03.0007. Vol 01 - REMARKS MADE BY MR. NEWTON, IN FAMILIAR CONVERSATION

REMARKS MADE BY MR. NEWTON, IN FAMILIAR CONVERSATION

"While the mariner uses the loadstone, the philosopher may attempt to investigate the cause; but, after all, in steering through the ocean, he can make no other use of it than the mariner."

"If an angel were sent to find the most perfect man, he would probably not find him composing a body of divinity, but perhaps a cripple in a poor-house, whom the parish wish dead; a man humbled before God, with far lower thoughts of himself than others have of him."

"When a Christian goes into the world, because he sees it is his call, yet, while he feels it also his cross, it will not hurt him."

"Satan will seldom come to a Christian with a gross temptation: a green log and a candle may be safely left together; but bring a few shavings, then some small sticks, and then larger, and you may soon bring the green log to ashes."

"If two angels came down from heaven to execute a Divine command, and one was appointed to conduct an empire, and the other to sweep a street in it, they would feel no inclination to choose employments."

"The post of honor in an army is not with the baggage, nor with the women."

"What some call providential openings are often powerful temptations. The heart, in wandering, cries, ’Here is a way opened before me;’ but, perhaps, not to be trodden, but rejected."

"Young people marry, as others study navigation, by the fire-side. If they marry unsuitably, they can scarcely bring things to rule; but, like sailors, they must sail as near the wind as they can. I feel myself like a traveler with his wife in his chaise and one: if the ground is smooth, and she keeps the right pace, and is willing to deliver the reins when I ask for them, I am always willing to let her drive."

"A Christian should never plead spirituality for being a sloven: if he be but a shoe-cleaner, he should be the best in the parish."

"My course of study, like that of a surgeon, has principally consisted in walking the hospital."

"In divinity, as well as in the other professions, there are the little artists. A man may be able to execute the buttons of a statue very neatly, but I could not call him an able artist. There is an air, there is a taste, to which his narrow capacity cannot reach."

"My principal method of defeating heresy, is, by establishing truth. One proposes to fill a bushel with tares: now, if I can fill it first with wheat, I shall defy his attempts."

"When some people talk of religion, they mean they have heard so many sermons, and performed so many devotions; and thus mistake the means for the end. But true religion is a habitual recollection of God and intention to serve him; and this turns every thing into gold. We are apt to suppose that we need something splendid to evince our devotion, but true devotion equals things: washing plates, and cleaning shoes, is a high office, if performed in a right spirit. If three angels were sent to earth, they would feel perfect indifference who should perform the part of prime minister, parish minister, or watchman."

"When a ship goes to sea, among a vast variety of its articles and circumstances there is but one object regarded; namely, doing the business of the voyage: every bucket is employed with respect to that."

"Many have puzzled themselves about the origin of evil: I observe there is evil, and that there is a way to escape it; and with this I begin and end."

"Consecrated things, under the Law, were first sprinkled with blood, and then anointed with oil, and thenceforward were no more common. Every Christian has been a common vessel for profane purposes; but, when sprinkled and anointed, under the Gospel, he becomes separated and consecrated to God."

"I would not give a straw for that assurance which sin will not damp. If David had come from his adultery, and had talked of his assurance at that time, I should have despised his speech."

"A spirit of adoption is the spirit of a child: he may disoblige his father, yet he is not afraid of being turned out of doors. The union is not dissolved, though the corn. reunion is. He is not well with his father; therefore must be unhappy, as their interests are inseparable."

"We often seek to apply cordials when the patient is not prepared for them; and it is to the patient’s advantage, that he cannot take a medicine when prematurely offered. When a man comes to me, and says, ’I am quite happy,’ I am not sorry to find him come again with some fears. I never saw a work of grace stand well without a check.--’I only want,’ says one, ’to be sure of being safe, and then I will go on.’ No; perhaps, then you will go off."

"A Christian in the world, is like a man who has had a long intimacy with one whom at length he finds to have been the murderer of a kind father: the intimacy, after this, will surely be broken."

"Except a ,man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.--A man may live in a deep mine in Hungary, never having seen the light of the sun: he may have received accounts of prospects, and, by the help of a candle, may have examined a few engravings of them; but, let him be brought out of the mine, and set on the mountain--what a difference appears!"

"Candor will always allow much for inexperience. I have been thirty years forming my own views; and, in the course of this time, some of my hills have sunk. and some of my valleys have risen: but, how unreasonable would it be to expect all this should take place in another person; and that, in the course of a year or two."

"Candor forbids us to estimate a character from his accidental blots. Yet it is thus that David, and others, have been treated."

"Apollos met with two candid people in the church: they neither run away because he was legal, nor were carried away because he was eloquent."

"There is the analogy of faith: it is a master-key, which not only opens particular doors, but carries you through the whole house. But an attachment to a rigid system is dangerous.--Luther once turned out the Epistle of St. James, because it disturbed his system.--I shall preach, perhaps, very usefully upon two opposite texts, while kept apart: but, if I attempt nicely to reconcile them, it is ten to one if I do not begin to bungle."

"We are surprised at the fall of a famous professor; but, in the sight of God, the man was gone before: we, only, have now first discovered it. He that despiseth small things shall fall by little and little."

"There are critical times of danger. After great services, honors, and consolations, we should stand upon our guard. Noah--Lot--David--Solomon, fell in these circumstances. Satan is a robber: a robber will not attack a man in going to the Bank, but in returning with his pocket full of money."

"A Christian is like a young nobleman, who, on going to receive his estate, is at first enchanted with its prospects: this, in a course of time, may wear off; but a sense of the value of the estate grows daily."

"When we first enter into the divine life, we propose to grow rich: God’s plan is to make us feel poor."

"Good men have need to take heed of building upon groundless impressions. Mr. Whitfield had a son, whom he imagined born to be a very extraordinary man: but the son soon died, and the father was cured of his mistake."

"Christ has taken our nature into heaven, to represent us; and has left us on earth, with his nature, to represent him."

"Worldly men will be true to their principles; and if we were as true to ours, the visits between the two parties would be short and seldom."

"A Christian in the world, is like a man transacting his affairs in the rain. He will not suddenly leave his client because it rains; but, the moment the business is done, he is gone: as it is said in the Acts, Being let go, they went to their own company."

"The Scriptures are so full, that every case may be found in them.--A rake went into a church, and tried to decoy a girl, by saying, ’Why do you attend to such stuff as these Scriptures?’-- ’Because,’ said she, ’they tell me, that, in the last days, there shall come such scoffers as you.’"

"God deals with us as we do with our children: he first speaks; then, gives a gentle stroke; at last, a blow."

"The religion of a sinner stands on two pillars; namely, what Christ did for us in his flesh, and what he performs in us by his Spirit. Most errors arise from an attempt to separate these two.”

"Man is not taught any thing to purpose till God becomes his teacher: and then the glare of the world is put out, and the value of the soul rises in full view. A man’s present sentiments may not be accurate, but we make too much of sentiments. We pass a field with a few blades: we call it a field of wheat; yet here is no wheat in perfection; but wheat is sown, and full ears may be expected."

"The word Temperance, in the New Testament, signifies self-possession: it is a disposition suitable to one who has a race to run, and therefore will not load his pockets with lead."

"Contrivers of systems on the earth, are like contrivers of systems in the heavens; where the sun and moon keep the same course, in spite of the philosophers."

"I endeavor to walk through the world as a physician goes through Bedlam: the patients make a noise, pester him with impertinence, and hinder him in his business; but he does the best he can, and so gets through."

"A man always in society, is one always on the spend: on the other hand, a mere solitary is, at his best, but a candle in an empty room."

"If we were upon the watch for improvement, the common news of the day would furnish it: the falling of the tower in Siloam, and the slaughter of the Galileans, were the news of the day; which our Lord improved."

"The generality make out their righteousness, by comparing themselves with some others whom they think worse. A woman of the town, who was dying of disease in the Lock Hospital, was offended at a minister speaking to her as a sinner, because she had never picked a pocket."

"Take away a toy from a child and give him another, and he is satisfied; but if he be hungry, no toy will do. As new-born babes, true believers desire the sincere milk of the word; and the desire of grace, in this way, is grace."

One said, that the great Saints in the Calendar were many of them poor Sinners. Mr. N. replied, "They were poor Saints indeed, if they did not feel that they were great Sinners."

"A wise man looks upon men as he does upon horses, and considers their caparisons of title, wealth, and place, but as harness."

"The force of what we deliver from the pulpit is often lost by a starched, and what is frequently called a correct, style; and, especially, by adding meretricious ornaments. --I called upon a lady who had been robbed, and she gave me a striking account of the fact; but had she put it into heroics, I should neither so well have understood her, nor been so well convinced that she had been robbed."

"When a man says he received a blessing under a sermon, I begin to inquire the character of the man who speaks of the help he has received. The Roman people proved the effect they received under a sermon of Antony, when they flew to avenge the death of Caesar."

"The Lord has reasons far beyond our ken, for opening a wide door, while he stops the mouth of a useful preacher. John Bunyan would not have done half the good he did, if he had remained preaching in Bedford, instead of being shut up in Bedford prison."

"If I could go to France, and give every man in it a right and peaceable mind by my labor, I should have a statue: but, to produce such an effect in the conversion of one soul, would be a far greater achievement."

"Ministers would over-rate their labors, if they did not think it worth while to be born, and spend ten thousand years in labor and contempt, to recover one soul."

"Don’t tell me of your feelings. A traveler would be glad of fine weather; but, if he be a man of business, he will go on. Bunyan says, you must not judge of a man’s haste by his horse; for when the horse can hardly move, you may see, by the rider’s urging him, what a hurry he is in."

"A man and a beast may stand upon the same mountain, and even touch one another; yet they are in two different worlds: the beast perceives nothing but the grass; but the man contemplates the prospect, and thinks of a thousand remote things. Thus a Christian may be solitary at a full exchange: he can converse with the people there upon trade, politics, and the stocks; but they cannot talk with him upon the peace of God which passeth all understanding."

"It is a mere fallacy to talk of the sins of a short life. The sinner is always a sinner. Put a pump into a river; you may throw out some water, but the river remains."

"Professors, who own the doctrines of free grace, often act inconsistently with their own principle when they are angry at the defects of others. A company of travelers fall into a pit: one of them gets a passenger to draw him out. Now he should not be angry with the rest for falling in; nor because they are not yet out, as he is. He did not pull himself out: instead, therefore, of reproaching them, he should shew them pity. He should avoid, at any rate, going down upon their ground again; and shew how much better and happier he is upon his own. We should take care that we do not make our profession of religion a receipt in full for all other obligations. A man, truly illuminated, will no more despise others, than Bartimeus, after his own eyes were opened, would take a stick, and beat every blind man he met."

"We much mistake, in supposing that the removal of a particular objection would satisfy the objector. Suppose I am in bed, and want to know whether it be light, it is not enough if I draw back the curtain; for though there be light, I must have eyes to see it."

"Too deep a consideration of eternal realities might unfit a man for his present circumstances. Walking through St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, or Bedlam, must deeply affect a feeling mind; but, in reality, this world is a far worse scene. It has but two wards: in the one, men are miserable; in the other, mad."

"Some preachers near Olney dwelt on the doctrine of predestination: an old woman said, ’Ah! I have long settled that point: for, if God had not chosen me before I was born, I am sure he would have seen nothing in me to have chosen me for afterwards.’"

"I see the unprofitableness of controversy in the case of Job and his friends: for, if God had not interposed, had they lived to this day, they would have continued the dispute."

"It is pure mercy that negatives a particular request. A miser would pray very earnestly for gold, if he believed prayer would gain it: whereas, if Christ had any favor to him, he would take his gold away. A child walks in the garden in spring, and sees cherries: he knows they are good fruit, and therefore asks for them. ’No, my dear,’ says the father, ’they are not yet ripe: stay till the season.’"

"If I cannot take pleasure in infirmities, I can sometimes feel the profit of them. I can conceive a king to pardon a rebel, and take him into his family, and then say, ’I appoint you, for a season, to wear a fetter. At a certain season, I will send a messenger to knock it off. In the mean time, this fetter will serve to remind you of your state: it may humble you, and restrain you from rambling.’"

"Some Christians, at a glance, seem of a superior order, and are not: they want a certain quality. At a florists’ feast the other day, a certain flower was determined to bear the bell; but it was found to be an artificial flower: there is a quality, called GROWTH, which it had not."

"Doctor Taylor of Norwich said to me, ’Sir, I have collated every word in the Hebrew Scriptures seventeen times; and it is very strange if the doctrine of atonement, which you hold, should not have been found by me.’--I am not surprised at this: I once went to light my candle with the extinguisher on it; now, prejudices from education, learning, &c., often form an extinguisher. It is not enough that you bring the candle: you must remove the extinguisher."

"I measure ministers by square measure. I have no idea of the size of a table, if you only tell me how long it is: but, if you also say how wide, I can tell its dimensions. So, when you tell me what a man is in the pulpit, you must also tell me what he is out of it, or I shall not know his size."

"A man should be born to high things not to lose himself in them. Slater’s will walk on the ridge of a house with ease, which would turn our heads."

"Much depends on the way we come into trouble. Paul and Jonah were both in a storm, but in very different circumstances."

"I have read of many wicked popes, but the worst pope I ever met with is POPE SELF."

"The men of this world are children. Offer a child an apple and a bank note, he will doubtless choose the apple."

"The heir of a great estate, while a child, thinks more of a few shillings in his pocket than of his inheritance. So a Christian is often more elated by some frame of heart than by his title to glory."

"A dutiful child is ever looking forward to the holidays, when he shall return to his father; but he does not think of running from school before."

"The Gospel is a proclamation of free mercy to guilty creatures--an act of grace to rebels. Now, though a rebel should throw away his pistols, and determine to go into the woods, and make his mind better before he goes to court and pleads the act; he may, indeed, not be found in arms, yet, being taken in his reforming scheme, he will be hanged."

"Man is made capable of three births: by nature, he enters into the present world; by grace, into spiritual light and life; by death, into glory."

"In my imagination, I sometimes fancy I could make a perfect minister. I take the eloquence of ----, the knowledge of----, the zeal of ----, and the pastoral meekness, tenderness, and piety of ----: then, putting them all together into one man, I say to myself, ’This would be a perfect minister.’ Now there is One, who, if he chose it, could actually do this; but he never did. He has seen fit to do otherwise, and to divide these gifts to every man severally as he will."

"I feel like a man who has no money in his pocket, but is allowed to draw for all he wants upon one infinitely rich: I am therefore, at once both a beggar and a richman."

"I went one day to Mrs. G-----’s, just after she had lost all her fortune. I could not be surprised to find her in tears: but she said, ’I suppose you think I am crying for my loss, but that is not the case: I am now weeping to think I should feel so much uneasiness on the account.’ After that I never heard her speak again upon the subject as long as she lived. Now this is just as it should be. Suppose a man was going to York to take possession of a large estate, and his chaise should break down a mile before he got to the city, which obliged him to walk the rest of the way; what a fool we should think him, if we saw him wringing his hands, and blubbering out all the remaining mile, ’My chaise is broken! My chaise is broken!’"

"I have many books that I cannot sit down to read: they are, indeed, good and sound; but, like halfpence, there goes a great quantity to a little amount. There are silver books; and a very few golden books: but I have one book worth more than all, called the Bible; and that is a book of bank-notes."

I conclude these remarks, not because my memorandum-book is exhausted, but lest the reader should think I forget the old maxim, ne quid nimis. No undue liberty, however, has been taken in publishing Mr. N.’s private conversation, since all the above remarks were submitted to him as intended for this publication, and were approved.