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John Henry Newton

“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the
Lord.” Colossians 3:16

e previously noted the It is stated that he was a friend to all
His-Story behind the including the Dissenters, and aligned
hymn “It Is Well With himself with the Evangelical revival,
W Soul” by Horatio “reflecting the sentiments of his
My
G. Spafford. We now wish to look at friends George Whitefield and John
the story behind the most beloved Wesley and Calvinistic-Methodism.”
hymn: “AMAZING GRACE” writ- Regardless of what he became, it is
ten by John Henry Newton. There are clear that Newton’s heart was tou-
few who are truly familiar with the ched, washed, and regenerated by the
story of Newton, more are acquainted everlasting blood of Christ Jesus.
with him, knowing that he was once a Newton, born in 1725 in England,
slave-trader and then a slave himself, was the son of a shipmaster. His
but there is an entire generation who mother, Elizabeth Newton, died of
are totally ignorant of the story behind tuberculosis in 1732. At age eleven,
this hymn. Newton kept extensive Newton went to sea with his father
journals, thus we know much concer- until 1742, when his father retired
ning him. from sailing. In 1743, we see God’s
It will probably surprise many Providence working in Newton’s li-
that this hymn was not written by a fe. He went to visit some friends and
Sovereign Grace Baptist, but by an was “pressed” into the Royal Naval
Anglican or Church of England. service. He became a midshipman
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