XI.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_GOD'S INEXPLICABLE DEALINGS WITH HIS PEOPLE WELL ORDERED--WANT
OF ORDINANCES--CONFORMITY TO CHRIST--TROUBLES OF THE
CHURCH--DEATH OF MR. RUTHERFORD'S WIFE._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be multiplied upon you. I received
your Ladyship's letter, in the which I perceive your case in this
world smelleth of a fellowship and communion with the Son of God in
His sufferings. Ye cannot, ye must not, have a more pleasant or more
easy condition here, than He had, who "through afflictions was made
perfect" (Heb. ii. 10). We may indeed think, Cannot God bring us to
heaven with ease and prosperity? Who doubteth but He can? But His
infinite wisdom thinketh and decreeth the contrary; and we cannot see
a reason of it, yet He hath a most just reason. We never with our eyes
saw our own soul; yet we have a soul. We see many rivers, but we know
not their first spring and original fountain; yet they have a
beginning. Madam, when ye are come to the other side of the water, and
have set down your foot on the shore of glorious eternity, and look
back again to the waters and to your wearisome journey, and shall see,
in that clear glass of endless glory, nearer to the bottom of God's
wisdom, ye shall then be forced to say, "If God had done otherwise
with me than He hath done, I had never come to the enjoying of this
crown of glory." It is your part now to believe, and suffer, and hope,
and wait on; for I protest, in the presence of that all-discerning
eye, who knoweth what I write and what I think, that I would not want
the sweet experience of the consolations of God for all the bitterness
of affliction. Nay, whether God come to His children with a rod or a
crown, if He come Himself with it, it is well. Welcome, welcome,
Jesus, what way soever Thou come, if we can get a sight of Thee! And
sure I am, it is better to be sick, providing Christ come to the
bedside and draw by the curtains, and say, "Courage, I am Thy
salvation," than to enjoy health, being lusty and strong, and never to
be visited of God.
Worthy and dear lady, in the strength of Christ, fight and overcome.
Ye are now yourself alone, but ye may have, for the seeking, three
always in your company, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I trust they
are near you. Ye are now deprived of the comfort of a lively
ministry; so was Israel in their captivity; yet hear God's promise to
them: "Therefore say, Thus saith the Lord God, although I have cast
them far off among the heathen, and although I have scattered them
among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in
the countries where they shall come" (Ezek. xi. 16). Behold a
sanctuary! for a sanctuary, God Himself in the place and room of the
temple of Jerusalem! I trust in God, that carrying this temple about
with you, ye shall see Jehovah's beauty in His house.
We are in great fears of a great and fearful trial to come upon the
kirk of God; for these, who would build their houses and nests upon
the ashes of mourning Jerusalem, have drawn our King upon hard and
dangerous conclusions against such as are termed Puritans, for the
rooting of them out. Our prelates (the Lord take the keys of His house
from these bastard porters!) assure us that, for such as will not
conform, there is nothing but imprisonment and deprivation.[98] The
spouse of Jesus will ever be in the fire; but I trust in my God she
shall not consume, because of the good-will of Him who dwelleth in the
Bush; for He dwelleth in it with good-will. All sorts of crying sins
without controlment abound in our land. The glory of the Lord is
departing from Israel, and the Lord is looking back over His shoulder,
to see if any one will say, "Lord, tarry," and no man requesteth Him
to stay. Corrupt and false doctrine is openly preached by the
idol-shepherds of the land. For myself, I have daily griefs, through
the disobedience unto, and contempt of, the word of God. I was
summoned before the High Commission by a profligate person in this
parish, convicted of incest. In the business, Mr. Alexander
Colvill[99] (for respect to your Ladyship) was my great friend, and
wrote a most kind letter to me. The Lord give him mercy in that day.
Upon the day of my compearance, the sea and winds refused to give
passage to the Bishop of St. Andrews.[100] I entreat your Ladyship,
thank Mr. Alexander Colvill with two lines of a letter.
[98] The prelates, when the Courts of High Commission were erected in
1610, were invested with the powers of imprisoning and depriving
Nonconformists.
[99] One of the judges.
[100] Archbishop Spottiswoode.
My wife now, after long disease and torment, for the space of a year
and a month, is departed this life. The Lord hath done it; blessed be
His name. I have been diseased of a fever tertian for the space of
thirteen weeks, and am yet in the sickness, so that I preach but once
on the Sabbath with great difficulty. I am not able either to visit
or examine the congregation. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Your Ladyship's at all obedience,