- Home
- Speakers
- Favell Lee Mortimer
- Matthew 2:12 15. The Heavenly Warnings.
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.
Download
Topic
Sermon Summary
Favell Lee Mortimer preaches about God's divine protection over His faithful servants, showcasing how God can thwart the plans of the wicked through dreams, prayers, and discernment. Using examples from the Bible, history, and missionary work, Mortimer emphasizes how God intervenes to disperse evil schemes against His people, even when faced with imminent danger. Believers are encouraged to trust in God's providence and pray for His defense against any malicious plans formed by Satan or others, knowing that no harm can come to them if they follow what is good.
Matthew 2:12-15. the Heavenly Warnings.
Twice in a very little space God sent messages to his faithful servants in the dreams of the night. One dream was to warn the wise men not to inform Herod that they had found the infant King; the other was, to warn Joseph not to remain in Bethlehem. We perceive how easily God can defeat the plans of the wicked, as it is written in the fifth chapter of Job—"He disappoints the devices of the crafty, so that their hands cannot perform their plans." There is a beautiful prayer in the liturgy, entreating God to exercise this power in our behalf. "Graciously hear us, that those evils which the craft, or subtlety of the devil or man, works against us may be brought to nothing, and, by the providence of your goodness, may be dissolved." We see how God dispersed those evils which Satan and Herod were working against the Son of God. Satan still stirs up wicked men to form plans against the children of God; and still the Lord, by his gracious providence, disperses these evils. Are we distressed at the thought of any malicious plan being formed against us, either by Satan or by our fellow-creatures? Let us pray to the Lord to defend us. No one can harm us, if we are followers of that which is good. We have all heard of the Gunpowder-plot. What a diabolical scheme it was! The Roman Catholics had contrived a plan for blowing up the king of England, with his family and parliament, because they supported the Protestant religion; but God defeated their malicious design. One of the conspirators wrote a letter to Lord Monteagle, warning him not to go to the house of parliament, when the king next would open it. God gave such discernment to the king, that when Lord Monteagle showed him the letter, he suspected that a bomb-plot had been formed. Thus this dreadful evil was dispersed. We find also many instances in the lives of God's servants, of the same gracious interference. The missionary Williams was saved from falling into the hands of four cruel heathen, who had determined to kill him. It was his custom to go at times to a neighboring island on Saturday to perform the Sabbath services. Four young men, who hated the Christian religion, offered to convey him to the island. They appeared as if they wished to show kindness to the missionary; but in reality they had agreed, when he was at a distance from the shore, to throw him into the sea. Williams accepted the offer. God, however, by a very trifling circumstance, rescued him from the snare. He had lately painted his boat with a peculiar kind of paint, that did not dry as quickly as he expected, and fearing to venture out to sea while his boat was in that state, he refused to go with those who desired to be his murderers. Thus was the wicked scheme frustrated. At length, indeed, he fell by the hands of cruel savages; but not until his work was done. If we knew all the plans that Satan formed against us, we would be filled with wonder at the deliverances we experience. But perhaps we may remember some instances in our own lives, in which we discovered that the attempts of men to hurt us were frustrated. What wonderful proofs of the Lord's watchful care over his people will be revealed in another world! Then shall they know those things that they know not now. Then it will be found that Job was not the only believer whom Satan sought to cast down by the weight of his sorrows; nor Peter the only disciple that he desired to sift by the force of temptations; nor the blessed Savior, the only child that he sought to cut off by an untimely death. Then it will appear how the Lord kept his people in the hollow of his hand from all the blasts of the enemy; and then there will ascend a chorus of hallelujahs from the happy redeemed, and from the glorious angels who were their appointed guard during the years of their weakness.
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download
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.