Vol 16 - TO HIS PARISHIONERS.

TO HIS PARISHIONERS.
DEARLY beloved, and longedfor in the LORD, my crown and my joy in the day of CHRIST: grace be to you, and. peace, from God our Father, and our LoRn JESUS CHRIST! I long exceedingly to know, 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, lest 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, fears, 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, so I am in bonds for you for I should have slept in my warm nest, and kept the fat world in my arms, and the cords of my tabernacle would have been fastened more strongly, if I had been drawn on to cause you to eat pastures trodden on with men's feet, and to drink foul and muddy waters. But truly the Almighty was a terror to me, and 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 knows the heavy and sad sabbaths I have had. Since I laid down at my Master's feet my two shepherd's staves, I have often been saying, as it is written, (Lamentations 3:52-53,) " My enemies chased me sore like a bird without cause; they have cut off my life in the dungeon, and 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 man's one eye, and they have put out that eye, and quenched my light in the inheritance of the LORD; but my eye is towards the LORD. I know I shall see the salvation of Go)), 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'if ye follow the voice of a stranger, of one that cometh into the sheepfold, not by CHRIST the door, but climbeth up another way. If the man build his hay and stubble upon the golden foundation, CHRIST JESUS, already laid among you, and ye follow him, I assure you that the man's work shall burn, and ye and he both shall be in danger of everlasting burning. O that any pain, any sorrow, any loss, which I can suffer for CHRIST, and for you, were laid in pledge to buy CHRIST'S love to you, and that I could lay my dearest joys, next to CHRIST My LORD, in the gap between you and eternal destruction! O that I had paper as broad as heaven and earth, and ink as the sea, and all the rivers and fountains of the earth, and were able to write the love, the worth, the excellency, the sweetness, and the due praises of our dearest and fairest Wellbeloved; and then that ye could read and understand it! What could I want, if my. ministry among you should make a marriage between the Bride, in those bounds, and the heavenly Bridegroom
O how rich a prisoner were II if I could obtain of my LORD (before whom I stand for you) the salvation of you all! O what a prey had I gotten, to have you caught in CHRIST'S net! My witness is above, your heaven would be two heavens to me; and the salvation of you all, as two salvations to me! I would subscribe a suspension of my heaven, for many hundred years, (according to GOD's good pleasure,) if ye were sure in the upper lodging, in our Father's house, before me. I counsel you, beware of the new and strange heaven of men's salvations, beside and against the word of Goo; ye see whither they lead you. Continue still in the doctrine which ye have received. Ye heard of me the whole counsel of GOD; take CHRIST in his rags and losses, and as persecuted by men; and be content to sigh, and pant up the mountain, with CH’Ws cross on your back; —let me be reputed a false prophet, if your LoRD JESUS shall not stand by you, and maintain you, and maintain your cause against your enemies. I have heard, (and my soul is grieved for it,) that, since my departure from you, many among you are turned back, from the good old way, to the dog's vomit again. Let me speak to. these men. It was not without GOD’s special direction, that the’first sentence that ever my mouth uttered to you, was that recorded by JOHN; (chap. 9:39;) " And JESUS said, For judgment came I into the world, that they which see not might see, and they which see might be made blind." It is possible that my first meeting and yours may be, when we shall both stand before the dreadful Judge of the world: and in the name and authority of the SON of GOD, my great Wing and Master, I write, by these presents, summons to these men; I arrest their souls and bodies to the day of our appearance; their eternal damnation stands subscribed and sealed in heaven, by the handwriting of the great Judge of quick and dead; and I am ready to stand up, as a preaching witness against such to their face, in that day, and to say Amen to their condemnation,—except they repent. The. vengeance of the Gospel Is heavier than the vengeance of the Law; the Mediator's malediction and vengeance are double vengeance; and that vengeance is the due portion of such men; and there I leave them, as bound men, until they repent and amend. You were witnesses, how the LORD's day was spent, while I was among you. O sacrilegious robber of GOD's day, what wilt you answer the ALMIGHTY, when he seeketh so many sabbaths back again from thee What will the curser, swearer, and blasphemer do, when his tongue shall be roasted in that broad and burning lake of fire and brimstone And what will the drunkard do, when tongue, lights, liver, bones, and all, shall boil and fry in a torturing fire For he shall be far from his barrels of strong drink then; and there is not a cold well of water for him in hell! What shall be the case of the wretch, the covetous man, the oppressor, the deceiver, the earthworm, who can never get his fill of clay, when, in the day of CHRIST, gold and silver must he burned in ashes, and he must appear and answer his Judge, and quit his clayey and naughty heaven Woe, woe for evermore, be to the timeturning Atheist, that has one GOD and one religion for summer, and another GOD and another religion for winter; who has a conscience for every fair and market; and whose soul runneth upon those oiled wheels, time, custom, the world, and the command of men. O that the careless and sleeping man, who lays down his head upon time's bosom, and giveth his conscience to a deputy, and sleepeth so, until the smoke of hellfire shall fly up in his throat, and cause him to start out of his doleful bed;O that such a man would awake! Many woes are for the overgilded and goldplastered hypocrite; a heavy doom is for the liar and white tongued flatterer; and the flying hook of GOD's fearful vengeance, twenty cubits long, and ten cubits broad, that go out from the face of Got., shall enter into the house, and upon the soul, of him that stealeth, and sweareth falsely by GOD's name. I denounce eternal burning, hotter than Sodom's flames, upon the men that boil in the filthy lusts of fornication, adultery, incest, and the like wickedness; there is no room, no, not a foot broad, for such vile dogs, within the holy Jerusalem! Many of you put off all with this excuse, " GOD forgive us; we know no better! " I renew my old answer, (2 Thessalonians 1:7-8 :) The Judge is coming " in flaming fire, with all his mighty angels, to render vengeance to all those that know not GOD." I have often told you, security shall slay you. All men say they have faith; all believe; every foul dog is clean enough, and good enough, for the new Jerusalem above! Every man has conversion, and the new birth; but they had never a sick night for sin; conversion came to them in a nightdream. In a word, hell will be empty at the day of judgment, and heaven full. Alas! it is neither easy, nor ordinary, to believe and to be saved. Many must stand in the end at heaven's gates; whets they go to take out their faith, they take out a fair nothing. O lamentable disappointment! I pray you,(I charge you, in the name of CHRIST, make fast work of CHRIST and salvation. I know there are some believers among you; and I write to you, O poor brokenhearted believers: all the comforts of CHRIST in the New and Old Testament are yours.
O what a father and husband you have! O that I had pen and ink to write of him! If heaven and earth were consolidated in massy and pure gold, it would not weigh the thousandth part of CHRIST's love to a soul, even to me a poor prisoner. O it is a massy and marvelous love! Men and angels, unite your force and strength in one; yet shall ye not heave nor poise it off the ground. Ten thousand thousand worlds, as many worlds as angels can number, and then as a new world of angels can multiply, would not all be the balk of a balance, to weigh CHRIST'S excellency, sweetness, and love. I wonder that men stay away from CHRIST. I would esteem myself blessed, if I could gather all the world that are living upon the earth, Jews and Gentiles, and all that shall be born to the blowing of the last trumpet, to flock round about CHRIST, and to stand looking, wondering, admiring, and adoring his beauty and sweetness; for his fire is hotter than any other fire, his love is sweeter than common love, his beauty surpasses all other beauty.’ O that ye would fall in love with him! How blessed were I, how glad would my' soul be, to help you to love him!
But, amongst us all, we could not love him enough. He is the SON of the FATHER'S love; and GOD's delight, the FATHER'S love, lieth all upon him! Invite him, and take him home to your houses, in the exercise of prayer, morning and evening, as I often desired you; especially now, let him not want lodging in your houses, nor he in the fields, when he is shut out of pulpits. If ye will be content to take heaven by violence, and to have the wind on your face for CnnlsT and his cross; I am here one, who have some trial of CHRIST'S cross, and I can say, that CHRIST was ever kind to me, but he overcometh himself (if I may speak so) in kindness, while I suffer for him. I give you my word for it, CHRIST'S cross is not so evil as they call it; it is sweet, light, and comfortable. I would not want the visitations of love, and my LORD's delightsome smiles, under my sufferings for him, for a mountain of fine gold, nor for all the honors, court, and grandeur of velvet Kirkmen. CHRIST has the heart of my love; " I am my Beloved's, and my Well beloved is mine." O that ye were all fast to CHRIST! O my dearly beloved in the LORD, I would I could change my voice, and had a tongue tuned with the hand of my LORD, and had the art of speaking of CHRIST, that I might paint out' unto you the highness, and greatness, and excellency, of that heavenly Bridegroom! I beseech you, by the mercies of the LORD, by the sighs, tears, and heartblood of our Loin Jssus, and by the salvation of your poor and precious souls, set out up the mountain, that ye and I may meet before the LAMB'S throne, amongst the congregation of the firstborn. The LORD grant, that ye and I may put up our hands together, to pluck and eat the apples of the tree of life; and may feast together, and drink of that pure river of the water of life, that cometh out from under the throne of GOD, and from the LAMB! O how little is your handbreadth of days here! Your inch of time is less than when ye and I parted; eternity, eternity is coming, posting on with wings; then shall every man's blacks and whites be brought to light. O how low will your thoughts be of this fairskinned, but heartrotten apple, the vain, vain world, when the worms shall make their houses in your eyeholes, and shall eat off the flesh from the ball of your cheeks, and shall make that body a number of dry bones! Think not that the common gate of serving Got., " as neighbors and others do," will bring you to heaven; few, few are saved! The Devil's court is thick; he has the greatest number of mankind for his vassals. I know, this world is a great forest of thorns in your way to heaven; but you must go through it. Acquaint yourselves with the Lon)), hold fast CHRIST; hear his voice only; bless his name; sanctify and keep his day; keep the new commandment, " Love one another;" let the HOLY SPIRIT dwell in your bodies, and be pure and holy; love not the world; he not; love and follow truth; learn to know God; keep in mind what I taught you, for GOD will seek an account of it, when I am far from you; abstain from all evil, and all/appearance of evil; follow good carefully, and seek peace and follow after it; honor your King, and pray for him; and remember me' to GOD in your prayers,—I do not forget you. I told you often, while I was with you, and now I write it again, that heavy, sad, and sore is the stroke of the LORD'S wrath, which is coming upon Scotland. Woe, woe, woe to this harlot land; for they shall take the cup of GOD's wrath from his hand, and drink, and fall, and not rise again. In, with speed, to your strong hold, ye prisoners of hope, and hide you there, until the anger of the LORD pass. Follow not the pastors of this land, for the sun is gone down upon them; as the LORD liveth, they lead you from CHRIST, and from the good old way. Yet the LORD will keep the holy city, and make this withered Kirk to bud again, like a rose, and a field blessed of the Loin. The grace of the LORD JESUS CHRIST be with you all! The prayers and blessing of a prisoner of CHRIST, in bonds for him, and for you, be with you all! Amen.
Aberdeen,
Your lawful and loving Pastor,
July 14, 1637. S. R.