“There is one political maxim which comforts me: “The Lord reigns.’ (Psalm 97:1)
His hand guides the storm.
And He knows them that are His, how to protect, support, and deliver them.
He will take care of His own cause.
Yes, He will extend His kingdom, even by these formidable methods.
Men have one thing in view.
He has another, and His counsel shall stand. (Psalm 2:1-6)”
–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 2 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1988), 2: 87.
“Be punctual in waiting upon God in secret.
This is the life of everything, the only way, and the sure way, of maintaining and renewing your strength.”
–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 2 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1988), 2: 60.
“You must not expect habits and tempers will be eradicated instantaneously; but by perseverance in prayer, and observation upon the experiences of every day, much may be done in time.
Now and then you will (as is usual in the course of war) lose a battle; but be not discouraged, but rally your forces, and return to the fight.
There is a comfortable word, a leaf of the tree of life, for healing the wounds we receive, in 1 John 2:1.
If the enemy surprises you, and your heart smites you, do not stand astonished as if there was no help, nor give way to sorrow as if there was no hope, nor attempt to heal yourself.
But away immediately to the Throne of Grace, to the great Physician, to the compassionate High Priest, and tell Him all.
Satan knows, that if he can keep us from confession, our wounds will rankle; but do you profit by David’s experience, (Psalm 32:3–5).
When we are simple and open-hearted in abasing ourselves before the Lord, though we have acted foolishly and ungratefully, He will seldom let us remain long without affording us a sense of His compassion.
For He is gracious. He knows our frame. And He knows how to bear with us, even though we can hardly bear with ourselves, or with one another.
The main thing is to have the heart right with God: this will bring us in the end safely through many mistakes and blunders.
But a double mind, a selfish spirit, that would halve things between God and the world, the Lord abhors.
If the Lord is pleased to bless you, He will undoubtedly make you humble; for you cannot be either happy or safe, or have any probable hope of abiding usefulness, without it.
I do not know that I have had anything so much at heart in my connections with you, as to impress you with a sense of the necessity and advantages of an humble frame of spirit: I hope it has not been in vain.
O! to be little in our own eyes! This is the ground-work of every grace.
This leads to a continual dependence upon the Lord Jesus.
This is the spirit which He has promised to bless.
This conciliates us good-will and acceptance amongst men.
For he that abaseth himself is sure to be honoured.
And that this temper is so hard to attain and preserve, is a striking proof of our depravity.
For are we not sinners? Were we not rebels and enemies before we knew the Gospel?
And have we not been unfaithful, backsliding, and unprofitable ever since?
Are we not redeemed by the blood of Jesus?
And can we stand a single moment unless He upholds us?
Have we any thing which we have not received: or have we received any thing which we have not abused?
Why then are dust and ashes proud?
I am glad you have found some spiritual acquaintance in your barren land. I hope you will be helpful to them, and they to you.
You do well to guard against every appearance of evil.
If you are heartily for Jesus, Satan owes you a grudge.
One way or other he will try to cut you out work, and the Lord may suffer him to go to the length of his chain.
But though you are to keep your eye upon him, and expect to hear from him at every step, you need not be slavishly afraid of him.
For Jesus is stronger and wiser than he.
And there is a complete suit of armour provided for all who are engaged on the Lord’s side.
John Newton
June 7, 1767″
–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 2 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1988), 2: 48-50.
“Be content with being a learner in the school of Christ for some years. The delay will not be lost time.
You will be so much the more acquainted with the Gospel, with your own heart, and with human nature.
The last is a necessary branch of a minister’s knowledge, and can only be acquired by comparing what passes within us, and around us, with what we read in the Word of God.
I am glad to find you have a distaste both for Arminian and Antinomian doctrines. But let not the mistakes of others sit too heavy upon you.
Be thankful for the grace that has made you to differ.
Be ready to give a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear.
But beware of engaging in disputes, without evident necessity, and some probable hope of usefulness.
They tend to eat out the life and savor of religion, and to make the soul lean and dry.
Where God has begun a real work of grace, incidental mistakes will be lessened by time and experience.
Where He has not, it is of little signification what sentiments people hold, or whether they call themselves Arminians or Calvinists.
Yours,
John Newton
March 7, 1765”
–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 2 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1988), 2: 47.
“The highest attainments in this life are very inconsiderable, compared with what should properly result from our relation and obligations to a God of infinite holiness.
The nearer we approach to Him, the more we are sensible of this. While we only hear of God as it were by the ear, we seem to be something.
But when, as in the case of Job, He discovers Himself more sensibly to us, Job’s language becomes ours, and the height of our attainment is, to abhor ourselves in dust and ashes.
I hope I do not write too late to meet you at Bath.
I pray that your health may be benefited by the waters, and your soul comforted by the Lord’s blessing upon the ordinances, and the converse of His children.
If any of the friends you expected to see are still there, to whom we are known, and my name should be mentioned, I beg you to say, we desire to be respectfully remembered to them.
Had I wings, I would fly to Bath while you are there. As it is, I endeavour to be with you in spirit.
There certainly is a real, though secret, a sweet, though mysterious, communion of saints, by virtue of their common union with Jesus.
Feeding upon the same bread, drinking of the same fountain, waiting at the same mercy-seat, and aiming at the same ends, they have fellowship one with another, though at a distance.
Who can tell how often the Holy Spirit, who is equally present with them all, touches the hearts of two or more of his children at the same instant, so as to excite a sympathy of pleasure, prayer, or praise, on each other’s account?
It revives me sometimes in a dull and dark hour to reflect, that the Lord has in mercy given me a place in the hearts of many of His people; and perhaps some of them may be speaking to Him on my behalf, when I have hardly power to utter a word for myself.
For kind services of this sort I persuade myself I am often indebted to you. O that I were enabled more fervently to repay you in the same way!
O! what will heaven be, where there shall be all who love the Lord Jesus, and they only, where all imperfection, and whatever now abates or interrupts their joy in their Lord and in each other, shall cease forever.
There at least I hope to meet you, and spend an eternity with you, in admiring the riches and glory of redeeming love.
Yours,
John Newton
October 24, 1775”
–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 2 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1988), 2: 37-39.
“The Gospel reveals one thing needful, the pearl of great price; and supposes, that they who possess this are provided for against all events, and have ground of unshaken hope, and a source of never-failing consolation under every change they can meet with during their pilgrimage state.
When His people are enabled to set their seal to this, not only in theory, when all things go smooth, but practically, when called upon to pass through the fire and water, then His grace is glorified in them and by them.
Then it appears, both to themselves and to others, that they have neither followed cunningly devised fables, nor amused themselves with empty notions.
Then they know in themselves, and it is evidenced to others, that God is with them in truth.
In this view a believer, when in some good measure divested from that narrow selfish disposition which cleaves so close to us by nature, will not only submit to trials, but rejoice in them, notwithstanding the feelings and reluctance of the flesh.
For if I am redeemed from misery by the blood of Jesus.
And if He is now preparing me a mansion near himself, that I may drink of the rivers of pleasure at his right hand forevermore, the question is not (at least ought not to be), ‘How may I pass through life with the least inconvenience?’
But rather, ‘How may my little span of life be made most subservient to the praise and glory of Him who loved me, and gave Himself for me?’ (Galatians 2:20)
Should we, therefore, not account it an honour and a privilege, when the Captain of our salvation assigns us a difficult post? Since He can and does (which no earthly commander can) inspire His soldiers with wisdom, courage, and strength, suitable to their situation. (2 Cor. 12:9-10)
I am acquainted with a few who have been led thus into the forefront of the battle: they suffered much; but I have never heard them say they suffered too much; for the Lord stood by them and strengthened them.
Go on, my dear madam: yet a little while Jesus will wipe away all tears from your eyes.
You will see your beloved friend again, and he and you will rejoice together forever.
Yours,
John Newton
April 8, 1775″
–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 2 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1988), 2: 34-36.
“It is a comfortable consideration, that He with whom we have to do, our great High Priest, who once put away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself, and now forever appears in the presence of God for us, is not only possessed of sovereign authority and infinite power, but wears our very nature, and feels and exercises in the highest degree those tendernesses and commiserations, which I conceive are essential to humanity in its perfect state.
The whole history of His wonderful life is full of inimitable instances of this kind.
His heart of mercy was moved before His arm was exerted: He condescended to mingle tears with mourners, and wept over distresses which He intended to relieve.
He is still the same in His exalted state; compassions dwell within His heart.
In a way inconceivable to us, but consistent with His supreme dignity and perfection of happiness and glory, He still feels for His people.
When Saul persecuted the members upon earth, the Head complained from heaven; and sooner shall the most tender mother sit insensible and inattentive to the cries and wants of her infant, than the Lord Jesus be an unconcerned spectator of His suffering children.
No, with the eye, and the ear, and the heart of a friend, He attends to their sorrows.
He counts their sighs, He puts their tears in his bottle.
And when our spirits are overwhelmed within us, He knows our path, and He adjusts the time, the measure of our trials, and everything that is necessary for our present support and seasonable deliverance, with the same unerring wisdom and accuracy as He weighed the mountains in scales and hills in a balance, and meted out the heavens with a span.
Still more, besides His benevolent, He has an experimental, sympathy.
He knows our sorrows, not merely as He knows all things, but as one who has been in our situation, and who, though without sin Himself, endured when upon earth inexpressibly more for us than He will ever lay upon us.
He has sanctified poverty, pain, disgrace, temptation, and death, by passing through these states.
And in whatever states His people are, they may by faith have fellowship with Him in their sufferings, and He will by sympathy and love have fellowship and interest with them in theirs.
What then shall we fear, or of what shall we complain, when all our concerns are written upon His heart, and their management, to the very hairs of our head, are under His care and providence, when He pities us more than we can do ourselves, and He has engaged His almighty power to sustain and relieve us?
However, as He is tender, He is wise also: He loves us, but especially with regard to our best interests.
If there were not something in our hearts and our situation that required discipline and medicine, He so delights in our prosperity, that we should never be in heaviness.
The innumerable comforts and mercies with which He enriches even those we call darker days, are sufficient proofs that He does not willingly grieve us.
But when He sees a need-be for chastisement, He will not withhold it because He loves us; on the contrary, that is the very reason why He afflicts.
He will put His silver into the fire to purify it.
But He sits by the furnace as a refiner, to direct the process, and to secure the end He has in view, that we may neither suffer too much nor suffer in vain.
Yours,
John Newton
November 29, 1776”
–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 2 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1988), 2: 20-21.
“The Gospel addresses both head and heart; and where it has its proper effect, where it is received as the Word of God, and is closed with the authority and energy of the Holy Spirit, the understanding is enlightened, the affections awakened and engaged, the will brought into subjection, and the whole soul delivered to its impression as wax to the seal.
When this is the case, when the affections do not take the lead, and push forward with a blind impulse, but arise from the principles of Scripture, and are governed by them, the more warmth the better.
Yet in this state of infirmity, nothing is perfect; and our natural temperament and disposition will have more influence upon our religious sensations than we are ordinarily aware.
It is well to know how to make proper allowances and abatements upon this head, in the judgment we form both of ourselves and of others. Many good people are distressed and alternately elated by frames and feelings, which perhaps are more constitutional than properly religious experiences.
I dare not tell you, Madam, what I am; but I can tell you what I wish to be.
The love of God, as manifested in Jesus Christ, is what I would wish to be the abiding object of my contemplation; not merely to speculate upon it as a doctrine, but so to feel it, and my own interest in it, as to have my heart filled with its effects, and transformed into its resemblance; that, with this glorious Exemplar in my view, I may be animated to a spirit of benevolence, love, and compassion, to all around me; that my love may be primarily fixed upon Him who has so loved me, and then, for His sake, diffused to all His children, and to all His creatures.
Then, knowing that much is forgiven to me, I should be prompted to the ready exercise of forgiveness, if I have aught against any.
Then I should be humble, patient, and submissive under all His dispensations; meek, gentle, forbearing, and kind to my fellow-worms.
Then I should be active and diligent in improving all my talents and powers in His service, and for His glory; and live not to myself, but to Him who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Yours,
John Newton
September 17, 1776”
–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 2 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 1988), 2: 18-19.
“Luke wants you to admire Joseph of Arimathea. He was ‘a good and righteous man’ (Luke 23:50). That meant he was faithful to God’s covenant and experienced its blessings. Like some others in this Gospel, he was ‘looking’– waiting expectantly– for God’s kingdom to come.
He was also a member of the Sanhedrin but had not consented to its condemnation of Jesus (perhaps its leaders had avoided summoning to the crisis meeting anyone whose loyalties they suspected). Matthew and John tell us explicitly what Luke only implies: he was also a rich man (he already owned a tomb in Jerusalem); and he was a secret disciple who, until this point, had lacked the courage to confess it (Matthew 27:57; John 19:38).
The Sanhedrin was a very select group of well-connected men. Word of mouth travelled fast in Jerusalem. Joseph must soon have learned what had happened. Jesus was dead.
It was now or never for Joseph. He stepped out of the shadows, went directly to Pilate and asked for the body. This was not without risk, or cost. If Pilate granted his request, and Joseph personally handled Jesus’ body, he would be rendering himself ritually unclean.
But he knew that otherwise Jesus’ body would probably be thrown into a common grave where the bones of many criminals already lay– perhaps right there at The Skull (was this the derivation of the name?). Some things are far more important than ritual purity.
Pilate was probably relieved. Now he could relax and forget about the problem of Jesus. Little did he know… But for Joseph there must have been three hours of feverish activity. It was already past three o’clock and the Jewish Sabbath began at six o clock– not a lot of time to get to Pilate for permission, get back to The Skull, arrange helpers, and carry Jesus’ body to the family tomb.
Why does Luke pay so much attention to Jesus’ burial? For several reasons. The first is that he removes any doubt about the reality of Jesus’ death. The Roman soldiers had made sure of that. Joseph had himself handled the body, and others had helped him prepare it for burial and carry it to the tomb.
The second is that Luke makes clear that there was no confusion about the location of Jesus’ burial place. Joseph’s tomb was new, and a variety of witnesses knew where it was.
Then, thirdly, Luke adds that the women went to prepare spices and ointments to return after the Sabbath to anoint the body. In other words, nobody– despite what Jesus had taught them– was expecting Jesus’ resurrection.
But before we come to that resurrection, we should take another look at Joseph. Of all the Gospel-writers, Luke was most like a historian in his method. But historians can also be poets and theologians. And there is something poetically theological about the way he frames his whole Gospel.
His story of Jesus life begins with him being cared for by a man named Joseph, who places him in a borrowed resting place, in which no baby had ever been laid. It ends with Jesus being cared for again by a man named Joseph, who lays him in another borrowed resting place, where no man had ever been laid.
The story has come full circle; another Joseph has received Christ into his heart and life. At the turning point of Luke’s Gospel, near the beginning of the journey to Jerusalem, Jesus had said that discipleship meant following one who had ‘nowhere to lay his head’ (Luke 9:58). Now Joseph had come out into the open as a disciple, whatever it might cost. So he gave up to Jesus the place where he had planned to lay his own head.
At the cross, Jesus had given up what was His for the sake of Joseph. Now Joseph was giving up what was his for the sake of Jesus. That is what it means to be a disciple.”
—Sinclair B. Ferguson, To Seek and to Save: Daily Reflections on the Road to the Cross (Epsom, England: Good Book Company, 2020), 142-144.
“I am not what I ought to be. Ah! How imperfect and deficient! I am not what I wish to be. I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good. I am not what I hope to be. Soon, soon, I shall put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection. Yet, though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say, I am not what I once was—a slave to sin and Satan. And I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge, ‘By the grace of God, I am what I am.’”
–Quoted in John Whitecross, The Shorter Catechism Illustrated (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1968), question 35.
Filed under Christian Theology, John Newton, Puritanical, Quotable Quotes, Sanctification
