John Newton....

"What a comfortable thought is this to be a believer, to know that amid all the various interfering designs of men, the Lord has one constant design, which he cannot, will not miss, namely, His own glory in the complete salvation of His people; and that He is wise and strong and faithful, to make even those things which seem contrary to this design, subservient to it." - John Newton

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"He used to improve every occurence which he could, with propriety, bring into the pulpit. One night he found a notice put up at St. Mary Woolnoth's upon which he commented a great deal when he came to preach. The notice was to this effect: 'A young man, having come to the possession of a very considerable fortune, desires the prayers of the congregation, that he may be preserved from the snares to which it exposes him.'

'Now if the man,' said Newton, 'had lost a fortune, the world would not have wondered to have seen him put up a notice, but this man has been better taught.'"

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After the death of his beloved wife:

"I saw what , indeed, I knew before, but never till then so strongly and clearly perceived that , as a sinner, I had no right, and as a believer, I could have no reason to complain."

- from John Newton-Out of the Depths - by Rev. R. Cecil

Reading for history class, I came upon this interesting viewpoint. At the moment I'm not sure what to make of it, but it seemed worth taking note of:

"On the matter of female prayer...Beecher argued that praying in public distorts the sensibilities and therefore the moral character of women - with actresses as the leading example of such corruption:

There is generally, and should be always, in the female character, a softness and delicacy of feeling which shrinks from the notoriety of public performance. It is the guard of female virtue, and invaluable in its soothing, civilizing influence on man; and a greater evil, next to the loss of conscience and chastity, could not befal the female sex, or the community at large, than to disrobe the female mind of these ornaments of sensibility, and clothe it with the rough texture of masculine fibre....and, if we need further testimony, the general character of actresses is a standing memorial of the influence of female elocution before public assemblies."

- from Gospel Hymns and Social Religion by Sandra S. Sizer