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Home / Publications / Free Presbyterian Magazine / 1998 to 2003 / March 2003 / Samuel Rutherford – St Andrews and Westminster

Samuel Rutherford – St Andrews and Westminster

Removal to St Andrews. The year 1638 was memorable for the Church in Scotland, not least because the National Covenant was renewed, being signed in Edinburgh on February 28 with great solemnity and joy. During the previous year, the King had sought to mould the Church fully into an Episcopalian pattern by enforcing the Five Articles of Perth. This generated much popular opposition and stirred up the people to be resolute in their resistance to Arminianism, Popery and despotism. “The peculiarity of the struggle of 1638,” says Gilmour, “is that the Church then stood for the nation. Striving to secure her own spiritual independence, the Church really fought at the same time for the civil liberties of Scotland.” The King was constrained, or rather compelled, to allow a free General Assembly of the Church.

Samuel Rutherford had returned from Aberdeen to Anwoth after the National Covenant was renewed and was one of the commissioners to that famous Assembly, which met in Glasgow on November 21. The Assembly lost no time in re-establishing Presbyterianism and re-asserting the spiritual independence of the Church. That Assembly also considered the request of the town of St Andrews that Rutherford be appointed Professor of Divinity at St Mary’s College and referred it to a Commission of the Kirk. Rutherford was most reluctant to be moved from Anwoth for he could not bear the prospect of having more of the “dumb Sabbaths” he had to endure in Aberdeen. “I trust in God this Assembly will never take me from my pastoral charge,” he said, “for there is a woe unto me if I preach not the gospel, and I know not who can go betwixt me and that woe.”

To the dismay of his flock, the next year’s Assembly, on the recommendation of the Commission, did decide to move Rutherford to St Andrews. However, it also met his desire to continue preaching by making him a colleague of Robert Blair in the town pulpit. Rutherford was obliged to yield to the collective decision of his brethren, but his feelings are clear from what he wrote to Lady Kenmure: “My removal from my flock is so heavy to me that it maketh my life a burden to me, I had never such a longing for death. The Lord help and hold up sad clay.”

The Lord did indeed hear and help His servant. As Marcus Loane says, Rutherford “was henceforth to stand with the foremost men of the day in their efforts to guide the Church aright, and his hands were to help in replacing the crown on Christ’s brow in Scotland”. Although St Andrews University was “the oldest and most brilliant seat of learning in the kingdom”, it was far from being spiritually and morally healthy. M’Ward said that it “was the very nursery of all superstition in worship, and error in doctrine, and the sink of all profanity in conversation among the students”. But for the next 20 years Samuel Rutherford exercised a tremendous influence on the students, and thus on the future ministry of the Kirk. As Howie graphically puts it: “God did so signally second his servant’s indefatigable pains, both in teaching in the schools and in preaching in the congregation, that it became forthwith a Lebanon out of which were taken cedars for building the house of the Lord throughout the whole land”.

In 1640, after ten years as a widower, Samuel Rutherford married Jean McMath, a woman who was evidently fitted for such a husband. She was described as “a woman of great worth and piety”. One person who knew them both said, “I never knew any among men exceed him, nor any among women exceed her”. Before he went south to the Westminster Assembly, three children were born to them, but two of them died in infancy.

Rutherford’s work at the Westminster Assembly: After four years in St Andrews, Samuel Rutherford was given another enormous task – that of Scottish Commissioner (along with Alexander Henderson, Robert Baillie, George Gillespie and others) to the Westminster Assembly in London in 1643. Rutherford remained in the city for four years and during that time he not only took a prominent part in the Assembly’s debates on theology and Church polity but also preached before the Long Parliament and published five major books.

Rutherford took his wife and remaining child with him to London, and in 1645 another child – a daughter – was added to the family. But heavy sorrow became their lot again when the two children died. Marcus Loane notes: “There is a pathetic reference to this sorrow in one of his letters: ‘I had but two children, and both are dead since I came hither'”. More children were born in later years, but only one, their daughter Agnes, survived.

The influence which Rutherford and his Scottish colleagues exercised in the Westminister Assembly, says John Coffey, “was out of all proportion to their numbers”. J G Vos says, “The Westminster Assembly itself really belongs to English rather than to Scottish Church history, yet the Church of Scotland cooperated in the enterprise at the time, and the work of the Assembly has had far greater permanent effects in Scotland than in England. The chief doctrinal standards of all branches of Scottish Presbyterianism down to the present day were formulated by the Westminster Assembly of Divines.”

“Rutherford gave of his best in this Assembly,” says Gilmour; “his work has been described as ‘the supreme conscious effort’ of his life-time.” He deemed himself quite unworthy of the honour of being, as he put it, “a mason to lay the foundation for many generations, and to build the waste places of Zion”. “Mr Henderson, Mr Rutherford, and Mr Gillespie,” said Robert Baillie, their fellow Commissioner, “all three spoke exceedingly well, with arguments unanswerable.” It is said that Rutherford’s vast store of learning and his great ability in expressing himself “compelled men to hear him with the deepest respect”. In the debates on church order, government and authority, some of the most decisive contributions came from the Scottish Commissioners. “Had not God sent Mr Henderson, Mr Rutherford and Mr Gillespie among them,” wrote Baillie, “I see not that ever they could agree on any settled [church] government.” While Gillespie made one of the most memorable contributions to the debate, it was Rutherford who, of all the Scottish Commissioners, made the most lasting impression on the other members of the Assembly.

When Rutherford left London it was with the prayerful good wishes of the other Westminster divines sounding in his ears. The Assembly minutes for 9 November 1647, record that “Mr Rutherford took his leave of the Assembly. The Prolocutor, by order of the Assembly, in the name of the Assembly, gave him thanks for the great assistance he hath afforded to this Assembly in his constant attendance upon the debates of it”. He was the last of the Scottish Commissioners to leave, and when he did, the English Divines wrote to the Church of Scotland: “We can not but restore him with ample testimony of his learning, godliness, faithfulness and diligence, and we humbly pray the Father of spirits to increase the number of such burning and shining lights among you”.

During his four years at the Westminister Assembly, Rutherford, as we noted already, wrote five volumes, almost 600 pages long on average. These were: The Due Right of Presbyteries; Lex Rex, or, The Law and the Prince; The Trial and Triumph of Faith; The Divine Right of Church Government and Excommunication; and Christ Dying and Drawing Sinners to Himself. He also published two sermons of more than 60 pages each.

His renowned work, Lex Rex: When Rutherford’s Lex Rex came off the press, it caused a great stir in London and beyond. He wrote it in response to a 1644 work by John Maxwell, formerly Bishop of Ross, entitled, The Sacred and Royal Prerogative of Christian Kings, which defended absolute monarchy. The basic premise of Lex Rex is that the king is not above the law, but subject to it. Rutherford’s aim was to demonstrate that “all civil power is immediately from God in its root”, and that “power is a birthright of the people borrowed [by a ruler] from them”. In cases of gross oppression and unlimited prerogative, said Rutherford, parliament has an authority superior to the king. Therefore, in extreme circumstances, the people may reasonably and constitutionally resume that power which they had reposed in the hands of their sovereign.

Altogether, says Loane, “it provides us with a fine statement of the principles and policies of Puritan government. It was well-knit with a convincing argument and great dialectical ability, bound and clamped with the iron bands of proof from Scripture and a mass of syllogisms. . . . The king is the highest servant of the state, but is a servant always; absolute power would be both irrational and unnatural.”

Of course, these ideas were not new. John Macleod, in his book, Scottish Theology, points out that “the tradition of Scottish Reformed teaching in regard to the obedience that the people owed to the civil power was to the effect that the power of the king is restricted and that his authority has bounds within which it ought to be kept. . . . Of this teaching, the best-known document that there had been so far was Buchanan’s De jure regni apud Scotos” (On the Right of Kingship among the Scots).

An indication of the sensation caused by Rutherford’s book is found in a statement by Bishop Guthrie. Every member of the General Assembly, he said, “had in his hand that book lately published by Mr Samuel Rutherford, which was so idolized, that whereas Buchanan’s treatise was looked upon as an oracle, this coming forth, [Buchanan’s] was slighted as not anti-monarchical enough, and Rutherford’s Lex Rex only thought authentic”. “It is reported,” says Howie, “that when King Charles the First saw Lex Rex, he said it would scarcely ever get an answer; nor did it ever get any, except what the Parliament gave it in 1661, when they caused it to be burned at the cross in Edinburgh by the hands of the hangman.”

Rutherford’s fame spread far and wide. On his return to St Andrews from London in 1647 he was appointed Principal of St Mary’s College. Other universities offered him professorships, but he remained in St Andrews. The chair of Divinity at Harderwyck in the Netherlands was offered to him in 1648 but he declined it; and in 1649 he refused the chair of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh. Then in 1651 he twice declined an invitation to succeed Charles de Matius in the chair of Divinity at Utrecht. In that same year he became the Rector of St Andrews University

Endnotes:
1. Thedealt with Rutherford’s exile in Aberdeen, and his renowned letters.

This article is part 4 of a series

Return to Table of Contents for The Free Presbyterian Magazine – March 2003

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        • A View from the Outer Hebrides
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        • A Kingdom Where Order Reigns
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        • The Achreny Mission – 2. 1815 to 1843
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – part 4
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        • Obituary – John Beaton, Raasay
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        • Christ as Prophet
      • March 2003
        • What We Make It?
        • King Solomon’s Chariot
        • Samuel Rutherford – St Andrews and Westminster
        • Those Who Have Fled for Refuge – Part 4
        • The Parable of the Talents
        • The Kinsman
        • Scottish Church Initiative for Union
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • May 2003
        • A Powerful Voice
        • Notes and Comments
        • “Ye Shall Ask What Ye Will”- Part 2
        • Christianity – an Exclusive Religion – The Religion of the Bible
        • The Prodigal Son
        • The Study of Providence
        • Poor and Needy
        • John Piper and His Doctrine
        • African Missions
        • Protestant View
      • June 2003
        • No Sense of Need
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Call of Matthew
        • Christianity – an Exclusive Religion – The Christian Doctrine of God
        • The Sower
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – Part 1
        • Meditation Sanctifies
        • Mbuma Zending Meeting – 2003
        • Zimbabwe Ordinations and Inductions
        • Book Reviews
      • July 2003
        • Acceptable Worship
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Grace Glorified in Election
        • Christianity – an Exclusive Religion – Some Further Doctrines
        • The Pharisee and the Publican
        • Rabbi Duncan
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – Part 2
        • A Plea for Prayer
        • Continuing Repentance
        • Book Review: Christmas Evans, The Life and Times of the One-Eyed Preacher of Wales
      • January 2003
        • Thankfulness
        • The Lord God of Elijah
        • Samuel Rutherford – Fair Anwoth by the Solway – 1627 – 1636
        • Manna
        • All of Grace
        • Obituary – Mr Edward Arthur Christensen, Auckland
        • Obituary – Miss Isabel Murray, North Tolsta
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • February 2003
        • Christ’s Infinite Riches
        • Protestant View
        • Church Information
        • The Lord God of Elijah – Part 2
        • Samuel Rutherford – His King’s Palace in Aberdeen
        • The Privilege of Prayer
        • In Possession of the Promises
        • The Rich Man and Lazarus
        • Humiliation and Prayer
        • Book Reviews
        • Notes and Comments
        • Book Review – Sidelights on Bible Characters
        • Book Review – Authentic Christianity: Sermons on the Acts of the Apostles
      • December 2003
        • Nineteenth-Century Drift
        • A Prayer-Hearing God – Part 2
        • The Achreny Mission – 4. After the Disruption – Part 2
        • Meditation – Its Consequences
        • Visit to the Ukraine
        • Book Review – Letters from the South Seas, Margaret Paton
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • April 2003
        • The Promised Land
        • Church Information
        • “Ye Shall Ask What Ye Will”- Part 1
        • Samuel Rutherford – The Last Years
        • The Pearl of Great Price
        • Repentance
        • A Private Among the Padres
        • Damaging Doubts
        • The Prince – Defender of all Faiths
        • Protestant View
      • August 2003
        • What Kind of Faith?
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Head Stone of the Corner
        • The Vineyard
        • Mary and the Spiritual Mind
        • The Achreny Mission – 1. 1760 to 1815
        • Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Evidences of Saving Faith – Part 3
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Book Review – God’s Hymnbook for the Christian Church
      • September 2002
        • The Shepherd’s Reward
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Jubilee
        • The Early Christian Church – The Era of Conflict
        • Those Who Have Fled for Refuge – Part 2
        • The Beliver’s Sanctification
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Update
        • The New Archbishop of Canterbury
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        • Protestant View
      • October 2002
        • “My Counsel Shall Stand”
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        • The Early Christian Church – The Era of Consolidation
        • “Your Mercy”and the Jews’ Future
        • Springing Up After Many Days
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        • Eastern Europe News
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      • November 2002
        • Christ’s Spiritual Conquests
        • Church Information
        • The Call to the Water of Life – Part 2 (1) A Sermon by William Nixon Revelation 22:17. And the spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
        • The Right Way (1) Rev J S Sinclair
        • Obituary Mr Murdo Macleod, Elder, Stornoway
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        • Divine Compassion
        • Book Review – The Antichrist
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        • A Master in Israel
        • The Cleansing of the Leper
        • The Christian’s Life
        • The Puritans on Prayer
        • Advice on Preaching
        • The Great Draught of Fishes
        • Book Review – Church and State
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        • “Hear the Word of the Lord”
        • The Blessing of Asher
        • Thomas Cranmer – That God Might Be Truly Worshipped
        • Psalms or Hymns in Public Worship
        • Obituary – Reverend Donald Nicolson
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      • June 2002
        • “Another King, One Jesus”
        • Church Information
        • Pray Without Ceasing
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        • Inventing Religion
        • Princeton and Pelagianism
        • Among the Children
        • Hopes of Future Usefulness – A Letter of John Love
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      • January 2002
        • “Religion in its Purity”
        • Notes and Comments
        • Attaining a Knowledge of Our Sins
        • The Meat Offering
        • The Strength of Faith
        • Thomas Cranmer – Moving Towards a Reformation
        • The Extent of the Atonement
        • Rev John MacDonald (1925-2000) – Obituary
        • Book Review – God and Cosmos
        • Protestant View – Queen Invites Cardinal to Sandringham
      • July 2002
        • The Need for Opened Eyes
        • God’s Wrath Against Sin
        • The Puritans on Prayer – A Wondrous Mysterious Grace
        • Revival in Arran
        • Man’s Righteousness and God’s
        • Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Protestant View
      • February 2002
        • Offering up Our Desires to God
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Look unto Me and Be Ye Saved
        • Thomas Cranmer – The Man of Extreme Caution
        • The Power of the Gospel
        • The Goodness of God in Redemption
        • Obituary – Mrs Isabella Turner
        • Book Review – Galatians
        • Book Notices
        • Protestant View
      • December 2002
        • “A Zealous, Godly Preacher”
        • The Call to the Water of Life – Part 2
        • Samuel Rutherford – From Birth to New Birth
        • Those Who Have Fled for Refuge – part 3
        • Obituary – Mrs Annie MacIver, North Tolsta
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      • April 2002
        • “I am the Resurrection and the Life”
        • Coming to Christ – Part 1
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        • Obituary – Miss Margaret Sutherland
        • Book Review – The Hidden Pathway
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      • August 2002
        • Everything Devoted to God’s Service
        • Unity Among the Brethren
        • Those Who Have Feld for Refuge
        • The Early Christian Church – The Era of Conquest
        • Symptoms of Spiritual Death
        • Book Review – The King’s Daughters
        • African Mission News
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      • September 2001
        • Knowing God
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Path of the Just
        • Obituary – The late Miss Jean Nicolson
        • Obituary – The late Mrs Lexie MacLeod
        • Raasay Congregation – a Brief History
        • The Knowledge of Sin
        • Induction at Sengera
        • Book Review: The Source of the IRA/Sinn Fein
        • Protestant View
      • October 2001
        • Tragedy
        • “God Gave the Increase”
        • The Westminster Confession of Faith – It’s Usefulness for the Church
        • Desires for Glory
        • Calling a Minister
        • The Vatican Archives
        • A Visit to Singapore
        • Notes and Comments
      • November 2001
        • Scotland’s Preachers
        • Recent Inductions
        • The Rose of Sharon
        • The Westminster Confession of Faith – It’s Usefulness on the Personal Level – Intellectually
        • “Be Strong and of a Good Courage”
        • God’s Wonderful Goodness
        • “Withhold not Correction”
        • Obituary – The late Mr Donald Beaton, Elder, Auckland
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Obituary – The late Mr Donald Beaton, Elder, Auckland
      • May 2001
        • Sinking in Capernaum’s Doom
        • Book Review – Irish Worthies
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Goodwill of God
        • Keeping the Heart in Temptation
        • The Establishment Principle – Part 2
        • The Garden of Nuts
        • The Son of Man Lifted up
        • Obituary – The late John Angus MacLeod
        • A Deputy’s Visit to Africa – Kenya
        • Book Review – Faith and Justification
      • March 2001
        • “Just with God”
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Christ Set up from Everlasting
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ – Christ as Priest
        • W S Plumer- Part 2
        • Obituary – The late Rev Alexander McPherson, Perth
        • Pastoral Letter – Rev Alexander McPherson
        • Joseph MacKay
        • Book Review – Forerunner of the Great Awakening
      • June 2001
        • Blessedness
        • Church Information
        • Christ Coming for His people’s Help – Part 1
        • Who Belong to the Visible Church?
        • The Establishment Principle – Part 3
        • Religion in the Highlands After 1688 – Part 3
        • Raising Questions Against Darwinism
        • Eastern Europe News
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • July 2001
        • Cry Aloud Spare Not
        • Christ Coming for His people’s Help – Part 2
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ
        • Our African Missions – an Update
        • Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Spring Visit to Ukraine
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Report
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • January 2001
        • Looking Forward
        • Book Review – The Government of the Church
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Faith, Its Nature, Origin and Effects
        • Thomas Halyburton and How God May Be Known
        • The Divinity of Christ
        • Religion in the Highlands after 1688 – Part 1
        • Keep a good conscience
        • God’s True Family
        • What is the Object of Faith?
        • Communion in Singapore
      • February 2001
        • Calling the Sabbath a Delight
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • Christ Set up from Everlasting
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ – Christ as Prophet
        • Religion in the Highlands after 1688 – Part 2
        • Book Review – Daily Prayer and Praise by Henry Law
        • Psalm 122 – Henry Law
        • The enemies of the Christian
        • African Mission News
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        • Protestant View
        • African Mission News
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        • Book Review – Tell it to the Generation Following
        • The Westminster Confession of Faith – Usefulness on the Personal Level
        • The Impossibility of Neutrality
        • “Christian”Entertainment
        • Attaining a Knowledge of Our Sins
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        • A View From Zimbabwe
      • August 2001
        • “There They Preached the Gospel”
        • Protestant View
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        • Church Information
        • “He Will Bless Us”
        • Stevenson on the Offices of Christ
        • “He Delighteth in Mercy”
        • “The Voice of Christianity in Scotland”
        • Obituary – The late Mr Ian M MacLeod, Elder, Dingwall
        • Obituary – The late Mrs Catherine MacKenzie, Stornoway
        • Book Review – Southern Presbyterian Leaders 1683-1911
        • Book Review – The Westminster Confession of Faith, Milestone, Millstone or Manifesto?
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        • Sowing the Seed
        • The Duty of Nations to the Church
        • The Establishment Principle – Part 1
        • “The Finger of God”
        • Obituary – The late Miss Peggy Nicolson, Inverness
        • A Deputy’s Visit to Africa – Zimbabwe
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        • The Resurrection of Christ
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        • Reading the Scriptures Profitably
        • The believer is to put those sins… into the hands of Christ
        • The Puritans and the Ministry
        • Christ Glorifying God
        • Blessed Are They That Mourn
        • The Nature of Vital Piety (2)
        • Protestant View
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        • The Fear of God
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        • Reading the Scriptures Profitably (2)
        • He indeed is rich in grace whose graces are not hindered by his riches
        • The Puritans and the Ministry (2)
        • James Stewart
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        • Visits To Eastern Europe
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      • November 2000
        • “What Are They Among so Many?”
        • Vain Religion
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        • The Desired Haven
        • God may bear long with the wicked, but…
        • Thomas Halyburton
        • James Stewart (2)
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        • The Church of God From Age to Age
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        • The Solemn League and Covenant
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        • Obituary The late Mr Alasdair Gillies, M.A., Elder, Dingwall
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      • March 2000
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        • Princeton Theology – the Scottish Connection
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        • Princeton Theology – the Scottish Connection
        • Negotiations in London
        • Obituary
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        • The Divine Saviour
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        • The Late Roderick Macleod,
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        • Where Are We Now?
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        • Alexander Henderson
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        • The Nature of Vital Piety
        • The Puritans for Today
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      • April 2000
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        • Church Information
      • October 1999
        • Declaring All the Counsel of God
        • Church Information
        • God so Loved the World
        • The Rev. James S. Sinclair
        • The Glasgow Assembly
        • Calvin’s View of the Millennium
        • Book Review
        • Trinitarian Bible Society Annual General Meeting
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        • Notes and Comments
      • September 1999
        • Old Testament Types
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        • Christ Seeing of the Travail of His Soul
        • Alexander Stewart of Cromarty
        • The Intercession of Christ
        • Resolved to Abolish Episcopacy
        • “And the sun was darkened”
        • Book Review
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        • Notes and Comments
      • November 1999
        • Morality and Politics
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        • Sermon
        • Rev Alexander Morrison (1925-1999) – Obituary
        • The Charismatic Movement – The Gifts have Ceased
        • Casting down the Walls of Jericho
        • A Visit to Singapore
        • Book Review
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      • May 1999
        • “Upon this rock I will build my church”
        • The Blessed Poor
        • Rev Angus Mackay
        • Is Christ our High Priest?
        • Signs of Religious Declension
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      • March 1999
        • Heaven-provoking Legislation
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        • The Drawing Power of the Cross
        • The Alpha Course Examined
        • Teaching Christianity in Scottish Schools
        • The late Mrs Margaret Tallach, Glasgow
        • Letter by John Love, D.D.
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
      • June 1999
        • Made a Faithful Shepherd
        • Notes and Comments
        • How May Sanctification Be Attained?
        • Protestant View
        • Mbuma Zending Meeting Report
        • Address to Mbuma Zending Meeting
        • Spiritual Pride in Man
        • Church Information
        • Preaching the Unsearchable Riches of Christ
        • The Free Church and the World
      • January 1999
        • When the Enemy Shall Come in Like a Flood
        • Church Information
        • Let me see thy countenance
        • The Religion of the Highlands
        • Personal Creed and Resolutions
        • Book Review
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        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
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      • July 1999
        • The Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
        • The Pre-eminence of Christ
        • A Man Who Wished to Live Obscurely
        • The Nature of Saving Faith
        • The Light of the World
        • God is: therefore God is to be Worshipped
        • Book Review
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Synod
        • Protestant View
      • February 1999
        • The Purposes of the Lord’s Supper
        • The Trinitarian Bible Society – Appointments
        • The Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God
        • Holy Importunity in Prayer
        • A Heavenly Eternal Crown of Glory
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • African Mission News
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      • December 1999
        • The End of a Millennium
        • African Mission News
        • Church Information
        • Until the Day Break
        • The Charismatic Movement – The Gifts have Ceased
        • The Rev. Donald Macfarlane of Dingwall
        • The Pagan Origin of Christmas A Reminder
        • Ministers Prepared by Temptation
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
      • August 1999
        • The Advance of Rome under Hume
        • Notes and Comments
        • Eastern Europe Mission
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        • The Marks of a Time of Revival, and the Means of Bringing it About
        • The Free Church of Scotland General Assembly
        • Thy Kingdom Come
        • The National Covenant
        • Work of the Trinitarian Bible Society in 1998
        • Unsettled and Discouraged?
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
      • April 1999
        • The Observance of Easter
        • The Smitten Shepherd and His Flock
        • The Prince of Highland Preachers
        • The Inter-Faith Movement
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Church Information
      • September 1998
        • The Golden Key of Prayer
        • Church Information
        • Weighed in the Balances
        • Christ, the Way
        • Praying as Beggars
        • Book Reviews
        • Protestant View
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        • Our African Mission
        • Patrick Mzamo – A sketch of an African elder and lay-preacher
      • October 1998
        • The Westminster Assembly and Romanism
        • African Mission News
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        • Christ Liveth in me *
        • God’s Way of Bringing Sinners to Christ
        • The Effects of Television Violence
        • Sin and Sanctification
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
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        • Philemon Ndebele
      • November 1998
        • Faithfulness or Vilification
        • Church Information
        • The Best Security in Evil Times
        • Pentecostal Dialogue with Rome
        • The Prayers of the Aged
        • The Religion of the Highlands – The Persecution of a Highland Laird
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
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        • Eastern Europe Mission Work
      • May 1998
        • The Mode of Baptism – A Defence
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • A Vessel Meet for the Master’s Use
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        • Serving the Lord with Humility
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland on the Internet
        • Booklet Reviews
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Story of Mamlotshwa
      • March 1998
        • A Minister of God
        • “I will yet for this be inquired of”
        • African Mission News
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        • Godliness With Contentment
        • Protestant View
        • African Mission News
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • Private Prayer and Public Profession
        • Truth and Life
        • The Free Church, Psalms and Hymns
      • June 1998
        • Family Worship
        • Notes and Comments
        • Ma Ngwenya – Mother of the late Rev. B. B. Dube
        • Church Information
        • The Lord is Risen Indeed
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • The Pastoral Epistles
        • The Church of Scotland and the Bible
        • Mbuma-Zending Meeting – 1998
        • Three Characteristics of True Faith
        • Book Reviews
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        • Three Characteristics of True Faith
      • July 1998
        • The General Assemblies
        • Church Information
        • The Scriptural Warrant for Creedal Subscription
        • The Pastoral Epistles
        • The Trinitarian Bible Society Report
        • A Cambuslang Case of Conversion
        • Booklet Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland Synod
      • January 1998
        • Book Review
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        • Notes and Comments
        • MaHlabangana
        • Winter Visit to Eastern Europe
        • THE NEW YEAR
        • The Church Built and Kept by the Lord
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • The Fruits of the Declaratory Act In the Free Church of Scotland
        • Redeeming the Time
        • African Mission News
      • February 1998
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • Book Review
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • A Mission Day of Prayer
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        • Leaning Upon her Beloved
        • Brought Home to Heaven
        • Observing the Sabbath
        • Church Deputy’s Visit to North America
        • African Mission News
        • A Faithful Ambassador is Health
      • December 1998
        • When the Enemy Shall Come in Like a Flood
        • “My grace is sufficient for thee”
        • The People of the Great Faith
        • Sudden Conversions
        • A Good Soldier of Jesus Christ
        • “Give ye them to eat”
        • Protestant View
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      • August 1998
        • The General Assemblies
        • Sermon – The House of Many Mansions
        • Lessons From the Doctrine of Divine Justice
        • Book Notice
        • Protestant View
        • Notes and Comments
        • Paul Magaya – Lay Preacher in Shangani
        • Church Information
      • April 1998
        • Outlines of Lectures on the Bible
        • The Mode of Baptism – A Defence
        • Notes and Comments
        • Protestant View
        • The Manner of Coming to Christ
        • Book Notice
        • A Lily from the Ukraine
        • Eastern Europe Mission
        • Church Information
        • Called of God
        • Threats to our Religious Liberties
        • Mazwabo’s Amazing Transformation
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