(_REGRETS FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO PREACH--LONGINGS FOR CHRIST._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I would desire
to know how my Lord took my letter, which I sent him, and how he is. I
desire nothing, but that he may be fast and honest to my royal Master
and King.
I am well every way, all praise to Him in whose books I must stand for
ever as His debtor! Only my silence paineth me. I had one joy out of
heaven, next to Christ my Lord, and that was to preach Him to this
faithless generation; and they have taken that from me. It was to me
as the poor man's one eye, and they have put out that eye. I know that
the violence done to me, and His poor bereft bride, is come up before
the Lord; and, suppose that I see not the other side of my cross, or
what my Lord will bring out of it, yet I believe that the vision shall
not tarry, and that Christ is on His journey for my deliverance. He
goeth not slowly, but passeth over ten mountains at one stride. In the
meantime, I am pained with His love, because I want real possession.
When Christ cometh, He stayeth not long; but certainly, the blowing of
His breath upon a poor soul is heaven upon earth; and when the wind
turneth into the north, and He goeth away, I die, till the wind change
into the west, and He visit His prisoner. But He holdeth me not often
at His door. I am richly repaid for suffering for Him. Oh, if all
Scotland were as I am, except my bonds! Oh, what pain I have, because
I cannot get Him praised by my sufferings! Oh that heaven (within and
without) and the earth were paper, and all the rivers, fountains, and
seas were ink, and I able to write all the paper (within and without)
full of His praises, and love, and excellency, to be read by man and
angel! Nay, this is little; I owe my heaven to Christ; and do desire,
howbeit I should never enter in at the gates of the new Jerusalem, to
send my love and my praises over the wall to Christ. Alas, that time
and days lie betwixt Him and me, and adjourn our meeting! It is my
part to cry, "Oh, when will the night be past, and the day dawn, that
we shall see one another!"
Be pleased to remember my service to my Lord, to whom I wrote; and
show him that, for his affection to me, I cannot but pray for him, and
earnestly desire that Christ miss him not out of the roll of those who
are His witnesses, now when His kingly honour is called in question.
It is his honour to hold up Christ's royal train, and to be an
instrument to hold the crown upon Christ's head. Show him, because I
love his true honour and standing, that this is my earnest desire for
him.
Now I bless you; and the prayers of Christ's prisoner come upon you;
and His sweetest presence, whom ye serve in the Spirit, accompany you.
Yours, at all obliged obedience in Christ,