the end give to
you your heart's desire; even howbeit the business frame not, the Lord
shall feed your soul, and all the hungry souls in that town. Therefore
I request you in the Lord, pray for a submissive will, and pray as
your Lord Jesus bids you, "Thy will be done on earth, as it is in
heaven." And let it be that your faith be brangled with temptations,
believe ye that there is a tree in our Lord's garden that is not often
shaken with wind from all the four airts? Surely there is none. Rebuke
your soul, as the Lord's prophet doth: "Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? why art thou disquieted within me?" (Psalm xliii. 11). That was
the word of a man who was at the very over-going of the brae and
mountain; but God held a grip of him. Swim through your temptations
and troubles to be at that lovely, amiable person, Jesus, to whom your
soul is dear. In your temptations run to the promises: they be our
Lord's branches hanging over the water, that our Lord's silly,
half-drowned children may take a grip of them; if you let that grip
go, you will fall to the ground. Are you troubled with the case of
God's kirk? Our Lord will evermore have her betwixt the sinking and
the swimming. He will have her going through a thousand deaths, and
through hell, as a cripple woman, halting, and wanting the power of
her one side (Micah iv. 6, 7), that God may be her staff. That broken
ship will come to land, because Jesus is the pilot. Faint not; you
shall see the salvation of God,--else say, that God never spake His
word by my mouth; and I had rather never have been born, ere it were
so with me. But my Lord hath sealed me. I dare not deny I have also
been in heaviness since I came from you, fearing for my unthankfulness
that I be deserted. But the Lord will be kind to me, whether I will or
not. I repose that much in His rich grace, that He will be loath to
change upon me. As you love me, pray for me in this particular.
[130] Efforts to obtain redress from grievances inflicted by the
prelatic party.
After advising with Carletoun, I have written to Mr. David Dickson
anent Mr. Hugh M'Kail,[131] and desired him to write his mind to
Carletoun, and Carletoun to Edinburgh, that they may particularly
remember Mr. Hugh to the Lord; and I happened upon a convenient trusty
bearer by God's wonderful providence.
[131] See Letter LXXI.
No further. I recommend you to the Lord's grace, and your husband and
children. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours in the Lord,
S. R.
EDINBURGH, 1634.
_P.S._--MISTRESS,--I had not time to give my advice to your daughter
Grizel; you shall carry my words therefore to her. Show her now, that
in respect of her tender age, she is in a manner as clean paper, ready
to receive either good or ill; and that it were a sweet and glorious
thing for her to give herself up to Christ, that He may write upon her
His Father's name, and His own new name. And desire her to acquaint
herself with the Book of God; the promises that our Lord writes upon
His own, and performeth in them and for them, are contained there. I
persuade you, when I think that she is in the company of such parents,
and hath occasion to learn Christ, I think Christ is wooing her soul;
and I pray God she may not refuse such a husband. And therefore I
charge her, and beseech her by the mercies of God, by the wounds and
blood of Him who died for her, by the word of truth, which she
heareth, and can read, by the coming of the Son of God to judge the
world, that she would fulfil your joy, and learn Christ, and walk in
Christ. She shall think this the truth of God many years after this;
and I will promise to myself, in respect of the beginnings that I have
seen, that she shall give herself to Him that gave Himself for her.
Let her begin at prayer; for if she remember her Creator in the days
of her youth, He will claim kindness to her in her old age. It shall
be a part of my prayers, that this may be effectual in her, by Him who
is able to do exceeding abundantly, to whose grace again I recommend
you, and her, and all yours.
XLII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_THE WORLD PASSETH AWAY--SPECIAL PORTIONS OF THE WORD FOR THE
AFFLICTED--CALL TO KIRKCUDBRIGHT._)
MADAM,--The cause of my not writing to your Ladyship was not my
forgetfulness of you, but the want of the opportunity of a convenient
bearer; for I am under more than a simple obligation to be kind (on
paper, at least) to your Ladyship. I bless our Lord, through Christ,
who hath brought you home again to your own country from that
place,[132] where ye have seen with your eyes that which our Lord's
truth taught you before, to wit, that worldly glory is nothing but a
vapour, a shadow, the foam of the water, or something less and
lighter, even nothing; and that our Lord hath not without cause said
in His Word, "The countenance," or fashion, "of this world passeth
away" (1 Cor. vii. 31)--in which place our Lord compareth it to an
image in a looking-glass, for it is the looking-glass of Adam's sons.
Some come to the glass, and see in it the picture of _honour_,--and
but a picture indeed, for true honour is to be great in the sight of
God; and others see in it the shadow of _riches_,--and but a shadow
indeed, for durable riches stand as one of the maids of Wisdom upon
her left hand (Prov. iii. 16); and a third sort see in it the face of
painted _pleasures_, and the beholders will not believe but the image
they see in this glass is a living man, till the Lord come and break
the glass in pieces and remove the face, and then, like Pharaoh
awakened, they say, "And behold it was a dream." I know your Ladyship
thinketh yourself little in the common of this world, for the
favourable aspect of any of these three painted faces; and blessed be
our Lord that it is so. The better for you, Madam; they are not worthy
to be wooers, to suit in marriage your soul, that look to no higher
match than to be married upon painted clay. Know, therefore, Madam,
the place whither our Lord Jesus cometh to woo a bride, it is even in
the furnace: for if ye be one of Zion's daughters (which I ever put
beyond all question, since I first had occasion to see in your
Ladyship such pregnant evidences of the grace of God), the Lord, who
hath His fire in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem (Isa. xxxi. 9), is
purifying you in the furnace. And therefore be content to live in it,
and every day to be adding and sewing-to a pasment to your wedding
garment, that ye may be at last decored and trimmed as a bride for
Christ, a bride of His own busking, beautified in the hidden man of
the heart. "Forgetting your father's house, so shall the King greatly
desire your beauty" (Psalm xlv. 11). If your Ladyship be not changed
(as I hope ye are not), I believe ye esteem yourself to be of those
whom God hath tried these many years, and refined as silver. But,
Madam, I will show your Ladyship a privilege that others want, and ye
have, in this case. Such as are in prosperity, and are fatted with
earthly joys, and increased with children and friends, though the Word
of God is indeed written to such for their instruction, yet to you,
who are in trouble (spare me, Madam, to say this), from whom the Lord
hath taken many children, and whom He hath exercised otherwise, there
are some chapters, some particular promises in the Word of God, made
in a most special manner, which should never have been yours, so as
they now are, if you had your portion in this life, as others. And,
therefore, all the comforts, promises, and mercies God offereth to the
afflicted, they are as so many love-letters written to you. Take them
to you, Madam, and claim your right, and be not robbed. It is no small
comfort, that God hath written some scriptures to you, which He hath
not written to others. Ye seem rather in this to be envied than
pitied; and ye are indeed in this, like people of another world, and
those that are above the ordinary rank of mankind, whom our King and
Lord, our Bridegroom Jesus, in His love-letter to His well-beloved
spouse, hath named beside all the rest. He hath written comforts and
His hearty commendations in the 54th of Isaiah, 4, 5; Psalm cxlvii. 2,
3, to you. Read these and the like, and think your God is like a
friend that sendeth a letter to a whole house and family, but speaketh
in His letter to some by name, that are dearest to Him in the house.
Ye are, then, Madam, of the dearest friends of the Bridegroom. If it
were lawful, I would envy you, that God honoured you so above many of
His dear children. Therefore, Madam, your part is, in this case
(seeing God taketh nothing from you but that which He is to supply
with His own presence), to desire your Lord to know His own room, and
take it even upon Him to come in, in the room of dead children.
"Jehovah, know Thy own place, and take it to Thee," is all ye have to
say.
[132] Edinburgh.
Madam, I persuade myself that this world is to you an unco inn; and
that ye are like a traveller, who hath his bundle upon his back, and
his staff in his hand, and his feet upon the door-threshold. Go
forward, honourable and elect lady, in the strength of your Lord (let
the world bide at home and keep the house), with your face toward Him,
who longeth more for a sight of you than ye can do for Him. Ere it be
long, He will see us. I hope to see you laugh as cheerfully after
noon, as ye have mourned before noon. The hand of the Lord, the hand
of the Lord be with you in your journey. What have ye to do here? This
is not your mountain of rest. Arise, then, and set your foot up the
mountain; go up out of the wilderness, leaning upon the shoulder of
your Beloved (Song viii. 5). If ye knew the welcome that abideth you
when ye come home, ye would hasten your pace; for ye shall see your
Lord put up His own holy hand to your face, and wipe all tears from
your eyes; and I trow, then ye shall have some joy of heart.
Madam, paper willeth me to end before affection. Remember the estate
of Zion; pray that Jerusalem may be as Zechariah prophesied, "a
burdensome stone for all" (Zech. xii. 3), that whosoever boweth down
to roll the stone out of the way, may hurt and break the joints of
their back, and strain their arms, and disjoint their shoulder-blades.
And pray Jehovah that the stone may lie still in its own place, and
keep band with the cornerstone. I hope it shall be so; He is a skilled
Master-builder who laid it.
I would, Madam, under great heaviness be refreshed with two lines from
your Ladyship, which I refer to your own wisdom. Madam, I would seem
undutiful not to show you, that great solicitation is made by the town
of Kirkcudbright for to have the use of my poor labours amongst them.
If the Lord shall call, and His people cry, who am I to resist? But
without His seen calling, and till the flock whom I now oversee be
planted with one to whom I dare intrust Christ's spouse, gold nor
silver nor favour of men, I hope, shall not loose me. I leave your
Ladyship, praying more earnestly for grace and mercy to be with you,
and multiplied upon you, here and hereafter, than my pen can express.
The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Your Ladyship's at all obedience in the Lord.
KIRKCUDBRIGHT.
XLIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_WHEN MR. RUTHERFORD WAS IN DIFFICULTY AS TO ACCEPTING A CALL TO
KIRKCUDBRIGHT, AND CRAMOND._)
MUCH HONOURED AND DEAR MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. I am
grieved at the heart to write anything to you to breed heaviness to
you; and what I have written, I wrote with much heaviness. But I
entreat you in Christ's name, when my soul is under wrestlings, and
seeking direction from our Lord (to whom His vineyard belongeth)
whither I shall go, give me liberty to advise, and try all airts and
paths, to see whether He goeth before me and leadeth me. For if I were
assured of God's call to your town, let my arm fall from my
shoulder-blade and lose power, and my right eye be dried up (which is
the judgment of the idol shepherd) (Zech. xi. 17), if I would not swim
through the water without a boat ere I sat His bidding. But if ye knew
my doubtings and fears in that, ye would suffer with me. Whether they
be temptations or impediments cast in by my God, I know not. But you
have now cause to thank God; for seeing the Bishop hath given you such
a promise, he will give you an honest man more willingly than he will
permit me to come to you. And, as I ever entreated you, put the
business out of your hand in the Lord's reverence;[133] and try of
Him, if ye have warrant of Him to seek no man in the world but one
only, when there are choice of good men to be had. Howbeit they be too
scarce, yet they are. And what God saith to me in the business, I
resolve by His grace to do; for I know not what He will do with me.
But God shall fill you with joy ere this business be ended; for I
persuade myself our Lord Jesus hath stirred you up already to do good
in the business, and ye shall not lose your reward.
[133] Referring to a promise made to the people of Kirkcudbright by
the Bishop of Galloway, to give them a man according to their own
mind, provided they would not choose Mr. Rutherford.
I have heard your husband and Samuel have been sick. The man who is
called _the Branch_ and _God's fellow_, who standeth before His
Father, will be your stay and help (Zech. xiii. 7). I would I were
able to comfort your soul. But have patience, and stand still; he that
believeth maketh not haste. This matter of Cramond, cast in at this
time, is either a temptation, having fallen out at this time; or then
it will clear all my doubts, and let you see the Lord's will. But I
never knew my own part in the business till now. I thought I was more
willing to have embraced the charge in your town, than I am, or am
able to win to. I know ye pray that God would resolve me what to do;
and will interpret me, as love biddeth you, which "thinketh not ill,
and believeth all things, and hopeth all things." Would ye have more
than the Son of God? and ye have Him already. And ye shall be fed by
the carver of the meat, be he who he will; and those who are hungry
look more to the meat than to the carver.
I cannot see you the next week. If my lady come home, I must visit
her. The week thereafter will be a Presbytery at Girthon. God will
dispose of the meeting. Grace upon you, and your seed, and husband.
The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
XLIV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_TROUBLES THREATENING THE CHURCH._)
WELL-BELOVED SISTER,--My love in Jesus Christ remembered. Your
daughter is well, thanks be to God. I trust in Him ye shall have joy
of her; the Lord bless her. I am now presently going about
catechising. The bearer is in haste. Forget not poor Zion; and the
Lord remember you, for we shall be shortly winnowed. Jesus, pray for
us, that our faith fail not! I would wish to see you a Sabbath with
us, and we shall stir up one another, God willing, to seek the Lord;
for it may be He hide Himself from us ere it be long. Keep that which
you have: ye will get more in heaven. The Lord send us to the shore
out of all the storms, with our silly souls sound and whole with us;
for if liberty of conscience come, as is rumoured, the best of us will
be put to our wits to seek how to be freed. But we shall be like those
who have their chamber to go in unto, spoken of in Isaiah (Isa. xxvi.
20). Read the place yourself, and keep you within your house while the
storm be passed. If you can learn a ditty against C., try, and cause
try, that ye may see the Lord's righteous judgment upon the devil's
instruments. We are not much obliged to his kindness. I wish all such
wicked doers were cut off.
These in haste. I bless you in God's name, and all yours. Your
daughter desires a Bible and a gown. I hope she shall use the Bible
well, which if she do, the gown is the better bestowed. The Lord Jesus
be with your spirit.
Yours for ever in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
XLV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_IN THE PROSPECT OF THE COMMUNION, AND OF TRIALS TO THE CHURCH._)
WELL-BELOVED SISTER IN CHRIST,--You shall understand I have received a
letter from Edinburgh, that it is suspected that there will be a
General Assembly, or then some meeting of the bishops; and that at
this synod there will be some commissioners chosen by the Bishop;
which news have so taken up my mind that I am not so settled for
studies as I have been before, and therefore was never in such fear
for the work. But because it is written to me as a secret, I dare not
reveal it to any but to yourself, whom I know. And therefore, I
entreat you not for any comfort of mine, who am but one man, but for
the glory and honour of Jesus Christ, the Master of the banquet, be
more earnest with God; and, in general, show others of your Christian
acquaintance my fears for myself. I can be content of shame in that
work, if my Lord and Master be honoured; and therefore petition our
Lord especially to see to His own glory, and to give bread to His
hungry bairns, howbeit I go hungry away from the feast. Bequest Mr.
Robert[134] from me, if he come not, to remember us to our Lord.
[134] Mr. Robert Glendinning.
I have neither time, nor a free disposed mind, to write to you anent
your own case. Send me word if all your children and your husband be
well. Seeing they are not yours, but your dear Lord's, esteem them but
as borrowed, and lay them down at God's feet. Your Christ to you is
better than they all. You will pardon my unaccustomed short letter;
and remember me and that honourable feast to our Lord Jesus. He was
with us before. I hope He will not change upon us; but I fear I have
changed upon Him. But, Lord, let old kindness stand. Jesus Christ be
with your spirit.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
XLVI.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_TOSSINGS OF SPIRIT--HER CHILDREN AND HUSBAND._)
WELL-BELOVED AND DEAR SISTER,--My tender affection in Christ
remembered. I left you in as great heaviness as I was in since I came
to this country; but I know you doubt not but that (as the truth is in
Christ) my soul is knit to your soul, and to the soul of all yours;
and I would, if I could, send you the largest part of my heart
inclosed in this letter. But by fervent calling upon my Lord, I have
attained some victory over my heart, which runneth often not knowing
whither, and over my beguiling hopes, which I know now better than I
did. I trust in my Lord to hold aloof from the enticings of a seducing
heart, by which I am daily cosened; and I mind not (by His grace who
hath called me according to His eternal purpose) to come so far within
the grips of my foolish mind, gripping about any folly coming its way
as the woodbine or ivy goeth about the tree.
I adore and kiss the providence of my Lord, who knoweth well what is
most expedient for me, and for you and your children; and I think of
you as of myself, that the Lord, who in His deep wisdom turneth about
all the wheels and turning of such changes, shall also dispose of that
for the best to you and yours. In the presence of my Lord, I am not
able, howbeit I would, to conceive amiss of you in that matter. Grace,
grace for ever be upon you and your seed, and it shall be your
portion, in despite of all the powers of darkness. Do not make more
question of this. But the Lord saw a nail in my heart loose, and He
hath now fastened it. Honour be to His Majesty.
I hear your son is entered to the school. If I had known of the day, I
would have begged from our Lord that He would have put the book in his
hand with His own hand. I trust in my Lord it is so; and I conceive a
hope to see him a star, to give light in some room of our Lord's
house; and purpose, by the Lord's grace, as I am able (if our Lord
call you to rest before me), when you are at your home, to do to the
uttermost of my power to help him every way in grace and learning, and
his brothers, and all your children. And I hope you would expect that
of me.
Further, you shall know that Mr. W. D.[135] is come home, who saith it
is a miracle that your husband, in this process before the Council,
escaped both discredit and damage. Let it not be forgotten he was, in
our apprehension, to our grief, cast down and humbled in the Lord's
work, in that matter betwixt him and the bailie: now the Lord hath
honoured him, and made him famous for virtue, honesty, and integrity,
two several times, before the nobles of this kingdom. Your Lord
liveth. We will go to His throne of grace again; His arm is not
shortened.
[135] William Dalgleish, minister of Kirkdale and Kirkmabreck. See
Letter CXVII.
The King is certainly expected. Ill is feared; we have cause for our
sins to fear that the Bridegroom shall be taken from us. By our sins
we have rent His fair garments, and we have stirred up and awakened
our Beloved. Pray Him to tarry, or then to take us with Him. It were
good that we should knock and rap at our Lord's door. We may not tire
to knock oftener than twice or thrice. He knoweth the knock of His
friends.
I am still what I was ever to your dear children, tendering their
soul's happiness, and praying that grace, grace, grace, mercy, and
peace from God, even God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus, may be
their portion; and that now, while they are green and young, their
hearts may take band with Jesus, the Cornerstone: and win once in, in
our Lord and Saviour's house, and then they will not get leave to
flit. Pray for me, and especially for humility and thankfulness. I
have always remembrance of you, and your husband, and dear children.
The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours evermore in my dear Lord Jesus and yours,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
XLVII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_SUBMISSION TO GOD'S ARRANGEMENTS._)
WORTHY AND BELOVED MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. I have
sent you a letter from Mr. David Dick[136] concerning the placing of
Mr. Hugh M'Kail with themselves; therefore I write to you now only to
entreat you in Christ not to be discouraged thereat. Be submissive to
the will of your dear Lord, who knoweth best what is good for your
soul and your town both; for God can come over greater mountains than
these, we believe; for He worketh His greatest works contrary to
carnal reason and means. "My ways are not," saith our Lord, "as your
ways; neither are my thoughts as your thoughts" (Isa. lv. 8). I am no
whit put from my belief for all that. Believe, pray, and use means. We
shall cause Mr. John Kerr, who conveyed myself to Lochinvar,[137] to
use means to seek a man, if Mr. Hugh fail us. Our Lord has a little
bride among you, and I trust He will send one to woo her to our sweet
Lord Jesus. He will not want His wife for the suiting, and He has
means in abundance in His hand to open all the slots and bars that
Satan draws over the door. He cometh to His bride leaping over the
mountains, and skipping over the hills. His way to His spouse is full
of stones, mountains, and waters, yet He putteth in His foot and
wadeth through. He will not want her; and therefore refresh me with
two words concerning your confidence and courage in our Lord, both
about that, and about His own Zion; for He wooeth His wife in the
Burning Bush; and for "the good-will of Him that dwelleth in the
Bush," the bush is not consumed. It is better to weep with Jerusalem
in the forenoon, than to weep with Babel after noon, in the end of the
day. Our day of laughter and rejoicing is coming. Yet a little while,
and ye shall see the salvation of God. I long to see you, and to hear
how your children are, especially Samuel. Grace be their heritage and
portion from the Lord, and the Lord be their lot, and then their
inheritance shall please them well. Remember my love to your husband.
The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours in his sweetest Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
[136] David Dickson.
[137] About four miles east from Earlston. It has a small loch, where
are ruins of an old castle.
XLVIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_TROUBLES FROM FALSE BRETHREN--OCCURRENCES--CHRIST'S
COMING--INTERCESSION._)
WELL-BELOVED SISTER,--I know you have heard of the success of our
business in Edinburgh. I do every Presbytery day see the faces of my
brethren smiling upon me, but their tongues convey reproaches and lies
of me a hundred miles off, and have made me odious to the Bishop of
St. Andrews, who said to Mr. W. Dalgleish that ministers in Galloway
were his informers. Whereupon no letter of favour could be procured
from him for effectuating of our business; only I am brought in the
mouths of men, who otherwise knew me not, and have power (if God shall
permit) to harm me. Yet I entreat you, in the bowels of Christ Jesus,
be not cast down. I fear your sorrow exceed because of this; and I am
not so careful for myself in the matter as for you. Take
courage;--your dearest Lord will light your candle, which the wicked
would fain blow out; and, as sure as our Lord liveth, your soul shall
find joy and comfort in this business. Howbeit you see all the hounds
in hell let loose to mar it, their iron chains to our dear and mighty
Lord are but straws, which He can easily break. Let not this
temptation stick in your throat; swallow it, and let it go down; our
Lord give you a drink of the consolations of His Spirit, that it may
digest. You never knew one in God's book who put to their hand to the
Lord's work for His kirk, but the world and Satan did bark against
them, and bite also where they had power. You will not lay one stone
on Zion's walls but they will labour to cast it down again.
For myself, the Lord letteth me see now greater evidence of a calling
to Kirkcudbright than ever He did before; and therefore pray, and
possess your soul in patience. Those that were doers in the business
have good hopes that it will yet go forward and prosper. As for the
death of the King of Sweden (which is thought to be too true), we can
do nothing else but reverence our Lord, who doth not ordinarily hold
Zion on her rock by the sword, and arm of flesh and blood, but by His
own mighty and outstretched arm. Her King that reigneth in Zion yet
liveth, and they are plucking Him round about to pull Him off His
throne; but His Father hath crowned him, and who dare say, "It is ill
done"? The Lord's bride will be up and down, above the water swimming
and under the water sinking, until her lovely and mighty Redeemer and
Husband set His head through the skies, and come with His fair court
to red all their pleas, and give them the hoped-for inheritance: and
then we shall lay down our swords and triumph, and fight no more. But
do not think, for all this, that our Lord and Chief Shepherd will want
one weak sheep, or the silliest dying lamb, that He hath redeemed. He
will tell His flock, and gather them all together, and make a faithful
account of them to the Father who gave them to Him. Let us learn to
turn our eyes off men, that our whorish hearts doat not on them, and
woo our old Husband, and make Him our darling. For, "thus saith the
Lord to the enemies of Zion, Drink ye, and be drunk, and spue, and
fall, and rise no more, because of the sword that I send amongst you.
And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to
drink, then shalt thou say to them, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Ye
shall certainly drink" (Jer. xxv. 27, 28). You see our Lord brewing a
cup of poison for His enemies, which they must drink, and because of
this have sore bowels and sick stomachs, yea, burst. But when Zion's
captivity is at an end, "the children of Israel shall come, they and
the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and
seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with their
faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord
in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten" (Jer. i. 45).
This is spoken to us, and for us, who with woe hearts ask, "What is
the way to Zion?" It is our part who know how to go to our Lord's
door, and to knock by prayer, and how to lift Christ's slot, and shut
the bar of His chamber door, to complain and tell Him how the Lord
handleth us, and how our King's business goeth, that He may get up and
lend them a blow, who are tigging and playing with Christ and His
spouse. You have also, dear Mistress, house troubles, in sickness of
your husband and bairns, and in spoiling of your house by thieves;
take these rods in patience from your Lord. He must still move you
from vessel to vessel, and grind you as our Lord's wheat, to be bread
in His house. But when all these strokes are over your head, what will
ye say to see your well-beloved Christ's white and ruddy face, even
His face who is worthy to bear the colours among ten thousand? (Cant.
v. 10). Hope and believe to the end. Grace for ever be multiplied upon
you, your husband, and children.
Your own in his dearest Lord Jesus,
S. R.
EDINBURGH, _Dec. 1634_.
XLIX.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_SPOILING OF GOODS--CALL TO KIRKCUDBRIGHT--THE LORD REIGNETH._)
WELL-BELOVED AND DEAR SISTER,--My love in Christ remembered. God hath
brought me home from a place where I have been exercised with great
heaviness, and I have found at home new matter of great heaviness, yet
dare not but in all things give thanks.
In my business in Edinburgh,[138] I have not sinned nor wronged my
party,--by his own confession, and by the confession of his friends, I
have given of my goods for peace and the saving of my Lord's truth
from reproaches, which is dearer to me than all I have. My mother is
weak, and I think shall leave me alone; but I am not alone, because
Christ's Father is with me.
[138] See note, Letter XII.
For your business anent your town I see great evidence; but Satan and
his instruments are against it, and few set their shoulders to
Christ's shoulder to help Him. But He will do all His lone; and I dare
not but exhort you to believe, and persuade you, that the hungry in
your city shall be fed; and as for the rest that want a stomach, the
parings of God's loaf will suffice them; and, therefore, believe it
shall be well. I may not leave my mother to come and confer with you
of all particulars. I have given such directions to our dear friend as
I can; but the event is in our dear Lord's hands.
God's Zion abroad flourisheth, and His arm is not shortened with us,
if we could believe. There is scarcity and a famine of the word of God
in Edinburgh. Your sister Jane laboureth mightily in our business; but
hath not as yet gotten an answer from I. P. Mr. A. C.[139] will work
what he can. My Lady saith she can do little, and that it suiteth not
her nor her husband well to speak in such an affair. I told her my
mind plainly.
[139] Probably Mr. Alexander Colville, mentioned Letter XI.
I long to know of your estate. Remember me heartily to your dear
husband. Grace be the portion of your bairns. I know you are mindful
of the green wound of our sister kirk in Ireland. Bid our Lord lay a
plaister to it (He hath good skill to do so), and set others to work.
Grace, grace upon your soul, and body, and all yours.
Yours in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
[The following brief note, addressed to Marion M'Naught, may be
read as a sort of postscript to the foregoing, though generally
printed as a separate Letter.]
DEAR MISTRESS,--I have not time this day to write to you; but God,
knowing my present state and necessities of my calling, will, I hope,
spare my mother's life for a time, for the which I have cause to thank
the Lord. I entreat you, be not cast down for that which I wrote
before to you anent the planting of a minister in your town. Believe,
and you shall see the salvation of God. I write this, because when you
suffer, my heart suffereth with you. I do believe your soul shall have
joy in your labours and holy desires for that work. Grace upon you,
and your husband, and children.
Yours ever in Christ,
ANWOTH.
L.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_CHRIST COMING AS CAPTAIN OF SALVATION--HIS CHURCH'S CONFLICT
AND COVENANT--THE JEWS--LAST DAYS APOSTASY_.)
WELL-BELOVED AND DEAR SISTER,--I know your heart is cast down for the
desolation like to come upon this kirk and the appearance that an
hireling shall be thrust in upon Christ's flock in that town; but send
a heavy heart up to Christ, it shall be welcome. Those who are with
the beast and the dragon, must make war with the Lamb; "but the Lamb
shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings; and
they who are with Him are called and chosen, and faithful" (Rev. xvii.
14). Our ten days shall have an end; all the former things shall be
forgotten when we shall be up before the throne. Christ hath been ever
thus in the world; He hath always the defender's part, and hath been
still in the camp, fighting the Church's battles. The enemies of the
Son of God will be fed with their own flesh, and shall drink their own
blood; and therefore, their part of it shall at last be found hard
enough: so that we may look forward and pity them. Until the number of
the elect be fulfilled, Christ's garments must be rolled in blood. He
cometh from Edom, from the slaughter of His enemies, "clothed with
dyed garments, glorious in His apparel, travelling in the greatness of
His strength." Who is this (saith he) that appears in this glorious
posture? Our great He! that He who is mighty to save, whose glory
shineth while He sprinkleth the blood of His adversaries, and staineth
all His raiment. The glory of His righteous revenges shineth forth in
these stains (Isa. lxiii. 1). But seeing our world is not here-away,
we poor children, far from home, must steal through many waters,
weeping as we go, and withal believing that we do the Lord's
faithfulness no wrong, seeing He hath said, "I, even I, am He that
comforteth you: who art thou, that shouldest be afraid of a man that
shall die, and of the son of man that shall be made as grass?" (Isa.
li. 12). "When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee;
and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee. When thou
walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burnt; neither shall the
flames kindle upon thee" (Isa. xliii. 2).
There is a cloud gathering and a storm coming. This land shall be
turned upside down; and if ever the Lord spake to me (think on it),
Christ's bride will be glad of a hole to hide her head in, and the
dragon may so prevail as to chase the woman and her man-child over
sea. But there shall be a gleaning, two or three berries left in the
top of the olive-tree, of whom God shall say, "Destroy them not, for
there is a blessing in them." Thereafter there shall be a fair
sun-blink on Christ's old spouse, and a clear sky, and she shall sing
as in the days of her youth. The Antichrist and the great red dragon
will lop Christ's branches, and bring His vine to a low stump, under
the feet of those who carry the mark of the beast; but the Plant of
Renown, the Man whose name is the Branch, will bud forth again and
blossom as the rose, and there shall be fair white flourishes again,
with most pleasant fruits, upon that tree of life. A fair season may
He have! Grace, grace be upon that blessed and beautiful tree! under
whose shadow we shall sit, and His fruit shall be sweet to our taste.
But Christ shall woo His handful in the fire, and choose His own in
the furnace of affliction. But be it so; He dow not, He will not slay
His children. Love will not let Him make a full end. The covenant will
cause Him hold His hand. Fear not, then, saith the First and the Last,
He who was dead and is alive. We see not Christ sharpening and
furbishing His sword for His enemies; and therefore our faithless
hearts say, as Zion did, "The Lord hath forsaken me." But God
reproveth her, and saith, "Well, well, Zion, is that well said? Think
again on it, you are in the wrong to Me. Can a woman forget her
sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the fruit of her
womb? Yea, she may; yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have
engraven thee upon the palms of My hands" (Isa. xlix. 15, 16). You
break your heart and grow heavy, and forget that Christ hath your name
engraven on the palms of His hand in great letters. In the name of the
Son of God, believe that buried Scotland, dead and buried with her
dear Bridegroom, shall rise the third day again, and there shall be a
new growth after the old timber is cut down.
I recommend you, and your burdens and heavy heart, to the supporting
of His grace and good-will who dwelt in the Bush, to Him who was
separated from His brethren. Try your husband afar off, to see if he
can be induced to think upon going to America.
O to see the sight, next to Christ's Coming in the clouds, the most
joyful! our elder brethren the Jews and Christ fall upon one another's
necks and kiss each other! They have been long asunder; they will be
kind to one another when they meet. O day! O longed-for and lovely
day-dawn! O sweet Jesus, let me see that sight which will be as life
from the dead, Thee and Thy ancient people in mutual embraces.[140]
[140] In the Preface to his "Peaceable Plea," he expresses the same
yearnings towards the Jews. And also in "Trial of Faith," sermon xiii.
Desire your daughter to close with Christ upon terms of suffering for
Him; for the cross is an old mealing and plot of ground that lyeth to
Christ's house. Our dear Chief had aye that rent lying to His
inheritance. But tell her the day is near the dawning, the sky is
riving; our Beloved will be on us, ere ever we be aware. The
Antichrist, and death and hell, and Christ's enemies and ours, will be
bound and cast into the bottomless pit. The Lord Jesus be with your
spirit.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _April 22, 1635_.
LI.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_PUBLIC TEMPTATIONS--THE SECURITY OF EVERY SAINT--OCCURRENCES IN THE
COUNTRY-SIDE._)
LOVING AND DEAR SISTER,--For Zion's sake hold not your peace, neither
be discouraged, for the on-going of this persecution. Jehovah is in
this burning Bush. The floods may swell and roar, but our ark shall
swim above the waters; it cannot sink, because a Saviour is in it.
Because our Beloved was not let in by His spouse when He stood at the
door, with His wet and frozen head, therefore He will have us to seek
Him awhile; and while we are seeking, the watchmen who go about the
walls have stricken the poor woman, and have taken away her veil from
her. But yet a little while and our Lord will come again. Scotland's
sky will clear again; her moment must go over. I dare in faith say and
write (I am not dreaming), Christ is but seeking (what He will have
and make) a clean glistering bride out of the fire. God send Him His
errand, but He cannot want what He seeks. In the meantime, one way or
other, He shall find, or make a nest for His mourning dove. What is
this we are doing, breaking the neck of our faith? We are not come as
yet to the mouth of the Red Sea; and howbeit we were, for His honour's
sake, He must dry it up. It is our part to die gripping and holding
fast His faithful promise. If the Beast should get leave to ride
through the land, to seal such as are his, he will not get one lamb
with him, for these are secured and sealed as the servants of God. In
God's name, let Christ take His barn-floor, and all that is in it, to
a hill, and winnow it. Let Him sift His corn, and sweep His house, and
seek His lost gold. The Lord shall cog the rumbling wheels, or turn
them; for the remainder of wrath doth He restrain. He can loose the
belt of kings; to God, their belt, wherewith they are girt, is knit
with a single draw-knot.
As for a pastor to your town, your conscience can bear you witness you
have done your part. Let the Master of the vineyard now see to His
garden, seeing you have gone on, till He hath said, "Stand still." The
will of the Lord be done. But a trial is not, to give up with God and
believe no more. I thank my God in Christ, I find the force of my
temptation abated, and its edge blunted, since I spoke to you last. I
know not if the tempter be hovering, until he find the dam gather
again, and me more secure; but it hath been my burden, and I am yet
more confident the Lord will succour and deliver.
I intend, God willing, that our Communion shall be celebrated the
first Sabbath after Pasch. Our Lord, that great Master of the feast,
send us one hearty and heartsome supper, for I look it shall be the
last. But we expect, when the shadows shall flee away, and our Lord
shall come to His garden, that He shall feed us in green pastures
without fear. The dogs shall not then be hounded out amongst the
sheep. I earnestly desire your prayers for assistance at our work, and
put others with you to do the same. Remember me to your husband, and
desire your daughter to be kind to Christ, and seek to win near Him;
He will give her a welcome unto His house of wine, and bring her into
the King's chamber. O how will the sight of His face, and the smell of
His garments, allure and ravish the heart! Now, the love of the lovely
Son of God be with you.
Yours in his sweet Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, 1635.
LII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(IN THE PROSPECT OF HER HUSBAND BEING COMPELLED TO RECEIVE THE
COMMAND OF THE PRELATES--SAINTS ARE YET TO JUDGE.)
WELL-BELOVED MISTRESS,--I charge you in the name of the Son of God, to
rest upon your Rock, that is higher than yourself. Be not afraid of a
man, who is a worm, nor of the son of man, who shall die. God be your
fear. Encourage your husband. I would counsel you to write to
Edinburgh to some advised lawyers, to understand what your husband, as
the head magistrate, may do in opposing any intruded minister, and in
his carriage toward the new prelate,[141] if he command him to
imprison or lay hands upon any, and, in a word, how far he may in his
office disobey a prelate, without danger of law. For if the Bishop
come to your town, and find not obedience to his heart, it is like he
will command the Provost to assist him against God and the truth. Ye
will have more courage under the persecution. Fear not; take Christ
caution,[142] who said, "There shall not one hair of your head perish"
(Luke xxi. 18). Christ will not be in your common to have you giving
out anything for Him, and not give you all incomes with advantage. It
is His honour His servants should not be herried and undone in His
service. You were never honoured till now. And if your husband be the
first magistrate who shall suffer for Christ's name in this
persecution, he may rejoice that Christ hath put the first garland on
his head and upon yours. Truth will yet keep the crown of the causey
in Scotland. Christ and truth are strong enough. They judge us now; we
shall one day judge them, and sit on twelve thrones and judge the
twelve tribes. Believe, believe; for they dare not pray; they dare not
look Christ in the face. They have been false to Christ, and He will
not sit with the wrong. Ye know it is not our cause; for if we would
quit our Lord, we might sleep for the present in a sound skin, and
keep our place, means, and honour, and be dear to them also; but let
us once put all we have over in Christ's hand. Fear not for my papers;
I shall despatch them, but ye will be examined for them. The Spirit
of Jesus give you inward peace. Desire your husband from me to prove
honest to Christ; he shall not be a loser at Christ's hand.
Yours ever in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _July 8, 1635_.
[141] Bishop Sydserff wished to force a minister upon the people of
Kirkcudbright, in room of Mr. Glendinning, whom he ordered to be
imprisoned, because he would not conform to Episcopacy. Provost
Fullarton (husband of M. M'Naught), along with other magistrates,
refused to imprison Mr. Glendinning. See note at Letter LXVII.
[142] Surety.
LIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_ENCOURAGEMENT UNDER TRIAL BY PROSPECT OF BRIGHTER DAYS._)
MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. Having appointed a meeting
with Mr. David Dickson, and knowing that B. will not keep the
Presbytery, I cannot see you now. Commend my journey to God. My soul
blesseth you for your last letter. Be not discouraged; Christ will not
want the Isles-men. "The Isles shall wait for His law." We are His
inheritance, and He will sell no part of His inheritance. For the sins
of this land, and our breach of the covenant, contempt of the Gospel,
and our defection from the truth, He hath set up a burning furnace in
our Mount Zion; but I say it, and will bide by it, the grass shall yet
grow green on our Mount Zion. There shall be dew all the night upon
the lilies, amongst which Christ feedeth, until the day break, and the
shadows flee away. And the moth shall eat up the enemies of Christ.
Let them make a fire of their own, and walk in the light thereof, it
shall not let them see to go to their bed; but they shall lie down in
sorrow (Isa. l. 11). Therefore, rejoice and believe. This in haste.
Grace, grace be with you and yours.
Yours in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
LIV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_PUBLIC WRONGS--WORDS OF COMFORT._)
LOVING AND DEAR SISTER,--I fear that you be moved and cast down,
because of the late wrong that your husband received in your Town
Council. But I pray you comfort yourself in the Lord; for a just cause
bides under the water only as long as wicked men hold their hand
above it; their arm will weary, and then the just cause shall swim
above, and the light that is sown for the righteous shall spring and
grow up. If ye were not strangers here, the dogs of the world would
not bark at you. You may see all windings and turnings that are in
your way to heaven out of God's Word; for He will not lead you to the
kingdom at the nearest, but you must go through "honour and dishonour,
by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as
unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as
chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, and yet always rejoicing" (2
Cor. vi. 8, 10). The world is one of the enemies that we have to fight
with, but a vanquished and overcome enemy, and like a beaten and
forlorn soldier; for our Jesus hath taken the armour from it. Let me
then speak to you in His words: "Be of good courage," saith the
Captain of our salvation, "for I have overcome the world." You shall
neither be free of the scourge of the tongue, nor of disgraces (even
if it were buffetings and spittings upon the face, as was our
Saviour's case), if you follow Jesus Christ. I beseech you in the
bowels of our Lord Jesus, keep a good conscience, as I trust you do.
You live not upon men's opinion; gold may be gold, and have the king's
stamp upon it, when it is trampled upon by men. Happy are you, if,
when the world trampleth upon you in your credit and good name, yet
you are the Lord's gold, stamped with the King of heaven's image, and
sealed by the Spirit unto the day of your redemption. Pray for the
spirit of love; for "love beareth all things; it believeth all things,
hopeth all things, and endureth all things" (1 Cor. xiii. 7).
And I pray you and your husband, yea, I charge you before God, and the
Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, pray for these your
adversaries, and read this to your husband from me, and let both of
you put on, as the elect of God, bowels of mercies. And, sister,
remember how many thousands of talents of sins your Master hath
forgiven you. Forgive ye therefore your fellow-servants one talent.
Follow God's command in this, and "seek not after your own heart, and
after your own eyes," in this matter, as the Spirit speaks (Numb. xv.
39). Ask never the counsel of your own heart here; the world will blow
up your heart now, and cause it swell, except the grace of God cause
it fall. Jesus, even Jesus, the Eternal Wisdom of the Father, give you
wisdom. I trust God shall be glorified in you. And a door shall be
opened unto you, as to the Lord's "prisoners of hope," as Zechariah
speaks. It is a benefit to you, that the wicked are God's fan to purge
you. And I hope they shall blow away no corn, or spiritual graces, but
only your chaff. I pray you, in your pursuit, have so recourse to the
law of men, that you wander not from the law of God. Be not cast down:
if you saw Him who is standing on the shore, holding out His arms to
welcome you on land, you would not only wade through a sea of wrongs,
but through hell itself to be at Him. And I trust in God you see Him
sometimes. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit, and all yours.
Your brother in the Lord,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
LV.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_WHEN HE HAD BEEN THREATENED WITH PERSECUTION FOR PREACHING THE
GOSPEL--THE SAINTS SHALL YET WIN THE DAY._)
WORTHY AND WELL-BELOVED MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. I
know ye have heard of the purpose of my adversaries, to try what they
can do against me at this Synod for the work of God in your town when
I was at your Communion. They intend to call me in question at the
Synod for treasonable doctrine. Therefore help me with your prayers,
and desire your acquaintance to help me also. Your ears heard how
Christ was there. If He suffer His servant to get a broken head in His
own kingly service, and not either help or revenge the wrong, I never
saw the like of it. There is not a night drunkard, time-serving, idle,
idol shepherd to be spoken against: I am the only man; and because it
is so, and I know God will not help them lest they be proud, I am
confident their process shall fall asunder. Only be ye earnest with
God for hearing, for an open ear, and reading of the bill, that He may
in heaven hear both parties, and judge accordingly. And doubt not,
fear not; they shall not, who now ride highest, put Christ out of His
kingly possession in Scotland. The pride of man and his rage shall
turn to the praise of our Lord. It is an old feud, that the rulers of
the earth, the dragon and his angels, have carried to the Lamb and His
followers; but the followers of the Lamb shall overcome by the Word of
God. And believe this, and wait on a little, till they have got their
womb full of clay and gravel, and they shall know (howbeit stolen
waters be sweet) Esau's portion is not worth his hunting. Commend me
to your husband, and send me word how Grizel is. The Son of God lead
her through the water. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH.
LVI.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_REASONS FOR RESIGNATION--SECURITY OF SAINTS--THE END OF TIME._)
MADAM,--I received your Ladyship's letter from J. G.[143] I thank our
Lord ye are as well at least as one may be who is not come home. It is
a mercy in this stormy sea to get a second wind; for none of the
saints get a first, but they must take the winds as the Lord of the
seas causeth them to blow, and the inn as the Lord and Master of the
inns hath ordered it. If contentment were here, heaven were not
heaven. Whoever seek the world to be their bed, shall at best find it
short and ill-made, and a stone under their side to hold them waking,
rather than a soft pillow to sleep upon. Ye ought to bless your Lord
that it is not worse. We live in a sea where many have suffered
shipwreck, and have need that Christ sit at the helm of the ship. It
is a mercy to win to heaven, though with much hard toil and heavy
labour, and to take it by violence ill and well as it may be. Better
go swimming and wet through our waters than drown by the way;
especially now when truth suffereth, and great men bid Christ sit
lower and contract Himself in less bounds, as if He took too much
room.
[143] J. Gordon.
I expect our new prelate[144] shall try my sitting. I hang by a
thread, but it is (if I may speak so) of Christ's spinning. There is
no quarrel more honest or honourable than to suffer for truth. But the
worst is, that this kirk is like to sink, and all her lovers and
friends stand afar off; none mourn with her, and none mourn for her.
But the Lord Jesus will not be put out of His conquest so soon in
Scotland. It will be seen that the kirk and truth will rise again
within three days, and Christ again shall ride upon His white horse;
howbeit His horse seem now to stumble, yet he cannot fall. The fulness
of Christ's harvest in the end of the earth is not yet come in. I
speak not this because I would have it so, but upon better grounds
than my naked liking. But enough of this sad subject.
[144] Sydserff.
I long to be fully assured of your Ladyship's welfare, and that your
soul prospereth, especially now in your solitary life when your
comforts outward are few, and when Christ hath you for the very
uptaking. I know His love to you is still running over, and His love
hath not so bad a memory as to forget you and your dear child, who
hath two fathers in heaven, the one the Ancient of Days. I trust in
His mercy He hath something laid up for him above, however it may go
with him here. I know it is long since your Ladyship saw that this
world had turned your stepmother and did forsake you. Madam, you have
reason to take in good part a lean dinner and spare diet in this life,
seeing your large supper of the Lamb's preparing will recompense all.
Let it go, which was never yours but only in sight, not in property.
The time of your loan will wear shorter and shorter, and time is
measured to you by ounce weights; and then I know your hope shall be a
full ear of corn and not blasted with wind. It may be your joy that
your anchor is up within the veil, and that the ground it is cast upon
is not false but firm. God hath done His part: I hope ye will not deny
to fish and fetch home all your love to Himself; and it is but too
narrow and short for Him if it were more. If ye were before pouring
all your love (if it had been many gallons more) in upon your Lord, if
drops fell by in the in-pouring, He forgiveth you. He hath done now
all that can be done to win beyond it all, and hath left little to woo
your love from Himself, except one only child. What is His purpose
herein He knoweth best, who hath taken your soul in tutoring. Your
faith may be boldly charitable of Christ, that however matters go, the
worst shall be a tired traveller, and a joyful and sweet welcome home.
The back of your winter night is broken. Look to the east, the day sky
is breaking. Think not that Christ loseth time, or lingereth
unsuitably. O fair, fair, and sweet morning! We are but as sea
passengers. If we look right, we are upon our country coast: our
Redeemer is fast coming, to take this old worm-eaten world, like an
old moth-eaten garment, in His two hands, and to roll it up and lay it
by Him. These are the last days, and an oath is given, by God Himself,
that time shall be no more (Rev. x. 6); and when time itself is old
and grey-haired, it were good we were away. Thus, Madam, ye see I am,
as my custom is tedious in my lines. Your Ladyship will pardon it.
The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Your Ladyship's at all obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Jan. 18, 1636_.
LVII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_IN THE PROSPECT OF REMOVAL TO ABERDEEN._)
HONOURED AND DEAREST IN THE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.
I am well, and my soul prospereth. I find Christ with me. I burden no
man; I want nothing; no face looketh on me but it laugheth on me.
Sweet, sweet is the Lord's cross. I overcome my heaviness. My
Bridegroom's love-blinks fatten my weary soul. I soon go to my King's
palace at Aberdeen. Tongue, and pen, and wit, cannot express my joy.
Remember my love to Jean Gordon, to my sister, Jean Brown, to Grizel,
to your husband. Thus in haste. Grace be with you.
Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
EDINBURGH, _April 5, 1636_.
_P.S._--My charge is to you to believe, rejoice, sing, and triumph.
Christ has said to me, Mercy, mercy, grace and peace for Marion
M'Naught.
LVIII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_ON OCCASION OF EFFORTS TO INTRODUCE EPISCOPACY._)
RIGHT HONOURABLE,--I cannot find a time for writing some things I
intended on Job, I have been so taken up with the broils that we are
encumbered with in our calling. For our prelate will have us either to
swallow our light over, and digest it contrary to our stomachs
(howbeit we should vomit our conscience and all, in this troublesome
conformity), or then he will try if deprivation can convert us to the
ceremonial faith.[145]
[145] Conformity to episcopal forms.
I write to your Ladyship, Madam, not as distrusting your affection or
willingness to help me, as your Ladyship is able by yourself or
others, but to advertise you that I hang by a small thread. For our
learned prelate, because we cannot see with his eyes so far in a
mill-stone as his light doeth, will not follow his Master, meek Jesus,
who waited upon the wearied and short-breathed in the way to
heaven.[146] Where all see not alike, and some are weaker, He carrieth
the lambs in His bosom, and leadeth gently those that are with young.
But we must either see all the evil of ceremonies to be but as
indifferent straws, or suffer no less than to be casten out of the
Lord's inheritance! Madam, if I had time I would write more at length,
but your Ladyship will pardon me till a fitter occasion. Grace be with
you and your child, and bear you company to your best home.
Your Ladyship's in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _June 8, 1636_.
[146] Alluding to Gen. xxxii. 14, and Isa. xl. 11.
LIX.--_To_ EARLSTON, _Elder_.
[ALEXANDER GORDON of Earlston was descended from the house of
Gordon of Lochinvar, and the residence of his family at first was
Gordon of Airds (about a mile from the New Galloway Railway
Station, on a wooded height, in the parish of Kells). His
great-grandfather, Alexander Gordon of Airds, having married
Margaret, eldest daughter of John Sinclair of Earlston, the issue
of that union came to possess the lands of Earlston. (Nisbet's
"Heraldry.") It is a tradition that old Gordon of Airds imbibed
Wickliffite views, when he was on a sort of embassy to the
English Borderers, and that he propagated the truth by bringing
home an English Wickliffite to be tutor to his eldest son. Having
obtained a New Testament in the vulgar tongue, he read it at
meetings which were held in the woods of Airds, in a secluded
spot, at the junction of the Ken and the Dee, where the loch
begins.[147] The truth circulated rapidly through the whole
province of Galloway.
[147] It is probably the little mound in the wood called "Low's
Seat," from its being the favourite resort of a local poet of
that name.
There are some interesting traditions about old Gordon of Airds.
He was compelled, when a youth, to sign the sentence that doomed
Patrick Hamilton to death, 1528; and this very circumstance led
him to inquire more fully into the truth. He lived to the age of
one hundred and one, dying in 1586. A traveller, coming to crave
the hospitality of Airds one evening, was courteously received by
a youth, who, however, referred him to his father. His father in
turn referred him to an older man, the grandfather of the boy;
and then this grey-haired grand-sire said, "Sir, you must ask _my
father_,"--the patriarch who sat in the arm-chair and conducted
worship that evening. (Agnew's "Sheriffs of Galloway.")
_Earlston_, or Erliston, or Earleston, is not far from
Carsphairn. As you come from Dalry, in Glenkens, you see the roof
of the ancient residence appearing from among the trees that grow
up the sloping ridge at the foot of which it stands. In front of
the grim old tower there is a fine lawn, a remnant of better
days, and a linn not far off. There is another _Earlston_, in the
parish of Borgue, a quite modern mansion, built by a descendant
of this ancient family, and called after the name of the original
property.
The grace of God, which had early chosen this family, continued
to favour it for many generations. Alexander Gordon, Rutherford's
friend, was worthy of his ancestors. Livingstone, in his
"Characteristics," speaks of him as "a man of great spirit, but
much subdued by inward exercise. For wisdom, courage, and
righteousness, he might have been a magistrate in any part of
the earth." He warmly espoused the side of the Presbyterians. In
the end of July 1635, he was summoned by the Bishop of Glasgow to
appear before the High Commission, for preventing the intrusion
of an unpopular nominee of the bishop into a vacant parish. But
Lord Lorn, afterwards the martyred Marquis of Argyle, having
appeared with him before that court, and affirmed that Earlston
had done this by his direction as patron of the parish, the
matter was deferred to a future day. This letter of Rutherford
probably refers to the vexatious proceedings instituted against
him in regard to this matter. He was afterwards summoned by
Sydserff, Bishop of Galloway, fined five hundred merks, and
banished to Montrose. The Privy Council, however, afterwards
dispensed with his banishment upon the payment of his fine.
Earlston was a member of the Assembly which met at Glasgow, in
1638, as commissioner from the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright. His
name appears among the members of Parliament in 1641, as member
for the shire of Galloway. He was married to Elizabeth, daughter
of John Gordon of Muirfad, by whom he had several children. His
eldest son, William, who succeeded him, is retoured heir of his
father on the 23rd of January 1655. In the avenue leading to
Earlston, there is a very large old oak, still shown as that in
the thick foliage of which this William Gordon hid, and so
escaped his pursuers, in the days of the persecution. But in
1679, on his way to join the rising at Bothwell, he was shot by a
troop of dragoons, and lies buried in Glassford Churchyard, where
is a monument to his memory.]
* * * * *
(_NO SUFFERING FOR CHRIST UNREWARDED--LOSS OF CHILDREN--CHRIST IN
PROVIDENCE._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--I have heard of the mind and malice of your
adversaries against you. It is like they will extend the law they
have, in length and breadth, answerable to their heat of mind. But it
is a great part of your glory that the cause is not yours, but your
Lord's whom you serve. And I doubt not but Christ will count it His
honour to back His weak servant; and it were a shame for Him (with
reverence to His holy name) that He should suffer Himself to be in the
common of such a poor man as ye are, and that ye should give out for
Him and not get in again. Write up your depursments for your Master
Christ, and keep the account of what ye give out, whether name,
credit, goods, or life, and suspend your reckoning till nigh the
evening; and remember that a poor weak servant of Christ wrote it to
you, that ye shall have Christ, a King, caution for your incomes and
all your losses. Reckon not from the forenoon. Take the Word of God
for your warrant; and for Christ's act of cautionary, howbeit body,
life, and goods go for Christ your Lord, and though ye should lose the
head for Him, yet "there shall not one hair of your head perish; in
patience, therefore, possess your soul."[148] And because ye are the
first man in Galloway called out and questioned for the name of Jesus,
His eye hath been upon you, as upon one whom He designed to be among
His witnesses. Christ hath said, "Alexander Gordon shall lead the ring
in witnessing a good confession," and therefore He hath put the
garland of suffering for Himself first upon your head. Think yourself
so much the more obliged to Him, and fear not; for He layeth His right
hand on your head. He who was dead and is alive will plead your cause,
and will look attentively upon the process from the beginning to the
end, and the Spirit of glory shall rest upon you. "Fear none of these
things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of
you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation
ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of
life"[149] (Rev. ii. 10). This lovely One, Jesus, who also became the
Son of man, that He might take strokes for you, write the
cross-sweetening and soul-supporting sense of these words in your
heart!
[148] Luke xxi. 18, 19.
[149] Zech. xii. 2, 6.
These rumbling wheels of Scotland's ten days' tribulation are under
His look who hath seven eyes. Take a house on your head, and slip
yourself by faith in under Christ's wings till the storm be over. And
remember, when they have drunken us down, Jerusalem will be a cup of
trembling and of poison.[150] They shall be fain to vomit out the
saints; for Judah "shall be a hearth of fire in a sheaf, and they
shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the
left." Woe to Zion's enemies! they have the worst of it; for we have
writ for the victory. Sir, ye were never honourable till now. This is
your glory, that Christ hath put you in the roll with Himself and with
the rest of the witnesses who are come out of great tribulation, and
have washen their garments and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb. Be not cast down for what the servants of Antichrist cast in
your teeth, that ye are a head to and favourer of the Puritans, and
leader to that sect. If your conscience say, "Alas! here is much din
and little done" (as the proverb is), because ye have not done so much
service to Christ that way as ye might and should, take courage from
that same temptation. For your Lord Christ looketh upon that very
challenge as an hungering desire in you to have done more than ye did;
and that filleth up the blank, and He will accept of what ye have done
in that kind. If great men be kind to you, I pray you overlook them;
if they smile on you, Christ but borroweth their face to smile through
them upon His afflicted servant. Know the well-head; and for all that,
learn the way to the well itself. Thank God that Christ came to your
house in your absence and took with Him some of your children. He
presumed that much on your love, that ye would not offend;[151] and
howbeit He should take the rest, He cannot come upon your wrong side.
I question not, if they were children of gold, but ye think them well
bestowed upon Him.
[150] Zech. xii. 2, 6.
[151] Stumble; be offended.
Expound well these two rods on you, one in your house at home, another
on your own person abroad. Love thinketh no evil. If ye were not
Christ's wheat, appointed to be bread in His house, He would not grind
you. But keep the middle line, neither despise nor faint (Heb. xii.
5). Ye see your Father is homely with you. Strokes of a father
evidence kindness and care; take them so. I hope your Lord hath
manifested Himself to you, and suggested these, or more choice
thoughts about His dealing with you. We are using our weak moyen and
credit for you up at our own court, as we dow. We pray the King to
hear us, and the Son of Man to go side for side with you, and hand in
hand in the fiery oven, and to quicken and encourage your unbelieving
heart when ye droop and despond. Sir, to the honour of Christ be it
said, my faith goeth with my pen now. I am presently believing Christ
shall bring you out. Truth in Scotland shall keep the crown of the
causeway yet. The saints shall see religion go naked at noon-day, free
from shame and fear of men. We shall divide Shechem, and ride upon the
high places of Jacob. Remember my obliged respects and love to Lady
Kenmure and her sweet child.
Yours ever in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _July 6, 1636_.
LX.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_WHEN HE WAS UNDER TRIAL BY THE HIGH COMMISSION._)
MY DEAR AND WELL-BELOVED IN CHRIST,--I am yet under trial, and have
appeared before Christ's forbidden lords,[152] for a testimony against
them. The Chancellor and the rest tempted me with questions, nothing
belonging to my summons, which I wholly declined, notwithstanding of
his threats. My newly printed book against Arminians[153] was one
challenge; not lording the prelates[154] was another. The most part
of the bishops, when I came in, looked more astonished than I, and
heard me with silence. Some spoke for me; but my Lord ruled it so as I
am filled with joy in my sufferings, and I find Christ's cross sweet.
What they intend against the next day I know not. Be not secure, but
pray. Our Bishop of Galloway said, If the Commission should not give
him his will of me (with an oath he said), he would write to the King.
The Chancellor summoned me in judgment to appear that day eight days.
My Lord has brought me a friend from the Highlands of Argyle, my Lord
of Lorn,[155] who hath done as much as was within the compass of his
power. God gave me favour in his eyes. Mr. Robert Glendinning is
silenced, till he accepts a colleague. We hope to deal yet for him.
Christ is worthy to be entrusted. Your husband will get an easy and
good way of his business. Ye and I both shall see the salvation of God
upon Joseph separate from his brethren. Grace be with you.
S. R.
EDINBURGH, 1636.
[152] The prelates; alluding to 1 Pet. v. 3.
[153] _Exercitat. Apol. pro Divinâ Gratiâ_, published this year (1636)
at Amsterdam.
[154] Calling them "Lords."
[155] Brother to Lady Kenmure, and afterwards the celebrated Marquis
of Argyle. See Letter LXI. also.
LXI.--_To the truly Noble and Elect Lady, my LADY VISCOUNTESS OF
KENMURE, on the evening of his banishment to Aberdeen._
(_HIS ONLY REGRETS--THE CROSS UNSPEAKABLY SWEET--RETROSPECT OF HIS
MINISTRY._)
NOBLE AND ELECT LADY,--That honour that I have prayed for these
sixteen years, with submission to my Lord's will, my kind Lord hath
now bestowed upon me, even to suffer for my royal and princely King
Jesus, and for His kingly crown, and the freedom of His kingdom that
His Father hath given Him. The forbidden lords have sentenced me with
deprivation, and confinement within the town of Aberdeen. I am charged
in the King's name to enter against the 20th day of August next, and
there to remain during the King's pleasure, as they have given it out.
Howbeit Christ's green cross, newly laid upon me, be somewhat heavy,
while I call to mind the many fair days sweet and comfortable to my
soul and to the souls of many others, and how young ones in Christ are
plucked from the breast, and the inheritance of God laid waste; yet
that sweet smelled and perfumed cross of Christ is accompanied with
sweet refreshments, with the kisses of a King, with the joy of the
Holy Ghost, with faith that the Lord hears the sighing of a prisoner,
with undoubted hope (as sure as my Lord liveth) after this night to
see daylight, and Christ's sky to clear up again upon me, and His poor
kirk; and that in a strange land, among strange faces, He will give
favour in the eyes of men to His poor oppressed servant, who dow not
but love that lovely One, that princely One, Jesus, the Comforter of
his soul. All would be well, if I were free of old challenges for
guiltiness, and for neglect in my calling, and for speaking too little
for my Well-beloved's crown, honour, and kingdom. O for a day in the
assembly of the saints to advocate for King Jesus! If my Lord also go
on now to quarrels I die, I cannot endure it. But I look for peace
from Him, because He knoweth I dow bear men's feud, but I dow not bear
His feud. This is my only exercise, that I fear I have done little
good in my ministry; but I dare not but say, I loved the bairns of the
wedding-chamber, and prayed for and desired the thriving of the
marriage, and coming of His kingdom.
I apprehend no less than a judgment upon Galloway, and that the Lord
shall visit this whole nation for the quarrel of the Covenant. But
what can be laid upon me, or any the like of me, is too light for
Christ. Christ dow bear more, and would bear death and burning quick,
in His quick servants, even for this honourable cause that I now
suffer for. Yet for all my complaints (and He knoweth that I dare not
now dissemble), He was never sweeter and kinder than He is now. One
kiss now is sweeter than ten long since; sweet, sweet is His cross;
light, light and easy is His yoke. O what a sweet step were it up to
my Father's house through ten deaths, for the truth and cause of that
unknown, and so not half well loved, Plant of Renown, the Man called
the Branch, the Chief among ten thousands, the fairest among the sons
of men! O what unseen joys, how many hidden heart-burnings of love,
are in the "remnants of the sufferings of Christ!" (Col. i. 24.) My
dear worthy Lady, I give it to your Ladyship, under my own hand, my
heart writing as well as my hand,--welcome, welcome, sweet, sweet and
glorious cross of Christ; welcome, sweet Jesus, with Thy light cross.
Thou hast now gained and gotten all my love from me; keep what Thou
hast gotten! Only woe, woe is me, for my bereft flock, for the lambs
of Jesus, that I fear shall be fed with dry breasts. But I spare now.
Madam, I dare not promise to see your Ladyship, because of the little
time I have allotted me; and I purpose to obey the King, who hath
power of my body; and rebellion to kings is unbeseeming Christ's
ministers. Be pleased to acquaint my Lady Mar[156] with my case. I
will look that your Ladyship and that good lady will be mindful to God
of the Lord's prisoner, not for my cause, but for the Gospel's sake.
Madam, bind me more, if more can be, to your Ladyship, and write
thanks to your brother, my Lord of Lorn, for what he hath done for me,
a poor unknown stranger to his Lordship. I shall pray for him and his
house, while I live. It is his honour to open his mouth in the
streets, for his wronged and oppressed Master Christ Jesus. Now,
Madam, commending your Ladyship and the sweet child to the tender
mercies of mine own Lord Jesus, and His good-will who dwelt in the
Bush,
I am yours in his own sweetest Lord Jesus,
S. R.
EDINBURGH, _July 28, 1636_.
[156] See Letter CXL.
LXII.--_To the LADY CULROSS, on occasion of his banishment to
Aberdeen._
[ELIZABETH MELVILLE, wife of James Colvill, the eldest son of
Alexander, Commendator of Culross, was the daughter of Sir James
Melville of Halhill, in Fife. Her father was ambassador from
Queen Mary to Queen Elizabeth, and a privy councillor to King
James VI. He was also a man of piety, who (says Livingstone),
"professed he had got assurance from the Lord, that himself,
wife, and all his children, should meet in heaven." Lady Culross
held a high place among the eminent Christians of her day.
Livingstone says: "She was famous for her piety, and for her
dream concerning her spiritual condition, which she put in verse,
which was published by others. Of all that ever I saw, she was
most unwearied in religious exercises; and the more she enjoyed
access to God therein she hungered the more." She was present at
the famous Communion at Shotts in June 1636, when the sermon
preached by Livingstone, on the Monday after, was the means, it
is believed, of the conversion of not less than five hundred
individuals. The night before had been spent in prayer by a great
number of Christians in a large room of the inn where she slept;
and the minister who should have preached on Monday having fallen
sick, it was at her suggestion that the other ministers assisting
on that occasion, to whom Livingstone was a stranger, laid upon
him the work of addressing the people. There is a poem written by
her, entitled "Ane Godlie Dream;" and there is still preserved a
sonnet of her composition, which she sent to Mr. John Welsh when
he was imprisoned in Blackness, 1605:--
"My dear brother, with courage bear the cross,
Joy shall be joined with all thy sorrow here.
High is thy hope, disdain this earthly dross,
Once shall you see the wished day appear.
"Now it is dark, thy sky cannot be clear;
After the clouds it shall be calm anon;
Wait on His will whose blood hath bought thee dear:
Extol His name, though outward joys be gone.
"Look to the Lord, thou art not left alone,
Since He is thine, what pleasure canst thou take!
He is at hand, and hears thy every groan:
End out thy fight, and suffer for His sake.
"A sight most bright thy soul shall shortly see,
When store of glore thy rich reward shall be."
--_Wodrow_ MSS. Adv. Lib. Edin. vol. xxix.]
(_CHALLENGES OF CONSCIENCE--THE CROSS NO BURDEN._)
MADAM,--Your letter came in due time to me, now a prisoner of Christ,
and in bonds for the Gospel. I am sentenced with deprivation and
confinement within the town of Aberdeen. But O my guiltiness, the
follies of my youth, the neglects in my calling, and especially in not
speaking more for the kingdom, crown, and sceptre of my royal and
princely King Jesus, do so stare me in the face, that I apprehend
anger in that which is a crown of rejoicing to the dear saints of God.
This, before my compearance, which was three several days, did trouble
me, and burdeneth me more now; howbeit Christ, and in Him God
reconciled, met me with open arms, and trysted me precisely at the
entry of the door of the Chancellor's hall, and assisted me so to
answer, as that the advantage is not theirs but Christ's. Alas! that
is no cause of wondering that I am thus borne down with challenges;
for the world hath mistaken me, and no man knoweth what guiltiness is
in me so well as these two, who keep my eyes now waking and my heart
heavy, I mean (1) my heart and conscience, and (2) my Lord, who is
greater than my heart.
Shew your brother that I desire him, while he is on the watch-tower,
to plead with his mother, and to plead with this land, and spare not
to cry for my sweet Lord Jesus His fair crown, that the interdicted
and forbidden lords are plucking off His royal head. If I were free of
challenges, and a High Commission within my soul, I would not give a
straw to go to my Father's house through ten deaths, for the truth and
cause of my lovely, lovely One, Jesus. But I walk in heaviness now. If
ye love me, and Christ in me, my dear Lady, pray, pray for this only,
that bygones betwixt my Lord and me may be bygones, and that He would
pass from the summons of His High Commission, and seek nothing from
me, but what He will do for me and work in me. If your ladyship knew
me as I do myself, ye would say, "Poor soul, no marvel." It is not my
apprehension that createth this cross to me; it is too real, and hath
sad and certain grounds. But I will not believe that God will take
this advantage of me, when my back is at the wall. He who forbiddeth
to add affliction to affliction, will He do it Himself? Why should He
pursue a dry leaf and stubble? Desire Him to spare me now. Also the
memory of the fair feast-days, that Christ and I had in His
banqueting-house of wine, and of the scattered flock once committed
to me, and now taken off my hand by Himself, because I was not so
faithful in the end as I was in the two first years of my entry, when
sleep departed from my eyes, because my soul was taken up with a care
for Christ's lambs,--even these add sorrow to my sorrow. Now my Lord
hath only given me this to say, and I write it under mine own hand (be
ye the Lord's servant's witness), welcome, welcome, sweet, sweet cross
of Christ; welcome, fair, fair, lovely, royal King with Thine own
cross. Let us all three go to heaven together. Neither care I much to
go from the south of Scotland to the north, and to be Christ's
prisoner amongst unco faces, in a place of this kingdom, which I have
little reason to be in love with. I know Christ shall make Aberdeen my
garden of delights. I am fully persuaded that Scotland shall eat
Ezekiel's book, that is written within and without, "lamentation, and
mourning, and woe" (Ezek. ii. 10). But the saints shall get a drink of
the well that goeth through the streets of the New Jerusalem, to put
it down. Thus hoping that ye will think upon the poor prisoner of
Christ, I pray, grace, grace be with you.
Your Ladyship's in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
EDINBURGH, _July 30, 1636_.
LXIII.--_To MR. ROBERT CUNNINGHAM, Minister of the Gospel at Holywood,
in Ireland._
[MR. ROBERT CUNNINGHAM was for some time employed as chaplain to
the Earl of Buccleuch's regiment in Holland. On the return of the
troops to Scotland, he removed to the north of Ireland, where he
was admitted minister of Holywood in 1615. "He was the one man to
my discerning," says Livingstone, "of all that ever I saw, who
resembled most the meekness of Jesus Christ in his whole
carriage, and was so far reverenced by all, even the most wicked,
that he was oft troubled with that Scripture, 'Woe to you when
all men speak well of you.'" He continued to labour in his
charge, and in the surrounding district, with great success,
until the Presbyterian ministers began to be molested for their
nonconformity. Owing to the singular gentleness of Cunningham's
disposition, he was for some time less subjected to trouble than
his brethren; but at length, on the 12th of August 1636, he and
four other ministers (among whom was Mr. Hamilton mentioned in
the close of this letter) were formally deposed for refusing to
subscribe certain canons, one of which was kneeling at the Lord's
Supper. Not long after, he, with some of his deposed brethren,
came over to Scotland; but he did not long survive his arrival.
He died at Irvine, on the 29th of March 1637, scarcely eight
months after this letter was written. A little before he expired,
his wife sitting on the front of his bed with her hand clasped in
his, after committing to God his flock at Holywood, his friends
and his children, he added, "And last of all, I recommend to Thee
this gentlewoman, who is no more my wife." His affectionate wife
bursting into tears, he sought by comfortable words to allay her
grief; but in the act of so doing, fell asleep in Jesus.]
(_CONSOLATION TO A BROTHER IN TRIBULATION--HIS OWN DEPRIVATION OF
MINISTRY--CHRIST WORTH SUFFERING FOR._)
WELL-BELOVED AND REVEREND BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.
Upon acquaintance in Christ, I thought good to take the opportunity of
writing to you. Seeing it hath seemed good to the Lord of the harvest
to take the hooks out of our hands for a time, and to lay upon us a
more honourable service, even to suffer for His name, it were good to
comfort one another in writing. I have had a desire to see you in the
face; yet now being the prisoner of Christ, it is taken away. I am
greatly comforted to hear of your soldier's stately[157] spirit, for
your princely and royal Captain Jesus our Lord, and for the grace of
God in the rest of our dear brethren with you.
[157] See Glossary.
You have heard of my trouble, I suppose. It hath pleased our sweet
Lord Jesus to let loose the malice of these interdicted lords in His
house to deprive me of my ministry at Anwoth, and to confine me, eight
score miles from thence, to Aberdeen; and also (which was not done to
any before) to inhibit me to speak at all in Jesus' name, within this
kingdom, under the pain of rebellion. The cause that ripened their
hatred was my book against the Arminians, whereof they accused me, on
those three days I appeared before them. But, let our crowned King in
Zion reign! By His grace the loss is theirs, the advantage is Christ's
and truth's. Albeit this honest cross gained some ground on me, and my
heaviness and my inward challenges of conscience for a time were
sharp, yet now, for the encouragement of you all, I dare say it, and
write it under my hand, "Welcome, welcome, sweet, sweet cross of
Christ." I verily think the chains of my Lord Jesus are all overlaid
with pure gold, and that His cross is perfumed, and that it smelleth
of Christ, and that the victory shall be by the blood of the Lamb, and
by the word of His truth, and that Christ, lying on His back, in His
weak servants, and oppressed truth, shall ride over His enemies'
bellies, and shall "strike through kings in the day of His wrath"
(Psa. cx. 4). It is time we laugh when He laugheth; and seeing He is
now pleased to sit[158] with wrongs for a time, it becometh us to be
silent until the Lord hath let the enemies enjoy their hungry, lean,
and feckless paradise. Blessed are they who are content to take
strokes with weeping Christ. Faith will trust the Lord, and is not
hasty, nor headstrong; neither is faith so timorous as to flatter a
temptation, or to bud and bribe the cross. It is little up or little
down[159] that the Lamb and His followers can get no law-surety, nor
truce with crosses; it must be so, till we be up in our Father's
house. My heart is woe indeed for my mother Church, that hath played
the harlot with many lovers. Her Husband hath a mind to sell her for
her horrible transgressions; and heavy will the hand of the Lord be
upon this backsliding nation. The ways of our Zion mourn; her gold has
become dim, her white Nazarites are black like a coal. How shall not
the children weep, when the Husband and the mother cannot agree! Yet I
believe Scotland's sky shall clear again; that Christ shall build
again the old waste places of Jacob; that our dead and dry bones shall
become one army of living men, and that our Well-beloved may yet feed
among the lilies, until the day break and the shadows flee away (Song
iv. 5, 6). My dear brother, let us help one another with our prayers.
Our King shall mow down His enemies, and shall come from Bozrah with
His garments all dyed in blood. And for our consolation shall He
appear, and call His wife Hephzibah, and His land Beulah (Isa. lxii.
4); for He will rejoice over us and marry us, and Scotland shall say,
"What have I to do any more with idols?" Only let us be faithful to
Him that can ride through hell and death upon a windlestrae, and His
horse never stumble; and let Him make of me a bridge over a water, so
that His high and holy name may be glorified in me. Strokes with the
sweet Mediator's hand are very sweet. He was always sweet to my soul;
but since I suffered for Him, His breath hath a sweeter smell than
before. Oh that every hair of my head, and every member and every bone
in my body, were a man to witness a fair confession for Him! I would
think all too little for Him. When I look over beyond the line, and
beyond death, to the laughing side of the world, I triumph, and ride
upon the high places of Jacob; howbeit otherwise I am a faint,
dead-hearted, cowardly man, oft borne down, and hungry in waiting for
the marriage supper of the Lamb. Nevertheless, I think it the Lord's
wise love that feeds us with hunger, and makes us fat with wants and
desertions.
[158] Endure.
[159] Of little moment.
I know not, my dear brother, if our worthy brethren be gone to sea or
not. They are on my heart and in my prayers. If they be yet with you,
salute my dear friend, John Stuart, my well-beloved brethren in the
Lord, Mr. Blair, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Livingston, and Mr. M'Clelland,[160]
and acquaint them with my troubles, and entreat them to pray for the
poor afflicted prisoner of Christ. They are dear to my soul. I seek
your prayers and theirs for my flock: their remembrance breaketh my
heart. I desire to love that people, and others my dear acquaintance
in Christ, with love in God, and as God loveth them. I know that He
who sent me to the west and south, sends me also to the north. I will
charge my soul to believe and to wait for Him, and will follow His
providence, and not go before it, nor stay behind it. Now, my dear
brother, taking farewell in paper, I commend you all to the word of
His grace, and to the work of His Spirit, to Him who holdeth the seven
stars in His right hand, that you may be kept spotless till the day of
Jesus our Lord.
I am your brother in affliction in our sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
From IRVINE, being on my journey to Christ's
Palace in Aberdeen, _August 4, 1636_.
[160] Correspondents who, because of the oppressive measures of the
prelates, intended to proceed to New England. There was a M'Lelland
of Balmagachan, near Roberton, in the parish of Borgue; but this is
not he. This was John M'Lelland, sometime minister of Kirkcudbright,
a friend of R. Blair's.
LXIV.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Earlston._
(_HIS FEELINGS UPON LEAVING ANWOTH._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--I find small hopes of Q.'s business.[161] I
intend, after the council-day, to go on to Aberdeen. The Lord is with
me: I care not what man can do. I burden no man, and I want nothing.
No king is better provided than I am. Sweet, sweet, and easy is the
cross of my Lord. All men I look in the face (of whatsoever
denomination, nobles and poor, acquaintance and strangers) are
friendly to me. My Well-beloved is some kinder and more warmly than
ordinary, and cometh and visiteth my soul. My chains are overgilded
with gold. Only the remembrance of my fair days with Christ in Anwoth,
and of my dear flock (whose case is my heart's sorrow), is vinegar to
my sugared wine. Yet both sweet and sour feed my soul. No pen, no
words, no ingine can express to you the loveliness of my only, only
Lord Jesus. Thus, in haste, making for my palace at Aberdeen, I bless
you, your wife, your eldest son, and other children. Grace, grace be
with you.
[161] Probably "Queensberry."
Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
EDINBURGH, _Sept. 5, 1636_.
LXV.--_To ROBERT GORDON of Knockbreck, on his way to Aberdeen._
[ROBERT GORDON of Knockbrex, in the parish of Borgue, which
adjoins Anwoth, is, by Livingstone in his "Characteristics,"
described as "a single-hearted and painful Christian, much
employed at parliaments and public meetings after the year 1638."
He was a member of the famous Assembly which met at Glasgow in
1638, as commissioner from the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright. The
precise date of his death is uncertain; but we find, in 1657,
John Gordon in Garloch, five miles from Dalry, is retoured "heir
of Robert Gordon of Knockbreck, his granduncle, in the lands of
Knockbreck." (_Inq. Retor. Abbrev. Kirkcudbright_, No. 274.) This
John Gordon, and Robert, his brother, were executed together at
Edinburgh on the 7th of December 1666, for having been engaged in
the rising at Pentland. (See Letter CCXVII.) They inherited, and
suffered for, the principles of Robert Gordon of Knockbreck,
their granduncle, to whom this letter was written.
_Knockbrex_ stands near the sea-shore, amid thick woods, looking
down on the opening of _Wigtown Bay_. But a modern mansion has
taken the place of Gordon's residence.]
* * * * *
(_HOW UPHELD ON THE WAY._)
MY DEAREST BROTHER,--I see Christ thinketh shame (if I may speak so)
to be in such a poor man's common as mine. I burden no man; I want
nothing; no face hath gloomed upon me since I left you. God's sun and
fair weather conveyeth me to my time-paradise in Aberdeen. Christ hath
so handsomely fitted for my shoulders this rough tree of the cross, as
that it hurteth me no ways. My treasure is up in Christ's coffers; my
comforts are greater than ye can believe; my pen shall lie for penury
of words to write of them. God knoweth I am filled with the joy of the
Holy Ghost. Only my memory of you, my dearest in the Lord, my flock
and others, keepeth me under, and from being exalted above measure.
Christ's sweet sauce hath this sour mixed with it; but O such a sweet
and pleasant taste! I find small hopes of Q.'s matter. Thus in haste.
Remember me to your wife, and to William Gordon. Grace be with you,
Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
EDINBURGH, _Sept. 5, 1636_.
LXVI.--_To ROBERT GORDON of Knockbreck, after arriving at Aberdeen._
(_CHALLENGES OF CONSCIENCE--EASE IN ZION._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I am, by God's
mercy, come now to Aberdeen, the place of my confinement, and settled
in an honest man's house. I find the town's-men cold, general, and dry
in their kindness; yet I find a lodging in the heart of many
strangers. My challenges are revived again, and I find old sores
bleeding of new; dangerous and painful is an under-cotted conscience;
yet I have an eye to the blood that is physic for such sores. But,
verily, I see Christianity is conceived to be more easy and lighter
than it is; so that I sometimes think I never knew anything but the
letters of that name; for our nature contenteth itself with little in
godliness. Our "Lord, Lord," seemeth to us ten "Lord-Lords." Little
holiness in our balance is much, because it is our own holiness; and
we love to lay small burdens upon our soft natures, and to make a fair
court-way to heaven. And I know it were necessary to take more pains
than we do, and not to make heaven a city more easily taken than God
hath made it. I persuade myself that many runners shall come short,
and get a disappointment. Oh! how easy is it to deceive ourselves, and
to sleep, and wish that heaven may fall down in our laps! Yet for all
my Lord's glooms, I find Him sweet, gracious, loving, kind; and I want
both pen and words to set forth the fairness, beauty, and sweetness of
Christ's love, and the honour of this cross of Christ, which is
glorious to me, though the world thinketh shame thereof. I verily
think that the cross of Christ would blush and think shame of these
thin-skinned worldings, who are so married to their credit that they
are ashamed of the sufferings of Christ. O the honour to be scourged
and stoned with Christ, and to go through a furious-faced death to
life eternal! But men would have law-borrows against Christ's cross.
Now, my dear brother, forget not the prisoner of Christ, for I see
very few here who kindly fear God. Grace be with you. Let my love in
Christ and hearty affection be remembered to your kind wife, to your
brother John, and to all friends. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 20, 1636_.
LXVII.-_For WILLIAM FULLARTON, Provost of Kirkcudbright._
[WILLIAM FULLARTON, as has been formerly noticed, was the husband
of Marion M'Naught. His religious principles were the same with
those of his excellent wife, and he was a man of virtue,
integrity, and piety. He proved himself the patron of the
oppressed in the case of Mr. Robert Glendinning, the aged
minister of Kirkcudbright; to which case there is evident
allusion in this letter. Mr. Glendinning having refused to
conform to Prelacy, and to receive, as his assistant and
successor, a man whom Bishop Sydserff intruded upon him and the
people of Kirkcudbright, the bishop suspended him from his
office, and sentenced him to be imprisoned. Provost Fullarton,
and the other magistrates of the burgh (one of whom was Mr.
William Glendinning, son of the minister), indignant at such
tyrannical proceedings, refused to incarcerate their own pastor,
then nearly eighty years of age, and were determined, with the
great body of the inhabitants of the town, to attend upon his
ministry. Sydserff, too proud and violent to allow his authority
to be thus despised, caused Bailie Glendinning to be imprisoned
in Kirkcudbright, and the other magistrates to be confined within
the town of Wigtown, while he sentenced the aged minister to
remain within the bounds of his parish, and forbade him to
exercise any part of his ministerial functions. But he found it
impossible, by all the means he could employ, to reduce these
refractory magistrates to obedience. The firmness which Fullarton
manifested on this occasion is warmly commended by Rutherford.]
* * * * *
(_ENCOURAGEMENT TO SUFFER FOR CHRIST._)
MUCH HONOURED AND VERY DEAR FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.--I am in good case, blessed be the Lord, remaining here in this
unco town a prisoner for Christ and His truth. And I am not ashamed of
His cross. My soul is comforted with the consolations of His sweet
presence, for whom I suffer.
I earnestly entreat you to give your honour and authority to Christ,
and for Christ; and be not dismayed for flesh and blood, while you are
for the Lord, and for His truth and cause. And howbeit we see truth
put to the worse for the time, yet Christ will be a friend to truth,
and will do for those who dare hazard all that they have for Him and
for His glory. Sir, our fair day is coming, and the court will change,
and wicked men will weep after noon, and sorer than the sons of God,
who weep in the morning. Let us believe and hope for God's salvation.
Sir, I hope I need not write to you for your kindness and love to my
brother,[162] who is now to be distressed for the truth of God as well
as I am. I think myself obliged to pray for you, and your worthy and
kind bed-fellow and children, for your love to him and me also. I hope
your pains for us in Christ shall not be lost. Thus recommending you
to the tender mercy and loving-kindness of God, I rest,
Your very loving and affectionate brother,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 21, 1636_.
[162] His brother was a teacher in Kirkcudbright, and between him and
Samuel there was a warm attachment, and strong sympathies. He, too,
suffered persecution for his adherence to the cause of Presbytery. For
this, and his zealous support of Mr. Glendinning, whom the Bishop of
Galloway treated with such cruelty, he was in November 1636 condemned
to resign his charge, and remove from Kirkcudbright before the ensuing
term of Whitsunday.
LXVIII.--_To JOHN FLEMING, Bailiffe (Bailie) of Leith_.
[Of Mr. Fleming nothing can be ascertained, unless it is he who
is mentioned by Livingston as being a merchant in Edinburgh, a
man of note among the godly.]
(_THE SWEETNESS AND FAITHFULNESS OF CHRIST'S LOVE._)
MY VERY WORTHY FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received
your letter. I bless the Lord through Jesus Christ, I find His word
good, "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction" (Isa. xlviii.
10). "I will be with him in trouble" (Ps. xci. 15). I never expected
other at Christ's hand but much good and comfort; and I am not
disappointed. I find my Lord's cross overgilded and oiled with
comforts. My Lord hath now shown me the white side of His cross. I
would not exchange my weeping in prison with the Fourteen
Prelates'[163] laughter, amidst their hungry and lean joys. This world
knoweth not the sweetness of Christ's love; it is a mystery to them.
[163] Referring probably to the number of prelates (consisting of two
archbishops and twelve bishops) who were members of the High
Commission by whom he was sentenced to imprisonment.
At my first coming here, I found great heaviness, especially because
it had pleased the prelates to add this gentle cruelty to my former
sufferings (for it is gentle to them), to inhibit the ministers of the
town to give me the liberty of a pulpit. I said, What aileth Christ at
my service? But I was a fool; He hath chid Himself friends with me. If
ye and others of God's children shall praise His great name, who
maketh worthless men witnesses for Him, my silence and sufferings
shall preach more than my tongue could do. If His glory be seen in me,
I am satisfied; for I want for no kindness from Christ. And, sir, I
dare not smother His liberality. I write it to you, that ye may
praise, and desire your brother and others to join with me in this
work.
This land shall be made desolate. Our iniquities are full; the Lord
saith, we shall drink, and spue, and fall. Remember my love to your
good kind wife. Grace be with you.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Nov. 13, 1636_.
LXIX.--_To the Noble and Christian Lady the_ VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.
(_HIS ENJOYMENT OF CHRIST IN ABERDEEN--A SIGHT OF CHRIST EXCEEDS
ALL REPORTS--SOME ASHAMED OF HIM AND HIS._)
MY VERY HONOURABLE AND DEAR LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.
I cannot forget your Ladyship, and that sweet child. I desire to hear
what the Lord is doing to you and him. To write to me were charity. I
cannot but write to my friends, that Christ hath trysted me in
Aberdeen; and my adversaries have sent me here to be feasted with love
banquets with my royal, high, high, and princely King Jesus. Madam,
why should I smother Christ's honesty? I dare not conceal His goodness
to my soul; He looked fremed and unco-like upon me when I came first
here; but I believe Himself better than His looks. I shall not again
quarrel Christ for a gloom, now He hath taken the mask off His face,
and saith, "Kiss thy fill;" and what can I have more when I get great
heaven in my little arms? Oh, how sweet are the sufferings of Christ
for Christ! God forgive them that raise an ill report upon the sweet
cross of Christ. It is but our weak and dim eyes, and our looking only
to the black side that makes us mistake. Those who can take that
crabbed tree handsomely upon their back, and fasten it on cannily,
shall find it such a burden as wings unto a bird, or sails to a ship.
Madam, rue not of your having chosen the better part. Upon my
salvation, this is Christ's truth I now suffer for. If I found but
cold comfort in my sufferings, I would not beguile others; I would
have told you plainly. But the truth is, Christ's crown, His sceptre,
and the freedom of His kingdom, is that which is now called in
question; because we will not allow that Christ should pay tribute and
be a vassal to the shields of the earth, therefore the sons of our
mother are angry at us. But it becometh not Christ to hold any man's
stirrup. It were a sweet and honourable death to die for the honour of
that royal and princely King Jesus. His love is a mystery to the
world. I would not have believed that there was so much in Christ as
there is. "Come and see" maketh Christ to be known in His excellency
and glory. I wish all this nation knew how sweet His breath is. It is
little to see Christ in a book, as men do the world in a card. They
talk of Christ by the book and the tongue, and no more; but to come
nigh Christ, and hause Him, and embrace Him, is another thing. Madam,
I write to your honour, for your encouragement in that honourable
profession Christ hath honoured you with. Ye have gotten the sunny
side of the brae, and the best of Christ's good things. He hath not
given you the bastard's portion; and howbeit ye get strokes and sour
looks from your Lord, yet believe His love more than your own feeling,
for this world can take nothing from you that is truly yours, and
death can do you no wrong. Your rock doth not ebb and flow, but your
sea. That which Christ hath said, He will bide by it. He will be your
tutor. You shall not get you charters of heaven to play you with. It
is good that ye have lost your credit with Christ, and that Lord
Free-will shall not be your tutor. Christ will lippen the taking you
to heaven, neither to yourself, nor any deputy, but only to Himself.
Blessed be your tutor. When your Head shall appear, your Bridegroom
and Lord, your day shall then dawn, and it shall never have an
afternoon, nor an evening shadow. Let your child be Christ's; let him
stay beside you as thy Lord's pledge that you shall willingly render
again, if God will.
Madam, I find folks here kind to me; but in the night, and under their
breath. My Master's cause may not come to the crown of the causeway.
Others are kind according to their fashion. Many think me a strange
man, and my cause not good; but I care not much for man's thoughts or
approbation. I think no shame of the cross. The preachers of the town
pretend great love, but the prelates have added to the rest this
gentle cruelty (for so they think of it), to discharge me of the
pulpits of this town. The people murmur and cry out against it; and to
speak truly (howbeit Christ is most indulgent to me otherwise), my
silence on the Lord's day keeps me from being exalted above measure,
and from startling in the heat of my Lord's love. Some people affect
me, for the which cause, I hear the preachers here purpose to have my
confinement changed to another place; so cold is northern love; but
Christ and I will bear it. I have wrestled long with this sad silence.
I said, what aileth Christ at my service? and my soul hath been at a
pleading with Christ, and at yea and nay. But I will yield to Him,
providing my suffering may preach more than my tongue did; for I give
not Christ an inch but for twice as good again. In a word, I am a
fool, and He is God. I will hold my peace hereafter.
Let me hear from your Ladyship, and your dear child. Pray for the
prisoner of Christ, who is mindful of your Ladyship. Remember my
obliged obedience to my good Lady Marr. Grace, grace be with you. I
write and pray blessings to your sweet child.
Yours in all dutiful obedience in his only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Nov. 22, 1636_.
LXX.--_To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my_ LADY
VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.
(_EXERCISE UNDER RESTRAINT FROM PREACHING--THE DEVIL--CHRIST'S LOVING
KINDNESS--PROGRESS._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received your Ladyship's
letter. It refreshed me in my heaviness. The blessing and prayer of a
prisoner of Christ come upon you. Since my coming hither, Galloway
sent me not a line, except what my brother, Earlston, and his son, did
write. I cannot get my papers transported; but, Madam, I want not
kindness of one who hath the gate of it. Christ (if He had never done
more for me since I was born) hath engaged my heart, and gained my
blessing in this house of my pilgrimage. It pleaseth my Well-beloved
to dine with a poor prisoner, and the King's spikenard casteth a
fragrant smell. Nothing grieveth me, but that I eat my feasts my lone,
and that I cannot edify His saints. O that this nation knew what is
betwixt Him and me; none would scar at the cross of Christ! My silence
eats me up, but He hath told me He thanketh me no less, than if I were
preaching daily. He sees how gladly I would be at it; and therefore my
wages are going to the fore, up in heaven, as if I were still
preaching Christ. Captains pay duly bedfast soldiers, howbeit they
do[164] nor march, nor carry armour. "Though Israel be not gathered,
yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be
my strength" (Isa. xlix. 5). My garland, "the banished minister" (the
term of Aberdeen), ashameth me not. I have seen the white side of
Christ's cross; how lovely hath He been to His oppressed servant! "The
Lord executeth judgment for the oppressed, He giveth food to the
hungry: the Lord looseth the prisoner; the Lord raiseth them that are
bowed down: the Lord preserveth the stranger" (Ps. cxlvi. 7, 9). If it
were come to exchanging of crosses, I would not exchange my cross with
any. I am well pleased with Christ, and He with me; I hope none shall
hear us.[165] It is true for all this, I get my meat with many
strokes, and am seven times a-day up and down, and am often anxious
and cast down for the case of my oppressed brother; yet I hope the
Lord will be surety for His servant. But now upon some weak, very weak
experience, I am come to love a rumbling and raging devil best. Seeing
we must have a devil to hold the saints waking, I wish a cumbersome
devil, rather than a secure and sleeping one.[166] At my first coming
hither, I took the dorts at Christ, and took up a stomach against Him;
I said, He had cast me over the dike of the vineyard, like a dry tree.
But it was His mercy, I see, that the fire did not burn the dry tree;
and now, as if my Lord Jesus had done that fault, and not I (who
belied my Lord), He hath made the first mends, and He spake not one
word against me, but hath come again and quickened my soul with His
presence. Nay, now I think the very annuity and casualties of the
cross of Christ Jesus my Lord, and these comforts that accompany it,
better than the world's set-rent. O how many rich off-fallings are in
my King's house! I am persuaded, and dare pawn my salvation on it,
that it is Christ's truth I now suffer for. I know His comforts are no
dreams; He would not put His seal on blank paper, nor deceive His
afflicted ones that trust in Him.
[164] Some editions read "dow,"--are not able.
[165] In Thomson's edition this is explained by referring to Proverbs
xiv. 10.
[166] "Trial of Faith," p. 462, 1655, uses the same words.
Your Ladyship wrote to me that ye are yet an ill scholar. Madam, ye
must go in at heaven's gates, and your book in your hand, still
learning. You have had your own large share of troubles, and a double
portion; but it saith your Father counteth you not a bastard;
full-begotten bairns are nurtured (Heb. xii. 8). I long to hear of the
child. I write the blessings of Christ's prisoner and the mercies of
God to him. Let him be Christ's and yours betwixt you, but let Christ
be whole play-maker. Let Him be the leader; and you the borrower, not
an owner.
Madam, it is not long since I did write to your Ladyship that Christ
is keeping mercy for you; and I bide by it still, and now write it
under my hand. Love Him dearly. Win in to see Him; there is in Him
that which you never saw. He is aye nigh; He is a tree of life, green
and blossoming, both summer and winter. There is a nick in
Christianity, to the which whosoever cometh, they see and feel more
than others can do. I invite you of new to come to Him. "Come and
see," will speak better things of Him than I can do. "Come nearer"
will say much. God never thought this world a portion worthy of you.
He would not even you to a gift of dirt and clay; nay, He will not
give you Esau's portion, but reserves the inheritance of Jacob for
you. Are ye not well married now? Have you not a good husband now?
My heart cannot express what sad nights I have had for the virgin
daughter of my people. Woe is me, for my time is coming. "Behold, the
day, behold, the day is come; the morning hath gone forth, the rod
hath blossomed, pride hath budded, violence is risen up in a rod of
wickedness, the sun is gone down upon our prophets." A dry wind upon
Scotland, but neither to fan nor to cleanse; but out of all question,
when the Lord hath cut down the forest, the aftergrowth of Lebanon
shall flourish; they shall plant vines in our mountains, and a cloud
shall yet fill the temple. Now the blessing of our dearest Lord Jesus,
and the blessing of him that is "separate from his brethren," come
upon you.
Yours, at Aberdeen, the prisoner of Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
LXXI.--_To_ MR. HUGH M'KAIL.
[MR. HUGH M'KAIL was at this time minister of Irvine. Previous to
his settlement in that parish, Rutherford was very desirous of
seeing him settled assistant and successor to Mr. Robert
Glendinning, the aged minister of Kirkcudbright; the people too
had an eye to him, but were disappointed, having been anticipated
by the parish of which he was now pastor. He and Mr. William
Cockburn were appointed by the General Assembly of 1644 to visit
the north of Ireland for three months, with the view of promoting
the interests of the Presbyterian Church in that country. He was
ultimately translated to Edinburgh. In the unhappy controversy
between the Resolutioners and Protesters, M'Kail took the side of
the former; but was among the more moderate of the party. Baillie
often refers to him in his letters. He died in the beginning of
the year 1660, and was buried in the Greyfriars' churchyard,
Edinburgh. (Lamont's "Diary," p. 121.) He was the brother of Mr.
Matthew M'Kail of Bothwell, who was the father of the youthful
Hugh M'Kail, and young Hugh, who nobly suffered in 1666, was
educated in Edinburgh, under the superintendence of this uncle.]
(_CHRIST TO BE TRUSTED AMID TRIAL._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I thank you for your letter. I cannot but
show you, that as I never expected anything from Christ, but much good
and kindness, so He hath made me to find it in the house of my
pilgrimage. And believe me, brother, I give it to you under mine own
hand-writ, that whoso looketh to the white side of Christ's cross, and
can take it up handsomely with faith and courage, shall find it such
a burden as sails are to a ship, or wings to a bird. I find that my
Lord hath overgilded that black tree, and hath perfumed it, and oiled
it with joy and consolation. Like a fool, once I would chide and plead
with Christ, and slander Him to others, of unkindness.[167] But I
trust in God, not to call His glooms unkind again; for He hath taken
from me my sackcloth; and I verily cannot tell you what a poor Joseph
and prisoner (with whom my mother's children were angry) doth now
think of kind Christ. I will chide no more, providing He will quit me
all by-gones; for I am poor. I am taught in this ill weather to go on
the lee-side of Christ, and to put Him in between me and the storm;
and (I thank God) I walk on the sunny side of the brae. I write it
that ye may speak in my behalf the praises of my Lord to others, that
my bonds may preach. O if all Scotland knew the feasts, and
love-blinks, and visits that the prelates have sent unto me! I will
verily give my Lord Jesus a free discharge of all that I, like a fool,
laid to His charge, and beg Him pardon, to the mends. God grant that
in my temptations I come not on His wrong side again, and never again
fall a raving against my Physician in my fever.
[167] At one time I would have falsely charged Him with unkindness.
Brother, plead with your mother while ye have time. A pulpit would be
a high feast to me; but I dare not say one word against Him who hath
done it. I am not out of the house as yet. My sweet Master saith, I
shall have house-room at His own elbow; albeit their synagogue will
need force to cast me out. A letter were a work of charity to me.
Grace be with you. Pray for me.
Your brother and Christ's prisoner,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Nov. 22, 1636_.
LXXII.--_To WILLIAM GORDON of Roberton_.
[WILLIAM GORDON of Roberton, in the parish of Borgue in Galloway,
close to Knockbrex, was the father of William Gordon of Roberton,
who joined with the Covenanters in the rising at Pentland in
1666, and was killed, "to the great loss of the country where he
lived," says Wodrow, "and his own family, his aged father having
no more sons." Mary, a daughter of this venerable old man, to
whom this letter is addressed, suffered much for nonconformity at
the hands of Claverhouse and his friends. She was married to John
Gordon of Largmore (which is in Kells, near Kenmure Castle), who,
in the battle at Pentland, was severely wounded, and, returning
to his own house, died in the course of a few days. The old man
did not long survive the death of his son and son-in-law; for, on
the 8th of September 1668, Mary Gordon is retoured heir of
William Gordon of Roberton, her father. In Kells churchyard, near
the gate, there is a short epitaph: "Here lyes the corpse of
Roger Gordon of Largmore, who dyed March 2, 1662, aged 72 years;
and of John Gordon of Largmore his grandchild, who dyed January
6, 1667, of his wounds got at Pentland in defence of the
Covenanted Reformation."]
(_HOW TRIALS ARE MISIMPROVED--THE INFINITE VALUE of CHRIST--DESPISED
WARNINGS._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. So often as I think
on our case, in our soldier's night-watch, and of our fighting life in
the fields, while we are here, I am forced to say, prisoners in a
dungeon, condemned by a judge to want the light of the sun, and moon,
and candle, till their dying day, are no more, nay, not so much, to be
pitied as we are. For they are weary of their life, they hate their
prison; but we fall to, in our prison, where we see little, to drink
ourselves drunk with the night-pleasures of our weak dreams; and we
long for no better life than this. But at the blast of the last
trumpet, and the shout of the archangel, when God shall take down the
shepherd's tent of this fading world, we shall not have so much as a
drink of water, of all the dreams that we now build on. Alas! that the
sharp and bitter blasts on face and sides, which meet us in this life,
have not learned us mortification, and made us dead to this world! We
buy our own sorrow, and we pay dear for it, when we spend out our
love, our joy, our desires, our confidence, upon an handful of snow
and ice, that time will melt away to nothing, and go thirsty out of
the drunken inn when all is done. Alas! that we inquire not for the
clear fountain, but are so foolish as to drink foul, muddy, and rotten
waters, even till our bed-time. And then in the Resurrection, when we
shall be awakened, our yesternight's sour drink and swinish dregs
shall rift up upon us; and sick, sick, shall many a soul be then.
I know no wholesome fountain but one. I know not a thing worth the
buying but heaven; and my own mind is, if comparison were made betwixt
Christ and heaven, I would sell heaven with my blessing, and buy
Christ. O if I could raise the market for Christ, and heighten the
market a pound for a penny, and cry up Christ in men's estimation ten
thousand talents more than men think of Him! But they are cheapening
Him,[168] and crying Him down, and valuing Him at their unworthy
halfpenny; or else exchanging and bartering Christ with the miserable
old fallen house of this vain world. Or then they lend Him out upon
interest, and play the usurers with Christ: because they profess Him,
and give out before men that Christ is their treasure and stock; and
in the mean time, praise of men, and a name, and ease, and the summer
sun of the Gospel, is the usury they would be at. So, when the trial
cometh, they quit the stock for the interest, and lose all. Happy are
they who can keep Christ by Himself alone, and keep Him clean and
whole till God come and count with them. I know that in your hard and
heavy trials long since, ye thought well and highly of Christ; but,
truly, no cross should be old to us. We should not forget them because
years are come betwixt us and them, and cast them byhand as we do old
clothes. We may make a cross old in time, new in use, and as fruitful
as in the beginning of it. God is where and what He was seven years
ago, whatever change may be in us. I speak not this as if I thought ye
had forgotten what God did, to have your love long since, but that ye
may awake yourself in this sleepy age, and remember fruitfully of
Christ's first wooing and suiting of your love, both with fire and
water, and try if He got His answer, or if ye be yet to give Him it.
For I find in myself, that water runneth not faster through a sieve
than our warnings slip from us; I have lost and casten byhand many
summons the Lord sent to me; and therefore the Lord hath given me
double charges, that I trust in God shall not rive me. I bless His
great name, who is no niggard in holding-in crosses upon me, but
spendeth largely His rods, that He may save me from this perishing
world. How plentiful God is in means of this kind is esteemed by many
one of God's unkind mercies; but Christ's cross is neither a cruel nor
unkind mercy, but the love-token of a father. I am sure, a lover
chasing us for our weal, and to have our love, should not be run away
from, or fled from. God send me no worse mercy than the sanctified
cross of Christ portendeth, and I am sure I should be happy and
blessed.
[168] Bringing down the price, perhaps alluding to Zech. xi. 31.
Pray for me, that I may find house-room in the Lord's house to speak
in His name. Remember my dearest love in Christ to your wife. Grace,
grace be unto you.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1636.
LXXIII.--_To_ EARLSTON, _Elder_.
"And they overcame the dragon by the blood of the Lamb, and by
the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives unto
the death."--REV. xii. 11.
(_CHRIST'S LIBERALITY--HIS OWN MISAPPREHENSIONS OF CHRIST._)
MUCH-HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long to see
you in paper, and to be refreshed by you. I cannot but desire you, and
charge you to help me to praise Him who feedeth a poor prisoner with
the fatness of His house. O how weighty is His love! O but there is
much telling in Christ's kindness! The Amen, the Faithful and True
Witness, hath paid me my hundred-fold, well told, and one to the
hundred. I complained of Him, but He is owing me nothing now. Sir, I
charge you to help me to praise His goodness, and to proclaim to
others my Bridegroom's kindness, whose love is better than wine. I
took up an action against Christ, and brought a plea against His love,
and libelled unkindness against Christ my Lord, and I said, "This is
my death; He hath forgotten me." But my meek Lord held His peace, and
beheld me, and would not contend for the last word of flyting. And now
He hath chided Himself friends with me. And now I see He must be God,
and I must be flesh. I pass from my summons; I acknowledge He might
have given me my fill of it, and never troubled Himself. But now He
hath taken away the mask; I have been comforted; He could not smother
His love any longer to a prisoner and a stranger. God grant that I may
never buy a plea against Christ again, but may keep good quarters with
Him. I want here no kindness,[169] no love-tokens; but O wise is His
love! for, notwithstanding of this hot summer-blink, I am kept low
with the grief of my silence. For His word is in me as a fire in my
bowels; and I see the Lord's vineyard laid waste, and the heathen
entered into the sanctuary: and my belly is pained, and my soul in
heaviness, because the Lord's people are gone into captivity, and
because of the fury of the Lord, and that wind (but neither to fan nor
purge) which is coming upon apostate Scotland. Also I am kept awake
with the late wrong done to my brother; but I trust you will counsel
and comfort him. Yet, in this mist, I see and believe the Lord will
heal this halting kirk, "and will lay her stones with fair colours,
and her foundations with sapphires, and will make her windows of
agates, and her gates carbuncles" (Isa. liv. 11, 12). "And for brass
He will bring gold." He hath created the smith that formed the sword:
no weapon in war shall prosper against us. Let us be glad and rejoice
in the Lord, for His salvation is near to come. Remember me to your
wife and your son John. And I entreat you to write to me. Grace, grace
be with you.
Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Dec. 30, 1636_.
[169] I have no want of.
LXXIV.--_To the_ LADY CULROSS.
"These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed
their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb."--REV.
vii. 14.
(_HIS OWN MISCONCEPTION OF CHRIST'S WAYS--CHRIST'S KINDNESS._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied upon you. I greatly long
to be refreshed with your letter. I am now (all honour and glory to
the King eternal, immortal, and invisible!) in better terms with
Christ than I was. I, like a fool, summoned my Husband and Lord, and
libelled unkindness against Him; but now I pass from that foolish
pursuit; I give over the plea. He is God, and I am man. I was loosing
a fast stone, and digging at the ground-stone, the love of my Lord, to
shake and unsettle it. But, God be thanked, it is fast; all is sure.
In my prison He hath shown me daylight; He dought not hide His love
any longer. Christ was disguised and masked, and I apprehended it was
not He; but He hath said, "It is I, be not afraid;" and now His love
is better than wine. O that all the virgins had part of the
Bridegroom's love whereupon He maketh me to feed. Help me to praise. I
charge you, Madam, help me to pay praises; and tell others, the
daughters of Jerusalem, how kind Christ is to a poor prisoner. He hath
paid me my hundred-fold; it is well told me, and one to the hundred. I
am nothing behind with Christ. Let not fools, because of their lazy
and soft flesh, raise a slander and an ill report upon the cross of
Christ. It is sweeter than fair.
I see grace groweth best in winter. This poor persecuted kirk, this
lily amongst the thorns, shall blossom, and laugh upon the gardener;
the husbandman's blessing shall light upon it. O if I could be free of
jealousies of Christ, after this, and believe, and keep good quarters
with my dearest Husband! for He hath been kind to the stranger. And
yet in all this fair hot summer weather, I am kept from saying, "It is
good to be here,"[170] with my silence, and with grief to see my
mother wounded and her veil taken from her, and the fair temple casten
down. My belly is pained, my soul is heavy for the captivity of the
daughter of my people, and because of the fury of the Lord, and His
fierce indignation against apostate Scotland. I pray you, Madam, let
me have that which is my prayer here, that my sufferings may preach to
the four quarters of this land; and, therefore, tell others how
open-handed Christ had been to the prisoner and the oppressed
stranger. Why should I conceal it? I know no other way how to glorify
Christ, but to make an open proclamation of His love, and of His soft
and sweet kisses to me in the furnace, and of His fidelity to such as
suffer for Him. Give it me under your hand, that ye will help me to
pray and praise; but rather to praise and rejoice in the salvation of
God. Grace, grace be with you.
Yours in his dearest and only, only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Dec. 30, 1636_.
[170] My being silenced as to preaching, and my grief, keep me from
saying.
[Illustration: AYR.]
LXXV.--_To JOHN KENNEDY, Bailiffe (i.e. Bailie) of Ayr._
[JOHN KENNEDY was the son of Hugh Kennedy, Provost of Ayr. Hugh
was an eminent Christian, and did much to promote the cause of
religion in the place where he lived. John Welsh, minister of
Ayr, bore this high testimony to him in a letter written to him
in France: "Happy is that city, yea, happy is that nation that
has a Hugh Kennedy in it. I have myself certainly found the
answer of his prayers from the Lord in my behalf." On his
death-bed, he was filled "with inexpressible joy in the Holy
Ghost, beyond what it was possible to comprehend." (Wodrow, in
his life of Boyd of Trochrig.) John, his son, possessed much of
the spirit and character of his father. "He was," says Fleming
("Fulfilling of the Scriptures"), "as choice a Christian as was
at that time." The same writer records a remarkable escape from
imminent peril at sea which Kennedy experienced; which may be the
deliverance to which Rutherford refers in a subsequent letter. It
happened thus: John Stewart, Provost of Ayr, another of
Rutherford's correspondents, who had gone to France, having
loaded a ship at Rochelle with various commodities for Scotland,
proceeded to England by the nearest way, and thence to Ayr. After
waiting a considerable time for the arrival of his vessel, he was
told that it was captured by the Turks. This information,
however, proved to be incorrect, for it at length arrived in the
roads; upon hearing of which, Kennedy, an intimate friend of
Stewart, was so overjoyed, that he went out to it in a small
boat. But a storm suddenly arising, he was driven past the
vessel, and the general belief of the onlookers from the shore
was that he and his boat were swallowed up; indeed, the storm
increased to such a degree of violence as to threaten even the
shipwreck of the vessel. Deeply affected at the apprehended loss
of his friend, Stewart shut himself up in entire seclusion for
three days; but at the very time he had gone to visit Kennedy's
wife under her supposed bereavement, Kennedy, who had been driven
to another part of the coast, but had reached the land in safety,
made his appearance, to the great joy of all. Kennedy was a
member of the Scottish Parliament in the years 1644-5-6, for the
burgh of Ayr, and is styled in the roll, "John Kennedy, Provost
of Ayr." He was also a member of the General Assemblies of
1642-3-4-6 and 7, and his name appears among the ruling elders in
the commission for the public affairs of the kirk in all these
years. His brother Hugh (also an elder of the Church) was
frequently a member of the General Assembly, and, as we learn
from "Baillie's Letters," had an active share in the proceedings
of the Covenanters during the reign of Charles I. There are
lineal descendants of this family in Ayr at this day; one of
them, like his ancestor, was lately Provost of the town.]
(_LONGING AFTER CLEARER VIEWS OF CHRIST--HIS LONG-SUFFERING--TRYING
CIRCUMSTANCES._)
WORTHY AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long to
see you in this northern world on paper; I know it is not
forgetfulness that ye write not. I am every way in good ease, both in
soul and body; all honour and glory be to my Lord. I want nothing but
a further revelation of the beauty of the unknown Son of God. Either I
know not what Christianity is, or we have stinted a measure of so many
ounce weights, and no more, upon holiness; and there we are at a
stand, drawing our breath all our life. A moderation in God's way is
now much in request. I profess that I have never taken pains to find
out Him whom my soul loveth; there is a gate yet of finding out Christ
that I have never lighted upon. Oh, if I could find it out! Alas, how
soon are we pleased with our own shadow in a glass! It were good to be
beginning in sad earnest to find out God, and to seek the right tread
of Christ. Time, custom, and a good opinion of ourselves, our good
meaning, and our lazy desires, our fair shows, and the world's
glistering lustres, and these broad passments and buskings of
religion, that bear bulk in the kirk, is that wherewith most satisfy
themselves. But a bed watered with tears, a throat dry with praying,
eyes as a fountain of tears for the sins of the land, are rare to be
found among us. Oh if we could know the power of godliness!
This is one part of my case; and another is, that I, like a fool, once
summoned Christ for unkindness, and complained of His fickleness and
inconstancy, because He would have no more of my service nor
preaching, and had casten me out of the inheritance of the Lord. And
now I confess that this was but a bought plea, and I was a fool. Yet
He hath borne with me. I gave Him a fair advantage against me, but
love and mercy would not let Him take it; and the truth is, now He
hath chided Himself friends with me, and hath taken away the mask, and
hath renewed His wonted favour in such a manner that He hath paid me
my hundred-fold in this life, and one to the hundred. This prison is
my banqueting-house; I am handled as softly and delicately as a dawted
child. I am nothing behind (I see) with Christ; He can, in a month,
make up a year's losses. And I write this to you, that I may entreat,
nay, adjure and charge you, by the love of our Well-beloved, to help
me to praise; and to tell all your Christian acquaintance to help me,
for I am as deeply drowned in His debt as any dyvour can be. And yet
in this fair sun-blink I have something to keep me from startling, or
being exalted above measure; His word is as fire shut up in my bowels,
and I am weary with forbearing. The ministers in this town are saying
that they will have my prison changed into less bounds, because they
see God with me. My mother hath borne me a man of contention, one that
striveth with the whole earth. The late wrongs and oppressions done to
my brother keep my sails low; yet I defy crosses to embark me in such
a plea against Christ as I was troubled with of late. I hope to
over-hope and over-believe my troubles. I have cause now to trust
Christ's promise more than His gloom.
Remember my hearty affection to your wife. My soul is grieved for the
success of our brethren's journey to New England; but God hath
somewhat to reveal that we see not. Grace be with you. Pray for the
prisoner.
Yours, in his only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Jan. 1, 1637_.
LXXVI.--_To ROBERT GORDON of Knockbrex._
(_BENEFIT OF AFFLICTION._)
MY DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied upon you.--I
am almost wearying, yea, wondering, that ye write not to me: though I
know it is not forgetfulness.
As for myself, I am every way well, all glory to God. I was before at
a plea with Christ (but it was bought by me, and unlawful), because
His whole providence was not yea and nay to my yea and nay, and
because I believed Christ's outward look better than His faithful
promise. Yet He hath in patience waited on, whill I be come to myself,
and hath not taken advantage of my weak apprehensions of His goodness.
Great and holy is His name! He looketh to what I desire to be, and not
to what I am. One thing I have learned. If I had been in Christ, by
way of adhesion only, as many branches are, I should have been burnt
to ashes, and this world would have seen a suffering minister of
Christ (of something once in show) turned into unsavoury salt. But my
Lord Jesus had a good eye that the tempter should not play foul play,
and blow out Christ's candle. He took no thought of my stomach, and
fretting and grudging humour, but of His own grace. When He burnt the
house, He saved His own goods. And I believe that the devil and the
persecuting world shall reap no fruit of me, but burnt ashes: for He
will see to His own gold, and save that from being consumed with the
fire.
Oh, what owe I to the file, to the hammer, to the furnace of my Lord
Jesus! who hath now let me see how good the wheat of Christ is, that
goeth through His mill, and His oven, to be made bread for His own
table. Grace tried is better than grace, and it is more than grace; it
is glory in its infancy. I now see that godliness is more than the
outside, and this world's passments and their buskings. Who knoweth
the truth of grace without a trial? Oh, how little getteth Christ of
us, but that which He winneth (to speak so) with much toil and pains!
And how soon would faith freeze without a cross! How many dumb crosses
have been laid upon my back, that had never a tongue to speak the
sweetness of Christ, as this hath! When Christ blesseth His own
crosses with a tongue, they breathe out Christ's love, wisdom,
kindness, and care of us. Why should I start at the plough of my
Lord, that maketh deep furrows on my soul? I know that He is no idle
Husbandman, He purposeth a crop. O that this white, withered
lea-ground were made fertile to bear a crop for Him, by whom it is so
painfully dressed; and that this fallow-ground were broken up! Why was
I (a fool!) grieved that He put His garland and His rose upon my
head--the glory and honour of His faithful witnesses? I desire now to
make no more pleas with Christ. Verily He hath not put me to a loss by
what I suffer; He oweth me nothing; for in my bonds how sweet and
comfortable have the thoughts of Him been to me, wherein I find a
sufficient recompense of reward!
How blind are my adversaries, who sent me to a banqueting-house, to a
house of wine, to the lovely feasts of my lovely Lord Jesus, and not
to a prison, or place of exile! Why should I smother my Husband's
honesty, or sin against His love, or be a niggard in giving out to
others what I get for nothing? Brother, eat with me, and give thanks.
I charge you before God, that ye speak to others, and invite them to
help me to praise! Oh, my debt of praise, how weighty it is, and how
far run up! O that others would lend me to pay, and learn me to
praise! Oh, I am a drowned dyvour! Lord Jesus, take my thoughts for
payments. Yet I am in this hot summer-blink with the tear in my eye;
for (by reason of my silence) sorrow, sorrow hath filled me; my harp
is hanged upon the willow-trees, because I am in a strange land. I am
still kept in exercise with envious brethren; my mother hath borne me
a man of contention.
Write to me your mind anent Y. C.: I cannot forget him; I know not
what God hath to do with him:--and your mind anent my parishioners'
behaviour, and how they are served in preaching; or if there be a
minister as yet thrust in upon them, which I desire greatly to know,
and which I much fear.
Dear brother, ye are in my heart, to live and to die with you. Visit
me with a letter. Pray for me. Remember my love to your wife. Grace,
grace be with you; and God, who heareth prayer, visit you, and let it
be unto you according to the prayers of
Your own brother, and Christ's prisoner,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Jan. 1, 1637_.
LXXVII.--_To my_ LADY BOYD.
[LADY BOYD, whose maiden name was Christian Hamilton, was the
eldest daughter of Thomas, first Earl of Haddington. She was
first married to Robert, ninth Lord Lindsay of Byres, who died in
1616. She married for her second husband, Robert, sixth Lord
Boyd, who died in August 1628. Lady Boyd was distinguished for
piety, and a zealous Presbyterian. Livingstone gives her a place
among "some of the professors in the Church of Scotland of his
acquaintance, who were eminent for grace and gifts;" eulogizes
her as "a rare pattern of Christianity, grave, diligent, and
prudent;" and adds, "She used every night to write what had been
the case of her soul all the day, and what she had observed of
the Lord's dealing." He speaks of residing for some time, during
the course of his ministry, in the house of Kilmarnock, with "the
worthy Lady Boyd." Some of her letters are given by Wodrow in his
life of Boyd of Trochrig (pp. 166, 272.) She used to reside much
at Badenheath, in the parish of Chryston, near Glasgow, and there
John Livingston visited her.]
(_ABERDEEN--EXPERIENCE OF HIMSELF SAD--PRESSING FORWARDS._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. The Lord hath brought me
to Aberdeen, where I see God in few. This town hath been advised upon
of purpose for me; it consisteth either of Papists, or men of Gallio's
naughty faith. It is counted wisdom, in the most, not to countenance a
confined minister; but I find Christ neither strange nor unkind; for I
have found many faces smile upon me since I came hither. I am heavy
and sad, considering what is betwixt the Lord and my soul, which none
seeth but He. I find men have mistaken me; it would be no art (as I
now see) to spin small,[171] and make hypocrisy a goodly web, and to
go through the market as a saint among men, and yet steal quietly to
hell, without observation: so easy is it to deceive men. I have
disputed whether or no I ever knew anything of Christianity, save the
letters of that name. Men see but as men, and they call ten twenty,
and twenty an hundred; but O! to be approved of God in the heart and
in sincerity is not an ordinary mercy. My neglects while I had a
pulpit, and other things whereof I am ashamed to speak, meet me now,
so as God maketh an honest cross my daily sorrow. And, for fear of
scandal and stumbling, I must bide this day of the law's pleading: I
know not if this court kept within my soul be fenced in Christ's name.
If certainty of salvation were to be bought, God knoweth, if I had ten
earths, I would not prig with God. Like a fool, I believed, under
suffering for Christ, that I myself should keep the key of Christ's
treasures, and take out comforts when I listed, and eat and be fat:
but I see now a sufferer for Christ will be made to know himself, and
will be holden at the door as well as another poor sinner, and will be
fain to eat with the bairns, and to take the by-board, and glad to do
so. My blessing on the cross of Christ that hath made me see this! Oh!
if we could take pains for the kingdom of heaven! But we sit down upon
some ordinary marks of God's children, thinking we have as much as
will separate us from a reprobate; and thereupon we take the play and
cry, "Holiday!" and thus the devil casteth water on our fire, and
blunteth our zeal and care. But I see heaven is not at the door; and I
see, howbeit my challenges be many, I suffer for Christ, and dare
hazard my salvation upon it; for sometimes my Lord cometh with a fair
hour, and O! but His love be sweet, delightful, and comfortable. Half
a kiss is sweet; but our doting love will not be content with a right
to Christ, unless we get possession; like the man who will not be
content with rights to bought land, except he get also the ridges and
acres laid upon his back to carry home with him! However it be, Christ
is wise; and we are fools, to be browden and fond of a pawn in the
loof of our hand. Living on trust by faith may well content us. Madam,
I know your Ladyship knoweth this, and that made me bold to write of
it, that others might reap somewhat by my bonds for the truth; for I
should desire, and I aim at this, to have my Lord well spoken of and
honoured, howbeit He should make nothing of me but a bridge over a
water. Thus, recommending your Ladyship, your son, and children to His
grace, who hath honoured you with a name and room among the living in
Jerusalem, and wishing grace to be with your Ladyship, I rest,
Your Ladyship's in his sweetest Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
[171] Spin fine.
LXXVIII.--_To my_ LORD BOYD.
[ROBERT, seventh LORD BOYD, was the only son of Robert, sixth
Lord Boyd, by Lady Christian Hamilton, mentioned in the preceding
letter. His father (who was cousin of the famous Robert Boyd of
Trochrig, two miles from Girvan, and under whom he studied at
Saumur) died in August 1628, at the early age of 33. Young Robert
was served heir to his father the 9th of May 1629. His earthly
course was, however, brief; for he died of a fever on the 17th of
November 1640, aged about 24. He was married to Lady Anne
Fleming, second daughter of John, second Earl of Wigtown. Lord
Boyd warmly espoused the side of the Covenanters; and though not
a member of the General Assembly held at Glasgow in 1638, he
attended its meetings and took a deep interest in its
proceedings.]
(_ENCOURAGEMENT TO EXERTION FOR CHRIST'S CAUSE._)
MY VERY HONOURABLE AND GOOD LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your
Lordship. Out of the worthy report that I hear of your Lordship's zeal
for this borne-down and oppressed Gospel, I am bold to write to your
Lordship, beseeching you by the mercies of God, by the honour of our
royal and princely King Jesus, by the sorrows, tears, and desolation
of your afflicted mother-Church, and by the peace of your conscience,
and your joy in the day of Christ, that your Lordship would go on, in
the strength of your Lord, and in the power of His might, to bestir
yourself, for the vindicating of the fallen honour of your Lord Jesus.
Oh, blessed hands for evermore, that shall help to put the crown upon
the head of Christ again in Scotland! I dare promise, in the name of
our Lord, that this will fasten and fix the pillars and the stakes of
your honourable house upon earth, if you lend and lay in pledge in
Christ's hand, upon spiritual hazard, life, estate, house, honour,
credit, moyen, friends, the favour of men (suppose kings with three
crowns), so being that ye may bear witness, and acquit yourself as a
man of valour and courage to the Prince of your salvation, for the
purging of His temple, and sweeping out the lordly Diotrepheses,
time-courting Demases, corrupt Hymenæuses and Philetuses, and other
such oxen, that with their dung defile the temple of the Lord. Is not
Christ now crying, "Who will help Me? who will come out with Me, to
take part with Me, and share in the honour of My victory over these
Mine enemies, who have said, We will not have this man to rule over
us?"
My very honourable and dear Lord, join, join (as ye do) with Christ.
He is more worth to you and your posterity than this world's
May-flowers, and withering riches and honour, that shall go away as
smoke, and evanish in a night vision, and shall, in one half-hour
after the blast of the archangel's trumpet, lie in white ashes. Let me
beseech your Lordship to draw by the lap of time's curtain, and to
look in through the window to great and endless eternity, and consider
if a worldly price (suppose this little round clay globe of this ashy
and dirty earth, the dying idol of the fools of this world, were all
your own) can be given for one smile of Christ's God-like and
soul-ravishing countenance. In that day when so many joints and knees
of thousand thousands wailing shall stand before Christ, trembling,
shouting, and making their prayers to hills and mountains to fall upon
them, and hide them from the face of the Lamb, oh, how many would sell
lordships and kingdoms that day, and buy Christ! But, oh, the market
shall be closed and ended ere then! Your Lordship hath now a blessed
venture of winning court with the Prince of the kings of the earth. He
Himself weeping; truth borne down and fallen in the streets, and an
oppressed Gospel; Christ's bride with watery eyes and spoiled of her
veil, her hair hanging about her eyes, forced to go in ragged apparel;
the banished, alienated, and imprisoned prophets of God, who have not
the favour of liberty to prophesy in sackcloth, all these, I say, call
for your help. Fear not worms of clay; the moth shall eat them as a
garment. Let the Lord be your fear; He is with you, and shall fight
for you; and ye shall make the heart of this your mother-Church to
sing for joy. The Lamb and His armies are with you, and the kingdoms
of the earth are the Lord's. I am persuaded that there is not another
gospel, nor another saving truth, than that which ye now contend for.
I dare hazard my heaven and salvation upon it, that this is the only
saving way to glory.
Grace, grace, be with your Lordship.
Your Lordship's at all respectful obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
LXXIX.--_To_ MARGARET BALLANTINE.
[This name is not found among the people of the parish of Anwoth.
Like John Laurie, Letter CLXXV., she may have been some one at a
distance.]
(_VALUE OF THE SOUL AND URGENCY OF SALVATION._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you.--It is more than time
that I should have written to you; but it is yet good time, if I could
help your soul to mend your pace, and to go more swiftly to your
heavenly country. For truly ye have need to make all haste, because
the inch of your day that remaineth will quickly slip away; for
whether we sleep or wake, our glass runneth. The tide bideth no man.
Beware of a beguile in the matter of your salvation. Woe, woe for
evermore, to them that lose that prize. For what is behind, when the
soul is once lost, but that sinners warm their bits of clay houses at
a fire of their own kindling, for a day or two (which doth rather
suffocate with its smoke than warm them); and at length they lie down
in sorrow, and are clothed with everlasting shame! I would seek no
further measure of faith to begin withal than to believe really and
stedfastly the doctrine of God's justice, His all-devouring wrath, and
everlasting burning, where sinners are burnt, soul and body, in a
river and great lake of fire and brimstone. Then they would wish no
more goods than the thousandth part of a cold fountain-well to cool
their tongues. They would then buy death with enduring of pain and
torment for as many years as God hath created drops of rain since the
creation. But there is no market of buying or selling life or death
there. O, alas! the greatest part of this world run to the place of
that torment rejoicing and dancing, eating, drinking, and sleeping. My
counsel to you is, that ye start in time to be after Christ; for if ye
go quickly, Christ is not far before you; ye shall overtake Him. O
Lord God, what is so needful as this, "Salvation, salvation!" Fy upon
this condemned and foolish world, that would give so little for
salvation! Oh, if there were a free market for salvation proclaimed in
that day when the trumpet of God shall awake the dead, how many buyers
would be then! God send me no more happiness than that salvation which
the blind world, to their eternal woe, letteth slip through their
fingers. Therefore, look if ye can give out your money (as Isaiah
speaketh) (lv. 2) for bread, and lay Christ and His blood in wadset
for heaven. It is a dry and hungry bairn's part of goods that Esaus
are hunting for here. I see thousands following the chase, and in the
pursuit of such things, while in the meantime they lose the blessing;
and, when all is done, they have caught nothing to roast for supper,
but lie down hungry. And, besides, they go to bed, when they die,
without a candle; for God saith to them, "This ye shall have at My
hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow" (Isa. l. 11). And truly this is as
ill-made a bed to lie upon as one could wish; for he cannot sleep
soundly, nor rest sweetly, who hath sorrow for his pillow. Rouse,
rouse up, therefore, your soul, and speer[172] how Christ and your
soul met together. I am sure that they never got Christ, who were not
once sick at the yolk of the heart for Him. Too, too many whole souls
think that they have met with Christ, who had never a wearied night
for the want of Him: but, alas! what richer are men, that they dreamed
the last night they had much gold, and, when they awoke in the
morning, they found it was but a dream? What are all the sinners in
the world, in that day when heaven and earth shall go up in a flame of
fire, but a number of beguiled dreamers? Every one shall say of his
hunting and his conquest, "Behold, it was a dream!" Every man in that
day will tell his dream. I beseech you, in the Lord Jesus, beware,
beware of unsound work in the matter of your salvation: ye may not, ye
cannot, ye dow not want Christ. Then after this day, convene all your
lovers before your soul, and give them their leave; and strike hands
with Christ, that thereafter there may be no happiness to you but
Christ, no hunting for anything but Christ, no bed at night, when
death cometh, but Christ. Christ, Christ, who but Christ! I know this
much of Christ, that He is not ill to be found, nor lordly of His
love. Woe had been my part of it for evermore, if Christ had made a
dainty of Himself to me. But, God be thanked, I gave nothing for
Christ. And now I protest before men and angels that Christ cannot be
exchanged, that Christ cannot be sold, that Christ cannot be weighed.
Where would angels, or all the world, find a balance to weigh Him in?
All lovers blush when ye stand beside Christ! Woe upon all love but
the love of Christ! Hunger, hunger for evermore be upon all heaven but
Christ! Shame, shame for evermore be upon all glory but Christ's
glory. I cry death, death upon all lives but the life of Christ. Oh,
what is it that holdeth us asunder? O that once we could have a fair
meeting!
Thus recommending Christ to you and you to Him, for evermore, I rest.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
[172] Ask.
LXXX.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_HIS COMFORT UNDER TRIBULATION, AND THE PRISON A PALACE._)
MY DEARLY BELOVED SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I
complain that Galloway is not kind to me in paper. I have received no
letters these sixteen weeks but two. I am well. My prison is a palace
to me, and Christ's banqueting-house. My Lord Jesus is as kind as they
call Him. O that all Scotland knew my case, and had part of my feast!
I charge you in the name of God, I charge you to believe. Fear not
the sons of men; the worms shall eat them. To pray and believe now,
when Christ seems to give you a nay-say, is more than it was before.
Die believing; die, and Christ's promise in your hand. I desire, I
request, I charge your husband and that town,[173] to stand for the
truth of the Gospel. Contend with Christ's enemies; and I pray you
show all professors whom you know my case. Help me to praise. The
ministers here envy me; they will have my prison changed. My mother
hath borne me a man of contention, and one that striveth with the
whole earth. Remember my love to your husband. Grace be with you.
Yours in the Lord,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Jan. 3, 1637_.
[173] Kirkcudbright.
LXXXI.--_To_ MR. JOHN MEINE (_Jun_.).
[MR. JOHN MEINE was the son of John Meine, merchant in Edinburgh,
"a solid and stedfast professor of the truth of God." His mother
was Barbara Hamilton, a notice of whom see Letter CCCXIII. He was
now, it would appear from an allusion in the close of this
letter, a student of theology, with a view to the holy ministry.
Halyburton on his deathbed spake of this letter as one in which
was to be found "More practical religion than in a large
volume."]
(_EXPERIENCE--PATIENT WAITING--SANCTIFICATION._)
WORTHY AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I have
been too long in answering your letter, but other business took me up.
I am here waiting, if the fair wind will turn upon Christ's sails in
Scotland, and if deliverance be breaking out to this over-clouded and
benighted kirk. O that we could contend, by prayers and supplications,
with our Lord for that effect! I know that He hath not given out His
last doom against this land. I have little of Christ, in this prison,
but groanings, and longings, and desires. All my stock of Christ is
some hunger for Him, and yet I cannot say but I am rich in that. My
faith, and hope, and holy practice of new obedience, are scarce worth
the speaking of. But blessed be my Lord, who taketh me, light, and
clipped, and naughty, and feckless as I am. I see that Christ will not
prig with me, nor stand upon stepping-stones; but cometh in at the
broadside without ceremonies, or making it nice, to make a poor,
ransomed one His own. O that I could feed upon His breathing, and
kissing, and embracing, and upon the hopes of my meeting and His!
when love-letters shall not go betwixt us, but He will be messenger
Himself! But there is required patience on our part, till the
summer-fruit in heaven be ripe for us. It is in the bud; but there be
many things to do before our harvest come. And we take ill with it,
and can hardly endure to set our paper-face to one of Christ's storms
and to go to heaven with wet feet, and pain, and sorrow. We love to
carry a heaven to heaven with us, and would have two summers in one
year, and no less than two heavens. But this will not do for us: one
(and such a one!) may suffice us well enough. The man, Christ, got but
one only, and shall we have two?
Remember my love in Christ to your father; and help me with your
prayers. If ye would be a deep divine, I recommend to you
sanctification. Fear Him, and He will reveal His covenant to you.
Grace be with you.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Jan. 5, 1637_.
[Illustration: CARDONESS CASTLE.]
LXXXII.--_To JOHN GORDON of Cardoness, Elder._
[JOHN GORDON of Cardoness, in the parish of Anwoth, was descended
from Gordon of Lochinvar; but little is known concerning him. His
name appears the first of 188 signatures attached to an
unsuccessful petition of the elders and parishioners of Anwoth,
presented to the Commission of the General Assembly 1638, for
Rutherford being continued minister of that parish, when counter
applications were made by the city of Edinburgh and the
University of St. Andrews for the transference of his services.
From Rutherford's letters to him, we learn that he was at this
time far advanced in life. He was naturally a man of strong
passions, by which it would appear he had, in the previous part
of his life, been led astray.
The old castle of _Cardoness_ stands on a tongue of land, at the
mouth of the river Fleet, about a mile from Gatehouse. It is
built on a rocky height, overhanging the public road, and looking
toward the bay. You see an old square-built tower, or fortalice,
raising its grey head from among the tall trees that now surround
it. Tradition tells of an old proprietor, that he was in league
with Græme, the Border outlaw; and how, in consequence of his
daring and God-defying deeds, the chief and his whole family
perished in the _Black Loch_, a small loch in the parish of
Anwoth, at Woodend, 26 ft. deep. Though not a descendant, John
Gordon seems to have been a man of like strong passions with that
old chieftain, till subdued by grace.]
(_WIN CHRIST AT ALL HAZARDS--CHRIST'S BEAUTY--A WORD TO CHILDREN._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I have longed
to hear from you, and to know the estate of your soul, and the estate
of that people with you.
I beseech you, Sir, by the salvation of your precious soul, and the
mercies of God, to make good and sure work of your salvation, and try
upon what ground-stone ye have builded. Worthy and dear Sir, if ye be
upon sinking sand, a storm of death, and a blast, will lose Christ and
you, and wash you close off the rock. Oh, for the Lord's sake, look
narrowly to the work!
Read over your life, with the light of God's day-light and sun; for
salvation is not casten down at every man's door. It is good to look
to your compass, and all ye have need of, ere you take shipping; for
no wind can blow you back again. Remember, when the race is ended, and
the play either won or lost, and ye are in the utmost circle and
border of time, and shall put your foot within the march of eternity,
and all your good things of this short night-dream shall seem to you
like the ashes of a bleeze of thorns or straw, and your poor soul
shall be crying, "Lodging, lodging, for God's sake!" then shall your
soul be more glad at one of your Lord's lovely and homely smiles, than
if ye had the charters of three worlds for all eternity. Let pleasures
and gain, will and desires of this world, be put over into God's
hands, as arrested and fenced goods that ye cannot intromit with. Now,
when ye are drinking the grounds of your cup, and ye are upon the
utmost end of the last link of time, and old age, like death's long
shadow, is casting a covering upon your days, it is no time to court
this vain life, and to set love and heart upon it. It is near
after-supper; seek rest and ease for your soul in God through Christ.
Believe me, that I find it to be hard wrestling to play fair with
Christ, and to keep good quarters with Him, and to love Him in
integrity and life, and to keep a constant course of sound and solid
daily communion with Christ. Temptations are daily breaking the thread
of that course, and it is not easy to cast a knot again; and many
knots make evil work. Oh, how fair have many ships been plying before
the wind, that, in an hour's space, have been lying in the sea-bottom!
How many professors cast a golden lustre, as if they were pure gold,
and yet are, under that skin and cover, but base and reprobate metal!
And how many keep breath in their race many miles, and yet come short
of the prize and the garland! Dear sir, my soul would mourn in secret
for you, if I knew your case with God to be but false work. Love to
have you anchored upon Christ maketh me fear your tottering and slips.
False under-water, not seen in the ground of an enlightened
conscience, is dangerous; so is often falling, and sinning against
light. Know this, that those who never had sick nights or days in
conscience for sin, cannot have but such a peace with God as will
undercoat and break the flesh again, and end in a sad war at death.
Oh, how fearfully are thousands beguiled with false hide, grown over
old sins, as if the soul were cured and healed!
Dear Sir, I always saw nature mighty, lofty, heady, and strong in you;
and that it was more for you to be mortified and dead to the world,
than for another common man. Ye will take a low ebb, and a deep cut,
and a long lance, to go to the bottom of your wounds in saving
humiliation, to make you a won prey for Christ. Be humbled; walk
softly. Down, down, for God's sake, my dear and worthy brother, with
your topsail. Stoop, stoop! it is a low entry to go in at heaven's
gate. There is infinite justice in the party ye have to do with; it is
His nature not to acquit the guilty and the sinner. The law of God
will not want one farthing of the sinner. God forgetteth not both the
cautioner and the sinner; and every man must pay, either in his own
person (oh, Lord save you from that payment!), or in his cautioner,
Christ. It is violence to corrupt nature for a man to be holy, to lie
down under Christ's feet, to quit will, pleasure, worldly love,
earthly hope, and an itching of heart after this farded and
over-gilded world, and to be content that Christ trample upon all.
Come in, come in to Christ, and see what ye want, and find it in Him.
He is the short cut (as we used to say), and the nearest way to an
outgate of all your burdens. I dare avouch that ye shall be dearly
welcome to Him; my soul would be glad to take part of the joy ye
should have in Him. I dare say that angels' pens, angels' tongues,
nay, as many worlds of angels as there are drops of water in all the
seas, and fountains, and rivers of the earth, cannot paint Him out to
you. I think His sweetness, since I was a prisoner, hath swelled upon
me to the greatness of two heavens. Oh for a soul as wide as the
utmost circle of the highest heaven that containeth all, to contain
His love! And yet I could hold little of it. O world's wonder! Oh, if
my soul might but lie within the smell of His love, suppose I could
get no more but the smell of it! Oh, but it is long to that day when I
shall have a free world of Christ's love! Oh, what a sight to be up in
heaven, in that fair orchard of the new paradise; and to see, and
smell, and touch, and kiss that fair field-flower, that ever-green
Tree of life! His bare shadow were enough for me; a sight of Him would
be the earnest of heaven to me. Fy, fy upon us! that we have love
lying rusting beside us, or, which is worse, wasting upon some
loathsome objects, and that Christ should lie His lone. Wo, wo is me!
that sin hath made so many madmen, seeking the fool's paradise, fire
under ice, and some good and desirable things, without and apart from
Christ. Christ, Christ, nothing but Christ, can cool our love's
burning languor. O thirsty love! wilt thou set Christ, the well of
life, to thy head, and drink thy fill? Drink, and spare not; drink
love, and be drunken with Christ! Nay, alas! the distance betwixt us
and Christ is a death. Oh, if we were clasped in other's arms! We
should never twin again, except heaven twinned and sundered us; and
that cannot be.
I desire your children to seek this Lord. Desire them from me, to be
requested, for Christ's sake, to be blessed and happy, and to come and
take Christ, and all things with Him. Let them beware of glassy and
slippery youth, of foolish young notions, of worldly lusts, of
deceivable gain, of wicked company, of cursing, lying, blaspheming,
and foolish talking. Let them be filled with the Spirit; acquaint
themselves with daily praying; and with the storehouse of wisdom and
comfort, the good word of God. Help the souls of the poor people. O
that my Lord would bring me again among them, that I might tell unco
and great tales of Christ to them! Receive not a stranger to preach
any other doctrine to them.
Pray for me, His prisoner of hope. I pray for you without ceasing. I
write my blessing, earnest prayers, the love of God, and the sweet
presence of Christ to you, and yours, and them. Grace, grace, grace be
with you.
Your lawful and loving pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
LXXXIII.--_To the_ EARL OF LOTHIAN.
[WILLIAM, third EARL OF LOTHIAN, to whom this letter is
addressed, was the eldest son of Robert, first Earl of Ancrum;
and he acquired the title of Earl of Lothian by his marriage with
Anne Ker, Countess of Lothian, by whom he succeeded to the estate
and titles of Lothian in 1624. In 1638 he manifested great zeal
for the Covenant. He was a member of the General Assembly which
met at Glasgow that year, as elder for the Presbytery of
Dalkeith. Hostilities having again commenced in 1640, his
Lordship was in the Scottish army that invaded England, and
defeated the Royalists at Newburn. In 1643 he was sent from
Scotland by the Privy Council, with the approbation of Charles I.
In 1644 he commanded, with the Marquis of Argyle, the forces sent
against the Marquis of Montrose, whom he obliged to retreat, and
then delivered up his commission to the Committee of Estates, who
passed an act in approbation of his services. He was president of
the Committee despatched by the Parliament to the King in
December 1646, with their final propositions. He protested
against the raising of an army in 1648 to rescue the King from
the hands of the English, without receiving from His Majesty
assurance that he would secure the religious liberties of his
Scottish subjects,--an attempt which was called the "Engagement."
But while resisting the arbitrary measures of his prince, he was
of sincere and ardent loyalty. No sooner was it known that the
Parliament of England intended to proceed against Charles I.
before the High Court of Justice, than he and other commissioners
were sent, in name of the kingdom of Scotland, to remonstrate
against their proceedings in regard to the sacred person of the
king. He took a solemn protest against their proceedings, for
which he was put under arrest, sent with a guard to Gravesend,
and thence to Scotland. On his return he received the thanks of
Parliament for his conduct on this occasion; and, along with the
Earl of Cassillis, was despatched to Breda in 1650 to invite King
Charles to Scotland. His Lordship died in the year 1675. By Anne,
Countess of Lothian, he had five sons and nine daughters.]
(_ADVICE AS TO PUBLIC CONDUCT--EVERYTHING TO BE ENDURED FOR CHRIST._)
RIGHT HONOURABLE, AND MY VERY WORTHY AND NOBLE LORD,--Out of the
honourable and good report that I hear of your Lordship's good-will
and kindness, in taking to heart the honourable cause of Christ, and
His afflicted Church and wronged truth in this land, I make bold to
speak a word on paper, to your Lordship, at this distance, which I
trust your Lordship will take in good part. It is to your Lordship's
honour and credit, to put to your hand, as ye do (all honour to God!),
to the falling and tottering tabernacle of Christ, in this your
mother-Church, and to own Christ's wrongs as your own wrongs. O
blessed hand, which shall wipe and dry the watery eyes of our weeping
Lord Jesus, now going mourning in sackcloth in His members, in His
spouse in His truth, and in the prerogative royal of His kingly power!
He needeth not service and help from men; but it pleaseth His wisdom
to make the wants and losses, the sores and wounds of His spouse, a
field and an office-house for the zeal of His servants to exercise
themselves in. Therefore, my noble and dear Lord, go on, go on in the
strength of the Lord against all opposition, to side with wronged
Christ. The defending, and warding of strokes off Christ's bride, the
King's daughter, is like a piece of the rest of the way to heaven,
knotty, rough, stormy, and full of thorns. Many would follow Christ,
but with a reservation that, by open proclamation, Christ would cry
down crosses, and cry up fair weather, and a summer sky and sun, till
we were all fairly landed at heaven. I know that your Lordship hath
not so learned Christ; but that ye intend to fetch heaven, suppose
that your father were standing in your way, and to take it with the
wind on your face; for so both storm and wind were on the fair face of
your lovely Forerunner, Christ, all His way. It is possible that the
success answer not your desire in this worthy cause. What then? duties
are ours, but events are the Lord's; and I hope, if your Lordship, and
others with you, will go on to dive to the lowest ground and bottom of
the knavery and perfidious treachery to Christ of the accursed and
wretched prelates, the Antichrist's first-born, and the first-fruit of
his foul womb, and shall deal with our Sovereign (law going before
you) for the reasonable and impartial hearing of Christ's bill of
complaints, and set yourselves singly to seek the Lord and His face,
that your righteousness shall break through the clouds which prejudice
hath drawn over it, and that ye shall, in the strength of the Lord,
bring our banished and departing Lord Jesus home again to His
sanctuary. Neither must your Lordship advise with flesh and blood in
this; but wink, and in the dark, reach your hand to Christ, and follow
Him. Let not men's fainting discourage you; neither be afraid of men's
canny wisdom, who, in this storm, take the nearest shore, and go to
the lee and calm side of the Gospel, and hide Christ (if ever they had
Him) in their cabinets, as if they were ashamed of Him, or as if
Christ were stolen wares, and would blush before the sun.
My very dear and noble Lord, ye have rejoiced the hearts of many,
that ye have made choice of Christ and His Gospel, whereas such great
temptations do stand in your way. But I love your profession the
better that it endureth winds. If we knew ourselves well, to want
temptations is the greatest temptation of all. Neither is father, nor
mother, nor court, nor honour, in this over-lustred world with all its
paintry and farding, anything else, when they are laid in the balance
with Christ, but feathers, shadows, night-dreams, and straws. Oh, if
this world knew the excellency, sweetness, and beauty of that high and
lofty One, the Fairest among the sons of men, verily they would see,
that if their love were bigger than ten heavens, all in circles beyond
each other, it were all too little for Christ our Lord! I hope that
your choice will not repent you, when life shall come to that twilight
betwixt time and eternity, and ye shall see the utmost border of time,
and shall draw the curtain, and look into eternity, and shall one day
see God take the heavens in His hands, and fold them together, like an
old holely garment, and set on fire this clay part of the creation of
God, and consume away into smoke and ashes the idol-hope of poor
fools, who think that there is not a better country than this low
country of dying clay. Children cannot make comparison aright betwixt
this life and that which is to come; and, therefore, the babes of this
world, who see no better, mould, in their own brain, a heaven of their
own coining, because they see no farther than the nearest side of
time.
I dare lay in pawn my hope of heaven, that this reproached way is the
only way of peace. I find it is the way that the Lord hath sealed with
His comforts now, in my bonds for Christ; and I verily esteem and find
chains and fetters for that lovely One, Christ, to be watered over
with sweet consolations, and the love-smiles of that lovely
Bridegroom, for whose coming we wait. And when He cometh, then shall
the blacks and whites of all men come before the sun; then shall the
Lord put a final decision upon the pleas that Zion hath with her
adversaries. And as fast as time passeth away (which neither sitteth,
nor standeth, nor sleepeth), as fast is our hand-breadth of this short
winter-night flying away, and the sky of our long-lasting day drawing
near its breaking.
Except your Lordship be pleased to plead for me against the tyranny of
prelates, I shall be forgotten in this prison; for they did shape my
doom according to their new, lawless canons, which is, that a deprived
minister shall be utterly silenced, and not preach at all; which is a
cruelty, contrary to their own former practices.
Now, the only wise God, the very God of peace, confirm, strengthen,
and establish your Lordship upon the stone laid in Zion, and be with
you for ever.
Your Lordship's at all respectful obedience in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
LXXXIV.--_To_ JEAN BROWN.
[JEAN BROWN was the mother of the well-known Mr. John Brown,
minister of Wamphray in Annandale, who, after the restoration of
Charles II., was ejected from his charge and banished from the
King's dominions for his opposition to Prelacy. She was a woman
of intelligence and piety.]
(_THE JOYS OF THIS LIFE EMBITTERED BY SIN--HEAVEN AN OBJECT OF
DESIRE--TRIAL A BLESSED THING._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. I long to hear how
your soul prospereth. I earnestly desire your on-going toward your
country. I know that ye see your day melteth away by little and
little, and that in a short time ye shall be put beyond time's bounds;
for life is a post that standeth not still, and our joys here are born
weeping, rather than laughing, and they die weeping. Sin, sin, this
body of sin and corruption embittereth and poisoneth all our
enjoyments. O that I were where I shall sin no more! O to be freed of
these chains and iron fetters, which we carry about with us! Lord,
loose the sad prisoners! Who of the children of God have not cause to
say, that they have their fill of this vain life? and, like a full and
sick stomach, to wish at mid-supper that the supper were ended, and
the table drawn, that the sick man might win to bed, and enjoy rest?
We have cause to tire at mid-supper of the best messes that this world
can dress up for us; and to cry to God, that He would remove the table
and put the sin-sick souls to rest with Himself. O for a long play-day
with Christ, and our long-lasting vacance of rest! Glad may their
souls be that are safe over the frith, Christ having paid the fraught.
Happy are they who have passed their hard and wearisome time of
apprenticeship, and are now freemen and citizens in that joyful, high
city, the New Jerusalem.
Alas! that we should be glad of and rejoice in our fetters, and our
prison-house, and this dear inn, a life of sin, where we are absent
from our Lord, and so far from our home. O that we could get bonds and
law-suretyship of our love, that it fasten not itself on these
clay-dreams, these clay-shadows, and worldly vanities! We might be
oftener seeing what they are doing in heaven, and our hearts more
frequently upon our sweet treasure above. We smell of the smoke of
this lower house of the earth, because our hearts and our thoughts are
here. If we could haunt up with God, we should smell of heaven and of
our country above; and we should look like our country, and like
strangers, or people not born or brought up hereaway. Our crosses
would not bite[174] upon us if we were heavenly-minded. I know of no
obligation which the saints have to this world, seeing we fare but
upon the smoke of it; and, if there be any smoke in the house, it
bloweth upon our eyes. All our part of the table is scarce worth a
drink of water; and when we are stricken, we dare not weep, but steal
our grief away betwixt our Lord and us, and content ourselves with
stolen sorrow behind backs. God be thanked that we have many things
that so stroke us against the hair that we may pray, "God keep our
better home, God bless our Father's house; and not this smoke, that
bloweth us to seek our best lodging." I am sure that this is the best
fruit of the cross, when we, from the hard fare of the dear inn, cry
the more that God would send a fair wind, to land us, hungered and
oppressed strangers, at the door of our Father's house, which now is
made, in Christ, our kindly heritage. Oh! then, let us pull up the
stakes and stoups of our tent, and take our tent on our back, and go
with our flitting to our best home; for here we have no continuing
city.
[174] Leave the mark of their teeth.
I am waiting in hope here, to see what my Lord will do with me. Let
Him make of me what He pleaseth; providing He make glory to Himself
out of me, I care not. I hope, yea, I am now sure, that I am for
Christ, and all that I can or may make is for Him. I am His
everlasting dyvour, and still shall be; for, alas, I have nothing for
Him, and He getteth but little service of me! Pray for me, that our
Lord would be pleased to give me houseroom, that I may serve Him in
the calling which He hath called me unto. Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
LXXXV.--_To JOHN KENNEDY, Bailie of Ayr_.
(_THE REASONABLENESS OF BELIEVING UNDER ALL AFFLICTION--OBLIGATIONS TO
FREE GRACE._)
WORTHY AND WELL-BELOVED BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto
you.--I am yet waiting what our Lord will do for His afflicted Church,
and for my re-entry to my Lord's house. O that I could hear the
forfeiture of Christ (now casten out of His inheritance) recalled and
taken off by open proclamation; and that Christ were restored to be a
freeholder and a landed heritor in Scotland; and that the courts
fenced in the name of the bastard prelates (their godfather, the
Pope's, bailiffs and sheriffs) were cried down! Oh, how sweet a sight
were it to see all the tribes of the Lord in this land fetching home
again our banished King, Christ, to His own palace, His sanctuary, and
His throne! I shall think it mercy to my soul, if my faith will
out-watch all this winter-night, and not nod nor slumber till my
Lord's summer-day dawn upon me. It is much if faith and hope, in the
sad nights of our heavy trial, escape with a whole skin, and without
crack or crook. I confess that unbelief hath not reason to be either
father or mother to it,[175] for unbelief is always an irrational
thing; but how can it be, but that such weak eyes as ours must cast
water in a great smoke, or that a weak head should not turn giddy when
the water runneth deep and strong? But God be thanked that Christ in
His children can endure a stress and a storm, howbeit soft nature
would fall down in pieces. O that I had that confidence as to rest on
this, though He should grind me into small powder, and bray me into
dust, and scatter the dust to the four winds of heaven, that my Lord
would gather up the powder, and make me up a new vessel again, to bear
Christ's name to the world! I am sure that love, bottomed and seated
upon the faith of His love to me, would desire and endure this, and
would even claim and threep kindness upon Christ's strokes, and kiss
His love-glooms, and both spell and read salvation upon the wounds
made by Christ's sweet hands. O that I had but a promise made from the
mouth of Christ, of His love to me! and then, howbeit my faith were as
tender as paper, I think longing, and dwining, and greening of sick
desires would cause it to bide out the siege till the Lord came to
fill the soul with His love. And I know also, that in that case faith
would bide green and sappy at the root, even at mid-winter, and stand
out against all storms. However it be, I know that Christ winneth
heaven in despite of hell.
[175] Unbelief has not its origin in _reason_.
But I owe as many praises and thanks to free grace as would lie
betwixt me and the utmost border of the highest heaven, suppose ten
thousand heavens were all laid above other. But oh! I have nothing
that can hire or bud grace; for if grace would take hire, it were no
more grace. But all our stability, and the strength of our salvation,
is anchored and fastened upon free grace; and I am sure that Christ
hath by His death and blood casten the knot so fast, that the fingers
of the devils and hell-fulls of sins cannot loose it. And that bond of
Christ (that never yet was, nor ever shall, nor can be registrated)
standeth surer than heaven, or the days of heaven, as that sweet
pillar of the covenant whereon we all hang. Christ, with all His
little ones under His two wings and in the compass or circle of His
arms, is so sure, that, cast Him and them into the ground of the sea,
He shall come up again and not lose one. An odd one cannot, nor shall,
be lost in the telling.
This was always God's aim, since Christ came into the play betwixt Him
and us, to make men dependent creatures; and, in the work of our
salvation, to put created strength, and arms and legs of clay, quite
out of place, and out of office and court. And now God hath
substituted in our room, and accepted His Son, the Mediator, for us
and all that we can make. If this had not been, I would have skinked
over and foregone my part of paradise and salvation, for a breakfast
of dead, moth-eaten earth; but now I would not give it, nor let it go
for more than I can tell. And truly they are silly fools, and ignorant
of Christ's worth, and so full ill-trained and tutored, who tell
Christ and heaven over the board for two feathers or two straws of the
devil's painted pleasures, only lustred on the outer side. This is our
happiness now, that our reckonings at night, when eternity shall come
upon us, cannot be told. We shall be so far gainers, and so far from
being super-expended (as the poor fools of this world are, who give
out their money, and get in but black hunger), that angels cannot lay
our counts, nor sum our advantage and incomes. Who knoweth how far it
is to the bottom of our Christ's fulness, and to the ground of our
heaven? Who ever weighed Christ in a pair of balances? Who hath seen
the foldings and plies, and the heights and depths of that glory which
is in Him, and kept for us? O for such a heaven as to stand afar off,
and see, and love, and long for Him, whill time's thread be cut, and
this great work of creation dissolved, at the coming of our Lord!
Now to His grace I recommend you. I beseech you also to pray for a
re-entry to me into the Lord's house, if it be His good will.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Jan. 6, 1637_.
LXXXVI.--_To my_ LORD CRAIGHALL.
[SIR JOHN HOPE, LORD CRAIGHALL, was the eldest son of Sir Thomas
Hope (Lord Advocate of Scotland in the time of James VI. and
Charles I.) His property, Craighall, is in the parish of
Inveresk, near Edinburgh. Sir Thomas was the most eminent lawyer
of his day, and was first brought into notice by the ability with
which he defended the cause of John Forbes, John Welsh, and the
other ministers who were tried for high treason at Linlithgow, on
account of their holding a General Assembly at Aberdeen in 1605.
Craighall is in the parish of Ceres, in Fife,[176] a fine old
castellated ruin. John, second baronet, was admitted a Lord of
Session 27th July 1632, and became President of the Court, and in
1645 was appointed one of the Privy Council. His name appears on
the roll of members of the General Assemblies 1645-1649, and of
the commissions which these Assemblies appointed. In Lamont's
"Diary" we read (1659), "The Laird of Craighall, in Fyfe,
depairted out of this lyfe on Sabbath at nyght, and was interred
at Ceres."]
[176] There is a village of _Craighall_ near Inveresk, in the
barony of Pinkie, which got its name from this family, just as
there is an _Earlston_ in Borgue parish, called from the old
Earlston.
(_EPISCOPALIAN CEREMONIES--HOW TO ABIDE IN THE TRUTH--DESIRE FOR
LIBERTY TO PREACH CHRIST._)
MY LORD,--I received Mr. L.'s[177] letter with your Lordship's and his
learned thoughts in the matter of ceremonies. I owe respect to the
man's learning, for that I hear him to be opposed to Arminian
heresies. But, with reverence of that worthy man, I wonder to hear
such popish-like expressions as he hath in his letter, as, "Your
Lordship may spare doubtings, when the King and Church have agreed in
the settling of such orders; and the Church's direction in things
indifferent and circumstantial (as if indifferent and circumstantial
were all one!) should be the rule of every private Christian." I only
viewed the papers two hours' space, the bearer hastening me to write.
I find the worthy man not so seen in this controversy as some
turbulent men of our country, whom he calleth "refusers of
conformity;" and let me say it, I am more confirmed in nonconformity,
when I see such a great wit play the agent so slenderly. But I will
lay the blame on the weakness of the cause, not on the meanness of Mr.
L.'s learning. I have been, and still am confident, that Britain[178]
cannot answer one argument, _a scandalo_: and I longed much to hear
Mr. L. speak to the cause; and I would say, if some ordinary divine
had answered as Mr. L. doth, that he understood not the nature of a
scandal; but I dare not vilify that worthy man so. I am now upon the
heat of some other employment. I shall (but God willing) answer this,
to the satisfying of any not prejudiced.
[177] Who is here meant cannot now be well ascertained. It may have
been Mr. Loudian, of whom Baillie says, "He was an excellent
philosophe, sound and orthodox, opposite to Canterbury's way, albeit
too conform. I counselled oft Glasgow to have him for their Divinity
Lecturer" ("Letters and Journals," i. 77).
[178] All the divines in Britain.
I will not say that every one is acquainted with the reason in my
letter, from God's presence and bright shining face in suffering for
this cause. Aristotle never knew the medium of the conclusion: and
Christ saith few know it (Rev. ii. 17). I am sure that conscience
standing in awe of the Almighty, and fearing to make a little hole in
the bottom for fear of under-water, is a strong medium to hold off an
erroneous conclusion in the least wing, or lith, of sweet, sweet
truth, that concerneth the royal prerogative of our kingly and highest
Lord Jesus. And my witness is in heaven, that I saw neither pleasure,
nor profit, nor honour, to hook me, or catch me, in entering into
prison for Christ, but the wind on my face for the present. And if I
had loved to sleep in a whole skin, with the ease and present delight
that I saw on this side of sun and moon, I should have lived at ease,
and in good hopes to fare as well as others. The Lord knoweth that I
preferred preaching of Christ, and still do, to anything, next to
Christ Himself. And their new canons took my one, my only joy, from
me, which was to me as the poor man's one ewe, that had no more! And,
alas! there is little lodging in their hearts for pity or mercy, to
pluck out a poor man's one eye for a thing indifferent; _i.e._ for
knots of straw, and things (as they mean) off the way to heaven. I
desire not that my name take journey, and go a pilgrim to Cambridge,
for fear I come into the ears of authority. I am sufficiently burnt
already.
In the mean time, be pleased to try if the Bishop of St. Andrews,[179]
and Glasgow (Galloway's ordinary),[180] will be pleased to abate from
the heat of their wrath, and let me go to my charge. Few know the
heart of a prisoner; yet I hope that the Lord will hew His own glory
out of as knotty timber as I am. Keep Christ, my dear and worthy Lord.
Pretended paper-arguments from[181] angering the mother-Church (that
can reel, and nod, and stagger), are not of such weight as peace with
the Father, and Husband. Let the wife gloom, I care not, if the
Husband laugh.
Remember my service to my Lord your father, and mother, and lady.
Grace be with you.
Yours at all obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Jan. 24, 1637_.
[179] John Spottiswoode.
[180] James Law, Bishop of Glasgow, was the deputy of Sydserff, the
Bishop of Galloway.
[181] Arguments drawn from the risk of provoking.
LXXXVII.--_To_ ELIZABETH KENNEDY.
[ELIZABETH KENNEDY was the sister of Hugh Kennedy, Provost of Ayr, and
a woman as eminent for piety and prayer as her brother. Wodrow records
of her that, being much afflicted with the stone, she was advised to
submit to a surgical operation. Several meetings for prayer took place
among the godly at Ayr in reference to her case. When the surgeon came
to perform the operation, one of these meetings was going on in the
house, and they continued so long in prayer as nearly to exhaust his
patience; but before they had concluded, the stone dissolved, and
without surgical aid she obtained immediate relief. (_Wodrow's_
"Analecta," vol. ii.)]
(_DANGER OF FORMALITY--CHRIST WHOLLY TO BE LOVED--OTHER OBJECTS OF
LOVE._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I have long had a
purpose of writing unto you, but I have been hindered. I heartily
desire that ye would mind your country, and consider to what airt your
soul setteth its face; for all come not home at night who suppose that
they have set their face heavenward. It is a woful thing to die, and
miss heaven, and to lose house-room with Christ at night: it is an
evil journey where travellers are benighted in the fields. I persuade
myself that thousands shall be deceived and ashamed of their hope.
Because they cast their anchor in sinking sands, they must lose it.
Till now I knew not the pain, labour, nor difficulty that there is to
win at home: nor did I understand so well, before this, what that
meaneth, "The righteous shall scarcely be saved." Oh, how many a poor
professor's candle is blown out, and never lighted again! I see that
ordinary profession, and to be ranked amongst the children of God, and
to have a name among men, is now thought good enough to carry
professors to heaven. But certainly a name is but a name, and will
never bide a blast of God's storm. I counsel you not to give your
soul or Christ rest, nor your eyes sleep, till ye have gotten
something that will bide the fire, and stand out the storm. I am sure,
that if my one foot were in heaven, and if then He should say, "Fend
thyself, I will hold my grips of thee no longer," I should go no
farther, but presently fall down in as many pieces of dead nature.
They are happy for evermore who are over head and ears in the love of
Christ, and know no sickness but love-sickness for Christ, and feel no
pain but the pain of an absent and hidden Well-beloved. We run our
souls out of breath and tire them, in coursing and galloping after our
night-dreams (such are the rovings of our miscarrying hearts), to get
some created good thing in this life, and on this side of death. We
would fain stay and spin out a heaven to ourselves, on this side of
the water; but sorrow, want, changes, crosses, and sin, are both woof
and warp in that ill-spun web. Oh, how sweet and dear are those
thoughts that are still upon the things which are above! and how happy
are they who are longing to have little sand in their glass, and to
have time's thread cut, and can cry to Christ, "Lord Jesus, have over;
come and fetch the dreary[182] passenger!" I wish that our thoughts
were more frequently than they are upon our country. Oh, but heaven
casteth a sweet smell afar off to those who have spiritual smelling!
God hath made many fair flowers; but the fairest of them all is
heaven, and the Flower of all flowers is Christ. Oh! why do we not fly
up to that lovely One? Alas that there is such a scarcity of love, and
of lovers, to Christ amongst us all! Fie, fie, upon us, who love fair
things, as fair gold, fair houses, fair lands, fair pleasures, fair
honours, and fair persons, and do not pine and melt away with love to
Christ! Oh! would to God I had more love for His sake! O for as much
as would lie betwixt me and heaven, for His sake! O for as much as
would go round about the earth, and over the heaven, yea, the heaven
of heavens, and ten thousand worlds, that I might let all out upon
fair, fair, only fair Christ! But, alas! I have nothing for Him, yet
He hath much for me. It is no gain to Christ that He getteth my
little, feckless span-length and hand-breadth of love.
[182] Sorrowful.
If men would have something to do with their hearts and their
thoughts, that are always rolling up and down (like men with oars in a
boat), after sinful vanities, they might find great and sweet
employment to their thoughts upon Christ. If those frothy,
fluctuating, and restless hearts of ours would come all about Christ,
and look into His love, to bottomless love, to the depth of mercy, to
the unsearchable riches of His grace, to inquire after and search into
the beauty of God in Christ, they would be swallowed up in the depth
and height, length and breadth of His goodness. Oh, if men would draw
the curtains, and look into the inner side of the ark, and behold how
the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth in Him bodily! Oh! who would not
say, "Let me die, let me die ten times, to see a sight of Him?" Ten
thousand deaths were no great price to give for Him. I am sure that
sick, fainting love would heighten the market, and raise the price to
the double for Him. But, alas! if men and angels were rouped, and sold
at the dearest price, they would not all buy a night's love, or a
four-and-twenty-hours' sight of Christ! Oh, how happy are they who get
Christ for nothing! God send me no more, for my part of paradise, but
Christ: and surely I were rich enough, and as well heavened as the
best of them, if Christ were my heaven.
I can write no better thing to you, than to desire you, if ever ye
laid Christ in a count, to take Him up and count over again: and weigh
Him again and again: and after this have no other to court your love,
and to woo your soul's delight, but Christ. He will be found worthy of
all your love, howbeit it should swell upon you from the earth to the
uppermost circle of the heaven of heavens. To our Lord Jesus and His
love I commend you.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
LXXXVIII.--_To_ JANET KENNEDY.
[This seems to be the wife of Mr. John Fergushill; see Letter
CXII.]
(_CHRIST TO BE KEPT AT EVERY SACRIFICE--HIS INCOMPARABLE LOVELINESS._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. Ye are not a little
obliged to His rich grace, who hath separated you for Himself, and for
the promised inheritance with the saints in light, from this condemned
and guilty world. Hold fast Christ, contend for Him; it is a lawful
plea to go to holding and drawing for Christ; and it is not possible
to keep Christ peaceably, having once gotten Him, except the devil
were dead. It must be your resolution to set your face against Satan's
northern tempests and storms, for salvation. Nature would have heaven
to come to us while sleeping in our beds. We would all buy Christ, so
being we might make price ourselves. But Christ is worth more blood
and lives than either ye or I have to give Him. When we shall come
home, and enter to the possession of our Brother's fair kingdom, and
when our heads shall find the weight of the eternal crown of glory,
and when we shall look back to pains and sufferings, then shall we see
life and sorrow to be less than one step or stride from a prison to
glory; and that our little inch of time-suffering is not worthy of our
first night's welcome-home to heaven. Oh, what then shall be the
weight of every one of Christ's kisses! Oh, how weighty, and of what
worth shall every one of Christ's love-smiles be! Oh, when once He
shall thrust a wearied traveller's head betwixt His blessed breasts,
the poor soul will think one kiss of Christ hath fully paid home forty
or fifty years' wet feet, and all its sore hearts, and light (2 Cor.
iv. 17) sufferings it had in following after Christ! Oh,
thrice-blinded souls, whose hearts are charmed and bewitched with
dreams, shadows, feckless things, night-vanities, and night-fancies of
a miserable life of sin! Shame on us who sit still, fettered with the
love and liking of the loan of a piece of dead clay! Oh, poor fools,
who are beguiled with painted things, and this world's fair weather,
and smooth promises, and rotten, worm-eaten hopes! May not the devil
laugh to see us give out our souls, and get in but corrupt and
counterfeit pleasures of sin? O for a sight of eternity's glory, and a
little tasting of the Lamb's marriage-supper! Half a draught, or a
drop of the wine of consolation, that is up at our banqueting-house,
out of Christ's own hand, would make our stomachs loathe the brown
bread and the sour drink of a miserable life. Oh, how far are we
bereaved of wit, to chafe, and hunt, and run, till our souls be out of
breath, after a condemned happiness of our own making! And do we not
sit far in our own light to make it a matter of bairn's play, to skink
and drink over[183] paradise, and the heaven that Christ did sweat
for, even for a blast of smoke, and for Esau's morning breakfast? O
that we were out of ourselves, and dead to this world, and this world
dead and crucified to us! And, when we should be close out of love and
conceit of any masked and farded lover whatsoever, then Christ would
win and conquer to Himself a lodging in the inmost yolk of our heart.
Then Christ should be our night-song and morning-song; then the very
noise and din of our Well-beloved's feet, when He cometh, and His
first knock or rap at the door, should be as news of two heavens to
us. O that our eyes and our soul's smelling should go after a blasted
and sun-burnt flower, even this plastered, fair-outsided world: and
then we have neither eye nor smell for the Flower of Jesse, for that
Plant of renown, for Christ, the choicest, the fairest, the sweetest
rose that ever God planted! Oh, let some of us die to smell the
fragrance of Him; and let my part of this rotten world be forfeited
and sold for evermore, providing I may anchor my tottering soul upon
Christ! I know that it is sometimes at this, "Lord, what wilt Thou
have for Christ?" But, O Lord, canst Thou be budded, and propined with
any gift for Christ? O Lord, can Christ be sold? or rather, may not a
poor needy sinner have Him for nothing? If I can get no more, oh, let
me be pained to all eternity, with longing for Him! The joy of
hungering for Christ should be my heaven for evermore. Alas, that I
cannot draw souls and Christ together! But I desire the coming of His
kingdom, and that Christ, as I assuredly hope He will, would come upon
withered Scotland, as rain upon the new-mown grass. Oh, let the King
come! Oh, let His kingdom come! Oh, let their eyes rot in their
eyeholes (Zech. xiv. 12), who will not receive Him home again to reign
and rule in Scotland. Grace, grace be with you.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
[183] Drink the health of the buyer over the concluded bargain.
LXXXIX.--_To my Well-beloved and Reverend Brother_, MR. ROBERT BLAIR.
[MR. ROBERT BLAIR was born at Irvine in 1593. After completing
his education at the College of Glasgow, he there held for
several years the office of regent, during which time he was
licensed as a probationer for the holy ministry. Having a strong
desire to go to France, he was encouraged to this by M. Basnage,
a French Protestant minister who visited Scotland in 1622. But
Providence ordered his lot otherwise. He was induced to accept of
the charge of Bangor, in Ireland, and was admitted in the year
1623. Here he laboured with great diligence and success; and
there being in the same part of the country several other devout
ministers, by mutual co-operation, they were instrumental in
producing in the north of Ireland a change upon an ignorant and
irreligious people, much resembling the effects of the preaching
of the Gospel in the apostolic age. But this good work was not
allowed to go on unopposed. In the autumn of 1631 he was
suspended from his ministry by the Bishop of Down; in May 1632 he
was deposed; and in November 1634 solemnly excommunicated; and
all this simply for nonconformity. In these circumstances, he and
some other ministers similarly situated, together with a
considerable number of people, formed the purpose of going to New
England, and actually embarked in 1636; but the tempestuous state
of the weather forced them to return. He then came over to
Scotland, and in 1638 became minister of Ayr, from which by a
sentence of the General Assembly he was soon translated to St.
Andrews, where he and Rutherford lived in the warmest friendship
until the rise of the controversy between the Resolutioners and
Protesters, which in some degree disturbed their mutual good
understanding. Rutherford was a strong Protester: Blair regretted
the extremes, as he conceived, to which both parties went; and,
with Mr. James Durham of Glasgow, endeavoured to restore harmony
between them, but without success. In 1661 he was summoned before
the Privy Council for a sermon he had preached, in which he bore
testimony to the covenanted Reformation, as well as against the
defections of the times. He was sentenced to be confined to his
own house, but afterwards permitted to retire to Musselburgh. He
next removed to Kirkcaldy, and from thence to Meikle Couston, in
the parish of Aberdour, where he died on the 27th of April 1666.
(See Life of Robert Blair, issued by the Wodrow Society, 1848.)]
(_GOD'S ARRANGEMENTS SOMETIMES MYSTERIOUS._)
REVEREND AND DEARLY BELOVED BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace from God
our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, be unto you.
It is no great wonder, my dear brother, that ye be in heaviness for a
season, and that God's will (in crossing your design and desires to
dwell amongst a people whose God is the Lord) should move you. I deny
not but ye have cause to inquire what His providence speaketh in this
to you; but God's directing and commanding Will can by no good logic
be concluded from events of providence. The Lord sent Paul on many
errands for the spreading of His Gospel, where he found lions in his
way. A promise was made to His people of the Holy Land, and yet many
nations were in the way, fighting against, and ready to kill them that
had the promise, or to keep them from possessing that good land which
the Lord their God had given them. I know that ye have most to do with
submission of spirit; but I persuade myself that ye have learned, in
every condition wherein ye are cast, therein to be content, and to
say, "Good is the will of the Lord, let it be done." I believe that
the Lord tacketh His ship often to fetch the wind, and that He
purposeth to bring mercy out of your sufferings and silence, which (I
know from mine own experience) is grievous to you. Seeing that He
knoweth our willing mind to serve Him, our wages and stipend is
running to the fore with our God, even as some sick soldiers get pay,
when they are bedfast and not able to go to the field with others.
"Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of
the Lord, and my God shall be my strength" (Isa. xlix. 5). And we are
to believe it shall be thus ere all the play be played. "The violence
done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon" (and the great whore's
lovers), "shall the inhabitants of Zion say; and my blood be upon
Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say."[184] And, "Behold, I will make
Jerusalem a cup of trembling to all the people round about, when they
shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in
that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: they
that burden themselves with it shall be broken in pieces, though all
the people of the earth be gathered together against it."[185] When
they have eaten and swallowed us up, they shall be sick and vomit us
out living men again; the devil's stomach cannot digest the Church of
God. Suffering is the other half of our ministry, howbeit the hardest;
for we would be content that our King Jesus should make an open
proclamation, and cry down crosses, and cry up joy, gladness, ease,
honour, and peace. But it must not be so; through many afflictions we
must enter into the kingdom of God. Not only by them, but through
them, must we go; and wiles will not take us past the cross. It is
folly to think to steal to heaven with a whole skin.
[184] Jer. li. 35.
[185] Zech. xii. 2, 3.
For myself, I am here a prisoner confined in Aberdeen, threatened to
be removed to Caithness, because I desire to edify in this town; and
am openly preached against in the pulpits in my hearing, and tempted
with disputations by the doctors, especially by D. B.[186] Yet I am
not ashamed of the Lord Jesus, His garland, and His crown. I would not
exchange my weeping with the painted laughter of the fourteen
prelates. At my first coming here I took the dorts at Christ, and
would, forsooth, summon Him for unkindness. I sought a plea of my
Lord, and was tossed with challenges whether He loved me or not; and
disputed over again all that He had done to me, because His word was a
fire shut up in my bowels, and I was weary with forbearing, because I
said I was cast out of the Lord's inheritance. But now I see that I
was a fool. My Lord miskent all, and did bear with my foolish
jealousies; and miskent that ever I wronged His love. And now He has
come again with mercy under His wings. I pass from my (oh witless!)
summons: He is God, I see, and I am man. Now it hath pleased Him to
renew His love to my soul, and to dawt His poor prisoner. Therefore,
dear brother, help me to praise and show the Lord's people with you
what He hath done to my soul, that they may pray and praise. And I
charge you in the name of Christ, not to omit it. For this cause I
write to you, that my sufferings may glorify my royal King, and edify
His Church in Ireland. He knoweth how one of Christ's love coals hath
burnt my soul with a desire to have my bonds to preach His glory,
whose cross I now bear. God forgive you if you do it not; but I hope
the Lord will move your heart, to proclaim in my behalf the sweetness,
excellency, and glory of my royal King. It is but our soft flesh that
hath raised a slander on the Cross of Christ: I see now the white side
of it; my Lord's chains are all over-gilded. Oh, if Scotland and
Ireland had part of my feast! And yet I get not my meat but with many
strokes. There are none here to whom I can speak; I dwell in Kedar's
tents. Refresh me with a letter from you. Few know what is betwixt
Christ and me.
[186] Dr Robert Baron, Professor of Divinity in the Marischal College
of Aberdeen, one of the learned doctors of that city, whose dispute,
in 1638, with Alexander Henderson, David Dickson, and Andrew Cant, on
the subject of the Covenant, excited at the time so much attention.
Dear brother, upon my salvation, this is His truth that we suffer for.
Christ would not seal a blank charter to souls. Courage, courage! joy,
joy for evermore! Oh, joy unspeakable and glorious! O for help to set
my crowned King on high! O for love to Him who is altogether
lovely,--that love which many waters cannot quench, neither can the
floods drown!
I remember you, and bear your name on my breast to Christ. I beseech
you, forget not His afflicted prisoner. Grace, mercy, and peace be
with you. Salute in the Lord, from me, Mr. Cunningham, Mr.
Livingstone, Mr. Ridge,[187] Mr. Colwart,[188] &c.
Your brother, and fellow-prisoner,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Feb. 7, 1637_.
[187] Mr. John Ridge was an English minister, whom opposition to
ceremonial impositions on conscience led to leave his native country
for Ireland. He was admitted to the vicarage of Antrim on the 7th of
July 1619, in which he laboured with success for many years; but being
deposed by Henry Leslie, the Bishop of Down, for nonconformity, he
came over to Irvine, where he died.
[188] Mr. Henry Colwart was also a native of England; and, like Mr.
Ridge, left the land of his birth, and went to Ireland. He was
admitted to the pastoral charge of Oldstone in 1630; but, being
deposed by Bishop Leslie for refusing to submit to the innovations of
Prelacy, he came over to Scotland, and was admitted minister of
Paisley, where he died.
XC.--_To his Reverend and Dear Brother_, MR. JOHN LIVINGSTONE.
[JOHN LIVINGSTONE (the son of Alexander Livingstone, minister
first at Monyabroch or Kilsyth, and afterwards at Lanark) was
born at Monyabroch on the 21st of January 1603. At the College of
Glasgow, he enjoyed the advantage of having as his regent for two
years the famous Robert Blair, for whom he continued ever after
to retain the highest veneration. He was first settled minister
at Killinchie, in Ireland, towards the close of the year 1630,
but had not laboured above twelve months in that charge when he
was suspended by the Bishop of Down, for nonconformity. To enjoy
religious liberty, he set out with Mr. Blair and others in their
intended emigration to America; but, with the rest, was forced by
the adverse state of the weather to return. Shortly after, he
received calls from two parishes, Stranraer and Stewarton, but
preferred the call from the former, and his induction took place
on the 5th of July 1638. Here he continued in the assiduous
discharge of his pastoral functions until 1648, when, by the
sentence of the General Assembly, he was translated to the parish
of Ancrum, in the Presbytery of Jedburgh. Upon the death of
Charles I., he was sent to the Hague, and afterwards to Breda, as
one of the commissioners from the Church of Scotland to treat
with his son Charles II., whose character he had the penetration
to discover. In the controversy between the Resolutioners and
Protesters, Livingstone took the side of the latter, but was
dissatisfied with the violence manifested by his party. After the
restoration of Charles II., being summoned to appear before the
Privy Council in 1662, he appeared; but, declining to engage to
observe the anniversary of the death of Charles I., and to take
the oath of allegiance in the precise way in which it was
dictated to him, he was sentenced to quit his native land within
two months. Having repaired to Rotterdam, he preached
occasionally to the Scottish congregation there, and devoted the
remainder of his life to the cultivation of Biblical literature.
He died in that city on the 9th of August 1672, in the seventieth
year of his age.
It was this same Livingstone that was so blessed in awakenings.
By a sermon which he preached in 1630 at the Kirk-of-Shotts, on
the Monday after the dispensation of the Lord's Supper, five
hundred souls, it is believed, were converted. On a similar
occasion, at Holywood, in the north of Ireland, in one day, he
was the instrument of awakening double that number to inquiry
after salvation. (See Brief Historical Relation of the Life of
John Livingston in "Select Biographies," vol. i., Wodrow Society,
1845.)]
(_RESIGNATION--ENJOYMENT--STATE OF THE CHURCH_.)
MY REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I
long to hear from you, and to be refreshed with the comforts of The
Bride of our Lord Jesus in Ireland. I suffer with you in grief, for
the dash that your desires to be at New England have received of late;
but if our Lord, who hath skill to bring up His children, had not seen
it your best, it would not have befallen you. Hold your peace, and
stay yourselves upon the Holy One of Israel. Hearken to what He hath
said in crossing of your desires; He will speak peace to His people.
I am here removed from my flock, and silenced, and confined in
Aberdeen, for the testimony of Jesus. And I have been confined in
spirit also with desertions and challenges. I gave in a bill of
quarrels, and complaints of unkindness against Christ, who seemed to
have cast me over the dyke of the vineyard as a dry tree, and
separated me from the Lord's inheritance; but high, high and loud
praises be to our royal crowned King in Zion, that He hath not burnt
the dry branch. I shall yet live, and see His glory.
Your mother-Church, for her whoredom, is like to be cast off. The
bairns may break their hearts to see such chiding betwixt the husband
and the wife. Our clergy is upon a reconciliation with the Lutherans;
and the Doctors are writing books, and drawing up a common confession,
at the Council's command. Our Service Book is proclaimed with sound
of trumpet. The night is fallen down upon the prophets! Scotland's
day of visitation is come. It is time for the bride to weep, while
Christ is a-saying that He will choose another wife. But our sky will
clear again; the dry branch of cut-down Lebanon will bud again and be
glorious, and they shall yet plant vines upon our mountains.
Now, my dear brother, I write to you for this end, that ye may help me
to praise; and seek help of others with you, that God may be glorified
in my bonds. My Lord Jesus hath taken the withered, dry stranger, and
His prisoner broken in heart, into His house of wine. Oh, oh, if ye,
and all Scotland, and all our brethren with you, knew how I am
feasted! Christ's honey-combs drop comforts. He dineth with His
prisoner, and the King's spikenard casteth a smell. The devil cannot
get it denied that we suffer for the apple of Christ's eye, His royal
prerogatives, as King and Lawgiver. Let us not fear or faint. He will
have His Gospel once again rouped in Scotland, and have the matter
going to voices, to see who will say, "Let Christ be crowned King in
Scotland." It is true that Antichrist stirreth his tail; but I love a
rumbling and raging devil in the kirk (since the Church militant
cannot or may not want a devil to trouble her), rather than a subtle
or sleeping devil. Christ never yet got a bride without stroke of
sword. It is now nigh the Bridegroom's entering into His chamber; let
us awake and go in with Him.
I bear your name to Christ's door; I pray you, dear brother, forget me
not. Let me hear from you by a letter; and I charge you, smother not
Christ's bounty towards me. I write what I have found of Him in the
house of my pilgrimage. Remember my love to all our brethren and
sisters there.
The Keeper of the vineyard watch for His besieged city, and for you.
Your brother, and fellow-sufferer,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Feb. 7, 1637_.
XCI.--_To_ MR. EPHRAIM MELVIN.
[EPHRAIM MELVIN, or MELVILLE, was first ordained minister of
Queensferry, and afterwards translated to Linlithgow, where he
died. His ministry was signally blessed of God for bringing many
to the saving knowledge of the truth, among whom were some who
afterwards became eminent ministers of the Gospel in their day.
One of these was the famous Mr. James Durham of Glasgow.
Happening, with his pious wife, a daughter of the laird of
Duntervie, to pay a visit to her mother, also a religious woman,
in Queensferry, when the sacrament of the Lord's Supper was to
be observed in that place, his mother-in-law, upon the Saturday,
desired him to go with her to hear sermon. Being then a stranger
to true religion, he was disinclined to go, and said, with a tone
of indifference, "that he had not come there to hear sermon;" but
upon being pressed, to gratify his pious relative, he went. The
discourse which he heard, though plain and ordinary, was
delivered with an affection and earnestness that arrested the
attention of Durham, and so impressed him, that on coming home he
said to his mother-in-law, "Your minister preached very
seriously, and I shall not need to be pressed to go to hear
to-morrow." Accordingly he went, and Mr. Melvin, choosing for his
text these words, "To you which believe, He is precious," 1 Peter
ii. 7, opened up the preciousness of Christ with such unction and
seriousness, that it proved, by the power of the Holy Spirit, the
means of his conversion. In that sermon he closed with Christ,
and then took his seat at the Lord's Table, though to that day he
had been an absolute stranger to believing. He was accustomed
afterwards to call Mr. Melvin his father, when he spoke of him or
to him. On another occasion, Mr. Melvin, by a sermon which he
preached at Stewarton, when a probationer and chaplain to the
excellent Lady Boyd, was the instrument of converting Mr. John
Stirling in the fourteenth or sixteenth year of his age--one who
proved a useful minister in his day, "Some say also," remarks
Wodrow, "that he was a spiritual father to Mr. John Dury of
Dalmeny, a man much esteemed of in his time, as having a taking
and soaring gift of preaching, much like Mr. William Guthrie's
gift." When Rutherford heard of Melvin's death, he is represented
to have said, "And is Ephraim dead? He was an interpreter among a
thousand." (Wodrow's "Anal.," vol. iii.)]
(_THE IDOLATRY OF KNEELING AT THE COMMUNION_.)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I received your letter, and am contented,
with all my heart, that our acquaintance in our Lord continue.
I am wrestling as I dow, up the mount with Christ's cross: my Second
is kind and able to help.
As for your questions, because of my manifold distractions, and
letters to multitudes, I have not time to answer them. What shall be
said in common for that shall be imparted to you; for I am upon these
questions. Therefore spare me a little, for the Service Book would
take a great time. But I think; "Sicut deosculatio religiosa imaginis,
aut etiam elementorum, est in se idololatria externa, etsi intentio
deosculandi, tota, quanta in actu est, feratur in Deum πρωτοτυπὸν;
ita, geniculatio coram pane, quando, nempe, ex instituto,
totus homo externus et internus versari debeat circa elementaria
signa, est adoratio relativa, et adoratio ipsius panis. Ratio:
Intentio adorandi objectum materiale, non est de essentiâ externæ
adorationis, ut patet in deosculatione religiosâ. Sic geniculatio
coram imagine Babylonicâ est externa adoratio imaginis, etsi tres
pueri mente intendissent adorare Jehovam. Sic, qui ex metu solo, aut
spe pretii, aut inanis gloriæ, geniculatur coram aureo vitulo
Jeroboami (quod ab ipso rege, qui nullâ religione inductus, sed
libidine dominandi tantum, vitulum erexit, factitatum esse, textus
satis luculenter clamat), adorat vitulum externâ adoratione. Esto
quod putaret vitulum esse meram creaturam, et honore nullo dignum:
quia geniculatio, sive nos nolumus, sive volumus, ex instituto Dei et
naturæ, in actu religioso, est symbolum religiosæ adorationis. Ergo,
sicut panis significat corpus Christi, etsi absit actus omnis nostræ
intentionis; sic religiosa geniculatio, sublatâ omni intentione
humanâ, est externa adoratio panis, coram quo adoramus, ut coram signo
vicario et repræsentativo Dei." [As the religious homage done to an
image, or even to elements, is in itself an external act of idolatry,
in so far as the act is concerned, although the _intention_ of such
homage may be directed to God the Great First Cause,--so the act of
kneeling to a piece of bread, seeing that, according to the ordinance,
the whole man, internal and external, ought to be engaged in the
elementary signs, is a relative act of worship and an adoration of the
bread itself. The reason is: an _intention_ to worship a material
object is not of the essence of external adoration, as appears in a
religious act of homage. Thus, the bending of the knee before the
Babylonish image is an external act of worship, even though the three
youths had no intention to worship any but the true God; and in like
manner, those who, from fear or the hope of reward or vain-glory, bend
the knee to Jeroboam's golden calf (which the text clearly enough
proclaims to have been done by the king himself, from no religious
motive but the mere desire to rule), do pay adoration to the calf by
the external act, although, no doubt, they may suppose the calf a mere
created object and unworthy of honour,--because the act of homage,
whether we mean it or not, is, from the ordinance of God and nature, a
symbol of worship. Therefore, as the bread denotes the body of Christ
(even though that idea be not present to the mind), so in like manner,
kneeling, when used as a religious service, is the external adoration
of that bread, in presence of which we bow as before the delegated
representative of God, be our intention what it may.][189]
[189] The Latin is to be accounted for as being an extract from some
learned treatise. It is in substance what we find in Calderwood's
"Altare Damascenum," p. 595.
Thus recommending you to God's tender mercy, I desire that you would
remember me to God. Sanctification will settle you most in the truth.
Grace be with you, Brother in Christ Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
XCII.--_To_ ROBERT GORDON _of Knockbrex_.
(_VISITS OF CHRIST--THE THINGS WHICH AFFLICTION TEACHES._)
MY VERY WORTHY AND DEAR FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.
Though all Galloway should have forgotten me, I would have expected a
letter from you ere now; but I will not expound it to be forgetfulness
of me.
Now, my dear brother, I cannot show you how matters go betwixt Christ
and me. I find my Lord going and coming seven times a day. His visits
are short; but they are both frequent and sweet. I dare not for my
life think of a challenge of my Lord. I hear ill tales, and hard
reports of Christ, from The Tempter and my flesh; but love believeth
no evil. I may swear that they are liars, and that apprehensions make
lies of Christ's honest and unalterable love to me. I dare not say
that I am a dry tree, or that I have no room at all in the vineyard;
but yet I often think that the sparrows are blessed, who may resort to
the house of God in Anwoth, from which I am banished.
Temptations, that I supposed to be stricken dead and laid upon their
back, rise again and revive upon me; yea, I see that while I live,
temptations will not die. The devil seemeth to brag and boast as much
as if he had more court with Christ than I have; and as if he had
charmed and blasted my ministry, that I shall do no more good in
public. But his wind shaketh no corn.[190] I will not believe that
Christ would have made such a mint to have me to Himself, and have
taken so much pains upon me as He hath done, and then slip so easily
from possession, and lose the glory of what He hath done. Nay, since I
came to Aberdeen, I have been taken up to see the new land, the fair
palace of the Lamb; and will Christ let me see heaven, to break my
heart, and never give it to me? I shall not think my Lord Jesus giveth
a dumb earnest, or putteth His seals to blank paper, or intendeth to
put me off with fair and false promises. I see that now which I never
saw well before. (1.) I see faith's necessity in a fair day is never
known aright; but now I miss nothing so much as faith. Hunger in me
runneth to fair and sweet promises; but when I come, I am like a
hungry man that wanteth teeth, or a weak stomach having a sharp
appetite that is filled with the very sight of meat, or like one
stupefied with cold under the water, that would fain come to land, but
cannot grip anything casten to him. I can let Christ grip me, but I
cannot grip Him. I love to be kissed, and to sit on Christ's knee; but
I cannot set my feet to the ground, for afflictions bring the cramp
upon my faith. All that I dow do is to hold out a lame faith to
Christ, like a beggar holding out a stump, instead of an arm or leg,
and cry, "Lord Jesus, work a miracle!" Oh, what would I give to have
hands and arms to grip strongly, and fold heartsomely about Christ's
neck, and to have my claim made good with real possession! I think
that my love to Christ hath feet in abundance, and runneth swiftly to
be at Him, but it wanteth hands and fingers to apprehend Him. I think
that I would give Christ every morning my blessing, to have as much
faith as I have love and hunger; at least, I miss faith more than love
or hunger.
[190] Does no harm.
(2.) I see that mortification, and to be crucified to the world, is
not so highly accounted of by us as it should be. Oh, how heavenly a
thing it is to be dead, and dumb, and deaf to this world's sweet
music! I confess it hath pleased His Majesty to make me laugh at the
children, who are wooing this world for their match. I see men lying
about the world, as nobles about a king's court; and I wonder what
they are all doing there. As I am at this present, I would scorn to
court such a feckless and petty princess, or buy this world's kindness
with a bow of my knee. I scarce now either hear or see what it is that
this world offereth me; I know that it is little which it can take
from me, and as little that it can give me. I recommend mortification
to you above anything; for, alas! we but chase feathers flying in the
air, and tire our own spirits for the froth and over-gilded clay of a
dying life. One sight of what my Lord hath let me see within this
short time is worth a world of worlds.
(3.) I thought courage, in the time of trouble for Christ's sake, a
thing that I might take up at my foot. I thought that the very
remembrance of the honesty of the cause would be enough. But I was a
fool in so thinking. I have much ado now to win to one smile. But I
see that joy groweth up in heaven, and it is above our short arm.
Christ will be steward and dispenser Himself, and none else but He;
therefore, now, I count much of one dramweight of spiritual joy. One
smile of Christ's face is now to me as a kingdom; and yet He is no
niggard to me of comforts. Truly I have no cause to say that I am
pinched with penury, or that the consolations of Christ are dried up:
for He hath poured down rivers upon a dry wilderness the like of
me,[191] to my admiration; and in my very swoonings, He holdeth up my
head, and stayeth me with flagons of wine, and comforteth me with
apples. My house and bed are strewed with kisses of love. Praise,
praise with me. Oh, if ye and I betwixt us could lift up Christ upon
His throne, howbeit all Scotland should cast Him down to the ground!
[191] Such as I am!
My brother's case toucheth me near. I hope that ye will be kind to
him, and give him your best counsel.
Remember my love to your brother, to your wife, and G. M.[192] Desire
him to be faithful, and to repent of his hypocrisy; and say that I
wrote it to you. I wish him salvation. Write to me your mind anent C.
E. and C. Y., and their wives, and I. G., or any others in my parish.
I fear that I am forgotten amongst them; but I cannot forget them.
[192] All those whose initials are given are understood to have been
parishioners of his at Anwoth.
The prisoner's prayers and blessings come upon you. Grace, grace be
with you.
Your brother, in the Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Feb. 9, 1637_.
XCIII.--_To the Honourable and truly Noble Lady, the_ VISCOUNTESS OF
KENMURE.
(_GOD'S DEALINGS WITH SCOTLAND--THE EYE TO BE DIRECTED HEAVENWARD._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your Ladyship.--I long to hear
from you.
I am here waiting, if a good wind, long looked for, will at length
blow into Christ's sails, in this land. But I wonder if Jesus be not
content to suffer more yet in His members and cause, and in the beauty
of His house, rather than He should not be avenged upon this land. I
hear that many worthy men, who see more in the Lord's dealings than I
can take up with my dim sight, are of a contrary mind, and do believe
that the Lord is coming home again to His house in Scotland. I hope He
is on His journey that way; yet I look not but that He will feed this
land with their own blood, before He establish His throne amongst us.
I know that your honour is not looking after things here-away. Ye have
no great cause to think that your stock and principal is under the
roof of these visible heavens; and I hope that ye would think yourself
a beguiled and cozened soul if it were so. I should be sorry to
counsel your Ladyship to make a covenant with time, and this life; but
rather desire you to hold in fair generals, and afar off from this
ill-founded heaven that is on this side of the water. It speaketh
somewhat when our Lord bloweth the bloom off our daft hopes in this
life, and loppeth the branches off our worldly joys, well nigh the
root, on purpose that they should not thrive. Lord, spill my fool's
heaven in this life, that I may be saved for ever. A forfeiture of the
saint's part of the yolk and marrow of short-laughing worldly
happiness, is not such a real evil as our blinded eyes conceive.
I am thinking long now for some deliverance more than before. But I
know I am in an error. It is possible I am not come to that measure of
trial which the Lord is seeking in His work. If my friends in Galloway
would effectually do for my deliverance, I should exceedingly rejoice;
but I know not but the Lord hath a way whereof He will be the only
reaper of praises.
Let me know with the bearer how the child is. The Lord be his father
and tutor, and your only comforter. There is nothing here, where I am,
but profanity and atheism. Grace, grace, be with your Ladyship.
Your Ladyship's, at all obliged obedience, in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Feb. 13, 1637_.
XCIV.--_To the Noble and Christian Lady, the_ VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.
(_THE TIMES--CHRIST'S SWEETNESS IN TROUBLE--LONGING AFTER HIM._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I would not omit the
occasion to write to your Ladyship with the bearer. I am glad that the
child is well. God's favour, even in the eyes of men, be seen upon
him!
I hope that your Ladyship is thinking upon these sad and woful days
wherein we now live, when our Lord, in His righteous judgment, is
sending the kirk the gate she is going to Rome's brothel-house to seek
a lover of her own, seeing that she hath given up with Christ her
Husband. Oh, what sweet comfort, what rich salvation, is laid up for
those who had rather wash and roll their garments in their own blood,
than break out[193] from Christ by apostacy! Keep yourself in the love
of Christ, and stand far aback from the pollutions of the world. Side
not with these times; and hold off from coming nigh the signs of a
conspiracy with those that are now come out against Christ, that ye
may be one kept for Christ only. I know that your Ladyship thinketh
upon this, and how you may be humbled for yourself and this
backsliding land; for I avouch, that wrath from the Lord is gone out
against Scotland. I think aye the longer the better of my royal and
worthy Master. He is become a new Well-beloved to me now, in renewed
consolations, by the presence of the Spirit of grace and glory.
Christ's garments smell of the powder of the merchant, when He cometh
out of His ivory chambers. Oh, His perfumed face, His fair face, His
lovely and kindly kisses, have made me, a poor prisoner, see that
there is more to be had of Christ in this life than I believed! We
think all is but a little earnest, a four-hours, a small tasting, that
we have, or that is to be had, in this life (which is true compared
with the inheritance); but yet I know it is more: it is the kingdom of
God within us. Wo, wo is me, that I have not ten loves for that one
Lord Jesus; and that love faileth, and drieth up in loving Him; and
that I find no way to spend my love desires, and the yolk of my heart
upon that fairest and dearest One. I am far behind with my narrow
heart. Oh, how ebb a soul have I to take in Christ's love! for let
worlds be multiplied, according to angels' understanding, in millions,
whill they weary themselves, these worlds would not contain the
thousandth part of His love. Oh, if I could yoke in amongst the thick
of angels, and seraphims, and now glorified saints, and could raise a
new love-song of Christ, before all the world! I am pained with
wondering at new-opened treasures in Christ. If every finger, member,
bone, and joint, were a torch burning in the hottest fire in hell, I
would that they could all send out love praises, high songs of praise
for evermore, to that Plant of Renown, to that royal and high Prince,
Jesus my Lord. But alas! His love swelleth in me, and findeth no vent.
Alas! what can a dumb prisoner do or say for Him! O for an ingine to
write a book of Christ and His love! Nay, I am left of Him bound and
chained with His love. I cannot find a loosed soul to lift up His
praises, and give them out to others. But oh! my day-light hath thick
clouds; I cannot shine in His praises. I am often like a ship plying
about to seek the wind; I sail at great leisure, and cannot be blown
upon that loveliest Lord. Oh, if I could turn my sails to Christ's
right airth, and that I had my heart's wishes of His love! But I but
mar His praises: nay, I know no comparison of what Christ is, and what
His worth is. All the angels, and all the glorified, praise Him not so
much as in halves. Who can advance Him, or utter all His praises? I
want nothing; unknown faces favour me; enemies must speak good of the
truth; my Master's cause purchaseth commendations.
[193] _Off_, probably.
The hopes of my enlargement, from appearances, are cold. My faith hath
no bed to sleep upon but omnipotency. The good-will of the Lord, and
His sweetest presence, be with you and that child. Grace and peace be
yours.
Your Ladyship's, in all duty in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
XCV.--_To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, the_ VISCOUNTESS OF
KENMURE.
(_CHRIST'S CROSS SWEET--HIS COMING TO BE DESIRED--JEALOUS OF ANY
RIVAL._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your Ladyship. I would not omit
to write a line with this Christian bearer; one in your Ladyship's own
case, driven near to Christ, in and by her affliction. I wish that my
friends in Galloway forget me not. However it be, Christ is so good, I
will have no other tutor, suppose I could have wale and choice of ten
thousand beside. I think now five hundred heavy hearts for Him too
little. I wish that Christ, now weeping, suffering, and contemned of
men, were more dear and desirable to many souls than He is. I am sure
that if the saints wanted Christ's cross, so profitable, and so sweet,
they might, for the gain and glory of it, wish it were lawful either
to buy or borrow His cross. But it is a mercy that the saints have it
laid to their hand for nothing; for I know no sweeter way to heaven
than through free grace and hard trials together; and one of these
cannot well want another.
O that time would post faster, and hasten our looked-for communion
with that fairest, fairest among the sons of men! O that the day would
favour us and come, and put Christ and us into each other's arms! I am
sure that a few years will do our turn, and the soldier's hour-glass
will soon run out. Madam, look to your lamp, and look for your Lord's
Coming, and let your heart dwell aloof from that sweet child. Christ's
jealousy will not admit of two equal loves in your Ladyship's heart.
He must have one, and that the greatest; a little one to a creature
may and must suffice a soul married to Him. "Thy Maker is thine
Husband" (Isa. liv. 5). I would wish you well, and my obligations
these many years byegone speak no less to me; but more I can neither
wish, nor pray, nor desire for your Ladyship, than Christ singled and
waled out from all created good things, or Christ howbeit wet in His
own blood, and wearing a crown of thorns. I am sure that the saints,
at their best, are but strangers to the weight and worth of the
incomparable sweetness of Christ. He is so new, so fresh in excellency
every day of new, to those that search more and more in Him, as if
heaven could furnish us as many new Christs (if I may so speak) as
there are days betwixt Him and us; and yet He one and the same. Oh, we
love an unknown lover when we love Christ!
Let me hear how the child is every way. The prayers of a prisoner of
Christ be upon him. Grace for evermore, even whill glory perfect it,
be with your Ladyship.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
XCVI.--_To the Noble and Christian Lady, the_ VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.
(CHRIST ALL WORTHY--ANWOTH.)
MADAM,--Notwithstanding the great haste of the bearer, I would bless
your Ladyship on paper, desiring, that since Christ hath ever envied
that the world should have your love by Him,[194] that ye give
yourself out for Christ, and that ye may be for no other. I know none
worthy of you but Christ.
[194] More than He; setting Him aside.
Madam, I am either suffering for Christ, and this is the sure and good
way; or, I have done with heaven, and shall never see God's face,
which, I bless Him, cannot be.
I write my blessing to that sweet child, that ye have borrowed from
God. He is no heritage to you, but a loan; love him as folks do
borrowed things. My heart is heavy for you.
They say that the kirk of Christ hath neither son nor heir, and
therefore that her enemies shall possess her. But I know that she is
not that ill-friended; her Husband is her heir, and she His heritage.
If my Lord would be pleased, I should desire that some be dealt with,
for my return to Anwoth. But if that never be, I thank God Anwoth is
not heaven; preaching is not Christ. I hope to wait on.
Let me hear how your child is, and your Ladyship's mind and hopes of
him; for it would ease my heart to know that he is well.
I am in good terms with Christ; but oh, my guiltiness! Yet He bringeth
not pleas betwixt Him and me to the streets, and before the sun.
Grace, grace for ever more be with your Ladyship.
Your Ladyship's, at all obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
XCVII.--_To_ ALEXANDER GORDON _of Earlston_.
(_CHRIST ENDEARED BY BITTER EXPERIENCES--SEARCHINGS OF HEART--FEAR FOR
THE CHURCH._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received your
letter, which refreshed me. Except from your son, and my brother, I
have seen few letters from my acquaintance in that country; which
maketh me heavy. But I have the company of a Lord who can teach us all
to be kind, and hath the right gate of it. Though, for the present, I
have seven ups and downs every day, yet I am abundantly comforted and
feasted with my King and Well-beloved daily. It pleaseth Him to come
and dine with a sad prisoner, and a solitary stranger. His spikenard
casteth a smell. Yet my sweet hath some sour mixed with it, wherein I
must acquiesce; for there is no reason that His comforts be too cheap,
seeing they are delicates. Why should He not make them so to His own?
But I verily think now, that Christ hath led me up to a nick in
Christianity that I was never at before; I think all before was but
childhood and bairn's play. Since I departed from you, I have been
scalded, whill the smoke of hell's fire went in at my throat, and I
would have bought peace with a thousand years' torment in hell; and I
have been up also, after these deep down-castings and sorrows, before
the Lamb's white throne, in my Father's inner court, the Great King's
dining-hall. And Christ did cast a covering of love on me. He hath
casten a coal into my soul, and it is smoking among the straw and
keeping the hearth warm. I look back to what I was before, and I laugh
to see the sand-houses I built when I was a child.
At first the remembrance of the many fair feast-days with my Lord
Jesus in public, which are now changed into silent Sabbaths, raised a
great tempest, and (if I may speak so) made the devil ado in my soul.
The devil came in, and would prompt me to make a plea with Christ, and
to lay the blame on Him as a hard master. But now these mists are
blown away, and I am not only silenced as to all quarrelling, but
fully satisfied. Now, I wonder that any man living can laugh upon the
world, or give it a hearty good-day. The Lord Jesus hath handled me
so, that, as I am now disposed, I think never to be in this world's
commons again for a night's lodging. Christ beareth me good company.
He hath eased me, when I saw it not, lifting the cross off my
shoulders, so that I think it to be but a feather, because underneath
are everlasting arms. God forbid it come to bartering or nifferings of
crosses; for I think my cross so sweet, that I know not where I would
get the like of it. Christ's honey-combs drop so abundantly, that they
sweeten my gall. Nothing breaketh my heart, but that I cannot get the
daughters of Jerusalem to tell them of my Bridegroom's glory. I charge
you in the name of Christ, that ye tell all that ye come to of it; and
yet it is above telling and understanding. Oh, if all the kingdom were
as I am, except my bonds! They know not the love-kisses that my only
Lord Jesus wasteth on a dawted prisoner. On my salvation, this is the
only way to the New City. I know that Christ hath no dumb seals. Would
He put His privy-seal upon blank paper? He hath sealed my sufferings
with His comforts. I write this to confirm you. I write now what I
have seen as well as heard. Now and then my silence burneth up my
spirit; but Christ hath said, "Thy stipend is running up with interest
in heaven, as if thou wert preaching;" and this from a King's mouth
rejoiceth my heart. At other times I am sad, dwelling in Kedar's
tents.
There are none (that I yet know of) but two persons in this town that
I dare give my word for. And the Lord hath removed my brethren and my
acquaintance far from me; and it may be, that I shall be forgotten in
the place where the Lord made me the instrument to do some good. But I
see that this is vanity in me; let Him make of me what He pleaseth, if
He make salvation out of it to me. I am tempted and troubled, that all
the fourteen prelates[195] should have been armed of God against me
only, while the rest of my brethren are still preaching. But I dare
not say one word but this, "It is good, Lord Jesus, because Thou hast
done it."
[195] See Letter LXVIII.
Wo is me for the virgin-daughter! wo is me for the desolation of the
virgin-daughter of Scotland! Oh, if my eyes were a fountain of tears,
to weep day and night for that poor widow-kirk, that poor miserable
harlot! Alas, that my Father hath put to the door on my poor
harlot-mother! O for that cloud of black wrath, and fury of the
indignation of the Lord, that is hanging over the land!
Sir, write to me, I beseech you. I pray you also be kind to my
afflicted brother. Remember my love to your wife; and the prayer and
blessing of the prisoner of Christ be on you. Frequent your meetings
for prayer and communion with God: they would be sweet meetings to me.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Feb. 16, 1637_.
XCVIII.--_To the Worthy and much Honoured MR. ALEXANDER COLVILLE of
Blair._
[ALEXANDER COLVILLE of Blair (which is in the parish of Carnock,
Fifeshire) early commended himself to the gratitude of Rutherford
by befriending him under prelatic persecutions. When Rutherford
in 1630 was summoned before the High Commission Court, this
gentleman, being one of the judges, exerted himself in his
behalf; and his influence, together with the absence of the
Archbishop of St Andrews, occasioned the desertion of the diet,
and put a stop to the proceedings against the obnoxious minister.
(See Letter XI.) As we learn from this letter, he also showed
much kindness to Rutherford's brother on his trial before the
High Commission in November 1636, for his nonconformity and
zealous support of Mr. Glendinning, the injured minister of
Kirkcudbright. Colville was an elder of the Church, and his name
appears on the roll of the members of the General Assemblies
1645, 1646, 1648, and 1649, and of the Commissions appointed by
these Assemblies. We find him after this, in co-operation with
another individual, delating Mr. Robert Bruce, minister of
Ballagray, of which they were parishioners, on the ground that
they were not edified by his doctrine.]
(_INCREASING EXPERIENCE OF CHRIST'S LOVE--GOD WITH HIS SAINTS._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. The bearer
hereof, Mr. R. F., is most kind to me; I desire you to thank him. But
none is so kind as my only royal King and Master, whose cross is my
garland. The King dineth with His prisoner, and His spikenard casteth
a smell. He hath led me up to such a pitch and nick of joyful
communion with Himself, as I never knew before. When I look back to
by-gones, I judge myself to have been a child at A, B, C with Christ.
Worthy Sir, pardon me, I dare not conceal it from you; it is as a fire
in my bowels. (In His presence who seeth me I speak it!) I am pained,
pained with the love of Christ; He hath made me sick, and wounded me.
Hunger for Christ outrunneth faith; I miss faith more than love. Oh,
if the three kingdoms would come and see! Oh, if they knew His
kindness to my soul! It hath pleased Him to bring me to this, that I
will not strike sails to this world, nor flatter it, nor adore this
clay idol that fools worship. As I am now disposed, I think that I
shall neither borrow nor lend[196] with it; and yet I get my meat from
Christ with nurture; for seven times a-day I am lifted up, and casten
down. My dumb Sabbaths burden my heart, and make it bleed. I want not
fearful challenges, and jealousies sometimes of Christ's love, that He
hath casten me over the dyke of the vineyard as a dry tree. But this
is my infirmity. By His grace I take myself in these ravings. It is
kindly that faith and love both be sick, and fevers are kindly to most
joyful communion with Christ.
[196] "Neither borrow nor lend," have no dealings with it.
Ye are blessed who avouch Christ openly before The Prince of this
kingdom, whose eyes are upon you. It is your glory to lift Him up on
His throne, to carry His train, and bear up the hem of His robe royal.
He hath an hiding-place for Mr. Alexander Colville against the storm:
go on, and fear not what man can do. The saints seem to have the worst
of it (for apprehension can make a lie of Christ and His love); but it
is not so. Providence is not rolled upon unequal and crooked wheels;
all things work together for the good of those who love God, and are
called according to His purpose. Ere it be long, we shall see the
white side of God's providence.
My brother's case hath moved me not a little. He wrote to me your care
and kindness. Sir, the prisoner's blessings and prayers, I trust,
shall not go past you. He that is able to keep you, and to present you
before the presence of His face with joy, establish your heart in the
love of Christ.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Feb. 19, 1637_.
XCIX.--_To EARLSTON, Younger._
[WILLIAM GORDON, to whom this letter is addressed, was the eldest
son of Alexander Gordon of Earlston, formerly noticed (Letter
LIX.). He exhibited in youth much of the piety and public spirit
of his father. His well-known attachment to the cause of
Presbytery rendered him early obnoxious to Charles II. and the
Malignant party. When that monarch came to Scotland in 1651, and
held a Parliament, he was fined for his compliance with the
English; and on his refusing to pay the fine, soldiers were sent
out to extract it by compulsion from his tenants, who were almost
ruined by the driving away of their cattle and the robbing of
their houses. He was again fined by Middleton, in 1662, and
summoned before the Privy Council. On the 1st of March 1664,
sentence of banishment from the kingdom was pronounced upon him
for keeping conventicles, and for refusing to engage to refrain
from such meetings in all time coming. Whither he went is not
known; but the Council, on being petitioned, granted him licence
to return until the 15th of March ensuing, at the same time
requiring him to "depart and remain forth of the kingdom the said
day, in case the said Lords give order therefor" ("Decr. Secr.
Council," Register House, Edin.). After this he remained at home,
but his end was near, for, setting out to join the forces of the
Covenanters at Bothwell, in the beginning of the year 1679, after
the defeat (either on the day of it, or the day after), he was
met by a party of English dragoons, who, upon his refusing to
surrender, killed him on the spot. "Thus fell," says Howie, in
the "Scots Worthies," "a renowned Gordon, a gentleman of good
parts and endowments; a man devoted unto religion and godliness,
and a prime supporter of the Presbyterian interest in that part
of the country where he lived." He was married to Mary, daughter
of Sir John Hope, second baronet of Craighall, and President of
the Court of Session, by his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir
Archibald Murray of Blackbarony. His eldest son, Alexander,
succeeded him.]
[Illustration: BOTHWELL BRIDGE.]
(_CHRIST'S WAYS MISUNDERSTOOD--HIS INCREASING KINDNESS--SPIRITUAL
DELICACY--HARD TO BE DEAD TO THE WORLD._)
HONOURED AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I
received your letter, which refreshed my soul.
I thank God that the court is closed; I think shame of my part of it.
I pass now from my unjust summons of unkindness libelled against
Christ my Lord. He is not such a Lord and Master as I took Him to be;
verily He is God, and I am dust and ashes. It took Christ's glooms to
be as good as Scripture speaking wrath; but I have seen the other side
of Christ, and the white side of His cross now. I behoved to come to
Aberdeen to learn a new mystery in Christ, that His promise is better
to be believed than His looks, and that the devil can cause Christ's
glooms to speak a lie to a weak man. Nay, verily, I was a child
before; all by-gones are but bairn's play. I would I could begin to be
a Christian in sad earnest. I need not blame Christ if I be not one,
for He hath showed me heaven and hell in Aberdeen. But the truth is,
for all my sorrow, Christ is nothing in my debt, for comforts have
refreshed my soul. I have heard and seen Him in His sweetness, so as I
am almost saying, it is not He that I was wont to meet with. He
smileth more cheerfully, His kisses are more sweet and soul-refreshing
than the kisses of the Christ I saw before were, though He be the
same. Or rather, the King hath led me up to a measure of joy and
communion with my Bridegroom that I never attained to before, so that
often I think that I will neither borrow nor lend with this
world.[197] I will not strike sail to crosses, nor flatter them to be
quit of them, as I have done. Come all crosses, welcome, welcome! so
that I may get my heartful of my Lord Jesus. I have been so near Him,
that I have said, "I take instruments that this is the Lord. Leave a
token behind Thee, that I may never forget this." Now, what can Christ
do more to dawt one of His poor prisoners? Therefore, Sir, I charge
you in the name of my Lord Jesus, praise with me, and show unto others
what He hath done unto my soul. This is the fruit of my sufferings,
that I desire Christ's name may be spread abroad in this kingdom, in
my behalf. I hope in God not to slander Him again. Yet in this, I get
not my feasts without some mixture of gall; neither am I free of old
jealousies, for He hath removed my lovers and friends far from me; He
hath made my congregation desolate, and taken away my crown. And my
dumb Sabbaths are like a stone tied to a bird's foot, that wanteth not
wings,--they seem to hinder me to fly, were it not that I dare not say
one word, but, "Well done, Lord Jesus."
[197] See Letter XCVIII.
We can, in our prosperity, sport ourselves, and be too bold with
Christ; yea, be that insolent, as to chide with Him; but under the
water we dare not speak. I wonder now of my sometime boldness, to
chide and quarrel Christ, to nickname providence when it stroked me
against the hair; for now, swimming in the waters, I think my will is
fallen to the ground of the water: I have lost it. I think that I
would fain let Christ alone, and give Him leave to do with me what He
pleaseth, if He would smile upon me. Verily, we know not what an evil
it is to spill and indulge ourselves, and to make an idol of our will.
I was once that I would not eat except I had waled meat; now I dare
not complain of the crumbs and parings under His table. I was once
that I would make the house ado, if I saw not the world carved and set
in order to my liking; now I am silent when I see God hath set
servants on horseback, and is fattening and feeding the children of
perdition. I pray God, that I may never find my will again. Oh, if
Christ would subject my will to His, and trample it under His feet,
and liberate me from that lawless lord!
Now, Sir, in your youth gather fast; your sun will mount to the
meridian quickly, and thereafter decline. Be greedy of grace. Study
above anything, my dear brother, to mortify your lusts. Oh, but pride
of youth, vanity, lusts, idolizing of the world, and charming
pleasures, take long time to root them out! As far as ye are advanced
in the way to heaven, as near as ye are to Christ, as much progress as
ye have made in the way of mortification, ye will find that ye are far
behind, and have most of your work before you. I never took it to be
so hard to be dead to my lusts and to this world. When the day of
visitation cometh, and your old idols come weeping about you, ye will
have much ado not to break your heart. It is best to give up in time
with them, so as ye could at a call quit your part of this world for a
drink of water, or a thing of nothing. Verily I have seen the best of
this world, a moth-eaten, threadbare coat: I purpose to lay it aside,
being now old and full of holes. O for my house above, not made with
hands!
Pray for Christ's prisoner; and write to me. Remember my love to your
mother. Desire her, from me, to make ready for removing; the Lord's
tide will not bide her; and to seek an heavenly mind, that her heart
may be often there. Grace be with you.
Yours, and Christ's prisoner,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Feb. 20, 1637_.
C.--_To the_ LADY CARDONESS.
(_THE ONE THING NEEDFUL--CONSCIENTIOUS ACTING IN THE WORLD--ADVICE
UNDER DEJECTING TRIALS._)
MY DEARLY BELOVED, AND LONGED-FOR IN THE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and
peace be to you--I long to hear how your soul prospereth, and how the
kingdom of Christ thriveth in you. I exhort you and beseech you in the
bowels of Christ, faint not, weary not. There is a great necessity of
heaven; ye must needs have it. All other things, as houses, lands,
children, husband, friends, country, credit, health, wealth, honour,
may be wanted; but heaven is your one thing necessary, the good part
that shall not be taken from you. See that ye buy the field where the
pearl is. Sell all, and make a purchase of salvation. Think it not
easy; for it is a steep ascent to eternal glory; many are lying dead
by the way, that were slain with security.
I have now been led by my Lord Jesus to such a nick in Christianity,
as I think little of former things. Oh, what I want! I want so many
things, that I am almost asking if I have anything at all. Every man
thinketh he is rich enough in grace, till he take out his purse, and
tell his money, and then he findeth his pack but poor and light in the
day of a heavy trial. I found that I had not to bear my expenses, and
I should have fainted, if want and penury had not chased me to the
storehouse of all.
I beseech you to make conscience of your ways. Deal kindly, and with
conscience, with your tenants. To fill a breach or a hole, make not a
greater breach in the conscience. I wish plenty of love to your soul.
Let the world be the portion of bastards; make it not yours. After the
last trumpet is blown, the world and all its glory will be like an old
house that is burnt to ashes, and like an old fallen castle, without a
roof. Fy, fy upon us, fools! who think ourselves debtors to the world!
My Lord hath brought me to this, that I would not give a drink of cold
water for this world's kindness. I wonder that men long after, love,
or care for these feathers. It is almost an unco world to me. To think
that men are so mad as to block with dead earth! To give out
conscience, and get in clay again, is a strange bargain!
I have written my mind at length to your husband. Write to me again
his case. I cannot forget him in my prayers; I am looking up (Ps. v.
3). Christ hath some claim to him. My counsel is, that ye bear with
him when passion overtaketh him: "A soft answer putteth away wrath."
Answer him in what he speaketh, and apply yourself in the fear of God
to him; and then ye will remove a pound weight of your heavy cross,
that way, and so it shall become light.
When Christ hideth Himself, wait on, and make din till He return; it
is not time then to be carelessly patient. I love to be grieved when
He hideth His smiles. Yet believe His love in a patient onwaiting and
believing in the dark. Ye must learn to swim and hold up your head
above the water, even when the sense of His presence is not with you
to hold up your chin. I trust in God that He will bring your ship safe
to land. I counsel you to study sanctification, and to be dead to this
world. Urge kindness on Knockbrex. Labour to benefit by his company;
the man is acquainted with Christ.
I beg the help of your prayers, for I forget not you. Counsel your
husband to fulfil my joy, and to seek the Lord's face. Show him, from
me, that my joy and desire is to hear that he is in the Lord. God
casteth him often in my mind, I cannot forget him. I hope Christ and
he have something to do together. Bless John from me. I write
blessings to him, and to your husband, and to the rest of your
children. Let it not be said, "I am not in your house," through
neglect of the Sabbath exercise.
Your lawful and loving pastor in his only, only Lord,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Feb. 20, 1637_.
CI.--_To_ JONET MACCULLOCH.
[No doubt this lady was one of the _Maccullochs_ of _Ardwell_, a
residence near Anwoth, next to Cardoness. The Letter, CLXXXIV.,
to Mr. Thomas Macculloch of _Nether Ardwell_, relates apparently
to another of the same house. The house is very pleasantly
situated near the mouth of the Fleet. The old mansion-house of
Ardwell, or Ardwall, bore the name of "Nether Ardwell;" it
occupied a spot about a hundred yards distant from the present
mansion, lying towards the shore, a little below where the bay
receives the waters of the Fleet. "Higher Ardwell" was towards
the north: a farm near Bushy Bield (Rutherford's old manse, which
was originally a mansion house) still bears that name. The family
of the Maccullochs, who were intimate with Rutherford, still
retain the property. They are an ancient family; for William
Macculloch got a feu charter of the lands of Nether Ardwell from
his cousin, or uncle, Macculloch of Cardoness and Myreton, in
1587. It is the wife of this William Macculloch, in all
probability, of whom the following lines speak, on the tomb at
the south side of the raised pile in the old churchyard:--
Dumb, senseless statue of a painted stone,
What means this boast? Thy captive is but clay.
Thou gainest nothing but some lifeless bones;
Her choicest part, her soul, triumphs for aye.
Then, gazing friends, do not her death deplore;
You lose, while she doth gain for evermore.
"Margrat Maklellan, goodwife of Ardwell, departed this life 1620.
Ætatis suæ 31."
We may add, the grand-daughter of this lady, to whom the lines on
the monument refer, was mother of the martyr, John Bell of
Whyteside.]
(_CHRIST'S SUFFICIENCY--STEDFASTNESS IN THE TRUTH._)
DEAR SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear how
your soul prospereth.
I am as well as a prisoner of Christ can be, feasted and made fat with
the comforts of God. Christ's kisses are made sweeter to my soul than
ever they were. I would not change my Master with all the kings of
clay upon the earth. Oh! my Well-beloved is altogether lovely and
loving. I care not what flesh can do.
I persuade my soul that I delivered the truth of Christ to you. Slip
not from it, for any bosts or fear of men. If ye go against the truth
of Christ that I now suffer for, I shall bear witness against you in
the day of Christ.
Sister, fasten your grip fast on Christ. Follow not the guises of this
sinful world. Let not this clay portion of earth take up your soul: it
is the portion of bastards, and ye are a child of God; and, therefore,
seek your Father's heritage. Send up your heart to see the dwelling
house and fair rooms in the New City. Fy, fy upon those who cry, "Up
with the world and down with conscience and heaven!" We have bairn's
wits, and therefore we cannot prize Christ aright. Counsel your
husband, and mother, to make them ready for eternity. That day is
drawing nigh.
Pray for me, the prisoner of Christ. I cannot forget you.
Your lawful pastor and brother,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Feb. 20, 1637_.
CII.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Knockgray_.
[Knockgray is a farm-like house, enclosed by trees, at the foot
of the hills of Carsphairn. It is on your right hand, coming from
Earlston to Carsphairn, after passing the little hill of
Dundeuch. "Alexander Gordon of Knockgray," says Livingstone, who
personally knew him, "was a rare Christian in his time. His
chief, the Laird of Lochinvar, put him out of his land mostly for
his religion; yet, being thereafter restored by that man's son,
Lord Viscount of Kenmure, he told me the Lord had blessed him, so
as he had ten thousand sheep" ("Select Biograph." vol. i.). From
what Rutherford says in a subsequent letter addressed to
him,--"Christ's ways were known to you long before I (who am but
a child) knew anything of Him,"--it may be concluded that he was
much older than Rutherford. The venerable old man was apprehended
in his own house by one Captain Stuart; by whom also he seems to
have been carried to Edinburgh, and there incarcerated.
Alexander, his son (the grandson of Rutherford's correspondent),
had also his own share of persecution under the intolerant reign
of Charles II. He suffered much by garrisons put into his house,
by the loss of household articles which they carried away, and by
the forfeiture of his property. (Wodrow, MSS. vol. xxxvii.)]
(_GROUNDS OF PRAISE--AFFLICTION TEMPTS TO MISREPRESENT
CHRIST--IDOLS._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long to hear how
your soul prospereth. I expected letters from you ere now.
As for myself, I am here in good case, well feasted with a great King.
At my coming here, I was that bold as to take up a jealousy of
Christ's love. I said I was cast over the dyke of the Lord's vineyard,
as a dry tree; but I see that if I had been a withered branch, the
fire would have burned me long ere now. Blessed be His high name, who
hath kept sap in the dry tree. And now, as if Christ hath done the
wrong, He hath made the mends, and hath miskent my ravings; for a man
under the water cannot well command his wit, far less his faith and
love. Because it was a fever, my Lord Jesus forgave me that amongst
the rest. He knoweth that in our afflictions we can find a spot in the
fairest face that ever was, even in Christ's face. I would not have
believed that a gloom should have made me to misken my old Master; but
we must be whiles[198] sick. Sickness is but kindly to both faith and
love. But oh, how exceedingly is a poor dawted prisoner obliged to
sweet Jesus! My tears are sweeter to me than the laughter of the
fourteen prelates is to them. The worst of Christ, even His chaff, is
better than the world's corn.
[198] Occasionally.
Dear Brother, I beseech you, I charge you in the name and authority of
the Son of God, to help me to praise His Highness; and I charge you
also to tell all your acquaintance, that my Master may get many
thanks. Oh, if my hairs, all my members, and all my bones, were
well-tuned tongues, to sing the high praises of my great and glorious
King! Help me to lift Christ up upon His throne, and to lift Him up
above the thrones of the clay-kings, the dying sceptre-bearers of this
world. The prisoner's blessing, the blessing of him that is separate
from his brethren, be upon them all who will lend me a lift in this
work. Show this to that people with you to whom I sometimes preached.
Brother, my Lord hath brought me to this, that I will not flatter the
world for a drink of water. I am no debtor to clay; Christ hath made
me dead to that. I now wonder that ever I was such a child, long
since, as to beg at such beggars! Fy upon us, who woo such a
black-skinned harlot, when we may get such a fair, fair match in
heaven! O that I could give up this clay-idol, this masked, painted,
over-gilded dirt, that Adam's sons adore! We make an idol of our will.
As many lusts in us, as many gods; we are all godmakers. We are like
to lose Christ, the true God, in the throng of those new and false
gods. Scotland hath cast her crown off her head; the virgin-daughter
hath lost her garland. Wo, wo to our harlot mother. Our day is coming;
a time when women shall wish they had been childless, and fathers
shall bless miscarrying wombs and dry breasts; many houses great and
fair shall be desolate. This kirk shall sit on the ground all the
night, and the tears shall run down her cheeks. The sun hath gone down
upon her prophets. Blessed are the prisoners of hope, who can run into
their stronghold, and hide themselves for a little, till the
indignation be overpast.
Commend me to your wife, your daughters, your son-in-law, and to A. T.
Write to me the case of your kirk. Grace be with you.
I am much moved for my brother. I entreat for your kindness and
counsel to him.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Feb. 23, 1637_.
CIII.--_To the LADY CARDONESS, Elder_.
(_CHRIST AND HIS CAUSE RECOMMENDED--HEAVENLY-MINDEDNESS--CAUTION
AGAINST COMPLIANCES--ANXIETY ABOUT HIS PARISH._)
WORTHY AND WELL-BELOVED IN THE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you. I long to hear from you on paper, that I may know how your soul
prospereth. My desire and longing is to hear that ye walk in the
truth, and that ye are content to follow the despised but most lovely
Son of God.
I cannot but recommend Him unto you, as your Husband, your
Well-beloved, your Portion, your Comfort, and your Joy. I speak this
of that lovely One, because I praise and commend the ford (as we used
to speak) as I find it. He hath watered with His sweet comforts an
oppressed prisoner. He was always kind to my soul; but never so kind
as now, in my greatest extremities. I dine and sup with Christ. He
visiteth my soul the visitations of love, in the night-watches.
I persuade my soul that this is the way to heaven, and His own truth
I now suffer for. I exhort you in the name of Christ to continue in
the truth which I delivered unto you. Make Christ sure to your soul;
for your day draweth nigh to an end. Many slide back now, who seemed
to be Christ's friends, and prove dishonest to Him; but be ye faithful
to the death, and ye shall have the crown of life. This span-length of
your days (whereof the spirit of God speaketh, Ps. xxxix. 5) shall,
within a short time, come to a finger-breadth, and at length to
nothing. Oh, how sweet and comfortable will the feast of a good
conscience be to you, when your eye-strings shall break, your face wax
pale, and the breath turn cold, and your poor soul come sighing to the
windows of the house of clay of your dying body, and shall long to be
out, and to have the jailor to open the door, that the prisoner may be
set at liberty! Ye draw nigh the water-side: look your accounts; ask
for your Guide to take you to the other side. Let not the world be
your portion; what have ye to do with dead clay? Ye are not a bastard,
but a lawfully begotten child; therefore set your heart on the
inheritance. Go up beforehand, and see your lodging. Look through all
your Father's rooms in heaven: in your Father's house are many
dwelling-places. Men take a sight of lands ere they buy them. I know
that Christ hath made the bargain already; but be kind to the house ye
are going to, and see it often. Set your heart on things that are
above, where Christ is at the right hand of God.
Stir up your husband to mind his own country at home. Counsel him to
deal mercifully with the poor people of God under him. They are
Christ's, and not his; therefore, desire him to show them merciful
dealing and kindness, and to be good to their souls. I desire you to
write to me. It may be that my parish forget me; but my witness is in
heaven that I dow not, I do not, forget them. They are my sighs in the
night, and my tears in the day. I think myself like a husband plucked
from the wife of his youth. O Lord, be my Judge: what joy would it be
to my soul to hear that my ministry hath left the Son of God among
them, and that they are walking in Christ! Remember my love to your
son and daughter. Desire them from me to seek the Lord in their youth,
and to give Him the morning of their days. Acquaint them with the word
of God and prayer.
Grace be with you. Pray for the prisoner of Christ; in my heart I
forget you not.
Your lawful and loving pastor, in his only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 6, 1637_.
CIV.--_To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my LADY VISCOUNTESS
OF KENMURE._
(_PAINSTAKING IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST--UNUSUAL ENJOYMENT OF HIS
LOVE--NOT EASY TO BE A CHRISTIAN--FRIENDS MUST NOT MISLEAD._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am refreshed with your
letter. The right hand of Him to whom belong the issues from death
hath been gracious to that sweet child. I dow not, I do not, forget
him and your Ladyship in my prayers.
Madam, for your own case. I love careful, and withal, _doing_
complaints of want of practice; because I observe many who think it
holiness enough to complain, and set themselves at nothing: as if to
say "I am sick" could cure them. They think complaints a good charm
for guiltiness. I hope that ye are wrestling and struggling on, in
this dead age, wherein folks have lost tongue, and legs, and arms for
Christ. I urge upon you, Madam, a nearer communion with Christ, and a
growing communion. There are curtains to be drawn by in Christ, that
we never saw, and new foldings of love in Him. I despair that ever I
shall win to the far end of that love, there are so many plies in it.
Therefore, dig deep; and sweat, and labour, and take pains for Him;
and set by as much time in the day for Him as you can. He will be won
with labour.
I, His exiled prisoner, sought Him, and He hath rued upon me, and hath
made a moan for me, as He doth for His own,[199] and I know not what
to do with Christ. His love surroundeth and surchargeth me. I am
burdened with it; but oh, how sweet and lovely is that burden! I dow
not keep it within me. I am so in love with His love, that if His love
were not in heaven, I should be unwilling to go thither. Oh, what
weighing, and what telling is in Christ's love! I fear nothing now so
much as the losing[200] of Christ's cross, and of the love-showers
that accompany it. I wonder what He meaneth, to put such a slave at
the board-head, at His own elbow. O that I should lay my black mouth
to such a fair, fair, fair face as Christ's! But I dare not refuse to
be loved. The cause is not in me, why He hath looked upon me, and
loved me for He got neither bud nor hire of me. It cost me nothing, it
is good-cheap love. Oh, the many pound-weights of His love under which
I am sweetly pressed!
[199] Jer. xxxi. 20; Hos. xi. 8.
[200] The fear to be deprived of it. Early editions give "_laughing_,"
which seems a misprint.
Now, Madam, I persuade you, that the greatest part but play with
Christianity; they put it by-hand easily. I thought it had been an
easy thing to be a Christian, and that to seek God had been at the
next door; but O the windings, the turnings, the ups and the downs
that He hath led me through! And I see yet much way to the ford. He
speaketh with my reins in the night-season; and in the morning, when I
awake, I find His love-arrows, that He shot at me, sticking in my
heart. Who will help me to praise? Who will come to lift up with me,
and set on high, His great love? And yet I find that a fire-flaught of
challenges will come in at midsummer, and question me. But it is only
to keep a sinner in order.
As for friends, I will not think the world to be the world if that
well go not dry. I trust, in God, to use the world as a canny or
cunning master doth a knave servant (at least God give me grace to do
so!): he giveth him no handling nor credit, only he intrusteth him
with common errands, wherein he cannot play the knave. I pray God that
I may not give this world the credit of my joys, and comforts, and
confidence. That were to put Christ out of His office. Nay, I counsel
you, Madam, from a little experience, let Christ keep the great seal,
and intrust Him so as to hing your vessels, great and small, and pin
your burdens, upon the Nail fastened in David's house (Isa. xxii. 23).
Let me not be well, if ever they get the tutoring of my comforts.
Away, away with irresponsal tutors that would play me a slip, and then
Christ would laugh at me, and say, "Well-wared! try again ere you
trust." Now woe is me, for my whorish mother, the Kirk of Scotland!
Oh, who will bewail her!
Now the presence of the great Angel of the Covenant be with you and
that sweet child.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.
CV.--_To a Gentlewoman, upon the death of her husband._
(_RESIGNATION UNDER BEREAVEMENT--HIS OWN ENJOYMENT OF CHRIST'S LOVE._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.
I cannot but rejoice, and withal be grieved, at your case. It hath
pleased the Lord to remove your husband (my friend, and this kirk's
faithful professor[201]) soon to his rest; but shall we be sorry that
our loss is his gain, seeing his Lord would want his company no
longer? Think not much of short summons; for, seeing he walked with
his Lord in his life, and desired that Christ should be magnified in
him at his death, ye ought to be silent and satisfied. When Christ
cometh for His own, He runneth fast: mercy, mercy to the saints goeth
not at leisure. Love, love in our Redeemer is not slow; and withal He
is homely with you, who cometh at His own hand to your house, and
intromitteth, as a friend, with anything that is yours. I think He
would fain borrow and lend with you. Now he shall meet with the
solacious company, the fair flock, and blessed bairn-teme of the
first-born, banqueting at the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is a
mercy that the poor wandering sheep get a dyke-side in this stormy
day, and a leaking ship a safe harbour, and a sea-sick passenger a
sound and soft bed ashore. Wrath, wrath, wrath from the Lord is coming
upon this land that he hath left behind him. Know, therefore, that the
wounds of your Lord Jesus are the wounds of a lover, and that He will
have compassion upon a sad-hearted servant; and that Christ hath said,
He will have the husband's room in your heart. He loved you in your
first husband's time, and He is but wooing you still. Give Him heart
and chair, house and all. He will not be made companion with any
other. Love is full of jealousies: He will have all your love; and who
should get it but He? I know that ye allow it upon Him. There are
comforts both sweet and satisfying laid up for you: wait on. First
Christ; He is an honest debtor.
[201] Confessor.
Now for mine own case. I think some poor body would be glad of a
dawted prisoner's leavings. I have no scarcity of Christ's love: He
hath wasted more comforts upon His poor banished servant than would
have refreshed many souls. My burden was once so heavy, that one ounce
weight would have casten the balance, and broken my back; but Christ
said, "Hold, hold!" to my sorrow, and hath wiped a bluthered face,
which was foul with weeping. I may joyfully go my Lord's errands, with
wages in my hands. Deferred hopes need not make me dead-sweir (as we
used to say): my cross is both my cross and my reward. O that men
would sound His high praise! I love Christ's worst reproaches, His
glooms, His cross, better than all the world's plastered glory. My
heart is not longing to be back again from Christ's country; it is a
sweet soil I am come to. I, if any in the world, have good cause to
speak much good of Him. Oh, hell were a good-cheap price to buy Him
at! Oh, if all the three kingdoms were witnesses to my pained, pained
soul, overcome with Christ's love!
I thank you most kindly, my dear sister, for your love to, and tender
care of, my brother. I shall think myself obliged to you if ye
continue his friend. He is more to me than a brother now, being
engaged to suffer for so honourable a Master and cause.
Pray for Christ's prisoner; and grace, grace be with you.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.
CVI.--_To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my LADY KENMURE._
(_WEAK ASSURANCE--GRACE DIFFERENT FROM LEARNING--SELF-ACCUSATIONS._)
MADAM,--Upon the offered opportunity of this worthy bearer, I could
not omit to answer the heads of your letter.
_1stly_, I think not much to set down on paper some good things anent
Christ (that sealed and holy thing),[202] and to feed my soul with raw
wishes to be one with Christ; for a wish is but broken and half love.
But verily to obey this, "Come and see," is a harder matter! Oh, I
have smoke rather than fire, and guessings rather than real assurances
of Him. I have little or nothing to say, that I am as one who hath
found favour in His eyes; but there is some pining and mismannered
hunger, that maketh me miscall and nickname Christ as a changed Lord.
But alas! it is ill-flitten. I cannot believe without a pledge. I
cannot take God's word without a caution, as if Christ had lost and
sold His credit, and were not in my books responsal, and law-biding.
But this is _my_ way; for _His_ way is, "After that ye believed, ye
were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. i. 13).
[202] Luke i. 35.
_2ndly_, Ye write, "that I am filled with knowledge, and stand not in
need of these warnings." But certainly my light is dim when it cometh
to handy-grips. And how many have full coffers, and yet empty bellies!
Light, and the saving use of light, are far different. Oh, what need
then have I to have the ashes blown away from my dying-out fire! I may
be a book-man, and (yet) be an idiot and stark fool in Christ's way!
Learning will not beguile Christ. The Bible beguiled the Pharisees,
and so may I be misled. Therefore, as night-watchers hold one another
waking by speaking to one another, so have we need to hold one another
on foot: sleep stealeth away the light of watching, even the light
that reproveth sleeping. I doubt not but more would fetch heaven, if
they believed not heaven to be at the next door. The world's negative
holiness--"no adulterer, no murderer, no thief, no cozener"--maketh
men believe they are already glorified saints. But the sixth chapter
to the Hebrews may affright us all, when we hear that men may take (a
taste) of the gifts and common graces of the Holy Spirit, and a taste
of the powers of the life to come, to hell with them. Here is
reprobate silver, which yet seemeth to have the King's image and
superscription upon it!
_3rdly_, I find you complaining of yourself. And it becometh a sinner
so to do. I am not against you in that. Sense of death is a sib
friend, and of kin and blood to life; the more sense, the more life;
the more sense of sin, the less sin. I would love my pain, and
soreness, and my wounds, howbeit these should bereave me of my night's
sleep, better than my wounds without pain. Oh, how sweet a thing it is
to give Christ His handful of broken arms and legs, and disjointed
bones!
_4thly_, Be not afraid for little grace. Christ soweth His living
seed, and He will not lose His seed. If He have the guiding of my
flock and state, it shall not miscarry. Our spilled works, losses,
deadness, coldness, wretchedness, are the ground upon which the Good
Husbandman laboureth.
_5thly_, Ye write, "that His compassions fail not, notwithstanding
that your service to Christ miscarrieth." To which I answer:
God forbid that there were buying and selling, and blocking for as
good again, betwixt Christ and us; for then free grace might go to
play, and a Saviour sing dumb, and Christ go to sleep. But we go to
heaven with light shoulders; and all the bairn-teme, and the vessels
great and small that we have, are fastened upon the sure Nail (Isa.
xxii. 23, 24). The only danger is, that we give grace more to do than
God giveth it; that is, by turning His grace into wantonness.
_6thly_, Ye write, that "few see your guiltiness, and that ye cannot
be free with many, as with me." I answer: Blessed be God, that Christ
and we are not heard before men's courts. It is at home, betwixt Him
and us, that pleas are taken away.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
CVII.--_To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my LADY BOYD._
(_CONSCIOUSNESS OF DEFECTS NO ARGUMENT OF CHRIST BEING UNKNOWN--HIS
EXPERIENCE IN EXILE._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you, from God our Father, and
from our Lord Jesus Christ.
I cannot but thank your Ladyship for your letter, that hath refreshed
my soul. I think myself many ways obliged to your Ladyship for your
love to my afflicted brother, now embarked with me in that same cause.
His Lord hath been pleased to put him on truth's side. I hope that
your Ladyship will befriend him with your counsel and countenance in
that country, where he is a stranger. And your Ladyship needeth not
fear but your kindness to His own will be put up into Christ's
accounts.
Now, Madam, for your Ladyship's case. I rejoice exceedingly that the
Father of lights hath made you see that there is a nick in
Christianity, which ye contend to be at; and that is, to quit the
right eye, and the right hand, and to keep the Son of God. I hope your
desire is to make Him your garland, and that your eye looketh up the
mount, which certainly is nothing but the new creature. Fear not,
Christ will not cast water upon your smoking coal; and then who else
dare do it if He say nay? Be sorry at corruption, and be not secure.
That companion lay with you in your mother's womb, and was as early
friends with you as the breath of life. And Christ will not have it
otherwise; for He delighteth to take up fallen bairns, and to mend
broken brows. Binding up of wounds is His office (Isa. lxi. 1).
_First_, I am glad that Christ will get employment of His calling in
you. Many a whole soul is in heaven which was sickerer than ye are. He
is content that ye lay broken arms and legs on His knee, that He may
spelk them. _Secondly_, hiding of His face is wise love. His love is
not fond, doting, and reasonless, to give your head no other pillow
whill ye be in at heaven's gates, but to lie between His breasts, and
lean upon His bosom. Nay, His bairns must often have the frosty cold
side of the hill, and set down both their bare feet among thorns. His
love hath eyes, and, in the meantime, is looking on. Our pride must
have winter weather to rot it. But I know that Christ and ye will not
be heard;[203] ye will whisper it over betwixt yourselves, and agree
again. For the anchor-tow abideth fast within the vail; the end of it
is in Christ's ten fingers: who dare pull, if He hold? "I, the Lord
thy God, will hold thy right hand, saying, Fear not, I will help thee.
Fear not, Jacob" (Isa. xli. 13, 14). The sea-sick passenger shall come
to land; Christ will be the first to meet you on the shore. I hope
that your ladyship will keep the King's highway. Go on (in the
strength of the Lord), in haste, as if ye had not leisure to speak to
the innkeepers by the way. He is over beyond time, on the other side
of the water, who thinketh long for you.
[203] No one will ever hear the chiding. See Note, Letter LXX.
For my unfaithful self, Madam, I must say a word. At my first coming
hither, the devil made many a black lie of my Lord Jesus, and said the
court was changed, and He was angry, and would give an evil servant
his leave at mid-term.[204] But He gave me grace not to take my leave.
I resolved to bide summons, and sit, howbeit it was suggested and
said, "What should be done with a withered tree, but over the dyke
with it?" But now, now (I dare not, I dow not keep it up!), who is
feasted as His poor exiled prisoner. I think shame of the board-head
and the first mess, and the royal King's dining-hall, and that my
black hand should come upon such a Ruler's table. But I cannot mend
it; Christ must have His will: only He paineth my soul so sometimes
with His love, that I have been nigh to pass modesty, and to cry out.
He hath left a smoking, burning coal in my heart, and gone to the door
Himself, and left me and it together. Yet it is not desertion; I know
not what it is, but I was never so sick for Him as now. I durst not
challenge my Lord, if I got no more for heaven; it is a dawting cross.
I know He hath other things to do than to play with me, and to
trindle an apple with me, and that this feast will end. O for
instruments in God's name, that this is He! and that I may make use of
it, when, it may be, a near friend within me will say, and when it
will be said by a challenging devil, "Where is thy God?" Since I know
that it will not last, I desire but to keep broken meat. But let no
man after me slander Christ for His cross.
[204] Discharge His servant before the term.
The great Lord of the Covenant, who brought from the dead the great
Shepherd of His sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant establish
you, and keep you and yours to His appearance.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.
CVIII.--_To the_ LADY KASKEBERRY.
[This lady was wife to _James Schoneir_ of _Kaskeberrie_, or
Kaskeberrian, in Fife. His name occurs as elder to the General
Assembly in 1647, and he was ruling elder in the Presbytery of
Kirkcaldy. (Lamont's "Diary," 1650.) His lady died in 1655, and
was buried in Kinglassie church.]
(_GRATITUDE FOR KINDNESS--CHRIST'S PRESENCE FELT._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear how your
Ladyship is. I know not how to requite your Ladyship's kindness; but
your love to the saints, Madam, is laid up in heaven. I know it is for
your well-beloved Christ's sake that ye make His friends so dear to
you, and concern yourself so much in them.
I am, in this house of pilgrimage, every way in good case: Christ is
most kind and loving to my soul. It pleaseth Him to feast, with His
unseen consolations, a stranger and an exiled prisoner; and I would
not exchange my Lord Jesus with all the comfort out of heaven. His
yoke is easy, and His burden is light.
This is His truth which I now suffer for; for He hath sealed it with
His blessed presence. I know that Christ shall yet win the day, and
gain the battle in Scotland. Grace be with you.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.
CIX.--_To the_ LADY EARLSTON.
[This was probably Lady Earlston, senior, as may be inferred from
Rutherford's reminding her that her "afternoon sun will soon go
down." Her maiden name was Elizabeth Gordon, she being the
daughter of John Gordon of Muirfad, near Creeton, in the north
extremity of Kirkmabreck, next parish to Anwoth (the same who was
afterwards designed of Penningham), the second son of Sir John
Gordon of Lochinvar, and brother to Sir John Gordon of Lochinvar,
father of first Lord Kenmure. (Nisbet's "Heraldry," vol. i.)
_Muirfad_ is now a little croft,--a plain, one-storeyed house,
with a clump of willows and oaks round it, near Palnure Station.]
(FOLLOWING CHRIST NOT EASY--CHILDREN NOT TO BE OVER-LOVED--JOY IN THE
LORD.)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear how your
soul prospereth. I exhort you to go on in your journey; your day is
short, and your afternoon sun will soon go down. Make an end of your
accounts with your Lord; for death and judgment are tides that bide no
man. Salvation is supposed to be at the door, and Christianity is
thought an easy task; but I find it hard, and the way strait and
narrow, were it not that my Guide is content to wait on me, and to
care for a tired traveller. Hurt not your conscience with any known
sin. Let your children be as so many flowers borrowed from God: if the
flower die or wither, thank God for a summer loan of them, and keep
good neighbourhood, to borrow and lend[205] with Him. Set your heart
upon heaven, and trouble not your spirit with this clay-idol of the
world, which is but vanity, and hath but the lustre of the rainbow in
the air, which cometh and goeth with a flying March-shower. Clay is
the idol of bastards, not the inheritance of the children.
[205] To be on good terms with.
My Lord hath been pleased to make many unknown faces laugh upon me,
and hath made me well content of a borrowed fireside, and a borrowed
bed. I am feasted with the joys of the Holy Ghost, and my royal King
beareth my charges honourably. I love the smell of Christ's sweet
breath better than the world's gold. I would I had help to praise Him.
The great Messenger of the Covenant, the Son of God, establish you on
your Rock, and keep you to the day of His coming.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.
[Illustration: IRVINE.]
CX.--_To his Reverend and Dear Brother_, MR. DAVID DICKSON.
[DAVID DICKSON (sometimes shortened into DICK), born in 1583, was
the only son of Mr. John Dickson, a pious and wealthy merchant in
Glasgow. After finishing his studies at the University of
Glasgow, he was admitted Professor of Philosophy in that
University, which office he held for eight years. In 1618 he was
ordained minister of Irvine, where he laboured with much
acceptance and success. In 1622, refusing to practise the
ceremonies then imposed upon the Church by the Perth Articles, he
was summoned by James Law, Archbishop of Glasgow, to appear
before the High Commission Court. He appeared, but declined the
authority of the Court in ecclesiastical matters. The result was,
that he was deprived of his charge at Irvine, and banished to
Turriff, in Aberdeenshire. There, however, he was employed every
Sabbath by the incumbent of the parish. Yielding to the
solicitations of the Earl of Eglinton and the town of Irvine, the
Bishop granted him liberty to return to his old charge about the
end of July 1623. He resumed his pastoral duties with increased
ardour; and in addition to his Sabbath labours, preached every
Monday (the market-day of Irvine), for the benefit of the rural
population. Great numbers, particularly from the neighbouring
parish of Stewarton, attending these meetings, the result was the
famous Stewarton Revival, which lasted from 1623 to 1630. After
the renewal of the National Covenant, in 1638, Dickson, who was
then distinguished as a leader, in conjunction with Alexander
Henderson and Andrew Cant, was sent on a mission to Aberdeen, to
explain the Covenant to the inhabitants who were hostile to it,
when the celebrated controversy between the three commissioners
and the doctors of Aberdeen, on the subject, took place. In 1642
he was appointed Professor of Divinity in the University of
Glasgow, in which office he was associated with the celebrated
Robert Baillie. He was afterwards translated to the same office
in the University of Edinburgh. In the differences between the
Resolutioners and Protesters, he took the side of the former;
but, on seeing how matters went upon the restoration of Charles
II., is reported to have said to one who visited him on his
deathbed, that the Protesters were the truest prophets. He died
in December 1662. Dickson was a man of more than ordinary
talents, of extensive theological acquirements, of a very
intrepid spirit, and a popular preacher. He was the author of
various works, which have been highly esteemed.]
(_GOD'S DEALINGS--THE BITTER SWEETENED--NOTES ON SCRIPTURE._)
REVEREND AND DEAREST BROTHER,--What joy have I out of heaven's gates,
but that my Lord Jesus be glorified in my bonds? Blessed be ye of the
Lord who contribute anything to my obliged and indebted praises. Dear
brother, help me, a poor dyvour, to pay the interest; for I cannot
come nigh to render the principal. It is not jest nor sport which
maketh me to speak and write as I do: I never before came to that nick
or pitch of communion with Christ that I have now attained to. For my
confirmation, I have been these two Sabbaths or three in private,
taking instruments in the name of God, that my Lord Jesus and I have
kissed each other in Aberdeen, the house of my pilgrimage. I seek not
an apple to play me with (He knoweth, whom I serve in the spirit!),
but a seal. I but beg earnest, and am content to suspend and frist
glory whill supper-time. I know that this world will not last with me;
for my moonlight is noonday light, and my four hours above my feasts
when I was a preacher; at which time, also, I was embraced very often
in His arms. But who can blame Christ to take me on behind Him (if I
may say so), on His white horse, or in His chariot, paved with love,
through a water? Will not a father take his little dawted Davie in his
arms, and carry him over a ditch or a mire? My short legs could not
step over this lair, or sinking mire; and, therefore, my Lord Jesus
will bear me through. If a change come, and a dark day (so being that
He will keep my faith without flaw or crack), I dare not blame Him,
howbeit I get no more whill I come to heaven. But ye know that the
physic behoved to have sugar: my faith was fallen aswoon, and Christ
but held up a swooning man's head. Indeed, I pray not for a dawted
bairn's diet: He knoweth that I would have Christ, sour or sweet,--any
way, so being it be Christ indeed. I stand not now upon pared apples,
or sugared dishes, but I cannot blame Him to give, and I must gape and
make a wide mouth. Since Christ will not pantry up joys, He must be
welcome who will not bide away. I seek no other fruit than that He may
be glorified. He knoweth that I would take hard fare to have His name
set on high.
I bless you for your counsel. I hope to live by faith, and swim
without a mass or bundle of joyful sense under my chin; at least to
venture, albeit I should be ducked.
Now for my case: I think that the council should be essayed, and the
event referred to God;--duties are ours, and events are God's.
I shall go through yours upon the Covenant at leisure, and write to
you my mind thereanent; and anent the Arminian contract betwixt the
Father and the Son. I beseech you, set to, to go through
Scripture.[206] Yours on the Hebrews is in great request with all who
would be acquainted with Christ's Testament. I purpose, God willing,
to set about Hosea, and to try if I can get it to the press here.
[206] Rutherford seems here to allude to a plan of furnishing short
commentaries on the whole Bible, which was suggested and set on foot
by Dickson at the beginning of the seventeenth century. "The Hebrews,"
as is mentioned in this letter, together with "The Psalms" and
"Matthew," were undertaken by Dickson; and "Hosea," which Rutherford
here intimates his intention to undertake, but never accomplished, was
contributed by Hutchison in his stead. In the Preface to one of the
earliest editions of the Letters, a complaint is made that some one
was secreting a MS. commentary of Rutherford's upon "Isaiah."
It refresheth me much that ye are so kind to my brother. I hope your
counsel will do him good. I recommend him to you, since I am so far
from him. I am glad that the dying servant of God, famous and faithful
Mr. Cunningham, sealed your ministry before he fell asleep.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.
CXI.--_To_ JEAN BROWN.
(_CHRIST'S UNTOLD PRECIOUSNESS--A WORD TO HER BOY._)
WELL-BELOVED AND DEAR SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I
received your letter, which I esteem an evidence of your Christian
affection to me, and of your love to my honourable Lord and Master. My
desire is, that your communion with Christ may grow, and that your
reckonings may be put by-hand with your Lord ere you come to the
water-side.
Oh, who knoweth how sweet Christ's kisses are! Who hath been more
kindly embraced and kissed than I, His banished prisoner? If the
comparison could stand, I would not exchange Christ with heaven
itself. He hath left a dart and arrow of love in my soul, and it
paineth me till He come and take it out. I find pain of those wounds,
because I would have possession. I know now that this worm-eaten
apple, the plastered, rotten world, which the silly children of this
world are beating, and buffeting, and pulling each other's ears for,
is a portion for bastards, good enough; and that it is all they have
to look for. I am not offended that my adversaries stay at home at
their own fireside, with more yearly rent than I. Should I be angry
that the Goodman of this house of the world casteth a dog a bone to
hurt his teeth? He hath taught me to be content with a borrowed
fireside, and an unco bed; and I think I have lost nothing, the income
is so great. Oh, what telling is in Christ! Oh, how weighty is my fair
garland, my crown, my fair supping-hall in glory, where I shall be
above the blows and buffetings of prelates! Let this be your desire,
and let your thoughts dwell much upon that blessedness that abideth
you in the other world. The fair side of the world will be turned to
you quickly, when ye shall see the crown. I hope that ye are near your
lodging. Oh, but I would think myself blessed, for my part, to win to
the house before the shower come on; for God hath a quiver full of
arrows to shoot at and shower down upon Scotland.
Ye have the prayers of a prisoner of Christ. I desire Patrick to give
Christ his young love, even the flower of it; and to put it by all
others. It were good to start soon to the way; he should thereby have
a great advantage in the evil day. Grace be with you.
Yours only in his Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.
CXII.--_To_ MR. JOHN FERGUSHILL.
[MR. JOHN FERGUSHILL'S mother was Janet Kennedy, sister or near
relative to Hugh Kennedy of Ayr. He was at this time minister of
Ochiltree, a parish in the centre of Ayrshire, in the district of
Kyle. When Mr. Robert Blair was translated from Ayr to St.
Andrews by the General Assembly, 1639, Fergushill was, by the
same Assembly, appointed his successor. He died in 1644. He is
mentioned by Livingstone, as one of the "many of the godly and
able ministers" in Scotland. He was a member of the famous
Glasgow Assembly, 1638. Lady Gaitgirth's mansion was near
Ochiltree; see Letter CLXXXVII.]
(_THE ROD UPON GOD'S CHILDREN--PAIN FROM A SENSE OF CHRIST'S LOVE--HIS
PRESENCE A SUPPORT UNDER TRIALS--CONTENTEDNESS WITH HIM ALONE._)
REVEREND AND WELL-BELOVED IN THE LORD,--I was refreshed with your
letter. I am sorry for that lingering and longsome visitation that is
upon your wife; but I know that ye take it as the mark of a lawfully
begotten child, and not of a bastard, to be under your Father's rod.
Till ye be in heaven, it will be but foul weather; one shower up and
another down. The lintel-stone and pillars of the New Jerusalem suffer
more knocks of God's hammer and tool than the common side-wall stones.
And if twenty crosses be written for you in God's book, they will come
to nineteen, and then at last to one, and after that to nothing, but
your head shall lie betwixt Christ's breasts for evermore and His own
soft hand shall dry your face, and wipe away your tears. As for public
sufferings for His truth, your Master also will see to these. Let us
put Him into His own office, to comfort and deliver. The gloom of
Christ's cross is worse than itself.
I cannot keep up what He hath done to my soul. My dear brother, will I
not get help of you to praise, and to lift Christ up on high? He hath
pained me with His love, and hath left a love-arrow in my heart, that
hath made a wound, and swelled me up with desires, so that I am to be
pitied for want of real possession. Love would have the company of the
party loved; and my greatest pain is the want of Him, not of His joys
and comforts, but of a near union and communion.
This is His truth, I am fully persuaded, which I now suffer for; for
Christ hath taken upon Him to be witness to it by His sweet comforts
to my soul; and shall I think Him a false witness? or that He would
subscribe blank paper? I thank His high and dreadful name for what He
hath given. I hope to keep His seal and His pawn till He come and
loose it Himself. I defy hell to put me off it. But He is Christ, and
He hath met with His prisoner; and I took instruments in His own hand,
that it was He, and none other for Him. When the devil fenceth a
bastard-court[207] in my Lord's ground, and giveth me forged summons,
it will be my shame to misbelieve, after such a fair broad seal. And
yet Satan and my apprehension sometimes make a lie of Christ, as if He
hated me. But I dare believe no evil of Christ. If He would cool my
love-fever for Himself with real presence and possession, I would be
rich; but I dare not be mislearned and seek more in that kind, howbeit
it be no shame to beg at Christ's door. I pity my adversaries. I
grudge not that my Lord keepeth them at their own fireside, and hath
given me a borrowed fireside: let the Goodman of the house cast the
dog a bone, why should I take offence? I rejoice that the broken bark
shall come to land, and that Christ will, on the shore, welcome the
sea-sick passenger. We have need of a great stock against this day of
trial that is coming. There is neither chaff nor corn in Scotland, but
it shall once[208] pass through God's sieve. Praise, praise, and pray
for me; for I cannot forget you. I know that ye will be friendly to my
afflicted brother, who is now embarked in the same cause with me. Let
him have your counsel and comforts.
[207] Opens and constitutes an unauthorized court.
[208] Sooner or later.
Remember my love in Christ to your wife; her health is coming, and her
salvation sleepeth not. Ye have the prayers and blessing of a prisoner
of Christ. Sow fast, deal bread plentifully. The pantry-door will be
locked on the bairns, in appearance, ere long. Grace, grace, be with
you.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.
CXIII.--_To his Reverend and Dear Brother_, MR. ROBERT DOUGLAS.
[ROBERT DOUGLAS, one of the ablest and most respected ministers
of the Church of Scotland in his day, was the illegitimate son of
Mr. Douglas, who was the son of Sir G. Douglas, Governor of
Lochleven Castle. (Wodrow's "Analecta," iv. 226.) Having finished
his preparations for the ministry, he was ordained to be chaplain
for the forces that served under the celebrated Gustavus of
Sweden. It is said that, in one of Gustavus' engagements,
surveying the battle from an eminence, and observing something
wrong in the left wing of the army which threatened to prove
disastrous, he either personally or by a messenger acquainted the
commanding officer with the circumstance, and that this
information led to victory. When he left the army, the Swedish
monarch parted with him reluctantly, saying, "There is a man who,
for wisdom and prudence, might be a counsellor to any king in
Europe. He might be a moderator to any assembly in the world; and
he might be a general to conduct any army, for his skill in
military affairs." (_Ibid._ iv. 221.) During this period, he
committed to memory the greater part of the Bible, having almost
no other book to read. Returning to his own country, he was
admitted colleague to Mr. James Simson, minister of Kirkcaldy, in
1630. Thence he was translated to Edinburgh in 1641. For a time
he was deceived by the duplicity of James Sharp, but at last he
detected his real character; and when the traitor (shortly before
he went up to London to be consecrated Archbishop) happened to
meet with him, and addressed him as "Brother," Mr. Douglas,
disgusted at his hypocrisy, exclaimed, "Brother! no more brother.
James, if my conscience had been of the make of yours, I could
have been Bishop of St. Andrews sooner than you." In 1669 he was
admitted indulged minister at Pencaitland, where he died at an
advanced age in 1674, and was buried in Edinburgh. (Wodrow's
"History" and "Analecta.")]
(GREATNESS OF CHRIST'S LOVE REVEALED TO THOSE WHO SUFFER FOR HIM.)
MY VERY REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.--I long to see you on paper. I cannot but write you, that this
which I now suffer for is Christ's truth; because He hath been pleased
to seal my sufferings with joy unspeakable and glorious. I know that
He will not put His seal upon blank paper; Christ hath not dumb seals,
neither will He be a witness to a lie. I beseech you, my dear brother,
to help me to praise, and to lift Christ up on His throne above the
shields of the earth. I am astonished and confounded at the greatness
of His kindness to such a sinner. I know that Christ and I shall never
be even; I shall die in His debt. He hath left an arrow in my heart
that paineth me for want of real possession; and hell cannot quench
this coal of God's kindling. I wish no man to slander Christ or His
cross for my cause; for I have much cause to speak much good of Him.
He hath brought me to a nick and degree of communion with Himself that
I knew not before. The din and gloom of our Lord's cross is more
fearful and hard than the cross itself. He taketh the bairns in His
arms when they come to a deep water; at least, when they lose ground,
and are put to swim, then His hand is under their chin.
Let me be helped by your prayers; and remember my love to your kind
wife. Grace be with you.
Your brother, and Christ's prisoner,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 7, 1637_.
CXIV.--_To the much Honoured WILLIAM RIGG, of Athernie, in Fife, near
Leven._
[WILLIAM RIGG of Athernie, in the capacity of one of the bailies
of Edinburgh, "gave great evidence" (says Livingstone) "that he
had the spirit of a magistrate beyond many, being a terror to all
evil-doers." He took an active part against all attempts to
introduce Prelacy, and contributed liberally to the printing of
such books as "crossed the course of Conformity." In March 1624,
a committee of the Privy Council, by the authority of the King,
deprived Rigg of his office, fined him in fifty thousand pounds
Scots, and ordered him to be warded in Blackness Castle till the
sum was paid, and afterwards to be confined in Orkney. This
sentence, however, was afterwards mitigated. He was distinguished
above most for devoting a large portion of his income to
religious purposes. Such was his liberality, that one said, "To
my certain knowledge, he spends yearly more on pious uses than
all my estate is worth; and mine will be towards 8 or 9000 merks
(about £350) in the year." He was a man of much prayer, and
generally commenced with deep and bitter complaints and
confession of sin, but ended with unspeakable assurance, and joy
and thanksgiving. His death took place on the 2nd of January
1644, and is thus recorded by Sir Thomas Hope, in his "Diary"
(p. 201): "This day, my worthy cousin, William Rigg of Athernie,
departed, at his house of Athernie, having taken bed on Sunday of
before, and died on the third day. The Lord prepare me; for this,
next to my dearest son, is a heavy stroke." The old house of
_Athernie_ stood a little inland from the present mansion; only a
gable of the old house remains. It overlooked a pretty glen
through which runs a burn that falls into the sea near the
churchyard of _Scoonie_.]
(_SUSTAINING POWER OF CHRIST'S LOVE--SATAN'S OPPOSITION--YEARNINGS FOR
CHRIST HIMSELF--FEARS FOR THE CHURCH._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received your
long-looked-for and short letter. I would that ye had spoken more to
me, who stand in need. I find Christ, as ye write, aye the longer the
better; and therefore cannot but rejoice in His salvation, who hath
made my chains my wings, and hath made me a king over my crosses, and
over my adversaries. Glory, glory, glory to His high, high and holy
name! Not one ounce, not one grain-weight more is laid on me than He
hath enabled me to bear; and I am not so much wearied to suffer as
Zion's haters are to persecute. Oh, if I could find a way, in any
measure, to strive to be even with Christ's love! But that I must give
over. Oh, who would help a dyvour to pay praises to the King of
saints, who triumpheth in His weak servants!
I see that if Christ but ride upon a worm or feather, His horse will
neither stumble nor fall. The worm Jacob is made by Him a new, sharp
threshing instrument, having teeth, to thresh the mountains, and beat
them small, and to make the hills as chaff, and to fan them so as the
wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them (Isa.
xli. 14-16). Christ's enemies are but breaking their own heads in
pieces, upon the Rock laid in Zion; and the stone is not removed out
of its place. Faith hath cause to take courage from our very
afflictions; the devil is but a whetstone to sharpen the faith and
patience of the saints. I know that he but heweth and polisheth
stones, all this time, for the new Jerusalem.
But in all this, three things have much moved me, since it hath
pleased my Lord to turn my moon-light into day-light. _First_, He hath
yoked me to work, to wrestle with Christ's love; of longing wherewith
I am sick, pained, fainting, and like to die because I cannot get
Himself; which I think a strange sort of desertion. For I have not
Himself, whom if I had, my love-sickness would cool, and my fever go
away; at least, I should know the heat of the fire of complacency,
which would cool the scorching heat of the fire of desire. (And yet I
have no penury of His love!) And so I dwine, I die, and He seemeth not
to rue on me. I take instruments in His hand, that I would have Him,
but I cannot get Him; and my best cheer is black hunger. I bless Him
for that feast.
_Secondly_, Old challenges now and then revive, and cast all down. I
go halting and sighing, fearing there be an unseen process yet coming
out, and that heavier than I can answer. I cannot read distinctly my
surety's act of cautionary for me in particular, and my discharge; and
sense, rather than faith, assureth me of what I have; so unable am I
to go but by a hold.[209] I could, with reverence of my Lord, forgive
Christ, if He would give me as much faith as I have hunger for Him. I
hope the pardon is now obtained, but the peace is not so sure to me as
I would wish. Yet, one thing I know, there is not a way to heaven but
the way which He hath graced me to profess and suffer for.
[209] Ps. lxxiii. 23.
_Thirdly_, Wo, wo is me for the virgin-daughter of Scotland, and for
the fearful desolation and wrath appointed for this land! And yet all
are sleeping, eating and drinking, laughing and sporting, as if all
were well. Oh, our dim gold! our dumb, blind pastors! The sun is gone
down upon them, and our nobles bid Christ fend for Himself, if He be
Christ. It were good that we should learn in time the way to our
stronghold.
Sir, howbeit not acquainted, remember my love to your wife. I pray God
to establish you.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 9, 1637_.
CXV.--_To_ MR. ALEXANDER HENDERSON.
[ALEXANDER HENDERSON, the well-known hero of the Second
Reformation, was born in the year 1583, and received his
education at the University of St. Andrews. After having taught
for several years a class of philosophy and rhetoric in that
University, he obtained a presentation to the parish of Leuchars,
in 1612. Being at that time unimpressed with spiritual truth, he
was a defender of the principles and measures of the prelatic
party in the Church. His settlement was on these accounts so
unpopular, that on the day of his ordination the church-doors
were secured by the people, and the members of Presbytery,
together with the presentee, were obliged to break in by the
window. But his soul was soon after visited by the Holy Spirit,
and underwent an entire change. He became leader in effecting
that revolution in the ecclesiastical affairs of Scotland which
commenced about the year 1637. He was Moderator of the famous
Assembly which met at Glasgow in 1638, and by that Assembly was
translated to Edinburgh. In the civil war, Henderson was
appointed by the Covenanters to act as one of their commissioners
in treating with his Majesty Charles I. In 1642 he was delegated
by the Commission of the General Assembly to sit as one of their
commissioners in the Westminster Assembly of Divines, which kept
him in London for several years. He died on the 12th of August
1646, in the 63rd year of his age, shortly after his return from
England. Baillie, in his speech to the General Assembly in the
following year, pronounced him, "the fairest ornament after Mr.
John Knox, of incomparable memory, that ever the Church of
Scotland did enjoy."]
(_SADNESS BECAUSE CHRIST'S HEADSHIP NOT SET FORTH--HIS CAUSE ATTENDED
WITH CROSSES--THE BELIEVER SEEN OF ALL._)
MY REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I received your letters. They are as
apples of gold to me; for with my sweet feasts (and they are above the
deserving of such a sinner, high and out of measure), I have sadness
to ballast me, and weight me a little. It is but His boundless wisdom
which hath taken the tutoring of His witless child; and He knoweth
that to be drunken with comforts is not safest for our stomachs.
However it be, the din and noise and glooms of Christ's cross are
weightier than itself. I protest to you (my witness is in heaven),
that I could wish many pound weights added to my cross, to know that
by my sufferings Christ were set forward in His kingly office in this
land. Oh, what is my skin to His glory; or my losses, or my sad heart,
to the apple of the eye of our Lord and His beloved Spouse, His
precious truth, His royal privileges, the glory of manifested justice
in giving of His foes a dash, the testimony of His faithful servants
who do glorify Him, when He rideth upon poor, weak worms, and
triumpheth in them! I desire you to pray, that I may come out of this
furnace with honesty, and that I may leave Christ's truth no worse
than I found it; and that this most honourable cause may neither be
stained nor weakened.
As for your cause, my reverend and dearest brother, ye are the talk of
the north and south; and looked to, so as if ye were all crystal
glass. Your motes and dust would soon be proclaimed and trumpets blown
at your slips. But I know that ye have laid help upon One that is
mighty. Intrust not your comforts to men's airy and frothy applause,
neither lay your down-castings on the tongues of salt mockers and
reproachers of godliness. "As deceivers, and yet true; as unknown, and
yet well known" (2 Cor. vi. 8, 9). God hath called you to Christ's
side, and the wind is now in Christ's face in this land; and seeing ye
are with Him, ye cannot expect the lee-side, or the sunny side of the
brae. But I know that ye have resolved to take Christ upon any terms
whatsoever. I hope that ye do not rue, though your cause be hated, and
prejudices are taken up against it. The shields of the world think our
Master cumbersome wares, and that He maketh too great din, and that
His cords and yokes make blains, and deep scores in their neck.
Therefore they kick. They say, "This man shall not reign over us."
Let us pray one for another. He who hath made you a chosen arrow in
His quiver, hide you in the hollow of His hand!
I am yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 9, 1637_.
[Illustration: LOUDON CASTLE.]
CXVI.--_To the Right Honourable my_ LORD LOUDON.
[JOHN CAMPBELL, first Earl of Loudon, and the son of Sir James
Campbell of Lawers, was a man of distinguished talents, and of a
very decided character. In the history of his country he makes no
small figure as a strenuous opponent of the attempts made by
Charles I. to impose Prelacy and arbitrary power on Scotland. He
was a member of the General Assembly which met at Glasgow in
1638, in the business of which he took an active part. When the
King, dissatisfied with the proceedings of this Assembly, put
himself at the head of an army to reduce his Scottish subjects to
submission, Loudon had a leading hand in the measures then
adopted for preserving the religion and liberties of Scotland, as
secured by the ecclesiastical and civil laws of the kingdom. In
the skirmish at Newburn, where the King's forces were defeated by
the Scottish army, he commanded a brigade of horse. In 1641, when
peace was restored between the King and his Scottish subjects,
Loudon was made Lord Chancellor of Scotland, a situation which he
held till after the execution of Charles I., and the calling home
of Charles II. by the Scots in 1650. Malignants being again
brought into places of power and trust, he demitted his office.
He continued, however, strongly to adhere to the cause of
Charles, in consequence of which he was excepted from Cromwell's
act of indemnity, and his estates forfeited. But all that he had
suffered for the royal cause did not recommend him to the favour
of the unprincipled government of Charles II. His name is in the
list of Middleton's fines (imposed upon the gentlemen of Ayrshire
in 1662) for £12,000. He felt convinced that, should his life be
spared, he would fall an early victim to the vengeance of his
enemies, and often exhorted his pious lady to beseech the Lord
that he might not live to the next session of Parliament, else he
would share the same fate with the Marquis of Argyle. His wish
was granted; for he died at Edinburgh, March 15, 1662.
Rutherford's "Divine Right of Church Government and
Excommunication," printed at London in 1646, is dedicated to this
nobleman, who was then Chancellor of the University of St
Andrews. His son James, second Earl of Loudon, was subjected to
no small persecution under the dominancy of Prelacy; and, seeking
refuge in Holland, took up his residence at Leyden, where he died
on the 29th of October 1684.]
(_BLESSEDNESS OF ACTING FOR CHRIST--HIS LOVE TO HIS PRISONER._)
MY VERY NOBLE AND HONOURABLE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.--I make bold to write to your Lordship, that you may know the
honourable cause which ye are graced to profess is Christ's own truth.
Ye are many ways blessed of God, who have taken upon you to come out
to the streets with Christ on your forehead, when so many are ashamed
of Him, and hide Him (as it were) under their cloak, as if He were a
stolen Christ. If this faithless generation, and especially the nobles
of this kingdom, thought not Christ dear wares, and religion
expensive, hazardous, and dangerous, they would not slip from His
cause as they do, and stand looking on with their hands folded behind
their back when louns are running with the spoil of Zion on their
back, and the boards of the Son of God's tabernacle. Law and justice
are to be had by any, especially for money and moyen; but Christ can
get no law, good-cheap or dear. It were the glory and honour of you,
who are the nobles of this land, to plead for your wronged Bridegroom
and His oppressed spouse, as far as zeal and standing law will go with
you. Your ordinary logic from the event, "that it will do no good to
the cause, and, therefore, silence is best till the Lord put to His
own hand," is not (with reverence to your Lordship's learning) worth a
straw. Events are God's. Let us do,[210] and not plead against God's
office. Let Him sit at His own helm, who moderateth all events. It is
not a good course to complain that we cannot get a providence of gold,
when our laziness, cold zeal, temporizing, and faithless fearfulness
spilleth good providence.
[210] Act.
Your Lordship will pardon me: I am not of that mind, that tumults or
arms is the way to put Christ on His throne; or that Christ will be
served and truth vindicated, only with the arm of flesh and blood.
Nay, Christ doth His turn with less din, than with garments rolled in
blood. But I would that the zeal of God were in the nobles to do their
part for Christ; and I must be pardoned to write to your Lordship
thus.
I dow not, I dare not, but speak to others what God hath done to the
soul of His poor, afflicted exile-prisoner. His comfort is more than I
ever knew before. He hath sealed the honourable cause which I now
suffer for, and I shall not believe that Christ will put His amen and
ring[211] upon an imagination. He hath made all His promises good to
me, and hath filled up all the blanks with His own hand. I would not
exchange my bonds with the plastered joy of this whole world. It hath
pleased Him to make a sinner the like of me an ordinary banqueter in
His house-of-wine, with that royal, princely One, Christ Jesus. Oh,
what weighing, oh, what telling is in His love! How sweet must He be,
when that black and burdensome tree, His own cross, is so perfumed
with joy and gladness! O for help to lift Him up by praises on His
royal throne! I seek no more than that His name may be spread abroad
in me, that meikle good may be spoken of Christ on my behalf; and this
being done, my losses, place, stipend, credit, ease, and liberty,
shall all be made up to my full contentment and joy of heart.
[211] As if sealing it by His ring as in marriage, or as Esth. iii.
10.
I shall be confident that your Lordship will go on in the strength of
the Lord, and keep Christ, and avouch Him, that He may read your name
publicly before men and angels. I shall entreat your Lordship to
exhort and encourage that nobleman, your chief,[212] to do the same.
But I am wo[213] that many of you find a new wisdom, which deserveth
not such a name. It were better that men would see that their wisdom
be holy, and their holiness wise.
[212] The Earl of Argyle.
[213] Sorrowful.
I must be bold to desire your Lordship to add to your former favours
to me (for the which your Lordship hath a prisoner's blessing and
prayers) this, that ye would be pleased to befriend my brother, now
suffering for the same cause; for as he is to dwell nigh your
Lordship's bounds, your Lordship's word and countenance may help him.
Thus recommending your Lordship to the saving grace and tender mercy
of Christ Jesus our Lord, I rest, your Lordship's obliged servant in
Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 9, 1637_.
CXVII.--_To MR. WILLIAM DALGLEISH, Minister of the Gospel._
[MR. WILLIAM DALGLEISH was minister of the conjunct parishes of
_Anwoth_, _Kirkdale_, and _Kirkmabreck_. He preached at Anwoth
only every alternate week; but so abundantly blessed were his
labours to the people, that when he surrendered (_quoad sacra_)
the charge of Anwoth to Rutherford, upon its being formed into a
distinct parochial charge, not only many of the humbler class of
the parishioners, but the proprietors too, had embraced the
doctrines of the Gospel. Dalgleish strictly adhered to
Presbyterian principles, and on that account was subjected to
trouble.
In 1635 he was deprived of his charge as minister of the united
parishes of Kirkdale and Kirkmabreck. In 1637, when Episcopacy
began to be the losing cause, he returned to his flock. His name
appears on the roll of the members of the famous Assembly which
met at Glasgow in 1638; and in 1639 he was translated to Cramond,
as successor to Mr. William Colville, afterwards Principal of the
University of Edinburgh; to whom he appears to have been related,
as the name of his wife was Elizabeth Colville. He was the
intimate friend of the well-known Alexander Henderson, who by his
latter will ordained his executor "to deliver to my dear
acquaintance Mr. John Duncan, at Culross, and Mr. William
Dalgleish, minister at Cramond, all my manuscripts and papers
which are in my study, and that belong to me any where else; and
after they have received them, to destroy or preserve and keep
them, as they shall judge convenient for their own private or the
public good." In 1662 Dalgleish was ejected for nonconformity,
and died before the Revolution.
_Kirkmabreck_ was a pendicle of the Abbey of Dundrennan, which is
seven miles from Kirkcudbright. The farms and cottages that bear
this name are about two miles from the shore, a little way up on
the high ground, but the church and churchyard lie in a hollow,
between the Larg and the Cairnharrow hills. Part of the old
ivy-covered walls, and the gable of the church, still remain. One
modern tomb in the churchyard is marked by a granite pillar, 20
feet high. It is the grave of Dr. Thomas Brown. The inscription
on the west side reads thus:--"Thomas, M.D., Professor of Moral
Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, who died 2nd August
1820, aged 43 years. Janet, who died 5th August 1824, aged 51."
The Statistical Account speaks of Old Mortality having renovated
some of the grave-stones, but all traces of his work have
disappeared. In that old church Samuel Rutherford preached his
sermons on Zech. xiii. 7, 9, at a Communion in 1630. In 1634 he
preached on Luke xiv. 16, at the preparation before the
Communion; and on another occasion, on Isaiah xlix. 1-4.
The parish extends along the shore, to the village of Creetown in
one direction, and in the other, to the old castle and farm of
_Carsluth_. The old tower and ruined walls of this castle, built
of granite from the neighbouring quarries, stand embosomed in
trees, on a spot commanding a fine view of the bay. _Barholm
Castle_ also is in this parish, and was the spot where John Knox
was secreted previous to his escape to the Continent. His
signature was long shown on the wall of one of the rooms. The old
towers, overgrown with ivy, peep out from the thick woods on the
right of the road from Kirkdale to Creetown. The modern mansion
stands on a wooded eminence, on the other side of Creetown. Not
more than a mile from this old castle, is the ruined church of
_Kirkdale_, on the edge of a wood, and considerably above the
house. It resembles the churches of Kirkmabreck and Anwoth in
shape, having been long and narrow. The inscriptions on the old
tombstones are so worn as to be illegible. The churchyard has
been enclosed, and at the gate the eye is sure to rest on a small
tablet in the side wall, with these words:--
"But go thou thy way till the end be: for thou shalt rest, and
stand in thy lot at the end of the days" (Dan. xii. 13.)]
(_CHRIST'S KINDNESS--DEPENDENCE ON PROVIDENCE--CONTROVERSIES._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am
well. My Lord Jesus is kinder to me than ever He was. It pleaseth Him
to dine and sup with His afflicted prisoner. A King feasteth me, and
His spikenard casteth a sweet smell. Put Christ's love to the trial,
and put upon it our burdens, and then it will appear love indeed. We
employ not His love, and therefore we know it not. I verily count the
sufferings of my Lord more than this world's lustred and over-gilded
glory. I dare not say but my Lord Jesus hath fully recompensed my
sadness with His joys, my losses with His own presence. I find it a
sweet and rich thing to exchange my sorrows with Christ's joys, my
afflictions with that sweet peace I have with Himself.
Brother, this is His own truth I now suffer for. He hath sealed my
sufferings with His own comforts, and I know that He will not put His
seal upon blank paper. His seals are not dumb nor delusive, to confirm
imaginations and lies. Go on, my dear brother, in the strength of the
Lord, not fearing man who is a worm, nor the son of man that shall
die. Providence hath a thousand keys, to open a thousand sundry doors
for the deliverance of His own, when it is even come to a _conclamatum
est_.[214] Let us be faithful, and care for our own part, which is to
do and suffer for Him, and lay Christ's part on Himself, and leave it
there. Duties are ours, events are the Lord's. When our faith goeth to
meddle with events, and to hold a court (if I may so speak) upon God's
providence, and beginneth to say, "How wilt Thou do this and that?" we
lose ground. We have nothing to do there. It is our part to let the
Almighty exercise His own office, and steer His own helm. There is
nothing left to us, but to see how we may be approved of Him, and how
we may roll the weight of our weak souls in well-doing upon Him who is
God Omnipotent: and when that we thus essay miscarrieth, it will be
neither our sin nor cross.
[214] "All is over."
Brother, remember the Lord's word to Peter; "Simon, lovest thou
me?--Feed my sheep." No greater testimony of our love to Christ can
be, than to feed carefully and faithfully His lambs.
I am in no better neighbourhood with the ministers here than before:
they cannot endure that any speak of me, or to me. Thus I am, in the
mean time, silent, which is my greatest grief. Dr. Barron[215] hath
often disputed with me, especially about Arminian controversies, and
for the ceremonies. Three yokings laid him by; and I have not been
troubled with him since. Now he hath appointed a dispute before
witnesses; I trust that Christ and truth will do for themselves.
[215] Barron was of the family of Kinnaird in Fifeshire. He became
minister of the parish of Keith; in 1624 was appointed to a charge in
Aberdeen. In 1625 he was nominated Professor of Divinity in Marischal
College there. He was a determined opponent of such men as Rutherford
and Dickson, and at length resigned his chair and retired to Berwick,
where he died in 1639.
I hope, brother, that ye will help my people; and write to me what ye
hear the Bishop is to do with them. Grace be with you.
Your brother in bonds,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
CXVIII.--_To MR. HUGH MACKAIL, Minister of the Gospel at Irvine._
(_CHRIST'S BOUNTIFUL DEALINGS--JOY IN CHRIST THROUGH THE CROSS._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I bless you for your letter. He is come
down as rain upon the mown grass; He hath revived my withered root;
and He is the dew of herbs. I am most secure in this prison: salvation
is for walls in it; and what think ye of these walls? He maketh the
dry plant to bud as the lily, and to blossom as Lebanon:--the great
Husbandman's blessing cometh down upon the plants of righteousness.
Who may say this, my dear brother, if I, His poor exiled stranger and
prisoner, may not say it? Howbeit all the world should be silent, I
cannot hold my peace. Oh, how many black accounts have Christ and I
rounded over together in the house of my pilgrimage! and how fat a
portion He hath given to a hungry soul! I had rather have Christ's
four-hours, than have dinner and supper both in one from any other.
His dealing, and the way of His judgments, are past finding out. No
preaching, no book, no learning, could give me that which it behoved
me to come and get in this town. But what of all this, if I were not
misted, and confounded, and astonished how to be thankful, and how to
get Him praised for evermore! And, what is more, He hath been pleased
to pain me with His love, and my pain groweth through want of real
possession.
Some have written to me, that I am possibly too joyful of the cross;
but my joy overleapeth the cross, it is bounded and terminated upon
Christ. I know that the sun will overcloud and eclipse, and that I
shall again be put to walk in the shadow: but Christ must be welcome
to come and go, as He thinketh meet. Yet He would be more welcome to
me, I trow, to come than to go. And I hope He pitieth and pardoneth
me, in casting apples to me at such a fainting time as this. Holy and
blessed is His name! It was not my flattering of Christ that drew a
kiss from His mouth. But He would send me as a spy into this
wilderness of suffering, to see the land and try the ford; and I
cannot make a lie of Christ's cross. I can report nothing but good
both of Him and it, lest others should faint. I hope, when a change
cometh, to cast anchor at midnight upon the Rock which He hath taught
me to know in this daylight; whither I may run, when I must say my
lesson without book, and believe in the dark. I am sure it is sin to
tarrow at Christ's good meat, and not to eat when He saith, "Eat, O
well-beloved, and drink abundantly." If He bear me on His back, or
carry me in His arms over this water, I hope for grace to set down my
feet on dry ground, when the way is better. But this is slippery
ground: my Lord thought good I should go by a hold, and lean on my
Well-beloved's shoulder. It is good to be ever taking from Him. I
desire that He may get the fruit of praises, for dawting and thus
dandling me on His knee: and I may give my bond of thankfulness, so
being I have Christ's back-bond again for my relief, that I shall be
strengthened by His powerful grace to pay my vows to Him. But, truly,
I find that we have the advantage of the brae upon our enemies: we are
more than conquerors through Him who loved us; and they know not
wherein our strength lieth.
Pray for me. Grace be with you.
Your brother in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
CXIX.--_To_ MR. DAVID DICKSON.
(_JOYFUL EXPERIENCE--CUP OVERFLOWING IN EXILE._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you.--I
find that great men, especially old friends, scaur to speak for me.
But my kingly and royal Master biddeth me to try His moyen to the
uttermost, and I shall find a friend at hand. I still depend upon
Him; His court is still as before; the prisoner is welcome to Him. The
black, crabbed tree of my Lord's cross hath made Christ and my soul
very entire. He is my song in the night. I am often laid in the dust
with challenges, and apprehensions of His anger; and then, if a
mountain of iron were laid upon me, I cannot be heavier; and with much
wrestling I win into the King's house of wine. And yet, for the most
part, my life is joy; and such joy through His comforts, as I have
been afraid lest I should shame myself and cry out, for I can scarce
bear what I get. Christ giveth me a measure heaped up, pressed down,
and running over; and, believe it, His love paineth more than prison
and banishment. I cannot get the way of Christ's love. Had I known
what He was keeping for me, I should never have been so faint-hearted.
In my heaviest times, when all is lost, the memory of His love maketh
me think Christ's glooms are but for the fashion.[216] I seek no more
than a vent to my wine;[217] I am smothered and ready to burst for
want of vent. Think not much of persecution. It is before you; but it
is not as men conceive of it. My sugared cross forceth me to say this
to you, ye shall have waled meat. The sick bairn is ofttime the
spilled bairn; he shall command all the house. I hope that ye help a
tired prisoner to praise and pray. Had I but the annual of annual[218]
to give to my Lord Jesus, it would ease my pain. But, alas! I have
nothing to pay, He will get nothing of poor me; but I am wo that I
have not room enough in my heart for such a stranger. I am not cast
down to go farther north. I have good cause to work for my Master, for
I am well paid beforehand; I am not behind, howbeit I should not get
one smile more till my feet be up within the King's dining-hall.
[216] Frowns for form's sake.
[217] Alluding to Job xxxii. 19.
[218] The smallest return, the quit-rent of a quit-rent.
I have gone through yours upon the Covenant;[219] it hath edified my
soul, and refreshed a hungry man. I judge it sharp, sweet, quick, and
profound. Take me at my word, I fear that it get no lodging in
Scotland.
[219] "_Therapeutica Sacra_; seu de curandis casibus conscientiæ circa
regenerationem per Fœderum Divinorum applicationem," is the title
of the book.
The brethren of Ireland write not to me; chide with them for that. I
am sure that I may give you and them a commission (and I will abide by
it), that you tell my Beloved that I am sick of love. I hope in God to
leave some of my rust and superfluities in Aberdeen. I cannot get a
house in this town wherein to leave drink-silver in my Master's name,
save one only. There is no sale for Christ in the north; He is like to
lie long on my hand, ere any accept Him. Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
CXX.--_To_ MR. MATTHEW MOWAT.
[MATTHEW MOWAT, son to the Laird of Busbie (Letter CXXXIII.), was
minister of Kilmarnock. He was one of the seven leading ministers
in the west whom the Parliament, after the restoration of Charles
II., brought before them with the view of extorting their
acquiescence in the establishment of Prelacy; which, if effected,
it was apprehended would have an influence in leading others to
comply. They were all put in prison, and refusing (though several
times brought before the Parliament), to take the oath of
allegiance without explanation, inasmuch as it involved the oath
of supremacy, they were more severely treated. Livingstone
describes Mowat as "one of a meek, sweet disposition, straight
and zealous for the truth." Rutherford, who highly valued him,
says in one of his letters, "I cannot speak to a man so sick of
love to Christ as Mr. Matthew Mowat;" and in another, "I am
greatly in love with Mr. Matthew Mowat, for I see him really
stampt with the image of God." The time of his death is unknown.
Some additional notices of him are to be found in Wodrow's
"Analecta," vol. iii.]
(_PLENITUDE OF CHRIST'S LOVE--NEED TO USE GRACE ARIGHT--CHRIST THE
RANSOMER--DESIRE TO PROCLAIM HIS GOSPEL--SHORTCOMINGS AND
SUFFERINGS_.)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I am a very far mistaken man. If others
knew how poor my stock was, they would not think upon the like of me,
but with compassion. For I am as one kept under a strict tutor; I
would have more than my tutor alloweth me. But it is good that a
bairn's wit is not the rule which regulateth my Lord Jesus. Let Him
give what He will, it shall aye be above merit, and my ability to gain
therewith. I would not wish a better stock, whill heaven be my stock,
than to live upon credit at Christ's hands, daily borrowing. Surely,
running-over love (that vast, huge, boundless love of Christ that
there is telling[220] in for man and angels!) is the only thing I most
fain would be in hands with. He knoweth that I have little but the
love of that love; and that I shall be happy, suppose I never get
another heaven but only an eternal, lasting feast of that love. But
suppose my wishes were poor, He is not poor: Christ, all the seasons
of the year, is dropping sweetness. If I had vessels, I might fill
them; but my old, riven, and running-out dish, even when I am at the
Well, can bring little away. Nothing but glory will make tight and
fast our leaking and rifty vessels. Alas! I have skailed more of
Christ's grace, love, faith, humility, and godly sorrow, than I have
brought with me. How little of the sea can a child carry in his hand!
As little dow I take away of my great Sea, my boundless and
running-over Christ Jesus.
[220] Which will try the skill of men and angels to estimate.
I have not lighted upon the right gate of putting Christ to the bank,
and making myself rich with Him. My misguiding and childish
trafficking with that matchless Pearl, that heaven's Jewel, the Jewel
of the Father's delights, hath put me to a great loss. O that He would
take a loan of me, and my stock, and put His name in all my bonds, and
serve Himself heir to the poor, mean portion which I have, and be
accountable for the talent Himself! Gladly would I put Christ into my
room to guide all; and let me be but a servant to run errands, and act
by His direction. Let me be His interdicted heir. Lord Jesus, work
upon my minority, and let Him win a pupil's blessing! Oh, how would I
rejoice to have this work of my salvation legally fastened upon
Christ! A back-bond of my Lord Jesus that it should be forthcoming to
the orphan, would be my happiness. Dependency on Christ were my surest
way; if Christ were my foundation, I were sure enough. I thought the
guiding of grace had been no art;[221] I thought it would come of
will; but I would spill my own heaven yet, if I had not burdened
Christ with all. I but lend my bare name to the sweet covenant;
Christ, behind and before, and on either side, maketh all sure. God
will not take an Arminian cautioner. Freewill is a weather-cock,
turning at a serpent's tongue, a tutor that cowped our Father Adam,
unto us; and brought down the house, and sold the land, and sent the
father, and mother, and all the bairns through the earth to beg their
bread. Nature in the Gospel hath but a cracked credit. Oh, well to my
poor soul for evermore, that my Lord called grace to the council, and
put Christ Jesus, with free merits and the blood of God, foremost in
the chase to draw sinners after a Ransomer! Oh, what a sweet block was
it by way of buying and selling, to give and tell down a ransom for
grace and glory to dyvours! Oh, would to my Lord that I could cause
paper and ink to speak the worth and excellency, the high and loud
praises of a Brother-ransomer! The Ransomer needeth not my report,
but, oh, if He would take it, and make use of it! I should be happy if
I had an errand to this world, but for some few years, to spread
proclamations, and outcries, and love-letters of the highness, the
highness for evermore, the glory, the glory for evermore, of the
Ransomer, whose clothes were wet and dyed in blood! albeit, after I
had done that, my soul and body should go back to their mother
_Nothing_ that their Creator brought them once out from, as from their
beginning. But why should I pine away, and pain myself with wishes?
and not believe, rather, that Christ will hire such an outcast as I
am, a masterless body, put out of the house by the sons of my mother,
and give me employment and a calling, one way or other, to set out
Christ and His wares to country buyers, and propose Christ unto, and
press Him upon some poor souls, that fainer than their life would
receive Him?
[221] Required no skill, but would come as I chose.
You complain heavily of "your shortcoming in practice, and venturing
on suffering for Christ." You have many marrows. For the first, I
would put you off a sense of wretchedness. Hold on! Christ never yet
slew a sighing, groaning child: more of that would make you won goods,
and a meet prey for Christ. Alas! I have too little of it, for
venturing on suffering. I had not so much free gear when I came to
Christ's camp as to buy a sword. I wonder[222] that Christ should not
laugh at such a soldier. I am no better yet; but faith liveth and
spendeth upon our Captain's charges, who is able to pay for all. We
need not pity Him, He is rich enough.
[222] In most editions, it is "_a_ wonder," as if in way of
exclamation.
Ye desire me also "Not to mistake Christ under a mask." I bless you,
and thank God for it. But alas! masked or bare-faced, kissing or
glooming, I mistake Him: yea, I mistake Him the farthest when the mask
is off; for then I play me with His sweetness. I am like a child that
hath a gilded book, that playeth with the ribbons and the gilding, and
the picture on the first page, but readeth not the contents of it.
Certainly, if my desires to my Well-beloved were fulfilled, I could
provoke devils, and crosses, and the world, and temptations to the
field; but oh! my poor weakness maketh me lie behind the bush and hide
me.
Remember my service and my blessing to my Lord. I am mindful of him as
I am able. Desire him from a prisoner, to come and visit my good
Master, and feel but the smell of His love. It setteth him well,
howbeit he be young, to make Christ his garland. I could not wish him
in a better case, than in a fever of love-sickness for Christ.
Remember my bonds. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CXXI.--_To_ WILLIAM HALLIDAY.
[The name "Halliday" occurs on the tombstones of the old churchyard of
Anwoth. No doubt this correspondent was one of his flock at Anwoth.
One of the name lies buried in the old churchyard, with the following
inscription on her tombstone:--
"_Margat_ (_i.e. Margaret_) _Halliday_, spouse of John Bell in
Archland, who departed this life anno 1631, Jan. 27, ætat. suæ 76. O
death, I will be thy death! Now is Christ risen from the dead, and is
the first froot (_i.e._ fruits) of them that ..." (broken off.)
_Archland_ is the same place as _Henton_, in the parish of Anwoth, a
notice of which is given at Letter CCXIX., addressed to this John
Bell.]
(_DILIGENCE IN SECURING SALVATION._)
LOVING FRIEND,--I received your letter.--I wish that ye take pains for
salvation. Mistaken grace, and somewhat like conversion which is not
conversion, is the saddest and most doleful thing in the world. Make
sure of salvation, and lay the foundation sure, for many are beguiled.
Put a low price upon the world's clay; but a high price upon Christ.
Temptations will come, but if they be not made welcome by you, ye have
the best of it. Be jealous over yourself and your own heart, and keep
touches with God. Let Him not have a faint and feeble soldier of you.
Fear not to back Christ, for He will conquer and overcome. Let no man
scaur at Christ, for I have no quarrels at His cross; He and His cross
are two good guests, and worth the lodging. Men would fain have Christ
good-cheap; but the market will not come down. Acquaint yourself with
prayer. Make Christ your Captain and your armour. Make conscience of
sinning[223] when no eye seeth you. Grace be with you.
Yours, in Christ Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
[223] Be conscientious as to sinning when out of sight of men.
CXXII.--_To a Gentlewoman, after the death of her Husband._
(_VANITY OF EARTHLY POSSESSIONS--CHRIST A SUFFICIENT PORTION--DESIGN
OF AFFLICTION._)
DEAR AND LOVING SISTER,--I know that ye are minding your sweet
country, and not taking your inn, the place of your banishment, for
your home. This life is not worthy to be the thatch, or outer wall, of
the paradise of your Lord Jesus, that He did sweat for to you, and
that He keepeth for you. Short, and silly, and sand-blind were our
hope, if it could not look over the water to our best heritage, and if
it stayed only at home about the doors of our clay house.
I marvel not, my dear sister, that ye complain that ye come short of
your old wrestlings which ye had for a blessing; and that now you find
it not so. Bairns are but hired to learn their lesson when they first
go to school. And it is enough that those who run a race see the gold
only, at the starting-place; and possibly they see little more of it,
or nothing at all till they win to the rinks-end, and get the gold in
the loof of their hand. Our Lord maketh delicates and dainties of His
sweet presents and love-visits to His own: but Christ's love, under a
veil, is love. If ye get Christ, howbeit not the sweet and pleasant
way ye would have Him, it is enough; for the Well-beloved cometh not
our way; He must wale His own gate Himself. For worldly things, seeing
there are meadows and fair flowers in your way to heaven, a smell in
the bygoing is sufficient. He that would reckon and tell all the
stones in his way, in a journey of three or four hundred miles, and
write up in his count-book all the herbs and the flowers growing in
his way, might come short of his journey. You cannot stay, in your
inch of time, to lose your day (seeing that you are in haste, and the
night and your afternoon will not bide you), in setting your heart on
this vain world. It were your wisdom to read your account-book, and to
have in readiness your business, against the time you come to death's
water-side. I know that your lodging is taken; your forerunner,
Christ, hath not forgotten that; and therefore you must set yourself
to your "one thing," which you cannot well want.
In that our Lord took your husband to Himself, I know it was that He
might make room for Himself. He cutteth off your love to the creature,
that ye might learn that God only is the right owner of your love.
Sorrow, loss, sadness, death, are the worst of things that are, except
sin. But Christ knoweth well what to make of them, and can put His own
in the cross's common, so that we shall be obliged to affliction, and
thank God who taught us to make our acquaintance with such a rough
companion, who can hale us to Christ. You must learn to make your
evils your great good; and to spin comforts, peace, joy, communion
with Christ, out of your troubles, which are Christ's wooers, sent to
speak for you[224] to Himself. It is easy to get good words, and a
comfortable message from our Lord, even from such rough serjeants as
divers temptations. Thanks to God for crosses! When we count and
reckon our losses in seeking God, we find that godliness is great
gain. Great partners of a shipful of gold are glad to see the ship
come to the harbour;--surely we, and our Lord Jesus together, have a
shipful of gold coming home, and our gold is in that ship. Some are so
in love, or, rather, in lust, with this life, that they sell their
part of the ship for a little thing. I would counsel you to buy hope,
but sell it not, and give not away your crosses for nothing. The
inside of Christ's cross is white and joyful, and the far-end of the
black cross is a fair and glorious heaven of ease. And seeing Christ
hath fastened heaven to the far-end of the cross, and He will not
loose the knot Himself, and none else can (for when Christ casteth a
knot, all the world cannot loose it), let us then count it exceeding
joy when we fall into divers temptations.
[224] See 1 Kings ii. 18.
Thus recommending you to the tender mercy and grace of our Lord, I
rest, your loving brother,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
CXXIII.--_To JOHN GORDON of Cardoness, Younger._
[JOHN GORDON of Cardoness, younger, like his father, previously
noticed (Letter LXXXII.), was naturally a man of strong passions.
Judging from this letter, he appears not only to have been
neglectful of religion, but to have freely indulged in the
follies and vices of youth. Rutherford warns him of his sin and
danger with much freedom and affectionate earnestness; and these
warnings, it is to be hoped, were not in vain. He was in the
Covenanters' army, in England, in 1644, as appears from a letter
of his preserved among the Wodrow MSS. It is dated "Sunderland,
28th March 1644," and is addressed to Mr. Thomas Wylie. It is
written in a religious strain. After referring to the success of
the army, and to the account of this drawn up by Mr. Robert
Douglas, it contains in the close the following passage:--"I
entreat you be kind to my wife, and deal with her neither to take
my absence, nor the form of coming from her, in evil part; for,
in God's presence, public duties and nothing else removed me, or
marred the form of my removal. Be earnest with her that she seek
a nearer acquaintance with Christ: and fail not to pray for her
and her family, and me." (Wodrow MSS., vol. xxix.)]
(_REASONS FOR BEING EARNEST ABOUT THE SOUL, AND FOR RESIGNATION._)
HONOURED AND DEAR BROTHER,--I wrote of late to you: multitudes of
letters burden me now. I am refreshed with your letter.
I exhort you in the bowels of Christ, set to work for your soul. And
let these bear weight with you, and ponder them seriously: _1st_,
Weeping and gnashing of teeth in utter darkness, or heaven's joy.
_2ndly_, Think what ye would give for an hour, when ye shall lie like
dead, cold, blackened clay. _3rdly_, There is sand in your glass yet,
and your sun is not gone down. _4thly_, Consider what joy and peace
are in Christ's service. _5thly_, Think what advantage it will be to
have angels, the world, life and death, crosses, yea, and devils, all
for you, as the King's serjeants and servants, to do your business.
_6thly_, To have mercy on your seed, and a blessing on your house.
_7thly_, To have true honour, and a name on earth that casteth a sweet
smell. _8thly_, How ye will rejoice when Christ layeth down your head
under His chin, and betwixt His breasts, and drieth your face, and
welcometh you to glory and happiness. _9thly_, Imagine what pain and
torture is a guilty conscience; what slavery to carry the devil's
dishonest loads. _10thly_, Sin's joys are but night-dreams, thoughts,
vapours, imaginations, and shadows. _11thly_, What dignity it is to be
a son of God. _12thly_, Dominion and mastery over temptations, over
the world and sin. _13thly_, That your enemies should be the tail, and
you the head.
For your bairns, now at rest (I speak to you and your wife, and cause
her read this). _1st_, I am a witness for Barbara's glory in heaven.
_2ndly_, For the rest, I write it under my hand, there are days coming
on Scotland when barren wombs, and dry breasts, and childless parents
shall be pronounced blessed. They are, then, in the lee of the harbour
ere the storm come on. 3_rdly_, They are not lost to you that are laid
up in Christ's treasury in heaven. _4thly_, At the Resurrection, ye
shall meet with them; thither they are sent before, but not sent
away.[225] _5thly_, Your Lord loveth you, who is homely to take and
give, borrow and lend. _6thly_, Let not bairns be your idols; for God
will be jealous, and take away the idol, because He is greedy of your
love wholly.
[225] He alludes to the almost classical saying, "Præmissi, non
amissi." See Letter IV.
I bless you, your wife, and children. Grace for evermore be with you.
Your loving pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
CXXIV.--_To JOHN GORDON of Cardoness, Elder._
(_CALL TO EARNESTNESS ABOUT SALVATION--INTRUSION OF MINISTERS._)
HONOURABLE, AND DEAREST IN THE LORD,--Your letter hath refreshed my
soul. My joy is fulfilled if Christ and ye be fast together. Ye are my
joy and my crown. Ye know that I have recommended His love to you. I
defy the world, Satan, and sin. His love hath neither brim nor bottom
in it. My dearest in Christ, I write my soul's desire to you. Heaven
is not at the next door. I find Christianity to be a hard task; set to
in your evening. We would all keep both Christ and our right eye, our
right hand and foot; but it will not do with us. I beseech you, by the
mercies of God, and your compearance before Christ, look Christ's
account-book and your own together, and collate them. Give the remnant
of your time to your soul. This great idol-god, the world, will be
lying in white ashes on the day of your compearance; and why should
night-dreams, and day-shadows, and water-froth, and May-flowers run
away with your heart? When we win to the water-side, and black death's
river-brink, and put our foot into the boat, we shall laugh at our
folly. Sir, I recommend unto you the thoughts of death, and how ye
would wish your soul to be when ye shall lie cold, blue, ill-smelling
clay.
For any hireling to be intruded, I, being the King's prisoner, cannot
say much; but, as God's minister, I desire you to read Acts i. 15, 16,
to the end, and Acts vi. 2-5, and ye shall find that God's people
should have a voice in choosing church-rulers and teachers. I shall be
sorry if, willingly, ye shall give way to his unlawful intrusion upon
my labours. The only wise God direct you.
God's grace be with you.
Your loving pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
CXXV.--_To the_ LADY FORRET.
[LADY FORRET was, we suppose, a "saint in Cæsar's household;" for
Lord Forret (originally Mr. David Balfour) was one of
Lauderdale's friends, appointed to watch the outed ministers in
Fife. See "Blair's Life," by Row.]
(_SICKNESS A KINDNESS--CHRIST'S GLOOMS BETTER THAN THE WORLD'S JOYS._)
WORTHY MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear
from you. I hear Christ hath been that kind as to visit you with
sickness, and to bring you to the door of the grave: but ye found the
door shut (blessed be His glorious name!) whill ye be riper for
eternity. He will have more service of you; and, therefore, He seeketh
of you that henceforth ye be honest to your new husband, the Son of
God. We have idol-love, and are whorishly inclined to love other
things beside our Lord; and, therefore, our Lord hunteth for our love
more ways than one or two. O that Christ had His own of us! I know He
will not want you, and that is a sweet wilfulness in His love: and ye
have as good cause, on the other part, to be headstrong and peremptory
in your love to Christ, and not to part, nor divide your love betwixt
Him and the world. If it were more, it is little enough, yea, too
little for Christ.
I am now, every way, in good terms with Christ. He hath set a banished
prisoner as a seal on His heart, and as a bracelet on His arm. That
crabbed and black tree of the cross laugheth upon me now; the alarming
noise of the cross is worse than itself. I love Christ's glooms better
than the world's worm-eaten joys. Oh, if all the kingdom were as I am,
except these bonds! My loss is gain; my sadness joyful; my bonds,
liberty; my tears comfortable. This world is not worth a drink of cold
water. Oh, but Christ's love casteth a great heat! Hell, and all the
salt sea, and the rivers of the earth, cannot quench it.
I remember you to God; ye have the prayers of a prisoner of Christ.
Grace, grace, be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 9, 1637_.
CXXVI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_ADHERENCE TO DUTY AMIDST OPPOSITION--POWER OF CHRIST'S LOVE._)
LOVING AND DEAR SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. Your
letter hath refreshed my soul. You shall not have my advice to make
haste to go out of that town; for if you remove out of Kirkcudbright,
they will easily undo all. You are at God's work, and in His way
there. Be strong in the Lord; the devil is weaker than you are,
because stronger is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
Your care of and love showed towards me, now a prisoner of Christ, is
laid up for you in heaven, and you shall know that it is come up in
remembrance before God.
Pray, pray for my desolate flock; and give them your counsel, when ye
meet with any of them. It shall be my grief to hear that a wolf enter
in upon my labours; but if the Lord permit it, I am silent. My sky
shall clear, for Christ layeth my head in His bosom, and admitteth me
to lean there. I never knew before what His love was in such a
measure. If He leave me, He leaveth me in pain, and sick of love; and
yet my sickness is my life and health. I have a fire within me; I defy
all the devils in hell, and all the prelates in Scotland, to cast
water on it.
I rejoice at your courage and faith. Pray still, as if I were on my
journey to come and be your pastor. What iron gates or bars are able
to stand it out against Christ? for when He bloweth, they open to Him.
I remember your husband. Grace, grace, be with you.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 11, 1637_.
CXXVII.--_To_ JOHN CARSEN.
[John Carsen was the son of Andrew Carsen, merchant and burgess
of Kirkcudbright. He was retoured heir of his father 13th May
1635.--"Inquir. Gener." _No._ 2121. There are still several of
the name in Kirkcudbright, and it is found often in the
churchyard. There is "Bailie John Carsen" in the "Minute-book of
Comm. of Covenanters," along with Bailie Ewart; and is called
"Carsen of _Senwick_."]
(_NOTHING WORTH THE FINDING, BUT CHRIST._)
MY WELL-BELOVED AND DEAR FRIEND,--Every one seeketh not God, and far
fewer find Him; because they seek amiss. He is to be sought for above
all things, if men would find what they seek. Let feathers and shadows
alone to children, and go seek your Well-beloved. Your only errand to
the world, is to woo Christ; therefore, put other lovers from about
the house, and let Christ have all your love, without minching or
dividing it. It is little enough, if there were more of it. The
serving of the world and sin hath but a base reward and smoke instead
of pleasures, and but a night-dream for true ease to the soul. Go
where you will, your soul shall not sleep sound but in Christ's bosom.
Come in to Him, and lie down, and rest you on the slain Son of God,
and inquire for Him. I sought Him; and now, a fig for all the
worm-eaten pleasures, and moth-eaten glory out of heaven, since I have
found Him, and in Him all I can want or wish! He hath made me a king
over the world. Princes cannot overcome me. Christ hath given me the
marriage kiss, and He hath my marriage-love: we have made up a full
bargain, that shall not go back on either side. Oh, if ye, and all in
that country, knew what sweet terms of mercy are betwixt Him and me!
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 11, 1637_.
CXXVIII.--_To the_ EARL OF CASSILLIS.
[JOHN KENNEDY, sixth EARL OF CASSILLIS, was the son of Gilbert
Kennedy, master of Cassillis, which is six miles from Ayr. He was
served heir to his uncle, John, fifth Earl of Cassillis, in 1616.
His Lordship was a person of considerable talents, of great
virtue, and a zealous Covenanter. Having studied under Dr.
Cameron, Principal of the College of Glasgow, a great defender of
absolute government, he could not yield to some clauses in the
first draught of the Covenant, which seemed to vindicate the use
of defensive arms against the King; but he agreed to the Covenant
as it now stands. He sat in the Glasgow Assembly, 1638, as elder
from the Presbytery of Ayr; and was one of the three ruling
elders sent to the Assembly of Divines at Westminster in 1643. He
was one of the commissioners who, in March 1650, went from
Scotland to Breda, to treat with Charles II. He attended at the
crowning of Charles at Scone, January 1, 1651. So strongly
attached was he to the royal family, that when on one occasion
Cromwell summoned him to a meeting, instead of attending it, he,
along with some ministers and his chaplain, kept a day of fasting
and prayer in his family. On the other hand, such was his
hostility to the measures of the court, in establishing Prelacy
and in ejecting the Presbyterian ministers from their charges,
that he seldom paid stipend to any of the curates intruded into
their places till compelled by a charge of horning. Wodrow
designates him "the great and worthy Earl of Cassillis." "I have
this account," says he, "of the Earl of Cassillis, that he was
singularly pious, and a man of a very high spirit, who carried
with a great state and majesty. His carriage in his family was
most exemplary and religious. He was very much in secret duty,
and had his hours wherein none had access to him. Upon the
Sabbath his carriage was singular. He usually wrote the sermon,
and at night caused his chaplain to examine all his servants and
his children, even after they were pretty big, upon the sermon;
and every one behoved to give their notes; and after all, many
times he took out his own papers and read to them. When at
Edinburgh, Lauderdale sent a servant to him upon a Sabbath night,
telling him he was coming to wait on him. Presently he called Mr.
Violant, his chaplain, and ordered him to go out and meet
Lauderdale, and tell him that if he designed a Sabbath day's
visit he was very welcome, but he would discourse upon no other
thing with him but what was suitable to the day. Lauderdale came
up, and discoursed with him,--as he could very well do,--only
upon points of divinity" (Wodrow's "Analecta"). His Lordship died
at his own house in the West in 1668.
The mansion is near Dalrymple. It is on the banks of the Doon,
and embosomed in wood, with the hill called _The Dounans_ facing
the house. It is a confused pile of building. A long avenue of
fine old trees leads up to it.]
(_HONOUR OF TESTIFYING FOR CHRIST_.)
MY VERY NOBLE AND HONOURABLE LORD,--I make bold (out of the honourable
and Christian report I hear of your Lordship, having no other thing to
say but that which concerneth the honourable cause which the Lord hath
enabled your Lordship to profess) to write this, that it is your
Lordship's crown, your glory, and your honour, to set your shoulder
under the Lord's glory, now falling to the ground, and to back Christ
now, when so many think it wisdom to let Him fend for Himself. The
shields of the earth ever did, and do still believe that Christ is a
cumbersome neighbour, and that it is a pain to hold up His yeas and
nays. They fear that He take their chariots, and their crowns, and
their honour from them; but my Lord standeth in need of none of them
all. But it is your glory to own Christ and His buried truth; for, let
men say what they please, the plea with Zion's enemies in this day of
Jacob's trouble is, if Christ should be King, and no mouth speak laws
but His? It concerneth the apple of Christ's eye, and His royal
privileges, what is now debated; and Christ's kingly honour is come to
yea and nay. But let me be pardoned, my dear and noble Lord, when I
beseech you by the mercies of God, by the comfort of the Spirit, by
the wounds of our dear Saviour, by your compearance before the Judge
of quick and dead, to stand for Christ, and to back Him. Oh, if the
nobles had done their part, and been zealous for the Lord! it had not
been as it is now. But men think it wisdom to stand beside Christ till
His head be broken, and sing dumb. There is a time coming when Christ
will have a thick court, and He will be the glory of Scotland; and He
will make a diadem, a garland, a seal upon His heart, and a ring upon
His finger, of those who have avouched Him before this faithless
generation. Howbeit, ere that come, wrath from the Lord is ordained
for this land.
My Lord, I have cause to write this to your Lordship; for I dare not
conceal His kindness to the soul of an afflicted, exiled prisoner. Who
hath more cause to boast in the Lord than such a sinner as I, who am
feasted with the consolations of Christ, and have no pain in my
sufferings, but the pain of soul-sickness of love for Christ, and
sorrow that I cannot help to sound aloud the praises of Him who hath
heard the sighing of the prisoner, and is content to lay the head of
His oppressed servant in His bosom, under His chin, and let Him feel
the smell of His garments? It behoved me to write this, that your
Lordship might know that Christ is as good as He is called; and to
testify to your Lordship, that the cause, which your Lordship now
professeth before the faithless world, is Christ's, and that your
Lordship shall have no shame of it.
Grace be with you.
Your Lordship's obliged servant,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.
CXXIX.--_To MR. ROBERT GORDON, Bailie of Ayr._
[ROBERT GORDON was a merchant in Ayr. In Paterson's "History of
the County of Ayr," he and his partner merchants are mentioned as
having, in 1644, supplied the Scots army in Ireland, at a certain
price, with a large quantity of meal and beans. He was cousin to
John, Viscount of Kenmure, whose "Last and Heavenly Speeches and
Glorious Departure" were published by Rutherford, and to which
there is a reference in the beginning of this letter. It was to
him that Kenmure said, "Robert, I know you have light and
understanding; and though you have no need to be instructed by
me, yet have you need to be incited" (p. 94). Gordon was
frequently a member of the Town Council of Ayr; in 1631 as Dean
of Guild, and in 1632 as Bailie. In 1638 and 1647 he held the
office of Provost. He was a man of piety, and a zealous supporter
of the Presbyterian cause. In an old parchment copy of the
National Covenant 1638 (in the possession of Hugh Cowan, Esquire,
Ayr), Gordon's signature appears, as well as the signatures of
the other members of the Town Council, some of whom were
Rutherford's correspondents, as John Kennedy, John Osborne, and
John Stewart. The above copy of the National Covenant is signed
by Rothes, Montrose, and other men of rank, being one of the
copies sent at that time by the Covenanters from Edinburgh to the
various burghs throughout the country to be subscribed.]
(_CHRIST ABOVE ALL._)
WORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear from
you on paper. Remember your chief's speeches[226] on his death-bed. I
pray you, sir, sell all, and buy the Pearl. Time will cut you from
this world's glory; look what will do you good, when your glass shall
be run out. And let Christ's love bear most court in your soul, and
that court will bear down the love of other things. Christ seeketh
your help in your place; give Him your hand. Who hath more cause to
encourage others to own Christ than I have? for He hath made me sick
of love, and left me in pain to wrestle with His love. And love is
like to fall aswoon through His absence. I mean not that He deserteth
me, or that I am ebb of comforts; but this is an unco pain.--O that I
had a heart and a love to render to Him back again! Oh, if
principalities and powers, thrones and dominions, and all the world
would help me to praise! Praise Him in my behalf.
[226] The words of Lord Kenmure.
Remember my love to your wife. I thank you most kindly for your love
to my brother. Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.
CXXX.--_To JOHN KENNEDY, Bailie of Ayr._
(_CHRIST'S LOVE--THE THREE WONDERS--DESIRES FOR HIS SECOND COMING._)
GRACE, mercy, and peace be to you. Your not writing to me cannot bind
me up from remembering you now and then, that at least ye may be a
witness, and a third man, to behold on paper what is betwixt Christ
and me. I was in his eyes like a young orphan, wanting known parents,
casten out in the open fields; either Christ behoved to take me up,
and to bring me home to His house and fireside, else I had died in the
fields. And now I am homely with Christ's love, so that I think the
house mine own, and the Master of the house mine also. Christ inquired
not, when He began to love me, whether I was fair, or black, or
sun-burnt; love taketh what it may have. He loved me before this time,
I know; but now I have the flower of _His_ love; His love is come to a
fair bloom, like a young rose opened up out of the green leaves; and
it casteth a strong and fragrant smell. I want nothing but ways of
expressing Christ's love. A full vessel would have a vent. Oh, if I
could smoke out, and cast out coals, to make a fire in many breasts of
this land! Oh! it is a pity that there were not many imprisoned for
Christ, were it for no other purpose than to write books and
love-songs of the love of Christ. This love would keep all created
tongues of men and angels in exercise, and busy night and day, to
speak of it. Alas! I can speak nothing of it, but wonder at three
things in His love:--_First_, freedom. O that lumps of sin should get
such love for nothing! _Secondly_, the sweetness of His love. I give
over either to speak or write of it; but those that feel it, may
better bear witness what it is. But it is so sweet, that, next to
Christ Himself, nothing can match it. Nay, I think that a soul could
live eternally blessed only on Christ's love, and feed upon no other
thing. Yea, when Christ in love giveth a blow, it doeth a soul good;
and it is a kind of comfort and joy to it to get a cuff with the
lovely, sweet, and soft hand of Jesus. And, _thirdly_, what power and
strength are in His love! I am persuaded it can climb a steep hill,
with hell upon its back; and swim through water and not drown; and
sing in the fire, and find no pain; and triumph in losses, prisons,
sorrows, exile, disgrace, and laugh and rejoice in death. O for a
year's lease of the sense of His love without a cloud, to try what
Christ is! O for the coming of the Bridegroom! Oh, when shall I see
the Bridegroom and the Bride meet in the clouds, and kiss each other!
Oh, when will we get our day, and our heart's fill of that love! Oh,
if it were lawful to complain of the famine of that love, and want of
the immediate vision of God! O time, time! how dost thou torment the
souls of those that would be swallowed up of Christ's love, because
thou movest so slowly! Oh, if He would pity a poor prisoner, and blow
love upon me, and give a prisoner a taste or draught of that
sweetness, which is glory as it were begun, to be a confirmation that
Christ and I shall have our fill of each other for ever! Come hither,
O love of Christ, that I may once kiss thee before I die! What would I
not give to have time, that lieth betwixt Christ and me, taken out of
the way, that we might once meet! I cannot think but that, at the
first sight I shall see of that most lovely and fairest face, love
will come out of His two eyes, and fill me with astonishment. I would
but desire to stand at the outer side of the gates of the New
Jerusalem, and look through a hole of the door, and see Christ's face.
A borrowed vision in this life would be my borrowed and begun heaven,
whill the long, long-looked-for day dawn. It is not for nothing that
it is said, "Christ in you the hope of glory" (Col. i. 27). I will be
content of no pawn of heaven but Christ Himself; for Christ, possessed
by faith here, is young heaven, and glory in the bud. If I had that
pawn, I would bide horning and hell both, ere I gave it again. All
that we have here is scarce the picture of glory. Should not we young
bairns long and look for the expiring of our minority? It were good to
be daily begging propines and love-gifts, and the Bridegroom's
favours; and, if we can do no more, to seek crumbs, and hungry dinners
of Christ's love, to keep the taste of heaven in our mouth whill
supper-time. I know it is far after noon, and nigh the marriage-supper
of the Lamb; the table is covered already. O Well-beloved, run, run
fast! O fair day, when wilt thou dawn! O shadows, flee away! I think
hope and love, woven through other, make our absence from Christ
spiritual torment. It is a pain to wait on; but hope that maketh not
ashamed swalloweth up that pain. It is not unkindness that keepeth
Christ and us so long asunder. What can I say to Christ's love? I
think more than I can say. To consider, that when my Lord Jesus may
take the air (if I may so speak), and go abroad, yet He will be
confined and keep the prison with me! But, in all this sweet communion
with Him, what am I to be thanked for? I am but a sufferer. Whether I
will or not, He will be kind to me; as if He had defied my guiltiness
to make Him unkind, He so beareth His love in on me. Here I die with
wondering, that justice hindereth not love; for there are none in
hell, nor out of hell, more unworthy of Christ's love. Shame may
confound and scaur me once to hold up my black mouth to receive one of
Christ's undeserved kisses. If my innerside were turned out, and all
men saw my vileness, they would say to me, "It is a shame for thee to
stand still whill Christ kiss thee and embrace thee." It would seem
to become me rather to run away from His love, as ashamed at my own
unworthiness; nay, I may think shame to take heaven, who have so
highly provoked my Lord Jesus. But seeing Christ's love will shame me,
I am content to be shamed. My desire is, that my Lord would give me
broader and deeper thoughts, to feed myself with wondering at His
love. I would I could weigh it, but I have no balance for it. When I
have worn my tongue to the stump, in praising of Christ, I have done
nothing to Him. I must let Him alone, for my withered arms will not go
about His high, wide, long, and broad love. What remaineth, then, but
that my debt to the love of Christ lie unpaid for all eternity? All
that are in heaven are black-shamed with His love as well as I. We
must all be dyvours together; and the blessing of that houseful, or
heavenful, of dyvours shall rest for ever upon Him. Oh, if this land
and nation would come and stand beside His inconceivable and glorious
perfections, and look in, and love, and adore! Would to God I could
bring in many lovers to Christ's house! But this nation hath forsaken
the Fountain of living waters. Lord, cast not water on Scotland's
coal. Wo, wo will be to this land, because of the day of the Lord's
fierce anger that is so fast coming.
Grace be with you.
Your affectionate brother, in our Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
CXXXI.--_To_ JEAN BROWN.
(_HIS WISDOM IN OUR TRIALS--REJOICE IN TRIBULATION._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I am glad that ye go on
at Christ's back, in this dark and cloudy time. It were good to sell
other things for Him; for when all these days are over, we shall find
it our advantage that we have taken part with Christ. I confidently
believe that His enemies shall be His footstool, and that He will make
green flowers dead, withered hay, when the honour and glory shall fall
off them, like the bloom or flower of a green herb shaken with the
wind. It were not wisdom for us to think that Christ and the Gospel
would come and sit down at our fireside; nay, but we must go out of
our own warm houses, and seek Christ and His Gospel. It is not the
sunny side of Christ that we must look to, and we must not forsake
Him for want of that; but must set our face against what may befall us
in following on, till He and we be through the briers and bushes, on
the dry ground. Our soft nature would be borne through the troubles of
this miserable life in Christ's arms; and it is His wisdom, who
knoweth our mould, that His bairns go wet-shod and cold-footed to
heaven. Oh, how sweet a thing were it for us to learn to make our
burdens light, by framing our hearts to the burden, and making our
Lord's will a law!
I find Christ and His cross not so ill to please, nor yet such
troublesome guests, as men call them; nay, I think patience should
make the water which Christ giveth us good wine, and His dross good
metal. And we have cause to wait on; for, ere it be long, our Master
will be at us, and bring this whole world out, before the sun and
daylight, in their blacks and whites. Happy are they who are found
watching. Our sand-glass is not so long as we need to weary; time will
eat away and root out our woes and sorrow. Our heaven is in the bud,
and growing up to an harvest. Why then should we not follow on, seeing
our span-length of time will come to an inch? Therefore I commend
Christ to you, as your last-living, and longest-living Husband, and
the staff of your old age. Let Him now have the rest of your days. And
think not much of a storm upon the ship that Christ saileth in: there
shall no passenger fall overboard, but the crazed ship and the
sea-sick passenger shall come to land safe.
I am in as sweet communion with Christ as a poor sinner can be; and am
only pained that He hath much beauty and fairness, and _I_ little
love; He great power and mercy, and _I_ little faith; He much light,
and _I_ bleared eyes. O that I saw Him in the sweetness of His love,
and in His marriage-clothes, and were over head and ears in love with
that princely one, Christ Jesus my Lord! Alas, my riven dish, and the
running-out vessel, can hold little of Christ Jesus!
I have joy in this, that I would not refuse death before[227] I put
Christ's lawful heritage in men's trysting; and what know I, if they
would have pleased both Christ and me? Alas, that this land hath put
Christ to open rouping, and to an "Any man bids more?" Blessed are
they who would hold the crown on His head, and buy Christ's honour
with their own losses.
[227] I would die, ere ever I would put Christ's property at the
disposal of men who may choose to appoint their own times.
I rejoice to hear that your son John[228] is coming to visit Christ,
and taste of His love. I hope that he will not lose his pains, nor rue
of that choice. I had always (as I said often to you) a great love to
dear Mr. John Brown, because I thought I saw Christ in him more than
in his brethren. Fain would I write to him, to stand by my sweet
Master; and I wish ye would let him read my letter, and the joy I
shall have if he will appear for, and side with, my Lord Jesus. Grace
be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.
[228] The same who was afterwards so well known as minister of
Wamphray.
CXXXII.--_To_ JEAN MACMILLAN.
[There were Macmillans at Dalshangan, near Carsphairn, noted as
Covenanters. But the name is a common one, and this correspondent
was probably an Anwoth parishioner.]
(_STRIVE TO ENTER IN._)
LOVING SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I cannot come to
you to give you my counsel; and howbeit I would come, I cannot stay
with you. But I beseech you to keep Christ, for I did what I could to
put you within grips of Him. I told you Christ's testament and
latter-will plainly, and I kept nothing back that my Lord gave me; and
I gave Christ to you with good will. I pray you to make Him your own,
and go not from that truth which I taught you, in one hair-breadth.
That truth will save you if you follow it. Salvation is not an easy
thing, and soon gotten. I often told you that few are saved, and many
damned: I pray you to make your poor soul sure of salvation, and the
seeking of heaven your daily task. If ye never had a sick night and a
pained soul for sin, ye have not yet lighted upon Christ. Look to the
right marks of having closed with Christ. If ye love Him better than
the world, and would quit all the world for Him, then that saith the
work is sound. Oh, if ye saw the beauty of Jesus, and smelled the
fragrance of His love, you would run through fire and water to be at
Him? God send you Him.
Pray for me, for I cannot forget you. Grace be with you.
Your loving pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CXXXIII.--_To the_ LADY BUSBIE.
[LADY BUSBIE is probably the mother-in-law of R. Blair,
Rutherford's intimate friend. R. Blair married Catherine,
daughter of Hugh Montgomery, Laird of Busbie, in Ayrshire, in
1635. In Welsh's "Life" mention is made of "Mouat of Bushby,"
eight miles from Ayr. He was father of Matthew Mouat of
Kilmarnock.]
(_COMPLETE SURRENDER TO CHRIST--NO IDOLS--TRIALS DISCOVER SINS--A FREE
SALVATION--THE MARRIAGE SUPPER_.)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am glad to hear that
Christ and ye are one, and that ye have made Him your "one thing,"
whereas many are painfully toiled in seeking many things, and their
many things are nothing. It is only best that ye set yourself apart,
as a thing laid up and out of the gate, for Christ alone; for ye are
good for no other thing than Christ; and He hath been going about you
these many years, by afflictions, to engage you to Himself. It were a
pity and a loss to say Him nay. Verily I could wish that I could swim
through hell, and all the ill weather in the world, and Christ in my
arms. But it is my evil and folly, that except Christ come unsent for,
I dow not go to seek Him: when He and I fall a-reckoning, we are both
behind, He in payment, and I in counting; and so marches lie still
unredd, and accounts uncleared betwixt us. O that He would take His
own blood for counts and miscounts, that I might be a free man, and
none had any claim to me but only, only Jesus. I will think it no
bondage to be rouped, comprised, and possessed by Christ as His
bondman.
Think well of the visitation of your Lord; for I find one thing, which
I saw not well before, that when the saints are under trials, and well
humbled, little sins raise great cries and war-shouts in the
conscience; and in prosperity, conscience is a pope, to give
dispensations, and let out and in, and give latitude and elbow-room to
our heart. Oh, how little care we for pardon at Christ's hand, when we
make dispensations! And all is but bairns' play, till a cross without
beget a heavier cross within, and then we play no longer with our
idols. It is good still to be severe against ourselves; for we but
transform God's mercy into an idol, and an idol that hath a
dispensation to give, for the turning of the grace of God into
wantonness. Happy are they who take up God, wrath, justice, and sin,
as they are in themselves, for we have miscarrying light, that parteth
with the child, when we have good resolutions only. But, God be
thanked, that salvation is not rolled upon our wheels.
Oh, but Christ hath a saving eye! salvation is in His eyelids! When He
first looked on me, I was saved; it cost Him but a look to make hell
quit of me! Oh, but merits, free merits, and the dear blood of God,
were the best gate that ever we could have gotten out of hell! Oh,
what a sweet, oh, what a safe and sure way is it, to come out of hell
leaning on a Saviour! That Christ and a sinner should be one, and have
heaven betwixt them, and be halvers of salvation, is the wonder of
salvation. What more humble could love be? And what an excellent smell
doth Christ cast on His lower garden, where there grow but wild
flowers, if we speak by way of comparison. But there is nothing but
perfect garden flowers in heaven, and the best plenishing that is
there is Christ. We are all obliged to love heaven for Christ's sake.
He graceth heaven, and all His Father's house, with His presence. He
is a Rose that beautifieth all the upper garden of God; a leaf of that
Rose of God for smell is worth a world. O that He would blow His smell
upon a withered and dead soul! Let us, then, go on to meet with Him,
and to be filled with the sweetness of His love. Nothing will hold Him
from us. He hath decreed to put time, sin, hell, devils, men, and
death out of the way, and to rid the rough way betwixt us and Him,
that we may enjoy one another. It is strange and wonderful, that He
would think long in heaven without us; and that He would have the
company of sinners to solace and delight Himself withal in heaven. And
now the supper is abiding us. Christ, the Bridegroom, with desire is
waiting on, till the bride, the Lamb's wife, be busked for the
marriage, and the great hall be redd for the meeting of that joyful
couple. Oh, fools! what do we here? and why sit we still? Why sleep we
in the prison? Were it not best to make us wings, to flee up to our
blessed Match, our Marrow, and our fellow Friend.
I think, Mistress, that ye are looking thereaway, and that this is
your second or third thought. Make forward; your Guide waiteth on you.
I cannot but bless you for your care and kindness to the saints. God
give you to find mercy, in that day of our Lord Jesus; to whose saving
grace I recommend you.
Yours, in our Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CXXXIV.--_To JOHN EWART, Bailie of Kirkcudbright_.
[JOHN EWART's name often occurs in the "Minute Book of Comm. of
Covenanters," as residing in Kirkcudbright. He is understood to
be the father of the John Ewart who was sentenced to banishment,
1663, for refusing to take part in quelling a tumult raised at
the intrusion of a curate in room of the ejected minister of
Kirkcudbright. (Wodrow's "Hist.") A descendant of his at
Stranraer has a small silver cup, which has been handed down from
his ancestors.]
(_THE CROSS NO BURDEN--NEED OF SURE FOUNDATION._)
MY VERY WORTHY AND DEAR FRIEND,--I cannot but most kindly thank you
for the expressions of your love. Your love and respect to me is a
great comfort to me.
I bless His high and glorious name, that the terrors of great men have
not affrighted me from openly avouching the Son of God. Nay, His cross
is the sweetest burden that ever I bare; it is such a burden as wings
are to a bird, or sails are to a ship, to carry me forward to my
harbour. I have not much cause to fall in love with the world; but
rather to wish that He who sitteth upon the floods would bring my
broken ship to land, and keep my conscience safe in these dangerous
times; for wrath from the Lord is coming on this sinful land.
It were good that we prisoners of hope know of our stronghold to run
to, before the storm come on; therefore, Sir, I beseech you by the
mercies of God, and comforts of His spirit, by the blood of your
Saviour, and by your compearance before the sin-revenging Judge of the
world, keep your garments clean, and stand for the truth of Christ,
which ye profess. When the time shall come that your eye-strings shall
break, your face wax pale, your breath grow cold, and this house of
clay shall totter, and your one foot shall be over the march, in
eternity, it will be your comfort and joy that ye gave your name to
Christ. The greatest part of the world think heaven at the next door,
and that Christianity is an easy task; but they will be beguiled.
Worthy Sir, I beseech you, make sure work of salvation. I have found
my experience, that all I could do hath had much ado in the day of my
trial; and, therefore, lay up a sure foundation for the time to come.
I cannot requite you for your undeserved favours to me and my now
afflicted brother. But I trust to remember you to God. Remember me
heartily to your kind wife.
Yours, in his only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.
CXXXV.--_To WILLIAM FULLERTON, Provost of Kirkcudbright._
(_FEAR NOT THEM WHO KILL THE BODY--UNEXPECTED FAVOUR._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I am much
obliged to your love in God.
I beseech you, Sir, let nothing be so dear to you as Christ's truth,
for salvation is worth all the world, and, therefore, be not afraid of
men that shall die. The Lord will do for you in your suffering for
Him, and will bless your house and seed; and ye have God's promise,
that ye shall have His presence in fire, water, and in seven
tribulations. Your day shall wear to an end, and your sun go down. In
death it will be your joy that ye have ventured all ye have for
Christ; and there is not a promise of heaven made but to such as are
willing to suffer for it. It is a castle taken by force. This earth is
but the clay portion of bastards; and, therefore, no wonder that the
world smile on its own; but better things are laid up for His
lawfully-begotten bairns, whom the world hateth.
I have experience to speak this; for I would not exchange my prison
and sad nights with the court, honour, and ease of my adversaries. My
Lord is pleased to make many unknown faces to laugh upon me, and to
provide a lodging for me; and He Himself visiteth my soul with feasts
of spiritual comforts. Oh, how sweet a Master is Christ! Blessed are
they who lay down all for Him.
I thank you kindly for your love to my distressed brother. Ye have the
blessing and prayers of the prisoner of Christ to you, your wife and
your children.
Remember my love and blessing to William and Samuel. I desire them in
their youth to seek the Lord, and to fear His great name; to pray
twice a-day, at least, to God, and to read God's word; to keep
themselves from cursing, lying, and filthy talking.
Now the only wise God, and the presence of the Son of God, be with you
all.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.
CXXXVI.--_To ROBERT GLENDINNING, Minister of Kirkcudbright._
(_PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD--CHRIST HIS JOY._)
MY DEAR FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I thank you most
kindly for your care of me, and your love and respective[229] kindness
to my brother in his distress. I pray the Lord that ye may find mercy
in the day of Christ; and I entreat you, Sir, to consider the times
which ye live in, and that your soul is more worth to you than the
whole world, which, in the day of the blowing of the Last Trumpet,
shall lie in white ashes, as an old castle burned to nothing. And
remember that judgment and eternity is before you. My dear and worthy
friend, let me entreat you in Christ's name, and by the salvation of
your soul, and by your compearance before the dreadful and
sin-revenging Judge of the world, to make your accounts ready. Redd
them ere ye come to the water-side; for your afternoon will wear
short, and your sun fall low and go down; and ye know that this long
time your Lord hath waited on you. Oh, how comfortable a thing it will
be to you, when time shall be no more, and your soul shall depart out
of the house of clay to vast and endless eternity, to have your soul
dressed up, and prepared for your Bridegroom! No loss is comparable to
the loss of the soul; there is no hope of regaining that loss. Oh, how
joyful would my soul be to hear that ye would start to the gate, and
contend for the crown, and leave all vanities and make Christ your
garland! Let your soul put away your old lovers, and let Christ have
your whole love.
[229] Perhaps this word means kindness that had respect to his special
needs.
I have some experience to write of this to you. My witness is in
heaven, that I would not exchange my chains and bonds for Christ, and
my sighs, for ten worlds' glory. I judge this clay-idol, which Adam's
sons are rouping, and selling their souls for, not worth a drink of
cold water. Oh, if your soul were in my soul's stead, how sick would
ye be of love for that fairest One, that Fairest among the sons of
men! May-flowers, and morning vapour, and summer mist, posteth not so
fast away as these worm-eaten pleasures which we follow. We build
castles in the air, and night-dreams are our daily idols that we doat
on. Salvation, salvation is our only necessary thing. Sir, call home
your thoughts to this work, to inquire for your Well-beloved. This
earth is the portion of bastards: seek the Son's inheritance, and let
Christ's truth be dear to you.
I pawn my salvation on it, that this is the honour of Christ's kingdom
which I now suffer for (and this world, I hope, shall not come between
me and my garland); and that this is the way to life. When ye and I
shall lie lumps of pale clay upon the ground, our pleasures, that we
now naturally love, shall be less than nothing in that day. Dear
brother, fulfil my joy, and betake you to Christ without further
delay. Ye will be fain at length to seek Him, or do infinitely worse.
Remember my love to your wife. Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.
CXXXVII.--_To_ WILLIAM GLENDINNING.
[WILLIAM GLENDINNING was the son of Mr. Robert Glendinning,
minister of Kirkcudbright. A short time before this letter was
written, he was ordered to be imprisoned in Kirkcudbright by
Bishop Sydserff, for refusing to incarcerate his father, whom
that intolerant prelate had suspended from his office, and had
ordered to be imprisoned, because he would neither conform to
Episcopacy, nor admit as his assistant a creature of the Bishop.
He was a member of the General Assembly of Glasgow 1638, being
returned by the burgh of Kirkcudbright, of which he was then
Provost. During the subsequent years, he was frequently a member
of the General Assembly; and his name appears as a member of
Parliament for the burgh of Kirkcudbright, and sent by the
Committee of Estates, in 1644, 1645, and 1646.]
(_PERSEVERANCE AGAINST OPPOSITION._)
WELL-BELOVED AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I
thank you most kindly for your care and love to me, and in particular
to my brother, in his distress in Edinburgh.[230] Go on through your
waters without wearying; your Guide knoweth the way; follow Him, and
cast your cares and temptations upon Him. And let not worms, the sons
of men, affright you; they shall die, and the moth shall eat them.
Keep your garland; there is no less at the stake, in this game betwixt
us and the world, than our conscience and salvation. We have need to
take heed to the game, and not to yield to them. Let them take other
things from us; but here, in matters of conscience, we must hold and
draw with kings, and set ourselves in terms of opposition with the
shields of the earth. Oh, the sweet communion, for evermore, that hath
been between Christ and His prisoner! He wearieth not to be kind. He
is the fairest sight I see in Aberdeen, or in any part that ever my
feet were in.
[230] Rutherford here refers to the trial of his brother George,
schoolmaster and reader in Kirkcudbright, before the High Commission,
at Edinburgh, in November the preceding year, for his nonconformity
and zealous support of Mr. Robert Glendinning, the persecuted minister
of Kirkcudbright. As previously noticed (Letter LXVII.), he was
condemned to resign his office, and to remove from Kirkcudbright
before the ensuing term of Whitsunday. When at Edinburgh, and on his
trial, he experienced much kindness from several of the correspondents
of our author, who, in his letters to them, makes the most heartfelt
grateful acknowledgments. After his ejection, "he seems," says Murray,
"to have taken refuge in Ayrshire; for in a letter to Lord Loudon,
Rutherford speaks of his brother as being nigh his Lordship's bounds;
and every individual whom he addressed on his behalf (after his
removal from Kirkcudbright) was connected with that county. The
kindness and the frequency with which, in his letters, he speaks of
him, do honour to his heart" ("Life of Rutherford," p. 93).
Remember my hearty kindness to your wife. I desire her to believe, and
lay her cares on God, and make fast work of salvation. Grace be with
you.
Yours in his only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.
CXXXVIII.--_To_ MR. HUGH HENDERSON.
[HUGH HENDERSON was first minister of Dalry, a parish in the
district of Cunningham, Ayrshire; and afterwards of Dumfries. We
meet with his name as minister of Dalry in 1643, when he was
nominated as one of the eight ministers whom the General Assembly
appointed to visit Ireland by pairs, each pair for three months
successively, to instruct, comfort, and encourage the
Presbyterians in that country, who had been deprived of their
ministers through the tyranny of the prelates. In 1645 he was
appointed by the General Assembly chaplain to Colonel Stuart's
regiment; and in 1648 translated to Dumfries. Shortly after the
restoration of Charles II., he, and all the ministers of the
Presbytery of Dumfries, were, by the order of the King's
Commissioner, carried prisoners to Edinburgh, for refusing to
observe the 29th day of May as a religious anniversary, in
commemoration of the King's birth and restoration. But he and the
rest (with the exception of two) at last yielded so far as to
engage simply to preach on that day, knowing it would be the day
of their ordinary weekly sermon; a promise hardly compatible with
straightforwardness, being something like a disingenuous attempt
to make it appear that they were complying with the statute of
Parliament, when they were merely discharging a professional
duty. Henderson exhibited more consistency and stedfastness the
subsequent year, when he preferred being expelled from his charge
to conforming to Prelacy. He was ejected in the close of the year
1662, by the Earl of Middleton. After this, Henderson frequently
preached in his own house in Galloway.]
(_TRIALS SELECTED BY GOD--PATIENCE--LOOKING FOR THE JUDGE._)
MY REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I hear that you bear the marks of
Christ's dying about with you, and that your brethren have cast you
out for your Master's sake. Let us wait on till the evening, and till
our reckoning in black and white come before our Master. Brother,
since we must have a devil to trouble us, I love a raging devil best.
Our Lord knoweth what sort of devil we have need of: it is best that
Satan be in his own skin, and look like himself. Christ weeping
looketh like Himself also, with whom Scribes and Pharisees were at yea
and nay, and sharp contradiction.
Ye have heard of the patience of Job. When he lay in the ashes, God
was with him, clawing and curing his scabs, and letting out his boils,
comforting his soul; and He took him up at last. That God is not dead
yet; He will stoop and take up fallen bairns. Many broken legs since
Adam's days hath He spelked, and many weary hearts hath He refreshed.
Bless Him for comfort. Why? None cometh dry from David's well. Let us
go among the rest, and cast down our toom buckets into Christ's ocean,
and suck consolations out of Him. We are not so sore stricken, but we
may fill Christ's hall with weeping. We have not gotten our answer
from Him yet. Let us lay up our broken pleas to a full sea, and keep
them till the day of Christ's Coming. We and this world will not be
even till then: they would take our garment from us; but let _us_ hold
and _them_ draw.
Brother, it is a strange world if we laugh not. I never saw the like
of it, if there be not "paiks the man," for this contempt done to the
Son of God. We must do as those who keep the bloody napkin to the
Bailie, and let him see blood; we must keep our wrongs to our Judge,
and let Him see our bluddered and foul faces. Prisoners of hope must
run to Christ, with the gutters that tears have made on their cheeks.
Brother, for myself, I am Christ's dawted one for the present; and I
live upon no deaf nuts, as we use to speak. He hath opened fountains
to me in the wilderness. Go, look to my Lord Jesus: His love to me is
such, that I defy the world to find either brim or bottom to it. Grace
be with you.
Your brother, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.
CXXXIX.--_To my_ LORD BALMERINOCH.
[JOHN ELPHINSTON, second LORD BALMERINOCH, was the only son by
the first marriage of the Honourable Sir James Elphinston, first
Lord Balmerinoch. He distinguished himself in 1633 for his
opposition to the measures of the Court in favour of Prelacy, and
particularly for opposing in Parliament the Act concerning the
King's prerogative in imposing Apparel on Churchmen, and also the
Act ratifying the Acts previously made for settling the estate of
Bishops. Soon after he was libelled and condemned to death as
guilty of treason. However, after a long and severe imprisonment,
he obtained from his Majesty a free though reluctant pardon. True
to his former principles, he still continued to oppose the
measures then pursued by Government, and particularly the
attempts to introduce the Service Book into Scotland. He was a
member of the Glasgow Assembly 1638, being returned as elder for
the Presbytery of Edinburgh. "His Lordship," says Wood, "was,
without exception, the best friend the Covenanters had, as he not
only assisted that party with his advice on all occasions, but
also supplied them with large sums of money, by which he
irreparably injured the very ample fortune he inherited from his
father. He lived in habits of strict friendship with the chief
leaders of the Presbyterians, and was particularly intimate with
Sir Archibald Johnston of Warriston. He had so strong a sense of
justice, that, having reason to suspect his father had made too
advantageous a purchase of the lands of Balumby, in the county of
Forfar, he, of his own accord, gave 10,000 merks to the heir of
that estate, by way of compensation" (Wood's "Cramond"). He died
suddenly in 1649, at the very time when commissioners (of whom he
was one) were sent to treat with Charles II. in Holland.
(Lamont's "Diary," p. 1.)]
(_HIS HAPPY OBLIGATIONS TO CHRIST--EMPTINESS OF THE WORLD._)
MY VERY NOBLE AND TRULY HONOURABLE LORD,--I make bold to write news to
your Lordship from my prison, though your Lordship have experience
more than I can have. At my first entry here, I was not a little
casten down with challenges, for old, unrepented-of sins; and Satan
and my own apprehensions made a lie of Christ, that He hath casten a
dry, withered tree over the dyke of the vineyard. But it was my folly
(blessed be His great name), the fire cannot burn the dry tree. He is
pleased now to feast the exiled prisoner with His lovely presence; for
it suiteth Christ well to be kind, and He dineth and suppeth with such
a sinner as I am. I am in Christ's tutoring here. He hath made me
content with a borrowed fireside, and it casteth as much heat as mine
own. I want nothing but real possession of Christ; and He hath given
me a pawn of that also, which I hope to keep till He come Himself to
loose the pawn. I cannot get help to praise His high name. He hath
made me king over my losses, imprisonment, banishment; and only my
dumb Sabbaths stick in my throat. But I forgive Christ's wisdom in
that. I dare not say one word; He hath done it, and I will lay my hand
upon my mouth. If any other hand had done it to me, I could not have
borne it.
Now, my Lord, I must tell your Lordship that I would not give a drink
of cold water for this clay idol, this plastered world. I testify, and
give it under my own hand, that Christ is most worthy to be suffered
for. Our lazy flesh, which would have Christ to cry down crosses by
open proclamation, hath but raised a slander upon the cross of Christ.
My Lord, I hope that ye will not forget what He hath done for your
soul. I think that ye are in Christ's count-book, as His obliged
debtor.
Grace, grace be with your spirit.
Your Lordship's obliged servant,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.
CXL.--_To my LADY MAR, Younger._
[LADY MAR, younger, whose maiden name was Christian Hay, was the
wife of John Erskine, eighth Earl of Mar. She became a widow in
1654, his Lordship having died in that year. Her son, John,
became ninth Earl of Mar, and her daughter, Elizabeth, was
married to Archibald, Lord Napier. Lady Mar, senior, was Lady
Mary Stewart, daughter of Esme, Duke of Lennox, second wife of
John, Lord Erskine, seventh Earl of Mar. She died in the house of
Sir Thomas Hope, in the Cowgate, Edinburgh, and was buried at
Alloa, 11th May 1644. (Sir Thomas Hope's "Diary," p. 205.) It was
for her that, in 1625, the book of devotion, called "The Countess
of Mar's Sanctuary, or Arcadia," was drawn up--a little work of
which only two copies were known to be in existence, till
reprinted in 1862, at Edinburgh.]
(_NO EXCHANGE FOR CHRIST._)
MY VERY NOBLE AND DEAR LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I
received your Ladyship's letter, which hath comforted my soul. God
give you to find mercy in the day of Christ.
I am in as good terms and court with Christ as an exiled, oppressed
prisoner of Christ can be. I am still welcome to His house; He knoweth
my knock, and letteth in a poor friend. Under this black, rough tree
of the cross of Christ, He hath ravished me with His love, and taken
my heart to heaven with Him. Well and long may He brook it. I would
not niffer Christ with all the joys that man or angel can devise
beside Him. Who hath such cause to speak honourably of Christ as I
have? Christ is King of all crosses, and He hath made His saints
little kings under Him; and He can ride and triumph upon weaker bodies
than I am (if any can be weaker), and His horse will neither fall nor
stumble.
Madam, your Ladyship hath much ado with Christ, for your soul,
husband, children, and house. Let Him find much employment for His
calling with you; for He is such a friend as delighteth to be burdened
with suits and employments; and the more ye lay on Him, and the more
homely ye be with Him, the more welcome. O the depth of Christ's
love! It hath neither brim nor bottom. Oh, if this blind world saw His
beauty! When I count with Him for His mercies to me, I must stand
still and wonder, and go away as a poor dyvour, who hath nothing to
pay. Free forgiveness is payment. I would that I could get Him set on
high; for His love hath made me sick, and I die except I get real
possession.
Grace, grace be with you.
Your Ladyship's, at all obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.
CXLI.--_To_ JAMES MACADAM.
[John Livingstone ("Histor. Relation"), along with Marion
M'Naught and other such, mentions John Macadam and Christian
Macadam of Waterhead, near Carsphairn, as eminent Christians. The
person to whom this letter is addressed may have been one of that
family. The famous road engineer in our day, Macadam, born at
Waterhead, was descended from this ancient family.
It seems that the Christian Macadam mentioned above was
afterwards Lady Cardoness; and because of her connection with
this correspondent of Rutherford's, we may give the inscription
on her tomb. The tomb is part of the enclosed pile close to the
old Anwoth church. The inscription is on the north side of the
pile:--
"Christian M'Adam, Lady Cardynes. Departed 16th June of 1628.
Ætatis suæ, 33.
"Ye gazers on the trophy of a tomb,
Send out one groan for want of her whose life,
Twice born on earth, now is in earth's womb.
Lived long a virgin, now a spotless wife.
Church keeps her godly life, the tomb her corpse,
And earth her precious name. Who then does lose?
Her husband? No, since heaven her soul doth gain."]
(_THE KINGDOM TAKEN BY FORCE._)
MY VERY DEAR AND WORTHY FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I
long to hear of your growing in grace, and of your advancing in your
journey to heaven. It will be the joy of my heart to hear that ye hold
your face up the brae, and wade through temptations without fearing
what man can do. Christ shall, when He ariseth, mow down His enemies,
and lay bulks[231] (as they use to speak) on the green, and fill the
pits with dead bodies (Ps. cx. 6; "the places"). They shall lie like
handfuls of withered hay, when He ariseth to the prey. Salvation,
salvation is the only necessary thing. This clay idol, the world, is
not to be sought; it is a morsel not for you, but for hunger-bitten
bastards. Contend for salvation. Your Master, Christ, won heaven with
strokes: it is a besieged castle; it must be taken with violence. Oh,
this world thinketh heaven but at the next door, and that godliness
may sleep in a bed of down till it come to heaven! But that will not
do it.
[231] Carcases; properly, the _trunk_, or _bulk_ of the man. In some
editions it is written "bouks;" but "_bulks_" is in all the old
editions.
For myself, I am as well as Christ's prisoner can be; for by Him I am
master and king of all my crosses. I am above the prison, and the lash
of men's tongues; Christ triumpheth in me. I have been casten down,
and heavy with fears, and haunted with challenges. I was swimming in
the depths, but Christ had His hand under my chin all the time, and
took good heed that I should not lose breath; and now I have gotten my
feet again, and there are love-feasts of joy, and spring-tides of
consolation betwixt Christ and me. We agree well; I have court with
Him; I am still welcome to His house. Oh, my short arms cannot fathom
His love! I beseech you, I charge you, to help me to praise. Ye have a
prisoner's prayers, therefore forget me not.
I desire Sibylla to remember me dearly to all in that parish who know
Christ, as if I had named them.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.
CXLII.--_To my very dear brother_, WILLIAM LIVINGSTONE.
[Probably one of his Anwoth parishioners. There are Livingstones
in that neighbourhood to this day.]
(_COUNSEL TO A YOUTH._)
MY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--I rejoice to hear that Christ hath run away
with your young love, and that ye are so early in the morning matched
with such a Lord; for a young man is often a dressed lodging for the
devil to dwell in. Be humble and thankful for grace; and weigh it not
so much by weight, as if it be true. Christ will not cast water on
your smoking coal; He never yet put out a dim candle that was lighted
at the Sun of Righteousness. I recommend to you prayer and watching
over the sins of your youth; for I know that missive letters go
between the devil and young blood. Satan hath a friend at court in the
heart of youth; and there pride, luxury, lust, revenge, forgetfulness
of God, are hired as his agents. Happy is your soul if Christ man the
house, and take the keys Himself, and command all, as it suiteth Him
full well to rule all wherever He is. Keep Christ, and entertain Him
well. Cherish His grace; blow upon your own coal; and let Him tutor
you.
Now for myself: know that I am fully agreed with my Lord. Christ hath
put the Father and me into each other's arms. Many a sweet bargain He
made before, and He hath made this among the rest. I reign as king
over my crosses. I will not flatter a temptation, nor give the devil a
good word: I defy hell's iron gates. God hath passed over my
quarrelling of Him at my entry here, and now He feedeth and feasteth
with me.
Praise, praise with me; and let us exalt His name together.
Your brother in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.
CXLIII.--_To WILLIAM GORDON of Whitepark._
[This may be a son of George Gordon, who is recorded as heir to
the estate of "Whytpark," March 20, 1628. It was not, in the
parish of Anwoth, but close to Castle Douglas.]
(_NOTHING LOST BY TRIALS--LONGING FOR CHRIST HIMSELF BECAUSE OF HIS
LOVE._)
WORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. I long to hear from
you. I am here the Lord's prisoner and patient, handled as softly by
my Physician as if I were a sick man under a cure. I was at hard terms
with my Lord, and pleaded with Him, but I had the worst side. It is a
wonder that He should have suffered the like of me to have nicknamed
the Son of His love, Christ, and to call Him a changed Lord, who hath
forsaken me. But misbelief hath never a good word to speak of Christ.
The dross of my cross gathered a scum of fears in the fire--doubtings,
impatience, unbelief, challenging of Providence as sleeping, and as
not regarding my sorrow; but my goldsmith, Christ, was pleased to take
off the scum, and burn it in the fire. And, blessed be my Refiner, He
hath made the metal better, and furnished new supply of grace, to
cause me hold out weight; and I hope that He hath not lost one
grain-weight by burning His servant. Now His love in my heart casteth
a mighty heat; He knoweth that the desire I have to be at Himself
paineth me. I have sick nights and frequent fits of love-fevers for
my Well-beloved. Nothing paineth me now but want of His presence. I
think it long till day. I challenge time as too slow in its pace, that
holdeth my only fair one, my love, my Well-beloved from me. Oh, if we
were together once! I am like an old crazed ship that hath endured
many storms, and that would fain be in the lee of the shore, and
feareth new storms; I would be that nigh heaven, that the shadow of it
might break the force of the storm, and the crazed ship might win to
land. My Lord's sun casteth a heat of love and beam of light on my
soul. My blessing thrice every day upon the sweet cross of Christ! I
am not ashamed of my garland, "the banished minister," which is the
term of Aberdeen. Love, love defieth reproaches. The love of Christ
hath a corslet of proof on it, and arrows will not draw blood of it.
We are more than conquerors through the blood of Him that loved us
(Rom. viii. 37). The devil and the world cannot wound the love of
Christ. I am further from yielding to the course of defection than
when I came hither. Sufferings blunt not the fiery edge of love. Cast
love into the floods of hell, it will swim above. It careth not for
the world's busked and plastered offers. It hath pleased my Lord so to
line my heart with the love of my Lord Jesus, that, as if the field
were already won, and I on the other side of time, I laugh at the
world's golden pleasures, and at this dirty idol which the sons of
Adam worship. This worm-eaten god is that which my soul hath fallen
out of love with.
Sir, ye were once my hearer: I desire now to hear from you and your
wife. I salute her and your children with blessings. I am glad that ye
are still handfasted with Christ. Go on in your journey, and take the
city by violence. Keep your garments clean. Be clean virgins to your
husband the Lamb. The world shall follow you to heaven's gates: and ye
would not wish it to go in with you. Keep fast Christ's love. Pray for
me, as I do for you.
The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.
CXLIV.--_To_ MR. GEORGE GILLESPIE.
[GEORGE GILLESPIE was the son of Mr. John Gillespie, some time
minister of the Gospel at Kirkcaldy. He was licensed to preach
the Gospel some time prior to 1638: and in April, that year, was
ordained minister of Wemyss. In 1642, by the General Assembly he
was translated to one of the churches in Edinburgh, where he
continued till his death. Gillespie possessed talents of the
highest order; and so much were these appreciated that, young as
he was, he was one of the four ministers sent as commissioners
from the Church of Scotland to the Westminster Assembly in 1643.
There he attracted general notice, by the cogency of argument,
and the rare learning which he showed in pleading the cause of
Presbytery and opposing Erastianism. At one of the meetings of
that Assembly, when the learned Selden had delivered a long and
an elaborate discourse in favour of Erastianism, to which none
seemed prepared to reply, Gillespie, who was still a young man,
was observed to be writing. A venerable friend went to his chair,
and asked if he had taken notes, but found that he had written
nothing except these words, frequently repeated, "Give light,
Lord." His friend urged him to answer. Gillespie at last rose,
and in an extempore speech refuted Selden with a power of
reasoning and an amount of learning which excited the admiration
of all present. Selden himself is said to have observed, after
hearing this reply, "That young man, by a single speech, has
swept away the labour and the learning of ten years of my life!"
Gillespie died in December 1648, in the 36th year of his age.
During his last illness he enjoyed little comfort, but was strong
in the faith of adherence to the divine promises--a subject on
which he insisted much in his sermons. When asked if he had any
comfort, he said, "No; but though the Lord allow me no comfort,
yet I will _believe_ that my Beloved is mine, and that I am His."
To two ministers, who asked what advice he had to give them, he
answered: "I have little experience of the ministry, having been
in it only nine years; but I can say that I have got more
assistance in the work of preaching from prayer than study; and
much more help from the assistance of the Spirit than from
books." And yet he was known to have been an indefatigable
student. He is the author of various works, which are chiefly
controversial, such as "The English Popish Ceremonies," and
"Aaron's Rod Blossoming."]
(_SUSPICIONS OF CHRIST'S LOVE REMOVED THREE DESIRES._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I received your letter. As for my case,
brother, I bless His glorious name, that my losses are my gain, my
prison a palace, and my sadness joyfulness. At my first entry, my
apprehensions so wrought upon my cross, that I became jealous of the
love of Christ, as being by Him thrust out of the vineyard, and I was
under great challenges, as ordinarily melted gold casteth forth a
drossy scum, and Satan and our corruption form the first words that
the heavy cross speaketh, and say, "God is angry, He loveth you not."
But our apprehensions are not canonical;[232] they indite lies of God
and Christ's love. But since my spirit was settled, and the clay has
fallen to the bottom of the well, I see better what Christ was doing.
And now my Lord is returned with salvation under His wings. Now I want
little of half a heaven, and I find Christ every day so sweet,
comfortable, lovely, and kind, that three things only trouble me:
_1st_, I see not how to be thankful, or how to get help to praise that
Royal King, who raiseth up those that are bowed down. _2nd_, His love
paineth me, and woundeth my soul, so that I am in a fever for want of
real presence. _3rd_, An excessive desire to take instruments in God's
name, that this is Christ and His truth, which I now suffer for; yea,
the apple of the eye of Christ's honour, even the sovereignty and
royal privileges of our King and Lawgiver, Christ. And, therefore, let
no man scaur at Christ's cross, or raise an ill report upon Him or it;
for He beareth the sufferer and it both.
[232] Authentic Scripture.
I am here troubled with the disputes of the great doctors (especially
with Dr. B.[233]) in Ceremonial and Arminian controversies, for all
are corrupt here; but, I thank God, with no detriment to the truth, or
discredit to my profession. So, then, I see that Christ can triumph in
a weaker man nor I; and who can be more weak? But His grace is
sufficient for me.
[233] Dr. Robert Barron.
Brother, remember our old covenant, and pray for me, and write to me
your case. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.
CXLV.--_To_ JEAN GORDON.
(_GOD THE SATISFYING PORTION--ADHERENCE TO CHRIST._)
MY VERY DEAR AND LOVING SISTER,--Grace mercy, and peace be to you.--I
long to hear from you. I exhort you to set up the brae to the King's
city, that must be taken by violence. Your afternoon's sun is wearing
low. Time will eat up your frail life, like a worm gnawing at the root
of a May-flower. Lend Christ your heart. Set Him as a seal there. Take
Him in within, and let the world and children stand at the door. They
are not yours; make you and them[234] for your proper owner, Christ.
It is good that He is your Husband and their Father. What missing can
there be of a dying man, when God filleth His chair? Give hours of the
day to prayer. Fash Christ (if I may speak so), and importune Him; be
often at His gate; give His door no rest. I can tell you that He will
be found. Oh, what sweet fellowship is betwixt Him and me! I am
imprisoned, but He is not imprisoned. He hath shamed me with His
kindness. He hath come to my prison, and run away with my heart and
all my love. Well may He brook it! I wish that my love get never an
owner but Christ. Fy, fy upon old lovers, that held us so long
asunder! We shall not part now. He and I shall be heard, before He
win out of my grips. I resolve to wrestle with Christ, ere I quit Him.
But my love to Him hath casten my soul into a fever, and there is no
cooling of my fever, till I get real possession of Christ. O strong,
strong love of Jesus, thou hast wounded my heart with thine arrows! Oh
pain! Oh pain of love for Christ! Who will help me to praise?
Let me have your prayers. Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 13, 1637_.
[234] This seems to mean mould, or fashion, yourself and them.
CXLVI.--_To MR. JAMES BRUCE, Minister of the Gospel_.
[MR. JAMES BRUCE was minister of Kingsbarns, in the Presbytery of
St Andrews; admitted in 1630. Prelacy and the English ceremonies
had then, for a considerable time, been imposed upon the Church
of Scotland. But Bruce, like many other of her ministers, being
in principle decidedly favourable to Presbytery, refused to
conform. He was, however, permitted to continue in his charge,
the Bishops at that time removing very few, because the
introduced ceremonies were so unpopular, that it was judged
dangerous and impolitic to enforce a rigid and universal
compliance with them. Bruce made an early public appearance
against the attempts of the Court to impose the Anglo-Popish
liturgy, or Service Book, in 1637. He was a member of the Glasgow
Assembly, 1638. He died at Kingsbarns, May 26, 1662, when the
storm of persecution was about to break upon the Church of
Scotland, being thus taken away from the evil to come.]
(_MISJUDGING OF CHRIST'S WAYS._)
REVEREND AND WELL-BELOVED BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.--Upon the nearest acquaintance (that we are Father's children), I
thought good to write to you. My case, in my bonds for the honour of
my royal Prince and King, Jesus, is as good as becometh the witness of
such a sovereign King. At my first coming hither, I was in great
heaviness, wrestling with challenges; being burdened in heart (as I am
yet), for my silent Sabbaths, and for a bereaved people, young ones
new-born, plucked from the breast, and the children's table drawn. I
thought I was a dry tree cast over the dyke of the vineyard. But my
secret conceptions of Christ's love, at His sweet and long-desired
return to my soul, were found to be a lie of Christ's love, forged by
the tempter and my own heart. And I am persuaded it was so. Now there
is greater peace and security within than before; the court is raised
and dismissed, for it was not fenced in God's name. I was far mistaken
who should have summoned Christ for unkindness; misted faith, and my
fever, conceived amiss of Him. Now, now, He is pleased to feast a
poor prisoner, and to refresh me with joy unspeakable and glorious! so
as the Holy Spirit is witness that my sufferings are for Christ's
truth; and God forbid that I should deny the testimony of the Holy
Spirit and make Him a false witness. Now, I testify under my hand, out
of some small experience, that Christ's cause, even with the cross, is
better than the king's crown; and that His reproaches are sweet, His
cross perfumed, the walls of my prison fair and large, my losses gain.
I desire you, my dear brother, to help me to praise, and to remember
me in your prayer to God. Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in our Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.
CXLVII.--_To JOHN GORDON, at Rusco, in the Parish of Anwoth,
Galloway._
[It is said that "Rusco" means "a boggy place," referring to the
original state of the place. The old tower or castle still stands
on a gentle slope, three miles from Gatehouse and two from
Anwoth, but uninhabited. The wooded height of Castramont was part
of the domain. It was at this old mansion (Rusco) that Robert
Campbell, laird of Kinzeancleugh, the friend of John Knox, died
of fever, in 1574, when on a visit to Gordon of Lochinvar,
"expressing his confidence of victory, and his desire to depart
and be with Christ."]
(_PRESSING INTO HEAVEN--A CHRISTIAN NO EASY ATTAINMENT--SINS TO BE
AVOIDED._)
MY WORTHY AND DEAR BROTHER,--Misspend not your short sand-glass, which
runneth very fast; seek your Lord in time. Let me obtain of you a
letter under your hand, for a promise to God, by His grace, to take a
new course of walking with God. Heaven is not at the next door; I find
it hard to be a Christian. There is no little thrusting and thringing
to thrust in at heaven's gates; it is a castle taken by force;--"Many
shall strive to enter in, and shall not be able."
I beseech and obtest you in the Lord, to make conscience of rash and
passionate oaths, of raging and sudden avenging anger, of night
drinking, of needless companionry, of Sabbath-breaking, of hurting any
under you by word or deed, of hating your very enemies. "Except ye
receive the kingdom of God as a little child," and be as meek and
sober-minded as a babe, "ye cannot enter into the kingdom of God."
That is a word which should touch you near, and make you stoop and
cast yourself down, and make your great spirit fall. I know that this
will not be easily done, but I recommend it to you, as you tender
your part of the kingdom of heaven.
Brother, I may, from new experience, speak of Christ to you. Oh, if ye
saw in Him what I see! A river of God's unseen joys has flowed from
bank to brae over my soul since I parted with you. I wish that I
wanted part, so being ye might have; that your soul might be sick of
love for Christ, or rather satiated with Him. This clay-idol, the
world, would seem to you then not worth a fig; time will eat you out
of possession of it. When the eye-strings break, and the breath
groweth cold, and the imprisoned soul looketh out of the windows of
the clay-house, ready to leap out into eternity, what would you then
give for a lamp full of oil? Oh seek it now.
I desire you to correct and curb banning, swearing, lying, drinking,
Sabbath-breaking, and idle spending of the Lord's day in absence from
the kirk, as far as your authority reacheth in that parish.
I hear that a man is to be thrust into that place, to the which I have
God's right. I know that ye should have a voice by God's word in that
(Acts i. 15, 16, to the end; vi. 3-5). Ye would be loath that any
prelate should put you out of your possession earthly; and this is
your right. What I write to you, I write to your wife. Grace be with
you.
Your loving Pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.
CXLVIII.--_To the_ LADY HALLIHILL.
[LADY HALLIHILL, whose maiden name was Learmonth, was the wife of Sir
James Melville of Hallhill, in Fife, the son of Sir James Melville of
Hallhill, a privy councillor to King James VI., and an accomplished
statesman and courtier in his day, who died in 1617. (Douglas'
"Peerage," vol. ii.) Consequently, this lady was sister-in-law to Lady
Culross, formerly noticed. Livingstone, who was personally acquainted
with her, describes her as "eminent for grace and gifts;" and whose
"memory was very precious and refreshing" to him.]
(_CHRIST'S CROSSES BETTER THAN EGYPT'S TREASURES_.)
DEAR AND CHRISTIAN LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I longed
much to write to your Ladyship; but now, the Lord offering a fit
occasion, I would not omit to do it.
I cannot but acquaint your Ladyship with the kind dealing of Christ
to my soul, in this house of my pilgrimage, that your Ladyship may
know that He is as good as He is called. For at my first entry into
this trial (being casten down and troubled with challenges and
jealousies of His love, whose name and testimony I now bear in my
bonds), I feared nothing more than that I was casten over the dyke of
the vineyard, as a dry tree. But, blessed be His great name, the dry
tree was in the fire, and was not burnt; His dew came down and
quickened the root of a withered plant. And now He is come again with
joy, and hath been pleased to feast His exiled and afflicted prisoner
with the joy of His consolations. Now I weep, but am not sad; I am
chastened, but I die not; I have loss, but I want nothing; this water
cannot drown me, this fire cannot burn me, because of the good-will of
Him that dwelt in The Bush. The worst things of Christ, His
reproaches, His cross, are better than Egypt's treasures. He hath
opened His door, and taken into His house-of-wine a poor sinner, and
hath left me so sick of love for my Lord Jesus, that if heaven were at
my disposing, I would give it for Christ, and would not be content to
go to heaven, except I were persuaded that Christ were there. I would
not give, nor exchange, my bonds for the prelates' velvets; nor my
prison for their coaches; nor my sighs for all the world's laughter.
This clay-idol, the world, hath no great court in my soul. Christ hath
come and run away to heaven with my heart and my love, so that neither
heart nor love is mine: I pray God, that Christ may keep both without
reversion. In my estimation, as I am now disposed, if my part of this
world's clay were rouped and sold, I would think it dear of a drink of
water. I see Christ's love is so kingly, that it will not abide a
marrow; it must have a throne all alone in the soul. And I see that
apples beguile bairns, howbeit they be worm-eaten. The moth-eaten
pleasures of this present world make bairns believe ten is a hundred,
and yet all that are here are but shadows. If they would draw by the
curtain that is hung betwixt them and Christ, they should see
themselves fools who have so long miskenned the Son of God. I seek no
more, next to heaven, than that He may be glorified in a prisoner of
Christ; and that in my behalf many would praise His high and glorious
name who heareth the sighing of the prisoner.
Remember my service to the laird, your husband; and to your son, my
acquaintance. I wish that Christ had his young love, and that in the
morning he would start to the gate, to seek that which the world
knoweth not, and, therefore, doth not seek it.
The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.
CXLIX.--_To the much honoured JOHN OSBURN, Provost of Ayr._
[OF JOHN OSBURN, merchant in Ayr, and at this time chief magistrate of
that burgh, little is now known. He died about the close of the year
1653, or beginning of the following year, as appears from his son
David being retoured his heir on 17th January 1654. He appears on the
list of the gentlemen in Ayrshire whom Middleton fined in 1662.]
(_ADHERENCE TO CHRIST--HIS APPROBATION WORTH ALL WORLDS._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Upon our small
acquaintance, and the good report I hear of you, I could not but write
to you. I have nothing to say, but that Christ, in that honourable
place He hath put you in, hath intrusted you with a dear pledge, which
is His own glory; and hath armed you with His sword to keep the
pledge, and make a good account of it to God. Be not afraid of men.
Your Master can mow down His enemies, and make withered hay of fair
flowers. Your time will not be long; after your afternoon will come
your evening, and after evening, night. Serve Christ. Back Him; let
His cause be your cause; give not an hair-breadth of truth away; for
it is not yours, but God's. Then, since ye are going, take Christ's
testificate with you out of this life--"Well done, good and faithful
servant!" His "well done" is worth a shipful of "good-days" and
earthly honours. I have cause to say this, because I find Him truth
itself. In my sad days, Christ laugheth cheerfully, and saith, "All
will be well!" Would to God that all this kingdom, and all that know
God, knew what is betwixt Christ and me in this prison--what kisses,
embracements, and love communion! I take His cross in my arms with
joy; I bless it, I rejoice in it. Suffering for Christ is my garland.
I would not exchange Christ for ten thousand worlds! nay, if the
comparison could stand, I would not exchange Christ with heaven.
Sir, pray for me, and the prayers and blessing of a prisoner of Christ
meet you in all your straits. Grace be with you.
Yours, in Christ Jesus, his Lord,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.
CL.--_To his loving Friend_, JOHN HENDERSON. [See Letter CCVII.]
(_CONTINUING IN CHRIST--PREPAREDNESS FOR DEATH._)
LOVING FRIEND,--Continue in the love of Christ, and the doctrine which
I taught you faithfully and painfully, according to my measure. I am
free of your blood. Fear the dreadful name of God. Keep in mind the
examinations[235] which I taught you, and love the truth of God.
Death, as fast as time fleeth, chaseth you out of this life; it is
possible that ye may make your reckoning with your Judge before I see
you. Let salvation be your care, night and day, and set aside hours
and times of the day for prayer. I rejoice to hear that there is
prayer in your house. See that your servants keep the Lord's day. This
dirt and god of clay (I mean the vain world) is not worth the seeking.
[235] Perhaps (see in Letter CLXVI.) his instructions on the Catechism
are meant.
An hireling pastor is to be thrust in upon you, in the room to which I
have Christ's warrant and right. Stand to your liberties, for the word
of God alloweth you a vote in choosing your pastor.
What I write to you, I write to your wife. Commend me heartily to her.
The grace of God be with you.
Your loving Friend and Pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.
CLI.--_To JOHN MEINE, Senior._
[JOHN MEINE, merchant in Edinburgh, was a man of enlightened piety,
and a decided Presbyterian. His zeal and stedfastness in maintaining
Presbyterian principles exposed him to the resentment of the court and
prelates. Having, with other citizens of Edinburgh, encouraged
Nonconforming ministers, by accompanying them to the court when they
were dragged before the High Commission, he was, without citation or
trial, banished to Wigtown by the Privy Council, according to the
orders of the king. But the execution of the sentence was suspended.
In regard to the Perth Articles, he would make no compromise. In 1624,
when the Town Council, Session, and citizens of Edinburgh, convened,
according to an ancient custom observed among them from the time of
the Reformation, to remove such grounds of difference as might have
arisen, before uniting in the celebration of the Lord's Supper, Meine
strongly pleaded that the ordinance should be solemnised without
kneeling, a ceremony with which (he said) he could not comply. On
account of his zeal in this matter, he was summoned before the Privy
Council. The result was, that in June that year, he was sentenced to
be banished to the north and confined within the town of Elgin. About
the beginning of January next year, he obtained liberty for a few days
to visit his family, but on the understanding that he should
afterwards return to his place of confinement. However, the death of
James VI. on the 27th of March that year, put an end to his trouble
for a time. Livingstone, describing him in his Memorable
Characteristics, says, "He used, summer and winter, to rise about
three in the morning, and always sing some psalm as he put on his
clothes. He spent till six o'clock alone in religious exercises, and
at six worshipped God with his family, and then went to his shop."
Meine was married to Barbara Hamilton, sister to the first wife of the
famous Robert Blair.]
(_ENJOYMENT OF GOD'S LOVE--NEED OF HELP--BURDENS._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I wonder that ye
sent me not an answer to my last letter, for I stand in need of it. I
am in some piece of court, with our great King, whose love would cause
a dead man to speak, and live. Whether my court will continue or not,
I cannot well say; but I have His ear frequently, and (to His glory
only I speak it) no penury of the love-kisses of the Son of God. He
thinketh good to cast apples to me in my prison to play withal, lest I
should think long and faint. I must give over all attempts to fathom
the depth of His love. All I can do is, but to stand beside His great
love, and look and wonder. My debts of thankfulness affright me; I
fear that my creditor get a dyvour-bill and ragged account.
I would be much the better of help. Oh for help! and that ye would
take notice of my case. Your not writing to me maketh me think ye
suppose that I am not to be bemoaned, because He sendeth comfort. But
I have pain in my unthankfulness, and pain in the feeling of His love,
whill I am sick again for real presence and real possession of Christ.
Yet there is no gowked (if I may so speak), nor fond love in Christ.
He casteth me down sometimes for old faults; and I know that He
knoweth well that sweet comforts are swelling, and therefore sorrow
must take a vent to the wind.
My dumb Sabbaths are undercoating wounds. The condition of this
oppressed kirk, and my brother's case (I thank you and your wife for
your kindness to him), hold my sore smarting, and keep my wounds
bleeding. But the groundwork standeth sure. Pray for me. Grace be with
you. Remember me to your wife.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.
CLII.--_To_ MR. THOMAS GARVEN.
[This correspondent was one of the ministers of Edinburgh. Letters
CLXV. and CCXLVII. also are addressed to him. Brodie, in his "Diary,"
June 1662, speaks of hearing him preach.]
(_A PRISONER'S JOYS--LOVE OF CHRIST--THE GOOD PART--HEAVEN IN SIGHT._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I bless you for your letter; it was a
shower to the new-mown grass. The Lord hath given you the tongue of
the learned. Be fruitful and humble.
It is possible that ye may come to my case, or the like; but the water
is neither so deep, nor the stream so strong, as it is called. I think
my fire is not so hot; my water is dry land, my loss rich loss. Oh,
if[236] the walls of my prison be high, wide, and large, and the place
sweet! No man knoweth it, no man, I say, knoweth it, my dear brother,
so well as He and I; no man can put it down in black and white as my
Lord hath sealed it in my heart. My poor stock hath grown since I came
to Aberdeen; and if any had known the wrong I did, in being jealous of
such an honest lover as Christ, who withheld not His love from me,
they would think the more of it. But I see, He must be above me in
mercy. I will never strive with Him; to think to recompense Him is
folly. If I had as many angels' tongues, as there have fallen drops of
rain since the creation, or as there are leaves of trees in all the
forests of the earth, or stars in the heaven, to praise, yet my Lord
Jesus would ever be behind with me.[237] We will never get our
accounts fitted. A pardon must close the reckoning; for His comforts
to me in this honourable cause have almost put me beyond the bounds of
modesty; howbeit I will not let every one know what is betwixt us.
Love, love (I mean Christ's love), is the hottest coal that ever I
felt. Oh, but the smoke of it be hot! Cast all the salt sea on it, it
will flame; hell cannot quench it; many many waters will not quench
love. Christ is turned over to His poor prisoner in a mass and globe
of love. I wonder that He should waste so much love upon such a waster
as I am; but He is no waster, but abundant in mercy. He hath no
niggard's alms, when He is pleased to give. Oh that I could invite all
the nation to love Him! Free grace is an unknown thing. This world
hath heard but a bare name of Christ, and no more. There are infinite
plies in His love that the saints will never win to unfold; I would it
were better known, and that Christ got more of His own due than He
doth.
[236] "Oh if;" _q.d._, What will you say if I tell you that the walls
of my prison are, etc.
[237] Never have got His due from me.
Brother, ye have chosen the good part, who have taken part with
Christ. Ye will see Him win the field, and shall get part of the spoil
when He divideth it. They are but fools who laugh at us; for they see
but the backside of the moon, yet our moonlight is better than their
twelve-hours' sun. We have gotten the New Heavens, and, as a pledge of
that, the Bridegroom's love-ring. The children of the wedding-chamber
have cause to skip and leap for joy; for the marriage-supper is
drawing nigh, and we find the four-hours sweet and comfortable. O
time, be not slow! O sun, move speedily, and hasten our banquet! O
Bridegroom, be like a roe or a young hart upon the mountains! O
Well-beloved, run fast, that we may once meet!
Brother, I restrain myself for want of time. Pray for me; I hope to
remember you. The good-will of Him who dwelt in the bush, the tender
mercies of God in Christ, enrich you. Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.
CLIII.--_To_ BETHAIA AIRD.
[The name _Aird_ is not uncommon in the history of the Church. _Mr.
Wm. Aird_ was a noted minister in Edinburgh in Livingstone's days.
Wodrow's "History" mentions _Aird of Muirkirk_, and also _John Aird_
of Milton. In the memoir of Walter Pringle of Greenknow, we find
_James Aird_ was his intimate friend. But whether this correspondent
was related to any of them, we know not. She may have been simply an
Anwoth parishioner.]
(_UNBELIEF UNDER TRIAL--CHRIST'S SYMPATHY AND LOVE._)
WORTHY SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. I know that ye
desire news from my prison, and I shall show you news. At my first
entry hither, Christ and I agreed not well upon it. The devil made a
plea in the house, and I laid the blame upon Christ; for my heart was
fraughted with challenges, and I feared that I was an outcast, and
that I was but a withered tree in the vineyard, and but held the sun
off the good plants with my idle shadow, and that, therefore, my
Master had given the evil servant the fields, to send him. Old
guiltiness (as witness) said, "All is true." My apprehensions were
with child of faithless fears, and unbelief put a seal and amen to
all. I thought myself in a hard case. Some said I had cause to rejoice
that Christ had honoured me to be a witness for Him; and I said in my
heart, "These are words of men, who see but mine outside, and cannot
tell if I be a false witness or not."
If Christ had in this matter been as wilful and short as I was, my
faith had gone over the brae, and broken its neck. But we were well
met,--a hasty fool, and a wise, patient, and meek Saviour. He took no
law-advantage of my folly, but waited on till my ill-blood was fallen,
and my drumbled and troubled well began to clear. He was never a whit
angry at the fever-ravings of a poor tempted sinner; but He mercifully
forgave, and came (as it well becometh Him), with grace and new
comfort, to a sinner who deserved the contrary, And now He is content
to kiss my black mouth, to put His hand into mine, and to feed me with
as many consolations as would feed ten hungry souls. Yet I dare not
say that He is a waster of comforts, for no less would have borne me
up; one grain-weight less would have casten the balance.
Now, who is like to that royal King, crowned in Zion! Where shall I
get a seat for real Majesty to set Him on? If I could set Him as far
above the heaven as thousand thousands of heights devised by men and
angels, I should think Him but too low. I pray you, for God's sake, my
dear sister, to help me to praise. His love hath neither brim nor
bottom; His love is like Himself, it passeth all natural
understanding. I go to fathom it with my arms; but it is as if a child
would take the globe of sea and land in his two short arms. Blessed
and holy is His name! This must be His truth which I now suffer for;
for He would not laugh upon a lie, nor be witness with His comforts to
a night-dream.
I entreat for your prayers; and the prayer and blessing of a prisoner
of Christ be upon you. Grace be with you.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.
CLIV.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Knockgray, near Carsphairn._
(_PROSPECTIVE TRIALS._)
DEAR BROTHER,--I have not leisure to write to you. Christ's ways were
known to you long before I, who am but a child, knew anything of Him.
What wrong and violence the prelates may, by God's permission, do unto
you, for your trial, I know not; but this I know, that your ten days'
tribulation will end. Contend to the last breath for Christ.
Banishment out of these kingdoms is determined against me, as I hear;
this land dow not bear me. I pray you, to recommend my case and bonds
to my brethren and sisters with you. I intrust more of my spiritual
comfort to you and them that way, my dear brother, than to many in
this kingdom besides. I hope that ye will not be wanting to Christ's
prisoner.
Fear nothing; for I assure you that Alexander Gordon of Knockgray
shall win away and get his soul for a prey. And what can he then want
that is worth the having? Your friends are cold (as ye write); and so
are those in whom I trusted much. Our Husband doth well in breaking
our idols in pieces. Dry wells send us to the fountain. "My life is
not dear to me, so being I may fulfil my course with joy." I fear that
ye must remove; your new hireling will not bear your discountenancing
of him, for the prelate is afraid that Christ get you; and that he
hath no will to.
Grace be with you.
Yours in his sweet Lord and Master,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CLV.--_To_ GRIZZEL FULLERTON.
[GRIZZEL FULLERTON was the daughter of William Fullerton, Provost of
Kirkcudbright, and Marion M'Naught. See Letter VI.]
(_THE ONE THING NEEDFUL--CHRIST'S LOVE._)
DEAR SISTER,--I exhort you in the Lord, to seek your one thing, Mary's
good part, that shall not be taken from you. Set your heart and soul
on the children's inheritance. This clay-idol, the world, is but for
bastards, and ye are His lawfully-begotten child. Learn the way (as
your dear mother hath done before you) to knock at Christ's door. Many
an alms of mercy hath Christ given to her, and hath abundance behind
to give to you. Ye are the seed of the faithful, and born within the
covenant; claim your right. I would not exchange Christ Jesus for ten
worlds of glory. I know now (blessed be my Teacher!) how to shute the
lock, and unbolt my Well-beloved's door; and He maketh a poor stranger
welcome when He cometh to His house. I am swelled up and satisfied
with the love of Christ, that is better than wine. It is a fire in my
soul; let hell and the world cast water on it, they will not mend
themselves. I have now gotten the right gate of Christ. I recommend
Him to you above all things. Come and find the smell of His breath;
see if His kisses be not sweet. He desireth no better than to be much
made of; be homely with Him, and ye shall be the more welcome; ye know
not how fain Christ would have all your love. Think not this is
imagination and bairns' play, which we make din for. I would not
suffer for it, if it were so. I dare pawn my heaven for it, that it is
the way to glory. Think much of truth, and abhor these ways devised by
men in God's worship.
The grace of Christ be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.
CLVI.--_To_ PATRICK CARSEN.
[This was, perhaps, the son of John Carsen, formerly noticed. See
Letter CXXVII.]
(_EARLY DEVOTEDNESS TO CHRIST._)
DEAR AND LOVING FRIEND,--I cannot but, upon the opportunity of a
bearer, exhort you to resign the love of your youth to Christ; and in
this day, while your sun is high and your youth serveth you, to seek
the Lord and His face. For there is nothing out of heaven so necessary
for you as Christ. And ye cannot be ignorant but your day will end,
and the night of death shall call you from the pleasures of this life:
and a doom given out in death standeth for ever--as long as God
liveth! Youth, ordinarily, is a post and ready servant for Satan, to
run errands; for it is a nest for lust, cursing, drunkenness,
blaspheming of God, lying, pride, and vanity. Oh, that there were such
an heart in you as to fear the Lord, and to dedicate your soul and
body to His service! When the time cometh that your eye-strings shall
break, and your face wax pale, and legs and arms tremble, and your
breath shall grow cold, and your poor soul look out at your prison
house of clay, to be set at liberty; then a good conscience, and your
Lord's favour, shall be worth all the world's glory. Seek it as your
garland and crown.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.
CLVII.--_To_ CARLETON.
[Livingstone, in his Characteristics, mentions two persons of this
name: "Fullerton of Carleton, in Galloway, a grave and cheerful
Christian;" and "Cathcart of Carleton, in Carrick, an old, experienced
Christian," in much repute among the religious of his day, for his
skill in solving cases of conscience, and dealing with persons under
spiritual affliction. But it seems clear that Rutherford's
correspondent was _John Fullerton of Carleton_, in the parish of
Borgue. For, in Letter XV. he is spoken of as in Galloway. In the
"Minutes of Comm. of Covenanters," we find the following estates put
side by side, all of them a few miles from Anwoth, viz. "_Roberton_
and _Carleton_, Caillie and Rusco, Carsluth and Cassincarrie." His
lady's name appears prefixed to Letter CCLVI.
This, too, was the Carleton that wrote the Acrostic on Marion M'Naught
(see note on Letter V.). He was the author of a poem--"The Turtle
Dove, under the absence and presence of her only _Choice_.
1664,"--dedicated by the author to Lady Jane Campbell, Viscountess
Kenmure, with whom he was connected. He also wrote "A Manifesto of the
Kingdom of Scotland in favour of the League and Covenant," in verse.
(See "Minutes of Comm. of Covenanters.")]
(_INCREASING SENSE OF CHRIST'S LOVE--RESIGNATION--DEADNESS TO
EARTH--TEMPTATIONS--INFIRMITIES._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--I will not impute your not writing to me to
forgetfulness. However, I have One above who forgetteth me not--nay,
He groweth in His kindness. It hath pleased His holy Majesty to take
me from the pulpit, and teach me many things, in my exile and prison,
that were mysteries to me before.
I see His bottomless and boundless love and kindness, and my
jealousies and ravings, which, at my first entry into this furnace,
were so foolish and bold, as to say to Christ, who is truth itself, in
His face, "Thou liest." I had well nigh lost my grips. I wondered if
it was Christ or not; for the mist and smoke of my perturbed heart
made me mistake my Master, Jesus. My faith was dim, and hope frozen
and cold; and my love, which caused jealousies, had some warmness, and
heat, and smoke, but no flame at all. Yet I was looking for some good
of Christ's old claim to me, though[238] I had forfeited all my
rights. But the tempter was too much upon my counsels, and was still
blowing the coal. Alas! I knew not well before how good skill my
Intercessor and Advocate, Christ, hath of pleading, and of pardoning
me such follies. Now He is returned to my soul with healing under His
wings; and I am nothing behind with Christ[239] now; for He hath
overpaid me, by His presence, the pain I was put to by on-waiting, and
any little loss that I sustained by my witnessing against the wrongs
done to Him. I trow it was a pain to my Lord to hide Himself any
longer. In a manner, He was challenging His own unkindness, and
repented Him of His glooms. And now, what want I on earth that Christ
can give to a poor prisoner? Oh, how sweet and lovely is He now! Alas!
that I can get none to help me to lift up my Lord Jesus upon His
throne, above all the earth.
[238] "I thought" is the old reading, but it has no meaning.
[239] Christ has paid me all my claim.
_2ndly_, I am now brought to some measure of submission, and I resolve
to wait till I see what my Lord Jesus will do with me. I dare not now
nickname, or speak one word against, the all-seeing and over-watching
providence of my Lord. I see that providence runneth not on broken
wheels. But I, like a fool, carved a providence for my own ease, to
die in my nest, and to sleep still till my grey hairs, and to lie on
the sunny side of the mountain, in my ministry at Anwoth. But now I
have nothing to say against a borrowed fireside, and another man's
house, nor Kedar's tents, where I live, being removed far from my
acquaintance, my lovers, and my friends. I see that God hath the world
on His wheels, and casteth it as a potter doth a vessel on the wheel.
I dare not say that there is any inordinate or irregular motion in
providence. The Lord hath done it. I will not go to law with Christ,
for I would gain nothing of that.
_3rdly_, I have learned some greater mortification; and not to mourn
after, or seek to suck, the world's dry breasts. Nay, my Lord hath
filled me with such dainties, that I am like to a full banqueter, who
is not for common cheer. What have I to do to fall down upon my knees,
and worship mankind's great idol, the world? I have a better God than
any claygod: nay, at present, as I am now disposed, I care not much to
give this world a discharge of my life-rent of it, for bread and
water. I know that it is not my home, nor my Father's house; it is but
His foot-stool, the outer close of His house, His out-fields and
muir-ground. Let bastards take it. I hope never to think myself in
its common, for honour or riches. Nay, now I say to laughter, "Thou
art madness."
_4thly_, I find it to be most true, that the greatest temptation out
of hell is to live without temptations. If my waters should stand,
they would rot. Faith is the better of the free air, and of the sharp
winter storm in its face. Grace withereth without adversity. The devil
is but God's master fencer, to teach us to handle our weapons.
_5thly_, I never knew how weak I was, till now when He hideth Himself,
and when I have Him to seek, seven times a day. I am a dry and
withered branch, and a piece of dead carcass, dry bones, and not able
to step over a straw. The thoughts of my old sins are as the summons
of death to me, and my late brother's case hath stricken me to the
heart. When my wounds are closing, a little ruffle[240] causeth them
to bleed afresh; so thin-skinned is my soul, that I think it is like a
tender man's skin that may touch nothing. Ye see how short I would
shoot of the prize, if His grace were not sufficient for me.
[240] It is written "rifle" in old editions.
Wo is me for the day of Scotland! Wo, wo is me for my harlot-mother;
for the decree is gone forth! Women of this land shall call the
childless and miscarrying wombs blessed. The anger of the Lord is gone
forth, and shall not return, till He perform the purpose of His heart
against Scotland. Yet He shall make Scotland a new, sharp instrument,
having teeth to thresh the mountains, and fan the hills as chaff.
The prisoner's blessing be upon you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 14, 1637_.
CLVIII.--_To the_ LADY BUSBIE. [See Letter CXXXIII.]
(_CHRIST ALLWORTHY AND BEST AT OUR LOWEST--SINFULNESS OF THE
LAND--PRAYERS._)
MISTRESS,--I know that ye are thinking sometimes what Christ is doing
in Zion, and that the haters of Zion may get the bottom of our cup,
and the burning coals of our furnace that we have been tried in, those
many years bygone. Oh, that this nation would be awakened to cry
mightily unto God, for the setting up of a new tabernacle to Christ
in Scotland. Oh, if this kingdom knew how worthy Christ were of His
room! His worth was ever above man's estimation of Him.
And for myself I am pained at the heart, that I cannot find myself
disposed to leave myself and go wholly into Christ. Alas! that there
should be one bit of me out of Him, and that we leave too much liberty
and latitude for ourselves, and our own ease, and credit, and
pleasures, and so little room for all-love-worthy Christ. Oh, what
pains and charges it costeth Christ ere He get us! and when all is
done, we are not worth the having. It is a wonder that He should seek
the like of us. But love overlooketh blackness and fecklessness; for
if it had not been so, Christ would never have made so fair and
blessed a bargain with us as the covenant of grace is. I find that in
all our sufferings Christ is but redding marches, that every one of us
may say, "Mine, and thine;" and that men may know by their crosses,
how weak a bottom nature is to stand upon in trial; that the end which
our Lord intendeth, in all our sufferings, is to bring grace into
court and request amongst us. I should succumb and come short of
heaven, if I had no more than my own strength to support me; and if
Christ should say to me, "Either do or die," it were easy to determine
what should become of me. The choice were easy, for I behoved to die
if Christ should pass by with straitened bowels; and who then would
take us up in our straits? I know we may say that Christ is kindest in
His love, when we are at our weakest; and that if Christ had not been
to the fore, in our sad days, the waters had gone over our soul. His
mercy hath a set period, and appointed place, how far and no farther
the sea of affliction shall flow, and where the waves thereof shall be
stayed. He prescribeth how much pain and sorrow, both for weight and
measure, we must have. Ye have, then, good cause to recall your love
from all lovers, and give it to Christ. He who is afflicted in all
your afflictions, looketh not on you in your sad hours with an
insensible heart or dry eyes.
All the Lord's saints may see that it is lost love which is bestowed
upon this perishing world. Death and judgment will make men lament
that ever their miscarrying hearts carried them to lay and lavish out
their love upon false appearances and night-dreams. Alas! that Christ
should fare the worse, because of His own goodness in making peace and
the Gospel to ride together; and that we have never yet weighed the
worth of Christ in His ordinances, and that we are like to be
deprived of the well, ere we have tasted the sweetness of the water.
It may be that with watery eyes, and a wet face, and wearied feet, we
seek Christ, and shall not find Him. Oh, that this land were humbled
in time, and by prayers, cries, and humiliation, would bring Christ in
at the church-door again, now when His back is turned towards us, and
He is gone to the threshold, and His one foot, as it were, is out of
the door! I am sure that His departure is our deserving; we have
bought it with our iniquities; for even the Lord's own children are
fallen asleep, and, alas! professors are made all of shows and
fashions, and are not at pains to recover themselves again. Every one
hath his set measure of faith and holiness, and contenteth himself
with but a stinted measure of godliness, as if that were enough to
bring him to heaven. We forget that as our gifts and light grow, so
God's gain and the interest of His talents, should grow also; and that
we cannot pay God with the old use and wont (as we use to speak) which
we gave Him seven years ago; for this were to mock the Lord, and to
make price with Him as we list. Oh, what difficulty is there in our
Christian journey, and how often come we short of many thousand things
that are Christ's due! and we consider not how far our dear Lord is
behind with us.
Mistress, I cannot render you thanks, as I would, for your kindness to
my brother, an oppressed stranger; but I remember you unto the Lord as
I am able. I entreat you to think upon me, His prisoner, and pray that
the Lord would be pleased to give me room to speak to His people in
His name.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours in his sweet Lord and Master,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CLIX.--_To JOHN FLEMING, Bailie of Leith._ [Letter LXVIII.]
(_DIRECTIONS FOR CHRISTIAN CONDUCT._)
WORTHY AND DEARLY BELOVED IN THE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be
unto you. I received your letter. I wish that I could satisfy your
desire in drawing up, and framing for you, a Christian directory. But
the learned have done it before me, more judiciously than I can;
especially Mr. Rogers,[241] Greenham,[242] and Perkins.[243]
Notwithstanding, I shall show you what I would have been at myself;
howbeit I came always short of my purpose.
[241] Dr. Daniel Rogers, a Puritan divine, author of a treatise called
"David's Cost; or, What it will cost to serve God aright," "Naaman the
Syrian," and others. He was born in 1573, educated at Cambridge,
suffered from the persecution of Laud, and died in 1652 at the age of
eighty. He was a man of great talents, deep humility and devotion, but
of a temper so bold that a friend said of him, "He had grace enough
for _two_ men, but not enough for himself."
[242] Richard Greenham, a Puritan, who was born in 1531, and died of
the plague 1591. He was the author of several sermons and practical
treatises. (See Brooke's "Lives of the Puritans," vol. ii.)
[243] Dr. Wm. Perkins, an English divine, who lived in the end of the
sixteenth century, and was the author of several practical and
doctrinal treatises; among others, the one here referred to, "A Case
of Conscience, and Thirteen Principles of Religion," published after
his death. He was a strict Calvinist, and took part in the controversy
against Arminianism. He used so to apply the terrors of the law to the
conscience, that oftentimes his hearers fell down before him. It was
also said that he pronounced the word "_Damnation_" with such an
emphasis and pathos as left a doleful echo in the ear long after. He
wrote on all his books, "Thou art a minister of the Word: mind thy
business."
1. That hours of the day, less or more time, for the word and prayer,
be given to God; not sparing the twelfth hour, or mid-day, howbeit it
should then be the shorter time.
2. In the midst of worldly employments, there should be some thoughts
of sin, death, judgment, and eternity, with at least a word or two of
ejaculatory prayer to God.
3. To beware of wandering of heart in private prayers.
4. Not to grudge, howbeit ye come from prayer without sense of joy.
Down-casting, sense of guiltiness, and hunger, are often best for us.
5. That the Lord's-day, from morning to night, be spent always either
in private or public worship.
6. That words be observed, wandering and idle thoughts be avoided,
sudden anger and desire of revenge, even of such as persecute the
truth, be guarded against; for we often mix our zeal with our
wild-fire.
7. That known, discovered, and revealed sins, that are against the
conscience, be eschewed, as most dangerous preparatives to hardness of
heart.
8. That in dealing with men, faith and truth in covenants and
trafficking be regarded, that we deal with all men in sincerity; that
conscience be made of idle and lying words; and that our carriage be
such, as that they who see it may speak honourably of our sweet Master
and profession.
9. I have been much challenged--1. For not referring all to God as the
last end; that I do not eat, drink, sleep, journey, speak, and think
for God. 2. That I have not benefited by good company; and that I left
not some word of conviction, even upon natural and wicked men, as by
reproving swearing in them; or because of being a silent witness to
their loose carriage; and because I intended not in all companies to
do good. 3. That the woes and calamities of the kirk, and of
particular professors, have not moved me. 4. That at the reading of
the life of David, Paul, and the like, when it humbled me, I (coming
so far short of their holiness) laboured not to imitate them, afar off
at least, according to the measure of God's grace. 5. That unrepented
sins of youth were not looked to, and lamented for. 6. That sudden
stirrings of pride, lust, revenge, love of honours, were not resisted
and mourned for. 7. That my charity was cold. 8. That the experiences
I had of God's hearing me, in this and the other particular, being
gathered, yet in a new trouble I had always (once at least) my faith
to seek, as if I were to begin at A, B, C again. 9. That I have not
more boldly contradicted the enemies speaking against the truth,
either in public church meetings, or at tables, or ordinary
conference. 10. That in great troubles I have received false reports
of Christ's love, and misbelieved Him in His chastening; whereas the
event hath said, "All was in mercy." 11. Nothing more moveth me, and
weighteth my soul, than that I could never from[244] my heart, in my
prosperity, so wrestle in prayer with God, nor be so dead to the
world, so hungry and sick of love for Christ, so heavenly-minded, as
when ten stone-weight of a heavy cross was upon me. 12. That the cross
extorted vows of new obedience, which ease hath blown away, as chaff
before the wind. 13. That practice was so short and narrow, and light
so long and broad. 14. That death hath not been often meditated upon.
15. That I have not been careful of gaining others to Christ. 16. That
my grace and gifts bring forth little or no thankfulness.
[244] Should probably be "_from_;" though it is "for" in other
editions.
There are some things, also, whereby I have been helped, as--1. I have
been benefited by riding alone a long journey, in giving that time to
prayer. 2. By abstinence, and giving days to God. 3. By praying for
others; for by making an errand to God for them, I have gotten
something for myself. 4. I have been really confirmed, in many
particulars, that God heareth prayers; and, therefore, I used to pray
for anything, of how little importance soever. 5. He enabled me to
make no question, that this mocked way, which is nicknamed, is the
only way to heaven.
Sir, these and many more occurrences in your life, should be looked
into; and, 1. Thoughts of Atheism should be watched over, as, "If
there be a God in heaven?" which will trouble and assault the best at
some times. 2. Growth in grace should be cared for above all things;
and falling from our first love mourned for. 3. Conscience made of
praying for the enemies, who are blinded.
Sir, I thank you most kindly for the care of my brother, and of me
also. I hope it is laid up for you, and remembered in heaven.
I am still ashamed with Christ's kindness to such a sinner as I am. He
hath left a fire in my heart, that hell cannot cast water on, to
quench or extinguish it. Help me to praise, and pray for me, for ye
have a prisoner's blessing and prayers.
Remember my love to your wife. Grace be with you.
Yours in Christ Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _March 15, 1637_.
CLX.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Earlston._
(_HUNGERING AFTER CHRIST HIMSELF RATHER THAN HIS LOVE._)
MUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you.--I
long to hear from you. I have received few letters since I came
hither; I am in need of a word. A dry plant should have some watering.
My case betwixt Christ my Lord, and me, standeth between love and
jealousy, faith and suspicion of His love; it is a marvel He keepeth
house with me. I make many pleas with Christ, but He maketh as many
agreements with me. I think His unchangeable love hath said, "I defy
thee to break Me and change Me." If Christ had such changeable and new
thoughts of my salvation as I have of it, I think I should then be at
a sad loss. He humoureth not a fool like me in my unbelief, but
rebuketh me, and fathereth kindness upon me. Christ is more like the
poor friend and needy prisoner begging love, than I am. I cannot, for
shame, get Christ said "nay" of my whole love, for He will not want
His errand for the seeking. God be thanked that my Bridegroom tireth
not of wooing. Honour to Him! He is a wilful[245] suitor of my soul.
But as love is His, pain is mine, that I have nothing to give Him. His
account-book is full of my debts of mercy, kindness, and free love
towards me. Oh that I might read with watery eyes! Oh that He would
give me the interest of interest to pay back! Or rather, my soul's
desire is, that He would comprise my person, soul and body, love, joy,
confidence, fear, sorrow, and desire, and drive the poind, and let me
be rouped, and sold to Christ, and taken home to my creditor's house
and fireside.
[245] In the sense of not to be turned from His purpose.
The Lord knoweth that, if I could, I would sell myself without
reversion to Christ. O sweet Lord Jesus, make a market, and overbid
all my buyers! I dare swear that there is a mystery in Christ which I
never saw; a mystery of love. Oh, if He would lay by the lap of the
covering that is over it, and let my greening soul see it! I would
break the door, and be in upon Him, to get a wombful of love; for I am
an hungered and famished soul. Oh, sir, if you, or any other, would
tell Him how sick my soul is, dying for want of a hearty draught of
Christ's love! Oh, if I could dote (if I may make use of that word in
this case) as much upon Himself as I do upon His love! It is a pity
that Christ Himself should not rather be my heart's choice, than
Christ's manifested love. It would satisfy me, in some measure, if I
had any bud to give for His love. Shall I offer Him my praises? Alas!
He is more than praises. I give it over to get Him exalted according
to His worth, which is above what can be known.
Yet all this time I am tempting Him, to see if there be both love and
anger in Him against me. I am plucked from His flock (dear to me!),
and from feeding His lambs; I go, therefore, in sackcloth, as one who
hath lost the wife of his youth. Grief and sorrow are suspicious, and
spew out against Him the smoke of jealousies; and I say often, "Show
me wherefore Thou contendest with me. Tell me, O Lord: read the
process against me." But I know that I cannot answer His allegations;
I shall lose the cause when it cometh to open pleading. Oh, if I could
force my heart to believe dreams to be dreams! Yet when Christ giveth
my fears the lie, and saith to me, "Thou art a liar," then I am glad.
I resolve to hope to be quiet, and to lie on the brink on my side,
till the water fall and the ford be ridable. And, howbeit there be
pain upon me, in longing for deliverance that I may speak of Him in
the great congregation, yet I think there is joy in that pain and
on-waiting; and I even rejoice that He putteth me off for a time, and
shifteth me. Oh, if I could wait on for all eternity, howbeit I should
never get my soul's desire, so being He were glorified! I would wish
my pain and my ministry could live long to serve Him; for I know that
I am a clay vessel, and made for His use. Oh, if my very broken sherds
could serve to glorify Him! I desire Christ's grace to be willingly
content, that my hell (excepting His hatred and displeasure, which I
put out of all play, for submission to this is not called for) were a
preaching of His glory to men and angels for ever and ever! When all
is done, what can I add to Him? or what can such a clay-shadow as I
do? I know that He needeth not me. I have cause to be grieved, and to
melt away in tears, if I had grace to do it (Lord, grant it to me!),
to see my Well-beloved's fair face spitted upon by dogs, to see loons
pulling the crown off my royal King's head; to see my harlot-mother
and my sweet Father agree so ill, that they are going to skail and
give up house. My Lord's palace is now a nest of unclean birds. Oh, if
harlot, harlot Scotland would rue upon her provoked Lord, and pity her
good Husband, who is broken with her whorish heart! But these things
are hid from her eyes.
I have heard of late of your new trial by the Bishop of Galloway.[246]
Fear not clay, worms' meat. Let truth and Christ get no wrong in your
hand. It is your gain if Christ be glorified; and your glory to be
Christ's witness. I persuade you, that your sufferings are Christ's
advantage and victory; for He is pleased to reckon them so. Let me
hear from you. Christ is but winning a clean kirk out of the fire; He
will win this play. He will not be in your common for any charges ye
are at in His service. He is not poor, to sit in your debt; He will
repay an hundred-fold more, it may be, even in this life.
The prayers and blessings of Christ's prisoner be with you.
Your brother, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
[246] The Bishop of Galloway held this year a High Commission Court in
Galloway, in which, besides fining some gentlemen, and confining the
magistrates of Kirkcudbright to Wigtown, for matters of nonconformity,
he fined Gordon of Earlston for his absence, five hundred merks, and
banished him to Montrose. (Baillie's "Letters and Journals.") This, no
doubt, is the "new trial by the Bishop of Galloway," to which
Rutherford refers. See Letter LIX.
CLXI.--_To JOHN STUART, Provost of Ayr._
[JOHN STUART, Provost of Ayr, is described by Livingstone as "a godly
and zealous Christian of a long standing," and from his earliest
years. Inheriting, after the death of his father, considerable
property, he largely applied it to benevolent purposes. Such was his
disinterested love to those who were the friends of Christ and His
truth, that he called a number of them whose straitened condition he
knew, to meet with him in Edinburgh; and after some time spent in
prayer, told them he had brought a little money to lend to each of
them, which they were not to offer to pay back till he required it, at
the same time requiring them to promise not to make this known during
his life. Not long after (the plague raging with severity in Ayr, and
trade becoming, in consequence, much depressed) he himself fell into
pecuniary difficulties, which made him at that time remove from the
country. Borrowing a little money, he went over to France, and coming
to Rochelle, loaded a ship with salt and other commodities, which he
purchased at a very cheap rate. He then returned the nearest way to
England, and thence to Ayr, in expectation of the ship's return. After
waiting long, he was informed that it was taken by the Turks, which,
considering the loss which others in that case would sustain, much
afflicted him. But it at last arrived in the Road. It was on this
occasion that his friend John Kennedy, going out to the vessel in a
small boat, was driven away by a storm. (See notice of Kennedy, Letter
LXXV.) Stuart having sold the commodities which he brought from
France, not only was enabled by the profits to pay all his debts, but
cleared twenty thousand merks. (Fleming's "Fulfilling of the
Scriptures.") He joined with Mr. Blair, Mr. Livingstone, and others,
in their plan of emigrating to New England, though they were forced to
give it up. This good man was much afflicted on his death-bed, so that
one day he said, "I testify, that except when I slept, or was in
business, I was not these ten years without thoughts of God, so long
as I would be in going from my own house to the cross; and yet I doubt
myself, and am in great agony, yea, at the brink of despair." But a
day or two before he died, all his doubts were dispelled; and to Mr.
Ferguson, the pious minister of Ayr, he said, referring to his
struggle with temptations at that time, "I have been fighting and
working out my salvation with fear and trembling, and now I bless God
it is perfected, sealed, confirmed, and all fears are gone."]
(_COMMERCIAL MISFORTUNES--SERVICE-BOOK--BLESSEDNESS OF TRIAL._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. I long to
hear from you, being now removed from my flock, and the prisoner of
Christ at Aberdeen. I would not have you to think it strange that your
journey to New England hath gotten such a dash.[247] It indeed hath
made my heart heavy; yet I know it is no dumb providence, but a
speaking one, whereby our Lord speaketh His mind to you, though for
the present ye do not well understand what He saith. However it be, He
who sitteth upon the floods hath shown you His marvellous kindness in
the great depths. I know that your loss is great, and your hope is
gone far against you; but I entreat you, sir, expound aright our
Lord's laying all hindrances in the way. I persuade myself that your
heart aimeth at the footsteps of the flock, to feed beside the
shepherds' tents, and to dwell beside Him whom your soul loveth; and
that it is your desire to remain in the wilderness, where the Woman is
kept from the Dragon. (Rev. xii. 14.) And this being your desire,
remember that a poor prisoner of Christ said it to you, that that
miscarried journey is with child to you of mercy and consolation; and
shall bring forth a fair birth on which the Lord will attend. Wait on;
"He that believeth maketh not haste" (Isa. xxviii. 16).
[247] See note at Letter LXIII.
I hope that ye have been asking what the Lord meaneth, and what
further may be His will, in reference to your return. My dear brother,
let God make of you what He will, He will end all with consolation,
and will make glory out of your sufferings; and would you wish better
work? This water was in your way to heaven, and written in your Lord's
book; ye behoved to cross it, and, therefore, kiss His wise and
unerring providence. Let not the censures of men, who see but the
outside of things, and scarce well that, abate your courage and
rejoicing in the Lord. Howbeit your faith seeth but the black side of
providence; yet it hath a better side, and God will let you see it.
Learn to believe Christ better than His strokes, Himself and His
promises better than His glooms. Dashes and disappointments are not
canonical Scripture; fighting for the promised land seemed to cry to
God's promise, "Thou liest." If our Lord ride upon a straw, His horse
shall neither stumble nor fall. "For we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God" (Rom. viii. 28); _ergo_,
shipwreck, losses, etc., work together for the good of them that love
God. Hence I infer, that losses, disappointments, ill-tongues, loss of
friends, houses, or country, are God's workmen, set on work to work
out good to you, out of everything that befalleth you. Let not the
Lord's dealing seem harsh, rough, or unfatherly, because it is
unpleasant. When the Lord's blessed will bloweth across your desires,
it is best, in humility, to strike sail to Him, and to be willing to
be led any way our Lord pleaseth. It is a point of denial of yourself,
to be as if ye had not a will, but had made a free disposition of it
to God, and had sold it over to Him; and to make use of His will for
your own is both true holiness, and your ease and peace. Ye know not
what the Lord is working out of this, but ye shall know it hereafter.
And what I write to you, I write to your wife. I compassionate her
case, but entreat her not to fear nor faint. This journey is a part of
her wilderness to heaven and the promised land, and there are fewer
miles behind. It is nearer the dawning of the day to her than when
she went out of Scotland. I should be glad to hear that ye and she
have comfort and courage in the Lord.
Now, as concerning our kirk; our Service-Book is ordained, by open
proclamation and sound of trumpet, to be read in all the kirks of the
kingdom.[248] Our prelates are to meet this month about our
Canons,[249] and for a reconciliation betwixt us and the Lutherans.
The Professors of Aberdeen University are charged to draw up the
Articles of an uniform Confession; but reconciliation with Popery is
intended. This is the day of Jacob's visitation; the ways of Zion
mourn, our gold is become dim, the sun is gone down upon our prophets.
A dry wind, but neither to fan nor to cleanse, is coming upon this
land; and all our ill is coming from the multiplied transgressions of
this land, and from the friends and lovers of Babel among us. "The
violence done to me and to my flesh be upon thee, Babylon, shall the
inhabitant of Zion say; and, My blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,
shall Jerusalem say."[250]
[248] The Service-Book, or Liturgy, at this time imposed upon
Scotland, was that of England, but with numerous alterations. The Act
of Privy Council, enjoining the use of the Service-Book, is dated 20th
December 1636; and it was next day proclaimed at the cross of
Edinburgh: but it was not published till towards the end of May 1637.
Its title is, "The Booke of Common Prayer and Administration of the
Sacraments and other parts of Divine Service, for the use of the
Church of Scotland. Edinburgh, 1637." This book was extremely
obnoxious to the great body of the ministers and people of Scotland,
both from the manner of its introduction, which was by the sole
authority of the King, without the Church having been even consulted
in the matter, and from the doctrines which it contained, in which it
approached nearer to the Roman Missal than the English liturgy. It was
drawn up by James Wedderburn, Bishop of Dunblane, and John Maxwell,
Bishop of Ross, with the assistance of Sydserff, Bishop of Galloway,
and Ballenden, Bishop of Aberdeen. It was revised by Archbishop Laud,
and Wren, Bishop of Norwich. Kirkton mentions that he saw the original
copy corrected by Laud's own hands, and that all his corrections
approached towards Popery and the Roman Missal. (Kirkton's "History,"
p. 30.)
[249] "The Book of Canons" was, in obedience to the King's orders,
drawn up by four of the Scottish bishops,--Sydserff of Galloway,
Maxwell of Ross, Ballenden of Aberdeen, and Whiteford of Dunblane. It
received the Royal sanction, and became law in 1635. This book, like
the Service-Book which followed it, was extremely obnoxious to the
people of Scotland, because it was imposed solely by Royal authority,
and from the nature of the canons themselves, which prescribed a
variety of ceremonial and superstitious rites in the observance of
baptism and the Lord's Supper; invested bishops with uncontrollable
power; inculcated the doctrine of the King's supremacy in matters
ecclesiastical as well as civil,--affirming that no meeting of General
Assembly could be held unless called by the King's authority; with
other unscriptural innovations.
[250] Jer. li. 35.
Now for myself: I was three days before the High Commission, and
accused of treason preached against our King. (A minister being
witness, went well nigh to swear it.) God hath saved me from their
malice. _1stly_, They have deprived me of my ministry; _2ndly_,
Silenced me, that I exercise no part of the ministerial function
within this kingdom, under the pain of rebellion; _3rdly_, Confined my
person within the town of Aberdeen, where I find the ministers working
for my confinement in Caithness or Orkney, far from them, because some
people here (willing to be edified) resort to me. At my first entry, I
had heavy challenges within me, and a court fenced (but I hope not in
Christ's name), wherein it was asserted that my Lord would have no
more of my services, and was tired of me; and, like a fool, I summoned
Christ also for unkindness. My soul fainted, and I refused comfort,
and said, "What ailed Christ at me? for I desired to be faithful in
His house." Thus, in my rovings and mistakings, my Lord Jesus bestowed
mercy on me, who am less than the least of all saints. I lay upon the
dust, and bought a plea from Satan against Christ, and He was content
to sell it. But at length Christ did show Himself friends with me, and
in mercy pardoned and passed my part of it, and only complained that a
court should be holden in His bounds without His allowance. Now I pass
from my compearance; and, as if Christ had done the fault, He hath
made the mends, and returned to my soul; so that now His poor prisoner
feedeth on the feasts of love. My adversaries know not what a courtier
I am now with my Royal King, for whose crown I now suffer. It is but
our soft and lazy flesh that hath raised an ill report of the cross of
Christ. O sweet, sweet is His yoke! Christ's chains are of pure gold;
sufferings for Him are perfumed. I would not give my weeping for the
laughing of all the fourteen prelates; I would not exchange my sadness
with the world's joy. O lovely, lovely Jesus, how sweet must Thy
kisses be, when Thy cross smelleth so sweetly! Oh, if all the three
kingdoms had part of my love-feast, and of the comfort of a dawted
prisoner!
Dear Brother, I charge you to praise for me, and to seek help of our
acquaintance there to help me to praise. Why should I smother Christ's
honesty to me? My heart is taken up with this, that my silence and
sufferings may preach. I beseech you in the bowels of Christ, to help
me to praise. Remember my love to your wife, to Mr. Blair, and Mr.
Livingstone, and Mr. Cunningham. Let me hear from you, for I am
anxious what to do. If I saw a call for New England, I would follow
it. Grace be with you.
Yours in our Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CLXII.--_To_ JOHN STUART, _Provost of Ayr_.
(_THE BURDEN OF A SILENCED MINISTER--SPIRITUAL SHORTCOMINGS._)
MUCH HONOURED AND DEAREST IN CHRIST,--Grace, mercy, and peace from God
our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, be upon you.
I expected the comfort of a letter to a prisoner from you, ere now. I
am here, Sir, putting off a part of my inch of time; and when I awake
first in the morning (which is always with great heaviness and
sadness), this question is brought to my mind, "Am I serving God or
not?" Not that I doubt of the truth of this honourable cause wherein I
am engaged; I dare venture into eternity, and before my Judge, that I
now suffer for the truth--because that I cannot endure that my Master,
who is a freeborn King, should pay tribute to any of the shields or
potsherds of the earth. Oh that I could hold the crown upon my
princely King's head with my sinful arm, howbeit it should be struck
from me in that service, from the shoulder-blade. But my closed mouth,
my dumb Sabbaths, the memory of my communion with Christ, in many
fair, fair days in Anwoth, whereas now my Master getteth no service of
my tongue as then, hath almost broken my faith in two halves. Yet in
my deepest apprehensions of His anger, I see through a cloud that I am
wrong; and He, in love to my soul, hath taken up the controversy
betwixt faith and apprehensions, and a decreet is passed on Christ's
side of it, and I subscribe the decreet. The Lord is equal in His
ways, but my guiltiness often overmastereth my believing. I have not
been well known: for except as to open outbreakings, I want nothing of
what Judas and Cain had; only He hath been pleased to prevent me in
mercy, and to cast me into a fever of love for Himself, and His
absence maketh my fever most painful. And beside, He hath visited my
soul and watered it with His comforts. But yet I have not what I
would. The want of real and felt possession is my only death. I know
that Christ pitieth me in this.
The great men, my friends that did[251] for me, are dried up like
winter-brooks of water. All say, "No dealing for that man; his best
will be to be gone out of the kingdom." So I see they tire of me. But,
believe me, I am most gladly content that Christ breaketh all my
idols in pieces. It hath put a new edge upon my blunted love to
Christ; I see that He is jealous of my love, and will have all to
Himself. In a word, these six things are my burden: 1. I am not in the
vineyard as others are; it may be, because Christ thinketh me a
withered tree, not worth its room. But God forbid! 2. Woe, woe, woe is
coming upon my harlot-mother, this apostate kirk! The time is coming
when we shall wish for doves' wings to flee and hide us. Oh, for the
desolation of this land! 3. I see my dear Master Christ going His lone
(as it were), mourning in sackcloth. His fainting friends fear that
King Jesus shall lose the field. But He must carry the day. 4. My
guiltiness and the sins of youth are come up against me, and they
would come into the plea in my sufferings, as deserving causes in
God's justice; but I pray God, for Christ's sake, that he may never
give them that room. 5. Woe is me, that I cannot get my royal,
dreadful, mighty, and glorious Prince of the kings of the earth set on
high. Sir, ye may help me and pity me in this; and bow your knee, and
bless His name, and desire others to do it, that He hath been pleased,
in my sufferings, to make Atheists, Papists, and enemies about me say,
"It is like that God is with this prisoner." Let hell and the powers
of hell (I care not) be let loose against me to do their worst, so
being that Christ, and my Father, and His Father, be magnified in my
sufferings. 6. Christ's love hath pained me: for howbeit His presence
hath shamed me, and drowned me in debt, yet He often goeth away when
my love to Him is burning. He seemeth to look like a proud wooer, who
will not look upon a poor match that is dying of love. I will not say
He is lordly. But I know He is wise in hiding Himself from a child and
a fool, who maketh an idol and a god of one of Christ's kisses, which
is idolatry. I fear that I adore His comforts more than Himself, and
that I love the apples of life better than the tree of life.
[251] Acted for me; as Ps. cix. 21.
Sir, write to me. Commend me to your wife. Mercy be her portion. Grace
be with you.
Yours, in his dearest Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CLXIII.--_To JOHN STUART, Provost of Ayr._
(_VIEW OF TRIALS PAST--HARD THOUGHTS OF CHRIST--CROSSES--HOPE._)
WORTHY AND DEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.--I was refreshed and comforted with your letter. What I wrote to
you, for your comfort, I do not remember; but I believe that love will
prophesy homeward,[252] as it would have it. I wish that I could help
you to praise His great and holy name who keepeth the feet of His
saints, and hath numbered all your goings. I know that our dearest
Lord will pardon and pass by our honest errors and mistakes, when we
mind His honour; yet I know that none of you have seen the other half,
and the hidden side, of your wonderful return home to us again. I am
confident ye shall yet say, that God's mercy blew your sails back to
Ireland again.
[252] The ministers, after their return to this country, were settled
in various parishes; Messrs. Blair at Ayr, Livingstone at Stranraer,
M'Clelland at Kirkcudbright, and Hamilton at Dumfries. They were
zealous promoters of all the measures by which the triumph of the
Presbyterian Church in Scotland was ultimately secured; and all of
them were members of the celebrated Assembly held at Glasgow in 1638.
Speaking of their return, Row of Ceres says: "Neither the prelates and
conformists, nor they themselves, knew that within a year the Lord
would not only root out the prelates in Scotland, and, after that, out
of England and Ireland, but make some of them, especially Messrs.
Blair, Livingstone, and M'Clelland, to be very instrumental in the
work of reformation" ("Life of Robert Blair," Wodrow Society).
Worthy and dear Sir, I cannot but give you an account of my present
estate, that ye may go an errand for me to my high and royal Master,
of whom I boast all the day. I am as proud of His love (nay, I bless
myself, and boast more of my present lot) as any poor man can be of an
earthly king's court, or of a kingdom. _First_, I am very often
turning both the sides of my cross, especially my dumb and silent
Sabbaths; not because I desire to find a crook or defect in my Lord's
love, but because my love is sick with fancies and fear. Whether or
not the Lord hath a process leading against my guiltiness, that I have
not yet well seen, I know not. My desire is to ride fair, and not to
spark dirt (if, with reverence to Him, I may be permitted to make use
of such a word) in the face of my only, only Well-beloved; but fear of
guiltiness is a talebearer betwixt me and Christ, and is still
whispering ill tales of my Lord, to weaken my faith. I had rather that
a cloud went over my comforts by these messages, than that my faith
should be hurt; for, if my Lord get no wrong by me, verily I desire
grace not to care what become of me. I desire to give no faith nor
credit to my sorrow, that can make a lie of my best friend Christ.
Woe, woe be to them all who speak ill of Christ! Hence these thoughts
awake with me in the morning, and go to bed with me. Oh, what service
can a dumb body do in Christ's house! Oh, I think the word of God is
imprisoned also! Oh, I am a dry tree! Alas, I can neither plant nor
water! Oh, if my Lord would make but dung of me, to fatten and make
fertile His own corn-ridges in Mount Zion! Oh, if I might but speak to
three or four herdboys[253] of my worthy Master, I would be satisfied
to be the meanest and most obscure of all the pastors in this land,
and to live in any place, in any of Christ's basest outhouses! But He
saith, "Sirrah, I will not send you; I have no errands for you
thereaway." My desire to serve Him is sick of jealousy, lest He be
unwilling to employ me. _Secondly_, This is seconded by another. Oh!
all that I have done in Anwoth, the fair work that my Master began
there, is like a bird dying in the shell; and what will I then have to
show of all my labour, in the day of my compearance before Him, when
the Master of the vineyard calleth the labourers, and giveth them
their hire? _Thirdly_, But truly, when Christ's sweet wind is in the
right airth, I repent, and I pray Christ to take law-burrows of my
quarrelous unbelieving sadness and sorrow. Lord, rebuke them that put
ill betwixt a poor servant like me and his good Master. Then I say,
whether the black cross will or not, I must climb on hands and feet up
to my Lord. I am now ruing from my heart that I pleasured the law (my
old dead husband) so far as to apprehend wrath in my sweet Lord Jesus.
I had far rather take a hire to plead for the grace of God, for I
think myself Christ's sworn debtor; and the truth is (to speak of my
Lord what I cannot deny), I am over head and ears, drowned in many
obligations to His love and mercy.
[253] Boys, like David, keeping the sheep or cattle.
He handleth me some time so, that I am ashamed almost to seek more for
a four-hours, but to live content (till the marriage-supper of the
Lamb) with that which He giveth. But I know not how greedy and how ill
to please love is. For either my Lord Jesus hath taught me ill
manners, not to be content with a seat, except my head lie in His
bosom, and except I be fed with the fatness of His house; or else I am
grown impatiently dainty, and ill to please, as if Christ were
obliged, under this cross, to do no other thing but bear me in His
arms, and as if I had claim by merit for my suffering for Him. But I
wish He would give me grace to learn to go on my own feet, and to
learn to do without His comforts, and to give thanks and believe, when
the sun is not in my firmament, and when my Well-beloved is from home,
and gone another errand. Oh, what sweet peace have I, when I find that
Christ holdeth and I draw; when I climb up and He shuteth me down;
when I grips Him and embrace Him, and He seemeth to loose the grips
and flee away from me! I think there is even a sweet joy of faith, and
contentedness, and peace, in His very tempting unkindness, because my
faith saith, "Christ is not in sad earnest with me, but trying if I
can be kind to His mask and cloud that covereth Him, as well as to His
fair face." I bless His great name that I love His vail which goeth
over His face, whill God send better; for faith can kiss God's
tempting reproaches when He nicknameth a sinner, "A dog, not worthy to
eat bread with the bairns" (Mark vii. 27, 28). I think it an honour
that Christ miscalleth me, and reproacheth me. I will take that well
of Him, howbeit I would not bear it well if another should be that
homely; but because I am His own (God be thanked), He may use me as He
pleaseth. I must say, the saints have a sweet life between them and
Christ. There is much sweet solace of love between Him and them, when
He feedeth among the lilies, and cometh into His garden, and maketh a
feast of honeycombs, and drinketh His wine and His milk, and crieth,
"Eat, O friends: drink, yea, drink abundantly, O well-beloved." One
hour of this labour is worth a shipful of the world's drunken and
muddy joy; nay, even the gate[254] to heaven is the sunny side of the
brae, and the very garden of the world. For the men of this world have
their own unchristened and profane crosses; and woe be to them and
their cursed crosses both; for their ills are salted with God's
vengeance, and our ills seasoned with our Father's blessing. So that
they are no fools who choose Christ, and sell all things for Him. It
is no bairns' market, nor a blind block; we know well what we get, and
what we give.
[254] Before we come to heaven, the very way (gate) to heaven is
pleasant.
Now, for any resolution to go to any other kingdom, I dare not speak
one word.[255] My hopes of enlargement are cold, my hopes of re-entry
to my Master's ill-dressed vineyard again are far colder. I have no
seat for my faith to sit on, but bare omnipotency, and God's holy arm
and good-will. Here I desire to stay, and ride at anchor, and winter,
whill God send fair weather again, and be pleased to take home to His
house my harlot-mother. Oh, if her husband would be that kind, as to
go and fetch her out of the brothel-house, and chase her lovers to the
hills! But there will be sad days ere it come to that. Remember my
bonds. Grace be with you.
Yours, in our Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
[255] Rutherford appears sometimes to have entertained the idea of
removing abroad, should he succeed in obtaining his liberty. In a
preceding letter to Stuart, he names New England; and some of his
friends thought that he might be honourably and usefully employed
abroad. Robert Baillie, in a letter to Mr. William Spang, minister at
Campvere, dated January 29, 1637, says: "Alwayes I take the man
[Rutherford] to be among the most learned and best ingynes of our
nation. I think he were verie able for some profession in your
colledges of Utrecht, Groningen, or Rotterdam; for our King's
dominions, there is no appearance he will ever gett living into them.
If you could quietly procure him a calling, I think it were a good
service to God to relieve one of his troubled ministers; a good to the
place he came to, for he is both godlie and learned; yea, I think by
time he might be ane ornament to our natione" (Bailie's "Letters and
Journals," vol. i. p. 9).
CLXIV.--_To_ NINIAN MURE [see Letter CXCI.], _one of the family of
Cassincarrie_.
[We do not know more of _Ninian Mure_ than that he was a
parishioner of Anwoth. The name "_Mure_" is found on several
tombs in the old churchyard, of which the oldest and most
interesting is the following, on the east side of the enclosed
pile:--
"Walking with God in purity of life,
In Christ I died, and endit all my strife.
For in my saul Christ here did dwell by grace;
Now dwells my saul in glory of His face.
Therefore my body shall not here remain,
But to full glory surely rise again."
"_Marion Mure_, goodwife of Cullindock,
Departed this life, anno 1612."]
(_A YOUTH ADMONISHED_.)
LOVING FRIEND,--I received your letter. I entreat you now, in the
morning of your life, to seek the Lord and His face. Beware of the
follies of dangerous youth, a perilous time for your soul. Love not
the world. Keep faith and truth with all men in your covenants and
bargains. Walk with God, for He seeth you. Do nothing but that which
ye may and would do if your eye-strings were breaking, and your breath
growing cold. Ye heard the truth of God from me, my dear heart, follow
it, and forsake it not. Prize Christ and salvation above all the
world. To live after the guise and course of the rest of the world
will not bring you to heaven; without faith in Christ, and repentance,
ye cannot see God. Take pains for salvation; press forward toward the
mark for the prize of the high calling. If ye watch not against evils
night and day, which beset you, ye will come behind. Beware of lying,
swearing, uncleanness, and the rest of the works of the flesh; because
"for these things the wrath of God cometh upon the children of
disobedience." How sweet soever they may seem for the present, yet the
end of these courses is the eternal wrath of God, and utter darkness,
where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. Grace be with you.
Your loving pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CLXV.--_To_ MR. THOMAS GARVEN.
[THOMAS GARVEN, one of the ministers of Edinburgh. "R. Blair's
Life," by Row, tells of his being banished from the town by the
King in 1662, for his adherence to Presbytery.]
(_PERSONAL INSUFFICIENCY--GRACE FROM CHRIST ALONE--LONGINGS AFTER
HIM._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I am
sorry that what joy and sorrow drew from my imprisoned pen in my
love-fits hath made you and many of God's children believe that there
is something in a broken reed the like of me. Except that Christ's
grace hath bought such a sold body, I know not what else any may think
of me, or expect from me. My stock is less (my Lord knoweth that I
speak truth) than many believe. My empty sounds have promised too
much. I should be glad to lie under Christ's feet, and kep and receive
the off-fallings, or the old pieces of any grace, that fall from His
sweet fingers to forlorn sinners. I lie often, unco-like, looking at
the King's windows. Surely I am unworthy of a seat in the King's
hall-floor; I but often look afar off, both feared and fremmed-like,
to that fairest face, fearing He bid me look away from Him. My
guiltiness riseth up upon me, and I have no answer for it. I offered
my tongue to Christ, and my pains in His house: and what know I what
it meaneth, when Christ will not receive my poor propine? When love
will not take, we expone that it will neither take nor give, borrow
nor lend. Yet Christ hath another sea-compass which He saileth by,
than my short and raw thoughts. I leave His part of it to Himself. I
dare not expound His dealing as sorrow and misbelief often dictate to
me. I look often with bleared and blind eyes to my Lord's cross; and
when I look to the wrong side of His cross, I know that I miss a step
and slide. Surely, I see that I have not legs of my own for carrying
me to heaven: I must go in at heaven's gates, borrowing strength from
Christ.
I am often thinking, "Oh, if He would but give me leave to love Him,
and if Christ would but open up His wares, and the infinite plies, and
windings, and corners of His soul-delighting love, and let me see it,
backside and foreside; and give me leave but to stand beside it, like
a hungry man beside meat, to get my fill of wondering, as a preface to
my fill of enjoying!" But, verily, I think that my foul eyes would
defile His fair love to look to it. Either my hunger is over humble
(if that may be said), or else I consider not what honour it is to get
leave to love Christ. Oh, that He would pity a prisoner, and let out a
flood upon the dry ground! It is nothing to Him to fill the like of
me; one of His looks would do me meikle world's good, and Him no ill.
I know that I am not at a point yet with Christ's love: I am not yet
fitted for so much as I would have of it. My hope sitteth neighbour
with meikle black hunger: and certainly I dow not but think that there
is more of that love ordained for me than I yet comprehend, and that I
know not the weight of the pension which the King will give me. I
shall be glad if my hungry bill get leave to lie beside Christ,
waiting on an answer. Now I should be full and rejoice, if I got a
poor man's alms of that sweetest love; but I confidently believe that
there is a bed made for Christ and me, and that we shall take our fill
of love in it. And I often think, when my joy is run out, and at the
lowest ebb, that I would seek no more than my rights passed the King's
great seal, and that these eyes of mine could see Christ's hand at the
pen.
If your Lord call you to suffering, be not dismayed; there shall be a
new allowance of the King for you when you come to it. One of the
softest pillows Christ hath is laid under His witnesses' head, though
often they must set down their bare feet among thorns. He hath brought
my poor soul to desire and wish, "Oh that my ashes, and the powder I
shall be dissolved into, had well-tuned tongues to praise Him!"
Thus in haste, desiring your prayers and praises, I recommend you to
my sweet, sweet Master, my honourable Lord, of whom I hold all. Grace
be with you.
Your own, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CLXVI.--_To CARDONESS, the Elder._
(_A GOOD CONSCIENCE--CHRIST KIND TO
SUFFERERS--RESPONSIBILITY--YOUTH._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--I long to hear how your soul prospereth. I wonder
that ye write not to me; for the Holy Ghost beareth me witness, that I
cannot, I dare not, I dow not,[256] forget you, nor the souls of those
with you, who are redeemed by the blood of the great Shepherd. Ye are
in my heart in the night-watches; ye are my joy and crown in the day
of Christ. O Lord, bear me witness, if my soul thirsteth for anything
out of heaven, more than for your salvation. Let God lay me in an
even-balance, and try me in this.
[256] Letter CIV. might suggest "do not" to be the right word.
Love heaven; let your heart be on it. Up, up, and visit the new Land
and view the fair City, and the white Throne, and the Lamb, the
bride's Husband in His Bridegroom's clothes, sitting on it. It were
time that your soul cast itself, and all your burdens, upon Christ. I
beseech you by the wounds of your Redeemer, and by your compearance
before Him, and by the salvation of your soul, lose no more time; run
fast, for it is late. God hath sworn by Himself, who made the world
and time, that time shall be no more (Rev. x. 6). Ye are now upon the
very border of the other life. Your Lord cannot be blamed for not
giving you warning. I have taught the truth of Christ to you, and
delivered unto you the whole counsel of God; and I have stood before
the Lord for you, and I will yet still stand. Awake, awake to do
righteously. Think not to be eased of the burdens and debts that are
on your house by oppressing any, or being rigorous to those that are
under you. Remember how I endeavoured to walk before you in this
matter, as an example. "Behold, here am I, witness against me, before
the Lord and His Anointed: whose ox or whose ass have I taken? Whom
have I defrauded? Whom have I oppressed?" (1 Sam. xii. 3). Who knoweth
how my soul feedeth upon a good conscience, when I remember how I
spent this body in feeding the lambs of Christ?
At my first entry hither, I grant, I took a stomach against my Lord,
because He had casten me over the dyke of the vineyard, as a dry tree,
and would have no more of my service. My dumb Sabbaths broke my heart,
and I would not be comforted. But now He whom my soul loveth is come
again, and it pleaseth Him to feast me with the kisses of His love. A
King dineth with me, and His spikenard casteth a sweet smell. The Lord
is my witness above, that I write my heart to you. I never knew, by my
nine years' preaching, so much of Christ's love, as He has taught me
in Aberdeen, by six months' imprisonment. I charge you in Christ's
name to help me to praise; and show that people and country the
loving-kindness of the Lord to my soul, that so my sufferings may
someway preach to them when I am silent. He hath made me to know now
better than before, what it is to be crucified to the world. I would
not now give a drink of cold water for all the world's kindness. I owe
no service to it: I am not the flesh's debtor. My Lord Jesus hath
dawted His prisoner, and hath thoughts of love concerning me. I would
not exchange my sighs with the laughing of adversaries. Sir, I write
this to inform you, that ye may know that it is the truth of Christ I
now suffer for, and that He hath sealed my suffering with the comforts
of His Spirit on my soul; and I know that He putteth not His seal upon
blank paper.
Now, sir, I have no comfort earthly, but to know that I have espoused,
and shall present a bride to Christ in that congregation. The Lord
hath given you much, and therefore He will require much of you again.
Number your talents, and see what you have to render back. Ye cannot
be enough persuaded of the shortness of your time. I charge you to
write to me, and in the fear of God to be plain with me, whether or
not ye have made your salvation sure. I am confident, and hope the
best; but I know that your reckonings with your Judge are many and
deep. Sir, be not beguiled, neglect not your one thing (Phil. iii.
13), your one necessary thing (Luke x. 42), the good part that shall
not be taken from you. Look beyond time: things here are but
moonshine. They have but children's wit who are delighted with
shadows, and deluded with feathers flying in the air.
Desire your children, in the morning of their life, to begin and seek
the Lord, and to remember their Creator in the days of their youth
(Eccles. xii. 1), to cleanse their way, by taking heed thereto,
according to God's word (Ps. cxix. 9). Youth is a glassy age. Satan
finds a swept chamber, for the most part, in youthhood, and a
garnished lodging for himself and his train. Let the Lord have the
flower of their age; the best sacrifice is due to Him. Instruct them
in this, that they have a soul, and that this life is nothing in
comparison of eternity. They will have much need of God's conduct in
this world, to guide them by[257] those rocks upon which most men
split; but far more need when it cometh to the hour of death, and
their compearance before Christ. Oh that there were such an heart in
them, to fear the name of the great and dreadful God, who hath laid up
great things for those that love and fear Him! I pray that God may be
their portion. Show others of my parishioners, that I write to them my
best wishes, and the blessings of their lawful pastor. Say to them
from me, that I beseech them, by the bowels of Christ, to keep in mind
the doctrine of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, which I taught
them; that so they may lay hold on eternal life, striving together for
the faith of the Gospel, and making sure salvation to themselves. Walk
in love, and do righteousness; seek peace; love one another. Wait for
the coming of our Master and Judge. Receive no doctrine contrary to
that which I delivered to you. If ye fall away, and forget it, and
that Catechism which I taught you, and so forsake your own mercy, the
Lord be Judge betwixt you and me. I take heaven and earth to witness,
that such shall eternally perish. But if they serve the Lord, great
will their reward be when they and I shall stand before our Judge. Set
forward up the mountain, to meet with God; climb up, for your Saviour
calleth on you. It may be that God will call you to your rest, when I
am far from you; but ye have my love, and the desires of my heart for
your soul's welfare. He that is holy, keep you from falling, and
establish you, till His own glorious appearance.
Your affectionate and lawful pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
[257] Guide them past.
CLXVII.--_To my_ LADY BOYD. [Letter CVII.]
(_LESSONS LEARNED IN THE SCHOOL OF ADVERSITY._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord
Jesus Christ, be multiplied upon you.
I have reasoned with your son[258] at large; I rejoice to see him set
his face in the right airth, now when the nobles love the sunny side
of the Gospel best, and are afraid that Christ want soldiers, and
shall not be able to do for Himself.
[258] Lord Boyd. See Letter LXXVIII.
Madam, our debts of obligation to Christ are not small; the freedom of
grace and of salvation is the wonder of men and angels. But mercy in
our Lord scorneth hire. Ye are bound to lift Christ on high, who hath
given you eyes to discern the devil now coming out in his whites, and
the idolatry and apostasy of the time, well washen with fair
pretences; but the skin is black and the water foul. It were art, I
confess, to wash a black devil, and make him white.
I am in strange ups and downs, and seven times a day I lose ground. I
am put often to swimming; and again my feet are set on the Rock that
is higher than myself. He hath now let me see four things which I
never saw before: _1st_, That the Supper shall be great cheer, that is
up in the great hall with the Royal King of glory, when the
four-hours, the standing drink,[259] in this dreary wilderness, is so
sweet. When He bloweth a kiss afar off to His poor heart-broken
mourners in Zion, and sendeth me but His hearty commendations till we
meet, I am confounded with wonder to think what it shall be, when the
Fairest among the sons of men shall lay a King's sweet soft cheek to
the sinful cheeks of poor sinners. O time, time, go swiftly, and
hasten that day! Sweet Lord Jesus, post! come, flying like a young
hart or a roe upon the mountains of separation. I think that we should
tell the hours carefully, and look often how low the sun is. For love
hath no "Ho!" it is pained, pained in itself, till it come into grips
with the party beloved.
[259] When even the slight afternoon meal and the cup handed to one at
the door is so sweet.
_2ndly._ I find Christ's absence to be love's sickness and love's
death. The wind that bloweth out of the airth where my Lord Jesus
reigneth is sweet-smelled, soft, joyful, and heartsome to a soul burnt
with absence. It is a painful battle for a soul sick of love to fight
with absence and delays. Christ's "Not yet" is a stounding of all the
joints and liths[260] of the soul. A nod of His head, when He is under
a mask, would be half a pawn. To say, "Fool, what aileth thee? He is
coming," would be life to a dead man. I am often in my dumb Sabbaths
seeking a new plea with my Lord Jesus (God forgive me!), and I care
not if there be not two or three ounce-weight of black wrath in my
cup.
[260] "Joist" was in some old editions.
_3rdly._ For the third thing, I have seen my abominable vileness; if I
were well known, there would none in this kingdom ask how I do. Many
take my ten to be a hundred, but I am a deeper hypocrite, and
shallower professor, than every one believeth. God knoweth I feign
not. But I think my reckonings on the one page written in great
letters, and His mercy to such a forlorn and wretched dyvour on the
other, to be more than a miracle. If I could get my finger-ends upon a
full assurance, I trow that I would grip fast; but my cup wanteth not
gall. And, upon my part, despair might be almost excused, if every one
in this land saw my inner side. But I know that I am one of them who
have made great sale, and a free market, to free grace. If I could be
saved, as I would fain believe, sure I am that I have given Christ's
blood, His free grace, and the bowels of His mercy, a large field to
work upon; and Christ hath manifested His art, I dare not say to the
uttermost (for He can, if He would, forgive all the devils and damned
reprobates, in respect of the wideness of His mercy), but I say to an
admirable degree.
_4thly._ I am stricken with fear of unthankfulness. This apostate kirk
hath played the harlot with many lovers. They are spitting in the face
of my lovely King, and mocking Him, and I dow not mend it; and they
are running away from Christ in troops, and I dow not mourn and be
grieved for it. I think Christ lieth like an old forcasten[261]
castle, forsaken of the inhabitants; all men run away now from Him.
Truth, innocent truth, goeth mourning and wringing her hands in
sackcloth and ashes. Woe, woe, woe is me, for the virgin daughter of
Scotland! Woe, woe to the inhabitants of this land! for they are gone
back with a perpetual backsliding.
[261] Not used; cast off.
These things take me so up, that a borrowed bed, another man's
fireside, the wind upon my face (I being driven from my lovers and
dear acquaintance, and my poor flock), find no room in my sorrow. I
have no spare or odd sorrow for these; only I think the sparrows and
swallows that build their nests in the kirk of Anwoth, blessed birds.
Nothing hath given my faith a harder back-set[262] till it crack
again, than my closed mouth. But let me be miserable myself alone; God
keep my dear brethren from it. But still I keep breath; and when my
royal, and never, never-enough-praised King returneth to His sinful
prisoner, I ride upon the high places of Jacob. I divide Shechem (Ps.
lx. 6), I triumph in His strength. If this kingdom would glorify the
Lord in my behalf! I desire to be weighed in God's even balance in
this point, if I think not my wages paid to the full. I shall crave no
more hire of Christ.
[262] A thrust back. In a sermon at Anwoth, 1630, on Zech. xiii. 7, he
says, "God gives a back-set and fall under temptation."
Madam, pity me in this, and help me to praise Him; for whatever I be,
the chief of sinners, a devil, and a most guilty devil, yet it is the
apple of Christ's eye, His honour and glory, as the Head of the
Church, that I suffer for now, and that I will go to eternity with.
I am greatly in love with Mr. M. M.;[263] I see him stamped with the
image of God. I hope well of your son, my Lord Boyd.
[263] Mr. Matthew Mowat, minister of Kilmarnock. See notice of him,
Letter CXX.
Your Ladyship and your children have a prisoner's prayers. Grace be
with you.
Your Ladyship's, at all obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _May 1, 1637_.
CLXVIII.--_To his reverend and dear Brother_, MR. DAVID DICKSON.
(_CHRIST'S INFINITE FULNESS._)
MY REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I fear that ye have never known me
well. If ye saw my inner side, it is possible that ye would pity me,
but you would hardly give me either love or respect: men mistake me
the whole length of the heavens. My sins prevail over me, and the
terrors of their guiltiness. I am put often to ask, if Christ and I
did ever shake hands together in earnest. I mean not that my
feast-days are quite gone, but I am made of extremes. I pray God that
ye never have the woful and dreary experience of a closed mouth; for
then ye shall judge the sparrows, that may sing on[264] the church of
Irvine, blessed birds. But my soul hath been refreshed and watered,
when I hear of your courage and zeal for your never-enough-praised,
praised Master, in that ye put the men of God, chased out of Ireland,
to work.[265] Oh, if I could confirm you! I dare say, in God's
presence, "That this shall never hasten your suffering, but will be
David Dickson's feast and speaking joy (viz.), that while he had time
and leisure, he put many to work, to lift up Jesus, his sweet Master,
high in the skies." O man of God, go on, go on; be valiant for that
Plant of renown, for that Chief among ten thousands, for that Prince
of the kings of the earth. It is but little that I know of God; yet
this I dare write, that Christ will be glorified in David Dickson,
howbeit Scotland be not gathered.
[264] _On_, not "_in_," as in old editions.
[265] When Mr. Robert Blair and Mr. John Livingstone, who had been
deposed in Ireland by the Bishop of Down, were obliged to leave that
country, they came over to Irvine in 1637, to Mr. Dickson. Dickson had
been advised by some respectable gentlemen not to ask them to preach,
lest the bishops should thereby take occasion to remove him from his
ministry. But his reply was: "I dare not be of their opinion, nor
follow their counsel, so far as to discountenance these worthies, now
when they are suffering for holding fast the name of Christ, and every
letter of that blessed name, as not to employ them as in former times.
Yea, I would think my so doing would provoke the Lord, so that I might
upon another account be deposed, and not have so good a conscience"
("Life of Robert Blair").
I am pained, pained, that I have not more to give my sweet Bridegroom.
His comforts to me are not dealt with a niggard's hand; but I would
fain learn not to idolise comfort, sense, joy, and sweet, felt
presence. All these are but creatures, and nothing but the kingly
robe, the gold ring, and the bracelets of the Bridegroom; the
Bridegroom Himself is better than all the ornaments that are about
Him. Now, I would not so much have these as God Himself, and to be
swallowed up of love to Christ. I see that in delighting in a
communion with Christ, we may make more gods than one. But, however,
all was but bairns' play between Christ and me till now. If one would
have sworn unto me, I would not have believed what may be found in
Christ. I hope that ye pity my pain that much, in my prison, as to
help me yourself, and to cause others help me, a dyvour, a sinful
wretched dyvour, to pay some of my debts of praise to my great King.
Let my God be judge and witness, if my soul would not have sweet ease
and comfort, to have many hearts confirmed in Christ, and enlarged
with His love, and many tongues set on work to set on high my royal
and princely Well-beloved. Oh that my sufferings could pay tribute to
such a king! I have given over wondering at His love; for Christ hath
manifested a piece of art upon me, that I never revealed to any
living. He hath gotten fair and rich employment, and sweet sale, and a
goodly market for His honourable calling of showing mercy, on me the
chief of sinners. Every one knoweth not so well as I do, my
wofully-often broken covenants. My sins against light, working[266] in
the very act of sinning, have been met with admirable mercy: but,
alas! He will get nothing back again but wretched unthankfulness. I am
sure, that if Christ pity anything in me next to my sin, it is pain of
love for an armful and soulful of Himself, in faith, love, and begun
fruition. My sorrow is, that I cannot get Christ lifted off the dust
in Scotland, and set on high, above all the skies, and heaven of
heavens.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _May 1, 1637_.
[266] The sense may be, "My sins against light which was at work even
when I was in the act of sinning."
CLXIX.--_To the_ LAIRD OF CARLETON.
(_GOD'S WORKING INCOMPREHENSIBLE--LONGING AFTER ANY DROP OF CHRIST'S
FULNESS._)
WORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received your
letter, and am heartily glad that our Lord hath begun to work for the
apparent delivery of this poor oppressed kirk. Oh that salvation would
come for Zion!
I am for the present hanging by hope, waiting what my Lord will do
with me, and if it will please my sweet Master to send me amongst you
again, and keep out a hireling from my poor people and flock. It were
my heaven till I come home, even to spend this life in gathering in
some to Christ. I have still great heaviness for my silence, and my
forced standing idle in the market, when this land hath such a
plentiful, thick harvest. But I know that His judgments, who hath done
it, pass finding out. I have no knowledge to take up the Lord in all
His strange ways, and passages of deep and unsearchable providences.
For the Lord is before me, and I am so bemisted that I cannot follow
Him; He is behind me, and following at the heels, and I am not aware
of Him; He is above me, but His glory so dazzleth my twilight of short
knowledge, that I cannot look up to Him. He is upon my right hand, and
I see Him not; He is upon my left hand, and within me, and goeth and
cometh, and His going and coming are a dream to me; He is round about
me, and compasseth all my goings, and still I have Him to seek. He is
every way higher, and deeper, and broader than the shallow and ebb
handbreadth of my short and dim light can take up; and, therefore, I
would that my heart could be silent, and sit down in the
learnedly-ignorant wondering at the Lord, whom men and angels cannot
comprehend. I know that the noon-day light of the highest angels, who
see Him face to face, seeth not the borders of His infiniteness. They
apprehend God near hand; but they cannot comprehend Him. And,
therefore, it is my happiness to look afar off, and to come near to
the Lord's back parts, and to light my dark candle at His brightness,
and to have leave to sit and content myself with a traveller's light,
without the clear vision of an enjoyer. I would seek no more till I
were in my country, than a little watering and sprinkling of a
withered soul, with some half out-breakings and half out-lookings of
the beams, and small ravishing smiles of the fairest face of a
revealed and believed-on Godhead. A little of God would make my soul
bank-full. Oh that I had but Christ's odd off-fallings; that He would
let but the meanest of His love-rays and love-beams fall from Him, so
as I might gather and carry then with me! I would not be ill to please
with Christ, and vailed visions of Christ; neither would I be dainty
in seeing and enjoying of Him: a kiss of Christ blown over His
shoulder, the parings and crumbs of glory that fall under His table in
heaven, a shower like a thin May-mist of His love, would make me
green, and sappy, and joyful, till the summer-sun of an eternal glory
break up (Song ii. 17). Oh that I had anything of Christ! Oh that I
had a sip, or half a drop, out of the hollow of Christ's hand, of the
sweetness and excellency of that lovely One! Oh that my Lord Jesus
would rue upon me, and give me but the meanest alms of felt and
believed salvation! Oh, how little were it for that infinite sea, that
infinite fountain of love and joy, to fill as many thousand thousand
little vessels (the like of me) as there are minutes of hours since
the creation of God! I find it true that a poor soul, finding half a
smell of the Godhead of Christ, hath desires (paining and wounding the
poor hearts so with longings to be up at Him) that make it sometimes
think, "Were it not better never to have felt anything of Christ, than
thus to lie dying twenty deaths, under these felt wounds, for the want
of Him?" Oh, where is He? O Fairest, where dwellest Thou? O
never-enough admired Godhead, how can clay win up to Thee? how can
creatures of yesterday be able to enjoy Thee? Oh, what pain is it,
that time and sin should be so many thousand miles betwixt a loved and
longed-for Lord and a dwining and love-sick soul, who would rather
than all the world have lodging with Christ! Oh, let this bit of love
of ours, this inch and half-span length of heavenly longing, meet with
Thy infinite love! Oh, if the little I have were swallowed up with the
infiniteness of that excellency which is in Christ! Oh that we little
ones were in at the greatest Lord Jesus! Our wants should soon be
swallowed up with His fulness.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _May 10, 1637_.
CLXX.--_To_ ROBERT GORDON _of Knockbrex_.
(_LONGING FOR CHRIST'S GLORY--FELT GUILTINESS--LONGING FOR CHRIST'S
LOVE--SANCTIFICATION._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received your
letter from Edinburgh.
I would not wish to see another heaven, whill I get mine own heaven,
but a new moon like the light of the sun, and a new sun like the light
of seven days shining upon my poor self, and the Church of Jews and
Gentiles, and upon my withered and sunburnt mother, the Church of
Scotland, and upon her sister Churches, England and Ireland; and to
have this done, to the setting on high of our great King! It
mattereth[267] not, howbeit I were separate from Christ, and had a
sense of ten thousand years' pain in hell, if this were. O blessed
nobility! O glorious, renowned gentry! Oh, blessed were the tribes in
this land to wipe my Lord Jesus' weeping face, and to take the
sackcloth off Christ's loins, and to put His kingly robes upon Him!
Oh, if the Almighty would take no less wager of me than my heaven to
have it done! But my fears are still for wrath once upon Scotland. But
I know that her day will clear up, and that glory shall be upon the
top of the mountains, and joy at the voice[268] of the married wife,
once again. Oh that our Lord would make us to contend, and plead, and
wrestle by prayers and tears, for our Husband's restoring of His
forfeited heritage in Scotland.
[267] _Mattereth?_ In other editions it is "_maketh_."
[268] "_Noise_," in old editions.
Dear brother, I am for the present in no small battle, betwixt felt
guiltiness, and pining longings and high fevers for my Well-beloved's
love! Alas! I think that Christ's love playeth the niggard to me, and
I know it is not for scarcity of love. There is enough in Him, but my
hunger prophesieth of in-holding and sparingness in Christ; for I have
but little of Him, and little of His sweetness. It is a dear summer
with me; yet there is such joy in the eagerness and working of hunger
for Christ, that I am often at this, that if I had no other heaven
than a continual hunger for Christ, such a heaven of ever-working
hunger were still a heaven to me. I am sure that Christ's love cannot
be cruel; it must be a ruing, a pitying, a melting-hearted love; but
suspension of that love I think half a hell, and the want of it more
than a whole hell. When I look to my guiltiness, I see that my
salvation is one of our Saviour's greatest miracles, either in heaven
or earth. I am sure I may defy any man to show me a greater wonder.
But, seeing I have no wares, no hire, no money for Christ, He must
either take me with want, misery, corruption, or then want me. Oh, if
He would be pleased to be compassionate and pitiful-hearted to my
pining fevers of longing for Him; or then give me a real pawn to keep,
out of His own hand, till God send a meeting betwixt Him and me! But I
find neither as yet. Howbeit He who is absent be not cruel nor unkind,
yet His absence is cruel and unkind. His love is like itself; His love
is _His_ love; but the covering and the cloud, the vail and the mask
of His love, is more wise than kind, if I durst speak my
apprehensions. I lead no process now against the suspension and delay
of God's love; I would with all my heart frist till a day ten heavens,
and the sweet manifestations of His love. Certainly I think that I
could give Christ much on His word; but my whole pleading is about
intimated and borne-in assurance of _His_ love. Oh, if He would
persuade me of[269] my heart's desire of His love at all, He should
have the term-day of payment at His own cowing.[270] But I know that
raving unbelief speaketh its pleasure, while it looketh upon
guiltiness and this body of corruption. Oh how loathsome and
burdensome is it to carry about a dead corpse, this old carrion of
corruption! Oh how steadable a thing is a Saviour, to make a sinner
rid of his chains and fetters!
[269] Convince me that He intends to gratify my heart's desire.
[270] Carving.
I have now made a new question, whether Christ be more to be loved,
for giving Sanctification or for free Justification. And I hold that
He is more and most to be loved for sanctification. It is in some
respect greater love in Him to sanctify, than to justify; for He
maketh us most like Himself in His own essential portraiture and
image, in sanctifying us. Justification doth but make us happy, which
is to be like angels only. Neither is it such a misery to lie a
condemned man, and under unforgiven guiltiness, as to serve sin, and
work the works of the devil; and, therefore, I think sanctification
cannot be bought: it is above price. God be thanked for ever, that
Christ was a told-down price for sanctification. Let a sinner, if
possible, lie in hell for ever, if He make him truly holy; and let him
lie there burning in love to God, rejoicing in the Holy Ghost, hanging
upon Christ by faith and hope,--that is heaven in the heart and bottom
of hell!
Alas! I find a very thin harvest here, and few to be saved.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his lovely and longed-for Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CLXXI.--_To the_ LAIRD OF MONCRIEFF.
[SIR JOHN MONCRIEFF, of that ilk, was the eldest son of William
Moncrieff of that ilk, by his wife Anne, daughter of Robert Murray of
Abercarnie, who was his second wife. He was a zealous Covenanter, and
a ruling elder in the parish of Carnbee, in which he resided. His name
appears in the list of the General Assembly's Commission for the
public affairs of the Church, in the years 1646 and 1648; and he was
an active member of the Presbytery of St. Andrews. He died about the
close of the year 1650. Lady Leyes, to whom reference is made in this
letter, was his third sister Jean, married to Hay of Leyes, in
Aberdeenshire (Douglas' "_Baronage of Scotland_," p. 46).]
(_CONCERT IN PRAYER--STEDFASTNESS TO CHRIST--GRIEF MISREPRESENTS
CHRIST'S GLORY._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. Although not
acquainted, yet at the desire of your worthy sister, the Lady Leys,
and upon the report of your kindness to Christ and His oppressed
truth, I am bold to write to you, earnestly desiring you to join with
us (so many as in these bounds profess Christ), to wrestle with God,
one day of the week, especially the Wednesday, for mercy to this
fallen and decayed kirk, and to such as suffer for Christ's name; and
for your own necessities, and the necessities of others who are by
covenant engaged in that business. For we have no other armour in
these evil times but prayer, now when wrath from the Lord is gone out
against this backsliding land. For ye know we can have no true public
fasts, neither are the true causes of our humiliation ever laid before
the people.
Now, very worthy Sir, I am glad in the Lord, that the Lord reserveth
any of your place, or of note, in this time of common apostasy, to
come forth in public to hear Christ's name before men, when the great
men think Christ a cumbersome neighbour, and that religion carrieth
hazards, trials, and persecutions with it. I persuade myself that it
is your glory and your garland, and shall be your joy in the day of
Christ, and the standing of your house and seed, to inherit the earth,
that you truly and sincerely profess Christ. Neither is our King, whom
the Father hath crowned in Mount Zion, so weak, that He cannot do for
Himself and His own cause. I verily believe that they are blessed who
can hold the crown upon His head, and carry up the train of His robe
royal, and that He shall be victorious, and triumph in this land. It
is our part to back our royal King, howbeit there was not six in all
the land to follow Him. It is our wisdom now to take up, and discern,
the devil and the antichrist coming out in their whites, and the
apostasy and idolatry of this land washen with foul waters. I confess
that it is art to wash the devil till his skin be white.
For myself, Sir, I have bought a plea against Christ, since I came
hither, in judging my princely Master angry at me, because I was cast
out of the vineyard as a withered tree, my dumb Sabbaths working me
much sorrow. But I see now that sorrow hath not eyes to read love
written upon the cross of Christ; and, therefore, I pass from my rash
plea. Woe, woe is me, that I should have received a slander of
Christ's love to my soul! And for all this, my Lord Jesus hath
forgiven all, as not willing to be heard[271] with such a fool; and is
content to be, as it were, confined with me, and to bear me company,
and to feast a poor oppressed prisoner. And now I write it under my
hand, worthy Sir, that I think well and honourably of this cross of
Christ. I wonder that He will take any glory from the like of me. I
find when He but sendeth His hearty commendations to me, and but
bloweth a kiss afar off, I am confounded with wondering what the
supper of the Lamb will be, up in our Father's dining-palace of glory,
since the four-hours in this dismal wilderness, and (when in prisons
and in our sad days), a kiss of Christ, are so comfortable. Oh, how
sweet and glorious shall our case be, when that Fairest among the sons
of men will lay His fair face to our now sinful faces, and wipe away
all tears from our eyes! O time, time, run swiftly and hasten this
day! O sweet Lord Jesus, come flying like a roe or a young hart! Alas!
that we, blind fools, are fallen in love with moonshine and shadows.
How sweet is the wind that bloweth out of the airth where Christ is!
Every day we may see some new thing in Christ; His love hath neither
brim nor bottom. Oh, if I had help to praise Him! He knoweth that if
my sufferings glorify His name, and encourage others to stand fast for
the honour of our supreme Lawgiver, Christ, my wages then are paid to
the full. Sir, help me to love that never-enough-praised Lord. I find
now, that the faith of the saints, under suffering for Christ, is fair
before the wind, and with full sails carried upon Christ. And I hope
to lose nothing in this furnace but dross; for Christ can triumph in a
weaker man than I am, if there be any such. And when all is done, His
love paineth me, and leaveth me under such debt to Christ, as I can
neither pay principal nor interest. Oh, if He would comprise myself,
and if I were sold to Him as a bondman, and that He would take me home
to His house and fireside; for I have nothing to render to Him! Then,
after me, let no man think hard of Christ's sweet cross; for I would
not exchange my sighs with the painted laughter of all my adversaries.
I desire grace and patience to wait on, and to lie upon the brink,
till the water fill and flow. I know that He is fast coming.
[271] Not willing to be heard disputing with such a fool.
Sir, ye will excuse my boldness: and, till it please God that I see
you, ye have the prayers of a prisoner of Christ; to whom I recommend
you, and in whom I rest.
Yours, at all obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _May_ 14, 1637.
CLXXII.--_To_ JOHN CLARK (_supposed to be one of his Parishioners at
Anwoth_).
(_MARKS OF DIFFERENCE BETWIXT CHRISTIANS AND REPROBATES._)
LOVING BROTHER,--Hold fast Christ without wavering, and contend for
the faith, because Christ is not easily gotten nor kept. The lazy
professor hath put heaven as it were at the very next door, and
thinketh to fly up to heaven in his bed, and in a night-dream; but,
truly, that is not so easy a thing as most men believe. Christ Himself
did sweat ere He wan this city, howbeit He was the freeborn heir. It
is Christianity, my Heart, to be sincere, unfeigned honest, and
upright-hearted before God, and to live and serve God, suppose there
was not one man nor woman in all the world dwelling beside you, to
eye you. Any little grace that ye have, see that it be sound and true.
Ye may put a difference betwixt you and reprobates, if ye have these
marks:--1. If ye prize Christ and His truth so as ye will sell all and
buy Him; and suffer for it. 2. If the love of Christ keepeth you back
from sinning, more than the law, or fear of hell. 3. If ye be humble,
and deny your own will, wit, credit, ease, honour, the world, and the
vanity and glory of it. 4. Your profession must not be barren, and
void of good works. 5. Ye must in all things aim at God's honour; ye
must eat, drink, sleep, buy, sell, sit, stand, speak, pray, read, and
hear the word, with a heart-purpose that God may be honoured. 6. Ye
must show yourself an enemy to sin, and reprove the works of darkness,
such as drunkenness, swearing, and lying, albeit the company should
hate you for so doing. 7. Keep in mind the truth of God, that ye heard
me teach, and have nothing to do with the corruptions and new guises
entered into the house of God. 8. Make conscience of your calling, in
covenants, in buying and selling. 9. Acquaint yourself with daily
praying; commit all your ways and actions to God, by prayer,
supplication, and thanksgiving; and count not much of being mocked;
for Christ Jesus was mocked before you.
Persuade yourself, that this is the way of peace and comfort which I
now suffer for. I dare go to death and into eternity with it, though
men may possibly see another way. Remember me in your prayers, and the
state of this oppressed church. Grace be with you.
Your soul's well-wisher,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
CLXXIII.--_To CARDONESS, the Younger._ [Letter CXXIII.]
(_WARNING AND ADVICE AS TO THINGS OF SALVATION._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--I long to hear whether or not your soul be
hand-fasted with Christ. Lose your time no longer: flee the follies of
youth: gird up the loins of your mind, and make you ready for meeting
the Lord. I have often summoned you, and now I summon you again, to
compear before your Judge, to make a reckoning of your life. While ye
have time, look upon your papers, and consider your ways. Oh that
there were such an heart in you, as to think what an ill conscience
will be to you, when ye are upon the border of eternity, and your one
foot out of time! Oh then, ten thousand thousand floods of tears
cannot extinguish these flames, or purchase to you one hour's release
from that pain! Oh, how sweet a day have ye had! But this is a
fair-day that runneth fast away. See how ye have spent it, and
consider the necessity of salvation! and tell me, in the fear of God,
if ye have made it sure. I am persuaded that ye have a conscience that
will be speaking somewhat to you. Why will ye die, and destroy
yourself? I charge you in Christ's name, to rouse up your conscience,
and begin to indent and contract with Christ in time, while salvation
is in your offer. This is the accepted time, this is the day of
salvation. Play the merchant; for ye cannot expect another market-day
when this is done. Therefore, let me again beseech you to "consider,
in this your day, the things that belong to your peace, before they be
hid from your eyes." Dear brother, fulfil my joy, and begin to seek
the Lord while He may be found. Forsake the follies of deceiving and
vain youth: lay hold upon eternal life. Whoring, night-drinking, and
the misspending of the Sabbath, and neglecting of prayer in your
house, and refusing of an offered salvation, will burn up your soul
with the terrors of the Almighty, when your awakened conscience shall
flee in your face. Be kind and loving to your wife: make conscience of
cherishing her, and not being rigidly austere. Sir, I have not a
tongue to express the glory that is laid up for you in your Father's
house, if ye reform your doings, and frame your heart to return to the
Lord. Ye know that this world is but a shadow, a short-living
creature, under the law of time. Within less than fifty years, when ye
look back to it, ye shall laugh at the evanishing vanities thereof, as
feathers flying in the air, and as the houses of sand within the
sea-mark, which the children of men are building. Give up with
courting of this vain world: seek not the bastard's moveables, but the
son's heritage in heaven. Take a trial of Christ. Look unto Him, and
His love will so change you, that ye shall be taken with Him, and
never choose to go from Him. I have experience of His sweetness, in
this house of my pilgrimage here. My Witness, who is above, knoweth
that I would not exchange my sighs and tears with the laughing of the
Fourteen Prelates.[272] There is nothing that will make you a
Christian indeed, but a taste of the sweetness of Christ. "Come and
see," will speak best to your soul. I would fain hope good of you. Be
not discouraged at broken and spilled resolutions; but to it, and to
it again! Woo about Christ, till ye get your soul espoused as a chaste
virgin to Him. Use the means of profiting with your conscience; pray
in your family, and read the word. Remember how our Lord's day was
spent when I was among you. It will be a great challenge to you before
God, if ye forget the good that was done within the walls of your
house on the Lord's day; and if ye turn aside after the fashions of
this world, and if ye go not in time to the kirk, to wait on the
public worship of God, and if ye tarry not at it, till all the
exercises of religion be ended. Give God some of your time both
morning and evening, and afternoon; and in so doing, rejoice the heart
of a poor oppressed prisoner. Rue upon your own soul, and from your
heart fear the Lord.
[272] The Bishops whom the King sought to thrust on Scotland.
Now He that brought again from the dead the great Shepherd of His
sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, establish your heart with
His grace, and present you before His presence with joy.
Your affectionate and loving pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CLXXIV.--_To my_ LORD CRAIGHALL. [Letter LXXXVI.]
(_IDOLATRY CONDEMNED._)
MY LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I am not only content,
but I exceedingly rejoice, that I find any of the rulers of this land,
and especially your Lordship so to affect Christ and His truth, as
that ye dare, for His name, come to yea and nay with monarchs in their
face. I hope that He who hath enabled you for that, will give more, if
ye show yourself courageous, and (as His word speaketh), "a man in the
streets," for the Lord (Jer. v. 1). But I pray your Lordship, give me
leave to be plain with you, as one who loveth both your honour and
your soul. I verily believe that there was never idolatry at Rome,
never idolatry condemned in God's word by the prophets, if religious
kneeling before a consecrated creature, standing in room of Christ
crucified, in that very act, and that for reverence of the elements
(as our Act cleareth), be not idolatry.[273] Neither will your
_intention_ help, which is not of the essence of worship; for then,
Aaron saying, "To-morrow shall be a feast for Jehovah," that is, for
the golden calf, should not have been guilty of idolatry: for he
_intended_ only to decline the lash of the people's fury, not to
honour the calf. Your intention to honour Christ is nothing, seeing
that religious kneeling, by God's institution, doth necessarily import
religious and divine adoration, suppose that our intention were both
dead and sleeping; otherwise, kneeling before the image of God and
directing prayer to God were lawful, if our intention go right. My
Lord, I cannot in these bounds dispute; but if Cambridge and Oxford,
and the learning of Britain, will answer this argument, and the
argument from active scandal, which your Lordship seemeth to stand
upon, I will turn a formalist, and call myself an arrant fool (by
doing what I have done) in my suffering for this truth. I do much
reverence Mr. L.'s[274] learning; but, my Lord, I will answer what he
writeth in that, to pervert you from the truth; else repute me, beside
an hypocrite, an ass also. I hope ye shall see something upon that
subject (if the Lord permit), that no sophistry in Britain shall
answer. Courtiers' arguments, for the most part, are drawn from their
own skin, and are not worth a straw for your conscience. A Marquis' or
a King's word, when ye stand before Christ's tribunal, shall be
lighter than the wind. The Lord knoweth that I love your true honour,
and the standing of your house; but I would not that your honour or
house were established upon sand, and hay, and stubble.
[273] See Letter XCII.
[274] Probably Mr. Loudian. Letter LXXXVI., note.
But let me, my very dear and worthy Lord, most humbly beseech you, by
the mercies of God, by the consolations of His Spirit, by the dear
blood and wounds of your lovely Redeemer, by the salvation of your
soul, by your compearance before the awful face of a sin-revenging and
dreadful Judge, not to set in comparison together your soul's peace,
Christ's love, and His kingly honour now called in question, with your
place, honour, house, or ease, that an inch of time will make out of
the way. I verily believe that Christ is now begging a testimony of
you, and is saying, "And will ye also leave Me?" It is possible that
the wind shall not blow so fair for you all your life, for coming out
and appearing before others to back and countenance Christ, the
fairest among the sons of men, the Prince of the kings of the earth.
"Fear ye not the reproach of men, neither be afraid of their
revilings: for the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm
shall eat them like wool" (Isa. li. 7, 8). When the Lord will begin,
He will make an end, and mow down His adversaries; and they shall lie
before Him like withered hay, and their bloom be shaken off them.
Consider how many thousands in this kingdom ye shall cause to fall
and stumble, if ye go with them; and that ye shall be out of the
prayers of many who do now stand before the Lord for you and your
house. And further; when the time of your accounts cometh, and your
one foot shall be within the border of eternity, and the eyestrings
shall break, and the face wax pale, and the poor soul shall look out
at the windows of the house of clay, longing to be out, and ye shall
find yourself arraigned before the Judge of quick and dead, to answer
for your putting to your hand, with the rest confederated against
Christ, to the overturning of His ark, and the loosing of the pins of
Christ's tabernacle in this land, and shall certainly see yourself
mired in a course of apostasy--then, then, a king's favour and your
worm-eaten honour shall be miserable comforters to you! The Lord hath
enlightened you with the knowledge of His will; and as the Lord
liveth, they lead you and others to a communion with great Babel, the
mother of fornications. God said of old, and continueth to say the
same to you, "Come out of her, My people, lest ye be partakers of her
plagues." Will ye, then, go with them, and set your lip to the whore's
golden cup, and drink of the wine of the wrath of God Almighty with
them? Oh, poor hungry honour! Oh, cursed pleasure! and, oh, damnable
ease, bought with the loss of God! How many will pray for you! what a
sweet presence shall ye find of Christ under your sufferings, if ye
will lay down your honours and place at the feet of Christ. What a
fair recompense of reward! I avouch before the Lord that I am now
showing you a way how the house of Craighall may stand on sure
pillars. If ye will set it on rotten pillars, ye cruelly wrong your
posterity. Ye have the word of a King for an hundred-fold more in this
life (if it be good for you), and for life everlasting also. Make not
Christ a liar, in distrusting His promise. Kings of clay cannot back
you when you stand before Him. A straw for them and their hungry
heaven, that standeth on this side of time! A fig for the day's-smile
of a worm! Consider who have gone before you to eternity, and would
have given a world for a new occasion of avouching that truth. It is
true they call it not substantial, and we are made a scorn to those
that are at ease, for suffering these things for it. But it is not
time to judge of our losses by the morning; stay till the evening, and
we will count with the best of them.
I have found by experience, since the time of my imprisonment (my
witness is above), that Christ is sealing this honourable cause with
another and a nearer fellowship than ever I knew before; and let God
weigh me in an even balance in this, if I would exchange the cross of
Christ or His truth, with the fourteen prelacies, or what else a King
can give. My dear Lord, venture to take the wind on your face for
Christ. I believe that if He should come from heaven in His own
person, and seek the charters of Craighall from you, and a demission
of your place, and ye saw His face, ye would fall down at His feet and
say, "Lord Jesus, it is too little for Thee." If any man think it not
a truth to die for, I am against him. I dare go to eternity with it,
that this day the honour of our Lawgiver and King, in the government
of His own free kingdom (who should pay tribute to no dying king), is
the true "state of the question."[275] My Lord, be ye upon Christ's
side of it, and take the word of a poor prisoner (nay, the Lord Jesus
be surety for it), that ye have incomparably made the wisest choice.
For my own part, I have so been in this prison, that I would be
half-ashamed to seek more till I be up at the Well-head. Few know in
this world the sweetness of Christ's breath, the excellency of His
love, which hath neither brim nor bottom. The world hath raised a
slander upon the cross of Christ, because they love to go to heaven by
dry land, and love not sea-storms. But I write it under my hand (and
would say more, if possibly a reader would not deem it hypocrisy),
that my obligation to Christ for the smell of His garments, for His
love-kisses these thirty weeks, standeth so great, that I should (and
I desire also to choose to) suspend my salvation, to have many tongues
loosed in my behalf to praise Him. And, suppose in person I never
entered within the gates of the New Jerusalem, yet so being Christ may
be set on high, and I had the liberty to cast my love and praises for
ever over the wall to Christ, I would be silent and content. But oh,
He is more than my narrow praises! O time, time, flee swiftly, that
our communion with Jesus may be perfected!
[275] "_Status quæstionis_," a phrase in logical works--the way of
stating a matter to be discussed.
I wish that your Lordship would urge Mr. L. to give his mind in the
ceremonies; and be pleased to let me see it as quickly as can be, and
it shall be answered.
To His rich grace I recommend your Lordship, and shall remain,
Yours, at all respectful obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 8, 1637_.
CLXXV.--_To_ JOHN LAURIE (_probably some one at a distance, like Lady
Robertland in Stewarton_).
(_CHRIST'S LOVE--A RIGHT ESTIMATE OF HIM--HIS GRACE._)
DEAR BROTHER,--I am sorry that ye, or so many in this kingdom, should
expect so much of me, an empty reed. Verily I am a noughty[276] and
poor body; but if the tinkling of the iron chains of my Lord Jesus on
legs and arms could sound the high praises of my royal King, whose
prisoner I am, oh, how would my joy run over! If my Lord would bring
edification to one soul by my bonds, I am satisfied. But I know not
what I can do to such a princely and beautiful Well-beloved; He is far
behind with me.[277] Little thanks to me, to say to others that His
wind bloweth on me, who am but withered and dry bones; but, since ye
desire me to write to you, either help me to set Christ on high, for
His running-over love, in that the heat of His sweet breath hath
melted a frozen heart; else I think that ye do nothing for a prisoner.
[276] Worthless; good for nothing. It is, however, written "naughty,"
evil, in old editions.
[277] He has so fully paid me.
I am fully confirmed, that it is the honour of our Lawgiver which I
suffer for now. I am not ashamed to give our letters of recommendation
of Christ's love to as many as will extol the Lord Jesus and His
Cross. If I had not sailed this sea-way to heaven, but had taken the
land-way, as many do, I should not have known Christ's sweetness in
such a measure. But the truth is, let no man thank me, for I caused
not Christ's wind to blow upon me. His love came upon a withered
creature, whether I would or not; and yet by coming it procured from
me a welcome. A heart of iron, and iron doors, will not hold Christ
out. I give Him leave to break iron locks and come in, and that is
all. And now I know not whether pain of love for want of possession,
or sorrow that I dow not thank Him, paineth me the most; but both work
upon me. For the first: oh that He would come and satisfy the longing
soul, and fill the hungry soul with these good things! I know indeed
that my guiltiness may be a bar in His way; but He is God, and ready
to forgive. And for the other: woe, woe is me, that I cannot find a
heart to give back again my unworthy little love for His great
sea-full of love to me! Oh that He would learn me this piece of
gratitude! Oh that I could have leave to look in through the hole of
the door, to see His face and sing His praises! or could break up one
of His chamber-windows, to look in upon His delighting beauty, till my
Lord send more! Any little communion with Him, one of His love-looks,
should be my begun heaven. I know that He is not lordly, neither is
the Bridegroom's love proud, though I be black, and unlovely, and
unworthy of Him. I would seek but leave, and withal grace, to spend my
love upon Him. I counsel you to think highly of Christ, and of free,
free grace, more than ye did before; for I know that Christ is not
known amongst us. I think that I see more of Christ than ever I saw;
and yet I see but little of what may be seen. Oh that He would draw by
the curtains, and that the King would come out of His gallery and His
palace, that I might see Him! Christ's love is young glory and young
heaven; it would soften hell's pain to be filled with it. What would I
refuse to suffer, if I could get but a draught of love at my heart's
desire! Oh, what price can be given for Him. Angels cannot weigh Him.
Oh, His weight, His worth, His sweetness, His overpassing beauty! If
men and angels would come and look to that great and princely One,
their ebbness could never take up His depth, their narrowness could
never comprehend His breadth, height, and length. If ten thousand
thousand worlds of angels were created, they might all tire themselves
in wondering at His beauty, and begin again to wonder of new. Oh that
I could win nigh Him, to kiss His feet, to hear His voice, to feel the
smell of His ointments! But oh, alas! I have little, little of Him.
Yet I long for more.
Remember my bonds, and help me with your prayers; for I would not
niffer or exchange my sad hours with the joy of my velvet adversaries.
Grace be with you.
Yours in His sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 10, 1637_.
CLXXVI.--_To_ CARLETON.
(_A CHRISTIAN'S CONFESSION OF UNWORTHINESS--DESIRE FOR CHRIST'S
HONOUR--PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES._)
WORTHY AND MUCH HONOURED,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I
received your letter from my brother, to which I now answer
particularly.
I confess two things of myself: _1st_, Woe, woe is me, that men should
think there is anything in me! He is my witness, before whom I am as
crystal, that the secret house-devils that bear me too often company,
and that this sink of corruption which I find within, make me go with
low sails. And if others saw what I see, they would look by[278] me,
but not to me.
[278] Look past me.
_2ndly_, I know that this shower of His free grace behoved to be on
me, otherwise I should have withered. I know, also, that I have need
of a buffeting tempter, that grace may be put to exercise, and I kept
low.
Worthy and dear brother in the Lord Jesus, I write that from my heart
which ye now read. _1st_, I avouch that Christ, and sweating and
sighing under His cross, is sweeter to me by far, than all the
kingdoms in the world could possibly be. 2_ndly_, If you, and my
dearest acquaintance in Christ, reap any fruit by my suffering, let me
be weighed in God's even balance, if my joy be not fulfilled. What am
I, to carry the marks of such a great King! But, howbeit I am a sink
and sinful mass, a wretched captive of sin, my Lord Jesus can hew
heaven out of worse timber than I am; if worse can be. _3rdly_, I now
rejoice with joy unspeakable and glorious, that I never purposed to
bring Christ, or the least hoof or hair-breadth of truth, under
trysting.[279] I desired to have and keep Christ all alone; and that
He should never rub clothes with that black-skinned harlot of Rome. I
am now fully paid home, so that nothing aileth me for the present, but
love-sickness for a real possession of my fairest Well-beloved. I
would give Him my bond under my faith and hand, to frist heaven an
hundred years longer, so being He would lay His holy face to my
sometimes wet cheeks. Oh, who would not pity me, to know how fain I
would have the King shaking the tree of life upon me, or letting me
into the well of life with my old dish, that I might be drunken with
the fountain here in the house of my pilgrimage! I cannot, nay, I
would not, be quit of Christ's love. He hath left the mark behind
where He gripped. He goeth away and leaveth me and His burning love to
wrestle together, and I can scarce win my meat of His love, because of
His absence. My Lord giveth me but hungry half-kisses, which serve to
feed pain and increase hunger, but do not satisfy my desires; His
dieting of my soul for this race maketh me lean. I have gotten the
wale and choice of Christ's crosses, even the tithe and the flower of
the gold of all crosses, to bear witness to the truth; and herein
find I liberty, joy, access, life, comfort, love, faith, submission,
patience, and resolution to take delight in on-waiting. And withal, in
my race, He hath come near me, and let me see the gold and crown.
What, then, want I but fruition and real enjoyment, which is reserved
to my country?[280] Let no man think he shall lose at Christ's hands
in suffering for Him. _4thly_, As for these present trials, they are
most dangerous; for people are stolen off their feet with well-washen
and white-skinned pretences of indifferency. But it is the power of
the great antichrist working in this land. Woe, woe, woe be to
apostate Scotland! There is wrath, and a cup of the red wine of the
wrath of God Almighty in the Lord's hand, that they shall drink and
spue, and fall and not rise again. The star called "Wormwood and gall"
is fallen into the fountains and rivers, and hath made them bitter.
The sword of the Lord is furbished against the idol-shepherds of the
land. Women shall bless the barren womb and miscarrying breast; all
hearts shall be faint, and all knees shall tremble. An end is coming;
the leopard and the lion shall watch over our cities; houses great and
fair shall be desolate without an inhabitant. The Lord hath said,
"Pray not for this people, for I have taken My peace from them." Yet
the Lord's third part shall come through the fire, as refined gold for
the treasure of the Lord, and the outcasts of Scotland shall be
gathered together again, and the wilderness shall blossom as the
flower, and bud, and grow as the rose of Sharon; and great shall be
the glory of the Lord upon Scotland. _5thly_, I am here assaulted with
the learned and pregnant wits of this kingdom. But, all honour be to
my Lord, truth but laughs at bemisted and blind scribes, and disputers
of this world; and God's wisdom confoundeth them, and Christ
triumpheth in His own strong truth, that speaketh for itself. _6thly_,
I doubt not but my Lord is preparing me for heavier trials. I am most
ready at the good pleasure of my Lord, in the strength of His grace,
for anything He will be pleased to call me to; neither shall the
black-faced messenger, Death, be holden at the door, when it shall
knock. If my Lord will take honour of the like of me, how glad and
joyful will my soul be! Let Christ come out with me to a hotter battle
than this, and I will fear no flesh. I know that my Master shall win
the day, and that He hath taken the ordering of my sufferings into His
own hand. _7thly_, As for my deliverance that miscarrieth; I am here,
by my Lord's grace, to lay my hand on my mouth, to be silent, and wait
on. My Lord Jesus is on His journey for my deliverance; I will not
grudge that He runneth not so fast as I would have Him. On-waiting
till the swelling rivers fall, and till my Lord arise as a mighty man
after strong wine, will be my best. I have not yet resisted to blood.
_8thly_, Oh, how often am I laid in the dust, and urged by the tempter
(who can ride his own errands upon our lying apprehensions) to sin
against the unchangeable love of my Lord! When I think upon the
sparrows and swallows that build their nests in the kirk of Anwoth,
and of my dumb Sabbaths, my sorrowful, bleared eyes look asquint upon
Christ, and present Him as angry. But in this trial (all honour to our
princely and royal King!) faith saileth fair before the wind, with
topsail up, and carrieth the passenger through. I lay inhibitions upon
my thoughts, that they receive no slanders of my only, only Beloved.
Let Him even say out of His own mouth, "There is no hope;" yet I will
die in that sweet beguile, "It is not so, I shall see the salvation of
God." Let me be deceived really, and never win to dry land; it is my
joy to believe under the water, and to die with faith in my hand,
gripping Christ. Let my conceptions of Christ's love go to the grave
with me, and to hell with me; I may not, I dare not quit them. I hope
to keep Christ's pawn: if He never come to loose it, let Him see to
His own promise. I know that presumption, howbeit it be made of
stoutness, will not thus be wilful in heavy trials.
[279] To bring under man's appointment the smallest part of Christ's
truth.
[280] Till I reach the heavenly country?
Now my dearest in Christ, the great Messenger of the Covenant, the
only wise and all-sufficient Jehovah, establish you to the end. I hear
that the Lord hath been at your house, and hath called home your wife
to her rest. I know, Sir, that ye see the Lord loosing the pins of
your tabernacle, and wooing your love from this plastered and
over-gilded world, and calling upon you to be making yourself ready to
go to your Father's country, which shall be a sweet fruit of that
visitation. Ye know, "to send the Comforter," was the King's word when
He ascended on high. Ye have claim to, and interest in, that promise.
Remember my love in Christ to your father. Show him that it is late
and black night with him. His long lying at the water-side is that he
may look his papers ere he take shipping, and be at a point for his
last answer before his Judge and Lord.
All love, all mercy, all grace and peace, all multiplied saving
consolations, all joy and faith in Christ, all stability and
confirming strength of grace, and the good-will of Him that dwelt in
The Bush, be with you.
Your unworthy brother, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 15, 1637_.
CLXXVII.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_CHRIST SUFFERING IN HIS CHURCH--HIS COMING--OUTPOURINGS OF LOVE FROM
HIM._)
WORTHY AND DEAREST IN THE LORD,--I ever loved (since I knew you) that
little vineyard of the Lord's planting in Galloway; but now much more,
since I have heard that He who hath His fire in Zion, and His furnace
in Jerusalem, hath been pleased to set up a furnace amongst you with
the first in this kingdom. He who maketh old things new, seeing
Scotland an old, drossy, and rusted kirk, is beginning to make a new,
clean bride of her, and to bring a young, chaste wife to Himself out
of the fire. This fire shall be quenched, so soon as Christ has
brought a clean spouse through the fire! Therefore, my dearly beloved
in the Lord, fear not a worm. "Fear not, worm Jacob" (Isa. xli. 15).
Christ is in that plea, and shall win the plea. Charge an unbelieving
heart, under the pain of treason against our great and royal King
Jesus, to dependence by faith, and quiet on-waiting on our Lord. Get
you into your chambers, and shut the doors about you. In, in with
speed to your stronghold, ye prisoners of hope. Ye doves, fly into
Christ's windows till the indignation be over, and the storm be past.
Glorify the Lord in your sufferings, and take His banner of love, and
spread it over you. Others will follow you, if they see you strong in
the Lord. Their courage will take life from your Christian carriage.
Look up and see who is coming! Lift up your head, He is coming to
save, in garments dyed in blood, and travelling in the greatness of
His strength. I laugh, I smile, I leap for joy, to see Christ coming
to save you so quickly. Oh, such wide steps Christ taketh! Three or
four hills are but a step to Him; He skippeth over the mountains.
Christ hath set a battle betwixt His poor weak saints and His enemies.
He waleth the weapons for both parties, and saith to the enemies,
"Take you a sword[281] of steel, law, authority, parliaments, and
kings upon your side; that is your armour." And He saith to His
saints, "I give you a feckless tree-sword in your hand, and that is
suffering, receiving of strokes, spoiling of your goods; and with your
tree-sword ye shall get and gain the victory." Was not Christ dragged
through the ditches of deep distresses and great straits? And yet
Christ, who is your Head, hath won through with His life, howbeit not
with a whole skin. Ye are Christ's members, and He is drawing His
members through the thorny hedge up to heaven after Him. Christ one
day will not have so much as a pained toe. But there are great pieces
and portions of Christ's mystical body not yet within the gates of the
great high city, the New Jerusalem; and the dragon will strike at
Christ, so long as there is one bit or member of Christ's body out of
heaven. I tell you, Christ will make new work out of old, forcasten
Scotland, and gather the old broken boards of His tabernacle, and pin
them and nail them together. Our bills and supplications are up in
heaven; Christ hath coffers full of them. There is mercy on the other
side of this His cross; a good answer to all our bills is agreed upon.
[281] In old editions, "_word_;" but the contrast, "tree-sword" (sword
of _wood_, instead of _steel_), shows the true reading.
I must tell you what lovely Jesus, fair Jesus, King Jesus hath done to
my soul. Sometimes He sendeth me out a standing drink,[282] and
whispereth a word through the wall; and I am well content of kindness
at the second hand: His bode[283] is ever welcome to me, be what it
will. But at other times He will be messenger Himself, and I get the
cup of salvation out of His own hand (He drinking to me), and we
cannot rest till we be in other's arms. And oh, how sweet is a fresh
kiss from His holy mouth! His breathing that goeth before a kiss upon
my poor soul is sweet, and hath no fault but that it is too short. I
am careless, and stand not much on this, howbeit loins, and back, and
shoulders, and head should rive in pieces in stepping up to my
Father's house. I know that my Lord can make long, and broad, and
high, and deep glory to His name, out of this bit feckless body; for
Christ looketh not what stuff He maketh glory out of.
[282] It is like the stirrup-cup.
[283] Offer made in order to bargain.
My dearly beloved, ye have often refreshed me. But this is put up in
my Master's account; ye have Him debtor for me. But if ye will do
anything for me (as I know ye will) now in my extremity, tell all my
dear friends that a prisoner is fettered and chained in Christ's love
(Lord, never loose the fetters!); and ye and they together take my
heartiest commendations to my Lord Jesus, and thank Him for a poor
friend.
I desire your husband to read this letter. I send him a prisoner's
blessing. I will be obliged to him, if he will be willing to suffer
for my dear Master. Suffering is the professor's golden garment; there
shall be no losses on Christ's side of it. Ye have been witnesses of
much joy betwixt Christ and me at communion feasts, the remembrance
whereof (howbeit I be feasted in secret) holeth my heart; for I am put
from the board-head and the King's first mess to His by-board. And His
broken meat is sweet unto me; I thank my Lord for borrowed crumbs, no
less than when I feasted at the communion table at Anwoth and
Kirkcudbright. Pray that I may get one day of Christ in public, such
as I have had long since, before my eyes be closed. Oh that my Master
would take up house again, and lend me the keys of His wine-cellar
again, and God send me borrowed drink till then!
Remember my love to Christ's kinsmen with you. I pray for Christ's
Father's blessing to them all. Grace be with you; a prisoner's
blessing be with you. I write it and abide by it, God will be glorious
in Marion M'Naught, when this stormy blast shall be over. O woman
beloved of God, believe, rejoice, be strong in the Lord! Grace is thy
portion.
Your brother, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 15, 1637_.
CLXXVIII.--_To_ LADY CULROSS. [Letter LXXIV.]
(_CHRIST'S MANAGEMENT OF TRIALS--WHAT FAITH CAN DO--CHRIST NOT
EXPERIENCE--PRAYERS._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I dare not say that I
wonder that ye have never written to me in my bonds, because I am not
ignorant of the cause; yet I could not but write to you.
I know not whether joy or heaviness in my soul carrieth it away.
Sorrow, without any mixture of sweetness, hath not often love-thoughts
of Christ; but I see that the devil can insinuate himself, and ride
his errands upon the thoughts of a poor distressed prisoner. I am
woe[284] that I am making Christ my unfriend, by seeking pleas against
Him, because I am the first in the kingdom put to utter silence, and
because I cannot preach my Lord's righteousness in the great
congregation. I am, notwithstanding, the less solicitous how it go,
if there be not wrath in my cup. But I know that I but claw my wounds
when my Physician hath forbidden me. I would believe in the dark upon
luck's head, and take my hazard of Christ's good-will, and rest on
this, that in my fever my Physician is at my bedside, and that He
sympathizeth with me when I sigh. My borrowed house, and another man's
bed and fireside, and other losses, have no room in my sorrow; a
greater heat to eat out a less fire, is a good remedy for some
burning. I believe that when Christ draweth blood, He hath skill to
cut the right vein; and that He hath taken the whole ordering and
disposing of my sufferings. Let Him tutor me, and tutor my crosses, as
He thinketh good. There is no danger nor hazard in following such a
guide, howbeit He should lead me through hell, if I could put faith
foremost, and fill the field with a quiet on-waiting, and believing to
see the salvation of God. I know that Christ is not obliged to let me
see both the sides of my cross, and turn it over and over that I may
see all. My faith is richer to live upon credit, and Christ's borrowed
money, than to have much on hand. Alas! I have forgotten that faith in
times past hath stopped a leak in my crazed bark, and half filled my
sails with a fair wind. I see it a work of God that experiences are
all lost, when summons of improbation, to prove our charters of Christ
to be counterfeits, are raised against poor souls in their heavy
trials.
[284] Sad.
But let me be a sinner, and worse than the chief of sinners, yea, a
guilty devil, I am sure that my Well-beloved is God. And when I say
that Christ is God, and that my Christ is God, I have said all things,
I can say no more. I would that I could build as much on this, "My
Christ is God," as it would bear. I might lay all the world upon it. I
am sure, that Christ untried, and untaken-up in the power of His love,
kindness, mercies, goodness, wisdom, long-suffering, and greatness, is
the rock that dim-sighted travellers dash their foot against, and so
stumble fearfully. But my wounds are sorest, and pain me most, when I
sin against His love and mercy. And if He would set me and my
conscience by the ears together, and resolve not to red the plea, but
let us deal it betwixt us, my spitting upon the fair face of Christ's
love and mercies by my jealousies, unbelief, and doubting, would be
enough to sink me. Oh, oh, I am convinced! O Lord, I stand dumb before
Thee for this! Let me be mine own judge in this, and I take a dreadful
doom upon me for it. For I still misbelieve, though I have seen that
my Lord hath made my cross as if it were all crystal, so as I can see
through it Christ's fair face and heaven; and that God hath honoured a
lump of sinful flesh and blood the like of me, to be Christ's
honourable lord-prisoner. I ought to esteem the walls of the thieves'
hole (if I were shut up in it), or any stinking dungeon, all hung with
tapestry, and most beautiful, for my Lord Jesus; and yet, I am not so
shut up but that the sun shineth upon my prison, and the fair wide
heaven is the covering of it. But my Lord, in His sweet visits, hath
done more; for He maketh me to find that He will be a confined
prisoner with me. He lieth down and riseth up with me; when I sigh, He
sigheth; when I weep, He suffereth with me; and I confess that here is
the blessed issue of my sufferings already begun, that my heart is
filled with hunger and desire to have Him glorified in my sufferings.
Blessed be ye of the Lord, Madam, if ye would help a poor dyvour, and
cause others of your acquaintance in Christ to help me to pay my debt
of love, even real praises to Christ my Lord. Madam, let me charge you
in the Lord, as ye shall answer to Him, to help me in this duty (which
He hath tied about my neck with a chain of such singular expressions
of His loving-kindness), to set on high Christ; to hold in my honesty
at His hands[285]; for I have nothing to give to Him. Oh that He would
arrest and comprise my love and my heart for all! I am a dyvour, who
have no more free goods in the world for Christ save that; it is both
the whole heritage I have, and all my moveables besides. Lord, give
the thirsty man a drink. Oh, to be over the ears in the well! Oh, to
be swattering and swimming over head and ears in Christ's love! I
would not have Christ's love entering into me, but I would enter into
it, and be swallowed up of that love. But I see not myself here; for I
fear I make more of His love than of Himself; whereas Himself is far
beyond and much better than His love. Oh, if I had my sinful arms
filled with that lovely one Christ! Blessed be my rich Lord Jesus, who
sendeth not away beggars from His house with a toom dish. He filleth
the vessels of such as will come and seek. We might beg ourselves rich
(if we were wise) if we could hold out our withered hands to Christ,
and learn to suit and seek, ask and knock. I owe my salvation for
Christ's glory, I owe it to Christ; and desire that my hell, yea, a
new hell, seven times hotter than the old hell, might buy praises
before men and angels to my Lord Jesus; providing always that I were
free of Christ's hatred and displeasure. What am I, to be forfeited
and sold in soul and body, to have my great and royal King set on high
and extolled above all? Oh, if I knew how high to have Him set, and
all the world far, far beneath the soles of His feet? Nay, I deserve
not to be the matter of His praises, far less to be an agent in
praising of Him. But He can win His own glory out of me, and out of
worse than I (if any such be), if it please His holy majesty so to do.
He knoweth that I am not now flattering Him.
[285] To keep up my character with Him.
Madam, let me have your prayers, as ye have the prayers and blessing
of him that is separated from his brethren. Grace, grace be with you.
Your own, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 15, 1637_.
CLXXIX.--_To his reverend and loving Brother_, MR. JOHN NEVAY.
[MR. JOHN NEVAY, or NEAVE, was minister of Newmills, in the
parish of Loudon, and chaplain to the Earl of Loudon. In all the
questions which divided the Covenanters in his day, he adhered to
what may be called the strict party, being opposed to the Public
Resolutions. After the restoration of Charles II., Nevay, in
1662, was obliged to subscribe an engagement to remove forth of
the king's dominions before the 1st of February, and not to
return under pain of death. He reached Holland, and lived for
some time in Rotterdam. On the 26th of July 1670, a letter of
Charles II. was laid before the assembled States of Holland,
accusing Nevay and other two ministers, Mr. Robert Trail and Mr.
Robert M'Ward (who was secretary to Rutherford at the Westminster
Assembly, and who first edited his "Letters"), all residing
within the jurisdiction of the States, of writing and publishing
_pasquils_ against his Majesty's Government. However, it would
appear that he still continued at Rotterdam, and died there.
Wodrow describes him as "a person of very considerable parts, and
bright piety." Robert M'Ward, in 1677, thus writes: "Oh! when I
remember that burning and shining light, worthy and warm Mr.
Livingstone, who used to preach as within the sight of Christ,
and the glory to be revealed; _acute and distinct Nevay_;
judicious and neat Simson; fervent, serious, and zealous
Trail;--when I remember, I say, that all these great luminaries
are now set and removed by death from our people, and out of our
pulpit, in so short a time, what matter of sorrow presents itself
to my eye!" Nevay cultivated the art of poetry, and is the author
of a paraphrase (called by Wodrow "a handsome paraphrase") of the
Song of Solomon in Latin verse. The General Assembly entertained
so high an opinion of his poetical talents, that they appointed
him, in August 1647, along with three other ministers, to revise
Rons' metrical version of the Psalms. The portion assigned to him
for revisal was the last thirty psalms of that version. After his
death, a volume of sermons, preached by him on "the Covenant of
Grace," was published at Glasgow in 1748, 12mo. His son married
Sarah Van Brakel, whose poetical compositions are favourably
exhibited in her elegy upon a popular preacher, and who was a
kind friend to the British refugees.]
(_CHRIST'S LOVE SHARPENED IN SUFFERING--KNEELING AT THE
COMMUNION--POSTURES AT ORDINANCES._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I
received yours of April 11, as I did another of March 25, and a letter
for Mr. Andrew Cant.[286]
[286] Mr. Andrew Cant was at this time minister of Pitsligo, in
Buchan, Aberdeenshire. He had been previously minister of Alford. In
1639 he was removed from Pitsligo to Newbottle, and in 1640 to the New
Town of Aberdeen, where he became Professor of Theology in Marischal
College. In this situation he continued till the year after the
restoration of Charles II. Rutherford's "Lex Rex" having then, by the
orders of the State, been publicly burnt, and the author himself
summoned before Parliament to answer an accusation of high treason,
Cant, indignant at such ungenerous treatment of a great and good man,
condemned it in one of his sermons. For this he was accused of treason
before the magistrates. Whereupon he demitted his charge, and came to
dwell with his son at Liberton. In 1663 he was formally deposed by the
Bishop and Synod of Aberdeen, and died not long after, aged
seventy-nine. He is the author of a treatise on "The Titles of our
Blessed Saviour."
I am not a little grieved that our mother church is running so quickly
to the brothel-house, and that we are hiring lovers, and giving gifts
to the Great Mother of Fornications (Rev. xvii. 5). Alas, that our
Husband is like to quit us so shortly! It were my part (if I were
able) when our Husband is departing, to stir up myself to take hold of
Him, and keep Him in this land; for I know Him to be a sweet
second,[287] and a lovely companion to a poor prisoner.
[287] Helper.
I find that my extremity hath sharpened the edge of His love and
kindness, so that He seemeth to divise new ways of expressing the
sweetness of His love to my soul. Suffering for Christ is the very
element wherein Christ's love liveth, and exerciseth itself, in
casting out flames of fire, and sparks of heat, to warm such a frozen
heart as I have. And if Christ weeping in sackcloth be so sweet, I
cannot find any imaginable thoughts to think what He will be, when we
clay-bodies (having put off mortality) shall come up to the
marriage-hall and great palace, and behold the King clothed in his
robes royal, sitting on His throne. I would desire no more for my
heaven beneath the moon, while I am sighing in this house of clay, but
daily renewed feasts of love with Christ, and liberty now and then to
feed my hunger with a kiss of that fairest face, that is like the sun
in his strength at noon-day. I would willingly subscribe an ample
resignation to Christ of the fourteen prelacies of this land, and of
all the most delightful pleasures on earth, and forfeit my part of
this clay god, this earth, which Adam's foolish children worship, to
have no other exercise than to lie on a love-bed with Christ, and fill
this hungered and famished soul with kissing, embracing, and real
enjoying of the Son of God; and I think that then I might write to my
friends, that I had found the Golden World, and look out and laugh at
the poor bodies who are slaying one another for feathers. For verily,
brother, since I came to this prison, I have conceived a new and
extraordinary opinion of Christ which I had not before. For, I
perceive, we frist all our joys to Christ till He and we be in our own
house above, as married parties, thinking that there is nothing of it
here to be sought or found, but only hope and fair promises; and that
Christ will give us nothing here but tears, sadness, and crosses; and
that we shall never feel the smell of the flowers of that high garden
of paradise above, till we come there. Nay, but I find that it is
possible to find young glory, and a young green paradise of joy, even
here. I know that Christ's kisses will cast a more strong and
refreshful smell of incomparable glory and joy in heaven than they do
here; because a drink of the well of life, up at the well's head, is
more sweet and fresh by far than that which we get in our borrowed,
old, running-out vessels, and our wooden dishes here. Yet I am now
persuaded it is our folly to frist all till the term-day, seeing
abundance of earnest will not diminish anything of our principal sum.
We dream of hunger in Christ's house while we are here, although He
alloweth feasts to all the bairns within God's household. It were
good, then, to store ourselves with more borrowed kisses of Christ,
and with more borrowed visits, till we enter heirs to our new
inheritance, and our Tutor put us in possession of our own when we are
past minority. Oh that all the young heirs would seek more, and a
greater, and a nearer communion with my Lord Tutor, the prime heir of
all, Christ! I wish that, for my part, I could send you, and that
gentleman who wrote his commendations to me, into the King's innermost
cellar and house of wine, to be filled with love. A drink of this love
is worth the having indeed. We carry ourselves but too nicely with
Christ our Lord; and our Lord loveth not niceness, and dryness, and
unconess in friends. Since needforce that we must be in Christ's
common, then let us be in His common; for it will be no otherwise.
Now, for my present case in my imprisonment: deliverance (for any
appearance that I see) looketh cold-like. My hope, if it looked to or
leaned upon men, would wither soon at the root, like a May flower. Yet
I resolve to ease myself with on-waiting on my Lord, and to let my
faith swim where it loseth ground. I am under a necessity either of
fainting (which I hope my Master, of whom I boast all the day, will
avert), or then to lay my faith upon Omnipotency, and to wink and
stick by my grip. And I hope that my ship shall ride it out, seeing
Christ is willing to blow His sweet wind in my sails, and mendeth and
closeth the leaks in my ship, and ruleth all. It will be strange if a
believing passenger be casten overboard.
As for your master, my lord and my lady,[288] I shall be loath to
forget them. I think my prayers (such as they are) are debt due to
him; and I shall be far more engaged to his Lordship, if he be fast
for Christ (as I hope he will) now when so many of his coat and
quality slip from Christ's back, and leave Him to fend for Himself.
[288] John Campbell, first Earl of Loudon, and his lady, Margaret
Campbell, Baroness of Loudon, daughter of George Campbell, master of
Loudon.
I entreat you to remember my love to that worthy gentleman, A. C., who
saluted me in your letter: I have heard that he is one of my Master's
friends, for the which cause I am tied to him. I wish that he may more
and more fall in love with Christ.
Now for your question:--As far as I rawly conceive, I think that God
is praised two ways: _1st_. By a _concional_[289] profession of His
highness before men, such as is the very hearing of the word, and
receiving of either of the sacraments; in which acts by profession, we
give out to men, that He is our God with whom we are in covenant, and
our Lawgiver. Thus eating and drinking in the Lord's Supper, is an
annunciation and profession before men, that Christ is our slain
Redeemer. Here, because God speaketh to us, not we to Him, it is not a
formal thanksgiving, but an annunciation or predication of Christ's
death--_concional_, not _adorative_--neither hath it God for the
immediate object, and therefore no kneeling can be here.
[289] An act in which we address men, not God.
_2ndly._ There is another praising of God, _formal_, when we are
either formally blessing God, or speaking His praises. And this I take
to be twofold:--1. When we directly and formally direct praises and
thanksgiving to God. This may well be done kneeling, in token of our
recognizance of His Highness; yet not so but that it may be done
standing or sitting, especially seeing joyful elevation (which should
be in praising) is not formally signified by kneeling. 2. When we
speak good of God, and declare His glorious nature and attributes,
extolling Him before men, to excite men to conceive highly of Him. The
former I hold to be worship every way immediate, else I know not any
immediate worship at all; the latter hath God for the subject, not
properly the object, seeing the predication is directed to men
immediately, rather than to God; for here we speak _of_ God by way of
praising, rather than _to_ God. And, for my own part, as I am for the
present minded, I see not how this can be done kneeling, seeing it is
_prædicatio Dei et Christi, non laudatio aut benedictio Dei_. [A
preaching of God and Christ, and not a praising or blessing of God.]
But observe, that it is formal praising of God, and not merely
concional, as I distinguished in the first member; for, in the first
member, any speaking of God, or of His works of creation, providence,
and redemption, is indirect and concional praising of Him, and
formally preaching, or an act of teaching, not an act of predication
of His praises. For there is a difference betwixt the simple relation
of the virtues of a thing (which is formally teaching), and the
extolling of the worth of a thing by way of commendation, to cause
others to praise with us.
Thus recommending you to God's grace,[290] I rest, yours, in his sweet
Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 15, 1637_.
[290] In some editions it is "sweet grace;" but not so in the
earliest.
CLXXX.--_To the much Honoured JOHN GORDON of Cardoness, the Elder._
(_LONGINGS FOR THOSE UNDER HIS FORMER MINISTRY--DELIGHT IN CHRIST AND
HIS APPEARING--PLEADING WITH HIS FLOCK._)
MUCH HONOURED AND DEAREST IN MY LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you. My soul longeth exceedingly to hear how matters go betwixt you
and Christ; and whether or not there be any work of Christ in that
parish, that will bide the trial of fire and water. Let me be weighed
of my Lord in a just balance, if your souls lie not weighty upon me.
Ye go to bed and ye rise with me: thoughts of your soul, my dearest in
our Lord, depart not from me in my sleep. Ye have a great part of my
tears, sighs, supplications, and prayers. Oh, if I could buy your
soul's salvation with any suffering whatsoever, and that ye and I
might meet with joy up in the rainbow, when we shall stand before our
Judge! Oh, my Lord, forbid that I have any hard thing to depone
against you in that day! Oh that He who quickeneth the dead would give
life to my sowing among you! What joy is there (next to Christ) that
standeth on this side of death, which would comfort me more, than that
the souls of that poor people were in safety, and beyond all hazard of
being lost!
Sir, show the people this; for when I write to you, I think I write to
you all, old and young. Fulfil my joy, and seek the Lord. Sure I am,
that once I discovered my lovely, royal, princely Lord Jesus to you
all. Woe, woe, woe shall be your part of it for evermore, if the
Gospel be not the savour of life to you. As many sermons as I
preached, as many sentences as I uttered, as many points of dittay
shall there be, when the Lord shall plead with the world, for the evil
of their doings. Believe me, I find heaven a city hard to be won. "The
righteous shall scarcely be saved." Oh, what violence of thronging
will heaven take! Alas! I see many deceiving themselves; for we
will[291] all to heaven now! Every foul dog, with his foul feet, will
in at the nearest, to the new and clean Jerusalem. All say they have
faith; and the greatest part in the world know not, and will not
consider, that a slip in the matter of their salvation is the most
pitiable slip that can be; and that no loss is comparable to this
loss. Oh, then, see that there be not a loose pin in the work of your
salvation; for ye will not believe how quickly the Judge will come.
And for yourself, I know that death is waiting, and hovering, and
lingering at God's command. That ye may be prepared, then, ye had need
to stir your time, and to take eternity and death to your riper
advisement. A wrong step, or a wrong stot, in going out of this life,
in one property is like the sin against the Holy Ghost, and can never
be forgiven, because ye cannot come back again through the last water
to mourn for it. I know your accounts are many, and will take telling
and laying, and reckoning betwixt you and your Lord. Fit your
accounts, and order them. Lose not the last play, whatever ye do, for
in that play with death your precious soul is the prize: for the
Lord's sake spill not the play, and lose not such a treasure. Ye know
that, out of love which I had to your soul, and out of desire which I
had to make an honest account of you, I testified my displeasure and
disliking of your ways very often, both in private and public. I am
not now a witness of your doings, but your Judge is always your
witness. I beseech you by the mercies of God, by the salvation of your
soul, by your comfort when your eye-strings shall break, and the face
wax pale, and the soul shall tremble to be out of the lodging of clay,
and by your compearance before your awful Judge, after the sight of
this letter to take a new course with your ways, and now, in the end
of your day, make sure of heaven. Examine yourself if ye be in good
earnest in Christ; for some are partakers of the Holy Ghost, and taste
of the good word of God, and of the powers of the life to come, and
yet have no part in Christ at all. Many think they believe, but never
tremble: the devils are farther on than these (James ii. 19). Make
sure to yourself that ye are above ordinary professors. The sixth part
of your span-length and hand-breadth of days is scarcely before you.
Haste, haste, for the tide will not bide. Put Christ upon all your
accounts and your secrets. Better it is that you give Him your
accounts in this life, out of your own hand, than that, after this
life, He take them from you. I never knew so well what sin was as
since I came to Aberdeen, howbeit I was preaching of it to you. To
feel the smoke of hell's fire in the throat for half an hour; to stand
beside a river of fire and brimstone broader than the earth; and to
think to be bound hand and foot, and casten into the midst of it
quick, and then to have God locking the prison door, never to be
opened for all eternity! Oh how it will shake a conscience that hath
any life in it! I find the fruits of my pains to have Christ and that
people once fairly met, now meet my soul in my sad hours. And I
rejoice that I gave fair warning of all the corruptions now entering
into Christ's house; and now many a sweet, sweet, soft kiss, many
perfumed, well-smelled kisses, and embracements have I received of my
royal Master. He and I have had much love together. I have for the
present a sick dwining life, with much pain, and much love-sickness
for Christ. Oh, what would I give to have a bed made to my wearied
soul in His bosom! I would frist heaven for many years, to have my
fill of Jesus in this life, and to have occasion to offer Christ to my
people, and to woo many people to Christ. I cannot tell you what sweet
pain and delightsome torments are in Christ's love; I often challenge
time, that holdeth us sundry. I profess to you, I have no rest, I have
no ease, whill I be over head and ears in love's ocean. If Christ's
love (that fountain of delight) were laid as open to me as I would
wish, oh, how I would drink, and drink abundantly! oh, how drunken
would this my soul be! I half call His absence cruel; and the mask and
vail on Christ's face a cruel covering, that hideth such a fair, fair
face from a sick soul. I dare not challenge Himself, but His absence
is a mountain of iron upon my heavy heart. Oh, when shall we meet? Oh,
how long it is to the dawning of the marriage-day! O sweet Lord Jesus,
take wide steps! O my Lord, come over mountains at one stride! O my
Beloved, be like a roe or a young hart on the mountains of Separation
(Song ii. 17). Oh, if He would fold the heavens together like an old
cloak, and shovel time and days out of the way, and make ready in
haste the Lamb's wife for her Husband! Since He looked upon me, my
heart is not mine own; He hath run away to heaven with it. I know that
it was not for nothing that I spake so meikle good of Christ to you in
public. Oh, if the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, were paper, and
the sea ink, and the multitude of mountains pens of brass, and I able
to write that paper, within and without, full of the praises of my
fairest, my dearest, my loveliest, my sweetest, my matchless, and my
most marrowless and marvellous Well-beloved! Woe is me, I cannot set
Him out to men and angels! Oh, there are few tongues to sing
love-songs of His incomparable excellence! What can I, poor prisoner,
do to exalt Him? or what course can I take to extol my lofty and
lovely Lord Jesus? I am put to my wits' end, how to get His name made
great. Blessed they who would help me in this! How sweet are Christ's
back parts? Oh, what then is His face? Those that see His face, how
dow they get their eye plucked off Him again! Look up to Him and love
Him. Oh, love and live! It were life to me if you would read this
letter to that people, and if they did profit by it. Oh, if I could
cause them to die of love for Jesus! Charge them, by the salvation of
their souls, to hang about Christ's neck, and take their fill of His
love, and follow Him as I taught them. Part by no means with Christ.
Hold fast what ye have received. Keep the truth once delivered. If ye
or that people quit it in an hair, or in a hoof, ye break your
conscience in twain; and who then can mend it, and cast a knot on it?
My dearest in the Lord, stand fast in Christ; keep the faith; contend
for Christ. Wrestle for Him, and take men's feud for God's favour;
there is no comparison betwixt these. Oh that the Lord would fulfil my
joy, and keep the young bride that is at Anwoth to Christ!
[291] Insist on being admitted to.
And now, whoever they be that have returned to the old vomit since my
departure, I bind upon their back, in my Master's name and authority,
the long-lasting, weighty vengeance and curse of God. In my Lord's
name I give them a doom of black, unmixed, pure wrath, which my
Master will ratify and make good, when we stand together before Him,
except they timeously repent and turn to the Lord. And I write to
thee, poor mourning and broken-hearted believer, be thou who thou
wilt, of the free salvation, Christ's sweet balm for thy wounds, O
poor, humble believer! Christ's kisses for thy watery cheeks! Christ's
blood of atonement for thy guilty soul! Christ's heaven for thy poor
soul, though once banished out of paradise! And my Master will make
good my word ere long. Oh that people were wise! Oh that people were
wise! Oh that people would speer out Christ, and never rest whill they
find Him. Oh, how my soul will mourn in secret, if my nine years'
pained head, and sore breast, and pained back, and grieved heart, and
private and public prayers to God, will all be for nothing among that
people! Did my Lord Jesus send me but to summon you before your Judge,
and to leave your summons at your houses? Was I sent as a witness only
to gather your dittays? Oh, may God forbid! Often did I tell you of a
fan of God's word[292] to come among you, for the contempt of it. I
told you often of wrath, wrath from the Lord, to come upon Scotland;
and yet I bide by my Master's word. It is quickly coming! desolation
for Scotland, because of the quarrel of a broken covenant.
[292] Perhaps this should be _wind_, not "_word_;" alluding to Jer.
iv. 12.
Now, worthy Sir, now my dear people, my joy, and my crown in the Lord,
let Him be your fear. Seek the Lord, and His face: save your souls.
Doves! flee to Christ's windows. Pray for me, and praise for me. The
blessing of my God, the prayers and blessing of a poor prisoner, and
your lawful pastor, be upon you.
Your lawful and loving pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 16, 1637_.
CLXXXI.--_To_ EARLSTON, _the Younger_.
(_DANGERS OF YOUTH--CHRIST THE BEST PHYSICIAN--FOUR REMEDIES AGAINST
DOUBTING--BREATHINGS AFTER CHRIST'S HONOUR._)
MUCH HONOURED AND WELL-BELOVED IN THE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace
be to you. Your letters give a dash to my laziness in writing.
I must first tell you, that there is not such a glassy, icy, and
slippery piece of way betwixt you and heaven, as Youth; and I have
experience to say with me here, and to seal what I assert. The old
ashes of the sins of my youth are new fire of sorrow to me. I have
seen the devil, as it were, dead and buried, and yet rise again, and
be a worse devil than ever he was; therefore, my brother, beware of a
green young devil, that hath never been buried. The devil in his
flowers (I mean the hot, fiery lusts and passions of youth) is much to
be feared: better yoke with an old grey-haired, withered, dry devil.
For in youth he findeth dry sticks, and dry coals, and a hot
hearth-stone; and how soon can he with his flint cast fire, and with
his bellows blow it up, and fire the house! Sanctified thoughts,
thoughts made conscience of, and called in, and kept in awe, are green
fuel that burn not, and are a water for Satan's coal. Yet I must tell
you, that the whole saints now triumphant in heaven, and standing
before the throne, are nothing but Christ's forlorn and beggarly
dyvours. What are they but a pack of redeemed sinners? But their
redemption is not only past the seals, but completed; and yours is on
the wheels, and in doing.
All Christ's good bairns go to heaven with a broken brow, and with a
crooked leg. Christ hath an advantage of you, and I pray you to let
Him have it; He will find employment for His calling in you. If it
were not with you as ye write, grace should find no sale nor market in
you; but ye must be content to give Christ somewhat to do. I am glad
that He is employed that way. Let your bleeding soul and your sores be
put in the hand of this expert Physician; let young and strong
corruptions and His free grace be yoked together, and let Christ and
your sins deal it betwixt them. I shall be loath to put you off your
fears, and your sense of deadness: I wish it were more. There be some
wounds of that nature, that their bleeding should not be soon stopped.
Ye must take a house beside the Physician. It will be a miracle if ye
be the first sick man whom He put away uncured, and worse than He
found you. Nay, nay, Christ is honest, and in that is flyting-free
with sinners. "Him that cometh unto Me I will in no wise cast out"
(John vi. 37). Take ye that. It cannot be presumption to take that as
your own, when you find that your wounds stound you. Presumption is
ever whole at the heart, and hath but the truant sickness, and
groaneth only for the fashion. Faith hath sense of sickness, and
looketh, like a friend, to the promises; and, looking to Christ
therein, is glad to see a known face. Christ is as full a feast as ye
can have to hunger. Nay, Christ, I say, is not a full man's leavings.
His mercy sendeth always a letter of defiance to all your sins, if
there were ten thousand more of them.
I grant you that it is a hard matter for a poor hungry man to win his
meat upon hidden Christ: for then the key of His pantry-door, and of
the house of wine, is a-seeking and cannot be had. But hunger must
break through iron locks. I bemoan them not who can make a din, and
all the fields ado, for a lost Saviour. Ye must let Him hear it (to
say so) upon both sides of His head, when He hideth Himself; it is no
time then to be bird-mouthed and patient. Christ is rare indeed, and a
delicacy to a sinner. He is a miracle, and a world's wonder, to a
seeking and a weeping sinner; but yet such a miracle as shall be seen
by them who will come and see. The seeker and sigher, is at last a
singer and enjoyer; nay, I have seen a dumb man get alms from Christ.
He that can tell his tale, and send such a letter to heaven as he hath
sent to Aberdeen, it is very like he will come speed with Christ. It
bodeth God's mercy to complain heartily for sin. Let wrestling be with
Christ till He say, "How is it, sir, that I cannot be quit of your
bills, and your misleared cries?" and then hope for Christ's blessing;
and His blessing is better than ten other blessings. Think not shame
because of your guiltiness; necessity must not blush to beg. It
standeth you hard to want Christ; and, therefore, that which idle
on-waiting cannot do, misnurtured crying and knocking will do.
And for doubtings, because you are not as you were long since with
your Master: consider three things. _1st_, What if Christ had such
tottering thoughts of the bargain of the new covenant betwixt you and
Him, as you have? _2ndly_, Your heart is not the compass which Christ
saileth by. He will give you leave to sing as you please, but He will
not dance to your daft spring. It is not referred to you and your
thoughts, what Christ will do with the charters betwixt you and Him.
Your own misbelief hath torn them; but He hath the principal in heaven
with Himself. Your thoughts are no parts of the new covenant; dreams
change not Christ. _3rdly_, Doubtings are your sins; but they are
Christ's drugs, and ingredients that the Physician maketh use of for
the curing of your pride. Is it not suitable for a beggar to say at
meat, "God reward the winners"?[293] for then he saith that he knoweth
who beareth the charges of the house. It is also meet that ye should
know, by experience, that faith is not nature's ill-gotten bastard,
but your Lord's free gift, that lay in the womb of God's free grace.
Praised be the Winner! I may add a _4thly_, In the passing of your
bill and your charters, when they went through the Mediator's great
seal, and were concluded, faith's advice was not sought. Faith hath
not a vote beside Christ's merits: blood, blood, dear blood, that came
from your Cautioner's holy body, maketh that sure work. The use, then,
which ye have of faith now (having already closed with Jesus Christ
for justification) is, to take out a copy of your pardon; and so ye
have peace with God upon the account of Christ. For, since faith
apprehendeth pardon, but never payeth a penny for it, no marvel that
salvation doth not die and live, ebb or flow, with the working of
faith. But because it is your Lord's honour to believe His mercy and
His fidelity, it is infinite goodness in our Lord, that misbelief
giveth a dash to our Lord's glory, and not to our salvation. And so,
whoever want (yea, howbeit God here bear with the want of what we are
obliged to give Him, even the glory of His grace by believing), yet a
poor covenanted sinner wanteth not. But if guiltiness were removed,
doubtings would find no friend, nor life; and yet faith is to believe
the removal of guiltiness in Christ. A reason why ye get less now (as
ye think) than before, as I take it, is, because, at our first
conversion, our Lord putteth the meat in young bairns' mouths with His
own hand; but when we grow to some further perfection, we must take
heaven by violence, and take by violence from Christ what we get. And
He can, and doth hold, because He will have us to draw. Remember now
that ye must live upon violent plucking. Laziness is a greater fault
now than long since. We love always to have the pap put in our mouth.
[293] Those who got this meat for us.
Now for myself; alas! I am not the man I go for in this nation; men
have not just weights to weigh me in. Oh, but I am a silly, feckless
body, and overgrown with weeds; corruption is rank and fat in me. Oh,
if I were answerable to this holy cause, and to that honourable
Prince's love for whom I now suffer! If Christ should refer the matter
to me (in His presence I speak it), I might think shame to vote my own
salvation. I think Christ might say, "Thinkest thou not shame to claim
heaven, who doest so little for it?" I am very often so, that I know
not whether I sink or swim in the water. I find myself a bag of light
froth. I would bear no weight (but vanities and nothings weigh in
Christ's balance) if my Lord cast not in borrowed weight and metal,
even Christ's righteousness, to weigh for me. The stock I have is not
mine own; I am but the merchant that trafficketh with other folks'
goods. If my creditor, Christ, should take from me what He hath lent,
I should not long keep the causeway; but Christ hath made it mine and
His. I think it manhood to play the coward, and jouk in the lee-side
of Christ; and thus I am not only saved from my enemies, but I obtain
the victory. I am so empty, that I think it were an alms-deed in
Christ, if He would win a poor prisoner's blessing for evermore, and
fill me with His love. I complain that when Christ cometh, He cometh
always to fetch fire; He is ever in haste, He may not tarry; and poor
I (a beggarly dyvour) get but a standing visit and a standing kiss,
and but, "How doest thou?" in the by-going. I dare not say He is
lordly, because He is made a King now at the right hand of God; or is
grown miskenning and dry to His poor friends: for He cannot make more
of His kisses than they are worth. But I think it my happiness to love
the love of Christ: and when He goeth away, the memory of His sweet
presence is like a feast in a dear summer. I have comfort in this,
that my soul desireth that every hour of my imprisonment were a
company of heavenly tongues to praise Him on my behalf, howbeit my
bonds were prolonged for many hundred years. Oh that I could be the
man who could procure my Lord's glory to flow like a full sea, and
blow like a mighty wind upon all the four airths of Scotland, England,
and Ireland! Oh, if I could write a book of His praises! O Fairest
among the sons of men, why stayest Thou so long away? O heavens, move
fast! O time, run, run, and hasten the marriage-day! for love is
tormented with delays. O angels, O seraphims, who stand before Him, O
blessed spirits who now see His face, set Him on high! for when ye
have worn your harps in His praises, all is too little, and is
nothing, to cast the smell of the praise of that fair Flower, the
fragrant Rose of Sharon, through many worlds!
Sir, take my hearty commendations to Him, and tell Him that I am sick
of love.
Grace be with you.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 16, 1637_.
CLXXXII.--_To his honoured and dear Brother_, ALEXANDER GORDON _of
Knockgray_.
(_JOY IN GOD--TRIALS WORK OUT GLORY TO CHRIST._)
DEAREST AND TRULY HONOURED BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you. I have seen no letter from you since I came to Aberdeen. I will
not interpret it to be forgetfulness. I am here in a fair prison:
Christ is my sweet and honourable fellow-prisoner, and I His sad and
joyful lord-prisoner,[294] if I may speak so. I think this cross
becometh me well, and is suitable to me in respect of my duty to
suffer for Christ, howbeit not in regard of my deserving to be thus
honoured. However it be, I see that Christ is strong, even lying in
the dust, in prison, and in banishment. Losses and disgraces are the
wheels of Christ's triumphant chariot. In the sufferings of His own
saints, as He intendeth their good, so He intendeth His own glory, and
that is the butt His arrows shoot at. And Christ shooteth not at
rovers, He hitteth what He purposeth to hit; therefore He doth make
His own feckless and weak nothings, and those who are the contempt of
men, "a new sharp threshing instrument, having teeth, to thresh the
mountains, and beat them small, and to make the hills as chaff, and to
fan them" (Isa. xli. 15, 16). What harder stuff, or harder grain for
threshing out, than high and rocky mountains? But the saints are God's
threshing instruments, to beat them all into chaff. Are we not God's
leem vessels? and yet when they cast us over a house we are not broken
into sherds. We creep in under our Lord's wings in the great shower,
and the water cannot come through those wings. It is folly then for
men to say, "This is not Christ's plea, He will lose the wad-set; men
are like to beguile Him:" that were indeed a strange play. Nay, I dare
pledge my soul, and lay it in pawn on Christ's side of it, and be
half-tiner, half-winner with my Master! Let fools laugh the fool's
laughter, and scorn Christ, and bid the weeping captives in Babylon
"sing us one of the songs of Zion, play a spring to cheer up your
sad-hearted God!" We may sing upon luck's-head beforehand, even in our
winter-storm, in the expectation of a summer sun, at the turn of the
year. No created powers in hell, or out of hell, can mar the music of
our Lord Jesus, nor spoil our song of joy. Let us then be glad, and
rejoice in the salvation of our Lord; for faith had never yet cause
to have wet cheeks, and hanging down brows, or to droop or die. What
can ail faith, seeing Christ suffereth Himself (with reverence to Him
be it spoken) to be commanded by it, and Christ commandeth all things?
Faith may dance because Christ singeth; and we may come into the
choir, and lift our hoarse and rough voices, and chirp, and sing, and
shout for joy with our Lord Jesus. We see oxen go to the shambles,
leaping and startling; we see God's fed oxen, prepared for the day of
slaughter, go dancing and singing down to the black chambers of hell;
and why should we go to heaven weeping, as if we were like to fall
down through the earth for sorrow? If God were dead (if I may speak
so, with reverence of Him who liveth for ever and ever), and Christ
buried, and rotten among the worms, we might have cause to look like
dead folks; but "the Lord liveth, and blessed be the Rock of our
salvation" (Ps. xviii. 46). None have right to joy but we; for joy is
sown for us, and an ill summer or harvest will not spill the crop. The
children of this world have much robbed joy that is not well-come. It
is no good sport they laugh at: they steal joy, as it were, from God;
for He commandeth them to mourn and howl (James v. 1). Then let us
claim our leal-come and lawfully conquessed joy.
[294] In Luther's style, he playfully speaks of himself as if raised
to nobility among prisoners.
My dear brother, I cannot but speak what I have felt; seeing my Lord
Jesus hath broken a box of spikenard upon the head of His poor
prisoner, and it is hard to hide a sweet smell. It is a pain to
smother Christ's love; it will be out whether we will or not. If we
did but speak according to the matter, a cross for Christ should have
another name; yea, a cross, especially when He cometh with His arms
full of joys, is the happiest hard tree that ever was laid upon my
weak shoulder. Christ and His cross together are sweet company, and a
blessed couple. My prison is my palace, my sorrow is with child of
joy, my losses are rich losses, my pain easy pain, my heavy days are
holy and happy days. I may tell a new tale of Christ to my friends.
Oh, if I could make a love song of Him, and could commend Christ, and
tune His praises aright! Oh, if I could set all tongues in Great
Britain and Ireland to work, to help me to sing a new song of my
Well-beloved! Oh, if I could be a bridge over a water for my Lord
Jesus to walk upon, and keep His feet dry! Oh, if my poor bit heaven
could go betwixt my Lord and blasphemy, and dishonour! (Upon condition
He loved me.) Oh that my heart could say this word, and abide by it
for ever! Is it not great art and incomparable wisdom in my Lord, who
can bring forth such fair apples out of this crabbed tree of the
cross? Nay, my Father's never-enough admired providence can make a
fair face[295] out of a black devil. Nothing can come wrong to my Lord
in His sweet working. I would even fall sound asleep in Christ's arms,
and my sinful head on His holy breast, while He kisseth me; were it
not that often the wind turneth to the north, and whiles my sweet Lord
Jesus is so that He will neither give nor take, borrow nor lend with
me. I complain that He is not social; I half call Him proud and lordly
of His company, and nice of His looks, which yet is not true. It would
content me to give, howbeit He should not take. I should be content to
want His kisses at such times, providing He would be content to come
near-hand, and take my wersh, dry, and feckless kisses. But at that
time He will not be entreated, but let a poor soul stand still and
knock, and never let-on him that He heareth; and then the old
leavings, and broken meat, and dry sighs, are greater cheer than I can
tell. All I have then is, that howbeit the law and wrath have gotten a
decreet against me, I can yet lippen that meikle good in Christ as to
get a suspension, and to bring my cause in reasoning again before my
Well-beloved. I desire but to be heard, and at last He is content to
come and agree the matter with a fool, and forgive freely, because He
is God. Oh, if men would glorify Him, and taste of Christ's sweetness!
[295] "Feast" is in most editions.
Brother, ye have need to be busy with Christ for this whorish kirk; I
fear lest Christ cast water upon Scotland's coal. Nay, I know that
Christ and His wife will be heard: He will plead for the broken
covenant. Arm you against that time.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 16, 1637_.
CLXXXIII.--_To_ MR. J---- R----.
[It is highly probable that the individual to whom this letter is
addressed was John Row, son of John Row, minister of Carnock, a
grandson of John Row the reformer, and contemporary of Knox. In
1632 he was appointed master of the Grammar School of Perth, in
which situation he continued for some years. The year after his
appointment, he was in some danger of expulsion, for refusing to
join in the observance of the Lord's Supper after the manner
enjoined by the Perth Articles. At the time when this letter was
written, he appears to have been exposed to a similar danger. In
1641 he was ordained minister of St. Nicholas Church, Aberdeen;
and in 1652 was elevated to be Principal of King's College. Row
was a man of learning, and was the author of the first Hebrew
grammar printed in Scotland. He died in 1646.]
(_CHRIST THE PURIFIER OF HIS CHURCH--SUBMISSION TO HIS WAYS._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. Upon the report
which I hear of you, without any further acquaintance, except our
straitest bonds in our Lord Jesus, I thought good to write unto you,
hearing of your danger to be thrust out of the Lord's house for His
name's sake. Therefore, my earnest and humble desire to God is, that
ye may be strengthened in the grace of God, and, by the power of His
might, to go on for Christ, not standing in awe of a worm that shall
die. I hope that ye will not put your hand to the ark to give it a
wrong touch,[296] and to overturn it, as many now do, when the archers
are shooting sore at Joseph, whose bow shall abide in its strength. We
owe to our royal King and princely Master a testimony. Oh, how blessed
are they who can ward a blow off Christ, and His borne-down truth! Men
think Christ a gone man now, and that He shall never get up His head
again; and they believe that His court is failed, because He suffereth
men to break their spears and swords upon Him, and the enemies to
plough Zion, and make long and deep their furrows on her back. But it
would not be so, if the Lord had not a sowing for His ploughing. What
can He do, but melt an old drossy kirk, that He may bring out a new
bride out of the fire again? I think that Christ is just now repairing
His house, and exchanging His old vessels with new vessels, and is
going through this land, and taking up an inventory and a roll of so
many of Levi's sons, and good professors, that He may make them new
work for the Second Temple; and whatsoever shall be found not to be
for the work, shall be casten over the wall. When the house shall be
builded, He will lay by His hammers, as having no more to do with
them. It is possible that He may do worse to them than lay them by;
and I think the vengeance of the Lord, and the vengeance of His
temple, shall be upon them.
[296] In old editions, "totch;" and explained to be a sudden push,
such a push, too, as sets the object in motion. The allusion is to 2
Sam. vi. 6.
I desire no more than to keep weight when I am past the fire; and I
can now, in some weak measure, give Christ a testimonial of a lovely
and loving companion under suffering for Him. I saw Him before, but
afar off. His beauty, to my eyesight, groweth. A fig, a straw for a
ten worlds' plastered glory, and for childish shadows, the idol of
clay (this god, the world) that fools fight for! If I had a lease of
Christ of my own dating (for whoever once cometh nigh-hand, and taketh
a hearty look of Christ's inner side, shall never wring nor wrestle
themselves out of His love-grips again), I would rest contentedly in
my prison, yea, in my prison without light of sun or candle, providing
Christ and I had a love-bed, not of mine, but of Christ's own making,
that we might lie together among the lilies, till the day break and
the shadows flee away. Who knoweth how sweet a drink of Christ's love
is! Oh, but to live on Christ's love is a king's life! The worst
things of Christ, even that which seemeth to be the refuse of Christ,
His hard cross, His black cross, is white and fair; and the cross
receiveth a beautiful lustre and a perfumed smell from Jesus. My dear
brother, scaur not at it.
While ye have time to stand upon the watch-tower and speak, contend
with this land. Plead with your harlot-mother, who hath been a
treacherous half-marrow to her husband Jesus. For I would think
liberty to preach one day the root and top of my desires; and would
seek no more of the blessings that are to be had on this side of time,
till I be over the water, than to spend this my crazy clay-house in
His service, and saving of souls. But I hold my peace, because He hath
done it. My shallow and ebb thoughts are not the compass which Christ
saileth by. I leave His ways to Himself, for they are far, far above
me: only I would contend with Christ for His love, and be bold to make
a plea with Jesus, my Lord, for a heart-fill of His love; for there is
no more left to me. What standeth beyond the far end of my sufferings,
and what shall be the event, He knoweth, and I hope, to my joy, will
make me know, when God will unfold His decrees concerning me. For
there are windings, and tos and fros, in His ways, which blind bodies
like us cannot see.
Thus much for farther acquaintance; so, recommending you, and what is
before you, to the grace of God, I rest,
Your very loving brother in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 16, 1637_.
CLXXXIV.--_To_ MR. WILLIAM DALGLEISH. [Letter CXVII.]
(_THE FRAGRANCE OF THE MINISTRY--A REVIEW OF HIS PAST AND PRESENT
SITUATION, AND OF HIS PROSPECTS._)
REVEREND AND WELL-BELOVED BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto
you. I have heard somewhat of your trials in Galloway. I bless the
Lord, who hath begun first in that corner to make you a new kirk to
Himself. Christ hath the less ado behind, when He hath refined you.
Let me entreat you, my dearly beloved, to be fast to Christ. My
witness is above, my dearest brother, that ye have added much joy to
me in my bonds, when I hear that ye grow in the grace and zeal of God
for your Master. Our ministry, whether by preaching or suffering, will
cast a smell through the world both of heaven and hell (2 Cor. ii. 15,
16). I persuade you, my dear brother, that there is nothing out of
heaven, next to Christ, dearer to me than my ministry; and the worth
of it, in my estimation, is swelled, and paineth me exceedingly. Yet I
am content, for the honour of my Lord, to surrender it back again to
the Lord of the vineyard. Let Him do with it, and me both, what He
thinketh good. I think myself too little for Him.
And, let me speak to you, how kind a fellow-prisoner is Christ to me!
Believe me, this kind of cross (that would not go by my door, but
would needs visit me) is still the longer the more welcome to me. It
is true, my silent Sabbaths have been, and still are, as glassy ice,
whereon my faith can scarce hold its feet, and I am often blown on my
back, and off my feet, with a storm of doubting; yet truly, my bonds
all this time cast a mighty and rank smell of high and deep love in
Christ. I cannot, indeed, see through my cross to the far end; yet I
believe I am in Christ's books, and in His decree (not yet unfolded to
me), a man triumphing, dancing, and singing, on the other side of the
Red Sea, and laughing and praising the Lamb, over beyond time, sorrow,
deprivation, prelates' indignation, losses, want of friends, and
death. Heaven is not a fowl flying in the air (as men use to speak of
things that are uncertain); nay, it is well paid for. Christ's
comprisement lieth on[297] glory for all the mourners in Zion, and
shall never be loosed. Let us be glad and rejoice, that we have
blood, losses, and wounds, to show our Master and Captain at His
appearance, and what we suffered for His cause.
[297] "To lie on" is for a thing to be a matter of duty or obligation,
or of legal security. Christ has laid His comprisement on glory; He
hath taken care that the mourners in Zion be secured in possession of
glory.
Woe is me, my dear brother, that I say often, "I am but dry bones,
which my Lord will not bring out of the grave again;" and that my
faithless fears say, "Oh, I am a dry tree, that can bear no fruit; I
am a useless body, who can beget no children to the Lord in His
house!" Hopes of deliverance look cold and uncertain, and afar off, as
if I had done with it. It is much for Christ (if I may say so) to get
law-borrows of my sorrow, and of my quarrelous heart. Christ's love
playeth me fair play. I am not wronged at all; but there is a tricking
and false heart within me, that still playeth Christ foul play. I am a
cumbersome neighbour to Christ: it is a wonder that He dwelleth beside
the like of me. Yet I often get the advantage of the hill above my
temptations, and then I despise temptation, even hell itself, and the
stink of it, and the instruments of it, and am proud of my honourable
Master. And I resolve, whether contrary winds will or not, to fetch
Christ's harbour; and I think a wilful and stiff contention with my
Lord Jesus for His love very lawful. It is sometimes hard to me to win
my meat upon Christ's love, because my faith is sick, and my hope
withereth, and my eyes wax dim; and unkind and comfort-eclipsing
clouds go over the fair and bright Sun, Jesus; and then, when I and
temptation tryst the matter together, we spill all through unbelief.
Sweet, sweet for evermore would my life be, if I could keep faith in
exercise! But I see that my fire cannot always cast light; I have even
a "poor man's hard world," when He goeth away. But surely, since my
entry hither, many a time hath my fair sun shined without a cloud: hot
and burning hath Christ's love been to me. I have no vent to the
expression of it; I must be content with stolen and smothered desires
of Christ's glory. Oh, how far is His love behind the hand with
me![298] I am just like a man who hath nothing to pay his thousands of
debt: all that can be gotten of him is to seize upon his person.
Except Christ would seize upon myself, and make the readiest payment
that can be of my heart and love to Himself, I have no other thing to
give Him. If my sufferings could do beholders good, and edify His
kirk, and proclaim the incomparable worth of Christ's love to the
world, oh, then would my soul be overjoyed, and my sad heart be
cheered and calmed!
[298] Far from receiving what I owe to it.
Dear brother, I cannot tell what is become of my labours among that
people! If all that my Lord builded by me be casted down, and the
bottom be fallen out of the profession of that parish, and none stand
by Christ, whose love I once preached as clearly and plainly as I
could (though far below its worth and excellence) to that people; if
so, how can I bear it! And if another make a foul harvest, where I
have made a painful and honest sowing, it will not soon digest with
me. But I know that His ways pass finding out. Yet my witness, both
within me and above me, knoweth. And my pained breast upon the Lord's
Day at night, my desire to have had Christ awful, and amiable, and
sweet to that people, is now my joy. It was my desire and aim to make
Christ and them one; and, if I see my hopes die in the bud, ere they
bloom a little, and come to no fruit, I die with grief. O my God, seek
not an account of the violence done to me by my brethren, whose
salvation I love and desire. I pray that they and I be not heard as
contrary parties in the day of our compearance before our Judge, in
that process, led by them against my ministry which I received from
Christ. I know that a little inch, and less than the third part of
this span-length and hand-breadth of time, which is posting away will
put me without the stroke, and above the reach, of either brethren or
foes; and it is a short-lasting injury done to me, and to my pains in
that part of my Lord's vineyard. Oh, how silly an advantage is my
deprivation to men, seeing that my Lord Jesus hath many ways to
recover His own losses, and is irresistible to compass His own
glorious ends, that His lily may grow amongst thorns, and His little
kingdom exalt Himself, even under the swords and spears of contrary
powers!
But, my dear brother, go on in the strength of His rich grace, whom ye
serve. Stand fast for Christ. Deliver the Gospel off your hand, and
your ministry to your Master, with a clean and undefiled conscience.
Loose not a pin of Christ's tabernacle. Do not so much as pick with
your nail at one board or border of the ark. Have no part or dealing,
upon any terms, in a hoof (Exod. x. 26), in a closed window (Dan. vi.
10), or in a bowing of your knee, in casting down of the temple. But
be a mourning and speaking witness against them who now ruin Zion. Our
Master will be on us all now in a clap, ere ever we wit. That day will
discover all our whites and our blacks, concerning this controversy of
poor oppressed Zion. Let us make our part of it good, that it may be
able to abide the fire, when hay and stubble shall be burned to ashes.
Nothing, nothing, I say, nothing, but sound sanctification can abide
the Lord's fan. I stand to my testimony that I preached often of
Scotland.--"Lamentation, mourning, and woe abideth thee, O Scotland! O
Scotland! the fearful quarrel of a broken covenant standeth good with
thy Lord!"
Now, remember my love to all my friends, and to my parishioners, as if
I named each of them particularly. I recommend you, and God's people,
committed by Christ to your trust, to the rich grace of our
all-sufficient Lord. Remember my bonds. Praise my Lord, who beareth me
up in my sufferings. As ye find occasion, according to the wisdom
given you, show our acquaintance what the Lord hath done to my soul.
This I seek not, verily, to hunt my own praise, but that my sweetest
and dearest Master may be magnified in my sufferings. I rest,
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 16, 1637_.
CLXXXV.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_LONGING TO BE RESTORED TO HIS CHARGE._)
DEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST,--Grace, mercy, and peace be
to you. Few know the heart of a stranger and prisoner. I am in the
hands of mine enemies. I would that honest and lawful means were
essayed for bringing me home to my charge, now when Mr. A. R. and Mr.
H. R. are restored. It concerneth you of Galloway most, to use
supplications and addresses for this purpose, and try if by fair means
I can be brought back again. As for liberty, without I be restored to
my flock, it is little to me; for my silence is my greatest prison.
However it be, I wait for the Lord; I hope not to rot in my
sufferings: Lord, give me submission to wait on. My heart is sad that
my days flee away, and I do no service to my Lord in His house, now
when His harvest and the souls of perishing people require it. But His
ways are not like my ways, neither can I find Him out. Oh that He
would shine upon my darkness, and bring forth my morning light from
under the thick cloud that men have spread over me! Oh that the
Almighty would lay my cause in a balance and weigh me, if my soul was
not taken up, when others were sleeping, how to have Christ betrothed
with a bride, in that part of the land! But that day that my mouth was
most unjustly and cruelly closed, the bloom fell off my branches, and
my joy did cast the flower. Howbeit, I have been casting myself under
God's feet, and wrestling to believe under a hidden and covered Lord;
yet my fainting cometh before I eat, and my faith hath bowed with the
sore cast, and under this almost insupportable weight! Oh that it
break not! I dare not say that the Lord hath put out my candle, and
hath casten water upon my poor coal, and broken the stakes of my
tabernacle; but I have tasted bitterness, and eaten gall and wormwood,
since that day on which my Master laid bonds upon me to speak no more.
I speak not this because the Lord is unco to me, but because
beholders, that stand on dry land, see not my sea-storm. The witnesses
of my sad cross are but strangers to my sad days and nights. Oh that
Christ would let me alone, and speak love to me, and come home to me,
and bring summer with Him! Oh that I might preach His beauty and
glory, as once I did, before my clay-tent be removed to darkness! and
that I might lift Christ off the ground! and my branches might be
watered with the dew of God, and my joy in His work might grow green
again, and bud, and send out a flower! But I am but a short-sighted
creature, and my candle casteth not light afar off. He knoweth all
that is done to me; how that when I had but one joy, and no more, and
one green flower that I esteemed to be my garland, He came in one hour
and dried up my flower at the root, and took away mine only eye, and
my one only crown and garland. What can I say? Surely my guiltiness
hath been remembered before Him, and He was seeking to take down my
sails, and to land the flower of my delights, and to let it lie on the
coast, like an old broken ship, that is no more for the sea. But I
praise Him for this waled stroke. I welcome this furnace; God's wisdom
made choice of it for me, and it must be best, because it was His
choice. Oh that I may wait for Him till the morning of this benighted
kirk break out! This poor, afflicted kirk had a fair morning, but her
night came upon her before her noon-day, and she was like a traveller,
forced to take house in the morning of his journey. And now her
adversaries are the chief men in the land; her ways mourn; her gates
languish: her children sigh for bread; and there is none to be instant
with the Lord, that He would come again to His house, and dry the face
of His weeping spouse, and comfort Zion's mourners, who are waiting
for Him. I know that He will make corn to grow upon the top of His
withered Mount Zion again.
Remember my bonds, and forget me not. Oh that my Lord would bring me
again amongst you with abundance of the Gospel of Christ! But, oh,
that I may set down my desires where my Lord biddeth me! Remember my
love in the Lord to your husband; God make him faithful to Christ! and
my blessing to your three children. Faint not in prayer for this kirk.
Desire my people not to receive a stranger and intruder upon my
ministry. Let me stand in that right and station that my Lord Jesus
gave me.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord and Master,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CLXXXVI.--_To_ ROBERT STUART.
[This ROBERT STUART was probably the son of Provost Stuart of
Ayr, to whom several letters are addressed. Allusion is made to
his early conversion.]
(_CHRIST CHOOSES HIS OWN IN THE FURNACE--NEED OF A DEEP WORK--THE
GOD-MAN, A WORLD'S WONDER._)
MY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. Ye are
heartily welcome to my world of suffering, and heartily welcome to my
Master's house. God give you much joy of your new Master. If I have
been in the house before you, I were not faithful to give the house an
ill name, or to speak evil of the Lord of the family; I rather wish
God's Holy Spirit (O Lord, breathe upon me with that Spirit!), to tell
you the fashions of the house (Ezek. xliii. 11). One thing I can say,
by on-waiting ye will grow a great man with the Lord of the house.
Hang on till ye get some good from Christ. Lay all your loads and your
weights by faith upon Christ; take ease to yourself, and let Him bear
all. He can, He dow,[299] He will bear you, howbeit hell were upon
your back. I rejoice that He is come, and hath chosen you in the
furnace; it was even there where ye and He set tryst. That is an old
gate of Christ's: He keepeth the good old fashion with you, that was
in Hosea's days: "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her
into the wilderness, and speak to her heart" (Hos. ii. 14, margin).
There was no talking to her heart, while He and she were in the fair
and flourishing city, and at ease; but out in the cold, hungry, waste
wilderness, He allured her, He whispered news into her ear there, and
said, "Thou art Mine." What would ye think of such a bode? Ye may soon
do worse than say, "Lord, hold all; Lord Jesus, a bargain be it, it
shall not go back on my side."
[299] Should we not read "_doth_?"
Ye have gotten a great advantage in the way of heaven, that ye have
started to the gate in the morning. Like a fool, as I was, I suffered
my sun to be high in the heaven, and near afternoon, before ever I
took the gate by the end. I pray you now keep the advantage ye have.
My heart, be not lazy; set quickly up the brae on hands and feet, as
if the last pickle of sand were running out of your glass, and death
were coming to turn the glass. And be very careful to take heed to
your feet, in that slippery and dangerous way of youth that ye are
walking in. The devil and temptations now have the advantage of the
brae of you, and are upon your wand-hand, and your working-hand. Dry
timber will soon take fire. Be covetous and greedy of the grace of
God, and beware that it be not a holiness which cometh only from the
cross; for too many are that way disposed. "When He slew them, then
they sought Him, and they returned and inquired early after God."
"Nevertheless, they did flatter Him with their mouth, and they lied
unto Him with their tongues" (Ps. lxxviii. 34, 36). It is part of our
hypocrisy, to give God fair, white words,[300] when He hath us in His
grips (if I may speak so), and to flatter Him till He win to the fair
fields again. Try well green godliness, and examine what it is that ye
love in Christ. If ye love but Christ's sunny side, and would have
only summer weather and a land-gate, not a sea-way to heaven, your
profession will play you a slip, and the winter-well will go dry again
in summer.
[300] Plausible speeches.
Make no sport nor bairn's play of Christ; but labour for a sound and
lively sight of sin, that ye may judge yourself an undone man, a
damned slave of hell and of sin, one dying in your own blood, except
Christ come and rue upon you, and take you up. And therefore, make
sure and fast work of conversion. Cast the earth deep; and down, down
with the old work, the building of confusion, that was there before;
and let Christ lay new work, and make a new creation within you. Look
if Christ's rain goeth down to the root of your withered plants, and
if His love wound your heart whill it bleed with sorrow for sin, and
if ye can pant and fall aswoon, and be like to die for that lovely
one, Jesus. I know that Christ will not be hid where He is; grace will
ever speak for itself, and be fruitful in well-doing. The sanctified
cross is a fruitful tree; it bringeth forth many apples.
If I should tell you by some weak experience, what I have found in
Christ, ye or others could hardly believe me. I thought not the
hundredth part of Christ long since, that I do now, though, alas! my
thoughts are still infinitely below His worth. I have a dwining,
sickly, and pained life, for a real possession of Him; and am troubled
with love-brashes and love-fevers; but it is a sweet pain. I would
refuse no conditions, not hell excepted (reserving always God's
hatred), to buy possession of Jesus. But, alas! I am not a merchant,
who have any money to give for Him: I must either come to a good-cheap
market, where wares are had for nothing, else I go home empty. But I
have casten this work upon Christ to get me Himself. I have His faith,
and truth, and promise, as a pawn of His, all engaged that I shall
obtain that which my hungry desires would be at; and I esteem that the
choice of my happiness. And for Christ's cross, especially the garland
and flower of all crosses, to suffer for His name, I esteem it more
than I can write or speak to you. And I write it under mine own hand
to you, that it is one of the steps of the ladder up to our country;
and Christ (whoever be one) is still at the heavy end of this black
tree, and so it is but as a feather to me. I need not run at
leisure,[301] because of a burden on my back; my back never bare the
like of it; the more heavily crossed for Christ, the soul is still the
lighter for the journey.
[301] I am not obliged to run slowly.
Now, would to God that all cold-blooded, faint-hearted soldiers of
Christ would look again to Jesus, and to His love; and when they look,
I would have them to look again and again, and fill themselves with
beholding of Christ's beauty; and I dare say then that Christ would
come into great court and request with many. The virgins would flock
fast about the Bridegroom; they would embrace and take hold of Him,
and not let Him go. But when I have spoken of Him, till my head rive,
I have said just nothing. I may begin again. A Godhead, a Godhead is a
world's wonder. Set ten thousand thousand new-made worlds of angels
and elect men, and double them in number, ten thousand, thousand,
thousand times; let their heart and tongues be ten thousand thousand
times more agile and large, than the heart and tongues of the seraphim
that stand with six wings before Him (Isa. vi. 2), when they have said
all for the glorifying and praising of the Lord Jesus, they have but
spoken little or nothing; His love will abide all possible creatures
praise. Oh, if I could wear this tongue to the stump, in extolling His
highness! But it is my daily-growing sorrow, that I am confounded with
His incomparable love, and that He doeth so great things for my soul,
and hath got never yet anything of me worth the speaking of. Sir, I
charge you, help me to praise Him; it is a shame to speak of what He
hath done for me, and what I do to Him again. I am sure that Christ
hath many drowned dyvours[302] in heaven beside Him; and when we are
convened, man and angel, at the great day, in that fair last meeting,
we are all but His drowned dyvours: it is hard to say who oweth Him
most. If men could do no more, I would have them to wonder: if ye
cannot be filled with Christ's love, we may be filled with wondering.
[302] Drowned over head and ears in His debt.
Sir, I would that I could persuade you to grow sick for Christ, and to
long after Him, and be pained with love for Himself. But His tongue is
in heaven who can do it. To Him and His rich grace I recommend you.
I pray you, pray for me, and forget not to praise.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 17, 1637_.
CLXXXVII.--_To the_ LADY GAITGIRTH.
[LADY GAITGIRTH, or ISABEL BLAIR, daughter to John Blair of that ilk,
by Grizel his wife, daughter to Robert, Lord Semple, was the wife of
James Chalmers of Gaitgirth. To him she had five sons and five
daughters. Mr. Fergushill of Ochiltree resided in the vicinity; see
Letter CXII. Her husband, to whom Rutherford expresses his obligations
in the close of this letter, was a man of worth. He was made
Sheriff-Principal of Ayrshire in 1632; and in 1633, he and Sir William
Cunningham of Cunninghamhead represented Ayrshire in Parliament.
Embracing the cause of the Covenant, he, in 1641, with Cassilis and
Caprington, were sent as commissioners from the Scottish Parliament to
Newcastle; and in 1649 he had a troop in Colonel Robert Montgomery's
Horse (Robertson's "Ayrshire Families"). His great-grandfather, James
Chalmers of Gaitgirth, who lived at the time of the Reformation, was a
very zealous reformer, and is described by Knox, Calderwood, and
Spottiswood, as one of the boldest and most daring men of any who took
part in that important revolution.
The name is often written Gathgirth and Gadgirth. It is in the parish
of Coylton, about four miles from Monkton. The modern mansion occupies
the fine site of the old, on a wooded knoll that overhangs the river
Ayr, at one point commanding a view of ARRAN and Goatfell. It is a
small estate.]
(_CHRIST UNCHANGEABLE, THOUGH NOT ALWAYS ENJOYED--HIS LOVE NEVER YET
FULLY POURED OUT--HIMSELF HIS PEOPLE'S CAUTIONER._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long to know how
matters stand betwixt Christ and your soul. I know that ye find Him
still the longer the better; time cannot change Him in His love. Ye
may yourself ebb and flow, rise and fall, wax and wane; but your Lord
is this day as He was yesterday. And it is your comfort that your
salvation is not rolled upon wheels of your own making, neither have
ye to do with a Christ of your own shaping. God hath singled out a
Mediator (Ps. lxxxix. 19), strong and mighty: if ye and your burdens
were as heavy as ten hills or hells, He is able to bear you, and save
you to the uttermost. Your often seeking to Him cannot make you a
burden to Him. I know that Christ compassionateth you, and maketh a
moan for you, in all your dumps, and under your downcastings; but it
is good for you that He hideth Himself sometimes. It is not niceness,
dryness, nor coldness of love, that causeth Christ to withdraw, and
slip in under a curtain and a vail, that ye cannot see Him; but He
knoweth that ye could not bear with upsails, a fair gale, a full moon,
and a high spring-tide of His felt love, and always a fair summer-day
and a summer-sun of a felt and possessed and embracing Lord Jesus. His
kisses and His visits to His dearest ones are thin-sown. He could not
let out His rivers of love upon His own, but these rivers would be in
hazard of loosening a young plant at the root;[303] and He knoweth
this of you. Ye should, therefore, frist Christ's kindness, as to its
sensible and full manifestations, till ye and He be above sun and
moon. That is the country where ye will be enlarged for that love
which ye dow not now contain.
[303] The river Ayr flows close to Gaitgirth; so that, in time of
flood, Lady Gaitgirth would often see an exemplification of what is
alluded to,--the water loosening the tree's roots.
Cast the burden of your sweet babes upon Christ, and lighten your
heart, by laying your all upon Him: He will be their God. I hope to
see you up the mountain yet, and glad in the salvation of God. Frame
yourself for Christ, and gloom not upon His cross. I find Him so
sweet, that my love, suppose I would charge it to remove from Christ,
would not obey me: His love hath stronger fingers than to let go its
grips of us bairns, who cannot go but by such a hold as Christ. It is
good that we want legs of our own, since we may borrow from Christ;
and it is our happiness that Christ is under an act of cautionary for
heaven, and that Christ is booked in heaven as the principal debtor
for such poor bodies as we are.
I request you to give the laird, your husband, thanks for his care of
me, in that he hath appeared in public for a prisoner of Christ. I
pray and write mercy, and peace, and blessings to him and his.
Grace, grace be with you for ever.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CLXXXVIII.--_To MR. JOHN FERGUSHILL of Ochiltree._
(_DESPONDING VIEWS OF HIS OWN STATE--MINISTERIAL DILIGENCE--CHRIST'S
WORTH--SELF-SEEKING._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy and peace be to you. My
longings and desires for a sight of the new-builded tabernacle of
Christ again in Scotland, that tabernacle that came down from heaven,
hath now taken some life again, when I see Christ making a mint to sow
vengeance among His enemies. I care not, if this land be ripe for such
a great, wonderful mercy; but I know He must do it, whenever it is
done, without hire. I find the grief of my silence, and my fear to be
holden at the door of Christ's house, swelling upon me; and the truth
is, were it not that I am dawted now and then with pieces of Christ's
sweet love and comforts, I fear I should have made an ill browst of
this honourable cross, that I know such a soft and silly-minded body
as I am is not worthy of. For I have little in me but softness, and
superlative and excessive apprehensions of fear, and sadness, and
sorrow; and often God's terrors do surround me, because Christ looketh
not so favourably upon me as a poor witness would have Him. And I
wonder how I have past a year and a quarter's imprisonment without
shaming my sweet Lord, to whom I desire to be faithful; and I think I
shall die but even[304] minting and aiming to serve and honour my Lord
Jesus. Few know how toom and empty I am at home; but it is a part of
marriage-love and husband-love, that my Lord Jesus goeth not to the
streets with His chiding against me. It is but stolen and concealed
anger that I find and feel, and His glooms to me are kept under roof,
that He will not have mine enemies hear what is betwixt me and Him.
And, believe me, I say the truth in Christ, that the only gall and
wormwood in my cup, and that which hath filled me with fear, hath
been, lest my sins, that sun and moon and the Lord's children were
never witness to, should have moved my Lord to strike me with dumb
Sabbaths. Lord, pardon my soft and weak jealousies, if I be here in an
error.
[304] Only just attempting.
My very dear brother, I would have looked for larger and more
particular letters from you, for my comfort in this; for your words
before have strengthened me. I pray you to mend this; and be thankful
and painful, while ye have a piece or corner of the Lord's vineyard to
dress. Oh, would to God that I could have leave to follow you, to
break the clods! But I wish I could command my soul to be silent, and
to wait upon the Lord. I am sure that while Christ lives, I am well
enough friend-stead. I hope that He will extend His kindness and power
for me; but God be thanked it is not worse with me than a cross for
Christ and His truth. I know that He might have pitched upon many more
choice and worthy witnesses, if He had pleased; but I seek no more (be
what timber I will, suppose I were made of a piece of hell) than that
my Lord, in His infinite art, hew glory to His name, and enlargement
to Christ's kingdom, out of me. Oh that I could attain to this, to
desire that my part of Christ might be laid in pledge for the
heightening of Christ's throne in Britain! Let my Lord redeem the
pledge; or, if He please, let it sink and drown unredeemed. But what
can I add to Him? or what way can a smothered and borne-down prisoner
set out Christ in open market, as a lovely and desirable Lord to many
souls? I know that He seeth to His own glory better than my ebb
thoughts can dream of; and that the wheels and paces of this poor
distempered kirk are in His hands; and that things shall roll as
Christ will have them:--only, Lord, tryst the matter so, as Christ may
be made a householder and lord again in Scotland, and wet faces for
His departure may be dried at His sweet and much-desired welcome-home!
I see that, in all our trials, our Lord will not mix our wares and His
grace overhead through other; but He will have each man to know his
own, that the like of me may say in my sufferings, "This is Christ's
grace, and this is but my coarse stuff: This is free grace, and this
is but nature and reason." We know what our legs would play us, if
they should carry us through all our waters. And the least thing our
Lord can have of us, is to know we are grace's dyvours, and that
nature is of a base house and blood, and grace is better born, and of
kin and blood to Christ, and of a better house. Oh that I were free of
that idol which they call _myself_; and that _Christ_ were for
_myself_; and _myself_ a decourted cypher, and a denied and forsworn
thing! But that proud thing, _myself_, will not play, except it ride
up side for side with Christ, or rather have place before Him. O
_myself_ (another devil, as evil as the prince of devils!), if thou
couldst give Christ the way, and take thine own room, which is to sit
as low as nothing or corruption! Oh, but we have much need to be
ransomed and redeemed by Christ from that master-tyrant, that cruel
and lawless lord, _ourself_. Nay, when I am seeking Christ, and am out
of myself, I have the third part of a squint eye upon that vain, vain
thing, _myself, myself_, and something of mine own. But I must hold
here.
I desire you to contribute your help, to see if I can be restored to
my wasted and lost flock. I see not how it can be, except the lords
would procure me a liberty to preach; and they have reason. 1. Because
the opposers and my adversaries have practised their new canons upon
me, whereof one is, that no deprived minister preach, under the pain
of excommunication. 2. Because my opposing of these canons was a
special thing that incensed Sydserff against me.[305] 3. Because I was
judicially accused for my book against the Arminians, and commanded by
the Chancellor to acknowledge that I had done a fault in writing
against Dr. Jackson, a wicked Arminian.[306] Pray for a room in the
house to me.
Grace, grace be (as it is) your portion.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
[305] Thomas Sydserff, now Bishop of Galloway, was the chief
instrument in procuring Rutherford's banishment to Aberdeen. He was
minister of the College Church, Edinburgh; and afterwards successively
Bishop of Brechin, Galloway, and Orkney. He early imbibed Arminian
principles, and promoted the measures of Archbishop Laud, and was
supposed to lean to Popery, it being generally believed that he wore
under his coat a crucifix of gold. All this rendered him so unpopular,
that, on appearing in the streets of Edinburgh in 1637, when great
excitement existed on account of the Service-Book, he was attacked by
the matrons of the city. He had equal reason to "cry to the gentlemen
for help" under similar attacks in other places. At the Restoration of
Charles II. he was the only surviving bishop in Scotland. He was then
nominated to the see of Orkney, but survived his promotion little more
than a year.
[306] Dr. Thomas Jackson, Dean of Peterborough, first held Calvinistic
sentiments, but afterwards became an Arminian,--a change which
recommended him to the favour and patronage of Archbishop Laud. He was
a man of talent, and the author of various theological works, of which
his "Commentary on the Apostles' Creed" is the most important.
Rutherford's book against the Arminians, here referred to, in which he
treated Jackson with little ceremony, and which was one cause of his
banishment by the High Commission Court, is entitled, "Exercitationes
Apologeticæ pro Divinâ Gratiâ." It was published at Amsterdam in the
beginning of the year 1636, and gained the author no small reputation
abroad. Baillie, in giving an account of Rutherford's trial before the
High Commission Court, says: "They were animate also against him for
taxing Cameron in his book; and most, for his indiscreet railing at
Jackson" ("Letters and Journals").
CLXXXIX.--_To JOHN STUART, Provost of Ayr._ [Letter CLXIII.]
(_HOPE FOR SCOTLAND--SELF-SUBMISSION--CHRIST HIMSELF IS SOUGHT FOR BY
FAITH--STABILITY OF SALVATION--HIS WAYS._)
WORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long for the time
when I shall see the beauty of the Lord in His house; and would be as
glad of it as of any sight on earth, to see the halt, the blind, and
the lame, come back to Zion with supplications (Jer. xxxi. 8, 9),
"Going and weeping, and seeking the Lord; asking the way to Zion, with
their faces thitherward" (Jer. l. 4, 5); and to see the Woman
travailing in birth, delivered of the man-child of a blessed
reformation. If this land were humbled, I would look that our skies
should clear, and our day dawn again; and ye should then bless Christ,
who is content to save your travel, and to give Himself to you, in
pure ordinances, on this side of the sea. I know the mercy of Christ
is engaged by promise to Scotland, notwithstanding He bring wrath, as
I fear He will, upon this land.
I am waiting on for enlargement, and half content that my faith bow,
if Christ, while He bow it, keep it unbroken; for who goeth through a
fire without a mark or a scald? I see the Lord making use of this
fire, to scour His vessels from their rust. Oh that my will were
silent, and "as a child weaned from the breasts"! (Ps. cxxxi.). But,
alas! who hath a heart that will give Christ the last word in flyting,
and will hear and not speak again? Oh! contestations and quarrelous
replies (as a soon-saddled spirit, "I do well to be angry, even to the
death") (Jonah iv. 9) smell of the stink of strong corruption. O
blessed soul, that could sacrifice his will, and go to heaven, having
lost his will and made resignation of it to Christ! I would seek no
more than that Christ were absolute King over my will, and that my
will were a sufferer in all crosses, without meeting Christ with such
a word, "Why is it thus?" I wish still, that my love had but leave to
stand beside beautiful Jesus, and to get the mercy of looking to Him,
and burning for Him, suppose that possession of Him were suspended,
and fristed till my Lord fold together the leaves and two sides of the
little shepherds' tents of clay. Oh, what pain is in longing for
Christ, under an over-clouded and eclipsed assurance! What is harder
than to burn and dwine with longing and deaths of love, and then to
have blanks and uninked paper for[307] assurance of Christ in real
fruition or possession? Oh how sweet were one line, or half a letter,
of a written assurance under Christ's own hand! But this is our
exercise daily, that guiltiness shall overmist and darken assurance.
It is a miracle to believe; but, for a sinner to believe, is two
miracles. But oh, what obligations of love are we under to Christ, who
beareth with our wild apprehensions, in suffering them to nickname
sweet Jesus, and to put a lie upon His good name! If He had not been
God, and if long-suffering in Christ were not like Christ Himself, we
should long ago have broken Christ's mercies in two pieces, and put an
iron bar on our salvation, that mercy should not have been able to
break or overleap. But long-suffering in God is God Himself; and that
is our salvation; and the stability of our heaven is in God. He knew
who said, "Christ in you the hope of glory" (Col. i. 27) (for our
hope, and the bottom and pillars of it, is Christ-God!), that sinners
are anchor-fast, and made stable in God. So that if God do not change
(which is impossible), then my hope shall not fluctuate. Oh, sweet
stability of sure-bottomed salvation! Who could win heaven, if this
were not so? and who could be saved, if God were not God, and if He
were not such a God as He is? Oh, God be thanked that our salvation is
coasted, and landed, and shored upon Christ, who is Master of winds
and storms! And what sea-winds can blow the coast or the land out of
its place? Bulwarks are often casten down, but coasts are not removed:
but suppose that were or might be, yet God cannot reel nor remove. Oh
that we go from this strong and immoveable Lord, and that we loosen
ourselves (if it were in our power) from Him! Alas! our green and
young love hath not taken with Christ, being unacquainted with Him. He
is such a wide, and broad, and deep, and high, and surpassing
sweetness, that our love is too little for Him. But oh, if our love,
little as it is, could take band with His great and huge sweetness,
and transcendent excellency! Oh, thrice blessed, and eternally
blessed are they, who are out of themselves, and above themselves,
that they may be in love united to Him!
[307] _For_; _i.e._ instead of.
I am often rolling up and down the thoughts of my faint and sick
desires of expressing Christ's glory before His people. But I see not
through the throng of impediments, and cannot find eyes to look
higher; and so I put many things in Christ's way to hinder Him, that I
know He would but laugh at, and with one stride set His foot over them
all. I know not if my Lord will bring me to His sanctuary or not; but
I know that He hath the placing of me, either within or without the
house, and that nothing will be done without Him. But I am often
thinking and saying within myself, that my days flee away, and I see
no good, neither yet Christ's work thriving; and it is like that the
grave shall prevent[308] the answer of my desires of saving souls as I
would. But, alas! I cannot make right work of His ways; I neither
spell nor read my Lord's providence aright. My thoughts go away that I
fear they meet not God; for it is likely that God will not come the
way of my thoughts. And I cannot be taught to crucify to Him my wisdom
and desires, and to make Him King over my thoughts; for I would have a
princedom over my thoughts, and would boldly and blindly prescribe to
God, and guide myself in a way of my own making. But I hold my peace
here; let Him do His will.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweetest Lord and Master,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
[308] Come before.
CXC.--_To_ CARSLUTH (_Kirkmabreck_).
[The name of the person to whom this letter is addressed, was
Robert Brown of Carsluth. He was a man of considerable property
in the part of the country where Rutherford's lot was cast
previous to his imprisonment. He must have died about the
beginning of the year 1658, as on the 27th of April, that year,
Thomas Brown of Carsluth is retoured heir of Robert Brown of
Carsluth, his father, in the 7 merkland of Carsluth, etc. ("Inq.
Retor. Abbrev. Kirkcud."). Brown of Carsluth was an ancient
family. Gilbert Brown, abbot of New Abbey, near Dumfries, who
disputed with John Welsh, was of the family.
On the shore of Wigtown Bay, not far from Creetown, you see the
old tower-like house, with a farm, well wooded. It is near the
modern residence of Kirkdale.]
(_NECESSITY OF MAKING SURE OF SALVATION--VANITY OF THE WORLD--NOTHING
WORTH HAVING BUT CHRIST--FLIGHT OF TIME._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--I long to hear how your soul prospereth. I
earnestly desire you to try how matters stand between your soul and
the Lord. Think it no easy matter to take heaven by violence.
Salvation cometh now to the most part of men in a night-dream. There
is no scarcity of faith now, such as it is; for ye shall not now light
upon the man who will not say he hath faith in Christ. But, alas!
dreams make no man's rights.
Worthy Sir, I beseech you in the Lord to give your soul no rest till
ye have real assurance, and Christ's rights confirmed and sealed to
your soul. The common faith, and country-holiness, and week-day zeal,
that is among people, will never bring men to heaven. Take pains for
your salvation; for in that day, when ye shall see many men's labours
and conquests and idol-riches lying in ashes, when the earth and all
the works thereof shall be burnt with fire, oh how dear a price would
your soul give for God's favour in Christ! It is a blessed thing to
see Christ with up-sun, and to read over your papers and soul-accounts
with fair day-light. It will not be time to cry for a lamp when the
Bridegroom is entered into His chamber, and the door shut. Fy, fy upon
blinded and debased souls, who are committing whoredom with this
idol-clay, and hunting a poor, wretched, hungry heaven, a hungry
breakfast, a day's meat from this hungry world, with the forfeiting of
God's favour, and the _drinking over_ their heaven (_over the board_,
as men used to speak), for the laughter and sports of this short
forenoon! All that is under this vault of heaven, and betwixt us and
death, and on this side of sun and moon, is but toys, night-visions,
head-fancies, poor shadows, watery froth, godless vanities at their
best, and black hearts, and salt and sour miseries, sugared over and
confected with an hour's laughter or two, and the conceit of riches,
honour, vain, vain court, and lawless pleasures. Sir, if ye look both
to the laughing side and to the weeping side of this world, and if ye
look not only upon the skin and colour of things, but into their
inwards, and the heart of their excellency, ye shall see that one look
of Christ's sweet and lovely eye, one kiss of His fairest face, is
worth ten thousand worlds of such rotten stuff, as the foolish sons of
men set their hearts upon. Oh, Sir, turn, turn your heart to the
other side of things, and get it once free of these entanglements, to
consider eternity, death, the clay bed, the grave, awsome judgment,
everlasting burning quick in hell, where death would give as great a
price (if there were a market, wherein death might be bought and sold)
as all the world. Consider heaven and glory. But, alas! why speak I of
considering those things, which have not entered into the heart of man
to consider? Look into those depths (without a bottom) of loveliness,
sweetness, beauty, excellency, glory, goodness, grace, and mercy, that
are in Christ; and ye shall then cry down the whole world, and all the
glory of it, even when it is come to the summer-bloom; and ye shall
cry, "Up with Christ, up with Christ's Father, up with eternity of
glory!" Sir, there is a great deal less sand in your glass than when I
saw you, and your afternoon is nearer even-tide now than it was. As a
flood carried back to the sea, so doth the Lord's swift post, Time,
carry you and your life with wings to the grave. Ye eat and drink, but
time standeth not still; ye laugh, but your day fleeth away; ye sleep,
but your hours are reckoned and put by hand. Oh how soon will time
shut you out of the poor, and cold, and hungry inn of this life! And
then what will yesterday's short-born pleasures do to you, but be as a
snow-ball melted away many years since? Or worse! for the memory of
these pleasures useth to fill the soul with bitterness. Time and
experience will prove this to be true; and dying men, if they could
speak, would make this good. Lay no more on the creatures than they
are able to carry. Lay your soul and your weights upon God. Make Him
your only, only Best-beloved. Your errand to this life is to make sure
an eternity of glory to your soul, and to match your soul with Christ.
Your love, if it were more than all the love of angels in one, is
Christ's due: other things worthy in themselves, in respect of Christ,
are not worth a windlestraw, or a drink of cold water. I doubt not but
in death ye shall see all things more distinctly, and that then the
world shall bear no more bulk than it is worth, and that then it shall
couch and be contracted into nothing; and ye shall see Christ longer,
higher, broader, and deeper than ever He was. O blessed conquest, to
lose all things, and to gain Christ! I know not what ye have, if ye
want Christ! Alas! how poor is your gain, if the earth were all yours
in free heritage, holding it of no man of clay, if Christ be not
yours! Oh, seek all midses, lay all oars in the water, put forth all
your power, and bend all your endeavours, to put away and part with
all things, that ye may gain and enjoy Christ. Try and search His
word, and strive to go a step above and beyond ordinary professors;
and resolve to sweat more and run faster than they do, for salvation.
Men's midway, cold, and wise courses in godliness, and their
neighbour-like, cold, and wise pace to heaven, will cause many a man
to want his lodging at night, and to lie in the fields. I recommend
Christ and His love to your seeking; and yourself to the tender mercy
and rich grace of our Lord.
Remember my love in Christ to your wife. I desire her to learn to make
her soul's anchor fast upon Christ Himself. Few are saved. Let her
consider what joy the smiles of God in Christ will be, and what the
love-kisses of sweet, sweet Jesus, and a welcome home to the New
Jerusalem from Christ's own mouth will be to her soul, when Christ
will fold together the clay tent of her body, and lay it by His hand
for a time, till the fair morning of the general resurrection. I
avouch before God, man, and angel, that I have not seen, nor can
imagine, a lover to be comparable to lovely Jesus. I would not
exchange or niffer Him with ten heavens. If heaven could be without
Him, what could we do there? Grace, grace be with you.
Your soul's eternal well-wisher,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CXCI.--_To_ CASSINCARRIE.
[The mansion of Cassincarrie is a mile from Creetown, in
Kirkmabreck parish. It stands near the road, just after you pass
the stone quarries that help to build Liverpool. It is so
directly opposite Wigtown, that from the windows we might suppose
the godly proprietor looking across, and praying for the martyrs
Margaret Wilson and Margaret M'Lachlan, in 1685.[309] This
correspondent of Rutherford was probably the son of John Mure of
Cassincarrie, who was the second son of John Mure of Rowallan.
Had he been John Mure of Cassincarrie, elder, he would now have
been on the borders of ninety years of age, as his eldest
brother, William Mure of Rowallan, died in 1616, aged sixty-nine;
and in that case, Rutherford would doubtless have enforced his
solemn admonitions by pointed allusions to his advanced period of
life. His son, therefore, is very likely the person to whom this
letter is addressed (Robertson's "Ayrshire Families," vol. iii.
p. 361).]
[309] The exact historical truth of these two martyrdoms is attested
beyond denial by the full record, entered only a few years after the
event, in the Minutes of the Kirk-Session of Penningham, with which
the martyrs were connected.
(_EARNESTNESS ABOUT SALVATION--CHRIST HIMSELF TO BE SOUGHT._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I have been too
long in writing to you. I am confident that ye have learned to prize
Christ, and His love and favour, more than ordinary professors who
scarce see Christ with half an eye, because their sight is taken up
with eyeing and liking the beauty of this over-gilded world, that
promiseth fair to all its lovers, but in the push of a trial, when
need is, can give nothing but a fair beguile.
I know that ye are not ignorant that men come not to this world, as
some do to a market, to see and to be seen; or as some come to behold
a May-game, and only to behold, and to go home again. Ye come hither
to treat with God, and to tryst with Him in His Christ for salvation
to your soul, and to seek reconciliation with an angry, wrathful God,
in a covenant of peace made to you in Christ; and this is more than
ordinary sport, or the play that the greatest part of the world give
their heart unto. And, therefore, worthy Sir, I pray you, by the
salvation of your soul, and by the mercy of God, and your compearance
before Christ, do this in sad earnest, and let not salvation be your
by-work or your holy-day's talk only, or a work by the way. For men
think that this may be done on three days' space on a feather bed,
when death and they are fallen in hands together, and that with a word
or two they shall make their soul-matters right. Alas! this is to sit
loose and unsure in the matters of our salvation. Nay, the seeking of
this world, and of the glory of it, is but an odd[310] and by-errand
that we may slip, so being we make salvation sure. Oh, when will men
learn to be that heavenly-wise as to divorce from and free their soul
of all idol-lovers, and make Christ the only, only One, and trim and
make ready their lamps, while they have time and day! How soon will
this house skail, and the inn, where the poor soul lodgeth, fall to
the earth! How soon will some few years pass away! and then, when the
day is ended, and this life's lease expired, what have men of world's
glory but dreams and thoughts? Oh how blessed a thing is it to labour
for Christ, and to make Him sure! Know and try in time your holding of
Him, and the rights and charters of heaven, and upon what terms ye
have Christ and the Gospel, and what Christ is worth in your
estimation, and how lightly ye esteem other things, and how dearly
Christ! I am sure, that if ye see Him in His beauty and glory, ye
shall see Him to be all things, and that incomparable jewel of gold
that ye should seek, howbeit ye should sell, wadset, and forfeit your
few years' portion of this life's joys. O happy soul for evermore, who
can rightly compare this life with that long-lasting life to come, and
can balance the weighty glory of the one with the light golden vanity
of the other! The day of the Lord is now near-hand, and all men shall
come out in their blacks and whites, as they are; there shall be no
borrowed lying colours in that day, when Christ shall be called
Christ, and no longer nicknamed. Now men borrow Christ and His white
colour, and the lustre and farding of Christianity; but how many
counterfeit masks will be burned, in the day of God, in the fire that
shall burn the earth and the works that are on it? And howbeit Christ
have the hardest part of it now, yet in the presence of my Lord, whom
I serve in the spirit, I would not niffer or exchange Christ's prison,
bonds, and chains, with the gold chains and lordly rents, and smiling
and happy-like heavens of the men of this world. I am far from
thoughts of repenting because of my losses and bonds for Christ. I
wish that all my adversaries were as I am, except my bonds. Worthy,
worthy, worthy for evermore is Christ, for whom we should suffer pains
like hell's pains; far more the short hell that the saints of God have
in this life. Sir, I wish that your soul may be more acquainted with
the sweetness of Christ. Grace, grace be with you.
Yours in his only Lord and Master,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
[310] To be attended to at a leisure moment.
CXCII.--_To the_ LADY CARDONESS.
(_GRACE--THE NAME OF CHRIST TO BE EXALTED--EVERYTHING BUT GOD FAILS
US._)
MISTRESS,--I beseech you in the Lord Jesus to make every day more and
more of Christ; and try your growth in the grace of God, and what new
ground ye win daily on corruption. For travellers are day by day
either advancing farther on, and nearer home, or else they go not
right about to compass their journey.
I think still the better and better of Christ. Alas! I know not where
to set Him, I would so fain have Him high! I cannot set heavens above
heavens till I were tired with numbering, and set Him upon the
highest step and storey of the highest of them all; but I wish I could
make Him great through the world, suppose my loss, and pain, and shame
were set under the soles of His feet, that He might stand upon me.
I request that you faint not; because this world and ye are at yea and
nay, and because this is not a home that laugheth upon you. The wise
Lord, who knoweth you, will have it so, because He casteth a net for
your love, to catch it and gather it in to Himself. Therefore, bear
patiently the loss of children, and burdens, and other discontentments,
either within or without the house: your Lord in them is seeking you,
and seek ye Him. Let none be your love and choice, and the flower of
your delights, but your Lord Jesus. Set not your heart upon the world,
since God hath not made it your portion; for it will not fall to you
to get two portions, and to rejoice twice, and to be happy twice, and
to have an upper heaven, and an under heaven too. Christ our Lord, and
His saints, were not so; and, therefore, let go your grip of this
life, and of the good things of it: I hope that your heaven groweth
not hereaway. Learn daily both to possess and miss Christ, in His
secret bridegroom-smiles. He must go and come, because His infinite
wisdom thinketh it best for you. We shall be together one day. We
shall not need to borrow light from sun, moon, or candle. There shall
be no complaints on either side, in heaven. There shall be none there,
but He and we, the Bridegroom and the bride; devils, temptations,
trials, desertions, losses, sad hearts, pain, and death, shall be all
put out of play; and the devil must give up his office of tempting.
Oh, blessed is the soul whose hope hath a face looking straight out to
that day. It is not our part to make a treasure here; anything, under
the covering of heaven, which we can build upon, is but ill ground and
a sandy foundation. Every good thing, except God, wanteth a bottom,
and cannot stand its lone; how then can it bear the weight of us? Let
us not lay a load on a windlestraw. There shall nothing find my
weight, or found my happiness, but God. I know that all created power
would sink under me, if I should lean down upon it; and, therefore, it
is better to rest on God, than to sink or fall; and we weak souls must
have a bottom and a being-place, for we cannot stand our lone. Let us
then be wise in our choice, and choose and wale our own blessedness,
which is to trust in the Lord. Each one of us hath a whore and idol,
besides our Husband Christ; but it is our folly to divide our narrow
and little love; it will not serve two. It is best then to hold it
whole and together, and to give it to Christ; for we get double
interest for our love, when we lend it to, and lay it upon Christ; and
we are sure, besides, that the stock cannot perish.
Now I can say no more. Remember me. I have God's right to that people;
howbeit by the violence of men, stronger than I, I am banished from
you, and chased away. The Lord give you mercy in the day of Christ. It
may be that God will clear my sky again; howbeit there is small
appearance of my deliverance. But let Him do with me what seemeth good
in His own eyes. I am His clay; let my Potter frame and fashion me as
He pleaseth. Grace be with you.
Your lawful and loving pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CXCIII.--_To_ SIBYLLA MACADAM. [See notice, Letter CXLI.]
(_CHRIST'S BEAUTY AND EXCELLENCE._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I can bear witness in my
bonds, that Christ is still the longer the better; and no worse, yea,
inconceivably better than He is (or can be) called. I think it half a
heaven to have my fill of the smell of His sweet breath, and to sleep
in the arms of Christ my Lord, with His left hand under my head and
His right hand embracing me. There is no great reckoning to be made of
the withering of my flower, in comparison of the foul and manifest
wrongs done to Christ. Nay, let never the dew of God lie upon my
branches again, let the bloom fall from my joy, and let it wither, let
the Almighty blow out my candle, so being the Lord might be great
among Jews and Gentiles, and His oppressed church delivered. Let
Christ fare well, suppose I should eat ashes. I know that He must be
sweet Himself, when His cross is so sweet. And it is the part of us
all, if we marry Himself, to marry the crosses, losses, and reproaches
also, that follow Him. For mercy followeth Christ's cross. His prison,
for beauty, is made of marble and ivory; His chains, that are laid on
His prisoners, are golden chains; and the sighs of the prisoners of
hope are perfumed with comforts, the like whereof cannot be bred or
found on this side of sun and moon. Follow on after His love; tire not
of Christ, but come in, and see His beauty and excellency, and feed
your soul upon Christ's sweetness. This world is not yours, neither
would I have your heaven made of such metal as mire and clay. Ye have
the choice and wale of all lovers in heaven or out of heaven, when ye
have Christ, the only delight of God His Father. Climb up the mountain
with joy, and faint not; for time will cut off the men who pursue
Christ's followers. Our best things here have a worm in them; our
joys, besides God, in the inner half are but woes and sorrows. Christ,
Christ is that which our love and desires can sleep sweetly and rest
safely upon.
Now the very God of peace establish you in Christ. Help a prisoner
with your prayers, and entreat that our Lord would be pleased to visit
me with a sight of His beauty in His house, as He has sometimes done.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CXCIV.--_To_ MR. HUGH HENDERSON, _Minister of Dalry, Ayrshire_.
(_THE WAYS OF PROVIDENCE--BELIEVING PATIENCE._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Who knoweth but the wind may turn into the
west again, upon Christ and His desolate bride in this land; and that
Christ may get His summer by course again? For He hath had ill-weather
this long time, and could not find law or justice for Himself and His
truth these many years. I am sure the wheels of this crazed and broken
kirk run all upon no other axle-tree, nor is there any other to roll
them, and cog them, and drive them, than the wisdom and good pleasure
of our Lord. And it were a just trick and glorious of never-sleeping
Providence, to bring our brethren's darts, which they have shot at us,
back upon their own heads. Suppose they have two strings to their bow,
and can take one as another faileth them, yet there are more than
three strings upon our Lord's bow; and, besides, He cannot miss the
white that He shooteth at. I know that He shuffleth up and down in His
hand the great body of heaven and earth; and that kirk and
commonwealth are, in His hand, like a stock of cards, and that He
dealeth the play to the mourners of Zion, and to those that say, "Lie
down, that we may go over you," at His own sovereign pleasure: and I
am sure that Zion's adversaries, in this play, shall not take up their
own stakes again. Oh how sweet a thing is it to trust in Him! When
Christ hath sleeped out His sleep (if I may speak so of Him who is the
Watchman of Israel, that neither slumbereth nor sleepeth), and His
own are tried, He will arise as a strong man after wine, and make bare
His holy arm, and put on vengeance as a cloak, and deal vengeance,
thick and double, amongst the haters of Zion. It may be that we may
see Him sow and send down maledictions and vengeances as thick as
drops of rain or hail upon His enemies; for our Lord oweth them a
black day, and He useth duly to pay His debts. Neither His friend and
followers, nor His foes and adversaries shall have it to say, "That He
is not faithful and exact in keeping His word."
I know of no bar in God's way but Scotland's guiltiness; and He can
come over that impediment, and break that bar also, and then say to
guilty Scotland, as He said, "Not for your sakes" (Ezek. xxxvi. 22,
23), etc. On-waiting had ever yet a blessed issue; and to keep the
word of God's patience, keepeth still the saints dry in the water,
cold in the fire, and breathing and blood-hot in the grave. What are
prisons of iron walls, and gates of brass, to Christ? Not so good as
fail dykes, fortifications of straw, or old tottering walls. If He
give the word, then chains will fall off the arms and legs of His
prisoners. God be thanked, that our Lord Jesus hath the tutoring of
king, and court, and nobles; and that He can dry the gutters and the
mires in Zion, and lay causeways to the temple with the carcases of
bastard lord-prelates and idol shepherds. The corn on the housetops
got never the husbandman's prayers, and so is seen[311] on it, for it
filleth not the hand of mowers. Christ, and truth, and innocency,
worketh even under the earth; and verily there is hope for the
righteous. We see not what conclusions pass in heaven anent all the
affairs of God's house. We need not give hire to God to take vengeance
of His enemies, for justice worketh without hire. Oh that the seed of
hope would grow again, and come to maturity! and that we would
importune Christ, and double our knocks at His gate, and cast our
cries and shouts over the wall, that He might come out, and make our
Jerusalem the praise of the whole earth, and give us salvation for
walls and bulwarks! If Christ bud, and grow green, and bloom, and bear
seed again in Scotland, and His Father send Him two summers in one
year, and bless His crop, what cause have we to rejoice in the free
salvation of our Lord, and to set up our banners in the name of our
God! Oh that He would hasten the confusion of the leprous strumpet,
the mother and mistress of abominations in the earth, and take graven
images out of the way, and come in with the Jews in troops, and agree
with His old outcast and forsaken wife, and take them again to His bed
of love. Grace be with you.
Yours, in our Master and Lord,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
[311] Is left there unreaped; Ps. cxxix. 8.
CXCV.--_To the_ LADY LARGIRIE.
[She was wife of the proprietor of Castermadie, in the Stewartry
of Kirkcudbright. The place was called also _Largero_, or
Largerie, in the parish of Twynholm, near Kirkcudbright.]
(_CHRIST THE EXCLUSIVE OBJECT OF LOVE--PREPARATION FOR DEATH._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I exhort you in the
Lord, to go on in your journey to heaven; and to be content with such
fare by the way as Christ and His followers have had before you; for
they had always the wind on their faces, and our Lord hath not changed
the way to us for our ease, but will have us following our sweet
Guide. Alas, how doth sin clog us in our journey, and retard us! What
fools are we, to have a by-good, or any other love, or match, to our
souls, beside Christ! It were best for us, like ill bairns, who are
best heard at home, to seek our own home, and to sell our hopes of
this little clay inn and idol of the earth, where we are neither well
summered nor well wintered. Oh that our souls would so fall at odds
with the love of this world, as to think of it as a traveller doth of
a drink of water, which is not any part of his treasure, but goeth
away with the using! for ten miles' journey maketh that drink to him
as nothing. Oh that we had as soon done with this world, and could as
quickly despatch the love of it! But as a child cannot hold two apples
in his little hand, but the one putteth the other out of its room, so
neither can we be masters and lords of two loves. Blessed were we, if
we could make ourselves master of that invaluable treasure, the love
of Christ; or rather suffer ourselves to be mastered and subdued to
Christ's love, so as Christ were our "all things," and all other
things our nothings, and the refuse of our delights. Oh let us be
ready for shipping, against the time our Lord's wind and tide call for
us! Death is the last thief, that will come without din or noise of
feet, and take our souls away, and we shall take our leave of time,
and face eternity; and our Lord will lay together the two sides of
this earthly tabernacle, and fold us, and lay us by, as a man layeth
by clothes at night, and put the one half of us in a house of clay,
the dark grave, and the other half of us in heaven or hell. Seek to be
found of your Lord in peace, and gather in your flitting, and put your
soul in order; for Christ will not give a nail-breadth of time to our
little sand-glass.
Pray for Zion, and for me, His prisoner, that He would be pleased to
bring me amongst you again, full of Christ, and fraughted and loaden
with the blessing of His Gospel.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his only Lord and Master,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CXCVI.--_To EARLSTON, the Younger._
(_SUFFERINGS--HOPE OF FINAL DELIVERANCE--THE BELIEVER IN SAFE
KEEPING--THE RECOMPENSE MARRED BY TEMPTATIONS._)
WORTHY AND DEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.--I long to hear from you. I remain still a prisoner of hope, and
do think it service to the Lord to wait on still with submission, till
the Lord's morning sky break, and His summer day dawn. For I am
persuaded that it is a piece of the chief errand of our life (on which
God sent us for some years, down to this earth, among devils and men,
the firebrands of the devil, and temptations), that we might suffer
for a time here amongst our enemies; otherwise He might have made
heaven to wait on us, at our coming out of the womb, and have carried
us home to our country, without letting us set down our feet in this
knotty and thorny life. But seeing a piece of suffering is carved to
every one of us, less or more, as infinite Wisdom hath thought good,
our part is to harden and habituate our soft and thin-skinned nature
to endure fire and water, devils, lions, men, losses, wo hearts, as
those that are looked upon by God, angels, men, and devils. Oh, what
folly is it, to sit down and weep upon a decree of God, that is both
deaf and dumb to our tears, and must stand still as unmoveable as God
who made it! For who can come behind our Lord, to alter or better what
He hath decreed and done? It were better to make windows in our
prison, and to look out to God and our country, heaven, and to cry
like fettered men who long for the King's free air, "Lord, let Thy
kingdom come! Oh, let the Bridegroom come! And, O day, O fair day, O
everlasting summer day, dawn and shine out, break out from under the
black night sky, and shine!" I am persuaded that, if every day a
little stone in the prison-walls were broken, and thereby assurance
given to the chained prisoner, lying under twenty stone of irons upon
arms and legs, that at length his chain should wear into two pieces,
and a hole should be made at length as wide as he might come safely
over to his long-desired liberty; he would, in patience, wait on, till
time should hole the prison-wall and break his chains. The Lord's
hopeful prisoners, under their trials, are in that case. Years and
months will take out, now one little stone, then another, of this
house of clay; and at length time shall win out the breadth of a fair
door, and send out the imprisoned soul to the free air in heaven. And
time shall file off, by little and little, our iron bolts which are
now on legs and arms, and outdate and wear our troubles threadbare and
holey, and then wear them to nothing; for what I suffered yesterday, I
know, shall never come again to trouble me.
Oh that we could breathe out new hope, and new submission every day,
into Christ's lap! For, certainly, a weight of glory well weighed,
yea, increasing to a far more exceeding and eternal weight, shall
recompense both weight and length of light, and clipped, and
short-dated crosses. Our waters are but ebb, and come neither to our
chin, nor to the stopping of our breath. I may see (if I would borrow
eyes from Christ) dry land, and that near. Why then should we not
laugh at adversity, and scorn our short-born and soon-dying
temptations? I rejoice in the hope of that glory to be revealed, for
it is no uncertain glory which we look for. Our hope is not hung upon
such an untwisted thread as, "I imagine so," or "It is likely;" but
the cable, the strong towe of our fastened anchor, is the oath and
promise of Him who is eternal verity. Our salvation is fastened with
God's own hand, and with Christ's own strength, to the strong stoup of
God's unchangeable nature, "I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye
sons of Jacob are not consumed" (Mal. iii. 6). We may play, and dance,
and leap upon our worthy and immoveable Rock. The ground is sure and
good, and will bide hell's brangling, and devils' brangling, and the
world's assaults.
Oh, if our faith could ride it out against the high and proud waves
and winds, when our sea seemeth to be all on fire! Oh, how oft do I
let my grips go! I am put to swimming and half sinking. I find that
the devil hath the advantage of the ground in this battle; for he
fighteth on known ground, in our corrupt nature. Alas! that is a
friend near of kin and blood to himself, and will not fail to fall
foul upon us. And hence it is, that He who saveth to the uttermost,
and leadeth many sons to glory, is still righting my salvation; and
twenty times a-day I ravel my heaven, and then I must come with my
ill-ravelled work to Christ, to cumber Him (as it were) to right it,
and to seek again the right end of the thread, and to fold up again my
eternal glory with His own hand, and to give a right cast of His holy
and gracious hand to my marred and spilled salvation. Certainly it is
a cumbersome thing to keep a foolish child from falls, and broken
brows, and weeping for this and that toy, and rash running, and
sickness, and bairns' diseases; ere he win through them all, and win
out of the mires, he costeth meikle black cumber and fashery to his
keepers. And so is a believer a cumbersome piece of work, and an
ill-ravelled hesp (as we use to say), to Christ. But God be thanked;
for many spilled salvations, and many ill-ravelled hesps hath Christ
mended, since first He entered Tutor to lost mankind. Oh, what could
we bairns do without Him! How soon would we mar all! But the less of
our weight be upon our own feeble legs, and the more that we be on
Christ the strong Rock, the better for us. It is good for us that ever
Christ took the cumber of us; it is our heaven to lay many weights and
burdens upon Christ, and to make Him all we have, root and top,
beginning and ending of our salvation. Lord, hold us here.
Now to this Tutor, and rich Lord, I recommend you. Hold fast till He
come; and remember His prisoner.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his and your Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CXCVII.--_To_ MR. WILLIAM DALGLEISH. [Letter CXVII.]
(_THOUGHTS AS TO GOD'S ARRANGEMENTS--WINNING SOULS TO BE SUPREMELY
DESIRED--LONGINGS FOR CHRIST._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I
received your letter. I bless our high and only wise Lord, who hath
broken the snare that men had laid for you; and I hope that now He
will keep you in His house, in despite of the powers of hell. Who
knoweth, but the streets of our Jerusalem shall yet be filled with
young men, and with old men, and boys, and women with child? and that
they shall plant vines in the mountains of Samaria? I am sure that the
wheels, paces, and motions of this poor church are tempered and ruled,
not as men would, but according to the good pleasure and infinite
wisdom of our only wise Lord.
I am here, waiting in hope that my innocency, in this honourable
cause, shall melt this cloud that men have casten over me. I know that
my Lord had His own quarrels against me, and that my dross stood in
need of this hot furnace. But I rejoice in this, that fair truth,
beautiful truth (whose glory my Lord cleareth to me more and more),
beareth me company; that my weak aims to honour my Master, in bringing
guests to His house, now swell upon me in comforts; that I am not
afraid to want a witness in heaven; and that it was my joy to have a
crown put upon Christ's head in that country. Oh, what joy would I
have, to see the wind turn upon the enemies of the cross of Christ,
and to see my Lord Jesus restored, with the voice of praise, to His
own free throne again! and to be brought amongst you, to see the
beauty of the Lord's house!
I hope that country will not be so silly as to suffer men to pluck you
away from them; and that ye will use means to keep my place empty, and
to bring me back again to the people to whom I have Christ's right,
and His church's lawful calling.
Dear brother, let Christ be dearer and dearer to you. Let the conquest
of souls be top and root, flower and bloom of your joys and desires,
on this side of sun and moon. And in the day when the Lord shall pull
up the four stakes of this clay tent of the earth, and the last pickle
of sand shall be at the nick of falling down in your watch-glass, and
the Master shall call the servants of the vineyard to give them their
hire, ye will esteem the bloom of this world's glory like the colours
of the rainbow, that no man can put into his purse and treasure. Your
labour and pains will then smile upon you.
My Lord now hath given me experience (howbeit weak and small) that our
best fare here is hunger. We are but at God's by-board in this lower
house; we have cause to long for supper-time, and the high table, up
in the high palace. This world deserveth nothing but the outer court
of our soul. Lord, hasten the marriage-supper of the Lamb! I find it
still peace to give up with this present world, as with an old
decourted and cast off lover. My bread and drink in it is not so much
worth, that I should not loathe the inns, and pack up my desires for
Christ, whom[312] I have sent out to the feckless creatures in it.
[312] Pack up for Christ the desires which I used to send out to the
worthless things of earth.
Grace, grace be with you.
Your affectionate brother, and Christ's prisoner,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CXCVIII.--_To the_ LAIRD OF CALLY.
[Of JOHN LENNOX, Laird of Cally, near Girthon, in the Stewartry of
Kirkcudbright, to whom this letter is addressed, little is now known.
He must have died previous to the 26th of January 1647, as at that
date John Lennox of Cally is retoured heir of John Lennox of Cally,
his father, "in the 20 pound land of Caliegertown, the 10 merk land of
Burley, with mill and fishings of the same, within the parish of
Girthon."
The modern mansion of Cally may be said, with its woods, to overhang
the village of _Gatehouse_, which also is entirely modern, and got its
name from the fact that the lodge, or gatehouse, of Cally was the
first house built on that spot. The old house has disappeared, any
remnant of it being quite hid by the fine old trees of the mansion. It
is properly in the parish of Girthon, but borders on Anwoth. The land
of "Calie-gerton," mentioned in the above extract, is evidently "Cally
in Girthon." _Gatehouse_ is one-half in Anwoth, and one-half in
Girthon. The old parish church of Girthon is very like that of Anwoth,
and more ivy-covered. It is in shape the same, 64 feet by 20. The
martyr _Lennox_ is buried close to the door; a slab marks the spot. It
is 2½ miles from Gatehouse. The Free Church of Anwoth is in
Gatehouse, the church being on the _Girthon_ side of the stream (the
Fleet), and the manse on the _Anwoth_ side. The Fleet (which is
navigable by very small vessels thus far) was formerly called Avon,
"the water;" and this is the syllable that appears in both Girth-ON
and An-WOTH,--the former signifying "the village (or enclosure) on the
water;" and the latter, "the _ford_ of the water;" unless "woth" be
for "_worth_," village. The meaning of "Cally" seems to be "wood,"
from the Gaelic, "coille."]
(_SPIRITUAL SLOTH--DANGER OF COMPROMISE--SELF, THE ROOT OF ALL
SIN--SELF-RENUNCIATION._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear
how your soul prospereth. I have that confidence that your soul
mindeth Christ and salvation. I beseech you, in the Lord, to give more
pains and diligence to fetch heaven than the country-sort of lazy
professors, who think their own faith and their own godliness, because
it is their own, best; and content themselves with a coldrife custom
and course, with a resolution to summer and winter in that sort of
profession which the multitude and the times favour most; and are
still shaping and clipping and carving their faith, according as it
may best stand with their summer sun and a whole skin; and so breathe
out hot and cold in God's matters, according to the course of the
times. This is their compass which they sail towards heaven by,
instead of a better. Worthy and dear Sir, separate yourself from
such, and bend yourself to the utmost of your strength and breath, in
running fast for salvation; and, in taking Christ's kingdom, use
violence. It cost Christ and all His followers sharp showers and hot
sweats, ere they won to the top of the mountain; but still our soft
nature would have heaven coming to our bedside when we are sleeping,
and lying down with us that we might go to heaven in warm clothes. But
all that came there found wet feet by the way, and sharp storms that
did take the hide off their face, and found tos and fros, and ups and
downs, and many enemies by the way.
It is impossible that a man can take his lusts to heaven with him;
such wares as these will not be welcome there. Oh, how loath are we to
forego our packalds and burdens, that hinder us to run our race with
patience! It is no small work to displease and anger nature, that we
may please God. Oh, if it be hard to win one foot, or half an inch,
out of our own will, out of our own wit, out of our own ease and
worldly lusts (and so to deny ourself, and to say, "It is not I but
Christ, not I but grace, not I but God's glory, not I but God's love
constraining me, not I but the Lord's word, not I but Christ's
commanding power as King in me!"), oh, what pains, and what a death is
it to nature, to turn me, myself, my lust, my ease, my credit, over
into, "My Lord, my Saviour, my King, and my God, my Lord's will, my
Lord's grace!" But, alas! that idol, that whorish creature, _myself_,
is the master-idol we all bow to. What made Eve miscarry? and what
hurried her headlong upon the forbidden fruit, but that wretched thing
_herself_? What drew that brother-murderer to kill Abel? That
wild[313] _himself_. What drove the old world on to corrupt their
ways? Who, but _themselves_, and their own pleasure? What was the
cause of Solomon's falling into idolatry and multiplying of strange
wives? What, but _himself_, whom he would rather pleasure than God?
What was the hook that took David and snared him first in adultery,
but his _self-lust_? and then in murder, but his _self-credit_ and
_self-honour_? What led Peter on to deny his Lord? Was it not a piece
of _himself_, and _self-love_ to a whole skin? What made Judas sell
his Master for thirty pieces of money, but a piece of _self-love_,
idolizing of avaricious _self_? What made Demas to go off the way of
the Gospel, to embrace this present world? Even _self-love_ and love
of gain for himself. Every man blameth the devil for his sins; but
the great devil, the house-devil of every man, the house-devil that
eateth and lieth in every man's bosom, is that idol that killeth all,
_himself_. Oh, blessed are they who can deny themselves, and put
Christ in the room of themselves! Oh, would to the Lord that I had not
a _myself_, but Christ; nor a _my lust_, but Christ; nor a _my ease_,
but Christ; nor a _my honour_, but Christ! O sweet word! "_I_ live no
more, but Christ liveth in me!" (Gal. ii. 20). Oh, if every one would
put away himself, his own self, his own ease, his own pleasure, his
own credit, and his own twenty things, his own hundred things, which
he setteth up, as idols, above Christ! Dear Sir, I know that ye will
be looking back to your old self, and to your self-lust, and
self-idol, which ye set up in the lusts of youth above Christ.
[313] Untamed, unruly.
Worthy Sir, pardon this my freedom of love; God is my witness, that it
is out of an earnest desire after your soul's eternal welfare that I
use this freedom of speech. Your sun, I know, is lower, and your
evening sky and sunsetting nearer, than when I saw you last: strive to
end your talk before night, and to make Christ _yourself_, and to
acquaint your love and your heart with the Lord. Stand now by Christ
and His truth, when so many fail foully, and are false to Him. I hope
that ye love Him and His truth: let me have power with you, to confirm
you in Him. I think more of my Lord's sweet cross than of a crown of
gold, and a free kingdom lying to it.
Sir, I remember you in my prayers to the Lord, according to my
promise. Help me with your prayers, that our Lord would be pleased to
bring me amongst you again, with the Gospel of Christ.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweetest Lord and Master,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CXCIX.--_To JOHN GORDON of Cardoness, the Younger._
(_DANGERS OF YOUTH--EARLY DECISION._)
DEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I
long exceedingly to hear of the case of your soul, which hath a large
share both of my prayers and careful thoughts. Sir, remember that a
precious treasure and prize is upon this short play that ye are now
upon. Even the eternity of well or wo to your soul standeth upon the
little point of your well or ill-employed, short, and swift-posting
sand-glass. Seek the Lord while He may be found; the Lord waiteth upon
you. Your soul is of no little price. Gold or silver of as much bounds
as would cover the highest heaven round about, cannot buy it. To live
as others do, and to be free of open sins that the world crieth shame
upon, will not bring you to heaven. As much civility and country
discretion as would lie between you and heaven will not lead you one
foot, or one inch, above condemned nature. And therefore take pains
upon seeking of salvation, and give your will, wit, humour, the green
desires of youth's pleasures off your hand, to Christ. It is not
possible for you to know, till experience teach you, how dangerous a
time youth is. It is like green and wet timber. When Christ casteth
fire on it, it taketh not fire. There is need here of more than
ordinary pains, for corrupt nature hath a good back-friend of youth.
And sinning against light will put out your candle, and stupify your
conscience, and bring upon it more coverings and skin, and less
feeling and sense of guiltiness; and when that is done, the devil is
like a mad horse that hath broken his bridle, and runneth away with
his rider whither he listeth. Learn to know that which the apostle
knew, the deceitfulness of sin. Strive to make prayer, and reading,
and holy company, and holy conference your delight; and when delight
cometh in, ye shall by little and little smell the sweetness of
Christ, till at length your soul be over head and ears in Christ's
sweetness. Then shall ye be taken up to the top of the mountain with
the Lord, to know the ravishments of spiritual love, and the glory and
excellency of a seen, revealed, felt, and embraced Christ: and then ye
shall not be able to loose yourself off Christ, and to bind your soul
to old lovers. Then, and never till then, are all the paces, motions,
walkings, and wheels of your soul in a right tune, and in a spiritual
temper.
But if this world and the lusts thereof be your delight, I know not
what Christ can make of you; ye cannot be metal to be a vessel of
glory and mercy. As the Lord liveth, thousand thousands are beguiled
with security, because God, and wrath, and judgment are not terrible
to them. Stand in awe of God, and of the warnings of a checking and
rebuking conscience. Make others to see Christ in you, moving, doing,
speaking, and thinking. Your actions will smell of Him, if He be in
you. There is an instinct in the new-born babes of Christ, like the
instinct of nature that leads birds to build their nests, and bring
forth their young, and love such and such places, as woods, forests,
and wildernesses, better than other places. The instinct of nature
maketh a man love his mother-country above all countries; the instinct
of renewed nature, and supernatural grace, will lead you to such and
such works, as to love your country above, to sigh to be clothed with
your house not made with hands, and to call your borrowed prison here
below a borrowed prison, and to look upon it servant-like and
pilgrim-like. And the pilgrim's eye and look is a disdainful-like,
discontented cast of his eye, his heart crying after his eye, "Fy, fy,
this is not like my country."
I recommend to you the mending of a hole, and reforming of a failing,
one or other, every week; and put off a sin, or a piece of it, as
anger, wrath, lust, intemperance, every day, that ye may more easily
master the remnant of your corruption. God hath given you a wife; love
her, and let her breasts satisfy you; and, for the Lord's sake, drink
no waters but out of your own cistern. Strange wells are poison.
Strive to learn some new way against your corruption from the man of
God, Mr. W. D. [William Dalgleish], or other servants of God. Sleep
not sound, till ye find yourself in that case that ye dare look death
in the face, and durst hazard your soul upon eternity. I am sure that
many ells and inches of the short thread of your life are by-hand
since I saw you; and that thread hath an end; and ye have no hands to
cast a knot, and add one day, or a finger-breadth, to the end of it.
When hearing, and seeing, and the outer walls of the clay house shall
fall down, and life shall render the besieged castle of clay to death
and judgment, and ye find your time worn ebb, and run out, what
thoughts will you then have of idol-pleasures, that possibly are now
sweet? What bud or hire would you then give for the Lord's favour? and
what a price would you then give for pardon? It were not amiss to
think, "What if I were to receive a doom, and to enter into a furnace
of fire and brimstone? What if it come to this, that I shall have no
portion but utter darkness? And what if I be brought to this, to be
banished from the presence of God, and to be given over to God's
serjeants, the devil and the power of the second death?" Put your
soul, by supposition, in such a case, and consider what horror would
take hold of you, and what ye would then esteem of pleasing yourself
in the course of sin. Oh, dear Sir, for the Lord's sake awake to live
righteously, and love your poor soul! And after ye have seen this my
letter, say with yourself, "The Lord will seek an account of this
warning which I have received."
Lodge Christ in your family. Receive no stranger hireling as your
pastor. I bless your children. Grace be with you.
Your lawful and loving pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CC.--_To ROBERT GORDON, Bailie of Ayr._ [Letter CXXIX.]
(_THE MISERY OF MERE WORLDLY HOPE--EARNESTNESS ABOUT SALVATION._)
WORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear from
you. Our Lord is with His afflicted kirk, so that this Burning Bush is
not consumed to ashes. I know that submissive on-waiting for the Lord
will at length ripen the joy and deliverance of His own, who are truly
blessed on-waiters. What is the dry and miscarrying hope of all them
who are not in Christ, but confusion and wind? Oh, how pitifully and
miserably are the children of this world beguiled, whose wine cometh
home to them water, and their gold brass and tin! And what wonder,
that hopes builded upon sand should fall and sink? It were good for us
all to abandon the forlorn, and blasted, and withered hope which we
have had in the creature; and let us henceforth come and drink water
out of our own well, even the fountain of living waters, and build
ourselves and our hope upon Christ our Rock. But, alas! that that
natural love which we have to this borrowed home that we were born in,
and that this clay city, the vain earth, should have the largest share
of our heart! Our poor, lean, and empty dreams of confidence in
something beside God are no farther travelled than up and down the
noughty[314] and feckless creatures. God may say of us, as He said,
"Ye rejoice in a thing of nought" (Amos vi. 13). Surely we spin our
spider's web with pain, and build our rotten and tottering house upon
a lie, and falsehood, and vanity.
[314] In which there is nothing. Other editions read "_naughty_,"
_i.e._ evil.
Oh, when will we learn to have thoughts higher than the sun and moon!
and learn our joy, hope, confidence, and our soul's desires to look up
to our best country, and to look down to clay tents, set up for a
night's lodging or two in this uncouth land! and laugh at our childish
conceptions and imaginations that suck our joy out of creatures--wo,
sorrow, losses, and grief! O sweetest Lord Jesus! O fairest Godhead!
O Flower of men and angels! why are we such strangers to, and far-off
beholders of, Thy glory? Oh, it were our happiness for evermore, that
God would cast a pest, a botch, a leprosy, upon our part of this great
whore, a fair and well-busked world, that clay might no longer deceive
us! But oh that God may burn and blast our hope here-away, rather than
that our hope should live to burn us! Alas! the wrong side of Christ
(to speak so), His black side, His suffering side, His wounds, His
bare coat, His wants, His wrongs, the oppressions of men done to Him,
are turned towards men's eyes; and they see not the best and fairest
side of Christ, nor see they His amiable face and His beauty, that men
and angels wonder at.
Sir, lend your thoughts to these things, and learn to contemn this
world, and to turn your eyes and heart away from beholding the masked
beauty of all things under time's law and doom. See Him who is
invisible, and His invisible things. Draw by the curtain, and look in
with liking and longing to a kingdom undefiled, that fadeth not away,
reserved for you in the heaven. This is worthy of your pains, and
worthy of your soul's sweating, and labouring, and seeking after,
night and day. Fire will fly over the earth and all that is in it;
even destruction from the Almighty. Fy, fy, upon that hope, that shall
be dried up by the root! Fy upon the drunken night-bargains, and the
drunken and mad covenants that sinners make with death and hell after
cups, and when men's souls are mad and drunken with the love of this
lawless life. They think to make a nest for their hopes, and take
quarters and conditions of hell and death, that they shall have ease,
long life, peace; and in the morning, when the last trumpet shall
awake them, then they rue the block. It is time, and high time, for
you to think upon death and your accounts, and to remember what ye
are, and where ye will be before the year of our Lord 1700. I hope ye
are thinking upon this. Pull at your soul, and draw it aside from the
company that it is with and round, and whisper into it news of
eternity, death, judgment, heaven, and hell. Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCI.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Earlston._
(_CHRIST'S KINGDOM TO BE EXALTED OVER ALL; AND MORE PAINS TO BE TAKEN
TO WIN FARTHER UNTO HIM._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--It is like, if
ye, the gentry and nobility of this nation, be "men in the streets"
(as the word speaketh Jer. v. 1) for the Lord, that He will now
deliver His flock, and gather and rescue His scattered sheep, from the
hands of cruel and rigorous lords that have ruled over them with
force. Oh that mine eyes might see the moon-light turn to the light of
the sun! But I still fear that the quarrel of a broken covenant in
Scotland standeth before the Lord.
However it be, I avouch it before the world, that the tabernacle of
the Lord shall again be in the midst of Scotland, and the glory of the
Lord shall dwell in beauty, as the light of many days in one, in this
land. Oh, what could my soul desire more (next to my Lord Jesus),
while I am in this flesh, but that Christ and His kingdom might be
great among Jews and Gentiles; and that the isles, and amongst them
overclouded and darkened Britain, might have the glory of a noon-day's
sun! Oh that I had anything (I will not except my part in Christ) to
wadset or lay in pledge, to redeem and buy such glory to my highest
and royal Prince, my sweet Lord Jesus! My poor little heaven were well
bestowed, if it could stand a pawn for ever to set on high the glory
of my Lord. But I know that He needeth not wages nor hire at my hand;
yea, I know, if my eternal glory could weigh down in weight its lone,
all the eternal glory of the blessed angels, and of all the spirits of
just and perfect men, glorified and to be glorified, oh, alas! how far
am I engaged to forego it for, and give it over to Christ, so being He
might thereby be set on high above ten thousand thousand millions of
heavens, in the conquest of many, many nations to His kingdom! Oh that
His kingdom would come! Oh that all the world would stoop before Him!
O blessed hands that shall put the crown upon Christ's head in
Scotland! But, alas! I can scarce get leave to ware my love on Him. I
can find no ways to lay out my heart upon Christ; and my love, that I
with my soul bestow on Him, is like to die upon my hand. And I think
it no bairn's play to be hungered with Christ's love. To love Him and
to want Him, wanteth little of hell. I am sure that He knoweth now my
joy would swell upon me, from a little well to a great sea, to have
as much of His love, and as wide a soul answerable to comprehend it,
till I cried, "Hold, Lord! no more." But I find that He will not have
me to be mine own steward, nor mine own carver. Christ keepeth the
keys of Christ (to speak so), and of His own love; and He is a wiser
distributor than I can take up. I know that there is more in Him than
would make me run over like a coast-full sea. I were happy for
evermore to get leave to stand but beside Christ and His love, and to
look in; suppose I were interdicted of God to come near-hand, touch,
or embrace, kiss, or set to my sinful head, and drink myself drunk
with that lovely thing. God send me that which I would have! For now I
verily see, more clearly than before, our folly in drinking dead
waters, and in playing the whore with our soul's love upon running-out
wells, and broken sherds of creatures of yesterday, which time will
unlaw with the penalty of losing their being and natural ornaments.
Oh, when a soul's love is itching (to speak so) for God; and when
Christ, in His boundless and bottomless love, beauty, and excellency,
cometh and rubbeth up and exciteth that love, what can be heaven, if
this be not heaven? I am sure that this bit feckless, narrow, and
short love of regenerated sinners was born for no other end, than to
breathe, and live, and love, and dwell in the bosom and betwixt the
breasts of Christ. Where is there a bed or a lodging for the saint's
love, but Christ? Oh that He would take ourselves off our hand! for
neither we nor the creatures can be either due conquest, or lawful
heritage, to love. Christ, and none but Christ, is Lord and Proprietor
of it. Oh, alas, how pitiful is it, that so much of our love goeth by
Him! Oh, but we be wretched masters of our soul's love. I know it to
be the depth of bottomless and unsearchable providence, that the
saints are suffered to play the whore from God, and that their love
goeth a-hunting, when God knoweth that it shall roast nothing of that
at supper time (Prov. xii. 27). The renewed would have it otherwise;
and why is it so, seeing our Lord can keep us without nodding,
tottering, or reeling, or any fall at all? Our desires, I hope, shall
meet with perfection; but God will have our sins an office-house for
God's grace, and hath made sin a matter of an unlaw and penalty for
the Son of God's blood. And howbeit sin should be our sorrow, yet
there is a sort of acquiescing and resting upon God's dispensation
required of us, that there is such a thing in us as sin, whereupon
mercy, forgiveness, healing, curing, in our sweet Physician, may find
a field to work upon. Oh, what a deep is here, that created wit
cannot take up! However matters go, it is our happiness to win new
ground daily in Christ's love, and to purchase a new piece of it
daily, and to add conquest to conquest, till our Lord Jesus and we be
so near each other, that Satan shall not draw a straw or a thread
betwixt us.
And, for myself, I have no greater joy, in my well-favoured bonds for
Christ, than that I know time will put Him and me together; and that
my love and longing hath room and liberty, amidst my bonds and foes
(whereof there are not a few here of all ranks), to go to visit the
borders and outer coasts of the country of my Lord Jesus, and see, at
least afar off and darkly, the country which shall be mine
inheritance, which is the due of my Lord Jesus, both through birth and
conquest. I dare avouch to all that know God, that the saints know not
the length and largeness of the sweet earnest, and of the sweet green
sheaves before the harvest, that might be had on this side of the
water, if we would take more pains: and that we all go to heaven with
less earnest, and lighter purses of the hoped-for sum, than otherwise
we might do, if we took more pains to win further in upon Christ, in
this pilgrimage of our absence from Him.
Grace, grace and glory be your portion.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCII.--_To the_ LAIRD OF CALLY.
(_YOUTH A PRECIOUS SEASON--CHRIST'S BEAUTY._)
WORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I have been too long,
I confess, in writing to you. My suit now to you, in paper, since I
have no access to speak to you as formerly, is, that ye would lay the
foundation sure in your youth. When ye begin to seek Christ, try, I
pray you, upon what terms ye covenant to follow Him, and lay your
account what it may cost you; that neither summer nor winter, nor well
nor woe, may cause you change your Master, Christ. Keep fair to Him,
and be honest and faithful, that He find not a crack in you. Surely ye
are now in the throng of temptations. When youth is come to its
fairest bloom, then the devil, and the lusts of a deceiving world, and
sin, are upon horseback, and follow with upsails. If this were not so,
Paul needeth not to have written to a sanctified and holy youth,
Timothy (a faithful preacher of the Gospel), to flee the lusts of
youth. Give Christ your virgin love; you cannot put your love and
heart into a better hand. Oh! if ye knew Him, and saw His beauty, your
love, your liking, your heart, your desires, would close with Him, and
cleave to Him. Love, by nature, when it seeth, cannot but cast out its
spirit and strength upon amiable objects, and good things, and things
love-worthy; and what fairer thing than Christ? O fair sun, and fair
moon, and fair stars, and fair flowers, and fair roses, and fair
lilies, and fair creatures; but O ten thousand thousand times fairer
Lord Jesus! Alas, I wronged Him in making the comparison this way! O
black sun and moon, but O fair Lord Jesus! O black flowers, and black
lilies and roses, but O fair, fair, ever fair Lord Jesus! O all fair
things black and deformed, without beauty, when ye are beside that
fairest Lord Jesus! O black heaven, but O fair Christ! O black angels,
but surpassingly fair Lord Jesus! I would seek no more to make me
happy for evermore, but a thorough and clear sight of the beauty of
Jesus, my Lord. Let my eyes enjoy His fairness, and stare Him for ever
in the face, and I have all that can be wished. Get Christ rather than
gold or silver; seek Christ, howbeit ye should lose all things for
Him.
They take their marks by the moon,[315] and look asquint, in looking
to fair Christ, who resolve for the world and their ease, and for
their honour, and court, and credit, or for fear of losses and a sore
skin, to turn their backs upon Christ and His truth. Alas, how many
blind eyes and squint lookers look this day in Scotland upon Christ's
beauty, and they see a spot in Christ's fair face! Alas, they are not
worthy of Christ who look this way upon Him, and see no beauty in Him
why they should desire Him! God send me my fill of His beauty, if it
be possible that my soul can be full of His beauty here. But much of
Christ's beauty needeth not abate the eager appetite of a soul (sick
of love for Himself) to see Him in the other world, where He is seen
as He is.
[315] A proverb for being changeable, or for judging by imperfect
evidence.
I am glad, with all my heart, that ye have given your greenest
morning-age to this Lord Jesus. Hold on, and weary not; faint not.
Resolve upon suffering for Christ; but fear not ten days' tribulation,
for Christ's sour cross is sugared with comforts, and hath a taste of
Christ Himself. I esteem it to be my glory, my joy, and my crown, and
I bless Him for this honour, to be yoked with Christ, and married to
Him in suffering, who therefore was born, and therefore came into the
world, that He might bear witness to the truth. Take pains, above all
things, for salvation; for without running, fighting, sweating,
wrestling, heaven is not taken. Oh, happy soul, that crosseth nature's
stomach, and delighteth to gain that fair garland and crown of glory!
What a feckless loss is it for you to go through this wilderness, and
never taste sin's sugared pleasures! What poorer is a soul to want
pride, lust, love of the world, and the vanities of this vain and
worthless world? Nature hath no cause to weep at the want of such toys
as these. Esteem it your gain to be an heir of glory. Oh, but this is
an eye-look to a fair rent! The very hope of heaven, under troubles,
is like wind and sails to the soul, and like wings, when the feet come
out of the snare. Oh, for what stay we here? Up, up, after our Lord
Jesus! This is not our rest, nor our dwelling. What have we to do in
this prison, except only to take meat and house-room in it for a time?
Grace, grace be with you.
Your soul's well-wisher, and Christ's prisoner,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCIII.--_To WILLIAM GORDON at Kenmure._
[This maybe the same correspondent as he to whom Letter LXXII. is
addressed. He may have been on a visit to Kenmure.]
(_TESTIMONY TO CHRIST'S WORTH--MARKS OF GRACE IN CONVICTION OF SIN AND
SPIRITUAL CONFLICT._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I have been long in
answering your letter, which came in good time to me. It is my aim and
hearty desire, that my furnace, which is of the Lord's kindling, may
sparkle fire upon standers-by, to the warming of their hearts with
God's love. The very dust that falleth from Christ's feet, His old
ragged clothes, His knotty and black cross, are sweeter to me than
kings' golden crowns, and their time-eaten pleasures. I should be a
liar and false witness, if I would not give my Lord Jesus a fair
testimonial with my whole soul. My word, I know, will not heighten
Him: He needeth not such props under His feet to raise His glory high.
But, oh that I could raise Him the height of heaven, and the breadth
and length of ten heavens, in the estimation of all His young lovers!
for we have all shapen Christ but too narrow and too short, and
formed conceptions of His love, in our conceit, very unworthy of it.
Oh that men were taken and catched with His beauty and fairness! they
would give over playing with idols, in which there is not half room
for the love of one soul to expatiate itself. And man's love is but
heart-hungered in gnawing upon bare bones, and sucking at dry breasts.
It is well wared[316] they want who will not come to Him who hath a
world of love, and goodness, and bounty for all. We seek to thaw our
frozen hearts at the cold smoke of the short-timed creature, and our
souls gather neither heat, nor life, nor light; for these cannot give
to us what they have not in themselves. Oh that we could thrust in
through these thorns, and this throng of bastard lovers, and be
ravished and sick of love for Christ! We should find some footing, and
some room, and sweet ease for our tottering and witless souls in our
Lord. I wish it were in my power, after this day, to cry down all love
but the love of Christ, and to cry down all gods but Christ, all
saviours but Christ, all well-beloveds but Christ, and all
soul-suitors and love-beggars but Christ.
[316] Their poverty is well-deserved who.
Ye complain that ye want a mark of the sound work of grace and love in
your soul. For answer, consider for your satisfaction (till God send
more) 1 John iii. 14. And as for your complaint of deadness and
doubtings, Christ will, I hope, take your deadness and you together.
They are bodies full of holes, running boils, and broken bones which
need mending, that Christ the Physician taketh up: whole vessels are
not for the Mediator Christ's art. Publicans, sinners, whores,
harlots, are ready market-wares for Christ. The only thing that will
bring sinners within a cast of Christ's drawing arm is that which ye
write of, some feeling of death and sin. That bringeth forth
complaints; and, therefore, out of sense complain more, and be more
acquaint with all the cramps, stitches, and soul-swoonings that
trouble you. The more pain, and the more night-watching, and the more
fevers, the better. A soul bleeding to death, till Christ were sent
for, and cried for in all haste, to come and stem the blood, and close
up the hole in the wound with His own hand and balm, were a very good
disease, when many are dying of a whole heart. We have all too little
of hell-pain and terrors that way; nay,[317] God send me such a hell
as Christ hath promised to make a heaven of. Alas! I am not come that
far on the way, as to say in sad earnest, "Lord Jesus, great and
sovereign Physician, here is a pained patient for Thee." But the
thing that we mistake is the want of victory. We hold that to be the
mark of one that hath no grace. Nay, say I, the want of _fighting_
were a mark of no grace; but I shall not say the want of _victory_ is
such a mark. If my fire and the devil's water make crackling like
thunder in the air, I am the less feared; for where there is fire, it
is Christ's part, which I lay and bind upon Him, to keep in the coal,
and to pray the Father that my faith fail not, if I in the meantime be
wrestling, and doing, and fighting, and mourning. For prayer putteth
not Paul's devil (the thorn in the flesh, and the messenger of Satan)
to the door at first; but our Lord will have them to try every one,
and let Paul fend for himself, by God's help, God keeping the stakes,
and moderating the play. And ye do well not to doubt, if the
ground-stone be sure, but to try if it be so; for there is great odds
between doubting that we have grace, and trying if we have grace. The
former may be sin, but the latter is good. We are but loose in trying
our free-holding of Christ, and making sure work of Christ. Holy fear
is a searching of the camp, that there be no enemy within our bosom to
betray us, and a seeing that all be fast and sure. For I see many
leaky vessels fair before the wind, and professors who take their
conversion upon trust, and they go on securely, and see not the
under-water, till a storm sink them. Each man had need twice a-day,
and oftener, to be riped, and searched with candles.
[317] "_May_" God send me?
Pray for me, that the Lord would give me house-room again, to hold a
candle to this dark world.--Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord and Master,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCIV.--_To_ MARGARET FULLERTON.
(_CHRIST, AND NOT CREATURES, WORTHY OF ALL LOVE--LOVE NOT TO BE
MEASURED BY FEELING._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am glad that ever ye
did cast your love on Christ; fasten more and more love every day on
Him. Oh, if I had a river of love, a sea of love that would never go
dry, to bestow upon Him! But, alas, the pity! Christ hath beauty for
me, but I have not love for Him. Oh, what pain is it to see Christ in
His beauty, and then to want a heart and love for Him! But I see that
want we must, till Christ lend us, never to be paid again. Oh that He
would empty these vaults and lower houses (of these poor souls) of
bastard and base lovers, which we follow! And verily, I see no object
in heaven or in earth that I could ware this much of love upon, that I
have upon Christ. Alas! that clay, and time, and shadows, run away
with our love, which is ill spent upon any but upon Christ. Each fool
at the day of judgment will seek back his love from the creatures,
when he shall see them all in a fair fire. But they shall prove
irresponsal debtors; and, therefore, it is best here, that we look ere
we leap, and look ere we love.
I find now under His cross, that I would fain give Him more than I
have to give Him, if giving were in my power; but I rather wish Him my
heart, than give Him it. Except He take it, and put Himself in
possession of it (for I hope[318] He hath a market-right to me, since
He hath ransomed me), I see not how Christ can have me. Oh that He
would be pleased to be more homely with my soul's love, and to come
into my soul, and take His own! But when He goeth away and hideth
Himself, all is to me that I had of Christ as if it had fallen into
the sea-bottom. Oh that I should be so fickle in my love, as to love
Him only by the eyes and the nose! that is, to love Him only in as far
as fond and foolish sense carrieth me, and no more; and when I see
not, and smell not, and touch not, then I have all to seek. I cannot
love _perqueer_, nor rejoice _perqueer_. But this is our weakness,
till we be at home, and shall have aged men's stomachs to bear
Christ's love.
[318] No doubt He hath--_q.d._ I trust none denies.
Pray for me, that our Lord would bring me back to you, with a new
blessing of the Gospel of Christ. I forget not you. Grace, grace be
with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCV.--_For the Right Honourable my_ LADY VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.
(_DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY TO THE KINGDOM--CHRIST'S LOVE._)
MY VERY NOBLE AND DEAR LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--The
Lord hath brought me safely to Aberdeen: I have gotten lodging in the
hearts of all I meet with. No face that hath not smiled upon me; only
the indwellers of this town are dry, cold, and general. They consist
of Papists, and men of Gallio's metal, firm in no religion; and it is
counted no wisdom here to countenance a confined and silenced
prisoner. But the shame of Christ's cross shall not be my shame.
Queensberry's attempt seemeth to sleep, because the Bishop of Galloway
was pleased to say to the treasurer that I had committed treason;
which word blunted the treasurer's borrowed zeal. So I thank God, who
will not have me to anchor my soul upon false ground, or upon flesh
and blood; it is better to be fastened within the vail.
I find my old challenges reviving again, and my love often jealous of
Christ's love, when I look upon my own guiltiness. And I verily think
that the world hath too soft an opinion of the gate to heaven, and
that many shall get a blind and sad beguile for heaven. For there is
more ado than a cold and frozen "Lord, Lord." It must be a way
narrower and straiter than we conceive; for "the righteous shall
_scarcely_ be saved." It were good to take a more judicious view of
Christianity; for I have been doubting if ever I knew any more of
Christianity than the letters of the name.
I will not lie on my Lord. I find often much joy and unspeakable
comfort in His sweet presence, who sent me hither; and I trust, this
house of my pilgrimage shall be my palace, my garden of delights, and
that Christ will be kind to poor sold Joseph, who is separated from
his brethren. I would be sometimes too hot, and too joyful, if the
heart-breaks at the remembrance of sin, and fair, fair feast-days with
King Jesus, did not cool me, and sour my sweet joys. Oh, how sweet is
the love of Christ! and how wise is that love! But let faith frist and
trust a while; it is no reason sons should offend, that the father
giveth them not twice a-year hire, as he doth to hired servants.
Better that God's heirs live upon _hope_, than upon _hire_.
Madam, your Ladyship knoweth what Christ hath done to have all your
love; and that He alloweth not His love[319] upon your dear child.
Keep good quarters with Christ in your love. I verily think that
Christ hath said, "I must needs-force have Jean Campbell for Myself;"
and He hath laid many oars in the water, to fish and hunt home-over
your heart to heaven. Let Him have His prey, He will think you well
won, when He hath gotten you. It is good to have recourse often, and
to have the door open, to our stronghold. For the sword of the Lord,
the sword of the Lord is for Scotland! And yet two or three berries
shall be left in the top of the olive-tree.
[319] Does not permit you to give the child that love which belongs to
Himself.
If a word can do my brother good in his distress, I know your Ladyship
will be willing and ready to speak it, and more also. Now the only
wise God, and your only, only One, He who dwelt in The Bush, be with
you. I write many kisses and many blessings in Christ to your dear
child: the blessings of his father's God, the blessings due to the
fatherless and the widow, be yours and his.
Your Ladyship's in his only, only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
POSTSCRIPT.
Madam, be pleased at a fit time to try my Lord of Lorn's mind, if his
Lordship would be pleased that I dedicate another work against the
Arminians, to his honourable name.[320] For howbeit I would compare no
patron to his Lordship, and though I have sufficient experience of his
love, yet it is possible that his Lordship may think it not expedient
at this time. But I expect your Ladyship's answer, and I hope that
your Ladyship will be plain.
[320] "What his Lordship's answer was, we are not informed; but
Rutherford did not publish any book at that time, or for some years
afterwards, though it is not improbable that, while under confinement,
he devoted himself much to theological study" (Murray's "Life of
Rutherford").
CCVI.--_For the Right Honourable my_ LADY VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.
(_THE USE OF SUFFERINGS--FEARS UNDER THEM--DESIRE THAT CHRIST BE
GLORIFIED._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your Ladyship.--I long to hear
from you, and that dear child; and for that cause I trouble you with
letters.
I am for the present thinking the sparrows and the swallows, that
build their nests in Anwoth, blessed birds. The Lord hath made all my
congregation desolate. Alas! I am oft at this, "Show me wherefore Thou
contendest with me." O earth, earth, cover not the violence done to
me. I know it is my faithless jealousy, in this my dark night, to take
a friend for a foe; yet hath not my Lord made any plea with me. I
chide with Him, but He giveth me fair words. Seeing my sins and the
sins of my youth deserved strokes, how am I obliged to my Lord, who
amongst many crosses hath given me a waled and chosen cross, to suffer
for the name of my Lord Jesus! Since I must have chains, He would put
golden chains on me, watered over with many consolations. Seeing I
must have sorrow (for I have sinned, O Preserver of mankind!), He
hath waled out for me joyful sorrow,--honest, spiritual, and glorious
sorrow. My crosses come through mercy and love's fingers, from the
kind heart of a Brother, Christ my Lord; and, therefore, they must be
sweet and sugared. Oh, what am I! such a lump, such a rotten mass of
sin, to be counted a bairn worthy to be nurtured, and stricken with
the best and most honourable rod in my Father's house, the golden rod,
wherewith my eldest Brother, the Lord, Heir of the inheritance, and
His faithful witnesses were stricken withal.
It would be thought that I should be thankful and rejoice. But my
beholders and lovers in Christ have eyes of flesh, and have made my
one to be ten, and I am somebody in their books. My witness is above,
that there are armies of thoughts within me saying the contrary, and
laughing at their wide mistake. If my inner side were seen, my
corruption would appear: I would lose and forfeit love and respect at
the hands of any that love God: pity would come in the place of these.
Oh, if they would yet set me lower, and my well-beloved Christ higher!
I would I had grace and strength of my Lord to be joyful, and
contentedly glad and cheerful, that God's glory might ride, and openly
triumph before the view of men, angels, devils, earth, heaven, hell,
sun, moon, and all God's creatures, upon my pain and sufferings;
providing always, that I felt not the Lord's hatred and displeasure.
But I fear that His fair glory be but soiled in coming through such a
foul creature as I am. If I could be the sinless matter of glorifying
Christ, howbeit to my loss, pain, sufferings, and extremity of
wretchedness, how would my soul rejoice! But I am far from this. He
knoweth that His love hath made me a prisoner, and bound me hand and
foot; but it is my pain that I cannot win loose, nor get loose hands
and a loosed heart, to do service to my Lord Jesus, and to speak His
love. I confess that I have neither tongue nor pen to do it. Christ's
love is more than my praises, and above the thoughts of the angel
Gabriel, and all the mighty hosts that stand before the throne of God.
I think shame, I am sad and cast down, to think that my foul tongue,
and my polluted heart, should come in to help others to sing aloud the
praises of the love of Christ: all I dow do, is to wish the choir to
grow throng,[321] and to grow in the extolling of Christ. Wo, wo is me
for my guiltiness seen to few! My hidden wounds, still bleeding
within me, are before the eyes of no man; but if my sweet Lord Jesus
were not still bathing, washing, balming, healing, and binding them
up, they should rot, and break out to my shame.
[321] Grow into a multitude.
I know not what will be the end of my suffering. I have seen but the
one side of my cross; what will be the other side, He knoweth who hath
His fire in Zion. Let Him lead me, if it were through hell. I thank my
Lord, that my on-waiting and holding my peace as I do (to see what
more Christ will do to me), is my joy. Oh, if my ease, joy, pleasure
for evermore, were laid in wadset and in pledge, to buy praises to
Christ! But I am far from this. It is easy for a poor soul, in the
deep debt of Christ's love, to spit farther[322] than he dow leap or
jump, and to feed upon broad wishes that Christ may be honoured; but
in performance I am stark nought. I have nothing, nothing to give
Christ but poverty. Except He would comprise and arrest my soul and my
love (oh, oh, if He would do that!), I have nothing for Him. He may
indeed seize upon a dyvour's person, soul and body; but he hath no
goods for Christ to meddle with. But how glad would my soul be, if He
would forfeit my love and never give it me again!
[322] To show a wish to get at more than he can accomplish.
Madam, I would be glad to hear that Christ's claim to you were still
the more, and that you were still going forward, and that you were
nearer Him. I do not honour Christ myself; but I wish all others to
make sail to Christ's house. I would I could invite you to go into
your Well-beloved's house-of-wine, and that upon my word; you would
then see a new mystery of love in Christ that you never saw before.
I am somewhat encouraged in that your Ladyship is not dry and cold to
Christ's prisoner, as some are. I hope it is put up in my Master's
count-book. I am not much grieved that my jealous Husband break in
pieces my idols, that either they dare not or will not do for me. My
Master needeth not their help, but they had need to be that
serviceable as to help Him. Madam, I have been that bold as to put you
and that sweet child into the prayers of Mr. Andrew Cant, Mr. James
Martin, the Lady Leyes, and some others in this country that truly
love Christ. Be pleased to let me hear how the child is. The blessings
that came "upon the head of Joseph, and on the top of the head of him
who was separated from his brethren," and the "good-will of Him who
dwelt in The Bush," be seen upon him and you. Madam, I can say, by
some little experience, more now than before of Christ to you. I am
still upon this, that if you seek, there is a pose, a hidden treasure,
and a gold mine in Christ, you never yet saw. Then come and see.
Thus recommending you to God's dearest mercy, I rest, your own, in his
sweet Lord Jesus, at all obedience,
S. R.
My Lady Marischall[323] is very kind to me, and her son also.
ABERDEEN, _June 17, 1637_.
[323] Lady Marischall, whose maiden name was Margaret Erskine, being
the eldest daughter of John Erskine, seventh Earl of Mar, by Lady
Margaret Stewart, daughter to Esme, Duke of Lennox, was the wife of
William, sixth Earl of Marischall. In 1635 she became a widow, his
Lordship having died on the 28th of October that year, aged about
fifty. She had to him seven children, four sons and three daughters
(Douglas' "Peerage").
Lady Marischall's son, whose kindness also Rutherford gratefully
records, was William, who succeeded his father. He was a devoted
adherent of Charles II.; and entering with zeal into the engagement in
1648 for the King's liberation, commanded a regiment of horse at the
battle of Preston, where the Scottish army was routed by the English.
When he and others of the King's friends, who had assembled at Alyth
in 1650 for the support of the royal cause, were surprised by a large
body of English horse, the Earl and some of his friends were sent
prisoners to the Tower of London by sea, where he was kept for a long
time. He died in 1670, at his house of Inverringie.
CCVII.--TO JOHN HENDERSON, _in Rusco_.
[He was probably tenant in the farm of Rusco, which is at the
foot of the hill Castramont, a farm on the property of Gordon of
Rusco.]
(_PRACTICAL HINTS_.)
LOVING FRIEND,--I earnestly desire your salvation. Know the Lord and
seek Christ. You have a soul that cannot die: see for a lodging to
your poor soul; for that house of clay will fall. Heaven or nothing!
either Christ or nothing! Use prayer in your house, and set your
thoughts often upon death and judgment. It is dangerous to be loose in
the matter of your salvation. Few are saved; men go to heaven in ones
and twos, and the whole world lieth in sin. Love your enemies, and
stand by the truth which I have taught you, in all things. Fear not
men, but let God be your fear. Your time will not be long: make the
seeking of Christ your daily task. Ye may, when ye are in the fields,
speak to God. Seek a broken heart for sin; for without that there is
no meeting with Christ. I speak this to your wife, as well as to
yourself. I desire your sister, in her fears and doubtings, to fasten
her grips on Christ's love. I forbid her to doubt; for Christ loveth
her, and hath her name written in His book. Her salvation is fast
coming. Christ her Lord is not slow in coming, nor slack in His
promise.
Grace be with you.
Your loving pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
CCVIII.--_To MR. ALEXANDER COLVILLE of Blair._ [Letter XCIX.]
(_REGRETS FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO PREACH--LONGINGS FOR CHRIST._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I would desire
to know how my Lord took my letter, which I sent him, and how he is. I
desire nothing, but that he may be fast and honest to my royal Master
and King.
I am well every way, all praise to Him in whose books I must stand for
ever as His debtor! Only my silence paineth me. I had one joy out of
heaven, next to Christ my Lord, and that was to preach Him to this
faithless generation; and they have taken that from me. It was to me
as the poor man's one eye, and they have put out that eye. I know that
the violence done to me, and His poor bereft bride, is come up before
the Lord; and, suppose that I see not the other side of my cross, or
what my Lord will bring out of it, yet I believe that the vision shall
not tarry, and that Christ is on His journey for my deliverance. He
goeth not slowly, but passeth over ten mountains at one stride. In the
meantime, I am pained with His love, because I want real possession.
When Christ cometh, He stayeth not long; but certainly, the blowing of
His breath upon a poor soul is heaven upon earth; and when the wind
turneth into the north, and He goeth away, I die, till the wind change
into the west, and He visit His prisoner. But He holdeth me not often
at His door. I am richly repaid for suffering for Him. Oh, if all
Scotland were as I am, except my bonds! Oh, what pain I have, because
I cannot get Him praised by my sufferings! Oh that heaven (within and
without) and the earth were paper, and all the rivers, fountains, and
seas were ink, and I able to write all the paper (within and without)
full of His praises, and love, and excellency, to be read by man and
angel! Nay, this is little; I owe my heaven to Christ; and do desire,
howbeit I should never enter in at the gates of the new Jerusalem, to
send my love and my praises over the wall to Christ. Alas, that time
and days lie betwixt Him and me, and adjourn our meeting! It is my
part to cry, "Oh, when will the night be past, and the day dawn, that
we shall see one another!"
Be pleased to remember my service to my Lord, to whom I wrote; and
show him that, for his affection to me, I cannot but pray for him, and
earnestly desire that Christ miss him not out of the roll of those who
are His witnesses, now when His kingly honour is called in question.
It is his honour to hold up Christ's royal train, and to be an
instrument to hold the crown upon Christ's head. Show him, because I
love his true honour and standing, that this is my earnest desire for
him.
Now I bless you; and the prayers of Christ's prisoner come upon you;
and His sweetest presence, whom ye serve in the Spirit, accompany you.
Yours, at all obliged obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 23, 1637_.
CCIX.--_To his Reverend and Dear Brother_, MR. JOHN NEVAY. [Letter
CLXXIX.]
(_CHRIST'S SURPASSING EXCELLENCY--HIS CAUSE IN SCOTLAND._)
MY REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I
have exceedingly many whom I write to, else I would be kinder in
paper.
I rejoice that my sweet Master hath any to back Him. Thick, thick may
my royal King's court be. Oh that His kingdom might grow! It were my
joy to have His house full of guests.
Except that I have some cloudy days, for the most part I have a king's
life with Christ. He is all perfumed with the powders of the merchant;
He hath a king's face, and a king's smell. His chariot, wherein He
carrieth His poor prisoner, is of the wood of Lebanon; it is paved
with love. Is not that soft ground to walk or lie on? I think better
of Christ than ever I did; my thoughts of His love grow and swell on
me. I never write to any of Him so much as I have felt. Oh, if I could
write a book of Christ, and of His love! Suppose I were made white
ashes, and burnt for this same truth that men count but as knots of
straw, it were my gain, if my ashes could proclaim the worth,
excellency, and love of my Lord Jesus. There is much telling of
Christ: I give over the weighing of Him; heaven would not be the beam
of a balance to weigh Him in. What eyes be on me, or what wind of
tongues be on me, I care not: let me stand in this stage in the fool's
coat, and act a fool's part to the rest of this nation. If I can set
my Well-beloved on high, and witness fair for Him, a fig for their
hosanna. If I can roll myself in a lap of Christ's garment, I shall
lie there, and laugh at the thoughts of dying bits of clay.
Brother, we have cause to weep for our harlot-mother; her Husband is
sending her to Rome's brothel-house, which is the gate she liketh
well. Yet I persuade you that there shall be a fair after-growth for
Christ in Scotland, and that this church shall sing the Bridegroom's
welcome home again to His own house. The worms shall eat them first,
ere they cause Christ to take good-night at Scotland. I am here
assaulted with the Doctors' guns;[324] but I bless the Father of
lights, that they draw not blood of truth. I find no lodging in the
hearts of natural men, who are cold friends to my Master.
[324] The Aberdeen Doctors.
I pray you, remember my love to that gentleman, A. C. My heart is knit
to him, because he and I have one Master. Remember my bonds, and
present my service to my Lord and my Lady.[325] I wish that Christ may
be dearer to them than He is to many of their place.
[325] The Earl of Loudon and his lady.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _July 5, 1637_.
CCX.--_To my_ LADY BOYD.
(_HIS SOUL FAINTING FOR CHRIST'S MATCHLESS BEAUTY--PRAYER FOR A
REVIVAL._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Few, I believe, know the
pain and torment of Christ's fristed love: fristing with Christ's
presence is a matter of torment. I know a poor soul that would lay all
oars in the water for a banquet or feast of Christ's love. I cannot
think but it must be uptaking and sweet, to see the white and red of
Christ's fair face; for He is white and ruddy, and the chiefest among
ten thousand (Cant. v. 10). I am sure that must be a well-made face of
His: heaven must be in His visage; glory, glory for evermore must sit
on His countenance. I dare not curse the mask and covering that are on
His face; but oh, if there were a hole in it! Oh, if God would tear
the mask! Fy, fy upon us! we were never ashamed till now, that we do
not proclaim our pining and languishing for Him. I am sure that never
tongue spake of Christ as He is. I am still of that mind, and still
will be, that we wrong and undervalue that holy, holy One, in having
such short and shallow thoughts of His weight and worth. Oh, if I
could but have leave to stand beside and see the Father weigh Christ
the Son, if it were possible! But how every one of them comprehendeth
another, we, who have eyes of clay, cannot comprehend. But it is a
pity for evermore, and more than shame, that such an one as Christ
should sit in heaven His lone for us. To go up thither once-errand and
on purpose to see, were no small glory. Oh that He would strike out
windows, and fair and great lights, in this old house, this
fallen-down soul, and then set the soul near-hand Christ, that the
rays and beams of light and the soul-delighting glances of the fair,
fair Godhead might shine in at the windows, and fill the house! A
fairer, and more near, and direct, sight of Christ would make room for
His love; for we are but pinched and straitened in His love. Alas, it
were easy to measure and weigh all the love that we have for Christ,
by inches and ounces! Alas, that we should love by measure and weight,
and not rather have floods and feasts of Christ's love! Oh that Christ
would break down the old narrow vessels of these narrow and ebb souls,
and make fair, deep, wide, and broad souls, to hold a sea and a full
tide (flowing over all its banks) of Christ's love!
Oh that the Almighty would give me my request! that I might see Christ
come to His temple again, as He is minting, and, it is like, minding
to do. And if the land were humbled, the judgments threatened are with
this reservation (I know), "If ye will turn and repent." Oh, what a
heaven should we have on earth, to see Scotland's moon like the light
of the sun, and Scotland's sun-light sevenfold, like the light of
seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of His
people, and healeth the stroke of their wound! (Isa. xxx. 26). Alas,
that we will not pull and draw Christ to His old tents again, to come
and feed among the lilies, till the day break, and the shadows flee
away! Oh that the nobles would go on, in the strength and courage of
the Lord, to bring our lawful King Jesus home again! I am persuaded
that He shall return again in glory to this land; but happy were they,
who would help to convoy Him to His sanctuary, and set Him again up
upon that mercy-seat, betwixt the cherubim. O sun, return to darkened
Britain! O fairest among all the sons of men, O most excellent One,
come home again! come home, and win the praises and blessings of the
mourners in Zion, the prisoners of hope, that wait for Thee! I know
that He can also triumph in suffering, and weep and reign, and die and
triumph, and remain in prison and yet subdue His enemies; but how
happy were I to see the coronation-day of Christ, to see His mother,
who bare Him, put the crown upon His head again, and cry with
shouting, till the earth should ring, "Let Jesus, our King, live and
reign for evermore!"
Grace, grace be with your Ladyship.
Your Ladyship's, at all obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCXI.--_To a Christian Gentlewoman._
(_GOD'S SKILL TO BLESS BY AFFLICTION--UNKINDNESS OF MEN--NEAR THE DAY
OF MEETING THE LORD._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Though not acquainted,
yet at the desire of a Christian brother, I have thought good to write
a line unto you, entreating you, in the Lord Jesus, under your trials
to keep an ear open to Christ, who can speak for Himself, howbeit your
visitations,[326] and your own sense, should dream hard things of His
love and favour. Our Lord never getteth so kind a look of us, nor our
love in such a degree, nor our faith in such a measure of
stedfastness, as He getteth out of the furnace of our tempting fears
and sharp trials. I verily believe (and two sad proofs in me say no
less), that if our Lord would grind our whorish lusts into powder, the
very old ashes of our corruption would take life again, and live, and
hold us under so much bondage, that may humble us, and make us sad,
till we be in that country where we shall need no physic at all. Oh,
what violent means doth our Lord use to gain us to Him, as if indeed
we were a prize worthy His fighting for! And be sure, if leading would
do the turn, He would not use pulling of the hair, and drawing: but
the best of us will bide a strong pull of our Lord's right arm ere we
follow Him. Yet I say not this, as if our Lord always measured
afflictions by so many ounce-weights, answerable to the grain-weights
of our guiltiness. I know that He doth in many (and possibly in you)
seek nothing so much as faith, that can endure summer and winter in
their extremity. Oh, how precious to the Lord are faith and love, that
when threshed, beaten, and chased away, and bosted as it were by God
Himself, doth yet look warm-like, love-like, kind-like, and life-like,
home-over to Christ, and would be in at Him, ill and well as it may
be.
[326] The afflictions wherewith you have been visited, and your
feelings.
Think it not much that your husband, or the nearest to you in the
world, proveth to have the bowels and mercy of the ostrich, hard, and
rigorous, and cruel; for the Lord taketh up such fallen ones as these
(Ps. xxvii. 10). I could not wish a sweeter life, or more satisfying
expressions of kindness, till I be up at that Prince of kindness, than
the Lord's saints find, when the Lord taketh up men's refuse, and
lodgeth this world's outlaws, whom no man seeketh after. His breath is
never so hot, His love casteth never such a flame, as when this world,
and those who should be the helpers of our joy, cast water on our
coal. It is a sweet thing to see them cast out, and God taken in; and
to see them throw us away as the refuse of men, and God take us up as
His jewels and His treasure. Often He maketh gold of dross, as once He
made the cast-away stone, "the stone rejected by the builders," the
head of the corner. The princes of this world would not have our Lord
Jesus as a pinning in the wall, or to have any place in the building;
but the Lord made Him the master-stone of power and place. God be
thanked, that this world hath not power to cry us down so many pounds,
as rulers cry down light gold, or light silver. We shall stand for as
much as our master-coiner Christ, whose coin, arms, and stamp we bear,
will have us. Christ hath no miscarrying balance. Thank your Lord, who
chaseth your love through two kingdoms, and followeth you and it over
sea, to have you for Himself, as He speaketh (Hos. iii. 3). For God
layeth up His saints, as the wale and the choice of all the world, for
Himself; and this is like Christ and His love. Oh, what in heaven, or
out of heaven, is comparable to the smell of Christ's garments! Nay,
suppose that our Lord would manifest His art, and make ten thousand
heavens of good and glorious things, and of new joys, devised out of
the deep of infinite wisdom, He could not make the like of Christ; for
Christ is God, and God cannot be made. And therefore, let us hold
with Christ, howbeit we might have our wale and will of a host of
lovers, as many as three heavens could contain.
Oh that He and we were together! Oh, when Christ and ye shall meet
about the utmost march and borders of time, and the entry into
eternity, ye shall see heaven in His face at the first look, and
salvation and glory sitting in His countenance, and betwixt His eyes.
Faint not; the miles to heaven are but few and short. He is making a
green bed (as the word speaketh, Cant. i. 16) of love, for Himself and
you. There are many heads lying in Christ's bosom, but there is room
for yours among the rest; and, therefore, go on, and let hope go
before you. Sin not in your trials, and the victory is yours. Pray,
wrestle, and believe, and ye shall overcome and prevail with God, as
Jacob did. No windlestraws, no bits of clay, no temptations, which are
of no longer life than an hour, will then be able to withstand you,
when once you have prevailed with God.
Help me with your prayers, that it would please the Lord to give me
house-room again, to speak of His righteousness in the great
congregation, if it may seem good in His sight.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _July 6, 1637_.
CCXII.--_To William Glendinning._ [Letter CXXXVII.]
(_SEARCH INTO CHRIST'S LOVELINESS--WHAT HE WOULD SUFFER TO SEE
IT--CHRIST'S COMING TO DELIVER._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Ye are heartily welcome to that honour that Christ hath
made common to us both, which is to suffer for His name. Verily I
think it my garland and crown; and if the Lord should ask of me my
blood and life for this cause, I would gladly, in His strength, pay
due debt to Christ's honour and glory, in that kind. Acquaint yourself
with Christ's love, and ye shall not miss to find new golden mines and
treasures in Christ. Nay, truly, we but stand beside Christ, we go not
in to Him to take our fill of Him. But if He would do two things,--(1)
Draw the curtains, and make bare His holy face; and then (2) Clear our
dim and bleared eyes, to see His beauty and glory. He should find many
lovers. I would seek no more happiness than a sight of Him so
near-hand, as to see, hear, smell, and touch, and embrace Him. But oh
closed doors, and vails, and curtains, and thick clouds hold me in
pain, while I find the sweet burning of His love, that many waters
cannot quench! Oh, what sad hours have I, when I think that the love
of Christ scaureth at me, and bloweth by me! If my Lord Jesus would
come to bargaining for His love, I think He might make the price
Himself. I should not refuse ten thousand years in hell, to have a
wide soul enlarged and made wider, that I might be exceedingly, even
to the running-over, filled with His love. Oh, what am I, to love such
a One, or to be loved by that high and lofty One! I think the angels
may blush to look upon Him; and what am I, to fyle such infinite
brightness with my sinful eyes! Oh that Christ would come near, and
stand still, and give me leave to look upon Him! for to look seemeth
the poor man's privilege, since he may, for nothing and without hire,
behold the sun. I should have a king's life, if I had no other thing
to do, than for evermore to behold and eye my fair Lord Jesus: nay,
suppose I were holden out at heaven's fair entry, I should be happy
for evermore, to look through a hole in the door, and see my dearest
and fairest Lord's face. O great King, why standest Thou aloof? Why
remainest Thou beyond the mountains? O Well-beloved, why dost Thou
pain a poor soul with delays? A long time out of Thy glorious presence
is two deaths and two hells to me. We must meet, I must see Him, I dow
not want Him. Hunger and longing for Christ hath brought on such a
necessity of enjoying Christ, that, cost me what it will, I cannot but
assure Christ that I will not, I dow not want Him; for I cannot master
nor command Christ's love. Nay, hell (as I now think), and all the
pains in it, laid on me alone, would not put me from loving. Yea,
suppose that my Lord Jesus would not love me, it is above my strength
or power to keep back or imprison the weak love which I have, but it
must be out to Christ. I would set heaven's joy aside, and live upon
Christ's love its lone. Let me have no joy but the warmness and fire
of Christ's love; I seek no other, God knoweth. If this love be taken
from me, the bottom is fallen out of all my happiness and joy; and,
therefore, I believe that Christ will never do me that much harm, as
to bereave a poor prisoner of His love. It were cruelty to take it
from me; and He, who is kindness itself, cannot be cruel.
Dear brother, weary not of my sweet Master's chains; we are so much
the sibber to Christ that we suffer. Lodge not a hard thought of my
royal King. Rejoice in His cross. Your deliverance sleepeth not. He
that will come is not slack of His promise. Wait on for God's timeous
salvation; ask not when, or how long? I hope He shall lose nothing of
you in the furnace, but dross. Commit your cause in meekness
(forgiving your oppressors) to God, and your sentence shall come back
from Him laughing. Our Bridegroom's day is posting fast on; and this
world, that seemeth to go with a long and a short foot, shall be put
into two ranks. Wait till your ten days (Rev. ii. 10) be ended, and
hope for the crown. Christ will not give you a blind in the end.
Commend me to your wife and father, and to Bailie M. A.; and send this
letter to him.
The prayers of Christ's prisoner be upon you, and the Lord's presence
accompany you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _July 6, 1637_.
CCXIII.--_To ROBERT LENNOX of Disdove._
[_Disdove_, or Disdow, is a farm about two miles from Gatehouse
and a mile from Girthon Manse, a single mansion among trees.
_Lennox's_ name often occurs in the "Minute-book of Comm. of
Covenanters." Was he connected with _Lennox of Cally_?]
(_MEN'S FOLLY IN UNDERVALUING CHRIST--IT IS HE THAT
SATISFIETH--ADMIRATION OF HIM._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I beseech you in
the Lord Jesus, make fast and sure work of life eternal. Sow not
rotten seed: every man's work will speak for itself, what his seed
hath been. Oh, how many see I, who sow to the flesh! Alas, what a crop
will that be, when the Lord shall put in His hook to reap this world
that is ripe and white for judgment!
I recommend to you holiness and sanctification, and that you keep
yourself clean from this present evil world. We delight to tell our
own dreams, and to flatter our own flesh with the hope which we have.
It were wisdom for us to be free, plain, honest, and sharp with our
own souls, and to charge them to brew better, that they may drink
well, and fare well, when time is melted away like snow in a hot
summer. Oh, how hard a thing is it, to get the soul to give up with
all things on this side of death and doomsday! We say that we are
removing and going from this world; but our heart stirreth not one
foot off its seat. Alas! I see few heavenly-minded souls, that have
nothing upon the earth but their body of clay going up and down this
earth, because their soul and the powers of it are up in heaven, and
there their hearts live, desire, enjoy, rejoice. Oh! men's souls have
no wings; and, therefore, night and day they keep their nest, and are
not acquainted with Christ. Sir, take you to your one thing, to
Christ, that ye may be acquainted with the taste of His sweetness and
excellency; and charge your love not to dote upon this world, for it
will not do your business in that day, when nothing will come in good
stead to you but God's favour. Build upon Christ some good, choice,
and fast work; for when your soul for many years hath taken the play,
and hath posted, and wandered through the creatures, ye will come home
again with the wind.[327] They are not good, at least not the soul's
good. It is the infinite Godhead that must allay the sharpness of your
hunger after happiness, otherwise there shall still be a want of
satisfaction to your desires: and if He should cast in ten worlds into
your desires, all shall fall through, and your soul will still cry,
"Red hunger! black hunger!" But I am sure there is sufficient for you
in Christ, if ye had seven souls and seven desires in you.
[327] Like a ship running before the wind.
Oh, if I could make my Lord Jesus market-sweet, lovely, desirable, and
fair to all the world, both to Jew and Gentile! Oh, let my part of
heaven go for it, so being He would take my tongue to be His
instrument, to set out Christ in His whole braveries of love, virtue,
grace, sweetness, and matchless glory, to the eyes and hearts of Jews
and Gentiles! But who is sufficient for these things? Oh, for the help
of angels' tongues, to make Christ eye-sweet and amiable to many
thousands! Oh, how little doth this world see of Him, and how far are
they from the love of Him, seeing there is so much loveliness, beauty,
and sweetness in Christ, that no created eye did ever yet see! I would
that all men knew His glory, and that I could put many in at the
Bridegroom's chamber-door, to see His beauty, and to be partakers of
His high, and deep, and broad, and boundless love. Oh, let all the
world come nigh and see Christ, and they shall then see more than I
can say of Him! Oh, if I had a pledge or pawn to lay down for a seaful
of His love! that I could come by so much of Christ, as would satisfy
greening and longing for Him, or rather increase it, till I were in
full possession! I know that we shall meet; and therein I rejoice.
Sir, stand fast in the truth of Christ that ye have received. Yield to
no winds, but ride out, and let Christ be your anchor, and the only
He, whom ye shall look to see in peace. Pray for me, His prisoner,
that the Lord would send me among you to feed His people.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCXIV.--_To_ MR. JAMES HAMILTON.
[James Hamilton was educated for the ministry in Scotland, but
going over to Ireland, he continued for some time to act as
steward or agent for his uncle, Lord Claneboy. He commenced his
labours as a preacher of the Gospel in 1624, and in the following
year was settled at Ballywater, in the county of Down, in which
charge, says Robert Blair, "he was painful, successful, and
constant, notwithstanding he had many temptations to follow
promotion, which he might easily have obtained" (Blair's "Life").
In August 1636, he and several of his brethren in the ministry
were deposed by Henry Leslie, Bishop of Down, for refusing to
subscribe the canons then imposed on ministers in Ireland. He was
one of those who that year embarked for New England, but who were
forced to return by the adverse state of the weather. After his
coming over to Scotland, he became minister of Dumfries, and
subsequently of Edinburgh, where he continued to labour for
fifteen years. He was a member of the famous Assembly held at
Glasgow in 1638. In March 1644, he and Mr. Weir, minister of
Dalserf, were appointed to administer the Solemn League and
Covenant in Ireland. On their return to Scotland, falling in with
the noted Alaster Macdonnell, the two ministers, with several
others (including Hamilton's father-in-law, Mr. Watson, a
minister in Ireland), were taken prisoners, and carried to Castle
Meagrie, or Mingarry, on the coast of Ardnamurchan, where they
suffered incredible hardships, which brought Mr. Weir and Mr.
Watson to their graves. Hamilton was liberated in May 1645, after
an imprisonment of ten months. In August 1651, when the Committee
of Estates and of the General Assembly, of which he was a member,
were sitting at Alyth, they were apprehended by a party of horse
sent out by Monk, and were shipped for the Tower of London, where
Hamilton was kept two years. Continuing faithful to the
principles, he was ejected from his charge in 1662, upon which he
retired to Inveresk, and died on the 10th of March 1666. "He was
naturally of an excellent temperament both of body and mind;
always industrious and facetious in all the several provinces and
scenes of his life; he was delightful to his friends and
acquaintances, yea beloved of his enemies; he was bold for truth,
and tenacious in everything of moment, though naturally, and in
his own things, among the mildest of men; rich in learning,
intelligent, judicious, he was great in esteem with the greatest
and wisest" (Reid's "History of the Presbyterian Church in
Ireland"). Blair, in his "Life" (p. 136, Wodrow Edit.), mentions
another James Hamilton, minister, first at Killileagh, in
Ireland, and then at Ballantrae, in Scotland. Blair's first wife
was sister to the wife of this James Hamilton of Killileagh, and
her name was Catherine Montgomery of Busby.]
(_SUFFERING FOR CHRIST'S HEADSHIP--HOW CHRIST VISITED HIM IN
PREACHING_.)
REVEREND AND DEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be
to you.--Our acquaintance is neither in bodily presence, nor on paper;
but as sons of the same Father, and sufferers for the same truth.
Let no man doubt that the _state of our question_,[328] we are now
forced to stand to by suffering exile and imprisonment, is, If Jesus
should reign over His kirk, or not? Oh, if my sinful arm could hold
the crown on His head, howbeit it should be stricken off from the
shoulder-blade! For your ensuing and feared trial, my very dearest in
our Lord Jesus, alas! what am I, to speak comfort to a soldier of
Christ, who hath done a hundred times more for that worthy and
honourable cause than I can do? But I know, those of whom the world
was not worthy wandered up and down in deserts, and in mountains, and
in dens and caves of the earth; and while there is one member of
mystical Christ out of heaven, that member must suffer strokes, till
our Lord Jesus draw in that member within the gates of the New
Jerusalem, which He will not fail to do at last; for not one toe or
finger of that body, but it shall be taken in within the city. What
can be our part, in this pitched battle betwixt the Lamb and the
Dragon, but to receive the darts in patience, that rebound off us upon
our sweet Master; or rather light first upon Him, and then rebound off
Him upon His servants? I think it a sweet north wind, that bloweth
first upon the fair face of the Chief among ten thousand, and then
lighteth upon our sinful and black faces. When once the wind bloweth
off Him upon me, I think it hath a sweet smell of Christ; and so must
be some more than a single cross. I know that ye have a guard about
you, and your attendance and train for your safety is far beyond your
pursuer's force or fraud. It is good, under feud, to be near our
ward-house,[329] and stronghold. We can do little to resist them who
persecute us and oppose Him, but keep our blood and our wounds to the
next court-day, when our complaints shall be read. If this day be not
Christ's, I am sure the morrow shall be His.
[328] "_Status quæstionis_"--a theological phrase for the way of
stating a matter under discussion.
[329] _Ward-house_ seems the true reading, though "warhouse" is in the
old editions.
As for anything I do in my bonds, when now and then a word falleth
from me, alas! it is very little. I am exceedingly grieved that any
should conceive anything to be in such a broken and empty reed. Let no
man impute it to me, that the free and unbought wind (for I gave
nothing for it) bloweth upon an empty reed. I am His over-burdened
debtor. I cry, "Down with me, down, down with all the excellency of
the world; and up, up with Christ!" Long, long may that fair One, that
holy One, be on high! My curse be upon them that love Him not. Oh,
how glad would I be, if His glory would grow out and spring up out of
my bonds and sufferings! Certainly, since I became His prisoner, He
hath won the yolk and heart of my soul. Christ is even become a new
Christ to me, and His love greener than it was. And now I strive no
more with Him: His love shall carry it away. I lay down myself under
His love. I desire to sing, and to cry, and to proclaim myself, even
under the water, in His common, and eternally indebted to His
kindness. I will not offer to quit commons with Him (as we used to
say), for that will not be. All, all for evermore to be Christ's! What
further trials are before me, I know not; but I know that Christ will
have a saved soul of me, over on the other side of the water, on the
yonder-side of crosses, and beyond men's wrongs.
I had but one eye, and that they have put out. My one joy, next to the
flower of my joys, Christ, was to preach my sweetest, sweetest Master,
and the glory of His kingdom; and it seemed no cruelty to them to put
out the poor man's one eye. And now I am seeking about to see if
_suffering_ will speak my fair One's praises; and I am trying if a
dumb man's tongue can raise one note, or one of Zion's springs, to
advance my Well-beloved's glory. Oh, if He would make some glory to
Himself out of a dumb prisoner! I go with child of His word: I cannot
be delivered. None here will have my Master: alas! what aileth them at
Him?
I bless you for your prayers. Add to them praises: as I am able, I pay
you home. I commend your diving in Christ's Testament; I would I could
set out the dead man's good-will to His friends, in His sweet
Testament. Speak a prisoner's hearty commendations to Christ. Fear
not, your ten days (Rev. ii. 10) will over. Those that are gathered
against Mount Zion, their eyes shall melt away in their eye-holes, and
their tongues consume away in their mouths, and Christ's withered
garden shall grow green again in Scotland. My Lord Jesus hath a word
hid in heaven for Scotland, not yet brought out.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _July 7, 1637_.
CCXV.--_To_ MISTRESS STUART.
[MRS. STUART is the wife of Provost Stuart of Ayr, of whom see an
account, Letter CLXI.]
(_PERSONAL UNWORTHINESS--LONGING AFTER HOLINESS--WINNOWING TIME._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am sorry that ye take
it so hardly that I have not written to you.
I am judged to be that which I am not. I fear that if I were put into
the fire, I should melt away, and fall down in shreds of painted
nature; for truly I have little stuff at home that is worth the eye of
God's servants. If there be anything of Christ's in me (as I dare not
deny some of His work), it is but a spunk of borrowed fire, that can
scarce warm myself, and hath little heat for standers-by. I would fain
have that which ye and others believe I have; but ye are only
witnesses to my outer side, and to some words on paper. Oh that He
would give me more than _paper-grace_ or _tongue-grace_! Were it not
that want paineth me, I should have a skailed house, and gone
a-begging long since. But Christ hath left me with some hunger, that
is more hot than wise, and is ready often to say, "If Christ longed
for me as I do for Him, we should not be long in meeting; and if He
loved my company as well as I do His, even while I am writing this
letter to you, we should fly into each other's arms." But I know there
is more will than wit in this languor and pining love for Christ; and
no marvel, for Christ's love would have hot harvest[330] long ere
midsummer. But if I have any love to Him, Christ hath both love to me,
and wit to guide His love. And I see that the best thing I have hath
as much dross beside it as might curse me and it both; and, if it were
for no more, we have need of a Saviour to pardon the very faults, and
diseases, and weakness of the new man, and to take away (to say so)
our godly sins, or the sins of our sanctification, and the dross and
scum of spiritual love. Wo, wo is me! Oh, what need is there, then, of
Christ's calling, to scour, and cleanse, and wash away an ugly old
body of sin, the very image of Satan! I know nothing surer than that
there is an office for Christ amongst us. I wish for no other heaven
on this side of the last sea that I must cross, than this service of
Christ, to make my blackness beauty, my deadness life, my guiltiness
sanctification. I long much for that day, when I shall be holy. Oh,
what spots are yet unwashen! Oh that I could change the skin of the
leopard and the Moor, and niffer it with some of Christ's fairness!
Were my blackness and Christ's beauty carded through-other (as we use
to speak), His beauty and holiness would eat up my filthiness. But,
oh, I have not casten old Adam's hue and colour yet. I trow that the
best of us hath a smell yet of the old loathsome body of sin and
guiltiness. Happy are they for evermore who can employ Christ, and set
His blood and death on work, to make clean work to God of foul souls.
I know that it is our sin that we would have sanctification on the
sunny side of the hill, and holiness with nothing but summer, and no
crosses at all. Sin hath made us as tender as if we were made of paper
or glass. I am often thinking, what would I think of Christ and
burning quick together! of Christ and torturing, and hot melted lead
poured in at mouth and navel! Yet I have some weak experience (but
very weak indeed), that suppose Christ and hell's torments were
married together, and if there were no finding of Christ at all except
I went to hell's furnace, that there, and in no other place, I could
meet with Him, I trow, that (if I were as I have been since I was His
prisoner) I would beg lodging for God's sake in hell's hottest
furnace, that I might rub souls with Christ. But God be thanked, I
shall find Him in a better lodging. We get Christ better-cheap than
so: when He is rouped to us, we get Him but with a shower of summer
troubles in this life, as sweet and soft to believers as a May-dew.
[330] Christ's love in the soul would fain cause it to desire harvest.
I would have you and myself helping Christ mystical to weep for His
wife. And oh that we could mourn for Christ buried in Scotland, and
for His two slain witnesses, killed because they prophesied! If we
could so importune and solicit God, our buried Lord and His two buried
witnesses should rise again. Earth, and clay, and stone, will not bear
down Christ and the Gospel in Scotland. I know not if I shall see the
second temple, and the glory of it; but the Lord hath deceived me if
it be not to be reared up again. I would wish to give Christ His
welcome home again. My blessing, my joy, my glory, and love be on the
Home-comer.
I find no better use of suffering than that Christ's winnowing putteth
chaff and corn in the saints to sundry places, and discovereth our
dross from His gold, so as corruption and grace are so seen, that
Christ saith in the furnace, "That is Mine, and this is thine. The
scum and the grounds, thy stomach against the persecutors, thy
impatience, thy unbelief, thy quarrelling, these are thine; and faith,
on-waiting, love, joy, courage, are Mine." Oh, let me die one of
Christ's on-waiters, and one of His attendants!
I know that your heart and Christ are married together; it were not
good to make a divorce. Rue not of that meeting and marriage with such
a Husband. Pray for me, His prisoner. Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCXVI.--MR. HUGH MACKAIL _of Irvine_.
(_ADVANTAGES OF OUR WANTS AND DISTEMPERS--CHRIST UNSPEAKABLE._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I
received your letter. I bless you for it.
My dry root would take more dew and summer's-rain than it getteth,
were it not that Christ will have dryness and deadness in us to work
upon. If there were no timber to work upon, art would die, and never
be seen. I see that grace hath a field, to play upon and to course up
and down, in our wants; so that I am often thanking God, not for
guiltiness, but for guiltiness for Christ to whet and sharpen His
grace upon. I am half content to have boils for the sake of the
plasters of my Lord Jesus. Sickness hath this advantage, that it
draweth our sweet Physician's hand, and His holy and soft fingers, to
touch our withered and leper skins. It is a blessed fever that
fetcheth Christ to the bedside. I think my Lord's "How doest thou with
it, sick body?" is worth all my pained nights. Surely, I have no more
for Christ than emptiness and want; take or leave, He will get me no
otherwise. I must sell myself and my wants to Him; but I have no price
to give for Him. If He would put a fair and real seal upon His love to
me, and bestow upon me a larger share of Christ's love (which I would
fainest be in hands with of anything; I except not heaven itself), I
should go on sighing and singing under His cross. But the worst is,
many take me for somebody, because the wind bloweth upon a withered
prisoner; but the truth is, that I am both lean and thin in that,
wherein many believe I abound. I would, if bartering were in my
power, niffer joy with Christ's love and faith, and instead of the hot
sunshine, be content to walk under a cloudy shadow with more grief and
sadness, to have more faith, and a fair occasion of setting forth and
commending Christ, and to make that lovely One, that fair One, that
sweetest and dearest Lord Jesus, market-sweet for many ears and hearts
in Scotland. And, if it were in my power, to roup Christ to the three
kingdoms, and withal persuade buyers to come, and to take such sweet
wares as Christ, I would think to have many sweet bargains betwixt
Christ and the sons of men. I would that I could be humble and go with
a low sail; I would that I had desires with wings, and running upon
wheels, swift, and active, and speedy, in longing for Christ's honour.
But I know that my Lord is as wise here as I dow be thirsty; and
infinitely more zealous of His honour than I can be hungry for the
manifestation of it to men and angels. But, oh that my Lord would take
my desires off my hand, and a thousand-fold more unto them, and sow
spiritual inclinations upon them, for the coming of Christ's kingdom
to the sons of men, that they might be higher, and deeper, and longer,
and broader! For my longest measures are too short for Christ, my
depth is ebb, and the breadth of my affections to Christ narrowed and
pinched. Oh for an ingine and a wit, to prescribe ways to men how
Christ might be all, in all the world! Wit is here behind affection,
and affection behind obligation. Oh, how little dow I give to Christ,
and how much hath He given me! Oh that I could sing grace's praises,
and love's praises! seeing that I was like a fool soliciting the Law,
and making moyen to the Law's court for mercy, and found challenges
that way. But now I deny that judge's power; for I am Grace's man. I
hold not worth a drink of water, the Law, or any lord but Jesus:--and
till I bethought me of this, I was slain with doubtings, and fears,
and terrors. I praise the new court, and the new landlord, and the new
salvation, purchased in the name of Jesus and at His instance. Let the
Old Man, if he please, go make his moan to the Law, and seek
acquaintance thereaway, because he is condemned in that court; I hope
that the New Man (I and Christ together) will not be heard;[331] and
this is the more soft and the more easy way for me and for my cross
together. Seeing that Christ singeth my welcome home, and taketh me
in, and maketh short accounts and short work of reckoning betwixt me
and my Judge, I must be Christ's man, and His tenant, and subject to
His court. I am sure that suffering for Christ could not be borne
otherwise; but I give my hand and my faith to all who would suffer for
Christ, that they shall be well handled, and fare well in the same
way, that I have found the cross easy and light.
[331] Not be heard lifting up His voice in that court of the Law.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _July_ 8, 1637.
CCXVII.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Garloch._
[ALEXANDER GORDON was proprietor of Garloch, an estate lying in
Kells, about five miles N. W. of New Galloway. It is often
corrupted into "Garroch." He was brother to Robert Gordon of
Knockbrex, formerly noticed. He was a warm promoter of the
Presbyterian cause in his day. Livingstone describes him as a
"very gracious person;" and mentions him as present at a private
meeting for prayer and Christian conference, with a number of
"eminent Christians." John Gordon of Knockbrex, and his brother
Robert, who were publicly executed in 1666, for being concerned
in the insurrection at Pentland Hills, were the grandchildren of
the subject of this notice. See Letter LXV. They were tried for
high treason and rebellion, and sentenced to be hanged at the
Cross of Edinburgh upon the 7th of December that year, their
goods confiscated, their bodies thereafter dismembered, and their
heads fixed on the gate of Kirkcudbright. Other eight were at the
same time condemned; and the arms of all the ten (because they
had with uplifted hands renewed the Covenant at Lanark, previous
to the engagement) were to be cut off and sent to that town, to
be fixed on the top of the prison. This sentence was executed in
all its parts. The case of all the sufferers, but particularly
that of the Gordons, who, as Wodrow informs us, "were youths of
shining piety, and good learning and parts," excited much
sympathy. When turned off the ladder, the two brothers clasped
each other in their arms, and in this affectionate embrace
endured the pangs of death. "They were lovely and pleasant in
their lives, and in their death they were not divided."
Livingstone, in the beginning of his "Historical Relation of his
Life," mentions meetings which he used to hold at Airds (where
Gordon of Earlston at one time resided), and at _Garloch_, or, as
it is printed in different editions, Gairleuch or Garleuch.
Gordon of Garloch was a warm friend to the truth. Gordon, the
"translator of Tacitus," was a descendant of this family.]
(_FREE GRACE FINDING ITS MATERIALS IN US._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--If Christ were as I
am, that time could work upon Him to alter Him, or that the morrow
could bring a new day to Him, or bring a new mind to Him, as it is to
me a new day, I could not keep a house or a covenant with Him. But I
find Christ to be Christ, and that He is far, far, even infinite
heavens' height above men; and that is all our happiness. Sinners can
do nothing but make wounds, that Christ may heal them; and make debts,
that He may pay them; and make falls, that He may raise them; and make
deaths, that He may quicken them; and spin out and dig hells for
themselves, that He may ransom them. Now, I will bless the Lord that
ever there was such a thing as the free grace of God, and a free
ransom given for sold souls: only, alas! guiltiness maketh me ashamed
to apply to Christ, and to think it pride in me to put out my unclean
and withered hand to such a Saviour. But it is neither shame nor pride
for a drowning man to swim to a rock, nor for a shipbroken soul to run
himself ashore upon Christ. Suppose once I be guilty,[332] needforce I
dow not, I cannot, go by Christ. We take in good part that pride, viz.
that beggars beg from the richer; and who so poor as we? and who so
rich as He who selleth fine gold (Rev. iii. 18). I see, then, it is
our best (let guiltiness plead what it listeth) that we have no mean
under the covering of heaven, but to creep in lowly and submissively
with our wants to Christ. I have also cause to give His cross a good
name and report. Oh, how worthy is Christ of my feckless and light
suffering! and how hath He deserved at my hands that, for His honour
and glory, I should lay my back under seven hells' pains in one, if He
call me to that! But, alas! my soul is like a ship run on ground
through ebbness of water. I am sanded, and my love is stranded, and I
find not how to bring it on float again. It is so cold and dead, that
I see not how to being it to a flame. Fy, fy upon the meeting that my
love hath given Christ. Wo, wo is me! I have a lover Christ, and yet I
want love for Him! I have a lovely and desirable Lord, who is
love-worthy, and who beggeth my love and heart, and I have nothing to
give Him! Dear brother, come further in on Christ, and see a new
treasure in Him. Come in, and look down, and see angels' wonder, and
heaven and earth's wonder of love, sweetness, majesty, and excellency
in Him.
[332] Suppose for once that I were guilty, I dare not pass Christ by.
I forget you not; pray for me, that our Lord would be pleased to send
me among you again, fraughted and full of Christ.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCXVIII.--_To_ JOHN BELL, _Elder_.
[There is in the churchyard of Anwoth a tombstone to one of this
name, who died a martyr, and who lived at _Whiteside_. This
person may have been related to him. His name appears at a
petition of the elders and parishioners of Anwoth, presented to
the Commission of the General Assembly, against the removal of
Rutherford from that parish, when applications were made from St.
Andrews and Edinburgh respectively to obtain him. He is
designated "John Bell of Hentoun" (Murray's "Life of Rutherford,"
p. 356). Rutherford here reminds him that "old age was come upon
him." He appears, however, to have lived many years after this;
for so late as January 13, 1657, Marion Bell is retoured "heir of
John Bell of Hentoun, her grandsir," who was probably
Rutherford's correspondent. On the same day she is retoured heir
of "James Bell of Campbelltown in (Twynholm parish), her
guidsir;" and of "John Bell of Campbelltown, her father."
_Henton_ is a small croft, close to the school-house at Laggan,
as you go toward the sea-side from Ardwell to Kirkdale. It was
once a separate property. Before old Anwoth church was pulled
down (see Murray's "Life of Rutherford"), there stood a seat or
pew, on which were cut the letters "J. B." and the date "1631,"
understood to belong to this same person. And (though his
martyrdom occurred after Rutherford was gone to his rest) it may
be interesting here to notice that the ancestor of the martyr,
_John Bell of Whiteside_, in Anwoth, was connected with this
family. Whiteside is half a mile N.E. from Rutherford's Witnesses
on the Skyreburn Road. The ruins of the house where Bell stayed
are pointed out, half a mile from the modern farm; and almost in
the bed of the burn. Near the old ruin is a cave where he died.
The martyr's mother, too, was the grand-daughter of "The guidwife
of Ardwell" (see Letter CI.). His tomb (renewed a few years ago)
is a flat stone near the west end of the old church, with the
date 1685.
"This monument shall tell posterity
That blessed Bell of Whiteside here doth lie;
Who at command of bloody Lag was shot,
A murder strange which should not be forgot.
Douglas of Morton did him quarters give,
Yet cruel Lag would not let him survive.
This martyr sought some time to recommend
His soul to God, before his days did end:
The tyrant said, 'What, Devil? Ye've prayed eneuch
These long seven years on mountain and in cleugh.'
So instantly caused him, with other four,
Be shot to death upon Kirkconnel Moor.
So thus did end the lives of these dear saints
For their adhering to the Covenants."
On the wall is an old slab which contains what seems to be a
general motto for the Bells' burying-ground.]
(_DANGER OF TRUSTING TO A NAME--CONVERSION NO SUPERFICIAL
WORK--EXHORTATION TO MAKE SURE._)
MY VERY LOVING FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I have
very often and long expected your letter; but if ye be well in soul
and body, I am the less solicitous.
I beseech you, in the Lord Jesus, to mind your country above; and now,
when old age (the twilight going before the darkness of the grave, and
the falling low of your sun before your night) is come upon you,
advise with Christ, ere ye put your foot into the ship, and turn your
back on this life. Many are beguiled with this, that they are free of
scandalous and crying abominations; but the tree that bringeth not
forth good fruit is for the fire. The man that is not born again
cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Common honesty will not take men
to heaven. Alas! that men should think that ever they met with Christ,
who had never a sick night, through the terrors of God in their souls,
or a sore heart for sin! I know that the Lord hath given you light,
and the knowledge of His will; but that is not all, neither will that
do your turn. I wish you an awakened soul, and that ye beguile not
yourself in the matter of your salvation. My dear brother, search
yourself with the candle of God, and try if the life of God and Christ
be in you. Salvation is not casten to every man's door. Many are
carried over sea and land to a far country in a ship, while-as they
sleep much of all the way; but men are not landed at heaven sleeping.
The righteous are scarcely saved; and many run as fast as either you
or I, who miss the prize and the crown. God send me salvation, and
save me from a disappointment, and I seek no more. Men think it but a
stride, or step over to heaven; but, when so few are saved (even of a
number "like the sand of the sea--but a handful and a remnant," as
God's word saith), what cause have we to shake ourselves, and to ask
our poor soul, "Whither goest thou? where shalt thou lodge at night?
where are thy charters and writs of thy heavenly inheritance?" I have
known a man turn a key in a door, and lock it by.[333] Many men leap
over, as they think, and leap in. Oh, see! see that ye give not your
salvation a wrong cast, and think all is well, and leave your soul
loose and uncertain. Look to your building, and to your ground-stone,
and what signs of Christ are in you, and set this world behind your
back. It is time, now in the evening, to cease from your ordinary
work, and high time to know of your lodging at night. It is your
salvation that is in dependence; and that is a great and weighty
business, though many make light of the matter.
[333] Mislock, or turn the key so as to push the bolt past the socket
into which it should have been put.
Now, the Lord enable you by His grace to work it out.
Your lawful and loving pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCXIX.--_To_ MR. JOHN ROW.
[John Row, minister of Carnock, was probably the person to whom
this letter is addressed. It could not be his son, of the same
name, who afterwards became minister of St. Nicholas Church,
Aberdeen, and Principal of King's College; for he was at this
time master of the grammar school of Perth, and did not qualify
himself for the ministry till after the overthrow of Prelacy in
1638. John Row of Carnock, the third son of John Row (minister of
Perth, a distinguished Reformer and co-adjutor of Knox), was born
at Perth about the close of the year 1568. He was ordained
minister of Carnock at the end of the year 1592, where he
laboured with great assiduity and success. He opposed the Perth
Articles, and the introduction of Prelacy, with uncompromising
zeal. He is the author of a History of the Kirk of Scotland,
which has been printed by the Wodrow Society. He died on the 26th
of June 1646, aged seventy-eight.]
(_CHRIST'S CROSSES BETTER THAN THE WORLD'S JOYS--CHRIST EXTOLLED._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I received yours. I bless His high and
great name, that I like my sweet Master still the longer the better; a
sight of His cross is more awsome than the weight of it. I think the
worst things of Christ, even His reproaches and His cross (when I look
on these not with bleared eyes), far rather to be chosen than the
laughter and worm-eaten joys of my adversaries. Oh that they were as I
am, except my bonds! My witness is above, that my ministry, next to
Christ, is dearest to me of anything; but I lay it down at Christ's
feet, for His glory and His honour as supreme Lawgiver, which is
dearer to me.
My dear brother, if ye will receive the testimony of a poor prisoner
of Christ, who dare not now dissemble for the world, I believe
certainly, and expect thanks from the Prince of the kings of the
earth, for my poor hazards (such as they are) for His honourable
cause, whom I can never enough extol for His running-over love to my
sad soul, since I came hither. Oh that I could get Him set on high and
praised! I seek no more, as the top and root of my desires, than that
Christ may make glory to Himself, and edification to the weaker (Phil.
i. 14), out of my sufferings. I desire ye would help me both to pray
and praise.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _July 8, 1637_.
CCXX.--_To my Lord_ CRAIGHALL.
(_DUTY OF BEING DISENTANGLED FROM CHRIST--DISHONOURING COMPLIANCES._)
MY LORD,--I persuade myself that, notwithstanding the greatness of
this temptation, ye will not let Christ want a witness of you, to avow
Him before this evil generation. And if ye advise with God's truth
(the perfect testament of Christ, that forbiddeth all men's additions
to His worship), and with the truly learned, and with all the
sanctified in this land, and with that warner within you (which will
not fail to speak against you, in God's time, if ye be not now fast
and fixed for Christ), I hope then that your Lordship will acquit
yourself as a man of courage for Christ, and refuse to bow your knee
superstitiously and idolatrously to wood or stone, or any creature
whatsoever. I persuade myself that when ye shall take good night at
this world, ye shall think it God's truth I now write.
Some fear that your Lordship hath obliged yourself to his Majesty by
promise to satisfy his desire. If it be so, my dear and worthy Lord,
hear me for your soul's good. Think upon swimming ashore after this
shipwreck, and be pleased to write your humble apology to his Majesty;
it may be that God will give you favour in his eyes. However it be,
far be it from you to think a promise made out of weakness, and
extorted by the terror of a king, should bind you to wrong your Lord
Jesus. But for myself, I give no faith to that report, but I believe
that ye will prove fast to Christ. To His grace I recommend you.
Your Lordship's, at all obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _July 8, 1637_.
CCXXI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_HER PRAYERS FOR SCOTLAND NOT FORGOTTEN._)
WORTHY AND DEAREST IN THE LORD,--I rejoice that you are a partaker of
the sufferings of Christ. Faint not, keep breath, believe; howbeit
men, and husband, and friends prove weak, yet your strength faileth
not. It is not pride for a drowning man to grip to the rock. It is
your glory to lay hold on your Rock. O woman greatly beloved! I
testify and avouch it in my Lord, that the prayers ye sent to heaven
these many years bygone are come up before the Lord, and shall not be
forgotten. What it is that will come, I cannot tell; but I know that,
as the Lord liveth, these cries shall bring down mercy. I charge you,
and those people with you, to go on without fainting or fear, and
still believe, and take no nay-say. If ye leave off, the field is
lost; if ye continue, our enemies shall be a tottering wall, and a
bowing fence. I write it (and keep this letter), utter, utter
desolation shall be to your adversaries, and to the haters of the
Virgin-daughter of Scotland. The bride will yet sing, as in the days
of her youth. Salvation shall be her walls and bulwarks. The dry
olive-tree shall bud again, and dry dead bones shall live; for the
Lord will prophesy to the dry bones, and the Spirit shall come upon
them, and we shall live.
I rejoice to hear of John Carson! I shall not forget him. Remember me
to Grizel and Jean Brown. Your husband hath made me heavy; but be
courageous in the Lord. I send blessings to Samuel and William. Show
them that I will them to seek God in their youth.
Grace is yours.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _July 8, 1637_.
CCXXII.--_To my_ LADY CULROSS. [Letter LXII.]
(_CHRIST'S WAY OF SHOWING HIMSELF THE BEST--WHAT FITS FOR
HIM--YEARNING AFTER HIM INSATIABLY--DOMESTIC MATTERS._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am much refreshed with
your letter, now at length come to me. I find my Lord Jesus cometh not
in that precise way that I lay wait for Him; He hath a gate of His
own. Oh, how high are His ways above my ways! I see but little of Him.
It is best not to offer to learn Him a lesson, but to give Him
absolutely His own will, in coming, going, ebbing, flowing, and in the
manner of His gracious working. I want nothing but a back-burden of
Christ's love. I would go through hell, and the thick of the damned
devils, to have a hearty feast of Christ's love; for He hath fettered
me with His love, and run away, and left me a chained man.
Wo is me, that I was so loose, rash, vain, and graceless, in my
unbelieving thoughts of Christ's love! But what can a soul, under a
non-entry (when my rights were wadset and lost), do else, but make a
false libel against Christ's love! I know that yourself, Madam, and
many more, will be witness against me, if I repent not of my
unbelief; for I have been seeking the Pope's wares, some hire for
Grace within myself. I have not learned, as I should do, to put my
stock and all my treasure into Christ's hand; but I would have a stock
of mine own; and ere I was aware, I was taking hire to be the Law's
advocate, to seek justification by works. I forgot that grace is the
only garland that is worn in heaven upon the heads of the glorified.
And now I half rejoice, that I have sickness for Christ to work upon.
Since I must have wounds, well is my soul, I have a day's work for my
Physician, Christ. I hope to give Christ His own calling: it setteth
Him full well to cure diseases.
My ebbings are very low, and the tide is far out when my Beloved goeth
away; and then I cry, "Oh, cruelty! to put out the poor man's one
eye;" and this was my joy next to Christ, to preach my Well-beloved.
Then I make a noise about Christ's house, looking unco-like in at His
window, and casting my love and my desires over the wall, till God
send better. I am often content that my bill lie in heaven till the
day of my departure, providing I had assurance that mercy shall be
written on the back of it. I would not care for on-waiting; but when I
draw in a tired arm, and an empty hand withal, it is much to me to
keep my thoughts in order. But I will not get a gate[334] for Christ's
love. When I have done all I can, I would fain yield to His stream,
and row with Christ, and not against Him. But while I live, I see that
Christ's kingdom in me will not be peaceable, so many thoughts in me
rise up against His honour and kingly power. Surely I have not
expressed all His sweet kindness to me. I spare to do it, lest I be
deemed to seek myself; but His breath hath smelled of the powders of
the merchant, and of the King's spikenard. I think that I conceive new
thoughts of heaven, because the card and the map of heaven which He
letteth me now see is so fair and so sweet. I am sure that we are
niggards, and sparing bodies in seeking. I verily judge that we know
not how much may be had in this life; there is yet something beyond
all that we see, that seeking would light upon. Oh that my
love-sickness would put me to a business, when all the world are found
sleeping, to cry and knock! But the truth is, that since I came hither
I have been wondering that, after my importunity to have my fill of
Christ's love, I have not gotten a real sign, but have come from Him
crying, "Hunger! hunger!" I think that Christ letteth me see meat in
my extremity of hunger, and giveth me none of it. When I am near the
apple, He draweth back His hand, and goeth away to cause me follow;
and again, when I am within an arm-length of the apple, He maketh a
new break to the gate,[335] and I have Him to seek of new. He seemeth
not to pity my dwining and swooning for His love. I dare sometimes put
my hunger over to Him to be judged, if I would not buy Him with a
thousand years in the hottest furnace in hell, so being I might enjoy
Him. But my hunger is fed by want and absence. I hunger and I have
not; but my comfort is to lie and wait on, and to put my poor soul and
my sufferings into Christ's hand. Let Him make anything out of me, so
being He be glorified in my salvation; for I know that I am made for
Him. Oh that my Lord may win His own gracious end in me! I will not be
at ease, while I but stand so far aback. Oh, if I were near Him and
with Him, that this poor soul might be satisfied with Himself!
[334] Fix the way in which He is to show His love. Perhaps we should
read "set" for "get."
[335] Rushes off again toward the road.
Your son-in-law, W. G., is now truly honoured for his Lord and
Master's cause. When the Lord is fanning Zion, it is a good token that
he is a true branch of the vine, that the Lord beginneth first to
dress him. He is strong in his Lord, as he hath written to me, and his
wife is his encourager, which should make you rejoice.
As for your son, who is your grief, your Lord waited on you and me,
till we were ripe, and brought us in. It is your part to pray and wait
upon Him. When he is ripe, he will be spoken for. Who can command our
Lord's wind to blow? I know that it shall be your good in the latter
end. That is one of your waters to heaven, ye could not go about;[336]
there are the fewer behind. I remember you and him, and yours, as I am
able; but, alas! I am believed to be something, and I am nothing but
an empty reed. Wants are my best riches, because I have these supplied
by Christ.
[336] One of the rivers which you could not avoid crossing.
Remember my dearest love to your brother.[337] I know that he pleadeth
with his harlot-mother for her apostasy. I know also that ye are kind
to my worthy Lady Kenmure, a woman beloved of the Lord, who hath been
very mindful of my bonds. The Lord give her, and her child, to find
mercy in the day of Christ! Great men are dry and cold in doing for
me; the tinkling of the chains for Christ affrighteth them: but let my
Lord break all my idols, I will yet bless Him. I am obliged to my Lord
Lorn: I wish him mercy.
[337] James Melville of Hallhill, who succeeded his father, Sir James
Melville. By a charter of the barony of Burntisland, granted to him
16th January 1638, he became Sir James Melville of Burntisland
(Douglas' "Peerage," vol. ii. p. 112).
Remember my bonds with praises; and pray for me, that my Lord may
leaven the north by my bonds and sufferings.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCXXIII.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Knockgray._
(_STATE OF THE CHURCH--BELIEVERS PURIFIED BY AFFLICTION--FOLLY OF
SEEKING JOY IN A DOOMED WORLD._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--There is no
question but our mother-church hath a Father, and that she shall not
die without an heir: her enemies shall not make Mount Zion their
heritage. We see that whithersoever Zion's enemies go, suppose they
dig many miles under ground, yet our Lord findeth them out: and He
hath vengeance laid up in store for them, and the poor and needy shall
not always be forgotten. Our hope was drooping and withering, and man
was saying, "What can God make out of the old dry bones of this buried
kirk?" The prelates and their followers were a grave above us. It is
like that our Lord is to open our graves, and purposeth to cause His
two slain witnesses to rise on the third day. Oh, how long wait I to
hear our weeping Lord Jesus sing again, and triumph and rejoice, and
divide the spoil!
I find it hard work to believe when the course of providence goeth
cross-wise to our faith, and when misted souls in a dark night cannot
know east by west, and our sea-compass seemeth to fail us. Every man
is a believer in daylight: a fair day seemeth to be made all of faith
and hope. What a trial of gold is it to smoke it a little above the
fire! but to keep gold perfectly yellow-coloured amidst the flames,
and to be turned from vessel to vessel, and yet to cause our furnace
to sound, and speak, and cry the praises of the Lord, is another
matter. I know that my Lord made me not for fire, howbeit He hath
fitted me in some measure for the fire. I bless His high name that I
wax not paler, neither have I lost the colour of gold; and that His
fire hath made me somewhat thin, and that my Lord may pour me into any
vessel He pleaseth. For a small wager I may justly quit my part of
this world's laughter, and give up with time, and cast out with the
pleasures of this world.
I know a man who wondered to see any in this life laugh or sport.
Surely our Lord seeketh this of us, as to any rejoicing in present
perishing things. I see above all things, that we may sit down, and
fold legs and arms, and stretch ourselves upon Christ, and laugh at
the feathers that children are chasing here. For I think the men of
this world like children in a dangerous storm in the sea, that play
and make sport with the white foam of the waves thereof, coming in to
sink and drown them; so are men making fool's sports with the white
pleasures of a stormy world, that will sink them. But, alas! what have
we to do with their sports which they make? If Solomon said of
laughter, that it was madness, what may we say of this world's
laughing and sporting themselves with gold and silver, and honours,
and court, and broad large conquests, but that they are poor souls, in
the height and rage of a fever gone mad? Then a straw, a fig, for all
created sports and rejoicing out of Christ! Nay, I think that this
world, at its prime and perfection, when it is come to the top of its
excellency and to the bloom, might be bought with an halfpenny; and
that it would scarce weigh the worth of a drink of water. There is
nothing better than to esteem it our crucified idol (that is, dead and
slain), as Paul did (Gal. vi. 14). Then let pleasures be crucified,
and riches be crucified, and court and honour be crucified. And since
the apostle saith that the world is crucified to him, we may put this
world to the hanged man's doom, and to the gallows: and who will give
much for a hanged man? as little should we give for a hanged and
crucified world. Yet, what a sweet smell hath this dead carrion to
many fools in the world! and how many wooers and suitors findeth this
hanged carrion! Fools are pulling it off the gallows, and contending
for it. Oh, when will we learn to be mortified men, and to have our
fill of those things that have but their short summer quarter of this
life! If we saw our Father's house, and that great and fair city, the
New Jerusalem, which is up above sun and moon, we would cry to be over
the water, and to be carried in Christ's arms out of this borrowed
prison.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCXXIV.--_To FULWOOD, the Younger._
[WILLIAM SEMPLE of Fulwood, in the parish of Houston, near
Kilmalcolm, in Renfrewshire, was probably connected with Semple
of Beltrees, in the parish of Lochwinnoch.]
(_VANITY OF THE WORLD IN THE LIGHT OF DEATH AND CHRIST--THE PRESENT
TRUTH--CHRIST'S COMING._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Upon the
report of this worthy bearer concerning you, I thought good to speak a
word to you. It is enough for acquaintance that we are one in Christ.
My earnest desire to you is, that ye would, in the fear of God,
compare your inch and hand-breadth of time with vast eternity, and
your thoughts of this now fair, blooming, and green world, with the
thoughts which ye will have of it when corruption and worms will make
their house in your eye-holes, and eat your flesh, and make that body
dry bones. If ye so do, I know then that your light of this world's
vanity shall be more clear than now it is; and I am persuaded ye will
then think that men's labours for this clay idol are to be laughed at.
Therefore, come near, and take a view of that transparent beauty that
is in Christ, which would busy the love of ten thousand millions of
worlds and angels, and hold them all at work. Surely I am grieved,
that men will not spend their whole love upon that royal and princely
Well-beloved, that high and lofty One; for it is cursed love that
runneth another way than upon Him. As for myself, if I had ten loves
and ten souls, oh, how glad would I be, if He would break in upon me
and take possession of them all! Wo, wo is me, that He and I are so
far asunder! I hope we shall be in one country and one house together.
Truly pain of love-sickness for Jesus maketh me to think it long,
long, long to the dawning of that day. Oh that He would cut short
years and months and hours, and over-leap time, that we might meet!
And for this truth, Sir, that ye profess, I avow before the world of
men and angels, that it is the way, and the only way to our country;
the rest are by-ways; and, that what I suffer for is the apple of
Christ's eye, even His honour as Lawgiver and King of His church. I
think death too little ere I forsook it.[338] Do not, Sir, I beseech
you in the Lord, make Christ's court thinner by drawing back from Him
(it is too thin already); for I dare pledge my heaven upon it, that He
will win His plea, and that the fools who plea against Him shall lose
the wager, which is their part of salvation, except they take better
heed to their ways. Sir, free grace, that we give no hire for, is a
jewel that our Lord giveth to few. Stand fast in the hope that you are
called unto. Our Master will rend the clouds, and will be upon us
quickly, and clear our cause, and bring us all out in our blacks and
whites. Clean, clean garments, in the Bridegroom's eye, are of great
worth. Step over this hand-breadth of world's glory into our Lord's
new world of grace, and ye will laugh at the feathers that children
are chasing in the air. I verily judge, that this inn, which men are
building their nest in, is not worth a drink of cold water. It is a
rainy and smoky house: best we come out of it, lest we be choked with
the smoke thereof. Oh that my adversaries knew how sweet my sighs for
Christ are, and what it is for a sinner to lay his head between
Christ's breasts, and to be over head and ears in Christ's love! Alas,
I cannot cause paper to speak the height, and breadth, and depth of
it! I have not a balance to weigh the worth of my Lord Jesus. Heaven,
ten heavens, would not be the beam of a balance to weigh Him in. I
must give over praising Him. Angels see but little of Him. Oh, if that
fair one would take the mask off His fair face, that I might see Him!
A kiss of Him through His mask is half a heaven. O day, dawn! O time,
run fast! O Bridegroom, post, post fast, that we may meet! O heavens,
cleave in two, that that bright face and head may set itself through
the clouds! Oh that the corn were ripe, and this world prepared for
His hook! Sir, be pleased to remember a prisoner's bonds. Grace be
with you.
[338] "Ere I could be induced to forsake what concerns His honour, I
must be made to suffer something far more and worse than death."
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _July 10, 1637_.
CCXXV.--_To his Parishioners._
(_PROTESTATION OF CARE FOR THEIR SOULS AND GLORY OF GOD--DELIGHT
IN HIS MINISTRY, AND IN HIS LORD--EFFORTS FOR THEIR
SOULS--WARNING AGAINST ERRORS OF THE DAY--AWFUL WORDS TO THE
BACKSLIDER--INTENSE ADMIRATION OF CHRIST--A LOUD CALL TO ALL._)
DEARLY BELOVED AND LONGED-FOR IN THE LORD, my crown and my joy in the
day of Christ,--Grace be to you, and peace from God our Father, and
from our Lord Jesus Christ.
I long exceedingly to know if the oft-spoken-of match betwixt you and
Christ holdeth, and if ye follow on to know the Lord. My day-thoughts
and my night-thoughts are of you: while ye sleep I am afraid of your
souls, that they be off the rock. Next to my Lord Jesus and this
fallen kirk, ye have the greatest share of my sorrow, and also of my
joy; ye are the matter of the tears, care, fear, and daily prayers of
an oppressed prisoner of Christ. As I am in bonds for my high and
lofty One, my royal and princely Master, my Lord Jesus; so I am in
bonds for you. For I should have slept in my warm nest, and kept the
fat world in my arms, and the cords of my tabernacle should have been
fastened more strongly; I might have sung an evangel of ease to my
soul and you for a time, with my brethren, the sons of my mother, that
were angry at me, and have thrust me out of the vineyard; if I would
have been broken, and drawn on to mire you, the Lord's flock, and to
cause you to eat pastures trodden upon with men's feet, and to drink
foul and muddy waters. But truly the Almighty was a terror to me, and
His fear made me afraid. O my Lord, judge if my ministry be not dear
to me, but not so dear by many degrees as Christ my Lord! God knoweth
the sad and heavy Sabbaths I have had, since I laid down at my
Master's feet my two shepherd's staves. I have been often saying, as
it is written, "My enemies chased me sore like a bird, without cause:
they have cut off my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me"
(Lam. iii. 52, 53). For, next to Christ, I had but one joy, the apple
of the eye of my delights, to preach Christ my Lord; and they have
violently plucked that away from me. It was to me like the poor man's
one eye; and they have put out that eye, and quenched my light in the
inheritance of the Lord. But my eye is toward the Lord: I know that I
shall see the salvation of God, and that my hope shall not always be
forgotten. And my sorrow shall want nothing to complete it, and to
make me say, "What availeth it me to live?" if ye follow the voice of
a stranger, of one that cometh into the sheep-fold not by Christ the
door, but climbeth up another way. If the man build his hay and
stubble upon the golden foundation, Christ Jesus (already laid among
you), and ye follow him, I assure you, the man's work shall burn and
never bide God's fire: and ye and he both shall be in danger of
everlasting burning except ye repent. Oh, if any pain, any sorrow, any
loss that I can suffer for Christ, and for you, were laid in pledge to
buy Christ's love to you! and that I could lay my dearest joys, next
to Christ my Lord, in the gap betwixt you and eternal destruction! O
if I had paper as broad as heaven and earth, and ink as the sea and
all the rivers and fountains of the earth, and were able to write the
love, the worth, the excellency, the sweetness, and due praises of our
dearest and fairest Well-beloved! and then if ye could read and
understand it! What could I want, if my ministry among you should make
a marriage between the little bride in those bounds and the
Bridegroom? Oh, how rich a prisoner were I, if I could obtain of my
Lord (before whom I stand for you) the salvation of you all! Oh, what
a prey had I gotten, to have you catched in Christ's net! Oh, then I
had cast out my Lord's lines and His net with a rich gain! Oh then,
well-wared pained breast, and sore back, and crazed body, in speaking
early and late to you! My witness is above; your heaven would be two
heavens to me, and the salvation of you all as two salvations to me. I
would subscribe a suspension, and a fristing of my heaven for many
hundred years (according to God's good pleasure), if ye were sure in
the upper lodging, in our Father's house, before me. I take to witness
heaven and earth against you, I take instruments in the hands of that
sun and daylight that beheld us, and in the hands of the timber and
walls of that kirk, if I drew not up a fair contract of marriage
betwixt you and Christ, if I went not with offers betwixt the
Bridegroom and you, and your conscience did bear you witness, your
mouths confessed, that there were many fair trysts and meetings drawn
on betwixt Christ and you at communion feasts, and other occasions?
There were bracelets, jewels, rings, and love-letters, sent to you by
the Bridegroom. It was told you what a fair dowry ye should have, and
what a house your Husband and ye should dwell in, and what was the
Bridegroom's excellency, sweetness, might, power, the eternity and
glory of His kingdom, the exceeding deepness of His love, who sought
His black wife through pain, fires, shame, death, and the grave, and
swimmed the salt sea for her, undergoing the curse of the law, and
then[339] was made a curse for you; and ye then consented, and said,
"Even so I take Him." I counsel you to beware of the new and strange
leaven of men's inventions, beside and against the word of God,
contrary to the oath of this kirk, now coming among you. I instructed
you of the superstition and idolatry in kneeling in the instant of
receiving the Lord's Supper, and of crossing in baptism, and of the
observing of men's days, without any warrant of Christ our perfect
Lawgiver. Countenance not the surplice, the attire of the mass-priest,
the garment of Baal's priests. The abominable bowing to altars of tree
(wood) is coming upon you. Hate, and keep yourselves from idols.
Forbear in any case to hear the reading of the new fatherless
Service-Book,[340] full of gross heresies, popish and superstitious
errors, without any warrant of Christ, tending to the overthrow of
preaching. You owe no obedience to the bastard canons; they are
unlawful, blasphemous, and superstitious. All the ceremonies that lie
in Antichrist's foul womb, the wares of that great mother of
fornications, the kirk of Rome, are to be refused. Ye see whither they
lead you. Continue still in the doctrine which ye have received. Ye
heard of me the whole counsel of God. Sew no clouts upon Christ's
robe. Take Christ, in His rags and losses, and as persecuted by men,
and be content to sigh and pant up the mountain, with Christ's cross
on your back. Let me be reputed a false prophet (and your conscience
once said the contrary), if your Lord Jesus will not stand by you and
maintain you, and maintain your cause against your enemies.
[339] Thus.
[340] See Letter CLXI. The Service-Book, which has no author's name.
I have heard, and my soul is grieved for it, that since my departure
from you, many among you are turned back from the good old way, to the
dog's vomit again. Let me speak to these men. It was not without God's
special direction, that the first sentence that ever my month uttered
to you was that, "And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this
world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see
might be made blind" (John ix. 39). Is it possible that my first
meeting and yours may be when we shall both stand before the dreadful
Judge of the world; and in the name and authority of the Son of God,
my great King and Master, I write, by these presents, summonses to
those men. I arrest their souls and bodies to the day of our
compearance. Their eternal damnation standeth subscribed, and sealed
in heaven, by the hand-writing of the great Judge of quick and dead;
and I am ready to stand up, as a preaching witness against such to
their face, on that day, and to say "Amen" to their condemnation,
except they repent. The vengeance of the Gospel is heavier than the
vengeance of the Law; the Mediator's malediction and vengeance is
twice vengeance; and that vengeance is the due portion of such men.
And there I leave them as bond men, aye and whill they repent and
amend.
Ye were witnesses how the Lord's day was spent while I was among you.
O sacrilegious robber of God's day, what wilt thou answer the Almighty
when He seeketh so many Sabbaths back again from thee? What will the
curser, swearer, and blasphemer do, when his tongue shall be roasted
in that broad and burning lake of fire and brimstone? And what will
the drunkard do, when tongue, lungs, and liver, bones, and all, shall
boil and shall fry in a torturing fire? He shall be far from his
barrels of strong drink then; and there is not a cold well of water
for him in hell. What shall be the case of the wretch, the covetous
man, the oppressor, the deceiver, the earth-worm, who can never get
his wombful of clay (Ps. xvii. 14), when, in the day of Christ, gold
and silver must lie burnt in ashes, and he must compear and answer his
Judge, and quit his clayey and noughty heaven? Wo, wo, for evermore,
be to the time-turning atheist, who hath one god and one religion for
summer, and another god and another religion for winter, and the day
of fanning, when Christ fanneth all that is in His barn-floor: who
hath a conscience for every fair and market, and the soul of him
runneth upon these oiled wheels, time, custom, the world, and command
of men. Oh, if the careless atheist, and sleeping man, who edgeth by
all with, "God forgive our pastors if they lead us wrong, we must do
as they command," and layeth down his head upon time's bosom, and
giveth his conscience to a deputy, and sleepeth so, whill the smoke of
hell-fire fly up in his throat, and cause him to start out of his
doleful bed! Oh, if such a man would awake! Many woes are for the
over-gilded and gold-plastered hypocrite. A heavy doom is for the liar
and white-tongued flatterer; and the flying book of God's fearful
vengeance, twenty cubits long, and ten cubits broad, that goeth out
from the face of God, shall enter into the house, and in upon the
soul of him that stealeth, and sweareth falsely by God's name (Zech.
v. 2, 3). I denounce eternal burning, hotter than Sodom's flames, upon
the men that boil in filthy lusts of fornication, adultery, incest,
and the like wickedness. No room, no, not a foot-breadth, for such
vile dogs within the clean Jerusalem. Many of you put off all with
this, "God forgive us, we know no better." I renew my old answer: the
Judge is coming in flaming fire, with all His mighty angels, to render
vengeance to all those that know not God, and believe not (2 Thess. i.
8). I have often told you that security will slay you. All men say
they have faith: as many men and women now, as many saints in heaven.
And all believe (say ye); so that every foul dog is clean enough, and
good enough, for the clean and new Jerusalem above. Every man hath
conversion and the new birth; but it is not leal come. They had never
a sick night for sin; conversion came to them in a night-dream. In a
word, hell will be empty at the day of judgment, and heaven pang full!
Alas! it is neither easy nor ordinary to believe and to be saved. Many
must stand, in the end, at heaven's gates (Luke xiii. 25). When they
go to take out their faith, they take out a fair nothing, or (as ye
use to speak) a blaflum. Oh, lamentable disappointment! I pray you, I
charge you in the name of Christ, make fast work of Christ and
salvation.
I know there are some believers among you, and I write to you, O poor
broken-hearted believers: all the comforts of Christ in the Old and
New Testaments are yours. Oh, what a Father and Husband ye have! Oh,
if I had pen and ink, and ingine to write of Him! Let heaven and earth
be consolidated into massy and pure gold, it will not weigh the
thousandth part of Christ's love to a soul, even to me a poor
prisoner. Oh, that is a massy and marvellous love! Men and angels!
unite your force and strength in one, ye shall not heave nor poise it
off the ground. Ten thousand worlds, as many worlds as angels can
number, and then as a new world of angels can multiply, would not all
be the balk of a balance to weigh Christ's excellency, sweetness, and
love. Put ten earths into one, and let a rose grow greater than ten
whole earths, or whole worlds, oh, what beauty would be in it, and
what a smell would it cast! But a blast of the breath of that fairest
Rose in all God's paradise, even of Christ Jesus our Lord, one look of
that fairest face, would be infinitely in beauty, and smell, above all
imaginable and created glory. I wonder that men dow bide off Christ.
I would esteem myself blessed, if I could make an open proclamation,
and gather all the world, that are living upon the earth, Jew and
Gentile, and all that shall be born till the blowing of the last
trumpet, to flock round about Christ, and to stand looking, wondering,
admiring, and adoring His beauty and sweetness. For His fire is hotter
than any other fire, His love sweeter than common love, His beauty
surpasseth all other beauty. When I am heavy and sad, one of His
love-looks would do me meikle worlds' good. Oh, if ye would fall in
love with Him, how blessed were I! how glad would my soul be to help
you to love Him! But amongst us all, we could not love Him enough. He
is the Son of the Father's love, and God's delight; the Father's love
lieth all upon Him. Oh, if all mankind would fetch all their love and
lay it upon Him! Invite Him, and take Him home to your houses, in the
exercise of prayer morning and evening, as I often desired you;
especially now, let Him not want lodging in your houses, nor lie in
the fields, when He is shut out of pulpits and kirks. If ye will be
content to take heaven by violence and the wind on your face for
Christ and His cross, I am here one who hath some trial of Christ's
cross, and I can say, that Christ was ever kind to me, but He
overcometh Himself (if I may speak so) in kindness while I suffer for
Him. I give you my word for it, Christ's cross is not so evil as they
call it; it is sweet, light, and comfortable. I would not want the
visitations of love, and the very breathings of Christ's mouth when He
kisseth, and my Lord's delightsome smiles and love-embracements under
my sufferings for Him, for a mountain of gold, or for all the honours,
court, and grandeur of velvet kirkmen.[341] Christ hath the yoke and
heart of my love. "I am my Beloved's, and my Well-beloved is mine."
[341] High Churchmen.
Oh that ye were all hand-fasted to Christ! O my dearly-beloved in the
Lord, I would I could change my voice, and had a tongue tuned by the
hands of my Lord, and had the art of speaking of Christ, that I might
point out to you the worth, and highness, and greatness, and
excellency of that fairest and renowned Bridegroom! I beseech you by
the mercies of the Lord, by the sighs, tears, and heart's-blood of our
Lord Jesus, by the salvation of your poor and precious souls, set up
the mountain, that ye and I may meet before the Lamb's throne amongst
the congregation of the first-born. Lord grant that that may be the
trysting-place! that ye and I may put up our hands together, and
pluck and eat the apples off the tree of life, and that we may feast
together, and drink together of that pure river of the water of life,
that cometh out from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Oh, how little
is your hand-breadth and span-length of days here! Your inch of time
is less than when ye and I parted. Eternity, eternity is coming,
posting on with wings; then shall every man's blacks and whites be
brought to light. Oh, how low will your thoughts be of this
fair-skinned but heart-rotten apple, the vain, vain, feckless world,
when the worms shall make them houses in your eye-holes, and shall eat
off the flesh from the balls of your cheeks, and shall make that body
a number of dry bones! Think not that the common gate of serving God,
as neighbours and others do, will bring you to heaven. Few, few are
saved. The devil's court is thick and many; he hath the greatest
number of mankind for his vassals. I know this world is a forest of
thorns in your way to heaven; but you must go through it. Acquaint
yourselves with the Lord: hold fast Christ; hear His voice only. Bless
His name; sanctify and keep holy His day; keep the new commandment,
"Love one another;" let the Holy Spirit dwell in your bodies; and be
clean and holy. Love not the world: lie not, love and follow truth:
learn to know God. Keep in mind what I taught you; for God will seek
an account of it, when I am far from you. Abstain from all evil, and
all appearance of evil: follow good carefully, and seek peace and
follow after it: honour your king, and pray for him. Remember me to
God in your prayers; I dow not forget you. I told you often while I
was with you, and now I write it again, heavy, sad, and sore is that
stroke of the Lord's wrath that is coming upon Scotland. Wo, wo, wo to
this harlot-land! for they shall take the cup of God's wrath from His
hands, and drink, and spue, and fall, and not rise again. In, in, in
with speed to your stronghold, ye prisoners of hope, and hide you
there whill the anger of the Lord pass! Follow not the pastors of this
land, for the sun is gone down upon them. As the Lord liveth, they
lead you from Christ, and from the good old way. Yet the Lord will
keep the holy city, and make this withered kirk to bud again like a
rose, and a field blessed of the Lord.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. The prayers and
blessings of a prisoner of Christ, in bonds for Him, and for you, be
with you all. Amen.
Your lawful and loving pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _July 13, 1637_.
CCXXVI.--_To the_ LADY KILCONQUHAR.
[LADY KILCONQUHAR, whose maiden name was Helen Murray, being the
third daughter of Sir Archibald Murray of Blackbarony, was the
wife of Sir John Carstairs of Kilconquhar, in the county of Fife.
Her mother, Margaret Maule, was of the family of Panmure. Their
youngest daughter, Bethia, in 1656, married Thomas Rigg of
Athernie. The house of Kilconquhar (called Kinneucher by the
people) is near the loch and the village, with Elie not far off
on one side, and Balcarras on the other. The loch with its swans,
the woods, and the sea so near, make it a pleasant spot.]
(_THE INTERESTS OF THE SOUL MOST URGENT--FOLLY OF THE WORLD--CHRIST
ALTOGETHER LOVELY--HIS PEN FAILS TO SET FORTH CHRIST'S UNSPEAKABLE
BEAUTY._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am glad to hear that
ye have your face homewards towards your Father's house, now when so
many are for a home nearer hand. But your Lord calleth you to another
life and glory than is to be found hereaway; and, therefore, I would
counsel you to make sure the charters and rights which ye have to
salvation. You came to this life about a necessary and weighty
business, to tryste with Christ anent your precious soul, and the
eternal salvation of it. This is the most necessary business ye have
in this life; and your other adoes beside this are but toys, and
feathers, and dreams, and fancies. This is in the greatest haste, and
should be done first. Means are used in the Gospel to draw on a
meeting betwixt Christ and you. If ye neglect your part of it, it is
as if ye would tear the contract before Christ's eyes, and give up the
match, that there may be no more communing about that business. I know
that other lovers beside Christ are in suit of you, and your soul hath
many wooers; but I pray you to make a chaste virgin of your soul, and
let it love but one. Most worthy is Christ alone of all your soul's
love, howbeit your love were higher than the heaven, and deeper than
the lowest of this earth, and broader than this world. Many, alas! too
many, make a common strumpet of their soul for every lover that cometh
to the house. Marriage with Christ would put your love and your heart
by the gate, out of the way, and out of the eye of all other unlawful
suitors; and then you have a ready answer for all others, "I am
already promised away to Christ; the match is concluded, my soul hath
a husband already, and it cannot have two husbands." Oh, if the world
did but know what a smell the ointments of Christ cast, and how
ravishing His beauty (even the beauty of the fairest of the sons of
men) is, and how sweet and powerful His voice is, the voice of that
one Well-beloved! Certainly, where Christ cometh, He runneth away with
the soul's love, so that it cannot be commanded. I would far rather
look but through the hole of Christ's door, to see but the one half of
His fairest and most comely face (for He looketh like heaven!),
suppose I should never win in to see His excellency and glory to the
full, than enjoy the flower, the bloom, and the chiefest excellency of
the glory and riches of ten worlds. Lord, send me, for my part, but
the meanest share of Christ that can be given to any of the indwellers
of the New Jerusalem. But I know my Lord is no niggard: He can, and it
becometh Him well to give more than my narrow soul can receive. If
there were ten thousand thousand millions of worlds, and as many
heavens full of men and angels, Christ would not be pinched to supply
all our wants, and to fill us all. Christ is a well of life; but who
knoweth how deep it is to the bottom? This soul of ours hath love, and
cannot but love some fair one. And oh, what a fair One, what an only
One, what an excellent, lovely, ravishing One, is Jesus! Put the
beauty of ten thousand thousand worlds of paradises, like the garden
of Eden in one; put all trees, all flowers, all smells, all colours,
all tastes, all joys, all sweetness, all loveliness, in one: oh, what
a fair and excellent thing would that be! And yet it would be less to
that fair and dearest Well-beloved, Christ, than one drop of rain to
the whole seas, rivers, lakes, and fountains of ten thousand earths.
Oh, but Christ is heaven's wonder, and earth's wonder! What marvel
that His bride saith (Cant. v. 16), "He is altogether lovely!" Oh that
black souls will not come and fetch all their love to this fair One!
Oh, if I could invite and persuade thousands, and ten thousand times
ten thousand of Adam's sons, to flock about my Lord Jesus, and to come
and take their fill of love! Oh, pity for evermore, that there should
be such a one as Christ Jesus, so boundless, so bottomless, and so
incomparable in infinite excellency and sweetness, and so few to take
Him! Oh, oh, ye poor, dry, and dead souls, why will ye not come hither
with your toom vessels, and your empty souls, to this huge, and fair,
and deep, and sweet well of life, and fill all your toom vessels? Oh
that Christ should be so large in sweetness and worth, and we so
narrow, so pinched, so ebb, and so void of all happiness. And yet men
will not take Him! They lose their love miserably, who will not bestow
it upon this lovely One. Alas! these five thousand years, Adam's
fools, his waster (Prov. xviii. 9) heirs, have been wasting and
lavishing out their love and their affections upon black lovers, and
black harlots, upon bits of dead creatures, and broken idols, upon
this and that feckless creature; and have not brought their love and
their heart to Jesus. Oh, pity, that Fairness hath so few lovers! Oh,
wo, wo to the fools of this world, who run by Christ to other lovers!
Oh, misery, misery, misery, that comeliness can scarce get three or
four hearts in a town or country! Oh that there is so much spoken, and
so much written, and so much thought of creature vanity; and so little
spoken, so little written, and so little thought of my great, and
incomprehensible, and never enough wondered at Lord Jesus! Why should
I not curse this forlorn and wretched world, that suffereth my Lord
Jesus to lie His lone? O damned souls! O miskenning world! O blind, O
beggarly and poor souls! O bewitched fools! what aileth you at Christ,
that you run so from Him? I dare not challenge providence, that there
are so few buyers, and so little sale for such an excellent one as
Christ. (O the depth, and, O the height of my Lord's ways, that pass
finding out!) But oh, if men would once be wise, and not fall so in
love with their own hell as to pass by Christ, and misken Him! But let
us come near, and fill ourselves with Christ, and let His friends
drink, and be drunken, and satisfy our hollow and deep desires with
Jesus. Oh, come all and drink at this living well; come, drink and
live for evermore; come, drink and welcome! "Welcome," saith our
fairest Bridegroom. No man getteth Christ with ill will; no man cometh
and is not welcome. No man cometh and rueth his voyage; all men speak
well of Christ who have been at Him: men and angels who know Him will
say more than I dow do, and think more of Him than they can say. Oh,
if I were misted and bewildered in my Lord's love! Oh, if I were
fettered and chained to it! Oh, sweet pain, to be pained for a sight
of Him! Oh, living death, oh, good death, oh, lovely death, to die for
love of Jesus! Oh that I should have a sore heart, and a pained soul,
for the want of this and that idol! Wo, wo to the mistakings of my
miscarrying heart, that gapeth and crieth for creatures, and is not
pained, and cut, and tortured, and in sorrow, for the want of a
soul's-fill of the love of Christ! Oh that Thou wouldst come near, my
Beloved! O my fairest One why standeth Thou afar! Come hither, that I
may be satiated with Thy excellent love. Oh for a union! oh for a
fellowship with Jesus! Oh that I could buy with a price that lovely
One, even suppose that hell's torments for a while were the price! I
cannot believe but Christ will rue upon His pained lovers, and come
and ease sick hearts, who sigh and swoon for want of Christ. Who dow
bide Christ's love to be nice? What heaven can be there liker to hell,
than to lust, and green, and dwine, and fall a swoon for Christ's
love, and to want it? Is not this hell and heaven woven through-other?
Is not this pain and joy, sweetness and sadness, to be in one web, the
one the weft, the other the warp? Therefore, I would that Christ would
let us meet and join together, the soul and Christ in each other's
arms. Oh what meeting is like this, to see blackness and beauty,
contemptibleness and glory, highness and baseness, even a soul and
Christ, kiss each other! Nay, but when all is done, I may be wearied
in speaking and writing; but, oh, how far am I from the right
expression of Christ or His love? I can neither speak nor write
feeling, nor tasting, nor smelling: come feel, and smell, and taste
Christ and His love, and ye shall call it more than can be spoken. To
write how sweet the honeycomb is, is not so lovely as to eat and suck
the honeycomb. One night's rest in a bed of love with Christ will say
more than heart can think, or tongue can utter. Neither need we fear
crosses, nor sigh nor be sad for anything that is on this side of
heaven, if we have Christ. Our crosses will never draw blood of the
joy of the Holy Ghost, and peace of conscience. Our joy is laid up in
such a high place, as temptations cannot climb up to take it down.
This world may bost Christ, but they dare not strike; or, if they
strike, they break their arm in fetching a stroke upon a rock. Oh that
we could put our treasures in Christ's hand, and give him our gold to
keep, and our crown. Strive, Mistress, to thring through the thorns of
this life, to be at Christ. Tine not sight of Him in this cloudy and
dark day. Sleep with Him in your heart in the night. Learn not at the
world to serve Christ, but speer at Himself the way; the world is a
false copy, and a lying guide to follow.
Remember my love to your husband. I wish all to him that I have
written here. The sweet presence, the long-lasting good-will of our
God, the warmly and lovely comforts of our Lord Jesus, be with you.
Help me His prisoner in your prayers; for I remember you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _August 8, 1637_.
CCXXVII.--_To my_ LORD CRAIGHALL.
(_STANDING FOR CHRIST--DANGER FROM FEAR, OR PROMISES OF MEN--CHRIST'S
REQUITALS--SIN AGAINST THE HOLY SPIRIT._)
MY LORD,--I received one letter of your Lordship's from C., and
another of late from A. B., wherein I find your Lordship in perplexity
what to do. But let me entreat your Lordship not to cause yourself to
mistake Truth and Christ, because they seem to encounter with your
peace and ease. My Lord, remember that a prisoner hath written this to
you, that, "as the Lord liveth, if ye put to your hand with other
apostates in this land, to pull down the sometime beautiful tabernacle
of Christ in this land, and join hands with them in one hair-breadth
to welcome Antichrist to Scotland, there is wrath gone out from the
Lord against you and your house." If the terror of a king hath
overtaken you, and your Lordship looketh to sleep in your nest in
peace, and to take the nearest shore, there are many ways (too, too
many ways) how to shift Christ with some ill-washen and foul
distinctions. But assure yourself, suppose a king should assure you
that he would be your god (as shall never be) for that piece of
service, your clay god shall die. And your carnal counsellors, when
your conscience shall storm against you, and ye complain to them, will
say, "What is this to us?" Believe not that Christ is weak, or that He
is not able to save. Of two fires that you cannot pass, take the
least. Some few years will bring us all out in our blacks and whites
before our Judge. Eternity is nearer to you than you are aware of. To
go on in a course of defection, when an enlightened conscience is
stirring, and looking you in the face, and crying within you, "That
you are going in an evil way," is a step to the sin against the Holy
Ghost. Either many of this land are near that sin, or else I know not
what it is. And if this, for which I now suffer, be not the way of
peace and the King's highway to salvation, I believe there is not a
way at all. There is not such breadth and elbow-room in the way to
heaven as men believe.
Howbeit this day be not Christ's, the morrow shall be His. I believe
assuredly that our Lord will repair the old waste places and His
ruined houses in Scotland; and that this wilderness shall yet blossom
as the rose. My very worthy and dear Lord, wait upon Him who hideth
His face from the house of Jacob, and look for Him. Wait patiently a
little upon the Bridegroom's return again, that your soul may live,
and that ye may rejoice with the Lord's inheritance. I dare pawn my
soul and life for it, that if ye take this storm with borne-down
Christ, your sky shall quickly clear, and your fair morning dawn.
Think (as the truth is) that Christ is just now saying, "And will ye
also leave Me?" Ye have a fair occasion to gratify Christ now, if ye
will stay with Him, and want the night's sleep with your suffering
Saviour one hour, now when Scotland hath fallen asleep, and leaveth
Christ to fend for Himself. I profess myself but a weak, feeble man.
When I came first to Christ's camp, I had nothing to maintain this
war, or to bear me out in this encounter; and I am little better yet.
But since I find furniture, armour, and strength from the consecrated
Captain, the Prince of our salvation, who was perfected through
suffering, I esteem suffering for Christ a king's life. I find that
our wants qualify us for Christ. And, howbeit your Lordship write that
ye despair to attain to such a communion and fellowship (which I would
not have you to think), yet, would ye nobly and courageously venture
to make over to Christ, for His honour now lying at the stake, your
estate, place, and honour, He would lovingly and largely requite you,
and give you a king's word for a recompense. Venture upon Christ's
"Come," and I dare swear ye will say, "I bless the Lord who gave me
counsel" (Ps. xvi. 7). My very worthy Lord, many eyes, in both the
kingdoms, are upon you now, and the eye of our Lord is upon you.
Acquit yourself manfully for Christ; spill not this good play.
Subscribe a blank submission, and put it into Christ's hands. Win, win
the blessings and prayers of your sighing and sorrowful mother-church
seeking your help: win Christ's bond (who is a King of His word), for
a hundredfold more even in this life.
If a weak man[342] hath passed a promise to a king, to make slip to
Christ (if we look to flesh and blood, I wonder not of it; possibly I
might have done worse myself), add not further guiltiness to go on in
such a scandalous and foul way. Remember that there is a wo, wo to him
by whom offences come. This wo came out of Christ's mouth, and it is
heavier than the wo of the law. It is the Mediator's vengeance, and
that is two vengeances to those who are enlightened. Free yourself
from unlawful anguish, about advising and resolving. When the truth is
come to your hand, hold it fast; go not again to make a new search
and inquiry for truth. It is easy to cause conscience to believe as ye
will, not as ye know. It is easy for you to cast your light into
prison, and detain God's truth in unrighteousness: but that prisoner
will break ward, to your incomparable torture. Fear your light, and
stand in awe of it: for it is from God. Think what honour it is in
this life also to be enrolled to the succeeding ages amongst Christ's
witnesses, standing against the re-entry of Antichrist. I know
certainly that your light, looking to two ways, and to the two sides,
crieth shame upon the course that they would counsel you to follow.
The way that is halver and copartner with the smoke of this fat world
(Ps. xxxvii. 20), and wit and ease, smelleth strong of a foul and
false way.
[342] That is, If you, in a moment of weakness, have made a rash
promise that gives Christ the go-by.
The Prince of peace, He who brought again from the dead the great
Shepherd of His sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, establish
you, and give you sound light, and counsel you to follow Christ.
Remember my obliged service to my Lord your father, and mother, and
your lady.
Grace be with you.
Your Lordship's, at all obliged obedience, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _August 10, 1637_.
CCXXVIII.--_To_ MR. JAMES FLEMING.
[JAMES FLEMING was minister of Abbey St. Bathans, now called
Yester, a parish in the Presbytery of Haddington, East Lothian.
He had previously lived some time in England, and is described by
Livingstone as "an ingenuous, single-hearted man." Livingstone
was related to him, having been married to the eldest daughter of
his brother, Bartholomew Fleming, merchant in Edinburgh, and was
present with him at his "gracious death." Fleming was opposed to
Prelacy, and the ceremonies which James VI. and Charles I. were
so zealous in attempting to impose on the Church of Scotland. In
the controversy occasioned by the Public Resolutions, he took the
side of the party favourable to them. He was first married to
Martha, eldest daughter of John Knox, the celebrated Scottish
Reformer. He married a second wife, by whom he had the well-known
Robert Fleming, the author of the "Fulfilling of the Scriptures,"
who was minister of Cambuslang, and afterwards of the Scottish
congregation in Rotterdam, whither he retired some years after
his ejection for nonconformity, on the restoration of Charles
II.]
(_GLORY GAINED TO CHRIST--SPIRITUAL DEADNESS--HELP TO PRAISE HIM--THE
MINISTRY._)
REVEREND AND WELL-BELOVED IN OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.--I received your letter, which hath refreshed me in my bonds. I
cannot but testify unto you, my dear brother, what sweetness I find in
our Master's cross; but, alas, what can I either do or suffer for
Him! If I my lone had as many lives as there have been drops of rain
since the creation, I would think them too little for that lovely One,
our Well-beloved; but my pain and my sorrow is above my sufferings,
that I find not ways to set out the praises of His love to others. I
am not able, by tongue, pen, or sufferings, to provoke many to fall in
love with Him: but He knoweth, whom I love to serve in the Spirit,
what I would do and suffer by His own strength, so being that I might
make my Lord Jesus lovely and sweet to many thousands in this land. I
think it amongst God's wonders, that He will take any praise or glory,
or any testimony to His honourable cause, from such a forlorn sinner
as I am. But when Christ worketh, He needeth not ask the question, by
whom He will be glorious. I know (seeing His glory at the beginning
did shine out of poor nothing, to set up such a fair house for men and
angels, and so many glorious creatures, to proclaim His goodness,
power, and wisdom) that, if I were burnt to ashes, out of the smoke
and powder of my dissolved body He could raise glory to Himself. His
glory is His end: oh that I could join with Him to make it my end! I
would think that fellowship with Him sweet and glorious. But, alas!
few know the guiltiness that is on my part: it is a wonder, that this
good cause hath not been marred and spilled in my foul hands. But I
rejoice in this, that my sweet Lord Jesus hath found something ado,
even a ready market for His free grace and incomparable and matchless
mercy, in my wants. Only my loathsome wretchedness and my wants have
qualified me for Christ, and the riches of His glorious grace. He
behoved to take me for nothing, or else to want me. Few know the
unseen and private reckonings betwixt Christ and me; yet His love, His
boundless love would not bide away, nor stay at home with Himself. And
yet I do not make it welcome as I ought, when it is come unsent-for
and without hire.
How joyful is my heart, that ye write that ye are desirous to join
with me in praising; for it is a charity to help a dyvour to pay his
debts. But when all have helped me, my name shall stand in His
account-book under ten thousand thousands of sums unpaid. But it
easeth my heart that His dear servants will but speak of my debts to
such a sweet Creditor. I desire that He may lay me in His own balance
and weigh me, if I would not fain have a feast of His boundless love
made to my own soul, and to many others. One thing I know, that we
shall not at all be able to come near His excellency with eye, heart,
or tongue; for He is above all created thoughts. All nations before
Him are as nothing, and less than nothing: He sitteth in the circuit
of heaven, and the inhabitants of the earth are as grasshoppers before
Him. Oh that men would praise Him!
Ye complain of your private case. Alas! I am not the man to speak to
such an one as ye are. Any sweet presence which I have had in this
town, is, I know, for this cause, that I might express and make it
known to others. But I never find myself nearer Christ, that royal and
princely One, than after a great weight and sense of deadness and
gracelessness. I think that the sense of our wants, when withal we
have a restlessness and a sort of spiritual impatience under them and
can make a din, because we want Him whom our soul loveth, is that
which maketh an open door to Christ. And when we think we are going
backward, because we feel deadness, we are going forward; for the more
sense, the more life; and no sense argueth no life. There is no
sweeter fellowship with Christ than to bring our wounds and our sores
to Him. But for myself, I am ashamed of Christ's goodness and love,
since the time of my bonds; for He hath been pleased to open up new
treasures of love and felt sweetness, and give visitations of love and
access to Himself, in this strange land. I would think a fill of His
love young and green heaven. And when He is pleased to come, and the
tide is in, and the sea full, and the King and a poor prisoner
together in the house-of-wine, the black tree of the cross is not so
heavy as a feather. I cannot, I dow not, but give Christ an honourable
and glorious testimony.
I see that the Lord can ride through His enemies' bands, and triumph
in the sufferings of His own; and that this blind world seeth not that
sufferings are Christ's armour, wherein He is victorious. And they who
contend with Zion see not what He is doing, when they are set to work,
as under-smiths and servants, to the work of refining the saints.
Satan's hand also, by them, is at the melting of the Lord's vessels of
mercy, and their office in God's house is to scour and cleanse vessels
for the King's table. I marvel not to see them triumph, and sit at
ease in Zion; for our Father must lay up His rods, and keep them
carefully for His own use. Our Lord cannot want fire in His house: His
furnace is in Zion, and His fire in Jerusalem. But little know the
adversaries the counsel and the thoughts of the Lord.
And for your complaints of your ministry. I now think all I do too
little. Plainness, freedom, watchfulness, fidelity, shall swell upon
you, in exceeding large comforts, in your sufferings. The feeding of
Christ's lambs in private visitations and catechising, in painful
preaching, and fair, honest, and free warning of the flock, is a
sufferer's garland. Oh, ten thousand times blessed are they, who are
honoured of Christ to be faithful and painful in wooing a bride to
Christ! My dear brother, I know that ye think more on this than I can
write; and I rejoice that your purpose is, in the Lord's strength, to
back your wronged Master; and to come out, and call yourself Christ's
man, when so many are now denying Him, as fearing that Christ cannot
do for Himself and them. I am a lost man for ever, or this, this is
the way to salvation, even this way, which they call heresy, that men
now do mock and scoff at. I am confirmed now that Christ will accept
of His servant's sufferings as good service to Him at the day of His
Appearance; and that, ere it be long, He will be upon us all, and men
in their blacks and whites shall be brought out before God, angels,
and men. Our Master is not far off. Oh, if we could wait on and be
faithful! The good-will of Him who dwelt in The Bush, the tender
favour and love, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, be with you.
Help me with your prayers; and desire, from me, other brethren to take
courage for their Master.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _August 15, 1637_.
CCXXIX.--_To MR. HUGH MACKAIL of Irvine._
(_THE LAW--THIS WORLD UNDER CHRIST'S CONTROL FOR THE BELIEVER._)
MY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--Ye know that men may take their sweet fill of
the sour Law, in Grace's ground, and betwixt the Mediator's breasts.
And this is the sinner's safest way; for there is a bed for wearied
sinners to rest them in, in the New Covenant, though no bed of
Christ's making to sleep in. The Law shall never be my doomster, by
Christ's grace. If I get no more good of it (I shall find a sore
enough doom in the Gospel to humble, and to cast me down), it is, I
grant, a good rough friend to follow a traitor to the bar, and to back
him till he come to Christ. We may blame ourselves, who cause the Law
to crave well-paid debt, to scare us away from Jesus, and dispute
about a righteousness of our own, a world in the moon, a chimera, and
a night-dream that pride is father and mother to. There cannot be a
more humble soul than a believer; it is no pride for a drowning man to
catch hold of a rock.
I rejoice that the wheels of this confused world are rolled, and
cogged, and driven according as our Lord willeth. Out of whatever
airth the wind blow, it will blow us on our Lord. No wind can blow our
sails overboard; because Christ's skill, and honour of His wisdom, are
empawned and laid down at the stake for the sea-passengers, that He
shall put them safe off His hand on the shore, in His Father's known
bounds, our native home ground.
My dear brother, scaur not at the cross of Christ. It is not seen yet
what Christ will do for you, when it cometh to the worst: He will keep
His grace till ye be at a strait, and then bring forth the decreed
birth for your salvation (Zeph. ii. 2). Ye are an arrow of His own
making; let Him shoot you against a wall of brass, your point shall
keep whole. I cannot, for multitude of letters and distraction of
friends, prepare what I would for the times: I have not one hour of
spare time, suppose the day were forty hours long.
Remember me in prayer. Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 5, 1637_.
CCXXX.--_To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_BELIEVER SAFE THOUGH TRIED--DELIGHT IN CHRIST'S TRUTH._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your Ladyship.--God be thanked
ye are yet in possession of Christ, and that sweet child. I pray God
that the former may be a sure heritage, and the latter a loan for your
comfort, while ye do good to His poor, afflicted, withered Mount Zion.
And who knoweth but our Lord hath comforts laid up in store for her
and you! I am persuaded that Christ hath bought you past the devil,
and hell, and sin, so that they have no claim to you; and that is a
rich and invaluable mercy. Long since, ye were half challenging
death's cold kindness, in being so slow and sweer to come to loose a
tired prisoner; but ye stand in need of all the crosses, losses,
changes, and sad hearts that befell you since that time. Christ
knoweth that the body of sin unsubdued will take them all, and more:
we know that Paul had need of the devil's service, to buffet him; and
far more we. But, my dear and honourable Lady, spend your sand-glass
well. I am sure that you have law to raise a suspension against all
that devils, men, friends, worlds, losses, hell, or sin, can decree
against you. It is good that your crosses will but convoy you to
heaven's gates: in, they cannot go; the gates shall be closed upon
them, when ye shall be admitted to the throne. Time standeth not
still, eternity is hard at our door. Oh, what is laid up for you!
therefore, harden your face against the wind. And the Lamb, your
Husband, is making ready for you. The Bridegroom would fain have that
day, as gladly as your Honour would wish to have it. He hath not
forgotten you.
I have heard a rumour of the prelates' purpose to banish me. But let
it come, if God so will: the other side of the sea is my Father's
ground, as well as this side. I owe bowing to God, but no servile
bowing to crosses: I have been but too soft in that. I am comforted
that[343] I am persuaded fully, that Christ is halfer with me in this
well-born and honest cross; and if He claim right to the best half of
my troubles (as I know He doth to the whole), I shall remit over to
Christ what I shall do in this case. I know certainly, that my Lord
Jesus will not mar nor spill my sufferings; He hath use for them in
His house.
[343] In having this persuasion.
Oh, what it worketh on me to remember that a stranger, who cometh not
in by the door, shall build hay and stubble upon the golden foundation
which I laid amongst that people at Anwoth! But I know that Providence
looketh not asquint, but looketh straight out, and through all men's
darkness. Oh that I could wait upon the Lord! I had but one eye, one
joy, one delight, even to preach Christ; and my mother's sons were
angry at me, and have put out the poor man's one eye, and what have I
behind? I am sure that this sour world hath lost my heart deservedly;
but oh that there were a daysman to lay his hands upon us both, and
determine upon my part of it. Alas, that innocent and lovely truth
should be sold! My tears are little worth, but yet for this thing I
weep. I weep, alas, that my fair and lovely Lord Jesus should be
miskent in His own house! It reckoneth little of five hundred the like
of me; yet the water goeth not over faith's breath.[344] Yet our King
liveth.
[344] It is of little consequence what hundreds like me feel; yet, at
the same time, I can say that faith is not drowned in me.
I write the prisoner's blessings: the good-will, and long-lasting
kindness, with the comforts of the very God of peace, be to your
Ladyship, and to your sweet child. Grace, grace be with you.
Your Honour's, at all obedience, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 5, 1637_.
CCXXXI.--_To the Right Honourable my_ LORD LINDSAY.
[JOHN, TENTH LORD LINDSAY, resided at Byres, a house near _Balgonie_,
which in old charters is mentioned along with _Pitcruvie_ as belonging
to the Lindsays. He was the son of Robert, ninth Lord Lindsay, by his
wife Lady Christian Hamilton, eldest daughter of Thomas, first Earl of
Haddington. (See Letter LXXVII.) He was born about 1596, and was
created Earl of Lindsay, 8th May 1633. On the 23rd of July 1644 he was
constituted Lord High Treasurer of Scotland; and on the forfeiture of
Ludovick, Earl of Crawford, he had the title and estate of that
nobleman conferred on him by Act of Parliament, 26th July the same
year, so that he was thereafter designed Earl of Crawford and Lindsay.
Having entered with zeal into the "Engagement" for raising an army to
attempt the rescue of the King in 1648, he was deprived of his offices
by the Act of Classes, and excluded from Parliament till King Charles
II. came to Scotland in 1650, when a coalition of parties took place.
For the same reason, he fell under a censure of the church; but was
restored in July 1650. On the Restoration, he was reinstated in his
offices of High Treasurer of Scotland and Extraordinary Lord of
Session. He warmly opposed the Act Rescissory, annulling all the
Parliaments since 1633, as a terrible precedent, destroying the whole
security of government. In 1633, scrupling to take the declaration, he
resigned his situation as Lord High Treasurer for Scotland. Next year
he gave up his place of Extraordinary Lord of Session, and retired to
his country seat. "He was a man of great virtue, of good abilities,
and of an exemplary life in all respects. He died at Tyninghame in
1676, aged about eighty" (Douglas' "Peerage"). Rutherford's treatise,
entitled "A Peaceable and Temperate Plea for Paul's Presbytery in
Scotland, printed at London in 1642," is dedicated to this nobleman.]
(_THE CHURCH'S DESOLATIONS--THE END OF THE WORLD, AND CHRIST'S
COMING--HIS ATTRACTIVENESS._)
RIGHT HONOURABLE AND MY VERY GOOD LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
your Lordship.--Pardon my boldness to express myself to your Lordship
at this so needful a time, when your wearied and friendless
mother-kirk is looking round about her, to see if any of her sons doth
really bemoan her desolation. Therefore, my dear and worthy Lord, I
beseech you in the bowels of Christ, pity that widow-like sister and
spouse of Christ. I know that her Husband is not dead, but He seemeth
to be in another country, and seeth well, and beholdeth who are His
true and tender-hearted friends, who dare venture under the water to
bring out to dry land sinking truth; and who of the nobles will cast
up their arm, to ward a blow off the crowned head of our royal
Lawgiver who reigneth in Zion, who will plead and contend for Jacob in
the day of his controversy.
It is now time, my worthy and noble Lord, for you who are the little
nurse-fathers, under our sovereign prince, to put on courage for the
Lord Jesus, and to take up a fallen orphan, speaking out of the dust,
and to embrace in your arms Christ's Bride. He hath no more in
Scotland that is the delight of His eyes, than that one little sister,
whose breasts were once well-fashioned. She once ravished her
Well-beloved with her eyes, and overcame Him with her beauty: "She
looked forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun,
terrible as an army with banners: her stature was like the palm-tree,
and her breasts like clusters of grapes, and she held the King in the
galleries" (Cant. iv. 9; vi. 10; vii. 5, 7). But now the crown is
fallen from her head, and her gold waxed dim, and our white Nazarites
are become black as the coal. Blessed are they who will come out and
help Christ against the mighty! The shields of the earth and the
nobles are debtors to Christ for their honour, and should bring their
glory and honour to the New Jerusalem (Rev. xxi. 24). Alas, that great
men should be so far from subjecting themselves to the sweet yoke of
Christ, that they burst His bonds asunder, and think they dow not go
on foot when Christ is on horseback, and that every nod of Christ,
commanding as King, is a load like a mountain of iron. And, therefore,
they say, "This man shall not reign over us; we must have another king
than Christ in His own house." Therefore, kneel to Christ, and kiss
the Son, and let Him have your Lordship's vote, as your alone
Lawgiver. I am sure that when you leave the old waste inn of this
perishing life, and shall reckon with your host, and depart hence, and
take shipping, and make over for eternity, which is the yonder side of
time (and a sand-glass of threescore short years is running out), to
look over your shoulder then to that which ye have done, spoken, and
suffered for Christ, His dear Bride that He ransomed with that blood
which is more precious than gold, and for truth, and the freedom of
Christ's kingdom, your accounts will more sweetly smile and laugh upon
you than if you had two worlds of gold to leave to your posterity. O
my dear Lord, consider that our Master, eternity, and judgment, and
the Last Reckoning, will be upon us in the twinkling of an eye. The
blast of the last trumpet, now hard at hand, will cry down all Acts of
Parliament, all the determinations of pretended assemblies, against
Christ our Lawgiver. There will be shortly a proclamation by One
standing in the clouds, "that time shall be no more," and that courts
with kings of clay shall be no more; and prisons, confinements,
forfeitures of nobles, wrath of kings, hazard of lands, houses, and
name, for Christ, shall be no more. This world's span-length of time
is drawn now to less than half an inch, and to the point of the
evening of the day of this old gray-haired world. And, therefore, be
fixed and fast for Christ and His truth for a time; and fear not him
whose life goeth out at his nostrils, who shall die as a man. I am
persuaded Christ is responsal and law-biding, to make recompense for
anything that is hazarded or given out for Him. Losses for Christ are
but our goods given out in bank, in Christ's hand. Kings earthly are
well-favoured little clay-gods, time's idols; but a sight of our
invisible King shall decry and darken all the glory of this world. At
the day of Christ, truth shall be truth, and not treason. Alas! it is
pitiful that silence, when the thatch of our Lord's house hath taken
fire, is now the flower and bloom of court and state wisdom; and to
cast a covering over a good profession (as if it blushed at the
light), is thought a canny and sure way through this life. But the
safest way, I am persuaded, is to tine and win with Christ, and to
hazard fairly for Him; for heaven is but a company of noble venturers
for Christ. I dare hazard my soul, that Christ will grow green, and
blossom like the Rose of Sharon yet in Scotland, howbeit now His leaf
seemeth to wither, and His root to dry up.
Your noble ancestors have been enrolled amongst the worthies of this
nation, as the sure friends of the Bridegroom, and valiant for Christ:
I hope that you will follow on to come to the streets for the same
Lord. The world is still at yea and nay with Christ. It shall be your
glory, and the sure foundation of your house (now when houses are
tumbling down, and birds building their nests, and thorns and briers
are growing up, where nobles did spread a table), if you engage your
estate and nobility for this noble King Jesus, with whom the created
powers of the world are still in tops. All the world shall fall before
Him, and (as God liveth!) every arm lifted up to take the crown off
His royal head, or that refuseth to hold it on His head, shall be
broken from the shoulder-blade. The eyes that behold Christ weep in
sackcloth, and wallow in His blood, and will not help, even these eyes
shall rot away in their eye-holes. Oh, if ye and the nobles of this
land saw the beauty of that world's wonder, Jesus our King, and the
glory of Him who is angels' wonder, and heaven's wonder for
excellency! Oh, what would men count of clay estates, of time-eaten
life, of worm-eaten and moth-eaten worldly glory, in comparison of
that fairest, fairest of God's creation, the Son of the Father's
delights! I have but small experience of suffering for Him; but let my
Judge and Witness in heaven lay my soul in the balance of justice, if
I find not a young heaven, and a little paradise of glorious comforts
and soul-delighting love-kisses of Christ, here beneath the moon, in
suffering for Him and His truth; and that the glory, joy, and peace,
and fire of love, which I thought had been kept whill supper-time,
when we shall get leisure to feast our fill upon Christ, I have felt
in glorious beginnings, in my bonds for this princely Lord Jesus. Oh!
it is my sorrow, my daily pain, that men will not come and see. I
would now be ashamed to believe that it should be possible for any
soul to think that he could be a loser for Christ, suppose he should
lend Christ the Lordship of Lindsay, or some such great worldly
estate. Therefore, my worthy and dear Lord, set now your face against
the opposites of Jesus, and let your soul take courage to come under
His banner, to appear, as His soldier, for Him; and the blessings of a
falling kirk, the prayers of the prisoners of hope who wait for Zion's
joy, and the good-will of Him who dwelt in The Bush, and it burned
not, shall be with you.
To His saving grace I recommend your Lordship and your house; and am
still Christ's prisoner, and your Lordship's obliged servant, in his
sweet Lord Jesus.
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.
CCXXXII.--_To my_ LORD BOYD.
(_SEEKING CHRIST IN YOUTH--ITS TEMPTATIONS--CHRIST'S EXCELLENCE--THE
CHURCH'S CAUSE CONCERNS THE NOBLES._)
MY VERY HONOURABLE AND GOOD LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.--I am glad to hear that you, in the morning of your short day,
mind Christ, and that you love the honour of His crown and kingdom. I
beseech your Lordship to begin now to frame your love, and to cast it
in no mould but one, that it may be for Christ only; for when your
love is now in the framing and making, it will take best with Christ.
If any other than Jesus get a grip of it, when it is green and young,
Christ will be an unco and strange world to you. Promise the lodging
of your soul first away to Christ, and stand by your first covenant,
and keep to Jesus, that He may find you honest. It is easy to master
an arrow, and to set it right, ere the string be drawn; but when once
it is shot, and in the air, and the flight begun, then ye have no more
power at all to command it. It were a blessed thing, if your love
could now level only at Christ, that His fair face were the black of
the mark ye shot at. For when your love is loosed, and out of your
grips, and in its motion to fetch home an idol, and hath taken a
whorish gadding journey, to seek an unknown and strange lover, ye
shall not then have power to call home the arrow, or to be master of
your love; and ye will hardly give Christ what ye scarcely have
yourself.
I speak not this, as if youth itself could fetch heaven and Christ.
Believe it, my Lord, it is hardly credible what a nest of dangerous
temptations youth is; how inconsiderate, foolish, proud, vain, heady,
rash, profane, and careless of God, this piece of your life is; so
that the devil findeth in that age a garnished and well-swept house
for himself, and seven devils worse than himself. For then affections
are on horseback, lofty and stirring; then the old man hath blood,
lust, much will, and little wit, and hands, feet, wanton eyes, profane
ears, as his servants, and as a king's officers at command, to come
and go at his will. Then a green conscience is as supple as the twig
of a young tree. It is for every way, every religion; every lewd
course prevaileth with it. And, therefore, oh, what a sweet couple,
what a glorious yoke, are youth and grace, Christ and a young man!
This is a meeting not to be found in every town. None who have been at
Christ can bring back to your Lordship a report answerable to His
worth; for Christ cannot be spoken of, or commended according to His
worth. "Come and see," is the most faithful messenger to speak of Him:
little persuasion would prevail where this was. It is impossible, in
the setting out of Christ's love, to lie and pass over truth's line.
The discourses of angels, or love-books written by the congregation of
seraphim (all their wits being conjoined and melted into one), would
for ever be in the nether side of truth, and of plentifully declaring
the thing as it is. The infiniteness, the boundlessness of that
incomparable excellency that is in Jesus, is a great word. God send
me, if it were but the relics and leavings, or an ounce-weight or two,
of His matchless love; and suppose I never got another heaven
(provided this blessed fire were evermore burning), I could not but be
happy for ever. Come hither, then, and give out your money wisely for
bread; come hither, and bestow your love.
I have cause to speak this, because, except you possess and enjoy
Christ, ye will be a cold friend to His spouse; for it is love to the
husband that causeth kindness to the wife. I dare swear it were a
blessing to your house, the honour of your honour, the flower of your
credit, now in your place, and as far as ye are able, to lend your
hand to your weeping mother, even your oppressed and spoiled
mother-kirk. If ye love her, and bestir yourself for her, and hazard
the Lordship of Boyd for the recovery of her vail, which the smiting
watchmen have taken from her, then surely her Husband will scorn to
sleep in your common, or reverence. Bits of lordships are little to
Him who hath many crowns on His head, and the kingdoms of the world in
the hollow of His hand. Court, glory, honour, riches, stability of
houses, favour of princes, are all on His finger-ends. Oh what glory
were it to lend your honour to Christ, and to His Jerusalem! Ye are
one of Zion's born sons; your honourable and Christian parents would
venture you upon Christ's errands. Therefore, I beseech you, by the
mercies of God, by the death and wounds of Jesus, by the hope of your
glorious inheritance, and by the comfort and hope of the joyful
presence ye would have at the water-side, when ye are putting your
foot in the dark grave, take courage for Christ's truth, and the
honour of His free kingdom. For, howbeit ye be a young flower, and
green before the sun, ye know not how soon death will cause you cast
your bloom, and wither root, and branch, and leaves; and, therefore,
write up what ye have to do for Christ, and make a treasure of good
works, and begin in time. By appearance ye have the advantage of the
brae. See what ye can do for Christ, against those who are waiting
whill Christ's tabernacle fall, that they may run away with the boards
thereof, and build their nests on Zion's ruins. They are blind who see
not louns now pulling up the stakes, and breaking the cords, and
rending the curtains of Christ's sometime beautiful tent in this land.
Antichrist is lifting that tent up upon his shoulders, and going away
with it; and when Christ and the Gospel are out of Scotland, dream not
that your houses shall thrive, and that it will go well with the
nobles of the land. As the Lord liveth! the streams of your waters
shall become pitch, and the dust of your land brimstone, and your land
shall become burning pitch, and the owl and the raven shall dwell in
your houses; and where your table stood, there shall grow briers and
nettles (Isa. xxxiv. 9, 11). The Lord gave Christ and His Gospel as a
pawn to Scotland. The watchmen have fallen foul, and lost their part
of the pawn; and who seeth not, that God hath dried up their right
eye, and their right arm, and hath broken the shepherds' staves, and
that men are trading in their hearts upon such unsavoury salt, that is
good for nothing else! If ye, the nobles, put away the pawn also, and
refuse to plead the controversy of Zion with the professed enemies of
Jesus, ye have done with it. Oh! where is the courage and zeal now of
the ancient nobles of this land, who with their swords, and hazard of
life, honour, and houses, brought Christ to our hands? And now the
nobles cannot but be guilty of shouldering out Christ, and of
murdering the souls of their posterity, if they shall hide themselves,
and lurk in the lee-side of the hill, till the wind blow down the
temple of God. It goeth now under the name of wisdom, for men to cast
their cloak over Christ and their profession; as if Christ were stolen
goods, and durst not be avouched. Though this be reputed a piece of
policy, yet God esteemeth such men to be but state fools and court
gowks,[345] whatever they, or other heads-of-wit[346] like to them,
think of themselves; since their damnable silence is the ruin of
Christ's kingdom. Oh, but it be true honour and glory to be the fast
friends of the Bridegroom, and to own Christ's bleeding head, and His
forsaken cause, and to contend legally, and in the wisdom of God, for
our sweet Lord Jesus, and His kingly crown! But I will believe that
your Lordship will take Christ's honour to heart, and be a man in the
streets (as the prophet speaketh) (Jer. v. 1) for the Lord and His
truth. To His rich grace and sweet presence, and the everlasting
consolation of the promised Comforter, I recommend your Lordship, and
am your Lordship's, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.
[345] Dunces.
[346] Wiseacres.
CCXXXIII.--_To his Worthy and much Honoured Friend_ FULK ELLIS.
[FULK ELLIS was the eldest son of Major Edmond Ellis of
Carrickfergus, an English colonist. Edmond was a man of
distinguished piety, and a zealous Covenanter. "Through all the
difficulties and vicissitudes of those trying times," says Dr.
Reid, "he was a consistent Presbyterian, and a truly eminent
Christian. Several of his devout sayings on his death-bed (he
died 11th June 1651) have been preserved." Fulk also followed the
military profession, in which he held the rank of captain, and
embarked in the same cause with his father. "He and his company
(who were all from Ireland) joined the Scottish force in
resisting the arms of Charles in 1640, and were at the battle of
Newburn. He shared in the supplies forwarded to the different
companies of the army from their parishes in Scotland. He
returned to Ireland after the rebellion; and was captain and
major in Sir John Clotworthy's regiment of foot, and is believed
to have fallen in action near Desert-martin, in the county of
Derry, in September 1643. His descendants, of the same name,
still reside at Carrickfergus" (Reid's "Hist. of Presbyt. Ch.").]
(_FRIENDS IN IRELAND--DIFFICULTIES IN PROVIDENCE--UNFAITHFULNESS TO
LIGHT--CONSTANT NEED OF CHRIST._)
WORTHY AND MUCH HONOURED IN OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.
1. I am glad of our more than paper acquaintance. Seeing we have one
Father, it reckoneth the less, though we never see one another's face.
I profess myself most unworthy to follow the camp of such a worthy and
renowned Captain as Christ. Oh, alas! I have cause to be grieved, that
men expect anything of such a wretched man as I am. It is a wonder to
me, if Christ can make anything of my naughty, short, and narrow love
to Him; surely it is not worth the uptaking.
2. As for our lovely and beloved church in Ireland, my heart bleedeth
for her desolation; but I believe that our Lord is only lopping the
vine-trees, but not intending to cut them down, or root them out. It
is true (seeing we are _heart-atheists_ by nature, and cannot take
providence aright, because we halt and crook ever since we fell), we
dream of a halting providence; as if God's yard, whereby He measureth
joy and sorrow to the sons of men, were crooked and unjust, because
servants ride on horseback, and princes go on foot. But our Lord
dealeth good and evil, and some one portion or other to both, by
ounce-weights, and measureth them in a just and even balance. It is
but folly to measure the Gospel by summer or winter weather: the
summer-sun of the saints shineth not on them in this life. How should
we have complained, if the Lord had turned the same providence that we
now stomach at upside down, and had ordered matters thus, that first
the saints should have enjoyed heaven, glory, and ease, and then
Methuselah's days of sorrow and daily miseries? We would think a short
heaven no heaven. Certainly His ways pass finding out.
3. Ye complain of the evil of _heart-atheism_: but it is to a greater
atheist than any man can be, that ye write of that. Oh, light findeth
not that reverence and fear which a plant of God's setting should find
in our soul! How do we by nature, as others, detain and hold captive
the truth of God in unrighteousness, and so make God's light a bound
prisoner? And even when the prisoner breaketh the jail, and cometh out
in belief of a Godhead, and in some practice of holy obedience, how
often do we, of new, lay hands on the prisoner, and put our light
again in fetters? Certainly there cometh great mist and clouds from
the lower part of our souls, our earthly affections, to the higher
part, which is our conscience, either natural or renewed: as smoke in
a lower house breaketh up, and defileth the house above. If we had
more practice of obedience, we should have more sound light. I think,
lay aside all other guiltiness, that this one, the violence done to
God's candle in our soul, were a sufficient dittay against us. There
is no helping of this but by striving to stand in awe of God's light.
Left light tells tales of us we desire little to hear; but since it is
not without God that light sitteth neighbour to will (a lawless lord),
no marvel that such a neighbour should leaven our judgment, and darken
our light. I see there is a necessity that we protest against the
doings of the Old Man, and raise up a party against our worst half, to
accuse, condemn, sentence, and with sorrow bemoan, the dominion of
sin's kingdom; and withal make law, in the New Covenant, against our
guiltiness. For Christ once condemned sin in the flesh, and we are to
condemn it over again. And if there had not been such a thing as the
grace of Jesus, I should have long since given up with heaven, and
with the expectation to see God. But grace, grace, free grace, the
merits of Christ for nothing, white and fair, and large Saviour-mercy
(which is another sort of thing than creature-mercy, or Law-mercy,
yea, a thousand degrees above angel-mercy), have been, and must be,
the rock that we drowned souls must swim to. New washing, renewed
application of purchased redemption, by that sacred blood that sealeth
the free Covenant, is a thing of daily and hourly use to a poor
sinner. Till we be in heaven, our issue of blood shall not be quite
dried up; and, therefore, we must resolve to apply peace to our souls
from the new and living way; and Jesus, who cleanseth and cureth the
leprous soul, lovely Jesus, must be our song on this side of heaven's
gates. And even when we have won the castle, then must we eternally
sing, "Worthy, worthy is the Lamb, who hath saved us, and washed us in
His own blood."
I would counsel all the ransomed ones to learn this song, and to drink
and be drunk with the love of Jesus. O fairest, O highest, O loveliest
One, open the well! Oh, water the burnt and withered travellers with
this love of Thine! I think it is possible on earth to build a young
New Jerusalem, a little new heaven, of this surpassing love. God
either send me more of this love, or take me quickly over the water,
where I may be filled with His love. My softness cannot take with
want. I profess I bear not hunger of Christ's love fair. I know not if
I play foul play with Christ, but I would have a link of that chain of
His providence mended, in pining and delaying the hungry on-waiters.
For myself, I could wish that Christ would let out upon me more of
that love. Yet to say Christ is a niggard to me, I dare not; and if I
say I have abundance of His love, I should lie. I am half
straitened[347] to complain, and cry, "Lord Jesus, hold Thy hand no
longer."
[347] Constrained; perhaps Luke xii. 50 was in his thoughts.
Worthy Sir, let me have your prayers, in my bonds. Grace be with you,
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.
CCXXXIV.--_To_ JAMES LINDSAY (_a friend of R. Blair and other
ministers_).
[We have no means of ascertaining who this correspondent was.]
(_DESERTIONS, THEIR USE--PRAYERS OF REPROBATES, AND HOW THE GOSPEL
AFFECTS THEIR RESPONSIBILITY._)
DEAR BROTHER,--The constant and daily observing of God's going alongst
with you, in His coming, going, ebbing, flowing, embracing and
kissing, glooming and striking, giveth me (a witless and lazy observer
of the Lord's way and working) a heavy stroke. Could I keep sight of
Him, and know when I want, and carry as became me in that condition, I
would bless my case.
But 1. For desertions. I think them like lying lea of lean and weak
land for some years, whill it gather sap for a better crop. It is
possible to gather gold, where it may be had, with moonlight. Oh, if I
could but creep one foot, or half a foot, nearer in to Jesus, in such
a dismal night as that when He is away, I should think it an happy
absence!
2. If I knew that the Beloved were only gone away for trial, and
further humiliation, and not smoked out of the house with new
provocations, I would forgive desertions and hold my peace at His
absence. But Christ's bought absence (that I bought with my sin), is
two running boils at once, one upon each side; and what side then can
I lie on?
3. I know that, as night and shadows are good for flowers, and
moonlight and dews are better than a continual sun, so is Christ's
absence of special use, and that it hath some nourishing virtue in it,
and giveth sap to humility, and putteth an edge on hunger, and
furnisheth a fair field to faith to put forth itself, and to exercise
its fingers in gripping it seeth not what.
4. It is mercy's wonder, and grace's wonder, that Christ will lend a
piece of the lodging, and a back-chamber beside Himself, to our lusts;
and that He and such swine should keep house together in our soul.
For, suppose they couch and contract themselves into little room when
Christ cometh in, and seem to lie as dead under His feet, yet they
often break out again; and a foot of the Old Man, or a leg or arm
nailed to Christ's cross, looseth the nail, or breaketh out again! And
yet Christ, beside this unruly and misnurtured neighbour, can still be
making heaven in the saints, one way or other. May I not say, "Lord
Jesus, what doest Thou here?" Yet here He must be. But I will not lose
my feet to go on into this depth and wonder; for free mercy and
infinite merits took a lodging to Christ and us beside such a
loathsome guest as sin.
5. Sanctification and mortification of our lusts are the hardest part
of Christianity. It is in a manner, as natural to us to leap when we
see the New Jerusalem, as to laugh when we are tickled: joy is not
under command, or at our nod, when Christ kisseth. But oh, how many of
us would have Christ divided into two halves, that we might take the
half of Him only! We take His office, Jesus, and Salvation: but "Lord"
is a cumbersome word, and to obey and work out our own salvation, and
to perfect holiness, is the cumbersome and stormy north-side of
Christ, and that which we eschew and shift.
6. For your question, the access that reprobates have to Christ (which
is none at all, for to the Father in Christ neither can they, nor will
they come, because Christ died not for them; and yet, by law, God and
justice overtaketh them), I say, first, there are with you more worthy
and learned than I am, Messrs. Dickson, Blair, and Hamilton, who can
more fully satisfy you. But I shall speak in brief what I think of it
in these assertions. _First_, All God's justice toward man and angels
floweth from an act of absolute sovereign free-will of God, who is our
Former and Potter, and we are but clay; for if He had forbidden to eat
of the rest of the trees of the garden of Eden, and commanded Adam to
eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, that command no doubt
had been as just as this,--"Eat of all the trees, but not at all of
the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil." The reason is, because His
will is before His justice, by order of nature; and what is His will
is His justice. And He willeth not things without Himself because they
are just; God cannot, God needeth not hunt sanctity, holiness, or
righteousness from things without Himself, and so not from the actions
of men or angels; because His will is essentially holy and just, and
the prime rule of holiness and justice, as the fire is naturally
light, and inclineth upward, and the earth heavy, and inclineth
downward. The _second_ assertion, then, that God saith to reprobates,
"Believe in Christ (who hath not died for your salvation), and ye
shall be saved," is just and right; because His eternal and
essentially just will hath so enacted and decreed. Suppose natural
reason speak against this, this is the deep and special mystery of the
Gospel. God hath obliged, hard and fast, all the reprobates of the
visible church to believe this promise, "He that believeth shall be
saved:" and yet, in God's decree and secret intention, there is no
salvation at all decreed and intended to reprobates. And yet the
obligation of God, being from His sovereign free-will, is most just,
as is said in the first assertion. _Third_ assertion: The righteous
Lord hath right over the reprobates and all reasonable creatures that
violate His commandments. This is easy. _Fourth_ assertion: The faith
that God seeketh of reprobates, is, that they rely upon Christ, as
despairing of their own righteousness, leaning wholly, and withal
humbly, as weary and laden, upon Christ, as on the resting-stone laid
in Zion. But He seeketh not that, without being weary of their sin,
they rely upon Christ, as mankind's Saviour; for to rely on Christ,
and not to be weary of sin, is presumption, not faith. Faith is ever
neighbour to a contrite spirit; and it is impossible that faith can be
where there is not a cast-down and contrite heart, in some measure,
for sin. Now it is certain, that God commandeth no man to presume.
_Fifth_ assertion: Then reprobates are not absolutely obliged to
believe that Christ died for them in particular. For, in truth,
neither reprobates nor others are obliged to believe a lie; only, they
are obliged to believe that Christ died for them, if they be first
weary, burdened, sin-sick, and condemned in their own consciences, and
stricken dead and killed with the Law's sentence, and have indeed
embraced Him as offered; which is a second and subsequent act of
faith, following after a coming to Him and a closing with Him. _Sixth_
assertion: Reprobates are not formally guilty of contempt of God, and
misbelief, because they apply not Christ and the promises of the
Gospel to themselves in particular; for so they should be guilty
because they believe not a lie, which God never obliged them to
believe. _Seventh_ assertion: Justice hath a right to punish
reprobates, because out of pride of heart, confiding in their own
righteousness, they rely not upon Christ as a Saviour of all them that
come to Him. This God may justly oblige them unto, because in Adam
they had perfect ability to do; and men are guilty because they love
their own inability, and rest upon themselves, and refuse to deny
their own righteousness, and to take them to Christ, in whom there is
righteousness for wearied sinners. _Eighth_ assertion: It is one thing
to rely, lean, and rest upon Christ, in humility and weariness of
spirit, and denying our own righteousness, believing Him to be the
only righteousness of wearied sinners; and it is another thing to
believe that Christ died for me, John, Thomas, Anna, upon an intention
and decree to save us by name. For, 1st, The first goeth first, the
latter is always after in due order; 2ndly, The first is faith, the
second is a fruit of faith; and, 3rdly, The first obligeth reprobates
and all men in the visible kirk, the latter obligeth only the weary
and laden, and so only the elect and effectually called of God.
_Ninth_ assertion: It is a vain order; "I know not if Christ died for
me, John, Thomas, Anna, by name; and, therefore, I dare not rely on
Him." The reason is, because it is not faith to believe God's
intention and decree of election at the first, ere ye be wearied. Look
first to your intention and soul. If ye find sin a burden, and can and
do rest, under that burden, upon Christ; if this be once, now come and
believe _in particular_, or rather _apply by sense_ (for, in my
judgment, it is a _fruit_ of belief, not _belief_), and feeling the
goodwill, intention, and gracious purpose of God anent your salvation.
Hence, because there is malice in reprobates, and contempt of Christ,
guilty they are, and justice hath law against them, and (which is the
mystery) they cannot come up to Christ, because He died not for them.
But their sin is, that they love their inability to come to Christ;
and he who loveth his chains, deserveth chains. And thus in short.
Remember my bonds.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.
CCXXXV.--_To my_ LORD CRAIGHALL.
(_FEAR GOD, NOT MAN--SIGN OF BACKSLIDING._)
MY LORD,--I cannot expound your Lordship's contrary tides, and these
temptations wherewith ye are assaulted, to be any other thing than
Christ trying you, and saying unto you, "And will ye also leave Me?" I
am sure that Christ hath a great advantage against you, if ye play
foul play to Him, in that the Holy Spirit hath done His part, in
evidencing to your conscience that this is the way of Christ, wherein
ye shall have peace; and the other, as sure as God liveth, is the
Antichrist's way. Therefore, as ye fear God, fear your light, and
stand in awe of a convincing conscience. It is far better for your
Lordship to keep your conscience, and to hazard in such an honourable
cause your place, than wilfully, and against your light, to come under
guiltiness. Kings cannot heal broken consciences; and when death and
judgment shall comprise your soul, your counsellors, and others,
cannot become caution to justice for you. Ere it be long, our Lord
will put a final determination to Acts of Parliament, and men's laws,
and will clear you, before men and angels, of men's unjust sentences.
Ye receive honour, and place, and authority, and riches, and
reputation from your Lord, to set forward and advance the liberties
and freedom of Christ's kingdom. Men, whose consciences are made of
stoutness, think little of such matters, which, notwithstanding,
encroach directly upon Christ's prerogative-royal. So would men think
it a light matter for Uzzah to put out his hand to hold the Lord's
falling ark; but it cost him his life. And who doubteth but a carnal
friend will advise you to shut your window, and pray beneath your
breath. "Ye make too great a din with your prayers;" so would a
head-of-wit speak, if ye were in Daniel's place. But men's over-gilded
reasons will not help you, when your conscience is like to rive with a
double charge. Alas, alas! when will this world learn to submit their
wisdom to the wisdom of God? I am sure that your Lordship hath found
the truth. Go not then to search for it over again; for it is common
for men to make doubts, when they have a mind to desert the truth.
Kings are not their own men; their ways are in God's hand. I rejoice,
and am glad, that ye resolve to walk with Christ, howbeit His court be
thin. Grace be with your Lordship.
Your Lordship's, in his sweet Master and Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept_. 7, 1637.
CCXXXVI.--_To_ MR. JAMES HAMILTON. [Letter CCXV.]
(_CHRIST'S GLORY NOT AFFECTED BY HIS PEOPLE'S WEAKNESS._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Peace be to you from God our Father, and
from our Lord Jesus.--I am laid low, when I remember what I am, and
that my outside casteth such a lustre when I find so little within. It
is a wonder that Christ's glory is not defiled, running through such
an unclean and impure channel. But I see that Christ will be Christ,
in the dreg and refuse of men. His art, His shining wisdom, His
beauty, speak loudest in blackness, weakness, deadness, yea, in
nothing. I see nothing, no money, no worth, no good, no life, no
deserving, is the ground that Omnipotency delighteth to draw glory out
of. Oh, how sweet is the inner side of the walls of Christ's house,
and a room beside Himself! My distance from Him maketh me sad. Oh that
we were in other's arms! Oh that the middle things betwixt us were
removed! I find it a difficult matter to keep all stots with Christ.
When He laugheth, I scarce believe it, I would so fain have it true.
But I am like a low man looking up to a high mountain, whom weariness
and fainting overcometh. I would climb up, but I find that I do not
advance in my journey as I would wish; yet I trust that He will take
me home against night. I marvel not that Antichrist, in his slaves, is
so busy: but our crowned King seeth and beholdeth, and will arise for
Zion's safety.
I am exceedingly distracted with letters, and company that visit me;
what I can do, or time will permit, I shall not omit. Excuse my
brevity, for I am straitened. Remember the Lord's prisoner: I desire
to be mindful of you. Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept_. 7, 1637.
CCXXXVII.--_To the_ LAIRD OF GAITGIRTH. [Letter CLXXXVII.]
(_TRUTH WORTH SUFFERING FOR--LIGHT SOWN, BUT EVIL IN THIS WORLD TILL
CHRIST COME._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I can do no
more than thank you on paper, and remember you to Him whom I serve,
for kindness and care of a prisoner.
I bless the Lord, that the cause I suffer for needeth not to blush
before kings: Christ's white, honest, and fair truth needeth neither
to wax pale for fear, nor to blush for shame. I bless the Lord, who
hath graced you to own Christ now, when so many are afraid to profess
Him, and hide Him, for fear they suffer loss by avouching Him. Alas,
that so many in these days are carried with the times! As if their
conscience rolled upon oiled wheels, so do they go any way the wind
bloweth them; and, because Christ is not market-sweet, men put Him
away from them.
Worthy and much honoured Sir, go on to own Christ, and His oppressed
truth:--the end of sufferings for the Gospel, is rest and gladness.
Light and joy are sown for the mourners in Zion, and the harvest
(which is of God's making, for time and manner) is near. Crosses have
right and claim to Christ in His members, till legs and arms, and
whole mystical Christ, be in heaven. There will be rain, and hail, and
storms, in the saint's clouds, ever till God cleanse with fire the
works of the creation, and till He burn the botch-house of heaven and
earth, that men's sins have subjected unto vanity.
They are blessed who suffer and sin not; for suffering is the badge
that Christ hath put upon His followers. Take what way we can to
heaven, the way is hedged up with crosses; there is no way but to
break through them. Wit and wiles, shifts and laws, will not find out
a way round the cross of Christ; but we must through. One thing, by
experience, my Lord hath taught me, that the waters betwixt this and
heaven may all be ridden, if we be well horsed; I mean, if we be in
Christ; and not one shall drown by the way, but such as love their own
destruction. Oh, if we could wait on for a time, and believe in the
dark the salvation of God! At least we are to believe good of Christ,
till He gives us the slip (which is impossible); and to take His word
for caution, that He shall fill up all the blanks in His promises, and
give us what we want. But to the unbeliever, Christ's testament is
white, blank, unwritten paper.
Worthy and dear Sir, set your face to heaven, and make you a stoop at
all the low entries in the way, that ye may receive the kingdom as a
child. Without this (He that knew the way said) there is no entry in.
Oh, but Christ is willing to lead a poor sinner! Oh what love my poor
soul hath found in Him, in the house of my pilgrimage! Suppose that
love in heaven and earth were lost, I dare swear it may be found in
Christ.
Now the very God of peace establish you, till the day of the glorious
appearance of Christ.
Your own, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.
CCXXXVIII.--_To the_ LADY GAITGIRTH.
(_CHRIST AN EXAMPLE IN BEARING CROSSES--THE EXTENT TO WHICH CHILDREN
SHOULD BE LOVED--WHY SAINTS DIE._)
MUCH HONOURED AND CHRISTIAN LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.--I long to hear how it goeth with you and your children.
I exhort you not to lose breath, nor to faint in your journey. The way
is not so long to your home as it was; it will wear to one step or an
inch at length, and ye shall come ere long to be within your
arm-length of the glorious crown. Your Lord Jesus did sweat and pant
ere He got up that mount; He was at "Father, save Me!" with it. It was
He who said, "I am poured out like water; all My bones are out of
joint." Christ was as if they had broken Him upon the wheel: "My heart
is like wax, it is melted in the midst of my bowels." "My strength is
dried up like a potsherd" (Ps. xxii. 14, 15). I am sure ye love the
way the better that His holy feet trod it before you. Crosses have a
smell of crossed and pained Christ. I believe that your Lord will not
leave you to die your lone in the way. I know that ye have sad hours,
when the Comforter is hid under a vail, and when ye inquire for Him,
and find but a toom nest. This, I grant, is but a cold "good-day,"
when the seeker misseth Him whom the soul loveth; but even His
unkindness is kind, His absence lovely, His mask a sweet sight, till
God send Christ Himself, in His own sweet presence. Make His sweet
comforts your own, and be not strange and shame-faced with Christ.
Homely dealing is best for Him; it is His liking. When your winter
storms are over, the summer of your Lord shall come. Your sadness is
with child of joy; He will do you good in the latter end.
Take no heavier lift of your children than your Lord alloweth. Give
them room beside your heart, but not in the yolk of your heart, where
Christ should be; for then they are your idols, not your bairns. If
your Lord take any of them home to His house, before the storm come
on, take it well. The owner of the orchard may take down two or three
apples off his own trees before midsummer, and ere they get the
harvest-sun: and it would not be seemly that his servant, the
gardener, should chide him for it. Let our Lord pluck His own fruit at
any season He pleaseth. They are not lost to you; but are laid up so
well as that they are coffered in heaven, where our Lord's best jewels
lie. They are all free goods that are there; death can have no law to
arrest anything that is within the walls of the New Jerusalem.
All the saints, because of sin, are like old rusty horologues that
must be taken down, and the wheels scoured and mended, and set up
again in better case than before. Sin hath rusted both soul and body:
our dear Lord by death taketh us down to scour the wheels of both, and
to purge us perfectly from the root and remainder of sin; and we shall
be set up in better case than before. Then pluck up your heart; heaven
is yours! and that is a word which few can say.
Now, the great Shepherd of the sheep, and the very God of peace,
confirm and establish you, to the day of the appearance of Christ our
Lord.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.
CCXXXIX.--_To_ MR. MATTHEW MOWAT. [Letter CXX.]
(_WHAT AM I?--LONGING TO ACT FOR CHRIST--UNBELIEF--LOVE IN THE HIDING
OF CHRIST'S FACE--CHRIST'S REPROACH._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I am refreshed with your letters. I would
take all well at my Lord's hands that He hath done, if I knew that I
could do my Lord any service in my suffering; suppose my Lord would
make a stop-hole of me, to fill a hole in the wall of His house, or a
pinning in Zion's new work. For any place of trust in my Lord's house,
as steward, or chamberlain, or the like, surely I think myself (my
very dear brother, I speak not by any proud figure or trope) unworthy
of it; nay, I am not worthy to stand behind the door. If my head, and
feet, and body were half out, half in, in Christ's house, so that I
saw the fair face of the Lord of the house, it would still my greening
and love-sick desires. When I hear that the men of God are at work,
and speaking in the name of our Lord Jesus, I think myself but an
outcast, or outlaw, chased from the city to lie on the hills, and
live amongst the rocks and out-fields. Oh that I might but stand in
Christ's out-house, or hold a candle in any low vault of His house!
But I know this is but the vapours that arise out of a quarrelous and
unbelieving heart to darken the wisdom of God; and your fault is just
mine, that I cannot believe my Lord's bare and naked word. I must
either have an apple to play me with, and shake hands with Christ, and
have seal, caution, and witness to His word, or else I count myself
loose; howbeit, I have the word and faith of a King! Oh, I am made of
unbelief, and cannot swim but where my feet may touch the ground!
Alas! Christ under my temptations is presented to me as lying
waters,[348] as a dyvour and a cozener! We can make such a Christ as
temptations, casting us into a night-dream, do feign and devise; and
temptations represent Christ ever unlike Himself, and we, in our
folly, listen to the tempter.
[348] Jerem. xv. 18.
If I could minister one saving word to any, how glad would my soul be!
But I myself, which is the greatest evil, often mistake the cross of
Christ. For I know, if we had wisdom, and knew well that ease slayeth
us fools, we would desire a market where we might barter or niffer our
lazy ease with a profitable cross; howbeit there be an outcast natural
betwixt our desires and tribulation. But some give a dear price, and
gold, for physic which they love not, and buy sickness, howbeit they
wish rather to have been whole than to be sick. But surely, brother,
ye shall have my advice (howbeit, alas! I cannot follow it myself),
not to contend with the honest and faithful Lord of the house; for, go
He or come He, He is aye gracious in His departure. There are grace,
and mercy, and loving-kindness upon Christ's back parts; and when He
goeth away, the proportion of His face, the image of that fair Sun
that stayeth in eyes, senses, and heart, after He is gone, leaveth a
mass of love behind it in the heart. The sound of His knock at the
door of His Beloved, after He is gone and passed, leaveth a share of
joy and sorrow both. So we have something to feed upon till He return:
and He is more loved in His departure, and after He is gone, than
before, as the day in the declining of the sun, and towards the
evening, is often most desired.
And as for Christ's cross, I never received evil of it, but what was
of mine own making: when I miscooked Christ's physic, no marvel that
it hurt me. For since it was on Christ's back, it hath always a sweet
smell, and these 1600 years it keepeth the smell of Christ. Nay, it
is older than that too; for it is a long time since Abel first
handselled the cross, and had it laid upon his shoulder; and down from
him, all alongst to this very day, all the saints have known what it
is. I am glad that Christ Jesus hath such a relation to this cross,
and that it is called "the cross of our Lord Jesus" (Gal. vi. 14), His
reproach (Heb. xiii. 13), as if Christ would claim it as His proper
goods, and so it cometh into the reckoning among Christ's own
property. If it were simple evil, as sin is, Christ, who is not the
author nor owner of sin, would not own it.
I wonder at the enemies of Christ (in whom malice hath run away with
wit, and will is up, and wit down), that they would essay to lift up
the Stone laid in Zion. Surely it is not laid in such sinking ground
as that they can raise it, or remove it; for when we are in their
belly, and they have swallowed us down, they will be sick, and spue us
out again. I know that Zion and her Husband cannot both sleep at once;
I believe that our Lord once again will water with His dew the
withered hill of Mount Zion in Scotland, and come down, and make a new
marriage again, as He did long since. Remember our Covenant.
Your excuse for your advice to me is needless. Alas! many sit beside
light, as sick folks beside meat, and cannot make use of it. Grace be
with you.
Your brother in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.
CCXL.--_To MR. JOHN MEINE, Jun._ [See Letter LXXXI.]
(_CHRIST THE SAME--YOUTHFUL SINS--NO DISPENSING WITH CROSSES._)
DEAR BROTHER,--I received your letter. I cannot but testify under mine
own hand, that Christ is still the longer the better, and that this
time is the time of loves. When I have said all I can, others may
begin and say that I have said nothing of Him. I never knew Christ to
ebb or flow, wax or wane. His winds turn not; when He seemeth to
change, it is but we who turn our wrong side to Him. I never had a
plea with Him, in my hardest conflicts, but of mine own making. Oh
that I could live in peace and good neighbourhood with such a second,
and let Him alone! My unbelief made many black lies, but my
recantation to Christ is not worth the hearing. Surely He hath borne
with strange gawds in me; He knoweth my heart hath not natural wit to
keep quarters with such a Saviour.
Ye do well to fear your backsliding. I had stood sure if I had, in my
youth, borrowed Christ to be my bottom. But he that beareth his own
weight to heaven shall not fail to slip and sink. Ye had not need to
be barefooted among the thorns of this apostate generation, lest a
stob strike up into your foot, and cause you to halt all your days.
And think not that Christ will do with you in the matter of suffering
as the Pope doth in the matter of sin. Ye shall not find that Christ
will sell a dispensation, or give a dyvour's protection against
crosses. Crosses are proclaimed as common accidents to all the saints,
and in them standeth a part of our communion with Christ; but there
lieth a sweet casualty to the cross, even Christ's presence and His
comforts, when they are sanctified.
Remember my love to your father and mother. Grace be with you.
Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.
CCXLI.--_To JOHN FLEMING, Bailie of Leith._
(_RICHES OF CHRIST FAIL NOT--SALVATION--VANITY OF CREATED
COMFORTS--LONGING FOR MORE OF CHRIST._)
MUCH HONOURED IN THE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am
still in good terms with Christ: however my Lord's wind blow, I have
the advantage of the calm and sunny side of Christ. Devils, and hell,
and devil's servants, are all blown blind, in pursuing the Lord's
little bride. They shall be as a night-dream who fight against Mount
Zion.
Worthy Sir, I hope that ye take to heart the worth of your calling.
This great fair and meeting of the people shall skail, and the port is
open for us. As fast as time weareth out, we fly away; eternity is at
our elbow. Oh, how blessed are they who in time make Christ sure for
themselves! Salvation is a great errand. I find it hard to fetch
heaven. Oh that we would take pains on our lamps, for the Bridegroom
is coming! The other side of this world shall be turned up
incontinently, and up shall be down: and those that are weeping in
sackcloth will triumph on white horses, with Him whose name is The
Word of God. Those dying idols, the fair creatures that we whorishly
love better than our Creator, shall pass away like snow-water. The
Godhead, the Godhead! a communion with God in Christ! To be halvers
with Christ of the purchased house and inheritance in heaven, should
be our scope and aim.
For myself, when I lay my accounts, oh what telling, oh what weighing
is in Christ! Oh how soft are His kisses! Oh love, love surpassing in
Jesus! I have no fault to that love, but that it seemeth to deal
niggardly with me; I have little of it. Oh that I had Christ's seen
and read bond, subscribed by Himself, for my fill of it! What garland
have I, or what crown, if I looked right on things, but Jesus! Oh,
there is no room in us on this side of the water for that love. This
narrow bit of earth, and these ebb and narrow souls can hold little of
it, because we are full of rifts. I would that glory, glory would
enlarge us (as it will), and make us tight, and close up our seams and
rifts, that we might be able to comprehend it--which is yet
incomprehensible.
Remember my love to your wife. Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.
CCXLII.--_To the_ LADY ROWALLAN.
[LADY ROWALLAN, whose maiden name was Sarah Brisbane, being the
fourth daughter of John Brisbane of Bishoptown, was the third
wife of Sir William Mure of Rowallan (Robertson's "Ayrshire
Families"). "In 1639 Lady Rowallan lost her husband, who died in
the sixty-third year of his age. He was a man of strong body, and
delighted much in hunting and hawking." ("The History and Descent
of the House of Rowallan. By Sir William Mure, Knight, of
Rowallan.")
_Rowallan_ is a mile and a half from the village of Kilmaurs, in
which churchyard is a curious tomb of the old Glencairn family.
Rowallan Castle was not large; it is now nearly a ruin, though
the gardener's family occupy two rooms. It was a mansion as well
as a castle. It stands on a rocky ledge, with the ground sinking
low on all sides, and a burn flowing near, which sometimes in
rainy seasons formed a lakelet, and could at any time be dammed
up so as to form a moat to protect the castle.
It is so situated that you do not see it until close upon it, and
hence was all the better fitted for a place of meeting in
Covenanting times. The room on the highest floor, near the
turret, is pointed out as that in which conventicles were held.
More than a hundred could assemble in it. The old campstools used
to be preserved, but now only the remains of two exist. Another
turret is said to be that from the window of which King Robert
II.'s queen escaped in olden days.]
(_JESUS THE BEST CHOICE, AND TO BE MADE SURE OF--THE CROSS AND JESUS
INSEPARABLE--SORROWS ONLY TEMPORARY._)
MADAM,--Though not acquainted, I am bold in Christ to speak to your
Ladyship on paper. I rejoice in our Lord Jesus, on your behalf, that
it hath pleased Him, whose love to you is as old as Himself, to
manifest the favour of His love in Christ Jesus to your soul, in the
revelation of His will and mind to you, now when so many are shut up
in unbelief. O the sweet change which ye have made, in leaving the
black kingdom of this world and sin, and coming over to our
Bridegroom's new kingdom, to know, and be taken with the love of the
beautiful Son of God! I beseech you, Madam, in the Lord, to make now
sure work, and see that the old house be casten down, and razed from
the foundation, and that the new building of your soul be of Christ's
own laying; for then wind nor storm shall neither loose it, nor shake
it asunder. Many now take Christ by guess; be sure that it be He, and
only He, whom ye have met with. His sweet smell, His lovely voice, His
fair face, His sweet working in the soul, will not lie; they will soon
tell if it be Christ indeed; and I think that your love to the saints
speaketh that it is He. And, therefore, I say, be sure that ye take
Christ Himself, and take Him with His Father's blessing: His Father
alloweth Him well upon you. Your lines are well fallen; it could not
have been better, nor so well with you, if they had not fallen in
these places. In heaven, or out of heaven, there is nothing better,
nothing so sweet and excellent as the thing ye have lighted on; and
therefore hold you with Christ. Joy, much joy may ye have of Him: but
take His cross with Himself cheerfully. Christ and His cross are not
separable in this life; howbeit Christ and His cross part at heaven's
door, for there is no houseroom for crosses in heaven. One tear, one
sigh, one sad heart, one fear, one loss, one thought of trouble,
cannot find lodging there: they are but the marks of our Lord Jesus
down in this wide inn, and stormy country, on this side of death.
Sorrow and the saints are not married together; or, suppose it were
so, heaven would make a divorce. I find that His sweet presence eateth
out the bitterness of sorrow and suffering. I think it a sweet thing
that Christ saith of my cross, "Half mine;" and that He divideth these
sufferings with me, and taketh the larger share to Himself; nay, that
I and my whole cross are wholly Christ's. Oh, what a portion is
Christ! Oh that the saints would dig deeper in the treasures of His
wisdom and excellency!
Thus recommending your Ladyship to the good-will and tender mercies of
our Lord, I rest, your Ladyship's, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.
CCXLIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_HIS OWN PROSPECTS--HOPES--SALUTATIONS._)
MUCH HONOURED AND DEAREST IN OUR SWEET LORD JESUS,--Grace mercy, and
peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus.
I know that the Lord will do for your town. I hear that the Bishop is
afraid to come amongst you: for so it is spoken in this town. And many
here rejoice now to pen a supplication to the Council, for bringing me
home to my place, and for repairing other wrongs done in the country:
and see if you can procure that three or four hundred in the country,
noblemen, gentlemen, countrymen, and citizens, subscribe it; the more
the better. It may be that it will affright the Bishop; and, by law,
no advantage can be taken against you for it. I have not time to write
to Carleton and to Knockbrex; but I would you did speak them in it,
and let them advise with Carleton. Mr. A. thinketh well of it, and I
think the others will approve it.
I am still in good case with Christ; my court is no less than it was;
the door of the Bridegroom's house-of-wine is open, when such a poor
stranger as I come athort. I change, but Christ abideth still the
same.
They have put out my one poor eye, my only joy, to preach Christ, and
to go errands betwixt Him and His bride. What my Lord will do with me,
I know not: it is like that I shall not winter in Aberdeen; but where
it shall be else, I know not. There are some blossomings of Christ's
kingdom in this town, and the smoke is rising, and the ministers are
raging; but I love a rumbling and roaring devil best.
I beseech you in the Lord, my dear sister, to wait for the salvation
of God. Slack not your hands in meeting to pray. Fear not flesh and
blood: we have been all over-feared, and that gave louns the
confidence to shut me out of Galloway.
Remember my love to John Carsen, and Mr. John Brown.[349] I never
could get my love off that man: I think Christ hath something to do
with him. Desire your husband from me, not to think ill of Christ for
His cross. Many misken Christ, because He hath the cross on His back;
but He will cause us all to laugh yet. I beseech you, as ye would do
anything for me, to remember my Lady Marischal to God, and her son the
Earl Marischal, especially her Christian daughter, my Lady
Pitsligo.[350]
[349] This was Mr. John Brown who became minister of Wamphray.
[350] Lady Jane, second daughter of Lady Marischal, who was married to
Lord Pitsligo. See note to Letter CCVI.
I shall go to death with it, that Christ will return again to
Scotland, with salvation in His wings, and to Galloway.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.
CCXLIV.[351]--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
[351] _Aberdeen_ is affixed to this letter; and if written from
_Aberdeen_ it must have been in 1637. Hence the letter is inserted
here. At the same time, the reference to events points to some time
about 1633. It is possible that "_Aberdeen_" is a mistake for
_Anwoth_.
"And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all
people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in
pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together
against it."--ZECH. xii. 13.
(_PROCEEDINGS OF PARLIAMENT--PRIVATE MATTERS--HER DAUGHTER'S
MARRIAGE._)
WELL-BELOVED SISTER,--I have been sparing to write to you because I
was heavy at the proceedings of our late Parliament.[352] Where law
should have been, they would not give our Lord Jesus fair law and
justice, nor the benefit of the house, to hear either the just
grievances, or the humble supplications of the servants of God.[353]
Nothing resteth, but that we lay our grievances before our crowned
King, Jesus, who reigneth in Zion. And howbeit it be true, that the
Acts of the Perth Assembly for conformity are established, and the
King's power to impose the surplice, and other mass-apparel, upon
ministers, be confirmed,[354] yet what men conclude is not Scripture.
Kings have short arms to overturn Christ's throne; and our Lord hath
been walking and standing upon His feet at this Parliament, when
fifteen earls and lords, and forty-four commissioners for burghs, with
some barons, have voted for our kirk,[355] in face of a king who, with
much awe and terror, with his own hand, wrote up the voters for or
against himself.[356] Long before this kirk, in the second Psalm, the
ends of the earth (Scotland and England) were gifted of the Father to
His Son, Christ; and that is an old Act of Parliament decreed by our
Lord, and printed four thousand years ago. Their Acts are but yet
printing. The first Act shall stand, let all the potentates of the
world, who love Christ's room better than Himself, rage as they
please. Though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, yet
there is a river that cometh out of the sanctuary, and the streams of
it refresh the city of God. That well is not yet cried down in
Scotland, nor can it dry up: therefore, still believe and trust in
God's salvation. If you knew the whole proceedings, it is the Lord's
mercy that matters have gone at our Parliament, as they have gone. The
Lord Jesus, in our King's ears, to His great provocation and grief,
hath gotten many witnesses; and we saw in all the Son of God
overturning their policy, and making the world know how well He loveth
His poor sun-burnt bride in Scotland. The Lord liveth, and blessed be
the God of our salvation.
[352] The Parliament held at Edinburgh in June 1633.
[353] Mr. Thomas Hog, minister of the Gospel at Dysart, in his own
name, and in the name of other ministers, before the sitting down of
the Parliament, presented a paper, entitled, "Grievances and Petitions
concerning the Disordered Estate of the Reformed Kirk within this
realm of Scotland," to Sir John Hay, Clerk Register, to be laid before
the Parliament.
[354] The reference here is to two Acts passed by the Parliament in
June 1633, the one ratifying all Acts made before in favour of the
church, and consequently ratifying the Acts of Perth, and other Acts
made for settling and advancing the estate of bishops; the other,
asserting the King's prerogative of enjoining churchmen to wear
whatever apparel he chose.
[355] This was the number of members of Parliament who voted against
the above Acts.
[356] "The King's taking pen and paper in hand in the time of the
voting, was a sufficient ground of apprehending fear" (Scot's
"Apologetical Narration").
For the matter betwixt your husband and Carleton, I trust in God it
shall be removed. It hath grieved me exceedingly. I have dealt with
Carleton, and shall deal. Put it off yourself upon the Lord, that it
burden you not.
I have heard of your daughter's marriage: I pray the Lord Jesus to
subscribe the contract, and to be at the banquet, as He was at the
marriage of Cana of Galilee. Show her from me, that though it be true
that God's children have prayed for her, yet the promise of God is
made to her prayers and faith especially: and, therefore, I would
entreat her to seek the Lord to be at the wedding. Let her give
Christ the love of her virginity and espousals, and choose Him first
as her Husband, and that match shall bless the other. It is a new
world she entereth into, and therefore she hath need of new
acquaintance with the Son of God, and of a renewing of her love to
Him, whose love is better than wine. "The time is short: let the
married be as though they were not married; they that weep, as though
they weeped not; they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; they
that buy, as though they possessed not; they that use this world, as
though they used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away"
(1 Cor. vii. 29, 30, 31). Grace, grace be her portion from the Lord. I
know that you have a care on you of it, that all be right: but let
Christ bear all. You need not pity Him, if I may say so; put Him to
it, He is strength enough.
The Spirit of the Lord Jesus be with you.
Your friend, in his dearest friend, Christ Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
CCXLV.--To my LADY BOYD.
(_IMPERFECTIONS--YEARNINGS AFTER CHRIST--CHRIST'S SUPREMACY NOT
INCONSISTENT WITH CIVIL AUTHORITY._)
MY VERY HONOURABLE AND CHRISTIAN LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.--I received your letter, and am well pleased that your thoughts
of Christ stay with you, and that your purpose still is, by all means,
to take the kingdom of heaven by violence; which is no small conquest.
And it is a degree of watchfulness and thankfulness, also, to observe
sleepiness and unthankfulness. We have all good cause to complain of
false light, that playeth the thief and stealeth away the lantern,
when it cometh to the practice of constant walking with God. Our
journey is ten times a-day broken into ten pieces. Christ getteth but
only broken, and halved, and tired work of us, and, alas! too often
against the hair.[357]
[357] Against the grain.
I have been somewhat nearer the Bridegroom; but when I draw nigh, and
see my vileness, for shame I would be out of His presence again. But
yet, desire of His soul-refreshing love putteth blushing me under an
arrest. Oh, what am I, so loathsome a burden of sin, to stand beside
such a beautiful and holy Lord, such a high and lofty One who
inhabiteth eternity! But since it pleaseth Christ to condescend to
such an one as I, let shamefacedness be laid aside, and lose itself in
His condescending love. I would heartily be content to keep a corner
of the King's hall. Oh, if I were at the yonder end of my weak
desires, then should I be where Christ, my Lord and lover, liveth and
reigneth; there I should be everlastingly solaced with the sight of
His face, and satisfied with the surpassing sweetness of His matchless
love. But truly now I stand in the nether side of my desires; and with
a drooping head, and panting heart, I look up to fair Jesus, standing
afar off from us, whill corruption and death shall scour and refine
the body of clay, and rot out the bones of the old man of sin. In the
meantime we are blessed in sending word to the Beloved, that we love
to love Him; and till then, there is joy in wooing, suiting, lying
about His house, looking in at the windows, and sending a poor soul's
groans and wishes through a hole of the door to Jesus, till God send a
glad meeting. And blessed be God, that after a low ebb, and so sad a
word, "Lord Jesus, it is long since I saw Thee," that even then our
wings are growing, and the absence of sweet Jesus breedeth a new
fleece of desires and longings for Him. I know that no man hath a
velvet cross, but the cross is made of that which God will have it.
But verily, howbeit it be no warrantable market to buy a cross,[358]
yet I dare not say, "Oh that I had liberty to sell Christ's cross,"
lest therewith, also, I should sell joy, comfort, sense of love,
patience, and the kind visits of a Bridegroom. And, therefore, blessed
be God we get crosses unbought and good-cheap. Sure I am, it were
better to buy crosses for Christ than to sell them: howbeit neither be
allowed to us.
[358] No one is warranted, in God's market, to buy such a thing as a
trial; we must not bring trials on ourselves.
And for Christ's joyful coming and going, which your Ladyship speaketh
of, I bear with it, as love can permit. It should be enough to me, if
I were wise, that Christ will have joy and sorrow halvers of the life
of the saints, and that each of them should have a share of our days;
as the night and the day are kindly partners and halvers of time, and
take it up betwixt them. But if sorrow be the greedier halver of our
days here, I know that joy's day shall dawn, and do more than
recompense all our sad hours. Let my Lord Jesus (since He willeth to
do so) weave my bit and span-length of time with white and black, well
and wo, with the Bridegroom's coming and His sad departure, as warp
and woof in one web; and let the rose be neighboured with the thorn;
yet hope that maketh not ashamed hath written a letter and lines of
hope to the mourners in Zion, that it shall not be long so. When we
are over the water, Christ shall cry down crosses, and up heaven for
evermore! and down hell, and down death, and down sin, and down
sorrow! and up glory, up life, up joy for evermore! In this hope, I
sleep quietly in Christ's bosom whill He come who is not slack; and
would sleep so, were it not that the noise of the devil, and of sin's
feet, and the cries of an unbelieving heart, awaken me. But, for the
present, I have nothing whereof I can accuse Christ's cross. Oh, if I
could please myself in Christ only!
I hope, Madam, that your sons will improve their power for Jesus. For
there is no danger, neither is there any question or justling betwixt
Christ and authority (though our enemies falsely state the question),
as if Christ and authority could not abide under one roof. The
question only is, betwixt Christ and men in authority. Authority is
for and from Christ, and sib to Him; how then can He make a plea with
it? Nay, the truth is, worms and gods of clay are risen up against
Christ. If the fruit of your Ladyship's womb be helpers of Christ, ye
have good ground to rejoice in God.
All that your Ladyship can expect for your good-will to me and my
brother (a wronged stranger for Christ), is the prayers of a prisoner
of Jesus, to whom I recommend your Ladyship, and your house and
children; and in whom I am, Madam,
Your Ladyship's in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 8, 1637_.
CCXLVI.--_To_ MR. THOMAS GARVEN. [Letter CLII.]
(_HEAVEN'S HAPPINESS--JOY IN THE CROSS._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I rejoice that ye
cannot be quit of Christ (if I may speak so), but that He must, He
will have you. Betake yourself to Christ, my dear brother. It is a
great business to make quit of superfluities, and of those things
which Christ cannot dwell with. I am content with my own cross, that
Christ hath made mine by an eternal lot, because it is Christ's and
mine together. I marvel not that winter is without heaven, for there
is no winter within it: all the saints, therefore, have their own
measure of winter, before their eternal summer. Oh for the long day,
and the high sun, and the fair garden, and the King's Great City up
above these visible heavens! What God layeth on let us suffer; for
some have one cross, some seven, some ten, some half a cross. Yet all
the saints have whole and full joy; and seven crosses have seven joys.
Christ is cumbered with me (to speak so) and my cross; but He falleth
not off from me; we are not at variance. I find the very glooms of
Christ's wooing a soul sweet and lovely. I had rather have Christ's
buffet and love-stroke, than another king's kiss. Speak evil of Christ
who will, I hope to die with love thoughts of Him. Oh that there are
so few tongues in heaven and earth to extol Him! I wish His praises go
not down amongst us. Let not Christ be low and lightly esteemed in the
midst of us: but let all hearts and all tongues cast in their portion,
and contribute something to make Him great in Mount Zion.
Thus recommending you to His grace, and remembering my love to your
wife and mother, and your kind brother, R. B.,[359] and entreating you
to remember my bonds, I rest,
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 8, 1637_.
[359] Probably, Robert Blair.
CCXLVII.--_To_ JANET KENNEDY. [Letter LXXXVIII.]
(_THE HEAVENLY MANSIONS--EARTH A SHADOW._)
LOVING AND DEAR SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I
received your letter. I know that the favour of Christ in you (whom
the virgins love to follow) cannot be blown away with winds, either
from hell, or the evil-smelled air of this defiled world. Sit far
aback from the walls of this pesthouse, even the pollutions of this
defiling world. Keep your taste, your love, and hope in heaven; it is
not good that your love and your Lord should be in two sundry
countries. Up, up after your lover, that ye and He may be together. A
King from heaven hath sent for you: by faith He showeth you the New
Jerusalem, and taketh you alongst in the Spirit, through all the
ease-rooms and dwelling-houses in heaven, and saith, "All these are
thine; this palace is for thee and Christ." And if ye only had been
the chosen of God, Christ would have built that one house for you and
Himself: now it is for you and many others also. Take with you in your
journey what you may carry with you, your conscience, faith, hope,
patience, meekness, goodness, brotherly kindness; for such wares as
these are of great price in the high and new country whither ye go. As
for other things, which are but the world's vanity and trash, since
they are but the house-sweepings, ye will do best not to carry them
with you. Ye found them here; leave them here, and let them keep the
house. Your sun is well turned and low; be nigh your lodging against
night. We go one and one out of this great market, till the town be
empty, and the two lodgings, heaven and hell, be filled. At length
there will be nothing in the earth but toom walls and burnt ashes;
and, therefore, it is best to make away. Antichrist and his master are
busy to plenish hell, and to seduce many: and stars, great
church-light, are falling from heaven, and many are misled and
seduced, and make up with their faith, and sell their birthrights, by
their hungry hunting for I know not what. Fasten your grips fast upon
Christ. I verily esteem Him the best aught[360] that I have. He is my
second in prison. Having Him, though my cross were as heavy as ten
mountains of iron, when He putteth His sweet shoulder under me and it,
my cross is but a feather. I please myself in the choice of Christ; He
is my wale in heaven and earth. I rejoice that He is in heaven before
me. God send a joyful meeting; and, in the meantime, the traveller's
charges for the way, I mean a burden of Christ's love, to sweeten the
journey, and to encourage a breathless runner; for when I lose breath,
climbing up the mountain, He maketh new breath.
[360] Property.
Now the very God of peace establish you to the day of His appearance.
Yours, in his only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 9, 1637_.
CCXLVIII.--_To_ MARGARET REID. [_Probably an Anwoth parishioner._]
(_BENEFITS OF THE CROSS, IF WE ARE CHRIST'S._)
MY VERY DEAR AND WORTHY SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.--Ye are truly blessed of the Lord, however a sour world gloom
upon you, if ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not
moved away from the hope of the Gospel. It is good that there is a
heaven, and it is not a night-dream or a fancy. It is a wonder that
men deny not that there is a heaven, as they deny there is a way to it
but of men's making. You have learned of Christ that there is a
heaven: contend for it, and contend for Christ. Bear well and
submissively the hard cross of this step-mother world, that God will
not have to be yours. I confess it is hard, and I would I were able to
ease you of your burden; but believe me, that this world (which the
Lord will not have to be yours) is but the dross, the refuse, and scum
of God's creation, the portion of the Lord's hired servants; the
movables, not the heritage; a hard bone casten to the dogs holden out
of the New Jerusalem, whereupon they rather break their teeth than
satisfy their appetite. It is your Father's blessing, and Christ's
birthright, that our Lord is keeping for you. And I persuade you, that
your seed, also, shall inherit the earth (if that be good for them),
for that is promised to them; and God's bond is as good, and better,
than if men would give every one of them a bond for a thousand
thousands. Ere ye were born, crosses, in number, measure, and weight,
were written for you, and your Lord will lead you through them. Make
Christ sure, and the blessings of the earth shall be at Christ's back.
I see many professors for the fashion follow on, but they are
professors of glass; I would cause a little knock of persecution ding
them in twenty pieces, and so the world would laugh at the shreds.
Therefore, make fast work. See that Christ lay the ground-stone of
your profession; for wind, and rain, and spaits will not wash away His
building. His works have no shorter date than to stand for evermore. I
should twenty times have perished in my affliction, if I had not
leaned my weak back, and laid my pressing burden both, upon the stone,
the Foundation-stone, the Corner-stone laid in Zion: and I desire
never to rise off this stone.
Now, the very God of peace confirm and establish you unto the day of
the blessed appearance of Christ Jesus. God be with you.
Yours, in his dearest Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
CCXLIX.--_To_ JAMES BAUTIE.
[JAMES BAUTIE, in 1637, seems to have been preparing for the
ministry. He became chaplain to the regiment of the Lord of Ards,
in Ireland, and was ordained minister over the Presbyterian
congregation at Ballywater, in the county of Down, in 1642. He
was clerk to the Presbytery in 1644. Refusing to take the oath of
fidelity to the Commonwealth in 1650, he was first imprisoned,
and then banished out of the kingdom. We know nothing of his
after history. Another person is found occupying his charge in
1661. The name "Bautie" is now unknown. It may, however, be the
same as "Beatie," or "Beattie," a name very common in
Dumfriesshire. But see note in the Index.]
(_SPIRITUAL DIFFICULTIES SOLVED._)
LOVING BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you.--I received your
letter, and render you thanks for the same; but I have not time to
answer all the heads of it, as the bearer can inform you.
1. Ye do well to take yourself at the right stot[361] when ye wrong
Christ by doubting and misbelief. For this is to nickname Christ, and
term Him a liar, which being spoken to our prince, would be hanging or
beheading. But Christ hangeth not always for treason. It is good that
He may registrate[362] a believer's bond a hundred times, and more
than seven times a day have law against us; and yet He spareth us, as
a man doth the son that serveth him. No tender-hearted mother, who may
have law to kill her sucking child, would put in execution that law.
[361] The rebound of a ball. Ye do well to recall your thoughts ere
they have gone too far.
[362] A bond "registered" means kept on record, so that it cannot be
taken out.
2ndly, For your failings, even when ye have a set tryst with Christ,
and when ye have a fair, seen advantage, by keeping your appointment
with Him, and salvation cometh to the very passing of the seals, I
would say two things.--1. Concluded and sealed salvation may go
through and be ended, suppose you write your name to the tail of the
covenant with ink that can hardly be read. Neither think I ever any
man's salvation passed the seals, but there was an odd trick or slip,
in less or more, upon the fool's part who is infested in heaven. In
the most grave and serious work of our salvation, I think Christ had
ever good cause to laugh at our silliness, and to put us on His
merits, that we might bear weight. 2. It is a sweet law of the New
Covenant, and a privilege of the new burgh, that citizens pay
according to their means. For the New Covenant saith not, "So much
obedience by ounce-weights, and no less, under the pain of damnation."
Christ taketh as poor men may give. Where there is a mean portion, He
is content with the less, if there be sincerity; broken sums, and
little, feckless obedience will be pardoned, and hold the foot with
Him. Know ye not that our kindly Lord retaineth His good old heart
yet? He breaketh not a bruised reed, nor quencheth the smoking flax;
if the wind but blow, He holdeth His hand about it till it rise to a
flame. The law cometh on with three O-yeses, "with all the heart, with
all the soul, and with all the strength;" and where would poor folks,
like you and me, furnish all these sums? It feareth me (nay, it is
most certain), that, if the payment were to come out of our purse,
when we should put our hand into our bag, we should bring out the
wind, or worse. But the New Covenant seeketh not heap-mete, nor
stented obedience, as the condition of it; because forgiveness hath
always place. Hence I draw this conclusion: that to think matters
betwixt Christ and us go back for want of heaped measure, is a piece
of old Adam's pride, who would either be at legal payment, or nothing.
We would still have God in our common, and buy His kindness with our
merits. For beggarly pride is devil's honesty, and blusheth to be in
Christ's common, and scarce giveth God a grammercy, and a lifted cap
(except it be the Pharisee's unlucky, "God, I thank Thee"), or a bowed
knee to Christ. It will only give a "Good-day" for a "Good-day" again;
and if He dissemble His kindness, as it were in jest, and seem to
misken it, it in earnest spurneth with the heels, and snuffeth in the
wind, and careth not much for Christ's kindness. "If He will not be
friends, let Him go," saith pride. Beware of this thief, when Christ
offereth Himself.
3rdly, No marvel, then, of whisperings, Whether you be in the covenant
or not? for pride maketh loose work of the covenant of grace, and will
not let Christ be full bargain-maker. To speak to you particularly and
shortly:--1. All the truly regenerated cannot determinately tell you
the measure of their dejections; because Christ beginneth young with
many, and stealeth into their heart, ere they wit of themselves, and
becometh homely with them, with little din or noise. I grant that many
are blinded, in rejoicing in a good-cheap conversion, that never cost
them a sick night. Christ's physic wrought in a dream upon them. But
for that; I would say, if other marks be found that Christ is indeed
come in, never make plea with him because he will not answer, "Lord
Jesus, how camest Thou in? whether in at door or window?" Make Him
welcome, since He is come. "The wind bloweth where it listeth;" all
the world's wit cannot perfectly render a reason why the wind should
be a month in the east, six weeks possibly in the west, and the space
of only an afternoon in the south or north. Ye will not find out all
the nicks and steps of Christ's way with a soul, do what ye can; for
sometimes He will come in stepping softly, like one walking beside a
sleeping person, and slip to the door, and let none know He is there.
2. Ye object: The truly regenerate should love God for Himself; and ye
fear that ye love Him more for His benefits (as incitements and
motives to love Him) than for Himself. I answer: To love God for
Himself, as the last end, and also for His benefits as incitements and
motives to love Him, may stand well together; as a son loveth his
mother, because she is his mother, howbeit she be poor: and he loveth
her for an apple also. I hope ye will not say, that benefits are the
only reason and bottom of your love; it seemeth there is a better
foundation for it. Always,[363] if a hole be in it, sew it up shortly.
3. Ye feel not such mourning in Christ's absence as ye would. I
answer: That the regenerate mourn at all times, and all in like
measure, for His absence, I deny. There are different degrees of
mourning, less or more, as they have less or more love to Him, and
less or more sense of His absence; but, some they must have. Sometimes
they miss not the Lord, and then they cannot mourn; howbeit, it is not
long so; at least, it is not always so. 4. Ye challenge yourself that
some truths find more credit with you than others. Ye do well; for God
is true in the least, as well as in the greatest, and He must be so to
you. Ye must not call Him true in the one page of the leaf, and false
in the other; for our Lord, in all His writings, never contradicted
Himself yet. Although the best of the regenerate have slipped here,
always labour ye to hold your feet.
4thly, Comparing the state of one truly regenerate, whose heart is a
temple of the Holy Ghost, and yours, which is full of uncleanness and
corruption, ye stand dumb and discouraged, and dare not sometimes call
Christ heartsomely your own. I answer: 1. The best regenerate have
their defilements, and, if I may speak so, their draff-poke, that will
clog behind them all their days; and, wash as they will, there will be
filth in their bosom. But let not this put you from the well. I
answer: 2. Albeit there be some ounce-weights of carnality, and some
squint look, or eye in our neck to an idol, yet love in its own
measure may be found. For glory must purify and perfect our love, it
never will till then be absolutely pure. Yet, if the idol reign, and
have the whole of the heart, and the keys of the house, and Christ
only be made an underling to run errands, all is not right; therefore,
examine well. 3. There is a twofold discouragement: one of unbelief,
to conclude (and make doubt of the conclusion) for a mote in your eye,
and a by-look to an idol; this is ill. There is another discouragement
of sorrow for sin, when ye find a by-look to an idol; this is good,
and matter of thanksgiving. Therefore, examine here also.
[363] Notwithstanding.
5thly, The assurance of Jesus's love, ye say, would be the most
comfortable news that ever ye heard. Answer: That may stop twenty
holes, and loose many objections. That love hath telling in it, I
trow. Oh that ye knew and felt it, as I have done! I wish you a share
of my feast; sweet, sweet hath it been to me. If my Lord had not given
me this love, I should have fallen through the causeway of Aberdeen
ere now! But for you, hing on; your feast is not far off; ye shall be
filled ere ye go. There is as much in our Lord's pantry as will
satisfy all His bairns, and as much wine in His cellar as will quench
all their thirst. Hunger on, for there is meat in hunger for Christ.
Never go from Him, but fash Him (who yet is pleased with the
importunity of hungry souls) with a dish-full of hungry desires till
He fill you; and if He delay, yet come not ye away, albeit ye should
fall aswoon at His feet.
6thly, Ye crave my mind, whether sound comfort may be found in prayer,
when conviction of a known idol is present. I answer: (1st), An idol,
as an idol, cannot stand with sound comforts; for that comfort that is
gotten at Dagon's feet is a cheat or blaflume. Yet sound comfort, and
conviction of an eye to an idol, may as well dwell together as tears
and joy. But let this do you no ill; I speak it for your
encouragement, that ye may make the best of our joys ye can, albeit
you find them mixed with motes. (2ndly), Sole conviction (if alone,
without remorse and grief) is not enough; therefore, lend it a tear if
ye dow win at it.
7thly, Ye question; when ye win to more fervency sometimes with your
neighbour in prayer than when you are alone, whether hypocrisy be in
it or not? I answer, if this be always, no question a spice of
hypocrisy is in it, which should be taken heed to. But possibly
desertion may be in private, and presence in public, and then the case
is clear. A fit of applause may occasion by accident a rubbing of a
cold heart, and so heat and life may come; but it is not the proper
cause of that heat. Hence God, of His free grace, will ride His
errands upon our stinking corruption. But corruption is but a mere
occasion and accident; as the playing on a pipe removed anger from the
prophet, and made him fitter to prophesy (2 Kings iii. 15).
8thly, Ye complain of Christ's short visits, that He will not bear you
company one night; but when ye lie down warm at night, ye rise cold at
morning. Answer: I cannot blame you (nor any other that knoweth that
sweet Guest), to bemoan His withdrawings, and to be most desirous of
His abode and company; for He would captivate and engage the affection
of any creature that saw His face. Since He looked on me, and gave me
a sight of His fair love, He gained my heart wholly, and got away with
it. Well, well may He brook it! He shall keep it long, ere I fetch it
from Him. But I shall tell you what ye should do; treat Him well, give
Him the chair and the board-head, and make Him welcome to the mean
portion ye have. A good supper and kind entertainment maketh guests
love the inn the better. Yet sometimes Christ hath an errand
elsewhere, for mere trial;[364] and then, though ye give Him king's
cheer, He will away; as is clear in desertions for mere trial and not
for sin.
[364] Merely for the purpose of trying the soul, Christ goes away
elsewhere.
9thly, Ye seek the difference betwixt the motions of the Spirit in
their least measure, and the natural joys of your own heart. Answer:
As a man can tell if he joy and delight in his wife, as his wife; or
if he delight and joy in her for satisfaction of his lust, but hating
her person, and so loving her for her flesh, and not grieving when ill
befalleth her: so will a man's joy in God, and his whorish natural
joy, be discovered. If he be sorry for anything that may offend the
Lord, it will speak the singleness of his love to Him.
10thly, Ye ask the reason why sense overcometh faith, Answer: Because
sense is more natural, and near of kin to our selfish and soft nature.
Ye ask, If faith, in that case, be sound? Answer: If it be chased
away, it is neither sound nor unsound, because it is not faith. But it
might be and was faith, before sense did blow out the act of
believing.
Lastly, Ye ask what to do, when promises are borne-in upon you, and
sense of impenitency for sins of youth hindereth application. I
answer, if it be living sense, it may stand with application; and in
this case, put to your hand, and eat your meat in God's name. If
false, so that the sins of youth are not repented of, then, as faith
and impenitency cannot stand together, so neither that sense and
application can consist.
Brother, excuse my brevity; for time straiteneth me, that I get not my
mind said in these things, but must refer that to a new occasion, if
God offer it. Brother, pray for me. Grace be with you.
Yours, in his dearest Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCL.--_To the_ LADY LARGIRIE. [Letter CXCV.]
(_PART WITH ALL FOR CHRIST--NO UNMIXED JOY HERE._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I hope ye know what
conditions passed betwixt Christ and you, at your first meeting. Ye
remember that He said, your summer days would have clouds, and your
rose a prickly thorn beside it. Christ is unmixed in heaven, all
sweetness and honey. Here we have Him with His thorny and rough cross;
yet I know no tree that beareth sweeter fruit than Christ's cross,
except I would raise a lying report on it. It is your part to take
Christ, as He is to be had in this life. Sufferings are like a wood
planted round about His house, over door and window. If we could hold
fast our grips of Him, the field were won. Yet a little while, and
Christ shall triumph. Give Christ His own short time to spin out these
two long threads of heaven and hell to all mankind, for certainly the
thread will not break; and when He hath accomplished His work in Mount
Zion, and hath refined His silver, He will bring new vessels out of
the furnace, and plenish His house, and take up His house again.
I counsel you to free yourself of clogging temptations, by overcoming
some, and contemning others, and watching over all. Abide true and
loyal to Christ, for few now are fast to Him. They give Christ blank
paper for a bond of service and attendance, now when Christ hath most
ado. To waste a little blood with Christ, and to put our part of this
drossy world in pawn over in His hand, as willing to quit it for Him,
is the safest cabinet to keep the world in. But those who would take
the world and all their flitting on their back, and run away from
Christ, shall fall by the way, and leave their burden behind them, and
be taken captive themselves. Well were my soul to have put all I have,
life and soul, over into Christ's hands. Let Him be forthcoming for
all.
If any ask how I do? I answer, None can be but well that are in
Christ: and if I were not so, my sufferings had melted me away in
ashes and smoke. I thank my Lord, that He hath something in me that
His fire cannot consume.
Remember my love to your husband; and show him from me, that I desire
he may set aside all things, and make sure work of salvation, that it
be not a-seeking when the sand-glass is run out, and time and eternity
shall tryst together. There is no errand so weighty as this. Oh that
he would take it to heart! Grace be with you.
Yours, in Christ Jesus his Lord,
S. R.
ABERDEEN.
CCLI.--_To the_ LADY DUNGUEICH.
[LADY DUNGEUCH, or DUNGUEICH, was sister to _Marion M'Naught_,
for her own name was _Sarah M'Naught_, and she is mentioned in
the Registers as "second heir to her father, _John M'Naught of
Kilquhannady_" [or Kilquhanatie (Letter V.)], "on 31st March
1646, in the three merk lands of Dumgeuich, in Lanarkshire." She
married Samuel Lockhart, merchant burgess in Edinburgh.
Near the Bridge of Deach, two miles from Carsphairn, not far from
Earlston, there is the poor ruin of an old _Dundeuch_ castle on
the roadside, mentioned in the life of John Semple. But that is
not the same place, though resembling it in sound. The _Gordons_
of Dengeuch (a branch of the Lochinvar family) were no doubt
connected.]
(_JESUS OR THE WORLD--SCOTLAND'S TRIALS AND HOPES._)
MISTRESS,--I long to hear from you, and how you go on with Christ. I
am sure that Christ and you once met. I pray you to fasten your grips.
There is holding and drawing, and much sea-way to heaven, and we are
often sea-sick; but the voyage is so needful, that we must on any
terms take shipping with Christ. I believe it is a good country which
we are going to, and there is ill lodging in this smoky house of the
world, in which we are yet living. Oh, that we should love smoke so
well, and clay that holdeth our feet fast! It were our happiness to
follow after Christ, and to anchor ourselves upon the Rock in the
upper side of the vail. Christ and Satan are now drawing to parties.
And they are blind who see not Scotland divided into two camps, and
Christ coming out with His white banner of love; and He hangeth that
over the heads of His soldiers. And the other captain, the Dragon, is
coming out with a great black flag, and crieth, "The world, the world!
ease, honour, and a whole skin, and a soft couch." And there lie they,
and leave Christ to fend for Himself!
My counsel is, that ye come out and leave the multitude, and let
Christ have your company. Let them take clay and this present world
who love it. Christ is a more worthy and noble portion: blessed are
those who get Him. It is good, ere the storm rise, to make ready all,
and to be prepared to go to the camp with Christ, seeing He will not
keep the house, nor sit at the fireside with couchers. A shower for
Christ is little enough. Oh, I find all too little for Him! Wo, wo, wo
is me, that I have no propine for my Lord Jesus. My love is so
feckless, that it is a shame to offer it to Him! Oh, if it were as
broad as heaven, as deep as the sea, I would gladly bestow it upon
Him! I persuade you, that God is wringing grapes of red wine for
Scotland; and that this land shall drink, and spue and fall. His
enemies shall drink the thick of it, and the grounds[365] of it. But
Scotland's withered tree shall blossom again; and Christ shall make a
second marriage with her, and take home His wife out of the furnace.
But, if our eyes shall see it, He knoweth who hath created time. Grace
be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
[365] The dregs.
CCLII.--_To_ JONET MACCULLOCH. [See Letter CI.]
(_CARES TO BE CAST ON CHRIST--CHRIST A STEADY FRIEND._)
LOVING SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Hold on your
course, for, it may be, that I shall not soon see you. Venture through
the thick of all things after Christ, and lose not your Master,
Christ, in the throng of this great market. Let Christ know how heavy,
and how many a stone-weight you and your cares, burdens, crosses, and
sins are. Let Him bear all. Make the heritage sure to yourself: get
charters and writs passed and through; and put on arms for the battle,
and keep you fast by Christ. And then, let the wind blow out of what
airth it will, your soul shall not be blown into the sea.
I find Christ the most steadable friend and companion in the world to
me now. The need and usefulness of Christ are seen best in trials. Oh,
if He be not well worthy of His room! Lodge Him in house and heart;
and stir up your husband to seek the Lord. I wonder that he hath never
written to me: I do not forget him.
I taught you the whole counsel of God, and delivered it to you. It
will be inquired for at your hands; have it in readiness against the
time that the Lord ask for it. Make you ready to meet the Lord; and
rest and sleep in the love of that Fairest among the sons of men.
Desire Christ's beauty. Give out all your love to Him, and let none
fall by. Learn in prayer to speak to Him.
Help your mother's soul; and desire her, from me, to seek the Lord and
His salvation. It is not soon found: many miss it. Grace be with you.
Your loving pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCLIII.--_To his Reverend and very dear Brother_, MR. GEORGE
GILLESPIE.
(_CHRIST THE TRUE GAIN._)
MY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--I received yours. I am still with the Lord. His
cross hath done that which I thought impossible once. Christ keepeth
tryst in the fire and water with His own, and cometh ere our breath go
out, and ere our blood grow cold.
Blessed are they whose feet escape the great golden net that is now
spread. It is happiness to take the crabbed, rough, and poor side of
Christ's world, which is a lease of crosses and losses for Him. For
Christ's incomes and casualties that follow Him are many; and it is
not a little one that a good conscience may be had in following Him.
This is true gain, and must be laboured for and loved.
Many give Christ for a shadow; because Christ was rather _beside_
their conscience, in a dead and reprobate light, than _in_ their
conscience. Let us be ballasted with grace, that we be not blown over,
and that we stagger not. Yet a little while, and Christ and His
redeemed ones shall fill the field, and come out victorious. Christ's
glory of triumphing in Scotland is yet in the bud, and in the birth;
but the birth cannot prove an abortion. He shall not faint nor be
discouraged, till He hath brought forth judgment unto victory. Let us
still mind our Covenant; and the very God of peace be with you.
Your brother in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 9, 1637_.
CCLIV.--_To his Reverend and dear Brother_, MR. ROBERT BLAIR.
(_PERSONAL UNWORTHINESS--GOD'S GRACE--PRAYER FOR OTHERS._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--The reason ye give for not writing to me
affecteth me much, and giveth me a dash, when such an one as ye
conceive an opinion of me, or of anything in me. The truth is, when I
come home to myself, oh, what penury do I find, and how feckless is my
supposed stock, and how little have I! He to whom I am as crystal, and
who seeth through me, and perceiveth the least mote that is in me,
knoweth that I speak what I think and am convinced of: but men cast me
through a gross and wide sieve. My very dear brother, the room of the
least of all saints is too great for the like of me. But lest this
should seem art to fetch home reputation, I speak no more of it. It is
my worth to be Christ's ransomed sinner and sick one. His relation to
me is, that I am sick, and He is the Physician of whom I stand in
need. Alas! how often play I fast and loose with Christ! He bindeth, I
loose; He buildeth, I cast down; He trimmeth up a salvation for me,
and I mar it; I cast out with Christ, and He agreeth with me again,
twenty times a-day; I forfeit my kingdom and heritage, I lose what I
had; but Christ is at my back, and following on, to stoop and take up
what falleth from me. Were I in heaven, and had the crown on my head,
if free-will were my tutor, I should lose heaven. Seeing I lose myself
what wonder I should let go, and lose Jesus, my Lord? Oh, well to me
for evermore, that I have cracked my credit with Christ, and cannot by
law at all borrow from Him, upon my feckless and worthless bond and
faith! For my faith and reputation with Christ is, that I am a
creature that God will not put any trust into. I was, and am,
bewildered with temptations, and wanted a guide to heaven. Oh what
have I to say of that excellent, surpassing, and supereminent thing,
they call, _The grace of God_, the way of free redemption in Christ!
And when poor, poor I, dead in law, was sold, fettered, and imprisoned
in justice's closet-ward, which is hell and damnation; when I, a
wretched one, lighted upon noble Jesus, eternally kind Jesus,
tender-hearted Jesus (nay, when He lighted upon me first, and knew
me), I found that He scorned to take a price, or anything like hire,
of angels, or seraphim, or any of His creatures. And, therefore, I
would praise Him for this, that the whole army of the redeemed ones
sit rent-free in heaven. Our holding is better than blench: we are all
freeholders. And seeing that our eternal feu-duty is but thanks, oh
woful me! that I have but spilled thanks, lame, and broken, and
miscarried praises, to give Him. And so my silver is not good and
current with Christ, were it not that free merits have stamped it, and
washen it and me both! And for my silence I see somewhat better
through it now. If my high and lofty One, my princely and royal
Master, say, "Hold, hold thy peace, I lay bonds on thee, thou must
speak none," I would fain be content, and let my fire be smothered
under ashes, without light or flame! I cannot help it. I take laws
from my Lord, but I give none.
As for your journey to F.,[366] ye do well to follow it. The camp is
Christ's ordinary bed. A carried bed is kindly to the Beloved, down in
this lower house. It may be (and who knoweth but) our Lord hath some
centurions, whom ye are sent to. Seeing your angry mother denieth you
lodging and house-room with her, Christ's call to unknown faces must
be your second wind, seeing ye cannot have a first.[367] Oh that our
Lord would water again with a new visit this piece-withered and dry
hill of our widow, Mount Zion.
[366] This probably means France, as Mr. Blair at this time resolved
to go to that country as chaplain in Colonel Hepburn's regiment. He
embarked at Leith, but seeing the excessive wickedness of some of the
men, abandoned the enterprise, and returned to Edinburgh (Row's
"Continuation of Blair's Life," pp. 151-153).
[367] In his "Christ Dying and Drawing," p. 534 (1727), he uses the
same figurative language: "Compelled to arrive with a second wind, as
a crossed seaman--who should have had the west wind, but finds the
east wind is blowing, and so must just make the best of this second
wind." You cannot get the favour of your mother, the church, which
would have been a first wind to you, according to your desire;
therefore, sail with this other wind, to wit, this call in Providence
to visit foreign lands.
My dear brother, I shall think it comfort, if ye speak my name to our
Well-beloved. Wherever ye are, I am mindful of you. Oh that the Lord
would yet make the light of the moon in Scotland as the light of the
sun, and the light of the sun sevenfold brighter. For myself, as yet I
have received no answer whither to go. I wait on. Oh that Jesus had my
love! Let matters frame as they list, I have some more to do with
Christ; yet I would fain we were nearer.
Now the great Shepherd of the sheep, the very God of peace, establish
and confirm you till the day of His coming.
Yours, in his lovely and sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 9, 1637_.
CCLV.--_To the_ LADY CARLETON. [Letter XV.]
(_SUBMISSION TO GOD'S WILL--WONDERS IN THE LOVE OF CHRIST--NO DEBT TO
THE WORLD._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--My soul longeth once
again to be amongst you, and to behold that beauty of the Lord, that I
would see in His house; but I know not if He, in whose hands are all
our ways, seeth it expedient for His glory. I owe my Lord, I know,
submission of the spirit, suppose He would turn me into a stone, or
pillar of salt. Oh that I were he in whom my Lord could be glorified!
suppose my little heaven were forfeited, to buy glory to Him before
men and angels; suppose my want of His presence, and separation from
Christ, were a pillar as high as ten heavens for Christ's glory to
stand upon, above all the world. What am I to Him? How little am I
(though my feathers stood out as broad as the morning light) to such a
high, to such a lofty, to such a never-enough-admired and glorious
Lord! My trials are heavy, because of my sad Sabbaths; but I know that
they are less than my high provocations. I seek no more than that
Christ may be the gainer, and I the loser; that He may be raised and
heightened, and I cried down, and my worth made dust before His glory.
Oh that Scotland, all with one shout, would cry up Christ, and that
His name were high in the land! I find the very utmost borders of
Christ's high excellency and deep sweetness, heaven and earth's
wonder. Oh, what is He? If I could but win in to see His inner side!
Oh, I am run dry of loving, and wondering, and adoring of that
greatest and most admirable One! Wo, wo is me, I have not half love
for Him! Alas, what can my drop do to His great sea! What gain is it
to Christ, that I have casten my little sparkle into His great fire!
What can I give to Him? Oh that I had love to fill a thousand worlds,
that I might empty my soul of it all upon Christ! I think I have just
reason to quit my part of any hope or love that I have to this scum
(and the refuse of the dross of God's workmanship), this vain earth. I
owe to this stormy world (whose kindness and heart to me have been
made of iron, or a piece of wild sea-island that never a creature of
God lodged in) not a look: I owe it no love, no hope; and, therefore,
oh, if my love were dead to it, and my soul dead to it! What am I
obliged to this house of my pilgrimage? A straw for all that God hath
made, to my soul's liking, except God, and that lovely One, Jesus
Christ! Seeing I am not this world's debtor, I desire that I may be
stripped of all confidence in anything but my Lord, that He may be for
me, and I for my only, only, only Lord! that He may be the morning and
evening tide, the top and the root of my joys, and the heart and
flower and yolk of all my soul's delights! Oh, let me never lodge any
creature in my heart and confidence! Let the house be for Him. I
rejoice, that sad days cut off a piece of the lease of my short life;
and that my shadow, even while I suffer, weareth long, and my evening
hasteneth on. I have cause to love home with all my heart, and to take
the opportunity of the day to hasten to the end of my journey, before
the night come on, wherein a man cannot see to walk or work; that
once, after my falls, I may at night fall in, weary and tired as I am,
into Christ's bosom, and betwixt His breasts. Our prison cannot be our
best country. This world looketh not like heaven and the happiness
that our tired souls would be at; and, therefore, it were good to seek
about for the wind, and hoist up our sails towards our New Jerusalem,
for that is our Christ. Remember a prisoner to Christ. Grace, grace be
with you.
Yours, in his only Lord and Master,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCLVI.--_To WILLIAM RIGGE of Athernie._
(_THE LAW--GRACE--CHALKING OUT PROVIDENCES FOR OURSELVES--PRESCRIBING
TO HIS LOVE._)
MUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--Your letter, full of complaints,
bemoaning your guiltiness, hath humbled me. But give me leave to say
that ye seem to be too far upon the law's side. Ye will not gain much
to be the law's advocate. I thought ye had not been the law's but
grace's man; nevertheless, I am sure that ye desire to take God's part
against yourself. Whatever your guiltiness be, yet, when it falleth
into the sea of God's mercy, it is but like a drop of blood fallen
into the great ocean. There is nothing here to be done, but to let
Christ's doom light on "the old man," and let him bear his
condemnation, seeing in Christ he was condemned; for the law hath but
power over your worst half. Let the blame, therefore, lie where the
blame should be; and let the new man be sure to say, "I am comely as
the tents of Kedar, howbeit I be black and sunburnt, by sitting
neighbour beside a body of sin." I seek no more here than room for
grace's defence, and Christ's white throne, whereto a sinner,
condemned by the law, may appeal. But the use that I make of it is, I
am sorry that I am not so tender and thin-skinned;[368] though I am
sure that Christ may find employment for His calling in me, if in any
living, seeing, from my youth upward, I have been making up the
blackest process that any minister in the world, or any other, can
answer to. And, when I had done this, I painted a providence of my
own, and wrote ease for myself, and a peaceable ministry, and the sun
shining on me, till I should be in at heaven's gates; such green and
raw thoughts had I of God! I thought also of a sleeping devil, that
would pass by the like of me, lying in muirs and outfields; so I
bigged the gowk's nest and dreamed of dying at ease, and living in a
fool's paradise. But since I came hither, I am often so as they would
have much rhetoric that could persuade me, that Christ hath not
written wrath on my dumb and silent Sabbaths; which is a persecution
of the latest edition, being used against none in this land, that I
can learn of, besides me. And often I lie under a non-entry, and would
gladly sell all my joys to be confirmed free tenant of the King Jesus,
and to have sealed assurances: but I see often blank papers. And my
greatest desires are these two:--1. That Christ would take me in hand
to cure me, and undertake for a sick man. I know that I should not die
under His hand. And yet in this, while I still doubt, I believe
through a cloud that sorrow (which hath no eyes) hath but put a vail
on Christ's love. 2. It pleaseth Him often, since I came hither, to
come with some short blinks of His sweet love. And then, because I
have none to help me to praise His love, and can do Him no service in
my own person (as I once thought I did in His temple), I die with
wishes and desires to take up house and dwell at the well-side, and to
have Him praised and set on high. But, alas! what can the like of me
do, to get a good name raised upon my well-beloved Lord Jesus, suppose
I could desire to be suspended for ever of my part of heaven, for His
glory? I am sure, if I could get my will of Christ's love, and could
once be over head and ears in the believed, apprehended, and seen love
of the Son of God, it were the fulfilling of the desires of the only
happiness I would be at. But the truth is, I hinder my communion with
Him, because of the want of both faith and repentance, and because I
will make an idol of Christ's kisses. I will neither lead nor
drive,[369] except I see Christ's love run in my channel; and when I
wait and look for Him the upper way, I see His wisdom is pleased to
play me a slip, and come the lower way. So that I have not the right
art of guiding Christ; for there is art and wisdom required in guiding
of Christ's love aright when we have gotten it. Oh, how far are His
ways above mine? Oh, how little of Him do I see! And when I am as dry
as a burnt heath in a drouthy summer, and when my root is withered,
howbeit I think then that I would drink a sea-full of Christ's love,
ere ever I would let the cup go from my head, yet I get nothing but
delays, as if He would make hunger my daily food. I think myself also
hungered of hunger. The rich Lord Jesus satisfy a famished man. Grace
be with you.
Your own, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 10, 1637_.
[368] The use I make of your letter is, it humbles me that I am not so
tender as you, and "_thin-skinned_," _i.e._ easily made to feel.
[369] Be forced along; "drive," as a neuter verb.
CCLVII.--_To the_ LADY CRAIGHALL. [Letter LXXXVI.]
(_THE COMFORTS OF CHRIST'S CROSS--DESIRES FOR CHRIST._)
HONOURABLE AND CHRISTIAN LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I
cannot but write to your Ladyship of the sweet and glorious terms I am
in with the most joyful King that ever was, under this well-thriving
and prosperous cross. It is my Lord's salvation, wrought by His own
right hand, that the water doth not suffocate the breath of hope, and
joyful courage, in the Lord Jesus; for His own person is still in the
camp with His poor soldier. I see that the cross is tied, with
Christ's hand, to the end of an honest profession. We are but fools to
endeavour to loose Christ's knot. When I consider the comforts of God,
I durst not consent to sell or wadset my short liferent of the cross
of the Lord Jesus. I know that Christ bought with His own blood a
right to sanctified and blessed crosses, in so far as they blow me
over the water to my long-desired home: and it were not good that
Christ should be the buyer and I the seller. I know that time and
death shall take sufferings fairly off my hand. I hope we shall have
an honest parting at night, when this cold and frosty afternoon-tide
of my evil and rough day shall be over. Well is my soul of either
sweet or sour, that Christ hath any part or portion in: if He be at
the one end of it, it shall be well with me. I shall die ere I libel
faults against Christ's cross. It shall have my testimonial under my
hand, as an honest and saving mean of Christ for mortification and
faith's growth. I have a stronger assurance, since I came over the
Forth,[370] of the excellency of Jesus, than I had before. I am rather
about Him than in Him, while I am absent from Him in this house of
clay. But I would be in heaven, for no other cause than to essay and
try what boundless joy it must be to be over head and ears in my
well-beloved Christ's love. Oh that fair One hath my heart for
evermore! But alas, it is over-little for Him! Oh, if it were better
and more worthy for His sake! Oh, if I might meet with Him, face to
face, on this side of eternity, and might have leave to plead with
Him, that I am so hungered and famished here with the niggardly
portion of His love that He giveth me! Oh that I might be carver and
steward myself, at mine own will, of Christ's love (if I may lawfully
wish this!); then would I enlarge my vessel (alas! a narrow and ebb
soul), and take in a sea of His love. My hunger for it is hungry and
lean, in believing that ever I shall be satisfied with that love: so
fain would I have what I know I cannot hold. O Lord Jesus, delightest
Thou, delightest Thou, to pine and torment poor souls with the want of
Thy incomparable love? Oh, if I durst call Thy dispensation cruel! I
know that Thou Thyself art mercy, without either brim or bottom; I
know that Thou art a God bank-full of mercy and love; but, oh, alas!
little of it cometh my way. I die to look afar off to that love,
because I can get but little of it. But hope saith, "This Providence
shall ere long look more favourably upon poor bodies," and on me also.
Grace be with your Ladyship's spirit.
Your Ladyship's, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 10, 1637_.
[370] He was banished to the north of the Firth of Forth.
CCLVIII.--_To the Right Honourable my_ LORD LOUDON.
(_THE WISDOM OF ADHERING TO CHRIST'S CAUSE._)
RIGHT HONOURABLE,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your Lordship.--I
rejoice exceedingly to hear that your Lordship hath a good mind to
Christ, and His now borne-down truth. My very dear Lord, go on, in the
strength of the Lord, to carry your honours and worldly glory to the
New Jerusalem. For this cause your Lordship received these of the
Lord. This is a sure way for the establishment of your house, if ye be
of those who are willing, in your place, to build Zion's old waste
places in Scotland. Your Lordship wanteth not God's and man's law
both, now to come to the streets for Christ: and suppose the bastard
laws of man were against you, it is an honest and zealous[371] error,
if here you slip against a point or punctilio of standing policy. When
your foot slippeth in such known ground, as is the royal prerogative
of our high and most truly dread Sovereign (who hath many crowns on
His head), and the liberties of His house, He will hold you up.
Blessed shall they be who take Babel's little ones, and dash their
heads against the stones. I wish your Lordship may have a share of
that blessing, with other worthy nobles in our land.
[371] Arising from zeal.
It is true that it is now accounted wisdom for men to be partners in
pulling up the stakes, and loosing the cords, of the tent of Christ.
But I am persuaded, that that wisdom is cried down in heaven, and
shall never pass for true wisdom with the Lord, whose word crieth
shame upon wit against Christ and truth; and, accordingly, it shall
prove shame and confusion of face in the end. Our Lord hath given your
Lordship light of a better stamp, and learning also, wherein ye are
not behind the disputer and the scribe. Oh what a blessed thing is it
to see nobility, learning, and sanctification, all concur in one! For
these ye owe yourself to Christ and His kingdom. God hath bewildered
and bemisted the wit and the learning of the scribes and disputers of
this time; they look asquint to the Bible. This blinding and bemisting
world blindfoldeth men's light, that they are afraid to see straight
out before them; nay, their very light playeth the knave, or worse, to
truth. Your Lordship knoweth that, within a little while, policy
against truth shall blush, and the works of men shall be burned up,
even their spider's-web who spin out many hundred ells and webs of
indifference in the Lord's worship; more than ever Moses, who would
have[372] a hoof material (Exod. x. 26), and Daniel, who would have a
look out at a window a matter of life and death, than ever, I say,
these men of God dreamed of. Alas! that men dare to shape, carve, cut,
and clip our King's princely testament in length and breadth, and in
all dimensions, answerable to the conception of such policy, as a
head-of-wit thinketh a safe and trim way of serving God! How have men
forgotten the Lord, that they dare to go against even that truth which
once they preached themselves, howbeit their sermons now be as thin
sown as strawberries in a wood or wilderness! Certainly the sweetest
and safest course is, for this short time of the afternoon of this old
and declining world, to stand for Jesus. He hath said it, and it is
our part to believe it, that ere it be long, "Time shall be no more,
and the heaven shall wax old, as a garment." Do we not see it already
an old holie and threadbare garment. Doth not cripple and lame nature
tell us, that the Lord will fold up the old garment, and lay it aside;
and that the heavens shall be folded together as a scroll, and this
pesthouse shall be burnt with fire, and that both plenishing and walls
shall melt with fervent heat? For at the Lord's coming, He will do
with this earth, as men do with a leper-house; He will burn the walls
with fire, and the plenishing of the house also (2 Pet. iii. 10, 12).
My very dear Lord, how will ye rejoice in that day, to have Christ,
angels, heaven, and your own conscience to smile upon you? I am
persuaded that one sick night, through the terrors of the Almighty,
would make men, whose conscience hath such a wide throat that an image
like a cathedral church, would go down it, have other thoughts of
Christ and His worship, than now they please themselves with. The
scarcity of faith in the earth saith, "We are hard upon the last nick
of time:" blessed are those who keep their garments clean against the
Bridegroom's coming. There shall be spotted clothes, and many defiled
garments, at His last Coming; and, therefore, few found worthy to walk
with Him in white.
[372] Would reckon.
I am persuaded, my Lord, that this poor travailing Woman, our pained
church, is with child of victory, and shall bring forth a Man-child
all lovely and glorious, that shall be caught up to God and to His
throne, howbeit the dragon, in his followers, be attending the
childbirth pain, as an Egyptian midwife, to receive the birth and
strangle it. But they shall be disappointed who thirst for the
destruction of Zion. "They shall be as when a hungry man dreameth that
he eateth, but, behold, he awaketh, and his soul is empty; or when a
thirsty man dreameth that he drinketh, but, behold, he awaketh, and is
faint, and his soul is not satisfied: so shall it be," I say, "with
the multitude of all the nations that fight against Mount Zion" (Isa.
xxix. 8). Therefore, the weak and feeble, those that are "as signs and
wonders in Israel," have chosen the best side, even the side that
victory is upon. And I think this is no evil policy.
Verily, for myself, I am so well pleased with Christ, and His noble
and honest-borne cross, this cross that is come of Christ's house and
is of kin to Himself, that I should weep if it should come to
niffering and bartering of lots and condition with those that are "at
ease in Zion." I hold still my choice, and bless myself in it. I see
and I believe that there is salvation in this way, which is everywhere
spoken against. I hope to go to eternity, and to venture on the last
evil to the saints (even upon death), fully persuaded that this only,
even this, is the saving way for racked consciences, and for weary and
laden sinners to find ease and peace for evermore in. And, indeed, it
is not for any worldly respect that I speak so of it. The weather is
not so hot that I have great cause to startle in my prison, or to
boast of that entertainment that my good friends, the prelates, intend
for me (which is, banishment), if they shall obtain their desire, and
effectuate what they design. But let it come; I rue not that I made
Christ my wale and my choice; I think Him aye the longer the better.
My Lord, it shall be good service to God, to hold your noble friend
and chief[373] upon a good course for the truth of Christ. Now the
very God of peace establish your Lordship in Christ Jesus unto the
end.
Your Lordship's, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 10, 1637_.
[373] The Earl of Argyle.
CCLIX.--_To_ MR. DAVID DICKSON.
(_DANGER OF WORLDLY EASE--PERSONAL OCCURRENCES._)
REVEREND AND WELL-BELOVED BROTHER IN THE LORD,--I bless the Lord, who
hath so wonderfully stopped the ongoing of that lawless process
against you.[374] The Lord reigneth, and has a saving eye upon you and
your ministry; and, therefore, fear not what men can do. I bless the
Lord, that the Irish ministers find employment, and the professors
comfort of their ministry. Believe me, I durst not, as I am now
disposed, hold an honest brother out of the pulpit. I trust that the
Lord will guard you, and hide you in the shadow of His hand. I am not
pleased with any that are against you in that.
[374] This is probably an allusion to a threat of the Archbishop of
Glasgow, to prosecute Dickson for employing Blair, Livingstone, and
Cunningham, after they had been silenced and ejected by the Irish
prelates.
I see this, that, in prosperity, men's conscience will not start at
small sins; but if some had been where I have been since I came from
you, a little more would have caused their eyes to water, and trouble
their peace. Oh how ready are we to incline to the world's hand! Our
arguments, being well examined, are often drawn from our skin; the
whole skin, and a peaceable tabernacle, is a topic-maxim in great
request in our logic.
I find a little brairding of God's seed in this town, for the which
the doctors have told me their mind, that they cannot bear with it,
and have examined and threatened the people that haunt my company. I
fear I get not leave to winter here; and whither I go I know not; I am
ready at the Lord's call. I would I could make acquaintance with
Christ's cross, for I find comforts lie to, and follow upon, the
cross. I suffer in my name, by them; but I take it as a part of the
crucifying of the old man. Let them cut the throat of my credit, and
do as they like best with it. When the wind of their calumnies hath
blown away my good name from me, in the way to heaven, I know that
Christ will take my name out of the mire, and wash it, and restore it
to me again. I would have a mind (if the Lord would be pleased to give
me it) to be a fool for Christ's sake. Sometimes, while I have Christ
in my arms, I fall asleep in the sweetness of His presence, and He, in
my sleep, stealeth away out of my arms; and when I awake, I miss Him.
I am much comforted with my Lady Pitsligo, a good woman, and
acquainted with God's ways.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 11, 1637_.
CCLX.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Earlston._
(_ALL CROSSES WELL ORDERED--PROVIDENCES._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Howbeit I should have been glad to have seen you;
yet, seeing that our Lord hath been pleased to break the snare of our
adversaries, I heartily bless our Lord on your behalf. Our crosses for
Christ are not made of iron; they are softer and of more gentle metal.
It is easy for God to make a fool of the devil, the father of all
fools. As for me, I but breathe out what my Lord breatheth in. The
scum and froth of my letters I father upon my own unbelieving heart. I
know that your Lord hath something to do with you, because Satan and
malice have shot sore at you; but your bow abideth in its strength. Ye
shall not, by my advice, be a halver with Christ, to divide the glory
of your deliverance betwixt yourself and Him, or any other second mean
whatsoever. Let Christ (as it setteth Him well) have all the glory and
triumph His lone. The Lord set Himself on high in you.
1. I see that Christ can borrow a cross for some hours, and set His
servants beside it, rather than under it, and win the plea too; yea,
and make glory to Himself, and shame to His enemies, and comfort to
His children out of it. But whether Christ buy or borrow crosses, He
is King of crosses, and King of devils, and King over hell, and King
over malice. When He was in the grave, He came out, and brought the
keys with Him. He is Lord Jailor; nay, what say I? He is Captain of
the castle, and He hath the keys of death and hell. And what are our
troubles but little deaths? and He who commandeth the great castle
commandeth the little also.
2. I see that a hardened face, and two skins upon our brows against
the winter hail and stormy wind, is meetest for a poor traveller, in a
winter journey to heaven. Oh, what art is it to learn to endure
hardness, and to learn to go barefooted either through the devil's
fiery coals, or his frozen waters!
3. I am persuaded that a sea-venture with Christ maketh great riches:
is not the ship of our King Jesus coming home, and shall not we get
part of the gold? Alas! we fools miscount our gain when we seem
losers. Believe me, I have no challenges against this well-borne
cross: for it is come of Christ's house, and is honourable, and is His
propine. "To you it is given to suffer."--Oh, what fools are we, to
undervalue His gifts, and to lightly that which is true honour! For if
we could be faithful, our tackling shall not loose, or our mast break,
or our sails blow into the sea. The bastard crosses, the kinless and
base-born crosses of worldings for evil-doing, must be heavy and
grievous; but our afflictions are light and momentary.
4. I think myself happy that I have lost credit with Christ, and that
in this bargain I am Christ's sworn dyvour,[375] to whom He will
lippen nothing, no, not one pin in the work of my salvation. Let me
stand in black and white in the dyvour-book, before Christ. I am happy
that my salvation is concredited[376] to Christ's mediation. Christ
oweth no faith to me, to lippen anything to me; but oh what faith and
credit I owe to Him! Let my name fall, and let Christ's name stand in
honour with men and angels. Alas! I have no room to spread out my
affection before God's people; and I see not how I can shout out and
cry out the loveliness, the high honour, and the glory of my fairest
Lord Jesus. Oh that He would let me have a bed to lie on, to be
delivered of my birth, that I might paint Him out in His beauty to
men, as I dow.
[375] Admitted bankrupt; and in the next sentence, "dyvour-book" is
the bankrupt-roll.
[376] Entrusted fully.
5. I wondered once at providence, and called white providence black
and unjust, that I should be smothered in a town where no soul will
take Christ off my hand. But providence hath another lustre with God
than with my bleared eyes. I proclaim myself a blind body, who knoweth
not black and white, in the unco course of God's providence. Suppose
that Christ should set hell where heaven is, and devils up in glory
beside the elect angels (which yet cannot be), I would I had a heart
to acquiesce in His way, without further dispute. I see that infinite
wisdom is the mother of His judgments, and that His ways pass finding
out.
6. I cannot learn, but I desire to learn, to bring my thoughts, will,
and lusts, in-under Christ's feet, that He may trample upon them. But,
alas! I am still upon Christ's wrong side.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 12, 1637_.
CCLXI.--_To the_ LADY KILCONQUHAIR. [See Letter CCXXVI.]
(_THE KINGDOM TO BE TAKEN BY VIOLENCE._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I received your letter.
I am heartily content, that ye love and own this oppressed and wronged
cause of Christ; and that now, when so many have miscarried, ye are in
any measure taken with the love of Jesus. Weary not, but come in and
see if there be not more in Christ than the tongue of men and angels
can express. If ye seek a gate to heaven, the way is in Him, or He is
it. What ye want is treasured up in Jesus; and He saith, all His are
yours. Even His kingdom, He is content to divide it betwixt Him and
you: yea, His throne and His glory (Luke xxii. 29, 30; John xvii. 21;
Rev. iii. 21). And, therefore, take pains to climb up to that besieged
house to Christ; for devils, men, and armies of temptations are lying
about the house, to hold out all that are out, and it is taken with
violence. It is not a smooth and easy way, neither will your weather
be fair and pleasant; but whosoever hath seen the invisible God, and
the fair City, makes no reckoning of losses or crosses. _In_ ye must
be, cost you what it will. Stand not for a price, and for all that ye
have, to win the castle. The rights to it are won to you, and it is
disponed to you in the testament of your Lord Jesus (and see what a
fair legacy your dying Friend, Christ, hath left you!), and there
wanteth nothing but possession. Then get up in the strength of the
Lord; get over the water to possess that good land. It is better than
a land of olives and wine-trees; for the Tree of Life, that beareth
twelve manner of fruits every month, is there before you; and a pure
river of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God
and of the Lamb, is there. Your time is short; therefore lose no time.
Gracious and faithful is He who hath called you to His kingdom and
glory. The city is yours by free conquest, and by promise; and,
therefore, let no unco lord-idol put you from your own. The devil hath
cheated the simple heir of his paradise, and, by enticing us to taste
of the forbidden fruit, hath as it were, bought us out of our kindly
heritage. But our Lord Christ Jesus hath done more than bought the
devil by;[377] for He hath redeemed the wadset, and made the poor heir
free to the inheritance. If we knew the glory of our Elder Brother in
heaven, we would long to be there to see Him, and to get our fill of
heaven. We children think the earth a fair garden; but it is but God's
outfield, and wild, cold, barren ground. All things are fading that
are here. It is our happiness to make sure of Christ to ourselves.
[377] Set aside.
Thus remembering my love to your husband, and wishing to him what I
write to you, I commit you to God's tender mercy.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 13, 1637_.
CCLXII.--_To ROBERT LENNOX of Disdove._ [See Letter CCXIII.]
(_INCREASING EXPERIENCE OF CHRIST'S LOVE--SALVATION TO BE MADE SURE._)
WORTHY AND DEAR BROTHER,--I forget you not in my bonds. I know that
you are looking to Christ; and I beseech you to follow your look. I
can say more of Christ now by experience (though He be infinitely
above and beyond all that can be said of Him), than when I saw you. I
am drowned over head and ears in His love. Sell, sell, sell all things
for Christ. If this whole world were the balk of a balance, it would
not be able to bear the weight of Christ's love; men and angels have
short arms to fathom it. Set your feet upon this piece of blue and
base clay of an over-gilded and fair plastered world. An hour's
kissing of Christ's is worth a world of worlds.
Sir, make sure work of your salvation: build not upon sand; lay the
foundation upon the rock of Zion. Strive to be dead to this world, and
to your will and lusts; let Christ have a commanding power and a
king's throne in you. Walk with Christ, howbeit the world should take
the hide off your face: I promise you that Christ will win the field.
Your pastors cause you to err. Except you see Christ's word, go not
one foot with them. Countenance not the reading of that Romish
service-book. Keep your garments clean, as ye would walk with the Lamb
clothed in white. The wrongs which I suffer are upon record in heaven.
Our great Master and Judge will be upon us all, and bring us before
the sun in our blacks and whites: blessed are they who watch and keep
themselves in God's love. Learn to discern the Bridegroom's tongue,
and to give yourself to prayer and reading. Ye were often a hearer of
me. I would put my heart's blood on the doctrine which I taught, as
the only way to salvation: go not from it, my dear brother. What I
write to you, I write to your wife also. Mind heaven and Christ, and
keep the spunk of the love of Christ which you have gotten. Christ
will blow on it if ye entertain it; and your end shall be peace. There
is a fire in our Zion, but our Lord is but seeking a new bride,
refined and purified, out of the furnace. I assure you, howbeit we be
nicknamed Puritans, that all the powers of the world shall not prevail
against us. Remember, though a sinful man write it to you, that those
people shall be in Scotland as a green olive-tree, and a field blessed
of the Lord; and that it shall be proclaimed, "Up, up with Christ,
and down, down with all contrary powers."
Sir, pray for _me_ (I name _you_ to the Lord), for further evil is
determined against me.
Remember my love to Christian Murray and her daughter. I desire her,
in the edge of her evening, to wait a little; the King is coming, and
He hath something that she never saw with Him. Heaven is no dream.
"Come and see" will teach her best. Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 13, 1637_.
CCLXIII.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_HOPE IN TRIAL--PRAYER AND WATCHFULNESS._)
DEAREST IN OUR LORD JESUS,--Count it your honour, that Christ hath
begun at you to refine you first. "Fear not," saith the Amen, the True
and Faithful Witness. I write to you, as my Master liveth, upon the
word of my royal King, continue in prayer and in watching, and your
glorious deliverance is coming! Christ is not far off. A fig, a straw,
for all the bits of clay that are risen against us! Ye shall thresh
the mountains, and fan them like chaff (Isa. xli. 15, 16). If ye slack
your hands at your meetings, and your watching to prayer, then it
would seem that our Rock hath sold us; but be diligent, and be not
discouraged. I charge you in Christ, to rejoice, give thanks, believe,
be strong in the Lord. That burning bush in Galloway and Kirkcudbright
shall not be burnt to ashes, for the Lord is in the bush. Be not
discouraged that banishment is to be procured, by the King's warrant
to the Council, against me: the earth is my Lord's. I am filled with
His sweet love, and running over. I rejoice to hear that ye are on
your journey. Such news as I hear, of all your faith and love, rejoice
my sad heart.
Pray for me, for they seek my hurt; but I give myself to prayer. The
blessing of my Lord, and the blessing of a prisoner of Christ be with
you. O chosen and greatly beloved woman, faint not. Fy, fy; if ye
faint now, ye lose a good cause. Double your meetings; cease not for
Zion's sake, and hold not your peace till He make Jerusalem a praise
in the earth.
Yours, in Christ Jesus his Lord,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCLXIV.--_To_ THOMAS CORBET. [_One of his Anwoth parishioners._]
(_GODLY COUNSELS--FOLLOWING CHRIST._)
DEAR FRIEND,--I forget you not. It will be my joy that ye follow after
Christ till ye find Him. My conscience is a feast of joy to me, that I
fought in singleness of heart, for Christ's love, to put you upon the
King's highway to our Bridegroom, and our Father's house. Thrice
blessed are ye, my dear brother, if ye hold the way.
I believe that ye and Christ once met; I hope ye will not sunder with
Him. Follow the counsel of the man of God, Mr. William Dalgleish. If
ye depart from what I taught you in a hair-breadth, for fear or favour
of men, or desire of ease in this world, I take heaven and earth to
witness that ill shall come upon you in the end. Build not your nest
here. This world is a hard, ill-made bed; no rest is in it for your
soul. Awake, awake, and make haste to seek that Pearl, Christ, that
this world seeth not. Your night and your Master Christ will be upon
you within a clap; your hand-breadth of time will not bide you. Take
Christ, howbeit a storm follow Him. Howbeit this day be not yours and
Christ's, the morrow will be yours and His. I would not exchange the
joy of my bonds and imprisonment for Christ, with all the joy of this
dirty and foul-skinned world. I have a love-bed with Christ, and am
filled with His love.
I desire your wife to do what I write to you. Let her remember how
dear Christ will be to her, when her breath turneth cold, and the
eye-strings shall break. Oh, how joyful should my soul be, to know
that I had brought on a marriage betwixt Christ and that people, few
or many! If it be not so, I shall be wo to be a witness against them.
Use prayer: love not the world: be humble, and esteem little of
yourself. Love your enemies, and pray for them. Make conscience of
speaking truth, when none knoweth but God. I never eat, but I pray for
you all. Pray for me. Ye and I shall see one another up in our
Father's house. I rejoice to hear that your eye is upon Christ. Follow
on, hing on, and quit Him not. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Your affectionate brother, in our Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCLXV.--_To_ MR. GEORGE DUNBAR.
[GEORGE DUNBAR was minister of Ayr. Adhering with zeal to
Presbytery, he was summoned before the High Commission Court in
the beginning of the year 1622. On appearing, he gave in a paper
declining its authority; but the Court passed sentence of
deprivation upon him, and condemned him to be confined within
Dumfries. He was ejected from this charge also. When the
messenger of the Court came to his house on this last occasion,
either to summon him or to intimate his sentence, a young
daughter of his said, "And Pharaoh's heart is still hardened!"
while all that Dunbar said was to bid his wife "prepare her
creels again;" for, on the former occasion, the children, being
young, behoved to be carried away on horseback in creels
(Livingstone's "Characteristics"). He was for a long time
prisoner at Blackness; but at length, being banished by the Privy
Council, he removed to Ireland. He first preached at
Carrickfergus, and ultimately settled at Larne, where he
discharged his ministry with diligence and success. On being
deposed by the Bishop of Down, in 1634, for nonconformity, he
came over to Scotland, and after the triumph of Presbytery, in
1638, became minister of the parish of Calder, in Lothian, where
he died.]
(_CHRIST'S LOVE IN AFFLICTION--THE SAINT'S SUPPORT AND FINAL
VICTORY._)
REVEREND AND DEARLY BELOVED IN THE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be
to you.--Because your words have strengthened many, I was silent,
expecting some lines from you in my bonds; and this is the cause why I
wrote not to you. But now I am forced to break off and speak. I never
believed, till now, that there was so much to be found in Christ on
this side of death and of heaven. Oh, the ravishments of heavenly joy
that may be had here, in the small gleanings of comforts that fall
from Christ! What fools are we who know not, and consider not the
weight and the telling that is in the very earnest-penny, and the
first-fruits of our hoped-for harvest! How sweet, how sweet is our
infeftment! oh, what then must personal possession be! I find that my
Lord Jesus hath not miscooked or spilled this sweet cross; He hath an
eye on the fire and the melting gold, to separate the metal and the
dross. Oh how much time would it take me to read my obligations to
Jesus my Lord, who will neither have the faith of His own to be burnt
to ashes, nor yet will have a poor believer in the fire to be half
raw, like Ephraim's unturned cake! This is the wisdom of Him who hath
His fire in Zion, and furnace in Jerusalem. I need not either bud or
flatter temptations and crosses, nor strive to buy the devil or this
malicious world by, or redeem their kindness with half a hair-breadth
of truth. He who is surety for His servant for good doth powerfully
overrule all that. I see my prison hath neither lock nor door: I am
free in my bonds, and my chains are made of rotten straw; they shall
not bide one pull of faith. I am sure that there are those in hell who
would exchange their torments with our crosses, suppose they should
never be delivered, and give twenty thousand years' torment to boot,
to be in our bonds for ever. And, therefore, we wrong Christ who sigh,
and fear, and doubt, and despond in them. Our sufferings are washen in
Christ's blood, as well as our souls; for Christ's merits brought a
blessing to the crosses of the sons of God. And Jesus hath a back-bond
of all our temptations, that the free-warders shall come out by law
and justice, in respect of the infinite and great sum that the
Redeemer paid. Our troubles owe us a free passage through them.
Devils, and men, and crosses, are our debtors, death and all storms
are our debtors, to blow our poor tossed bark over the water
fraught-free, and to set the travellers on their own known ground.
Therefore we shall die, and yet live. We are over the water some way
already. We are married, and our tocher-good is paid. We are already
more than conquerors. If the devil and the world knew how the court
with our Lord shall go, I am sure they would hire death to take us off
their hand. Our sufferings are only the wreck and ruin of the black
kingdom; and yet a little, and the Antichrist must play himself with
bones and slain bodies of the Lamb's followers; but withal we stand
with the hundred forty and four thousand, who are with the Lamb, upon
the top of Mount Zion. Antichrist and his followers are down in the
valley ground: we have the advantage of the hill; our temptations are
always beneath. Our waters are beneath our breath:[378] "as dying, and
behold we live." I never heard before of a living death, or a quick
death, but ours: our death is not like the common death. Christ's
skill, His handywork, and a new cast of Christ's admirable art, may be
seen in our quick death. I bless the Lord, that all our troubles come
through Christ's fingers, and that He casteth sugar among them, and
casteth in some ounce-weights of heaven, and of the Spirit of glory
that resteth on suffering believers, into our cup, in which there is
no taste of hell. My dear brother, ye know all these better than I. I
send water to the sea, to speak of these things to you; but it easeth
me to desire you to help me to pay my tribute of praise to Jesus. Oh
what praises I owe Him! I would I were in my free heritage, that I
might begin to pay my debts to Jesus. I entreat for your prayers and
praises. I forget not you.
Your brother and fellow-sufferer in and for Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 17, 1637_.
[378] Our head is high enough above the waters to let us breathe.
CCLXVI.--_To JOHN FLEMING, Bailie of Leith._
(_COMFORT ABOUNDING UNDER TRIALS._)
WORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--The Lord hath brought
me safe to this strange town. Blessed be His holy name, I find His
cross easy and light, and I hope that He will be with His poor sold
Joseph, who is separated from his brethren. His comforts have abounded
towards me, as if Christ thought shame (if I may speak so) to be in
the common of such a poor man as I am, and would not have me lose
anything in His errands. My enemies have, beside their intention, made
me more blessed, and have put me in a sweeter possession of Christ
than ever I had before; only the memory of the fair days I had with my
Well-beloved, amongst the flock intrusted to me, keepeth me low, and
soureth my unseen joy (1 Cor. ii. 9). But it must be so, and He is
wise who tutoreth me in this way. For[379] that which my brethren
have, and I want, and others of this world have, I am content; my
faith will frist God my happiness. No son is offended that his father
give him not hire twice a-year; for he is to abide in the house, when
the inheritance is to be divided. It is better that God's children
live upon hope, than upon hire.
[379] As for that which.
Thus remembering my love to your worthy and kind wife, I bless you and
her, and all yours, in the Lord's name.
Yours, in his only, only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 20, 1637_.
CCLXVII.--_To WILLIAM GLENDINNING, Bailie of Kirkcudbright._
(_THE PAST AND THE FUTURE--PRESENT HAPPINESS._)
WORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am well, honour be
to God! as well as a rejoicing prisoner of Christ can be, hoping that
one day He, for whom I now suffer, will enlarge me, and put me above
the threatenings of men.
I am sometimes sad, heavy, and casten down, at the memory of the fair
days I had with Christ in Anwoth, Kirkcudbright, etc. The remembrance
of a feast increaseth hunger in a hungry man. But who knoweth, but our
Lord will yet cover a table in the wilderness to His hungry bairns,
and build the old waste places in Scotland, and bring home Zion's
captives? I desire to see no more glorious sight, till I see the Lamb
on His throne, than to see Mount Zion all green with grass, and the
dew lying upon the tops of the grass, and the crown put upon Christ's
head in Scotland again. And I believe it shall be so, and that Christ
will mow down His enemies, and fill the pits with their dead bodies.
I find people here dry and unco. A man pointed at for suffering dare
not to be countenanced; so that I am like to sit my lone upon the
ground. But my Lord payeth me well home again; for I have neither
tongue, nor pen, nor heart to express the sweetness and excellency of
the love of Christ. Christ's honeycombs drop honey and floods of
consolation upon my soul. My chains are gold: Christ's cross is all
over-gilded and perfumed: His prison is the garden and orchard of my
delights. I would go through burning quick to my lovely Christ. I
sleep in His arms all the night, and my head betwixt His breasts. My
Well-beloved is altogether lovely. This is all nothing to that which
my soul hath felt. Let no man, for my cause, scaur at Christ's cross.
If my stipend, place, country, credit, had been an earldom, a kingdom,
ten kingdoms, and a whole earth, all were too little for the crown and
sceptre of my royal King. Mine enemies, mine enemies have made me
blessed! They have sent me to the Bridegroom's chamber. Love is His
banner over me. I live a king's life; I want nothing but heaven, and
possession of the crown. My earnest is great; Christ is no niggard to
me. Dear Brother, be for the Lord Jesus, and His heart-broken bride.
I need not, I hope, remember my distressed brother to your care.
Remember my love to your wife. Let Christ want nothing of us; His
garments shall be rolled in the blood of the slain of Scotland.
Grace, grace be with you. Pray for Christ's prisoner.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 21, 1637_.
CCLXVIII.--_To the_ EARL OF CASSILLIS. [Letter CXXVIII.]
(_ANXIETY FOR THE PROSPERITY OF ZION--ENCOURAGEMENT FOR THE NOBLES TO
SUPPORT IT--THE VANITY OF THIS WORLD, AND THE FOLLY AND MISERY OF
FORSAKING CHRIST--THE ONE WAY TO HEAVEN._)
MY VERY HONOURABLE AND NOBLE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your
Lordship.--Pardon me to express my earnest desire to your Lordship,
for Zion's sake, for whom we should not hold our peace. I know that
your Lordship will take my pleading on this behalf in the better part,
because the necessity of a falling and weak church is urgent. I
believe that your Lordship is one of Zion's friends, and that by
obligation. For when the Lord shall count and write up the people, it
shall be written, "This man was born there;" therefore, because your
Lordship is a born son of the house, I hope your desire is, that the
beauty and glory of the Lord may dwell in the midst of the city,
whereof your Lordship is a son. It must be, without all doubt, the
greatest honour of your place and house, to kiss the Son of God, and
for His sake to be kind to His oppressed and wronged Bride, who now,
in the day of her desolation, beggeth help of you that are the shields
of the earth. I am sure many kings, princes, and nobles, in the day of
Christ's Second Coming, would be glad to run errands for Christ, even
barefooted, through fire and water. But in that day He will have none
of their service. Now, He is asking if your Lordship will help Him
against the mighty of the earth, when men are setting their shoulders
to Christ's fair and beautiful tent in this land, to loose its stakes
and to break it down. And certainly such as are not with Christ are
against Him: and blessed shall your Lordship be of the Lord, blessed
shall your house and seed be, and blessed shall your honour be, if ye
empawn and lay in Christ's hand the Earldom of Cassillis (and it is
but a shadow in comparison of the city made without hands!), and lay
it even at the stake, rather than Christ and borne-down truth want a
witness of you, against the apostacy of this land. Ye hold your lands
of Christ; your charters are under His seal; and He who hath many
crowns on His head, dealeth, cutteth, and carveth pieces of this
clay-heritage to men, at His pleasure. It is little your Lordship hath
to give Him; He will not sleep long in your common, but shall surely
pay home your losses for His cause. It is but our bleared eyes that
look through a false glass to this idol-god of clay, and think
something of it. They who are past with their last sentence to heaven
or hell, and have made their reckoning, and departed out of this smoky
inn, have now no other conceit of this world, but as a piece of
beguiling well-lustred clay. And how fast doth time (like a flood in
motion) carry your Lordship out of it! And is not eternity coming with
wings? Court goeth not in heaven as it doth here. Our Lord (who hath
all you, the nobles, lying in the shell of His balance) esteemeth you
according as ye are the Bridegroom's friends or foes. Your honourable
ancestors, with the hazard of their lives, brought Christ to our
land;[380] and it shall be cruelty to the posterity if ye lose Him to
them. One of our tribes, Levi's sons, the watchmen, are fallen from
the Lord, and have sold their mother, and their father also, and the
Lord's truth, for their new velvet-world and their satin-church. If
ye, the nobles, play Christ the slip now, when His back is at the wall
(if I may so speak), then may we say that the Lord hath casten water
upon Scotland's smoking coal. But we hope better things of you. It is
no wisdom (however it be the state-wisdom now in request) to be
silent, when they are casting lots for a better thing than Christ's
coat. All this land, and every man's part of the play for Christ, and
the tears of poor and friendless Zion (now going dool-like in
sackcloth), are up in heaven before our Lord; and there is no
question, but our King and Lord shall be master of the fields at
length. And we would all be glad to divide the spoil with Christ, and
to ride in triumph with Him; but oh how few will take a cold bed of
straw in the camp with Him! How fain would men have a well-thatched
house above their heads, all the way to heaven! And many now would go
to heaven the land-way (for they love not to be sea-sick), riding up
to Christ upon foot-mantles, and rattling coaches, and rubbing their
velvet with the princes of the land, in the highest seats. If this be
the way Christ called strait and narrow, I quit all skill of the way
to salvation. Are they not now rouping Christ and the Gospel? Have
they not put our Lord Jesus to the market, and he who outbiddeth his
fellow shall get Him? O my dear and noble Lord, go on (howbeit the
wind be in your face) to back our princely Captain. Be courageous for
Him. Fear not those who have no subscribed lease of days. The worms
shall eat kings. Let the Lord Jehovah be your fear, and then, as the
Lord liveth, the victory is yours. It is true, many are striking up a
new way to heaven; but, my soul for theirs, if they find it, and if
this be not the only way, whose end is Christ's Father's house. And my
weak experience, since the day I was first in bonds, hath confirmed me
in the truth and assurance of this. Let doctors and learned men cry
the contrary, I am persuaded that this is the way. The bottom hath
fallen out of both their wit and conscience at once; their book hath
beguiled them, for _we_ have fallen upon the true Christ. I dare
hazard, if I alone had ten souls, my salvation upon this Stone that
many now break their bones upon.[381] Let them take this fat world.
Oh, poor and hungry is their paradise! Therefore let me entreat your
Lordship, by your compearance before Christ, now while this piece of
the afternoon of your day is before you (for ye know not when your sun
will turn, and eternity shall benight you), let your worldly glory,
honour, and might, be for our Lord Jesus. And to His rich grace, and
tender mercy, and to the never-dying comforts of His gracious Spirit,
I recommend your Lordship and noble house.
Your Lordship's, at all obedience,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 9, 1637_.
[380] It is "hands" in old editions.
[381] Alluding to Matt. xxi. 44.
CCLXIX.--_To his Parishioners at Anwoth._
(_EXHORTATION TO ABIDE IN THE TRUTH, IN PROSPECT OF CHRIST'S
COMING--SCRIPTURAL MODE OF OBSERVING ORDINANCES SUCH AS THE SABBATH,
FAMILY PRAYER, AND THE LORD'S SUPPER--JUDGMENTS ANTICIPATED._)
DEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace from God our
Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, be multiplied upon you.
I long exceedingly to hear of your on-going and advancement in your
journey to the kingdom of God. My only joy, out of heaven, is to hear
that the seed of God sown among you is growing and coming to a
harvest. For I ceased not, while I was among you, in season and out of
season (according to the measure of grace given unto me), to warn and
stir up your minds: and I am free from the blood of all men, for I
have communicated to you the whole counsel of God. And I now again
charge and warn you, in the great and dreadful name, and in the
sovereign authority of the King of kings, and Lord of lords, and I
beseech you also by the mercies of God, and by the bowels of Christ,
by your appearance before Christ Jesus our Lord, by all the plagues
that are written in God's book, by your part of the holy city, the New
Jerusalem, that ye keep the truth of God, as I delivered it to you,
before many witnesses, in the sight of God and His holy angels. For
now the last days are come and coming, when many forsake Christ Jesus;
and He saith to you, Will ye also leave Me?
Remember that I forewarned you to forbear the dishonouring of the
Lord's blessed name, in swearing, blaspheming, cursing, and the
profaning of the Lord's Sabbath; willing you to give that day, from
morning to night, to praying, praising, hearing of the word,
conferring, and speaking not your own words but God's words, thinking
and meditating on God's nature, word, and work; and that every day, at
morning and at night (at least), ye should sanctify the Lord by
praying in your houses, publicly in the hearing of all. That ye should
in any sort forbear the receiving of the Lord's Supper but after the
form that I delivered it to you, according to the example of Christ
our Lord, that is, that ye should sit as banqueters, at one table with
our King, and eat, and drink, and divide the elements, one to another.
(The timber and stones of the church-wall shall bear witness, that my
soul was refreshed with the comforts of God in that supper!) And that
crossing in baptism was unlawful, and against Christ's ordinance. And
that no day besides the Sabbath (which is of His own appointment)
should be kept holy, and sanctified with preaching and the public
worship of God, for the memory of Christ's birth, death, resurrection,
and ascension; seeing such days so observed are unlawful,
will-worship, and not warranted in Christ's word. And that everything,
in God's worship, not warranted by Christ's Testament and word, was
unlawful. Also, that Idolatry, worshipping of God before hallowed
creatures, and adoring of Christ by kneeling before bread and wine,
was unlawful. And that ye should be humble, sober, modest, forbearing
pride, envy, malice, wrath, hatred, contention, debate, lying,
slandering, stealing, and defrauding your neighbours in grass, corn,
or cattle, in buying or selling, borrowing or lending, taking or
giving, in bargains or covenants; that ye should work with your own
hands, and be content with that which God hath given you. That ye
should study to know God and His will, and keep in mind the doctrine
of the Catechism, which I taught you carefully, and speak of it in
your houses, and in the fields, when ye lie down at night, and when ye
rise in the morning; and that ye should believe in the Son of God, and
obey His commandments, and learn to make your accounts in time with
your Judge, because death and judgment are before you.
And if ye have now penury and want of that word, which I delivered to
you in abundance (yea to God's honour I speak it, without arrogating
anything to myself, who am but a poor empty man, ye had as much of the
word in nine years, while I was among you, as some others have had in
many), mourn for your loss of time, and repent. My soul pitieth you,
that ye should suck dry breasts, and be put to draw at dry wells. Oh
that ye would esteem highly the Lamb of God, your well-beloved Christ
Jesus, whose virtues and praises I preached unto you with joy, and
which He did countenance and accompany with some power; and that ye
would call to mind the many fair days, and glorious feasts in our
Lord's house-of-wine, that ye and I have had with Christ Jesus!
But if there be any among you that take liberty to sin because I am
removed from amongst you, and forget that word of truth which ye
heard, and turn the grace of God into wantonness, I here, under my
hand, in the name of Christ my Lord, write to such persons all the
plagues of God, and the curses that ever I preached in the pulpit of
Anwoth, against the children of disobedience! And, as the Lord liveth,
the Lord Jesus shall make good what I write unto you. Therefore,
dearly beloved, fulfil my joy. Fear the great and dreadful name of the
Lord. Seek God with me. Scotland's judgment sleepeth not: awake and
repent. The sword of the Lord shall go from the north to the south,
from the east to the west, and through all the corners of the land,
and that sword shall be drunk with your blood amongst the first; and I
shall stand up as a witness against you, if you do not amend your ways
and your doings, and turn to the Lord with all your heart.
I beseech you also, my beloved in the Lord, my joy, and my crown, be
not offended at the sufferings of me, the prisoner of Jesus Christ. I
am filled with joy and with the comforts of God. Upon my salvation, I
know and am persuaded it is for God's truth, and the honour of my King
and royal Prince Jesus, I now suffer. And howbeit this town be my
prison, yet Christ hath made it my palace, a garden of pleasures, a
field and orchard of delights. I know likewise, albeit I be in bonds,
that yet the word of God is not in bonds. My spirit also is in free
ward. Sweet, sweet have His comforts been to my soul: my pen, tongue,
and heart have not words to express the kindness. love, and mercy of
my Well-beloved to me, in this house of my pilgrimage.
I charge you to fear and love Christ, and to seek a house not made
with hands, but your Father's house above. This laughing and
white-skinned world beguileth you; and if ye seek it more than God, it
shall play you a slip, to the endless sorrow of your heart. Alas! I
could not make many of you fall in love with Christ, howbeit I
endeavoured to speak much good of Him and to commend Him to you; which
as it was your sin, so it is my sorrow! Yet, once again suffer me to
exhort, beseech, and obtest you in the Lord, to think of His love, and
to be delighted with Him, who is altogether lovely. I give ye the word
of a King, that ye shall not repent it.
Ye are in my prayers night and day. I cannot forget you: I do not eat,
I do not drink, but I pray for you all. I entreat you all and every
one of you, to pray for me. Grace, grace be with you.
Your lawful and loving pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept_. 23, 1637.
CCLXX.--_To the_ LADY BUSBIE. [Letter CXXXIII.]
(HIS EXPERIENCE OF CHRIST'S LOVE--STATE OF THE LAND AND CHURCH--CHRIST
NOT DULY ESTEEMED--DESIRES AFTER HIM, AND FOR A REVIVAL.)
MISTRESS,--Although not acquaint, yet because we are Father's
children, I thought good to write unto you. Howbeit my first discourse
and communing with you of Christ be in paper, yet I have cause, since
I came hither, to have no paper thoughts of Him. For, in my sad days,
He is become the flower of my joys; and I but lie here living upon His
love, but cannot get so much of it as fain I would have; not because
Christ's love is lordly, and looketh too high, but because I have a
narrow vessel to receive His love, and I look too low. But I give,
under my own hand-write, to you a testimonial of Christ and His cross,
that they are a sweet couple, and that Christ hath never yet been set
in His own due chair of honour amongst us all. Oh, I know not where to
set Him! Oh, for a high seat to that royal princely One! Oh that my
poor withered soul had once a running-over flood of that love to put
sap into my dry root, and that that flood would spring out to the
tongue and pen, to utter great things, to thehigh and due
commendation of such a fair One! O holy, holy, holy One! Alas, there
are too many dumb tongues in the world, and dry hearts, seeing there
is employment in Christ for them all, and ten thousand worlds of men
and angels more, to set on high and exalt the greatest Prince of the
kings of the earth! Woe is me that bits of living clay dare come out
to rush hard-heads with Him;[382] and that my unkind mother, this
harlot-kirk, hath given her sweet half-marrow such a meeting. For this
land hath given up with Christ, and the Lord is cutting Scotland in
two halves, and sending the worst half, the harlot-sister, over to
Rome's brothel-house, to get her fill of Egypt's love. I would my
sufferings (nay, suppose I were burnt quick to ashes) might buy an
agreement betwixt His fairest and sweetest love, and His gaddy (Jer.
ii. 36) lewd wife. Fain would I give Christ His welcome-home to
Scotland again, if He would return. This is a black day, a day of
clouds and darkness; for the roof-tree of the fair temple of my Lord
Jesus is fallen, and Christ's back is towards Scotland. Oh, thrice
blessed are they who would hold Christ with their tears and prayers! I
know ye will help to deal with Him; for He shall return again to this
land. The next day shall be Christ's, and there shall be a fair green
young garden for Christ in this land, and God's summer-dew shall lie
on it all the night, and we shall sing again our new marriage-song to
our Bridegroom, concerning His vineyard. But who knoweth whether we
shall live and see it?
[382] Perhaps referring to Job xv. 26, though some have referred to a
game wherein "_Hard-heads_," a small Scotch coin, was used. In his
"Christ Dying and Drawing," p. 178, he writes, "Is it wisdom to knock
hard-heads with God?" So in Sermon on Zech. xiii. 7, 8.
I hear the Lord hath taken pains to afflict and dress you, as a
fruitful vine for Himself. Grow and be green, and cast out your
branches, and bring forth fruit. Fat and green and fruitful may ye be,
in the true and sappy root. Grace, grace, free grace be your portion.
Remember my bonds with prayers and praises.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCLXXI.--_To EARLSTON, Younger._
(_PROSPERITY UNDER THE CROSS--NEED OF SINCERITY, AND BEING FOUNDED ON
CHRIST._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am well.
Christ triumpheth in me, blessed be His name. I have all things. I
burden no man. I see that this earth and the fulness thereof is my
Father's. Sweet, sweet is the cross of my Lord. The blessing of God
upon the cross of my Lord Jesus! My enemies have contributed (beside
their design) to make me blessed. This is my palace, not my prison;
especially, when my Lord shineth and smileth upon His poor afflicted
and sold Joseph, who is separated from his brethren. But often He
hideth Himself; and there is a day of law, and a court of challenges
within me; I know not if fenced in God's name. But, oh, my neglects!
oh, my unseen guiltiness! I imagined that a sufferer for Christ kept
the keys of Christ's treasure, and might take out his heart-full of
comforts when he pleased; but I see, a sufferer and a witness shall be
holden at the door, as well as another poor sinner, and be glad to eat
with the bairns, and to take the by-board.
This cross hath let me see that heaven is not at the next door, and
that it is a castle not soon taken. I see, also, that it is neither
pain nor art to play the hypocrite. We have all learned to sell
ourselves for double price; and to make the people (who call ten
twenty, and twenty an hundred) esteem us half gods, or men fallen out
of the clouds. But, oh, sincerity, sincerity, if I knew what sincerity
meaneth!
Sir, lay the foundation thus, and ye shall not soon shrink, nor be
shaken. Make tight work at the bottom, and your ship shall ride
against all storms, if withal your anchor be fastened on good ground;
I mean within the vail. And verily I think this is all, to gain
Christ. All other things are shadows, dreams, fancies, and nothing.
Sir, remember my love to your mother. I pray for mercy and grace to
her; I wish her on-going toward heaven. As I promised to write, so
shew her that I want nothing in my Lord's service. Christ will not be
in such a poor man's common as mine. Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 22, 1637_.
CCLXXII.--_To_ JOHN GORDON. [Letter CXLVII.]
(_CHRIST ALL WORTHY--THIS WORLD A CLAY PRISON--DESIRE FOR A REVIVAL OF
CHRIST'S CAUSE._)
WORTHY AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I have
been too long in writing to you, but multitude of letters taketh much
time from me.
I bless His great name whom I serve in the spirit, that if it come to
voting, amongst angels and men, how excellent and sweet Christ is,
even in His reproaches and in His cross, I cannot but vote with the
first that all that is in Him, both cross and crown, kisses and
glooms, embracements, and frownings, and strokes, is sweet and
glorious. God send me no more happiness in heaven, or out of heaven,
than Christ! for I find this world, when I have looked upon it on both
sides, within and without, and when I have seen even the laughing and
lovely side of it, to be but a fool's idol, a clay prison. Lord, let
it not be the nest that my hope buildeth in. I have now cause to judge
my part of this earth not worth a blast of smoke, or a mouthful of
brown bread. I wish that my hope may take a running-leap, and skip
over time's pleasure, sin's plastering and gold-foil, this vain earth,
and rest upon my Lord. Oh, how great is our night-darkness in this
wilderness! To have any conceit at all of this world is, as if a man
should close his handful of water, and, holding his hand in the river,
to say that all the water of the flood is his; as if it were, indeed,
all within the compass of his hand. Who would not laugh at the
thoughts of such a crack-brain? Verily, they have but an handful of
water, and are but like a child clasping his two hands about a
night-shadow, who idolize any created hope, but God. I now lightly,
and put the price of a dream, or fable, or black nothing, upon all
things but God, and that desirable and love-worthy One, my Lord Jesus.
Let all the world be nothing (for nothing was their seed and mother),
and let God be all things.
My very dear brother, know that ye are as near heaven as ye are far
from yourself, and far from the love of a bewitching and whorish
world. For this world, in its gain and glory, is but the great and
notable common whore, that all the sons of men have been in fancy and
lust withal these 5000 years. The children that they have begotten
with this uncouth and lustful lover are but vanity, dreams, gold
imaginations, and night-thoughts. There is no good ground here, under
the covering of heaven, for men and poor wearied souls to set down
their foot upon. Oh, He who is called God, that One whom they term
Jesus Christ, is worth the having indeed, even if I had given away all
without, my eye-holes, my soul, and myself, for sweet Jesus my Lord!
Oh, let the claim be cancelled that the creatures have to me,--except
that claim my Lord Jesus hath to me! Oh that He would claim poor me,
my silly, light, and worthless soul! Oh that He would pursue His claim
to the utmost point, and not want me! for it is my pain and remediless
sorrow to want Him. I see nothing in this life but sinks, and mires,
and dreams, and beguiling ditches, and ill ground for us to build
upon.
I am fully persuaded of Christ's victory in Scotland; but I fear that
this land be not yet ripe and white (John iv. 35) for mercy. Yet I
dare be halver (upon my salvation) with the losses of the Church of
Scotland, that her foes, after noon, shall sing dool and sorrow for
evermore, and that her joy shall once again be cried up, and her sky
shall clear. But vengeance and burning shall be to her adversaries,
and the sinners of this land. Oh that we could be awakened to prayers
and humiliation! Then should our sun shine like seven suns in the
heaven! then should the temple of Christ be builded upon the
mountain-tops, and the land, from coast to coast, should be filled
with the glory of the Lord.
Brother, your day-task is wearing short; your hour-glass of this
span-length and hand-breadth of life will quickly pass; and,
therefore, take order and course with matters betwixt you and Christ,
before it come to open pleading. There are no quarters to be had of
Christ, in open judgment. I know, that ye see your thread wearing
short, and that there are not many inches to the thread's end; and,
therefore, lose not time.
Remember me, His prisoner, that it would please the Lord to bring me
again amongst you with abundance of the Gospel.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCLXXIII.--_To WILLIAM RIGGE of Athernie._
(_COMFORT IN TRIALS FROM THE KNOWLEDGE OF CHRIST'S POWER AND
WORK--THAT WILL SOON BE OVER--CORRUPTION--FREE GRACE._)
WORTHY AND MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--How
sad a prisoner should I be, if I knew not that my Lord Jesus had the
keys of the prison Himself, and that His death and blood have bought a
blessing to our crosses, as well as to ourselves! I am sure that
troubles have no prevailing right over us, if they be but our Lord's
serjeants to keep us in His ward, while we are on this side of heaven.
I am persuaded, also, that they shall not go over the bound-road, nor
enter into heaven with us. For they find no welcome there, where
"there is no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither any more
pain;" and, therefore, we shall leave them behind us. Oh, if I could
get as good a gate of sin,[383] even this woful and wretched body of
sin, as I get of Christ's cross! Nay, indeed, I think the cross
beareth both me and itself, rather than I it, in comparison of the
tyranny of the lawless flesh, and wicked neighbour, that dwelleth
beside Christ's new creature. But, oh! this is that which presseth me
down, and paineth me. Jesus Christ in His saints sitteth neighbour
with an ill second, corruption, deadness, coldness, pride, lust,
worldliness, self-love, security, falsehood, and a world of more the
like, which I find in me, that are daily doing violence to the new
man. Oh, but we have cause to carry low sails, and to cleave fast to
free grace, free, free grace! Blessed be our Lord that ever that way
was found out. If my one foot were in heaven and my soul half in, if
free-will and corruption were absolute lords of me, I should never win
wholly in. Oh, but the sweet, new, and living way, that Christ hath
struck up to our home, is a safe way! I find now, presence and access
a greater dainty than before; but yet the Bridegroom looketh through
the lattice, and through the hole of the door. Oh, if He and I were on
fair dry land together, on the other side of the water!
[383] Manner of dealing with sin.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Sept. 30, 1637_.
CCLXXIV.--_To_ JAMES MURRAY.
[This may be James Murray of whom Livingstone, in his
"Characteristics," writes, "An Israelite indeed, in whom was no
guile." He was a writer in Edinburgh; hence, perhaps, the
expectation of news as to what Government was doing, in the close
of the letter.]
(_THE CHRISTIAN LIFE A MYSTERY TO THE WORLD--CHRIST'S KINDNESS._)
DEAR BROTHER,--I received your letter. I am in good health of body,
but far better in my soul. I find my Lord no worse than His word. "I
will be with him in trouble," is made good to me now. He heareth the
sighing of the prisoner. Brother, I am comforted in my royal Prince
and King. The world knoweth not our life; it is a mystery to them. We
have the sunny side of the world, and our paradise is far above
theirs; yea, our weeping is above their laughing, which is but like
the crackling of thorns under a pot. And, therefore, we have good
cause to fight it out, for the day of our laureation is approaching. I
find my prison the sweetest place that ever I was in. My Lord Jesus is
kind to me, and hath taken the mask off His face, and is content to
quit me all bygones. I dare not complain of Him. And for my silence, I
lay it before Christ: I hope it will be a speaking silence. He who
knoweth what I would, knoweth that my soul desireth no more than that
King Jesus may be great in the north of Scotland, in the south, and in
the east and west, through my sufferings for the freedom of my Lord's
house and kingdom. If I could keep good quarters, in time to come,
with Christ, I would fear nothing. But, oh, oh, I complain of my woful
outbreakings! I tremble at the remembrance of a new outcast betwixt
Him and me; and I have cause, when I consider what sickness and sad
days I have had for His absence who is now come! I find that Christ
dow not be long unkind: our Joseph's bowels yearn within Him; He
cannot smother love long; it must break out at length. Praise, praise
with me, brother, and desire my acquaintance to help me. I dare not
conceal His love to my soul. I wish you all a part of my feast, that
my Lord Jesus may be honoured. I allow you not to hide Christ's bounty
to me, when ye meet with such as know Christ.
Ye write nothing to me. What are the cruel mercies of the prelates
towards me? The ministers of this town, as I hear, intend that I
shall be more strictly confined, or else transported, because they
find some people affect me. Grace be with you.
Yours, in the sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Nov. 21, 1637_.
CCLXXV.--_To_ MR. JOHN FERGUSHILL. [Letter CXII.]
(_SPIRITUAL LONGINGS UNDER CHRIST'S CROSS--HOW TO BEAR IT--CHRIST
PRECIOUS, AND TO BE HAD WITHOUT MONEY--THE CHURCH._)
REVEREND AND WELL-BELOVED IN OUR LORD JESUS,--I must still provoke you
to write by my lines. Whereat ye need not wonder, for the cross is
full of talk, and speak it must, either good or bad: neither can grief
be silent.
I have no dittay nor indictment to bring against Christ's cross,
seeing He hath made a friendly agreement betwixt me and it, and we are
in terms of love together. If my former miscarriages, and my now
silent Sabbaths, seem to me to speak wrath from the Lord, I dare say
it is but Satan borrowing the use and loan of my cowardly and feeble
apprehensions, which start at straws. I know that faith is not so
faint and foolish as to tremble at every false alarm. Yet I gather
this out of it: Blessed are they who are graced of God to guide a
cross well, and, that there is some art required therein. I pray God
that I may not be so ill friendstead, as that Christ my Lord should
leave me to be my own tutor, and my own physician. Shall I not think
that my Lord Jesus, who deserveth His own place very well, will take
His own place upon Him as it becometh Him, and that He will fill His
own chair? For in this is His office, to comfort us, and those that
are casten down, in all their tribulations (2 Cor. i. 4). Alas! I know
that I am a fool to seek a hole or defect in Christ's way with my
soul. If I have not a stock to present to Christ at His appearance,
yet I pray God that I may be able, with joy and faith and constancy,
to shew the Captain of my salvation, in that day, a bloody head[384]
which I received in His service. Howbeit my faith hang by a small tack
and thread, I hope that the tack shall not break; and, howbeit my Lord
got no service of me but broken wishes, yet I trust that those will be
accepted upon Christ's account. I have nothing to comfort me, but
that I say, "Oh! will the Lord disappoint an hungry on-waiter?" The
smell of Christ's wine and apples (which surpass the uptaking of dull
sense) bloweth upon my soul, and I get no more for the meantime. I am
sure, that to let a famishing body see meat and give him none of it,
is a double pain. Our Lord's love is not so cruel as to let a poor man
see Christ and heaven, and never give him more, for want of money to
buy: nay, I rather think Christ to be such fair market wares, as
buyers may have without money and without price. And thus I know that
it shall not stand upon my want of money; for Christ upon His own
charges must buy my wedding-garment, and redeem the inheritance which
I have forfeited, and give His word for one the like of me, who am not
law-biding of myself. Poor folks must either borrow or beg from the
rich; and the only thing that commendeth sinners to Christ is extreme
necessity and want. Christ's love is ready to make and provide a
ransom, and money for a poor body who hath lost his purse. "Ho, ye
that have no money, come and buy" (Isa. lv. 1), that is the poor man's
market.
[384] Any wound.
Now, brother, I see that old crosses would have done nothing to me;
and, therefore, Christ hath taken a new, fresh rod to me, that seemeth
to talk with my soul[385] and make me tremble. I have often more ado
now with faith, when I lose my compass and am blown on a rock, than
those who are my beholders, standing upon the shore, are aware of. A
counsel to a sick man is sooner given than taken. Lord, send the
wearied man a borrowed bed from Christ! I think often that it is after
supper with me, and I am heavy. Oh, but I would sleep soundly with
Christ's left hand under my head, and His right hand embracing me. The
devil could not spill that bed. When I consider how tenderly Christ
hath cared for me in this prison, I think that He hath handled me as
the bairn that is pitied and bemoaned. I desire no more till I be in
heaven, but such a feast and fill of Christ's love as I would have;
this love would be fair and adorning passments which would beautify
and set forth my black, unpleasant cross. I cannot tell, my dear
brother, what a great load I would bear, if I had a hearty fill of the
love of that lovely One, Christ Jesus. Oh, if ye would seek and pray
for that to me! I would give Christ all His love-styles and titles of
honour, if He would give me but this; nay, I would sell myself, if I
could, for that love.
[385] See the first paragraph in this letter.
I have been waiting to see what friends of place and power would do
for us. But when the Lord looseneth the pins of His own tabernacle, He
will have Himself to be acknowledged as the only builder-up thereof;
and, therefore, I would take back again my hope that I lent and laid
in pawn in men's hands, and give it wholly to Christ. It is no time
for me now to set up idols of my own. It were a pity to give an
ounce-weight of hope to any besides Christ. I think Him well worthy of
all my hope, though it were as weighty as both heaven and earth. Happy
were I if I had anything that Christ would seek or accept of; but now,
alas! I see not what service I can do to Him, except it be to talk a
little, and babble upon a piece of paper, concerning the love of
Christ. I am often as if my faith were wadset, so that I cannot
command it; and then, when He hideth Himself, I run to the other
extreme, in making each wing and toe of my case as big as a mountain
of iron; and then misbelief can spin out an hell of heavy and
desponding thoughts. Then Christ seeketh law-borrows of my unbelieving
apprehensions, and chargeth me to believe His daylight at midnight.
But I make pleas with Christ, though it be ill my common[386] so to
do. It were my happiness, when I am in this house-of-wine and when I
find a feast-day, if I could "hearken, and hear for the time to come"
(Isa. xlii. 23). But I see that we must be off our feet in wading a
deep water; and then Christ's love findeth timeous employment, at such
a dead-lift as that; and, besides, after broken brows, bairns learn to
walk more circumspectly. If I come to heaven any way, howbeit like a
tired traveller upon my Guide's shoulder, it is good enough for those
who have no legs of their own for such a journey. I never thought
there had been need of so much wrestling to win to the top of that
steep mountain, as now I find.
[386] Perhaps we should read: "though it ill becometh me."
Wo is me for this broken and backsliding church! It is like an old
bowing wall, leaning to the one side, and there are none of all her
sons who will set a prop under her. I know that I need not bemoan
Christ; for He careth for His own honour more than I can do; but who
can blame me to be wo (if I had grace so to be) to see my
Well-beloved's fair face spitted upon, and His own crown plucked off
His head, and the ark of God taken and carried in the Philistines'
cart, and the kine put to carry it, which will let it fall to the
ground? The Lord put to His own helping hand! I would desire you to
prepare yourself for a fight with beasts (1 Cor. xv. 32): ye will not
get leave to steal quietly to heaven, in Christ's company, without a
conflict and a cross.
Remember my bonds; and praise my Second, and Fellow-prisoner, Christ.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in Christ Jesus his Lord,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCLXXVI.--_To_ WILLIAM GLENDINNING. [Letter CXXXVII.]
(_SWEETNESS OF TRIAL--SWIFTNESS OF TIME--PREVALENCE OF SIN._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Your case is
unknown to me, whether ye be yet our Lord's prisoner at Wigtown, or
not. However it be, I know that our Lord Jesus hath been inquiring for
you; and that He hath honoured you to bear His chains, which is the
golden end of His cross; and so hath waled out a chosen and honourable
cross for you. I wish you much joy and comfort of it; for I have
nothing to say of Christ's cross but much good. I hope that my ill
word shall never meet either Christ or His sweet and easy cross. I
know that He seeketh of us an outcast with this house of clay, this
mother prison, this earth, that we love full well. And verily, when
Christ snuffeth my candle, and causeth my light to shine upward, it is
one of my greatest wonders, that dirt and clay hath so much court with
a soul not made of clay; and that our soul goeth out of kind so far as
to make an idol of this earth, such a deformed harlot, as that it
should wrong Christ of our love. How fast, how fast doth our ship
sail! and how fair a wind hath time, to blow us off these coasts and
this land of dying and perishing things! Alas! our ship saileth one
way, and fleeth many miles in one hour, to hasten us upon eternity,
and our love and hearts are sailing close backover and swimming
towards ease, lawless pleasure, vain honour, perishing riches; and to
build a fool's nest I know not where, and to lay our eggs within the
sea-mark, and fasten our bits of broken anchors upon the worst ground
in the world, this fleeting and perishing life! And in the meanwhile,
time and tide carry us upon another life, and there is daily less and
less oil in our lamps, and less and less sand in our watch-glass. Oh
what a wise course were it for us to look away from the false beauty
of our borrowed prison, and to mind, and eye, and lust for our
country! Lord, Lord, take us home!
And for myself: I think, if a poor, weak, dying sheep seek for an old
dyke, and the lee-side of an hill, in a storm, I have cause to long
for a covert from this storm, in heaven. I know none will take my room
over my head there. But, certainly sleepy bodies would be at rest and
a well-made bed, and an old crazed bark at a shore, and a wearied
traveller at home, and a breathless horse at the rink's end. I see
nothing in this life but sin, and the sour fruits of sin: and, oh,
what a burden is sin! And what a slavery and miserable bondage is it,
to be at the nod, and yeas and nays, of such a lord-master as a body
of sin! Truly, when I think of it, it is a wonder that Christ maketh
not fire and ashes of such a dry branch as I am. I would often lie
down under Christ's feet, and bid Him trample upon me, when I consider
my guiltiness. But seeing He hath sworn that sin shall not loose His
unchangeable covenant, I keep house-room amongst the rest of the
ill-learned bairns, and must cumber the Lord of the house with the
rest, till my Lord take the fetters off legs and arms, and destroy
this body of sin, and make a hole or breach in this cage of earth,
that the bird may fly out, and the imprisoned soul be at liberty. In
the meantime, the least intimation of Christ's love is sweet, and the
hope of marriage with the Bridegroom holdeth me in some joyful
on-waiting, that, when Christ's summer-birds shall sing upon the
branches of the Tree of Life, I shall be tuned by God Himself to help
them to sing the home-coming of our Well-beloved and His bride to
their house together. When I think of this, I think winters and
summers, and years and days, and time, do me a pleasure that they
shorten this untwisted and weak thread of my life, and that they put
sin and miseries by-hand, and that they shall carry me to my
Bridegroom in a clap.
Dear brother, pray for me, that it would please the Lord of the
vineyard to give me room to preach His righteousness again to the
great congregation.
Grace, grace be with you. Remember me to your wife.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCLXXVII.--_To my_ LADY BOYD.
(_SENSE OF UNWORTHINESS--OBLIGATION TO GRACE--CHRIST'S ABSENCE--STATE
OF THE LAND._)
MADAM,--I would have written to your Ladyship ere now, but people's
believing there is in me that which I know there is not, hath put me
out of love with writing to any. For it is easy to put religion to a
market and public fair; but, alas! it is not so soon made eye-sweet
for Christ.
My Lord seeth me a tired man, far behind. I have gotten much love from
Christ, but I give Him little or none again. My white side cometh out
on paper to men; but at home and within I find much black work, and
great cause of a low sail, and of little boasting. And yet, howbeit I
see challenges to be true, the manner of the tempter's pressing of
them is unhonest, and, in my thoughts, knavish-like. My peace is, that
Christ may find outing and sale of His wares, in the like of me; I
mean for saving grace.
I wish all professors to fall in love with grace. All our songs should
be of His free grace. We are but too lazy and careless in seeking of
it; it is all our riches we have here, and glory in the bud. I wish
that I could set out free grace. I was the law's man, and under the
law, and under a curse; but grace brought me from under that hard
lord, and I rejoice that I am grace's freeholder. I pay tribute to
none for heaven, seeing my land and heritage holdeth of Christ, my new
King. Infinite wisdom hath devised this excellent way of free-holding
for sinners. It is a better way to heaven than the old way that was in
Adam's days. It hath this fair advantage, that no man's emptiness and
want layeth an inhibition upon Christ, or hindereth His salvation; and
that is far best for me. But our new Landlord putteth the names of
dyvours, and Adam's forlorn heirs, and beggars, and the crooked and
blind, in the free charters. Heaven and angels may wonder that we have
got such a gate of sin and hell. Such a back-entry out of hell as
Christ made, and brought out the captives by, is more than my poor
shallow thoughts can comprehend. I would think sufferings glory (and I
am sometimes not far from it), if my Lord would give me a new alms of
free grace.
I hear that the prelates are intending banishment for me; but, for
more grace, and no other hire, I would make it welcome. The bits of
this clay house, the earth, and the other side of the sea, are my
Father's. If my sweet Lord Jesus would bud my sufferings with a new
measure of grace, I were a rich man. But I have not now, of a long
time, found such high spring-tides as formerly. The sea is out, the
wind of His Spirit calm; and I cannot buy a wind, or, by requesting
the sea, cause it to flow again; only I wait on upon the banks and
shore-side, till the Lord send a full sea, that with upsails I may
lift up Christ. Yet sorrow for His absence is sweet; and sighs, with
"Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth?" have their own delights. Oh that I
may gather hunger against His long-looked-for return! Well were my
soul, if Christ were the element (mine own element), and that I loved
and breathed in Him, and if I could not live without Him. I allow not
laughter upon myself when He is away; yet He never leaveth the house,
but He leaveth drink-money behind Him, and a pawn that He will return.
Wo, wo to me, if He should go away and take all His flitting with Him!
Even to dream of Him is sweet. To build a house of pining wishes for
His return, to spin out a web of sorrow, and care, and languishing,
and sighs, either dry or wet, as they may be (because He hath no
leisure, if I may speak so, to make a visit, or to see a poor friend),
sweeteneth and refresheth the thoughts of the heart. A misty dew will
stand for rain, and do some good, and keep some greenness in the
herbs, till our Lord's clouds rue upon the earth, and send down a
watering of rain. Truly I think Christ's misty dew a welcome message
from heaven till my Lord's rain fall.
Wo, wo is me for the Lord's vineyard in Scotland! Howbeit the Father
of the house embrace a child, and feed him, and kiss him; yet it is
sorrow and sadness to the children that our poor mother hath gotten
her leave, and that our Father hath given up house. It is an
unheartsome thing to see our Father and mother agree so ill; yet the
bastards, if they be fed, care not, O Lord, cast not water on
Scotland's smoking coal. It is a strange gate the saints go to heaven.
Our enemies often eat and drink us, and we go to heaven through their
bellies and stomachs, and they vomit the church of God undigested
among their hands. And even while we are shut up in prisons by them,
we advance in our journey.
Remember my service to my lord your son, who was kind to me in my
bonds, and was not ashamed to own me. I would be glad that Christ got
the morning service of his life, now in his young years. It would
suit him well to give Christ his young and green love. Christ's stamp
and seal would go far down in a young soul, if he would receive the
thrust of Christ's stamp. I would desire him to make search for
Christ; for nobles are now but dry friends to Christ.
The grace of God our Father, and the good-will of Him who dwelt in the
bush, be with your Ladyship.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCLXXVIII.--_To the_ EARL OF CASSILLIS.
(_AMBITION--CHRIST'S ROYAL PREROGATIVE--PRELACY._)
RIGHT HONOURABLE AND VERY GOOD LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
your Lordship.--I hope that your Lordship will be pleased to pardon my
boldness, if, upon report of your zealous and forward mind, which I
hear our Lord hath given you in this His honourable cause, when Christ
and His Gospel are so foully wronged, I speak to your Lordship on
paper, entreating your Lordship to go on in the strength of the Lord,
toward, and against a storm of antichristian wind, that bloweth upon
the face of this your poor mother-church, Christ's lily among the
thorns. It is your Lordship's glory and happiness, when ye see such a
blow coming upon Christ, to cast up your arm to prevent it. Neither is
it a cause that needeth to blush before the sun, or to flee the
sentence or censure of impartial beholders, seeing the question,
indeed (if it were rightly stated), is about the prerogative-royal of
our princely and royal Lawgiver, our Lord Jesus, whose ancient
march-stones and land-bounds, our bastard lords and earthly generation
of tyrannizing prelates have boldly and shamefully removed. And they
who have but half an eye may see, that it is the greedy desires of
time-idolizing Demases, and the itching scab of ambitious and climbing
Diotrepheses (who love the goat's life, to climb till they cannot find
a way to set their soles on ground again), that hath made such a wide
breach in our Zion's beautiful walls. And these are the men who seek
no hire for the crucifying of Christ, but His coat.
Oh, how forlorn and desolate is the bride of Christ made to all
passers-by! Who seeth not Christ buried in this land, His prophets
hidden in caves, silenced, banished and imprisoned? truth weeping in
sackcloth before the judges, Parliament, and the rulers of the land?
But her bill is cast by them, and holiness hideth itself, fearing in
the streets for the reproaches and persecution of men. Justice is
fallen aswoon in the gate; and the long shadows of the evening are
stretched out upon us. Wo, wo to us, for our day flieth away! What
remaineth, but that Antichrist set down his tent in the midst of us,
except that your Lordship, and others with you, read Christ's
supplication, and give Him that which the most lewd and scandalous
wretches in this land may have before a judge, even the poor man's
due, law and justice for God's sake? Oh, therefore, my noble and dear
Lord, as ye have begun, go on, in the mighty power and strength of the
Lord, to cause our Lord, in His Gospel, and afflicted members, to
laugh, and to cause the Christian churches (whose eyes are all now
upon you) to sing for joy when Scotland's moon shall shine like the
light of the sun, and the sun like the light of seven days in one. Ye
can do no less than run and bear up the head of your swooning and
dying mother-church, and plead for the production of her ancient
charters. They hold out and put out, they hold in and bring in, at
their pleasure, men in God's house. They stole the keys from Christ
and His church, and came in like the thief and the robber, not by the
door, Christ; and now their song is, "Authority, authority! obedience
to church-governors!" When such a bastard and lawless pretended
step-dame, as our Prelacy, is gone mad, it is your place, who are the
nobles, to rise and bind them. At least, law should fetter such wild
bulls as they are, who push all who oppose themselves to their
domination. Alas! what have we lost, since prelates were made
master-coiners, to change our gold into brass, and to mix the Lord's
wine with water! Blessed for ever shall ye be of the Lord, if ye help
Christ against the mighty, and shall deliver the flock of God,
scattered upon the mountains in the dark and cloudy day, out of the
hands of these idol-shepherds. Fear not men who shall be moth-eaten
clay, that shall be rolled up in a chest, and casten under the earth:
let the Holy One of Israel be your fear, and be courageous for the
Lord and His truth.
Remember, that your accounts are coming upon you, with wings, as fast
as time posteth. Remember, what "peace with God" in Christ, and the
presence of the Son of God (the revealed and felt sweetness of His
love), will be to you, when eternity shall put time to the door, and
ye shall take good-night of time, and this little shepherd's tent of
clay, this inn of a borrowed earth. I hope that your Lordship is now
and then sending out thoughts to view this world's naughtiness,[387]
and vanity, and the hoped-for glory of the life to come; and that ye
resolve that Christ shall have yourself, and all yours, at command for
Him, His honour and Gospel.
[387] Some editions read _nothingness_.
Thus trusting that your Lordship will pardon my boldness, I pray that
the only wise God, the very God of peace, may preserve, strengthen,
and establish you to the end.
Your Lordship's, at all command and obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCLXXIX.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_A SPRING-TIDE OF CHRIST'S LOVE._)
MY DEAR AND WELL-BELOVED SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.--I am well; honour to God. I have been before a court set up
within me of terrors and challenges; but my sweet Lord Jesus hath
taken the mask off His face, and said, "Kiss thy fill!" and I will not
smother nor conceal the kindness of my King Jesus. He hath broken in
upon the poor prisoner's soul, like the swelling of Jordan. I am bank
and brim full; a great, high spring-tide of the consolations of Christ
have overflowed me. I would not give my weeping for the fourteen
prelates' laughter. They have sent me here to feast with my King. His
spikenard casteth a sweet smell. The Bridegroom's love hath run away
with my heart. O love, love, love! Oh, sweet are my royal King's
chains! I care not for fire nor torture. How sweet were it to me to
swim the salt sea for my new Lover, my second Husband, my first Lord!
I charge you in the name of God, not to fear the wild beasts that
entered into the vineyard of the Lord of Hosts. The false prophet is
the tail. God shall cut the tail from Scotland. Take your comfort and
droop not, despond not.
Pray for my poor flock: I would take a penance on my soul for their
salvation. I fear that the entering of a hireling upon my labours
there will cut off my life with sorrow. There I wrestled with the
Angel and prevailed. Wood,[388] trees, meadows, and hills are my
witnesses, that I drew on a fair meeting betwixt Christ and Anwoth.
[388] Perhaps specially referring to the wood adjoining Bushy Bield,
the spot still called "Rutherford's Walk."
My love to your husband, to dear Carleton, to my beloved brother
Knockbrex.[389] Forget not Christ's prisoner. I long for a letter
under your own hand.
Your friend and Christ's prisoner,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Nov. 22, 1637_.
[389] Gordon of Knockbrex.
CCLXXX.--_To JOHN GORDON, at Rusco._[390] [Letter CCLXXII.]
(_HEAVEN HARD TO BE WON--MANY COME SHORT IN ATTAINING--IDOL SINS TO BE
RENOUNCED--LIKENESS TO CHRIST._)
[390] This seems to have been the letter referred to by Mrs. Veitch,
wife of Mr. William Veitch, minister of Dumfries, when she says: "One
day, having been at prayer, and coming into the room, where one was
reading a letter of Mr. Rutherford's (then only in MS.), directed to
one John Gordon of Rusco, giving an account how far one might go, and
yet prove a hypocrite and miss heaven, it occasioned great exercise
to me" ("Memoir of the Life of Mrs. William Veitch," p. 1).
DEAR BROTHER,--I earnestly desire to know the case of your soul, and
to understand that ye have made sure work of heaven and salvation.
1. Remember, salvation is one of Christ's dainties He giveth but to a
few.
2. That it is violent sweating and striving that taketh heaven.
3. That it cost Christ's blood to purchase that house to sinners, and
to set mankind down as the King's free tenants and freeholders.
4. That many make a start toward heaven who fall on their back, and
win not up to the top of the mount. It plucketh heart and legs from
them, and they sit down and give it over, because the devil setteth a
sweet-smelled flower to their nose (this fair busked world), wherewith
they are bewitched, and so forget or refuse to go forward.
5. Remember, many go far on and reform many things, and can find
tears, as Esau did; and suffer hunger for truth, as Judas did; and
wish and desire the end of the righteous, as Balaam did; and profess
fair, and fight for the Lord, as Saul did; and desire the saints of
God to pray for them, as Pharaoh and Simon Magus did; and prophesy and
speak of Christ, as Caiaphas did; and walk softly and mourn for fear
of judgments, as Ahab did; and put away gross sins and idolatry, as
Jehu did; and hear the word of God gladly, and reform their life in
many things according to the word, as Herod did; and say to Christ,
"Master, I will follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest," as the man who
offered to be Christ's servant (Matt. viii. 19); and may taste of the
virtues of the life to come, and be partaker of the wonderful gifts of
the Holy Spirit, and taste of the good word of God, as the apostates
who sin against the Holy Ghost (Heb. vi.). And yet all these are but
like gold in clink and colour, and watered brass, and base metal.
These are written that we should try ourselves, and not rest till we
be a step nearer Christ than sun-burnt and withering professors can
come.
6. Consider, it is impossible that your idol-sins and ye can go to
heaven together; and that they who will not part with these can,
indeed, love Christ at the bottom but only in word and show, which
will not do the business.
7. Remember, how swiftly God's post time flieth away; and that your
forenoon is already spent, your afternoon will come, and then your
evening, and at last night, when ye cannot see to work. Let your heart
be set upon finishing of your journey, and summing and laying your
accounts with your Lord. Oh how blessed shall ye be to have a joyful
welcome of your Lord at night! How blessed are they who, in time, take
sure course with their souls! Bless His great name for what you
possess in goods and children, ease and worldly contentment, that He
hath given you; and seek to be like Christ in humility and lowliness
of mind. And be not great and entire[391] with the world. Make it not
your god, nor your lover that ye trust unto, for it will deceive you.
[391] As in Letter CXIX., "Your heart wholly there."
I recommend Christ and His love to you, in all things; let Him have
the flower of your heart and your love. Set a low price upon all
things but Christ, and cry down in your thoughts clay and dirt, that
will not comfort you when ye get summons to remove, and compear before
your Judge to answer for all the deeds done in the body. The Lord give
you wisdom in all things. I beseech you sanctify God in your speaking,
for holy and reverend is His name; and be temperate and sober.
Companionry with the bad is a sin, that holdeth many out of heaven.
I will not believe that you will receive the ministry of a stranger,
who will preach a new and uncouth doctrine to you. Let my salvation
stand for it, if I delivered not the plain and whole counsel of God to
you in His word. Read this letter to your wife, and remember my love
to her, and request her to take heed to do what I write to you. I pray
for you and yours. Remember me in your prayers to our Lord, that He
would be pleased to send me amongst you again. Grace be with you.
Your lawful and loving pastor,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, 1637.
CCLXXXI.--_To my_ LORD LOUDOUN.
(_TRUE HONOUR IN MAINTAINING CHRIST'S CAUSE--PRELACY--LIGHT OF
ETERNITY._)
RIGHT HONOURABLE AND VERY WORTHY LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.--Hearing of your Lordship's zeal and courage for Christ our Lord
in His honourable cause, I am bold (and plead pardon for it) to speak
in paper by a line or two to your Lordship, since I have not access
any other way, beseeching your Lordship, by the mercies of God, and by
the everlasting peace of your soul, and by the tears and prayers of
our mother-church, to go on, as ye have worthily begun, in purging of
the Lord's house in this land, and plucking down the sticks of
Antichrist's filthy nest, this wretched Prelacy, and that black
kingdom whose wicked aims have ever been, and still are, to make this
fat world the only compass they would have Christ and religion to sail
by, and to mount up the Man of Sin, their godfather the Pope of Rome,
upon the highest stair of Christ's throne, and to make a velvet church
(in regard of Parliament grandeur and worldly pomp, whereof always
their stinking breath smelleth), and to put Christ and truth in
sackcloth and prison, and to eat the bread of adversity and drink the
water of affliction. Half an eye of any, not misted with the darkness
of antichristian smoke, may see it thus in this land. And now our Lord
hath begun to awaken the nobles and others to plead for borne-down
Christ and His weeping Gospel.
My dear and noble Lord, the eye of Christ is upon you; the eyes of
many noble, many holy, many learned and worthy ones, in our
neighbouring churches about, are upon you.[392] This poor church,
your mother and Christ's spouse, is holding up her hands and heart to
God for you, and doth beseech you with tears to plead for her Husband,
His kingly sceptre, and for the liberties that her Lord and King hath
given to her, as to a free kingdom that oweth spiritual tribute to
none on earth, as being the freeborn princess and daughter to the King
of kings. This is a cause that, before God, His angels, the world,
before sun and moon, needeth not to blush. Oh, what glory and true
honour is it to lend Christ your hand and service, and to be amongst
the repairers of the breaches of Zion's walls, and to help to build
the old waste places, and stretch forth the curtains, and strengthen
the stakes of Christ's tent in this land! Oh, blessed are they who,
when Christ is driven away, will bring Him back again, and lend Him
lodging! And blessed are ye of the Lord! Your name and honour shall
never rot nor wither (in heaven at least), if ye deliver the Lord's
sheep, that have been scattered in the dark and cloudy day, out of the
hands of strange lords and hirelings, who with rigour and cruelty have
caused them to eat the pastures trodden upon with their foul feet, and
to drink muddy water; and who have spun out such a world of yards of
indifferences in God's worship, to make and weave a web for the
Antichrist (which shall not keep any from the cold); as they mind
nothing else, but that, by the bringing in of the Pope's foul tail
first upon us (their wretched and beggarly ceremonies), they may
thrust in after them the Antichrist's legs and thighs, and his belly,
head, and shoulders; and then cry down Christ and the Gospel, and up
the merchandise and wares of the great whore. Fear not, my worthy
Lord, to give yourself, and all ye have, out for Christ and His
Gospel. No man dare say (who did ever thus hazard for Christ), that
Christ paid him not his hundred-fold in this life duly, and, in the
life to come, life everlasting. This is His own truth that ye now
plead for; for God and man cannot but commend you to beg justice from
a just prince for oppressed Christ, and to plead that Christ, who is
the King's Lord, may be heard in a free court to speak for Himself,
when the standing and established laws of our nation can strongly
plead for Christ's crown in the pulpits, and His chair as Lawgiver in
the free government of His own house. But Christ will never be content
and pleased with this land, neither shall His hot, fiery indignation
be turned away, so long as the prelate (the man that lay in
Antichrist's foul womb, and the Antichrist's lord-bailiff) shall sit
lord-carver in the courts of the Lord Jesus. The prelate is both the
egg and the nest to cleck and bring forth Popery. Plead, therefore, in
Christ's behalf, for the plucking down of the nest, and the crushing
of the egg; and let Christ's kingly office suffer no more unworthy
indignities. Be valiant for your royal King, Jesus; contend for Him:
your adversaries shall be moth-eaten worms, and die as men. Christ and
His honour now lie on your shoulders, let Him not fall to the ground.
Cast your eye upon Him who is quickly coming to decide all the
controversies in Zion. And remember that the sand in your night-glass
will run out; time with wings will flee away. Eternity is hard upon
you; and what will Christ's love-smiles, and the light of His lovely
and soul-delighting countenance, be to you in that day, when God shall
take up in His right hand this little lodge of heaven (like as a
shepherd lifteth up his little tent), and fold together the two leaves
of His tent, and put the earth and all the plenishing of it into a
fire, and turn this clay-idol, the god of Adam's sons, into smoke and
white ashes! Oh, what hire and how many worlds would many then give to
have a favourable decreet of the Judge! Oh, what moneys would they not
give, to buy a mountain to be a grave above both soul and body, to
hide them from the awesome looks of an angry Lord and Judge! I hope
that your Lordship thinketh upon this, and that ye mind loyalty to
Christ, and to the King both.
[392] We have already seen (note to Letter CXVI.) that John, Earl of
Loudon, was one of the Scottish nobles who most zealously espoused the
cause of the Second Reformation. In all the measures of the
Covenanters for promoting the cause of the Covenant, he took a leading
part; and from his high character, as well as his distinguished
talents, his party reposed in him with the utmost confidence. Wodrow
describes him as "a nobleman of excellent endowments, great learning,
singular wisdom and conduct, bewitching eloquence, joined with
remarkable resolution and courage."
Now the very God of peace, the only wise God, establish and strengthen
you upon the rock laid in Zion.
Your Lordship's at all obedience in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Jan. 4, 1638_.
CCLXXXII.--_To the_ LADY ROBERTLAND.
[This is probably the _Lady Robertland_ (her own name was
_Fleming_) mentioned in Livingstone's "Characteristics" as "one
deeply exercised in mind, who often got as rare outgates." She
was a great help to the poor people of _Stewarton_, during the
time of the awakening there. One of her sayings was, "With God,
the most of mosts is lighter than nothing; and without God, the
least of leasts is heavier than any burden."]
(_AFFLICTIONS PURIFY--THE WORLD'S VANITY--CHRIST'S WISE LOVE._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I shall be glad to hear
that your soul prospereth, and that fruit groweth upon you, after the
Lord's husbandry and pains, in His rod that hath not been a stranger
to you from your youth. It is the Lord's kindness that He will take
the scum off us in the fire. Who knoweth how needful winnowing is to
us, and what dross we must want ere we enter into the kingdom of God?
So narrow is the entry to heaven, that our knots, our bunches and
lumps of pride, and self-love, and idol-love, and world-love, must be
hammered off us, that we may thring in, stooping low, and creeping
through that narrow and thorny entry.
And now for myself, I find it the most sweet and heavenly life to take
up house and dwelling at Christ's fireside, and set down my tent upon
Christ, that Foundation-stone, who is sure and faithful ground and
hard under foot. Oh if I could win to it, and proclaim myself not the
world's debtor, nor a lover obliged to it, and that I mind not to hire
or bud this world's love any longer; but defy both the kindness and
feud of God's whole creation whatsomever! especially the lower vault
and clay part of God's creatures, this vain earth! For what hold I of
His world? A borrowed lodging and some years' house-room, and bread
and water, and fire, and bed and candle, are all a part of the pension
of my King and Lord; to whom I owe thanks, and not to a creature. I
thank God that God is God, and Christ is Christ, and the earth the
earth, and the devil the devil, and the world the world, and that sin
is sin, and that everything is what it is; because He hath taught me
in my wilderness not to shuffle my Lord Jesus, nor to intermix Him
with creature-vanities, nor to spin or twine Christ or His sweet love
in one web, or in one thread, with the world and the things thereof.
Oh, if I could hold and keep Christ all alone, and mix Him with
nothing! Oh, if I could cry down the price and weight of my cursed
self, and cry up the price of Christ, and double, and triple, and
augment, and heighten to millions the price and worth of Christ! I am
(if I durst speak so, and might lawfully complain) so hungredly
tutored by Christ Jesus my liberal Lord, that His nice love, which my
soul would be in hands with, flieth me; and yet I am trained on to
love Him, and lust, and long, and die for His love whom I cannot see.
It is a wonder to pine away with love for a covered and hid lover, and
to be hungered with His love, so as a poor soul cannot get his fill of
hunger for Christ. It is hard to be hungered of hunger,[393] whereof
such abundance for other things is in the world. But sure, if we were
tutors, and stewards, and masters, and lord-carvers of Christ's love,
we should be more lean and worse fed than we are. Our meat doeth us
the more good, that Christ keepeth the keys, and that the wind and the
air of Christ's sweet breathing, and of the influence of His Spirit,
is locked up in the hands of the good pleasure of Him who "bloweth
where He listeth."
[393] Not to get even enough of hunger for Christ.
I see there is a sort of impatient patience required in the want of
Christ as to His manifestations, and waiting on. They thrive who wait
on His love, and the blowing of it, and the turning of His gracious
wind; and they thrive who, in that on-waiting, make haste and din and
much ado for their lost and hidden Lord Jesus. However it be, God feed
me with Him any way. If He would come in, I shall not dispute the
matter, where He get a hole, or how He opened the lock. I should be
content that Christ and I met, suppose He should stand on the other
side of hell's lake and cry to me, "Either put in your foot and come
through, or else ye shall not have Me at all." But what fools are we
in the taking up of Him and of His dealing! He hath a gate of His own
beyond the thoughts of men, that no foot hath skill to follow Him. But
we are still ill scholars, and will go in at heaven's gates wanting
the half of our lesson; and shall still be bairns, so long as we are
under time's hands, and till eternity cause a sun to arise in our
souls that shall give us wit. We may see how we spill and mar our own
fair heaven and our salvation, and how Christ is every day putting in
one bone or other, in these fallen souls of ours, in the right place
again; and that on this side of the New Jerusalem, we shall still have
need of forgiving and healing grace. I find crosses Christ's carved
work that He marketh out for us, and that with crosses He figureth and
portrayeth us to His own image, cutting away pieces of our ill and
corruption. Lord cut, Lord carve, Lord wound, Lord do anything that
may perfect Thy Father's image in us, and make us meet for glory.
Pray for me (I forget not you) that our Lord would be pleased to lend
me house-room to preach His righteousness, and tell what I have heard
and seen of Him. Forget not Zion that is now in Christ's caums, and in
His forge. God bring her out new work. Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Jan. 4, 1638_.
CCLXXXIII.--_To his Reverent and Respected Friend, THOMAS MACCULLOCH
of Nether Ardwell._ [See "Ardwell" in notice at Letter CI.]
[This letter is given from the "Christian Instructor" for January
1839, furnished by one who had the MS. Why Rutherford calls his
correspondent "reverent," we do not know. It seems to mean
"REVERED," as in the address of Letter CCLXXXIV.][394]
[394] The contributor who furnishes this letter to the "Christian
Instructor" says: "The _paper_ is small and dingy, and the mode of
_folding_ is not exactly in modern style. But the _wax_ and the
_impression_ on it are entire."
(_EARNEST CALL TO DILIGENCE--CIRCUMSPECT WALKING._)
REVERENT AND MUCH RESPECTED,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I
long to hear how your soul prospereth, and I expected you would have
written to me. My earnest desire to you is, that you would seek the
Lord and His face. I know that you are not ignorant that your daylight
is going fast away, and your sun declining. I beseech you by the
mercies of God, and by the wounds of your redeeming Lord, and your
dreadful compearance before the awesome Judge of quick and dead, make
your account clear and plain with your Judge and Lord, while ye have
fair daylight, for your night is coming on. Therefore, I pray you,
judge more of the worth of your soul, and know that if you are in
Christ, and secure your own soul, you are blessed for ever. Few, few,
yea very few, are saved. Grace is not casten down at every man's door;
therefore speed yourself and others upon seeking Christ and salvation;
and learn to overcome, in the bitterness of your soul, your sins in
time. It is not easy to take heaven, as the word saith, "by violence."
Keep your tongue from cursing and swearing; refrain from wrath and
malice; forgive all men for Christ's sake, as you would have your Lord
forgive you. I pray you, seeing your time is short, make speed in your
journey to heaven, that you may secure a lodging to your soul against
night.
Remember my love to your wife, William your son, and the rest of your
children.
Grace be with you.
Yours, at all hours, in Christ,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Jan. 5, 1638_.
CCLXXXIV.--_To the Honourable, Reverend, and Well-beloved Professors
of Christ and His truth in sincerity, in Ireland._
[At the date of this letter the Presbyterian Church of Ireland
was in a very depressed condition. In 1634 Robert Blair, with
some other ministers, were deposed for nonconformity; in the
autumn of 1636 five more were dealt with in the same manner, for
the same cause; and all of them were ultimately forced to leave
the country. The Presbyterians in Ireland were thus left to a
great extent destitute of the ministry of the Word, which had
been so eminently blessed of God. This letter was intended to
confirm them in their adherence to the cause for which their
ministers and themselves were suffering.]
(_THE WAY TO HEAVEN OFTTIMES THROUGH PERSECUTION--CHRIST'S
WORTH--MAKING SURE OUR PROFESSION--SELF-DENIAL--NO COMPROMISE--TESTS
OF SINCERITY--HIS OWN DESIRE FOR CHRIST'S GLORY._)
DEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD, AND PARTAKERS OF THE HEAVENLY
CALLING,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you, and from God our Father,
and from our Lord Jesus Christ.
I always, but most of all now in my bonds (most sweet bonds for Christ
my Lord), rejoice to hear of your faith and love, and to hear that our
King, our Well-beloved, our Bridegroom, without tiring, stayeth still
to woo you as His wife; and that persecutions, and mockings of
sinners, have not chased away the Wooer from the house. I persuade you
in the Lord, that the men of God, now scattered and driven from you,
put you upon the right scent and pursuit of Christ: and, my salvation
on it (if ten heavens were mine), if this way, this way that I now
suffer for, this way that the world nicknameth and reproacheth, and no
other way, be not the King's gate to heaven! And I shall never see
God's face (and, alas, I were a beguiled wretch if it were so!) if
this be not the only saving way to heaven. Oh that you would take a
prisoner of Christ's word for it (nay, I know you have the greatest
King's word for it), that it shall not be your wisdom to speer out
another Christ, or another way of worshipping Him, than is now
savingly revealed to you. Therefore, though I never saw your faces,
let me be pardoned to write to you (ye honourable persons, ye faithful
pastors, yet amongst the flocks, and ye sincere professors of Christ's
truth, or any weak, tired strayers, who cast but half an eye after the
Bridegroom), if possibly I could, by any weak experience, confirm and
strengthen you in this good way, everywhere spoken against.
I can with the greatest assurance (to the honour of our highest, and
greatest, and dearest Lord, let it be spoken!) assert (though I be but
a child in Christ, and scarce able to walk but by a hold, and the
meanest, and less than the least of saints), that we do not come nigh,
by twenty degrees, to the due love and estimation of that fairest
among the sons of men. For if it were possible that heaven, yea, ten
heavens, were laid in the balance with Christ, I would think the smell
of His breath above them all. Sure I am that He is the far best half
of heaven, yea, He is all heaven, and more than all heaven; and my
testimony of Him is, that ten lives of black sorrow, ten deaths, ten
hells of pain, ten furnaces of brimstone, and all exquisite torments,
were all too little for Christ, if our suffering could be a hire to
buy Him. Therefore, faint not in your sufferings and hazards for Him.
I proclaim and cry, hell, sorrow, and shame upon all lusts, upon all
by-lovers, that would take Christ's room over His head, in this little
inch of love of these narrow souls of ours, that is due to sweetest
Jesus. O highest, O fairest, O dearest Lord Jesus, take Thine own from
all bastard lovers. Oh that we could wadset and sell all our part of
time's glory, and time's good things, for a lease and tack of Christ
for all eternity! Oh how are we misted and mired with the love of
things that are on this side of time, and on this side of death's
water! Where can we find a match to Christ, or an equal, or a better
than He, among created things? Oh this world is out of all conceit,
and all love, with our Well-beloved. Oh that I could sell my laughter,
joy, ease, and all for Him; and be content with a straw bed, and bread
by weight, and water by measure, in the camp of our weeping Christ! I
know that His sackcloth and ashes are better than the fool's laughter,
which is like the crackling of thorns under a pot. But, alas! we do
not harden our faces against the cold north storms which blow upon
Christ's fair face. We love well summer-religion, and to be that which
sin has made us, even as thin-skinned as if we were made of white
paper; and would fain be carried to heaven in a close-covered chariot,
wishing from our hearts that Christ would give us surety, and His
handwrite, and His seal, or nothing but a fair summer until we be
landed in at heaven's gates!
How many of us have been here deceived, and have fainted in the day of
trial! Amongst you there are some of this stamp. I shall be sorry if
my acquaintance A. T. hath left you: I will not believe that he dare
to stay away from Christ's side. I desire that ye shew him this from
me; for I loved him once in Christ, neither can I change my mind
suddenly of him. But the truth is, that many of you, and too many also
of your neighbour Church of Scotland, have been like a tenant that
sitteth mail-free and knoweth not his holding whill his rights be
questioned. And now I am persuaded, that it will be asked at every one
of us, on what terms we brook Christ; for we have sitten long
mail-free. We found Christ without a wet foot; and He and His Gospel
came upon small charges to our doors: but now we must wet our feet to
seek Him. Our evil manners, and the bad fashions of a people at ease
from our youth, and like Moab not casten from vessel to vessel (Jer.
xlviii. 11), have made us (like the standing waters), to gather a foul
scum, and, when we are jumbled, our dregs come up, and are seen. Many
take but half a grip of Christ, and the wind bloweth them and Christ
asunder. Indeed, when the mast is broken and blown into the sea, it is
an art[395] then to swim upon Christ to dry land. It is even possible
that the children of God, in a hard trial, lay themselves down as
hidden in the lee-side of a bush whill Christ their Master be taken,
as Peter did; and lurk there, whill the storm be over-past. All of us
know the way to a whole skin; and the singlest heart that is hath a
by-purse that will contain the denial of Christ, and a fearful
backsliding. Oh, how rare a thing it is to be loyal and honest to
Christ, when He hath a controversy with the shields of the earth! I
wish all of you would consider, that this trial is from Christ; it is
come upon you unbought. (Indeed, when we buy a temptation with our own
money, no marvel that we be not easily free of it, and that God be not
at our elbow to take it off our hand.) This is Christ's ordinary
house-fire, that He maketh use of to try all the vessels of His house
withal. And Christ is now about to bring His treasure out before sun
and moon, and to tell His money, and, in the telling, to try what
weight of gold, and what weight of watered copper, is in His house. Do
not now jouk, or bow, or yield to your adversaries in a hair-breadth.
Christ and His truth will not divide; and His truth hath not latitude
and breadth, that ye may take some of it and leave other some of it.
Nay, the Gospel is like a small hair, that hath no breadth, and will
not cleave in two. It is not possible to twist and compound a matter
betwixt Christ and Antichrist; and, therefore, ye must either be for
Christ, or ye must be against Him. It was but man's wit, and the wit
of prelates and their godfather the Pope (that _man without
law_[396]), to put Christ and His prerogatives royal, and His truth,
or the smallest nail-breadth of His latter will, in the new calender
of indifferences, and to make a blank of uninked paper in Christ's
testament that men may fill up; and to shuffle the truth, and matters
which they call indifferent, through other, and spin both together,
that Antichrist's wares may sell the better. This is but the device
and forged dream of men whose consciences are made of stoutness, and
who have a throat that a graven image, greater than the bounds of the
kirk-door, would get free passage into. I am sure that when Christ
shall bring us all out in our blacks and whites, at that day when He
shall cry down time and the world, and when the glory of it shall lie
in white ashes, like a May-flower cut down and which hath lost the
blossom, there shall be few, yea none, that dare make any point, which
toucheth the worship and honour of our King and Lawgiver, to be
indifferent. Oh that this misled and blindfolded world would see that
Christ doth not rise and fall, stand or lie, by men's apprehensions!
What is Christ the lighter, that men do with Him, by open
proclamation, as men do with clipped and light money? They are now
crying down Christ some grain-weights, and some pounds or shillings;
and they will have Him lie[397] for a penny or a pound, for one or for
a hundred, according as the wind bloweth from the east or from the
west. But the Lord hath weighed Him, and balanced Him already: "This
is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him!" His worth
and His weight stand still. It is our part to cry, "Up, up with
Christ, and down, down with all created glory before Him." Oh that I
could heighten Him, and heighten His name, and heighten His throne! I
know, and am persuaded, that Christ shall again be high and great in
this poor, withered, and sun-burnt Kirk of Scotland; and that the
sparks of our fire shall fly over the sea, and round about, to warm
you and other sister churches; and that this tabernacle of David's
house, that is fallen, even the Son of David's waste places, shall be
built again. And I know the prison, crosses, persecutions, and trials
of the two slain witnesses, that are now dead and buried (Rev. xi. 9),
and of the faithful professors, have a back-door and back-entry of
escape; and that death and hell, and the world, and the tortures,
shall all cleave and split in twain, and give us free passage and
liberty to go through toll-free: and we shall bring all God's good
metal out of the furnace again, and leave behind us but our dross and
our scum. We may then beforehand proclaim Christ to be victorious. He
is crowned King of Mount Zion: God did put the crown upon His head
(Ps. ii. 6, and xxi. 3), and who dare take it off again? Out of
question, He hath sore and grievous quarrels against His church: and
therefore He is called, "He whose fire is in Zion, and whose furnace
is in Jerusalem" (Isa. xxxi. 9). But when He hath performed His work
on Mount Zion, all Zion's haters shall be as the hungry and thirsty
man, that dreameth he is eating and drinking, and behold, when he
awakeneth, he is faint, and his soul empty. And this advantage we have
also, that He will not bring before sun and moon all the infirmities
of His wife. It is the modesty of marriage-anger or husband-wrath,
that our sweet Lord Jesus will not come with chiding to the streets,
to let all the world hear what is betwixt Him and us. His sweet glooms
stay under roof, and that because He is God.
[395] It requires skill.
[396] Alluding to 2 Thess. ii. 8. "Ἄνομος," that Lawless one.
[397] Stand for.
Two special things ye are to mind: 1. Try and make sure your
profession; that ye carry not empty lamps. Alas! security, security is
the bane and the wrack of the most part of the world. Oh, how many
professors go with a golden lustre, and are gold-like before men (who
are but witnesses to our white skin), and yet are but bastard and base
metal! Consider how fair before the wind some do ply with up-sails and
white, even to the nick of "illumination," and "tasting of the
heavenly gift;" and "a share and part of the Holy Ghost;" and "the
tasting of the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come"
(Heb. vi. 4, 5). And yet this is but a false nick of renovation, and,
in a short time, such are quickly broken upon the rocks, and never
fetch the harbour, but are sanded in the bottom of hell. Oh, make your
haven sure, and try how ye come by conversion; that it be not stolen
goods, in a white and well-lustred profession! A white skin over old
wounds maketh an under-coating conscience. False under water, not
seen, is dangerous, and that is a leak and rift in the bottom of an
enlightened conscience; often falling and sinning against light. Wo,
wo is me that the holy profession of Christ is made a stage garment by
many, to bring home a vain fame, and Christ is made to serve men's
ends! This is, as it were, to stop an oven with a king's robes.
Know, 2. Except men martyr and slay the body of sin in sanctified
self-denial, they shall never be Christ's martyrs and faithful
witnesses. Oh, if I could be master of that house-idol, myself, my
own mind, my own will, wit, credit, and ease, how blessed were I! Oh,
but we have need to be redeemed from ourselves, rather than from the
devil and the world! Learn to put out yourselves, and to put in Christ
for yourselves. It would make a sweet bartering and niffering, and
give old for new, if I could shuffle out self, and substitute Christ
my Lord, in place of myself; to say, "Not I, but Christ; not my will,
but Christ's; not my ease, not my lust, not my feckless credit, but
Christ, Christ." But, alas! in leaving ourselves, in setting Christ
before our idol, self, we have yet a glaiked back-look to our old
idol. O wretched idol, myself! when shall I see thee wholly decourted,
and Christ wholly put in thy room? Oh, if Christ, Christ had the full
place and room of myself, that all my aims, purposes, thoughts, and
desires would coast and land upon Christ, and not upon myself! And,
howbeit we cannot attain to this denial of me and mine, that we can
say, "I am not myself, myself is not myself, mine own is no longer
mine own," yet our aiming at this in all we do shall be accepted: for
alas! I think I shall die but minting and aiming to be a Christian. Is
it not our comfort, that Christ, the Mediator of the New Covenant, is
come betwixt us and God in the business, so that green and young
heirs, the like of sinners, have now a Tutor that is God! And now, God
be thanked, our salvation is bottomed on Christ. Sure I am, the bottom
shall never fall out of heaven and happiness to us. I would give over
the bargain a thousand times, were it not that Christ's free grace
hath taken our salvation in hand.
Pray, pray and contend with the Lord, for your sister-church; for it
would appear that the Lord is about to speer for His scattered sheep,
in the dark and cloudy day. Oh that it would please our Lord to set up
again David's old wasted and fallen tabernacle in Scotland, that we
might see the glory of the second temple in this land! Oh that my
little heaven were wadset, to redeem the honour of my Lord Jesus among
the Jews and Gentiles! Let never dew lie upon my branches, and let my
poor flower wither at the root, so that Christ were enthroned, and His
glory advanced in all the world, and especially in these three
kingdoms. But I know that He hath no need of me; what can I add to
Him? But oh that He would cause His high and pure glory to run through
such a foul channel as I am! And, howbeit He hath caused the blossom
to fall off my one poor joy, that was on this side of heaven, even my
liberty to preach Christ to His people, yet I am dead to that now, so
that He would hew and carve glory, glory for evermore, to my royal
King out of my silence and sufferings. Oh that I had my fill of His
love! But I know ill-manners make an unco and strange bridegroom.
I entreat you earnestly for the aid of your prayers, for I forget not
you; and I salute, with my soul in Christ, the faithful pastors, and
honourable and worthy professors in that land. Now the God of peace,
that brought again our Lord Jesus from the dead, the great Shepherd of
the sheep, by the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect
in every good work, to do His will, working in you that which is
well-pleasing in His sight. Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweetest Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _Feb. 4, 1638_.
CCLXXXV.--_To_ ROBERT GORDON _of Knockbrex_.
(_NOT OUR CROSS, BUT CHRIST, THE OBJECT OF ATTRACTION--TOO LITTLE
EXPECTED FROM HIM--SPIRITUAL DEADNESS._)
MY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you.--I thought
to have answered your two letters on this occasion, though I cannot
say all that I would. Your timeous word, "not to delight in the cross,
but in Him who sweeteneth it," came to me in due time. I find the
consolation and off-fallings that follow the cross of Christ so sweet,
that I almost forget myself. My desire and purpose is, when Christ's
honeycombs drop, neither to refuse to receive and feed upon His
comforts, nor yet to make joy my bastard-god, or my new-found heaven.
But what shall I say? Christ very often in His sweet comforts cometh
unsent for, and it were a sin to close the door upon Him. It is not
unlawful to love and delight in Christ's apples, when I am not
dotingly wooing, nor eagerly begging kisses; but when they come clean
from the timber[398] (like kindness itself, that cometh of its own
accord), then I cannot but laugh upon Him who laugheth upon me. If joy
and comforts come single and alone, without Christ Himself, I think I
would send them back again the gate they came, and not make them
welcome; but, when the King's train cometh, and the King in the midst
of the company, oh how I am overjoyed with floods of love! I fear not
that too great spaits of love wash away the growing corn, and loose my
plants at the roots. Christ doeth no skaith, where He cometh; but
certainly, I would wish such spiritual wisdom, as to love the
Bridegroom better than His gifts, His propines, or drink-money. I
would be further in upon Christ than at His joys. They but stand in
the outer side of Christ; I would wish to be in, as a seal upon His
heart, in where His love and mercy lodgeth, beside His heart. My
Well-beloved hath ravished me; but it is done with consent of both
parties, and it is allowable enough. But, my dear brother, ere I part
with this subject, I must tell you (that ye may lift up my King in
praises with me), Christ hath been keeping something these fourteen
years for me, that I have now gotten in my heavy days that I am in for
His name's sake, even an opened coffer of perfumed comforts, and fresh
joys, coming new, and green, and powerful, from the fairest face of
Christ my Lord. Let the sour law, let crosses, let hell be cried down;
love, love hath shamed me from my old ways. Whether I have a race to
run, or some work to do, I see not; but I think Christ seemeth to
leave heaven (to say so), and His court, and come down to laugh, and
play, and sport with a daft bairn.
[398] The tree.
I am not thus plain with many I write to. It is possible I be
misconstructed, and deemed to seek a name. But my witness above
knoweth that I seek to have a good name raised upon Christ. I observe
it to be our folly, to seek little from Christ, because our four-hours
may not be our supper, nor our propines sent by the Bridegroom our
tocher-good, nor our earnest our principal sum. But I trow that few of
us know how much may be had of Christ for a four-hours, and a propine,
and an earnest. We are like the young heir, who knoweth not the whole
bounds of his own lordship. Certainly it is more than my part to say,
"O sweetest Lord Jesus, what howbeit I were split and broken into five
thousand shreds or bits of clay, so being that every shred had a heart
to love Thee, and every one as many tongues as there are in heaven to
sing praises to Thee, before men and angels for evermore!" Therefore,
if my sufferings cry goodness, and praise, and honour upon Christ, my
stipend is well paid. Each one knoweth not what a life Christ's love
is. Scaur not at suffering for Christ; for Christ hath a chair, and a
cushion, and sweet peace for a sufferer. Christ's trencher from the
first mess of the high table is for a sinful witness. Oh, then,
brother, who but Christ! who but Christ! Hold your tongue off lovers,
where He cometh out. O all flesh, O dust and ashes, O angels, O
glorified spirits, O all the shields of the world, be silent before
Him! Come hither, and behold our Bridegroom; stand still and wonder
for evermore at Him! Why cease we to love and wonder, to kiss and
adore Him? It is a hard matter, that days lie betwixt Him and me, and
hold us asunder. Oh, how long, how long! Oh, how many miles are there
to my Bridegroom's dwelling-house! It is a pain to frist Christ's love
any longer. But, it may be that a drunken man lose his feet, and miss
a step. Ye write to me "Hall-binks are slippery." I do not think my
dawting world will still[399] last, and that feasts will be my
ordinary food. I would have humility, patience, and faith to set down
both my feet, when I come to the north side of the cold and thorny
hill. It is ill my common to be sweer to go an errand for Christ, and
to take the wind upon my face for Him. Lord, let me never be a false
witness, to deny that I saw Christ take the pen in His hand, and
subscribe my writs.
[399] Always.
My dear brother, ye complain to me that ye cannot hold sight of me.
But were I a footman, I would go at leisure; but sometimes the King
taketh me into His coach, and draweth me, and then I outrun myself.
But, alas! I am still a forlorn transgressor. Oh how unthankful! I
will not put you off your sense of darkness; but let me say this, "Who
gave you proctor-fee, to speak for the law, which can speak for itself
better than ye can do?" I would not have you to bring your dittay in
your own bosom with you to Christ. Let the "old man" and the "new man"
be summoned before Christ's white throne, and let them be confronted
before Christ, and let each of them speak for themselves. I hope,
howbeit the new man complain of his lying among pots, which maketh the
believer look black, yet he can also say, "I am comely as the tents of
Kedar." Ye shall not have my advice not to bemoan your deadness; but I
find by some experience (which ye knew before I knew Christ), that it
suiteth not a ransomed man, of Christ's buying, to go and plea for the
sour law, our old forcasten husband; for we are not now under the law
(as a covenant), but under grace. Ye are in no man's common, but
Christ's. I know that He bemoaneth you more than you do yourself. I
say this, because I am wearied of complaining. I thought it had been
humility to imagine that Christ was angry with me, both because of my
dumb Sabbaths, and my hard heart; but I feel now nothing but aching
wounds. My grief, whether I will or not, swelleth upon me. But let us
die in grace's hall-floor, pleading before Christ. I deny nothing
that the Mediator will challenge me of; but I turn it all back upon
Himself. Let Him look His own old accounts, if He be angry; for He
will get no more of me. When Christ saith, "I want repentance," I meet
Him with this: "True, Lord, but Thou art made a King and a Prince to
give me repentance" (Acts v. 34). When Christ bindeth a challenge upon
us, we must bind a promise back upon Him. Be wo, and lay yourself in
the dust before God (which is suitable), but withal let Christ take
the payment in His own hand, and pay Himself off the first end of His
own merits; else He will come behind for anything that we can do. I am
every way in your case, as hard-hearted and dead as any man; but yet I
speak to Christ through my sleep. Let us then proclaim a free market
for Christ, and swear ourselves bare, and cry on Him to come without
money and buy us, and take us home to our Ransom-payer's fireside, and
let us be Christ's free-boarders. Because we dow not pay the old, we
may not refuse to take on Christ's new debt of mercy; let us do our
best, Christ will still be behind with us,[400] and many terms will
run together. For my part, let me stand for evermore in His book, as a
forlorn dyvour. I must desire to be thus far in His common of new, as
to kiss His feet. I know not how to win to a heartsome fill and feast
of Christ's love; for I dow neither buy, nor beg, nor borrow, and yet
I cannot want it. I dow not want it! Oh, if I could praise Him! yea I
would rest content with a heart submissive and dying of love for Him.
And, howbeit I never win personally in at heaven's gates, oh, would to
God I could send in my praises to my incomparable Well-beloved, or
cast my love-songs of that matchless Lord Jesus over the walls, that
they might light in His lap, before men and angels!
[400] Will not have got from us all He claims.
Now, grace, grace be with you. Remember my love to your wife and
daughter, and brother John.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 11, 1638_.
CCLXXXVI.--_To the Parishioners of Kilmalcolm._[401]
[401] Kilmalcolm is a rural parish in Renfrewshire, and one of the
most sequestered. It was once a favoured vineyard. Shortly after the
Reformation, Knox dispensed the communion there when on a visit to
Lord Glencairn, who resided within its bounds. In the days of the
Covenant, Porterfield of Duchal, another heritor, exposed himself to
much loss in maintaining the cause of truth. And, as is evident from
Rutherford's letter, the number of those who feared the Lord, and
thought upon His name, must have been considerable. There is nothing
in history about them. "Their life was hid," but their names are in
"the Lamb's Book of Life."
(_SPIRITUAL SLOTH--ADVICE TO BEGINNERS--A DEAD
MINISTRY--LANGUOR--OBEDIENCE--WANT OF CHRIST'S FELT
PRESENCE--ASSURANCE IMPORTANT--PRAYER-MEETINGS._)
WORTHY, AND WELL-BELOVED IN CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and
peace be to you.--Your letters could not come to my hand in a greater
throng of business that I am now pressed with at this time, when our
kirk requireth the public help of us all. Yet I cannot but answer the
heads of both your letters, with provision that ye choose, after this,
a fitter time for writing. 1. I would not have you to pitch upon me,
as the man able by letters to answer doubts of this kind, while there
are in your bounds men of such great parts, most able for this work. I
know that the best are unable; yet it pleaseth that Spirit of Jesus to
blow His sweet wind through a piece of dry stick, that the empty reed
may keep no glory to itself. But a minister can make no such wind as
this to blow; he is scarce able to lend it a passage to blow through
Him. 2. Know that the wind of this Spirit hath a time when it bloweth
sharp, and pierceth so strongly, that it would blow through an iron
door; and this is commonly rather under suffering for Christ than at
any other time. Sick children get of Christ's pleasant things, to play
them withal, because Jesus is most tender of the sufferer, for He was
a sufferer Himself. Oh, if I had but the leavings and the drawing of
the bye-board of a sufferer's table! But I leave this to answer yours.
I. Ye write, that God's vows are lying on you; and security, strong
and sib to nature, stealing on you who are weak. I answer: 1. Till we
be in heaven, the best have heavy heads, as is evident. Cant. v. 1;
Ps. xxx. 6; Job xxix. 18; Matt. xxvi. 33. Nature is a sluggard, and
loveth not the labour of religion; therefore, rest should not be
taken, till we know that the disease is over, and in the way of
turning, and that it is like a fever past the cool. And the quietness
and the calms of the faith of victory over corruption should be
entertained, in place of security; so that if I sleep, I should desire
to sleep faith's sleep in Christ's bosom. 2. Know, also, that none who
sleep sound can seriously complain of sleepiness. Sorrow for a
slumbering soul is a token of some watchfulness of spirit. But this is
soon turned into wantonness, as grace in us too often is abused;
therefore, our waking must be watched over, else sleep will even grow
out of watching, and there is as much need to watch over grace as to
watch over sin. Full men will soon sleep, and sooner than hungry men.
3. For your weakness to keep off security, that like a thief stealeth
upon you, I would say two things:--(1.) To "want complaints of
weakness" is for heaven, and angels that never sinned, not for
Christians in Christ's camp on earth. I think that our weakness maketh
us the church of the redeemed ones, and Christ's field that the
Mediator should labour in. If there were no diseases on earth, there
need be no physicians on earth. If Christ had cried down weakness, He
might have cried down His own calling; but weakness is our Mediator's
world; sin is Christ's only, only fair and market. No man should
rejoice at weakness and diseases; but I think that we may have a sort
of gladness at boils and sores, because, without them, Christ's
fingers (as a slain Lord) would never have touched our skin. I dare
not thank myself, but I dare thank God's depth of wise providence,
that I have an errand in me while I live, for Christ to come and visit
me, and bring with Him His drugs and His balm. Oh, how sweet is it for
a sinner to put his weakness into Christ's strengthening hand, and to
father a sick soul upon such a Physician, and to lay weakness before
Him to weep upon Him, and to plead and pray! Weakness can speak and
cry, when we have not a tongue. "And when I passed by thee, and saw
thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, when thou wast in
thy blood, Live" (Ezek. xvi. 6). The kirk could not speak one word to
Christ then: but blood and guiltiness out of measure spake, and drew
out of Christ pity, and a word of life and love. (2.) As for weakness,
we have it that we may employ Christ's strength because of our
weakness. Weakness is to make us the strongest things; that is, when,
having no strength of our own, we are carried upon Christ's shoulders,
and walk as it were upon His legs. If our sinful weakness swell up to
the clouds, Christ's strength will swell up to the sun, and far above
the heaven of heavens.
II. Ye tell me, that there is need of counsel for strengthening of new
beginners. I can say little to that, who am not well begun myself: but
I know that honest beginnings are nourished by Him, even by lovely
Jesus, who never yet put out a poor man's dim candle that is wrestling
betwixt light and darkness. I am sure, that if new beginners would
urge themselves upon Christ, and press their souls upon Him, and
importune Him for a draught of His sweet love, they could not come
wrong to Christ. Come once in upon the right nick and step of His
lovely love, and I defy you to get free of Him again. If any beginners
fall off Christ again, and miss Him, they never lighted upon Christ as
Christ: it was but an idol, like Jesus, which they took for Him.
III. Whereas ye complain of a dead ministry in your bounds; ye are to
remember that the Bible among you is the contract of marriage; and the
manner of Christ's conveying His love to your heart is not so
absolutely dependent upon even lively preaching, as that there is no
conversion at all, no life of God, but that which is tied to a man's
lips. The daughters of Jerusalem have done often that which the
watchman could not do. Make Christ your minister. He can woo a soul at
a dykeside in the field. He needeth not us, howbeit the flock be
obliged to seek Him in the shepherds' tents. Hunger, of Christ's
making, may thrive even under stewards who mind not the feeding of the
flock. O blessed soul, that can leap over a man, and look above a
pulpit up to Christ, who can preach home to the heart, howbeit we were
all dead and rotten.
IV. So to complain of yourselves, as to justify God, is right;
providing ye justify His Spirit in yourselves. For men seldom advocate
against Satan's work and sin in themselves, but against God's work in
themselves. Some of the people of God slander God's grace in their
souls; as some wretches used to do, who complain and murmur of want
("I have nothing," say they; "all is gone, the ground yieldeth but
weeds and windlestraws"), whenas their fat harvest, and their money in
bank, maketh them liars. But for myself, alas! I think it is not my
sin; I have scarce wit to sin this sin. But I advise you to speak good
of Christ, for His beauty and sweetness, and speak good of Him for His
grace to yourselves.
V. Light remaineth, ye say, but ye cannot attain to painfulness. See
if this complaint be not booked in the New Testament; and the place is
like this, "To will is present with me, but how to perform that which
is good I know not" (Rom. vii. 18). But every one hath not Paul's
spirit in complaining: for often, in us, complaining is but an humble
backbiting and traducing of Christ's new work in the soul. But for the
matter of the complaint; I would say, that the light of glory is
perfectly obeyed in loving, and praising, and rejoicing, and resting
in a seen and known Lord; but that light is not hereaway in any clay
body. For while we are here, light is (in the most) broader and longer
than our narrow and feckless obedience. But if there be light, with a
fair train and a great back (I mean, armies) of challenging thoughts,
and sorrow for coming short of performance in what we know and see
ought to be performed, then that sorrow for not doing is accepted of
our Lord for doing. Our honest sorrow and sincere aims, together with
Christ's intercession, pleading that God would welcome that which we
have, and forgive what we have not, must be our life, till we be over
the bound-road, and in the other country, where the law will get a
perfect soul.
VI. In Christ's absence, there is, as ye write, a willingness to use
means, but heaviness after the use of them, because of formal and
slight performance. In Christ's absence, I confess, the work lieth
behind. But if ye mean absence of comfort, and absence of sense of His
sweet presence, I think that absence is Christ's trying of us, not
simply our sin against Him. Therefore, howbeit our obedience be not
sugared and sweetened with joy (which is the sweetmeat bairns would
still be at), yet the less sense, and the more willingness in obeying,
the less formality in our obedience. Howbeit, we think not so; for I
believe that many think obedience formal and lifeless, except the wind
be fair in the west, and sails filled with joy and sense, till souls,
like a ship fair before the wind, can spread no more sail. But I am
not of their mind, who think so. But if ye mean, by absence of Christ,
the withdrawing of His working grace, I see not how willingness to use
means can be at all, under such an absence. Therefore, be humbled for
heaviness in that obedience, and thankful for willingness; for the
Bridegroom is busking His spouse oftentimes, while she is half
sleeping; and your Lord is working and helping more than ye see. Also,
I recommend to you heaviness for formality, and for lifeless deadness
in obedience. Be casten down, as much as ye will or can, for deadness;
and challenge that dull and slow carcase of sin, that will neither
lead nor drive, in your spiritual obedience. Oh, how sweet to lovely
Jesus are bills and grievances, given in against corruption and the
body of sin! I would have Christ, in such a case, fashed (if I may
speak so), and deaved with our cries, as ye see the Apostle doeth,
"Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of
this death?" (Rom. vii. 24). Protestations against the law of sin in
you are law-grounds why sin can have no law against you. Seek to have
your protestation discussed and judged, and then shall ye find Christ
on your side of it.
VII. Ye hold, that Christ must either have hearty service, or no
service at all. If ye mean that He will not have half a heart, or have
feigned service, such as the hypocrites give Him, I grant you that;
Christ must have honesty or nothing. But if ye mean, He will have no
service at all where the heart draweth back in any measure, I would
not that were true for my part of heaven, and all that I am worth in
the world. If ye mind to walk to heaven without a cramp or a
crook,[402] I fear that ye must go your lone. He knoweth our dross and
defects; and sweet Jesus pitieth us, when weakness and deadness in our
obedience is our cross, and not our darling.
[402] Halting of any kind.
VIII. The Liar (John viii. 44), as ye write, challengeth the work as
formal; yet ye bless your Cautioner for the ground-work He hath laid,
and dare not say but ye have assurance in some measure. To this I say:
1. It shall be no fault to save Satan's labour, and challenge it
yourselves,[403] or at least examine and censure; but beware of
Satan's ends in challenging, for he mindeth to put Christ and you at
odds. 2. Welcome home faith in Jesus, who washeth still, when we have
defiled our souls and made ourselves loathsome; and seek still the
blood of atonement for faults little or meikle. Know the gate to the
well, and lie about it. 3. Make meikle of assurance, for it keepeth
your anchor fixed.
[403] To anticipate Satan by jealously searching into it yourselves.
IX. Outbreakings, ye say, discourage you, so that ye know not if ever
ye shall win again to such overjoying consolations of the Spirit in
this life, as formerly ye had; and, therefore, a question may be, If,
after assurance and mortification, the children of God be ordinarily
fed with sense and joy? I answer: I see no inconvenience to think it
is enough, in a race, to see the goal at the starting-place, howbeit
the runners never get a view of it till they come to the rink's end;
and that our wise Lord thinketh it fittest that we should not always
be fingering and playing with Christ's apples. Our Well-beloved, I
know, will sport and play with His bride, as much as He thinketh will
allure her to the rink's end. Yet I judge it not unlawful to seek
renewed consolations, providing, 1. The heart be submissive, and
content to leave the measure and timing of them to Him. 2. Providing
they be sought to excite us to praise, and strengthen our assurance,
and sharpen our desires after Himself. 3. Let them be sought, not for
our humours or swellings of nature, but as the earnest of heaven. And
I think many do attain to greater consolations after mortification,
than ever they had formerly. But I know that our Lord walketh here
still by a sovereign latitude, and keepeth not the same way, as to one
hair-breadth, without a miss, toward all His children. As for the
Lord's people with you, I am not the man fit to speak to them. I
rejoice exceedingly that Christ is engaging souls amongst you; but I
know that, in conversion, all the winning is in the first buying, as
we used to say. For many lay false and bastard foundations, and take
up conversion at their foot, and get Christ for as good as
half-nothing, and had never a sick night for sin; and this maketh
loose work. I pray you to dig deep. Christ's palace-work, and His new
dwelling, laid upon hell felt and feared, is most firm: and heaven,
grounded and laid upon such a hell, is surest work, and will not wash
away with winter storms. It were good that professors were not like
young heirs, that come to their rich estate long ere they come to
their wit; and so is seen on it. The tavern, and the cards, and the
harlots steal their riches[404] from them, ere ever they be aware what
they are doing. I know that a Christ bought with strokes is sweetest.
4. I recommend to you conference and prayer at private meetings; for
warrant whereof, see Isa. ii. 3; Jer. l. 4, 5; Hos. ii. 1, 2; Zech.
viii. 20-23; Mal. iii. 16; Luke xxiv. 13-17; John xx. 19; Acts xii.
12; Col. iii. 16, and iv. 6; Ephes. iv. 29; 1 Pet. iv. 10; 1 Thess. v.
14; Heb. iii. 13, and x. 25. Many coals make a good fire, and that is
a part of the communion of saints.
[404] Some read "ridges," _q.d._, their acres of land.
I must entreat you, and your Christian acquaintance in the parish, to
remember me to God in your prayers, and my flock and ministry, and my
transportation[405] and removal from this place, which I fear at this
Assembly,[406] and be earnest with God for our mother-kirk. For want
of time, I have put you all in one letter. The rich grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ be with you all.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ANWOTH, _Aug. 5, 1639_.
[405] My being transferred to another part of the land.
[406] About this time Rutherford (who, it will be observed from the
place whence this letter is dated, was now relieved from confinement
at Aberdeen) had received two separate calls, one from Edinburgh, to
become one of the city ministers, and the other from St. Andrews, to
the theological chair in that University. These competing calls were
to come before the Assembly.
CCLXXXVII.--_To the_ VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.
(_ON THE DEATH OF HER CHILD--CHRIST SHARES IN HIS PEOPLE'S SORROWS._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I know that ye are near
many comforters, and that the promised Comforter is near at hand also.
Yet, because I found your Ladyship comfortable to myself in my sad
days, which are not yet over my head, it is my part and more, in many
respects (howbeit I can do little, God knoweth, in that kind), to
speak to you in your wilderness lot.
I know, dear and noble Lady, that this loss of your dear child[407]
came upon you, one piece and part of it after another; and that ye
were looking for it, and that now the Almighty hath brought on you
that which ye feared; and that your Lord gave you lawful warning. And
I hope that for His sake who brewed and masked this cup in heaven, ye
will gladly drink, and salute and welcome the cross. I am sure, that
it is not your Lord's mind to feed you with judgment and wormwood, and
to give you waters of gall to drink (Ezek. xxxiv. 16; Jer. ix. 15). I
know that your cup is sugared with mercy; and that the withering of
the bloom, the flower, even the white and red of worldly joys, is for
no other end than to buy out at the ground the reversion of your heart
and love.
[407] John, second Viscount Kenmure who died in 1639.
Madam, subscribe to the Almighty's will; put your hand to the pen, and
let the cross of your Lord Jesus have your submissive and resolute
Amen. If ye ask and try whose this cross is, I dare say that it is
not all your own, the best half of it is Christ's. Then your cross is
no born-bastard, but lawfully begotten; it sprang not out of the dust
(Job v. 6). If Christ and ye be halvers of this suffering, and He say,
"Half mine," what should ail you? And I am sure that I am here right
upon the style of the word of God: "The fellowship of Christ's
sufferings" (Phil. iii. 10); "The remnant of the afflictions of
Christ" (Col. i. 24); "The reproach of Christ" (Heb. ii. 6). It were
but to shift the comforts of God, to say, "Christ had never such a
cross as mine: He had never a dead child, and so this is not His
cross; neither can He, in that meaning, be the owner of this cross."
But I hope that Christ, when he married you, married you and all the
crosses and wo hearts that follow you. And the word maketh no
exception. "In _all_ their afflictions He was afflicted" (Isa. lxiii.
9). Then Christ bore the first stroke of this cross; it rebounded off
Him upon you, and ye get it at the second hand, and ye and He are
halvers in it. And I shall believe, for my part, that He mindeth to
distil heaven out of this loss, and all others the like; for wisdom
devised it, and love laid it on, and Christ owneth it as His own, and
putteth your shoulder beneath only a piece of it. Take it with joy, as
no bastard cross, but as a visitation of God, well-born; and spend the
rest of your appointed time, till your change come, in the work of
believing. And let faith, that never yet made a lie to you, speak for
God's part of it, "He will not, He doth not, make you a sea or a
whale-fish, that He keepeth you in ward" (Job vii. 12). It may be,
that ye think not many of the children of God in such a hard case as
yourself; but what would ye think of some, who would exchange
afflictions? and give you to the boot? But I know that yours must be
your own alone, and Christ's together.
I confess it seemed strange to me, that your Lord should have done
that which seemed to ding out the bottom of your worldly comforts; but
we see not the ground of the Almighty's sovereignty. "He goeth by on
our right hand, and on our left hand, and we see Him not." We see but
pieces of the broken links of the chains of His providence; and He
coggeth the wheels of His own providence, that we see not. Oh, let the
Former work His own clay into what frame He pleaseth! "Shall any teach
the Almighty knowledge?" If He pursue the dry stubble, who dare say,
"What doest Thou?" Do not wonder to see the Judge of the world weave,
into one web, your mercies and the judgments of the house of Kenmure.
He can make one web of contraries.
But my weak advice (with reverence and correction), were, for you,
dear and worthy Lady, to see how far mortification goeth on, and what
scum the Lord's fire casteth out of you. I know that ye see your
knottiness, since our Lord whiteth, and heweth, and plaineth you. And
the glancing of the furnace[408] is to let you see what scum or refuse
ye must want, and what froth is in nature, that must be boiled out and
taken off in the fire of your trials. I do not say that heavier
afflictions prophesy heavier guiltiness; a cross is often but a false
prophet in this kind. But I am sure that our Lord would have the tin
and the bastard metal in you removed, lest the Lord say, "The bellows
are burnt, the lead is consumed in the fire, the Founder melteth in
vain" (Jer. vi. 29). And I shall hope that grief will not so far
smother your light, as not to practise this so necessary a duty, to
concur with Him in this blessed design.
[408] The brightness of glowing heat.
I would gladly plead for the Comforter's part of it, not against you,
Madam (for I am sure ye are not his party[409]), but against your
grief, which will have its own violent incursions in your soul: and I
think it be not in your power to help it. But I must say, there are
comforts allowed upon you; and, therefore, want them not. When ye have
gotten a running-over soul with joy now, that joy will never be missed
out of the infinite ocean of delight, which is not diminished by
drinking at it, or drawing out of it. It is a Christian art to comfort
yourself in the Lord; to say, "I was obliged to render back again this
child to the Giver: and if I have had four years' loan of him, and
Christ eternity's possession of him, the Lord hath kept condition with
me. If my Lord would not have him and me to tryst both in one hour at
death's door-threshold together, it is His wisdom so to do; I am
satisfied. My tryst is suspended, not broken off, nor given up."
Madam, I would that I could divide sorrow with you, for your ease. But
I am but a beholder: it is easy to me to speak; the God of comfort
speak to you, and allure you with His feasts of love.
[409] An opposing party to him.
My removal from my flock is so heavy to me, that it maketh my life a
burden to me; I had never such a longing for death. The Lord help and
hold up sad clay. I fear that ye sin in drawing Mr. William Dalgleish
from this country, where the labourers are few, and the harvest
great.
Madam, desire my Lord Argyle to see for provision to a pastor for his
poor people. Grace be with you.
Your Ladyship's at all obedience in Christ,
S. R.
KIRKCUDBRIGHT, _Oct. 1, 1639_.
CCLXXXVIII.--_To the persecuted Church in Ireland._[410]
[410] When the National Covenant had been solemnly renewed throughout
almost the whole of Scotland, every means was used to prevent the
Presbyterians in Ireland from entering into it. To accomplish this, an
oath was imposed in May 1639, known by the name of the _Black Oath_,
from the calamities which it occasioned. The oath is as follows:--"I,
----, do faithfully swear, profess, and promise, that I will honour
and obey my sovereign Lord, King Charles, and will bear faith and true
allegiance unto him, and defend and maintain his royal power and
authority; and that I will not bear arms, or do any rebellious or
hostile act against his Majesty, King Charles, or protest against any
his royal commands, but submit myself in all due obedience thereunto;
and that I will not enter into any covenant, oath, or band of mutual
defence and assistance against any person whatsoever by force, without
his Majesty's sovereign and legal authority. And I do renounce and
abjure all covenants, oaths, and bands whatsoever, contrary to what I
have herein sworn, professed, and promised. So help me God, in Jesus
Christ." All Scottish residents in Ulster, above the age of sixteen,
were required to take this oath; and it was imposed equally on women
and on men. Great numbers refusing to take it, the highest penalties
of the law, short of death, were inflicted on them, and that, too,
under circumstances of great cruelty. Such was the condition of the
Presbyterians in Ireland at the date of this letter, which was written
to comfort them under persecution, and to encourage their stedfastness
(Reid's "History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland").
(_CHRIST'S LEGACY OF TROUBLE--GOD'S DEALINGS WITH SCOTLAND IN GIVING
PROSPERITY--CHRIST TAKES HALF OF ALL SUFFERINGS--STEDFASTNESS FOR HIS
CROWN--HIS LOVE SHOULD LEAD TO HOLINESS._)
MUCH HONOURED, REVEREND, AND DEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD,--Grace,
mercy, and peace be to you all.--I know that there are many in this
nation more able than I to speak to the sufferers for, and witnesses
of, Jesus Christ; yet pardon me to speak a little to you, who are
called in question for the Gospel once committed to you.
I hope that ye are not ignorant that, as peace was left to you in
Christ's testament, so the other half of the testament was a legacy of
Christ's sufferings. "These things have I spoken, that in Me ye might
have peace; in the world ye shall have trouble" (John xvi. 33).
Because, then, ye are made assignees and heirs to a liferent of
Christ's cross, think that fiery trial no strange thing; for the Lord
Jesus shall be no loser by purging the dross and tin out of His church
in Ireland. His wine-press is but squeezing out the dregs, the scum,
the froth, and refuse of that church. I had once the proof of the
sweet smell, and the honest and honourable peace, of that slandered
thing, the cross of our Lord Jesus. But though, alas! these golden
days that then I had be now in a great part gone, yet I dare say, that
the issue and outgate of your sufferings shall be the advantage, the
golden reign and dominion of the Gospel, and the high glory of the
never-enough-praised Prince of the kings of the earth; and the
changing of the brass of the Lord's temple among you into gold, and
the iron into silver, and the wood into brass. Your officers shall yet
be peace, and your exactors righteousness (Isa. lx. 17, 18). Your old,
fallen walls shall get a new name, and the gates of your Jerusalem
shall get a new style. They shall call your walls Salvation, and your
gates Praise. I know that Deputy,[411] prelates, Papists, temporizing
lords, and proud mockers of our Lord, crucifiers of Christ for His
coat, and all your enemies, have neither fingers nor instruments of
war to pick out one stone out of your wall; for each stone of your
wall is "Salvation." I dare give you my royal and princely Master's
word for it, that Ireland shall be a fair bride to Jesus, and Christ
will build on her a palace of silver (Cant. viii. 9). Therefore, weep
not as if there were no hope; fear not, put on strength, put on your
beautiful garments (Isa. lii. 1). Your foundation shall be sapphires,
your windows and gates precious stones (Isa. liv. 11, 12). Look over
the water, and behold and see who is on the dry land waiting for your
landing. Your deliverance is concluded, subscribed, and sealed in
heaven. Your goods, that are taken from you for Christ and His truth's
sake, are but arrested and laid in pawn, and not taken away. There is
much laid up for you in His storehouse, whose the earth and the
fulness thereof is. Your garments are spun, and your flocks are
feeding in the fields, your bread is laid up for you, your drink is
brewn, your gold and silver is at the bank, and the interest goeth on
and groweth: and yet I hear that your taskmasters do rob and spoil
you, and fine you. Your prisons, my brethren, have two keys. The
Deputy, prelates, and officers keep but the iron keys of the prison
wherein they put you; but He that hath created the smith, hath other
keys in heaven; therefore ye shall not die in the prison. Other men's
ploughs are labouring for your bread; your enemies are gathering in
your rents. He that is kissing His bride on this side of the sea, in
Scotland, is beating her beyond the sea in Ireland, and feeding her
with the bread of adversity and the water of affliction; and yet He is
the same Lord to both.
[411] Wentworth, Earl of Stafford, was at this time Deputy or Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland. Previous to his appointment to that office,
which was in 1632, the Scottish settlers in Ireland were not troubled
on account of their nonconformity. After the Black Oath was imposed in
this year, he declared that he would prosecute "to the blood" all who
refused to take it, and drive them "root and branch" out of the
kingdom. His violent and unconstitutional proceedings at length issued
in his being arraigned for high treason before the English Parliament,
and beheaded on Tower Hill, May 12, 1641, in the forty-ninth year of
his age.
Alas! I fear that Scotland be undone and slain with this great mercy
of reformation, because there is not here that life of religion,
answerable to the huge greatness of the work that dazzleth our eyes.
For the Lord is rejoicing over us in this land, as the bridegroom
rejoiceth over the bride: and the Lord hath changed the name of
Scotland. They call us now no more "Forsaken," nor "Desolate;" but our
land is called "Hephzibah" and "Beulah" (Isa. lxii. 4). For the Lord
delighteth in us, and this land is married to Himself. There is now an
highway made through our Zion, and it is called the "Way of holiness;"
the unclean shall not pass over it; the wayfaring men, though fools,
shall not err in it. The wilderness doth rejoice and blossom as the
rose; "The ransomed of the Lord are returned back unto Zion, with
songs and everlasting joy upon their heads" (Isa. xxxv. 10); the
Canaanite is put out of our Lord's house: there is not a beast left to
do hurt (at least, professedly) in all the holy mountain of the Lord.
Our Lord is fallen to wrestle with His enemies, and hath brought us
out of Egypt; we have "the strength of an unicorn" (Num. xxiii. 22).
The Lord hath eaten up the sons of Babel; He hath broken their bones,
and hath pierced them through with His arrows. We take them captives
whose captives we were, and we rule over our oppressors (Isa. xiv. 2).
It is not brick, nor clay, nor Babel's cursed timber and stones, that
is in our second temple; but our princely King Jesus is building His
house all palace-work and carved stones. It is the habitation of the
Lord.
We do welcome Ireland and England to our Well-beloved. We invite you,
O daughters of Jerusalem, to come down to our Lord's garden, and seek
our Well-beloved with us; for His love will suffice both you and us.
We do send you love-letters over the sea, to request you to come and
to marry our King, and to take part of our bed. And we trust our Lord
is fetching a blow upon the Beast, and the scarlet-coloured Whore, to
the end that He may bring in His ancient widow-wife, our dear sister,
the church of the Jews. Oh, what a heavenly heaven were it to see
them come in by this mean, and suck the breasts of their little
sister, and renew their old love with their first Husband, Christ our
Lord! They are booked in God's word, as a bride contracted unto Jesus!
Oh for a sight, in this flesh of mine, of the prophesied marriage
between Christ and them! The kings of Tarshish, and of the isles, must
bring presents to our Lord Jesus (Ps. lxxii. 10). And Britain is one
of the chiefest isles; why then but we may believe that our kings of
this island shall come in, and bring their glory to the New Jerusalem,
wherein Christ shall dwell in the latter days? It is our part to pray,
"That the kingdoms of the earth may become Christ's."
Now I exhort you, in the Lord Jesus, not to be dismayed nor afraid for
the two tails of these smoking firebrands, the fierce anger of the
Deputy with civil power, and of the bastard prelates with the power of
the Beast; for they shall be cut off. They may well eat you and drink
you, but they shall be forced to vomit you out again alive. If two
things were firmly believed, sufferings would have no weight. If the
fellowship of Christ's sufferings were well known, who would not
gladly take part with Jesus? For Christ and we are halvers and
joint-owners of one and the same cross: and, therefore, he that knew
well what sufferings were, as he esteemed all things but loss for
Christ, and did judge them but dung, so did he also judge of them,
"that he might know the fellowship of His sufferings" (Phil. iii. 10).
Oh, how sweet a sight is it, to see a cross betwixt Christ and us, to
hear our Redeemer say, at every sigh, and every blow, and every loss
of a believer, "Half mine!" So they are called "The sufferings of
Christ," and "the reproach of Christ" (Col. i. 24; Heb. xi. 26). As,
when two are partners and owners of a ship, the half of the gain and
half of the loss belong to each of the two; so Christ in our
sufferings is half-gainer and half-loser with us. Yea, the heaviest
end of the black tree of the cross lieth on your Lord: it falleth
first upon Him, and it but reboundeth off Him upon you: "The
reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon Me" (Ps. lxix.
9). Your sufferings are your treasure, and are greater riches than the
treasures of Egypt (Heb. xi. 26). And if your cross come through
Christ's fingers ere it come to you, it receiveth a fair lustre from
Him; it getteth a taste and relish of the King's spikenard, and of
heaven's perfume. And the half of the gain, when Christ's shipful of
gold cometh home, shall be yours. It is an augmenting of your treasure
to be rich in suffering, "to be in labours abundant, in stripes above
measure" (2 Cor. xi. 23); and to have the sufferings of Christ
abounding in you (2 Cor. i. 5) is a part of heaven's stock. Your goods
are not lost which they have plucked from you, for your Lord hath them
in keeping; they are but arrested and seized upon. He shall loose the
arrest. Ye shall be fed with the heritage of Jacob, your father; for
the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it (Isa. lviii. 14).
Till I shall be on the hall-floor of the highest palace, and get a
draught of glory out of Christ's hand, above and beyond time and
beyond death, I shall never (it is like) see fairer days than I saw
under that blessed tree of my Lord's cross. His kisses then were
king's kisses. Those kisses were sweet and soul-reviving; one of them,
at that time, was worth two and a half (if I may speak so) of Christ's
week-day kisses. Oh, sweet, sweet for evermore, to see a rose of
heaven growing in as ill ground as hell! and to see Christ's love, His
embracements, His dinners and suppers of joy, peace, faith, goodness,
long-suffering, and patience, growing and springing like the flowers
of God's garden, out of such stony and cursed ground as the hatred of
the prelates, and the malice of their High Commission, and the
Antichrist's bloody hand and heart! Is not here art and wisdom? Is not
here heaven indented in hell (if I may say so), like a jewel set with
skill in a ring with the enamel of Christ's cross? The ruby and riches
of glory, that grow up out of the cross, are beyond telling. Now, the
blackest and hottest wrath, and most fiery and all-devouring
indignation of the Judge of men and angels, shall come upon them who
deny our sweet Lord Jesus, and put their hand to that oath of
wickedness now pressed. The Lord's coal at their heart shall burn them
up both root and branch. The estates of great men that have done so,
if they do not repent, shall consume away, and the ravens shall dwell
in their houses, and their glory shall be shame. Oh, for the Lord's
sake! keep fast by Christ, and fear not man that shall die and wither
as the grass. The Deputy's bloom shall fall, and the prelates shall
cast their flower, and the east wind of the Lord, of "the Lord strong
and mighty," shall blast and break them; therefore, fear them not.
They are but idols, that can neither do evil nor good. Walk not in the
way of those people that slander the footsteps of our royal and
princely anointed King Jesus, now riding upon His white horse in
Scotland. Let Jehovah be your fear. That decree of Zion's deliverance,
passed and sealed up before the throne, is now ripe and shall bring
forth a child, even the ruin and fall of the prelates' black kingdom,
and the Antichrist's throne, in these kingdoms. The Lord hath begun,
and He shall make an end. Who did ever hear the like of this? Before
Scotland travailed, she brought forth; and before her pain came, she
was delivered of a man-child (Isa. lxvi. 7, 8).
And when all is done, suppose there were no sweetness in our Lord's
cross, yet it is sweet for His sake, for that lovely One, Jesus
Christ, whose crown and royal supremacy is the question this day in
Great Britain, betwixt us and our adversaries. And who would not think
Him worthy of the suffering for? What is burning quick, what is
drinking of our own heart's blood, and what is a draught of melted
lead, for His glory? Less than a draught of cold water to a thirsty
man, if the right price and due value were put on that worthy, worthy
Prince, Jesus! Oh, who can weigh Him! Ten thousand thousand heavens
would not be one scale, or the half of the scale, of the balance to
lay Him in. O black angels, in comparison of Him! O dim, and dark, and
lightless sun, in regard of that fair Sun of righteousness! O feckless
and worthless heaven of heavens, when they stand beside my worthy, and
lofty, and high, and excellent Well-beloved! O weak and infirm
clay-kings! O soft and feeble mountains of brass, and weak created
strength, in regard of our mighty and strong Lord of armies! O foolish
wisdom of men and angels, when it is laid in the balance beside that
spotless, substantial Wisdom of the Father! If heaven and earth, and
ten thousand heavens even (round about these heavens that now are),
were all in one garden of paradise, decked with all the fairest roses,
flowers, and trees that can come forth from the art of the Almighty
Himself; yet set but our one Flower that groweth out of the root of
Jesse beside that orchard of pleasure, one look of Him, one view, one
taste, one smell of His sweet Godhead would infinitely exceed and go
beyond the smell, colour, beauty, and loveliness of that paradise. Oh
to be with child of His love! and to be suffocated (if that could be)
with the smell of His sweetness were a sweet fill and a lovely pain. O
worthy, worthy, worthy loveliness! Oh, less of the creatures, and more
of Thee! Oh, open the passage of the well of love and glory on us, dry
pits and withered trees! Oh, that Jewel and Flower of heaven! If our
Beloved were not mistaken by us, and unknown to us, He would have no
scarcity of wooers and suitors. He would make heaven and earth both
see that they cannot quench His love, for His love is a sea. Oh to be
a thousand fathoms deep in this sea of love! He, He Himself is more
excellent than heaven; for heaven, as it cometh into the souls and
spirits of the glorified, is but a creature; and He is something (and
a great something) more than a creature. Oh, what a life were it to
sit beside this Well of love, and drink and sing, and sing and drink!
and then to have desires and soul-faculties stretched and extended
out, many thousand fathoms in length and breadth, to take in seas and
rivers of love!
I earnestly desire to recommend this love to you, that this love may
cause you to keep His commandments, and to keep clean fingers, and
make clean feet, that ye may walk as the redeemed of the Lord. Wo, wo
be to them who put on His name, and shame this love of Christ, with a
loose and profane life! Their feet, tongue, and hands, and eyes, give
a shameless lie to the holy Gospel, which they profess. I beseech you
in the Lord, to keep Christ and walk with Him: let not His fairness be
spotted and stained by godless living. Oh, who can find in their heart
to sin against love? and such a love as the glorified in heaven shall
delight to dive into, and drink of for ever? For they are evermore
drinking in love, and the cup is still at their head; and yet without
loathing, for they still drink, and still desire to drink for ever and
ever. Is not this a long-lasting supper?
Now, if any of our country people, professing Christ Jesus, have
brought themselves under the stroke and wrath of the Almighty, by
yielding to Antichrist in an hair-breadth, but especially by swearing
and subscribing that blasphemous oath (which is the Church of
Ireland's black hour of temptation), I would entreat them, by the
mercies of God at their last summons, to repent, and openly confess
before the world to the glory of the Lord their denial of Christ. Or
otherwise, if either man or woman will stand and abide by that oath,
then, in the name and authority of the Lord Jesus, I let them see that
they forfeit their part of heaven! And let them look for no less than
a back-burden of the pure, unmixed wrath of God, and the plague of
apostates and deniers of our Lord Jesus.
Let not me, a stranger to you, who never saw your face in the flesh,
be thought bold in writing to you: for the hope I have of a glorious
church in that land, and the love of Christ, constraineth me. I know
that the worthy servants of Christ, who once laboured among you, cease
not to write to you also; and I shall desire to be excused that I do
join with them.
Pray for your sister-church in Scotland; and let me entreat you for
the aid of your prayers for myself, and flock, and ministry, and my
fear of a transportation from this place of the Lord's vineyard.[412]
Now the very God of peace sanctify you throughout. Grace be with you
all.
[412] See note, Letter CCLXXXVI. The decision of the Commission was,
to translate him from Anwoth to the professorship at St. Andrews.
Your brother and companion, in the kingdom and patience of Jesus
Christ,
S. R.
ANWOTH, 1639.
CCLXXXIX.--_To his Reverend and much honoured Brother, DR. ALEXANDER
LEIGHTON, Christ's Prisoner in bonds at London._
[DR. ALEXANDER LEIGHTON was descended of an ancient family in
Forfarshire, whose chief seat was Ulys-haven, or Usen, near
Montrose. Besides studying for the Christian ministry, he
qualified himself as a physician, and, during the reign of James
I., and the commencement of that of Charles I., practised
medicine in London, as well as exercised his ministry there; but
whether he had any fixed charge we are not informed. In his zeal
for Presbyterian principles, and against the innovations of Laud,
he published a work entitled "An Appeal to the Parliament; or,
Zion's Plea against the Prelacy." For this work he was arrested
in 1629, and thrown into an abominable cell in Newgate. After
lying there sixteen weeks in great misery, he was served with an
information of the crimes of which he was accused, and charged to
appear before the Star Chamber. He was then unable to attend,
being under severe distress that had brought skin and hair almost
wholly off his body; but the Star Chamber condemned the afflicted
and aged divine to be degraded as a minister, to have one of his
ears cut off, and one side of his nose slit, to be branded on the
face with a red-hot iron, to stand in the pillory, to be whipped
at a post, to pay a fine of £1000, and to suffer imprisonment
till the fine was paid. When this inhuman sentence was
pronounced, Laud took off his hat, and holding up his hands, gave
thanks to God, who had given the church victory over her enemies!
The sentence was executed without mercy; and Leighton lay in
prison until the meeting of the Long Parliament, that is, upwards
of ten years. When liberated, he could hardly walk, see, or hear.
He died in 1649. He was the father of the celebrated Robert
Leighton, Archbishop of Glasgow. When this letter was written to
him by Rutherford, he had languished many years in prison.]
(_PUBLIC BLESSINGS ALLEVIATE PRIVATE SUFFERINGS--TRIALS LIGHT WHEN
VIEWED IN THE LIGHT OF HEAVEN--CHRIST WORTHY OF SUFFERING FOR._)
REVEREND AND MUCH HONOURED PRISONER OF HOPE,--Grace, mercy, and peace
be to you.-- It was not my part (whom our Lord hath enlarged) to
forget you His prisoner.
When I consider how long your night hath been, I think Christ hath a
mind to put you in free grace's debt so much the deeper, as your
sufferings have been of so long continuance. But what if Christ mind
you no joy but public joy, with enlarged and triumphing Zion. I
think, Sir, that ye would love best to share and divide your song of
joy with Zion, and to have mystical Christ in Britain halfer and
copartner with your enlargement. I am sure that your joy, bordering
and neighbouring with the joy of Christ's bride, would be so much the
sweeter that it were public. I thought if Christ had halved my
mercies, and delivered His bride and not me, that His praises should
have been double to what they are; but now two rich mercies conjoined
in one have stolen from our Lord more than half-praises. Oh that mercy
should so beguile us, and steal away our counts and acknowledgment!
Worthy Sir, I hope that I need not exhort you to go on in hoping for
the salvation of God. There hath not been so much taken from your time
of ease and created joys, as eternity shall add to your heaven. Ye
know when one day in heaven hath paid you (yea, and overpaid your
blood, bonds, sorrow, and sufferings), that it would trouble angels'
understanding to lay the count of that surplus of glory which eternity
can and will give you. Oh but your sand-glass of sufferings and losses
cometh to little, when it shall be counted and compared with the glory
that abideth you on the other side of the water! Ye have no leisure to
rejoice and sing here, while time goeth about you, and where your
psalms will be short; therefore, ye will think eternity, and the long
day of heaven that shall be measured with no other sun, nor horologe,
than the long life of the Ancient of Days, to measure your praises,
little enough for you. If your span-length of time be cloudy, ye
cannot but think that your Lord can no more take your blood and your
bands without the income and recompense of free grace, than He would
take the sufferings of Paul and His other dear servants, that were
well paid home beyond all counting (Rom. viii. 18). If the wisdom of
Christ hath made you Antichrist's eyesore and his envy, ye are to
thank God that such a piece of clay, as ye are, is made the field of
glory to work upon. It was the Potter's aim that the clay should
praise Him, and I hope it satisfieth you that your clay is for His
glory. Oh, who can suffer enough for such a Lord! and who can lay out
in bank, enough of pain, shame, losses, and tortures to receive in
again the free interest of eternal glory! (2 Cor. iv. 17). Oh, how
advantageous a bargaining is it with such a rich Lord! If your hand
and pen had been at leisure to gain glory on paper, it had been but
paper glory: but the bearing of a public cross so long, for the now
controverted privileges of the crown and sceptre of free King Jesus,
the Prince of the kings of the earth, is glory booked in heaven.
Worthy and dear brother, if ye go to weigh Jesus, His sweetness,
excellency, glory, and beauty, and lay foregainst Him your ounces or
drachms of suffering for Him, ye shall be straitened two ways. 1. It
will be a pain to make the comparison, the disproportion being by no
understanding imaginable: nay, if heaven's arithmetic and angels' were
set to work, they should never number the degrees of difference. 2. It
would straiten you to find a scale for the balance to lay that high
and lofty One (that over-transcending Prince of excellency) in. If
your mind could fancy as many created heavens as time hath had
minutes, trees have had leaves, and clouds have had raindrops, since
the first stone of the creation was laid, they should not make half a
scale in which to bear and weigh boundless excellency. And, therefore,
the King whose marks ye are bearing, and whose dying ye carry about
with you in your body, is, out of all cry and consideration, beyond
and above all our thoughts.
For myself, I am content to feed upon wondering, sometimes, at the
beholding but of the borders and skirts of the incomparable glory
which is in that exalted Prince. And I think ye could wish for more
ears to give than ye have, since ye hope these ears ye now have given
Him shall be passages to take in the music of His glorious voice. I
would fain both believe and pray for a new bride of Jews and Gentiles
to our Lord Jesus, after the land of graven images shall be laid
waste; and that our Lord Jesus is on horseback, hunting and pursuing
the Beast; and that England and Ireland shall be well-sweeped chambers
for Christ and His righteousness to dwell in; for He hath opened our
graves in Scotland, and the two dead and buried witnesses are risen
again, and are prophesying. Oh that princes would glory and boast
themselves in carrying the train of Christ's robe royal in their arms!
Let me die within half an hour after I have seen the temple of the Son
of God enlarged, and the cords of Jerusalem's tent lengthened, to take
in a more numerous company for a bride to the Son of God! Oh, if the
corner or foundation-stone of that house, that new house, were laid
above my grave!
Oh! who can add to Him who is that great All! If He would create suns
and moons, new heavens, thousand and thousand degrees more perfect
than these that now are; and again, make a new creation ten thousand
thousand degrees in perfection beyond that new creation; and again,
still for eternity multiply new heavens, they should never be a
perfect resemblance of that infinite excellency, order, weight,
measure, beauty, and sweetness that is in Him. Oh, how little of Him
do we see! Oh, how shallow are our thoughts of Him! Oh, if I had pain
for Him, and shame and losses for Him, and more clay and spirits for
Him! and that I could go upon earth without love, desire, hope,
because Christ hath taken away my love, desire, and hope to heaven
with Him!
I know, worthy Sir, your sufferings for Him are your glory; and,
therefore, weary not. His salvation is near at hand, and shall not
tarry.
Pray for me. His grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Nov. 22, 1639_.
CCXC.--_To a Person unknown, anent Private Worship in time and place
of public._[413]
[413] From a copy among the Wodrow MSS., vol. xxix. 4to, No. 13.
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I do not know a private worship, set and
intended, compatible with a public worship set and intended.
Ejaculations are fruits of public worship and breathings of the spirit
in public speaking, but they are _aliquid cultus publici, non cultus
publicus_ (something akin to public worship, but not public worship).
2. I know not a member in the kirk who should have a worship _in
specie_ (in kind) different from the worship of the whole kirk; and so
I do not see (saving better judgment) a lawfulness of private set
praying, when there is another set worship of praising, reading, etc.
3. I doubt if there should be any set worship in the kirk to which all
the hearers should not say Amen, even the rude and unbelievers (1 Cor.
xiv. 23-25). But to a private prayer, when the worship is public, who
can say Amen? 4. I think the people may all fall to their private
prayers and private reading, in time the minister preacheth, if he
fall to praying when they are praising or hearing the word read. 5. I
dare not say they have a Pharisee's mind who pray in public after a
private manner, and join not with the public service of the kirk. But
_in natura operis_ (in regard to the nature of the work), I think them
more pharisaical than the other case is Brownish.[414] 6. Brownism's
life is in separation; but the private supplicator, when the kirk is
praising and hearing the word read, in my weak judgment, is in the act
of separation; that I should not say,[415] they are ignorant of
Brownism, who object this to such as will not kneel in pulpit. 7.
Neither Scripture nor Act of our Assemblies doth allow this human
custom. I think they dare not be answerable to a General Assembly who
dare call on them to censure for a human and unorderly custom against
the word of God so directly. 8. If such as go not to private pulpit
prayer neglect private prayer before they come in public, they deserve
censure. Whatever hath been my practice before I examined this custom,
I purpose now no more to confound worships. And thus recommending you
to the grace of God, I rest,
S. R.
_January 16, 1640._
[414] Savours of the sect called "Brownists."
[415] While at the same time I may add.
CCXCI.--_To MR. HENRY STUART, his Wife, and two Daughters, all
Prisoners of Christ at Dublin._
[HENRY STUART was a gentleman of considerable property in
Ireland. He himself, his wife, and family, consisting of two
daughters and a domestic servant named James Gray, having refused
to swear the "Black Oath," were carried to Dublin by a
serjeant-at-arms, and placed in close and rigorous confinement.
On the 10th of August 1639, all of them were brought to trial in
the Star Chamber. Stuart, being permitted to speak in his own
defence, declared before the court, that he had no objection
whatever to take the former part of the oath, "promising _civil
allegiance_, but that he could not take the latter part, which he
conceived bound the swearer to yield unlimited _ecclesiastical
obedience to the King_." Wentworth, who presided at the trial, in
reply, admitted that this interpretation of the oath was quite
correct, and concluded by pronouncing the sentence of the court.
Stuart was fined £5000, and his wife a similar sum; his
daughters, £2000 each; and Gray although only a servant, £2000; a
sum of £16,000 in all; and they were to be detained at Dublin in
prison till these exorbitant fines were paid. They were at length
liberated by the Irish Parliament, which set itself in 1641 to
remedy the evils of Strafford's Government, after they had
suffered an imprisonment of a year and three months. But Stuart's
property having been confiscated by Strafford, the family were
reduced to great poverty. He retired to Scotland, of which he was
a native, and applied, in the month of September 1641, to the
Parliament sitting at Edinburgh, to recommend to the English
Parliament to take measures for enabling him to recover his
property. The Scottish Parliament did so, but the result of their
application is unknown (Reid's "History of the Presbyterian
Church in Ireland," vol. i.).]
(_FAITH'S PREPARATION FOR TRIAL--THE WORLD'S RAGE AGAINST CHRIST--THE
IMMENSITY OF HIS GLORIOUS BEAUTY--FOLLY OF PERSECUTION--VICTORY
SURE._)
"Fear none of these things, which ye shall suffer," etc.--REV. ii. 10.
TRULY HONOURED, AND DEARLY BELOVED,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you
from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus.
Think it not strange, beloved in our Lord Jesus, that Satan can
command keys of prisons, and bolts, and chains. This is a piece of the
devil's princedom that he hath over the world. Interpret and
understand our Lord well in this. Be not jealous of His love, though
He make devils and men His under-servants to scour the rust off your
faith, and purge you from your dross. And let me charge you, O
prisoners of hope, to open your window, and to look out by faith, and
behold heaven's post (that speedy and swift salvation of God), that is
coming to you. It is a broad river that faith will not look over: it
is a mighty and a broad sea, that they of a lively hope cannot behold
the furthest bank and other shore thereof. Look over the water; your
anchor is fixed within the vail; the one end of the cable is about the
prisoner of Christ, and the other is entered within the vail, whither
the Forerunner is entered for you (Heb. vi. 19, 20). It can go
straight through the flames of the fire of the wrath of men, devils,
losses, tortures, death, and not a thread of it be singed or burnt:
Men and devils have no teeth to bite it in two. Hold fast till He
come. Your cross is of the colour of heaven and Christ, and passmented
over with the faith and comforts of the Lord's faithful covenant with
Scotland: and that dye and colour will abide foul weather, and neither
be stained nor cast the colour. Yet, it reflects a scad like the cross
of Christ, whose holy hands, many a day lifted up to God, praying for
sinners, were fettered and bound, as if those blessed hands had
stolen, and shed innocent blood. When your lovely, lovely Jesus had no
better than the thief's doom, it is no wonder that your process be
lawless and turned upside down; for He was taken, fettered, buffeted,
whipped, spitted upon, before He was convicted of any fault, or
sentenced. Oh, such a pair of sufferers and witnesses, as high and
royal Jesus and a poor piece of guilty clay marrowed together under
one yoke! Oh, how lovely is the cross with such a second!
I believe that your prison is enacted in God's court not to keep you
till your hope breathe out its life and last. Your cross is under law
to restore you again safe to your brethren and sisters in Christ. Take
heaven's and Christ's back-bond for a fair back-door out of your
suffering. The Saviour is on His journey with salvation and
deliverance for Mount Zion; and the sword of the Lord is drunk with
blood, and made fat with fatness. His sword is bathed in heaven
against Babylon, for it is "the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the
year of recompense for the controversy of Zion:" and persuade
yourselves the streams of the river of Babylon shall be pitch, and the
dust of the land brimstone and burning pitch (Isa. xxxiv. 8, 9). And
if your deliverance be joined with the deliverance of Zion, it shall
be two salvations to you.
It were good to be armed beforehand for death or bodily tortures for
Christ; and to think what a crown of honour it is, that God hath given
you pieces of living clay to be tortured witnesses for saving truth;
and that ye are so happy, as to have some pints of blood to give out
for the crown of that royal Lord, who hath caused you to avouch
Himself before men. If ye can lend fines of three thousand pounds
sterling for Christ, let heaven's register and Christ's count-book
keep in reckoning your depursements for Him. It shall be engraven and
printed in great letters upon heaven's throne, what you are willing to
give for Him. Christ's papers of that kind cannot be lost, or fall by.
Do not wonder to see clay boist the great Potter, and to see blinded
men threaten the Gospel with death and burial, and to raze out truth's
name. But where will they make a grave for the Gospel, and the Lord's
bride? Earth and hell shall be but little bounds for their burial. Lay
all the clay and rubbish of this inch of the whole earth above our
Lord's Spouse, yet it will not cover her nor hold her down; she shall
live and not die; she shall behold the salvation of God. Let your
faith frist God a little, and not be afraid for a smoking firebrand.
There is more smoke in Babylon's furnace than there is fire. Till
doomsday shall come, they shall never see the kirk of Scotland and our
Covenant burnt to ashes; or, if it should be thrown into the fire, yet
it cannot be so burnt or buried as not to have a resurrection. Angry
clay's wind shall shake none of Christ's corn: He will gather in all
His wheat into His barn. Only let your fellowship with Christ be
renewed.
Ye are sibber to Christ now, when you are imprisoned for Him, than
before; for now the strokes laid on you do come in remembrance before
our Lord, and He can own His own wounds. A drink of Christ's love,
which is better than wine, is the drink-silver which suffering for His
majesty leaveth behind it. It is not your sins which they persecute in
you, but God's grace, and loyalty to King Jesus. They see no treason
in you to your prince the King of Britain, albeit they say so; but it
is heaven in you that earth is fighting against. And Christ is owning
His own cause. Grace is a party that fire will not burn, nor water
drown. When they have eaten and drunken you, their stomach shall be
sick, and they shall spue you out alive. Oh, what glory is it to be
suffering abjects (Ps. xxxv. 15) for the Lord's glory and royalty!
Nay, though His servants had a body to burn for ever for this Gospel,
so being that the high glory of triumphing and exalted Jesus did rise
out of these flames, and out of that burning body, oh what a sweet
fire! oh what soul-refreshing torment would that be! What if the
pickles of dust and ashes of the burnt and dissolved body were
musicians to sing His praises, and the highness of that
never-enough-exalted Prince of ages? Oh, what love is it in Him that
He will have such musicians as we are, to tune that psalm of His
everlasting praises in heaven! Oh, what shining and burning flames of
love are these, that Christ will divide His share of life, of heaven
and glory, with you! (Luke xxii. 29; John xvii. 24; Rev. iii. 21). A
part of His throne, one draught of His wine (His wine of glory and
life that cometh from under the throne of God and of the Lamb), and
one apple of the tree of life, will do more than make up all the
expenses and charges of clay, lent out for heaven. Oh! oh! but we have
short, and narrow, and creeping thoughts of Jesus, and do but shape
Christ in our conceptions according to some created portraiture! O
angels, lend in your help to make love-books and songs of our fair,
and white, and ruddy Standard-bearer amongst ten thousand! O heavens!
O heaven of heavens! O glorified tenants, and triumphing house-holders
with the Lamb, put in new psalms and love-sonnets of the excellency of
our Bridegroom, and help us to set Him on high! O indwellers of earth
and heaven, sea and air, and O all ye created beings within the bosom
of the utmost circle of this great world, oh come help to set on high
the praises of our Lord! O fairness of creatures, blush before His
uncreated beauty! O created strength, be amazed to stand before your
strong Lord of hosts! O created love, think shame of thyself before
this unparalleled love of heaven! O angel-wisdom, hide thyself before
our Lord, whose understanding passeth finding out! O sun in thy
shining beauty, for shame put on a web of darkness, and cover thyself
before thy brightest Master and Maker! Oh, who can add glory, by doing
or suffering, to the never-enough admired and praised Lover! Oh we can
but bring our drop to this sea, and our candle, dim and dark as it is,
to this clear and lightsome Sun of heaven and earth! Oh but we have
cause to drink ten deaths in one cup dry, to swim through ten seas, to
be at that land of praises, where we shall see that wonder of wonders,
and enjoy this Jewel of heaven's jewels! O death, do thy utmost
against us! O torments, O malice of men and devils, waste your
strength on the witnesses of our Lord's Testament! O devils, bring
hell to help you in tormenting the followers of the Lamb! We will defy
you to make us too soon happy, and to waft us too soon over the water
to the land where the noble Plant, the Plant of Renown, groweth. O
cruel time, that tormenteth us, and suspendeth our dearest enjoyments
that we wait for, when we shall be bathed and steeped, soul and body,
down in the depths of this Love of Loves! O time, I say, run fast! O
motions, mend your pace? O well-beloved, be like a young roe on the
mountains of separation! Post, post, and hasten our desired and
hungered-for meeting. Love is sick to hear tell of to-morrow.
And what, then, can come wrong to you, O honourable witnesses of His
kingly truth? Men have no more of you to work upon than some inches
and span-lengths of sick, coughing, and phlegmatic clay. Your spirits
are above their Benches, Courts, or High Commissions. Your souls, your
love to Christ, your faith, cannot be summoned nor sentenced, nor
accused nor condemned, by pope, deputy, prelate, ruler, or tyrant.
Your faith is a free lord, and cannot be a captive. All the malice of
hell and earth can but hurt the scabbard of a believer; and death, at
the worst, can get but a clay pawn[416] in keeping till your Lord
make[417] the King's keys, and open your graves. Therefore, upon
luck's head (as we use to say) take your fill of His love, and let a
post-way or causeway be laid betwixt your prison and heaven, and go up
and visit your treasure. Enjoy your Beloved, and dwell upon His love,
till eternity come in time's room, and possess you of your eternal
happiness. Keep your love to Christ, lay up your faith in heaven's
keeping, and follow the Chief of the house of the martyrs that
witnessed a fair confession before Pontius Pilate. Your cause and His
is all one. The opposers of His cause are like drunken judges and
transported, who, in their cups, would make acts and laws in their
drunken courts that the sun should not rise and shine on the earth,
and send their officers and pursuivants to charge the sun and moon to
give no more light to the world; and would enact in their court-books,
that the sea, after once ebbing, should never flow again. But would
not the sun, moon, and sea break these acts, and keep their Creator's
directions? The devil (the great fool, and father of these
under-fools) is older and more malicious than wise, that setteth the
spirits in earth on work to contend and clash with heaven's wisdom,
and to give mandates and law-summons to our Sun, to our great Star of
heaven, Jesus, not to shine in the beauty of His Gospel to the chosen
and bought ones. O thou fair and fairest Sun of righteousness, arise
and shine in Thy strength, whether earth or hell will or not. O
victorious, O royal, O stout, princely Soul-conqueror, ride
prosperously upon truth; stretch out Thy sceptre as far as the sun
shineth, and the moon waxeth and waneth. Put on Thy glittering crown,
O Thou Maker of kings, and make but one stride, or one step of the
whole earth, and travel in the greatness of Thy strength (Isa. lxii.
1, 2). And let Thy apparel be red, and all dyed with the blood of Thy
enemies. Thou art fallen righteous Heir by line to the kingdoms of the
world.
[416] A security of clay or earth. Often, in his sermon on Dan. vi.
26, before the House of Commons, 1644, he uses such expressions as,
"Clay triumpheth over angels and hell, through the strength of Jesus"
(p. 8); "Men are but pieces of breathing, laughing, and then dying,
clay" (p. 41).
[417] Is it not "_take_?"
Laugh ye at the giddy-headed clay pots, and stout, brain-sick worms,
that dare say in good earnest, "This man shall not reign over us!" as
though they were casting the dice for Christ's crown, which of them
should have it. I know that ye believe the coming of Christ's kingdom;
and that there is a hole out of your prison, through which ye see
daylight. Let not faith be dazzled with temptations from a dying
Deputy,[418] and from a sick Prelate. Believe under a cloud, and wait
for Him when there is no moonlight nor starlight. Let faith live and
breathe, and lay hold on the sure salvation of God, when clouds and
darkness are about you, and appearance of rotting in the prison before
you. Take heed of unbelieving hearts, which can father lies upon
Christ. Beware of "Doth His promise fail for evermore?" (Ps. lxxvii.
8). For it was a man, and not God, that said it, who dreamed that a
promise of God could fail, fall aswoon, or die. We can make God sick,
or His promises weak, when we are pleased to seek a plea with Christ.
O sweet, O stout word of faith, "Though He may slay me, yet will I
trust in Him!" (Job xiii. 15). O sweet epitaph, written upon the
grave-stone of a dying believer, namely, "I died hoping, and my dust
and ashes believe in life!" Faith's eyes, that can see through a
mill-stone, can see through a gloom of God, and under it read God's
thoughts of love and peace. Hold fast Christ in the dark; surely ye
shall see the salvation of God. Your adversaries are ripe and dry for
the fire. Yet a little while, and they shall go up in a flame; the
breath of the Lord, like a river of brimstone, shall kindle about them
(Isa. xxx. 33).
[418] Deputy, or Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.
What I write to one, I write to you all that are sound-hearted in that
kingdom, whom, in the bowels of Christ, I would exhort not to touch
that oath. Albeit the adversaries put a fair meaning on it, yet the
swearer must swear according to the professed intent and godless
practice of the oath-makers, which is known to the world. Otherwise I
might swear that the Creed is false, according to this private meaning
and sense put upon it. Oh, let them not be beguiled to wash perjury
and the denial of Christ and the Gospel with ink water, some foul and
rotten distinctions. Wash, and wash again and again, the devil and the
lie, it will be long ere their skin be white.
I profess it should beseem men of great parts rather than me to write
to you. But I love your cause, and desire to be excused; and must
entreat for the help of your prayers, in this my weighty charge here
for the university and pulpit, and that ye would intreat your
acquaintance also to help me. Grace be with you all. Amen.
Your brother and companion, in the patience and kingdom of Jesus
Christ,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, 1640.
CCXCII.--_To MRS. PONT, Prisoner at Dublin._
[MRS. PONT, whose maiden name was Isabel Stewart, was the wife of
Mr. Pont, minister of a parish in the diocese of Raphoe. Pont
declined to use the prescribed ceremonies of the church, and
condemned the increasing severities towards nonconformists,
together with the unscriptural jurisdiction of the prelates. It
appears that he had also held meetings for worship and public
preaching, contrary to the canons; and that his wife had in some
way signalized herself by her opposition to Prelacy, and her
frequenting these more private assemblies. John Leslie, Bishop of
Raphoe, reporting the matter to Wentworth, was recommended to
deprive Pont of his benefice, and "to proceed against his wife in
such way as her fault deserves, and the laws will bear." Pont
himself escaped to Scotland, but his wife was imprisoned in the
castle of Dublin. She lay in prison nearly three years, not being
liberated till 1641 by the Irish Parliament. In May 1641 she
presented a petition to the Irish House of Commons against the
Bishop of Raphoe, for committing her to prison, and charging her
with high treason, solely on his own authority. The House
resolved that the Bishop, by his illegal conduct, had involved
himself in the penalties of the statute of _præmunire_; but no
further proceedings appear to have been taken against him. "In
these proceedings," says Dr. Reid, "Mrs. Pont is styled, 'Mrs.
Isabel Pont _alias_ Stewart, widow;' whence it appears that her
husband must have died soon after he had fled to Scotland"
(Reid's "History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland," vol.
i.). This lady afterwards came over to Scotland, and died on the
9th of November 1704. Wodrow visited her repeatedly under her
last illness. He calls her "this extraordinary person." On
visiting her the night preceding her death, she said to him, "I
never had so few temptations as now. I am only waiting God's time
of departure." Again calling upon her next morning, he says, "I
think her last breath went out just when I resigned her to God,
as far as I could notice, about seven in the morning"
("Analecta," vol. i. p. 55).]
(_SUPPORT UNDER TRIALS--THE MASTER'S REWARD._)
WORTHY AND DEAR MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--The
cause which ye suffer for, and your willingness to suffer, is ground
enough of acquaintance for me to write to you; although I do confess
myself unable to speak for the encouragement of a prisoner of Christ.
I know that ye have advantage beyond us who are not under sufferings;
for your sighing (Ps. cii. 20) is a written bill for the ears of your
Head, the Lord Jesus; and your breathing (Lam. iii. 56), and your
looking up (Ps. v. 3, and lxix. 3). And, therefore, your meaning,
half-spoken, half-unspoken, will seek no jailor's leave, but will go
to heaven without leave of prelate or deputy, and be heartily welcome;
so that ye may sigh and groan out your mind to Him who hath all the
keys of the king's three kingdoms and dominions. I dare believe that
your hope shall not die. Your trouble is a part of Zion's burning; and
ye know who guideth Zion's furnace, and who loveth the ashes of His
burnt bride, because His servants love them (Ps. cii. 14). I believe
that your ashes, if ye were burnt for this cause, shall praise Him:
for the wrath of men and their malice shall make a psalm to praise the
Lord (Ps. lxxvi. 10). And, therefore, stand still, and behold and see
what the Lord is to do for this island. His work is perfect (Deut.
xxxii. 4). The nations have not seen the last end of His work; His end
is more fair and more glorious than the beginning.
Ye have more honour than ye can be able to guide well, in that your
bonds are made heavy for such an honourable cause. The seals of a
controlled[419] Gospel, and the seals by bonds, and blood, and
sufferings, are not committed to every ordinary professor. Some that
would back Christ honestly in summer-time, would but spill the beauty
of the Gospel if they were put to suffering. And, therefore, let us
believe that Wisdom dispenseth to every one here, as He thinketh good,
who beareth them up that bear the cross. And since our Lord hath put
you to that part which was the flower of His own sufferings, we all
expect that, as ye have in the strength of our Captain begun, so ye
will go on without fainting. Providence maketh use of men and devils
for the refining of all the vessels of God's house, small and great,
and for doing of two great works at once in you, both for smoothing a
stone to make it take band with Christ in Jerusalem's wall, and for
witnessing to the glory of this reproached and borne-down Gospel,
which cannot die though hell were made a grave about it. It shall be
timeous joy for you, to divide joy betwixt you and Christ's laughing
bride in these three kingdoms. And what if your mourning continue till
mystical Christ (in Ireland and in Great Britain) and ye laugh both
together? Your laughing and joy were the more blessed, that one sun
should shine upon Christ, the Gospel, and you, laughing altogether in
these three kingdoms. Your time is measured, and your days and hours
of suffering from eternity were, by infinite Wisdom, considered. If
heaven recompense not to your own mind inches of sorrow, then I must
say that infinite Mercy cannot get you pleased; but if the first kiss
of the white and ruddy cheek of the Standard-bearer and Chief among
ten thousand thousand (Cant. v. 10), shall overpay your prison at
Dublin, in Ireland, then ye shall have no counts unanswered to give in
to Christ. If your faith cannot see a nearer term-day, yet let me
charge your hope to give Christ a new day, till eternity and time meet
in one point. A paid sum, if ever paid, is paid if no day be broken to
the hungry creditor. Take heaven's bond and subscribed obligation for
the sum (John xiv. 3). If hope can trust Christ, I know that He can,
and will pay. But when all is done and suffered by you, ten hundred
deaths for lovely, lovely Jesus is but eternity's halfpenny; figures
and cyphers cannot lay the proportion. Oh, but the surplus of Christ's
glory is broad and large! Christ's items of eternal glory are hard and
cumbersome to tell; and if ye borrow, by faith and hope, ten days or
ten hundred years from that eternity of glory that abideth you, ye
are paid and more, in your own hand. Therefore, O prisoner of hope,
wait on; posting, hasting salvation sleepeth not. Antichrist is
bleeding, and in the way to death; and he biteth the sorest, when he
bleedeth the fastest. Keep your intelligence betwixt you and heaven,
and your court with Christ. He hath in heaven the keys of your prison,
and can set you at liberty when He pleaseth. His rich grace support
you. I pray you to help me with your prayers. Grace be with you.
[419] The Gospel, the preaching of which men are seeking to hinder.
Your brother, in the patience and kingdom of Jesus Christ,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, 1640.
CCXCIII.--_To_ MR. JAMES WILSON.
[There was a cotemporary of that name, the minister of Inch, in
the Presbytery of Stranraer. There was also a _James Wilson_ who
was a friend of Blair, and minister of Dysart in 1653. (See Row's
"Life of Blair.") This letter indicates that the correspondent
was a man of thought and education.]
(_ADVICES TO A DOUBTING SOUL--MISTAKES ABOUT HIS INTEREST IN GOD'S
LOVE--TEMPTATION--PERPLEXITY ABOUT PRAYER--WANT OF FEELING._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied upon you.--I
bless our rich and only wise Lord, who careth so for His new creation
that He is going over it again, and trying every piece in you, and
blowing away the motes of His new work in you. Alas! I am not so fit a
physician as your disease requireth. Sweet, sweet, lovely Jesus be
your physician, where His under-chirurgeons cannot do anything for
putting in order the wheels, paces, and goings of a marred[420] soul.
I have little time; but yet the Lord hath made me so to concern myself
in your condition, that I dow not, I dare not, be altogether silent.
[420] A soul that has been put out of order. The edition of 1675, and
some others, has "married soul."
First: ye doubt, from 2 Cor. xiii. 5, whether ye be in Christ or not?
and so, whether you are a reprobate or not? I answer three things to
the doubt.--1. Ye owe charity to all men, but most of all to lovely
and loving Jesus, and some also to your self; especially to your
renewed self, because your new self is not yours, but another Lord's,
even the work of His own Spirit. Therefore, to slander His work is to
wrong Himself. Love thinketh no evil: if ye love grace, think not ill
of grace in yourself. And ye think ill of grace in yourself when ye
make it but a bastard and a work of nature; for a holy fear that ye
be not Christ's, and withal a care and a desire to be His, and not
your own, is not, nay cannot be, bastard nature. The great Advocate
pleadeth hard for you; be upon the Advocate's side, O poor feared
client of Christ! Stay, and side with such a Lover, who pleadeth for
no other man's goods than His own; for He (if I may say so) scorneth
to be enriched with unjust conquest. And yet He pleadeth for you,
whereof your letter (though too, too full of jealousy) is a proof.
For, if ye were not His, your thoughts (which, I hope, are but the
suggestions of His Spirit, that only bringeth the matter into debate
to make it sure to you) would not be such, nor so serious as these,
"Am I His?" or "Whose am I?" 2. Dare ye forswear your Owner, and say
in cold blood, "I am not His"? What nature or corruption saith at
starts in you, I regard not. Your thoughts of yourself, when sin and
guiltiness round you in the ear, and when you have a sight of your
deservings, are Apocrypha, and not Scripture, I hope. Hear what the
Lord saith of you: "He will speak peace." If your Master say, "I quit
you," I shall then bid you eat ashes for bread, and drink waters of
gall and wormwood. But, however Christ out of His own mouth should
seem to say, "I come not for thee," as He did, Matt. xv. 24; yet let
me say that the words of the tempting Jesus[421] are not to be
stretched as Scripture, beyond His intention, seeing His intention in
speaking them is to strengthen, not to deceive. And, therefore, here
faith may contradict what Christ seemeth at first to say, and so may
ye. I charge you by the mercies of God, be not that cruel to grace and
the new birth as to cast water on your own coal by misbelief. If ye
must die (as I know ye shall not), it were a folly to slay yourself.
3. I hope that ye love the new birth and a claim to Christ, howbeit ye
do not make it good; and if ye were in hell, and saw the heavenly face
of lovely, ten thousand times lovely Jesus, that hath God's hue, and
God's fair, fair and comely red and white, wherewith it is beautified
beyond comparison and imagination, ye could not forbear to say, "Oh,
if I could but blow a kiss from my sinful mouth from hell up to
heaven, upon His cheeks that are a bed of spices as sweet flowers!"
(Cant. v. 13). I hope ye dare say, "O fairest sight of heaven! O
boundless mass of crucified and slain love for me, give me leave to
wish to love Thee! O Flower and Bloom of heaven and earth's love! O
angels' Wonder! O Thou, the Father's eternal, sealed Love! and O
Thou, God's old Delight! give me leave to stand beside Thy love, and
look in and wonder; and give me leave to wish to love Thee, if I can
do no more." 4. We being born in atheism, and bairns of the house that
we are come of, it is no new thing, my dear brother, for us to be
under jealousies and mistakes about the love of God. What think ye of
this, that the man, Christ, was tempted to believe there were but two
persons in the blessed Godhead, and that the Son of God, the
substantial and coeternal Son, was not the lawful Son of God? Did not
Satan say, "If Thou be the Son of God?"
[421] Jesus, when He puts us to trial (Gen. xxii.).
Secondly: Ye say, that ye know not what to do. Your Head said once the
same word, or not far from it. "Now is My soul troubled, and what
shall I say?" (John xii. 27). And faith answered Christ's "What shall
I say?" with these words: "O tempted Saviour, askest Thou, 'What shall
I say?' Say, 'Pray, Father, save Me from this hour.'" What course can
ye take but pray and frist Christ His own comforts? He is no dyvour;
take His word. "Oh," say ye, "I cannot pray?" Answer--Honest sighing
is faith breathing and whispering Him in the ear. The life is not out
of faith where there is sighing, looking up with the eyes, and
breathing toward God. Hide not Thine ear at my breathing (Lam. iii.
56). "But what shall I do in spiritual exercises?" ye say. Answer--1.
If ye knew particularly what to do, it were not a spiritual exercise.
2. In my weak judgment, ye should first say, "I would glorify God in
believing David's salvation, and the Bride's marriage with the Lamb,
and love the church's slain Husband, although I cannot for the present
believe mine own salvation." 3. Say, "I will not pass from my claim:
suppose Christ should pass from His claim to me, it shall not go back
upon my side. Howbeit my love to Him be not worth a drink of water,
yet Christ shall have it, such as it is." 4. Say, "I shall rather
spill twenty prayers, than not pray at all. Let my broken words go up
to heaven: when they come up into the Great Angel's golden censer,
that compassionate Advocate will put together my broken prayers, and
perfume them." Words are but the accidents[422] of prayer.
[422] The incidental accompaniments.
"Oh," say ye, "I am slain with hardness of heart, and troubled with
confused and melancholious thoughts." Answer--My dear brother, what
would ye conclude thence? That ye know not well who aughteth you? I
grant: "Oh, my heart is hard! oh, my thoughts of faithless sorrow!
_Ergo_, I know not who aughteth me," were good logic in heaven
amongst angels and the glorified; but down in Christ's hospital, where
sick and distempered souls are under cure, it is not worth a straw.
Give Christ time to end His work in your heart. Hold on, in feeling
and bewailing your hardness; for that is softness to feel hardness. 2.
I charge you to make psalms of Christ's praises for His begun work of
grace. Make Christ your music and your song; for complaining and
feeling of want doth often swallow up your praises. What think ye of
those who go to hell never troubled with such thoughts? If your
exercises be the way to hell, God help me! I have a cold coal to blow
at, and a blank paper for heaven. I give you Christ caution, and my
heaven surety, for your salvation. Lend Christ your melancholy, for
Satan hath no right to make a chamber in your melancholy. Borrow joy
and comfort from the Comforter. Bid the Spirit do His office in you;
and remember that faith is one thing, and the feeling and notice of
faith another. God forbid that _feeling_ were _proprium quarto
modo_[423] to all the saints; and that this were good reasoning, "No
feeling, no grace." I am sure ye were not always, these twenty years
by-past, actually knowing that ye live! yet all this time ye are
living. So it is with the life of faith.
[423] This is a term of logic, and refers to the fourth kind of
categorical proposition, in which some particular point is proved in
the negative.
But, alas! dear brother, it is easy for me to speak words and
syllables of peace; but Isaiah telleth you, "I create peace" (Isa.
lvii. 19). There is but one Creator, ye know. Oh that ye may get a
letter of peace sent you from heaven!
Pray for me, and for grace to be faithful, and for gifts to be able,
with tongue and pen, to glorify God. I forget you not.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Jan. 8, 1640_.
CCXCIV.--_To my_ LADY BOYD.
(_SINS OF THE LAND--DWELLING IN CHRIST--FAITH AWAKE SEES ALL WELL._)
MADAM,--I received your Ladyship's letter; but because I was still
going through the country for the affairs of the church, I had no time
to answer it.
I had never more cause to fear than I have now, when my Lord hath
restored me to my second created heaven on earth, and hath turned my
apprehended fears into joys, and great deliverance to His church,
whereof I have my share and part. Alas! that weeping prayers, answered
and sent back from heaven with joy, should not have laughing praises!
Oh that this land would repent, and lay burdens of praises upon the
top of the fair Mount Zion! Madam, except this land be humbled, a
Reformation is rather my wonder than belief, at this time. But surely
it must be a wonder, and what is done already is a wonder. Our Lord
must restore beauty to His churches without hire; for we are sold
without money, and now our buyers repent them of the bargain, and
would gladly give again better-cheap than they bought us. They
devoured Jacob, and eat up His people as bread; now Jacob is growing a
living child in their womb, and they would fain be delivered of the
child, and render the birth. Our Lord shall be midwife. Oh that this
land be not like Ephraim, "An unwise son, that stayeth too long in the
place of the breaking forth of children!" Your Ladyship is blessed
with children who are honoured to build up Christ's waste places
again. I believe that your Ladyship will think them well bestowed on
that work, and that Zion's beauty is your joy. This is a mark and
evidence from heaven, which helpeth weak ones to hold their grip, when
other marks fail them.
I hope that your Ladyship is at a good understanding with Christ, and
that, as becometh a Christian, ye take Him up aright; for many mistake
and misshape Christ in His comings and goings. Your wants and falls
proclaim that ye have nothing of your own but what ye borrow; nay,
yourself is not your own, but Christ hath given Himself to you. Put
Christ to the bank, and heaven shall be your interest and income. Love
Him, for ye cannot over-love Him. Take up your house in Christ. Let
Him dwell in you, and abide in Him; and then ye may look out of
Christ, and laugh at the clay-heavens that the sons of men are seeking
after on this side of the water. Christ mindeth to make your losses
grace's great advantage. Christ will lose nothing of you; nay, not
even your sins, for He hath a use for them, as well as for your
service; howbeit ye are to loathe yourself for these. I hope that ye
fetch all the heaven ye have here in this life from that which is up
above, and that your anchor is casten as high and deep as Christ. (Oh,
but it is far and many a mile to the bottom!) If I had known long
since, as I do now (though still, alas! I am ignorant), what was in
Christ, I would not have been so late in starting to the gate to seek
Him. Oh what can I do or say to Him who hath made the North render me
back again! A grave is no sure prison to Him for the keeping of dry
bones. Wo is me, that my foolish sorrow and unbelief, being on
horseback, did ride so proudly and witlessly over my Lord's
providence! But when my faith was asleep, Christ was awake; and now,
when I am awake, I say He did all things well. O infinite wisdom! O
incomparable loving-kindness! Alas, that the heart I have is so little
and worthless for such a Lord as Christ is! Oh what odds find the
saints in hard trials, when they feel sap at their roots, betwixt them
and sun-burned, withered professors! Crosses and storms cause them to
cast their blooms and leaves. Poor worldlings, what will ye do when
the span-length of your forenoon's laughter is ended, and when the
weeping side of providence is turned to you?
I put all the favours which ye have bestowed on my brother upon
Christ's score; in whose books are many such counts, and who will
requite them. I wish you to be builded more and more upon the stone
laid in Zion, and then ye shall be the more fit to have a hand in
rebuilding our Lord's fallen tabernacle in this land; in which ye
shall find great peace when ye come to grips with death, the king of
terrors.
The God of peace be with your Ladyship, and keep you blameless till
the day of our Lord Jesus.
Your Ladyship's, at all obedience in his sweet Lord and Master,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS.
CCXCV.--_To his very dear Friend_, JOHN FENWICK.
[MR. JOHN FENWICK was an Englishman, who suffered considerably
for nonconformity. He is mentioned in Row's "Life of R. Blair,"
where it is said that "John Fenwick was one of the best of the
Commissioners sent by Cromwell to visit the Universities." He was
a Puritan and Nonconformist.]
(_CHRIST THE FOUNTAIN--FREENESS OF GOD'S LOVE--FAITH TO BE EXERCISED
UNDER FROWNS--GRACE FOR TRIALS--CHRIST YET TO BE EXALTED ON THE
EARTH._)
MUCH HONOURED AND DEAR FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to
you.--The necessary impediments of my calling have hitherto kept me
from making a return to your letter, the heads whereof I shall now
briefly answer.
I approve of your going to the Fountain, when your own cistern is
dry. A difference there must be betwixt Christ's well and your
borrowed water; and why but ye have need of emptiness and drying up,
as well as ye have need of the well? Want and a hole there must be in
our vessel, to leave room to Christ's art. His well hath its own need
of thirsty drinkers, to commend infinite love which, from eternity,
did brew such a cellar of living waters for us.
Ye commend His free love; and it is well done. Oh, if I could help
you! and if I could be master-convener to gather an earth-full and an
heaven-full of tongues, dipped and steeped in my Lord's well of love,
or His wine of love, even tongues drunken with His love, to raise a
song of praises to Him, betwixt the east and west end, and furthest
points of the broad heavens! If I were in your case (as, alas! my dry
and dead heart is not now in that garden), I would borrow leave to
come and stand upon the banks and coasts of that sea of love, and be a
feasted soul to see love's fair tide, free love's high and lofty
waves, each of them higher than ten earths, flowing in upon pieces of
lost clay. Oh, welcome, welcome, great sea! Oh, if I had as much love,
for wideness and breadth, as twenty outmost shells and spheres of the
heaven of heavens, that I might receive in a little flood of His free
love! Come, come, dear friend, and be pained that the King's
wine-cellar of free love, and His banqueting-house (oh so wide, so
stately! oh so God-like, so glory-like!) should be so abundant, so
overflowing, and your shallow vessel so little to take in some part of
that love. But since it cannot come into you for want of room, enter
yourself into this sea of love, and breathe under these waters, and
die of love; and live as one dead and drowned of this love.
But why do ye complain of waters going over your soul, and that the
smoke of the terrors of a wrathful Lord do almost suffocate you, and
bring you to death's brink? I know that the fault is in your eyes, not
in Him. It is not the rock that fleeth and moveth, but the green
sailor. If your sense and apprehension be made judge of His love,
there is a graven image made presently, even a changed god, and a
foe-god, who was once ("When ye washed your steps with butter, and the
rock poured you out rivers of oil," Job xxix. 6) a Friend-God. Either
now or never, let God work. Ye had never, since ye were a man, such a
fair field for faith; for a painted hell, and an apprehension of wrath
in your Father, is faith's opportunity to try what strength is in it.
Now, give God as large a measure of charity as ye have of sorrow.
Now, see faith to be faith indeed, if ye can make your grave betwixt
Christ's feet, and say, "Though He should slay me, I will trust in
Him. His believed love shall be my winding-sheet, and all my
grave-clothes; I shall roll and sew in my soul, my slain soul, in that
web, His sweet and free love; and let Him write upon my grave, 'Here
lieth a believing dead man, breathing out and making a hole in death's
broadside, and the breath of faith cometh forth through the hole.'"
See now if ye can overcome and prevail with God, and wrestle God's
tempting to death, quite out of breath, as that renowned wrestler did:
"And by his strength he had power with God; yea, he had power over the
angel and prevailed" (Hosea xii. 3, 4). He is a strong man indeed who
overmatcheth heaven's Strength, and the Holy One of Israel, the strong
Lord: which is done by a secret supply of divine strength within,
wherewith the weakest, being strengthened, overcome and conquer. It
shall be great victory, to blow out the flame of that furnace ye are
now in, with the breath of faith. And when hell, men, malice, cruelty,
falsehood, devils, the seeming glooms of a sweet Lord, meet you in the
teeth, if ye then, as a captive of hope, as one fettered in hope's
prison, run to your stronghold, even from God glooming to God
glooming, and believe the salvation of the Lord in the dark, which is
your only victory, your enemies (that are but pieces of malicious
clay) shall die as men, and be confounded. But, that your troubles are
many at once, and arrows come in from all airths, from country,
friends, wife, children, foes, estate, and right down from God who is
the hope and stay of your soul, I confess is more, and very heavy to
be borne. Yet all these are not more than grace; all these bits of
coals casten into your sea of mercy cannot dry it up. Your troubles
are many and great; yet not an ounce-weight beyond the measure of
infinite wisdom, I hope, nor beyond the measure of grace that He is to
bestow. For our Lord never yet brake the back of His child, nor
spilled His own work. Nature's plastering and counterfeit work He doth
often break in shreds, and putteth out a candle not lighted at the Sun
of righteousness; but He must cherish His own reeds (Isa. xlii. 3),
and handle them softly (never a reed getteth a thrust with the
Mediator's hand!), to lay together the two ends of the reed. Oh, what
bands and ligaments hath our Chirurgeon of broken spirits, to bind up
all His lame and bruised ones with! Cast your disjointed spirit into
His lap; and lay your burden upon One who is so willing to take your
cares and your fears off you, and to exchange and niffer your
crosses, and to give you new for old, and gold for iron; even to give
you garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness.
It is true, in great part, what ye write of this kirk, that the letter
of religion only is reformed, and scarce that. I do not believe our
Lord will build His Zion in this land upon this skin of reformation.
So long as our scum remaineth, and our heart-idols are kept, this work
must be at a stand; and, therefore, our Lord must yet sift this land,
and search us with candles. And I know that He will give and not sell
us His kingdom. His grace and our remaining guiltiness must be
compared; and the one must be seen in the glory of it, and the other
in the sinfulness of it. But I desire to believe, and would gladly
hope to see, that the glancing and shining lustre of glory coming from
the diamonds and stones set in the crown of our Lord Jesus shall cast
rays and beams many thousand miles about. I hope that Christ is upon a
great marriage; and that His wooing and suiting of His excellent Bride
doth take its beginning from us, the ends of the earth. Oh, what joy
and what glory would I judge it, if my heaven should be suspended till
I might have leave to run on foot to be a witness of that
marriage-glory, and see Christ put on the glory of His last-married
bride, and His last marriage-love on earth; when He shall enlarge His
love-bed, and set it upon the top of the mountains, and take in the
Elder Sister, the Jews, and the fulness of the Gentiles! It were
heaven's honour and glory upon earth to be His lackey, to run at His
horse's foot, and hold up the train of His marriage-robe royal, in the
day of our high and royal Solomon's espousals. But oh, what glory to
have a seat, or bed, in the chariot of King Jesus, that is bottomed
with gold, and paved, and lined over, and floored within with love,
for the daughters of Jerusalem (Cant. iii. 10). To lie upon such a
King's love, were a bed next to the flower of heaven's glory.
I am sorry to hear you speak in your letter of a "God angry at you,"
and of "the sense of His indignation;" which only ariseth from
suffering for Jesus all that is now come upon you. Indeed,
"apprehended wrath" flameth out of such ashes as "apprehended sin,"
but not from "suffering for Christ." But, suppose ye were in hell for
bygones and for old debt, I hope ye owe Christ a great sum of charity,
to believe the sweetness of His love. I know what it is to sin in that
kind. It is to sin (if it were possible) the unchangeableness of a
Godhead out of Christ, and to sin away a lovely and unchangeable God.
Put more honest apprehensions upon Christ. Put on His own mask upon
His face, and not your vail made of unbelief, which speaketh as if He
borrowed love to you, from you and your demerits and sinful
deservings. Oh, no! Christ is man, but He is not like man. He hath
man's love in heaven, but it is lustred with God's love, and it is
very God's love ye have to do with. When your wheels go about, He
standeth still. Let God be God. And be ye a man, and have ye the
deserving of man, and the sin of one who hath suffered your
Well-beloved to slip away, nay, hath refused Him entrance when He was
knocking, till His head and locks were frozen: yet what is that to
Him? His book keepeth your name, and is not printed and reprinted, and
changed, and corrected. And why but He should go to His place, and
hide Himself? Howbeit His departure be His own good work, yet the
belief of it, in that manner, is your sin. But wait on till He return
with salvation, and cause you to rejoice in the latter end. It is not
much to complain; but rather believe than complain, and sit in the
dust, and close your mouth, till He make your sown light[424] grow
again. For your afflictions are not eternal; time will end them, and
so shall ye at length see the Lord's salvation. His love sleepeth not,
but is still working for you. His salvation will not tarry nor linger;
and suffering for Him is the noblest cross that is out of heaven. Your
Lord had the wale and choice of ten thousand other crosses beside
this, to exercise you withal; but His wisdom and His love waled and
choosed out this for you, beside them all. And take it as a choice
one, and make use of it so as ye look to this world as your
stepmother, in your borrowed prison. For it is a love-look to heaven
and the other side of the water that God seeketh; and this is the
fruit, the flower and bloom growing out of your cross, that ye be a
dead man to time, to clay, to gold, to country, to friends, wife,
children, and all pieces of created nothings; for in them there is not
a seat nor bottom for soul's love. Oh, what room is for your love (if
it were as broad as the sea) up in heaven, and in God! And what would
not Christ give for your love? God gave so much for your soul; and
blessed are ye if ye have a love for Him, and can call in your soul's
love from all idols, and can make a God of God, a God of Christ, and
draw a line betwixt your heart and Him. If your deliverance came not,
Christ's presence and His believed love must stand as caution and
surety for your deliverance, till your Lord send it in His blessed
time. For Christ hath many salvations, if we could see them; and I
would think it better-born comfort and joy that cometh from the faith
of deliverance, and the faith of His love, than that which cometh from
deliverance itself. It is not much matter, if ye find ease to your
afflicted soul, what be the means, either of your own wishing or of
God's choosing. The latter, I am sure, is best, and the comforts
strongest and sweetest. Let the Lord absolutely have the ordering of
your evils and troubles; and put them off you by recommending your
cross and your furnace to Him who hath skill to melt His own metal,
and knoweth well what to do with His furnace. Let your heart be
willing that God's fire have your tin, and brass, and dross. To
consent to want corruption is a greater mercy than many professors do
well know; and to refer the manner of God's physic to His own wisdom,
whether it be by drawing blood, or giving sugared drinks. That He
cureth sick folks without pain, is a great point of faith; and to
believe Christ's cross to be a friend, as He Himself is a Friend, is
also a special act of faith. But when ye are over the water, this case
shall be a yesterday past a hundred years ere ye were born; and the
cup of glory shall wash the memory of all this away, and make it as
nothing. Only now take Christ in with you under your yoke, and let
patience have her perfect work; for this haste is your infirmity. The
Lord is rising up to do you good in the latter end; put on the faith
of His salvation, and see Him posting and hasting towards you.
[424] Ps. xcvii. 11.
Sir, my employments (being so great) hinder me to write at more
length. Excuse me; I hope to be mindful of you. I shall be obliged to
you, if ye help me with your prayers for this people, this college,
and my own poor soul.
Grace be with you. Remember my love to your wife.
Yours, in Christ Jesus,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Feb. 13, 1640_.
CCXCVI.--_To the much honoured_ PETER STIRLING.
[He may have been related to James Stirling, minister of Paisley,
who, along with Sir J. Stuart of Goodtrees, wrote "Naphtali;" or
to John Stirling, minister of Edinburgh, one who suffered much,
and is referred to in the notice to Letter XCI.]
(_BELIEVERS' GRACES ALL FROM CHRIST--ASPIRATION AFTER MORE LOVE TO
HIM--HIS REIGN DESIRED._)
MUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--I received yours, and cannot but be
ashamed that mistaken love hath brought me into court[425] and account
in the heart of God's children, especially of another nation. I should
not make a lie of the grace of God, if I should think I have little
share of it myself. Oh, how much better were it for me to stand in the
counting-table of many for a halfpenny, and to be esteemed a _liker_,
rather than a _lover_ of Christ! If I were weighed, vanity would bear
down the scale, as having weight in the balance above me, except my
lovely Saviour should cast in beside me some of His borrowed worth.
And oh if I were writing now sincerely in this extenuation, which may
be (and I fear is) subtle and cozening pride! I would I could love
something of heaven's worth, in you and all of your metal. Oh how
happy were I, if I could regain and conquer back from the creature my
sold and lost love, that I might lay it upon heaven's Jewel, that
ever, ever blooming Flower of the highest garden, even my
soul-redeeming and never-enough prized Lord Jesus! Oh that He would
wash my love, and put it on the Mediator's wheel, and refine it from
its dross and tin, that I might propine and gift that Lord, so
love-worthy, with all my love! Oh, if I could set a lease of thousands
of years, and a suspension of my part of heaven's glory, and frist,
till a long day, my desired salvation, so being that I could, in this
lower kitchen and undervault of His creation, be feasted with His
love, and that I might be a footstool to His glory before men and
angels! Oh, if He would let out heaven's fountain upon withered me,
dry and sapless me! If I were but sick of love for His love. And oh,
how would that sickness delight me! How sweet should that easing and
refreshing pain be to my soul!
[425] Favour.
I shall be glad to be a witness, to behold the kingdoms of the world
become Christ's. I could stay out of heaven many years to see that
victorious triumphing Lord act that prophesied part of His
soul-conquering love, in taking into His kingdom the greater sister,
that kirk of the Jews, who sometime courted our Well-beloved for her
little sister (Cant. viii. 8); to behold Him set up as an ensign and
banner of love, to the ends of the world. And truly we are to believe
that His wrath is ripe for the land of graven images, and for the
falling of that millstone into the midst of the sea. Grace be with
you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _March 6. 1640_.
CCXCVII.--_To the_ LADY FINGASK.
[This lady has been supposed to be LADY ANNE MONCRIEFF, wife of
Sir John Dundas of Fingask in Perthshire. She was daughter of
William Moncrieff of that ilk, and her mother was one of the
Murrays of Abercarnie. See notice prefixed to the letter to "The
Laird of Moncrieff." At the same time, it is not impossible that
Rutherford, who was then at St. Andrews, may be writing to a lady
in the neighbourhood; for we find ("Inquisit. Retornat.
Abbreviat.") that the ancestors of the martyr Thomas Forret
possessed the estate of "_Fyngask_, in regalitate Sanctæ
Andreæ."]
(_FAITH'S MISGIVINGS--SPIRITUAL DARKNESS NOT GRACE--CHRIST'S LOVE
INIMITABLE._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Though not acquainted,
yet, at the desire of a Christian, I make bold to write a line or two
unto you, by way of counsel, howbeit I be most unfit for that.
I hear, and I bless the Father of lights for it, that ye have a spirit
set to seek God, and that the posture of your heart is to look
heavenward, which is a work and cast of the Mediator Christ's right
hand, who putteth on the heart a new frame. For the which I would have
your Ladyship to see a tie and bond of obedience laid upon you, that
all may be done, not so much from obligation of law, as from the tie
of free love; that the law of ransom-paying by Christ may be the chief
ground of all our obedience, seeing that ye are not under the law, but
under grace. Withal, know that unbelief is a spiritual sin, and so not
seen by nature's light; and that all which conscience saith is not
Scripture. Suppose that your heart bear witness against you for sins
done long ago: yet, because many have pardon with God that have not
peace with themselves, ye are to stand and fall by Christ's esteem and
verdict of you, and not by that which your heart saith. Suppose it
may, by accident, be a good sign to be jealous of your heavenly
Husband's love, yet it is a sinful sign; as there be some happy sins
(if I may speak so), not of themselves, but because they are
neighboured with faith and love. And so, worthy Lady, I would have
you to hold by this, that the ancient love of an old husband standeth
firm and sure. And let faith hing by this small thread, that He loved
you before He laid the corner-stone of the world, and therefore He
cannot change His mind; because He is God, and resteth in His love.
Neither is sin in you a good reason wherefore ye should doubt of Him,
or think, because sin hath put you in the courtesy and reverence of
justice, that therefore He is wroth with you: neither is it
presumption in you to lay the burden of your salvation on One mighty
to save, so being that ye lay aside all confidence in yourself, your
worth and righteousness. True faith is humble, and seeth no way to
escape but only in Christ. And I believe that ye have put an esteem
and high price upon Christ: and they cannot but believe, and so be
saved, who love Christ, and to whom He is precious; for the love of
Christ has chosen Christ as a lover. And it were not like God, if ye
should choose Him as your liking, and He not choose you again. Nay, He
hath prevented you in that, for ye have not chosen Him, but He hath
chosen you.
O consider His loveliness and beauty, and that there is nothing which
can commend and make fair heaven, or earth, or the creature, that is
not in Him in infinite perfection; for fair sun and fair moon are
black, and think shame to shine before His fairness (Isa. xxiv. 23;
Job xxv. 5). Base heavens, and excellent Jesus! weak angels, and
strong and mighty Jesus! foolish angel-wisdom, and only wise Jesus!
short-living creature, and long-living and ever-living Ancient of
days! Miserable, and sickly, and wretched are those things that are
within time's circle, and only, only blessed Jesus! If ye can wind-in
into His love (and He giveth you leave to love Him, and allurements
also), what a second heaven's paradise, a young heaven's glory, is it
to be hot and burned with fevers of love-sickness for Him! And the
more your Ladyship drink of this love, there is the more room, and the
greater delight and desire for this love. Be homely, and hunger for a
feast and fill of His love; for that is the borders and march of
heaven. Nothing hath a nearer resemblance to the colour, and hue, and
lustre of heaven than Christ loved, and to breathe out love-words and
love-sighs for Him. Remember what He is. When twenty thousand millions
of heaven's lovers have worn their hearts threadbare of love, all is
nothing, yea, less than nothing, to His matchless worth and
excellency. Oh so broad and so deep as the sea of His desirable
loveliness is! Glorified spirits, triumphing angels, the crowned and
exalted lovers of heaven, stand without His loveliness (Ps. xvi. 2),
and cannot put a circle on it. Oh if sin and time were from betwixt us
and that royal King's love! that high Majesty (eternity's Bloom and
Flower of high lustred beauty) might shine upon pieces of created
spirits, and might bedew and overflow us, who are portions of endless
misery and lumps of redeemed sin.
Alas! what do I? I but spill and lose words in speaking highly of Him
who will bide and be above the music and songs of heaven, and never be
enough praised by us all; to whose boundless and bottomless love I
recommend your Ladyship, and am,
Your Ladyship's, in Christ Jesus,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _March 27, 1640_.
CCXCVIII.--_To his Reverend and dear Brother, MR. DAVID DICKSON, on
the Death of his Son._
["When told that Mr. Dickson had some children removed by death,
Mr. S. Rutherford presently called for a pen, and wrote a
profitable letter to Mr. Dickson; 'for' (said he) 'when one arm
is broken off and bleeds, it makes the other bleed with it'"
(Wodrow's "Analecta").]
(_GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY, AND DISCIPLINE BY AFFLICTION._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Ye look like the house whereof ye are a
branch: the cross is a part of the liferent that lieth to all the sons
of the house. I desire to suffer with you, if I could take a lift of
your house-trial off you; but ye have preached it ere I knew anything
of God. Your Lord may gather His roses, and shake His apples, at what
season of the year He pleaseth. Each husbandman cannot make harvest
when he pleaseth, as He can do. Ye are taught to know and adore His
sovereignty, which He exerciseth over you, which yet is lustred with
mercy. The child hath but changed a bed in the garden, and is planted
up higher, nearer the sun, where he shall thrive better than in this
outfield muir-ground. Ye must think your Lord would not want him one
hour longer; and since the date of your loan of him was expired (as it
is, if ye read the lease), let Him have His own with gain, as good
reason were. I read on it an exaltation and a richer measure of grace,
as the sweet fruit of your cross; and I am bold to say, that that
college where your Master hath set you now shall find it.
I am content that Christ is so homely with my dear brother David
Dickson, as to borrow and lend, and take and give with him. And ye
know what are called the visitations of such a friend: it is, Come to
the house, and be homely with what is yours. I persuade myself, upon
His credit, that He hath left drink-money, and that He hath made the
house the better of Him. I envy[426] not His waking love, who saw that
this water was to be passed through, and that now the number of
crosses lying in your way to glory are fewer by one than when I saw
you. They must decrease. It is better than any ancient or modern
commentary on your text, that ye preach upon in Glasgow. Read and
spell right, for He knoweth what He doeth. He is only lopping and
snedding a fruitful tree, that it may be more fruitful. I congratulate
heartily with you His new welcome to your new charge.
[426] Read "envy not," that is, fret not at His love, which is fully
awake to what it is doing.
Dearest brother, go on, and faint not. Something of yours is in
heaven, beside the flesh of your exalted Saviour; and ye go on after
your own. Time's thread is shorter by one inch than it was. An oath is
sworn and past the seals, whether afflictions will or not, ye must
grow, and swell out of your shell, and live, and triumph, and reign,
and be more than a conqueror. For your Captain, who leadeth you on, is
more than conqueror, and He maketh you partaker of His conquest and
victory. Did not love to you compel me, I would not fetch water to the
well, and speak to one who knoweth better than I can do what God is
doing with him.
Remember my love to your wife, to Mr. John,[427] and all friends
there. Let us be helped by your prayers, for I cease not to make
mention of you to the Lord, as I can.
[427] Dickson's eldest son, who became Clerk to the Exchequer of
Scotland.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _May 28, 1640_.
CCXCIX.--_To my LADY BOYD, on the loss of several Friends._
(_TRUST EVEN THOUGH SLAIN--SECOND CAUSES NOT TO BE REGARDED--GOD'S
THOUGHTS OF PEACE THEREIN--ALL IN MERCY._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Impute it not to a
disrespective forgetfulness of your Ladyship, who ministered to me in
my bonds, that I write not to you.
I wish that I could speak or write what might do good to your
Ladyship; especially now when I think we cannot but have deep thoughts
of the deep and bottomless ways of our Lord, in taking away, with a
sudden and wonderful stroke, your brethren and friends. Ye may know,
that all who die for sin die not in sin; and that "none can teach the
Almighty knowledge." He answereth none of our courts,[428] and no man
can say, "What doest Thou?" It is true that your brethren saw not many
summers; but adore and fear the sovereignty of the great Potter, who
maketh and marreth His clay-vessels when and how it pleaseth Him.
[428] When we summon Him into our court to explain.
The under-garden is absolutely His own, and all that groweth in it.
His absolute liberty is law-biding. The flowers are His own. If some
be but summer apples, He may pluck them down before others. Oh what
wisdom is it to believe, and not to dispute; to subject the thoughts
to His court, and not to repine at any act of His justice? He hath
done it: all flesh be silent! It is impossible to be submissive and
religiously patient, if ye stay your thoughts down among the confused
rollings and wheels of second causes; as, "Oh the place!" "Oh the
time!" "Oh if this had been, this had not followed!" Oh the linking of
this accident with this time and place! Look up to the master-motion
and the first wheel. See and read the decree of Heaven and the Creator
of man, who breweth death to His children, and the manner of it. And
they see far into a millstone, and have eyes that make a hole to see
through the one side of a mountain to the other, who can take up His
ways. "How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding
out!" His providence halteth not, but goeth with even and equal legs.
Yet are they not the greatest sinners upon whom the tower of Siloam
fell. Was not time's lease expired? and the sand of heaven's
sand-glass, set by our Lord, run out? Is not he an unjust debtor who
payeth due debt with chiding?
I believe, Christian lady, your faith leaveth that much charity to our
Lord's judgments as to believe (howbeit ye be in blood sib to that
cross) that yet ye are exempted and freed from the gall and wrath that
is in it. I dare not deny but "the king of terrors dwelleth in the
wicked man's tabernacle: brimstone shall be scattered on his
habitation" (Job xviii. 15); yet, Madam, it is safe for you to live
upon the faith of His love whose arrows are over-watered and pointed
with love and mercy to His own, and who knoweth how to take you and
yours out of the roll and book of the dead. Our Lord hath not the
eyes of flesh in distributing wrath to the thousandth generation
without exception. Seeing ye are not under the law, but under grace,
and married to another Husband, wrath is not the court that you are
liable to.
As I would not wish, neither do I believe, that your Ladyship doth
"_despise_," so neither "_faint_" (Prov. iii. 11). Read and spell
aright all the words and syllables in the visitation, and miscall
neither letter nor syllable in it. Come along with the Lord, and see;
and lay no more weight upon the law than your Christ hath laid upon
it. If the law's bill get an answer from Christ, the curses of it can
do more. And I hope you have resolved that, if He should grind you to
powder, your dust and powder will believe His salvation.
And who can tell what thoughts of love and peace our Lord hath to your
children? I trust He will make them famous in executing the written
judgments upon the enemies of the Lord ("this honour hath all the
saints," Ps. cxlix. 9), and that they shall bear stones on their
shoulders for building that fair city that is called "The Lord is
there" (Ezek. xlviii. 35). And happy shall they be who have a hand in
the sacking of Babel, and come out in the year of vengeance for the
controversy of Zion, against the land of graven images. Therefore,
Madam, let the Lord make out of your father's house any work, even of
judgment, that He pleaseth. What is wrath to others is mercy to you
and your house. It is faith's work to claim and challenge
loving-kindness out of all the roughest strokes of God. Do that for
the Lord which ye will do for time: time will calm your heart at that
which God hath done, and let our Lord have it now. What love ye did
bear to friends now dead, seeing they stand now in no need of it, let
it fall as just legacy to Christ. Oh how sweet to put out many strange
lovers, and to put in Christ! It is much for our half-slain affections
to part with that which we believe we have right unto; but the
servant's will should be our will, and he is the best servant who
retaineth least of his own will and most of his Master's. That much
wisdom must be ascribed to our Lord, that He knoweth how to lead His
own, in-through and out-through the little time-hells and the pieces
of time-during wraths in this life; and yet keep safe His love,
without any blur upon the old and great seal of free election. And,
seeing His mountains of brass,[429] the mighty and strong decrees of
free grace in Christ, stand sure, and the covenant standeth fast for
ever as the days of heaven, let Him strike and nurture. His striking
must be a very act of saving, seeing strokes upon His secret ones come
from the soft and heavenly hand of the Mediator, and His rods are
steeped and watered in that flood and river of love that cometh from
the God-man's heart of our soul-loving and soul-redeeming JESUS.
[429] Zech. vi. 1.
I hope that ye are content to frist the Cautioner of mankind His own
conquest, heaven, till He pay to you, and bring you to a state of
glory, where He will never crook a finger upon, nor lift a hand to you
again. And be content, and withal greedily covetous of grace, the
interest and pledge of glory. If I did not believe your crop to be on
the ground, and (your part of that heaven of the saints-heaven) white
and ruddy, fair, fair, and beautiful Jesus were come to the bloom and
the flower, and near your hook, I would not write this. But, seeing
time's thread is short, and ye are upon the entry of heaven's harvest,
and Christ, the field of heaven's glory, is white and ripe-like, the
losses that I wrote of to your Ladyship are but summer-showers that
will only wet your garments for an hour or two, and the sun of the New
Jerusalem shall quickly dry the wet coat; especially seeing rains of
affliction cannot stain the image of God, or cause grace to cast
colour. And, since ye will not alter upon Him who will not change upon
you, I durst, in my weakness, think myself no spiritual seer if I
should not prophesy that daylight is near, when such a morning-darkness
is upon you; and that this trial of your Christian mind towards Him
(whom you dare not leave, howbeit He should slay you) shall close with
a doubled mercy. It is time for faith to hold fast as much of Christ
as ever ye had, and to make the grip stronger, and to cleave closer to
Him, seeing Christ loveth to be believed in and trusted to. The glory
of laying strength upon one that is mighty to save is more than we can
think. That piece of service, believing in a smiting Redeemer, is a
precious part of obedience. Oh what glory to Him to lay over the
burden of our heaven upon Him that purchased for us an eternal
kingdom! O blessed soul, who can adore and kiss His lovely free grace!
The rich grace of Christ be with your spirit.
Yours, at all obedience in Christ Jesus,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Oct. 15, 1640_.
CCC.--_To AGNES MACMATH, on the Death of a Child._
[AGNES MACMATH was the daughter of Mr. Macmath, a merchant in
Edinburgh, and the sister of Rutherford's second wife.]
(_REASON FOR RESIGNATION._)
DEAR SISTER,--If our Lord hath taken away your child, your lease of
him is expired; and seeing that Christ would want him no longer, it is
your part to hold your peace, and worship and adore the sovereignty
and liberty that the Potter hath over the clay, and pieces of
clay-nothings, that He gave life unto. And what is man to call and
summon the Almighty to His lower court down here? "for He giveth
account of none of His doings." And if ye will take the loan of a
child, and give him back again to our Lord laughing (as His borrowed
goods should return to Him), believe that he is not gone away, but
sent before; and that the change of the country should make you think,
that he is not lost to you who is found to Christ, and that he is now
before you; and that the dead in Christ shall be raised again. A
going-down star is not annihilated, but shall appear again. If he hath
casten his bloom and flower, the bloom is fallen in heaven, into
Christ's lap. And as he was lent a while to time, so is he given now
to eternity, which will take yourself. The difference of your shipping
and his to heaven and Christ's shore, the land of life, is only in
some few years, which weareth every day shorter; and some short and
soon-reckoned summers will give you a meeting with him. But what! With
him? Nay, but with a better company; with the Chief and Leader of the
heavenly troops, that are riding on white horses, that are triumphing
in glory.
If death were a sleep that had no wakening, we might sorrow: but our
Husband shall quickly be at the bedsides of all that lie sleeping in
the grave, and shall raise their mortal bodies. Christ was death's
Cautioner, who gave His word to come and loose all the clay-pawns, and
set them at His own right hand; and our Cautioner, Christ, hath an act
of law-surety upon death, to render back his captives. And that Lord
Jesus, who knoweth the turnings and windings that are in that black
trance of death, hath numbered all the steps of the stair up to
heaven. He knoweth how long the turnpike is, or how many pair of
stairs high it is; for He ascended that way Himself: "I was dead and
am alive" (Rev. i. 18). And now He liveth at the right hand of God,
and His garments have not so much as a smell of death.
Your afflictions smell of the children's case; the bairns of the house
are so nurtured (Heb. xii. 6, 7, 8). And suffering is no new life, it
is but the rent of the sons; bastards have not so much of the rent.
Take kindly and heartsomely with His cross, who never yet slew a child
with the cross. He breweth your cup: therefore, drink it patiently and
with the better will. Stay and wait on, till Christ loose the knot
that fasteneth His cross on your back; for He is coming to deliver.
And I pray you, sister, learn to be worthy of His pains who
correcteth. And let Him wring, and be ye washen; for He hath a
Father's heart, and a Father's hand, who is training you up, and
making you meet for the high hall. This school of suffering is a
preparation for the King's higher house; and let all your visitations
speak all the letters of your Lord's summons. They cry--1. "O vain
world!" 2. "O bitter sin!" 3. "O short and uncertain time!" 4. "O fair
eternity that is above sickness and death!" 5. "O kingly and princely
Bridegroom, hasten glory's marriage, shorten time's short-spun and
soon-broken thread, and conquer sin!" 6. "O happy and blessed death,
that golden bridge laid over by Christ my Lord, between time's
clay-banks and heaven's shore!" And the Spirit and the Bride say,
"Come!" and answer ye with them, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus! come
quickly!"
Grace be with you.
Your Brother, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Oct. 15, 1640_.
CCCI.--_To_ MR. MATTHEW MOWAT.
(_WORTHINESS OF GOD'S LOVE AS MANIFESTED IN CHRIST--HEAVEN WITH
CHRIST._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--What am I to answer you? Alas! my books
are all bare, and show me little of God. I would fain go beyond books
into His house-of-love to Himself. Dear brother, neither you nor I are
parties worthy of His love or knowledge. Ah! how hath sin bemisted and
blinded us, that we cannot see Him. But for my poor self; I am pained
and like to burst, because He will not take down the wall, and fetch
His uncreated beauty, and bring His matchless, white, and ruddy face
out of heaven once-errand, that I may have heaven meeting me, ere I
go to it, in such a wonderful sight. Ye know that majesty and love do
humble; because homely love to sinners dwelleth in Him with majesty.
Ye should give Him all His own court-styles, His high and
heaven-names. What am I, to shape conceptions of my highest Lord? How
broad, and how high, and how deep He is above and beyond what these
conceptions are, I cannot tell: but for my own weak practice (which
alas! can be no rule to one so deep in love-sickness with Christ as ye
are), I would fain add to my thoughts and esteem of Him, and make Him
more high, and would wish a heart and love ten thousand times wider
than the utmost circle and curtain that goeth about the heaven of
heavens, to entertain Him in that heart, and with that love. But that
which is your pain, my dear brother, is mine also. I am confounded
with the thoughts of Him. I know that God is casten (if I may speak
so) in a sweet mould, and lovely image, in the person of that Heaven's
Jewel, the Man Christ; and that the steps of that steep ascent and
stairs to the Godhead is the flesh of Christ, the New and Living Way;
and there is footing for faith in that curious Ark of the humanity,
wherein dwelleth the Godhead, married upon our humanity. I would be in
heaven, suppose I had not another errand than to see that dainty
golden Ark, and God personally looking out at ears and eyes and a body
such as we sinners have, that I might wear my sinful mouth in kisses
on Him for evermore. And I know all the Three blessed Persons would be
well pleased that my piece of faint and created love should first
coast upon the Man Christ. I should see them all through Him.
I am called from writing by my great employments in this town, and
have said nothing. But what can I say of Him? Let us go and see.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, 1640.
CCCII.--_To my LADY KENMURE, on her Husband's Death._
(_GOD'S METHOD IN AFFLICTION--FUTURE GLORY._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your Ladyship.--I am heartily
sorry that your Ladyship is deprived of such a husband, and the Lord's
kirk of so active and faithful a friend.[430] I know your Ladyship
long ago made acquaintance with that wherein Christ will have you to
be joined in a fellowship with Himself (even with His own cross), and
hath taught you to stay your soul upon the Lord's good-will, who
giveth not account of His matters to any of us. When He hath led you
through this water that was in your way to glory, there are fewer
behind: and His order in dismissing us, and sending us out of the
market, one before another, is to be reverenced. One year's time of
heaven shall swallow up all sorrows, even beyond all comparison. What,
then, will not a duration of blessedness so long as God shall live,
fully and abundantly recompense! It is good that our Lord hath given a
debtor, obliged by gracious promises, far more in eternity than time
can take from you. And I believe that your Ladyship hath been, now
many years, advising and thinking what that glory will be, which is
abiding the pilgrims and strangers on the earth when they come home,
and which we may think of, love, and thirst for. But we cannot
comprehend it nor conceive of it as it is; far less we can over-think
or over-love it. Oh, so long a Chapter, or rather so large a Volume,
as Christ is, in that Divinity of Glory! There is no more of Him let
down now to be seen and enjoyed by His children, than as much as may
feed hunger in this life, but not satisfy it. Your Ladyship is a
debtor to the Son of God's cross, that is wearing out love and
affiance in the creature out of your heart by degrees. Or rather the
obligation standeth to His free grace who careth for your Ladyship in
this gracious dispensation; and who is preparing and making ready the
garments of salvation for you; and who calleth you with a new name,
that the mouth of the Lord hath named; and purposeth to make you a
crown of glory, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God (Isa. lxii.
2, 3). Ye are obliged to frist Him more than one heaven; and yet He
craveth not a long day; it is fast coming, and is sure payment. Though
ye give no hire for Him, yet hath He given a great price and ransom
for you; and if the bargain were to make again, Christ would give no
less for you than what He hath already given. He is far from ruing. I
shall wish you no more (till time be gone out of the way), than the
earnest of that which He hath purchased and prepared for you, which
can never be fully preached, written, or thought of, since it hath not
entered into the heart to consider it.
[430] Hon. Sir Henry Montgomery of Giffen, her Ladyship's second
husband, died about this time. See Letter III.
So, recommending your Ladyship to the rich grace of our Lord Jesus, I
am, and rest, your Ladyship's at all respectful observance in Christ
Jesus,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS.
CCCIII.--_For the Right Honourable, my_ LADY BOYD.
(_SIN OF THE LAND--READ PRAYERS--BROWNISM._)
MADAM,--I doubt not but the debt of many more than ordinary favours to
this land layeth guiltiness upon this nation. The Lord hath put us in
His books as a favoured people in the sight of the nations, but we pay
not to Him the rent of the vineyard. And we might have had a gospel at
an easier rate than this Gospel; but it would have had but as much
life as ink and paper have. We stand obliged to Him who hath in a
manner forced His love on us, and would but love us against our will.
Anent read prayers. Madam, I could never see precept, promise, or
practice for them, in God's word. Our church never allowed them, but
men took them up at their own choice. The word of God maketh reading
(1 Tim. iv. 3) and praying (1 Thess. v. 17) two different worships. In
reading, God speaketh to us (2 Kings xxii. 10, 11); in praying, we
speak to God (Ps. xxii. 2, xxviii. 1). I had never faith to think well
of them. In my weak judgment, it were good if they were out of the
service of God. I cannot think them a fruit or effect of the Spirit of
adoption, seeing the user cannot say of such prayers, "Let the words
of my mouth, and the meditations of my heart, be acceptable in Thy
sight, O Lord, my Strength and my Redeemer," which the servants of God
ought to say of their prayers (Ps. xix. 14). For such prayers are
meditations set down in paper and ink, and cannot be his
heart-meditations who useth them. The saints never used them, and God
never commanded them; and a promise to hear any prayers, except the
pouring out of the soul to God, we can never read.
As for separation from worship for some errors of a church, the
independency of single congregations, a church of visible saints, and
other tenets of Brownists,[431] they are contrary to God's word. I
have a treatise at the press at London against these conceits, as
things which want God's word to warrant them.[432] The Lord lay it
not to their charge, who depart from the covenant of God with this
land to follow such lying vanities.
[431] The Brownists were a sect which owed their origin to Robert
Brown, who studied at Cambridge. He maintained that every single
congregation ought to have the complete power of jurisdiction within
itself. In the year 1581 he organized a sect according to those
principles. Yet afterwards he returned to the Church of England, and
was presented to a living in Northamptonshire, of which he received
the emoluments without discharging the duties. The sect he formed
remained; but in process of time the name of Brownists was merged in
that of Congregationalists or Independents.
[432] The treatise to which Rutherford here refers is, no doubt, his
work entitled, "A Peaceable and Temperate Plea for Paul's Presbytery
in Scotland, or a Modest Dispute of the Government of the Church of
Scotland, wherein our Discipline is demonstrated to be the true
Apostolic way of Divine Truth, and the arguments on the contrary are
friendly dissolved, the grounds of separation, and the independency of
particular congregations, in defence of Ecclesiastical Presbyteries,
Synods, and Assemblies, are examined and tried." It was printed at
London in 1642. "This," says Murray, "is one of the most temperate,
judicious, and best written works he ever gave to the world. It
corresponds in every respect with the promise which its title holds
out; with this exception, that it is much more learned, dispassionate,
and conclusive than the promise implies. It must have had a very
considerable effect on public sentiment, and have served to pave the
way for that introduction of the Presbyterian system into England
which soon took place."
I did see lately your daughter, the Lady Ardross.[433] The Lord hath
given her a child and deliverance.
[433] See notice on this lady prefixed to a subsequent Letter.
Now, recommending your Ladyship to the rich grace of Christ, I rest
yours at all respectful observance in Christ,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS.
CCCIV.--_To_ JAMES MURRAY'S WIFE. [See Letter CCLXXIV.]
(_HEAVEN A REALITY--STEDFASTNESS TO BE GROUNDED ON CHRIST._)
MY VERY DEAR AND WORTHY SISTER,--You are truly blessed in the Lord,
however a sour world gloom and frown on you, if ye continue in the
faith settled and grounded, and be not moved away from the hope of the
Gospel. It is good that there is a heaven, and it is not a night-dream
and a fancy. It is a wonder that men deny not that there is a heaven,
as they deny there is any way to it but of men's making. You have
learned of Christ that there is a heaven; contend for it and for
Christ. Bear well and submissively the hard thrust of this stepmother
world, which God will not have to be yours. I confess it is hard, and,
would to God, I were able to lighten you of your burden; but believe
me, this world, which the Lord will not have to be yours, is but the
dross, refuse, and scum of God's creation, the portion of the Lord's
poor hired servants, the moveables, not the heritage, a hard bone cast
to the dogs holden out of the New Jerusalem, whereupon they rather
break their teeth than satisfy their appetite. It is your father's
blessing and Christ's birthright that our Lord is keeping for you; and
persuade yourself also that (if it be good for them and you) your seed
also shall inherit the earth; for that is promised to them, and God's
bond is as good as if He would give every one of them a bond for
thousand thousands.
Ere ye were born, crosses in number, measure and weight, were written
for you; and your Lord will lead you through them. Make Christ sure,
and the world and the blessings of the earth shall be at Christ's back
and beck. I see many professors for the fashion, professors of glass;
I would make a little knock of persecution ding them in twenty pieces,
and the world would laugh at the shreds. Therefore, make fast work;
see that Christ be the ground-stone of your profession. The sore wind
and rain will not wash away His building; His work hath no less date
than to stand for evermore. I should twenty times have perished in my
affliction, if I had not laid my weak back and pressing burden, both,
upon the Stone, the Corner-stone laid in Zion. I am not twice fain (as
the proverb is), but once and for ever, of this Stone. Now the God of
peace establish you to the day of the appearance of Jesus Christ.
Yours,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS.
CCCV.--_For the Right Honourable Lady, my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_SINS OF THE TIMES--PRACTICAL ATHEISM._)
MADAM,--I am a little moved at your infirmity of body and health; I
hope it is to you a real warning. "And if in this life only we had
hope, we should be of all men the most miserable." Sure the huge[434]
generations of the seekers of the face of Jacob's God must be in a
life above the things that are now much taking with us; such as, to
see the sun, to enjoy this life in health, and some good worldly
accommodations too. And if we be making that[435] sure, it is our
wisdom. The times would make any that love the Lord sick and faint, to
consider how iniquity aboundeth, and how dull we are in observing sins
in ourselves, and how quick-sighted to find them out in others, and
what bondage we are in. And yet very often, when we complain of times,
we are secretly slandering the Lord's work and wise government of the
world, and raising a hard report of Him. "He is good, and doeth good,"
and all His ways are equal.
[434] Must even here be in possession of a life far superior to the
things that at present attract us. "_Huge_" may mean "vast as to
number" (Isa. xlviii. 19), and also, great in other respects.
[435] If we are making this living above the world sure.
Madam, I have been holding out to some others (oh, if I could to
myself!) some more of this, to read and study God well, and make the
serious thoughts of a Godhead, and a Godhead in Christ, the work, and
the only work, all the day. Oh, we are little with God! and do all
without God! We sleep and wake without Him; we eat, we speak, we
journey, we go about worldly business and our calling without God!
and, considering what deadness is upon the hearts of many, it were
good that some did not pray without God, and preach and praise, and
read and confer of God without God! It is universally complained of,
that there is a strange deadness upon the land, and on the hearts of
His people. Oh, if we could help it! But He that watereth every moment
His garden of red wine must help it. I believe that He will burn the
briers and the thorns that come against Him.
I desire to remember your Ladyship to God; but little can I do that
way. His everlasting goodness will be with you.
Yours, in the Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _July 24_.
CCCVI.--_To_ MR. THOMAS WYLIE, _Minister of Borgue_.
[MR. THOMAS WYLIE was minister of Borgue, a parish in the
stewartry of Kirkcudbright, in which are to be seen, close to the
sea-shore, the remains of what is supposed to have been one of
the old Culdee churches, _Kirk Andrews_. He was afterwards
translated to Mauchline, a parish in Ayrshire; but he remained
there only a short time, having soon after his translation to it
accepted a call to Kirkcudbright. But he was not allowed long to
prosecute his useful labours in that place. Shortly after the
restoration of Charles II., his fidelity to his Presbyterian
principles rendering him obnoxious to the Government, he was, by
a particular act of Privy Council, ejected from his charge, and
banished to the north of Tay, with his family. In 1670 he went
over to Ireland (where some of his relatives appear to have
resided), and officiated in a congregation at Coleraine for
nearly three years, when he returned to Scotland, and was settled
minister of Fenwick, in the Presbytery of Irvine, under the
second Indulgence. He died on July 20, 1676.]
(_SUFFICIENCY OF DIVINE GRACE--CALL TO ENGLAND TO ASSIST AT
WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY--FELT UNWORTHINESS._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I neither can nor dow write to you anent
the business, in respect it is my case more as yours, and ye write to
me that which I should write to you. If grace pay not our debts and
bond-surety for us, I see not how I shall make a reckoning for one
soul, far less for multitudes; only it is God's will that we put
grace to the utmost, and engage Christ for His own work. If He refuse
charges to His own factors, the lost bankruptcy will redound to Him.
But He must not be a loser, nor can His glory suffer. But I must
entreat you for the help of your prayers, as you will do for me
anything out of heaven, and possible to you. I am now called for to
England; the government of the Lord's house in England and Ireland is
to be handled.[436] My heart beareth me witness, and the Lord who is
greater knoweth, my faith was never prouder than to be a common rough
country barrowman in Anwoth; and that I could not look at the honour
of being a mason to lay the foundation for many generations, and to
build the waste places of Zion in another kingdom, or to have a hand
or finger in that carved work in the cedar and almug trees in that new
temple. I desire but to lend a shut,[437] and cry, "Grace, grace upon
the building." I hope ye will help my weakness in this; and seek help
to me from others as if I had named them, and intercede for the favour
of my Father's seas, winds, and tides, and for the victory of strong
and prevailing truth.
[436] On the 18th of August 1643, the General Assembly appointed a
committee to proceed to London, to consult, treat, and conclude with
the Assembly of Divines then sitting at Westminster, in all matters
which might further the union of the churches of Scotland and England
in one form of Church Government, one Confession of Faith, one
Catechism, and one Directory for the worship of God. Of this committee
Rutherford was one. The others were--Mr. Alexander Henderson, Mr.
Robert Douglas, Mr. Robert Baillie, and Mr. George Gillespie,
ministers; John Earl of Cassillis, John Lord Maitland, and Sir
Archibald Johnston of Warriston, elders.
[437] A push; but probably we should read "shout."
Grace be with you.
Yours in Christ,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _20th Oct. 1643_.
CCCVII.--_To a Young Man in Anwoth_.
[This letter is from the "Christian Instructor" of January 1839,
furnished by one who was in possession of the MS. It was written
at _St. Andrews_, but both date and address are lost. It is
supposed to have been addressed to one of his former
parishioners, a young man in Anwoth, of some influence.]
(_NECESSITY OF GODLINESS IN ITS POWER._)
WORTHY SIR,--I am heartily glad that you have any mind of me, or my
ministry while I was with you. I wish you the fruit of it. I trust
that you strive for the power of godliness, that has been so preached
in the land; for salvation cometh not to every man's door, and the
way to heaven is a straiter and narrower passage than each man
thinketh. And you are now in the most glassy part of your life, when
it is easy to follow, and when the lusts of youth are rank and strong.
And happy are you that can pass through these dangers with a good
conscience. So my real advice is, that you acquaint yourself with
prayer, and with searching the Scriptures of God, that He may show you
that good way that bringeth rest to the soul. The ordinary faith and
the country godliness will not save you. There must be more nor the
righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees ere ever a man enter the
kingdom of God. And I shall desire that you will take to heart the
worth and price of an immortal soul, and the necessity of dying, and
the fearful account of judgment at the back of death, that you may be
saved.
As for my ministry among you again, I can easier desire it than see
through it. The Lord of the harvest take care for you, and send you a
pastor according to God's heart; and that's as rare as ever, for all
our reformation.
Remember my heart's love and respect to your mother and sister. Grace
be with you.
Your sometime pastor and still friend in God,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS.
CCCVIII.--_For the Right Honourable, my Lady_ VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.
(_WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY--RELIGIOUS SECTS._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am glad to hear that
your Ladyship is in any tolerable health; and shall pray that the Lord
may be your Strength and Rock. Sure I am, that He took you out of the
womb; and you have been casten on Him from the breasts. I am confident
that He will not leave you till He crown the work begun in you.
There is nothing here but divisions in the Church and Assembly;[438]
for beside Brownists and Independents[439] (who, of all that differ
from us, come nearest to walkers with God), there are many other
sects here, of Anabaptists,[440] Libertines who are for all opinions
in religion, fleshly and abominable Antinomians,[441] and
Seekers,[442] who are for no church-ordinances, but expect apostles to
come and reform churches; and a world of others, all against the
government of presbyteries.[443] Luther observed, when he studied to
reform, that two-and-thirty sundry sects arose; of all which I have
named a part, except those called Seekers, who were not then arisen.
He said, God should crush them, and that they should rise again: both
which we see accomplished. In the Assembly, we have well near ended
the government, and are upon the power of Synods, and I hope near at
an end with them; and so I trust to be delivered from this prison
shortly. The King hath dissolved the treaty of peace at Uxbridge, and
adhereth to his sweet prelates, and would abate nothing but a little
of the rigour of their courts, and a suspending of laws against the
ceremonies, not a taking away of them.[444] The not prospering of our
armies there in Scotland is ascribed here to the sins of the land, and
particularly to the divisions and back-slidings of many from the
cause, and the not executing of justice against bloody malignants.
[438] The Assembly of Divines at Westminster.
[439] The Independents are well known. Their real founder is
considered to have been one Mr. John Robinson, who became a Brownist
and was admitted pastor of the English church at Leyden. When he died,
many of his congregation went from Leyden into New England, whither
they carried his opinions, which spread widely there, and then by
letters and other means were conveyed back into Old England.
[440] The Anabaptists of England at that time are not to be confounded
with the fanatics of the same name who appeared in Germany in 1521,
soon after the dawn of the Reformation. The peculiar opinions of
English Anabaptists were, that baptism ought to be administered only
to adults, and that the mode of it ought to be by immersion, or
dipping. They were divided into _General_ and _Particular_, the former
holding Arminian views of Christian doctrine, while the latter were
strictly Calvinistic.
[441] The Antinomians professed to hold doctrinal sentiments rigidly
Calvinistic; but they deduced from them conclusions deeply injurious
to the interests of religion and morality.
[442] Of the _Seekers_ or _Expecters_, Pagitt has given the following
account:--"They deny that there is any true church, or any true
minister, or any ordinances: some of them affirm the church to be in
the wilderness, and they are asking for it there; others say that it
is in the smoke of the temple, and that they are groping for it there"
("Heresiography," p. 141).
[443] Thomas Edwards, in his "Gangræna," enumerates sixteen sorts of
sectaries of that time. 1. Independents; 2. Brownists; 3. Chiliasts,
or Millennaries; 4. Antinomians; 5. Anabaptists; 6. Manifestarians, or
Arminians; 7. Libertines; 8. Familists; 9. Enthusiasts; 10. Seekers
and Waiters; 11. Perfectists; 12. Socinians; 13. Arians; 14.
Antitrinitarians; 15. Antiscripturists; 16. Sceptics and Questionists,
who question everything in matters of religion. In these different
sects there were many subdivisions.
[444] In the contest between Charles I. and his English Parliament,
Charles was induced to make proposals of a treaty to the Parliament.
Uxbridge was fixed on as the place for conducting the treaty; and
commissioners from the King, the Parliament, and Scotland, were
appointed. But they found it impracticable to come to any agreement.
He alludes to this in his sermon before the House of Lords.
My wife here, under the physicians, remembereth her service to your
Ladyship. So recommending you to the rich grace of Christ, I rest,
your Ladyship's, at all obedience in Christ,
S. R.
LONDON, _March 4, 1644_.
CCCIX.--_For the Right Honourable, my_ LADY BOYD.
(_PROCEEDINGS OF THE WESTMINSTER ASSEMBLY._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I received your letter on
May 19th.
We are here debating, with much contention of disputes, for the just
measures of the Lord's temple. It pleaseth God, that sometimes enemies
hinder the building of the Lord's house; but now friends, even
gracious men (so I conceive of them), do not a little hinder the work.
Thomas Goodwin,[445] Jeremiah Burroughs,[446] and some others, four or
five, who are for the Independent way, stand in our way, and are
mighty opposites to presbyterial government. We have carried through
some propositions for the Scripture right of presbytery, especially in
the church of Jerusalem (Acts ii. iv. v. vi. and xv.), and the church
of Ephesus, and are going on upon other grounds of truth; and by the
way have proven, that ordination of pastors belongeth not to a single
congregation, but to a college of presbyters, whose it is to lay hands
upon Timothy and others (1 Tim. iv. 14, v. 17; Acts xiii. 1, 2, 3, vi.
5, 6). We are to prove that one single congregation hath not power to
excommunicate, which is opposed not only by Independent men, but by
many others. The truth is, we have at times grieved spirits with the
work; and for my part, I often despair of the reformation of this
land, which saw never anything but the high places of their fathers,
and the remnants of Babylon's pollutions; and except that, "not by
might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord," I should think
God hath not yet thought it time for England's deliverance. For the
truth is, the best of them almost have said, "A half reformation is
very fair at the first;" which is no other thing than, "It is not time
yet to build the house of the Lord." And for that cause, many houses,
great and fair in the land, are laid desolate.
[445] Thomas Goodwin, a distinguished Puritan divine, and latterly
pastor of a church in London, styled by Anthony Wood "one of the
Atlasses and patriarchs of Independency." He was in high favour with
Cromwell. He was born at Rolesby, in Norfolk, in 1600, and died in
1679. His works extended to five volumes folio, and are invaluable. In
his exposition of the first and part of the second chapter of the
Epistle to the Ephesians, there is an admirable defence of Calvinism.
[446] Jeremiah Burroughs, another eminent Puritan divine, was also a
minister in London. He was born in 1599, and died in 1646. He is the
author of numerous theological works, which, if not important, are
useful. It is said that the divisions of the times broke his heart.
Multitudes of Anabaptists, Antinomians, Familists,[447]
Separatists,[448] are here. The best of the people are of the
Independent way. As for myself, I know no more if there be a sound
Christian (setting aside some, yea, not a few learned, some zealous
and faithful ministers whom I have met with) at London (though I doubt
not but there are many), than if I were in Spain; which maketh me
bless God that the communion of saints, how desirable soever, yet is
not the thing, even that great thing, Christ and the remission of
sins. If Jesus were unco,[449] as His members are here, I should be in
a sad and heavy condition.
[447] The sect of the _Familists_ or _Family of Love_, have been
associated with one David George of Delft, who, in 1544, fled out of
Holland to Basle, giving it out that he was banished from the Low
Countries, and changed his name, calling himself John of Brugg. He
affirmed that he was the true David whom God had promised to send to
restore again the kingdom of Israel, and wrote various books in
support of his pretensions. He died on the 16th of September 1556.
After him rose up one Henry Nicholas, born in Amsterdam, who
maintained the same doctrine, but applied it to himself and not to
David George. (See Works of Greenham, p. 219, H. N.) One Christopher
Vivet, a joiner dwelling in Southwark, who had been in Queen Mary's
days an Arian, translated out of Dutch into English several of the
books of Henry Nicholas, among which was his "Evangelium Regni." The
claims of Nicholas were those of a fanatic, and his system was a lie.
(Pagitt's "Heresiography," pp. 81-91.)
[448] The "Separatists" were a kind of Anabaptists, so called because
they pretended to be separate from the rest of the world. They
condemned fine clothes. To them that laughed they would cry, "Woe be
to you that laugh, for hereafter ye shall mourn." They did look sadly,
and fetched deep sighs; they avoided marriage meetings, feasts, music;
and condemned the bearing of arms and Covenants. (Pagitt's
"Heresiography," p. 30.)
[449] Strange.
The House of Peers are rotten men, and hate our Commissioners and our
cause both. The life that is is in the House of Commons, and many of
them also have their religion to choose. The sorrows of a travailing
woman are come on the land. Our army is lying about York, and have
blocked up them of Newcastle,[450] and six thousand Papists and
Malignants, with Mr. Thomas Sydserf, and some Scottish prelates; and
if God deliver them into their hands (considering how strong the
Parliament's armies are, how many victories God hath given them since
they entered into covenant with Him, and how weak the King is), it may
be thought the land is near a deliverance. But I rather desire it than
believe it.
[450] In the end of the year 1643, the Scottish army raised by the
Convention of Estates for the assistance of the English Parliament
marched into England, and, having joined the Parliamentary forces,
blockaded Newcastle, as Rutherford here describes.
We offered this day to the Assembly a part of a directory for worship,
to shoulder out the service-book. It is taken into consideration by
the Assembly.
Your son Lindsay[451] is well: I receive letters from him almost every
week.
Yours at all obedience in God,
S. R.
LONDON, _May 25, 1644_.
[451] Afterwards Earl of Crawford. See notice of, Letter CCXXXI.
CCCX.--_To_ MISTRESS TAYLOR, _on her son's death_. [_Her son was a
parishioner of Mr. Blair._]
(_SUGGESTIONS FOR COMFORT UNDER SORROW._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--Though I have no
relation worldly or acquaintance with you, yet (upon the testimony and
importunity of your elder son now at London, where I am, but chiefly
because I esteem Jesus Christ in you to be in place of all relations)
I make bold, in Christ, to speak my poor thoughts to you concerning
your son lately fallen asleep in the Lord, who was sometime under the
ministry of the worthy servant of Christ, my fellow-labourer, Mr.
Blair, by whose ministry I hope he reaped no small advantage. I know
that grace rooteth not out the affections of a mother, but putteth
them on His wheel who maketh all things new, that they may be refined:
therefore, sorrow for a dead child is allowed to you, though by
measure and ounce-weights. The redeemed of the Lord have not a
dominion, or lordship, over their sorrow and other affections, to
lavish out Christ's goods at their pleasure. "For ye are not your own,
but bought with a price;" and your sorrow is not your own. Nor hath He
redeemed you by halves; and therefore, ye are not to make Christ's
cross no cross. He commandeth you to weep: and that princely One, who
took up to heaven with Him a man's heart to be a compassionate High
Priest, became your fellow and companion on earth by weeping for the
dead (John xi. 35). And, therefore, ye are to love that cross, because
it was once at Christ's shoulders before you: so that by His own
practice He hath over-gilded and covered your cross with the
Mediator's lustre. The cup ye drink was at the lip of sweet Jesus, and
He drank of it; and so it hath a smell of His breath, and I conceive
that ye love it not the worse that it is thus sugared. Therefore,
drink, and believe the resurrection of your son's body. If one coal of
hell could fall off the exalted head, Jesus (Jesus the Prince of the
kings of the earth!), and burn me to ashes, knowing I were a partner
with Christ, and a fellow-sharer with Him (though the unworthiest of
men), I think that I should die a lovely death in that fire with Him.
The worst things of Christ, even His cross, have much of heaven from
Himself; and so hath your Christian sorrow, being of kin to Christ in
that kind. If your sorrow were a bastard (and not of Christ's house
because of the relation ye have to Him, in conformity to His death and
sufferings), I should the more compassionate your condition; but the
kind and compassionate Jesus, at every sigh you give for the loss of
your now glorified child (so I believe, as is meet), with a man's
heart crieth, "Half mine."
I was not a witness to his death, being called out of the kingdom;
but, if you will credit those whom I do credit (and I dare not lie),
he died comfortably. It is true, he died before he did so much service
to Christ on earth, as I hope and heartily desire that your son Mr.
Hugh (very dear to me in Jesus Christ) will do. But that were a real
matter of sorrow if this were not to counterbalance it, that he hath
changed service-houses, but hath not changed services or Master. "And
there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb
shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him" (Rev. xxii. 3). What
he could have done in this lower house, he is now upon that same
service in the higher house; and it is all one: it is the same service
and the same Master, only there is a change of conditions. And ye are
not to think it a bad bargain for your beloved son, where he hath gold
for copper and brass, eternity for time.
I believe that Christ hath taught you (for I give credit to such a
witness of you as your son Mr. Hugh) not to sorrow because he died.
All the knot must be, "He died too soon, he died too young, he died in
the morning of his life." This is all; but sovereignty must silence
your thoughts. I was in your condition; I had but two children, and
both are dead since I came hither.[452] The supreme and absolute
Former of all things giveth not an account of any of His matters. The
good Husbandman may pluck His roses, and gather in His lilies at
mid-summer, and, for aught I dare say, in the beginning of the first
summer month; and He may transplant young trees out of the lower
ground to the higher, where they may have more of the sun, and a more
free air, at any season of the year. What is that to you or me? The
goods are His own. The Creator of time and winds did a merciful injury
(if I dare borrow the word) to nature, in landing the passenger so
early. They love the sea too well who complain of a fair wind, and a
desirable tide, and a speedy coming ashore, especially a coming ashore
in that land where all the inhabitants have everlasting joy upon their
heads. He cannot be too early in heaven. His twelve hours were not
short hours. And withal if ye consider this; had ye been at his
bed-side, and should have seen Christ coming to him, ye would not, ye
could not, have adjourned Christ's free love, who would want him no
longer.
[452] He had lost two children before going to London, and the above
is in reference to the death of other two after he came thither.
And dying in another land, where his mother could not close his eyes,
is not much. Who closed Moses' eyes? And who put on his winding-sheet?
For aught I know, neither father, nor mother, nor friend, but God
only. And there is as expeditious, fair, and easy a way betwixt
Scotland and heaven, as if he had died in the very bed he was born in.
The whole earth is his Father's; any corner of his Father's house is
good enough to die in.
It may be that the living child (I speak not of Mr. Hugh) is more
grief to you than the dead. Ye are to wait on, if at any time God will
give him repentance. Christ waited as long possibly on you and me,
certainly longer on me; and if He should deny repentance to him, I
could say something to that. But I hope better things of him.
It seemeth that Christ will have this world your stepdame. I love not
your condition the worse. It may be a proof that ye are not a child of
this lower house, but a stranger. Christ seeth it not good only, but
your only good, to be led thus to heaven. And think this a favour,
that He hath bestowed on you free, free grace, that is, mercy without
hire: ye paid nothing for it. And who can put a price upon anything of
royal and princely Jesus Christ? And God hath given to you to suffer
for Him the spoiling of your goods. Esteem it as an act of free grace
also. Ye are no loser, having Himself; and I persuade myself, that if
ye could prize Christ, nothing could be bitter to you.
Grace, grace be with you.
Your brother and well-wisher,
S. R.
LONDON, 1645.
CCCXI.--_To_ BARBARA HAMILTON.
[BARBARA HAMILTON was the wife of Mr. John Mein, merchant, Edinburgh,
noticed before (see Letter CLI.), and sister to the first wife of the
famous Mr. Robert Blair. She was a woman of eminent piety, and also
distinguished for her public spirit. When Mr. Blair, and other
Presbyterian ministers, who had been deposed by the bishops in Ireland
for nonconformity, had come over to Scotland in 1637, she, finding
that they were threatened with still harsher treatment from the
Scottish prelates, suggested a petition to the Privy Council, for
liberty to these ministers to preach the Gospel publicly, engaging
that she and some other like-minded women would put it into the hands
of the Treasurer as he went into the Council. Blair drew it up; upon
which she convened a considerable number of the religious matrons of
Edinburgh, and ranged them in a line from the Council-house door to
the street. The oldest matron was appointed to present the petition to
the Treasurer. The Treasurer, suspecting that it was something which
would be disagreeable to the Council, put the aged petitioner aside,
and went quickly from her towards the Council-house door. Observing
this, Barbara Hamilton immediately stepped forward, and, taking the
paper out of the old feeble woman's hand, came up to the Treasurer,
and "did with her strong arm and big hand fast grip his gardie" (i.e.
arm), saying, "Stand, my Lord! in Christ's name, I charge you, till I
speak to you." His Lordship, looking back, replies, "Good woman, what
would you say to me?" "There is," said she, "a humble supplication of
Mr. Blair's. All that he petitions for, is that he may have liberty to
preach the Gospel. I charge you to befriend the matter, as you would
expect God to befriend you in your distress, and at your death!" He
replied, "I shall do my endeavour, and what I can in it." The result
was, that Blair's supplication was granted by the Council. The
following letter, which Rutherford addresses to this lady, was written
on the occasion of the death of her son-in-law, probably Mr. William
Hume, minister, who was married to her daughter Barbara Mein. (See
Letter CCCXII.)]
(_ON DEATH OF HER SON-IN-LAW--GOD'S PURPOSES._)
WORTHY FRIEND,--Grace be to you. I do unwillingly write unto you of
that which God hath done concerning your son-in-law; only, I believe
ye look not below Christ, and the highest and most supreme act of
Providence, which moveth all wheels. And certainly, what came down
enacted and concluded in the great book before the throne, and signed
and subscribed with the hand which never did wrong, should be kissed
and adored by us.
We see God's decrees when they bring forth their fruits, all actions,
good and ill, sweet and sour, in their time; but we see not presently
the after-birth of God's decree, namely, His blessed end, and the good
that He bringeth out of the womb of His holy and spotless counsel. We
see His working, and we sorrow; the end of His counsel and working
lieth hidden, and underneath the ground, and therefore we cannot
believe. Even amongst men, we see hewn stones, timber, and an hundred
scattered parcels and pieces of an house, all under-tools, hammers,
and axes, and saws; yet the house, the beauty and use[453] of so many
lodgings and ease-rooms, we neither see nor understand for the
present; these are but in the mind and head of the builder, as yet. We
see red earth, unbroken clods, furrows, and stones; but we see not
summer, lilies, roses, the beauty of a garden.
[453] "_Ease_" in older editions.
If ye give the Lord time to work (as often[454] he that believeth
maketh haste, but not speed), His end is under ground, and ye shall
see it was your good, that your son hath changed dwelling-places, but
not his Master. Christ thought good to have no more of his service
here; yet, "His servants shall serve Him" (Rev. xxii. 3). He needeth
not us nor our service, either on earth or in heaven. But ye are to
look to Him who giveth the hireling both his leave and his wages, for
his naked aim and purpose to serve Christ, as well as for his labours.
It is put up in Christ's account, that such a labourer did sweat forty
years in Christ's vineyard; howbeit he got not leave to labour so
long, because He who accepteth of the will for the deed counteth so.
None can teach the Lord to lay an account.
[454] _Q.d._, You need this advice, as too often even believers make
haste.
He numbereth the drops of rain, and knoweth the stars by their names;
it would take us much studying to give a name to every star in the
firmament, great or small.
See Lev. x. 3, "And Aaron held his peace." Ye know his two sons were
slain, whilst they offered strange fire to the Lord. Command your
thoughts to be silent. If the soldiers of Newcastle had done this, ye
might have stomached; but the weapon was in another hand. Hear the rod
what it preacheth, and see the name of God (Micah vi. 9), and know
that there is somewhat of God and heaven in the rod. The majesty of
the unsearchable and bottomless ways and judgments of God is not seen
in the rod; and the seeing of them requireth the eyes of the man of
wisdom. If the sufferings of some other with you in that loss could
ease you, ye want them not. But He can do no wrong. He cannot halt;
His goings are equal who hath done it. I know our Lord aimeth at more
mortification; let Him not come in vain to your house, and lose the
pains of a merciful visit. God, the Founder, never melteth in vain;
howbeit to us He seemeth often to lose both fire and metal. But I know
ye are more in this work than I can be. There is no cause to faint or
be weary.
Grace be with you; and the rich consolations of Jesus Christ sweeten
your cross, and support you under it. I rest,
Yours, in his Lord and Master,
S. R.
LONDON, _Oct. 15, 1645_.
CCCXII.--_To MISTRESS HUME, on her Husband's Death._
[This lady, it is highly probable, was Barbara Mein, the daughter
of Barbara Hamilton, noticed above, and the wife of Mr. William
Hume, minister, who had gone to England with the Covenanters'
army, and who died at Newcastle, probably from wounds inflicted
by the army. In the Index of the unprinted Acts of the General
Assembly of 1645, there is an Act entitled, "Recommendation of
Barbara Mein's Petition to the Parliament;" and in the Index of
the unprinted Acts of the General Assembly of 1646, there is an
Act entitled, "Act in favours of Barbara Mein, relict of umwhile
Mr. William Hume, minister." The object of this letter is to
comfort Mrs. Hume under that painful bereavement.]
(_GOD'S VOICE IN THE ROD._)
LOVING SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--If ye have
anything better than the husband of your youth, ye are Jesus Christ's
debtor for it. Pay not then your debts with grudging. Sorrow may
diminish from the sweet fruit of righteousness; but quietness,
silence, submission, and faith, put a crown upon your sad losses. Ye
know whose voice the voice of a crying rod is (Micah vi. 9). The name
and majesty of the Lord is written on the rod; read and be instructed.
Let Christ have the room of the husband. He hath now no need of you,
or of your love; for he enjoyeth as much of the love of Christ as his
heart can be capable of. I confess that it is a dear-bought
experience, to teach you to undervalue the creature; yet it is not too
dear if Christ think it so. I know that the disputing of your thoughts
against his going thither, the way and manner of his death, the
instruments, the place, the time, will not ease your spirits; except
ye rise higher than second causes, and be silent because the Lord hath
done it. If we measure the goings of the Almighty, and His ways (the
bottom whereof we see not), we quite mistake God. Oh, how little a
portion of God do we see! He is far above our ebb and narrow thoughts.
He ruled the world in wisdom, ere we, creatures of yesterday, were
born; and will rule it when we shall be lodging beside the worm and
corruption. Only learn heavenly wisdom, self-denial, and
mortification, by this sad loss. I know that it is not for nothing
(except ye deny God to be wise in all He doeth) that ye have lost one
on earth. There hath been too little of your love and heart in heaven,
and therefore the jealousy of Christ hath done this. It is a mercy
that He contendeth with you and all your lovers. I should desire no
greater favour for myself than that Christ laid a necessity, and took
on such bonds upon Himself: "Such a one I must have, and such a soul
I cannot live in heaven without" (John x. 16). And, believe it; it is
incomprehensible love that Christ saith, "If I enjoy the glory of My
Father and the crown of heaven, far above men and angels, I must use
all means, though ever so violent, to have the company of such a one
for ever and ever." If, with the eyes of wisdom, as a child of wisdom,
ye justify your mother, the Wisdom of God (whose child ye are), ye
will kiss and embrace this loss, and see much of Christ in it. Believe
and submit; and refer the income of the consolations of Jesus, and the
event of the trial, to your heavenly Father, who numbereth all your
hairs. And put Christ into His own room in your love; it may be He
hath either been out of His own place, or in a place of love inferior
to His worth. Repair Christ in all His wrongs done to Him, and love
Him for a Husband; and He that is a Husband to the widow will be that
to you which He hath taken from you.
Grace be with you.
Your sympathizing brother,
S. R.
LONDON, _Oct. 15, 1645_.
CCCXIII.--_To the_ VISCOUNTESS KENMURE.
(_CHRIST'S DESIGNS IN SICKNESS AND SORROW._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to your Ladyship.--Though Christ
lose no time, yet, when sinful men drive His chariot, the wheels of
His chariot move slowly. The woman, Zion, as soon as she travailed,
brought forth her children; yea, "before she travailed, she brought
forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-child" (Isa.
lxvi. 7): yet the deliverance of the people was with the woman's going
with child seventy years. That is more than nine months. There be many
oppositions in carrying on the work; but I hope that the Lord will
build His own Zion, and evidence to us that it is done, "not by might
nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord."
Madam, I have heard of your infirmities of body, and sickness. I know
the issue shall be mercy to you, and that God's purpose, which lieth
hidden under ground to you, is to commend the sweetness of His love
and care to you from your youth. And if all the sad losses, trials,
sicknesses, infirmities, griefs, heaviness, and inconstancy of the
creature, be expounded (as sure I am they are) the rods of the
jealousy of an Husband in heaven, contending with all your lovers on
earth, though there were millions of them, for your love, to fetch
more of your love home to heaven, to make it single, unmixed, and
chaste, to the Fairest in heaven and earth, to Jesus the Prince of
ages, ye will forgive (to borrow that word) every rod of God, and "not
let the sun go down on your wrath" against any messenger of your
afflicting and correcting Father. Since your Ladyship cannot but see
that the mark at which Christ hath aimed these twenty-four years and
above, is, to have the company and fellowship of such a sinful
creature in heaven with Him for all eternity; and, because He will not
(such is the power of His love) enjoy His Father's glory, and that
crown due to Him by eternal generation, without you, by name (John
xvii. 24, x. 16, xiv. 3), therefore, Madam, believe no evil of Christ:
listen to no hard reports that His rods make of Him to you. He hath
loved you, and washed you from your sins; and what would ye have more?
Is that too little, except He adjourn all crosses, till ye be where ye
shall be out of all capacity to sigh or be crossed? I hope that ye can
desire no more, no greater, nor more excellent suit, than Christ and
the fellowship of the Lamb for evermore. And if that desire be
answered in heaven (as I am sure it is, and ye cannot deny but it is
made sure to you), the want of these poor accidents, of a living
husband, of many children, of an healthful body, of a life of ease in
the world, without one knot in the rush, are nobly made up, and may be
comfortably borne.
Grace, grace be with your Ladyship.
Your Ladyship's, at all obedience in Christ,
S. R.
LONDON, _Oct. 16, 1645_.
CCCXIV.--_To BARBARA HAMILTON, on her Son-in-law slain in battle._
[Letter CCCXII.]
(_GOD DOES ALL THINGS WELL, AND WITH DESIGN._)
LOVING SISTER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I have heard with
grief that Newcastle hath taken one more in a bloody account than
before, even your son-in-law and my friend. But I hope you have
learned that much of Christ as not to look to wheels rolled round
about on earth. Earthen vessels are not to dispute with their Former.
Pieces of shining clay may, by reasoning and contending with the
potter, mar the work of Him "who hath His fire in Zion, and His
furnace in Jerusalem;" as bullocks sweating and wrestling in the
furrow make their yoke more heavy. In quietness and rest ye shall be
saved. If men do anything contrary to your heart, we may ask both,
"Who did it?" and "What is done?" and "Why?" When God hath done any
such thing, we are to inquire, "Who hath done it?" and to know that
this cometh from the Lord, who is "wonderful in counsel;" but we are
not to ask, "What?" or "Why?" If it be from the Lord as certainly
there is no evil in the city without Him (Amos iii. 6), it is enough;
the fairest face of His spotless way is but coming, and ye are to
believe His works as well as His word. Violent death is a sharer with
Christ in His death, which was violent. It maketh not much what way we
go to heaven: the happy home is all, where the roughness of the way
shall be forgotten. He is gone home to a Friend's house, and made
welcome, and the race is ended: time is recompensed with eternity, and
copper with gold. God's order is in wisdom; the husband goeth home
before the wife. And the throng of the market shall be over ere it be
long, and another generation be where we now are, and at length an
empty house, and not one of mankind shall be upon the earth, within
the sixth part of an hour after the earth and works that are therein
shall be burnt up with fire. I fear more that Christ is about to
remove, when He carrieth home so much of His plenishing beforehand.
We cannot teach the Almighty knowledge. When He was directing the
bullet against His servant to fetch out the soul, no wise man could
cry to God, "Wrong, wrong, Lord, for he is Thine own!" There is no
mist over His eyes who is "wonderful in counsel." If Zion be builded
with your son-in-law's blood, the Lord (deep in counsel) can glue
together the stones of Zion with blood, and with that blood which is
precious in His eyes. Christ hath fewer labourers in His vineyard than
He had, but more witnesses for His cause and the Lord's covenant with
the three nations. What is Christ's gain is not your loss. Let not
that, which is His holy and wise will, be your unbelieving sorrow.
Though I really judge that I had interest in His dead servant, yet,
because he now liveth to Christ, I quit the hopes which I had of his
successful labouring in the ministry. I know he now praiseth the grace
that he was to preach; and if there were a better thing on his head
now in heaven than a crown, or anything more excellent than heaven, he
would cast it down before His feet who sitteth on the throne. Give
glory, therefore, to Christ, as he now doeth, and say, "Thy will be
done."
The grace and consolation of Christ be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
LONDON, _Nov. 15, 1645_.
CCCXV.-_-To a Christian Friend, upon the death of his Wife._
(_GOD THE FIRST CAUSE--THE END OF AFFLICTION._)
WORTHY FRIEND,--I desire to suffer with you, in the loss of a loving
and good wife, now gone before (according to the method and order of
Him of whose understanding there is no searching out) whither ye are
to follow. He that made yesterday to go before this day, and the
former generation, in birth and life, to have been before this present
generation, and hath made some flowers to grow and die and wither in
the month of May, and others in June, cannot be challenged in the
order He hath made of things without souls; and some order He must
keep also here, that one might bury another. Therefore I hope ye shall
be dumb and silent, because the Lord hath done it.
What creatures or under-causes do, in sinful mistakes, is ordered in
wisdom by your Father, at whose feet your own soul and your heaven
lieth; and so the days of your wife. If the place she hath left were
any other than a prison of sin, and the home she is gone to any other
than where her Head and Saviour is King of the land, your grief had
been more rational. But I trust your faith of the resurrection of the
dead in Christ to glory and immortality, will lead you to suspend your
longing for her, till the morning and dawning of that day when the
archangel shall descend with a shout, to gather all the prisoners out
of the grave, up to Himself. To believe this is best for you; and to
be silent, because He hath done it, is your wisdom.
It is much to come out of the Lord's school of trial wiser, and more
experienced in the ways of God; and it is our happiness, when Christ
openeth a vein, that He taketh nothing but ill blood from His sick
ones. Christ hath skill to do; and (if our corruption mar not) the art
of mercy in correcting. We cannot of ourselves take away the tin, the
lead, and the scum that remaineth in us; and if Christ be not
Master-of-work, and if the furnace go its lone (He not standing nigh
the melting of His own vessel), the labour were lost, and the Founder
should melt in vain. God knoweth some of us have lost much fire,
sweating, and pains, to our Lord Jesus; and the vessel is almost
marred, the furnace and rod of God spilled, "the daylight[455] burnt,
and the reprobate metal not taken away," so as some are to answer to
the Majesty of God for the abuse of many good crosses, and rich
afflictions lost without the quiet fruit of righteousness. It is a sad
thing when the rod is cursed, that never fruit shall grow on it. And
except Christ's dew fall down, and His summer-sun shine, and His grace
follow afflictions to cause them to bring forth fruit to God, they are
so fruitless to us, that our evil ground (rank and fat enough for
briers) casteth up a crop of noisome weeds. "The rod" (as the prophet
saith) "blossometh, pride buddeth forth, violence riseth up into a rod
of wickedness" (Ezek. vii. 10, 11). And all this hath been my case
under many rods since I saw you.
[455] The allusion is to Jer. vi. 29, and in that passage "daylight"
is a variation from our common version. Could Rutherford have been
reading Jeremiah in the Septuagint Greek version? There the word is
φυσητὴρ, "blowpipe," or "_bellows_;" but we might suppose
that his eye mistook the word for φωστὴρ, "lightgiver,"
"_window-light_." The Scotch phrase, "to burn daylight," means to
waste time and opportunity.
Grace be with you.
Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
LONDON, 1645.
CCCXVI.--_To a Christian Brother, on the death of his Daughter._
(_CONSOLATION IN HER HAVING GONE BEFORE--CHRIST THE BEST HUSBAND._)
REVEREND AND BELOVED IN THE LORD,--It may be that I have been too long
silent, but I hope that ye will not impute it to forgetfulness of you.
As I have heard of the death of your daughter with heaviness of mind
on your behalf, so am I much comforted that she hath evidenced to
yourself and other witnesses the hope of the resurrection of the dead.
As sown corn is not lost (for there is more hope of that which is sown
than of that which is eaten) (1 Cor. xv. 42, 43), so also is it in the
resurrection of the dead: the body "is sown in corruption, it is
raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in
glory." I hope that ye wait for the crop and harvest; "for if we
believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep
in Jesus will God bring with Him" (1 Thess. iv. 14). Then they are not
lost who are gathered into that congregation of the first-born, and
the general assembly of the saints. Though we cannot outrun nor
overtake them that are gone before, yet we shall quickly follow them;
and the difference is, that she hath the advantage of some months or
years of the crown before you and her mother. As we do not take it ill
if our children outrun us in the life of grace, why then are we sad if
they outstrip us in the attainment of the life of glory? It would seem
that there is more reason to grieve that children live behind us, than
that they are glorified and die before us. All the difference is in
some poor hungry accidents of time, less or more, sooner or later. So
the godly child, though young, died an hundred years old; and ye could
not now have bestowed her better, though the choice was Christ's, not
yours.
And I am sure, Sir, ye cannot now say that she is married against the
will of her parents. She might more readily, if alive, fall into the
hands of a worse husband; but can ye think that she could have fallen
into the hands of a better? And if Christ marry with your house, it is
your honour, not any cause of grief, that Jesus should portion any of
yours, ere she enjoy your portion. Is it not great love? The patrimony
is more than any other could give; as good a husband is impossible; to
say a better is blasphemy. The King and Prince of ages can keep them
better than ye can do. While she was alive, ye could entrust her to
Christ, and recommend her to His keeping; now, by an after-faith, ye
have resigned her unto Him in whose bosom do sleep all that are dead
in the Lord. Ye would have lent her to glorify the Lord upon earth,
and He hath borrowed her (with promise to restore her again) (1 Cor.
xv. 53; 1 Thess. iv. 15, 16) to be an organ of the immediate
glorifying of Himself in heaven. Sinless glorifying of God is better
than sinful glorifying of Him. And sure your prayers concerning her
are fulfilled. I shall desire, if the Lord shall be pleased the same
way to dispose of her mother, that ye have the same mind. Christ
cannot multiply injuries upon you. If the fountain be the love of God
(as I hope it is), ye are enriched with losses.
Ye knew all I can say better, before I was in Christ, than I can
express it. Grace be with you.
Yours, in Christ Jesus,
S. R.
LONDON, _Jan. 6, 1646_.
CCCXVII.--_To a Christian Gentlewoman._
(_VIEWS OF DEATH AND HEAVEN--ASPIRATIONS._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--If death, which is
before you and us all, were any other thing than a friendly
dissolution, and a change, not a destruction of life, it would seem a
hard voyage to go through such a sad and dark trance,[456] so thorny a
valley, as is the wages of sin. But I am confident the way ye know,
though your foot never trod in that black shadow. The loss of life is
gain to you. If Christ Jesus be the period, the end, and lodging-home,
at the end of your journey, there is no fear; ye go to a friend. And
since ye have had communion with Him in this life, and He hath a pawn
or pledge of yours, even the largest share of your love and heart, ye
may look death in the face with joy.
[456] Passage.
If the heart be in heaven, the remnant of you cannot be kept the
prisoner of the second death. But though He be the same Christ in the
other life that ye found Him to be here, yet He is so far in His
excellency, beauty, sweetness, irradiations, and beams of majesty,
above what He appeared here, when He is seen as He is, that ye shall
misken Him, and He shall appear a new Christ. And His kisses,
breathings, embracements, the perfume, the ointment of His name poured
out on you, shall appear to have more of God, and a stronger smell of
heaven, of eternity, of a Godhead, of majesty and glory, there than
here; as water at the fountain, apples in the orchard and beside the
tree, have more of their native sweetness, taste, and beauty, than
when transported to us some hundred miles.
I mean not that Christ can lose any of His sweetness in the carrying,
or that He, in His Godhead and loveliness of presence, can be changed
to the worse, betwixt the little spot of the earth that ye are in, and
the right hand of the Father far above all heavens. But the change
will be in you, when ye shall have new senses, and the soul shall be a
more deep and more capacious vessel, to take in more of Christ; and
when means (the chariot, the Gospel, that He is now carried in, and
ordinances that convey Him) shall be removed. Sure ye cannot now be
said to see Him face to face; or to drink of the wine of the highest
fountain, or to take in seas and tides of fresh love immediately,
without vessels, midses, or messengers, at the Fountain itself, as ye
will do a few days hence, when ye shall be so near as to be with
Christ (Luke xxiii. 43; John xvii. 24; Phil. i. 23; 1 Thess. iv. 17).
Ye would, no doubt, bestow a day's journey, yea, many days' journey on
earth, to go up to heaven, and fetch down anything of Christ; how much
more may ye be willing to make a journey to go in person to heaven (it
is not lost time, but gained eternity) to enjoy the full Godhead! And
then, in such a manner as He is there! not in His week-day's apparel,
as He is here with us, in a drop or the tenth part of a night's dewing
of grace and sweetness; but He is there in His marriage-robe of glory,
richer, more costly, more precious, in one hem or button of that
garment of Fountain majesty than a million of worlds. Oh, the well is
deep! Ye shall then think that preachers, and sinful ambassadors on
earth, did but spill and mar His praises, when they spoke of Him and
preached His beauty.
Alas! we but make Christ black and less lovely, in making such
insignificant, and dry, and cold, and low expressions of His highest
and transcendent super-excellency to the daughters of Jerusalem. Sure
I have often, for my own part, sinned in this thing. No doubt angels
do not fulfil their task, according to their obligation, in that
Christ keeps their feet from falling with the lost devils; though I
know they are not behind in going to the utmost of created power. But
there is sin in our praising, and sin in the quantity, besides other
sins. But I must leave this; it is too deep for me. Go and see, and we
desire to go with you; but we are not masters of our own diet.[457]
If, in that last journey, ye tread on a serpent in the way, and
thereby wound your heel, as Jesus Christ did before you, the print of
the wound shall not be known at the resurrection of the just. Death is
but an awesome step, over time and sin, to sweet Jesus Christ, who
knew and felt the worst of death, for death's teeth hurt Him. We know
death hath no teeth now, no jaws, for they are broken. It is a free
prison; citizens pay nothing for the grave. The jailor who had the
power of death is destroyed: praise and glory be to the First-begotten
of the dead.
[457] _Diet_, used for fixed time.
The worst possible that may be is, that ye leave behind you children,
husband, and the church of God in miseries. But ye cannot get them to
heaven with you for the present. Ye shall not miss them, and Christ
cannot miscount one of the poorest of His lambs. No lad, no girl, no
poor one shall be a-missing, ere[458] ye see them again, in the day
that the Son shall render up the kingdom to His Father.
[458] None shall be longer missed than just till the time when ye
shall see them again.
The evening and the shadow of every poor hireling is coming. The sun
of Christ's church in this life is declining low. Not a soul of the
militant company will be here within a few generations; our Husband
will send for them all. It is a rich mercy that we are not married to
time longer than the course be finished.
Ye may rejoice that ye go not to heaven till ye know that Jesus is
there before you; that when ye come thither, at your first entry ye
may feel the smell of His ointments, His myrrh, aloes, and cassia. And
this first salutation of His will make you find it is no uncomfortable
thing to die. Go and enjoy your gain; live on Christ's love while ye
are here, and all the way.
As for the church which ye leave behind you, the government is upon
Christ's shoulders, and He will plead for the blood of His saints. The
Bush hath been burning above five thousand years, and we never yet saw
the ashes of this fire. Yet a little while, and the vision shall not
tarry: it will speak, and not lie. I am more afraid of my duty, than
of the Head Christ's government. He cannot fail to bring judgment to
victory. Oh that we could wait for our hidden life! Oh that Christ
would remove the covering, draw aside the curtain of time, and rend
the heavens, and come down! Oh that shadows and night were gone, that
the day would break, and that He who feedeth among the lilies would
cry to His heavenly trumpeters, "Make ready, let us go down and fold
together the four corners of the world, and marry the bride!" His
grace be with you.
Now, if I have found favour with you, and if ye judge me faithful, my
last suit to you is that ye would leave me a legacy; and that is, that
my name may be, at the very last, in your prayers: as I desire also,
it may be in the prayers of those of your Christian acquaintance with
whom ye have been intimate.
Your brother, in his own Lord Jesus,
S. R.
LONDON, _Jan. 9, 1646_.
CCCXVIII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_CHRIST NEVER IN OUR DEBT--RICHES OF CHRIST--EXCELLENCE OF THE
HEAVENLY STATE._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--It is the least of the
princely and royal bounty of Jesus Christ to pay a king's debts, and
not to have His servants at a loss. His gold is better than yours, and
His hundred-fold is the income and rent of heaven, and far above your
revenues. Ye are not the first who have casten up your accounts that
way. Better have Christ your factor than any other; for He tradeth to
the advantage of His poor servants. But if the hundred-fold in this
life be so well told (as Christ cannot pay you with miscounting or
deferred hope), oh, what must the rent of that land be which rendereth
(every day and hour of the years of long eternity) the whole rent of a
year, yea, of more than thousand thousands of ages, even the weighty
income of a rich kingdom, not every summer once, but every moment!
That sum of glory will take you and all the angels telling.[459] To be
a tenant to such a Landlord, where every berry and grape of the large
field beareth no worse fruit than glory, fulness of joy, and pleasures
that endure for evermore! I leave it to yourself to think what a
summer, what a soil, what a garden must be there; and what must be the
commodities of that highest land, where the sun and the moon are under
the feet of the inhabitants! Surely the land cannot be bought with
gold, blood, banishment, loss of father and mother, husband, wife,
children. We but dwell here because we can do no better. It is need,
not virtue, to be sojourners in a prison; to weep and sigh, and, alas!
to sin sixty or seventy years in a land of tears. The fruits that grow
here are all seasoned and salted with sin.
[459] Will require all your power, and that of angels too, to unfold.
Oh how sweet is it that the company of the first-born should be
divided into two great bodies of an army, and some in their country,
and some in the way to their country! If it were no more than once to
see the face of the Prince of this good land, and to be feasted for
eternity with the fatness, sweetness, dainties of the rays and beams
of matchless glory, and incomparable fountain-love, it were a
well-spent journey to creep hands and feet through seven deaths and
seven hells, to enjoy Him up at the well-head. Only let us not weary:
the miles to that land are fewer and shorter than when we first
believed. Strangers are not wise to quarrel with their host, and
complain of their lodging. It is a foul way, but a fair home. Oh that
I had but such grapes and clusters out of the land as I have sometimes
seen and tasted in the place whereof your Ladyship maketh mention! But
the hope of it in the end is a heartsome convoy in the way. If I see
little more of the gold[460] till the race be ended, I dare not
quarrel. It is the Lord! I hope His chariot will go through these
three kingdoms, after our sufferings shall be accomplished.
[460] In a sermon preached at Kircudbright, in 1634, on Heb. xii. 1-3,
he says, "This condemns those who will not run one foot in the race
except the gold be in their hand."
Grace be with you.
Your Ladyship's, in Jesus Christ,
S. R.
LONDON, _Jan. 26, 1646_.
CCCXIX.--_To_ Mr. J. G.[461]
[461] Perhaps Mr. James Guthrie, minister of Stirling; afterwards
beheaded in 1661, at the Cross of Edinburgh, and his head fixed on the
Nether Bow.
(_PROSPECTS FOR SCOTLAND--HIS OWN DARKNESS--ABILITY OF CHRIST._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I shall with my soul desire the peace of
these kingdoms, and I do believe it will at last come, as a river and
as the mighty waves of the sea; but oh that we were ripe and in
readiness to receive it! The preserving of two or three, or four or
five berries, in the utmost boughs of the olive-tree, after the
vintage, is like to be a great matter ere all be done; yet I know that
a cluster in both kingdoms shall be saved, for a blessing is in it.
But it is not, I fear, so near to the dawning of the day of salvation
but the clouds must send down more showers of blood to water the
vineyard of the Lord, and to cause it to blossom. Scotland's scum is
not yet removed; nor is England's dross and tin taken away; nor the
filth of our blood "purged by the spirit of judgment, and the spirit
of burning." But I am too much on this sad subject.
As for myself, I do esteem nothing out of heaven, and next to a
communion with Jesus Christ, more than to be in the hearts and prayers
of the saints. I know that He feedeth there among the lilies, till the
day break; but I am at low ebb, as to any sensible communion with
Christ; yea, as low as any soul can be, and do scarce know where I am;
and do now make it a question, if any can go to Him, who dwelleth in
light inaccessible, through nothing but darkness. Sure, all that come
to heaven have a stock in Christ; but I know not where mine is. It
cannot be enough for me to believe the salvation of others, and to
know Christ to be the Honeycomb, the Rose of Sharon, the Paradise and
Eden of the saints, and First-born written in heaven, and not to see
afar the borders of that good land.
But what shall I say? Either this is the Lord, making grace a new
creation, where there is pure nothing and sinful nothing to work upon,
or I am gone. I should count my soul engaged to yourself, and others
there with you, if ye would but carry to Christ for me a letter of
cyphers and nonsense (for I know not how to make language of my
condition), only showing that I have need of His love; for I know many
fair and washen ones stand now in white before the throne, who were
once as black as I am. If Christ pass His word to wash a sinner, it is
less to Him than a word to make fair angels of black devils! Only let
the art of free grace be engaged. I have not a cautioner to give
surety, nor doth a Mediator, such as He is in all perfection, need a
mediator. But what I need, He knoweth; only, it is His depth of wisdom
to let some pass millions of miles over score in debt, that they may
stand between the winning and the losing, in need of more than
ordinary free grace.
Christ hath been multiplying grace by mercy above these five thousand
years; and the later born heirs have so much greater guiltiness, that
Christ hath passed more experiments and multiplied essays of
heart-love on others, by misbelieving (after it is past all question,
many hundreds of ages), that Christ is the undeniable and now
uncontroverted treasurer of multiplied redemptions. So now He is
saying, "The more of the disease there is, the more of the physician's
art of grace and tenderness there must be." Only, I know that no
sinner can put infinite grace to it,[462] so as the Mediator shall
have difficulty, or much ado, to save this or that man. Millions of
hells of sinners cannot come near to exhaust infinite grace.
[462] "_To put one to it_," is a phrase equivalent to, "Cause him to
be at a loss how to act."
I pray you (remembering my love to your wife, and friends there), let
me find that I have solicitors there amongst your acquaintance; and
forget not Scotland.
Your brother in Jesus Christ,
S. R.
LONDON, _Jan. 30, 1646_.
CCCXX.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_TRIALS CANNOT INJURE SAINTS--BLESSEDNESS IN SEEING CHRIST._)
MADAM,--It is too like that the Lord's controversy with these two
nations is but yet beginning, and that we are ripened and white for
the Lord's sickle.
For the particular condition your Ladyship is in, another might speak
(if they would say all) of more sad things. If there was not a
fountain of free grace to water dry ground, and an uncreated wind to
breathe on withered and dry bones, we were gone. The wheels of
Christ's chariot (to pluck us out of the womb of many deaths) are
winged like eagles. All I have is, to desire to believe that Christ
will show all good-will to save; and as for your Ladyship, I know that
our Lord Jesus carrieth on no design against you, but seeketh to save
and redeem you. He lieth not in wait for your falls, except it be to
take you up. His way of redeeming is ravishing and taking. There are
more miracles of glorified sinners in heaven than can be on earth.
Nothing of you, Madam, nay, not even your leaf, can wither.
Verily, it is a king's life to follow the Lamb. But when ye see Him in
His own country at home, ye will think ye never saw Him before: "He
shall be admired of all them that believe" (2 Thess. i. 10). Ye may
judge how far all your now sad days, and tossings, changes, losses,
wants, conflicts, shall then be below you. Ye look to the cross: now
it is above your head, and seemeth to threaten death, as having a
dominion; but it shall then be so far below your thoughts, or your
thoughts so far above it, that ye shall have no leisure to lend one
thought to old-dated crosses, in youth, in age, in this country or in
that, from this instrument or from another, except it be to the
heightening of your consolation, being now got above and beyond all
these.
Old age, and "waxing old as a garment," is written on the fairest face
of the creation (Ps. cii. 26). Death, from Adam to the Second Adam's
appearance, playeth the king and reigneth over all. The prime Heir
died; His children, whom the Lord hath given, follow Him. And we may
speak freely of the life which is here; were it heaven, there were not
much gain in godliness. But there is a rest for the people of God.
Christ-man possesseth it now one thousand six hundred years before
many of His members; but it weareth not out.
Grace be with you.
Your Ladyship's, in Christ Jesus,
S. R.
LONDON, _Feb. 16, 1646_.
CCCXXI.--_To the LADY ARDROSS, in Fife._ [_There is an Ardross near
Ferintosh in Ross-shire._]
[LADY ARDROSS, whose maiden name was Helen Lindsay, was the
daughter of Lady Christian Hamilton, eldest daughter of Thomas,
first Earl of Haddington, by her first husband Robert, ninth Lord
Lindsay of Byres. She was married to Sir William Scott of
Ardross, son of Sir W. Scott of Elie. Her daughter, Euphemia,
Countess of Dundonald, some thirty years after this, attended the
field conventicles, and entertained the field preachers at her
house. (Douglas' "Peerage," vol. i. p. 386.) This letter was
written to her on the occasion of the death of her mother, who
was then Lady Boyd, having married for her second husband,
Robert, sixth Lord Boyd. (See notice of Lady Boyd, Letter
LXXVII.)]
(_ON HER MOTHER'S DEATH--HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN, AND BLESSEDNESS OF DYING
IN THE LORD._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--It hath seemed good, as I
hear, to Him that hath appointed the bounds for the number of our
months, to gather in a sheaf of ripe corn, in the death of your
Christian mother, into His garner. It is the more evident that winter
is near, when apples, without the violence of wind, fall of their own
accord off the tree. She is now above the winter, with a little change
of place, not of a Saviour; only she enjoyeth Him now without
messages, and in His own immediate presence, from whom she heard by
letters and messengers before.
I grant that death is to her a very new thing; but heaven was prepared
of old. And Christ (as enjoyed in His highest throne, and as loaded
with glory, and incomparably exalted above men and angels, having such
a heavenly circle of glorified harpers and musicians above, compassing
the throne with a song) is to her a new thing, but so new as the first
summer-rose, or the first fruits of that heavenly field; or as a new
paradise to a traveller, broken and worn out of breath with the sad
occurrences of a long and dirty way.
Ye may easily judge, Madam, what a large recompense is made to all her
service, her walking with God, and her sorrows, with the first cast of
the soul's eye upon the shining and admirably beautiful face of the
Lamb, that is in the midst of that fair and white army which is there,
and with the first draught and taste of the fountain of life, fresh
and new at the well-head; to say nothing of the enjoying of that face
without date, for more than this term of life which we now enjoy. And
it cost her no more to go thither, than to suffer death to do her this
piece of service: for by Him who was dead, and is alive, she was
delivered from the second death. What, then, is the first death to the
second? Not a scratch of the skin of a finger to the endless second
death. And now she sitteth for eternity mail-free, in a very
considerable land, which hath more than four summers in the year. Oh,
what spring-time is there! Even the smelling of the odours of that
great and eternally blooming Rose of Sharon for ever and ever! What a
singing life is there! There is not a dumb bird in all that large
field; but all sing and breathe out heaven, joy, glory, dominion to
the high Prince of that new-found land. And, verily, the land is the
sweeter that Jesus Christ paid so dear a rent for it. And He is the
glory of the land: all which, I hope, doth not so much mitigate and
allay your grief for her part (though truly this should seem
sufficient), as the unerring expectation of the dawning of that day
upon yourself, and the hope you have of the fruition of that same King
and kingdom to your own soul. Certainly the hope of it, when things
look so dark-like on both kingdoms, must be an exceedingly great
quickening to languishing spirits, who are far from home while we are
here. What misery, to have both a bad way all the day, and no hope of
lodging at night! But He hath taken up your lodging for you.
I can say no more now; but I pray that the very God of peace may
establish your heart to the end. I rest, Madam,
Your Ladyship's, at all respective obedience in the Lord,
S. R.
LONDON, _Feb. 24, 1646_.
CCCXXII.--_To_ M. O.
[Perhaps, as Letter CXLIX., some one of Provost Osburn's family
in Ireland.]
(_GLOOMY PROSPECTS FOR THE BACKSLIDING CHURCH--THE MISUNDERSTANDINGS
OF BELIEVERS CAUSE OF GREAT GRIEF--THE DAY OF CHRIST._)
SIR,--I can write nothing for the present concerning these times
(whatever others may think), but that which speaketh wrath and
judgment to these kingdoms. If ever ye, or any of that land, received
the Gospel in truth (as I am confident ye and they did), there is here
a great departure from that faith, and our sufferings are not yet at
an end. However, I dare testify and die for it, that once Christ was
revealed in the power of His excellency and glory to the saints there,
and in Scotland, of which I was a witness. I pray God that none
deceive you, or take the crown from you. Hell, or the gates of hell,
cannot ravel, mar, nor undo what Christ hath once done amongst you. It
may be that I am incapable of new light, and cannot receive that
spirit whereof some vainly boast; but that "which was from the
beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled" (1 John i. 1),
even "the word of life," hath been declared to you. Thousands of
thousands, walking in that light and that good old way, have gone to
heaven, and are now before the throne. Truth is but one, and hath no
numbers. Christ and Antichrist are both now in the camp, and are come
to open blows. Christ's poor ship saileth in the sea of blood; the
passengers are so sea-sick of a high fever, that they miscall one
another. Christ, I hope, will bring the broken bark to land. I had
rather swim for life and death on an old plank, or a broken board, to
land with Christ, than enjoy the rotten peace we have hitherto had. It
is like that the Lord will take a severe course with us, to cause the
children of the family to agree together. I conceive that Christ hath
a great design of free grace to these lands; but His wheels must move
over mountains and rocks. He never yet wooed a bride on earth, but in
blood, in fire, and in the wilderness. A cross of our own choosing,
honeyed and sugared with consolations, we cannot have. I think not
much of a cross when all the children of the house weep with me and
for me; and to suffer when we enjoy the communion of the saints is not
much; but it is hard when saints rejoice in the suffering of saints,
and redeemed ones hurt (yea, even go nigh to hate) redeemed ones.
I confess I imagined there had no more been such an affliction on
earth, or in the world, as that one elect angel should fight against
another; but, for contempt of the communion of saints, we have need of
new-born crosses, scarce ever heard of before. The saints are not
Christ: there is no misjudging in Him; there is much in us; and a
doubt it is, if we shall have fully one heart till we shall enjoy one
heaven. Our star-light hideth us from ourselves, and hideth us from
one another, and Christ from us all. But He will not be hidden from
us. I shall wish that all the sons of our Father in that land were of
one mind, and that they be not shaken nor moved from the truth once
received. Christ was in that Gospel, and Christ is the same now that
He was in The Prelates' time. That Gospel cannot sink; it will make
you free, and bear you out. Christ, the subject of it, is the chosen
of God; and cometh from Bozrah, with garments dyed in blood. Ireland
and Scotland both must be His field, in which He shall feed and gather
lilies. Suppose (which yet is impossible) that some had an eternity of
Christ in Ireland, and a sweet summer of the Gospel, and a feast of
fat things for evermore in Ireland, and that one should never come to
heaven, it should be a desirable life! The King's spikenard, Christ's
perfume, His apples of love, His ointments, even down in this lower
house of clay, are a choice heaven. Oh! what then is the King in His
own land, where there is such a throne, so many King's palaces, ten
thousand thousands of crowns of glory that want heads yet to fill
them? Oh, so much leisure as shall be there to sing! Oh, such a tree
as groweth there in the midst of that Paradise, where the inhabitants
sing eternally under its branches! To look in at a window, and see the
branches burdened with the apples of life, to be the last man that
shall come in thither, were too much for me.
I pray you to remember me to the Christians there; and remember our
private covenant. Grace be with you.
Your friend in the Lord Jesus,
S. R.
LONDON, _April 17, 1646_.
CCCXXIII.--_To EARLSTON, Elder._
(_CHRIST'S WAY OF AFFLICTING THE BEST--OBLIGATION TO FREE
GRACE--ENDURING THE CROSS._)
SIR,--I know that ye have learned long ago, ere I knew anything of
Christ, that if we had the cross at our own election, we would either
have law-surety for freedom from it, or then we would have it honeyed
and sugared with comforts, so as the sweet should overmaster the gall
and wormwood. Christ knoweth how to breed the sons of His house, and
ye will give Him leave to take His own way of dispensation with you;
and, though it be rough, forgive Him. He defieth you to have as much
patience to Him as He hath borne to you. I am sure that there cannot
be a dram-weight of gall less in your cup; and ye would not desire He
should both afflict you and hurt your soul. When His people cannot
have a providence of silk and roses, they must be content with such an
one as He carveth for them. Ye would not go to heaven but with
company; and ye may perceive that the way of those who went before you
was through blood, sufferings, and many afflictions. Nay, Christ, the
Captain, went in over the door-threshold of Paradise bleeding to
death. I do not think but ye have learned to stoop (though ye, as
others, be naturally stiff), and that ye have found that the apples
and sweet fruits, which grow on that crabbed tree of the cross, are as
sweet as it is sour to bear it; especially considering that Christ
hath borne the whole complete cross, and that His saints bear but bits
and chips; as the Apostle saith, "the remnants," or "leavings," of the
cross (Col. i. 24).
I judge you ten thousand times happy, that ever ye were grace's
debtor; for certainly Christ hath engaged you over head and ears to
free grace. And take the debt with you to eternity, Immanuel's highest
land, where ye find before you a houseful of Christ's everlasting
debtors; the less shame to you. Yea, and this lower kingdom of grace
is but Christ's hospital, and guest-house of sick folks, whom the
brave and noble Physician, Christ, hath cured, upon a venture of life
and death. And, if ye be near the water-side (as I know ye are), all
that I can say is this, Sir, that I feel by the smell of that land
which is before you, that it is a goodly country, and it is well paid
for to your hand. And He is before you who will heartily welcome you.
Oh, to suck those breasts of full consolation above, and to drink
Christ's new wine up in His Father's house, is some greater matter
than is believed; since it was brewed from eternity for the Head of
the house, and so many thousand crowned kings. Rubs in the way, where
the lodging is so good, are not much.
He that brought again from the dead the Great Shepherd of the sheep,
by the blood of the eternal covenant, establish you to the end.
Your friend and servant in Christ Jesus,
S. R.
LONDON, _May 15, 1646_.
CCCXXIV.--_To his Reverend and worthy Brother_, MR. GEORGE
GILLESPIE.[463]
[463] Gillespie was lying on his deathbed when this letter was written
to him by Rutherford, who had heard of the dangerous illness of his
friend. He died on the 17th of December following.
(_PROSPECT OF DEATH--CHRIST THE TRUE SUPPORT IN DEATH._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I cannot speak to you. The way ye know;
the passage is free and not stopped; the print of the footsteps of the
Forerunner is clear and manifest; many have gone before you. Ye will
not sleep long in the dust, before The Daybreak. It is a far shorter
piece of the hinder-end of the night to you than to Abraham and Moses.
Beside all the time of their bodies resting under corruption, it is as
long yet to their day as to your morning-light of awaking to glory,
though their spirits, having the advantage of yours, have had now the
fore-start of the shore before you.
I dare say nothing against His dispensation. I hope to follow quickly.
The heirs that are not there before you are posting with haste after
you, and none shall take your lodging over your head. Be not heavy.
The life of faith is now called for; _doing_ was never reckoned in
your accounts, though Christ in and by you hath done more than by
twenty, yea, an hundred grey-haired and godly pastors. Believing now
is your last.[464] Look to that word, "Nevertheless I live, yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me" (Gal. ii. 20). Ye know the I that liveth, and
the _I_ that liveth not; it is not single _Ye_ that live. Christ by
law liveth in the broken debtor; it is not a life by doing or holy
walking, but the living of Christ in you. If ye look to yourself as
divided from Christ, ye must be more than heavy. All your wants, dear
brother, be upon Him: ye are His debtors; grace must sum and subscribe
your accounts as paid. Stand not upon items, and small or little
sanctification. Ye know that _inherent_ holiness must stand by, when
_imputed_ is all. I fear the clay house is a-taking down and
undermining: but it is nigh the dawning. Look to the east, the dawning
of the glory is near. Your Guide is good company, and knoweth all the
miles, and the ups and downs in the way. The nearer the morning, the
darker. Some travellers see the city twenty miles off, and at a
distance; and yet within the eighth part of a mile they cannot see it.
It is all keeping that ye would now have, till ye need it; and if
sense and fruition come both at once, it is not your loss. Let Christ
tutor you as He thinketh good; ye cannot be marred, nor miscarry, in
His hand. Want is an excellent qualification; and "no money, no
price," to you (who, I know, dare not glory in your own righteousness)
is fitness warrantable enough to cast yourself upon Him who justifieth
the ungodly. Some see the gold[465] once, and never again till the
race's end. It is coming all in a sum together, when ye are in a more
gracious capacity to tell it than now. "Ye are not come to the mount
that burneth with fire, or unto blackness, darkness, and tempest; but
ye are come to Mount Zion, unto the city of the living God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the
general assembly and church of the first-born which are written in
heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men
made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the New Covenant, and to
the blood of sprinkling," etc.
[464] Your believing now is your last believing; closing the whole
course.
[465] See Letter CCCXVIII.
Ye must leave the wife to a more choice Husband, and the children to a
better Father.
If ye leave any testimony to the Lord's work and Covenant, against
both Malignants and Sectaries (which I suppose may be needful), let it
be under your hand, and subscribed before faithful witnesses.[466]
[466] In this matter Gillespie complied with Rutherford's advice,
having left behind him a testimony against both Malignants and
Sectaries, subscribed by his own hand, on the 15th of December, only
two days before he died.
Your loving and afflicted brother,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Sept. 27, 1648_.
CCCXXV.--_To SIR JAMES STEWART, Lord Provost of Edinburgh_.[467]
[467] As an accurate facsimile of this letter from the original, among
the papers of the Town Council of Edinburgh, is inserted here, it has
been thought proper, in this instance, to retain Rutherford's
orthography.
[SIR JAMES STEWART of Kirkfield and Cultness, to whom this letter
is addressed, was a man of high Christian excellence. "Sir James
Stewart," said the celebrated George Gillespie, "has more
sterling religion in ready cash than any man ever I knew; he is
always agreeably composed and recollected, in a permanent devout
frame of spirit, and such as I should wish to have in my last
moments" ("Coltness Collections," p. 15). He was a zealous
Covenanter, and suffered considerably for his principles during
the persecution of Charles II. He died March 31, 1681, at his own
house at Edinburgh, in the seventy-third year of his age, in the
full assurance of faith. Rutherford wrote this letter on occasion
of his own election to be Professor of Divinity in the College of
Edinburgh.]
Richt honorablee
THE mater of my transportation is so poor a contraversie, I truely not
beeing desyrous to be the subject of any dine[468] in the Generall
Assemblie of the Kirk of Scotland whoe have greater bussines to doe,
and haveing suffered once the paine of transportation, moist humbly
intreat your w. [worships] that favour as to cast yo^r thoughts vpon
some fitter man; for as it is vnbeseemeing me to lie or dissemblee, so
I must friely show you it will but mak me the subject of suffereing
and passive obedience, and I trust your w. [worships] intend not that
hurt to me, and I am persuaded it is not yo^r mind, it shall be my
prayer to God, to send that worthie societie an hable[469] and pious
man. Grace be with you.
[468] _Din_, noise. The superfluous "_e_," at the end of several of
these words, may possibly have been a dash in the writing. "Dine," for
"din"; "whoe," for "who"; "humblee," for "humble." Compare
"_honorable_," on the address of the letter with the same word in the
commencement. (A kind friend, reading this letter carefully over,
maintains that "_dine_," or "_din_," is not the word in the autograph,
but that it is "_drane_," which would mean that he did not wish _to be
a drain_ on the time of the Assembly, who had greater business to
attend to than this personal affair of his. But, so far as we are
aware, that phrase, "_to be a drain_," never occurs elsewhere in
Rutherford's writings. What if the writer, in the agitation of the
moment, allowed his pen to write "drane," though he meant it to be
"dine"?)
[469] From French, "habile," in which we see the etymology of
"_able_."
Yours at all humblee
observance in the Lord
SAMUEL RUTHERFURD
for the richt honorable my varie good lord,
Sr James Steuart proveist of Edinbrugh and
remanent magistrats Counsellers of the Citie.
S Andrews the
Last of Junii
1649
CCCXXVI.--_To MISTRESS GILLESPIE, Widow of George Gillespie._
(_ON THE DEATH OF A CHILD--GOD AFFLICTS IN ORDER TO SAVE US FROM THE
WORLD._)
DEAR SISTER,--I have heard how the Lord hath visited you, in removing
the child Archibald. I hope ye see that the setting down of the weight
of your confidence and affection upon any created thing, whether
husband or child, is a deceiving thing; and that the creature is not
able to bear the weight, but sinketh down to very nothing under your
confidence. And, therefore, ye are Christ's debtor for all providences
of this kind, even in that He buildeth an hedge of thorns in your way:
for so ye see that His gracious intention is, to save you (if I may
say so) whether ye will or not.
It is a rich mercy that the Lord Christ will be Master of your will
and of your delights, and that His way is so fair, for landing of
husband and children before-hand in the country whitherto ye are
journeying. No matter how little ye be engaged to the world, since ye
have such experience of cross-dealing in it. Had ye been a child of
the house, the world would have dealt more warmly with its own. There
is less of you out of heaven, in that the child is there and the
husband is there; but much more that your Head, Kinsman, and Redeemer
doth fetch home such as are in danger to be lost. And from this time
forward, fetch not your comforts from such broken cisterns and dry
wells. If the Lord pull at the rest, ye must not be the creature that
will hold when He draweth.
Truly, to me your case is more comfortable than if the fireside were
well plenished with ten children. The Lord saw that ye were able, by
His grace, to bear the loss of husband and child; and that ye are that
weak and tender as not to be able to stand under the mercy of a
gracious husband, living and flourishing in esteem with authority, and
in reputation for godliness and learning. For He knoweth the weight of
these mercies would crush you and break you. And as there is no
searching out of His understanding, so He hath skill to know what
providence will make Christ dearest to you; and let not your heart
say, "It is an ill-waled dispensation." Sure Christ, who hath seven
eyes, had before Him the good of a living husband and children for
Margaret Murray, and the good of a removed husband and children
translated to glory. Now that He hath opened His decree to you, say,
"Christ hath made for me a wise and gracious choice, and I have not
one word to say to the contrary." Let not your heart charge anything,
nor unbelief libel injuries upon Christ because He will not let you
alone, nor give you leave to play the adulteress with such as have not
that right to your love that Christ hath. I should wish that, at the
reading of this, ye may fall down and make a surrender of those that
are gone, and of those that are yet alive, to Him. And for you, let
Him have all; and wait for Himself, for He will come, and will not
tarry. Live by faith, and the peace of God guard your heart. He cannot
die whose ye are.
My wife suffereth with you,[470] and remembereth her love to you.
Your brother in Christ,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Aug. 14, 1649_.
[470] Rutherford was married a second time on 24th March 1649, about
five months previous to the date of this Letter, to Jean M'Math.
CCCXXVII.--_To the_ EARL OF BALCARRAS.
[ALEXANDER LINDSAY, second Lord Balcarras, and first Earl of
Balcarras, to whom this letter is addressed, was a man of
superior talents, and espoused the cause of the Covenant. He
commanded a troop of horse in the Covenanters' army at the battle
of Alford, 2nd July 1645, when General Baillie was defeated by
Montrose. He was one of the Commissioners despatched by the
Parliament of Scotland, 19th December 1646, to King Charles I.,
with their last proposals, which his Majesty rejected; upon which
the Scottish army surrendered him to the English Parliament, and
retired from England. When, in 1648, troops were raised with the
design of rescuing the King from the English Parliament, and
restoring him to liberty and power, without requiring from him
any concessions to his subjects, which was called "The
Engagement," Balcarras took an active part in this enterprise,
for which Rutherford, by the way, tenders to him a reproof. On
the arrival of Charles II. in Scotland, 1650, he repaired to his
Majesty, by whom he was advanced to the dignity of Earl of
Balcarras. He was High Commissioner to the General Assembly of
the Church of Scotland which met at St. Andrews, 16th July 1651.
In 1652 he settled with his family at St. Andrews, keeping up a
correspondence with his exiled sovereign; and in 1653 again took
arms, and joined in an ineffectual attempt to uphold the Royal
cause against Cromwell. His estate, after this, being
sequestrated, he withdrew to the Continent. His Lordship did not
live to see the Restoration of Charles, having died of
consumption in the prime of life, at Breda, on the 30th of August
1659. His mortal remains were brought over to Scotland, and
interred at Balcarras. (Douglas' "Peerage of Scotland.") This
letter is given from the original, among the Balcarras Papers,
vol. ix., No. 135, Advocates' Library, Edinburgh. _Balcarras
House_ is three miles from Largo. A tower on the crag above it
marks it out from a distance. The old mansion has been nearly
superseded, but you see carved on the walls the old motto,
"Astra, castra, lumen, Numen." In old books it is written
"_Balcarrs_."]
(_REGARDING SOME MISUNDERSTANDING._)
MY VERY HONOURABLE LORD,--I am sorry that your Lordship should be
offended at any sinistrous misinformation concerning your supposed
discountenancing of ministers. For the general I can say nothing,
being utterly ignorant thereof. I hope your Lordship will make the
best use of it may be. For myself, I owe no thanks to any that have
named me as the object of any discountenancing; for, truly, I value
not any of these when, as the conscience of my innocence showeth me
(and, for aught known to me, truly) that I offended no nobleman in the
kingdom, far less my Lord Balcarras, whose public deservings have been
such as I esteem him to have been most instrumental in this work of
God. I hope, my Lord, you will pardon me to make a little exception in
the matter of the late sinful engagement. And therefore, my Lord, I
entreat you to forget that business; for since your Lordship said of
me, in your letter to Mr. David Forret,[471] more than I deserve, I
shall be satisfied with it as an expiation, more than any
discountenancing of me can amount unto by millions of degrees. And
therefore entreat your Lordship to accept of this for anything that
any could say to your Lordship of that business. If I had thought so
much of myself as the discountenancing of me had been a sinful neglect
(whereas I know there is little ground for the contrary), I should
have spoken to your Lordship myself. So trusting your Lordship will
rest satisfied, I am, your Lordship's, at power in the Lord,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Dec. 24, 1649_.
[471] Mr. David Forret, or Forrest, was minister of Kilconquhar. He
had formerly been minister of Deninno, where he appears in 1639. He
was translated thence to Forgan in 1640; and to Kilconquhar, May 27,
1646. He refused to conform to Prelacy in 1662, but was not ejected,
and died February 26, 1672.
CCCXXVIII.--_To the worthy and much honoured_ COLONEL GILBERT KER.
[COLONEL GILBERT KER was a leading man among the Covenanters. He was
one of the officers of the west country army, and adhered with great
zeal to the Western Remonstrance, sent by that army to the Committee
of Estates, which, among other things, condemned the treaty with the
King, accused many of the Committee of Estates of covetousness and
oppression, and opposed the invasion of England, or forcing a king
upon that kingdom. In the year 1655 he was named Justice of Peace for
Roxburghshire, but declined to accept; stating as his reasons, that he
considered the employment sinful, not allowed by the word of God,
contrary to the Solemn League and Covenant, and an encroachment on the
liberty of Christ's church.
At the restoration of Charles II., when those concerned in the Western
Remonstrance were particularly marked out for the vengenance of the
Government, he left the country, but was allowed by the Privy Council
to return in the beginning of the year 1671. He must have died
previous to October 5, 1677; for at that date Mr. James Row, merchant
in Edinburgh, his son-in-law, presents a petition to the Privy
Council, praying that he might obtain the remission of a fine of five
hundred merks, imposed on the deceased Colonel Gilbert Ker upon
account of a conventicle, and for the payment of which the petitioner
had become cautioner. This fine was remitted. ("Register of Acts of
Privy Council.")]
(_SINGLENESS OF AIM--JUDGMENT IN REGARD TO ADVERSARIES._)
MUCH HONOURED AND TRULY WORTHY,--I hope I shall not need to show you
that ye are in greater hazard from yourself, and your own spirit
(which should be watched over, that your actings for God may be clean,
spiritual, purely for God, for the Prince of the kings of the earth),
than ye can be in danger from your enemies. Oh how hard is it to get
the intentions so cut off from and raised above the creature, as to be
without mixture of creature and carnal interest, and to have the soul,
in heavenly actings, only, only eyeing Himself, and acting from love
to God, revealed to us in Jesus Christ! Ye will find yourself, your
delights, your solid glory (far above the air and breathings of
mouths, and the thin, short, poor applauses of men), before you in
God. All the creatures, all the swords, all the hosts in Britain, and
in this poor globe of the habitable world, are but under Him single
cyphers making no number; the product being nothing but painted men,
and painted swords in a brod, without influence from Him. And oh what
of God is in Gideon's sword, when it is "The sword of the Lord!"
I wish a sword from heaven to you, and orders from heaven to you to go
out; and as much peremptoriness of a heavenly will as to say, and
abide by it, "I will not, I shall not go out, unless Thou goest with
me." I desire not to be rash in judging; but I am a stranger to the
mind of Christ, if our adversaries, who have unjustly invaded us, be
not now in the camp of those that make war with the Lamb. But the Lamb
shall overcome them at length; for He is the Lord of lords, and King
of kings, and they who are with Him are called, and chosen, and
faithful. And though ye and I see but the dark side of God's
dispensations this day towards Britain, yet the fair, beautiful, and
desirable close of it must be the confederacy of the nations of the
world with Britain's Lord of armies. And let me die in the comforts of
the faith of this, that a throne shall be set up for Christ in this
island of Britain (which is, and shall be, a garden more fruitful of
trees of righteousness, and which payeth and shall pay more thousands
to the Lord of the vineyard than is paid in thrice the bounds of Great
Britain upon earth), and there can be neither Papist, Prelate,
Malignant, nor Sectary, who dare draw a sword against Him that sitteth
upon the throne.
Sir, I shall wish a clean[472] army, so far as may be, that the shout
of a King who hath many crowns may be among you; and that ye may fight
in faith, and prevail with God first. Think it your glory to have a
sword to act, and suffer, and die (if it please Him), so being ye may
add anything to the declarative glory of Christ, the Plant of Renown,
Immanuel, God with us. Happy and thrice blessed are they by whose
actings, or blood, or pain, or loss, the diadems and rubies of His
highest and most glorious crown (whose ye are) shall glister and shine
in this quarter of the habitable world. Though He need not Gilbert
Ker, nor his sword, yet this honour have ye with His redeemed
soldiers, to call Christ High Lord-General, of whom ye hope for pay
and all arrears well told. Go on, worthy Sir, in the courage of faith,
following the Lamb. Make not haste unbelievingly; but in hope and
silence keep the watch-tower, and look out. He will come in His own
time; His salvation shall not tarry. He will place salvation in
Britain's Zion for Israel's glory.
[472] Free from malignants. See note, Letter CCCXXX.
His good-will who dwelt in The Bush and it burned not, be yours, and
with you.
I am yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Aug. 10, 1650_.
CCCXXIX.--_To the worthy and much honoured_ COLONEL GILBERT KER.
(_COURAGE IN DAYS OF REBUKE--GOD'S ARRANGEMENTS ALL WISE._)
MUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--What I wrote to you before, I spake not
upon any private warrant. I am where I was. Cromwell and his army (I
shall not say but there may be, and are, several sober and godly among
them, who have either joined through misinformation, or have gone
alongst with the rest in the simplicity of their hearts, not knowing
anything) fight in an unjust cause, against the Lord's secret ones.
And now to the trampling of the worship of God, and persecuting the
people of God in England and Ireland, he hath brought upon his score
the blood of the people of God in Scotland. I entreat you, dear Sir,
as ye desire to be serviceable to Jesus Christ, whose free grace
prevented you when ye were His enemy, go on without fainting, equally
eschewing all mixtures with Sectaries[473] and Malignants.[474]
Neither of the two shall ever be instrumental to save the Lord's
people, or build His house. And without prophesying, or speaking
further than He, whose I am and whom I desire to serve, in the Gospel
of His Son, shall warrant, I desire to hope and to believe there is a
glory and a majesty of the Prince of the kings of the earth, that
shall shine and appear in Great Britain, which shall darken all the
glory of men, confound Sectaries and Malignants, and rejoice the
spirits of the followers of the Lamb, and dazzle the eyes of the
beholders.
[473] The Independents.
[474] The Cavaliers.
Sir, I suppose that God is to gather Malignants and Sectaries, ere all
be done, as sheaves in a barn-floor; and to bid the daughters of Zion
arise, and thresh. I hope that ye will mix with none of them. I am
abundantly satisfied, that our army, through the sinful miscarriage of
men, hath fallen; and dare say it is a better and a more comfortable
dispensation, than if the Lord had given us the victory and the necks
of the reproachers of the way of God; because He hath done it. For,
1. More blood, blasphemies, cruelty, treachery, must be upon the
accounts of the men whose land the Lord forbade us to invade. 2.
Victory is such a burdening and weighty mercy, that we have not
strength to bear it as yet. 3. That was not the army, nor Gideon's
three hundred, by whom He is to save us; we must have one of our
Lord's carving. 4. Our enemies on both sides are not enough hardened,
nor we enough mortified to multitude, valour, and creatures.
Grace, grace be with you.
Your friend and servant, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Sept. 5, 1650_.
CCCXXX.--_To MR. WILLIAM GUTHRIE, when the army was at Stirling, after
the defeat at Dunbar,[475] and the godly in the West were falsely
branded with intended compliance with the usurpers, about the time
when those debates and that difference concerning the Public
Resolutions arose._[476]
[475] The battle was fought between Cromwell and the Scots, and the
latter were completely defeated, with great loss. It was fought on the
3rd September 1650.
[476] After the battle of Dunbar, it was proposed that the restraints
by which such as had, by various Acts of Parliament, been excluded
from places of power and trust in the army and state, on account of
their Malignancy, or opposition to the Covenant and liberties of the
nation, should be removed. This was at first refused; but after the
defeat at Hamilton, the Commission agreed to certain resolutions, for
admitting into places of power and trust in the Army and State such as
had been excluded by the Acts of Parliament referred to. These were
called "Public Resolutions," and they became a source of much
dissension in the church. At last they were formally approved of by
the General Assembly held in July 1651, at St. Andrews, and adjourned
to Dundee. At the last sederunt at St. Andrews, Rutherford, who was
strongly opposed to the Resolutions, gave in a protestation against
the lawfulness of that Assembly. It was subscribed by twenty-one
besides himself. Hence those opposed to the Public Resolutions were
called "Protesters," and those friendly to them, "Resolutioners."
[WILLIAM GUTHRIE was born at Pitforthy, in the shire of Angus, in
the year 1620. He was the eldest son of the Laird of Pitforthy, a
cadet of the old family of Guthrie, and by his mother's side was
descended from the ancient house of Easter-Ogle. He attended the
literary and philosophical classes at the University of St.
Andrews, and studied theology under Rutherford. On the 7th of
November 1644, he was ordained minister of Fenwick. There he
continued successfully to discharge his ministry till the 24th of
July 1664, when, for nonconformity, he was suspended from and
discharged to exercise his ministry, and his church declared
vacant, by order of Bishop Burnet. He died at Brechin on the 10th
of October 1665.
It may be mentioned here that William Guthrie of Fenwick was
cousin to the famous James Guthrie, and was brought to Christ by
Samuel Rutherford's ministry at St. Andrews, being one of his
first fruits there. ("Life" by Wodrow.) It was he who wrote "The
Trial of a Saving Interest in Christ," so well known.]
(_DEPRESSION UNDER DARK TRIALS--DANGER OF COMPLIANCE._)
REVEREND BROTHER,--I did not dream of such shortness of breath, and
fainting in the way toward our country. I thought that I had no more
to do than die in my nest, and bow down my sinful head, and let Him
put on the crown, and so end. I have suffered much; but this is the
thickest darkness, and the straitest step of the way I have yet
trodden. I see more suffering yet behind, and, I fear, from the
keepers of the vine. Let me obtain of you, that you would press upon
the Lord's people that they would stand far off from these merchants
of souls who have come in amongst you. If the way revealed in the word
be that way, we then know that these soul-cowpers and traffickers show
not the way of salvation. Alas, alas! poor I am utterly lost, my share
of heaven is gone, and my hope is poor; I am perished, and I am cut
off from the Lord, if hitherto out of the way! But I dare not judge
kind Christ; for, if it may be but permitted (with reverence to His
greatness and highness be it spoken), I will, before witnesses,
produce His own hand that He said, "This is the way, walk thou in it."
And He cannot except against His own seal. I profess that I am almost
broken and a little sleepy, and would fain put off this body. But this
is my infirmity, who would be under the shadow and covert of that Good
Land, once[477] to be without the reach and blast of that terrible
One. But I am a fool: there is none that can overbid, or take my
lodging over my head, since Christ hath taken it for me.
[477] Once for all; completely.
Dear brother, help me, and get me the help of their prayers who are
with you in whom is my delight. You are much suspected of intended
compliance; I mean, not of you only, but of all the people of God with
you. It is but a poor thing the fulfilling of my joy; but let me
obtest all the serious seekers of His face, His secret sealed ones, by
the strongest consolations of the Spirit, by the gentleness of Jesus
Christ, that Plant of Renown, by your last accounts and appearing
before God, when the White Throne shall be set up, be not deceived
with their fair words. Though my spirit be astonished at the cunning
distinctions which are found out in the matters of the Covenant, that
help may be had against these men; yet my heart trembleth to
entertain the least thought of joining with those deceivers.
Grace, grace be with you. Amen.
Your own brother, in our common Lord and Saviour,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS.
CCCXXXI.--_To the worthy and much honoured_ COLONEL GILBERT KER.
(_COURAGE IN THE LORD'S CAUSE--DUTY IN REGARD TO PROVIDENCE TO BE
OBSERVED--SAFETY IN THIS._)
MUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--It is considerable that the Lord may,
and often doth call to a work and yet hide Himself, and try the faith
of His own. If I conceive aright, the Lord hath called you to act
against that enemy; and the withdrawers of their sword (in my weak
apprehension) add their zeal unto, and take upon them the guilt of
that unjust invasion of this land made by Cromwell's army, and of the
blood of the Lord's people in this kingdom; since the sword, put into
the hand of His children, is to execute wrath and vengeance upon
evil-doers. The Lord's time of appearing for His broken land is
reserved to the breathings of the Spirit of the Lord, such as came
upon Gideon and Samson; and that is an act of princely and royal
sovereignty in God. Ye are, Sir, to lay hold on opportunities of
Providence, and to wait for Him.
As for your particular treating by yourselves with the invaders of our
land, I have no mind to it, and do look upon their way as a carrying
on of the mystery of iniquity; for Babylon is a seat of many names.
Sir, let[478] this controversy stand undecided till the Second
Appearance of Jesus Christ, and our appeal lie before the throne
undiscussed till that day, I hope to lie down in the grave in the
faith of the justness of our cause. I speak nothing of the maintaining
the greatness of men, not subordinate to the Prince of the kings of
the earth. I judge that the blood of the witnesses of Jesus is found
upon the skirts of this society, as well as in Babylon's skirts. I
believe that the way of the Lord is Colonel Gilbert Ker's strength and
glory; and I should be content to want my part of him (which is, I
confess, precious and dear in Christ), so that he be spent in the
service of Him who will anon make inquisition for the blood of the
truly godly; which these men have shed, after fair warning that they
were the godly of Scotland.
[478] Supposing that this controversy remains undecided.
Worthy Sir, believe; faint not. Set your shoulder under the glory of
Jesus that is misprised in Scotland, and give a testimony for Him. He
hath many names in Scotland, who shall walk with Him in white. This
despised Covenant shall ruin Malignants, Sectaries, and Atheists. Yet
a little while, and behold He cometh, and walketh[479] in the
greatness of His strength, and His garments dyed with blood. Oh, for
the sad and terrible day of the Lord upon England, their ships of
Tarshish, their fenced cities, etc., because of a broken covenant!
[479] The Hebrew of Isa. lxiii. 1 is alluded to (צֹעֶה): "_marching on_
in the greatness of His strength." Rutherford, in the latter part of
his life, studied Isaiah very closely. See Sketch of his Life.
A conference with the enemy, not to hinder acting (Oh that the Lord
would thereby, or by some other way, remove the cloud that is over
you!), if authority should concur, were to be desired; but it can
hardly be expected. However, in the way of duty, and in the silence of
faith, go on. If ye perish, ye are the first of the creation with whom
the Lord hath taken that dispensation. I should humbly desire you,
Sir, to look to that: "Dying, and, behold, we live; killed all the day
long, and yet more than conquerors." There shall be the heat and
warmness of life in your graves and buried bones. But look not for the
Lord's coming the higher way only, for He may come the lower way. Oh,
how little of God do we see, and how mysterious is He! Christ known is
amongst the greatest secrets of God. Keep yourself in the love of God;
and, in order to that, as far in obedience and subjection to the King
(whose salvation and true happiness my soul desireth), and to every
ordinance of man for the Lord's sake, and to the fundamental laws of
this kingdom, as your Lord requireth. Sir, ye are in the hearts and
prayers of the Lord's people in this kingdom, and in the other
two.[480] The Lord hath said, "There is blessing in the cluster of
grapes; destroy it not."
[480] England and Ireland.
Grace, grace be upon the head of him that is separated from his
brethren; and the good-will of Him that dwelt in The Bush be with you.
Your servant, in his sweet Lord Jesus,
S. R.
PERTH, _Nov. 23, 1650_.
CCCXXXII.--_To the much honoured and truly worthy_ COLONEL GILBERT
KER.
(_CHRISTS CAUSE DESERVES SERVICE AND SUFFERING FROM US._)
"For the vision is yet for an appointed time; but at the end it
shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it."--HAB.
ii. 3, 4.
MUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--Your chains now shine as much for
Christ (the cause being His) as your sword was made famous in acting
for that cause; and blessed are such as can willingly tender to Christ
both action and blood, doing and suffering. Resisting unto blood is
little for that precious and never-enough exalted Redeemer, who, when
ye were a-buying, gave blood somewhat dearer than ye gave for Him,
even the blood of God (Acts xx. 28). I know a man, who, upon the
receipt of a letter that ye were killed and the people of God
destroyed, wished that he might be quickly under the wall of the
higher palace from under the dint[481] of the storm, and who longed to
have the weather-beaten and crazy bark safely landed in that harbour
of eternal quietness.
[481] The blow, Zachary Boyd ("Last Battle") speaks of "the dint of
God's judgment-stroke."
What further service Christ hath for you, I know not; it is enough
that in your captivity[482] ye offer your service to Christ. But if I
see anything, it looketh like a merciful defeat. I see the nobles and
the state falling off from Christ, and the night coming upon the
prophets; which we should pray to prevent, because it is a rare thing
to see a fallen star ever win up again to the firmament to shine. And
what if this be the thick darkness going before the break of day?
Sure, Sir, the sun shall rise upon Scotland; but if I shall see it, or
how near is it to that day, I leave that to Him, even unto Jehovah,
who "createth upon every dwelling-place in Mount Zion, and upon her
assemblies, a cloud and a smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming
fire by night." But, Sir, "the wilderness shall rejoice and blossom as
a rose:" and happy he who hath a bone, or an arm, to put the crown
upon the head of our highest King, whose chariot is paved with love.
Were there ten thousand millions of heavens created above these
highest heavens, and again as many above them, and as many above them
till angels were wearied with counting, it were but too low a seat to
fix the princely throne of that Lord Jesus (whose ye are) above them
all. Created heavens are too low a seat of majesty for Him. Since,
then, there is none equal to your Master and Prince who hath chosen
out for you (amongst many sufferings for sin) that only cross which
cometh nearest in likeness to His own cross, watered with consolation,
take courage, and comfort yourself in Him who hath chosen you to glory
hereafter and to conformity with Him here. We fools would have a cross
of our own choosing, and would have our gall and wormwood sugared, our
fire cold, and our death and grave warmed with heat of life; but He
who hath brought many children to glory, and lost none, is our best
Tutor. I wish that, when I am sick, He may be keeper and comforter. I
judge it a blessed Fall that we are forfeited heirs, broken and out of
credit, and that Christ is become a Tutor in the place of free-will,
and that we are no more our own. I am broken and wasted with the wrath
that is on the land, and have been much tempted with a design to have
a pass from Christ; which, if I had, I would not stay to be a witness
of our defection for any man's intreaty. But I know it is my softness
and weakness, who would ever be ashore when a fit of sea-sickness
cometh on; though I know I shall come soon enough to that desirable
country, and shall not be displaced: none shall take my lodging.
[482] On the 1st of December 1650, being Sabbath, the west country
forces of the Covenanters were scattered at Hamilton by a party of
English, under the conduct of Lambert. Several of them were killed,
and Colonel Ker was wounded and taken. (Lamont's "Diary," p. 24.)
Sir, many eyes are upon you, and the godly are exceedingly refreshed
that ye listen not to the ways of many about you, who with fair words
make merchandise of souls. Sir, if the way you are in be not the way
of Christ, then wo to me, for I am eternally lost. But truly, the Lord
Christ's dealings with Colonel Gilbert Ker hath proven to me, that the
New Testament and the covenant of grace is a piece that a solemn
meeting and assembly of all created angels (join all their wits
together) could not have devised. Since, Sir, ye paid nothing for the
change that Christ made, and ye will take that debt of free grace to
heaven with you (for what was Christ Jesus indebted to you, more than
to all your kindred and name!), therefore, since ye are made His own,
follow no other way. What is my salvation, though I should lay it in
pawn (it is but a poor pledge), that this, this only is the way! But
Christ is surety Himself that it is the way. The Forerunner went
before you, and He is safely landed: and there is a fair company
before you of such as "have come out of great tribulation, and have
washed their garments, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,"
to whom these promises are now performed: "He that overcometh shall
eat of the tree of life, that is in the midst of the paradise of God;"
and, "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall
be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be
any more pain"--"He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them;
they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the
sun light on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb that is in the midst of
the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains
of waters."
I may, Sir, possibly keep you from better work. The God of peace, that
brought again from the dead the Great Shepherd of the sheep, through
the blood of the eternal covenant, make you perfect.
Yours, in Jesus Christ,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Jan. 7, 1651_.
CCCXXXIII.--_To the much honoured and truly worthy COLONEL GILBERT
KER, when taken prisoner._
(_COMFORTING THOUGHTS TO THE AFFLICTED--DARKNESS OF THE
TIMES--FELLOWSHIP IN CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS--SATISFACTION WITH HIS
PROVIDENCES._)
MUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--I have heard of your continued
captivity in England, as well as in this afflicted land. But, go where
ye will, ye cannot go from under your Shadow, which is broader than
many kingdoms. Ye change lodging and countries; but the same Lord is
before you, if ye were carried away captive to the other side of the
sun, or as far as the rising of the morning star. It is spoken to your
mother (who hath yet received no bill of divorce), which was written
to Judah, "Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion,
like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city,
and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon;
there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from
the hand of thine enemies" (Micah iv. 10). England shall be
accountable for you, to render you back: "I will say to the north,
'Give up;' and to the south, 'Keep not back'" (Isa. xliii. 6). It is a
sermon that flesh and blood laugheth at: "Prophesy upon these dry
bones, and say unto them, 'O ye dry bones, hear the word of the
Lord!'" It is a preaching to the cold grave: "Thus saith the Lord
unto the bones, 'Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye
shall live; and I will lay sinews upon you, and bring up flesh upon
you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall
live'" (Ezek. xxxvii. 4, 5, 6). "And the sea gave up the dead that
were in it" (Rev. xx. 13). Berwick must render back the Scottish
captives, and Colonel Gilbert Ker with them. "For thus saith the Lord,
your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, For your sake I have sent to
Babylon, and have brought down all their nobles, and the Chaldeans
whose cry is in the ships" (Isa. xliii. 14). "If any of thine be
driven out to the utmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord
thy God gather thee, and from thence will He fetch thee" (Deut. xxx.
4). "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will save My people from
the east country and from the west country, and I will bring them, and
they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be My
people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness" (Zech.
viii. 7, 8). Sir, ye are both booked by the Lord who writeth up the
people (Ps. lxxxvii. 5, 6), and counted to the Lord as one of the
house and stock (Ps. xxii. 30). Fear not, faint not; all your hairs
are numbered.
It is the desire of the people of God, that, as your bonds hitherto
have been exemplary to the strengthening of the feeble and to the
stopping of the mouth of the adversary, without any declining to the
right or left hand; so your sufferings in the place ye now go to, may
be (as we are confident in the Lord of you, and in humility boast of
His grace in you) savoury, convincing, and like unto this honourable
cause, that will prevail in Britain, contrary to all the machinations
and counsels of devils and men. And though there were no other ink in
the pen I now write with but some dewing of my last cooling blood,
this I purpose (His grace, whose I am, enabling me) to stand to. Sir,
we desire to adore no instruments; yet we conceive the shining and
rays of grace from the Fountain, Jesus Christ, the fulness of the
Godhead, bestowed on sinful men, hold forth the good thoughts of
Christ to this poor land, whose multiplied graves, and whose souls
under the altar, slain by Sectaries and Malignants, cry aloud to
heaven.
I see nothing, Sir, if the Lord be not near (though I dare not say how
soon) to awake for the year of Zion's controversy. "For my sword shall
be bathed in heaven" (Isa. xxxiv. 5). Behold, it shall come down upon
England, and on the residue of His enemies in Scotland. Wo is me for
England! That land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat
with fatness; that pleasant land shall be a wilderness, and the dust
of their land pitch; a judgment upon their walled towns, their
pleasant fields, their strong ships, etc., if they do not repent.
Ye have not, I conceive, seen such searching and trying times as now
these are. And yet the question will be drawn to a more narrow state,
and multitudes will yet leave the cause; for we took all into the
covenant that offered to build with us. But Christ must have but a
small remnant (few nobles, if any; few ministers; few professors),
though our way standeth unchanged. "By honour and dishonour, by good
report and evil report: as deceivers and yet true; as unknown, yet
well known; as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and yet not
killed" (2 Cor. vi. 8, 9). Neither is this your condition alone, but
the experienced lot of all the saints that have gone before you. It is
one and the same cross of Christ; but there be sundry faces and
diverse circumstances in the same remnant (Col. i. 24), the sufferings
of Christ and yours. Sir, to be delivered to soldiers, and in
captivity, looketh like His suffering of whom Isaiah saith, "He was
taken from prison, and from judgment" (Isa. liii. 8): yea, and taken
bound (John xviii. 12). When the cause is the truth of God, the lustre
and face of suffering is so much the more lovely that it hath the hue
and colour of Christ's sufferings, who endured contradiction of
sinners and despised the shame. Oh it is a great word, "Christ shamed,
and Christ abased!" But thus was the Head, and so are the members,
dealt with in the world; and truly anything of Christ, even the worst
of Him (to speak so), His reproach and shame, are lovely. Though
superstitious love to the material cross He suffered upon be foolery,
and doting upon the holy grave[483] be cursed idolatry; yet is there a
communion with Him in His sufferings most desirable. "But rejoice,
inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings" (1 Pet. iv. 13):
in which sense, the cup that His lip touched hath the sweeter taste,
even though death were in it; the grave, because He did lie in it, is
so much the softer and the more refreshful a bed of rest; and that
part of the sky and clouds that the Beloved shall break through, and
come to judgment, is as lovely a piece of the created heaven as any
is, if we may love the ground He goeth on the better. But all this is
to be understood in a spiritual manner. The Lord calleth you, Sir,
upon whom the Spirit of God and His glory resteth, to put your soul's
AMEN to this dispensation; and requireth of us, that our desires
follow the now-declared decree of God concerning the desolation of our
sinful land, so many ways guilty of a despised Gospel, and a broken
Covenant; and that with all submission. Certainly, no man hath failed
more in this thing, than he who writeth to you. For I have brought my
health into great hazard, and tormented my spirit with excessive
grief, for our present provocations, and the rendings of our kirk; and
I see it is a challenging of, and a bold pleading against, Him upon
whose shoulder the government is (Isa. xxii. 22). The Father hath put
a glorious trust upon Christ: "And I will fasten Him as a nail in a
sure place, and He shall be for a glorious throne to His Father's
house; and they shall hang upon Him all the glory of His Father's
house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity,
from the vessels of cups even to all the vessels of flagons" (Isa.
xxii. 23, 24). Our unbelieving apprehensions do so quarrel at the
prosperity of enemies in an evil cause, that we wrestle with defeats,
spoiling, captivity of the godly, killing of His people, the wasting
of our land, starving and famishing of the kingdom, which is worse
than the sword. But this is a sinful contradicting of the Lord's
revealed decree. His wisdom saith, "Spoiling and desolation is best
for Scotland;" and we say, "Not," and so accuse Christ of
misgovernment, and of not being true to the trust put upon Him. But
since He doth not drag the government at His heels, but hath it upon
His shoulder, and since the Nail fastened in a sure place cannot be
broken,[484] nor can the smallest vessel fail to find sweet security
in dependence upon Him, since all the weight of heaven and earth, of
redeemed saints and confirmed angels, is upon His shoulder, I am a
fool, and brutish to imagine that I can add anything to Christ's
special care of and tenderness to His people. He who keepeth the
basins and knives of His house, and bringeth the vessels again to the
second temple (Ezra i. 8-10), must have a more tender care of His
redeemed ones than of a spoon, or of Peter's old shoes (Acts xii. 8),
which yet must not be lost in His captivity. Oh for grace to suffer
Christ to tutor His own minors and young heirs! But we cannot endure
to be under the actings of His government; we love too much to be our
own. Oh, how sweet to be wholly Christ's, and wholly in Christ! to be
out of the creature's owning, and made complete in Christ! to live by
faith in Christ, and to be, once for all, clothed with the uncreated
majesty and glory of the Son of God, wherein He maketh all His friends
and followers sharers! to dwell in Immanuel's high and blessed land,
and live in that sweetest air where no wind bloweth but the breathings
of the Holy Ghost, no seas nor floods flow but the pure water of life,
that proceedeth from under the throne and from the Lamb! no planting
but the Tree of Life that yieldeth twelve manner of fruits every
month! What do we here but sin and suffer? Oh, when shall the night be
gone, the shadows flee away, and the morning of that long, long day,
without cloud or night, dawn? The Spirit and the bride say, "Come."
Oh, when shall the Lamb's wife be ready, and the Bridegroom say,
"Come!"
[483] The Holy Sepulchre at Jerusalem.
[484] Isa. xxii. 25 is alluded to, where the Hebrew word means either
"broken," or cut down. See note, p. 655.
Worthy Sir, I mind you to the Hearer of prayer. Oh help me in that
kind.
The Spirit of Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours, in his only Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _May 14, 1651_.
CCCXXXIV.--_To the worthy and much honoured_ COLONEL GILBERT KER.
(_COMFORT UNDER THE CLOUD HANGING OVER SCOTLAND--DISSUASION FROM
LEAVING SCOTLAND._)
MUCH HONOURED AND WORTHY SIR,--I know not why the people of God should
not take notice of the bonds of any who have blood in readiness to be
let out for His cause; and I judge it was not of you that ye died not
in the undecided controversy which the Lord of the whole earth hath
with the men whom He hath sent against us.
Dear and much honoured in the Lord, let me entreat you to be far from
the thoughts of leaving this land. I see it, and find it, that the
Lord hath covered the whole land with a cloud in His anger. But though
I have been tempted to the like, I had rather be in Scotland beside
angry Jesus Christ, knowing that He mindeth no evil to us, than in
Eden or any garden in the earth; if we can remain united with the
Lord's remnant in the land.[485] He layeth up wrath for all sorts of
adversaries in Britain. Though I should never see the glory of His
glittering sword in Britain, I would be solaced in the innocent
thought (far from revenge) that the saints shall dip their feet in the
blood of the slain of the Lord. And truly, Sir, I suppose that ye
cannot but come to these thoughts and weak desires before the Hearer
of prayer, for as little as ye think of and value yourself. For me, if
I could mind you in your bonds, I purpose not to stand to the account
you give, or thoughts ye have of yourself; though I know ye are not a
whit, more or less, before Him who weigheth His own according to the
weight of imputed righteousness, for my apprehensions. Christ cannot
mistake you, men may; and the calculation and esteem of free grace
maketh you to be what you are. I hope to see you an everlastingly
obliged debtor to Him whom ye shall praise but never pay. And truly ye
have no riches but that debt: and I know that ye love to be engaged to
Jesus Christ, the most excellent of creditors. Much joy and sweetness
may ye have, in standing written in His book. I desire to do it
myself, and I would have you also highly to esteem the design of
Christ, who hath raised the riches of the glory of so much grace above
the circle of the heaven of heavens, out of very nothings; and
contrived His thoughts of love, so that lumps of glorified clay should
stand before Him, for all ages, the burdened and loaden debtors of
free, eternally free grace. Sir, ye cannot cast the count of the rents
of your so great inheritance of glory.
[485] Rutherford here refers to a call which he had received (on the
death of De Maets, or Dematius) to fill the Chair of Divinity in the
University of Utrecht, to which he was elected without being
consulted. He, however, declined to accept the invitation. The call
was conveyed to him first verbally, by his brother James, then an
officer in a regiment lying at Grave in Brabant; and next formally in
writing.
Grace be with you.
Your servant, in his own Lord Jesus,
S. R.
EDINBURGH, _May 18, 1651_.
CCCXXXV.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT IS MAN'S AND CHRIST'S, AND BETWEEN CHRIST
HIMSELF AND HIS BLESSINGS._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--We are fallen in winnowing
and trying times. I am glad that your breath serveth you to run to the
end, in the same condition and way wherein ye have walked these twenty
years past. It is either the way of peace, or we are yet in our sins,
and have missed the way. The Lord, it is true, hath stained the pride
of all our glory; and now, last of all, the sun hath gone down upon
many of the prophets. But stumble not; men are but men, and God
appeareth more and more to be God, and Christ is still Christ.
Madam, a stronger than I am had almost stumbled me and cast me down.
But oh what mercy is it to discern between what is Christ's and what
is man's, and what way the hue, colour, and lustre of gifts of grace
dazzle and deceive our weak eyes! Oh to be dead to all things that are
below Christ, were it even a created heaven and created grace!
Holiness is not Christ; nor are the blossoms and flowers of the Tree
of Life the tree itself. Men and creatures may wind themselves between
us and Christ; and, therefore, the Lord hath done much to take out of
the way all betwixt Him and us. There are not in our way now, kings,
nor armies, nor nobles, nor judicatories, nor strongholds, nor
watchmen, nor godly professors. The fairest things, and most eminent
in Britain, are stained, and have lost their lustre; only, only Christ
keepeth His greenness and beauty, and remaineth what He was. Oh, if He
were more and more excellent to our apprehensions than ever He was
(whose excellency is above all apprehensions), and still more and more
sweet to our taste! I care for nothing, if so be that I were nearer to
Him. And yet He fleeth not from me: I flee from Him, but He pursueth.
I hear that your Ladyship hath the same esteem of the despised cause
and covenant of our Lord that ye had before. Madam, hold you there. I
dare and would gladly breathe out my spirit in that way, with a nearer
communion and fellowship with the Father and the Son, and would seek
no more but that I might die believing. And also I would hope, that
the earth should not cover the blood of the godly, slain in Scotland,
but that the Lord will make inquisition for their blood when the
sufferings of the saints in these lands shall be fulfilled.
The good-will of Him that dwelt in The Bush be with you.
Your Ladyship's, at all observance, in the Lord Jesus,
S. R.
GLASGOW, _Sept. 28, 1651_.
CCCXXXVI.--_To_ LADY RALSTON.[486]
[486] Wodrow MSS. vol. xlv. 8vo, No. 13. "This letter," says Wodrow,
"is taken from a copy; but is certainly Mr. Rutherford's to Lady
Ralston of that ilk, which I have from her grandchild, and, as far as
I can see, is not printed."
[LADY RALSTON, whose maiden name was Ursula Mure, was daughter to
William Mure of Glanderston, a respectable family in the county
of Renfrew, and wife of William Ralston of that ilk. Mr.
Alexander Dunlop, minister of Paisley, was married to one of her
sisters, and Mr. John Carstairs to another. Lady Ralston was a
woman of distinguished piety. Mr. Dunlop, who "was most impartial
in his judgment of persons of worth," spoke in the highest terms
of her Christian character. One day, commending her to Mrs.
Hastie, wife of Mr. Alexander Hastie, minister of Glasgow, he
spoke so much to her commendation that Mr. Hastie said to him, "I
wonder to hear you speak so much to the praise of that lady; I
think you speak more of her than of your own wife." He answered,
"Sanders, I love truly to be just to everybody. I think my wife
is truly a good woman, and all the rest of the sisters are good
women; but I must say, Lady Ralston is a person more than
ordinary. I know very few come her length; yea, Sanders, I truly
think shame to even myself to be a Christian beside her, when I
look to her carriage. She is a very odd [singular] woman"
(Wodrow's "Analecta"). Mr. John Carstairs also bears testimony to
her Christian excellence, and to the kindness she had shown to
him and his family, particularly after his ejection from his
church in Glasgow, in 1662, for conscience' sake.]
(_DUTY OF PREFERRING TO LIVE RATHER THAN DIE--WANT OF UNION IN THE
JUDGMENTS OF THE GODLY._)
RIGHT WORTHY ESTEEMED IN YOUR EXCELLENT LORD JESUS,--With much desire
I have longed to hear how you were, since I heard of your being so
near the harbour, as seemed; and now, to my great satisfaction, I am
informed of your recovery. As for yourself, I grant, to have entered
in at the ports of the mansions of glory had been best by far; but,
yet to stay a little longer here is much more comfortable to yours.
Therefore, Mistress, dearly respected in the Lord, you are even
heartily welcome, though to share yet further with Zion in her
manifold tribulations. Yea, I believe yourself thinks it no
disadvantage, but rather one great addition of honour, to come back
and bear His reproach yet more, in a world of opposition to Him. For
(to speak so) it is an advantage that is not to be had in heaven
itself; for, although the inhabitants of that land agree in one to
sing the song of the Lamb's praise and commendation, so it is
here-away, and here only, where we have occasion to endure shame and
contradiction for His worthy sake. Considering, therefore, the honour
of the cross with the glory of the life to come, the saints are hereby
rendered completely happy and honourable. It's much selfishness (as I
judge it when I get seen best into the mystery of our Lord's cross) to
make post haste to be in the land of rest, when a storm of
persecution is rising for Christ; for the sluggard and peevish spirit
loves rest upon any terms, though never so dishonourable. It is in
effect, then, far more honourable to seek conformity to Christ in His
cross, than to[487] precipitate in desiring to be like Him in glory,
and despise and fly away from His sufferings. We use to say they are
very evil-worthy of the sweet who will not endure the sour. I think
Christ's pilgrim weeds (He being a Man of sorrows and griefs) are more
honourable than ever it became the like of us to wear; especially
considering our poor base descent, whom He will have honoured with
conformity to Himself. Woe's me that I, and many the like of me within
the land, look so frowardly on Christ's cross, as though it were not
His love-allowance to all His followers! It's plainly our gross
ignorance that is the cause thereof. Faith, I grant, would suffer
affliction for Him with good-will, rather than the least iniquity
should be committed; but sense loves no bands. For faith, keeping the
sway, puts oft-times the carnal man in bondage, and that occasions
strife betwixt the flesh and the spirit. The spirit smells no freedom
or deliverance but that which comes from above; the flesh would aye
have deliverance, without examination of the terms, or wherefrom it
comes. As it is the mark of Christ's sheep, that they will hear His
voice, and will not acknowledge a stranger, so it is the mark of
faith, that it will only receive orders from heaven. When He declares
His mind for bands, it submits to bands, not replying objections to
the contrary; and again, when He says, "Show yourselves, ye prisoners
of hope," it discovers time and way, and obeys to come forth, but not
till then. But the flesh maketh ever haste, and the first and nearest
ease is aye its best choice. The Lord keep His dear people from
wanting of any exercise that is measured out by Him to them, now when
He hides His face, lest we be turned aside to strange gods! And when
He shows Himself again (as He will assuredly do), we ken our
change.[488] It is far safer to dwell a little in faith's prison than
in sense's fairest liberty. I see nothing so comfortable an evidence
of God's staying into, and healing of, this broken and poor land, than
that faithful testimony of His precious servants (and strengthened
only by Him) against the late and sore defection.[489] Yet, if the
Lord had not left us a remnant, we had been as Sodom and like to
Gomorrah. And exalted be our God, only wise and free in His love, that
ever any testimony was given! for the hour of temptation was very dark
to all once. But to some He showed much light, and helped them with a
little help. Others, also, able and dear to Him, He hath letten, as
yet, remain under the cloud. But the mystery of His wisdom is so high
in this, that I profess it may render all flesh humble in the dust,
and to glory henceforth in nothing but in His upholding strength and
free love. Always,[490] when His due time comes, He will make His
servants see that which they do not now see. But, alas! in the
meantime, there is no harder matter of our trouble to be looked to
than the grievous differences of judgments and affections among the
Lord's servants; which I know is much pondered by you. And I trust
that all our worthy dear friends will labour to the utmost, according
to Christ's command, to have the breach made up again, that Satan get
not advantage therethrough; for I think nothing makes more for his
ends than the defacing of union amongst the Lord's dear ones. I think
it should be amongst our many requests to Him "in whom all the
building useth to be fitly framed together in love;" yea, the
obtaining of this request were a great advantage to the poor kirk. And
if the Lord take pleasure in us, there is yet hope in Israel
concerning this thing; but if not, it is like to prove a probable
token, amongst some others, of Christ's taking down His tabernacle in
this land: which, if He do, we will have sad days. But the
consideration of His pitiful compassion holds forth ground to believe
otherwise; upon which ground it is like that He will give us a door of
hope, though He do not give full deliverance yet. For our hope is not
perished yet from the Lord, because men and carnal reason say so; for
none of these are bands or rules to the Almighty! Yea, Zion's lowest
ebb shall be the first step to her rise. I have no other reason to
give but "the zeal of the Lord of hosts [will] perform it" (Isa. ix.
7); and in confidence of it, I remain,
[487] Too?
[488] Come to know how much we are changed.
[489] Rutherford alludes to the opposition made by the Protesters to
the Public Resolutions.
[490] Nevertheless.
Yours in all trouble,
S. R.
_October 1651_.
Tender my respects to your dear husband, who is indeed precious in the
account of the honest here, for his faithfulness in the hour of
temptation.
CCCXXXVII.--_To a Minister of Glasgow_.[491]
[491] From a copy among the Wodrow MSS. vol. xlv. 8vo, No. 14. "I had
it," says Wodrow, "from the Laird of Ralston. It's a double, only
written on the same sheet with the former to Lady Ralston, perhaps
about the same time."
[Wodrow annexes to this letter the following note:--"To one of
the ministers of Glasgow, who probably was deposed by the
Resolutionists, or at least a sufferer for the protestation,--Mr.
M'Ward perhaps, or Mr. Patrick Gillespie." The letter bears
internal evidence of having been written to a minister of Glasgow
who had been censured by the General Assembly which met at Dundee
in 1651, for his opposition to the public resolutions. By that
Assembly three ministers, Mr. James Guthrie of Stirling, Mr.
Patrick Gillespie of Glasgow, and Mr. James Simpson of Airth,
were deposed, and one, Mr. James Nasmith of Hamilton, suspended,
on the ground of their having protested against the lawfulness of
that Assembly. ("Life of Robert Blair," p. 278.) There seems,
then, little doubt that _Mr. Patrick Gillespie_ is the person to
whom this letter was addressed. It could not have been Mr. Robert
M'Ward, for he was licensed only in 1655, and did not become a
minister of Glasgow till 1656, when he succeeded Mr. Andrew Gray
in the Outer High Kirk; nor, though he enlisted himself on the
side of the Protesters, does he appear to have suffered on that
account. Mr. Patrick Gillespie was the son of Mr. John Gillespie
(second minister of the collegiate charge of Kirkcaldy), and
brother of the celebrated George Gillespie. He was born at
Kirkcaldy in 1617, and was for some time minister of that parish,
previous to his translation to Glasgow. After the death of
Charles I. he favoured the Commonwealth, and was appointed by
Cromwell Principal of the University of Glasgow, into which
office he was installed after encountering much opposition. At
the Restoration he was ejected from the Principalship, in which
he was succeeded by the celebrated Robert Baillie. He was also
imprisoned successively in the Castles of Edinburgh and Stirling;
and upon the sitting of the Parliament in 1661, was impeached of
high treason, on the alleged ground of his having compiled "The
Western Remonstrance," approved the pamphlet entitled "The Causes
of God's Wrath," and kept correspondence with Cromwell. But,
having made concessions, he was shortly after liberated, and
confined to Ormiston and six miles around it. "His works speak
for him," says Wodrow, "and evidence him a person of great
learning, solidity, and piety, particularly his excellent
treatises upon 'The Covenants of Grace and Redemption.'"]
(_ENCOURAGING WORDS TO A SUFFERING BROTHER--WHY MEN SHRINK FROM
CHRIST'S TESTIMONY._)
SIR,--I long to see you, since you gave a public testimony for your
Master, and are become a sufferer for Him. Until I shall be able to
see you, I thought it duty to write to you that I remember you as I am
able. Your zeal and faithfulness for our Master and your mother church
have made your name honourable and precious among many here; yea, have
exceedingly refreshed the bowels of the saints. Upon my word, Sir, I
say the truth, you have their hearts and their approbation to what you
have done; and that you are approven of God, I doubt not: the seal
whereof, I hope, shall be in your heart, to feast your conscience with
peace, and to cause your face shine in innocency. What you have done
with your fellow-witnesses, companions in tribulation, shall turn to
you for a testimony. Sir, when this General Assembly are gathered
together to their fathers, and you wearing your crown up at the
throne, and following the Lamb, your name shall be precious and have a
savour of life amongst the saints. You shall have your mother's
blessing, I mean the Church of Scotland, when you are dead and rotten.
Though now you seem to be a man of strife and contention, yet you are
no otherways for strife and contention than your Master before you,
who came not to send peace, but rather division and contention (Luke
xii. 51) with the malignant party. Union in judgment, with men not
tender of our Lord's interest, is a conjunction and union I hope you
shall never think desirable. Sectarian separation, I am confident, you
never loved; though men, who are become transgressors in destroying
what they have formerly been building, give it forth so. Woe's me,
Sir, that amongst so many hundred ministers in the Church of Scotland,
so few are like to be found willing to give or approve of your and
others' faithful testimony. I think that, besides the evil of
blindness that is in the mind of some, and the idolizing of man's
interest by others, an uncrucified world and over-loved stipends shall
hinder many from coming your length. We are debtors to you, and to our
Lord Jesus Christ, that hath given to you to care for "Zion, whom no
man seeks after" (Jer. xxx. 17); not caring for your own things, but
the things of God. Fair fall you that have quit all things to follow
Him. To you, and to others that will continue with Christ, in this
hour of tribulation, is appointed a kingdom. Sir, you had more credit
and worldly greatness to lose than many honest ministers; and thanks
be to God that you have so learned Christ [as] to be made a man for
Christ of no reputation, for Him. Your despised Master, who made
Himself while He was amongst us a man of no reputation, is now exalted
in glory. There is none now to gibe Him by bowing the knee, none now
to spit in His face, none now to bring Him under mocking of the purple
robe, none to put on His head a crown of thorns. And as you now
partake of His sufferings, so shall you hereafter of His glory. You
shall sit honourably on thrones; and when the Chief Shepherd appears,
you shall receive the crown. I am convinced that it is for conscience
toward God that you suffer. The bottom of your testimony and suffering
is not so narrow as some think, who study more to decline the cross
than to be tender for every truth. School-heads talk of fundamentals
and non-fundamentals; and, say they, "The present controversy is not
about fundamentals: ministers may keep their places, peace, and
stipends, and make less din." But are non-fundamentals nothing? I
would choose rather not be brought up at school, than to grow so
subtile and wily by school distinctions, [as] to decline the cross.
Sir, you divide not from others for nothing; you contend not for
nothing; you suffer not for nothing. They that will be unfaithful in
little will be unfaithful in much. Mistake me not, as if I thought the
ground of your testimony a little thing and a trifle. I think you, and
all that be faithful to God, are bound to follow it to bonds and to
blood. That Christ ought to be a King in Scotland, and the people
ought to employ[492] the liberty that Christ hath bought to them with
His blood, is among fundamentals with me; and whether the way man
gives and allows to men that have fought against the truth be not
naturally, and by interpretation, against this, judge. Sir, your
Master did put you in His vineyard. You have a testimony from many of
a faithful and diligent labourer. I hear that you are now violently
thrust out. I think the Spirit of Christ would teach men sobriety and
forbearance. I wish (and know you will join with me) that men's
violent dealing with you provoke not the Lord, to make this the last
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland. Always, I acknowledge you
one of the stars which the Lord hath in His hand, one of the angels of
the Church of Scotland, a faithful minister of the Gospel at Glasgow.
You have given a testimony for your Master; you shall get a meeting
when He comes in the clouds. And though there should not be a General
Assembly henceforth in the Church of Scotland, judicially to
acknowledge you His minister, yet, in the General Assembly of angels
and men, that your Master in the latter day shall call in the clouds,
you shall get a testimony of a minister of the Gospel; and from the
Shepherd and the Lord, the righteous Judge, you shall receive the
crown. I think there is a necessity laid on you to preach the Gospel,
and to call people to the covenant of grace, wherever you can safely
do it. I know there are many that will yet receive you as an angel of
God, and yet will be followers of you and of Christ, "receiving the
word in much affliction, with joy in the Holy Ghost." The Lord give
you in all things to "approve yourself as the minister of God, in much
patience and affliction, in necessities, distresses, in stripes, in
imprisonment, in labour, and watching, and fasting,--by honour and
dishonour, in good report and ill report" (2 Cor. vi. 4-6). For, now
we live if ye stand fast in the Lord. And the God of all peace, who
hath called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that you
have suffered awhile, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, and
settle you. Remember me to those that are your companions in
tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, and to
your wife, that will be a faithful helper to you in this time of your
affliction.
[492] Enjoy?
Because I am not able to see you yet, and fearing that when I come to
Glasgow I shall not find you there, I thought good to write.
CCCXXXVIII.--_For the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, the_ LADY
KENMURE.
(_A WORD TO CHEER IN TIMES OF DARKNESS._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--The Lord is gracious who
keepeth your Ladyship in the furnace, when many put out their hand to
iniquity one way or other. We are now shouldering and casting down one
another in the dark, and the godly are hidden from the godly. We make
our own chains heavier by joining with the Lord's enemies; hence new
sufferings to all that dare not say "a confederacy to those to whom
this people say a confederacy, nor fear their fear." (Isa. 8, 12.) As
that is my exercise now, who am not very far from being my lone
(though I know in whom I have believed, at least I should know) in
this place; so I am afraid that the godly there comply with those
declared enemies of God. It will be our strength to walk between
enemies and malignants on either side. This is the day of Jacob's
trouble; yet these dry bones can, and must live. I know not if I shall
see it, but I hope to take this quietness and silence of faith, in the
midst of the noises of the alarm for war, to the grave with me, that
the Lord will build upon the church of Britain and Ireland a palace of
silver, inclosed with boards of cedar.
Dear Madam, faint not; the night is almost gone; "for the vision is
yet for an appointed time; but at the end it shall speak, and not lie:
though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, and not
tarry." Madam, weary not; none can outbid your lodging in heaven;
there is more given for it, by Him who hath bespoken it for Jean
Campbell, and taken it for her, than any can offer. The ransom of
blood standeth.
My wife remembereth her respects to your Ladyship. The child is well.
Mrs. Gillespie is well, we hear, but is not here.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours, in his own Lord Jesus Christ,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Jan. 28, 1653_.
CCCXXXIX.--_For_ GRIZZEL FULLERTON. [Letter V.]
(_EXHORTATION TO FOLLOW CHRIST FULLY WHEN OTHERS ARE COLD._)
MISTRESS,--Remembering well what relation I had to your dear mother
(now blessed and perfected with glory),[493] and being confident that
yourself looketh that way (which, except I be eternally lost, is the
way of peace and of life), I should be ungrateful to forget those,
whom, by the covenant of the Lord, I cannot but remember to God.
[493] Marion M'Naught, her mother, died 1643.
I shall speak nothing to you of the present sad differences;[494] but
if I have, or ever had, any nearness to God, that other way (which I
trust I shall never follow) is the way of man. And for the present
powers,[495] I suffer from them, and look for more. God hath a
controversy with them; and, my soul, enter not into their secrets!
Only, I would beseech, request, and obtest you in the Lord, and by
your appearance before Christ, to follow the way of the Lord and the
steps trod by the gracious in that place, which the Lord followed with
life and power. My heart is filled with sorrow, considering what
communion with God some of that country had, and how much they were in
edifying and helping one another, in His way; and how little of that
there is now in that country. Your mother kept in life, in that place,
and quickened many about her to the seeking of God. My desire to you
is, that you should succeed her in that way, and be letting a word
fall to your brethren and others, that may encourage them to look
toward the way of God. You will have need of it ere it be long. See
how you may have a gracious minister, and no neutral there, to succeed
and follow the servant of God now asleep in the Lord.[496] There is a
great and wide difference between a name of godliness and the power of
godliness. That is hottest when there are fewest witnesses. The
deadness upon many, and the defection of the land, is great. Blessed
are they who seek the Lord and His face.
[494] The differences on account of the Public Resolutions. Letter
CCCXXIX., note.
[495] The Government of Cromwell.
[496] Refers probably to J. M'Lellan, who had come from Ireland, and
been admitted minister in Kirkcudbright in 1638, where he continued to
live and labour till his death in 1650. He was a man early acquainted
with God and His ways, a most upright and zealous Protestant, and one
who knew not what it was to be afraid in the cause of God. Livingstone
says that he was thought by many to have had somewhat of the spirit of
prophecy; he foretold many sad events that would come on England. A
little before his death he composed the following epitaph on
himself:--
"Come, stingless death, have o'er; lo! here's my pass,
In blood character'd, by His hand who was,
And is, and shall be. Jordan, cut thy stream,
Make channels dry; I bear my Father's name
Stamped on my brow. I'm ravished with my crown;
I shine so bright, down with all glory, down,
That world can give. I see the peerless Port (Rev. xxi. 21),
The Golden Street, the blessed soul's Resort,
The Tree of Life. Floods gushing from the Throne,
Call me to joys. Begone, short woes begone;
I lived to die, but now I die to live;
I do enjoy more than I did believe.
The Promise me into Possession sends
Faith in fruition, hope in having ends."
--Livingstone's "Characteristics," and Nicholson's "Galloway,"
vol. ii.
I shall entreat you to remember me to your husband, and all friends. I
desire to forget none who are in Christ.
Your brother in the Lord,
S. R.
EDINBURGH, _March 14, 1653_.
CCCXL.--_To_ MR. THOMAS WYLIE.[497]
[497] From the original, among the Wodrow MSS. vol. xxix. 4to, No. 66.
This letter is addressed on the back, "For his Reverend and dear
Brother, Mr. Thomas Wylie, Minister of the Gospel at Kirkcudbright,
and Moderator of the Presbytery there."
(_REGARDING A LETTER OF EXPLANATION._)
RIGHT REVEREND,--I look on it as a significant expression of your
respect to me, and above all deserving in me, that you take notice of
any appearance of clouds, or alienation of mind among brethren; and am
glad of your testimony of my brother. I had no interest but brotherly
advice, and hearty desire of the real prospering of the work of the
Gospel. Nor was it either necessary or expedient, that your w[isdoms]
should be troubled and put to any presbyterial testimony, upon the
ground of a private missive letter, written by misinformation. I give
credit to your testimony, and judge much ought to be laid upon it,
and shall think myself obliged to your w[isdoms], and look on it as a
testimony of your affectionate zeal to the work of God. The Lord of
the harvest thrust out labourers to His vineyard, and bless His work
in your hands! Excuse me, dear and reverend, for my troubling you with
any private misunderstanding. I am not a little refreshed to hear of
your care and zeal for the house of God.
The Lord be with your spirit.
Your unworthy brother and fellow-labourer in the Gospel,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _March 23, 1653_.
CCCXLI.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_PRESENT NEED HELPED BY PAST EXPERIENCE._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I know that ye think of an
outgoing, and that your quartering in time, and your abode in this
life, is short; "for we flee away as a shadow." The declining of the
sun, and the lengthening of the shadow, say that our journey is short
and near the end. I speak it, because I have warnings of my removal.
Madam, I know not any against whom the Lord is not: for He is against
"the proud and lofty; the day of the Lord is upon all the cedars, upon
all the high mountains, upon every high tower, and upon every fenced
wall, upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures"
(Isa. ii. 12-16). I know not anything comparable to a nearness and
spiritual communion with the Father and the Son Christ. There is much
deadness and witheredness upon many spirits sometime near to God; and
I wish the Lord have not more to say and to do against the land.
Ye have, Madam, in your accounts, mercies, deliverances, rods,
warnings, plenty of means, consolations (when "refuge failed, when ye
looked on the right hand, and behold no man would know you, nor care
for your soul," when young and weak), manifestations of God, the
outgoings of the Lord for you, experiences, answers from the Lord; by
all which, ye may be comforted now, and confirmed in the certain hope,
that grace, free grace, in a fixed and established Surety, shall
perfect that good work in you. Happy they who see not and yet believe.
Grace, grace, eternally in our Lord Jesus be with you.
Yours, in the Lord Jesus,
S. R.
EDINBURGH, _May 27, 1653_.
CCCXLII.--_For the Right Honourable and truly worthy_ COLONEL GILBERT
KER.
(_DEADNESS--HOPES OF REFRESHMENT--DISTANCE FROM GOD--NEARNESS
DELIGHTED IN._)
MUCH HONOURED IN THE LORD,--How it is with you may appear by your
letters to some with us; but it is the complaint of not a few of such
as were in Christ before me, that most of us inhabit and dwell in a
parched land. The people of the Lord are like a land not rained upon.
Though some dare not deny that this is the garden of the Beloved, and
the vineyard that the Lord doth keep and water every moment, yet, oh!
where are the sometime quickening breathings and influences from
heaven that have refreshed His hidden ones?
The causes of His withdrawings are unknown to us. One thing cannot be
denied, but that ways of high sovereignty and dominion of grace are
far out of the sight of angels and men; yea, and so above the fixed
way of free promises (such as, "This do, and He shall breathe and blow
upon His garden"), as He hath put forth a declaration to His hidden
ones in Scotland, that smarting, wrestlings, prayings, complaining,
gracious missing, cannot earn the visits from on high, nor fetch down
showers upon the desert. It may be, when we are saying in our graves,
"Our bones are dry, and our hope gone," that temporal and spiritual
deliverance may come both together; and that He will cause us feel,
both the one way and the other, the good of His reign who shortly
cometh to the throne. "He shall come down like rain upon the mown
grass, as showers that water the earth." "In His days shall the
righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon
endureth." "He shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also,
and him that hath no helper." "He shall redeem their soul from deceit
and violence: and precious shall their blood be in His sight" (Ps.
lxxii. 6-16). And though we cannot pray home a sweet season that way,
yet Christ must bring summer with Him when He cometh. "There shall be
an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the
fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon."
I know not if I apply prophecies as I would, rather than as they are.
When the one Shepherd is set over them, even He who shall stand (oh
how much do we _lie!_) and feed in the strength of the Lord, the isles
(and this the greatest of them), which wait for His law, are to look
for that; "And I will make them, and the places round about My hill, a
blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season:
there shall be showers of blessing" (Ezek. xxxiv. 26). How desirable
must every drop of such a shower be! And, "I will be as the dew to
Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as
Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the
olive-tree, and his smell as Lebanon" (Hosea xiv. 5, 6). And, "Instead
of the thorn shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier
shall come up the myrtle-tree; and it shall be to the Lord for a name,
for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off" (Isa. lv. 13). "I
will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the shittah-tree, and the
oil-tree" (Isa. xli. 19). "I will pour water upon him that is thirsty,
and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed,
and My blessing upon thine offspring." And it shall be no lost labour
or fruitless husbandry; "They shall spring up as among the grass, as
willows by the water-courses" (Isa. xliv. 3, 4). But _when_ this shall
be in Scotland (and it must be) is better to believe than prophesy;
and quietly to hope and sit still (for that is yet our strength), than
to quarrel with Him, that the wheels of this chariot move leisurely.
Yet this can hardly say anything to us who do so much please ourselves
in our deadness, and are almost gone from godly thirst and missing
too, being half-satisfied with our witheredness. No doubt we have
marred His influences, and have not seconded nor smiled upon His
actings upon us. Nor have we been much of his strain who doth eight
times breathe out that suit, "Quicken me, quicken me" (Ps. cxix.). So
much are we desirous to be acted upon by the Lord as blocks and
stones; and so prodigal are we of His motions, as if they were no
better to be husbanded. But it is good that it is not in our power to
blast and undo His breathings; His wind bloweth where He listeth.
Could we but lean, and cast a quiet spirit under the dewings and
showerings of Him that every moment watereth His vineyard, how happy
and blessed were we! We neither open nor discern His knocking, nor do
we feel His hand put in through the keyhole, nor can we give any
spiritual account of the walkings and motions of Christ, _when_ He
standeth behind the wall, _when_ He cometh skipping over the
mountains, _when_ He cometh to His garden and feasteth, _when_ He
feedeth among the lilies, _when_ His spikenard casteth a smell, _when_
He knocketh and withdraweth, and is nowhere to be found. Oh, how
little a portion of God we see! How little study we God! How rarely
read we God, or are versed in the lively apprehensions of that great
unknown All in All, the glorious Godhead, and the Godhead revealed in
Christ! We dwell far from the well, and complain but dryly of our
dryness and dulness. We are rather dry than thirsty.
Sir, there may be artificial pride in this humility; but for me, I
neither know what He is, nor His Son's name, nor where He dwelleth. I
hear a report of Christ great enough, and that is all. Oh! what is
nearness to Him? What is that, to be "in God," to "dwell in God"? What
a house must that be! (1 John iv. 13). How far are some from their
house and home? how ill acquaint with the rooms, mansions, safety, and
sweetness of holy security to be found in God! Oh, what estrangement!
what wandering! what frequent conversing with self and the creature!
Is not here "the bed shorter than that a man can stretch himself on
it? and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it?"
(Isa. xxviii. 20). When shall we attain to a living in only, only God!
and be estranged from all the poor created nothings, the painted
shadow-beings of yesterday, which, an hour and less before creation,
were dark waste negatives and empty nothings, and should so have been
for eternity, had the Lord suffered them to lie there for ever!
It is He, the great "He, who sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and
the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers, that stretcheth out the
heavens as a curtain, and spreadeth them out as a tent to dwell in,
that bringeth the princes to nothing, and maketh the judges of the
earth as vanity" (Isa. xl. 22, 23). And He, the only He, and there is
no He beside Him (Isa. xliii. 10, 11, 13-25). Men or angels, they are
not any of them a _he_ to Him! But a living, breathing, dying nothing
is _man_ at his best, a sick clay-vanity; and the _angel_, to Him, but
a more excellent, living and understanding nothing. Yet we live at a
distance from Him; and we die and wither when we are out of God. Oh,
if we knew how nothing we are without Him!
Sir, we desire to mind your bonds; and are cheered and refreshed that
we hear of any of His manifestations, and His outgoings, which are
prepared as the morning to you. We hope that we need not desire you
not to faint, and are confident that the anointing that abideth in you
teacheth you so much. Wait upon the speaking vision: "Behold, He
cometh! behold, His reward is with Him, and His work before Him!"
(Isa. xl. 10).
The only wise God strengthen you with all might, according to His
glorious power, unto all patience and long-suffering with joyfulness.
Yours, at all observance, in the Lord Jesus,
S. R.
ST ANDREWS, _July 1653_.
CCCXLIII.--_For the truly honourable_ COLONEL GILBERT KER.[498]
[498] From a copy among the Wodrow MSS. vol. lix. folio, No. 5. There
is probably an error as to the date of this letter. From an allusion
in it to a vacancy in one of the professorships of St. Mary's or the
New College of St. Andrews, explained in the following note, it
appears to have been written in or subsequent to the year 1657.
(_THE STATE OF THE LAND._)
MUCH HONOURED,--I bless the Lord for His good hand, who declares that
His sovereign presence is alike in England and all places, and sways
hearts as pleases Him. The book of holy providence is good marginal
notes on His revealed will, in His word, and speaks much to us, could
we read and understand what He writes, both in the one and the other.
You see He is not wanting to you; houses and lands are His. The Lord
led Abraham from his own country to a land he knew not. It would
appear He hath not opened His mind to you for leaving of this land,
though I be much afraid of a sick state, a sleeping ministry, a
covenant-breaking land, a number of dead professors; all these are
grey hairs here and there on Ephraim. Sure our ruin is sure if God let
us alone; we shall rot in our lies. But what am I to determine of
conclusions of mercy revealed to none, and thoughts of peace in the
heart of the Lord towards an undeserving land? I should be glad to see
you, and shall desire He may lead you in the matter of your residence
whom ye desire to be your Guide and Counsellor. For me, I am, as to my
body, most weak and under daily summons; but I sit still and read not
the summons: as to my spirit, much out of court, because out of
communion with the Lord, and far from what sometime hath been;
deadness, security, unbelief, and distance from God in the use of
means, prevail more than ever.[499] I shall desire your help for
getting a third Professor. I am in this college between wind and
weather. Dr. Colville[500] is for Mr. James Sharp;[501] I am for Mr.
William Rait, but know not the event.[502] My wife remembers her
respects to you. Grace be with you.
[499] Rutherford was now Principal of St. Mary's or the New College of
St. Andrews, a situation to which he was elevated about the close of
the year 1647; and a vacancy having occurred in the Professorship of
Ecclesiastical History, by the translation of Mr. James Wood to be
Principal of St. Salvator's or the Old College of St. Andrews, in
1657, Rutherford was very desirous of seeing that situation filled by
a suitable person.
[500] Dr. Alexander Colville, who had been Professor of Divinity in
the Protestant University of Sedan, was inducted one of the masters in
the New College of St. Andrews in 1642. He conformed to Prelacy in
1662; became Principal of that College upon Rutherford's death; and
died in 1666.
[501] Afterwards Archbishop of St. Andrews.
[502] Rutherford was strenuous in his exertions to secure the
appointment of Mr. Rait, but without success. His colleague, Dr.
Colville, succeeded in obtaining the appointment of Sharp to the
vacant office, into which he was inducted on the 22nd of February
1661, about a month before Rutherford's death. Mr. Rait afterwards
became minister of Dundee.
Yours, at all obedience, in God,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _April 2, 1654_.
Remember my love in Christ to Mr. Livingstone.
CCCXLIV.--_For MR. JOHN SCOT, at Oxnam._.
[MR. JOHN SCOT, minister of Oxnam, zealously adhered to the
Protesters; and Rutherford's letters to him have chiefly a reference
to the proceedings of that party. After the restoration of Charles
II., Scot was imprisoned for some time, but suffered less than others
of his brethren. On being set at liberty, he was allowed to return to
his parish, and to resume the exercise of his ministry. We find him
continuing there down to 1664, when he was brought before the
short-lived High Commission Court, erected in the beginning of that
year, for having assisted at Communions which were reckoned contrary
to law. How he was dealt with by that Court is not now known. In 1669
he became indulged minister of Oxnam. He must have died previous to
1684, as in that year the name of "Elizabeth Rae, relict of Mr. John
Scot, late minister of Oxnam," occurs among a list of names in the
parish of Kelso, delated by the curate of that parish to the Committee
of Privy Council which met at Jedburgh, with the view of proceeding
against those guilty of "church disorders," that is, against those who
deserted their own parish church, and attended conventicles.
("Warrants of Privy Council.")]
(_EXCUSE FOR ABSENCE FROM DUTY._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--No man oweth more to the church of God
with you, than poor and wretched I. But when weakness of body, and the
Lord by it, did forbid me to undertake a lesser journey to Edinburgh,
I am forbidden far more to journey thither. And believe it, nothing
besides this doth hinder. I am unable to overtake what the Lord hath
laid upon me here; and, therefore, I desire to submit to sovereignty,
and must be silent. If my prayers and best desires to the Lord could
contribute anything for promoting of His work, my soul's desire is
that the wilderness, and that place to which I owe my first
breathing,[503] in which I fear Christ was scarce named, as touching
any reality or power of godliness, may blossom as a rose.
[503] This seems to refer to Nisbet, formerly a separate parish, but
now annexed to Crailing, in the Presbytery of Jedburgh, and shire of
Roxburgh. It is within two miles of the parish of Oxnam; and some
thirty years ago a house there used to be pointed out, by an old
villager, as that in which, according to tradition, Rutherford was
born.
So desiring, and praying that His name may be great among you, and
entreating that you may believe that the names of the Lord's
adversaries shall be written in the earth, and that "whoso will not
come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem, to worship
the King, the Lord of Hosts, even upon them shall be no rain," and
that the Lord "will create glory upon every assembly in Mount Zion," I
rest, your own brother in the Lord,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _June 15, 1655_.
CCCXLV.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_THOUGHTS FOR A TIME OF SICKNESS, ABOUT THE LIFE TO COME._)
MADAM,--I have been so long silent, that I am almost ashamed now to
speak. I hear of your weakly condition of body, which speaketh some
warning to you to look for a longer life, where ye shall have more
leisure to praise than time can give you here. It shall be loss to
many; but sure yourself, Madam, shall be only[504] free of any loss.
And truly, considering what days we are now falling into, if sailing
were not serving of the Lord (which I can hardly attain to), a calm
harbour were very good when storms are so high. The Forerunner, who
hath landed first, must help to bring the sea-beaten vessel safe to
the port, and the sick passengers who are following the Forerunner
safe ashore. Much deadness prevaileth over some; but there is much
life in Him who is the Resurrection and the Life to quicken. Oh, what
of our hid life is without us, and how little and poor a stock is in
the hand of some! The only wise God supply what is wanting. The more
ye want, and the more your joy hath run on, the more is owing to you
by the promise of grace. Bygones of waterings from heaven, which your
Ladyship wanted in Kenmure, Rusco, the West, Glasgow, Edinburgh,
England, etc., shall all come in a great sum together. The marriage
supper of the Lamb must not be marred with too large four-hours'
refreshment. Know, Madam, that He, who hath tutored you from the
breasts, knoweth how to time His own day-shinings and love-visits.
[504] It shall do nothing but free you from evil.
Grace, that runneth on, be with you.
Yours, in the Lord, at all observance,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS.
CCCXLVI.--_To_ SIMEON ASHE.
[MR. ASHE was a Puritan minister in London during the time of the
civil wars. He died in 1662.]
(_VIEWS OF THE PRESBYTERIANS AS TO ALLEGIANCE TO THE PROTECTOR._)
REVEREND WORTHY SIR,--I would recommend to you the bearer, Mr. James
Simpson,[505] a faithful preacher of the Gospel. Be pleased to hear
him. I trust he shall give you a true and faithful relation of our
affairs. You may be pleased to believe me, that men who have borrowed
your ear to blacken the godly in the land, and who have now both
deserted us and the Covenant, and joined feet with the Malignant
party, and now have owned the present powers, and brought the intrants
to the ministry to give under their hand a subscription, an engagement
(the writ calls it, a resolution to live peaceably and unoffensively
under the present Government), so that no holy man can get any
maintenance in the land but such as will sinfully comply (and such as
cannot, what an entry they have to that holy calling to embrace it!),
these men seek more their own things, than the things of Jesus Christ.
And being backed by the whole multitude of the promiscuous generality,
throughout the land, who are for their way, as of old the prelatic
conformists did, they do persecute the godly, and in pulpits and
presbyteries declaim against us as implacable and separatists. You
may, Sir, by this, and what the bearer will make known to you,
perceive what wrong the compliance of these men hath done to the cause
of God. But I spare, and do beg the favour of your other care. The
grace of God be with you.
[505] Mr. James Simpson was minister of Airth. He subscribed the
protestation which Rutherford gave in against the lawfulness of the
Assembly held at St. Andrews in July 1651; for which he was deposed
from the ministry by the adjourned meeting at Dundee. After the
Restoration he was accused in Parliament, by the King's advocate, of
seditious practices, and banished by Parliament, without being heard.
He removed to Holland, where he died. Simpson at this time had been
sent up to London by the Protesters, to represent their cause to
Cromwell and the ministers of the city, in opposition to the notorious
James Sharp, afterwards Archbishop of St. Andrews, who had been sent
up by the Resolutioners.
I am your loving brother in Christ,
S. R.
1656.
CCCXLVII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_UNKINDNESS OF THE CREATURE--GOD'S SOVEREIGNTY IN PERMITTING HIS
CHILDREN TO BE INJURED BY MEN._)
MADAM,--I confess that I have cause to be grieved at my long silence
or laziness in writing. I am also afflicted to hear, that such who
were debtors to your Ladyship for better dealing have served you with
such prevarication. Ye know that crookedness is neither strong, nor
long enduring; and ye know likewise, that these things spring not out
of the dust. It is sweet to look upon the lawless and sinful stirrings
of the creature as ordered by a most holy hand in heaven. Oh, if some
could make peace with God! It would be our wisdom, and afford us much
sweet peace, if oppressors were looked on as passive instruments, like
the saw or axe in the carpenter's hand. They are bidden (if such a
distinction may be admitted), but not commanded, of God (as Shimei
was, 2 Sam. xvi. 10), to do what they do.
Madam, these many years the Lord hath been teaching you to read and
study well the book of holy, holy, and spotless sovereignty, in
suffering from some nigh-hand, and some far off. Whoever be the
instruments, the replying of clay to the Potter, the Former of all, is
unbeseeming the nothing-creature. I hope that He will clear you: but,
when Zion's public evils lie not nigh some of us, and leave no
impression upon our hearts, it is no wonder that we be exercised with
domestic troubles. But I know that ye are taught of God to prefer
Jerusalem to your chiefest joy. Madam, there is no cause of fainting:
wait upon the not-tarrying vision, for it will speak.
The only wise God be with you, and God, even your own God, bless you.
Yours, at all observance, in God,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _June 1657_.
CCCXLVIII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_GOD'S DEALINGS WITH THE LAND._)
MADAM,--I should not forget you; but my deadness under a threatening
stroke, both of a falling church (a broken covenant, a despised
remnant) and a craziness of body, that I cannot get a piece sickly
clay carried about from one house or town to another, lieth most heavy
on me. The Lord hath removed Scotland's crown, for we owned not His
crown. We fretted at His catholic government of the world, and fretted
that He would not be ruled and led by us, in breaking our adversaries:
and He maketh us to suffer and pine away in our iniquities, under the
broken government of His house. It is like, that it would be our snare
to be tried with the honour of a peaceable Reformation: we might mar
the carved work of His house, worse than those against whom we cry
out. It is like, that He hath bidden us lie on our left side three
hundred and ninety days; and yet so astonishing is our stupidity, that
we moan not our sore side. Our gold is become dim, the visage of our
Nazarites is become black, the sun is gone down on our seers; the
crown is fallen from our heads; we roar like bears. Lord save us from
that, "He that made them will not have mercy on them" (Isa. xxvii.
11). The heart of the scribe meditateth terror. Oh, Madam, if the Lord
would help us to more self-judging, and to make sure an interest in
Christ! Ah, we forget eternity, and it approaches quickly. Grace be
with you.
Your Ladyship's, at all obedience, in the Lord,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Nov. 20, 1657_.
CCCXLIX.--_For MR. JOHN SCOT, at Oxnam._
[John Livingstone, in his letter to his parishioners at Ancrum,
says: "Oxnam is not far off from you, and I hope Mr. Scot doth
and will declare for the sworn Reformation, and testify against
present defection."]
(_PROTESTERS' TOLERATION._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I saw from C. K. a testimony of your
Presbytery against toleration, in which ye have been instrumental. The
Lord give strength to do more. I think it both rare and necessary, and
would account it a great mercy, if there were an addition of a
postscript from divers ministers and elders, out of all the shires of
Scotland. It is really the mind of all the godly and tender in this
land. It is believed by some, that the Protesting party hath quite
given over the cause. I hope it is not so; but the Lord shall be yet
victorious in His most despised ones. Our darkness is great and thick,
and there is much deadness; yet the Lord will be our light.
Thus recommending you to His grace whose ye are, I am, your own
brother, in the Lord,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _April 2, 1658_.
CCCL.--_For MR. JOHN SCOT, at Oxnam._
(_GLOOMY TIMES--MEANS OF PROMOTING GODLINESS._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Faint not; but be strong in the Lord, and in the power
of His might. I look on it as a rich mercy that the Lord is with you,
strengthening you to quicken fainters, to warm and warn any that are
cold or dead, or who deaden others. Believe that it will be your peace
in the end. The times are sad; yet I persuade myself that the vision
will not tarry, but will speak. The Lord will loose our captive bonds.
Oh, blessed he, though alone, who is found fast and constant for the
desirable interest of Christ.
My humble advice would be, that you see to the placing[506] of the
deacon and the ruling elder, or to anything that may weaken the
Discipline. Our Second Book of Discipline should be heeded: Sessions
purged. Oh! catechising and personal visiting, and speaking to them
_sigillatim_ (one by one) concerning their interest in Christ and a
state of conversion, is little in practice. The practice of family
fasts is scarce known to be an ordinance of God. It were good that ye
should confer with godly brethren in private, concerning the promoting
of godliness, concerning Christian conference, and praying together,
worshipping of God in families, and solitary fasts.
[506] This seems to mean, the place assigned to the respective offices
of elder and deacon.
To His grace who can direct, quicken, and strengthen you, I commend
you, and am your loving brother,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS.
CCCLI.--_To MR. JAMES DURHAM, Minister of the Gospel at Glasgow, some
few days before his Death._
[MR. JAMES DURHAM was ordained minister of Blackfriars Church,
Glasgow, in November 1647. In September 1651 he was translated to
the Inner High Church, Glasgow. He was a man at once
distinguished for ardent piety and great talents. Robert Baillie
counted him "one of the most gracious, wise, and able preachers
in this isle." "He is the minister of my family," the same writer
says, "and almost the only minister in this place [Glasgow] of
whom my soul gets good, and whom I respect in some things above
all men I know." Durham was cut off in the prime of life. He died
at Glasgow on the 25th of June 1658,--ten days after this letter
was written to him,--in the thirty-sixth year of his age, much
regretted by all. (See Letter XCI.) He wrote on the "Book of
Revelation," "Christ Crucified," and some other excellent
pieces.]
(_MAN'S WAYS NOT GOD'S WAYS._)
SIR,--I would ere now have written to you, had I not known that your
health, weaker and weaker, could scarce permit you to hear or read. I
need not speak much. The Way ye know, and have preached to others the
skill of the Guide, and the glory of the home beyond death. And when
He saith, "Come and see," it will be your gain to obey, and go out and
meet the Bridegroom. What accession is made to the higher house of His
kingdom should not be our loss, though it be real loss to the church
of God. But we count one way, and the Lord counteth another way. He is
infallible, and the only wise God, and needeth none of us. Had He
needed the staying in the body of Moses and the prophets, He could
have taken another way. Who dare bid you cast your thoughts back on
wife or children, when He hath said, "Leave them to Me, and come up
hither"? Or who can persuade you to die or live, as if that were
arbitrary to us, and not His alone who hath determined the number of
your months? If so it seem good to Him, follow your Forerunner and
Guide. It is an unknown land to you, who were never there before; but
the land is good, and the company before the throne desirable, and He
who sitteth on the throne is His lone a sufficient heaven.
Grace, grace be with you.
Yours in the Lord,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _June 15, 1658_.
CCCLII.--_For MR. JOHN SCOT, at Oxnam._
(_ADHERENCE TO THE TESTIMONY AGAINST TOLERATION._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Your letter that came unto me, of August
2nd, to be at Edinburgh upon August 2nd, was unknown to me by the
subscription. But since it was written for so honourable and
warrantable a truth of Christ, as a testimony against Toleration, if
my health would have permitted, and my daily menacing gravel, I should
have come to Edinburgh. What either counsel, countenance, or clearing,
ye could have had from the like of me, I cannot say; nor dare I speak
much, but with a reserve of the help of His grace. I desire to
desire,[507] and purpose by strength from above, to own that cause,
and to join with you and some in this church, besides your Presbytery,
who will own that cause. Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of
His might. This cloud will over,[508] could we live by faith, and wait
on a speaking, and a seemingly delaying vision. (Heb. ii. 3.) The Lord
will not tarry.
[507] Perhaps, "I desire to pray for."
[508] Pass over.
Grace be with you. Many are with you, but there is One who is above
millions.
Your own brother,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _August 8, 1658_.
CCCLIII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_TRIALS--DEADNESS OF SPIRIT--DANGER OF FALSE SECURITY._)
MADAM,--I am ashamed of my long silence to your Ladyship. Your
tossings and wanderings are known to Him upon whom ye have been cast
from the breasts, and who hath been your God of old. The temporal loss
of creatures, dear to you there, may be the more easily endured, that
the gain of One "who only hath immortality" groweth.
There is an universal complaint of deadness of spirit on all that know
God. He that writeth to you, Madam, is as deep in this as any, and is
afraid of a strong and hot battle, before time be at a close. But no
matter, if the Lord crown all with the victorious triumphing of
faith. God teacheth us by terrible things in righteousness. We see
many things, but we observe nothing. Our drink is sour. Grey hairs are
here and there on us. We change many lords and rulers; but the same
bondage of soul and body remaineth. We live little by faith, but much
by sense, according to the times, and by human policy. The watchmen
sleep, and the people perish for lack of knowledge. How can we be
enlightened when we turn our back on the sun? and must we not be
withered when we leave the fountain? It should be my only desire to be
a minister, gifted with the white stone, and the new name written on
it. I judge it were fit (now when tall professors and when many stars
fall from heaven, and God poureth the isle of Great Britain from
vessel to vessel, and yet we sit, and are settled on our lees) to
consider (as sometimes I do, but ah! rarely), how irrecoverable a wo
it is to be under a beguile in the matter of eternity. And what if I,
who can have a subscribed testimonial of many who shall stand at the
right hand of the Judge, shall miss Christ's approving testimony, and
be set upon the left hand among the goats? (Matt. vii. 22, xxv. 8-12
and 33; Luke xiii. 25-27). There is such a beguile; and it befalleth
many; and what if it befall me, who have but too much art to cozen my
own soul and others, with the flourish of ministerial, or country,
holiness!
Dear lady, I am afraid of prevailing security. We watch little (I have
relation mainly to myself), we wrestle little. I am like one
travelling in the night, who seeth a spirit, and sweateth for fear,
and careth not to tell it to his fellow, for fear of increasing his
own fear. However, I am sure, when the Master is nigh His coming, it
were safe to write over a double, and a new copy, of our accounts of
the sins of nature, childhood, youth, riper years, and old age. What
if Christ have another written representation of me than I have of
myself? Sure He is right; and if it contradict my mistaken and
sinfully erroneous account of I myself, ah! where am I then? But,
Madam, I discourage none. I know that Christ hath made a new
marriage-contract of love, and sealed it with His blood, and the
trembling believer shall not be confounded.
Grace be with you.
Yours, at all obedience, in Christ,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _May 26, 1658_.
CCCLIV.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_PREVAILING DECLENSION, DECAY, AND INDIFFERENCE TO GOD'S
DEALINGS--THINGS FUTURE._)
MADAM,--I should be glad that the Lord would be pleased to lengthen
out more time to you, that ye might, before your eyes be shut, see
more of the work of the right hand of the Lord, in reviving a now
swooning and crushed land and church. Though I was lately knocking at
death's gate, yet could I not get in, but was sent back for a
time.[509] It is well if I could yet do any service to Him; but, ah!
what deadness lieth upon the spirit! And deadness breedeth distance
from God. Madam, these many years the Lord hath let you see a clear
difference betwixt those who serve God and love His name, and those
who serve Him not. And I judge that ye look upon the way of Christ as
the only best way, and that ye would not exchange Christ for the
world's god, or their mammon, and that ye can give Christ a testimony
of "Chief among ten thousand." True it is that many of us have fallen
from our first love; but Christ hath renewed His first love of our
espousals to Himself, and multiplied the seekers of God all the
country over, even where Christ was scarce named, east and west, south
and north, above the number that our fathers ever knew.[510] But, ah!
Madam, what shall be done or said of many fallen stars, and many near
to God complying wofully, and sailing to the nearest shore? Yea, and
we are consumed in the furnace, but not melted; burned, but not
purged. Our dross is not removed, but our scum remaineth in us; and in
the furnace we fret, we faint, and (which is more strange) we slumber.
The fire burneth round about us, and we lay it not to heart. Grey
hairs are upon us, and we know it not.
[509] Reading the Letters _chronologically_, we are now within two
years of his death, but Lady Kenmure survived many years.
[510] How interesting is this notice of Revival, prefacing and
preparing the church for the days of sore trial that soon burst over
Scotland!
It were now a desirable life to send away our love to heaven. And well
it becometh us to wait for our appointed change, yet so as we should
be meditating thus: "Is there a new world above the sun and moon? And
is there such a blessed company harping and singing hallelujahs to the
Lamb up above? Why, then, are we taken with a vain life of sighing and
sinning? Oh, where is our wisdom, that we sit still, laughing,
eating, sleeping prisoners, and do not pack up all our best things for
the journey, desiring always to be clothed with our house from above,
not made with hands!" Ah! we savour not the things that are above, nor
do we smell of glory ere we come thither; but we transact and agree
with time, for a new lease of clay mansions. Behold, He cometh! We
sleep, and turn all the work of duties into dispute of events for
deliverance. But the greatest haste, to be humbled for a broken and
buried covenant, is first and last forgotten; and all our grief is,
the Lord lingereth, enemies triumph, godly ones suffer, atheists
blaspheme. Ah! we pray not; but wonder that Christ cometh not the
higher way, by might, by power, by garments rolled in blood. What if
He come the lower way? Sure we sin, in putting the book in His hand,
as if we could teach the Almighty knowledge. We make haste; we believe
not. Let the only wise God alone; He steereth well. He draweth
straight lines, though we think and say they are crooked. It is right
that some should die and their breasts full of milk; and yet we are
angry that God dealeth so with them. Oh, if I could adore Him in His
hidden ways, when there is darkness under His feet and darkness in His
pavilion, and clouds are about His throne! Madam, hoping, believing,
patient praying, is our life. He loseth no time.
The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours, at all obliged observance in Christ,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Sept. 12, 1659_.
CCCLV.--_To the PRESBYTERY OF KIRKCUDBRIGHT, anent Union, with a
desire to have Mr. William Rait Professor at St. Andrews._[511]
[511] From the original among the Wodrow MSS. vol. xxix. 4to, No. 88.
The letter is addressed on the back, "For the very Reverend and
honoured of the Lord, the Moderator and Remanent Brethren of the
Presbytery of Kirkcudbright." That Presbytery particularly
distinguished itself by its earnest endeavours to restore harmony
between the Resolutioners and Protesters; to which they were stirred
up chiefly by Mr. Thomas Wylie. But their laudable efforts, though
partially successful in allaying animosity, failed to heal the breach.
On this subject, Mr. George Hutchison, in a letter to Mr. Thomas
Wylie, dated March 12, 1660, says: "That little essay towards union
hath been followed with the blessing of much less animosity than was
wont to be before, in actings and walkings one with another; though,
as yet, it is to be regretted that little can be got done for healing
particular ruptures of parishes and presbyteries, even upon seeming
equal overtures; and, it fears me, some elsewhere are more stiff than
needful in such an exigent. But I apprehend that either our trials or
God's appearing, among others, may press the necessity of union more
upon us" (Wodrow's MSS. vol. xxix.).
(_UNION--HUMILIATION--CHOICE OF A PROFESSOR._)
REVEREND,--The desire of your W[isdoms] for union to me, who am below
such a public mercy, and of so high concernment to the Church of
Scotland, ought to be most acceptable. The name of peace is savoury,
both good and pleasant. I so close with your godly and religious aim
therein, as judging the Lord hath from heaven suggested to you, and
inspired your spirits with, a fervent thirst and intention to promote
the Gospel, that though I should judge myself (as in truth I am) lower
than to suit[512] from either Presbytery or Synod any favour, yet I
shall, in all humility, beseech your W[isdoms] to prosecute with the
power which Christ hath given you the work of union; and so much the
more that I must shortly put off this my tabernacle. I offer to your
W[isdoms'] serious consideration, the evident necessity of union with
God, and of a serious and sound humiliation, and lying in the dust
before the Lord for a broken covenant, declining from our former love,
owning of such as we sometime judged to be malignant enemies and
opposers of the work of reformation and of the sworn covenant of God,
despising of the offered salvation of the Gospel, and coldness and
indifferency in purging the house of God, and other causes of the sad
judgments which we now are under. And my last and humble suit to your
W[isdoms] is, that ye would be pleased to take in with this union the
planting of the New College[513] with a third master. It is a matter
that concerns the whole Church of Scotland and seminary of the
ministry thereof, and cannot be done but by a General Assembly. If,
therefore, you have, dear brethren, judged me faithful of the Lord,
and regard the work of the Lord, and the promoting of the kingdom of
Christ (as I nothing doubt but it is the desire of your souls), give
commission to the brethren sent to treat for union, at the meeting in
Edinburgh or elsewhere, to join their authority and power, such as now
may be had, to call, invite, and obtest some godly and able man, to
embrace the charge of Professor in the College of Divinity in St.
Andrews. And because Mr. William Rait, minister at Brechin, is a man
for learning, godliness, prudence, and eminent authority in the Church
of Scotland, sought for to the ministry by the town of Edinburgh, and
also by Aberdeen, to preach the Gospel and to profess in the College,
and hath the approbation of the present masters of the New College,
the godly ministers of the Synod of Fife, of the Presbytery of St.
Andrews, ministers of the city of St. Andrews, it is my soul's desire,
and the heart-cry of students in the College, and of the godly in the
city, that Mr. William Rait may be the man; and that your
commissioners may be moved to deal with the commissioners of the Synod
of Fife and Angus for that effect; so shall you be instrumental to
repair our breaches, and build His house. So praying that your labours
may not be in vain in the Lord, I rest (the Lord Jesus be with your
spirit!) your unworthy brother and fellow-labourer in the Lord,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _the 23rd October 1659_.
[512] Solicit.
[513] At St. Andrews.
CCCLVI.--_To MR. JOHN MURRAY, Minister at Methven._[514]
[514] From the original among the Wodrow MSS. vol. xxvii. fol. No. 42.
[MR. JOHN MURRAY was one of the Protesters (see Baillie's
"Letters"); and was committed prisoner to the Castle of Edinburgh
for meeting with a few of his brethren to draw up a
congratulatory address to Charles II. upon his restoration,
expressing their loyalty, and reminding him of the obligation of
the Covenant. He was summoned to appear before the Parliament on
the charge of high treason, but at length was liberated. About
1672 he was apprehended and imprisoned in the Tolbooth of
Edinburgh for alleged house-conventicles. When set at liberty, he
was confined to the parish of Queensferry, and ordained to wait
upon ordinances and abstain from keeping conventicles, and to
attend the parish church. (Wodrow's "History," vol. ii.)]
(_A SYNOD PROPOSAL FOR UNION--BRETHREN UNDER CENSURE._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I would gladly know the issue of your
Synod. We did profess we could not be concluded[515] by the Synod of
Fife's [overtures] of union, but upon condition of the taking off the
censures of our brethren, which we think injuriously are inflicted.
Much is promised to us for the remedying of these censures. I shall
believe when I see their performances. I hope you will see that the
brethren get no wrong, or the house of God in their persons; and send
me a line of the conclusion of the Synod in that business. The paper
of union is very general, and comes to no particulars: it only tells
the good of union, and contains some obtestations to us that insinuate
the unsavouriness of irregular courses; yet we thought it not safe to
yield to any union of that kind, so long as our brethren are under the
censures.[516] I much doubt of their honest meaning, and that
barriers in the way of entrant ministers and elders be revived. And I
see no engagement, so much as verbal, for purging; but the contrary
practice is here. Mr. Robert Anderson[517] is as much opposed as if he
were the most corrupt sectary or Jesuit.
[515] Determined finally.
[516] Murray, and the other Protesters in the Synod of Perth, acted
upon a similar principle. As an instance of this, we may adduce the
following extracts from a paper entitled, "The desires of the brethren
of the Protesting judgment in the Synod of Perth under-subscribing,
unto the Moderator and remanent members of the Synod." They desire,
"1st, That the Synod will declare and enact, that none of the Acts
made by the two controverted Assemblies at St. Andrews, Dundee, and at
Edinburgh, in the years 1651 and 1652, appointing censure upon such as
will not acknowledge the constitution of these Assemblies, and will
not submit unto the Acts thereof, shall hereafter be of force within
the bounds of this Synod.... 3. That the Synod will declare and enact,
that notwithstanding of the supposed censures inflicted upon Mr. James
Guthrie, minister at Stirling, and Mr. James Simpson, minister at
Airth, by the pretended Assembly at St. Andrews and Dundee, and of the
approbation or intimation thereof by the Synod, that the said Mr.
James Guthrie and Mr. James Simpson are lawful standing ministers of
the Gospel in the respective charges of Stirling and Airth, and
capable to sit and vote in the Synod and in their own Presbytery, and
of every other ministerial privilege and employment" (Wodrow's MSS.
vol. xxvii.).
[517] A minister who is mentioned again in Letter CCCLXV.
My wife remembers her to you. Remember me to your own bed-fellow.
Grace be with you.
Your own brother,
S. R.
_St. Andrews_, _Jan. 25, 1660_.
[Illustration: EDINBURGH CASTLE.]
CCCLVII.--_To his Reverend and dear Brethren, MR. GUTHRIE, MR. TRAILL,
and the rest of their brethren imprisoned in the Castle of Edinburgh._
[The circumstances of the case to which this letter refers are
these:--On the 23rd of August 1660, the following ministers, Mr.
James Guthrie of Stirling, Mr. John Stirling and Mr. Robert
Traill of Edinburgh, Mr. Alexander Moncrieff of Scoonie, Mr. John
Semple of Carsfairn, Mr. Thomas Ramsay of Mordington, Mr. John
Scot of Oxnam, Mr. Gilbert Hall of Kirkliston, Mr. John Murray of
Methven, Mr. George Nairn of Burntisland, with two gentlemen,
ruling elders, met in a private house in Edinburgh, to draw up an
humble address to Charles II., congratulating his return, and
expressing their entire and unfeigned loyalty, but at the same
time reminding him of the obligation of the Covenant which he and
the nation had sworn. Whilst thus employed, their papers were
secured, by the order of the Committee of Estates; and they
themselves were arrested, and committed close prisoners to the
Castle of Edinburgh.]
(_ON SUFFERING FOR CHRIST--GOD'S PRESENCE EVER WITH HIS
PEOPLE--FIRMNESS AND CONSTANCY._)
REVEREND, NOW VERY DEAR, AND MUCH HONOURED PRISONERS FOR CHRIST,--I
am, as to the point of light, at the utmost of persuasion in that kind
that it is the cause of Christ which ye now suffer for, and not men's
interest. If it be for men, let us leave it; but if we plead for God,
our own personal safety and man's deliverance will not be peace.
There is a salvation called "the salvation of God," which is cleanly,
pure, spiritual, unmixed, near to the holy word of God. It is that
which we would seek, even the favour of God that He beareth to His
people; not simple gladness, but the gladness and goodness of the
Lord's chosen. And sure, though I be the weakest of His witnesses, and
unworthy to be among the meanest of them, and am afraid that the Cause
be hurt (but it cannot be lost) by my unbelieving faintness, I would
not desire a deliverance separated from the deliverance of the Lord's
cause and people. It is enough to me to sing when Zion singeth, and to
triumph when Christ triumpheth. I should judge it an unhappy joy to
rejoice when Zion sigheth. "Not one hoof" will be your peace. (Exod.
x. 26.)
If Christ doth own me, let me be in the grave in a bloody
winding-sheet, and go from the scaffold in four quarters, to grave or
no grave. I am His debtor, to seal with sufferings this precious
truth; but, oh! when it cometh to the push, I dare say nothing,
considering my weakness, wickedness, and faintness. But fear not ye.
Ye are not, ye shall not be, alone: the Father is with you. It was not
an unseasonable, but a seasonable and a necessary duty ye were about.
Fear Him who is Sovereign. Christ is captain of the castle and Lord of
the keys. The cooling well-spring, and refreshment from the promises,
are more than the frownings of the furnace. I see snares and
temptations in capitulating, composing, ceding, minching with
distinctions of circumstances, formalities, compliments, and
extenuations, in the cause of Christ. "A long spoon: the broth is
hell-hot."[518] Hold a distance from carnal compositions, and much
nearness to the fountain, to the favour and refreshing light from the
Father of lights speaking in His oracles. This is sound health and
salvation. Angels, men, Zion's elders, eye us; but what of all these?
Christ is by us, and looketh on us, and writeth up all. Let us pray
more, and look less to men.
[518] A proverb: "They need a long spoon who sup with the devil."
Remember me to Mr. Scott, and to all the rest. Blessings be upon the
head of such as are separated from their brethren. Joseph is a
fruitful bough by a well.
Grace be with you.
Your loving brother and companion in the kingdom and patience of Jesus
Christ,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, 1660.
CCCLVIII.--_To_ SEVERAL BRETHREN. _Reasons for petitioning his Majesty
after his return, and for owning such as were censured[519] while
about so necessary a duty._
[519] That is, the ministers mentioned in the note prefixed to the
preceding letter, who were arrested and imprisoned by the Committee of
Estates.
REVEREND AND DEAR BRETHREN,--It is a matter of difficulty to me to
write at this distance, not having heard your debates. It seemeth that
the Lord calleth us to give information to the King's Majesty of
affairs. The Lord's admirable providence, in bringing him to his
throne, and laying aside others who were sworn enemies to the cause
and covenant of God, so that now the Government is in a right line, is
to be adored. And I judge (without prescribing) that some should be
sent to his Majesty to congratulate that providence; and that reason
of our being so slow in rendering should be rendered.
1. We should write, not in the name of the Kirk of Scotland, but in
the name of a most considerable number of godly ministers, elders, and
professors, who both pray for the King, are obedient to his laws, and
are under the oath of God for the sworn Reformation.
2. It is better now, than after sentences and trouble, to have
recourse to him who is by place _parens patriæ_.
3. We should supplicate in all humility for protection and
countenance; far more for lawful liberty to fear the bond of the oath
of the dreadful and most high Lord; avouching to his Majesty, that the
Lord, His holy name being interposed, will own that Covenant, and
bless his Majesty with a happy and successful reign, in the owning
thereof, and kissing of the Son of God. And when the Lord shall be
pleased to grant that to us which concerneth religion, the beauty of
His house, the propagating of the Gospel, the government of the Lord's
kingdom, without Popery, Prelacy, unwritten traditions and ceremonies,
let his Majesty try our loyalty with what commands he will be pleased
to lay on us, and see if we be found rebellious.
4. We should disclaim such as have sinfully complied with the late
usurpers; produce our written testimonies against them; our not
accepting of offices and places of trust from them; our testimonies
against their usurpation, covenant-breaking, toleration of all
religions, corrupt sectarian ways, for which the Lord hath broken
them.
5. We are represented to his Majesty as such as would not consent that
the Remonstrance of the western forces[520] should be condemned by the
Commission of the General Assembly; whereas, 1. We did humbly desire
that the judicature should not condemn nor censure that Remonstrance,
till the gentlemen were heard, and their reasons discussed. 2.
Whatever demur was as to the banding or combining part of it, we were
and are obliged to believe that they had no sectarian design therein,
nor levelling intention. 3. They are gentlemen most loyal, and never
were enemies to his Majesty's royal power; but only desired that
security might be had for religion and the people of God, and persons
disaffected to religion and the sworn Covenant abandoned; otherwise
they were, and still are, willing to hazard lives and estates for the
just greatness and safety of his Majesty in the maintenance of the
true religion, Covenant, and cause of God. The only difficulty will
be, where to have fit men to send. But as it will be both sin and
shame for us to desert our undeservedly now censured brethren, so it
will be our sin and reproach sinfully to comply with such things and
courses as we testified against, and confessed to God.
[520] See notice of Colonel Gilbert Ker, p. 649.
I can say no more at present but that I am your loving brother,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, 1660.
CCCLIX.--_To a_ BROTHER MINISTER.
Judgment of a draught or minute of a Petition, to have been
presented to the Committee of Estates, by those Ministers who
were then prisoners in the Castle of Edinburgh for that other
well-known Petition to his Majesty, about which they were when
seized upon and made prisoners.[521]
[521] See note prefixed to Letter CCCLVII., p. 692.
["But that no man may mistake or judge amiss of persons so fixed
in the cause and faithful in their generations, know that this
draught was not sent to Mr. Rutherford as a paper concluded and
condescended upon among these brethren, whose love to truth made
them in all things so tender that they were ever fond to abstain
from all appearance of evil. It was more like the suggestion of
some other men (wherein was laid before them what kind of address
would most probably please, waiving the just measures of what was
simply duty in their circumstances), than anything flowing from
themselves, as the product of a mature deliberation. And,
secondly, know (which confirmeth what was said), that whatever it
was, or whoever gave the rise to it, yet it was never made use
of, nor presented to the Committee of Estates, by any of these
faithful men, whose praise, for their fidelity, fixedness, real
and untainted integrity, is in the churches of Christ" (Note by
Mr. Robert M'Ward, the original editor of Rutherford's
"Letters").]
DEAR BROTHER,--I am, as ye know, straitened as another suffering man,
but dare not petition this Committee:--
1. Because it draweth us to capitulate with such as have the advantage
of the mount, the Lord so disposing for the present: and, to bring the
matters of Christ to yea and no (ye being prisoners and they the
powers) is a hazard.
2. A speaking to them in write, and passing in silence the sworn
Covenant and the cause of God (which is the very present controversy),
is contrary to the practice of Christ and the Apostles, who, being
accused or not accused, avouched Christ to be the Son of God and the
Messias, and that the dead must rise again, even when the adversary
misstated the question. Yea, silence on the cause of God, which
adversaries persecute, seemeth a tacit deserting of the cause, when
the state of the question is known to beholders: and I know that the
brethren intend not to leave the cause.
3. I know of no offence that you have given (I will not say what
offence may be taken), either as to the matter or manner of your
petition. For, if what you have done be a necessary duty laid aside by
others, a duty can never give an offence to Christ, and so none to
men; but Christians will look upon a pious, harmless, and innocent
petition to the Prince, in the matters of the Lord's honour and the
good of His church (though proffered by one or two, when they are
silent whose it is to speak and act), as a seasonable duty.
4. The draught of that petition, which you sent me, speaketh not one
word of the Covenant of God for the adhering to which you now suffer,
and which is the object of men's hatred, and the destruction whereof
is the great work of the times. Your silence in this nick of time
appeareth to be a non-confession of Christ before men; and you want
nothing to beget an uncleanly deliverance but the profession of
silence.
5. There is a promise and real purpose, as the petition saith, to live
peaceably under the King's authority. But, 1. Ye do not answer
candidly and ingenuously the mind of the rulers, who, to your
knowledge, mean a far other thing by authority than ye do. For _ye_
mean, _his just authority_, his authority in the Lord, and his just
greatness, in the maintenance of true religion, as in the Covenant,
Confession of Faith, and Catechisms, is expressed from the Word of
God: _they_ mean his _supreme authority_, and absolute prerogative
above laws, as their acts make clear, and as their practice is. For
they refused, to such as were unwilling to subscribe their bond, to
add "authority in the Lord," or, "just and lawful authority," or
"authority as it is expressed in the Covenant." But this draught of a
petition, under your own hand, yieldeth the sense and meaning to them
which they crave. 2. That authority for which they contend is
exclusive of the sworn Covenant; so that, except ye had said, "We
shall be subject to the King's authority in the Lord, or according to
the sworn Covenant," ye say nothing to the point in hand; and that,
sure, is not your meaning. 3. Whoever promised so much peaceable
living under his Majesty's authority, leaving out the exposition of
the fifth commandment, as your petition doth, may upon the very same
ground subscribe the bond refused by the godly; and so you pass from
the Covenant, and make all those by-past actings of this Kirk and
State, these years by-past, to be horrid rebellion! And how deep that
guiltiness draweth, consider.
6. A condemning of the Remonstrance, simply and without any limitation
and distinction, is a condemning of many precious ones in the land,
and a passing from the causes of God's wrath, which is the chief
matter of the Remonstrance.
7. That nothing is before your eyes but the exoneration of your
conscience, is indeed believed by the godly who know you; but a
passing in silence of the honest materials in your former petition to
his Majesty seemeth to be a deserting thereof, since, in all your
petition, ye do not once say ye cannot but adhere to that pious
petition, as your necessary duty. And, that ye intend in the petition
the happiness of his Majesty, is also believed.
Dear brother, show to our brethren, that the Lord Christ, in your
persons, hath a stated question betwixt Him and the powers on earth.
The only wise God lead you now, when He hath brought you forth in
public, so to act as if ye did see Jesus Christ by you, and beholding
you. It is easy for such as are on the shore to throw a counsel to
those that are tossed in the sea; but, only by living by faith, and by
fetching strength and comfort from Christ, can you be victorious, and
have right to the precious promises "of the tree of life," "of the
hidden manna," of the gifted "morning star," and the like, made to
those who overcome: to whose strength and grace, brethren who desire
with me to remember you do recommend you. I am, dear brother,
Yours, in the Lord,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, 1660.
CCCLX.--_For the Right Honourable my_ LADY VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.
[_On the imprisonment of the Marquis of Argyle._]
(_GOD'S JUDGMENTS CALLING TO FLEE TO HIM--THE RESULT OF TIMID
COMPLIANCE._)
MADAM,--It is not my part to be unmindful of you. Be not afflicted for
your brother, the Marquis of Argyle.[522] As to the main, in my weak
apprehension, the seed of God being in him, and love to the people of
God and His cause, it will be well. The making of particular reckoning
with the Lord, and of peace with God, and owning of His cause when too
many disown it, will make his peace with the King the surer.[523] The
Lord is beginning to reckon with such as did forsake His cause and
covenant; and until we return to Him, our peace shall not be like a
river and as the waves of the sea. However, the opening of the bosom
to take in all the Malignants can produce no better fruits. The Lord
calleth us to flee into our chambers, and shut the doors, till the
indignation be over. (Isa. xxvi. 20.) The lily among the thorns is so
served. He hideth Himself, and our mountain is removed, and we are
troubled. But the Lord reigneth; let the earth tremble, and let the
earth rejoice. The Lord, without blood, broke the yoke of usurping
oppressors, and laid them aside: the same Lord can settle throne and
kingdom on the pillars of heaven. But, oh, the controversy the Lord
hath with Edom, and those who covenanted with us, and then sold us;
and with those of whom the Holy Ghost speaketh, "Thy prophets have
seen vain and foolish things for thee; they have not discovered thine
iniquity to turn away thy captivity, but have seen for thee false
burdens, and causes of banishment" (Lam. ii. 14). The time of Jacob's
suffering is but short, and the vision will speak. Could we be from
under deadness, and watch unto wrestling and prayer with the Lord, and
live more by faith, we should be more than conquerors. Wait upon the
Lord; faint not.
[522] A fortnight before this was written, viz. on 8th July 1660, the
King had committed the Marquis to the Tower, on an unfounded charge of
treason. Rutherford did not live to see the issue.
[523] "His heavenly King, whom he has faithfully owned, as well as in
private conscientiously served, will on that account all the more
stand by him, in the question of his earthly King being reconciled to
him." The hopes of his friends, however, were not realized; for next
year (on 27th May 1661) he was beheaded at Edinburgh.
The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours, at all respective observance in the Lord,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _July 24, 1660_.
CCCLXI.--_For MISTRESS CRAIG, upon the Death of her hopeful Son, who
was drowned while washing himself in a river in France._
(_NINE REASONS FOR RESIGNATION._)
MISTRESS,--You have so learned Christ as now (in the furnace) what
dross, what shining of faith may appear, must come forth. I heard of
the removal of your son, Mr. Thomas. Though I be dull enough in
discerning, yet I was witness to some spiritual savouriness of the new
birth and hope of the resurrection, which I saw in the hopeful youth,
when he was, as was feared, a-dying in this city. And, since it was
written and advisedly appointed, in the spotless and holy decree of
the Lord, where, and before what witnesses, and in what manner,
whether by a fever, the mother being at the bed, or by some other way
in a far country (dear patriarchs died in Egypt, precious to the Lord,
and have wanted burials) (Ps. lxxix. 3), your safest way will be, to
be silent, and command the heart to utter no repining and fretting
thoughts of the holy dispensation of God.
1. The man is beyond the hazard of dispute; the precious youth is
perfected and glorified.
2. Had the youth lain, year and day, pained beside a witnessing
mother, it had been pain and grief lengthened out to you in many
portions, and every parcel would have been a little death. Now His
holy Majesty hath, in one lump and mass, brought to your ears the
news, and hath not divided the grief into many portions.
3. It was not yesterday's thought, nor the other year's statute, but a
counsel of the Lord of old; and "who can teach the Almighty
knowledge?"
4. There is no way of quieting the mind, and of silencing the heart of
a mother, but godly submission. The readiest way for peace and
consolation to clay vessels is, that it is a stroke of the Potter and
Former of all things. And since the holy Lord hath loosed the grip,
when it was fastened sure on your part, I know that your light, and I
hope that your heart, also, will yield. It is not safe to be at
pulling and drawing with the omnipotent Lord. Let the pull go with
Him, for He is strong; and say, "Thy will be done on earth as it is in
heaven."
5. His holy method and order is to be adored. Sometimes the husband
before the wife, and sometimes the son before the mother. So hath the
only wise God ordered; and when he is sent before, and not lost, in
all things give thanks.
6. Meditate not too much on the sad circumstances, "the mother was not
witness to the last sigh; possibly, cannot get leave to wind the son,
nor to weep over his grave;" and, "he was in a strange land!" There is
a like nearness to heaven out of all the countries of the earth.
7. This did not spring out of the dust. Feed and grow fat by this
medicine and fare of the only wise Lord. It is the art and the skill
of faith to read what the Lord writeth upon the cross, and to spell
and construct right His sense. Often we miscall words and sentences of
the cross, and either put nonsense on His rods, or burden His Majesty
with slanders and mistakes, when He mindeth for us thoughts of peace
and love, even to do us good in the latter end.
8. It is but a private stroke on a family, and little to the public
arrows shot against grieved Joseph, and the afflicted, but ah! dead,
senseless, and guilty people of God. This is the day of Jacob's
trouble!
9. There is a bad way of wilful swallowing of a temptation, and not
digesting it, or laying it out of memory without any victoriousness of
faith. The Lord, who forbiddeth fainting, forbiddeth also
despising.[524] But it is easier to counsel than to suffer: the only
wise Lord furnish patience.
[524] Proverbs iii. 2.
It were not amiss to call home the other youth. I am not a little
afflicted for my Lady Kenmure's condition. I desire you, when ye see
her, to remember my humble respects to her. My wife heartily
remembereth her to you; and is wounded much in mind with your present
condition, and suffereth with you.
Grace be with you.
Yours in the Lord,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Aug. 4, 1660_.
CCCLXII.--_For my Reverend and dear Brother, Christ's Soldier in
bonds, MR. JAMES GUTHRIE, Minister of the Gospel at Stirling_.
(_STEDFAST THOUGH PERSECUTED--BLESSEDNESS OF MARTYRDOM._)
DEAR BROTHER,--We are very often comforted with the word of promise;
though we stumble not a little at the work of holy providence, some
earthly men flourishing as a green herb, and the people of God counted
as sheep for the slaughter, and killed all the day long. And yet both
word of promise, and work of providence, are from Him whose ways are
equal, straight, holy, and spotless.
As for me, when I think of God's dispensations, He might justly have
brought to the market-cross, and to the light, my unseen and secret
abominations; which would have been no small reproach to the holy name
and precious truths of Christ. But in mercy He hath covered these, and
shapen and carved out more honourable causes of suffering, of which we
are unworthy.
And now, dear brother, much dependeth upon the way and manner of
suffering, especially that His precious truths be owned with all
heavenly boldness, and a reason of our hope given in meekness and
fear; and the royal crown, and absolute supremacy of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the Prince of the kings of the earth, avouched as becometh.
For certain it is that Christ will reign, the Father's King in Mount
Zion, and His sworn covenant will not be buried. It is not denied that
our practical breach of covenant first, and then, our legal breach
thereof by enacting the same mischief and framing it into a law, may
heavily provoke our sweetest Lord. Yet there are a few names in the
land that have not defiled their garments, and a holy seed on whom the
Lord will have mercy, like the four or five olive-berries on the top
of the shaken olive-tree (Isa. xvii. 6): and their eye shall be toward
the Lord their Maker. Think it not strange that men devise against
you; whether it be to exile, the earth is the Lord's; or perpetual
imprisonment, the Lord is your light and liberty; or a violent and
public death,[525] for the kingdom of heaven consisteth in a fair
company of glorified martyrs and witnesses; of whom Jesus Christ is
the chief witness, who for that cause was born, and came into the
world. Happy are ye if you give testimony to the world of your
preferring Jesus Christ to all powers. And the Lord will make the
innocency and Christian loyalty of His defamed and despised witnesses
in this land to shine to after-generations, and will take The
Man-Child up to God and to His throne, and prepare a hiding-place in
the wilderness for the mother, and cause the earth to help the Woman.
Be not terrified; fret not. Forgive your enemies; bless, and curse
not; for, though both you and I should be silent, sad and heavy is the
judgment and indignation of the Lord, that is abiding the unfaithful
watchmen of the Church of Scotland. The souls under the altar are
crying for justice, and there is an answer returned already. The
Lord's salvation will not tarry.
[525] Such, as is well known, was the fate of Mr. James Guthrie, a few
months after this was written. He was hanged at the cross of Edinburgh
on the 1st of June 1661, and his head thereafter cut off and fixed on
the Nether Bow.
Cast the burden of wife and children on the Lord Christ; He careth for
you and them. Your blood is precious in His sight. The everlasting
consolations of the Lord bear you up and give you hope; for your
salvation (if not deliverance) is concluded.
Your own brother,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS, _Feb. 15, 1661_.
CCCLXIII.--_To_ MR. ROBERT CAMPBELL.
[MR. ROBERT CAMPBELL was minister of a parish in the Presbytery
of Dunkeld. He was a Protester, and after the restoration of
Charles II. was ejected for nonconformity to Prelacy.]
(_STEDFASTNESS TO PROTEST AGAINST PRELACY AND POPERY._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Ye know that this is a time in which all
men almost seek their own things, and not the things of Jesus Christ.
Ye are your lone, as a beacon on the top of a mountain; but faint not:
Christ is a numerous multitude Himself, yea, millions. Though all the
nations were convened against Him round about, yet doubt not but He
will, at last, arise for the cry of the poor and needy.
For me, I am now near to eternity;[526] and, for ten thousand worlds I
dare not venture to pass from the protestation against the corruptions
of the time, nor go alongst with the shameless apostasy of the many
silent and dumb watchmen of Scotland. But I think it my last duty to
enter a protestation in heaven, before the righteous Judge, against
the practical and legal breach of Covenant, and all oaths imposed on
the consciences of the Lord's people, and all popish, superstitious,
and idolatrous mandates of men. Know that the overthrow of the sworn
Reformation, the introducing of Popery and the mystery of iniquity, is
now set on foot in the three kingdoms; and whosoever would keep their
garments clean are under that command, "Touch not, taste not, handle
not."
[526] Rutherford died on the 20th of March 1661, shortly after this
letter was written.
The Lord calleth you, dear brother, to be still "stedfast, unmoveable,
and abounding in the work of the Lord." Our royal kingly Master is
upon His journey, and will come, and will not tarry; and blessed is
the servant who shall be found watching when He cometh. Fear not men,
for the Lord is your light and salvation. It is true, it is somewhat
sad and comfortless that ye are your lone; but so it was with our
precious Master: nor are ye your lone, for the Father is with you. It
is possible that I shall not be an eyewitness to it in the flesh, but
I believe He cometh quickly who will remove our darkness, and shine
gloriously in the Isle of Britain, as a crowned King, either in a
formally sworn covenant, or in His own glorious way; which I leave to
the determination of His infinite wisdom and goodness. And this is the
hope and confidence of a dying man, who is longing and fainting for
the salvation of God.
Beware of the ensnaring bonds and obligations, by any hand-writ or
otherwise, to give unlimited obedience to any authority, but only in
the Lord. For all innocent self-defence (which is according to the
Covenant, the Word of God, and the laudable example of the reformed
churches) is now intended to be utterly subverted and condemned: and
what is taken from Christ, as the flower of His prerogative-royal, is
now put upon the head of a mortal power; which must be that great idol
of indignation that provoketh the eyes of His glory. Dear brother, let
us mind the rich promises that are made to those that overcome,
knowing that those that endure to the end shall be saved.
Thus recommending you to the rich grace of God, I remain,
Your affectionate brother in Christ,
S. R.
CCCLXIV.--_To_ [Brethren in] ABERDEEN.
(_SINFUL CONFORMITY AND SCHISMATIC DESIGNS REPROVED._)
REVEREND AND DEARLY BELOVED IN THE LORD,--Grace be to you, and peace
from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
There were some who rendered thanks, with knees bowed to Him "of whom
is named the whole family in heaven and earth," when they heard of
"your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our
Lord Jesus;" and rejoiced not a little, that where Christ was scarce
named, in savouriness and power of the Gospel, even in Aberdeen, there
Christ hath a few names precious to Him, who shall walk with Him in
white. We looked on it (He knoweth whom we desire to serve in our
spirit in the Gospel of His Son) as a part of the fulfilling of that,
"The wilderness and solitary place shall be glad for them; and the
desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose" (Isa. xxxv. 1). But now
it is more grievous to us than a thousand deaths, when we hear that
you are shaken, and so soon removed from that which you once
acknowledged to be the way of God. Dearly beloved, the sheep follow
Christ, who calleth them by name: a stranger they will not follow, but
they flee from him, for they know not the voice of a stranger. Ye know
the way, by which ye were sealed to the day of redemption; and ye
received the Spirit, by the hearing of faith. Part not with that way,
except ye see there be no rest for your souls therein. Neither listen
to them that say, "Many were converted under episcopal as well as
under presbyterial government, and yet the godly gave testimony
against bishops;" for the instruments of conversion loathed
Episcopacy, with the ceremonies thereof, and never sealed it with
their sufferings. We shall desire instances of any engaged by oaths,
and sufferings of the faithful messengers of God, and the
manifestations of the Lord's presence, in the way ye now forsake, who
yet turned from it, and went one step toward sinful separation (and
did it in that way ye now aim at), and did yet flourish and grow in
grace. But we can bring proofs of many who left it, and went further
on to abominable ways of error. And you have it not in your power
where you shall lodge at night, having once left the way of God. And
many, we know, lost peace and communion with God, and fell into a
condition of withering, and not being able to find their lovers, were
forced to return to their first Husband. We shall entreat you,
consider what a stumbling it is to malignant opposers of the way and
cause of God (who with their ears heard you, and with their eyes saw
you, so strenuously take part with the godly in their sufferings, and
profess yourselves for religion truth, doctrine, government of the
house of God, His Covenant and cause), if now you build again what you
once destroyed, and destroy what you builded. And shall you not make
yourselves, by so doing, transgressors? How shall it wound the hearts
of the godly, stain the profession, darken the glory of the Gospel,
shake the faith of many, weaken the hands of all, if you (and you
first of all in this kingdom) shall stretch out the hand to raze the
walls of our Jerusalem, by reason of which the Lord made her "terrible
as an army with banners!" For when kings came, and saw the palaces and
bulwarks thereof, they marvelled and were troubled, and hasted away;
fear took hold upon them there, and pain as of a woman in travail. And
we shall be grieved, if you should be heirs to the guiltiness of
breaking down the same hedge of the vineyard, for the which the sad
indignation of God pursueth this day the Royal Family, many Nobles,
houses great and fair, and all the Prelatical party in these three
kingdoms. And when your dear brethren are weak and fainting, shall we
believe that you will leave us, and be divided from this so blessed a
conjunction? The Lord Jesus Christ, we trust, shall walk in the midst
of the golden candlesticks, and be with us, if you will be gone from
us. Beloved in the Lord, we cannot but be persuaded better things of
you; and we shall not conceal from you that we are ignorant what to
answer when we are reproved, on your behalf, in regard that your
change to another gospel-way (which the Lord avert!) is so much the
more scandalous, that the sudden alteration (unknown to us before) now
overtaketh you when men come amongst you against whom the furrows of
the fields of Scotland do complain. Forget not, dear brethren, that
Christ hath now the fan in His hand, and this is also the day of the
Lord, that shall burn as an oven; and that Christ now sitteth as a
refiner of silver, purifying the sons of Levi, and purging them as
gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering of
righteousness; and those that keep the word of His (not their own)
patience shall be delivered from the hour of temptation, that shall
come on all the earth to try them.
If ye exclude all non-converts from the visible city of God (in which,
daily, multitudes in Scotland, in all the four quarters of the land,
above whatever our fathers saw, throng into Christ), shall they not be
left to the lions and wild beasts of the forest, even to Jesuits,
seminary-priests, and other seducers? For the magistrate hath no power
to compel them to hear the Gospel, nor have ye any church-power over
them, as ye teach; and they bring not love to the Gospel and to Christ
out of the womb with them; and so they must be left to embrace what
religion is most suitable to corrupt nature. Nor can it be a way
approven by the Lord in Scripture, to excommunicate from the visible
church (which is the office-house of the free grace of Christ, and His
draw-net) all the multitudes of non-converts, baptized, and visibly
within the covenant of grace, which are in Great Britain, and all the
reformed churches; and so to shut the gates of the Lord's gracious
calling upon all these (because they are not, in your judgment, chosen
to salvation), when once you are within yourselves.[527] For how can
the Lord call Egypt His people, and Assyria the work of His hands, and
all the Gentiles (who for numbers are as the flocks of Kedar, and the
abundance of the sea) the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, if
you number infants (as many do), and all such as your charity cannot
judge converts (as others do) among heathens and pagans, who have not
a visible claim and interest in Christ? The candlestick is not yours,
nor the house; but Christ fixeth and removeth the one, and buildeth
or casteth down the other, according to His sovereignty. We in
humility judge ourselves, though the chief of sinners, the sons of
Zion and of the seed of Christ; if ye remove from us, and carry from
hence the candlestick, let our Father be judge, and show us why the
Lord hath bidden you come out from among us. We look upon this visible
church, though black and spotted, as the hospital and guest-house of
sick, halt, maimed, and withered, over which Christ is Lord,
Physician, and Master: and we would wait upon those that are not yet
in Christ, as our Lord waited upon us and you both. We, therefore,
your brethren, children of one Father, cannot but with tears and
exceeding sorrow of heart earnestly entreat, beseech, and obtest you,
by the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, by His sufferings and precious
ransom which He paid for us both, by the consolations of His Spirit,
by your appearance before the dreadful tribunal of our Lord Jesus,
yea, and charge you before God and the same Lord Jesus, "who shall
judge the quick and the dead, at His appearing, and His kingdom;"
break not the spirits and hearts of those to whom ye are dear as their
own soul. Forsake not the assemblies of the people of God; let us not
divide.
[527] When you yourselves have got safe within.
Not a few of the people of God in this shire of Fife (in whose name I
now write) dare say, if ye depart, that ye will leave Christ behind
you with us, and the golden candlesticks; and shut yourselves, we much
fear, out of the hearts and prayers of thousands dear to Jesus Christ
in Scotland. Therefore, before ye fix judgment and practice on any
untrodden path, let a day of humiliation be agreed upon by us all, and
our Father's mind and will inquired, through our one common Saviour.
And let us see one another's faces at best conveniency, and plead the
interest of Christ, and be comforted; and not be stumbled at your
ways.
So expecting your answer, we shall pray that the God of peace, who
brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the
sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, may make you
perfect in every work to do His will, working in you that which is
well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ. And I shall remain,
Your affectionate brother in the Lord,
S. R.
ST. ANDREWS.
CCCLXV.--_To MR. JOHN MURRAY, Minister at Methven._[528] [See Letter
CCCLVI.]
[528] From the original among the Wodrow MSS. vol. xxvii. fol. No. 18.
(_PROPOSAL OF A SEASON OF PRAYER_.)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--If I rightly apprehend our condition, we
are in a way of declining. We were, within these few years, more in
the conscionable use of means, and the Lord did shine upon us in some
measure; and now we are fallen from that which we were. It is judged
fit by some (and many of our solidest professors) that if we cannot
have them in congregations, yet families and private persons may have
days of humiliation, at least the last Wednesday of every month or
thereabout, according to the best conveniency of Providence. And if
this were gone about in your country, and in Stirlingshire, Fife, in
Merse, Teviotdale, the West, in Nithsdale and Galloway, and other
places, it would prove our strength and help; for we are few and very
low. Our adversaries are not idle; and there is a faintness and
heartless discouragement on the spirits of many. These are to entreat
that you would combine with Mr. Robert Campbell,[529] Mr. John
Cruickshanks,[530] and other of our brethren in your bounds, to stir
up one another that we may wrestle with the Lord for the remnant. I am
confident the Lord will yet be inquired of us for this. Though the
same particular day be not observed, yet, where many are on work, some
salvation from the Lord's arm is to be expected. I am decaying most
sensibly, and I should look on it as a mercy if the Lord would send a
wakening among His own. And blessed shall he be who shall blow the
trumpet to cause other sleeping ones awake, and shall help to build
the wastes, and the fallen tabernacle of David. I shall earnestly
desire you do bestir yourself herein.[531] I shall write to J----, and
to others here, and do the best I can to give you a convenient
account; for nothing is left to us but that.
[529] The minister to whom Letter CCCLXIII. is addressed.
[530] Mr. John Crookshanks (as Wodrow spells the name), minister of
Redgorton, in the Presbytery of Perth. He afterwards followed those
who fought at Pentland Hills, in 1665, and was killed in the battle.
[531] Is not this the very spirit of 2 Pet. i. 13, 14, "Yea, I think
it meet to stir you up, by putting you in remembrance; knowing that
shortly I must put off this my tabernacle"?
So remembering me to your wife, and expecting your help, I rest,
Your own brother,
S. R.
[ST. ANDREWS.]
S. R.
Mr. Robert Anderson is most eagerly desired for by the parishioners of
Leuchars, and as strenuously opposed by our brethren here.
INDEX
OF
THE CHIEF PLACES AND INDIVIDUALS REFERRED TO IN THE LETTERS.
(_The Figures refer to the Letters._)
Aberdeen, Letter to People of, 364;
referred to, 77, 243, 364.
Abraham referred to, 324.
Abraham, Mr., 24.
Aird, Bethia, 153.
Airds, 59, 217.
Alexander, Sir William, 15.
America, 75.
Anabaptists, 308.
Anderson, Mr. R., 356, 365.
Anwoth, 92, 96, 157, 162, 163, 167, 177, 180, 184, 198, 206,
225, 230, 267, 269, 279, 306, 307.
---- Topography of, 198, and Life.
Antinomians, 308.
Ardross, Lady (H. Lindsay), 321.
Ardwell, 101, 283.
Argyle, Death of, 360.
Ashe, Mr. Simeon, 345.
Assembly, Westminster, 307, 310.
Athernie (in Largo).--_See_ Rigg, 114.
Ayr.--_See_ Kennedy, John.
M. A., 212, 243.
Baillie, Robert, 163, 307.
Balcarras, Earl of, 327.
Ballantyne, Margaret, 79.
Balmerinoch, Lord, 139.
Barcapple, 34.
Barholm, 117 (notice).
Barron, Dr. Robert, 89, 117, 144.
Bautie, James, 249.
Bell, John, 218.
Berwick, 333.
Blackness Castle, 12.
Blair, Isabel.--_See_ Lady Gaitgirth.
---- Mr. Robert, 89, 254.
Bohemia, 62.
Bothwell Bridge, 206.
Boyd, Lady, 77, 107, 167, 210, 245, 277, 294, 299, 303,
309, 321.
---- Lord, 78, 232.
Boyne, 307.
Brethren, to several, 358.
Brisbane, Sarah.--_See_ Rowallan.
Brother, to a Christian, 317.
---- to a minister, 358.
Brown, Fergus, 18.
---- Jean, 18, 32, 84, 111, 131.
---- Patrick, 111.
---- of Wamphray, 131, 243.
Brownists, 303.
Bruce, Mr. James, 146.
Bryce, 231.
Burroughs, Jeremiah, 309.
Burton, D., 17.
---- Henry, 17.
Busbie, the Lady, 133, 120, 270.
Byres, 231.
A. B., 227.
B., 53. R. B., 246.
Caithness, 89.
Cally, Laird of (John Lennox), 198, 202.
Cambridge, 174.
Campbell, John.--_See_ Earl of Loudon.
---- Lady Jane.--_See_ Kenmure.
---- Mr. Robert, 363, 365.
Canons, Book of, 161.
Cant, Mr. Andrew, 179, 206.
Cardoness, the elder (_see_ John Gordon), 82, 166, 180.
---- the Lady (Gordon), 100, 103, 192 199.
---- the younger, 123, 173.
Carleton, Fullerton of, letters to, 157, 169, 176 (referred to,
1, 15, 40, 243, 279).
---- Lady, 254.
Carsen, John, 127, 243.
---- Marion, 32.
---- Patrick, 156.
Carsluth, notice of, 190.
Carsphairn, 28, 102, 357.
Carstairs, John, 336.
Caskeberrie.--_See_ Kaskiberry.
Cassillis, Earl of (John Kennedy), 128, 268, 278.
Cassincarrie (Mure), 191.
Cathcart.--_See_ Carleton.
Christian Brother, 316.
---- Friend, 291, 315.
---- Gentlewoman, 211, 317.
Clark, John, 172.
Colville, Mr. Alexander, 11, 98, 208, 343.
Colwart, Mr. Henry, 90.
Commentaries, proposed, 53, 110.
Corbet, Thomas, 264.
Covenant, 358, 359.
Craig, Mrs., 361.
Craighall, Lord, 86, 99, 174, 220, 227, 236, 257.
Cramond, 43, and 117 (notice).
Crawford, Earl of (_see_ Lindsay), 309.
Cromwell, 329, 331, 339, 346.
Cruickshanks, Mr. John, 365.
Culross, Lady, 62, 74, 178, 222.
Cunningham, Mr. R., 63, 110.
A. C., 189, 209.
Y. C., 76.
C., 44.
Dalgleish, William, 117, 184, 197, 287.
Dalry.--_See_ Earlston.
Dematius, note, 334.
Dickson, Mr. David, 110, 119, 168, 259, 298;
his son, John, 298.
Disdow, 213, 262.
Douglas, Robert, 113.
Dunbar, Battle of, 329.
Dunbar, Mr. George, 265.
Dundrennan, 117 (note).
Dungueich, the Lady, 251.
Durham, Mr. James, 91, 352.
Dury, Mr. John, 91 (notice).
Earlston, elder, 59, 64, 73, 97, 160, 201, 260, 323.
---- the Lady (Eliz. Gordon), 109.
---- younger, 99, 181, 196, 271.
Edinburgh Town Council, 325, 344, 345.
Ellis, Fulk, 234.
Episcopacy, 364, etc.
Erskine, Margaret.--_See_ Lady Marischall.
Ewart, John, 36, 134.
Expecters, 308.
C. E., 92.
Familists, 310.
Fenwick, John, 295.
Fergushill, Mr. John, 112, 187, 188, 275.
Fife, 364.
Fingask, Lady (Moncrieff), 297.
Fleming, Mr. James, 228.
---- John, 68, 159, 241, 266.
Forret, Mr. David, 327.
---- Lady, 125.
Forth, the, 257.
France, 32, 254.
Friend, a Christian, 291, 316.
Fullarton, Margaret, 204.
Fullerton, Grizzel, 5, 155, 339.
---- Mr. W., Provost of Kirkcudbright, 1, 52, 67, 135, 221.
Fullwood, the younger, 224.
F., 17, 254.
R. F., 98.
G. J., 17, 92, 320. (John Gordon?)
Gaitgirth, Lady (Isabel Blair), 187, 239.
---- Laird of, 237.
Galloway, 37.
Galloway, Bishop of (_see_ Sydserff), 161.
Garloch, 65 (notice), 217.
Garven, Mr. Thomas, 152, 165, 246.
Gentlewoman, to a Christian, 2, 211, 318.
---- on husband's death, 105, 122.
---- Letter to one at Kirkcudbright, 25.
George, David, of Delft, 309.
Gillespie, Mr. George, 144, 253, 324.
---- Mrs., 326.
---- Patrick, 337.
Girthon, 198 (notice), 43.
Glasgow, Bishop of, 86, 110.
---- to a minister of, 337.
Glendinning, Mr. Robert, 36, 136.
---- William, 137, 267, 276.
Glendoning, Robert, 36.
---- W., 36.
Goodwin, Thomas, 309.
Gordon, Alex., of Earlston, 59, 73.
---- of Garlock, 65 (notice).
---- Jean, 145.
---- John, at Rusco, 272, 280.
---- John, elder, of Cardoness.--_See_ C.
---- John, younger, of Cardoness.--_See_ Cardoness.
---- of Knockgray, 102.--_See_ K.
---- Mary, of Largmore, 72.
---- Robert, Bailie of Ayr, 129, 200.
---- Robert, of Knockbreck.--_See_ Knockbreck.
---- William, at Kenmure, 203.
---- William, of Roberton, 72.
---- William, younger, of Earlston.--_See_ Earlston.
---- William, of Whitepark, 143.
Greenham, Richard, 159.
Gustavus Adolphus, 16, 48.
Guthrie, Rev. Mr. James, of Stirling, 319, 357, 362.
---- Mr. William of Fenwick, 330.
J. G., 92, 319. (James Guthrie?)
W. G., 222.
Hall, Mr. Gilbert, 357.
Hallhill, the Lady (Learmonth), 148.
Halliday, William, 121.
Hamilton, Barbara, 311, 315.
---- Euphan, 6.
---- Mr. James, 89, 137, 214.
---- John, 8.[532]
Henderson, Mr. Alexander, 115.
---- Mr. Hugh, 138, 194.
---- Mr. John, in Rusco, 150, 207.
Henton, 218.
High Commission, 68, note.
Hog, Mr. Thomas, 245.
Hope, Sir John.--_See_ Craighall.
Hume, Mrs., 314.
---- Mr. William, 312.
Hutchison, George, 344.
Independents, 308, 329.
Ireland, 25, 119, 168, 233, 284, 288.
Jackson, Dr. Thomas, 188.
Jedburgh, 345.
Job, Commentary upon, 58.
Johnston, Sir Archibald, of Warriston, 307.
Kaskeberry, the Lady (Schoneir), 108.
Kells.--_See_ Garlock, and 72.
Kenmure, Viscountess, 3, 4, 5, 7, 11, 19, 20, 21, 23, 27, 28, 30,
31, 35, 37, 39, 40, 42, 56, 58, 61, 69, 70, 93, 94, 95, 96,
104, 106, 205, 206, 230, 286, 287, 302, 305, 318, 320, 335,
338, 341, 360.
Kennedy, Elizabeth, 77.
---- Janet, 88, 247.
---- John.--_See_ Earl of Cassillis.
---- John, Bailie of Ayr, 22, 75, 130.
Ker, Col. Gilbert, 328, 329, 331, 332, 333, 334, 342, 343.
---- John, 47.
Kerr, Robert, 71.
Kilconquhar, Lady, 226, 261.
Kilmalcolm, Parishioners, 286.
Kirkcudbright, 6, 8, 25, 34, 36, 42, 43, 46, 49, 52, 67, 80, 134,
135, 136, 137, 177, 267, 339, 340, 355.
Kirkdale, 117.
Kirkmabreck, 109, 117.
Knockbreck, Gordon of, 65, 66, 76, 92, 170, 285;
referred to, 279.
Knockgray, Gordon of, 102, 154, 182, 223;
referred to, 243.
Knox, John, 12.
C. K., 349.
Largirie, Lady, 195, 250.
Largmore, 72.
Laurie, John, 175.
Law, James, 86, 110.
Leighton, Dr. Alexander, 289.
---- Mr. Robert, 86.
Lennox, John.--_See_ Cally.
---- Robert, 213, 262.
Leys, Lady, 207.
Lindsay, James, 234.
---- Lord, 231.
Livingston, Mr. John, 90, 343.
---- Mr. William, 142.
Lochinvar, 47, 109.
Lorn, Lord, 59, 60, 61, 204;
referred to, 222.
Lothian, Earl of, 83.
Loudian, Mr., 86, 174.
Loudon, Lord (John Campbell), 116, 258, 281.
Maitland, Lord John, 307.
Malignants, 329, 330, 331, 333, 346, 356, 362.
Mar, Lady, 61, 69, 140.
Marischall, Lady (Margaret Erskine), 207.
Martin, Mr. James, 206.
Maxwell, Bishop of Ross, 6.
M'Adam, James, 141.
---- Sibylla (his sister), 193, 141.
M'Cleland, Mr., 63, 339.
M'Culloch, Jonet, 101, 252.
---- Thomas, 283.
M'Kail, Mr. Hugh, of Irvine, 71, 118, 216, 229.
M'Math, Agnes, 300.
---- Jean, 326.
M'Millan, Jean, 132.
M'Naught, Grizzel, 1, 32, 88.
---- Jane, 49.
---- Marion, 1, 6, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 24, 26, 29,
32, 33, 34, 36, 38, 41 (postscript), 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48,
49 (with postscript), 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 57, 60, 80,
126, 177, 185, 221, 243, 244, 263, 279.
M'Ward, Mr., 179, 337.
Mein, Barbara, 314.
---- Mr. John, senior, 151.
---- Mr. John, junior, 81, 240.
---- Mrs., 312.
Melville, Eliz.--_See_ Lady Culross.
---- of Hallhill, 224.
Melvin, Mr. Ephraim, 91.
Minister in Glasgow, 337.
---- to a Brother, 359.
M. O., 324.
Moncrieff, Mr. Alex., of Scoonie, 357.
---- Lady Ann, of Fingask, 295.
---- Laird of, 171.
Montgomery, Sir Henry, 303.
More, Dr., 311.
Mowat, Mr. Matthew, 120, 167, 239, 301.
Muirfad, 59, 109 (notice).
Mure.--_See_ Lady Ralston.
----.--_See_ Rowallan, 242.
---- Ninian, 164.
Murray, Christian, 262.
---- James, 274.
---- James, wife of, 304.
Murray, John, 356, 365.
---- Margaret, 326.
---- Margaret (Mrs. Gillespie), 326.
G. M., 92.
M. M., 167.
Nairn, Mr. George, 357.
Nevay, Mr. John, 179, 209.
Newcastle, 311.
New England, 12, 75, 151, 153, 161.
Newmills, 179.
Nicholas, Henry, 310.
Nisbet, 344; and, Life, p. 2.
Ochiltree, 112 (notice).
Ormiston, 337.
Osburne, Provost of Ayr, 149.
Oxford, 174.
Oxnam.--_See_ Scott.
N. O., 322.
Parishioners of Anwoth, 225.
Perkins, Dr. William, 159.
Person unknown, anent public worship, 290.
Persons unknown, 308.
Perth Assembly, 244.
Pitsligo, Lady (Marischall), 206, 243, 259.
Pont, Mrs., 292.
Porterfield of Duchal, 286.
Prelacy, 363, 364, etc.
Protesters, 334, 339, 344, 349, 356.
Psalms, King James', 15.
Puritans, 11, 59, 202, 262.
J. P., 49.
Q., 64, 65, 116.
Queensberry, 205.
Rait, Mr., 343, 355.
Ralston, Lady (Mure), 336.
Ramsay, Mr. Thomas, 357.
Reid, Margaret, 248.
Remonstrance, Western, 328, 351, 356, 359.
Resolutioners, 330, 331, 336, 339.
Ridge, Mr. John, 90.
Rigg, William, of Athernie, 114, 256, 273;
and notice, 226.
Robertland, Lady, 282.
Roberton, Gordon of, 72.
Robinson, Mr. John, 309.
Rodger, Mr. William, 88.
Rogers, Dr. Daniel, 159.
Ross, Bishop of, 6.
Row, Rev. John, of Perth, 183.
---- John, of Carnock, 219.
R. J. Rowallan, the Lady, 242.
Rusco, 5 (note), 147, 207, 345.
A. R., 185, 15.
H. R., 185, 15.
Rutherford's Brother George, 34, 73, 75,67, 98, 105, 107, 110,
112, 116, 136, 137, 151, 157, 158, 159, 205, 245, 267,
294, 340.
---- Brother James, 334 (note).
---- Children, 310.
---- Mother, 49.
---- Wife, 8, 11.
Schoneir, James (_see_ Lady Kaskeberry), 108.
Scott, Rev. John, of Oxnam, 349, 350, 352, 357.
Sectaries, 329, 331, 333.
Seekers, 308.
Semple, Mr. John, of Carsphairn, 357.
Senwick, 127.
Separatists, 309.
Service Book, 151, 161, 224, 262.
Sharp, Mr. James, 48, 343.
Sibbald, Dr. James. Life, xviii.
Simpson, Mr. James, 346.
Spain, 309.
Spottiswoode, Archbishop, 11, 86.
St. Andrews, 343, etc.
---- Bishop of, 48, 86.
Stewart, Mr. Henry (Dublin), 291.
---- Sir James, Provost of Edinburgh, 325.
Stirling, Mr. John, 91, 92, 357.
---- Peter, 296.
Strafford, Earl of (Wentworth), 288.
Stuart, John, of Ayr, 161, 162, 163, 189.
---- Mrs., 215.
---- Robert, 186.
Sydserff, 52, 67, 86, 160.
Taylor, Mrs., 310.
Trail, R., 179, 357.
A. T., 102, 284.
Utrecht, 334 (note).
Uxbridge Treaty, 308.
Vivet, Christopher, 309.
Watson, Mr., 214.
Weir, Mr., 214.
Welsh, John, 12.
Westminster Assembly, 306, 308, 309.
Whitepark, Gordon of, 143.
Whiteside, Bell of, 218.
Wigtown, 65, 67, 117, 191, 276.
Wilson, Mr. James, 293.
Wylie, Mr. Thomas, 306, 340, 355.
C. Y., 92.
INDEX OF SPECIAL SUBJECTS.
(_The Reference is to the Number of the Letter._)
Adversity, lessons of, 167.
Affliction, 28, 29, 35, 37, 42, 76, 92, 94, 102, 112, 122, 167,
171, 186, 211, 223, 248, 265, 273, 282, 289, 298, 302,
312, 313, 315, 317, 323.
Assurance, 106, 134, 190, 196, 286.
---- exhortation as to, 78, 91, 130.
Atheism in the heart, 233, 234, 305.
Backsliding, 225, 227, 234, 286.
Believers, 56, 85, 201, 229, 291.
Bereavements, 35, 37, 105.--_See_ Afflictions.
Bible, 10.
Blessings and Christ, difference between, 335.
Cares, 252.--_See_ Trials.
Catechism, 166, 260.
Catechising, 228.
Children of the godly, 1, 24, 34, 46, 82, 109, 111, 287.
Children of the godly, loss of, 28, 59, 238, 287, 300, 326.
Christ, in Himself, 7, 13, 19, 20, 69, 72, 82, 88, 94, 101, 105,
111, 112, 127, 140, 168, 169, 175, 186, 192, 202, 203, 209,
210, 211, 216, 226, 231, 285, 288, 291, 335.
---- Coming again, 16, 21, 26, 48, 50, 95, 130, 138, 170, 224,
231, 269, 291, 322.
---- interceding, 48.
---- in His liberality, 73, 74.
---- in His love, 20, 68, 70, 87, 112, 113, 120, 130, 143, 166,
170, 171, 187, 195, 212, 233, 254, 256, 257, 269,
270, 285, 295, 297.
---- in His sympathy, 2, 153, 177, 287, 288.
---- in His sufferings, 13, 176.
---- in our sufferings for Him, 59, 67, 95, 113, 116, 117, 148,
218, 290, 333.
---- in His ways, 71, 73, 74, 89, 99, 125, 131, 146, 189, 194,
222, 256, 326, 333, 351.
---- our conformity to Him, 11.
Christ's cause, 78, 115, 245, 332.
Christian walk, direction for, 159, 264, 269.
Church, 26, 38, 41, 45, 50, 97, 276.
---- visible, members of, 364.
Communion with Christ, 7, etc.
---- seasons, 14, 18, 20, 26, 33, 44, 45, 91, 313.
Complaints, 305.
Conflict, 6, 46, 280.
Conscience, 30, 39, 62, 66, 166.
Consolations, 54, 63, 66, 80, 266, 310, 334.
Conversion, 218.
Convictions, 218, 225.
Counsels.--_See_ Christian Walk.
Courage, 329, 331.
Crosses, 61, 62, 95, 116, 118, 119, 134, 143, 146, 148, 219,
240, 242, 246, 248, 257.
Darkness, days of, 338, 342.
Deadness, 319, 342, 344, 345, 353, 354.
Death, 3, 39, 150, 195, 238, 311, 324, 357.
Death of a Husband, 105, 222, 302, 312;
Son-in-Law, 314;
Wife, 315;
Daughter, 2, 316;
Mother, 321;
Child, 4, 28, 35, 310;
Son, 298, 310, 360;
Friend, 299, 300.
Dejections, 249.
Desertions, 6, 100, 228, 234.
Devil, 3, 32, 70, 90, 114, 115, 138, 243.
Difficulties, 205, 248, 250.
Diligence, 77, 121, 123, 141, 147, 173, 186, 198, 261, 280, 283, 289.
Doubtings, 106, 181, 203, 293.
Duty, 126.
Earnest of the Spirit, 7.
Earnestness about the soul, 123, 124, 132, 191, 200, 201, 261.
Evidences.--_See_ Marks.
Experience, 341, etc.
Faith, 7, 19, 95, 178, 182, 229, 291, 294.
Fear of man, 235, etc.
Feeling, 293, 295.
Formality, 87, 198, 218.
Free-will, 69, 120, 254, 273, etc.
Friends, 5, 30, 104.
Glory, 19, 20.
God, 342.--_See_ Christ.
Grace, 85, 106, 192, 217, 219, 233, 254, 273, 277, 323, 324.
Headship of Christ, 115, 215, 245, 278, 281, 337, 359, 363.
Heaven (_see_ Christ), 24, 246, 247, 304.
Holiness, 104, 215.
Humility, 82, 230, 285, 342.
Idolatry (in kneeling at communion), 91, 174, 179.
Idols, 102, 133, 191, 280.
Jews, restoration of, 14, 28, 50, 194, 235, 289, 295, 296.
Justification, 170.
Law, 230.
Life rather than dying, 336.
Long-suffering, 12, etc.
Lord's Supper, 269.
Marks of salvation, 172, 203, 235, 284, 293.
Martyrdom, prospect of, 362.
Ministry, his own, and others, 61, 180, 184, 188, 214, 225, 228, 286.
Non-fundamental truths, 337.
Offences, 229.
Old man, 256.
Ordinances, 11, 24.
Patience, 13, 21, 138, 196, 336.
Persecution, 291, etc.
Praise, 102, 304.
Prayer, 17, 29, 249, 263, 269, 293, 319.
---- meeting, 263, 269, 286.
---- union for, 31, 171, 365.
Prosperity, 30.
Proverbs iii., 11.
Providence, 11, 12, 89, 110, 194, 197, 234, 256, 260, 329, 331, 333.
Reproach, 26, 238.
Reprobates, 234.
Resignation, 2, 3, 90;
nine reasons for, 361.
Revival, 354.
Saints, 52.
Salvation, 79, 82, 121, 135.--_See_ Diligence.
---- nature of, 133.
Sanctification, 81, 170, 213, 215.
Satan, 32.--_See_ Devil.
Self, 12, 188, 189, 198, 284, 324.
Self-deception, 353.
Self-denial, 21, 284.
Sickness, 3, 6, 26, 125, 313, 337, 345.
Silence, 162, 163, 185, 197, 208, 294.
Sin, 84, 276.
---- against the Holy Ghost, 227.
---- uses of, 197, 294.
Sinners, awful words to, 225, 328, etc.
Sloth, 198, 200, 260, 286.
Soul's value, 79, 82.
Sovereignty of God, 35, 298, 342, 347.
Sparrows at Anwoth, 167, 168, 206.
Submission, 10, 27, 47, 157, 183, 186, 255, 298, 300, 301.
Suffering, design of, and blessings under, 113, 160, 161, 206,
265.--_See_ Trials, Afflictions.
---- words to a brother under, 329, 337, etc.
Temptation, 41, 92, 157, 196, 293.
---- public, 51.
Toleration, 349, 352.
Trials, 3, 4, 12, 22, 23, 52, 61, 63, 71, 72, 74, 75, 80, 84,
131, 133, 138, 143, 160, 161, 166, 182, 206, 211, 230,
246, 257, 265, 266, 273, 276, 289, 291, 292, 320.
Unbelief, 85, 153, 222, 239.
Union among believers, 322, 336, 337, 355.
Visible Church, 364.
Warnings, 72, 173, 225, 227.
Watchfulness, 30, 263, 353.
World, 5, 42, 99, 100, 122, 139, 190, 192, 200, 223, 224, 229,
251, 255, 268, 272, 282.
Youth, 16, 24, 41, 111, 142, 156, 164, 166, 173, 181, 186, 199,
202, 203, 232, 240, 287, 307.
Zeal, 10, 233.
GLOSSARY.
[THE REFERENCES TO SPECIAL WORDS MAY SERVE THE PURPOSE OF A VERBAL
INDEX.]
(_The Figures refer to the Letters._)
_Abjects_; persons in the lowest grade of society. 291.
_Accidents_; incidental accompaniments, not essential. 293.
_Account-book_; journal of translations. 122, 124.
_Acquaint_; personally known.
_Ado_; Adjective, in the sense of _a-stir_. 97, 99, 181.
Noun; occupation,[533] trouble, concerns. 97, 99, 181, 184,
226, 250.
_Affect_; to love, have affection to. 4, 67, 174, 274, etc.--So
in Gal. iv. 17, etc.
_After-supper_; latest part of the day, between supper and
bed-time. 82.
_Agent_; advocate. 86.
_Airt_, or _airth_; quarter of the heavens, direction. 41,
167, 229, etc.
_All_; "to all power," to the utmost of my power.
_Allow_; to give an allowance. 105, 242, 287.
_Alone_; for only. 231, etc.
_Alongst_; along, side by side with. 363.
_Always_; although, notwithstanding.
(Fr., _toute-fois_.) 249, 336, 337.
_Anchor-tow_; the cable. 107.
_And_, or _an_; the conjunction "_if_." (Gr., ἐαν.)
_Anent_; concerning, over-against. 110, 234, etc.
_Annual_; yearly rent, quit-rent. 119.
_Annuity_; quit-rent. 70.
_As_; than. 306.
--It is the German "_als_," and is still a common word in the
south of Scotland.
_A-swoon_; in a swoon, or faint. 110, 186, 249.
_Athort_; athwart, across. 243.
_Aught_; to own. The Noun; possession, property. 247, 293.
So used by Gavin Douglas.
_Awsome_; fitted to overawe. 190, 219, 281, 317.
_Back._ The Verb intr. means: "to be unfortunate." 62.
The Verb trans.: "to help on." 128, 149, 200, 229, etc.
In a sermon on Zech. xi. 9, "The Godhead _backed_ him, and
convoyed him to the bar of God's justice."
_Back-bond_; a bond given after a former bond, declaring the
person who gave the first bond free. 118, 265, 291.
_Back-burden_; laid on a person's back. 288.
_Back-entry_; back-door. 277.
_Back-friend_; friend to back you or help. 199. So in a sermon
on Rev. xix.
_Back-over_; backward, quite in the other direction. 276.
_Back-set_; a thrust back. 167.
_Bailie_; magistrate. 138, etc.
_Bairns_; children. 18, 20, 106, 293, etc.
_Bairnteme_; family of children by one mother. 105, 106.
Peden speaks of the Church "with her bonny bairn-teme." In Norse,
"toma" signifies to bring forth.
_Balk_; beam for suspending scales. 225, 261.
_Band_; a bond, engagement. 18.--"_To take band with_" is to unite,
_q.d._, bind together. 46, 189, 292, 358.
"_Keep band_," the same. 42.
_Bankful_; full like a river up to the top of its bank. 169, 257.
_Bann_; to curse in the form of a minced oath. 147.
_Beguile_, Noun; deception, trick, disappointment. 176, 205, 353.
_Behind with one_; coming short of his due. 152, 157.
_Being-place_; may be a misprint for "_bigging_," _i.e._ building. 192.
_Bemist_; involved in mist, like _benight_. 118, 169, 176.
--See also "_misted_." 59, 223.
_Ben_; (_q.d._ being in), in the inner chamber, within. 20.
_Beside_; apart from, contrary to. 266, 271.
_Better cheap._--See _Cheap_.
_Bidding_; command. "_To sit a b._," to fail in prompt obedience. 43.
_Bide_; stand, wait for, endure. 23, etc.
--"_Law-biding_," ready to meet the law, instead of fleeing. 106,
107, 222, 302.
Knox's Work, vi. 593, etc.
_Bide out_; hold out. 85.
_Big_, Verb; to build.
_Binding._ The phrase, "to take binding," is the same as to "take
band." 20, 43.
_Binks_; benches. 285.
_Bird-mouthed_; mealy-mouthed. 181.
In this phrase _bird_ is the _young_, or _chicken_; hence,
the sense of softness.
_Bite upon_; leave the mark of their teeth. 84.
_Black-shame_; utter shame; so very dark. 130.
So in 272 he writes, "black nothing."
_Blae_; pale, unsatisfactory hue. 262. As in the phrase, "to
look blue."
_Blaflume_, or _blayflume_, or _bleflume_; a mere sham, air-bubble;
from _blaw_, or blow. 225, 249.
Same as "blellum," one good for nothing.
_Bleeze_; a sudden flaming up. 82.
_Blench_; a piece of white money; a mere peppercorn or nominal rent.
254. (Fr., "_blanc_.")
_Blenk_, or _blink_; a gleam, slight glance. 50, 57, etc.
_Blind_; a cheat, disappointment. 212.
_Block_; a bargain. The Verb; to bargain, plan, scheme. 20, 100,
106, 163, 200.
_Bloom_; blossom. 90, 93, 184, 185, 193.
_Bludder_, or _bluther_; to bleer, disfigure the face with weeping,
or the like. 105, 138.
_Board_; table. "Boardhead," head of the dinner-table. 30, 104,
107, 177, 249.
_Over the board_, 190.
The seller, when he handed the goods to the buyer, "over the
board," drank good luck to him. And so this came to be a
phrase for _formally giving up_ or renouncing.
_Bode_; to offer with view to a bargain. 177, 186.
It is allied in sense to "_bait_." Sibbs uses "_bawd_" (on
2 Cor. i. 3).
_Boist_, or _bost_, and sometimes written _boasts_; to threaten
with a blow. 101, 211, 226, 291.
It is connected with "boisterous."
_Borne in_; forcibly brought into the mind. 249.
_Borrow and lend_; to have dealings with. 98, 109.
_Borrows_; security in law, an Anglo-Saxon word.
"_To die in borrows_," to fail in security.--See _Burrows_.
_Botch-house_; house spoilt and disfigured. 237.
_Bouk_; from "_bulk_;" the corpse of man or beast. 141.
_Bound-road_; boundary-line. 273, 286.
_Brae_; declivity, slope of a hill. 69 141, etc.
Above ordinary bounds.--"From bank to brae." 147, etc.
_Braird_; the sprouting up blade of young wheat, or the like. 259.
_Brangle_; to shake into disorder, shake to and fro. 41, 196.
_Brash_; a passing fit of sickness. 186.
_Broadside_; openly, frankly. 81.
--_Lay on the broadside_; lay flat. 24.
_Brod_; same as _board_. 328, etc.
_Brook_, or _bruke_; enjoy, possess. 140, 115, 249.
_Browden_; eagerly desirous of, foolishly attached to. 77.
_Browst_; a brewing, or what one brews for himself. 188. An
ill-managed matter is "an ill-browst."
_Bud_; to bribe, try to win over by a gift. 63, 88, 277.
_Bulks._--See _Bouk_.
_Burrows_, or _borrows_; (Anglo-Saxon) a pledge or security.
_Law-burrows_; security given not to injure the person or
property of one. 61, 163, 184, 222.
_Bushy-biel_ (see _Life_). In Scotch, _bield_ is a _shelter_.
The name of Rutherford's house is said by some to have been
"_Bush o' Biel'_," the bush of shelter.
In old Scott. Prov., we find, "Every man bows to the _bush_
he gets _bield_ frae."
Yet it is more probable that the name is corrupted from _Bosco
Beoll_, or _Boscobel_, "the fair wood," like the celebrated
spot in Shropshire where Charles I. hid in the oak.
_Busk_; adorn, deck. 22, 42, 133, 143.
_But_; only, only this and no more. 102, 188.
_Buy a plea_; get up a charge, when properly there is no room for
it. 74, 75, 161, 171, 284.
"_Buy up_;" to bribe; or so to buy up as to set another aside.
261, 265.
_By_, or _bye_; aside from, past, as in Acts xx. 16, "sail by."
23, 105, 148, 160, 175.
Also: Without, 96; beside, 359.--"Lock-by," mislock, 218.
_By-board_; side-table where the children sat. 77, 111, 197.
_By-errand_; message done at leisure time, as being of little
importance. 191, 199.
_By-going_; passing by. 122.
_By-gone_; passed away. 71, etc.
_By-gones_; things forgotten. 62, 72.
_By-good_, or _bye-good_; an object in addition to some other
good. 195.
_By-hand_; aside. 72, 276.
_By-look_, side-look. 249.
_By-past_; time that has elapsed, or recently, as a thing done. 190.
_By-purse_; a side purse, away from the other. 284.
_By-work_; work done at leisure time only. 191.
_Canny_; prudent, cautious and skilful. Adv., _cannily_. 69.
_Card_; chart or map. 69, 232.
_Cast_; participle, _casten_: throw or fling. 324.
--_Cast the balance_; turn the scale. 153.
--"_To cast at_;" be sulky, quarrel with. 4, 23.
--"_To cast up_;" to upbraid.
--"_To cast out with_;" quarrel. 224, 254.
--"_Cast a knot_;" tie so as not to slip. 122.
_Cast_, a Noun; lot, fate. "_Common cast_;" a providence occurs
often in Brown of Wamphray. 185, 265.
_Casualty_; emoluments beyond the stated yearly dues paid to
the superior. 240, 253.
_Cauldrife_; susceptible of cold; lukewarm. 198.
_Caums_; a mould. 282.
--_Moulds_ being often made of pipe-clay, it became customary
to call pipe-clay "caum-stone."
Baillie in his "Letters" spells it "caulms."
In Gaelic, _cuma_ means a _pattern_, or shape.
_Causey_ (Fr., _chausée_); the public street. "To keep the crown
of the causey" is to make bold appearance in the public
street in open day. 52, 59, 69, 181.
The streets in those days were raised in the middle, and had
gullies on either side. The French had the phrase, "Tenir
le haut du pavé." See "Notes and Queries," March 29, 1873.
_Caution_; security, surety. 2, 19, etc.
--Adj., _Cautionary_. 187. And as Noun, suretyship. 114.
_Challenge_; charge, upbraiding, accusation. 2, 10, etc.
_Cheap_ is connected with "chapman;" from the old English "_chap_,"
a bargain. The phrase "Better cheap." 216, 293.
--And so "_Good cheap_," properly "_a good bargain_."
_Chirurgeon_; surgeon. 293, 295. Greek and Latin word.
_Clap_; something done unexpectedly. "_In a clap_;" like thunder
suddenly heard. 264.
_Clay_; earth, earthenware. 291, etc.
--"Clay-banks," 300. So "Clay-heavens," 294;
"_clay-pawns_," 300, bodies of dust.
_Cleck_; to hatch a brood, swarm. 281.
_Clipped_; coin not of full weight. 81.
_Clog_; to adhere; form an encumbrance. 249.
--Used in old English.
_Close_, a Noun; the lane or porch leading into the house. 157.
_Close_, Adv.; "_close off_," completely. 50, 82 (like the phrase
close-shaven), 88.
_Closet-ward_; guard-room. 254.
_Coast_; to sail near land, sail from one port to another. 301.
_Coastful_; full to the utmost shore. 201.
_Cog_; to fix the teeth of a wheel, and so stop its motion; put on
a drag. 51, 194, 229.
_Coldlike_; like a fire going out; hope abating. 179.
_Coldrife_, 198.
--See _Cauldrife_. "How coldrife and indifferent are ye!" (Sermon
on Isa. xlix. 1-4). Chilly, heartless.
_Common_; alluding to persons sharing at a _common_ table in
College. As this was a privilege enjoyed by special favour,
"_To be in one's common_" is to be indebted to, under
obligation to. 42, 52, 157, 252, etc.
--"_To quit commons_" (214); to be freed from obligation by
requiting the person.
In 275 and 285, "_It is ill my common_" seems to mean, It
ill becomes me, having no right.
_Communion_; the dispensing of the Lord's Supper. 14, 20, 25, etc.
_Companionry_; companionship. 147, 280.
--The termination "ry" marks plurality in old English.
_Compear_; appear judicially, at the bar. 3, etc.
_Compearance_; the act of appearing in court in obedience to a
citation.
_Compose_; compromise. 357.
--_Composition_, in same sense.
_Comprize_; to arrest by a writ; attach by a legal process.
130, 160, 171.
Seize for debt. 184, 206, etc.
_Concional._ 179.--See _note_.
_Concredit_; entrust. 260. Used often by Dickson on Job.
_Conquest_; written also _conquess_; acquisition, made not by
inheritance but by purchase and exertion. 2, 54, 79, 182,
190, 191.
--"The young heir knows not how hard the conquest was to his
poor father" (Sermon at Anwoth on Zech. xi. 9).
_Conscionable_; according to conscience, reasonable, just. 365.
_Considerable_; worthy of consideration or regard. 321, 331.
_Construct_; for construe. 361, etc.
_Contestation_; strife. 189.
_Contrair_; adversary, contrary to. 6.
_Convoy_; to accompany a friend on the way. 210, 230, 231.
_Couchers_; cowards; or rather lazy fellows. Fr., _coucher_, to
lie down. 251.
_Count_; to lay the count. 289. To settle, balance.
_Country_, in opposition to city; common, in contrast to fine.
153, 353.
_Coup_; to upset, overturn. 120.
_Court._ "_No great court_;" no influence. 78, 141, 148, 151,
158, 183, etc.
--"_To be in court_," in favour. See "Sermons."
_Cow_; to cut out, eat up, carve (Fr., _couper_). 170, 178.
_Cripple_; halting. 258.
_Crook_; to walk crookedly, lamely; halt. 233, 299.
_Cry down_; depreciate, cause to lose good name. 280.
--As a Noun. 289.
--"_Cry_," proclamation, 289.
_Cuff_; a blow with the hand. 130.
_Cumber_; trouble. 196.--Adj., "cumbersome." 292.
_Daft_; foolish, crazy. 93, 285.--"A daft young heir" (Sermon
on Zech. xi. 9).
_Dainty_; that has in it something fine, 301.
_Dawted_; made a favourite, petted. 89, 98, 166.
--"_Dawted Davie_;" a petted child. 110.
--"Better be God's sons than the world's dawties" (Sermon
on Isa. xlix. 1).
_Daylight_; note in 315.
_Dead_; in the expression, "_Dead-sweer_," thoroughly lazy; as
incapable of moving as one dead. 105.
_Deaf nuts_; no kernel in them. 138.
_Dear_; where provision is sold at a high price. 84.
_Deave_, from _deaf_; to make deaf; distract. 286.
_Decore_; to adorn. 42.--(Lat., _decorus_.)
_Decourt_; to discard, send out of court. 188, 197, 284.
_Decreet_; a judicial sentence. 3, 12, 132, etc.
_Depone_; state as a witness. 180.
_Depursement_; same as disbursement. 59.
--_Q.d._, taking out of the purse, or _bourse_ (291).
_Dew_; a Verb; to moisten. 333.
_Din_; noise. 38, 59, 100, 155, 249, 282, 325.
_Ding_; knock in with violence. 248.
_Dint_; the stroke, or force. 332.
--Zachary Boyd speaks of "The dint of God's judgments."
_Dispone_; make over. 19, 261.
_Disrespective_; disrespectful. 300.
--See _Respective_.
_Ditty_, or _Dittay_; indictment, ground of accusation. 12,
44, 180, 233.
_Do._ "_To do for_;" to act for; make effort for; accomplish
a thing. 93, 116, 135, 162, 206, 228, 244.--See Ps. cix. 21.
_Dool-like_; in mourning guise. 268.
--_Dool_; grief; "Dolor." 272.
_Doomster_; pronouncer of sentence. 229.
_Dorts_; the sulks, offence taken. 23, 70, 89.
_Double_; a duplicate. 353.
_Dow_; to be able; can. 23, 260, etc.
--_Dought_ is the past tense. Hogg's "Queen's Wake" uses the
perf.: "She turned away and _dought_ luck nae mair." So
Letter 74, "dought."
_Draff-poke_; the beggar's bag, for carrying anything put in.
249.
--_Draff_; a useless thing; "draught," Matt. xv. 17. "Corruption
like a draff-poke at my heels" (Eliz. West).
_Draught_; plans drawn out and sketched. 14.
_Draw_; in the sense of "_remove_;" table drawn. 146.
In Lady Montague's Letters, "drawing-room, or _withdrawing_
room, as they now say."
_Draw by_; draw aside. 11.
_Draw-knot_; a slip-knot, easily loosened. 51.
_Dreary_; sad. 87.
_Drink over the board_; renounce.
_Drink-silver_; gift, or token of regard for kindness shown
or service done,
--a gift to servants. 119.
--_Drink-money_, 277; the same.
_Drouthy_; from "drought;" very dry. 256.
_Drumbled_; made muddy; troubled water. 153.
_Dry_; reserved, backward. 181, 182, 187, 206, etc.
_Dumps_; bad humour. 187.
_Dwine_; to pine away. 85, 169, etc.
_Dyke_; a wall. 194, 276, etc.
_Dyvour_; a debtor; sometimes a bankrupt
--Fr., "_Devoir_."
_Earnest_; the foretaste. 179.
_Ease-room_; a room for pleasure or repose. 5, 247, 311.
_Ebb_, Adj.; shallow, like tide going back. 94, 120, etc.
--_Ebbness._ 175.
_Edge by_; push aside. 225.
_Empawn_; lay down as pledge. 229, 268.
_Enact_; to decree. 291.
"_End_;" thrice on end. 324.
--Thrice in succession.
_Engyne_, or _ingyne_; Latin, _Ingenium_, disposition, ability,
policy. 84, 94.
--Power of mind. 64.
_Entire_; no division or half-heartedness. 119, 280.
_Errand_; business. 210, 250.--"Ride his errands," 249, go on
with his work.
_Evangel_; good news generally. 224.
_Even_; to put down one as capable of a thing; propose as fit
for a person, 70.
--The phrase, "_Be even with_;" have accounts settled, be
quits. 113, 114.
_Evil-worthy_; unworthy, ill-worth. 336.
_Expone_; explain the sense. 165.
_Eye_, Verb; to look for. 276.
_Eye-sweet_; pleasant to the eye. 213, 277.
_Fail_, or _feal_; turf. 194.
_Fain_; glad. "_Faintes_," most gladly.
"_Fain not twice_" is glad to remain settled; not caring
to rise after sitting down.
"Fain have taken effect," 16; desire to have carried through.
_Fair_; a market. 172.
_Fair_; Adj. in the phrase, "_fair fire_," is commonly in Scotland
"a fair lowe," _i.e._ all a flame together. 204.
--"_Fair fall you_," good betide. 337.
_Faird_, or _fard_; to paint (_q.d._ make _fair_), embellish,
disguise. 82, 83, 88, 191.
_Fair-outsided_. 88.
--Applied to the world that is fair only on the outside.
_Fall about_; search about. 21.
--"_Fall by_;" be lost. 252, 291.
--"_Fall to_;" engage in. 72, 288.
--"_Fall off_;" forsake. 246.
_Far_ "The _far end_," the final issue. 184.
_Fard_; paint, fine colouring. 82, 83.
_Farm-room_; a rented room, like a tenant's firm.
_Fash_ and _fashery_; trouble by importunity and about little
things. 145, 196, 249, etc.
_Fast_; firm. 74, 250.
_Feared_; alarmed, timid. 293.
_Feckless_; worthless, useless, pithless. 23, 24, etc.
--Baxter in his "Saints' Rest" uses it.
_Fenced_; guarded; also constituted; a law term, used of opening
a Court and proclaiming the authority by which the Court
was held and the object of it. 77, 82, 112, 146, 161.
_Fend_; provide for, take care of. 87, 114, 129, etc. So Maxton
on Ps. cxix. cxlv.
_Fetch_; to make for a place. 83, 106, 184, 240, 241, 284.
_Feu-duty_; yearly rent for ground on which a house is built. 254.
_Find_; to feel, or find out. 155, 169, 192, 334.
_Fire-flaught_; a flake of fire, a flash of lightning. 104.
--In Row's "Hist. of Scot.," "extraordinary thunder and
fire-flaught," p. 333.
_Flitting_; removing furniture and goods to another place.
250, 277. (It is A.S.)
_Flourish_; to blossom. 50.
_Flyte_; to scold or chide. 189.
--"Flyting free;" they have nothing to say against him. 181.
_Foot._ The phrase, "_hold the foot to it_," go on in the march.
249.
_Foot-mantle_; a riding habit reaching to the feet. 268.
--In a sermon on Zech. xi. 9, "Gold, silks, velvets, and
foot-mantles, and high horses."
_For_; notwithstanding. 307.
_Forcasten_; cast away, neglected. 167, 177, 285.
_Fore_; surplus; the perquisite given over and above; something
still remaining. 70, 80, 158.
_Foregainst_; opposite. 289.
_Forfeit_; declare to be forfeited. 206.
_Forlorn_; prodigal. 167, 228, 285.
--"The lost forlorn son" is the prodigal. (So in German.)
_Forthcoming_; ready to come forward and speak. 250.
_Four-hours_; the afternoon meal, taken four hours after the
forenoon's. 94, 110, 118, 285.
_Fourteen Prelates_; the number of Bishops in Scotland under
Charles II.
_Frame_; to fit or set (Judg. xii. 6; Hos. v. 4), set in a
proper position; turn out, or succeed. 32, 41, 187,
232, 254, 287.
_Fraught_; the same as _freight_. 84, 153, 195, 217.
--"Fraught-free;" no fare to pay. 265.
_Freeholding_; lands held for life. 203.
_Free-ward_; liberty. 269.
_Free-warders_; prisoners who have right to go free. 265.
_Frem_, A. S., "_fremd_;" hence written "_fremd_" or
"_fremmyt_;" strange, foreign, distant. 69, 165.
_Friend-sted_; to befriend. 188, 275.
_Frith_; strait; sea. 84.
_Fryst_, or _frist_; to postpone possession or action,--the
opposite of _tryst_. 176, 205, etc.
Give credit to. 105.
Put off a demand. 20.
_Fyle_; to defile, _find guilt_. 212.
_Gaddy_; fond of gadding about. 270.
_Gardies_, or _gardess_; arms. 18.--It is
the Gaelic word "_gairdean_," an arm. In Row's "Life of Blair"
(p. 154), "Mrs. Hamilton came up to Traquair, and fest-grip
his _gardie_."
_Gate_; road, way, manner of doing. 29, 38, etc.
--The phrase, "_start to the gate_," begin early, soon on the
road. 136, 148, 186, 294.
_Gawd_; trick, bad custom. 240.
--Used by Gawin Douglas and by Chaucer for a freak, and said to be
from Fr., "_gaudir_," to be merry.
_Gear_; goods, substance, money. 120.
_General_; not at all familiar. 205.
"In fair generals." 93.
Not coming to close quarters.
_Gifted_; bestowed as a favour. 353, 359.
--Often so used in his "Covenant of Life Opened." Make a
present of.
_Glaiked_, or _glaiket_; giddy, light. 284.
_Glance_; bright as glowing metal. So in his sermon on Zech.
xiii. 7. 287, 295.
_Glister_; glitter, shine bright. 51.
--See Luke ix. 21.
_Gloom_; frown, sullen look. Verb and Noun. 187, 266, etc.
--"The sad and glooming cross" ("Christ Dying").
_Goodman_, or _gudeman_; one who holds his house or lands from a
superior; unlike _laird_, who owns no superior but the king.
16, 18, etc.
--_Goodwife_. 34.--See Luke xii. 39.
_Good cheap_; very cheap, gratuitous.
But probably _cheap_ is here a Noun, "_chap_," equivalent to
"_bargain_." 104, 105, 121, 186, 215, 245, 249.
--"_Better cheap_." 216.
--See _Cheap_.
_Gone_; ruined, hopeless. 183.
_Gowk_; a simpleton.
--"_Gowket_," acting like a simpleton, or put in a foolish
position. 151, 232, 256.
_Grace_; to give favour and honour to a person, to adorn; sometimes
to get mercy. 12, 29, 133, 237, 275.
_Grammercy_; thanks. 249.
--French, "grand-merci."
_Green_; to long after. 85, 160, 213, 226, etc.
_Grip_; a grasp, firm hold, clasp. 22, 24, etc.
--"Grips," close quarters, fight. 294.
_Ground_; bottom. 85, 99, 203, 287.
Out at the ground. 287.
--"_Ground-stone_;" foundation-stone; from the very foundation.
74, 82, 248.
--"_Grounds_;" dregs of a cup. 251.
_Guide_; to manage or to make use of. 256, 275.
_Guise_; manner, way (French). 101, 164, 172.
--Bunyan, in his History of Badman: "One _guise_ for abroad,
another for home."
_Gutters_; pools of dirty water, marks made by the tears that
soil the face. 138, 194.
_Hable_; able. Fr., _habile_. 325.
--Rollock (Lect. li.), "hability and strength." Trappe on Rom.
vi. 22, "Our hability for obedience."
_Halfer_; an equal sharer. 200, 245, 249.
--Written "_halver_" also.
_Half-hungered_; left in a hungry state. 26.
_Half-marrow_; a married partner. 183, 270.
_Half-tiner_; half-loser. 182.
_Hall_; the "_hall-house_," or _ha-house_, the mansion-house. So
in sermon on John xx. 13, 285.
--_Hall-binks_; seats of honour.
_Handfast_; to join hands in betrothing, to affiance. 143, 173, 225.
_Handgrips_; grasping close. 87, 106.
_Handsel_; to use for the first time. 239.
_Handwrite_; written with one's own hand. 270.
_Hard._
--See _Heads_.
_Hardly_; with difficulty. 232.
_Haunt up_; be up frequently in his company. 84.
--Fullerton of Earlton, in his "Turtle Dove," speaks of Christ and
His saints; "with whom espoused now He _haunts_ in heavens
of bliss."
_Hause_; to clasp or close with. 69.
--Gawin Douglas uses it for "embrace;" from "hals," the neck or
throat.
_Have_; to "_have over_," to let alone, be done with. 87, 106.
_Head of Wit_; a wiseacre, one who affects to have much wisdom.
230, 234.
--"_Hard-heads_;" the name of a small coin. 270.
--Knox's "History," etc. See note in Letter 270.
_Heap-mete_; heaped up measure, full measure. 249.
_Hear_; to attend, to treat, serve. 195.
_Heartsome_; happy, cheerful. 32, 51, 167.
--"Clear, bright, and heartsome morning" (Sermon on Zech. xi. 9).
So heartful. 99.
_Heaven-name_; name he bears in heaven. 301.
_Hell-hot_; hot as hell. 357.
_Hereaway_; in this quarter. 50, 286, 336, etc. In this present
life, in this world.
_Herry_; cruelly spoil, or rob. 52.
_Hesp_; hank or hasp of yarn. 196.
_Hide_; the skin. 198.
--In "Christ Dying," he speaks of the skin or hide of the
visible hearers.
_Hing_; for hang. 104, 249.
_Ho_; cessation, to cause to stop. 167.
_Hold-draw_; struggle with. 137.
_Holding_; tenure. 284. So in sermon on Rev. xix.
_Hole_ (sometimes spelt "holl"); to make a hole, to pierce, dig
out. 103, 177, 196.
--"_Holey_," or "_holie_;" full of holes. 83, 196, 258.
_Homely_; familiar, at home with one. 59, 105, 130, etc.
_Home over_; homewards. 28, 205, 211, etc.
_Homeward_; in its own favour. 163.
_Honesty_; kindly dealing. 69-76.
_Hook_; sickle, reaping-hook. 16, 21, 224, etc.
"Mowers with the scythe and hook." Sermon at Kirkmabreck, 1630.
_Hope_; consider. 204, 295.
_Horning_; a legal demand for payment of a debt under threat of
imprisonment and being proclaimed rebels. It used to be
proclaimed by sound of horn in the market-place. 130.
_Horologue_; a watch. From the Greek.
--An old tower at Montrose bore the name of "The Horologue
Tower." 238, 289.
Rutherford in a sermon before the House of Lords speaks of
"Time's horologue, set agoing by God at the Creation."
_House_; "take up his house." 250.
Enter on housekeeping.
_Howbeit_; although.
--See our Version of the Bible.
_Huge_; vast, very great. 189, 288, etc.
--"I am _hugely_ pleased with your letter," says Waterland, in
a letter to T. Boston (App. to Life). In Forbes, on Rev.
xix., "huge matter of God's praise." In Rutherford's
Treatise on Prayer, "heaven is a huge thing," p. 97.
305.
_Hungredly_; on spare diet. 282.
_Hungry of heart_; heart-hungered. 203.
_If_; but that. 342.--_O if._ 206.
_Ill_; in the phrase, "_Ill to please_," difficult to please. 131.
_Ill-flitten_; misplaced. 106. _Q.d._ removed to a wrong place.
_Ill-friended_; without friends. 96.
--Zachary Boyd uses this word in "Last Battle," p. 410.
_Ill-learned_; taught evil. 276.
_Ill-ravelled_; sadly entangled. 196.
_Ill-waled_; ill-selected. 326.
_Ill-washen_; dirty. 227, etc.
_Improbation_; action to prove forgery, or that the person had no
right to what he claimed. 178.
_Incontinently_; immediately, as if unable to restrain himself. 241.
_Indent_ Its common English sense occurs in Letter 288, to set in
corresponding notches.
But also to sign a paper containing agreement to certain
articles. 173.
--Zachary Boyd's "Samson" has, "As I indented, so I'll undertake."
_Ingyne._ 64.
--See _Engyne_.
_Inhibit_; forbid.
_Instant_; earnest. 16.
_Instruct of_; instruct concerning. 225.
_Instruments, to take_; to take documents from the hand of the
proper party by way of attestation. 107, 110, 144, etc.
_Interdict_; forbid by positive injunction to do or use a thing
for a time, to enter on possession.
_Into_; for in. 336.
--Rollock (Lect. xlvii.): "When the Spirit is wrestling _into
us_."
_Intromit_; intermeddle, a law phrase; handle. 82, 105.
_In-under_; close under. 260.
_Irresponsal_; not able to pay, insolvent. 104, 204.
_Jealousy_; suspicion. So the Adjective. 74, 144, 148, 152, etc.
_Jouk_; to bend down, in order to escape a storm or a stroke; to
dissemble, compromise. 16, 181, 284.
_Kep_; intercept, catch when falling. 165.
_Kind_; nature. 276.
--"Man doth _his kind_ in committing evil," says Trappe on Gen.
vii. 21; that is, does what his nature leads to.
_Kindly_; what our kindred give us right to. 261. Also according
to nature; natural. 66, 98, 102, 254.
--In "Christ Dying" (p. 30) we find, "The life of Christ had
infirmities _kindly_ to it."
_Kingly._ 55, 61, 281, 363; and used by him on his deathbed.
_Kinless_; who have no kindred. 250.
_Knot_; difficulty to be solved. 312.
--Rollock (Lect. li.) speaks of "getting office with a knot"
--a difficulty accompanying it.
_Knottiness_; full of knots. 287.
_Lair_; a bog. 110. "To lair" is to stick in the mire.
_Laird._--See _Goodman_.
_Lap_; the loose part or fold of a garment. 78.
_Laureation_; obtaining or conferring academic honours. 274.
_Law-biding._ 106, 231, 299.--See _Bide_.
_Law-burrows_; giving a pledge not to injure.
--See _Burrows_. 61, 66, 163, 184, 275, etc.
_Lea_; an unploughed part of a field, where the grass grows. 75,
234.
_Lead._ In the phrase, "_Lead stones to a wall_;" convey them,
_q.d._ by leading the horse and cart. 24.
_Leal_; honest, genuine, loyal. 182, 225.
_Learn_; in the sense of "to teach." 175, 199, 222.--(German,
"_lehren_.")
_Leave_; dismissal from a situation. 277, 311.
_Leavings_; the overplus of the feast.
_Leck_; a leak. 130.
--In Row's "History" (398) we find, "The ship being _leck_."
_Leel-come_; what has been got in an honest way. 182.
_Lee-side_; sheltered side. 115.
_Leme_; earthen; our "_loam_." Lat., "_limus_." 182.
--In Row's "Hist." (260), "A leme pig" is an _earthen jug_.
Rutherford in a sermon on Dan. vi. 26 speaks of the
potter making a "leme vessel."
_Let_; to hinder.
--"_To let in_," to admit. To let on. 182. To seem to notice.
_Lift_; part of a load. 298.
_Lightly_, a Verb; to trifle with. 201, 260, 272. Knox and Rollock
use this word.
_Like_; same as _likely_; probable. 21, 267, 384.
--"_The like of_;" such as. 92, 158, 275, 284, 336.
_Lippen_; to trust, entrust. 69, 182, 260.
_Lith_; a joint.
--"The shoulder-blade _out of lith_." Sermon, 1634. The A.S. word
for the joints of the body. 86, 167.
_Lone_; one's self, alone. 49, 162, 192, etc.
_Long._ "Think long;" to weary for. 14, 93, etc.
_Loof_; the palm of the hand.
--Gaelic, "_lambh_." 77, 122.
_Look by_; neglect, look aside. 23.
_Loun_; a rogue, worthless fellow; _q.d._ low one. 116, 160, 232,
241.
_Love-blinks_; love-glances.
_Low_; of low stature. 236.
_Lucks-head_; chance of winning, prospect of success. 178, 182.
Brown of Wamphray, p. 150, "Swan-Song."
_Lust_; to desire a thing. 226, 276.
_Lustred_; made to shine, 89, 117, 191.
--Noun, 75, 260, 289, 295, 297, 298. A fair, shining look.
_Mail_; rent, tax.
--"_Mail free_;" rent free. 29, 50, 284, 321.
_Mailing_; sometimes written "_mealing_;" a farm, for which rent
is paid. 29, 50.
_Make_; to mould, turn to use. 145.
_Make on_; to make up by putting the fuel in order. 32.
_Make up with._ 247. Become friends with.
_Man_, a Verb; "to man the house," act as the goodman of the
house, attending to visitors, etc. 142.
_March-boundary_; limit. 82, etc.
--"March-stones;" 278.
In his Treatise on Prayer, he calls Christ, as God-man, "the
common march-stone."
_Market-sweet_ (like "eye-sweet"); pleasing to the frequenters of
the market; suitable for sale, and so set up in open market.
213, 216, 237.
_Marrow_; a match, companion. 26, 133, 148, etc.
--"Marrowless" occurs, 180.
Unequalled; peerless.
_Mask_; to infuse. 287.
_Masterless_; owned of no one. 120.
_Mealing._
--See _Mailing_. 50.
_Mean_; to consider, reckon. 86, 250.
Noun; resource, 257.
_Meikle_; much. "Meikle world's good," as much as having a world's
good things. 165, 180, 225.
_Melancholious_; melancholy. 293.
_Mends_; reparation of a wrong. 14.
--"_To the mends_;" to boot, besides, add to that.
_Midses_; means, instrumentality. 190, 317.
_Mid-way_; courses. 190.--Half and half, undecided.
_Minch_; cut into small pieces. 127.
_Mind_; remember, take care to speak of. 333, 334, 342.
_Mint_; to attempt, intend at doing, essay. 29, 92, 188, etc.
_Mired_; plunged into mire, soiled. 174.
_Misbelief_; wrong belief. 112, 143.
_Miscall_; give wrong names to. 322, etc.
_Misconstruct_; misconstrue. 285.
_Miscount_; erroneous calculation. 133.
_Misken_; to misunderstand, overlook, to treat as if unknown. 89,
99, 102, 148, 181, etc.
_Misleard_; indiscreet, rude; _q.d. mislearned_. 112, 181.
_Mismannered_; unmannerly. 106.
_Misnurtured_; ill-disciplined, ill-trained. 181, 234.
_Missive_; a letter empowering the person to act. 142.
_Misted._
--See _Bemisted_. 118, 146.
Like one in a mist.
_Moderate_, a Verb; to rule over a meeting. 203.
--An ecclesiastical phrase from the Latin.
_Moneys_; price. 281.
_Moyen_; means; interest; influence. 59, 116, 119, etc.
_Muir-ground_; waste land covered with heath. 157, 298.
_Naughty_; vile, worthless. 77, 81, etc.
--Bunyan calls Badman, "a man left to himself, a _naughty_ man."
_Nay-say_; denial. 80, 231.
--In a sermon on Zech. xiii. 7: "Christ gave the devil three
nay-says."
_Near-hand_; near at hand. 29, 79, 191, etc.
_Need-force_; by sheer necessity; or, by hook or crook. 71, 179,
205, etc.
Under plea of necessity.
_Nether_; the lower; not high enough. 245.
_Newings_; novelties; _q.d. new things_. 29.
_Nice_; chary, capricious, ill to please. 81, 226.
_Nick_; mark, notch, point. 70, 249, etc.
_Niffer_; exchange, barter. 140, etc.
_Nigh-hand_; near. 183, 347.
_Night-glass_; hour-glass. 281.
_Non-entry_; money, or rents, due to the superior by an heir on
coming to his property; or the state of one who is heir,
but has not yet got the legal investiture. 222, 256.
_Nor_; than. 144, 307.
_Noughty_; useless, worthless, nothing in it. 175, 200, 225.
--Sibbs, "Others that are nought" (on 2 Cor. i. 4).
_Nurture_; discipline. 70, 98, 206.
--The Verb, to use discipline. 299.
_Odds_; difference. 294.
--Also _odd_; any leisure time.
_Of._ The use of the preposition "of" is common and peculiar to the
time in such phrases as "Dear of a drink of water;" at the
price of. 148.
--"Content of." 45.
--"Understood of." 51.
--Is it from the French
"de?" Old Chaucer sings: "And all the orient laugheth of delight"
(Knight's Tale).
_Off-fallings_; droppings, remnants, 70, 169, 285. John Livingstone
writes:
"Compared with Christ Himself, what is all this but the
_off-fallings_."
_Oh if._ 180, 204, etc.
--"_Oh if_," 152.
What would you say if.
_Oh that!_ in the sense of _Alas_! 189.
So "_Oh for_." 97.
_Old-dated_; antiquated, 320.
_Once_; one time or other, sooner or later. 62, 112, 143, 152,
170, 217, 255, 270, 330.
Knox uses it often thus. Also, once for all; altogether.
_Once-errand_; on the sole business. 210, 301.
_Opposites_; opponents. 231.
_Or._
--See _Then_.
_Order_; take order is an old English phrase for "take measures."
18.
_Ordinarily_; usually. 144.
_Other_; ought else. 68, 77.
--_Others_; each other. 82.
_Out_, a Noun; laying out, exhibiting for sale. 277.
_Outcast_; a contention, quarrel. 239, 274, 275.
--In a sermon on Zech. xiii. 7 he says: "After a sore _outcast_,
there is greater love betwixt Christ and His people than
before."
_Outfield_; waste land, covered with heath. 256, 261.
_Outgate_; way of escape, outlet. "Make home over us, go homeward."
_Over_; in the phrase "_over-little_," too little. 257.
_Overmist_; rise over like a mist. 189.
_Over-watered_; plated over. 299.
_Oyess_; the French _Oyez_; the crier's "Hearken." The Verb, to
denounce one by public proclamation. 249.
_Paces_ (from French "_peser_," to weigh, and old English "to
paise"); the weights of a clock. He uses the same figure
in a sermon on Song v. 1. 189, 197, 199, 292.
_Packald_; burdens, things packed up. 198.
_Packs_, or _paiks_; a severe blow. "_Paiks_ the man," the man
soundly beaten. 138.
_Pact._ 230.
_Paiks._
--See _Packs_.
_Painful_; taking pains, laborious. 188.
--See _Baxter_, etc.
_Paintry_; painting. 83.
_Panged_; quite full, crammed; "_Pang-full_." 225.
_Pantry_, a Verb; to lock up in the cupboard. 110.
_Pasch_; Passover, or Easter. 51. (Acts xii. 4; πασχα.)
_Pass from_; used of a summons; not enforce it.
_Passments_; strips of lace sewed on dress by way of ornament. 42,
75, 275.
_Pawn_; pledge. "_Pawn-clay_;" a thing of dust, and that is only
partly ours. 77, 130, 139.
_Perqueer_; the French _par cœur_; by heart, perfectly. 204.
_Pertinacy_; same as pertinacity.
_Pickle_; small grain. 22, 186, 197.
_Piece-withered_; withered patches. 254.
_Pinning_; a small stone to fill up a crevice. 211, 239. In a sermon
on Zech. xi. 19 he says: "Would they give Christ no room?
Might they not have made Him _a pinning_?" R. Blair's "Life"
(p. 115). "Weak _pinnings_ are very useful in building a wall;
and so are _graces_, though they are not the foundation."
_Playmaker_; director of the play. 70.
_Plea_; a quarrel between parties. 240, etc.
_Plenishing_; furniture, possessions. 4, 133, 258. The Verb, fill.
247, 250, 326.
_Ply_; a fold or turn. Verb; to ply, applied to a ship. 95, 105,
152.
_Poind_; to distrain, make seizure of goods. 160. "Drive the
poind" is to drive away the cattle thus seized.
_Point_; to fill up crevices in a wall with lime and little
stones. 299.
_Port_; gate. 241, 336, 339.
--"He went out at the ports, bearing His cross." Sermon on
Heb. xii.
_Pose_; a hoard, store. 206.
--In a sermon by Rutherford, we find
the "_miser's hoard_" called "the wretch's pose."
_Prevent_; anticipate. 297. Be first in acting.
_Prig_; to chaffer or higgle about a thing. 21, 81.
_Proctor-fee._ 285. A fee to the procurator, one who manages a
cause, paid when the suit is ended.
_Professor_; in the sense of confessing or professing the faith.
105, 284, 292, 304.
_Propine_; Noun and Verb; hold out a gift, to present. 37, 88,
130, 165. Used as a Noun, 29.
_Put_; to "put" as a ram, push, help.
--"_Put by_;" to put away from, cause to pass by. 111.
--"_Put it down_;" make it more easily swallowed. 62.
--"_Put off_;" spend time. 162. Also, put aside as finished. 190.
--"_Put to_;" apply; also to shut. 97, 275.
--"_Put upon_;" urge, to set on one in the way of importunity.
7, 12.
--To cause difficulty. 319.
--"_Put up_;" push up. 29.
_Quarrelous_; fault-finding, provoking to quarrels. 184, 189, 239.
--He writes it "_querulous_" in his "Christ Dying," p. 179:
"Querulous love-motions against the reality of Christ's
love."
_Quick_; alive. 61, 265.
_Quit_; to set one free from. 224, 268.
_Ragged_; torn and incomplete. 151.
_Ravel_; disorderly twisting of threads. 196.
_Reckon_; consider of importance. 230, 233.
_Red_, Adj., in the phrase, "_red hunger_," intensive. 213.
--"_Red war_," and "_red wet_," means soaked in wet.
_Redd up_; to clear up, settle. 34, 38, 48, 136, etc.
_Refreshful_; full of refreshment. 333.
_Registrate_; to register, to protest. 85, 249.
--See _note_.
_Repair_; make amends to. 312.
_Resemble_; to represent. 3.
_Respective_; to each individual. 136.
--Is this Sibbs' meaning, "Every saint has something lovely and
respective in him" (on 2 Cor. i. 1)? But, also, Sibbs
uses it for _respectful_: "Dependency is always very
respective." And so Ferguson on Col. iii. 22: "Servants
respective to their masters."
--See _Disrespective_. Letters 321, 360.
_Responsal_; solvent, able to pay. 231.
_Rest_; in the Latin sense, "_remains_." 244.
_Reverence_; _q.d._ rendering homage, power. 30, 43, 233, 298.
--"_I will not be in your reverence_" was a phrase for, "I will
not submit to your dictation."
_Reversion_; the right held by some one to the future possession
of an estate. 148.
_Rid_ (see _Redd_); annihilate. Participle, put away. 133.
_Ridable_; can be crossed on horseback. 160.
_Rifle_; same as _ruffle_. 158.
_Rift_; a rent, crack. 241, 284.
--Verb, to vomit, or come back with violent retching. 72.
--_Rifty_; broken, full of rents. 120.
_Right_, Verb; to put right. 196.
_Rights_; title-deeds. 77.
_Rink_; the ring, or race-course. 122, 276, 286.
_Ripe_; to examine and search carefully. Connected with "rip up."
203.
_Rive_; rend, tear; break up. 16, 50, 72, etc.
_Rooftree_; the beam that runs across the roof, and supports the
rafters. 270.
_Room_; place. 22, etc.
_Round_; whisper or sing in the ear. (German, _raunen_.) 293.
_Roup_; set up to sale by action. 37, 131, 199, etc.
_Rovers_; "at rovers," at random. 182.
_Roving_; wandering through excitement of mind, raving. 161.
_Rub_; trouble. 323.
_Rue_; to repent, be sorry, 115.
--"_Rue upon_;" take pity. 21, 69, 186, etc.
_Run by_; run past. 226.
_Rush_; to push forward with violence. 270.
--See _note_.
_Sad_; settled, solid, real. 62, 75, 99, 163, 191, 203.
--It is from old English "_set_," settled down. Wickliffe's Bible,
Rom. xv. 1: "We that are _sadder_ men" (stronger).
Pilkington on Neh. iv.: "A good builder digs down to the
_sad_ earth."
_Salt_; bitter, unpleasant, sarcastic. 115.
--In his "Christ Dying," p. 690, he says: "A violent death hath
a _salter_ bite."
_Sanded_; driven on the sands. 217.
_Scad_; the red tinge of a burn. "_Scadded_ and burnt in the
furnace" (Rutherford's "Cov. of Life," p. 69). The tinge
given by reflected light. 291. It is connected with
"_scald_."
_Scaur_, or _scar_; to boggle, take fright. 70, 119, 183, etc.
_School-heads_; worldly wise. 337.
_Second_, Noun and Verb; one who helps.
--Often used by Lord Kenmure in "Last Speeches." 2, 91, 247.
_Seen-in_; experienced in a matter. 86.
_Set_; it becomes, 260; disposed, 120.
--"_Set to_;" engage, set about. 110, 145, 179, 235.
_Set-rent_; full rent.
_Shake_; to push aside, push out.
_Shell_ of a balance; the scale. 268.
_Short_; in temper hasty, rash. 153.
--"_Shortly_;" forthwith. 249.
--"_Short-dated_;" lasting only a short time. 196.
_Shute_; sometimes written _shoot_; to push in, shove back. 20, 29,
158, 163.
--"Satan shutes in his teeth," occurs in Rutherford's "Christ
Dying."
_Sib_; nearly related to. 106, 212, 245, etc.
--"We behoved to be as _sib_ as brethren." Sermon.
_Sicht_, or _sight_, a Verb; to examine narrowly, _q.d._ by close
sight. 12. It occurs in Row's "History" often.
_Sicker_; strong. 107.
_Silly_; poor, frail, pitiful. 27, 184.
_Silver_, or _siller_; money. 254.
_Sing_; in the phrase, "_Sing_ dumb," be reduced to silence. 128.
_Singly_; with a single mind. 83.
_Sink_; a common sewer. 272, 276.
_Sit with_; to endure in patient silence. 52, 63. Submit to. 43.
Treat with carelessness.
_Skaill_; disperse, scatter. 160, 190, 241, etc.
_Skaith_; harm. 285.
_Skaur._
--See _Scaur_.
_Skink_; formally renounce, or bid farewell to. 85, 88.
--In A.S., the Verb is "to give drink;" in German, "_schenken_,"
to give. It is _q.d._ take leave by giving a present, or
by drinking a farewell.
_Slot_; a moveable bolt; bar. 29, 47, 48.
_Sned_; to prune, lop off, make tidy. 298.
_Solacious_; full of cheer, or comfort. 105.
_Soldiers-stately_; in Letter 63. It might have been noticed that
old editions make this one word equivalent to "a spirit
becoming a soldier;" like Milton's "timely-happy spirits."
Joseph Alleine's "Life" has, "holy-taking rhetoric." Others
point thus, "Your soldier's stately spirit." So,
"_heavenly-wise_." 191.
_Some._ 64, 214. For somewhat.
_Sometimes_; properly "_some-time_;" on former days, once on a
time. 28, etc.
--In our Version of the Bible, Eph. ii. 3; 1 Pet. iii. 20.
_Soon-saddled_; hasty in temper. 189.
--Little time taken to get on the saddle.
_Soul-couper_; a jobber in souls. 330.
--See _Coup_.
_Souple_; same as _supple_. 132.
_Spaits._
--See _Speat_.
_Sparing_; niggardly. 222.
_Spark_; to squirt out. 163.
_Sparkle_; to spark out, scatter sparks. 263.
--Chaucer speaks of the shepherd seeking his "_sparkeland sheep_,"
i.e. scattered.
_Speat_, or _spait_; a flood, overflowing stream. 37, 248, 285.
(Gaelic, "_speid_"), a river-flood.
_Speed_; to "come speed" is to succeed.
_Speir_, or _speer_; ask questions at.
--"_Speer out_," search out by questions. 180.
_Spelk_; to truss, support by splinters. 107, 128. (Saxon word.)
_Spill_; spoil, mar, or injure. 22, 310, etc.
--So Ps. lxiii. 9, in Rous' version; a child spoiled by
indulgence.
_Spring_; a tune, sprightly air. 181, 182, 214.
_Spunk_; a spark. 215.
_Stalks._ In Letter 17, "to keep the stalks," is the reading
of some old editions; but in another Letter, 194, "keep
the stakes." If the former, the sense is, "to get only
the withered stalks to keep," Song ii. 14 specially; if
the latter, "get what they deposited."
_Stand upon_; require the help of. 81.
_Standing drink._ 177.--Like the stirrup-cup handed to a friend
as he stood at the door.
_Startle_; ran up and down in excitement, as cattle do in hot
weather; act extravagantly. 69, 75, 182, 258.
_Starts._ "At starts;" fitfully. 7, 293.
--"_Start to the gate._"
--See _Gate_.
_State_; the mode of putting or stating a question. 214, 245,
278, 333, 359.
--"_Stated_;" set down. 359.
_Sted_; a place, a foundation for a house, a site. 18. So used
by Gawin Douglas.
--"_Stedable_," _q.d._ able to furnish a foundation; available,
serviceable. 170, 252.
_Stent_; to fix at a certain rate, and no more. 249. In Fullerton's
"Turtle Dove:" "He stented twice on the horologue."
_Still_; always, ever. 87, 108, 133, 285. In our metre version of
the Psalms it occurs, _e.g._ Ps. ciii. 9, "Keep His anger
still."
_Stob_; a stake sharpened at the end. 240.
_Stock of cards_; a pack of. 194.
_Stoop_; to make a stoop is to bow low. 287.
_Stop-hole_; anything to fill up a hole. 239.
_Stot_; a rebound. 249.
--"_To keep stots_;" keep pace with, to rebound regularly. 236.
_Stound_; a stroke that suddenly over-powers and produces
faintness. 167.
_Stoup_; a stake, post, prop. 84, 196.
_Suit_; urge a suit, woo, solicit. 19, 26, 37, 355, etc.
_Sundry_; separate. 247.
--"_Sunder_," part from, the Verb. 264.
_Sure_; surely. 359, etc.
_Suspension_; an act in law, suspending final execution of a
sentence. 230.
_Swatter_; to move, or toss about, as a duck in the water. 178.
--R. Blair (see "Life" by Row) uses it in a poem,--
"Out of the dreary vale of tears
My soul hath _swattered_ out."
Rollock (Lect. xxxviii.): "He swatters and swims."
_Swear one's self bare_; swear that you have given up everything.
285.
_Sweer_; lazy, reluctant. 178, 230, 285.
_Tack_; stitch, hold, tie. 275.
Also, possession by lease. 284.
_Tailzie_; a Scotch law term for entail or charter of entail. 32.
_Take up house_; enter on housekeeping. 250.
--_I take myself_. 98.
--_I retract my word._
_Taken up with_; occupied with. 185.
_Taking_; that is, attractive. 305. South's sermons has it.
_Tarrow_; to be pettish at, reluctant. 23, 118.
_Tell_; count up. 85, 167, 241, 249, 265.
--"_Telling_;" something to mark down. 209.
_Testificate_; certificate, testimony to character. 149.
_That_; often for "so;" _e.g. that_ much. 41, 59, 85, 293.
_Then_; in that case. 24, 39, 220, 238, 241.
--"_Or then_;" if that be not so, otherwise. 43, 46, 72, 323.
_Thereanent_; regarding this. 110.
_Thereaway_; to or in that quarter. 133.
_Therefor_; on account of this. 34.
--See _note_.
_Thick_; a crowd or throng. 209, 225, 251.
--Adjective; very familiar with one. 94, 128.
_Thieves'-hole_; a prison. 178.
_Thin._ 223.
--_Thin-skinned_; soft. 256.
_Think long._ 16, 207, 133, 151, etc.
--See _Long_.
--It is still common to write, "I think long after you."
_Threap_; to assert vehemently, over and over. 85.
_Thring_; to push in by force. 147, 226, 282.
_Throng_; the multitude and the busy part. 206.
--_Thronging_; crowding in. 180, 206.
_Through other_; one thing blended with the other, promiscuously.
226, etc.
_Tig_; dally, toy with. 48.
--Also a civil sort of begging, when a new-married person brought
his cart to the house of friends, that they might put in
something to his store.
_Timeous_; early, seasonable, opportune. 180, 212, 275.
--So Knox uses it; and our metre version of Psalms, cxix. 148.
_Tine_; to lose. 182, 226, etc.
_To_; used for "in comparison of," in the phrase, "little to." 361.
_Tocher_; a marriage dowry. "Tocher-good." 265, 285.
_Toom_; quite empty; nothing in it. 138, 178, 188, etc.
_Topic-maxim_; a maxim for general use. 259, 260.
_Tops_; to be "on one's tops," to assault or oppose. 231.
--"To tope" is to oppose. "He has continued all his days _on tops
with_ God, and will not make peace with Him." Durham
Sermon 54, Isa. liii.
_Totch_; a push. 183.
--See _note_.
_Touches_; to "keep touches," 121, an English phrase for the exact
performance of an engagement.
_Towe_; rope made of tow, a hauser. 196.
_Train_; to draw, entice. 30.
--It is French, _trâiner_.
_Trance_; passage. Latin, _transitus_. 26.
_Tree_; for the _wood_ of a tree. 225.
--As in sermon on Rev. xix.
_Trindle_; same as _trundle_. 107.
_Truant_; pretended, like boys' pretences for play. 181.
_Tryst_; to appoint a meeting at a certain place and time. Noun
and Verb. 176, etc.
_Turnpike_; stair that winds. 300.
_Tutor_; to discipline. 282.
_Twin_; to separate. 82.
--It is _q.d._ to make into two.
_Unco_; uncommon, strange. Same originally as _uncouth_, and so
written very often.
--Noun; _Unconess_; 179.
_Undercote_, or _undercoat_; fester _under the skin_ (_coat_ is
"_cutis,_" skin). 66, 82, 151, 284.
--Calderwood in his "History" uses this word, v. 658.
_Under-tools_; lesser tools. 311.
_Under-water_; bilge-water. 82, 86, 203, 284.
_Unfriend_; less than friendly. 178.
_Unheartsome_; sad. 277.
_Unlaw_; transgress the law; also, to fine for transgressing the
law. 201.
_Unrid_, or _unred_. 133.
--It is _q.d. unred-up_; the boundaries not fixed.
--In A.S., _unrid_ is "disorderly."
_Upsun_; the sun above the horizon.
_Uptaking_; as a Noun, apprehension, 56, 275;
as an Adjective, exhilarating, or exalting, 210.
_Vaccane_, or _vacanse_; vacation, holidays. 84.
_Vively_; in a lively manner, to the life. 4.
_Voyage_; journey. 226.
--The French "voyage," from _via_.
_Wad-fee_; the sum paid in hiring, as a pledge of the person
being engaged.
--_Wad_ is a pledge.
--See Wed.
_Wadset_; to pledge in mortgage, alienate by reversion. 79, 191,
201, 206, etc.
--Noun, the money paid in hiring as a pledge of engagement. 182.
_Wager_; something hazarded. 220.
A pledge. 170.
_Wair'd_, or _wared_.
--See _Ware_.
_Wale_; to choose (Noun and Verb), select out of other articles.
39, 192, etc.
_Walkings_; weights of a clock. 199.
--Possibly the _waggings_ of the pendulum, though some say it is
the striking of the hour that "_waukens up_." It is
connected with _motions_. 292, 342.
_Wandhand_; the hand that holds the rod, or whip, as the hand that
guided the horse was the working hand. 186.
_Want_; to be destitute of. 95.
_Ward_; guard. 254.
_Ware_; to expend, use. 37, 104, 201, 228, etc.
_Warmly_; heart-warming. 227.
_Washen_; washed or whitened, with fair appearance. 167.
_Waster_, Adj.; prodigal, wasteful. 226.
_Watch-glass_; hour-glass. 276.
_Watered_; plated over. 206, 280.
--"The watering will go off and leave nothing but dross" is a
sentence in a sermon on Zech. xiii. 7.
_Wed_; a pledge or fee. Written also _wad_.
--Our "wedding" is a derivative, signifying the security or
pledge given by the parties.
_Weight_, or _wecht_; to put on a weight or burden, depress. 115,
159.
In one of his sermons he says, "Death did not weight the martyrs.
"--"_To bear weight_," 249, is to stand the weighing.
_Well_; a Noun for _weal_, welfare. 72, 202.
--"_Well is me_;" it is good for me. 120, 222, 250, 257, etc.
--"_Wellcome_;" come in an honest way. 162, 182.
_Well-wared_; well laid out. 104.
--Well deserved. 203.
_Wersh_; saltless, insipid. 182.
_While_, or _whill_; till. 12, 24, 44, etc.
_Whiles_; at times. 102, 182.
_White_; the _white_ is the mark aimed at, the bull's eye. 194.
_Whiten._ 287. Like a stick from which the bark is stript.
_Whitsunday_; term day. 21.
"_Who but he?_" a non-such. 23.
--See _note_.
_Why but?_ why object although? 295.
_Win_; reach, attain to. 21, 30.
--"_Win away_;" to escape from. 6.
_Wind in_; get your way into. 297.
_Windlestrae_ or _windlestraw_; from _Windel_, to hoist about.
Used in plaiting. A withered stalk of dog's-tail grass;
metaphorically, a mere trifle. 63, 190, 192, 212.
--In the "Life" of Pringle of Greenknow, a place is mentioned
called "The Windlestraw Law." So Durham on Job, p. 285.
_Wit_; to know. Noun; wisdom, intelligence. 184, 282.
--"_Wit's head_;" a wiseacre. 232, 235, 239, 249, 258.
_Wo_, an Adjective; sorrowful. 116, 178, 196.
--Generally written "wae" by Scotch writers.
_Wombful_; bellyful. 225.
_Won goods_; goods already got and secured. 128.
_Work on_; it causes care. 230.
_Wrack_; ruin, wreck. 284.
_Wring_; squeeze out water; as Judges vi. 30. 300.
_Writ_; a writing in law. 59, 285, 359.
--"_In write_;" by written paper. 359.
_Yoke_; yoke for work; set to, press in. 94, 119, 181, 202.
--Noun, _yoking_, a setting to, contest, onset. 117. "He yoked
to the Jews early" (sermon on Heb. xii. 1). So Durham on
Isa. liii. 8.
_Yonder_; far off in the distance. 245.
--"The yonder end."
[532] Apothecary in Edinburgh. See Livingstone's "Charact."
[533] In a sermon at Kirkcudbright on Rev. xix. 11, he introduces
the courtiers saying to Daniel, "What need ye _make all the
fields ado_ with your prayers?"
NOTE.
There are some words, such as "_Ease-rooms_" and "_Heaven-name_," that
seem to be Rutherford's own coining. But these are very few. On the
other hand, there is in these Letters what was a characteristic of the
style of the times, viz. the use of _synonymous words_, side by side.
Thus we have "niffer and exchange;" "feast and banquet;" "unco and
strange;" "I dow not, I cannot;" "pledge and pawn;" "wale and choose;"
and many more. So Knox speaks of "let and hindrance;" "gauge and
pledge." Zachary Boyd speaks of "reekie smoke;" "kindly and natural;"
"bag and baggage." In a Number of the "Athenæum," March 1873, no less
than twenty instances of this sort, in "Hamlet" alone, are given from
Shakespeare.
APPENDIX.
EDITIONS OF RUTHERFORD'S LETTERS.
Row, in his "History of the Kirk of Scotland" (p. 396), wrote in 1650
regarding these Letters:--"Sundry have whole books full of them,
whilk, if they were printed, I am confident, through the Lord's rich
mercy and blessing, would not fail to do much good." This was written
fourteen years before any attempt had been made at collecting them for
publication.
I. The First Edition appeared in 1664, in duodecimo. The place of
publication is not given on the title-page, these being days of
persecution; but it is known to have been _Rotterdam_, in Holland,
under the superintending care of Mr. M'Ward, who was once Rutherford's
amanuensis. It is divided into two parts, the one containing 215
Letters, the _other_, 71. It has a long recommendatory Preface,
containing matter that is of no great interest to us now; but it
preserves one weighty saying of this man of God on his deathbed. "When
he was on the threshold of glory, ready to receive the immortal crown,
he said, 'Now my tabernacle is weak, and I would think it a more
glorious way of going home, to lay down my life for the cause, at the
Cross of Edinburgh or St. Andrews; but I submit to my Master's will.'"
Here is the original title-page:--
(_First Edition_)
JOSHUA REDIVIVUS.
OR,
_Mr. Rutherford's Letters_,
Divided in two Parts.
_The First_,
Containing those which were written from Aberdeen,
where he was confined by a sentence of the High
Commission; drawn forth against him, partly
upon the account of his declining them, partly
upon the account of his Non-Conformity.
_The Second_,
Containing some which were written from Anwoth
before he was by the Prelates' Persecution thrust from
his ministry; & others upon diverse occasions
afterward, from St. Andrews, London, &c.
Now published for the use of all the people of God,
but more particularly for those who now are or afterward
may be put to Suffering, for Christ and His cause.
_By a Wellwisher to the Work & People of God._
John xvi. 2. "They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the
time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth
God service. V. 3. And these things will they do, because they
have not known the Father, nor me."
2 Thess. i. 6. "Seeing it is a righteous thing with God, to
recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; V. 7. And to you
who are troubled rest with us; when the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven, with His mighty angels," &c.
Printed in the Year cI[c] I[c]c LXIIII By some mistake in reading the
numeral letters, booksellers' catalogues have spoken of editions in
1662 and 1663; but there were none such. Such a mistake might easily
occur in writing the numerals. In a _Manuscript of the Letters_
(kindly forwarded to the Editor by Rev. A. B. Grosart, Kinross), the
date of the First Edition is written thus: cIↄ Iↄc; LIIII. Here
there is, beyond doubt, a mistake; the X is omitted from LXIIII.; for
the MS. is merely a _copy of the First Edition_. It copies out the
title-page in full, and then appends this note: "_Intended to be
wryten from the printed book, by the wryter, for particular use, and
for several reasons unnecessary to be inserted._" Some of the
"Testimonies of the Martyrs" are appended, as they appeared in the
"Cloud of Witnesses" afterwards. There are now and then marginal
notes, all of which are simply hints as to what the Letter contains,
thus: "Cause of Rutherford's confinement;" "Comfort for the servants
of God and for ministers." The existence, however, of such a MS.,
copied with such pains from a printed volume, tells the high esteem in
which the Letters were held. We may note one small matter. In this MS.
the name "_Bethaia_" (so written in all the printed editions) is given
"_Bethia_;" showing that the name was so written at _that_ time also,
as it is always now.
2. The _Second Edition._--It appeared in 1671, an exact reprint of the
first, with the same title-page, etc. But it is very inaccurate;
_e.g._ there are ten obvious misspellings of common words in the two
first pages, not to speak of _bad punctuation_, which is a fault
common to all the early editions.
3. The _Third Edition_, in 1675, retains the original title-page,
except that it has, "In _Three_ Parts," and "The _Second_ and
_Third_." This last Part contains sixty-eight additional Letters. This
edition is the one which subsequent editors follow. It omits the
original "Preface to the Christian Reader," and has only four
introductory pages, two of which are the advertisement about the lost
MS. of Rutherford on _Isaiah_. It has a long "Postscript," in which we
cannot say there is much that is important.
4. The Edition of 1692.
5. The Edition of 1709. Edinburgh.
6. The Edition of 1724. Edinburgh. 12mo. "Printed by T. Lumsden and J.
Ritchie, and sold at their printing-house in the Fish Market, and by
John Paton and James Thomson, booksellers in the Parliament Closs; and
sold at Glasgow by John Robertson, James and John Browns, and Mrs.
Brown, booksellers. 1724." It is marked "The Fifth Edition." If this
means the "fifth" of those editions that contain the "Three Parts,"
then our list is not complete. But it seems as if the editor had
overlooked one of the earlier editions; and if so, this is the sixth.
7. The Edition of 1738. Edinburgh. Marked "Sixth Edition."
8. The Edition of 1761. Edinburgh. In two vols.
9. The Edition of 1765. Glasgow. A good edition. It has the author's
Testimony and Dying Words, as well as the original Preface of the
earliest edition. It is marked "_Ninth_ Edition."
10. The Edition of 1783. Glasgow. Marked "Tenth Edition." 8vo. Printed
by John Bryce.
(The Eleventh Edition we have not seen, but it may be that of 1796.)
11. The Edition of 1802. Aberdeen. Marked "Twelfth Edition."
12. The Edition of 1809. Edinburgh. Marked "Thirteenth Edition."
13. Another in 1818, "One hundred and fifty-two Religious Letters," to
which is added a Testimony to the Covenanted Work of Reformation
between 1638 and 1649. Octavo.
14. Another in 1821. With a brief notice of the author.
15. The London Religious Tract Society's Edition, first published in
1824. It is properly only a _selection_ of sixty Letters, with
extracts from many others. It has "Contents" prefixed to each Letter.
16. Another, 1824. Glasgow. With brief notice of the author.
17. The Edition of 1825. One of "Collins' Select Christian Authors."
It passed through three editions. It has a doctrinal Preface by Thomas
Erskine, Esq., and gives about one half of the Letters. It has not
retained all the peculiar phraseology of the original; but it gives
some account of his life, and appends his "Last Words," and his
"Testimony to the Covenanted Work of Reformation." _Kenmure_ is
misspelt "_Kenmuir_" in the edition of 1825, but corrected in the
next.
18. The Edition of 1830. Glasgow.
19. Another in 1834.
20. The Edition of 1836. London: Baisler. Edited by Rev. Charles
Thomson. In two vols. It has valuable explanatory notes, and the
Letters are, for the most part, arranged chronologically,--a great
improvement on the "Three Parts" of so many former editions.
21. The Edition of 1839.
22. The Edition of 1846. Aberdeen: King. This edition is in double
columns.
23. The Edition of 1848. Edinburgh: Whyte and Kennedy. With historical
and biographical notices, by Rev. James Anderson. The Letters, so far,
chronologically arranged, and ten additional Letters given. Contents
also, and indices; and a Sketch of Rutherford's Life.
24. The Edition of 1857. London: Collingridge. Edited by Rev. D. A.
Doubdney. It has the long Original Preface of 1664, and the Postscript
of 1675; also a synopsis of each Letter. But it is not accurate,
especially as to proper names.
25. The Edition of 1863. In two vols. It contains Letters 290, 325,
327, 336, 337, 340, 343, 355, 356, 365, not found in any previous
edition but that of 1848; as well as 283 and 307, added since then.
There are 365 in all; one for each day of the year, if any one
chooses.
26. An Edition in octavo, by Rev. J. M'Ewan, Edinburgh,--a reprint of
the old. 1867.
27. _Extracts._--There have been abridgments in the form of
"Extracts," from time to time. We might give as samples, Jo. Wesley's
Extracts (an edition in 1825); John Brown of Haddington's "Pleasant
and Practical Hints," selected from the Letters; and recently, "Last
Words of S. R., in verse, by A. R. C., with some of his sweet
sayings." A variety of such have appeared.
28. Edition 1875. By Dr. Thomas Smith. Preface by Dr. Duff.
29. _Foreign Editions._--1. There is an _American_ Edition; a reprint,
by Carter, New York, of the Edition of 1848.--2. A _Dutch_ translation
appeared at Flushing in 1673. The translation made by Mr. Koelman,
minister of Sluys, with a brief Life. Of this there have been frequent
reprints; that of 1754 is in three vols. octavo; another in 1855,--a
new translation in double columns, published at Grave.--3. There is
also a _German_ translation (see "Mission of Inquiry to the Jews,
1839," ch. v.); but we are not able to give any account of it.
30. This present Edition, 1891. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson, &
Ferrier. Reprinted 1894.
SAMPLE OF THE OLD ORTHOGRAPHY.
(Letter CCCLI.)
Sir I would ere now have writtin to you had I not knowin yo^r health
weaker and weaker could scairclie permitt you to hear. I neid not
speak. The way you know and have preached to others the skill off the
Gŭijd and the glorie of the hom beyond death And qn he sayes com
and sie it will be yo^r gaine to obey and goe out and meett the
brydgroom What accessioun is mad to the higher hoŭs off his kingdom
sould not be our lose though it be a reall losse to the church of God
Bot we count on way and the Lord counts anoy^r way He is jnffallible
and the onlie wyse God and needs non of us Had He needed Mosses and
the prophetts ther staying in the Bodie he could hav taken an oy^r way
Who dar bid you cast your thoughts bak on wyff or children when he
hath said Leav yam to me and com up hither or who cane perswad you to
die or liv as iff that wer abritarie to us and not his alon who hath
determined the number off yo^r moneths. If so it seem good to him
follow your forrunner and Gŭyd. It is ane unknowen land to you who
was never ther beffor bot the land is good and the company befor the
thron desyreable and he who sittes on the throne is alon a sufficient
heavin. Grac be with you
St Andrews 15 jun. 1658. Yours in the Lord
S R
[_From a MS. vol. belonging to Mr. Lamb, Dundee._]
LAST WORDS.
Mrs. A. R. Cousin, wife of Rev. W. Cousin, Free Church minister of
Melrose, has woven into a delightful poem many of Samuel Rutherford's
most remarkable utterances. This piece has become almost a household
hymn, known over all our country, and in America no less. It is
entitled sometimes by its first line, "The sands of time are sinking,"
and sometimes, "The Last Words of S. R.," though it takes in many of
his sayings, besides his deathbed words.
The sands of time are sinking, Letters 79, 147.
The dawn of Heaven breaks,
The summer morn I've sighed for,
The fair sweet morn awakes:
Dark, dark hath been the midnight,
But dayspring is at hand,
And glory--glory dwelleth Letter 323.
In Immanuel's land.
Oh! well it is for ever,
Oh! well for evermore, Letter 4.
My nest hung in no forest
Of all this death-doom'd shore:
Yea, let the vain world vanish,
As from the ship the strand,
While glory--glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.
There the Red Rose of Sharon Letters 181, 321.
Unfolds its heartsome bloom,
And fills the air of Heaven
With ravishing perfume:--
Oh! to behold it blossom,
While by its fragrance fann'd
Where glory--glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.
The King there in His beauty, Letters 165, 284,
Without a veil, is seen: 291, 318.
It were a well-spent journey,
Though seven deaths lay between.
The Lamb, with His fair army,
Doth on Mount Zion stand,
And glory--glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.
Oh! Christ He is the Fountain,
The deep sweet well of love!
The _streams_ on earth I've tasted, Letters 288, 317.
More deep I'll drink above:
There, to an _ocean_ fulness,
His mercy doth expand,
And glory--glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.
E'en Anwoth was not heaven--
E'en preaching was not Christ; Letters 86, 96,
And in my sea-beat prison 225, 335.
My Lord and I held tryst:
And aye my murkiest storm-cloud
Was by a rainbow spann'd,
Caught from the glory dwelling
In Immanuel's land.
But that He built a heaven
Of His surpassing love,
A little New Jerusalem,
Like to the one above,-- Letter 233.
"Lord, take me o'er the water,"
Had been my loud demand,
"Take me to love's own country,
Unto Immanuel's land."
But flowers need night's cool darkness
The moonlight and the dew;
So Christ, from one who loved it,
His shining oft withdrew; Letter 234.
And then for cause of absence,
My troubled soul I scann'd--
But glory, shadeless, shineth
In Immanuel's land.
The little birds of Anwoth
I used to count them blest,--
Now, beside happier altars
I go to build my nest: Letters 92, 167,
O'er these there broods no silence, 206.
No graves around them stand,
For glory, deathless, dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.
Fair Anwoth by the Solway,
To me thou still art dear!
E'en from the verge of Heaven Letter 225.
I drop for thee a tear.
Oh! if one soul from Anwoth
Meet me at God's right hand,
My Heaven will be two Heavens,
In Immanuel's land.
I have wrestled on towards Heaven,
'Gainst storm, and wind, and tide:--
Now, like a weary traveller, Letters 275, 326.
That leaneth on his guide,
Amid the shades of evening,
While sinks life's ling'ring sand,
I hail the glory dawning
From Immanuel's land.
Deep waters cross'd life's pathway,
The hedge of thorns was sharp; Letter 137.
Now these lie all behind me--
Oh! for a well-tuned harp! Deathbed, p. 21.
Oh! to join Halleluiah
With yon triumphant band,
Who sing, where glory dwelleth,
In Immanuel's land.
With mercy and with judgment
My web of time He wove,
And aye the dews of sorrow Letters 245, 295,
Were lustred with His love. 298.
I'll bless the hand that guided,
I'll bless the heart that plann'd,
When throned where glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.
Soon shall the cup of glory
Wash down earth's bitterest woes,
Soon shall the desert-briar Letters 20, 295.
Break into Eden's rose:
The curse shall change to blessing--
The name on earth that's bann'd, Rev. ii. 17.
Be graven on the white stone
In Immanuel's land.
Oh! I am my Belovèd's,
And my Beloved is mine!
He brings a poor vile sinner Letters 76, 116,
Into His "House of wine." 119, 148.
I stand upon His merit,
I know no other stand,
Not e'en where glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.
I shall sleep sound in Jesus,
Fill'd with His likeness rise,
To live and to adore Him,
To see Him with these eyes.
'Tween me and resurrection Page 21 of "Life".
But Paradise doth stand;
Then--then for glory dwelling
In Immanuel's land!
The Bride eyes not her garment,
But her dear Bridegroom's face;
I will not gaze at glory, Letters 21, 168.
But on my King of Grace--
Not at the crown He gifteth,
But on His piercèd hand:
The _Lamb_ is all the glory
Of Immanuel's land.
I have borne scorn and hatred,
I have borne wrong and shame,
Earth's proud ones have reproach'd me,
For Christ's thrice blessed name:--
Where God His seal set fairest
They've stamp'd their foulest brand;
But judgment shines like noonday
In Immanuel's land.
They've summoned me before them,
But there I may not come,--
My Lord says, "Come up hither,"
My Lord says, "Welcome Home!"
My kingly King, at His white throne, Deathbed saying.
My presence doth command,
Where glory--glory dwelleth
In Immanuel's land.
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