The Holdfast

I’ll never get tired of John Newton. I’ve been listening to the Desiring God Conference mp3’s from two weekends ago, and I was greatly blessed by the address by Tim Keller. One thing that he continually did during his lecture was quote John Newton — a sure way to gain MY favor. Here’s one that he quoted in full:

Prayer answered by crosses.

I asked the LORD that I might grow
In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of his salvation know,
And seek, more earnestly, his face.

‘Twas he who taught me thus to pray,
And he, I trust, has answered prayer!
But it has been in such a way,
As almost drove me to despair.

I hoped that in some favored hour,
At once he’d answer my request;
And by his love’s constraining pow’r,
Subdue my sins, and give me rest.

Instead of this, he made me feel
The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry pow’rs of hell
Assault my soul in every part.

Yea more, with his own hand he seemed
Intent to aggravate my woe;
Crossed all the fair designs I schemed,
Blasted my gourds, and laid me low.

LORD, why is this, I trembling cried,
Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?
“‘Tis in this way, the LORD replied,
I answer prayer for grace and faith.

These inward trials I employ,
From self, and pride, to set thee free;
And break thy schemes of earthly joy,
That thou may’st find thy all in me.”

You have to check out Kim’s 15 minutes of fame over at the Dallas Morning News State Fair blog. They even have a picture of her.

If you are an Anglophile like me, you might want to check out the 360 degree panoramas of Wilberforce House in Hull, provided by the BBC. The actual website of Wilberforce House is kind of skimpy.

You can also visit the very interesting Wilberforce 2007 anniversary site that is centered around the activities in Hull in the next few months, as well as the topic of anti-slavery today. Another anti-slavery site that is tied into the anniversary is here.

Well, my books have come in and I’ve been reading all kinds of stuff about Wilberforce. I also listened to John Piper’s biography of him from one of his Pastor’s Conferences, and I heard Piper say that to understand Wilberforce, you must understand his Christianity, and the way to understand that is to read his book: A Practical View Of Christianity. In there, you will find that his social reform agenda was built completely on his salvation-centered, Christ-centered Christianity, not a social, moralistic pragmatic Christianity such as we’ve been afflicted with for centuries.

Piper was lamenting that the book was out of print, but that will soon be remedied by Hendricksen Publishers. In fact, scanning the Amazon lists, I see that there will be a mini-boom of Wilberforce related books issued or re-issued in connection with this movie (or in connection with the celebration of the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade by Wilberforce’s Parliament bill). Did I say that the movie is timed to match that anniversary?

Then, I went to the State Fair tonight, and Walden Media was out there promoting the movie! (Along with their other new movie, Charlotte’s Web.) Here’s a poster that they hung up. Also, they had big screen TV’s showing clips from the movie, and folks, it looks like it might just be really good.

(I can’t resist plugging John Newton as seen on the poster: “A former ship captain and slave trader who wrote ‘Amazing Grace‘ out of deep gratitude for the forgiveness he received. Newton encouraged Wilberforce to persevere as an abolitionist.”)