John Legg
John Newton’s name was familiar to British Christians even before the two-hundredth anniversary of his death on December 21, 1807…Not only had he himself been a slave-trader, but after his conversion and entry into the Christian ministry, he also played an important part in William Wilberforce’s taking up the cause of the slaves. With many Christian ministers it is their preaching that draws our attention. In Newton’s case that is not so. We are told that the crowds who attended his ministry were drawn more by their love for the man than by the eloquence of the preaching. His great legacy lies elsewhere.
An Authentic Narrative
The words inscribed at his direction on his monument are: “John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy.” One aspect of his legacy is the account he published of this great change.
An Authentic Narrative of Some Remarkable and Interesting Particulars in the Life of ******** was published in 1764 at the insistence of some of his friends, including the evangelical Anglican minister, Thomas Haweis.
The initial anonymity shows that his aim was not to draw attention to himself, but to honor the work of God. The reference in his epitaph to Galatians 1:23 tells us that he considered that his experience was in line with that of Paul and others, and was therefore of value in exemplifying the essentials of true conversion. At the same time he pointed out those elements which were not typical of all. He wrote, “We must not therefore make the experience of others, in all respects, a rule to ourselves, nor our own a rule to others” (see D. Bruce Hindmarsh, John Newton and the English Evangelical Tradition, Eerdmans, 1996, p. 39). This is typical of the great pastoral wisdom which he manifested in even greater measure in his letters.
Omicron and Cardiphonia
The essence of An Authentic Narrative was communicated by Newton to an enquiring friend in the form of personal letters before taking its final form. Two years later, the Gospel Magazine began publication and Newton contributed various letters, some originally written to friends and some written in response to other correspondents of the magazine. He signed these Omicron, under which title twenty-six of them were published in 1774. This was followed in 1780 by a volume of collections of familiar letters to a variety of friends, entitled Cardiphonia, or the Utterance of the Heart. “With the publication of this volume, Newton’s place as the gentle casuist of the Revival, spiritual director of souls through the post, was secure” (Hindmarsh, p. 249).
Many of these letters have been republished for his bicentenary (e.g. Josiah Bull’s selection, Letters of John Newton, Banner of Truth Trust, 2007) though sadly, not Cardiphonia as a whole. Newton covered a vast array of topics, almost entirely to do with spiritual experience and growth. One mini-series on Christian maturity contained letters on, “Grace in the Blade,” “Grace in the Ear” and “The Full Corn in the Ear.” (When a correspondent wrote that he was in the third category, Newton replied that he had forgotten to mention that those in that category did not know it!) Four letters chosen at random are entitled, “How trials are to be estimated,” “The lessons of Christian experience,” “Self-complaints,” and “Divine sovereignty in the sufferings of believers—Christian friendship.” He did not use his letters to engage in doctrinal arguments with his colleagues in the ministry. Significantly, when the Gospel Magazine was engaged in an acrimonious exchange of views over John Wesley, Newton’s first contribution not actually based on a previous personal letter was, “On Controversy”! He wrote, “Of all people who engage in controversy, we, who are Calvinists, are most expressly bound by our own principles to the exercise of gentleness and moderation.” Newton’s letters are “easy to read.” The earnest Christian will find them full of wisdom in an easily digestible form.
Amazing Grace
To most ordinary British Christians, Newton means Amazing Grace. This hymn, which reflects Newton’s conversion experience, is one of the Olney Hymns, a collection of about 350 hymns by Newton and his good friend, William Cowper, the greatest English poet of the day, which was published in 1779. These were originally intended to explain Newton’s sermons and help his relatively uneducated people to remember the teaching. They were used at the mid-week meeting in Olney, where Newton explained the text on which the hymn was based, before it was sung. He was not a poet like Cowper, but he was a fine hymn-writer. Cowper himself subordinated his gifts to the need to provide spiritual food for his fellow-believers.
As in his letters, so here Newton displayed his remarkable pastoral gift. As well as “Amazing Grace,” many of Newton’s hymns are both familiar and much-loved. We may mention among others, “How sweet the name of Jesus sounds,” “Glorious things of Thee are spoken,” “Approach, my soul, the mercy-seat,” and “Begone, unbelief; my Savior is near.” Less familiar, and less singable, but full of pastoral wisdom, is “I asked the Lord that I might grow.” Newton explains how the Lord, instead of answering his prayer directly, made him “feel the hidden evils of (his) heart.” The hymn closes with the Lord’s explanation:
These inward trials I employ,
From self and pride to set thee free,
And break thy schemes of earthly joy
That thou mayest seek thy all in Me. (Christian Hymns 698)
A similar hymn, one of my favorites, but not found in modern hymn-books, says,
’Tis my happiness below,
Not to live without the cross,
But the Savior’s power to know
Sanctifying every loss.
Trials must and will befall
But with humble faith to see
Love inscribed upon them all,
This is happiness to me.
— Olney Hymns No. 35
A Lump of Sugar
Newton is often described as “a moderate Calvinist,” but this can be misleading. He was certainly not an extreme Calvinist, but his views of the doctrines of grace were clear and uncompromising. He asserted that he took the doctrines from the Scriptures, not from Calvin. He wrote on one occasion, “If you mean by a rigid Calvinist, one who is fierce, dogmatical, and censorious, and ready to deal out anathemas against all who differ from him, I hope I am no more such than I am a rigid papist. But as to the doctrines which are now stigmatized by the name Calvinism, I cannot well avoid the epithet rigid, while I believe them: for there seems to be no medium between holding them and not holding them; between ascribing salvation to the will of man, or the power of God; between grace and works.”
On the other hand, we have his own description of his practice. Speaking to William Jay of Bath, a well-known fellow minister, he confessed, “I am more a Calvinist than anything else; but I use my Calvinism in my writings and my preaching as I use this sugar.” Then, taking a lump, he put it into his teacup and stirred it, adding, “I do not give it alone and whole, but mixed and diluted” (see Todd Murray, Beyond Amazing Grace, Evangelical Press, 2007, pp. 50–51).
Perhaps Newton’s greatest legacy, however, is the example of his enduring faith. Towards the end of his life he described himself “like a person going a journey on a coach, who expects its arrival every hour, and is frequently looking out at the window for it.” On another occasion he said he was “packed and sealed, and waiting for the post.” This sure and certain hope, however, would be empty without the basis to be found in his confession: “My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior” (see Brian H. Edwards, Through Many Dangers, Evangelical Press, 2001, pp. 347–48).
John Legg is a well-known author and a member of the editorial board of The Evangelical Magazine, from which this article is reprinted. He pastored for more than forty years before retiring to Cardiff, South Wales.
Published by The Banner of Sovereign Grace Truth, used with permission.