“Blessed be God! Amidst all my changes I find the foundation stands sure. And I am seldom or never left to doubt either of the Lord’s love to me, or the reality of the desires He has given me towards Himself.
Though when I measure my love by the degree of its exercise, or the fruits it produceth, I have reason to sit down ashamed as the chief of sinners and the least of all saints. But in Him I have righteousness and peace, and in Him I must and will rejoice.
I would willingly fill up my sheet, but feel a straitness in my spirit, and know not what further to say.
O for a ray of Divine light to set me at liberty, that I might write a few lines worth reading, something that might warm my heart and comfort yours!
Then the subject must be Jesus. But of Him what can I say that you do not know? Well, though you know Him, you are glad to hear of Him again and again.
Come then, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.
Let us adore Him for His love, that love which has a height, and depth, and length, and breadth, beyond the grasp of our poor conceptions;
a love that moved Him to empty Himself, to take on Him the form of a servant, and to be obedient unto death, even the death of the cross;
a love that pitied us in our lost estate, that found us when we sought Him not, that spoke peace to our souls in the day of our distress;
a love that bears with all our present weakness, mistakes, backslidings, and shortcomings;
a love that is always watchful, always ready to guide, to comfort, and to heal;
a love that will not be wearied, cannot be conquered, and is incapable of changes;
a love that will, in the end, prevail over all opposition, will perfect that which concerns us, and will not leave us till it has brought us perfect in holiness and happiness, to rejoice in His presence in glory.
The love of Christ: it is the wonder, the joy, the song of angels. And the sense of it shed abroad in our hearts makes life pleasant and death welcome.
Alas! What a heart have I that I love Him no better! But I hope He has given me a desire to make Him my all in all, and to account everything loss and dross that dares to stand in competition with Him.”
–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Vol. 2, Ed. Richard Cecil (London: Hamilton, Adams & Co., 1824), 2: 179-181.
