[JOHN KENNEDY was the son of Hugh Kennedy, Provost of Ayr. Hugh
was an eminent Christian, and did much to promote the cause of
religion in the place where he lived. John Welsh, minister of
Ayr, bore this high testimony to him in a letter written to him
in France: "Happy is that city, yea, happy is that nation that
has a Hugh Kennedy in it. I have myself certainly found the
answer of his prayers from the Lord in my behalf." On his
death-bed, he was filled "with inexpressible joy in the Holy
Ghost, beyond what it was possible to comprehend." (Wodrow, in
his life of Boyd of Trochrig.) John, his son, possessed much of
the spirit and character of his father. "He was," says Fleming
("Fulfilling of the Scriptures"), "as choice a Christian as was
at that time." The same writer records a remarkable escape from
imminent peril at sea which Kennedy experienced; which may be the
deliverance to which Rutherford refers in a subsequent letter. It
happened thus: John Stewart, Provost of Ayr, another of
Rutherford's correspondents, who had gone to France, having
loaded a ship at Rochelle with various commodities for Scotland,
proceeded to England by the nearest way, and thence to Ayr. After
waiting a considerable time for the arrival of his vessel, he was
told that it was captured by the Turks. This information,
however, proved to be incorrect, for it at length arrived in the
roads; upon hearing of which, Kennedy, an intimate friend of
Stewart, was so overjoyed, that he went out to it in a small
boat. But a storm suddenly arising, he was driven past the
vessel, and the general belief of the onlookers from the shore
was that he and his boat were swallowed up; indeed, the storm
increased to such a degree of violence as to threaten even the
shipwreck of the vessel. Deeply affected at the apprehended loss
of his friend, Stewart shut himself up in entire seclusion for
three days; but at the very time he had gone to visit Kennedy's
wife under her supposed bereavement, Kennedy, who had been driven
to another part of the coast, but had reached the land in safety,
made his appearance, to the great joy of all. Kennedy was a
member of the Scottish Parliament in the years 1644-5-6, for the
burgh of Ayr, and is styled in the roll, "John Kennedy, Provost
of Ayr." He was also a member of the General Assemblies of
1642-3-4-6 and 7, and his name appears among the ruling elders in
the commission for the public affairs of the kirk in all these
years. His brother Hugh (also an elder of the Church) was
frequently a member of the General Assembly, and, as we learn
from "Baillie's Letters," had an active share in the proceedings
of the Covenanters during the reign of Charles I. There are
lineal descendants of this family in Ayr at this day; one of
them, like his ancestor, was lately Provost of the town.]
(_LONGING AFTER CLEARER VIEWS OF CHRIST--HIS LONG-SUFFERING--TRYING
CIRCUMSTANCES._)
WORTHY AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long to
see you in this northern world on paper; I know it is not
forgetfulness that ye write not. I am every way in good ease, both in
soul and body; all honour and glory be to my Lord. I want nothing but
a further revelation of the beauty of the unknown Son of God. Either I
know not what Christianity is, or we have stinted a measure of so many
ounce weights, and no more, upon holiness; and there we are at a
stand, drawing our breath all our life. A moderation in God's way is
now much in request. I profess that I have never taken pains to find
out Him whom my soul loveth; there is a gate yet of finding out Christ
that I have never lighted upon. Oh, if I could find it out! Alas, how
soon are we pleased with our own shadow in a glass! It were good to be
beginning in sad earnest to find out God, and to seek the right tread
of Christ. Time, custom, and a good opinion of ourselves, our good
meaning, and our lazy desires, our fair shows, and the world's
glistering lustres, and these broad passments and buskings of
religion, that bear bulk in the kirk, is that wherewith most satisfy
themselves. But a bed watered with tears, a throat dry with praying,
eyes as a fountain of tears for the sins of the land, are rare to be
found among us. Oh if we could know the power of godliness!
This is one part of my case; and another is, that I, like a fool, once
summoned Christ for unkindness, and complained of His fickleness and
inconstancy, because He would have no more of my service nor
preaching, and had casten me out of the inheritance of the Lord. And
now I confess that this was but a bought plea, and I was a fool. Yet
He hath borne with me. I gave Him a fair advantage against me, but
love and mercy would not let Him take it; and the truth is, now He
hath chided Himself friends with me, and hath taken away the mask, and
hath renewed His wonted favour in such a manner that He hath paid me
my hundred-fold in this life, and one to the hundred. This prison is
my banqueting-house; I am handled as softly and delicately as a dawted
child. I am nothing behind (I see) with Christ; He can, in a month,
make up a year's losses. And I write this to you, that I may entreat,
nay, adjure and charge you, by the love of our Well-beloved, to help
me to praise; and to tell all your Christian acquaintance to help me,
for I am as deeply drowned in His debt as any dyvour can be. And yet
in this fair sun-blink I have something to keep me from startling, or
being exalted above measure; His word is as fire shut up in my bowels,
and I am weary with forbearing. The ministers in this town are saying
that they will have my prison changed into less bounds, because they
see God with me. My mother hath borne me a man of contention, one that
striveth with the whole earth. The late wrongs and oppressions done to
my brother keep my sails low; yet I defy crosses to embark me in such
a plea against Christ as I was troubled with of late. I hope to
over-hope and over-believe my troubles. I have cause now to trust
Christ's promise more than His gloom.
Remember my hearty affection to your wife. My soul is grieved for the
success of our brethren's journey to New England; but God hath
somewhat to reveal that we see not. Grace be with you. Pray for the
prisoner.
Yours, in his only Lord Jesus,