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Favell Lee Mortimer
Favell Lee Mortimer (July 14, 1802 – August 22, 1878) was a British author and educator whose evangelical writings preached salvation and moral instruction to children across the 19th century. Born in London, England, to David Bevan, a Barclays bank co-founder, and Favell Bourke Lee, she was the third of eight children in a wealthy Quaker family that moved to Hale End, Walthamstow, when she was six. Raised under evangelical influences like Rev. George Collison, she oversaw religious education on her father’s estates in Wiltshire and East Barnet, deepening her faith after a conversion in 1827. Mortimer’s preaching career took shape through her pen after marrying Rev. Thomas Mortimer in 1841, a popular London preacher whose ministry she supported until his death in 1850. Her sermons emerged in best-selling books like The Peep of Day (1833), which sold over 500,000 copies and was translated into 37 languages, delivering simple gospel truths to young minds with a stern emphasis on sin and hell. Works like Line Upon Line and More About Jesus extended her reach, blending education with evangelistic zeal, while later geographic titles like Near Home reflected her moral worldview. Widowed, she adopted a son, Lethbridge Charles E. Moore, and died at age 76 in West Runton, Norfolk, England.
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Favell Lee Mortimer reflects on the private conversations of Jesus with his disciples, highlighting the depth of wisdom and patience displayed in those moments. Despite the disciples' worldly desires for greatness, Jesus patiently reproves them and teaches them about humility using a child as an example. He emphasizes the importance of being like a humble child in spirit, free from the desire for earthly distinctions, and shows affection and care for those who are contrite and penitent, likening them to children who are dear to Him.
Mark 9:33-37. Christ Teaches Humility by the Example of a Child.
It is interesting to hear what the Lord Jesus said to the multitude in his public discourses; but it is still more interesting to hear what he said to his disciples in his private conversations. In these retired scenes we behold, and admire, not only his wisdom, but also his patience. How displeasing it must have been to the Lord, while he was talking of his sufferings, to know that his disciples, who were accompanying him on the road, were disputing who should be the greatest! Yet he patiently waited for a seasonable opportunity of reproving them. When he was come into the house he asked them, "What was it that you disputed among yourselves by the way?" Their own consciences told them that they had acted wrong, and they were ashamed to acknowledge their fault to their Master. What a dignity the Lord preserved among his most familiar friends! Though gentle and condescending, he made them feel ashamed of sin. Seated among his disciples, as a father among his children, he began to explain to them their error. What was it he disapproved? It was the feeling whence the dispute arose. It was the desire to be first. Eve ate the fruit with a desire to be as God. We, her children, inherit this wicked desire. The grace of God alone can root it out of our hearts. In order to make a stronger impression upon the disciples' minds, the Lord took a little child, and set him in the midst of them, as an example of humility. A very little child has not understanding enough to desire to be first; the thought never enters into its mind. It follows its mother from place to place, caring not whether she be a queen or a peasant. It never looks for admiration, and shrinks from the notice of all, but its beloved parents and nurses. The Christian, also, ought to be indifferent to earthly distinctions. He is, in fact, a pardoned criminal, and should be too deeply penitent for his transgressions against his Lord, to wish for honor among his fellows. Observe what affection Christ showed to the young child. He took him in his arms, and while he still held the little creature in his embrace, thus spoke to his disciples—"Whoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receives me." The humble, the contrite, and the penitent, are such children. If we wish to please our Lord, we shall show great tenderness to his humble disciples. Whatever crimes they may have committed in past times, we shall forget them, because the blood of Christ has blotted them out. It is not those who have committed the fewest open sins that God loves best; but those who are the least in their own eyes; these are his dearest children. It is our honor to be allowed to comfort them.
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Favell Lee Mortimer (July 14, 1802 – August 22, 1878) was a British author and educator whose evangelical writings preached salvation and moral instruction to children across the 19th century. Born in London, England, to David Bevan, a Barclays bank co-founder, and Favell Bourke Lee, she was the third of eight children in a wealthy Quaker family that moved to Hale End, Walthamstow, when she was six. Raised under evangelical influences like Rev. George Collison, she oversaw religious education on her father’s estates in Wiltshire and East Barnet, deepening her faith after a conversion in 1827. Mortimer’s preaching career took shape through her pen after marrying Rev. Thomas Mortimer in 1841, a popular London preacher whose ministry she supported until his death in 1850. Her sermons emerged in best-selling books like The Peep of Day (1833), which sold over 500,000 copies and was translated into 37 languages, delivering simple gospel truths to young minds with a stern emphasis on sin and hell. Works like Line Upon Line and More About Jesus extended her reach, blending education with evangelistic zeal, while later geographic titles like Near Home reflected her moral worldview. Widowed, she adopted a son, Lethbridge Charles E. Moore, and died at age 76 in West Runton, Norfolk, England.