REVEREND AND BELOVED IN THE LORD, -- It may be that I have been too long
silent, but I hope that ye will not impute it to forgetfulness of you.
As I have heard of the death of your daughter with heaviness of mind
on your behalf, so am I much comforted that she has evidenced to
yourself and other witnesses the hope of the resurrection of the dead.
As sown corn is not lost (for there is more hope of that which is sown
than of that which is eaten) (I Cor. 15.42, 43), so also is it in the
resurrection of the dead: the body 'is sown in corruption, it is raised
in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory'. I hope
that ye wait for the crop and harvest; 'for if we believe that Jesus
died and rose again, even so also them which sleep in Jesus, will God
bring with him.' Then they are not lost who are gathered into that
congregation of the first-born, and the general assembly of the saints.
Though we cannot outrun nor overtake them that are gone before, yet we
shall quickly follow them: and the difference is, that she has the
advantage of some months or years of the crown, before you and her
mother. And we do not take it ill, if our children outrun us in the
life of grace; why then are we sad, if they outstrip us in the
attainment of the life of glory? It would seem, that there is more
reason to grieve that children live behind us, than that they are
glorified and die before. All the difference is in some poor hungry
accidents of time, less or more, sooner or later. So the godly child,
though young, died a hundred years old; and you could not now have
bestowed her better, though the choice was Christ's, not yours.
The King and Prince of ages can keep them better than you can do.
While she was alive, you could intrust her to Christ, and recommend her
to His keeping: now, by an after-faith, you have resigned her unto Him,
in whose bosom do sleep all that are dead in the Lord: you would have
lent her to glorify the Lord upon earth, and He has borrowed her, with
promise to restore her again, to be an organ of the immediate
glorifying of himself in heaven. Sinless glorifying of God is better
than sinful glorifying of Him. And sure your prayers concerning her are
fulfilled.
If the fountain be the love of God, as I hope it is, ye are enriched
with losses. You know all I can say better, before I was in Christ,
than I can express it. Grace be with you.
LONDON, Jan. 6, 1646
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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.