Samuel Rutherford is among the most loved authors of the Puritan period: his letters, written largely to members of his congregation at Anwoth in Galloway, Scotland are still available, having never been out of print since 1664. C H Spurgeon said of those letters, Hold off the Bible, such a book the world never saw. But there was even more to this man who loved the Lord Jesus Christ so much: he was one of the Scottish delegates to the Westminster Assembly that produced the 1649 Confession of Faith, and was also a major theologian in his own right. Richard Hannula has produced a very readable and accessible biography of this man. If you need an introductory biography to Rutherford this is the one; if you are already a lover of this godly man, you will be delighted by this careful and lucid account.

Edward Donnelly (Principal, Reformed Theological College, Belfast, Northern Ireland and author of Heaven and Hell and Peter, Eyewitness of His Majesty) says:

“This superb summary of Samuel Rutherford’s life and ministry in 17th century Scotland teaches us fascinatingly about the past in order to challenge and encourage us towards service of the Lord in the present. He was a gifted theologian and writer, a university lecturer, involved crucially in church affairs in Scotland and in the Westminster Assembly. Yet what he preferred was preaching in the countryside to a small congregation of ordinary people and giving warm pastoral advice to those in need. What comes across most clearly in these pages is his intense devotion to Jesus Christ – leaping out to us in many memorable quotations. Richard Hannula, in this delightfully simple yet profound account, encourages us to learn from Rutherford’s example how to live for our Lord. As he once asked in a sermon: ‘Should you not then give your best things to Christ? For He gave the best things He had for you’.“

Richard Hannula lives in Tacoma, Washington, USA, where he serves as the principal of Covenant High School and is an elder in a Presbyterian Church of America congregation. He is the author of Trial and Triumph: Stories from Church History.