A57970:398
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.
My very honourable & Noble Lord.
Grace, mercy & peace be to your Lo: pardon me to express my earnest desire to your Lo: for Zions sake, for whom we should not hold our peace. I know your Lo: will take my pleading on this behalf in the better part, because the necessity of a falling & weak church is urgent. I believe your Lo: is one of Zion's friends, & that by obligation; for when the Lord shall count & write up the people, it shall be written this man was born there: Therefore because your Lo: is a born son of the house, I hope your desire is, that the beauty & glory of the Lord may dwell in the midst of the city, whereof your Lo: is a son. It must be without all doubt the greatest honour of your place & house, to kiss the son of God, & for his sake to be kind to his oppressed & wronged bride, who now in the day of her desolation beggeth help of you that are the shields of the earth: I am sure ma•y Kings, Princes & Nobles in the day of Christ's second coming, would be glad to run errands for Christ, even bare footed through fire & water; but in that day he will have none of their service: Now he is asking if your Lo: will help him against the mighty of the earth, when men are setting their shoulders to Christ's fair & beautiful tent in this land, to loose it's stakes & to break it down, & certainly such as are not with Christ are against him: & blessed shall your Lo: be of the Lord, blessed shall your house & seed be, & blessed shall your Honour be, if ye empawnd & lay in Christ's hand the Earldom ⟨p. 143⟩of Cassills [& it is but a shadow in comparison of the city made without hands] and lay it even at the stake, rather then Christ & born-down truth want a witness of you, against the apostasy of this land. Ye hold your lands of Christ, your charters are under his seal, & he who hath many crowns on his head, dealeth, cutteth, & carveth pieces of this clay-heritage to men at his pleasure. It is little your Lo: hath to give him, he will not sleep long in your common, but shall surely pay home your losses for his cause. It is but our bleared eyes that look through a false glass to this idol-god of clay & think some thing of it: They who are past with their last sentence to heaven or hell, and have made their reckoning & departed out of this smoky inn, have now no other conceit of this world, but as a piece of beguiling, well-lustred clay: