ANWOTH, _Jan. 4, 1632_.
XXI.--_To my_ LADY KENMURE.
(_SELF-DENIAL--HOPE OF CHRIST'S COMING--LOVING GOD FOR HIMSELF._)
MADAM,--Understanding (a little after the writing of my last letter)
of the going of this bearer, I would not omit the opportunity of
remembering your Ladyship, still harping upon that string, which in
our whole lifetime is never too often touched upon (nor is our lesson
well enough learned), that there is a necessity of advancing in the
way to the kingdom of God, of the contempt of the world, of denying
ourself and bearing of our Lord's cross, which is no less needful for
us than daily food. And among many marks that we are on this journey,
and under sail toward heaven, this is one, when the love of God so
filleth our hearts, that we forget to love, and care not much for the
having, or wanting of, other things; as one extreme heat burneth out
another. By this, Madam, ye know, ye have betrothed your soul in
marriage to Christ, when ye do make but small reckoning of all other
suitors or wooers; and when ye can (having little in hand, but much in
hope) live as a young heir, during the time of his non-age and
minority, being content to be as hardly handled and under as precise a
reckoning as servants, because his hope is upon the inheritance. For
this cause God's bairns take well with spoiling of their goods,
knowing in themselves that they have in heaven a better and an
enduring substance (Heb. x. 34). That day that the earth and the works
therein shall be burned with fire (2 Pet. iii. 10), your hidden hope
and your life shall appear. And therefore, since ye have not now many
years to your endless eternity, and know not how soon the sky above
your head will rive, and the Son of man will be seen in the clouds of
heaven, what better and wiser course can ye take, than to think that
your one foot is here, and your other foot in the life to come, and to
leave off loving, desiring, or grieving for the wants that shall be
made up when your Lord and ye shall meet, and when ye shall give in
your bill, that day, of all your wants here? If your losses be not
made up, ye have place to challenge the Almighty; but it shall not be
so. Ye shall then rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and
your joy shall none take from you (1 Pet. i. 8; John xvi. 22). It is
enough, that the Lord hath promised you great things, only let the
time of bestowing them be in His own carving. It is not for us to set
an hour-glass to the Creator of time. Since He and we differ only in
the term of payment; since He hath promised payment, and we believe
it, it is no great matter. We will put that in His own will, as the
frank buyer, who cometh near to what the seller seeketh, useth at last
to refer the difference to his own will, and so cutteth off the course
of mutual prigging. Madam, do not prigg with your frank-hearted and
gracious Lord about the time of the fulfilling of your joys. It will
be; God hath said it; bide His harvest, wait upon His whitsunday.[113]
His day is better than your day; He putteth not the hook in the corn
till it be ripe and full-eared. The great Angel of the covenant bear
you company, till the trumpet shall sound, and the voice of the
Archangel awaken the dead. Ye shall find it your only happiness, under
whatever thing disturbeth and crosseth the peace of your mind, in this
life, to love nothing for itself, but only God for Himself. It is the
crooked love of some harlots, that they love bracelets, ear-rings, and
rings better than the lover that sendeth them. God will not so be
loved; for that were to behave as harlots, and not as the chaste
spouse, to abate from our love when these things are pulled away. Our
love to Him should begin on earth, as it shall be in heaven; for the
bride taketh not, by a thousand degrees, so much delight in her
wedding garment as she doth in her bridegroom; so we, in the life to
come, howbeit clothed with glory as with a robe, shall not be so much
affected with the glory that goeth about us, as with the bridegroom's
joyful race and presence. Madam, if ye can win to this here, the field
is won; and your mind, for anything ye want, or for anything your Lord
can take from you, shall soon be calmed and quieted. Get Himself as a
pawn, and keep Him, till your dear Lord come, and loose the pawn, and
rue upon you, and give you all again that He took from you, even a
thousand talents for one penny. It is not ill to lend God willingly,
who otherwise both will and may take from you against your will. It
is good to play the usurer with Him, and take in, instead of ten of
the hundred, an hundred of ten, often an hundred of one.
[113] His term-day.
Madam, fearing to be tedious to you, I break off here, commending you
(as I trust to do while I live), your person, ways, burdens, and all
that concerneth you, to that Almighty who is able to bear you and your
burdens. I still remember you to Him, who will cause you one day to
laugh. I expect that, whatever ye can do, by word or deed, for the
Lord's friendless Zion, ye will do it. She is your mother; forget her
not; for the Lord intendeth to melt and try this land, and it is high
time we were all upon our feet, and falling about to try what claim we
have to Christ. It is like the bridegroom will be taken from us, and
then we shall mourn. Dear Jesus, remove not, else take us with Thee.
Grace, grace be with you for ever.
Your Ladyship's, at all dutiful obedience,