Part 5

His letters have long been famous among the godly. The present edition of them has several things to recommend it. 1. The Letters are chronologically arranged. 2. They have biographical notices prefixed to a large number of them. Most of these are from the pen of the Rev. James Anderson. The present editor has added, here and there, topographical notes that seemed to have some interest, most of them gleaned on the spot. The explanatory notes in the edition by the Rev. C. Thomson, 1836, have often been consulted with much advantage. 3. There are contents prefixed to each Letter, describing generally what are the main subjects of each. 4. _There are some new letters inserted in this collection; and there is a facsimile of an unpublished letter directed to the Provost of Edinburgh_, at the time when there was an attempt made to call Rutherford to that city. The letter, which is preserved in the Records of the Edinburgh Town Council, entreats them to drop the matter. It is written in a very small hand, as was usual with him, and the seal on it has the armorial bearing of the Rutherford family.

[Illustration: RUTHERFORD'S MONUMENT ON BORELAND HILL.]

If it be asked how it came about that these letters should have been at first printed in an order entirely unchronological, the explanation is simple: The first edition appeared in 1664, and in it there were only two hundred and eighty-four of his letters gathered and published; but many being edified thereby, an edition soon appeared with sixty-eight more letters appended. All these seem to have been printed very much in the order in which they came to hand, and the additional sixty-eight, more especially, disturbed all arrangement. The collector was Mr. M'Ward,[56] who, as a student, being much beloved by Rutherford, went to the Westminster Assembly with him as his amanuensis or secretary. He was afterwards successor to Andrew Gray in Glasgow, and finally minister in Rotterdam. He gave them to the public with an enthusiastic recommendation, under the title, "Joshua Redivivus;[57] published for the use of all the people of God, but more particularly for those who are now, or afterwards may be, put to suffering for Christ and His cause; by a well-wisher to the work and people of God. John xvi. 2; 2 Thessal. i. 6." The edition was in duodecimo, and was printed at Rotterdam. Not only were the Letters first published in Holland, but also, in 1674, there appeared a Dutch translation of them at Flushing.

[56] In "Lamont's Diary," April 1650, we read of "Mr. Robert Makeward, sometime servant (_i.e._ secretary) to Mr. Samuel Rutherford, minister of St. Andrews."

[57] Why "_Joshua_"? Did he think of the faithful witnessing in Joshua xxiv.? Or is the reference to Joshua as one of the spies? _See_ Letter cxviii.

It will be noticed, in reading the Letters as they stand chronologically, that at times the pen of the ready writer ran on with amazing rapidity. He has written many in one day when his heart was overflowing. It was easy to write when the Lord was pouring on him the unction that teacheth all things. He would have written still more, but he had heard that people looked up to him and overpraised his Letters. During his confinement at Aberdeen, he wrote about two hundred and twenty of these letters.

There are a few distasteful expressions in these epistolary effusions, the sparks of a fancy that sought to appropriate everything to spiritual purposes; but as to extravagance in the thoughts conveyed, there is none. An old Memoir of Richard Cameron, the martyr, mentions at the close that it had become a fashion among "profane preachers and expectants" to say of these Letters, "They are fit only for old wives." Dr. Love, on the other hand, protests, "The haughty contempt of that book which is in the heart of many will be ground for condemnation when the Lord cometh to make inquisition after such things" (Letter xiv.). The extravagance in sentiment alleged against them by some is just that of Paul, when he spoke of knowing "the height and depth, length and breadth," of the love of Christ; or that of Solomon, when the Holy Ghost inspired him to write "The Song of Songs." Rather would we say of these Letters, what Livingstone in a letter says of John Welsh's dying words, "O for a sweet fill of this fanatic humour!" In modern days, Richard Cecil has said of Rutherford, "He is one of my classics; he is a real original;" and, in older times, Richard Baxter, some of whose theological leanings might have prejudiced him, if anything could, said of his Letters, "Hold off the Bible, such a book the world never saw." They were long ago translated into Dutch, and of late years they have been translated into German. Both in these, and in his other writings, we see sufficient proof that had he cultivated literature as a pursuit, he might have stood high in the admiration of men.[58]

[58] Even in his controversial works, sparks of the same poetic fire fly out when opportunity occurs. In his Treatise "De Divina Providentiâ," the following paragraph occurs, extolling the glory of Godhead wisdom. "Comparentur cum illa increata sapientia Dei Patris umbratiles scintillulæ creatæ gloriolæ quotquot nominis celebritate inclaruerunt. Delirat _Plato_. Mentitur _Aristoteles_. _Cicero_ balbutit, hæsitat, nescit Latine loqui. _Demosthenes_ mutus et elinguis obstupescit; virtutis viam ignorat _Seneca_; nihil canit _Homerus_; male canit _Virgilius!_ Accedant ad Christum qui virtutis gloria fulgent! _Aristides_ virtutem mentitur. _Fabius_ cespitat, a via justitiæ deviat. _Socrates_ ne hoc quidem scit, se nihil scire. _Cato_ levis et futilis est; _Solon_ est mundi et voluptatum servus et mancipium, non legislator. _Pythagoras_ nec sophos, nec philosophus est. _Bias_ nec mundi nec inanis gloriæ contemptor. _Alexander Macedo_ ignavus est," &c. Another work bears this title: "Exercitationes Apologeticæ pro Divinâ Gratiâ, studio et industria Samuelis Rhætorfortis, Anwetensis, in Gallovidiâ, Scotiæ provinciâ Pastoris." The preface, or dedication, to _Gordon of Kenmure_, is very characteristic, ending thus: "Non enim ignoras in hac valle miseriarum minime sistendum, neque tentorium figendum; ad æternitatem ipsam (quod vere magnum nomen est & ineffabile) te vocari; crescere iter, decrescere diem, omnia alia aliena, tempus tantum nostrum esse, si modo nostrum est." In this preface he calls himself "_Pastor Anwetensis_," the old spelling of Anwoth being _Anweth_.

His correspondents were chiefly persons residing either in Galloway, where Anwoth was, or in Ayrshire; for these two counties at that time were rich in godly men of some standing.

His pen suggests often, by a few strokes, very much that is profound and impressive. There is something not easily forgotten in the words used to express the Church's indestructibleness when he says, "The bush has been burning these five thousand years, and _no man yet saw the ashes of that fire_" (Letter cccxvii.). How much truth is conveyed in that saying, "Losses for Christ are but goods given out in bank in Christ's hand." There is an ingenious use of Scripture that often delights the reader; as when he speaks of "The corn on the house-tops that never got the husbandman's prayer," or of "Him that counteth the basons and knives of His house (Ezra i. 9, 10), and bringeth them back safe to His second temple" (Letter cccxxxiii.).

It is a curious fact that only in Letter cccxxv., does he speak of the Holy Spirit, though elsewhere (see "Life of Grace") very full are his statements of the Spirit's work. The truth is, a man full of the Holy Ghost is full of Christ and testifies to Him.

These letters will ever be precious to--

1. _All who are sensible of their own, and the Church's decay and corruptions._--The wound and the cure are therein so fully opened out: self is exposed, specially _spiritual self_. He will tell you, "There is as much need to watch over grace, as to watch over sin." He will show you God in Christ, to fill up the place usurped by self. The subtleties of sin, idols, snares, temptations, self-deceptions, are dragged into view from time to time. And what is better still, the cords of Christ are twined round the roots of these bitter plants, that they may be plucked up.

Nor is it otherwise in regard to corruption in public, and in the Church. We do not mean merely the open corruption of error, but also the secret "grey hairs" of decay. Hear him cry, "There is universal deadness on all that fear God. O where are the sometime quickening breathings and influences from heaven that have refreshed His hidden ones!" And then he laments, in the name of the saints, "We are half satisfied with our witheredness; nor have we as much of his strain who doth eight times breathe out that suit (Psalm cxix.), Quicken me!" "We live far from the well, and complain but dryly of our dryness."

2. _All who delight in the Surety's imputed righteousness._--If thoroughly aware of the body of sin in ourselves we cannot but feel that we need a _person_ in our stead--the person of the God-man in the room of our guilty person. "To us a Son is given;" not salvation only, but a Saviour. "He gave _Himself_ for _us_."

These letters are ever leading us to the Surety and His righteousness. The eye never gets time to rest long on anything apart from Him and His righteousness. We are shown the deluge-waters undried up, in order to lead us into the ark again: "I had fainted, had not want and penury chased me to the storehouse of all."

3. _All who rejoice in the Gospel of free grace._--Lord Kenmure having said to him, "Sin causeth me to be jealous of His love to such a man as I have been," he replied, "Be jealous of yourself, my Lord, but not of Jesus Christ." In his "Trial and Triumph of Faith" he remarks, "As holy walking is a duty coming from us, it is no ground of true peace. Believers often seek in themselves what they should seek in Christ." It is to the like effect he says in one of his letters, "Your heart is not the compass that Christ saileth by,"--turning away his friend from looking inward, to look upon the heart of Jesus. And this is his meaning, when he thus lays the whole burden of salvation on the Lord, and leaves nothing for us but acceptance, "Take ease to thyself, and let Him bear all."[59] Then, pointing us to the risen Saviour as our pledge of complete redemption, "Faith may dance, because Christ singeth;"[60] "Faith _apprehendeth pardon_, but never payeth a penny for it."[61] On his death-bed he said to his friends, "I disclaim all that ever God made me will or do, and I look upon it as defiled and imperfect." And so in his Letters he will admit of no addition, or intermixture of other things, "The Gospel is like a small hair that hath no breadth, and will not cleave in two."[62] He exhorts to _Assurance_ as being the way to be humbled very low before God: "Complaining is but a humble backbiting and traducing of Christ's new work in the soul." "Make meikle of assurance, for it keepeth your anchor fixed."[63] He warns us, in his "Trial and Triumph of Faith," "not to be too desirous of keen awakenings to chase us to Christ. Let Christ tutor me as he thinketh good. He has seven eyes: I have but one, and that too dim." In a similar strain he writes:--"The law shall never be my doomster, by Christ's grace; I shall find a sure enough doom in the Gospel to humble and cast me down. _There cannot be a more humble soul than a believer. It is no pride in a drowning man to catch hold of a rock._"[64] How much truth there is here! Naaman never was humble in any degree, until he felt himself _completely healed_ of his scaly leprosy; but truly he was humbled and humble then. And what one word is there that suggests so many humbling thoughts as that word "_grace_"?

[59] Letter clxxxii.

[60] Letter clxxxiii.

[61] Letter clxxxii.

[62] Letter cclxxix.

[63] Letter cclxxxviii.

[64] Letter ccxxx.

4. _All who seek to grow in holiness._--The Holy Ghost delights to show us the glorious Godhead, in the face of Jesus. And this is a very frequent theme in these Letters. "Take Christ for sanctification, as well as justification," is often his theme. And in him we see a man who seems to have fought for _holiness_ as unceasingly and as eagerly as other men seek for _pardon and peace_. In him "_Holiness to the Lord_" seems written on every affection of the heart, and on every fresh-springing thought.

Fellowship with the living God is a distinguishing feature in the holiness given by the Holy Ghost; we get "access by one Spirit to the Father through Him."[65] Rutherford could sometimes say, "I have been so near Him that I have said, 'I take instruments that this is the Lord.'"[66] And he could from experience declare, "I dare avouch, the saints know not the length and largeness of the sweet Earnest, and of the sweet green sheaves before the harvest, that might be had on this side of the water, _if we should take more pains_."[67] "I am every way in your case, as hard-hearted and dead as any man, but yet I speak to Christ through my sleep."[68] All this is from the pen of a man who was a metaphysician, a controversialist, a leader in the church, and learned in ancient and scholastic lore. Why are there not such gracious, as well as great men now?

[65] Ephes. ii. 18.

[66] Letter xcix.

[67] Letter ccii.

[68] Letter cclxxxvi.

5. _All afflicted persons._--Here he had the very "tongue of the learned, to speak a word in season to him that was weary." And with what tender sympathy does he speak, leading the mourner so gently to the heart of Jesus! He knew the heart of a stranger, for he had been a stranger. "Let no man after me slander Christ for His cross."[69] Yes, says he, His most loved are often His most tried: "The lintel-stone and pillars of His New Jerusalem suffer more knocks of God's hammer and tools than the common side-wall stones."[70] Even as to reproach and calumny, he declares, "I love Christ's worst reproaches."

[69] Letter cvii.

[70] Letter cii.

It was to Hugh M'Kail, uncle of the youthful martyr, that he penned the words, "Some have written me that I am possibly too joyful of the cross; but my joy overleapeth the cross--it is bounded and terminated on Christ."[71] And there it was he found a well of comfort never dry.

[71] Letter ccvi.

6. _All who love the Person of Christ._--We have too often been satisfied with speculative truth and abstract doctrine. On the one hand, the orthodox have too often rested in the statements of our Catechisms and Confessions; and, on the other, the "Election-doubters" (as Bunyan would have called them) have pressed their favourite dogma, that Christ died for all men, as if mere assent to a proposition could save the soul. Rutherford places the truth before us in a more accurate, and also more savoury way, full of life and warmth. The Person of Him who gave Himself for His church is held up in all its attractiveness. With him, it is ever the Person as much as the work done; or rather, never the one apart from the other. Like Paul, he would fain know _Him_, as well as the power of His resurrection.[72]

[72] Phil. iii. 10.

Once, when Lord Kenmure asked him, "What will Christ be like when He cometh?" his reply was, "_All lovely_." And this is everywhere the favourite theme with him. At times he tells of His love. "His love surroundeth and surchargeth me."[73] "If His love was not in heaven, I should be unwilling to go thither."[74] Often he checks his pen to tell of _Christ Himself_, "Welcome, welcome, sweet, sweet cross of Christ;"--then correcting his language, "Welcome, fair, lovely, _royal King, with Thine own cross_."[75] "O if I could doat as much upon _Himself_ as I do upon His love."[76] "I fear I make more of His love than of _Himself_."[77] How startling yet how true, is this remark, "I see that in communion with Christ we may make more gods than one,"[78]--meaning that we may be tempted to make the enjoyment itself our god. It was his habitual aim to pass through privileges, joys, even fellowship, to God Himself: "I have casten this work upon Christ, to get me _Himself_."[79] "I would be farther in upon Christ than at His joys; in, where love and mercy lodgeth; beside His heart."[80] "He who sitteth on the throne is His lone a sufficient heaven."[81] "Sure I am He is the far best half of heaven."[82]

[73] Letter civ.

[74] Letter civ.

[75] Letter lxi.

[76] Letter clx.

[77] Letter clxxix.

[78] Letter clxviii.

[79] Letter clxxxvii.

[80] Letter cclxxxvi.

[81] Letter ccclii.

[82] Letter cclxxix.

In a word, such was his soul's view of the living Person, that he writes, "Holiness is not _Christ_, nor the blossoms and flowers of the tree of life, nor the tree itself."[83] He had found out the true fountain-head, and would direct all Zion's travellers thither. And let a man try this; let the Holy Spirit lead a man to this _Person_;--and surely his experience will be, "None ever came up dry from David's well."

[83] Letter cccxxxvi.

7. _All who love that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God our Saviour._--The more we love the Person of Christ, the more ought we to love His appearing; and the more we cherish both feelings, the holier shall we become. Rutherford abounds in aspirations for that day; he is one who "looks for and hastens unto the coming of the day of God!" While in exile at Aberdeen in 1637, he writes, "O when will we meet! O how long is it to the dawning of the marriage day! O sweet Jesus, take wide steps! O my Lord, come over mountains at one stride! O my Beloved, flee as a roe or young hart upon the fountains of separation." Now and then he utters the expression of an intense desire for the restoration of Israel to their Lord, and the fulness of the Gentiles; but far oftener his desires go forth to his Lord Himself. "O fairest among the sons of men, why stayest Thou so long away? O heavens, move fast! O time, run, run, and hasten the marriage day!" To Lady Kenmure his words are, "The Lord hath told you what you should be doing till He come. 'Wait and hasten,' saith Peter, 'for the coming of the Lord.' Sigh and long for the dawning of that morning, and the breaking of that day, of the coming of the Son of Man, when the shadows shall flee away. Wait with the wearied night-watch for the breaking of the eastern sky." Those saints who feel most keenly the world's enmity, and the Church's imperfection, are those who will most fervently love their Lord's appearing. It was thus with Daniel on the banks of Ulai, and with John in Patmos; and Samuel Rutherford's most intense aspirations for that day are breathed out in Aberdeen.

His description of himself on one occasion is, "A man often borne down and hungry, and waiting for the marriage supper of the Lamb."[84] He is now gone to the "mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense;" and there he no doubt still wonders at the unopened, unsearchable treasures of Christ. But O for his insatiable desires Christward! O for ten such men in Scotland to stand in the gap!--men who all day long find nothing but Christ to rest in, whose very sleep is a pursuing after Christ in dreams, and who intensely desire to "awake with His likeness."

[84] Letter lxiii.

LIST OF HIS WORKS.

1. _Exercitationes Apologeticæ pro Divina Gratia._ Amstelodami, 12mo, 1636. Franekeræ, 1651.

2. _A Peaceable and Temperate Plea for Paul's Presbytery in Scotland._ London, 4to, 1642.

3. _A Sermon before the House of Commons, on_ Daniel vi. 26. London, 4to, 1644.

4. _A Sermon before the House of Lords, on_ Luke vii. 22; Mark iv. 38; Matt. viii. 26. London, 4to, 1645.

5. _"Lex Rex:" The Law and the Prince._ London, 4to, 1644. In Fullarton's _Scottish Nation_, 1862, mention is made of another work which is in reality the same as this; on _Civil Polity_. London, 4to, 1657. It is not, however, a separate work, but merely one of the editions of the well-known _Lex Rex_--the edition of 1657, which has the following title:--_Lex Rex; a Treatise of Civil Polity; being a Resolution of Forty-three Questions concerning Prerogative, Right, and Privilege, in reference to the Supreme Prince and People_. The change in the title was a device of the printer, in order to elude the Government, who sought to suppress the book.

6. _The Due Right of Presbyteries._ London, 4to, 1644.

7. _The Trial and Triumph of Faith._ London, 4to, 1645.

8. _The Divine Right of Church Government and Excommunication._ London, 4to, 1646. Appended to this is _A Dispute touching Scandal and Christian Liberty_.

9. _Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself._ London, 4to, 1647.

10. _A Survey of the Spiritual Antichrist._ London, 1648. To which is appended, _A Modest Survey of the Secrets of Antinomianism_.

11. _A Free Disputation against Pretended Liberty of Conscience._ London, 4to, 1649.

12. _The Last and Heavenly Speeches of John Gordon, Viscount Kenmure._ Edinburgh, 4to, 1649.

13. _Disputatio Scholastica de Divina Providentia._ Edinburgh, 4to, 1651.

14. _The Covenant of Life Opened._ Edinburgh, 4to, 1655.

15. _A Survey of Mr. Hooker's Church Discipline; or, A Survey of the Survey of that Summe of Discipline penned by Mr. Thomas Hooker._ London, 4to, 1658.

16. _Influences of the Life of Grace._ The last work published in his lifetime. London, 4to, 1659. The original title page adds:--"_A Practical Treatise concerning the way, manner, and means of having and improving spiritual dispositions and quickening influences from Christ, the Resurrection and the Life._"

POSTHUMOUS.

17. _Joshua Redivivus; or, Mr. Rutherford's Letters._ First Edition, 12mo, 1664. No printer's name and no place mentioned.

18. _Examen Arminianismi._ Ultrajecti (Utrecht), 12mo, 1668.

19. _A Testimony left by Mr. S. Rutherford to the Work of Reformation in Great Britain and Ireland before his death._ Date uncertain.

20. _Twelve Communion Sermons._ Glasgow, 1876. This collection includes _Christ's Napkin_; and Song ii. 14-17, _Christ and the Dove's Heavenly Salutation_. These have internal evidence in their favour, viz. the language and general strain of thought. Add to these _The Lamb's Marriage_, Rev. xix. 7; and another on Song ii. 1-8 appended to a second edition, 1877, with the title, "Fourteen Communion Sermons," 1877.

21. _The Cruel Watchmen. The Door of Salvation Opened._ Edinburgh, 1735. Song v. 7, 8, 9, 10. These two are doubtful; at all events, very imperfect, as usually printed. The old edition of _The Cruel Watchmen_ is good.

22. There is a _Treatise on Prayer; The Power and Prevalency of Truth and Prayer evidenced, in a Practical Discourse upon_ Matt. ix. 27-31. Printed in the year 1713. It is a small duodecimo of 111 pp., and has this note appended: "The rest of this Discourse cannot be found, it being above fifty years since the author died."

An old _Catalogue of the most Vendible Books_, in 1658, gives as one of his works, _A Rationale on the Book of Common Prayer_, 8vo. But this is a mistake; Antony Sparrow wrote the book entitled, _The Rationale, or Practical Exposition of the Book of Common Prayer_.