REFLECTIONS

Love Leads Us To Pray For Others 

“Confess your faults one to another, that ye may be healed. The effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much-James 5:16”

“Let our last article touch once more the key of love wherein the article preceding that of prayer was set. To speak of the Spirit’s work in our prayers, omitting the intercession of the saints, betrays a lack of understanding concerning the Spirit of grace.

Prayer for others is quite different from prayer for ourselves. The latter indeed is lawful; God even commands us “in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving to make our requests known unto God.” Yet it may contain refined egoism even though it be followed by thanksgiving; hence to prayer is added intercession, that in prayer the breath of love may quench gently, yet effectually, remaining egoism, and leads us to the still holier prayer for the heavenly King and His Kingdom.

Christ prays for us, but the Bride must also pray for her heavenly Bridegroom. David’s prayer for Solomon points beyond Solomon to the Messiah: “Give the King Thy judgments, O God” (Ps. 72:1). In the twentieth and sixty-first Psalm s the same thought is expressed. However, this is not a prayer for His Person (for as such He is glorified already), but for the coming of His Kingdom, for the extending of His Name to the ends of the earth, for the gathering in of the souls of His elect.

In the Lord’s Prayer, this most holy petition stands even in the foreground; for when we pray, “Hallowed be Thy name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done,” we are inspired, not by love of self or for others, but by love for Him who is in heaven. It is true, we realize that the fulfilling of that prayer is most desirable for others and ourselves; still it is the love of God that stands here in the foreground. It is the summary of prayer eminently fitting the summary of the law: “Thou shalt love the Lord Thy God.” This is the first and great commandment. Then, “Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself.” And so in our prayer: first, for the cause of God, this is the first and great petition; then, prayer for the neighbor as for ourselves. Our prayer is the test of our relation to the first and great commandment.

And what is the work of the Holy Spirit in the prayer of intercession?

It is necessary here, for a clear understanding, to distinguish between a twofold intercession: (1) there is a prayer for the things that pertain to the body of Christ; and (2) another for the things that do not belong to that body, according to our impression and conception of the matter.

Prayer for kings, and for all that are in authority, does not concern the things that pertain to the body of Christ; neither does the prayer for our enemies, nor that for the place of our habitation, for country, army, and navy, for a bountiful harvest, for deliverance from pestilence, for trade and commerce, etc. All these pertain to the natural life, and to persons, whether saints or sinners, in their relation to the life of creation, and not to the Kingdom of Grace. But our prayer does concern the body of Christ, when we pray for the coming of the Lord, for a fresh anointing of the priests of God, for their being clothed upon with salvation, for success in the work of missions, for a baptism of the Holy Spirit, for strength in conflict, for forgiveness of sins, for the salvation of our loved ones… The first intercession has reference to the realm of nature, the second to the Kingdom of Grace. Hence in each of these two we must look for the bond of fellowship from which springs our prayer of intercession.

For every prayer of intercession presupposes fellowship with them for whom we pray; a fellowship which casts us into the same distress, and from which we look for deliverance, and that in such a way that the sorrow of one burdens us, and the joy of another causes us to give thanks. Where such vital fellowship does not exist, nor the love which springs from it, or where these are temporarily inactive, there may be formal intercession of words, but real intercession from the heart there cannot be.

With reference to the intercession in the realm of nature, the ground of this fellowship is naturally found in the fact that we are created of one blood. Humanity is one. The nations form an organic whole. It is a mighty truck with leafy crown; the nations and peoples are the branches thereof, successive generations the boughs, and each of us is a fluttering leaf. Belonging  together, living together upon the same root of our human nature, it is one flesh and blood, which from Adam to the last-born child covers every skeleton and runs through every man’s veins. Hence the desire for universal philanthropy; the claim that nothing be alien to us that is human; the necessity of loving our enemy and of praying for him, for he also is of our flesh and of our bones.

If we were like grains in a heap of sand, each grain might possibly send forth a sigh, but the mutual prayer of intercession would be out of the question. Being leaves, however, of the same tree of life, there is, apart from the groaning of every leaf, also a prayer for one another, a mutual prayer of the entire human life; “the whole creation groaneth.”

But in the Kingdom of Grace the fellowship of love is much stronger, firmer, and more intimate. There is here also an organic whole, even the body of Christ under Him the Head. It is not one converted person independent of another, and the two united by a mere outward tie of sympathy; nay, but a multitude of branches all springing form the root of Jesse; growing from the one vine; all organically one; saved and redeemed by the same ransom of His blood; proceeding from the one act of election; born again by the self-same regeneration; brought nigh by the same faith; breaking one bread and drinking from one cup.

And let us notice it well, this unity is doubly strong; for it is not independent of the fellowship of nature, but added to it. They who become members of the body of Christ are with us created from the one blood of Adam, and with us they are redeemed by the one blood of Christ. Hence there is here double root of fellowship. Flesh of our flesh, bones of our bones. Moreover, born from one decree; sealed by one baptism; joined together in one body; included in one promise; by and by sharers with us of the same inheritance.

In this double fellowship of life is rooted the love which mutually unites the children of God, especially in their prayers of intercession, a union which appears sometimes in their mutual prayer. Vital fellowship does not spring from our love for the people of God, but that love springs from the fellowship of the life of grace, common to all His saints. That which grows not from one root, and, therefore, shares not the same life, cannot attain to love in higher sense. Prayer for one another is born of the love to one another; and the love which unites us ascends from the one root of life upon which we are all grafted through grace, upon which by virtue of our creation from Adam we all were set. And thus the work of the Holy Spirit in the prayer of intercession will appear in clearest light.”

-From Abraham Kuyper’s The Work Of The Holy Spirit  Published by AMG Publishers  Chattanooga, TN  1995  Originally Published in 1900  Pages 676-679

REFLECTIONS

Enduring The Devil’s Attacks And Slander

“And am I now come up without the Lord against this land to destroy it? The Lord said unto me, Go up against this land, and destroy it.” Isaiah 36:10

“Rabshakeh warns Hezekiah, King of Judah, that it is useless to assemble his forces and to make other warlike preparations against the attack of Assyria. For Hezekiah is not contending with a mortal man, but with God Himself, at whose suggestion (not his own) the King of Assyria is attacking Judah. Therefore those who oppose the King of Assyria will fight against God, and all their efforts will be useless.

For this we ought to learn that, however earnestly we may be devoted to godliness, and however faithfully we may labor to advance the kingdom of Christ, we cannot expect to be free from every annoyance. Rather, we ought to be prepared to endure very heavy afflictions.

The Lord does not always recompense our piety with earthly rewards. Indeed, it would be exceedingly unsuitable for us to possess abundant wealth and enjoy outward peace and see that everything proceeds according to our wishes. For the world reckons even wicked men to be happy on the ground that they do not endure bad health or adversity, are free from the pressures of poverty, and have nothing to disturb them. In this respect, our condition would not differ at all from that of the reprobate.

Consider the example of Hezekiah, who labored with all his might to restore religion and the true worship of God, yet endured calamities so heavy and violent that he was not far from despair. We ought to constantly place this example before our eyes so that, even when we think we have discharged our duty, we may nevertheless be prepared to endure conflicts and troubles of every kind. We should then not be disturbed if enemies gain an advantage at the onset, as if all at once they would swallow us up.”

“FOR MEDITATION: The example of Hezekiah is a powerful corrective to the “health and wealth” gospel that is common today. Such a gospel can only bring disillusionment when troubles and trials come, as they almost always do. Our assurance e of God’s favor must rest in something other than external blessings-it must rest in Christ.”

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“Rabshekeh, the field commander of the Assyrians, boasts of the greatness and power of his king in order to terrify Hezekiah. Such is the manner in which wicked men act toward us. They attack us with threatening words and try our patience with various terrors. Satan is at work in such labors, for we plainly see him speaking through the mouth of a person like Rabshakeh.

We ought, therefore, to distinguish between God’s words and the words of those who falsely assume His name, for Satan resorts to various artifices to make himself to appear to be like God. Rabshakeh unjustly brings many reproaches against Hezekiah. But the good king does not place his hope in his own strength and does not vaunt himself through reliance on the Egyptians. Godly men, even when they do well, must be exposed to evil reports. By these strategies Satan attacks our faith and unjustly slanders us among men.

The temptation to be terrified by such reports is highly dangerous, for we want our integrity to be well known. When we are well disposed, we take it ill if other men put a different interpretation on our conduct. Satan tries by slander to overturn all that we have done out of a good conscience. Or he accuses us of something that we are not guilty of. Or he loads us with unfounded slanders or contrives what never came into our minds. An upright conscience ought to be like a brazen wall to us so that we might follow the example of Hezekiah to stand unshaken against the accusations and slanders of wicked men.”

“FOR MEDITATION: When have you been unjustly accused of doing wrong? Did you stand unshaken in your integrity before God, or did you cower and fall before slanderous reports? How can we be more like Hezekiah when others question our character, reputation, or actions when we are sincerely following God’s will?”

-From 365 Days With Calvin  Selected and Edited by Joel Beeke  Published by Day One Publications Grand Rapids, MI  2008  April 12 and 13 Devotions

REFLECTIONS

Crucifixion And Resurrection

 “The crucifixion of Christ was the crowning sin of our race. In His death we shall find all the sins of mankind uniting in foul conspiracy. Envy and pride and hate are there, with covetousness, falsehood, and blasphemy, eager to rush on to cruelty, revenge, and murder. As all the rivers run into the sea, and as all the clouds empty themselves upon the earth, so did all the crimes of man gather to the slaying of the Son of God. It seemed as if hell held an assembly, and all the various forms of sin came flocking to the rendezvous. Army upon army, they hastened to the battle. As the vultures hasten to the body, so came the flocks of sins to make the Lord their prey.”

“Leave out the cross, and you have killed the religion of Jesus. Atonement by the blood of Jesus is not an arm of Christian truth; it is the heart of it.”

“Christ’s five wounds kill my suspicions and fears. A crucified Savior is the life of faith and the death of unbelief. Can you view the flowing of the Savior’s precious blood upon the tree of doom and not trust Him? What more can He do to prove His sincerity than to die for us? His life is the mirror of love, but in His death the sun shines on it with a blaze of glory.”

“The resurrection is a fact better attested than any event recorded in any history, whether ancient or modern.”

“The resurrection of our divine Lord from the dead is the cornerstone of Christian doctrine. Perhaps I might more accurately call it the keystone of the arch of Christianity, for if that fact could be disproved, the whole fabric of the gospel would fall to the ground.”

“The divinity of Christ finds its surest proof in His resurrection (Rom. 1:4). Christ’s sovereignty also depends on His resurrection (Rom. 14:9). Again, our justification hangs on Christ’s resurrection (Rom. 4:25). Our very regeneration depends on His resurrection (1 Peter 1:3). And most certainly our ultimate resurrection rests here (Rom. 8:11). The silver thread of resurrection runs through all the blessings, from regeneration onward to our eternal glory, and binds them together.”

REFLECTIONS

About Prayer…

“[The Lord’s Prayer] is undoubtedly a pattern prayer. The very way in which our Lord introduces it indicates that…it really covers everything in principle. There is a sense in which you can never really add to the Lord’s Prayer; nothing is left out. That does not mean, of course, that when we pray we are simply to repeat the Lord’s Prayer and stop at that, for that…was not true of the Lord Himself…He spent whole nights in prayer; many times He arose a great while before day and prayed for hours. You will always find in the lives of the saints that they have spent hours in prayer. John Wesley used to say that he had a very poor view of any Christian who did not pray for at least four hours every day…

[The Lord’s Prayer] really does contain all the principles…What we have is a kind of skeleton…The principles are all here and you cannot add to them. You can take the longest prayer that has ever been offered by a saint and you will find that it can reduced to these principles…Take our Lord’s High Priestly prayer [John 17]. If you analyze it in terms of principles, you will find that it can be reduced to the principles of this model prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer covers everything; and all we do is take these principles and employ and expand them and base our every petition upon them…I think you will agree with St Augustine and Martin Luther and many other saints who have said that there is nothing more wonderful in the entire Bible than the Lord’s Prayer. The economy, the way in which He summarizes it all, and has reduced everything to but a few sentences, is something that surely proclaims the fact that the speaker is none other than the very Son of God Himself.”

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“Do you know that the essence of true prayer is found in the two words in [Matthew 6] verse 9, ‘Our Father’?...If you can say from your heart, whatever the condition, ‘My Father’, in a sense your prayer is already answered…

There are people who believe it is a good thing to pray because it always does us good. They adduce various psychological reasons. That of course is not prayer as the Bible understands it.  Prayer means speaking to God, forgetting ourselves, and realizing His presence. Then again, there are others…who rather think that…one’s prayer should be very brief and pointed, and that one should just simply make a particular request. That is something which is not true of the teaching of the Bible concerning prayer. Take any of the great [Bible] prayers…None of them is simply what we might call this ‘business-like’ kind of prayer which simply makes a petition known to God and then ends. Every prayer recorded in the Bible starts with invocation…We have a great and wonderful example of this in the ninth chapter of Daniel. There the prophet, in terrible perplexity, prays to God. But he does not start immediately with is petition; he starts by praising God. A perplexed Jeremiah does the same thing…he does not rush into the presence of God for this one matter; he starts by worshipping God. And so you will find it in all the recorded prayers. Indeed, you even get it in the great High-Priestly prayer of our Lord Himself which is recorded in John 17. You remember also how Paul put it in writing to the Philippians. He says, ‘in nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God’ (Philippians 4:6 RV.). That is the order. We must always start with invocation.”

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“Our Lord says, ‘Our Father which art in heaven’; and Paul says, ‘The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.’…It is vital when we pray to God, and call Him our Father, that we should remind ourselves…of His majesty and of His greatness and of His almighty power…remember that he knows all about you. The Scripture says, ‘all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do’…It is not surprising that, when he wrote Psalm 51, David said in the anguish of his heart, ‘Thou desirest truth in the inward parts.’ If you ant to be blessed of God you have to be absolutely honest, you have to realize that he knows everything, and that there is nothing hidden from Him…as the wise man who wrote the book of Ecclesiastes put it, it is vital when we pray to god that we should remember that ‘He is in heaven and we are upon the earth.’

Then remember His holiness and His justice, His utter, absolute righteousness…whenever we approach Him we must do so ‘with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire’ [Hebrews 12:19].

That is the way to pray says Christ…never separate these two truths. Remember that you are approaching the almighty, eternal, ever-blessed holy God. But remember also that that God, in Christ, has become your Father, who not only knows all about you in the sense that he is omniscient, He knows all about you in the sense that a father knows all about his child…Put these two things together. God in His almightiness is looking at you with a holy love and knows your every need…He desires nothing so much as your blessing, your happiness, your joy and your prosperity. Then remember this, that He ‘is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think’. As your ‘Father which is in heaven’ He is much more anxious to bless you than you are to be blessed. There is no limit to His almighty power.”

-From Martyn Lloyd-Jones Works  Complied by Frank Cumbers  Eerdmans Publishing Company  Grand Rapids, MI  1970  Pages 76, 83 and 92

REFLECTIONS

The Love And Work Of The Holy Spirit

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be 

the propitiation for our sins.” 1 John 4:10 NKJV.

“Here we notice again two things:

First, the Love wherewith God loved the world proven by the fact that He spares not His own Son, but delivers Him up for us all.

Second, the love of Christ for the Father, whose work He finished, and for us, whom He saved.

The second is of greatest importance to us. In Christ, whom we honor as God manifest in the flesh, the divine Love is seen; in Him it appeared and scintillated with all-surpassing brightness. The reality of the divine Love appeared to men for the first time and once for all in Him: “That which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled, declare we unto you”; and that was always the glory of the eternal Love which had captivated and pervaded their whole soul.

Until now men had walked in Love’s shadow, but in Immanuel Love itself appeared in the flesh and after the manner of men. It was not merely a radiation of Love, its reflection, an increased feature, sense or inclination, but the fresh, irresistible waves of Love’s own constraining power issuing from the depths of His divine heart. It was this Love which, in the heart of Immanuel, brought heaven down to earth, and which by His ascension to heaven uplifted our world to the halls of eternal light. Even though Europe had felt nothing of it, and America had never thought of a Savior, though Africa had not heard the tidings, and it was but a small spot in Asia where His feet pressed the ground, yet it was the heart of Immanuel that bound every continent and the world-yes, the very universe around it, to the divine Mercy.

That Love shone forth as a love for an enemy. Man had become the enemy of God: “There is none who doeth good, no not one.” The creature hated God. The enmity was absolute and terrible. There was nothing in man to attract God; rather everything to repel Him. And when all was enmity and repulsion, then the Love of God was made manifest in that Christ died for us when we were enemies.

Love among men and animals rests upon mutual attraction, sympathy, and inclination; even the love that relieves the sufferer feels the power of it. But here is a love that that finds no attraction anywhere, but repulsion everywhere. And in this fact sparkles the sovereign liberty of divine Love: it loves because it will love, and by loving saves the object of its love.

Since this Love attained its severest tension on Calvary, its symbol is and ever shall be the Cross. For the Cross is the most fearful manifestation of man’s enmity; and by the very contrast the beauty and adorableness of divine Love shine most gloriously: Love that suffers and bears everything, Love that can die voluntarily, and in that death heralds the dawn of a still more glorious future.

But even the work of the Son does not finish the work of putting the impress of God’s Love upon the human heart. Wherefore, as the Creation is followed by the Incarnation, so does Pentecost follow the Incarnation; and it is God the Holy Spirit who accomplishes this third work by His descent into the heart of man.

“It is expedient for you that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you.” This implies that the Holy Ghost would give the disciples still a higher good than the Son could give them. This is not independently of the Son; for the Scripture teaches emphatically that He neither will nor can do anything without the Son, and that He receives of the Son only to give unto us. However, the difference remains that, although Jesus suffers and dies and rises for us, nevertheless the actual work in the souls of men awaits the gracious operation of the Holy Spirit. It is, as St. Paul writes to the Romans, that “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.”

And this is the proper work of the Holy Spirit, that shall remain His forevermore. When there remains no more sin to be atoned for, nor any unholiness to be sanctified, when all the elect shall jubilate before the throne, even then the Holy Spirit shall perform this divine work of keeping the Love of God actively dwelling in their hearts. How, we cannot tell, but this we understand, that it is the Holy Spirit who, being, the same in all, unites all souls in blessed union. When at the same moment spiritual life is wrought in your soul and mine and the souls of others, the mutual bond of Love must be the result. For, although men and things are grounded in the Father, and the souls of the redeemed are united in the Son, yet personally to enter every soul, making it His temple and dwelling-place, is the work of the Holy Spirit.”

-From Abraham Kuyper’s The Work Of The Holy Spirit  First Published in 1900  Published by AMG Publishers  Chattanooga, TN  1995  Pages 545-547.

REFLECTIONS

Sin, Ruin And Indebtedness To God

“Let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness

 in the fear of God”-2Corinthians 7:1.

Sanctification belongs to the mysteries of the faith; hence it cannot be confessed except as a dogma.

By this statement we intend to cut off at once every representation which makes “sanctification” to consist of the human effort to make oneself holy or holier.

To become more holy is undoubtedly the duty which rests upon every man. God has condemned all unholiness as an accursed thing. Inferior holiness cannot exist before Him. Every man more or less holy is bound to forsake all unholiness, to resign all lesser holiness, and let perfect holiness dwell and be made manifest in them instantly. The commandment, “Be holy as I am holy,” may not be weakened. The laxity of the current morale requires that God’s absolute right to demand absolute holiness of every man be incessantly presented to the conscience, bound as a memorial upon the heart, and proclaimed to all with no uncertain sound.

In the innumerable territories of heaven where God gathers His redeemed, all unholiness is excluded and absolute holiness is the never-failing characteristic. And is it is heaven, so ought it to be on earth. God, the sovereign Ruler of all the kingdoms of this world, has strictly forbidden the least unholiness in heart or home or any other place on earth under penalty of death. In fact, there is on earth no unholiness, of whatever name or form, that does not exist in defiance of His express will.

It must be conceded, therefore, that it is His revealed will and commandment that all this unholiness must cease immediately, and be replaced directly by what is holy and good. He is of purer eyes than to behold iniquity.

It must be equally conceded that it is every man’s duty to remove unholiness, and to advance the things that are holy. He that caused the hurt must also heal it. He that destroyed must also restore the things destroyed. He that desecrated must also reconsecrate it. Men still alive to a sense of justice will not contradict us.

The obligation to resanctify this world’s life rests in its deepest sense upon Satan. He instilled into our veins the poison that generates the diseases of our souls. The spark that caused the fire of sinful passions to break out in human nature was kindled by him. That Satan is hopelessly lost and condemned does not annul God’s eternal right. Even Satan himself, according to this right, ought to repent and stand before God holy as in the beginning. And this world of men, which he corrupted, was not his, but belonged to God. He should never have touched it. Hence the obligation continues to rest upon him not only to stop his unholy working in it, but also to reconsecrate perfectly what he has so bitterly and maliciously profaned.

That Satan neither will nor can do this justifies his fearful judgment, but it does not annul God’s right and never will. If in Paradise man had unwillingly fallen a victim to Satan, the obligation to resanctify the life of this world would have rested upon Satan, but not upon him. But man fell willingly; sin owes its existence not only to the fatherhood of Satan, but also to the motherhood of man’s soul; hence man himself is involved in the guilt and included under the judgment of death, and therefore obliged to restore what he has ruined.

God created man holy, with the power to continue holy; holy also by virtue of the increasing development of the implanted germ. But man ruined God’s work in his heart. He soiled the undefiled raiment of holiness. And doing this he violated the right. If he had belonged to himself, if God had allowed him to do with himself as he pleased, the right would not have been violated. But He did not give man to himself; He retained him for Himself as His own property. The hand that ruined and desecrated man destroyed God’s property, encroached upon the divine right of sovereignty-yea, upon His very right of ownership, and thus became liable (1) to the penalty for this encroachment, and (2) to the obligation of restoring the ruined property to its original state.

Hence the undeniable and positive obligation of man’s self-sanctification. This obligation rests, not upon God, nor upon the Mediator, but upon man and Satan. The prayer, “Lord, sanctify me,” upon the lips of the unconverted, not under the Covenant of Grace, is most unbecoming. First willfully to destroy God’s property, and then to take the ruined thing to Him demanding that he heal and restore it, antagonized the right and reverses the ordinance. Nay, outside of the mysteries of the Covenant of Grace, under the obligations of simple justice, we are not ask: “Lord, sanctify Thou us,” but God is to enforce His righteous claim: “Sanctify thyself.”

Sanctify thyself does not mean that man should fulfill the law. The keeping of the law and sanctification are two entirely different things. Let the sinner be sanctified, and then he shall also fulfill the law. First sanctification, then fulfillment of the law.”

-From Abraham Kuyper’s The Work of the Holy Spirit  First Published in 1900  Published by AMG Publishers  USA  1995  Pages 456-458.

REFLECTIONS

A Widow’s Comfort

“New York, May 28, 1816

“My Beloved Child,-

“I have received your letter to-day, for which I have been just thanking my God and your God, the Father to the fatherless and the widow’s God. I am thankful that He has supported you under the severest trial you have been called to meet with you since you entered the vale of tears-the loss of your dear, your precious father. Neither you nor I knew half his worth. The Lord gave us a treasure, but we knew not its value until too late. I hope this has been a sifting time with you, as it has been with your poor mother. How great a backslider have I been! How did I let my vile heart go out after covetousness, and wander from the path of duty, when I left my beloved husband! Oh, my dear child, this thought had well-nigh drove me to despair. But, blessed be the Rock of my salvation, that though in some measure He has suffered me to be sifted as wheat, and the enemy has come like a flood, the Spirit helped my infirmities, and I was through Him enabled to keep a fast hold on the covenant which is well ordered in all things and sure. My Father has chastened me, but His loving-kindness He has not taken from me, nor suffered His faithfulness to fail. It has been good for me that I have been afflicted. Oh, my child, self-righteousness, self-will, and a covetous spirit have led me far astray; but the Lord has overruled even these hated sins for my good, and the salvation of the soul of your dear, beloved father. All is well. Soon we shall meet again; and this is my great consolation. We are in a strange land; but the God of Jacob is my God, and the God of my fatherless ones.  England is highly privileged for the precious means of grace; but we have here (America) the simple truths of the gospel, and much sterling piety amongst professors…Lord, have mercy upon me, and let me see Thy hand in this! Lead my mind to contemplate him where he is now. For millions of worlds would he not return. But still my widowed heart aches, and will ache while I live; and yet I trust the Lord has reconciled, or will reconcile, me to His blessed will. But I have touched a chord after the counsel of His own will. My mind is often greatly exercised, but the Lord has said, Leave thy fatherless children, I will preserve them alive. To Him do I desire to look, and in Him I will trust. The promise is, Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things else shall be added unto you. Did I not hope to see the salvation of the Lord in the land of the living I should, sink in despair. Oh, your dear father! I mourn. It is no sin to weep: Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus; Mary and Martha wept; and may not I also weep? I wish you would go to the vault where your dear father lies, and see if there is any room for your poor unworthy mother too-I wish to lay my bones by him; if you can do this without too much distressing your own feelings. I cannot account for it, but it has been the constant desire of my heart, (as I cannot see it myself,) that you should see the coffin that contains his beloved body. I shall see that body again, shining more gloriously than the brightest angel in heaven.”

-From Life In Jesus, A Memoir of Mrs. Mary Winslow By Her Son, Octavius Winslow, D.D.  Printed From The 1890 Edition by John Shaw  Pages 50-51  Printed by Sola Deo Gloria is loving-kindness He has not taken from me