Think What a Wicked Heart You Have

A selection from a letter by Rev. Benjamin Morgan Palmer to his oldest daughter, Sarah Francis, when she was 12 years old. He wanted her to have a good education but he also wanted to see her come to faith in Christ. The letter was written on June 29, 1857:

How often and fervently I pray that God would give you a new heart. Do you remember two years ago this very month when you were so ill, how alarmed you were; how you talked with me, and told me you were afraid to die because you felt that you were not ready? I hoped when you got well, that you would remember all this; and that you would be so grateful to God for sparing your life, as to give him your heart at once. But I was disappointed—you got well, and then forgot all these solemn things. I do not know how much you think about your soul, and whether you pray fervently for a new heart. But I am afraid you do not; and you are now two years older, and know more than you did then… Dear, dear Fanny, will you not think about these things—think what a wicked heart you have—that unless it is changed, you cannot go to heaven—that you may die any moment, and be lost forever? Think, too, how ready Christ is to save you, if you will only go to him—and then delay not—go at once to him, my daughter, and be saved through his grace.

The Life and Letters of Benjamin Morgan Palmer, by Thomas Cary Johnson, first published in 1906, published by the Banner of Truth Trust in 1987, pp. 226-27.