The Works of John Newton, 4 vols.

When John Newton, ex-sea captain and, as yet, unsuccessful candidate for the
Church of England ministry, finished his first book (an autobiography) in 1762
there was no ready publisher. Any thought that he was destined to become one of
the best known authors of his age would have been as fantastic as the last 37
years of his life. But in both cases the improbable came about. Becoming curate
of Olney, a small village in the south of England, in 1764, Newton there laid
his reputation as an evangelical writer, pre-eminently by his published letters
and by the Olney Hymns (including æHow Great the Name of Jesus Sounds,
æGlorious things of Thee are spokenÆ and æAmazing graceÆ). Before the end of
his subsequent pastorate at St. Mary Woolnoth, London (1780-1807), his writings
were prized around the world from America to Australia.

Newton has a firm place in the classics of Christian literature. While his
style is strong and clear, it is the spiritual attractiveness and importance of
his main themes which secure the permanent value of his writings. Most of his
books came, unpremeditated, out of a need to help his congregation or
individual hearers, and it is in practical helpfulness towards Christian living
that he excels. If he is loved rather than admired, it is for this reason.
Conformity to Christ is the one subject upon which his themes finally focus
(æIt will not be a burden to me at the hour of death that I have thought too
highly of Jesus, expected too much from Him myself, or laboured too much in
commending and setting Him forth to othersÆ). Not surprisingly, Alexander Whyte
could write, æFor myself, I keep John Newton on my selectest shelf of spiritual
books: by far the best kind of books in the whole world of books.Æ

The text of this new four-volume edition of The Works of John Newton has been
entirely reformatted, producing a clear and easily navigable set of documents
for todayÆs reader.

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. - C.H. Spurgeon"

Recommended € 149,90