MY VERY NOBLE AND DEAR LADY,- Grace, mercy, and peace be to you. -- The
Lord has brought me safely to Aberdeen: I have gotten lodging in the
hearts of all I meet with. No face that has not smiled upon me; only
the indwellers of this town are dry, cold, and general. They consist of
Papists, and men of Gallio's metal, firm in no religion; and it is
counted no wisdom here to countenance a confined and silenced prisoner.
But the shame of Christ's cross shall not be my shame.
Madam, your Ladyship knoweth what Christ has done to have all your
love; and that He alloweth not His level upon your dear child. Keep
good quarters with Christ in your love. I verily think that Christ has
said, 'I must needs-force have Jean Campbell for Myself'; and He has
laid many oars in the water, to fish and hunt home-over your heart to
heaven. Let Him have His prey, He will think you well won, when He has
gotten you. It is good to have recourse often, and to have the door
open, to our stronghold. For the sword of the Lord, the sword of the
Lord is for Scotland! And yet two or three berries shall be left in the
top of the olive-tree.
If a word can do my brother good in his distress, I know your Ladyship
will be willing and ready to speak it, and more also. Now the only wise
God, and your only, only One, He who dwelt in the Bush, be with you. I
write many kisses and many blessings in Christ to your dear child: the
blessings of his father's God, the blessings due to the fatherless and
the widow, be yours and his.
ABERDEEN
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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.