Rutherford, Samuel (c. 1600–1661)

English cleric. He was one of the commissioners of the Church of Scotland to the Westminster Assembly of 1643. In 1651 he was appointed rector of the University of St Andrews. He joined those who condemned the treaty with Charles II as sinful, and was deprived of his offices. His reputation rests chiefly upon his Letters, first published in 1664.

Rutherford was born in Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Scotland. He graduated from Edinburgh University in 1621, and was in 1623 appointed regent of humanity, but was deprived of his office in 1626 and became pastor of Anwoth, Galloway, Scotland. In 1636 he published a treatise against Arminianism, for which he was summoned before the High Commission in Edinburgh, Scotland, and forbidden to exercise his ministry. He returned to Anwoth in 1638 and was made professor of divinity at St Mary's College, St Andrews, the same year.