13           8 June 1797


[Mr Ring, Surgeon, Reading, Berks] [marked June 8 97]
 
My dear Madam
 
I have visited Mr Bennet [1] weekly for 5 weeks past – and him only. So that I have always had him by himself, excepting twice that his Mother was with him, and she was no restraint.
 
He is always very glad to see me, and hears me with attention. I set before him both the Law and the Gospel. I tell him, that the offence for which he is likely to suffer, is small compared with the whole tenor and high-treason of living without God in the world – and the depraved state of his heart. I tell him that if he had committed a thousand murders, the blood and Mediation of Jesus affords a ground of hope, provided he is sensible of his need of Mercy, and is made willing to accept it, as a lost perishing sinner, without any plea, but that which saved the Malefactor dying upon the Cross. [2] But that the Gospel affords no hope, but to those whose hearts are contrite and broken by a conviction of sin. For while we feel not our malady, we cannot duly prize or rightly apply to the Only Physician.
 
He seems to assent to what I say, and does not mention to me such extenuations as you speak of. But I dare not hope that he is rightly sensible of his state. He is composed and serious when I am with him, but I cannot perceive that spirit of humiliation which I wish for. There is a something yet wanting, which the Lord alone can perform in him. I hope the Lord’s time will come, but I think it is not come yet. The first time I went, I gave him my Narrative [3] and a friend has lent him Cardiphonia. [4] I have said all both to alarm him of his danger, and to point his thoughts to the sure Refuge, which my measure of light and experience can suggest. But till the Holy Spirit shines into the Soul, and works by his own Power, the words of a worm can produce no abiding effect.
 
I hope to see him again on Tuesday, which will probably be the last day of his life, for the Dead Warrant is expected tomorrow. I mean then to read to him a part of your letter. Let us pray for him. [5]
 
If we are alive, in health, and there is a prospect of things being quiet, I purpose if the Lord please to be at Reading in the first week of July – perhaps the 4th or 5th – and to spend a few days with my dear friends, in my way to Southampton.
 
But the times are so unsettled, that I know not what to say. [6] If the Storm should increase and come nearer home, I must not leave my Post. I must not leave my Family, my Friends and my People, or flee away like the Hireling, from the appearance of Danger. [7] Nor could I be comfortable, if I did. In this sense likewise Home is Home.
 
The sum is, if it be the Lord’s pleasure, to grant me my desire of visiting you, He will make the way clear. Otherwise my coming would not be comfortable or useful, either to myself or my friends. I would commit my ways to Him, and look to the Pillar and Cloud to direct me, [8] when to stay, and when or whither to move. My Dear fellow traveller[Betsy], joins me in love to you both, to Mr Robinson and all friends. The Lord be with us all. I am in great haste this Morning – can only subscribe myself
 
Your obliged and affectionate
John Newton
 
No. 6                     8 June 1797
 
 
Endnotes:
 
 [1] Thomas Bennet (d 1797) was tried on two accounts in April 1797. Records of The Old Bailey state: ‘180. THOMAS BENNETT was indicted for forging an acceptance to a bill of exchange, for £93 8s 4d and uttering and publishing the same as true, with intent to defraud John and Benjamin Bond.’ Nine people who had known him in Walworth, some since childhood, testified as to his honesty. ‘Verdict: Not Guilty.’ ‘338. THOMAS BENNET was indicted for that he, on the 8th of January, having in his custody, a paper writing, with the name of J. Shaw, subscribed thereto, purporting to be an order for the payment of money, directed to Patrick Thomson for the payment of £273 which is as follows: £273 Eaton-Bridge, January 8, 1797… Verdict: Guilty Death (aged 23).’
[2] Luke 23:39, 42, 43 And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us… And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
[3] John Newton, An Authentic Narrative, 1764.
[4] John Newton, Cardiphonia, 1780.
[5] Bennett was executed on 21 June 1797 for forgery. http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/ng1783.html.  He stood alongside two other convicted criminals on a large movable scaffold in front of Newgate prison. ‘The malefactors stand upon a false floor, and when their devotions are finished, on a signal being given, the floor suddenly drops, leaving the unhappy sufferers suspended in the air.’(George Theodore Wilkinson, The Newgate Calendar Improved, 1800)
[6] The French Revolution threatened peace and order in Britain, where there was increasing unrest and anger against authority. British sailors mutinied at Spithead and the Nore. Newton wrote on 7 July [mistakenly dated ‘June’] from Reading to Wilberforce: ‘I think nothing in the course of this calamitous war has engaged my thoughts so much as the late Mutiny in our Fleets, especially at the Nore. The Lord has shown us that our boasted fleets which were to sweep and rule the seas, if he gives the word, may quickly rebuke our vain confidence, and that the wooden walls in which we prided ourselves are no better than paper walls, if He leaves us to ourselves. And the sudden suppression of the mutiny, was in my view little less than miraculous.’ Bonaparte declared to the Directory (five men who held the executive power in France at the time) that France 'must destroy the English monarchy, or expect itself to be destroyed by these intriguing and enterprising islanders... Let us concentrate all our efforts on the navy and annihilate England. That done, Europe is at our feet.' (http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/empire_seapower/french_threat_01.shtml)
[7] John 10:13 The hireling fleeth, because he is an hireling, and careth not for the sheep.
[8] Exodus 13:21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:

Acknowledgements:
Descendants of Sophia Ring
British Library