20 February 1636 A.D. Laud the Archgoat of Canterbury Exiles Samuel Rutherford for Publishing; Later a Westminster Divine
20
February 1636 A.D. Laud the
Archgoat of Canterbury Exiles Samuel Rutherford for Publishing; Later a Westminster Divine
Graves,
Dan. “Rutherford Exiled for Publishing.”
Christianity.com. May 2007.
http://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1601-1700/rutherford-exiled-for-publishing-11630092.html. Accessed 16 Jul 2014.
Not many pastors rise at 3 A.M. to be sure they
have sufficient time for God and their people. Samuel Rutherford was one who
did. Thus it came as a great blow to him when he was compelled to leave the
folk he loved.
Rutherford had published an Apology of
Divine Grace against the
heresy of righteousness based on human works. This work offended the
government. On this day, February 20, 1636,
Archbishop Laud, who controlled the established churches of Britain, exiled
Rutherford to Aberdeen. He forbade him to preach anywhere in Britain.
It might seem Rutherford could not
be blamed if he slipped into depression. The years had not been kind to him. In
1630, after barely five years of marriage, his wife died following a painful
illness of thirteen months. Their two children also died, and Samuel himself
suffered a debilitating fever for three months. Now he was in exile, excluded
from the work he cherished most.
But rather than become depressed,
he wrote encouraging letters to his friends and his church home. These are full
of wise and pithy sayings: "Duties are ours, and events are the
Lord's." Or, "It is not for us to set an hourglass to the Creator of
time."
The hundreds of letters he wrote
in exile became a classic. Full of encouragement and loving devotion to Christ,
they showed that Rutherford had an intimate communion with the Lord and was not
afraid to talk about it. He always wrote about Christ and the wondrous glory of
His Person. Charles Haddon Spurgeon later said, "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
man."
In 1638 Rutherford was restored to
his church. His many sufferings gave him even greater sympathy for the
suffering in his flock.
During the 1640s, Rutherford
represented the church of Scotland in the Westminster Assembly in London. He
helped author the Shorter Catechism, with its famous beginning, "What is
the chief end of man?"
Bibliography:
"Index to Samuel Rutherford." Fire and Ice:
Puritan and Reformed Writings.
(www.puritansermons.com/ruth/ruthindx.htm).
Loane, Marcus L. Makers of Religious Freedom in the Seventeenth
Century: Henderson, Rutherford, Bunyan, Baxter. Grand Rapids,
Eerdmans, 1961.
Rutherford, Samuel. A Selection from his Letters. Grand
Rapids, MI: Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
Rutherford, Samuel. Letters of Samuel Rutherford ,
with a sketch of his life and biographical notices of his correspondents,
by Andrew A. Bonar. Edinburgh, Oliphant, Anderson & Ferrier, c. 1891.
"Rutherford, Samuel." The Oxford
Dictionary of the Christian Church. Edited by F. L. Cross and E. A.
Livingstone. Oxford, 1997.
Whitehead, John. The Second American Revolution. Elgin,
Illinois: David C. Cook, 1982; especially pp. 28ff and 153ff.
Whyte, Alexander. Samuel Rutherford and Some of His
Correspondents. Edinburgh: Oliphant, Anderson and Ferrier, 1894.
Last updated May,
2007.
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