Total Despair Unless

A portion of a letter by Francis Schaffer to a friend who had spent time with his family at L’Abri in Switzerland, a retreat center for Christian study and growth. Schaffer’s friend was struggling with depression. He himself experienced depression at times and knew by experience, not just in theory, the pain of ups and downs in mind and heart. His suggestion to her is to keep in mind the objective work of Christ on the cross. The letter was written January 4, 1971.

We all have our times of being strong and our times of being weak. The swings of the pendulum cover different ground for different ones of us, and the swings of the pendulum are of greater intensity for one of God’s children than another. But the swings are there for all of us—for weakness and unhappiness and also for sin. It is for this reason that any honest person must be totally in despair unless they understand the reality of the finished work of Christ upon the cross for us. If it was not for this, none of us could have any peace of mind either for this world or from the world to come.

Letter of Francis A. Schaeffer, edited with introductions by Lane T. Dennis, Crossway Books, 1985, pp. 118-19.

Opposition

A selection from a letter by John Broadus to his good friend and co-laborer in teaching, J. P. Boyce. Boyce was president of the Baptist seminary in Greenville, SC. He was responsible for raising funds for the relocation of the school to Louisville, KY. His task was difficult. He faced, in the words of Tom Nettles, "post-Civil War distress, Landmark contrariness, and institutional suspicion." These things made it difficult to secure sufficient financial interest in the school. At a particularly low point, Broadus wrote a letter to boost his low spirits. Eventually Boyce met with success but his endurance through the difficult days was helped by the encouragement of friends like Broadus. The letter was written March 4, 1873.

I do not wonder that you sometimes feel discouraged, painfully. The task is difficult, and the kind of opposition encountered is very depressing. But life is always a battle. My dear Fellow, nobody but you can do this thing. I believe you can do it, and it will be, all things considered, one of the great achievements of our time. To have carried it through will be a comfort and a pleasure to you through life, a matter of joy and pride to many who love and honor you, an occasion of thanksgiving through eternity. Opposition—every good thing encounters opposition. Think of Paul, of Jesus! Nay, Nay, no such words as fail. Somehow, somehow, you are bound to succeed.

James Petigru Boyce: A Southern Baptist Statesman, by Thomas J. Nettles, P & R Publishing, 2009, p. 255.

A Very Sweet View of Affliction

A selection from a letter by Rev. Thomas Boston, to his friend James Hog. Boston’s wife suffered from depression. She had gotten better but then turned worse again. The letter is full of faith and trust in the Lord even in the midst of afflictions. It was written August 8, 1724.

There is no appearance of the dissolution of the cloud that for several years now has been over my wife. We have made a new essay this season in the use of means for her help; but all hitherto serves for nothing, but to discover that vain is the help of man in the case.

She has not wanted seasonable supports from a higher hand; and when several coals were by wise and holy Providence cast in together into our furnace, she who behooved to be waited on and served before, was even helped to wait on, and be very helpful to others in distress; and then the clouds returned after the rain, and now she comes little out of the bed at all.

But all is necessary, and He is infinitely wise who has the managing of all in His hand. It is a very sweet view of affliction, to view it as the discipline of the covenant; and so it is indeed; and nothing else to the children of our Father’s family. In that respect it is medicinal; it shines with many gracious purposes about it; and, end as it will, one may have the confidence of faith, that it shall end well. And O how happy would we be if we could always maintain the confidence of faith! The soul in that case would be like that babe in the shipwrecked woman’s arms on the plank, smiling amidst the waves, unconcerned with the hazard.

Memoirs of Thomas Boston, first published in 1899, reprinted by the Banner of Truth, 1988, p. 499.