Letters of Samuel Rutherford: (Third Edition)Rutherford, Samuel
Religion
Letters of Samuel Rutherford: (Third Edition)
Rutherford, Samuel
Rutherford, Samuel, 1600?-1661 -- Correspondence
[ROBERT DOUGLAS, one of the ablest and most respected ministers
of the Church of Scotland in his day, was the illegitimate son of
Mr. Douglas, who was the son of Sir G. Douglas, Governor of
Lochleven Castle. (Wodrow's "Analecta," iv. 226.) Having finished
his preparations for the ministry, he was ordained to be chaplain
for the forces that served under the celebrated Gustavus of
Sweden. It is said that, in one of Gustavus' engagements,
surveying the battle from an eminence, and observing something
wrong in the left wing of the army which threatened to prove
disastrous, he either personally or by a messenger acquainted the
commanding officer with the circumstance, and that this
information led to victory. When he left the army, the Swedish
monarch parted with him reluctantly, saying, "There is a man who,
for wisdom and prudence, might be a counsellor to any king in
Europe. He might be a moderator to any assembly in the world; and
he might be a general to conduct any army, for his skill in
military affairs." (_Ibid._ iv. 221.) During this period, he
committed to memory the greater part of the Bible, having almost
no other book to read. Returning to his own country, he was
admitted colleague to Mr. James Simson, minister of Kirkcaldy, in
1630. Thence he was translated to Edinburgh in 1641. For a time
he was deceived by the duplicity of James Sharp, but at last he
detected his real character; and when the traitor (shortly before
he went up to London to be consecrated Archbishop) happened to
meet with him, and addressed him as "Brother," Mr. Douglas,
disgusted at his hypocrisy, exclaimed, "Brother! no more brother.
James, if my conscience had been of the make of yours, I could
have been Bishop of St. Andrews sooner than you." In 1669 he was
admitted indulged minister at Pencaitland, where he died at an
advanced age in 1674, and was buried in Edinburgh. (Wodrow's
"History" and "Analecta.")]
(GREATNESS OF CHRIST'S LOVE REVEALED TO THOSE WHO SUFFER FOR HIM.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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