ANWOTH, _Feb. 13, 1632_.
[119] His place.
XXIV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_CHRIST AND HIS GARDEN--PROVISION OF ORDINANCES IN THE CHURCH--OUR
CHILDREN._)
BELOVED MISTRESS,--My dearest love in Christ remembered to you. Know
that Mr. Abraham[120] showed me there is to be a meeting of the
bishops at Edinburgh shortly. The causes are known to themselves. It
is our part to hold up our hands for Zion. Howbeit, it is reported,
they came sad from court. It is our Lord's wisdom, that His kirk
should ever hang by a thread; and yet the thread breaketh not, being
hanged upon Him who is the sure Nail in David's house (Isa. xxii. 23),
upon whom all the vessels, great and small, do hang; and the Nail (God
be thanked) neither crooketh nor can be broken. Jesus, that Flower of
Jesse set without hands, getteth many a blast, and yet withers not,
because He is His Father's noble Rose, casting a sweet smell through
heaven and earth, and must grow; and in the same garden grow the
saints, God's fair and beautiful lilies, under wind and rain, and all
sun-burned, and yet life remaineth at the root. Keep within His
garden, and you shall grow with them, till the Great Husbandman, our
dear Master Gardener, come and transplant you from the lower part of
His vineyard up to the higher, to the very heart of His garden, above
the wrongs of the rain, sun, or wind. And then, wait upon the times of
the blowing of the sweet south and north wind of His gracious Spirit,
that may make you cast a sweet smell in your Beloved's nostrils; and
bid your Beloved come down to His garden, and eat of His pleasant
fruits (Cant. iv. 16). And He will come. You will get no more but this
until you come up to the Well-head, where you shall put up your hand
and take down the apples of the tree of life, and eat under the shadow
of that tree. These apples are sweeter up beside the tree than they
are down here in this piece of a clay prison-house. I have no joy but
in the thoughts of these times. Doubt not of your Lord's part and the
spouse's part; she shall be in good case. That word shall stand, "I
shall be as the dew to Israel: he shall grow up as the lily, and cast
out his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, his beauty shall
be as the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon" (Hosea xiv. 5, 6).
Christ shall set up His colours, and His ensign for the nations, and
shall gather together the outcasts of Israel (Isa. xi. 12). "Then the
Lord said to me, Son of man, these dead bones are the whole house of
Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, our hope is lost; we
are cut off for our parts. Therefore prophesy unto them, and say, Thus
saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and
cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land
of Israel" (Ezek. xxxvii. 11, 12). These promises are not wind, but
the breast of our beloved Christ, which we must suck and draw comfort
out of. Ye have cause to pity those poor creatures that stand out
against Christ, and the building of His house. Silly men! they have
but a feckless and silly heaven, nothing but meat and cloth, and laugh
a day or two in the world, and then in a moment go down to the grave;
and they shall not be able to hinder Christ's building. He that is
Master of work will lead stones to the wall over their belly.
[120] Possibly, Mr. Abraham Henderson; a staunch defender of
Presbytery, who, in 1605, persisted, along with eight of his brethren,
in convening at Aberdeen, in face of prohibition, in order to maintain
a protest in behalf of the Church's inherent right to meet in General
Assembly. (See Forbes' "Apolog. Narration," p. 136.)
And for that present tumult that the children of this world raise
anent the planting of your town with a pastor, believe and stay upon
God, as you still shame us all in believing. Go forward in the
strength of the Lord; and I say from my Lord, before whom I stand,
have your eyes upon none but the Lord of armies, and the Lord shall
either let you see what you long to see, or then else fulfil your joy
more abundantly another way. You and yours, and the children of God
whom you care for in this town, shall have as much of the Son of God's
supper cut and laid upon your trenchers, be who he will that carveth,
as shall feed you to eternal life. And be not cast down for all that
is done: your reward is laid up with God. I hope to see you laugh and
leap for joy. Will the temple be built without din and tumult? No;
God's stones in His house in Germany are laid with blood; and the Son
of God no sooner begins to chop and hew stones with His hammer, but as
soon the sword is drawn. If the work were of men, the world would set
their shoulders to yours; but, in Christ's work, two or three must
fight against a Presbytery (though His own court) and a city. This
proveth that it is Christ's errand, and therefore that it shall
thrive. Let them lay iron chains cross over the door,--stay, and
believe, and wait, whill the Lion of the tribe of Judah come. And He
that comes from heaven clothed with the rainbow, and hath the little
book in His hand, when He taketh a grip of their chains, He will lay
the door on the broadside, and come in, and go up to the pulpit, and
take the man with Him whom He hath chosen for His work. Therefore, let
me hear from you, whether you be in heaviness, or rejoicing under
hope, that I may take part of your grief, and bear it with you, and
get part of your joy, which is to me also as my own joy.
And as to what are your fears anent the health or life of your dear
children, lay it upon Christ's shoulders: let Him bear all. Loose your
grips of them all; and when your dear Lord pulleth, let them go with
faith and joy. It is a tried faith to kiss a Lord that is taking from
you. Let them be careful, during the short time that they are here, to
run and get a grip of the prize. Christ is standing in the end of
their way, holding up the garland of endless glory to their eyes, and
is crying, "Run fast, and come and receive." Happy are they (if their
breath serve them) to run and not to weary, whill their Lord, with His
own dear hand, puts the crown upon their head. It is not long days,
but good days, that make life glorious and happy; and our dear Lord is
gracious to us, who shorteneth and hath made the way to glory shorter
than it was; so that the crown that Noah did fight for five hundred
years, children may now obtain it in fifteen years. And heaven is in
some sort better for us now than it was to Noah, for the man Christ is
there now, who was not come in the flesh in Noah's days. You shall
show this to your children, whom my soul in Christ blesseth, and
entreat them by the mercies of God, and the bowels of Jesus Christ, to
covenant with Jesus Christ to be His, and to make up the bond of
friendship betwixt their souls and their Christ, that they may have
acquaintance in heaven, and a friend at God's right hand. Such a
friend at court is much worth.
Now I take my leave of you, praying my Christ and your Christ to
fulfil your joy; and more graces and blessings from our sweet Lord
Jesus to your soul, your husband's and children, than ever I wrote of
the letters of A, B, C, to you. Grace, grace be with you.
Yours in my sweet Master, Jesus Christ,