"In a word, let us endeavor to keep close to God, to be much in prayer, to watch carefully over our hearts, and leave the busy warm spirits to make the best of their work. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him and wait on Him continually; to these He will show His covenant, not notionally, but experimentally. A few minutes of the Spirit's teaching will furnish us with more real useful knowledge than toiling through whole folios of commentators and expositors; they are useful in their places and are not to be undervalued by those who can perhaps, in general, do better without them; but it will be our wisdom to deal less with the streams and be more close in applying to the Fountainhead. The Scripture itself and the Spirit of God, are the best and the only sufficient expositors of Scripture. Whatever men have valuable in their writings, they got it from hence; and the way is as open to us as to any of them." Don't you just love that? The Lord can take one line from the Bible or one comment from a sermon and shed His light on it making it stand out as though written exclusively for us, at that very moment. Oh for more light!
John Newton - Photo by Sheri Doty
3 comments:
Fred, the "John Newton" name at the end here, does it mean that someone named John Newton wrote this part of the blog or what? I ask because John Newton, who wrote Amazing Grace and a whole Hymnal, is in my family line...so if this was written by him, I'd probably keep it in my family keepsakes book.
Blessings,
Sheila
Hi Fred:)
Fantastic post.
It is said in the Bible--THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE BEGINNING OW WISDOM.
Have a nice day Fred:)
Joseph
Hi Sheila,
Yes, this quote is by John Newton, the very wicked slave trader whom Christ redeemed and went on to pen "Amazing Grace" and was a revered preacher and hymn composer. You can sense his gratitude to God and His great mercy in nearly everything Newton writes. How great to have someone like him in your family! No doubt his influence impacted your family for generations. How interesting.
God bless you Sheila,
Fred
Hi Joseph,
I'm glad you enjoyed this post and thanks for reminding me of the where the beginning of the fountain head lies.
God bless,
Fred
Post a Comment