Letters of Samuel Rutherford: (Third Edition)Rutherford, Samuel
Religion
Letters of Samuel Rutherford: (Third Edition)
Rutherford, Samuel
Rutherford, Samuel, 1600?-1661 -- Correspondence
I trust that ye know that it is not for nothing that ye are sent to us
again. The Lord knew that ye had forgotten something that was
necessary for your journey; that your armour was not as yet thick
enough against the stroke of death. Now, in the strength of Jesus
despatch your business; that debt is not forgiven, but fristed: death
hath not bidden you farewell, but hath only left you for a short
season. End your journey ere the night come upon you. Have all in
readiness against the time that ye must sail through that black and
impetuous Jordan; and Jesus, Jesus, who knoweth both those depths and
the rocks, and all the coasts, be your pilot. The last tide will not
wait you for one moment. If ye forget anything, when your sea is full,
and your foot in that ship, there is no returning again to fetch it.
What ye do amiss in your life to-day, ye may amend it to-morrow; for
as many suns as God maketh to arise upon you, ye have as many new
lives; but ye can die but once, and if ye mar or spill that business,
ye cannot come back to mend that piece of work again. No man sinneth
twice in dying ill; as we die but once, so we die but ill or well
once. You see how the number of your months is written in God's book;
and as one of the Lord's hirelings, ye must work till the shadow of
the evening come upon you, and ye shall run out your glass even to the
last pickle of sand. Fulfil your course with joy, for we take nothing
to the grave with us, but a good or evil conscience. And, although the
sky clear after this storm, yet clouds will engender another.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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