Flee From Idolatry

An extract from a letter by Ruth Bryan (1805-1860) to a woman she had become acquainted with and to whom she wrote letters to till her death. Her letters were most profitable to the recipient and to many others who have read them since. Miss Bryan always sounded an encouraging note to her correspondents. The encouraging note in this letter included a word about consecrating children to the Lord and not letting them become idols. The letter was written May, 1854.

The Lord bless you, and be not silent to you, and keep you from idols. May your children be kept in their proper place, blessed of the Lord, held in the Lord, and consecrated to the Lord. You will not wish to gain for them the admiration of the world, because you would shudder that they should hereafter be embraced by it, and embosomed in it. A mother in this vicinity lately lost a precious daughter of sixteen. As she stood over the coffin, she said, 'There lies my beautiful girl. Oh, I have been proud of her!' and, turning to a minister who stood beside, 'Do you think, sir, the Lord has taken her away on my account, because I was proud of her? I have been too proud of her.' I do not know the minister's reply, but that which we are to learn from the mother's deep anguish is very plain—'Flee from idolatry' [1 Cor. 10:14].

The Marvelous Riches of Savoring Christ: Letters of Ruth Bryan, with a Preface by the Rev. A. Moody Stuart, Reformation Heritage Books, 2005, p. 55.