would have led you where you are, if he had not something important for you to do. Be of good courage, wait patiently his leisure, and he will give you the desire of your heart.

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My mouth waters to come to you: but it cannot be till some time (I know not how long) after Easter. .. But all these things are in the Lord's hand. When I see the cloud taken up from the tabernacle, I shall be glad to move; otherwise I dare not. I am so blind to consequences that I tremble at the thoughts of forming a plan for myself. Your prayers will be among the means to help me forward.... A thousand ifs may be suggested, but they are all in the Lord's hand; and therefore if it be his will that I should visit you, nothing shall prevent it. If he sees it not expedient or proper, he will not send an angel to tell me so, but he will tell me by his providence. If he wills me to stay here, why should I wish to be somewhere else? If we were not prone to prefer our own will to his, we should never complain of a disappointment. This is the lesson I want to learn. I am so much at teaching it to others, that it might be supposed I had acquired it myself. But the Lord and my own heart know how far I am from having attained.

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"My love to your new people: I have not room to particularize names, but I love them all. Believe me, your affectionate friend,

JOHN NEWTON."

I have one more letter of Mr. Newton's to insert, and I shall introduce it here, though rather by anticipation. It is dated March 15, 1782. I think no reader would wish it omitted.

"This morning I have hope of indulging myself in half an hour's pen-chat, with my dear friend Mr. Scott; a pleasure I could not have sooner, though the receipt of your's made me desirous of writing. I thought I had reserved time last Saturday, but unexpected company came in and ran away with it; and this is often the case.

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"I should have liked to be with you at Leicester. I love the place, the sheep and the shepherd of that fold, and I love the friends and ministers you met there. I am glad you had pleasure and profit in your excursion. I can guess that the contrast you felt on your return was painful: for I likewise have been at Olney, and have preached once and again, when the congregation has reminded me of the scattered ships of Æneas which survived the storm,

1

-rari nantes in gurgite vasto.

I likewise have preached at Leicester and Olney in the same week, and been conscious of the difference both in numbers and attention. I can assure you that, though I put the best face upon things, and was upon the whole comfortable, yet my chief comfort in my situation there latterly, sprang from a persuasion that I was in the post the Lord had assigned me; that he knew I was there, and why I was there; that, as a centinel, it would be unsoldierly to indulge a wish of being relieved sooner than my commander appointed. I thought, so far as my concern was dictated by a regard to the honour of the gospel and the good of souls, it was right; but it was the

The classical reader will excuse a slight inaccuracy here.

smallest part which I durst assign simply to that cause; and that all the uneasy feelings of Mr. Self, on his own account, were not of that importance which he pretended. There were a few who loved me for the Lord's sake, and who, I could perceive, were fed and brought forward by my ministry; and, though they were but few, I durst not say that their edification and affection were not an over-recompense for all the disagreeables.-Such considerations as these are present with you likewise. The Lord will support you and comfort you, and can, whenever he pleases, either make your service more pleasant at Olney, or assign you a more comfortable situation elsewhere. I never had one serious thought of a removal, till the evening I received Mr. Thornton's offer of St. Mary Woolnoth. Even then, when it came to the point, it cost me something to part with them and, had the proposal been made a year or two sooner, I should have found more difficulty in accepting it. His hour and His methods are best, and it is good to wait for him and upon him; for none who so wait shall be disappointed. When I first went to Olney, and for a good while afterwards, I had no more reason to expect such a post as I am now in, than I have now to expect a removal to Lambeth. But the Lord never is at a loss for means to effect his own purposes. He can provide friends, open doors, remove mountains, and bring the most unlikely things to pass. . . . And, when we have finished our course, if he is pleased to accept us, it will make no difference whether we die curates, or rectors, or bishops.

"One thing is needful: but this one thing in

cludes many, and may be considered in various respects. The one thing for a sinner is to know Jesus and his salvation. The one thing for a believer is to live to his will, and to make him his all; to admire, contemplate, resemble, and serve him. A believer is a child of God; a minister is, in an especial and appropriate sense, a servant, though a child likewise. The one thing for a servant, or a steward in the house of God is to be faithful; that is, to be simply and without reserve, or any allowed interfering motive, devoted and resigned to his will; to have no plan, connexion, prospect, or interest, but under his direction, and in an immediate and clear subserviency to his interest. Happy the man who is brought to this point! How honourable, how safe his state! He is engaged in a league offensive and defensive with the Lord of heaven and earth: and, in the midst of changes and exercises which can but affect the surface, if I may so speak, he has an abiding peace in the bottom of his soul, well knowing whose he is, and whom he serves.

"Indeed, my friend, I see, or think I see, such interested views, such height of spirit, such obvious blemishes, in some, who, on account of gifts and abilities, are eminent in the church of God, as are truly lamentable. I adore the mercy of the Lord who has preserved you and me, and a few men whom I love, from those snares and temptations, by which some, as good and wise as ourselves, have been entangled and hurt. If I must blame, I would do it with gentleness, well knowing that had I been left. to myself, in similar circumstances, I should not have acted better. Ah! deceitful sin, deceitful

world, deceitful heart! How can we stand an hour against such a combination, unless upheld by the arm that upholds the heaven and the earth....

"I can say nothing about coming to Olney, but that I am willing if the Lord please. If I do, it must be soon after Whitsunday: a long while to look forward to! I cannot move without a supply, of which I have no present prospect: but he can provide, if he would have me go. With him I would leave all. It is pleasant, but not necessary to see each other. Oh! may we see him, and rejoice in him daily; and, as to all the rest, Not my will, but thine be done. So I wish to say.-With love to Mrs. Scott from us both, I remain your affectionate friend,

JOHN NEWTON."

I now turn to my father's own letters. The following, addressed to my mother's brother in law, to his correspondence with whom we have before adverted, will show his motives for undertaking the cure of Olney, and his view of the service in which he was, engaging. It is dated Weston, February 15, 1781. "I have undertaken the curacy of Olney along with Weston, leaving Ravenstone; which will be attended with my removal to Olney at Ladyday, and a considerable consequent expense in furniture, &c. But, on the other hand, it will I apprehend be some increase of income, and more of a settlement than my present situation; as I have good reason to believe I shall be presented to the living, when the incumbent dies. At present the curacy, taking one thing with another, is. about equal to Ravenstone, or rather preferable; and there have been for many years subscriptions for a