This month we go to the town of St. Andrews, and to the words of a dying man. This is not a young man, neither is he suffering a death such as Patrick Hamilton suffered. But for all that, in every respect this is a martyr's death, even through the head of the dying man rests on a clean white pillow.

The date is March 30th, in the year 1661, and the man is Samuel Rutherford. Just a few short weeks before, Samuel Rutherford had occupied the Professor of Theology's Chair in the University of St. Andrews, but now he is a dying man who has been denied even the right to DIE within the walls of his old College, let alone live there.

What had brought about such a tragic change of circumstances? Samuel Rutherford lived in a day when the affairs of the Church of Christ in Scotland were irregular and uncertain. The Presbyterian form of worship had been established by an act of Parliament in 1592, and James V1 of Scotland had promised to adhere to the Church as "the sincerest Kirk in the world". When he became James 1st of England, however, he leaned hard towards the Episcopal form of worship and government, and before his death, saw the Scottish Church ruled by Bishops. The jurisdiction of these bishops was far from universally acknowledged, however, and Samuel Rutherford was inducted to the flock at Anwoth, on the Solway Firth, as it says … "Without any engagement to the Bishop."

This was all that Rutherford desired. God had called him to a people and to that people he would minister the Word of God for as long as the law of the land permitted him. His zeal and industry among the folk at Anwoth are almost incredible. He was accustomed to rise at 3 a.m. every morning for devotion and study, and then give the whole afternoon and evening over to "being among his people". It was said of him: "He is ALWAYS praying, ALWAYS preaching, ALWAYS visiting the sick, ALWAYS catechising, ALWAYS writing and studying". Nor was this labour carried out under a cloudless sky; far from it; for during his time at Anwoth, Rutherford nursed his sick bride of five years for thirteen months before her untimely death, and saw his little ones taken from him. But in all his trials, Rutherford had the comfort of his call to serve Christ. "Dear brethren", he exhorted his fellow ministers, "do all for Christ; pray for Christ; preach for Christ; feed the flock committed to your charge for Christ". This was Rutherford's whole purpose.

"I came to Irvine", said an English merchant on business in Scotland, "and heard a well favoured proper old man (David Dickson), with a long beard, and that man showed me all my heart. Then I went to St. Andrews, where I heard a sweet majestic-looking man (R. Blair), and he showed me the majesty of God. After him I heard a little, fair man (Rutherford), and he showed me the loveliness of Christ".

After nine years, however, the labours of Rutherford at Anwoth were brought to a halt. Charles 1st now sat on the throne of England, and under the instigation of Archbishop Laud, the rule of bishop was now beginning to come into its own in Scotland. Soon Rutherford was summoned before the Court to answer a charge of Nonconformity. The charge was easily established and Samuel Rutherford was deprived of his ministerial office and sentenced to be "confined during the King's pleasure, within the town of Aberdeen". Rutherford was heartbroken, and longed for his beloved Anwoth,

"Fair Anwoth by the Solway, To me thou still art dear; E'en from the verge of heaven I drop for thee a tear; Oh, if one soul from Anwoth Meet me at God's right hand; My heaven will be two heavens In Immanuel's land".

In Aberdeen he was forbidden to enter a pulpit … "My dumb Sabbaths", he wrote, "are like a stone tied to a bird's foot". But preach he would for all that; not only by word of mouth wherever he could find ready ears, but by pen as well. His letters flowed from his hand all over Scotland. "Joshua Redivivus" was the title given to his letters when they were published three years after his death. And this was without a doubt the way he say himself. Just as Joshua of old had given a true report of the state of the land, so he was "Joshua Redivivus", Joshua restored to life and giving a true picture of the cause of Christ in Scotland.

For eighteen moths Rutherford was confined to Aberdeen, but soon a wind of change began to blow, and by 1639, he found himself appointed Professor of Theology at St. Andrews. He was among the Westminster Divines who drew up the Confession of Faith in 1646, and as he returned to St. Andrews, his reputation as a scholar and preacher reached its greatest height. But dark days were looming for all non-conformists as Charles 11 was restored to the throne of England. Soon the heather was going to be red with the blood of the covenanters, and Rutherford would gladly have reddened any hillside with his own, had not the Lord something else in store for him. He was summoned to appear before Parliament, but God was already summoning him to a far, far better rest than he had ever known. It was voted that he "should not die in the University", but Lord Burleigh reminded all those who had made the vote … "Ye cannot vote him out of heaven".

Of this glorious fact Rutherford himself was assured … "This night", he told those who had gathered around his bed; "this night will close the door and fasten my anchor within the veil, and I shall go away in a sleep by five o'clock in the morning". And so it was. At that very hour he entered into his rest with his dying words falling from his lips …

"Glory, glory dwelleth in Immanuel's Land".


It was Mrs A. R. Cousin who took Rutherford's dying words and around wove the words of his letters into one of the Church's loveliest hymns:-

"The sands of time are sinking, The dawn of heaven breaks; The summer morn I've sighed for, The fair, sweet morn awakes; Dark, dark hath been the midnight, But dayspring is at hand, AND GLORY, GLORY DWELLETH IN IMMANUEL'S LAND".

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This Page Title – This Month Long Ago — Samuel Rutherford The Wicket Gate Magazine "A Continuing Witness". Internet Edition number 41 – placed on line March 2003 Wicket Gate contact address – Mr Cliff Westcombe cw@wicketgate.co.uk If you wish to be notified when each new edition goes on line please send an e-mail to the above address Magazine web address – www.wicketgate.co.uk Labelled with ICRA