“I find it to be most true, that the greatest temptation out of hell is to live without temptations. If my waters should stand, they would rot. Faith is the better of the free air, and of the sharp winter storms in its face. Grace withereth without adversity. The devil is but God’s master fencer, to teach us to handle our weapons.”
Samuel Rutherford, The Loveliness of Christ
John, Martha Finley quotes these words of Rutherford in ELSIE’S WIDOWHOOD, Book 7, Chapter 4, p. 41. Elsie’s father uses them in consoling her on the sudden unexpected death of her husband who had been his life long friend. Steven C. Kettler, http://www.facebook.com/lettermen2