WORTHY AND MUCH HONORED, -- Grace, mercy and peace be to you. I received
your letter from my brother, to which I now answer particularly.
I confess two things of myself: First, woe is me, that men should
think there is anything in me. He is my witness, before whom I am as
crystal, that the secret house-devils that bear me too often company,
and that this sink of corruption which I find within, make me go with
low sails. And if others saw what I see, they would look by me, but not
to me.
Secondly, I know that this shower of free grace behaved to be on me,
otherwise I should have withered. I know, also, that I have need of a
buffeting tempter, that grace may be put to exercise, and I kept low.
Worthy and dear brother in the Lord Jesus, I write that from my heart
which ye now read. I avouch that Christ, and sweating and sighing under
His cross, is sweeter to me by far, than all the kingdoms in the world
could possibly be. If you, and my dearest acquaintance in Christ, reap
any fruit by my suffering, let me be weighed in God's even balance, if
my joy be not fulfilled. What am I, to carry the marks of such a great
King! I have gotten the wale and choice of Christ's crosses, even the
tithe and the flower of the gold of all crosses, to bear witness to the
truth; and herein find I liberty, joy, access, life, comfort, love,
faith, submission, patience and resolution to take delight in on
waiting. And, withal, in my race He has come near me and let me see the
gold and crown. Let no man think he shall lose at Christ's hands in
suffering for Him.
I doubt not but my Lord is preparing me for heavier trials. I am most
ready at the good pleasure of my Lord, in the strength of His grace,
for anything He will be pleased to call me to; neither shall the black
faced messenger, Death, be holden at the door when it shall knock. If
my Lord will take honor of the like of me, how glad and joyful will my
soul be. Let Christ come out with me to a hotter battle than this, and
I will fear no flesh. I know that my Master shall win the day, and that
He has taken the order of my suffering into His own hand. I have not
yet resisted to blood.
Oh, how often am I laid in the dust, and urged by the tempter (who
can ride his own errands upon our lying apprehensions) to sin against
the unchangeable love of my Lord! When I think upon the sparrows and
swallows that build their nests in the kirk of Anwoth, and of my dumb
Sabbaths, my sorrowful, bleated eyes look asquint upon Christ, and
present Him as angry. But in this trial (all honor to our princely and
royal King!) faith saileth fair before the wind, with topsail up, and
carrieth the passenger through. I lay inhibitions upon my thoughts,
that they receive no slanders of my only, only Beloved.
Now my dearest in Christ, the great Messenger of the Covenant, the
only wise and all-sufficient Jehovah, establish you to the end. I hear
that the Lord has been at your house, and has called home your wife to
her rest. I know, Sir, that ye see the Lord loosing the pins of your
tabernacle, and wooing your love from this plastered and over-gilded
world, and calling upon you to be making yourself ready to go to your
father's country, which shall be a sweet fruit of that visitation. Ye
know 'to send the Comforter' was the King's word when He ascended on
high. Ye have claim to, and interest in, that promise.
All love, all mercy, all grace and peace, all multiplied saving
consolations, all joy and faith in Christ, all stability and confirming
strength of grace, and the goodwill of Him that dwelt in the Bush be
with you.
Your unworthy brother.
ABERDEEN, June 15, 1637
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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.