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 fcf PRINCETON, N. J. 
 
 Presented by6^S'0.(!A.(7\.\/ioO<>,nu\\ 
 
 Division 
 
 e . 5"I33 
 Section - 
 
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LETTERS 
 
 CONVERSATIONAL REMARKS, 
 
 BY THE LATE 
 
 REV. JOHN NEWTON, 
 
 XECTOJl OF ST. MARY WOOLJYOTH, 
 
 LOMBARD-STREET, LONDON I 
 
 DBSIKC THE LAST EIGHTEEN YEARS OP HIS LIFE. 
 
 PUBLISHED BY S. WHITING & CO. THEOLOGICAL AND 
 CLASSICAL BOOKSELLERS, 96 BROADWAY. 
 
 Paul 6? Thomas, Printers. 
 
 "mi"' 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 THOUGH the publication of the letters of Whitfield, Cow- 
 per, Romaine, Cadogan, and many other valuable characters, 
 after their decease, may be deemed a sufficient apology for 
 publishing the no less valuable letters of the late worthy Mr- 
 Newton ; still it may be proper and satisfactory to state the 
 circumstances which induced me to send them abroad at the 
 present time. 
 
 On the Lord's day evening after the death of Mr. New- 
 ton, I preached a sermon in Kingsland Chapel, in reference 
 to that event. Before concluding- the discourse, I read a few 
 extracts from those letters which he wrote to me while re. 
 siding .in Edinburgh, wherein his views respecting his final 
 dismission were very impressively stated. Since that time 
 1 have been repeatedly requested to publish such letters 
 from him as were in my possession. This led me to look 
 over the correspondence, which appeared so truly interesting' 
 that I was induced to make a selection, leaving out whatever 
 I thought he would have suppressed had he revised them 
 himself for publication. 
 
 I was peculiarly pleased to find, on reviewing my papers, 
 that immediately after Mr. Newton became incapable to carry 
 on epistolary correspondence, I had kept journals of my va- 
 rious visits to London, previous to my settling in its neigh- 
 bourhood j and that in these journals I had inserted the sub- 
 stance of many conversations which I had with that excellent 
 man. This I did entirely for my own gratification. I cannot, 
 
iv 
 
 however, help viewing the period of my commencing thi» 
 practice as having- been overruled by a higher hand, espe- 
 cially as it happened immediately after Mr. Newton's eye-sight 
 was so impaired as to render him unable to write any more 
 letters to his friends; so that the letters and conversations 
 make a connected history of that valuable man, for the last 
 eighteen years of his life. 
 
 Having finished my extracts, I put them aside, not to be 
 published till after my own dissolution. Since which time, 
 various friends at a distance, who knew that Air. Newton had 
 written to me many valuable letters, have very strenuously ur- 
 ged their immediate publication, observing, that every day I 
 withheld them unnecessarily from the public, I was sinfully 
 withholding a mean of great usefulness. This determined 
 me to send them to press as soon as 1 conveniently could. 
 
 I have only to add that I enjoyed great pleasure in per- 
 forming the task of transcriber. Indeed, it is the only book 
 I have published that I was sorry when I came to the con- 
 clusion. I have been edified and comforted almost by every 
 page, and have no doubt but many readers will be affected in 
 the same way. They are commended to the care and blessing 
 of a gracious God. 
 
 JOHN CAMPBELL. 
 
 KINGSLAND, 
 December 16, 180*. 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 LETTER I. 
 
 London, November 13, 1789. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 ####### 
 
 I AM sorry Dr. M**** should occasion 
 trouble to himself or others. Whatever judg- 
 ment may be formed of his book, the truth which 
 he opposes will stand firm. It is the very rock 
 on which the church is built, against which, nei- 
 ther force, nor policy, nor sophistry can prevail. 
 I see not how your judicatories can avoid noticing 
 it, unless they give up your public doctrinal 
 standards as untenable. At the same time, I 
 fear that judicial censure will add to his zeal in a 
 bad cause, and likewise add to his fame, and 
 make his book more inquired after. Unless he 
 can be convinced, he will never think himself 
 confuted. And heart conviction is the work of 
 the Lord alone. 
 
2 
 
 The plausible and temperate manner in which 
 he writes, makes his book, in my opinion, more 
 dangerous than all the volumes which Dr. Priestley- 
 has published. However, as you observe, the 
 great Head of the church will take care of his 
 own cause, and of his own people. Such things 
 have been from the beginning. There must be 
 heresies. But they who know the Saviour's 
 name, will put their trust in him, when his op- 
 posers have done their utmost to prevent it. 
 
 May the peace and blessing of the Lord be 
 With you, and with all who love him in sincerity. 
 I am 
 
 Your affectionate friend and servant, 
 J. N- 
 
 LETTER Ef. 
 
 London, February 3, 1"92 - 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 YOUR letter received this morning finds me 
 much engaged, but I am willing to send you a 
 speedy answer, though it must be a short one. 
 
 Messrs.**** and **** are both excellent men, 
 and well known to me, though I am not in the 
 habit of correspondence with them. I have no 
 doubt but the account you have seen respecting 
 the revival at Bala is true as to present appear- 
 ances, and will, doubtless, rejoice all who know 
 the worth of souls, or have the Redeemer's glory 
 at heart. 
 
3 
 
 The account is already in print ; I saw it iu 
 some Magazine ; and therefore you can give no 
 offence by reprinting it. I know nothing more 
 of it than from the letter you have read. 
 
 I would be thankful if Mr. **** can fish with 
 a net. I would be thankful likewise for myself ; 
 for though I am but an angler, I have reason to 
 hope that I catch one now and then. 
 I am 
 
 Your sincere friend and servant, 
 
 J. N. 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 London, February 22, 1792. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I PRINTED the Ebenezers that I might 
 offer a copy to my friends, and as a friend I en- 
 closed one to you. If any of my friends in Scot- 
 land think them worth the reprinting, and will be 
 at the expense, (which would not be very great) 
 so that they may be freely and entirely given 
 azuay, I have no objection. 
 
 The revival at Bala demands thankfulness - 
 The Lord, according to his sovereign pleasure, 
 now and then vouchsafes such seasons of refresh- 
 ment as draw the attention of many. But hi- 
 therto they have usually been local and temporary . 
 I remember one in Scotland, almost fifty years 
 ago. The most extensive, I think, took place in 
 
4 
 
 America about the same time, and was first ob- 
 served under Dr. Edwards's ministry at North- 
 ampton. There is generally much good done in 
 such seasons of power — but we must not expect 
 that every appearance will answer our wishes. 
 There are many more blossoms upon a tree in 
 spring, than there will be apples in autumn. 
 Yet we are glad to see blossoms, because we 
 know, that if there are no blossoms there can 
 be no fruit. 
 
 When such sudden and general awakenings 
 take place among people who were ignorant and 
 unacquainted with scripture, they are more or 
 less attended with blemishes and misguided zeal. 
 The enemy is watchful to sow tares among the 
 wheat. Thus it has always been. It was so in 
 the apostles' day. Offences arise, and they who 
 wish to find something, at which they may stum- 
 ble and cavil, by the righteous judgment of God, 
 have what they wish for. But they who love the 
 Lord, and have a regard for precious souls, will 
 rejoice in the good that is really done ; and can 
 account for the occasional mixtures, from the 
 present state of human nature. 
 
 That the good work at Bala may flourish, and 
 extend to London and Edinburgh (if the Lord 
 please) is my sincere prayer, as I doubt not it is 
 yours. I am 
 
 Your affectionate, 
 
 J. N. 
 
If Mr. comes in your way, I beg you to 
 
 tell him I am both sorry and ashamed I have not 
 written to him. But for some time past, I have 
 been taken up with unavoidables more than usual. 
 Every day brings a something which must be 
 attended to, and I am forced to defer what may 
 be delayed without detriment, to a season of 
 more leisure. 
 
 LETTER IV. 
 
 London, June 2, 1792. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I HAVE been hurt by two or three letters 
 directed to Dr. Newton. I beg you to inform 
 my friends in Scotland as they come in your way, 
 that after a little time, if any letters come to me, 
 addressed to Dr. Newton, I shall be obliged to 
 send them back unopened. I know no such per- 
 son, I never shall, I never will, by the grace of 
 God. 
 
 Do not think I am displeased with you, or any 
 of my kind friends, who mean me kindness and 
 honour by such an address. I only beg for my 
 peace sake that it may not be repeated. 
 
 I have been informed that a college in Ame* 
 rica, I think in New-Jersey, has given me the 
 honourary degree of Doctor. So far as this 
 niark of their favour indicates a regard to the 
 
6 
 
 gospel truths which I profess, I am much pleased 
 with it. But as to the title itself, I renounce it 
 heartily ; nor would I willingly be known by it, 
 if all the universities in Europe conferred it upon 
 me. My youthful years were spent in Africa, 
 and I ought to take my degrees (if I take any) 
 from thence. Shall such a compound of misery 
 and mischief as I then was, be called Doctor I 
 Surely not. 
 
 I thank you for the pamphlets. I have not 
 had time to read them all ; but I doubt not I 
 shall like them all, — but that which I have read, 
 " The Dialogue between the Devil and a Soci- 
 nian," I cannot say I approve either the manner 
 or the spirit of it. I am hurt when gospel 
 truths are put into the devil's mouth — nor do I 
 think we are warranted to consign over Socinian 
 ministers so coolly to his powers. I suppose a 
 ready penman at Damascus might have written a 
 smart dialogue between the devil and Saul of 
 Tarsus. But Saul became Paul ; grace has long 
 and strong arms ; and I think it more becoming 
 a christian, to be unwilling to give any one up, 
 while living. In brief, I cannot think that dia- 
 logue likely to do much good ; and if it was only 
 designed to hold up an opponent to ridicule and 
 contempt, it might as well have been spared. It 
 is my mercy 1 am not a Socinian ; for had I been 
 left to myself, I might have been among the fore- 
 most. It becomes me to be thankful ; and to 
 
.7 
 
 pity and pray for those who know not what they 
 do. May the Lord open their eyes — then they 
 will soon be of our mind. 
 
 I shall be abroad (if the Lord please) four or 
 five weeks from the 8th instant. 
 
 May the Lord bless and guide you, 
 and your affectionate servant, 
 
 J. N, 
 
 LETTER V. 
 
 London, Oct. 3, 1792. 
 
 ■DEAR SIR, 
 
 A WINTER'S task, which I have set myself, 
 will oblige me to make my letters as short as I 
 can, and to indulge myself in no correspondence 
 bat what is necessary. It seems, however, if not 
 quite necessary, at least proper, to thank you for 
 yours of the 20th September, and would join you 
 in thanking the Lord for his goodness in giving 
 you a safe and comfortable return home. We 
 enjoy a thousand mercies in common with many 
 who neither pray to him nor praise him ; but to 
 know that they come from him in answer to 
 prayer, and as earnests of future and better bless- 
 ings, gives them an additional relish of which, 
 worldlings can have no conception. 
 
 In this world we have an appointed station 
 and calling, in which our religious profession re- 
 quires us to be accurate and faithful — But how 
 
to be fervent in spirit and serving the Lord, 
 while we are not slothful in business, is a lesson 
 which only He can teach us. It is necessary 
 to be diligent, but it is not necessary' to be rich. 
 The event must be left in his hand ; our aim 
 should be to promote his glory, which may be 
 answered either way, whether we have what the 
 World calls great success, or not. If you have a 
 servant or a journeyman who is an honest man, 
 and understands your business, he will be as ac- 
 tive and industrious in it as yourself. But then 
 he is not responsible, and when his work is done, 
 he sleeps at night without care. The care of 
 the issue is your part, and whether you gain or 
 lose, you will not blame your servant, who has 
 faithfully done his duty according to your direc- 
 tion. 
 
 Now if you consider yourself, as it were a 
 servant or journeyman, so to speak, of the Lord, 
 you will manage your concerns with ease and 
 comfort. The business is not yours but his : 
 you are to employ your talents to the best of 
 your judgment, and then to cast all the care 
 upon him. You need not be anxious, for he 
 will overrule all for the best. Whether he gives 
 you but just food and raiment, (which they who 
 seek his kingdom in the first place, and use his 
 appointed means are seldom without,) or whether 
 he allots you an abundance, either shall answer 
 your professed end : his glory will be equally 
 
9 
 
 answered. In the former case you will have 
 enough, because it is what he sees sufficient for 
 you. In the latter case, what you have more 
 than enough is not your own, but is still to be 
 employed for him. But too many think things 
 do not go well, unless they can amass wealth. 
 They stretch every nerve to be rich, and thereby 
 pierce themselves with perplexities and sorrows. 
 1 Tim. vi. 6—10. 
 
 I have no insight into the prophecies unful- 
 filled, nor is my mind turned for that study. I 
 would direct the whole of my little strength to 
 the points mentioned, Acts xxvi. 18. What you 
 quote from Mr. Willison* is remarkable, other 
 writers have had the same thought. Who first 
 started it, or whether it has been borrowed one 
 from another, I know not. How far it is the 
 meaning of the passage, time will shew. This I 
 know, that the Lord reigns. I believe he is on 
 his way to fulfil his word. 
 
 In the mean time, I wish with you that we 
 were more sensible of our present privileges, and 
 more thankful for them. And that the Lord's 
 people, instead of amusing themselves with poli- 
 tics, may be stirred up to serve their country by 
 prayer. If they sigh and mourn for the abomi- 
 nations in the midst of us, and stand in the breach 
 
 * Mr. "Willison, in a book published more than fifty 
 years ago, considers Rev. xi 13, as referring to some great 
 revolution that should take place in France. 
 
10 
 
 to avert deserved judgments, our peace and liberty 
 may be yet prolonged. I think the calamities of 
 France should remind us of Luke xiii. 1 — 5. 
 
 With my prayers and best wishes for your 
 prosperity and welfare in the best sense, 
 I remain, dear Sir, 
 Your affectionate friend and servant, 
 J. N. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 London, Januarys, 1793. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I HAVE no skill on the subject of Scotch 
 patronages. I suppose they are what is called 
 legal, or they could not take place. But some 
 things deemed right in law there will be, which 
 are not quite consistent with equity. I believe 
 there are as few in our nation as in any. I wish 
 to be more thankful for the peace and liberty we 
 do enjoy. The crooked things I would leave to 
 him, who only can make them straight. You 
 seem yourself to think this evil is overruled for 
 good, by stirring up the people, and spreading the 
 gospel. If this be preached in simplicity, and ho- 
 noured by a meek, inoffensive behaviour in those 
 who profess it — it does not much signify, whether 
 they meet in a church, a chapel, or a barn. 
 
 The times are gloomy : but the Lord reignethu 
 To him I would refer every thing in public or in 
 
11 
 
 private life. There is discontent in some hearts,, 
 and in some places : but I ought to be discon- 
 tented with myself, that I am not filled with 
 wonder and praise that things are so much better 
 with us than we deserve. 
 
 If I was to add another article to our Litany, 
 it might run thus : — " From poison and politics, 
 good Lord deliver me." I think a political 
 spirit as hurtful to the life of God in the soul 
 as poison is to the bodily frame. 
 
 I am sorry that I forgot your order for six sets 
 of the Messiah, but I will speak for them as 
 soon as I can. A new edition of Omicron, and 
 of Mrs. A***'s experience are both in the press, 
 and would have been published before now, but 
 that the printers are full of political business, and 
 the intervention of what are called the holidays, 
 and which with many are more emphatically idle 
 days, and sinning days, has been some hindrance. 
 I must write briefly, being much engaged. With 
 nay sincere prayer for your welfare, 
 
 I am yours, &c. 
 
 J. .N. 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 London, January 21, 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 MANY things in the misguided zeal of the year 
 1780 surprised me, but none more than that it 
 
IS 
 
 should so generally lead the good people of Scot- 
 land to think so highly of the man, who, to an- 
 swer his own ends, put himself at the head of a 
 religions party. 
 
 I am glad you agree with me, that it is well 
 both for ministers and private christians to have 
 as little to do with politics as possible. Your 
 idea of a pit in the path pleases me. I am afraid 
 it is a pit that will swallow up the life and spirit, 
 if not the very form of the religion of many pro- 
 fessors. The Lord reigneth, and every issue 
 will be directed by infinite wisdom and goodness, 
 without our interference. And can we wish them 
 under better management ? It is true he usually 
 works by instruments, but there are some services 
 which are not good enough for his own children. 
 He can employ such men as compose the bulk 
 of the French convention, as labourers and 
 scourgers. Sennacherib with his blasphemies, 
 executed his will no less than Hezekiah by his 
 prayers. And he could do no more — he was 
 thrown aside like an old broom, when the dirty 
 work for which he was commissioned was per- 
 formed. And there will always be dead sufficient 
 to bury the dead. 
 
 I have told you why I cannot afford to write 
 long letters. The Lord bless and guide you. 
 Amen. I am 
 
 Yours sincerelv, 
 J. N 
 
13 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 London, March 22, 1"9J. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 #*#*### 
 
 I WILL now thank you for yours of the 4th ; 
 but I am not responsible for your dream. I cer- 
 tainly was not with you on the night you men- 
 tioned ; and if I had, I should not have made the 
 speech you heard from my representative. What 
 the Lord might justly do, I know not; but at 
 present my thoughts are not so gloomy. The 
 gospel is with us, yea increasing among us, and 
 I trust there is a goodly number, who are mourn- 
 ing over their own sins, and the sins cf the na- 
 tion, and are standing in the breach by prayer. 
 For their sakes I hope mercy will still be afforded. 
 I rely more upon their prayers, than upon all our 
 fleets and armies. I thought I saw a wonderful 
 interposition of providence in our favour about 
 the beginning of December. Since that time I 
 have been in tolerable spirits. 
 
 The christian politicians are to be pitied, and I 
 have time for no more than pity. May the Lord 
 bless you. I am sincerely yours, 
 
 J. N. 
 
 N. B. Now in the press, and will be published 
 (I hope) before August, Letters to a Wife, in 2 
 vols. 12mo. by the Author of Cardiphonia. — 
 Pray for a blessing on this publication. 
 
14 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 LoKBOYj May 18, 1"93. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I HAVE hardly time to acknowledge your 
 letter, but know not when I shall have more. 
 As you desire it I will send you my thoughts 
 very briefly. 
 
 So far as popery may concern the civil state of 
 the nations, I apprehend no great danger from 
 it. Infidelity and scepticism seem to me the 
 spreading popery at present. The spirit and 
 strength of popery seem quite broken, and the 
 pope himself I think is little more regarded by 
 the bulk of the Roman church, than by the Pro- 
 testants. The heavy penal laws, formerly in 
 force, however politically necessary, do not ap- 
 pear to me consistent either with the letter or 
 spirit of the new testament. 
 
 In a religious view I cannot see why a papist 
 has not as good a right to worship God according 
 to his conscience, though erroneous, to educate 
 his children, &c. as I have myself. I am no 
 friend to persecution or restraint in matters of 
 conscience. 
 
 The stir made in 1T80, at a time when pro- 
 testants were gaining more liberty in popish 
 countries, I thought was a reproach to our na- 
 tional character, both as Britons and protestants. 
 And I was not surprised at the event, by which 
 
15 
 
 I thought the Lord poured contempt upon it. I 
 hope we shall never see such a time again, upon 
 such a pretext. 
 
 I cannot see that an unprincipled or wicked pro- 
 testant is a whit better than a bigoted papist. 
 Yet these, of all sorts, are tolerated. 
 
 The spirit of the times is quite altered since 
 fires were lighted in Smithfield ; and, humanly- 
 speaking, I think it morally impossible for things 
 to revert into that channel. 
 
 Therefore whatever liberty the papists may 
 obtain by law, that of sitting in parliament chiefly 
 excepted, will give me no pain. 
 
 Perhaps if I had lived in Scotland, the opinion 
 of many wise and good men might have out- 
 weighed my private judgment, and given it a dif- 
 ferent bias. The Jews, while a separate people 
 and under a theocracy, had a peculiar rule, the 
 application of which to christian societies, I think 
 has been productive of much mischief and mi- 
 sery ; and quite unsupported, as I judge, by any 
 precept or precedent in the new testament. 
 
 I have only time to add my best wishes. The 
 Lord bless you, and bless us all with his precious 
 peace, and that philanthropy which his example 
 teaches. I am 
 
 Your sincere friend and servant. 
 
 J. N. 
 
10 
 
 LETTER X. 
 
 London, August i, irS3. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I PURPOSE, if the Lord please, to leave 
 London the 8th instant, for a few weeks. I go 
 into Hampshire, but letters sent in the usual way 
 will follow me, wherever I may be. I would 
 first thank you for your last agreeable letter with 
 the account of **** and ****, and the copy of 
 his letter, which is a very good one indeed. 
 
 Mr. G r informed me himself of his happy 
 
 relief. I have not written to him since, but I 
 sent him my congratulations in one I wrote to 
 Mr. Black. 
 
 I believe the Letters to a Wife by the Author 
 of Cardifihonia, printed for J. Johnson, will 
 be published in a few days, perhaps within a 
 fortnight. I beg you to pray for the Lord's 
 blessing upon them. Both Ebenezer, and the 
 last copy of verses which I sent you, will be in 
 an appendix. But if you choose to print any of 
 the latter, I have no objection, provided, like the 
 former, they may not be sold. 
 
 A lady of my acquaintance here, who I believe 
 
 was much more distressed than Mr. G r, has 
 
 been relieved. She was in a state of despair for 
 eight years, all which time she was never out of 
 bed, but to have it made. She lay, till by dis = 
 
it 
 
 ease, she had lost the use of her legs, and could 
 stand no more than an infant. She is now cheer- 
 ful and comfortable, and can walk from her house 
 to my church (the distance is near a mile.) So 
 true it is, that our Lord is able to save unto the 
 
 uttermost. Mr. 's case is singular, and so, 
 
 in a different way, is mine. We are proofs, not 
 easily set aside, that grace reigns. 
 
 Dr. Robertson had great talents, and a great 
 name in the world, but I doubt not but he saw 
 at last, he might have been more useful as a 
 minister, than as a historian. It is a poor thing 
 to gain the applause of men. One page of John 
 Bunyan is of more real value than many volumes 
 of high estimation in the judgment of those wh« 
 know not the worth of the soul. 
 
 I commend you to the Lord — and remain 
 Your affectionate friend, &c. 
 
 J. N\ 
 
 LETTER XL 
 
 Southampton, September 2, 1*95, 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I THANK you for providing lor me in my 
 retirement. Your anecdotes are both entertain- 
 ing and instructive. Your letter followed me 
 hither. Like you I highly relish the country ; 
 but I am better off in point of ordinances and 
 christian conference than you were when on the 
 3 * 
 
48 
 
 banks of the Tweed. The preaching of the 
 gospel is indeed a great privilege, which cannot 
 be safely neglected while in our power, and will 
 not, so long as we possess our spiritual senses. 
 But if sickness, or clear providential calls of ab- 
 sence, detain us from it, we are not so absolutely- 
 dependent upon it, but that we may do well 
 without it. Perhaps none of David's psalms 
 breathe a more sublime and spiritual strain of 
 devotion, than those which he wrote in the wil- 
 derness : such were the 42d, 63d, and perhaps 
 the 84th. The occasion of his writing the 51st 
 happened at Jerusalem, when he was at the 
 fountain-head of public means. And I think my 
 heart was never more warm and fixed, than during 
 my two last voyages to Africa, though I was en- 
 gaged in a traffic, which / now see was unlawful 
 and abominable. The word of grace, and the 
 throne of grace, are the two principal means, 
 which can supply the want of all others, when 
 not to be had : but without attending to these, 
 the rest can yield but little solid benefit. I have 
 met with happy, lively believers, who have had 
 no opportunity for hearing the gospel ; and I have 
 met with others, who, like Pharaoh's lean kine, 
 devour a great deal, but do not appear to 
 thrive. 
 
 I think, if I was a lawgiver, I would not make 
 •robbery a capital crime ; and therefore I should be 
 unwilling to prosecute for it. Many of our penal 
 
It 
 
 laws, by being too severe, become too remiss, 
 offenders are so often pardoned, that others are 
 encouraged to offend, in hopes that the prescribed 
 punishment will not be inflicted. The law of 
 God requires murderers to be put to death, and 
 I think there are other crimes, which by their 
 effects might be fatal, that may be forbidden 
 under the same penalty ; such as house-breaking 
 in the night — setting houses on fire, in a street or 
 town — perjury in criminal causes— and perhaps 
 I might add, the stealing of a child, which may 
 be of dreadful consequence both to the child and 
 to the parents, and yet I believe does not expose 
 to worse punishment than the stealing of a dog, 
 But as I have no hand in making laws, nor in- 
 fluence with the legislature, I must be content 
 to take things as I find them. I only give you 
 my sentiments because you desire me. There is 
 a verse in Dr. Watts's little book for children, 
 which offers a good pattern to me who am in my 
 69th year; — 
 
 " I'll not willingly offend, 
 
 " Nor be easily offended, 
 
 " What's amiss (in myself) I'll try to mend, 
 
 " And endure what can't be mended." 
 
 These principles I would adopt in my politics, 
 I am thankful that the French were checked in 
 their mad design of fraternizing and plundering 
 all the nations far and near. But had I the rule 
 ef affairs, when I had cooped them up within 
 
20 
 
 their own boundaries, I would have left them to 
 fight it out among themselves. But we are sin- 
 ners also, and therefore what the Lord has per- 
 mitted to take place, must be, and what he has 
 appointed to follow, must come. My heart aches 
 for the final issue. But as he reigns over all, 
 he can, and he will, make all work for the glory 
 of his name, and in the mean time, he knows 
 how to support, or to protect his own people. 
 " The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of 
 trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him." 
 May we be found as those in Ezek. ix. 4. and his 
 invisible mark will secure us from real harm. 
 
 I have not properly more leisure when abroad, 
 than when at home. For besides the time taken 
 up in moving from place to place, and in seeing 
 and being seen, by old and new friends, I have 
 generally a double quantity of letters to answer. 
 But I am willing to shew that I value your cor- 
 respondence. 
 
 I am with dear friends, in a retirement about 
 two miles from Southampton. I believe the si- 
 tuation is not less pleasant than what you have 
 seen in Kent. I preach three or four times 
 a week in my friend's house, to 100 or more 
 people. 
 
 I have a letter from Dr. Robbins of Plymouth 
 in Massachusetts, whose name I never heard of 
 before. I wish I could show it you. He gives 
 an account of a sudden revival of religion iu this 
 
21 
 
 place, much like that you had from Bala. It 
 began since Christmas last, at a time when every 
 thing seemed dead or declining around him. He 
 has been minister there upwards of thirty years. 
 He writes like a good old soldier. Thus, in 
 different places, the wall of Zion is building up 
 in these troublous times. The Lord has not for- 
 saken the earth, bad as it is. 
 
 In London we have abundance of the gospel, 
 and perhaps it never was more clearly and prac- 
 tically preached. But we may lament with you 
 the want of more accompanying power. How- 
 ever, good is done, and perhaps we are as much 
 favoured, in this respect, at St. Mary's, as in most 
 places, and we have the blessing of peace and 
 unanimity — and I can see several persons in the 
 assembly, who I believe would have been judged 
 eminent christians had they lived iu the apostles' 
 days. 
 
 I pray the Lord to bless you in all things, and 
 hope we shall have a share in your prayers. I 
 hope to be at home in about three weeks, if 
 nothing unforeseen should require my return 
 sooner. I am 
 
 Your affectionate friend and servant, 
 J. N. 
 
22 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 Londos, October 19, 1793. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I SHOULD have informed you sooner of the 
 price of the books, had I not called on Mr. J***, 
 and found him just then writing to you. Indeed 
 I am much in your debt for your amusing and 
 instructive communications. I must not say, 
 " have patience with me and I will pay you all." 
 I am nearly an insolvent in correspondence, and 
 fear I shall hardly pay you a composition of two 
 shillings in the pound. Nor do I consider this 
 as any part of payment. I send it to introduce 
 to you Mr. F***, who brought me a letter of 
 introduction from Mr. B***. From the short 
 acquaintance I have had with him, I judge you 
 will like him. I oannot doubt your readiness 
 to do him any good offices in your power — at 
 first for my sake, and afterwards for his own. 
 
 We came home safe and well from our late 
 agreeable tour on the 27th ultimo, and found all 
 safe and well at home. I must defer an accaunt 
 of the goodness and mercy which followed us all 
 the days and hours we were abroad, as two gen- 
 tlemen are come in to breakfast, and perhaps 
 there may be two more by the time I can sub- 
 scribe myself, 
 
 Your affectionate and obliged, 
 
 . J. X.. 
 
 t 
 
25 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 London, December IT, 1793. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 IF I do not thank you immediately, I shall 
 perhaps have to double my apology. The truth 
 is, that before I can write one letter, I receive 
 two, some of which must be answered directly. 
 So that I am likely always to be sadly behind 
 hand ; and my promptness and agility in despatch- 
 ing business does not increase with my years. I 
 believe I have now more than fifty unanswered 
 by me ; so that if I am more tardy than I could 
 wish in paying what I owe to you, I must beg 
 you to accept the will for the deed. 
 
 You thank me for sending Mr. A*** and Mr. 
 F***, and I thank you for the kindness you 
 shewed them at my recommendation. I did not 
 doubt but they would recommend themselves 
 when once introduced. I take the liberty to 
 constitute you my agent at Edinburgh, and shall 
 not scruple to make you more remittances in this 
 way, when in my power. I hope I shall send you 
 none but what will be worth your acceptance. I 
 likewise solicit your agency in return, and shall 
 gladly receive all whom you recommend. My 
 love to Mr. S*** ; I shall be glad to see him 
 again : but he must tell me his name, for I have 
 already lost the idea of his person. I see many 
 people, and my head is more than 68 years old. 
 
94. 
 
 My heart went a little pit-a.pat when I read 
 about your famous convention. I am thankful 
 they are dispersed. If sin does not give success 
 to their designs, they are too wild and visionary 
 to succeed. But the Lord when displeased can 
 execute his judgments by improbable means. Sin 
 can fan a small spark into a fierce and wide 
 spreading flame. But as his gospel is spreading, 
 as the number of his praying people are not few, 
 and as he has lately appeared for us more than 
 once, I hope that though we may be chastened, 
 we shall not be destroyed. At the worst, they 
 who trust in him have no just cause to fear, 
 " though the earth were shaken, and the moun- 
 tains should sink into the sea" — and he expressly 
 tells us not to be terrified " when we hear of wars 
 and tumults." Psal. xlvi. 1, 2. rxii. 7. Luke 
 xxi. 9. 
 
 When we really feel our need of a revival, it 
 is a sign that we are already in a measure re- 
 vived. The grand symptom of a decline is in- 
 sensibility. When Ephraim has gray hairs (the 
 mark of the leprosy, Lev. xiii. 20 — 25.) here and 
 there upon him, and knoweth it not, Hosea 
 vii. 9. But indeed we all need reviving in our 
 persons, families, religious societies, and in the 
 nations. We pray for it, and perhaps the Lord is 
 about to answer our prayers, by the very things 
 which we are afraid of. The building of the 
 wall may be carried on most prosperously, in 
 
85 
 
 ti'oublous times. And whatever report flesh and 
 sense may make, faith will allow, that those must 
 be the best times, when the best cause flourishes 
 most. It is to be hoped that many have been 
 taught by famine, sword or pestilence, after they 
 had long heard the gospel in vain. 
 
 I could tattle on, but my time will not permit. 
 
 My love to Mr. A*** and to Mr. F***. I 
 thank the latter for his letter, and hope to write? 
 to him before it comes in his turn ; but I cannot 
 yet. 
 
 The 15th December falling this year on the 
 Lord's day, I preached a sort of second funeral 
 sermon from 1 Pet. i. 24, 25. O that word of 
 the Lord ! It is a balm for every Avound, a 
 substitute for every loss ! But for this word, I 
 had sunk and perished in my affliction. But 
 though I was happy with her, I am not unhappy 
 without her. Praise the Lord on my behalf, and 
 continue to pray for me ; I will, as I am enabled, 
 repay you in the same way. 
 
 The Lord bless you in body, soul, and spirit, 
 and in your affairs and connexions. Amen. 
 I am 
 
 Your assured and obliged friend, 
 J. N. 
 
 4 
 
26 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 London, January 4, 1"94 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I MUST put you off for the present. My 
 little leisure has been wholly exhausted in writing 
 the two letters which I now enclose to your care. 
 
 If the third song* I send is worthy your no- 
 tice, you are quite at liberty to do with it as you 
 please. I believe it is the last I shall attempt to 
 sing upon the occasion. 
 
 Miss C*** and I are still favoured with good 
 health. The new year is begun. It will proba- 
 bly prove an eventful one. But the Lord reigns, 
 and it shall be well with them that fear and trust 
 in him. May it prove a happy year to you. If 
 we are kept close to him, it may be the happiest 
 year we have seen, however things may go in the 
 world abroad, Psal. xlvi. 1, 2. Let us meet of- 
 ten at a throne of grace. 
 
 I am 
 
 Your very affectionate, 
 
 J. N. 
 
 * Third anniversary of Mrs. Newton's death. 
 
27 
 
 LETTER XV. 
 
 London', January 7, lFiM- 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 THE minute after I had sent off my letter to 
 you, I received yours of the 1st, which I should 
 not have acknowledged so soon, but to assure 
 }'ou, that the rumour of my having altered my 
 sentiments of the revival in Wales is entirely un- 
 founded. When Mr. C*** was in London, he 
 told me, that what appeared sudden and extra- 
 ordinary in the affair, was in great measure sub- 
 sided, and that some who were affected, they 
 knew not well why, were returning to their for- 
 mer level ; but that he hoped the revival itself 
 was in the main solid, extensive, and abiding. 
 This is as much as I expected, and this is all I 
 have known of the matter since Mr. C. wrote to 
 you. Therefore, my sentiment, that many blos- 
 soms would fall off, and my hope that many 
 would abide, and yield good fruit, remain still 
 the same. 
 
 I thank you for your information respecting 
 Letters to a Wife. You will perceive by the 
 preface, that I was aware of the different 
 opinions which would be formed of a book rather 
 novel in its kind. None but married persons 
 can be competent judges of the subject : nor all 
 of these. The unfeeling, the careless, and the 
 
23 
 
 licentious, will think it rhapsody and folly. But 
 as I said, if my leading motive was right, I ought 
 to be in good measure indifferent to the judg- 
 ment of mortals. To be sure, it was a high gra- 
 tification to me to erect a monument of affection 
 and gratitude to the memory of my excellent 
 wife : but had this been my only view, I durst 
 not have done it. I intended it chiefly as a me- 
 morial of the Lord's goodness to a chief sinner; 
 to confirm the account given in my narrative, and 
 to record many additional instances of his won- 
 derful providences in my favour. I thought like- 
 wise it would afford proof, that there may be a 
 degree of conscientious regard to the Lord, of 
 submission to his will, of dependence upon his 
 care, and of answers to prayer, in a person whose 
 doctrinal light is very indistinct, and before he 
 has formed a systematic and clear view of the 
 truth. Indeed, though my knowledge was at that 
 time, more defective than it is even now, some 
 of the happiest days of communion with God I 
 ever knew, were while I was a sailor, and parti- 
 cularly in my third and last voyage to Africa. 
 Indeed I wish I had a right to say, I can trust 
 him as simply at present as I did then. 
 
 I felt a desire of publishing some extracts of 
 my letters to her, from the da)- that she left me, 
 and perhaps sooner. But I deliberated upon it 
 a whole year before I undertook it. I submitted 
 it frequently to the Lord ; and from the time I 
 
m 
 
 began, I believe I may say, there was not a page 
 of it written without prayer for his direction 
 and guidance. I hope he inclined me to be- 
 gin, I am sure he has enabled me to finish ; 
 for though it was in the main a pleasing task, it 
 was painfully pleasing. It cost me not only 
 prayers, but tears. I thank him that it is now 
 abroad. I trust I shall never repent of it ; I 
 rather expect it will be a source of comfort to 
 me to the end of life, that I was spared to com- 
 plete it. 
 
 With respect to others, I hoped it might be 
 read with some pleasure, and perhaps benefit, by 
 some, who like me, have outlived their gourds. 
 That I might put useful hints in the way of some 
 who are about to enter into the marriage state. 
 That it might undeceive some who have imbibed 
 prejudices against marriage, and convince them 
 that there is more satisfaction to be found in that 
 state, when properly .conducted, than they arc 
 aware of. I hoped likewise, that others might 
 be cautioned by my example against that over- 
 attachment, which sometimes cost me so dear. 
 And I hope and believe, that when the Lord 
 shall have shewn you the proper person appointed 
 to bear your name, and has brought you together, 
 you will not regret the time you spent in reading 
 Letters to a Wife. 
 
 The history of my trial in the Appendix, No. 1. 
 is to me the most interesting part. When I re- 
 4* 
 
24 
 
 fleet (which is but every day) how I lived, what 
 I felt, and how I was supported, it seems the 
 most remarkable part of my remarkable life. 
 Surely had not the Lord been my helper, I had 
 sunk like a stone in deep water. I thank him, 
 that I could bear such a testimony to his faith- 
 fulness and all-sufficiency. 
 
 I have been already favoured with notices that 
 my book has been useful in most or all the caseS 
 I have mentioned ; and therefore I am not afraid 
 ©f the censure of severe critics. 
 
 Paper and leisure are brought to a close toge- 
 ther. I can only add my love and best wishes^ 
 with an assurance that I am 
 
 Your affectionate and obliged, 
 J. N. 
 
 LETTER XYIr 
 
 Loxootf, April 29, 1T94, 
 
 INDEED, my dear Sir, I must not apologize 
 io you, for you are served much oftener thafl 
 comes to your turn. I have at present about 
 sixty unanswered letters, and while I am writing 
 •ne, I usually receive two, so that I am likely to 
 die much in debt. I have many dear friends to 
 whom I cannot write for a year or two, or 
 longer, though perhaps I am forced to write to 
 those whom I never saw- But ym are not likely 
 
to be omitted long, because you repay me vvitfe 
 interest. 
 
 Please to tell Miss G***, that I thank her for 
 her obliging letters. She asks my sentiments on 
 the times. She may see them in print, if the 
 Fast Sermon I lately printed should reach Edin- 
 burgh. 
 
 Cardiphonia is made up of letters which were 
 actually written to my friends, and were returned 
 to me that they might be printed. Such addi- 
 tions as you propose would not suit Cardiphonia, 
 for I could not write confidential letters, which I 
 intended, at the time, should appear in print. I 
 ascribe the blessing the Lord has given to Car- 
 diphonia chiefly to this circumstance, that there 
 was not a line written with the least thought that 
 it would ever appear in public. There might be 
 an addition to Omicron in the manner you men- 
 tion, but I have no time for it ; and, indeed, I 
 have already printed enough for one. 
 
 I lately received three volumes of Mr. Riccaltoti 
 of Hobkirk, sent, as I understand, by his son, 
 who is the publisher ; and I am informed he 
 has suffered by their not selling. It is a wonder 
 to me that they have not found a ready sale. 
 Only, I am told, there were but two of the three 
 volumes sent to London, and therefore I suppose 
 people were not eager to buy an incomplete 
 p-ork. I think if they were all three in qvtf 
 
32 
 
 Loudon shops, and advertised a little, they would 
 soon be called for. I seldom meet with a human 
 Writer, to whose judgment I can implicitly sub- 
 scribe in all points. But upon the whole these 
 books have pleased me highly, and I think have 
 thrown light upon some particulars which I did 
 not so well understand before I read them. I 
 never heard of them before, though they were 
 printed in the year 1772. 
 
 Your sorrowful complaints have often been 
 mine ; if they are not so now, it is not because I 
 feel less ground for them, but because, as I hope, 
 I am more acquainted with the remedy provided 
 against them. I see much, daily, continual, cause 
 for humiliation, whether I look backward or in- 
 ward. But if it be true that Jesus lived and 
 died for sinners, and is now a High Priest upon 
 the throne — if he really said, " Him that cometh 
 Unto me I will in no wise cast out" — if he 
 meant what he said — if his word may be taken— 
 and if he be able to make it good — then I can 
 see no just cause for distress. The sum of my 
 complaints amounts but to this — that I am a sick 
 sinner, diseased in every part ; but then, if He 
 who is the infallible Physician has undertaken my 
 case, I shall not die but live, and declare the 
 works of the Lord. I have no remarkable ex- 
 perience to talk of ; I never was like Paul, at any 
 difficulty to tell whether I was in the body or out 
 
53 
 
 of the body ; I am burdened with a body of sin 
 and death. But I have a little book, which I 
 am enabled to believe is the sure word of God. 
 The doctrines and promises I meet with in it, 
 which we call the gospel, exactly suit my wants, 
 and the temper and conduct it is designed to 
 form, agrees with my leading desires. I was 
 once far otherwise minded, and should doubtless 
 have remained so, had not almighty power and 
 mercy softened me. I would therefore praise 
 him for what he has done, and wait upon him to 
 do more, for I can do nothing for myself. In the 
 mean time, instead of complaining, I would try 
 to be thankful. If he has begun a good work, I 
 dare not indulge a doubt of his carrying it on. 
 This would be to dishonour his wisdom, power, 
 and faithfulness. 
 
 For the rest ; if the scripture describes the 
 christian life as a warfare and a wrestling, why 
 should I be discouraged that I find it so ? The 
 apostle says of all believers, " the flesh striveth 
 against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh 
 if it was otherwise with me, how could I be 
 right ? 
 
 Give my love to Mr. F***. I might say the 
 same things to him. We have all need of pa- 
 tience. We hope to overcome at last. But I 
 can form no idea of two hills without thinking of 
 a valley between them, nor of a victory without 
 a previous conflict. 
 
34 
 
 I commend you and yours to the great and 
 sure Cautioner,* and I remain 
 
 Dear Sir, 
 Your affectionate and obliged, 
 J. X. 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 London, August 1, 1"94. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I TAKE a large sheet, but perhaps if I keep 
 it till I have filled it, I shall tire your patience, 
 both in waiting for my letter, and in reading it 
 afterwards. 
 
 We, that is Miss C** # and I, left home the 
 lfth June, and returned in peace and safety the 
 24th ult. Yours of the 3d found me at Cam- 
 bridge. Give my love to Mr. Black. I hope 
 his removal to Edinburgh will prove a blessing 
 to many ; and that in watering others he may be 
 abundantly watered himself. I am glad you have 
 good news from what you call the east country. 
 May the gospel spread east, west, north, and 
 south, till every part of this land, and all the 
 lands and nations of the earth are filled with light 
 and love. 
 
 I have seen many of Mr. B 's and Th — 's 
 
 letters ; and perhaps those which you have. Mr- 
 
 * Or Surety, 
 
35 
 
 B**# was a first rate man, both as a minister and 
 a christian : but he could not easily restrain his 
 natural turn for humour and drollery. This was 
 certainly a blemish, especially when he brought 
 it into the pulpit. But though he was sensible of 
 the impropriety, in his latter years, and often ac- 
 knowledged it, he was frequently drawn into a . 
 repetition — what made it worse, his taste was far 
 from delicate. His allusions, though generally 
 apposite, were often low and vulgar, and disgust- 
 ing even to his friends : but, as we say, there are 
 spots even in the best. He was, upon the whole, 
 a burning and a shining light. Mr. Whitfield 
 likewise could say comical things ; but then it 
 was in a manner quite his own, in which none of 
 his imitators could succeed. When he made his 
 hearers smile, it was usually with a design to 
 make them weep, and I have more than once 
 seen these different effects produced in almost 
 the same minute. 
 
 My narrative is indeed imperfect : but I think 
 Letters to a Wife will serve both as a com- 
 mentary, and a supplement to it. Mr. Self seems 
 to have obtruded sufficiently upon the attention 
 of the public already : I am not willing to intro- 
 duce him again. 
 
 In preferring a warm heart to a clear head, you 
 certainly judge by the rule of scripture. The 
 Lord looketh to the heart, not to the stature, the 
 address, the intellect, the rank or wealth of a 
 
83 
 
 person. These are to the man no more than the 
 trappings to a horse, which is the same animal, 
 whether laden with panniers, or dressed in a fine 
 caparison. So, at the theatre, people do not 
 admire an actor merely for the character he sus- 
 tains, but for the manner in which he performs it. 
 All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof 
 like the flowers of the field. The mass of man- 
 kind may be compared to grass, and those who 
 are distinguished by intellectual or external ac- 
 complishments of any kind, to the flowers, which 
 look more gaudy, and are perhaps a little taller 
 than the grass : but when the mower comes, the 
 scythe finds no difference ; both fall by the same 
 stroke, and wither with equal speed. Indeed, I 
 believe, the most Kvely grace, and the most solid 
 comfort, are known among the Lord's poor and 
 undistinguished people. Every outward advan- 
 tage has a tendency to nourish the pride of the 
 human heart, and requires a proportionable know- 
 ledge of the deceitful self and the evil of sin to 
 counterbalance them. It is no less difficult to 
 have great abilities, than great riches, without 
 trusting in them. And believers who are re- 
 markably sensible and clever, are frequentlv teazed 
 with whims and vagaries of thought, which do 
 not trouble plain people. If I was qualified to 
 search out the best christian in the kingdom, I 
 should not expect to find him either in a pro- 
 fessor's chair or in a pulpit. I should give the 
 
37 
 
 palm to that person who had the lowest thoughts 
 of himself, and the most admiring and cordial 
 thoughts of the Saviour. And perhaps this 
 person may be some bed-ridden old man or 
 woman, or a pauper in a parish workhouse. 
 But our regard to the Lord is not to be mea- 
 sured by our sinsible feelings, by what we can 
 say or write, but rather by the simplicity of our 
 dependence, and the uniform tenor of our obedi- 
 ence to his will. 
 
 I believe there are many good people at 
 But I thought them too hasty in their determina- 
 tion to build, and that the plan they proposed, as 
 mentioned to me, was not likely to settle them 
 comfortably. I did not approve, and therefore I 
 did not encourage it. I have often seen young 
 and warm zeal lead to inconveniencies. In these 
 points we must judge for ourselves, as appear- 
 ances strike us. But I trust I wish equally well 
 to the gospel, whether it be preached in a church, 
 a chapel, a kirk, a meeting-house, or a barn ; and 
 whether the preachers are of the English or 
 Scotch Establishments, Seceders, Relief-men, or 
 Methodists. 
 
 I am soriy for Mr. and for many more, 
 
 who would do better if they consulted the rule 
 of God's word. Some well-meaning people, se- 
 duced by those of deeper views, I compare to 
 children playing with gunpowder, who are some- 
 times blown up before they are aware of danger. 
 5 
 
They are happy who study to be quiet, to pro- 
 mote peace, and to persuade those whom they 
 can influence, to seek an interest in the kingdom 
 which cannot be shaken. 
 
 I have now taken some notice of every para- 
 graph in your letter. Have little to add from 
 my own stock. Our late excursion was very 
 pleasant. We were chiefly at and round about 
 Cambridge, at no time more than 62 miles from 
 London. We saw many friends, and received 
 much kindness. I preached while abroad in ten 
 churches, nine of them in different places, be- 
 sides many house-preachings. I found in most 
 of these parishes, active, faithful ministers, and 
 attentive congregations. The gospel certainly 
 spreads in the Establishment. Young men of 
 abilities and piety are ordained every season, and 
 there are four seasons in the year, and we now 
 and then hear of clergymen awakened, after they 
 had been blind teachers of the blind for many 
 years. In London we are highly favoured with 
 many ministers of the first rank for zeal and wis- 
 dom. Such there are likewise in some of our 
 great towns, such as Leicester, Birmingham, 
 Leeds, Halifax, York, Hull, Reading ; and I 
 hope there are several hundreds settled in places 
 of less note, in different parts of the kingdom, 
 who are diligent and useful. Add to this, the 
 itinerants in town and country, in Mr. Whitfield's, 
 Wesley's, and Lady Huntingdon's departments, 
 
39 
 
 amongst whom, though they are not all alike, 
 there are many faithful good preachers, and many 
 of the evangelical dissenters' — and I think we may 
 hope that real religion is greatly on the spread 
 and revival amongst us. This, I trust, is a token 
 for good (I fear almost the only one) in this dark 
 and threatening dav> The bulk of the nation is 
 asleep in sin. Infidelity, folly, and dissipation, 
 abound every where : but the Lord has a praying 
 people, who are mourning for the evils they can- 
 not prevent, and the miseries which are the fruits 
 of sin. These, I hope, would appear a large 
 number, if they could be brought all together : 
 but scattered as they are up and down, they are 
 one in him ; and, for their sakes, I hope our civil 
 and religious privileges, so little prized, so much 
 undervalued by the majority, will be still pre- 
 served to us. 
 
 I know not if I mentioned Mr. Fuller's book, 
 " The Tendency of the Calvinistic and Socinian 
 Doctrines compared as to Morals :" but I sup- 
 pose you must have seen it. I think it the most 
 complete unanswerable refutation of the Socinian 
 scheme, and the best book of controversy I ever 
 saw. The great learned Doctors dodged Dr. 
 Priestley about in Greek and Latin to little pur- 
 pose : it was reserved to Mr. Fuller to cut off 
 this great Goliath's head. I think there is none 
 of the party hardy enough to attempt to an- 
 swer it. 
 
40 
 
 On Monday next, if I live, I shall enter rcy 
 yoth year. The time of my dismission cannot 
 be very distant. Pray for me, that whenever it 
 comes it may find me waiting, willing, and ready. 
 That my decline in life (if I am not called away 
 suddenly) may be honourable, and consistent with 
 my profession. That I may live as becometh a 
 saint, and die as becometh a sinner, with no other 
 plea or hope, but that .lesus lived and died, and 
 rose and reigns, to save to the uttermost those 
 who put their trust in him. 
 
 Let the length and speed of this letter plead 
 for me, if I should seem dilatory hereafter. I 
 shall not forget you, but I cannot write when I 
 would. I commend you to the Lord, may he 
 guide, guard, and bless you, and make you a 
 blessing to all your connexions I only add, that 
 I am sincerely, 
 
 Your affectionate friend and servant, 
 
 LETTER XVIII. 
 
 London, November 26, 1794. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I TAKE a whole sheet, for I have a large 
 packet to answer. I date the top, but what 
 date the bottom may bear is yet unknown. 
 
 I do not wonder that Moses would have been 
 willing to wait a little longer for heaven, to have 
 
41 
 
 seen Israel established in Canaan, though he was 
 sure it would he so after his decease. God has 
 in mercy so constituted the human frame, as to 
 produce an engagement of heart in necessary 
 affairs, so that we are not only employed in his 
 service, but interested in what he appoints us to 
 do. Because it is his concern, it becomes our 
 own. This wonderfully sweetens labour, and 
 likewise keeps up that attention and exertion, 
 which are necessary to our doing things as well 
 as we can. Perhaps you have known parents 
 who seemed very willing to go to heaven (if it 
 were the Lord's time) and yet not unwilling to 
 live a little longer to see a dear child comfortably 
 settled before they went. Surely the object of 
 Moses's desire was as noble and important as any 
 thing that we can propose on earth now. Moses 
 loved Israel, and longed to see them settled, but 
 when the Lord forbad it, he cheerfully acqui- 
 esced. 
 
 Abraham was, as you observe, a great man | 
 yet he was but a man. We may admire his faith 
 and obedience, for the bible commends them, 
 and holds him forth to us as a pattern ; yet he 
 had no more inherent, or properly his own, than 
 you or I. When left a little to himself, this great 
 believer stooped to equivocation and falsehood to 
 save his life, when it was, in reality, in no danger. 
 Let us learn a lesson from him in this case like j 
 wise, not to presume upon our past experience 
 5. * 
 
42 
 
 upon the grace or comfort of yesterday, as though" 
 these could warrant our standing to-morrow. 
 We cannot see by the light of yesterday, nor 
 subsist long upon yesterday's food. We need 
 continual supplies, help every moment. There- 
 fore let us not be high-minded, but fear. So 
 long as we feel our weakness, and lean upon an 
 almighty arm, we are safe, but no longer. 
 
 I think Bucer's answer to his judges, " that he 
 did not wear a square hat, because he had not a 
 square head," was more smart than solid, if col- 
 lege caps then were like those worn now ; for 
 though the outside of the cap is of a square form, 
 the crown is quite as round, and as shapeable to 
 the head as the crown of your three-corned 
 hat. 
 
 The profanation of the Lord's day is undoubt- 
 e*dy a great sin. But many sin through igno- 
 rance. They have neidier good example to lead 
 them to church, nor good instruction when they 
 go. It is one of the many crying sins, which 
 form our national character. But I do not think 
 it is the loudest. And I think the guilt of it lies 
 heavily on the great, the magistrates, and the 
 clergy. If the hungry sheep look up, they are 
 not fed, or the places where there is food for 
 them are very few. When I see multitudes cus- 
 tomarily breaking the sabbath, I think such was 
 my practice once ; and I hope some of you will 
 know better before you die. I obtained mercy. 
 
43 
 
 Grace reigned in my case, and grace is still upon 
 the throne ! 
 
 I have known more instances than one of 
 dreams resembling Mrs. Tooley's, and they are 
 worth recording when verified by the event ; but 
 this is not always the case. Dreams are to me 
 a sufficient proof, first, that we are surrounded 
 by visible agents, and liable to impressions from 
 them when our senses are asleep, and perhaps 
 when they are indisposed by nervous disorders, 
 but not when we are in perfect health, or dis- 
 tinctly awake. N. B. It is a great mercy that 
 some of these agents are under a restraint,, or we 
 should be scared by dreams and terrified by vi- 
 sions every night ! Second, I infer from dreams, 
 that there is a power belonging to the mind, 
 adapted to the unseen state, which though dor- 
 mant when we are awake, is active in sleep. 
 Then we seem to perceive by intuition. We are 
 engaged in scenes we had no consciousness of 
 before, and yet we know all that is going forward, 
 take a part in the business, and are engaged and 
 interested as if we were quite at home. This 
 appears very wonderful to me. I think we know 
 very little of our own powers at present. Third, 
 Though some dreams are important, perhaps 
 monitory, perhaps prophetical, as I believe that 
 mentioned in my narrative was ; yet there is so 
 much uncertainty in their general character, that 
 we should be cautious of laying much stress upon 
 
them, at the time. I had once a young lady a 
 month at my house, who had the singular faculty 
 of dreaming that she heard a sermon every night ; 
 and she usually told us the text, the heads, and 
 much of the discourse at breakfast. The preacher 
 was sometimes one whom she knew, and some- 
 times an utter stranger. But when she married, 
 she lost her gift ; and, poor thing, she has since 
 met with many things which she never dream- 
 ed of. 
 
 Now for Mr. ****. His case is a strong 
 proof of the power of habit. How else could 
 he have been afraid to shorten his prayers, when 
 the general voice of his people pronounced them 
 too long ? He knew the gospel too well to ex- 
 pect to be heard for his much speaking. I think 
 very long prayers more blameable than long 
 sermons. A peculiar attention is due when 
 speaking to the Most High ; and if the attention 
 be overstrained by the length of the service, it is 
 lost time to the hearer. Weariness of mind in 
 prayer, and the thought still returning — When will 
 you have done ? is worse than unpleasant, espe- 
 cially to persons of weak judgment, who charge 
 their consciences with guilt, for the speaker's in- 
 discretion. 
 
 The holiness of sinners and angels, which you 
 seem to compare, differ not only in degree, but 
 also in kind. A hare or a greyhound can run 
 swiftly, but they cannot fly like an eagle, had 
 
41 
 
 they been made to fly they would have had wings. 
 We hope to be as the angels before long, but at 
 present, in our compound state of spirit and 
 matter, the distinction between us and them is 
 no less real than between birds and beasts. The 
 holiness of a sinner consists chiefly of low 
 thoughts of self, and high thoughts of the Sa- 
 viour. These will always be in proportion. The 
 lower we appear to ourselves, the more highly 
 we shall esteem him. The more his glory strikes 
 us, the more we shall sink in our own eyes. 
 Could you find the man who has most of these 
 properties, you would find the most holy man 
 upon earth. And as we advance in these, we 
 shall, in the same degree, attain to every thing 
 else that properly belongs to holiness. Why are 
 we liable to anger, pride, positiveness, and other 
 evil tempers? but because we think too highly of 
 ourselves, and suppose we are not treated as we 
 ought to be. Why are we so apt to be capti- 
 vated with the gewgaws of the world ? but be- 
 cause we are so faintly impressed with a real 
 sense of the excellence of Jesus. We say indeed 
 that his loving-kindness is better than life, but if 
 we really and fully thought so, hard things would 
 be easy, and bitter sweet, and there would be no 
 room for impatience or discontent in our hearts. 
 But alas ! all within us, and all around us, is de- 
 fective and polluted ! 
 
46 
 
 The death of Mr. Y***, and of many others 
 who are daily removed, are encouragements to 
 us to trust the Lord when our call shall come. 
 They who are born of God belong to his hea- 
 venly kingdom. They who are not, belong, at 
 least for the present, to the kingdom of the 
 wicked one. Neither the one nor the other, 
 while in the body, can have a full perception of 
 what awaits them ; but, at the approach of death 
 the respective scenes begin to open.* 
 
 ' The soul's dark cottage, tatter'd and decayxl, 
 Lets in new light through chinks ' 
 
 It is not necessary to suppose that the believer 
 upon his dying bed is, strictly speaking, better 
 than the believers who are around him, listening 
 with admiration to his words ; but now he stands 
 upon the threshold of glory, he sees more, and 
 therefore he can say more than he did formerly. 
 
 * Mr. Y*** was converted under the ministry of Mr 
 Whitfield, and lived a humble, consistent christian, to the 
 age of fourscore. His faculties latterly were so impaired 
 that he neither knew his wife, nor his most intimate ac- 
 quaintance when they called on him. He said much 
 during his last days, and the manner and matter of his 
 sayings indicated that he thought himself in heaven, in the 
 immediate presence of his God and Saviour. In health 
 he conversed but little upon any subject ; but in his last 
 illness he spoke much to the honour of God, and to the 
 comfort and joy of those around him. His last words were 
 " Mv King ! my Lord 1" 
 
47 
 
 And often the impenitent sinner before his de- 
 parture has such discoveries as terrify not only 
 himself, but all who are about him : but what 
 passes within the curtains seldom transpires 
 abroad. We observe that christian* who walk 
 uprightly and humbly, generally express the same 
 feelings when they come to die ; or rather they 
 give intimations of views and feelings which they 
 find no words to express. 
 
 Now I will tell you a story. It was in the 
 newspaper some years ago ; but possibly you may 
 not have heard it. 
 
 A German prince, travelling through France, 
 visited the arsenal at Toulon, where the gallies 
 are kept. The commandant, as a compliment 
 to his rank, said, he was welcome to set any one 
 galley slave at liberty, whom he should choose to 
 select. The prince, willing to make the best use 
 of this privilege, spoke to many of them in suc- 
 cession, inquiring why they were condemned to 
 the gallies. Injustice, oppression, false accusa- 
 tion, were the only causes they could assign — 
 they were all innocent and ill-treated. At last 
 he came to one, who when asked the same ques- 
 tion, answered to this effect. " My Lord, I 
 have no reason to complain. I have been a very 
 wicked desperate wretch. I have often deserved 
 to be broken alive upon the wheel. I account it 
 a great mercy that I am here." The prince fixed 
 his eyes upon him r gave him a gentle blow upon 
 
48 
 
 the head, and said, You wicked wretch, it is a 
 pity you should be placed among so many honest 
 men ; by your own confession you are bad enough 
 to corrupt them all, but you shall not stay with 
 them another day." Then turning to the officer, 
 he said, " This is the man, Sir, whom I wish to 
 be released." 
 
 Was not this a wise decision : Must not all 
 who hear the story allow, that the man who was 
 so sensible of his guilt, and so submissive to his 
 punishment was, in all probability, the most 
 worthy of pardon, and the most likely not to 
 abuse it ? Though the ways of God and his 
 thoughts are higher than ours, yet upon some 
 occasions, and when their own concerns are not 
 in question, men, by their judgments, shew that 
 they can form no just objections to his. 
 
 Think of me if we live to the 15th Decem- 
 ber,* It stands first in the list of my memorable 
 days. It calls me to the special exercise of hu- 
 miliation and praise. Not that the subject is out 
 of my thoughts the year round. The Lord's 
 goodness, and my own folly and ingratitude, du- 
 ring a course of forty years, suggest matter for 
 daily meditation. The four years since my be- 
 reavement have been more free from snares and 
 cares than any former period of my life ; and 
 therefore I ought to number them among the 
 
 * Anniversary of airs. Newton's death. 
 
49 
 
 happiest I have seen. Blessed be his name, who 
 can make losses gains, and cause comforts to 
 spring from our crosses. For the rest, the Lord 
 deals so bountifully with me, that I have not a 
 wish to form. I have health, peace, plenty, 
 friends, acceptance ; I can still preach, and have 
 reason to hope I am useful. I am very happy in 
 domestic life, so that I still find home is home. 
 What can I desire more ? Through mercy, I 
 know and feel that the world can offer nothing to 
 amend my situation. The lines are fallen to me 
 in a pleasant place. He who brought me out of 
 the house of bondage in Africa, has dealt well 
 with me in the wilderness ! How wonderfully 
 has he led me about, and kept me as the apple of 
 his eye ! 
 
 But I am drawing near 70, and cannot be far 
 from Jordan. I am at present willing to live ; 
 and I trust when the time comes, the Lord will 
 make me willing to die. It is easy to talk of 
 death while he is at a distance. But I rely upon 
 his promise of strength according to the day, to 
 enable me to meet him with composure. Let us 
 pray for grace to live to-day, and to leave to- 
 morrow at his wise disposal. I commend you to 
 his blessing. I am 
 
 Your affectionate friend, 
 
 J. N. 
 
 28 Nov. 
 
 6 
 
50 
 
 LETTER XIX. 
 
 London, December 10, 11T94 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 We have no reason to be much grieved, if the 
 world speaks any or all manner of evil of us, 
 provided it be falsely, and especially if it be on 
 account of our christian profession. Rather we 
 may rejoice, for so they treated the prophets and 
 apostles that were before us, yea, our Lord him- 
 self. Jer. xxxvii. 14. Acts xxiv. 5. Luke 
 xxiii. 5. We may apply Peter's words, 1 Pet. 
 ii. 20. I think with you, that considering what a 
 world we live in, the preservation of our charac- 
 ters is no less an evidence of the Lord's provi- 
 dential care over us, than the preservation of our 
 persons from the many harms to which we are 
 daily exposed. 
 
 ]yir. ****'s letter is, as you say, a curiosity : I 
 hope it is the only one of the kind that I shall 
 have occasion to see. However, if the e>ent of 
 his last misconduct was sanctified to bring his 
 heart back to the Lord, it is well with him now. 
 I think we have warrant to hope that his faith 
 and repentance were sincere. If we have not all 
 deserved to be hanged for breaking human laws, 
 we have all deserved much worse as transgressors 
 
51 
 
 of the law of our nature. The way to heaven 
 sometimes lies by the gallows, and I fear that the 
 path from a bed of state much more frequently 
 tends downwards. For my own part, if my 
 pocket was full of stones, I have no right to 
 throw one at the greatest backslider upon earth. 
 I have either done as bad or worse than he, or I 
 certainly should, if the Lord had left me a little 
 to myself ; for I am made of just the same ma- 
 terials : if there be any difference, it is wholly of 
 grace. 
 
 I pray the Lord to bless you in all things. 
 I am 
 
 Your affectionate, 
 J. N. 
 
 LETTER XX. 
 
 Losdom, January 17, 1795. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I CAN say but little to you at present. This 
 comes chiefly to cover my fourth anniversary, 
 which is quite at your service. You will hardly 
 admire the poetry, but it is true. 
 
 I differ from some of your friends about Mr. 
 W*** ; nor do I think a whit worse of him (now 
 I have read his confession) for his misconduct. 
 I have no reason to doubt his veracity, nor can 
 see why the truth should be concealed. Does 
 not his whole case say, "Let him that thinketh 
 
52 
 
 he standeth take heed lest he fall ?" Have any 
 of us a stock of inherent grace sufficient to secure 
 us from equal and greater miscarriages ? Who 
 can equal the fervour and spirituality of David's 
 mind as expressed in Psal. xlii. lxiii. and Ixxxiv ? 
 yet how base and complicated were his crimes in 
 the affair of Bathsheba. It was written for our 
 instruction ; and similar declensions, with their 
 awful consequences, are permitted for our in- 
 struction and warning to this day. The Lord 
 preserve us in so resting in past experiences, as 
 to go forth as supposing ourselves wise and good ! 
 I hope I shall never dare to think myself out of 
 equal danger, an hour longer than I feel the ne- 
 cessity of praying, " Hold thou me up, and I 
 shall be safe," and not otherwise. 
 
 It should excite lamentation, when a believer 
 gives occasion for the way of truth to be evil 
 spoken of ; but if the heart be so deceitful and 
 desperately wicked as the scripture declares, I 
 rather wonder it does not happen more frequently. 
 When Jude says "To him ivho is able to keep 
 vou from falling," we know that he means the 
 Lord, and his expression intimates, that no power 
 less than that which keeps the planets in their 
 orbits, can preserve us from dreadful things for 
 a single day. Through great mercy I have been 
 thus kept as to my character before men ; but I 
 can remember many turns in my experience, 
 when, if the Lord had not watched over me when 
 
53 
 
 I was sleeping, I might have proved very vile, 
 indeed. More than once, he permitted my ene- 
 my to rob me of my spear and cruse, my strength 
 and my comfort, by which I know to whom I 
 owe it that I am alive at this day. 
 
 I know nothing of S. Vincent's, but you were, 
 certainly misinformed about Antigua. There the 
 gospel is protected and flourishes greatly. The 
 Moravian brethren have there near 8000 enlight- 
 ened blacks under their care, whose behaviour is 
 such, that a slave under their tuition will fetch 
 double the price of another. It is the same in 
 the Danish islands St. Cruz and St. Thomas, 
 where they have still a greater number, and they 
 have begun a good and prosperous work at St. 
 Christopher's. Some of Mr. Wesley's preachers 
 are likewise useful in our islands ; but the Mora- 
 vians seem almost to engross the true missionary 
 spirit. If you read the history of the missions 
 in North America, lately published, you will see 
 such instances of simplicity, self-denial, wisdom, 
 courage, patience, perseverance, and success, and 
 so likewise in Crantz's History of the Greenland 
 Mission, as I think cannot be equalled in any age, 
 or by any people since the apostolic day, except- 
 ing Mr. Brainerd, and a few others, from New- 
 England. It is easy to form missions, but the 
 Lord alone can form true missionaries* 
 
 My time is gone when I have commended, 
 you to the Lord's blessing, and desired you to 
 6 * 
 
54 
 
 give my love to all that love the Saviour, and 
 that think of me for his sake. 
 
 I am 
 
 Your affectionate and obliged, 
 
 J. N. 
 
 LETTER XXI. 
 
 Loxdox, February 28, 1795. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 HOW one thing hangs upon another ! The 
 French revolution has produced a revolution in 
 the franking business. I suppose this is the last 
 frank that will pass between Scotland and me. 
 My next letter per post will cos # t you money, and 
 therefore I ought to wait till I can send you 
 something worth paying for. 
 
 Mr. R*## is a good man, and his Address is a 
 good one. It was much called for. Besides the 
 impression at L***, about ten thousand were 
 printed here. I hope Wednesday was a good 
 day.* The churches, Sec. where the gospel is 
 preached, were in general crowded, and I hope 
 the business of the day will be still remembered 
 by many ; but the majority, I fear, are returning 
 into their old courses. I preached from Psalm 
 exxiii. I, 2. and Exodus xvii. 11. 
 
 I congratulate you on the visit the Lord fa- 
 voured you with. Such favours call for a double 
 
 • A Fast Day. 
 
55 
 
 guard of watchfulness and prayer. The pick- 
 pockets are busy about our Bank, when the divi- 
 dends are paying, and sometimes they who have 
 received a good sum of money have been de- 
 prived of it before they returned home : but they 
 seldom attempt to rob a poor man. Thus satan 
 the arch-thief, lets a poor formal professor pass 
 unmolested ; but if he sees one whom the Lord 
 has enriched, he watches him with a malicious 
 eye, and longs to spoil him of his treasure. It 
 seems he once formed a plan to rob Paul him- 
 self, upon such an occasion, 2 Cor. xii. But the 
 Lord constrained him to send a messenger of his 
 own, to defeatdiis own design, and to put Paul 
 upon his guard. Messengers from satan, and 
 thorns in the flesh, are gifts and mercies, if they 
 preserve us from being exalted above measure. 
 For there is that in our nature which can extract 
 poison even from gracious manifestations and 
 spiritual comforts. A man who has his dividend 
 in his pocket, buttons up close, avoids a crowd, 
 and looks and moves, as if he thought every per- 
 son he meets may be a thief. Let us imitate 
 them ! May the Lord's voice to Peter sound 
 frequently in our ears, "Satan has desired to 
 have you that he may sift you as wheat." But if 
 we are enabled to walk humbly and circumspect- 
 ly, we shall walk safely. 
 
 The slips and falls (some very great) of the 
 most eminent servants of God, are recorded for 
 
56 
 
 our admonition. Abraham, Lot, Noah, Aaron, 
 David, Solomon, and Hezekiah were not novices, 
 but men who had known much of his goodness ; 
 and their greatest faults were usually committed 
 just after some signal deliverance, or some sin- 
 gular manifestation, or after they had been ho- 
 noured by the performance of some important 
 service. Lord, what is man ! and what are we ! 
 Let us not be high-minded, but fear ! 
 
 Such extraordinary views of divine things are 
 very desirable, provided we can safely bear them : 
 of which he who knows our frame is the proper 
 judge. They have not been a part of my expe- 
 rience, though, I hope, I likewise rest upon the 
 simple truth: but it is as hiies in the book. What 
 I read I am enabled to believe, so far as to ven- 
 ture my soul and my all upon it. And I trust it 
 has some general effect upon my temper, aims, 
 and expectations ; but not often much more at 
 one time than another. My walk is chiefly upon 
 even ground. I am seldom greatly elevated, or 
 greatly depressed. I would be thankful for that 
 word of our Lord to Thomas, " Blessed are they 
 who have not seen, and yet have believed." For 
 indeed, in the way of sensible impression, I have 
 seen but very little. 
 
 I think the Roman Catholics in Ireland were 
 long treated much like Israel in Egypt. I do not 
 consider their toleration as any way connected 
 with religion ; and as a political measure I highly 
 
57 
 
 approve it upon this principle, that I am glad of 
 liberty to worship God according to my light, 
 and therefore am very willing that others should 
 have the same liberty. Toleration, if considered 
 as a matter of favour, is an insult upon con- 
 science, and an intrusion on the prerogative of 
 the Lord of conscience. I should be glad of a 
 toleration to eat, if I might not eat without it; 
 yet I should think it hard if I could not breakfast 
 cr dine without the leave of Parliament. 
 
 Popery always shewed a persecuting spirit ; 
 and therefore when the Protestants got power on 
 their side, as they were unwilling to run the risk 
 of being again called to the honour of suffering 
 for the gospel sake, and equally unable to trust 
 in the providence of God ; they entrenched them- 
 selves within a bulwark of cruel, unchristian, 
 penal laws. The Jewish nation was a theocracy, 
 and Idolatry was not only a sin against God, but 
 a crime against the state, and therefore punish- 
 able with death. Protestants availed themselves 
 of this precedent. "Call the papists idolaters, 
 and then you may treat them as you please. 
 1'ear away their children from them — hinder 
 them from worshiping God at all. Let any 
 rebellious profligate son claim his father's estate, 
 if he will but renounce popery, he need not have 
 any religion : he may be an atheist, provided he 
 promises not to be a Papist. Oppress them as 
 much as you can, and still if you do not murder 
 
58 
 
 them, you may admire your own mercy." I 
 abhor the treatment of the presbyterians in Scot- 
 land in Charles Il's time ; and I do not think 
 much better of the severities against the papists 
 in Ireland. 
 
 I did not wonder at the contempt the Lord 
 poured upon the well-meant, but mistaken zeal 
 of the protestant association of the year 1780. 
 Can the Gospel of Christ authorize such things ? 
 Are these the fruits of love ? Is it thus we do 
 as we would wish to be done by ? Surely the 
 Son of man came not to destroy men's lives, but 
 to save them. 
 
 Thus much for the present. I commend you 
 to the care and blessing of the Lord ; and with 
 Miss C.'s respects, I subscribe myself, 
 
 Your affectionate friend and servant, 
 J.N. 
 
 LETTER XXII. 
 
 London, April 17, 1795. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I CANNOT keep pace with your kindness 
 in the article of correspondence, but as franks 
 though sentenced, are not yet executed, I am 
 willing to thank you once more for books, ex- 
 tracts, and letters. 
 
 A friend sent £10 for Mr. R*** in conse- 
 quence of what I had printed. I forwarded it, 
 
59 
 
 and have his answer that he received it safely. I 
 rather expected his help would arise from Scot- 
 land than from London. — »- 
 
 A Calvinist professes that a man can receive 
 nothing except it be given him from heaven. If 
 so, we need not wonder that others, who are not 
 favoured like us, cannot see with our eyes. How- 
 ever, if a man be born again, I am content he 
 should call himself an Arminian ; and if he be not 
 born again, his Calvinism will do him but little 
 good. I believe there is not a truly awakened 
 Arminian in the world, though many through 
 prejudices of education and connexion, &c. (which 
 we have happily outgrown if ever we had them) 
 deem ihemselves so. Detach them from their 
 teachers, avoid the Shibboleths and expressions 
 they have been taught to boggle at, and let them 
 pray together, you will find they all say and mean 
 the same things. Religion, my friend, is not a 
 system of sentiments, it is a new nature, a new 
 life, and they who have it, are under divine teach- 
 ing, and will in due time learn all that the Lord 
 sees it needful for them to know. Some of my 
 frequent hearers, whom I rank among the best 
 of them, would start at the word Calvinist, which 
 therefore they never hear from me ; nor the words 
 election or predestination, unless they lie in my 
 text, and then I explain them in an experimental 
 way, and they receive the truths intended, as a 
 young child does milk. They will not allow 
 
6U 
 
 themselves to be Calvinists ; but they are humble, 
 spiritual, peaceful — they lcve the Lord and his 
 people — they overcome the world. They are 
 satisfied with me, and I with them. 
 
 Some people have a sharp eye, others are near- 
 sighted, but both sorts love the light, and can see 
 by it to walk and work ; though good eyes have 
 the advantage in viewing an extensive prospect. 
 It is thus in spirituals. Yet if the heart be up- 
 right, we usually grow wiser by years and ex- 
 penence. Thus some who set out Arminians, in 
 the Lord's time become Calvinists ; and many who 
 were once speculative and positive, are ripened 
 by age, and become less assuming and dogmatic- 
 al — learn to bear and forbear ; and though they 
 have not changed their sentiments, are strongly 
 suspected by some, because they can love even 
 an Arminian. 
 
 A dealer in anecdote should have the scripture 
 touchstone and fan always at hand. I think the 
 story of Pagey, however attested to you, is not 
 quite sterling. The Moravian brethren had many 
 Indian converts. These, all of them loved the 
 Saviour, not because he gave them corn, but be- 
 cause he gave himself for their sins, and redeemed 
 them by his bloody death upon the cross. If the 
 voice Pagey heard had convinced him of the de- 
 pravity of his nature, or told him of the atone- 
 ment, I should have liked it better. I dare not 
 say what the Lord may or may not do ; but I 
 
51 
 
 Jiave no present conception of love without faith, 
 or of faith without some communication of gospel 
 truth and light to the mind. 
 
 I think 1 could match you, and overmatch you 
 on the hand of coldness and wanderings in secret 
 prayer. But in prayer I am to confess my sins 
 and depravity, which I could not honestly do un- 
 less I felt them. Nor do I expect to be much 
 better than Paul was, who found that when he 
 would do good, evil was present with him. Far- 
 ther, if the Lord favours me with some liberty 
 before men, it may be a great mercy that he 
 leaves me to feel in private how little I can do 
 without him. Otherwise, pride might tempt me 
 to consider that as my own, which experience 
 now assures me I only receive, and am dependent 
 entirely upon him for, without whom I can do 
 nothing. You will meet with the sum of all your 
 complaint in the Olney Hymns, book 1. No. 119, 
 which was written longbefore I heard of you. As 
 •face answereth to face in a glass, so the heart of 
 man to man. Your guinea and mine bear the same 
 impression, because they came out of the same 
 mint. When we most feelingly say, " O wretched 
 man that I am !" we may still cheerfully add, " I 
 thank God, through Christ Jesus my Lord." 
 There is a difference in us, according as the Lord 
 is pleased to afford or suspend his power. But 
 in ourselves we are no better at one time than 
 another ; for there divelleth in us no good thing. 
 7 
 
82 
 
 The eye can see when there is light, but it has 
 no light in itself. 
 
 I thought you had seen the sermon I printed 
 on the king's recovery, at the end of which are 
 the verses you mention. The sermons ?.re now 
 out of print, or I would send you one, but Miss C. 
 with her respects, sends you a copy of the hymn. 
 My love to Mr. and Mrs. B***. May the Lord 
 bless their union. Yea I trust he will. 
 
 Mrs. Rowe was an excellent woman — she had 
 a warm heart, a lively imagination — she was a 
 poetess. But I confess some of her aspirations 
 are too seraphic for me. Mrs. A***'s Christian 
 Character Exemplified is more to my taste. Give 
 my love to Miss G*** : tell her I am in good 
 health, excepting a cold in my head, which has 
 made me for some time almost totally deaf ; but 
 I can now hear a little better. But at the age of 
 70, I must expect mementos that my outward 
 man must decay. 
 
 1 The breaches cheerfully foretell, 
 The house must shortly fall.' 
 
 Few people have less reason to be weary of 
 life then I ; and I trust in him who has promised 
 strength according to the day, that when the time 
 comes I shall not be afraid to die. I seem not 
 to fear death at present, but as yet he is at some 
 distance. If he should open the study door, 
 while I am writing, and beckon me away, I 
 
63 
 
 cannot answer for myself, how I should behave ; 
 for it is a very serious transition. But I may say 
 with Dr. Grosvenor, " if the [Lord be pleased 
 to smile upon me, I will smile upon death." 
 
 With my love to all who love the Saviour, in 
 Edinburgh, Leith, and elsewhere,.'as they come 
 in your way, and my prayers for your and their 
 best welfare, I remain, 
 
 Your affectionate and obliged, 
 
 J. N. 
 
 LETTER XXIII. 
 
 London, June 5, 1795. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 I HAVE two of yours to thank you for ; one 
 of the 21st April, the other the 23d May, by Mr. 
 Struthers, who brought it on Tuesday. I asked 
 him to dinner, but he was engaged. He pro- 
 mised to come again, but I have not seen him 
 since. Burghers, Anti-burghers, Kirk-men, and 
 Relief-men, all are fish that come to my net ; 
 and especially those whom you send. Last week 
 I directed a letter to your care for my sister, who 
 I suppose is now at Leith. I wished to give you 
 an opportunity of calling upon her. It is twelve 
 years I believe since I saw her, but I trust you 
 will find her a truly gracious woman. 
 
 Neither you nor I know how Paul preached : 
 but his writings are designed to be a standing rule 
 
0-1 
 
 of faith and doctrine to the Church. If he and 
 his brethren had said nothing in their epistles 
 about election and predestination, we should not 
 have so well understood those points, nor had the 
 same authority for maintaining them. Though 
 I think they may be fairly inferred from other 
 parts of scripture, perhaps we could not have 
 made them so well out. But Paul says expressly, 
 that he fed babes, not with strong meat, but with 
 milk. I think I hardly said that I never mention 
 the words in preaching. When they lie in my 
 text, they make a part of my subject and sermon, 
 but seldom otherwise. I think these doctrines 
 should be in a sermon like sugar in a dish of tea, 
 which sweetens every drop, but is no where to be 
 found in a lump. 
 
 I hope you will enjoy the Lord's peace and 
 presence in your new house. It is pleasant to 
 dwell where he dwells, whether in a palace, a 
 cottage, or a prison. Indeed it does not much 
 signify which of the three is our abode, provided 
 he is pleased to be with us. 
 
 I am not very fond either of assemblies, con- 
 sistories, synods, councils, benches, or boards. 
 Ministers as individuals in their respective places, 
 are like flowers, which will preserve their colour 
 and scent much longer, if kept singly, than when 
 packed together in a nosegay or posey, for then 
 they quickly fade and corrupt. Their associa- 
 tions, in my judgment, should always be voluntary 
 
65 
 
 and free. Thus there are ten or a dozen of us in 
 London, who frequently meet : we deliberate, 
 ask, and give advice as occasions arise ; but the 
 sentiment of one, or even of the whole body, is 
 not binding upon any. We hear what each per- 
 son has to say, and then, each one judges and acts 
 for himself. Thus, though we sometimes differ 
 in opinion, we always agree, and live in harmony 
 and love. Perhaps it might be a good rule, 
 where spiritual matters are decided by vote, that 
 the minority should determine the point ; for in 
 most places the Jew are more likely to be right 
 than the many. I can assure you, that however 
 strange some may think it, I am glad, and have 
 much cause to be thankful, that I am what and 
 where I am. I think, with respect to man, we 
 are properly the Independents. The bishops in 
 England interfere with us no more than the 
 bishops in Italy, except in requiring us to appear, 
 and answer to our names, once in three or four 
 years : but no questions are asked, nor any fault 
 found, by our superiors. 
 
 I have long thought that we have the same 
 gospel in our hands, which enabled the first 
 christians to take joyfully the spoiling of their 
 goods, and that the same gospel has still the same 
 power. I am glad you have found it so. I once 
 visited a family that had suffered a great loss by 
 fire. I found the mistress of the house in tears. 
 I said, Madam, I wish you joy. She answered, 
 7 * 
 
GO 
 
 What T do you wish me joy of the fire ? No, 
 Madam, I wish you joy that you have treasure 
 laid up which the fire cannot reach. This turn 
 stopped her grief ; she wiped away her tears and 
 smiled. So the sun breaks through the clouds 
 and shines after an April shower. 
 
 Riccalton's works are become very scarce, and 
 yet are much inquired after. C***, the book- 
 seller, wrote to Scotland for many sets, but they 
 could only promise him six, and these, though 
 long expected, are not yet arrived. I put in for 
 one set for a friend, and am sorry I cannot get it. 
 I believe I told you that Mr. Riccalton, son of 
 the author, had written to me about a new edi- 
 tion, which I dissuaded him from, because as 
 he has no copy-right, it was at any person's option 
 to print another, which might spoil the sale of 
 his. I since desired Mr. Eyre (the editor of the 
 Evangelical Magazine) to advise C*** to write 
 Mr. Riccalton for his consent to publish his 
 father's works ; for which I thought, especially 
 if he would write a short preface, and here and 
 there some brief notes, he had a right to some 
 pecuniary consideration ; and perhaps, in this 
 way, he might recover his copy-right. I am not 
 lawyer enough to be sure of this. But if Mr. R. 
 is not yet engaged with C***, I could wish you 
 to think of the business, to make inquiries, and 
 to write Mr. R. A new edition in 12mo. I be- 
 lieve would sell, and it could be printed cheaper 
 
67 
 
 in Scotland than here ; only the paper and type 
 should be good ; for our nice London eyes can- 
 not read print upon coarse paper. But for fear 
 of Mr. R. being burdened, I would have the risk 
 lie with the booksellers, as interest will make 
 them more diligent in promoting the sale.* 
 
 I shall be well pleased, if the paper which I 
 printed f may provoke your ministers to do some? 
 thing handsome for Mr. R. The cause of his 
 encumbrance is a noble one, to relieve a father, 
 and a man whose memory, I think, should be 
 precious to those who love the gospel in Scot- 
 land. Let not that proverb, " A prophet is not 
 without honour save in his own country," be ap- 
 plied to him. For setting religion aside, on the 
 sole ground of literary abilities, I think if boasting 
 were lawful, Scotland might boast of Mr. Riccal- 
 ton no less than of Hume, Robertson, Blair, &c. 
 He was certainly a man of a strong comprehen- 
 sive mind, and if not an elegant he was a mas- 
 
 * The first and only edition of Mr. Riccalton's works 
 that has yet been printed is in 8 vols. 8vo. large print, 
 containing Three Essays on Human Nature — Twenty-three 
 ditto on the Doctrines of Revelation — A Treatise on the 
 General Plan of Revelation — The Christian Life, or Four 
 Dissertations on Gal. ii. 20. — Notes and Observa'ions on the 
 Epistle to the Galatians. The whole might be contained in 2 
 vols. 12mo. 
 
 f Account of Mr. Riccalton, sent by Mr. Newton to the 
 Evangelical Magazine. 
 
69 
 
 terhj writer. His metaphysics, I think, are a 
 good besom to sweep away the fine-spun cob- 
 web, sceptical metaphysics, which at present are 
 too much in fashion in both kingdoms. 
 
 I am glad you reprinted Mr. Romaine's ad- 
 dress.* To your question : Do you approve of 
 the invitation ? I answer heartily, Yes. When 
 you ask, Do you adopt it ? I must answer, Not 
 literally. I endeavour to mourn over my own 
 sins, and the sins of the public, and to cry for 
 mercy daily, and oftener than daily, both in pri- 
 vate and in my family. Nor do I omit it in the 
 pulpit. But after I have been engaged on the 
 Lord's day in preaching and speaking for six 
 hours, and nine o'clock comes, I find myself 
 more disposed for supper and bed, than for 
 prayer. The truth is, that I cannot confine my- 
 self much to rules, except scriptural rules. The 
 thought, that a great number are joining with me 
 in prayer, at the same hour and minute, is pleasing 
 to the imagination. But the Lord hears prayer 
 whenever we call upon him, without regarding 
 our distinction of times (his own day excepted.) 
 I therefore choose the seasons which suit best 
 with my circumstances and convenience. Some- 
 times my mind is thus engaged on the public ac- 
 count while walking in the streets. 
 
 * To appropriate an hour every Lord's day evening to 
 pray for the extension of Clirist's kingdom. 
 
69 
 
 But really I find it not easy to know how to 
 pray. Many think, yea many presume to say, that 
 God does not govern the earth. He has a con- 
 troversy with the nations, and especially with our 
 nation, (which, considering our superior privileges, 
 I deem to be the worst in Christendom) upon 
 this account. Dare I pray, that he should give 
 up his cause, and leave his enemies to triumph, 
 lest I and my friends should be incommoded by 
 the methods he may see fit to take, to make them 
 know that he is the Lord? I dare not. Personal 
 losses and crosses are sometimes sanctified to the 
 saving of the soul. If that person is my friend, 
 I ought to be rather thankful than sorry for those 
 trials which have this effect. It may be so with 
 a nation. If the French were permitted to land, 
 and to spread ravages, fire, and sword, through 
 half the kingdom, provided such calamities were 
 the means of stirring up multitudes who now live 
 careless in sin to seek the Lord in good earnest, 
 and with their whole heart, such a season of dis- 
 tress might be the happiest time that Britain ever 
 saw. For surely, that must be the best time 
 when the best cause flourishes most. We are 
 apt to be too selfish, too little concerned for the 
 glory of God and the good of souls. Let us 
 pray that the gospel may spread, that the Lord 
 may revive his work in the midst of the years, 
 whatever may become of our fig-tress and vines ! 
 »\nd it becomes us submissively to leave the me- 
 
70 
 
 thods of accomplishing his great designs to his 
 wisdom. 
 
 Happen what will, it shall be well with them 
 that fear the Lord. He invites them to hide 
 themselves in his secret chambers, and promises 
 to keep them under the shadow of his wings. 
 He can protect them when many fall around 
 them, or if he permits them to suffer with others, 
 he can, he will, give them strength according to 
 their day, and make all things work together for 
 their good. So that either way they are safe. 
 The time is short ; his people will soon be at 
 the end of their journey, and then they will not 
 be much concerned for what they met with upon 
 the road. I pray with submission, for peace at 
 home and abroad. But when I look upon the 
 state of things around me, I rather pray from a 
 conviction of duty, than in faith, that it will be 
 so. But the Lord's thoughts are higher than 
 mine, as the heavens are above the earth. Who 
 knows but he may yet turn from his fierce anger ? 
 The light and power of the gospel are certainly 
 upon the increase in England. This is the only 
 good sign of the times I can discern. 
 
 Miss C*** adds her best wishes to mine for 
 your peace and comfort. 
 
 I am sincerelv yours, 
 
 J. N. 
 
71 
 
 LETTER XXIV. 
 
 London, July 18, 1795, 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 IN future, if you please, you may direct to 
 me, as formerly, under cover to **#*, M. P. 
 I thank you for the only news I have had of my 
 sister since she left Yorkshire. I hope she still 
 has the use of her right hand, and will soon give 
 me a proof of it. I love her dearly, and shall 
 be glad to hear from her or my brother. 
 
 Lord and Lady **** returned some weeks 
 since to ****. I have inquired, but can find no 
 friend who has any acquaintance with Lord ****'s 
 family. But if the Lord has engaged the hearts 
 of the young ladies you speak of, he will provide 
 all that is necessary to bring them forward in his 
 own good time. His work is perfect. All hearts 
 and means are in his hands, and where he begins 
 he will surely make an end. 
 
 I know, comparatively, but few of my hearers. 
 It is probable I had no knowledge of the gentle- 
 man you mention who died lately ; but I hope I 
 shall know him hereafter. Nor can I well tell 
 to what parish the Minories, or the back of the 
 Minories, belongs. But I am glad if there is a 
 minister in it who speaks of seeking the Lord ; 
 for the phrase is rather unfashionable in these 
 parts ; few, excepting those called the Methodist 
 clergy, make use of it. 
 
72 
 
 I like to keep you in my debt, though not 
 having any long letter from you to answer, I am 
 at a loss for a particular subject. But a general 
 subject is always at hand, were my heart always 
 in tune to manage it. Should not a believer be 
 ashamed to own that he can find nothing to say, 
 or write about ? Perhaps not. For if he is in- 
 deed poor, and unable of himself to think a good 
 thought, why should he be ashamed to confess 
 his weakness and poverty ? I may well be 
 ashamed of my depravity, that I am such a 
 helpless, worthless creature ; but if it be so, to 
 deny or attempt to palliate the case, would ex- 
 pose me to farther shame for my pride and 
 hypocrisy. I sometimes compare myself to a 
 mill, which differs from a common house, iti 
 having a mechanical apparatus, capable of pro- 
 ducing motion, but without wind or water, the 
 wheels are all useless, and the mill can neither 
 grind nor move. Thus my knowledge of divine 
 things, such as it is, is often dormant ; and though 
 I do not forget what I read of the person and 
 love of the Saviour, of the beauty of holiness, 
 and the joys of heaven, I cannot speak and write 
 of them just when I please, or as I please ; but 
 only as I am assisted by an influence, which is no 
 more at my command than the rain or the sun- 
 shine. When a large heavy-laden ship is dry 
 Opon the shore, a thousand teams of horses could 
 not stir her an inch : but when the tide returns 
 
73 
 
 and raises her from the ground, one man with a 
 rope can move her. Thus it is with me ; what 
 is impracticable at one time is easy at another. 
 I am a dependent creature. When the Lord is 
 with me, I can do something ; if he withdraws I 
 can do nothing. Yet I am no better in myself 
 when I can do most, nor, strictly speaking, am I 
 worse when I can do least. For it is at all times 
 equally true, that I have nothing properly my 
 own. The eye can see if it has light : but it lias 
 no light in itself. The seeing and the blind are 
 much upon a par in the dark ; only the man who 
 can see is qualified to perceive and welcome the 
 light when it returns. 
 
 Could I always depend upon this divine influ- 
 ence, in a steadfast use of the means by which he 
 has promised to communicate it, without any 
 mixture of self-dependence, I believe I should go 
 on better : but my rashness renders many morti- 
 fying lessons, in the school of experience, quite 
 necessary. When shall I learn to be like a little 
 child, who, sensible of his weakness, is afraid to 
 cross the street without leading, and while he is 
 led has no fear at all ; and who, not pretending 
 to be wise, believes with implicit confidence what 
 he is told by his affectionate parents ! 
 
 I shall be glad to see Dr. Erskine's Address. 
 We may pray in faith for the spread of the gos- 
 pel, and the enlargement of our Lord's kingdom ; 
 for we may be sure this is the great design he 
 8 
 
74 
 
 lias in view, and for which the wheels of time 
 and nature are kept in motion. This is the 
 grand mark, to which the rise and fall of em- 
 pires, and the commotions of the present day, 
 have a direct tendency, though the way of the 
 Lord is so in the sea, that we short-sighted crea- 
 tures cannot trace the connexion of events, and 
 the dependence of one upon another. But his 
 word warrants us to believe what we cannot 
 clearly see. They say the times are very dark : 
 they seem so to us ; clouds and darkness are 
 about his throne, but light will in due time shine 
 out. He is carrying on his work by a straight 
 line. If you or* I were engaged in a plan which 
 we had much at heart, we would not suffer any 
 thing to hinder our purpose, if we could prevent 
 it : much less will he, who has all power in 
 heaven and on earth. Even the wrath of his 
 enemies shall praise him : they are permitted to 
 do nothing but what shall be found subservient 
 to his design. Not only was Cyrus his servant, 
 but Pharaoh and Senacherib likewise : they 
 sought their own will and glory, but promoted 
 his. 
 
 We may leave all in his hands safely : yet 
 there is a part for us to act. We ought to be 
 affected by what we see and hear — to mourn for 
 our own sins, and for the sins of others, and for 
 the miseries with which sin has filled the world. 
 We should be jealous for the Lord of hosts, and 
 
75 
 
 compassionate to the souls of men. Now his 
 hand is so visibly and awfully lifted up, it be- 
 comes us to see it, acknowledge it, and humble 
 ourselves under it, whether others will or not. 
 The Lord has a controversy with this nation, he 
 is pleading his own cause against the prevailing 
 spirit of infidelity, and the abominations that 
 abound, and he will make sinful worms know 
 that he is the Lord, and that in all they speak 
 proudly, he is above them. Perhaps the steps 
 he sees fit to take, may touch his own people in 
 their temporal concerns, but his glory ought to 
 be the dearest objects of their souls. It is better 
 we should suffer a little, and for a little while, 
 than that his enemies should triumph. The love 
 of self and of the present world, make us terribly 
 afraid when any thing seems to threaten our ease 
 and prosperity : but what are these when com- 
 pared with the glory of our Lord and the welfare 
 of precious souls. The times are dark ; but per- 
 haps they were darker in England sixty years 
 ago, when, though we had peace and plenty, the 
 bulk of the kingdom lay under the judgment of 
 an unregenerate ministry, and the people were 
 perishing for lack of knowledge. In this respect, 
 the times are better than they were. The gospel 
 is preached in many parts ; we have it plentifully 
 in London ; and many of our great towns, which 
 were once sitting in darkness, have now the true 
 light. Some of those places were as a wilder- 
 
76 
 
 ness in my remembrance, and now they are zs 
 gardens of the Lord. And every year the gos- 
 pel is planted in new places — ministers are still 
 raising up — the work is still spreading. I am 
 not sure that in the year 1T40, there was a single 
 parochial minister, who was publicly known as a 
 gospel preacher, in the whole kingdom : now we 
 have, I know not how many, but I think not 
 fewer than four hundred. Let us, my friend, 
 settle it as a maxim, that it is the best time with 
 any nation when the best cause flourishes most : 
 for as the life is more than meat, so the soul is 
 more than the body. If one half of the kingdom 
 was ravaged by war, provided the distress was 
 sanctified to stir up many careless ones to seek 
 the Lord and his salvation — such a dispensation 
 would be more a mercy than a judgment. 
 
 It is Saturday evening, when I usually have a 
 few select friends, chiefly ministers, to drink tta 
 with me. Something that passes at these meet- 
 ings often suggests subject matter for the Lord's 
 day. My company is gone, and I have a little 
 time left to finish my letter. 
 
 I believe the Lord's old and faithful servant, 
 Mr. Romaine, is going home. He is nearly 
 82 years of age ; has been 58 years in the mi- 
 nistry ; and was never laid by a single sabbath 
 till very lately. I have known him as a preacher 
 of the gospel since about the year 1 750, and I 
 believe he began sooner. He has been an ho- 
 
77 
 
 nourable and useful man, a burning and a shining 
 light — inflexible as an iron pillar in publishing 
 the truth, and unmoved either by the smiles or 
 the frowns of the world. He is the most popular 
 man we have had since Mr. Whitfield ; and few 
 now living will be more missed. I believe some 
 of his friends would wish to keep him here ano- 
 ther fourscore years if they could : but when he 
 goes, as he could not be expected to preach if 
 he lived, I shall not be sorry that he has entered 
 into his Master's joy. My turn will probably be 
 next, for I shall be seventy the 4th August. 
 Pray for me, that I may be found ready when 
 the summons shall come. I will try to pray for 
 you, that the Lord may bless you more and 
 more, and make you a blessing in all your con- 
 nexions. I am 
 
 Your affectionate friend, 
 
 OMICRON. 
 
 LETTER XXV. 
 
 London, September 2, 1795 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 IT runs in my head that I have two of your 
 letters unanswered, but- 1 can find only one; nor 
 can I recollect the particulars of the other, if 
 there be another. That before me is dated the 
 1 rth August. 
 
 8* 
 
78 
 
 It is good to desire to be useful ; but it is not 
 necessary to know how much we are so. If you 
 walk humbly and uprightly before the Lord, I 
 may venture to answer for your usefulness : but 
 we often mean by the word, to be instrumental 
 in doing great things. Self likes to do great 
 things ; but grace teaches us to do little things 
 with a great spirit — that is, for the Lord's sake. 
 To fill up his appointed post with integrity, sub- 
 mission, and thankfulness, is all that an angel 
 could do, if he was upon earth. 
 
 I thank you for the extract from Dr. Gillies's 
 letter. I hope, as you say, it does suit me, and 
 I pray that it may suit me, if it should be the 
 Lord's pleasure to lay me aside. I may expect 
 it daily at my time of life ; though at present I 
 am lusty and strong : but a few minutes is suffi- 
 cient to produce a great change. But I wish to 
 work while it is day, and to leave to-morrow in 
 his hands. 
 
 Dr. E*** bears fruit in old age. I never ex- 
 changed a line with him ; but I have long had a 
 high respect for his character. I hope to know 
 him hereafter. I once breakfasted and once dined 
 with Lord H***. He seemed a very amiable 
 gentleman. May the Lord give him the best 
 honours and the best riches, and strengthen his 
 chaplain abundantly. 
 
 I smile at your not knowing the meaning of 
 Easter. Those who observe it, profess to ob- 
 
79 
 
 serve it in commemoration of our Lord's resur- 
 rection. As this took place the third day after 
 the passover, and the passover was regulated by 
 the full moon, the third day, or Easter, most fre- 
 quently happened on a week-day. Some great 
 Doctors thought it most proper to observe it on 
 the Lord's-day next following the passover — 
 others, perhaps as great Doctors as the former, 
 thought it best to abide by the numerical third 
 day. I cannot tell you how many councils and 
 convocations were held to settle this knotty point : 
 but as Pope Self presided in them all, and held 
 both sides of the question, the disputes ended in 
 & total and final separation between the eastern 
 and western, that is, the Greek and Roman 
 churches. And venerable Bede long afterwards, 
 writing in praise of a cotemporary, thought him- 
 self bound in conscience to close the account 
 with this censure, " But poor mistaken man, he 
 did not keep Easter in our way y" and this spoiled 
 his otherwise good character. I consider many 
 of the modern disputes of the like importance. 
 
 Your account of should animate us to 
 
 bear a faithful and affectionate testimony to the 
 truth, upon all proper occasions, and not be dis- 
 couraged by apparent difficulties. The heart is 
 like gunpowder, which lies quiet if fire be kept 
 from it ; but a single spark, in the Lord's time, 
 is sufficient to set it in a blaze. 
 
80 
 
 Mr. Romaine lived honourably and usefully, 
 and died comfortably. The same may be said 
 of many who live and die unknown and unnoticed 
 by men. A poor old man or woman in a parish 
 work-house, if faithful in their profession, and 
 submissive to their lot, who rejoice» to hear of 
 the great minister's success, and pray for him, 
 may be equally great in the sight of the Lord, 
 who seeth not as man seeth, and accepteth, not 
 according to what his people actually do for him, 
 but according to what they would do, if they 
 could. I suppose, when Lazarus died, no train 
 of coaches attended his funeral, he had probably 
 no funeral oration, no sumptuous monument ; 
 but he had an attendant guard of angels, and is 
 represented to our conceptions as obtaining a 
 chief seat in the kingdom, even in the bosom of 
 Abraham ; (see Luke xvi. 22.) And what is said 
 of him, Luke xvi. will embalm and honour his 
 memory to all succeeding generations. 
 
 Farewell. My time is expired, and my paper 
 nearly full. May the Lord bless you and all his 
 people in Edinburgh, in North Britain, and be- 
 tween the North and South Poles. Amen. 
 I am 
 
 Your trulv affectionate, 
 J. X. 
 
83 
 
 LETTER XXVI. 
 
 London, September 8, 1795. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 YOUR friend, Mr. E***, breakfasted with 
 me this morning. As he brought a testimonial 
 from you, I told him I should be glad to see him 
 again and again while he staid. I thank you for 
 your two letters by him. I wrote to you last 
 week, and therefore shall not undertake to pay 
 my new debts as yet. By the taste I had of Mr. 
 E*** I like him well. Mr. J***, the Anti- 
 burgher minister, brought him to me, with a Mr. 
 M***, who, I suppose, is a brother of his own 
 denomination. If they love the Lord Jesus 
 Christ in sincerity, I care not what they are 
 called. 
 
 It is now my turn to recommend, and I do it 
 with great pleasure. This is to introduce my 
 respected friend M*** to your acquaintance 
 and good offices. He was governor of Sierra 
 Leone, when the French visited them, and he- 
 roically destroyed all their pigs and poultry with 
 fire-arms, and without resistance. Mr. M*** 
 will be a welcome visitant to you, for he will 
 bring you good news from a far country. The 
 fields there are ripe for harvest, and he will be 
 glad of your assistance to procure more labour- 
 ers to go with him into the black vineyards 
 
82 
 
 Mr. B***'s papers are with the bishop ; and 
 I expect he will be ordained the 20th instant. 
 He will then commence my curate. I have 
 waited for him four years,-which is longer than I 
 expect to keep him, if I should live so long my- 
 self. He is, &c. * * * * *, and from 
 the Lord's wonderful leadings of him, I appre- 
 hend he has designed him for important services. 
 I hope I shall be willing to part with him at the 
 Lord's call; but should he be permitted to sup- 
 ply my lack of service, for I may expect soon to 
 be laid aside, if I am not taken away, I|shall have 
 cause to be thankful, as he is one in whom I may 
 fully depend. 
 
 Perhaps I shall have time to add no more, 
 when I have repeated my wishes for your welfare 
 in every sense, in which Miss C*** joins — and 
 assured you once more, that I am, 
 Dear Sir, 
 Your very affectionate friend, 
 
 * P. Mi J. N. 
 
 LETTER XXTII. 
 
 London, Oct. 8, 1795, 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I HOPE you have seen Mr. Goode's Funeral 
 Sermon on Mr. Romaine, at Edinburgh. There 
 is a striking quotation in it from the late Lord 
 Chesterfield. The Lord sometimes permits emi- 
 
S3 
 
 nent preachers, like R. Erskine, to be in the dark 
 for a season, towards the close of life, to teach 
 us that he does not accept them for their gifts or 
 services, but merely for that faith in Jesus, in 
 which they are often equalled, often exceeded, by 
 the poorest and most obscure people of his flock. 
 
 E e, G— — b, and Co. the old seceders, 
 
 were like unripe fruit, good in its kind, but harsh 
 and sour. Succeeding summers and winters have 
 mellowed those that are now upon the tree ; and 
 such as come in my way have generally a good 
 flavour. We know what human nature is, and 
 th% power of prejudice and self-will, or we might 
 wonder that any who love and preach the gospel 
 of peace, should be bitter in their spirit. 
 
 I am glad that Mr. Black grows and thrives in 
 his new situation. Transplanting a useful minis- 
 ter is like moving a large tree, which will not 
 always take deep root in another spot. But 
 sometimes it is the Lord's doing, and then it 
 prospers of course. Give my love to him, with 
 thanks for his letter, which I hope to answer if I 
 am spared. 
 
 I have no further concern in the M — y S — y 
 than to pray that the Lord may bless and succeed 
 the design. This I do both in public and in 
 private, daily. I had my reasons for not taking 
 an active part in it. Nor was my presence need- 
 ful. They have many to plan, and much money. 
 The design is undoubtedly commendable, and 
 
Si 
 
 when I think of the uncommon concurrence it 
 has met with throughout the kingdom, I cannot 
 but hope that much good will come of it : but I 
 think they are too sanguine in the outset. For 
 myself, I am already engaged to support and re- 
 commend the Moravian missions ; there I seem 
 to know what I am about — there I see the hand 
 of the Lord already stretched out. I know their 
 missionaries are eminently endued with a spirit 
 of disinterestedness, self-denial, humility, forti- 
 tude, and the meekness of wisdom ; and the suc- 
 cess the Lord has given them is truly wonderful. 
 Perhaps there has been nothing equal to what th»y 
 have suffered, and what they have done among 
 the heathens, since the apostle's days. But it 
 may be said of our Saviour's kingdom, so far as 
 the Brethren or Moravians are concerned in it, 
 that \t cometh not with observation. It makes no 
 noise — it attracts but little attention. They are 
 a people little known, and therefore despised and 
 undervalued by many, but not by me. I judge 
 that true christian discipline is better observed by 
 them, than by any other body of people that pro- 
 fess the gospel. 
 
 October 15. My letter has already been a 
 week in hand. It seems from your MS. that 
 your correspondence with me was maintained 
 through the whole of your low uncorcfortable 
 state ; yet I do not recollect any remarkable hints 
 of your despondency ; on the contrary, you still 
 
S3 
 
 Supplied me with anecdotes. However, I praise 
 the Lord for your deliverance, and that the account 
 you give of it is so scriptural and solid. The 
 sting of death is now taken away, and I hope the 
 stroke of death is yet at a distance from you ; and 
 that you will live to be an ornament, and an- in- 
 strument for good, to the cause you profess- 
 Though not a minister, you may be able to apply 
 the apostle's words to yourself, 2 Cor. i. 3 — 6. 
 It is this thought makes me try to be thankful 
 that my life is prolonged ; though I see little else 
 worth living for in such a world as this : and yet 
 no one has less reason to be weary of living, for 
 I abound with comforts, and hardly meet with 
 any thing deserving the name of a trial. To 
 depart, and be with .'esus, is certainly far better .: 
 but upon that very account it is well worth wait- 
 ing for. 
 
 I thank you for the printed papers. I can 
 feel for Mr. E***. But he is a young man. I 
 hope the Lord will heal his wound, and perhaps 
 in due time the breach may be comfortably re- 
 paired. Had they lived so long together as my 
 dear wife and I did, and in harmony, as I believe 
 they would ; the separating stroke would have 
 been no less keen after forty years than in the first. 
 And then it is probable, that he, if the survivor, 
 must have lived a solitary like me, for the rest 
 of his days. The Lord's dispensations are various 
 to different persons, but they are all right. 
 9 
 
86 
 
 I think I may now take my leave of you. I 
 have some thoughts of attempting to write some 
 account of my friend, the late Mr. Grimshaw. 
 What was said of him in ***** was very poor 
 and imperfect. If I undertake this job, it will 
 make me very tardy in my correspondence. He 
 was, in some respects, the most extraordinary 
 man I have known. I shall enclose you a letter 
 to my brother : the Lord bless vou in all things. 
 
 I am affectionately yours, 
 J. X. 
 
 Oct. 16. 
 
 LETTER XXVIII. 
 
 London, December 12, 1795. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 DR. P*** called one evening, a time when I 
 never ask any body to stay, for I need the evening 
 much, to wind up the affairs of the day. But I 
 invited him plentifully to come again. The book 
 he brought was published last year in London, 
 from a translation made in Holland. I have not 
 yet compared it with yours, but I shall probably 
 like yours best, as I judge from some passages in 
 mine, the translator was a Dutchman. 
 
 I cannot now proceed to your other letter, for 
 as I wish you to have my anniversary verses for 
 this year, I am afraid of overloading the frank if 
 I filled the sheet ; and for this reason I only send 
 
£7 
 
 you one copy, with one for my sister ; but that 
 one is entirely at your service, to do with it what 
 you please. 
 
 I believe the lines you quote from Dr. Watts 
 were not spoken extempore ; at least, they are in 
 one of his lyric poems. However, your obser- 
 vation, that we are apt to judge of a man's size 
 by the opinion we form of him, is generally true. 
 I might perhaps think you half a head taller than 
 you are, if I had never seen you. It is said that 
 Dr. Watts in the early part of his life, had a 
 penchant for the late Mrs. Rowe, and the lady, 
 while she only judged of him by his writings, 
 V i not averse to the thought. At last, they had 
 an interview ; from that time she always regard- 
 ed bha a:, a friend, but no farther. 
 
 I am sincerely yours, 
 J.N. 
 
 * LETTER XXIX. 
 
 London, February 10, 1796. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 THOUGH I am obliged to write short letters, 
 I wish to keep the road of correspondence open 
 between us. 
 
 Your story of the poor widow and rich Ame- 
 rican, is a good one. Many such appearances' of 
 the Lord, in answer to the cries of his poor, are 
 
2? 
 
 afforded, I doubt not, every day ; and they will 
 all be known, to his praise, hereafter. I think 
 his children, when they meet in glory, will have 
 much to tell each other of what he did for them 
 in the wilderness. 
 
 We still jog- on, much as usual, at No. 6, and 
 at St. Mary's. Heart peace, house peace, and 
 church peace, are great blessings. I am favoured 
 with them all. It is true there is an inward war- 
 fare ; but there is peace at the bottom. It might 
 make a coward bold, to be assured of victory 
 while upon the field of battle. 
 
 May we hold fast the shield of faith, and the 
 sword of the spirit, and fix our eyes upon the 
 Captain of our salvation, who holds out the prize 
 in our view, and says, " Be thou faithful unto 
 death, and I will give you a crown of life." 
 I am 
 
 Your affectionate, 
 OMICRON. 
 
 LETTER XXX. 
 
 London, April 9, jT95; 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 WHAT you say of ***# with respect to 
 Mr. Whitfield and Dr. #***, is very remarkable; 
 but such things have been known. A very poor 
 old man in Olney had a son who behaved very 
 
59 
 
 ill, run away, and went to India in a man of war. 
 Some years after, a man came to Olney to tell 
 him that his son was dead. Are you sure of it ? 
 Yes, very sure. I was his ship-mate, and, in an 
 engagement with the French, he was killed by a 
 cannon ball. I stood near him, and saw him 
 killed. The old man did not retire and pray. 
 He only paused a little, and then said, " Well, I 
 shall see my boy here again for all that." So it 
 proved. He came home safe and sound. The 
 Lord called him by his grace, and he was one of 
 my people for many years. 
 
 It is pleasing, as you observe, to see the par- 
 tition walls of bigotry tottering. It is remarkably 
 so in Scotland. The Seceders, who were ac- 
 counted the most rigid, were the people who first 
 introduced my name there, and reprinted three 
 volumes by J. N. at their own risk, when the 
 booksellers, having no knowledge of me, would 
 not venture. There seems of late a closer coali- 
 tion among the sound dissenters in England. I 
 desire, and by his grace I resolve to love all who 
 love him. 
 
 I could tattle on, but time fails, and I must 
 enclose a line for Brother Black. 
 
 May the Lord's peace and presence be with 
 you and with Your affectionate, 
 
 J. N, 
 
 9 * 
 
90 
 
 LETTER XXXI. 
 
 London-, July 5, 179S. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 IT is probable that neither Mr. nor Mrs. 
 B*** will tell you how highly we have been 
 gratified by so much of their company as they 
 could favour us with, and therefore I mention it 
 myself. We should have been pleased to have 
 had them with us every day, and from morning 
 till night, if possible. You send me good remit- 
 tances from Scotland. 
 
 Mr. E*** has written to me himself — please 
 to present my love to him. I do not expect 
 leisure to write an Essay for many months to 
 come. I have thoughts of a journey to South- 
 ampton soon, and when I return I must, if pos- 
 sible, resume the Life of Mr. Grimshaw, of which 
 I have written little more than a sheet, though I 
 made a beginning in February. But if I live 
 another month, I shall enter my 72d year, so 
 that no dependence should be placed on me. I 
 may expect to be laid aside, or called home, 
 from day to day. 
 
 Mr. B***, my curate, suited me and my peo- 
 ple exactly ; but I am well satisfied that his path 
 • f duty leads to B***, and therefore I part with 
 him without reluctance. What are my private 
 feelings or convenience when put in competition 
 
91 
 
 •with what I really believe to be the call and will 
 of the Lord ! However, I expect another curate 
 in a few days, a particular friend, whom I know 
 to be gracious, humble, and able. 
 
 Some have wondered, of late, how I could 
 stay with comfort in my present situation : I hope 
 their wonder is over before now. But I will tell 
 you, in the first place, that nothing is imposed 
 upon me, as a clergyman, that at all hurts my 
 conscience. Then farther, I find liberty in the 
 service, my church is full and crowded, my au- 
 ditory is peaceful and attentive, there are many 
 eminent christians among them, a general seri- 
 ousness is upon the face of the congregation ; 
 some, and as times go, many are successfully 
 awakened, and we have particularly a fine shew 
 of young people springing up, and increasing in 
 numbers and graces, like willows by the water- 
 courses. In a word, the blind receive their sight, 
 the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf 
 hear, the hungry are fed, the burdened are set at 
 liberty. With these tokens of the Lord's pre- 
 sence amongst us, and his goodness afforded in 
 my private walk and public work, I am well 
 satisfied that I am where he would have me to be. 
 If he accepts us, and visits us, it is a small matter 
 if some of our brethren are displeased. If he is 
 pleased to smile upon us, we can bear their cen- 
 sures. And besides, if I was to leave this church, 
 to whom must I go ? The Presbyterians, Inde- 
 
92 
 
 pendents, Baptists, Seceders, 8cc. all say with 
 equal positiveness, " we are the people." But I 
 cannot join with them all. By the grace of God, 
 I will love them and pray for them all ; but I 
 will join with none of them. I will stay where 
 I am. And if I were to choose again, I would 
 make the same choice to-morrow. I never 
 did, I trust I never shall repent it. My reasons 
 assigned in the Apologia are more and more 
 confirmed to me, the longer I live. 
 
 My time and paper are finished. Farewell for 
 the present. May the Lord be with you and 
 bless you in all things. Phil. iii. 15, 16. 
 
 I am sincerely, dear Sir, 
 
 Your affectionate, 
 J. N. 
 
 LETTER XXXII. 
 
 London, October 7, 1T96. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 SIX weeks absence has thrown my home af- 
 fairs sadly behind hand : but I hope the time was 
 not wholly lost. We, that is dear Miss C*** 
 and myself, left London the 19th August, and 
 returned the 1st instant. We spent the first week 
 at Reading, where the Lord has many people, 
 warm-hearted, upright, and loving. The rest of 
 our time we were at Mr- T***'s, at Ports- 
 wood Green, from whence I have written to you 
 
05 
 
 formerly. He lives within two miles of S****, 
 where there are five churches, but no pulpit open 
 for me. But Mr. T*** opened his house, and 
 made room for about 300 hearers. I preached 
 three evenings in the week, while I staid — we 
 were often full — my hearers were chiefly from 
 the neighbouring villages, and seem willing to 
 hear the gospel, if they had any body to preach 
 it to them. But, alas ! in those parts, and in 
 many parts of the kingdom, comparatively a land 
 of light, 
 
 " The hungry sheep look up, but are not fed." 
 
 We need not go far from home to find people 
 no less ignorant of spiritual things, no less un- 
 concerned about their souls, than the heathens in 
 Africa or Otaheite. We are encouraged, yea we 
 are commanded to pray, that the Lord of the 
 harvest would send forth more faithful labourers, 
 for as yet they are but few, compared with the 
 extensive wilds at home and abroad. 
 
 I have received a letter from B***, dated, I 
 think, the 27th August. They were then all well, 
 off the Canary Islands, entering upon the trade 
 winds, and by this time may be at the Cape of 
 Good Hope. I saw his call clear, and gave him 
 up without reluctance, though he was to me as a 
 
 right hand. I then engaged a J B r to 
 
 be my curate. He was my intimate friend. I 
 had been chiefly instrumental in bringing him 
 
94 
 
 forward. He was ordained about two years ago. 
 He was able and ready as a preacher, humble, 
 spiritual, and devoted as a christian, beyond the 
 common standard at his years. I was ready to 
 call him Seth, and thought the Lord had given 
 him to me in the room of B ■ ■ n. But a few 
 days before I left London, he was suddenly taken 
 with a bleeding of his lungs, which terminated 
 his life below in about a fortnight. He was 
 bereaved of an excellent wife last summer. Of 
 four children, one only was left, a sweet little 
 boy of about four years old. This child was 
 taken with the small-pox while his father was ill, 
 he could not see the child, but lived to hear of 
 his death. He and I had promised ourselves 
 much pleasure in our connexion ; but we are 
 short-sighted creatures. Thus all his earthly ex- 
 pectations were crossed ; but his last words were, 
 41 The Lord has done all things -well? and from 
 them 1 preached his funeral sermon last Sabbath 
 evening. I thank the Lord I can say and believe 
 he does all things well ; but I have had my feel- 
 ings : for I hoped I had found a person on whom 
 I might fully depend, and whom my people 
 would hear with pleasure in case I should be 
 laid aside. Perhaps I am to live and preach a 
 little longer. If it be so, zvett, if otherwise, xvell y 
 he does all things well ; and when he sees I really 
 need assistance, he can provide it. My part is 
 to live to-day, and to leave to-morrow with him. 
 
95 
 
 I perhaps may write a paper for the work you 
 mention, but I know not when, I am so over- 
 whelmed with correspondence. Though I wrote 
 more than forty letters while abroad, I have nearly 
 as many by me that should be answered, if I 
 could find time, and almost every post adds to 
 their number. Many are from strangers, which 
 must be noticed of course when I cannot write 
 to my friends. Then I have so many visitants, 
 that I can seldom call an hour my own, when I 
 am at home ; and if I could attend to the sick 
 and the sorrowful as I wish, I should be always 
 abroad. I wish likewise to return to the Life of 
 Mr. Grimshaw, which has lain by untouched for 
 six months past. So that I am indeed full- 
 handed. 
 
 I am glad to hear well of Mrs. H***, and 
 hope I should have heard from her. I had no 
 fear of her not being supported. How can they 
 fall who lean upon the Lord, and have an al- 
 mighty arm underneath them ? Give our warm 
 love to her, to Mr. and Mrs. B***, &c. If you 
 printed the second anniversary, " When grace her 
 balm to sooth ?ny pain," and have any left that 
 you can spare, I shall be obliged to you for a 
 few copies. We have none here in print but 
 what are bound up with Letters to a Wife. 
 
 I am now getting into my old track, which 
 seems to suit me better than rambling about. I 
 have cause to be thankful, that abroad, while I was 
 
96 
 
 abroad, was very pleasant, but still hornets heme, 
 I love my friends at a distance, but it is not prac- 
 ticable to travel to them all ; and therefore I am 
 glad when they call upon me in London, as many 
 of them do in the course, of the year ; and I sel- 
 dom stir out for two or three days but I miss 
 some whom I should have seen, if I had re- 
 mained upon the spot. There was a time when 
 I did not know that I had a friend in the world, 
 excepting my dear Mary's family; but the Lord 
 has given me so many since, that 1 cannot express 
 a proper regard to them all. Jacob's acknow- 
 ledgment, with a little variation, become me — 
 "With my staff I came over Jordan, and now I 
 am become two bands !" What a wretch was I 
 in Africa ! A servant of slaves, scorned and 
 yet sometimes pitied, by the lowest of the human 
 race ! And how is it with me now ? O Lord, I 
 am a wonder to many, and to myself ! 
 
 My eventful life is drawing to a close. While 
 I walked in the way of transgressors, I found it 
 hard indeed ! Since the Lord took me up, out- 
 cast as I was, and brought me into his fold, my 
 path has been as remarkably smooth. So far as 
 happiness can be found in externals, I have known 
 it : yet I cannot wish to live my most pleasant 
 days over again. Sin and vanity are entwined with 
 them all. I am still as happy as temporals in 
 my widowed state can make me. But I am not 
 sorry that I am in my 72d year. I. have lived 
 
97 
 
 long enough to know what the world can do, and 
 what it cannot do. I have no business in it, but 
 to fill up the uncertain remnant, as becomes a 
 believer and a minister of the gospel. If the 
 Lord by his grace enables me for this, I care not 
 whether my stay here be longer or shorter ; only 
 may I be found ready when the summons shall 
 come. Pray for me, and I will try to pray for 
 you. May the gracious Saviour dwell with you, 
 and with me, and with all who love him, as the 
 Lord, the guardian, and beloved of our hearts. 
 Amen. Believe me to be 
 
 Your sincerely affectionate friend, 
 J. N. 
 
 LETTER XXXIII. 
 
 London, November 23, 1796. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 HAVING a long letter ready to send to Mr. 
 B*** when yours of the 14th arrived, I delayed 
 it till I could find time to put a short one under 
 the same cover for you, to thank you for it. I 
 believe it must be shortish at present. 
 
 Mr. H***'s design is a noble one ; may the 
 Lord prosper it! I do not think that a. useless 
 life 2d. home, is a necessary or proper qualification 
 for serving a missionary abroad : but there are 
 extremes on both sides : and I should be sorry if 
 all who love the Lord, and whom he has placed 
 10 
 
98 
 
 in a line of service here, should think it their duty 
 to leave their posts, and turn missionaries. Es-» 
 pecially I hope that you will not take such a 
 thought into your own head, as some of your 
 friends have entertained in theirs for you. If it 
 should enter your pericranium, I hope you will 
 have many friends to give you lectures upon mo- 
 deration, prudence, &c. and that the Lord will 
 give you the hearing ear, and make you content 
 and willing to stay at home. I have no doubt 
 but Satan would be glad to see you shipped off 
 to India, or any where, so he might get rid of 
 you, for you stand in his way where you are. 
 
 I thank you beforehand for the Anniversaries, 
 No. 2. I believe I shall write no more. No. 5 
 speaks of the wound as healed ; why then should 
 I open it again ; I thank the Lord it is healed, 
 so far as concerns the peace of my mind. I am 
 quite satisfied. But my recollection of circum- 
 stances is nearly as fresh as in the first month. 
 Still she is seldom out of my waking thoughts ; 
 but this does not give me uneasiness. But you 
 are a bachelor. 
 
 Let us continue to exchange mutual prayers. 
 The night is far spent, the day is at hand. We 
 shall not always live this dying life. We hope 
 'to see him as he is. When all will be well for 
 ever ! I hope my next to Edinburgh will be to 
 Mr. Black. I thank him for sending Mr. B*** 
 to me. He is a good remittance. I cannot 
 
99 
 
 make payments in this way, equal to what I re- 
 ceive. The Lord be with you, and with 
 
 Your affectionate friend, 
 J. N. 
 
 LETTER XXXIV. 
 
 London, April 5, 179"- 
 
 UEAR SIR, 
 
 I THOUGHT your last letter rather long in 
 coming, but when it came I was made amends. 
 I rejoiced greatly that the judgment of Mr. B*** 
 and your other friends coincided with my own, 
 because it helped to turn the scale. I ought to 
 be dubious of my own judgment, and I hope I 
 am not a dogmatist : but your case was so plain, 
 that I am morally certain that I judged right ; 
 and I have little doubt, but that if you live, you 
 will see more reason than perhaps you do at pre- 
 sent, to thank the Lord for inclining you to follow 
 our advice. 
 
 I am glad you have at last seen a Moravian 
 brother. They are in general so much alike, 
 that one may be taken as a specimen of many. 
 They have a few peculiarities resulting from their 
 church constitution ; but, as a body, i consider 
 them as the most exemplary, peaceful, and spi- 
 ritual society of all that bear the christian name. 
 Their grand object, and in which their excellence 
 is most signally displayed, is the conversion of the 
 
100 
 
 heathen. In this branch, without noise or no- 
 tice, they have done more in promoting the 
 knowledge of the true gospel, in about fifty years, 
 than has been done by all Christendom in fifteen 
 hundred years before them. God has given them 
 the true missionary spirit, and I think, excepting 
 Mr. Brainerd, and two or three more in North 
 America, they have hitherto had a monopoly of 
 it, though Mr. C***, the Baptist missionary in 
 Bengal, is, I hope, treading in their steps. Their 
 patience, fortitude, self-denial, perseverance, cou- 
 rage, holy wisdom, and their success, would be 
 astonishing, did we not know whose they are 
 and whom they serve. If you have not read 
 Crantz's history of the Greenland mission, which 
 has been long in print, or the history of the mis- 
 sion in North America, published about two or 
 three years ago, I wish you had them. 
 
 I am glad that a spirit of prayer is excited in 
 your parts, on a national account. I wish it was 
 more so with us. 
 
 I hope indeed we have many (though compa- 
 ratively few) whose eyes affect their hearts, and 
 are mourning in secret for the evils which they 
 cannot prevent. These I account as the chariots 
 and horsemen of our Israel. 1 should have little 
 hope from our fleets and armies, farther than the 
 Lord may be pleased to give them success, in 
 answer to the prayers of his people. Who knowS 
 Vtit for their sakes he may yet avert or suspend 
 
101 
 
 deserved judgments, at least so far as not to give 
 us up as a prey to the merciless teeth of our ene- 
 mies. But however he may deal with others, he 
 will favour them with his mark of protection and 
 support. Verily it shall be well with the right- 
 eous. He will shew himself strong in behalf of 
 them that fear him : and if he permits them to 
 suffer outwardly like others, his promise of 
 strength according to their day, will carry them 
 unhurt through fire and water. 
 
 I have just touched upon the several points in 
 yours. I have not leisure to write more largely. 
 I enclose a letter to Mr. B***. I commend you 
 to the guidance and blessing of the Lord. Pray 
 for us. I am 
 
 Your very affectionate, 
 J. N. 
 
 LETTER XXXV. 
 
 Southampton, July 24, 1797. 
 
 MR DEAR SIR, 
 
 YOUR letter would have been answered sooner 
 if I had remained at home : but new places and 
 faces have engaged me of late. I left London 
 the 4th instant (soon after I received it,) passed a 
 fortnight at Reading, with Mr. Cadogan's wi- 
 dowed people, and came hither the 21st. 
 
 I hope the spirit for missions, which has of 
 late been so generally awakened, will, in due time, 
 10 * 
 
102 
 
 by the Lord's blessing, be productive of much 
 good. The first and present good effect of it 
 seems to be the concern excited for the multi- 
 tudes in our own land, who are perishing for lack 
 of knowledge. The evangelical dissenters amongst 
 us are taking this matter into serious considera- 
 tion, and are sending forth missionaries into all 
 quarters. And though I am of the Establish- 
 ment, and their zeal is not likely to aggrandize 
 mother church ; if they employ fit instruments, 
 and the Lord is pleased to own their labours, I 
 must and will rejoice ; for I dare not wish the 
 sheep should be starved, because their own re- 
 puted and official pastors, cannot, or will not, 
 feed them. 
 
 I know not how you draw the Tine in your 
 country, between preaching and exhorting, if I 
 speak when the door is open to all comers, I call 
 it preaching ; but if I speak in a friend's house 
 to the family, or to a few more who come only 
 by invitation or permission, I do not preach ; for 
 to preach is to speak publicly. A preacher is 
 K»f k|, a herald ; and thus the reading of the 
 scriptures is called preaching, Acts xv. 21. The 
 speaking upon a text, or without one, makes no 
 difference : at least, I think not. It is possible 
 to preach a very good sermon from an English 
 or Scotch proverb. Modes and fashions alter in 
 religious matters, as well as in dress. Our first 
 reformers usually preached from common places ; 
 
103 
 
 they did not take a text, but discussed a subject — 
 such a»faith, repentance, holiness, &e. yet surely 
 they were preachers of the gospel. The two vo- 
 lumes of Homilies, to which our clergy are obli- 
 ged by law to subscribe their assent, are a valua- 
 ble collection of sermons in this way. 
 
 I am no advocate for self-sent preachers at 
 large. It seems a maxim in the present day, that 
 if any man thinks himself qualified to preach, he 
 is fully authorized to go forth and try. Some of 
 these have done good ; but I believe many of 
 them have done mischief, diffused errors, mul- 
 tiplied contentions and division, and caused the 
 ways of truth to be evil spoken of. But when 
 men whose characters and abilities are approved 
 by competent judges, whose motives are known 
 to be pure, and whose labours are excited by the 
 exigency of the occasion, lay themselves out to 
 instruct the ignorant and rouse the careless, I 
 think they deserve thanks and encouragement 
 rather than reprehension, if they step a little 
 over the bounds of church order. I know that 
 many on your side of the Tweed deem Presby- 
 terian order as dejure divino — a tabernacle made 
 exactly according to the pattern on the mount, 
 and that it would be criminal either to add, or to 
 take away a single loop or pin. On our side of 
 the river, many think as highly of Episcopal, or 
 of Congregational order. Perhaps much of our 
 differences of opinion on this head, may be as- 
 
104 
 
 cribed to the air we breathed, and the milk which 
 we drank in our infancy. If I had lived in Scot- 
 land, and known the Lord, my ministry, I sup- 
 pose, would have been ia the Kirk, or the Relief, 
 or the Secession ; and if Dr. Erskine had been 
 born and bred among us, and regarded according 
 to his merit, he might perhaps have been Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury long ago. 
 
 Thus I have given you my free sentiments on 
 your knotty point. I would not willingly offend 
 any person. I claim the privilege of thinking for 
 myself, and I am well content that others should 
 enjoy the same. I hope I love all who love the 
 Lord Jesus in sincerity. If they agree with me 
 in this point, I would not waste half an hour in 
 attempting to convert them to my opinion in 
 smaller matters. I leave others to dispute whe- 
 ther the husk or the shell of the nut be the better 
 of the two ; I hope to be content with the 
 kernel. 
 
 What is become of Colonel Blackador's Let- 
 ters ? I hope you have not given up your pur- 
 pose of making a selection. 
 
 My paper is nearly full. If it please the Lord 
 that nothing unforeseen should call me home 
 sooner, we shall stay here till about the middle 
 of September. A letter from you will find me 
 if enclosed to ***** P. M. As this conveyance 
 is always open, you never need wait for a frank. 
 I believe your last was near three weeks old be- 
 
105 
 
 fore I received it. When they come via Mr.*** 
 I have them the day, and almost the hour, when 
 the mail brings them. 
 
 Give my respects to * * *, &c. Please 
 to tell the two latter that my heart and prayers 
 are with them. May the Lord bless them in 
 their own souls, and make them a blessing to 
 many. Give my love likewise to my brother and 
 sister when they come in your way. She knows 
 that I wrote last, and I can seldom afford to send 
 two letters for one. 
 
 The Lord be with you, dear Sir. Continue 
 to pray for Your affectionate, 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 I WISH well to your Philanthropic Society 
 •r Penitentiary : but we cannot imitate you. 
 Our prisons are supplied with chaplains, and I 
 do not know that any of our magistrates are dis- 
 posed to assist, or even countenance Methodistical 
 plans. But we likewise have a Philanthropic 
 Society, for the education of the children of con- 
 victs and vagrants, which I hope is pretty well 
 conducted, and the children attend a church 
 where the gospel is preached at least one part of 
 the day. 
 
 J. NT. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 London, October 14, 1797. 
 
106 
 
 I belie ve I answered your first letter I received 
 at Southampton. I am now to thank you for 
 your second, dated 8th September, which, as you 
 intended, gave great pleasure not only to me, but 
 to my friends there. Give my love to Messrs. 
 H*** and A***, and tell them that I rejoice in 
 their zeal, their acceptance, and in their success." 
 Why should not the Orkneys, and the Highland 
 Islands, deserve attention as much as the islands 
 in the South Sea ? I hope gospel zeal will, in 
 due time, sail northwards to Shetland, and west- 
 ward to St. Kilda, and all the intermediate 
 islands. You have already a society established 
 for the Highlands, may the Lord put all their 
 wheels in motion ! 
 
 The gospel ministers in orf Establishment are 
 mostly confined to their parishes, and cannot do 
 much abroad ; but the Congregational Dissenters 
 are stirring in most parts of our kingdom, and 
 associating with a design to spread the good news 
 amongst the villages in their respective neigh- 
 bourhoods, which are wofully neglected in many 
 places. Indeed we cannot expect those who 
 have no concern for their own souls, should be 
 careful for the souls of their parishioners. I fear 
 but few of them, comparatively, have either the 
 rvill or the skill, which the shepherd's office re- 
 quires ; and therefore, though I am a mighty good 
 churchman, I must bid God speed to the labours 
 of all who preach the truth in love, whether in 
 
107 
 
 meetings or barns, in the highways or the fields. 
 It is better people should be Dissenters or Me- 
 thodists than heathens. 
 
 May your schools prosper ! The Lord make 
 you like the tree in Psalm i. I congratulate you 
 and myself on the progress of what some may 
 call latitudinarianism in Scotland. May we not 
 say with the apostle, " Grace be with all that 
 love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity ?" I 
 think that is a latitudinarian prayer — I hope many 
 agree in loving him, who sadly disagree about 
 trifles. Such is the weakness and wickedness of 
 the heart, even in good men. There is a great 
 and old established house, which does much bu- 
 siness, and causes no small disturbance in the 
 world and in the church. The jinn is Satan, 
 Self, and Co. Till this powerful, extensive 
 partnership be dissolved, we cannot expect per- 
 fect peace and union among all believers. It 
 will be a joyful day, when its credit shall totally 
 fail. Such a day we are warranted to hope for. 
 
 Infidelity spreads, and I trust the gospel spreads 
 likewise. Perhaps the time is coming, when all 
 sects and parties shall be reduced to two, chris- 
 tians and infidels. So it was at the first promul- 
 gation of the gospel. For what I know, before 
 long, the infidel spirit may be so prtvalent, that 
 no man without real grace will dare to avow so 
 much as a professional attachment to the name 
 of Jesus : then formal professors will drop oft 
 
108 
 
 like leaves from the trees in October. The 
 Lord's fan is in his hand, and he Avill thoroughly 
 purge his floor, and burn up the chaff ; but he 
 knows them that are his, and how to take care of 
 them. He that endureth unto the end shall be 
 saved ! 
 
 Navigation would be more dangerous than it 
 is, if the storm gave no warning of its approach : 
 but the skilful mariner has his eye upon the 
 clouds, and when he sees them gathering thick 
 and black, he takes in his sails, and prepares, as 
 much as he can, to meet what he expects. If he 
 should neglect this, and play or sleep, his vessel 
 might be overset. May we walk circumspectly, 
 considering the times, because the days are 
 e.vil ! 
 
 Your two missionaries called upon me, and 
 promised to come to breakfast, if they could ; 
 but I saw them no more. I invited two others 
 sent from Glasgow, who spoke to me at church 
 on Sabbath evening ; but I suppose they had no 
 time. They were all set apart at Mr. Hill's 
 chapel on Monday, and from what I hear may 
 be by this time at Portsmouth. May a blessing 
 go with them ! I am glad to find by yo\ir me- 
 morial, that you are better informed of the Mo- 
 ravians than you seemed to be when I first men- 
 tioned them to you. They say money is the 
 sinews of war ; if it was likewise the sinews of 
 missions, \vc might do well. But, O that the 
 
109 
 
 Lord may drop the mantle of the Moravian mis. 
 sionaries amongst us. 
 
 We returned from Southampton in peace and 
 safety the 14th September, after ten weeks' ab- 
 sence, and found all well at home and at St. 
 Mary's. I have a nice curate, Mr. Gunn ; I 
 know not whether his report is heard in Scot- 
 land. I have reason to hope that the Lord owns 
 both his labours and mine. The church is cram- 
 med, the hearers are attentive — we often hear of 
 new inquirers, especially young people ; and I 
 know of no gross miscarriages among those who 
 profess the gospel. Last time we had more than 
 300 communicants. We are situated, as it were, 
 upon an island. The storms of controversy and 
 dissention which make such havoc upon that^-rra? 
 continent, the religious world, are not permitted 
 to reach our peaceful shore. We know but little of 
 them, and that little only by report. I may truly 
 say, (O that I could say it with due thankfulness) 
 the lines are fallen to me in a pleasant place. 
 
 As to myself, I am in statu quo. I am a year 
 older than when I went to Southampton last 
 summer ; in other respects I am much the same. 
 I feel but little abatement either of bodily or 
 mental powers. In spirituals I have nothing to 
 boast of. I am poor and needy, but I trust the 
 Lord careth for me. I hope it is not worse with 
 me than in former times. I seldom have the 
 sunshine of sensible comfort, but I am favoured 
 11 
 
110 
 
 with day-light. I certainly do not walk by sight, 
 but I hope it is given me to walk by faith, and 
 to maintain a conscience void of offence. Long 
 experience and advancing years have gradually 
 weakened my attachment to the present world, 
 especially since the removal of my late dear partner. 
 The Lord has so smoothed my temporal path 
 that I can think of nothing worth a wish, to add 
 to my comfort : yet the best, and the whole of it, 
 would scarcely make me desirous of living here 
 another day, but for the sake of my profession 
 and ministry. For these, I am willing to live my 
 appointed time. May I live, while I do live, to 
 him, and be found ready and willing to depart 
 when he shall see fit te call me hence. The rest 
 I wish to leave, without anxiety or choice, to 
 him who does all things well. 
 
 But though I have been remarkably exempted 
 from outward trials since the year 1 790, I have 
 an inward warfare. I am a poor creature still — 
 when I would do good evil is present with me. 
 My best is defective and defiled, and needs par- 
 don before it can hope for acceptance : but, 
 through mercy, my hope is built, not upon frames 
 and feelings, but upon the atonement and medi- 
 ation of Jesus. When I am called home, I trust 
 I shall leave all my abominations behind me, 
 as my dear friend Cowper says in his hymn — 
 
 " One view of Jesus as he is 
 Will strike all sin for ever dead." 
 
Ill 
 
 If I do not write often, you have a good quan- 
 tity at a time, when it comes. Let us pray for 
 each other, and may the Lord hear and answer. 
 I only add an assurance that I am 
 
 Affectionately yours, 
 J. N. 
 
 LETTER XXXVII. 
 
 London, April 2, 1798, 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 I KNOW not how much matter I have to 
 thank you for, but it seems high time to make 
 some acknowledgment, though at present, per- 
 haps, I must be brief. I have but just seen 
 your friend, Miss D***, and told her that we 
 should be glad to see her again. Send as many 
 Scots folks as you please ; if they bring the 
 olive leaf in their mouth, they will be welcome 
 at No. 6. 
 
 I rejoice in the success of the northern mis- 
 sion. May it still increase ! Yes ! I trust the 
 Lord is spreading and reviving his work in our 
 land, and if so, I care not by what instruments, 
 or under what mode or name the good cause is 
 promoted. 
 
 Mr. H*** brought me Mr. Black's Sermon 
 on Tuesday, but I have not yet had time to read 
 it. My hands are full, full, full, and my growing 
 years do not add to my activity. 
 
112 
 
 I cannot speak as you do of remarkable dis- 
 coveries, &c. I trust I do walk by faith ; 1 cer- 
 tainly do not walk by sight. All my hope, light, 
 and comfort is derived from a little book which 
 I can carry in my pocket. It is given to me to 
 believe that what I read in this book is true. I 
 find my malady, with all its symptoms, accurately 
 described, and having tried the remedy therein 
 proposed, I feel, in a measure, the good effects. 
 Though my cure is not yet perfected, I trust I 
 am in a state of convalescence, and that I shall 
 Hot die but live. I would be thankful for day- 
 light, and I should like to share with you in the 
 sunshine ; but the Lord knows what is best for 
 me. On the other side, 1 am seldom tempest- 
 tossed. I am more frequently becalmed and 
 inert, than agitated with storms ; and I am such 
 a fair-weather sailor, that I seem content to go 
 quietly on, though my progress is but slow. 
 
 I believe they who come the nearest to the 
 apostle's translation, (2 Cor. xii.) must have a 
 proportionable share of his thorn in the flesh, 
 and the buffetings of Satan. A ship would be in 
 danger, with a strong wind and much sail abroad, 
 unless xvell ballasted. I am often obliged to row 
 for want of wind. Rowing is not so pleasant, 
 nor so speedy a movement, as sailing ; but it is 
 more free from the risk of being overset. Any 
 thing should be welcome that checks the growth 
 of that abomination, pride ; and that worst of all 
 
113 
 
 abominations, spiritual pride. The Lord is 
 pleased to afford me much liberty and acceptance 
 in my public service, if I was equally comfortable 
 in private, I know not what might be the event, 
 for my heart is still desperately wicked, and deeply 
 deceitful. 
 
 I suppose the introduction to the Northern 
 Tour will not be relished by every one : but the 
 arguments in favour of itinerancy and lay preach- 
 ing will not be easily refuted. Yet still, I think, 
 lay preachers should be sent, if not by bishops, 
 consistories, or elders, at least by some religious 
 persons or societies, who are competent to judge 
 of their fitness. Perhaps even this would not be 
 necessary if all who undertake the service were 
 men of character and abilities, like your friends, 
 and influenced by their motives. But the posi- 
 tion, that every man who thinks himself qualified 
 to preach, has therefore a warrant to go forth, is 
 productive of many bad effects on our side of the 
 Tweed. Some of them, though thy can smite 
 with the hand, stamp with the foot, and speak with 
 a loud voice, do not well understand what thy say,, 
 nor whereof thy affirm ; their preaching is crude, 
 often erroneous. They diffuse pride, censorious- 
 ness, antinomianism,and party rage amongst their 
 adherents ; for there are few so bad, but they 
 have some adherents. The characters of others- 
 are very suspicious, they run about to the neglect 
 of their proper business and their families,, ami 
 11 * 
 
114 
 
 perhaps become bankrupts, and cause the good 
 way to be evil spoken of. 
 
 It is said, (p. 13.) that if it can be shewn that 
 one person was converted by lay preaching, it 
 proves that the instrument was warranted to 
 preach. But I know a man who was excluded 
 from *****'s society, for known and repeated 
 acts of wickedness, and yet after his expulsion he 
 continued preaching, and I believe he w as owned 
 to the awakening not of one or two, but of many 
 sinners, perhaps of many scores ; but I cannot 
 think such a man had a warrant to preach. And 
 though Paul was glad if any good was done by 
 those who preached Christ out of envy and strife, 
 I question if he would say they had a warrant to 
 preach while in such a spirit. If all lay preachers 
 were like-minded with Messrs. H*** and A***, 
 I would pray the Lord to increase their number 
 a hundred fold. -We have some such in England, 
 but not a few who would be better employed at 
 the plough or the loom. A man who is more fond 
 of novelty, than of honest labour or of being always 
 called plain Tom or Dick, having a good stock 
 of self-conceit, transforms himself into a preacher 
 — he then excepts to be styled Mr. Thomas, per- 
 haps the Rev. "Mr. Thomas, to be excused from 
 work, and to look almost like a gentleman. I 
 fear such motives as these may stimulate some to 
 be missionaries, both for at home, and for abroad. 
 When these are invited to the houses of the af- 
 
115 
 
 fluent, courted and caressed by people of the first 
 characters, laden with gifts and presents, &c. 
 considering what human nature is, I cannot won- 
 der if this sudden transition, from obscurity to 
 honour and public notice, has a tendency to turn 
 their heads, and make them think themselves per- 
 sons of no small consequence. I pray for the 
 coming of our Lord's kingdom, but it has not 
 usually come with ostentation, and as it were 
 with sound of trumpet. 
 
 I thought to have put you off with half a sheet, 
 but 1 have filled it, and therefore must write 
 something on this, and not send you much blank 
 paper. I must look again over your letters. 
 
 But first I must tell you that my poor old head 
 forgot to send some copies of the sermon I lately 
 printed, preached on the day of thanksgiving. 
 Whether any of them have found their way to 
 Edinburgh without my help, I know not, or 
 whether they are yet to be had at Johnson's. I 
 believe he sent one, at least, to be put in a vo- 
 lume of my detached papers. An edition of all 
 my printings has been long in hand at Edinburgh, 
 in 12mo. the six volumes, two Messiahs, and 
 the smaller pieces, will make nine volumes : but 
 when they will appear who can tell ? I have ex- 
 pected them for about or above a twelvemonth. 
 
 I suppose I have already noticed the particulars 
 in yours cf the 23d December ; but it appears to 
 me as a new letter. Your account of the young. 
 
116 
 
 man executed for forgery is awful*.' Sin first 
 deceives, and then hardens. So it served me 
 and nothing but omnipotent grace could have 
 softened such a heart as mine. In sickness and 
 in many dangers 1 seemed no more afraid of 
 death than of sleep. Nay, had I not been re"- 
 
 * Believing it likely to be useful to insert an account of 
 the young wan to whom Mr. Newton refers, I have sub. 
 joined the following letter from my friend Mr. Aikman, 
 minister of College-street Chapel, Edinburgh, whe visited 
 him while under sentence of death, (and from whom I ori- 
 ginally had my information,) which contains a concise 
 and impressive statement of his case. 
 
 " Edinburgh, November 7, 1803. 
 
 * MY BEAR SIR, 
 
 " THE request of your letter brings to my remembrance 
 one of the most melancholy examples of human depravity 
 that I ever met with. 
 
 " The person to whom your inquiries refer, and whom 
 I visited when under sentence of death in this city, was a 
 youth of a most engaging address, and one who had enjoyed 
 the advantage of a liberal education. At our first inter- 
 view, when I visited him in company with our much 
 esteemed and deceased friend, the late Mr. B***, (one of 
 the ministers of this city) he heard what was stated with 
 seeming attention, and appeared thankful for instruction. 
 Previous to my seeing him a second time, he was visited 
 by a clergyman of very opposite sentiments to those ef 
 Mr. B***. Whether it was in consequence of his instruc- 
 tions, or not, I cannot say; but in the course of conversa- 
 tion upon this occasion, he plainly told me, that he could 
 by no means accede to the doctrine of salvation by free 
 and sovereign grase. If mea were to be saved, he wg$ 
 
117 
 
 strained by a strong invisible hand, f should pro- 
 bably have destroyed myself ; for my life was 
 miserable, and I thought myself quite sure, like 
 the French philosophers, that death was an eter- 
 nal sleep. Was ever such a wretch, such a signal 
 monument of mercy ! 
 
 persuaded it must be in consequence of their good works. 
 I observed to him, that in this case his situation was un- 
 speakably alarming He was now under sentence of 
 death, and in all probability would suffer the execution of 
 that sentence. In his present circumstances, chained at 
 he was to the floor of a prison, he was precluded from the 
 very possibility of doing any good work, or of making any 
 reparation to society for any part of his past misconduct. 
 Such sentiments therefore, I observed, must necessarily 
 exclude him from all hope towards God. 
 
 " He perceived the justice of this melancholy inference, 
 and acknowledged that he was certainly condemned upon 
 his own principles. I was much affected with the un- 
 happy condition of this youth, and endeavoured with all 
 possible tenderness and affection, to warn him of his 
 -danger, and to lead his attention to the gospel, which is 
 so completely and divinely adapted to impart peace and 
 hope to the very worst of men, if they receive its blessed 
 message : but all was in vain- He buoyed himself up, I 
 believe, with the hope of life, yet so little influence had 
 his professed principles upon his conduct, that in endea- 
 vouring to make his escape from the prison, (in which he 
 was unsuccessful) he made an attempt on the life of the 
 turnkey. When he found that all his plans were defeated, 
 he swallowed poison with a view to avoid the ignominy of 
 a public execution : but in this also his object was frus- 
 trated. Medical assistance being obtained, the effects of 
 
118 
 
 I know not if infidelity has greatly spread, 
 though the avowal of it is more public. Many, 
 perhaps rcost, were heart-infidels before they 
 read the books to which they ascribe their new 
 wisdom. But the writings of Paine and others, 
 like the spear of Ithurial, have brought them forth 
 in their true characters. Infidelity is now en- 
 throned at Rome. Popery is no more, for there 
 is no more pope, and many of the cardinals have 
 sung hymns to the praise of French liberty : but 
 the Roman Catholic religion, so called, still sub- 
 sists, in many parts of Christendom. Therefore 
 I think, infidelity has not done all its work. It 
 will proceed lu the extent or its commission, but 
 no farther ; and when it has finished its work, it 
 will receive its wages. How far this commission 
 may reach, we know not, but we know the Lord 
 
 the poison were so far counteracted that his life was pre- 
 served until the day appointed by the law, when he pub- 
 licly suffered the sentence annexed to his offence. 
 
 "The foregoing' mournful history needs no comment. 
 To those who know the grace of God it will suggest mo- 
 tives for thanksgiving to that God by whose grace they 
 have been made to differ, and it will surely lead us to 
 commiserate deeply, the situation of those unhappy men, 
 who, in the near prospect of eternity, are taught to put 
 their trust in refuges of lies, by men who are the decided 
 enemies, while professing to be the friends of the Lord 
 Jesus. 
 
 " I am, my dear friend, affectionately yours, 
 
 "JOHN A1KMAN.'* 
 
119 
 
 has marked the bounds beyond which it cannot 
 pass. I think neither Mr. Fleming, nor any other 
 commentator of the prophets foresaw the won- 
 derful revolution which has taken place within 
 these four yours. They thought France would 
 be scourged, but were not aware that France was 
 to be the scourge of Europe.* Events are the 
 best expounders of prophecy. May not Dan. 
 vii. 25. have some reference to these times : but 
 I stop. My business is to preach Jesus Christ 
 crucified, and leave temporal concerns in the 
 hands of him whose counsel shall stand, and \rho 
 will do all his pleasure. Verily it shall be well 
 with the righteous. He will either preserve them 
 from the evils they apprehend, or give them 
 strength according to their day. It will make 
 little difference to them a hundred years hence, 
 
 * The following is the extract from Willison's Balm of 
 Gilead, a book published about the year 1740, to which 
 Mr. Newton referred, p. 9. 
 
 " Before antichrist's fall, one of the ten kingdoms which 
 supported the beast shall undergo a marvellous revolution, 
 Rev. xi. 13. ' The same hour there was a great earthquake, 
 and the tenth pait of the city fell ' By which tenth part 
 is to be understood one of the ten kingdoms into which 
 the great Romish Babylon was divided. This, many take 
 to be the kingdom of France, it being the tenth and last 
 of the kingdom as to the time of rise, and that which gave 
 Rome the denomination of the beast with ten horns ; ;.nd 
 also it being the only one of the ten kingdoms, that was 
 never conquered since its rise." 
 
120 
 
 whether they lived here in peace, or in the midst 
 of trouble. 
 
 He says to his people, See that ye be not 
 terrified. Lo, I am with you always, your sun 
 and your shield. But he likewise commands 
 them to watch and pray, that they may maintain 
 a spirit suitable to the times in which they live. 
 We have no just cause to be afraid for ourselves, 
 if we are duly affected with the sin and misery 
 that surrounds us. There is a secret mark of 
 protection put upon those who sigh and mourn 
 for what they cannot prevent. The Lord is 
 pleading his own cause, and the glory of his holy 
 name should be the nearest and dearest concern 
 to our hearts. But though I can write with 
 much seeming composure while I sit quietly by 
 the fire-side, I am aware that if such things as 
 we have deserved, were actually to come upon 
 us, I should tremble like a leaf, and prove a very 
 coward, if left to myself. But he has said, I 
 will never leave thee nor forsake thee. I rest my 
 hope upon his faithful promise. 
 
 My health and ability for public service are 
 -still mercifully preserved. Dear Miss C***, and 
 all my little family, are tolerably well. I trust 
 we have tokens of his favourable presence in our 
 assemblies. Hitherto the Lord has helped us. 
 I have good reason to praise him for what is 
 past, and have I not equ?l reason to trust him for 
 the future ? 
 
121 
 
 We unite in love to you, and all friends, as if 
 named, and request a continuance of your prayers 
 for me and mine. May the Lord bless you in 
 all your concerns and connexions. 
 
 I am 
 
 Your affectionate friend and servant, 
 
 J. N. 
 
 LETTER XXXVIII. 
 
 London, July 5, 1798 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 IT seems I wrote the 2d April, yet it does 
 not seem so long to me. Mr. Grimshaw is no 
 hindrance. I have not touched him for more 
 than a twelvemonth past. I hope to take him 
 with me to Southampton, (if the Lord permits 
 ine to go thither as I propose in about a fort- 
 night,) and, if possible, to finish Mr. Grimshaw 
 while I am there. The truth is, business and 
 years increase together. I have more to do than 
 formerly, and cannot do so much. But I need 
 not apologize to you, because whoever falls short, 
 you are served. I have no correspondent to 
 whom I write so many and such long letters as 
 to yourself. 
 
 I have so many good friends call upon me 
 from Scotland, that the idea of Mr. Miller is lost 
 in the groupe. I remember his name but no 
 12 
 
 4 
 
122 
 
 more. I trust we shall know each other better 
 when we meet again. 
 
 I find Lady L*** is gone home : but your 
 dependence, for support to your plans, was upon 
 the Lord, not upon a lady. I trust he will find 
 ways and means to enable you to go on. Who- 
 ever dies Jesus lives. Remember Professor 
 Frank, and what he did without any fund ; he 
 lived by faith from day to day, from hand to 
 mouth. He trusted in the Lord, and was not 
 ashamed. 
 
 I call the latter part of your letter a gospel 
 newspaper, and it really contains much good 
 news. A fig for names and forms, if the truth 
 is preached, and sinners are converted. 
 
 Yesterday brought me an acceptable letter from 
 Captain H***. As it is the first, I wish to an- 
 swer it speedily, and having a little time at com- 
 mand," I must, as they say, rob Peter to pay 
 Paul, and break off from you abruptly, to attend 
 upon him. I shall be glad if you can find your 
 way to London, provided you do not come till 
 towards the middle of September, if I go to 
 Southampton. 
 
 Wherever you are, I hope, pray, and believe 
 the Lord will be with you, and I humbly trust he 
 will likewise mercifully be with, 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 J. N. 
 
123 
 
 LETTER XXXIX. 
 
 Southampton, September 12, 1798. 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 THIS comes rather to acknowledge than to 
 answer your two letters; for being upon the 
 remove, I inadvertently packed them up, not ex- 
 pecting leisure to write here ; but as I have a 
 spare hour, and expect to be fully taken up with 
 indispensables for a time, when I return home, I 
 will write something now, lest you should think 
 me negligent or ungrateful. 
 
 We left London the 19th July, were one week 
 at Reading, and have been here the rest of the 
 time. I hope to see No. 6. the 19th instant. I 
 should leave this pleasant place, and these kind 
 friends with more reluctance, if I was not going 
 home; and thus though we have many friends 
 and comforts in this world, yet one bright power- 
 ful view of our heavenly home, will, when the 
 time comes, I trust, make us willing, and ready, 
 and glad to leave all below. 
 
 Mr. Grimshaw's life, of which I undertook to 
 give some account, has lain by untouched two 
 years, and perhaps I never should have been able 
 to finish it, if I had not brought it with me, and 
 likewise made a resolution to write no letters 
 while abroad (necessary business excepted) till I 
 
124 
 
 had done with Mr. Grimshaw. This is the rea- 
 son why you have not heard from me sooner, (for 
 I love to have you in my debt) for I have served 
 all my friends alike. I have now finished what I 
 intended, according to the ability the Lord has 
 given me. If all is well, I hope it will appear 
 in print before Christmas. I shall send a few to 
 you, but they must be for sale, as I have devoted 
 the profits of the first edition (at least) to the use 
 of the Society for the Relief of the Poor Clergy. 
 This reminds me to inquire after Colonel Black- 
 ader, the christian soldier. When will he be 
 ready to march forth from the press into the 
 shops ? 
 
 I preached here three evenings in the week, as 
 I believe I told you I did the last two years. My 
 friend, Mr. T***, has made accommodations to 
 receive about 300 people, and we are sometimes 
 full. To-morrow evening will be my farewell 
 sermon. Being now in my 74th year, I seem to 
 take a final leave of my friends in every place. 
 It may be otherwise, as my health is remarkably 
 good, and I have but few of the symptoms of 
 advancing age. I am in the Lord's hand, willing 
 to live, (no one has less reason from externals to 
 be weary of life) and if the Lord is pleased to be 
 with me, when the time comes, I shall not be 
 afraid to die. He has promised strength accord- 
 ing to our day, and I aim to rely upon his. faith> 
 fid word. 
 
125 
 
 Notwithstanding the threatening of the French, 
 and the confusion and misery which they have 
 spread over the greater part of Europe, and which 
 has reached even to our sister kingdom, we, in 
 this island, are still preserved in internal peace. 
 Is not this wonderful ? To me it appears almost 
 miraculous. May we hot accept his repeated 
 interpositions in our favour, as a token for good ; 
 that though he will chasten, he will not destroy 
 us, nor give us up to the will of them that hate 
 us ? May we not accept it as an answer to the 
 prayers of his remnant amongst us ? A small 
 remnant indeed, compared with the nation at 
 large, but not very small in the aggregate num- 
 ber. If all who stand in the breach, pleading for 
 mercy, could be brought together into one place, 
 I trust they would appear a goodly company. And 
 though they are dispersed and scattered up and 
 down the land, the salt of the earth, which pre- 
 serves it from total putrefaction, yet in his view 
 they are all one connected army, who meet and 
 unite daily, and often, at the same rallying point, 
 the throne of grace. Is not the spirit that is en- 
 gaged to spread the gospel at home, as well as 
 abroad, another token for good, at such a time as 
 this ? Far from recalling his ambassadors, which 
 might have an awful appearance of war, I trust he 
 is increasing their numbers, and enlarging their 
 powers. Many neglected barren spots, in dif- 
 ferent parts of our kingdom, are already begin. 
 12 * 
 
126 
 
 ning to rejoice and blossom as the rose. I question 
 if any thing you see in Scotland can give you an 
 idea of the ignorance and wretchedness that reign 
 in many of our parishes, where they are no less 
 destitute of the form than of the power of godli- 
 ness, where the church doors are seldom opened, 
 even on the Lord's day — where three-fourths of 
 the children of ten or twelve years of age cannot 
 tell their letters. But these evils are diminishing 
 partly by the Sunday schools in some places, and 
 partly by the village preaching which the evan- 
 gelical dissenters are setting forward in most of 
 our counties, and in which I, though not a dis- 
 senter, greatly rejoice, and daily pray for their 
 success. If the official shepherds know not to 
 feed or to care for, either themselves or their 
 flocks, I would be thankful that others are stirred 
 up to supply their lack of service. I care not 
 much for order, regularity, or commission in such 
 a case. When a house is on fire, people of any 
 party or profession are welcome to bring water 
 to extinguish it, whether churchmen or kirkmen, 
 elders, or ploughmen. 
 
 The ways of God, in his providence, are un- 
 traceable by us ; but we are sure they are right. 
 They would not be his ways, if we could com- 
 prehend them : Isai. lv. 8, 9. But our padi of 
 duty lies plain and straight before us : Ezek. ix. 4. 
 
 Remember me to all friends. I have more m 
 Edinburgh than I have room or time to name. 
 
127 
 
 The Lord bless us all, and give us one heart and 
 mind, to promote his glory, and the good of our 
 fellow-creatures, in our respective posts : and 
 then we need fear nothing for ourselves. Miss 
 joins in respects and best wishes, with 
 
 Your affectionate friend, 
 
 J.N. 
 
 LETTER XL. 
 
 London, December 4, 1793. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 IT is high time to bring you into my debt 
 again, as you were before I received yours of the 
 Tth November. I am glad to find that you are 
 more and more engaged in useful services, even 
 though it should render your letters shorter and 
 less frequent than formerly. I know not that my 
 business is much upon the increase, but my abi- 
 lity to manage it is certainly upon the decline. 
 I once could sit many hours in the day at my pen, 
 now two hours weary me. I begin to feel a want 
 of that energy and application, which I have 
 sometimes possessed ; and I am afraid lest I ex- 
 culpate myself too easily by charging the whole 
 blame upon old age : yet I cannot reasonably ex- 
 pect to do as much at 74 as I could at 50. 
 
 I cannot with truth plead guilty to the charge 
 of wilful indolence : yet upon a review of almost 
 every day, it seems to have passed in a sort of 
 
123 
 
 busy idleness. We are directed even if we have 
 done our duty, to confess ourselves unprofitable 
 servants — what then must I say, conscious that I 
 come so lamentably short in all things, and that 
 my best attempts are both defective and defiled ? 
 
 On Friday the 23d, when rising, after a good 
 night, and in perfect health, I fell down. I fell 
 several times before I was convinced that I could 
 net stand. The strength of my left leg was with- 
 drawn, without any pain or numbness. I was, 
 for a time, led about the room, not being able to 
 walk across it, without support. I kept house 
 on the Lord's day. But means were used, and 
 the prayers of my affectionate people and friends 
 prevailed for a blessing on them. Last week I 
 was enabled to preach both Wednesday and 
 Thursday (the Thanksgiving-day.) Yesterday I 
 preached twice, and distributed the bread at the 
 Lord's table to more than 300 communicants, 
 and to-day I have walked more than a mile in 
 the streets ; so that you may set me down as 
 xvell : and I hope you will praise the Lord on my 
 behalf, and continue to pray for me. 
 
 The missionaries, who brought your letter, 
 called when I was at church ; they did not come 
 again, so that I have not seen them. One mar- 
 ried missionary named ***, was with me two 
 hours, and I liked him much. They seem to be 
 chiefly very young folks ; but if their hearts and 
 views be right before the Lord, he will teach 
 
129 
 
 them to profit apace, and enlarge their minds 
 and experience, as occasions require. There is 
 none teacheth like him, and where he bestows a 
 humble and dependent spirit, every other good 
 will follow. I suppose by this they are all 
 safe on board the Duff, at Portsmouth. May 
 the Lord of the sea and the dry land, who steered 
 the ark of Noah to its appointed place, bless 
 them while on their passage, and dwell in their 
 hearts and houses, wherever his providence 
 may fix them ! 
 
 I loved J*** L***. I believe he was a truly 
 upright honest man, though in some things a little 
 eccentric. I know he has long been a sufferer, 
 and therefore I am not sorry that the days of his 
 mourning are ended. I have lost a true friend, 
 but my loss is his gain, and I trust we shall soon 
 meet in a better world. 
 
 You send good news of M***. May the Lord 
 strengthen and bless him ! When great awaken- 
 ings take place among people who are grossly ig- 
 norant of the scriptures, there are frequently some 
 extraordinary appearances. It was so among 
 our first Methodists, under Messrs. Wesley, 
 Whitfield, Berridge, &c. It was so in the great 
 revival in America, which began under Mr. Ed- 
 wards : so likewise at Kilsyth. The Lord per- 
 mits it, perhaps for two reasons : 1st, These 
 stirs engage the attention of the neighbourhood, 
 and prompt many to hear, who otherwise would 
 
130 
 
 not. 2d, There are those who want something 
 to cavil at, and these things furnish them with 
 the occasions they wish for, according to the 
 prophecy, Isai. viii. 14, 15. The light comes ; 
 but they who love darkness think themselves jus- 
 tified in opposing the light, on account of these 
 incidental blemishes, which, therefore, they are 
 glad to expatiate upon. Messrs. ****'s were 
 good men, but they were bigots in the extreme ; 
 and because they had left the kirk, they took it 
 for granted that the Lord had forsaken it like- 
 wise, and therefore hastily concluded that the 
 work could not be his. I have heard that they 
 fasted, and prayed the Lord to put a stop to it. 
 Well may we say, " Lord what is man !" 
 
 I thank you for your notes of Colonel Black- 
 ader.* I expected his letters, though only writ- 
 ten to his wife, would afford some variety. I hope 
 you will, at least, find enough for a publication. 
 The memory of such a man, in such a situation, 
 
 * One of these notes was the following short, but re- 
 markable letter, written by the Colonel to Lady — — 
 Campbell at Stirling, from the field of battle at Blenheim, 
 dated August 2, 1704, said to be written on a drum head, 
 instead of a table. 
 
 "I am just now retired from the noise of drums, 6f 
 oaths, and dying groans. I am to return in a few minutes 
 to the field of battle, and wrapping myself up in the 
 arms of Omnipotence, I believe myself no less safe as to 
 every valuable purpose, than if silting in your ladyship's 
 closet." 
 
131 
 
 should be preserved, and his example held up for 
 the instruction of our modern warriors. 
 
 Mr. Grimshaw has been three weeks with the 
 printer to-day, but I have only one sheet from 
 the press — at this rate we may wait till March 
 for his appearance : but I hope we shall go on 
 faster. Poor authors have need of a good stock 
 of patience. However, all our concerns are in a 
 higher hand, and I hope Mr. Grimshaw will be 
 seen, whether sooner or later, just at the right 
 time. 
 
 The close of your letter pleases me. I shall 
 rejoice to see you once more before I go hence. 
 Forecast, and contrive to stay as long as you 
 possibly can, and be sure to reserve one whole 
 day for me. On a Tuesday or a Saturday I can 
 usually be at home from morning till night. 
 Hoping to have you soon, I shall conclude with 
 my prayers and best wishes for your welfare. 
 The Lord bless thee, and keep thee, and cause 
 his face to shine upon thee. I only add Miss 
 C*##'s respects, and subscribe myself, with love 
 to all friends, 
 
 Your very affectionate, 
 J. N. 
 
 9 P. M. 
 
132 
 
 LETTER XLI. 
 
 London-, February 4, 1799. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 THOUGH I do not promise to fill this large 
 sheet, perhaps I may. My first point is to tell 
 you the egg [Grimshaw] is hatched, is now at the 
 bookbinders to be put into boards ; I think it will 
 be fledged, and fly about the town, in a few clays. 
 I do not offer one even to you as a present, as I 
 have many friends in Scotland, to whom I would 
 be glad to offer such a token of respect, and as I 
 must buy what I should give away, I serve you 
 all alike. 
 
 I think, in London, tabernacles might be built 
 in every street, without giving umbrage ; and in- 
 deed places of that cast are springing up, like 
 mushrooms, frequently : but then it is an old 
 matter with us. When Mr. Whitfield and Wes- 
 ley first began, there was stir enough. People 
 were alarmed as if St. Paul's and the monument 
 were to be overturned ; but these fears have been 
 long since quieted. 
 
 When men have gone on for a long course of 
 3'ears in the same train of thinking and practice, 
 they cannot easily, and at once, shake off their 
 old prejudices. If we duly consider human na- 
 ture, and the force of habit, we shall not expect 
 ft. I suppose there was a time when the erection 
 
133 
 
 of a theatre gave the good people of Edinburgh 
 no small uneasiness ; but now, perhaps, they can 
 walk by it without trembling. If builders of 
 tabernacles are conscious that they only aim at 
 promoting the glory of God and the good of souls, 
 and have no design to give offence either to church 
 or state, I would advise them to waive disputes 
 as much as possible, say, "Thou shalt answer 
 for me, O Lord." Let them leave their cause 
 in his hands, and he will plead it. When, instead 
 of this, we are very anxious and earnest to vindi- 
 cate ourselves, he often leaves us to make the 
 best of it that we can, and very often that best 
 turns out but badly. The believers at Jerusalem 
 were in a great bustle when they first heard that 
 Peter visited Cornelius. What ! an apostle go to 
 cat and drink with the uncircumcised ! Such a 
 thing was never known before ! But when they 
 found th-\t the Lord had sent him, they held their 
 peace. Let us remember that men are but men, 
 and that the best men have their infirmities and 
 mistakes. Let us walk as circumspectly as we 
 can, our brethren will, at times, have something 
 to bear with in us ; and we must pray for grace 
 to be able to bear with thern. 
 
 If you are about a good work, Satan will do 
 all he can to discourage and hinder you ; but he 
 Cannot break his chain, nor go beyond it. He 
 cannot hurt us, unless we give him advantage 
 by indulging unbelief or impatience, 
 13 
 
134 
 
 How much am I obliged to my kind friends 
 for their concern when they heard I was ill, and 
 especially for their prayers. I am bound to pray 
 -for them. I am still remarkably well, but I am 
 old ; I must go the way of all flesh. Pray for 
 me that I may live to the Lord while I do live, 
 that I may finish my course without staining my 
 profession, and that I may depart in peace. As 
 to the time, whether sooner or later, I wish to 
 leave to him who doth all things well ; only, may 
 I be found ready when the time comes. 
 
 You say, you have more to do, one way or 
 another, than you can well manage. It is my own 
 case ; and my business seems to increase as my 
 strength and abilities decrease. I think it better 
 to have too much than too little : I mean such 
 as lies fairly and providentially before us. If we 
 wilfully overload ourselves with worldly concerns 
 for the sake of adding bag to bag, that we may 
 have the pleasure of thinking we shall leave a 
 great many bags behind us when we go — this is a 
 bustle and an ambition unworthy a child of God. 
 They who are running a race should not encum- 
 ber themselves with needless weight. I am per- 
 suaded this is not your turn ; but while you have 
 a secular calling, it is your duty to be active and 
 accurate in it. You are acting for the Lord as 
 his journeyman, and when you are engaged in 
 business, in a right frame of mind, you are no 
 less serving the Lord, than when you are praying, 
 
135 
 
 exhorting or hearing. Every thing is beautiful 
 in its proper season. Self likes to be employed 
 in great matters — grace teaches us to do small 
 and common things with a great spirit. A ser- 
 vant-maid, when cleaning the kitchen, may be as 
 well employed as a Mr. S*** preaching the 
 gospel through Scotland ; and if she give him a 
 cup of cold water for his master's sake, and can 
 do no more, she shall have a prophet's reward. 
 It is the intention that the Lord chiefly regards ; 
 and he will reward his upright and devoted peo- 
 ple, not according to what they are actually able 
 to do, but according to what they would have 
 done if they could. 1 Kings viii. 18, 19. Luke 
 xxi. 3. Mark xiv. 8. Eph. vi. 8. Col. iii. 
 23, 24. 
 
 I have buried an old faithful servant, who had 
 been with us more than twenty years. I have 
 two others, one has lived with me about fourteen 
 years, and the other thirteen ; so that we are all 
 growing old together, and I trust we shall all live 
 together in a better world. Remember us to all 
 whom we know. The Lord bless you and them, 
 and us also. Amen. 
 
 I am 
 
 Your very affectionate, 
 J. N. 
 
136 
 
 LETTER XLII. 
 
 London, March 28, 1799. 
 
 3IY DEAR SIR, 
 
 ##*#*# 
 I praise the Lord for your candle-light deliver- 
 ances, Psal. cxii. 4. You do well to acknow- 
 ledge his hand and care in those events which 
 the world consider as trivial. The way of man 
 is not in himself. Our greatest concerns are so 
 dependent upon small contingencies, that it is 
 not easy to determine which are of the most im- 
 portance. Our experience may be compared to 
 the movement of a watch, in which the little 
 pivots are no less necessary in their places than 
 the spring or the wheels. See Mark xiv. 13. 
 John iv. 7. Acts, xxvii 31. 1 Kings xxxii. 34. 
 Cum multis aliis. Take away the pivots, and the 
 whole machine is useless. 
 
 Time was when I could write eight hours in a 
 day, and now this short letter has almost wearied 
 me : yet I have more than threescore lying by 
 me, which ought to be answered, and some of 
 them have lain by more than a twelvemonth. 
 Write me as soon as you can. 
 
 I am 
 
 Your affectionate, 
 
 J. KT. 
 
137 
 
 LETTER XLIII. 
 
 London, May 28, 1799. 
 
 DEAR SIR, 
 
 I HAVE onl; time to say, I have sent you a 
 sort of preface to Colonel Blackader. While 
 writing I was led into a train of which I had no 
 thought when I began. Such as it is, if you like 
 it — well — if not, suppress it, and get some one at 
 Edinburgh to write another. There are many 
 good writers among your acquaintance. I find 
 at the age of 74 I cannot do as formerly ; but I 
 am as much as ever, and I hope I always shall be, 
 Your affectionate and obliged, 
 
 J. N. 
 
 LETTER XLIV. 
 
 London, Oct. 21, 1799. 
 
 MY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 TIME was, when you received frequent and 
 long letters from me ; but times are altering. I 
 shall always love you, but my letters will proba- 
 bly decrease in number and in size ; for I grow 
 old : but yours to me will, I hope, be frequent 
 
 and full. So far I wrote a fortnight ago, and 
 
 have not had leisure to proceed till this 31st Oc= 
 tober. 
 
 # »1 
 
138 
 
 Yours of the 27'th July found us at South- 
 ampton. It brought the good news of j our safe 
 return home. I was thankful for the courage and 
 prudence the Lord gave you on ship-board : they 
 are both christian graces, when connected ; but if 
 separated, courage degenerates into rashness, and 
 prudence into cowardice. 
 
 I must and do rejoice in the success of re- 
 spectable itinerants in places sadly destitute of 
 the gospel. I expect there will be some mixture 
 of human infirmity in the best designs of the best 
 men ; and satan will be busy when he feels his 
 kingdom shaken. But the Lord will accept the 
 intentions of his faithful servants, and overrule all 
 things eventually for good. lie will plead their 
 cause, and put their enemies to shame and to 
 silence, if they can but simply and patiently com- 
 mit it to him : but if they take it too much into 
 their own hands, they usually make bad worse. 
 The weapons of our warfare are not carnal. We 
 should disclaim, not only fire and sword, but 
 angry disputation and invective ; for these like- 
 wise are carnal weapons. The apostle says, 
 Bcbig defamed we entreat. 
 
 Through mercy there is some stir among the 
 soldiers with us likewise, and among the seamen 
 in the navy. May the Lord confirm them, and 
 increase their numbers ! 
 
 Now for yours of the 28th September. I am 
 glad to hear you have so much to prodace of 
 
139 
 
 Colonel Blackader. May you live to see it in 
 print, whether I do or not. You are not in your 
 75th year. 
 
 The news from Orkney and Shetland is plea- 
 sant indeed. I pray the Lord to bless the la- 
 bourers more and more. I pray the Lord to 
 warm your heart, and to guide your pen, while 
 you are writing to the young people. 
 
 Last week I was at Clapham, and saw the 
 twenty African blackbirds.* The girls were at 
 Battersea, out of my reach. When I went into the 
 school, I said Lemmi, which is, being interpreted, 
 How do you do ? Two or three answered Bah, 
 that is, I thank you. By which I knew that they 
 had some knowledge of the language of Sherbro\ 
 the scene of my bondage. I am told the boys 
 come forward apace, behave well, and seem very 
 happy ; and especially when they see Mr. M**y. 
 
 Continue to write long letters and often. I 
 love to hear from you, and will thank you when I 
 can. Pray for us. May the Lord grant that 
 you may always answer the description of the 
 tree mentioned in Jer. xvii. T, 8. 
 
 I am 
 
 Your very affectionate, 
 22d October. J. ]V. 
 
 * Twenty African boys, and four girls, who were brought 
 over to this country for instruction, aHd after remaining 
 about five years, were all sent back to the coast of Guinea-, 
 except three or four who died while in England, 
 
140 
 
 LETTER XLV. 
 
 London, March 4, 1800. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 ####*## 
 
 Though the eye of our judgment, and the end 
 we propose, be simple and disinterested, self, 
 unless watched as narrowly as a cat watches a 
 mouse, will interpose. Even Paul, eminent as 
 he was for grace, needed both a thorn in the 
 flesh, and a messenger from satan, to keep him 
 from being exalted above measure, and he says 
 of both, They were given me. Even a messenger 
 from satan is a gift and a mercy, however unwel- 
 come, if the Lord sanctifies his visit to make us 
 mindful of our weakness and our vileness, both 
 of which we are apt to forget in a long flow of 
 exertion and success. Self loves to be very busy 
 and very useful, and who can blame him ? But 
 if an ounce of grace, so to speak, will suffice to 
 carry us on in active life, it may require a pound 
 to keep us submissive and quiet by the fire-side. 
 The Lord stands not in need of sinful man, nor 
 will he ever want instruments to carry on his 
 work. They are happy whom he honours to be 
 his servants in the gospel, provided they give 
 themselves up to him without reserve, depend 
 upon him, and lie low in the dust before him. 
 
141 
 
 The Lord abhors pride and self-importance. 
 The seeds of these evils are in the hearts of his 
 own children ; but rather than suffer that which 
 he hates to remain in those whom he loves, he 
 will in mercy pound them as in a mortar, to beat 
 it out of them, or to prevent its growth. 
 
 The account of your Highland tour is pleasant 
 and interesting. I hear of no such sudden, ge- 
 neral awakenings in our kingdom : but I hope 
 the gospel does spread, though more gradually 
 and silently, especially in the Establishment. 
 Several very promising young men are ordained 
 in the course of the year ; and the number of 
 serious students in both the universities seems to 
 be still increasing. I hope there is much good 
 done likewise by the dissenting itinerancy. But I 
 fear the savour of the good ointment is in some 
 places injured, and its efficacy in a measure ob- 
 structed by the dead fly of politics. Hypothesis 
 must give way to facts : otherwise, when I con- 
 sider the letter or the spirit of the gospel, I 
 should think it impossible, that any persons who 
 have the glory of God and the good of souls at 
 heart (especially preachers) could perplex them- 
 selves, or their connexions, with political matters. 
 I am sure Paul and his brother Peter did not 
 meddle with these matters. They lived under a 
 most arbitrary government, and the emperors in 
 their time, such as Nero and Caligula, were men 
 of the most infamous and detestable characters ; 
 
142 
 
 yet they uniformly inculcate submission, and quiet 
 obedience to the powers that be. 
 
 You see how large a letter I have written to 
 you with mine own hand. Through mercy, dear 
 Miss C*** and old Seventy-five are both as well 
 as when you left us. 
 
 The Lord bless you and your firiends, and me 
 and mine. Let us meet often at the throne of 
 grace, and rejoice in the hope of meeting before 
 long, in a better world. 
 
 I am 
 
 Your affectionate and obliged, 
 
 J. IV. 
 
 LETTER XLVL 
 
 London, November 19, 18Q0. 
 1IY DEAR FRIEXD, 
 
 I THANK you for your two long letters, the 
 account of your progress, and the progress of 
 the gospel, and of your safe return home. I 
 hope a time may come, when I shall be able to 
 write more at large. At present this is upon a 
 particular business. 
 
 #.####*# 
 
 I pray the Lord to bless you and all who love 
 his name in Scotland, whether Kirk, Circus, Re- 
 lief, Burghers, Anti-burgers, Independents, Me- 
 thodists, or by whatever name they choose to be 
 
143 
 
 called. Yea, if you know a Papist, who sincerely 
 loves Jesus, and trusts in him for salvation, give 
 my love to him. T remain 
 
 Your affectionate and obliged, 
 J.N. 
 
 LETTER XL VII. 
 
 Loxdon, February 6, 1801, 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 I HAVE before me four of your letters, in 
 eight sheets ; one dated Castle Douglas, two 
 Edinburgh, and the last Glasgow, January 31, 
 this year. It is high time I should at least thank 
 you for them, though I cannot go through all 
 the particulars. 
 
 No. 1 and 2 give an interesting account of 
 your western progress. I rejoiced in the encou- 
 ragement you received, and I smiled at your ar- 
 rest. How comfortable to think that all hearts 
 and events are in his hands. 
 
 No. 3 reminds me that I have written to you 
 since the receipt of the two former. It tells me 
 likewise of Dr. D***'s seasonable interposition 
 in favour of Mrs. R***. This likewise I ascribe 
 to the Lord's providential care, in answer to 
 prayer. Who is like the Lord our God ! who 
 humbleth himself to notice the things, in heaven ! 
 In whose sight the earth and all its inhabitants 
 are but as dust ! a mere nothing. Yet, while he 
 
144 
 
 names and numbers the stars, and upholds them 
 all in their orbits, he condescends to heal the 
 broken heart, to sooth the sorrowful spirit, to 
 provide for the fatherless and the widow. Faith 
 is tried like gold in the fire ; if the gold is pure, 
 it suffers no loss, but it does not gain and grow 
 in the fire as faith does. We are nut warranted 
 to pray for troubles ; if we have a due sense of 
 our weakness, we shall rather pray with sub- 
 mission to his will, " Lead us not into tempta- 
 tion." Yet when we pray for grace, more grace, 
 and stronger grace, we do virtually pray for trou- 
 bles, for such petitions are seldom answered, but 
 by crosses. See Olney Hymns, book II. No. 36. 
 
 I can assure you I have no acquaintance with 
 Indian nabobs. Messrs. **** being men of 
 fortune, have proportionably a greater number of 
 applications, and I suppose are as much over- 
 loaded as 1 am. You would admire how frugally 
 they live themselves, that they may have it the 
 more in their power to feed others. Their pub- 
 lic situation requires some expense which they 
 would otherwise gladly avoid. Possibly there 
 are tradesmen in Edinburgh, who live more in 
 the style of nabobs than my rich friends : but 
 they have the pleasure of feeding many poor, and 
 of doing much good. 
 
 Your story about the drummer and his boy is 
 very affecting, and shows the sovereignty and 
 power of grace, which can work upon any per- 
 
143 
 
 son, in any circumstances, either by or without 
 the use of public means, with equal ease.* I 
 trust the number of the Lord's hidden ones is 
 not small. We sometimes meet with such in 
 places where we do not expect to find them. I 
 think this a great advantage of our Established 
 
 * When on a preaching tour with a friend, we met 
 with a pious drummer belonging- to a regiment quartered 
 in a town which we visited We invited him to sup with 
 us in the inn. After supper we requested him to favour us 
 with his history, which he did with great modesty and seri- 
 ousness in the following words, which are as nearly his 
 own as I can recollect. I have been (said he,) twenty-four 
 years in the army and navy together. Till four years ago 
 I was the wickedest wretch in either. Our regiment was 
 then at Hull. I was seized with an unaccountable melan- 
 choly, it was not about religion. I do not know what it 
 was, but I was miserable. One evening, as I was walking 
 on the common, very unhappy, I observed a church lighted 
 up, which convinced me there was sermon in it, but I durst 
 not go lest my comrades should laugh at me for going to 
 sermon on a week-day. I knelt upon the common, and 
 prayed to God to give me courage to go to church. When 
 I rose, I went directly to church. The minister was 
 preaching upon believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. Im- 
 mediately when I was seated, the minister said, •' If it 
 could be of the smallest service to the meanest person 
 present, I would come down from the pulpit, and on my 
 bended knees beseech that person to believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ." Thought I, this must be a mighty matter 
 surely, that a gentleman would come down from the pulpit, 
 and on his bended knees beseech a poor drummer to be- 
 lieve in the Lord Jesus Christ. That, with the remainder 
 14 
 
146 
 
 Church. I am told there are about ten thousand 
 parishes in England ; I believe more than nine 
 thousand of these are destitute of the gospel : 
 but they have public worship on the Lord's-day. 
 The liturgy is in an evangelical strain, and four 
 chapters of the bible, and about a thirtieth part 
 of the Book of Psalms, are statedly read. By 
 the Lord's blessing on these helps, I believe 
 many people, who perhaps cannot read, are made 
 wiser than their teachers ; and I think were it 
 
 of his sermon, made a deep impression on my mind. I 
 went home to my wife : she met me at the door. I said 
 to her, Jane, we are all wrong, we are living like beasts, 
 we know nothing about believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 Poor thing ! she trembled, for she thought I was gone mad, 
 but, said I, Jane, I am not mad, but you and I are going 
 to destruction. I understand the bible will tell us every 
 thing; but we have not a hihle, and though we had, we 
 cannot read it. O, said she, we can buy a bible, and our 
 little boy, who is only twelve miles off, can read it to us. 
 Accordingly we sent for our boy, and also bought a bible. 
 When he came home, we desired him to begin at the first 
 page and read forward to the end of the book. We gave 
 jjim always two suppers to keep him from sleep, for he got 
 drowsy with reading. I used to rise very early in the 
 morning to hear more of the bible, but I would say, it is 
 cruel to awake my boy so early, and would give him another 
 hour' of sleep j then he rose and began to read where he 
 had stopped the preceding night, and we both sat listening 
 to our boy reading the book. He read slow, for he had 
 many hard words to spell. At length God opened my 
 poor blind eyes to see that Jesus Christ was the very 
 
147 
 
 not for the church service, nine-tenths of the 
 kingdom would, in a little time, be as ignorant 
 and wild as the American Indians. 
 
 Either you, or some friends of yours, told me, 
 you had retired to study. Undoubtedly, now you 
 have given up business you have more leisure 
 time, which you will do well to improve. I 
 know not what is the immediate object of your 
 literary pursuits, but I hope the Lord will pre- 
 vent your studying yourself out of that simplicity 
 with which you preached while in business. I 
 
 Saviour I stood in need of. O how- happy I was! Our 
 boy read onward, and the Lord was pleased to open the 
 poor blind eyes of my wife, so that she saw in Jesus Christ 
 just what I saw. Now we became one of the happiest fami- 
 lies in all Hull. 
 
 I had put myself to school that I might learn to read, 
 and in a few months I was able to read nearly as well as 
 my little boy. I determined that my house should be a 
 house of prayer, and my door open to all who should 
 choose to come. I told my comrades I had now begun to 
 pray to God, and read his word every morning and 
 evening' ; and I should be glad of their company at these 
 times. Several attended to make sport. When I could 
 not make out a long word, then they all laughed, but 1 
 thought now, a few months ago I would .have laughed at 
 these things as well as them, but if God opens their eyes 
 as he has mine, they will laugh no more at these tilings — 
 so I read on as well as I was able. By and by some of 
 them became very serious, but drink and wicked company 
 did them much injury. One of them however remains- 
 very steadfast to this day. 
 
148 
 
 hope you will study Jesus Christ and him cruci- 
 fied. Study the text of the good word of God. 
 Beware of great books. The first christians had 
 none to read, yet they lived honourably and died 
 triumphantly. Beware of leaning too hard upon 
 human authority, even the best ; you may get 
 useful hints from sound divines, but call no man 
 master. There are mixtures of human infirmity, 
 and the prejudices of education or party, in the 
 best writers. What is good in them, they ob- 
 tained from the fountain of truth, the scriptures; 
 and you have as good a right to go to the foun- 
 tain-head yourself. If you had been designed 
 earlier for the ministry and the kirk, you must 
 have worn the college-trammels, and in order to 
 have obtained a license, you must have learnt 
 many things, which you might afterwards wished 
 in vain to forget. But the Lord seems to have 
 ealled you as he did the prophet. See Amos iv. 
 14, 15. I object not to your adding to your 
 stock of general knowledge, so far as it is made 
 subordinate and subservient to the main point ; 
 but watch and pray, that your studies may not 
 rob you of life and unction, and betray you into 
 a nice, critical, curious, and dry manner of 
 preaching. If you need not this caution, I know 
 you will at least excuse and accept it as a token 
 of my good-will. The effect of your own medi- 
 tation and prayer over a text of scripture, will 
 afford you more light, warmth, strength, and 
 
149 
 
 comfort, than the perusal of a large book upon 
 the subject : and what you thus receive from the 
 Lord, you will deliver also to the people, and 
 you will deliver it as you have received it. — 
 When it comes warm from your heart, it will 
 warm the hearts of your hearers. 
 
 Permit me likewise to advise you, to avoid all 
 controversial points as much as possible. To 
 preach the simple truth is the best preservative 
 from error, as the best way of keeping tares out 
 of the bushel is to fill it with wheat before hand. 
 The religion that cometh from above, though 
 founded upon doctrines, is not so much a string 
 of sentiments, in what we call a system, as a new 
 nature, a new life. If a man be not born again, 
 it signifies little, whether he be called Calvinist 
 or Arminian, whether he belong to Church or 
 Kirk, Relief, Circus, or Tabernacle. He may 
 have a name to live amongst his party, but he is 
 dead, and incapable, as to spirituals, as the stones 
 in the street. On the other hand, if he be bora 
 from on high, he is a new creature, and though 
 he may be for a season, under many incidental 
 mistakes, the grace which has called him will 
 prevail over all, and will teach him, in due time, 
 all that the Lord sees needful for him to know. 
 His children will all see eye to eye in heaven, 
 but they have not all equal light upon earth- 
 Who teacheth like him ? He taught his disciples 
 gradually, as they were able to bear it : but we 
 14 * 
 
150 
 
 are apt to be too hasty tutors. Pope Self, it he 
 is not checked, will expect his pupils to receive, 
 at one hearing, all that he says, and upon the au- 
 thority of his saying it, and is angry if they do not. 
 Calvinists should be the meekest and most patient 
 of all men, if consistent with their own principle, 
 "That a man can receive nothing unless, and 
 until it is given him from above." Let us preach 
 the deity and atonement of the Saviour — the in- 
 fluences of the holy Spirit — the dreadful evil of 
 sin, as exhibited in the sufferings of Christ, when 
 treated as a sinner for our sakes — the new birth — 
 and the nature and necessity of that holiness, 
 which is an essential part of salvation, and with- 
 out which no man shall see the Lord. These 
 points will accord with the feelings of all who 
 are truly taught of God ; and if, in some things, 
 they be otherwise minded, he will, in due time, 
 reveal it unto them, if he sees it necessary. Thus 
 he taught us step by step, shewing much patience 
 and long-suffering towards us, though we were 
 dull scholars, and thus may we learn of him, to 
 speak the truth in love. 
 
 I am glad to keep my friends, so long as the 
 Lord is pleased to spare them ; but when they 
 are called home, I do not much grieve, if I can 
 follow them in my thoughts to the kingdom of 
 glory. If ministers, I know they did not die, till 
 their appointed labours and trials were com- 
 pleted ; and I know that he will never want in- 
 
151 
 
 struments to cany on his work. He can bring 
 them even from Africa. There is not a person 
 in- Britain more unlikely or unfit for his service 
 than I once was : but grace has long and strong 
 arms, and his mercy is boundless ! 
 
 I am glad you are upon your guard against the 
 snares of kind friends. We are usually more 
 hurt by the smiles than by the frowns of men. 
 But happy is the man who feels his own weak- 
 ness, and looks for safety to him, who alone is 
 able tu keep him from falling. 
 # I have tried hard to send you one long letter 
 more. Whether it will be the last the Lord 
 only knows. If he is with us, we are not neces- 
 sary to each other. He will care for us. Let 
 us meet at the throne of grace daily and here* 
 after ! Oh what a prospect ! Words, yea thoughts 
 fail ; we cannot conceive what it will be to be for 
 ever with the Lord. 
 
 I commend you to his blessing. Pray for us. 
 
 I remain 
 Your affectionate friend, 
 J. N. 
 
 LETTER XLVIII. 
 
 London, September 19, 1802. 
 
 MY DEAR SIR, 
 
 IT is high time to thank you for your kind 
 consolatory letter of the 30th June : but my eyes 
 
152 
 
 fail me, so that I cannot write much. I am 
 under a painful dispensation, but I am mercifully 
 supported — not by lively frames, or sensible com- 
 forts, I have seldom been favoured with these — 
 but I am enabled, by his grace, to cleave to his 
 written word. I believe that this affliction does 
 not spring out of the ground, that the thing is 
 of the Lord, and that he is wise and good, and 
 therefore, surely does, and will do, all things well. 
 I believe he can, and I trust he will, bring light 
 out of this dark dispensation ; but it is my part 
 to wait his time, way, and will, with submission. 
 
 My health is good, and my spirits — I eat and 
 sleep as usual, and preach as much, and seem- 
 ingly, with as much acceptance as formerly. 
 Perhaps I may be heard more attentively now ; 
 for they who know me, take it for granted that I 
 could not preach at all, as things are, if the Lord 
 himself was not to uphold me. I hope some 
 are encouraged by observing his goodness to 
 me : and possibly I may speak with more em- 
 phasis to the afflicted from what I feel in myself. 
 
 The Lord is a sovereign — I am a sinner. He 
 has the same right to me and mine, as the potter 
 over the clay ; and if he has pardoned our sins, 
 and united us to himself, all will be well at last. 
 We ought to be willing to be placed in the most 
 painful situation, if it may promote his glory, 
 which should be our highest end ; for he suffered 
 much more for us than he will ever lay upon us- 
 
153 
 
 And since he has said, "My grace is sufficient 
 for thee, and ray strength shall be perfected in 
 thy weakness," and promised that all shall work 
 together for good in the final issue, I am to leave 
 all in his hands, and am, in some measure, enabled 
 to do so. But, I find, if the spirit be willing, 
 the flesh is weak. Self and unbelief often as- 
 sail me. 
 
 Time is short — we are travelling on, and shall 
 soon be at home. Then, farewell sin and sorrow 
 for ever. Heaven and eternity will make rich 
 amends for all the sufferings which his wise plan 
 may appoint us to endure while here. 
 
 A report has just reached me, that you have 
 accepted a call to *****, and are settled there : 
 but as I am not sure you are yet removed from 
 Glasgow, I shall direct to you there, for the letter 
 will find you out. Write as soon as convenient. 
 
 Give my love to Mrs. B e and Mr. R n, 
 
 and to all who love the Lord Jesus in sincerity, 
 and who inquire after me. I beg all your pray- 
 ers. I need them, and I prize them. My love 
 
 to Mr. E g and his mother-in-law ; I thank 
 
 them for thinking of us. May the Lord remem- 
 ber them, and do them much good. 
 
 May the Lord bless you wherever you are, and 
 make you a blessing to many. Amen. 
 
 I am 
 
 Your affectionate and obliged, 
 nist Sept. ft- JJ, 
 
154 
 
 LETTER XLIX. 
 
 London, January 15, 1802. 
 
 AlY DEAR FRIEND, 
 
 I RETURN you ****' s letter, of which I 
 would advise you to send a copy with mine to 
 Calcutta. I take it for granted that B*** knows 
 something of that family. 
 
 My eyes are so dim, that I can scarcely see to 
 write at all, nor can I read my own writing, nor 
 could I read yours without help : therefore I 
 must be very brief. 
 
 I am almost willing to hope the Lord is bring- 
 ing us out of our affliction : but I know that 
 his time and way must be the best : and he enables 
 me to wait his hour with some measure of resig- 
 nation. I am mercifully supported. My health 
 is firm : and I still preach as frequently, and with 
 as little inconvenience to myself as formerlv, 
 though now more than five months in my seventy- 
 seventh year. 
 
 You know that I am always glad to hear from 
 you, though I am now spoiled fc- a correspond- 
 ent. Pray that I may be enabled to say from my 
 heart, The will of the Lord be done. 
 
 I hope to be with you in spirit when you go 
 to anc i w hen you are there, if I should 
 
 still be living. 
 
155 
 
 The Lord bless you, and all who love his 
 name, in Glasgow, and every where else. Amen. 
 I am 
 
 Your very affectionate, 
 J. N. 
 
 *,ND OF THE LETTERS 
 
CO^ERSATIONS. 
 
 1802. 
 
 April 3. CALLED upon Mr. Newton, on my 
 arrival from Scotland. When told who I was, 
 he said, " 1 am glad you are come, but I cannot 
 see you, my sight is so gone : I observe your 
 face, but I cannot distinguish your features." At 
 dinner a person remarked, that the East India 
 Company had overset the college at Calcutta. 
 M What a pity," said I. " No," said Mr. N. 
 " No pity — it must do good. If you had a plan in 
 view, and could hinder opposition, would you not 
 prevent it?" "Yes, Sir," "Well, God can 
 hinder all opposition to his plans — he has per- 
 mitted that to take place, but he will carry on his 
 own plan. I am learning to see God in all 
 things — I believe not a person knocks at my door 
 but is sent by God." The conversation turned 
 upon the want of teeth. Mr. N. was silent for 
 some time — at length he said, " Give over that 
 conversation, it is too trifling for christians ; let 
 us talk about the Lord." 
 
 15 
 
158 
 
 April 7. Speaking respecting Col. i. 28, 29, 
 he said, " To attack human depravity with phi- 
 losophy, or fine sentiments, or by extolling mo- 
 rality, I compare to fighting Goliath with a 
 wooden sword. Christ was the subject of Paul's 
 preaching, and no man did more good. One 
 who preaches Christ should know him. Colleges 
 can never make up the want of the knowledge of 
 Christ. Without Christ, ministers may amuse 
 their audience, perhaps may send them away ad- 
 miring the sermon ; but Paul would have thought 
 little of this. Paul warned every man — Sinners, 
 of hell ; of existing continually in misery, if they 
 persisted in sin. He warned good men, of their 
 danger of being taken in the snare of the devil — 
 thousands of unseen enemies surround us. To 
 present every man perfect. This," said he, "is 
 not sinless perfection — the more grace a man 
 has, the quicker sensibility he has about sin ; — 
 nor is it the perfection of an angel, but of a 
 child, who has all the parts of a man, but is not a 
 man. A perfect christian is one who has all the 
 parts of a christian, the head, the heart, the hands, 
 ike. if we may so speak — he has faith, love, humi- 
 lity, &c. 
 
 "Some people confine their religion to devo- 
 tional exercises, and lay great stress upon it, but 
 these are not perfect christians : this is only a 
 part of Christianity. Some are offended at the 
 minister who detects them in any part of their 
 
159 
 
 character which is defective ; but a christian is 
 thankful when his defects are discovered to him." 
 
 April 10. After tea, Mr. N. proposed some 
 questions for discussion. The principal ones 
 were, What is the difference between a tender 
 and a scrupulous conscience? How far is a 
 scrupulous conscience obligatory ? 
 
 Those present agreed, that a tender conscience 
 must always be a well-informed one, and a scru- 
 pulous conscience not. Some were of opinion, 
 that it is right always to obey conscience — that 
 where it is wrong, the sin lies in not properly 
 using the means of information. They instanced 
 the various opinions about the Lord's supper, re- 
 specting taking it standing, sitting, or kneeling. 
 
 Mr. N. told us, that " during part of the 
 time I was in the custom-house employ, I 
 took a certain kind of fee which came into 
 my pocket, which, had I thought it wrong, I 
 would sooner have put my hand into the fire. 
 One day I went into a house, where I saw a 
 book of Mr. Wesley's laying on the table, which 
 treated on different kinds of oaths, and shewing 
 how much they were violated. This opened my 
 mind. I mentioned my scruples to the who 
 endeavoured to remove them. He assured me, 
 that the *****, in administering the oath, meant 
 that these perquisites should be taken. This did 
 not satisfy me ; I wrote to two clergymen, stating 
 
16.0 
 
 the case, for their counsel how to act. After 
 hearing their opinions, I took no more fees. My 
 conscience formerly was uninformed, and did not 
 chide me ; nay, on Saturday evening, when I 
 found I had been successful that week, I thanked 
 the Lord for it." 
 
 April 14. Mr. N. remarked, that "the com- 
 munion of saints could not be easily made intel- 
 ligible to the world ; but a christian in London 
 could rejoice in the conversion of a man in the 
 East Indies, whose face he never saw, nor ever 
 expected to see on earth. He can also feel for 
 a congregation when they have a faithful pastor 
 removed from them by death, though not person- 
 ally acquainted with any one person in that con- 
 gregation." 
 
 " A philosopher," said he, " would smile at 
 the ignorance of a christian ploughman, who 
 would consider the sun no larger than his cart- 
 wheel : but the ploughman, in his turn, would 
 be as much surprised at the philosopher's igno- 
 rance, if he attempted to persuade him that the 
 Saviour of the world was only a mere man, like 
 Paul. There is a greater disproportion between 
 Jesus and Paul, than between the sun and the 
 cart-wheel. The philosopher would not be ca- 
 pable of persuading the ploughman, that it was a 
 few tall men who placed the sun in the heavens : 
 he would find it equally hard to persuade him 
 
161 
 
 that he who made atonement for sin, was only a 
 man. 
 
 "The knowledge of arts, sciences, business, 
 &x. are good things ; but if men, going to eter- 
 nity, spend all their time in pursuing these, they 
 are mere fools ; they neglect the best know- 
 ledge." 
 
 April 17. Before family worship in the morn- 
 ing, Mr. N. made a few pertinent remarks on 
 Heb. ii. 14. " Abel," said he, " was a good man, 
 a convinced sinner — made God's will his rule — he 
 offered sacrifice. This was not a natural sug- 
 gestion ; it was contrary to carnal reason to think 
 that destroying any of God's works could please 
 him. The philosophers, in all the countries 
 where it has been practised, have conformed 
 to the custom of the country, but they have 
 smiled at the practice. Cain was one of thestt 
 wise reasoners, he considered it more rational 
 to offer some of the fruits of the ground as a 
 thank-offering. 
 
 " Bishop Warburton tells us, there was no re^ 
 velation of a future state of rewards and punish- 
 ments previous to the captivity, but could sit not 
 be plainly inferred from this passage. If no re- 
 ward after death, it must have been considered a: 
 very dangerous thing indeed to please God, seeing 
 it exposed a man to instant annihilation ; for Cain, 
 slew Abel on that account. Cain very much re* 
 15 * 
 
162 
 
 sembled the Pharisee, and Abel the Publican, in 
 the New Testament. The whole of Heb. xi. 
 contains a history of the exploits of faith." 
 
 After prayer, turning to me, he said, "When 
 you leave London, it is probable you will never 
 see me again. I am an old man now ; but I 
 leave the day of my death to God's choosing. 
 He did not consult me when he should bring me 
 into the world, and he will not do it about my 
 going out of it. It will not do to live on past 
 experience ; it will not assist me. I must live 
 by the day, by the hour, by the minute, on God. 
 Recollecting I had a good meal this day week, 
 will not feed me to-day. I must have new food, 
 or I shall starve." 
 
 Conversing upon 2 Cor. v. 2. " House from 
 heaven." " If it does not refer to some tempo- 
 rary case for holding the soul," he said, " I do 
 not know the meaning of it. I cannot conceive 
 of seeing without eyes, or hearing without ears. 
 But I will tell you of a poor carpenter at Sheer- 
 ■ness, (a wicked place,) whom I frequently went 
 to hear, in my young days, in a small room. He 
 used to take a good many verses for his text. 
 When he came to a difficult one, he would say, 
 * We shall pass over this" — for he was a humble 
 man. I wish many of us ministers would imi- 
 tate this carpenter. 
 
 " O !" said he, " I give many good advices to 
 •thers, which I do not take myself. Crosses are 
 
163 
 
 good things ! God does most good to man by 
 them — they humble him, they bring him to know 
 his dependence on God." 
 
 "Men are most disposed to notice the power 
 of God. A man can hardly carry 5 cwt. but 
 think of the power of God which supports this 
 ponderous world ! that sun ! pointing to it. 
 
 April 22. Mr. N. advised us to " beware of 
 clever enemies to the truth, for they are general- 
 ly subtle. Paul, who knew the wickedness of 
 the human heart, and how ready men are to be 
 carried away by winds of false doctrine, re- 
 joiced when he beheld the steadfastness of the 
 believers at Colosse." 
 
 April 25. Three of us who were intimately 
 acquainted with each other met at Mr, N.'s to 
 breakfast. " Now," said he, u I have got a tri- 
 umvirate with me this morning. Before prayer, 
 he made some observations on Heb. ii. .32, &c. 
 He said, " We are not exposed to fire and sword, 
 like these good men. Not that we are better 
 than they ; no, it was for the glory of God at 
 that time. God has greater ends in view by 
 sending trials, than the mere personal good of 
 the individuals tried. Yes, his own glory." He 
 considered the 35th verse as confirming the his- 
 tory of the woman and her children, recorded 
 2 Maccabees, chap. vii. 
 
164 
 
 May 1. Mr. N. before prayer, read the 
 hymn upon the Sea, in Olney collection. He 
 remarked, " that there are monsters in the 
 heart of man as well as in the sea, even when 
 they do not appear. In calm weather seamen 
 will say, if it were always this way, old wives 
 would go to sea, but by and by the wind rises, 
 and the water rages, and all are at their wit's 
 end. So it is often with God's people." 
 
 After breakfast I retired with him to his study. 
 During the conversation he stated the following 
 circumstance : — " A minister told me of a dumb 
 man, who was admitted a member of his church, 
 and who made in writing a good confession. 
 When they asked him, what he thought of 
 Christ ? he referred them to 1 Pet. ii. 7. He 
 always referred them to the scriptures in answer 
 to their questions. 
 
 ' l Mr. Polhill, a minister who lost his sight, 
 told me he had never seen so clearly with his 
 mind, as since he lost the use of his eyes. An 
 old lady, who had lost her sight at the age of 
 twelve, told me, that in ten vears she lost almost 
 all recollection of what sight was, and when I 
 saw her, she declared she had not a wish fo7 
 sight. 
 
 " Herod and Paul were cotemporaries — the 
 latter was at least as bad a man as the former ; 
 but behold the sovereignty of God — Herod was 
 eaten up of worms, and Paul was converted.. 
 
165 
 
 " The angels know when a true work of grace 
 is begun in a man's heart, for the}- rejoice on the 
 real repentance of a sinner. Depend upon it, 
 they never were mistaken, as we have often been." 
 
 He then said many things respecting his own 
 former character, and with great feeling and hu- 
 mility. " O !" said he, " i was a low despicable 
 creature — Sir, I was not a grossly abandoned 
 creature merely, but I fought against Jesus — I 
 sometimes compared him with Mahomet, and 
 gave the preference to the latter— no vice was too 
 wretched or mean for me. 
 
 M Since French principles came amongst us, 
 suicides have greatly increased — we hardly read 
 a paper now without an instance or two of this." 
 
 May 7. At breakfast, Mr. N. said to a 
 gentleman, who had lately lost a daughter by 
 death — "Sir, if you were going to the East In- 
 dies, I suppose you would like to send a remit- 
 tance before you. This little girl is just like a 
 remittance sent to heaven before you go yourself. 
 I suppose a merchant on 'change is never heard 
 expressing himself thus : — O my dear ship, I 
 am sorry she has got into port so soon ! i am 
 sorry she has escaped the storms that are coming .' 
 Neither should we sorrow for children dying." 
 
 A person present told us of two of the seamen 
 who were under sentence of death for the mutiny 
 at Bantry-bay, having been brought to the know- 
 
166 
 
 ledge of Jesus while under that sentence. The 
 sentence being remitted, they were sent to the 
 hulks at Woolwich. This gentleman providen- 
 tially met with a letter from one of them, named 
 
 C g, to his father, in which he complained 
 
 most pathetically of the dreadful company with 
 which he was surrounded. The letter, altogether, 
 was a most christian one, and very well expressed. 
 The father made sport of it, and exhibited it to 
 the people who frequented a public house near 
 Charing- cross, to excite laughter. By this means 
 it came to the knowledge of this gentleman, who 
 obtained it from the father. It is now in pos- 
 session of those in power, and likely to procure 
 their removal from the hulks. The writer was 
 afraid of relapsing into his former profligacy, if 
 he continued amongst the horrid company in the 
 hulks. Upon hearing this relation, Mr. N. re- 
 marked — " They would be in a more dangerous 
 situation were they placed amongst a set of 
 smooth reasoners in the higher circles of life — at 
 present they are kept on watch ; in the other case 
 they would be off their guard, and more likely to 
 receive damage." 
 
 May 14. Mr. N. told us at breakfast, that 
 " Mr. Collins," whom he called M archbishop 
 of the free-thinkers, met one day with a plain 
 countryman going to Church. He inquired where 
 he was going f To church, Sir. What to do 
 
167 
 
 there ? To worship God. Pray, whether is 
 your God a great or a little God ? He is both, 
 Sir. How can he be both ? He is so great, Sir, 
 that the heaven of heavens cannot contain him, 
 and so little that he can dwell in my heart. Col- 
 lins declared, that the simple answer by the coun- 
 tryman had more effect upon his mind than all 
 the volumes which the learned doctors had writ- 
 ten against him." 
 
 " Dr. Taylor of Norwich," said Mr. N. 
 " told me, one day, that he had critically exa- 
 mined every original word in the Old Testament 
 seventeen times ; and yet he did not see those 
 glorious things in the scriptures which a plain 
 enlightened christian sees in them. The Doctor 
 had not the plain man's eyes. Criticisms in 
 words, or rather ability to make them, is not so 
 valuable as some may imagine. A man may be 
 able to call a broom by twenty names, in Latin, 
 Spanish, Dutch, Greek, &c. but my maid, who 
 knows the way to use it, but knows it only by one 
 name, is not far behind him." 
 
 The conversation turned upon the aspect of 
 war. Some dreaded this would produce it, others 
 that. Mr. N. observed, " We need not dis- 
 pute about these causes — the Lord reigns ! The 
 philosophers long disputed whether the earth 
 moved round the sun, or the sun went round the 
 earth. But while they were disputing, the sun, 
 moon, and earth were moving in their courses." 
 
168 
 
 Telling us how much his memory was decayed, 
 " There," said he, M last Wednesday, after dinner, 
 I asked Mrs. C*** what I had been about that 
 forenoon, for I could not recollect. Why, said 
 she, you have been preaching at St. Mary's. 
 Yet it is wonderful/' added Mr. N. " when I am 
 in the pulpit, I can recollect any passage of scrip- 
 ture I want to introduce into my sermon from 
 Genesis to Revelation." 
 
 During anot'. r part of the conversation, he 
 said, " I have a sun, and I know he is shining 
 when I do not see him, and I wait till he shines 
 again. O how seldom do we think how much 
 we are indebted to Christ living in us ! How 
 seldom do we think of the natural life that is in 
 us ! of its being the cause of the motion of our 
 fingers, feet, &c. But when a fainting fit comes, 
 we fall down — this sometimes draws our attention 
 to it. If Christ were to suspend his living in our 
 souls, we should as quickly fall foully as in the 
 other case." 
 
 May 21. During breakfast, Mr. N. remarked, 
 " That if it was constant day, we never should 
 see the stars, we never should have seen the glory 
 of the heavens — just so, if God was not to bring 
 us into affliction, many precious and wonderiul 
 tru hs of God would remain in obscurity, as to 
 us. Physicians do not prescribe sweet cakes for 
 medicine ; no, it it is generally something that is 
 
169 
 
 bitter — so when God means to give us health of 
 soul, he generally afflicts us. Had he not af- 
 flicted me, I might have fallen into something 
 which might have been injurious to my cha- 
 racter as a minister, consequently dishonouring 
 to Jesus." 
 
 A friend told me of a good old man, who said, 
 with sorrow, to Mr. N. that he could not recollect 
 sermons now, as he used to do when younger. 
 Mr. N. took no notice at the time of what the 
 old man had said ; but a little after, he asked him 
 if he recollected what he had for dinner that day 
 month. He answered, No, he did not. " Do you 
 think that dinner helped to support you in life ?" 
 He replied, Yes, he did. « Well," said Mr. N. 
 " it is in that way you enjoy the word now." 
 
 May 28. Before prayer, Mr. Newton made 
 some observations from 2 Pet. iii. 9. He began 
 by saying — " This verse is a bone for Calvinists 
 to pick." 
 
 He mentioned a family who had several daugh- 
 ters, who were desired to dress at one o'clock— 
 to come down stairs to the drawing-room — shew 
 themselves for an hour — return to their bed- 
 rooms and undress — and they were no more seen. 
 "What a way," said he, "of treating children ! and 
 yet this is the way many of our fashionables act." 
 
 He told us what he called his doctrine of pre- 
 ventatives. It was this : — M God sends little 
 16 
 
170 
 
 trials in order to prevent greater. That you may 
 understand distinctly what I mean, I will tell you 
 a story. 
 
 u I knew a family who were going out to In- 
 dia, and had secured their passage on board an 
 Indiaman. They were happy that they were to 
 go in so good a ship, so good a cabin, with so 
 agreeable a captain, and so pleasant a company. 
 They received a letter from Portsmouth, inform- 
 ing them they must join the ship at a certain day 
 which was specified. They left London in time 
 to spend two or three days with friends on the 
 road down. These friends prevailed on them to 
 stay two or three days beyond the time fixed, as- 
 suring them that an Indiaman going upon a voy- 
 age of two or three years, would never keep to 
 the very day fixed for sailing, perhaps not to the 
 M'eek. On their arrival at Portsmouth, they 
 found, to their great mortification, that the ship 
 was sailed and just getting out of sight. They 
 returned to London greatly dejected ; but they 
 were but a few days in London before they heard 
 of the total loss of the ship in which they were 
 to sail, (the Halsewell,)- on the coast of Corn- 
 wall, and most of those on board perished. 
 Here they had to admire the providence that 
 detained them. The losing their passage was a 
 little trial ; but it prevented a much greater." 
 
 As this was to be my last visit previous to my 
 return to Scotland, when I rose to go away, he 
 
171 
 
 desired me to remain a little longer, adding, "you 
 will probably see me no more." When I took 
 my leave of him, he desired me to carry my poc- 
 kets full of love from him to friends in Scot- 
 land. 
 
 1803. 
 
 HAVING returned to London on the 28th of 
 October, 1803, I called at Mr. Newton's next 
 morning. I found him attempting to read a 
 little. When I told him who I was, he said, 
 " Stop a little till I recollect myself." After 
 being silent for about a minute, he held out his 
 hand, saying, " I am glad to see you. I am very 
 feeble. I never experienced before what it was 
 to be seventy-nine." 
 
 While at dinner,conversing of the awful effects 
 -of sin in the world, he said — " That little of the 
 effects of sin were to be seen here, in comparison 
 of what shall be seen in the eternal world. 
 
 " Satan," said he, " frequently does great da- 
 mage to the minds of God's people, in dulling 
 their powers to perceive the truth, and their in- 
 terest in the Lord. It resembles this : — Suppose 
 my spectacles a part of my body, and while I 
 was asleep some person painted the glasses green ; 
 in the morning, when I awoke, I should see every 
 thing green." 
 
172 
 
 On the alarming state of the country, as threat- 
 ened by foreign invasion, he remarked, " All 
 is in good hands — all things are foreseen and 
 managed by the Lord." Then he said, " O 
 what a creature I am — I believe, in my judg- 
 ment, that no man in the world has more cause 
 to be thankful than I ; yet I am not thankful." 
 
 Nov. 1. He had many excellent remarks on 
 providence. One was — " Rahab of Jericho had 
 her house on the wall — I do not know when she 
 moved to it, but had she not had her house there, 
 it is probable she and her family would have been 
 destroyed with the others." 
 
 When the servant was employed putting on his 
 shoes, he looked up, saying, M I had not this 
 trouble in Africa ! for I had no shoes. Sir," 
 [looking to me] " when I rose in the morning* 
 and shook myself like a dog, I was dressed. For 
 forty years past, I have thought, every waking 
 hour, on my former misery. At worship, he 
 read and expounded the 93d Psalm. He ob- 
 served, that " the word was made flesh, took a 
 human body, died, rose, and ascended in that 
 body — and, at present, the Lord reigns over all 
 in that body." 
 
 Nov. 5. Speaking of people who had met 
 with losses, he said — " When we lived at Olney, 
 we had a low fence before the house, within 
 
173 
 
 which we used to bring up fowls. While they 
 were very young, the fence prevented them from 
 straying ; but when they grew a little older, they 
 used to fly over. To prevent this, Mrs. Newton 
 clipped their wings, and that effectually prevented 
 them from straying. God's sending losses to 
 many of his friends, is like clipping their wings 
 to prevent their straying." 
 
 Nov. ' 29. Speaking in reference to Psalm 
 ciii. 5. " Who satisfieth thy mouth with good 
 things," &c. Mr. N. said, " Bring a man to see 
 the best covered table in the world, looking at it 
 might gratify his eyes, but would never satisfy 
 his mouth. We must taste before we can see 
 that God is good." 
 
 1804. 
 
 Jan. 26. He told me that after he was settled 
 at Olney, and had preached six sermons, he 
 thought he had told them his whole stock, and 
 was considerably depressed. " But," said he, " I 
 was walking one afternoon by the side of the 
 river Ouse ; I asked myself, How long has this 
 river run ? Many hundred years before I was 
 born, and will certainly run many years after I 
 am gone. Who supplies the fountain from \w\ ^re 
 this river comes ? God. Is not the fund 
 16 * 
 
174 
 
 sermons equally inexhaustible? — the word of God 
 Yes, surely. I have never been afraid of running 
 out since that time." I asked if he had con- 
 sumed all the variety in the bible now he was an 
 old man and an old minister. He smiled, and 
 said, " O no, Sir ; O no, Sir." 
 
 April 20. Mr. N. in the course of conversa- 
 tion, observed, that — " No man looking at the 
 grub-worm in the garden would ever suspect that 
 it would become a butterfly ; so neither doth it 
 appear what believers shall be." 
 
 October 9. Conversing of some remarkable 
 conversions, and the wickedness on board some 
 war-ships, he said — " Had I a medicine that 
 could cure all diseases, I would not deal much 
 with people who had only a cut finger to cure ; I 
 should go among inveterate distempers, that the 
 power of my medicine might be more manifest. 
 God often acts so." 
 
 Speaking of the little success of the Sierra 
 Leone settlement — " Wait," said he, " an hun- 
 dred years first. God is not often so quick 
 with his works as men would have him to be. 
 I once heard of a gardener who boasted that 
 he could sow sallad when the meat was put 
 to the fire, and have it ready for eating before 
 the meat was roasted. This is seldom God's 
 way." 
 
175 
 
 Speaking of the glory of Jesus, he said — " O 
 how little I love him, but I am sure I desire to 
 love him." 
 
 A friend told me, that some of the first mis- 
 sionaries who went out to Otaheite, called 
 upon Mr. N. one morning. Among other in- 
 quiries they asked, what books he would recom- 
 mend to take with them. In answer to which, 
 he said he would tell them a story. " There 
 was a man and his wife who had no book but 
 the bible. In this they read daily, and received 
 much comfort. One day their minister from 
 the pulpit, recommended some commentary. 
 They attended to his recommendation, for they 
 purchased the commentary, and sat down to read 
 it. After reading in it for some time, the man 
 asked his wife, how she felt now, under the com- 
 mentary ; I will tell you how I feel. When I 
 read the bible itself, I felt as if I had drank a 
 glass of wine ; but this commentary tastes like a 
 glass of wine in a pail of water. The wife ac- 
 knowledged her feelings were the same ; and by 
 mutual consent they returned to the bible." 
 
 Nov. 20. Calling on Mr. N. I asked him if 
 he had any good news ? " Yes, I have — the Lord 
 reigns !" " We have reason to praise the Lord, 
 that in every sense that was not news to us," said 
 a person present. M It is news to us," replied 
 Mr. N. u as the song in heaven is ever a new 
 
176 
 
 song. Why," added he, " the person who has 
 the finest ear for music, and can relish it most, 
 might be delighted to hear a new and excellent 
 tune, frequently repeated ; but he could not bear 
 to hear it all the year round." 
 
 Conversing about trials, he said — " A smith, 
 when about to make a poker, puts his iron into 
 the fire. The Lord, when he means to make his 
 people more holy, puts them into the furnace." 
 While we were conversing, a lady called, and in- 
 quired of Mr. N. how he felt to-day ? " I feel," 
 said he, " like a man of eighty. I have long been 
 a wonder unto many, and a wonder to myself. 
 Had God left me to myself, and had I had the 
 abilities of Hume and Voltaire, I should have 
 been worse than either," 
 
 At another time, which I have not dated, while 
 speaking together respecting affliction, he re- 
 marked-—" When trials are seven years old, they 
 appear very well ; but often, not so to-day : like 
 a man standing upon an eminence, admiring all 
 the ground around him, but not the spot on which 
 he stands." 
 
 Speaking of these words, " My time is not 
 yet come," he observed, " When a man's heart 
 is much set upon any thing, he will pray very 
 earnestly to obtain it; but even though the Lord 
 may have promised that very thing, he will not 
 get it till the Lord's time is come. Giving and 
 
177 
 
 timing things are both from the Lord ; and both 
 are equally necessary. A man in spiritual dis- 
 tress cannot deliver himself from it, nor can all 
 the world, though they should endeavour to assist 
 him, till the Lord's time comes. Like a vessel 
 that has run aground, all the men and horses you 
 could find would not be able to draw it off ; but 
 so soon as the tide returns (and none can make 
 the tide return a moment sooner than the regular 
 fixed time) it moves off with the greatest ease. 
 Even one man can move the ship now, which so 
 many horses could not move before. So when 
 God returns to a soul, it is an easy matter 
 to steer clear of troubles, &c. 
 
 " A father, who loves his child who is in dis- 
 tress, will employ and pay a physician to do very 
 painful things to him, that the distemper may 
 thereby be removed. 
 
 " We may pray," said he, " for things that 
 we have no ground to believe shall ever be fully 
 answered. For example : we may pray that 
 every person we meet with in the street may be 
 converted. There is a believing time, a praying 
 time, a waiting time." 
 
 A gentleman present, having related the cir- 
 cumstances that happened during a tremendous 
 storm at sea he had been exposed to about three 
 weeks before, the imminent danger he had been 
 in of perishing, &c. Mr. N. turned to him, and 
 said — " Sir, you were as safe there as here ; the 
 
178 
 
 danger was only apparent, not real. I prove it 
 by your having escaped it, only you did not know 
 that you were to escape ; if you had, you would 
 not have been so much afraid. I have been al- 
 most in every quarter of the world, but I have 
 received more damage at my own door than in 
 any of them. We are immortal till our time 
 comes." 
 
 During another part of the conversation, Mr. X. 
 remarked, that — " The world loves the name, 
 but not the nature of a christian." As Christ 
 was to the Jews and Greeks long ago, so he is 
 to many yet — a stumbling-block and foolish- 
 ness." 
 
 1805. 
 
 May 26. I asked Mr. N. how he did. 
 * Never in better health, but my animal spirits 
 very low." Do you purpose trying a few weeks 
 in the country this summer? the country air 
 might recruit your spirits. " No Sir, I never 
 intend now to move beyond the stones of Lon- 
 don, I am eighty. I have but little time left. 
 I would not leave my people now for a thousand 
 pounds." How does past life appear when 
 looked back to from the top of eighty ? M Like 
 a dream !" We have had much forgiven us, do 
 you not think so, Sir ? " Yes, some as to out- 
 
179 
 
 ward conduct, owe fifty pence ; others five hun- 
 dred. In this sense, those who are forgiven 
 much, should love much ; but though much has 
 been forgiven me, I love little." Are you much 
 fatigued after preaching ? " I am no more fa- 
 tigued on a Sabbath evening than on a Saturday." 
 Sir, I was telling Miss C*** that I am soon 
 going to Scotland by sea; she says I may be 
 taken by the French. "And though you be, 
 they cannot take you to the wrong place — only 
 where God would have you." Mr. **** is an 
 amiable character. Let us admire God in such 
 characters ; they are what God makes them, and 
 no more." 
 
 August 27. Called, and inquired how he did. 
 "I am eighty-one since you went to Scotland." 
 Speaking of christians being more than con- 
 querors, he said — " If a person was attacked on 
 the highway by a robber, and he took a pistol 
 from his pocket, and shot the robber dead, that 
 person was a conqueror. Likewise, a general 
 might obtain a victory, and die in the field, as 
 General Wolfe did ; yet he was a conqueror. A 
 christian when he overcomes death, overcomes 
 his last enemy." 
 
 Speaking of the surprise of some at Mr. **** 
 leaving his people, among whom he had been 
 useful, he said, — " When I left.Olney for Lon- 
 don, some people were surprised; but I had 
 
180 
 
 reasons, in my own mind, that I could not pro- 
 claim upon the Royal Exchange. Perhaps that 
 may be Mr. ##**'s case." 
 
 Sept. 10. Found Mr. N. very feeble. He 
 said — " If you come to be eighty-one, though in 
 good health, you will find your feelings not very 
 pleasant. O it is good to have God with us. 
 God did not say to Noah and his family — Go 
 into the ark, but come into the ark. He was there 
 before them. God shut him in — not that he was 
 afraid he should leap overboard." 
 
 I happened to say, that the promise in the 
 8th of the Romans, viz. " All things shall work 
 together for good to them that love God," would 
 be made good to every individual believer, and 
 also to the church as a body, or great society. 
 " Yes, to be sure," said he, " a bushel of pease 
 is composed of so many individual pease ; 
 if you boil every individual pea, you boil the 
 bushel." 
 
 I asked if he had written any more of his Ec- 
 clesiastical History than the single volume he 
 had published ? " No," said he, " I wrote that 
 volume before I was a minister." Why did you 
 not carry on the work ? " Because I had not 
 read enough of church history — but I was the 
 remote cause of Milner writing his church his- 
 tory, which is a good one — he got the hint from 
 me. There are many church histories, that con- 
 
181 
 
 tain a history of the vices of the men who called 
 themselves christians." 
 
 Did you ever meet, after you returned to 
 Africa in better circumstances, that black wo- 
 man mentioned in your Narrative, who treated 
 you so harshly while you were in the fever ? 
 " O yes ; I will tell you about that affair. Her 
 name sounds like the letter P. or, I believe, 
 rather like the two letters P I. When I wsnt 
 there as captain of a ship, I sent my long boat 
 ashore for her. They soon brought her on 
 board. I desired the men to fire guns over her 
 head, in honour of her, because she had for- 
 merly done me much good, though she did not 
 intend it. She seemed to feel it like heaping 
 coals of fire upon her head. I made her some 
 presents, and sent her ashore. She seemed to 
 feel most comfortable when she had her back to 
 my ship. 
 
 "I just recollect a circumstance," saidhe, "that 
 happened to me when I first stepped ashore on 
 the beach at that time. Two black females were 
 passing — the first who noticed me observed to 
 her companion, that there was Newton, and 
 what do you think ? he has got shoes ! — ay, said 
 the other, and stockings too ! They had never 
 before seen me with either." 
 
 A friend told me that he was present at Mr. 
 N.'s when some ministers were disputing whether 
 17 
 
182 
 
 faith or repentance were first. Mr. N. was silent 
 till the debate was ended ; then he said — " I have 
 a question to ask. Are not the heart and lungs 
 of a man both equally necessary to the life of the 
 man ?" Yes, surely. " Well, tell me which of 
 these began to play first ? This resembles the 
 point you have been discussing.'' 
 
 Sept. 24. Mr. N. was in better spirits to-day 
 than the last time I saw him. Conversing of the 
 providence of God, which was a favourite topic 
 of his, he said — " There is not a drop of rain 
 falls, but as it is directed by God, nor a particle 
 of dust carried along by the wind but to the ve- 
 ry place which God has appointed. 
 
 " I sometimes say that men live in a clock. 
 The annual revolution of the heavenly bodies I 
 call an hour ; the four seasons are the quarters ; 
 days are the minutes ; and hours, the seconds. I 
 used to call Christmas twelve o'clock. But how 
 many allow this great clock to go on, without ob- 
 servation. 
 
 " Human life, I sometimes compare to a can- 
 dle, which can burn no farther than the socket j 
 but it is in danger, frequently, of being put out be- 
 fore it gets to the socket." 
 
183 
 
 1806. 
 
 April 22. Mr. Newton, we are feeble crea- 
 tures ! " Without God," said he, " I can do no 
 more in his service than the greatest blackguard 
 who walks the street." Such an one was once 
 very thoughtless. " So were you and I." Do 
 you sleep in the night, Sir ? " Yes, God gives 
 me that. I have not good spirits, but I might 
 have had the gout or stone." Some, Sir, suppose 
 Jonah — " I suppose nothing ; I believe all writ- 
 ten." The inhabitants of New South Wales are 
 becoming more civilized. " Yes," said he, " but 
 who does it ? It is God ; means and effects are 
 both from him." 
 
 May 20. Conversing of a misister in the 
 church of Rome, who had written an excellent 
 letter to the Bible Society, rejoicing in its insti- 
 tution, ope observed, Is it not wonderful to find 
 such a man in such a church. " No," said 
 Mr. N. " God brought an infidel from Africa, 
 [meaning himself] to preach his Son in England. 
 Indeed Paul was converted to God whilst breath- 
 ing out slaughter against the people of Christ. 
 But I am worse than Paul. He acted uprightly 
 while opposing Christ : I did it contrary to con-, 
 viction. I was religiously educated, and I knew 
 well I was doing wrong." 
 
184 
 
 When conversing on another subject, Mr. N. 
 remarked that — " God's commands are like the 
 works of his right hand, and his permissions like 
 those of his left ; but both fulfil his will." 
 
 Wonderful that Mr. ***** is not more popu- 
 lar ! " He is as God made him — he has been 
 honoured of God to the conversion and building 
 up of several." Afterwards he remarked — " We 
 perceive God's plans best by taking an enlarged, 
 general view of providence." 
 
 Dec. 18. When I went in to Mr. N. I in- 
 quired after his health. He said, " I am just as 
 God would have mc." He was much affected 
 when he spoke of the death of his curate, Mr. 
 Gunn, who had died only a few days before. 
 He was so low at this time that I could hardly 
 get him to speak. He said, M his animal spirits 
 were no better, but that he lay at the mercy 
 of God." 
 
 A friend told me, that Mr. N. when sending 
 a supply of cash to Mr. Gunn, wrote on the 
 outside of the parcel — " Ammunition for my 
 Gun." 
 
 1807. 
 
 Jan. 14. Found Mr. N. looking worse — his 
 feet and legs so swelled that he could not walk 
 across the room without help. I asked — How do 
 
185 
 
 you do, Sir ? "Iam just as the Lord pleases." 
 This is changeable weather. " It is according 
 to the Lord's will." There are great sufferings 
 just now on the continent. "All the fruit of 
 sin." 
 
 Feb. 10. Mr. N. was now confined to his 
 bed-room, not having been down stairs for three 
 weeks. When I spoke, he said " I know your 
 voice yet." He said also, " I have comfort from 
 the word — there is much comfort in it, could we 
 take it." When taking leave of him, he held up 
 his hand, and prayed, " The Lord be with you 
 all the day long, and grant you the best desires of 
 your heart." 
 
 May 28. Calling in the evening, I found Mr. 
 N. very weak. I sat by his side about ten mi- 
 nutes, repeating in, his ear passages of scrip- 
 ture ; but he spoke not a word, nor took any no- 
 tice of me. I asked if he recollected who I was. 
 He said, " I shall recollect you so long as I re- 
 member two words, Grass Market.'''' (The street 
 in Edinburgh to which he used to direct his let- 
 ters to me.) After prayer with him, he thanked 
 me, and shaking my hand, he wished every bless- 
 ing might attend me. 
 
 July 20. When I left Mr. N. on May 28, 
 before going to Scotland, I never expected to see 
 
1S6 
 
 him any more in this world ; but was happy to 
 find him to-night more lively than he was when 
 I parted from him. He said, M he hoped his 
 friends in Scotland did not forget him." Having 
 repeated Phil. ii. 13. "For it is God which 
 worketh in you to will and to do of his good 
 pleasure ;" he added, " Not at the same time — 
 first to will, then to do." Before we went ta 
 prayer, when the first verse of a hymn was read, 
 he said, " You must read louder, for I cannot 
 hear." At the end of the prayer, he said, with 
 a loud voice, Amen, which shewed he had heard 
 and joined in the prayer. 
 
 Sept. 9. At tea, Mr. N. asked a blessing, and 
 returned thanks. In the latter he prayed for me 
 in these words, — " Lord be with thy servant — » 
 there — to-night — to-morrow — and all his life." 
 
 He*said — " When you were in Scotland, you 
 would see the Grass Market, and observe some 
 changes there." 
 
 Dec. 14. Visited Mr. N. this evening for the 
 last time. He was very weak and low, more so 
 than usual, it was thought to be owing to a cold. 
 He took little notice of any present. I asked him 
 how he slept i " Pretty well." No sleeping in 
 heaven, Mr. Newton. " We shall not need it 
 there" In a little after he added—" We need it 
 here." After going to prayer with him, he 
 
187 
 
 stretched out his hand, and shook mine, as if he 
 thanked me ; but he said nothing. 
 
 A person present mentioned, that the last 
 time he had called on Mr. N. he remarked to 
 him how useful he had been by his writings — 
 that Mr. N. replied, " I need none of these 
 sweetmeats." 
 
 Mr. N. retired from all things here below, 
 to his heavenly rest, on the following Monday 
 evening, December 21, 1807. His memory will 
 be revered for many ages by all the lovers of 
 simple truth. 
 
 ,THE ENO. 
 
i