How little I can do

Philip Brown shares a quote from English churchman William Law on training up a child in the way he should go (Proverbs 22:6). It expresses something I've been reflecting on the last months as we've awaited the birth of our child -- that though Samuel has been highly favored to be born into a Christian home, yet I have no power over his ultimate salvation. In a short time we'll present him to God and the church for baptism. In so doing we'll be giving him back to God and acknowledging that it's He alone who'll make the sign and seal of covenant baptism a reality in his heart. The following quote is from Law's Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life. He's writing in the voice of a father to his son.

How poor my power is, and how little I am able to do for you, you have often seen. Your late sickness has shown you how little I could do for you in that state; and the frequent pains of your head are plain proofs that I have no power to remove them. I can bring you food and medicines, but have no power to turn them into your relief and nourishment. It is God alone that can do this for you. Therefore, my child, fear, and worship, and love God. Your eyes, indeed, cannot yet see Him. But all things that you see are so many marks of His power and presence, and He is nearer to you than anything that you can see. Take Him for your Lord, and Father, and Friend, look up unto Him as the fountain and cause of all the good that you have received through my hands; and reverence me only as the bearer and minister of God's good things unto you. And He that blessed my father before I was born, will bless you when I am dead.