fo that he feemed to pray conftantly, to preach conftantly, to catechife conftantly, to be ftill in vifiting the fick, in exhorting from houfe to houfe, to teach as much in the fchools and fpend as much time with the young men, as if he had been fequeftrate from all the world befides: and withal, to write as much, as if he had been conftantly fhut up in his clofet, (fufficient proof whereof hath been given to the world, by the many pieces he hath published: but the great bulk of manufcripts which he hath left behind him, and muft lie buried with himfelf, will put this further out of doubt) fo that one Mr. Rutherfoord feemed to be many able godly men in one, or one who was furnished with the grace and abilities of many. It is not, I fay, my prefent purpose, to give any particular account to the world of thefe; or of the many things he had to wrestle with, especially towards the end of his days, and of his edifying death; that may be done hereafter by a more dextrous hand, and kilful pen, with much advantage and edification_to the church of God: only I may fay, if among the heathens, Hercules was looked upon, as fo far both above the applaufe of any, who undertook to commend him, and beyond the reach of the obloquie and reproach of any who had fo fallen out with his wits, as to derogate from his worth; that it was a problem amongst them, whither he who undertook to praife him, or he who vented any thing to his prejudice, did commit the greatest Solacifm (tho' it was Belluima gloria whereof he could boaft) I fuppofe with more reafon, among them who know better to make the true parallel betwixt things that differ, and are more fit to judge of that, which is of true worth,and great price in the fight of God, I fhould feem more ridiculous to fay much to the advantage of the author, whofe praife (without the help of my blunt pen) is in all the churches of Chrift; whofe manner of life, in all godlinefs and holy converfation, rendered him dear to the lovers of holiness, and who hath left his name for a bleffing to the chofen of God: he was a true John the Baptift indeed, totus, vox, a voice in habit, gefture, and converfation: in a word, in his life, and at his death, he obtained that mercy of the Lord, even when he faid nothing, to preach to all who beheld his converfation (which was obferved to be in heaven, while he converfed amongst men) that there was nothing good, but to draw near to God: and now being got up above, amongst thofe pages of honour, who wait upon the king's own perfon, and having taken up his place amongst the fpirits of juft men made perfect (after which this faint often panted, and for which he prayed night and day) he doth by thefe Epiftles, which he hath left behind him (wherein thou wilt perceive how his foul was drawn forth in inceffant longings after that whereof he is now poffeffed) cry aloud to you his companions, the faints that are in the world, to come up hither and fee, that which cannot be feen while ye are there; that which is only worth the feeing; that, which if it were known, would make you quarrel with death for delaying to fhut your eyes upon other objects: leave the dark world, doth he fay, and come up hither to this bleffed land of light, where all our childish thoughts of God are gone, and evanished in this noon-day-vifion, where the understanding is fully illuminate, and there is no cloud to benight or eclipfe the foul in its uptakings of God, where the will hath a thorough compliance with, and a perfect complacency in the will of God, where the affections do eternally run in a straight line towards him, and are forever put beyond hazard of diverting towards any other thing, or of being enamoured with any other object. Though I have no purpofe to infift on the particulars of his life, or death, I fay, yet before I clofe this fection, there are two things which I cannot, I ought not, for all

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the hafte, to conceal or let pafs without a remark, because one was looked upon by many, as a thing very obfervable, and the other, will I know, be taken notice of, and welcomed by all the people of God: the firft relates to the time when this faithful labouret was removed to his reft, which was the night following that dark, and difmal day, wherein the Act Reciffory was paft, the Lord thereby fhewing a special piece of indulgence to his fervant, in not adding grief to his forrow, but hiding it from thefe eyes, which had accustomed themfelves to trickle down without intermiffion, both for what he faw, and what he forefaw: fince the parliament of Scotland, fo folemnly engaged to God, would at once burft all thefe bonds, and caft away thefe cords from them, which were neither our bondage nor our burden, but the badge of that glorious liberty, whereinto with a ftrong hand, he had vindicate us and upon the matter, they would needs fay to the God whofe fworn fubjects and fervants they were, be gone from us; he would not let his faithful fervant (whofe zeal to the work of God was fuch, that if the report of this fhameful revolt had not killed him at the first hearing outright; yet it alone, without any other fickness, would have been more than enough, to have brought down his head with forrow to the grave) fee another fun arife upon that land, out of which the fun of righteoufs was banished by a law and alas! Who who would defire to dwell where Chrift may not refide with freedom, honour, and faftey? Who, that prefers Jerufalem to their chief joy, would love to out-live the departing of the glory? might not Jefus Christ have faid to our Parliament, for which of my good deeds is it, that ye ftone me? Have I been a wildernefs or land of drought unto you? Were ye not honourable and renowned amongst the churches abroad, after ye became precious in my fight? Did I not make your adverfaries fenfible, that he who touched you, touched the apple of mine eye, fo long as ye were ftedfaft in my covenant? And even after ye had left your firft love, and declined from the integrity of your efpoufals, I only visited this tranfgreffion with the rod, and this iniqui ty with ftripes; nevertheless, my loving-kindness did I not utterly take from you, nor fuffered I my faithfulness to fail: tho' I punifhed you as a nation, I dwelt amongst you as a church; and I did not remove your teachers into corners, but your eyes did fee thefe, and ye did ftill hear the joyful found; and, as if all that had been too little, I gave you the defire of your heart, reftored you to your civil liberties, which ye had finned away, and fet you down in a free parliament: and do ye thus requite me? What, is this my entertainment, where I was once crowned and cryed up for a King? What a ftrange and aftonishing change is this, that the very perfons who fwore unto me the Oath of Allegiance, and did fing in my company, fpreading their garments in the way with fhouting, are now crying, Crucify him, crucify him? Shall I not have whereupon to lay my head, except it be on a cold stone in a prifon, amongst a people, who after a moft folemn manner, had given themfelves away unto me? Can thefe be the very men, who with hands lifted up to heaven, did fo often, and fo folemnly fwear, before my Father, and before his holy angels, and in the fight of all the nations, that they would be mine: and that I fhould have their lives and fortunes at my difpofal? Is it poffible that these are the men, who carried, as they would have pluckt out their very eyes, and given them unto me, who now plait a crown of thorns and put it upon my head? Is this the nation and parliament, who fwore that they would ferve the Lord their God, and that according to the pattern fhewed them in the mount, and bound their foul to his obedi

ence

ence by an oath, and as they should anfwer to him, or expect a comfortable appearance before the Judge of quick and dead? Are they (might he fay) the very fame perfons, or is it another generation, who have not heard of that folemn tranfaction betwixt me and the nation, who have ufed me worfe than the very Gadarenes ? tho' thefe were void of religion, yet they had fo much cívility, as to compliment me out of their coafts, and pray me to be gone, without committing any other act of hoftility against me, or beating me out of their borders with tuck of drum; but now, fhall it be by a law, fedition, and treason, to affert an obligation to me, from all thefe oaths? Shall it be a note of incapacity for any place of truft in church or ftate, to fay, That the land is under the oath of God, and that no power on earth can loose themselves, or make void that obligation as to others; nay, that the formal abjuring of thefe engagements to me, fhall be, if not the unum neceffarium, yet the fine quo non, to qualify a man for any public employment: Ah! Scotland, by dealing thus with thy covenanted God, what haft thou done? may not God, who was thy own God, expoftu late with thee, as he did with that people, Jer. ii. 10, 11, 12. Go abroad amongst the nations, turn over all hiftory, facred and profane, call for the records of the nations, and fee, if in thefe thou canst find any who have dealt with their gods as thou haft done? A precedent thou mayeft poffibly find; but a parallel in every refpect thou canst not: thou art fingular, and by thy felf, in commiting these two evils (but fuch two, as are comprehenfive of all others; fuch two, as a third is not poffible) departing from the living God, and digging to thy felf broken cifterns that can hold no water: thou wilt find what folly is in this (I wish it be not too late) to pain thy felf in digging an empty ciftern, and in forfaking the fountain of all confolation, and that a broken one too as it hath nothing in it, fo it can hold nothing if it had it is not this to commit two fuch evils as make a foul or nation truly miferable? And yet this haft thou done: O! may not the heavens be aftonished and horribly afraid at this requital we have given unto Jefus Chrift Yea, we were fo bent to backfliding, and fo hafty and headftrong in departing from him, that we feemed to have loft, together with our loyalty to the Son of God, all refpect to our own reputation (as it often falls out, that men lofe the better part of their reafon, together with their religion: he who lets go the one, does feldom retain the other) for by that very vote (never to be mentioned, without tears and deteftation) whereby Chrift was robbed of his prerogative, they did, befides their defign, diveft themfelves of their own priviledges, and while they un-king him, whom God hath made King in Zion, (or do that which he will account fo) they un-parliament themfelves (dirum omen to them, and it may be a token for good to the nation) I nothing doubt, but fome the moft fagacious amongst them faw this then (tho' the generality, without confidering either the ditch they were digging for themfelves, by what they did, or the danger that would follow upon their falling into it, faffered themfelves to be carried down with the current, and did run as they were driven) or they have had time enough fince, to think, in what capacity they could fit, and act, after that vote; for all laws being then repealed, which did exauctorate the Prelates, and incapacitate them for fitting, as one of the eftates in parliament, and thefe laws then, only being in force, which made them an integral and effential part of the high court of Parliament, the third eftate was wanting, while they were away; without which the other two were not in capacity to act as a Parliament; and if fo they may at their own leifure confider, whether the

precious blood that they did fhed after that vote, before the clofe of that feffion, may not be required at their hands; as they would do well to think what they would anfwer before men, if the question were afked, Quo warranto, did you fhed this blood? It may be, they would find themfelves further to feek, as to what to fay for fatisfying any, they found thefe worthies in answering all the accufations of their accufers but what fhall I fay? It were more fit, to weep over this, than to write it, and to cry unto him, against whom this is done, Wilt thou refrain thy felf for thefe things, O Lord? Wilt thon hold thy peace and afflict us very fore? Alas! we made fuch hafte, to pull down that beautiful houfe, wherein we and our fathers had praised him, and to overturn the very foundations of the dwelling-place of his Name to the ground, that in our precipitation to raze it, we have buried ourselves under the rubbish; for they are blind who do not fee the men who have done this, fnared in the work of their own hands: and this till more come, fhould make the people of God fing a Haggaion Selah. Oifall who have had a hand in it, would in time bethink themfelves! Sure, in that reflection, if they were ferious, they would finite on their thigh,' and fay, Alas! what have we done? The fecond thing that I have to acquaint thee with, and wherein I know (if thou be one of them, who take pleafure in the duft of Zion's demolished walls) thou wilt have a fpecial complacency, is, that as his fervant did with much forrow of foul foresee, Scotland's shameful revolt, which is plain by the laft letter in this book, fo his Lord and Mafter, put him fo far on his fecrets, as to let him fee a delivery to the church on the other fide of it: let us have but patience, there is a Plaudito for the faints, and a fong of praise for the Moft High, after this ftorm is over and ended: mourn we may and ought; but let us mourn in hope; for he is the Lord Jehovah, who will haften it in his time: which as it cannot be antedated by us, fo fhall it not lie in the power of all that oppofe themfelves to poftpone it: and to that purpofe, befides what thou mayeft fee in the laft letter of this book, I fhall fet down fome of his own words, without either comment, alteration, or addition. Upon the laft of February 1661, which was about a month before he died, at the clofe of a large teftimony, he gave to the work of Reformation: thefe were his words (after he had been speaking of fuffering for Chrift) "Bleffed Soul, faid he, who loves not his life to death; for on fuch "refts the fpirit of glory and of God, 1 Pet. iv. 14. But we cannot fay, but this is a day of darkness, and a day of blafphemy, and re"buke: the Lord hath covered himfelf with a cloud in his anger: "we looked for peace, but behold evil: our fouls rejoiced when his majefty did fwear the covenant of God, and put thereto his feal and "fubfcription, and after confirmed it by his royal promife, fo, that "the fubjects mind bleffed the Lord, and refted, upon the healing "word of a prince; but now, alas! the contrary is enacted by law, the carved work broken down, ordinances defaced, fo that we are brought to the former bondage, and chaos of prelatical confufions, "and Anarchy; and the royal prerogative due to Chrift, pulled off "his head: we have feen days of forrow, and have juft caufe to fear we be made to read, and eat that book, wherein is written, Lamentation, and mourning, and wo; but we are to believe, that Chrift "will not fo depart from the land, but a remnant fhall be faved, and "he fhall reign a victorious conquering King to the ends of the earth. O! that there were nations, kindreds, tongues, and all the people of Chrift's habitable world, encompaffing his throne with cryes and tears, for the Spirit of fupplication, promised to be poured upon the

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" inhabitants of Judah, for that effect." Thus he clofed his teftimony: I fhall only add another paffage to this purpofe; about two hours and an half before he was removed: amongst other things he spake, which did relifh of heaven, and refreshed the fouls of all that heard them, he had this expreffion: I do no ways doubt of it, but Chrift will arife and wound his enemies in their loins: this was only taken, but the obferver faith, he had many to the fame purpose. Now this was that. very night, wherein the Act Reciffory was paft: as if God who had ta ken notice of fuch an high affront done to him, would let his dying fervant know, to the end he might communicate it to others, that he would not only repeal that act, but that he would refcind the refcinders: a wound in the loins, when the blow is given by the hand of him who is God Almighty, muft prove mortal; if he wound them there, they must fall, though they were ftronger than lions; for who may ftand before him, when once he is angry? The men of might will not find their hands, when the party they engage with, is the omnipotent God: when men are become fo high, that they are too hard a party for any on earth to deal with, if their way be contrary to him, then they fall directly in his hand, to deal with them; and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. He is fuch a party, as thou canft neither fight nor flee: Oh Scotland! Scotland! if thou wouldst yet think on thy way, and remember this, before he come to enter the lifts with thee, who quickly puts his enemies out of a pofture of defence! O, if thou would yet kneel before him, whom God hath made King in Zion, and kifs the Son, left he be angry! For if he be angry, thou must perish, and there is no way to prevent this, but to remember from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works.

As for the letters themselves, I fhall not offer to commend them, they had letters of recommendation deeply engraven on the hearts of all who have feen them, and can favour the things that are of God; this they had, I say, amongst them who have their fenfes exercised to dif cern good and evil, long before they were made thus public in the world; fo they need not my commendation, nor will the detraction of any, who have a mind for that, blaft their repute; as they are above the one, fo they defpife the other; but fure I am, this may be faid, if thou haft any acquaintance with the fweet breathings of the Spirit of God, if thou haft ever feen by tafting how good he is, or haft found what foul-anguifh doth follow upon the hiding of his face from a perfon, who hath placed his fatisfaction fo entirely in the light of his counte nance lifted up upon the foul, that the man cannot enjoy himself, when he doth not enjoy him, but carries as one deprived of all that, which made life more defireable than death; if thou be fuch, I fay, then thou wilt find fomewhat here to take thee: here thou wilt perceive both thefe conditions fet before thine eye, and exemplified in an eminent faint thou wilt both find what a heaven the faints have, or is to be had in this fide of glory; and how, as a fenfible prefence makes them forget all their forrows, fo, a felt abfence doth imbitter all their other enjoyments.

In general I may fay this of thefe epiftles (and it may be after thou haft perufed them, thou wilt feal it) that thou haft many volumes wrapt up together in a few words, a great foul fhut up in a little body, much of the marrow of real religion, inclofed in every line: if thou be only taken and delighted with obftrufe and high-flown notions, which have not a native connection with inflaming the heart with love to God; but are rather the ignis fatuus of the age, being for the most part, fmoke for light, or at beft, a dim flash, rifing out of the darkened understand.