---
title: 'A Father’s Wish: Samuel Brown in The Captives of Abb’s Valley'
type: post
author: 'R. Andrew Myers'
date: 2020-11-19
url: https://confessional.org/blog/2020-a-fathers-wish-samuel-brown-in-the-captives-of-abb-s-valley
---

# A Father’s Wish: Samuel Brown in The Captives of Abb’s Valley

There is a beautiful testimony by a son, who recorded the words of his father, found near the end of *The Captives of Abb’s Valley* (1854). The Rev. [James Moore Brown](/authors/james-moore-brown) overheard his father, Rev. [Samuel Brown](/authors/samuel-brown), once say to another:

> I have no wish that my children should be wealthy, or rise to places of worldly distinction; but it is the ever anxious desire of my heart that they shall be pious, and consecrate themselves to God’s service, and I daily feel that I can trust him to provide for them.

These are the words of a godly father, and godliness was indeed a characteristic of the whole family, including the mother as well, Mrs. [Mary Moore Brown](/authors/mary-moore-brown), who plays a major role in this classic book. It is a book has been republished recently with annotations by Rev. Dennis E. Bills, which is available at our [Secondary Sources page](/tags/secondary-source).

May these 19th century words by a Presbyterian minister echo today in new generations of Christian families.