Letters in Two Parts, Part 2 · LETTER 20 – LETTER 22
To my Lady KENMURE. (20)
My very Noble & worthy Lady.
SO oft as I call to minde the comforts that I my self, a poor friendless stranger, received from your La: here in a strange part of the countrey, when my Lord took from me the delight of mine eyes, as the word speaketh, Ezek. 24. 16. [which wound is not yet fully healed & cured] I trust your Lord shall remember that & give you comfort now at such a time as this, wherein your dearest Lord hath made you a widow that ye may be a free Woman for Christ who is now suteing for marriage-love of you; & therefore since you lie alone in your bed, let Christ be as a bundle of myrrhe to sleep & lie all the night betwixt your breasts, Cant. 1, 13. & then your bed is better filled then before: And seeing amongst all crosses spoken of in our Lord's word, this giveth you a particular right to make God your husband, [which was not so yours while your husband was alive] read God's mercy out of this visitation: And albeit I must out of some experience say, the mourning for the husband of your youth, be, by God's own mouth the heaviest wordly sorrow, Ioel 1. 8. & though this be the weightiest burden that ever lay upon your back; Yet ye know [when the fields are e…ptied & your husband now asleep in the Lord] if ye shall wait upon him who hideth his face for a while, that it lieth upon God's honour & truth to ful the field & to be a husband to the widow: See & consider then what ye have lost & how little it is. Therefore, Madam, let me intreat you in the bowels of Christ Jesus & by the comforts of his Spirit & your appearance before him, let God & men & Angels now see what is in you: The Lord hath p…irced the vessel, it will be known whether there be in it wine or water: let your faith & patience be seen, that it may be known, your onelyonly beloved first and last hath been Christ: And therefore now were your whole love upon him, he alone is a sutable object for your love and all the affections of your soul: God hath dried up one channel of your love by the removal of your husband, let now that speat run upon Christ. Your Lord & lover hath graciously taken out your husband's name & your name out of the summonds that are raised at the instance of the terrible sin-revenging Judge of the world against the house of the Kenmure: And I dare say that God's hammering of you from your youth is onelyonly to make you a fair carved stone in the high upper temple of the new Ierusalem: Your Lord never thought this world's vain painted glory a gift worthy of you; & therefore would not bestow it on you, because he is to propine you with a better portion: Let the moveables goe, the inheritance is yours: Ye are a childe of the house & joy is laid up for you, it is long in coming, but not the worse for that. I am now expecting to see, & that with joy & comfort, that which I hoped of you since I knew you fully, even that ye have laid such strength upon the Holy One of Israel that yed …sie troubles, & that your soul is a castle that may be be…ged but cannot be taken. What have ye to doe here? This would never looked like a friend upon you, ye ow it little love, it looked ever sowre-like upon you: Howbeit ye should wooe it, it will not match with you; & therefore never seek warm fire under cold ice: This is not a field where your happiness groweth, it is up above, where, Rev. 7. 9. there are a great multitude, which no man can number, of all nations, & Kindreds, & people, & tongues standing before the throne & before the Lamb, clothed with w…te robes, & palms in their hands: What ye could never get here, ye shall finde there. And withall consider how in all these trials [& truly they have been many] your Lord hath been loosing you at the root from perishing things, & hunting after you, to grip your soul: Madam for the Son of God's sake, let him not miss his grip, but stay & abide in the love of God, as Iude saith, ver: 21 Now, Madam. I hope your La: will take these lines in good part, & wherein I have fallen short & failed to your La: in not evidencing what I was obliged to your more then undeserved love & respect, I request for a full pardon for it. Again, my dear & noble Lady, let me beseech you to list up your head, for the day of your redemption draweth near: And remember, that star that shined in Galloway is now shining in another world. Now I pray that God may answer his own stile to your soul, & that he may be to you the God of all consolations. Thus I remain.
Anwoth. Sept. 14. 1634. Your La: at all dutifull obedience in the Lord, S. R.
To my Lady KENMURE. (21)
MADAM.
ALl dutifull obedience in our Lord remembered. I know ye are now near one of these strairs in which ye have been before: But because your outward comforts are fewer, I pray him whose ye are, to supply what ye want, an other way: for howbeit we cannot win to the bottom of his wise Providence who ruleth all: yet it is certain, this is not onelyonly good which the Almighty hath done, but it is best: & he hath reckoned all your steps to heaven, & if your La: were through this water, there are the fewer behinde; & if this were the last, I hope your La: hath learned by on-waiting to make your acquaintance with Death, which being to the Lord, the woman's seed Iesus, onelyonly a bloody heel & not a broken head, Gen. 3: 15. cannot be ill to his friends, who get f…r less of Death then himself: Therefore, Madam, seeing ye know not but the journey is ended & ye are come to the water-side, in God's wisdom look all your papers & your counts, & whether ye be ready to receive the Kingdom of heaven as a little childe, in whom there is little haughtiness & much humility. I would be far from discouraging your La: but there is an absolute necessity, that near eternity, we look ere we leap, seeing no man winneth back again to mend his leap. I am confident your La: thinketh often upon it, & that your old guide shall goe before you & take your hands His love to you will not grow sowre nor wear out of date, as the love of men, which groweth old & gray haired often before themselves. Ye have so much the more reason to love a better life then this, because this world hath been to you a cold fire, with little heat to the body & as little light, & much smoke to hurt the eyes: But, Madam, your Lord would have you thinking it but day breasts, full of wind & empty of food. In this late visitation that hath befallen your La …e have seen God's love & care in such a measure, that I thought, our Lord brake the sharp point off the cross, & made us and your La: see Christ take possession, and infestment upon earth of him who is now reigning & triumphing with the hundred forty & four thousand, who stand with the Lamb on mount Zion. I know, the sweetest of it, is bitter to you; but your Lord will not give you painted crosses: He paireth not all the bitterness from the cross, neither taketh he the sharp …dge quite from it, then it should be of your wailing & not of his, which should have as little reason in it, as it should have profit for us. OnelyOnly, Madam, God commandeth you now to beleeve & cast anchor in the dark night, & climb up the mountain: He who hath called you, establish you & confirm you to the end. I had a purpose to have visited your La: but when I thought better upon it, the truth is, I cannot see what my company could profit you: & this hath broken off my purpose, & no other thing. yknow many honourable friends & worthy professours will see I our La: & that the Son of God is with you, to whose love & mercy, from my soul, I recommend your La: & remain
Anwoth. Nov. 29. 1634. Your La at all dutifull obedience in his sweet Lord Iesus, S. R.
To my Lady KENMURE. (22)
MADAM.
MY humble obedience in the Lord remembered: Know, it hath pleased the Lord to let me see, by all appearance, my labours in God's house here are at an end, & I … now learn to suffer, in the which I am a dull Scholar. By a strange Providence, some of my papers anent the corruptions of this time, are come to our King's hand: I know, by the wise & well affected, I shall be censured as not wise nor circumspect enough, but it is ordinary, that, that should be a part of the cross of these who suffer for him: Yet I love & pardon the instrument, I would commit my life to him, howbeit by him this hath befallen me; but I look higher then to him. I make no question of your La: love & car to doe what ye can for my help, & am perswaded that in my adversities our La: will with me well. I seek no other thing, but that my Lord may be honoured by me in giving a …ony: I was wi…ling to doe him more service, but seeing he will have no more of my labours & this land will thrust me out, I pray for grace to learn to be acquaint with misery, i… may give so rough a name to such a mark of these who shall be crowned with Christ: And howbeit I will possibly prove a faint-hearted unwise man in that, yet I dare say, I intend otherwise: And I desire not to goe on the lee-side or sunny-side of Religion, to put Truth betwixt me & a storm; my Saviour did not so for me, who in his suffering took the windy side of the hill. No further, but the Son of God be with you.
Anwoth. Dec. 5. 1634. Your La: in the Lord Iesus, S. R.