1781 September 3   My dear Madam,   Your obliging favour of ye 25 August which I did not receive till Saturday evening, requiring an immediate answer, I begin with it on Monday morning, therefore if it does not wait upon you speedily, the delay will be owing to unavoidable interruptions, which often in my present situation break in upon me, and prevent me from finishing a letter so soon as I could wish.   I have reason to write with diffidence when I am consulted as casuist, [1] but I must own I have seldom felt myself less at a loss, or in less fear of giving improper advice than with respect to the case you have proposed. It appears plain to me, that it is my duty to confirm and encourage you in the path you have hitherto pursued. If you had even told me, that you had some preference in your judgement to a dissenting connection, still I should have recommended to your consideration what you owe to Mr Gardiner, to the peace of your family, and consequently to your own peace. And though I durst not have advised you to act contrary to the light and dictates of conscience, I should have begged you again and again to be very cautious and very sure, that your conscience was rightly informed, and that the point you had in view, was really worth the consequences it might cost you. But when you have no preference of this kind, when your mind is satisfied with the privilege of hearing the Gospel, certainly it cannot be your duty to act contrary to your own judgement, and to plunge yourself into difficulties with your eyes open, merely for the sake of adding the influence of your name and sanction to the credit of a party[denomination].   I cannot [agree] with you, that so much of the spirit of bigotry and party is to be found among good people and faithful Ministers, but it will be so more or less in the present state of human nature. However while the Lord has favoured you with that humility of spirit, which makes you willing to receive instruction from every servant of his whom you have opportunity of hearing, you will do well to prize the privilege he has given you, and which you mention, of calling no man Master. It is indeed both a privilege and a command. And we are bound to observe it not only for [our] own sakes, but as a part of the obedience we owe to him. It is well for you that you are disposed to think others better and wiser than yourself. But you may be assured that no Minister however useful he may have been made to you, has a right to assume authority over your conscience. The best are incident to mistakes, and liable to prejudices, which may render it very improper and unsafe to follow them absolutely.   I am no bigot to the Established Church. I am satisfied it is the part of his vineyard which the Lord has assigned me, but the church of Christ is not limited within any bounds of human appointment. His kingdom consists not in meats or drinks, depends not upon names and forms, is not affected either by a coat or a gown, but it is manifested by righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost. If you have peace and communion with God, walk in the exercise of a good conscience, and enjoy the testimony of his Spirit as you are, what more or better can they offer you, who wish you to strike into a new path? Or what security can they give you, that the change might not be to the disadvantage both of your personal comfort, and your usefulness in your connections? I advise you by all means to continue with the Lord as he has called you, at least till his voice and leading evidently point out the necessity of an alteration, which I do not apprehend will be the case.   My lectures on Wednesday mornings and Sunday evenings are attended by many dissenters, to some of whom I hope I have been useful, and thereby have acquired an influence over them. [2] But instead of improving this influence to draw them entirely to my party, I have when occasionally consulted given my vote the other way; and when I knew they could not join us, without some violence to the principles in which they were educated, nor without causing some disturbance among their nearest connections, I have advised them to join themselves where they could hear the Gospel in their own way. And I durst not to do otherwise. For the Lord sent me not to make proselytes to myself, but to preach the truth to all whom he should incline to hear, leaving the classing and settling them to the leadings of his good providence and Spirit.   It is your great mercy Madam, that while Mr Gardiner and you do not see things quite in the same light, he leaves you at liberty to act and judge for yourself. He sees the good effects of the grace of God in you and relies upon your prudence and affection. While you thus live in all the harmony that the nature of things will admit, what a pity would it be that your peace should be disturbed by any new movements which are not absolutely necessary. If he expected or exacted anything from you which was evidently contrary to your duty to God, you would be obliged to express your dissent. But where conscience is not concerned, you judge rightly in being unwilling to take a single step that might give Mr Gardiner any unnecessary pain. The peace of a family is of vast importance, and though zeal (which sometimes is but another word for self-will) will with a very moderate degree of grace, make a great bustle and do and suffer many things with little regard to consequences, yet they who are afraid of acting in their own spirits, will wait carefully upon the Lord, and while they endeavour cheerfully to bear the cross the Lord assigns them, will from a sense of their own weakness, be unwilling to add to the weight of it by hastiness and imprudence. All this I might and probably should have said even if you are half inclined to be a dissenter. But your own judgement being on the other side I might have said less.   If the Lord himself brought the Gospel to Sleaford, you may be sure the continuance of it there, will not depend upon your acceding to the interest that is raising. If such a pretence should be assigned, it would only prove that the leading motives were not right – and if it cannot stay, but upon condition of your acting wrong, you will not be blameable for its removal, nor will you be a loser by it. He who fed you and choosed you to grow before it came, will take care of you afterwards. You are willing to encourage it by your attendance, to espouse and befriend the cause in every way that can justly be expected from you, except by actually becoming a Member of the Society – I do not see that you are bound to more.   I ought to be thankful that the publication of Cardiphonia has been made acceptable to the Lord’s people. It is a singular honour bestowed upon one who was formerly a vile blasphemer, that he should be an instrument in any way of promoting the faith and comfort of those whom he formally hated and despised. Materials are collecting for two more volumes, but I cannot yet see any reason for their speedy appearance. I apprehend the two already published contain the substance of all I have to offer. And even in these there are many repetitions of the same truths, only with some variety of dress. My Christian friends who may die before the rest come abroad, will depart this life very safely and comfortably without them. However they will be getting in readiness. The end of my course, though as yet hidden from me, I ought not my time of life to consider as a very distant event. For I am already advanced a month into my 57th year.   Mrs Newton is still much favoured in point of health, and I continue well as I have been for many years. My public service goes on very comfortably. I have many hearers, and more than a few friends. Many mercies and few trials. Only still much cause for mourning and humiliation under the diversified effects of indwelling sin. But there is provision and comfort in the name, grace and power of the Great Saviour. To him, I commend you and yours. Mrs Newton joins with me in respects to Mr Gardiner – beg you to tell him that the letter you enclosed was safely lodged in the Penny post.   I hope the Lord will give me the pleasure of seeing you some time. But I think it must be at London, for I have but little expectation of reaching so far as Sleaford. When I was lately abroad, I could get no farther than Olney, though I had a strong desire of visiting Leicester.   I am My dear Madam Your very affectionate and obliged servant John Newton   Charles Square Hoxton 3 September 81   I beg you to mention my love to Mr Pugh and Mr Morse [3] when you see them.   [Published in “L'Observateur Chrétien” Island of Jersey 12 September 1833]   Endnotes:    [1] A casuist is one who resolves cases of conscience. [2] In September 1780, describing to John Ryland Jnr (1753-1825) that his preaching aim was to inculcate peace and love, insisting on the life of God in the soul, Newton added: ‘These principles draw together a motley sort of assembly, and church folks and dissenters of different names – Methodists from Tabernacle, from Foundry, Moravians and if I mistake not sometimes Quakers, gather round me and sit as quiet as so many lambs.’ [3] Perhaps Stephen Morse (c.1748-1823), assistant curate West Bromwich from 1786 (patron Lord Dartmouth), subsequently rector of Cilrheydyn, Narbeth, Pembrokeshire.  Morse preached in Olney for Newton in 1775. On 6 June 1779 Newton noted in his diary: ‘By a letter from Lady RM I find thou hast made me instrumental in fixing Mr Morse at Bloxham  in the room of Mr Kaye.  May thy blessing accompany him, and show that it was thy doing.’ Lady RM was Lady Robert Manners, née Mary Digges (1737-1829), a friend of the Countess of Huntingdon. Her husband Lord Robert Manners (1717-1782) owned property in Bloxholm and Rauceby (John Pugh’s parish) in addition to his home in Grosvenor Square, London. Benjamin Kaye (d. 1793), the former curate of Bloxholm, was chaplain to Lady Manners. Newton had known him for a decade. Acknowledgements: Morgan Museum and Library MA 733.14

18/05/2026