Who Was John Newton?

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me!

I once was lost, but now am found;

Was blind, but now I see.1

“Amazing Grace” is perhaps the most well-known and best-beloved hymn in the history of the Christian church. But the remarkable story of its author, John Newton, is not so well-known. Who was the man behind the most famous hymn in church history?

John Newton (1725–1807) was born in London. His father, John Newton Sr., was a sea captain and a hard man who, though he loved his son, struggled to express affection. Newton’s mother, Elizabeth, was an extraordinary woman of deep spiritual devotion. She sought to teach her son the Scriptures, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and the theology of the Puritans. Sadly, she died when he was only six years old, but many years later God would bring fruit from the seeds she sowed in her son’s young heart.

As Newton entered his teenage years, he became increasingly wayward. By the time he was eighteen years old, he had become an altogether immoral, dissolute, and debased young man. Around this time, Newton was press-ganged into service, which officially commenced his naval career at sea. As a midshipman in the Royal Navy, Newton continued his moral decline into all forms of sin, especially drunkenness, blasphemy, and sexual immorality. He became so sinful that even his naval colleagues grew weary of him.

Eventually, Newton was transferred to a slave ship bound for West Africa. He would make a living in the slave trade for the next decade, eventually captaining several slave ships. On various ships, Newton participated in and witnessed extreme cruelties toward African slaves.

While aboard one slave ship, Newton became known for such flagrant expressions of lewdness, blasphemy, and immorality that, once again, many of his fellow sailors felt scandalized. Newton was so disliked among the crew of his ship that he was eventually abandoned on the west coast of Africa and forced into slavery under an African princess who treated him cruelly. He was abused, starved, and often forced to engage in degrading activities with other slaves.

In 1747, after nearly two years in Africa, Newton was rescued by a ship whose captain had been asked to look for him at the request of Newton’s father. It was on the voyage back to England in 1748 that Newton was converted. The ship and crew were caught in a violent storm that threatened to sink the ship. Newton woke in the middle of the night to find his room rapidly filling with water. In the midst of this panicked scene, he cried out to God for the first time in years, asking the Lord to be merciful to him. He remembered many of the texts his mother had taught him when he was a small boy and then pleaded them before God. For the rest of his life, Newton marked that day, March 21, 1748, as the beginning of his conversion to Christianity. Though greatly damaged, the ship survived the storm and the crew returned safely to England.

In the years after his conversion, Newton became zealous and matured through studying the Scriptures and taking in sermons from leading evangelical preachers of the day. He was especially taken with George Whitefield, who became an informal mentor to Newton and profoundly influenced Newton’s own aspirations to pastor and preach.

Within a few years of his conversion, Newton married his childhood sweetheart Mary Catlett, left the slave trade, and settled in Liverpool. By 1764, he published a popular account of his conversion story under the title An Authentic Narrative, which was an immediate best seller and did much to establish him as a transatlantic evangelical celebrity. In that same year, Newton took his first pastorate in the market town of Olney, located about sixty miles north of London. He would carry on a faithful pastorate there for over fifteen years. During those years he developed a significant reputation as a great letter writer, publishing collections of his letters to edify and encourage believers. He also collaborated with the poet and hymn writer William Cowper to produce one of the leading hymnals of the evangelical movement titled Olney Hymns. This hymnal included many of Newton’s hymns that are now regarded as classics, such as “Amazing Grace,” “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken,” and “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds.”

In 1780, Newton moved to London to pastor St. Mary Woolnoth. He would minister there until his death in 1807. These were remarkably fruitful years for Newton as a pastor. Yet the most notable contribution he made during this period was to befriend and mentor a young evangelical member of Parliament named William Wilberforce. Wilberforce had been thinking of leaving politics and pursuing pastoral ministry. However, Newton convinced him to stay in Parliament in order to promote the cause of Christ in the public sphere and specifically to bring about an end to the slave trade. Wilberforce would ultimately be successful in his campaign to end the British slave trade, relying heavily on Newton not only for wise counsel but also to provide expert testimony before Parliament that contributed to the defeat of the slave trade.

In the waning days of Newton’s life, he reflected, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.” This summarized the theme of Newton’s life and ministry. He was a man amazed by the surpassing grace of God toward needy sinners—grace that not only saved a wretch like him, but grace that finally led him home.

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Ligonier Ministries