Mowat was one of seven leading ministers in the west of Scotland whom
Parliament after the Restoration brought before them to demand their
agreement to the establishment of episcopacy, thinking their agreement
would influence others. On their refusal they were imprisoned.
REVEREND AND DEAR BROTHER, -- I am refreshed with your letters. I would
take all well at my Lord's hands that He has done, if I knew that I
could do my Lord any service in my suffering; suppose my Lord would
make a stop-hole of me, to fill a hole in the wall of His house, or a
pinning in Zion's new work. For any place of trust in my Lord's house,
as steward, or chamberlain, or the like, surely I think myself (my very
dear brother, I speak not by any proud figure or traps) unworthy of it;
nay, I am not worthy to stand behind the door. When I hear that the men
of God are at work, and speaking in the name of our Lord Jesus, I think
myself but an outcast, or outlaw, chased from the city to lie on the
hills, and live amongst the rocks and out-fields. Oh that I might but
stand in Christ's out-house, or hold a candle in any low vault of His
house! But I know this is but the vapors that arise out of a quarrelous
and unbelieving heart to darken the wisdom of God; and your fault is
just mine, that I cannot believe my Lord's bare and naked word. I must
either have an apple to play me with, and shake hands with Christ, and
have seal, caution, and witness to His word, or else I count myself
loose; howbeit, I have the word and faith of a King! Oh, I am made of
unbelief, and cannot swim but where my feet may touch the ground!
But surely, brother, ye shall have my advice (howbeit, alas! I cannot
follow it myself, not to contend with the honest and faithful Lord of
the house; for, go He or come He, He is aye gracious in His departure.
There are grace, and mercy, and loving-kindness upon Christ's back
parts; and when He goes away, the proportion of His face, the image of
that fair Sun that stayeth in eyes, senses, and heart, after He is
gone, leaveth a mass of love behind it in the heart. The sound of His
knock at the door of His Beloved, after He is gone and passed, leaveth
a share of joy and sorrow both. So we have something to feed upon till
He return: and He is more loved in His departure, and after He is gone,
than before, as the day in the declining of the sun, and towards the
evening, is often most desired.
And as for Christ's cross, I never received evil of it, but what was
of mine own making: when I miscooked Christ's physic, no marvel that it
hurt me. For since it was on Christ's back, it has always a sweet
smell, and these 1600 years it keepeth the smell of Christ.
I believe that our Lord once again will water with His dew the
withered hill of Mount Zion in Scotland. Remember our Covenant.
Your excuse for advice to me is needless. Alas! Many sit beside
light, as sick folk beside meat, and cannot make use of it. Grace be
with you.
Your brother in Christ.
ABERDEEN, Sept. 7, 1637
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Rutherford was also known for his spiritual and devotional works, such as Christ Dying and drawing Sinners to Himself and his Letters. Concerning his Letters, Charles Spurgeon wrote: "When we are dead and gone let the world know that Spurgeon held Rutherford's Letters to be the nearest thing to inspiration which can be found in all the writings of mere men". Published versions of the Letters contain 365 letters and fit well with reading one per day.
Rutherford was a strong supporter of the divine right of Presbytery, the principle that the Bible calls for Presbyterian church government. Among his polemical works are Due Right of Presbyteries (1644), Lex, Rex (1644), and Free Disputation against Pretended Liberty of Conscience.
Samuel Rutherford was a Scottish Presbyterian theologian and author. He was one of the Scottish Commissioners to the Westminster Assembly.
Born in the village of Nisbet, Roxburghshire, Rutherford was educated at Edinburgh University, where he became in 1623 Regent of Humanity (Professor of Latin). In 1627 he was settled as minister of Anwoth in Galloway, from where he was banished to Aberdeen for nonconformity. His patron in Galloway was John Gordon, 1st Viscount of Kenmure. On the re-establishment of Presbytery in 1638 he was made Professor of Divinity at St. Andrews, and in 1651 Rector of St. Mary's College there. At the Restoration he was deprived of all his offices.
Rutherford's political book Lex, Rex (meaning "the law [and] the king" or "the law [is] king") presented a theory of limited government and constitutionalism. It was an explicit refutation of the doctrine of "Rex Lex" or "the king is the law." Rutherford was also known for his spiritual and devotional works, such as Christ Dying and drawing Sinners to Himself and his Letters.