Reading Other People's Mail

I find rich inspiration in historical letters written by great men and women of faith.  The following writings helped and encouraged me greatly in my spiritual journey.  I have included an excerpt from each writer:

The Letters of Samuel Rutherford

"They are happy forevermore who are over head and ears in the love of Christ, and know no sickness but love-sickness for Christ, and feel no pain but the pain of an absent and hidden Well-beloved."

The Letters of Madam Guyon

"Leave yourself therefore in the hands of Love. Love is always the same, although it causes you often to change your position. He who prefers one state to another, who loves abundance more than scarcity, when God orders otherwise, loves the gifts of God more than God himself."

The Letters of John Fletcher

"Let your light be attended with the warmth of love. Be not satisfied to know the way to Heaven, but walk in it immediately, constantly, and joyfully. Be all truly in earnest. You may, indeed, impose upon your brethren by a formal attendance on the means of grace, but you cannot deceive the Searcher of hearts. Let Him always see your hearts struggling towards Him; and if you fall through heaviness, sloth, or unbelief, do not make a bad matter worse by continuing helpless in the ditch of sin and guilt. Up, and away to the fountain of Jesus’s blood. It will not only wash away the guilt of past sins, but strengthen you to tread all iniquity under your feet for the time to come."

The Letters of Robert Murray M'Cheyne

"I ought to pray before seeing any one. Often when I sleep long, or meet with others early, it is eleven or twelve o'clock before I begin secret prayer. This is a wretched system. It is unscriptural. Christ arose before day and went into a solitary place. David says: 'Early will I seek thee'; 'Thou shalt early hear my voice.' Family prayer loses much of its power and sweetness, and I can do no good to those who come to seek from me. The conscience feels guilty, the soul unfed, the lamp not trimmed. Then when in secret prayer the soul is often out of tune, I feel it is far better to begin with God—to see his face first, to get my soul near him before it is near another."