A57970:1303
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.
Truly Honoured & Dearly beloved.
Grace, mercy & peace be to you, from God our father & our Lord Jesus Christ. Think it not strange, beloved in our Lord Jesus, that Satan can command keys of prisons & bolts & chains; this is a piece of the Devil's Princedom that he hath over the world: interpret & understand our Lord well in this: be not jealous of his love, though he make devils and men his under-servants to scour the rust off your faith & purge you from your dross. And let me charge you, O prisoners of hope, to open your window & to look out by faith, & behold heavens post, that speedy & swift salvation of God, that is coming to you; it is a broad river that faith will not look over; it is a mighty & a broad sea that they of a lively hope cannot behold the furthest bank & other shore thereof: Look over the water, your anchor is fixed within the veil, the one end of the cable is about the prisoner of Christ, & the other is entered within the veil, whither the forerunner is entered for you, Heb. 6: 19, 20. It can go straight through the flames of the fire of the wrath of men, devils, losses, tortures, death, and not a thread of it be either singed or burnt; men and devils have no teeth to bite it in two: Hold fast till he come: Your cross is of the colour of heaven & Christ, & pasmented over with the faith & comforts of the Lord's faithful Covenant with Scotland; & that dye & colour will abide the foul weather, & neither be stained nor cast the colour; yea it reflects a scad like the cross of Christ, whose holy hands, many a day lifted up to God praying for sinners, were fettered and bound, as if these blessed hands had stolen & shed innocent ⟨p. 491⟩blood: When your lovely, lovely Jesus had no better then the thief's doom, it is no wonder that your process be lawless and turned upside down; for he was taken, fettered, buffeted, whipped, spitted upon, before he was convicted of any fault, or sentenced. Oh, such a pair of sufferers and witnesses, as high and royal Jesus and a poor piece guilty clay marrowed together, under one yoke! O how lovely is the cross with such a second! I believe that your prison is enacted in God's court, not to keep you till your hope breath out it's life & last: Your cross is under law to restore you again safe to your brethren & sisters in Christ: take heaven and Christ's back-bond for a fair back-door out of your suffering.