[57] Ibid., p. 31.

[58] Ibid., p. 43. In Liverpool, 51 Methodists claimed instantaneous and entire sanctification. "While Newton had been able to suppress his differences with Wesley over predestination, the extent of the atonement, and final perseverance, he was not able to accept the behavior of Wesley's followers in the wake of the perfectionism revival. The claim to perfection, however hedged about by talk of grace, seemed in many cases no more than an enthusiastic self-righteousness that belied trusting wholly in the merits of Christ for redemption. Newton had earlier worked out a formula that would maintain evangelical solidarity with Arminians by saying, 'Though a man does not accord with my view of election, yet if he gives me good evidence, that he is effectually called of God, he is my brother' [The Works of the Rev. John Newton, Vol. 6, p. 199]. He could not, however, make any rapprochement of with Wesley's growing stress upon perfectionism. The behavior of his followers raised the specter of a Pelagianism that lay outside his understanding of evangelical theology, unduly stressing human agency in salvation."

[59] Cecil writes, "I never saw him so much moved, as when any friend endeavored to correct his errors in this respect. His credulity seemed to arise from the consciousness he had of his own integrity; and from the sort of parental 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 odd 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!" (Richard Cecil, Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, pp. 94-95).

[60] Richard Cecil, The Life of John Newton, edited by Marylynn Rousse, p. 134.

[61] Richard Cecil, Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, p. 107.

[62] Richard Cecil, Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, p. 108.

[63] Josiah Bull, "But Now I See": The Life of John Newton, p. 370. The meaning of "gnomon" in 1803, according to the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, included "nose." That is probably Newton's reference. "Striking illustrations, happy turns of thought, racy and telling expressions, often enriched Mr. Newton's extempore discourses." Another instance of Newton's humor is seen in a letter to Thomas Scott who became the Vicar in Olney when Newton left. Newton wrote to him, "Methinks I see you sitting in my old corner in the study. I will warn you of one thing. That room—(do not start)—used to be haunted. I cannot say I ever saw or heard anything with my bodily organs, but I have been sure there were evil spirits in it and very near me—a spirit of folly, a spirit of indolence, a spirit of unbelief, and many others—indeed their name is legion. But why should I say they are in your study when they followed me to London, and still pester me here?" (Richard Cecil, The Life of John Newton, edited by Marylynn Rousse, p. 145).

[64] Richard Cecil, Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, edited by Marylynn Rousse, p. 100.

[65] See above, note 40. Another case of constitutional depression (as he judged it) besides Cowper's was that of Hannah Wilberforce. Newton wrote to her in a letter dated July, 1764, "Things which abate the comfort and alacrity of our Christian profession are rather impediments than properly sinful, and will not be imputed to us by him who knows our frame, and remembers that we are but dust. Thus, to have an infirm memory, to be subject to disordered, irregular, or low spirits, are faults of the constitution, in which the will has no share, though they are all burdensome and oppressive, and sometimes needlessly so by our charging ourselves with guilt on their account. The same may be observed of the unspeakable and fierce suggestions of Satan, with which some people are pestered, but which shall be laid to him from whom they proceed, and not to them who are troubled and terrified, because they are forced to feel them" (Richard Cecil, The Life of John Newton, edited by Marylynn Rousse, p. 126).

[66] Richard Cecil, Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, edited by Marylynn Rousse, p. 103.

[67] The Works of the Rev. John Newton, Vol. 1, p. 319. Another example of the limits of this age that make us patient with people's failings is the God-ordained necessity of temptations. He asks, "Why the Lord permits some of his people to suffer such violent assaults from the powers of darkness" (The Works of the Rev. John Newton, Vol. 1, 226). "Though the Lord sets such bounds to [Satan's] rage as he cannot pass, and limits him both as to manner and time, he is often pleased to suffer him to discover his malice to a considerable degree; not to gratify Satan, but to humble and prove them; to show them what is in their hearts, to make them truly sensible of their immediate and absolute dependence upon him [see p. 232], and to quicken them if to watchfulness and prayer" (p. 227). He goes on to suggest that another design of temptation is "for the manifestation of his power, and wisdom, and grace, in supporting the soul under such pressures as are evidently beyond its own strength to sustain" (p. 228). He gives Job as an illustration: "the experiment answered many good purposes: Job was humbled, yet approved; his friends were instructed; Satan was confuted, and disappointed; and the wisdom and mercy of the Lord, in his darkest dispensations toward his people, were gloriously illustrated" (p. 228). If the Lord has any children who are not exercised with spiritual temptations, I am sure they are but poorly qualified to 'speak a word in season to them that are weary'" (p. 231).

[68] Richard Cecil, Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, p. 86.

[69] Ibid., p. 22.

[70] Richard Cecil, The Life of John Newton, edited by Marylynn Rousse, pp. 365-368.

[71] The Works of the Rev. John Newton, Vol. 1, p. 170.

[72] Richard Cecil, Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, p. 105.

[73] The Works of the Rev. John Newton, Vol. 1, p. 169.

[74] Richard Cecil, Memoirs of the Rev. John Newton, p. 76.

[75] The Works of the Rev. John Newton, Vol. 1, p. 259.

[76] Ibid., pp. 171-172.

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: www.desiringGod.org. Email: mail@desiringGod.org. Toll Free: 1.888.346.4700.