A57970:1166
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
Part 2 › Letter 4: To the elect & noble Lady my Lady Kenmure. (4)
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.
To the elect & noble Lady my Lady Kenmure. (4)
MADAM.
Saluting your La: with grace & mercy from God our father & from om Lord Jesus Christ, I was sorry at my departure, leaving your La: in grief, & would still be g•d at it, if I were not assured that ye have one with you in the furnace, […] visage is like unto the Son of God: I am glad that ye have been acquainted from your youth with the wrestlings of God, & that ye get scarce liberty to swallow down your spittle, being cast from furnace to furnace, knowing if ye were not dear to God, and if your health did not require so much of him, he would not spend so much Physic upon you. All the brethren & sisters ⟨p. 428⟩of Christ must be conform to his image & copy in suffering. Rom, 8, And some do more vively resemble the copy then others: Think Madam, that it is a part of your glory to be enrolled among these, whom one of the Elders, Rev. 7, 14. pointeth out to John, th•se are they which came out of great tribulation, & have washed their robes & made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Behold your forerunner going out of the world all in a lake of blood, & it is not ill to die as he did: Fulfil with joy the remnant of the grounds & remainders of the afflictions of Christ in your body. Ye have lost a child: Nay: She is not lost to you, who is found to Christ, she is not sent away, but only sent before, like unto a star, which going out of our sight doeth not die & evanish, but shineth in another hemisphere: ye see her not, yet she doeth shine in another country: If her glass was but a short hour, what she wanteth of time, that she hath gotten of eternity: & ye have to rejoice that ye have now some plenishing up in heaven: Build your nest upon no tree here, for ye see God hath sold the forrest to death, and every tree whereupon we would rest, is ready to be cut down, to the end we may flee & mount up & build upon the rock & dwell in the holes of the rock. What ye love besides Jesus your husband, is an adulterous lover: Now it is God's special blessing to Judah that he will not let her find her paths in following her strange lovers,