A57970:1356
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.
To AGNES MCMATH. (38)
Dear Sister.
IF our Lord hath taken away your child, your lease of him is expired, & seeing Christ would want him no longer, it is your part to hold your peace, & worship & adore the sovereignty & liberty that the potter hath over the clay & pieces of clay-nothings that he gave life unto: And what is man to call & summon the Almighty to his lower Court down here? For he giveth account of none of his doings: And if ye will take a loan of a child & give him back again to our Lord, laughing, as his borrowed goods should return to him, believe he is not gone away, but sent before, & that the change of the country should make you think, he is not lost to you who is found to Christ, & that he is now before you, & that the dead in Christ shall be raised again: A going down star is not annihilate, but shall appear again: If he have cast his bloom & flower, the ⟨p. 519⟩bloom is fallen in heaven in Christ's lap; And as he was lent a while to Time, so is he given now to Eternity, which will take yourself: And the difference of your shipping & his, to heaven & Christ's shore, the land of life, is only in some few years, which weareth every day shorter, & some short & soon-reckoned summers will give you a meeting with him; but what? with him? ••y, with better company, with the chief & leader of the heavenly troops that are riding on white horses, that are triumphing in glory. If Death were a sleep that had no wakening, we might sorrow: But our Husband shall quickly be at the bed-sides of all that lie sleeping in the grave, & shall raise their mortal bodies. Christ was Death's Cautioner, who gave his word to come & loose all the clay-pawns & set them at his own right hand, & our Cautioner, Christ, hath an Act of Law-surety upon Death to render back his captives: And that Lord Jesus, who knoweth the turnings & windings that is in that black trance of Death, hath numbered all the steps of the stair up to heaven; he knoweth how long the turnpike is or how many pair of stairs high it is, for he ascended that way himself.