MADAM, -- Upon the offered opportunity of this worthy bearer, I could
not omit to answer the heads of your letter.
Firstly, I think not much to set down on paper some good things agent
Christ, and to feed my soul with raw wishes to be one with Christ; for
a wish is but broken and half love. But verily to obey this, 'Come and
see', is a harder matter! Oh, I have smoke rather than fire, and
guessing rather than real assurances of Him. I cannot believe without a
pledge. I cannot take God's word without a caution. But this is my way;
for His way is, 'After that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy
Spirit of promise (Eph. 1: 13).
Secondly, Ye write, 'that I am filled with knowledge, and stand not
in need of these warnings.' But certainly my light is dim when it
cometh to handy-grips. And how many have full coffers and yet empty
bellies! Light, and the saving use of light, are far different. Oh,
what need then have I to have the ashes blown away from my dying-out
fire! I may be a bookman and (yet) be an idiot and stark fool in
Christ's way. Learning will not beguile Christ.
Thirdly, I find you complaining of yourself. And it becometh a sinner
so to do. I am not against you in that; the more sense of sin, the less
sin. I would love my pain, and soreness, and my wounds, howbeit these
should bereave me of my night's sleep, better than my wounds without
pain.
Fourthly, Be not afraid for little grace. Christ soweth His living
seed, and He will not lose His seed. If He have the guiding of my flock
and state, it shall not miscarry. Our spilled works, losses, deadness,
coldness, wretchedness, are the ground upon which the Good Husbandman
laboureth.
Fifthly, Ye write, 'that His compassions fail not, notwithstanding
that your service to Christ miscarrieth.' To which I answer:
God forbid that there were buying and selling, and blocking for as
good again, betwixt Christ and us; for then free grace might go to
play. But we go to heaven with light shoulders; and the vessels, great
and smalls that we have, are fastened upon the sure Nail (Isa.
22.23-24). The only danger is, that we give grace more to do than God
gives it; that is by turning God's grace into wantonness.
Sixthly, Ye write, 'few see your guiltiness; and you cannot be free
with many as with me'. I answer, Blessed be God, Christ and we are not
heard before men's courts: it is at home, betwixt Him and us, that our
pleas are taken away. Grace be with you.
Yours in the Lord Jesus.
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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.