Reformation! Reformation! Reformation!

No King But CHRIST!

To A CHRISTIAN BROTHER, on the death of his daughter

REVEREND AND BELOVED IN THE LORD, — It may be that I have been too long silent, but
I hope that ye will not impute it to forgetfulness of you.
As I have heard of the death of your daughter with heaviness of mind on your behalf, so am I
much comforted that she has evidenced to yourself and other witnesses the hope of the resurrection
of the dead. As sown corn is not lost (for there is more hope of that which is sown than of that
which is eaten) (I Cor. 15.42, 43), so also is it in the resurrection of the dead: the body ‘is sown in
corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory’. I hope that ye
wait for the crop and harvest; ‘for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so also them
which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him.’ Then they are not lost who are gathered into that
congregation of the first-born, and the general assembly of the saints. Though we cannot outrun
nor overtake them that are gone before, yet we shall quickly follow them: and the difference is,
A Selection from his Letters Samuel Rutherford
that she has the advantage of some months or years of the crown, before you and her mother. And
we do not take it ill, if our children outrun us in the life of grace; why then are we sad, if they
outstrip us in the attainment of the life of glory? It would seem, that there is more reason to grieve
that children live behind us, than that they are glorified and die before. All the difference is in some
poor hungry accidents of time, less or more, sooner or later. So the godly child, though young, died
a hundred years old; and you could not now have bestowed her better, though the choice was
Christ’s, not yours.
The King and Prince of ages can keep them better than you can do. While she was alive, you
could intrust her to Christ, and recommend her to His keeping: now, by an after-faith, you have
resigned her unto Him, in whose bosom do sleep all that are dead in the Lord: you would have lent
her to glorify the Lord upon earth, and He has borrowed her, with promise to restore her again, to
be an organ of the immediate glorifying of himself in heaven. Sinless glorifying of God is better
than sinful glorifying of Him. And sure your prayers concerning her are fulfilled.
If the fountain be the love of God, as I hope it is, ye are enriched with losses. You know all I
can say better, before I was in Christ, than I can express it. Grace be with you.
LONDON, Jan. 6, 1646

S.R.

XXV.—To a Gentlewoman at Kirkcudbright, excusing himself from visiting
.
MISTRESS,---I beseech you to have me excused if thedaily employments of my calling shall hinder me to see you according as I would wish ; for I dare not go abroad, since many of my people are sick, and the time of our Communion draweth neat But frequent the company of your worthy and honest-hearted pastor, Mr. Robert (Glendinning), to whom the Lord bath given the tongue of the learned, to minister a word in season to the weary. Remember me to him and to your husband. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit. Your affectionate friend,
S. R.

XXIV .—For MARION McNaught. (CHRIST AND HIS GARDEN—PROVISION OF ORDINANCES IN THE CHURCH—OUR CHILDREN.)

BELOVED MISTRESS,—My dearest love in Christ ,, •;n remembered to you. Know that Mr. Abraham ' ** showed me there is to be a meeting of the bishops at Edinburgh shortly. The causes are known to themselves. It is our part to hold up our hands for Zion. Howbeit, it is reported, they came sad from court. It is our Lord's wisdom, that His kirk should ever hang by a thread ; and yet the thread breaketh not, being banged upon Him who is the sure Nail in David's house (Isa. xxii. 23), upon whom all the vessels, great and small, do hang; and the Nail Pod be thanked) neither crooketh nor can be broken. Jesus, that Flower of Jesse set without hands, getteth many a blast, and yet withers not, because He is His Father's noble Rose, casting a sweet smell through heaven and earth, and must grow ; and in the saute garden grow the saints, God's fair and beautiful lilies, under wind and rain, and all sun-burned, and yet life remaineth at the root. Keep within His garden, and you shall grow with them, till the Great Husbandman, our dear Master Gardener, come and transplant you from the lower part of His vineyard up to the higher, to the very heart of His garden, above the wrongs of the rain, 'sun, or wind. And then, wait upon the times of the blowing of the sweet south and north wind of His gracious Spirit, that may make you cast a sweet smell in your Beloved's nostrils ; and bid your Beloved come down to His garden, and eat of His pleasant fruits (Cant iv. 16). And He will come. You will get no more but this until you come up to the Well-head, where you shall put up your hand and take down the apples of the tree of life, and eat under the shadow of that tree. These apples are sweeter up beside the tree than they are down here in this piece of a clay prison‑ house. I have no joy but in the thoughts of these times. Doubt not of your Lord's part and the spouse's part; she shall be in good case. That word shall stand, " I shall be as the dew to Israel : he shall grow up as the lily, and cast out his roots 1 as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, his beauty shall be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon" (Hosea xiv. 5, 6). Christ shall set up His colours, and His ensign for the nations, and shall gather together the outcasts of Israel (Ise. xi. 12). " Then the Lord said to me, Son of man, these dead bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, our hope is lost; we are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy unto them, and say, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel " (Ezek. xxxvii. 11, 12). These promises are not wind, but the breast of our beloved Christ, which we must suck and draw comfort out of. Ye have cause to pity those poor creatures that stand out against Christ, and the building of His house. Silly men ! they have but a feckless and silly heaven, nothing but meat and cloth, and laugh a day or two in the world, and then in a moment go down to the grave ; and they shall not be able to hinder Christ's building. He that is Master of work will lead stones to the wall over their belly.
And for that present tumult that the children of this world raise anent the planting of your town with a pastor, believe and stay upon God, as you still shame us all in believing. Go forward in the strength of the Lord; and I say from my Lord, before whom I stand, have your eyes upon none but the Lord of armies, and the Lord shall either let you see what you long to see, or then else fulfil your joy more abundantly another way. You and yours, and the children of God whom you care for in this town, shall have as much of the Son of God's supper cut and laid upon your trenchers, be who he will that carveth, as shall feed you to eternal life. And be not cast down for all that is done : your reward is laid up with God. I hope to see you laugh and leap for joy. Will the temple be built without din and tumult? No; God's stones in His house in Germany are laid with blood ; and the Son of God no sooner begins to chop and hew stones with His hammer, put as soon the sword is drawn. If the work were of men, the world would set their shoulders to yours; but, in Christ's work, two or three must fight against a Presbytery (though His own court) and a city. This proveth that it is Christ's errand, and therefore that it shall thrive. Let them lay iron chains cross over the door,—stay, and believe, and wait, whill the Lion of the tribe of Judah come. And He that comes from heaven clothed with the rain‑ bow, and hath the little book in His hand, when He taketh a grip of their chains, He will lay the door on the broadside, and come in, and go up to the pulpit, and take the man with Him whom He hath chosen for His work. Therefore, let me hear from you, whether you be in heaviness, or rejoicing under hope, that I may take part of your grief, and bear it with you, and get part of your joy, which is to me also as my own joy. And as to what are your fears anent the health or life of your dear children, lay it upon Christ's shoulders : let Him bear all. Loose your grips of them all ; and when your dear Lord pulleth, let them go with faith and joy. It is a tried faith to kiss a Lord that is taking from you. Let them be careful, during the short time that they are here, to run and get a grip of the prize. Christ is standing in the end of their way, holding up the garland of endless glory to their eyes, and is crying, "Run fast, and come and receive." Happy are they (if their breath serve them) to run and not to weary, whill their Lord, with His own dear hand, puts the crown upon their head. It is not long days, but good days, that make life glorious and happy ; and our dear Lord is gracious to us, who shorteneth and hath made the way to glory shorter than it was ; so that the crown that Noah did fight for five hundred years, children may now obtain it in fifteen years. And heaven is in some sort better for us now than it was to Noah, for the man Christ is there now, who was not come in the flesh in Noah's days. You shall show this to your children, whom my soul in Christ blesseth, and entreat them by the mercies of God, and the bowels of Jesus Christ, to covenant with Jesus Christ to be His, and to make up the bond of friendship betwixt their souls and their Christ, that they may have acquaintance in heaven, and a friend at God's right hand. Such a friend at court is much worth.
Now I take my leave of you, praying my Christ and your Christ to fulfil your joy ; and more graces and blessings from our sweet Lord Jesus to your soul, your husband's and children, than ever I wrote of the letters of A, B, C, to you. Grace, grace be with you.

Yours in my sweet Master, Jesus Christ,
ANWOTH, March 9, 1632.                                      S. R ,

**Possibly Mr. Abraham Henderson ; a staunch defender of Presbytery, who, in 1605, persisted, along with eight of his brethren, in convening at Aberdeen, in face of prohibition, in order to maintain • protest in behalf of the Church's inherent right to meet in General Assembly. (See Forbes' " Apolog. Narration," p. 136.)

.—To my LADY KENMURE
(EXHORTING TO REMEMBER HER ESPOUSAL TO CHRIST—TRI­BULATION A PREPARATION FOR THE KINGDOM—GLORY IN THE END.)
MADAM,—Your Ladyship will not (I know) weary nor offend, though I trouble you with many letters. The memory of what obligations I am under to your Ladyship, is the cause of it.
I am possibly impertinent in what I write, because of my ignorance of your present estate ; but for all that is said, I have learned of Mr. W. D.' that ye have not changed upon, nor wearied of your sweet Master, Christ, and His service ; neither were it your part to change upon Him who " resteth in His love." Ye are among honourable company, and such as affect grandeur and court. But, Madam, thinking upon your estate, I think I see an improvident wooer coming too late to seek a bride, because she is contracted already, and promised away to another ; and so the wooer's busking and bravery (who cometh to you 1 as " who but he?") are in vain. The outward pomp of this busy wooer, a beguiling world, is now coming in to suit your soul too late, when ye have promised away your soul to Christ many years ago. And I know, Madam, what answer ye may now justly make to the late suitor ; even this : " Ye are too long of coming; my soul, the bride, is away already, and the contract with Christ subscribed, and I cannot choose, but I must be honest and faithful to Him." Honourable lady, keep your first love, and hold the first match with that soul-delighting, lovely Bridegroom, our sweet, sweet Jesus, fairer than all the children of men, " the Rose of Sharon," and the fairest and sweetest smelled rose in all His Father's garden. There is none like Him ; I would not exchange one smile of His lovely face with kingdoms. Madam, let others take their silly, feckless heaven in this life. Envy them not ; but let your soul, like a tarrowing and misleamed child; take the dorts (as we use to speak), or cast at all things and disdain them, except one only : either Christ or nothing. Your well-beloved, Jesus, will be content that ye be here devoutly proud, and ill to please, as one that contemneth all husbands but Himself. Either the King's Son, or no husband at all ; this is humble, and worthy ambition. What have ye to do to dally with a whorish and foolish world? Your jealous Husband will not be content that ye look by Him to another : He will be jealous indeed, and offended, if ye kiss another but Himself. What weights do burden you, Madam, I know not; but think it great mercy that your Lord from your youth hath been hedging in your outstraying affections, that they may not go a-whoring from Himself. If ye were His bastard, He would not nurture you so. If ye were for the slaughter, ye would be fattened. But be content ; ye are His wheat, growing in our Lord's field (Matt. xiii. 25, 38); and if wheat, ye must go under our Lord's threshing-instrument, in His barn-floor, and through His sieve (Amos ix. 9), and through His mill to be bruised (as the Prince of your salvation, Jesus, was) (Isa. liii. 10), that ye may be found good bread in your Lord's house. Lord Jesus, bless the spiritual husbandry, and separate you from the chaff, that dow not bide the wind. I am persuaded your glass is spending itself by little and little; and if ye knew who is before you, ye would rejoice in your tribulations. Think ye it a small honour to stand before the throne of God and the Lamb ? and to be clothed in white, rind to be called to the marriage supper of the Lamb ? and to be led to the fountain of living waters, and to come to the Well-head, even God Himself, and get your fill of the clear, cold, sweet, refreshing water of life, the King's own well ? and to put up your own sinful hand to the tree of life and take down and eat the sweetest apple in all God's heavenly paradise, Jesus Christ, your life and your Lord ? Up your heart 1 shout for joy t Your King is coming to fetch you to His Father's house.
Madam, I am in exceeding great heaviness, God thinking it best for my own soul thus to exercise me, thereby, it may be, to fit me to be His mouth to others. I see and hear, at home and abroad, nothing but matter of grief and discouragement, which indeed maketh my life bitter. And I hope in God never to get my will in this world. And I expect ere long a fiery trial upon the Church ; for as many men almost in England and Scotland, as many false friends to Christ, and as many pulling and drawing to pull the -crown off His holy head ! and for fear that our Beloved stay amongst us (as if His room 1 were more desir­able than Himself), pen are bidding Him go seek His lodging. Madam, if ye have a part in silly, friendless Zion (as I know ye have), speak a word on her behalf to God and man. If ye can do nothing else, speak for Jesus, and ye shall thereby be a witness against this declining age. Now, from my very soul, laying and leaving you on the Lord, and desiring apart in your prayers (as, my Lord knoweth, I remember you), I deliver over your body, spirit, and all your necessities, to the hands of our Lord, and remain for ever
Your Ladyship's, in your sweet Lord Jesus and mine,
ANWOTH, Feb. 13, 1632. S. R.

A proverbial expression, as in Herbert's Poem, 84 :
' " Then came brave Glory passing by, With silks that whistled, Who but he."
Boyd's Last Battle, p. 185.

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XXII.— To JOHN; KENNEDY. (Letter LXXV.) (DELIVERANCE FROM SHIPWRECK—RECOVERY FROM THREAT­ENED DEATH! USE OF TRIALS—REMEMBRANCE OF FRIENDS.)

MY LOVING AND MOST AFFECTIONATE BROTHER IN CHRIST,—I salute you with grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ. I promised to write to you, and although late enough, yet I now make it good. I heard with grief of your great danger of perishing by the sea, and of your merciful deliverance with joy. Sure I am, brother, that Satan will leave no stone unrolled, as the proverb is, to roll you off your Rock, or at least to shake and unsettle you : for at that same time the mouths of wicked men were opened in bard speeches against you, by land, and the prince of the power of the air was angry with you by sea. See then how much ye are obliged to that malicious murderer, who would beat you with two rods at one time ; but, blessed be God, his arm is short ; if the sea and wind would have obeyed him, ye had never come to land. Thank your God, who saith, " I have the keys of hell and of death " (Rev. i. 18); "I kill, and I make alive" (Deut, xxxii. 39); " The Lord bringeth down to the grave and bringeth up" (1 Sam. ii. 6). If Satan were black gates, and ye found the doors shut ; and we do all welcome you back again. I trust that ye know that it is not for nothing that ye are sent to us again. The Lord knew that ye had forgotten some­thing that was necessary for your journey ; that your armour was not as yet thick enough against the stroke of death. Now, in the strength of Jesus despatch your business ; that debt is not forgiven, but fristed : death hath not bidden you farewell, but hath only left you for a short season. End your journey ere the night come upon you. Have all in readiness against the time that ye must sail through that black and impetuous Jordan ; and Jesus, Jesus, who knoweth both those depths and the rocks, and all the coasts, be your pilot. The last tide will not wait you for one moment. If ye forget anything, when your sea is full, and your foot in that ship, there is no returning again to fetch it. What ye do amiss in your life to-day, ye may amend it to-morrow ; for as many suns as God maketh to arise upon you, ye have as many new lives ; but ye can die but once, and if ye mar or spill that business, ye cannot come back to mend that piece of work again. No man sinneth twice in dying ill ; as we die but once, so we die but ill or well once. You see how the number of your months is written in God's book ; and as one of the Lord's hirelings, ye must work till the shadow of the evening come upon you, and ye shall run out your glass even to the last pickle of sand. Fulfil your course with joy, for we take nothing to the grave with us, but a good or evil conscience. And, although the sky clear after this storm, yet clouds will engender another.

Ye contracted with Christ, I hope, when first ye began to follow Him, that ye would bear His cross. Fulfil your part of the contract with patience, and break not to Jesus Christ. Be honest, brother, in your bargaining with Him ; for who knoweth better how to bring up children than our God ? For (to lay aside His knowledge, of the which there is no finding out) He bath been practised in bringing up His heirs these five thousand years ; and His bairns are all well brought up, and many of them are honest men now at home, up in their own house in heaven, and are entered heirs to their Father's inheritance. Now, the form of His bringing up was by chastisements, scourging, correct­ing, nurturing ; and see if He maketh exception of any of Hisjailor, and had the keys of death and of the grave, they should be stored with more prisoners. Ye were knocking at these black gates, and ye found the doors shut ; and we do all welcome you back again. I trust that ye know that it is not for nothing that ye are sent to us again. The Lord knew that ye had forgotten some­thing that was necessary for your journey ; that your armour was not as yet thick enough against the stroke of death. Now, in the strength of Jesus despatch your business ; that debt is not forgiven, but fristed : death hath not bidden you farewell, but hath only left you for a short season. End your journey ere the night come upon you. Have all in readiness against the time that ye must sail through that black and impetuous Jordan ; and Jesus, Jesus, who knoweth both those depths and the rocks, and all the coasts, be your pilot. The last tide will not wait you for one moment. If ye forget anything, when your sea is full, and your foot in that ship, there is no returning again to fetch it. What ye do amiss in your life to-day, ye may amend it to-morrow ; for as many suns as God maketh to arise upon you, ye have as many new lives ; but ye can die but once, and if ye mar or spill that business, ye cannot come back to mend that piece of work again. No man sinneth twice in dying ill ; as we die but once, so we die but ill or well once. You see how the number of your months is written in God's book ; and as one of the Lord's hirelings, ye must work till the shadow of the evening come upon you, and ye shall run out your glass even to the last pickle of sand. Fulfil your course with joy, for we take nothing to the grave with us, but a good or evil conscience. And, although the sky clear after this storm, yet clouds will engender another. Ye contracted with Christ, I hope, when first ye began to follow Him, that ye would bear His cross. Fulfil your part of the contract with patience, and break not to Jesus Christ. Be honest, brother, in your bargaining with Him ; for who knoweth better how to bring up children than our God ? For (to lay aside His knowledge, of the which there is no finding out) He bath been practised in bringing up His heirs these five thousand years ; and His bairns are all well brought up, and many of them are honest men now at home, up in their own house in heaven, and are entered heirs to their Father's inheritance. Now, the form of His bringing up was by chastisements, scourging, correct­ing, nurturing ; and see if He maketh exception of any of His bairns : no, His eldest Son and His Heir, Jesus, is not excepted (Rev. iii. 19; Heb. xii. 7, 8, and ii. 10). Suffer we must; ere we were born, God decreed it; and it is easier to complain of His decree than to change it. It is true, terrors of conscience east us down ; and yet without terrors of conscience we cannot be raised up again : fears and doubtings shake us ; and yet without fears and doubtings we would soon sleep, and lose our grips of Christ. Tribulation and temptations will almost loosen us to the root ; and yet, without tribulations and temptations, we can now no more grow than herbs or corn without rain. Sin, and Satan, and the world will say, and cry in our ear, that we have a hard reckoning to make in judgment ; and yet none of these three, except they lie, dare say in our face that our sin can change the tenor of the new covenant. Forward, then, dear brother, and lose not your grips. Hold fast the truth : for the world, sell not one dram-weight of God's truth, especially now, when most men measure truth by time, like young seamen setting their compass by a cloud ; for now time is father and mother to truth, in the thoughts and practices of our evil time. The God of truth establish us ; for alas ! now there are none to comfort the prisoners of hope, and the mourners in Zion. We can do little, except pray and mourn for Joseph in the stocks. And let their tongue cleave to the roof of their mouth who forget Jerusalem now in her day ; and the Lord remember Edom, and render to him as he hath done to us.

Now, brother, I shall not weary you ; but I entreat you to remember my dearest love to Mr. David Dickson, with whom I have small acquaintance ; yet I bless the Lord, I know that he both prayeth and doeth for our dying kirk. Remember my dearest love to John Stuart, whom I love in Christ ; and show him from me that I do always remember him, and hope for a meeting. The Lord Jesus establish him more and more, though he be already a strong man in Christ. Remember my heartiest affection in Christ to William Rodger,**whom I also remember to God. I wish that the first news I hear of him and you, and all that love our common Saviour in those bounds, may be, that they are so knit and linked, and kindly fastened in love with the Son of God, that ye may say, " Now if ye would ever so fain escape out of Christ's hands, yet love hath so bound us, that we cannot get our hands free again ; He hath so ravished our hearts, that there is no loosening of His grips; the chains of His soul-ravishing love are so strong, that. neither the grave nor death will break them." I hope, brother, yea I doubt not of it, that ye lay me, and my first entry to the Lord's vineyard, and my flock, before Him who hath put me into His work. As the Lord knoweth, since first I saw you, I have been mindful of you. Marion M'Naught cloth remember most heartily her love to you, and to John Stuart? Blessed be the Lord 1 that in God's mercy I found in this country such a woman, to whom Jesus is dearer than her own heart, when there be so many that cast Christ over their shoulder. Good brother, call to mind the memory of your worthy father, now asleep in Christ ; and, as his custom was, pray continually, and wrestle, for the life of a dying, breathless kirk And desire John Stuart not to forget poor Zion ; she bath few friends, and few to speak one good word for her. Now I commend you, your whole soul, and body, and spirit, to Jesus Christ and His keeping, hoping that ye will live and die, stand and fall, with the cause of our Master, Jesus. The Lord Jesus Himself be with your spirit.

XX1.—To my LADY KENMURE. (SELF-DENIAL—HOPE OF CHRIST'S COMING—LOVING COD FOR HIMSELF.)

MAADAM,--Understanding (a little after the writing of my last letter) of the going of this bearer, I would not omit the opportunity of remembering your Lady‑ ship, still harping upon that string, which in our whole lifetime is never too often touched upon (nor is our lesson well enough learned), that there is a necessity of advancing in the way to the kingdom of God, of the contempt of the world, of denying ourself and bearing of our Lord's cross, which is no less needful for us than daily food. And among many marks that we are on this journey, and under sail toward heaven, this is one, when the love of God so filleth our hearts, that we forget to love, and care not much for the having, or wanting of, other things ; as one extreme heat burneth out another. By this, Madam, ye know, ye have betrothed your soul in marriage to Christ, when ye do make but small reckon­ing of all other suitors or wooers ; and when ye can (having little in hand, but much in hope) live as a young heir, during the time of his non-age and minority, being content to be as hardly handled and under as precise a reckoning as servants, because his hope is upon the inheritance. For this cause God's bairns take well with spoiling of their goods, knowing in them­selves that they have in heaven a better and an enduring substance (Heb. x. 34). That day that the earth and the works therein shall be burned with fire (2 Pet iii 10), your hidden hope and your life shall appear. And therefore, since ye have not now many years to your endless eternity, and know not how soon the sky above your head will rive, and the Son of man will be seen in the clouds of heaven, what better and wiser course can ye take, than to think that your one foot is here, and your other foot in the life to come, and to leave off loving, 73 Airing, or grieving for the wants that shall be made up when your Lord and ye shall meet, and when ye shall give in your bUI, that day, of all your wants here t If your losses be not made up, ye have place to challenge the Almighty ; but it shall not be so. Ye shall then rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and your joy shall none take from you (1 Pet. i. 8 ; John xvi. 22). It is enough, that the Lord bath promised you great things, only let the time of bestowing them be in His own carving. It is not for us to 'set an hour-glass to the Creator of time. Since He and we differ only in the term of payment ; since He hath promised payment, and we believe it, it is no great matter. We will put that in His own will, as the frank buyer, who cometh near to what the seller seeketh, useth at last to refer the difference to his own will, and so cutteth off the course of mutual prigging. Madam, do not prigg with your frank-hearted and gracious Lord about the time of the fulfilling of your joys.. It will be ; God bath said it ; bide His harvest, wait upon His whitsunday.' His day is better than your day ; He putteth not the hook in the corn till it be ripe and full-eared. The great Angel of the covenant bear you company, till the trumpet shall sound, and the voice of the Archangel awaken the dead. Ye shall find it your only happiness, under whatever thing disturbeth and crosseth the peace of your mind, in this life, to love nothing for itself, but only God for Himself. It is the crooked love of some harlots, that they love bracelets, _ ear-rings, and rings better than the lover that sendeth them. God will not so be loved ; for that were to behave as harlots, and not as the chaste spouse, to abate from our love when these things are pulled away. Our love to Rim should begin on earth, as it shall be in heaven; for the bride taketh not, by a thousand degrees, so much delight in her wedding garment as she doth in her bridegroom; so we, in the life to come, howbeit clothed with glory as with a robe, shall not be so much affected with the glory that goeth about us, as with the bridegroom's joyful face and presence. Madam, if ye can win to this here, the field is won ; and your mind, for anything ye want, or for anything your Lord can take from you, shall soon be calmed and quieted. Get Himself as a pawn, and keep Him, till your dear Lord come, and loose the pawn, and rue upon you, and give you all again that He took from you, even a thousand talents for one penny. It is not ill to lend God willingly, whq otherwise both will and, His term-day.may take from you against your wilL It is good to play the usurer with Him, and take in, instead of ten of the hundred, an hundred of ten, often an hundred of one. Madam, fearing to be tedious to you, I break off here, com- mending you (as I trust to do while I live), your person, ways, burdens, and all that concerneth you, to that Almighty who is able to bear you and your burdens. I still remember you to Him, who will cause you one day to laugh. I expect that, whatever ye can do, by word or deed, for the Lord's friendless Zion, ye will do it She is your mother ; forget her not ; for the Lord intendeth to melt and try this land, and it is high time we were all upon our feet, and falling about to try what claim we have to Christ. It is like the bridegroom will be taken from us, and then we shall mourn. Dear Jesus, remove not, else take us with Thee. Grace, grace be with you for ever. Your Ladyship's, at all dutiful obedience,

S. R

ANWOTH, Jan. 14, 1642. 

XX.—To LADY KENMURE ' (ASSURANCE OF CHRIST'S LOVE UNDER TRIALS-FULNESS OF CHRIST-HOPE OF GLORY.)

MADAM,--1 am grieved exceedingly that your Ladyship , should think, or have cause to think, that such that such as ', love you in God, in this country, are forgetful of you. . For myself, Madam, I owe to your Ladyship all evidences of my high respect (in the sight of my Lord, whose truth I preach, I am bold to say it) for His rich grace in you. My Communion, put off till the end of a longsome and rainy harvest, and the presbyterial exercise (as the bearer can inform your Ladyship), hindered me to see you. And for my people's sake (finding them like hot iron, that cooleth being out of the fire, and that is pliable to no work), I do not stir abroad ; neither have I left them at all, since your Ladyship was in this country, save at one time only, about two years ago. Yet I dare not say but it is a fault, howbeit no defect in my affection ; and I trust to make it up again, so soon as possibly I am able to wait upon you.

Madam, I have no new purpose to write unto you, but of that which I think (nay, which our Lord thinketh) needful, that one thing, Mary's good part, which ye have chosen (Luke x. 42). Madam, all that God hath, both Himself and the creatures, He is dealing and parting amongst the sons of Adam. There are none so poor as that they can say in His face, " He hath given them nothing." But there is no small odds betwixt the gifts given to lawful bairns and to bastards ; and the more greedy ye are in suiting, the more willing He is to give, delighting to be called open-handed. I hope your Ladyship laboureth to get assurance of the surest patrimony, even God Himself. Ye will find in Christianity, that God aimeth, in all His dealings with His children, to bring them to a high contempt of, and deadly feud with the world, and to set an high price upon Christ, and to think Him One who cannot be bought for gold, and well worthy the fighting for. And for no other cause, Madam, doth the Lord withdraw from you the childish toys and the earthly delights that He giveth unto others, but that He may have you wholly to Himself. Think therefore of the Lord, as of one who cometh to woo you in marriage, when ye are in the furnace. He seeketh His answer of you in affliction, to see if ye will say, Even so I take Him. Madam, give Him this answer pleasantly, and in your mind do not secretly grudge nor murmur. When He is striking you in love, beware to strike again : that is dangerous ; for those who strike again shall get the last blow. If I hit not upon the right string, it is because I am not acquainted with your Ladyship's present condition ; but I believe your Ladyship goeth on foot, laughing, and putting on a good countenance before the world, and yet ye carry heaviness about with you. Ye do well, Madam, not to make them witnesses of your grief, who cannot be curers of it. But be exceedingly charitable of your dear Lord. As there be some friends worldly of whom ye will not entertain an ill thought, far more ought ye to believe good evermore of your dear friend, that lovely fair person, Jes us Chrstt. The thorn is one of the most cursed, and angry, and crabbed, weeds that the earth yieldeth, and yet out - of it springeth the rose, one of the sweetest-smelled flowers, and most delightful to the eye, that the earth hath. Your Lord shall make joy and gladness out of your afflictions ; for all His roses have a fragrant smell. Wait for the time when His own holy hand shall hold them to your nose ; and if ye would have present comfort under the cross, be much in prayer, for at that time your faith ldsseth Christ and He kisseth the soul. And oh ! if the breath of His holy mouth be sweet, I dare be caution, out of some small experience, that ye shall not be beguiled ; for the world (yea, not a few number of God's children) know not well what that is which they call a Godhead. But, Madam, come near to the Godhead, and look down to the bottom of the well ; there is much in Him, and sweet were that death to drown in such a well. Your grief taketh liberty to work upon your mind, when ye are not busied in the meditation of the ever-delighting and all-blessed Godhead. If ye would lay the price ye give out (which i$ but some few years' pain and trouble) beside the commodities ye are to receive, ye would see they are not worthy to be laid in the balance together : but it is nature that maketh you look what ye give out, and weakness of faith that hindereth you to see what ye shall take in. Amend your hope, and frist your faithful Lord awhile. He maketh Himself your debtor in the new covenant. He is honest ; take His word: " Affliction shall not spring up the second time " (Nahum i. 9). " He that overcometh shall inherit all things " (Rev. xxi. 7). Of all things, then, which ye want in this life, Madam, I am able to say nothing, if that be not believed which ye have in Rev. iii. 5, 21: " The overcomer shall be clothed in white raiment To the overcomer I will give to sit with Me in My throne, as I overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne." Consider, Madam, if ye are not high up now, and far ben in the palace of our Lord, when ye are upon a throne in white raiment, at lovely Christ's elbow. 0 thrice fools are we, who, like new-born princes weeping in the cradle, know not that there is a kingdom before them ! Then let our Lord's sweet hand square us and hammer us, and strike off the 'knots of pride, self-love, and world•worship, and infidelity, that He may make us stones and pillars in His Father's house (Rev, iii. 12). Madam, what think ye to take binding with the fair corner-stone Jesus ? The Lord give you wisdom to believe and hope your day is coming. I hope to be witness of your joy, as I have been a hearer and beholder of your grief. Think ye much to follow the heir of the crown, who had experience of sorrows, and was acquainted with grief. (Isa. liii. 3). It were pride to aim to be above the King's Son: it is more than we deserve, that we are equals in glory, in a manner. Now commending you to the dearest grace and mercy of God, I rest
. Your Ladyship's, at all obedience to Christ
, S.R ANWOTH JAN 4, 1632 

XIX -- to my Lady Kenmure

(ENCOURAGEMENT TO ABOUND IN FAITH FROM THE PROSPECT OF GLORY -- CHRIST'S UNCHANGEABLENESS)

Madam, -- having saluted  you in the Lord Jesus, I thought it my duty, having the occasion of this bearer, to write again unto your ladyship, though I have no new purpose but what I wrote of before.  Yet Ye can not be too often awakened to go forward towards your city, since your way is long, and (for anything Ye know) your day is short.  And your Lord requireth of you, as Ye advance in years and steal forward insensibly towards eternity, that your faith may grow and ripen for the Lord's harvest or stop for the great Husbandman giveth this season to his fruits that they may come to maturity, and having gotten their filll of the tree, they may then be shaken and gathered in for use; whereas the wicked rot upon the tree, and then branch shall not be green.  "He shall shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast of his flower as the olive" (Job xv.  33).  It is God's mercy to you, madam, that he giveth you your fill, even to loathing, of this bitter world, that ye may willingly leave it, and, like a hull and satisfied banqueter, long for the drawing of the table.  And at last, having trampled under your feet all the rotten pleasures that are under  sun and moon, and having rejoiced as though ye rejoiced not, and having bought as though ye possessed not (1 Cor. vii. 30), ye may, like an old crazy ship, arrive at our Lords harbour, and be made welcome, as one of those who have ever had one foot loose from the earth, longing for that place where your soul shall feast and banquet for ever and ever upon the glorious sight of the incomprehensible Trinity, and where ye shall see the fair face of the man Christ, even the beautiful face that was once for your cause more marred than any of the visages of the sons of men (Isa. lii.14), and was all covered with spitting and blood. Be content to wade through the waters betwixt you and glory with him, holding his hand fast, for he knoweth all the fordes. Howbeit ye may be ducked, but ye cannot drown being in his company; and ye may all the way to glory see the way bedewed with his blood who is the Forerunner.  Be not afraid, therefore, when ye come even to the black and swelling river of death, to put in your foot and wade after him.  The current, how strong soever, cannot carry you down the water to hell: the Son of God, his death and resurrection, steppingstones and a stay to you; set down your feet by faith upon these stones, and go through as on dry land.  If ye knew what he is preparing for you, ye would be too glad.  He will not (it may be) give you a full draught till you come up to to be well-head and drink, yea, drink abundantly, of the pure river of the water of life, that proceedeth out from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev. xxii.1).  Madam, tire not, weary not; I dare find you the Son of God caution, when ye are brought up thither, and have cast your eyes to view the golden city, and the fair and never-ending Tree of Life, that beareth twelve manner of fruits every month, ye shall then say, "four and 20 hours abode in this place is worth threescore and ten years sorrow upon earth." if ye can but say, that ye long earnestly to be carried up thither (and I hope you can not for shame deny him the honour of having wrought that desire in your soul), then hath your Lord given you an earnest.  And Madam, do ye believe that our Lord will lose his earnest, And rue of the bargain, and change his mind, as if he were a man that can lie, or the son of  man that can repent?  Nay, he is unchangeable, and the same this year that he was the former year.  And his Son Jesus, who upon earth ate and drank with publicans and sinners, and spake and conferred with whores and harlots, and put up he is holy hand and touched the lepers filthy skin, and came evermore nigh sinners, even now in glory, is yet the same Lord.  Hs honour, and his great court in heaven, hath not made him forget his poor friends on earth.  In him honours change not manners, and he' doth yet desire your company.  Takie him for the old Christ, and claim still kindness to him, and say, "O it is so; he is not changed, but I am changed."  Nay, it is a part of his unchangeable love, and an article of the new covenant, to keep you that ye cannot dispone   him, nor sell him.  He hath not played fast and loose with us in the covenant of grace, so that we may run from him at our pleasure.  His love hath made the bargain surer than so; for Jesus, as the cautioner, is bound for us (Heb vii.22).  And it cannot stand with his honour to die in the borrows (as we use to say), and lose thee, whom he must tender again to the Father when he shall give up the kingdom to him.  Consent and say " amen" to the promises, and ye have sealed that God is true, and Christ is yours.  This is an easy market.  Ye but look on with faith; for Christ suffered all, and paid all.

Madam fearing I be tedious to your ladyship, I must stop here, desiring in always to hear that your ,  ladyship is well, and that's ye have still your face up the mountain.  Pray for us, Madam, and for zion, wher of ye are a part.  We expect a trial.  God's wheat in this land must go through Satan's sieve, but their faith shall not fail.  I am still wrestling in our Lord's work, and have been tried and tempted with brethren who look awry to the Gospel.  Now he that is able to keep you unto that day preserve your soul, body, and spirit, and present you before his face with his own bride, spotless and blameless.
Your ladyship's to be commanded always in the Lord Jesus,

S.R. 

ANWOTH Nov 26, 1631

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