“I remember to have heard Newton say, when speaking of his continual interruptions,
‘I see in this world two heaps, of human happiness and misery.
Now, if I can take but the smallest bit from from one heap and add to the other, I carry a point.
If, as I go home, a child has dropped a halfpenny, and if, by giving it another, I can wipe away its tears, I feel I have done something.
I should be glad, indeed, to do greater things, but I will not neglect this.
When I hear a knock at my study door, I hear a message from God.
It may be a lesson of instruction or perhaps a lesson of patience.
But, since it is His message, it must be interesting.'”
–Richard Cecil, “Memoirs of the Author, with general Remarks on his Life, Connections, and Character, by the Rev. Richard Cecil,” The Works of John Newton, Volume 1 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1988), 1: 76.
