Glimpses of Christian History Presents Pastwords #136: Letters by Samuel Rutherford ©2007

Letters by Samuel Rutherford

RUTHERFORD, SAMUEL (c. 1600-61), also 'Rutherfurd', Scottish Presbyterian divine. After studying at Edinburgh University, he was elected professor of humanity in 1623, but deprived in 1626 for a pre-nuptial scandal. Soon after, he became fervently religious. In 1627 he was appointed minister at Anwoth, Dumfries and Galloway. His Exercitationes Apologeticae pro Divina Gratia (Amsterdam, 1636), written from a rigidly Calvinist standpoint, led to his prosecution before the High Commission, and in 1636 he was deposed and exiled in Aberdeen till 1638. In 1639 he became professor of divinity at, and in 1647 principal of St. Mary's College, St. Andrews. His Pleas for Presbytery appeared in 1642. In 1643 he was one of the eight Scottish Commissioners at the Westminster Assembly and may have drafted the Shorter Catechism. For four years he defended the Presbyterian cause at London. His Lex Rex, a Dispute for the Just Prerogative of King and People (1644), which was an attack on monarchical absolutism, brought him considerable repute as a constitutional theorist and greatly influenced later authors such as John Locke. Several devotional writings also belong to these years. At the Restoration (1660) his Lex Rex was publicly burnt and a charge of high treason was preferred against him, but he died shortly afterwards. Adapted from Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church

To John Stuart, Provest of Ayr, now in Ireland.

uch honored Sir, Grace, Mercy and Peace be unto you: I long to hear from you, being now removed from my flock, and the Prisoner of Christ at Aberd. I would not have you to think it strange, That your journey to New England hath gotten such a dash: It indeed hath made my Heart heavy; yet I know it is no dumb providence, but a speaking one, whereby our Lord speaketh his mind to you, though for the present ye do not well understand what he saith: however it be, he who sitteth upon the floods hath shown you his marvelous kindness in the great depths: I know your loss is great, and your hope is gone far against you; But I entreat you, sir, expound aright our Lord's laying all hindrances in the way: I persuade myself, your heart aimeth at the footsteps of the flock, to feed beside the shepherds tents, and to dwell beside him whom your soul loveth, and that it is your desire to remain in the wilderness, where the woman is kept from the Dragon; and this being your desire, remember that a poor Prisoner of Christ said it to you, that, That miscarried journey is with child to you of mercy and consolation: and shall bring forth a fair birth, and the Lord shall be midwife to the birth: wait on, he that believeth maketh not haste, Isa. 28. 16.

I hope ye have been asking what the Lord meaneth, and what further may be his will, in reference to your return: My dear Brother, let God make of you what he will, he will end all with consolation, and shall make glory out of your sufferings; and would ye wish better work? This water was in your way to Heaven, and written in your Lord's book, ye behooved to cross it: and therefore kiss his wise and unerring Providence: Let not the Censures of Men, who see but the outside of things (and scarce well that) abate your courage and rejoicing in the Lord; howbeit your Faith seeth but the black side of Providence, yet it hath a better side, and God shall let you see it. Learn to believe Christ better then his strokes, himself and his promises better then his glooms: Dashes and Disappointments are not Canonick Scripture; fighting for the promised land, seemed to Cry to God's Promise, thou liest. If our Lord ride upon a straw, his Horse shall neither stumble nor fall, Rom 8. 28. For we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, Ergo, Shipwrack, Losses, work together for the good of them that love God: Hence I infer, that Losses, Disappointments, ill Tongues, loss of Friends, Houses or Country, are God's Work-men, set on work, to work out good to you, out of everything that befalleth you: Let not the Lord's dealing seem harsh, rough, or unfatherly: Because it is unpleasant; when the Lord's blessed Will bloweth cross your Desires, it is best in Humility to strike Sail to him, and to be willing to be led any way our Lord pleaseth: it is a point of denial of yourself, to be as if ye had not a will, but had made a free disposition of it to God, and had fold it over to him; and to make use of his Will for your own, is both true holiness and your ease and peace: ye know not what the Lord is working out of this, but ye shall know it hereafter: and what I write to you, I write to your Wife, I compassionate her case, but intreat her not to fear or faint; this Journey is a part of her Wilderness to Heaven and the promised Land, and there are fewer Miles behind: it is nearer the dawning of the Day to her, then when she went out of Scotland: I would be glad to hear, that ye and she have comfort and courage in the Lord.

Now as concerning our Kirk: Our Service-book is ordained by open Proclamation and sound of Trumpet to be read, in all the Kirks of this Kingdom: Our Prelates are to meet this month for it and our Canons, and for a Reconciliation betwixt us and the Lutherans. The Professors of Aberdeen University are charged to draw up the Articles of an Uniform Confession: But Reconciliation with Popery is intended; this is the Day of Jacob's Visitation: The ways of Zion mourn: our Gold is become dim: the Sun is gone down upon our Prophets: A dry Wind, but neither to fan not to cleanse, is coming upon this Land: and all our ill is coming from the multiplied Transgressions of this Land, and from the friends and lovers of Babel amongst us, 1 Jer. 31.53. The violence done to me and my Flesh be upon thee, Babylon, shall the inhabitants of Zion say, and my Blood upon the Inhabitants of Caldea, shall Jerusalem say. Now for myself, I was Three Days before the High Commission, and accused of Treason preached against our King: A Minister being Witness went well nigh to Swear it: God hath saved me from their Malice. They have deprived me of my Ministry, silenced me, that I exercise no part of the Ministerial Function within this Kingdom, under the pain of Rebellion. Confined my person within the Town of Aberdeen where I find the Ministers working for my confinement in Caithnesse, or Orknay, far from them; because some people here (willing to be edified) resort to me. At my first entry, I had heavy Challenges within me, and a Court sentence (but I hope not in Christ's Name) wherein it was asserted, that my Lord would have no more of my service, and was tired of me: And like a fool I summoned Christ also for unkindness, my Soul fainted, and I refused comfort and said, What ailed Christ at me, for I desired to be faithful in his House?

Thus in my rovings and mistakings, my Lord Jesus bestowed Mercy on me, who am less then the least of all Saints. I lay upon the dust, and bought a plea from Satan against Christ, and he was content to sell it; but at length Christ did show himself Friends with me, and in Mercy pardoned and past my part of it, and only complained, that a Court should be holden in his bounds, without his own allowance: Now I pass from my compearance, and as if Christ had done the fault he hath made the mends, and returned to my Soul; so that now his poor Prisoner feedeth on the Feasts of love; my adversaries know not, what a Courtier I am now with my royal King, for whose Crown I now suffer: it is but our soft and lazy Flesh that hath raised an ill Report of the cross of Christ. O sweet, sweet is his yoke! Christ's Chains are of pure Gold; sufferings for him are perfumed: I would not give my weeping, for the laughing of all the fourteen Pr. I would not exchange my sadness with the World's joy. O lovely, lovely Jesus, how sweet must thy kisses be, when thy cross smelleth so sweetly! O if all the three Kingdoms had part of my love feast, and of the comfort of a dated Prisoner. Dear Brother, I charge you to praise for me, and seek help of our Acquaintance there, to help me to praise: Why should I smother Christ's Honesty to me: My Heart is taken up with this, that my silence and sufferings may preach; I beseech you in the bowels of Christ to help me to praise: Remember my love in Christ to your Wife, to Mr. Blair, and Mr. Livingston, and Mr. Cunningham: Let me hear from you, for I am anxious what to do; If I saw a call for New England, I would follow it. Grace be with you. Aberd. 1637. Yours in our Lord Jesus,

S.R.

To the Persecuted Church in Ireland.

Much honored, Reverend and dearly beloved in our Lord, Grace, Mercy and Peace be to you all,

I know there are many in this Nation, more able then I, to speak to the sufferers for, and witnesses of Jesus Christ; yet pardon me to speak a little to you, who are called in question for the Gospel, once committed to you. I hope ye are not ignorant, that as peace was left to you in Christ's Testament, so the other half of the Testament was a Legacy of Christ's sufferings, Job. 16. 35. These things I have spoken, that in me ye might have peace; in the World ye shall have trouble.

Because then ye are made Assigns and Heirs to a life rent of Christ's Cross, think that fiery Trial no strange thing: For the Lord Jesus shall be no loser by purging the dross and Tin out of his Church in Ireland: His Wine Press is but squeezing out the Dregs, the Scum, the Froath, and Refuse of that Church. I had once the proof of the sweet smell, and the Honest and Honorable Peace, of that slandered thing, the Cross of our Lord Jesus: But though (Alas!) that these Golden days that then I had, be now in a great part gone; yet I dare say, that the issue and out-gate of your sufferings shall be the advantage, the Golden Reign and Dominion of the Gospel, and the high Glory of the never enough praised Prince of the Kings of the Earth, and the changing of the Brass of the Lord's Temple among you into Gold, and the Iron into Silver, and the Wood into Brass, your Officers shall yet be Peace, and your Exactors Righteousness, Isa. 60. v. 17,18. Your old fallen Walls shall get a new Name, and the Gates of your Jerusalem, shall get a new Stile, they shall call your Walls, Salvation, and your gates Praise. I know that Deputy, P-------Papists, temporizing Lords and proud mockers of our Lord, Crucifiers of Christ for his Coat, and all your Enemies have neither fingers nor instruments of War to pick out one stone out of your Wall, for each stone of your Wall is Salvation. I dare give you my Royal and Princely Master's Word for it that Ireland shall be a fair Bride to Jesus, and Christ shall build on her a Palace of Silver, Cant. 8.9. Therefore weep not, as if there were no hope, fear not, put on strength, put on your beautiful Garments, Isa. 52.1. Your Foundation shall be Sapphires, Isa. 54. 11,12. Your windows and Gates precious Stones.

Look over the water and behold and see, who is on the dry Land waiting for your Landing: your deliverance is concluded, subscribed and sealed in Heaven: your Goods that are taken from you, for Christ and his Truth's sake, are but Arrested and laid in Pawn and not taken away: There is much laid up for you in his Store house, whose the Earth and the fullness thereof is; your Garments are spun, and your Flocks are feeding in the Fields, your Bread is laid up for you, your drink is browen, your Gold and Silver is at the Bank, and the interest goeth on and groweth, and yet I hear, that your task-masters do robe and spoil you, and fine you: your Prisons (my Brethren) have two Keys, the Deputy, P_____ and Officers keep but the Iron Keys of the Prison, wherein they put you; but he that hath Created the Smith, hath other Keys in Heaven, therefore ye shall not die in the Prison: other men's Ploughs are laboring for your Bread, your Enemies are gathering in your Rents. He that is kissing his Bride on this side of the Sea in Scotland, is beating her beyond the Sea in Ireland, and feeding her with the Bread of Adversity and the Water of Affliction, and yet he is the same Lord to both.

Alas! I fear that Scotland be undone and slain, with this great Mercy of Reformation, because there is not here that Life of Religion, answerable to the huge Greatness of the Work that dazzles our Eyes: For the Lord is rejoicing over us in this Land, as the Bridegroom rejoiceth over the Bride, and the Lord hath changed the Name of Scotland; they call us now no more Forsaken nor Desolate, but our Land is called Help, Zibah and Beulah, Isa. 62.4. for the Lord delighteth in us, and this Land is Married to himself; there is now an highway made through our Zion, and it is called the way of Holiness, the unclean shall not pass over it, the wayfaring Men, though Fools, shall not ere in it; the Wilderness doth rejoice and blossom as the Rose: the ransomed of the Lord are returned back unto Zion, with songs and everlasting Joy upon their Heads, Isa. 35. The Cananite is put out of our Lord's House; there is not a Beast left to do hurt (at least professedly) in all the Holy Mountains of the Lord; our Lord is fallen to wrestle with his Enemies, and hath brought us out of Egypt; we have the strength of an Unicorn, Numb. 23.22. The Lord hath eaten up the Sons of Babel, he hath broken their Bones, and hath pierced them through with his Arrows; we take them Captives whose Captives we were, and we rule over our Oppressors, Isa. 14.2.

It is not Brick, nor Clay, nor Babel's cursed Timber and Stones, that is in our Second Temple; but our Princely King Jesus is building his House all Palace Work and Carved Stones, it is the Habitation of the Lord. We do welcome Ireland and England to our Well Beloved: We invite you, O daughters of Jerusalem, to come down to our Lord's Garden, and seek our Well-beloved with us; for his love will suffice both you and us: we do send you Love Letters over the Sea, to request you to come & to Marry our King, and to take part of our Bed; and we trust our Lord is fetching a blow upon the Beast and the Scarlet colored Whore, to the end he may bring in his ancient Widow Wife, our dear Sitter, the Church of the Jews. O what a Heavenly Heaven were it to see them come in by this mean, and suck the breasts of their little Sister, and renew their old love with their first Husband, Christ our Lord! They are booked in God's Word, as a Bride contracted upon Jesus: O for a sight, in this Flesh of mine, of the Prophesied Marriage between Christ and them! The Kings of Tarshish and the Isles must bring presents to our Lord Jesus. Psal. 72.10. And Britain is one of the Chiefest Isles: Why then but we may believe, that our Kings of this Island shall come in, and bring their Glory to the new Jerusalem, wherein Christ shall dwell, in the latter days? It is our part to pray, that the Kingdoms of the Earth may become Christ's. Now I exhort you in the Lord Jesus, not to be dismayed nor afraid for the two Tails of these smoking firebrands, the fierce anger of the Deputy with Civil Power, and of the Bastard P_____ with the Power of the Beast; for they shall be forced to vomit you out again alive.

If two things were firmly believed, sufferings would have no weight: If the Fellowship of Christ's Sufferings were well known, who would not gladly take part with Jesus? For Christ and we are halvers and joint Owners of one and the same Cross: And therefore he that knew well what sufferings were, as he esteemed all things but loss for Christ, and did Judge them but dung, so did he also Judge of them, that he might know the Fellowship of his sufferings, Phil. 3.10. O how sweet a sight is it, to see a Cross betwixt Christ and us; to hear our Redeemer say, at every sigh and every blow, and every loss of a Believer, half mine! So they are called, The Sufferings of Christ, and the reproach of Christ, col. 2. 24. Heb. 11. 26. As when two are Partners and Owners of a Ship, the half the gain and half of the loss belongeth to either of the two; so Christ in our sufferings is half-gainer and half-loser with us: Yea, the heaviest end of the black Tree of the Cross, lieth on your Lord, it falleth first upon him, and it but reboundeth off him upon you: The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me, Ps. 69.9. Your sufferings are your Treasure, and are greater Riches then the treasure of Egypt, Heb. 11.26.

And if your Cross come first through Christ's fingers, ere it come to you, it receiveth a fair luster from him, it getteth a taste and relish of the King's Spikenard and of Heaven's Perfume; and the half of the gain, when Christ's Shipful of Gold cometh home, shall be yours: It is an augmenting of your Treasure to be rich in sufferings, to be in labors abundant in stripes above measure, 2 Cor. 11. ver. 23. and to have the sufferings of Christ abounding in you, 2 Cor. 1. 5. is a part of Heaven's stock: Your goods are not lost, which they have plucked from you, for your Lord hath them in keeping, they are but Arrested and seized upon, he shall lose the Arrest: Ye shall be fed with the Heritage of Jacob your Father, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it, Isa. 58.14. Till I shall be in the Hall floor of the highest Palace, and get a draught of Glory out of Christ's hand, above and beyond time and beyond Death, I will never, it is like, see fairer days, then I saw under that blessed Tree of my Lord's Cross: his Kisses then were King's Kisses, these Kisses were sweet and Soul-reviving: One of them at the same time was worth two and a half (if I may speak so) of Christ's week-days Kisses.

O sweet, sweet for evermore, to see a Rose of Heaven growing in as ill ground as Hell; and to see Christ's Love, his Embracements, his Dinners and Suppers of Joy, Peace, Faith, Goodness, long Suffering and Patience, growing and springing like the Flowers of God's Garden, our of such stony and cursed ground as the hatred of the P_____ and the malice of their High Commission, and the Antichrist's bloody Hand and Heart! Is not here Art and Wisdom? Is not here Heaven indented in Hell (if I may say so) like a Jewel set with skill in a Ring with the Enamel of Christ's Cross? The Ruby and Riches of Glory, that groweth up out of his Cross, is beyond telling. Now the blackest and hottest Wrath and most fiery and all-devouring Indignation of the Judge of Men and Angels, shall come upon them, that deny our sweet Lord Jesus, and put their hand to that Oath of Wickedness now pressed: The Lord's coal at their Heart shall burn them up both Root and Branch: The Estates of Great Men, that have done so, if they do not Repent, shall consume away, and the Ravens shall dwell in their Houses, and their Glory shall be shame. Oh, for the Lord's sake, keep fast by Christ, and fear not Man that shall die, and wither as the Grass: The Deputies bloom shall fall, and the Prelates shall cast their Flower, and the East wind of the Lord, of the Lord strong and mighty, shall blast and break them: Therefore fear them not, they are but idols, that can neither do evil nor good.

Walk not in the way of those People, that slander the Footsteps of our Royal and Princely anointed King Jesus, now riding upon his white Horse in Scotland: Let Jehovah be your fear. That decree of Zion's deliverance, passed and sealed up before the Throne, is now ripe, and shall bring forth a Child, even the Ruin and Fall of the black Kingdom, and the Antichrist's Throne, in these Kingdoms: The Lord hath begun, and he shall make an end. Who did ever hear the like of this? Before Scotland traveled, she brought forth; and before her pain came, she was delivered of a Man Child, Isa. 66. 7,8. And when all is done, suppose there were no sweetness in our Lord's Cross, yet it is sweet for his sake, for that lovely one, Jesus Christ; whose Crown and royal Supremacy is the Question this day in Great Britain, betwixt us and our Adversaries: And who would not think him worthy of the Suffering for? What is burning quick? What is drinking of our own Hearts-blood? And what is a draught of melt Lead, for his Glory? Less than a draught of cold Water to a thirsty Man, if the right price and due value were put on that worthy, worthy Prince Jesus. Oh, who can weigh him! Ten thousand, thousand Heavens would not be one Scale, or the half of the Scale of the Balance to lay him in. Oh, black Angels, in comparison of him! Oh, dim, and dark and lightless Sun, in regard of that fair Sun of Righteousness! Oh, feckless and worthless Heaven of Heavens, when they stand beside my worthy and lofty, and high, and excellent well-beloved! Oh, weak and infirm clay Kings! Oh, soft and feeble mountains of brass, and weak created strength, in regard of our mighty and strong Lord of Armies! Oh, foolish wisdom of Men and Angels, when it is laid in the Balance beside that spotless substantial Wisdom of the Father! If Heaven and Earth, and ten thousand Heavens, even round about these Heavens that now are, were all in one Garden of Paradise, decked with all the fairest Roses, Flowers, and Trees, that can come forth from the Art of the Almighty himself; yet set but our one Flower, that groweth out of the root of Jesse, beside that Orchard of pleasure, one look of him, one view, one taste, one smell of his Godhead would infinitely exceed, and go beyond the Smell, Color, Beauty and Loveliness of that Paradise.

O to be with Child of his Love, and to be suffocate (if that could be) with the smell of his sweetness, were a sweet fill and lovely pain. Oh, worthy, worthy loveliness! Oh, less of the Creatures and more of thee! Oh, open the passage of the Well of Love and Glory on us, dry Pits and withered Trees! Oh, that Jewel and Flower of Heaven? If our Beloved were not mistaken by us, and unknown to us, he would have no scarcity of wooers and suiters, he would make Heaven and Earth both see, that they cannot quench his Love, for his love is a Sea: Oh, to be a thousand Fathoms deep in this Sea of Love! He, he himself is more excellent than Heaven: For Heaven, as it cometh into the souls and Spirits of the glorified, is but a Creature, and he is something, and a great something more than a Creature. Oh, what a Life were it to sit besides this Well of Love, and drink and sing, and sing and drink, and then to have Desire and Soul faculties stretched and extended out many thousand Fathoms in length and breadth, to take in Seas and Rivers of Love! I earnestly desire to recommend this Love to you, that this Love may cause you to keep his Commandments, and to keep clean Fingers, and make clean feet, that ye may walk as the Redeemed of the Lord. Wo, wo be to them, that put on his Name, and shame this Love of Christ, with a loose and prophane Life: Their Feet, Tongue, and Hands, and Eyes give a shameless Lie to the Holy Gospel, which they profess.

I beseech you in the Lord keep Christ, and walk with him, let not his fairness be spotted and stained by godless living. Oh! Who can find in their heart to sin against Love? And such a Love, as the Glorified in Heaven shall delight to dive into, and drink of for ever; for they are evermore drinking in love, and the Cup is still at their head, and yet without loathing, for they still drink, and still desire to drink for ever and ever, is not this a long lasting Supper? Now if any of our Country People professing Christ Jesus, have brought themselves under the Stroke and Wrath of the Almighty, by yielding to Antichrist in an Hairs-bredth, but especially by swearing and subscribing that blasphemous Oath, (which is the Church of Ireland's black hour of Temptation) I would intreat them, by the Mercies of God, at their last Summons, to repent, and openly confess before the World, to the Glory of the Lord, their denial of Christ: Or otherwise, if either Man or Woman will stand and abide by that Oath, then in the Name and Authority of the Lord Jesus, I let them see, that they forfeit their part of Heaven, and let them look for no less, than a back-burthen of the pure unmixed Wrath of God, and the Plague of Apostates and Deniers of our Lord Jesus. Let not me, a stranger to you, who never saw your face in the Flesh, be thought bold in writing to you; for the Hope I have of a glorious Church in that Land, and the Love of Christ constraineth me. I know, the worthy Servants of Christ, who once labored among you, cease not to write to you also; and I shall desire to be excused that I do join with them. Pray for your sister church in Scotland, and let me entreat you for the aid of your Prayers for myself, and Flock, and Ministry, and my fear of a Transportation from this place of the Lord's Vineyard. Now the very God of Peace sanctify you throughout. Grace be with you all.

Your Brother and Companion in the Kingdom and Patience of Jesus Christ, S.R. Anworth, 1639.

To Mr. Henry Stuart, his Wife, and two Daughters, all Prisoners of Christ at Dublin. Rev. 2.10.

Fear none of these things, which ye shall suffer. Truly Honored and dearly Beloved, Grace, Mercy and Peace be to you, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. Think it not strange, beloved in our Lord Jesus, that Satan can command Keys of Prisons, and Bolts, and Chains; this is a piece of the Devil's Princedom that he hath over the World: Interpret and understand our Lord well in this; be not jealous of his Love, though he make Devils and Men his under Servants to scour the Rust of your Faith, and purge you from your dross. And let me charge you, O Prisoners of Hope, to open your Window, and to look out by Faith; behold Heaven's post, that speedy and swift Salvation of God: that is, coming to you, it is a broad River that Faith will not look over; it is a mighty and a broad Sea, that they of a lively hope cannot behold the farthest Bank and other shore thereof; Look over the Water, your Anchor is fixed within the Vail, the one end of the Cable is about the Prisoner of Christ, and the other is entred within the Vail, whither the Fore-runner is entered for you, Heb. 6. 19,20. It can go straight through the Flames of the Fire of the Wrath of Men, Devils, Losses, Tortures, Death, and not a Thread of it be singed or burnt; Men and Devils have no teeth to bite it in two; hold fast till he come: Your Cross is of the color of Heaven and Christ, and pasmented over with the Faith and Comforts of the Lord's faithful Covenant with Scotland; and that dye and color to abide the foul weather, and neither be stained nor cast the color; yea it reflects a Scad, like the Cross of Christ, whose holy hands many a day lifted up to God, praying for sinners, were fettered and bound, as if these blessed hands had stolen and shed innocent Blood; when your lovely, lovely Jesus had no better than the Thief's doom, it is no wonder, that your process be lawless and turned upside down; for he was taken, fettered, buffetted, whipped, spitted upon, before he was convicted of any fault, or sentenced. Oh, such a pair of Sufferers and Witnesses, as high and royal Jesus, and a poor piece guilty Clay marrowed together under one yoke! Oh, how lovely is the Cross with such a Second!

I believe that your Prison is enacted in God's court, not to keep you till your hope breath out its Life and Last: Your cross is under law to restore you again safe to your Brethren and Sisters in Christ: Take Heaven and Christ's Back-bond far a fair Back-door out of your sufferings.. The Savior is on his journey with Salvation and Deliverance for mount Zion; and the Sword of the Lord is drunk with Blood, and made fat with fatness; his Sword is bathed in Heaven against Babylon, for it is the Day of the Lord's vengeance, and the Year of Recompence for the Controversy of Zion; and persuade yourselves, the Streams of the River of Babylon shall be Pitch, and the Dust of the Land Brimstone and burning Pitch, Isa. 34.8. And if your deliverance be joined with the Deliverance of Zion, it shall be two Salvation's to you: It were good to be armed before-hand for death, or bodily tortures for Christ, and to think what a Crown of Honor it is that God hath given you pieces of living Clay, to be tortured Witnesses for Saving-truth; and that ye are so happy as to have some pints of Blood to give out for the Crown of that royal Lord, who hath caused you to avouch himself before Men: If ye can lend fines of three thousand Pounds Sterling for Christ, let Heaven's Register, and Christ's Count-book keep in reckoning your depursments for him; It shall be engraven and printed in great Letters upon Heaven's Throne, what you are willing to give for him: Christ's Papers of that kind cannot be lost or fall by.

Do not wonder to see Clay boast the great Potter, and to see blinded Men threaten the Gospel with death and burial, and to rase out Truth's name: But where will they make a Grave for the Gospel and the Lord's Bride! Earth and Hell shall be but little bounds for their burial; lay all the Clay and Rubbish of this Inch of the whole Earth above our Lord's spouse, yet it will not cover her, nor hold her down; she shall live and not die, she shall behold the Salvation of God: Let your Faith frist God a little, and be not afraid for a smoaking Fire-brand; there is more smoke in Babylon's Furnace than there is fire; till dooms-day shall come they shall never see the Kirk of Scotland and our covenant burnt to ashes, or if it should be thrown in the Fire, yet it cannot be so burnt or buried, as not to have a Resurrection; angry Clay's Wind shall shake none of Christ's corn; he will gather in all his Wheat into his Barn; only let your fellowship with Christ be renewed; ye are fibber to Christ now, when you are imprisoned for him than before, for not the stroaks laid on you do come in remembrance before our Lord, and he can own his own wounds; a drink of Christ's love, which is better than wine, is the Drink-silver which suffering for his Majesty leaves behind it: It is not your sins which they persecute in you, but God's Grace and Loyalty to King Jesus; they see no Treason in you to your Prince the King of Britain, albeit they say so; but it is Heaven in you that Earth is fighting against, and Christ is owning his own cause; Grace is a party that fire will not burn, nor water drown; when they have eaten and dranken you, their Stomach shall be sick, and they shall spew you out alive. O what Glory is it to be suffering Objects, for the Lord's Glory and Royalty!

Nay, though his Servants had a Body to burn for ever, for this Gospel, so being that triumphing and exalted Jesus, his high Glory did rise out of these Flames, and out of that burning Body. Oh, what a sweet Fire! Oh, what Soul refreshing thing Torment should that be! What is the Pickles of Dust and Ashes of the burnt and dissolved Body, were Musicians to sing his Praises and the Highness of that never enough exalted Prince of Ages? O what Love is it in him, that he will have such Musicians as we are, to tune that Psalm of his Everlasting Praises in Heaven! Oh, what shining and burning Flames of Love are those, that Christ will divide his share of Life, of Heaven and Glory with you. Luke 22.29. John 17.24. Rev. 3.21. A part of his Throne, one draught of his Wine (his Wind of Glory and Life, that comes from under the Throne of God, and of the Lamb) and one Apple of the Tree of Life, will do more than make up all the expenses and charges of Clay, lent out for Heaven. Oh! Oh, but we have short, and narrow, and creeping Thoughts of Jesus, and do but shape Christ in our Conceptions, according to some created Portraiture! O Angels, lend in your help to make Love Books and Songs of our fair, and white, and ruddy Standard bearer amongst ten thousand! O Heavens! O Heaven of Heavens, O glorified. Tenants, and triumphing Sonnets of the Excellency of our Bridegroom, and help us to set him on high! O Indwellers of Earth and Heaven, Sea and air, and O all ye created Beings, within the bosom of the outmost circle of this great World, O come help to see on high the Praises of our Lord! O Fairness of Creatures, blush before his uncreated Beauty! O created Strength, be amazed to stand before your strong Lord of Hosts! O created Love, think shame of thyself before this unparallel Love of Heaven! O Angel of Wisdom, hide thyself before our Lord, whose Understanding passeth finding out! O sin in thy shining Beauty, for shame put on a web of Darkness, and cover thyself before thy brightest Master and Maker! Oh, who can add Glory by doing or suffering, to this never-enough admired and praised Lover! Oh, we can but bring our drop to this Sea, and our Candle, dim and dark, as it is, to this clear and lightsome Sun of Heaven and Earth! Oh, but we have cause to drink ten Deaths in one Cup dry, to swim through ten Seas, to be at that Land of Praises, where we shall see that Wonder of Wonders, and enjoy this Jewel of Heavens Jewels! O Death do thy utmost against us! O Torments! O Malice of Men and Devils, waste thy Strength on the Witnesses of our Lord's Testament! O Devils, bring Hell to help you in tormenting the Followers of the Lamb! We will defy you to make us too soon happy, and to waste us too soon over the Water, to the Land where the noble Plant, the Plant of Renown, groweth. O cruel Time, that torments us, and suspends our dearest Enjoyments, that we wait for, when we shall be bathed and steeped Soul and Body, down in the Depths of this Love of Loves! O Time, I say, run fast! O Motions, mend your Pace! Well-beloved, be like a young Roe upon the Mountains of Separations! Post, post, and hasten our desired and hungered for Meeting, Love is sick to hear tell of tomorrow: And what then can come wrong to you, O honorable Witnesses of his Kingly Truth?

Men have no more of you to work upon, but some few inches and span-lengths of sick, coughing and flegmatick Clay: Your Spirits are above their Benches, Courts, or High-Commission; your souls, your Love to Christ, your Faith cannot be summoned nor sentenced, nor accused, nor condemned by Pope, Deputy, Prelate, Ruler or Tyrant; your Faith is a free Lord, and cannot be a Captive: All the Malice of Hell and Earth, can but hurt the Scabbard of a Believer, and Death at the worst can get but a Clay pawn in keeping till your Lord make the King's Keys, and open your Graves. Therefore upon Lucks-head, (as we use to say) take your fill of his Love, and let a Post, Way or Catusey be laid, betwixt your Prison and Heaven, and go up and visit your Treasure. Enjoy your beloved, and dwell upon his Love, till Eternity come in Time's room, and possess you of your Eternal Happiness. Keep your Love to Christ, Lay up your Faith in Heavens keeping, and follow the Chief of the House of the Martyrs, that witnessed a fair Confession before Pontius Pilate, your Cause and his is all one. The Opposers of his Cause are like drunken Judges and transported, who in their Cups would make Acts and Laws in their drunken Courts, that the Sun should not rise and shine on the Earth, and send thief Officers and Purservants, to charge the Sun and Moon to give no more light to the World; and would enact in their Court-Books, that the Sea after once ebbing should never flow again; But would not the sun, and Moon, and Sea break these Acts, and keep their Creators Directions? The Devil, the great Fool, and Father of these Under-fools, is older and more malicious than wise, that set the Spirits in Earth on work, to contend and clash with Heavens Wisdom, and to give Mandates and Law summons to our son, to our great Star of Heaven, Jesus, not to shine, in the Beauty of his Gospel, to the chose and bought ones. O thou fair and fairest Sun of Righteousness, arise and Shine in thy Strength, whether Earth or Hell will or not. O Victorious, O Royal, O Stout Princely Soul-Conqueror, ride prosperously upon Truth, stretch out thy Scepter, as far as the Sun shines, and the Moon waxeth and waineth: Put on thy glittering Crown, O thou Maker of Kings, and make but one stride, or one step of the whole Earth, and travel in the greatness of they Strength, Isa. 63. 1,2.

And let thy apparel be red, and all dyed with the blood of thy enemies: Thou art fallen righteous Heir by line the Kingdoms of the World. Laugh ye at the giddy-headed Claypots, and stout brain-sick Worlds, that dare say in good earnest, This man shall not reign over us: As though they were casting the Dies for Christ's Crown, who of them shall have it. I know , ye believe the coming of Christ's Kingdom, and that there is a hole out of your Prison, through which ye see daylight: Let not Faith be dazed with the Temptations from a dying Deputy, and from a sick Prelate; believe under a Cloud, and wait for him, when there is no Moon light nor Star light: Let Faith live and breathe, and lay hold on the sure Salvation of God, when Clouds and Darkness are about you, and Appearance of rotting in the Prison before you: take heed of unbelieving Hearts, which can father Lies upon Christ: beware of, Doeth his promise fail for evermore? Psal. 77.8. For it was a Man and not God that said it, who dreamed that a Promise of God could fail, fall a swoon or die: We can make God sick or his Promises weak, when we are pleased to seek a Plea with Christ. O Sweet! O stout word of Faith, Job 13. V.15. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. O sweet Epitaph, written upon the Gravestone of a dying Believer? To wit, I died hoping, and my dust and ashes believe life. Faith's Eyes, that can see through a Millstone, can see through a Gloom of god, and under it read God's Thoughts of Love and Peace.

Hold fast Christ in the dark, surely ye shall see the Salvation of God. Your Adversaries are ripe and dry for the Fire, yet a little while, and they shall go up in a Flame; the Breath of the Lord, like a River of Brimstone, shall kindle about them, Isa. 30.33. What I write to one, I write to you all, that are sound hearted in that Kingdom, whom in the Bowels of Christ, I would exhort, not to touch that Oath, albeit the adversaries put a fair meaning on it, yet the Swearer must swear according to the professed Intent and Godless Practice of the Oath-makers, which is known to the World; otherwise I might swear, that the Creed is false, according to this private meaning and fence put upon it. Oh let them not be beguiled, to wash Perjury and the Denial of Christ and the Gospel with Ink-water, some foul and rotten Distinctions. Wash and wash again and again the Devil and the Lye, it shall be long ere their Skin be white. I profess, it should beseem Men of great Parts, rather than me, to write to you; but I for the help of your Prayers, in this my weighty Charge here, for the University and Pulpit, and that ye would intreat your Acquaintance also to help me. Grace be with you all. Amen. St. Andrews, 1640.

Your Brother and Companion in the Patience and Kingdom of Jesus Christ.