WELL-BELOVED SISTER,--I have been sparing to write to you because I was heavy at the proceedings of our late Parliament.[352] Where law should have been, they would not give our Lord Jesus fair law and justice, nor the benefit of the house, to hear either the just grievances, or the humble supplications of the servants of God.[353] Nothing resteth, but that we lay our grievances before our crowned King, Jesus, who reigneth in Zion. And howbeit it be true, that the Acts of the Perth Assembly for conformity are established, and the King's power to impose the surplice, and other mass-apparel, upon ministers, be confirmed,[354] yet what men conclude is not Scripture. Kings have short arms to overturn Christ's throne; and our Lord hath been walking and standing upon His feet at this Parliament, when fifteen earls and lords, and forty-four commissioners for burghs, with some barons, have voted for our kirk,[355] in face of a king who, with much awe and terror, with his own hand, wrote up the voters for or against himself.[356] Long before this kirk, in the second Psalm, the ends of the earth (Scotland and England) were gifted of the Father to His Son, Christ; and that is an old Act of Parliament decreed by our Lord, and printed four thousand years ago. Their Acts are but yet printing. The first Act shall stand, let all the potentates of the world, who love Christ's room better than Himself, rage as they please. Though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, yet there is a river that cometh out of the sanctuary, and the streams of it refresh the city of God. That well is not yet cried down in Scotland, nor can it dry up: therefore, still believe and trust in God's salvation. If you knew the whole proceedings, it is the Lord's mercy that matters have gone at our Parliament, as they have gone. The Lord Jesus, in our King's ears, to His great provocation and grief, hath gotten many witnesses; and we saw in all the Son of God overturning their policy, and making the world know how well He loveth His poor sun-burnt bride in Scotland. The Lord liveth, and blessed be the God of our salvation.
[352] The Parliament held at Edinburgh in June 1633.
[353] Mr. Thomas Hog, minister of the Gospel at Dysart, in his own name, and in the name of other ministers, before the sitting down of the Parliament, presented a paper, entitled, "Grievances and Petitions concerning the Disordered Estate of the Reformed Kirk within this realm of Scotland," to Sir John Hay, Clerk Register, to be laid before the Parliament.
[354] The reference here is to two Acts passed by the Parliament in June 1633, the one ratifying all Acts made before in favour of the church, and consequently ratifying the Acts of Perth, and other Acts made for settling and advancing the estate of bishops; the other, asserting the King's prerogative of enjoining churchmen to wear whatever apparel he chose.
[355] This was the number of members of Parliament who voted against the above Acts.
[356] "The King's taking pen and paper in hand in the time of the voting, was a sufficient ground of apprehending fear" (Scot's "Apologetical Narration").
For the matter betwixt your husband and Carleton, I trust in God it shall be removed. It hath grieved me exceedingly. I have dealt with Carleton, and shall deal. Put it off yourself upon the Lord, that it burden you not.
I have heard of your daughter's marriage: I pray the Lord Jesus to subscribe the contract, and to be at the banquet, as He was at the marriage of Cana of Galilee. Show her from me, that though it be true that God's children have prayed for her, yet the promise of God is made to her prayers and faith especially: and, therefore, I would entreat her to seek the Lord to be at the wedding. Let her give Christ the love of her virginity and espousals, and choose Him first as her Husband, and that match shall bless the other. It is a new world she entereth into, and therefore she hath need of new acquaintance with the Son of God, and of a renewing of her love to Him, whose love is better than wine. "The time is short: let the married be as though they were not married; they that weep, as though they weeped not; they that rejoice, as though they rejoiced not; they that buy, as though they possessed not; they that use this world, as though they used it not: for the fashion of this world passeth away" (1 Cor. vii. 29, 30, 31). Grace, grace be her portion from the Lord. I know that you have a care on you of it, that all be right: but let Christ bear all. You need not pity Him, if I may say so; put Him to it, He is strength enough.
The Spirit of the Lord Jesus be with you.
Your friend, in his dearest friend, Christ Jesus,