HBP Jp* v JOSHUA REDIVIVUS: oa, THREE HUNDRED AND FIFTY TWO TO WHICH IS ADDED COVENANTED WORK OF REFORMATION BETWEEN 1638 AND 16t9. THE LATE EMINENTLY PIOUS MR. SAMUEL RUTHERFORD, Profeaor of Divinity at St. Andrew*. TO WHICH IS PREFIXED A LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. INCLUDING t* Last NEW EDITION. GLASGOW: Printed by YOUH?>, Gallic, $ Co. FOK. THOMAS LOCHHEAD, GLASGOW; AND WILLIAM LOCHHEAn, BERWICK. 1818. LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. MR. SAMUEL RUTHERFORD, a gentleman by extraction, having spent some time at the grammar-school, went to the university of Edin bargh, where he was so much admired for his pregnancy of parts, and deservedly looked upon as one from whom great things mightbe expected, that in a short time, though but then very young, he was made profes- sor of philosophy in that university. Some time after this he was called to be minister at Amvoth in the shire of Galloway, unto which charge he entered by means of the then viscount of Kenmuir, without any acknowledgment or engagement to the bishops. There he laboured with great diligence and success both night and day, rising usually by three o'clock in the morning, spending the whole time in reading, praying, writing, catechising, visiting, and other duties belonging to the ministerial profession and employment. Here he wrote his Exercitationes dc Gratia, &c. for which he was sum- moned, as early as June 1630, before the High Commission Court, but the weather was so tempestuous as to obstruct the passage of the arch- bishop of St. Andrews hither, and Mr. Colvill, one of the judges, having befriended him, the diet was deserted. About the same time his first wife died after a sore sickness of thirteen months, and he himself being so ill of a tertian fever for thirteen weeks, that then he could not preach on the sabbath day without great difficulty. Again in April 1634, he was threatened with another prosecution at the instance of the bishop of Galloway, before the High Commission Court; and neither were these threatenings all the reasons Mr. Rutherfoid had to lay his account with suffering: and as the Lord would not hide from Jus faithful servant Abraham things he was about to do, neither would he conceal from this son of Abraham what his purposes were concerning him; in a letter to the provost's wife of Kirkcudbright, dated April 20, 1633, he says, Upon the 17th and 18th of August, he got a full answer ofhis Lord to be a graced minister, and a chosen arrow hid in his quiver.* Accordingly the thing he looked for came upon him, for he was again summoned before the High Commission Court for his non-conformity, his preaching against the five articles of Perth, and the fore-mentioned book Exercitationes Apologetic a: pro Divina Gratia, which book they alleged did reflect upon the church of Scotland; but the truth was, says a late his- torian, f the argument of that book did cut the sinews of Arminianism, and galled the episcopal clergy to the very quick, and so bishop Sydre- serf could endure him no longer. When he came before the Commission court, he altogether declined them as a lawful judicatory, and would not give the chancellor, (being a clergyman,) and the bishops their titles, by See his Letters, Part iii. Letter 27. f See Stevenson's History, Vol. 1. page 1-19. Howe's History, page 29.5. 4 LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. lording of them, yet some had the courage to befriend him, particularly the Lord Lorn, afterwards the famous marquis of Argyle, who did as much for him as was within his power to do; but the bishop of Galloway threatening that if he got not his will of him, he would write to the king, it was carried against him, and upon the 27th of July 1636, he was dis- charged to exercise any part of his ministry within the kingdom of Scot- land under pain of rebellion, and ordered within six months to confine himself within the city of Aberdeen, &c. during the king's pleasure, which sentence he obeyed, and forthwith went toward the place of his confinement. From Aberdeen he wrote many of his famous letters, from which it is evident, that the consolation of the Holy Spirit did greatly abound with l:im in his sufferings; yea, in one of these letters, he expresses this in the Jtr>ngest terms when he says, " I never knew before, that his love was in such a measure. If he leave me, he leaves me in pain, and sick of love, and yet my sickness is my life and health. I have a fire wiihin me, I defy all the devils in hell, and all the prelates in Scotland to cast water on it." Here he remained upwards of a year and a half, by which time he made the doctors of Aberdeen know that the Puritans, as they called them, were clergymen as well as they. But, upon notice that the private council had received in a declinature against the High Commission Court in the year 1638, he adventured to return back again to his flock at An- woth, where he again took great pains, both in public and in private amongst that people, who from all quarters resorted to his ministry, so that the whole country side might account themselves as his particular flock; and, it being then at the dawning of the reformation, found no small benefit by the gospel, that part of the ancient prophecy being fur- ther accomplished, For in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert, Isa. xxxv. 6. He was before that venerable assembly held at Glasgow in 1638, and gave an account of all these his former proceedings with respect to his confinement, and the causes thereof. By them he was appointed to be professor of divinity at St. Andrews, and colleague in the ministry with, the worthy Mr. Blair, who was translated hither about the same time. And here God did again so second this his eminent and faithful servant, that by his indefatigable pains both in teaching in the schools and preach- ing in the congregation, that St. Andrews, the seat of the arch-bishop, and by that means the nursery of all superstition, error, and profane- ness, soon became forthwith a Lebanon out of which were taken cedars, lor building the house of the Lord, almost through the whole Jandj many of whom he guided to heaven before himself, who received the spiritual life by his ministry and many others did walk in that light after him. And as he was mighty in the public parts of religion, so he was a great practiser and encourager of the private duties thereof. Thus in the year 1640, when a charge was foisted in before the general assembly at the iu- stance of Mr. Henry Guthrie, minister at Stirling, (afterward bishop of Dunkeld,) against private society meetings, which were then abounding in the land, on which ensued much reasoning, the one side yielding that a paper before drawn up by Mr. Henderson should be agreed unto con- cerning the order to be kept in these meetings, &c. but Guthrie and his adherents opposing this Mr. Rutherford, who was never much disposed LIFE QF THE AUTHOR. 5 to speak in judicatories, threw in this syllogism, " What the Scriptures do warrant no assembly may discharge, but private meetings for religi- ous exercises the Scriptures do warrant, Mai. v. 16. Then they that fear- ed the Lord spake often one to another, &c. James v. 16. Confess your Jautts one to another, and pray one J or another, &c. These things could not be clone in public meetings, &c. and although the earl of Seaforth there present, and those of Guthrie's faction upbraided this good man for this, yet it had influence upon the majority of the members, so that all the opposite party got done, was an act anent the ordering of family worship. He was also one of the Scots Commissioners, appointed anno 164-3, to the Westminster Assembly, and was very much beloved therefor his un- paralleled faithfulness and zeal in going about his Master's business. It was during this time that he published Lex Rex, and several other learn- ed pieces against the erastiaus, anabaptists, independents, and other sec- taries that began to prevail and increase at that time, and nooe ever had the courage to take up the gauntlet of defiance thrown down by this champion. * When the principal business of this assembly was pretty well settled, Mr. Rutherford, on October 24th, 16*7, moved that it might be recorded in the Scribe's book, that the assembly had enjoyed the assistance of the Commissioners of the Church of Scotland, all the time they had been de- bating and perfecting these four things mentioned in the solemn league r/~. Their composing a Directory for Worship, an uniform Confession of Faith, a Form of Church Government and Discipline, and the Public Catechism, which was done in about a week after he and the rest re- turned home. Upon ihe death of the learned Damatius anno 1651, the magistrates of Utrecht in Holland, being abundantly satisfied as to the learning, piety, and true zeal of the- great Mr. Rutherford, invited him to the divinity chair there, but he could not be persuaded. His reasons elsewhere, when dissuading another gentleman from going abroad, seem to be expressed in these words. ' Let me intreat you to be far from the thoughts of leaving this land; I see it, and find it, that the Lord hath covered the whole land with a cloud in his anger, but though I have been tempted to the like, I had rather be in Scotland beside angry Jesus Christ, knowing he mindeth no evil to us, than in any Kden or gardem on the earth. " f From which it is evident that he chose rather to suf- fer affliction in his own native country, than to leave his charge and flock in time of danger. He continued with them till the day of his death in the free and faithful discharge of his duty. When the unhappy difference fell out beween those called the protes- ters and the public resolutioners annis 1650 and 1651, he espoused the protesters' quarrel, and gave faithful warning against these public resolu- tions, and likewise during the time of Cromwel's usurpation he contended against all the prevailing sectaries that then ushered in with the sectaries It is reported, that when king Charles saw Lei Rex, he said it would scarcely ever got an answer ; nor did it ever get any, except what the parliament in 1661 gave it, when they caused it to be burned at the cross of Edinburgh, by the hands of the hang- man. f Sre his Letter to Col. Gilb. Ker, Part I f. Let. 59. & LI! E OP THE AUTHOR. by virtue of his toleration. * And such was his unwearied assiduity and diligence, that he seemed to pray constantly, to preach constantly, to catechise constantly, and to visit the sick, exhorting from house to house, to teach as much in the schools, and spend as much time with the students and young men in fitting them for the ministry, as if he had been sequestrate from all the world besides, and yet withal to write as much as if he had been constantly shut up in his study. But no sooner did the restoration of Charles II. take place than the face of affairs began to change, and after his fore mentioned book, Lex Rex, was burned at the cross of Edinburgh, and at the gates of the new college of St. Andrews, where he was professor of divinity, the parlia- ment in 1661, were to have an indictment laid before them against him, and such was their humanity when every body knew he was a-dying, that they caused summon him to appear before them at Edinburgh, to answer to a charge of high treason : f But he had a higher tribunal to appear before, where his Judge was his friend, and was dead before that time came, being taken away from the evil to come. When on his death-bed, he lamented much that he was withheld from bearing witness to the work of reformation since the year 1638, and upon the 28th of February he gave a large and faithful Testimony J against the sinful courses of that time, which testimony he subscribed twelve days before his death, being full of joy and peace in believing. During the time of his last sickness, especially when his end drew near, he uttered many savoury speeches, and often broke out in a kind of sa- cred rapture, extolling and commending the Lord Jesus, whom he often called his blessed Master his kingly King, Some days before his death he said, I shall shine, I shall see him as he is, I shall see him reign, and all his fair company with him; and I shall have my large share, mine eyes shall see my Redeemer, these very eyes of mine, and no other for me this may seem a wide word, but it's no fancy or delusion ; it's true, it's true, let my Lord's name be exalted, and if he will, let my name be grinded to pieces, that lie may be all in all. If he should slay me ten thousand times ten thousand times, I'll trust. He often repeated, Jer. xv. 16. * Thy words were found, and I did eat them, aud thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.' Exhorting one to be diligent in seek- ir.g God, he said, 'Tis no easy thing to be a Christian, but for me, I * Betwixt this toleration and that of the Duke of York, there was this difference; in this all sects and religions were tolerated, except popery and prelacy; but in that of York, not only these two were tolerated, but all others, except those who profetsed true presbyterian covenanted principles; and a for queen Anne's toleration, it was nothing else than a reduplication upon this, to restore their beloved idol prelacy again. f It is commonly said, that when the summons came, he spoke out of his bed *nd said, Tell them I have got a summons, already before a superior judge and judicatory, and I behove to answer my first summons, and ere your day come I will be where tew kings and preat folks come. When they returned and told he was a-dying, ihe parlia- ment put to a vote. Whether or r.ot to let him die in the college. It carried, Put him out, only a few dissenting. My lord Burleigh said, Ye have voted that honest man out of the college, but ye cannot vole him out of heaven. Some said, He would never win there, hell was too good for him. Eurleigh said, I wish I vere as sure of heaven, as he is, I would think myself happy to get a grip of his sleeve to hawl me in. See Walker's Rein, psge 171. $ This Testimony, and some of his last words were published in 1712. LIFE OP THE AUTHOR. 7 have gotten the victory, and Christ is holding out both his arms to em- brace me. At another time, to some friends about him, he said, At the beginning of ray sufferings I had mine own fears like another sinful man lest I should faint, and not be carried creditably through; and I laid this before the Lord: and as sure as he ever spake to me in his word, as sure his Spirit witnessed to my heart, ' he had accepted my suffering, he said to me, fear not: the outgate shall not be simply matter of prayer, but matter of praise.' I said to the Lord, if he should slay me five thou- sand times five thousand times, I would trust in him; and I spake it with much trembling, fearing I should not make my putt good. But as really as ever he spake to me by his Spirit, he witnessed unto my heart, " tlu'.t his grace should be sufficient.'" The Tuesday's night, before his death, being much weighted with the state of the public, he had that expression, " Terror hath taken hold on me, because of his dispensations.'* And after falling upon his own condition, he said I disclaim all that he ever made me will or do, and look on it as defiled and imperfect, as coming from me ; and I take me to Christ for sanctification, as well as justification; and repeating these words, *' He is made of God tome, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption ;" he added, 1 close with it, let him be so, he is my all in all this. On March the 17th, three gentlewomen coming to see him; after exhorting them to read the word, and be frequent in prayer, and much in communion with God, he said, My honourable Master and love- ly Lord, my great and royal King, hath not a match in heaven or in earth -, I have my own guiltiness like another sinful man, but he hath pardoned, loved, and washed, and given me " joy unspeakable, and full of glory. " I repent not that ever I owned his cause. These whom ye call Protestors are the witnesses of Jesus Christ; I hope never to depart from that cause, nor side with these that have burnt the Causes of God's Wrath. They have broken their covenant oftener than once or twice: but I believe, " The Lord will build Zion, and repair the waste places of Ja- cob." O! to obtain mercy, to wrestle with God for their salvation. As for this Presbytery, it hath stood in opposition to me these years past: I have my record in heaven; I had no particular end in vies*, but was seeking the honour of God, the thriving of the gospel in this place, and the good of the new college, that society which I have left upon the Lord: what personal wrongs they have done to me, and what grief they have occasioned to me, 1 heartily forgive them; and desire mercy to wrestle with God, for mercy to them and all their salvation. The same day, Mr. James M'Gill. Mr. John Wardlaw, Mr. William Violant, and Mr. Alexander Wedderburn, all members of the same presbytery with him, coming to visit him, he made them heartily wel come, and said, My Lord and Master is the chief of ten thousand of thousands, none is comparable to him in heaven or in earth. Dear bre- thren, do all for himj pray for Christ, preach for Christ ; feed the flock committed to your charge for Christ ; do all for Christ ; beware of men pleasing there is too much of it among us. Dear brethren, you know I have had my own grievances among you of this presbytery. He, before whom I stand knows it was not my own interest, but the interest of Jesu* 8 LIfE OF THE AUTHOR. Christ, and the thriving of the gospel, I was seeking. What ericfs or wrongs you have done roe, I heartily forgive, as I desire to be forgiven of Christ. The new college hath broke my heart, and I can say nothing of it, but I have left it upon the Lord of the house and it hath been, and still is, my desire, that he may dwell in this society, and that the youths may be fed with sound knowledge. This is a divided visit of the presbytery and I know so much the less what to say. After this, he said, Dear brethren, it may seem a presumption in me, a particular man, to send a commission to a presbytery; and Mr. M Gill replying, It was no presumption: he continued, Dear brethren, take a commission from me, a dying man, to them, to appear for God and his cause, and adhere to the doctrine of the covenant, and have a care of the flock committed to their charge. Let them feed the flock out of love : preach for God, visit and catechise for God, and do all for God. Be- ware oi man-pleasing : the chief Shepherd will appear shortly ; and tell them from me, dear brethren, that all the personal griefs and wrongs they have done to me, I do cordially and freely forgive them: but for the business of the new college, I have left that upon the Lord: let them see to it, my soul desires the Lord to dwell in that society, and that himself may feed the youths. I have been a sinful man, and have had my fail- ings, but my Lord hath pardoned and accepted my labours. I adhere to the cause and covenant, and mind never to depart from that protesta- tion* against the controverted assemblies. I am the man I was. I am still for keeping the government of the kirk of Scotland entire, and would not for a thousand worlds, have had the least finger of an hand in burn- ing of the Causes of God's Wrath. O ! for grace to wrestle with God for their salvation who have done it; and Mr. Violant having prayed, at his desire, as they took their leave, he renewed his charge to them, '* to feed the flock out of love," The next morning, as he recovered cut of fainting, in which they who looked on expected his dissolution, he said, I feel, I feel, I believe, I joy and rejoice ; I feed on manna. The worthy and famous Mr. Robert Blair, whose praise is in the gospel, through all this church, being with him; [I must tell the reader, our author had this man in high esteem and lived in near friendship and love with him to the day of his death A reverend minister, lately fallen asleep, that was often with Mr. Ruth- erford, told me, he used to call Mr. Blair a worthy man of God.] As Mr. Rutherford took a little wine in a spoon, to refresh himself, being very weak, Mr. Blair said to him, Ye feed on dainties in heaven, and think nothing of our cordials on earth ; he answered, They are all but dung, yet they are Christ's creatures, and out of obedience to his com- mand, I take them; adding, mine eyes shall see my Redeemer, I know he shall stand the last day upon the earth, and I shall be caught up in the clouds to meet him in the air, and 1 shall be ever with him, and what would ye have more, there is an end; and stretching out his hand, again, he said, there is an end. A little after, he said, 1 have been a wicked sinful man, but I stand at the best pass that ever a man did, Christ is * Tiiis appears to be those papers bearing the name of representations, propositions, protestations, &c. given in by him and Messrs. Caul and Livingstone, to the ministers aud elders met at Edinburgh, July 24, 1652. LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 9 mine and I am his; and spake much of the white stone, and the new name. Mr. Blair, who loved to hear Christ commended with all his> heart, said to him again, What think ye now of Christ? to which he replied, I shall live and adore him : glory, glory, to my Creator, and to my Re- deemer for ever : glory shines in Immanuel's land. In rhe afternoon of that day, he said, O! that all my brethren, in the public, may know what a Master I have served, and what peace I have this day: ' I shall sleep in Christ, and when I awake, 1 shall be satisfied with his likeness.' And he said, This night shall close the door, a d put my anchor within the vail, and I shall go away in a sleep, by five of the clock in the morning: which exactly fell out according as he had ti Id that night. Though he was very weak, he had often this expression O for arms to embrace him ; O for a well tuned harp. Aod he exhorted Dr. Colvil, (a man that complied with Episcopacy afterwards,) to adhere to the government of the kirk of Scotland, and to the doctrine of the covenant; and to have a care that youth were fed with sound knowledge; and expressed his desire that Christ might dwell in that society, and that vice and profaneness might be borne down ; and the doctor being a pro- fessor in the new college, he told him, That he heartily forgave him all offence he had done him. He spake likewise to Mr. Honeyman, who came to see him, (the man, who afterward not only submitted to the Episcopal government, but wrote in defence of it, and was made Bishop of Orkney,) and desired him to tell the presbytery to appear for God and his cause, and covenant, saying, The case is not desperate, let them be in their duty. And di- recting his speech to Dr. Colvil, and Mr. Honeyman, he said: Stick to it. Ye may think it an easy thing in me, a dying man, that is now go* ing out of the reach of all that man can do, but he, before whom I stand, knows I dare advise no colleague or brother to do what I would not cor- dially do myself, upon all hazard : and as tor the Causes of God's Wrath, that men have now condemned; tell Mr. James \V,od from me, that I had rather lay my head down on a scaffold, and suffer it to be chopped off many times, were it possible, before I had passed fro;n them. And to Mr. Honeyman he said, Tell Mr. James Wood from me, I heartily forgive him all wrongs he has done me ; and desire him from me, to de- clare himself the man that he id, still Tor the government of the church of Scotland. And truly Mr. Rutherford was not deceived in him, for the learned, pious, and worthy Mr. Wood was true and faithful to the presbyterian government ; nothing could bow him to comply, in the least degree, with abjured prelacy; so far from that, that apostacy and treachery of others, whom he had too much trusted, broke his upright spirit, especially the ag- gravated defection and perfidy of one whom he termed Judas, Demas, and Gehazi, concentred in one, after he found what part he acted to the church of Scotland, under trust. For this Mr. Wood went to the grave a man of sorrows, and left his testimony behind him to the work of God in this land, which has been in print a long time ago. I owe this piece of jus- tice to the memory of this great man ; and to shew that the only differ- ences betwixt Mr. Rutherford and him, were occasioned by Mr. Wood's joining with the promoters of the public resolutions of that time, but Mr. B 10 .LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. Rutherford ever spoke of him with regard, and as a good man whom he loved. After, when some spoke to Mr. Rutherford of his former pain- fulness and faithfulness in the work of God, he said, I disclaim all that, the port I would be at is redemption and forgiveness, through his blood* Thou shall shew me the path of life, in thy sight is fulness of joy. There is nothing now betwixt me and the resurrection; " But to-day thou shall be wih me in paradise:'' Mr. Blair saying, shall I praise the Lord for all the mercies he hath done for you, and is to do ? He answered, O for a well tuned harp. To his child he said, I have again left you upon the Lord; it may be you will tell this to others. That the lines are fallen to me in pleasant places, I have a goodly heritage : I bless the Lord that gave me counsel. On the 19th of March 1661, about five o'clock in the morning, (as he himself had foretold,) it was said unto him, Come up hither, and he gave up the ghost; and the renowned eagle took its flight unto the mountain of spices. Thus died the famous Mr. Rutherford, who may justly be accounted among the sufferers of that time; for surely he was a martyr both in his own design and resolution, and by the design and determination of men* Few men ever ran so long a race without cessation, so constantly, so unweariedly, and so unblameably. Two things, rarely to be found in one man, were eminent in him, viz. a quick invention and sound judg- ment, and these accompanied with a homely but clear expression, and graceful elocution; so that such as knew him best were in a strait whe- ther to admire him most for his penetrating wit and sublime genius in the schools, and peculiar exactness in disputes and matters of controversy, or his familiar condescension in the pulpit, where he was one of the most moving and affectionate preachers in his time, or perhaps in any age of the church. To sum up all in a word, He seems to be one of the most resplendent lights th: * ever arose in this horizon. In all. his writings he breathes the true spirit of religion, but in his every way admirable Letters, he seems to have outdone himself, as well as every body else, which, although jested on by the profane wits of the age, because of some homely and familiar expressions in them, it must be owned by all who have any relish for true piety, that they contain such sublime flights of devotion, that they must at once ravish and edify every sober, serious, and understanding reader. Among the posthumous works of the laborious Mr. Rutherford are his Letters; the Trial and Triumph of Faith: Christ's Dying and Drawing of Sinners, &c. and a Discourse on prayer; all in octavo. A Discourse on the Covenant; on Liberty of Conscience; A Survey of Spiritual An- tichrist; A Survey of Antinomianisra; Antichrist Stormed ; and several other controverted pieces, such as Lex Hex; the Due Right of Church Government ; the Divine Right of Church Government ; and Peaceable Plea for Presbytery ; are for the most part in quarto, as also his Sum- mary of Church Discipline, and a Treatise on the Divine Influence of the Spirit. There are also a variety of his Sermons in print, some of which were preached before both houses of parliament annis 1644 and 1645. He wrote also upon providence, but that being in Latin, is only LIFE OF THE AHUTOR. 11 in the hands of a few; as are also the greater part of his works, being so seldom rquiblished. There is also a volume of sermons, Sacramental Discourses, &c. AN EPITAPH ON HIS GRAVE-STONE. What tongue! What pen, or skill of men Can famous Rutherford commend ! His learning justly rais'd his fame, True goodness did adorn his name. He did converse with things above, Acquainted with Emmanuel's love. Most orthodox he was, and sound, And many errors did confound. For Zion's king, and Zion's cause, And Scotland's covenanted laws, Most constantly he did contend, Until his time was at an end. At last he wan to the full fruition Of that which he had seen in vision, October 9th, 1735. W. CHRISTIAN READER, IN each of these Epistles thou raayest perceive, how the Writer's heart is inflamed with a holy fire ; and how his soul ascends in the smoke : as snatched up to heaven, and caught up above all that is below God : O how much drops from his pen above the ordinary attainments and expe- rience, even of such who seem to have out-run others! So that in re- spect of us, this angel of the church speaks as one standing already in the choir of angels, or as an angel conr.e down from heaven among men, to give us some account of what they are doing above. And thus leav- ing thee to peruse \vhat is made public for thy edification; and to press this pomegranate and squeeze this grape ; and to suck till thou find thy soul refreshed with its spictd wine; and wishing thee an experimental knowledge of that, surpassing and inconceivable sweetnpss which is in the fruition of God, and to be enjoyed in a fellowship with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ, and a full draught of these pure streams of solid joy and consolation, wherein the soul of this saint swimmed, and which run through these lines; without which, while he speaks as coming forth out of the king's banqueting house, to persuade thee to go in thith- er, and feast and bathe thy soul in the same pure delights, and permanent pleasures, whereon he fed, and which flow in upon the soul and overflow it, while the saint finds himself, with his Beloved's left hand under his head, and his right hand embracing him, he will be to thee a barbarian. I shall only wish and beg, that thou wouldest seriously seek of God, the same thing for him, who seeks this for thee, and hath this design in the pains taken in publishing these Letters, if thou be thereby provoked to geek till thou find; this is that adequate recompense which he seeks, earnestly intreats, and expects, who is Thy soul's well-wisher, and Servant in Christ Jesus. NOTE. The Letters are divided into three parts ; Part First contains those which were writ- ten from Aberdeen, where he was confined by a sentence of the High Commission drawn forth against him, partly upon the account of declining them, partly upon the account of his Nonconformity. Parts Second and Third contain some which were written from Anwoth, before he was, by the Prelates' persecution, thrust out of his ministry; and others upon divers oc- casions afterward, frcm St. Andrews, London, &c. PART FIRST. LETTERS. LETTER I. I ragement of you all, I dare say it, TO MR. ROBKRT CUNINGHAME, and write it under my hand, Wel- Minister of the Gospel at Holywood, in Ireland. \ com g f welcome, SWCet, Sweet CTOSS of Well Beloved and Rev. Brother, I Christ. I verily think the chains of GRACE, mercy, and peace, be to mv Lord Jesus are all overlaid with you : Upon acquaintance in Christ, p ure gold, and that his cross is per r I thought good, to take the appOMfamtd, and that it smel'.eth of Christ; tunity of writing to you. Seeing it a nd that the victory shall be by the hath seemed good to the Lord of blood of the Lamb, and by the word the harvest, to take the hooks out Lf his truth; and that Christ lying of our hands for a time, and so lay on hj g back, in his weak servants upon us a more honourable service, an d oppressed truth, shall ride over even to suffer for his name ; it were |,j s enemies' bellies, and shall strike good to comfort one another in writ- \ihrough kings in the day of his wrath. ing. I have had a desire to see you i t j s time to laugh when he laugheth in the face, yet now being the pri- an( j seeing he is now pleased to sit soner of Christ, it is taken away. I w ith wrongs for a time, it becometh am greatly comforted to hear of your us t o be silent, until the Lord hath stately spirit, for your princely and h e t the enemies enjoy their hungry, royal Captain, Jesus Christ our Lord, lean, and feckless paradise ; blessed and of the grace of God in the rest are they who are content to take of our dear brethren with you. You strokes with weeping Christ; faith have heard of my trouble I suppose. W JH trust the Lord, and is not hasty, It hath pleased our sweet Lord Je- nor head-strong; neither is faith so BUS, to let loose the malice of these timorous, as to flatter a tentation interdicted lords in his house, to de- or to bud and bribe the cross. It prive me of my ministry at Anwoth, MS little up or little down that the and to confine me eightscore miles Lamb and his followers can get no from thence to Aberdeen; and al&o law-surety, nor truce with crosses; (which was not done to any before) jt must be so, till we be up in our 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, whereoi they accused me, those three days I appeared before them ; but let our crowned King in Zion reign ; by his grace the loss is theirs, the advan- tage is Christ's and truth's Albeit this honest cross gained some ground on me by my heaviness, and inward challenges of conscience for a time were sharp, yet now for the encou- Father's house ; my heart is woe in- deed for my mother church, that hath played the harlot with many lovers ; for her husband hath a mind to sell her for her horrible transgres- sions, and heavy will the hand ot the Lord be upon this backsliding na- tion. The ways of our Zion mourn; her gold is become dim, her white Nazarites are black like a cnal ; how shall the children not weep, when the husband ami the mother cannot agree; yet I believe Scotland's skies shall clear again, and that Christ LETTER II. PART I. shall build again the old waste places of Jacob, and that our dead and dry bones shall become an army of liv ing men ; and that our Well beloved may yet feed among the lilies, until the day break, and the shadows flee away. 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 ; 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 wa- ter, so that his high and holy name may be glorified in me: strokes with the sweet Mediator's hand, are very sweet; he has always been sweet to my soul, but since I suffered for him, his breath hath a sweeter smell than before. Oh that every hair of my bead, 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, how. beit, otherwise I am a faint, dead- hearted, cowardly man, often borne down, and hungry in waiting for the marriage-supper of the Lamb : Ne- vertheless, 1 think it the Lord's wise love that feeds us with hunger, and makes us fat with wants and deser- tions. I know nor, my dear Brother, if our worthy brethren be gone to sea o;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. Liv- ingston, and Mr. M'Cleland, and acquaint them with my troubles, and intreat them to pray for the poor afflicted prisoner of Christ they are dear to my soul ; I seek your pray- ers and theirs for my flock ; their re- membrance breaks my heart: 1 de- sire 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 N 7 orth : I will charge my soul to be- lieve 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. I am, Your Brotlier in Affliction, in our sweet Lord Jesus, S. B from Irving, being on my journey to Christ's palace in Aberdeen, Aug. 4, 163G. LETTER II. TO HIS PARISHIONERS. DEARLY beloved and longed for in the Lord, my crown and my joy in the day of Christ : grace be to you, and peace from God our Fa- ther, and our Lord Jesus Christ. I long exceedingly to know, if the oft-spoken of match betwixt you and Christ holdeth ; and if you fol- low on to know the Lord. My day thoughts and my night thoughts are of you ; while ye sleep I am afraid of your souls, that they be off the rock ; next to rny Lord Jesus and this fallen kirk, ye have the greatest share of my sorrow, and also of my joy ; ye are the matter of the tears, care, tear, and daily prayers of an oppressed prisoner of Christ. As I am in bonds for my high and lofty One, my royal and princely Mas- FART I. LETTER II. ter, my Lord Jesus ; so I am in bonds for you: for I should havt sleeped in my warm nest, and kept the fat world in my arms, and the cords of my tabernacle should have been fastened more strongly, I might have sung an evangel of rase to my soul and you for a time with my bre- thren, the sons of my mother, that were angry at me, and have thrust me out of the vineyard, if I should have been broken, and drawn on to mire you the Lord's flock, and to cause you eat pastures trodden up- j you, and ye follow him, I assure you, the man's work shall burn, and never bide God's fire, and ye and he both shall be in danger of everlast- ing burning, except ye repent. O if any pain, any sorrow, any loss that I can suffer for Christ, and for you, were kid in pledge to buy Christ'* love to you, and that I could lay my dearest joys next to Christ my Lord in the gap, betwixt you and eternal destruction ! O if I had paper a broad as heaven and earth, and ink as the st a, and all the rivers and on with rnen'p feet, and to drink foul ' fountains of the earth, and were and muddy waters: but truly the j able to write the love, the worth, A Imighry was a terror to me, and j the excellency, the sweetness, and his fear made me afraid. O my i due praises of our dearest and tairest Lord judge if my ministry be not Well-beloved: and then if ye could dear to me, but not so dear by many read and understand it ! What could degree! as Christ Jesus my Lord ' I wa^it, if my ministry among you God knoweth the sad and heavy j should make a marriage between sabbatlis I have had; since I laid the little bride in that bounds and down at my Master's feet my two shepherd's staves, I have been often saying, as it is written, Lam. iii. 52, 53. * My enemies chased me sore like a bird without cause : they have cut oft* my life in the dungeon, and cast a stone upon me :' -for, next to Christ, I had but one joy, the apple of the eye of my delights, to preach Christ my Lord, and they have violently plucked that away from me, and it was to me like the poor man's one eye, and they have put out that eye. and quenched my light in the inheritance of the Lord -, but my eye is toward the Lord I know I shall see the salvation of God, and that my hope shall not al- ways be forgotten. And my sorrow shall want nothing to complete it, and to make me say, What availeth it me to live? If ve follow the voice of a stranger, of one that cometh into the sheep-fold not by Christ the door, but climbeth up another way. If the man build his hay and stub- ble upon the golden foundation, Christ Jesus, already laid among the bridegroom ? O how rich a pri- soner were I, if I could obtain of my Lord, before whom I stand for you, the salvation of you all ! O what a prey had I gotten, to have you catched in Christ's net ! O then I had cast out my Lord's line? and his net with a rich gain ! O then, well-wared pained breast and sore back, and crazed body, in speak- ing early and late to you ! My wit- ness is above, your heaven would be two heavens to me, and the sal- vation of you all as two salvations to me; I wou-d subscribe a suspension, and a fristing of my heaven, for many hundred years, according to God's good pleasure, if you were sure in the upper lodging, in our Father's house, before me. I take to witness heaven and earth against you, I take instruments in the hands of that sun and day-light that beheld us, and iu the hands of the timber and walls of that kirk, if I drew not up a fair contract of marriage be- twixt you and Ch.-ist, if I went not with oilers betwixt the Bridegroom 16 LETTER II. PART I. and you; and your conscience did bear you witness, your mouths con- fesse-1, that there were many fair trysts and meetings drawn on be- twixt Christ and you at communion feasts and other occasions; there were bracelets, jewels, rings, and love-letters, sent to you by the Bridegroom ; it was told you what a fair dowery ye should have, and what a house your husband and ye should dwell in, and what was the Bride- groom's excellency, sweetnes9,raight, power; the eternity and glory of his kingdom, the exceeding deep- ness of his love, who sought his black wife through pain, fires, shame, death, and the grave, and swimmed the salt sea for her, undergoing the curse of the law, and then was made a curse for you, and ye then con- sented and said, Even so I take him. I counsel you, beware of the new and strange leaven of men's inven- tions, beside and against the word of God, contrair to the oath of this kirk, now coming among you ; I instructed you of the superstition and idolatry of kneeling in the in- slant of receiving the Lord's supper, and crossing in baptism, and the ob- serving of men's days without any warrant of Christ our perfect law- giver : countenance not the surplice, the attire of the mass priest, the gar- ment of Baal's priests, the abomina- ble bowing to altars of tree is com- ing upon you ; hate, and keep your- selves from idols ; forbear in any case to hear the reading of the new fatherless Service-book, full of gross heresies, popish and superstitious errors, without any warrant of Christ, tending to the overthrow of preach- ing: you owe no obedience to the bastard canons; they are unlawful, blasphemous, and superstitious : all the ceremonies that lye in the Anti- christ's foul womb, the wares of that great mother of- fornications, the kirk of Rome, are to be refused; ye see whither they lead you; con- tinue still in the doctrine which ye have received; ye heard of me the whole counsel of God, sew no clouts upon Christ's robe; take Christ in his rags and losses, and as perse- cuted by men, and be content to sigh and pant up the mountain, with Christ's cross on your back ; let me be reputed a false prophet, (and your conscience once said the con- trair,) if your Lord Jesus shall not stand by yon, and maintain you, and maintain your cause against your enemies. I have heard, and my soul is grieved for it, that since my departure irom you, many a- mong you are turned back from the good old way, to the dog's vomit again; let me speak to these men: it was not without God's special di- rection, that the first sentence that ever my mouth uttered to you was that of John ix. 39. ' And Jesus said, For judgement came I into the world, that they which see not might see, and they which see might be made blind.' It is possible, my first meeting and yours be, when we shall both stand before the dreadful Judge of the world: and in the name and authority of the Son of God, my great King and Master, I write, by these presents, summons to these men, I arrest their souls and bodies to the day of our compearance; their eternal damnation stands sub* scribed, and sealed in heaven, by the hand- writing of the great Judge of quick and dead ; and 1 am ready to stand up, as a preaching witness against such to their face, that day, and to say Amen to their condem- nation, except they repent. The vengeance of the gospel is heavier than the vengeance of the law ; the Mediator's malediction and venge- ance is twice vengeance, and that vengeance is the due portion of such men ; and there I leave them as bound men, ay, and while they re- fART I. LETTER II. 17 pent and amend. You were wit- nesses how the Lord's day was spent while I was among you: O sacrileg- ious robber of God's day, what wilt thou answer the Almighty when he eeeketh so many sabbaths back again from thee? What will the curser, swearer, and blasphemer do, when his tongue shall be roasted in that broad and burning lake of fire and brimstone: and what will the drunk- ard do when tongue, lungs, and liver, bones and all, shall boil and Try in a torturing fire ? for he shall be far from his barrels of strong drink then, and there is not a cold well of water for him in hell. What shall be the case of the wretch, the covetous man, the oppressor, the deceiver, the earth worm, who can never get his womb full of ciay, when in the day of Christ, gold and silver must lye burnt in ashes, and he must compear and answer his Judge, an.' 1 quit his clayey and naughty heaven ? Woe, woe, for evermore, be to the time-turning Atheist, that hath one God and one religion for summer, and another God and another religion for winter, and the day of fanning, when Christ fanneth all that is in his barn floor ; who hath a conscience for every fair and market, and the soul of him runneth upon these oilea wheels, time, custom, the world, and command of men: O if the careless Atheist, and sleeping man, who edg- eth by all, with, God forgive our pas- tors if they lead us wrong, we must do as they command, and lay down his head upon time's bosom, and giveth his conscience to a deputy, and sleep- eth so while the smoke of hell-fire flee up in big throat, and cause him to start out of his doleful bed ! O if such a man would awake. Many woes are for the over-gilded and gold-plaistered hypocrite. A heavy doom is for the liar and white- tongued flatterer; and the flying book of God's fearful vengeance, twenty cubits long, and ten cubits broad, that goeth out from the lace of God, shall enter into the house, and in upon the soul of him that stealeth and sweareth falsely by God's name, Zoch. v. 2, 3. I de- nounce eternal burning, hotter than Sodom's flames, upon the men that boil in filthy lusts of fornication, a- adultery, incest, and the like wick- edness, no room, no, not a foot breadth for such vile dogs within the clean Jerusalem, Many of you put off all with this, ' God forgive us, we know no better:* I renew my old answer, 2 Thess. i. the Judge is coming ' in flaming fire, with all his mighty angels, to render ven- geance to all those that know not God and believe not.* 1 have often told you, security shall slay you : all men say they have faith, as many men and women now, as many saints in heaven : and all believe, say ye, every foul dog is clean enough, and good enough for the clean and new Jerusalem above. Every man hath conversion and the new birth : but it is not leei come; they had never a sick night for sin; conver- sion came to them in a night-dream : In a word, hell will be empty at the day of Judgment, and heaven pang- ed full : alas ! it is neither easy nor ordinary to believe and to be saved ; many must stand in the end at hea- en's gates; when they go to take out their faith, they take out a fair nothing, or as ye used to speak, a bleflume: O lamentable disappoint- ment! I pray you, 1 charge you in the name of Christ, make fast work of Christ and salvation. I know there are some believers among you, and I write to you, O poor broken hearted believers :. all the comforts of Christ in the Old and New Tes- tament are yours. O what a father and husband you have! O if I had pen and ink, and engine, to write of him! Let heaven and earth be C 18 LETTER II. TART I. consolidate in massy and pure gold, it will not weigh the thousand part of Christ's love to a soul, even to me a poor prisoner : O that is a mas sy and marvellous love ! Men and angels, unite your force and strength in one; ye shall not heave nor poise it off the ground: ten thousand worlds, 'as many wot Ids as angels can number, and then, as a new world of angels can multiply, would not all be the balk of a balance to weigh Christ's excellency, sweetness and love : put ten earths in one, and let a rose grow greater than ten whole earths, or ten worlds, O what beauty would be in it, and what a smell would it cast but a blast of the breath of that fairest rose in all God's paradise, even of Christ Jesus our Lord, one look of that fairest face would be infinitely, in beauty and smell, above ail imaginable and created glory. I wonder that men can bide off Christ. I would esteem myself blessed, if I could make an open proclamation, and gather all the world, that are living upon the earth, Jew and Gentile, and all that shall be born till the blowing of the last trumpet, to ftock round about Christ and to stand looking, won- dering, admiring, and adoring his beauty and sweetness; for his fire is hotter than any other fire, his love sweeter than common love, his beau- ty surpasseth all other beauty. When 1 am heavy and sad, one of his love- looks would do me meiklo world's good. O if ye would fail in love with him ! How blessed were 1 ! How glad would my soul be to help you to love him! But amongst u* al!, we could not love him enough: he is the Son of the Father's love, and God's delight, the Father's love lyeth all upon him : O if ail man- kind would fetch ail their love, and lay it upon him. Invite him and tak-. li.'ra home to your houses, in the exercise of prayer, morning and evening, as I often desired you, es- pecially now, let him not want lodg- ing in your houses, nor lye in the tields, when he is shut out of pulpits and kirks. If ye will be content to take heaven by violence, and the wind on your face, for Christ and his cross, I am here one who have some trial of Christ's cross ; I can say, that Christ was ever kind to me, but he overcomcth himself, if I may speak so, in kindness while t suffer for him; I give you my word for it, Christ's cross is not so evil as they call it; it is sweet, light, and comfortable: I would not want the visitations of love, and the very breathings of Christ's mouth when he kisseth, and my Lord's delightsome smiles and love embracements, un- der my suferings for him, for a moun- tain of gold, nor for all the honours, court, and grandeur of velvet kirk- men; Christ hath the yolk and heart of my love, I am my Beloved's, and my Well Beloved is mine.' O that ye were all hand-fastened to Christ ! my dearly beloved in the Lord, 1 would I could change my voice, and had a tongue tuned with the hand of my Lord, and had the art of speaking of Christ, that I might paint out unto yo:i the worth, and highness, and greatness, and excel- lency of that fairest and renowned Bridegroom! I beseech you by the mercies of the Lord, by the sighs, tears, and heart's blood of our Lord Jesus, by the salvation of your poor and precious souls, set up the moun- tain, that ye and I may meet before the Lamb's throne, amongst the con- gregation of the first-born. Lord, grant that that may be the trysting- place, that ye and I may put up our hands together, and pluck and eat the apples off the tree of life, and we may feast together, and drink together ot' that pure river of the water of life, that cometh out from under the throne of God, and from PAUT I. LETTER III. 19 the Lamb. O how little is your hand-breadth and span-length of days here ! Your inch of time is Jess than when ye and I parted: eternity, eternity is coming, posting on witli wings; then shall every man's blacks and whites be brought to light. O how light will your thoughts be of this fair-skinned but heart-rotten ap- ple, the vain, vain, feckless world, when the worms shall make their houses in your eye-holes, and shall eat off the flesh from the ball of your cheeks, and shall make that body a number of dry bones! Think not the common way of serving God, as neighbour and others do, will bring you to heaven; few, few are saved; the devil's court is thick and many; he hath the greatest number of man- kind for his vassels. I know this world is a forest of thorns in your way to heaven ; but you must through : it; acquaint yourselves with the Lord, hold fast Christ, hear his voice only, Wess his name, sanctify and keep his day; keep the new com- mandment, 'love one another;' let the Holy Spirit dwell in your bodies, and be clean and holy ; love not the world, lie not, love and follow truth; learn to know God: keep in mind what I taught you ; for God will seek an account of it, when I am far from you; abstain from all evil, and all appearance of evil; follow good carefully, and seek peace, and follow after it; honour your king, and pray for him; renumber me to God in your prayers, I do not forget you. I told you often, while I was with you, and now I write it a^ain. Heavy, sad, and sore, is that stroke of the Lord's wrath that is coming upon Scotland : wo, wo, wo to this harlot land: for they shall take the cup of God's wrath from his hands, and drink, and spue, and fall, and not rise again. In, in, in with speed, to your strong hold, ye prisoners of hope, and hide you there, while the anger of the Lord pass: follow not the pastors of this J and, for the sun is gone down upon them; as the Lord liveth, they lead you from Christ, and from the good old way; yet the Lord will keep the holy city, and make this withered kirk to bud again like a rose, and a field blessed of the Lord. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. The prayers and blessings of a prisoner of Christ, in bonds for him, ami for you, be with you all, Amen. Tour lawful and loving pastor S. R. Aberdeen, July 14, 1657. ** ~>