Robert Gordon lived in the next parish to Anwoth. He was a prominent
figure in Church life in Scotland.
MY VERY WORTHY AND DEAR FRIEND, -- Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.
Though all Galloway should have forgotten me, I would have expected a
letter from you ere now; but I will not expound it to be forgetfulness
of me.
Now, my dear brother, I cannot show you how matters go betwixt Christ
and me. I find my Lord going and coming seven times a day. His visits
are short; but they are both frequent and sweet. I dare not for my life
think of a challenge of my Lord. I hear ill tales, and hard reports of
Christ, from the Tempter and my flesh; but love believeth no evil. I
may swear that they are liars, and that apprehensions make lies of
Christ's honest and unalterable love to me. I dare not say that I am a
dry tree, or that I have no room at all in the vineyard, but yet I
often think that the sparrows are blessed, who may resort to the house
of God in Anwoth, from which I am banished.
Temptations, that I supposed to be stricken dead and laid upon their
back, rise again and revive upon me; yea, I see that while I live,
temptations will not die. The devil seemeth to brag and boast as much
as if he had more court with Christ than I have; and as if he had
charmed and blasted my ministry, that I shall do no more good in
public. But his wind shaketh no corn. I will not believe that Christ
would have made such a mint to have me to Himself, and have taken so
much pains upon me as He has done, and then slip so easily from
possession, and lose the glory of what He has done. Nay, since I came
to Aberdeen, I have been taken up to see the new land, the fair palace
of the Lamb; and will Christ let me see heaven, to break my heart, and
never give it to me? I shall not think my Lord Jesus giveth a dumb
earnest, or putteth His seals to blank paper, or intendeth to put me
off with fair and false promises. I see that now which I never saw well
before.
(I) I see faith's necessity in a fair day is never known aright; but
now I miss nothing so much as faith. Hunger in me runneth to fair and
sweet promises; but when I come, I am like a hungry man that wanteth
teeth, or a weak stomach having a sharp appetite that is filled with
the very sight of meat, or like one stupefied with cold under water,
that would fain come to land, but cannot grip anything casten to him. I
can let Christ grip me, but I cannot grip Him. I cannot set my feet to
the ground, for afflictions bring the cramp upon my faith. All I dow do
is to hold out a lame faith to Christ, like a beggar holding out a
stump instead of an arm or leg, and cry, 'Lord Jesus, work a miracle!
'Oh what would I give to have hands and arms to grip strongly.
(2) I see that mortification, and to be crucified to the world, is
not so highly accounted of by us as it should be. Oh how heavenly a
thing it is to be dead and dumb and deaf to this world's sweet music!
As I am at this present, I would scorn to buy this world's kindness
with a bow of my knee. I scarce now either see or hear what it is that
this world offereth me; I know that it is little that it can take from
me, and as little that it can give me.
(3) I thought courage, in the time of trouble for Christ's sake, a
thing that I might take up at my foot. I thought that the very
remembrance of the honesty of the cause would be enough. But I was a
fool in so thinking. Christ will be steward and dispenser Himself and
none else but He; therefore, now, I count much of one dram weight of
spiritual joy. Truly I have no cause to say that I am pinched with
penury, or that the consolations of Christ are dried up. Praise, praise
with me.
Remember my love to your brother, to your wife, and G.M. Desire him
to be faithful, and to repent of his hypocrisy; and say that I wrote it
to you. I wish him salvation. Write to me your mind agent C.E. and
C.Y., and their wives, and I.G., or any others in my parish. I fear
that I am forgotten amongst them; but I cannot forget them.
The prisoner's prayers and blessings come upon you. Grace, grace be
with you.
Your brother, in the Lord Jesus.
ABERDEEN, Feb. 9, 1637
Be the first to react on this!
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.