Samuel Rutherford - Bitesized Biography by Richard Hannula

I did not know much about Samuel Rutherford before reading this 'bite-sized'  biography by Richard Hannula.  I associated his name with the song "The Sands of Time are Sinking" and thought that he was the author.  The content of the song made me desire to know more about Mr. Rutherford. It turns out that the song was written by Anne Ross Cousin, but it was inspired by Mr. Rutherford's writings and sayings, so my curiosity stayed. Samuel Rutherford was a Scottish pastor who lived in the 1600s who underwent persecution along with other Christians under the reigns of Charles the I and II.   He was married twice(his first wife died) and had nine children altogether, only one survived him.  One of the things I admired about God's working in him was his deep love for his congregation, even when banished from them he was concerned with their welfare, and kept up a correspondence with them to keep encouraging them in their lives as Christians. 

Though very focused upon the life that we will have with Christ "beyond the veil", Mr. Rutherford seemed to morph the worldly kingdoms/governments of this life set up by man(Christian or not)with the Eternal Kingdom that Christ will set up Himself.  And the author seemed to agree to some extent as he mentions at one point that Rutherford, "unwisely linked the cause of the covenanter army with the cause of Christ".  Rutherford and his colleagues seemed intent upon having all of the Scottish people governed not just physically, but spiritually as well, even to the point of coercion, "Rutherford urged Parliament to impose the true Christian faith in a unified national church…".  He appears to have defended 'Christian armies', fighting for their rights when a King uses His power wrongly.  Ironically, in his defense of Covenanter resistance to King Charles he compared the King to Nero, the same wicked Caesar who was probably in power when the Apostle Paul wrote, "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God."(Rom 13:1 NASB)  Paul did not call for the Christians to raise up an army in defense of the faith, nor did any of the Apostles when there was persecution from the government or from religious leaders.  Also, another problem I had, and this is going to sound really odd, Mr. Rutherford seemed so focused upon Christ that God the Son almost seems to eclipse God the Father in his eyes.  But that might just be because of the quotes that were selected for this book.  

All in all this was a nice look at the life of Rutherford, and, as with all biographies of Christians, it makes one amazed and comforted by the amazing grace of God in using such flawed instruments as mankind. The book is quite small, and truly is 'bite-sized' enabling you to quickly learn about Rutherford and to get a taste for whether or not you'd like to read his works, or a larger biography like the ones listed at the end of this book. 

I'll end  with one of my favorite quotes from the book by Rutherford, "Look beyond time…they have but children's wit who are delighted with shadows and diluted with feathers flying in the air."

 

Many thanks to the folks at Cross Focused Reviews for sending me a free review copy of this book to review(My review did not have to be favorable.)

 

This book may be found on Amazon