A number of years later, he was ordained for ministry, and soon after wrote this great text, declaring that we are saved only the grace of God. In 1754 he gave up the slave trade and joined forces with the great abolitionist, William Wilberforce. In a period of four years, however, his life was drastically turned around: he nearly drowned, he married a very pious Mary Catlett, and he read through Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Christ. When Newton was just eleven, he joined his father at sea and began a tumultuous life in the Navy, eventually becoming captain of a slave ship. This well-loved and oft-sung hymn, written by John Newton in the late eighteenth century, is a powerful assurance and declaration of the grace of God working in all our lives. If America had a national folk hymn, this would probably be it. John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907) It is far from being a good example of Newton's work. In Great Britain it is unknown to modern collections, but in America its use is extensive. of the Olney Hymns, 1779, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, entitled "Faith's Review and Expectation," and based upon i. Many occasions of worship when we need to confess with joy that we re saved by God's grace alone as a hymn of response to forgiveness of sin or as an assurance of pardon as a confession of faith or after the sermon.Īmazing grace, how sweet the sound. The Hymnal 1982 Companion calls it "an example of a 'wandering' stanza in that appears at the end of a variety of hymns in nineteenth-century hymnals" (Vol.
Excell's Coronation Hymns (1910) it has been associated with Newton's text ever since. The fifth stanza was first published separately in the 1859 edition of The Sacred Harp and joined to Newton's text in Edwin O. "Amazing Grace" was published in six stanzas with the heading "1 Chronicles 17:16-17, Faith's review and expectation."įour of his original stanzas are included in the Psalter Hymnal along with a fifth anonymous and apocalyptic stanza first found in A Collection of Sacred Ballads (1790). His legacy to the Christian church includes his hymns as well as his collaboration with William Cowper ( PHH 434) in publishing Olney Hymns (1779), to which Newton contributed 280 hymns, including “Amazing Grace.” He was ordained in the Church of England and served in Olney (1764-1780) and St. After becoming a tide-surveyor in Liverpool, England, Newton came under the influence of George Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley ( PHH 267) and began to study for the for the ministry. In 1754 he gave up the slave trade and, in association with William Wilberforce, eventually became an ardent abolitionist. Several factors contributed to Newton's conversion: a near-drowning in 1748, the piety of his friend Mary Catlett, (whom he married in 1750), and his reading of Thomas à Kempis' Imitation of Christ. After his escape he himself became the captain of a slave ship. His licentious and tumultuous sailing life included a flogging for attempted desertion from the Royal Navy and captivity by a slave trader in West Africa. Newton was born into a Christian home, but his godly mother died when he was seven, and he joined his father at sea when he was eleven. London, 1807) said, “There are two things I'll never forget: that I was a great sinner, and that Jesus Christ is a greater Savior!” This hymn is Newton's spiritual autobiography, but the truth it affirms–that we are saved by grace alone–is one that all Christians may confess with joy and gratitude. One of the best loved and most often sung hymns in North America, this hymn expresses John Newton's personal experience of conversion from sin as an act of God's grace.
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