ABERDEEN, _Sept. 7, 1637_.
CCXLII.--_To the_ LADY ROWALLAN.
[LADY ROWALLAN, whose maiden name was Sarah Brisbane, being the
fourth daughter of John Brisbane of Bishoptown, was the third
wife of Sir William Mure of Rowallan (Robertson's "Ayrshire
Families"). "In 1639 Lady Rowallan lost her husband, who died in
the sixty-third year of his age. He was a man of strong body, and
delighted much in hunting and hawking." ("The History and Descent
of the House of Rowallan. By Sir William Mure, Knight, of
Rowallan.")
_Rowallan_ is a mile and a half from the village of Kilmaurs, in
which churchyard is a curious tomb of the old Glencairn family.
Rowallan Castle was not large; it is now nearly a ruin, though
the gardener's family occupy two rooms. It was a mansion as well
as a castle. It stands on a rocky ledge, with the ground sinking
low on all sides, and a burn flowing near, which sometimes in
rainy seasons formed a lakelet, and could at any time be dammed
up so as to form a moat to protect the castle.
It is so situated that you do not see it until close upon it, and
hence was all the better fitted for a place of meeting in
Covenanting times. The room on the highest floor, near the
turret, is pointed out as that in which conventicles were held.
More than a hundred could assemble in it. The old campstools used
to be preserved, but now only the remains of two exist. Another
turret is said to be that from the window of which King Robert
II.'s queen escaped in olden days.]
(_JESUS THE BEST CHOICE, AND TO BE MADE SURE OF--THE CROSS AND JESUS
INSEPARABLE--SORROWS ONLY TEMPORARY._)
MADAM,--Though not acquainted, I am bold in Christ to speak to your
Ladyship on paper. I rejoice in our Lord Jesus, on your behalf, that
it hath pleased Him, whose love to you is as old as Himself, to
manifest the favour of His love in Christ Jesus to your soul, in the
revelation of His will and mind to you, now when so many are shut up
in unbelief. O the sweet change which ye have made, in leaving the
black kingdom of this world and sin, and coming over to our
Bridegroom's new kingdom, to know, and be taken with the love of the
beautiful Son of God! I beseech you, Madam, in the Lord, to make now
sure work, and see that the old house be casten down, and razed from
the foundation, and that the new building of your soul be of Christ's
own laying; for then wind nor storm shall neither loose it, nor shake
it asunder. Many now take Christ by guess; be sure that it be He, and
only He, whom ye have met with. His sweet smell, His lovely voice, His
fair face, His sweet working in the soul, will not lie; they will soon
tell if it be Christ indeed; and I think that your love to the saints
speaketh that it is He. And, therefore, I say, be sure that ye take
Christ Himself, and take Him with His Father's blessing: His Father
alloweth Him well upon you. Your lines are well fallen; it could not
have been better, nor so well with you, if they had not fallen in
these places. In heaven, or out of heaven, there is nothing better,
nothing so sweet and excellent as the thing ye have lighted on; and
therefore hold you with Christ. Joy, much joy may ye have of Him: but
take His cross with Himself cheerfully. Christ and His cross are not
separable in this life; howbeit Christ and His cross part at heaven's
door, for there is no houseroom for crosses in heaven. One tear, one
sigh, one sad heart, one fear, one loss, one thought of trouble,
cannot find lodging there: they are but the marks of our Lord Jesus
down in this wide inn, and stormy country, on this side of death.
Sorrow and the saints are not married together; or, suppose it were
so, heaven would make a divorce. I find that His sweet presence eateth
out the bitterness of sorrow and suffering. I think it a sweet thing
that Christ saith of my cross, "Half mine;" and that He divideth these
sufferings with me, and taketh the larger share to Himself; nay, that
I and my whole cross are wholly Christ's. Oh, what a portion is
Christ! Oh that the saints would dig deeper in the treasures of His
wisdom and excellency!
Thus recommending your Ladyship to the good-will and tender mercies of
our Lord, I rest, your Ladyship's, in his sweet Lord Jesus,