Newton on the Vocation of a Gospel Minister
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Michael Haykin:
Before John Newton (1725-1807) was called to the Anglican ministry he described what he understood his calling to be to a friend, Harry Crooke of Hunslett, Leeds, in these words:“The message I would bear is Jesus Christ and him crucified and from the consideration of the great things he has done, to recommend and enforce Gospel holiness and Gospel love, and to take as little notice of our fierce contests, controversies and divisions as possible.
My desire is to lift up the banner of the Lord, and to draw the sword of the Spirit not against names, parties and opinions, but against the world, the flesh and the devil; and to invite poor perishing sinners not to espouse a system of my own or any man’s, but to fly to the Lord Jesus, the sure and only city of refuge and the ready, compassionate and all sufficient Saviour of those that trust in him.”
[Cited in Marylynn Rouse, “An important turn to my future life,” The John Newton Project Prayer Letter (October/November 2008), p.1].
In some ways, a better description of the vocation of a Gospel minister would be hard to find.
posted by JT at Wednesday, October 15, 2008
7 Comments:
I would only change the word "enforce" but perhaps he meant something different by it.
@richard - I take it Newton was using "enforce" as in this contemporary 18th C. sense (from OED):
enforce, v.
4. To press home (an argument, etc.); to urge (a demand, etc.); formerly, also, to lay stress upon, emphasize (a fact, circumstance).
[1751 Samuel JOHNSON, Rambler, No. 87 {page}14: ‘The preacher...enforcing a precept of religion.’]
Thanks for posting the encouraging quote. A great reminder of what the great goal of ministers should be.
In conjunction with that great quote from Newton is this prayer of Whitefield which I believe is in the beginning of the first Dallimore volume (I got it from already not yet) and I think J Piper opened his incredible sermon "Why Expostional Preaching is Particularly Glorifying to God":
“Yea…that we shall see the great Head of the Church once more . . . raise up unto Himself certain young men whom He may use in this glorious employ. And what manner of men will they be? Men mighty in the Scriptures, their lives dominated by a sense of the greatness, the majesty and holiness of God, and their minds and hearts aglow with the great truths of the doctrines of grace. They will be men who have learned what it is to die to self, to human aims and personal ambitions; men who are willing to be ‘fools for Christ’s sake’, who will bear reproach and falsehood, who will labor and suffer, and whose supreme desire will be, not to gain earth’s accolades, but to win the Master’s approbation when they appear before His awesome judgment seat. They will be men who will preach with broken hearts and tear-filled eyes, and upon whose ministries God will grant an extraordinary effusion of the Holy Spirit, and who will witness ‘signs and wonders following’ in the transformation of multitudes of human lives.”
The whole quote is excellent, and many of us could particularly use the admonition to focus on the Gospel rather than the negative elements within Christianity.
Newton's quote is just fine as long as we don't think of specific heresies and the fallout they have caused within the broader church. We do, in fact, wrestle against lies and distortions of the gospel as they crop up - though that is not the primary occupation of any minister.
As a student of Newton, I have observed that the older he got the less willing he became to think hard on difficult matters, much less confront them with his mighty pen. As a longtime shepherd, Newton's own daily experience of caring for individuals and speaking the truth in love became his all-encompassing definition of ministry. A pretty good one, to be sure, but perhaps his observations of the terrible disputes over doctrinal particulars made him recoil to a simpler mode?-one where precision in the promotion of the Truth was less important if it meant potential schism?
If he erred in this regard, it was for good that he was not barbaric in quashing every wind of doctrine that seemed contrary to his own particulars. He was both faithful and gentle, which are odd quantities nowadays.
I frankly don't trust my own sense of 'balance' in the struggle to be orthodox and loving (my tendency is to fight more), so Newton is tonic to my soul.
i like the word choice of "fly" - considering human flight (vs. floating) wouldn't be developed for at least 100+ years.
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