A57970:384
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 1 › Letter 61: To his worthy & much honoured friend FULK ELIES. (61)
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 his worthy & much honoured friend FULK ELIES. (61)
Worthy & much honoured in our Lord
Grace, mercy & peace be to you: I am glad of our more then paper-acquaintance: Seeing we have one father, ⟨p. 136⟩it reckoneth the less though we never saw one another's faces. I profess my self most unworthy to follow the camp of such a worthy & renowned captain, as Christ. Oh alas, I have cause to be grieved, that men expect any thing of such a wretched man as I am: It is a wonder to me, if Christ can make any thing of my naughty, short & narrow love to him; surely it is not worth the up-taking. 2. As for our lovely and beloved Church in Ireland, my heart bleedeth for her desolation; but I believe our Lord is only lopping the vine trees, but not intending to cut them down or root them out. It is true, seeing we are heart-Atheists by nature, & cannot take providence aright, [because we halt & crook ever since we fell] we dream of an halting providence, as if God's yard whereby he measureth joy & sorrow to the sons of men, were crooked & unjust, because servants are on horse-back & Princes go on foot; but our Lord dealeth good & evil & some one portion or other to both, by ounce-weights; & measureth them in a just and even balance. It is but folly to measure the Gospel by summer or winter-weather: The summer-sun of the saints, shineth not on them in this life: how should we have complained if the Lord had turned the same providence, that we now stomach at, up-side down, & had ordered matters thus, that first the saints should have enjoyed heaven, glory, & ease, & then Methusalem's days of sorrow & daily miseries; we should think a short heaven no heaven: certainly his ways pass finding out. 3. Ye complain of the evil of heart-atheism, but it is to a greater atheist then any man can be, that ye write to of that: Oh, light findeth not that reverence & fear as a plant of God's setting should find in our soul! How do we by nature, as others, detain & captivate the truth of God in unrighteousness, & so make God's light a bound prisoner, & even when the prisoner breaketh the jail & cometh out in belief of a Godhead, & in some practice of holy obedience; how often do we of new, lay hnds on the prisoner and put our light again in fetters: