A57970:72
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 his Parochiners. (2)
Dearly beloved, & longed for in the Lord, my crown & my joy in the day of Christ: Grace be to you, and peace, from God our father, and our Lord Jesus Christ. I long exceedingly to know, if the oft-spoken-of match betwixt you & Christ holdeth; and if you follow on to know the Lord. My day thoughts, and my night thoughts are of you, while ye sleep, I am afraid of your souls that they be off the rock: next to my Lord Jesus, and this fallen kirk, ye have the greatest share of my sorrow, and also of my joy; ye are the matter of the tears, care, fear, and daily prayers of an oppressed prisoner of Christ: as I am in bonds for my high and lofty one, my Royal and princely master, my Lord Jesus; so I am in bonds for you, for I should have slept in my warm nest, & kept, the fat world in my arms, and the cords of my tabernacle should have been fastened more strongly, I might have sung an Evangel of Ease to my soul and you for a time, with my brethren, the sons of my mother, that were angry at me, & have thrust me out of the vineyard, if I should have been broken and drawn on to mire you the Lords flock; & to cause you eat pastures trodden upon with mens feet, and to drink foul and muddy waters: But truly the almighty was a rerror to me, & his fear made me afraid. O my Lord judge if my ministry be not dear to me, but not so dear by many degrees, as Christ Jesus my Lord: God knoweth the heavy, & sad Sabbaths I have bad since I laid down at my Masters feet my two shepherds staves, I have been often saying as it is written, Lam. 3: 52. my enemies chased me sore like a bird without cause, they have cut off my life in ⟨p. 5⟩the dungeon & cast a stone upon me: for next to Christ, I had but one joy, the apple of the eye of my delights, to preach Christ my Lord, and they have violently plucked that away from me, & it was to me like the poor mans one eye, & they have put out that eye, and quenched my light in the inheritance of the Lord; but my eye is toward the Lord; I know I shall see the salvation of God, and that my hope shall not always be forgotten; And my sorrow shall want nothing to complete it, and to make me say, what availeth it me to live?