ANWOTH, _June 2, 1631_.
[106] Carleton, in Galloway (see note at Letter CLVII.), not far from
Anwoth, where Mr. Fullerton, a true friend, resided.
XVI.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT, _on occasion of a proposal to remove him
from Anwoth_.
(_BABYLON'S DESTRUCTION AND CHRIST'S COMING--THE YOUNG INVITED._)
WORTHY AND DEAR MISTRESS,--My dearest love in Christ remembered. As to
the business which I know you would so fain have taken effect, my
earnest desire is, that you stand still. Haste not, and you shall see
the salvation of God. The great Master Gardener, the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, in a wonderful providence, with His own hand (I
dare, if it were for edification, swear it), planted me here,[107]
where, by His grace, in this part of His vineyard, I grow.--I dare not
say but Satan and the world (one of his pages whom he sends on his
errands) have said otherwise. And here I will abide till the great
Master of the Vineyard think fit to transplant me. But when He sees
meet to loose me at the root, and to plant me where I may be more
useful, both as to fruit and shadow, and when He who planted pulleth
up that He may transplant, who dare put to their hand and hinder? If
they do, God shall break their arm at the shoulder blade, and do His
turn. When our Lord is going west, the devil and world go east; and do
you not know that it hath been ever this way betwixt God and the
world--God drawing, and they holding, God "yea," and the world "nay"?
But they fall on their back and are frustrate, and our Lord holdeth
His grip.
[107] At Anwoth.
Wherefore doth the word say, that our Christ, the Goodman of this
house, His dear kirk, hath feet like fine brass, as if they burned in
a furnace (Rev. i. 15)? For no other cause but because where our Lord
setteth down His brazen feet, He will forward; and whithersoever He
looketh, He will follow His look; and His feet burn all under them,
like as fire doth stubble and thorns. I think He hath now given the
world a proof of His exceeding great power, when He is doing such
great things, wherein Zion is concerned, by the sword of the Swedish
king,[108] as of a Gideon. As you love the glory of God, pray
instantly (yea engage all your praying acquaintance, and take their
faithful promise to do the like) for this king, and every one that
Zion's King armeth, to execute the written vengeance on Babylon. Our
Lord hath begun to loose some of Babylon's corner stones. Pray to Him
to hold on, for that city must fall, and the birds of the air and the
beasts of the earth must make a banquet of Babylon; for He hath
invited them to eat the flesh of that whore, and to drink her blood.
And the cup of the Lord's right hand shall be turned unto her, and
shameful spewing shall be upon her glory. He whose word must stand
hath said, "Take this cup at the hand of the Lord, and drink and be
drunken, and spew, and fall, and rise no more" (Jer. xxv. 27). Our
Jesus is setting up Himself, as His Father's ensign (Isa. xi. 10), as
God's fair white colours, that His soldiers may all flock about Him.
Long, long may these colours stand. It is long since He displayed a
banner against Babylon in the fight of men and angels. Let us rejoice
and triumph in our God. The victory is certain; for when Christ and
Babel wrestle, then angels and saints may prepare themselves to sing,
"Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen." Howbeit that Prince of
renown, precious Jesus, be now weeping and bleeding in His members,
yet Christ will laugh again; and it is time enough for us to laugh,
when our Lord Christ laugheth,--and that will be shortly. For when we
hear of wars and rumours of wars, the Judge's feet are then before the
door, and He must be in heaven giving order to the angels to make
themselves ready, and prepare their hooks and sickles for that great
harvest. Christ will be upon us in haste; watch but a little, and ere
long the skies will rive, and that fair lovely person, Jesus, shall
come in the clouds, freighted and loaded with glory. And then all
these knaves and foxes that destroyed the vines shall call to the
hills, and cry to the mountains to cover them, and hide them from the
face of Him who sitteth upon the throne, and from the wrath of the
Lamb.
[108] Gustavus Adolphus.
Remember me to your husband, and desire him from me to help Christ,
and to take His part, and in judgment sit ever beside Him, and receive
a blow patiently for His sake; for He is worthy to be suffered for,
not only to blows, but also to blood. He shall find that innocency and
uprightness in judgment shall hold its feet and make him happy, when
jouking will not do it. I speak this because a person said to me, "I
pray God the country be not in worse case now when the provost and
bailies are agreed, than formerly,"--to whom I replied, "I trust the
provost is agreed with the man's person, but not with his faults." I
pray for you, with my whole soul and desire, that your children may
walk in the truth, and that the Lord may shine upon them, and make
their faces to shine, when the faces of others shall blush. I dare
promise them, in His name, whose truth I preach, if they will but try
God's service, that they shall find Him the sweetest Master that ever
they served. And desire them from me but to try for a while the
service of this blessed Master, and then, if His service be not sweet,
if it afford not what is pleasant to the soul's taste, change Him upon
trial, and seek a better. Christ is an unknown Christ to the young
ones; and therefore they seek Him not, because they know Him not. Bid
them come and see, and seek a kiss of His mouth; and then they will
find His mouth is so sweet, that they will be everlastingly chained
unto Him by their own consent. If I have any credit with your
children, I entreat them in Christ's name to try what truth and
reality is in what I say, and leave not His service till they have
found me a liar. I give you, your husband, and them, to His keeping to
whom I have,[109] and dare venture myself and soul, even to our dear
Friend Jesus Christ, in whom I am,
Yours,