- Home
- Speakers
- Samuel Rutherford
- Lxviii. To A Christian Brother, On The Death Of His Daughter
Samuel Rutherford
Samuel Rutherford (1600–March 29, 1661) was a Scottish Presbyterian preacher, theologian, and author, celebrated for his profound spiritual writings and steadfast faith during a turbulent era. Born near Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Scotland, to a prosperous farmer, little is known of his early life, though he likely attended Jedburgh Grammar School. He enrolled at the University of Edinburgh in 1617, earning an M.A. in 1621, and briefly served as a regent of Humanity before resigning in 1626 amid a personal scandal (possibly an indiscretion before his marriage). Ordained in 1627, he became minister of Anwoth, Kirkcudbrightshire, where his eloquent preaching and pastoral care earned him a devoted following, despite his initial reluctance to enter the ministry. Rutherford’s career was marked by conflict with the Stuart monarchy’s episcopal policies. Exiled to Aberdeen in 1636 for his nonconformist writings, like Exercitationes Apologeticae Pro Divina Gratia, he wrote many of his famous Letters—over 300 spiritual correspondences showcasing his mystical devotion to Christ. Returning to Anwoth in 1638, he later joined the Westminster Assembly in 1643 as a Scottish commissioner, contributing to the Westminster Confession. Appointed professor of divinity at St. Andrews in 1649, he resisted Cromwell’s Commonwealth and faced charges of treason in 1661 for opposing the Restoration’s episcopal revival, dying before trial. Married twice—first to Eupham Hamilton (d. 1630), with one surviving daughter, and later to Jean M‘Math, with seven children (only two outliving him)—Rutherford’s works, including Lex, Rex (1644), shaped Presbyterian theology and resistance to tyranny, cementing his legacy as a “prince of preachers.”
Download
Topic
Sermon Summary
Samuel Rutherford delivers a comforting sermon to a grieving family, assuring them of the hope of resurrection for their departed daughter. He encourages them to find solace in the belief that those who have passed away in Jesus will be brought back by God. Rutherford reminds them that their daughter is now in the presence of God, experiencing the glory of heaven, and that it is a blessing for her to be with the Lord. He emphasizes the eternal perspective of life and the assurance that their prayers for her have been answered through her sinless glorifying of God.
Lxviii. to a Christian Brother, on the Death of His Daughter
REVEREND AND BELOVED IN THE LORD, -- It may be that I have been too long silent, but I hope that ye will not impute it to forgetfulness of you. As I have heard of the death of your daughter with heaviness of mind on your behalf, so am I much comforted that she has evidenced to yourself and other witnesses the hope of the resurrection of the dead. As sown corn is not lost (for there is more hope of that which is sown than of that which is eaten) (I Cor. 15.42, 43), so also is it in the resurrection of the dead: the body 'is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory'. I hope that ye wait for the crop and harvest; 'for if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so also them which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with him.' Then they are not lost who are gathered into that congregation of the first-born, and the general assembly of the saints. Though we cannot outrun nor overtake them that are gone before, yet we shall quickly follow them: and the difference is, that she has the advantage of some months or years of the crown, before you and her mother. And we do not take it ill, if our children outrun us in the life of grace; why then are we sad, if they outstrip us in the attainment of the life of glory? It would seem, that there is more reason to grieve that children live behind us, than that they are glorified and die before. All the difference is in some poor hungry accidents of time, less or more, sooner or later. So the godly child, though young, died a hundred years old; and you could not now have bestowed her better, though the choice was Christ's, not yours. The King and Prince of ages can keep them better than you can do. While she was alive, you could intrust her to Christ, and recommend her to His keeping: now, by an after-faith, you have resigned her unto Him, in whose bosom do sleep all that are dead in the Lord: you would have lent her to glorify the Lord upon earth, and He has borrowed her, with promise to restore her again, to be an organ of the immediate glorifying of himself in heaven. Sinless glorifying of God is better than sinful glorifying of Him. And sure your prayers concerning her are fulfilled. If the fountain be the love of God, as I hope it is, ye are enriched with losses. You know all I can say better, before I was in Christ, than I can express it. Grace be with you. LONDON, Jan. 6, 1646
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download
Samuel Rutherford (1600–March 29, 1661) was a Scottish Presbyterian preacher, theologian, and author, celebrated for his profound spiritual writings and steadfast faith during a turbulent era. Born near Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Scotland, to a prosperous farmer, little is known of his early life, though he likely attended Jedburgh Grammar School. He enrolled at the University of Edinburgh in 1617, earning an M.A. in 1621, and briefly served as a regent of Humanity before resigning in 1626 amid a personal scandal (possibly an indiscretion before his marriage). Ordained in 1627, he became minister of Anwoth, Kirkcudbrightshire, where his eloquent preaching and pastoral care earned him a devoted following, despite his initial reluctance to enter the ministry. Rutherford’s career was marked by conflict with the Stuart monarchy’s episcopal policies. Exiled to Aberdeen in 1636 for his nonconformist writings, like Exercitationes Apologeticae Pro Divina Gratia, he wrote many of his famous Letters—over 300 spiritual correspondences showcasing his mystical devotion to Christ. Returning to Anwoth in 1638, he later joined the Westminster Assembly in 1643 as a Scottish commissioner, contributing to the Westminster Confession. Appointed professor of divinity at St. Andrews in 1649, he resisted Cromwell’s Commonwealth and faced charges of treason in 1661 for opposing the Restoration’s episcopal revival, dying before trial. Married twice—first to Eupham Hamilton (d. 1630), with one surviving daughter, and later to Jean M‘Math, with seven children (only two outliving him)—Rutherford’s works, including Lex, Rex (1644), shaped Presbyterian theology and resistance to tyranny, cementing his legacy as a “prince of preachers.”