Hesba Stretton
Hesba Stretton (1832-1911) was the nom de plume of Sarah Smith, an English author of children's literature. The name Hesba came from the initials of her siblings. She was the daughter of a bookseller from Wellington, Shropshire, but around 1867 she moved south and lived at Snaresbrook and Loughton near Epping Forest and at Ham, near Richmond, Surrey. Her moral tales and semi-religious stories, chiefly for the young, were printed in huge quantities, and were especially widespread as school and Sunday school prizes. She won wide acceptance in English homes from the publication of Jessica's First Prayer in 1867. She was a regular contributor to Household Words and All the Year Round during Charles Dickens' editorship, and wrote upwards of 40 novels.
“Sin spreads misery around it only when there is ground ready for the bad seed.”
“God chooses our kinsfolk for us; but man chooses his own wife; having free will in that choice on which hangs his own life, and the lives of others. Yet the wisest of men said, 'Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favor of the Lord.' Ay, a good wife is the token of such loving favor as we know not yet in this world.”
“The sins of good men are greater than the sins of bad men. One lie from a truthful man is more hurtful than all the lies of a liar. The sins of a man after God's own heart have done more harm than all the crimes of all the Pagan emperors.”
“If God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, why shouldn't we forgive? If we are faithful and just, we shall.”