Samuel RUTHERFURD

Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae,
H Scott (1915) rev 1917, 1920,1926
vol 2 p 385 Anwoth, 1627: vol 7 p 418 Prin St Marys 1647

SAMUEL RUTHERFORD [RUTHERFURD],
adm. in 1627; app. Professor of Divinity in the Univ. of St Andrews 7th
Jan. 1639.
SAMUEL RUTHERFORD [more correctly RUTHERFURD], born at Nisbet (now part of
Crailing), Roxburghshire, about 1600. Nothing certain is known as to his
parentage, but he belonged to the Hunthill family (from whom Sir Walter
Scott was descended) and his father is believed to have been a farmer or
miller. A brother was schoolmaster of Kirkcudbright, and Reader there, and
another brother was an officer in the Dutch service; educated at Jedburgh
Grammar School and Univ. of Edinburgh; M.A. (1621); app. regent of
Humanity at Edinburgh in 1623; dem. that office in 1626, because of
immoral conduct with Euphame Hamilton afterwards his wife) (Minutes of
Edinburgh Toivn Council, 3rd Feb. 1626); adm. to Anwoth in 1627, probably
without Episcopal sanction. In 1630 he was summoned before the Court of
High Commission, but the charge of non- conformity was not persisted in.
Mainly for his publication of a work against Arminianism he was again
accused in 1636 by Bishop Sydserff, and after proceedings at Wigtown, was
cited before the Commission and prohibited, 27th July, from exercising
ministerial office, and ordered to reside in Aberdeen during the King; s
pleasure. During this period he wrote most of his well-known Letters. In
Feb. 1638 he returned to Anwoth and attended the Glasgow Assembly that
year as one of two Commissioners from his Presb. Shortly afterwards he was
elected one of the mins. of Edinburgh, but the Commission of Assembly
appointed him, in preference, Professor of Divinity at St Andrews, which
office he only accepted on condition that he should be allowed to act as
colleague with Robert Blair, one of the mins. of St Andrews, 7th Jan.
1639. He was a member of succeeding Assemblies and consistently supported
the Covenanting Party therein. In 1643 he was appointed one of the
Commissioners of the Church of Scotland to the Westminster Assembly and
preached several times before Parliament, remaining in London for four
years; app. to Principalship in 1647; was offered in 1648 a Divinity
Professorship at Harderwyck in Holland, in 1649 the Chair at Edinburgh,
and in 1651 he was twice elected to a Professorship at Utrecht, but all
these he declined. In 1643, 1644, 1650, and 1651 he was elected rector of
the Univ., and in 1650 on Charles II.’s visit to St Andrews, he made a
Latin speech to him on the duty of Kings, and in 1651 he joined the
Protesters. After the Restoration he was one of the first marked out for
persecution, his work Lex Rex was ordered by the Committee of Estates to
be burnt at the Crosses of Edinburgh and St Andrews, and he was deprived
of his office of Principal. Further, he was cited to appear before
Parliament on a charge of treason, but he died 29th March 1661 [the
date—20th—on his tombstone is an error].

One of the classical
figures of the Church of Scotland, his influence during his lifetime, as
scholar, preacher, and writer, was profound and wide, and after his death
his name received a popular canonisation which it retains to this day.
Some forty editions of his Letters have been reprinted (Bonar’s edition
contains 365), and innumerable anecdotes of his sayings and doings are
enshrined in, and constitute no inconsiderable part of the Scottish
tradition. Amonghis last words were: “Glory shines in Immanuel’s Land,” on
which Mrs Anne Ross Cousin founded her hymn,” The Sands of Time are
sinking.” He was buried in the churchyard of St Regulus. In 1842, a
massive granite obelisk to his memory was erected at
Anwoth, where the site of his manse Bush-o’-beild and “Rutherford’s Walk”
and ” Witnesses” are still pointed out. His church stands ruinous in the
churchyard. He marr.(1) 1626, Euphame Hamilton, who died June1630, and had
issue Marie, bapt. 14th April 1628: (2) 24th March1640, Jean M’Math,
buried in Greyfriars Churchyard 15th May 1675 [cont]15th May 1675, and had
issue Agnes (marr. William Chiesley, W.S.), died 29th
July 1694, and six others who predeceased him.