Thou God Seest Me

A selection from a letter written by William B. Sprague (1795-1876), pastor for 40 years of the Second Presbyterian Church in Albany, New York. He wrote a series of letters to his daughter after his wife and her mother died. The letters contain counsel from a loving father who desired for his daughter to become a godly woman. No date is given for this letter.

… let me counsel you to cherish a deep sense of the constant presence of God, and of your accountableness to him for every part of your conduct. An habitual impression of this kind will make you comparatively indifferent, both to the censures and applauses of mortals, and will lead you to regard every other question as unimportant, in comparison with the simple question of duty. And the consequence of this cannot fail to be, that you will judge carefully and honestly of what is right, and will act with unyielding decision. No matter what temptations may spread themselves before you to divert you from the path of duty, the reflection, "Thou, God, seest me" [Gen. 16:13], brought home to your understanding and conscience, will insure you the victory over them. This is something distinct from natural inflexibility of character: it is independence of mind, based on religious principle; and it is this especially which I urge you to cultivate.

Letters on Practical Subjects to a Daughter, by William B. Sprague, New York, 1831, pp. 90-91.

Give Thanks

A portion of a letter by William Still, pastor of Gilcomston South Church in Aberdeen Scotland, from 1945 to 1997. He wrote a letter monthly to his congregation to exhort, encourage, admonish, and teach them God's word in light of current events. This selection appeared on the blog of Charlie Wingard (http://charliewingard.blogspot.com/) pastor of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Huntsville, Alabama, on Friday, September 17, 2010.

If you see the grace of God working in your life, and if you recognize material blessings that have come your way as a consequence, do not forget to thank Him. It is sad when there is nothing for which we feel grateful to God, but it is serious when there is something and we fail to show gratitude, and it is tragic when we are so busy asking for more that we forget to thank Him for what we have received.

The Letters of William Still, The Banner of Truth, 1984, pp. 34-35.

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.

Be a Consistent and Exemplary Christian

A selection from a letter by Rev. Daniel Baker to his former church in Washington, D. C. Baker pastored the Second Presbyterian Church for six years before being called to pastor a church in Savannah, Georgia. Soon after getting settled in Georgia, he wrote a letter to the congregation in Washington to tell them about his new sphere of ministry and to encourage them to go on for Christ. The letter was written May 13, 1828.

Dear brethren, let me beseech you once more, as I have often done before, to walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing; to live blamelessly and harmlessly as the children of God, without rebuke. O, it is a great matter to be a consistent and exemplary Christian! It pleases God, brings credit to religion, and peace and comfort to our own soul. The time is gone by for me, in any official capacity, to press these things upon you, for I am no longer you pastor; but, as an absent friend and Christian brother, I would call to remembrance the things which ye have heard.

Making Many Glad: The Life and Labours of Daniel Baker, prepared by his son, Rev. William M. Baker, first published in 1858, reprinted by the Banner of Truth Trust, 2000, pp. 118-19.

Attend to the Education of Your Children

A selection from a letter by John Adams, who had just been elected president of the recently formed United States of America, to his daughter Abigail “Nabby” Adams Smith, about a proper education for her three sons. He was as interested in his grandchildren’s education as he had been about his own children’s. The letter was written February 21, 1797, two weeks prior to his inauguration as the second president of the United States.

In your solitary hours, my dear daughter, you will have a delightful opportunity of attending to the education of your children, to give them a taste and attachment to study, and to books. A taste for science and literature, added to a turn for business, never can fail of success in life. Without learning, nothing very great can ever be accomplished in the way of business. But not only a thirst for knowledge should be excited, and a taste for letters be cultivated, but prudence, patience, justice, temperance, resolutions, modesty, and self-cultivation, should be recommended to them as early as possible. The command of their passions, the restraints of their appetites, reverence for superiors, especially parents, a veneration for religion, morals, and good conduct.

You will find it more for your happiness to spend your time with them in this manner, than to be engaged in fashionable amusements, and social entertainments, even with the best company.

Posterity: Letters of Great Americans to Their Children, Dorie McCullough Lawson, Doubleday, 2004, p. 26.

Master Your Temper

A portion of a letter by the Welsh pastor, John Elias, to his son John who was away at school. Edward Morgan said of Elias, “How few professors and ministers pay so much attention to the spiritual interest of their children as Elias did!” Elias’s son was sixteen years of age when this letter was written in 1819.

Take great care of thy temper; learn to be master of it now in thy youthful days; yea, if some laugh at thee, or despise thee, or offend thee, receive it mildly, and take care that thou dost not suffer thy self to be under the dominion of an angry, surly, and revengeful temper. It is not manly, much less Christian-like – nay, it is Satan-like. Therefore, my dear son, beware of this temper; it is a disgrace to the human nature; it is a great defect in the moral character of man, to say that he is of a rash, angry, and revengeful temper.

John Elias: Life, Letters and Essays, by Edward Morgan, first published in 1844, reprinted by the Banner of Truth, 1973, p. 204.