Part 2
242. To _Lady Rowallan_.--Jesus the Best Choice, and to be made sure of--The Cross and Jesus inseparable-- Sorrows only Temporary, 478
243. To _Marion M'Naught_.--His own Prospects--Hopes-- Salutations, 480
244. To _Marion M'Naught_.--Proceedings of Parliament--Private Matters--Her Daughter's Marriage, 481
245. To _Lady Boyd_.--Imperfections--Yearnings after Christ-- Christ's Supremacy not inconsistent with Civil Authority, 483
246. To _Mr. Thomas Garven_.--Heaven's Happiness--Joy in the Cross, 485
247. To _Janet Kennedy_.--The Heavenly Mansions--Earth a Shadow, 486
248. To _Margaret Reid_.--Benefits of the Cross, if we are Christ's, 487
249. To _James Bautie_.--Spiritual Difficulties Solved, 489
250. To _Lady Largirie_.--Part with all for Christ--No Unmixed Joy here, 494
251. To _Lady Dungueich_.--Jesus or the World--Scotland's Trials and Hopes, 495
252. To _Janet Macculloch_.--Cares to be cast on Christ-- Christ a Steady Friend, 496
253. To _Mr. George Gillespie_.--Christ the True Gain, 497
254. To _Mr. Robert Blair_.--Personal Unworthiness--God's Grace--Prayer for Others, 498
255. To _Lady Carleton_.--Submission to God's Will--Wonders in the Love of Christ--No debt to the World, 500
256. To _William Rigge of Athernie_.--The Law--Grace--Chalking out Providences for ourselves--Prescribing to His Love, 501
257. To _Lady Graighall_.--The Comforts of Christ's Cross-- Desires for Christ, 503
258. To _Lord Loudon_.--The Wisdom of adhering to Christ's Cause, 504
259. To _David Dickson_.--Danger of Worldly Ease--Personal Occurrences, 507
260. To _Alexander Gordon of Earlston_.--All Crosses Well Ordered--Providences, 508
261. To _Lady Kilconquhair_.--The Kingdom to be taken by Violence, 510
262. To _Robert Lennox of Disdove_.--Increasing Experience of Christ's Love--Salvation to be made sure, 512
263. To_ Marion M'Naught_.--Hope in Trial--Prayer and Watchfulness, 513
264. To _Thomas Corbet_.--Godly Counsels--Following Christ, 514
265. To _Mr. George Dunbar, Minister of the Gospel_.--Christ's Love in Affliction--The Saint's Support and Final Victory, 515
266. To _John Fleming, Bailie of Leith_.--Comfort Abounding under Trials, 517
267. To _William Glendinning, Bailie of Kirkcudbright_.--The Past and the Future--Present Happiness, 517
268. To _the Earl of Cassillus_.--Anxiety for the Prosperity of Zion--Encouragement for the Nobles to Support it--The Vanity of this World, and the Folly and Misery of forsaking Christ--The One Way to Heaven, 519
269. To _his Parishioners at Anwoth_.--Exhortationn to abide in the Truth, in prospect of Christ's Coming-- Scriptural Mode of Observing Ordinanaces such as the Sabbath, Family Prayer, and the Lord's Supper-- Judgments Anticipated, 521
270. To _Lady Busbie_.--His Experience of Christ's Love--State of the Land and Church--Christ not duly Esteemed-- Desire after Him, and for a Revival, 524
271. To _Earlston, Younger_.--Prosperity under the Cross--Need of Security, and being founded on Christ, 526
272. To _John Gordon_.--Christ all Worthy--This World a Clay Prison--Desire for a Revival of Christ's Cause, 527
273. To _William Rigge of Athernie_.--Comfort in Trials from the Knowledge of Christ's Power and Work-- Corruption--Free Grace, 529
274. To _James Murray_.--The Christian Life a Mystery to the World--Chrsit's Kindness, 530
275. To _Mr. John Fergushill_.--Spiritual Longings under Christ's Cross--How to bear it--Christ Precious, and to be had without Money--The Church, 531
276. To _William Glendinning_.--Sweetness of Trial--Swiftness of Time--Prevalence of Sin, 534
277. To _Lady Boyd_.--Sense of Unworthiness--Obligation to Grace--Christ's Absence--State of the Land, 536
278. To _The Earl of Cassillis_.--Ambition--Christ's Royal Prerogative--Prelacy, 538
279. To _Marion M'Naught_.--A Spring-tide of Christ's Love, 540
280. To _John Gordon of Rusco_.--Heaven hard to be won-- Many come short in Attaining--Idol Sins to be renounced--Likeness to Christ, 541
281. To _Lord Loudoun_.--True Honour in maintaining Christ's Cause--Prelacy--Light of Eternity, 543
282. To _Lady Robertland_.--Afflictions purify--The World's Vanity--Christ's wise love, 545
283. To _Thomas Macculloch of Nether Ardwell_.--Earnest Call to Diligence--Circumspect Walking, 548
284. To _the Professors of Christ and His Truth in Ireland_.-- The Way to Heaven ofttimes through Persecution-- Christ's Worth--Making sure our Profession-- Self-denial--No Compromise--Tests of Sincerity--His own Desire for Christ's Glory, 549
285. To _Robert Gordon of Knockbreck_.--Not the Cross, but Christ the Object of Attraction--Too little expected from Him--Spiritual Deadness, 555
286. To _the Parishioners of Kilmalcolm_.--Spiritual Sloth-- Advice to Beginniers--A Dead Ministry--Languor-- Obedience--Want of Christ's Felt Presence--Assurance Important--Prayer Meetings, 559
287. To _Lady Kenmure_.--On the Death of her Child--Christ Shares His People's Sorrows, 565
288. To _the Persecuted Church in Ireland_.--Christ's Legacy of Trouble--God's Dealings with Scotland in giving Prosperity--Christ takes Half of all Sufferings-- Steadfastness for His Crown--His Love should lead to Holiness, 568
289. To _Dr. Alexander Leighton_.--Public Blessings alleviate Private Sufferings--Trials Light when viewed in the Light of Heaven--Christ worthy of Suffering for, 575
290. To _a Person unknown_.--Anent Private Worship, 578
291. To _Henry Stuart, and Family, Prisoners of Christ at Dublin_.--Faith's preparation for Trial--The World's Rage against Christ--The Immensity of His Glorious Beauty--Folly of Persecution--Victory Sure, 579
292. To _Mrs. Pont, Prisoner at Dublin_.--Support under Trials--The Master's Reward, 585
293. To _Mr. James Wilson_.--Advices to a Doubting Soul-- Mistakes about his Interest in God's Love-- Temptation--Perplexity about Prayer--Want of Feeling, 588
294. To _Lady Boyd_.--Sins of the Land--Dwelling in Christ-- Faith awake sees all well, 591
295. To _John Fenwick_.--Christ the Fountain--Freeness of God's Love--Faith to be exercised under Frowns-- Grace for Trials--Hope of Christ yet to be exalted on the Earth, 593
296. To _Peter Stirling_.--Believers' Graces all from Christ-- Aspiration after more Love to Him--His Reign Desired, 599
297. To _Lady Fingast_.--Faith's Misgivings--Spiritual Darkness not Grace--Chrit's Love Inimitable, 600
298. To _Mr. David Dickson, on the Death of his Son_.--God's Sovereignty, and Discipline by Affliction, 602
299. To _Lady Boyd, on the Loss of several Friends_.--Trust even though slain--Second Causes not to be regarded--God's thoughts of Peace therein--All in Mercy, 603
300. To _Agnes Macmath, on the Death of a Child_.--Reason for Resignation, 607
301. To _Mr. Matthew Mowat, Minister of Kilmarnock_.-- Worthiness of God's Love as manifested in Christ-- Heaven with Christ, 608
302. To _Lady Kenmure, on her Husband's Death_.--God's Method in Affliction--Future Glory, 609
303. To _Lady Boyd_.--Sin of the Land--Read Prayers--Brownism, 611
304. To _James Murray's Wife_.--Heaven a Reality-- Steadfastness to be grounded on Christ, 612
305. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Sins of the Times--Practical Atheism, 613
306. To _Mr. Thomas Wylie, Minister of Borgue_.--Sufficiency of Divine Grace--Call to England to assist at Westminster Assembly--Felt Unworthiness, 614
307. To _a Young Man in Anwoth_.--Necessity of Godliness in its Power, 615
308. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Westminster Assembly--Religious Sects, 616
309. To _Lady Boyd_.--Proceedings of Westminster Assembly, 618
310. To _Mistress Taylor, on her Son's Death_.--Suggestions for Comfort under Sorrow, 620
311. To _Barbara Hamilton_.--On Death of her Son-in-Law-- God's Purposes, 623
312. To _Mistress Hume, on her Husband's Death_.--God's Voice in the Rod, 625
313. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Christ's Designs in Sickness and Sorrow, 626
314. To _Barbara Hamilton, on her Son-in-Law slain in Battle_.--God does all Things Well, and with Design, 627
315. To _a Christian Friend, on the Death of his Wife_.--God the First Cause--The End of Affliction, 629
316. To _a Christian Brother, on the Death of his Daughter_.--Consolation in her having gone before-- Christ the Best Husband, 630
317. To _a Christian Gentlewoman_.--Views of Death and Heaven--Aspirations, 632
318. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Christ never in our Debt--Riches of Christ--Excellence of the Heavenly State, 635
319. To _Mr. James Guthrie_.--Prospects for Scotland--His own Darkness--Christ's Ability, 636
320. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Trials cannot Injure Saints-- Blessedness in Seeing Christ, 638
321. To _Lady Ardross, in Fife, on her Mother's Death_.-- Happiness of Heaven, and Blessedness of Dying in the Lord, 639
322. To _M. O._--Gloomy Prospects for the Backsliding Church--The Misunderstandings of Believers cause of great grief--The Day of Christ, 640
323. To _Earlston the Elder_.--Christ's Way of Afflicting the Best--Obligation to Free Grace--Enduring the Cross, 642
324. To _Mr. George Gillespie_.--Prospect of Death--Christ the true support in Death, 644
325. To _Sir James Stewart, Lord Provost of Edinburgh_.-- Declining Chair in Edinburgh, 645
326. To _Mistress Gillespie, Widow of George Gillespie_.--On the Death of a Child--God Afflicts in order to save us from the World, 646
327. To _the Earl of Balcarras_.--Regarding some Misunderstanding, 648
328. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Singleness of Aim--Judgment in regard to Adversaries, 649
329. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Courage in Days of Rebuke-- God's Arrangements all Wise, 651
330. To _William Guthrie_.--Depression under Dark Trials-- Dangers of Compliance, 652
331. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Courage in the Lord's Cause--Duty in regard to Providence to be observed--Safety in this, 654
332. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Christ's Cause deserves Service and Suffering from us, 656
333. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker, when taken Prisoner_.-- Comforting Thoughts to the Afflicted--Darkness of the Times--Fellowship in Christ's Sufferings-- Satisfaction with His Providences, 658
334. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Comfort under the Cloud hanging over Scotland--Dissuasion from Leaving Scotland, 662
335. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Difference between what is Man's and Christ's, and between Christ Himself and His Blessings, 663
336. To _Lady Ralston, Ursula Mure_.--Duty of Preferring to Live rather than Die--Want of Union in the judgments of the Godly, 665
337. To _a Minister of Glasgow_.--Encouraging Words to a Suffering Brother--Why men shrink from Christ's Testimony, 668
338. To _Lady Kenmure_.--A Word to Cheer in Times of Darkness, 671
339. To _Grizzel Fullerton_.--Exhortation to Follow Christ fully when others are cold, 672
340. To _Mr. Thomas Wylie_.--Regarding a Letter of Explanation, 673
341. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Present Need helped by past Experience, 674
342. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--Deadness--Hopes of Refreshment--Distance from God--Nearness Delighted in, 675
343. To _Colonel Gilbert Ker_.--The State of the Land, 678
344. To _Mr. John Scot, at Oxnam_.--Excuse for Absence from Duty, 679
345. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Thoughts for a Time of Sickness about the Life to Come, 680
346. To _Simeon Ashe_.--Views of the Presbyterians as to Allegiance to the Protector, 681
347. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Unkindness of the Creature--God's Sovereignty in permitting His Children to be Injured by Men, 682
348. To _Lady Kenmure_.--God's Dealings with the Land, 683
349. To _Mr. John Scot, at Oxnam_.--Protesters' Toleration, 683
350. To _Mr. John Scot, at Oxnam_.--Gloomy Times--Means of promoting Godliness, 684
351. To _Mr. James Durham, Minister of Glasgow, some few days before his Death_.--Man's Ways not God's Ways, 685
352. To _Mr. John Scot, at Oxnam_.--Adherence to the Testimony against Toleration, 686
353. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Trials--Deadness of the Spirit-- Danger of False Security, 686
354. To _Lady Kenmure_.--Prevailing Declension, Decay, and Indifference to God's Dealings--Things Future, 688
355. To _the Presbytery of Kirkcudbright_.--Union-- Humiliation--Choice of a Professor, 689
356. To _Mr. John Murray, Minister at Methven._--A Synod Proposal for Union--Brethren under Censure, 691
357. To _Mr. Guthrie, Mr. Trail, and the rest of their Brethren imprisoned in the Castle of Edinburgh_.-- On Suffering for Christ--God's Presence ever with His People--Firmness and Constancy, 692
358. To _Several Brethren_.--Reasons for Petitioning his Majesty after his return, and for owning such as were censured while about so necessary a Duty, 694
359. To _a Brother Minister_.--Judgment of a Draught of a Petition, to have been presented to the Committee of Estates, 696
360. To _Lady Kenmure, on the Imprisonment of her Brother, the Marquis of Argyle_.--God's Judgments--Calls to Flee to Him--The Results of timid Compliance, 698
361. To _Mistress Craig, upon the Death of her hopeful Son_.--Nine Reasons for Resignation, 699
362. To _Mr. James Guthrie, Minister of the Gospel at Stirling_.--Stedfast though Persecuted--Blessedness of Martyrdom, 701
363. To _Mr. Robert Campbell_.--Stedfastness to Protest against Prelacy and Popery, 703
364. To _Believers at Aberdeen_.--Sinful Conformity and Schismatic Designs reproved, 701
365. To _Mr. John Murray, Minister at Methven_.--Proposal of a Season of Prayer, 708
* * * * *
Index of the Chief Places and Individuals referred to in the Letters, 711
Index of Special Subjects, 715
Glossary, 718
* * * * *
APPENDIX.
Editions of Rutherford's Letters, 736
Sample of the old Orthography, 740
Last Words; Poem by Mrs. Cousin, 741
SKETCH
OF
SAMUEL RUTHERFORD.
"Wherever the palm-tree is, there is water," says the Eastern proverb; and so, wherever the godly flourish, there, we are sure, must the Word of God be found. In the history of the Reformation we read of Brother Martin, a poor monk at Basle, whose hope of salvation rested solely on the Lord Jesus, long before Luther sounded the silver trumpet that summoned sin-convinced souls to the One Sacrifice. Having written out his confession of faith, his statement of reliance on the righteousness of Christ alone, the monk placed the parchment in a wooden box, and shut up the wooden box in a hole of the wall of his cell. It was not till last century that this box, with its interesting contents, was discovered: it was brought to light only when the old wall of the monastery was taken down. The palm-tree speaks of the existence of water at its root; the pure Word of God taught this man his simple faith. And herein we learn how it was that Basle so early became a peculiar centre of light in that region; the prayer and the faith of that hidden one, and others like-minded, and the Word on which they fed, may explain it all.
There is a fact not unlike the above in the history of the district where Samuel Rutherford laboured so lovingly. The people of that shire tell that there was found, some generations ago, in the wall of the old castle of Earlston, in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, a copy of "Wickliffe's Bible." It was deposited in that receptacle in order to be hid from the view of enemies; but from time to time it was the lamp of light to a few souls, who, perhaps in the silence of night, found opportunity to draw it out of its ark, and peruse its pages. It seems that the Lollards of Kyle (the adjoining district) had brought it to Earlston. We know that there were friends and members of the family of Earlston who embraced the Gospel even in those days. In the sixteenth century, some of the ancestors of Viscount Kenmure are found holding the doctrines of Wickliffe, which had been handed down to them. May we not believe that the Gordons of Earlston, in after days, were not a little indebted to the faith and prayers of these ancient witnesses who hid the sacred treasure in the castle wall? As in the case of the monk of Basle, their faith and patience were acknowledged in after days by the blessing sent down on that quarter, when the Lord, in remembrance of His hidden ones, both raised up the Gordons of Earlston, with many others of a like spirit, and also sent thither His servant Samuel Rutherford, to sound forth the Word of Life, and make the lamp of truth blaze, like a torch, over all that region.
Samuel Rutherford was born about the year 1600. His father is understood to have been a respectable farmer. He had two brothers, James and George. But the place of his birth was not near the scene of his after labours. It is almost certain that Nisbet, a village of Roxburghshire close to the Teviot, in the parish of Crailing, was his birthplace; the name Rutherford frequently occurs in the churchyard. Not long ago, there were some old people in that parish who remembered the gable-end of the house in which it was said that he was born, and which, from respect to his memory, was permitted to stand as long as it could keep together. And there was there a village well where, when very young, Samuel nearly lost his life.[1] He had been amusing himself with some companions, when he fell in, and was left there till they ran and procured assistance; but on returning to the spot they found him seated on a knoll, cold and dripping, yet uninjured. He told them that "A bonnie white man came and drew him out of the well!" Whether or not he really fancied that an angel had delivered him, we cannot tell; but it is plain that, at all events, his boyish thoughts were already wandering in the region of the sky.
[1] This village well is about three feet deep. It is now closed up and worked by a pump.
He owed little to his native place. There was not so much of Christ known in that parish then as there is now; for in after days he writes, "My soul's desire is, that the place to which I owe my first birth--in which, I fear, Christ was scarcely named, as touching any reality of the power of godliness--may blossom as the rose" (Letter cccxxxiv.). We have no account of his revisiting these scenes of his early life, though he thus wrote to his friend, Mr. Scott, minister of the adjoining parish of Oxnam. Like Donald Cargill, born in Perthshire yet never known to preach there even once, Rutherford had his labours in other parts of the land, distant from his native place. In this arrangement we see the Master's sovereignty. The sphere is evidently one of God's choosing for the man, instead of being the result of the man's gratifying his natural predilections. It accords, too, with the example of the Master, who never returned to Bethlehem, where He was born, to do any of His works.
Jedburgh is a town three or four miles distant from Nisbet, and thither Samuel went for his education; either walking to it, and returning home at evening,--as a school-boy would scarcely grudge to do,--or residing in the town for a season. The school at that time met in a part of the ancient Abbey, called, from this circumstance, the Latiners' Alley. In the year 1617 we find him farther from home,--removed to Edinburgh, which, forty years before, had become the seat of a College, though not as yet a University. There he obtained, in 1621, the degree of Master of Arts. A single specimen (not elegant, however) of his Latin verse remains in the lines he prefixed to an edition of Row's "Hebrew Grammar," published at Glasgow, 1644--
Verba Sionææ gentis, submersa tenebris Cimmeriis, mendax Kimchius ore crepat. Quæ vos Rabbini sinuosa ænigmata vultis, Nunc facilem linguam dicite quæso sacram. Falleris, Hippocrates; male parcæ stamina vitæ Curta vocas, artem vociferare μακραν; Sit cita mors, rapido sit et hora fugacior Euro, Bellerophontæis vita volato rotis: Rouæi Hebracis sit mors male grata Camoenis. Haec relege, ast artem dixeris esse brevem.
Soon after, he was appointed Regent, or Professor, of Humanity, though there were three other competitors; for his talents had attracted the notice of many. But, on occasion of a rumour that charged him with some irregularity--whether with or without foundation, it is now difficult to ascertain--he demitted his office in 1625, and led a private life, attending prelections on theology, and devoting himself to that study.
That there could not have been anything very serious in the rumour, may be inferred from the fact that no church court took any notice of the matter, though these were days when the reins of discipline were not held with a slack hand. But it is not unlikely that this may have been the time of which he says in a letter, "I knew a man who wondered to see any in this life laugh or sport."[2] It may have been then that he was led by the Spirit to know the things that are freely given us of God.[3] We have no proof that he was converted at an earlier period, but rather the opposite. He writes, "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."[4] And again, "I had stood sure, if in my youth I had borrowed Christ for my bottom."[5] The clouds returned after the rain; family trials, and other similar dealings of Providence, combined to form his character as a man of God and as a pastor.
[2] Letter ccxxiv.
[3] 1 Cor. ii. 12.
[4] Letter clxxvii.
[5] Letter ccxli.
In 1627 he was settled at Anwoth,[6] a parish situated in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, on the river Fleet, near the Solway. The church stood in a wide hollow, or valley, at the foot of the Boreland Hill. Embosomed in wood, with neither the smoke nor the noise of a village near, it must always have been a romantic spot--the very ideal of a country church, set down to cherish rural godliness. Though at this period Episcopacy had been obtruded upon Scotland, and many faithful ministers were suffering on account of their resistance to its ceremonies and services, yet he appears to have been allowed to enter on his charge without any compliance being demanded, and "without giving any engagement to the bishop." He began his ministry with the text, John ix. 39. The same Lord that would not let Paul and Timothy preach in Asia,[7] nor in Bithynia, and yet sent to the one region the beloved John,[8] and to the other the scarcely less beloved Peter,[9] in this instance prevented John Livingstone going to Anwoth, which the patron had designed, and sent Rutherford instead. This was the more remarkable, because Livingstone was sent to Ancrum, the parish that borders on Nisbet, while he who was by birth related to that place was despatched to another spot. This is the Lord's doing. Ministers must not choose according to the flesh.
[6] See notice of the topography at Letter cxcviii. It is a mile and a half from the modern Gatehouse of Fleet, a clean, English-looking village.
[7] Acts xvi. 6, 7.
[8] Rev. i. 11.
[9] 1 Pet. i. 1.
During the first years of his labours here, the sore illness of his wife was a bitter grief to him. Her distress was very severe. He writes of it: "She is sore tormented night and day.--My life is bitter unto me.--She sleeps none, and cries as a woman travailing in birth; my life was never so wearisome."[10] She continued in this state for no less than a year and a month, ere she died. Besides all this, his two children had been taken from him. Such was the discipline by which he was trained for the duties of a pastor, and by which a shepherd's heart of true sympathy was imparted to him.
[10] Letter xviii.
The parish of Anwoth had no large village near the church. The people were scattered over a hilly district, and were quite a rural flock. But their shepherd knew that the Chief Shepherd counted them worth caring for; he was not one who thought that his learning and talents would be ill spent if laid out in seeking to save souls, obscure and unknown. See him setting out to visit! He has just laid aside one of his learned folios, to go forth among his flock. See him passing along yonder field, and climbing that hill on his way to some cottage, his "quick eyes" occasionally glancing on the objects around, but his "face upward" for the most part, as if he were gazing into heaven. He has time to visit, for he rises at three in the morning, and at that early hour meets his God in prayer and meditation, and has space for study besides. He takes occasional days for catechising. He never fails to be found at the sick-beds of his people. Men said of him, "He is _always_ praying, _always_ preaching, _always_ visiting the sick, _always_ catechising, _always_ writing and studying." He was known to fall asleep at night talking of Christ, and even to speak of Him during his sleep. Indeed, himself speaks of his dreams being of Christ.[11]
[11] Letter cclxxxvi.