[136] David Dickson.
[137] About four miles east from Earlston. It has a small loch, where
are ruins of an old castle.
XLVIII.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_TROUBLES FROM FALSE BRETHREN--OCCURRENCES--CHRIST'S
COMING--INTERCESSION._)
WELL-BELOVED SISTER,--I know you have heard of the success of our
business in Edinburgh. I do every Presbytery day see the faces of my
brethren smiling upon me, but their tongues convey reproaches and lies
of me a hundred miles off, and have made me odious to the Bishop of
St. Andrews, who said to Mr. W. Dalgleish that ministers in Galloway
were his informers. Whereupon no letter of favour could be procured
from him for effectuating of our business; only I am brought in the
mouths of men, who otherwise knew me not, and have power (if God shall
permit) to harm me. Yet I entreat you, in the bowels of Christ Jesus,
be not cast down. I fear your sorrow exceed because of this; and I am
not so careful for myself in the matter as for you. Take
courage;--your dearest Lord will light your candle, which the wicked
would fain blow out; and, as sure as our Lord liveth, your soul shall
find joy and comfort in this business. Howbeit you see all the hounds
in hell let loose to mar it, their iron chains to our dear and mighty
Lord are but straws, which He can easily break. Let not this
temptation stick in your throat; swallow it, and let it go down; our
Lord give you a drink of the consolations of His Spirit, that it may
digest. You never knew one in God's book who put to their hand to the
Lord's work for His kirk, but the world and Satan did bark against
them, and bite also where they had power. You will not lay one stone
on Zion's walls but they will labour to cast it down again.
For myself, the Lord letteth me see now greater evidence of a calling
to Kirkcudbright than ever He did before; and therefore pray, and
possess your soul in patience. Those that were doers in the business
have good hopes that it will yet go forward and prosper. As for the
death of the King of Sweden (which is thought to be too true), we can
do nothing else but reverence our Lord, who doth not ordinarily hold
Zion on her rock by the sword, and arm of flesh and blood, but by His
own mighty and outstretched arm. Her King that reigneth in Zion yet
liveth, and they are plucking Him round about to pull Him off His
throne; but His Father hath crowned him, and who dare say, "It is ill
done"? The Lord's bride will be up and down, above the water swimming
and under the water sinking, until her lovely and mighty Redeemer and
Husband set His head through the skies, and come with His fair court
to red all their pleas, and give them the hoped-for inheritance: and
then we shall lay down our swords and triumph, and fight no more. But
do not think, for all this, that our Lord and Chief Shepherd will want
one weak sheep, or the silliest dying lamb, that He hath redeemed. He
will tell His flock, and gather them all together, and make a faithful
account of them to the Father who gave them to Him. Let us learn to
turn our eyes off men, that our whorish hearts doat not on them, and
woo our old Husband, and make Him our darling. For, "thus saith the
Lord to the enemies of Zion, Drink ye, and be drunk, and spue, and
fall, and rise no more, because of the sword that I send amongst you.
And it shall be, if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to
drink, then shalt thou say to them, Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, Ye
shall certainly drink" (Jer. xxv. 27, 28). You see our Lord brewing a
cup of poison for His enemies, which they must drink, and because of
this have sore bowels and sick stomachs, yea, burst. But when Zion's
captivity is at an end, "the children of Israel shall come, they and
the children of Judah together, going and weeping: they shall go, and
seek the Lord their God. They shall ask the way to Zion, with their
faces thitherward, saying, Come, and let us join ourselves to the Lord
in an everlasting covenant that shall not be forgotten" (Jer. i. 45).
This is spoken to us, and for us, who with woe hearts ask, "What is
the way to Zion?" It is our part who know how to go to our Lord's
door, and to knock by prayer, and how to lift Christ's slot, and shut
the bar of His chamber door, to complain and tell Him how the Lord
handleth us, and how our King's business goeth, that He may get up and
lend them a blow, who are tigging and playing with Christ and His
spouse. You have also, dear Mistress, house troubles, in sickness of
your husband and bairns, and in spoiling of your house by thieves;
take these rods in patience from your Lord. He must still move you
from vessel to vessel, and grind you as our Lord's wheat, to be bread
in His house. But when all these strokes are over your head, what will
ye say to see your well-beloved Christ's white and ruddy face, even
His face who is worthy to bear the colours among ten thousand? (Cant.
v. 10). Hope and believe to the end. Grace for ever be multiplied upon
you, your husband, and children.
Your own in his dearest Lord Jesus,