XIX.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_ENCOURAGEMENT TO ABOUND IN FAITH FROM THE PROSPECT OF
GLORY--CHRIST'S UNCHANGEABLENESS._)
MADAM,--Having saluted you in the Lord Jesus, I thought it my duty,
having the occasion of this bearer, to write again unto your ladyship,
though I have no new purpose but what I wrote of before. Yet ye cannot
be too often awakened to go forward towards your city, since your way
is long, and (for anything ye know) your day is short. And your Lord
requireth of you, as ye advance in years and steal forward insensibly
towards eternity, that your faith may grow and ripen for the Lord's
harvest. For the great Husbandman giveth a season to His fruits that
they may come to maturity, and having gotten their fill of the tree
they may then be shaken and gathered in for use; whereas the wicked
rot upon the tree, and their branch shall not be green. "He shall
shake off his unripe grape as the vine, and shall cast off his flower
as the olive" (Job xv. 33). It is God's mercy to you, Madam, that He
giveth you your fill, even to loathing, of this bitter world, that ye
may willingly leave it, and, like a full and satisfied banqueter,[112]
long for the drawing of the table. And at last, having trampled under
your feet all the rotten pleasures that are under sun and moon, and
having rejoiced as though ye rejoiced not, and having bought as though
ye possessed not (1 Cor. vii. 30), ye may, like an old crazy ship,
arrive at our Lord's harbour, and be made welcome, as one of those who
have ever had one foot loose from the earth, longing for that place
where your soul shall feast and banquet for ever and ever upon a
glorious sight of the incomprehensible Trinity, and where ye shall see
the fair face of the man Christ, even the beautiful face that was once
for your cause more marred than any of the visages of the sons of men
(Isa. lii. 14), and was all covered with spitting and blood. Be
content to wade through the waters betwixt you and glory with Him,
holding His hand fast, for He knoweth all the fords. Howbeit ye may be
ducked, but ye cannot drown, being in His company; and ye may all the
way to glory see the way bedewed with His blood who is the Forerunner.
Be not afraid, therefore, when ye come even to the black and swelling
river of death, to put in your foot and wade after Him. The current,
how strong soever, cannot carry you down the water to hell: the Son of
God, His death and resurrection, are stepping-stones and a stay to
you; set down your feet by faith upon these stones, and go through as
on dry land. If ye knew what He is preparing for you, ye would be too
glad. He will not (it may be) give you a full draught till you come up
to the well-head and drink, yea, drink abundantly, of the pure river
of the water of life, that proceedeth out from the throne of God and
of the Lamb (Rev. xxii. 1). Madam, tire not, weary not; I dare find
you the Son of God caution, when ye are got up thither, and have cast
your eyes to view the golden city, and the fair and never-withering
Tree of Life, that beareth twelve manner of fruits every month, ye
shall then say, "Four-and-twenty hours' abode in this place is worth
threescore and ten years' sorrow upon earth." If ye can but say, that
ye long earnestly to be carried up thither (and I hope you cannot for
shame deny Him the honour of having wrought that desire in your soul),
then hath your Lord given you an earnest. And, Madam, do ye believe
that our Lord will lose His earnest, and rue of the bargain, and
change His mind, as if He were a man that can lie, or the son of man
that can repent? Nay, He is unchangeable, and the same this year that
He was the former year. And His Son Jesus, who upon earth ate and
drank with publicans and sinners, and spake and conferred with whores
and harlots, and put up His holy hand and touched the leper's filthy
skin, and came evermore nigh sinners, even now in glory, is yet that
same Lord. His honour, and His great court in heaven, hath not made
Him forget His poor friends on earth. In Him honours change not
manners, and He doth yet desire your company. Take Him for the old
Christ, and claim still kindness to Him, and say, "O it is so; He is
not changed, but I am changed." Nay, it is a part of His unchangeable
love, and an article of the new covenant, to keep you that ye cannot
dispone Him, nor sell Him. He hath not played fast and loose with us
in the covenant of grace, so that we may run from Him at our pleasure.
His love hath made the bargain surer than so; for Jesus, as the
cautioner, is bound for us (Heb. vii. 22). And it cannot stand with
His honour to die in the borrows (as we use to say), and lose thee,
whom He must render again to the Father when He shall give up the
kingdom to Him. Consent and say "Amen" to the promises, and ye have
sealed that God is true, and Christ is yours. This is an easy market.
Ye but look on with faith; for Christ suffered all, and paid all.
[112] Allusion to Horace, _Sat._ i. 1, 19. One of the few allusions to
the classics that occur in Rutherford.
Madam, fearing I be tedious to your Ladyship, I must stop here,
desiring always to hear that your Ladyship is well, and that ye have
still your face up the mountain. Pray for us, Madam, and for Zion,
whereof ye are a part. We expect a trial. God's wheat in this land
must go through Satan's sieve, but their faith shall not fail. I am
still wrestling in our Lord's work, and have been tried and tempted
with brethren who look awry to the Gospel. Now He that is able to keep
you unto that day preserve your soul, body, and spirit, and present
you before His face with His own Bride, spotless and blameless.
Your Ladyship's, to be commanded always in the Lord Jesus,