Vol 16 - TO THE VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE.

TO THE VISCOUNTESS OF KENMURE
My very honorable and dear Lady,
GRACE, mercy, and peace, be to you! O how sweet are sufferings for CHRIST! GOD forgive them that raise an ill report upon the cross of CHRIST; it is our weak and dim eyes which look but at the one side of it, that make us mistake. Those who can take that crabbed tree handsomely upon their back, shall find it such a burden as wings unto a bird, or sails to a ship. It were a sweet and honorable death to die for JESUS! This love is a mystery to the world. I would not have believed that there was so much in CHRIST as there is. " Come and see," maketh CHRIST to be known in his excellency and glory. I wish all this nation knew how sweet his presence is. It is little to see CHRIST in a book, as men do the world in a card: they talk of CHRIST by the book and the tongue, and no more; but to come near to CHRIST, and embrace him, is another thing. I write to your honor, for your encouragement in that honorable profession with which CHRIST has honored you. This world can take nothing from you that is truly yours, and death can do you no wrong. When your Head shall appear, your Bridegroom and LORD, your day shall then dawn, and it shall never have an after-noon, nor an evening shadow. Let your child be CHRIST'S; let him stay beside you, as the LORD'S pledge, that you shall willingly render again, if GOD will. My silence on the Lotto's day keeps me from being exalted above measure, and from startling in the ardors of my LORD's love. I have wrestled long with this sad silence, and my soul has been pleading with CHRIST; but I will yield to him. I am a fool, and he is GOD: I will hold my peace hereafter. Let me hear from your Ladyship, and your dear child; and pray for a prisoner of CHRIST, who is mindful of your Ladyship. Grace, grace be with you! I write and pray blessings to your sweet child.
Yours in all dutiful obedience, in his only LORD JESUS,
Aberdeen,
Nov. 22,