WELL-BELOVED SISTER, -- I have been thinking, since my departure from
you, of the pride and malice of your adversaries; and ye may not (since
ye have had the Book of Psalms so often) take hardly with this; for
David's enemies snuffed at him, and through the pride of their heart
said, 'The Lord will not require it' (Ps. 10.13). I beseech you,
therefore, in the bowels of Jesus, set before your eyes the patience of
your forerunner Jesus, who, when He was reviled, reviled not again;
when He suffered, He threatened not, but committed Himself to Him who
judgeth righteously (I Pet. 2.23). And since your Lord and Redeemer
with patience received many a black stroke on His glorious back, and
many a buffet of the unbelieving world, and says of Himself, 'I gave My
back to the smiters, and My cheeks to them that plucked off the hair; I
hid not my face from shame and spitting' (Isa. 50.6); follow Him and
think it not hard that you receive a blow with your Lord. Take part
with Jesus of His sufferings, and glory in the marks of Christ. If this
storm were over, you must prepare yourself for a new wound; for, five
thousand years ago, our Lord proclaimed deadly war betwixt the Seed of
the Woman and the seed of the Serpent.
Be you upon Christ's side of it, and care not what flesh can do. Hold
yourself fast by your Savior, howbeit you be buffeted, and those that
follow Him. Yet a little while and the wicked shall not be. 'We are
troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not
in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed'
(II Cor. 4.8, 9). If you can possess your soul in patience, their day
is coming. Worthy and dear sister, know to carry yourself in trouble;
and when you are hated and reproached, the Lord shows it to you -- 'All
this is come upon us, yet have we not forgotten Thee, neither have we
dealt falsely in Thy covenant' (Ps. 44.17). 'Unless Thy law had been my
delight, I had perished in mine affliction' (Ps. 119.92). Keep God's
covenant in your trials; hold you by His blessed word, and sin not;
flee anger, wrath, grudging, envyving, fretting; forgive a hundred
pence to your fellow-servant, because your Lord hath forgiven you ten
thousand talents: for, I assure you by the Lord, your adversaries shall
get no advantage against you, except you sin, and offend your Lord, in
your sufferings. But the way to overcome is by patience, forgiving and
praying for your enemies, in doing whereof you heap coals upon their
heads, and your Lord shall open a door to you in your trouble: wait
upon Him, as the night watch waiteth for the morning. He will not
tarry. Go up to your watch-tower, and come not down, but by prayer, and
faith, and hope, wait on. When the sea is full, it will ebb again; and
so soon as the wicked come to the top of their pride, and are waxed
high and mighty, then is their change approaching; they that believe
make not haste.
Now, again, I trust in our Lord, you shall by faith sustain yourself
and comfort yourself in your Lord, and be strong in His power; for you
are in the beaten and common way to heaven, when you are under our
Lord's crosses. You have reason to rejoice in it, more than in a crown
of gold; and rejoice and be glad to bear the reproaches of Christ. I
rest, recommending you and yours forever, to the grace and mercy of
God. Yours in Christ.
ANWOTH, Feb, 11, 1631
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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.