A57970:714
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 EARLESTOWN Younger [130]
Worthy & dearly beloved in the Lord.
Grace, mercy & peace be to you: I long to hear from you: I remain still a prisoner of hope, & do think it service to the Lord to wait on still with submission, till the Lord's morning-sky break & his summer day dawn: for I am persuaded it is a piece of the chief errand of our life, that God sent us for some years down to this earth among devils & men, the fire-brands of the devil, & temptations, that we might suffer for a time here amongst our enemies; otherwise he might have made heaven to wait on us at our coming out of the womb, and have carried us home to our country, without letting us set down our feet in this knotty and thorny life; but seeing a piece of suffering is carved to every one of us, less or more, as infinite wisdom hath thought good, our part is to harden and habituate our soft and thin skinned nature to endure fire and water, devils, lions, men, losses, woe hearts, as these that are looked upon by God, Angels, men & devils. O what folly is it to sit down & weep upon a decree of God, that ⟨p. 253⟩is both dumb & deaf at our tears, & must stand still as unmovable as God who made it, for who can come behind our Lord to alter or better what he hath decreed & done? It were better to make windows in our prison & to look out to God & our country Heaven, & to cry like fettered men who long for the King's free air, Lord, let t•y Kingdom come: O let the Bridegroom come! And O day, O fair day, O everlasting summer day, dawn and shine out, break out from under the black night sky and shine! I am persuaded, if every day, a little stone in the prison walls were broken, & thereby assurance given to the chained prisoner lying under twenty stone of irons upon arms & legs, that at length his chain should wear in two pieces, & a hole should be made at length as wide as he might come safely out to his long desired liberty; he would in patience wait on till time should hole the prison wall & break his chains: The Lord's hopeful prisoners under their trials are in that case: Years & months will take out now one little stone, then another, of this house of clay, & at length time shall win out the breadth: of a fair door and send out the imprisoned soul to the free air in heaven, and time shall fil off by little and little our iron bolts, which are now on legs and arms, & out-date and wear our troubles thread-bare and holly, and then wear them to nothing: