ANWOTH, _Nov. 17, 1629_.
[92] Mr. J. Maxwell here mentioned was at this time a minister in
Edinburgh, and afterwards became Bishop of Ross,--a man of talent, but
devoid of principle, whose aim was to secure the favour of the
notorious Laud, by forwarding his designs for forcing Episcopacy upon
the Scottish people. The letter above referred to was from the King,
urging the adoption of the English service.
VII.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_THE EARNEST OF THE SPIRIT--COMMUNION WITH CHRIST--FAITH IN THE
PROMISES._)
MADAM,--I have longed exceedingly to hear of your life and health, and
growth in the grace of God. I lacked the opportunity of a bearer, in
respect I did not understand of the hasty departure of the last, by
whom I might have saluted your Ladyship, and therefore I could not
write before this time. I entreat you, Madam, let me have two lines
from you concerning your present condition. I know ye are in grief and
heaviness; and if it were not so, ye might be afraid, because then
your way should not be so like the way that (our Lord saith) leadeth
to the New Jerusalem. Sure I am, if ye knew what were before you, or
if ye saw but some glances of it, ye would with gladness swim through
the present floods of sorrow, spreading forth your arms out of desire
to be at land. If God have given you the Earnest of the Spirit, as
part of payment of God's principal sum, ye have to rejoice; for our
Lord will not lose His earnest, neither will He go back or repent Him
of the bargain. If ye find at some time a longing to see God, joy in
the assurance of that sight, howbeit that feast be but like the
Passover, that cometh about only once a year. Peace of conscience,
liberty of prayer, the doors of God's treasure cast up to the soul,
and a clear sight of Himself looking out, and saying, with a smiling
countenance, "_Welcome to Me, afflicted soul_;" this is the earnest
that He giveth sometimes, and which maketh glad the heart, and is an
evidence that the bargain will hold. But to the end ye may get this
earnest, it were good to come oft into terms of speech with God, both
in prayer and hearing of the word. For this is the house of wine,
where ye meet with your Well-Beloved. Here it is where He kisseth you
with the kisses of His mouth, and where ye feel the smell of His
garments; and they have indeed a most fragrant and glorious smell. Ye
must, I say, wait upon Him, and be often communing with Him, whose
lips are as lilies, dropping sweet-smelling myrrh, and by the moving
thereof He will assuage your grief; for the Christ that saveth you is
a speaking Christ; the church knoweth Him by His voice (Song ii. 8),
and can discern His tongue amongst a thousand. I say this to the end
ye should not love those dumb masks of antichristian ceremonies, that
the church[93] where ye are for a time hath cast over the Christ whom
your soul loveth. This is to set before you a dumb Christ. But when
our Lord cometh, He speaketh to the heart in the simplicity of the
Gospel.
[93] Episcopal.
I have neither tongue nor pen to express to you the happiness of such
as are in Christ. When ye have sold all that ye have, and bought the
field wherein this pearl is, ye will think it no bad market; for if ye
be in Him, all His is yours, and ye are in Him; therefore, "because He
liveth, ye shall live also" (John xiv. 19). And what is that else, but
as if the Son had said, "I will not have heaven except My redeemed
ones be with Me: they and I cannot live asunder. Abide in Me, and I in
you." O sweet communion, when Christ and we are through-other,[94] and
are no longer two! "Father, I will that those whom Thou hast given Me
be with Me where I am, to behold My glory that Thou hast given Me"
(John xvii. 24). Amen, dear Jesus, let it be according to that word. I
wonder that ever your heart should be cast down, if ye believe this
truth. I and they are not worthy of Jesus Christ, who will not suffer
forty years' trouble for Him, since they have such glorious promises.
But we fools believe those promises as the man that read Plato's
writings concerning the immortality of the soul: so long as the book
was in his hand he believed all was true, and that the soul could not
die; but so soon as he laid by the book, he began to imagine that the
soul is but a smoke or airy vapour, that perisheth with the expiring
of the breath. So we at starts do assent to the sweet and precious
promises; but, laying aside God's book, we begin to call all in
question. It is faith indeed to believe without a pledge, and to hold
the heart constant at this work; and when we doubt, to run to the Law
and to the Testimony, and stay there. Madam, hold you here: here is
your Father's testament,--read it; in it He hath left to you
remission of sins and life everlasting. If all that ye have here be
crosses and troubles, down-castings, frequent desertions, and
departure of the Lord, who is suiting you in marriage, courage! He who
is wooer and suitor should not be an household man with you till ye
and He come up to His Father's house together. He purposeth to do you
good at your latter end (Deut. viii. 16), and to give you rest from
the days of adversity (Ps. xciv. 13). "It is good to bear the yoke of
God in your youth" (Lam. iii. 27). "Turn in to your stronghold as a
prisoner of hope" (Zech. ix. 12). "For the vision is for an appointed
time; but at the end it shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry,
wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry" (Hab. ii.
3). Hear Himself saying, "Come, My people" (rejoice, He calleth on
you!), "enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee;
hide thyself, as it were for a little moment, till the indignation be
past" (Isa. xxvi. 20). Believe, then, believe and be saved; think not
hard if ye get not your will, nor your delights in this life; God will
have you to rejoice in nothing but Himself. God forbid that ye should
rejoice in anything but in the cross of Christ (Gal. vi. 14).
[94] Mixed up with each other.
Our church, Madam, is decaying,--she is like Ephraim's cake (Hos. vii.
9); "and grey hairs are here and there upon her, and she knoweth it
not." She is old and grey-haired, near the grave, and no man taketh it
to heart. Her wine is sour and is corrupted. Now if Phinehas's wife
did live she might travail in birth and die, to see the ark of God
taken, and the glory depart from our Israel. The power and life of
religion is away. "Woe be to us! for the day goeth away, for the
shadows of the evening are stretched out" (Jer. vi. 4). Madam, Zion is
the ship wherein ye are carried to Canaan; if she suffer shipwreck, ye
will be cast overboard upon death and life, to swim to land upon
broken boards. It were time for us, by prayer, to put upon our
master-pilot, Jesus, and to cry, "Master, save us; we perish." Grace,
grace be with you. We would think it a blessing to our kirk to see you
here; but our sins withhold good things from us. The great Messenger
of the Covenant preserve you in body and spirit.
Yours in the Lord,