Now published for the use of all the people of God,
but more particularly for those who now are or afterward
may be put to Suffering, for Christ and His cause.
By a Wellwisher to the Work & People of God.
John xvi. 2. "They shall put you out of the synagogues; yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God service. V. 3. And these things will they do, because they have not known the Father, nor me."
2 Thess. i. 6. "Seeing it is a righteous thing with God, to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; V. 7. And to you who are troubled rest with us; when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven, with His mighty angels," &c.
Printed in the Year cIƆ IƆc LXIIII By some mistake in reading the numeral letters, booksellers' catalogues have spoken of editions in 1662 and 1663; but there were none such. Such a mistake might easily occur in writing the numerals. In a Manuscript of the Letters (kindly forwarded to the Editor by Rev. A. B. Grosart, Kinross), the date of the First Edition is written thus: cIƆ IcƆ LIIII. Here there is, beyond doubt, a mistake; the X is omitted from LXIIII.; for the MS. is merely a copy of the First Edition. It copies out the title-page in full, and then appends this note: "Intended to be wryten from the printed book, by the wryter, for particular use, and for several reasons unnecessary to be inserted." Some of the "Testimonies of the Martyrs" are appended, as they appeared in the "Cloud of Witnesses" afterwards. There are now and then marginal notes, all of which are simply hints as to what the Letter contains, thus: "Cause of Rutherford's confinement;" "Comfort for the servants of God and for ministers." The existence, however, of such a MS., copied with such pains from a printed volume, tells the high esteem in which the Letters were held. We may note one small matter. In this MS. the name "Bethaia" (so written in all the printed editions) is given "Bethia;" showing that the name was so written at that time also, as it is always now.
2. The Second Edition.—It appeared in 1671, an exact reprint of the first, with the same title-page, etc. But it is very inaccurate; e.g. there are ten obvious misspellings of common words in the two first pages, not to speak of bad punctuation, which is a fault common to all the early editions.
3. The Third Edition, in 1675, retains the original title-page, except that it has, "In Three Parts," and "The Second and Third." This last Part contains sixty-eight additional Letters. This edition is the one which subsequent editors follow. It omits the original "Preface to the Christian Reader," and has only four introductory pages, two of which are the advertisement about the lost MS. of Rutherford on Isaiah. It has a long "Postscript," in which we cannot say there is much that is important.
4. The Edition of 1692.
5. The Edition of 1709. Edinburgh.
6. The Edition of 1724. Edinburgh. 12mo. "Printed by T. Lumsden and J. Ritchie, and sold at their printing-house in the Fish Market, and by John Paton and James Thomson, booksellers in the Parliament Closs; and sold at Glasgow by John Robertson, James and John Browns, and Mrs. Brown, booksellers. 1724." It is marked "The Fifth Edition." If this means the "fifth" of those editions that contain the "Three Parts," then our list is not complete. But it seems as if the editor had overlooked one of the earlier editions; and if so, this is the sixth.
7. The Edition of 1738. Edinburgh. Marked "Sixth Edition."