Anglican clergyman in England and the founder of the evangelical Clapham Sect. He started as an English sailor, in the Royal Navy for a period, and later a captain of slave ships. He became ordained as an evangelical Anglican cleric, served Olney, Buckinghamshire for two decades, and also wrote hymns. Later abolitionist. Easy style, natural shrewdness.

Rev. John Newton, author of "Amazing Grace", was born in London the 24th of July, 1725. His father was master of a ship in the Mediterranean trade. His mother was a pious character; and it is to her that he was indebted, in his early years, for those religious impressions which, however subsequently weakened, were probably never wholly effaced.  Her premature death deprived him at the age of 7 of this excellent superintending care.  When he was 11 years old he joined his father, and made five voyages with him to the Mediterranean. His early life seems to present a mingled detail of religious duties and declensions -- relapses into sin, accompanied by strong convictions ofIn 1743 he was impressed, put on board a tender, from which he was released by the exertions of his father, and soon after entered the navy as a midshipman -- on the "H.M.S. Harwich, a 50-gun man-of-war, on 4th March, 1744.  Here he was seduced into infidel principles by one of his companions,  who in a violent storm was swept into eternity, while he himself was mercifully spared.  Having deserted his ship, he was overtaken, kept in irons, publicly whipped, and degraded from his office. 

He subsequently engaged in the slave-trade on the coast of Sierra Leone, Africa, where his conduct awakened, even among the slaves, emotions of alarm and astonishment. With time his conscience began to bother him.  His guilt was equalled only by his misery. At home, abroad, on the mighty deep, or on foreign shores, he carried with him the marks of his servitude, the taint of his corruption, and the visible wrath of an offended God.

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His conversion to Christianity occurred on his return homewards from the coast of Africa, when the ship was overtaken by a dreadful storm, and death seemed to be inevitable. We extract the account from his own narrative:--

"The 21st of March is a day much to be remembered by me, and I have never suffered it to pass wholly unnoticed since the year 1748.  On that day the Lord sent from on high, and delivered me out of deep waters.  I began to think of my former religious professions; the extraordinary turns in my life; the calls, warnings, and deliverances I had met with; the licentious course of my conversation, particularly my unparalleled effrontery in making the gospel-history the constant subject of profane ridicule.  I thought, allowing the Scripture premises, there never was nor could be such a sinner as myself; and then, comparing the advantages I had broken then, I concluded at first, that my sins were too great to be forgiven.  The Scripture likewise seemed to say the same; for I had formerly been well acquainted with the Bible, and many passages upon this occasion returned upon my memory, particularly those awful passages, Prov. i. 24-31; Heb. vi. 4-6; and 2 Pet. ii. 20, which seemed so exactly to suit my case and character as to bring with them a presumptive proof of a divine original.  Thus, as I have said, I waited with fear and impatience to receive my inevitable doom.  Yet, though I had thoughts of this kind, they were exceedingly faint and disproportionate; it was not till long after, (perhaps several years,) till I had gained some clear views of the infinite righteousness and grace of Jesus Christ my Lord, that I had a deep and strong apprehension of my state by nature and practice: and, perhaps, till then I could not have borne the sight. 

When I saw, beyond all probability, there was still hope of respite, and heard about six in the evening that the ship was freed from water, there arose a gleam of hope; I thought I saw the hand of God displayed in our favor.  I began to pray; I could not utter the prayer of faith; I could not draw near to a reconciled God, and call him Father.  My prayer was like the cry of the ravens, which yet the Lord does not disdain to hear.  I now began to think of that Jesus whom I had so often derided.  I recollected the particulars of his life, and of his death: and death for sins not his own, but, as I remembered, for the sake of those who in their distress should put their trust in Him.  And now I chiefly wanted evidence.  The comfortless principles of infidelity were deeply riveted, and I rather wished than believed these things were real facts.  The great question now was, how to obtain faith?  I speak not of an appropriating faith, (of which I then knew neither the nature nor necessity,) but how I should gain an assurance that the Scriptures were of divine inspiration, and a sufficient warrant for the exercise of trust and hope in God.  One of the first helps I received (in consequence of a determination to examine the New Testament more carefully) was from Luke xi. 13. I had been sensible that to profess faith in Jesus Christ, when in reality I did not believe his history, was no better than a mockery of a heart-searching God: but here I communicated to those who ask it.  Upon this I reasoned thus.  If this book is true, the promise in this passage is true likewise.  I have need of that very Spirit by which the whole was written, in order to understand it aright.  He has engaged here to give that Spirit to those who ask.  I must, therefore, pray for it; and if it is of God, he will make good his own word.  My purposes were strengthened by John vii. 17.  I concluded from thence, that though I could not say from my heart that I believed the gospel, yet I would for the present take it for granted, and that by studying it in this light I should be more and more confirmed in it.  If what I am writing could be perused by our modern infidels, they would say (for I too well know their manner) that I was very desirous to persuade myself into this opinion.  I confess I was; and so would they be, if the Lord should show them, as he was pleased to show me at that time, the absolute necessity of some expedient to interpose between a righteous God and a sinful soul.  Upon the gospel scheme I saw at least a peradventure of hope, but on every other side I was surrounded with black unfathomable despair." 

Alluding to the means which he enjoyed at this eventful period, for acquiring spiritual light and knowledge, he observes, "as to books, I had a New Testament, Stanhope, and a volume of Bishop Beveridge`s Sermons, one of which, upon our Lord`s passion, affected me much." ... "I stood in need of an Almighty Saviour, and such a one I found described in the New Testament. Thus far the Lord had wrought a marvellous thing. I was no longer an infidel.  I heartily renounced my former profaneness; I had taken up some right notions; was seriously disposed, and sincerely touched with a sense of the undeserved mercy I had received, in being brought safe through so many dangers.  I was sorry for my past misspent life, and purposed an immediate reformation; I was quite freed from the habit of swearing, which seemed to have been deeply rooted in me as a second nature.  Thus, to all appearance, I was a new man.  But though I cannot doubt that this change, so far as it prevailed, was wrought by the Spirit and power of God; yet still I was greatly deficient in many respects." ... "I acknowledged the Lord`s mercy in pardoning what was past, but depended chiefly upon my own resolution to do better for the time to come. I had no Christian friend or faithful minister to advise me that my strength was no more than my righteousness: and though I soon began to inquire for serious books, yet, not having spiritual discernment, I frequently made a wrong choice; and I was not brought in the way of evangelical preaching or conversion, (except a few times, when I heard but understood not,) for six years after this period. Those things the Lord was pleased to discover to me gradually." ... "From this period I could no more make a mock at sin, or jest with holy things: I no more questioned the truth of Scripture, or lost a sense of the rebukes of conscience.  Therefore I consider this as the beginning of my return to God, or rather of his return to me; but I cannot consider myself to have been a believer (in the full sense of the word) till a considerable time afterwards." 

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At this time he wrote to his father, who was then going out as Governor of York Fort, in Hudson`s Bay, where he died in 1750.  After this event John Newton made three voyages to Africa, devoting much of his time to classical and devotional studies, and performing public worship in his vessel according to the Liturgy of the Church of England, twice every day.  His views on the subject of the slave-trade are thus recorded by himself:--

"During the time I was engaged in the slave-trade, I never had the least scruple as to its lawfulness. I was upon the whole satisfied with it, as the appointment Providence had marked out for me; yet it was, in many respects, far from eligible.  It was indeed, accounted a genteel employment, and usually very profitable, though to me it did not prove so, the Lord seeing that a large increase of wealth would not be good for me.  However, I considered myself as a sort of a gaoler or turnkey, and I was sometimes shocked with an employment that was perpetually conversant with chains, bolts and shackles.  In this view I had often petitioned in my prayers that the Lord, in his own time, would be pleased to fix me in a more humane calling, and, if it might be, place me where I might have more frequent converse with his people and ordinances, and be freed from those long separations from home which very often were hard to bear. My prayers were now answered, though in a way which I little expected." 

The circumstance to which he alludes: When he was within two days of sailing on a new voyage, to all appearance in good health, he was suddenly sezied with a fit, which deprived him of sense and motion.  It lasted about an hour, but left behind such symptoms as induced the physicians to judge that it would not be safe or prudent to proceed on the voyage.  The event was remarkable.  The person who was appointed to take his place, most of the officers, and many of the crew died, and the vessel was brought back to Liverpool with great difficulty. 

Thus ended Newton`s connexion with Africa and the slave-trade and with a sea-faring mode of life.  He was destined for higher ends, and the providence and grace of God soon pointed out a sphere more suited to his newly acquired views, and presenting ample means for extended usefulness.  "And now," he observes, "having reason to close with the Apostle`s determination, `to know nothing but Jesus Christ and him crucified,` I devoted my life to the prosecution of spiritual knowledge, and resolved to pursue nothing but in subservience to this main design." With this view he acquired a sufficient proficiency in the Greek language, so as to read with facility the New Testament and Septuagint; he then entered upon the study of the Hebrew, and two years afterwards engaged in the Syriac, besides reading the best writers of divinity, and attending on the ministry of men distinguished for their piety and their scriptural views. 

Newton received a title to a curacy in Yorkshire, Dec. 16, 1758, and applied to the Archbishop of York, Dr. Gilbert, for ordination. As he had not however graduated at the University, he was rejected, the Archbishop alleging the rules and canons of the church. Four years after this period, in 1762,  having experienced a continuance of the same difficulties, and conscious that he was burying his talents, he was about to direct his zeal in another channel, when he was restrained by the influence of his wife. Finally, being recommended by the Earl of Dartmouth to Dr. Green, Bishop of Lincoln, of whose candor and kindness he speaks with much respect, he was ordained deacon at Buckden, April 29, 1764, and appointed to the curacy of Olney, Bucks. He received priest`s orders the year following.

In this sphere of duty Newton continued nearly 16 years exercising the functions of his office with exemplary fidelity, going from house to house, and exhibiting a pattern of an excellent parish priest.  By the munificence of John Thornton, Esq., he was enabled to exercise the rites of hospitality and to dispense relief effectually to the poor. "Be hospitable," said Mr. Thornton, "and keep an open house for such as are worthy of entertainment. Help the poor and needy. I will statedly allow you £200 a year, and readily send whatever you have occasion to draw for more." Newton once observed, that he thought he had received of Mr. Thornton upwards of £3,000 in this way, during the time he resided at Olney.

One of the incidents which distinguishes the residence of Newton at Olney is his friendship with William Cowper. It is said, that this intercourse was injurious to the poet, and that Newton`s peculiar views, which were Calvinistic, increased the morbid turn of his mind.  Newton was social in his spirit, affectionate in his feelings, and cultivated in his understanding.  The majority of the Olney Hymns were contributed by Newton, and have always been acceptable to the religious public.  They are diversified in their subject, and uniformly spiritual and experimental, though rather inferior, as poetical compositions, to those contributed by Cowper.  It was the conviction that Sternhold and Hopkins were becoming increasingly unsuited to the advancing spirit of religious inquiry, that Newton in the year 1771 engaged himself in the composition of the Olney Hymns. The total number contributed by Cowper has been variously stated.  Hayley estimates it at 68.  Other biographers have considerably reduced the amount. Some editions assign 63; others insert 65. There is at present no uniform standard, nor is there one single edition entitled to the credit of correctness.  So far as the original edition, published under the superintendence of Newton himself, by Johnson, the bookseller, and bearing the date of 1779, may be considered as the most authentic guide and criterion, we are enabled to state that the original number, distinguished by the initial C (Cowper`s signature) is 67. 

John Newton died at his residence in Coleman-street Buildings, London, Dec. 21, 1807, in his 83rd year.

The following epitaph, composed by himself, is inscribed on a plain marble tablet, near the vestry door, in the church of St. Mary Woolnoth, London. :--

JOHN NEWTON, Clerk,

Once an Infidel and Libertine,

A Servant of Slaves in Africa,

Was, by the Rich Mercy of Our Lord and 

Saviour Jesus Christ,

Preserved, Restored, Pardoned,

And Appointed to Preach the Faith he had

Long Laboured to Destroy,

Near Sixteen Years at Olney In Bucks,

And Twenty-Eight Years In This Church

On Feb. 1, 1750, He Married

Mary,

Daughter of the Late George Catlett,

Of Chatham, Kent.

He Resigned her to the Lord who gave her,

On the 15th of December, 1790.