Sometimes men pay the least attention to what they see most often. They can drive a familiar route to work on ‘auto-pilot’, noticing few details along the roadside. Physiological developments in children pass unnoticed by parents who see them every day. We, however, become conscious of our oversight as soon as someone points out these overlooked details. A similar experience can occur in reading familiar passages of Scripture. Repeated acquaintance with the wording can leave the language imbedded in our memory, while disabling our inclination to think deeply about the meaning. We appreciate, therefore, the aid of those who come alongside and draw our attention to insights we have failed to observe. Hugh Martin proves an ideal help in this regard.
A common engraving on seventeenth century gravestones depicts an hourglass with wings. The image conveys a clear message to even the illiterate bystander: time flies. Outside of cemeteries, a barrage of subtle reminders pelt men with the truth that “time is short and eternity is long.” The natural propensity of men, however, tends to suppress and ignore this inescapable reality.
Of all the catastrophes known to man, few evoke scenes of greater horror in the hearts of God’s people than the prospects of a famine of the Word. Preaching holds an indispensable place in God’s economy. Believers know that their spiritual vitality depends on the food delivered from the pulpit by God. In Christ’s words: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4b).
While Rutherford published most of his works in English, he also wrote three substantial books in Latin, which have never been translated into English. The excerpts translated from Latin below are selected from Rutherford’s Examen Arminianismi (An Examination of Arminianism). This book contains Rutherford’s lecture notes on systematic theology while serving as professor at St. Andrews. As the title indicates, and as the material below demonstrates, the book targets the Arminians as his chief opponents. Though published in the Netherlands after Rutherford’s death, it reflects the early development of Rutherford’s thought.
Every Christian’s spiritual life begins and ends with prayer, from the first cry of the renewed soul to the last sigh of the departing saint. Prayer, basic as breathing, simultaneously demands rigor from even the most seasoned warrior.
