# “The storm is guided by the hands which were nailed to the cross” by John Newton

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2017/06/24/the-storm-is-guided-by-the-hands-which-were-nailed-to-the-cross-by-john-newton/
- Published: 2017-06-24T23:00:37-05:00
- Author: tollelege

“Public affairs look darker still. Expectation is on tiptoe waiting for hourly news
from all parts of the world but foreboding that the news, whenever it comes or from
whatever quarter, will be distressing.

I am afraid what we next hear from America will not be pleasing. That unhappy country
is still likely to be a scene of desolation and our people there likely to sink 
under the weight of pretended successes.

In the West Indies, Tobago is gone, and perhaps by this time some other of our islands.
And the cry of oppression in the East Indies seems at length to have awakened judgment
there.

Yet the spirit of the nation seems like that of the thoughtless mariner, asleep 
on the top of the mast, regardless of the danger every moment increasing.

_Yet still I hope there is mercy._ The gospel spreads, grace reigns, the number 
of praying souls is on the increase, and their prayers I trust will be heard.

We are sure that the Lord reigns; that the storm is guided by the hands which were
nailed to the cross, and that as He loves His own, He will take care of them.

But they who have not an ark to hide themselves in will probably weep and wail before
the indignation be over-past.

Blessed be God for a land of peace where sin and every sorrow will be excluded.”

–John Newton, as quoted in Josiah Bull, [_Memorials of the Rev. William Bull, of Newport Pagnel: 1738-1814_](https://books.google.com/books?id=HEYBAAAAQAAJ&lpg=PA89&ots=f4qECwsFOL&dq=The%20storms%20are%20guided%20by%20the%20hands%20which%20were%20nailed%20to%20the%20cross.&pg=PA89#v=onepage&q=The%20storms%20are%20guided%20by%20the%20hands%20which%20were%20nailed%20to%20the%20cross.&f=false),(
London: James Nisbet and Company, 1864), 88-89. This letter was written in April
1781.

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