Nick Roark's Blog, page 93

“My books are my true company” by Herman Bavinck

“By way of chronology, Unink’s death occurred within weeks of Arie den Dekker’s most recent (wordless) rejection of Bavinck’s suitorship for his daughter.

These were lonely and difficult days for Bavinck: at twenty-nine years old he lived with his parents, saw no immediate prospect of marriage, and, following Unink’s untimely death, had few friends close at hand.

These circumstances set the scene for a comment made in a subsequent letter to the dying Johan van Haselen that typifies the phase into which his life was moving: ‘My books are my true company.’

Barred from pursuing Amelia, bereft of Unink, and with the likes of Snouck Hurgronje and Henry Dosker only accessible by letter, Bavinck surrounded himself with new conversation partners.

In the prime of life, his closest companions became a group of long-dead theologians.”

–James Eglinton, Bavinck: A Critical Biography (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2020), 142-143.

“I am sure a minister had need be a jack of all trades” by John Newton

“Give my love to Mr. ****. He has desired a good work; may the Lord give him the desires of his heart.

May he give him the wisdom of Daniel, the meekness of Moses, the courage of Joshua, the zeal of Paul, and that self-abasement and humility which Job and Isaiah felt when they not only had heard of him by the hearing of the ear, but saw His glory, and abhorred themselves in dust and ashes.

May he be taught of God, (none teacheth like Him,) and come forth an able minister of the New Testament, well instructed rightly to divide and faithfully to distribute the word of truth.

In the school of Christ, (especially if the Lord designs him to be a teacher of others,) he will be put to learn some lessons not very pleasant to flesh and blood: he must learn to run, to fight, to wrestle, and many other exercises, some of which will try his strength, and others his patience.

You know the common expression of a jack of all trades. I am sure a minister had need be such a one: a soldier, a watchman, a shepherd, a husbandman, a builder, a planter, a physician, and a nurse.

But let him not be discouraged; he has a wonderful and a gracious Master, who can not only give instructions, but power, and engages that His grace shall be sufficient, at all times and in all circumstances, for those who simply give themselves up to His teaching and His service.”

–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 6 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2015), 6: 102-103.

“Our prospects are as bright as the promises of God” by Charles Spurgeon

“Our prospects are bright, bright as the promises of God. Hath He not said, ‘I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth’?

God would sooner make the whole earth to quiver with earthquakes, like the leaf of the aspen in the gale, than allow one idol temple to stand fast forever.

He would sooner unbind all the civil compacts of mankind until the human race became disintegrated into separate atoms, than suffer thrones and dominions to prevent the triumph of His church, and the victory of her Lord.”

–Charles H. Spurgeon, “Precious, Honourable, Beloved,” in The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons (vol. 16; London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1870), 16: 113.

“Grace abounds still more in Jesus” by John Newton

“He will never leave me nor forsake me.

Well, when we have said all we can of the aboundings of sin in us, grace abounds still more in Jesus.

We cannot be so evil as He is good.

His power is a good match for our weakness; His riches for our poverty; His mercy for our misery.

We are vile in ourselves, but we are complete in Him. In ourselves we have cause to be abased, but in Him we may rejoice.

Blessed be God for Jesus Christ.”

–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 6 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2015), 6: 195.

“Is it not happiness to have an infallible Guide, an invincible Guard, an Almighty Friend?” by John Newton

“I doubt not but you likewise have your share of trials. But, when the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost, it sweetens what bitter things the Lord puts into our cup, and enables us to say, ‘None of these things move us.’

Yes, the life of faith is a happy life, and, if attended with conflicts, there is an assurance of victory.

If we sometimes get a wound, there is healing balm near at hand.

If we seem to fall, we are raised again.

And, if tribulations abound, consolations shall abound likewise.

Is it not happiness to have an infallible Guide, an invincible Guard, an Almighty Friend?

Is it not happiness to be able to say of the Maker of heaven and earth, ‘He is my Beloved, my Shepherd, my Saviour, and my Husband,’ and to say to Him,—

‘Let waves and thunders mix and roar,

Be thou my God, I ask no more:

While thou art Sovereign, I’m secure,

I shall be rich till thou art poor.’

Oh, the peace which flows from believing that all events in which we are concerned are under His immediate disposal, that the hairs of our head are all numbered, that He delights in our prosperity, that there is a need be, if we are in heaviness, and that all things shall surely work for our good!

How happy to have such views of His sovereignty, wisdom, love, and faithfulness, as will enable us to meet every dispensation with submission, and to look through the changes of the present life, to that unchangeable inheritance to which the Lord is leading us, when all evil shall cease, and where joy shall be perfect and eternal!

I trust He who loves you strengthens you in this life of faith, and fills you with a peace that passes all understanding.”

–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 6 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2015), 6: 98-99.

“Popularity is apt to make us forget who we are, what we are, and where we are” by John Newton

“You will have two counter-streams to withstand, either of which is sufficient to bear us off our feet, unless the Lord upholds us; I mean, opposition and popularity.

The former is troublesome, and in some respects perilous, as we are too prone to catch something of the same spirit.

But the latter is much more dangerous. Our friends are often eventually our worst enemies.

It is not easy to find a preacher that has been honoured with much popularity, who has not been, at some times, greatly hurt by it.

Popularity is apt to make us forget who we are, and what we are, and where we are. And if we are left to suppose ourselves persons of consequence, but for a single hour, it will surely prove to our loss, and may expose us to a wound that may leave a lasting scar, even though the Lord is pleased to heal it.

It behoves us, my dear Sir, to keep up a clear distinction in our minds between gifts and grace.

I can say, from experience, that it is possible to have a tolerable degree of liberty for outward service, so as to hold a congregation pretty fast by the ears, to make them weep, yea, and perhaps to weep with them, when the heart is far enough from a right frame before the Lord.

These things you know; I had them not in view when I began, but they occurred in writing, and I set them down as a humbling part of my experience.

May the Lord enable us to walk humbly, and then we shall walk safely; to such He will give more grace.

He will be their light, their strength, and their joy. May you ever find Him so.”

–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 6 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2015), 6: 115-116.

“Know, study, desire, and love nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified” by John Newton

“We have, indeed, reason to glory, but not in ourselves; the right hand of the Lord has been exalted in our behalf and the right hand of the Lord has brought mighty things to pass.

When we were utterly helpless and hopeless, He saw and pitied us, and bid us live. He did not cut us off in the midst of our sins, (as is the case of thousands,) but waited to be gracious.

And, when His hour was come, His time of love, He revealed Himself as our mighty Saviour, He poured oil and wine into our wounds, He gave us beauty for ashes, the garments of praise for the spirit of heaviness.

He opened our blind eyes, He unstopped our deaf ears, He dispossessed the legion, and He brought us to sit at His feet clothed, and in our right minds.

What a wonder of mercy is this, considered in itself! But much more if we think of the means by which it was effected.

In order to bring about this blessed change, consider that mercy and truth might meet together in our salvation, and the righteousness of God harmonize with the sinner’s peace, the Lord Jesus, who was rich, humbled Himself to become poor, to live an obscure and suffering life, in the form of a servant, and to die a shameful, painful, and accursed death, so that we, through His poverty, might be made children and heirs of God, and might receive grace to serve Him here, and dwell with Him in glory forever.

For this end He willingly endured the cross, and despised the shame, He hid not His face from shame and spitting, He gave His back to the smiters, His cheeks to them that plucked off the hair, He submitted to wear a crown of thorns, to be nailed by the hands and feet to the accursed tree, to endure the fiercest assaults of Satan, yea, to drink the full cup of the wrath of God when ‘it pleased the Father to bruise Him,’ and to make ‘His soul an offering for sin!’

The Apostle well knew the force of his argument to a believing soul, when he said, ‘I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.’

Surely nothing can be more reasonable, than that we should live to Him who thus died for us. Shall we, we who are redeemed from Hell at such a price, shall we continue in sin? God forbid!

Shall we not rather say, ‘The love of Christ constraineth us’ to devote ourselves, our all, to Him alone; to abstain from all appearance of evil; to hate every false way, and to know, study, desire, and love nothing but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, that we may feel the power of His resurrection, have fellowship in His sufferings, and be made conformable to His death.”

–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 6 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2015), 6: 24-26.

“I am a riddle to myself” by John Newton

“Alas! My dear friend, you know not what a poor, unprofitable, unfaithful creature I am.

So much forgiven, so little love. So many mercies, so few returns.

Such great privileges, and a life so sadly below them. Instead of rejoicing in God, I go mourning for the most part.

Not because I am shaken with doubts and fears; for I believe the Lord Jesus, who found me when I sought Him not, is both able and willing to save to the uttermost.

But because indwelling sin presses me close.

Because, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

Because I can attempt nothing but it is debased, polluted, and spoiled by my depraved nature.

Because my sins of omission are innumerable.

In a word, there is so much darkness in my understanding, perverseness in my will, disorders in my affections, folly and madness in my imagination. Alas! When shall it be otherwise?

I seem to have a desire of walking with God, and rejoicing in Him all the day long; but I cannot attain thereto. Surely it is far better to depart, and to be with Jesus Christ, than to live here up to the ears in sin and temptation.

And yet I seem very well contented with the possibility of continuing here a good while.

In short, I am a riddle to myself; a heap of inconsistency.

But it is said, ‘We have an Advocate with the Father.’ (1 John 2:1)

Here hope revives. Though wretched in myself, I am complete in Him.

He is made of God, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. (1 Cor. 1:30)

On this rock I build. I trust it shall be well with me at last, and that I shall by and by praise, and love, and serve Him without these abatements.”

–John Newton, The Works of John Newton, Volume 6 (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth, 2015), 6: 97-98.

“Our sea may sometimes be stormy, but we have an infallible Pilot, and shall infallibly gain our port” by John Newton

“I heartily sympathize with you in your complaints, but I see you in safe hands. The Lord loves you, and will take care of you.

He who raises the dead can revive your spirits when you are cast down. He who sets bounds to the sea, and says ‘Hither to shalt thou come, and no further,’ can limit and moderate that gloom which sometimes distresses you.

He knows why He permits you to be thus exercised. I cannot assign the reasons, but I am sure they are worthy of His wisdom and love, and that you will hereafter see and say, ‘He has done all things well.’

If I was as wise as your physician, I might say a great deal about your melancholy complexion; but I love not to puzzle myself with second causes, while the First Cause is at hand, which sufficiently accounts for every phenomenon in a believer’s experience. Your constitution, your situation, your temper, your distemper, all that is either comfortable or painful in your lot, is of His appointment.

The hairs of your head are all numbered; the same power which produced the planet Jupiter, is necessary to the production of a single hair; nor can one of them fall to the ground without His notice, any more than the stars can fall from their orbits. In providence, no less than in creation, He is maximus in minimis (‘the greatest in the smallest’).

Therefore, fear not, only believe. Our sea may sometimes be stormy; but we have an infallible Pilot, and shall infallibly gain our port.

I must now end my speech, and begin my supper. We wish you and Mrs. Bull a good night. The Lord be with you, and with your poor friend,

JOHN NEWTON

Olney,

November 2, 1778″

–John Newton, “Letter XIX,” Letters of the Reverend John Newton (London: Hamilton and Adams Co, 1847), 36-37.

“How many professors are more concerned for the mistakes of government, or of the Americans, than for their own sins!” by John Newton

“The whole system of my politics is summed up in that one sentence, “The Lord reigneth!”

The times look awfully dark indeed; and as the clouds grow thicker, the stupidity of the nation seems proportionally to increase. If the Lord had not a remnant here, I should have very formidable apprehensions.

But He loves His children; some are sighing and mourning before Him, and I am sure He hears their sighs, and sees their tears. I trust there is mercy in store for us at the bottom; but I expect a shaking time before things get into a right channel, before we are humbled, and are taught to give Him the glory.

The state of the nation, the state of the churches, both are deplorable. They who should be praying, or too many of them, are disputing and fighting among themselves.

Alas! How many professors are more concerned for the mistakes of government, or of the Americans, than for their own sins! When will these things end?

Love me, and pray for me, and come to see me, for I cannot come to you. With my love and Mrs. Newton’s to you and Mrs . Bull,

I remain, your obliged friend,

JOHN NEWTON

Olney, February 24, 1778”

–John Newton, Letters of the Reverend John Newton (London: Hamilton and Adams Co, 1847), 7-8.