1787 April 16
My dear Madam,
Mr Gardiner favoured us with a call this afternoon, ye 13th; he found us at tea, and drank a dish with us. He promises to call again, we were glad to see him so well. He gave me your acceptable letter of ye 12th.
I should have been well pleased to have found my apprehensions groundless, and to have been informed that your hopes of having a gospel Curate at Sleaford, were likely to be happily accomplished. As you say, if, I had the pleasure of an interview I could speak more freely upon the subject than I can write. But if I can say anything to prevent you from being burdened with what you cannot help, it will suffice.
I give my friend at R, [1] full credit for his good intentions, but I am afraid he is not the proper person, in every respect, to take the lead in this business. If therefore it cannot be done neither with him nor without him, what remains but to sit still, and to wait and pray?
The Lord, Madam, knows the desire of your heart, and if it be agreeable to his will, he will bring it to pass. But we cannot move with comfort farther than we see our way clear, and the cloudy pillar going before us. It may be agreeable to his will, and acceptable to him, that we should desire a thing, and use our influence to effect it, though perhaps he may not see fit to give success. Thus he graciously accepted David’s intention to build his temple, though the performance of that service was allotted to Solomon. But he was pleased to say, Forasmuch as it was in thine heart – thou didst well that it was in thy heart. [2] So you do well, and what is right, in feeling for the people of the place where you live, in longing to promote their welfare, and in being ready to exert all your influence, in procuring them the Gospel. But you are not bound to perform impossibilities, nor to afflict yourself because you cannot. The placing of Ministers belongs to the Great Head of the church, who though he so conceals his operations, by the intervention of means and second causes, that in the judgement of the world he seems to do nothing, he in reality does everything. If you had his authority to fix a Minister where you please, perhaps it would be your duty to give preference to Sleaford, because he who appoints the bounds of our habitations, has connected you with that place. And though our charity should expand far and wide abroad, perhaps it ought, in this sense, to begin at home. Believers would rejoice in the conversion of thousands whom they never saw, but I think they are not blameable if their concern is peculiarly engaged for the conversion of their own children, relatives and friends. But these private attachments, though right in us, are and must be subject to the control of his wisdom. The souls of men, and the interests of his kingdom, are no less important in a thousand places of which we have no knowledge, than in Olney or Sleaford or London. But we, who see but a very small part of his plan, can only serve him within the extent of our own knowledge and influence, and therefore it is right, that our strongest desires and endeavours, should be exerted within the same limits.
The scruple of your serious people I think would not have affected me. Yet I cannot wholly blame them. It is a discouraging circumstance when the Minister who officially distributes the memorials of our Saviour’s dying love, gives notorious proof by his conduct at other times, that he neither knows nor cares what he is doing. I wonder not that many cannot get over this difficulty. However, the hindrances which have taken place, so far as they may tend to prevent what you desired, can mean no more, can do no more, than intimate to you the Lord’s will – and to show you that this is not the Lord’s time to send the gospel to Sleaford Church, or at least not in the way that was proposed. But who knows, but he may have time and a way of doing it himself, and that his time may not be distant? Your prayers and endeavours will not I trust be lost. At least it will be no worse with you, than it was with his disciples. He directed them when they entered a house to say, Peace be to this house, adding, If a son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it, if not, it shall return to you again. [3] The Lord may yet give you to see your prayers answered for Sleaford, and if not, the blessing you wish to others, shall rest upon yourself.
Mrs Newton’s illness has once or twice taken the appearance of a gout in the foot, but is more frequently a pain in the head or stomach, judged to be of the gouty kind. She has been sometimes very ill. At present she is better, but still confined to the house. We join in a tender of our cordial love.
The Church of England in its present random acceptation, includes all who are not Dissenters; in this vague sense neither you nor I are members of it. But we approve the Liturgy, and prefer an attendance on it, provided the Gospel be preached, and we can see some persons with us there whom we hope love the Lord. We wish well to the Dissenters, but it is not necessary to incorporate with them. Nor does it seem very desirable, in their present state, while those who profess the truth, have their tempers so little influenced by their principles.
It is not certain that those Christians who discovered such a mixture of evil in their tempers and conduct are far more advanced in the divine life than yourself. But your thinking better of others than you do of yourself will do you no harm, provided your humility does not induce you to pay too great a deference to their judgement.
It is with difficulty I have found time, to send you this hasty answer. Seek counsel of the Lord Madam, and he will direct you. Be ready to do what he puts in your power for his service, but do not think yourself chargeable for the indiscretions of other people.
I am most sincerely
Your affectionate and obliged servant
John Newton
London ye 16 April 87
Mrs Gardiner
Sleaford
Lincolnshire
Endnotes:
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[1] |
i.e. John Pugh, the vicar of Rauceby. |
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[2] |
1 Kings 8:18 And the Lord said unto David my father, Whereas it was in thine heart to build an house unto my name, thou didst well that it was in thine heart. |
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[3] |
Luke 10:5,6 And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. |
Acknowledgements:
Morgan Museum and Library MA 733.33 |
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