Sermons of John Newton - M - Booklet One 1. The Consolation and 2. The Harbinger

Extract

Sermons of John Newton
Booklet One

1. The Consolation and 2. The Harbinger [Forerunner]
1. The Consolation

“Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received at the LORD’s hand double for all her sins” Isaiah 40:1, 2.

The particulars of the great “mystery of godliness,” as enumerated by the Apostle Paul, constitute the grand and inexhaustible theme of the Gospel ministry, “God manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory” (1 Timothy 3:16). It is my wish and purpose to know nothing among you but this subject; to preach nothing to you but what has a real connection with the doctrine of Jesus Christ and Him crucified, and with the causes and the effects of His obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. But a regard to the satisfaction and the advantage of my stated hearers, has often made me desirous of adopting some plan, which might lead me to exhibit the principal qualities of the Saviour’s character and mediation in a regular series of discourses; so as to form, if not a picture, at least a slight sketch, of those features of His glory and of His grace, which endear Him to the hearts of His people. Such a plan has lately, and quite unexpectedly, occurred to me. Conversation in almost every company, for some time past, has much turned upon the commemoration of Handel; the grand musical entertainments, and particularly his Oratorio of the Messiah, which have been repeatedly performed on that occasion in Westminster Abbey. If it could be reasonably hoped that the performers and the company assembled to hear the music, or the greater part, or even a very considerable part of …