To the Earl of Cassilis — Letter 42

My very noble and honorable Lord.

I make bold — out of the honorable and Christian report I hear of your lordship, having nothing else to say but that which concerns the honorable cause which the Lord has enabled your lordship to profess — to write this: that it is your lordship's crown, your glory, and your honor to set your shoulder under the Lord's glory now falling to the ground, and to back Christ now, when so many think it wisdom to let him fend for himself. The shields of the earth have ever believed and still believe that Christ is a troublesome neighbor, and that it is a pain to uphold his yes's and no's. They fear he will take their chariots and their crowns and their honor from them; but my Lord stands in need of none of them. But it is your glory to own Christ and his buried truth, for let men say what they please, the issue with Zion's enemies in this day of Jacob's trouble is: whether Christ shall be King, and no mouth make law but his. What is now debated concerns the apple of Christ's eye and his royal privileges, and Christ's kingly honor has come to the point of yes or no. But let me be pardoned, my dear and noble Lord, to beseech you by the mercies of God, by the comforts of the Spirit, by the wounds of your dear Savior, by your appearance before the Judge of the living and the dead — to stand for Christ and to back him. Oh, if the nobles had done their part and been zealous for the Lord, it had not been as it is now; but men think it wisdom to stand aside from Christ until his head is broken, and stay silent. There is a time coming when Christ will have a full court, and he will be the glory of Scotland. He shall make a crown, a garland, a seal upon his heart, and a ring on his finger, of those who have avouched him before this faithless generation. Though before that comes, wrath from the Lord is ordained for this land. My Lord, I have cause to write this to your lordship, for I dare not conceal his kindness to the soul of an afflicted, exiled prisoner. Who has more cause to boast in the Lord than such a sinner as I, who am feasted with the consolations of Christ and have no pain in my sufferings but the pain of lovesickness for Christ, and sorrow that I cannot get help to sound aloud the high praises of him who has heard the sighing of the prisoner? He is content to lay the head of his oppressed servant in his bosom, under his chin, and let him smell the fragrance of his garments. This I was compelled to write, that your lordship might know Christ is as good as he is called, and to testify to your lordship that the cause your lordship now professes before this faithless world is Christ's — and your lordship shall have no shame of it. Grace be with you.

Aberdeen, March 13, 1637. Your lordship's obliged servant, S. R.