A BELIEVER IN JESUS . . .

This was printed in the most recent edition of Banner of Truth magazine (Special Edition commemorating Newtons death, 200 yrs./Dec. 1807). ------------------------------- A BELIEVER IN JESUS,1 however obscure, unnoticed, or oppressed in the present life, is happy; he is a child of God, the charge of angels, an heir of glory;2 he has meat to eat that the world knows not of; and from the knowledge of his union and relation to his Redeemer, he derives a peace which passes understanding,3 and a power suited to every service and circumstance of life.4 Though weak in himself, he is strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus the Lord,5 upon whom he relies, as his wisdom, righteousness, sanctification; and expects from him, in due time, a complete redemption from every evil.6 His faith is not merely speculative, like the cold assent we give to a mathematical truth, nor is it the blind impulse of a warm imagination; but it is the effect of an apprehension of the wisdom, power, and love displayed in the redemption of sinners by Jesus Christ; it is a constraining principle, that works by love, purifies the heart, and overcomes the world; it gives the foretaste and evidence of things invisible to mortal eyes, and transforming the soul into the resemblance of what it beholds, fills the heart with benevolence, gentleness, and patience, and directs every action to the sublimest ends, the glory of God, and the good of mankind.7 ------ 1. This description appears at the end of Newton's <I>"A Review of Ecclesiastical History so far as It Concerns the Progress, Declensions, and Revivals of Evangelical Doctrine and Practice"</I>, in <I>"The Works of John Newton"</I> (1820; repr. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1985, and reprinted again 2007), vol. 3, pp. 295-6. 2. Rom. 8:14, 17 3. Phil. 4:7 4. II Cor. 12:9 5. II Tim. 2:1 6. I Cor. 1:30 7. Gal. 5:6; Acts 15:9; I Jn. 5:4; Heb. 11:1; II Cor. 3:18 Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry