Newton on Grace

from John Newton, The Utterance of the Heart:

“Sensible comforts are desirable, and we must be sadly declined when they do not appear to us; but I believe there may be a real exercise of faith and growth in grace when our sensible feelings are faint and low. A soul may be in as thriving a state when thirsting, seeking, and mourning after the Lord, as when actually rejoicing in Him; as much in earnest when fighting in the valley, as when singing upon the mount; nay, dark seasons afford the surest and strongest manifestations of the power of faith. To hold fast the word of promise, to maintain a hatred of sin, to go on steadfastly in the path of duty, in defiance both of the frowns and the smiles of the world, when we have but little comfort, is a more certain evidence of grace, than a thousand things which we may do or forbear when our spirits are warm and lively.” 

Self-Control

“A man without self-control is like a city broken into and left without walls.” – Proverbs 25:28

“The enemy who wars against our souls is a consummate master in his way, fertile in stratagems, and equally skillful in carrying on his assaults by sap or by storm. He studies us, if I may so say, all around, to discover our weak sides… Satan will, doubtless, watch you, and examine every corner of the hedge around you, to see if he can find a gap by which to enter.” – John Newton, The Utterance of the Heart, pp 176, 180

The phrase for “self-control” here is literally “rule his spirit”—himself, his inner self. Most temptations do start within. I picture within myself a morass of thoughts, imaginations, compulsions, and desires. If I do not familiarize myself with my inner workings, if I do not study them and learn how to rule them, if I do not restrain them, then I am like a city without walls. 

Perhaps a good modern-day equivalent would be to say that I would be like a house with the front door swinging wide open. Anyone could come in. I would be vulnerable to attacks. I would be devaluing what I possess within. I would simply be foolish. No one would live like that. No one would want to live in a house like that. 

Yet I would not say that self-control is a culturally-esteemed value. We tout unrestrained self-expression. We promote the satiation of desires as long as no one is obviously hurt. We encourage the proliferation of our desires. We tend to be blind to the slippery slopes of temptation. We don’t necessarily learn how to study and restrain our desires until we’ve already gone too far. And this could be the desire for many things: recognition and reputation, food, sex, control, angry outbursts, sloth, revenge, escape. But the fact is, we’re in a spiritual war. We have an Enemy who looks for the gaps. He doesn’t need to break into the city: we break into it ourselves when we fail to learn how to control ourselves. We need to learn and practice the ruling of our inner selves lest we be like a city left without walls.