Samuel Rutherford a compos� un grand nombre d'ouvrages presque tous oubli�s aujourd'hui. � l'image de son contemporain John Bunyan, il a r�dig� ses plus grands �crits alors qu'il �tait pers�cut� pour avoir annonc� l'�vangile. C'est en exil que ce th�ologien �cossais a �crit la plupart de ses lettres les plus c�l�bres.
Celles-ci �taient si appr�ci�es par leurs destinataires qu'elles furent rapidement rassembl�es apr�s sa mort. Cette �dition abr�g�e de la collection classique r�unit cinquante-sept lettres de Samuel Rutherford destin�es � des chr�tiens qui souffrent. �crite dans le style imag� et vigoureux des th�ologiens de ce temps-l�, cette s�rie de lettres est consid�r�e comme la plus remarquable que la litt�rature des �glises r�form�es puisse compter. Elles sont regard�es aujourd'hui comme d'excellentes ressources pour �difier et consoler les chr�tiens. Les responsables d'�glise et les chr�tiens les plus humbles seront fortifi�s par la lecture de ces lettres.
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Samuel Rutherford �tait un pasteur presbyt�rien, un th�ologien et un auteur �cossais du xviie si�cle. Il a �t� sans doute le plus important des commissaires �cossais � l'Assembl�e de Westminster. Il a, entre autres, eu une grande influence sur la r�daction du Petit cat�chisme de Westminster.
Rutherford was also known for his spiritual and devotional works, such as Christ Dying and drawing Sinners to Himself and his Letters. Concerning his Letters, Charles Spurgeon wrote: "When we are dead and gone let the world know that Spurgeon held Rutherford's Letters to be the nearest thing to inspiration which can be found in all the writings of mere men". Published versions of the Letters contain 365 letters and fit well with reading one per day.
Rutherford was a strong supporter of the divine right of Presbytery, the principle that the Bible calls for Presbyterian church government. Among his polemical works are Due Right of Presbyteries (1644), Lex, Rex (1644), and Free Disputation against Pretended Liberty of Conscience.
Samuel Rutherford was a Scottish Presbyterian theologian and author. He was one of the Scottish Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly.
Born in the village of Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Rutherford was educated at Edinburgh University, where he became in 1623 Regent of Humanity (Professor of Latin). In 1627 he was settled as minister of Anwoth in Galloway, from where he was banished to Aberdeen for nonconformity. His patron in Galloway was John Gordon, 1st Viscount of Kenmure. On the re-establishment of Presbytery in 1638 he was made Professor of Divinity at St. Andrews, and in 1651 Rector of St. Mary's College there. At the Restoration he was deprived of all his offices.
Rutherford's political book Lex, Rex (meaning "the law [and] the king" or "the law [is] king") presented a theory of limited government and constitutionalism. It was an explicit refutation of the doctrine of "Rex Lex" or "the king is the law." Rutherford was also known for his spiritual and devotional works, such as Christ Dying and drawing Sinners to Himself and his Letters.
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