Samuel Rutherford

Samuel Rutherford

Samuel Rutherford (1600? – 1661) 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.

Writings

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." His argument against "Rex Lex" was based on Deuteronomy 17, and it supported the rule by law rather than rule by men, based on such concepts as the separation of powers and the covenant, a precursor to the social contract. It laid the foundation for later political philosophers such as Thomas Hobbes and John Locke and thus for modern political systems such as that of the United States. After the English Restoration, the authorities burned Lex, Rex and cited the author for high treason, which his death prevented from taking effect.

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.

See also

• Covenanters
• Andrew Bonar who edited Rutherford's Letters for publication in 1863
• Rutherford Institute, a conservative civil-liberties organization named for Rutherford and inspired by "Lex, Rex."

References

• Cook, Faith (ed), Grace in Winter: Rutherford in Verse, (1996), ISBN 0-85151-555-X
• Coffey, John, Politics, Religion and the British Revolutions: The Mind of Samuel Rutherford, (1997), ISBN 0-521-58172-9
• This article incorporates public domain text from: Cousin, John William (1910). A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature. London, J. M. Dent & sons; New York, E. P. Dutton.

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Samuel Rutherford

• Lex, Rex in its entirety (HTML)
• A short biography and selected writings
• Selected writings
• A Free Disputation Against Pretended Liberty of Conscience by Rutherford
• Samuel Rutherford by Alexander Whyte at Project Gutenberg
• Christ Above All, a collection of works by and about Rutherford and other Second Reformation leaders
• Lex, Rex, in its entirety (PDF download)
• Rutherford's Letters, in its entirety (PDF download)
• The Last and Heavenly Speeches, and Glorious Departure of John Viscount Kenmure (generally attributed to Rutherford), in its entirety (PDF download)