John Newton

Joy in Conflict
by Nathan Burke

It is interesting that the most famous of all English language hymns, and one about the unfailing love and grace of the Lord, was wrought from a life of struggle and conflict. Amazing Grace has been sung for centuries now in many different contexts as the ultimate song of redemption and change. Its author, John Newton, was no stranger to the “dangers, toils, and snares” he wrote about. His story is a classic tale of God’s hand and grace is one sinner’s life, which was truly nothing less than “amazing.”

Newton was born on July 24, 1725 in London. His mother was a godly woman who died when he was only six years old. His father, who was a sailor and not a believer, was remarried but never paid much attention to John. Of his father Newton wrote, “I am persuaded he loved me, but he seemed not willing that I should know it. I was with him in a state of fear and bondage. His sternness.broke and overawed my spirit.”

Left to his own devices Newton became a debauched sailor himself. He was pressed into naval service against his will at the age of 18. This marked the beginning of a dark period in Newton’s life. He spent several years he lived a destitute existence near Sierra Leone in West Africa as part of the slave trade. But Newton was not much more than a slave himself. He was treated terribly and later wrote that the African slaves would often smuggle food to him.

Of this dark time he later wrote, “I was capable of anything; I had not the least fear of God before my eyes, nor (so far as I remember) the least sensibility of conscience.” It was in this darkest hour that God began to close in on Newton, a man who wasn’t looking for Him at all.

On March 21, 1748 Newton, then 22 years old, awoke to violent storm. His room began to flood with seawater, and he rushed towards the deck. On his way, the captain stopped him and sent him to get a knife. The man who took his place on the deck was instantly washed overboard. Newton was assigned to the pumps in an effort to keep the boat from sinking. From 3AM until Midnight the next day he worked the pumps and took shifts at the helm. While on the pumps he uttered a desperate prayer, “If this will not do, the Lord have mercy upon us.” It was his first petition to God in many, many years.

The boat limped for safe dock in Ireland, and while doing so Newton read a Bible he found. In his heart he felt like an irreconcilable sinner, but Jesus’ words from Luke 11:13 gave him hope; “If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

They made it to port on April 8, some 18 days after first being hit by the storm. The next day an even fiercer storm hit and would have sunk them had they still been at sea.

That experience marked a huge turning point for Newton. His life did not instantly change, however. In fact, he was the captain of a slave trading ship for several years after the event and it wasn’t until later in his life that he would strongly oppose the slave trade. Newton wrote of his experience then, “I acknowledged the Lord’s mercy in pardoning what was past, but depending chiefly upon my own resolution to do better for the time to come.I cannot consider myself to have been a believer (in the full sense of the word) till a considerable time afterwards.” But on March 21, 1748, God planted a seed in Newton and for next 59 years of his life he would mark its anniversary.

At 24, Newton was wed to Mary Catlett, to whom he would remain married for 40 years until her death in 1790. Soon afterwards he retired from the sea, and in 1764 he felt called to become a pastor. Over the next 42 years he tirelessly shepherded two churches. He preached his last sermon in October of 1806, at the age of 81.

It was during this time that Newton took to writing hymns. This first began as a collaboration between he and William Cowper, but eventually he wrote more and more on his own, averaging one a week until he had nearly 300. Amazing Grace was just one hymn from this canon of work, but one that instantly resonated with those who heard it.

Newton was not one to seek out conflict or strife, but he was also not one to compromise his adherence to the truth to avoid it. He described the life of the believer as being one of “habitual tenderness and gentleness of spirit”, especially when faced with conflict. He once wrote to a friend who was involved in a heated argument with someone else, “As to your opponent, I wish, that, before you set pen to paper against him, and during the whole time you are preparing your answer, you may commend him by earnest prayer to the Lord’s teaching and blessing.” It was this mindset that he helped encourage his friend and ally William Wilberforce to use when arguing against the slave trade before British Parliament. Wilberforce was the major force in bringing about the end of the slave trade in Britain. Encouraged by Newton, Wilberforce fought for the abolition of the slave trade for almost 46 years, facing mountains of opposition. But through it all he faced this conflict with the same spirit that led Newton and in doing so made even his opponents admire and respect him.

John Newton’s life was not a sprint, but a marathon filled with hurdles, strife, and adversity. But all of this only served to embolden Newton’s faith and to cause him to rely more and more on the grace he had first received in the middle of a violent storm at sea, so that one day he could write the words to a hymn that would touch the lives of countless people around the world.”Through many dangers, toils, and snares, I have already come. “Tis grace that brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.”