To Thomas Corbet — Letter 85

Dearest in our Lord Jesus.

Count it your honor that Christ has begun with you first to refine you. Fear not, says the Amen, the true and faithful witness. I write to you, as my Master lives, upon the word of my royal King: continue in prayer and in watching, and your glorious deliverance is coming. Christ is not far off. A fig, a straw for all the bits of clay that have risen against us; you shall thresh the mountains and fan them like chaff — see Isaiah 41. If you slacken your hands at your meetings and your watching to prayer, then it would seem our rock has sold us; but be diligent and be not discouraged. I charge you in Christ: rejoice, give thanks, believe, be strong in the Lord. That burning bush in Galloway and Kirkcudbright shall not be burned to ashes, for the Lord is in the bush. Be not discouraged that banishment is to be procured by the king's warrant to the council against me; the earth is my Lord's. I am filled with his sweet love, and running over. I rejoice to hear you are in your journey; such news as I hear of all your faith and love rejoices my sad heart. Pray for me, for they seek my hurt, but I give myself to prayer. The blessing of my Lord and a prisoner of Christ's blessing be with you. O chosen and greatly beloved woman, faint not — shame on you if you faint now! You lose a good cause. Double your meetings; cease not for Zion's sake, and hold not your peace until he makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth.

Aberdeen, 1637. Yours in Christ Jesus his Lord, S. R.