MADAM, -- I have longed exceedingly to hear of your life, and health,
and growth in the grace of God. I entreat you, Madam, let me have two
lines from you, concerning your present condition. I know you are in
grief and heaviness; and if it were not so, you might be afraid,
because then your way would not be so like the way that our Lord saith
leadeth to the New Jerusalem. Sure I am, if you knew what were before
you, or if you saw some glances of it, you would, with gladness, swim
through the present floods of sorrow, spreading forth your arms out of
desire to be at land. If God have given you the earnest of the Spirit,
as part of the payment of the principal sum, ye have to rejoice; for
our Lord will not lose His earnest, neither will He go back, or repent
Him of His bargain. If you find, at some time, a longing to see God,
joy in the assurance of that sight (although the sight be but like the
pass over, that cometh about only once in the year), peace of
conscience, liberty of prayer, the doors of God's treasury opened to
the soul, and a clear sight of Himself, saying, with a smiling
countenance, 'Welcome to me, afflicted soul'; this is the earnest which
He giveth sometimes, and which maketh glad the heart; and is an
evidence that the bargain will hold. But to the end ye may get this
earnest, it were good to come in terms of speech with God, both in
prayer and hearing of the word, for the Christ that saveth you is a
speaking Christ; the church knoweth Him by His voice (Song of Solomon
2.8), and can discern His tongue amongst a thousand. When our Lord
cometh, He speaketh to the heart in the simplicity of the Gospel.
I have neither tongue nor pen to express to you the happiness of such
as are in Christ. When ye have sold all that ye have, and bought the
field wherein this pearl is, ye will think it no bad market; for if ye
be in Him, all His is yours, and ye are in Him; therefore, 'because He
liveth, ye shall live also' (John 14.19). 'Father, I will that those
whom Thou hast given Me be with Me when I am, to behold My glory that
Thou hath given me' (John 17.24). Amen, dear Jesus, let it be according
to that word. I wonder that ever your heart should be cast down, if ye
believe this truth. I and they are not worthy at Jesus Christ, who will
not suffer forty years trouble for Him, since they have such glorious
promises. But we fools believe those promises as the man that read
Plato's writings concerning the immortality of the soul: so long as the
book was in his hand he believed all was true, and that the soul could
not die; but so soon as he laid by the book, he began to imagine that
the soul is but a smoke or airy vapor, that perisheth with the expiring
of the breath. So we at starts do assent to the sweet and precious
promises; but, laying aside God's book, we begin to call all in
question. It is faith indeed to believe without a pledge, and to hold
the heart constant at this work; and when we doubt, to run to the Law
and to the Testimony, and stay there. Madam, hold you here: here is
your Father's testament -- read it; in it He hath left you remission of
sins and life everlasting. If all that you have in this world be
crosses and troubles, down-castings, frequent desertions and departures
of the Lord, still He purposeth to do you good at your latter end, and
to give you rest from the days of adversity. 'It is good to bear the
yoke of God in your youth.' Turn ye to the strong hold, as a prisoner
of hope. 'For the vision is for an appointed time, but at the last it
shall speak, and not lie: though it tarry, wait for it: because it
surely will come, it will not tarry.' Hear Himself saying, 'Come, my
people (rejoice, He calleth you), enter thou into thy chambers, and
shut thy doors about thee: hide thyself as it were for a little moment,
till the indignation be past.' Believe, then, believe and be ye saved:
think it not hard, if ye get not your will nor your delights in this
life; God will have you to rejoice in nothing but Himself. 'God forbid
that ye should rejoice in any thing but the cross of Christ.' Grace,
grace be with you. The great Messenger of the Covenant preserve you in
body and spirit.
Yours in the Lord
ANWOTH, Feb. 1, 1630
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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.