DR. s. P. TREGELLES B. w. NEWTON B. W. NEWTON and DR. S. P. TREGELLES LONDON: THE SOVEREIGN GRACE ADVENT TESTIMONY Sec.: GEO. H. FRO MOW, 9 Milnthorpe Road, Chiswick, W.4 B. W. NEWTON AND Dr. S. P. TREGELLES TEACHERS OF THE FAITH AND THE FUTURE The Life and works of B. W. Newton and Dr. S. P. Tregelles. Edited by GEORGE H. FROMOW Foreword by Professor F. F. BRUCE, D.D. PRINTED BY E. GOODMAN & SON, THE PHCENIX PRESS, TAUNTON CONTENTS Chapter Page B. W. Newton's Gall by Grace. 2 Newton's Life and Career. 4 3 How He Learned Prophetic Truth. 13 4 Testimonies to His Character and Work. 21 5 Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, LL.D., Life and Letters. 26 6 Evangelists in Welsh. 29 7 Tregelles Greek New Testament. 32 8 Christians Influenced by their Writings. 37 9 A Page from Church History. 41 10 A Statement of Doctrinal Belief. 44 11 Propositions for Christian Consideration. 64 12 Extracts from the Teachings of Tregelles. 77 13 Dr. Tregelles as a Hymn Writer. 81 14 The Eternal Sonship and the Suretyship of Christ. 88 15 Principles for the Reading of Scripture. 93 16 Matthew's Gospel is Characteristically Christian. 98 17 Thoughts on Romans Chapters 1 : 2 and 3. 103 18 The Church in the Epistle to the Ephesians. 105 19 Imputed Righteousness. 108 20 Christ, the Church and the Nations. 111 21 The Renewal of the Near East. 121 22 Newton's Forecasts Up-To-Date. 128 23 Revelation Chapter 13 and the Pope. 134 24 Some Revised Translations. 137 25 The Goal of Godless Governments. 141 26 Daniel's Visions Illustrated 145 APPENDICES Mr. Newton's Prayers. 153 A Statement and Acknowledgment. 154 A Humble Letter. 158 Books. 161 The Sovereign Grace Advent Testimony Manifesto. 167 Indices. 169 FOREWORD By Professor F. F. BRUCE, D.D. I AM GLAD for several reasons to commend the memoir which Mr. Fromow has prepared of B. W. Newton and S. P. Tregelles. One reason is that, as Mr. Fromow has mentioned, some of the material has appeared in The Evangelical Quarterly during my editorship of that periodical. Another reason is that the name of S. P. Tregelles is one that must always be held in grateful honour by Biblical students for the great work which he did last century on the text of the New Testa­ ment. His Greek New Testament is his legacy and monument, and there is no need to enlarge here upon its character and worth. But it is unlikely that Tregelles would ever have begun this work but for the influence which B. W. Newton exercised upon him in his early days; and when at a later date Tregelles was prevented by paralysis from continuing and completing his work, it was Newton who undertook the responsibility of seeing the concluding part through the press. Newton thus merits a share in the gratitude which the world of Biblical learning owes to Tregelles. Thirdly, as a member of the Plymouth Brethren, I recall that the founders of the Brethren movement received this name because of the influence of the Brethren's meeting in Plymouth (the move­ ment's first meeting in England), where from 1831 to 1845, B. W. Newton was joint pastor and S. P. Tregelles an honoured member. Although the controversy which broke out in 1845 led to their separation from the movement, we think of them with thankfulness as having been, in the formative years of the movement's history, " chief men among the Brethren." Newton, indeed, may still be looked upon as a heresiarch (for aught I know to the contrary) by some representatives of the Darbyite tradition ; it is an amazing testimony to the perverse capacity of the ecclesiastical mind that such a charge should stick to a teacher whose whole career pro­ claims his absolutely uncompromising orthodoxy. The twentieth century is not the nineteenth, and the textual and exegetical study of the Scriptures has continued to make advances since the work of Newton and Tregelles. One can appreciate their contributions to sacred learning without necessarily subscribing to all their Biblical interpretation, with the corollaries which they drew from that interpretation, especially in the realms of ecclesiology and eschatology. But it can never cease to be a matter of concern to serious Bible students to consider what Christian thinkers of past generations thought of its meaning. Even when they are thought to represent an outmoded viewpoint, it will usually be found that they grasped certain valuable insights which we, with our differing viewpoint, a1e in danger of missing. It would be a great pity if the insights of scholars like Newton and Tregelles were forgotten, and Mr. Fromow has rendered a real service to the cause of truth by bringing them afresh to our attention. F. F. BRUCE INTRODUCTION THE TEACHINGS of these two men of God are greatly needed in Christendom, in days of unique opportunity in learning and service, but withal, days of a new " Ecumenism" which embraces deep and dark apostasy. These men were scholars in the Scriptures, of out­ standing attainments and of unsurpassed soundness as theologians; and their published works carry vital messages for the church universal, with special refer}lllce to the last days of this Age. They were proficient in linguistic learning in the original Scriptures. They were fast friends and fellow-helpers in the Truth, both in doctrine and in prophecy. Their early Christian service was among the Brethren among whom they worked together in the church assembly in Plymouth, when that movement was in the vigour and freshness of its happy dawn. Mr. Newton gave Dr. Tregelles practical assistance in his great work of editing a Greek text of the New Testament, and when Mr. Newton was in need of defence against calumny and false accusations, the pen of his cousin and colleague came to his aid. Both men stood four-square on the Word of God, in Reformation, Puritan, Protestant and Evangelical teaching. They embraced credal Christianity in loyalty to the Christ of the creeds and upheld the historic Confessions of the Faith once for all delivered to the saints. Convictions along these lines led Mr. Newton to separation and independency while Dr. Tregelles felt free to worship with churches wherever he found the Faith as in the Confessions honestly main­ tained. Chapters 2, 5 and 7 have appeared in The Evangelical Quarterly, October, 1950, and July, 1954; and by the kindness of the Editor, Professor F. F. Bruce, D.D., are reproduced here, with some additions. We thank Dr. Bruce for his Foreword. Chapter 3 appeared in Watching and Waiting and is still obtain­ able as a pamphlet. Chapters 10 and 11 were out of print, until re­ published herein ; and will now be available separately once again. This work has been undertaken at the request of many who value the work and witness of Mr. B. W. Newton and Dr. Tregelles. Such requests have come from many parts of the world. The Editor has volumes of MSS. and typscript, by Mr. Newton, which he would gladly see published; such as Lectures on Matthew's gospel ; Lectures on the Acts of the Apostles ; and Lectures on the Hebrews ; beside many miscellaneous papers. What a useful task there is here for some of the Lord's stewards to perform. We must pray and work and hope for the fulfilment, even in our day, of Mr. Newton's expressed expectation: " From the present time onward, it may be expected that there will be some (they will at first, perhaps, be a few scattered indivi­ duals) who will give themselves earnestly, humbly and prayerfully to the searching of the Word of God, expecting to find in the Truth there taught such definiteness, clearness and harmoniousness as to preclude uncertainty and afford a solid basis for practical unity." Again, he wrote in the Preface to "Aids to Prophetic Enquiry." " A time will come when some, whom God calls ' understanding ones,' will be raised up who shall speak of these things more wisely and more holily than any of us can speak of them now. Much darkness, and many sorrows will, I believe, overtake, and well nigh overwhelm the Church of God, before the time of that final testi­ mony comes, for at present the Church of God is grievously turning away from the Word of God, and despising the very light which He has sent to guide them at this peculiar crisis of the Church's and the world's history. We never more needed holy separateness. 'Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.' 'Touch not the unclean thing.' I often think of the words, 'It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not.' We are little aware of the extent to which we have trifled with, or else ignored, the revealed truths of God's Word." CHAPTER 1 B. W. NEWTON'S CALL BY GRACE .l'vlr. Newton's account of his conversion, as written by himself in a letter to his mother, from Exeter r;nllege, December 30th, 1827. IT MAY PERHAPS be of some /4e to you, to be acquainted with the steps by which I have arrived at the blessed Faith I at present hold. I will therefore give yon a short sketch of my progress. If you could feel as I do when sitting under the ministry of ... you would then know indeed what it is to hear a minister who is anointed by the Spirit of the Lord.