John Newton. Compiled and Edited by the Rev. S. Callis.
With Introduction by Eugene Stock. (S. W. Partridge and Co.)— John Newton died on December 21st, 1807, after holding for twenty-eight years the rectory of St. Mary Woolnoth. In this volume we have, as "Centenary Memorials of the Sailor, Preacher, Pastor, and Poet," certain sermons and addresses delivered last year in that church. We have also a selection of his "Table Talk" and some of his hymns, the best known being "How sweet the name of Jesus sounds." The "Table Talk" is highly interesting, though there are indications of not very accurate reporting. His utterances about " Gravity " are not easy to reconcile. There is no mistaking what he thought about the theatre. "Tragedies are usually full of blasphemies. Comedies tend to promote what is called gallantry." The judgment on tragedies seems harsh, but they are now so rarely seen that the matter is of little importance. Comedies have, if possible, changed for the worse. His deliverance about fasting is curious. His own practice was to keep four fasts,—his own birthday, his wife's, the day of his escape from shipwreck, and a fourth unnamed. The volume is published, we may say, for the benefit of the "British and Foreign Sailors' Society."
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