42 Samuel Rutherford Quotes

Of all created comforts, God is the leader; you are the borrower, not the owner.

Christ and His cross are not separable in this life; howbeit Christ and His cross part at heaven's door, for there is no house-room for crosses in heaven. One tear, one sigh, one sad heart, one fear, one loss, one thought of trouble cannot find lodging there.

Ye have lost a child; nay, she is not lost to you, who is found in Christ; she is not sent away, but only sent before; like unto a star which, going out of sight, does not die and vanish, but shines in another hemisphere.

When I am in the cellar of affliction, I look for the Lord's choicest wines.

Come all crosses, welcome, welcome! so I may get my heart full of my Lord Jesus.

O my Lord Jesus Christ, if I could be in heaven without Thee, it would be hell; and if I could be in hell, and have Thee still, it would be heaven to me, for Thou are all the heaven I want.

We may sing beforehand, even in our winter storm, in the expectation of a summer sun at the turn of the year; no created powers can mar our Lord Jesus' music, nor spill our song of joy. Let us then be glad and rejoice in the salvation of our Lord; for faith had never yet cause to have wet cheeks, and hanging-down brows, or to droop or die.

You will not be carried to Heaven lying at ease upon a feather bed.

Why should I tremble at the plough of my Lord, that maketh deep furrows on my soul? I know He is no idle husbandman, He purposeth a crop.

Believe God's love and power more than you believe your own feelings and experiences. Your rock is Christ, and it is not the rock that ebbs and flows but the sea.

I know that, as night and shadows are good for flowers, and moonlight and dews are better than a continual sun, so is Christ's absence of special use, and that it hath some nourishing virtue in it, and giveth sap to humility, and putteth an edge on hunger, and funisheth a fairfield to faith to put forth itself, and to exercise its fingers in gripping it seeth not what.

Verily, we know not what an evil it is to indulge ourselves, and to make an idol of our will.

Since He looked upon me my heart is not my own, He hath run away to heaven with it.

The hope of heaven under troubles is like wind and sails to the soul.

Grace grows best in winter.

We are as near to heaven as we are far from self, and far from the love of a sinful world.

Be not proud of race, face, place, or grace.

To believe Christ's cross to be a friend, as he himself is a friend, is also a special act of faith.

See that you buy the field where the Pearl is; sell all, and make a purchase of salvation. Think it not easy: for it is a steep ascent to eternal glory: many are lying dead by the way, slain with security.

I have been benefited by praying for others; for by making an errand to God for them I have gotten something for myself.

Let your children be as so many flowers, borrowed from God. If the flowers die or wither, thank God for a summer loan of them.

Faint not; the miles to heaven are but few and short.

You shall by faith sustain yourself and comfort yourself in your Lord, and be strong in His power; for you are in the beaten and common way to heaven, when you are under our Lord's crosses. You have reason to rejoice in it, more than in a crown of gold; and rejoice and be glad to bear the reproaches of Christ.

Jesus Christ came into my prison cell last night, and every stone flashed like a ruby.

The cross of Christ is the sweetest burden that I ever bore; it is such a burden as wings are to a bird, or sails to a ship, to carry me forward to my harbor.

When the Lord's blessed will bloweth cross your desires, it is best, in humility, to strike sail to Him, and to be willing to be led any way our Lord pleaseth.

Oh, thrice fools are we, who like new-born princes weeping in the cradle, know not that there is a kingdom before them; then, let our Lord's sweet hand square us, and hammer us, and strike off the knots of pride, self-love, and world-worship, and infidelity, that He may make us stones and pillars in His Father's house.

I find that when the saints are under trial and well humbled, little sins raise great cries in the conscience; but in prosperity, conscience is a pope that gives dispensations and great latitude to our hearts. The cross is therefore as needful as the crown is glorious.

Were there ten thousand millions of heavens created above these highest heavens, and again as many above them, and as many above them, till angels were wearied with counting, it were but too low a seat to fix the princely throne of that Lord Jesus (whose ye are) above them all.

Set no time to the Lord the creator of time, for His time is always best.

I will charge my soul to believe and wait for Him, and will follow His providence, and not go before it, nor stay behind it.

But the way to overcome is by patience, forgiving and praying for your enemies, in doing whereof you heap coals upon their heads, and your Lord shall open a door to you in your trouble: wait upon Him, as the night watch waiteth for the morning. He will not tarry. Go up to your watch-tower, and come not down, but by prayer, and faith, and hope, wait on.

We take nothing to the grave with us, but a good or evil conscience. It is true, terrors of conscience cast us down; and yet without terrors of conscience we cannot be raised up again.

Think it not hard if you get not your will, nor your delights in this life; God will have you to rejoice in nothing but himself.

Hunger and longing for Christ hath brought on such a necessity of enjoying Christ that I will not, I do not want him; for I cannot master nor command Christ's love.

I wonder many times that ever a child of God should have a sad heart, considering what the Lord is preparing for him.

My faith has no bed to sleep upon but omnipotence.

Howbeit your faith seeth but the black side of Providence, yet it hath a better side, and God shall let you see it. We know that all things work together for good to them that love God; hence I infer that losses, disappointments, ill tongues, loss of friends, houses or country, are God's workmen, set on work to work out good to you, out of everything that befalleth you.

Since He looked upon me, my heart is not my own. He hath run away to heaven with it.

Millions of hells of sinners cannot come near to exhaust infinite grace.

Keep God's covenant in your trials; hold you by His blessed word, and sin not; flee anger, wrath, grudging, envying, fretting; forgive a hundred pence to your fellow-servant, because your Lord hath forgiven you ten thousand talents: for, I assure you by the Lord, your adversaries shall get no advantage against you, except you sin, and offend your Lord, in your sufferings.

Grace tried is better than grace, and more than grace; it is glory in its infancy.