PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Letters of Samuel Rutherford (Third Edition)
Rutherford, Samuel, 1600?-1661 · 345,819 words · 915 reading sections
(_CHRIST'S LOVE--A RIGHT ESTIMATE OF HIM--HIS GRACE._)
DEAR BROTHER,--I am sorry that ye, or so many in this kingdom, should expect so much of me, an empty reed. Verily I am a noughty[276] and poor body; but if the tinkling of the iron chains of my Lord Jesus on legs and arms could sound the high praises of my royal King, whose prisoner I am, oh, how would my joy run over!…
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ABERDEEN, _June 10, 1637_. CLXXVI.--_To_ CARLETON.…
7 wordsSECTION 423(_A CHRISTIAN'S CONFESSION OF UNWORTHINESS--DESIRE FOR CHRIST'S HONOUR--PRESENT CIRCUMSTANCES._)
WORTHY AND MUCH HONOURED,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received your letter from my brother, to which I now answer particularly. I confess two things of myself: _1st_, Woe, woe is me, that men should think there is anything in me! He is my witness, before whom I am as crystal, that the secret house-devils tha…
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Worthy and dear brother in the Lord Jesus, I write that from my heart which ye now read. _1st_, I avouch that Christ, and sweating and sighing under His cross, is sweeter to me by far, than all the kingdoms in the world could possibly be. 2_ndly_, If you, and my dearest acquaintance in Christ, reap any fruit by my suff…
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[279] To bring under man's appointment the smallest part of Christ's truth. [280] Till I reach the heavenly country? Now my dearest in Christ, the great Messenger of the Covenant, the only wise and all-sufficient Jehovah, establish you to the end. I hear that the Lord hath been at your house, and hath called home you…
228 wordsSECTION 426S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 15, 1637_. CLXXVII.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.…
8 wordsSECTION 427(_CHRIST SUFFERING IN HIS CHURCH--HIS COMING--OUTPOURINGS OF LOVE FROM HIM._)
WORTHY AND DEAREST IN THE LORD,--I ever loved (since I knew you) that little vineyard of the Lord's planting in Galloway; but now much more, since I have heard that He who hath His fire in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem, hath been pleased to set up a furnace amongst you with the first in this kingdom. He who maketh…
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I desire your husband to read this letter. I send him a prisoner's blessing. I will be obliged to him, if he will be willing to suffer for my dear Master. Suffering is the professor's golden garment; there shall be no losses on Christ's side of it. Ye have been witnesses of much joy betwixt Christ and me at communion f…
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ABERDEEN, _June 15, 1637_. CLXXVIII.--_To_ LADY CULROSS. [Letter LXXIV.]…
10 wordsSECTION 430(_CHRIST'S MANAGEMENT OF TRIALS--WHAT FAITH CAN DO--CHRIST NOT EXPERIENCE--PRAYERS._)
MADAM,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I dare not say that I wonder that ye have never written to me in my bonds, because I am not ignorant of the cause; yet I could not but write to you. I know not whether joy or heaviness in my soul carrieth it away. Sorrow, without any mixture of sweetness, hath not often love-…
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Blessed be ye of the Lord, Madam, if ye would help a poor dyvour, and cause others of your acquaintance in Christ to help me to pay my debt of love, even real praises to Christ my Lord. Madam, let me charge you in the Lord, as ye shall answer to Him, to help me in this duty (which He hath tied about my neck with a chai…
489 wordsSECTION 432S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 15, 1637_. CLXXIX.--_To his reverend and loving Brother_, MR. JOHN NEVAY. [MR. JOHN NEVAY, or NEAVE, was minister of Newmills, in the parish of Loudon, and chaplain to the Earl of Loudon. In all the questions which divided the Covenanters in his day, he adhered to what may be called the strict party, …
410 wordsSECTION 433(_CHRIST'S LOVE SHARPENED IN SUFFERING--KNEELING AT THE COMMUNION--POSTURES AT ORDINANCES._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I received yours of April 11, as I did another of March 25, and a letter for Mr. Andrew Cant.[286] [286] Mr. Andrew Cant was at this time minister of Pitsligo, in Buchan, Aberdeenshire. He had been previously minister of Alford. In 1639 he was removed from…
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I find that my extremity hath sharpened the edge of His love and kindness, so that He seemeth to divise new ways of expressing the sweetness of His love to my soul. Suffering for Christ is the very element wherein Christ's love liveth, and exerciseth itself, in casting out flames of fire, and sparks of heat, to warm su…
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Now for your question:--As far as I rawly conceive, I think that God is praised two ways: _1st_. By a _concional_[289] profession of His highness before men, such as is the very hearing of the word, and receiving of either of the sacraments; in which acts by profession, we give out to men, that He is our God with whom …
464 wordsSECTION 436S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 15, 1637_. [290] In some editions it is "sweet grace;" but not so in the earliest. CLXXX.--_To the much Honoured JOHN GORDON of Cardoness, the Elder._…
30 wordsSECTION 437(_LONGINGS FOR THOSE UNDER HIS FORMER MINISTRY--DELIGHT IN CHRIST AND HIS APPEARING--PLEADING WITH HIS FLOCK._)
MUCH HONOURED AND DEAREST IN MY LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. My soul longeth exceedingly to hear how matters go betwixt you and Christ; and whether or not there be any work of Christ in that parish, that will bide the trial of fire and water. Let me be weighed of my Lord in a just balance, if your souls li…
206 wordsSECTION 438Part 438
Sir, show the people this; for when I write to you, I think I write to you all, old and young. Fulfil my joy, and seek the Lord. Sure I am, that once I discovered my lovely, royal, princely Lord Jesus to you all. Woe, woe, woe shall be your part of it for evermore, if the Gospel be not the savour of life to you. As man…
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[291] Insist on being admitted to. And now, whoever they be that have returned to the old vomit since my departure, I bind upon their back, in my Master's name and authority, the long-lasting, weighty vengeance and curse of God. In my Lord's name I give them a doom of black, unmixed, pure wrath, which my Master will r…
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ABERDEEN, _June 16, 1637_. CLXXXI.--_To_ EARLSTON, _the Younger_.…
9 wordsSECTION 441(_DANGERS OF YOUTH--CHRIST THE BEST PHYSICIAN--FOUR REMEDIES AGAINST DOUBTING--BREATHINGS AFTER CHRIST'S HONOUR._)
MUCH HONOURED AND WELL-BELOVED IN THE LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. Your letters give a dash to my laziness in writing. I must first tell you, that there is not such a glassy, icy, and slippery piece of way betwixt you and heaven, as Youth; and I have experience to say with me here, and to seal what I asse…
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And for doubtings, because you are not as you were long since with your Master: consider three things. _1st_, What if Christ had such tottering thoughts of the bargain of the new covenant betwixt you and Him, as you have? _2ndly_, Your heart is not the compass which Christ saileth by. He will give you leave to sing as …
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Now for myself; alas! I am not the man I go for in this nation; men have not just weights to weigh me in. Oh, but I am a silly, feckless body, and overgrown with weeds; corruption is rank and fat in me. Oh, if I were answerable to this holy cause, and to that honourable Prince's love for whom I now suffer! If Christ sh…
575 wordsSECTION 444S. R.
ABERDEEN, _June 16, 1637_. CLXXXII.--_To his honoured and dear Brother_, ALEXANDER GORDON _of Knockgray_.…
15 wordsSECTION 445(_JOY IN GOD--TRIALS WORK OUT GLORY TO CHRIST._)
DEAREST AND TRULY HONOURED BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I have seen no letter from you since I came to Aberdeen. I will not interpret it to be forgetfulness. I am here in a fair prison: Christ is my sweet and honourable fellow-prisoner, and I His sad and joyful lord-prisoner,[294] if I may speak so. I t…
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My dear brother, I cannot but speak what I have felt; seeing my Lord Jesus hath broken a box of spikenard upon the head of His poor prisoner, and it is hard to hide a sweet smell. It is a pain to smother Christ's love; it will be out whether we will or not. If we did but speak according to the matter, a cross for Chris…
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ABERDEEN, _June 16, 1637_. CLXXXIII.--_To_ MR. J---- R----. [It is highly probable that the individual to whom this letter is addressed was John Row, son of John Row, minister of Carnock, a grandson of John Row the reformer, and contemporary of Knox. In 1632 he was appointed master of the Grammar School of Perth, in …
156 wordsSECTION 448(_CHRIST THE PURIFIER OF HIS CHURCH--SUBMISSION TO HIS WAYS._)
DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. Upon the report which I hear of you, without any further acquaintance, except our straitest bonds in our Lord Jesus, I thought good to write unto you, hearing of your danger to be thrust out of the Lord's house for His name's sake. Therefore, my earnest and humble des…
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ABERDEEN, _June 16, 1637_. CLXXXIV.--_To_ MR. WILLIAM DALGLEISH. [Letter CXVII.]…
11 wordsSECTION 450(_THE FRAGRANCE OF THE MINISTRY--A REVIEW OF HIS PAST AND PRESENT SITUATION, AND OF HIS PROSPECTS._)
REVEREND AND WELL-BELOVED BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you. I have heard somewhat of your trials in Galloway. I bless the Lord, who hath begun first in that corner to make you a new kirk to Himself. Christ hath the less ado behind, when He hath refined you. Let me entreat you, my dearly beloved, to be fas…
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Dear brother, I cannot tell what is become of my labours among that people! If all that my Lord builded by me be casted down, and the bottom be fallen out of the profession of that parish, and none stand by Christ, whose love I once preached as clearly and plainly as I could (though far below its worth and excellence) …
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ABERDEEN, _June 16, 1637_. CLXXXV.--_To_ MARION M'NAUGHT.…
8 wordsSECTION 453(_LONGING TO BE RESTORED TO HIS CHARGE._)
DEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. Few know the heart of a stranger and prisoner. I am in the hands of mine enemies. I would that honest and lawful means were essayed for bringing me home to my charge, now when Mr. A. R. and Mr. H. R. are restored. It concerneth you of Galloway…
859 wordsSECTION 454ABERDEEN, 1637.
CLXXXVI.--_To_ ROBERT STUART. [This ROBERT STUART was probably the son of Provost Stuart of Ayr, to whom several letters are addressed. Allusion is made to his early conversion.]…
29 wordsSECTION 455(_CHRIST CHOOSES HIS OWN IN THE FURNACE--NEED OF A DEEP WORK--THE GOD-MAN, A WORLD'S WONDER._)
MY VERY DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. Ye are heartily welcome to my world of suffering, and heartily welcome to my Master's house. God give you much joy of your new Master. If I have been in the house before you, I were not faithful to give the house an ill name, or to speak evil of the Lord of the …
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If I should tell you by some weak experience, what I have found in Christ, ye or others could hardly believe me. I thought not the hundredth part of Christ long since, that I do now, though, alas! my thoughts are still infinitely below His worth. I have a dwining, sickly, and pained life, for a real possession of Him; …
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ABERDEEN, _June 17, 1637_. CLXXXVII.--_To the_ LADY GAITGIRTH. [LADY GAITGIRTH, or ISABEL BLAIR, daughter to John Blair of that ilk, by Grizel his wife, daughter to Robert, Lord Semple, was the wife of James Chalmers of Gaitgirth. To him she had five sons and five daughters. Mr. Fergushill of Ochiltree resided in the…
236 wordsSECTION 458(_CHRIST UNCHANGEABLE, THOUGH NOT ALWAYS ENJOYED--HIS LOVE NEVER YET FULLY POURED OUT--HIMSELF HIS PEOPLE'S CAUTIONER._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long to know how matters stand betwixt Christ and your soul. I know that ye find Him still the longer the better; time cannot change Him in His love. Ye may yourself ebb and flow, rise and fall, wax and wane; but your Lord is this day as He was yesterday. And it is your c…
552 wordsSECTION 459ABERDEEN, 1637.
CLXXXVIII.--_To MR. JOHN FERGUSHILL of Ochiltree._…
8 wordsSECTION 460(_DESPONDING VIEWS OF HIS OWN STATE--MINISTERIAL DILIGENCE--CHRIST'S WORTH--SELF-SEEKING._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Grace, mercy and peace be to you. My longings and desires for a sight of the new-builded tabernacle of Christ again in Scotland, that tabernacle that came down from heaven, hath now taken some life again, when I see Christ making a mint to sow vengeance among His enemies. I care not, if this…
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My very dear brother, I would have looked for larger and more particular letters from you, for my comfort in this; for your words before have strengthened me. I pray you to mend this; and be thankful and painful, while ye have a piece or corner of the Lord's vineyard to dress. Oh, would to God that I could have leave t…
743 wordsSECTION 462ABERDEEN, 1637.
[305] Thomas Sydserff, now Bishop of Galloway, was the chief instrument in procuring Rutherford's banishment to Aberdeen. He was minister of the College Church, Edinburgh; and afterwards successively Bishop of Brechin, Galloway, and Orkney. He early imbibed Arminian principles, and promoted the measures of Archbishop L…
307 wordsSECTION 463(_HOPE FOR SCOTLAND--SELF-SUBMISSION--CHRIST HIMSELF IS SOUGHT FOR BY FAITH--STABILITY OF SALVATION--HIS WAYS._)
WORTHY SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I long for the time when I shall see the beauty of the Lord in His house; and would be as glad of it as of any sight on earth, to see the halt, the blind, and the lame, come back to Zion with supplications (Jer. xxxi. 8, 9), "Going and weeping, and seeking the Lord; askin…
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I am often rolling up and down the thoughts of my faint and sick desires of expressing Christ's glory before His people. But I see not through the throng of impediments, and cannot find eyes to look higher; and so I put many things in Christ's way to hinder Him, that I know He would but laugh at, and with one stride se…
266 wordsSECTION 465ABERDEEN, 1637.
[308] Come before. CXC.--_To_ CARSLUTH (_Kirkmabreck_). [The name of the person to whom this letter is addressed, was Robert Brown of Carsluth. He was a man of considerable property in the part of the country where Rutherford's lot was cast previous to his imprisonment. He must have died about the beginning of the ye…
142 wordsSECTION 466(_NECESSITY OF MAKING SURE OF SALVATION--VANITY OF THE WORLD--NOTHING WORTH HAVING BUT CHRIST--FLIGHT OF TIME._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--I long to hear how your soul prospereth. I earnestly desire you to try how matters stand between your soul and the Lord. Think it no easy matter to take heaven by violence. Salvation cometh now to the most part of men in a night-dream. There is no scarcity of faith now, such as it is; for ye shall n…
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Worthy Sir, I beseech you in the Lord to give your soul no rest till ye have real assurance, and Christ's rights confirmed and sealed to your soul. The common faith, and country-holiness, and week-day zeal, that is among people, will never bring men to heaven. Take pains for your salvation; for in that day, when ye sha…
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Remember my love in Christ to your wife. I desire her to learn to make her soul's anchor fast upon Christ Himself. Few are saved. Let her consider what joy the smiles of God in Christ will be, and what the love-kisses of sweet, sweet Jesus, and a welcome home to the New Jerusalem from Christ's own mouth will be to her …
144 wordsSECTION 469ABERDEEN, 1637.
CXCI.--_To_ CASSINCARRIE. [The mansion of Cassincarrie is a mile from Creetown, in Kirkmabreck parish. It stands near the road, just after you pass the stone quarries that help to build Liverpool. It is so directly opposite Wigtown, that from the windows we might suppose the godly proprietor looking across, and prayin…
201 wordsSECTION 470(_EARNESTNESS ABOUT SALVATION--CHRIST HIMSELF TO BE SOUGHT._)
MUCH HONOURED SIR,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I have been too long in writing to you. I am confident that ye have learned to prize Christ, and His love and favour, more than ordinary professors who scarce see Christ with half an eye, because their sight is taken up with eyeing and liking the beauty of this ove…
768 wordsSECTION 471ABERDEEN, 1637.
[310] To be attended to at a leisure moment. CXCII.--_To the_ LADY CARDONESS.…
14 wordsSECTION 472(_GRACE--THE NAME OF CHRIST TO BE EXALTED--EVERYTHING BUT GOD FAILS US._)
MISTRESS,--I beseech you in the Lord Jesus to make every day more and more of Christ; and try your growth in the grace of God, and what new ground ye win daily on corruption. For travellers are day by day either advancing farther on, and nearer home, or else they go not right about to compass their journey. I think st…
744 wordsSECTION 473ABERDEEN, 1637.
CXCIII.--_To_ SIBYLLA MACADAM. [See notice, Letter CXLI.]…
8 wordsSECTION 474(_CHRIST'S BEAUTY AND EXCELLENCE._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I can bear witness in my bonds, that Christ is still the longer the better; and no worse, yea, inconceivably better than He is (or can be) called. I think it half a heaven to have my fill of the smell of His sweet breath, and to sleep in the arms of Christ my Lord, with His…
424 wordsSECTION 475ABERDEEN, 1637.
CXCIV.--_To_ MR. HUGH HENDERSON, _Minister of Dalry, Ayrshire_.…
9 wordsSECTION 476(_THE WAYS OF PROVIDENCE--BELIEVING PATIENCE._)
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER,--Who knoweth but the wind may turn into the west again, upon Christ and His desolate bride in this land; and that Christ may get His summer by course again? For He hath had ill-weather this long time, and could not find law or justice for Himself and His truth these many years. I am sure the …
794 wordsSECTION 477ABERDEEN, 1637.
[311] Is left there unreaped; Ps. cxxix. 8. CXCV.--_To the_ LADY LARGIRIE. [She was wife of the proprietor of Castermadie, in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright. The place was called also _Largero_, or Largerie, in the parish of Twynholm, near Kirkcudbright.]…
41 wordsSECTION 478(_CHRIST THE EXCLUSIVE OBJECT OF LOVE--PREPARATION FOR DEATH._)
MISTRESS,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. I exhort you in the Lord, to go on in your journey to heaven; and to be content with such fare by the way as Christ and His followers have had before you; for they had always the wind on their faces, and our Lord hath not changed the way to us for our ease, but will have us…
477 wordsSECTION 479ABERDEEN, 1637.
CXCVI.--_To EARLSTON, the Younger._…
6 wordsSECTION 480(_SUFFERINGS--HOPE OF FINAL DELIVERANCE--THE BELIEVER IN SAFE KEEPING--THE RECOMPENSE MARRED BY TEMPTATIONS._)
WORTHY AND DEARLY BELOVED IN OUR LORD,--Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.--I long to hear from you. I remain still a prisoner of hope, and do think it service to the Lord to wait on still with submission, till the Lord's morning sky break, and His summer day dawn. For I am persuaded that it is a piece of the chief err…
720 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.