The following excerpt is taken from, John Newton Out Of The Depths, an Autobiography
I have read of many wicked popes, but the worst pope I ever met with is Pope Self.
The heir of a great estate, while a child, thinks more of a few shillings in his pocket than of his inheritance. So a Christian is often more elated by some frame of heart than by his title to glory.
I feel like a man who has no money in his pocket, but is allowed to draw for all he wants upon one infinitely rich; I am, thererfore, at once both a beggar and a rich man.
Sometimes I compare the troubles which we have to undergo in the course of the year to a great bundle of [sticks], far too large for us to lift. But God does not require us to carry the whole at once; He mercifully unties the bundle, and gives us first one stick, which we are to carry today, and then another which we are to carry tomorow, and so on. This we might easily manage, if we would only take the burden appointed for us each day; but we choose to increase our troubles by carrying yesterday’s stick over again today, and adding tomorow’s burden to our load, before we are required to bear it.
“Out of the Depths”
It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
‘Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary rest.
Dear Name! the Rock on which I build;
My Shield and Hiding-place;
My never-failing Treasury fill’d
With boundless stores of grace.
By Thee my prayers acceptance gain,
Although with sin defiled;
Satan accuses me in vain,
And I am own’d a child.
Jesus! my Shepherd, Husband, Friend,
My Prophet, Priest, and King;
My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End,
Accept the praise I bring.
Weak is the effort of my heart,
And cold my warmest thought;
But when I see Thee as Thou art,
I’ll praise Thee as I ought.
Till then I would Thy love proclaim
With every fleeting breath;
And may the music of Thy Name
Refresh my soul in death!
~John Newton
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 