November 28, 2013
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"Thanks to God for crosses!" ~ Samuel Rutherford
An excerpt from Samuel Rutherford's (1600-1661) Letter CXXII... ¹
CXXII.—To a Gentlewoman, after the death of her Husband.
Dear and Loving Sister,
. . .
In that our Lord took your husband to Himself, I know it was that He might make room for Himself. He cutteth off your love to the creature, that ye might learn that God only is the right owner of your love. Sorrow, loss, sadness, death, are the worst of things that are, except sin. But Christ knoweth well what to make of them, and can put His own in the cross’s common, so that we shall be obliged to affliction, and thank God who taught us to make our acquaintance with such a rough companion, who can hale us to Christ. You must learn to make your evils your great good; and to spin comforts, peace, joy, communion with Christ, out of your troubles, which are Christ’s wooers, sent to speak for you to Himself. It is easy to get good words, and a comfortable message from our Lord, even from such rough serjeants as divers temptations. Thanks to God for crosses! When we count and reckon our losses in seeking God, we find that godliness is great gain. Great partners of a shipful of gold are glad to see the ship come to the harbour;—surely we, and our Lord Jesus together, have a shipful of gold coming home, and our gold is in that ship. Some are so in love, or, rather, in lust, with this life, that they sell their part of the ship for a little thing. I would counsel you to buy hope, but sell it not, and give not away your crosses for nothing. The inside of Christ’s cross is white and joyful, and the far-end of the black cross is a fair and glorious heaven of ease. And seeing Christ hath fastened heaven to the far-end of the cross, and He will not loose the knot Himself, and none else can (for when Christ casteth a knot, all the world cannot loose it), let us then count it exceeding joy when we fall into divers temptations.Thus recommending you to the tender mercy and grace of our Lord, I rest, your loving brother,
Aberdeen.
S. R.
Holy and loving Father, thank You that You know our frame, and You remember we are dust. Have pity upon Your children – we are poor and we are needy! Pour out of your unsearchable riches in Christ Jesus grace upon grace, and comfort upon comfort through Your blessed Holy Spirit, so that our eyes might be opened to see crosses as Christ's wooers, and we might give thanks to You for crosses, count it exceeding joy when we fall into divers temptations, and bless Your name both when You give and when You take away –– that we might be more than conquerors through You who love us with an everlasting love for Christ Jesus' sake!
¹ Source: "Letters of Samuel Rutherford with a Sketch of His Life and Biographical Notices of His Correspondents" by the Rev. Andrew A. Bonar, D.D., 1891 edition (Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson, & Ferrier).
HT for the text: http://www.portagepub.com/products/caa/sr-letters.html / © 2006, 2007 Portage Publications, Inc., Colorado Springs, Colorado. www.PortagePub.com. Portage Publications believes the underlying text in this document is in the public domain. Permission is hereby granted to copy and distribute this document and/or its contents in any medium for any non-commercial purpose without fee or royalty, provided that the document is not altered and that this copyright notice is included. Please visit www.PortagePub.com/revenue.html if you would like to support this project with a voluntary contribution, or to obtain information about commercial licensing.
To read more about Samuel Rutherford, please see Andrew Bonar's "Sketch of Samuel Rutherford," preceding Rutherford's letters in the "Letters of Samuel Rutherford..."
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Comments (2)
This post reminded me of that hymn, "Draw Me Nearer, Nearer Blessed Lord."
First Love