In recent months I have been praying for fresh reading material. In a measure I believe part of that answered prayer has been a look at the works of John Newton (1725-1807). He is best known for his dramatic Christian testimony as a godless Captain of a slave ship to becoming a born again Christian. Later he became a church pastor par excellence.
During a season of ministry in Olney, Buckinghamshire, he teamed up with William Cowper and they wrote some magnificent hymns together. Cowper wrote many such as "There is a fountain filled with blood" and "God moves in mysterious ways" among many. John Newton is most famous, because he penned the worldwide known hymn "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound". In the hymn book New Christian Hymns, there are 18 hymns recorded by Newton; ones which are firmly anchored in Scripture.
A delight to my own soul has been discovering "The Works of John Newton" published in four volumes by Banner of Truth. Let me whet your appetite. In Volume 1, there is an outstanding letter (number XIII, p 148) called "On Hearing Sermons". It is outstanding and it drips with pastoral and theological wisdom. Letters X-XII are on sanctification which expounds Mark 4:28 "The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear". It is peerless in its quality, do read it!
What more shall we say of Newton the anti-slave trade advocate and much more? I exhort pastors especially to draw from the well of wisdom from this 18th Century lover of Christ and lover of souls.
No comments:
Post a Comment