HERE is a letter yellow with age. It was taken out of an old-fashioned desk, in a still more ancient cupboard.
It is from a mother to her son, aged nineteen, and is dated January 6th 1825. It was written in the days when there was little gospel preaching to the class to which this lady belonged, and when tracts and penny Testaments were unknown; but in spite of all that, God was true to His word, and “he that seeketh findeth” is exemplified here. The first object of the letter was to inform the son of the death of a young relative about his own age, and then the anxious mother sought to arouse him to a sense of the uncertainty of life, a topic to which we may well take heed.
“You will have heard e’er this reaches you of the severe loss this family has sustained in poor young A—. He met with a severe fall,... and expired on Wednesday. Poor Lord A—, was sent for express, but was not in time to see his dear son alive.... I cannot compare my grief with those whose nearer affinity to him rendered him still dearer, but I assure you I am much afflicted.... Oh, my son, what trials we are all called to endure in this world of misery! But if these trials are made a right use of, they will bring us to God. I hope this will be the effect upon his brother, and may I not hope that such an event may have its due weight upon your mind, my child? The Almighty sometimes takes these means of showing to the young that they are not safe from His powerful hand any more than the old, in order that they, too, may prepare for death. This lovely boy was in all the bloom of health and youth this day month. I cannot express how this event has brought my thoughts to my own dear boys, so nearly his age. What should I do if any of you should be cut off with as little thought as he was! Let me beseech of you to take this subject into your most earnest consideration. Let a mother’s prayers be heard—listen to the voice of a blessed Saviour who is more ready to hear than we are to pray. Let me never have the bitter pangs for the soul of a child of mine that I have for his. I think that would kill me! Indeed, my son, it may appear nothing in health to put off the day of serious thought, but you see the uncertainty of life even to the youngest. The Almighty sends these afflictions as a kind Father to awaken and rouse the minds of other young people, to force them to see an instance of His power if they will but make use of the warning voice.
“W—is deeply impressed with this blow—he says that henceforth he shall feel differently to what he has done, and that he shall begin to prepare his mind for any change at any age—he sees that death does not only overtake the prepared and the aged, but the young and unthinking! Surely it is worth a consideration that there is an ETERNITY of happiness or misery for us all. It is true that Scripture tells us that the right road is full of difficulty, that it is a narrow path, but the way to destruction is broad and easy. Oh! then, my beloved child, choose the right road. Say your prayers, read your Bible. (the New Testament in particular), then you will find comfort and direction for every situation in life. It must comfort you to peruse the Scriptures, for there you will find that there is forgiveness for your mother who confesses her great sins, and there read that our Saviour ‘came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.’ He says so Himself, and that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance. Surely these comforting promises must give you joy, my child, if you believe me to be sincerely penitent, which I really believe I am, but I must add that it is not any one sin alone that I repent of; I consider that my daily omissions alone are enough to shut me out of heaven if it were not for the blessed atonement of our Saviour. He came ‘to seek and to save that which was lost,’ and He will save me. Let any person compare his own thoughts with what they should be—that is enough to condemn him—all is sin, but there is mercy. ‘If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins’—but He also says, ‘Whosoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed when He comes in His own glory and in His Father’s.’ Yet how much ashamed we all are of any little feelings of religion that we may possess.
“Forgive me, my dear son, but this is not an opportunity for me to neglect. Oh, that dear A—had listened to the little efforts I was ever able to make to draw his mind to religion, but I never could, and he died without the name of God in his mouth or a prayer passing his lips! I will now cease, for I must cease.”
Thank God that we can add that the recipient of this letter was given to his mother’s prayers. He became an earnest Christian in his youth, and joined his prayers to his mother’s, both being answered in a striking way by the conversion of most of the family.