John Newton Amazing Grace, Part 1

John Newton, an Englishman, was born on July 24, 1725, to a shipmaster. His mother—a godly woman who taught him the Bible and how to pray—died of tuberculosis when John was almost seven years old. He was sent to boarding school for a couple years and then rejoined his family after his father remarried. His mother’s influence began to fade as he developed friendships with a bad crowd.

At age 11, Newton went to sea with his father who intended him to work on a sugarcane plantation in Jamaica. But John changed his plans and signed on with a merchant ship that was sailing to the Mediterranean Sea. He admits that he became weary of his religious efforts, and “instead of prayer, I learned to curse and blaspheme, and was exceedingly wicked when from under my parents’ view. All this was before I was twelve years old.”

When he was 18, John was pressed into naval service by the Royal Navy. When he tried to desert, he was stripped to the waist, tied to the grating, and flogged. He was so incredibly angered by the humiliation that he intended to murder the captain and then commit suicide by throwing himself overboard.

Newton eventually transferred to a slave ship bound for West Africa. He didn’t get along with the crew and the captain finally left him with a slave dealer who made him a slave to an African princess. A few years later, thanks to a friend of his father, he was rescued by a sea captain and returned to England.

On this return voyage, the ship encountered a severe storm off the coast of Ireland and almost sank. It sobered Newton and he began reading his Bible and quit drinking, gambling, and swearing. Even though he still worked in the slave trade, he felt that March 10, 1748 was a turning point in his life. “I cannot consider myself to have been a believer in the full sense of the word, until a considerable time afterwards.”

God was not finished working in the life of this soon-to-be captain of slave- trading ships.

Reflect: Do you think the influence of John Newton’s mother had a lasting impact on his life? You can impact another’s life when you lead by example.

Key Bible Texts

For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, (Titus 2:11 KJV)