A57970:980
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 Mr HUGH Mc KAILL. (183)
Reverend & dear Brother.
Grace, mercy & peace be to you: I received your letter, I bless you for it: My dry root would take more dew & summer-rain then it getteth, were it not Christ will have dryness & deadness in us to work upon: If there were no timber to work upon, art would die & never be seen: I see, grace hath a field to play upon & to course up & down in our wants, so that I am often thanking God, not for guiltiness, but for guiltiness for Christ to whet & sharpen his grace upon: I am half content to have boils for my Lord Jesus's plasters: sickness hath this advantage that it draweth our sweet Physician's hand & his holy & soft fingers to touch our withered & leper skins: it is a blessed fever that fetcheth Christ to the bed-side: I think my Lord's How doest thou with it, sick body? Is worth all my pained nights: Surely I have no more for Christ but emptiness & want; take or leave, he will get me no other wise. I must sell my self & my wants to him, but I have no price to give for him: If he would put a fair & a real seal upon his love to me, & bestow upon me a larger share of Christ's love [which I would fainest be in hands with of any thing, I except ⟨p. 355⟩not heaven it self] I should go on sighing & singing under his cross: But the worst is, many take me for some-body, because the wind bloweth upon a withered prisoner: But the truth is, I am both lean and thin in that wherein many believe I abound. I would [if bartering were in my power] niffer joy with Christ's love & faith, & in stead of the & hot sunshine, be content to walk under a cloudy shadow with more grief & sadness, to have more faith & a fair occasion of setting forth & commending Christ, & to make that lovely One, that fair One, that sweetest and dearest Lord Jesus, market-sweet for many ears & hearts in Scotland: and if it were in my power to roup Christ to the three Kingdoms & withal to persuade buyers to come, and to take such sweet wares as Christ, I would thin to have many sweet bargains betwixt Christ & the sons of men. I would I could be humble & go with a low sail, I would I had desires with wings & running upon wheels, swift & active & speedy in longing for Christ's honour: But I know my Lord is as wise here, as I dow be thirsty, & infinitely more zealous of his honour then I can be hungered for the manifestation of it to men & angels: