ABERDEEN, _Nov. 13, 1636_.
LXIX.--_To the Noble and Christian Lady the_ VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.
(_HIS ENJOYMENT OF CHRIST IN ABERDEEN--A SIGHT OF CHRIST EXCEEDS
ALL REPORTS--SOME ASHAMED OF HIM AND HIS._)
MY VERY HONOURABLE AND DEAR LADY,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.
I cannot forget your Ladyship, and that sweet child. I desire to hear
what the Lord is doing to you and him. To write to me were charity. I
cannot but write to my friends, that Christ hath trysted me in
Aberdeen; and my adversaries have sent me here to be feasted with love
banquets with my royal, high, high, and princely King Jesus. Madam,
why should I smother Christ's honesty? I dare not conceal His goodness
to my soul; He looked fremed and unco-like upon me when I came first
here; but I believe Himself better than His looks. I shall not again
quarrel Christ for a gloom, now He hath taken the mask off His face,
and saith, "Kiss thy fill;" and what can I have more when I get great
heaven in my little arms? Oh, how sweet are the sufferings of Christ
for Christ! God forgive them that raise an ill report upon the sweet
cross of Christ. It is but our weak and dim eyes, and our looking only
to the black side that makes us mistake. Those who can take that
crabbed tree handsomely upon their back, and fasten it on cannily,
shall find it such a burden as wings unto a bird, or sails to a ship.
Madam, rue not of your having chosen the better part. Upon my
salvation, this is Christ's truth I now suffer for. If I found but
cold comfort in my sufferings, I would not beguile others; I would
have told you plainly. But the truth is, Christ's crown, His sceptre,
and the freedom of His kingdom, is that which is now called in
question; because we will not allow that Christ should pay tribute and
be a vassal to the shields of the earth, therefore the sons of our
mother are angry at us. But it becometh not Christ to hold any man's
stirrup. It were a sweet and honourable death to die for the honour of
that royal and princely King Jesus. His love is a mystery to the
world. I would not have believed that there was so much in Christ as
there is. "Come and see" maketh Christ to be known in His excellency
and glory. I wish all this nation knew how sweet His breath is. It is
little to see Christ in a book, as men do the world in a card. They
talk of Christ by the book and the tongue, and no more; but to come
nigh Christ, and hause Him, and embrace Him, is another thing. Madam,
I write to your honour, for your encouragement in that honourable
profession Christ hath honoured you with. Ye have gotten the sunny
side of the brae, and the best of Christ's good things. He hath not
given you the bastard's portion; and howbeit ye get strokes and sour
looks from your Lord, yet believe His love more than your own feeling,
for this world can take nothing from you that is truly yours, and
death can do you no wrong. Your rock doth not ebb and flow, but your
sea. That which Christ hath said, He will bide by it. He will be your
tutor. You shall not get you charters of heaven to play you with. It
is good that ye have lost your credit with Christ, and that Lord
Free-will shall not be your tutor. Christ will lippen the taking you
to heaven, neither to yourself, nor any deputy, but only to Himself.
Blessed be your tutor. When your Head shall appear, your Bridegroom
and Lord, your day shall then dawn, and it shall never have an
afternoon, nor an evening shadow. Let your child be Christ's; let him
stay beside you as thy Lord's pledge that you shall willingly render
again, if God will.
Madam, I find folks here kind to me; but in the night, and under their
breath. My Master's cause may not come to the crown of the causeway.
Others are kind according to their fashion. Many think me a strange
man, and my cause not good; but I care not much for man's thoughts or
approbation. I think no shame of the cross. The preachers of the town
pretend great love, but the prelates have added to the rest this
gentle cruelty (for so they think of it), to discharge me of the
pulpits of this town. The people murmur and cry out against it; and to
speak truly (howbeit Christ is most indulgent to me otherwise), my
silence on the Lord's day keeps me from being exalted above measure,
and from startling in the heat of my Lord's love. Some people affect
me, for the which cause, I hear the preachers here purpose to have my
confinement changed to another place; so cold is northern love; but
Christ and I will bear it. I have wrestled long with this sad silence.
I said, what aileth Christ at my service? and my soul hath been at a
pleading with Christ, and at yea and nay. But I will yield to Him,
providing my suffering may preach more than my tongue did; for I give
not Christ an inch but for twice as good again. In a word, I am a
fool, and He is God. I will hold my peace hereafter.
Let me hear from your Ladyship, and your dear child. Pray for the
prisoner of Christ, who is mindful of your Ladyship. Remember my
obliged obedience to my good Lady Marr. Grace, grace be with you. I
write and pray blessings to your sweet child.
Yours in all dutiful obedience in his only Lord Jesus,