tamarsbryan
- Jun 16, 2021
- 10 min read

Samuel Rutherford

(1600–1661)

An English merchant, traveling in Scotland in the seventeenth century, made this entry in his journal:

In St. Andrews I heard a tall, stately man preach, and he showed me the majesty of God. I afterwards heard a little fair man preach, and he showed me the loveliness of Christ. I then went to Irvine, where I heard preach a well-favoured, proper old man, with a long beard, and that man showed me all my heart.

The first preacher was Robert Blair, who ministered at St. Andrews in Edinburgh for more than a quarter of a century. The third preacher was the great Covenanter and professor of theology, David Dickson, whose commentary on the Psalms has been reissued by Banner of Truth and is worth owning. The “little fair man” was Samuel Rutherford, one of the most paradoxical preachers Scotland has ever produced.

“For generations Rutherford has inspired the best preaching in Scotland,” wrote Alexander Whyte in 1908; and yet today this man is almost forgotten. He should be known as the saintly writer of The Letters of Samuel Rutherford, but most people associate the name with Mrs. A. R. Cousin’s song “The Sands of Time Are Sinking,” which was inspired by statements found in his letters. (This happened to be D. L. Moody’s favorite song.)

Rutherford was born in the little village of Nisbet, in the shire of Roxburgh, about 1600. Apparently he lived a rather careless life during his youth. “I must first tell you that there is not such a glassy, icy, and slippery piece of way betwixt you and heaven, as Youth,” he wrote to his friend William Gordon. “The old ashes of the sins of my youth are new fire of sorrow to me.” To another friend he wrote, “Like a fool, as I was, I suffered my sun to be high in the heaven, and near afternoon, before ever I took the gate by the end.” He entered the university in Edinburgh in 1617, began his theological studies in 1626, and in 1627 was licensed to preach. That same year he was called to Anwoth. His life and ministry there put that little village on the map. Thirty years before, the congregation at Anwoth had enjoyed the ministry of another man of God, John Welsh, the son-in-law of the famous John Knox. Welsh often left his bed in the middle of the night, wrapped himself in a warm plaid, and interceded for the people of his parish.

When his wife would beg him to go back to sleep, he would say, “I have the souls of three thousand to answer for and I know not how it is with many of them.” It is interesting that both Welsh and Rutherford were exiled because of their preaching and their opposition to the king’s encroachments upon the church. When he was on his deathbed, Welsh received word that the king had lifted the ban; so he arose, went to the church, and preached a sermon. He then returned to his bed and died two hours later! three thousand to answer for and I know not how it is with many of them.” It is interesting that both Welsh and Rutherford were exiled because of their preaching and their opposition to the king’s encroachments upon the church. When he was on his deathbed, Welsh received word that the king had lifted the ban; so he arose, went to the church, and preached a sermon. He then returned to his bed and died two hours later!

I visited Rutherford’s church at Anwoth and was surprised to find the ruins of a barn-like building, sixty by twenty feet. It could not have seated more than 250 people; and yet Rutherford faithfully ministered there for nine years. “I see exceedingly small fruit of my ministry,” he wrote after two years at Anwoth. “I would be glad of one soul, to be a crown of joy and rejoicing in the day of Christ.” Mrs. A. R. Cousin put it this way in her song:

Fair Anwoth by the Solway,

To me thou still art dear!

E’en from the verge of Heaven

I drop for thee a tear.

Oh, if one soul from Anwoth

Meet me at God’s right hand,

My Heaven will be two Heavens,

In Immanuel’s land.

The people of the congregation knew that God had sent them a dedicated pastor. They said to their friends, “He is always praying, always preaching, always visiting the sick, always catechizing, always writing and studying.” Often he fell asleep at night talking about Christ, and often he spoke of Christ while sleeping. (Spurgeon once preached a sermon in his sleep. His wife wrote down the main points and gave the outline to him the next morning—and he went to the tabernacle and preached it!)

In 1630 Rutherford’s wife died; he was also to lose two children during his Anwoth ministry. But in spite of difficulties and the smallness of the place in which he ministered, Rutherford never sought to put himself into a larger place. “His own hand planted me here,” he wrote in 1631. “And here I will abide till the great Master of the Vineyard think fit to transplant me.” “Transplanted” he would be, but not in the manner he anticipated. For in 1636 Rutherford published An Apology [Argument] for Divine Grace, a book that assailed the weak theology of the day and aroused the opposition of Archbishop Laud’s party. Rutherford was tried in Edinburgh on July 27, 1636, and was banished to Aberdeen and warned never to preach in Scotland again. He remained in Aberdeen from August 20, 1636, to June 1638, where he was known as “the banished minister.” It is important to note that Rutherford was not imprisoned or made to suffer physically. He was exiled from his ministry and made to suffer in an even greater way by being forbidden to preach.

But history repeated itself, for out of the exile came one of the most spiritual devotional books ever written. Out of Paul’s imprisonment came Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians; out of Bunyan’s imprisonment came Pilgrim’s Progress; and from Rutherford’s exile in Aberdeen came The Letters of Samuel Rutherford. Of course, Rutherford did not write these letters with any thought of publication.

He died on March 29, 1661; and in 1664 an edition of 284 letters was published in Rotterdam, edited by his former student and secretary, Robert McWard. The title of this first edition was Joshua Redivivus, or, Mr. Rutherfoord’s Letters. Joshua Resurrected seems at first to be a strange title; but if you think about it and read some of his letters, it begins to make sense. McWard considered Rutherford to be a second Joshua, who spied out the spiritual land of Canaan and came back to share the precious fruits with others. The third edition of the book, issued in 1675, contained 68 additional letters; the 1848 edition added 10 more. By the 1863 edition there were 365 letters, one for each day of the year.

Why would anyone want to preserve and read these letters? After all, they were never written for the public eye: they were intimate letters, written from a pastor’s heart, to help people he could no longer minister to publicly. Two-thirds of the letters were written during Rutherford’s years of exile, when his ministerial burden for his people was especially heavy. But here, I think, is the value of the letters: they are “heart to heart,” and focus on the specific needs of real people. Rutherford’s encouragement and spiritual counsel are just as helpful today as they were three centuries ago.

Let me confess that there are times when Rutherford’s writing is a bit too effeminate for me. I am sure the problem is with me and not with the saintly author. Rutherford, of course, steeped his writing in Scripture, quoting primarily from Isaiah and the Song of Solomon. I started keeping a list of references and allusions while reading the letters, but I finally gave up. There were just too many of them.

Rutherford had three favorite images of the church in his letters: the bride of Christ, the vineyard of the Lord, and the ship. There are hundreds of references to the bride, and Mrs. Cousin included a few of them in her song. There is no question that Samuel Rutherford had an intimate communion with his Lord and was not afraid to talk about it.

The Bride eyes not her garment,

But her dear Bridegroom’s face;

I will not gaze at glory,

But on my King of Grace—

Not at the crown He giveth,

But on His pierced hand:

The Lamb is all the glory

Of Immanuel’s land.

The allusions to the vineyard are not surprising since Anwoth was situated in farming country, and the nautical image stems from Anwoth’s proximity to the Solway on the River Fleet. “Have all in readiness against the time that ye must sail through the black and impetuous Jordan,” he wrote to John Kennedy in 1632, “and Jesus, Jesus, who knoweth both those depths and the rocks, and all the coast, be your pilot.” He wrote to his close friend Lady Kenmure, “Look for crosses, and while it is fair weather mend the sails of the ship.”

Rutherford’s letters were not written for speed readers or frantic pastors looking for sermon outlines. These letters must be read slowly, meditatively, prayerfully. This perhaps explains why this priceless collection is almost ignored today: we are too busy and too pragmatic. If a book today can be read quickly and easily, without demanding too much thinking, and if it contains two or three outlines or promotional ideas, then it is well on its way to popularity. However, if a book like The Letters of Samuel Rutherford can only minister to the interior life, make Jesus Christ very wonderful, and create in the reader a deeper love for God and the souls of men, then it may have to fight for survival.

Before you dismiss Rutherford as an impractical mystic, let me share with you the other side of his life and ministry, which prompted my earlier reference to him as “one of the most paradoxical preachers Scotland ever produced.” Rutherford was not only the writer of devotional letters; he was also the author of a number of theological works that placed him among the leading thinkers and apologists of his day. In addition to An Apology for Divine Grace, the book that precipitated Rutherford’s exile, he also helped write the famous Westminster Confession of Faith, and tradition states that he wrote the famous Shorter Catechism based on that great confession. The story is worth telling.

In March 1638 it was possible for Rutherford to leave Aberdeen and return to Anwoth. His last letter from exile is dated June 11, 1638, and his first letter from Anwoth is dated August 5, 1638. In November of that year, he was officially “vindicated” by the Assembly, and he settled down to minister again to his beloved flock. But in 1639 he was commissioned to take the chair of divinity at St. Mary’s College, Edinburgh, and reluctantly he obeyed. Then in 1643 he was sent to London to represent the Scottish church at the Westminster Assembly. He took Robert McWard, one of his students, to be his secretary—little knowing that one day McWard would give the world the classic book of letters. He remained in London until November 1647, when he returned to Edinburgh to become principal of St. Mary’s.

However, while in London in 1644 he had published a book that was to take Great Britain by storm, a book that almost led Rutherford to the gallows. It was called Lex Rex (Latin for “The Law and the Prince”). In that day, anybody who wrote about the monarchy had better be loyal or prepared to make a quick getaway; Rutherford was neither. When he was involved in controversy, his stubbornness and devotion to truth could be as strong as the mysticism of his letters. He was an ardent apologist, and he could wield the sword with deadly blows. No doubt his deep love for Christ and the church gave him courage and daring in the theological arena.

What he wrote in Lex Rex would cause little excitement today because we are accustomed to democracy and civil rights; but in the days of Charles I and Charles II, a call for democracy and constitutional rights was a summons for the hangman. In fact, when Charles II was crowned in Scotland in 1651, Rutherford opposed his policies and, because of his convictions, broke with his two close friends, Blair and Dickson. Rutherford wrote to Lady Kenmure, “The Lord hath removed Scotland’s crown, for we owned not His crown.” On October 16, 1660, the common hangman burned Lex Rex at the cross of Edinburgh, and on March 28, 1661 the “Drunken Parliament” indicted Rutherford and three other Christian leaders. But by that time, the author of Lex Rex was on his deathbed; his reply to the official summons was: “I behoove to answer my first summons, and ere your day come, I will be where few kings and great folk come.” He died on March 29, 1661. His last words were, “Glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel’s land!”

Should you wish to get acquainted with Rutherford, I suggest you begin with the excellent essay by Marcus Loane in his Makers of Religious Freedom in the Seventeenth Century. You might also read the chapter on Alexander Henderson, another “man of the Covenant.” Then secure the edition of Rutherford’s Letters edited by Andrew Bonar, because this is by far the best: it is complete. The biographical and historical notes help the reader identify people, times, and places; the glossary of Scottish terms is invaluable; and the letters are arranged in chronological order. Do not plan to read this book in one sitting; read a letter or two a day and let the Spirit of God quietly speak to your heart. Granted, Rutherford is not for everyone; but if he is for you, then enjoy this first meeting as long as you can.

Alexander Whyte preached a series of sermons from Rutherford’s Letters, and they were published under the title Samuel Rutherford and Some of His Correspondents. You should read the first two sermons before you begin the Letters themselves; they are an excellent introduction to the book and its author. After reading several of the letters, you can see how Whyte interprets them in his sermons. By the way, Whyte also brought out an edition of the Shorter Catechism in his Handbooks for Bible Classes series. And in the same series is John Macpherson’s fine history of the Westminster Confession entitled The Westminster Confession of Faith.

One of the best studies of Rutherford’s life and character is that by A. Taylor Innes in The Evangelical Succession series. It is called simply Samuel Rutherford, and Alexander Whyte himself called it “the finest thing that has ever been written on Rutherford.” Alexander Smellie’s classic volume Men of the Covenant should also be consulted.

“I look not to win away to my home without wounds and blood,” Rutherford wrote in 1630; shortly before his death thirty-one years later, he wrote, “For me, I am now near to eternity. . . . Fear not men, for the Lord is your light and your salvation.”

It is best that we remember Samuel Rutherford not as the courageous apologist or the dogmatic theologian but as the man who lived so close to the Savior’s heart. His pen was always ready to write of the things “touching the King.” In this day of headache and haste, perhaps it is good for us to heed his invitation to a closer communion with our Lord. Then we can join the testimony Mrs. Cousin put on his lips: