The Value of a Mother

A selection from a letter by Robert L. Dabney to his mother, who had been sick. The letter expresses his appreciation for her and sets forth her noble character. The letter was written December 2, 1857.

Your sickness was needed to teach us all your value, and the love which we ought to feel and manifest for you. If there ever were children who owed a heavy debt of gratitude to a mother, we are among them; and if there ever was a mother in whom the description of Proverbs ought to be verified, "Her children rise up and call her blessed" [Prov. 31:28], surely our mother is one. I find my best solace in uncertainly to be in praying that the God and Saviour, whose compassions fail not, and who is in Louisa [the county in Virginia she lived in] as truly as in Prince Edward [the county in Virginia he lived in], will soothe all your sufferings, heal your sickness, and make affliction bring forth a far more exceeding weight of glory.

The Life and Letters of Robert Lewis Dabney, by Thomas Cary Johnson, first published in 1903, reprinted by the Banner of Truth Trust, 1977, p. 179.

Sovereign Disposal

A selection from a letter by Rev. Thomas Boston, to his friend, James Hog. Hog's wife was ill as was Boston's wife. He wrote to remind his friend that the Lord was not absent in the hour of trial and that the hope of glory was sure. The letter was written April 25, 1726.

I understood by yours, that your wife continues in her ordinary tender condition; may it be sanctified by grace to her and to you. The different states of persons, in respect of health and infirmity, is a piece of sovereign disposal, which the afflicted are to reverence and adore. Our Lord Himself was a man of sorrows, and acquainted with griefs; and if we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him. The heaviest burden of affliction is but light in respect of the weight of glory we have in hope; and the affliction that is of such continuance as the party has forgot prosperity, is but for a moment, being compared with the eternity of that weight which faith has the view of.

Memoirs of Thomas Boston, first published in 1899, reprinted by the Banner of Truth Trust, 1988, p. 501.

The Pop-Gun Threats of a Frowning World

A selection from a letter by the Puritan preacher, Joseph Alleine, to his congregation from prison. He was ejected from the Church of England for nonconformity in 1662 and was arrested and imprisoned because he continued to preach the gospel. Alleine wrote letters to his church while in prison. John Wesley once referred to him as “the English Rutherford.” Alleine touches on the theme of persecution and its blessedness in this letter. It was written July 28, 1665.

…Hath not God said, that if we suffer with him we shall also reign with him; and that these light afflictions work for us a weight of glory? And if this be true, I pray you tell me whether God hath not dealt well with us in counting us worthy of this little tribulation for his name? Indeed, the sufferings are but little; but verily the reward will not be little. I know whom I have trusted; I am well assured the glass is turned up, and every hour reckoned of our imprisonments, and every scorn and reproach of our enemies is kept in black and white.

I believe, therefore do I speak; God is infinitely tender of us, my brethren, though a poor and despicable generation. I value not the pop-gun threats of a frowning world; it is well with us, we are God’s favourites. Come, my beloved, let us sit down under his shadow; here is safety and rest; if God be for us, who can be against us? Verily He bottles all our tears, and tells all our wanderings; He numbers all our hairs; whosoever toucheth us shall not be innocent. Know you not that we are the apple of his eye? Hath not he reproved the greatest for his people’s sakes, saying, ‘Reproach not mine anointed.’ And so we forget how he loved us. Are not we his jewels? Doth He not own us for his members, for his children?

Life and Letters of Joseph Alleine, by Rev. Richard Baxter, Theodosia Alleine, and others, with a new introduction by Joel R. Beeke and Herb Samworth, Reformation Heritage Books, reprinted in 2003, pp. 197-99.

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.