http://www.reformedreader.org/rbb/newton/neindex.htm

THE GREYHOUND had been thrashing about in the north Atlantic storm
for over a week. Its canvas sails were ripped, and the wood on one
side of the ship had been torn away and splintered. The sailors had
little hope of survival, but they mechanically worked the pumps,
trying to keep the vessel afloat. On the eleventh day of the storm,
sailor John Newton was too exhausted to pump, so he was tied to the
helm and tried to hold the ship to its course. From one o'clock until
midnight he was at the helm.

With the storm raging fiercely, Newton had time to think. His life
seemed as ruined and wrecked as the battered ship he was trying to
steer through the storm. Since the age of eleven he had lived a life
at sea. Sailors were not noted for the refinement of their manners,
but Newton had a reputation for profanity, coarseness, and debauchery
which even shocked many a sailor.

He was known as "The Great Blasphemer." He sank so low at one point
that he was even a servant to slaves in Africa for a brief period. His
mother had prayed he would become a minister and had early taught him
the Scriptures and Isaac Watts' Divine Songs for Children. Some of
those early childhood teachings came to mind now. He remembered
Proverbs 1:24-31, and in the midst of that storm, those verses seemed
to confirm Newton in his despair:


Because I have called, and ye refused . . . ye have set at nought all
my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also laughed at your
calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh: when your fear cometh as
desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress
and anguish come upon you. Then shall they call upon me, but I will
not answer.

Newton had rejected his mother's teachings and had led other sailors
into unbelief. Certainly he was beyond hope and beyond saving, even if
the Scriptures were true. Yet, Newton's thoughts began to turn to
Christ. He found a New Testament and began to read. Luke 11:13 seemed
to assure him that God might still hear him: "If ye then, being evil,
know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall
your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him."

Deliverance
That day at the helm, March 21, 1748, was a day Newton remembered
ever after, for "On that day the Lord sent from on high and delivered
me out of deep waters." Many years later, as an old man, Newton wrote
in his diary of March 21, 1805: "Not well able to write; but I
endeavor to observe the return of this day with humiliation, prayer,
and praise." Only God's amazing grace could and would take a rude,
profane, slave-trading sailor and transform him into a child of God.
Newton never ceased to stand in awe of God's work in his life.

New directions
Though Newton continued in his profession of sailing and slave-
trading for a time, his life was transformed. He began a disciplined
schedule of Bible study, prayer, and Christian reading and tried to be
a Christian example to the sailors under his command. Philip
Doddridge's The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul provided
much spiritual comfort, and a fellow-Christian captain he met off the
coast of Africa guided Newton further in his Christian faith.

Newton left slave-trading and took the job of tide surveyor at
Liverpool, but he began to think he had been called to the ministry.
His mother's prayers for her son were answered, and in 1764, at the
age of thirty-nine, John Newton began forty-three years of preaching
the Gospel of Christ.

John and his beloved wife Mary (At the end of his life John would
write that their love "equaled all that the writers of romance have
imagined") moved to the little market town of Olney. He spent his
mornings in Bible study and his afternoons in visiting his
parishioners. There were regular Sunday morning and afternoon services
as well as meetings for children and young people. There was also a
Tuesday evening prayer meeting which was always well attended.

The world's most famous hymn
For the Sunday evening services, Newton often composed a hymn which
developed the lessons and Scripture for the evening. In 1779, two
hundred and eighty of these were collected and combined with sixty-
eight hymns by Newton's friend and parishioner, William Cowper, and
published as the Olney Hymns. The most famous of all the Olney Hymns,
"Faith's Review and Expectation," grew out of David's exclamation in I
Chronicles 17:16-17. We know it today as "Amazing Grace." Several
other of the Olney hymns by Newton continue in use today, including
"How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds," and "Glorious Things of Thee are
Spoken."

Rector reveals evils of slavery
In 1779 Newton left Olney to become rector of St. Mary Woolnoth in
London. His ministry included not only the London poor and the
merchant class but also the wealthy and influential. William
Wilberforce, a member of Parliament and a prime mover in the abolition
of slavery, was strongly influenced by John Newton's life and
preaching. Newton's Thoughts on the African Slave Trade, based on his
own experiences as a slave trader, was very important in securing
British abolition of slavery. Missionaries William Carey and Henry
Martyn also gained strength from Newton's counsel.

Newton lived to be eighty-two years old and continued to preach and
have an active ministry until beset by fading health in the last two
or three years of his life. Even then, Newton never ceased to be
amazed by God's grace and told his friends, "My memory is nearly gone;
but I remember two things: That I am a great sinner, and that Christ
is a great Savior."

Reprinted with permission from the author.

(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.

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav?d a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

?Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev?d;
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believ?d!

Thro? many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
?Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promis?d good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who call?d me here below,
Will be forever mine.

The origin of the melody is unknown. Most hymnals attribute it to an
early American folk melody. The Bill Moyers special on ?Amazing Grace?
speculated that it may have originated as the tune of a song the
slaves sang.

Newton was not only a prolific hymn writer but also kept extensive
journals and wrote many letters. Historians accredit his journals and
letters for much of what is known today about the eighteenth century
slave trade. In Cardiphonia, or the Utterance of the Heart, a series
of devotional letters, he aligned himself with the Evangelical
revival, reflecting the sentiments of his friend John Wesley and
Methodism.

In 1780 Newton left Olney to become rector of St. Mary Woolnoth, St.
Mary Woolchurch, in London. There he drew large congregations and
influenced many, among them William Wilberforce, who would one day
become a leader in the campaign for the abolition of slavery. Newton
continued to preach until the last year of life, although he was blind
by that time. He died in London December 21, 1807. Infidel and
libertine turned minister in the Church of England, he was secure in
his faith that amazing grace would lead him home.





Author?s Note:

I was able to consult the 1779 edition of Olney Hymns in the Harry
Ransom Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at
Austin. Printed in London by W. Oliver, it was in beautiful condition.
The paper was almost as white and supple as it was when it came off
the printing press. Those were the days before acid became a part of
the papermaking process. Acidic paper, used in most books since
sometime in the nineteenth century, has a relatively short life span,
ultimately becoming brittle and crumbling. The 1779 Olney Hymns, on
the other hand, will be in excellent condition for many future
generations of Newton and Cowper scholars.

It was a thrill to handle the edition of Olney Hymns in which the hymn
that came to be known as Amazing Grace was first published. But it was
an even greater thrill when I opened the front cover and saw the
inscription, ?Rev. Wm. Smith, the gift of the author.? The ?Wm.?" is
unclear, but ?Rev.? and ?Smith? are very distinct. Of course, both
Newton and Cowper contributed to Olney Hymns, but considering that
Newton's contributions were far greater in number than Cowper?s, it is
likely that Newton himself was the author mentioned in the
inscription.

I consulted other editions of Olney Hymns in microprint in the
University General Libraries Microforms Unit. Microforms are very
necessary adjuncts to scholarship, since no library can possibly have
all the hundreds of thousands of rare and not so rare books available
in microform, but those microprint editions of Olney Hymns were cold
and sterile compared with the 1779 edition that I had held and that
John Newton had held over two hundred years before me.


by Al Rogers