John Newton, Coleman St. Buildings, London, to George Dyer, London, 6 June 1796.

When you left Mr. Musgrave’s present at my house to be forwarded to Mr. Brown, you likewise left an open letter, which I seal’d and sent by this Penny post.  You may be assured that not a Syllable of it more than the Superscription was read here.

I was glad of that opportunity of reading your book, which otherwise might not have come in my way. It has given me both information and entertainment.  My pleasure would have been greater, but for the mournful regret I frequently felt, from the contrast between the beginning & the latter part of your friend’s public life.  How often have I sighed and said, Heu! quam dispar sibi! [Alas! how unlike himself!]

Though you and I may at present differ in Judgement, I acknowledge and admire your impartiality and candour, and I am thereby encouraged to offer a brief remark upon a few points, which occur in your volume.  Tho’ I am a Clergyman in the Establishment,  & consequently was ordain’d a Priest, I hope I am not a Priest in the obnoxious sense of the Word.  I believe both friends & foes (if I have any foes) will allow that I am a harmless Creature.  I take no part in Controversies, Religous or Civil; I deal not in Invectives or Anathema’s.  I am no friend to violent measures, nor am I fierce even for Moderation.  I love peace, & thro’ the goodness of God I possess it.  I feel myself happy (so far as happiness is compatible with the present state of things) & the aim of my life, so far as my influence reaches, is to make others so.  I endeavour to cultivate a spirit of benevolence with my fellow Creatures, without excepting Jews, Turks & Infidels. Thus much I think I can honestly say, & I only say it, because I wish to bespeak your good opinion of my intentions & sincerity at least before I proceed.

My history will I hope terminate, where Mr. Robinson’s began.  A part of it is already in print.  It is known far & near, to my own shame & to the praise of God’s Mercy, that in early  life, I was a persecutor, a blasphemer & injurious.  Before I attained the age of 20, I was seated in the Chair of the Scorner.  And had my abilities & opportunities been equal to the bent of my mind, I should have rivall’d  if not exceeded Voltaire, Hume, Bolingbroke, or any of the most determin’d opposer of Revelation.  I scarcely deserved the name of a Deist, that seems to imply some reflection; but I was a most abandoned Profligate & Libertine.  Repeated checks of Conscience, compelled me to seek refuge in Infidelity, in which by dint of effort & habit, I became so confirmed, that at length I seemed assuredly to believe my own lie.

But I obtain’d Mercy.  In this state of mind, I was (you will bear a Calvinistic phrase) awakened to a sense of my sin & misery.  The Scripture directed & encourage’d me to seek another refuge, to believe in Jesus Christ, fo the forgiveness of my sins, & for grace to forsake them, & I was not disappointed.  Upon this rock I have stood, & by this rule I have endeavour’d (alas! how imperfectly) to walk for near Fifty years.  And the longer I have lived, the more I am satisfied, that Him that cometh to him He will in no wise, cast out, & that he is able, authorized & determin’d to save to the Uttermost, all that come unto God by Him. I am now upon the verge of Seventy One, I know not the day of my death, but I expect it must be near.  Nevertheless I am neither afraid nor ashamed; for I know whom I have believed, & that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him.

I never saw Mr. Robinson but twice, both times in the pulpit, about the years 81 or 82, when he was, in my judgment, declining from the right way.  When I was ask’d How I liked him, I said, I admired him, & I pitied him.  For I thought him the best public speaker I had ever heard, but, tho’ he did not deny any of the truths dear to my heart, there was a plausible sceptical turn in his preaching, which grieved me.   Yet tho’ I could not approve his Sermon, there was something so attractive in his manner that I was sorry when he had finish’d.  He seem’d, as you express it rather dispos’d, to make Men doubt, than believe.

I thank you Sir, for publishing the Circular letter, p. 434.  It is proof of your Candour.  I should have judged from the style & manner, that it was not written by Mr. Robinson; yet as his name stands first in the list of the Ministers p. 433, he seems to have been Moderator, or Chairman, & as such to have signed it; which a Man who loved Liberty like him, would hardly have done to please his brethren, unless He meant it to be understood as expressive of his own Sentiments.  It well expresses mine; & I think may stand as a tolerable proof that the doctrines call’d Calvin’s (tho he certainly did not invent them) when rightly understood, have no tendency to make men gloomy or unsociable, or to sanction immoral conduct.  You Sir, who were acquainted with him, best know, whether he was more happy in himself, more placid in his temper, or more exemplary in his behaviour as a Minister, after he renounced these Sentiments, than while he retain’d them!

I am no advocate for Imaginary assistance p. 30.  No doubt, Imaginary & Enthusiastic pretences have abounded--but what can we make of a great part of the New-testament, if true believers are not warranted to expect real Supernatural assistance.  The modes of communication, may be inexplicable, yea inperceptible to us.  And yet the promises of God may be, I am sure I need not trouble you, who are so well acquainted with the Scripture, to bring quotations in proof of the point.  Such promises, & also declarations of our insufficiency without them, occur on almost every page.

You allow that Mr. Robinson indulged levity too much.  His account of his family business is ludicrous enough.  To a man of his talents, information & fluency, digging might appear much harder work than preaching; if by the latter is meant little more than an ingeniuous discourse calculated to please the ears, & gain the applause of his hearers.  But if a dispensation of the Gospel is intrusted to Ministers; if they are responsible as Watchmen, to warn the wicked of danger, & the blood of those who perish thro’ our negligence will be required at our hands; if our Wisdom is to win, not popularity, but Souls; if we are to persuade them by the terrors of the Lord, & to beseech them by his Mercies; if Jesus Christ & him crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews, & the Scoff of the Gentiles, be indeed the wisdom & the Power of God; if there be any propriety in the question, How shall we escape if we neglect so great a Salvation? in a word, If we, preachers as well as our hearers, must give an account to God, & must expect to reap hereafter as we have sown here – then Preaching is a very important affair, & I apprehend the Wisest & best of men, may well say with the Apostle, who is sufficient for these things?

‘Were it not so frequent, it might seem strange that sensible Men, should plead in favour of Mental errror, unless such error is simply Invincible.  Can opposite Causes produce similar Effects?  So far as we think of God at all,  our tempers and conduct will be according to the apprehensions we form of him.  The Calvinists are charged by some, with wrong  notions of the Deity, as supposing Him Partial, Arbitrary & Severe; & from thence it is inferred, that they are sour, uncharitible, & destitute of benevolence to their fellow creatures.  Were the Assumption true, I doubt not, but the Conclusion would be just. On the other hand, if we think God almost or altogether like Ourselves--set aside his Holiness, Justice & Truth, & suppose that His Goodness nearly resembles what we call our Own--then Sin will appear, as it does to many, a small thing, instead of being [hook’d] with our depravity, we shall boast of our righteousness; we shall rather expect a reward than plead for Mercy; an Atonement will be thought unnecessary, & the character of the Saviour a matter of great indifference.  Where the Bible, which reveals the true character & will of God, is afforded & people can & may read it, I scarcely know any Mental Error that can be deem’d harmless, much less innocent, unless it be the Error of a Lunatic. The Lunatic is certainly not responsible for what he does when deranged, but in his paroxisms, unless Providentially restrain’d, he may do much mischief to himself or others, he may destroy his own life, or think he does God service by killing me.  Light is come unto the World, but if Men will reject it, & prefer darkness. If they proudly oppose their own Understandings to Divine Revelation, & attempt to grasp Infinites, with their feeble span, I cannot but fear that their Mental Erorrs will prove highly dangerous.

I am grieved to find you encouraging doubts concerning the Authenticity of Matthew’s gospel. I thought, for I am not conversant with his writing but he & Dr. Prietley were content with expunging the first & second chapters, but you seem to strike at the whole.  One thing is clear, the Book is extant, & therefore must have been written by Somebody, & whether the Author was a Publican, or a Fisherman is of no great importance.  Your book sufficiently proves that you are a Man of Learning, Sense & Taste.   Thus qualified, Sir how is it that you can discern no excellencies, no internal evidences, in favour of the Gospel ascribed to Matthew.  You know the state of Mankind, & the writings of Philosophers about the time of Christ.  Can you find anything in the literature of their age, equal to what is call’d his Sermon on the Mount, in its 5, 6 & 7 chapters, to mention no other part.  I am persuaded that if this Sermon had been lately dug out of Herculanean, & instead of claiming Divine Authority, had been attributed to some Heathen Sage, it would have engaged the attention & admiration of the Learned throughout Europe.  How could any of the obscure & illiterate followers of Jesus, invent such a performance?  No--whoever wrote it was an Eye & Ear Witness of Him who spoke as never Man spoke!

The late Mr. Barham of Bedford, was my most intimate friend, & I knew his son John Foster, from a Child.  He imbibed the principles of his Parents, which were not Calvinistic but Lutheran, [they were Moravians].  When my friend John went to Germany, & when he return’d from thence, he seem’d firmly to hold the doctrine of the Deity of Christ, & of the Atonement.  But after he had been a short time at Cambridge, he called on me to breakfast. He spoke highly of Mr. Robinson, whose influence had staggered him with respect to our Orthodox point.  I gave him a caution, & having occasionally mention’d Dr. Priestley, Mr. Barham interposed--Sir, I hope you do not compare Mr. Robinson, with Dr. Priestley!  I answered Not yet sir.  I consider the Doctor as a Man already arrived at York.  Perhaps Mr. Robinson is at present no farther than St. Albans; but he is on the same road, travelling after him apace, & I think will be with him before long.  Glad should I have been to have proved a false Prophet – But, Facilis Descensus – - [descent to hell]

The path & motions of the Heavenly bodies were determin’d long before any Astronomers were born.  The disputes for & against the different systems of Ptolemy & Copernicus had no influence upon them.  The Sun Moon & Planets went on in their appointed Courses, quite unaffected by all that the Philosophers could say, on either side.  Thus I conceive it is in Theology, the great points which have filled the World with controversy have been long since settled.  We may debate about them, but neither Dogmatists nor Sceptics can alter them.  Whether He who hung upon the Cross, was a mere Man or whether his Humanity were united to the Angelic, Super-angelic or to the Divine Nature, is much disputed by Mortals; but He is what He is.  My views of Him & of his Undertaking satisfies me.  He exactly suits my case; my feelings, my wishes & my wants.  I can no more impart my consciousness to another, than I can communicate the taste of a Pine-apple by description, but it suffices for myself.

Perhaps Sir, you & I may never meet in this World, but we are born for another & a more enduring state.  The time of transition draws near for me, & cannot be far from any of us.  Dies iste iudicabit.  [that day will judge]

Do you ask, why I have troubled you with this sheet?  I conceiv’d a respect for you, while reading your book.  I have heard of you from Mr. Jowit, Mr. Ryland & others that you once nearly thought with those from whom you now differ.  I wished you to know  from my heart  [?] I hoped you would accept my letter as proof of it.  I have no personal interest in writing. That I have written shall remain a secret with myself, I retain no copy of my letters nor do I desire any Answer.  I commit the Event by prayer to Him who has power over all our hearts.  May I not say with John? These things we write unto you, that you may have fellowship with us, & truly our fellowship is with the Father, & with his Son Jesus Christ!

I am with my best wishes, Sir

Your sincere friend tho’ unknown  

John Newton

Coleman Street Buildings        

Text: George Dyer Collection, Emmanuel College, Cambridge University, Col. 9.12.1.C.