T o L i V e I s c h r I s t
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26 Introduction If Newton hesitated to defend a theological system, it was out of his leading concern to center his theology on Christ crucified. 17 He was cer- tainly not afraid to say, “I am an avowed Calvinist,” 18
and appears to have embraced five-point Calvinism from before he ever pastored, but he also befriended Arminian leaders who shared his love for Christ. 19
Without question, the doctrines of grace seeped deep into Newton’s ministry. Once asked if he was a Calvinist, Newton plunked a lump of sugar into his tea, stirred the hot liquid, and said, “I am more of a Calvinist than anything else; but I use my Calvinism in my writing and preaching as I use this sugar. I do not give it alone, and whole; but mixed, and diluted.” 20
doctrines should be in a sermon like sugar in a dish of tea, which sweet- ens every drop, but is no where to be found in a lump”; 21 they should be “tasted everywhere, though prominent nowhere.” 22
Convincing others to embrace Calvinism was decisively accomplished not by teaching, he said, but by experience. Often it was only after a Christian was hit by a personal trial (a “pinch”) that he or she would be finally driven to embrace the comforting truths of Calvinism. Thus, from the pulpit, Newton felt no pressure to force-feed the doctrines of Calvinism. 23 But neither was Newton’s desire to see Praelectiones Theologiae translated from Latin into English was materialized. See Theological and Expository Lectures by Robert Leighton, D.D., Archbishop of Glasgow (London, 1828), 3–144. 17 W, 3:20; 4:106, 358–59; Letters (Coffin), 62. 18 W, 6:278. 19 Wrote Newton to a minister in a letter: “My part is only to say with the Apostle, ‘Grace be with all that love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity’ (Eph. 6:24). I hope my heart is with them all, whether Episcopa- lians, Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists, Methodists, Seceders, Relief-Men, Moravians, etc. etc.; Nay if a Papist gave me good evidence that he loved my Savior, I would beg leave of men, and ask grace of the Lord, that I might love such Papists likewise, with a pure heart fervently. We shall be known by none of these names of party and prejudice when we meet in the kingdom of glory” (Letters [Ryland], 345). 20 Letters (Jay), 308. 21 Letters (Campbell), 64. 22 Eclectic, 284. 23 Newton: “I am an avowed Calvinist: the points which are usually comprised in that term, seem to me so consonant to scripture, reason, (when enlightened,) and experience, that I have not the shadow of a doubt about them. But I cannot dispute, I dare not speculate. What is by some called high Calvinism, I dread. I feel much more union of spirit with some Arminians, than I could with some Calvinists; and, if I thought a person feared sin, loved the word of God, and was seeking after Jesus, I would not walk the length of my study to proselyte him to the Calvinistic doctrines. Not because I think them mere opinions, or of little importance to a believer—I think the contrary; but because I believe these doctrines will do no one any good till he is taught them of God. I believe a too hasty assent to Calvinistic principles, before a person is duly acquainted with the plague of his own heart, is one principal cause of that lightness of profession which so lamentably abounds in this day, a chief reason why many professors are rash, heady, high-minded, contentious about words, and sadly remiss as to the means of divine appointment. For this reason, I suppose, though I never preach a sermon in which the tincture of Calvinism may not be easily discerned by a judicious hearer, yet I very seldom insist expressly upon those points, unless they fairly and necessarily lie in my way. I believe most persons who are truly alive to God, sooner or later meet with some pinches in their experience which constrain them to flee to those doctrines for relief, which perhaps they had formerly dreaded, if not abhorred, because they knew not how to get over some harsh consequences they thought necessarily resulting from them, or because they were stumbled by the miscarriages
Introduction 27 Calvinism a relative matter for Newton; it was sweetness for the weary soul. “The views I have received of the doctrines of grace are essential to my peace,” he wrote. “I could not live comfortably a day, or an hour, with- out them.” 24
In this way Newton’s life was driven theologically. Rooted deep in personal experience, theology was the stuff of life, the stuff of Newton’s life, the stuff of the Christian life. Still others would say, no, he was not a theologian because he did not produce large theological tomes to be churned off presses, but merely com- piled single sheets of paper mailed through the post to address the imme- diate spiritual needs of his correspondents. This may be true, but whatever truth we find in this claim must also be applied to the Epistles of the New Testament. Newton wrote with the awareness that his best and most en- during letters could be collected later (and would be). Had he written a full- bodied theology of the Christian life, this may have actually limited him from addressing the spectrum of Christian experiences he could address by letter. As I hope to demonstrate in this book, Newton was a theologian. When read together, his collected epistles show the extraordinary skill of a mentor who wisely fused doctrine, experience, and practice. 25 But he bonded these services with a unique emphasis. Newton was a spiritual doctor, and his cho- sen specialty, as he called it, was cardiology, the careful and exhaustive study of the human heart’s response to every conceivable situation and condition in this life. 26 From his experience as a diagnostician of the heart, Newton labored to apply the treasures of divine truth to each of the manifold circum- stances faced in the Christian life. As the cover image of this book reflects, Newton was a keen-eyed student of the human heart who eagerly leaned into the human experience. In this sense he was, and remains, one of the church’s most perceptive and practical theologians on the Christian life. Pilgrim’s Progress Newton’s theology best works itself out in letters because Newton under- stood the Christian life to be a journey between two worlds (Phil. 3:12–4:1). of those who professed them. In this way I was made a Calvinist myself; and I am content to let the Lord take his own way, and his own time, with others” (W, 6:278–79). 24 W, 3:303. 25 Letters (Jay), 316. Charles Spurgeon reportedly said of Newton, “In few writers are Christian doctrine, experience and practice more happily balanced than in the author of these Letters, and few write with more simplicity, piety and force” (source unknown). 26 W, 1:477. Yüklə 2,91 Mb. Dostları ilə paylaş:
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