Letters in Two Parts, Part 2 · LETTER 14
To my Lady KENMURE. (14)
MADAM.
THe cause of my not writing to your La: is not my forgetfulness of you, but the want of the opportunity of a convenient bearer, for I am under more then a simple obligation to be kinde [in paper, at least] to your La: I bless our Lord through Christ, who hath brought you home again to your countrey from that place where ye have seen with your eyes that which our Lord's truth taught you before, to wit, that worldly glory is nothing but a vapour, a shadow, the foam of the water, or something less & lighter, even nothing, & that our Lord hath not without cause said in his word, 1 Cor. 7. 31. The countenance or fashion of this world passeth away: In which place our Lord compareth it to an Image in a looking-glass, for it is the looking-glass of Adam's sons: Some come to the glass & see in it the picture of Honour and but a picture indeed, for true Honour is to be great in the sight of God; & others see in it the shadow of Riches, & but a shadow indeed, for durable Riches stand as one of the maids of Wisdom upon her left hand, Prov. 3. 16. & a third sort see in it the face of painted Pleasures, & the beholders will not beleeve but the Image they see in this glass is a living man, till the Lord come & break the glass in pieces & remove the face, & then, like Pharaoh awakened, they say, And behold it was a dream. I know your La: thinketh your self little in the common of this world, for the favourable aspect of any of these three painted faces, & blessed be our Lord that it is so, the better for you: Madam, they are not worthy to be wooers to sute in marriage your soul, that looks to an higher match then to be married upon painted clay: know therefore, Madam, the place whither our Lord Jesus cometh to wooe a Bride, it is even in the furnace: for if ye be one of Zion's daughters (which I ever put beyond all question, since I first had occasion to see in your La: such pregnant evidences of the grace of God) the Lord who hath his fire in Zion & his furnace in Ierusalem, Isa. 31: 9. is purifying you in the furnace. And therefore be content to live in it, and every day to be adding & sowing-to a pasment to your wedding garment, that ye may be at last decored & trimmed as a Bride for Christ, a Bride of his own busking, beautified in the hidden man of the heart, forgetting your Father's house, so shall the King greatly desire your beauty, Psal. 45: 11. If your La: be not changed (as I hope ye are not) I beleeve ye esteem your self to be of these whom God hath tried these many years & refined as silver. But, Madam, I will shew your La: a priviledge that others want & ye have in this case: Such as are in prosperity & are fatted with earthly joyes, & encreased with children & friends, though the Word of God is indeed written to such for their instruction, yet to you [who are in trouble] spare me, Madam, to say this [from whom the Lord hath taken many children, & whom he hath exercised otherwise] there are some chapters, some particular promises in the Word of God, made, in a most special manner, which should never have been yours so, as they now are, if ye had your portion in this life as others: & therefore, all the comforts, promises & mercies God offereth to the afflicted, they are as many love-letters written to you; take them to you, Madam, & claim your right & be not robbed: It is no small comfort that God hath written some Scriptures to you, which he hath not written to others, ye seem rather in this to be envied then pitied, & ye are indeed in this, like people of another world & these that are above the ordinary rank of mankinde, whom our King & Lord, our Bridegroom Iesus, in his love-letter to his welbeloved Spouse, hath named beside all the rest, & hath written comforts and his hearry commendations, in the 56 of I saiah, vers 4, 5. Bsal. 147, 2, 3, to you: Read these & the like, & think your God is like a friend that sendeth a letter to a whole house & family, but speaketh in his letter to some by name that are dearest to him in the house: Ye are then, Madam, of the dearest friends of the Bridegroom: If it were lawfull, I would envie you, that God honoured you so above many of his dear children. Therefore, Madam, your partis, in this case [seeing God taketh nothing from you, but that which he is to supply with his own presence] to desire your Lord to know his own room, & take it even upon him to come in, in the room of dead children, Iehovah know thy own place & take it to thee, is all ye have to say: Madam, I perswade my self, that this world is to you an uncouth Innes, & that ye are like a traveller who hath his bundel upon his back & his staff in his hand & his feet upon the door-threshold: Goe forward, honourable & elect Lady, in the strength of your Lord [let the world bide at home & keep the house] with your face toward him who longeth more for a sight of you, then ye can doe for him: ere it be long he will see us: I hope to see you laugh as cheerfully after-noon, as ye have mourned before-noon: The hand of the Lord, the hand of the Lord be with you in your journey: What have ye to doe here? This is not your mountain of rest, arise then and set your foot up the mountain, goe up out of the wilderness leaning upon the shoulder of your Beloved, Caent, 8, v. 5, If ye knew the welcome that abideth you when ye come home, ye would hasten your pace, for ye shall see your Lord put up his own holy hand to your face & wipe all tears from your eyes, & I trow, then ye shall have some joy of heart. Madam, paper willeth me to end before affection: Remember the estate of Zaon, pray that Ierusalem may be as Zechariah prophesied, Ch. 12: 3. A burdensom stone for all, that whosoever boweth down to roll the stone out of the way, may hurt & break the joynts of their back & strain their arms & disjoynt their shoulder-blades, & pray Iehovah that the stone may lie still in it's own place & keep bond with the corner-stone, I hope it shall be so, he is a skilled Master-builder who laid it. I would, Madam, under great heaviness be refreshed with two lines from your La: pen, which I refer to your own wisdom. Madam, I would seen undutifull not to shew you that great solistation is made by the town of Kircudbright for to have the use of my poor labours amongst them: If the Lord shall call & his people cry, who am I to resist? but without his seen calling & till the flock whom I now oversee, be planted with one to whom I dare intrust Christ's Spouse, gold nor silver nor favour of men, I hope, shall not loose me. I leave your La: praying more earnestly for grace & mercy to be with you & multiplied upon you here & hereafter, then my pen can express. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Kirkcudbright. Your La at all obedience in the Lord, S. R.