Letters in Two Parts, Part 1 · LETTER 39
To my Lord Boyd. (39)
My very honourable & good Lord.
GRace, mercy & peace be to you: I am glad to hear that ye in the morning of your short day minde Christ, & that ye love the honour of his crown & Kingdom. I beseech your Lo: begin now to frame your love, & to cast it in no mould but one, that it may be for Christ onelyonly; For when your love is now in the framing, & making, it will take best with Christ: if any other then Jesus get a grip of it, when it is green & young, Christ will be an uncouth & strange world to you. Promise the lodging of your soul first away to Christ, & stand by your first covenant, & keep to Jesus, that he may finde you honest. It is easie to master an arrow, & to set it right ere the string be drawn, but when once it is shot & in the air, & the flight begun, then ye have no power at all to command it: It were a blessed thing, if your love could now levell onelyonly at Christ, that his fair face were the black of the marke ye shot at; For when your love is loosed, and out of your grips, & in its motion to fetch home an… Idol, & hath taken a whorish gading-journey to seek an unknown & strange lover, ye shall not then have power to call home the arrow, or to be master of your love, & ye shall hardly give Christ, what ye scarcely have your self. I speak not this, as if youth it self could fetch heaven & Christ. Beleeve it my Lo: It is hardly credible what a nest of dangerous tentations youth i…, how inconsiderat, foolish, proud, vain, heady, rash, profane, & careless of God, this piece of your life is, so that the devil findeth in that age a garnished & swept house for himself, & seven devils worse then himself; for then affections are on horse-back, lofty & stirring, then the old man hath blood, lust, much will; & little wit, and hands, feet, wanton eyes, profane ears as his servants, & as a Kings officers at command, to come & goe at his will: Then a green conscience is as souple as the twig of a young tree, it is for every way, every religion, every lewd course prevaileth with it; And therefore O what a sweet couple, what a glorious yoke are youth and Grace, Christ & 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 Lo a report answerable to his worth; for Christ cannot be spoken of, or commended according to his worth; Come & see is the most faithfull messenger to speak of him, little perswasion would prevail where this were: It is impossible in the setting out of Christ's love, to lye, and passe over truth's line: The discourses of Angels, or Love-books written by the congregation of Seraphims [all their wits being conjoyned and melted in one] would for ever be in the nether side of tru… and plentifully declaring the thing as it is. The infinitness, the boundlesness of that incomparable excellency that is in Jesus, is a great word. God send me, if it were but the relicts and leavings, or an ounce weight or two, of his matchless love, and suppose I never got another heaven [providing this blessed fire were evermore burning] I could not but be happy forever. 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 wife. I dare swear, it were a blessing to your House, the honour of your Honour, the flower of your credit, now in your place, and as far as ye are able, to lend your hand, to your weeping Mother, even your oppressed and spoiled Mother-kirk. If ye love her and bestir your self for her, & 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 crownes on his head & 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 Zions born sons, your Honourable and Christian Parents would venture you upon Christ's errands: Therefore I beseech you by the mercies of God, by the death and wounds of Jesus, by the hope of your glorious inheritance and by the comfort & hope of the joyfull presence ye would have at the water-side, when ye are putting your foot in the dark grave, take courage for Christ's truth, & the Honour of his free Kingdom; for howbeit ye be a young flower and green before the sun, ye know not how soon death will cause you cast your bloom, and wither root and branch & leaves: And therefore write up what ye have to doe for Christ, and make a treasure of good works, and begin in time: by appearance ye have the advantage of the brae: see what ye can doe for Christ against these, who are waiting while Christ's Tabernacle fall, that they may run away with the boards thereof, and build their nests on Zion's ruines: They are blinde who see not lowns now pulling up the stakes and breaking the cords & renting the curtains of Christ's (some times) beautifull tent in this land. Antichrist is lifting that tent up upon his shoulders and going away with it, & when Christ & the Gospel are out of Scotland, dream not that your houses shall thrive, & that it shall goe 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, & nettles: Isa. 34: 9, 11. The Lord gave Christ and his Gospel as a pawne to Scotland, the watchmen have fallen foul, & lost their part of the pawne; & who seeth not that God hath dryed up their right eye, & their right arme, & hath broken the shepherds staves, & men are treading in their hearts upon such unsavoury salt, that is good for nothing else. If ye the Nobles put away the pawne also, & refuse to plead the controversie of Sion with the professed enemies of Jesus, ye have done with it. Oh where is the courage, & zeal now, of the ancient Nobles of this land, who with their swords & hazard of life, honour & houses brought Christ to our hands? And now the Nobles cannot be but guilty of shouldering out Christ, & murthering of the souls of the posterity, if they shall hide themselves, & lurk in the lee-side of the hill, till the wind blow down the temple of God. It goeth now under the name of wisdom, for men to cast their cloak over Christ & their profession, as if Christ were stolen goods, & durst not be avouched, though this be reputed a pi…ce of policy; yet God estemeeth such men to be but State-fool & Court-gooks, what ever they or other Heads of wit, like to them think of themselves, since their damnable silence, is the ruine of Christs Kingdom. Oh but it be true honour, & glory, to be the fast friends of the bridegroom, & to own Christ's bleeding head, & his forsaken cause, & to contend legally, & in the wisdom of God for our sweet Lord Jesus, & his Kingly crown. But I will beleeve your Lo: will take Christs honour to heart, & be a man in the streets (as the prophet speaketh) for the Lord & his truth To his rich grace & sweet presence, & the everlasting consolation of the promised comforter I recomend your Lo: & am.
Aberd. Sept. 7. 1637. Your Lo: in his sweet Lord Iesus. S. R.