Les Lettres de Samuel Rutherford, sont un classique de la littérature chrétienne anglaise, depuis qu'elles ont été publiées de manière posthume en 1634, puis rééditées une bonne centaine de fois. Écrites à des particuliers, sans aucune intention d'en faire un livre, c'est leur caractère particulièrement poétique et inspirant qui a incité les éditeurs à les réunir en ouvrages de piété et de consolation. Ainsi en 1891 Andrew Bonar en fit paraître 365, une pour chaque jour de l'année, édition qui devint la référence en Angleterre. En France, dès 1848 Gustave Masson, homme de lettres influent, en traduisit une cinquantaine, précédée d'une notice sur la vie et l'époque de leur auteur : c'est ce livre que les Éditions ThéoTeX republient ici. Théologiquement, Samuel Rutherford était un presbytérien écossais non-conformiste, c'est-à-dire n'acceptant pas l'ingérence du pouvoir civil dans les affaires de l'Église ; ceci explique la grande estime dont jouissait son nom auprès des puritains, et notamment de Charles Spurgeon, qui relisait souvent ses lettres.
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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