CCLXXXVIII.—To the persecuted Church in Ireland.
CCLXXXVIII.—To the persecuted Church in Ireland.
(CHRIST'S LEGACY OF TROUBLE—GOD'S DEALINGS WITH SCOTLAND IN GIVING PROSPERITY—CHRIST TAKES HALF OF
ALL SUFFERINGS—STEDFASTNESS FOR HIS CROWN—HIS LOVE SHOULD LEAD TO HOLINESS.)
MUCH HONOURED, REVEREND, AND DEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD,— Grace, mercy, and peace be to you all.—I know that there are many in this nation more able than I to speak to the sufferers for, and witnesses of, Jesus Christ; yet pardon me to speak a little to you, who are called in question for the Gospel once committed to you.
I hope that 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. "These things have I spoken, that in Me ye might have peace; in the world ye
1When the National Covenant had been solemnly renewed throughout almost the whole of Scotland, every means was used to prevent the Presbyterians in Ireland from entering into it. To accomplish this, an oath was imposed in May 1639, known by the name of the Black Oath, from the calamities which it occasioned. The oath is as follows:—"I, ———, do faithfully swear, profess, and promise, that I will honour and obey my sovereign Lord, King Charles, and will bear faith and true allegiance unto him, and defend and maintain his royal power and authority; and that I will not bear arms, or do any rebellious or hostile act against his Majesty, King Charles, or protest against any his royal commands, but submit myself in all due obedience thereunto; and that I will not enter into any covenant, oath, or band of mutual defence and assistance against any person whatsoever by force, without his Majesty's sovereign and legal authority. And I do renounce and abjure all covenants, oaths, and bands whatsoever, contrary to what I have herein sworn, professed, and promised. So help me God, in Jesus Christ." All Scottish residents in Ulster, above the age of sixteen, were required to take this oath; and it was imposed equally on women and on men. Great numbers refusing to take it, the highest penalties of the law, short of death, were inflicted on them, and that, too, under circumstances of great cruelty. Such was the condition of the Presbyterians in Ireland at the date of this letter, which was written to comfort them under persecution, and to encourage their stedfastness (Reid s "History of the Presbyterian Church in Ireland"). shall have trouble" (John xvi. 33). Because, then, ye are made assignees and heirs to a liferent 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 wine-press is but squeezing out the dregs, the scum, the froth, and refuse of that church. I had once the proof of the sweet smell, and the honest and honourable peace, of that slandered thing, the cross of our Lord Jesus. But though, alas! these golden days that then I had be now in a great part gone, yet I dare say, that the issue and outgate of your sufferings shall be the advantage, the golden reign and dominion of the Gospel, and the high glory of the never-enough-praised Prince of the kings of the earth; and the changing of the brass of the Lord's temple among you into gold, and the iron into silver, and the wood into brass. Your officers shall yet be peace, and your exactors righteousness (Isa. lx. 17, 18). Your old, fallen walls shall get a new name, and the gates of your Jerusalem shall get a new style. They shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise. I know that Deputy,2 prelates, Papists, temporizing lords, and proud mockers of our Lord, crucifiers of Christ for His coat, and all your enemies, have neither fingers nor instruments of war to pick out one stone out of your wall; for each stone of your wall is "Salvation." I dare give you my royal and princely Master's word for it, that Ireland shall be a fair bride to Jesus, and Christ will build on her a palace of silver (Cant. viii. 9). Therefore, weep not as if there were no hope; fear not, put on strength, put on your beautiful garments (Isa. lii. 1). Your foundation shall be sapphires, your windows and gates precious stones (Isa. liv. 11, 12). Look over the water, and behold 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 Christ and His truth's sake, are but arrested and laid in pawn, and not taken away. There is much laid up for you in His storehouse, whose the earth and the fulness thereof is. Your garments are spun, and your flocks are feeding in the fields, your bread is laid up for you, your drink is brewn, your gold and silver is at the bank, and the interest goeth on and groweth: and yet I hear that your taskmasters do rob and spoil you, and fine you. Your prisons, my brethren, have two keys. The Deputy, prelates, and officers keep but the iron keys of the prison wherein they put you; but He that