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syn^tfaj 
 
 OF THE 
 
 KEV. JOHN NEWTON, 7\ 
 
 LATE RECTOR OF THE UNITED PARISHES 
 
 OF 
 
 ST. MARY WOOLNOTHy 
 
 AND 
 
 MARY WOOLCHURCH HAW. LOMBARD STBBET 
 
 WITH 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS 
 
 ON 
 
 HIS I B, CONNEXIONS, AND CHARACTER 
 
 y 
 
 BY RICHARD CECIL, A. M. 
 
 Minister of St. John's, Bedford Row. 
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 PUBLISHED BY THOMAS A. RONALDS, 
 BOOKSELLER AND STATIONER, 
 • No. 188, Pearl Street. 
 
 1809. 
 
/. *Ot T VItf& ; . PBINTER, PHILADELPHIA 
 
PREFACE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 SECOND LONDON EDITION 
 
 THE Memoirs of the Hon. and Rev. Wil- 
 liam Bromley Cadogan, and those of John Ba- 
 con, Esq. were written at the particular re- 
 quest of their relations. But in publishing 
 these of the late Rev. John Newton, I profess 
 myself a volunteer ; and my motives were the 
 following : — When I perceived my venerable 
 friend bending under a weight of years, and 
 considered how soon, from the very course of 
 nature the world must lose so valuable an in- 
 structor and example — When I reflected how 
 common it is for hasty and inaccurate accounts 
 of extraordinary characters to be obtruded on 
 the public by venal writers, whenever more au- 
 thentic documents are wanting — Above all, 
 when I considered how striking a display such 
 a life affords of the nature of true religion — of 
 the power of divine grace — of the mysterious 
 but all-wise course of Divine Providence — 
 and of the encouragement afforded for our do. 
 
a< PREFACE. 
 
 pcndance upon that Providence in the most 
 trying circumstances— I say, on these accounts 
 I felt that the leading Features of such a cha- 
 racter should not be neglected, whilst it was 
 easy to authenticate them correctly. 
 
 Besides which, I have observed a want of 
 books of a certain class for young people ; and 
 have often been inquired of by Christian pa- 
 rents for publications that might amuse their 
 families, and yet tend to promote their best in- 
 terests : the number, however, of this kind 
 which I have seen, and that appeared unexcep- 
 tionable, is but small. For, as the characters 
 and sentiments of some men become moral 
 blights in society — men whose mouths seldom 
 open but, like that of sepulchres, they discov- 
 er the putridity they contain, and infect more 
 or less whoever ventures within their baneful 
 influence ; so the reformed subject of these 
 Memoirs was happily a remarkable instance of 
 the reverse : the change that took place in his 
 heart, after such a course of profligacy, af- 
 fords a convincing demonstration of the truth 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 and force of Christianity. Instead of proceed- 
 ing as a blight in society, he became a bles- 
 sing ; his future course was a striking example 
 of the beneficial eficcis of the Gospel ; and 
 that, not only from the pulpit, and by his pen, 
 but also by his conversation in the large circle 
 of his acquaintance, of which there is, yet li- 
 ving, a multitude of witnesses. 
 
 Impressed, therefore, with the advantage 
 which I conceived would result from the pub- 
 lication of these Memoirs, I communicated 
 my design some^years ago to Mr. N. — What- 
 ever tended to promote that cause in which his 
 heart had been long engaged, I was sure would 
 not fail to obtain his concurrence. He accord- 
 ingly promised to afford whatever materials 
 might be necessary beyond those which his 
 printed Narrative contained. He promised 
 also to read over and revise whatever was add- 
 ed from my xnvn observation ; and he soon af- 
 ter brought me an account in writing, contain- 
 ing every thing memorable which he recollect- 
 ed before the commencement of his Narrative. 
 A 2 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 1 shall, therefore, detain the reader no longer 
 than to assure him that the whole of the follow- 
 ing Memoirs, (except what relates to Mr. N.'s 
 character,) was submitted to him in MS- 
 while he was capable of correcting it, and recei- 
 ved his sanction. 
 
 April 1808, 
 
MEMOIRS 
 
 OF THE 
 
 REV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 THESE Memoirs seem naturally to cor^ 
 mence with the account mentioned in the Pr^ 
 face and which I here transcribe : 
 
 " I was born in London the 24th of July 
 1725, old style. My parents though not weal- 
 thy were respectable. My father was many 
 years master of a ship in the Mediterranean 
 trade. In the year 1748 he went Governour 
 of York Fort in Hudson's Bay, w r here he 
 died in the year 1750." 
 
 " My mother was a dissenter, a pious wo- 
 man, and a member of the late Dr. Jennings' 
 church. She was of a weak, consumptive ha-, 
 bit, loved retirement, and as I was her only 
 child, she made it the chief business and plea- 
 sure of her life to instruct me, and bring me up 
 in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. I 
 have been told, that from 'my birth she had, in 
 her mind, devoted me to the ministry, and that. 
 
8 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 had she lived till I was of a proper age, I was 
 to have been sent to St. Andrews in Scotland 
 to be educated. But the Lord had appointed 
 otherwise. My mother died before I was se- 
 ven years of age. 
 
 " I was rather of a sedentary turn, net active 
 and playful, as boys commonly are, but seem- 
 ed as willing to learn, as my mother was to 
 teach me. I had some capacity, and a reten- 
 tive memory. When I was four years old, I 
 €l>uld read, (hard names excepted) as well as I 
 can now, and could likewise repeat the answers 
 to the questions in the Assembly's Shorter 
 Catechism, with the proofs ; and all Dr. Watts' 
 smaller Catechisms, and his Children's Hymns. 
 
 " When my father returned from sea, after 
 iny mother's death, he married again. My 
 new mother was the daughter of a substantial 
 grazier at Avely in Essex — She seemed wil- 
 ling to adopt and bring me up, but after two 
 or three years, she had a son of her own who 
 engrossed the old gentleman's notice. My fa- 
 ther was a very sensible, and a moral man, as 
 the world rates morality, but neither he, nor 
 my step-mother were under the impressions of 
 religion ; I was, therefore, much left to myself, 
 to mingle with idle and wicked boys, and soon 
 learnt their ways. 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. V 
 
 " I never was at school but about two years, 
 (from my eighth to my tenth year ;) it was a 
 boarding-school at Stratford in Essex . Though 
 my father left me much to run about the streets, 
 yet, when under his eye, he kept me at a great 
 distance. I am persuaded he loved me, but he 
 seemed not willing that I should know it. I 
 was with him in a state of fear and bondage. 
 His sternness, together with the severity of my 
 schoolmaster, broke and overawed my spirit, 
 and almost made me a dolt ; so that part of the 
 two years I w^as at school, instead of making a 
 progress, I nearly forgot all that my good mo- 
 ther had taught me. 
 
 " The day I was eleven, years old, I went 
 on board my father's ship in Long-reach. I 
 made five voyages with him to the Mediter- 
 ranean. In the course of the last voyage he 
 left me some months at Alicant in Spain, with 
 a merchant, a particular friend of his ; with 
 him I might have done well, if I had behaved 
 well. But by this time, my sinful propensi- 
 ties had gathered strength by habit : I was ve- 
 ry wicked, and therefore very foolish; and be- 
 ing my own enemy, I seemed determined 
 that nobody should my friend. 
 
 " My father left the sea, in the year 1742, 
 I made one voyage afterwards to Venice before 
 
10 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the mast, and soon after my return was im- 
 pressed on board the Harwich. — Then began 
 my awfully mad career as recorded in the Nar- 
 rative ; to which, and to the Letters to a Wife, 
 I must refer you for any farther dates and in- 
 cidents, ^i 
 
 " I am truly yours, 
 
 " John Newton." 
 "Dec. 19, 1795." 
 
 A few articles may be added to this account 
 from the Narrative, where we find that his 
 pious mother " stored his memory with whole 
 chapters and smaller portions of Scripture, ca- 
 techisms, hymns, and poems; and often com- 
 mended him with many prayers and tears to God 
 — also that in his sixth year he began to learn 
 Latin, though the intended plan of his educa- 
 tion was soon broken — and that he lost this 
 valuable parent, July 11th, 1732." 
 
 We also find that, after his father's second 
 marriage, he was sent to the school above- 
 mentioned, and in the last of the two years he 
 spent there, a new usher came; who obser- 
 ving and suiting his temjper, he prosecuted 
 Latin with great eagerness, and before he was 
 ten years old, he had reached and maintained 
 the first post in the second class, which in that 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 1 i 
 
 school was Tully and Virgil. — But by be 
 pushed forward too fast and not property 
 grounded, (a method too common in inferiour 
 schools) he soon lost all he had learned. 
 
 In the next and most remarkable period of 
 „Mr. N.'s life, we must be conducted by the 
 Narrative above-mentioned. It has been 
 observed, that at eleven years of age he w^s 
 taken by his father to sea. His father was a 
 man of remarkable good sense, and great 
 knowledge of the world ; he took much care 
 of his son's morals, but could not supply a 
 mother's part. The father had been educated 
 at a Jesuit's college near Seville in Spain, and 
 had an air of such distance and severity in his 
 carriage, as discouraged his son, who always 
 was in fear when before him, and which de- 
 prived him of that influence he might otl 
 wise have had. 
 
 From this time to the year 1742 Mr. N. 
 made several voyages, but at considerable in- 
 tervals : these intervals were chiefly spent in 
 the country, excepting a few months in his 
 fifteenth year, when he was placed with a verj 
 advantageous prospect at Alicant already -men* 
 tioned. 
 
 About this period of his life, with a tern 
 per and conduct exceedingly various, he v 
 
12 MEMOIRS OP THE 
 
 often disturbed with religious convictions, 
 and being from a child fond of reading, he 
 met with Bennet's Christian Oratory, and 
 though he understood little of it, the course 
 of life it recommended appeared very desi- 
 rable. He therefore began to pray, to read 
 the Scriptures, to keep a diary, and thought 
 himself religious ; but soon became weary 
 of it, and gave it up. He then learned to 
 curse and to blaspheme, and was exceed- 
 ingly wicked when out of the view of his pa- 
 rents, though at so early a period. 
 
 Upon his being thrown from a horse near a 
 dangerous hedge-row, newly cut, his con- 
 science suggested to him the dreadful conse- 
 quences of appearing in such a state before 
 God. This put him, though but for a time, 
 upon breaking off these profane practices ; but 
 the consequence of these struggles between 
 sin and conscience, was, that on every relapse 
 he sunk into still greater depts of wickedness. 
 He was roused again, by the loss of a compa- 
 nion who had agreed to go- with him one Sun- 
 day on board a man of war. Mr. N. provi- 
 dentially coming too late, the boat had gone 
 without him, and was overset, by which his 
 companion and several others were drowned. 
 He was exceedingly affected at the funeral of 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTC 
 
 his companion, to think that by the delay c 
 few minutes, (which at- the time occasioned 
 much anger,) his life had been preserved : but. 
 this also was soon forgotten. The perusal oi 
 the Family Instructor produced another tern- 
 porary reformation. In short, he took up and 
 laid aside a religious profession three or four 
 different times, before he was sixteen years of 
 age. 
 
 " All this while," says he, " my heart 
 was insincere. I often saw the necessity of 
 religion, as a means of escaping hell ; but 1 
 loved sin and was unwilling to forsake it — I was 
 so strangely blind and stupid, that sometimes, 
 when I have been determined upon things 
 which I knew were sinful, I could not go on 
 quietly till I had first dispatched my ordinary 
 task of prayer, in which I have grudged every 
 moment of the tim~ ; when this was finished, 
 my conscience was in some measure pacified, 
 and I could rush into folly with little remorse." 
 But his last reform was the most remarkable* 
 14 Of this period," says he, " at least of some 
 part of it, I may say in the Apostle's words, Af- 
 ter the strictest sect of our religion. Hived a Pha- 
 risee. I did every thing that might be expected 
 from a person entirely ignorant of God's right- 
 eousness, and desirous to establish his own* J 
 
 B 
 
14 , MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 spent the greatest part of every day in reading 
 the Scriptures, and in meditation, and prayer. 
 I fasted often : I even abstained from all ani- 
 mal food for three months. I would hardly an- 
 swer a question for fear of speaking an idle 
 word : I seemed to bemoan my former miscar- 
 riages very earnestly, and sometimes with 
 tears : in short I became an ascetic, and en- 
 deavoured, as far as my situation w r ouid per- 
 mit, to renounce society, that I might avoid 
 temptation." 
 
 This reformation, it seems, continued for 
 more than two years. But he adds, " it was 
 a poor religion ; it left me in many respects 
 under the power of sin, and so far as it prevailed, 
 only tended to make me gloomy, stupid, unso- 
 ciable, and useless." 
 
 That it was a poor religion, and quite unlike 
 that which he afterwards possessed, will appear 
 from what immediately follows : for, had it 
 been taken up upon more scriptural ground, 
 and been attended with that internal evidence 
 and satisfaction which true religion only brings, 
 he could not so soon have fallen a dupe to 
 such a writer as Shaftsbury. It was at a petty 
 shop at Middleburgh, in Holland, that he first 
 met with a volume of the Characteristics. The 
 declamation called by his Lordship, a Rhup- 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 15 
 
 sody, suited the romantic turn of his mind. 
 Unaware of its tendency, he imagined he had 
 found a valuable guide. This book was al- 
 ways in his hand, till he could nearly repeat 
 the Rhapsody. Though it produced no im- 
 mediate effect, it operated like a slow poison, 
 and prepared the way for all that followed. 
 
 About the year 1742, having lately come 
 from a voyage, his father not intending to re- 
 turn to sea, was contriving for Mr. N.'s set- 
 tlement in the world. But to settle a youth 
 who had no spirit for business, who knew but 
 little of men or things, who was of a romantic 
 turn : — a medley, as he expressed it, of reli- 
 gion, philosophy, and indolence, and quite 
 averse to order, must prove a great difficulty. 
 At length a merchant in Liverpool, an inti- 
 mate friend fl£ the father, and afterwards a 
 singular friend to the son, offered to send him 
 for some years to Jamaica, and undertook the 
 charee of his future welfare. This was con- 
 consented to, and preparation made for the 
 voyage, which was to be prosecuted the fol- 
 lowing week. In the mean time, he was sent by 
 his father on some business to a place, a few 
 miles beyond Maidston in Kent. But the 
 journey, which was designed to last but three 
 or four days, gave such a turn to his mind, as 
 
16 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 roused him from his habitual indolence, and 
 produced a series of important and interesting 
 occurrences. 
 
 A few days before this intended journey, he 
 received an invitation to visit some distant re- 
 lations in Kent. They were particular friends 
 of his Mother, who died at their house , but a 
 coolness having taken place upon his father's 
 second marriage, all intercourse between them 
 had ceased. As his road lay within half a mile 
 of the house, and he had obtained his father's 
 leave to call on them, he went thither, and met 
 with the kindest reception from these friends. 
 • — They had two daughters ; it seems the 
 elder had been intended, by both the mothers, 
 for his future wife, Almost at the first sight 
 of this girl, then under fourteen years of age, 
 he was impressed with such ^affection for 
 her, as appears to have equalled all that the 
 writers cf romance have imagined. 
 
 u I soon lost," says he, " ail sense of reli- 
 gion, and became deaf to the remonstrances 
 of conscience and prudence, but my regard for 
 her was always the same ; and I may, per- 
 haps, venture to say, that none of the scenes 
 of misery mid wickedness I afterwards experi- 
 enced, ever banished her a single hour to- 
 gether from my waking thoughts for the seven 
 following years, 
 
HEV. JOHN NEW'I. 17 
 
 His heart being now melted to a particular 
 ©bject, e\ ery thing with which he was concern- 
 ed, appeared in a new light. He could not now 
 bear the thought of living at such a distance as 
 Jamaica, for four or five years, and therefore de- 
 termined not to go thither. He dared not com- 
 municate with his father on this point, but in- 
 stead of three days, he staid three weeks in 
 Kent, till the ship had sailed, and then he return- 
 ed to London. His Father, though highly dis- 
 pleased, became reconciled, and in a little time 
 he sailed with a friend of his father's to Ve- 
 nice. 
 
 In this voyage, being a common sailor, and 
 exposed to the company of his comrades, he 
 began to relax from the sobriety which he had 
 preserved, in some degree, for more than two 
 years. Sometimes, pierced with convictions, 
 he made a few faint efforts as formerly to stop ; 
 and though not yet absolutely profligate, he 
 was making large strides towards a total apos- 
 tasy from God. At length, he received a re- 
 markable check by a dream, which made a 
 very strong, though not abiding, impression 
 upon his mind. 
 
 I shall relate this dream in his own words, 
 referring to the Narrative those who wish 
 to know his opinion of dreams, and his appli- 
 b 2 
 
MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 cation of this one in particular, to his own cir- 
 cumstances : 
 
 " The scene presented to my imagination, 
 was the harbour of Venice, where we had 
 lately been. I thought it was night, and my 
 watch upon the deck ; and that as I w as walking 
 to and fro by myself, a person came to me (I 
 do not femember from whence^, and brought 
 me a ring, with an express charge to keep 
 it carefully ; assuring me that while I pre- 
 served that ring, I should be happy and suc- 
 cessful : but if I lost or parted with it, I must 
 expect nothing but trouble and misery. — I 
 accepted the present and the terms willingly, 
 not in the least doubting my own care to 
 preserve it, and highly satisfied* to have my 
 happiness in my own keeping. I was en- 
 gaged in these thoughts, when & second per- 
 son came to me, and observing the ring on 
 my finger, took occasion to ask me some ques- 
 tions concerning it. I readily told him its vir- 
 tues, and his answer expressed a surprise at my 
 weakness, in expecting such effects from a ring. 
 I think he reasoned with me some time, upon 
 the impossibility of the thing, and at length told 
 me, in direct terms, to throw it away. At first 
 I was shocked at the proposal, but his insinua- 
 tions prevailed, I began to reason and doubt, 
 
REV. JOHX NEWTON. 19 
 
 and at last pluked it oft' r i r, and drop i 
 
 it over the ship's side into the water, which it 
 had no sooner touched, than I saw at the same 
 instant, a terrible fire burst out from a range of 
 mountains (a part of the Alps), which ap- 
 peared at some distance behind the city of 
 Venice. I saw r the hills as distinct as if a- 
 wakc, and that they I in flames. I per- 
 
 ceived, too late, my foliy ; and my tempter, 
 with an air of insult, informed me, that all the 
 mercy God had in reserve for me, was compri- 
 sed in that ring, which I had wilfully thrown 
 I understood that I must now go with 
 him to the burning mountains, and that all the 
 flames I saw w r ere kindled on my account. I 
 trembled, and was in a great agony ; so that it 
 was surprising I did not then awake, but i 
 dream continued, and when I thought myself 
 upon the point of a constrained departs 
 and stood self- condemned, without plea or 
 hope, suddenly, either a third person, or the 
 same who brought the ring at first (I am not 
 certain which), came to me, and demanded 
 the cause of my grief. I told him the plain 
 case, confessing that I had ruined myself 
 wilfully, and deserved no pity. He blamed 
 my rashness, and asked if I should be wiser. 
 
20 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 supposing I had my ring again. I could hardly 
 answer to this, for I thought it was gone be- 
 yond recall. I believe, indeed, I had not time 
 to answer, before I saw this unexpected friend 
 go down under the water, just in the spot 
 where I had dropped it, and he soon returned 
 bringing the ring with him : the moment he 
 came onboard, the flames in the mountains were 
 extinguished, and my seducer left me. Then 
 was the prey taken from the hand of the mighty, 
 and the lawful captive delivered. My fears 
 were at an end, and with joy and gratitude 
 I approached my kind deliverer to receive 
 the ring again ; but he refused to return it, and 
 spoke to this effect : " If you should be entrust- 
 " ed with this ring again, you would very soon 
 " bring yourself into the same distress; you 
 u are not able to keep it, but I will preserve 
 " it for you, and whenever it is needful, will 
 6 ' produce it in your behalf." — Upon this I 
 awoke, in a state of mind not to be described : 
 I could hardly eat, or sleep, or transact my 
 necessary business for two or three days : but 
 the impression soon wore off, and in a little 
 time I totally forgot it ; and I think it hardly 
 occurred to my mind again till several years 
 afterwards." 
 
U£V, JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 Nothing remarkable occurred in the follow- 
 ing part of that voyage. Mr. N. returned 
 home in December 1743, and repeating his 
 visit to Kent, protracted his stay in the same 
 imprudent manner he had done before. This 
 so disappointed his Father's designs for his in- 
 terest, as almost induced him to disown his 
 son. Before any thing suitable offered again, 
 this thoughtless son, unmindful of the conse- 
 quences of appearing in a check'd shirt, was 
 marked by a Lieutenant of the Harwich Man 
 of war, who immediately imj essed and car- 
 ried him on board a tender. This was at a 
 critical juncture, as the French Fleets were 
 hovering upon our coast; so that his Father 
 was incapable of procuring his release. A 
 few days after, he was sent on board the Har- 
 wich at the Nore. Here a new scene of life 
 was presented, and for about a month, much 
 hardship endured. As a war was daily expect- 
 ed, his Father was willing he should remain 
 in the navy, and procured him a recommen- 
 dation to the Captain, who sent him upon the. 
 quarter deck as a midshipman. He might 
 now have had ease and respect, had it not 
 
 in for his unsettled mind, and indiffen 
 behaviour. The companions he met with 
 here, completed the ruin of his principle 
 
~2 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 though he affected to talk of virtue, and pre- 
 served some decency, yet his delight and ha- 
 bitual practice was wickedness. 
 
 His principal companion was a person of 
 talents and observation, an expert and plausi- 
 ble infidel, whose zeal was equal to his ad- 
 dress. " I have been told," says Mr. N. 
 " that afterwards he was overtaken in a voy- 
 age from Lisbon in a violent storm ; the ves- 
 sel and people escaped, but a great sea broke 
 onboard, and swept him into Eternity." — 
 Being fond of this man's company, Mr. N. 
 aimed to discover what smattering of reading 
 he had : his companion, perceiving that Mr. 
 N. had not Idst all the restraints of conscience, 
 at first spoke in favour of religion ; and ha- 
 ving gained Mr. N.'s confidence, and per- 
 ceiving his attachment to the Characteristics, 
 he soon convinced his pupil that he had never 
 understood that book. By objections :~nd ar- 
 guments Mr. N.'s depraved heart was soon 
 gained. He plunged into infidelity with all his 
 spirit, and like an unwary sailor who quits his 
 post just before a rising storm, the hopes and 
 comforts of the Gospel were renounced at the 
 very time when every other comfort was about 
 to fail. 
 
 In December 1744, the Harwich was in the 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 Downs, bound to the East Indies. The Cap. 
 tain gave Mr. X. leave to go on shore fo 
 day ; but, with his usual inconsideration, and 
 following the dictates of a restless passion, he 
 went to take a last leave of the object vi ith 
 which he was so infatuated. — Little satisfac- 
 tion attended the interview in such circum- 
 stances, and on new year's day he returned 
 to the ship. The Captain was so highly dis- 
 pleased at this rash step, that it occasioned 
 ever after the loss of his favour. 
 
 At length they sailed from Spithead, with 
 a very large fleet. They put in to Torb.iy, 
 with a change of wind, but sailed the next 
 day, on its becoming fair. Several of the 
 fleet were lost at leaving the place, but the 
 following night the whole fleet was greatlv en- 
 dangered upon the coast of Cornwall b 
 storm from the southward. The Ship on 
 which Mr. N. was aboard, escaped unhn 
 though several times in danger of being run 
 down by other vessels ; but many suffered 
 much : this occasioned their putting back to 
 Plymouth. 
 
 While they lay at Plymouth, Mr. X. heard 
 that his Father, who had an interest in some 
 of the ships latelyJWost, was come down to 
 Torbay. lie thought that,, if he could sec 
 
24 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Father, he might easily be introduced into a 
 service which would be better than pursuing 
 a long and uncertain voyage to the East In- 
 dies. It was his habit in those unhappy days, 
 never to deliberate ; as soon as the thought oc- 
 curred, he resolved to leave the ship at all 
 events : he did so, and in the worst manner 
 possible. He was sent one day in the boat to 
 prevent others from desertion, but betrayed 
 his trust, and deserted himself: not knowing 
 which road to take, and fearing to inquire, 
 lest he should be suspected, yet having some 
 general idea of the country, "he found, after he 
 had travelled some miles, that he was on the 
 road to Dartmouth. That day and part of the 
 next, every thing seemed to go on smoothly. 
 He walked fast, and thought to have seen his 
 Father in about two hours, when he was met 
 by a small party of soldiers, whom he could 
 not avoid or deceive : they brought him back 
 to Plymouth, through the streets of which he 
 proceeded guarded like a felon. Full of in- 
 dignation, shame, and fear, he was confined 
 two days in the guard-house, then sent on 
 ship-board, and kept awhile in irons ; next he 
 was publicly stript and whipl, degraded from 
 his office^ and all his forlner companions for- 
 bidden to show him the least favour f or even 
 
B EV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 to speak to him. As Midshipman he had lx 
 entitled to command, in which (being suffi- 
 ciently haughty and vain) he had not been 
 temperate ; but was now in his turn brought 
 down to a level with the lowest, and exposed 
 to the insults of all. 
 
 The state of his mind at this time can only 
 be properly expressed in his own words : 
 
 " As my present situation was uncomforta- 
 ble, my future prospects were still worse ; the 
 evils I suffered were likely to grow heavier 
 every day. While my catastrophe was recent, 
 the officers and my quondam brethren were 
 something disposed to screen me from ill 
 usage ; but, during the little time I remained 
 with them afterwards, I found them cool very 
 fctst in their endeavours to protect me. In- 
 deed, they could not avoid such conduct with- 
 out running a great risk of sharing with me :- 
 for the Captain, though in general a humane 
 man, who behaved very well to the shfyte com- 
 pany, was almost implacable in his resentment, 
 and took several occasions to show it, and the . 
 voyage was expected to be (as it proved) 
 five years. Yet nothing I either felt or fea 
 distressed me so much as to see myself thus 
 forcibly torn away from the object of n\) 
 C 
 
26 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 fections, under a great improbability of seeing 
 her again, and a much greater of returning in 
 such a manner as would give me hope of see- 
 ing her mine* 
 
 " Thus I was as miserable on all hands as 
 could well be imagined. My breast was filled 
 with the most excruciating passions, eager 
 desire, bitter rage, and black despair. Every 
 hour exposed me to some new insult, and hard- 
 ship, with no hope of relief or mitigation ; no 
 friend to take my part, nor to listen to my com- 
 plaint. Whether I looked inward or outward, 
 I could perceive nothing but darkness and 
 misery. I think no case, except that of a con- 
 science wounded by the wrath of God, could 
 be more dreadful than mine ; I cannot express 
 with w r hat wishfulness and regret, I cast my 
 last looks upon the English shore ; I kept my 
 eyes fixed upon it, till the ship's distance in- 
 creasing, it insensibly disappeared ; and when I 
 could see it no longer, I was tempted to throw 
 myself into the sea, which (according to the 
 wicked system I had adopted) would put a 
 period to all my sorrows at once. But the 
 secret hand of God restrained me." 
 
 During his passage to Madeira, Mr. N. 
 describes himself as a prey to he most gloomy 
 thoughts ; though he had deserved all, and 
 
REV. JOHN NEW TON". 27 
 
 more than all he had met with from the Cap- 
 tain, yet pride suggested that he had been 
 grossly injured ; " and this so far," - 
 " wrought upon my wicked heart, that I ac- 
 tually forified designs against his life, and 
 that was one reason which made me willing to 
 prolong my own. I was sometimes divided 
 between the two, not thinking it practicable 
 to ei »h. The Lord had now to appear- 
 
 ance given me up to Judicial hardness ; I 
 capable of any thing. I had not the least fear 
 of God before my eyes, nor (so far as I remem- 
 ber) the least sensibility of conscience. I was 
 possessed with so strong a spirit of delusion, 
 that I believed my own lie, and was firmly per- 
 suaded that after death I should cease to be. 
 — Yet the Lord preserved me ! — Some inter- 
 vals of sober reflection would at times take 
 place : when I have chosen death rather than 
 life, a ray of hope would come in (though 
 there was little probability for such a hope) 
 that I should yet see better days, that I might 
 return to England, and have my wishes crown- 
 ed, if I did not wilfully throw myself away. In 
 a word, my love to Mrs. N. was now the only 
 restraint I had left : though I neither 
 God, nor regarded man, I could not bear that 
 
28 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 she should thmk^ meanly of me, when I was 
 dead." * v 
 
 Mr. N. had now been at Madeira some- 
 time ; the business of the fleet being com- 
 pleted, they were to sail the following day : 
 on that memorable morning he happened to be 
 late in bed, and would have continued to sleep, 
 but that an old companion, a Midship- 
 man, came down between jest and earnest, 
 and bid him rise. As he did not immediately 
 comply, the Midshipman cut down the ham- 
 mock in which he lay ; this obliged him to 
 dress himself : and though very angry, he 
 durst not resent it, but was little aware that this 
 person, without design, was a special instrument 
 of God's providence. Mr. N. said little, but 
 went upon deck, where he saw a man putting 
 his own clothes into a boat and informed Mr. N. 
 he was going to leave the ship. Upon inquiry, 
 he found that two men from a Guir * a ship, 
 which lay near them, had entered on board 
 the Harwich, and that the. Commodore, (the 
 late Sir George Pocock,) had ordered the Cap- 
 tain to send two others in their room. Infla- 
 med with this information, Mr. N. requested 
 (hat the boat might be detained a few minutes ; 
 he then entreated the Lieutenants to intercede 
 with the Captain that he might be dismissed 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 2V 
 
 upon this occasion : though he had fonm 
 behaved ill to these Officers, they were moved 
 with pity, and were disposed to serve him. 
 The Captain who had refused to exchange him 
 at Plymouth, though requested by Admiral 
 Medley, was easily prevailed with now. In 
 little more than half an hour from his beino: a- 
 sleep in bed, he found himself discharged, 
 and safe on board another Ship : the events 
 depending upon this change, will shew it to 
 have been the most critical and important. 
 
 The Ship he now^entered, was bound to 
 Sierra Leone, and the adjacent parts of what 
 is called the windward coast of Africa. The 
 commander knew his father, received him 
 kindly, and made professions of assistance ; 
 and probably would have been his friend, if, 
 instead of profiting by his former errors, he 
 had not pursued a course, if possible, worse. 
 He was under some restraint on board the 
 Harwich, but being now among strangers, he 
 could sin without disguise. — "I well remem- 
 ber," says he, " that while I was passing from 
 one ship to the other, I rejoiced in the ex- 
 change with this reflection, that I might tli 
 -indoned as I pleased, withe 
 id from this time, I w ulinglv 
 
 g short of • 
 C 2 
 
JO MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 animated description of an almost irrecove- 
 rable state, which we have in 2 Peter,ii. 14 
 I not only sinned with a high hand myself, 
 but made it my study to tempt and seduce 
 others upon every occasion : nay, I eagerly 
 sought occasion, sometimes to my own hazard 
 and hurt." By this conducthe soon forfeited the 
 favour of his Captain : for, besides being care- 
 less and disobedient, upon some imagined af- 
 front, he employedhis mischievous wit in mak- 
 ing a song to ridicule the Captain as to his ship, 
 his designs, and his person ; and he taught it 
 to the whole ship's company. 
 
 He thus proceeded for about six months, at 
 which time the ship was preparing to leave the 
 coast ; but, a few days before she sailed, the 
 captain died. Mr. N. was not upon much 
 better terms with his mate, who succeeded to 
 the command, and upon some occasion had 
 treated him ill. He felt certain, that if he went 
 in the ship to the West Indies, the mate w r ould 
 have put him on board a Man of war, a conse- 
 quence more dreadful to him than death itself : 
 to avoid this, he determined to remain in Africa, 
 and pleased himself with imagining it would be 
 an opportunity of improving his fortune. 
 
 Upon that part of the coast there were a few 
 white men settled, whose business it was to 
 purchase slaves, &c. and sell them to the ships 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 31 
 
 at an advanced price ; on€ of these who had 
 first landed in circumstances similar to Mr. 
 N.\s had acquired considerable wealth. This 
 man had been in England, and was returning 
 in the same vessel with Mr. N. of which he 
 owned a quarter part. His example impressed 
 Mr. N. with hopes of the same success, and 
 he obtained his discharge upon condition of 
 entering into the trader's service, to whose 
 generosity he trusted without the precaution 
 of terms. He received, however, no compen- 
 sation for his time on board the ship, but a 
 bill upon the Owners in England, who failing 
 before his return, the bill was never paid ; the 
 day, therefore, on which the vessel sailed, he 
 landed upon the island of Benanoes like one 
 ship- wrecked, with little more than the clothes 
 upon his back. 
 
 " The two following years," sayshe, " ofwhich 
 I am now to give some account, w r ill seem as 
 an absolute blank in my life : but, I have seen 
 frequent cause since to admire the mercy of 
 God in banishing me to those distant parts, and 
 almost excluding me from all society at a time 
 when I was big with mischief, and, like one 
 infected with a pestilence, was capable of 
 spreading a taint wherever I went. — But the 
 Lord wisely placed me where I could do little 
 harm. The few I had to converse w r ith were 
 
$2 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 too much like myself, and I was soon brought 
 into such abject circumstances that I was too 
 low. to have any influence. I was rather shun- 
 ned and despised than imitated, there being 
 few even of the negroes themselves, during 
 the first year of my residence, but thought 
 themselves too good to speak to me. I was 
 as yet an outcast, ready to perish, but the 
 Lord beheld me with mercy— he even now bid 
 me live ; and I can only ascribe it to his secret 
 upholding power that what I suffered in a part 
 of this interval, did not bereave me either of 
 mv life or senses." 
 
 The reader will have a better idea of the 
 station Mr. N. was now in, by his brief sketch 
 of it. 
 
 " From Cape de Verd, the most western 
 point of Africa, to Cape Mount, the whole 
 coast is full of rivers : the principal are the 
 Gambia, Rio Grande, Sierra Leone, andSher- 
 bro. Of the former, as it is well known, and as I 
 was never there, I need say nothing. The Rio 
 Grande (like the Nile) divides into many bran- 
 ches near the sea. On the most northerly, called 
 Cacheo, the Portuguese have a settlement. The 
 most southern branch, known by the name of 
 Rio Nuna, is, or was, the usual boundary of the 
 white men's trade northward. Sierra Leone is 
 a mountainous peninsula, uninhabited, and I 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 33 
 
 believe inaccessible, upon account of the thick 
 woods, excepting those parts which lie near 
 the water. The river is large and navigable. 
 From hence about twelve leagues to the south 
 east, are three contiguous Islands, called the 
 Benanoes, twenty miles in circuit : this was 
 about the centre of the white men's residence. 
 Seven leagues farther the same way, lie the 
 Plantanes, three small islands two miles distant 
 from the continent, at the point which forms 
 one side of the Sherbro. This river is more 
 properly a sound, running within a long island, 
 and receiving the confluence of several large 
 rivers, ' rivers unknown to song,' but far more 
 deeply engraven in my remembrance, than the 
 Po or Tiber — The southernmost of these has 
 a very peculiar course almost parallel to the 
 coast ; so that in tracing it a great many leagues 
 upwards, it will seldom lead one above three 
 miles, and sometimes not more than half a 
 mile from the sea shore." 
 
 Mr. N.'s new master had resided near Cape 
 Mount, but at this time had settled at the Plan- 
 tanes on the largest of the three islands. It is low 
 and sandy, about two miles in circumference, 
 and almost covered with palm-trees. They 
 immediately began to build a house. Mr. N. 
 had some desire to retrieve his time and cha- 
 
34 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 racter, and might have lived tolerably well, 
 with his master, if this man had not been much 
 under the direction of a black woman, who 
 lived with him as a w r ife, and influenced him 
 against his new servant. She was a person of 
 some consequence in her own country, and he 
 owed his first rise to her interest. This wo- 
 man, for reasons not konwn, was strangely 
 prejudiced against Mr. N. from the first; he 
 also had unhappily a severe fit of illness, 
 which attacked him before he had opportunity 
 to shew what he could or would do in the ser- 
 vice of his master. Mr. N. w T as sick when his 
 master sailed in a shalop to Rio Nuna, and was 
 left in the hands of this woman. He was ta- 
 ken some care of at first, but not soon recover- 
 ing, her attention was wearied, and she entire- 
 ly neglected him. Sometimes it was with diffi- 
 culty he could procure a draught of cold wa- 
 ter w^hen burning with a fever ! His bed was a 
 mat, spread upon a board or chest, with a log 
 for his pillow. Upon his appetite returning 
 after the fever left him, he would gladly have 
 eaten, but u no one gave unto him." She liv- 
 ed in plenty, but scarcely allowed him suffici- 
 ent to sustain life, except now and then, when 
 in the highest good humour, she would send 
 him victuals in her own plate after she had 
 
REV. JOHN KEWTON. 
 
 dined. And this (so greatly was he humbK 
 he received with thanks and eagerness, as the 
 most needy beggar does an alms. 
 
 " Once," says he, " I well remember, I was 
 called to receive this bonnty from her own hand, 
 but being exceedingly weak and feeble, I drop- 
 ped the plate. Those who live in plenty can 
 hardly conceive how this loss touched me ; but 
 she had the cruelty to laugh at my disappoint- 
 ment, and though the table was covered with 
 dishes (for she lived much in the Euro} 
 manner,) she refused to give me any more. 
 My distress has been at times so great as to 
 compel me to go by night, and pull up roots 
 in the plantation (though at the risk of being 
 punished as a thief,) which I have eaten raw up- 
 on the spot, for fear of discovery. The n 
 I speak of are very wholesome food, when 
 boiled or roasted, but as unfit to be eaten raw 
 in auy quantity as a potatoe. The conse- 
 quence of this diet, which after the first expe- 
 riment I always expected, and seldom missed, 
 was the same as if I had taken tartar emetic ; 
 so that I have often returned as empty as I 
 went, yet necessity urged me to repeat the tri- 
 al several times. I have sometimes been re- 
 lieved by strangers ; yea even by the slaves iu 
 the chain, who have secretly brought me vie- 
 
36 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 tuals (for they durst not be seen to do it) from 
 their own slender pittance. Next to pressing 
 want, nothing sits harder upon the mind, than 
 scorn and contempt, and of this likewise I had 
 an abundant measure." 
 
 When slowly recovering, the same woman 
 would sometimes pay Mr. N. a visit, not to 
 pity or relieve, but to insult him. She would 
 call him worthless and indolent, and compel 
 him to walk ; which when he could scarcely 
 do, she would set her attendants to mimic his 
 motions, to clap their hands, laugh, throw limes 
 at him, and sometimes they would even 
 throw stones. But though her attendants 
 were forced to join in this treatment, Mr. N. 
 was rather pitied than scorned, by the mean- 
 est of her slaves, on her departure. 
 
 When his master returned from the voyage, 
 Mr. N. complained of ill usage, but was not 
 credited, and as he did it in her hearing, he 
 fared worse for it. He accompanied his mas- 
 ter in his second voyage, and they agreed pret- 
 
 well, till his master was persuaded by a 
 brother trader, that Mr. N. was dishonest. 
 This seems to be the only vice he could not 
 be charged with, as his honesty seemed to be 
 the last > ris of a good education which he 
 
 could:. of: i i*h ugh his great dis- 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 tress might have been a strong temptation to 
 fraud, it seems he never once thought of de- 
 frauding his master in the smallest matter. 
 The charge, however, w r as believed, and he was 
 condemned without evidence. From that time 
 he was used very hardly ; whenever his master 
 left the vessel, he was locked upon deck with a 
 pint of rice for his day's allowance, nor had he any 
 relief till his master's return. " Indeed," says 
 he, " I believe I should have been nearly star* 
 ved, but for an opportunity of catching fish 
 sometimes. When fowls were killed for my 
 master's ownuse, I seldom was allowed any part 
 but the entrails, to bait my hooks with : and, 
 at what we called slack-w r ater, that is, about 
 the changing of the tides, when the current 
 was still, I used generally to fish, (at other 
 times it was not practicable,) and I very often 
 succeeded. If I saw a fish upon my hook, my 
 joy was little less than any other person would 
 have found in the accomplishment of the 
 scheme he had most at heart. Such a fish, has* 
 tily broiled, or rather half burnt, without sauce^ 
 salt, or bread, has afforded me a delicious 
 meal. If I caught none, I might, if I could, sleep 
 away my hunger till the next return of slack 
 water, and then try again. 
 D 
 
38 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 "Nor did I suffer less from the inclemency 
 €>f the weather, and the want of clothes. The 
 rainy season was now advancing ; my whole 
 suit was a shirt, a pair of trowsers, a cotton 
 handkerchief instead of cap, and a cotton cloth 
 about two yards long, to supply the want of 
 upper garments : and thus accoutred, I have 
 been exposed for twenty, thirty, perhaps near 
 forty hours together, in incessant rains 
 accompanied with strong gales of wind, 
 without the least shelter, when my master 
 was on shore. I feel to this day some faint 
 returns of the violent pains I then contracted. 
 The excessive cold and wet I endured in that 
 voyage, and so soon after I had recovered from 
 a long sickness, quite broke my constitution 
 and my spirits ; the latter were soon restored, 
 but the effects of the former still remain with 
 me, as a needful memento of the service and 
 the wages of sin." * ♦ 
 
 In about two months they returned, and the 
 rest of the time Mr. N. spent with his master, 
 was chiefly at the Plantanes, and under the 
 same regimen as has been mentioned. His 
 heart was now bowed down, but not at all to 
 a wholesome repentance. While his spirits 
 sunk the language of the Prodigal was far 
 from him : destitute of resolution, and almost 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 39 
 
 all reflection, he had lost the fierceness which 
 fired him when on board the Harwich, and 
 rendered him capable of the most desperate 
 attempts, but he was no further changed than 
 a Tiger tamed by hunger. 
 
 However strange it may appear, he attests 
 it as a truth, that though destitute both of food 
 and clothing, and depressed beyond common 
 wretchedness, he could sometimes collect his 
 mind to mathematical studies. Having bought 
 Barrow's Euclid at Plymouth, and it being 
 the only volume he brought on shore, he used 
 to take it to remote corners of the island, and 
 draw his diagrams with a long stick upon the 
 sand. " Thus,"" says he, " I often beguiled 
 my sorrows, and almost forgot my feelings, 
 and thus without any other assistance I made 
 myself in a good measure master of the first 
 six books of Euclid." 
 
 " With my staff, I passed this Jordan, and 
 now I am become two bands. 5 ' These words 
 of Jacob might well affect Mr. N. — when re- 
 membering the days in which he was busied, 
 in planting some lime or lemon trees. The 
 plants he put in the ground were no higher 
 than a young gooseberry bush. His master 
 and mistress, in passing the place, stopped a- 
 while to look at him ; at length his master said, 
 
40 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 " Who knows but by the time these trees grow 
 up and bear, you may go home to England, 
 obtain the command of a ship, and return to 
 reap the fruits of your labours? we see strange 
 things some time happen." — 
 
 " This," says Mr. Newton, " as he intended 
 it, was a cutting sarcasm. I believe he thought 
 it full as probable that I should live to be king 
 of Poland ; yet it proved a prediction, and they 
 (one of them at least) lived to see me return 
 from England, in the capacity he had mention- 
 ed, and pluck some of the first limes from those 
 very trees. How can I proceed in my rela- 
 tion, till I raise a monument to the divine 
 goodness, by comparing tliC Circumstances in 
 which the Lord has since placed me, with 
 what I was at that time ! Had you seen me, 
 Sir, then go so pensive and solitary in the dead 
 of night to wash my one shirt upon the rocks, 
 and afterwards put it on wet, that it might 
 dry upon my back, while I slept; — had you 
 seen me so poor a figure, that when a ship's boat 
 came to the island, shame often constrained 
 me to hide myself in the woods, from the 
 sight of strangers ; especially, had you known 
 that my conduct, principles, and heart, Mere 
 still darker than my outward condition — how 
 little would you have imagined, that one, who 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 41 
 
 so fully answered to the svyfoi km iaiwHk* of 
 the Apostle, was reserved to be so peculiar an 
 instance of the providential care, and exube- 
 rant goodness of God. — There was at that 
 time, but one earnest desire of my heart, which 
 ; not contrary and shocking both to religion 
 and reason ; that one desire, though my vile 
 licentious life rendered me peculiarly unwor- 
 thy of success, and though a thousand difficul- 
 ties seemed to render it impossible, the Lord 
 was pleased to gratify." 
 
 Things continued thus nearly twelve months. 
 In this interval Mr. N. wrote two or three 
 times to his Father, describing his condition, 
 and desiring his assistance ; at the same time 
 signifying, that he had resolved not to return 
 to England, unless his parent were pleased to 
 send for him. His Father applied to his friend 
 at Liverpool, who gave orders accordingly, 
 to a Captain of his who was then fitting out 
 for Gambia and Sierra Leone. 
 
 Some time within the year, Mr. N. obtain- 
 ed his master's consent to live with another tra- 
 der who dwelt upon the same island. This 
 change was much to his advantage, as he w r as 
 soon decently clothed lived in plenty, was 
 
 * Hateful and hating one another. 
 D 2 
 
42 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 treated as a companion, and trusted with his 
 effects to the amount of some thousand pounds. 
 This man had several factories, and white ser- 
 vants in different places ; particularly one in Kit- 
 tam, the river already described as running so 
 near along the sea coast. Mr, N. was soon 
 appointed there, and had a share in the ma- 
 nagement of business, jointly with another ser- 
 vant : they lived as they pleased ; business 
 flourished ; and their employer was satisfied. 
 
 "Here," says he, " I began to be wretch 
 enough to think my self happy. Thereisasigni- 
 ficant phrase frequently used in those parts, that 
 such a white man is grown black. Itjdoes not in- 
 tend an alteration of complexion, but disposi- 
 tion. I have known several, who settling in 
 Africa after the age of thirty or forty, have at 
 that time of life been gradually assimilated to 
 the tempers, customs, and ceremonies of the 
 natives, so far as to prefer that country to Eng- 
 land; they have even become dupes to all 
 the pretended charms, necromancies, amulets, 
 and divinations of the blinded negroes, and 
 put more trust in such things than the wiser 
 sort among the natives. A part of this spirit 
 of infatuation was growing upon me (in time, 
 perhaps, I might have yielded to the whole ;) 
 I entered into closer engagements with the in. 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON, 43 
 
 habitants, and should have lived and died a 
 wretch amongst them, if the Lord had not 
 watched over me for good. Not that I had lost 
 those ideas which chiefly engaged my heart to 
 England, but a despair of seeing them accom- 
 plished, made me willing to remain where ] 
 was. I thought I could more easilv bear the 
 disappointment in this situation than nearer 
 home. But, as soon as I had fixed my con- 
 nexions and plans with these views, the Lord 
 providentially interposed to break them in 
 pieces, and save me from ruin, in spite of 
 myself." — 
 
 In the mean time the ship that had orders 
 to bring Mr. N. home arrived at Sierra Leone. 
 The Captain made enquiry for Mr. N. there, 
 and at theBonanas ; but finding he was at a great 
 distance, thought no more about him. A spe- 
 cial providence seems to have placed him at 
 Kittam just at this time ; for the ship coming 
 no nearer than the Bonanas and staying but a 
 few days, if he had been at the Plantanes, he 
 would not probably have heard of the ship till 
 she had sailed : the same must have certainly 
 been the event had he been sent to any other 
 factory, of which his new master had several. 
 But though the place he went to was a long 
 Way up the river, much more than a hundred 
 
44 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 miles distant from the Plantanes, yet by its 
 peculiar situation already "noticed, he was still 
 within a mile of the sea coast. The interposi- 
 tion was also more remarkable, as at that very 
 juncture, he was going in quest of trade, di- 
 rectly from the sea, and would have set out 
 a day or two before, but that they waited for 
 a few articles from the next ship that came, 
 in order to complete the assortment of goods 
 he w r as to take with him. 
 
 They used sometimes to walk to the beach, 
 in hopes of seeing a vessel pass by ; but this 
 was very precarious, as at that time the place 
 was hot resorted to by ships of trade ; many 
 passed in the night, others kept a considerable 
 distance from the shore, nor does he remem- 
 ber that any one had stopped while he was 
 there. 
 
 In Feb. 1747, his fellow- servant walking 
 down to the beach in the forenoon, saw a ves- 
 sel sailing by, and made a smoke in token of 
 trade. She was already beyond the place, and 
 the wind being fair, the Captain demurred 
 about stopping; had Mr. N.'s companion 
 been half an hour later, the vessel w r ould have 
 been beyond recall ; when he saw her come to 
 an anchor he went on board in a canoe, and 
 this proved the very ship already spoken of. 
 
REV, JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 Which brought an order for Mr. N.'s return.— 
 One of the first questions the Captain put was 
 concerning Mr. N., and understanding he was 
 so near, the Captain came on shore to deliver 
 his message. 
 
 " Had," says he, " an invitation from home 
 reached me when I was sick, and starving at 
 the P.antanes, I should have received it as life 
 from the dead, but now for the reasons already 
 given, I heard it at first with indifference." — 
 The Captain, however, unwilling to lose him, 
 framed a story, and gave him a very plausible 
 account of his having missed a large packet 
 of letters and papers, which he should have 
 brought with him ; but said he had it from 
 his Father's own mouth, as well as from his 
 employer, that a person lately dead had left 
 Mr. N. £400 per annum, and added, that if 
 embarrassed in his circumstances, he had ex- 
 press orders to redeem Mr. N. though it 
 should cost one % half his cargo. Every parti- 
 cular of this was false, nor could Mr, N. be- 
 lieve what he said about the estate ; except, . 
 that, as he had some expectations from an 
 aged relation, he thought a part of it might 
 be true. 
 
 But thoughhis Father's care and desire to see 
 him was treated so lightly, and would have been 
 
16 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 insufficient alone to draw him from his retreat, 
 yet the remembrance of Mrs. N. the hopes of 
 seeing her, and the possibility that his accept- 
 ing this offer might once more put him in the 
 way of gaining her hand, prevailed over all 
 other considerations. 
 
 The Captain further promised (and in this 
 lie kept his word) that Mr. N. should lodge 
 in his cabin, dine at his table, and be his com- 
 panion, without being liable to service. Thus 
 suddenly was he freed from a captivity of 
 about fifteen months. He had neither a thought 
 nor a desire of this change one hour before it 
 took place ; but, embarking with the Cap- 
 tain, he in a few hours lost sight of Kittam. 
 
 The ship in which he embarked as a passen- 
 ger was on a trading voyage for Gold, Ivory, 
 Dyer's-w r ood, and Bees'-wax. Such a cargo 
 requires more time to collect than a cargo of 
 slaves. The Captain began his trade at Gam- 
 bia, had been already four or # five months in 
 Africa, and during the course of a year after 
 Mr. N. had been with him, they ranged the 
 whole coast as far as Cape Lopez, which lies 
 about a degree south of the Equinoctial, and 
 more than a thousand miles farther from Eng- 
 land than the place from whence he embarked. 
 
 " I have," says he, " little to offer worthy of 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 47 
 
 notice, in the course of this tedious voyage. 
 I had no business to employ my thoughts, but 
 sometimes amused myself with Mathematics ; 
 excepting this, my whole life, when awake, 
 was a course of most horrid impiety and pro- 
 faneness. I know not that I have ever since 
 met so daring a blasphemer. Not content 
 with common oaths and imprecations, I daily 
 invented new ones : so that I w r as often se- 
 riously reproved by the Captain, who was 
 himself a very passionate man, and not at all 
 circumspect in his expressions. From the 
 relation I at times made him of my past ad- 
 ventures, and what he saw of my conduct, and 
 especially towards the close of the voyage, 
 when we met with many disasters, he w r ou!d 
 often tell me that, to his great grief, he had a 
 Jonah on board; that a curse attended me 
 wherever I went, and that all the troubles he 
 met with in the voyage were owing to his 
 having taken me into the vessel." 
 
 Although Mr. N. lived long in the excess 
 of almost every other extravagance, he was 
 never, it seems, fond of drinking : his Father 
 was often heard to say, that while his son avoid- 
 ed drunkenness, some hopes might be enter- 
 tained of his recov: ■ , however, 
 in a frolic, he would i g-bout.; 
 
48 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 not through love of liquor, but disposition to 
 mischief: the last proposal he made of this 
 kind, and at his own expense, was in the river 
 Gabon, whilst the ship was trading on the 
 coast, as follows. 
 
 Four or five of them sat down one evening 
 to try who could hold out longest in drinking 
 geneva and rum alternately : a large sea- shell 
 supplied the place of a glass. Mr. N. was 
 very unfit for such a challenge, as his head 
 was always incapable of bearing much liquor : 
 he began, however, and proposed as a toast, 
 some imprecation against the person who 
 should start first : this proved to be himself. — 
 Fired in his brain, he arose and danced on 
 the deck like a madman, and while he was 
 thus diverting his companions, his hat went 
 overboard. Seeing the ship's boat by moon- 
 light, he endeavoured eagerly to throw .him- 
 self over the side into the boat, that he might 
 recover his hat. His sight however deceived 
 him for the boat was not (as he supposed,) 
 within his reach, but perhaps twenty feet 
 from the ship's side. He was, however, half 
 overboard, and would in the space of a moment 
 have plunged into the water ; when somebody 
 caught hotd of his clothes, and pulled him back. 
 This was an amazing escape, as he could. not 
 
REV. JOIIX XLW'l OX. 
 
 fcwim, had he been sober; the tide ran ven 
 sjtrpng, his companions were too much intoxi- 
 cated to save him, and the rest of the ship's 
 
 ripariy were asleep. 
 
 >tner time at Cape Lopez, before iIk 
 ship left the coast, he went with settle others 
 into the woods, and shot abuftlilo, or wild cow ; 
 they brought apart of it on board, and careful- 
 ly marked the place (as he thought) where the 
 rest was left. In the evening they returned to 
 fetch it, but set out too late. Mr. N. underv 
 took to be their guide ; but night coming on 
 >re they could reach the place, they lost, 
 their way. Sometimes they were in swamps, 
 aiuLup to their middle in water and when they 
 recovered dry lanel, they could not tell whe.* 
 ther they were proceeding towards the ship, of 
 the contrary way. Every step increased their 
 uncertainty, night grew darker, and fhey were 
 entangleel in thick woods which perhaps the 
 foot of man had n odden, and which 
 
 abound with wild beasts ; besides which, they 
 had neither light, food, 'nor arms, while expc 
 ing a tiger to rush from behind every trce. : 
 The stars were clouded, and they had no co: 
 pass to form a judgment which way they we J 
 going. But it pleased God to secure then 
 from the beasts ; arid, after some hours per. 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 M EMOIRS OF T H E 
 
 plexity the moon arose, and pointed out the 
 eastern quarter. It appeared then, that instead 
 ©f proceeding towards the sea, they had been 
 penetrating into the country ; at length, by the 
 guidance of the moon, they recoyered the ship. 
 These, and many other deliverances, pro- 
 duced at that time no salutary effect. The 
 admonitions of conscience, which from suc- 
 cessive repulses had grown weaker and weak- 
 er, at length entirely ceased ; and for the space 
 ©f many months, if not for some years, he had 
 not a single check of that sort. At times he 
 was visited with sickness, and believed him- 
 self to be near death, but had not the least 
 concern about the consequences. " In a 
 word," says he, " I seemed to have every 
 mark of final impenitence and rejection : nei- 
 ther judgments nor mercies made the least 
 impression on me." 
 
 At length their business being finished^ 
 they left Cape Lopez, and after a few days 
 stay at the island of Annabona, in order to lay 
 in provisions, they sailed homeward about the 
 beginning of January 1748. From Annabona 
 to England is perhaps more than seven thou- 
 sand miles, if the circuits are included, which 
 are necessary to be made on account of the 
 trade-winds. They sailed westward., till near 
 
UK V, J H a NEWTON, 51 
 
 the coast ofBrasil,tlu n northward, t( nks 
 
 of New foiindland, without meeting any thing 
 
 extraordinary. On these banks they stopped 
 half a day to fish for cod : this was then chiefly 
 for diversion, as they hud provision enouj 
 
 little expected those iish (as it aftei 
 proved) w ould be all they Would have to sub- 
 sist on. They left the banks, March 1st, 
 with a hard rale of wind western- which 
 pushed them fast homewards. By the length 
 of this voyage, in a hot climate, the vessel \ 
 greatly out of repair, and very unfit to endure 
 stormy weather. The sails and cordage vv( 
 likewise very much worn ; and many such 
 circumstances concurred to render what fol- 
 lowed imminently dangerous. 
 
 Among the few books they had on board 
 was Stanhope's Thomas-a-Kempis : Mr. N. 
 carelessly took it up, as he had often done be- 
 fore, to pass away the time, but which he had 
 read with the same indifference, as if it were 
 a romance. But in reading it this time, a 
 thought occurred, — JJlmt if tJic>>;c> thing* 
 should be true ? He could not bear the force 
 of the inference, and therefore shut the book, 
 concluding, that, true or false, he must abide 
 the consequences of his own choice, and put 
 an end to these reflections, by joining in the 
 vain conversation which came in his way. 
 
#2 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 a But now," says he, " the Lord's time 
 was come, and the conviction I was so unwiU 
 ling to receive was deeply impressed upon me 
 by an awful dispensation.' 5 
 
 He went to bed that night in his usual carnal 
 security ; but was awaked from a sound sleep 
 by the force of a violent sea which broke on 
 board : so much of it came down as filled the 
 cabin with water, in which he lav. This 
 alarm was followed by a cry from the deck, 
 that the ship was sinking. He essayed to go 
 upon deck, but w r as met upon the ladder by 
 the captain, who desired him to bring a knife. 
 On his returning for the knife, another person 
 went up in his place, who was instantly wash- 
 ed overboard. They had no leisure to lament 
 him, nor expected to survive him long, for the 
 ship was filling with water very fast. The 
 sea had torn away the upper timbers on one 
 side, and made it a mere wreck in a few mi- 
 nutes ; so that it seems al most miraculous 
 that any survived to relate the story. They 
 h^l immediate recourse to the pumps, but 
 the water increased against their efforts : some 
 of them were set to bailing, though they had 
 but eleven or twelve people to sustain this 
 service. But notwithstanding all they could 
 do, the vessel was nearly full, and with a com- 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 mon cargo must have sunk ; but having a 
 great quantity of bees'- wax and wood on board 
 which were specifically lighter than wat 
 and providentially receiving this shock in the 
 
 y crisis of the gale, towards morning, the} 
 e enabled to employ some means for safe- 
 ty, which succeeded beyond hope. In about 
 an hour's time, day began to break, and the 
 wind abated ; they expended most of their 
 clothes and bedding to stop the leaks ; over 
 these they nailed pieces of boards, and at last 
 perceived the water within to subside. 
 
 At the beginning of this scene Mr. N. was 
 little affected ; he pumped hard, and endeav- 
 oured to animate himself and his companions. 
 He told one of them, that in a few days this 
 distress would serve for a subject over a glass 
 of wine ; but the man being less hardened 
 than himself, replied with tears, " No, it is 
 too late now." About nine o'clock, being 
 almost spent with cold and labour, Mr. X. 
 went to speak with the captain, and as he was 
 returning, said, almost without meaning, "If 
 this will not do, the Lord have mere}' upon 
 us :" thus expressing, though with little re- 
 flection, his desire of mercy for the first time 
 within the space of many years. Struck with 
 
 his own words, it directly occurred to Mm, 
 E 2 ' 
 
~'l- MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 What mercy can there be for me ! He was 
 however obliged to return to the pump, and 
 there continued till noon, almost every passing 
 wave breaking over his head, being, like the 
 rest, secured by ropes, that they might not be 
 gashed away. He expected indeed, that every 
 time the vessel descended in the sea, she would 
 rise no more, and though he dreaded death 
 tvow, and his heart foreboded the worst, if the 
 scriptures, which he had long opposed, were 
 true ; yet he was still but half convinced, and 
 remained for a time in a sullen frame, a mix- 
 ture of despair and impatience. He thought,, 
 if the Christian religion were true, he could 
 not be forgiven, and was therefore expecting, 
 and almost at times wishing, to know^ the worst 
 of it. 
 
 The following part of his narrative will, I 
 think, be best expressed in his own words : 
 u The 10th, that is, in the present style, the 
 21st, of March, is a day much to be remem- 
 bered by me, and I have never suffered it to 
 jpass wholly unnoticed since the year 1748. 
 On that day the Lord sent from on high and 
 delivered me out of deep w r aters. — I continued 
 at the pump from three in the morning till 
 near noon, and then I could do no moFe. I 
 went and lay down upon my bed, uncertain, 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 and almost indifferent whether I should rise 
 again. In an hour's time I was called, and 
 not being able to pump, I went to the helm 
 and steered the ship till midnight, excepting a 
 small interval for refreshment. I had here 
 leisure and convenient opportunity for reflec- 
 tion : I began to think of my former religious 
 professions, — the extraordinary turns of my 
 life, — the calls, and deliverances I 
 
 had met with, — the licentious course of my 
 conversation, — particularly my unparalleled 
 effrontery in making the gospel history (which 
 I could not be sure was false, though I was 
 not yet assured it was truej the constant sub- 
 ject of profane ridicule. I thought, allowing 
 the scripture premises, there never was or 
 could be such a sinner as myself; and then 
 comparing the advantages I had broken 
 through, I concluded at first, that my sins 
 were too great to be forgiven. The scripture 
 likewise seemed to say the same : for I had 
 formerly been well acquainted with the Bible, 
 and many passages, upon this occasion, return- 
 ed upon my memory ; particularly those aw- 
 ful passages, Prov. i. 24 — 31. Heb. vi. 4, 6. 
 and 2 Pet. ii. 20. which seemed so exactly to 
 suit my case and character, as to bring with 
 them a presumptive proof of a divine originals 
 
56 MEMOIRS OP THE 
 
 " Thus, as I have said, I waited with fear 
 and impatience to receive my inevitable doom. 
 Yet though I had thoughts of this kind, they 
 were exceeding faint and disproportionate ; it 
 was not till after (perhaps) several years that I 
 had gained some clear views of the infinite 
 righteousness and grace of Christ Jesus my 
 Lord, that I had a deep and strong apprehen- 
 sion of my state by nature and practice ; and 
 perhaps, till then, I could not have borne the 
 sight. So wonderfully does the Lord propor- 
 tion the discoveries of sin and grace; for he 
 knows our frame, and that if he were to put 
 forth the greatness r of his power, a poor sinner 
 would be instantly overwhelmed, and crushed 
 as a moth. 
 
 " But to return, when I saw beyond all pro- 
 bability, that there was still hope of respite, 
 and heard about six in the evening that the 
 ship was freed from water, there arose a gleam 
 of hope. I thought I saw the hand of God 
 displayed in our favour. I began to pray ; I 
 could not utter the prayer of faith ; I could not 
 draw near to a reconciled God, and call him 
 Father ; my prayer was like the cry of the ra- 
 vens, which yet the Lord does not disdain to 
 hear. I now began to think of that Jesus 
 whom I had so often derided; I recollected 
 
REV, JOHN NEWT OX. 5i 
 
 the particulars of his life, and of his death ; a 
 (Lath for sins not his own, but, as I remenv 
 bered, for the sake of those, who, in their dis- 
 tress, should put their trust in him. And now 
 I chiefly wanted evidence. — The comfort] 
 principles of infidelity were deep!}- rivited, and 
 [ rather wished than believed these things were 
 real facts. You will please to observe, that I 
 collect the strain of the reasonings and e ;. 
 cises of my mind in one view; but I do not 
 say that all this passed at one time. The great 
 question now was, how to obtain faith? I 
 speak not of an appropriating faith (of which I 
 then knew neither the nature nor necessity,) 
 but how I should gain an assurance that the 
 Scriptures were of divine inspiration, and a 
 sufficient warrant for the exercise of Lust and 
 hope in God. 
 
 " One of the first helps I received (in conse- 
 quence of a determination to examine the New 
 Testament more carefully) was from Luke, xi. 
 13. I had been sensible, that to profess faith 
 in Jesus Christ, when, in reality, I did not be- 
 lieve his history, was no better than a moekcry 
 of the heart-searching God ; but here I found 
 a Spirit spoken of, which was to be commu 
 nicated to those who ask it. Upon this I rea- 
 :d thus : if this book be true, the prom if 
 
58 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 in this passage must be true likewise : I have 
 need of that very Spirit, by which the whole 
 was written, in order to understand it aright. 
 He has engaged here to give that Spirit to 
 those who ask : I must therefore pray for it, 
 and, if it be of God, he will make good his own 
 word. My purposes were strengthened by 
 John, vii. 17. I concluded from thence, that 
 though I could not say from my heart, that I 
 believed the Gospel, yet I would, for the pre- 
 sent take it for granted ; and that by studying 
 it in this light, I should be more and more con- 
 firmed in it, 
 
 " If what I am writing could be perused by 
 our modern infidels, they would say (for I too 
 well know their manner) that I was Aery desi- 
 rous to persuade myself into this opinion. I 
 confess I was, and so would they be, if the 
 Lord should shew them, as he was pleased to 
 shew me at that time, the absolute necessity 
 of some expedient v to interpose between a 
 righteous God and a sinful soul : upon the 
 Gospel scheme I saw at least, a peradventure of 
 hope, but on every other side I was surrounded 
 with black, unfathomable despair." 
 
 The wind being now moderate, and the ship 
 drawing nearer to its port, the ship's company 
 began to recover from their consternation, 
 
. JCXHN NEW T< 
 
 though greatly alarmed by their circumsl . 
 The} found, that the water having floated their 
 moveables in the hold, all the easks of pro 
 sion had been beaten to pieces by the violent 
 motion of the ship. On the other hand, their 
 live stock had been Washed overboard in the 
 storm. In short, all the provisions they saved 
 except the fish lately caught on the banks 
 amusement, and a little of the pulse kind, 
 which used to be given to the hogs, would 
 have supported them but a week, and that at a 
 -scanty allowance. The sails too, were mostly 
 blown away, so that they advanced but slowly 
 even while the wind was fair. They imagined 
 they were about a hundred leagues from land, 
 but were in reality much further. Mr. N.'s 
 leisure was chiefly employed in reading, me- 
 ditation on the Scriptures, and prayer for w 
 cy and instruction. 
 
 Things continued thus, for about four or five 
 days, till they were awakened one morning by 
 the joyful shouts of the watch upon deck, pro- 
 claiming the sight of land, with which tl 
 were all soon raised. The dawning was un- 
 commonly beautiful, and the light, just suffi- 
 cient to discover distant objects, presented 
 what seemed a mountainous coast, about tv\ 
 ty miles off, with two or three small islam 
 
60 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the whole appeared to be the north west 
 tremity of Ireland, for which they were steer* 
 ing. They sincerely congratulated each other, 
 having no doubt that if the wind continued, 
 they should be % in safety and plenty the next 
 day. Their brandy, which was reduced to a 
 little more than a pint, was, by the captain's or- 
 ders, distributed among them; wiio added, 
 " We shall soon have brandy enough." Thev 
 likewise ate up the residue of their bread, and 
 were in the condition of men suddenly re- 
 prieved from death. 
 
 But while their hopes were thus excited, the 
 mate sunk their spirits, by sajing in a graver 
 tone, that " he wished it might prove land at 
 last." If one of the common sailors had first 
 said so, the rest would probably have beaten 
 him. The expression, however, brought 
 on warm debates, whether it was land or not ; 
 but the case was soon decided, for one of their 
 fancied islands began to grow red from the ap- 
 proach of the sun. In a word, their land was 
 nothing but clouds : and in half an hour more, 
 the whole appearance was dissipated. 
 
 Still, however, they cherished hope from the 
 wind continuing fair, but of this hope they 
 were soon deprived. That very day, their fair 
 w ind subsided into a calm, and the next morn- 
 
KEV. JOHN" NEWTOK. CI 
 
 i 5, the gale sprung up from the south e 
 directly against them, and continued so for 
 more than a fortnight afterwards. At this 
 time the ship was so wrecked, that they were 
 obliged to keep the wind always on the broken 
 side, except when the weather was quite mo- 
 derate ; and were thus driven still further from 
 their port in the north of Ireland, as for as the 
 Lewis, or western isles of Scotland. Their 
 station now was such, as deprived them of any 
 hope of relief from other vessels. " It n 
 indeed be questioned," says Mr. N. " whether 
 our ship was not the very first that had been 
 in that part of the ocean, at the same time of 
 the year." 
 
 Provisions now began to fall short ; the half 
 of a salted cod was a day's subsistence for 
 twelve people : they had no stronger liquor 
 than water, no bread, hardly any clothes, and 
 very cold weather. They had also incessant 
 labour at the pumps, to keep the ship above 
 water. Much labour and little food wasted 
 them fast, and one man died under the hard- 
 ship. Yet their sufferings were light when 
 compared with their fears. Their bare allow- 
 ance could continue but little longer, and a 
 dreadful prospect appeared, of their being o 
 
 F 
 
62 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 ther starved to death, or reduced to feed upon 
 one another. 
 
 At this time Mr. N. had a further trouble, 
 peculiar to himself. The captain, whose tem- 
 per was quite soured by distress, was hourly 
 reproaching him as the sole cause of the calam- 
 ity, and was confident that his being thrown 
 overboard would be the only means of pre- 
 serving them. The captain, indeed, did not 
 intend to make the experiment, but " the con- 
 tinued repetition of this in my ears," says 
 Mr. N. " gave me much uneasiness ; espe- 
 cially as my conscience seconded his words : 
 I thought it very probable, that all that had 
 befallen us was on my account — that I was at 
 last found out by the powerful hand of God — 
 and condemned in my own breast." 
 
 While, however, they were thus proceeding, 
 at the time when they were ready to give up 
 all for lost, and despair appeared in every coun- 
 tenance, they began to conceive hope from the 
 wind's shifting to the desired point, so as best 
 to suit that broken part of the ship, which 
 must be kept out of the water, and so gently 
 to blow, as their few remaining sails could 
 bear. And thus it continued at an unsettled 
 time of the year, till they were once more 
 called up to see land, and which was really 
 
REV. JOIIX JX. 63 
 
 such. They saw the island of Tony, and the 
 
 day anchored in Lough S willy, in I 
 land, on the 8th of April, just four weeks af- 
 ter the damage they had sustained from the 
 When they came into this port, their 
 very last victuals were boiling in the pot, and 
 they had been there two hours, the 
 wind, which seemed to have been providentially 
 restrained till they were in a place of safety, 
 began to blow with great violence; so that 
 if they had continued at sea that night, they 
 must in all human estimation have gone to the 
 bottom ! " About this time," says Mr. N 
 " I began to know that there is a God, who 
 hears and answers prayer." 
 
 Mr. N.'s history is now brought down to 
 the time of his arrival in Ireland, in the year 
 1748 ; and the progress he had hitherto made 
 in religion, will be best related in his o\\ n words. 
 I shall therefore make a longer extract than 
 usual, because it is important to trace the ope- 
 ration of real religion in the heart. Speaking 
 of the ship in which he lately sailed, he says, 
 " there were no persons on board, to whom I 
 could open myself with freedom, concerning 
 the state of my soul ; none from whom I could 
 ask advice. As to books, I had a New T 
 
 anhope, already mentioned, and a 
 
64 memoirs or Tin; 
 
 volume of Bishop Beveridge's Sermons, one 
 of which, upon our Lord's passion, affected me 
 much. In perusing the New Testament, I was 
 struck with several passages, particularly that 
 of the fig-tree, Luke, xiii. the case of St. 
 Paul, 1 Tim* i. but particularly that of the 
 Prodigal, Luke, xv. I thoughtjthat had never 
 been so nearly exemplified as by myself. And 
 then the goodness of the father in receiving, 
 nay, in running to meet such a son, and this 
 intended only to illustrate the Lord's goodness 
 to returning sinners. — Such reflexions gainings 
 upon me, I continued much in prayer : I saw 
 that the Lord had interposed.so far to save me, 
 and I hoped he would do more. Outward 
 circumstances helped in this place to make me 
 still more serious and earnest in crying to Him 
 who alone could relieve me ; and sometimes I 
 thought I could be content to die even for want 
 of food, so I might but die a believer. 
 
 " Thus far I was answered, that before we 
 arrived in Ireland, I had a satisfactory evidence, 
 in my own mind, of the truth of the Gospel, 
 as considered in itself, and of its exact suita- 
 bleness to answer all my needs. I saw that, 
 by the way they were pointed out, God might 
 declare not his mercy only, but his justice also, 
 in the pardon of sin, on account of the obedi- 
 
KEV. JOHN NEW TON. 
 
 1 sufferings of Jesus Christ. My judg- 
 ment at that time, embraced the sublime doc- 
 trine of ' God manifest in the flesh, reconciling 
 the world unto himself.' — I had no idea of 
 those systems, which allow t . lour no 
 
 higher honour than that of an upper seavant, 
 or at the most a Demigod. I stood in need 
 of an Almighty Saviour, and such a one I 
 found described in the New Testament. Thus 
 flu- the Lord had wrought a marvellous thing ; 
 I was no longer an infidel ; I heartily renoun- 
 ced my former profaneness, and had taken up 
 some right notions ; was seriously disposed, 
 and sincerely touched with a sense of the unde- 
 
 ved mercy I had received, in being brought 
 safe through so many dangers. I was sorry 
 for my past mispent life, and purposed an im- 
 mediate reformation. I was quite freed from 
 the habit of swearing, which seemed to have 
 been deeply rooted in me, as a second nature. 
 Thus to all appearance, I was a new man. 
 
 44 But though I cannot doubt that this 
 change, so far as it prevailed, was wrought by 
 the spirit and power of God, yet still I was 
 greatly deficient in many respects. I was in 
 some degree affected with a sense of my enor- 
 mous sins, but I was little aw r are of the innate 
 evils of my heart. I had no apprehension of 
 f 2 
 
67 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 the spirituality and extent of the law of God ; 
 the hidden life of a christian, as it consists in 
 communion with God by Jesus Christ : a con. 
 tinual dependance on him for hourly supplies 
 of wisdom, strength, and comfort, was a mys- 
 tery of which I had as yet no knowledge. I 
 acknowledged the Lord's mercy in pardoning 
 what was past, but depended chiefly upon my 
 own resolution to do better for the time to 
 come. I had no christian friend or faithful 
 minister to advise me that my strength was no 
 more than my righteousness ; and though I 
 soon began to inquire for serious books, yet, 
 not having spiritual discernment, I frequently 
 made a wrong choice ; and I was not brought 
 in the way of evangelical preaching or conver- 
 sation (except the few times when I heard, but 
 understood not) for six years after this period. 
 Those things the Lord was pleased to disco- 
 ver to me gradually. I learnt them here a 
 little, and there a little, by my own painful ex* 
 perience, at a distance -from the commoa 
 means 4 and ordinances, and in the midst of the 
 same course of evil company and bad exam- 
 ples I had been conversant with for some 
 time. 
 
 " From this period I could no more make 
 ;t mock at sin, or jest with holy things ; I n<* 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTOX. 67 
 
 more questioned the truth of scripture, or 
 lost a sense of the rebukes of conscience. 
 Therefore I consider this, as the beginning of 
 my return to God, or rather of his return to 
 me ; but I cannot consider myself to have 
 been a believer (in the full sense of the word) 
 till a considerable time afterwards. " 
 
 While the ship was refitting at Lough 
 S willy, Mr, N. repaired to Londonderry, 
 where he soon recruited his health and strength. 
 He was now a serious professor, went twice 
 a day to the prayers at church, and determin- 
 ed to receive the sacrament the next opportu- 
 nity. When the day came, he arose very 
 early, was very earnest in his private devo- 
 tions, and solemnly engaged himself to the 
 Lord ; not with a formal but sincere surren- 
 der, and under a strong sense of the mercies 
 lately received. Having, however, as yet but 
 an imperfect knowledge of his own heart, and 
 of the subtlety of Satan's temptations, he was 
 afterwards seduced to forget the vows of God 
 that were upon him. Yet he felt a peace and 
 satisfaction in the ordinance of that day, to 
 which he had been hitherto an utter stranger. 
 
 The next day he went abroad with the may., 
 or of the city, and some gentlemen, a shoot- 
 ing ; climbing up a steep bank, and pulling 
 
08 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 his fowling-piece in a perpendicular direction 
 after him, it went oft' so near his face as to 
 destroy the corner of his hat. The remark 
 he makes on this ought not to be omitted : 
 u Thus when we think ourselves in the greatest 
 safety, we are no less exposed to danger than 
 when all the elements seem conspiring to de- 
 stroy us. The Divine Providence, which is 
 sufficient to deliver us in our utmost extremi- 
 ty, is equally necessary to our preservation in 
 the most peaceful situation." 
 
 During their stay in Ireland, Mr. N. wrote 
 home. The vessel he was in had not been 
 heard of for eighteen months, and. was given 
 up for lost. His father had no expectation of 
 hearing that his son was alive, but received 
 his letter a few days before he embarked from 
 London to become g-overnour of York Fort, 
 in Hudson's Bay, where he died. He had in- 
 tended to take his son with him had he return- 
 ed to England in time. Mr. N. received two 
 or three affectionate letters from his father ; 
 and hoped that in three years more, he should 
 have had the opportunity of asking his forgive- 
 ness, for the uneasiness his disobedience had 
 occasioned ; but the ship that was to have 
 brought his father home came without him. 
 Jt appears he w r as seized with the cramp, 
 
3 NEWTO x . i I 
 
 whin bathing, and was drowned before 
 ship arrived in the bay. Before his father's 
 
 departure from England, he had paid a visit 
 in Kent, and gave his consent to the union 
 that had been so long talked of. 
 Mr. N. arrived at Liverpool, the latter end 
 May 1748, about the same day that his Fa- 
 ther sailed from the Nore. He found, how- 
 ever, fnother father in the gentleman whose 
 ship had brought him home. This friend re- 
 ceived him with great tenderness, and the 
 strongest assurances of assistance ; yet not 
 stronger than he afterwards fulfilled, for to 
 this instrument of God's goodness, he felt he 
 owed every thing. " Yet," as Mr. N. justly 
 observes, " it would not have been in the 
 power even of this friend, to have served me 
 effectually, if the Lord had not met me on my 
 way home, as I have related. Till then, I 
 was like the man possessed with the Legion. 
 No arguments, no persuasion, no views of 
 interest, no remembrance of the past, nor re- 
 gard to the future could have restrained me 
 within the bounds of common prudence ; but 
 now I was in some measure restored to my 
 senses." 
 
 This friend immediately offered Mr. N. 
 the command of a ship, which, upon mature 
 
70 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 consideration, he for the present declined. He 
 prudently considered that, hitherto, he had 
 been unsettled, and careless ; and therefore 
 that he had better make another voyage, and 
 learn obedience, and acquire further expe- 
 rience in business, before he ventured to un- 
 dertake such a charge. The mate of the ves- 
 sel, in which he came home, was preferred to 
 the command of a new ship, and Mr. pi. en- 
 gaged to go in the station of mate with him. 
 
 There was something so peculiar in Mr. N's 
 case, after this extraordinary deliverance, and 
 because others in like circumstances might be 
 tempted to despair, that I think it proper to 
 make another extract from his Narrative ; as 
 such accounts cannot be well conveyed but in 
 his own words. 
 
 " We must not make the experience of 
 others in all respects a rule to ourselves, nor 
 our own a rule to others : yet these are com- 
 mon mistakes, and productive of many more. 
 As to myself, every part of my case has been 
 extraordinary — I have hardly met a single in- 
 stance resembling it. Few, very few, have been 
 recovered from such a dreadful state ; and the 
 few that have been thus favoured, have general- 
 ly passed through the most severe convictions ; 
 and, after the Lord has given them peace, 
 
REV. JOHN K£WX< 71 
 
 their future lives fa; h usually more .. 
 
 Ions, bright, and i than common. 
 
 Now, as on the one hand, my convictions v. 
 very moderate, and far below what might have 
 been expected from the dreadful review I had 
 to make ; so, on the other, my first beginnings 
 in a religious course were as faint as can be 
 well imagined. I never knew that season allu- 
 ded to, Jer. ii. 2. — Rev. ii. 4. usually called 
 the time of the first love. Who would not ex- 
 pect to hear that, after such a wonderful and 
 unhoped-for deliverance as I had received, 
 and, after my eyes were in some measure en- 
 lightened to see things aright, I should imme- 
 diately cleave to the Lord and his Ways with 
 full purpose of heart, and consult no more with 
 flesh and blood ? But alas ! it was far other- 
 wise with me ; I had learned to pray ; I set 
 some value upon the word of God ; and wos 
 no longer a libertine ; but my soul still cleaved 
 to the dust. Soon after my departure from Li- 
 verpool, I began to intermit and grow slack in 
 waiting upon the Lord : I grew vain and tri- 
 fling in my conversation ; and though my 
 heart smote me often, yet my armour w 
 gone, and I declined fast : and by the -time we 
 arrived at Guinea, I seemed to have forgotten 
 all the Lord's mercies, and my own engagq ? 
 
72 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 meats, and was (profaneness excepted) almost 
 as bad as before. The enemy prepared a train 
 of temptations, and I became liis easy prey ; 
 for about a month he lulled me asleep in a 
 course of evil, of which, a few months before, 
 I could not have supposed myself any longer 
 capable. How much propriety is there in the 
 Apostle's advice, i Take heed lest any of you 
 4 be hardened through the deceitfulness of 
 ' sin.' " 
 
 In this voyage Mr. N.'s business, while up- 
 on the coast, was to sail in the long-boat, from 
 place to place, in order to purchase slaves. The 
 ship, at this time, was at Sierra Leone and he 
 4it the Plantanes, the scene of his former cap- 
 tivity, and where every thing he saw tended to 
 remind him of his present ingratitude. He 
 was now in easy circumstances, and courted by 
 those who had once despised him. The lime- 
 trees, he had formerly planted, were growing 
 tall, and promised fruit, upon his expected re- 
 turn with a ship of his own. Unaffected, how- 
 ever, w ith these things, he needed another pro- 
 vidential interposition to rouse him ; and ac- 
 cordit^];: lie was visited with a violent fever, 
 which broke the fatal chain, and once more 
 brought him to himself. Alarmed at the pros- 
 pect before him, he thought himself now sum- 
 
. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 inoned away. The dangers and defiveranc 
 
 through which he had passed — his earnest 
 prayers in the time of trouble — his solemn 
 vows Before the Lord at his table — and his un- 
 grateful returns for all his goodness were pi 
 sent at once to his mind. He began then to 
 wish that he had sunk in the ocean, when he 
 first cried for mercy. For a short time, he 
 concluded that the door of hope was quite 
 shut. Weak, and almost delirious, he arose 
 from his bed, crept to a retired part of the is- 
 land, and here found a renewed liberty in pray- 
 er : daring to make no more resolves, he cast 
 himself upon the Lord, to do with him as he 
 should please. — It does not appear that any 
 thing new was presented to his mind, but that 
 in general, he was enabled to hope and believe 
 in a crucified Saviour. 
 
 After this, the burden was removed from 
 his conscience, and not only his peace, but his 
 health was gradually restored when he returned 
 to the ship. And though subject to the effects 
 and conflicts of sin, dwelling in him; he t 
 ever after delivered from the power and domi* 
 nion of it. 
 
 His leisure hours, in this voyage, i 
 chiefly employed in acquiring Latin, which he 
 had now almost forgotten. This desire took 
 G 
 
74 MEMOIRS OY THE 
 
 place from an imitation he had seen of one of 
 Horace's Odes in a magazine. In this at- 
 tempt at one of the most difficult of the poets, 
 he had no other help than an old English tran- 
 slation, with Castalio's Latin Bible. He had 
 the edition in mum Delphini^ and by compa-* 
 ring the odes with the interpretation, and 
 tracing such words as he understood from 
 place to place by the index, together with 
 what assistance he could get from the Latin 
 Bible, he thus, by dint of hard industry, made 
 some progress. He not only understood the 
 sense of many Odes, and some of the Epis- 
 tles, but " I began," says he, " to relish the 
 beauties of the composition ; acquired a species 
 of what Mr. Law calls classical enthusiasm 9 
 and, indeed, by this means, I had Horace 
 more ad unguem y than some who are masters 
 of the Latin tongue. For my helps were so 
 few, that I generally had the passage fixed in 
 my memory before I could fully understand 
 its meaning." 
 
 During the eight months they were employ- 
 ed upon the coast, Mr. N.'s business exposed 
 him to innumerable dangers, from burning 
 suns, chilling dews, winds, rains, and thunder- 
 storms, in an open boat ; and on shore, from 
 long journies through the woods, and from 
 
REV, JOHN .NEWTO N /J 
 
 the natives, who, in many ph cruel, 
 
 treacherous, and watching opportunities for 
 mischief. Several boats, during this time, 
 were cut off — several white men poisoned — 
 and from his own boat, he buried six or se^ 
 people, with fevers ; when going on shore, or 
 returning, he was more than once overset by 
 the violence of the surf, and brought to land 
 half dead, as he could not swim. Among a 
 number of such escapes, which remained up- 
 on his memory, the following will mark the 
 singular providence that was over him. 
 
 On finishing their trade, and being about to 
 sail to the West- Indies, the only service Mr. 
 N. had to perform in the boat, was to assist in 
 bringing the wood raid water from the shore. 
 They were then at Rio Cestors. He used to 
 go into the river, in the afternoon, with the sea- 
 breeze, to procure his lading in the evening, 
 in order to return on board in the morning 
 with the land-wind. Several of these little- 
 voyages he had made ; but the boat was grown 
 old and almost unfit for use ; this service like- 
 wise was almost completed. One day having 
 dined on board, he was preparing to return 
 to the river as formerly : he had takui 
 leave of the captain ; received his orders ; was 
 ready in the boat ; and just going to put off. 
 
MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 In that instant the captain came up from the 
 cabin, and called him on board again. Mr. 
 N. went, expecting further orders, but the 
 captain said, " he had taken it into his head" 
 (as he phrased it) that Mr. N. should remain 
 that day in the ship, and accordingly ordered 
 another man to go in his room. Mr. N. was 
 surprised at this, as the boat had never been 
 sent away without him before. He asked the 
 captain the reason of his resolution, but none 
 was assigned, except as above, that so he 
 would have it. The boat, therefore, w r ent 
 without Mr. N. but returned no more ; it 
 sunk that night in the river ; and the person 
 who supplied Mr. N.'s place was drowned! 
 Mr. N. was much struck, when news of the 
 event w r as received the next morning, — The 
 captain himself, though quite a stranger to re- 
 ligion, even to the denying a particular provi- 
 dence, could not help being affected ; but de- 
 clared that he had no other reason for coun- 
 termanding Mr, N. at that time, but that it 
 came suddenly into his mind to detain him. 
 
 A short time after he was thus surprising- 
 ly preserved, they sailed for Antigua; and 
 from thence to Charles-town, in South Caro- 
 lina. In that place there were many serious 
 people ; but at this time, Mr. N. was little 
 
U£V. JO WTON. 
 
 able of availing himself of tin 
 supposing that all who attended public w 
 ship were good christians, and that whate^s 
 
 ne from the pulpit must be very good. 
 He had two or three opportunities, indeed, of 
 hearing a minister of eminent character and 
 gifts, whom, though struck with his manner, 
 he did not rightly understand. Almost every 
 day, when business would permit, he used to 
 
 ire into the woods and fields, (being his 
 favourite oratories) and began to taste the de- 
 light of communion with God, in the exer- 
 cises of prayer and praise : and yet so much 
 inconsistency prevailed, that he frequently 
 spent the evening in vain and worthless com- 
 pany. His relish, indeed, for worldly dr. 
 sions was much weakened ; and he was rather 
 a spectator than a sharer in their pleasures ; 
 but he did not as yet see the necessity of ab- 
 solutely relinquishing such society. It ap- 
 pears, that compliances of this sort, in his 
 present circumstances, were owing rather to 
 a want of light, than to any obstinate attach- 
 ment ; as he was kept from what he knew to 
 be sinful, he had, for the most part, peace of 
 conscience ; and his strongest desires w< 
 towards the things of God. He did not as 
 yet apprehend the force of that precept " Ab- 
 G 2 
 
78 MEMOIRS, Or THE 
 
 stain from all appearance of evil;" but he 
 very often ventured upon the brink of temp- 
 tation. He did not break with the world at 
 once, as might have been expected ; but was 
 gradually led to see tlif. inconvenience and 
 folly of first one thing, and then another ; and, 
 as such, to give them up. 
 
 They finished their voyage, and arrived in 
 Liverpool. When the ship's affairs were set- 
 tled, Mr. N. went to London, and frdm thence 
 tie soon repaired to Kent. More than seven 
 years had now elapsed since his first visit : 
 no views of the kind seemed more chimerical 
 than his ; or could subsist under greater dis- 
 couragement ; yet, while he seemed abandon- 
 ed to his passions, he was still guided by a 
 hand that he knew not, to the accomplishment 
 of his wishes. Every obstacle was now re- 
 moved — he had renounced his former follies 
 - — his intesest was established — and friends on 
 all sides consenting. The point was now en- 
 tirely between the parties immediately con- 
 cerned, and, after what had passed, was easily 
 concluded; accordingly their hands were 
 -joined, February the 1st, 1750. 
 
 " But alas," says he, " this mercy which 
 raised me to all I could ask or wish in a tem- 
 poral view, and which ought to have been an 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 79 
 
 animating motive to ce and praise, 
 
 had a contrary effect. — I i j ;iit, 
 
 and forgot the giver. My poor narrow heart 
 was satisfied. — A cold and s frame, as 
 
 to spiritual things, took place, and gained 
 ground daily. Happy for me, the season was 
 advancing ; and in June I received orders to 
 repair to Liverpool. This roused me from 
 ni}' dream ; and I found the pains of absence 
 and separation fully proportioned to my pre- 
 ceding pleasure. (See Note A.) Through 
 all my following voyage, my irregular and < 
 cessive affections were as thorns in my ej 
 and often made my other blessings tasteless 
 and insipid. But He who doth all things 
 well, over-ruled this likewise for good : it be- 
 came an occasion of quickening me in pray 
 both for her and myself: it increased my in- 
 difference for company and amusement ; it 
 habituated me to a kind of voluntary self-de- 
 nial, which I was afterwards taught to improve 
 to a better purpose." 
 
 Mr. N. sailed from Liverpool, in August 
 1750, commander of a good ship. He had 
 now the command and care of thirty persons : 
 he endeavoured to treat them with humanity ; 
 and to set them a good example. (See Note 
 B.) He likewise established public worship, 
 
80 MEMOIRS OP THE 
 
 according to the Liturgy of the church of 
 England, officiating himself twice ever) 
 Lord's Day. He did not proceed further than 
 this, while he continued in that occupation. 
 
 Having now much leisure, he prosecuted 
 the study of Latin with good success. He 
 remembered to take a dictionary this voyage ; 
 and added Juvenal to Horace ; and for prose 
 authors, Livy, Caesar, and Saliust. He was 
 not aware of the mistake of beginning with 
 such difficult writers ; but having heard Livy 
 highly commended, he w r as resolved to under- 
 stand him : he began with the first page, and 
 made it a rule not to proceed to a second, till 
 he understood the first. Often at a stand, 
 but seldom discouarged, here and there he 
 found a few lines quite obstinate, and w r as 
 forced to give them up, especially as his edi- 
 tion had no notes. Before, however, the close 
 of that voyage, he informs us that he could^ 
 with a few exceptions, read Livy almost as 
 readily as an English author. Other prose 
 authors, he says, cost him but little trouble, 
 as in surmounting the former difficulty, he 
 had mastered all in one. In short, in the space 
 of two or three voyages, he became tolerably 
 acquainted with the best classics. He read 
 Terence, Virgil, several pieces of Cicero, and 
 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 81 
 
 the modern classics, Buchannan, Erasmus, 
 and Casimir : and made some essays towards 
 writing elegant Latin. 
 
 " But by this time," he observes, " the 
 Lord was pleased to draw me nearer to him- 
 self; and to give me a fuller view of the pearl 
 of great price — the inestimable treasure hid in 
 the field of the holy Scripture : and for the sake 
 of this, I was made willing to part w ith all my 
 newly acquired riches, I began to think that 
 life was too short (especially my life) to ad- 
 mit of leisure for such elaborate trifling. Nei- 
 ther poet nor historian could tell me a word of 
 Jesus ; and I therefore applied myself to those 
 who could. The classics were at first re- 
 strained to one morning in the week, and at 
 length laid aside." 
 
 This, his first voyage after his marriage, 
 lasted the space of fourteen months, through 
 various scenes of danger and difficulty ; but 
 nothing very remarkable occurred : and after 
 having seen many fall on his right hand and on 
 his left, he was brought home in peace, No- 
 vember 2, 1751. 
 
 In the interval between his first and second 
 voyage, he speaks of the use he found in ke 
 ing a sort of diary — of the unfavourable ten- 
 dency of a life of ease; airiong his friends, and 
 
H2 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 of the satisfaction of his wishes proving unfa- 
 vourable to the progress of grace ; upon the 
 whole, however, lie seems to have gained 
 ground, and was led into further views of 
 Christian doctrine and experience by ScougaPs 
 Life of God in the Soul of Man, Hervey's 
 Meditations, and the Life of Col. Gardiner. 
 He seems to have derived no advantages from 
 the preaching he heard, or the Christian ac- 
 quaintance he made ; and though he could not 
 live without prayer, he durst not propose it, 
 even to his wife, till she fi rst urged him to the 
 mutual practice of it. 
 
 In a few months, the returning season called 
 him abroad again, and he sailed from Liver- 
 pool in a new ship, July 1752. (See note C.) 
 " I never knew," says he, " sweeter or more 
 frequent hours of divine communion, than in 
 my two last voyages to Guinea, when I was 
 either almost secluded from society on ship- 
 board, or when on shore among the natives. 
 I have wandered through the woods, reflecting 
 on the singular goodness of the Lord to me, in 
 a place where, perhaps, there was not a person 
 who knew me for some thousand miles round. 
 Many a time, upon these occasions, I have re- 
 stored the beautiful lines of Propertius to the 
 right owner ; lines full of blasphemy and mad- 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON- 8^ 
 
 ncss, when addressed to a creature, but fill 
 comfort and propriety in the mouth of a be- 
 liever." 
 
 Sic ego descrtis possim bene vivere sylvis 
 Quo nulla humano sit via trita pede ; 
 
 Tu m&i curarum requies, in nocte vel a 
 Lumen, ct in solis tu mihi turba I 
 
 PARAPHRASED, 
 
 In desert woods with thee, my God, 
 Where human footsteps never trod, 
 
 How happy could I be ! 
 Thou my repose from care, my light 
 Amidst the darkness of the night, 
 
 In solitude my company. 
 
 In the course of this voyage, Mr, i< 
 wonderfully preserved through many unfi 
 seen dangers. At one time there was a < 
 spiracy among his own people to become pi- 
 rates, and take possession of the ship. When 
 the plot w r as nearly ripe, they watched only for 
 opportunity ; two of them were taken ill in one 
 day ; one of them died. This suspended the 
 affair, and opened away to its discovery. The 
 slaves on board frequently plotted insurrectl 
 and were sometimes upon the very brink of 
 one, when it was disclosed. — When at 
 
84 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 called Mana, near Cape Mount, Mi\ N. in- 
 tended to go on shore the next morning to 
 settle some business ; but the surf of the sea 
 ran so high, that he was afraid to attempt 
 landing. He had often ventured at a worse 
 time, but then feeling a backwardness which 
 he could not account for, the high surf fur- 
 nished a pretext for indulging it : he therefore 
 returned to the ship without doing any busi- 
 ness. He afterwards found, that on the day he 
 intended to land, a scandalous and groundless 
 charge had been laid against him, which greatly 
 threatened his honour and interest, both in 
 Africa and England ; and would perhaps have 
 affected his life, had he landed. The person 
 most concerned in this affair owed him kbout 
 an hundred pounds, which he sent in a huff, 
 ancl otherwise, perhaps, would not have paid 
 it at all. Mr. N. heard no more of this accu- 
 sation till the next voyage, and then it was 
 publicly acknowledged to have been a mali- 
 cious calumny, without the least shadow of 
 a ground. 
 
 But as these things did not occur every day, 
 Mr. N. prosecuted his Latin, being very re- 
 gular in the management of his time. He al- 
 lotted about eight hours for sleep and meals, 
 eight hours for exercise and devotion, and 
 
ITEV. JOHN NEWTON". 85 
 
 eight hours to his books ; and thus by dh 
 sifying his engagements, the whole day was 
 agreeably filled up. 
 
 From the coast, he went to St. Christo- 
 pher's, where he met with a great disappoint- 
 ment : for the letters which he expected from 
 Mrs. N. were, by mistake, forwarded to Anti- 
 gua. Certain of her punctuality m writing, if 
 alive, he concluded by not hearing from her, 
 that she was surely dead. This fear deprived 
 him of his appetite and rest — caused an inces- 
 sant pain in his stomach, and, in the space of 
 three weeks, he was near sinking under the 
 weight of an imaginary stroke. H I felt," says 
 he, " some severe symptoms of that mixture 
 of pride and madness, commonly called a bro- 
 ken heart ; and, indeed, I wonder that this 
 case is not more common. How often do the 
 potsherds of the earth presume to contend with 
 their Maker ! and what a wonder of mercy is 
 it that they are not all broken ? This was a 
 sharp lesson, but I hope it did me good; an$ 
 when I had thus suffered some weeks, I 
 thought of sending a small vessel to Antigua;. 
 I did so, and she brought me several packets, 
 which restored my health and peace, and gave 
 me a strong contrast of the Lord's goodncv 
 
 H 
 
86 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 me, and of my unbelief and ingratitude to- 
 wards him." 
 
 In August, 1753, Mr. N, returned to Li- 
 verpool ; — after that voyage, he continued on- 
 ly six weeks at home, and, in that space, no- 
 thing very memorable occurred. 
 
 We now follow Mr. N. in his third voyage 
 to Guinea : it seems to be the shortest of any 
 that he had made, and which is principally 
 marked by an account of a young man who 
 had formerly been a midshipman, and his in- 
 timate companion on board the Harwich. This 
 youth, at the time Mr. N. first knew him, was 
 sobers but afterwards sadly infected with Mr. 
 N.'s then libertine principles. They met at 
 Liverpool, and renewed their former acquaint- 
 ance ; as their conversation frequently turned 
 upon religion, Mr. N. was very desirous to 
 recover his companion, to whom he gave a 
 plain account of the manner and reasons of his 
 own change, and used every argument to in- 
 duce him to relinquish his infidelity. When 
 pressed very close, his usual reply was, that 
 Mr. N. was the first person who had given 
 him an idea of his liberty, which naturally oc- 
 casioned many mournful reflections in the 
 mind of his present instructor. This person 
 was going master to Guinea himself; but 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 87 
 
 meeting with disappointment, Mr. N. offered 
 to take him as a companion, with a view of as- 
 sisting him ,in gaining future employment , 
 but principally, that his arguments, example, 
 and prayers might be attended with good 
 feet. But his companion was exceedingly 
 profane ; grew worse and worse ; and present- 
 ed a lively, but distressing picture, continual- 
 ly before Mr. N.'s eyes, of what he himself 
 had once been.— Besides this, the man was 
 not only deaf to remonstrance himself, but la- 
 boured to counteract Mr. N's influence upon 
 others : his spirit and passions were likewise 
 so exceedingly high, that it required all Mr. 
 N.'s prudence and authority to hold him in 
 any degree of restraint. 
 
 At length Mr. N. had an opportunity of 
 buying a small vessel, which he supplied with 
 a cargo from his own ship : — he gave his com- 
 panion the command of it ; and sent him away 
 to trade on the ship's account. When they 
 parted, Mr. N. repeated and enforced his best 
 advice ; it seemed greatly to affect his compa- 
 nion at the time ; but when he found himself 
 released from the restraint of his instructor, he 
 gave a loose to every appetite ; and his violent 
 irregularities, joined to the heat of the climate, 
 soon threw him into a malignant fever, which 
 
88 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 carried him off in a few days. He seems to 
 have died convinced, but not changed: his 
 rage and despair struck those who were about 
 him with horror ; and he pronounced his own 
 fatal doom before he expired, without any sign 
 that he either hoped or asked for mercy. — I 
 hope the reader will deem the features of this 
 awful case (though a digression from the prin- 
 cipal subject) too instructive to be omitted. 
 
 Mr. N. left the coast in about four months, 
 and sailed for St. Christopher's. Hitherto, he 
 iiad enjoyed a perfect and equal state of health 
 in different climates for several vears. But in 
 this passage, he was^ visited with a fever, which 
 gave him a very near prospect of eternity : he 
 was, however, supported in a silent composure 
 of spirit by the faith of Jesus, and found great 
 relief from those words, He is able to save to 
 the uttermost. He was for a while troubled, 
 whether by a temptation, or by the fever dis- 
 ordering his faculties, that he should be lost or 
 overlooked amidst the myriads that are conti- 
 nually entering the unseen world ; but the re- 
 collection of that Scripture — the Lord know- 
 eth them that are his, put an end to his doubts. 
 After a few days, however, he began to amend, 
 and by the time they arrived in the West- In* 
 dies, he was perfectly recovered. 
 
REV. JOHN NF.WTOX. 89 
 
 In this way, he was led for about the space 
 of six years : he had learnt something of the 
 evil of his heart — had read the Bible over and 
 over — had perused several religious books — 
 and "had a general view of Gospel truth; but 
 his conceptions still remained confused in ma- 
 ny respects, not having in all this time met 
 with one acquaintance qualified to assist his 
 inquiries. 
 
 On his arrival at St. Christopher's, he found 
 a captain of a ship from London, a man of ex- 
 perience in the things of God. Forrnear a 
 month, they spent every evening together on 
 board each other's ship alternately ; prolong- 
 ing their visits till near daybreak. While Mr. 
 N. was an eager recipient, his companion's 
 discourse not only informed his understand- 
 ing, but inflamed his heart — encouraged him 
 in attempting social prayer — taught him they 
 advantage of Christian converse — put him up- 
 on an attempt to make his profession more 
 public — and to venture to speak for God. 
 His conceptions now became more clear and 
 evangelical ; he was delivered from a fear, 
 which had long troubled him, of relapsing in- 
 to his former apostacy ; and taught to expect 
 preservation, not from his ow r n power and ho- 
 liness, but jrom the power and promise of 
 H 2 
 
90 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 God. From this friend he likewise received a 
 general view of the present state of religion, 
 and of the prevailing errors and controversies 
 of the times, and a direction where to inquire 
 in" London, for further instruction. Mr. N.'s 
 passage homewards gave him leisure to digest 
 what he had received ; and he arrived safely 
 at Liverpool, August 1754. (See Note D.) 
 
 His stay at home, however, was intended to 
 be but short ; and by the beginning of No- 
 vember he was ready again for the sea. But 
 the Lord saw fit to over-rule his design, it 
 seems, from the account he gives, that he had 
 not the least scruple as to the lawfulness of 
 the slave-trade ; he considered it as the ap- 
 pointment of Providence: he considered this 
 employment as respectable and profitable : yet 
 he could not help considering himself as a sort 
 of jailor, and was sometimes shocked with an 
 employment so conversant wilflk chains, bolts, 
 and shackles. On this account he had often 
 prayed that he might be fixed in a more hu- 
 mane profession, where he might enjoy more 
 frequent communion with the people and ordi- 
 nances of God ; and be freed from those long, 
 domestic separations which he found so hard 
 to bear. His prayers were now answered, 
 though in an unexpected way. 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 91 
 
 Mr. N. was within two days of sailing, and 
 in apparent good health ; but as he was i 
 afternoon drinking tea with Mrs. N. he was 
 seized with a fit, which deprived him of s< 
 and motion. When he had recovered from this 
 fit, which lasted about an hour, it left a pain 
 and dizziness in his head, which continued 
 with such symptoms, as induced the physicians 
 Tb judge it would not be safe for him to pro- 
 d on the voyage. By the adviee of a friend, 
 therefore, to whom; the ship belonged, he re- 
 signed the command on the day before she 
 sailed : and thus he was not only freed frori^. 
 that service, but from the future consequencj^Hj 
 of a voyage which proved extremely calami- 
 tous. The person who went in his room, 
 died ; as did most of the officers, and many of 
 the crew. • 
 
 As Mr. N. was now disengaged from bu- 
 siness, he left Lijprpool, and spent most of the 
 following year in London, or in Kent. Here 
 he entered upon a new trial, in a disorder that 
 was brought upon Mrs. N. from the shock she 
 received in his late illness ; as he grew better- 
 she became worse with a disorder which the 
 physicians could not define, nor medicines re- 
 move. Mr. N. was therefore placed for about 
 eleven months in what Dr. Young calls the 
 

 92 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Dreadful post of observation, 
 
 Darker every hour. 
 
 The reader will recollect that Mr. N.*s friend 
 at St. Christopher's had given him information 
 for forming a religious acquaintance in Lon- 
 don ; in consequence of which he became in- 
 timate with several persons eminent for that 
 character ; and profited by the spiritual advan-^ 
 tages which a great city affords, with respect to 
 means. When tj£ was in Kent, his advanta- 
 tages were of a different kind ;. most of his 
 time he passed in the fields and' woods : " It 
 has been my custom," says he, " for many 
 years, to perform my devotional exercises sub 
 dip, when I have opportunity, and I always 
 find these scenes have some tendency both to 
 refresh and compose my spirits. A beautiful, 
 diversified prospect gladdens my heart. When 
 I am withdrawn from the noise and petty works 
 of men, I consider myself aPn the great tem- 
 ple which the Lord has built for his own ho- 
 nour." 
 
 During this time he had to weather two tri- 
 als, the principal of which was Mrs.JN.'s ill- 
 ness ; she still grew worse, and he had daily 
 more reason to fear that hour of separation 
 which appeared to be at hand. He had likewise 
 to provide some future settlement ; the African 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON'. 93 
 
 trade was overdone that year, and his friends 
 did not care to fit out another ship till that 
 which had been his, returned. Though a pro- 
 vision of food and raiment had seldom been 
 with him a cause of great solicitude, yet he 
 w r as some time in suspense on this account ; 
 but, in August following, he received a letter 
 fthat he was nominated to a post which afforded 
 him a competency, both unsought and unex- 
 pected. 
 
 When he had gained this point, his distress 
 respecting Mrs. N. was doubled ; he was oblig- 
 ed to leave her in the greatest extremity of pain 
 and illness ; and when he had no hope that he 
 should see her again alive. He was, however, 
 enabled to resign her and himself to the divine 
 disposal ; and soon after he was gone, she be- 
 gan to amend, and recovered so fast, that in 
 about two months he had the pleasure to meet 
 her at Stone, on £r journey to Liverpool.. 
 
 Jyrom October 1755, he appears to have 
 been comfortably settled at Liverpool, and 
 meQjfans his having received, since the j 
 1757^ffl£eh profit from his acquaintance in the 
 West Riding of Yorkshire. " I have con- 
 versed," says he, " at large among all parties, 
 without joining any ; and in my attempts to 
 hit the golden mean, I have been sometin 
 
94 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 drawn too near the different extremes ; yet the 
 Lord has enabled me tcprofit by my mistakes." 
 Being at length placed in a settled habitation, 
 and finding his business would afford him mueh 
 leisure, he considered in what manner he could 
 improve it. Having determined, with the Apos- 
 tle, to know nothing but Jesus Christ, and him 
 crucified, he devoted his life to the prosecu- 
 tion of spiritual knowledge,' and resolved to 
 ^ursue nothing but in sufcfeervicrifee to this de- 
 sign. But as what follows will appear most 
 natural, and must be better expressed, in his 
 own words, I shall transcribe them from the 
 conclusion of his Narrative. 
 
 " This resolution, " says Mr. N. " divorced 
 me (as I have already hinted) from the clas- 
 sics and mathematics. My first attempt was 
 to learn so much Greek as would enable me 
 to understand the New Testament and Septu- 
 agint ; and when I had ma^ some progress 
 this way, I entered upon the Hebrew the fol- 
 lowing year ; and two years afterwards, hav- 
 ing surmised some advantages from the Syri- 
 ac version, I began with that langua^^ You 
 must not think that I have attained, or ever 
 aimed at a critical skill in any of these ; I had 
 no business with them, but as in reference to 
 something else, I never read one classic au- 
 
 . 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 thor in the Greek ; I thought it too late in life 
 to take such a round in this language as I had 
 done in the Latin. I^only wanted the signifi- 
 cation of scriptufcil words and phrases, and for 
 this, I thought I might avail myself of Scapu- 
 la, the Synopsis, and others, who had sustain- 
 ed the drudgery before me. In the Hebrew, 
 I can read the historical books and psalms with 
 tolerable ease ; but in the prophetical and dif 
 ficult parts, I am frequently obliged to have re- 
 course to Lexicons, &c. However, I kn 
 so much as to be able, with such helps as ai> 
 at hand, to judge for myself the meaning of 
 any passage I have occasion to consult. 
 
 u Together with these studies, I have kept 
 up a course of reading the best writers in divi- 
 nity that have come to my hand, in the Latin 
 and English tongues, and some French (for 1 
 picked up the French at times, while I used 
 the sea). But within these two or three }■ 
 I have accustomed myself chiefly to writing, 
 and have not found time to read many books 
 besides the Scriptures. 
 
 " I am the more particular in this account, 
 as my case has been something singular ; for 
 in all my literary attempts, I have been obliged 
 to strike out my own path by the light I 
 could acquire from books, as I have not had 
 
96 • MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 a teacher or assistant since I was ten years of 
 age. 
 
 " One* word concer^g my views to the 
 ministry, and I have done. I have told you, 
 • that this was 'my dear mother's hope concern- 
 ing me ; but her death, and the scenes of life 
 in which I afterwards engaged, seemed to cut 
 off the probability. The first desires of this 
 sort in my own mind, arose many years ago, 
 from reflection on Gal. i. 23, 24. I could but 
 \^sh for such a public opportunity to testify 
 the riches of divine grace. I thought I was, 
 above most living, a fit person to proclaim that 
 faithful saying, that Jesus Christ came into the 
 world to save the chief of sinners ; and as my 
 life had been- full of remarkable turnsy and I 
 seemed selected to shew what the Lord could 
 do, I was in some hopes that perhaps sooner 
 or later, he might call me into his service. 
 
 " I believe it was a distant hope of this that 
 •determined me to study the original Scrip- 
 tures ; but it remained an imperfect desire in 
 my own brQjst, till it was recommended to me 
 by some Christian friends. I started at the 
 thought when first seriously proposed to me ; 
 but afterwards, set apart some weeks to consi- 
 der the case, to consult my friends, and to en- 
 treat the Lord's direction. The judgment of 
 
 i 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 97 
 
 my friends, and many things that occurred, 
 tended to engage me. My first thought was 
 to join the dissenters, from a presumption that 
 I could not honestly make the required sub- 
 scriptions ; but Mr. C , in a conversation 
 
 upon these points, moderated my scruples ; 
 and preferring the established church in some 
 respects, I accepted a title from him, some 
 months afterwards ; and solicited ordination 
 from the laxe Archbishop of York : I need not 
 tell you I met a refusal, nor what steps I took 
 afterwards, to succeed elsewhere. At pre&nt 
 I desist from any applications. My desire to 
 serve the Lord is not weakened ; but I am not 
 so hasty to push myself forward as I was for- 
 merly. It is sufficient that he knows how to 
 dispose of me, and that he both can and will do 
 what is best. To him I commend myself: I 
 trust that his will and my true interest are in- 
 separable. To his name be glory forever, an3 
 with this I conclude my story." 
 
 A variety of remarks occured to me while 
 abridging the Narrative, but I refrained from 
 putting them down, lest by iffterrupting its 
 course, and breaking the thread of the histo- 
 ry, I should rather disgust than profit the rea- 
 der. I have heard Mr. N. relate a few addi~ 
 tional particulars, but they were of too little 
 
 I 
 
98 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 interest to be inserted here ; they went, how- 
 ever, like natural incidents, tQ a farther authen- 
 tication of the above account, had it needed 
 any other confirmation than the solemn decla- 
 ration of the pious relator. Romantic rela- 
 tions, indeed, of unprincipled travellers, which 
 appear to have no better basis than a disposi- 
 tion to amuse credulity, to exhibit vanity, or 
 to acquire gain, may naturally raise suspicion, 
 and produce but a momentary effect at most 
 on the mind of the reader : but facts, like the 
 present, manifest such a display of the Power, 
 Providence, and Grace of God ; and at the 
 same time such a deep and humbling view of 
 human depravity, when moved, and brought 
 forth by circumstances, as inexperience can 
 scarcely credit, but which must interest the 
 eye of pious contemplation, and open a new 
 world of wonders. 
 
 I must now attempt to conduct the reader, 
 without the help of Mr. N.'s Narrative, finish- 
 ed Feb. 2, 1763 ; to which, as I have already 
 observed, he referred me for the former and 
 most singular part of his life. When I left the 
 above account with him for revision, he ex- 
 pressed full satisfaction as to all the facts rela 
 ted ; but said, he thought I had been too mi 
 nute even in the abridgment, since the Narra- 
 
 - 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 tive itself had been long before the public. 1 
 remarked, in reply, that the Narrative contain- 
 ed a great variety of facts — that these Me- 
 moirs might fall into the hands of persons who 
 had not seen the Narrative — but that, without 
 some abridgment of it, no clear view could be 
 formed of the peculiarity of his whole dispen- 
 sation and character — and, therefore, that such 
 an abridgment appeared to be absolutely neces- 
 sary, and that he had recommended it at my 
 first undertaking the work. With these rea- 
 sons he was well satisfied. I now proceed to 
 the remaining, though less remarkable part of 
 his life. 
 
 Mr. Manesty, who had long been a faithful 
 and generous friend of Mr. N., having procured 
 him the place of tide-surveyor in the port of 
 Liverpool, Mr. N. gives the following account 
 of it. — " I entered upon business yesterday. 
 I find my duty is to attend the tides one week,, 
 and visit the ships that arrive, and such as are 
 in the river ; and the other week to inspect the 
 vessels in the docks, and thus alternately the 
 year round. The latter is little more than a 
 sinecure, but the former requires pretty con- 
 stant attendance, both by day and night. I 
 have a good office, with fire and candle, and 
 fifty or sixty people under my direction : with 
 
100 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 a handsome six-oared boat and a coxswain, 
 to row me about in form*." 
 
 We cannot wonder that Mr. N. latterly re- 
 tained a strong ynpression of a particular pro- 
 vidence, superintending and conducting the 
 steps of man ; since he was so often reminded 
 of it in his own history % \ The following 
 occurrence is one of many instances. Mr. 
 N. after his reformation, was remarkable for 
 his punctuality : I remember his often sitting 
 with his watch in his hand, lest he should fail 
 in keeping his next engagement. This exact- 
 ness with respect to time, it seems, was his 
 habit while occupying his post at Liverpool. 
 One day, however, some business had so de- 
 tained him, that he came to his boat much 
 later than usual, to the surprise of those who 
 had observed his former punctuality. He 
 went out in the boat as heretofore to inspect 
 a ship ; but the ship blew up just before he 
 reached her ; it appears, that if he had left 
 the shore a few minutes sooner, he must have 
 perished with, the rest on board. 
 
 This anecdote I had from a clergyman, up- 
 on whose word I can depend ; who had been 
 
 * Letters to a Wife, vol. ii. p. r. 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 101 
 
 in intimate habits with Mr. N. and who had 
 it *from Mr. N. himself: the reason of its not 
 appealing in his Letters from Liverpool to 
 Mrs. N. I can only suppose to be, his fear- 
 ing to alarm her with respect to the dangers of 
 his station. But another providential occur- 
 rence, which he mentions in those letters I 
 shall transcribe. 
 
 " When I think of my settlement here, and 
 the manner of it, I see the appointment of Pro- 
 vidence so good and gracious, and such a plain 
 answer to my poor prayers, that I cannot but 
 wonder and adore. I think I have not yet 
 told you, that my immediate predecessor in 
 office, Mr. C — , had not the least intention of 
 resigning his place on the occasion of his fa- 
 ther's death ; though such a report was spread 
 about the town, without hi: knowledge, or ra- 
 ther in defiance of all he could say to contra- 
 dict it. Yet to this false report I owe my situ- 
 ation. For it put Mr. M. upon an application 
 to Mr. S — , the member for the town; and, 
 the very day he received the promise in my 
 favour, Mr. C — was found dead in his bed. 
 though he had been in company, and in per- 
 fect health, the night before. If I mistake 
 not, the same messenger, who brought the pro- 
 
 e 1 carried back the news of the vacancy to 
 12 
 
102 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Mr. S — , at Chester. About an hour after, 
 the mayor applied for a nephew of his ; but, 
 though it was only an hour or two, he was too 
 late. Mr. S — had already written, and sent off 
 the letter, and I was appointed accordingly. 
 These circumstances appear to me extraordi- 
 nary, though of a piece with many other pails 
 of my singular history. And the more so, as 
 by another mistake, I missed the land waiter's 
 place, which was my first object, and which, I 
 now see would not have suited us nearly so 
 well. I thank God, I can now look through 
 instruments, and second causes, and see his 
 wisdom and goodness immediately concerned, 
 in fixing my lot." 
 
 Mr. N. having expressed, near the end of 
 his Narrative, jfhe motives which indiiped him 
 to aim at a regular appointment to the ministry 
 in the church of England, and of the disap- 
 pointment he met with in his first making the 
 attempt, the reader is farther informed that, on 
 Dec. 16, 1758, Mr. N. received a title to a 
 
 curacy from the Rev. Mr. C , and applied 
 
 ta the archbishop of York, Dr. Gilbert for or- 
 dination. The bishop of Chester having coun- 
 tersigned his testimonials, directed him to Dr. 
 Newton, the archbishop's chaplain. He was 
 referred to the secretary, and received the 
 
REV. JtHIN NEWTON. 103 
 
 softest refusal imaginable. The secretary in- 
 formed him, that he had " represented the 
 matter to the archbishop, but his grace was 
 inflexible in supporting the rules and canons 
 of the church," &c. 
 
 Travelling to Loughborough, Mr. N. stop- 
 ped at Welwyn, and sending a note to the ce- 
 lebrated Dr. Young, he received for answer, 
 that the doctor would be glad to see him. He 
 found the doctor's conversation agreeable, and 
 to answer his expectation respecting the author 
 of the Night Thoughts. The doctor likewise 
 seemed pleased with Mr. N. — he approved 
 Mr. N.'s design of entering the ministry, and 
 said many encouraging- things upon the sub- 
 ject ; and when he dismissed Mr. N. desired 
 him never to pass near Welwyn without call- 
 ing upon him. 
 
 Mr. 'N. it seems, had made some small at- 
 tempts at Liverpool, in a way of preaching or 
 expounding. Many wished him to engage 
 more at large in those ministerial employments, 
 to which his own mind was inclined ; and he 
 thus expresses his motives in a letter to Mrs. 
 N. in answer to the objections she had formed. 
 " The late death of Mr. Jones, of St. Saviour's, 
 has pressed this concern more closely upon my 
 mind. I fear it must be wrong, after Raving 
 
104 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 so solemnly devoted myself to the Lord for his 
 sendee, to wear away my time, and bury my 
 talents in silence (because I have been refused 
 orders in the church,) after all the great things 
 He has done for me*." 
 
 In a note annexed, he observes that " the 
 influence of his judicious and affectionate coun- 
 sellor moderated the zeal which dictated this 
 letter, written in the year 1762 — tha^ had it 
 BOt been for her, he should probably have been 
 precluded from those important scenes of ser- 
 vice, to which he was afterwards appointed:' 5 
 but he adds, " The exercises of my mind upon 
 this point, I believe have not been peculiar to 
 myself. I have known several persons, sensi- 
 ble, pious, of competent abilities, and cordially 
 attached to the established church ; who, be- 
 ing wearied out with repeated refusals of ordi- 
 nation, and, perhaps not having the advantage 
 of such an adviser as I had, have at length 
 struck into the itinerant path, or settled among 
 the dissenters. Some of these, yet living, are 
 men of respectable characters, and useful in 
 their ministry ; but their influence, which 
 would once have been serviceable to the true 
 interests of the church of England, now rather 
 operates against it." 
 
 * Letters to a Wife, vol. ii. p. 79, 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 105 
 
 In the year 1764 Mr. N. had the curacy of 
 Olney proposed to him, and was recommend- 
 ed by lord D , to Dr. Green, bishob of 
 
 Lincoln ; of whose candour and tenderness he 
 speaks with much respect. The bishop had 
 admitted him as a candidate for orders. " The 
 examination," says he, " lasted about an hour, 
 chiefly upon the principal heads of divinity. 
 As I was resolved not to be charged hereafter 
 with dissimulation, I was constrained to differ 
 from his lordship in some points/, but he was 
 not offended ; he declared himself satisfied, 
 and has promised to ordain me, either next 
 Sunday, in town, or the Sunday following, at 
 Buckden. — Let us praise the Lord* !" 
 
 Mr. N. was ordained deacon at Buckden, 
 April 29, 1764, and priest in June the follow- 
 ing year. In the parish of Oiney, he found 
 many who not only had evangelical views of 
 the truth, but had also long walked in the light 
 and experience of it. The vicarage was in 
 
 the gift of the Earl of D , the nobleman 
 
 to whom Mr. N. addressed the first twenty- 
 six letters in his Cardiphonia. The Earl was 
 a man of real piety, and most amiable dispo- 
 sition; he had formerly appointed the Rev, 
 
 * Letters, &c. p. 89, 
 
106 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Moses Brown vicar. Mr. Brown was an evan- 
 gelical minister, and a good man ; of course 
 he had afforded wholesome instruction to the 
 parishioners of Olney, and had been the in- 
 strument of a sound conversion in many of 
 them. He was the author of a poetical piece, 
 entitled Sunday Thoughts, a translation of 
 ProfeB^pp^ Zimmermann's Excellency of the 
 Knowledge of Jesus Christ, &c. 
 
 But Mr. Brown had a numerous family, 
 and met with considerable trials in it ; he too 
 much resembled Eli in his indulgence of his 
 children. He was also under the pressure of 
 pecuniary difficulties, and had therefore ac- 
 cepted the chaplaincy of Morden College, 
 Blackheath, while vicar of Olney. Mr. N. in 
 these circumstances, undertook the curacy of 
 Olney, in which he continued near sixteen 
 years, previous to his removal to St. Mary 
 Woolnoth, to which he was afterwards pre- 
 sented, by the late John Thornton, Esq. 
 
 As Mr. N. was under 4 the greatest obliga- 
 tions to Mr. Thornton's friendship while at 
 Olney, and had been enabled to extend his 
 own usefulness by the bounty of that extra- 
 ordinary man, it may not be foreign to our 
 subject, to give some general outline of Mr. 
 Thornton's character in this place. 
 
R£V. JOHN NEWTON. 107 
 
 It is said of Solomon, that the Lord gave 
 him largeness of heart, even as the sand on 
 the sea shore ; such a peculiar disposition for 
 whatever was good or benevolent was also be- 
 stowed on Mr. Thornton. He differed as 
 much from rich men of ordinary bounty, as 
 they do from others that are parsimonious. 
 Nor was this bounty the result of occasional 
 impulse, like a summer shower, violent and 
 short ; on the contrary, it proceeded like a ri- 
 ver, pouring its waters through various coun- 
 tries, copious and inexhaustible. Nor could 
 those obstructions of imposture and ingrati- 
 tude, which have often been advanced as the 
 cause of damming up other streams, prevent 
 v or retard the course of this. The generosity 
 of Mr. Thornton, indeed, frequently met with 
 such hinderances, and led him to increasing 
 discrimination, but the stream of his bounty 
 never ceased to hold its course. Deep, silent, 
 and overwhelming, it still rolled on, nor ended 
 even with his life. 
 
 But the fountain from whence this benifi- 
 cence flow r ed, and by w T hich its permanency 
 and direction were maintained, must not be 
 concealed. Mr. Thornton was a Christian. 
 Let no one, however, so mistake me here, as 
 to suppose that I mean nothing more by the 
 
108 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 term Christian, than the state of one who, con- 
 vinced of the truth of the revelation, gives as- 
 sent to its doctrines — regularly attends its or- 
 dinances — and maintains an external, moral, 
 and religious deportment. Such a one may 
 have a name to live while he is dead ; he may 
 have a form of godliness without the power of 
 it — he may even be found denying and ridi- 
 culing that power — till at length, he can only 
 be convinced of his error at an infallible tribu- 
 nal ; w T here a widow, that gives but a mite, or 
 a publican, that smites on his breast, shall be 
 preferred before him. # 
 
 Mr. Thornton was a Christian indeed, that 
 is, he was alive to God by a spiritual regene- 
 ration. With this God he was daily and ear- 
 nestly transacting that infinitely momentous af- 
 fair, the salvation of his own soul ; and next 
 to that, the salvation of the souls of others. 
 Temperate in all things, though mean in no- 
 thing, he made provision for doing good with 
 his opulence ; and seemed to be most in his 
 element when appropriating a considerable 
 part of his large income to the necessities of 
 others. 
 
 But Mr. Thornton 'possessed that discrimi- 
 nation in his attempts to serve his fellow crea- 
 tures, which distinguishes an enlightened 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 106 
 
 mind : he habitually contemplated man, as one 
 who has not only a body, subject to want, af* 
 fliction, and death, but also a spirit, which is 
 immortal, and must be happy or miserable 
 for ever. He, therefore, felt that the noblest 
 exertions of charity are those which are di- 
 rected to the relief of the noblest part of our 
 species. Accordingly he left no mode of ex- 
 ertion untried to relieve man under his natu- 
 ral ignorance and depravity. To this end, he 
 purchased advousons and presentations, with 
 a view to place in parishes the most enlight* 
 ened, active, and useful ministers. He em- 
 ployed the extensive commerce, in which he 
 was engaged, as a powerful instrument for con- 
 veying immense quantities of bibles, prayer 
 books, and the most useful publications, to 
 every place visited by our trade. He printed., 
 at his own sole expense, large editions of the 
 latter for that purpose ; and it ma)' safely be 
 affirmed ,that there is scarcely a part of the 
 known world, where such books could be in- 
 troduced, which did not feel the salutary in* 
 fluence of this single individual. 
 
 Nor was Mr. Thornton limited in his views 
 
 of promoting the interests of real religion, with 
 
 what sect soever it was connected. He stood 
 
 ready to assist a beneficial design in every par 
 
 K 
 
110 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 ty, but would be the creature of none. Ge- 
 neral good was his object, and wherever or 
 however it made its way, his maxim seemed 
 constantly to be, valeat quantum valere potest. 
 
 But the nature and extent of his liberality 
 will be greatly misconceived, if any one should 
 suppose it confined to moral and religious ob- 
 jects, though the grandest and most compre- 
 hensive exertions of it. Mr. Thornton was 
 a philanthropist on the largest scale — the 
 friend of man under all his wants. His man- 
 ner of relieving his fellow- men was princely ; 
 instances might be mentioned of it, were it 
 proper to particularize, which would surprise 
 those who did not know Mr. Thornton. They 
 were so much out of ordinary course and ex- 
 pectation, that I know some, who felt it their 
 duty to inquire of him, whether the sum they 
 had received was sent by his intention or by 
 mistake ? — To this may be added, that the 
 manner of presenting his gifts was as deli- 
 cate and concealed, as the measure was large. 
 
 Beside this constant course of private dona- 
 tions, there was scarcely a public charity, or 
 occasion of relief to the ignorant or necessi- 
 tous, which did not meet with his distinguish- 
 ed support. His only question was, " May 
 the miseries of man in any measure be re- 
 
fl E V. J H N X . Ill 
 
 molded or alle^ iated ?'? Nor was he merely i 
 languished by stretching out a liberal hand : 
 his benevolent heart w&s so mtcnt on doi 
 good* that he was ev< r inventing and promo- 
 ling plans for its di at home or abro; 
 lie that wisely desires any end, will as wise- 
 ly regard the means ; in this Mr. Thornton 
 was perfectly consistent. In order to execute 
 his beneficent designs, he observed frugality 
 and exactness in his personal expenses. By 
 such prospective methods, he was able to ex- 
 tend the influence of his fortune far beyond 
 those who, in still mo; e elevated stations, are 
 slaves to expensive habits. Such men mean- 
 ly pace in trammels of the tyrant custom, till 
 it leaves them scarcely enough to preserve 
 'their conscience, or even their credit, much 
 less to employ their talents in Mr. Thornton's 
 nobler pursuits. He, however, could afford to 
 be generous ; and while he was generous, did 
 not forget his duty in being just. He made 
 ample provision for his children, and though, 
 while they are living, it would be indelicate 
 to say more, I am sure of speaking truth, 
 when I say, — they are so for from thinking 
 themselves impoverished by the bounty of 
 their father, that they contemplate with the 
 highest satisfaction the fruit of those benefits 
 
 4- 
 
112 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 to society, which he planted — which it may 
 be trusted, will extend with time itself- — and 
 which after his example, they still labour to 
 extend. 
 
 But with all the piety and liberality of this ho- 
 noured character, no man had deeper views of 
 his own unworthiness before his God — to the 
 Redeemer's work alone he looked for accept- ' 
 ance of his person and services : he felt that 
 all he did, or could do, was infinitely short of 
 that which had been done for him, and of the 
 obligations that were thereby laid upon him. 
 It was this abaseclness of heart towards God, 
 combined with the most singular largeness of 
 heart towards his fellow-creatures, which dis- 
 tinguished John Thornton among men. 
 
 To this common patron of every useful and 
 pious endeavour, Mr. N. sent the Narrative 
 from which the former part of these Memoirs 
 is extracted. Mr. Thornton replied in his 
 usual manner, that is, by accompanying his 
 letter with a valuable bank-note ; and some 
 months after, he paid Mr. N. a visit at Olney. 
 A closer connection being now formed be- 
 tween friends, who employed their distinct ta- 
 lents in promoting the same benevolent cause ; 
 Mr. Thornton left a sum of money with Mr. 
 N. to be appropriated to the defraying his ne- 
 
RBV. J 
 
 Miry exp< ind relic \ ing the ])oor. M Be 
 
 hospitable," said Mr. Thornton', " and keep 
 an open house for sueh as are worthy of enter- 
 tainment — help the poor and needy ; I will 
 statedly allow you £ 200 a year, and readily 
 
 d whatever you have occasion to draw for 
 rftare." — Mr. N. told me, that he thought he 
 had received of Mr. Thornton upwards of 
 
 3000 in this way, during the time he re- 
 sided at Olney. 
 
 The case of most ministers is peculiar in 
 this respect ; some among them may be look- 
 ed up to, on account of their publicity and ta- 
 lents ; they may have made great sacrifices 
 of their personal interest, in order to enter on 
 their ministry, and may be possessed of the 
 strongest benevolence ; but from the narrow- 
 ness of their pecuniary circumstances, and 
 from the largeness of their families, they often 
 perceive, that an ordinary tradesman in their 
 parishes, can subscribe to a charitable or po- 
 pular institution much more liberally than 
 themselves. This would have been Mr. N.'s 
 ease, but for the above-mentioned singular 
 patronage. 
 
 A minister, however, should not be so for- 
 getful of his dispensation, as to repine at his 
 want of power in this respect. He might as 
 K 2 
 
114 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 justly estimate his deficiency by the strength 
 of the lion, or the flight of the eagle. The 
 power communicated to him is of another 
 kind ; and power of every kind belongs to God, 
 who gives gifts to every man severally as he 
 will. The two mites of the widow were all 
 the power of that kind which was communi- 
 cated to her, and her bestowment of her two 
 mites was better accepted than the large offer- 
 ings of the rich man. The powers, therefore, 
 of Mr. Thornton, and of Mr. N. though of a 
 different order, were both consecrated to God ; 
 and each might have said, " Of thine own 
 have we given thee." 
 
 Providence seems to have appointed Mr. 
 N.'s residence at Olney, among other reasons, 
 for the relief of the depressed mind of the Po- 
 et Co wper. There has gone forth an un- 
 founded report, that the deplorable melancho- 
 ly of Cowper, was, in part, derived from his 
 residence and connections in that place. The 
 fact, however, is the reverse of this ; and as 
 it may* be of importance to the interests of 
 true religion to prevent such a misrepresenta- 
 tion from taking root, I will present the real 
 state of the case, as I have found it attested 
 by the most respectable living witnesses ; and 
 more especially, as confirmed by a MS. writ- 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 115 
 
 ten by the poet himself, at the calmest period 
 of his life ; with the perusal of which I v 
 favoured by Mr. N. 
 
 It most evidently appears, that symptoms of 
 Mr. Cowper's morbid state began to discover 
 themselves in his earliest youth. He seems 
 to have been at all times disordered, in a great- 
 er or less degree. He was sent to Westmin- 
 ster school at the age of nine years, and long 
 endured the tyranny of an elder boy, of which 
 he gives a shocking account in the paper above 
 mentioned; and which " produced," as one 
 of his biographers observes, who had long in- 
 timacy with him, " an indelible effect upon 
 his mind through life." — A person so natural- 
 ly bashful and depressed as Cowper, must 
 needs find the profession of a barrister a far- 
 ther occasion of anxiety : the post obtained for 
 him by his friends in the House of Lords over- 
 whelmed him ; and the remonstrances which 
 those friends made against his relinquishing 
 so honourable and lucrative an appointment, 
 (but which soon after actually took place,) 
 greatly increased the anguish of a mind alrea- 
 dy incapacitated for business. To all this 
 were added events, which of themselves have 
 been found sufficient to overset the minds of 
 the strongest ; namely, the decease of his par- 
 
116 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 titular friend and intimate Sir William Riis- 
 sel ; and his meeting with a disappointment in 
 obtaining a lady, upon whom his affections 
 were placed. 
 
 But the state of a person, torn and depres- 
 sed (not by his religious connections, but) by 
 adverse circumstances, and these meeting a 
 naturally morbid sensibility, long before he 
 knew Oiney, or had formed any connection 
 with its inhabitants, will best appear from some 
 verses which he sent at this time to one of his 
 female relations, and for the communication 
 of which, we are indebted to Mr. Hayley : 
 
 " Doom'cl as I am, in solitude to waste 
 The present moments, and regret the past ; 
 - Deprived of every joy I valued most, 
 My friend torn from me, and my mistress lost ; 
 Call not this gloom I wear, this anxious mein, 
 The dull effect of*humour or of spleen i 
 Still, still I mourn with each returning day, 
 Him — snatch'd by fate in early youth, away ; 
 And her — through tedious years of doubt and pain, 
 Fix'd in her choice, and faithful — but in vain. 
 See me — ere yet my destin'd course half done, 
 Cast forth a wand'rer on a wild unknown ! 
 See me,' neglected on the world's rude coast, - 
 Each dear companion of my voyage lost ! 
 Nor ask, why clouds of sorrow shade my brow. 
 And ready tears wait only leave to now ; 
 Why all that soothes a heart, from anguish free, 
 Ail that delights the happy — palls with ,me ?" 
 
REV. JOHN N EM ION. 117 
 
 That any man, under such pressures, should 
 at first turn his mind to those resources which 
 religion alone can afford, is both natural and 
 rational. But Mr. Cbwper was like a person 
 looking from a high tower, who perceives only 
 the danger of falling, but neither the security 
 nor prospect it presents ; and therefore it is no 
 wonder, with so melancholy, morbid, and sus- 
 ceptible a mind, that his unhappiness should 
 be increased. — -And yet this very mind of 
 Cowper, when put under the care of Dr. Cot- 
 ton, of St. Albans (a physician as capable of 
 administering to the spiritual, as to the natural 
 maladies of his patients) received the first con- 
 solation it ever tasted, and that from evangeli- 
 cal truths. It was under the care of this phy- 
 sician, that Mr. C. first obtained a clear view of 
 those sublime and animating truths, which so 
 distinguished and exalted his future strains as 
 a poet. Here also he received that settled 
 tranquillity and peace which he enjoyed for 
 several years afterwards. So far, therefore, was 
 his constitutional malady from being produced 
 or increased by his evangelical connections, 
 either at St. Albans or at Olney, that he seems 
 never to have had any settled peace but from 
 the truths he learned in these societies. It ap- 
 pears that among them alone he found the only 
 
1.18 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 sunshine he ever enjoyed, through the cloudy 
 day of his afflicted life. 
 
 It appears also that, while at Dr. Cotton's, 
 Mr. Cowper's distress was, for a long time, 
 entirely removed, by marking that passage in 
 Rom. iii. 25. u Him hajth God set forth to be 
 a propitiation, through faith in his blood, to 
 declare his righteousness for the remission of 
 sins that are past." In this scripture he saw 
 the remedy, which God provides for the relief 
 of a guilty conscience, with such clearness, 
 that, for several years after, his heart was filled 
 with love, and his life occupied with prayer, 
 praise, and doing good to his needy fellow-crea- 
 tures. 
 
 Mr. N. told me, that from Mr. Cowper's 
 first coming to Olney, it w r as observed he had 
 studied his Bible with such advantage, and 
 was so well acquainted with its design, that 
 not only his troubles were removed, but that, 
 to the end* of his life, he never had clearer views 
 of the peculiar doctrines. of the Gospel, than 
 when he first became an attendant upon them — 
 that (short intervals excepted) Mr. Cowper en- 
 joyed a course of peace for several successive 
 years — that, during this period, the insepara- 
 ble attendants of a lively faith appeared, by Mr, 
 Cowper's exerting himself to the utmost of his 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 119 
 
 power in every benevolent service he could 
 render to his poor neighbours — and that Mr. 
 N. used to consider him as a sort of curate, 
 from his constant attendance upon the sick and 
 afflicted, in Chat large and necessitous parish. 
 
 But the malady, which seemed to be subdu- 
 ed by the strong consolations of the Gospel, 
 was still latent ; and only required some occa- 
 sion of irritation to break out again, and over- 
 whelm the patient. Any object of constant 
 attention that shall occupy a mind previous!} 
 disorded, whether fear, or love, or science, or 
 , religion, will not be so much the cause of the 
 disease, as the accidental occasion of exciting 
 it. Cowper's letters will shew us how r much 
 his mind was occupied at one time by the 
 truths of the Bible, and at another time by the 
 fictions of Homer; but his melancholy was 
 originally a constitutional disease — a physical 
 disorder, which, indeed, could be affected 
 either by the Bible or by Homer, but was ut- 
 terly distinct in its nature from the mere matter 
 of either. And here, I canngt but mark this 
 necessary distinction ; having often been wit- 
 ness to cases where religion has been assigned 
 as the proper cause of insanity, when it lias 
 been onlv an accidental occasion, in the i 
 
120 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 of one already affected*. Thus Cowper's ma- 
 malady, like a strong current, breaking down 
 the banks which had hitherto sustained the 
 
 * I have been an eye witness of several instances of 
 this kind of misrepresentation, but will detain the reader 
 with mentioning only one. I was called to visit a wo- 
 man whose mind was disordered, and, on my observing 
 that it was a case which required the assistance of a phy- 
 sician, rather than that of a clergyman, her husband re- 
 plied; " Si?-, we sent to you, because it is a religious case 
 — her mind has been injured by constantly reading' the 
 Bible " I have known many instances, said I, of per- 
 sons brought to their senses by reading the Bible ; but 
 it is possible, that too intense an application to that, as 
 well as to any other subject, may have disordered your 
 wife. " There is every proof of it" said he ; and was 
 proceeding to multiply his proofs, till his brother inter- 
 rupted him by thus addressing me : 
 
 " Sir, I have no longer patience to stand by and see you 
 imposed on. The truth of the matter is this ; my brother 
 has forsaken his wife, and been long connected with a loose 
 woman. He had the best of wives in her, and one who 
 was strongly attached to him : but she has seen his heart 
 and property given to another, and, in her solitude and 
 distress, went to the Bible, as the only consolotion left her. 
 Her health and spirits at length sunk tinder her troubles ; 
 and there she lies distracted, not from reading her Bible, 
 but from the infidelity and cruelty of her husband. 9% ~~ 
 Does the reader wish to know what reply the husband 
 made to this? He made no reply at all, but left the 
 room with confusion of face I 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON, 
 
 pressure and obliquity of its course, prevailed 
 against the supports he had received, and pre 
 cipitated him again into his former distress. 
 
 I inquired of Mr. N. as to the manner in 
 which Mr. Cowper's disorder returned, aftei 
 an apparent recovery of nearly nine years co:i 
 tinuance ; and was informed, that the 'first 
 symptoms were discovered one morning, in 
 his discourse, soon after he had undertaken a 
 new engagement in composition. 
 
 As-a general and full account of this extra 
 ordinary genius is already before the public, 
 such particulars would not have occupied so 
 much room in these Memoirs, but with a view 
 of removing the false statements that have been 
 .made. 
 
 Of great importance also was the vicinity 
 of Mr. N.'s residence to that of the Rev. Mr. 
 Scott, then curate of Ravenstone and Weston 
 Underwood, and now rector of Aston Sand- 
 ford ; a man whose ministry and writings have 
 since been so useful to mankind. This cler- 
 gyman was nearly a Socinian : he was in the 
 habit of ridiculing evangelical religion, and la 
 boured to bring over Mr. N. to his own sen 
 timents. Mr. Scott had married a lady from 
 the family of a Mr. Wright, a gentleman in 
 his parish, who had promised to provide I 
 
 La 
 
122 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 him. But Mr. Scott's objection to subscrip- 
 tion arose so high, that he informed his patron 
 it would be in vain to attempt providing for 
 him ia the Church of England ; as he could 
 not conscientiously accept a living, on the 
 condition of subscribing its liturgy and arti- 
 cles. " This," said Mr. N., " gave me hopes 
 of Mr. Scott's being sincere, however wrong 
 in his principles." 
 
 But the benefit which Mr. Scott derived 
 from his neighbour, will best appear in his own 
 words. * 
 
 " I was, says he, full of proud self-sufficien^ 
 cy, very positive, and very obstinate : and, 
 being situated in the neighbourhood of some 
 of those whom the world calls Methodists, I 
 joined in the prevailing sentiment ; held them 
 in sovereign contempt ; spoke of them with 
 derision ; declaimed against them from the 
 pulpit, as persons full of bigotry, enthusiasm, 
 and sptritual pride ; laid heavy things to their 
 charge ; and endeavoured to prove the doc- 
 trines, which I supposed them to hold, (for I 
 had never read their books) to be dishonoura- 
 ble to God, and destructive of morality. And 
 though in some companies I chose to conceal 
 
 part of my sentiments, and in all, affected to 
 
 & Sc .V Force < 
 
 } 3 
 
 ; of Truth, p. 11, 5th edit. 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON, 123 
 
 speak as a friend to universal toleration ; j 
 scarcely any person could be more proudly 
 and violently prejudiced against both theii 
 persons and principles than I then was. 
 
 " In January 1774 two of my parishioners, 
 a man and his wife, lay at the point of death. 
 I had heard of the circumstance, but, accor- 
 ding to my general custom, not being sent for, 
 I took no notice of it ; till one evening, the 
 woman being now dead, and the man a dying, 
 I heard that my neighbour Mr. N. had been 
 several times to visit them. Immediately my 
 conscience reproached me with being shame- 
 fully negligent, in sitting at home within a few- 
 doors of dying persons, my general hearers, 
 and never going to visit them. Directly it 
 occurred to me, that, whatever contempt I 
 might have for Mr. N.'s doctrines, I must ac- 
 knowledge his practice to be more consistent 
 with the ministerial character than my own. 
 He must have more zeal and love for souls, 
 than I had, or he would not have walked so far 
 to visit, and supply my Jack of care to those 
 who, as far as I was concerned, might have 
 been left to perish in their sins. 
 
 u This reflection affected me so much, that 
 without delay, and very earnestly, yea with 
 tears,- I besought the Lord to forgive my past 
 
i-4 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 neglect ; and I resolved thenceforth to be more 
 attentive to this duty : which resolution, 
 though at fifst formed in ignorant dependence 
 on my own strength, I have by divine grace 
 been enabled hitherto to keep. — I went imme- 
 diately to visit the survivor ; and the affecting 
 bight of one person already dead, and another 
 expiring in the same chamber, served more 
 deeply to impress my serious convictions. 
 
 " It was at this time that my correspondence 
 with Mr. N. commenced. At a visitation. 
 May 1775, we exchanged a few words on a 
 controverted subject, in the room among the 
 clergy, which I believe drew many eyes upon 
 us. At that time he prudently declined the 
 discourse ; but a day or two after he sent me 
 a short note, with a little book for my perusal. 
 This was the very thing I wanted; and I glad- 
 ly embraced the opportunity which, according 
 to my wishes, seemed now to offer; God 
 knoweth, with no inconsiderable expectations 
 that my arguments would prove irresistibly 
 convincing, and that I should have the honour 
 of rescuing a well-meaning person from his 
 cnthusiastical delusions. 
 
 " I had, indeed, by this time conceived a 
 very favourable opinion of him, and a sort of 
 respect for him, being acquainted with the cha . 
 
REV. JOHN NEWT OX. 
 
 meter he sustained even among some persons, 
 who expressed a disapprobation of his doc- 
 trines. They were forward to commend him 
 as a benevolent, disinterested, inoffensive per- 
 son, and a laborious minister. But, on the 
 other hand, I looked upon his religious senti- 
 ments as rank fanaticism ; and entertained a 
 very contemptible opinion of his abilities, na- 
 tural and acquired. Once I had had the cu- 
 riosity to hear him preach; and, not under- 
 standing his sermon, I made a very great jest 
 of it, where I could do it without giving of- 
 fence. I had also read one of his publica- 
 tions ; but for the same reason I thought the 
 greater part of it whimsical, paradoxical, and 
 unintelligible. 
 
 " Concealing, therefore, the true motives of 
 my conduct, under the offer of friendship, and 
 a professed desire to know the truth, (which 
 amidst all my self-sufficiency and prejudice, I 
 trust the Lord had even tMhi given me ;) with 
 the greatest affectation of candour, and of amine! 
 a to conviction, I wrote him a long letter ; 
 purposing to draw from him such an avowal 
 and explanation of his sentiments, as might in- 
 troduce a conaroversial discussion of our reli- 
 gious differences. 
 
 , f * The event by no means answered my ex- 
 L2 
 
1.26 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 pectation.% He returned a very friendly and 
 long answer to my letter ; in which he care- 
 fully avoidqj^ the mention of those doctrines 
 which he knew would offend me. He de- 
 clared that he believed me to be one who fear- 
 ed God, and was under the teaching of his 
 Holy Spirit ; that he gladly accepted my offer 
 of friendship ; and was no ways inclined to 
 dictate to me ; but that, leaving me to the 
 guidance of the Lord, he would be glad, as 
 occasion served, from time to time, to bear 
 testimony to the truths of the Gospel, and to 
 communicate his sentiments to me on aijy 
 subject, with ail the confidence of friendship. 
 " In this manner our correspondence be- 
 gan ; and it was continued, in the interchange 
 of nine or ten letters, till December in the 
 same year. Throughout I held my purpose, 
 and he his. I made use of every endeavour 
 to draw him into controversy, and filled my 
 letters with defiTiitions, inquiries, arguments, 
 objections, and consequences requiring expli- 
 cit answers. He, on the other hand, shunned 
 every thing controversial as much as possible, 
 and filled his letters with the most useful and 
 least offensive instructions : except that, now 
 *nd then, he dropped his hints concerning the 
 necessity, the true nature, and the efficacy of 
 
REV. J WTOX. 127 
 
 faith, and the manner in which it <vas to be 
 sOtight and obtained; and concerning some 
 other matters, suited, as he judged, to help 
 me forward ii my inquiry after truth. But 
 they much offended my prejudices, afforded 
 me matter of disputation, and at that time w r ere 
 of little use to me. 
 
 " When I had made this little progres in seek- 
 ing the truth, my acquaintance with Mr. N. 
 resumed. From the conclusion of our 
 correspondence, in December 1775, till April 
 1 777, it had been almost wholly dropped. To 
 speak plainly, I did not care for his company ; 
 I did not mean to make any use of him as an 
 instructor; and I was unwilling the world 
 should think us in any way connected. But, 
 under discouraging circumstances, I had occa- 
 sion to call upon him ; and his discourse so 
 comforted and edified me, that my heart, being 
 by his means relieved from its burden, became 
 susceptible of affection for him. From that 
 time I was inwardly pleased to have him for 
 my friend ; though not as now rejoiced to call 
 him so. I had, however, even at that time, no 
 thoughts of learning doctrinal truth from him, 
 and was ashamed to be detected in the compa- 
 ny ; but I sometimes stole away to spend an 
 hour with him. About the same period, I 
 
1:28 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 once heard him preach, but still it was foolish- 
 ness to me*; his sermon being principally upon 
 the believers experience, in some particulars, 
 with which I was unacquainted. — So that, 
 though I loved and valued him, I considered 
 him as a person misled by enthusiastical no- 
 tions ; and strenuously insisted that we should 
 never think alike, till we met in heaven." 
 
 Mr. Scott, after going on to particularize 
 his progress in the discovery of truth, and the 
 the character of Mr. N. as its minister, after- 
 wards adds : 
 
 " The pride of reasoning, and the conceit of 
 superiour discernment, had all along accompa- 
 nied me ; and, though somewhat broken, had yet 
 considerable influence. Hitherto, therefore, I 
 had not thought of hearing any person preach ; 
 because I did not think any one in the circle 
 of my acquaintance capable of giving me such 
 •information as I wanted. But being at length 
 convinced that Mr. N. had been right, and 
 that I had been mistaken, in the several parti- 
 culars in which we had differed^ it occurred to 
 me, that, having preached these doctrines so 
 long, he must understand many things con- 
 cerning them to which I was a stranger. Now, 
 therefore, though not without much remain- 
 ing prejudice, dtid not less in the character of 
 
REV. JOHN NE I 
 
 a judge than of a scholar, I condescended to 
 
 be his hearer, and occasionally to attend his 
 preaching, and that of some other ministers ; — 
 I soon perceived the benefit ; for from time to 
 time the secrets of my heart were discovered 
 to me, far beyond what I had hitherto noticed ; 
 and I seldom returned from hearing a sermon, 
 without having conceived a meaner opinion of 
 myself — without having attained to a further 
 acquaintance with my deficiencies, weaknesses, 
 corruptions, and wants — or without being sup- 
 plied with fresh matter for prayer, and direct- 
 ed to greater watchfulness. I likewise learned 
 the use of experience in preaching ; and was 
 convinced, that the readiest way to reach the 
 hearts and consciences of others, was to speak 
 from my own. In short, I gradually saw more 
 and more my need of instruction, and w^as at 
 length brought to consider myself as a very 
 novice in religious matters. Thus I began 
 experimentally to perceive our Lord's mean- 
 ing, when he says, ' Except ye receive the 
 kingdom of heaven as a little child, ye shall in 
 no wise enter therein.' " 
 
 If I have seemed to digress in dwelling so 
 long on these three characters, let the reader 
 consider the importance of the facts — their in- 
 timate connection with Mr. N.'s history — and 
 
130 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 let me inform him that the author has same, 
 thing much nearer his heart than that of preci- 
 sion in setting forth the history of an individual ; 
 /namely, that of exhibiting the nature and im- 
 portance of vital and experimental religion : he 
 therefore gladly brings forward any fact found 
 in his way, which may tend to illustrate it. 
 
 But to return to the more immediate sub- 
 ject of these Memoirs. In the year 1776 Mr. 
 N. was afflicted with a tumour or wen, which 
 had formed on his thigh ; and on account of 
 its growing more large and troublesome, he 
 resolved to undergo the experiment of extirpa- 
 tion. This obliged him to go to London for 
 the operation, which was successfully perform- 
 ed, October 10th, by the late Mr. Warner, of 
 Guy's Hospital. I remember hearing him 
 speak several years afterwards of this trying 
 occasion ; but the trial did not seem to have 
 affected him as a painful operation, so much as 
 a critical opportunity in which he might fail in 
 demonstrating the patience of a Christian under 
 pain. " I felt,", said he, " that being enabled 
 to bear a very sharp operation with tolerable 
 calmness and confidence, was a greater favour 
 granted to me than the deliverance from my 
 malady." — His reflections upon the occasion, 
 irji his diary, will be found under note E, 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 131 
 
 While Mr. N. thus continued faithfully di > 
 charging the duties of his station, and watch- 
 ing for the temporal and eternal welfare of his 
 flock, a dreadful fire broke out at Olney, Oc- 
 tober 1777. Mr. N. took an active part in 
 comforting and relieving the sufferers : he col- 
 lected upwards of ^200 for them ; a consider 
 able sum of money, when the poverty, and late 
 calamity of the place is regarded. Such in- 
 stances of benevolence towards the people, 
 with the constant assistance he afforded the 
 poor, by the help of Mr. Thornton, naturally 
 led him to expect that he should have so much 
 influence as to restrain gross licentiousness on 
 particular occasions. But, to use his own i 
 pression, he had " lived to bury the old crop, 
 on which any dependence could be placed." 
 He preached a weekly lecture, which occurred 
 that year on the 5th of November ; and, as ht 
 feared that the usual way of celebrating it a* 
 Olney, might endanger his hearers in their at- 
 tendance at the church, he exerted himself to 
 preserve some degree of quiet on that evening. 
 Instead, however, of harkening to his intreaties. 
 the looser sort exceeded their former extrava- 
 gance, drunkenness, and rioting, and even 
 obliged him to send out money, to preserve, 
 his house from violence. This happened but 
 
132 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 a year before he finally left Olney. When he 
 related this occurrence to me, he added, that 
 he believed he should never have left the place 
 while he lived, had not so incorrigible a spirit 
 prevailed, in a parish he had long laboured to 
 reform. 
 
 But I must remark here, that this is no soli- 
 tary fact, nor at all unaccountable. The Gos- 
 pel we are informed is not merely a savour of 
 life unto life, but also of death unto death. 
 Those whom it does not soften it is often 
 found to harden. Thus we find St. Paul went 
 into the synagogue and spake boldly for the 
 space of three months, disputing and persua- 
 ding the things concerning the kingdom of 
 God. But, when divers were hardened, and 
 believed not, but spake evil of that way before 
 the multitude, he departed from them. 
 
 The strong man armed, seeks to keep his 
 house and goods in peace, and, if a minister 
 is disposed to let this sleep of death remain, 
 that minister's own house and goods may be 
 permitted to remain in peace also. Such a 
 minister may be esteemed by his parish as a 
 good kind of man-~-quiet, inoffensive, candid, 
 &c. and if he discovers any zeal, it is directed 
 to keep the parish in the state he found it ; 
 that is, in ignorance and unbelief, worldly- 
 
REV. JOHN NI 
 
 minded and hard-hearted — the very state of 
 peace in which the strong man armed seeks 
 to keep his palace or citadel, the human 
 heart. 
 
 But if a minister, like the subject of these 
 Memoirs, enters into the design of his com- 
 mission — if he be alive to the interest of his 
 own soul, and that of the souls committed to 
 his charge ; or as the Apostle expresses it, to 
 save himself and those that hear him, he may 
 depend upon meeting in his own experience 
 the truth of that declaration, Yea, all that will 
 live godly in Christ Jesus, shall suffer perse- 
 cution, in one form of it or another. One of 
 the most melancholy sights we behold is, when 
 any part of the church, through prejudice, 
 joins the world in throwing the stone. There 
 is, however, such a determined enmity to god- 
 liness itself, in the breasts of a certain class of 
 men existing in most parishes, that, whatever 
 learning and good sense is found in their 
 teacher — whatever consistency of character or 
 blameless deportment he exhibits — whatever 
 benevolence or bounty (like that which Mr. 
 N. exercised at Olney) may constantly appear 
 in his character — such men remain irreconci- 
 lable. They will resist every attempt made 
 to appease their enmity. God alone, who 
 M 
 
134 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 changed the hearts of Paul and of Newton , 
 can heal these bitter waters. 
 
 I recollect to have heard Mr. N. say on 
 such an occasion, " When God is about to 
 perform any great work, he generally permits 
 some great opposition to it. Suppose Pha- 
 raoh had acquiesced in the departure of the 
 children of Israel — or that they had met with 
 no difficulties in the way — they would, indeed, 
 have passed from Egypt to Canaan w r ith ease : 
 but they, as well as the church in all future 
 ages, would have been great losers. The 
 wonder-working God would not have been 
 seen "in those extremities which make his arm 
 so visible — A smooth passage here, would 
 have made but a* poor story." 
 
 But under such disorders, Mr. N. in no one 
 instance that I ever heard of, was tempted to 
 depart from the line marked out by the pre- 
 cept and example of* his master. He conti- 
 nued to bless them that persecuted him ; 
 knowing that the servant of the Lord must 
 not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to 
 teach, patient. To the last day he spent 
 among them, he went straight forward, in 
 meekness, instructing those that opposed, if 
 God peradventure might give them repentance 
 to the acknowledging the truth. 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON". 135 
 
 But before we take a final leave of Olaey, 
 the reader must be informed of another part 
 6f Mr: N.'s labours. He had published a vo- 
 lume of sermons, before he took orders, dated 
 Liverpool, Jan. 1, 1760. In 1762, he pub- 
 lished liis Omicron, to which his tetters, si^u- 
 
 Vigil, were afterwards annexed. In 1764, 
 d his Narrative. In 1767, a volume 
 of sermons, preached at Olney. In 1769, his 
 Review of Ecclesiastical History. And in 
 177 ( J, a volume of hymns; of which some were 
 composed by Mr. Cowper, and dis bed 
 
 by a C. To these succeeded, in 1781, his 
 valuable work Cardiphonia ; but mere will 
 be said of these in their place. 
 
 From Olney Mr. N. was removed to the 
 rectory of the united parishes of St. Mary 
 Woolnoth, and St. Mary Woolchurch-Haw, 
 Lombard street, on the presentation of his 
 friend Mr. Thornton. 
 
 It is remarkable, that these parishes had 
 been favoured with two very eminent pastors 
 before Mr. N. appeared ; namely, the Rev. 
 Josias Shute, B. D. Archdeacon of Cole!; 
 ter, and Rector of St. Mary Woolnoth, who 
 died 1643 — and the Rev. Ralph Robinson, 
 who died in 1655. There is a well-written 
 
 omit of Mr. Shute in the Christian Ob 
 
136 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 vcv of January 1804; from which it appears, 
 that his piety, ministerial talents, and modera- 
 tion, in those difficult times, were very much 
 distinguished, during the thirty-three years he 
 continued rector*. Mr. Robinson died young 
 but has left a volume of truly evangelical dis- 
 courses, preached at St. Mary's. 
 
 Some difficulty arose on Mr. N.'s being 
 presented, by Mr. Thornton's right of pre- 
 sentation being claimed by a nobleman ; the 
 question was, therefore, at length brought be- 
 fore the House of Lords, and determined in 
 favour of Mr. Thornton. Mr. N. preached 
 his first sermon in these, parishes, Dec. 19, 
 1779, from Eph. iv. 15. Speaking the truth 
 in love. It contained an affectionate address 
 to his parishioners, and was directly published 
 for their use. 
 
 * Granger, in his Biographical History of England, 
 says, that " his learning in divinity and ecclesiastical 
 history was extensive, indeed almost universal." And 
 even Walker, in his Account of the Clergy, says, that, 
 "'In the beginning of the troubles, he was molested 
 and harrassed to death, and denied a funeral sermon to 
 be preached for him by Dr. Holdsworth, as he desired 
 — that he was a person of great piety, charity, and gra- 
 vity, and of a most sweet and affable temper." It fur- 
 ther appears, that, like his successor Mr. N. he 
 preached twice on the Sunday, an d^ had a lecture in 
 hsi church every Wednesday. 
 
 
REV. J Oil N N E\\ TON. 
 
 Here a new and very distinct scene of a< 
 and usefulness was set before him. Placed in 
 the centre of London — in an opulent neigh - 
 
 irhood — with connections daily increasing, 
 lie had now a course of service to pursue, in 
 several respects different from his former at 
 
 ley. Being, however, well acquainted with 
 word of God and the heart of man, he pro- 
 d to himself no new weapons 
 
 pulling down the strong holds of sin and 
 
 around 'him. He perceived, indeed, 
 
 most of his parishioners too intent upon their 
 
 ilth and merchandize to pay much regard 
 
 their new minister ; but, since the} would 
 hot come to him, he was determined to go, as 
 far as he could, to them ; and, e, soon 
 
 r his institution, he sent a printed add- 
 to his parishioners: he afterv ht them 
 
 ither address, on the us 
 
 taken up against the C spek What ef- 
 fects these attempts had then upon thei 
 not appear ; certain it is, tli^tt these her 
 
 acts of his ministry, will be recollected by 
 them, when the objects of their present p\ir- 
 5 arc forgotten or lament 
 
 I have heard Mr. N. speak with great feel- 
 ing on the circumstances of his last import; 
 station, *i That one," said he,"" of the fnost 
 M2 
 
138 MEMOIRS OP THE 
 
 ignorant, the most miserable, and the most 
 abandoned of slaves, should be plucked from 
 his forlorn state of exile on the coast of Afri- 
 ca, and at length be appointed minister of the 
 parish of the first magistrate of the first city in 
 the world — -that he should there not only testi- 
 fy of such grace, but stand up as a singular 
 instance and monument of it — that he should 
 be enabled to record it in his history, preach- 
 ing, and writings to the world at large — is a 
 fact I can contemplate with admiration, but 
 never sufficiently estimate." — This reflection, 
 indeed, was so present to his mind on all oc- 
 casions, and in all places, that he seldom pass- 
 ed a single day any where, but he was found 
 referring to the strange event, in one way or 
 other. 
 
 It may be necessary to add, that the latter 
 part of these Memoirs leads me to speak so 
 personally of my friend, that any further in- 
 spection from his own eye was deemed impro- 
 per. 
 
 When Mr. N. came to St. Mary's, he resi- 
 ded for some time in Charles' Square, Hox- 
 ton ; afterwards he removed to Coleman street 
 buildings, where he continued till his death. 
 Being of the most friendly and communica- 
 tive disposition^ his house was open to Chris- 
 
v. JOHN m:\vtox. 
 
 tians of all ranks and denominations. II 
 like a lather among his children, he used to 
 entertain, encourage and instruct his friends, 
 especially younger ministers, or candidates for 
 the ministry. Here also the poor, the afflict- 
 ed, and the tempted, found an asylum, and a 
 sympathy, which they could scarcely find, in 
 an equal degree, any where besides. 
 
 His timely hints were often given with much 
 point, and profitable address, to the numerous 
 acquaintance which surrounded him in this 
 public station. Some time after Mr. N. had 
 published his Omicron, and described the 
 three stages of growth in religion, from the 
 blade, the ear, and the full corn in the ear, 
 distinguishing them by the letters A. B. and 
 C. a conceited young minister wrote to Mr. 
 X. telling him that he read his own character 
 accurately drawn in that of C. Mr. N. wrote 
 in reply, that in drawing the character of C. 
 or full maturity, he had forgotten to add till 
 now, one prominent feature of C.'s character, 
 namely, that C. never knew his own face. 
 
 " It grieves me," said Mr. N. "to see so 
 few of my wealthy parishioners come to 
 church. I always consider the rich as under 
 greater obligations to the preaching of the gos- 
 pel than the poor. For at church, the rich 
 
140 MEMOIRS OP THE 
 
 must hear the whole truth as well as others. 
 There they have no mode of escape. But let 
 them once get home, you will be troubled to 
 get at them ; and, when you are admitted, you 
 are so fettered with punctilio — so interrupted 
 and damped with the frivolous conversation of 
 their friends, that, as Archbishop Leighton 
 says, c it is well if your visit does not prove a 
 -blank or a blot.' " 
 
 Mr. N. used to improve every occurrence 
 which he could with propriety bring into the 
 pulpit. One night he found a bill put up at 
 St. Mary Woolnotlvs, upon which he com- 
 mented a great deal when he came to preach. 
 The bill was to this effect, " A young man, 
 having come to the possesion of a very consi- 
 derable fortune, desires the prayers of the con- 
 gregation, that he may be preserved from the 
 snares to which it exposes him.'' — " Now if 
 the man," said Mr. N. " had lost a fortune, the 
 world w r ould not have wondered to have seen 
 him put up a bill, but this man has been bet- 
 ter taught." 
 
 Coming out of his church, on a Wednes- 
 day, a lady stopped him on the steps and said, 
 hi The ticket, of which I held a quarter, is 
 drawn a prize of ten thousand pounds. I 
 know you will congratulate me upon the oc- 
 
JtEV. JOHN NEWTON. Ill 
 
 ion." — " Madam," said he, " as for a friend 
 under temptation, I will endeavour to pray for 
 you." 
 
 Soon after he came to St. Mary's, I re- 
 member to have heard him say, in a eertain 
 company, " Some have observed that I 
 preach shorter sermons on a Sunday morn- 
 ing, and with more caution : but this I do up- 
 on principle. — I suppose I may have two or 
 three of my bankers present, and some others 
 of my parish, who have hitherto been stran- 
 gers to my views of truth. I endeavour to 
 imitate the apostle. ' I became,' says he, * all 
 things to all men;' but observe the end, it 
 was in order to gain some — The fowler must 
 go cautiously to meet shy birds, but he will 
 not leave his powder and shot behind him. I 
 have fed you with milk, says the apostle ; but 
 there are some, that are not only for forcing 
 strong meat, but bones too, down the throat 
 of the child. — We must have patience with a 
 single step in the case of an infant ; and there 
 one-step books. and sermons which are 
 good in their place. Christ taught his disci- 
 ples as they were able to bear ; and it was up- 
 on the same principle that the apostle accom- 
 modated himself to prejudice. — Now," con- 
 tinued he, " what I wish to remark on tl 
 
142 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 considerations is, that, this apostolical princi- 
 ple, steadily pursued, will render a minister 
 apparently inconsistent — superficial hearers 
 will think him a trimmer. On the other hand, 
 a minister, destitute of the apostolical princi- 
 ple and intention, and directing his whole 
 force to preserve the appearance of consisten- 
 cy, may thus seem to preserve it ; hut let me 
 tell you, here is only the form of faithfulness, 
 without the spirit." 
 
 I could not help observing one day, how 
 much Mr. N. was grieved with the mistake 
 of a minister^ who appeared to pay too much 
 attention to politics. " For my part," said he, 
 " I have no temptation to turn politician, and 
 much less to inflame a party, in these times. 
 When a ship is leaky, and a mutinous spirit 
 divides the company on board : a wise man 
 w r ould say, ' My good friends, while we are 
 ' debating, the water is gaining on us — we 
 1 had better leave the debate, and go to the 
 8 pumps.' — I endeavour," continued he, " to 
 turn my people's eyes from instruments to 
 God. I am continually attempting to shew 
 them, how far they are from knowing either 
 the matter of fact, or the matter of right. I 
 inculcate our great privileges in this country, 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 and advise a discontented man to take a loci;; 
 ing for a little while in Russia or Prussia." 
 
 Though no great variety of anecdote is to 
 be expected in a course so stationary as this 
 part of Mr. N.'s life and ministry ; for some 
 times the course of a single day might give 
 the account of a whole year ; yet that day was 
 so benevolently spent, that he was found in it 
 not only rejoicing with those that rejoiced, but 
 literally weeping with those that wept. The 
 portrait which Goldsmith drew from imagina- 
 tion, Mr. N. realized in fact, insomuch that 
 had Mr. N. sat for his picture to the poet, it 
 could not have been more accurately delinea- 
 ted than by the following lines in his Deserted 
 Village : 
 
 " Unskilful he to fawn, or seek for power. 
 By doctrines fashioned to the varying hour ; 
 Far other aims his heart had learned to prize. 
 More bent to raise the wretched than to rise. 
 Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride 
 And e'en his failings lean'cl to Virtue's side ; 
 But in his duty prompt at every call, 
 He watch'd and wept, he pray.'d and felt, for all : 
 And as a bird each fond endearment tries, 
 To tempt its new-fledg'd offspring to the sk 
 He tried each art, reprov'd each dull delay, 
 Allur'd to brighter worlds, and led the way." 
 
 I remember to have heard him say; when 
 
144 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 speaking of his continual interruptions, " I 
 see in this world two heaps of human happi- 
 ness and misery ; now if I can take but the 
 smallest bit from one heap and add to the 
 other, I carry a point. — If, as I go home, a 
 child has dropped a halfpenny, and if, by giv- 
 ing it another, I can wipe away its tears, I feel 
 I have done something. I should be glad in- 
 deed to do greater things, but I will not ne- 
 glect this. — When I hear a knock at my stu- 
 dy door, I hear a message from God ; it may 
 be a lesson of instruction, perhaps a lesson of 
 patience ; but, since it is his message, it must 
 be interesting." 
 
 But it was not merely under his own roof 
 that his benevolent aims ,were thus exerted ; 
 he waa found ready to take an active part in 
 relieving the miserable, directing the anxious, 
 or recovering the wanderer, in whatever state 
 or place L discovered such : of which take 
 the following instance. 
 
 Mr. , who is still living, and who 
 
 holds a post of great importance abroad, was a 
 youth of considerable talents, and who had a 
 respectable education. I am not informed of 
 his original destination in point of profession ; 
 but certain it is, that he left his parents in Scot- 
 land, with a design of viewing the world at 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 145 
 
 targe, and that without those pecuniary resour- 
 ces, which could render such an undertaking 
 convenient, or even practicable. Yet having 
 the sanguine expectations of youth, together 
 with its inexperience, he determinately pursu- 
 ed his plan. I have seen an account from his 
 own hand, of the strange, but by no means dis- 
 honourable, resources to which he was reduced 
 in the pursuit of this scheme ; nor can romance 
 exceed the detail. But the particulars of his 
 long journey, till he arrived in London, and 
 those which have since occurred, would not be 
 proper, at present, for any one to record ex- 
 cept himself; and I cannot but w r ish he would 
 favour the world with them, on the principle 
 which led Mr. N. to write his Narrative. To 
 London, however, he came ; and then, he 
 seemed to come to himself. He had heard 
 Mr. N.'s character, and on a Sunday evening 
 he came to St. Mary Woolnoth, and stood in 
 one of the aisles while Mr. N. preached. In 
 the course of that week he wrote Mr. N. some 
 account of his adventure, and state of mind 
 Such circumstances could be addressed to no 
 man more properly. Mr. N.'s favourite maxr 
 im was often in his mouth, more often in his 
 actions, and always in his heart ; 
 
 H&uci succurrcrc disco. 
 
146 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Mr. N. therefore gave notice from the pulpit 
 on the following Sunday evening, that, if the 
 person was present who had sent him such a 
 letter, he would be glad to speak with him. 
 
 Mr. gladly accepted the invitation, 
 
 and came to Mr. N.'s house, where a friend- 
 ship began which continued till Mr. N.'s death. 
 Mr. N. not only afforded this youth the instruc- 
 tion which he, at this period, so deeply needed ; 
 but, marking his fine abilities and corrected 
 inclination, he introduced him to Henry Thorn- 
 ton, Esq. who, inheriting his father's unbound- 
 ed liberality, and determined adherence to the 
 cause of real religion, readily patronized the 
 
 stranger. Mr. was, by the munificence 
 
 qf this gentleman, supported through a univer- 
 sity education, and was afterwards ordained 
 
 to the curacy of . It was, however, thought 
 
 expedient that his talents should be employed 
 in an important station abroad, which he readily 
 undertook, and in which* he now maintains a 
 very distinguished character. 
 
 It ought not to be concealed that Mr. , 
 
 since his advancement, has not only returned 
 his patron the whole expense of his university 
 education, but has also placed in his hands an 
 ecjual sum, for the education of some pious 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 147 
 
 youth ; who might be deemed worthy of that 
 assistance once afforded to himself ! 
 
 Mr. N. used to spend a month or two, an- 
 ally, at the house of some friend in the coun- 
 f rv ; he always took an affectionate leave of 
 his congregation before he departed, and spake 
 of his leaving town as quite uncertain of re- 
 turning to it, considering the variety of inci- 
 dents which might prevent that return. No- 
 thing was more remarkable than his constant 
 habit of regarding the hand of God in every 
 event, however trivial it might appear to others. 
 On every occasion — in the concerns of every 
 hour — in matters public or private, like Enoch, 
 he walked with God. Take a single instance 
 of his state of mind in this respect. In walk- 
 ing to his church he would say, " The way of 
 man is not in himself, nor can he conceive 
 what belongs to a single step — when I go to 
 St. Mary Woolnoth, it seems the same whether 
 I turn down Lothbury or go through the Old 
 Jewry, but the going through one street and 
 not another, may produce an effect of lasting 
 consequences. — A man cut down my ham- 
 mock in sport, but had he cut it down half an 
 .hour later, I had not been here ; as the ex- 
 change of crew was then making. — A mat) 
 made a smoke on the sea shore at the time a 
 
148 MEMOIRS' OF THE 
 
 ship passed, which was thereby brought to, 
 and afterwards brought me to England." 
 
 Mr. N. had experienced a severe stroke 
 soon after he came to St. Mary's, and while 
 he resided in Charles' Square, in the death of 
 his niece. Miss Eliza Cunningham. He loved 
 her with the affection of a parent, and she was, 
 indeed, truly lovely. He had brought her up, 
 and had observed that, with the most amiable 
 natural qualities, she possessed a real piety. 
 With every possible attention from Mr. and 
 Mrs. Newton and their friends, they saw her 
 gradually sink into the arms of death ; but 
 fully prepared to meet him, as a messenger 
 sent from a yet kinder Father, to whom she 
 departed, October 6th, 1785, aged fourteen 
 years and eight months. On this occasion Mr. 
 N. published some brief memoirs of her cha- 
 racter and death. 
 
 In the years 1784 and 1785, Mr. N. preach- 
 ed a course of sermons, on an occasion, of 
 which he gives the following account in his 
 first discourse: " Conversation in almost every 
 company, for some time past, has much turned 
 upon the commemoration of Handel, — and 
 particularly on his oratorio of the Messiah. I 
 mean to lead your meditations to the language, 
 of the oratorio, and to consider, in their order, 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTOX. 149 
 
 ^ if* the Lord, on whom our breath depends, 
 shall be pleased to afford life, ability, and op- 
 portunity) the several sublime and interesting 
 passages of Scripture, which are the basis of 
 that admired composition." In the "year 1786, 
 he published these discourses, in two volumes 
 octavo. There is a passage so original, at the 
 beginning of his fourth sermon, from Mai. iii. 
 1 — 3. The Lord, whom ye seek, shall sud- 
 denly come to his temple, &c. that I shall trans- 
 cribe it for the use of such as have not seen 
 these discourses ; at the same time it will, in 
 a few words, convey Mr. N.'s idea of the usual 
 performance of this oratorio, or attending its 
 performance, in present circumstances. 
 
 " Whereunto shall we liken the people of 
 this generation, and to what are they like ? 1 
 represent to myself a number of persons, of 
 various characters, involved in one common 
 charge of high treason. They are already in a 
 state of confinement, but not yet brought to 
 their trial. The facts, however, are so plain, 
 and the evidence against them so strong and 
 pointed, that there is not the least doubt of 
 their guilt being fully proved, and that nothing 
 but a pardon can preserve them from punish^ 
 ment. In this situation, it should seem their 
 
 wisdom to avail themselves of every expedient 
 
 N2 
 
150 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 in their power for obtaining mercy. But they 
 are entirely regardless of their danger, and whol- 
 ly taken up with contriving methods of amus- 
 ing themselves, that they may pass away the 
 term of their imprisonment with as much 
 cheerfulness as possible. Among other re- 
 sources, they call in the assistance of music. 
 And amidst a great variety of subjects in this 
 way, they are particularly pleased with one. 
 They choose to make the solemnities of their im- 
 pending trial, the character of their judge, the 
 methods of his procedure, and the awful sen- 
 tence to which they are exposed, the ground- 
 work of a musical entertainment. And, as if 
 they were quite unconcerned in the event, their 
 attention is chiefly, fixed upon the skill of the 
 composer, in adapting the style of his music 
 to the very solemn language and subject with 
 which they are trifling. The king, however, 
 out of his great clemency and compassion to- 
 wards those who have no pity for themselves, 
 prevents them with his goodness. Undesired 
 by them, he sends them a gracious message. 
 He assures them that he is unwilling they 
 shp^ild suffer : he requires, yea, he entreats 
 them to submit. He points out a way in which 
 their confession and submission shall be cer- 
 tainly accepted ; and in this way, which he 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 151 
 
 condescends to prescribe, he offers them a free 
 and a full pardon. But instead of taking a sin- 
 gle step towards a compliance with his good- 
 >, they set his message likewise to music : 
 and this, together with a description of their 
 present state, and of the fearful doom awaiting 
 them, if they continue obstinate, is sung for 
 their diversion; accompanied with the sound 
 of cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulci- 
 mer, and all kinds of instruments. Surely, if 
 such a case as I have supposed could be found 
 in real life, though I might admire the musical 
 taste of these people, I should commiserate 
 their insensibility !" 
 
 But clouds return after the rain : a greater 
 loss than that of Miss C. was to follow. 
 Enough has been said in these Memoirs al- 
 ready to shew the more than ordinary affec- 
 tion Mr. N. ^lt for her who had been so long 
 his idol, as he used to call her ; of w T hich I 
 shall add but one more instance, out of man) 
 that might easily be collected. 
 
 Being with him at the house of a lady at 
 Blackheath, we stood at a window which had 
 a prospect of Shooter's Hill. " Ah," said 
 Mr. N. " I remember the many journies 1 
 took from London to stand at the top of that 
 hill, in order to look towards the part in which 
 
152 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Mrs. N. then lived : not that I could see the 
 spot itself, after travelling several miles, for 
 she lived far beyond what I could see, when 
 on the hill ; but it gratified me even to look 
 towards the spot : and this I did always once, 
 and sometimes twice a week." — Why, said I, 
 this is more like one of the vagaries of ro- 
 mancethan of real life. — " True," replied he, 
 u but real life has extravagancies that would 
 not be admitted to appear in a well-written 
 romance — they would be said to be out of na- 
 ture." 
 
 In such a continued habit of excessive at- 
 tachment, it is evident how keenly Mr. N. 
 must have felt, while he observed the progress 
 of a threatening induration in her breast. This 
 tumour seemed to have arisen from a blow ' 
 she received before she left Liverpool. The 
 pain it occasioned at the time soon wore off, 
 but a small lump remained in the part affect- 
 ed. In October 1788. on the tumour's in- 
 creasing, she applied to an eminent surgeon, 
 who told her it was a cancer, and now too large 
 for extraction, and that he could only recom- 
 mend quiet. As the spring of 1789 advanced, 
 her malady increased ; and though she was 
 able to bear a journey to Southampton, from 
 which she returned,, in other respects, tolera- 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 153 
 
 bly well ; she grew gradually worse with the 
 cancer, till she expired December 15, 1790. 
 
 Mr. N. made this remark on her death, 
 41 Just before Mrs. N.'s disease became so 
 formidable, I was preaching on the waters of 
 Egypt being turned into blood. The Egyp- 
 tians had idolized their river, and God made 
 them loath it. I was apprehensive it would 
 soon be a similar case with me." — During 
 the very affecting season of Mrs. N.'s dissolu- 
 tion, Mr. N. like David, wept and prayed; 
 but the desire of his eyes being taken away 
 by the stroke, he too, like David, arose from 
 the earth, and came into the temple of the 
 Lord, and worshipped, and that in a manner 
 which surprised some of his friends. 
 
 I must own I was not one of those who saw 
 any thing that might not be expected from 
 such a man, surrounded with such circum- 
 stances. I did not wonder at his undertaking 
 to preach Mrs. N.'s funeral sermon, on the 
 following Sunday, at St. Mary's : since I al- 
 ways considered him as an original, and his 
 case quite an exception to general habits in 
 many respects. There also could be no ques- 
 tion as to the affection he had borne to the de- 
 ceased — it had even prevailed, as he readily 
 allowed, to an eccentric and blameable de- 
 
154 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 gree ; and indeed after her removal, he used 
 to observe an annual seclusion, for a special 
 recollection of her, whom through the year he 
 had never forgotten, and from which proceed- 
 ed a sort of little elegies, or sonnets to her me- 
 mory. But he clearly recognised the will of 
 God in the removal of his idol, and reasoned 
 as David did on the occasion; " While she 
 was yet alive I fasted and wept : for I said, 
 Who can tell whether God will be gracious to 
 me, that she may live ? But, now she is dead, 
 wherefore should Can I bring her 
 
 back again ? I shaK z;o to her, but she shall 
 not return to me." 
 
 Besides which, Mr. N. had a favourite sen- 
 timent, which I have heard him express in dif- 
 ferent ways, long before he had so special an 
 occasion for illustrating it in practice. " God 
 in his providence," he used to say, " is conti- 
 nually bringing about occasions to demon- 
 strate characters." He used to instance the 
 case of Achan and Judas among bad men ; 
 and that of St. Paul, Acts, xxvii. among good 
 ones. " If any one," said he, " had asked 
 the centurion who Paul the prisoner was, that 
 sailed with them on board the ship ? — it is 
 probable he would have thus replied, ' lie is 
 4 a troublesome enthusiast, who has lately join. 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. J 55 
 
 1 ed himself to a certain sect. These people 
 * affirm that a Jewish malefactor, who was cm- 
 % cified some years usatem, rose the 
 
 ' third day from the dead ; and this Paul i^ 
 i mad enough to assert that Jesus, the leader 
 i of their sect, is not only now alive, but that 
 i he himself has seen him, and is resolved to 
 i live and die for him — Poor crazy creature ! ' 
 But God made use of this occasion to disco- 
 ver the real character of Paul, and taught the 
 centurion, from the circumstances which fol- 
 lowed, to whom it was he owed his direction 
 in the storm, and for whose sake he received 
 his preservation through it." 
 
 In all trying occasions, therefore, Mr. X. 
 was particularly impressed with the idea of a 
 Christian, and especially of a Christian minis- 
 ter being called to stand forward as an exam- 
 ple to his flock — to feel himself placed in a 
 post of honour — a post, in which he may not 
 only glorify God, but also forcibly demon 
 strate the peculiar supports of the Gospel. 
 More especially, when this could be done (as 
 in his own case) from no doubtful motive ; 
 then, it may be expedient to leave the path 'of 
 ordinary custom, for the greater reason of < 
 fribiting both the doctrines of truth, and the 
 •experience of their power. 
 
156 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Though I professedly publish none of Mr. 
 N.'s letters for reasons hereafter assigned, yet 
 I shall take the liberty to insert part of one, 
 
 with which I am favoured by J. F , Esq. 
 
 of Stanmore Hill, written to him while at 
 Rome, and dated December 5th, 1796. It 
 shews the interest which the writer took in the 
 safety of his friend, and his address in attempt- 
 ing to break the enchantments with which men 
 of taste are surrounded, when standing in the 
 centre of the fine arts. 
 
 " The true Christian, in strict propriety of 
 speech, has no home here ; he is, and must be, 
 a stranger and a pilgrim upon earth : his citi- 
 zenship, treasure, and real home are in a bet- 
 ter world ; and every step he takes, whether 
 to the east, or to the west, is a step nearer to 
 his Father's house. — On the other hand, when 
 in the path of duty, he is always at home ; for 
 the whole earth is the Lord's : and as we see 
 the same sun in England or Italy, in Europe 
 or Asia, so wherever he is, he equally sets the 
 liord always before him ; and finds himself 
 equally near the throne of grace at all times, 
 and in all places. — God is every where, and 
 by faith in the Great Mediator, he dwells in 
 God, and God in him ; to him that line of 
 Horace may be applied in the best sense, 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 4 Caelum, non animum mutant, qui tvans marc currunt/ 
 
 " 1 trust, my dear Sir, that you will carry 
 out and bring home with you, a determination 
 similar to that of the patriarch Jacob ; who 
 vowed a vow, saying, i If God will be with 
 
 * me, and will keep me in the way that I go, 
 
 * and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to 
 i put on, so that I come again to my father's 
 : house in peace, then shall the Lord be my 
 
 * God ! ' — May the Lord himself write it on 
 your heart ! 
 
 " You are now at Rome, the centre of the 
 fine arts ; a place abounding with every thing 
 to gratify a person of your taste. Athens had 
 the pre-eminence in the Apostle Paul's time y 
 and I think it highly probable, from many pas- 
 sages in his writings, that he likewise had a 
 taste capable of admiring and relishing the 
 beauties of painting, sculpture, and architec- 
 ture, which he could not but observe during 
 his abode in that city : but then he had a high* 
 er, a spiritual, a divine taste, which was greatly 
 shocked and grieved by the ignorance, idola r 
 try, and wickedness which surrounded him ? 
 insomuch that he could attend to nothing else. 
 —This taste, which cannot be acquired by ari| 
 effort or study of ours, but is freely bestcmrfl 
 
 O 
 
138 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 on all who sincerely ask it of the Lord, divests 
 the vanities which the world admire, of their 
 glare ; and enables us to judge of the most 
 splendid and specious works of men who know 
 not God, according to the declaration of the 
 prophet, ' They hatch cockatrice eggs, and 
 4 weave the spider's web.' — Much ingenuity is 
 displayed in the weaving of a cobweb, but 
 when finished, it is worthless and useless : in- 
 cubation requires close diligence and attention : 
 if the hen is too long from her nest, the egg is 
 spoiled ; but why should she sit at all upon the 
 egg, and watch it, and warm it night and day, 
 if it only produces a cockatrice at last ? Thus 
 vanity or mischief are the chief rulers of un- 
 sanctified genius — the artists spin webs, and 
 the philosophers, by their learned speculations, 
 hatch cockatrices, to poison themselves and 
 their fellow-creatures : few 7 of either sort have 
 one serious thought of that awful eternity, 
 upon the brink of which they stand for a while, 
 and into the depth of which they successively 
 
 fall. 
 
 " A part of the sentence denounced'against 
 the city which once stood upon seven hills, is 
 so pointed and graphical, that I must trans- 
 cribe it : ' And the voice of harpers, and mu- 
 • sicians, and pipers, and trumpeters, shall be 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 159 
 
 c heard no more at all in thee ; and no crafts - 
 1 man, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found 
 4 any more in thee, and the light of a candle 
 ' shall no more be seen in thee.' — Now, I am 
 informed that upon certain occasions, the 
 whole cupola of St. Peter's is covered with 
 lamps, and affords a very magnificent spectacle : 
 if I saw it, it would remind me of that time 
 when there will not be the shining of a single 
 candle in the city ; for the sentence must be 
 executed, and the hour may be approaching — 
 
 ' Sic transit gloria muncli !' 
 
 " You kindly inquire after my health : my- 
 self and family are through the divine favour 
 perfectly w r ell ; yet, healthy as I am, I labour 
 under a growing disorder, for which there is 
 no cure ; I mean old age. I am not sorry it 
 is a mortal disease, from which no one reco- 
 vers ; for who would live always in such a 
 world as this, who has a scriptural hope of an 
 inheritance in the world of light ? I am now in 
 my seventy-second year, and seem to have 
 lived long enough for myself; I have known 
 something of the evil of life, and have had a 
 large share of the good : I know what the world 
 can do, and what it cannot do ; it can neither 
 give nor take away that peace of God, which 
 
160 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 passeth all understanding ; it cannot soothe a 
 wounded conscience, nor enable us to meet 
 death with comfort. — That you, my dear sir, 
 may have an abiding and abounding experi- 
 ence that the Gospel is a catholicon, adapted 
 to all our wants, and all our feelings, and a suit- 
 able help, when every other help fails, is the 
 sincere and ardent prayer of 
 
 " Your affectionate friend, 
 
 "• John Newton." 
 
 But in proportion as Mr. N. felt the vanity 
 of the pursuits he endeavoured to expose in 
 the foregoing letter, he was as feelingly alive 
 to whatever regarded eternal concerns. Take 
 an instance of this, in a visit which he paid to 
 another friend. This friend was a minister, 
 who affected great accuracy in his discourses, 
 and who, on that Sunday, had nearly occupied 
 an hour in insisting on several laboured and 
 nice distinctions made in his subject* As he 
 had a high estimation of Mr. N.'s judgment, 
 he inquired of him, as they walked home, whe- 
 ther he thought the distinctions just now in- 
 sisted on were full and judicious ? Mr. N. 
 said he thought them not full, as a very import- 
 ant one had been omitted. — " What can that 
 be ?" said the minister, " for I had taken more 
 
ȣV. JOHN NEWTON. 16J 
 
 than ordinary care to enumerate them fully." — 
 N I think not," replied Mr. N. " for when 
 many of your congregation had travelled seve- 
 ral miles for a meal, I think you should not 
 have forgotten the important distinction which 
 must ever exist between meat and bones." 
 
 In the year 1799, Mr. N. had the honorary 
 degree of D. D. conferred upon him by the uni- 
 versity of New Jersey in America, and the Di- 
 ploma sent him. He also received a work in 
 two volumes, dedicated to him with the above 
 title annexed to his name. Mr. N. wrote the 
 author a grateful acknowledgment for the 
 work, but begged to decline an honour which 
 he never intended to accept. " I am," said 
 he, " as one born out of due time. I have 
 neither the pretension, nor wish to honours of 
 this kind. However, therefore, the university 
 may over-rate my attainments, and thus shew 
 their respect. I must not forget myself; it 
 would be both vain and improper were I to 
 concur in it." 
 
 But Mr. N. had yet another storm to wea- 
 ther. While we were contemplating the long 
 and rough voyage he had passed, and thought 
 he had only now to rest in a quiet haven, and 
 with a fine sunsetting at the close of the even- 
 ing of his life ; clouds began to gather again., 
 02 • 
 
462 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 and seemed to threaten a wreck at the very en- 
 try of the port. He used to make excursions 
 in the summer to different friends in the coun- 
 try, endeavouring to make these visits profita- 
 ble to them and their neighbours, by his con- 
 tinual prayers, and the expositions he gave of 
 the scriptures read at their morning and even- 
 ing worship. I have heard of some who were 
 first brought to the knowledge of themselves 
 and of God by attending his exhortations on 
 these occasions ; for, indeed, besides what he 
 undertook in a more stated way at the church, 
 fie seldom entered a room, but something both 
 profitable and entertaining fell from his lips. 
 After the death of Miss Cunningham, and Mrs. 
 N. his companion in these summer excursions 
 was his other niece Miss Elizabeth Catlett. 
 This young lady had also been brought up by 
 Mr. and Mrs. N. with Miss Cunningham, and 
 on the death of the two latter, she became the 
 object of Mr. N.'s naturally affectionate dispo- 
 sition. She also became quite necessary to 
 tlim by her administrations in his latter years ; 
 she watched him, walked with him, visited 
 wherever he went ; when his sight failed, she 
 re^d to him, divided his food, and was unto 
 Mm all that a dutiful daughter could be, 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 163 
 
 But in the year 1801, a nervous disorder 
 seized her, by which Mr. N. was obliged to 
 submit to her being separated from him. Dur- 
 ing the twelvemonth it lasted, the weight of 
 the affliction added to his weight of years, 
 seemed to overwhelm him. I extracted a f 
 of his reflections on the occasion written on 
 some blank leaves in an edition of his Letters 
 to a Wife, which he lent me on my undertak- 
 ing these memoirs, and have subjoined them 
 in the note (G.) — It may give the reader plea- 
 sure to be informed that Miss Catlett returned 
 home ; gradually recovered ; and afterwards 
 married a worthy man of the name of Smith. 
 
 It was with a mixture of delight and sur- 
 prise, that the friends and hearers of this emi- 
 nent servant of God beheld him bringing forth 
 such a measure of fruit in extreme age. Though 
 then almost eighty years old, his sight near- 
 ly gone, and incapable, through deafness^ 
 of joining in conversation ; yet his public 
 ministry was regularly continued, and main- 
 tained with a considerable degree of his former 
 animation. His memory, indeed, was observed 
 to fail, but his judgment in divine things still 
 remained; and, though some depression of 
 spirits w r as observed, which he used to account 
 for from his advanced age, his perception; 
 
164. MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 taste, and zeal for the truths he had long re- 
 ceived and taught, were evident. Like Simeon, 
 having seen the salvation of the Lord, he now 
 only waited and prayed to depart in peace. 
 
 After M. N. was turned of eighty, some of 
 his friends feare^ he might continue his public 
 ministrations too long ; they marked not only 
 his infirmities in the pulpit, but felt much on 
 account of the decrease of his strength and of 
 his occasional depressions. Conversing with 
 him in Jan. 1806 on the latter, he observed, 
 that he had experienced nothing which in the 
 least affected the principles he had felt and 
 taught — that his depressions were the natural 
 result of fourscore years, and that, at any age, 
 we can only enjoy that comfort from our prin- 
 ciples which God is pleased to send. " But," 
 replied I, -" in the article of public preaching, 
 might it not be best to consider your work as 
 done, and stop before you evidently discover 
 you can speak no longer ?"— " I cannot stop," 
 said he, raising his voice, — " What, shall the 
 old African blasphemer stop while he can 
 speak?" 
 
 In every future visit I perceived old age 
 making rapid strides. At length his friends 
 found some difficulty in making themselves 
 known to him : his sight, his hearing, and his 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTONT. 165 
 
 recollection exceedingly failed ; but, being 
 mercifully kept from pain, he generally appear- 
 ed easy and cheerful. Whatever he uttered 
 was perfectly consistent with the principles he 
 had so long, and so honourably maintained. 
 Calling to see him a few days before he died, 
 with one of his most intimate friends, we could 
 not make him recollect either of us ; but see* 
 ing him afterwards when sitting up in his chair, 
 I found so much intellect remaining, as pro- 
 duced a short and affectionate reply, though he 
 was utterly incapable of conversation. 
 
 Mr. N. declined in this very gradual way, 
 till at length it was painful to ask him a ques- 
 tion, or attempt to rouse faculties almost gone ; 
 still his friends were anxious to get a word 
 from him, and those friends who survive him 
 will be as anxious to learn the state of his 
 mind in Iris latest hours. — It is quite natural 
 thus to inquire, though it is not important how 
 such a decided character left this world. I 
 have heard Mr. N. say when he has heard par- 
 ticular inquiry made about the last expressions 
 of an eminent believer, " Tell me not how the 
 man died, but how he lived." 
 
 Still I say it is natural to inquire, and I will 
 meet the desire, (not by trying to expand un- 
 interesting particulars, but) as for as I can col 
 
166 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 lect encouraging faets : and I learn from a pa* 
 per, kindly sent me by his family, all that is 
 interesting and authentic. 
 
 About a month before Mr. N.'s death, Mr. 
 Smith's niece was sitting by him, to whom he 
 said, " It is a great thing to die ; and when 
 flesh and heart fail, to have God for the strength 
 of our heart, and our portion for ever — I know 
 whom I have believed, and he is able to keep 
 that which I have committed, against that great 
 day. Henceforth there is laid up for me a 
 crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
 righteous judge, shall give me at that day." 
 
 When Mrs. Smith came into the room, he 
 said, " I have been meditating on a subject, 
 c Come, and hear all ye that fear God, and I 
 ' will declare what he hath done for my soul.' v 
 
 At another time he said, " More light, more 
 love, more liberty — Hereafter I hope when I 
 shut my eyes on the things of time, I shall 
 open them in a better world. What a thing it 
 is to live under the shadow of the wings of the 
 Almighty ! — I am going the way of all flesh." 
 And when one repleid, " The Lord is gra- 
 cious," he answered, " If it were not so, how 
 could I dare to stand before him ?" 
 
 The Wednesday before he died, Mrs. G— 
 
REV. JOHN' NEWTON. 167 
 
 asked him, if his mind was comfortable*? he 
 replied, " I am satisfied with the Lord's Will." 
 
 Mr. N. seemed sensible to his last hour, 
 but expressed nothing remarkable after th< 
 words. He departed on the 21st, and was 
 buried in the vault of his church the 31st oi 
 December 1807, having left the following: 
 injunction in a letter for the direction of his 
 executors* 
 
 " I propose writing an epitaph for myself, 
 if it may be put up, on a plain, marble tablet, 
 near -the vestry door, to the following purport- 
 
168 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 JOHN NEWTON, Clerk, 
 
 Once an Infidel and Libertine, 
 
 A servant of slaves in Africa, 
 
 Was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour 
 
 JESUS CHRIST, 
 
 Preserved, restored, pardoned, 
 
 And appointed to preach the Faith 
 
 He had long laboured to destroy, 
 
 Near 16 years at Olney in Bucks ; 
 
 And .... years in this church. 
 
 On Feb. 1, 1750, he married 
 
 r MARY, 
 
 .Daughter of the late George Catlett 
 
 Of Chatham, Kent. 
 
 He resigned her to the Lord who gave her 
 
 On 15th December 1790. 
 
 And I earnestly desire that no other monu- 
 ment, and no inscription but to this purport, 
 may be attempted for me." 
 
 The following is a copy of the exordium of 
 Mr. Newton's will, dated June 13, 1803: 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 169 
 
 il In the name of God, Amen. I John 
 Newton of Coleman Street Buildings in the 
 parish of St. Stephen Coleman Street, in the 
 city of London, Clerk, being through mei 
 in good health, and of sound and disposing 
 mind, memory, and understanding, although 
 in the seventy-eighth year of my age, do for 
 the settling of my temporal concerns, and for 
 the disposal of all the worldly estate which it 
 hath pleased the Lord in his good providence 
 to give me, make this my last Will and Tes- 
 tament as follows. I commit my soul to my 
 gracious God and Saviour, who mercifully 
 spared and preserved me, when I was an Apos- 
 tate, a Blasphemer, and an Infidel, and deliver- 
 ed me from that state of misery on the coast 
 of Africa into which my obstinate wickedness 
 had plunged me ; and who has been pleased 
 to admit me (though most unworthy) to preach 
 his Glorious Gospel. I rely with humble con- 
 fidence upon the atonement, and mediation of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ God and Man, which 1 
 have often proposed to others as the only foun- 
 dation whereon a sinner can build his hope ; 
 trusting that he will guard and guide mc 
 through the uncertain remainder of my life, 
 and that he will then admit me into his pre- 
 sence in his Heavenly Kingdom. I would 
 
170 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 have my body deposited in the vault under the 
 Parish Church of Saint Mary Woolnoth, close 
 to the coffins of my late dear wife and my dear 
 niece Elizabeth Cunningham ; and it is my de- 
 sire that my funeral may be performed with 
 as little expence as possible, consistent with 
 decency*' 5 
 
. JOHNttEWTO 171 
 
 N O T E S, 
 
 Extracted from Mr. Newton's MS. in cm in- 
 terleaved Copy of his Letters to a Wife, and 
 from Ins Diary. 
 
 A, p. 79.) First voyage to Africa, 1750. He 
 had written to Mrs. Newton from St. Albans, in which 
 he inserts a prayer for the health of himself and Mrs. 
 N. upon which he says, " This prayer includes all that 
 I at that time knew how to ask for, and had not the Lord 
 given me more than I then knew how to ask or think, I 
 should now be completely miserable. The prospect of 
 this separation was terrible to me as death : to avoid it, 
 I repeatedly purchased a ticket in the lottery, thinking, 
 who knows but I may obtain a considerable prize, and 
 be thereby saved from the necessity of going to sea ? 
 ' k Happy for me, the lot which I then considered as ca- 
 sual, was at thy disposal. The money, which I could not 
 with prudence have spared at the time, was lost ; all my 
 tickets proved blanks, though I attempted to bribe thee 
 by promising, if I succeeded, to give a considerable part 
 to the poor. But these blanks were truly prizes. Thy 
 mercy sent me to sea against my own will. To thy 
 blessing, and to my solitary sea hours, I was indebted 
 for all my temporal comforts, and future hopes. 
 
 u Thou wert pleased likewise to disappoint me by thy 
 providence of some money which I expected to receive 
 •fl my marriage ; so that, excepting our apparel, when 
 
172 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 1 sailed from Liverpool on my first voyage, the sum 
 total of my worldly inventory was seventy pounds in 
 debt." 
 
 (B, p. 79.) I have heard Mr. Newton observe, that 
 as the commander of a slave-ship, he had a number of 
 women under his absolute command : and knowing the 
 danger of his situation on that account, he resolved to 
 abstain from flesh in his food and to drink nothing 
 stronger than water during the voyage ; that by abste- 
 miousness he might subdue every improper emotion ; 
 and that upon his setting sail, the sight of a certain point 
 of land, was the signal for his beginning a rule which he 
 was enabled to keep. 
 
 (C, p. 82.) Mr. N. had an unexpected call to Lon- 
 don, and on his return, when within a few miles of Li- 
 verpool, he mistook a marle-pit for a pond, and in at- 
 tempting to water his horse, both the horse and the rider 
 plunged in it overhead. He was afterwards told, that 
 near that time, three persons had lost their lives by a 
 mistake of the same kind. 
 
 (D, p. 90.) Third voyage to Africa, 1754. In a 
 MS. note on a letter from sea, in the above copy, he re-* 
 marks, — " I now enter my 70th year : still Thou art 
 singularly bountiful to me ; still I have reason to think 
 myself favoured as to externals, beyond the common lot 
 of mortals. Thou didst bear me above the removal of 
 her I most valued, to the admiration of all who knew 
 me. The best part of my childhood and youth was 
 vanity and folly ; but before I attained the age of man, 
 I became exceeding vile indeed, and was seated in the 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. | 173 
 
 chair of the scorner in early life. The troubles and mi- 
 series I for a time endured, were my own. I brought 
 them upon myself by forsaking thy good and pleasant 
 paths, and choosing the way of transgressors, which I 
 found very hard ; they led to slavery, contempt, famine, 
 *nd despair. 
 
 " But my recovery from that dreadful state was whol- 
 ly of thee. Thou didst prepare the means unthought 
 of, and unde sired by me. How nice were the turns up- 
 on which my delivery from Africa depended ! Had the 
 ship passed one quarter of an hour sooner, I had died 
 there a wretch as I had lived. But thou didst pity and 
 hear my first lispings in prayer, at the time the storm 
 fell upon me. Thou didst preserve me from sinking 
 and starving. Thus I returned home, and thou didst 
 provide mt friends when I was destitute, and a stran- 
 ger." 
 
 (E, p. 130.) " Thou didst support me and make this 
 operation very tolerable. ^The cure, by thy blessing, 
 was happily expedited : so that on Sunday the 27th, I 
 
 was enabled to go to church and hear Mr. F , and 
 
 the Sunday following, to preach for him. The tender- 
 ness and attention of Dr. aid Mrs. F , with whom 
 
 we were, I cannot sufficiently describe ; nor, indeed, the 
 kindness of many other friends. To them I would be 
 thankful, my Lord, but especially to Thee ; for what 
 are creatures but instruments in thy hand, fulfilling thy 
 pleasure ? At home all was preserved quiet, and I met 
 with no incident to distress or disturb me while absent. 
 The last fortnight I preached often, and was hurried 
 about in seeing my friends. But though I had little Lei- 
 sure or opportunity for retirement, and my heart, alas, 
 P 2 
 
174 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 as usual, sadly reluctant and dull in secret, yet in public 
 thou wert pleased to favour me with liberty." 
 
 (F, p. 161.) In another MS. note, dated 15th Decem- 
 ber, 1797, on a letter in the above collection, he writes, 
 " Though I am not so sensibly affected as I could wish, 
 I hope I am truly affected by the frequent reviews I 
 make of my past life. Perhaps the annals of thy church 
 scarcely afford an instance in all respects so singular. 
 Perhaps thy grace may have recovered some from an 
 equal degree of apostacy, infidelity, and profligacy ; but 
 few of them have been redeemed from such a state of 
 misery and depression as I was in, upon the coast of Af- 
 rica, when thy unsought mercy wrought for my deliver- 
 ance : but that such a wretch should not only be spared 
 and pardoned, but reserved to the honour of preaching 
 thy Gospel, which he had blasphemed and renounced, 
 and at length be placed in a very public situation, and 
 favoured with acceptance and usefulness, both from the 
 pulpit and the press ; so that my poor name is known 
 in most parts of the world, where there are any who 
 know thee — this is wonderful indeed ! — The more 
 thou hast exalted me, the more I ought to abase my- 
 self." 
 
 (G, p. 2. 163.) August 1st, 1801. " I now enter my 
 77th year. I have been exercised this year with a try- 
 ing and unexpected change : but it is by thy appoint- 
 ment, my gracious Lord ; and thou art unchangeably 
 wise, good, and merciful. Thou gavest me my dear 
 adopted child. Thou didst own my endeavours to 
 bring her up for thee. I have no doubt that thou hast 
 called her by thy grace. I thank thee for the many 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 175 
 
 years comfort (ten) I have had in her, and for the atten- 
 tion and affection she has always shewn me, exceeding 
 that of most daughters to their own parents. Thou 
 hast now tried me, as thou didst Abraham, in my old 
 age ; when my eyes are failing, and my strength de- 
 clines. Thou hast called for my Isaac, who had so long 
 been my chief stay and staff, but it was thy blessing that 
 made her so. A nervous disorder has seized her, and I 
 desire to leave her under thy care ; and chiefly pray for 
 myself, that I may be enabled to wait thy time and will, 
 without betraying any signs of impatience, or despon- 
 dency unbecoming my profession a.nd character. Hi- 
 therto thou hast helped me; and to thee I look for help 
 in future. Let all issue in thy glory, that my friends 
 and hearers may be encouraged by seeing how I am 
 supported ; let thy strength be manifested in my weak- 
 ness, and thy grace be sufficient for me, and let all final- 
 ly work together for our good, Amen. I aim to say 
 from my heart, not my will, but thine be done. But 
 though thou hast in a measure made my spirit willing, 
 thou knowest, and I feel, that the flesh is weak. Lord, 
 I believe, help thou my unbelief. Lord, I submit, sub- 
 due every rebellious thought that dares arise against 
 thy will. Spare my eyes, if it please thee ; but, above 
 all, strengthen my faith and love." 
 
177 
 
 REVIEW 
 
 OF 
 
 MR. NEWTON'S CHARACTER. 
 
 The he seems to be little need of giving a gen- 
 eral character of Mr. N. after the particulars 
 which appear in the foregoing Memoirs. He 
 unquestionably was the child of a peculiar pro- 
 vidence in every step of his progress ; and his 
 deep sense of the extraordinary dispensation 
 through which he had passed, was the promU 
 nent topic in his conversation. Those who 
 personally knew the man, could have no doubt 
 of the probity with which his Narrative (sin- 
 gular as it may appear) was written. They 
 however, who could not view the subject of 
 these Memoirs so nearly as his particular 
 friends did, may wish to learn something fur- 
 ther of his character with respect to his literary 
 attainments — his ministry — his family habits— - 
 his writings — and his familiar conversation, 
 
178 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 Of his literature, we learn from his Narra- 
 tive what he attained in the learned languages, 
 and that by almost incredible efforts. Few 
 men have undertaken such difficulties under 
 such disadvantages. It, therefore, seems more 
 extraordinary that he should have attained so 
 much, than that he should not have acquired 
 more. , Nor did he quit his pursuits of this 
 kind, but in order to gain that knowledge 
 which he deemed much more important. What- 
 ever he conceived had a tendency to qualify 
 him, as a scribe well instructed in the kingdom 
 of God, bringing out of his treasury things 
 new and old — I say, in pursuit of this point, 
 he might have adopted the apostle's expres- 
 sion, " One thing I do." By a principle so 
 simply and firmly directed, he furnished his 
 mind with much information : he had consult- 
 ed the best old divines — had read the moderns 
 of reputation with avidity ; and was continually 
 watching whatever might serve for analogies 
 or illustrations, in the service of religion. " A 
 minister," he used to say, " wherever he is, 
 should be always in his study. He should 
 look at every man, and at every thing, as ca 
 pable of affording him some instruction." — 
 His mind, therefore, was ever intent on his 
 calling — ever extracting something, even from 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 179 
 
 the basest materials, which he could turn i 
 gold. 
 
 In consequence of this incessant attention to 
 this object, while many (whose early advanta- 
 ges greatly exceeded his) were found excel- 
 ling Mr. N. in the knowledge and investiga- 
 tion of some curious, abstract, but very unim- 
 portant points ; he was found vastly excelling 
 them in points of infinitely higher importance 
 to man. — In the knowledge of God, of hi§ 
 word, and of the human heart in its wants and 
 resources, Newton would have stood among 
 mere scholars, as his name-sake the philosopher 
 stood in science among ordinary men. I might 
 say the same of some others who have set out 
 late in the profession, but who, with a portion 
 of Mr. N.'s piety and ardour, have greatly out- 
 stripped those who have had every early ad- 
 vantage and encouragement : — men with spe- 
 cious titles and high connexions have received 
 the rewards ; while men, like Newton, with- 
 out them, have done the work. 
 
 With respect to his ministry, he appeared, 
 perhaps, to least advantage in the pulpit ; as he 
 did not generally aim at accuracy, in the 
 Composition of his sermons, nor at any address 
 in the delivery of them. His utterance was 
 ■far from clear, and his attitudes ungraceful. 
 
180 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 He possessed, however, so much affection for 
 F his people, and zeal for their best interests, 
 that the defect of his manner was of little con- 
 sideration with his constant hearers : at the 
 same time, his capacity and habit of entering 
 into their trials and experience, gave the high- 
 est interest to his ministry among them. Be- 
 sides which, he frequently interspersed the 
 most brilliant allusions, and brought for- 
 ward such happy illustrations of his subject, 
 and those with so much unction on his own 
 heart, as melted and enlarged theirs. The 
 parent- like tenderness and affection which ac- 
 companied his instruction, made them prefer 
 him to preachers who, on other accounts, were 
 much more generally popular. It ought also 
 to be noted, that, amidst the extravagant no- 
 tions and unscriptural positions which have 
 sometimes disgraced the religious world, Mr. 
 N. never departed, in any instance, from 
 soundly and seriously promulgating the faith 
 once delivered to the saints, of which his writ- 
 ings will remain the best evidence. His doc- 
 trine was strictly that of the church of Eng- 
 land, urged on the consciences of men in the 
 most practical and experimental manner. " I 
 hope," said he one day to me, smiling, " I 
 hope I am upon the whole a scriptural preach- 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 18 J 
 
 er ; for I find I am considered as an Arminian 
 among the high Calvinists, and as a Calvinisi 
 among the strenuous Arminians." 
 
 I never observed any thing like bigotry in 
 his ministerial character, though he seemed at 
 all times to appreciate the beauty of order, and 
 its good effects in the ministry. He had for 
 merly been intimately connected with some 
 highly respectable ministers among the dis- 
 senters, and retained a cordial regard for many 
 to the last. He considered the strong preju- 
 dices which attach to both churchmen and dis 
 senters, arising more from education than from 
 principle. But, being himself both a clergy- 
 man arid an incumbent in the church of Eng- 
 land, he wished to be consistent. In publio, 
 therefore, he felt he could not act with some 
 ministers, whom he thought truly good men, 
 and to whom he cordially wished success ia 
 their endeavours ; and he patiently met the 
 consequence. They called him a bigot, and 
 he in return prayed for them, that they might 
 not be really such. 
 
 He had formerly taken much pains in com- 
 posing his sermons, as I could perceive in one 
 MS. which I looked through ; and even latter- 
 ly, I have known him, whenever he felt it ne- 
 cessary, produce admirable plans for the pui 
 
 Q 
 
182 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 pit. I own I thought his judgment deficient 
 in not deeming such preparation necessary at 
 all times. I have sat in pain when he has spo- 
 ken unguardedly in this way before young 
 ministers ; men who, with but comparatively 
 slight degrees of his information and experi- 
 ence, would draw encouragement to ascend 
 the pulpit with but little previous study of their 
 subject. A minister is not to be blamed, who 
 cannot rise to qualifications which some of his 
 brethren have attained ; but he is certainly 
 bound to improve his own talent to the utmost 
 of his power : he is not to cover his sloth, his 
 love of company, or his disposition to attend a 
 wealthy patron, with the pretence of depending 
 entirely on divine influence. Timothy had at 
 least as good ground for expecting such influ- 
 ence, as any of his successors in the ministry ; 
 and yet the apostle admonishes him to give at- 
 tendance to reading, to exhortation, and t$ 
 doctrine — to neglect not the gift that was ift 
 him — to meditate upon these things — to give 
 himself wholly to them, that his profiting might 
 appear to all. 
 
 Mr. N. regularly preached on the Sunday 
 morning and evening at St. Mary Woolnoth, 
 and also on the Wednesday morning. After 
 he was turned of seventy he often undertook 
 
REV, JOHN NEWTON. 183 
 
 r 
 
 to assist other clergymen ; sometimes, even to 
 the preaching six sermons in the space of a 
 week. What was more extraordinary, he con- 
 tinued his usual course of preaching at his 
 own church after hf bursccftre years old, 
 
 and that, when he could no longer see to i\ 
 his text ! His memory and voice sometimes 
 failed him, but it was remarked, that, at this 
 great age, he was no where more recollected or 
 lively than in the pulpit. He was punctual as 
 to time with his congregation; and preached 
 every first Sunday evening in the month on 
 relative duties. Mr. Alderman Lea regularly 
 sent his carriage to convey him to civ n oh, and 
 Mr. Bates sent his servant to attend him in the 
 pulpit ; which friendly assistance was continu- 
 ed till Mr. N. could appear no longer in pub- 
 lic. 
 
 His ministerial visits were exemplary. I do 
 not recollect one, though favoured wkh many, 
 in which his general information and lively 
 genius did not communicate instruction, and 
 his affectionate and condescending sympathy 
 did not leave comfort. 
 
 Truth demands it should be said, that he 
 did not always administer consolation, nor 
 give an account of characters, with sufficient 
 discrimination. His talent did not lie in dis- 
 
184 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 cerning of spirits. I never saw him so much 
 moved as when any friend endeavoured to cor- 
 rect his errors in this respect. His credulity 
 seemed to arise from the consciousness he had 
 of his own integrity, and from that sort of pa- 
 rental fondness which he bore to all his friends, 
 real or pretended. I knew one, since dead, 
 whom he thus described, while living — " He 
 is certainly an old man, and has his failings ; 
 but he has great integrity, and I hope is going 
 to heaven." Whereas almost all who knew 
 him thought the man should go first into the 
 pillory ! 
 
 In his family Mr. N. might be admired 
 more safely, than imitated. His excessive at- 
 tachment to Mrs. N. is so fully displayed in his 
 Narrative, and confirmed in the two volumes 
 he thought it proper to publish, entitled, Let- 
 ters to a Wife, that the reader will need no in- 
 formation on this subject. — Some of his friends 
 wished this violent attachment had been cast 
 more into the shade, as tending to furnish a 
 spur, where human nature generally needs a 
 curb. He used, indeed, to speak of such at- 
 tachments in the abstract, as idolatry ; though 
 his own was providentially ordered to be the 
 main hinge on which his preservation and de- 
 liverance turned, while in his worst state. 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 185 
 
 Good men, however, cannot be too cautious 
 how they give sanction by their expressions or 
 example, to a passion which, when not under 
 sober regulation, has overwhelmed not only 
 families, but states, with disgrace and ruin. 
 
 With this unusual degree of benevolence 
 and affection, it was not extraordinary that the 
 spiritual interests of his servants were brought 
 forward, and examined severally every Sunday 
 afternoon ; and that being treated like children, 
 they should grow old in his service. In short, 
 Mr. N. could live no longer than he could 
 love ; it is no wonder, therefore, if his nieces 
 had more of his heart than is generally afford- 
 ed to. their own children by the fondest parents. 
 It has already been mentioned that his house 
 was an asylum for the perplexed or afflicted. — 
 Young Ministers were peculiarly the objects 
 of his attention : he instructed them, he encou- 
 raged them, he warned them ; and might truly 
 be said to be a father in Christ, spending and 
 being spent, for the interest of his Church. In 
 order thus to execute the various avocations 
 ©f the day, he used to rise early ; he seldom 
 was found abroad in the evening, and was ex- 
 act in his appointments. 
 
 Of his writings, I think little need be said 
 Rere ; they are in wide circulation, and best 
 Q2 
 
JBG MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 i 
 
 speak for themselves. An able editor is now- 
 employed in adding some posthumous pieces, 
 left for publication by the author. After which, 
 the whole will appear in a complete set, with a 
 reduced copy of the admirable portrait of Mr. 
 N. lately published by Mr. Smith, engraved 
 by J. Collyer A. R. A. from an original paint- 
 ing of J. Russell R. A. This w^as the only 
 reason why no portrait was published with 
 these Memoirs, as had been done in the Me- 
 moirs of the Hon. and Rev. Mr. Cadogan, and 
 of John Bacon, Esq. — I hope to see a fuller 
 and ^more accurate account of these writings 
 published by the editor, should the executors 
 deem it necessary. At present, therefore, 
 what I shall observe upon them will be but 
 * general and cursory. The Sermons Mr. N. 
 published at Liverpool, after being refused on 
 his first application for orders, were intended 
 to shew what he would have preached, had he 
 been admitted ; they are highly creditable to 
 his understanding and to. his heart. The faci- 
 lity with which he attained so much of the 
 learned languages seems partly accounted for, 
 from his being able to acquire so early, a neat 
 and natural style in his own language, and that 
 vmder such evident disadvantages. His Re- 
 view of ecclesiastical History, so far as it pro- 
 
REV- JOHN XEWTOX. 187 
 
 ceeded, has been much esteemed ; and, if it 
 had done no more than excite the Rev. J. Mil- 
 ner (as that most valuable and instructive au- 
 thor informs us it did) to pursue Mr. N.\s i 
 more largely, it was sufficient success. Before 
 this, the world seems to have lost sight of a his- 
 tory of real Christianity, and to have been con- 
 tent with what, for the most part, was but an 
 account of the ambition and politics of secular 
 men, assuming the Christian name. 
 
 It must be evident to any one who observes 
 the spirit of all his sermons, hymns, tracts, &x. 
 that nothing is aimed at which should be met 
 by critical investigation. In the preface to his 
 hymns, he remarks, " Though I would not 
 offend readers of taste by a wilful coarseness 
 and negligence, I do not write professedly for 
 them. — I have simply declared my own views 
 and feelings, as I might have done if I had 
 composed hymns in some of the newly disco- 
 vered islands in the South Sea, where no per- 
 son had any knowledge of the name of Jesus 
 but myself." 
 
 To dwell, therefore, witk a critical eye on 
 this part of his public character would be ab- 
 surd and impertinent, and to erect a tribunal 
 to which he seems not amenable. He appears 
 to have paid no regard to a nice ear, or an ac- 
 
188 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 curate reviewer ; but, preferring a style at once 
 neat and perspicuous, to have laid out himself 
 entirely for the service of the church of God, 
 and more especially for the tried and expe- 
 rienced part of its members. 
 
 His chief excellence seemed to lie in the ea- 
 sy and natural style of his epistolary corres- 
 pondence. His letters will be read while real 
 religion exists ; and they are the best draught 
 of his own mind. 
 
 He had so largely communicated with his 
 friends in this way, that I have heard him say, 
 " He thought, if his letters were collected, 
 they would make several folios." He selected 
 many of these for publication, and expressed a 
 hope that no other person would take that li- 
 berty with the rest, winch were so widely 
 spread abroad. In this, however, he was dis- 
 appointed and grieved, as he once remarked to 
 me ; and for which reason I do not annex any 
 letters that I received from him. He esteem- 
 ed that collection published under the title of 
 Cardiphonia as the most useful of his writings, 
 and mentioned various instances of the benefits 
 which he heard they had conveyed to many. 
 
 His Apologia, or defence of conformity, 
 was written on occasion of some reflections 
 
HEV. JOHN NEWTON. 183 
 
 (perhaps only jocular) cast on him at that time. 
 — His letters to a wife, written during his 
 three voyages to Africa, and published 1793, 
 have been received with less satisfaction than 
 most of his other writings. While, however, 
 his advanced age and inordinate fondness may 
 be pleaded for this publication, care should be 
 taken lest men fall into a contrary extreme ; 
 and suppose that temper to be their wisdom, 
 which leads them to avoid another, which they 
 consider as his weakness. But his Messiah 
 before mentioned, his letters of the Rev. Mr. 
 Vanlier, chaplain at the Cape — his memoirs 
 of the Rev. John Cowper (brother to the poet,) 
 and those of the Rev. Mr. Grimshaw of York- 
 shire, together with his single sermons and 
 tracts, have been well received, and will re- 
 main a public benefit. 
 
 I recollect reading a MS. which Mr. N. 
 lent me, containing a correspondence, that had 
 passed between himself and the Rev. Dr. Dix- 
 on, Principal of St. Edmund Hall, Oxford ; 
 and another MS. of a correspondence between 
 him and the late Rev. Martin Madan. They 
 would have been very interesting to the pub- 
 lic, particularly the latter, and w r ere striking 
 evidences of Mr. N.'s humility, piety and faith- 
 
190 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 fulness ; but reasons of delicacy led him to 
 commit the whole to the flames. 
 
 To speak of his writings in the mass, they 
 certainly possess what many have aimed at, 
 but very few attained, namely originality. 
 They are the language of the heart ; they shew 
 a deep experience of its religious feelings, a 
 continual anxiety to sympathise with man in 
 his w r ants, and to direct him to his only re- 
 sources. 
 
 His conversation, and familiar habits with 
 his friends, were more peculiar, amusing, and 
 instructive, than any I ever witnessed. It is 
 difficult to convey a clear idea of them by de- 
 scription. I venture, therefore, to add a few 
 pages of what I may call his table-talk, which 
 I took down at different times, both in compa- 
 ny and in private, from his lips. Such a col- 
 lection of printed remarks will not have so 
 much point, as when spoken in connexion 
 with the occasion that produced them : they 
 must appear to considerable disadvantage thus 
 detached, and candid allowance should be 
 made by the reader on this account. They, 
 however, who had the privilege of Mr. N.'s 
 conversation when living, cannot but recog- 
 nise the speaker in most of them, and derive 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. J V I 
 
 both profit and pleasure from these remains of 
 their late valuable friend ; and such as had not, 
 will (if I do not mistake) think them the most 
 valuable part of this book. 
 
193 
 
 REMARKS 
 
 MADE BY MR. NEWTON, 
 
 In familiar conversation. 
 
 " While the mariner uses the loadstone, 
 the philosopher may attempt to investigate the 
 cause ; but after all, in steering through the 
 ocean, he can make no other use of it than the 
 mariner." 
 
 " If an angel were sent to find the most per- 
 fect man, he would probably not find him com- 
 posing a body of divinity, but perhaps a crip^ 
 pie in a poor-house, whom the parish wi£b. 
 dead, and humbled before God with far lowea; 
 thoughts of himself than others think of hira.*^ 
 
 u When a Christian goes into the worl^ 
 bedause he sees it is his call, yet, while he fet3^ 
 it also his cross, it will not lulrt him." 
 
 R 
 
194 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 " Satan will seldom come to a Christian 
 with a gross temptation : a green log and a 
 Candle may be safely left together ; but bring 
 a few shavings, then some small sticks, and 
 then larger, andyou may soon bring the green 
 log to ashes." 
 
 " If two angels came down from heaven to 
 execute a divine command, and one was ap- 
 pointed to conduct an empire, and the other to 
 sweep a street in it, they would feel no incli- 
 nation to choose employments. " 
 
 " The post of honour in an army, is not 
 with the baggage, nor with the women." 
 
 " What some call providential openings are 
 often powerful temptations ; the heart in wan- 
 dering, cries, Here is a way opened before me, 
 but, perhaps, not to be trodden, but rejected." 
 
 " Young people many as others study navi- 
 gation, by the fire- side. If they many unsuit- 
 ably, they can scarcely bring things to rule, but 
 like sailors they must sail as near the wind as 
 they can. I feel myself like a traveller with 
 his wife in his chaise and one ; if the ground 
 is smooth, and she keep the right pace, and is 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. i ( J5 
 
 willing to deliver the reins when 1 ask for 
 them, I am always willing to let her drive." 
 
 " I should have thought mowers very idle 
 people ; but they work while they whet their 
 scythes. Now devotedness to God, whether 
 it mows or whets the scythe, still goes on with 
 the work." 
 
 t; A Christian should never plead spirituality 
 for being a sloven ; if he be but a shoe-clean- 
 er, he should be the best in the parish." 
 
 " In choosing my text, I feel myself like a 
 servant to whom a key has been given which 
 opens a particular drawer, but who has not 
 the bunch of keys which open all the draw r - 
 ers. I therefore expect to be helped to only 
 one text at a time." 
 
 " My course of study, like that of a sur- 
 geon, has principally consisted in walking the 
 hospital." 
 
 " In divinity, as well as in the other profes- 
 sions, there are the little artists. A man may 
 be able to execute the buttons of a statue very 
 neatly, but I could not call him an able artist 
 
* y 6 MEMOIRS OP THE 
 
 There is an air, there is a taste, to which his 
 narrow capacity cannot reach.— Now in the 
 church, there are your dextrous button-ma- 
 kers." 
 
 " My principal method of defeating heresy. 
 is by establishing truth— One proposes to fill 
 a bushel with tares, now if I can fill it first With 
 wheat, I shall defy his attempts." 
 
 «*When some people talk of religion, they 
 mean they have heard so many sermons, and 
 performed so many devotions, and thus mis- 
 take the means for the end. But true religion 
 is an habitual recollection of God and intention 
 to serve him, and this turns every thing into 
 gold. We are apt to suppose that we need 
 something splendid to evince our devotion, 
 but true devotion equals things — washing 
 plates, and cleaning shoes, is a high office, if 
 performed in a right spirit. — If three angels 
 were sent to earth, they would feel perfect in- 
 difference who should perform the part of 
 prime-minister, parish-minister, or watch- 
 man." 
 
 " When a ship goes to sea, among a vast 
 variety of its articles and circumstances there 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 197 
 
 is but one object regarded, namely, doing the 
 business of the voyage : every bucket is em- 
 ployed with respect to that." 
 
 " Many have puzzled themselves about the 
 origin of evil : I observe there is evil, and 
 that there is a way to escape it, and with this 
 I beofm and end." 
 
 " Consecrated things under the law were 
 first sprinkled with blood, and then anointed 
 with oil, and thenceforward were no more 
 common. Thus under the Gospel, every 
 Christian has been a common vessel for pro- 
 fane purposes ; but when sprinkled and anoint- 
 ed, he becomes separated and consecrated to 
 God." 
 
 " I would not give a straw for that assu- 
 rance which sin will not damp. If David had 
 come from his adultery, and had talked of his 
 assurance at that time, I should have despised 
 his speech." 
 
 " A spirit of adoption is the spirit of a child; 
 
 he may disoblige his father, yet he is not 
 
 afraid of being turned out of doors. The 
 
 union is not dissolved, though the communion 
 
 R 2 
 
198 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 is. He is not well with his father, therefore 
 must be unhappy, as their interests are insepa- 
 rable/' 
 
 " We often seek to apply cordials when the 
 patient is not prepared for them, and it is the 
 patient's advantage that he*cannot take a medi- 
 cine when prematurely offered. When a man 
 comes to me, and says, ' I am quite happy, 9 
 I am not sorry to find him come again with 
 some fears. — I never saw a work stand well 
 without a check,. 4 I only want,' says one, 
 1 to be sure of being safe, and then I will go 
 on.'— No; perhaps, then you will go off.' " 
 
 " For an old Christian to say to a young 
 one, ' Stand in my evidence,' is like a man 
 who has with difficulty climbed by a ladder or 
 scaffolding to the top of the house, and cries 
 to one at the bottom, < This is the place for a 
 prospect, — come up at a step. 
 
 5 5J 
 
 " A Christian, like a miser, will ask the 
 price of his pleasures : the miser has no ob- 
 jection to go to Brighton, but always asks what 
 it will cost ? The miser, indeed, has this ad- 
 vantage, that he is always in the same frame,*' 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 199 
 
 4v A Christian in the world, is like a man 
 who has a long intimacy with one whom at 
 length he finds out was the murderer of a kind 
 father; the intimacy, after this, will surely be 
 broken." • 
 
 " Except a man be born again he cannot see 
 the kingdom of God. — A man may live in a 
 deep mine in Hungary, never having seen the 
 light of the sun ; he may have received ac- 
 counts of prospects, and by the help of a can- 
 die, may have examined a few engravings of 
 them ; but let him be brought out of the mine, 
 and set on the mountain — what a difference ap- 
 pears !" 
 
 " In our fallen state, we are a sort of sole- 
 cism in the universe ; other animals are faith- 
 ful to their instincts, lambs do not wish to 
 swim, nor fish to feed in a meadow : if the sun 
 were a rational creature, he would delight to 
 shine, otherwise he ought to be extinguish- 
 ed." 
 
 u Candour will always allow much for inex- 
 perience. I have been thirty years forming my 
 own views, and in the course of this time, some 
 of my hills have been sinking, and some of 
 
200 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 my vallies have risen ; but how unreasonable 
 would it be to expect all this should take place 
 in another person, and that in the course of a 
 year or two." 
 
 " Candour forbids us to estimate a charac- 
 ter from its accidental blots. Yet it is thus 
 that David, and others, have been treated." 
 
 " Apollos met with two candid people in 
 the chur«h; they neither ran away because 
 he was legal, nor were carried away because 
 he was eloquent." 
 
 " There is the analogy of faith ; it is a mas- 
 ter key, which not only opens particular doors, 
 but carries you through the whole house ; but 
 an attachment to a rigid system is dangerous. 
 — Luther once turned out the Epistle of St. 
 James, because it disturbed his system. Dr. 
 Owen will be ashamed of his wisdom and 
 clearness five minutes after he has been in hea- 
 ven. I shall preach, perhaps, very usefully 
 upon two opposite texts, while kept apart ; but 
 if I attempt nicely to reconcile them, it is ten 
 to one if I don't begin to bungle. 
 
 " I can conceive a living man without an an$ 
 
REV. JOHxNT NEWTON". 201 
 
 or a leg, but not without a head or a heart : so 
 there are some truths essential to vital religion, 
 and whieh all awakened souls are taught." 
 
 " Apostasy, in all its branehes, takes its rise 
 from atheism. I have set the Lord always 
 before me,'&c. The doctrine of omnipresence 
 is universally allowed." 
 
 " We arc surprised at the fall of a famous 
 professor, but in the sight of God, the man 
 was gone before ; it is only w r e that have now 
 first discovered it. He that despiseth small 
 things, shall fall by little and little." 
 
 " There are critical times of danger. After 
 great services, honours, and consolations, wc 
 should stand upon our guard. Noah — Lot — 
 David — Solomon, fell in these circumstances. 
 Satan is a footpad : a footpad will not attack a 
 man in going to the Bank, but in returning with 
 his pocket full of money." 
 
 " A Christian is like a young nobleman who, 
 on going to receive his estate, is at first en- 
 chanted with its prospects ; this in a course of 
 time may w r ear off, but a sense of the value of 
 the estate grows daily." 
 
202 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 " When we first enter into the divine life, 
 we propose to grow rich ; God's plan is to 
 make us feel poor." 
 
 " Good men have need to take heed of build- 
 ing upon groundless impressions. Mr. Whit- 
 field had a son, which he imagined was born 
 to be a very extraordinary man : but the son 
 soon died, and the father was cured of his mis- 
 take." 
 
 " I remember, in going to undertake the 
 care of a congregation, I was reading as I walk- 
 ed in a green lane * Fear not, Paul, I have 
 much people in this city.' But I was soon 
 afterwards was disappointed in finding that 
 Paul was not John, and that Corinth was not 
 Warwick." 
 
 " Christ has taken our nature in heaven, to 
 represent us ; and has left us on earth, with 
 his nature, to represent him." 
 
 " Worldly men will be true to their princi- 
 ples ; and if we were as true to ours, the visits 
 between the two parties would be short and 
 seldom." 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 205 
 
 " A Christian in the world, is like a man 
 transacting his affairs in the rain. He will not 
 suddenly leave his client, because it rains ; but 
 the moment the business is done, helis off: as 
 it is said in the Acts, i Being let go, they went 
 to their own company.' " 
 
 " When a man is joined to Christ, Christ 
 says to him as it was once said to the Levite, 
 * Let all thy wants lie upon me, only abide 
 not in the street.' " 
 
 " God's word is certainly a restraint ; but it 
 is such a restraint as the irons which prevent 
 children from getting into the fire." 
 
 " The Scriptures are so full, that every case 
 may be found in them. — A rake went into a 
 church, and tried to decoy a girl by saying, 
 c Why do you attend to such stuff as these 
 Scriptures?' — ' Because,' said she, « they 
 tell me that in the last days there shall come 
 such scoffers as you.' " 
 
 " God deals with us as we do with our chil- 
 dren: he first speaks, then gives a gentle 
 stroke, at last a blow," 
 
204 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 u The religion of a sinner stands on two pil- 
 lars ; namely, what Christ did for us in his 
 flesh, and what he performs in us by his spirit. 
 Most errors arise from an attempt to separate 
 these two." 
 
 " We blame an Arminian for his want of 
 submission to divine sovereignty ; yet let a 
 shower of rain fall on a suit of new clothes, 
 and we cannot submit ourselves." 
 
 " Man is not taught any thing to purpose 
 till God becomes his teacher, and then the 
 glare of the world is put out, and the value of 
 the soul rises in full view. A man's present 
 sentiments may not be accurate, but we make 
 too much of sentiments. We pass a field with 
 a few blades — we call it a field of wheat ; but 
 here is no wheat — no, not in perfection, but 
 wheat is sown, and full ears may be expected." 
 
 " The word temperance in the New Testa- 
 ment, signifies self-possession ; it is a disposi- 
 tion suitable to one who has a race to run, and 
 therefore will not load his pockets with lead. 5 ' 
 
 " One reason why we must not attempt to 
 pull up the tares which grow among the wheat, 
 
REV. JOHN" NEWTON. 205 
 
 is, that we have not skill for the work : li\ 
 Weeder whom Mrs. N. employed in my g 
 den at OIney, who for weeds pulled up some 
 of Mrs. N.'s favourite flowers." 
 
 iX Contrivers of systems on the earth, are 
 like contrivers of systems in the heavens j 
 where the sun and moon keep the same course., 
 in spite of the philosophers." 
 
 " I endeavour to walk through the w r orld as 
 a physician goes through Bedlam : the patients 
 make a noise, pester him with impertinence,, 
 and hinder him in his business ; but he does 
 the best he can, and so gets through." 
 
 " A man always in society, is one always on 
 the spend ; on the other hand, a mere solitary., 
 is at his best but a candle in an empty room. v 
 
 " If we were upon the watch for improve 
 ment, the common news of the day would fur* 
 nish it : the falling of the tower in Siloam, antf! 
 the slaughter of the Gallileans, w r ere the news 
 of the day ; which our Lord improved." 
 
 " The generality make out their righteous 
 ness, by comparing themselves with souk 
 others whom they think worse ; thus a woman 
 S 
 
206 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 of the town who was rotting in the Lock Hos- 
 pital, was offended at a minister speaking to 
 her as a sinner, because she had never picked 
 a pocket. 5 ' 
 
 " Take toy from a child and give 
 
 him smother, and he is satisfied ; but if he be 
 hungry, no toy will do. Thus, as new-born 
 babes, true believers desire the sincere milk 
 of the word, and the desire of grace, in this 
 way, is grace." 
 
 One said that the great saints in the calendar 
 Were many of them poor sinners ; Mr. N. re- 
 plied, they were poor saints indeed, if they did 
 not feel that they were great sinners. 
 
 " A wise man looks upon men as he does 
 tipon horses, and considers their caparisons of 
 title, wealth, and place, but as harness." 
 
 " The force of what we deliver from the 
 pulpit, is often lost by a starched, and what is 
 often called a correct style, and especially by 
 adding meretricious ornaments. I called upon a 
 lady who had been robbed, and she gave me a 
 striking account "of the fact ; but had she put 
 it in heroics, I should neither so well have un- 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 307 
 
 derstood her, nor been so well convinced that 
 she had been robbed." 
 
 i: When a man says he received a blessing 
 under a sermon, I begin to inquire who this 
 man is that speaks of the help he has received ? 
 The Roman people proved the effect they re- 
 ceived under a sermon of Antony, when they 
 flew to avenge the death of Caesar." 
 
 " The Lord has reasons far beyond our ken, 
 for opening a wide door, while he stops the 
 mouth of a useful preacher. — John Bunyan 
 would not have done half the good he did, if 
 he had remained preaching in Bedford, instead 
 of being shut up in Bedford prison." 
 
 " If I could go to France, and give every 
 man in it a right and peaceable mind by my 
 labour, I should have a statue ; but to produce 
 such an effect in the conversion of one soul, 
 would be a far greater achievement." 
 
 " Ministers would over-rate their labours, 
 if they did not think it worth while to be born, 
 and spend ten thousand years in labour and 
 contempt, to recover one soul." 
 
 " Doivt tell me of your feelings* A travel 
 
208 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 ler would be glad of fine weather, but if he be 
 a man of business, he will go on. — Bunyan 
 says, you must not judge of a man's haste by 
 his horse; for when the horse can hardly 
 move, you may see by the rider's urging him, 
 what a hurry he is in." 
 
 " A man and a beast may stand upon the 
 same mountain, and even touch one another, 
 yet they are in two different worlds : the beast 
 perceives nothing but the grass, but the man 
 contemplates the prospect, and thinks of a 
 thousand remote things. — Thus a Christian 
 may be solitary at a full exchange ; he can con- 
 verse with the people there upon trade, poli- 
 tics, and the stocks ; but they cannot talk with 
 him upon the peace of God which passeth all 
 understanding." 
 
 " Love and fear are like the sun and moon, 
 seldom seen together." 
 
 " Two men go into a wood with their guns, 
 and one fires as often as the other ; but one 
 kills a great quantity of game, because he fires 
 with shot. Some, like Zaccheus, think they 
 sit very snug in a corner, and are brought down 
 much before they expect it." 
 
REV. JOHN NEWT OX. 
 
 [ dreamt one night that I saw Matthew 
 Henry lie open at this text, 4 Let your wo~ 
 men keep silence in the churches/ and 
 thought I read the following note at bottom. 
 * Note. We see the reason why women are 
 forbid to preach the Gospel, for they would 
 persuade without argument, and reprove with- 
 out giving offence.' " 
 
 u It is a mere fallacy to talk of the sins of .a 
 short life. The sinner is always a sinner. — 
 Put a pump into a river, you may throw out- 
 some water, but the river remains." 
 
 " Professors who own the doctrines of free 
 grace, often act inconsistent with their owp 
 principle when they are angry at the defects of 
 others. — A company of travellers fall into. a 
 pit, one of them gets a passenger to draw hijn 
 out: now he should not be angry with the rest 
 for falling in, nor because they are not yet cmt, 
 as he is. He did not pull himself out ; instead, 
 therefore, of reproaching them, lie should shew^ 
 them pity ; he should avoid at any rate going 
 down upon their ground again, and shew how 
 much better and happier he is upon his own. 
 — We should take care that we do not make 
 ©ur profession of religion a receipt in full for 
 S2 
 
210 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 all other obligations. A man, truly illumina- 
 ted, will no more despise others, than Barti- 
 meus, after his own eyes were opened, would 
 take a stick, and beat every blind man he 
 met." 
 
 " We are much mistaken in supposing that 
 the removal of a particular obstruction, would 
 satisfy the objector. — Suppose I am in bed, 
 and want to know whether it be light, it is not 
 enough if I draw the curtain ; for if there be 
 tight, I must have eyes to see it." 
 
 " Too deep a consideration of eternal reali- 
 ties, might unfit a man for his present circum- 
 stances. — Walking through Saint Bartholo- 
 mew's Hospital or Bedlam must deeply af- 
 fect a feeling mind, but in reality this world 
 is a far worse scene; it has but two wards, in 
 the one men are miserable, in the other mad." 
 
 " Some preachers near Olney dwelt on the 
 doctrine of predestination ; an old woman said 
 — i Ah ! I have long settled that point, for if 
 God had not chosen me before I was born, I 
 am sure he would have seen nothing in me to 
 have chosen me for afterwards.' " 
 
REV. JOHK NEWTOX* 21^ 
 
 " Law has swept away Warburton's cob- 
 web, with a single brush. — Abel pleased God, 
 but Cain killed him ; therefore, it was a dan- 
 gerous thing to please God, if there were n© 
 future state." 
 
 " I see the unprofitableness of controversy 
 in the case of Job and his friends ; for if God 
 had not interposed, had they lived to this day., 
 they would have continued to dispute." 
 
 " It is pure mercy that negatives a particu- 
 lar request. — A miser would pray very ear- 
 nestly for gold, if he believed prayer would 
 gain it ; w r hereas, if Christ had any favour to 
 him, he w r ould take his gold away. — A child 
 walks in the garden in Spring, and sees cher- 
 ries ; he knows they are good fruit, and there- 
 fore asks for them. ' No, my dear/ says the 
 father, ' they are not yet ripe: — Stay till the 
 season.' " 
 
 " If I cannot take pleasure in infirmities, I 
 can sometimes feel the profit of them. — I can 
 conceive a king to pardon a rebel, and take 
 him into his family, and then say, ' I appoint 
 you for a season to wear a fetter. At a cer- 
 tain season I will send a messenger to knock 
 
212 MEMOIRS 02? THE 
 
 it off. In the mean time this fetter will serve 
 to remind you of your state ; it may humble 
 you,. and restrain you from rambling.' " 
 
 " Some Christians, at a glance, seem of a su- 
 periour order, and are not ; they want a certain 
 quality. — At a florist's feast the other day, a 
 a certain flower was determined to bear the bell, 
 but it was found to be an artificial flower: 
 there is a quality called growth which it had 
 not." 
 
 " Doctor Taylor of Norwich said to me, 
 4 Sir, I have collated every word in the Hebrew 
 Scriptures seventeen times ; and it is very 
 strange if the doctrine of atonement you hold, 
 should not have been found by me.' — I am 
 not surprised at this : I once went to light my 
 candle with the extinguisher on it : now, preju- 
 dices from education, learning, &c. often form 
 an extinguisher.- — It is not enough that you 
 bring the candle, you must remove the extin- 
 guisher." 
 
 " I measure ministers by square measure. I 
 have no idea of the size of a table, if you only 
 tell me how long it is ; but if you also say how 
 wide, I can tell its dimensions. — So when you 
 tell me what a man is in the pulpit, you must 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 213 
 
 also tell me what he is out of it, or I shall not 
 know his size." 
 
 " If Nebuchadnezzar's image was of solid 
 gold, and every worshipper was to have a bit 
 of it, I fear our nation as well as his, would be 
 
 dy to fall down before it." 
 
 " There were two sorts of Calvinists at Ol- 
 ney, and they always reminded me of the two 
 baskets of Jeremiah's figs." 
 
 " A man should be born to high things not 
 to lose himself in them. — Slaters will walk on 
 the ridge of an house with ease, which would 
 turn our heads." 
 
 " Much depends on the way we come into 
 trouble. — Paul and Jonah were both in a 
 storm, but in very different circumstances." 
 
 " I have read of many wicked Popes, but 
 the worst Pope I ever met with is Pope 
 Self." 
 
 " The men of this world are children. — Of- 
 fer a child an apple and a bank-note, he will 
 doubtless choose the apple." 
 
214 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 9 A pious gentlewoman told me of her pot- 
 tery being burnt. ' I congratulate you, Ma- 
 dam, 5 said I, ' in possessing something you 
 cannot lose.' " 
 
 H The heir of a great estate, while a child, 
 thinks more of a few shillings in his pocket 
 than of his inheritance. — So a Christian is of- 
 ten more elated by some frame of heart, than 
 by his title to glory.' ' 
 
 " A dutiful child is ever looking forward to 
 the holidays, when he shall return to his father; 
 but he does not think of running from school 
 before, " 
 
 " The Gospel is a proclamation of free mer. 
 cy to guilty creatures — an act of grace to re- 
 bels. Now, though a rebel should throw away 
 his pistols, and determine to go into the woods, 
 and make his mind better before he goes to 
 court and pleads the act; he may, indeed, not 
 be found in arms, yet being taken in his re- 
 forming scheme, he will be hanged." 
 
 " The devil told a lie when he said, ' All 
 these things are mine, and to whomsoever I 
 will I give them ; for if he had the disposal of 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 preferments, since he knows the effect of them. 
 
 you and I, brother C , should soon be dig 
 
 nitaries." 
 
 " Man is made capable of three births — b} 
 nature he enters the present world — by grace 
 into spiritual light and life — by death into glo 
 
 " In my imagination, I sometimes fancy 1 
 could make a perfect minister. I take the elo 
 
 quence of , the knowledge of , the 
 
 zeal of , and the pastoral meekness, ten- 
 derness and piety of ; then putting them 
 
 all together into one man, I say to myself, this 
 would be a perfect minister. Now there is 
 one who, if he chose it, could actually do this,, 
 but he never did — he has seen fit to do otf 
 w r ise, and to divide these "gifts to even' man 
 severally as -he will." 
 
 " I feel like a man who has no money in his 
 pocket, but is allowed to draw for all he wants 
 upon one infinitely rich : I am, therefore, at 
 once both a beggar and a rich man." 
 
 " I went one day to Mrs. G 's just af- 
 ter she had lost all her fortune ; I could not ht 
 
316 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 surprised to find her in tears, but she said, 
 ' I suppose you think I am crying for 
 my loss, but that is not the case ; I am now 
 weeping to think I should feel so much 
 uneasiness on the accout. 5 After that, I 
 never heard her speak again upon the subject 
 as long as she lived. — Why now this is just 
 as it should be. — Suppose a man was going 
 to York to take possession of a large estate, 
 and his chaise should break down a mile 
 before he got to the* city, which obliged him 
 to walk the rest of the way ; what a fool we 
 should think him if we saw him wringing his 
 hands, and blubbering out all the remaining 
 mile, ' My chaise is broken !' ' My chaise is 
 broken !'" 
 
 " I have many books that I cannot sit down 
 to read ; they are, indeed, good and sound ; 
 but, like halfpence, there goes a great quantity 
 to a little amount : there are silver books, and, 
 a very few golden books, but I have one book 
 worth more than all, called the Bible ; and 
 that is a book of bank-notes." 
 
 J conclude these remarks, not because my 
 memorandum-book is exhausted, but lest 
 
R E \ 
 
 the reader should think I forget th< ma am, tie 
 
 quid nimis. No undue liberty, however, h 
 been taken in publishing Mr. N.'s private con- 
 versation, since all the above remarks were 
 submitted to him as intended for this publica- 
 tion, and were approved. 
 
 T 
 
b 
 
 219 
 
 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS. 
 
 The difference of mental improvement among 
 men, seems very much to depend on their ca- 
 pacity and habit of gathering instruction from 
 the objects which are continually presented to 
 their observation. Two men behold the same 
 fact; one of them is in the habit of drawing such 
 remarks and inferences as the fact affords, and 
 learns something from every thing he sees ; 
 while the other sees the same fact, and per- 
 haps, with a momentary admiration, but lets it 
 pass without making so much as one profitable 
 reflection on the occasion. — The excursions of 
 the bee and the butterfly, present an exact em- 
 blem of these two characters. 
 
 I have present to my mind an acquaintance, 
 who has seen more of the outside of the world 
 than most men ; he has lived in most countries 
 of the civilized world, yet I scarcely know a 
 man of a less improved mind. With every 
 external advantage, he has learned nothing to 
 any useful purpose he seems to have passed 
 from flower to flower without extracting a 
 drop of honey ; and now, he tires all his friends 
 
MEMOIRS OP THE 
 
 with the frivolous garrulity of a capricious, 
 vacant, and petulant old age. 
 
 I wish the reader of these Memoirs may 
 avoid such an error, in passing over the history 
 here laid before him. An extraordinary train 
 of facts is presented to his observation ; and 
 if " the proper study of mankind is man," 
 the history before us, will surely furnish im- 
 portant matter of the kind, to the eye of ever} 
 wise, moral traveller. 
 
 I would here call the attention of three class- 
 es of men to a single point of prime impor- 
 tance, namely, to the efficacy and excel- 
 lency of real Christianity as exhibited 
 in the principles and practice of the subject of 
 these Memoirs. 
 
 I. Suppose the reader to be so unhappy 
 (though his misfortune may be least perceived 
 by himself) as to be led astray by bad society, 
 in conjunction with an evil heart of unbelief. 
 I will suppose him to be now in the state 
 in which Mr. N. describes himself formerly 
 to have been, and in which also the writer of 
 these Memoirs once was. I will suppose him 
 to be given up to believe his own lie ; and 
 that he may be in the habit of thinking that 
 God, when he made man, left him to find his 
 way without any express revelation of the mind 
 and will of his Maker and Governor, or at 
 
XEV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 most that he is left to the only rule in morals 
 which nature may be supposed to present. — 
 What that way is, which such a thinker will 
 take, is sufficiently evident from the general 
 course and habits of unbelievers. But there 
 is a conscience in man. Conscience in sober 
 moments, often alarm sthe most stout-hearted. 
 When such an unbeliever meets an overwhelm- 
 ing providence, or lies on a death-bed, he will 
 probably awake to a strong sense of his real 
 condition. He will feel, if not very hardened 
 indeed, in what a forlorn, unprovided, and dan- 
 gerous state he exists ; life is the moment in 
 which only this sceptical presumption can con- 
 tinue, and when it is terminating, where is he 
 to set the sole of his foot ? He wildly contem- 
 plates the book of nature, in which he may 
 have been persuaded that man may read all he 
 needs to know ; but the forlorn outcast sees 
 nothing there to meet his case as a sinner. In- 
 finite power, wisdom, contrivance, general pro- 
 vision alone appear ; but nothing of that fur- 
 ther and distinct information which a dying 
 offender needs. He wants footing, and finds 
 none. He needs the hand of a friend to grasp, 
 but none is seen. Possibilities shock his ap- 
 prehension. He may, perhaps, discern that 
 the present system has a moral government. 
 T2 
 
222 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 which frowns upon guilt ; and for aught he 
 knows to the contrary, the next scene may pre- 
 sent a judge upon his throne of justice, ---this 
 world, his present idol, vanished like smoke, 
 and quick and dead called to give their ac- 
 count. Where then is he ?— an atom of guilt 
 and wretchedness. All this I say may be, for 
 aught he knows to the contrary. But the ex - 
 press and well-authenticated revelation which 
 that Judge hath sent to man, tells us plainly 
 that all this shall be, and that every eye shall 
 behold it ! 
 
 " Be it so," such a reader may reply, " still 
 I am what I am. My habits of thinking are 
 fixed ; and I perceive my habits of life can on- 
 ly be decently borne out by my profession of 
 unbelief. Both are now inveterate. Nor do 
 I see, all things considered, what can be done 
 in my case. How can I adopt the Christian 
 revelation ? — and what could it do for me if I 
 could ?" I answer by calling your attention to 
 the fact before us. What was the case of 
 John Newton ? 
 
 Could any one be more deeply sunk in de- 
 pravity, in profligacy, in infidelity than he ? 
 Can you even conceive a rational creature 
 more degraded, or more hardened in his evil 
 habits ? Would you attempt to recover such 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. N 22) 
 
 a mind by arguments drawn from the advan- 
 tage which virtue has over vice ? or by rous- 
 ing his attention to the duties of natural reli- 
 gion ? or the possible consequences of a fu- 
 ture retribution ? He would have gone on 
 thinking he had made the most of his circum- 
 stances, in his practice of catching fish, and 
 eating them almost raw. ---He w 7 ould sullenly 
 have proceeded to sleep through the drying of 
 his one shirt which he had just washed on the 
 rock, and pat on wet. — He would, with a sa- 
 vage ferocity, have watched an opportunity 
 for murdering his master. — He would have 
 drowned all reflection in a drunken revel, and 
 overwhelmed all remonstrance, by belching 
 out new- invented blasphemies ; and then 
 sought to rush headlong, in a drunken parox- 
 ysm, into the ocean. * 
 
 Here is certainly presented the utmost pitch 
 of a depraved and a degraded nature, nor does 
 it seem possible for Satan to carry his point 
 further with a man — except in one single in* 
 stance, namely, by the final disbelief of a re- 
 medy. 
 
 Now by God's help this divine remedy was 
 applied, and its efficacy demonstrated, of 
 
 * Sec these Memoirs, pages 27, 37, 40, 47, 5 1 . 
 
224 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 which there are thousands of living witnesses. 
 A plain matter of fact is before us. It pleased 
 God by a train of dispensations, that this pro- 
 digal should come to himself. — He is made to 
 feel his wants and misery. He follows the 
 light shining in a dark place. He calls for 
 help. He is made willing to follow his guide. 
 He proceeds with implicit confidence, and now 
 let us examine to what, at length, he is brought; 
 and also by what means ? 
 
 I speak of a matter of fact — whither is lie 
 brought ? He is brought from the basest, 
 meanest, under-trodden state of slavery — from 
 a state of mind still more degraded, being fool- 
 ish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts 
 and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hate- 
 ful and hating — wanting nothing of a com- 
 plete devil, but his powers. This man is 
 brought, I say, to be a faithful and zealous 
 servant of his God — an able and laborious mi- 
 nister of Christ — a useful and benevolent 
 friend to his neighbour — wise to secure the 
 salvation of his own soul, and wise to win the 
 souls of others. 
 
 Consider also the means by which he was 
 brought. It was not by the arguments of phi- 
 losophers, or the rational considerations of 
 
V B WTON. 
 
 \li;;t is culled natural religion: Mr. N.\sown 
 
 Hint informs us, that the peculiar disco- 
 ties of revealed truth gradually broke in upon 
 his mind ; till, at length, he was made sensible 
 that there was a remedy provided in the Gos- 
 pel, and which was fully sufficient to meet 
 even his ease, and he found that, and that on- 
 ly, to be " the power of God unto salvation." 
 The result, therefore, which should be drawn 
 from these premises is the following. There 
 exists a desperate disorder in the world called 
 sin. Heathens as well as Christians have 
 marked its malignant influence — they have 
 tried various expedients which have been pre- 
 scribed for its cure, or at least its mitigation — 
 but no means, except God's own appointed 
 means, have been discovered that have been 
 able to relieve so much as a single individual. 
 Yet, strange to say, this medicina mentis of 
 God's own appointment, to which only he has 
 promised a peculiar blessing, and by which he 
 is daily recovering men in the most desperate 
 circumstances, who actually employ it : strange 
 to say, this remedy still remains a stumbling 
 block — is counted foolishness — insomuch that 
 many will rather dash this cup of salvation 
 from the lips of a profligate, like Newton, when 
 disposed to receive it, than he should obtain 
 
226 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 relief that way. — Their conduct seems to say, 
 " Rather let such a wretch go on in his profli- 
 gacy, than the Gospel be acknowledged to be 
 the wisdom and the power of God." 
 
 Not that the case of Mr. N. here presented 
 to the consideration of an unbeliever, is brought 
 forward as if the Gospel needed any further 
 evidence — or has occasion for facts of our own 
 time to give it additional authenticity : but we 
 are directed to regard the " cloud of wit- 
 nesses," among which our departed brother 
 was distinguished; and though now dead, yet 
 speaketh. May the reader have ears to hear 
 the important report ! 
 
 Does, therefore, the question return as to 
 what the unbeliever should do? Let him, 
 after seriously considering what is here advanc- 
 ed, consider also what conduct is becoming a 
 responsible, or at least a rational creature? 
 Surely it becomes such a one to avoid all 
 means of stifling the voice of conscience when- 
 ever it begins to speak — to regard the voice 
 of God yet speaking to him in the revelation 
 of his grace, and that much more humbly and 
 seriously than such persons are wont to do. — 
 It becomes him, if he have any regard to the 
 interest of his own soul, or the souls of his fel- 
 low-creatures, to give no countenance by his 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 declarations or example, to the scns< Us, 
 
 and indecent scoffs, by which the profligate 
 aim to cloak the disorders of their hearts — by 
 which vanity aims at distinction, and half- 
 thinkers affect depth. — The person I am now 
 speaking to, cannot but observe how much the 
 judgment becomes the dupe of the passions. 
 " If the veil be upon the heart, it will be upon 
 every thing. We need not only an object pre- 
 sented, but an organ to discern it. Now the 
 Gospel only affords both these. Mr. N. be- 
 comes an instructive example in this respect 
 to the unbeliever.—' 4 One of the first helps," 
 says he, " I received (in consequence of a de- 
 termination to examine the New Testament 
 piore carefully) was from Luke, vi. 13. If ye 
 then, being evil, know how to give good gifts 
 unto your children, how much more shall your 
 heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them 
 that ask him ? I had been sensible, that to 
 profess faith in Jesus Christ, when, in reality, 
 I did not believe his history, was no better 
 than a mockery of the heart-searching God ; 
 but here I found a Spirit spoken of, which 
 was to be communicated to those who ask it. 
 Upon this I reasoned thus : if this book b< 
 true, the promise in this passage must be true 
 
228 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 likewise : I have need of that very Spirit by 
 which the wiiole was written in order to un- 
 derstand it aright. He has engaged here, to 
 give that Spirit to those who ask : and if it be 
 of God, he will make good his own word." 
 
 A man, therefore, who is found in this un- 
 happy state, but not judicially hardened in it, 
 should mark this stage of Mr. N.'s recovery,, 
 and attend to the facts and evidences of the 
 power and excellency of real religion, such as 
 this before him. — He should appreciate that 
 Gospel, which it has pleased God to employ 
 as his instrument for displaying the wonders 
 of his might in the moral world. He should 
 pray that he may experience the power of it in 
 his owti heart, and thus not lose the additional 
 benefit of the cases presented to him in Me- 
 moirs like these ; a case, probably, far exceed- 
 ing his own in the malignity of its symptoms,, 
 * — Let him also consider that, while such con- 
 victions can produce no real loss to him, they 
 may secure advantages beyond calculation. 
 He may not be able at present to comprehend 
 how " Godliness is profitable for all things, in 
 having not only the promise of the life that no\P 
 is, but that which is to come ;" but he may 
 see, as a rational creature, that, at the very 
 fewest estimation, he has taken the safe side* 
 
ItEV. JOHN NEWTi 
 
 by embracing the only hope set before him ; 
 and on this ground, it is clearly demonstrable 
 that not only the grossest folly must attach to 
 the rejector of a revelation attended with such 
 accumulated evidences, but also actual guilt, 
 and the highest ingratitude and presumption. 
 
 II. But there is another class of men, to 
 whom I would recommend a serious consi- 
 deration of Mr. N.'s religious character and 
 principles. The persons whom I am now ad- 
 dressing are convinced of the truth of revela- 
 tion, and some of them ably contend for it- 
 against unbelievers. They are also conscien- 
 tious — they are often useful in society — and 
 are sometimes found amiable and benevolent 
 — they are even religious according to their 
 views of religion — and some of them are exact 
 in their devotions. Yet, from certain morbid 
 symptoms, they appear not to receive the grace 
 of God in truth, nor to be cordially dispos- 
 ed to the spirit of the Gospel. — So much appa- 
 rent right intention and exemplary conduct 
 seems, indeed, to demand respect ; and a r 
 pect which some who possess more zeal than 
 judgment do not duly pay them. 
 
 Ardelio despises his neighbour Eusebius^s 
 religious views and habits ; and not onh 
 deems him a blind pharisee, but has soi^ 
 U 
 
230 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 times expressed the sentiment in the rudest 
 terms. This reminds me of the old story of 
 Diogenes' walking on the costly carpet of his 
 brother philosopher, saying, " I trample on 
 the pride of Plato." 
 
 " Yes," said Plato, " but with greater 
 pride, Diogenes." 
 
 If it be asked, Why should any one judge 
 unfavourably of such a character as Eusebius ? 
 I answer, we may charitably seek to convince 
 one whom we have reason to think under fatal 
 mistakes, without any disposition to judge or 
 condemn him. I meet a traveller who is con- 
 fidently pursuing a path, which Ihave reason 
 to believe is both wide of his mark, and danger- 
 ous to his person ; I may charitably attempt 
 to direct his steps, without thinking ill of his 
 intention. — It is recorded of our Lord, that he 
 even loved a young man, who went away sor- 
 rowful on having his grand idol exposed. 
 But why, it is asked, should you suspect any 
 thing essentially wrong in such characters as 
 you describe ? I reply, for the following rea- 
 sons : 
 
 I have observed with much concern, when 
 God hath wrought such a mighty operation of 
 grace in the heart o f a man, like Newton, that 
 this man has not; upon such a saving change 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 231 
 
 ig wrought, suited the religious taste of the 
 persons just mentioned. They will, indeed, 
 commend his external change of conduct ; but 
 by no means relish his broken and contrite 
 spirit, or his ascribing the change to free and 
 unmerited favour, and his counting all things 
 
 z loss for the excellency of the knowledge 
 of Christ Jesus, as that Lord who has thus 
 
 led him from darkness to light, and from 
 the power of Satan to God. They will not re- 
 lish the zeal and evangelical strain of his 
 preaching, his endeavour to alarm a stupid, 
 sleeping conscience, to probe a deceitful heart, 
 to expose the wretchedness of the w T orld, and 
 to rend the veil from formality and hypocrisy; 
 nay, they will rather prefer some dry moralist, 
 or mere formalist, w r ho, instead of having ex- 
 perienced any such change of heart, will ra- 
 ther revile it. 
 
 Again, I have observed a lamentable dispo- 
 sition of mind in such persons to form false 
 and unfavourable associations. They will pay 
 too much attention to injurious representa- 
 tions, true or false, of a religious class of man- 
 kind, whom the world has branded with some 
 general term of reproach. — Two or three ig- 
 norant or extravagant fanatics shall be admit 
 
 i to represent the religious world at large. 
 
232 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 not considering how much such offensive cha- 
 racters are actually grieving those whose cause 
 I am pleading. No one indeed can have lived 
 long in society, but he must needs have^met 
 the counterfeit of every excellence. — In the 
 article of property, for instance, who is not on 
 the watch lest he should be imposed on ? And, 
 while the love of property is so general, who 
 is not studious to discover the difference be- 
 tween the tnie and the false ? It will be so in 
 religion, wherever there is the attention which 
 its worth so imperiously demands. Love has 
 a piercing eye, which will discover its object 
 in a crowd. But, if there be this disposition 
 to confound in the lump the precious with the 
 vile, it is symptomatic of something morbid 
 in the heart. ---We have reason to fear a latent 
 aversion from vital and spiritual religion, not- 
 withstanding all the allowance that can be made 
 for the prevailing prejudices of their educa- 
 tion and circumstances, in the persons offend- 
 ed. And here also, we cannot but lament the 
 effect of such a disposition in those perverse 
 conclusions these persons are often observed 
 to draw from a sermon. Of the two handles 
 which attach to every thing, what must we 
 think of that mind which is ever choosing the 
 wrong? Jesus Christ, for instance, shews how 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 233 
 
 much the farm, the oxen, and the wife i 
 eame impediments in the way of the 
 refused his invitation. But a perverse conclu- 
 sion would infer that he was, therefore, an 
 enemy to lawful engagements. Candour, 
 however, sees at a glance that this was not his 
 design in speaking the parable. His drift w r as 
 evidently to mark the state and spirit of the re- 
 cusants, and not to discountenance their law- 
 ful occupations. — He meant to shew that even 
 lawful pursuits, may be unlawfully pursued, 
 when they become sole objects, and are thus 
 preferred to his inestimable proposal. It is 
 s the \ veil- disposed hearer will mark the 
 minister, and draw wholesome 
 nourishment from that discourse which ano- 
 ther will turn to poison, by stopping to cavil 
 at the letter. 
 
 Another objection arises from the affinity 
 which characters of this class have with " a 
 world which lieth in wickedness." In this 
 instance of their worldly attachments, their 
 charity will readily cover a multitude of sins, 
 and form excuses for serious breaches of both 
 tables of the law, in their worldly friends. 
 They appear in their element while in the so- 
 ciety of these friends, especially if wealthy and 
 accomplished. If any person's ear is wounct- 
 U2 
 
234 memoirs or the 
 
 ed with a profane expression from one of their 
 rich or fashionable acquaintance, they are rea- 
 dy to whisper that, " notwithstanding his un- 
 guarded language, he has yet upon the whole 
 one of the best of hearts." 
 
 Yet an infallible monitor has said " Know 
 ye not that the friendship of the world is 
 enmity with God ?" If the old maxim does 
 not always hold good, that " a man is known 
 by the company he keeps," it will infallibly 
 jrtand good if we add one word to it, namely, 
 that a man is known by the company he 
 chooses to keep. — The physician may be de- 
 tained in an infectious chamber, and the law- 
 yer be found conversing with his client in a 
 shower of rain ; but nobody will infer from 
 thence, that the one chooses to breathe foul 
 air, or that the other chooses to be wet to his 
 skin. While the true Christian, therefore, 
 will avoid inurbanity, fanaticism, or becoming 
 the dupe of any religious party, he will also 
 join the Psalmist in declaring " I am a com- 
 panion of all them that fear thee, and of them 
 that keep thy precepts." 
 
 Again, these moral and religious characters, 
 whom I am labouring to convince of their er- 
 rors, have been observed to be more disposed 
 to nurse, than to examine their prejudices 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 against a minister of Mr. N.'s principles. 
 " His teaching," say they, " tends to divide a 
 parish, or a family ;" but why do they not e 
 amine the reason ? Why do they not consider 
 that introducing good, has ever been the oc- 
 casion of disturbing evil ? I recollect a great. 
 family, whose servants were in a ferment, be- 
 cause one truly conscientious man was found 
 among them. " He will spoil the pia*e," was 
 their term, because he would not connive at 
 their iniquity. But let me ask, what was to 
 be blamed in this aftair ? His integrity or their 
 corruption ? The master understood the case, 
 and valued his servant in proportion as he 
 marked the division. And thus it is in reli- 
 gion, while moving in a blind and corrupt 
 world. Christ, though the Prince of Peace, 
 expressly declared that his doctrine would be 
 the occasion of much division in the world, 
 that he came not to send peace, but a sword, 
 that he should be the occasion of family va- 
 riance, $cc. Matt. x. 34, 35 ; and warns his 
 disciples of what they must expect while they 
 endeavoured faithfully to conduct his interests. 
 Plain matter of fact declares, that to maintain 
 truth, has been the occasion of the suffering 
 state of the true Church in all ages, and that 
 often unto the death of its innumerable mar- 
 
23G MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 tyrs. But, should a man who reads his Bible, 
 or has an}' regard for the interests of truth, 
 need to have this explained ? 
 
 Another mistake might be exposed, in the 
 stale objection, that such principles as Mr. 
 N.'s tend to injure the interests of morality, 
 from his strictly adhering to the doctrine of 
 our eleventh article, on justification by faith. 
 I would hope that this objection, in many, ari- 
 ses from a very slight acquaintance with the 
 subject. — It requires, indeed, but little atten- 
 tion to ma^k how expressly the Scriptures 
 maintain our justification on the sole merit of 
 our Redeemer, while they as fully maintain 
 the necessity of our sanctification or holiness 
 by his Spirit. It has been proved over and over, 
 by sound and incontestable arguments, that 
 these two grand fundamentals of our religion 
 are so far from opposing each other, either in 
 Scripture or experience, that when real, they 
 are found inseparable. But, because this is 
 not the place to either state or defend this doc- 
 trine at large, it may help such as have hither- 
 to stumbled respecting it, to observe an illus- 
 tration and proof of this position, in the mat- 
 ter of fact just now presented to their view. 
 
 To one willing to learn, I would say. 
 What proof would you require of the practi- 
 
KliV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 cal tendency of principles Uke Mr. N.'s ? Wc 
 
 bring you, in his history, a most deplorable 
 instance of human depravity and deep moral 
 disorder. What experiment shall be tried 
 to recover this wretched creature to God and 
 to himself? — Regard, I say, the fact in this 
 man's history. You will find that his recove- 
 ry was not brought about by such considera- 
 tions as are urged in what are termed moral or 
 rational discourses ; but, on the contrary, by 
 such truths as he laboured throughout his mi- 
 nistry to establish, not only from the Scrip- 
 tures, but from his own experience of their ef- 
 ficacy. He dwelt on truths which are essen- 
 tial and peculiar to Christianity : such as the 
 guilt and utter depravity of our fallen nature, 
 whereby man is become an alien and apostate 
 from his God. — His inability to recover him- 
 self without the grace of the Holy Spirit, the 
 necessity of regeneration by the same Spirit, 
 — and of faith in the Redeemer, not only as the 
 only ground of his justification before God, 
 but as the root and motive of all acceptable 
 obedience and good works. " If I wanted a 
 man to fly," saiei Mr. N. " I must contrive to 
 find him wings ; and thus, If I would success- 
 fully enforce moral duties, I must advance 
 evangelical motives. ' ' He preached truths I 
 
233 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 these constantly and fervently, and he lived a 
 consistent example of them. 
 
 Thus in/all things approving himself a true 
 disciple and minister of Christ, those who 
 knew him know that, without making any 
 odious comparison, it might be literally affirm- 
 ed of Mr. N. that " by pureness, by know- 
 ledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the 
 Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, by the word 
 of truth, by the power of God, by the armour 
 of righteousness on the right hand and on the 
 left, his mouth was opened and his heart en- 
 larged towards men . ' ' 
 
 I trust it is from a pure motive that I am en- 
 deavouring to convince persons of the class I 
 am addressing, of their mistake. And I am 
 the more induced to bring a case in point be- 
 fore them, because I think it cannot be paral- 
 leled as an instance of the power of religion, 
 among those who labour to keep up prejudices 
 against ministers of Mr. N.'s character; or 
 who, by unfair or partiaL statements, strive to 
 subvert the doctrines he preached, and the 
 OTeat end to which all his labours were direct- 
 ed, namely, the life of God in the soul of man. 
 
 If indeed any one " is willing to be de- 
 ceived, let him be deceived." At least such 
 an one will not be addressed here. But 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 if a man has any serious sense of the value 
 of his soul, of its lost condition by sin. 
 and of recovering the friendship )f his God : 
 if he feel the express declaration in the 
 Scriptures of an eternity of happiness or n 
 ery to be of infinite importance, and to 
 which the weightiest concern in this perishing 
 world is but as the dust on the balance — let 
 such a one consider these things. Let him 
 inquire whether those who object to the cha- 
 racter and views of such a minister as Mr. N. 
 labour first to probe the state of their own hearts 
 deeply, as he did ? When he was no longer 
 an infidel, had renounced his grosser habits, 
 and was to all appearance a new man ; " Yet," 
 says he, " though I cannot doubt that this 
 change, so far as it prevailed, was wrought by 
 the Spirit and power of God, still I was great- 
 ly deficient in many respects. I was in some 
 degree affected with a sense of my more enor- 
 mous sins, but I was little aware of the innate 
 evils of my heart. I had no apprehension of 
 the spirituality and extent of the law of God. 
 The hidden life of a Christian, as it consists in 
 communion with God by Jesus Christ, and a 
 continual dependence upon him for hourly 
 supplies of wisdom, strength, and comfort, was 
 a mystery of which I had as vet no knowlecl 
 
240 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 I acknowledged the Lord's mercy in pardoning 
 what was past, but depended chiefly upon my 
 own resolution to do better for the time to 
 come." 
 
 Let the honest inquirer also consider, whe- 
 ther the objectors just spoken of, are observ- 
 ed to be as anxious in their pursuits to serve 
 God and propagate his will, to glorify his son, 
 and to save the souls of men ? Whether thev 
 have experienced the force of truth, in the con- 
 version of their own hearts and lives. — Con- 
 formed to the world as he once was, have they 
 been since transformed by the renewing of 
 their minds, as he at length became ? A few 
 such questions as these, well considered, would 
 lead to important discoveries. Such an enqui- 
 ry would shew, that however some persons 
 may be able to treat of the outworks of revela- 
 tion, as they may of any .other science they 
 have studied ; yet for such to dogmatise on re- 
 ligion, as it consists in a vital, spiritual, and 
 experimental principle, would be as absurd as 
 for a man originally deprived of one of the five 
 senses, to deny the perceptions of those who 
 possess them all. In short, it is as rediculous 
 as it is profane, for men rashly to assert on reli- 
 gious points* who evidently appear to have no- 
 thing so little at heart as the real influence and 
 actual interests of religion. 
 
REV. JOHN KE 
 
 Lastly, let nominal Christians seriously con- 
 sider whether our immortal interests arc not 
 much too important to be staked upon a mere 
 prejudice of education — an old, undevised 
 habit of thinking — a taking it for granted that 
 they are right, when the event may awfully 
 prove the reverse ; and that too, when such 
 errors can never be rectified ? The pers< 
 with whom I have been pleading would p 
 the Jew or the Pagan in such an error : J ear 
 nestly pray that they may be enabled to sev 
 as clearly their own mistake, and not resent 
 the admonition of a real friend now r seeking to 
 prevent it. 
 
 III. But there yet remains a class of person^, 
 found in the religious world, who entertain a 
 high regard for Mr. N.'s character, and who 
 should gather that instruction from it of which 
 they appear to stand in great need. " They 
 should all take care," as he expresses it, " that 
 they do not make their profession of religion 
 a receipt in full for all other obligations." I 
 do not regard this class as hypocrites, so much 
 as self-deceivers. They have a zeal for 
 Gospel ; but without a comprehensive 
 W 
 
242 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 of its nature. They do not consider that, in 
 avoiding error on the one hand, they are plung- 
 ing into a contrary mistake. Like a child 
 crossing a bridge, they tremblingly avoid the 
 deep water which they perceive roaring on one 
 side ; and recede from it, till they are ready 
 to perish from not perceiving the danger of 
 that which lies on the other side. 
 
 The class, of which I am here speaking, are 
 defective in the grand article of a humble and 
 contrite spirit. I remember Mr. N. used to 
 remark, that " if any one criterion could be 
 given of a real work of grace begun in the 
 heart of a sinner, it would be found in his con- 
 trite spirit.' ' Nothing is more insisted on in 
 Scripture, as essential to real religion. I ne- 
 ver knew any truly serious Christian but would 
 readily join in acknowledging that " the reli- 
 gion of a sinner," as Mr. N. expresses it, 
 u stands on two pillars, namely, what Christ 
 did for us in his flesh, and what he performs 
 in us by his Spirit: most errors," says .he, 
 " arise from an attempt to separate these two." 
 But, as it was in the beginning, so it is now } 
 the enemy comes and sows tares among the 
 wheat, and a sort of loose profession has ob- 
 tained, which has brought much reproach on 
 religion, and become a cause of stumbling to 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 
 
 many, who perceive a class of Christians con 
 tending' for only a part of Christianity. 
 
 You can prevail little with a professor of 
 this description, in exhorting him by the meek- 
 ness and gentleness of Christ, to self-denying, 
 patient, or forbearing habits. If you state the 
 genius of Christ's religion as it relates to the 
 returning good for evil — in blessing them that 
 curse, and praying for such as revile and per- 
 secute — in shewing, out of a good conversa- 
 tion, their works with meekness of wisdom — 
 or, in having a fervent charity towards all men, 
 &c. he is ready to kindle, and to cover his 
 conduct by a crude system of mere doctrinal 
 points, ill understood. It is well if your well- 
 intended remonstrance does not lead him to 
 ask, " Whether you mean to bring him back 
 to the Whole Duty of Man, or to Nelson's 
 Festivals and Fasts ? He laments that you 
 yourself are not clear in the Gospel, because 
 you maintain the whole of it ; and that you arc 
 not faithful, if you maintain the whole of it in 
 a patient, forbearing spirit. 
 
 The views of such persons, and the evil 
 tempers to which they give place in their spi- 
 ritual warfare, have often reminded me of the 
 shnewd answer which our Richard the first sent 
 to the Pope j vrZio was angry because a c 
 
2U 
 
 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 tain warlike bishop had fallen by Richard in 
 battle, and whom, being an ecclesiastic, the 
 Pope called his son. Richard sent the bishop's 
 armour to the Pope, with the words of Joseph's 
 brethren — " Know now whether this be thy 
 •son's coat or not." 
 
 Nothing, however, could be more opposed 
 to the spirit and character of our departed - 
 friend than the temper that has just been de- 
 scribed. His zeal in propagating the truth, 
 the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, 
 was not more conspicuous, than the tender- 
 ness of his spirit as to the manner of his main- 
 taining and delivering it. He was found con- 
 stantly speaking the truth in love, and in meek- 
 ness instructing those that oppose themselves, 
 if God peradventure would give them repent- 
 ance to the acknowledging the truth. There 
 was a gentleness, a candour, and a forbearance 
 in him that I do not recollect to have seen in 
 an equal degree among his brethren ; and 
 which had so conciliating an effect, that men 
 the enemies of truth often spoke loudly in 
 praise of his character. On the other hand, it 
 generated such an affection in his friends, that, 
 had Ive attempted to preach longer than he. did, 
 a great part of his congregation would have 
 
r.£V. joiin NE^'ig,\. 245 
 
 gathered, were it only for the pleasure the) 
 had in seeing his person. 
 
 That this account is not panegyric, is known 
 to all who personally knew Mr. N. But, as 
 many who may read these Memoirs had not 
 that pleasure, I will add the testimony of one 
 whose nice discernment of character will ad- 
 mit of no question. 
 
 " A people will love a minister, if a minis- 
 seems to love his people ; the old maxim 
 .s'imile agit in simile is in no case more exactly 
 verified ; therefore you were beloved at Olney, 
 and if you preached to the Chickesaws and 
 Chactaws, would be equally beloved by 
 them*." 
 
 As the spirit of Christian benevolence and 
 charity seems not to have been sufficiently 
 cultivated among us, while a furious and oftq;i 
 abusive zeal for certain points, as Cowper re- 
 marks, has been substituted for the whole 
 truth, I am led to dwell longer than I intended 
 in enforcing this amiable feature of Mr. NVjS 
 character; especially on account of those 
 Christians who have imbibed a false taste in 
 their religion, from such teachers, or books, 
 as have fallen in their way. I, therefore, ear* 
 
 ' Ilayley's Life of Cowper, Letter 27. 
 W2 
 
"246 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 nestly request such persons to weigh well the 
 inquiries which follow. 
 
 Have you ever sufficiently considered the 
 ex r il of divisions and heart-burnings in a church ; 
 and what interest that enemy, who comes to 
 sow tares among the wheat, takes in promo- 
 ting them ? — Do you reflect that another 
 Christian may be doing God's work, though 
 his mode of doing it may not meet your taste, 
 any more than your taste meets his ? — Do you 
 consider how much greater evil a wrong spirit 
 and temper produce than the things you ob- 
 ject against ? — Do you weigh the consequen- 
 ces of yowr haste ift weakening the hands, and 
 grieving the heart of any godly minister, whom 
 you constantly or occasionally attend ; and in 
 actually laying a stumbling block in the way 
 of the ungodly, while you depreciate him and 
 his services? Nothing affected that eminent 
 character, Mr. Cadogan, like what he met 
 from some religious persons of this kind, as 
 f have related from his own lips, in his Me- 
 moirs*. 
 
 Let me further exhort such as are in danger 
 
 from this unchastised spirit to consider, how 
 
 much corrupt nature is at the bottom of this 
 
 error? Corrupt nature frets and rages at a#y 
 
 •* See Memoirs of Cadogan? p, 39. 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 247 
 
 •posed contradiction or restraint; it would 
 substitute the work of the tongue for that of 
 the heart : in the mean time, real religion is 
 scorned by the world, which cannot distin- 
 guish between a thing so deformed, and the 
 thing as it ought to appear. 
 
 Consider also, whether there needs any 
 grace at all in order to maintain such a sort of 
 profession ? We require only to christen the 
 evil passions of corrupt nature, and then may 
 call names, hate, boast, and give ourselves the 
 preference, as much as any ungodly man what- 
 ever! A zealot at an election can fight, and 
 strive for his favourite candidate : with in- 
 flamed zeal he can cause divisions, exhibit 
 pride, self-will, and impatience cf subordina- 
 tion ; but let me ask, will the same evil tem- 
 pers change their nature because they are em- 
 ployed about spiritual objects ? 
 
 Much blame attaches too, respecting cer- 
 tain disputable points for which such persons 
 strive. It seems as if some, who are other- 
 wise good men, did not relish the Bible till 
 they had garbled and selected it ; and that, if 
 the whole were not of acknowledged authori- 
 ty, they would condemn it as it now stands. 
 They speak as if it were not accurate in its 
 terms, or sufficiently express or decisive m 
 
248 MEMOIRS ©F XHJB 
 
 confirming their fond opinions. This leads 
 them to be shy of some parts of revelation, and 
 to distort others, in order to fit them for their 
 system ; and while contending for that sys- 
 tem, they appear to forget the stress which the 
 Apostle lays upon the holy, humble, self-de- 
 nying, affectionate spirit of Christianity, in 1 
 Con xiii. how gentle it is ! how easy to be 
 entreated ! how it hopeth and endureth all 
 things, &c. While, on the contrary, they who 
 can speak with the tongues of men and of an- 
 gels, who have all knowledge, who can work 
 miracles, and even die martyrs, would, with- 
 out this distinguishing characteristic of Chris- 
 tianity, be considered of God as NOTHING* 
 The Old Testament dispensation, it is grant- 
 ed, had a severe aspect, apd special occasions 
 may be pleaded for special expressions of holy 
 indignation under any dispensation ; but, when 
 the Prophet describes the brighter day, he 
 foretells that then the wolf shall dwell with 
 the lamb, Sec. as emblematical of the preva- 
 lence of that grace described by the Apostljp 
 in the chapter just quoted. Hold, therefore^ 
 the faith once delivered to the saints as firmly 
 -as possible, but hold it in love. Buy the truthi 
 and sell it not — rather die for it, than part witfo 
 ft — but speak it in love ; and walk in it gs 
 
KLV. JOHN NEWTON. 249 
 
 Christ also walked, ever remembering that 
 " the wrath of man worketh not the righteous- 
 ness of God." 
 
 I feel conscious that it is simply with a view 
 to convince many well-meaning Christians of 
 their error (and I have found more or less of 
 this class in almost every place where I have 
 been) that I thus speak. If a gross superstition 
 arising in the church, perverted the Christia- 
 nity of former ages ; I wish I may mistake in 
 supposing, that a loose and unscriptural profes- 
 sion is widely spreading as the bane of our 
 age. Against such a departure from the true 
 genius of Christianity, I certainly, as a minis- 
 ter of Christ, ought to bear my feeble testi- 
 mony. Consider, therefore, that what is said 
 is with a single view to your best interests ; 
 and the Lord give you understanding in all 
 things. 
 
 As I referred the Christians, who were last 
 addressed, to the character of Mr. N. as an 
 example, so I never knew a more perfect one 
 to my purpose. — When any person deprecia- 
 ted the ministry of a good man, who, by ad- 
 vancing important truths, was opposing the 
 reigning errors of the times ; but who from ti- 
 midity or prejudice was shy of Mr. N. he 
 would imitate his divine Master by say i; 
 
250 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 v fi Let him alone, he that is not against us is 
 on our side. — Make no man an offender for a 
 word. — He is doing good, according to his 
 -views. — Let us pray for him, and by no 
 means weaken his hands. — Who knows but 
 God may one day put him far above our heads, 
 both in knowledge and usefulness?" 
 
 His grand point, in a few words, as he used 
 to express it, was, " To break a hard heart, 
 and to heal a broken heart." — To implant the 
 life of God in the soul of man, he would sa- 
 crifice every subordinate consideration. He 
 felt every' other consideration comparatively 
 insignificant. He saw the spirit of ancient 
 Pharisaism working among those who cry out 
 the most against it — who exact to a scruple, 
 in the tythe of mint, anise, and cummin of 
 their own peculiarities, while they pass over 
 the weightier matters of unity and love — 
 straining at the knat of a private opinion, and 
 swallowing the camel of a deadly discord. 
 On the contrary, as far as order and circum- 
 stances would admit, Mr. N. clave to every 
 good man, and endeavoured to strengthen his 
 hands, in whatever denomination of Chris- 
 tians he was found. His character well illus- 
 trated the Scripture, that though scarcely for 
 a righteous (or just) man would one die, yet 
 
REV. JOHN" NKWTON. 25] 
 
 for a good man (i. c. one eminent for his can- 
 dour and benevolence) some would even dare 
 to die. However they admired some minis- 
 ters, they all loved him ; and saw exemplified 
 in him that wisdom is from above, — which is 
 first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to 
 be intreatcd, full of mercy and good fruits, 
 without partiality, and without hypocrisy. 
 
 I conclude these Memoirs with a word to 
 such as are endeavouring to follow the steps 
 of their late faithful friend, as he followed 
 Christ. We cannot but lament the errors, 
 just described. We cannot, if we have any 
 zeal for the Gospel, but protest against them. 
 But let us recollect that they are not the only 
 errors which are found in the Church ; and 
 therefore let us watch lest any other root of 
 bitterness spring up to trouble us, and defile 
 many. While you lament with me the remo- 
 val of ministers like Mr. N., let us recollect 
 that eternal friend, who will never leave hi£ 
 Church without witnesses to the truth : and 
 who, among other reasons for removing earth- 
 ly helps, teaches us thereby to rest only on 
 that help which cannot be removed. Let us 
 take comfort too in recollecting, that spotted 
 as the Church may appeal- from the inconsis. 
 tencies of many of its members, yet all the reSft 
 
252 ( MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 good that is to be found in this corrupt world, 
 is to be found in that Church. — God saw se- 
 ven thousand true believers in Israel, while 
 his prophet could see but one. — Where some 
 Jehu is sounding a trumpet before him, many 
 are quietly passing to Heaven without any 
 such clamour. As a great writer remarks, 
 " Because half a dozen grasshoppers under a 
 fern make the field ring with their importunate 
 chink, while thousands of great cattle chew 
 the cud and are silent, pray do not imagine 
 that those who make the noise, are i the only 
 'inhabitants of the field.' " 
 
 But I must remark, that nothing has been 
 more profitable to myself in considering Mr. 
 N.'s life, than the exhibition it makes of a par- 
 ticular Providence. If the Church be not con- 
 ducted by such visible signs now, as former- 
 ly, it is found to be as actually conducted. 
 We read of a divine hand concerned in the fall 
 of sparrows, in numbering the hairs of our 
 head, and in raising our dust to life ; but with 
 what little interest we read this, appears by 
 our distrust in the first trial we meet. If we ^ 
 do not dare to join the sentiments of some., 
 who regard such expressions as purely figura- 
 tive and hyperbolical ; yet our imagination is 
 so overwhelmed with the difficulty of the per- 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTON. 253 
 
 gprmance, that we are apt to turn from the sub- 
 ject, with some general hope, but with a very 
 indistinct and vague idea of a God at hand, 
 faithful to his promise, and almighty to deli- 
 ver. Yet, how many cases occur in the his- 
 tory of every one of us, where nothing short 
 of an Almighty arm could prove a present 
 help in the time of trouble. 
 
 Now this short history before us, is admira- 
 bly calculated to encourage our faith and hope, 
 when we are called to pass through those deep 
 waters that seem to bid defiance to human 
 strength and contrivance. What, for instance, 
 but a divine interference caused Mr. N. to be 
 roused from sleep on board the Harwich at 
 the moment of exchanging men, and thereby 
 effected his removal ? — What placed him in a 
 situation so remarkably suited to his recover- 
 ing the ship which had already passed the 
 place of his station in Africa, and brought 
 him back to his country ? — What kept him 
 from returning in the boat that was lost at Rie 
 Cestors ? — Or from the ship that was blown 
 up near Liverpool ? — Not to mention many 
 other of his special deliverances. 
 
 " I am a wonder unto many," says he, in 
 the motto of his Narrative ; and, if we as dis- 
 tinctly considered the strange methods of m$r 
 
 X 
 
254 MEMOIRS Of THE 
 
 cy which have occurred in our own cases, \ 
 should at least be a wonder to ourselves. But 
 my aim is to point out the use we should 
 make of these Memoirs in this respect. We 
 should, as Christians, mark the eiror of de- 
 spair. — We should see that the case of a pray- 
 ing man cannot be desperate — that if a man 
 be out of the pit of hell, he is on the ground 
 of mercy. — We should recollect that God sees 
 a way of escape when we see none — that no- 
 thing is too hard for him — -that he warrants 
 our dependance, and invites us to call on him 
 in the day of trouble, and gives a promise of 
 deliverance. — We should, therefore, in every 
 trial, adopt the language of Mr. N.'s favourite 
 Herbert : 
 
 " Away Despair : my gracious Lord doth hear ; 
 
 1 hough winds and waves assault my keel, 
 
 He doth preserve it ; he doth steer, 
 
 Ev'n when the boat seems most to reel ; 
 
 Storms are the triumph of his art : 
 Well may he close his eyes 2 but not his heart. 5 ' 
 
 From these facts we should see that Christ 
 is able, not only to save to the uttermost all 
 that come unto God by him ; but also that 
 he is able to bring the most hardened blasphe- 
 \iaer and abject slave from his chains of sin and 
 
TlLV. JOHN NEWTON. 255 
 
 uiscry, to stand in the most honourable and 
 nscful station, and proclaim to the wretched 
 and to the ruined, the exceeding riches of his 
 grace. I have observed from my own expe- 
 rience as well as from that of others, how 
 strong a hold Satan builds by despair. The 
 pressing fascinations of the world, the secret 
 invitations of sensuality, and the distant pros- 
 pect of eternal things, form a powerful current 
 against vital religion. The heart of a Chris- 
 tian is ready to sink whenever these proud wa- 
 ters rise. Let him, therefore, recollect, that 
 his hope, his only hope, is in pressing right 
 onward through a world of lies and vanity — 
 that his present dispensation is the walk of 
 faith, and not of sight — and that by two im- 
 mutable things in which it is impossible for 
 God to lie, he has given strong consolation 
 to such as flee for refuge to the hope set be- 
 fore him. 
 
 One could, indeed, scarcely conjecture that 
 cases like Mr. N.'s should be so perverted by 
 any of our children, as that they should take 
 confidence in their sins from his former course 
 of life ; but, because such facts, as I am cre- 
 dibly informed, do exist, let us be upon the 
 watch to counteract this deep device of the 
 great enemy. 
 
256 MEMOIRS OF THE 
 
 My dear young friends, who may have read 
 these Memoirs, perhaps merely for your 
 amusement, consider with what a contrary 
 design St. Paul states his former unrenewed 
 condition : " I was," says he, " before a blas- 
 phemer, a persecutor and injurious — but, for 
 this cause I obtained mercy." — For what 
 cause ? Was it that men should continue in 
 sin because a miracle of special grace has 
 been wrought ? To do evil that good may 
 come, is the black mark of a reprobate mind. 
 — But for this cause, saith the Apostle, I ob- 
 tained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ 
 might shew forth all long suffering, for a pat- 
 tern to them who should hereafter believe 
 in him to life everlasting. The same caution 
 is necessary whenever you may be tempted to 
 hope for such a recovery as Mr. N.'s, after 
 erring like him. To proceed upon suclTa 
 hope is a gross presumption. Thousands pe- 
 rish in wrong courses, for one who escapes 
 from their natural consequences. Pray, there- 
 fore, that vou mav be enabled to resist the 
 temptation of perverting such extraordinary 
 cases. God affords them to be a savour of 
 life unto life, while Satan would employ them 
 to be a savour of death unto death. One Al- 
 mighty to save, affords you here, indeed, an 
 
REV. JOHN NEWTi 
 
 instance of special mercy, which gives you 
 the strongest encouragement in setting your 
 faces towards his kingdom ; and this is the 
 proper use to be made of such a case. 
 
 Your parents, your most disinterested friends, 
 anxiously watching for your good ; and 
 y, perhaps, have put this book into your 
 hand with a view of promoting it. The au- 
 thor has cause to thank God who put it into 
 the heart of his pious parent to make a simi- 
 lar attempt, and bless it with success ; and he 
 could tell of more such instances. May it 
 please God that you may be added to the nuiru 
 ber ! 
 
 Worldly prosperity would rather hurt than 
 help you before your minds become rightly 
 directed. Mr. N. shews us (p. 69,) that his 
 firmest friend could not have served him, had 
 not God first prepared his mind for the ad- 
 vancement. An enemy w r ould occupy your 
 minds with perishing objects ; but God calls 
 you to cultivate nobler views. He proposes 
 glory, honour, immortality, and eternal life 
 bv the Gospel. — Seek, therefore, first the 
 Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and 
 all other things shall be added unto you. 
 
 FINIS. 
 
v. ftmiVIER, PRINTER. 
 
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