If you could form a little creature
and make it live. A letter of John Newton to his
13 year old adopted daughter who was away at school. My dear
Betsy, idleness is a very great evil, the door by which a thousand
temptations and mischiefs may enter. Though you yourself have
not been a sufferer, I wish for you to cultivate a sympathetic
and benevolent spirit, a disposition to have compassion on the distresses
of others, even though you cannot relieve them. Compassion, next
to the grace of God, is the brightest ornament of human nature. When
it is genuine, it is one of the best effects and proofs of saving
grace. It was the mind of Jesus the
Savior, and those who love Him will in a degree resemble Him.
A hard-hearted, unfeeling, selfish Christian is a total contradiction. When you think what multitudes
of mankind are suffering by war, famine, sickness, storms, earthquakes,
and other calamities, let it lead your thoughts to the evil
of sin, which brought all these other evils into the world. But
what is sin? Sin is presuming to do our own
will in opposition to the will of God, who is our Creator, Lawgiver,
and Benefactor. By sin we attempt independence
from our Creator, affront the authority of our righteous Lawgiver,
and are guilty of base and horrid ingratitude against our greatest
and kindest Benefactor. If you could form a little creature
and make it live, and if it hated you and opposed you, slighted
your kindness, and took pleasure in displeasing you, Would you
not soon be weary of it, and instead of feeding and taking
care of it, be provoked to tread it under your feet? But oh, the
patience of God! Though he could destroy rebellious
men much more easily than you could kill a loathsome spider,
yet he waits to be gracious, and has so loved them as to send
his own son to die, that they may live. Sin has not only filled
the world with woe, but it was the cause of all the woe that
Jesus endured. He groaned and wept and sweat
blood and died upon the cross only because we had sinned. May I live to see you duly affected
with the evil of sin and the love of Jesus. There is nothing
more that I desire for you. I am, my dear child, your most
affectionate father, John Newton.