As John Calvin notes, the healing of the daughter of the Canaanite woman (described in Matthew 15 and Mark 7) shows 'in what manner the grace of Christ began to flow to the Gentiles'. The account also gives us a vivid picture of what true faith in Christ is and how it acts. In Rutherford's words, 'To any seeking Jesus Christ, this text cries, "Come and see".'
In twenty-seven eloquent sermons, Rutherford expounds the incident. What he sees in it most of all is the free grace of God: 'Christ, for this cause especially, left the bosom of God, and was clothed with flesh and our nature, that he might be…a sea and boundless river of visible, living, and breathing grace, swelling up to the highest banks…' Rutherford would have us observe here 'a flower planted and watered by Christ's own hand-a strong faith in a tried woman.'
To encourage us to persist in seeking such grace, Rutherford explains both the trial and the triumph of saving faith.
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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