Preface
Preface
Concerning Rutherford’s writings, James Walker observes that “all will admit there is something about them sui generis.”1 Initially, I was encouraged to read some of his treatises such as Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself by the enthusiasm of fellow academics at the University of Stirling who were entranced by his inimitable prose. Andrew Bonar refers to “the sparks of a fancy that sought to appropriate everything to spiritual purposes.”2 Rutherford moves easily between homely comparisons and Scholastic references, all of which need some explanation for the modern reader. It is commonly agreed that Rutherford is not only a uniquely powerful writer with a style marked by “tropical luxuriance” but also a writer with especially unique vocabulary and phraseology.3 Many of the words that Rutherford uses are also now unfamiliar even to those who are well acquainted with the Scots language as it is now spoken. The language of the selections in this volume that have been drawn from Rutherford’s writings has also been updated a little in order to make it more accessible for the general reader. I am indebted in this to the painstaking assistance of Annette Gysen of Reformation Heritage Books. My hope is that this type of presentation will encourage many to attempt the less-traveled paths of the other spiritually rich writings of the “little, fair man” of whom the English merchant, having heard him preach, could say that he “showed me the loveliness of Christ.”
—Matthew Vogan
Inverness
November 2010
Note of interest: The image used at the end of most selections is an illustration of St. Mary’s College, St. Andrews, where Rutherford served as a professor of theology from 1639 until the end of his life.
1. James Walker, Theology and Theologians of Scotland 1560–1750 (2nd ed., 1888; repr., Edinburgh, 1982), 8. The term sui generis means “of its own kind,” that is, with characteristics unique to itself.
2. Andrew Bonar, “Sketch of Samuel Rutherford,” in Letters of Samuel Rutherford, ed. Andrew Bonar (Edinburgh, 1891), 24.
3. Alexander Smellie, Men of the Covenant (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1975), 67.