Skip to main content

William Guthrie

William Guthrie - Image from Banner of Truth
Posted at Banner of Truth:

William Guthrie, one of the holiest and ablest of the experimental divines of Scotland, was born at Pitforthy, Angus, the seat of his ancestors, in the year 1620. He was the eldest son of the family, and his superior genius was displayed in his early and successful attention to learning; but till his entrance into college life, he did not obtain that intimate and saving acquaintance with Divine truth which enabled him at once to stay his own soul upon God as the God of his salvation, and to prescribe most skilfully for the cases of spiritual disease that came under his notice. He felt himself greatly indebted for acquaintance with the way of holiness to the instructions of a near kinsman. This was his cousin, James Guthrie, then holding one of the chairs in the New College of St Andrews, and afterwards highly esteemed as the faithful minister of Stirling during the period of the Covenant, for his faithful adherence to which he obtained a martyr’s crown.

Samuel Rutherford, who became Professor of Divinity at St Andrews in 1639, took the guidance of William Guthrie’s theological studies, confirmed and cherished the principles of piety already implanted, and brought him, with his whole soul, to devote himself to the service of Christ. That he might not be entangled in the network of earthly concerns, he resigned his estate at Pitforthy to a younger brother, not engaged at that time in the prosecution of sacred studies. Thus trained in the schools of literature, and rendered familiar with religion both in theory and practice, William Guthrie was well fitted for usefulness as a preacher of the gospel. He was licensed, with the high approbation of the Presbytery, in August 1642.


See also:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Testimony of Thomas Stoddart Executed in Edinburgh’s Grassmarket on 12 August, 1685

Posted at Jardine's Book of Martyrs : Thomas Stoddart was executed in the Grassmarket on 12 August, 1685. Matthew Bryce , David Law and Gavin Russell were hanged alongside him. ‘Men, Brethren, And Fathers, Hearken,—I being to take my farewell of the world, I leave this my dying testimony, according to the form of the Christians of old; I having like the same ground for it that he had who used that word; that was Stephen; who was condemned, because he spoke blasphemous words against the law and the temple. So, because I will not adhere to, nor approve of their laws, which now have power in their hands, they condemned me to die, though they could not witness so much against me for speaking against them, and they never essayed to prove the sentence upon me, which now I shall study in a word to give you an account of. And first, I received my sentence of banishment, and then notwithstanding of that I was committed to the justices to abide the assize, and they passed upon me th

Scottish Covenanters Index

Editor's Note: I am pleasantly surprised to discover this index page for "Scottish Covenanters" at ancestry.com . I hope you will find it helpful. For Christ's Crown & Covenant, Angela Somers-Wittman Posted at ancestry: About Scottish Covenanters Index In the 17th century conflict arose between Church and State in Scotland. Those who remained steadfast in their Presbyterian beliefs and refused to take an oath to the king saying that he was the head of the church became known as Covenanters. They believed that Christ was the head of the church and were punished for this belief. Many were forced to pay the ultimate price for this by laying down their lives. The Royalists and Dragoons, who were seeking their lives, chased the Covenanters from glen to glen, especially in the Lowlands. If anyone was found hiding them, they suffered imprisonment and/or death as well. This punishment was not just reserved for the strong and healthy -- children and the eld

Scottish Covenanters: 'THE PRINCIPLES FOR WHICH THEY CONTENDED'

Posted at Log College Press: Reformed Presbyterian minister David McAllister’s Poets and Poetry of the Covenant is a worthy homage to the heroic faith of the Scottish Covenanters in verse, which we have highlighted on this blog previously, but its prose introduction should not be overlooked. It is a helpful overview of what the Covenanters stood for, and what inspired so many powerful poetic tributes. Let us briefly sketch the leading principles for which the heroes and martyrs of these songs of the Covenant contended: I. The supreme authority of God's Word in all the relations of human life. In the church, as one of their own number said, "they took their pattern, not from Rome, not even from Geneva, but from the blessed Word of God." They held that the state was bound to regulate all its affairs by the same law of ultimate authority. The Bible was to them a national as well as an ecclesiastical law-book. Kings and noblemen and lowlier citizens were all under its