A57970:1156
Joshua Redivivus, or Mr. Rutherford's Letters
Joshua redivivus, or, Mr. Rutherford's letters divided into two parts, the first, containing these which were written from Aberdeen, where he was confined by a sentence of the high commission ... partly on account of his non-conformance : the second, containing some which were written from Anwoth ... / now published for the use of all the people of God ... by a well-wisher to the work & people of God.Joshua redivivus, or, Mr. Rutherfoord's letters divided into two parts, the first, containing these which were written from Aberdeen, where he was confined by a sentence of the high commission ... partly on account of his non-conformance : the second, containing some which were written from Anwoth ... / now published for the use of all the people of God ... by a wellwisher to the work & people of God.
Rotterdam? : s.n., 1664
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
some of the people of God slander God's grace in their souls as some wretches use to do, who complain & murmur of want, I have nothing [say they] all is gone, the ground yieldeth but weeds & windlestraws; when as their fa• harvest, & their money on bank maketh them liars. But for my self, alas! I think it is not my sin, I have scarce wit to sin this fin: But I advise you to speak good of Christ, for his beauty & sweetness, & speak good of him for his grace to your selves. 5. Light remaineth, ye say, but ye cannot attain to painfulness: See if this complaint be ⟨p. 422⟩not booked in the new Testament, & the place Rom. 7 18. Is like this, To will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I know not. But every one hath not Paul's spirit in complaining: For often in us, complaining is but an humble back biting & traducing of Christ's new work in the soul. But for the matter of the complaint I would say: The light of glory is perfectly obeyed in loving and praising and rejoicing & resting in a seen & known Lord; but that light is not hereaway in any clay body, for while we are here, light i• in the most part broader & longer then our narrow & feckless obedience: But if there be light with a fair train & a great back, I mean, armies of challenging thoughts & sorrow for coming short of performance in what we know & see ought to be performed, then that sorrow for not doing is accepted of our Lord for doing: Our honest sorrow & sincere aims, together with Christ's intercession pleading that God would welcome that which we have & forgive what we have not, must be our life, till we be over the bound-road & in the other country, where the law will get a perfect soul. 6. In Christ's absence there is [as ye write] a willingness to use means, but heaviness after the use of them, because of formal & slight performance. In Christ's absence I confess the work lieth behind, but if ye mean absence of comfort & absence of sense of his sweet presence, I think that absence is Christ's trying of us, not simply our sin against him: Therefore howbeit our Obedience then, be not sugared and sweetened with joy [which is the sweet meat bairns would still be at] yet the less sense & the more willingness in obeying, the less formality in our obedience, howbeit we ••in• not so;