Jul 11
14
I am not what I once was!
In his old age, when he could no longer see to read, John
Newton heard someone recite this text, “By the grace of God—I am
what I am.”
He remained silent a short time and then, as if speaking to
himself, he said: “I am not what I ought to be—ah, how imperfect
and deficient! I am not what I wish to be—I abhor that which is
evil, and I would cleave to that which is good. I am not what I
hope to be—soon, soon I shall put off mortality, and with
mortality all sin and imperfection! Though I am not what I ought
to be, what I wish to be, and what I hope to be—yet I can truly
say, I am not what I once was—a slave to sin and Satan! I can
heartily join with the apostle and acknowledge, “By the grace of
God—I am what I am!”
“Look upon those who mourn in Zion–put their tears into your
bottle–listen to their sighs and groans.”
William Tiptaft
“If I preach to please men, I am not the servant of Christ; and
woe unto me, if I preach not the gospel!”
William Tiptaft