AMAZING GRACE WRITER SLAVE TRADER FULL

Let me offer you four thoughts.įirst, we see the priority of conversion. There are many things to challenge us in John Newton’s life but to me the most striking are those that arise out of his conversion.

Newton died in 1807 aged eighty-two, after fifty years of service to Christ and just months after slavery was ended across the British Empire. In his final years Newton became perhaps the senior statesman of the evangelical church in Britain, doing whatever he could to promote the gospel supporting ministers across denominations and helping to found both the Church Missionary Society and the Bible Society. It circulated widely and was greatly used in helping Wilberforce in his ultimately successful campaign against the slave trade. When the young and promising politician William Wilberforce became converted and was tempted to leave politics for the church, Newton encouraged him to stay in Parliament and ‘serve God where he was’.īy now the national mood was turning against slavery, and Newton, still grieved over his own involvement decades earlier, wrote a powerful pamphlet – ‘Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade’ – based on his own experiences. There, at the heart of the nation, he was able to be a powerful influencer, encouraging, counselling and promoting in every way, a vibrant evangelical Christianity. Although technically Cowper may have been the finer poet, Newton demonstrated a remarkable ability for using simple language.Īfter 16 years of fruitful ministry in Olney, Newton moved to a City of London church in 1780.

Newton’s contribution included many hymns that remain popular including ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds’ and ‘Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken’. The poet and hymnwriter William Cowper moved to Olney and he and Newton became close friends, something that was to prove an enormous help to the depressive Cowper. He also wrote books that brought him to the attention of the wider public. A lively, committed and caring pastor who taught the Bible and preached appealing and relevant sermons, he trebled the size of his congregation. He sought ordination in the Church of England but for several years was rejected because of his lack of a degree and the suspicion that he had acquired Methodist ‘enthusiasm’.įinally, aided by an influential supporter, Newton was ordained and became curate of Olney in Buckinghamshire. Newton’s life changed and he became involved in evangelical fellowships and in organising Bible study. There his Christian life started to blossom and he came under the influence of those great preachers of the Methodist revival, John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield. He returned to serve on slave ships, making three voyages as captain and seemingly ignoring any inconsistency between his trade and his faith.Īt the age of twenty-nine, after ill health, Newton gave up seafaring and instead took a job in the port of Liverpool. In 1750 Newton married Polly Catlett, with whom he was to have 40 years of happy, if childless, marriage.

AMAZING GRACE WRITER SLAVE TRADER FULL

Although Newton later considered his prayer to mark the moment of his conversion he was to write, ‘I cannot consider myself to have been a believer, in the full sense of the word, until a considerable time afterwards.’ However, change had started and Newton began to pray and to read the Bible. Somehow the ship was able to make it back safely to the British Isles. As the vessel began to sink Newton began to pray, throwing himself on the mercy of God. Nevertheless, as he sailed back to Britain his ship was struck by a severe storm. When Newton was rescued in 1748 he showed no signs of repentance. Newton, having made many enemies, found himself left behind in Africa by his colleagues and was there imprisoned in chains and treated brutally for eighteen months. It’s a sad fact that slavery – a profitable and in Britain a largely invisible trade – then aroused little controversy. Managing to leave the Navy, Newton became involved in the slave trade, shipping slaves from Africa to North America. He deserted, was caught and given a public flogging. He had an ability to find trouble: rejecting good jobs, being fired after six sea voyages and, aged nineteen, press-ganged into the Royal Navy.

He followed his father to sea at the age of eleven but rejected his mother’s faith, becoming a rebellious, reckless and immoral youngster. Newton was born in London in 1725 to a seagoing father and a devout mother. Few stories in Christian history are more dramatic than that of John Newton, whose life demonstrates the title of his most famous hymn, ‘Amazing Grace’ writes J.John.

Amazing grace writer slave trader