Letters in Two Parts, Part 1 · LETTER 97 – LETTER 104
To EARLESTOWN Younger. (97)
Honoured & Dear Brother.
GRace, mercy & peace be to you: I received your letter which refreshed my soul. I thank God the court is closed, I think shame of my part of it: I pass now from my unjust summonds of unkindness libelled against Christ my Lord: He is not such a Lord & Master as I took him to be, verily he is God, & I am dust & ashes: I took Christ's glooms to be as good as Scripture speaking wrath, but I have seen the other side of Christ & the white side of his cross now. I behooved to come to Aberdeen to learn a new mystery in Christ, that his promise is better to be beleeved then his looks, & that the devil can cause Christ's glooms speak a lie to a weak man: Nay, verily I was a childe before, all by-gones are but b…irns play: I would I could begin to be a Christian in sad earnest: I n…ed not blame Christ if I be not one, for he hath shewed me heaven & hell in Aberdeen: But the truth is, for all my sorrow, Christ is nothing in my debt; for his comforts have refreshed my soul: I have heard & s…en him in his sweetness, so, as I am almost saying, it is not he that I was wont to meet with: He laugheth more chearfully, his kisses are more sweet & soul-refreshing then the kisses of the Christ I saw before were [though he be the same] or rather, the King hath led me up to a measure of joy & communion with my Bridegroom, that I never attained to before; so that often I think, I will neither borrow nor lend with this world, I will not strike sail to crosses nor flatter them, to be quite of them as I have done. Come all crosses, welcome, welcome! So I may get my heartfull of my Lord Jesus. I have been so near him as I have said, I take instruments this is the Lord, leave a token behinde thee that I may never forget this. Now what can Christ doe more to dâte one of his poor prisoners? Therefore, Sir, I charge you in the name of my Lord Jesus, praise with me & shew to others what he hath done unto my soul. This is the fruit of my sufferings that I desire Christ's name may be spread abroad in this Kingdom in my behalf. I hope in God not to slander him again; yet in all this I get not my feasts without some mixture of gall; neither am I free of old jealousies, for he hath removed my lovers & friends far from me, he hath made my congregation desolate & taken away my crown: & my dumb sabbaths are like a stone tied to a bird's foot that wanteth not wings, they seem to hinder me to fleo: Were it not that I dare not say one word, but, Well done, Lord Iesus. We can in our prosperity sport our selves & be too bold with Christ, yea be that insolent as to chide with him; but under the water we dare not speak. I wonder now of my sometimes boldness, to chide & quarrell Christ, to nickname Providence when it stroaked me against the hair; but now swimming in the waters, I think my will is fallen to the ground of the water: I have lost it. I think I would fain …et Christ alone & give him leave to doe with me what he pleaseth, if he would smile upon me. Verily we know not what an evil it is to spill & indulge our selves, & to make an idol of our will: I was once, I would not eat except I had wailed meat; now I dare not complain of crumbs & pairings under his table: I was once that I would make the house adoe, if I saw not the world carved & set in order to my liking; now I am silent when I see God hath set servants on horseback, & is fatning & feeding the children of perdition. I pray God I never finde my will again: Oh if Christ would subject my will to his & trample it under his feet, & liberate me from that lawless Lord. Now Sir, in your youth gather fast, your sun will mount to the Meridian quickly & thereafter decline: Be greedy of grace: Study above any thing, my dear Brother, to mortifie your lusts. Oh but pride of youth, vainty, lust, idolizing of the world & charming pleasures, take long time to root them out! As far as ye are advanced in the way to heaven, as neer as ye are to Christ as much progress as ye have made in the way of mortification, ye will finde that ye are far behinde & have most of your work before you. I never took it to be so hard, to be dead to my lusts & to this world: When the day of visitation cometh & your old idols come weeping about you, ye will have much adoe not to break your heart, it's best give up in time with them, so as ye could at a call quite your part of this world for a drink of water or a thing of nothing. Verily I have seen the best of this world, a moth-eaten, threed bare coat: I purpose to lay it aside being now hollie & old. O for my house above not made with hands! Pray for Christ's prisoner & write to me: Remember my love to your mother: Desire her from me to make for removing; the Lord's tide will not bide her; & to seek an heavenly minde, that her heart may be often there. Grace, be with you.
Aberd. Feb. 20. 1637. Yours & Christ's prisoner. S. R.
To ROBERT GLENDINING [98]
My Dear Friend
GRace, mercy & peace be to you: I thank you most kindly for your care of me, & your love and respective kindness to my brother in his distresse: I pray the Lord ye may finde mercy in the day of Christ, & I entreat you Sir to consider the times ye live in, & that your soul is of more worth to you then the whole world, which in the day of the blowing of the last trumpet shall lie in white ashes, as an old castle burnt to nothing: & Remember that judgement & eternity is before you. My dear & worthy friend, let me entreat you in Christ's name, & by the salvation of your soul, & by your compearance before the dreadful & sin-revenging judge of the world, make your accounts ready: read them ere ye come to the water side; for your after-noon will wear short, & your sun fall low and goe down: & ye know that this long time your Lord hath waited on you: O how comfortable a thing shall it be to you when time shall be no more & your soul shall depart out of the house of clay to vaste & endlesse eternity, to have your soul dressed up & prepared for your bridegroom! No losse is comparable to the losse of the soul, there is no hope of regaining that losse. O how joyfull would my soul be to hear that ye would start to the gate, & contend for the crown, & leave all vanities, & make Christ your garland! Let your soul put away your old lovers & let Christ have your whole love: I have some experience to write of this to you: My witnesse is in heaven, I would not exchange my chains & bonds for Christ, & my sighs …or ten worlds glory. I judge this clay-idol that Adam's sons are rouping & selling their souls for, not worth a drink of cold water. O if your soul were in my soul's stead, how sick would ye be of love for that fairest one, that fairest among the sons of men! Mayflowers & morning vapours & summer mist posteth not so fast away as these worm-eaten pleasures that we follow: We build castles in the air, & night dreams are our day idols that we dote on: Salvation, Salvation is our onelyonly one necessarie thing. Sir, call home your thoughts to this work, to inquire for your welbeloved: This earth is the portion of bastards, seek the sons inheritance, & let Christ's truth be dear to you. I pawnd my salvation on it that this is the honour of Christ's Kingdom, I now suffer for [& this world I hope shall not come between me & my garland] & that this is the way to life. When ye & I shall lie lumps of pale clay upon the cold ground, our pleasures that we now naturally love, shall be lesse then nothing in that day: dear Brother, fulfill my joy & betake you to Christ without further delay, ye will be fain at length to seek to him or doe infinitly worse. Remember my love to your wife, grace be with you.
Aberd. March. 13. 1637. Yours in his sweet Lord Iesus. S. R.
To WILLIAM GLENDINING. [99]
Welbeloved & dear Brother.
GRace, mercy and peace be to you: I thank you most kindly for your care & love to me, & in particular to my brother in hi… distresse in Edinburgh: Goe on thorow your waters without wearying, your guide knoweth the way, follow him & cast your ca…es & tentation upon him: & let not wormes, the sons of men affright you; they shall die & the moth shall eat them: keep your garland, there is no lesse at the stake in this game betwixt us & the world then our conscience & salvation: we have need to take heed to the game, & not to yield to them: Let them take other things from us; but here, in matters of conscience we must hold & draw with Kings, & set our selves in termes of opposition with the shields of the earth. O the sweet communion for evermore that hath been between Christ & his poor prisoner! He wearieth not to be kinde: He is the fairest sight I see in Aberd: or any part that ever my feet were in. Remember my hearty kindness to your wife, I desire her to beleeve & lay her cares on God, & make fast work of salvation. Grace be with you.
Aberd. March. 13. 1637. Yours in his onelyonly Lord Iesus, S. R.
To JEAN BROWN. [100]
Welbeloved and dear Sister.
GRace, mercy & peace be to you: I received your letter, which I esteem an evidence of your Christian affection to me, & of your love to my honourable Lord & Master. My desire is that your communion with Christ may grow, & that your reckonings may be put by hand with your Lord, ere ye come to the water side. O who knoweth how sweet Christs' kisses are! who hath been more kindly embraced & kissed then I his banished prisoner? If the comparison could stand, I would not exchange Christ with heaven it self: He hath left a dart & arrow of love in my soul, & it paineth me till he come & take it out: I finde pain of these wounds because I would have possession. I know now this worm-eaten apple, the plaistered rotten world, that the silly Children of this world are beating & buffetting & pulling others ears for; is a portion for bastards good enough: & that is all they have to look for. I offend not that my adversaries stay at home at their own fire-side with more yearly rent then I; should I be angry that the good-man of this house of the world casteth a dog a bone to hurt his teeth? he hath taught me to be content with a borrowed fire-side & an uncouth bed: & I think I have lost nothing, the in come is so great. O what telling is in Christ! O how weighty is my fair garland, my crown, my fair supping-hall in glory, where I shall be above the blowes and buffettings of Prelats! Let this be your desire & let your thoughts dwell much upon that blessednesse that abideth you in the other world: The fair side of the world will be turned to you quickly, when ye shall see the crown: I hope ye are neer your lodging: O but I would think my self blessed for my part to win the house before the shower come on! For God hath a quiver full of arrowes to shoot at & shower down upon Scotland. Ye have the prayers of a prisoner of Christ. I desire Patrick to give Christ his young love even the flower of it, and put it by all others it were good to start soon to the way: He should thereby have a great advantage in the evil day. Grace be with you.
Aberd. March. 7. 1637. Yours in his onelyonly Lord Iesus, S. R.
To Mr JOHN FERGUSHILL. [101]
Reverend and welbeloved in the Lord.
I Was refreshed with your letter: I am sorry for that lingering and long some visitation that is upon your wife; but I know ye take it as a mark of a lawfully begotten childe & not of a bastard to be under your father's rod: till ye be in heaven it will be but foul weather, one shower up & another down: The lintel-stones & pillars of the new Jerusalem suffer moe knocks of God's hammer & tool, then the common side-wall stones: & if twenty crosses be written for you in God's book, they will come to ninteen & then at last to one, & after that nothing but your head betwixt Christ's breasts for evermore: & his own soft hand to dry your face & wipe away your teares. As for publike sufferings for his truth, your Master also will see to these: Let us put him in his own office, to comfort & deliver: the gloom of Christ's crosse is worse then it self. I cannot keep up what he hath done to my soul: My dear Brother, will I not get help of you to praise & to lift Christ up on high? He hath pained me with his love, & hath left a love arrow in my heart that hath made a wound & swelled me up with desires, so, that I am to be pitied for want of reall possession: love would have the company of the party loved: & my greatest pain is the want of him, not of his joyes & comforts, but of a neer union, & communion. This is his truth I am fully perswaded I now suffer for: For Christ hath taken upon him to be witnesse to it, by his sweet comforts to my soul; & shall I think him a false witnesse, or that he would subscribe blank paper? I thank his high and dreadfull name, for what he hath given, I hope to keep his seal & his pawne till he come & loose it himself. I defie hell to put me off it, but he is Christ & he hath met with his prisoner: & I took instruments in his own hand, that it was he & no other for him. When the Devil fenceth a bastard court in my Lord's ground & giveth me forged summonds, it will be my shame to misbeleeve after such a fair broad seal: & yet Satan & my apprehension sometimes make a lye of Christ, as if he hated me; but I dare beleeve no evil of Christ: if he would cool my lovefever for himself with reall presence & possession, I would be rich; but I dare not be mislearned and seek more in that kinde; howbeit it be no shame to beg at Christ's door. I pity my adversaries, I grudge not that my Lord keepeth them at their own fire-side, & hath given me a borrowed b…d & a borrowed fire-side. Let the good-man of the house cast a dog a bone why should I offend? I rejoyce that the broken bark shall come to land, & that Christ will on the shore welcome the sea-sick passenger. We have need of a great stock against this day of trial that is coming; neither chaff nor corn in Scotland, but it shall once passe thorow God's sieve. Praise, praise, & pray for me; for I cannot forget you: I know ye will be friendly to my afflicted brother, who is now embarked in the same cause with me: Let him have your counsel & comforts. Remember my love in Christ to your wife, her health is coming and her salvation sleepeth not. Ye have the prayers and blessing of a prisoner of Christ Sowe fast, deal bread plentifully: The pantry door will be locked on the bairns in appearance ere long. Grace, grace be with you.
Aberd. March. 7. 1637. Yours in his sweet Lord. Iesus, S. R.
To his reverend & dear Brother, Mr ROBERT DOUGLASS. [102]
My very reverend and dear Brother.
GRace, mercy & peace be to you: I long to see you in paper. I cannot but write to you that this which I now suffer for, is Christ's truth; because he hath been pleased to seal my sufferings with joy unspeakable & glorious: I know he will not put his seal upon blank paper: Christ hath not dumb seals, neither will he be witness to a lye. I beseech you, my dear Brother, help me to praise & to lift Christ up on his throne above the shields of the earth. I am astonished & confounded at the greatness of his Kindness to such a sinner. I know, Christ & I shall never be even, I shall die in his debt: He hath left an arrow in my heart that paineth me for want of reall possession: & hell cannot quench this coal of God's kindling. I wish no man slander Christ or his crosse for my cause; for I have much cause to speak much good of him: He hath brought me to a nick & degree of communion with himself that I knew not before. The din & gloom of our Lord's cross, is more fearfull & hard then the cross it self: He taketh the bairns in his arms when they come to a deep water, at least when they lose ground, & are put to swim, then his hand is under their chin. Let me be helped by your prayers, & remember my love to your kinde wife. Grace be with you.
Aberd. March. 7. 1637. Your Brother and Christ's prisoner. S, R.
To his loving friend JOHN HENDERSON. (103.)
Loving friend.
COntinue in the love of Christ & the doctrine which I taught you faithfully & painfully according to my measure: I am free of your blood: Fear the dreadfull, name of God: Keep in minde the examinations which I taught you, & love the truth of God. Death, as fast as time flyeth, chaseth you out of this life: It is possible ye make your reckoning with your judge before I see you; let salvation be your care night & day, & set aside hours & times of the day for prayer. I rejoyce to hear that there is prayer is your house: See that your servants keep the Lord's day. This dirt & god of clay, I mean the vain world, is not worth the seeking. An hireling pastor is to be thrust in upon you, in the room to which I have Christ's warrand & right: Stand to your liberties, for the word of God alloweth you a vote in chusing your Pastor. What I write to you, I write to your wife: commend me heartily to her. The grace of God be with you.
Aberd. March. 14. 1637. Your loving friend and Pastor. S. R.
To Mr HUGH HENDERSON. (104)
My reverend and dear Brother.
I hear ye bear the marks of Christ's dying about with you, & that your brethren have cast you out for your Master's sake: Let us wait on till the evening & till our reckoning in black & white come before our Master. Brother, since we must have a devil to trouble us, I love a raging devil best: Our Lord knoweth what for of devil we have need of: It is best Satan be in his own skin & look like himself: Christ weeping looketh like himself also, with whom Scribes & Pharisees were at yea & nay & sharpe contradiction. Ye have heard of the patience of Iob, when he lay in the ashes, God was with him clawing & curing his scabs, & letting out his boils, & comforting his soul, & he took him up at last: That God is not dead yet, he will stoop & take up fallen bairns: many broken legs since Adam's dayes hath he spelked, & many weary hearts hath he refreshed. Bless him for comfort: Why? None cometh dry from David's well; let us goe amongst the rest & cast down our toom buckets into Christ's Ocean & suck consolations out of him: We are not so sore striken, but we may fill Christ's hall with weeping: We have not gotten our answer from him yet: Let us lay up our broken plea's to a full sea, & keep them till the day of Christ's coming: We and this world will not be even till then: They would take our garment from us, but let us hold & them draw. Brother, it is a strange world if we laugh not: I never saw the like of it, if there be not paiks the man for this contempt done to the Son of God? We must doe as these who keep the bloody napkin to the Bailiffe & let him see blood: we must keep our wrongs to our Judge & let him see our bluddered & foul faces: Prisoners of hope must run to Christ with the gutters that tears have made on their cheeks. Brother, for my self, I am Christ's dâted one for the present, & I live upon no deaf nuts [as we use to speak] he hath opened fountains to me in the wilderness: Goe look to my Lord Jesus, his love to me is such that I defie the world to finde either brim or bottom in it. Grace be with you.
Aberd. March. 13. 1637. Your Brother in his sweet Lord Iesus. S. R.