Gleanings from Samuel Rutherford

I will bless the Lord that ever there was such a thing as the free grace of God, and a free ransom given for captive souls. Only, alas! guiltiness maketh me ashamed to apply to Christ, and to think it pride in me to put out my unclean and withered hand to such a Saviour. But it is neither shame nor pride for a drowning man to swim to a rock, nor for a shipwrecked soul to run himself ashore upon Christ.

Venture upon Christ’s “Come,” and I dare affirm you shall say, as it is (Ps. xvi. 7), “I bless the Lord, who gave me counsel.”

What remaineth, then, but that my debt to the love of Christ lie unpaid for all eternity? All that are in heaven are overcome with his love, as well as I; we must all be bankrupts together; and the blessing of that houseful or heavenful of bankrupts shall rest for ever upon him.

The law of God will not remit one farthing of the sinner; every man must pay either in his own person or in his surety, Christ.

It is a broad river that faith will not look over; it is a mighty and a broad sea that they of a lively hope cannot behold the farthest bank and other shore of. Look over the water; your anchor is fixed within the veil; the one end of the cable is about the prisoner of Christ, and the other is entered within the veil, whither the Forerunner is entered for you—(Heb. vi. 19, 20).

Seek the blood of atonement for faults, little or great; know the gate to the well, and lie about it.

I am still upon this, that, if you seek, there is a hidden treasure and a gold mine in Christ you never yet saw: then, come and see.

Remember many go far on and reform many things, and can find tears, as Esau did; and suffer hunger for truth, as Judas did; and wish and desire the end of the righteous, as Balaam did; and profess fair, and fight for the Lord, as Saul did; and desire the saints of God to pray for them, as Pharaoh and Simon Magus did; and prophesy and speak of Christ, as Caiaphas did; and walk softly and mourn for fear of judgments, as Ahab did; and put away gross sins and idolatry, as Jehu did; and hear the word gladly, as Herod did, &c. (Matt. vii., Heb. vi.)—and yet all these are but like gold in clink and colour, and watered brass, and base metal.

Men’s midway cold and wise courses in godliness, and their neighbourlike cold and wise pace to heaven, will cause many a man to want his lodging at night, and lie in the fields.

It cost Christ and all his followers sharp showers and hot sweats ere they got to the top of the mountain; but still our soft nature would have heaven coming to our bedside, when we are sleeping, and lying down with us, that we might go to heaven in warm clothes: but all that came there found wet feet by the way, and sharp storms, and to’s and fro’s, and ups and downs, and many enemies, by the way.

I, like a fool, carved a providence for mine own ease, to die in my nest and to sleep still till my grey hairs, and to lie in the sunny side of the mountain in my ministry at Anwoth; but now I have nothing to say against a borrowed fireside.

Every man blaneth the devil for his sins; but the great devil,—the house-devil of every man, that eateth and lieth in every man’s bosom, is that idol which killeth all,—himself.

It is Christianity to live and serve God, suppose there were not one man or woman in all the world dwelling beside you to eye you.

We often mix our zeal with our own wildfire.

I have been benefited, 1. When riding alone a long journey in giving that time to prayer. 2. By abstinence and giving days to God. 3. By praying for others; for by making an errand to God for them, I have gotten something for myself.

I am sure a few years will do our turn, and the soldier’s hour-glass will soon run out. Look to your lamp, and look for your Lord’s coming, and let your heart dwell aloof from that sweet child. Christ’s jealousy will not admit two equal loves in your heart: he must have one, and that the greatest; a little one to a creature may and must suffice a soul married to him.

Make others to see Christ in you moving, doing, speaking, and thinking; your actions will savour of him, if he be in you.