XLVII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_SUBMISSION TO GOD'S ARRANGEMENTS._)
WORTHY AND BELOVED MISTRESS,--My love in Christ remembered. I have
sent you a letter from Mr. David Dick[136] concerning the placing of
Mr. Hugh M'Kail with themselves; therefore I write to you now only to
entreat you in Christ not to be discouraged thereat. Be submissive to
the will of your dear Lord, who knoweth best what is good for your
soul and your town both; for God can come over greater mountains than
these, we believe; for He worketh His greatest works contrary to
carnal reason and means. "My ways are not," saith our Lord, "as your
ways; neither are my thoughts as your thoughts" (Isa. lv. 8). I am no
whit put from my belief for all that. Believe, pray, and use means. We
shall cause Mr. John Kerr, who conveyed myself to Lochinvar,[137] to
use means to seek a man, if Mr. Hugh fail us. Our Lord has a little
bride among you, and I trust He will send one to woo her to our sweet
Lord Jesus. He will not want His wife for the suiting, and He has
means in abundance in His hand to open all the slots and bars that
Satan draws over the door. He cometh to His bride leaping over the
mountains, and skipping over the hills. His way to His spouse is full
of stones, mountains, and waters, yet He putteth in His foot and
wadeth through. He will not want her; and therefore refresh me with
two words concerning your confidence and courage in our Lord, both
about that, and about His own Zion; for He wooeth His wife in the
Burning Bush; and for "the good-will of Him that dwelleth in the
Bush," the bush is not consumed. It is better to weep with Jerusalem
in the forenoon, than to weep with Babel after noon, in the end of the
day. Our day of laughter and rejoicing is coming. Yet a little while,
and ye shall see the salvation of God. I long to see you, and to hear
how your children are, especially Samuel. Grace be their heritage and
portion from the Lord, and the Lord be their lot, and then their
inheritance shall please them well. Remember my love to your husband.
The Lord Jesus be with your spirit.
Yours in his sweetest Lord Jesus,