From a Letter by John Newton dated August 19, 1779 to the Rev. Mr. B.

My Dear Friend, 
.....I have been troubled of late with the rheumatism in my left arm.  Mine is a sinful, vile body, and it is a mercy that any part of it is free from pain.  It is virtually the seat and subject of all diseases; but the Lord holds them like wild beasts in a chain, under a strong restraint: were that restraint taken off, they would rush upon their prey from every quarter, and seize upon every limb, member, joint, and nerve at once.  Yet, though I am a sinner, and though my whole texture is so frail and exposed, I have enjoyed for a number of years an almost perfect exemption both from pain and sickness.  This is wonderful indeed, even in my own eyes.

But my soul is far from being in a healthy state.  There I have laboured, and still labour, under a complication of diseases; and but for the care and skill of an infallible Physician, I must have died the death long ago.  At this very moment my soul is feverish, dropsical, paralytic.  I feel a loss of appetite, a disinclination both to food and to medicine; so that I am alive by miracle; yet I trust I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord.  When I faint, he revives me again.  I am sure he is able, and I trust he has promised to heal me; but how inveterate must my disease be, that is not yet subdued, even under his management.

Well, my friend, there is a land where the inhabitants shall no more say, "I am sick."  Then my eyes will not be dim, nor my ear heavy, nor my heart hard

        One sight of Jesus as he is
        Will strike all sin for ever dead   

Blessed be his name for this glorious hope!  May it cheer us under all our present uneasy feelings, and reconcile us to every cross.  The way must be right, however rough, that leads to such a glorious end.

O for more of that gracious influence, which in a moment can make the wilderness-soul rejoice and blossom like the rose!  I want something which neither critics nor commentators can help me to.  The Scripture itself, whether I read it in Hebrew, Greek, French, or English, is a sealed book in all languages unless the Spirit of the Lord is present to expound and apply.  Pray for me.  No prayer seems more suitable to me than that of the Psalmist: "Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name."
                                                                                                                                      John Newton