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Such was their conception of the blessed nation whose God is the Lord. Samuel Rutherford was a devoted minister and faithful Covenanter. He had charge of a congregation at Anwoth, from whence he was driven by persecution. For a time he was compelled to abide in Aberdeen. Here he wrote the famous "Letters" that sparkle like rubies, with precious thoughts.
For all the pleasure we miss we shall abide, and for ever abide, in the rapture of heaven. All through Rutherford's lifetime preaching was his chiefest enjoyment and his most exquisite delight. He was a born preacher, and his enjoyment of preaching was correspondingly great. Even when he was removed from Anwoth to St.
And Rutherford, looking back to Anwoth from Aberdeen, was not sure that he had got even so much as one really earnest purchaser brought near to God. And thus it was that, while at Anwoth, he was so much in that market himself.
Rusco Castle was too near Anwoth Kirk and Anwoth Manse, and its owner had had Samuel Rutherford too long for his minister and his near neighbour to make it possible for him to be 'ane cold covenanter quha did not do his dewtie in everything committed to his charge thankfullie and willinglie. We find Gordon of Rusco giving good reasons indeed, as he thought, why he should not be sent out of the Stewartry on the service of the covenant, but the war committee 'expelled his resounes' and instantly commanded his services.
But it is surely a great lesson to us all a great encouragement and a great rebuke to find two such saintly men as the ministers of Anwoth and Ochiltree reassuring and heartening one another about the poor man's market as they do in their letters to one another.
'I go to Anwoth so often, she said, 'because, though other ministers show me the majesty of God and the plague of my own heart, Mr.
The tough old pagan did not know how much he loved the little fair man with the high-set voice and the unearthly smile till he had lost him; and if force of arms could have kept Rutherford in Anwoth, Cardoness would soon have buckled on his sword. He was ashamed to be seen reading the letters that came to the Castle from Aberdeen; he denied having read them even after he had them all by heart.
Which, again, is just another way of putting what the Psalmist says of himself in his humble and happy boast: 'I have more understanding than all my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep Thy precepts. The first complaint that came to Anwoth from Kilmacolm was expressed in the quaint and graphic language natural to that day.
After reading the Cardoness correspondence, we do not wonder to find the stout old chieftain heading the hard-fought battles which the people of Anwoth made both against Edinburgh and St. Andrews, when those cities and colleges attempted to take away their minister. Rough old Cardoness had a warm place in his heart for Samuel Rutherford.
For when Rutherford's two great troubles came upon him, first his dismissal from the Latin regency in Edinburgh University, and then his banishment from his pulpit at Anwoth, John Fleming came forward on both occasions with money, and with letters, and with visits that were even better than money, to the penniless and friendless professor and exiled pastor.
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