Christ is Sweeter Than All Time-Eaten Pleasures

Confined to prison for preaching the gospel Samuel Rutherford writes of his sufferings and his hope of their result:

It is my aim and hearty desire that my furnace, which is of the Lord’s kindling, may sparkle fire upon standers-by, to the warming of their hearts with God’s love. The very dust that falleth from Christ’s feet, His old ragged clothes, his knotty and black cross, are sweeter to me than king’s golden crowns, and their time-eaten pleasures…Oh that men were taken and catched with his beauty and fairness! they would give over playing with idols, in which there is not half room for the love of one soul to expiate itself. And man’s love is but heart-hungered in gnawing upon bare bones, and sucking at dry breasts. (From the Letters of Samuel Rutherford)