Letters in Two Parts, Part 2 · LETTER 17 – LETTER 18
To my Lady KENMURE. (17)
MADAM.
I Determined & was desirous also to have seen your La: but because of a pain in my arm I could not: I know ye will not impute it to any unsutable forgetfulness of your La: from whom at my first entry to my calling in this countrey, & since also, I received such comfort in my affliction, as I trust in God, never to forget it, & shall labour by his grace to recompense it the onelyonly way possible to me, & that is, by presenting your soul, person, house & all your necessities, in prayer, to him (whose I hope ye are, &) who is able to keep you till that day of appearance, & to present you before his face with joy. I am confident your La: is going forward in the begun journey to your Lord & father's home & Kingdom; howbeit ye want not temptations within & without: And who among the saints hath ever taken that castle without stroke of sword? The chief of the house, our elder brother our Lord Iesus, not being excepted, who won his own house & home, due to him by birth, with much blood & many blowes. Your La: hath the more need to look to your self, because our Lord hath placed you higher then the rest, and your way to heaven lieth through a more wilde and waste wilderness then the way of many of your fellow-travellers, not onelyonly through the midst of this wood of thorns The cumbersom world, but also through these dangerous paths The vain glory of it: The consideration whereof hath often moved me to pity your soul, & the soul of your worthy & noble husband: And it is more to you to win heaven, being ships of greater burden, and in the main sea, then for little vessels that are not so much in the mercy and reverence of the storms, because they may come quietly to their port by lanching alongst the coast: For the which cause ye doe much, if in the midst of such a tumult of business, & croud of temptations, ye shall give Christ Jesus his own court & his own due place in your soul. I know & am perswaded that, that lovely one Iesus is dearer to you then many Kingdome, and that ye esteem him your welbeloved and the standard-bearer among ten thousand Cant. 5, 10, And it becometh him full well to take the place and the board-head in your soul, before all the world: I knew, & saw him with you in the furnace of affliction; for there he wooed you to himself, & chose you to be his, & now he craveth no other hire of you but your Love, & that he get no cause to be jealous of you: And therefore, Dear & Worthy Lady, be like to the fresh river, that keepeth it's own fresh taste in the salt sea. This world is not worthy of your soul: Give it not a good-day when Christ cometh in competition with it. Be like one of another countrey: Home & stay not; for the sun is fallen low, & nigh the tops of the mountains, & the shadows are stretched out in great length: linger not by the way: The world and sin would train you on & make you turn aside: Leave not the way for them, & the Lord Jesus be at the voyage! Madam, many eyes are upon you, & many would be glad your La: should spill a Christian, and ma… a good professour: Lord Jesus mar their godless desires, & keep the conscience whole without a crack! If there be a hole in it, so that it take in water at a leck, it will with difficulty mend again: It is a dainty delicate creature, & a rare piece of the workmanship of your maker; & therefore deal gently with it, & keep it intire, that amid… this world's glory, your La: may learn to entertain Christ, & whatsoever creature your La: findeth not to smell of him, it may have no better relish to you then the white of an egge. Madam, it is a part of the truth of your profession, to drop words in the ears of your Noble husband continually, of Eternity, Judgement, Death, Hell, Heaven, The honourable Profession, The sins of his Father's House: He must reckon with God for his father's debt: Forgetting of accounts payeth not debt: Nay, the interest of a forgotten bond runneth up with God to interest upon interest: I know he looketh homeward & loveth the truth; but I pity him with my soul, because of his many temptations: Satan layeth upon men a burthen of cares above a load, & maketh a pack-horse of mens souls, when they are wholly set upon this world: We ow the Devil no such service; It were wisdom to throw off that load into a mire, & to cast all our cares over upon God. Madam, think ye have no childe: Subscribe a bond to your Lord, That she shall be his if he take her, & thanks & praise & glory to his holy name, shall be the interest for a year's loan of her: Look for crosses, & while it is fair weather, mend the sails of the ship. Now, hoping your La: will pardon my tediousness, I recommend your soul & person to the grace & mercy of our sweet Lord Jesus, in whom I am
Anwoth, Nov. 15. 1633. Your La: at all dutifull obedience in Christ, S. R.
To my Lady KENMURE. (18)
MADAM.
HAving received a letter from some of the worthiest of the Ministery in this Kingdom, the contents where of I am …nred to communicate to such professours in these parts as I know love the beauty of Zion, & are afflicted to see the Lord's vineyard froden under foot by the wilde boars out of the wood, who lay it waste; I could not but also desire your La: help, to joyn with the rest, desiring you to impart it to my Lord your husband, & if ye think it needfull, I shall write to his Lo: as Mr G. G. shall advertise me. Know therefore that the best affected of the Ministery have thought it convenient & necessary at such a time as this, that all who love the truth should joyn their prayers together, & cry to God with humiliation & fasting: The times which are agreed upon, are, the two first sabbaths of February next, & the six dayes interveening betwixt these sabbaths, as they may conveniently be had, & the first sabbath of every Quarter: And the Causes, as they are written to me, are these. 1. Besides the distresses of the Reformed Churches abroad, the many reigning sins of uncleanness, ungodliness & unrighteousness in this land, the present judgements on the land, & many moe hanging over us, whereof few are sensible, or yet know the right & true cause of them. 2. The lamentable & pitifull estate of a glorious Church [in so short a time, against so many bonds] in Doctrine, Sacraments & Discipline, so sore persecuted, in the persons of faithfull Pastors and professors, and the door of God's house kept so strait, by Bastard-Porters, in so much, that worthy instruments, able for the work, are held at the door, the Rulers having turned over Religion into Policy, & the Multitude ready to receive any Religion that shall be enjoyned by Authority. 3. In our Humiliation, besides that we are under a necessity of deprecating God's wrath, & vowing to God sincerely new obedience, the weakness, coldness, silence & luke warmness of some of the best of the Ministery, & the deadness of Professors, who have suffered the truth both secretly to be stoln away & openly to be plucked from us, would be confessed. 4. Atheism, Idolatry, profanity & vanity would be confessed: Our King's heart recommended to God, & God intreated that he would stir up the Nobles & the People to turn from their evil waves. Thus, Madam, hoping that your La: will joyn with others, that such a work be not slighted at such a necessary time, when our Kirk is at the overturning: I will promise to my self your help, as the Lord in secrecy & prudence shall enable you, that your La: may rejoyce with the Lord's people when deliverance shall come; for true & sincere humiliation came alwayes speed with God: And when Authority, King, Court & Church-men oppose the truth, what other armour have we but prayer & faith? Whereby if we wrestle with him, there is ground to hope that these who would remove the burdensom stone out of it's place shall but hurt their back, & the stone shall not be moved, at least not removed, Zech: 12: 3. Grace, grace be with you, from him who hath called you to the inheritance of the saints in light.
Anwoth. Jan. 23. 1634. Your La: at all submissive obedience in his sweet Lord Iesus, S. R.