357. CCCLIX.—To a BROTHER MINISTER

CCCLIX.—To a BROTHER MINISTER

Judgment of a draught or minute of a Petition, to have been presented to the Committee of Estates, by those Ministers who were then prisoners in the Castle of Edinburgh for that other well-known Petition to his Majesty, about which they were when seized upon and made prisoners.

["But that no man may mistake or judge amiss of persons so fixed in the cause and faithful in their generations, know that this draught was not sent to Mr. Rutherford as a paper concluded and condescended upon among these brethren, whose love to truth made them in all things so tender that they were ever fond to abstain from all appearance of evil. It was more like the suggestion of some other men (wherein was laid before them what kind of address would most probably please, waiving the just measures of what was simply duty in their circumstances), than anything flowing from themselves, as the product of a mature deliberation. And, secondly, know (which confirmeth what was said), that whatever it was, or whoever gave the rise to it, yet it was never made use of, nor presented to the Committee of Estates, by any of these faithful men, whose praise, for their fidelity, fixedness, real and untainted integrity, is in the churches of Christ" (Note by Mr. Robert M’Ward, the original editor of Rutherford’s "Letters").] DEAR BROTHER,—I am, as ye know, straitened as another suffering man, but dare not petition this Committee:—

1. Because it draweth us to capitulate with such as have the advantage of the mount, the Lord so disposing for the present: and, to bring the matters of Christ to yea and no (ye being prisoners and they the powers) is a hazard.

2. A speaking to them in write, and passing in silence the sworn Covenant and the cause of God (which is the very present controversy), is contrary to the practice of Christ and the Apostles, who, being accused or not accused, avouched Christ to be the Son of God and the Messias, and that the dead must rise again, even when the adversary misstated the question. Yea, silence on the cause of God, which adversaries persecute, seemeth a tacit deserting of the cause, when the state of the question is known to beholders: and I know that the brethren intend not to leave the cause.

3. I know of no offence that you have given (I will not say what offence may be taken), either as to the matter or manner of your petition. For, if what you have done be a necessary duty laid aside by others, a duty can never give an offence to Christ, and so none to men; but Christians will look upon a pious, harmless, and innocent petition to the Prince, in the matters of the Lord’s honour and the good of His church (though proffered by one or two, when they are silent whose it is to speak and act), as a seasonable duty.

4. The draught of that petition, which you sent me, speaketh not one word of the Covenant of God for the adhering to which you now suffer, and which is the object of men’s hatred, and the destruction whereof is the great work of the times. Your silence in this nick of time appeareth to be a non-confession of Christ before men; and you want nothing to beget an uncleanly deliverance but the profession of silence.

5. There is a promise and real purpose, as the petition saith, to live peaceably under the King’s authority. But, 1. Ye do not answer candidly and ingenuously the mind of the rulers, who, to your knowledge, mean a far other thing by authority than ye do. For ye mean, his just authority, his authority in the Lord, and his just greatness, in the maintenance of true religion, as in the Covenant, Confession of Faith, and Catechisms, is expressed from the Word of God: they mean his supreme authority, and absolute prerogative above laws, as their acts make clear, and as their practice is. For they refused, to such as were unwilling to subscribe their bond, to add "authority in the Lord," or, "just and lawful authority," or "authority as it is expressed in the Covenant." But this draught of a petition, under your own hand, yieldeth the sense and meaning to them which they crave. 2. That authority for which they contend is exclusive of the sworn Covenant; so that, except ye had said, "We shall be subject to the King’s authority in the Lord, or according to the sworn Covenant," ye say nothing to the point in hand; and that, sure, is not your meaning. 3. Whoever promised so much peaceable living under his Majesty’s authority, leaving out the exposition of the fifth commandment, as your petition doth, may upon the very same ground subscribe the bond refused by the godly; and so you pass from the Covenant, and make all those by-past actings of this Kirk and State, these years by-past, to be horrid rebellion! And how deep that guiltiness draweth, consider.

6. A condemning of the Remonstrance, simply and without any limitation and distinction, is a condemning of many precious ones in the land, and a passing from the causes of God’s wrath, which is the chief matter of the Remonstrance.

7. That nothing is before your eyes but the exoneration of your conscience, is indeed believed by the godly who know you; but a passing in silence of the honest materials in your former petition to his Majesty seemeth to be a deserting thereof, since, in all your petition, ye do not once say ye cannot but adhere to that pious petition, as your necessary duty. And, that ye intend in the petition the happiness of his Majesty, is also believed.

Dear brother, show to our brethren, that the Lord Christ, in your persons, hath a stated question betwixt Him and the powers on earth. The only wise God lead you now, when He hath brought you forth in public, so to act as if ye did see Jesus Christ by you, and beholding you. It is easy for such as are on the shore to throw a counsel to those that are tossed in the sea; but, only by living by faith, and by fetching strength and comfort from Christ, can you be victorious, and have right to the precious promises "of the tree of life," "of the hidden manna," of the gifted "morning star," and the like, made to those who overcome: to whose strength and grace, brethren who desire with me to remember you do recommend you. I am, dear brother, Yours, in the Lord,

S. R.

ST. ANDREWS, 1660.