MUCH HONORED AND DEAREST IN MY LORD, Grace, mercy, and peace be to you.
My soul longeth exceedingly to hear how matters go betwixt you and
Christ; and whether or not there be any work of Christ in that parish,
that will bide the trial of fire and water. Let me be weighed of my
Lord in a just balance, if your souls lie not weighty upon me. Ye go to
bed and ye rise with me: thoughts of your soul, my dearest in our Lord,
depart not from me in my sleep. Ye have a great part of my tears,
sighs, supplications, and prayers. Oh, if I could buy your soul's
salvation with any suffering whatsoever, and that ye and I might meet
with joy up in the rainbow, when we shall stand before our Judge!
Sir, show the people this; for when I write to you, I think I write
to you all, old and young. Fulfill my joy and seek the Lord. Sure I am,
that once I discovered my lovely, royal princely Lord Jesus to you all.
Woe, woe shall be your part of it for evermore, if the Gospel be not
the savor of life to you. Believe me, I find heaven a city hard to be
won.
I know your accounts are many, and will take telling and laying, and
reckoning betwixt you and your Lord. Fit your accounts, and order them.
Lose not the last play, whatever ye do, for in that play with death
your precious soul is the prize: for the Lord's sake spill not the
play, and lose not such a treasure. Ye know that, out of love which I
had to your soul, and out of desire which I had to make an honest
account of you, I testified my displeasure and disliking of your ways
very often, both in private and public. I am not now a witness of your
doings, but your Judge is always your witness. I beseech you by the
mercies of God, by the salvation of your soul, after the sight of this
letter to take a new course with your ways and now, in the end of your
day, make sure of heaven. I never knew so well what sin was as since I
came to Aberdeen, howbeit I was preaching of it to you. To feel the
smoke of hell's fire in the throat for half an hour; to stand beside a
river of fire and brimstone broader than the earth; and to think to be
bound hand and foot, and casten into the midst of it quick, and then to
have God locking the prison door, never to be opened to all eternity! O
how it will shake a conscience that has any life in it!
Look up to Him and love Him. O, love and live! It were life to me if
you would read this letter to the people and if they did profit by it.
My dearest in the Lord, stand fast in Christ, keep the faith, contend
for Christ. Wrestle for Him and take men's feud for God's favor; there
is no comparison betwixt them. O that the Lord would fulfill my joy and
keep the young bride that is at Anwoth to Christ!
Now, worthy Sir, now my dear people, my joy and my crown in the Lord,
let Him be your fear. Seek the Lord, and His face: save your souls.
Doves! flee to Christ's windows. Pray for me, and praise for me. The
blessing of my God, the prayers and blessing of a poor prisoner, and
your lawful pastor, be upon you.
Your lawful and loving pastor.
ABERDEEN, June 16, 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.