It was Christmas Day 1784 when John Witherspoon first received the news that his youngest daughter, only recently married and very recently a mother, had died.
The letter from Witherspoon to his bereaved son-in-law, David Ramsay, is extraordinary. The return letter from Ramsay to his bereaved father-in-law is just as touching. But perhaps most remarkable of all is what Witherspoon preached on after his daughter died.
Ashbel Green tells the story, starting with that sad Christmas Day:
Sixteen sermons on one verse: not my will, but yours be done. With no more than a single personal reference to his own grief. That’s not the only way to preach in the midst of great sadness. But it is certainly one remarkable way to extol and take comfort in the mysterious providence of of our good God.
