Amazing Grace: The Story of John Newton

John Newton 1725-1807

Amazing Grace: The Story of John Newton by Al Rogers (This article is
reprinted from the July-August 1996 issue of "Away Here in Texas".)
"Amazing grace, how sweet
the sound..." So begins one of
the most beloved hymns of all
times, a staple in the hymnals
of many denominations, New
Britain or "45 on the top" in Sacred Harp. The author of the
words was John Newton, the
self-proclaimed wretch who
once was lost but then was
found, saved by amazing
grace.

Newton was born in London
July 24, 1725, the son of a
commander of a merchant
ship which sailed the
Mediterranean. When John
was eleven, he went to sea with his father and made six
voyages with him before the
elder Newton retired. In 1744
John was impressed into
service on a man-of-war, the
H. M. S. Harwich. Finding conditions on board
intolerable, he deserted but
was soon recaptured and
publicly flogged and demoted
from midshipman to common
seaman.

Finally at his own request he
was exchanged into service
on a slave ship, which took
him to the coast of Sierra
Leone. He then became the
servant of a slave trader and was brutally abused. Early in
1748 he was rescued by a sea
captain who had known
John's father. John Newton
ultimately became captain of
his own ship, one which plied the slave trade. Although he had had some
early religious instruction
from his mother, who had
died when he was a child, he
had long since given up any
religious convictions. However, on a homeward
voyage, while he was
attempting to steer the ship
through a violent storm, he
experienced what he was to
refer to later as his "great deliverance." He recorded in
his journal that when all
seemed lost and the ship
would surely sink, he
exclaimed, "Lord, have mercy
upon us." Later in his cabin he reflected on what he had said
and began to believe that God
had addressed him through
the storm and that grace had
begun to work for him. For the rest of his life he
observed the anniversary of
May 10, 1748 as the day of his
conversion, a day of
humiliation in which he
subjected his will to a higher power. "Thro' many dangers,
toils and snares, I have
already come; 'tis grace has
bro't me safe thus far, and
grace will lead me home." He
continued in the slave trade for a time after his
conversion; however, he saw
to it that the slaves under his
care were treated humanely. In 1750 he married Mary
Catlett, with whom he had
been in love for many years.
By 1755, after a serious illness,
he had given up seafaring
forever. During his days as a sailor he had begun to educate
himself, teaching himself
Latin, among other subjects.
From 1755 to 1760 Newton
was surveyor of tides at
Liverpool, where he came to know George Whitefield,
deacon in the Church of
England, evangelistic preacher,
and leader of the Calvinistic
Methodist Church. Newton
became Whitefield's enthusiastic disciple. During
this period Newton also met
and came to admire John
Wesley, founder of
Methodism. Newton's self-
education continued, and he learned Greek and Hebrew. He decided to become a
minister and applied to the
Archbishop of York for
ordination. The Archbishop
refused his request, but
Newton persisted in his goal, and he was subsequently
ordained by the Bishop of
Lincoln and accepted the
curacy of Olney,
Buckinghamshire. Newton's
church became so crowded during services that it had to
be enlarged. He preached not
only in Olney but in other
parts of the country. In 1767
the poet William Cowper
settled at Olney, and he and Newton became friends. Cowper helped Newton with
his religious services and on
his tours to other places. They
held not only a regular
weekly church service but
also began a series of weekly prayer meetings, for which
their goal was to write a new
hymn for each one. They
collaborated on several
editions of Olney Hymns,
which achieved lasting popularity. The first edition,
published in 1779, contained 68
pieces by Cowper and 280 by
Newton. Among Newton's
contributions which are still
loved and sung today are
"How Sweet the Name of
Jesus Sounds" and "Glorious
Things of Thee Are Spoken," as well as "Amazing Grace."
Composed probably between
1760 and 1770 in Olney,
"Amazing Grace" was possibly
one of the hymns written for
a weekly service. Through the years other writers have
composed additional verses to
the hymn which came to be
known as "Amazing Grace" (it
was not thus entitled in Olney
Hymns), and possibly verses from other Newton hymns
have been added. However,
these are the six stanzas that
appeared, with minor spelling
variations, in both the first
edition in 1779 and the 1808 edition, the one nearest the
date of Newton's death. It
appeared under the heading
Faith's Review and
Expectation, along with a
reference to First Chronicles, chapter 17, verses 16 and 17
[see the below for this Scripture – Graham Pockett ].