Samuel Rutherford

Samuel Rutherford (1600? – 1661) was a Scottish Presbyterian theologian and author. He was one of the Scottish Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly.

Born in the village of Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Rutherford was educated at Edinburgh University, where he became in 1623 Regent of Humanity (Professor of Latin). In 1627 he was settled as minister of Anwoth in Galloway, from where he was banished to Aberdeen for nonconformity. His patron in Galloway was John Gordon, 1st Viscount of Kenmure. On the re-establishment of Presbytery in 1638 he was made Professor of Divinity at St. Andrews, and in 1651 Principal of St. Mary's College there. At the Restoration he was deprived of all his offices.

Writings

Rutherford's political book "Lex, Rex" (meaning "the law [and] the king" or "the law [is] king") presented a theory of limited government and constitutionalism. It was an explicit refutation of the doctrine of "Rex Lex" or "the king is the law." His argument against "Rex Lex" was based on Deuteronomy
* [http://www.portagepub.com/products/caa/index.html Christ Above All] , a collection of works by and about Rutherford and other Second Reformation leaders
* [http://www.portagepub.com/products/caa/sr-lexrex17.html "Lex, Rex"] , in its entirety (PDF download)
* [http://www.portagepub.com/products/caa/sr-letters.html Rutherford's "Letters"] , in its entirety (PDF download)