Letters of Samuel Rutherford: (Third Edition)Rutherford, Samuel
Religion
Letters of Samuel Rutherford: (Third Edition)
Rutherford, Samuel
Rutherford, Samuel, 1600?-1661 -- Correspondence
7. _All who love that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the
great God our Saviour._--The more we love the Person of Christ, the
more ought we to love His appearing; and the more we cherish both
feelings, the holier shall we become. Rutherford abounds in
aspirations for that day; he is one who "looks for and hastens unto
the coming of the day of God!" While in exile at Aberdeen in 1637, he
writes, "O when will we meet! O how long is it to the dawning of the
marriage day! O sweet Jesus, take wide steps! O my Lord, come over
mountains at one stride! O my Beloved, flee as a roe or young hart
upon the fountains of separation." Now and then he utters the
expression of an intense desire for the restoration of Israel to
their Lord, and the fulness of the Gentiles; but far oftener his
desires go forth to his Lord Himself. "O fairest among the sons of
men, why stayest Thou so long away? O heavens, move fast! O time, run,
run, and hasten the marriage day!" To Lady Kenmure his words are, "The
Lord hath told you what you should be doing till He come. 'Wait and
hasten,' saith Peter, 'for the coming of the Lord.' Sigh and long for
the dawning of that morning, and the breaking of that day, of the
coming of the Son of Man, when the shadows shall flee away. Wait with
the wearied night-watch for the breaking of the eastern sky." Those
saints who feel most keenly the world's enmity, and the Church's
imperfection, are those who will most fervently love their Lord's
appearing. It was thus with Daniel on the banks of Ulai, and with John
in Patmos; and Samuel Rutherford's most intense aspirations for that
day are breathed out in Aberdeen.
His description of himself on one occasion is, "A man often borne down
and hungry, and waiting for the marriage supper of the Lamb."[84] He
is now gone to the "mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense;"
and there he no doubt still wonders at the unopened, unsearchable
treasures of Christ. But O for his insatiable desires Christward! O
for ten such men in Scotland to stand in the gap!--men who all day
long find nothing but Christ to rest in, whose very sleep is a
pursuing after Christ in dreams, and who intensely desire to "awake
with His likeness."
[84] Letter lxiii.
LIST OF HIS WORKS.
1. _Exercitationes Apologeticæ pro Divina Gratia._ Amstelodami,
12mo, 1636. Franekeræ, 1651.
2. _A Peaceable and Temperate Plea for Paul's Presbytery in
Scotland._ London, 4to, 1642.
3. _A Sermon before the House of Commons, on_ Daniel vi. 26.
London, 4to, 1644.
4. _A Sermon before the House of Lords, on_ Luke vii. 22; Mark
iv. 38; Matt. viii. 26. London, 4to, 1645.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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