ye and I fee but the dark fide of God's difpenfations this day towards Britain, yet the fair, beautiful and defireable close of it must be the confederacy of the nations of the world with Britain's Lord of armies. And let me die in the comforts of the faith of this, that a throne fhall be fet up for Chrift in this ifland of Britain (which is and fhall be a garden more fruitful of trees of righteoufnefs, and payeth and shall pay more thousands to the Lord of the vineyard, than is paid in thrice the bounds of Great Britain upon the earth) and then there can be neither Papift, Prelate, Malignant, nor Sectáry, who dare draw a fword against him that fitteth upon the throne. Sir, I fhall wifh a clean army, fo far as may be, that the fhout of a King, who hath many crowns, may be among you; and that ye may fight in faith, and prevail with God first. Think your glory, to have a fword to act, and fuffer, and die (if it please him) fo being ye may add any thing to the declarative glory of Chrift, the Plant of renown, Immanuel, God with us: happy and thrice blessed are they by whofe actings, or blood, or pain, or lofs, the diadems and rubies of his highest and glorious crown (whofe ye are) glifter and thine in this quarter of the habitable world: though he need not Gilbert Ker, nor his fword; yet this honour have ye with his redeemed foldiers, to call Chrift high Lord general, of whom ye hope for pay and all arrears well told. Go on, worthy Sir, in the courage of faith, following the Lamb: make not hafte unbelievingly; but in hope and filence keep the watch tower and look out; he will come in his own time, his fal vation fhall not tarry, he fhall place falvation in Britain's Zion for Ifrael's glory. His good-will, who dwelt in the bush and it burnt not, be yours, and with you. I am St. Andrews, Aug. 10. 1650. Yours in his fweet Lord Jefus, S. R. 57. To the worthy and much honoured Colonel GILBERT KER. Much honoured and worthy Sir, am 7Hat I wrote to you before, I fpake not upon any private army (I warrant: I am where I was; Cromwell and his fhall not fay, but there may be and are feveral fober and godly amongst them, who have either joined through mifinformation, or have gone alongst with the reft in the fimplicity of their hearts, not knowing any thing) fight in an unjust cause, against the Lord's fecret ones; and now, to the trampling of the worthip of God, and perfecuting the people of God in England and Ireland, he hath brought upon his fcore the blood of the people of God in Scotland. I intreat you, dear Sir, as ye defire to be ferviceable to Jefus Chrift, whofe free grace prevented you, when ye were his enemy, go on Fff2 without Epift. 58. without fainting, equally efchewing all mixture with Sectaries and Malignants; neither of the two fhall ever be inftrumental to fave the Lord's people, or build his houfe: and without prophefying, or fpeaking further than he, whose I am, and whom I defire to ferve in the gofpel of his Son, shall warrant, I defire to hope, and to believe, there is a glory and a majesty of the Prince of the kings of the earth, that shall shine and appear in Great Britain, which fhall darken all the glory of men, confound Sectaries and Malignants, and rejoice the fpirits of the followers of the Lamb, and dazzle the eyes of the beholders. Sir, I fuppofe that God is to gather Malignants and Sectaries, ere all be done, as fheaves in a barnfloor; and to bid the daughter of Zion arise and thresh: I hope ye will mix with none of them; I am abundantly fatisfied, that our army, through the finful mifcarriage of men, hath fallen; and dare fay, it is a better and a more comfortable difpenfation, than if the Lord had given us the victory, and the necks of the reproachers of the way of God, because he hath done it: for, 1. More blood, blafphemies, cruelty, treachery, must be upon the accounts of the men, whofe land the Lord forbid us to invade. 2. Victory is fuch a burdening and weighty mercy, that we have not strength to bear it as yet, 3. That was not the army, nor Gideon's three hundred, by whom he is to fave us: we must have one of the Lord's carving. 4. Our enemies on both fides are not enough hardened, nor we enough mortified to multitude, valour and creatures. Grace, grace be with you. T is confiderable, that the Lord may, and often doth call to a conceive aright, the Lord hath called you to act against that enemy; and the withdrawers of their fword, in my weak apprehenfion, add their zeal unto, and take upon them the guilt of that unjuft invafion of this land made by Cromwell's army, and of the blood of the Lord's people in this kingdom; fince the fword, put into the hand of his children, is to execute wrath and vengeance upon evil-doers: the Lord's time of appearing for his broken land is referved to the breathings of the Spirit of the Lord, fuch as came upon Gideon and Samfon, and that is an act of princely and royal fovereignty in God. Ye are, Sir, to lay hold on opportunities of providence, and to wait for him: as for your particular treating by yourfelves with the invaders of our land, I have no mind to it, and and do look upon their way as a carrying on of the mystery of iaiquity (for Babylon is a feat of many names.) Sir, let this controverfy ftand till the fecond appearance of Jefus Chrift, and our appeally before the throne undifcuffed till that day, I hope to ly down in the grave, in the faith of the juftness of our cause. I fpeak nothing of the maintaining the greatnefs of men, not fubordinate to the Prince of the kings of the earth. I judge that the blood of the witnesses of Jefus is found upon the fkirts of this fociety, as well as in Babylon's skirts: I believe the way of the Lord is Colonel Gilbert Ker's ftrength and glory; and I should be content to want my part of him, (which is, I confefs, precious and dear in Chrift) fo he be fpent in the fervice of him, who will anon make inquifition for the blood of the truly godly, which thefe men have shed, after fair warning that they were the godly of Scotland. Worthy Sir, believe, faint not, fet your shoulder under the glory of Jefus, that is misprised in Scotland, and give a teftimony for him; he hath many names in Scotland, who fhall walk with him in white. This defpifed covenant fhall ruin Malignants, Sectaries and Atheists: yet a little while, and behold he cometh, and walketh in the greatnefs of his ftrength, and his garments dyed with blood. Oh for the fad and terrible day of the Lord upon England, their fhips of Tarfhifh, their fenced cities, &c. becaufe of a broken covenant! A conference with the enemy, not to hinder acting, (O that the Lord would thereby, or fome other way, remove the cloud that is over you) if authority would concur, were to be defired; but it can hardly be expected: however, in the way of duty, and in the filence of faith, go on; if ye perish, ye are the firft of the creation with whom the Lord hath taken that difpenfation. I fhould humbly defire you, Sir, to look to that, Dying, and behold we live; killed all the day long, and yet more than conquerors. There fhall be the heat and warmnefs of life in your graves, and buried bones: but look not for the Lord's coming the higher way only, for he may come the lower way. O how little of God do we fee, and how myfterious is he! Chrift known is amongst the greatest fecrets of God. Keep yourself in the love of God, and in order to that, as far in obedience and fubjection to the king, (whofe falvation and true happiness my foul defireth) and to every ordinance of man for the Lord's fake, and to the fundamental laws of this kingdom, as your Lord requireth. Sir, ye are in the hearts and prayers of the Lord's people in this kingdom, and in the other two: the Lord hath faid, There is a bleffing in the clu-` ster of grapes, destroy it not. Grace, grace be upon the head of him that is feparated from his brethren; and the good-will of him that dwelt in the bush be with you. Perth, Nov. 23. 1659, Your fervant in his fweet Lord Jefus, S. R. I 59. To the worthy and much honoured Colonel GILBERT KER. Much honoured and worthy Sir, Know not why the people of God should not take notice of the bonds of any who have blood in readiness to be let out for his caufe: and I judge it was not of you, that ye died not in the undecided controverfy which the Lord of the whole earth hath with the men whom he hath fent against us. Dear and much honoured in the Lord, let me intreat you to be far from the thoughts of leaving this land: I fee it, and find it, that the Lord hath covered the whole land with a cloud in his anger; but though I have been tempted to the like, I had rather be in Scotland, befide angry Jefus Chrift, knowing he mindeth no evil to us, than in any Eden or garden in the earth. If we can remain united with the Lord's remnant in the Land, he layeth up wrath for all forts of adversaries in Britain. Though I never fee the glory of his glistering fword in Britain, I would be folaced in the innocent thoughts (far from revenge) that the faints fhall dip their feet in the blood of the flain of the Lord. And truly, Sir, I fuppofe, ye cannot but come to thefe thoughts and weak defires before the Hearer of prayers, for as little as ye think of and value yourfelf: for me, if I could mind you in your bonds, I purpose not to ftand to the account ye give, or thoughts ye have of yourself; though I know ye are not a whit more or lefs before him (who weigheth his own according to the weight of imputed righteoufnefs) for my apprehenfions, Chrift cannot mistake you, men may; and the calculation and efteem of free grace maketh you to be what you are. I hope to fee you an everlastingly obliged debtor to him, whom ye shall praise, but never pay: and truly ye have no riches but that debt; and I know ye love to be engaged to Jefus Chrift, the most excellent of creditors. Much joy and fweetness may ye have in standing written in this book: I defire to do it myself, and I would have you also highly to efsteem the design of Chrift, who hath raised the riches of the glory of fo much grace above the circle of the heaven of heavens, out of very nothings; and contrived his thoughts of love, fo that lumps of glorified clay fhould stand before him, for all ages, the burdens and loaden debitors of free, eternally free grace. Sir, ye cannot caft the count of the rents of your fo great inheritance of glory. Grace be with you. Edin. May 18. 1651. Your fervant in his own 60. To the much honoured and truly worthy Colonel GILBERT KER. Hab. ii. verfes 3, 4. Much honoured and worthy Sin, You Our chains now shine as much for Chrift, the cause being his, as your fword was made famous in acting for that caufe: and blessed are fuch as can willingly tender to Chrift both action and blood, doing and fuffering. Refifting unto blood is little for that precious and never-enough exalted Redeemer, who, when ye are a buying, gave blood fomewhat dearer than ye gave for him, even the blood of God, Acts xx. 28. I know a man, who, upon the re ceipt of a letter, that ye were killed, and the people of God destroy-. ed, wished, that he might be quickly under the wall of the higher palace, from under the dint of the storm, and who longed to have the weather-beaten and crazy bark fafely landed in that harbour of eternal quietnefs. What further fervice Christ hath for you, I know not; it is enough, that in your captivity ye offer your fervice to Christ: but if I fee any thing, it looks like a merciful de feat. I fee the nobles and the state falling off from Christ, and the night coming upon the prophets, which we would pray to prevent; because it is a rare thing to fee a fallen ftar win ever up a gain to the firmament to fhine; and what if this be the thick dark. nefs going before the break of day? Sure, Sir, the fun fhall rife upon Scotland; but if I fhall fee it, or how near it is to that day, I leave that to him, even unto Jehovah, who creates upon every dwelling-place in mount Zion, and upon her assemblies a cloud, and a fmoke by day, and the fhining of a flaming fire by night.. But, Sir, the wilderness, fhall rejoice and bloffom as a rofe: and happy he, who hath a bone or an arm, to put the crown upon the head of our highest King, whose chariot is paved with love. Were there ten thousand millions of heavens created above these highest heavens, and again as many above them, and as many above them, till angels were wearied with counting, it were but too low a feat to fix the princely throne of that Lord Jefus (whofe ye are) above them all: created heavens are too low. a feat of majesty for him. Since then there is none equal to your Master and Prince, who hath chofen out for you, amongst many fufferings for fin, that only crofs, which cometh nearest in likeness to his own crofs, watered with confolation, take courage, and comfort yourself in him, who hath chofen you to glory hereafter, and to conformity with him here: we fools would have a crofs of our own choofing, and would have our gall and worm-wood fugared, our fire cold, and our death and grave warmed with heat of life; but he, who hath brought many |