[498] From a copy among the Wodrow MSS. vol. lix. folio, No. 5. There
is probably an error as to the date of this letter. From an allusion
in it to a vacancy in one of the professorships of St. Mary's or the
New College of St. Andrews, explained in the following note, it
appears to have been written in or subsequent to the year 1657.
(_THE STATE OF THE LAND._)
MUCH HONOURED,--I bless the Lord for His good hand, who declares that
His sovereign presence is alike in England and all places, and sways
hearts as pleases Him. The book of holy providence is good marginal
notes on His revealed will, in His word, and speaks much to us, could
we read and understand what He writes, both in the one and the other.
You see He is not wanting to you; houses and lands are His. The Lord
led Abraham from his own country to a land he knew not. It would
appear He hath not opened His mind to you for leaving of this land,
though I be much afraid of a sick state, a sleeping ministry, a
covenant-breaking land, a number of dead professors; all these are
grey hairs here and there on Ephraim. Sure our ruin is sure if God let
us alone; we shall rot in our lies. But what am I to determine of
conclusions of mercy revealed to none, and thoughts of peace in the
heart of the Lord towards an undeserving land? I should be glad to see
you, and shall desire He may lead you in the matter of your residence
whom ye desire to be your Guide and Counsellor. For me, I am, as to my
body, most weak and under daily summons; but I sit still and read not
the summons: as to my spirit, much out of court, because out of
communion with the Lord, and far from what sometime hath been;
deadness, security, unbelief, and distance from God in the use of
means, prevail more than ever.[499] I shall desire your help for
getting a third Professor. I am in this college between wind and
weather. Dr. Colville[500] is for Mr. James Sharp;[501] I am for Mr.
William Rait, but know not the event.[502] My wife remembers her
respects to you. Grace be with you.
[499] Rutherford was now Principal of St. Mary's or the New College of
St. Andrews, a situation to which he was elevated about the close of
the year 1647; and a vacancy having occurred in the Professorship of
Ecclesiastical History, by the translation of Mr. James Wood to be
Principal of St. Salvator's or the Old College of St. Andrews, in
1657, Rutherford was very desirous of seeing that situation filled by
a suitable person.
[500] Dr. Alexander Colville, who had been Professor of Divinity in
the Protestant University of Sedan, was inducted one of the masters in
the New College of St. Andrews in 1642. He conformed to Prelacy in
1662; became Principal of that College upon Rutherford's death; and
died in 1666.
[501] Afterwards Archbishop of St. Andrews.
[502] Rutherford was strenuous in his exertions to secure the
appointment of Mr. Rait, but without success. His colleague, Dr.
Colville, succeeded in obtaining the appointment of Sharp to the
vacant office, into which he was inducted on the 22nd of February
1661, about a month before Rutherford's death. Mr. Rait afterwards
became minister of Dundee.
Yours, at all obedience, in God,