Happy Easter week! Today we have the unbelievable story of John Newton, author of “Amazing Grace.”
Amazing Grace
Author: John Newton, 1725-1807
Composer: Carrell and Clayton’s “Virginia Harmony,” 1831
Version: Chris Rice
The Resurrection of John Newton
John Newton was born in 1725. His Christian mother died before he was seven, and at the age of eleven he joined his father’s ship and became a sailor. And what came next is a long line of plot twists like something out of a pirate movie.
After his father retired, Newton transferred to another ship sailing the Mediterranean. On a trip to visit friends he was captured by the Royal Navy. He tried to desert, but was caught and flogged in front of the entire crew. Simmering with shame and resentment, he contemplated both murdering the captain and jumping overboard to commit suicide. Instead, he joined a slave ship, and over the next few years was involved in capturing, selling, and trading slaves to plantations in the West Indies and America.
Again, he didn’t get along with the crew, so they left him in West Africa with a slave dealer named Amos Clowe. Clowe gave Newton as a slave to his wife, Princess Peye. She was abusive and treated him poorly, as she did her other slaves. Thankfully, a captain sent by Newton’s father found and rescued him. On the return voyage, their boat came upon stormy water and was sinking. John Newton cried out to God to save them, and miraculously the storm died down. This began Newton’s religious awakening.
He continued to work as a slave trader but began consuming the Bible and evangelical literature in search of God. After a stroke left him unable to work on boats, he took a job as a clerk. It was during this time that he increasingly felt called to preach the gospel. He began to study to become a minister in the Anglican church, and was involved in lay preaching. Eventually he was ordained and had a successful and popular pastorate in Cambridge and then later in London. God’s grace to redeem and rescue sinners was the prominent theme throughout his life.
Newton also made a huge contribution to the eventual abolition of slavery. Newton’s pamphlet, Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade, did much to make the English public aware of the terrible conditions and cruelty of slave ships that traveled the Middle Passage. This pamphlet and Newton’s lobbying shifted public opinion and laid the groundwork for William Wilberforce to push through the Slave Trade Act of 1807.
But John Newton also had a great personal impact on William Wilberforce, the man integral to actually getting the bill through Parliament. During a crucial period when Wilberforce had his own spiritual awakening, Newton counseled Wilberforce to remain in Parliament rather than removing himself from political power to become a minister. It was Wilberforce’s desire to glorify God through serving as a politician that led him to push through legislature abolishing the trade of slaves in the British Empire in 1807. A former slaver (and slave) influenced a politician to pass legislation that eventually led millions of people around the world to be set free. Clearly God has a sense of humor.
God’s grace turned John Newton’s life on its head. And John Newton lived his life in the wonder that God would use someone like him to preach the good news of Jesus Christ. He was quoted as saying near the end of his life, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: ‘That I am a great sinner and that Christ is a Great Savior.’”[1]
It was such a life that led him to pen the words, “Amazing grace how sweet the sound / that saved a wretch like me.” How wonderful, how amazing, is God’s grace in Christ Jesus.
- Spend a few minutes praying to God and quieting your heart.
- Listen to the song one time (I’ll give a link to versions I enjoy),
- Read through the blurb about the author then listen to it again.
- Pass it on: if a song particularly resonates with you and helps you engage with God, share it with someone else and tell them why it’s been meaningful and which parts you like.
Works Cited
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Newton
101 Hymn Stories, Kenneth W. Osbeck
For more on Wilberforce see:
Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery, Eric Metaxas
[1] Osbeck pg. 30