Vol 16 - TO THE PERSECUTED CHURCH IN IRELAND.

TO THE PERSECUTED CHURCH IN IRELAND.
Much honored, reverend, and dearly beloved in our LORD;
GRACE, mercy, and peace, be to you all! I know there are many, in this nation,’ more able than I, to speak to the sufferers for JESUS CHRIST, and witnesses of him; yet pardon me if I speak a little to you, who are, called in question for the Gospel, once committed to you. I hope ye are not' ignorant, that as peace was left to you in CHRIST’s' testament, so the other half of the testament was a legacy of CHRIST'S sufferings; (John 16:33;)' " These things have I spoken, that in. me ye might have Peace. in' the world ye shall have trouble." Because then ye are made heirs of CHRIST’s cross, think that fiery trial no strange thing. For the Lord JESUS shall be no loser by purging the dross and tin out of his church in Ireland; his winepress is but squeezing out the dregs, the scum, the froth, and refuse of that church. I had once the proof of the honest and honorable peace of that slandered thing, the cross of our Lour. JESUS. But though these golden days, which I then had, be now in a great part gone; yet I dare say, that the issue of your sufferings shall be the high glory of the Prince of the Kings of the earth; and the changing of the brass of the LORD's temple among you into gold, and of the iron into silver, and of the wood into brass. " Your officers shall yet be peace, and your exactors righteousness." (Isaiah 9:17.) Look over the water, and see who is on the dry land waiting for your landing. Your deliverance is concluded, subscribed, and sealed in heaven; your goods that are taken from you, for the sake of CHRIST and his truth, are but laid in pawn, and not taken away. There is much laid up for you in his storehouse, whose is the earth, and the fullness thereof. Your garments are spun, and your flocks are feeding in the fields, your bread is laid up for you, your gold and silver is at the bank, and the interest go on and groweth. If two things were firmly believed, sufferings would have no weight. If the fellowship of CHRIST'S sufferings were well known, who would not gladly take part with JESUS
For CHRIST and we are join towners of one and the same cross and therefore he that knew well what sufferings were, as he "esteemed all things but loss for CHRIST," and did " judge them but dung," so did he also thus judge of them, " that he might know the fellowship of his sufferings." (Php_3:10.) `O how sweet a sight is it, to see a cross between CHRIST and us; to hear our Redeemer say, at every sigh, and every blow, and every loss of a believer, " Half mine!" So they are called, " The sufferings of CHRIST," and " The reproach of CHRIST." (Ca 1:24; Revelation 11:26.) As when two are partners and owners of' a ship, the half of the gain, and half of the loss belongeth to each of the two so CHRIST in our sufferings is half gainer and half loser with us, Yea, the heaviest. end of the black tree of the cross lieth on your Lord; it. falleth first upon him, and but reboundeth from him, upon. you. " The reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me." (Pea. 69: 9.) Your sufferings are your treasure, and are greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. (Hebrews 11:26.) And if your cross come first through CHRIST'S fingers, ere it come to you, it receiveth a lustre from him it getteth a relish of the King's spikenard, and of heaven's perfume; and the half of the gain, when CHRIST's shipfull of gold cometh home, shall be yours. It is an augmentation of your treasure to be rich in sufferings, to be " in labors abundant, in stripes above measure." (2 Corinthians 11:23.) And to have " the sufferings of CHRIST abounding in you," (2 Corinthians 1:5)) is a part of heaven's flock. Your goods tire not lost, which they have plucked from you; for your Lord has them in keeping,: "fie Shall be fed with the heritage of JACOB your Father; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." (Isaiah 58:14.) Till I shall be on the half float of the highest palace, and get a draught of glory out of CHRIST'S hand, above and beyond time and beyond death, I shall never (it is likely) see father days, than `I saw under that blessed tree of my LORD'S cross. O sweet for evermore, to see a rose from heaven growing, in as ill ground as hell; and to see CHRIST's love, peace, faith, goodness, longsuffering, and patience, growing, like the flowers of GOD’s garden, out of such stony and cursed ground as the hatred of the Prelates, and Antichrist's bloody hand and heart! Is not here heaven' indented in hell, (if I may say so,) like a jewel set with skill in a ring, with the enamel of CHRIST's cross. And who would not think him worthy of our sufferings for him What is burning alive, what is drinking of our heart's blood, or what is a draught of melted lead, for his glory,' less than a draught of cold water to a thirsty man, if theright price and due value were. put on that worthy Prince, JESUS;O who can weigh him! Ten thousand thousand heavens would not be one scale of the balance to lay him in. O black angels, in comparison of him! O dim and dark sun, in regard of that fair Sun of Righteousness! O worthless heaven of heavens, when they stand beside my` worthy, and high, and excellent Well beloved! O weak and infirm Kings of clay, O soft and feeble mountains of brass, and weak created strength, in regard of our mighty and strong Lord of armies! O foolish wisdom of men and angels, when it is laid in the balance beside that spotless and substantial WISDOM OF THE FATHER! If heaven and earth,' and ten thousand heavens, even round about these heavens that now are, were all in one garden of paradise, decked with all the fairest roses, flowers, and trees, that can come forth from the art of the ALMIGHTY; yet set but our one Flower, which groweth out of the root of JESSE, beside that orchard of pleasure, —and one look of him, one view, one taste, one odor of his GODhead, would infinitely exceed the fragrance, color, beauty, and loveliness of that paradise. O for less of the creatures, and more of thee! O open the passage of the well of love and glory on us, dry pits and withered trees! O that jewel and flower of heaven! If our Beloved were not mistaken by us, and unknown to us, he would have no scarcity of lovers. He would make heaven and earth both see that they cannot quench his love; for his love is a sea. He, He, Himself, is more excellent than heaven. For heaven, as it cometh into the souls and spirits of the glorified, is but a creature; and He is more than a creature. O what a life were it, to sit beside this well of love, and drink of it, and praise, and praise and drink of it again; and then to have desires and faculties extended out, as it were, many thousand fathoms in length and breadth,’ to take in seas and rivers of love! I earnestly desire to recommend this love to you; that this love may cause you to keep his commandments, to keep clean hands, and make clean feet, that ye may walk as the redeemed of the LORD. Woe, woe be to them that put on his name,’ and shame this love of Gun is r with a loose and profane life their feet, tongue, and hands, and eyes, give a shameless he to the holy Gospel which they profess. I beseech you in the Lord, keep CHRIST,' and walk with him; let not his fairness be spotted by GODless living. O who can find it in their hearts to sin against love,—and such a love, as the glorified in heaven shall delight to live into, and drink of for ever; for they are evermore drinking in love, and the cup is still at their head, and yet without loathing; for they still drink of it, and still' desire to drink of it, for ever and ever. Let not me, a stranger to' you, who never saw your face in the flesh, be thought bold in writing to you; for the hope I have of a glorious church in that land, and the love of CHRIST, constrain me. I know that the worthy. servants of CHRIST, who once labored among you, cease’ not to write to you also. Let me entreat you for your prayers for myself, the flock, and Ministry, and on the subject of my fear of a transportation from this place of the Lotto's vineyard. Now the very God of peace sanctify you, throughout! Grace be with you all!
Your Brother and Companion
In the kingdom and patience of JESUS CHRIST,
Anwoth, 1639.
S. R.