MADAM, -- Grace, mercy, and peace, be to you. I know that you are near
many comforters, and that the promised Comforter is near at hand also;
yet because I found your Ladyship comfortable to myself in my sad days,
that are not yet over my head, it is my part, and more in many respects
(howbeit I can do little, God knoweth, in that kind), to speak to you
in your wilderness-lot. I know, dear and noble lady, this loss of your
dear child came upon you one piece and part of it after another; and
that you were looking for it, and that now the Almighty has brought on
you that which you feared; and that your Lord gave you lawful warning:
and I hope for his sake who brewed and masked this cup in heaven, you
will gladly drink, and salute and welcome the cross. I am sure it is
not your Lord's mind to feed you with judgment and wormwood, and to
give you waters of gall to drink (Jer. 9.15). I know that your cup is
sugared with mercy; and that the withering of the bloom, the flower,
even the white and red of worldly joys, is for no other end, but to
secure the reversion of your heart and love. Madam, subscribe to the
Almighty's will: put your hand to the pen, and let the cross of your
Lord Jesus have your submissive and resolute amen. If you ask and try
whose this cross is, I dare say that it is not all your own, the best
half of it is Christ's. If Christ and ye be halvers of this suffering,
and He say, 'Half Mine', what should ail you? And I am sure that I am
here right upon the style of the word of God: 'The fellowship of
Christ's sufferings' (Phil. 3.1O); 'Tho remnant of the afflictions of
Christ' (Col. 1.24); 'The reproach of Christ' (Heb. 11.26). It were but
to shift the comforts of God, to say, 'Christ had never such a cross as
mine: He had never a dead child, and so this is not His cross; neither
can He, in that meaning, be the owner of this cross.' But the word
maketh no exception. 'In all their afflictions He was afflicted' (Isa.
63.9). It may be, that ye think not many of the children of God in such
a hard case as yourself; but what would ye think of some, who would
exchange afflictions? But I know that yours must be your own alone, and
Christ's together.
I confess it seemed strange to me, that your Lord should have done
that which seemed to ding out the bottom of your worldly comforts; but
we see not the ground of the Almighty's sovereignty. 'He goeth by on
our right hand, and on our left hand, and we see Him not.' We see but
pieces of the broken links of the chains of His providence; and he
coggeth the wheels of His own providence, that we see not. Do not
wonder to see the Judge of the world weave, into one web, your mercies
and the judgments of the house of Kenmure. He can make one web of
contraries.
I would gladly plead for the Comforter's part of it, not against you,
Madam, but against your grief, which will have its own violent
incursions in your soul: and I think it be not in your power to help
it. But I must say, there are comforts allowed upon you; and,
therefore, want them not. It is a Christian art to comfort yourself in
the Lord; to say,
I was obliged to render back again this child to the Giver: and if I
have had four years' loan of him, and Christ eternity's possession of
him, the Lord has kept condition with me. If my Lord would not have him
and me to tryst both in one hour at death's door-threshold together, it
is His wisdom so to do; I am satisfied. My tryst is suspended, not
broken off, nor given up.' Madam, I would that I could divide sorrow
with you, for your ease. But I am but a beholder: it is easy to me to
speak; the God of comfort speak to you, and allure you with His feasts
of love.
My removal from my flock is so heavy to me, that it maketh my life a
burden to me; I had never such a longing for death. The Lord help and
hold up sad clay.
Madam, desire my Lord Argyle to see for provision to a pastor for his
poor people. Grace be with you.
KIRKCUDBRIGHT, Oct, 1, 1639
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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.