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There is no errand so weighty as this: O that he

would take it to heart!

Grace be with you.

Yours in the Lord,

S. R.

Aberdeen.

Mistress,

To LADY KILCONQUHAIR.

I RECEIVED your letter. I am heartily content you are in any measure taken with the love of Jesus -faint not, but come in, and see if there be not more in Christ, than the tongue of men or angels can express. If you seek the way to heaven-the way is in him, or he is it; what you want is treasured up in Jesus, and he saith, all his are yours, even his kingdom he is content to divide with you; yea, his throne and his glory, Luke xvii. 30. John xvii. 24. Rev. iii. 21. Therefore take pains to reach that besieged mansion of Christ: devils, men, and armies of temptations are lying about it, to keep out all that are out, and it is to be won with violence. It is not a smooth and easy way, neither will your weather be fair and pleasant; but those who by faith see the invisible God, and the fair city, make no account of losses and crosses. In you must be, cost you what it will. Stand not for a price, nor for all that you have, to win that castle: the right to it is purchased for you, and is made over to you in your Lord Jesus' Testament; and see what a fair legacy your dying friend Christ hath left you, and there wanteth nothing but possession. Then get up in

the strength of the Lord, get over the water to possess that good land: it is better than a land of olives and vine-trees; for the tree of life that beareth twelve manner of fruits every month is there before you; and a pure river of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, is there. Your time is short, therefore lose no time. Gracious and faithful is he who has called you to his kingdom and glory: the city is yours by free conquest and by promise, and therefore let no deceiving idol put you from your own. The devil hath cheated the simple heir of his promise, and by enticing us to taste of the forbidden fruit, hath, as it were, brought us out of our kindly heritage; but our Lord, Christ Jesus, hath done more than subdued the devil's power, for he hath redeemed the pledge, and made the poor heir free to the inheritance. we knew the glory of our elder Brother in heaven, we should long to be there to see him. We children think the earth a fair garden, but compared with the garden of the Lord, it is but wild, cold, barren ground; all things are fading that are here; it is our happiness to make sure of Christ to ourselves.

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Thus, remembering my love to your husband, and wishing to him what I write to you, I comunit you to God's tender mercy.

Yours in the Lord Jesus,

Aberdeen, Sept. 13, 1637.

S. R.

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I LONG to hear how it goeth with you and children. I exhort you, not to lose breath, nor to faint in your journey; the way is not so long to your home as it was; you are fast coming within reach of your glorious crown. Your Lord Jesus was sore travailed ere he got up the mount; it was he who said-" Father, save me-I am poured out like water-all my bones are out of joint-my heart is like wax, it is melted in the midst of me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd." I am sure you love the way the better that his holy feet trod it before you your Lord will not leave you to die by yourself by the way. I know you have sad hours when the Comforter is hid under the vail, and when you inquire for him and find him gone; yet, make his sweet comforts your own, and be not strange and shame-faced with Christ; he likes homely dealing with him best: when your winter-storms are over, the summer of Lord shall come; your he will do you good in your latter end. Take no heavier concern for your children, than your Lord alloweth give them room beside your heart, but not in the yolk of your heart, where Christ should be; for then they are your idols, not your children: if your Lord take any of them home to his house before the storm come on, take it well; let our Lord pluck his own fruit at any season he pleaseth; they are not lost to

you, they are laid up and treasured in heaven, where our Lord's best jewels lie. Then be of good heart; heaven is yours, and that is a word few can say. Now the great Shepherd of the sheep, and the very God of peace, confirm and stablish you, to the day of the appearance of Christ our Lord.

Yours in the Lord Jesus,

Aberdeen, Sept. 7, 1637.

S. R.

To MR. MATTHEW MOWAT.

Reverend and dear Brother,

I AM refreshed with your letters. I would take all well at my Lord's hands, if I knew I could do my Lord any service in my suffering; for any place of trust in my Lord's house, surely I think myself (and my very dear brother, I speak not by any proud figure or trope) unworthy of it; but when I hear that the men of God are at work, and speaking in the name of our Lord Jesus, I think myself but an outcast or outlaw, chased from the city to lie on the hills, and live among the rocks and fields; but I know this is but the vapour that ariseth out of a querulous and unbelieving heart, to darken the wisdom of God. And your fault is just mine, that I cannot believe my Lord's bare and simple word; I must have a sign and a seal, a witness and caution to his word, or else I count myself loose, though I have the word and faith of a King. Oh, I am made of unbelief, and cannot swim but where my feet may touch the ground! Alas, my temptations represent

Christ to me as a deceiver! Temptations ever represent Christ unlike himself, and we in our folly listen to the tempter! If I could minister one saving word to any, how glad would my soul be! but I myself (and it is my greatest evil) often mistake the cross of Christ; for I know well, if we were wise, and bore in mind that ease destroyeth us fools, we should desire a market where we might barter our lazy ease with a profitable cross-although there be a natural variance betwixt our desires and tribulations; but some give a dear price and gold for physic, which yet they love not. But surely, brother, go he, or come he, our faithful Lord is ever gracious; and even when he goeth away, the image of that fair sun that stayeth in the eyes, senses, and heart, after he is gone, leaveth a mass of love behind it in the heart. The sound of his knock at the door of his beloved, after he is gone and past, leaveth a share of joy and sorrow both; so we have something to feed upon till his return; and he is more loved in his departure, and after he is gone, than before; as the day in the declining of the sun, and towards the evening, is often most desired. And as for Christ's cross, I never received evil of it, but what was my own making-when I misused Christ's physic, no marvel that it hurt me. It is 1600 years since Christ bore his cross, and still it keepeth the mark of him; nay, it is older than that too, for it is a long time since Abel had that same cross laid upon his shoulder; and all the saints down from him, to his very day, have known what it is. I am glad at Christ hath such a relation to this cross, and

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