Chapter X: Letter CXVII (2)

[152] The prelates; alluding to 1 Pet. v. 3.

[153] _Exercitat. Apol. pro Divinâ Gratiâ_, published this year (1636)
at Amsterdam.

[154] Calling them "Lords."

[155] Brother to Lady Kenmure, and afterwards the celebrated Marquis
of Argyle. See Letter LXI. also.

LXI.--_To the truly Noble and Elect Lady, my LADY VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE, on the evening of his banishment to Aberdeen._

(_HIS ONLY REGRETS--THE CROSS UNSPEAKABLY SWEET--RETROSPECT OF HIS MINISTRY._)

NOBLE AND ELECT LADY,--That honour that I have prayed for these sixteen years, with submission to my Lord's will, my kind Lord hath now bestowed upon me, even to suffer for my royal and princely King Jesus, and for His kingly crown, and the freedom of His kingdom that His Father hath given Him. The forbidden lords have sentenced me with deprivation, and confinement within the town of Aberdeen. I am charged in the King's name to enter against the 20th day of August next, and there to remain during the King's pleasure, as they have given it out. Howbeit Christ's green cross, newly laid upon me, be somewhat heavy, while I call to mind the many fair days sweet and comfortable to my soul and to the souls of many others, and how young ones in Christ are plucked from the breast, and the inheritance of God laid waste; yet that sweet smelled and perfumed cross of Christ is accompanied with sweet refreshments, with the kisses of a King, with the joy of the Holy Ghost, with faith that the Lord hears the sighing of a prisoner, with undoubted hope (as sure as my Lord liveth) after this night to see daylight, and Christ's sky to clear up again upon me, and His poor kirk; and that in a strange land, among strange faces, He will give favour in the eyes of men to His poor oppressed servant, who dow not but love that lovely One, that princely One, Jesus, the Comforter of his soul. All would be well, if I were free of old challenges for guiltiness, and for neglect in my calling, and for speaking too little for my Well-beloved's crown, honour, and kingdom. O for a day in the assembly of the saints to advocate for King Jesus! If my Lord also go on now to quarrels I die, I cannot endure it. But I look for peace from Him, because He knoweth I dow bear men's feud, but I dow not bear His feud. This is my only exercise, that I fear I have done little good in my ministry; but I dare not but say, I loved the bairns of the wedding-chamber, and prayed for and desired the thriving of the marriage, and coming of His kingdom.

I apprehend no less than a judgment upon Galloway, and that the Lord shall visit this whole nation for the quarrel of the Covenant. But what can be laid upon me, or any the like of me, is too light for Christ. Christ dow bear more, and would bear death and burning quick, in His quick servants, even for this honourable cause that I now suffer for. Yet for all my complaints (and He knoweth that I dare not now dissemble), He was never sweeter and kinder than He is now. One kiss now is sweeter than ten long since; sweet, sweet is His cross; light, light and easy is His yoke. O what a sweet step were it up to my Father's house through ten deaths, for the truth and cause of that unknown, and so not half well loved, Plant of Renown, the Man called the Branch, the Chief among ten thousands, the fairest among the sons of men! O what unseen joys, how many hidden heart-burnings of love, are in the "remnants of the sufferings of Christ!" (Col. i. 24.) My dear worthy Lady, I give it to your Ladyship, under my own hand, my heart writing as well as my hand,--welcome, welcome, sweet, sweet and glorious cross of Christ; welcome, sweet Jesus, with Thy light cross. Thou hast now gained and gotten all my love from me; keep what Thou hast gotten! Only woe, woe is me, for my bereft flock, for the lambs of Jesus, that I fear shall be fed with dry breasts. But I spare now. Madam, I dare not promise to see your Ladyship, because of the little time I have allotted me; and I purpose to obey the King, who hath power of my body; and rebellion to kings is unbeseeming Christ's ministers. Be pleased to acquaint my Lady Mar[156] with my case. I will look that your Ladyship and that good lady will be mindful to God of the Lord's prisoner, not for my cause, but for the Gospel's sake. Madam, bind me more, if more can be, to your Ladyship, and write thanks to your brother, my Lord of Lorn, for what he hath done for me, a poor unknown stranger to his Lordship. I shall pray for him and his house, while I live. It is his honour to open his mouth in the streets, for his wronged and oppressed Master Christ Jesus. Now, Madam, commending your Ladyship and the sweet child to the tender mercies of mine own Lord Jesus, and His good-will who dwelt in the Bush,

I am yours in his own sweetest Lord Jesus,

S. R.

EDINBURGH, _July 28, 1636_.

[156] See Letter CXL.

LXII.--_To the LADY CULROSS, on occasion of his banishment to Aberdeen._

[ELIZABETH MELVILLE, wife of James Colvill, the eldest son of
Alexander, Commendator of Culross, was the daughter of Sir James
Melville of Halhill, in Fife. Her father was ambassador from
Queen Mary to Queen Elizabeth, and a privy councillor to King
James VI. He was also a man of piety, who (says Livingstone),
"professed he had got assurance from the Lord, that himself,
wife, and all his children, should meet in heaven." Lady Culross
held a high place among the eminent Christians of her day.
Livingstone says: "She was famous for her piety, and for her
dream concerning her spiritual condition, which she put in verse,
which was published by others. Of all that ever I saw, she was
most unwearied in religious exercises; and the more she enjoyed
access to God therein she hungered the more." She was present at
the famous Communion at Shotts in June 1636, when the sermon
preached by Livingstone, on the Monday after, was the means, it
is believed, of the conversion of not less than five hundred
individuals. The night before had been spent in prayer by a great
number of Christians in a large room of the inn where she slept;
and the minister who should have preached on Monday having fallen
sick, it was at her suggestion that the other ministers assisting
on that occasion, to whom Livingstone was a stranger, laid upon
him the work of addressing the people. There is a poem written by
her, entitled "Ane Godlie Dream;" and there is still preserved a
sonnet of her composition, which she sent to Mr. John Welsh when
he was imprisoned in Blackness, 1605:--

"My dear brother, with courage bear the cross,
Joy shall be joined with all thy sorrow here.
High is thy hope, disdain this earthly dross,
Once shall you see the wished day appear.

"Now it is dark, thy sky cannot be clear;
After the clouds it shall be calm anon;
Wait on His will whose blood hath bought thee dear:
Extol His name, though outward joys be gone.

"Look to the Lord, thou art not left alone,
Since He is thine, what pleasure canst thou take!
He is at hand, and hears thy every groan:
End out thy fight, and suffer for His sake.

"A sight most bright thy soul shall shortly see,
When store of glore thy rich reward shall be."

--_Wodrow_ MSS. Adv. Lib. Edin. vol. xxix.]

(_CHALLENGES OF CONSCIENCE--THE CROSS NO BURDEN._)

MADAM,--Your letter came in due time to me, now a prisoner of Christ, and in bonds for the Gospel. I am sentenced with deprivation and confinement within the town of Aberdeen. But O my guiltiness, the follies of my youth, the neglects in my calling, and especially in not speaking more for the kingdom, crown, and sceptre of my royal and princely King Jesus, do so stare me in the face, that I apprehend anger in that which is a crown of rejoicing to the dear saints of God. This, before my compearance, which was three several days, did trouble me, and burdeneth me more now; howbeit Christ, and in Him God reconciled, met me with open arms, and trysted me precisely at the entry of the door of the Chancellor's hall, and assisted me so to answer, as that the advantage is not theirs but Christ's. Alas! that is no cause of wondering that I am thus borne down with challenges; for the world hath mistaken me, and no man knoweth what guiltiness is in me so well as these two, who keep my eyes now waking and my heart heavy, I mean (1) my heart and conscience, and (2) my Lord, who is greater than my heart.

Shew your brother that I desire him, while he is on the watch-tower, to plead with his mother, and to plead with this land, and spare not to cry for my sweet Lord Jesus His fair crown, that the interdicted and forbidden lords are plucking off His royal head. If I were free of challenges, and a High Commission within my soul, I would not give a straw to go to my Father's house through ten deaths, for the truth and cause of my lovely, lovely One, Jesus. But I walk in heaviness now. If ye love me, and Christ in me, my dear Lady, pray, pray for this only, that bygones betwixt my Lord and me may be bygones, and that He would pass from the summons of His High Commission, and seek nothing from me, but what He will do for me and work in me. If your ladyship knew me as I do myself, ye would say, "Poor soul, no marvel." It is not my apprehension that createth this cross to me; it is too real, and hath sad and certain grounds. But I will not believe that God will take this advantage of me, when my back is at the wall. He who forbiddeth to add affliction to affliction, will He do it Himself? Why should He pursue a dry leaf and stubble? Desire Him to spare me now. Also the memory of the fair feast-days, that Christ and I had in His banqueting-house of wine, and of the scattered flock once committed to me, and now taken off my hand by Himself, because I was not so faithful in the end as I was in the two first years of my entry, when sleep departed from my eyes, because my soul was taken up with a care for Christ's lambs,--even these add sorrow to my sorrow. Now my Lord hath only given me this to say, and I write it under mine own hand (be ye the Lord's servant's witness), welcome, welcome, sweet, sweet cross of Christ; welcome, fair, fair, lovely, royal King with Thine own cross. Let us all three go to heaven together. Neither care I much to go from the south of Scotland to the north, and to be Christ's prisoner amongst unco faces, in a place of this kingdom, which I have little reason to be in love with. I know Christ shall make Aberdeen my garden of delights. I am fully persuaded that Scotland shall eat Ezekiel's book, that is written within and without, "lamentation, and mourning, and woe" (Ezek. ii. 10). But the saints shall get a drink of the well that goeth through the streets of the New Jerusalem, to put it down. Thus hoping that ye will think upon the poor prisoner of Christ, I pray, grace, grace be with you.

Your Ladyship's in his sweet Lord Jesus,

S. R.

EDINBURGH, _July 30, 1636_.

LXIII.--_To MR. ROBERT CUNNINGHAM, Minister of the Gospel at Holywood, in Ireland._

[MR. ROBERT CUNNINGHAM was for some time employed as chaplain to
the Earl of Buccleuch's regiment in Holland. On the return of the
troops to Scotland, he removed to the north of Ireland, where he
was admitted minister of Holywood in 1615. "He was the one man to
my discerning," says Livingstone, "of all that ever I saw, who
resembled most the meekness of Jesus Christ in his whole
carriage, and was so far reverenced by all, even the most wicked,
that he was oft troubled with that Scripture, 'Woe to you when
all men speak well of you.'" He continued to labour in his
charge, and in the surrounding district, with great success,
until the Presbyterian ministers began to be molested for their
nonconformity. Owing to the singular gentleness of Cunningham's
disposition, he was for some time less subjected to trouble than
his brethren; but at length, on the 12th of August 1636, he and
four other ministers (among whom was Mr. Hamilton mentioned in
the close of this letter) were formally deposed for refusing to
subscribe certain canons, one of which was kneeling at the Lord's
Supper. Not long after, he, with some of his deposed brethren,
came over to Scotland; but he did not long survive his arrival.
He died at Irvine, on the 29th of March 1637, scarcely eight
months after this letter was written. A little before he expired,
his wife sitting on the front of his bed with her hand clasped in
his, after committing to God his flock at Holywood, his friends
and his children, he added, "And last of all, I recommend to Thee
this gentlewoman, who is no more my wife." His affectionate wife
bursting into tears, he sought by comfortable words to allay her
grief; but in the act of so doing, fell asleep in Jesus.]

(_CONSOLATION TO A BROTHER IN TRIBULATION--HIS OWN DEPRIVATION OF MINISTRY--CHRIST WORTH SUFFERING FOR._)

WELL-BELOVED AND REVEREND BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. Upon acquaintance in Christ, I thought good to take the opportunity of writing to you. Seeing it hath seemed good to the Lord of the harvest to take the hooks out of our hands for a time, and to lay upon us a more honourable service, even to suffer for His name, it were good to comfort one another in writing. I have had a desire to see you in the face; yet now being the prisoner of Christ, it is taken away. I am greatly comforted to hear of your soldier's stately[157] spirit, for your princely and royal Captain Jesus our Lord, and for the grace of God in the rest of our dear brethren with you.

[157] See Glossary.

You have heard of my trouble, I suppose. It hath pleased our sweet Lord Jesus to let loose the malice of these interdicted lords in His house to deprive me of my ministry at Anwoth, and to confine me, eight score miles from thence, to Aberdeen; and also (which was not done to any before) to inhibit me to speak at all in Jesus' name, within this kingdom, under the pain of rebellion. The cause that ripened their hatred was my book against the Arminians, whereof they accused me, on those three days I appeared before them. But, let our crowned King in Zion reign! By His grace the loss is theirs, the advantage is Christ's and truth's. Albeit this honest cross gained some ground on me, and my heaviness and my inward challenges of conscience for a time were sharp, yet now, for the encouragement of you all, I dare say it, and write it under my hand, "Welcome, welcome, sweet, sweet cross of Christ." I verily think the chains of my Lord Jesus are all overlaid with pure gold, and that His cross is perfumed, and that it smelleth of Christ, and that the victory shall be by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of His truth, and that Christ, lying on His back, in His weak servants, and oppressed truth, shall ride over His enemies' bellies, and shall "strike through kings in the day of His wrath" (Psa. cx. 4). It is time we laugh when He laugheth; and seeing He is now pleased to sit[158] with wrongs for a time, it becometh us to be silent until the Lord hath let the enemies enjoy their hungry, lean, and feckless paradise. Blessed are they who are content to take strokes with weeping Christ. Faith will trust the Lord, and is not hasty, nor headstrong; neither is faith so timorous as to flatter a temptation, or to bud and bribe the cross. It is little up or little down[159] that the Lamb and His followers can get no law-surety, nor truce with crosses; it must be so, till we be up in our Father's house. My heart is woe indeed for my mother Church, that hath played the harlot with many lovers. Her Husband hath a mind to sell her for her horrible transgressions; and heavy will the hand of the Lord be upon this backsliding nation. The ways of our Zion mourn; her gold has become dim, her white Nazarites are black like a coal. How shall not the children weep, when the Husband and the mother cannot agree! Yet I believe Scotland's sky shall clear again; that Christ shall build again the old waste places of Jacob; that our dead and dry bones shall become one army of living men, and that our Well-beloved may yet feed among the lilies, until the day break and the shadows flee away (Song iv. 5, 6). My dear brother, let us help one another with our prayers. Our King shall mow down His enemies, and shall come from Bozrah with His garments all dyed in blood. And for our consolation shall He appear, and call His wife Hephzibah, and His land Beulah (Isa. lxii. 4); for He will rejoice over us and marry us, and Scotland shall say, "What have I to do any more with idols?" Only let us be faithful to Him that can ride through hell and death upon a windlestrae, and His horse never stumble; and let Him make of me a bridge over a water, so that His high and holy name may be glorified in me. Strokes with the sweet Mediator's hand are very sweet. He was always sweet to my soul; but since I suffered for Him, His breath hath a sweeter smell than before. Oh that every hair of my head, and every member and every bone in my body, were a man to witness a fair confession for Him! I would think all too little for Him. When I look over beyond the line, and beyond death, to the laughing side of the world, I triumph, and ride upon the high places of Jacob; howbeit otherwise I am a faint, dead-hearted, cowardly man, oft borne down, and hungry in waiting for the marriage supper of the Lamb. Nevertheless, I think it the Lord's wise love that feeds us with hunger, and makes us fat with wants and desertions.

[158] Endure.

[159] Of little moment.

I know not, my dear brother, if our worthy brethren be gone to sea or not. They are on my heart and in my prayers. If they be yet with you, salute my dear friend, John Stuart, my well-beloved brethren in the Lord, Mr. Blair, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Livingston, and Mr. M'Clelland,[160] and acquaint them with my troubles, and entreat them to pray for the poor afflicted prisoner of Christ. They are dear to my soul. I seek your prayers and theirs for my flock: their remembrance breaketh my heart. I desire to love that people, and others my dear acquaintance in Christ, with love in God, and as God loveth them. I know that He who sent me to the west and south, sends me also to the north. I will charge my soul to believe and to wait for Him, and will follow His providence, and not go before it, nor stay behind it. Now, my dear brother, taking farewell in paper, I commend you all to the word of His grace, and to the work of His Spirit, to Him who holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, that you may be kept spotless till the day of Jesus our Lord.

I am your brother in affliction in our sweet Lord Jesus,

S. R.

From IRVINE, being on my journey to Christ's
Palace in Aberdeen, _August 4, 1636_.

[160] Correspondents who, because of the oppressive measures of the
prelates, intended to proceed to New England. There was a M'Lelland
of Balmagachan, near Roberton, in the parish of Borgue; but this is
not he. This was John M'Lelland, sometime minister of Kirkcudbright,
a friend of R. Blair's.

LXIV.--_To ALEXANDER GORDON of Earlston._

(_HIS FEELINGS UPON LEAVING ANWOTH._)

MUCH HONOURED SIR,--I find small hopes of Q.'s business.[161] I intend, after the council-day, to go on to Aberdeen. The Lord is with me: I care not what man can do. I burden no man, and I want nothing. No king is better provided than I am. Sweet, sweet, and easy is the cross of my Lord. All men I look in the face (of whatsoever denomination, nobles and poor, acquaintance and strangers) are friendly to me. My Well-beloved is some kinder and more warmly than ordinary, and cometh and visiteth my soul. My chains are overgilded with gold. Only the remembrance of my fair days with Christ in Anwoth, and of my dear flock (whose case is my heart's sorrow), is vinegar to my sugared wine. Yet both sweet and sour feed my soul. No pen, no words, no ingine can express to you the loveliness of my only, only Lord Jesus. Thus, in haste, making for my palace at Aberdeen, I bless you, your wife, your eldest son, and other children. Grace, grace be with you.

[161] Probably "Queensberry."

Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,

S. R.

EDINBURGH, _Sept. 5, 1636_.

LXV.--_To ROBERT GORDON of Knockbreck, on his way to Aberdeen._

[ROBERT GORDON of Knockbrex, in the parish of Borgue, which
adjoins Anwoth, is, by Livingstone in his "Characteristics,"
described as "a single-hearted and painful Christian, much
employed at parliaments and public meetings after the year 1638."
He was a member of the famous Assembly which met at Glasgow in
1638, as commissioner from the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright. The
precise date of his death is uncertain; but we find, in 1657,
John Gordon in Garloch, five miles from Dalry, is retoured "heir
of Robert Gordon of Knockbreck, his granduncle, in the lands of
Knockbreck." (_Inq. Retor. Abbrev. Kirkcudbright_, No. 274.) This
John Gordon, and Robert, his brother, were executed together at
Edinburgh on the 7th of December 1666, for having been engaged in
the rising at Pentland. (See Letter CCXVII.) They inherited, and
suffered for, the principles of Robert Gordon of Knockbreck,
their granduncle, to whom this letter was written.

_Knockbrex_ stands near the sea-shore, amid thick woods, looking
down on the opening of _Wigtown Bay_. But a modern mansion has
taken the place of Gordon's residence.]

* * * * *

(_HOW UPHELD ON THE WAY._)

MY DEAREST BROTHER,--I see Christ thinketh shame (if I may speak so) to be in such a poor man's common as mine. I burden no man; I want nothing; no face hath gloomed upon me since I left you. God's sun and fair weather conveyeth me to my time-paradise in Aberdeen. Christ hath so handsomely fitted for my shoulders this rough tree of the cross, as that it hurteth me no ways. My treasure is up in Christ's coffers; my comforts are greater than ye can believe; my pen shall lie for penury of words to write of them. God knoweth I am filled with the joy of the Holy Ghost. Only my memory of you, my dearest in the Lord, my flock and others, keepeth me under, and from being exalted above measure. Christ's sweet sauce hath this sour mixed with it; but O such a sweet and pleasant taste! I find small hopes of Q.'s matter. Thus in haste. Remember me to your wife, and to William Gordon. Grace be with you,

Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,

S. R.

EDINBURGH, _Sept. 5, 1636_.

LXVI.--_To ROBERT GORDON of Knockbreck, after arriving at Aberdeen._

(_CHALLENGES OF CONSCIENCE--EASE IN ZION._)

DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I am, by God's mercy, come now to Aberdeen, the place of my confinement, and settled in an honest man's house. I find the town's-men cold, general, and dry in their kindness; yet I find a lodging in the heart of many strangers. My challenges are revived again, and I find old sores bleeding of new; dangerous and painful is an under-cotted conscience; yet I have an eye to the blood that is physic for such sores. But, verily, I see Christianity is conceived to be more easy and lighter than it is; so that I sometimes think I never knew anything but the letters of that name; for our nature contenteth itself with little in godliness. Our "Lord, Lord," seemeth to us ten "Lord-Lords." Little holiness in our balance is much, because it is our own holiness; and we love to lay small burdens upon our soft natures, and to make a fair court-way to heaven. And I know it were necessary to take more pains than we do, and not to make heaven a city more easily taken than God hath made it. I persuade myself that many runners shall come short, and get a disappointment. Oh! how easy is it to deceive ourselves, and to sleep, and wish that heaven may fall down in our laps! Yet for all my Lord's glooms, I find Him sweet, gracious, loving, kind; and I want both pen and words to set forth the fairness, beauty, and sweetness of Christ's love, and the honour of this cross of Christ, which is glorious to me, though the world thinketh shame thereof. I verily think that the cross of Christ would blush and think shame of these thin-skinned worldings, who are so married to their credit that they are ashamed of the sufferings of Christ. O the honour to be scourged and stoned with Christ, and to go through a furious-faced death to life eternal! But men would have law-borrows against Christ's cross.

Now, my dear brother, forget not the prisoner of Christ, for I see very few here who kindly fear God. Grace be with you. Let my love in Christ and hearty affection be remembered to your kind wife, to your brother John, and to all friends. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.

Yours in his only, only Lord Jesus,

S. R.

ABERDEEN, _Sept. 20, 1636_.

LXVII.-_For WILLIAM FULLARTON, Provost of Kirkcudbright._

[WILLIAM FULLARTON, as has been formerly noticed, was the husband
of Marion M'Naught. His religious principles were the same with
those of his excellent wife, and he was a man of virtue,
integrity, and piety. He proved himself the patron of the
oppressed in the case of Mr. Robert Glendinning, the aged
minister of Kirkcudbright; to which case there is evident
allusion in this letter. Mr. Glendinning having refused to
conform to Prelacy, and to receive, as his assistant and
successor, a man whom Bishop Sydserff intruded upon him and the
people of Kirkcudbright, the bishop suspended him from his
office, and sentenced him to be imprisoned. Provost Fullarton,
and the other magistrates of the burgh (one of whom was Mr.
William Glendinning, son of the minister), indignant at such
tyrannical proceedings, refused to incarcerate their own pastor,
then nearly eighty years of age, and were determined, with the
great body of the inhabitants of the town, to attend upon his
ministry. Sydserff, too proud and violent to allow his authority
to be thus despised, caused Bailie Glendinning to be imprisoned
in Kirkcudbright, and the other magistrates to be confined within
the town of Wigtown, while he sentenced the aged minister to
remain within the bounds of his parish, and forbade him to
exercise any part of his ministerial functions. But he found it
impossible, by all the means he could employ, to reduce these
refractory magistrates to obedience. The firmness which Fullarton
manifested on this occasion is warmly commended by Rutherford.]

* * * * *

(_ENCOURAGEMENT TO SUFFER FOR CHRIST._)

MUCH HONOURED AND VERY DEAR FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I am in good case, blessed be the Lord, remaining here in this unco town a prisoner for Christ and His truth. And I am not ashamed of His cross. My soul is comforted with the consolations of His sweet presence, for whom I suffer.

I earnestly entreat you to give your honour and authority to Christ, and for Christ; and be not dismayed for flesh and blood, while you are for the Lord, and for His truth and cause. And howbeit we see truth put to the worse for the time, yet Christ will be a friend to truth, and will do for those who dare hazard all that they have for Him and for His glory. Sir, our fair day is coming, and the court will change, and wicked men will weep after noon, and sorer than the sons of God, who weep in the morning. Let us believe and hope for God's salvation.

Sir, I hope I need not write to you for your kindness and love to my brother,[162] who is now to be distressed for the truth of God as well as I am. I think myself obliged to pray for you, and your worthy and kind bed-fellow and children, for your love to him and me also. I hope your pains for us in Christ shall not be lost. Thus recommending you to the tender mercy and loving-kindness of God, I rest,

Your very loving and affectionate brother,

S. R.

ABERDEEN, _Sept. 21, 1636_.

[162] His brother was a teacher in Kirkcudbright, and between him and
Samuel there was a warm attachment, and strong sympathies. He, too,
suffered persecution for his adherence to the cause of Presbytery. For
this, and his zealous support of Mr. Glendinning, whom the Bishop of
Galloway treated with such cruelty, he was in November 1636 condemned
to resign his charge, and remove from Kirkcudbright before the ensuing
term of Whitsunday.

LXVIII.--_To JOHN FLEMING, Bailiffe (Bailie) of Leith_.

[Of Mr. Fleming nothing can be ascertained, unless it is he who
is mentioned by Livingston as being a merchant in Edinburgh, a
man of note among the godly.]

(_THE SWEETNESS AND FAITHFULNESS OF CHRIST'S LOVE._)

MY VERY WORTHY FRIEND,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received your letter. I bless the Lord through Jesus Christ, I find His word good, "I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction" (Isa. xlviii. 10). "I will be with him in trouble" (Ps. xci. 15). I never expected other at Christ's hand but much good and comfort; and I am not disappointed. I find my Lord's cross overgilded and oiled with comforts. My Lord hath now shown me the white side of His cross. I would not exchange my weeping in prison with the Fourteen Prelates'[163] laughter, amidst their hungry and lean joys. This world knoweth not the sweetness of Christ's love; it is a mystery to them.

[163] Referring probably to the number of prelates (consisting of two
archbishops and twelve bishops) who were members of the High
Commission by whom he was sentenced to imprisonment.

At my first coming here, I found great heaviness, especially because it had pleased the prelates to add this gentle cruelty to my former sufferings (for it is gentle to them), to inhibit the ministers of the town to give me the liberty of a pulpit. I said, What aileth Christ at my service? But I was a fool; He hath chid Himself friends with me. If ye and others of God's children shall praise His great name, who maketh worthless men witnesses for Him, my silence and sufferings shall preach more than my tongue could do. If His glory be seen in me, I am satisfied; for I want for no kindness from Christ. And, sir, I dare not smother His liberality. I write it to you, that ye may praise, and desire your brother and others to join with me in this work.

This land shall be made desolate. Our iniquities are full; the Lord saith, we shall drink, and spue, and fall. Remember my love to your good kind wife. Grace be with you.

Yours in his sweet Lord Jesus,

S. R.

ABERDEEN, _Nov. 13, 1636_.

LXIX.--_To the Noble and Christian Lady the_ VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.

(_HIS ENJOYMENT OF CHRIST IN ABERDEEN--A SIGHT OF CHRIST EXCEEDS
ALL REPORTS--SOME ASHAMED OF HIM AND HIS._)

MY VERY HONOURABLE AND DEAR LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I cannot forget your Ladyship, and that sweet child. I desire to hear what the Lord is doing to you and him. To write to me were charity. I cannot but write to my friends, that Christ hath trysted me in Aberdeen; and my adversaries have sent me here to be feasted with love banquets with my royal, high, high, and princely King Jesus. Madam, why should I smother Christ's honesty? I dare not conceal His goodness to my soul; He looked fremed and unco-like upon me when I came first here; but I believe Himself better than His looks. I shall not again quarrel Christ for a gloom, now He hath taken the mask off His face, and saith, "Kiss thy fill;" and what can I have more when I get great heaven in my little arms? Oh, how sweet are the sufferings of Christ for Christ! God forgive them that raise an ill report upon the sweet cross of Christ. It is but our weak and dim eyes, and our looking only to the black side that makes us mistake. Those who can take that crabbed tree handsomely upon their back, and fasten it on cannily, shall find it such a burden as wings unto a bird, or sails to a ship. Madam, rue not of your having chosen the better part. Upon my salvation, this is Christ's truth I now suffer for. If I found but cold comfort in my sufferings, I would not beguile others; I would have told you plainly. But the truth is, Christ's crown, His sceptre, and the freedom of His kingdom, is that which is now called in question; because we will not allow that Christ should pay tribute and be a vassal to the shields of the earth, therefore the sons of our mother are angry at us. But it becometh not Christ to hold any man's stirrup. It were a sweet and honourable death to die for the honour of that royal and princely King Jesus. His love is a mystery to the world. I would not have believed that there was so much in Christ as there is. "Come and see" maketh Christ to be known in His excellency and glory. I wish all this nation knew how sweet His breath is. It is little to see Christ in a book, as men do the world in a card. They talk of Christ by the book and the tongue, and no more; but to come nigh Christ, and hause Him, and embrace Him, is another thing. Madam, I write to your honour, for your encouragement in that honourable profession Christ hath honoured you with. Ye have gotten the sunny side of the brae, and the best of Christ's good things. He hath not given you the bastard's portion; and howbeit ye get strokes and sour looks from your Lord, yet believe His love more than your own feeling, for this world can take nothing from you that is truly yours, and death can do you no wrong. Your rock doth not ebb and flow, but your sea. That which Christ hath said, He will bide by it. He will be your tutor. You shall not get you charters of heaven to play you with. It is good that ye have lost your credit with Christ, and that Lord Free-will shall not be your tutor. Christ will lippen the taking you to heaven, neither to yourself, nor any deputy, but only to Himself. Blessed be your tutor. When your Head shall appear, your Bridegroom and Lord, your day shall then dawn, and it shall never have an afternoon, nor an evening shadow. Let your child be Christ's; let him stay beside you as thy Lord's pledge that you shall willingly render again, if God will.

Madam, I find folks here kind to me; but in the night, and under their breath. My Master's cause may not come to the crown of the causeway. Others are kind according to their fashion. Many think me a strange man, and my cause not good; but I care not much for man's thoughts or approbation. I think no shame of the cross. The preachers of the town pretend great love, but the prelates have added to the rest this gentle cruelty (for so they think of it), to discharge me of the pulpits of this town. The people murmur and cry out against it; and to speak truly (howbeit Christ is most indulgent to me otherwise), my silence on the Lord's day keeps me from being exalted above measure, and from startling in the heat of my Lord's love. Some people affect me, for the which cause, I hear the preachers here purpose to have my confinement changed to another place; so cold is northern love; but Christ and I will bear it. I have wrestled long with this sad silence. I said, what aileth Christ at my service? and my soul hath been at a pleading with Christ, and at yea and nay. But I will yield to Him, providing my suffering may preach more than my tongue did; for I give not Christ an inch but for twice as good again. In a word, I am a fool, and He is God. I will hold my peace hereafter.

Let me hear from your Ladyship, and your dear child. Pray for the prisoner of Christ, who is mindful of your Ladyship. Remember my obliged obedience to my good Lady Marr. Grace, grace be with you. I write and pray blessings to your sweet child.

Yours in all dutiful obedience in his only Lord Jesus,

S. R.

ABERDEEN, _Nov. 22, 1636_.

LXX.--_To the Right Honourable and Christian Lady, my_ LADY VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.

(_EXERCISE UNDER RESTRAINT FROM PREACHING--THE DEVIL--CHRIST'S LOVING KINDNESS--PROGRESS._)

MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received your Ladyship's letter. It refreshed me in my heaviness. The blessing and prayer of a prisoner of Christ come upon you. Since my coming hither, Galloway sent me not a line, except what my brother, Earlston, and his son, did write. I cannot get my papers transported; but, Madam, I want not kindness of one who hath the gate of it. Christ (if He had never done more for me since I was born) hath engaged my heart, and gained my blessing in this house of my pilgrimage. It pleaseth my Well-beloved to dine with a poor prisoner, and the King's spikenard casteth a fragrant smell. Nothing grieveth me, but that I eat my feasts my lone, and that I cannot edify His saints. O that this nation knew what is betwixt Him and me; none would scar at the cross of Christ! My silence eats me up, but He hath told me He thanketh me no less, than if I were preaching daily. He sees how gladly I would be at it; and therefore my wages are going to the fore, up in heaven, as if I were still preaching Christ. Captains pay duly bedfast soldiers, howbeit they do[164] nor march, nor carry armour. "Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength" (Isa. xlix. 5). My garland, "the banished minister" (the term of Aberdeen), ashameth me not. I have seen the white side of Christ's cross; how lovely hath He been to His oppressed servant! "The Lord executeth judgment for the oppressed, He giveth food to the hungry: the Lord looseth the prisoner; the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord preserveth the stranger" (Ps. cxlvi. 7, 9). If it were come to exchanging of crosses, I would not exchange my cross with any. I am well pleased with Christ, and He with me; I hope none shall hear us.[165] It is true for all this, I get my meat with many strokes, and am seven times a-day up and down, and am often anxious and cast down for the case of my oppressed brother; yet I hope the Lord will be surety for His servant. But now upon some weak, very weak experience, I am come to love a rumbling and raging devil best. Seeing we must have a devil to hold the saints waking, I wish a cumbersome devil, rather than a secure and sleeping one.[166] At my first coming hither, I took the dorts at Christ, and took up a stomach against Him; I said, He had cast me over the dike of the vineyard, like a dry tree. But it was His mercy, I see, that the fire did not burn the dry tree; and now, as if my Lord Jesus had done that fault, and not I (who belied my Lord), He hath made the first mends, and He spake not one word against me, but hath come again and quickened my soul with His presence. Nay, now I think the very annuity and casualties of the cross of Christ Jesus my Lord, and these comforts that accompany it, better than the world's set-rent. O how many rich off-fallings are in my King's house! I am persuaded, and dare pawn my salvation on it, that it is Christ's truth I now suffer for. I know His comforts are no dreams; He would not put His seal on blank paper, nor deceive His afflicted ones that trust in Him.

[164] Some editions read "dow,"--are not able.

[165] In Thomson's edition this is explained by referring to Proverbs
xiv. 10.

[166] "Trial of Faith," p. 462, 1655, uses the same words.

Your Ladyship wrote to me that ye are yet an ill scholar. Madam, ye must go in at heaven's gates, and your book in your hand, still learning. You have had your own large share of troubles, and a double portion; but it saith your Father counteth you not a bastard; full-begotten bairns are nurtured (Heb. xii. 8). I long to hear of the child. I write the blessings of Christ's prisoner and the mercies of God to him. Let him be Christ's and yours betwixt you, but let Christ be whole play-maker. Let Him be the leader; and you the borrower, not an owner.

Madam, it is not long since I did write to your Ladyship that Christ is keeping mercy for you; and I bide by it still, and now write it under my hand. Love Him dearly. Win in to see Him; there is in Him that which you never saw. He is aye nigh; He is a tree of life, green and blossoming, both summer and winter. There is a nick in Christianity, to the which whosoever cometh, they see and feel more than others can do. I invite you of new to come to Him. "Come and see," will speak better things of Him than I can do. "Come nearer" will say much. God never thought this world a portion worthy of you. He would not even you to a gift of dirt and clay; nay, He will not give you Esau's portion, but reserves the inheritance of Jacob for you. Are ye not well married now? Have you not a good husband now?

My heart cannot express what sad nights I have had for the virgin daughter of my people. Woe is me, for my time is coming. "Behold, the day, behold, the day is come; the morning hath gone forth, the rod hath blossomed, pride hath budded, violence is risen up in a rod of wickedness, the sun is gone down upon our prophets." A dry wind upon Scotland, but neither to fan nor to cleanse; but out of all question, when the Lord hath cut down the forest, the aftergrowth of Lebanon shall flourish; they shall plant vines in our mountains, and a cloud shall yet fill the temple. Now the blessing of our dearest Lord Jesus, and the blessing of him that is "separate from his brethren," come upon you.

Yours, at Aberdeen, the prisoner of Christ,

S. R.

ABERDEEN.

LXXI.--_To_ MR. HUGH M'KAIL.

[MR. HUGH M'KAIL was at this time minister of Irvine. Previous to
his settlement in that parish, Rutherford was very desirous of
seeing him settled assistant and successor to Mr. Robert
Glendinning, the aged minister of Kirkcudbright; the people too
had an eye to him, but were disappointed, having been anticipated
by the parish of which he was now pastor. He and Mr. William
Cockburn were appointed by the General Assembly of 1644 to visit
the north of Ireland for three months, with the view of promoting
the interests of the Presbyterian Church in that country. He was
ultimately translated to Edinburgh. In the unhappy controversy
between the Resolutioners and Protesters, M'Kail took the side of
the former; but was among the more moderate of the party. Baillie
often refers to him in his letters. He died in the beginning of
the year 1660, and was buried in the Greyfriars' churchyard,
Edinburgh. (Lamont's "Diary," p. 121.) He was the brother of Mr.
Matthew M'Kail of Bothwell, who was the father of the youthful
Hugh M'Kail, and young Hugh, who nobly suffered in 1666, was
educated in Edinburgh, under the superintendence of this uncle.]

(_CHRIST TO BE TRUSTED AMID TRIAL._)

REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--I thank you for your letter. I cannot but show you, that as I never expected anything from Christ, but much good and kindness, so He hath made me to find it in the house of my pilgrimage. And believe me, brother, I give it to you under mine own hand-writ, that whoso looketh to the white side of Christ's cross, and can take it up handsomely with faith and courage, shall find it such a burden as sails are to a ship, or wings to a bird. I find that my Lord hath overgilded that black tree, and hath perfumed it, and oiled it with joy and consolation. Like a fool, once I would chide and plead with Christ, and slander Him to others, of unkindness.[167] But I trust in God, not to call His glooms unkind again; for He hath taken from me my sackcloth; and I verily cannot tell you what a poor Joseph and prisoner (with whom my mother's children were angry) doth now think of kind Christ. I will chide no more, providing He will quit me all by-gones; for I am poor. I am taught in this ill weather to go on the lee-side of Christ, and to put Him in between me and the storm; and (I thank God) I walk on the sunny side of the brae. I write it that ye may speak in my behalf the praises of my Lord to others, that my bonds may preach. O if all Scotland knew the feasts, and love-blinks, and visits that the prelates have sent unto me! I will verily give my Lord Jesus a free discharge of all that I, like a fool, laid to His charge, and beg Him pardon, to the mends. God grant that in my temptations I come not on His wrong side again, and never again fall a raving against my Physician in my fever.

[167] At one time I would have falsely charged Him with unkindness.

Brother, plead with your mother while ye have time. A pulpit would be a high feast to me; but I dare not say one word against Him who hath done it. I am not out of the house as yet. My sweet Master saith, I shall have house-room at His own elbow; albeit their synagogue will need force to cast me out. A letter were a work of charity to me. Grace be with you. Pray for me.

Your brother and Christ's prisoner,

S. R.

ABERDEEN, _Nov. 22, 1636_.

LXXII.--_To WILLIAM GORDON of Roberton_.

[WILLIAM GORDON of Roberton, in the parish of Borgue in Galloway,
close to Knockbrex, was the father of William Gordon of Roberton,
who joined with the Covenanters in the rising at Pentland in
1666, and was killed, "to the great loss of the country where he
lived," says Wodrow, "and his own family, his aged father having
no more sons." Mary, a daughter of this venerable old man, to
whom this letter is addressed, suffered much for nonconformity at
the hands of Claverhouse and his friends. She was married to John
Gordon of Largmore (which is in Kells, near Kenmure Castle), who,
in the battle at Pentland, was severely wounded, and, returning
to his own house, died in the course of a few days. The old man
did not long survive the death of his son and son-in-law; for, on
the 8th of September 1668, Mary Gordon is retoured heir of
William Gordon of Roberton, her father. In Kells churchyard, near
the gate, there is a short epitaph: "Here lyes the corpse of
Roger Gordon of Largmore, who dyed March 2, 1662, aged 72 years;
and of John Gordon of Largmore his grandchild, who dyed January
6, 1667, of his wounds got at Pentland in defence of the
Covenanted Reformation."]

(_HOW TRIALS ARE MISIMPROVED--THE INFINITE VALUE of CHRIST--DESPISED WARNINGS._)

DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. So often as I think on our case, in our soldier's night-watch, and of our fighting life in the fields, while we are here, I am forced to say, prisoners in a dungeon, condemned by a judge to want the light of the sun, and moon, and candle, till their dying day, are no more, nay, not so much, to be pitied as we are. For they are weary of their life, they hate their prison; but we fall to, in our prison, where we see little, to drink ourselves drunk with the night-pleasures of our weak dreams; and we long for no better life than this. But at the blast of the last trumpet, and the shout of the archangel, when God shall take down the shepherd's tent of this fading world, we shall not have so much as a drink of water, of all the dreams that we now build on. Alas! that the sharp and bitter blasts on face and sides, which meet us in this life, have not learned us mortification, and made us dead to this world! We buy our own sorrow, and we pay dear for it, when we spend out our love, our joy, our desires, our confidence, upon an handful of snow and ice, that time will melt away to nothing, and go thirsty out of the drunken inn when all is done. Alas! that we inquire not for the clear fountain, but are so foolish as to drink foul, muddy, and rotten waters, even till our bed-time. And then in the Resurrection, when we shall be awakened, our yesternight's sour drink and swinish dregs shall rift up upon us; and sick, sick, shall many a soul be then.