LIV.--_For_ MARION M'NAUGHT.
(_PUBLIC WRONGS--WORDS OF COMFORT._)
LOVING AND DEAR SISTER,--I fear that you be moved and cast down,
because of the late wrong that your husband received in your Town
Council. But I pray you comfort yourself in the Lord; for a just cause
bides under the water only as long as wicked men hold their hand
above it; their arm will weary, and then the just cause shall swim
above, and the light that is sown for the righteous shall spring and
grow up. If ye were not strangers here, the dogs of the world would
not bark at you. You may see all windings and turnings that are in
your way to heaven out of God's Word; for He will not lead you to the
kingdom at the nearest, but you must go through "honour and dishonour,
by evil report and good report; as deceivers, and yet true; as
unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as
chastened, and not killed; as sorrowful, and yet always rejoicing" (2
Cor. vi. 8, 10). The world is one of the enemies that we have to fight
with, but a vanquished and overcome enemy, and like a beaten and
forlorn soldier; for our Jesus hath taken the armour from it. Let me
then speak to you in His words: "Be of good courage," saith the
Captain of our salvation, "for I have overcome the world." You shall
neither be free of the scourge of the tongue, nor of disgraces (even
if it were buffetings and spittings upon the face, as was our
Saviour's case), if you follow Jesus Christ. I beseech you in the
bowels of our Lord Jesus, keep a good conscience, as I trust you do.
You live not upon men's opinion; gold may be gold, and have the king's
stamp upon it, when it is trampled upon by men. Happy are you, if,
when the world trampleth upon you in your credit and good name, yet
you are the Lord's gold, stamped with the King of heaven's image, and
sealed by the Spirit unto the day of your redemption. Pray for the
spirit of love; for "love beareth all things; it believeth all things,
hopeth all things, and endureth all things" (1 Cor. xiii. 7).
And I pray you and your husband, yea, I charge you before God, and the
Lord Jesus Christ, and the elect angels, pray for these your
adversaries, and read this to your husband from me, and let both of
you put on, as the elect of God, bowels of mercies. And, sister,
remember how many thousands of talents of sins your Master hath
forgiven you. Forgive ye therefore your fellow-servants one talent.
Follow God's command in this, and "seek not after your own heart, and
after your own eyes," in this matter, as the Spirit speaks (Numb. xv.
39). Ask never the counsel of your own heart here; the world will blow
up your heart now, and cause it swell, except the grace of God cause
it fall. Jesus, even Jesus, the Eternal Wisdom of the Father, give you
wisdom. I trust God shall be glorified in you. And a door shall be
opened unto you, as to the Lord's "prisoners of hope," as Zechariah
speaks. It is a benefit to you, that the wicked are God's fan to purge
you. And I hope they shall blow away no corn, or spiritual graces, but
only your chaff. I pray you, in your pursuit, have so recourse to the
law of men, that you wander not from the law of God. Be not cast down:
if you saw Him who is standing on the shore, holding out His arms to
welcome you on land, you would not only wade through a sea of wrongs,
but through hell itself to be at Him. And I trust in God you see Him
sometimes. The Lord Jesus be with your spirit, and all yours.
Your brother in the Lord,