^v D tihxaxy of ^he ^kological Seminar?) PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY •a^t- BX ml LETTERS REV. SAMUEL RUTHEREOKD. '(^^ «,e^^V/^^^.,: 4 ■^s _^-/:^|lUli.x^i LETTERS REV. SAMUEL RUTHERFORD, Fi:!>'ClPAL AND PROFESSOR OF DIVINITY AT ST. ANDREWS, 1639-I66I. Carefullg Eebiseti antj (Stiitzti BY THE EEV. THOMAS SMITH, D.D. Mitf) a Preface ig i\)t REV. ALEXANDER DUFF, D.D. LL.D. OF PRIf^^ COMPLETE EDITION. EDINBURGH & LONDON OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER 1891 PRINTED BY MORRISON AND OIBB, EDINBURGH FOR OLIPHANT ANDERSON & FERRIER EDINBURGH AND LONDON CONTENTS. Treface by Tx-cV. Alex. Duff, D.D.,LL.D. . Introduction by Rev. Thos, Smith, D.D. Woodrow's Account of lluther- ford's Life and Cliariicter . T>ast Words of Mr. Rutherford Mr. Rutherford's Testimony to the Covenanted Work of Re- formation . . • • Part First. Letters — 1. To Mr. Rob. Cunynghame 2. To his Parishioners . 3. To the Professors of Christ and His Truth in Ireland 4. To Viscountess of Kenmiu-e PAGE 1 21 23 25 7. 8. 9. 10. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. do. do. do. do. do. do. 11. To Lady Kenmure 12. Do. 13. Do. 14. To Mr. Jn. Gordon, elder 15. To Lady Boyd 16. To Mr. Alex. Henderson . 17. To Lord Lowdon 18. To Mr. Wm. Dalglish 19*. To Mr. Hugh M'Kaill . 20. To Lady Boyd . 21. To Mr. David Dickson . 22. To Mr. Matthew Mowat . 23. To Mr. William Halliday 24. To a Gentlewoman . 25. To Mr. J. Gordon, younger 32 41 43 49 55 57 58 61 61 63 64 65 66 68 69 73 74 75 77 78 79 81 82 84 85 86 Letters — 26. To Mr. J. Gordon, elder To Earlstouu, younger To Mr. Alex. Gordon To Lady Kilconquhair To Lady Forret To Lady Kaskilberry To Mr. James Bruce 33. To Lady Earlstoun . 34. To Carletoun . 35. To jVIarion M'Naught 36. To Mr. John Gordon 37. To Lady Halhill 38. To Lord Lindsay 39. To Lord Boyd . 40. To Lady Boyd . 41. To Lady Culross 42. To the Earl of Cassillis 43. To Mr. John Osburn 44. To Mr. Robert Gordon 45. To Mr. John Kennedy 46. Do. do. 47. To Margaret Ballantine 48. To Jonet Kennedy . 49. To Margaret Reid . 50. To Mr. James Bautie 51. To Mr. John Stuart 52. Do. do. 53. Do. do. 54. To Lady Busby 55. To Ninian Mure 56. To Mr. Thomas Garven 57. To Jean Brown 58. To Jean M'Millan . 59. To Lady Busby 60. To Mr. William Riggie 61. To Mr. EulkElies . 62. To Mr. James Lindsay 63. To the Earl of Cassillis 64. To Lady Largirie . Pagb «7 88 91 94 97 98 98 99 100 103 105 106 107 110 112 114 117 118 118 119 122 123 125 126 127 131 134 135 138 139 139 141 142 143 144 146 148 151 153 Letters— Page Lett 65. To Lady Dungueigh 154 120. 60. To Jonet M'CuUoch 155 121. 67. To Lord Craighall . 156 122. 68. To Mr. William Riggie . 157 123. 69. To Lady Kilconquhair 157 124. 70. To Lady Craighall . 158 125. :71. To Mr. James Hamilton 160 120. '72. To Mr. George Dunbar 160 127. 73. To Mr. David Dickson 102 128. 74. To Lord Lowdon . 163 129. 75. To the Laird of Gaitgirth 165 i:;o. 76. To Lady Gaitgirth 166 131. 77. To Mr. George Gillespie 167 132. 78. To Mr. Matthew Mowat 168 133. 79. To Mr. John Maine 170 134. 80. To Mr. John Fleeming 170 135. 81. To Mr. Alex. Gordon 171 136. 82. To Mr. Robert Lennox 173 137. 83. To Marion M'Naught 174 138. 84. To Mr. Thomas Corbet 175 139. 85. To Mr. Alex. Gordon 175 140. 86. To Mr. Robert Gordon 177 141. 87. To Mr. Robert Blair 179 142. 88. To Mr. John Kennedy 181 143. 89. To Elizabeth Kennedy 183 144. 90. To Jonet Kennedy 185 145. 91. To Mr. David Dickson 187 146. 92. To Mr. WiUiam Riggie ISS 147. 93. To Mr. John Ewart 189 148. 94. To Mr. Wm. Fullerton 190 149. 95. To Mr. Alex. Colvill 191 150. 96. To Earlstown 192 151. 97. To Mr. Rob. Glendining 194 152. 93. To Mr. Wm. Glendininj 195 153. 99. To Jean Brown 195 154. 100. To Mr. John Fergushill 196 155. 101. To Mr. Robert Douglass 197 156. 102. To Mr. John Henderson 19S 157. 103. To Mr. Hugh Hendersoi 1 199 158. 104. To Lady Robertland 199 159. 105. To the Earl of Cassillis 201 160. 106. To Lady Rowallan 203 161. 107. To Mr. Robert Gordon 204 162. 108. To Lord Balmerino 206 163. 109. To Mr. Alex. Gordon 207 164. 110. To Lady Mar, younger 208 165. 111. To Mr. James M'Adam 209 166. 112. To Mr. Wm. Livingston e 210 167. 113. To Mr. Wm. Gordon 210 168. 114. To Mr. George Gillespie 212 169. 115. To Mr. John Meine 212 170. 116. To Mr. Thomas Garven 213 171. 117. To Bethaia Aird . 214 172. lis. To Mr. Alex. Gordon 215 173. 119. To Mr. John Fleeming 216 174. rERS— Paob To Mr. Robert Gordon . 218 To Mr. Alex. Gordon . 221 To Mr. John Nevay . 223 To Mr. J. R. . . . 226 To Mr. Wm. Dalgleish . 227 To Marion M'Naught . 230 To Mr. John Gordon . 232 To Mr. Hugh Henderson 233 To Lady Largirie . . 235 To Earlstown, younger . 236 To Mr. Wm. Dalgleish . 238 To the Laird of Cally . 239 To Mr. J. Gordon, younger 241 To Lord Boyd . . 243 To INIr. Robert Gordon . 245 To Mr. Alex. Gordon . 246 To Mr. John Lawrie . 249 To Mr. James Fleming . 250 To Mr. John Meine . 253 To Cardonness, elder . 253 To the Earl of Lothian . 256 To Jean Brown . . 258 To Mr. Robert Stuart . 260 To Lady Gaitgirth . 262 To Mr. John Fergushill . 263 To Mr. John Stuart . 266 To Carsluth ... 268 To Cassincarrie . . 270 To his parishioners at Anwoth 272 To Lady Cardonness . 274 To Sibilla M'Adam . 276 To the Laird of Cally . 277 To Mr. Wm. Gordon . 278 To Margaret Fullerton . 280 To Mr. Wm. Glendinning 281 To Mr. Robert Lennox . 283 To Mr. John Fleming . 284 To Mr. Wm. Glendinning 285 To Mr. Robert Gordon . 286 To Earlstown, younger . 286 To Mr. John Gordon . 287 To Mr. Hugh M'Kaill . 289 To Mr. James Murray . 290 To Mr. John Fleming . 291 To Earlstown, elder . 291 To Mr. John Fergushill . 292 To Mr. Wm. Glendinning 2L)5 To Lady Cukoss . . 290 To Lady Cardoness . 298 To Janet M'Culloch . 299 To Lord Craighall . . 299 To Mr. Robert Blair . 301 To Lady Carleton . . 302 To Lord Craighall . . 304 To Jean Gordon . . 306 CONTENTS. Vll Letters — 175. To CiisfaT Fullerton 176. To INlr. ratrick Cavsen . 177. To Mr. John Carstn 178. To Lady Boyd 179. To Lady Cardorn-^-^. eldir 180. To ISIr. James 1.. ailtua 181. To jNIrs. Stuart 182. To Mr. Hugh jrKaill . 183. To Mr. Alex. Gordon . 184. To ]Mr. John Bell, elder 185. To ]Mr. William Gordon 186. To Lady Boyd 187. To Mr. Thomas Garven . 188. To the Laird of Moncriefe 189. To Mr. John Clark 190. To Cardonness, elder 191. To Cardonness, younger . 192. To Carletown 193. To Lady Busbie . 194. To Fulwood, younger . 195. To Mr. Hugh M'Kaill . 196. To Mr. David Dickson . 197. To Mr. John Livingstone 198. To Mr. Ephraim Melvin 199. To a Gentlewoman 200. To Mr. John Nevay 201. To the Lady Boyd. 202. To Mr. Alexander ColviU 203. To INIr. John Row . 204. To the Lady Cukoss 205. To Mr. Alexander Gordon 206. To the LairJ of Carletown 207. To INIr. Robert Gordon 208. To the Lord Craighall 209. Do. Do. 210. To the Lady Cukoss 211. To Mr. Alex. Gordon 212. To Mr. Robert Gordon 213. To the Lord Lowdon 214. To a Christian Gentlewoman Pakt Second. 1. To Viscountess of Kenmure 2. To Parishioners of Kilmacolm 3^ To a Christian Gentlewoman 4. To Lady Kenmure . 5. Do. do. 6. To Mr. John Kennedy 7. To Lady Kenmure . 8. Do. do. 9. Do. do. 10. Do. do. 11. Do. do. 12. Do. tlo. 13. To Lady Kenmure Pa OB 391 393 395 396 398 399 401 403 404 404 23. Do. clo. . . 406 24. To Earlestown, elder . *^' 25. To Viscountess of Kenmure 409 26* To PersecutedChurch in Ireland 411 Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. Do. do. do. do. do. do. da. do. do. do. do. To Dr. Alex. Leighton 28. To Mr. Henry Stuart 29. To Mrs. Pont . 30. To Mr. James Wilson 31. To Lady Boyd 32. To Mr. John Fenwick 33'. To Mr. Peter Stirling 34. To Lady Fingask . 35. To Mr. David Dickson . 36. To Lady Boyd 37. To Agnes M'Math . 38. To Mr. Matthew Mowat . 39. To Lady Kenmure . 40. To Mrs. Taylor 41. To Barbara Hamilton 42. To Mrs. Hume 43. To Barbara Hamilton 44. To Viscountess of Kenmure 45. To a Christian Friend 46. To a Christian Brother . 47'. To a Christian Gentlewoman 48. To Lady Kenmure 49. To Mr. J. G. . 50. To Lady Kenmure 51. To Lady Ardross 5 2. To M. O. 53. To Earlstown, elder, 54! To Mr. George Gillespie 55. To Mrs. Gillespie 56. To Colonel G. Ker 57. Do. do. Do. do. Do. do. Do. do. Do. do. To Lady Kenmure Do. do. Do. do. Do. do. Do. do. Do. do. 417 419 424 426 429 431 435 436 438 439 442 443 444 445 447 449 450 451 452 453 454 457 458 459 460 461 463 464 465 467 468 469 470 471 473 477 478 478 479 480 480 vm CONTENTS, Letters — Page Letters — Page 68. To Lady Kenmure . 481 41. To Marion M' Naught 532 69. To his Keverend Brethren 483 42. Do. do. 532 70. To Mr. liobert Campbell . 484 43. 44. Do. do. To Grissel Fullerton 533 533 P.vRT Third. 4a. To a Gentlewoman . 534 1. To Marion M'Nau To a Person unknown 564 32. Do. do. 5-21 s! To Sir James Stewart 565 33. Do. do. 523 4. To Earl Balcarras 565 34. Do. do. 523 5. To Lady Ralston 566 35. Do. do. 526 6. To Mr. Thomas Wylic 568 36. Do. do. 527 7. To Colonel GilbertKLi- . 569 37. Do. do. 528 8. To the Presbytery of Kuk- 38. Do. do. 528 cudbright 570 39. Do. do. 529 9. To Mr. John Murray 571 40. Do. do. 530 10. To the same 571 Last AVuj- Db OF Sa ilUEL RUTIIEIIFOKD, 573 PREFACE. The story of tlie life of Samuel rtiitlierford is so generally known, that, in a mere Preface like the present, the briefest reference to its leaJiuG; facts must suOice. In the year IGOO, he was born in the village of Nisbet, county of Eoxburgh. He entered, as a student, the University of Edinburgh in 1G17; took his degree of Master of Arts in 1621 ; was elected, because of his "eminent abilities of mind and virtuous dispositions," Eegent or Professor of Humanity in 1623 ; and settled as Pastor of the parish of Anwoth, Stewartry of Kirkcud- bright, in 1627. By his powerful, persuasive, heart-melting eloquence in the pulpit ; by his assiduous attentions in visiting the sick, catechising the members of his flock, and instructing them from house to house, as well as by his zealous and unremitting labours in the surrounding districts, he soon came to be revered and beloved as a spiritual father, not only by his own parish but by the whole county of Galloway. But this happy and fruitful pastoral relationship was doomed to experience a violent rupture. Sydserff, Bishop of Brechin, a man of lax Arminianisni in doctrine, and of fierce and fiery intolerance in practice^ having been ap- 2 rUEFACE. pointed to the See of Galloway, lie erected a High Com- mission Court for his own diocese. Before this imscrupu- lous tribunal, in 1G36, Eutherford was summoned and charged with the grave offence of preaching against Ar- minianism and the recently ordained ceremonies of public worship. Being convicted of the charge, ho was deprived of his parochial office, sternly prohibited from speaking in public, and sentenced strictly to confine himself, before the 20th August, as a State prisoner, during the King's pleasure, within the town of Aberdeen. The sentence, having been duly confirmed by the Supreme Court at Edinburgh, he had no option but to leave forthwith, amid the lamenta- tions and bitter wailings of thousands of attached friends, and shut himself up, as a silenced minister, with ungenial and scowling associates in the grand fortress and bulwark of Arminianism and Ritualism in the North. There, as might be anticipated, he was speedily and even furiously assailed, from the pulpit and the desk, by " the learned doctors," or champions of heterodoxy and prelacy. But, though peremptorily forbidden to open his lips in public, his saintly walk and godly edifying converse in private gradually gained him many earnest affectionate friends, who learned to hail his enforced presence amongst them as they would that of an angel visitant from the upper world. While his tongue was thus bound, and his person sub- jected to virtual imprisonment, his pen was free and all a-glow with the touch of a live coal from the heavenly altar; so that the winged words, fraught with seraphic ardour, which emanated therefrom, soon converted his humble writing-table into, perhaps, the most effective and most widely resounding pulpit then in old Christendom. Thus signally were the sinister designs of a remorseless despotism, civil and religious, not only defeated, bxit turned PKEFACE. into an occasion of glorious triumph to the persecuted cause of truth and righteousness. And so has it ever been under the government of an all-wise, all-gracious God. As from the Mamertine dungeons of pagan Eome proceeded some of Taul's weightiest epistles, now transferred, as food and regalement for hungry and thirsty souls, into almost all languages under heaven ; as from Eunyan's " Den " in Bedford jail proceeded the most admired of allegories, which, for two centuries, has fed, cheered, and refreshed myriads of God's redeemed ones in all lands ; — so, from Eutherford's cold and icy prison-house in Aberdeen, pro- ceeded those matchless Letters, glowing with celestial fire, which, for generations, Avith undiminished, or rather ever- augmenting power, have rekindled and fanned the flame of a burning devotion in the breasts of multitudes, alike in the old world and the new. Such, and so conspicuous have always been the over-rulings of the wonder-working providence of Him, who, in His own good time and way^ will always " destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent." Of the truth of all this a fresh and notable illustration was now close at hand. The vaulting ambition of the prelatic party in Church and State had overleaped itself. Early in 1G38, the extreme and exasperating measures of Charles and Laud had thrown all Scotland into a state of violent commotion. Society, through all its ranks and grades, from the lowest to the highest, seemed to be in the birth-throes of revolutionary reaction. The tumultuary movements, thence resulting, having eventuated in the downfall of Prelacy and Erastianism, Eutlierford quietly, and without any molestation, returned to Anwoth. Towards the close of the year, he was sent as a delegate to the memorable General Assembly, which met in Glasgow, and 4 rr.EFACE. consummated tlic ecclesiastical revolution, under the pre- sidency of tlie celebrated Alexander Henderson. By the Commission of that Assembly he was, to the overwhelming grief and sorrow of his friends in the south, appointed, in the following year, Professor of Divinity in the New College, St. Andrews. There, we are told, did "God so singularly second his indefatigable pains, both in teaching and preaching, that the University " (which had degener- ated into a very nursery of error in doctrine and super- stition in worship), " forthwith became a Lebanon, out of which were taken cedars for building the house of God throughout the land." In 1643, he was deputed by the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, as one of its commissioners, to the famous Westminster Assembly. His attendance on the sittings and deliberations of that convocation knew no intermission till its labours were brought to a final close ; and the services which he was enabled to render in the preparation of the Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, and other subordinate standards, were, by the concurrent judgment of all parties, regarded as of pre-eminent importance. Eeturning to St. Andrews, in 1647, to resume his former duties as Professor of Divinity in the New College, he was, in 1649, appointed its Principal. Before this time, he had published several works, alike controversial and practical ; — the former distinguished by erudition and research, in- tellectual acumen and argumentative force ; and the latter by a profound experimental knowledge of the workings of Divine grace in the soul, and the varied experiences of a life of faith in the Son of God, as the grand propitiatory sacrifice for the sins of a guilty world. By some of these, his fame as a learned theologian had become so. widely PEEFACE. O known that he was earnestly solicited to occupy the Chair of Divinity and Hebrew in tlie University cf Ilardewyrk in Holland, as also the chair of Divinity in the University of Utrecht, But these, and other similar calls, he felt it to be his duty, though with warmest expressions of gratitude to the parties who sought to honour him, respectfully to de- cline. His own church appeared to him to be entering on a new sea of troubles; and he magnanimously resolved, at all hazards, to abide unflinchingly by her, in the hour of her coming trial and sore travail. For years the old struggle, now renewed, was unceas- ingly and bravely maintained with false or dubious friends within, and avowed enemies without. At length the strangely-prolonged crisis of alternating hope and despond- ency precipitated itself into the catastrophe which followed the licstoration of 1660, when the ecclesiastical fabric, which had been reared and consolidated through more than twenty years of weary toil, anxiety, and suffering, was suddenly shattered into fragments. As the foremost and most eminent of its surviving master-builders, the blow fell swiftly and stunningly on Rutherford. His great work, entitled "Lex Eex" in which he anticipated and fearlessly advocated some of the more advanced principles of the enlightened political science of recent times, Avas publicly burnt, with every mark of ignominy and scorn, at the cross of Edinburgh. The same degrading ceremony was repeated by the unprincipled renegade. Archbishop Sharpe, beneath the Principal's windows in St. Andrews. He was, at the same time, relentlessly deprived of his offices in the college, with their accompanying emoluments, himself confined to his own house, and summoned to appear before the next Parliament, on a charge of high treason. Having been long suffering from ill health when the C rr.EFACE. liarsh and unfeeling summons reaclicJ him, Lis affecting reply to the messenger was, "Tell tliem I have got a summons already, before a superior Court and Judicatory, and I behoove to answer my first summons ; and, ere your day arrive, I shall be where few kings and great folios come." And so it happened. Had he been spared to appear before Parliament, there can be little doubt that he was destined to die the martyr's cruel death. But, before Parliament met, he was, as he joyously anticipated, far beyond the grasp of all earthly tyrants. As his end ap- proached, he seemed, at times, as if enravished with briglit visions of the King in His beauty, and the incomparable splendours of the celestial city. "I shall shine," said he; " I shall see Him as He is ; I shall see llim reign, and all His fair company with Him, and I shall have my share ; mine eyes shall see my Eodeemer, these very eyes of mine, and none for me." At last, on the morning of the 20th March 1661, in the sixty-first year of his age, he gently, sweetly, peacefully fell asleep in Jesus, with the seraphic utterance on his lips, "Glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel's land." Coming now to the Letters, with which we have more immediately to do, they are 362 in number, written during various periods of Eutherford's eventful life. The earliest is dated Anwoth, June 6, 1627, about the time of his first settlement there; and the latest, addressed to his "Eeverend and dear Brother, Christ's soldier in bonds, Mr. James Guthrie," one of Scotland's noblest martyrs, is dated St. Andrews, loth Peb. 1661, about three weeks before his own death. Tlie major portion of them, however, and by far the weightiest, in number 220, were written during his year and a-half 's imprisonment in what had proved to him " Christ's Palace," in Aberdeen. PREFACE. 7 It is worthy of special note that not one of these Letters was published during his own life-time. Tlioy were all of them posthumous productions, suggested by passiug events, private or public ; ordinarily couched in easy and fandliar language, but often rising into strains of heavenly gran- deur, and intended exclusively for the benefit of the par- tics directly concerned. They were never, therefore, designed by their author for publication, and were never subjected to any revision or correction at his own hands. This fact ought to be sufficient to account for occasional blemishes or defects in style, and occasional repetitions in the subject-matter ; but, on the whole, considering the inartificial way in which most of them were composed, and how they were usually written cicrrcnte calamo, it is quite marvellous how few these blemishes or defects really are, and how little there is of mere tautology or verbal repetition. The first edition of them, published about three years after his death, consisted of a collection compiled, somehow or other, by Mr. M' Ward, who had been a favourite student of his, and had acted as liis private secretary at the West- minster Assembly. He afterwards became the settled pastor of a congregation in Eotterdam, and there, under his supervision, the first collection of the Letters was printed. In subsequent editions other letters were added, appar- ently as they happened to reach the editor ; and hence, it may be presumed, the observable want of chronological arrangement. But the subjects treated of are so indepen- dent in their nature, that chronological order would not tend to throw any material light on their meaning and general bearing. This leads us naturally to remark that these subjects are of an exceedingly multifarious and miscellaneous charac- 8 TREFACE. ter, — emljracing almost every conceivable topic of a prac- tical kind -within the wliole range of personal, domestic, social, congregational, and ecclesiastical experience, and calling forth reflections, counsels, admonitions, warnings, comforts, and consolations, fraught with sagest wisdom, discriminating judgment, unfaltering faithfulness, and sympathetic tenderness and love, often expressed in lan- guage of rarest beauty, epigrammatic point, and sententious terseness. Some of the subjects thus edifyingly dealt Avitli are such as the following : — The total depravity and corruption of human nature, with lamentations over his own felt guilti- ness and total unworthiness ; the nature and necessity of regeneration and sanctification ; free grace, its resplendent glory, means, workings, and final triumphant issue ; the utter emptiness and vanity of the world, with all its pomps and shows, splendours and possessions, honours, riches, and proffered rewards ; the security of God's believ- ing people amid all surrounding dangers ; God's deep and unsearchable providence in His dealings with individuals and nations ; the sins, errors, and abounding evils of the day, — declension, defection, decay, spiritual sloth, spiritual deadness, unfaithfulness to light, worldly compromise, and Christ-dishonouring compliances, backsliding and carnal security ; the Church's troubles, contendings, desolations, trials, prospects, and hopes ; Christ's sole and supreme Headship over it ; the manifest unscripturalness of the intrusion of ministers or hirelings, and the duty of a regular observance of public ordinances ; the peculiar perils of the young, and the paramount importance of early decision and dedication to Christ ; the right training of children, and sympathy with parents on their illness and death ; visita- tions of sickness, and the loss of beloved friends ; the uses PREFACE. 9 and benefits of afflictions, bereavements, crosses, sufferings, reproaches, and temptations; patience and forbearance under privr,':e and public wrongs ; comforts and encourage- ments under inward spiritual conflicts, as well as the out- ward trials and troubles of life ; the necessity of constant, fervent prayer, watchfulness and self-denial, perseverance and diligence in making our calling and election sure, circumspect walking with God, constancy, firmness, and stedfastness in the unwavering maintenance of God's truth; —with entrancing portraitures of the glories of the Beatific vision, and the hosannahs that for ever fill the eternal regions. But enough ! Here is a list of topics, full of deepest practical interest, selected very much at random from the great mass. But no enumeration of topics, however interesting, can give any possible conception of the fre- quent point and pith, richness and raciness, originality and novelty, skill and felicity, beauty and grandeur of his modes of treating them. Of all this, it were easy to supply abundance of confirmatory and illustrative exam- ples. And were we writing an article for a Beview or ordinary ATagazine, this is exactly what we would deem it a duty to do. But writing what is meant only for a humble Preface to the great work itself, where all is spread out be- fore the reader with the profusion and magnificence of a -richly replenished paradise, any attempt of the sort would be a work of simple, absolute supererogation. Our earnest invitation, therefore, to the reader is,— come and see, come and handle, come and taste, come and partake for yourself of this soul-satisfying, soul-exhilarating banquet of hea- venly dainties. And what will add immeasurably to your enjoyment of it is, that it is fragrant throughout with the felt presence and power of Him, whose very 10 rEEFACI-. name of Jesus has music in it for the believer's ear sweeter far than all the rarest melodies of earth, and manna for the spiritual appetite more refreshing far than the costliest products of tropical climes. It is this predominant, all-pervading quality which gives these Letters their i^cculiar zest and relish for awakened, quickened souls, that have their hearts surcharged, with divine love, and their eyes full of divine glory. The Apostle Paul, who profited in the Jews' religion, and excelled in Eabbinical lore beyond, most others, tells us that when the Son of God was revealed in him, he counted all his previously coveted attainments as loss and refuse " for the excellency of the knowledge of Jesus Christ, liis Lord and Saviour." In a similar spirit, one of the most learned of the fathers, who was greatly dis- tinguished for his knowledge of Grecian literature and philosophy, M'hen he came to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, tells us that the only value he then set on his accumulated and highly prized, or even idolized, learning was, that he had something of surpassing excellence in the estimation of the world, which he could now honestly account as literally nothing in comparison of Christ. So it was with holy Eutherford. He was a man of extensive and varied learning, classical and theological, of sound judgment and lively imagination. But all his intellecti.ial and literary acquisitions of every kind and degree he came to regard as emptiness and chaff when weighed in the balance with the preciousness of his experimental converse and acquaintance with Christ, as his " Shepherd, Husband, Lriend ; his Prophet, Priest, and King ; his Lord, his Life, his Way, his End ;" his " Chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely." It is the incessant reiteration of this leading thought in every PREFACE. 11 imagiuaLle variety of form and drapery of expression that gives all their fascination and nndelinable charm to his Letters, and renders them so iclwUij iniiquc, as epistolary effusions, in their general style and substance. In them, not the mere abstract doctrine of Christ, but the living person of Christ, in all His ofiiccs and endearing relation- ships, is the Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning, Middle, and End of all longing and desire, of all motive and impulse, of all duty and obligation, of all homage and worship, of all glory and praise. He is tlie supreme Central Source of spiritual light and life and warmth to the redeemed soul, in its endlessly varying moods and phases, as surely as the sun in the firmament is the supreme central source of natural light and life and warmth to the world of animal, vegetable, and mineral forms which we inhabit. Hence the frequency and ecstatic rapture with which lie expatiates on Christ's inexhaustible all-sufficiency; His unchangeable and in- finite fulness ; His ineffable beauty and excellence ; His untold and unparalleled preciousness ; His incomparable loveliness ; and the everlastingness, faithfulness, and surpassing greatness of His love. Hence the intense and burning desires, longings, thirstings, pantings, yearnings after closer communion with Him, and rapt enjoyment of Him — imparadised, as it were, in His embrace, as the soul's Only and Well-Beloved. And hence the effusive declarations as to the unspeakable sweetness even of Lfis cross, the heart-felt blessedness of suffering for Him, the superabounding manifestations of His love amid the fieriest furnaces of affliction, and the fiercest ragings of malignant foes. What more need be said ? Throudiout these Letters, Christ is here, Christ is there, Christ is everywhere. In a word, Christ, living and reigning and 1 2 PREFACE. indwelling, is their All in all. Take Christ out of them, and instead of being what they are now, a perfect paradise of richest gems, loveliest llowers, and mellowest fruits of heavenly culture and growth, they would be found a wilderness as sterile as that which borders on the Asphal- tic pool. The land of promise without its overflowings of milk and honey ; the plain of Sharon, without its roses exhaling their sweetest fragrance; the vales of Carmel, without their snow-white lilies arrayed in beauty and loveliness exceeding that of Solomon in all his glory ; Lebanon, without its cedars towering in stateliest majesty above the clouds, and exultantly kissing the skies, — would all of them present spectacles not approximating by a thousandfold, in dreariness and desolation, the spectacle which would be presented by these Letters without Christ in all the transcendency of His countless and peerless excellencies. To attempt to illustrate anything of all this by furnishing apposite specimens, were sufficiently futile, when all that the reader has to do is to open up the volume very much at random, and to find for himself, in almost any page, specimens to satisfy him of the substantial truth and accuracy of our representation. All, therefore, that we deem it right or expedient to do, is to obviate an objection which has sometimes been advanced against certain portions of the work, on the score of their alleged mysticism of style and sentiment. Everything depends on what is meant by mysticism ; and on distinguishing aright between mysticism in its proper, technical, professional sense, and mysticism in the loose popular sense of figurative, sym- bolic, or allegorical. In the former sense, mysticism, — amid the almost infinitely varied phases of thought and action which it has assumed in successive ages, among rCF.FACE. 13 widely divergent races, and in connection with divers re- ligious forms and systems, — Judaism and (Jhristiauity, jVIaliommedanism and speculative Paganism, Theism and Pantheism, Platonism and Neo-Platonism, Medievalism and Scholasticism, Quietism and Ecstacism, — and under whatever generic designation it has been recognised by its multitudinous votaries, whether theosophist, theopa- thetic, theurgic, or such like, — deals exclusively with the subjective as contradistinguished from the ohjcctive. In other words, it looks to the primary intuitions of the human mind, and the moral instincts of the human heart, and to these alone, for lisiht and guidance in arriving at the highest and purest conceptions of God and truth, sal- vation and final beatitude. It thus formally and syste- matically regards the fundamental promptings and teachings of the soul within as all-sufficient; and consequently sub- stitutes the inward illumination of the human spirit for the outward illumination of the Spirit of God. Or, what amounts to the same thing, the internal and purely intui- tional is made wholly and universally to supersede the external or written Word or Book of Eevelation, in what- ever form it may have been originally conveyed, or subse- quently recorded and transmitted from age to age, from people to people, from country to country. Now it cannot be too emphatically declared that by no man would mysticism, in any sense of internal self-sufficing light, be more summarily repudiated than by Samuel Eutherford. The very idea of substituting any intuitions or inward suggestions, visions, or self-luminous manifesta- tions of his own consciousness, for the genuine, authentic, and divinely accredited revelations of Jehovah's holy oracles, he would inexorably reject with indignation and abhorrence. 14 rr.EFACR It is only, therefore, in the other somewhat loose and popular sense of fic;urative, symbolic, or allegorical, that any portion of his language and thoughts can, with any truth or propriety, be styled mystical, or tinged with mysticism. And for such a style of thought and expres- sion, he has the highest possible warrant in the lyric and prophetic sections of Holy Scripture. The objection, however, may not be against the exuberant use of figure, symbol, or allegory, but against the frequent and lavish use of the somewhat peculiar figure or symbol in which he so freely indulges, or rather revels with a rapture and unction all his own. Now the central thought whence emanates such a profusion of peculiar figure or symbol, is the mystic nuptial union of the soul to God, or rather, to God in Christ, as our adored Iinmanuel. But in this he has only followed the model and example of the inspired penmen ; whose delineations he faithfully copies or reflects, and whose graphic imagery he admiringly adopts, and skilfully employs in expressing his own elevated spiritual views, heavenward aspirations, and glowing emotions. And it is his habitual employment of such mystic imagery which gives its apparently unique hue and complexion to much of what is noblest and most divine in his practical experimental theology. To every attentive reader of the Bible it is well known that in the writings, botli of the Old and New Testament, it is common to represent the Church of Christ under the emblem of a chaste woman, bride or spouse, and Messiah, her king, under that of bridegroom or husband ; that the ' marriage union, being the closest, most sacred, most en- dearing and enduring among men, it has furnished a favourite image to the ancient prophets, when they would set forth the union of the redeemed soul to its kinsman- PREFACE. 15 Redeemer, Cliiist; and vividly portray the multitude of His loving kindnesses towards her, and her dutiful returns of overflowing gratitude and love towards Him. The most notable and elaborate exhibition of this image is that which is to be found in the 45th Psalm, and the Song of Songs. With regard to the former, it has been satisfactorily shown by Bishop Horseley and others, that, in the unanimous judgment of all antiquity, the imme- diate and single subject of the Psalm in the first intention of its author, is, " the connection between Christ and His church," represented therein by the inspired Seer, under " the emblem of a marriage, without any reference to the marriage of Solomon, or any other earthly monarch as its type." With regard to the latter, it has been as generally agreed that it had a historic foundation in the marriage of Solomon with Pharaoh's daughter, or some Jewish prin- cess. But, as Dr. Chalmers, in his Daily Readings, has pointedly remarked, " Tliough Solomon is named in it, a greater than Solomon is here." Indeed, in the concurrent judgment of the ablest and wisest of Scripture com- mentators, alike in ancient and modern times, we have here, not so much an ode, lyric, idyll, pastoral, allegory, or epithalamium of an ordinary kind, as a divinely mystic song, altogether sui generis, combining, for higher and nobler ends, the leading characteristics of all these well- known forms of poetic art. In other words, in this con- gratulatory celebration of a royal marriage, we find adum- brated and spread out before us, under the guidance of inspiration, a singular variety of moods and conditions of soul depicted, with all the fire and glow of an eastern fancy, by means of the choicest and most apposite symbols, expres- sive of the multiplied experiences of merely natural but pure human affections. Above all, we find here stiikingly IG PREFACE. shadowed forth, in the impassioned strains of loftiest Ori- ental metaphor and imagery, often far too glaring and hyperbolical for colder occidental habitudes of thouglit and feeling, whether personal or social, the loving relationship, transporting fellowship, and w^armly affectionate intercourse between Immanuel, the God-man and individual human souls, constituting, in the aggregate, His blood-ransomed Church, or affianced Bride, the Lamb's Wife. It were easy to show, if necessary, by an immense array of evidence, that this is the view of the subject which has been taken by the most sober and orthodox Biblicists, who were yet men of fervent heart-piety, in all ages. But it is not necessary, and the attempt to do so would be foreign to our present purpose. Eeference by way of specimen to one or two names, which cannot fail to carry weight with the reader, must therefore be held as amply sufficient. Of the Song, generally, the celebrated Owen, one of the gravest and profoundest of theologians, observes : — " The expressions are figurative, and the whole nature of the dis- course is allegorical, but the things intended are real and substantial ; and the metaphors used in expressing them are suited, in a due attendance unto the analogy of faith, to convey a spiritual understanding, and a sense of the things themselves proposed in them. The Church of God will not part with the unspeakable advantage and con- solation, those supports of faith and incentives of love, which it receives by that Divine proposal of the person of Christ and His love, which is made therein, because some men have no experience of them, nor understanding in them. The faith and love of believers is not to be regulated by the ignorance and boldness of those who have neither the one nor the other." PREFACE. 1 7 The still more celebrated Jonathan Edwards, in whom the ratiocinativ^e faculties so marvellously predominated over the esthetic, but who had yet a real heart and fancy ^or the purely devotional, thus recorded some of his reli- gious experiences : — " I have sometimes had a sense of the excellent fulness of Christ, and His meetness and suitable- ness as a Saviour ; whereby He has appeared to me, far above all, the chief of ten thousand. His blood and atone- ment have appeared sweet, and His righteousness sweet ; which was always accompanied with ardency of spirit ; and inward stru^silings, and breathintis, and "roanings that cannot be uttered, to be emptied of myself, and swallowed up in Christ. Once as I rode out into the woods for my health, having alighted from my horse in a retired place, as my manner commonly has been, to walk for divine con- templation and prayer, I had a view, that for me was ex- traordinary, of the glory of the Son of God, as Mediator between God and man, and His wonderful, great, full, pure, and sweet grace and love, and meek and gentle condescen- sion. This grace that appeared so calm and sweet, ap- peared also great above the heavens. The person of Christ appeared also ineffably excellent, with an excellency great enough to swallow up all thought and conception — which continued, as near as I can judge, about an hour; which kept me the greater part of the time in a flood of tears, and weeping aloud. I felt an ardency of soul to be, what I know not otherwise how to express, emptied and anni- hilated, to lie in the dust, and to be full of Christ alone ; to love Him with a holy and pure love ; to trust in Him ; to live upon Him ; to serve and follow Him ; and to be perfectly sanctified and made pure, with a divine and heavenly purity. I have several other times had views very much of the same nature, and which have liad the u 18 PREFACE. same effects. " Now, it was when in these high and rap- tured frames of mind, that he could thus write of the Song of Songs : — " The whole book of Canticles used to be plea- sant to me, and I used to be much in reading it about that time, and found, from time to time, an increased sweetness, that would carry me away in my contemplations. This I know not how to express otherwise than by a calm, de- lightful abstraction of the soul from all the concerns of the world ; and sometimes a kind of vision, or fixed ideas and imaginations — of being alone in the mountains, or some solitary wilderness, sweetly conversing with Christ, and rapt and swallowed up in God. The sense I had of divine things, often would, on a sudden, kindle up an ardour in my soul that I knew not how to express." All this ought to satisfy the most fastidious of readers that, after all, there is nothing really novel or absolutely peculiar in the soul-thrilling effusions of " Kutherford's Letters;" and ought to reconcile them to the glowing imagery and entranced language of love in which they are expressed — the whole having its Divine Fountainhead and Prototype mainly in the inspired Song of Songs. So that of him it could be truly said, that, at times, and more especially amid the outer dreariness and solitude of his necessitated exile at Aberdeen, with its deep broodiugs of spirit and great searchings of heart, he seemed to " breathe a spirit of such devotion as if he had been a seraph incar- nate, and filled with such joyous transport, as if he had been caught up into the third heaven, and his heart yet throbbed with the unearthly sensation." The truth is that, on examination, it will be found that the real source of objection does not lie in the alleged ex- travagance of the rapturous utterances of Eutherford, but in a certain uugenial state of mind and feeling, on the part PREFACE. 19 of the reader, wliicli fairly disqualifies liim for properly appreciating tlieni. In tlie case of one of a hard, dry, logical, metaphysical, or mathematical temperament, even if religiously disposed, but deficient in, or wholly destitute of, the poetic, aesthetic, or deeply emotional element, he \vill be apt to regard them with shrinking aversion, if not positive disfavour and disrelish. In the case of another, with a mind ill-disciplined and ill-regulated, conjoined with a vagrant, roving, unchastened fancy, and little or no spirituality, he will be ready grossly to construe them, as seen through the medium of his own jaundiced mental vision, and interpreted in the false glare of his own grovel- ling, carnal affections. In the case of a third, belonging to the Godless, Christlcss class of the worldly, the indiffer- ent or the scornful, he will be sure to denounce the whole as senseless, pietistic rant, or exaggerated rhapsody. On the other hand, in the case of persons of eminent holiness and spiritual sensibility, who experimentally know and live upon the Lord Jesus Christ, as their loving, per- sonal Saviour; who lean, as it were, with calmest and serenest joy, on His bosom ; who feel themselves as if caught up into the embrace of His outstretched arms ; and partake of the fondest caresses of His wondrous love — the most fervent and even luscious utterances of the Letters, only tend to hold them fast bound, as under the spell oi some inexplicable enchantment. Eealising in their own souls the glorious things spoken of, they never tire of medi- tating on writings which faithfully reveal and embody their own discoveries of Christ's glory and grace, His willingness and almightiness to save, with all the inexpressibly tender memorials of their mutual interchanges of admiration and love — writings, on which their own felt wants and ever- varying conditions of alternating joy and sorrow, despond- 20 PREFACE. ency and hope, as they pass through the fears, distresses, and deliverances of many a fiery ordeal, shed a fulness and richness of significance which the outside world cannot apprehend, and with which it cannot possibly sympathise, — writings, which not only distinctly portray, but seem vividly to photograph, through sensible symbols and images, their own soaring thoughts and aspirations with "colours dipped in heaven ; " and thus supply them with spiritual nutriment and refreshment, vastly more strengthening and exhilarating than any to be derived from the most sump- tuous entertainment, daintiest cordial, or most exquisite pleasures of sense, while traversing the great and terrible wilderness of this world, in their weary pilgrimage towards the palaces of light in Immanuel's land. That such may be the happy experience of every reader of these marvellous Letters, which some of the holiest of men have ranked next to the Bible, as the richest treasury and storehouse of practical Divinity for hungry and thirsty souls, is the humble but earnest prayer of the undersigned, ALEXANDER DUFF. EoiNBuncir, Is; January 1S7C. INTIIODUCTION. Although my name appears on the title-page of this noble volume as its editor, I have had nothing to do with its production, beyond the revisal of the proof-sheets, in order to secure the accuracy of the text, and the addition of glossarial notes, explanatory of the distinctively Scottish words that occur in the Letters. That such explanations are not necessary for the generality of Scottish readers, is apparent from the fact that I have not found it necessary, in more than two or three instances, to seek assistance in order to furnish them ; and what I found no difficulty in explaining, few Scotchmen would need to have explained. In the very few cases in which I met with a difficulty, Dr. Jameson's Dictionary afforded the needed help. When it was known to some of my friends that I was engaged in preparing this edition, I received counsel from several whose judgment I greatly respected, to adopt a chronological arrangement of the Letters. This, on mature consideration, I declined to attempt, chiefly for the follow- ing reasons : — 1. I do not think that such an arrangement can possibly be effected. Many of the Letters have no dates affixed to them, and contain no internal evidence, in the way of allusions to historical events, by which dates could be . assigned to them. The dates affixed to some of them are certainly inaccurate, and this may probably be the case with respect to others. 22 INlTwODUCTION. 2. The vast mnjority of those who will read the Letters, will read them not as an aid to the study of the liistory of the period, but as a precious record of very peculiar Chris- tian experience. 3. Supposing that an approximately accurate arrange- ment could be made, and admitting that it would, to some extent, cast light upon the history of the time, and upon the development of the writer s character, it would entail the vitiation of many references made to the Letters in subsequent publications. In this respect the matter is precisely parallel to the division of the Bible into chapters and verses. I suppose we have all felt that that division is not in every case very happily made ; but it is manifest tliat an alteration, which would throw into confusion tlie innumerable references contained in all our theological and religious books, would be an unspeakable evil. The evil of altering the order of these Letters would be similat in kind, though, of course, immeasurably less in degree. For these reasons I have thought it better to retain the old order, although it is properly no order at all. I have thought that the value of the edition will be enhanced by prefixing to the Letters three sliort documents, viz. : — I. Woodrow's brief Account of Rutherford's Life and Character. II. An Account of the Last Words of Eutherford. III. Ptutherford's Testimony to the Covenanted Work of Eeformation, from 1G38 to 1649, in Britain and Ireland. And now I have only to express my very earnest desire that this edition, which is, I trast, as accurate as any, which is as complete as the completest, and more so than any, except one other, and which is much cheaper than any other edition, may be read by many, and that its perusal may be blessed of God to the elevation of the standard of piety, and holiness of heart and life. THOMAS SMITil, I. WOODEOW'S BRIEF ACCOUNT OF IIUTHERFOED'S LIFE AND CHARACTEE. That bright and shining light of his time, llv. Samuel Eutherford, may justly come in among the sufferers, during this session of Parliament (viz., in the year 1G61). To be sure, he was a martyr, both in his own resolution, and m men's designs and determination. He is so well known to the learned and pious world, that I need say little of him. Such v;ho knew him best were in a strait whether to ad- mire him for his sublime genius in the school, and peculiar exactness in matter of dispute and controversy; or his familiar condescensions in the pulpit, wdiere he was one of the most moving and affectionate preachers in his time, or perhaps in any age of the Church. But he seems to have outdone himself, as well as every body else, in his admirable, and every way singular Letters^ Mhich, though jested upon by profane wits, because of some familiar expressions, yet will be owned, by all who have any relish of piety, to contain such sublime flights of de- votion, and to be fraughted with such massy thoughts, as loudly speak a soul united to Jesus Christ in the closest embraces, and must needs at once ravish and edify ever}- serious reader. The Parliament were to have had an indictment laid before them against this holy man, if his death had not 24 LIFE AND CHARACTER. prevented it. After his book, entitled Lex Eex, had been ordered to be burnt at the cross of Edinburgh, and the gate of the new college of St. Andrews, where he was divinity professor ; in their great humanity, they were pleased, when every body knew Mr. Eutherford to be in a dying condition, to cause cite him to appear before them at Edinburgh, to answer a charge of high treason. But he had a higher tribunal to appear before, where his judge was his friend. Mr. Eutherford died in March 1661, the very day be- fore the Act Eescissory was passed in the Parliament. This eminent saint, and faithful servant of Jesus Christ, lamented when near his end, that he was withheld from bearimr witness to the work of Eeformation, since the year 1638, and giving his public testimony against the evil courses of the present time ; otherwise he was full of peace and joy in believing. I have a copy before me of what could be gathered up of his dying words,^ and the expressions this great man had during his sickness. ^ Referring to " Some of the Last Words of Mr. Eutherford, &c.," which immediately follows. — Ed. IL SOME OF THE LAST WOPtDS OF ME. EUTHERFOED, CONTAINING Some Advices and Exhortations to his Friends and Eola- tions during his Sickness, before his Death. February the last, 1661. He uttered many savoury speeches in the time of his sickness, and often broke out in a sacred kind of rap- ture, extolling and commending the Lord Jesus, espe- cially when his end drew near ; whom he often called his blessed Master, his kingly King. Some days before his death he said, I shall shine, I shall see Him as He is, T shall see Him reign, and all His fair company with Him ; and I shall have my large share, my eyes shall see my Eedeemer, these very eyes of mine, and no other for me ; this may seem a wide word, but it is no fancy or delusion ; it is true, it is true, let my Lord's name be exalted, and if He will, let my name be grinded to pieces, that He may be all in all. If He should slay me ten thousand times ten thousand times, I'll trust. He often repeated Jer. xv. 16, Thy words were found and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and re- joicing of my heart. Exhorting one to be diligent in seek- 26 LAST WORDS OF KUTIIERFOKD. iug of God, he said, 'Tis no easy thing to be a Christian, but for me, I have gotten the victory, and Christ is holding out both His arms to embrace me. At another time, to some friends about him, he said, At the beginning of my sufferings, I had mine own fears, like another sinful man, lest I should faint, and not be carried creditably tlirough ; and I laid this before the Lord : and as sure as He ever spake to me in His word, as sure His Spirit witnessed to my heart, Ho had accepted my suffering, He said to me, Fear not : the outgate shall not be^ simply matter of praise. I said to the Lord, If He should slay me five thousand times five thousand times, T would trust in Him ; and I spake it with much trembling, fearing I should not make my putt good. But as really as ever He spoke to me by His Spirit, He witnessed unto my heart, that His grace should be sufficient. The last Tuesday's night, before his death, being much weighted with the state of the public, he had that expres- sion, Terror hath taken hold on me, because of His dispen- sation. And after falling on his own condition, he said, I disclaim all that ever He made me will and do, and look on it as defiled and imperfect, as coming from me ; and I take me to Christ for sanctificatiou, as well as justification ; and repeating these words. He is made of God to me, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption; he added, I close with it, let Him be so, He is my All in all this. On March the 17th, three gentlewomen coming to see him ; after exhorting them to read the word, and be fre- quent in prayer, and much in communion with God, he said, My honourable Master and lovely Lord, my great and royal King, hath not a match in heaven or in earth ; I have my own guiltiness like another sinful man, but He hath pardoned, loved, and washed, and given me joy un- speakable, and full of glory. I repent not that ever I owned His cause. These whom ye call Protesters, are the 1 Qic. Shall be ? LAST WOKDS OF IIUTIIERFORD. 27 ^vItuGSses of Jesus Christ; I hope never to depart from that cause, nor side with these that have burnt the Causes of God's wrath} They have brolccn their covenant, oftcncr than once or twice : but I believe the Lord will build Zion, and re- pair the waste places of Jacob. 0 ! to obtain mercy to wrestle with God for their salvation. As for this Presby- tery, it hath stood in opposition to me these years past ; I have my record in heaven, I had no particular end in view, but was seeking the honour of God, the thriving of the gospel in this place, and the good of the new college, that society which I have left upon the Lord ; what per- sonal wrongs they have done me, and what grief they have occasioned to me, I heartily forgive them ; and desire mercy to wrestle with God, for mercy to them and all- their ' salvation. The same day, Mr. James M'Gill, Mr. John AVardlaw, Mr. William Vilant, and Mr. Alexander Wedderburn (all members of the same presbytery with him), coming to visit him, he made them heartily welcome, and said, My Lord and Master is the chief of ten thousand of thousands, none is comparable to Him in heaven or in earth. Dear brethren, do all for Him ; pray for Christ, preach for Christ, feed the Hock committed to your charge for Christ, do all for Christ; beware of men-pleasing, there is too much of it among us. Dear brethren, you know I have had my own grievances among you of this presbytery. He, before whom I stand, knows it was not my particular, but the interest of Jesus Christ, and the thriving of the gospel, I was seeking. What griefs or wrongs you have done me, I heartily forgive, as I desire to be forgiven of Christ. The new college hath broke my heart, and I can say nothing of it, but I have left it upon the Lord of the house ; and it hath been, and still is my desire, that He may dwell in ^ An anonymous book, of which 'Mr. James Gntlu'ie is supposed to have been the author, was burnt at Edinburgh, along with liutherfurd's Luc Roc. ' Qu. All, and < 28 LAST WOKDS OF KUTHEKFORD. this society, and that the youths may be fed with sound knowledge. This is a divided visit of the presbytery, and I know so much the less what to say. After this, he said, Dear brethren, it may seem a pre- sumption in me, a particular man, to send a commission to a presbytery ; and Mr. M'Gill replying, It was no pre- sumption : he continued. Dear brethren, take a commission from me a dying man, to them, to appear for God and His cause, and adhere to the doctrine of the covenant, and have a care of the flock committed to their charge. Let them feed the flock out of love, preach for God, visit and cate- chise for God, and do all for God. Beware of man-pleas- ing : the chief Shepherd will appear shortly ; and tell them from me, dear brethren, that all the personal griefs and wrongs they have done to me, I do cordially and freely forgive them : but for the business of the new college, I have left that upon the Lord ; let them see to it, my soul desires the Lord to dwell in that society, and that Himself may feed the youths. I have been a sinful man, and have had my failings, but my Lord hath pardoned and accepted my labours. I adhere to the cause and covenant, and mind never to depart from that protestation against the controverted assemblies. I am the man I was. I am still for keeping the government of the kirk of Scotland entire, and would not for a thousand worlds have had the least finger of an hand in burning of the causes of God's wrath. 0 ! for grace to wrestle with God for their salvation, who have done it ; and Mr. Vilant having prayed, at his desire, as they took their leave, he renewed his charge to them, to feed the flock out of love. The next morning, as he recovered out of fainting, in which they who looked on expected his dissolution, he said, I feel, I feel, I believe in joy, and rejoice ; I feed on manna. The worthy and famous Mr. Eobert Blair, whose praise is in the gospel, through all this Church, being with him (I must tell the reader, our author had this man in high esteem, and lived in near friendship and love with LAST SVOKDS OF ItUTIlEKrOKD. 29 liim to the day of his death. A reverend minister lately fallen asleep, that was often with Mr. Eutherford, told nio he used to call Mr Blair a worthy man of God) as Mr. Eutherford took a little wine in a spoon, to refresh him- self being very weak, Mr. Blair said to him, Ye feed on dainties in heaven, and think nothing of our cordials on earth ; he answered, They are all but dung, yet they are Christ's creatures, and out of obedience to command, I take them, adding, My eyes shall see my Eedeemer, I know Ho shall stand the last day upon the earth, and I shall be caught up in the clouds to meet Him in the air, and I shall be ever with Him, and what would you have more, there is an end ; and stretching out his hand, over again replied, there is an end. A little after, he said, I have been a wretched sinful man, but I stand at the best pass that ever a man did, Christ is mine, and I am His ; and spake much of the white stone, and tlie new name. Mr. Blair, who loved to hear Christ commended, with all his heart, said to him again. What think ye now of Christ ? to which he replied, I shall live and adore him : glory, glory to my Creator, and to my Eedeemer for ever : glory shines in Immanuel's land. In the afternoon of that day, he said, 0 ! that all my brethren, in the public, may know what a Master I have served, and what peace I have this day : I shall sleep in Christ, and when I awake I shall be satisfied with His likeness. And he said, This night shall close the door, and put my anchor within the vail, and I shall go away in a sleep, by five of the clock in the morning ; which exactly fell out according as he had told that night. Though he was very weak, he had often this expression, 0 fox arms to embrace Him ! 0 for a well-tuned harp ! And he exhorted Dr. Colvil (a man that complied with Episcopacy after- wards) to adhere to the government of the Kirk of Scot- land, and to the doctrine of the covenant ; and to have a care that youth were fed with sound knowledge ; and ex- pressd his desire that Christ might dwell in that society, 30 LAST WORDS OF EUTIIERFOIID. and that vice and profaneness might be borne down : and the doctor, being a professor in the new college, he told him, That he heartily forgave him all offence he had done him. He spake likewise to Mr. Honeyman, who came to see him (the man who afterward not only submitted to the Episcopal government, but wrote in defence of it, and was made Bishop of Orkney), and desired liim to tell the pres- bytery to appear for God and His cause and covenant, saying, The case is not desperate, let them be in their duty. And directing his speech to Dr. Colvil and Mr. Honey- man, he said. Stick to it. Ye jnay think it an easy thing in me, a dying man, that is now going out of the reacli of all that man can do, but He, before whom I stand, knows I dare advise no colleague or brother to do what I would not cordially do myself, upon all hazard: and as for the Causes of God's ivrath,^ that men have now condemned, tell Mr. James AVood from me, that I had rather lay my head down on a scaffold, and suffer it to be chopped off many times, were it possible, before I had passed from them. And to Mr. Ploneyraan he said, Tell Mr. James Wood from me, I heartily forgive him all wrongs he has done me; and desire him, from me, to declare himself the man that he is, still for the government of the Church of Scotland. And truly Mr. Eutherford was not deceived in him, for the learned, pious, and worthy Mr. Wood was true and faithful to the Presbyterian government; nothing could bow him to comply, in the least degree, with the abjured prelacy ; so far from that, that apostasy and treachery of others, whom he had too much trusted, broke his upright spirit, especially the aggravated defection and perfidy of one whom he termed Judas, Demas, and Gehazi, concen- tred in one, after he found what part he acted to the Church of Scotland, under trust. For this Mr. Wood went to the grave a man of sorrows, and left his testimony behind him, to the work of God in this land, which has ^ Sec note ou p. 27. LAST WORDS OF KUTIIEKFORD. 31 been in print a long time ago, I owe this piece of justice to the memory of this great man : and to show that the only differences betwixt Mr. Eutherford and him, were occasioned by Mr, Wood's joining with the promoters of the public resolutions of that time, but Mr. Eutherford ever spoke of him with regard, and as a good man whom he loved. After, when some spoke to Mr. Eutherford of his former painfulness and faithfulness in the work of God, he said, I disclaim all that, the port I would be at is re- demption and forgiveness, through His blood. Thou shalt sliow me the path of life, in thy sight is fulness of joy. There is nothing now betwixt me and the resurrection ; but to-day thou shalt be with me in paradise : Mr. Blair say- ing, Shall I praise the Lord for all the mercies He has done for you, and is to do ? He answered, 0 for a well- tuned harp ! To his child he said, I have again left you upon the Lord ; it may be you will tell this to others, that the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places, I have a goodly heritage ; I bless the Lord that gave me counsel. IIL MR. RUTHERFOED'S TESTIMONY TO THE COVENANTED WORK OF REFORMATION, (From 1638-1649), IN BRITAIN AND lEELAND. Though the Lord needeth not a testimony from such a wretched man as I, if I, and all the world would be silent, the very stones would cry. It is more than debt, that I should confess Christ before men and angels. It would satisfy me not a little, that the throne of my Lord Jesus were exalted above the clouds, the heaven of heavens, and on both sides of the sun : and that all possible praise and glory were ascribed to Him ; that, by His grace, I might put my seal, such as it is, unto that song, even tlie new song of these, who with a loud voice sing, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof : for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation : and hast made us unto our God kings and priests ; and we shall reign on earth. Rev. v. 9, 10. And blessed were I, could I lay to my ear of faith, and say Amen to that psalm of the many angels round about the throne, and the beasts and elders : wliose number is ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands : saying, with a loud voice. Worthy is the Lamb that was slain, to receive 1;UTI1EKF01U)'S TESTIMONY. 33 power, and liches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and Llessing. And if I heard every creature which is in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them (as John heard them), saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and to the Lamb for ever and ever. I mean not any visible reign of Christ on earth, as the IMillenaries fancy ; I believe (Lord help my unbelief) the doctrine of the holy prophets, and the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, contained in the book of tlie Old and New Testament, to be the undoubted truth of God ; and a perfect rule of faith, and the only way of salvation. And I do acknowledge the sum of the Christian religion, exhibited in the Confessions and Cate- chisms of the reformed Protestant churches : and in the National Covenant, divers times sworn by the king's majesty, the State, and Church of Scotland; and sealed by the testimony and subscription of the nobles, barons, gentle- men, citizens, ministers, and professors of all ranks. As also, in the Solemn League and Covenant of the three kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland. And I do judge, and in conscience believe, that no power on earth can absolve, and liberate the people of God from the bonds and sacred ties of the oath of God. I am persuaded that Asa acted warrantably in making a law that the people should stand to the covenant ; in receiving into the cove- nant such as were not of his kingdom, 2 Chron. xv. 9, 10, As did also Hezekiah, in sending a proclamation through all the tribes, from Dan to Beersheba, that they should come and keep the passover unto the Lord at Jerusalem, 2 Chron. xxx. 6, 7, though their own princes did not go along v/ith them ; yea, and it is nature's law, warranted by the word, that nations should encourage and stir up one another to seek the true God. It is also prophesied, That divers nations should excite one another in tliis way. Isa. ii. 3, Many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up unto the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the c 34 kutherford's testimony. God of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways, Zech. viii. 21, 22, And the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord of hosts : I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord. There is also a clear prophecy to be accomplished under the New Testament, Jer. 1. 4, 5, That Israel and Judah shall go together, and seek the Lord. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thither- ward, saying. Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant, that shall not be forgotten. It is also foretold, that different nations shall confederate with the Lord, and with one another. Isa. xix. 23, 24, 25, In that day there shall be an high way out of Egypt into Assyria; and the Assyrian shall come to Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt, and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of th°e land; whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance. The Church of Scotland had once as much of the pre- sence of Christ, as to the power and purity of doctrine, worship, discipline, and government, as any we read of, since the Lord took His ancient people to be His cove- nanted Church. The Lord stirred up our nobles to attempt a reformation in the last age, through many difaculties, and against much opposition from those in supreme autho- rity : He made bare His holy arm, and carried on the work gloriously, like Himself; His right hand getting Him the victory, until the idolatry of Eome, and her cursed mass, were dashed: a hopeful reformation was in some measure settled, and a sound Confession of Eaith was agreed upon by the lords of the congregation. The people oi God, according to the laudable custom of other ancient churches, the Protestants in France and Holland, and the renowned princes in Germany, did carry on the work in rutiiekfohd's testimony. 35 an innocent, self-defensive war, wliicli the Lord did abnn- dantly bless. When our land and Church were thus con- tending for that begun reformation, these in authority did still oppose the work ; and there was not then wanting men from among ourselves, men of prelatical spirits, who, with some other time-serving courtiers, did not a little undermine the building ; and we, doating too much upon sound p*liaments, and lawful general assemblies, fell from our first love to self-seeking, secret banding, and little fear- ing the oath of God. Afterwards, our work in public was too much in seques tration of estates, fining and imprisoning, more than in a compassionate mournfulness of spirit toward those whom we saw to oppose the work. In our assemblies, we were more to set up a state opposite to a state ; more upon forms, citations, leading of witnesses, suspensions from benefices, than spiritually to persuade and work upon the conscience, with the meekness and gentleness of Christ. The glory and royalty of our princely Eedeemer and King was trampled on, as any might have seen in our assemblies. What way the army and the sword, and the countenance of nobles and officers seemed to sway, -that way were the censures carried. It had been better, had there been more days of humiliation and fasting in assemblies, synods, presbyteries, congregations, families ; and far less adjourn- ing commissions, new peremptory summons, and new- drawn up processes. And if the meekness and gentleness of our Master had got so much place in our hearts, that we might have waited on gainsayers, and parties contrary minded ; and we might have driven gently, as our Master, Christ, who loves not to over-drive, but carries the lambs in His bosom. If the word of truth, in the Old and New Testaments, be a sufficient rule, holding forth what is a Christian army, whether offensive or defensive, whether clean or sinfully mixed, then must we leave the question betwixt our public brethren and us, to be determined by that rule; but if 3G IIUTHEKFOUL'S TESTIMONY. there be no such rule in the word, then the confederacies and associations of the people of God, with the idolatrous apostate Israelites, with the Egyptians and Assyrians, as that of Jehoshapliat with Ahab, and these of Israel and Judah, with Egypt and Assyria, are not to be condemned. But they are often reproved and condemned in Scripture. To deny the Scripture to be a sufficient rule in this case, were to accuse it of being imperfect and defective ; — an high and unjust reflection on the holy word of God. Be- yond all question, the M'ritten word doth teach what is a right constituted court, and what not, Ps. x. What is a right constituted house, and what not. Josh. xxiv. 15. What is a true church, and what is a false one ; what is a true church, and what is a synagogue of Satan, Eev. ii. What is a clean camp, and what is an unclean. We are not for an army of saints, and free of all mixture of ill affected men: but it seems an high prevarication for churchmen to couusel and teach that the weight and trust of the affairs of Christ, and His kingdom, sliould be laid upon the whole party of such as have been enemies to our cause, contrary to the word of God, and the declarations, remonstrances, solemn warnings, and serious exhortations of His Church, whose public protestations the Lord did admirably bless, to the encouragement of the godly, and the terror of all the opposers of the worlv. Since we are very shortly to appear before our dreadful Master and Sovereign, we cannot pass from our protesta- tion, trusting we are therein accepted of Him ; though we should lie under the imputation of dividing spirits and unpeaceable men. AVe acknowledge all due obedience in the Lord, to the king's majesty; but we disown that ecclesiastical supremacy in and over the Church, which some ascribe to Him : that power of commanding external worship not appointed in the word, and laying bonds upon the consciences of men, where Christ has made them free. We disown antichristian prelacy, bowing at the name of Jesus, saints' days, canonising of the dead, and other such rwUTlIERFORD S TESTIMONY. o" corrupt inventions of men, and look upon them as tho liighway to Popery, Alas ! now there is no need of a spirit of prophecy, to declare what shall be the woeful condition of a land that hath broken covenant, first practically, and then legally, with the Lord our God; and what shall be the day of the silent and dumb watchmen of Scotland ? AVhere will we leave our glory, and what if Christ depart out of our land ? We verily judge they are most loyal to the king's majesty, who desire the dross may be separated from the silver, and the throne established in righteousness and judgment. We are not (our witness is in heaven) against his majesty's title by birth to the kingdom, and the right of the royal family : but that the controversy of wrath against the royal family may be removed ; that the huge guilt of the throne may be mourned for before the Lord : and that his majesty may stand constantly, all the days of his life, to the covenant of God, by oath, seal, and sulDscription, known to the world ; that so peace, and the blessings of heaven, may follow his government : that the Lord may be his rock and shield, that the just may flourish in his time, that men fearing God, hating covetousness, and of known integrity and godliness, may be judges and rulers under his majesty. And they are not really loyal and faithful to the supreme magistrate, who wish not such qualifications in him : we are not in this particular contend- ing that a prince who is not a convert, or a sound believer, falls from his royal dominion : the Scriptures of God war- rant us to pray for, and obey in the Lord, princes and supreme magistrates, that are otherwise wicked ; and to render all due obedience to them, Rom. xiii. 2, 5 ; 2 Tim. ii. 12, 13; 1 Pet. ii. 18. Our souls should be afllicted before the Lord for the burning of the causes of God's wrath : a sad practice, too like the burning of the roll by Jehoiakim, Jer. xxxvi. 23. In these controversies, we should take special heed to this, that Christ is a free, inde- pendent Soverc'gn, King, and Lawgiver. The Father hath appointed Him His own King in Mount Zion ; and He 38 eutiiekfohd's testlmony. cannot endure that the powers of the world should en- croach upon His royal prerogative, and prescribe laws to Ilini; this presumption is not far from that of tlie citizens that hated Him, Luke xix. 14, He shall not rule over us. And from the intolerable pride of those who are for break- ing asunder the bands of the Lord, and His anointed ; and for casting away their cords from them, Ps. ii. 2, Espe- cially seeing the niLan Christ would not take the office of a judge npon Him, Luke :xii. 14, and discharged His disciples to exercise a civil lordship over their brethren. True it is, the godly magistrate may command the minis- ters of the gospel to do their duty, but not under the penalty of ecclesiastical censures, as if it were proper to him to call and uncall, depose and suspend from the holy ministry. The lordly spiritual government, in and over the Church, is given unto Christ, and none else ; He is the sole ecclesiastic Lawgiver. It is proper to Him to smite with the rod of His mouth ; nor is there any other shoulder, in heaven or on earth, that is able to bear the government. As this hath been the great controversy betwixt our Lord Jesus and the powers of the world, from the beginning; so it has ruined all that coped with Him. Christ has proved a rock of offence to them ; they have been dashed in pieces by the stone that was cut out of the mountain witliout hands, Dan. ii. 34, 35. And the other powers that enter the lists Avitli Him, shall have the same dismal exit. Who- soever shall fall upon this stone, shall be broken ; and on whomsoever it shall fall, it shall grind him to powder, Matt. xxi. 44. As the blessed prophets and apostles of our Lord contended not a little with the rulers of the earth, that Christ should be the head Corner-stone ; that Christ is the only Head of the Church, as sure as that He died, was buried, and rose again. It is a most victorious and prevailing truth ; not only preached and attested by the ambassadors of the Lord of hosts, but confirmed by blood, martyrdom, and suffering. Many precious saints have thought it their honour and ruTiiERronn's testimony, 39 dignity to suITer shame and reproach for the name of Jesus And it is beyond doubt that passive suffering for the narao of Christ, comes nearest to that noble sample, wherein Christ, though a Son, learned obedience by the things which He suffered, Heb. v. 8. Now, blessed is the soul who loves not his life to death, Eev. xii. 11, for on such rests the spirit of glory and of God, 1 Pet. iv. 14. We cannot but say it is a sad time to this land at present, it is a day of darkness, and rebuke, and blasphemy. The Lord hath covered Himself with a cloud in His anger; we looked for peace, but beliold evil : our souls rejoiced when his majesty did swear the covenant of God, and jiut thereto his seal and subscription, and after confirmed it by His royal promise ; so that the subjects' hearts blessed the Lord, and rested upon the healing word of a prince. But now, alas ! the contrary is enacted by law, the carved work broken down, ordinances are defaced, and we are brought into the former bondage and chaos of prelatical confusion. The royal prerogative of Christ is pulled from His head, and after all the days of sorrow we have seen, we have just cause to fear we shall be made to eat that book wherein is written, ]\Iourning, and Lamentation, and Woe. Yet we are to believe Christ will not so depart from the land, but a remnant shall be saved ; and He shall reign a victorious conquering King to the ends of the earth. 0 that there were nations, kindreds, tongues, and all the people of Christ's habitable world, encompassing His throne with cries and tears for the Spirit of supplica- tion, to be poured down upon the inhabitants of Judah for that effect ! LETTIUIS. PART I. LETTER I. -To Mr. Eoeert Cunynghame, Miniister of tli- Gospel at Holywood, in Ireland. Well-beloved and Eeverend Brother, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to yon. Upon accpiaintance 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 Avriting : 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 com- forted to hear of your soldier's stately 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. 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 these three days I appeared before them : but let our crowned King in Zion reign : by His grace the loss is theirs, the advan- tage is Christ's and truth's. Albeit this honest cross gained some ground on me by my heaviness, and inward challenges of con- science 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 ser- vants and oppressed truth, shall ride over His enemies' bellies, and shall strike through kings in the day of His wrath. It is time * Sickles. 42 LETTEE I. we laugh Avlien He lauglictli ; and seeing He ib now pleased to sit with wrongs for a time, it becometh us to be silent until the Lord hath let the enemies enjoy their hungry, lean, and feckless^ pai'adise. 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 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 Avoe ■' indeed for my mother Cluu'ch 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 is become dim, her white Nazarites are black like a coal. How shall not the chddren weep when the husband and the mother cannot agree ; yet I believe Scotland's skies shall clear again, and that Christ shall build again the old waste places of Jacob, and that our dead and dry bones shall become an army of living men, and that our Well-Beloved may yet feed among the lilies, until the day break and the shadows flee away. My dear brother, let us help one another with our prayers. Our King shall mow down His enemies, and shall come from Bozra, with his gar- ments all dyed in blood, and for our consolation shall He appear, and call his wife Hephzibah, and his land Beulah ; for He will re- joice over us and marry us, and Scotland shall say, "What have I to do any more with idols 1 " 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. 0 ! 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, otherways I am a fa'nt, 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 Avants and desertions. 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 1 Worthlesa. " Chaffer for. » ga,]. ■* A stalk of a particular kind of grass. LETTER II. 4?. Stuart, my well-beloved Inrtliren in tlio Lord, Mr. Tilair, INIr. Hamilton, Mr. Livingston, and Mr. j\lacCleland, and ac([uaiut 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 breaks my heart : I desire to love that people, and others, my dear ac- quaintance in Christ, with love in God, and as God loveth them. 1 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 waii- for Him, and will follow His providence and not go before it, nor stay behind it. Now, my dear brother, taking fixrewell in paper, I commend you all to the Word of His grace, and to the work of His Spirit, to Him who hokleth 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 Josus, iS, R. From Irving', being on my Journey to Christ's Palace in Aberdeen, Autrust 4, 1C36. LETTER IL— To His Parishioners. Dearly-beloved, and longed for in the Lord, my crown and my joy in the day of Christ, — grace be to you, and jieace, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. I long exceed- ingly to know if the oft-spoken-of match betwixt you and Christ hokleth ; and if you 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 sor- row, and also of my joy ; ye are the matter of the teai's, 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 sleeped in my warm nest, and kept the fat world in my arms, and the cords of rny 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 should 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. 0, my Lord, judge if my ministry be not dear to me, l)ut not so dear by many degrees as Christ Jesus my Lord ; God knoweth 44 LETTER n. the heavy and sad Sabbatks I have had since I hiid down at my Master's feet my two shepherd's staves. I have been often say- ing, as it is Avritten, Lam. iii. 52, " My enemies chased me sore like a bird without cause, they have cut off my life in the duii- geon, and cast a stone upon me," 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 ; and 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 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 1 " if ye follow the voice of a stranger, of one that cometh into the sheepfold, 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. 0, 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 coidd lay my dearest joys next to Christ my Lord in the gap, betwixt you and eternal destruction ! 0, 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 excel- lency, 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 that bounds and the Bridegroom ? 0, how rich a prisoner were I, if I could obtain of my Lord (before whom I stand for you) the salvation of you all ! 0, what a prey had I gotten to have you catched in Christ's net ! 0, then I ha('c cast out my Lord's lines and His net with a rich gain ! 0, then well-wared ^ pained breast and sore back, and a 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 pleasui-e), if ye were sure in the upper lodging, in our Father's house before me. I take to witness heaven and cartli against you; I take instruments in the hands of ^ that sun and day-light 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 ^ Well-spent. " Delay. •^ A Scotch law term, meaning, I call to witness. LETTER II. 45 betwixt you and Christ, if I went not with offers betwixt tlie 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 j^ou, at communion feasts and otlier 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 king- dom, the exceeding deepness of His love, who sought his black wife through pain, fire, shame, death, and the grave; and swimmed the salt sea for her, undergoing the curse of the law, and then was made a curse for you, and ye then consented and said, " Even so I take him." I counsel you, 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 of kneeling in the instant of receiving the Lord's Supper, and crossing in baptism, and the observing of men's days, without any warrant of Christ, our per- fect Lawgiver. Countenance not the surplice, the attire of the mass-priest, the garment of Baal's priests; the abominable bowing to altars of tree is coming upon you ; hate and keep yourselves from idols ; forbear in any case to hear the reading of the new fatherless service-book, full of gross heresies. Popish and super- stitious errors, without any warrant of Christ, tending to the over- throw of preaching. You owe no obedience to the bastard canons; they are unlawful, blasphemous, and superstitious ; all the cere- monies that lie in the 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 re- pute a false prophet (and your conscience once said the contrary) if your Lord Jesus shall not stand by you, and maintain you, and maintain your cause against your enemies. 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 mouth uttered to you was that of John ix. 39, "And Jesus said, For judgment came I into the world, that they which see not might see, and they which see might be made blind." It is possible ^ Assignations. 46 LETTER II. my first meeting and yours be when we sliall both stand befure the dreadful Judge of the world ; and in the name and authority of the Son of God, my great King and Master, I Avrite by these presents summons to these men. I arrest their souls and bodies to the day of our compearance ; their eternal damnation stands subscribed and sealed in heaven by the handwriting of the great Judge of quick and dead, and I am ready to stand up as a preach- ing Avitness against such to their face that day, and to say, "Amen" to their condemnation, except they repent. The venge- ance of the Gospel is heavier than the vengeance of the lav/ ; 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 bound men, aye, and Avhile^ they repent and amend. You were Avitnesses hoAv the Lord's day Avas spent Avhile I Avas among you. 0, sacrilegious robber of God's daj'', Avhat Avill thou answer the Almighty Avhen He seeketh so many Sabbaths back again from thee 1 What Avill the curser, swearer, and blasphemer do, Avhen his tongue shall be roasted in that broad and burning lake of fire and brimstone] And Avdiat Avill the drunkard do, Av^hen tongue, lights, and liver, bones, and all, shall boil and fry in a torturing fire, for he shall be far from his barrels of strong drink uhen, and there is not a cold Avell of Avater for him in helH What shall be the case of the wretch, the covetous man, the oppressor, the deceiver, the earth-Avorm, Avho can never get his Avombful of clay, Avhen 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 naughty heaven ? Woe, Avoe, for evermore be to tiio thiie-turning atheist, that hath one God and one religion for summer, and another God and another religion for Avinter, and the da}^ of faiming, Avhen Christ fanneth all that is in His barn fluor, Avho hath a conscience for every fair and market, and the soul of him runneth upon these oiled Avheels, time, custom, the Avorld, and command of men. 0, if the careless atheist and sleep- ing man, Avho edgetli by all Avith " God forgive our pastors if they lead us Avrong, Ave must do as they command," and lays doAvn his head upon time's bosom, and giveth his conscience to a deputy, and sleepeth so Avhile ^ the smoke of hell-fire flies up in his throat, and cause him to start out of his doleful bed; — 0, if such a man Avould aAvake. Many Avoes are for the over-gilded and gold-plastered hypocrite ; a heavy doom is for the liar and Avhite-tongued flat- terer; and the fljdng book of God's ireful vengeance, tAventy cubits long, and twenty 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 SAveareth falsc-U- by God's name, Zechariah v, » Until LETTER II. 47 3, 4. I denounce eternal burning, hotter than Sodom's flames, upon the men that boil in their til thy lusts of fornication, adul- tery, incest, and the like Avickedness ; no room, uo, not a foot broad, for such vile dogs within the clean Jerusalem. Many of you put off" all Avitli this, " God forgive us, Ave know no better." I renew my old ansAver, 2 Thess. i., — The Judge is coming in flaming fire, Avith all His mighty angels, to render vengeance to all these that know not God and believe not. I have often told you security shall slay you ; all men say tliey have faith, as many men and Avomen noAv, as many saints in heaven ; and all believe (say ye) 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 leel ^ come ; they had never a sick night for sin ; conversion came to them in a night dream ; in a Avord, hell Avill be empty at the day of judgment and heaven panged* full. Alas ! it is neither easy nor ordinary to believe and to be saved : many must stand in the end at heaven's gates; Avhen they go to take out their faith they take out a fair nothing (or, as you use to speak, a " blestiime").'' 0, lamentable disappoint- ment ! I piTiy you, I charge you, in the name of Christ, make fast Avork of Christ and salvation. I know there are some believers among you , and I Avrite to you, 0 poor broken-hearted believers, all the comforts of Christ in the Ncav and Old Testament are yours. O, Avhat a Father and Husband you have ! 0, if I had pen and ink and engine '^ to Avrite of Him ; Let. heaven and earth be con- solidated in massy and pure gold, it Avill not Aveigli the thousandth part of Christ's love io a soul, even to me, a poor prisoner. 0, that is a massy and marvellous love ! Men and angels, unite your force and strength in one ; ye shall not heave nor poise it oft' the ground. Ten thousand thousand Avorlds, as many Avorlds as angels can number, and then as a neAV Avorld of angels can multiply, Avould not .all be the bulk of a balance to Aveigh Christ's excel- lencies, sweetness, and love. Pat ten earths in one, and let a rose grow greater than ten Avhole earths or- ten Avorlds, 0, Avhat beauty Avould be in it, and Avhat a smell Avould 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 Avould be infinitely in beauty and smell above all imaginable and created glory. I Avonder that men do bide oft' Christ; I Avould esteem myself blessed if I could make an open proclamation, and gather all the Avorld that are living upon the earth, JeAV and Gentile, and all that shall be born to the blowing of the last trumpet, to flock round about Christ, and to stand looking, Avondering, admiring, and adoring His beauty and sweetness ; for His fire is hotter than ^ lleally. - Pressed. ^ Apparently a blank. ■* Ingenuity or ability. 4:8 LETTEE II. any other fire, His love sAveeter than common love, His beauty surpassetli all other beauty. When I am heavy and sad, one of His love-looks would do me meekle^ world's good, 0, if ye would fall in love with Him ! how blessed Avere 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. 0, if all mankind woukl 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 Avant lodging in your houses, nor lie in the fields Avhen He is shut out of pulpits and kirks. If ye Avill be content to take heaven by violence, and the Avind on your face for Christ and His cross, I am here one avIio hath some trial of Christ's cross. I can say that Christ was ever kind to me : but He overcometh Himself (if I may speak so) in kindness Avhile I suffer for Him, — I give you my Avord for it, Christ's cross is not so evil as tbey call it : it is SAveet, light, and comfortable. I Avould not Avant the visitations of love, and the very breathings of Christ's mouth Avhen He kisseth, and my Lord's delightsome smiles and love-embrace- ments under my sufferings for Him, for a mountain of fine gold, nor for all the honours, court, and grandeur of velvet kirk-men : Christ hath the yolk and heart of my love, " I am my beloved's, and my Avell-beloved is mine ! " 0, that ye Avere all handfasted- to Christ ! 0, my dearly beloved in the Lord, I Avould I could change my voice, and had a tongue tuned Avith the hand of my Lord, and had the art of speaking of Christ, that I might paint out unto you the Avorth, and highness, and greatness, and excel- lency of that fairest and renoAvned Bridegroom ! I beseech you by the mercies of the Lord ; by the sighs, tears, and heart-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 ; the 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 of the Tree of Life, and Ave may feast together, and drink together of that pure river of the Avater of life that cometh out from under the throne of God, and from the Lamb. 0, hoAV 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 Avith Avings ; then shall every man's blacks and Avhites be brought to light. O, Iioav Ioav Avill your thoughts be of this fair-skinned but heart-rotten apple, the vain, vain, feckless* Avorld! when the Avorms shall make their houses in your eye-holes, and 1 Much. ' Uuitei.1. ^ Set about climbing. * Wortliless. LETTER III. 49 shall eat ofY the flesh from the ball of your cheeks, and shall make that body a number of dry bones ! Think not the common gate^ of serving God as neighbour and others do will bring you to heaven. Few, few are saved ; the devil's court is thick and many; he hath the greatest nundjer of mankind for his vassals. I know this world is a great forest of thorns in your way to heaven, but ye must through it ; acquaint yourselves with the Lord ; hold fast Christ, hear His voice only, bless His name, sanctify and keep 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 appear- ance 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 do not forget you. I told you often while I Avas with you, and now I write it again — heavy, sad, and sore is that stroke of the Lord's Avrath that is coming upon Scotland. Woe, woe, woe to this harlot land, for they shall take the cup of God's wrath from his hand, 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 while- the anger of the Lord pass. Fol- low 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 blessing of a prisoner of Christ, in bonds for Him and for you, be with you all. Amen. Your lawful and loving pastor, S. E. Aberdeen, July 14, 1037. LETTER IlL— To the Honourable, Eeverend, and Well-Beloved Professors of Christ and His Truth in Sincerity in Ireland. Dearly Beloved in our Lord, and partakers of the heavenly calling, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you 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 avoo you as His AA'ife ; and that persecutions and mockings of sinners have not chased aAvay the Wooer from the liouse. I persuade you in ^ Way or method. ^ Until. D 50 LETTER II!. the Lord, 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 Avay, this way that I now suffer for, this way that the workl nick-nameth 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. 0 ! 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 spier^ out another Christ, another way of wor- shipping 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 1 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 Xjord let it be spoken) assert (though I be but a child in Clirist, and scarce able to walk, but by a liokl ; 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, Avere laid in the balance with Christ, I would think the smell of His breath above them all ; sure I am He is the far best half of heaA^en ; yea. He is all heaven, and more than all heaven ; and my testimony of Him is, that ten lives of black sorrow, ten deatlis, 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 ; and, 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 Avould 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. 0, highest ! 0, fairest ! 0, dearest Lord Jesus ! take thine own from all bastard lovers ! 0 ! that we could wadset^ and sell all our part of time's glory, ami time's good things, for a lease and tack of Christ for all eternity ! 0, how are Ave misted and mired Avith the love of things that are on this side of time, and on this side of death's Avater ! AVhere can Ave find a match to Christ, or an equal, or a better than He among created things 1 0, this Avorld is out of all conceit, and all love Avith our Well-Eoloved. 0, that I could sell my laughter, joy, ease, and all for Him ; and be content of a straAV-bed, and bread by weight, and Avater by measure, in the camp of our weep- ^ Seek. ^ Mortgage or pawn. LETTER III. 51 ing Clirist ! I know His sackcloth and ashes are better tlian tlic 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 hath made us, even as thin- skinned as if we were made of Avhite paper, cand would fain be carried to heaven in a close-covered chariot, wishing from our hearts that Christ ■\vould give us surety, and his handwriting, and his seal for nothing but a fair summer, until Ave be landed in at heaven's gates. How many of us have been here deceived, and fainted in the day of trial ! Amongst you there are some of tliis stamp. I shall be sorry if my acquaintance A. T. hath left you ; I will not believe he dare stay from Christ's side ; I desire that ye show him this from me ; for I loved him once in Christ ; Tieither can I change my mind suddenly of him. But the truth is, that many both of a'ou and too many also of your neighbour Church of Scotland, have been like a tenant that sitteth meal-free, and knoweth not his holding while ^ his rights be questioned; and now I am persuaded it Avill be asked at every one of us, on Avhat terms we brook - Christ, for Ave have sitten long meal-free ; Ave found Christ Avithout a Avet foot; and He, and His Gospel, came upon small charges to our doors ; but noAv Ave must Avet 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), has made us like stand- ing Avaters, to gather a foul scum, and Avhen wa aie jumbled, our dregs come up and are seen ; many take but half a grip of Christ, and the Avind bloAveth them and Christ asunder ; indeed, Avhen the mast is broken, and blown into the sea, it is an art then to swim upon Christ to dry land ; it is even possible that the children of God in a hard trial lay themselA^s doAvn as hidden in the lee-side of a bush, Avliile ^ Christ their Master be taken, as Peter did, and lurk there Avhile^ the storm be overpast: all of us knoAV the Avay to a Avhole skin, and the singlest heart that is hath a bye-purse that Avill contain the denial of Christ, and a fearful backsliding. 0, hoAv rare a thing is it to be loyal and honest to Christ Avhen He hath a controversy Avith the shields of the earth ! I Avish all of you Avould consider that this trial is from Christ ; it is come upon you unbought (indeed, Avhen Ave buy a temptation with our OAvn money; no marA'el that Ave be not easily free of it, and that God be not at our elboAv to take it off our hand); this is Christ's ordinary house- lire that He makes use of to try all the vessels of His house Avithal; and Christ noAv is about to bring His treasure out before sun and moon and to tell His money; and in the telling to try Avhat Aveight ■'Till. 2 Possess or enjoy. 52 LETTEK III. 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 Avill 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 tryst ^ 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 Avit, and the wit of prelates, and their god-father, the Pope (that man without laiv), to put Christ and His royal preroga- tives, and His truth, or the smallest nail-breadth of His latter will in the new calendar of indiiferences ; and to make a blank of un- inked paper in Christ's Testament that men may fill up, and so shuffle the truth, and matters they call indifferent, through other,* and spin both together, that the antichrist's wares may sell the better. This is but the device and forged dream of men, Avhose consciences are made of stoutness, and have a throat that a graven image, greater than the bounds of the kirk-door, would give free passage unto.^ I am sure 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 having lost the blossom, there shall be few, yea, none, that dare make any point that toucheth the worship and honour of our King and Lawgiver to be indifferent. 0, 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 Avith Him by open pro- clamation, as men do Avith clipped and light money ? they are iioAv crying doAvn Christ some grain Aveights, and some pounds or shillings, and they Avill have Him lie for a penny or a pound, for one or for an hundred, according as the Avind bloAveth from the east or from the Avest, but the Lord has Aveighed Him, and balanced Him already, " This is my Avell-beloved Son, in Avhom I am Avell pleased, hear ye him." His Avorth and His Aveight standeth still ; it is our part to cry Up, up Avith Christ, and Down, doAvn Avith all created glory before Him. O, that I could heighten Him, and heighten His name, and heighten His throne ! I knoAv and am persuaded that Christ shall again be high and great in this poor, Avithered, and sun-burnt Kirk of Scotland ; and that the sparks of our fire shall flee over sea, and round about to Avarm you and other sister-churches ; and that this tabernacle of David's house that is fallen, even the Son of David His waste places shall be ^ Lackered. " Bend. ^ Arrange or compromise. * Each otlier. ^ The meanincr, however, is, would give free ijassagc to a gravcu image, etc., (|. d. would swallow a camel. LETTER III. 53 'bt.'ilt again ; and I know the prison, crosses, pcrsocntions, anrl trials of the two slain witnesses, that are now dead and bnried (R'jv. xi.), and of the faithful professors, have a back door and back entry of escape ; and that death and hell, and the world and tortures, shall all cleave and split in twain, and give us free pas- sage and liberty to go through them 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 in Mount Zion ; God did put the crown upon His head (Psal. ii.), and who dare take it off again"? Out of question. He hath sore and grievous (piarrels against His Church ; and therefore He is called (Isa. xxxix. 10), " He whose fire is in Zion and whose furnace is in Jerusalem." But when He hath performed His work on Mount Zion, all Zion's haters shall be as the hungiy and thirsty man that dreams he is eating and drinking, and behold, when he awaketh, he is faint and his soul empty. And this advantage we have also, that He will not bring before sun and moon all the infirmi- ties 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. Two special things ye are to mind. 1. Try and make sure yout profession ; that ye carry not empty lamps. Alas ! security, secu- rity, is the bane and the wreck of the most jiart of the world ! 0, how many professions go with a golden lustre and 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 plj^ with up-sails, and white, even to the nick^ of illumina- tion (Heb. vi. 5), and tasting of the heavenly gift, and a share and part of the Holy Ghost, and the tasting of the good AVord of God, and the powers of the world to come ; 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. 0, make your heaven 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 undei*-water not seen is dangerous, and that is a leak and I'ift in the bottom of an en- lightened conscience, often falling, and sinning against light. Woe, woe 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\ robes. Know, 2dly, Except men martyr and slay the body i Point. 54 LETT En IV. of sin, in sanctified self-denial, they shall never he Chiist's martyrs and faithful witnesses. 0, if I could be master of that house-idol myself, my own, mine, my own will, wit, credit, and ease, how blessed were I ! 0, but we have need to be redeemed from our- selves rather than from the devil and the world ; learn to put out yourselves and to put in Christ for yourselves. I should make a sweet bartering and niffering,i 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 yetaglaiked^ back-look to our old idol. 0, wretched idol, my- self! when shall I see thee wholly decourted,'^ and Christ wholly put in thy room? 0, 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 yet 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 1 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 1 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, by His free grace, hath taken our salvation in hand. Pray, pray, and contend with the Lord, for your sister-church ; for it Avould appear the Lord is about to spier'^ for His scattered sheep in the dark and cloudy day. 0, that it would please our Lord to set up again David's old, wasted, and fallen tabernacle in Scotland, tliat we might see the glory of the second temple in this land! 0, that my little heaven were Avadset," to redeem the honour of my Lord Jesus among Jews and Gentiles I Let never dew lie upon my branches, and let my poor flower wither at the root, so being Christ were enthroned, and His glory advanced in all the world, and especially in these three kingdoms ; but I know He hath no need of me, what can I add to Him? But oh, that He Avould 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 oft" 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 being He would hew and carvo ' Exchange. - Worthless. ^ Wanton. * DethronciL * iutcndiiin:. <^ A;;k or Sfck. '' ilyit-aLrcJ. LETTER iV. 65 glory, glory for evermori; to my royal King, out of my silence and sufferings. O, that 1 had my lill of His love ! but I know ill man- ners make an uncouth and strange bridegroom. I entreat you earnestly for the aid of your prayers, for I forget not you, and I salute Avith ray 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 Avell pleasing in His sight." Grace, grace, be with you. Yours, in his sweetest Lord Jesus, S. II. Aberdeen, Feb. 4, 1G38. LETTER IV.— To the Truly Noble and Elect Lady, my Lady Viscountess of Kenmure. Noble and Elect Lady, — That honour that I have prayed for these sixteen years, with submission to my Lord's will, my kind I-ord hath now bestowed upon me, even to suffer for mylioyal 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 twentieth 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 u]ion 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, Avith the kisses of a King, Avith the joy of the Holy Ghost, Avitli faith that the Lord hears the sighing of a prisoner, Avith 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 amongst strange faces. He Avill give favour in the eyes of men to His poor oppressed servant, Avho doAV^ not but love that lovely One, that princely One, Jesus, the Comforter of his soul. All would be Avell if I Avere free of old challenges for guiltiness, and for neglect in my calling, and for speaking too little for my Well-Beloved's croAvn, honour, and kingdom. 0, for a day in the assembly of the saints to advocate for King Jesus ! If my Lord go on now to quarrels also, I die, I cannot endure it; but I look I'or peace from Him, because He knoAveth I do bcvir men's feud, i Can. 56 LETTER V. but I do 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 Avedding-chamber, and prayed for and desired the thriving of the marriage, and coming of His king- dom. I apprehend no less than a judgment upon GalloAvay, 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 doth bear more, and would bear death and burning quick- in His weak servants, even for this honourable cause that I now suffer for. Yet for all my complaints (and He knowcth that I dare not now dissemble) He was never sweeter and kinder than He is nov.- ; one kiss now is sweeter thaii ten long since; sweet, sweet is His cross; light, light, and easy is His yoke. 0, what a sweet step were it up to my Father's house through ten deaths, for the truth and cause of that un- known, and so not half well-loved plant of renown, the man called " the Branch," the chief among ten thousands, the fairest iimong the sons of men ! 0, what unseen joys, how many hidden heart-burnings of love are in the remnants of the sufferings of Christ ! 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, Avoe, 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 ])urpose 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 Marr with my case ; I will look to your ladyship ; and that good lady will be mindful to God of the Lord's prisoner, not for my cause, but for the Gos- pel's sake. Madam, bind me more (if more can be) to your lady- ship ; and write thanks to your brother, my Lord of Lome, for what he hath done for me, a poor unknov/n stranger to his lord- ship : 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 JesuSj and his goodwill Avho dwelt in the bush ; I rest, Yours, in his oAvn sweetest Lord Jesus, S. E. Edinburgh, July 2S, 1G36, 1 Trial or distruas. * Alive. LETTEIl V, 0 / LETTEii v.— To the Noble and Chiistiau Lady, tlie Viscountess of Kenmure. 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 iM erdeen, 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 framed ^ and uncouth-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, while ^ I get great heaven in my little arms, 0, 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 that look but 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 salva- tion 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 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 have Him, and embrace Him is another thing. ]\Iadam, 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 ; Ho hath not given you the bastard's portion; and howbeit ye get strokes and sour looks from your Lord, yet believe His love more ^ Met with. - Strange or alien, ^ Till. •» Gently. ^ CL:;rt or mr.p. 58 Li:TTKn vi. than your own feeling, for this Avorld can tako 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 your 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 lippcn^ the taking of 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 the 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 causey :- 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 this town pretend great love, but the iirelates have added to tlie 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, yet 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 Avith Christ, and at yea and nay; but I will yield to Him, providing my suffer- ing may preach more than my tongue did ; for I gave 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 a prisoner of Christ, who is mindful of your ladyship. Eemember my obliged obedience to my good Lady JMarr. 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, 1G3(3. LETTER VI.— To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my Lady Viscountess of Kenjiure. MAr)A:\r, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you ; 1 received your ladysliip's letter ; it refreshed me in my heaviness ; the blessing * ilutiust. * Cauicviiy. LtTri-.R VI. 59 nnrl prAyers of a prisoner of Christ come upon yon. Since my coming hither, Galloway sent me not a line, except what my brother Earlstown 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 l)lessing 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 l)ut that I eat my feasts alone, and that I cannot edify His saints. 0 that this nation knew Avhat 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 ; lie 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 sol- diers, howbeit they do not march nor carry armour, " Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of my Lord, and my Lord shall be my strength," Isaiah xlix. 5 ; my garland, "the Banished Minister" (the term of Aberdeen), asham- eth me not. I have seen the white side of Christ's cross, lovely hath He been to His oppressed servant. Psalm cxlvi. 7, " 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." 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. 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. 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 dyke 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 the fault, and not I (who be- lied 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 tliink the very annuity and casual- ties of the cross of Christ Jesus my Lord, and these comforts ^ That is, I am not without kindness from one who ha.s the method of it, or who knows how to be kind. - Be afraid or offended. ' Took offence. 60 LETTER VI. that accompany it, better than tlie world's set rent. 0, how many ricli oft-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. 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 count- eth you not a bastard : full-begotten bairns are nurtured, Heb. xii. 6. 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 j'ours betwixt you, but let Christ be whole play- maker; let Him be the lender, and ye 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 I write it under my hand ; love Him dearly, win in to see Him; there is in Him that which you never saw ; He is ever nigh, He is a tree of life, green and blossoming both summer and winter. There is a nick in Christianity to the which whoso- ever 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, come nearer," will say much. God thought never this Avorld a portion Avorthy 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 1 have you not a good Husband now 1 My heart cannot express what sad nights I have for the virgin daughter of my people : Avoe is me, for our time is coming! Ezekiel vii. 10, "Behold the day, behold, it is come ; the morning hath gone forth, the rod hath blossomed, pride hatli budded, violence is risen up in a rod of Avickedness. The sun is gone down upon our prophets!" A dry wind upon Scotland, but neither to fan nor to cleanse. But out of all ques- tion, when the Lord hath cut down His 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 separated from his brethren come upon jou. Yours, at Aberdeen, the prisoner of Christ, S. R. Aberdeen. * Think of giving you. LETTERS VII. AND VIII. 61 LETTER VII.— To the Honourable and truly noble Lady, the Viscountess of Kenmure. Madam, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to your ladyship. I lonj:; to hear from you. I am here Avaiting if a good wind, long looked f(ir, shall at length blow in Christ's sails in this land. But I ■wonder if Jesus be not content to suffer more yet in His members, and cause, and beauty of His house, rather than He should not be avenged upon this land. I hear many Avorthy men (who see more in the Lord's dealing than I can take up with my dim sight) are of a contrary mind, and do believe the Lord is coming home again to His house in Scotland. I hope He is on His journey tliat way, yet I look not but that He shall feed this land with their own blood before He establish His throne amongst us. I know your honour is not looking after things hereaway ; yc have no great cause to think that your stock and principal is under the roof of these visible heavens : and I hope ye would think your- self a beguiled and cozened soul if it were so. I would bo sorry to counsel your ladyship to make a covenant with time and this life, but rather desire you to hold in fair generals, and far off from this ill-founded heaven that is on this side of the water. It speaketh somewhat when our Lord bioweth the bloom off our daft ^ hopes in this life, and loppeth the branches of our Avorldly 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 saints' part of the yolk and marrow of short- laughing worldly happiness is not such a real evil as our blinded eyes do 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 that the Lord is seeking in His work. If my friends in Galloway would effectually do for my deliverance, I would 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. li. Aberdeen, Feb. 13, 1637. LETTER VIII.— To the Noble and Christian Lady, the Viscountess of Kenmure. Madam,— Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. T would not omit the occasion to Avrite to your ladyship with the bearer. I ^ Fuolisli or insane, ^ Spoil. G2 LETTER VIII. am glad the cliild is well ; God's ftivonr even in the eyes of men be seen upon him. I hope your ladyship is thinking upon these sad and Avoeful days wherein we now live, when our Lord, in His righteous judgment, is sending the kirk the gate^ she is going, to Kome's brothehhouse to seek a lover of her own, seeing she hath given up with Christ her husband. 0, what sweet comfort, Avhat rich salvation, is laid up for these who had rather wash and roll their garments in their own blood than break out from Christ by apostasy ! Keep yourself in the love of Christ, and stand far aback from the pollutions of the world : side not Avith these times, and hold off' from coming nigh the signs of a conspiracy with these that are now come out against Christ, that ye may be one kept for Christ only. I know your ladyship thinketh upon this, and how ye may be humbled for yourself and this backsliding land ; for I avouch that Avratli from the Lord is gone out against Scotland. I think aye the longer the better of my royal and Avorthy Master ; He is become a new Well-Beloved to me noAv, in renoAved consolations, by the presence of the Spirit of grace and glory ; Christ's garments smell of the poAvder of the merchant Avhen he cometh out of his ivory chambers. 0, His perfumed face, His fair face, His loA^ely and kindly kisses, have made me, a poor prisoner, see, there is more to be had of Christ in this life than I believed : Ave think all is but a little earnest, a four-hours," a small tasting Ave have, or is to be had, in this life (which is true compared Avith the inheritance), but yet I knoAV it is more, it is the kingdom of God Avithin us. Woe, Avoe is me, that I have not ten loves I'or that one Lord Jesus ! and that lovo fjxileth and drieth up in loving Him ; and that I find no Avay to spend my love desires, and the yolk of my heart upon that fairest and dearest one : I am far behind Avith my narroAV heart. 0, hoAV ebb a soul have I to take in Christ's love ! for let Avorlds be multi- plied according to angels' understanding, in millions, Avdiile^ they Aveary themselves, these Avorlds Avould not contain the thousandth part of His love. 0, if I could yoke in amongst the thick of angels and seraphims, aiid uoav glorified saints, and could raise a new love-song of Christ before all the Avorld! I am pained with Avondei'ing at noAv opened treasures in Christ; if every finger, member, bone, and joint Avere a torch burning in the hottest fire in hell, I Avould they could all send out love praises, high songs of praise for evermore, to that plant of renoAvn, to that royal and high Prince Jesus my Lord; but, alas. His love swelleth in me, and findeth no vent ! alas, Avhat can a dumb prisoner do or say for Him ! 0 for an engine* to write a book of Christ and His love ! ^ Way. ^ A light meal taken at four o'clock. * TiU. ♦ Genius or ability. LETTER IX. 63 nay, I nm left of Ilim bound and chained witli His love ! I cannot lind a loosed soul to lift up His ])raiscs, and give them out to others; but oh, my daylight hatli 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. 0, if I could turn my sails to Christ's right airt,^ 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, andAvhat 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 1 I want nothing ; unknown faces favour me; enemies must speak good of the truth ; my Master's cause purchaseth commendation. The hopes of my enlargement from appearances are cold ; my faith hath no bed to sleep upon but Omnipotency. The goodwill 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. AbcrJcen, 1(37. LETTER IX. — To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady the Viscountess of Kenmure. 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 that I will have no other tutor, suppose I could have wail- and choice of ten thousand beside: I tliink now five hundred heavy hearts for Him too little. I wish Christ now weeping, suffering, and contemned of men, Avere more dear and desirable to many souls than He is : I am sure 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. 0, that time would jDost faster, and hasten our long-looked for communion with that fairest, fairest among the sons of men ! 0, that the day would favour us, and come and put Christ and us in other's^ arms ! I am sure a few years Avill do our turn, and the soldier's hour-glass will soon run out. JMadam ! 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 ^ Direction. * Selection. ^ Each other's 64: LETTER X. two equal loves in your ladyship's heart. He must have one, and chat the greatest ; a little one to a creature, may and must suffice a soul married to Him, " Your INIaker is your Husband," Isa. liv. I would Avish you well, and my obligation these many years by- gone speak no less to me, but more I can neither wish, nor pray, nor desire for to your ladyship than Christ singled and wailed^ out from all created good things, or Christ, howbeit wet in His own blood and wearing a crown of thorns. I am sure the saints at their best are but strangers to the weight and Avorth of the incomparable SAveetness of Christ. He is so new, so fresh in ex- cellency, every day of ucav, to these that search more and more in Him, as if heaven could furnish as many ncAV Christs (if I may speak so) as there are days betAvixt Him and us, and yet He is one and the same. 0, Ave love an unknoAvn lover Avheu Ave love Christ ! Let me hear hoAV the child is every Avay. The prayers of a ])risoner of Christ be upon him. Grace for evermore, even while - glory perfect it, be Avith your ladyship. Yours, in his SAveet Lord Jesus, S. R. Aberdeen, 1G37. LETTER X.— To the Noble and Christian Lady, the Viscountess of Ken mure. Madam, — Notwithstanding the great haste of the bearer I would bless your ladyship in paper, desiring, that since Christ hath ever envied that the Avorld should have your love by ^ Him, that ye give yourself out for Christ, and that ye may be for no other. 1 knoAV none Avorthy of you but Christ, madam. I am either suffering for Christ, and this is either the sure and good way, or I have done Avith heaven and Avill never see God's face (which I bless Him cannot be). I Avrite my blessing to that sweet child that ye have borroAved from God, he is no heritage to you, but a loan; love him as folks do borroAved things : my heart is heavy for you. They say the kirk of Christ hath neither son nor heir, and therefore her enemies shall possess her : but I knoAv she is not that* ill friended, her husband is her heir, and she His heritage. If my Lord Avould be pleased I Avould desire some Avere dealt Avith for my return to AuAvoth, but if that never be, I thank God Anwoth is not heaven ; preaching is not Christ, I hope to Avait on. Let me hear how the child is, and your ladyship's mind and hopes of him, for it Avould ease my heart to know that he is Avell. I am in good terms Avith Christ, but oh, my guiltiness! yet He bring- » Separated aaul selected. ^ ^^ » Beside, ^ So. LETTEI! XI. 65 etli not pleas 1 betwixt Him and me to the streets, and before the sun. Grace, grace, for evermore be with your Ladyship. Your hidyship's, at all obedience in Christ, S. 11. Aberdeen, 1C37. LETTER XL— To the Eight Honourable and Christian Lady, my Lady Viscountess of Kenmure. Madam, — Grace, mercy, and peace to you. I am refreshed Avith your letter : the right hand of Him to whom belong the issues from deatli hath been gracious to that sweet child. I do not, I do not forget him ami your ladyship in my prayers. Madam, for your own^ase, I love careful, and withal doing coniplaints 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," would cure them : they think complaints a good charm for guiltiness. I hope 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 so much time in the day for Him as you can : He will be won with labour. I, His exiled prisoner, sought Him, and Ho hath rued- upon mo, and hath niiide a moan for me, as He doth for His own, Jer. xxxi. 20; Isa. xlv. 11 : and I know not what to do with Christ, His love surroundeth and surchargeth me. I am burdened Avith it ; but 0, how sweet and lovely is that burden ! I do not keep it within me : I am so in love with His love that if His love were not in heaven I would be unAvilling to go there. 0, Avhat weigh- ing and what telling is in Christ's love ! I fear nothing now so much as the laughing of Christ's cross, and the love-showers that accompany it : I wonder what He meaneth to put such a slave at the board-head, at His own elbow. 0, 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. 0, the many pound- Aveights of His love under Avhich I am SAveetly pressed ! Now, maclam, I persuade you the greatest part but play Avith Chris- 1 Quarrels. - Had Pity. ^ I suppose "bud" is derived from the verb "to bid," and si-nifies an offer cr promise, the " bidding " at an auction. 66 LETTER Xn, tianity ; they put it by hand easily. I thought it had been aft easy thing to be a Christian, and that to seek God had been at the next door, but oh, 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 speakcth with my reins in the night season, and in the morning when I awake I iind His love arrows that He shot at me, sticking in my heart. Who will help me to praise? who will come to lift with me and set on high His great love 1 and yet I find that a fire-flaught of challenges will come in at mid- summer, and question me, iDut it is only to keep a sinner in order. As for friends, I shall 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 or credit ; only he entrusteth him with common errands, wherein he cannot play the knave. I pray God I may not give this world credit of my joys, and com- forts, 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 lung your vessels, great and small, and pin your burdens upon the nail fastened in J3avid's house, Isa. xxii. 23. Let me not be well if ever they get the tutoring of my comforts : away, away with irresponsaU tutors that Avould play me a slip, and then Christ would laugh at me, and say, " Well-wared,2 try again ere ye trust." Now, woe is me for my whorish mother the Kirk of Scotland. 0 ! who will bewail her. Now the presence of the great Angel of the covenant to be with you and that sweet child. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. E. Aberdeen, March 7, 1G37. LETTER XH.— To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my Lady Kenmure. Madam, — Upon the oiiered opportunity of this worthy bearer, 1 could not omit to answer the heads of your letter. 1. I think not much to set down in paper some good things anent Christ, that sealed and holy thing, 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; but oh, I have rather smoke 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 mis-mannered hunger, that maketh me miscall and nickname Christ as a changed Lord, but, alas, it is ill slitten ! ^ I cannot believe without a pledge, 1 Irresponsible. " Well-rewarded. ^ Sorely renf. LETTER XII. 67 I cannot take God's word without a caution, as if Christ had lost and sokl His credit, and were not in my books responsal and law- bidding ;i but this is my way, for His way is (Ephes. i. 13), "After that ye believed ye Avere scaled with tlie Holy Spirit of i)romise." 2. 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. 0, what need have I to have the ashes blown away from my dying-out fire ! I may be a book-man, and 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 misted. Therefore, as night-watch ers 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 watch- ing, even the light that reproveth sleeping. I doubt not but more should 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 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 .lave the king's image and superscription upon it. 3. 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. 0, how sweet a thing is it to give Christ His handful of broken arms and legs, and disjointed bones ! 4. 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 stock and state it shall not miscarry. Our spilt works, losses, deadness, coldness, wretchedness, are the ground which the good Husbandman laboureth. 5. Ye write that His compassions fail not, notwithstanding that your service to Christ miscarrieth. To the which I answer, God forbid that there were bujdng, and selling, and blocking'^ for as good again betwixt Christ and us ; for then free grace might go play it, and a SaAdour sing dumb, and Christ go and sleep ; but we go to heaven with light shoulders, and all the bairn-time, and the vessels great and small that avc have, are fastened upon the sure nail, Isa. xxii. 24. The only danger is that we give grace more ado than God giveth it, that is by turning ^ Qu. Law-biding. - Close quarters. "* Close or near. ' Bartering. 68 LETTEK XIII. His grace into wantonness. G. Ye write, feiv see your guiltiness, and ye cannot be free with many, as witli me. I answer, Blessed be God, 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 Avith you. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. R. Aberdeen, LETTER XHL— To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my Lady Kenmuke. 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 the former may be 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 1 I am persuaded Christ hath bought you by^ the devil, and hell, and sin; 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 sweared- to come and loose a tired prisoner; but ye stand in need of all the crosses, losses, changes, and sad hearts that befel you since that time. Christ knoweth the body of sin unsubdued Avill 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 ye have law to raise a suspension against all that devils, men, friends, worlds, losses, hell, or sin can decree against you. It is good your crosses will but convey you to heaven's gates. In can they not go ; the gates shall be closed on them when ye shall be admitted to the throne. Time standeth not still; eternity is hard at our door. 0, 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 I am persuaded fully that Christ is half with me in this well-borne 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 it over to Christ what I shall do in this case. I know certainly my Lord Jesus will not mar nor spill my sufferings ; He hath use for them in His house. 0, ^ Past or away from, * Eeluctant, LETTER XIV. 69 wliat it worketh on mc to romoniber tliat a stranger, wlio cometli not in by the door, shall build hay and stubble upon the golden foundation I laid amongst that people in Anwoth ! but I know Pro- vidence looketh not asquint but looketh straight out, and through all men's darkness. 0, 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 this sour world hath lost my heart deservedly, but oh, that there Avere a day's-man to lay his hand upon us both, and determine upon my part of it. Alas ! that innocent and lovely truth should be sold ; my tears are but 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 goetli not over faith's breath, yet our King liveth. I write the ]>risoner's blessings, the goodwill, 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. E. Aberdeen, Sept. 7, 1637. LETTER XIV.— To the much Honoured John Gordon, of Cardoness, Elder. Much Honoured and Dearest in my Lord, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. My soul longeth exceedingly to hear how matters go l^etwixt 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 ; you go to bed and you 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. 0, if I could buy your soul's salvation with any suff'ering whatsoever, and that ye and I might meet with joy up in the rainbow, when we shall stand before our Judge ! 0 my Lord forbid I have any hard thing to depone against you in that day ! 0, that He Avho quickeneth the dead Avould give life to my sowing among you ! What joy is there (next to Christ), that standeth on this side of death would comfort me more than that tlie souls of that poor people were in safety, and beyond all hazard of losing. Sir, show the people this, for when I write to you I thinlc I write to you all, old and young ; fulfil my joy and seek the Lord. Sure I am, once I discovered my lovely, royal, princely Lord Jesus 1 Misrepresented, 70 LETTER XIV. to you all, woe, woe, woe, shall be your part of it for evermore if the Gospel l)e not the saA'-our of life unto life to you : as many sermons as I preached, as many sentences as I uttered, as many points of dittayi shall they 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 will scarcely be saved. 0, what violence of thronging will heaven take ! Alas ! I see many de- ceiving themselves, for we will all to heaven ; now every foul dog, Avith 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 pitiful slip that can be ; and that no loss is comparable to this loss. 0, then, see that there be not a loose pin in tlie Avork of your sah^ation ! for ye Avill not believe hoAv quickly tlie Judge Avill come ; and for yourself, I knoAv that death is Avaiting, and hovering, and lingering at God's command, that ye may l)e prepared. Then you had need to stir your time and to take eternity and death to your riper advisements : a Avrong step or a Avrong 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 Avater to mourn for it. I know your counts are many, and Avill take telling, and laying, and reckoning betAvixt you and your Lord ; fit your count? and order them ; lose not to the last play, Avhatever ye do ; for in that play Avith death, your precious soul is the prize ; for the Lord's sake spoil not the play, and lose not such a treasure. Ye know out of love I had to your soul, and out of desire I had to make an honest count for you, I testified my displeasure and disliking of your AA^ays very often, botli in private and public. I am not noAV a witness of your doings, but your Judge is alAA^ays your Avitness. I beseech by the mercies of God, by the salvation of your soul, by your comforts Avhen your eye-strings shall break, and the face Avax pale, and the soul shall tremble to be out of the lodging of clay, and by your compearance before your aAvful Judge, after the sight of this letter, take a new course AAdth your Avays, and now in the end of your day, make sure of heaven ; examine yourself if ye be in good earnest in Christ, for some (Heb. vi. 4) are partakers of the Holy Ghost, and taste of the good Word of God, and of the poAvers of tlie life to come, and yet have no part in Christ at all. ^Lany think they believe, but never tremble : the devils are further on than these. Jam. 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 Avill not bide ! Put Christ upon all your accounts and your ^ Arriignment or accusation. ^ Stagger. ' Particular. LETTER XIV. 71 secrets. Better it is that ye give Ilim your counts in this life, out of your own hand, than that aiter this life, He take them from you. I never knew so well what sin was as since I came to Aherdeenj howbeit I was preaching of it to you. To feel the smoke of hell's lire 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 cast in the midst of it quick, and then to have God locking the ])rison door, never to be opened for all eternity : O, how will it 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 meeteth my soul in my sad hours, and 1 rejoice that I gave fair warning of all the corruptions noAv entering in 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. 0, what I Avould 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, while ^ I be over head and ears in love's ocean. If Clirist's love (that fountain of delight) were laid as open to me as I would wisli, 0, how would I drink, and drink abundantly ! 0, how drunken Avould 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. 0, when will we meet ! 0, how long is it to the dawning of the mai-riage-day ! 0, sweet Lord Jesus, take wide steps ! 0, my Lord, come over mountains at one stride ! 0, ray Beloved, flee like a roe, or young hart, upon the mountains of separation ! 0, if He Avould 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 it was not for nothing that I spake so meikle^ good of Christ to you in public. 0, if the heaven and the heaven of heavens were paper, and the sea ink, and the multitude of moun- tains pens of brass, and I were able to write that paper, within and Avithout, full of the praises of my fairest, my dearest, my loveliest, my sweetest, my matchless, and my most marroAvless"* and mar- vellous Well-Beloved ! Woe is me I cannot set Him out to men ^ Postpone. ^ Until. ^ Much, ■* Incomparable. 72 LETTER XIV. and angels ! 0, there are few tongues to sing love-songs of His incomparable excellency ! 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 wit's end how to get His name made great. Blessed they who would help me in this. How sweet are Christ's back parts ! 0, what then is in His face ! These that see His face, how do they get their eye plucked off Him again ? Look up to Him and love Him ! O, love and live ! It were life to me if ye would reiid this letter to that people, and if they did profit by it. 0, if I could cause them to die of love for Jesus ! I 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 c[uit it in an hair, or in an hoof, ye break your conscience in twain ; and who then cat* mend it, and cast a knot on it 1 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. 0, that my Lord would fulfil my joy, and keep the young bride to Christ that is at Anwoth ! 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-last- ing weighty vengeance and curse of God ; in my Lord's name I give them a doom of black, unmixed, pure wrath, which my Master shall 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 who thou A^ill, of the free salvation : Christ's SAveet balm for thy wounds, 0, 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 shall make good my word ere long. 0, that people Avere wise ! O, that people were wise ! 0, that people would spier^ out Christ and never rest while- they find Him ! 0, how shall my soul 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, shall 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?-' 0, my God forbid ! often did I tell you of a fan of God's Word 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 cpdckly coming ; desola- tion for Scotland, because of the cjuarrel of a broken covenant. Now, 1 Seek. " Until. ^ Accusations. LETTER XV. 73 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 Avindow ; pray for me and praise for rne. The blessing of my God, the prayers and blessings of a poor prisoner and your lawful pastor, be upon you. Your lawful and loving pastor, S. R. Aberdeen, June 16, 1637. LETTER XV.— To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my Lady Boyd. 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 upon truth's side. I hope your ladyship will befriend him with your counsel and counten- ance in that country, where he is a stranger; and your ladyship ncedeth not fear but your kindness to his own shall be put up in Christ's accounts. Now, madam, for your ladyship's case, I re- joice exceedingly that the Father of Lights hath made jon 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 gar- land, and your eye looketh up the mount, Avhich certainly is no- thing 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 sorrow- at corruption and not secure; that com- panion 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. Ixi. First, I am glad Christ will get employment of His calling in you. Many a whole soul is in heaven which was sicker than ye are ; He is content 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 while ^ ye be in at heaven's gates, but to lie betwixt 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 ^ Properly a notch. The meaning is, that there is a high standard which you strive to attain. " Sorrowfid. ^ Bandage. ■* Till. 74 li:tter xvi. know Christ and ye sliall not be heard: ye will whisper it over be- twixt 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," Isa. xli. 13. Fear not, Jacob. The sea-sick passenger shall corae to land; Christ will be the first that will meet you on the shore. I hope 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 inn-keepers by the Avay : He is over beyond time in the other side of the water who thinkcth long for you. For my unfaithful self, madam, I must say a woi'd. At my first coming hither, the devil made many black lies of my Lord Jesus, and said the court Avas changed, and He was angry and would give an evil servant his leave at mid-term ; but He give me grace not to take my leave : I resolve 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, no^w (I dare not, I do not keep it up), who is feasted as His poor exiled pri- soner? 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 on such a Ituler'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 dauting ^ cross. I know He hath other things to do than to play with me, and trinle ^ an apple with me, and that this feast will end. 0, for instruments in God's name, that this is He ! and that I may make use of it, when it will be a near friend Avithin me, and when it will be said by a challenging devil, " Where is my God ? " Since I know it will not last, I desire but to keep broken meat ; but let no man after me slander Christ for His cross. 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 appear- ance. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, , S. li. Aberdeen, March 7, 1C37. LETTER XVI— To Mr. Alexander Henderson. My Eeverend and Dear Brother, — I received your letters. They are as apples of gold to me ; for with my sweet feasts (and ^ Fondling. - Eoll. LETTER XVII. 75 Lliey are above the deserving of sucli a sinner, liigli and out of measure) I have sadness to baUast me and weight me a little. It is but His boundless wisdom, who hath taken the tutoring of His witless child ; and He knoweth 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) I could wish many jiounds' weight added to my cross to know that, by my sufferings, Christ were set i'orward in His kingly office in this land. O, 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 fiiithful 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 Avith 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 case, my reverend and dearest brother, ye are the talking of the North and South ; and looked to so as if you were all crystal glass ; your motes and dust should soon be proclaimed, and trumpets blown at your slips. But I know ye have laid help upon One that is mighty. Entrust 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," God hath called you to Clirist'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 ye have resolved to take Christ upon any terms whatsoever. I hope ye do not rue, though your cause be hated and that preju- dices 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 for one 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. E. Aberdeen, March 9, 1637. ^__ LETTER XVII.— To the Eight Honourable my Lord Lowdon, 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 ye are graced to profess is Christ's own truth. Ye are many ways blessed of God, who hath taken ^ Qu. saint-mockers. 76 LETTER XVIII. 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 kingdon) thought not Christ dear wares, and religion expensive, hazardous, and danger- ous, they would not slip from His cause as they do, and stand looking on with their hands folded behind their back, when lowns ^ are running away 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 to any, especially for money and moyen ;" but Christ can get no law — good, cheap, nor 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 of our lord- ship's learning) worth a straw. Events are God's. Let us do, 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, temporising and faithless fearfulness, spilleth good provi- dence. 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 arms of flesh and blood ; nay, Christ doth His turn with less din than with garments rolled in blood. But I would the zeal of God were in the nobles to do their part for Christ, and I must be par- doned to write to your lordship this I do^ not, I dare not but speak to others what God hath done to the soul of His poor, afflicted, exiled prisoner. His comfort is more than I ever knew before ; He hath sealed the honourable cause I now suffer for, and I shall not believe that Chist will put His " Amen " and ring 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 Avine with that royal princely One, Christ Jesus. 0, what weighing ' 0, Avhat 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 ! 0, for help to lift Him up by praises on His royal tlirone ! I speak no more but that His name may be spread abroad in me, that meikle •^ good may be spoken of Christ on my behalf; this being done, my losses, place, stipend, credit, ease, and liberty, shall all be made ^Knaves. 'Advocacy. ^^ Can. *Much. LETTER XVIII. 77 up to my full contentment and joy of heart. I will be confident 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 will entreat your lordship to exhort and encourage that nobleman, your chief, to do the same. But I am Avoe ^ many of you find a new wisdom, which deserveth not such a name ; it were better that men should see that their wis- dom be holy, and their holiness wise. I must be bold to desire your lordship to add to your former faA^ours to me (for the which 3^our 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 he is to dwell nigh your lordship's bounds : your lordship's word and countenance may help him. Thus recom- mending your lordship to the siiving grace and tender mercy of Christ Jesus our Lord, I rest. Your lordship's obliged servant in Christ, S. R. Aberdeen, March 9, 1637. LETTER XVnL— To Mr. William Dalglish, Minister of the Gospel. Reverend and Dear Brother,— Grace, mercy, and jieace be to you. I am well. My Lord is kinder to me than ever He was. It pleaseth Him to dine and sup with his afflicted prisoner ; a king i'easteth me, and His spikenard casteth a sweet smell. Put Christ's love to the trial and put upon it burdens, and then it will appear love indeed. We employ not His love, and therefore we know it not. I verily count more of the sufferings of my Lord than of this world's lustred and over-gilded glory. I dare not say but my Lord Jesus hath fully recompensed my sadness Avith His joys, my losses with His own presence. I find it a sweet and rich thing to ex- change my sorrows with Christ's joys, my afflictions Avith that SAveet peace I have Avith Himself. Brother, this is His OAvn truth I noAV suffer for. He hath sealed my sufferings Avith His OAvn com- forts, and I knoAv He Avill 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 that is a Avorm, or the son of man that Avill die. Providence hath a thousand keys to open a thousand sundry doors for the deliverance of His own, Avhen it is even come to a condamatum est. Let us be faithful and care for our OAvn 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 Avith events, and to hold a court (if I may so speak) upon ^ Sorrowful. * 7S LETTER XIX. God's providence, and beginneth to say, how wilt tliou 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 stir ^ His own helm ; there is nothing left to us but to see how we may be ap- proved of Him, and how we may roll the weight of our weak souls (in well-doing) upon Him who is God Omnipotent ; and when what we thus essay miscarrieth, it shall neither be our sin nor cross. Brother, remember the Lord's word to Peter, " Simon, lovest thou me 1 Feed my sheep : " no greater testimony of our love to Christ can be than to feed painfully 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 meantime silent (which is my greatest grief). Dr Barron hath often disj)uted 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 ap- pointed a dispute before witnesses ; I trust Christ and truth shall do for themselves. I hope, brother, ye will help my people, and write to me what ye hear the bishop is to do to them. Grace be with you. Your brother in bonds, S. K. Aberdeen, June 16, 1637. LETTER XIX.— To Mr. Hugh M'Kaill, Minister of the Gospel. Eeverend 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 as the dew of herbs. I am most secure in this prison ; salvation is for walls in it, and. what think ye of these walls 1 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. O, how many black counts hath Christ and I rounded over together in the house of my pilgrimage ! and how fat a por- tion hath He 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 pass finding out. No preaching, no book, no learning could give me that which I behoved to come and get in this town. But what of all this, if I were not misted,* confounded, and astonished how to be thankful - Steer. " Encounters. 3 A slight refreshment taken between dinner and supper. .* Bewildered. LETTER XX. 79. and how to get Him praised for evermore ? And Avluit is more. He liatli been pleased to pain me with His love, and my pain groAveth through want of real possession. Some have Avritten to me that I am possibly too joyful of the cross, but my joy over- leapeth the cross, it is bounded and terminate upon Christ. I know the sun Avill overcloud and eclipse, and I shall again be put to walk in the shadow ; but Christ must be welcome to come and go as He thinketh meet : j^et He would be more Avelcome to me, I trow, to come than 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 dreAV a kiss from His mouth ; but He would send me as a spy into this wilderness of sufiering, to see the laud and to try the ford ; and I cannot make a lie of CJirist'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 ^ of Christ's good meat, and not to eat when He saith, " Eat, 0 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 both my feet on dry ground when the way is better, but this is slippery ground. My Lord thought 40od I should go by an hold, and lean on my Well-Beloved's shoulder : it is good to be ever taking from Him. I desire He may get the fruit of praises for dauting - and thus dandling me upon 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 we have the advantage of the brae upon our enemies : we are more than conquerors through Him who hath loved us ; and they know not wherein our strength lieth. Pray for me ; grace be with you. Your brother in Christ, S. 11. Aberdeen. LETTER XX.— To my Lady Boyd. !Madam, — Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. The Lord hath brought me to Aberdeen, Avhere I see God in few. This toAvn hath been advised upon of purpose for me : it consisteth either of Pajjists 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 ^ Be sparing of. ^ Fondling, 80 LETTER XX. faces smile upon mo since I came hither. I am heavy and sad, considering what is betwixt the Lord and my soul, which none seetli but He. I find men have mistaken me ; it would be no art (as I now see) to spin small and make hypocrisy seem 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 kneAV anything of Christianity, save the letters of that name ; men see but as men, and they call ten, twenty ; and twenty, an hundred ; but 0 ! 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 hide 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^ Avith 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 sufterer 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 so : my blessing on the Cross of Christ, that hath made me see this. 0, 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 next door : and I see, howbeit my challenges be many, I suff"er for Christ, and dare hazard my salvation upon it ; for sometimes my Lord cometh with a fair hour, and 0, but His love be sweet, delightful, and comfortable ! Half a kiss is sweet, but our doting love Avill not be content of a right to Christ unless we get possession ; like the man who Avill not be content of 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 Ave 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 knoAV your ladyship knoweth tliis, 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 1 aim at this, to have my Lord Avell spoken of and honoured, howbeit He should make nothing of me, but a bridge over a Avater. Thus recommending your ladyship, your 1 Chaffer. = Side-table. 3 Desirous. ^Palm. LETTER XXr. 81 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 ladysliip's, in his sweetest Lord Jesus, S. R, Aberdeen. LETTER XXL— To Mr. David Dickson. Reverend and Dear Brother, — Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. I find great men, especially old friends, scar^ to s])eak for me ; but my kingly and royal Master biddeth me try His moyen - to the uttermost, and I shall find a friend at hand ; I still depend on Him ; His court is as before ; the prisoner is wel- come to Him : the black crabbed bed-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 in to the king's house of wine, and for the most part my life is joy, and such joy through His comforts as I have been afraid to shame myself, and to 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 me more than prison and banishment. I cannot get a gate of Christ's love : had I known what He was keeping for me, I Avould 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 ; I seek no more but a vent to my wine : I am smothered and ready to burst for want of a 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 wailed ^ meat, the sick bairn is oftentimes the spilt ^ bairn ; ye shall command all the house. I hope ye help a tired prisoner to pray and praise ; had I but the annual of annual to give to my Lord Jesus, it should ease my pain ; but, alas ! I have nothing to pay ; He will get nothing of poor me ; but I am woe ^ I have not room enough in my heart for such a stranger. I am not cast down to go further north. I have good cause to work for my Master, for I am well paid before hand ; I am not behind, howbeit I should not get one smile more till my feet be up within the King's dining-hall. I have gone through yours upon the covenant; it hath edified my soul and refreshed an hungry man : I judge it sharp, sweet, quick, and profound. Take me at my word, I fear it get no lodging in Scotland. The brethren of Ireland write not to me ; chide with them for that, 1 1 Afraitl, -Advocacy. •'Intimate. * (Jhoice. * SiDuilt. ^ Sorrv. ■ V 82 LETTER XXII. am snre that I may give you and tlicm a commission (and I will bide by it) that you tell my beloved I am sick of love, I hope in God to leave some of my rust and superfluities in Aberdeen : I cannot get an 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. E. Aberdeen. LETTER XXII.— To Mr. Matthew ]\Iowat. Revetjend and Dear BnoTiinn, — I am a very far mistaken man. If others knew how poor my stock were 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 upon me, but it is good that a l)airn'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 (while ^ 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 in for man and angel) is the only thing I fainest would be in hands with. He knoweth 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 yoar, is dropping sweetness ; if I had vessels I might fill them, but my old riven, holey, and running-out dish, even when I am at the well, can bring little away. Xothing but glory will make tight and fast our leaking and rifty vessels! Alas ! I have scailed- 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. 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. 0, 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 I have, and be countable for the talent Himself. Gladly would I put Christ in my room to guide all, and let me be but a servant to run errands, and do by His direction ; let me be His interdicted heir. iTill. --Spilt. 3 Can. ■» Method. LETTER XXII. 83 Lord Jesus, work upon my minority, and let Him win a pn})irs blessing. 0, how would 1 rejoice to have this work of my salva- tion legally fastened upon Christ ! A back-bond of my Lord Jesus that it should be forthcoming to the orphan should be my happi- ness ; dependency on Christ were my surest way : if Christ wen; my bottom I were sure enough. I thought guiding of grace had been no art, I thought it would come of will, but I would spilP 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 free-will, a weathercock turning at a serpent's tongue, a tutor that couped- 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 cracked credit. 0, well to my poor soul for evermore that my Lord called grace to the counsel, and put Christ Jesus, with free merits, and the blood of God, foremost in the chase, to draw sinners after a ransomer ! 0, 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!* 0, would to my Lord I could cause paper and ink speak the worth and excellency, the high and loud praises of a brother-ransomer ! 0, the Ransomer needs not my report ! but if He Vv'ould 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 out-cries, and love-letters, of the highness (the highness for evermore !) the glory (the glory for evermore !) of the Eansomer, whose clothes were wet, and dyed in blood ; howbeit that after I had done that, my soul and body should go back to the mother "Nothing," that their Creator brought them once out from, as from their beginning. But Avhy 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 mo employment and a calling, one way or other, to out^ Christ and His wares, to c(juntry buyers, and propose Christ unto, and press Him upon, some poor souls, that fainer than their life would receive Him? You complain heavily of your short-coming in practice, and venturing on suffering for Christ ; you have many marrows.*' For the first, I would not put you off sense of wretch- edness ; 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 camj) as to buy a sword : ^ Spoil. - Overthrew. ^ Bargain. * Debtor?. ^ Dispose of. ^ JMatcs, ' Possessions. 84 LETTER XXIII, I wonder that Christ should not Laugh at such a sohlier; I am no lietter yet, but faith liveth and spendeth upon our Captain's charges, who is able to i)ay for all. AVe need not pity Him, He is rich enough. Ye desire me also not to mistake Christ under a mask ; I bless you, and thank God for it : but, alas ! masked or barefaced, kissing or glooming, I mistake Him : yea, I mistake Him furthest when the mask is off, for then I play me with His sweetness ; I am like a child that hath a golden book, that playeth more with the ribbons, and the gilding, and the picture in the first page, than readeth 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 weak- ness makes 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 sets ^ him well, liow- beit 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, liemember my bonds. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. E. Aberdeen, 1637. LETTER XXIIL— To William Halliday. Loving Friend, — I received your letter. I wish ye take pains for salvation : mistaken grace, and somewhat like conversion, which is not conversion, is the saddest and most doleful thing in the Avorld : make sure of salvation, and lay the foundation sure, for many are beguiled. Put a low price upon world's clay ; put 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 Avill conquer and overcome; let no man scar ^ at Christ, for I have no quarrels at His cross. He and His cross are two good guests, and worth the lodging. Men Avould 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 when no eye seeth you. Grace be with you. Yours, in Christ Jesus, S. R. Aberdeen. ^ Becomes. " BoiTirle, LETTER XXIV. 85 LETTER XXIV.— To a rTentlowoman after tlic Death of licr Husband. Dear AXD Loving Sister, — I know ye are minding your sweet country, and not taking your inns (the place of your banishment) for your home ; this life is not worthy to be the thatch or outer wall of your Lord Jesus His paradise, that He did sweat for to you, and that He keepeth for you ; short and silly and sand-blind were our hoi)e if it could not look over the water to our best heri- tage, and if it stayed only at home about the doors of our clay house. I marvel not, my dear sister, that yo complain that yc come short of your old wrestlings you had for a blessing, and that now ye find it not so. Bairns are but hired to learn their lesson Avhen 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 rink's- end, and get the gold in the loof^ of their hand. Our Lord maketh delicates and dainties of His sweet presence and love-visits to His own, but, Christ's love under a vail is love ; if ye get Christ, how- beit not the sweet and pleasant way you would have Him, it is enough, for the Well-Beloved cometh not our way ; He must wail ^ His own gate^ Himself for worldly things ; seeing they are meadows and fair flowers in your way to heaven, a smell in the by-going is sufficient ; he that would reckon and tell all the stones in his Avay, in a journey of three or four hundred miles, and write up in his count-book all the herbs and flowers growing in his way, might come short of his journey : you cannot stay in your inch of time to lose your day (seeing 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 Avisdom to read your count-book, and to have in readiness your business against the time you come to death's water-side. I know your lodging is taken ; your Fore-runner, Christ, hath not forgotten that, and therefore you must set your- self to your one thing, which ye cannot well want. Li 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 light owner of your love. Sorrow, loss, sadness, death, are the worst things that are, except sin ; but Christ knoweth well what to make of them, and can put His own in the crosses common, that we shall be obliged to afflic- tion, and thank God, who learned'' us to make our acquaintance with such a rough companion, who can hale us to Christ. You must learn to make evils your great good, and to spin out comforts, ' The prize. * Course. * Palm. •* Choose. =* Method. » Taught. 86 LETTER XXV, peace, joy, communion with Christ, out of your troubles, that are Christ's wooers sent to speak for you to Himself.^ It is easy to get good words and a comfortable message from our Lord, even from such rougli sergeants as diverse temptations. Thanks to God for crosses ! When we count and reckon our losses in seeking God, Ave find 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 case ; 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 Avorld cannot loose it), let us then count it exceeding joy when we fall into diverse temptations. Thus recommending you to the tender mercy and grace of our Lord, I rest, Your loving brother, S. U. Aljcrclcen. LETTER XXV. — To John Gordon, of Cardoness, Younger. Honoured and Dear Brother, — I wrote of late to you : multi- tudes of letters burden me now. I am refreshed with your letter ; I exhort you in the boAvels of Christ, set to work for your soul, and let these bear weight with you, and ponder them seriously : L Weeping and gnashing of teeth in utter darkness, or heaven's joy. 2. Think what ye would give for an hour when ye shall lie like dead cold, blackened clay. 3. There is sand in your glass yet, and your sun is not gone down. 4. Consider Avhat joy and peace is in Christ's service. 5. 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 sergeants and servants, to do your business. (). To have mercy on your seed and a blessing on your house. 7. To have true honour and a name on earth, that casts a sweet smell. 8. How ye will rejoice when Christ layeth down your head under His chin, and betwixt His breasts, and dryeth your face, and wel- cometh you to glory and happiness. 9. Imagine what pain and torture is a guilty conscience ; what slaver}^ to carry the devil's uuhonest loads. 10. Sin's joys are but night dreams, thoughts, vapours, imaginations, and shadows. 11. What dignity it is to be a son of God. 12. Dominion and mastery over temptations, ^ Ccspcak you for IILmself. LKTTEK XXVI. 87 over the world, and sin. 13. That your enemies should be the tail, and you the head. For your bairns now at their rest ; I speak to you and your wife (and cause her read this). 1. I am a witness of Barbara's glory in heaven. 2. For the rest I Avrite 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. They are not lost to you that are laid up in Clirist's treasury in heaven. 4. At the resurrection ye shall meet with them, there tliey are sent before, but not sent aAvay. 5. Your Lord loveth 3'ou, who is homely^ to take and give, borrow and lend. G. Let not bairns be your idols, for God will be jealous, and take away the idol, because He is greedy of your love wholly. I bless you, your wife, and children. Grace for evermore be with you. Your loving pastor, S. E. AberJeen. LETTER XXVL— To John Gordon, of Cardoness, Elder. Honourable and Dearest in the Lord, — Your letter hath refreshed my soul. My joy is fulfilled if Christ and ye be fast to^ gether; ye are my joy and my crown : ye know I have recom- mended His love to you. I defy the world, Satan, and sin. Hi.'j love hath neither Inim nor bottom in it. My dearest in Christ, 1 write my soul's desire to you. Heaven is not at the next door; 1 find Christianity an hard task ; set to it in your evening : we Avould all both keep both Christ and our right eyes, our right hand and foot ; but it Avill not be Avith us. I beseech you by the mercies of God, and your compearance before Christ, look Christ's count-book and your own together, and collation" them; give the remnant of your time to your soul ; this great idle-god,^ the Avorld, Avill be lying in white ashes, in the day of your compearance ; and why should night dreams, and day shadows, and water froth, and May flowers, run aAvay witli your heart 1 When we Avin to the Avater-side, and bLu^k death's river brink, and put our foot in the boat, Ave shall laugh at our folly. Sir, I recommend you unto the thoughts of death, and Iioav ye A\'ould Avish your soul to be, Avhen 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 ii. l^, IG, to the end, and Acts vi. 2, 3, 4, 5 ; and ye shall find God's people should have a voice in choosing church-rulers and teachers.- I shall be sorry, if Avillingly ye shall give Avay to his unlaAvful intrusion upon my labours : the only Avise 'God direct you. God's grace be Avith you. Aberdeen. Your loving pastor, S. R. ^ Familiar. " Collate, ' Idol-god. 88 LETTER XXVII. LETTER XXVII.— To Earlstoun, Younger. 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 there is not such a glassy, icy, and slippery piece of Avay betwixt you and heaven, as youth. I have experience to say with me here, and seal Avhat 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 Avere, dead and buried, and yet rise again, and be a worse devil than ever he was. Therefore, my brother, Ijeware 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 gray-haired, withered, dry devil, for in youth he findeth dry sticks, and dry coals, and an hot hearthstone, 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 Avater for Satan's coal. Yet I must tell you, the whole saints now triumphant in heaven, and standing before the throne, are nothing but Christ's forlorn and beggarly dyvours.^ What ai'e they, but a pack of redeemed sinners 1 But their redemption is not only past the seals, but completed ; and yours is on the wheels, and in doing. All Clirist's good bairns go to heaven with a broken brow, and with a crooked leg. Christ has an advantage of you, and I pray you let Him have it, He shall find employment for His calling iu you. If it were not with you as you write, grace should find no sale nor market in you ; but ye must be content to give Christ somewhat ado. 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 Avill 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 shall be a miracle if ye must be the first sick man He put away uncured, and worse than He found you. Nay, nay, Christ is honest, and in that, flyting free with sinners,' " And him that cometh to 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 ye flnd your wounds stound you, presumption is ever whole at the heart, and hath but the truant-sickness and groaneth ' Debtors. - Encoimtered. s Rather, I think, " and in that flyting, free with sinners : " that is, guiltless of the charge that they bring against Him, LET ri:r. xxvii S'i) only for tlio. fasliioii ; faith liaili sense of sickness, and looketli like a friend to the promise; and lookin,2; to Christ therein, is glad to see a known face. Christ is as full a feast, as yo can have to hunger. Nay, Christ, I say, is not a full man's leavings ; His mercy sends always a letter of defiance to all your sins, if there were ten thousand more of them. I grant it is a hard matter for a poor hungry man to win his meat upon liidden Christ, for then the key of His pantry door, and of the house of wine is a-seeking and cannot l)e had ; but hunger must break through iron locks, I be- moan 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 the sides of His head, Avhen 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 will 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 an 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 »vith 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 mislearned cries 1 And then hope for Christ's blessing, and His blessing is better than other ten 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, mis- nurtured^ cryirig ^1^^ knocking will do. And for doubtings, because ye are not as ye were long since with your Master, consider three things. 1. "What if Christ had such tottering thoughts of the bargain of the new covenant betwixt you and Him as you have 1 2. Your heart is not the compass Christ saileth by ; He will give you leave to sing as ye please, but He will not dance to your daft-spring.* It is not referred to you and your thoughts, Avhat 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. 3. 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 1 for then He sayeth, He knoweth who beareth the charges of the house. It is also meet 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 1 Chirping or feeble-tongued " Indicateth. 3 IJDmannerly. * Joyous music. 90 LETTEK XXVir. of God's free grace, praised be tlie Avinner. I may add a 4tli. In the passing of your l)ill and your charters, wlien they went through the Mediator's great seal and were concluded, faitli's advice was not sought ; faith had 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, Avhich ye have of faith now, having already closed Avith 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 som'c 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 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. Now for myself ! Alas, I am not the man I go for in this nation. Men have not just weights to weigh me in. 0, but I am a silly, feckless^ bod}', and overgrown Avith Aveeds ; corruption is rank and fat in me ! 0, if I Avere answerable to this holy cause, and to that honourable Prince's loA'"e, for Avhom I noAv suffer ; if Christ Avould refer the matter to me (in His presence I s]ieak it), I might think shame to vote my OAvn salvation. I think Christ might say, "Thinkest thou not shame to claim heaven, who does so little for it?" I am very often so, that I know not Avhether I sink or SAvim in the Avater ; I find myself a bag of light froth ; I Avoukl bear no Aveight (but vanity and nothings Aveigli in Christ's balance) if my Lord cast not in borrowed Aveight and metal, even Christ's righteousness to Aveigh for me ; the stock I have is not mine oAvn ; I am but the merchant that tranics' Avith other folk's goods ; if my creditor, Christ, Avould take from me Avliat He hath lent, I Avould not long keep the causey," but Christ hath made it mine and His : I think it manhood to play the coward, and jouk^ in the lee-side of Christ; ^ JTeeble, worthless. ^ Causeway. ^ Shelter myself. LETTER XXVIII. 91 and tluis I am not only saved from my enemies, hut I oLtaiii tlie victory. I am so empty that I think it were an alms-deed in Christ, if Ho would win a poor prisoner's blessing for evermore, and fill me with His love. I com])lain when Christ cometh, He Cometh always to fetch lire, He is ever in haste, He may not tarry, and poor I, a beggarly dyvour,^ get but a standing visit, and a standing kiss J and, but "howdoest thou 1" in the by-going. I dare not say He is lordly, because He is made a King now at the right liand 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 com- pany of heavenly tongues, to praise Him on my behalf, howbeit my bonds were prolonged for many hundred years. 0, 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 airts^ of Scotland, England, and Ireland. O, if I could write a book of His praises ! 0, fairest among the sons of men, why stayest thou so long away'? 0, heavens, move fast ! O, time run, run, and hasten the marriage day, for love is tormented with delays. 0, angels, 0, seraphims, who stand before Him, 0, blessed spirits who now see His face, set Him on high, for Avhen ye hav(, worn your harps in His praises, all is too little, and is nothing to cast the smell of the praise of that fair flower, that fragrant rose of Sharon, through many worlds. Sir, take my hearty commend- ation to Him and tell Him that I am sick of love. Grace be with you. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. K Aberdeen, June 16, 1(537. LETTER XXVHL— To his Honoured and Dear Brother, Alexandefx, Gordon of Knockgray. 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 savn saints, as He iiitencletli their good, so He intendeth His own glory, and that is the butt His arrows shoot at, and Christ shooteth not at the rovers, He hitteth what He purposeth to hit ; therefore, Pie (hjthmake His now feckless and weak nothings, and those who are the contempt of men, a new sharp thrashing instrument, having teeth to thrash the mountains and beat them small, and to inake the hills as chaff, and to fan them, Isa. xli. 15, 1(3. iVhat harder stuff, or harder grain for thrashing out, than high and rocky mountains ? but the saints are God's thrashing instruments to beat them all in chaff; are we not God's leem^ vessels 1 and yet, when they cast us over an house we are not broken in sherds : we creep in under our Lord's wings in the great shower, and the water cannot go through these wings. It is folly then for men to say, this is not Christ's plea. He will lose tlie wad-fee,2 men are like to beguile Him, that were, indeed, a strange play. Nay, I dare pledge my sonl 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, i^lay 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 snn at the turn of the year: no created powers in hell or out of hell can mar our Lord Jesus His music, nor spill* 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 1 and Christ commandeth all things. Faith may dance because Christ sings ; and we may come in the quire 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 ; Ave 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 Aveeping, as if Ave Averc like to fall doAvn through the earth for sorrow? If God were dead (if I may speak so Avith reverence of Him Avho liveth for ever and ever) and Christ buried, and rotten among the Avorms, Ave might have cause to look like dead folks ; but, " The Lord liveth, and blessed be the rock of our salvation," Psal. xviii. 46. None have right to joy but Ave, for joy is soAvn for us, and an ill summer or harvest Avill not sjiill* the crop. The children of this world have much robbed joy that is not aa'cII ^ Brittle. " Wager. ^ Half-loser, ■* Sj-ioil or niai-. LETTER XXVIII. 93 come : it is no good sport they laugh at ; tliey steal joy as it were from God : for He commandeth them to mourn and howl : then let us claim our leel-come ^ and lawfully conquished '^ joy. My dear brother, I cannot but speak Avhat I have felt, seeing my Lord Jesus hath broken a box of spikenard u}X)n 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 Avhether 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 rometh with His arms full of joys, is the hapiiiest hard tree that ever was laid upon my weak shoulders. Christ and His cross together are sweet company, and a blessed coujile. 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. 0, if I could make a love song of Him, and could commend Christ, and tune His praises aright ! 0, if I could set all tongues in Great Britain and Ireland to work to helji me to sing a new song of my Well-Beloved ! 0, if I could l^e a bridge over a Avater for my Lord Jesus to walk upon and keep His feet dry ! 0, if my poor bit heaven could go betwixt my Lord and blasphemy, and dishonour! (Upon condition He loved me.) 0, that my heart could say this word, and bide 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 feast 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 Avhiles^ my sweet Lord Jesus is, that He will neither give nor take, borrow nor lend Avith me ; I complain He is not social, I half call Him proud and lordly of His company and nice of His looks, Avhich yet is not true. It Avould content me to give, howbeit He should not take ; I should be content to Avant His kisses at such times, providing He would be content to come near hand and take my Aversh,"^ dry, and feckless^ kisses; but at that time He Avill not be entreated, but lets a poor soul stand still and knock, and never let it 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 hoAvbeit the laAv and Avrath have gotten a decreet against me, I yet lippen'' that meikle^ good in Christ, as to get a * Honestly or rightly come. " Acquired. ^ Sometimes. * Insipiil. ^ Worthless. '^ luditate. ^ Believe or trust. " So much. 94 LETTER XXIX. suspension, and to bring my cause in reasoning again before my AVell-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. 0, if men Avould glorify Him, and taste of Christ's sweetness. Brother, you have need to be busy Avith Christ, for this whorish kiik ; I fear Christ cast water upon Scotland's coal ; nay, I know Christ and His wife will be heard, Ho will plead for the broken covenant. Arm you against that time. Grace be with you. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. E. AberJeen, June 16, 1637. LETTER XXIX.— To the Lady Kilconquiiair. IMiSTRESS, — Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you: I am glad to hear that you have your lace homeward 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 hcre-away ; and, therefore, I would counsel you to niaks suro the charters and rights which you have to salvation. You come to this life about a necessary and weighty business, to tryst ^ Avith Christ anent your precious soul, and the eternal salvation of it ; this is the most necessary business you have in this life ; and your other adoes, beside this, are but toys, and feathers, and dreams, and fancies. This is the greatest haste and should be done first. Means are used in the Gospel to draw on a meeting betwixt Christ and you : if you neglect your part of it, it is as if you would tear the contract before Christ's eyes, and give up the match, that there shall be no more communing of that business. I know other lovers beside Christ are in suit of you, and your soul wanteth not many wooers ; but . I pray you 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 deejier than the lowest of this earth, and broader than this Avorld. JNLany, alas, too many, make a common strum- pet of their soul, for every lover that cometh to the house. Marriage Avith Christ Avould put your love, and your heart by the gate out of the Avay, and out of the eyes of all other unlawful suiters; and then you had a ready ansAver for all others, "I am already promised aAvay to Christ, the match is concluded, my soul hath a husband already, and it cannot have two hus- bands." 0, if all the world did but knoAV Avhat a smell the oint- ments of Christ cast, and how ravishing His beauty, even the beauty of the fairest of the sons of men is, and how sweet and ^ Entraire or arrange. LETTER XXIX. 05 powerful His voice is, the voice of that one Wcll-Belovoil ; certainly, U'here Christ cometii, He runneth away with the soul's love, so that they cannot command it. I would far rather look but throu^di the hole of Christ's door to see br.t the one-half of the fairest and most comely face (for He looketh like heaven), snppose I should never win in to see His excellency and glory to the full, than to enjoy the flower, the bloom, and chiufest 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 becoraeth Him well to give more than my narrow soul can receive. If there were tea 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 hll us all. Christ is a Avell of life, but who knoweth how deep it is to the bottom 1 This soul of ours hath love, and cannot but love some fair one ; and 0, what a fair One, Avhat 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 ; 0, what a fair and excellent thing would tiiat be 1 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. 0. but Christ is heaven's wonder and earth's wonder ! What marvel that His bride saith, Cant. v. 16, " He is altogether lovely"? 0, that black souls will not come and fetch all their love to this fair Oae ! 0, 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 ! 0, pity for evermore that there should be such an one as Christ Jesus, so boundless, so bottomless, and so incomparable in infinite excellency and sweetness, and so few to take Him. O, 0, 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 Avell of life ; and fill all your toom ^ vessels ! 0, that Christ should be so large in sweetness and worth, and we so narrow, 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 Avaster-heirs, have been Avasting 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 1 Empty. * Worthless. 96 LETTER XXIX. to Jesus. 0, pity tliat fairness hath so few lovers ! O, woe, woo to the fools of this world who run by ^ Christ to other lovers ! 0, misery, misery, misery, that comeliness can scarce get three or four hearts in a town or a country ! 0, that there is so much spoken, and so much written, and so much thought of creature- vanity, and so little spoken, so little written, 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 suffer eth my Lord Jesus to lie His lone ^^ 0, damned souls! 0, miskenning^ world! 0, blind; 0, beggarly, and poor souls ! 0, bewitched fools ! what aileth you at Christ, that you run so from Him 1 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 0, 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 Avitli Christ, and let His friends drink, and be drunken, and satisfy our hollow and deep desires with Jesus. 0, come all and drink at this living well ; come drink, and live for evermore ; come, drink, and welcome ; wel- come, saith our fairest Bridegroom : no man getteth Christ with ill will: no man cometh and is irot 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. 0, if I were misted and bewildered in my Lord's love ! 0, if I were fettered and chained to it ! 0, sweet pain, to be joained for a sight of Him ! O, living death ! 0, good death ! 0, lovely death, to die for love of Jesus ! O, that I should have a sore heart and a pained soul, for the wanting of the love of this and that idol ! woe, woe to the mistaking of my miscarrying heart, that gapeth and crietli for creatures, and is not pained, and cutted, and tortured, and in sorrow for the want of a soul-fill of Christ. 0, that Thou wouldst come near, my Beloved ! 0, my fairest One, why standest Thou afar ; come hither, that I may be satiate with Thy excellent love ; 0, for an union : 0, for a fello^vship Avith Jesus ! 0, that I could buy with a price that lovely One, suppose hell's torments for a while Avere the price ! I cannot but believe that Christ will rue ^ upon His pained lovers, and come and ease sick hearts, who sigh and swoon for the want of Christ : who dow ^ bide Christ's love to be nice 1 What heaven can there be liker to hell, than to lust, and grein,'^ and dwine, and fall a-swoon for Christ's love, and to Avant it 1 is not this hell and heaven woven through other 1 ^ Past. - Alone, ^ ISIi.sjiulging. * Misjudge, ' Can. " Take pity. ^ Long. LETTER XXX. 07 Is nrjt tills pain and joy, sweetness and sadness to be in one web, the one the weft, the other the warp ! Therefore, I wouhl Christ wouhl let us meet, and join together, the soul and Clirist in otliers'^ arms. 0, what meeting is like this, to see blackness and beauty, contemptiblencss and glory, highness and baseness, even a soul and Christ kiss one another ! Nay, but when all is done, I may be wearied in speaking and writing ; but 0 how far am I from the right expression of Christ or His love 1 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 honey-comb is, is not so lovely as to eat and suck the honey-comb : 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, or sigh, or 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 higli place as temptations cannot climb up to take it down : this world may boast- Christ, but they dare not strike ; or if they strike, they break their arm in fetching a stroke upon a rock. O, that we could put our treasure in Christ's hand, and give Him our gold to keep, and our crown. Strive, mistress, to throng 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 spier 3 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 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 Avith yon. Help me His prisoner in your prayers ; for I remember you. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. E. Aberdeen, Aug. 8, 1637. LETTER XXX.— To the Lady Forret. 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 you found the door shut (blessed be His glorious name) wliile^ you be riper for eternit}^ : 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 all idol-love, and are whorishly inclined to love other things beside our Lord ; and, 1 Each other's. - Threaten. ^ Ask. •» So. « xiH. G 98 LETTERS XXXI. AND XXXII. therefore, our Lord huntetli for our love, more ways tlian one or two. 0, that Christ had His own of us ; I know He will not v/ant 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 or divide your love be- twixt Him and the world ; if it were more, it is little enough, yea, too little for Christ. I am now every Avay in good terms with Christ, He hath set a banished prisoner as a seal on Hi a 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 Avorm-eaten joys. 0, 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. 0, 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, you have the prayers of a prisoner of Christ. Grace, grace be with you. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. li. Aberdeen, March 9, 1C37. LETTER XXXL— To the Lady Kaskiberry. Madaji, — 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 you make His friends so dear to you, and concern yourself so much in them. I am in this house of my pilgrimage every way in good ca^e ; 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 Avith all the comfort out of heaven ; His yoke is easy, and His burden light. This is His truth I now suffer for ; for He hath sealed it with His blessed presence. I know Christ shall yet win the day, and gain the battle in Scotland. Grace be with you. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. li. Aberdeen, March 7, 1^)37. LETTER XXXH.-— To Mr. James Bruce, Minister of the Gospel. 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 Avrite to you. My case in ^ Children of the same father. LETTER XXXIII. 99 my bonds, for the lionour of m)^ Royal Prince and Kin^ Jesus, is as good as beconietli the witness of such a Sovereign King. At my first coming hither, I was in great heaviness, wresthng witli challenges, being burdened in heart (as I am yet) for my silent Sabbaths and for a bereft people, young ones, new-born, plucked from the breasts, 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 sv^-eet and long-desired return to my soul, Avere found to be a lie of Christ's love, forged by the ttnupter, and my own heart, and I am persuaded that 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 un- kindness : 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 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, help me to praise, and remember me in your prayer to God. Grace, grace be with you. Yours, in our Lord Jesus, S. R. Aberdeen, Marcli 14, 1G37. LETTER XXXHL— To the Lady Earlstoun, Mistress,— Grace, merc}^ 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's 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 flowers die or wither, thank God for a summer's loan of them, and keep good neighbourhood to borrow and lend Avith Him. Set your heart upon heaven, and trouble not your spirit Avith this clay-idol of the world, Avhich is but vanity, and hath but the lustre of the rainboAV ill the air, Avhich coineth and goeth Avith a flying March shower ; MVall. 100 LETTER XXXIV. cla}' is the idol of bastards, not the inheritance of the children. 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, tlie Son of God establish you on your rock, and keep you to the day of His coming. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. li. Aberdeen, March 7, 1G37. LETTER XXXIV.— To Carletoun. 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. 1. 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 oft company, and that this sink of cor- ruption which I find within, maketh me go Avith low sails ! and if others saw what I see, they would look by me, but not to me. 2. I know this shower of His free grace behoved to be on me, otlierwise I would have withered. I know also, I have need of a buffeting tempter, that grace may be put to exercise, and I kept low. Worthy and dear brother in our Lord Jesus, I write that from my heart Avhich you now read. L I vouch that Christ, and Bweating, and sighing under His cross, is sweeter to me by far than all the kingdoms in the world could possibly be. 2. 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 1 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.) 3. I now rejoice with joy unspeak- able and glorious, that I never pirrpose to bring Christ, not the least hoof or hair-breadth of truth, under trysting^: 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 6ometim.es wet cheeks. 0, who would not pity me, to know how ^ Bargaining or compromise. * Postjjone. LETTER XXXIV. 101 fuiu 1 would have tlie King shaldiig the tree of life upon me ; or letting me into the Avell of life Avitli 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 Ilim where he gripped : He goeth away, and leaveth me and His burning love to Avrestle together, and I can scarce win my meat of His love, because of absence. My Lord giveth me but hungry half-kisses, which serve to feed pain and in- crease 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 Hower of the gold of all crosses, to bear witness to the truth, and herein find I liberty, joy, access, life, comfoi^t, love, faith, submission, patience, and reso- lution to take delight in on-waiting ; and Avithal 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, Avhich is reserved to my country? Let no man think he shall lose at Christ's hands in suffering for Llim. 4. For these present trials they are most dangerous; for people shall be stolen off their feet with well- washen and white-skinned pretences of indiffcrency ; 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 Avrath 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 in 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 breasts ; all hearts shall be faint, and all knees shall tremble : an end is coming : the leopard and the lion shall Avatch 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. 5. I am here assaulted with the learned and pregnant wits of this kingdom ; but all honour be to my Lord, truth but laugheth at bemisted and blinded Scribes and disputers of this world, and God's wisdom confoundeth them, and Christ triumpheth in His own strong truth that speaketh for it- self. G. I doubt not but my Lord is preparing me for heavier trials. I am most ready at the good pleasure of my Lord, in tli(; strength of His grace, for anything He shall be pleased to call me * Selection. 102 LETTER XXXIV. to ; neitlier shall the last black-faced messenger, death, be holden at the door, when it shall knoclc. If my Lord will take honour of the like of me, how glad and joyful shall my soul be. Let (.Uirist come out with me to an hotter battle than this, and I shall fear no flesh, I know that my Master will win the day, and that He hath taken the ordering of my sufferings in His own hand. 7. 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 Avait 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 Avine, shall be my best : I have not yet resisted to blood. 8, 0, how often am I laid in the dust, and urged by the tempter (who can ride his own errands upon our lying apprehen- sions) 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 bleired^ eyes look a-squint upon Christ, and present him as angrj^ But, in this trial, all honour to our princely and royal King, faith saileth fair before the wdnd with top sail up, and carrieth the poor pass- enger through. I lay inhibitions upon my thoughts that they re- ceive 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, grip- ping 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, presumption, howbeit it be made of stoutness, will not thus be wilful in heavy trials. Now, my dearest in Christ, the great Messenger of the covenant, the only Avise and all-sufficient Jehovah, establish you to the end. I hear the Lord hath been at your house and hath called home your Avife to her rest. I knoAV, sir, ye see the Lord loosing the pins of your tabernacle, and Avooing your love from this plastered and overgilded Avorld ; and calling upon you to be making your- self ready to go to your Father's country, Avhich shall be a sAveet fruit of that visitation. Ye knoAv, to send the Comforter, Avas a King's Avord, Avhen He ascended on high : ye have claim to and interest in that promise. Eemember my love in Christ to your father, shoAV him it is late and black night Avitli him, his long I3-- ing at the Avater-side is, that he may look his papers ere he take shipping, and be at a point for his last answer before his Judge 1 Tearful. LETTER XXXV. 103 r.nJ Lord. All love, all mercy, all grace, and peace, all n-mltiplicd 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. 11, Aberdeen, June 15, 1G37. LETTElt XXXV.— To Marion M'Naugiit. "WoiiTiiY 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 Jerusr.lcm, 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 hath brought a clean spouse through the fire. Therefore, my dearly beloved in the Lord, fear not a worm: "Fear not, Avorm Jacob:" 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 cham- bers, and shut the doors about you : in, in with speed to your stronghold, ye prisoners of hope: ye doves, flee 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 shall take life from your Chris- tian carriage. Look up, and see who is coming : lift up your head. He is coming to save, "Li 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 : 0, such wide steps as Christ taketh ! three or four hills are but a step to Him ; He skippeth over the mountains. Christ hath set a battle be- twixt His poor weak saints and His enemies; He waleth^ the weapons for both parties ; and saith to the enemies, " Take you a sword 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 sulfering, receiving of strokes, spoiling of your goods, and with yuur tree-sword ye shall get and gain the victory. Was not Christ dragged through the ditches of deep distresses, and great stiaits? and yet Christ who is your head, hath won through Avitli His life ; howbeit, not * Choosetli. " A feeljle wooden swori 104 LETTER XXXV. with a whole skin. Ye are Christ's members, and ?Ic 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 Avork out of old sore casten 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. Tliere is mercy on the oth(;r ;;ide of this His cross ; a good answer to all our bills is agreed upon. I must tell you what lovely Jesus, fair Jesus, King Jesus hath done to my soul ; sometimes He sendeth me out a standing drink, and whisperetli a word through the wall, and I am well content of kindness at the second hand ; His bode^ is ever welcome to me, be what it will ; but at other times He will be messenger Him- self, 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, 0, how sweet is a fresh kiss from His holy mouth ; His breath- ing, 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 ; hoAvbeit loins, and back, and shoulders, and head rive^ in pieces, in stepping up to my Father's house. I know 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 Avhat stuff He maketli glory out of. My dearly beloved, ye have often refreshed me, but that is put up in my Master's ac- counts ; 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 Avilling to suffer for my clear 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 com- munion 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 Avhen I Avas feasted at the communion-table in Auwoth and Kircudbright. Pray, that I may get one day of Christ in public^ 1 Offer. " Each other's, ^ xiend. ■* Pierceth. LETTEK XXXVI. 105 as I have liutl long since, before my eyes be closed. 0, that niy blaster would take up house again, and lend me the keys of His Avine-cellar again, and God send me borrowed drink till then. Kemember 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 I bide by it, God shall be glorious in Marion M'Naught, Avhen this stormy blast shall be over. 0, woman, beloved of God, believe, rejoice, be strong in the Lord. Grace is thy portion. Your brother, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. E. Aberdeen, June 15, 1C37. LETTER XXXVL— To John Gordon, at Risco, in Galloway. 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 thronging, 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, make conscience of rash and passion- ate oaths, of raging and sudden revenging anger, of night- drinking, of needless companionry, of sabbath -breaking, of hurting any under you by word or deed, of hating j^our 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 this Avill not be easily done ; but I recommend it to you, as you tender ^ your part of the king- dom of heaven. Brother, I may from new experience speak of Christ to you. 0, if you saw in Him what I see. A river of God's unseen joys have flowed from bank to brae over my soul, since I parted with you. I Avish I wanted part, so being ye might have ; that your soul might be sick of love for Christ, or ratiier satiate with Him. This clay-idol, the w^orld, 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 at the windows of the clay house, ready to leap out into eternity, what would ye then give for a lamp full of oil ? 0, seek it now. I desire you to correct and curb banning," sAvearing, lying, drinking, sabbath-breaking, and ^ Value. * Cursi::". lOG LETTER XXXVII. idle spending of tlic Lord's day, in absenee from tlie Kirk, as fir as your authority reachetli in that parisli. I hear a man is to be thrust into that place, to the which I have God's right : I know ye should have a voice by God's Word in that: Acts i. 15, IG, to the end, and Acts vi. 3, 5. You would be loath that any Prelate should put you out of your possession eai'thly, and this is your right. What I write to you, I write to your wife, Grace be with you. Your loving pastor, S. E. Aberdeen, March 14, 1637, LETTER XXXVII. —To the Lady Haliiill. Dear and Christian Lady, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you, I longed much to Avrite 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 lad^'ship may know Christ 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 Avorst things of Christ, His reproaches, His cross, is 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 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 Avoi'ld, hath no great court in my soul, Christ hath come, and run away to heaven with my licart and my love, so that neither heart nor love is mine ; I pray God, Christ may keep both without reversion. In my estimation as I am now disposed, if my part of this world's clay Avere rouped and sold, I Avould think it dear of a drink of Avater. I sec Christ's love is so kingly that it Avill not abide a marroAV- ; it must have a throne all alone in the soul, and I see apples beguile bairns, 1 WaU. 2 ]siate. LETTElt XXXVIII. 107 howbcit 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 cur- tain that is hung betwixt tbcm and Christ, they should think themselves fools, who have so long miskenned ^ tlie Son of God. I seek no more next to heaven, but that He may be glorified in a prisoner of Christ ; and that in my behalf many would praise His high and glorious name, Avho heareth the sighing of the prisoner. Eemembcr my service to the laird your husband, and to your son, my acquaintance : I Avish Christ had his young love, and that in the morning he -would start to the gate to seek that which this world knoweth not, and therefore doth not seek it. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be Avith you. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. Ii. AberJeen, March 14, 16u7. LETTER XXXVHL— To the Eight Honourable uiy Loud Lindsay. Eight honourable and uy 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-ldrk 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 her husband is not dead ; but he seemeth to be in another country, and seeth well, and beholdetli who are his true and tender-hearted friends; who dare venture under the w^ater 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 law-giver, 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-ftxthers (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 emljrace in your arms Christ's bride. He l-ath no more in Scotland that is the delight of His eyes, but that one little sister, whose breasts were once well-fashioned ; she once ravished her Well-Beloved with her eyes, and overcame Him with their 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 his galleries," Cant. iv. 9, and vi. 10, and vii, ^ Aside. - Misjudged. 108 LETTER XXXVIII. 5, 7. But now tlio crown is fallen from her head, and her gold Avaxed 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 ntiw Jerusalem ; Kev. xxi. 24. Alas, that great men should be so for 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 a 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 Law-giver. I am sure, Avhen you leave this old waste inns of this perishing life, and shall reckon Avith 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 Avhich ye have done, spoken, and suffered for Christ, His dear bride (that He ransomed Avith that blood Avhich is more pre- cious than gold), and for truth, and the freedom of Christ's king- dom ; your accounts shall more SAveetly smile and laugh upon you, than if you had tAvo worlds of gold to leave to your posterity. 0, my dear lord, consider that our Master, eternity, judgment, and tlie last reckoning Avill be upon us in the tAvinkling of an eye. The blast of the last trumpet, noAv liard at hand, Avill cry doAvn all acts of parliament, all the determinations of pretended assem- Ijlies against Christ, our LaAv-giver. There Avill be shortly a pro- clamation by one standing in the clouds, that time shall be no more, and that court with kings of clay shall be no more ; and prisons, confinements, forfeitures of nobles, Avrath of kings, hazard of lands, houses, and name, for Christ, shall be no more. This Avorld's span-length of time is draAvn noAv to less than half an inch, and to the point of the evening of the day of this old and grey-haired Avorld ; 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, Avho shall die as a man. I am persuaded, Christ is responsal^ and laAv-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 Avell- fiivoured little clay gods, and time's idols, but a sight of our in- visible King shall decry and darken all the glory of this Avorld. At the day of Christ, truth shall be truth, and not treason. Alas ! it is pitiful that silence, Avhen the thatch of our Lord's house hath 1 Can, ^ Responsible. LETTER XXXVIII. 109 taken fire, is now the flower and the bloom of court and state wis- dom ; and to cast a covering over a good profession (as if it bhished at 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, Clirist shall grow green, and blossom as the Kose of Sharon yet in Scotland, howbeit now His leaf seemeth to Avither, aud His root to diy 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 ye will follow on, to come to the streets for the same Lord. The Avorld is still at yea and nay with Christ ; it shall 1)0 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, aiid (as God liveth) every arm lifted up to take the crown off His royal head, or that refuseth to hold it upon His head, shall be broken from the shoulder- blade. The eyes that behold Christ weep in sackcloth, and wallow in His blood, and Avill not help, even these eyes shall rot away in their eye-holes. 0 ! if ye, and the nobles of this land, saw the beauty of that world's-wondei", Jesus our King, and the glory of Him who is angels' wonder, and heaven's wonder for excellency ! 0, 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 ex})erience 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 glory, joy, and i)eace and fire of love, I thought had been kept while ^ supper-time, when we shall get leisure to feast our fill upon Christ, I have felt it in glorious beginnings, in my bonds for this princely liord Jesus. 0 ! 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 your face against the opposites of Jesus, and let your soul take courage to come under His banner, to appear as Jlis soldier for Him, and the blessings of a falling kirk, the prayers 1 Quiet. 2 Heights (of passion). ^ ^j-jj^ 1 1 0 LETTER XXXIX. of the prisonors of hope, who wait for Ziou's joy, and the good- will of Him that 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. li. Aberdeen, September 7, 1637. LETTER XXXIX.— To my Lord Boyd. My very Honourable and good Lord, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I am glad to hear that ye, in the morning of your short day, mind Christ, and that ye love the honour of His crown and kingdom. I beseech your lordship, 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 Avill take best with Christ ; if any other than Jesus get a grip of it, when it is green and young, Christ will be an uncouth 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 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 whorisli 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 shall 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 tlie devil findeth in that age a garnished and swept house for himself, and seven devils worse than himself; for then affections are on horse- back, 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, eveiy lewd course prevaileth with it ; and therefore, 0 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 wort^h ; for Christ cannot be spoken of, or comniendcd accord- LKTTKK XXXIX. Ill iiig to Ilis woilli ; Come and sec, is the most falLliful mo&soiiger to speak of Him, little persuasion would prevail where this were. 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 seraphims (all their wits being conjoined and melted in one), would for ever be in the nether side of truth, ar.d plentifully declaring the thing as it is. The infiniteuess, the boundlessness of that incomparable exc»,llency that is in Jesus, is a great word. God send me if it were but the relics and leav- ings, or an ounce weight or two of His matchless love ; and sup- pose I never got another heaven (providing this blessed lire were evermore burning) I could not but be happy for ever. Come hither then, and give out your money wisely for bread : come here and bestow your love. I have cause to speak this, because, except ye enjoy and possess Christ, ye will be a cold friend to His spouse, for it is love to the husband that causeth kindness to the Avife. 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 Aveep- ing 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, honour, glory, riches, stability of houses, favour of princes, are all on His finger ends. O, 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. There- fore 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 to 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 Avorks, and begin in time : by appearance ye have the advantage of the brae : see Avhat ye can do for Christ against these Avho are Avaiting Avhile ^ Christ's tabernacle fall, that they may run aAvay Avith the boards thereof, and build their nest on Zion's ruins. They are blind who see not lowns ^ noAv pulling 1 That iS; to be indebted to you. 'Till, • Villains, 112 LETTER XL. up the stakes and breaking the cords, and rending the curtains of Christ's (sometimes) beautiful tent in this hand. Antichrist is lifting that tent up upon liis shoulders, and going away with it, and Avhen Christ and the Gospel are out of Scotland, dream not that your houses shall thrive, and that it shall 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; Isaiah xxxlv. 9, 11. The Lord gave Christ and His Gospel as a paAvn to Scotkand, the watchmen having 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 men are treading in their hearts upon such unsavory salt, that is good for nothing else. If ye the nobles put away the pawn also, and refuse to plead the controversy of Zion Avith the professed enemies of Jesus, ye have done with it. 0, 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 be but guilty of shouldering out Christ, and murdering of the souls of the poster- ity, if they shall hide themselves, and lurk in the lee-side of the hill, till the wind blow down the temple of God. It goetli 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-gouks,^ whatever they, or other heads of wit like to them, think of them- selves, since their damnable silence is the ruin of Christ's kingdom. 0, 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 your lordship will take Christ's honour to heart, and be a man in the streets (as the prophet speaketh) for the Lord and His truth. To His rich grace and sweet presence, and the everlasting consola- tion of the promised Comforter, I recommend your lordship. And am your lordship's, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. 11. Aberdeen, Sept. 7, 1637. LETTER XL.— To my Lady Boyd. My very Honourable and Christian Lady, — Grace, mercy, aud 2^eaco be to you. I received your letter, and am well pleased ^ Conrt-jesters, LETTER XL. U3 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 unthankfidness : 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 in ten pieces ; Christ getteth but only broken and halved and tired Avork of us, and alas too often against the hair. I have been somewhat nearer the Bridegroom ; but when I drav»- nigh, and see my vileness, for shame I would be out of His pre- sence again ; but yet desire of His soul-refreshing love putteth blushing me under an arrest, 0, what am I, so loathsome a burden of sin, to stand beside such a beautiful and holy Lord, such an high and lofty One, who inhabiteth eternity 1 But since it pleaseth Christ to condescend to such an one as me, let shame- facedness be laid aside, and lose itself in His condescending love. I would heartily be content to keep a corner of the King's hall. 0, if I were at the yonder^ end of my Aveak desires! then should T be where Christ, my Lord and Lover, lives and reigns; there I should be everlastingly solaced with the sight of His face, and satis- fied Avith the surpassing sweetness of His matchless love. But, truly, now I stand in the nether side of my desires, and Avith a drooping head and panting heart, I look up to fair Jesus, standing afar off from us, Avhile- 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, Ave are blessed in sending Avord to the Beloved, that Ave love to love Him ; and till then, there is joy in wooing, suiting, lying about His house, looking in at the AvindoAvs, and sending a poor soul's groans and Avislies through a hole of the door to Jesus, till God send a glad meeting. And, blessed be God, that after a Ioav ebb, and so sad a Avord, " Lord Jesus, it is long since I saAV thee," that even then, our Avings are growing, and the al)sence of SAveet Jesus breedeth a neAV fleece of desires and longings for Him. I knoAv no man hath a velvet cross ; but the cross is made of that Avhich God Avill have it. But, verily, hoAvbeit it be no Avarrantable market to buy a cross, yet I dare not say, 0 that I had liberty to sell Christ's cross, lest there- Avith also I should sell joy, comfort, sense of love, patience, and the kind visits of a Bridegroom. And therefore, blessed be God, Ave get crosses unbought and good cheap. Sure I am, it Avere better to buy crosses for Christ, than to sell them; hoAvbeit neither be alloAved to us. And for Christ's joyful coming and going, which your ladyship speaketh of, I bear Avith it, as love can per 1 Further. " Till. H 114 LETTER XLI. rait. It should be enough to nie, if I were -wise, tliat Christ will Ihive joy and sorrow halfers^ of the life of the saints, and that each of them should have a share of our days, as the nigiit and the day are kindly partners and halfers ^ of time, and take it up betwixt them. But if sorrow be the greediest halfer of our days here, I know joy's day shall dawn, and do more than recompense all our sad hours. Let my Lord Jesus (since He will do so) weave my bit and span-length of time, with Avhite and black, weal and woe, with the Bridegroom's coming and His sad departure, as warp and Avoof in one web ; and let the rose be neighboured Avith 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 : Avhen 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 liope, I sleep quietly in Christ's bosom, while- He come, who is not slack; and would sleep so, were it not that the noise of the devil, and sin's feet, and the cries of an unbelieving heart, awaken me ; but, for the present, I have nothing Avhereof I can accuse Christ's cross. 0, if I could please myself in Christ only ! I hope, madam, 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 ene- mies 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 submit ^ to Him; how then can he make a plea with it? Na-y, the truth is, Avorms 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 your ladyship can expect for your goodwill 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 house, and children, and in whom I am, madam, Your ladyship's, in Christ, S. li. Aberdeen, Sept. 8, 1G37. LETTER XLI.— To the Lady Culross. Madam, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I dare not say I wonder that ye have never waitten to me in my bonds, because I am not ignorant of the cause ; yet I could not but Avrite 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 the devil can insinuate himself, and ride his errands upon the thoughts of a poor oppressed prisoner. * Sharers. - Till ^ Subjected. LETTEIl XLI. 115 I am woe ^ that I am making Christ my unfriend by seeking pleas against Him, because I am the first iu tlie 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, 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 Physi- cian is at my bed-side, 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, 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 tliink- eth good : there is no danger nor hazard in following such a guide; howbeit He should lead me through hell, if I could put faith fore- most, and fill the field with a quiet on-waiting, and believing to see the salvation of God : I know 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 in my hand. Alas ! I have forgotten that faith in times past hath stopped a leak in my crazed bark, and hath 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 counterfeit, are raised against poor souls in their heavy trials ; but let me be a sinner, and worse than the chief of sinners, yea, a guilty devil, I am sure my well- beloved is God ; and when I say Christ is God, and my Christ is God, I have said all things, I can say no more. I would 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 Christ untried and un- taken up in the power of His love, kindness, mercies, goodness, Avisdom, 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 to sin against His love and His 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. 0, oh ! I am convinced ; 0 Lord, I stand dumb be- fore 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 crys- tal, so as I can see through it Christ's fair face and heaven, and ^ Sorrowful. - Scratch. ^ To settle the dispute. IIG LETTER XLI. that God liatli 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 stink- ing diingeon, 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 makes me find that He will be a confined prisoner with me ; He lietli down and riseth up with me ; when I sigh He sigheth ; when I weep He suff'ereth with me ; and I confess here is the blessed issue of my sufferings already begun, that my heart is filled Avith hunger and desire to have Him glorified in my sufi"erings. Blessed ye of the Lord, Madam, if you would help a poor dyvour,^ and cause others of your acquaintance in Christ help me, to pay my debt of love, even real praises, to Christ my Lord. JMadam, let me charge you in the Lord, as ye will answer to Him, 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, for I have nothing to give Him. 0, 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 Avorld for Christ, save that : it is both the whole heritage I have and all my moveables besides : Lord, give the thirsty man a drink. 0, to be over the ears in the Avell ! 0, to be swattering and swimming over head and ears in Christ's love ! I Avould not have Christ's love entering in 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. 0, if I had my sinful arms filled with that lovely one Christ ! blessed be my rich Lord Jesus, who send- eth 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 Ave could but 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 I were free of Christ's hatred and displea- sure. 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 1 0, 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 Avin His OAvn glory out of me, and out of one Avorse 1 Debtor. ^ Empty. ^ Sue. LETTER XLII. 117 than I (if any such be) if it pleases His holy majesty so to do ; He knoweth that I am not now Hattering Him. Madam, let mo have your pra3'ers, as ye have the prayers and blessin,;^ of him that is separated from his brethren. Grace, grace be Avith you. Your own, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. R. Abei'Jeen, June 15, 1637. LETTER XLIL— To the Earl of Cassilis. My very Noble and Honourable Lord, — I make Ijold, out of the honourable and Christian report I hear of your lordship, having no other thing to say but tliat which concernoth the lionour- able cause, Avhich 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 fall- ing to the ground ; and to back Christ noAv, when so many think it wisdom to let Him fend^ for Himself The shields of the eai^th ever did, and do still believe that Christ is a cumbersome neigh- bour, and that it is a pain to hold up His yeas and nays : they fear 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 now is debated: and Christ's kingly honour is come to yea and nay. But let me be pardoned, my dear and noble lord, to beseech you by the mercies of God, by the com- forts of the Spirit, by the wounds of your dear Saviour, by your compearance before the Judge of quick and dead, to stand for Christ, and to back Him. 0, 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 Avill be the glory of Scotland ; and He shall make a diadem, a garland, a seal upon His heart, and a ring on His hnger, of these who have avouched Him before this faith- less generation : howbeit, ere that come, Avrath 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 consola- tions of Christ, and have no pain in my sufferings, but the pain of soul-sickness of love for Christ, and sorrow that I cannot get 1 Shift. 118 LETTEES XLIII. AND XLIV. help to sound aloud the high praises of Him who hath heard the sighing of the prisoner, and is content to lay the head of His op- pressed servant in His bosom, nnder His chin, and let him feel the smell of His garments. This I behoved to write, that your lordship might know Christ is as good as He is called ; and to testify to your lordship the cause your lordship now professeth, before this faithless world, is Christ's; and your lordship shall have no shame of it. Grace be with you. Your lordship's obliged servant, S. li. Aberdeen, March 13, 1637. LETTER XLIIL— To the much honoured John Osburn, Provost of Ayr. Much honoured Sir, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. Upon our small acquaintance, and the good report I hear of yor^, I could not but write to you. I have notiiing to say, but Christy in that honourable place He hath put you in, hath intrusted you with a dear pledge, Avhich 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, all this kingdom, and ye, and all that know God, knew what is betwixt me and Christ in this prison ; what kisses, embracements, and love communings. 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 ex- change Christ with heaven. Sir, pray for me, and the prayers and blessings 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. LETTER XLIV.— To- Robert Gordon, Bailie of Ayr. Worthy Sir, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long to hear from you in paper. Remember your chief's speeches on Ilia ^ Certificate, LETTER XLV. • 119 deatliLeJ. I pray you, sir, sell all, and buy the pearl; time Avill cut you from this ^vorld's glory. Look Avhat 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 mo in pain to wrestle with His love, and love is like to fall a-swoon through His absence. I mean not that He deserteth me, or that I am ebb of comforts; but this is an uncouth pain. 0, that I had a heart and a love to render to Him back again ! 0, if prin- cipalities and powers, thrones and dominions, and all the Avorld, v/ould help me to praise ! Praise Him in my behalf Remember my love to your wife. I tliank you most kindly for your love to my brother. Grace be with you. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. li. Aberdeen, March 13, 1637. LETTER XLV.— To John Kennedy, Bailie of Ayr. Grace, mercy, and peace be unto 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 in 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 Avhen He began to love me, whetlior I was fiir, or black and sun- burnt ? love taketh what it may have. He loved me before this time, I know ; but now I have the fiower 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 Avays of expressing Christ's love. A full vessel would have a vent. 0, if I could smoke out and cast out coals to make a firo in many breasts of this land ! 0 ! it is a pity that there were not many imprisoned for Christ, for no otlier purpose but 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. 0, 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 ; 'Influence. 'Familiar, 120 LETTEll XLV. 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 a soul could live eternally blessed only on Christ's love, and feed upon no otlier 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 is in His love? I am persuaded it can climb a steep hill, and hell upon its back ; and swim through the Avater, and not drown ; and sing in the fire, and find no pain ; and triumph in losses, prisons, sorrows, exile, dis- grace ; and laugh and rejoice in death. 0, for a year's lease of the sense of His love, Avithout a cloud, to try what Christ is ! O, for the coming of the Bridegroom ; 0, when Avill I see the Bride- groom and the bride meet in the clouds and kiss each other ! 0, Avhen Avill we get our day and our hearts full of that love ! 0, if it Avere laAvful to complain of the famine and Avant of that love of the immediate vision of God ! 0, time, time, hoAv dost thou tor- ment the souls of those that Avould be swallowed up of Christ's love, because thou movest so sloA\'ly ! 0, if He Avould pity a poor 2:)risoner, and bloAV love upon me, and give a prisoner a taste or draught of that surpassing SAveetness (Avhich is glory as it were begun) to be a confirmation that Christ and I shall have our fill of other- for ever ; come hither, 0 love of Christ, that I may once kiss thee before I die. What Avould I not give to have time, that lieth betwixt Christ and me, taken out of the Avay that Ave might once meet 1 I cannot think but at the first sight I shall see of that most lovely and fairest face, love shall come out of His tAvo eyes, and fill me Avith astonishment. I Avould but desire to stand at the utter" side of the gates of the neAv Jerusalem, and look through a hole of the door, and see Christ's face ; a borrowed vision in this life Avould be my borroAved and begun heaven, Avhile"^ the long, long-looked-for day dawn. It is not for nothing, that it is said, Colos. i. 27, " Christ in you the hope of glory." I Avill be content of no paAvn of heaven but Christ Himself, for Christ pos- sessed by faith here is young heaven, and glory in the bud ! If I had that pawn, I Avould bide horning^ and hell both ere I give it again. All Ave have here is scarce the picture of glory. Should not we, young bairns, long and look for the expiring of our minority'? It Avere good to be daily begging propines*^ and love- gifts, and the Bridegroom's favours ; and if Ave can do no more, seek crumbs and hungry dinners of Christ's love, to keep the taste of heaven in our mouth, Avhile'^ sapper-time, I knoAv it is far afternoon, and nigh the marriage-supper of the Lamb ; the table 1 Buffet, ^ Each otlier. ^ Outer. * Till, • A Scotch law term. ^ Presenta LETTEK XLV. 121 is covered already. 0, Well-beloved, run, run fast ! 0, fair day ! when wilt thou dawn 1 0, shadows, llee away ! I think hope and love woven through other ^ make our absence from Christ spiritual torment. It is a pain to Avait on, but hope, that maketh not ashamed, swalloweth up that pain. It is not unkind ness that keepeth Christ and us so long asunder. AVhat can I say to Christ's love 1 I think more than I can say. To consider, that Avhcn 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 ; so He beareth in His love 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 fear" me, once to hold up my black mouth, to receive one of Christ's undeserved kisses. If my inner-side were turned out, and all men saw my vileness, they Avould say to me, it is a shame for thee to stand still, while ^ 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 hav 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 tliat my debt to the love of Christ lie unpaid for all eternity 1 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. 0, if this land and nation would come and stand beside His inconceivable and glorious perfections, and look in, and love, and wonder, and adore ! AVould 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. AVoe, Avoe will be to this land, because of the day of the Lord's fierce anger, that is so fast coming. Grace be Avith you. Your aflectionate brother, in our Lord Jesus, S. K. Aberdeen. * £acli other. * Terrify. 3 xii]_ 4 Debtors. 122 LETTEB XLVI. LETTER XLVI.— To John Kennedy, Bailie of Ayr. "Worthy and dear ijROTHER, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long to see you in this northern ■n*orkl in paper ; I know it is not forgetfuhiess that ye write not. I am every way in good case, 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 Ave are at a stay, drawing our breath aU our life : a moderation in God's way now is much in request. I profess, 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. 0, 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, cur good meaning, and our lazy desires, our fair shows, and the world's glistering lustres, and these broad pass- ments- and buskings of religion, that bear bulk in the kirk, is that wherewith most satisfy themselves : but a watered bed with tears, a dry throat with praying, eyes a fountain of tears for the sins of the land, is rare to be found among us. 0, 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 unkind- ness, and complained of His fickleness and inconstancy, because He would have no more of my service nor i^reaching, and had casten me out of the inheritance of the Lord. And I confess now, this was but a bought plea, and I was a fool, yet He hath borne Avith 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 Ho hath paid me " my hundred-fold in this life ; " and one to the hundred.-* This prison is my banquetiug-house; I am handled as softl}' and delicately as a dauted^ child. I am nothing behind (I see) with Christ. He can in a month make up a year's losses : and I Avrite 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 acquaintances 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 a fire shut up in my bowels, and I am weary with forbearing. The ministers in 1 Method. - Trappings. ^ Rebuked me till his friendship returned. * 101 per 100. ' Fondled. ^ Debtor. LETTER XL VII. 123 this town arc saying, they shall have my prison changed into less bounds, because they see God Avith me. J\Iy mother liath born me a man of contention, one that striveth Avith the whole earth. The late Avrongs 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 Avas troubled A\dth 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. Eemember my hearty affection to your Avife. My soul is grieved for the success^ of our brethren's journey to NeAv England; but, God hath somcAvhat to reveal, that Ave see not. Grace be Avith you. Pray for the prisoner. Yours, in his only Lord Jesus, S. K. Aberdeen, Jan. 1, 1637. LETTER XLVIL— To IMargaret Ballantine. Mistress, — Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. It is more than time that I should have Avritten to you ; but it is yet good time, if I could help your soul to mend your pace, and to go more SAviftly to your heavenly country ; for truly, ye have need to make all haste, because the inch of your day that remaineth Avill quickly slip aAvay ; for Avhethcr Ave sleep or Avake, our glass runneth, the tide bideth no man. BeAvare of a beguile in the matter of your salvation. "Woe, Avoe for evermore to them that lose that prize ; for Avhat is behind when the soul is once lost, but that sinners Avarm their bits of clay-houses at a fire of their own kindling, for a day or tAvo, Avhich doth rather suffocate Avith its smoke than Avarm them, and at length they lie doAvn in sorroAV, and arc clothed Avith everlasting shame! I Avould seek no further measure of faith to begin Avithal, than to believe really and steadfastly the doctrine of God's justice, His all-devouring AA'rath and everlasting burning, Avhere sinners are burnt, soul and body, in a river and great lake of fire and brimstone. Then they Avould Avish no more goods, but the thousandth part of a cold fountain-Avell to cool their tongue ; they Avould then buy death, A\dth enduring of pain and torment for as many years as God hath created drops of rain since the creation ; but there is no market in buying or selling life or death there. 0 ! alas, the greatest part of this Avorld 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. 0 Lord God, Avhat is so needful as this. Salvation, Salvation? Fie upon this condemned and foolish Avorld, that Avill give so little for salvation ! 0, if there Averc a free market of salvation proclaimed in that day Avhen the trumpet 1 Eesult. 12-4 LETTER XLYll. of God shall awake the dead, how many buyers Avould be then ! God send me no more happiness, but 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, ch. Iv. 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 their bed (when they die) without a candle, for God saith to them, Isaiah 1. 21, " This shall ye have at my hand, ye shall lie down in sorrow." 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. Eouse, rouse up, therefore, your soul, and spier 2 how Christ and your soul met together. I am sure they never got Christ who were not once sick at the yolk of the heart for Him ; too, too many whole souls think they have met with Christ, Avho had never a wearied night for the Avant of Him. But, alas ! Avhat richer are men that they dreamed the last night they had much gold, and when they awoke in the morning they found it Avas but a dream? What are all the sinners in the world ill that day Avhen 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, ])eware, beware of unsound work, in the matter of your salvation : ye may not, ye cannot, ye do 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 1 I know this much of Christ, He is not ill to be found, not 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 pro- test, before men and angels, Christ cannot be exchanged, Christ cannot be sold, Christ cannot b^ 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 heavens, but Christ. Shame, shame for evermore be upon all glory, but Christ's glory. I cry, death, death upon all lives, but tlie life of Christ. 0, what is it that holdetU us asunder 1 0, that once wq ^ Mortgage, ^ Inquire. LETTER XLVIII. 125 could have a fair meeting ! Thus recommendnig Christ to you, and j'ou to Ilini for evermore, I rest. Grace be with you. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. 11. Aberdeen, 1C37. LETTER XLVIII.— To Jonet Kennedy. Loving and dear Sister, — Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. 1 received your letter. 1 know the savour of Christ in you (that the virgins love to follow) cannot be blown away with winds, either from hell or the evil-smelled air of this polluted world. Sit far aback from the walls of this pest-house, even the pollutions of this defiling world. Keep your taste, your love and hope in heaven ; it is not good 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 also. Take with you in your journey what ye may carry with you, your conscience, faith, hope, patience, meekness, goodness, brotherly kindness ; for such wares as these are of great l)rice in the high and new country whither ye go. As for other things that are but the world's vanity and trash, since they are but the house-sweepings, ye shall 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-lights, are falling from heaven, and many are misled and seduced, and make up with their fiiitli, and sell their birthright by their hungry hunting, for 1 know not what. Fasten your grips fast upon Christ. 1 verily esteem Him the best aught ^ that I have. He is my second in prison ; having Him, though my cross Avere 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 ; 1 rejoice that He is in heaven before me : God send a joyful meeting : and in the meantime the travel- ler's charges for the Avay, I mean, a burden of Christ's love to * Alone. ^ Empty, ^ Possession. * Chosen. 126 LETTER XLIX. sweeten the journej', and to encourage a breathless runner, for Avhen I lose bicath climljing up the mountain, He makcth new breath. 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. LETTER XLIX.— To Margaret Eeid. 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 Gosiiel. It is good, 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 stepmother 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 burthen, but believe me 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 poor hired servants : the moveables, 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 bless- ing and Christ's birthright that our Lord is keeping for you ; and 1 persuade you, 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 thousand thousands. Ere ye was born, crosses in num- ber, 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 tAventy pieces, and so the world should laugh at the sherds. Therefore, make fast work, see that Christ lay the ground-stone of your profession ; for wind, and rain, and speats- will not wash away His building: His works have no shorter date than to stand for evermore. I shoidd 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 inZion; 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 Avith you. Aberdeen, Yours, iu his dearest Lord Jesus, _ S. E. ^ Drive. * Floods. LETTKK L. 1-7 LETTEP. L.— To Jame.s Bautte. Loving Brother, — Grace, mercy, and peace be unto yon. 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 in- form you. 1. Ye do Avell to take yourself at the right stot,^ when ye wrong Christ by doubting and misbelief; for this is to nick- name Christ, and term Him a liar, which being spoken to our prince, would be hanging or heading ;2 but Christ hangeth not always for treason. It is good that He may registrate a believer's bond a hundred times, and more than seventy times a day have law against us, and yet He spareth us as a man doth his son that serveth him. No tender-hearted mother, Avho may have law to kill her suckling child, would put in execution that law. 2. 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 Avould say two things. (1.) Concluded and sealed salvation may go through and be ended, suppose ye 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 infeofTed 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 on us 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 the citizens pay according to their means ; for the new coven- ant 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 1 He breaketh not a bruised reed, nor quencheth the smoking flax : but if the wind blow, He holdeth His hands about it till it rise to a flame. The law cometh on with three Oyez's,^ with all the heart, witli all the soul, and with all the whole 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 pur.'^e, when we should put our hand in our bag, we would bring out the Avind or worse. But the new covenant seeketh not heap-mete nor stinted obedience, as the condition of it, because forgiveness hath always place. Hence I draw this conclusion. To think matters betwixt Christ and us go back, for want of * Eebound. - Belicadiiig. ^ Engagement. * Feeble. ^ Proekunationa. 128 LETTER L. heaped measure, is a piece of old Adam's pride, who would either l)e at legal payment or nothing. "We would still have God in our common.^ and buy His kindness ^ith our merits ; for beggarly pride is devil's honesty, and blusheth to be in Christ's conimon,^ 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 caretli not much for Christ's kindne?s. If he will not be friends, let Him go, saith pride : beware of this thief, when Christ oflfereth Himself 3. Xo marvel then, of whisperings, whether you be in the covenant or not. For pride it 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 truh' re- generated cannot determinately tell you the measure of their de- jections ; because Christ beginneth young w^th many, and stealeth into their heart, ere they wit of themselves, and becometh homely with them, with little din or noise. I grant, 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 a plea with Him, because He will not answer, Lord Jesus how earnest thou in, whether in at door or window ? make Him Avelcome since He is come. " The wind bloweth where it listeth ; " all the world's wit cannot perfectly render a reason, why the Avind should be a month in the east, six weeks possibly in the west, and the space only of 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 was 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 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 a like measure, for His absence, I deny. There are different degrees of ^ Debt. - Salutation (Grant you mercy). ^ Points. LETTER L. 129 mourning, less or more, as they liave less or more love to Ilini, and less or more sense of His absence. But, (1.) Some they must have. (2.) Sometimes they miss not the Lord, and then they cannot mourn, howbeit it is not long so, at least, it is not always so. 3. Ye challenge yourself, that some truths find more credit with you than otliers. Ye do well, for God is true in the least, as well as in the greatest, and He must he 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. 4. Comparing the estate of one truly regenerate (whose heart is a temple to the Holy Ghost) and yours (which is full of uncleanliness and corruption), ye stand dumb and discouraged, and dare not, sometimes, call Christ heartsomcly your own. I answer (1.) the best regenerate have their defilements, and (if I may speak so) their draft-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 3'ou from the well. (2.) I answer, albeit there be some ounce weights of carnality, and some squint look, or eye in our neck to an idol ; jet love in its own measure may be sound, for glory must purify and perfect our love, it will never till then Ijc absolutely pure ; yet, if the idol reign and have the yolk 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 Avell. (3.) There is a twofold discouragement ; one of un- belief, to conclude, and make doubting the conclusion, for a mote in your eye, and a by-look to an idol : this is ill. There is an- other discouragement of sorrow for sin, when ye find a by-look to an idol : this is good and a matter of thanksgiving ; therefore, ex- amine here also. 5. 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. 0 that ye knew and felt it as I have done. I wish ye a share of my feast ; sweet, sweet hath it been to me. If my Lord had not given me His love I would have fallen through the causey^ of Aberdeen ere now. But for you liing 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 Avill cpiench all their thirst. Hunger on; for there is meat in hunger for Christ: go never from Him, but fash^ Him (who yet is pleased with the importun- ity of hungry souls) with a dishful of hungry desires, till He fill you ; and if He delay, yet come not ye away, albeit ye should fall a-swoon at His feet. G. Ye ci-ave my mind, whether sound com- ^ Uag cf pollution, - Causeway. ^ Weary. I 130 LETTER L. fort may be found in prayer, when conviction of a, known idol is present. I answer : (1.) an idol, as an idol, cannot stand with sound comfort ; for that comfort that is gotten at Dagon's feet, is a cheat or blea-tlume,^ 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 out of your joys ye can, albeit ye find them mixed with motes. (2.) Sole conviction, if alone, Avithout remorse and grief, is not enough, therefore, lend it a tear if ye do win at it. 7. Ye question Avhen ye win to more fervency sometimes, with your neighbour in prayer, than when you are alone, whether hypocrisy be in it or not 1 I answer, (1.) if this be always, no question a spice of hypocrisy is in it, which would be taken heed to ; but possibly desertion may be in private, and presence in public, and then the case is clear. (2.) A fit of applause may occasion by accident a rubbing off 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, Avill ride His errands upon our stinking corruption; but corruption is b'lt a mere occasion and accident, -as the playing on a pipe re- moved anger from the prophet, and made him fitter to prophesy, 2 Kings iii. 15. 8. Ye complain of Christ's short visits, that He Avill 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, who knoweth that sweet guest) to bemoan His AvithdraAvings, and to be most desirous of His abode and company; for He Avould captivate and engage the affection of any creature that saAv His face : since He looked on me, and gave me a sight of His fair love, He gained my heart Avholly, and got aAvay with it ; Avell, Avell may He brook- it ; He shall keep it long ere I fetch it from Him. But I shall tell you Avhat ye shall do : treat Him Avell, give Him the chair and the boarddiead, and make Him Avel- come to the mean portion ye have ; a good supper and kind enter- tainment maketh the guest love the inns the better : yet some- times Christ hath an errand elseAvhere, for mere trial, and then, though ye give Him king's-cheer, He Avill aAvay; as is clear in desertions for mere trial, and not for sin. 9. Ye seek the differ- ence betAvixt the motions of the Spirit, in their least measure, and the natural joy of your OAvn heart. AnsAver, as a man can tell, if he joy and delight in his Avife, as his Avife, 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 Avhen ill befallefeh her: so Avill a man's joy in God and his Avhorish natural joy be dis- covered : if he sorroAV for anything that may oflend that Lord, it will speak the singleness of his hive to Him. 10. Ye ask the ^ A sham or illusion. Note that " blestume," on p. 47, is a misprint for this word. ' Possess or keep. LETTER LI. 131 reason, wLy sense overcometli faith. Answer, because sense is more natural, and near of kin to our own selfish and soft nature. Ye ask, if faith in that case be sound 1 Answer, if it be chased away it is neither sound nor unsound, because it is not faith ; but it might be and Avas faith, before sense did blow out the act of be- lieving. Lasth^ ye ask Avhat to do, when promises are borne in upon you, and sense of impenitcncy for sins of youth hindereth application. I answer, if it be living sense, it may stand with ap- plication j 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 irapenitency cannot stand together, so neither that sense and application can consist. Brother, excuse my brev ity, for time straiteneth me, that I get not my mind said in these things, but must refer that to a new occasion, if God ofter it. Brother, pray for me. Grace be with you. Yours, in his dearest Lord JcsuSj S. B. AberdecB, 1G37. LETTER LI— To John Stuakt, Provost of Ayr, now in Ireland. ]\Iucn 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 : 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 avIio sitteth upon the floods hath shown you His marvellous kindness in the great depths. I know your loss is great, and your hope is gone far against you. But I entreat you, sir, expound aright our Lord's laying an hindrance in the way. I persuade myself, your heart aimeth at the footsteps of the flock, to feed beside the shepherd's tents, and to dwell beside Him whom your soul lovetli, and that it is your desire to remain in the wilderness where the Avoman is kept from the dragon ; and this being your desire, remember that a poor prisoner of Christ said it to you, that, " That miscarried journey is Avitli child to you of mercy and consolation, and shall bring forth a fair birth, and the Lord shall be midwife to the birth ; wait on, he that believeth maketh not haste," Isa. xxviii. IG. I hope ye have been asking Avhat the Lord meaneth, and what further may be His will, in reference to j^our return. My dear brother, let God make of you Avhat He Avill, He Avill end all Avith consolation, and shall make glory out of your suff'erings ; and would ye wish 132 LETTER LI. better work 1 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 faitli seeth but the black side of providence, yet it hath a better side, and God shall 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 canonic 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 fail, Kom. viii. 28. "For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God," ergo, shipwreck, losses, &c., 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 dealings seem harsh, rough, or unfatherly, because it is unpleasant. When the Lord's blessed will bloweth cross your desires, it is best in humility to strike sail to Him, and to be willing to be laid any way our Lord pleaseth : it is a point of denial of yourself, to be as if yc 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 yout 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 here- after. And what I write to you, I write to your wife. I compas- sionate her case, but entreat her not to fear or 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 would 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 pro- clamation and sound of trumpet to be read in all the kirks of this kingdom : our prelates are to meet this month for it and our canons, 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 multi- plied transgressions of this land, and from the friends and lovers of Babel amongst us. Jer. xxxi. 35, " The violence done to me and my flesh be upon thee, Babylon, shall the inhabitants of Zion say, and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jeru- LETTER LI. 133 salcm say." Now, for myself, I wns three d.ays before tlic higli- commissioi). and accused of treason preached against our king. A minister being witness, went Avell nigh to swear it ; God hath saved me from their maUce. 1. They have deprived me of my ministry. 2. Silenced me, that I exercise no part of the mini- sterial function within this kingdom, under the pain of reljellion. 3. Confined my person within the town of Aberdeen, where I find the ministers Avorking 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), where- in it was asserted, tliat my Lord Avould have no more of my ser- vice 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 1 " Thus in my rovings and mistakings, my Lord Jesus be- stowed 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 Hia bounds, Avithout His own allowance. Now I pass from my com- pearance, 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. 0 sweet, sweet is His yoke ! Christ's chains are of pure gold, suflFerings for Him are perfumed. I would not give my Aveeping for the laughing of all the fourteen prelates. I Avould not exchange my sadness Avith the Avorld's joy. 0 lovely, lovely Jesus, how sAveet must Thy kisses be, Avhen Thy cross smell- eth so sweetly ! 0, if all the three kingdoms had part of my love feasts, and of the comforts of a dauted- prisoner ! Dear brother, I charge you to praise for me, and seek help of our acquaintance there, to help me to praise. Why should I smother Christ's lionesty to me? My heart is taken up Avith this, that my silence and suflferings may preach ; I beseech you in the boAvels of Christ to help me to praise. Remember my love in Christ to your Avife, to ]\Ir. Blair, and Mr. Livingston, and Mr. Cunningham. Let me liear from you, for I am anxious Avhat to do ; if I saw a call for NcAV England, I Avould folloAv it. Grace be Avitli you. Yours, in our Lord Jesus, S. H. Aberdeen, 1637, ^ Amends. * Fondled. 134 LETTER LII. LETTE?. LII.— To John Stuart, Provost ot Ayr. 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 wlien I awahe 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 1 Not that I doubt oi the truth of this ]ionoural:)Ie cause, wherein I am engaged (I dare venture into eter- nity and before my judge that I now suffer for the truth : because that I cannot endure that my J^.Iastor, who is a free-born King, should pay triljute to any of the shields or potsherds of the earth. 0, that I could hold the crown upon my Princely King's head with my sinful arm, howbeit it should be stroke from me in that service from the slioulder 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 ser- vice 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 v/rong, and He in love to my soul hath taken up the controversy betwixt faith and apprehensions, and a decreet is past on Christ's side of it, and I subscribe the decreet. The Loixl is equal in His ways, but my guiltiness often ovei^- mastereth my believing : I have not been well known, for except as to open out-breakings, 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 besides. 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 Christ pitieth me in this. The great men, my friends, that did for me, are dried up like winter brooks of water : all say, no deal- ing 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 con- tent that Christ breaketh all my idols in pieces, it hath put a new edge upon my blunted love to Christ. I see He is jealous of my love, and will have all to Himself. In a word, these six things are my burden. 1. I arn not in the vine3^ard, as others are; it may be, because Christ thinketh me a Avithered tree, not worthy 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 ; 0 for the desola- tion of this land ! 3, I see my dear Master Christ going His lone ^ (as it were) mourning in sackcloth ; his fainting friends fear that I LfitTER Lilt. 135 King Jesus shall lose the field, hut He must carry the day. 4. My guiltiness and the sins of my youth are come up against me, and they would come in the plea in my sufferings, as deserving causes in God's justice : but I pray God, for Christ's sake. He never give them that room. AVoe is me that I cannot get my royal, dread- ful, 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 God is Avith this prisoner. Let hell and the powers of hell (I care not) be let loose against me to do their worst, so being Christ, and my Father and His Father, be magnilied 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, Avho 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, Avhicli is idolatry. I fear I adore His comforts more than Himself, and that I love the apples of life better than the tree of life. Sir, write to me. Commend me to yonr wife, mercy be her portion. Grace be with you. Yours, in his dearest Lord Jesus, S. 11, Aberdeen, 1G37. LETTER LHI.— To John Stuart, Provost of Ayr. Worthy and dearly Beloved in our Lord, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I was refreshed and comforted Avith your letter. What I wrote to you for your comfort, I do not remember: but I believe, love will prophesy homeward, as it would have it. I wish I could help you to praise His great and holy name, Avho keepeth the feet of His saints, and hath numbered all your goings. I know our dearest Lord will pardon, and pass by our honest errors and mistakes, when Ave mind His honour; yet I knoAv, none of you have seen the other half and the hidden side of your wonder- ful return home to us again. I am confident ye shall yet say, that God's mercy blcAv your sails back to Ireland again. Worthy and dear sir, I cannot but give you an account of my present state, that ye may go an errand for me, to my high and royal ]\Iaster, of Avhom 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 bo 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 iu my 136 LETTER LIIL Lord's ]nv(7. but because love is sick with fancies and fears whether or not the Lord liath 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 of Him, I may be per- mitted to make use of such a word) in the face of my only, only Well-Beloved ; but fear of guiltiness is a tale-bearer betwixt me and Christ, and is still whispering ill tales of my Lord to weaken my faith. I had rather 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 ; Avoe, 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. 0 what service can a dumb body do in Christ's house ! 0, I think the Word of God is im- prisoned also ! O, I am a dry tree ! Alas ! I can neither plant nor water ! 0, if my Lord would but make dung of me, to fatten and make fertile His own corn-ridges in Mount Zion ! 0, if I might but speak to three or four herd-boys 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 out- houses ; but He saith, " Sirrah, I will not send you, I have no errands for you there-away." My desire to serve Him is sick of jealousy, lest He be unwilling to employ me. Secondly, This is seconded with another. 0, 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 vine- yard calleth the labourers, and giveth tliem their hire 1 Thii'dly, But truly, when Christ's sweet wind is in the right airt,^ I repent, and I pray Christ to take law-borrows ^ of my quarrelous and un- believing sadness and sorrow (Lord, rebuke them that put ill be- twixt a poor servant like me and his good Master) : then I say, whether the black cross will or not, I must climb, 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 an 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. He handleth me sometimes 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 ^ Direction. - A Sccltish law term, meaning secm-ity, ^ EefreslimenW LETTER Llir. 137 liatli taiii^ht mc ill manners, not to Idc content of a seat, oxcopt my liead lie in His bosom, and except I be fed with the fattest 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 suffer- ing for Him. But I wish He would give me grace to learn to go on my own feet, and to learn to want 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, 0, what sweet peace have I, when I find Christ holdeth and I draw ; when I climb up, and He shutteth me down ; Avhen I grip Him and embrace Him, and He seemeth to loose the grips and flee away from me. I think there even is a sweet joy of faith, and contentedness, and peace, in His very tempting unkindness, be- cause 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, that goeth over His face, wdiile^ 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." 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 would be that homely ;2 but because 1 am His own (God be thanked) He may use me as He pleaseth. I must say, the saints have a sweet life betwixt them and Christ ; there is much sweet solace of love betwixt Him and them, when He " feedeth among the lilies," and "comctli into His garden, and maketh a feast of honeycombs, and drinketh His wine and His milk," and crieth, "Eat, 0 friends, drink, be ye drunken, 0 well-beloved." One hour of this labour is worth a shipful of world's drunken and muddy joy. Nay, even the gate of 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 are ill-seasoned with our Father's bless- ing. So they are no fools who choose Christ, and sell all things for Him; it is no bairn's market, nor a blind block;^ Ave know well what we get and what we give. Now, for any resolution to go to any other kingdom, I dare not speak one word. Mj'' 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, while^ God send fair v^^eather again, and be pleased to take home to His ^ Till. ^ So familiar. ^ Exchange. 138 LETTER LIV. house my Imrlot-motlier. O, if her Husband -would be that^ kind, as to go and fetch her out of tlie brothel-house, and chase her lovers to the hills ; but there will be sad days ere it conie to that. Remember my bonds, Grace be with you. Yours, in our Lord Jesus, S. li. Aberdeen, 1GG7. LETTER LIV.— To the Lady Busey. Mistress, — Although not acquaint, yet because we are Father's children," I thought good to write unto you : howbeit, my first dis- course 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 tes- timonial 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. 0, I know not where to set Him ! 0, for a high seat to that royal Princely One ! O, that my poor withered soul had once a running-over flood of that love to put sap in my dry root, and that that flood would spring out to the tongue and pen, to utter great things, to the high and due commendation of such a fair one ! 0, Holy, Holy, Holy One ! Alas ! there are too many dumb tongues in the Avorld and dry hearts, seeing there is employ- ment 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 rusli hard-heads with Him ; and that my unkind mother, this harlot-kirk, hath given her sweet half-marrow ^ such a meeting, for this land hath given up Avith Christ, and the Lord is cutting- Scotland in two halves, and sending the Avorst half, the harlot- sister, over to Rome's brothel-house to get her fill of Egypt's love. I Avould my sufferings (nay, suppose I Avere burnt quick to ashes) might buy an agreement betwixt His fairest and sweetest love, and His gaudy lewd Avife. Fain Avould I give Christ His welcome-home to Scotland again if He Avould return. This is a black day, a day of clouds and darkness, for the roof-tree of my Lord Jesus his fair temple is fallen, and Christ's back is towards Scotland. 0, thrice blessed are they who Avould hold Christ Avith their tears and pray- ers ! I knoAV^ ye Avill help to deal Avith Him, for He shall return again to tliis land; the next day shall be Christ's, and there shall 1 Ho, - CliilJren of one Father. ^ Tartuer, I LETTERS LV. AND LVI, 139 he a fair green j'^onng garden for Christ in this hand, 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 Ave shall live and see it ? 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. Kemember my bonds with prayers and praises. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. 11. Aberdeen, 1637. LETTER LV.— To Ninian Mure. Loving Friend, — I received your letter. I entreat you now in the morning of your life, seek the Lord and His face. Beware of the follies of dangerous j^outh, a perilous time for your soul. Love not the world ; keep faith and truth Avith all men in your covenants and bargains : walk Avith God, for He seeth you : do no- thing but that Avhich ye may and Avould do, if your eye-strings Avere breaking and your breath groAving cold. Ye heard the truth of God from me ; my dear heart, folloAV it and forsake it not, prize Christ and salvation above all the Avorld. To live after the guise and course of the rest of the Avorld Avill not bring you to hea- ven : Avithout faith in Christ, and repentance, ye cannot see God. Take pains for salvation ; press forward toAvard the mark of the prize of the high calling. If 3'e Avatch not against evils night and day, Avhich beset you, ye Avill come behind. BeAvare of lying, sAvearing, uncleanness, and the rest of the Avorks of the flesh ; because for these things the Avrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience : hoAv sweet soever they may seem for the present, yet the end of these courses is the eternal Avrath of God, and utter darkness, Avhere there is Aveeping and gnashing of teeth. Gi'ace be Avitli you. Your loving pastor, S. li. Aberdeen, 1C37. LETTER LVL— To Mr. Thomas Garven. Reverend and dear Brother, — Grace, mercy, and peace bo unto you. I am sorry that Avhat joy and sorroAv dreAv from my im- prisoned 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 knoAv not Avhat else any may think of me, or expect from me : my stock is less (my Lord knoweth I speak trutli) than many believe, 140 LETTER LVI. my empty sounas have promised too much. I would be glad to lie under Christ's feet, and keep and receive the ofF-fallings or the old pieces of any grace, that fall from His sweet fingers to forlorn sin- ners, I lie often uncouth like, looking in at the King's windows ; surely I am unworthy of a seat in the King's hall-floor. I but of- ten look afar off both feared and framed ^ 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 mean- eth, when Christ will not receive my poor propine -; when love will not take, we expone it will neither take nor give, borrow nor lend. Yet Christ hath another sea-compass 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 dic- tateth to me. I look often with bleared and blind eyes to my Lord's cross ; and Avhen I look to the wrong side of His cross, I know I miss a step and slide : surely I see 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, 0, if He would but give me leave to love Him, and if Christ would but open up His wares, and the infinite, 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 an hungry man beside meat, to get my fill of wondering, as a preface to my fill of enjoying : but verily, I think 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. 0 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 ot His looks would do me meikle-world's * good, and Him no ill. I know, 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 neigh- bour with meikle* black hunger, and certainly,! dow'^ not but think, there is more of that love ordained for me than I yet comprehend, and I know not the weight of the pension 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 would be full and rejoice, if I got a poor man's alms of that sweetest love : but, I confidently believe, 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, but 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 dis- mayed ; there shall be a new allowance of the King for you, when ^ Strange or alien. = Troffer. * Folds. * Much. ^ Can. LETTER LVII. 141 ye come to it. One of the softest pillows Christ hath is laid under His witnesses' head, though often tliey must set down their bare feet among thorns. He hath brought my poor soul to desire and wish. 0, 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. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S, R Aber.leen, 1637. LETTER LVIL— To Jean Brown. 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 His enemies shall be His footstool, and that He shall 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 Avisdom for us to think that Christ and the Gospel will come and sit down at our fireside ; nay,but we must go out of our 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. 0, 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 Christ's water good wine, and this 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 Avorld out before the sun and the day- light in their blacks and whites. Happy are they, who are found Avatching. Our sand-glass is not so long as^ we need to weary : time Avill 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 inchl Therefore, I commend Christ to you, as your last living and longest living Husband, and the staff of your old age : let Him have now 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; 1 That. 1 42 LETTER LVIII. 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 fair- ness, and I little love ; He great power and mercy, and I little faith; He much light, and I bleared eyes. 0, 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 running-out vessel can hold little of Christ Jesus ! I have joy in this, that I Avould not refuse death before I puf- Christ's lawful heritage in men's trysting ;2 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 more bids ?" Blessed ai-e they who would hold the crown on His head, and buy Christ's honour with their own losses. I re- joice to hear your son John is coming to Adsit Christ and taste of His love. I hope he shall not lose his pains, or 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 ]\Ias- ter, and I wish ye would let him read my letter, and the joy I have, if he will appear for, and side with my Lord Jesus. Grace, grace be with you. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S, K. Aberdeer;, Marcla 13, 1637. LETTER LVIIL— To Jean M'Millan. Loving Sistek, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I can- not come to you to give you my counsel ; and howbeit I would come, I cannot stay with you; but I beseech you 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, make Him your own, and go not from that truth I taught you in one hair-bi'eadth ; that truth shall save you, if ye follow it. Salvation is not an easy thing, and soon gotten ; I often told you few are saved, and many, many damned. I pray you, make your poor soul sure of salvation, and make 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 cpiit all the world for Him, then that saitli the work is sound. 0, if ye saw the beauty of Jesus, and felt the smell of His love, ye would run through fire and * .Rather than i>nt, " Arr-wqir.^. LETTEI5 LIX. 143 water to bo at Ilim. God send you Him. Pray for me, for I cannot forget you. Grace be with you. Your loving pastor, S. H. Aberdeen, 1C37. LETTER LIX.— To the Lady Busby. 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 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 but 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 full}- that except Clirist come unsent for, I do not go to seek Him. When He and I fall in reckoning we are both behind, He in payment, and I in counting; and so marches lie still unrid,-^ and counts uncleared betwixt us. 0, 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 rooped,^ comprised, and i^ossessed by Christ as His bondman. Think well of the visitations of your Lord. For I find one thing 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. 0, how little care Ave for pardon, at Christ's hand, Avhen we make dispensations ! And all is but bairn's play, till a cross without beget an heavier cross Avithin, and then Ave play no longer Avith our idols. It is good still to be severe against ourselves, for Ave but transform God's mercy into an idol, and an idol that hath a dispensation to give, for turning of the grace of God into Avantonness. Happy are they Avho talvc up God, Avrath, justice, and sin, as they are in themselves. For Ave have miscarrying light that parteth with child, Avhen Ave have good resolutions ; but God be thanked, that salvation is not rolled upon our Avheels. 0, but Christ hath a saving eye ! Salwation is in His eyelids : Avhen He first looked on me, I Avas saved ; it cost Him but a look, to make hell quit of me. 0 merits, free merits, and the dear blood of God, Avas the best gate that ever we could have gotten [out] of hell ! 0, Avhat a sweet, 0, Avhat a safe and 1 Set aside. ^ Undefined, * Seized. 144 LETTER LX. sure way is it, to come out of hell leaning on a Saviour ! tliafc Christ and a sinner should be one, and have heaven iDetwixt them, and be halvers of salvation, is the wonder of salvation. What more humble could love be 1 and what an excellent smell doth Christ cast on His lower garden, Avliere 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. 0, that He would blow His smell upon a withered and dead soul ! Let us then go on to meet Avith Him, and to l>e 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 ride 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 Bride- groom, with desire, is waiting on till the Bride, the Lamb's wife, bo busked* for the marriage, and the great hall be rid^ for the meeting of that joyful couple. 0 fools, what do we herel and why sit we still 1 Why sleep we in the prison 1 Were it not best to make us wings to liee up to our blessed Match, our Mar- row, and our Fellow friend ! I think, mistress, ye are looking there-away, and this is your second or third thought ; make for- ward, 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 tliat day of our Lord Jesus, to whose saving grace I recommend you. Yours, in our Lord Jesus, S. li. Aberdeen, 1637. LETTER LX.— To William Eigge, of Athernie. Much honoured and worthy Sir, — Your letter, full of com- plaints, bemoaning your guiltiness, hath humbled me ; but give me leave to say, 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 ye desire to take God's part against yourself. Whatever your guilti- ness be, yet when it falleth into the sea of God's mercy, it is but like a drop of blood fallen in the great ocean. There is nothing here to be done, but let Christ's doom light upon the old man, 1 FiLvniture. ^ Weary. ^ Adorucd. * Set jn order. LETTER LX. 145 nnd let hiin boar his condemnation, seeing in Christ he was con- demned ; 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 sun-burnt, by sitting neighbour beside a body of sin." I seek no more here, but 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 sorrow ^ tliat I am not so tender and thin-skinned, though I am sure Christ may find employment for His calling in me, if in any living, see- ing 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 Avhen 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 sleep- ing devil, that would pass by the like of me, lying in moors and out-fields. So I bigged^ the gouk'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 that they would have much rhetoric that Avould 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 Avould gladly sell all my joys, to be confirmed King Jesus's free-tenant, and to have sealed assurances ; but I see often blank papers. And my greatest de- sires are these two. 1. That Christ would take me in hand to cure me, and undertake for a sick man. I know 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, iDecause I have none to help me to praise His love, and can do Him no service in my own person (as I thought once I did in His temple), then 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 1 I am sure if I could get my Avill of Christ's love, [if] I could be once 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 com- munion Avith Him because of want of both faith and repentance, ^ Sorry. ^ Pujlt. 3 Cuckoo's. K 145 LETTER LXI. and because I will make an idol of Christ's kisses : I will neither lead nor drive,^ except I see Christ's love run in my channel; and when I wait and look for Him the upper Avay, I see His wis- dom 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 Avhen we have gotten it. 0, how far are His ways above mine ! 0, how little of Him do I see ! And when I am as dry as a burnt heath in a droughty summer, and wdien my root is withered, howbeit I think then that I Avould drink a sea full of Christ ere ever I would let the cup go from my head, yet I get nothing but delays, as if Ho would make hunger my daily food ; I think myself also hun- gered of hunger ; the rich Lord Jesus satisfy a famished m.an. Grace be with you. Your own, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. E. Aberdeen, Sept. 10, 1637. LETTER LXL— To his AVorthy and much Honoured Friend, FuLK Elies. Worthy and much honoured in our Lord, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I am glad of our more than paper acquaint- ance : seeing we have one Father, it reckoneth the less, though we never saw one another's faces. I profess myself most un- worthy to follow the camp of such a worthy and renowned Cap- tain as Christ. 0, 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 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, Avhereby He measureth joy and sorrow to the sons of men, were crooked and unjust, because servants are 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 Ave now stomach at, upside dowu, and had ordered matters thus, that first the saints should ^ Be led nor driven. " Stcop. LETTER LXI. 147 have enjoyed heaven, glory, and ease, and then Methusalem's days of sorrow and daily miseries 1 we should think a short heaven no heaven : certainly His ways pass finding out. 3. Yc complain of the evil of heart-atheism, but it is to a greater atheist than any man can be that ye write to of that. 0, light findeth not that reverence and fear, as a plant of God's setting should find in our poul ! How do we by nature, as others, detain and captivate the truth of God in unrighteousness, and so make God's light a bound prisoner ! And even when the prisoner breaketh the jail and couieth 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 soul, our earthly affections, to the higher part, which is our conscience, either natural or re- newed, as smoke in a lower house breaketh up, and defileth the house above : if we had more practice of obedience, Ave should have more sound light. I think, lay aside all other guiltiness, this one, the violence done to God's candle, in our soul, were a sufficient dittay 1 against us; for there is no helping of this, but by striving to stand in awe of God's light ; lest light tell tales of us we desii'e little to hear; but since it is not without God, that light sitteth neighbour to will (a lawless lord), no marvel that suclx 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 wuth 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) hath 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 will not be quite dried up ; and therefore w^e must resolve to apply peace to our soul 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, -vyho hath saved us and washed us in His own ^ Sentence. 148 LETTER LXII. blood. I would connsel all the ransoned ones to learn this sonsf, and to drinlc and be drunk with the love of Jesus. 0 fairest, O highest, 0 loveliest One, open the well ! 0 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, Init I would have a link of that chain of His pro\'idcnce mended, in pining and delaying the hungry on-waiters. For my- self, 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 to complain and cry. Lord Jesus, hold Thy hands no longer. Worthy sir, let me have your prayers in my bonds. Grace be with you. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. K. Aberdeen, Sept. 7, 1637. LETTER LXn.— To James Lindsay. 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 wit- less and lazy observer of the Lord's way and working) an heavy stroke: could I keep sight of Him, and know when I want, and carry as became me in that condition, I Avould bless my case. But, 1. For desertions, I think them like lying-lay ^ of lean and weak land, for some years, while- it gather sap for a better crop : it is possible to gather gold, where it may be had, with moonlight. 0, 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 the Beloved were only gone away for trial, and for 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 either side, and what side then can I lie on ■? 3. I know, 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 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 gi-ace's wonder, that Christ 1 Fallow. 2 Till. LETTER LXII. 149 Avill lend a piece of the lodging, and a back chamber beside Him- self, to our hists ; and that Hu and such swine should keep liouse together in our soul : for suppose they couch and contract them- selves into little room Avhen Christ cometh in, and seem to lie as dead under His feet, yet they often break out again. And that a foot of the old man, or a leg or arm nailed to Christ's cross, looseth the nail, or breakcith out again ; and yet Christ beside this unruly and misnurtured neighbour, can still be making heaven in the saints, one way or other ; may not I say, Lord Jesus, what doest thou here 1 Yet here He must be, but I will but lose my feet to go on into this depth and wonder, for free mercy and in- finite merits took a lodging to Christ and us beside such a loath- some guest as sin. 5. Sanctitication 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 0, how many of us would have Christ divided in two halves, that we might take the half of Him only, and take His office, Jesus, and salvation] but Lord is a cumbersome word, and to obey and Avork out our own salvation, and to perfect holi- ness, is the cumbersome and stormy north-side of Christ, and that we eschew and shift. G. For your question, the access that re- probates 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. 1. All God's justice towards man and angels floweth from an act of the 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 to 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 in- clineth upward, and the earth heavy, and inclincth downward. The 2d assertion then is, that God saith to reprobates, " Believe in Christ (who hath not died for your salvation) and ye shall b« 150 LETTER LXII. 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 in the visible church to believe His 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. 3d assertion. The righteous Lord hath right over the reprobates and all reasonable creatures that violate His commandments : this is easy. 4th assertion. The faith that God seeketh of reprobates is, that they rely upon Christ, as de- spairing 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 on Christ, mankind's Saviour ; for to rely on Christ, and not to 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 casten down and contrite heart in some measure for sin. Now it is certain God commandeth no man to presume. 5th assertion. Then reprobates are not absolutely ob- liged 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 Christ died for them, if they be first weary, burdened, sin-sick, and condemned in their own con- sciences, and stricken dead and killed with the law's sentence, and have indeed embraced Him as offered, which is a second and sub- isequent act of faith, following after a coming to Him, and closing with Him. Gth 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. 7th assertion. Justice hath a riglit 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 them- selves, and refuse to deny their own righteousness, and to take them to Christ, in whom there is righteousness for Avcaried sinners. 8th assertion. It is one thing to rely, lean, and rest upon Christ, in humility and Aveariness of spirit, and denying our own righteous- ness, believing Him to be the only righteousness of wearied sin- ners; and it is another thing to believe Christ died for me — John, Thomas, Anna — upon an intention, and decree, to save us by LETTEn LXIII. 151 name. For, 1. The first goetli first, the latter is always after in due order. 2. The first is faith, the second is a fruit of faith. 3. The first obligeth reprobates and all men in the visible kivk ; the latter oldigeth only the weary and laden, and so only the elect and eftectually called of God. *Jth 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, be- cause it is not faith to believe God's intention and decree of elcs- tion at the first ere ye be weai'ied : look first to your own inten- tion and soul, if ye find sin a burden, and can, and do rest under that burden upon Christ ; if this be once, no\7 come and believo in particular, or rather apply by sense (for in my judgment it is a fruit of belief, not belief) and feeling the good will, 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 this their inability to come to Christ, and he who loveth his chains, deserveth chains : and thus, in short, remember my bonds. Yours, in his aweat Lord Jesus, S. R. Aberdeen, Sept. 7, 1637. LETTER LXIII.— To the Earl of Cassillis. My very honourable and noble Lord,— Grace, mercy, and peace be to your lordship. Pai'don me to express my earnest desire to your lordship, for Zion's sake, for whom we should not hold our peace. I know 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 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 Avill have none of their service. Now, He is asking if your lordship will help Hira against the mighty of the earth ; when men are 152 LETTER LXIII. setting their shoulders to Christ's fair and beautiful tent in this laud, 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 empawned and lay^ in Christ's hand the earldom of Cassillis (and it is but a shadow in compari- son 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 apostasy of this land. Ye hold your lands of Christ, your charters are under His seal, and He who hath many crowns on His head, dealcth, cutteth, and carveth pieces of tliis 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 passed with their last sen- tence to heaven or hell, and have made their reckoning, and de- parted out of this smoky inn, have now no other conceit of this world, but as a piece of beguiling, Avell-lustred clay ; and how fast doth time (like a flood still in motion) carry your lordship out of it ! and is not eternity coming with wings 1 Court^ goeth not in lieaven as it doth here. Our Lord (who hath all you, the nobles, lying in the shell of His balance) esteemeth you accordingly as ye are the Bridegroom's friends or foes ; jouv honourable ancestors, with the hazard of their lives, brought Christ to our hands, 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 a slip, now when His back is at the Avail (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 in re- cjuest, 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 field at length, and we would all be glad to divide the spoil with Christ, and to ride in triumph with Him. But, 0 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 Av^ould go to heaven the land- way (for they love not to be seasick), riding up to Christ upon ^ Laid. - Debt. -^ Favour. * Mourning. LETTER LXIV. 153 footmantlcs, and rattling coaches, and rubbing tlieir 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 sal- vation. Are they not now rouping Christ and the Gospel? have they not put our Lord Jesus to the market, and he Avho out- biddcth his fellow shall get Him 1 0, my dear and noble lord, go on (howbeit the wind be in your face) to back our princely Captain ; be courageous for Ilim : fear not these who have no sub- sciibed 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 Avay 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 experi- ence, 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 this is the way : the bottom hath fallen out of both their wit and conscience at once ; their book hath be- guiled 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. Let them take this fat Avorld, 0, poor and hungry is their paradise ! therefore, let me en- treat 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 glory, honour, and might, worldly, be for our Lord Jesus : and to His ricli 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. IL. Aberdeen Sept. 9, 1637. LETTER LXIV.— To the Lady Largikie. 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, 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 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 : suffer- ings are like a wood planted round about His house, over door and Avindow; 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 154 LETTER LXV. broalc; and when He liatli accomplished His work in Mount Zion, and hath refined His silver, He Avill bring new vessels out of the furnace, and plenish^ His house, and take up 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 Clirist blank paper for a bond of service and attendance, now when Christ liath 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 cpiit it for Him, is the safest cabinet to keep the world in. But these who would take the world and all their flitting- on their back, and run away from Christ, they Avill fall by the way, and leave their burden behind them, and he taken captive them- selves. Well were my soul to ])ut all I have, life and soul, over in Christ's hands ; let Him be forthcoming for all. If any ask how I dol 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 this fire cannot consume. Remember my love to your hus- band, and show him from me I desire that 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 : 0, that he would take it to heart. Grace be with you. Yours, in Christ Jesus his Lord, S. E. Aberdeen. LETTER LXV.— To the Lady Dungueigh. Mistress, — I long to hear from you, and how ye go on with Christ. I am sure that Christ and ye once met : I pray you, 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 we are going to, and there is ill lodging in this smoky house of the world, in Avhich we are yet living. 0, that we should love smoke so well, and clay that holdetli our feet fast ! it were our happiness to follow on after Christ, and to anchor ourselves upon the Rock in the upper side of the vale. Christ and Satan are now drawing two parties, and they are blind who see not Scotland divided in two camps, and Christ coming out with His white banner of love, ami 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, 1 Furnish. * Furuiture. ^ Xo seek. * Meet. I LETTER LXVI. 155 lionour, and a whole skin, and a soft coucli ; and there lie they, and leave Christ to feiuU for Himself. My counsel is, that ye come out and leave the muliitude, and let Christ have your com- ]iany. Let them take clay, and this present world, Avho love it : Christ is a more worthy and noble portion : blessed are these 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. 0, 1 find all too little for Him ! woe, woe, woe 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. 0, if it were as broad as heaven, as deep as the sea, I would gladly bestow it upon Him ! I persuade you, God is wringing grapes of red wine for Scotland, and this land shall drink, and spue, and fall : His enemies shall drink the thick of it, and the grounds of it : but Scotland's Avithered 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 jou. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. K. Aberdeen, 1C37. LETTER LXVL— To Jonet M'Culloch. Loving Sister, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you : hold on your course, for it may be I will not soon see you : venture through the thick of all things after Christ, and lose not your ]\Iaster, 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 airf^ it will, your soul will not blow in the sea. I find Christ the most steadabh; ^ friend and companion in the Avorld to me now : the need and use- fulness of Clirist is seen best in trials. 0, 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 he hath never written to me : I do not forget him. I taught you the Avhole 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 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 j our mother's soul, and desire her 1 Shift. - Offering. ^ Worthless. * Quarter. ^ Beliable. 156 LETTElt LXVII. from me to seek the Lord and His salvation ; it is not soon found, many miss it. Grace be with yon. Your loving pastor, S. E. Aberdeen, 1637. LETTER LXVIL— To my Lord Craighall. My Lord, — I cannot expound your lordshi])'s contrary tides, and these tentations, wherewith ye are assanlted, to be any other thing but Christ trying you, and saying unto you, " And will yo also leave me?" I am sure, Christ hath a great advantage against you, if ye play foul play to Him, in that the Holy Spirit hatli 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 llveth, the Antichrist's way; therefore, as ye fear God, fear your light, and stand in av/e 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 1 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 received honour, and place, and authority, and riches, and reputa- tion 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, Avhich, notwithstanding, encroach directly upon Christ's royal prerogative. 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 overgilded 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 1 I am sure your lordship hath found the truth ; go not then to search it over again ; for it is ordinary 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. 1 Seize. « SpHt. LETTERS LXVIII. AND LXIX. 157 LETTER LXVIII.— To William Eiggie, of Athernie. Worthy and much honoured Sir, — Grace, raercy, and poaco be to you. How sad a prisoner would I be if I knew not tliat my Lord Jesus had the keys of tlie i)rison Himself, and that His death and blood hath bought a blessing to our crosses as well as to ourselves. I am sure, troubles have no prevailing right over us, if they be but our Lord's sergeants, to keep us in ward, while Ave 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, Avhere there is no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither anymore pain : and, therefore, we shall leave them behind us. 0, if I could get as good a gate of^ sin, even this woeful and Avretched 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 0, 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. 0, 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. 0, but the sweet, new, and living way that Christ hath stroke^ up to our home, be 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. 0, if He and I were in fair dry land together on the other side of tlie water. Grace be with you. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. R. Aberdeen, Sept. 30, 1C37. LETTER LXIX.— To the Lady Kilconquhair. Mistress, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you : I received your letter. I am heartily content ye love and own this oppressed and wronged cause of Christ, and that now, when so many are 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 ^ Boumlary. ^ Manner of dealing with. ^ Struck. 158 LETTER LXX, kingdom. He is content to divide it betwixt Him .and you, yea, His throne and His glory, Luke xxi. 29, Job xvii. 24, Rev. iii. 21 ; nnd tlierefore 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 saw the invisible God and the fair city, make 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 your Lord Jesus's testament ; 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 or vine-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, proceed- ing 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 uncouth 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 for- bidden 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, 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 out-held, and wild, cold, barren ground. All things are fiiding that are here. It is our happiness to make sure Christ to ourselves. Thus, remembering my love to your husband, and wishing to him, what I write to you, I commit you to God's tender mercy. i^ours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. K. Aberdeen, Sept. 13, 1637. LETTER LXX.— To the Lady Craighall. Honourable and Christian Lady, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to jou. I cannot but Avrite 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 m * Mortgage. LETTER LXX. 159 the Lord Jesus : for His own person is still in the camp with His poor soldier. I see the cross is tied with Christ's hand to the end of an honest profession : Ave 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 life-rent of the cross of the Lord Jesus, I know that Christ bought, with His own blood, a right to sanctified and blessed crosses, in as fcir as they blow me over tlie water, to my long desired home : and it were not good that Christ should be the buyer and I the seller. I know time and death shall take sufferings fairly off my hand. I hope we shall have an honest parting at night, when this piece 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 por- tion in : if He be at the one end of it, it shall be Avell 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 as- surance, since I came over Forth, of the excellency of Jesus than I had before. I am rather about Him, than in Him, while I am ab- sent from Him in this house of clay : but I Avould be in heaven for no other cause, but to essay and try what boundless joy it must be to be over head and ears in my Well-Beloved Christ's love. 0, that fair One hath my heart for evermore ! but alas, it is over little for Him ! 0, if it were better and more worthy for His sake ! 0, 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 ! 0, 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 Avith that love, so fain would I have what I know I cannot hold. 0 Lord Jesus, delightest Thou, de- lightest Thou, to pine ^ and torment poor souls Avith the Avant of Thy incomparable love 1 0, if I durst call Thy dispensation cruel ! I knoAv Thou Thyself art mercy, Avithout either brim or bottom ; I knoAv Thou art a God bank-ful of mercy and love, but O, alas ! little of it Cometh my Avay. I die to look afar off to that love, be- cause I can get but little of it : but hope saith, this providence shall ere long look more favourably upon poor bodies, and me also. Grace be Avith your Ladyship's spirit. Your Ladyship's, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. E, Aberdeen, Sept. 10, 1637, ^ Mortga-e. « Starve, IGO LETTERS LXXI, AND LXXII. LETTER LXXI— To Mr. James Hamilton. Reverend and dear Brother, — Peace be to you from God our Father and irom our Lord Jesus. I am laid low, when I re- member 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 in running through such an unclean and impure channel. But I see Christ will be Christ, in the dreg and refuse of men : His art, His shining wisdom. His beaut}', speaketh 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 omni- potency delighteth to draw glory out of. 0, how sweet is the in- ner side of the walls of Christ's house, and a room beside Himself! my distance from Him maketh me sad. 0, that we Avere in other's^ arms ! 0, that the middle things betwixt us were removed ! I find it a difficult matter to keep all stots" with Christ : when he laugh- eth, 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 He shall 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 Avith let- ters 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 yoiL Grace, grace be with you. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. R. Aberdeen, September 7, 1637. LETTER LXXn.— To Mr. George Dunbar. 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 believecl, till now, that there was so much to be found in Christ, on this side of death and of heaven. 0, 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 investment ! 0, Avhat then must personal possession be ! I find that my Lord Jesus hatli not miscooked or spilt ^ this sweet cross. He hath an eye on the fire ^ Eacli other's. ^ To keep step. ^ Mismanaged or spoiled. LETTER LXXII. 161 and the melting gold, to separate the metal and the dross. O, 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 he 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 His furnace in Jerusalem. I need not either bnd^ or flatter temptations, crosses : nor strive to buy the devil or this malicious world bye,- or redeem their kindness with half a hair-breadth of truth : He who is surety for His ser- vant 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 they are in hell, who Avould 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 sufterings are Avashen in Christ's blood, as Avell as our souls ; for Christ's merits bought 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 Re- deemer paid. Our troubles owe us a free passage through them : devils, and men-, and crosses, are our debtors; and death, and all storms, are our debtors, to blow our poor tossed bark over the Avater fraught-free, and to set the travellers in 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 the only wreck and ruin of the black kingdom : and yet a little, and the Antichrist must play himself with the bones and slain bodies of the Lamb's followers ; but withal, we stand with the hundred forty and four thousand, who are Avith the Lamb, upon the top of Mount Zion : Antichrist and his followers are down in the valley ground, Ave have the advantage of the hill. Our temptations are always beneath, our Avaters are beneath our breath ; as dying, and behold Ave 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 handyAvork, and a ncAV 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- Aveights of heaven and of the spirit of glory (that resteth on suffer- ^ Bribe. - To " buy bye " is to pay one to cease from what he is doing. * Dowry. L 162 LETTEK LXXIII. ing- bolicvcrs) in our cnp, in wliich there is no taste of hell, lly dear brother, ye know all these better than I : I send water to the sea, to speak of these things to you : but it easctli me to desiro you to help me to pay tribute of praise to Jesus. O, what praises I owe Him ! I would I were in my free heritage, that I might be- gin 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. Iw Aberdeen, Sei^t. 17, 1CS7. LETTER LXXIII.~To Mr. David Dickson. Reverend and well-beloved Brother in the Lord,— I bless the Lord, who hath so wondei-fully stopped the ongoing of that lawless process against you. The Lord reigneth, and hath a sav- ing eye upon you, and your ministry ; and therefore, fear not what men can do. I bless the Lord, tliat the Irish ministers find employment, and the professors, comfort of their ministry. Be- lieve me, I durst not, as I am now disposed, hold an honest brother out of the pulpit. I trust the Lord shall guard you, and hide you in the shadow of His hand : I am not pleased with any that are against you in that. I see this in prosperity, men's con- science will not start at small sins : but if some had been Avhere I have been, since I came from you, a little mote would have caused their eye water, and troubled their peace. 0, how ready are we to incline to the Avorld's hand ! our arguments being well ex- amined are often drawn from our skin : the Avliole 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 : 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 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 with the sweetness of His presence, and He in ruy sleep stealeth away out of my arms, and when I awake I miss ^ Sin-outiiig. LETTER LXXIV, 1G3 Ilim, I am mncli comforted -with my Lady Pitsligo, a good woman, and acquainted Avitli God's ways. Grace bo with you. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. 11, Aberdeen, September 11, 1G37. LETTER LXXIV.— To the Eight Honourable my Lord Loudoun. Eight Honourable, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to your lord- ship. I rejoice exceedingly that I hear 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 honour and worldly glory to the New Jerusalem ; for this cause your lordship received these of the Lord. This is a sure way for the establish- ment of your house, if ye be of these, 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. su}ipose the bastard, laws of man were against you, it is an honest and zealous error, if here ye slip against a point or punctilio of standing policy. When your foot sHppcth 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 Avill hold you up. Blessed shall tjiey be, Avho take Babel's little ones and dash their heads against stones : I Avish your lordship have a share of that blessing, witli other Avorthy nobles in our land. It is true, it is now accounted Avisdom for men to be partners in pulling up the stakes, and loos- ing the cords of the tent of Christ; but I am persuaded, tliat that Avisdom is cried doAvn in heaven, and shall never pass for true Avisdom Avith the Lord, Avhose Avord crieth shame upon Avit against Christ and truth : and accordingly it shall prove shame and con- fusion of face in the end. Our Lord hath given your lordship light of a better stamp, and learning also, wherein ye are not be- hind the disputer and the scribe. 0, Avhat a blessed thing is it, to see nobility, learning and sanctification, all concur in one ! for these ye OAve yourself to Christ and His kingdom. God hath be- Avildered and bemisted the Avit and the learning of the scribes and disputers of this time ; they look asquint to the Bible. This blinding and bemisting Avorld blindfoldeth men's light, that they are afi'aid to see straight out before them, nay their A'ery light playeth the knave, or Avorse, to truth. Your lordship knoAveth, within a little Avhile policy against truth Avill blush, and the Avorks of men shall burn, even their spider Aveb, Avho spin out many hundred ells and Avebs of indifference in the Lord's Avor- ship, more than ever Moses, Avho Avould have an hoof material, 1G4 LETTER LXXIV. and Daniel, who would have a look out at a windoAv, a matter of life and death, than ever (I say) these men of God dreamed of. Alas, that men dare shape, carve, cut, and clip our King's princely testament, in length and breadth, and in all dimensions, answer- able to the conceptions 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 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 holey and threadbare garment? Doth not cripple and lame nature tell us that the Lord will fold up the old gar- ment, and lay it aside, and that the heavens shall be folded to- gether as a scroll, and this pest-house shall be burnt with fire, and that both plenishing^ and walls shall melt with fervent lieaf? for at the Lord's coming He will do with this earth as men do with a leper-honse. He will burn the walls with fire, and the plenishing^ of the house also, 2 Pet. iii. 10, 11, 12. My very dear lord, how shall ye rejoice in that day, to have Christ, angels, heaven, and your own conscience to smile upon you. I am persuaded, one sick night, through the terrors of the Almighty, would make men (whose conscience hatli such a wide throat, as an image like a cathedral church would go down it) have other thoughts of Christ and His Avorship, 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. I am persuaded, my lord, this poor travailing woman, our pained church, is with child ot victory, and shall bring forth a man-child, that shall be caught up to God and His throne, howbeit the dragon (in his followers) be attending the childbirth-pain, as an Egyptian midwife, to receive the birth, and strangle it, Isa. xxix. 8 ; but they shall be dis- appointed who thirst for the destruction of Zion, they shall be as when a hungry man dreameth that he eateth, but behold he awak- eth, 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. Therefore, the weak and feeble, those that are as signs and wonders in Israel, have chosen ' Furniture. ^ Notch. LETTEr. LXXV. 1G5 the best side, even the side that victory is upon ; and, I think, this is no evil pohcy. Verily, for myself, I am so Avell pleased ■with Christ and His noble and honest-born 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 niftering^ and bartering of lots and con- dition with those that are at ease in Zion : I hold still my choice, and bless myself in it. I see and I believe, there is salvation in this Avay, that is everywhere spoken against, I hope to go to eternity, and to venture upon the last evil to the saints, even upon death, fully persuaded that this only, even this, is the saving Avay for racked consciences, and for weary and laden sinners, to hnd ease and peace for evermore into. 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 efiectu- ate 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 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, li. Aberdeen, Sept. 10, 1637. LETTER LXXV.— To the Laird of Gaitgirtii. Much honoured Sir, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you : I can do no more but thank you in paper, and remember you to Him ■»vhom I serve, for your kindness and care of a prisoner. I bless the Lord, the cause I sufierfor needeth not to blush before kings: Christ's white, honest, and fair truth, needeth neither wax pale for fear, nor 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 is 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 lo Christ in His members, till legs and arms, and whole mystical Christ be * Exclian^iiig. " Preference. ^ Saleable. ICG LETTER LXXVI. In heaven : there will be rain, and hail, and storm in the saints' clouds, ever till God cleanse with fire the works of creation, and till He burn the borch-house ^ of heaven and earth, that men's sin hath subjected unto vanity. They are blessed Avho suffer and ein not, for suffering is the badge that Christ hath put upon His followers : take what way we can to heaven, the way is edged up with crosses; there is no way, but to break through them; wit and wiles, shifts and laws, will not find out a way about- the cross of Christ, but we must through. One thing by experience, my Lord hath taught me, that the Avaters betwixt this and heaven may all be ridden, if Ave be Avell horsed, I mean, if Ave be in Christ, and not one shall drown by the Avay, but such as love their oAvn destruction. 0, if Ave could Avait on for a time, and believe in the dark the salvation of God ! at least Ave are to believe good of Christ, till He gives us the slip (which is impossible), and to take His Avord for caution,^ that He shall fill up all the blanks in His promises, and give us Avhat Ave Avant : but to the unbeliever Christ's testa- ment is Avhite, blank, uuAvritten paper. Worthy and dear sir, set }'our face to heaven, and make you ^o stoop at all the low entries m the way : that ye may receive the kingdom as a child : Avithout this. He that knew the Avay said, there is no entry in. 0, but Christ be Avilling to lead a poor sinner ! 0, what love my poor soul hath found in Him, in the house of my pilgrimage ! Suppose love in heaven and earth were lost, I dare swear it may be found in Christ. Noav the very God of peace establish you, till the day of the glorious appearance of Christ. Yours, in his sAveet Lord Jesus, S K. Aberdeen, Sept. 7, 1637. LETTER LXXVL— To the Lady Gaitgirth. Much honoured and Christian Lady,— Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long to hear how it goeth Avith you and your chil- dren. I exhort you, not to lose breath, nor to faint in your journey : the Avay is not so long to your home, as it Avas ; it Avill Avear to one step or an inch at length, and ye shall come ere long to be Avithin your arm-length of the glorious crown. Your Lord Jesus did SAveat and pant, ere He got up that mount, he Avas at "Father save me," Avith it : it Avas He who (Ps. xxii. 14) said, "I am poured out like Avater ; all my bones are out of joint (Christ Avas as if they had broken Him upon the Avheel) ; My heart is like Avax, it is melted in the midst of My boAvels:" ver. 15, "My strength is dried up like a potsherd." I am sure ye love the Avay the better that His holy feet trode it before you. Crosses have a smell of ^ Prison-house. - Eound about, * Security. LETTEll LXXVII. 1(57 crossed and pained Christ. I believe yonv Lord •will not leave you to die your loue^ iu the 'way. I know ye have sad Ikmits, when the Comforter is hid under a vail, and when ye in(;[uiie ibr Him, and find but a toom- nest : tliis, 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 Clirist Himself in His own sweet presence : make His svvcet comforts your oAvn, 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 Avitli child of joy, He will do you good in the latter end. Take no heavier lift of your children, thaii your Lord alloweth ; give them room beside your heart, l)ut not iu 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 of 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 pleasetli ; they are not lost to you, they 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 Avails of the New Jerusalem. All the saints, because of sin, are like old rusty horologies, 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 re- mainder 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 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, E. Aberdeen, Sept. 7, 1637. LETTER LXXVII. — To his Eeverend and very Dear Brother, Mr. George Gillespie. 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. ' Aloue. - Empty. ^ Engagement. 168 Lll^lTER LXXVIII. Blessed are they whose feet escape the great golden net that is now spread. It is our 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 fol- lowing him. This is true gain, and most to 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 wo 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 abortive. "He shall not faint nor be discouraged, till He have 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. LETTER LXXVIIL— To Mr. Matthew Mowat. Ekverend and dear brother, — I am refreshed with your let- ters. I Avould take all well at my Lord's hands that He hath done, if I knew I could do my Lord any service in my suflfering. 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 iu 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 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 Avork and speaking in our Lord Jesus's name, 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. 0, 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 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 Avith 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. 0, I am made of unbelief, and cannot swim but Avhere my feet may touch the ground ! Alas, Christ, under my temptations, is presented to me as lying- ^ Yearning. LETTEL LX XVIII. 1G9 waters, as a dyvour ^ and z cozener ! we can rnalvo such a Christ as temptations (casting us in a night-dream) doth feign and devise (and temptations represent Christ ever unlilve Himself), and we in our folly listen to the tempter. If I could minister one saving word to any, how glad would my soul be ] but I myself (which is my greatest evil) often mistake the cross of Christ : for I know if we had wit, and knew well that ease slayeth us fools, we Avould desire a market where we might barter or nifier"our lazy ease with a profitable cross ; howbeit there be an outcast ^ natural be- twixt our desires and tribulation. But some give a dear price and gold for physic which they love not, and buy sickness, how- beit they wish rather to have been whole than to be sick. But surely, brother, ye shall not have my advice (howbeit alas, I cannot follow it myself) to contend with the honest and faith- ful Lord of the house : for go He or come He, He is aye gracious in His departure. There are grace, and mercy, and loving-kind- ness upon Christ's back-parts : and when He goeth away the pro- portion 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 be- hind it in the heart. The sound of His knock at the door of His beloved, after He is gone and past, leaveth a share of joy and sor- row 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 be- fore ; as the day in the declining of the sun and towards the even- ing is often most desired. And as for Christ's cross, I never re- ceived evil of it, but what Avas 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 elder than that too, for it is a long time since Abel first hanselled ^ the cross, and had it laid upon His shoulders ; and down from Him all alongst to this very day, all the saints have known what it is. I am glad that Christ hath such a relation to this cross, and that it is called the cross of our Lord Jesus, Gal. vi. 14. His reproaches, Heb. xiii. 13; as if Christ would claim it as His proper goods, and so it Cometh in the reckoning among Christ's own property. If it were simple evil, as sin is, Christ, who is not the author nor owner oi sin, Avould not own it. I wonder at the enemies of Christ (in whom malice hath run away with vnt, and v.-ill 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 Avill be sick and spue us out again. I know Zion and her Husband cannot both sleep at once : I believe our Lord once 1 Debtor. " Exchaucre. " Quarrel. ^ Had the first use of. 170 LETTEnS LXXIX. AND LXXX, again shall water witli His dew tlie withered hill of Monnt Zion in Scotland, and come dov/n, and make a new marriage again, as He did long since. Remember our covenant. Your excuse foi 3 our advice to me is needless. Alas, many sit beside light as side folks beside meat, and cannot make use of it. Grace be with you. Your brother in Christ, S. R. Aberdeen, Sept. 7, 1637. LETTER LXXIX.— To Mr. John Metne. 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, I have said nothing of Him, I never knew Christ to ebb or How, wax or wane. His Avinds 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. 0, that I could live in peace and good neighbourhood with such a second, and let Him alone. My un- belief made many black lies, but my recantation to Christ is not worth the hearing. Surely He hath borne with strange gades^ in me : He knoweth my heart liath not natural wit to keep quarters with such a Saviour. Ye do Avell to fear your own Ixacksliding ; 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 no need to be barefooted among the thorns of this apostate generation, lest a stob'^ strike up in your foot, and cause you to halt all your days. And think not, Christ will do with you, in the matter of suftering, 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 casuality to the cross, even Christ's presence aud His comforts, Avhen 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. LETTER LXXX.— To John Fleeming, Bailie of Leith. Much honoured in the Lord, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I am still in good terms with Christ ; however my Lord't; wind bloAv. I have the advantage of the calm and sunny side of ^ Gaddings. - Spike. ^ Debtor's. LETTEll LXXXL 171 Christ. Devils, and lu'll, and devil's servants, are all blown blind in pursning the Lord's little bride : they shall be as a night- dream who fight against Monnt Zion. Worthy sir, I hope ye take to heart the worth of your calling : this great fair and meet- ing of people will scail,^ and the port is open for us : as fast as time weareth out, we flee away : eternity is at our elboAV. 0 how blessed are they who in time make Christ sure for themselves. Salvation is a great errand ; I find it hard to fetch heaven. 0, that we could take pains on our lamps for the Bridegroom's coming. The other side of this world will be turned up incon- tinent, and up shall down, and these that are weeping in sackcloth shall triumph on white horses, with Him, Avliose name is the AVord of God. These dying idols, the fair creatures that we whorishly love better than our Creator, will pass aAvay like snow-water. The God-head, the God-head, a communion with God in Christ, to be halvers" with Christ of the purchased house and inheritance in heaven, should be your scope and aim. For myself, when I lay my counts, 0, what telling, 0, what weighing is in Christ ! 0, how soft are Plis kisses ! 0, 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. 0, that I had Christ's seen and read bond, subscribed by Himself, for my fill of it ! What gaidand have I, or what crown, if I looked right on things, but Jesus 1 0, there is no room in us, on this side of the water, for that love ; this narrow bit earth, and these ebb and narroAv souls, can hold little of it, because we are full of rifts. I would 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 yet is incomprehensible. Remember my love to your "wife. Grace be with you. Yours, in his sweet Lord Jesus, S. E. Aberdeen, Sept. 7, 1637. LETTER LXXXL— To Alexander GordOxN of Earlestoun. Much honoured Sir, — Howbeit I would have been glad to have seen you ; yet seeing our Lord hath been pleased to break the snare of your 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 L(ird breatheth in : the scum and froth of my letters, I father upon my own unbelieving heart. I know 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, ^ Disperse. " Sharers. 172 LETTER LXXXI. 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 settcth^ Him well) have all the glory, and triumph His lone.^ The Lord set Himself on high in you : I see 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 boj-row crosses, He is King of crosses, and King of devils, and King ever hell, and King over malice. When He Avas in the grave. He came out, and brought the keys with Him : He is Lord-jailor : nay, what say II 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, com- mandcth the little also. 2. I see 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. O, what art is it to learn to endure hardness, and to learn to go bare- footed either through the devil's fiery coals or his frozen waters ! 3. I am persuaded a sea-venture with Christ maketh great riches : is not our King Jesus His ship coming home, and shall not wo get part of the gold 1 Alas, we fools miscount our gain Avhen we seem losers. Believe me, I have no challenges against this Avell-born cross, for it is come of Christ's house, and is honourable, and His propine,* to you it is given to suffer. 0, 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, nor our mast break, nor our sails blow into the sea. The bastard crosses, the kinless and base-born crosses of Avorldlings, 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 Avith Christ, and that in this bargain 1 am Christ's SAvorn dyvour to Avhom He Avill lippen*^ nothing ; no not one pin in the Avork of my salvation. Let me stand in black and AA'hite in the dyvour- book before Christ, I am happy that my salvation is concredited to Christ's mediation : Christ OAveth no faith to me, to lippen '^ anything to me ; but 0, AAdiat laith and credit I OAve to Him ! Let my name fall, and let Christ's name stand in honour Avith man and angel. Alas, I have no room to spread out my affection before God's people ; and I see not hoAv I can shout out and cry out the loveliness, the high honour, and the glory of my fairest Lord Jesus. 0, that He Avould let me have a bed to lie in, to be delivered of my birth, that I might paint Him out in His beauty '■ Partner. - Becometli. ** Alone. ^ Gift. 5 Undervalue. ^ rj.^.^^^^ LETTER LXXXIT. 173 to men as I dow.^ 5. I wondered once at providence, and called "vvhite providence black and unjust, that I should be sniotlicred in a town, Avhere no soul will take Christ off my hand : but provi- dence hath another lustre with God than with my bleared eyes. I proclaim myself a blind body, who know not black and white in the uncouth course of God's providence. Suppose Christ would 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, infinite wisdom is the mother of His judgments, and His ways past finding out. G. I cannot learn ; but I desire to learn to bring my thoughts, Avill, 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. 11. Aberdeen, Sept. 12, 1637. LETTER LXXXII.— To Robert Lennox of Disdove. Worthy and dear Brother, — I forget you not in my bonds : I know ye are looking to Christ, and, 1 beseech you, 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 should not be able to bear the weight of Christ's love. Man and angels have short arms to fathom it. Set your feet upon this piece blue and base clay of an overgilded and fair plastered world : an hour's kissing of Christ is Avorth a world of Avorlds. Sir, make sure work of your salvation ; build not upon sand ; lay the foundation upon the Rock in 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 wind should take the hide off your face. I promise you, 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 I suffer are upon record in heaven : our great Master and Judge Avill 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 Bride- groom's tongue, and to give yourself to prayer and reading. Ye was often a hearer of me. I would put my heart-blood upon the doctrine I taught, as the only way to salvation : go not from it, ^ Can. " Ecara. 1 74 LETTER LXXXIII. my deal' brotlier. What I Avrite to yourself I write to your wife also. Mind heaven and Christ, and keep the spunk ^ of the love of Christ you have gotten ; Christ shall blow on it, if ye entertain it, and your end shall be peace. Tliere 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 nick-named puri- tans, all the powers of the world shall not prevail against us. Ilemember, though a sinful man write it to you, these people shall yet he in Scotland as a green olive-tree, and a field blessed of the Lord, and 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 i'urther evil is determined against me. Eemem- ber 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. LETTER LXXXIII.— To Marion M'N aught. Dearest in our Lord Jesus,— Count it your honour that Christ hath begun at you to fine- 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 jirayer 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 thrash the mountains, and fan them like chaff," Isa. xli. If ye slack your hands at your meetings, and your watching to prayer, then it would seem our Rock hath sold us ; but be diligent, and be not discouraged. I charge ye in Christ, rejoice, give thanks, believe, be strong in the Lord. That burn- ing 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 ye are in 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 a prisoner of Christ's bless- ing be Avith you. 0 chosen and greatly beloved woman, faint not. Fie, fie 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. K. Aberdeen, 1G37. 1 Match or spark. - Ilefine. LETTEKS LXXXIV AND LXXXV. 175 LETTER LXXXIY.— To Thomas Corcet. Dear Friend, — I forget you not. It shall be my joy that yo follow after Christ till ye find Him. My consciciice is a feast of joy to me, that I sought in singleness of heart for Christ's love, to put you upon the king's high-way to our Bridegroom and our Father s house ; thrice blessed are ye, my dear brother, if ye hold the way. I believe yc 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 hairbreadth, 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 end. Build not your nest here ; this world is an hard, ill-made bed ; no rest in it for your soul. Awake ! awake ! raid make haste to seek tliat Pearl, Christ, that this v»'orld seeth not ; your night, and your ]\Iaster, Christ, will be upon you within a clap ; your handbreadth 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 ex- change 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 v/ith Christ, and am filled with His love. I desire your wife to do what I write to you : let her remember how dear Christ would be to her, when her breath turneth cold, and the eye-strings shall break. O, 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 will be Avoe- 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. H. AbcrJeen, 1637. LETTER LXXXV.— To Alexander Gordon of Earlestoun. Much honoured Sir, — Grace, mercy, and peace be to yoa I received your letter, which refreshed me. Except from your sou 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 ^ Separate froiu. - SoiTowful. ^ Ilang. * Metliod, 176 LETTER LXXXV. day, yet I am abundantly comforted and feasted with my Kinc; and W(;ll-Eeloved daily. It pleasetli 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 delicacies ; why should He not make them so to His own 1 But I verily think now, 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, Avhile 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 over me ; He hath casten in a coal in 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 ot 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 hai'd master. But now these mists are blown away, and I am not only silenced, as to all quarrelling, but iuUy 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 common- 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 arras. God forbid it came to bartering or niff'ering^ of crosses ; for I think my cross so sweet, that I know not where I would get the like of it. Christ's honeycombs 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 ye come to of it ; and yet it is above telling and understanding. 0, if all the kingdom were as I an:, except my bonds ! they know not the love-kisses that my only Lord Jesus wasteth on a dauted* prisoner. On my salvation, this is the only way to the new city. I know Christ hath no dumb seals ; Avould He put His privy seal upon blank paper 1 He hath sealed my sufterings with comforts. I write this to confirm you. I write now, what I have seen, as well as heard. ' Notch. * Debt. " Exchanctin?. * Fc^idled. LETTER LXXXVI. 177 No-.v and then, my silence hnrnetli up ni}- spiiit ; but Christ hath said, thy stipend is running up with interest in heaven, as if thou wert preaching : and this from a King's moutli rejoiceth my heart. At other times, I am sad for dwelling in Kedar's tents. There are none (that I yet know of) but two ])ersons in this town that I dare give my Avord for : and the Lord hath removed my brethren and my acquaintance far from me : and it may be, I be forgotten in the place, wliere the Lord made me the instrument to do some good : but I see 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 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. Woe is me for the virgin daughter ; woe is me for the desolation of the virgin daughter of Scotland ! 0, if my eyes were a fountain of tears to weep day and night for that poor widow kirk, that poor miserable harlot ! alas, then my Father hath put to the door my poor harlot mother! 0, 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 be- seech you : I pray you also be kind to my afflicted brother. Re- member my love to your wife : and the prayers and the 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. E. Aberdeen, Feb. 16, 1637. LETTER LXXXVL— To Robert Gordon, of Knockbrex. My dear Brother, — Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied upon you. I am almost Avearying, yea wondering, that ye Avrite not to me ; though I knoAv it is not forgetfulness. As for myself, I am every Avay well, all glory to God : I was before at a plea with Christ, but it Avas bought by me and unlaAvful, because His Avhole providence Avas not yea and nay to my yea and nay, and because I believed Christ's outAvard look better than His faithful promise. Yet He hath in patience waited on, Avhile ^ I be come to myself, and hath not taken advantage of my Aveak apprehensions of His goodness. Great and holy is His name ; He looketh to what I desire to be, and not to Avhat I am. One thing I have learned, if I had been in Christ by Avay of adhesion only, as many branches are, I should have been burnt to ashes, and this Avorld should have seen a suffering minister of Christ turned (of something once in shoAv) into unsavoury salt. But my Lord Jesus had a good eye that the tempter should not play foul play, and blow out Christ's 1 Till. M 1 78 LETTEIi LXXXVI. candle. He took no thought of my stomach, and fretting and grudging humour, but of His own grace ; when He burned the house He saved His own goods. And I believe, the devil, and the persecuting Avorld, shall reap no fruit of me but burned ashes : for He will see to His own gold, and save that from being consumed with, the fire. 0, what owe I to the file, to the hammer, to the furnace of my Lord Jesus ! AVho 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 noAv see, godliness is more than the outside, and this world's passements^ and their buskings.^ Who knoweth the truth of grace without a trial? 0, 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 ! AVhen 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 1 I know He is no idle husbandman, He purposeth a crop. 0, thai this white, withered lay- ground^ were made fertile to bear a crop for tlim, by whom it is so painfull^' dressed, and that this fallow ground were broken up ! Why was I (a fool) grieved, that Ho 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 : Avherein 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 my lovely Lord Jesus, His love-feasts, 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. 0 my debt of praise, how weighty is it, and how far run up ! 0, that others would lend me to pay, and learn'* me to praise ! 0, 1 a drowned dyvour ! Lord Jesus take my thoughts for payment. 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 born me a man of contention. Write to me ^ Trappings. - Ornameuts. ^ Fallow. * Teach. LETTEK LXXXVII. 179 your mind anent Y. C. I cannot forget liini ; I Icnow not what God hath to do with him. And your mind anent my parisliioners' behaviour, and how they are served in j^reaching; or if there be a minister as j'et thrust in upon them, which I desire greatly to know, and which I much fear. Dear brother, ye are in my lieart, to live and to die with you. Visit me with a letter. I'ray for me. Remember my love to your wife. Grace, grace be with you. And God who hearcth prayer visit you, and let it be unto you according to the prayers of. Your own brother, and Christ's prisoner, »S. li. Aberdeen, Jan. 1, 1637. LETTER LXXXVII.— To my Well-Beloved and Reverend Brother, Mr. Robert Blair. Reverend and dearly-beloved Brother, — Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ be to 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 desirecs 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 many errands, for the spread- ing 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 in the Avay fighting against, and ready to kill them who had the promise, or keep them from possessing that good land, which the Lord their God had given them. I know ye have most to do with submission of spirit ; but I persuade myself, ye have learned in every condition wdierein ye are cast, therein to be content, and to say, " Good is the will of the Lord, let it be done." I believe 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 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 their pa_y, when then they are bed-fast and not able to go to the fields 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. 3 ; and we are to believe it shall be thus, ere all the play be played. Jer. li, 35, " The violence done to me and my flesh, be u])on Babylon, (and the great whore's lovers,) shall the inhabitants of Zion say, and my blood be upon Chaldca, shall ^ In advance. 180 LETTEU LXXXVII, Jerusalem Scay;" and 2ech. xii. 2, "Behold I will make Jerasalera a cup of trembling to all the people al)out, when they shall be in the siege, both against Judah and Jerusalem ;" A'er. 3, " And in that day, I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people : they that burden themselves with it shall be broken in pieces, though all the people of tlie earth be gathered against it." When they have eaten and swallowed us up, they shall be sick and vomit ns out living men again. The devil's stomach cannot digest the church of God. Suffering is the other half of our ministry, how- beit the hardest: for we would be content our King Jesus would make an open proclamation, and cry doAvn crosses, and cry np 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 by ^ the cross : it is folly to think to steal to heaven with a whole skin. For myself, I am here a prisoner, confined in Aber- deen, threatened to be removed to Caithness, because I desire to edify in this town ; and I am openly preached against in the pulpits, in my hearing, and tempted with disputations by the doctors, especially by D. B. Yet I am not ashamed of my Lord Jesus, His garland and crown. I would not exchange my weeping with the fourteen prelates' painted laughter. 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 1 and disputed all over again that He had done to me ; because " His word was a tire 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 I was a fool : my Lord miskent^ all, and did bear with my foolish jealouccs, and miskent ^ that ever I wronged His love, and now He is come again with mercy under His wings. I pass from my (0 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 daut* His poor prisoner. Therefore, my 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, 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, Avith a desire to have my bonds to preach His glory, Avhose cross I now bear. God forgive you, if ye do it not. But I hope the Lord will move j^nur 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 1 Past. - Was offended. ^ Overlooked. * Fondle. I LETTER LXXXVIII. 181 Christ; I see now tlio white side of it. My Lord's chains are all overgilded. 0, if Scotland and Ireland had part of jny feast ! And yet, I get not my meat but Avith many strokes. There are none here to whom I can speak; I dwell in Kedar's tents. Eefresh me with a letter from you ; few know what is betwixt Christ and me. Dear brother, upon my salvation, this is His truth that we suffer for. Christ Avould not seal a blank charter to souls. Courage, courage, joy, joy, for evermore ! 0 joy unspeakable and glorious ! 0, for help to set my crowned King on high ! 0 for love to Him, who is altogether lovely ! That love which many waters cannot quench, neither can the floods drown ! I remerabei? you, and I 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. Cuninghame, Mr. Living- ston, Mr. Ridge, Mr. Colwart, &c. Your brother and fellow-prisoner, S. R. Aberdeen, Feb. 7, 1637. LETTER LXXXVIH.— To John Kennedy, Bailie of Ayr. Worthy and well-beloved Brother,— Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. I am yet waiting what our Lord will do for Hia afflicted church, and for my re-entry to my Lord's house. 0, that I could hear the forfeiture of Christ (now casten out of His inheri- tance) 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 Ixastard prelates (their godfather's, the Pope's bailiffs and sheriffs), were cried down ! 0, 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 shall out-watch all this winter night, and not nod or slumber, till my Lord's summer day dawn u[)on me. It is much, if faith and hope, in the sad nights of our heavy trial, escape Avith a Avhole skin, and Avithout crack or crook ; I confess, unbelief hath not reason to be either father or mother to it (for unbelief is ahvays an irrational thing) ; but hoAV can it be, but such Aveak eyes as ours must cast Avater in a greafc smoke, or that a Aveak head should not turn giddy Avhen the Avater runneth deep and strong ] But God be thanked, that Christ, in His children, can endure a stress and storm, hoAvbeit soft uature Avould fall down in pieces. 0, 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 Avinds of heaven ; that my Lord would gather up the powder, and make 1 Such. 182 LETTEll LXXXVIII. mc up .1 ne'.r 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 Avould even claim and thriep ^ kindness upon Christ's strokes, and kiss His lovely glooms; and both spell and read salvation upon the wounds made by Christ's sweet hands. 0, that I had but a promise 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 green- ing " of sick desires would cause it to bide out the siege, till tho Lord came to fill the soul with His love ; and I know also, in that case faith should abide grccu an