Wise Counsel

Wise Counsel

John Newton's Letters to John Ryland, Jr.

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Wise Counsel
Look Inside Price £17.50
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Weight 0.668 kg
Dimensions 22.3 × 14.3 × 2.8 cm
ISBN 9781800404144
Binding

Cloth-bound
Format

Book
Page Count

464
Original Pub Date

1780 (actually 2009)
Banner Pub Date

2026

*New Edition With Added Material*

 

ENDORSEMENT

‘Some books are for tasting regularly, not reading through once. One such book is Wise Counsel. Newton was the former slave-trader turned pastor, and the author of Amazing Grace. The flavor of his ministry is such that frequent tastes are better than rare gulps.’ — JOHN PIPER

Book Description

John Newton (1725-1807) has rightly been called ‘the letter-writer par excellence of the Evangelical Revival’. Newton himself seems to have come to the conclusion, albeit reluctantly, that letter-writing was his greatest gift. In a letter to a friend he confessed, ‘I rather reckoned upon doing more good by some of my other works than by my ‘Letters’, which I wrote without study, or any public design; but the Lord said, ‘You shall be most useful by them,’ and I learned to say, ‘Thy will be done! Use me as Thou pleasest, only make me useful.’ Indeed, he wrote to his close friend William Bull that if the letters were ‘owned to comfort the afflicted, to quicken the careless, to confirm the wavering, I may rejoice in the honour He has done me’, and not envy the greatest writers of the age.

All but ten of the letters in the present volume have been brought out of undeserved obscurity by Dr Grant Gordon, whose researches in libraries and archives, as well as in little-known nineteenth-century periodicals, have uncovered much material which is certainly calculated to comfort, quicken, and confirm. Of those already in print, one letter is in volume 1 of the Trust’s six-volume edition of Newton’s Works, and nine more are in volume 2. Three of the nine are also in the Trust’s Letters of John Newton, edited by Josiah Bull. The rest should be new to almost all readers.

The particular recipient of Newton’s ‘wise counsel’ in this book was John Ryland, Jr. (1753-1825), Baptist pastor and educator, and close friend of Andrew Fuller, William Carey, and all the pioneers of the modern missionary movement. But in the background stand all the major figures of the eighteenth-century Evangelical Revival. A list of Newton’s friends and correspondents would, in fact, read like a ‘who’s who’ of the Revival. And forming the wider background is a very eventful period of history, from the American Revolution to the French Revolutionary Wars, by way of the colonization of Australia, the first missions to India, and the abolition of the slave trade. Dr Gordon has helpfully set the letters in the context of these events and provided useful background detail.

The reader will discover afresh in these letters, not only mature and wise counsel, but a wholesome emphasis on true Christian experience, a great breadth of Christian sympathy, and a strong confidence in the power of the grace of God, for, as Newton said, ‘Grace has long and strong arms!’

Table of Contents Expand ↓

Foreword by Michael A. G. Haykin I xi
Preface and Acknowledgements xiii
Introduction–1: Overview of the Letters

Editor’s Note

 xvii

xxiii
Introduction–2: The Earlier Years of Newton and Ryland xxv
1 Ryland’s Poems – Justification – Humility 1
2 Justification – High Calvinism 9
3 Visit of Rowland Hill 15
4 Northampton – Advice on Preaching 19
5 Spiritual Experience – A Believer’s Frames 23
6 William Guy – Guidance 31
7 Henry Venn – Christ in the Vessel 35
8 Disappointments – Christian Unity 39
9 Betty Abraham – The Fellowship at Olney 43
10 Danger of Delusive ‘Impressions’ 47
11 Controversy with Arminianism – News of Friends 53
12 Blessings – Moravian Missions – Unity 59
13 Hopes for a Schoolboy – Inward Trials 63
14 Advice on Marriage 67
15 The King in His Beauty – Life as a Journey 71
16 American Revolution – Politics – Thankfulness 77
17 Spiritual Progress – The Soul a Besieged City 83
18 Marriage – Waiting on God – Submission 87
19 Disappointments – Providence – The Eternal View 95
20 Courtship – Possible Move from Olney 99
21 Courtship – A Call to Hull? 103
22 Smallpox – Inoculation – Providence 107
23 Overcoming Fear – Bereavement 111
24 New England Divines on a Work of Grace 115
25 Delays – Submission to the Will of God 121
26 Olney Hymns – Earthly Gloss Fades – Forms 125
27 Olney Hymns – America – Lawfulness of War 129
28 Ryland’s Marriage – Advice on the Married State 135
29 Married Life – Move to London – Letters 141
30

30b

 Anecdotes – Cardiphonia – The Infallible Pilot

Sympathy – Providence

 147

153
31 Trials – Cotton Mather – Simplicity in Preaching 157
32 Ryland, Sr. – Newton’s Apologia 163
33 Ryland’s Brother and Father – Comforts – Messiah 167
34 Death of Eliza – A Great Shepherd – Messiah 173
35 Provision for Ryland, Sr. – Benefit of Trials 179
36 Birth of a Son – Ambrose Serle – Controversy 185
37 Death of Mrs Ryland – God All-Sufficient 191
38 Faithful Wounds – Danger of Excessive Grief 195
39 Giving for Chapel-Building – Sanctified Trials 199
40 Effects of Grief – William Huntington 201
41 Sermons – Family Trials – The Slave Trade 207
42 Advice on Remarriage 213
43 Remarriage –Trusting the Lord to Provide 217
44 Betsy’s Illness – Marriage – Ministerial Success 221
45 Fuller – Controversy – Carey – Botany Bay 225
46 Discipline – Foes as Friends – Independency 231
47 False Reports – Church and Family Trials 237
48 Patience – Mrs Newton’s Illness – Ellis Williams 241
49 ‘No Protestant Popery’ – Mrs Newton Declining 245
50 Mrs Newton – The School of the Cross 251
51 Travels – Funerals – Need for Dying Strength 255
52 Ryland Advised to Ignore Huntington Pamphlet 261
53 Ryland, Sr. – The Lord’s Fan – Let Embers Die 265
54 Bristol – Movements of Ministers 271
55 Abraham Booth – Certainty about a Call 273
56 Advice regarding Call to Bristol 277
57 Bristol Refused – Visit to Northampton 281
58 Mrs Fuller’s Death – Bristol – French Revolution 285
59 Fuller’s Illness – All the Lord Does Is Right 289
60 The Lord Can Make the Crooked Straight 293
61 David George – Sierra Leone – Letters to a Wife 299
62 Fuller on Socinianism – Politics – God Reigns 303
63

63b

 Bristol – Fuller – France – Newton’s Politics

Fast-sermon – Injury – Fuller’s book

 309

313
64 Conduct of War – Sin the Great Evil 317
65 Alarms of War – Eclectic Society – Missions 323
66 Death of Trinder – Friends Given and Removed 327
67 Romaine – Unity in Mission and in Suffering 331
68 A Lofty Spirit – Church and Dissent – Unity 337
69 Mission in India – Carey – Caste System 341
70 Sierra Leone – Servants – Newton’s Ministry 347
71 Newton’s High Regard for Carey 353
72 Macaulay’s – David George – Unity 355
73 Fuller – Pearce – Grimshaw – Value of Academies 363
74 Salvation of Infants – Grimshaw – India Mission 367
75 Seeking Favours – Waiting God’s Time 371
76 The Reach of Mercy – The Missionary Spirit 383
77 Failing Powers – The Lord’s Shop – Preaching 383
78 Mission News – National Sins – Mercies 389
79 Willing to Be Laid Aside – Recalling Past Mercy 393
80 Robert Hesketh – The Lord Reigns 399
81 Cast Down but Not Destroyed – Discipline 403
82 Griffith – A Dark Cloud – Thankfulness 407
83 Prayer – Depression of Spirits – A Chief Sinner 409
Conclusion: The Remaining Years of Newton and Ryland 413
Index of Persons and Principal Topics 419

Reviews

Testimonials

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  1. Matthew Sullivan –

    This book is excellent. Just as good as Newton’s other letters (in some cases less formal than other letters, which is really neat) and the plus is the inside look you get into the friendship of Newton and Ryland, their times, their lives, etc. It’s a sweet combination of Newton-letters and biography as well. Grant Gordon did an awesome job.

  2. Robert –

    This is the first Banner of Truth book I ever read cover-to-cover, and one of my favorite books ever. I received it as a gift for graduating from seminary, so I felt like I could take the place of John Ryland, and that Newton was writing directly to me. Newton had such a warm, kind heart that had fully imbibed the love of Christ. Brotherly affection shines through in every one of the letters in this book, which address Ryland from his teenage years through his issues in early adulthood, through the passing of his wife and into his years as a mature pastor. They truly address the range of life. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to everyone in ministry. It is also an enjoyable and wisdom-filled book for people in the pews.

  3. Marc Daniel Rivera (KristiyaKnow) –

    Most Christians know John Newton as the author of Amazing Grace. That alone would be enough to secure his place in church history. Yet those who have spent time reading Newton soon discover that his greatest gift may not have been hymn writing at all. It may have been his letters.

    Wise Counsel: John Newton’s Letters to John Ryland, Jr., newly reset and expanded in this handsome cloth-bound edition from Banner of Truth, gives readers the opportunity to sit in on one of the most remarkable friendships of the eighteenth-century evangelical movement. Edited by Grant Gordon, the volume gathers more than eighty letters written by Newton to the Baptist pastor John Ryland Jr., many of which were unknown or difficult to access until Gordon’s years of archival research brought them together in one place.

    At first glance, a collection of eighteenth-century letters may not sound especially exciting. But this book quickly proves otherwise.

    What makes these letters so compelling is that they deal with real life. Ryland was a young pastor facing many of the same challenges ministers and Christians face today. He wrestled with discouragement, theological questions, family concerns, difficult church situations, grief, major decisions, and uncertainty about the future. Again and again, he turned to Newton for guidance.

    Newton’s responses reveal why so many people sought his counsel. He possessed a rare combination of wisdom, theological depth, humility, and practical common sense. He never writes like a detached scholar delivering lectures from a distance. Instead, he writes like a trusted friend who genuinely cares about the person receiving the letter.

    One of the strengths of this collection is its variety. The letters touch on subjects such as justification, Christian experience, preaching, marriage, suffering, providence, church unity, missions, controversy, spiritual depression, bereavement, and pastoral ministry. Newton seems equally comfortable discussing these issues and the ordinary struggles of daily life.

    I was particularly struck by how balanced Newton is throughout the book. He holds strong convictions, yet he rarely sounds harsh or combative. He is deeply rooted and displays a humble Christian spirit. Even when addressing disagreements, he encourages charity, patience, and humility.

    The pastoral sections are especially rich. Newton understood the pressures of ministry because he had experienced them himself. When Ryland struggles with discouragement, Newton offers more than quick fixes or clichés. He gently directs his friend back to Christ, God’s providence, and the sufficiency of divine grace. His counsel often feels timeless because it is grounded in biblical truth rather than passing circumstances.

    Read my full review on https://kristiyaknow.wordpress.com/2026/08/17/book-review-wise-counsel/

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