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.

One of the Best of Mothers

A selection from a letter by Samuel Wesley, father of the famed John and Charles Wesley, written to his oldest son, Samuel Wesley, Jr. often called Sammy. The elder Wesley praised his wife and mother of their 19 children (9 of whom did not survive infancy), Susanna. He encouraged his son to remember all she had taught him and to reverence and support her. No date is given for the letter.

You know what you owe to one of the best of mothers… often reflect on the tender and peculiar love which your mother has always expressed towards you, the deep affliction, both of body and mind, which she underwent for you, both before and after your birth; the particular care she took of your education when she struggled with so many pains and infirmities; and, above all, the wholesome and sweet motherly advice and counsel which she has often given you to fear God, to take care of your soul, as well as your learning, to shun all vicious practices and bad examples… as well as those valuable letters she wrote to you…

You will not forget to evidence this by supporting and comforting her in her age… and doing nothing which may justly displease and grieve her, or show you unworthy of such a mother…

In short, reverence and love her as much as you will… the more duty you pay her and the more frequently and kindly you write to her, the more will you please your affectionate father…

Susanna Wesley: Mother of John and Charles Wesley, Arnold A. Dallimore, Baker Book House, 1993, pp. 95-96.