A few years later “Amazing Grace” was born. ![]() It was there he began preaching and presenting poems and songs to reinforce his sermons. He and his wife, Mary, threw themselves into the church community, and by 1764 he was offered a pastoral role in Olney, a village of about 2,500 some 50 miles north of London. Returning to the teachings of childhood, he began to teach himself Latin, Greek and theology. Newton continued in the slave trade between Africa and the New World, but got married and soon found himself physically unable and unwilling to meet the demands of life on the sea. “I cannot consider myself to have been a believer in the full sense of the word, until a considerable time afterwards.” “I was greatly deficient in many respects,” he later wrote. His conversion was not immediate, but the seed of the gospel was taking root and making his need for forgiveness impossible to ignore. ![]() Was he worthy of God’s mercy? Was he redeemable? ‘But now I’m found’ The ship did not sink, and two weeks later when it limped into harbor, Newton began to ponder the mercy he’d been shown. In March 1748, while his ship was tossed by a violent storm in the North Atlantic, a crew member standing where Newton had been moments before was swept overboard. It would take amazing grace, indeed, to save him. He was a foul-mouthed, insubordinate wretch, even to the point of being imprisoned while at sea, chained alongside the slaves he was transporting. He also had a bad reputation - among slave traders. He neglected his faith and mocked God and those who believed. In his youth he famously took to the sea and was heavily involved in the slave trade. There can be no doubt that Newton knew of what he preached and wrote. “What’s interesting is that even though everybody just seems to know it, they don’t necessarily quite understand what it is that the hymn is really about, which is somewhat ironic.” ‘I once was lost’ Even people who are not Christians or religious at all know the tune and the text to ‘Amazing Grace.’ “It spans the ages and it had spoken to generations and people from all different walks of life. “‘Amazing Grace’ is a timeless hymn,” noted Matt Swain, assistant dean of worship ministries at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (MBTS). This year marks the 250th anniversary of the hymn, synonymous with Christian victory in the face of dangers, toils and snares, as well as man’s overwhelming sin. The seeds for each verse are in 1 Chronicles 17 for those who read closely. “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.” So David’s prayer in the hands of a slave trader-turned-pastor named John Newton became the lyrics to one of the most sung hymns - or songs of any sort - ever. King David and Pastor John both were overwhelmed by God’s grace. For the sake of your servant and according to your will, you have done this great thing and made known all these great promises.” What more can David say to you for honoring your servant? For you know your servant, Lord. You, Lord God, have looked on me as though I were the most exalted of men. “And as if this were not enough in your sight, my God, you have spoken about the future of the house of your servant. “Who am I, Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?” David asks. On New Year’s 1773 he was preaching through 1 Chronicles 17, expositing God’s promise to King David. Most preachers wouldn’t dare tackle writing a sermon and a hymn for their congregation, but that was par for the course for Pastor John Newton and his peers. He wrote the words for “Amazing Grace” in 1772 (In 1835, William Walker put the words to the popular tune “New Britain”),” according to. In 1764, he was ordained as an Anglican priest and wrote 280 hymns to accompany his services. ![]() He suffered a stroke in 1754 and retired, but continued to invest in the business. “Newton continued to sell his fellow human beings, making three voyages as the captain of two different slave vessels, The Duke of Argyle and the African. (Photo: Photocopy of “Olney Hymns” on page 53, via Wikimedia Commons ) “ Amazing Grace” published in “Olney Hymns” in 1779. “I cannot consider myself to have been a believer in the full sense of the word, until a considerable time afterwards,” the man known as the “Great Blasphemer” later wrote. ![]() The experience will lead to Newton’s conversion toĬhristianity although shedding his old ways will take some time. Then the cargo miraculously shifted to fill a hole in the ship’s hull enabling the vessel to drift to safety. Newton, it was said, woke up in the middle of the night and prayed to God to save them. It was during the voyage home that the ship was caught in a horrendous storm off the coast of Ireland nearly killing those on board.
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