If I say the best-known hymn of all time what hymn comes to mind? If you said Amazing Grace, you’d be correct! From wall signs, to many other songs rifting off this hymn, you’d most likely be able to recognize snippets from this song a mile away. But what about the author of this song? What do you know about him?
John Newton was born in London in 1725, son of a sea captain and a God-fearing mother. Unfortunately, his mother died when John was only seven and his father and stepmother did not continue to bring him up in the faith so he slowly drifted away from his faith. When John was 19, he fell in love with another godly woman named Mary–although his absence of faith presented an obstacle to them moving forward in their relationship. It was while traveling to see Mary that John was taken captive and press ganged into the British Navy. When someone was press ganged into the Navy, they were hauled onto the ship without being able to say goodbye to their family, or gather any of their belongings–and not allowed to leave until their time of service was up. John was miserable; he wanted to get back to his life, and his Mary, so he decided to try and run away.
John was caught and hauled back aboard the ship, where he was then ruthlessly flogged. It was a dark time for John as he vacillated between thoughts of how to murder his captors and thoughts of suicide. John became wild, known for his drinking and ruckus behavior. It was in this season that John was transferred to a slaving ship and began his work in the slave trade, ripping people from their family and selling them into a slavery much worse than his own experience of being pressed into the British Navy.
It was in this dark season for John when a terrible storm hit the boat, totally without warning and they feared they would be shipwrecked. During this long night, the teaching of John’s mother came back to him and he surrendered his life to Christ. John’s behavior started to change–he grew in his faith, and finally returned home to marry his long-awaited sweet heart.
However, some change takes time. For a while John continued his work in the slave trade, even as he grew in his faith. It was sometime before John’s life was totally transformed but slowly it did.
John left the slave trade and became a pastor of a large church in England. He even wrote some songs, including a little hymn you might know by the name of “Amazing Grace.” John eventually joined the abolition movement, and teamed up with William Wilberforce, and the two men were instrumental in ending slavery in England–a cause John spent the last years of his life championing.
John became a Christian, but he didn’t become perfect. He continued the heinous act of selling humans as slaves for a while before he became convicted of his actions and changed. As Christians we are not made instantly perfect, we are simply made children of Christ. But just as Christ worked in John’s life and continued to convict him and clean up his life so He works in our lives too.
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