REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER, -- The reason ye give for not writing to me
affecteth me much, and giveth me a dash, when such an one as ye
conceive an opinion of me, or of anything in me. The truth is, when I
come home to myself, oh, what penury do I find, and how feckless is my
supposed stock, and how little have I! He to whom I am as crystal, and
who seeth through me, and perceiveth the least mote that is in me,
knoweth that I speak of what I think and am convinced of: but men cast
me through a gross and wide sieve. My very dear brother, the room of
the least of all saints is too great for the like of me. But lest this
should seem art to fetch home reputation, I speak no more of it. It is
my worth to be Christ's ransomed sinner and sick one. His relation to
me is, that I am sick, and He is the Physician of whom I stand in need.
Alas! How often play I fast and loose with Christ! He bindeth, I loose;
He buildeth, I cast down; He trimmeth up a salvation for me, and I mar
it; I cast out with Christ, and He agreeth with me again, twenty times
a-day; I forfeit my kingdom and heritage, I lose what I had; but Christ
is at my back, and following on, to stoop and take up what falleth from
me. For my faith and reputation with Christ is, that I am a creature
that God will not put any trust into. I was, and am, bewildered with
temptations, and wanted a guide to heaven. Oh what have I to say of
that excellent, surpassing, and supereminent thing, they call, The
Grace of God, the way of free redemption in Christ! And when poor, poor
I, dead in law, was sold, fettered, and imprisoned in justice's closet-
ward, which is hell and damnation; when I, a wretched one, lighted upon
noble Jesus, eternally kind Jesus, tender-hearted Jesus (nay, when He
lighted upon me first, and knew me), I found that He scorned to take a
price, or anything like hire, of angels, or seraphim, or any of his
creatures. And, therefore, I would praise Him for this, that the whole
army of the redeemed ones sit rent-free in heaven. Our holding is
better than blench: we are all freeholders. And seeing that our eternal
feu-duty is but thanks, oh woeful me! That I have but spilled thanks,
lame, and broken, and miscarried praises, to give Him.
My dear brother, I shall think it comfort, if ye speak my name to our
Well-beloved. Wherever ye are, I am mindful of you. Oh that the Lord
would yet make the light of the moon in Scotland as the light of the
sun, and the light of the sun sevenfold brighter. For myself, as yet I
have received no answer whither to go. I wait on. Oh that Jesus had my
love! Let matters frame as they list, I have some more to do with
Christ; yet I would fain we were nearer.
Now the great Shepherd of the sheep, the very God of peace, establish
and confirm you till the day of His coming.
ABERDEEN, Sept. 9, 1637
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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.