Vol 16 - TO MY LADY KENMURE.

TO MY LADY KENMURE
MADAM,
THE cause of my not writing to your Ladyship is not my forgetfulness of you, but the want of a convenient bearer. I bless our LORD through CHRIST, who has brought you home again to your country, from that place where you have seen with your eyes that which our LORD taught you before, to wit, that worldly glory is nothing but a vapor, a shadow, the form of the water, or some-thing less and lighter, even nothing; and that our Lon]) has not without cause said in his word, (1 Corinthians 7:31,) " The countenance," or " fashion, of this world passes away." In that place, our LORD compareth it to an image in a looking-glass, for it is the looking-glass of ADAM'S sons: some come to the glass, and see in it the picture of honor, and but a picture indeed; for true honor is to be great in the sight of GOD. And others see in it the shadow of riches, and but a shadow indeed; for durable riches stand as one of the maids of wisdom upon her left-hand. (Pron. 3:16.) And a third sort see in it the face of painted pleasures, and the beholders will not believe but that the image they see in this glass is a living man, till the LORD come and break the glass in pieces, and remove the face; and then, like PHARAOH awakened, they say, " Behold, it was a dream." I know your, Ladyship thinketh yourself little, for the favorable aspect of any of these three painted faces; and blessed be our Lotto that it is so; the better for you: Madam, they are. not worthy to be wooers to your soul, which looks to a higher match than painted clay. Know therefore, that the place whither our LORD JESUS cometh to woo a bride, it is even in the furnace: for if you be one of ZioN's daughters, the LORD who has his fire in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem, (Isaiah 31:9,) is purifying you in the furnace. I believe you esteem yourself to be of those whom Go]) has tried these many years, and refined as silver. But, Madam, I will show your Ladyship a privilege that others want, and you have in this case. Such as are in prosperity, and increased with children and friends, may indeed justly consider that the word of GOD is written to them for their instruction; yet to you who are in trouble, from whom the LORD has taken I any children, and whom he has exercised otherwise, there are some particular promises in the word of GOD, made in a most special manner, which would never have been yours, so. as they now are, if you had your portion in this life, as others: and therefore all the comforts, promises, and mercies, which GOD offereth to the afflicted, are so many kind letters written to you; take them to you, Madam, and claim your right, and be not robbed. It is no small comfort, that GOD has written some Scriptures to you, which he has not written to others. You seem rather in this to be envied than pitied; and you are indeed in this like people of another world, and those that are above the ordinary rank of mankind, whom our KING and LORD, in his letter to his well-beloved spouse, has named above all the rest, and to whom he has written comforts, and his hearty commendations, in the 56th of Isaiah, per. 4, 5,. and in Psalms 147:2-3. Read these and the like; and think that your Go n is like a friend who sends a letter to a whole house and family, but speaketh in his letter by name, to some that are dearest to him in the house. Ye are, then, of the dearest friends of the Bridegroom; if it were lawful, I would envy you, that Got* has honored you so above many of his children. Therefore, your part is, in this case, (seeing Go n taketh nothing from you, but that which he is to supply with his own presence,) to desire your LORD to know his own room, and to come in, in the room of dead children. " JEHOVAH, know thy own place, and take it to thee," is all you have to say. I persuade myself, that this world is to you an uncouth inn; and that you are like a traveler, who has his staff in his hand, and his feet upon the door-threshold. Go forward, in the strength of your LORD, with your face towards him, who longeth more for a sight of you, than you can do for him. The hand of the Loin be with you in your journey. What have you to do here This is not your mountain of rest; arise then, and set your foot up the mountain; go up out of the wilderness, leaning upon your Beloved. If you knew the welcome that abideth you when you come home, you would hasten your pace; for you shall see your LORD put up his own hand, and wipe all tears from your eyes.
I leave your Ladyship, praying more earnestly for grace and mercy to be multiplied upon you, here and hereafter, than my pen can express. The Lon]) JESUS be with your spirit! Your Ladyship's at all obedience, in the LORD,
Kirkcudbright.