SermonIndex Audio Sermons
SermonIndex - Promoting Revival to this Generation
Give To SermonIndex
Discussion Forum : General Topics : Letters of John Newton

Print Thread (PDF)

Goto page ( Previous Page 1 | 2 )
PosterThread
ccchhhrrriiisss
Member



Joined: 2003/11/23
Posts: 4779


 Re:

Quote:

theopenlife wrote:
I recently finished the Penguin Paperbacks version of Grace Abounding, purchased at discount on monergismbooks.com. This is it: [url=http://www.monergismbooks.com/Grace-Abounding-to-the-Chief-of-Sinners-p-16243.html]Grace Abounding[/url]



Thanks! What a bargain!

:-)


_________________
Christopher

 2008/12/19 18:10Profile
roaringlamb
Member



Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 1519
Santa Cruz California

 Re:

Another great collection of letters are those of Samuel Rutherford-
[url=http://www.monergismbooks.com/Letters-of-Samuel-Rutherford-PP-p-16283.html]Letters of Samuel Rutherford(paperback)[/url]

There is also an unabridged version-
[url=http://www.monergismbooks.com/Letters-of-Samuel-Rutherford-Unabridged-p-16326.html]Letters(unabridged)[/url]


And also a very helpful little pocket sized book of excerpts from the letters(very good)-
[url=http://www.monergismbooks.com/The-Loveliness-of-Christ-p-17559.html]Loveliness of Christ[/url]

The majority of these letters were written while Rutherford was imprisoned, yet they exude and exalt Christ.


_________________
patrick heaviside

 2008/12/19 18:36Profile
Fuegodedios
Member



Joined: 2007/2/21
Posts: 220
Richmond, VA

 Re:

Thanks for the recommended books. I actually wanted to buy the John Newton Letters. I will add this to my list of many books I want to read. Thanks


_________________
Demetrius

 2008/12/19 19:18Profile
PaulWest
Member



Joined: 2006/6/28
Posts: 3405
Dallas, Texas

 Re:

While we're on the subject of John Newton, I would invite you to also study his hymns. They are all comprised of real meat; in one hymn alone you often get a full meal.

Take the following hymn for example:

How David, when by sin deceived,
From bad to worse went on!
For when the Holy Spirit’s grieved,
Our strength and guard are gone.

His eye on Bathsheba once fixed,
With poison filled his soul;
He ventured on adultery next,
And murder crowned the whole.

So from a spark of fire at first,
That has not been descried;
A dreadful flame has often burst,
And ravaged far and wide.

When sin deceives it hardens too,
For though he vainly fought
To hide his crimes from public view,
Of God he little thought.

He neither would, or could repent,
No true compunction felt;
’Till God in mercy Nathan sent,
His stubborn heart to melt.

The parable held forth a fact,
Designed his case to show;
But though the picture was exact,
Himself he did not know.

“Thou art the man,” the prophet said,
That word his slumber broke;
And when he owned his sin, and prayed,
The Lord forgiveness spoke.

Let those who think they stand, beware,
For David stood before;
Nor let the fallen soul despair,
For mercy can restore.

This sober hymn recounts David's notorious failing with Bathsheba, but Newton is able bring it home to us in a very close and personal way. In a few short stanzas he is able to crack the shell and extract the kernel of truth as it pertains to us under the New Covenant. You'll find everything there: the subject, the cause, the result, the warning, and finally, the restoration. It's a blessed parallel, a perfect fit, and it further teaches us what good, solid hermeneutics look like. It whets your appetite to dive deeper in the scriptures to discover your own treaures. What New Testament gems can be uncovered from the account of Joseph and Potipher's wife? Of Samson and Delilah? Of Elijah and Jezebel? It's exciting to think we will spend our lifetimes mining this trove and never reach the bottom. When I think of the Bible, I remember this old cartoon I saw when I was a child of Ali Baba and the thieves. They had broken into a treasure chamber, and all you could see was an ocean of coins and sparkling diamonds and rubies. You could see half-open treasure chests portruding from the mounds of coins which were totally gourged with jewelry and more gold coins and emeralds. Treasures upon treasures. I remember the ecstatic thieves diving into this abyss of gold coins, going down beneath the surface, and coming back up with sapphire crowns and scintillating necklaces and shimmering cutlasses and all kinds of glittering stones cascading down their heads like water. It was as if the sea of riches had no bottom, no horizon - it just went on and on and on.

That's how I see the Bible, only the Bible's riches are far more marvellous. They can transform you from the inside out and give you supernatural wisdom. The wisdom from above is priceless, to be sought more ardently than mere silver and gold and corruptible stones. The treasure den in the Ali Baba story had a door; God's wisdom and choicest riches come from above, from a doorless eternity. The only requirement to enter into this exceedingly abundant storehouse is to simply "ask" of God; He is waiting on His throne to give us from His storehouse more riches than we can possibly fathom.

O dear Lord, we thank thee for thy Word.


_________________
Paul Frederick West

 2008/12/19 21:24Profile
crsschk
Member



Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: John Newton's Letters

[b]On Dreaming[/b]

1 When slumber seals our weary eyes,
The busy fancy wakeful keeps;
The scenes which then before us rise,
Prove something in us never sleeps.

2 As in another world we seem,
A new creation of our own,
All appears real, though a dream,
And all familiar, though unknown.

3 Sometimes the mind beholds again
The past day's business in review,
Resumes the pleasure or the pain;
And sometimes all we meet is new.

4 What schemes we form, what pains we take!
We fight, we run, we fly, we fall;
But all is ended when we wake,
We scarcely then a trace recall.

5 But though our dreams are often wild,
Like clouds before the driving storm;
Yet some important may be styl'd,
Sent to admonish or inform.

6 What mighty agents have access,
What friends from heav'n, or foes from hell,
Our minds to comfort or distress,
When we are sleeping, who can tell?

7 One thing, at least, and 'tis enough,
We learn from this surprising fact;
Our dreams afford sufficient proof,
The soul, without the flesh, can act.

8 This life, which mortals so esteem,
That many choose it for their all,
They will confess, was but a dream,***
When 'waken'd by death's awful call.

***Isaiah 29:8

[url=http://www.puritansermons.com/newton/newt_b.htm]John Newton[/url]


_________________
Mike Balog

 2008/12/21 0:04Profile
tjservant
Member



Joined: 2006/8/25
Posts: 1658
Indiana USA

 Re:

Bitter and Sweet


Kindle, Saviour, in my heart,
A flame of love divine;
Hear, for mine I trust thou art,
And sure I would be thine;
If my soul has felt thy grace,
If to me thy name is known;
Why should trifles fill the place
Due to thyself alone?

'Tis a strange mysterious life
I live from day to day;
Light and darkness, peace and strife,
Bear an alternate sway:
When I think the battle won,
I have to fight it o'er again;
When I say I'm overthrown,
Relief I soon obtain.

Often at the mercy-seat,
While calling on thy name,
Swarms of evil thoughts I meet,
Which fill my soul with shame.
Agitated in my mind,
Like a feather in the air,
Can I thus a blessing find?
My soul, can this be pray'r?

But when Christ, my Lord and Friend,
Is pleas'd to show his pow'r
All at once my troubles end,
And I've a golden hour;
Then I see his smiling face,
Feel the pledge of joys to come:
Often, Lord, repeat this grace
Till thou shalt call me home.

John Newton


_________________
TJ

 2008/12/21 7:48Profile
crsschk
Member



Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: Letters of John Newton

Wondering just what you all are gleaning from your reading of these things, the books mentioned ...

Thought I might call it up to attention again.

I have been really busy and can only grab short times of reading but that which I have has me already thinking out ahead to more and more - Briefly, one of the things that has really stood out to me is the parallels to even this setting, this forum. It is a form of 'letter writing' in it's own rite and perhaps the challenge is that rather than the more personal letter that is one to one - It's one to many ...

At the same time though it has been also a humbling and a conviction, just how far yet there is to go - where I have failed to be as charitable as I ought amongst other things ...

Have been going back and forth between the two books mentioned earlier - One being more of a discourse and extrapolation of his life, the style of his writings and so forth ... too early to tell and frankly some of it sits a bit skewered in making much ado of the 'style' of writing, the comparisons to the novel and it's development - it's done fairly enough ... maybe it's the slight sense of too much tweaking with someones expressed honesty? Too didactic? Again, still early ...

A couple of things that caught my attention and had me searching all about for more info. One, [i]The Eclectic Society[/i] which was mentioned in the same book and a bit to follow, the other being the [i]Authentic Narrative[/i] that looks to be the next up on the list somewhere down the road. Even within that [i]Narrative[/i], some names that influenced him have me also wanting to know more about them as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[b]Newton clips from Cornerstone course[/b]


Here are a few highlights from the Cornerstone course--John Newton session. They are pretty raw, but I thought folks might like to see and interact with them:
***

Yes, he was a sea captain—a backslider from his mother's evangelical faith—who worked in the slave trade and had many adventures and near-death experiences. And yes, it was a storm at sea that first turned him back to God in prayer, (although his ship didn't capsize).

But Newton didn't get hauled out of the water, dry himself off, and write the famous hymn. No, "Amazing Grace" belonged to a second, and Newton believed, far more exciting and important, phase of his life. The part where he became the Anglican curate of an impoverished English midlands town, then the rector of one of London's most prestigious parishes. And became the most influential person to shape evangelicalism in its crucial "teen years" after the heyday of John Wesley.

To Newton, those years as a lonely soul wrestling with God through dangerous situations in exotic locales did not hold a candle, for excitement and eternal significance, to his long career as a pastor.

. . . the hundreds of warm Christian friendships he built over the years, and the work he did to bring Christians together across boundaries of class, denomination, and theology. [b]These[/b] were the touchstone of his years as pastor—and what he would really want us to remember him for.



Newton was the ultimate Christian boundary-crosser and bridge-builder. He was a Calvinist who accepted Arminians, a state-church pastor who encouraged independent churches, friend of prominent personalities who was comfortable in the company of the working poor.


In an America more pluralistic than ever on its Christian scene—not to mention the many non-Christian religions—John Newton is a man worth knowing.
***

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.


Though some today wonder if the word "wretch" is hyperbole or a bit of dramatic license, John Newton clearly did not think so. In fact often, throughout his life, he referred to himself as "the old African blasphemer."
***

It was during this period of peak influence in his London parish that Newton founded the Eclectic Society, a group of like-minded "Gospel" clergy, to discuss the issues of the day. It was, he said, "the society that bears no name, and espouses no party." It included in its membership Anglicans, nonconformists, and even a Moravian or two.

The agenda of each monthly meeting was driven by a single question, submitted by one of the members at the end of the previous meeting. The members would take turns answering, and Newton kept minutes in a small journal.

The questions spanned theological issues, cultural trends, and the practical trials and dilemmas of church and family life—from "How should we reconcile Paul and James on justification?" to "What are the particular dangers of youth in the present day?"

Newton insisted the group maintain a high tone of gracious humility. In responding to theological error and dealing with ecclesiastical foes, kindness always took precedence over sternness and persuasion over polemics.

"If we stretch our authority, we lose it," Newton observed.

In both its charitable tone and its parachurch format, the Eclectic Society became the model for other parachurch societies (including William Wilberforce's influential Clapham Sect) and agencies (including the great British missionary societies, two of which were birthed out of the Eclectic Society).

***

[b]How Did Newton Build Bridges?[/b]

By ministering to the needy, engendering hope in hopeless places.

By building broad personal friendships, fostered by considerable personal correspondence.

By holding fast to his theological convictions, but not allowing them to prevent cooperation.

By working within the government-sanctioned religious system where possible, around it only when necessary.

By giving lay people power and responsibility, encouraging their freedom of thought (unfortunately, at the expense of his pastoral authority).


By gathering people with divergent views and encouraging civil conversation.


[url=http://deadchristianssociety.blog.com/JOHN+NEWTON/]Dead Christians Society[/url]

([i]Neat site![/i])


_________________
Mike Balog

 2009/1/30 11:11Profile
crsschk
Member



Joined: 2003/6/11
Posts: 9192
Santa Clara, CA

 Re: Letters of John Newton

[b]If I should meet a child who has lost his penny[/b]

[url=http://www.gracegems.org/Newton/John_Newton1.htm](Letters of John Newton)
[/url]

"The Lord's servant must not quarrel; instead, he must be kind to everyone." 2 Timothy 2:24

John Newton's biographer writes, "When Mr. Newton moved to London--being of the most friendly and generous disposition, his house was open to Christians of all social ranks and church denominations. Here, like a father among his children, he used to entertain, encourage, and instruct his friends. Here also the poor, the afflicted, and the tempted found an asylum and a sympathy, which they could scarcely find, in an equal degree, anywhere else. Sometimes his whole day was so benevolently spent, that he was found both rejoicing with those who rejoiced--and literally weeping with those who wept!

"I remember to have heard him say, 'I see two heaps in this world--of human happiness and misery. If I can take but the smallest bit from one heap--and add to the other, I shall be content. As I am on my way home, if I should meet a child who has lost his penny--and if, by giving him another penny, I could wipe away his tears--I feel I have done something. I would be glad, indeed, to do greater things--but I will not neglect these smaller acts of kindness.'

"Therefore, as God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Colossians 3:12


_________________
Mike Balog

 2009/7/6 7:54Profile
JoanM
Member



Joined: 2008/4/7
Posts: 797


 Re: Letters and notes of John Newton

Dear Brother Crsschk

You wrote: "[u]Newton was the ultimate Christian boundary-crosser and bridge-builder[/u]". AND from Newton -- "[u]If I can take but the smallest bit from one heap--and add to the other[/u] ..."

Frankly, that is evangelism, witnessing the crossing of that great fixed gulf.

There is a wonderful example of this that Newton may or may not have been aware of as he put words and music (letters and notes) to what God put into his heart. You might almost call it evidence of the gifts and enabling that God gives in salvation. His purpose becomes worked out in all we do, large and small, visible and hidden.

[url=http://pjcockrell.wordpress.com/2007/11/22/amazing-grace-just-the-black-notes/]Enjoy[/url] redemption in a sorrow chant. Connected (bridged) by God's Amazing Grace. I would not even be surprised if the sorrow chant itself was redeemed by God as the gospel saturated hearts that first heard it in physical chains. (Godly sorrow is a precious gift.)

 2009/7/6 11:06Profile





©2002-2024 SermonIndex.net
Promoting Revival to this Generation.
Privacy Policy