EDINBURGH, _July 30, 1636_.
LXIII.--_To MR. ROBERT CUNNINGHAM, Minister of the Gospel at Holywood,
in Ireland._
[MR. ROBERT CUNNINGHAM was for some time employed as chaplain to
the Earl of Buccleuch's regiment in Holland. On the return of the
troops to Scotland, he removed to the north of Ireland, where he
was admitted minister of Holywood in 1615. "He was the one man to
my discerning," says Livingstone, "of all that ever I saw, who
resembled most the meekness of Jesus Christ in his whole
carriage, and was so far reverenced by all, even the most wicked,
that he was oft troubled with that Scripture, 'Woe to you when
all men speak well of you.'" He continued to labour in his
charge, and in the surrounding district, with great success,
until the Presbyterian ministers began to be molested for their
nonconformity. Owing to the singular gentleness of Cunningham's
disposition, he was for some time less subjected to trouble than
his brethren; but at length, on the 12th of August 1636, he and
four other ministers (among whom was Mr. Hamilton mentioned in
the close of this letter) were formally deposed for refusing to
subscribe certain canons, one of which was kneeling at the Lord's
Supper. Not long after, he, with some of his deposed brethren,
came over to Scotland; but he did not long survive his arrival.
He died at Irvine, on the 29th of March 1637, scarcely eight
months after this letter was written. A little before he expired,
his wife sitting on the front of his bed with her hand clasped in
his, after committing to God his flock at Holywood, his friends
and his children, he added, "And last of all, I recommend to Thee
this gentlewoman, who is no more my wife." His affectionate wife
bursting into tears, he sought by comfortable words to allay her
grief; but in the act of so doing, fell asleep in Jesus.]
(_CONSOLATION TO A BROTHER IN TRIBULATION--HIS OWN DEPRIVATION OF
MINISTRY--CHRIST WORTH SUFFERING FOR._)
WELL-BELOVED AND REVEREND BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.
Upon acquaintance in Christ, I thought good to take the opportunity of
writing to you. Seeing it hath seemed good to the Lord of the harvest
to take the hooks out of our hands for a time, and to lay upon us a
more honourable service, even to suffer for His name, it were good to
comfort one another in writing. I have had a desire to see you in the
face; yet now being the prisoner of Christ, it is taken away. I am
greatly comforted to hear of your soldier's stately[157] spirit, for
your princely and royal Captain Jesus our Lord, and for the grace of
God in the rest of our dear brethren with you.
[157] See Glossary.
You have heard of my trouble, I suppose. It hath pleased our sweet
Lord Jesus to let loose the malice of these interdicted lords in His
house to deprive me of my ministry at Anwoth, and to confine me, eight
score miles from thence, to Aberdeen; and also (which was not done to
any before) to inhibit me to speak at all in Jesus' name, within this
kingdom, under the pain of rebellion. The cause that ripened their
hatred was my book against the Arminians, whereof they accused me, on
those three days I appeared before them. But, let our crowned King in
Zion reign! By His grace the loss is theirs, the advantage is Christ's
and truth's. Albeit this honest cross gained some ground on me, and my
heaviness and my inward challenges of conscience for a time were
sharp, yet now, for the encouragement of you all, I dare say it, and
write it under my hand, "Welcome, welcome, sweet, sweet cross of
Christ." I verily think the chains of my Lord Jesus are all overlaid
with pure gold, and that His cross is perfumed, and that it smelleth
of Christ, and that the victory shall be by the blood of the Lamb, and
by the word of His truth, and that Christ, lying on His back, in His
weak servants, and oppressed truth, shall ride over His enemies'
bellies, and shall "strike through kings in the day of His wrath"
(Psa. cx. 4). It is time we laugh when He laugheth; and seeing He is
now pleased to sit[158] with wrongs for a time, it becometh us to be
silent until the Lord hath let the enemies enjoy their hungry, lean,
and feckless paradise. Blessed are they who are content to take
strokes with weeping Christ. Faith will trust the Lord, and is not
hasty, nor headstrong; neither is faith so timorous as to flatter a
temptation, or to bud and bribe the cross. It is little up or little
down[159] that the Lamb and His followers can get no law-surety, nor
truce with crosses; it must be so, till we be up in our Father's
house. My heart is woe indeed for my mother Church, that hath played
the harlot with many lovers. Her Husband hath a mind to sell her for
her horrible transgressions; and heavy will the hand of the Lord be
upon this backsliding nation. The ways of our Zion mourn; her gold has
become dim, her white Nazarites are black like a coal. How shall not
the children weep, when the Husband and the mother cannot agree! Yet I
believe Scotland's sky shall clear again; that Christ shall build
again the old waste places of Jacob; that our dead and dry bones shall
become one army of living men, and that our Well-beloved may yet feed
among the lilies, until the day break and the shadows flee away (Song
iv. 5, 6). My dear brother, let us help one another with our prayers.
Our King shall mow down His enemies, and shall come from Bozrah with
His garments all dyed in blood. And for our consolation shall He
appear, and call His wife Hephzibah, and His land Beulah (Isa. lxii.
4); for He will rejoice over us and marry us, and Scotland shall say,
"What have I to do any more with idols?" Only let us be faithful to
Him that can ride through hell and death upon a windlestrae, and His
horse never stumble; and let Him make of me a bridge over a water, so
that His high and holy name may be glorified in me. Strokes with the
sweet Mediator's hand are very sweet. He was always sweet to my soul;
but since I suffered for Him, His breath hath a sweeter smell than
before. Oh that every hair of my head, and every member and every bone
in my body, were a man to witness a fair confession for Him! I would
think all too little for Him. When I look over beyond the line, and
beyond death, to the laughing side of the world, I triumph, and ride
upon the high places of Jacob; howbeit otherwise I am a faint,
dead-hearted, cowardly man, oft borne down, and hungry in waiting for
the marriage supper of the Lamb. Nevertheless, I think it the Lord's
wise love that feeds us with hunger, and makes us fat with wants and
desertions.
[158] Endure.
[159] Of little moment.
I know not, my dear brother, if our worthy brethren be gone to sea or
not. They are on my heart and in my prayers. If they be yet with you,
salute my dear friend, John Stuart, my well-beloved brethren in the
Lord, Mr. Blair, Mr. Hamilton, Mr. Livingston, and Mr. M'Clelland,[160]
and acquaint them with my troubles, and entreat them to pray for the
poor afflicted prisoner of Christ. They are dear to my soul. I seek
your prayers and theirs for my flock: their remembrance breaketh my
heart. I desire to love that people, and others my dear acquaintance
in Christ, with love in God, and as God loveth them. I know that He
who sent me to the west and south, sends me also to the north. I will
charge my soul to believe and to wait for Him, and will follow His
providence, and not go before it, nor stay behind it. Now, my dear
brother, taking farewell in paper, I commend you all to the word of
His grace, and to the work of His Spirit, to Him who holdeth the seven
stars in His right hand, that you may be kept spotless till the day of
Jesus our Lord.