T HE SAINTLY rector of the City of London stood in his 18th century study, gazing at a text he had hung over the mantel piece. With deep emotion, he quoted the words: “Thou shalt remember that thou wast a bondman in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God redeemed thee.” That text was his biography, as it is the life story of thousands of redeemed souls. John Newton had known the dregs of Satan’s empty pots. He had been a slave, a willing slave through the influence of a slave in Africa, a drunken, dissipated and vile speci men of the British Mercantile Ma rine, completely dominated by a wicked and wretched woman of the Dark Continent, till grace pursued him, salvation reached him and the light of God dawned upon his soul. The transformation was so amazing and complete that he became the minister of the first church in Eng land, the parish church of the me tropolis. We sing his hymns and they still warm our hearts: “How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds In a believer’s ear!” “One there is above all others,
Who well deserves the name of friend.” “Amazing grace! how sweet the sound.” “Glorious things of Thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God.” While the whole Bible is an expo sition of John Newton’s experience, the beloved Apostle Paul summed it up in three verses in his incompara ble Epistle to the Romans: “For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness. What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed ? for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Rom. 6:20-22). T he S ervitude of the B ond S lave Slavery under men is a degrada tion of the body. It takes away a man’s liberty and self-development, but slavery under Satan is inde scribably worse, because it subtly be guiles a man into liking it. A slave owner can be seen for what he is: Satan cannot be seen, and can only be known, after bitter experiences of his cruel treatment of his victims.
A slave may rise against his master, but a slave of Satan is so fascinated by the sensations of the flesh that he willingly abandons himself to the degradations of sin until he becomes less than the shadow of a man. Paul used the word bond slave and it cor rectly describes the ready acquies cence of the soul in its downward descent into sin. Paradoxically, we never recognize the foulness of sin until we have been liberated from it. Because sometimes we look back as did Newton and Paul, we-become instrumental in warning others of the danger of Satan’s enslavement. We often fail to convince others of their peril because fascination is one of Satan’s strongest weapons'. He does not frighten people into his service; he fascinates them. Think of the fascination of a pretty face, a manly form, a well-cut dress, a rhythmic dance, the laughing com pany, the flowing wine, and the wit of a loosened tongue. Remember that all of these things captivated John Newton before he was saved, and remember too that they fascinate and enslave'thousands of souls today. Oh, the memories of the past! Though we be forgiven and cleansed,
PAGE FIFTEEN
MARCH, 1947
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