The Law of the Letter

We often hear people speak about the "letter of the law." Today, I want to mention "the law of the letter." Over the years I have kept some insightful clipping of all types of things. One I ran across recently conjured up many memories of my time with my own wonderful children. It is a copy of a parental letter written in 1852 by General Robert E. Lee to his son, Curtis Lee.  The language is quaint, if not pedantic, but the lessons are unmistakably clear. Read and ponder.  

"My Dear Son:

Your letter breathes a spirit of frankness. You have given myself and your mother great pleasure. You must study to be frank with the world. Frankness is the child of honestly and courage. Say what you mean to do on every occasion, and take it for granted you mean to do right. If a friend asks a favor, you should grant it, if it is reasonable. If not, tell him plainly why you cannot. You will wrong him and you will wrong yourself by equivocation of any kind.

Never do a wrong thing to make a friend or to keep one. The man who requires you to do so is dearly purchased at a sacrifice. Deal kindly but firmly with your classmates; you will find it the policy that wears best. Above all, do not appear to others what you are not. If you have any fault to find with anyone, tell him, not others, of what you complain. There is no more dangerous experiment than that of undertaking to be one thing before a man's face and another behind his back. We should live, act, and say nothing to the injury of anyone. It is not only best as a matter of principle, but it is the path of peace and honor.

In regard to duty, let me in conclusion of this hasty letter, inform you that nearly one hundred years ago there was a day of remarkable gloom and darkness, still known as "the dark day"-- a day when the light of the sun was slowly extinguished as if by an eclipse. The legislature of Connecticut was in session and, as the members saw the unexpected darkness coming on, they shared in the general awe and terror. It was supposed by many that the last day--the day of Judgment--had come. Someone, in the consternation of the hour moved an adjournment. Then there arose an old Puritan legislator, Davenport Stanford, who said that if the last day had come, he desired to be found at his place of duty, and therefore moved that candles be brought so that the House could proceed with its duty.

There was quietness in that man's mind--the quietness of heavenly wisdom--an inflexible willingness to obey present duty. Duty, then, is the sublimest word in our language. Do your duty in all things like the old Puritan. You can do no more. You should never wish to do less."

Can you see all the Biblical principles (laws of God) in this letter? Solomon wrote about training up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it, Proverbs 22:16. That is a type of ethic that Robert E. Lee was instilling in his boy.  Space forbids that I say more, but much more can be said. Our children's lives are molded by the principles we instill in them. Oh, sometimes they resist, but they also remember. Eventually they conform to God's way, and we smile and thank God. What kind of letter have we written to our children? Some of it, is not engraved on paper, but may be subtlely observed in the example that we set before them in Christ. It is not just the Epistles that are the law of the letter. We, too,  could guide our offspring with godly admonitions that they may come to treasure in the years to come. 

Love you all,

Al--"the Horne of Africa."

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