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THE SANDS OF TIME ARE SINKING

The following beautiful hymn was written by Anne Ross Cousin
nearly three hundred years after the events upon which it was
based. I have not written on any hymn that falls into this category
- that’s if such a category exits! Though John Mason Neal, and
others, translated many Latin and Greek hymns from the early
Christian period into English, they didn’t write them.

Anne, who was born in Hull in 1824 married a Scottish
Presbyterian minister and subsequently moved to Scotland. She
based her hymn upon the three hundred or so letters of Samual
Rutherford. Now, I confess that I haven’t read all the 365 letters,
but I have read a few, and it is easy to spot some of the phrases
used by Rutherford in the hymn.

But who was Samual Rutherford? Why did he write so many
letters, and to whom did he write, and why?

He was born sometime in 1600 in Roxburghshire. He graduated
M.A. from university of Edinburgh in 1621. About 1626 he gave
his life to Christ. The following year he was appointed to the
parish of Anworth in Galloway. It was a rural area with many
farms. Rutherford was urgent in preaching, diligent in visiting the
sick, and never missed an opportunity to make Christ known. At
first he saw little fruit for his labour, but eventually people came
from far and wide to hear him preach.

His wife suffered a great deal with health problems and this was a
grievous burden for him as he could find no remedy but he
continued to pray that God would have mercy. Euphamia died in
1636. One child died very young. Two other children died at a
young age.

In 1636 he published a treatise defending the faith which
infuriated the Bishop of Galloway who got the Court of High
Commission to forbid him to preach and he was banished from his
small village to Aberdeen. It was here that he started writing his
letters. He wrote to deal with the worries and cares of his

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