ANWOTH, _June 8, 1636_.
[146] Alluding to Gen. xxxii. 14, and Isa. xl. 11.
LIX.--_To_ EARLSTON, _Elder_.
[ALEXANDER GORDON of Earlston was descended from the house of
Gordon of Lochinvar, and the residence of his family at first was
Gordon of Airds (about a mile from the New Galloway Railway
Station, on a wooded height, in the parish of Kells). His
great-grandfather, Alexander Gordon of Airds, having married
Margaret, eldest daughter of John Sinclair of Earlston, the issue
of that union came to possess the lands of Earlston. (Nisbet's
"Heraldry.") It is a tradition that old Gordon of Airds imbibed
Wickliffite views, when he was on a sort of embassy to the
English Borderers, and that he propagated the truth by bringing
home an English Wickliffite to be tutor to his eldest son. Having
obtained a New Testament in the vulgar tongue, he read it at
meetings which were held in the woods of Airds, in a secluded
spot, at the junction of the Ken and the Dee, where the loch
begins.[147] The truth circulated rapidly through the whole
province of Galloway.
[147] It is probably the little mound in the wood called "Low's
Seat," from its being the favourite resort of a local poet of
that name.
There are some interesting traditions about old Gordon of Airds.
He was compelled, when a youth, to sign the sentence that doomed
Patrick Hamilton to death, 1528; and this very circumstance led
him to inquire more fully into the truth. He lived to the age of
one hundred and one, dying in 1586. A traveller, coming to crave
the hospitality of Airds one evening, was courteously received by
a youth, who, however, referred him to his father. His father in
turn referred him to an older man, the grandfather of the boy;
and then this grey-haired grand-sire said, "Sir, you must ask _my
father_,"--the patriarch who sat in the arm-chair and conducted
worship that evening. (Agnew's "Sheriffs of Galloway.")
_Earlston_, or Erliston, or Earleston, is not far from
Carsphairn. As you come from Dalry, in Glenkens, you see the roof
of the ancient residence appearing from among the trees that grow
up the sloping ridge at the foot of which it stands. In front of
the grim old tower there is a fine lawn, a remnant of better
days, and a linn not far off. There is another _Earlston_, in the
parish of Borgue, a quite modern mansion, built by a descendant
of this ancient family, and called after the name of the original
property.
The grace of God, which had early chosen this family, continued
to favour it for many generations. Alexander Gordon, Rutherford's
friend, was worthy of his ancestors. Livingstone, in his
"Characteristics," speaks of him as "a man of great spirit, but
much subdued by inward exercise. For wisdom, courage, and
righteousness, he might have been a magistrate in any part of
the earth." He warmly espoused the side of the Presbyterians. In
the end of July 1635, he was summoned by the Bishop of Glasgow to
appear before the High Commission, for preventing the intrusion
of an unpopular nominee of the bishop into a vacant parish. But
Lord Lorn, afterwards the martyred Marquis of Argyle, having
appeared with him before that court, and affirmed that Earlston
had done this by his direction as patron of the parish, the
matter was deferred to a future day. This letter of Rutherford
probably refers to the vexatious proceedings instituted against
him in regard to this matter. He was afterwards summoned by
Sydserff, Bishop of Galloway, fined five hundred merks, and
banished to Montrose. The Privy Council, however, afterwards
dispensed with his banishment upon the payment of his fine.
Earlston was a member of the Assembly which met at Glasgow, in
1638, as commissioner from the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright. His
name appears among the members of Parliament in 1641, as member
for the shire of Galloway. He was married to Elizabeth, daughter
of John Gordon of Muirfad, by whom he had several children. His
eldest son, William, who succeeded him, is retoured heir of his
father on the 23rd of January 1655. In the avenue leading to
Earlston, there is a very large old oak, still shown as that in
the thick foliage of which this William Gordon hid, and so
escaped his pursuers, in the days of the persecution. But in
1679, on his way to join the rising at Bothwell, he was shot by a
troop of dragoons, and lies buried in Glassford Churchyard, where
is a monument to his memory.]
* * * * *
(_NO SUFFERING FOR CHRIST UNREWARDED--LOSS OF CHILDREN--CHRIST IN
PROVIDENCE._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--I have heard of the mind and malice of your
adversaries against you. It is like they will extend the law they
have, in length and breadth, answerable to their heat of mind. But it
is a great part of your glory that the cause is not yours, but your
Lord's whom you serve. And I doubt not but Christ will count it His
honour to back His weak servant; and it were a shame for Him (with
reverence to His holy name) that He should suffer Himself to be in the
common of such a poor man as ye are, and that ye should give out for
Him and not get in again. Write up your depursments for your Master
Christ, and keep the account of what ye give out, whether name,
credit, goods, or life, and suspend your reckoning till nigh the
evening; and remember that a poor weak servant of Christ wrote it to
you, that ye shall have Christ, a King, caution for your incomes and
all your losses. Reckon not from the forenoon. Take the Word of God
for your warrant; and for Christ's act of cautionary, howbeit body,
life, and goods go for Christ your Lord, and though ye should lose the
head for Him, yet "there shall not one hair of your head perish; in
patience, therefore, possess your soul."[148] And because ye are the
first man in Galloway called out and questioned for the name of Jesus,
His eye hath been upon you, as upon one whom He designed to be among
His witnesses. Christ hath said, "Alexander Gordon shall lead the ring
in witnessing a good confession," and therefore He hath put the
garland of suffering for Himself first upon your head. Think yourself
so much the more obliged to Him, and fear not; for He layeth His right
hand on your head. He who was dead and is alive will plead your cause,
and will look attentively upon the process from the beginning to the
end, and the Spirit of glory shall rest upon you. "Fear none of these
things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of
you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation
ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of
life"[149] (Rev. ii. 10). This lovely One, Jesus, who also became the
Son of man, that He might take strokes for you, write the
cross-sweetening and soul-supporting sense of these words in your
heart!
[148] Luke xxi. 18, 19.
[149] Zech. xii. 2, 6.
These rumbling wheels of Scotland's ten days' tribulation are under
His look who hath seven eyes. Take a house on your head, and slip
yourself by faith in under Christ's wings till the storm be over. And
remember, when they have drunken us down, Jerusalem will be a cup of
trembling and of poison.[150] They shall be fain to vomit out the
saints; for Judah "shall be a hearth of fire in a sheaf, and they
shall devour all the people round about, on the right hand and on the
left." Woe to Zion's enemies! they have the worst of it; for we have
writ for the victory. Sir, ye were never honourable till now. This is
your glory, that Christ hath put you in the roll with Himself and with
the rest of the witnesses who are come out of great tribulation, and
have washen their garments and made them white in the blood of the
Lamb. Be not cast down for what the servants of Antichrist cast in
your teeth, that ye are a head to and favourer of the Puritans, and
leader to that sect. If your conscience say, "Alas! here is much din
and little done" (as the proverb is), because ye have not done so much
service to Christ that way as ye might and should, take courage from
that same temptation. For your Lord Christ looketh upon that very
challenge as an hungering desire in you to have done more than ye did;
and that filleth up the blank, and He will accept of what ye have done
in that kind. If great men be kind to you, I pray you overlook them;
if they smile on you, Christ but borroweth their face to smile through
them upon His afflicted servant. Know the well-head; and for all that,
learn the way to the well itself. Thank God that Christ came to your
house in your absence and took with Him some of your children. He
presumed that much on your love, that ye would not offend;[151] and
howbeit He should take the rest, He cannot come upon your wrong side.
I question not, if they were children of gold, but ye think them well
bestowed upon Him.
[150] Zech. xii. 2, 6.
[151] Stumble; be offended.
Expound well these two rods on you, one in your house at home, another
on your own person abroad. Love thinketh no evil. If ye were not
Christ's wheat, appointed to be bread in His house, He would not grind
you. But keep the middle line, neither despise nor faint (Heb. xii.
5). Ye see your Father is homely with you. Strokes of a father
evidence kindness and care; take them so. I hope your Lord hath
manifested Himself to you, and suggested these, or more choice
thoughts about His dealing with you. We are using our weak moyen and
credit for you up at our own court, as we dow. We pray the King to
hear us, and the Son of Man to go side for side with you, and hand in
hand in the fiery oven, and to quicken and encourage your unbelieving
heart when ye droop and despond. Sir, to the honour of Christ be it
said, my faith goeth with my pen now. I am presently believing Christ
shall bring you out. Truth in Scotland shall keep the crown of the
causeway yet. The saints shall see religion go naked at noon-day, free
from shame and fear of men. We shall divide Shechem, and ride upon the
high places of Jacob. Remember my obliged respects and love to Lady
Kenmure and her sweet child.
Yours ever in his sweet Lord Jesus,