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Description: John Newton (1725-1807), converted
slave-trader, preacher, and hymn-writer, was one of the most colourful figures
in the Evangelical Awakening of the eighteenth century. ‘Once an infidel and
libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa’, he once wrote for his epitaph, ‘by
the rich mercy of Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to
preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy.’
It was through his prolific correspondence that
Newton fulfilled his distinctive work as ‘the letter-writer
par
excellence of the Evangelical Revival’. His grasp of Scripture and deep
personal experience of the ‘amazing grace’ of God, his many friends (among them,
Whitefield, Cowper and Wilberforce), his many and varied trials, his country
pastorate, his strong, clear, idiomatic style – all these factors combined to
prepare the author of ‘How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds’, for the exercise of
his special gift. These letters, selected by his biographer, Josiah Bull, bear
the practical imprint of all of Newton’s writings; they cover a wide variety of
subjects and aim ‘to conform the believer to Christ’. Among them are several
that were not previously published in earlier collections of his correspondence.
Of particular value and interest are the biographical sketches and historical
notes supplied by the editor.
"In few writers are Christian
doctrine, experience and practice more happily balanced than in the author of
these Letters, and few write with more simplicity, piety and force."
--C. H.
Spurgeon
"What thousands have derived repeated profit and pleasure from the
perusal of these utterances of the heart! Nor ever will they cease to be found
means of grace whilst God has a church on earth."
--William Jay
"It was Newton’s goodness rather than his
greatness that rendered him so especially attractive – the abundance of the
grace of God that was in him. In this respect he was pre-eminent, justifying the
eulogy of William Jay who speaks of him as one of the most perfect instances of
the spirit and temper of Christianity he ever knew. Some men excel in one virtue
more than another. But Newton’s character was beautiful in its entireness. It
rested on a solid foundation – the initial Christian grace of humility, and of
this grace he was a most striking example. He never for a moment forgot that by
the grace of God he was what he was."
--Josiah Bull
