Benjamin Wills Newton

Benjamin Wills Newton

Benjamin Wills Newton (born December 12, 1807 in Plymouth Dock , England, † June 26, 1899 in Tunbridge Wells , England) was an English preacher and author.

Life

Newton came from a Quaker family and grew up with his grandfather because of the early death of his father. In 1824 he enrolled at Exeter College, Oxford . Three years later he experienced there a conversion and turned away from Quakerism. From 1828 he occupied himself - stimulated by Francis William Newman (1805-1897), who in turn had been influenced by John Nelson Darby - with questions of biblical prophecy . Due to his non-conformist sympathies, he dropped his original plan to be ordained as a clergyman in the Anglican Church and returned permanently to Plymouth in November 1831 to earn a living as a private tutor. In March 1832 he married Hannah Abbott.

He had already met John Nelson Darby in Oxford and was so impressed by him that he invited him to Plymouth in 1830. They began preaching and holding meetings in the Plymouth area, along with Percy Francis Hall , a naval officer who had long been an evangelist . From December 1831, this happened in the Providence Chapel, which was bought especially for this purpose . A month later a Brethren Congregation was founded there , which soon became known nationwide due to its rapid growth and the whole movement was named "Plymouth Brethren".

After Darby and Hall left Plymouth, Newton played the leading role in the local community. In 1845 Darby came back and accused him of assuming a clerical position and obstructing the "free operation of the Holy Spirit". After several months of arguments, Darby separated from Newton and founded a new congregation in Plymouth with a minority of his congregation.

In 1847, Newton came under attack in his own church for his teachings on the sufferings of Christ and left Plymouth. He moved to London and founded a rather Calvinist- oriented church there, which had no connection with the Brethren movement and which he served as the sole preacher. He also devoted himself to writing Bible commentaries and other theological works.

Newton first spent his retirement in Orpington , then in Newport (Isle of Wight) and from 1896 in Tunbridge Wells .

Fonts

A directory of Newton's writings can be found in the catalog of the Christian Brethren Archive ( Manchester University Library ). Published in German translation a. a .:

• About justification. Explanation of Romans 5: 1–11. Wupperthal Tract Society, Barmen 1860.
• About eternal reconciliation. 1. B. Moses 3. Romans 5. A treatise. Fricke, Halle 1860.
• The burnt offering (3rd book of Moses, 1st chapter) as a type based on Christ is discussed biblically (= thoughts on parts of the third book of Moses, 1). Fricke, Halle 1861.
• The blood that makes us happy. Lower Saxony Society for the Dissemination of Christian edification writings, Hamburg 1862.
• About acceptance by God. Lower Saxony Society for the Dissemination of Christian edification writings, Hamburg 1862.

literature

• George H. Fromow: BW Newton and Dr. SP Tregelles: teachers of the faith and the future. The life and works of BW Newton and Dr. SP Tregelles. The Sovereign Grace Advent Testimony, London, 2nd ed. 1969 ( online ).
• Jonathan D. Burnham: A Story of Conflict. The Controversial Relationship between Benjamin Wills Newton and John Nelson Darby. Foreword by Grayson Carter. Studies in Evangelical History and Thought. Paternoster Press, Milton Keynes 2004.