Newton was born on August
4th, 1725 in London, England to a ‘nonconformist’ protestant mother
and a merchant navy shipmaster father. His
mother began teaching him the Bible at an early age, but that education came to
an end when she died right before Newton turned seven. He was admitted in a
boarding school, but when Newton was 11 his father pulled him out of school and
took the pre-teen with him on his ship. It was on the seas and the ships that
Newton received his worldly education.
And it was at the sea that
Newton began his drinking and debauchery at a young age. After his father
retired, the teen Newton got his first job in the merchant navy, but lost the
job because he was a difficult and insubordinate employee. Then he was conscripted
into the British Royal Navy. During his service he did not like the discipline
and rebelled frequently. He tried to desert but was captured, whipped and
demoted and in desperation even contemplated suicide.
After leaving the Royal
Navy, Newton thought he found his ‘calling’
in the African slave trade and began working on a slave ship. Once again, the
lascivious and belligerent Newton lost his job and then he began to work for a
slave-trader named Amos Clowe. Soon Amos and his wife treated their new
employee as a slave. They did not pay him any wages and he started begging for
food.
A friend of his father rescued
Newton from his miserable existence and gave him a job on his ship. One day
when his ship encountered a fierce storm, Newton cried for God’s help and the
ship and Newton’s life were spared. That incident and a severe stroke at age 30
began his conversion to Christianity and led to his true calling - Newton became a minister.
But even as a pastor,
Newton continued his ‘nonconformist’ behavior.
To accompany his sermons he began writing simple hymns that people liked. And
one of them goes-
Amazing
grace how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like
me.
I once was lost but now I'm found. Was blind but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed.
I once was lost but now I'm found. Was blind but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear And grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear The hour I first believed.
John Newton - who
survived hardship all his life, including a severe stroke at the age of 30 - talked
and preached about (his) sin and God’s Grace until his death at the age of 82.
He wrote almost 300 hymns, Amazing Grace being his most famous. On of his
quotes goes- “Although my memory's fading, I remember two
things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior.”
Dear brother and sister in Christ: the same God
who saved John Newton saved you. And the same God who used John Newton in His
Kingdom can use you. So turn to God and approach Him and He will equip you and
use you as a mighty instrument in His Kingdom.
Dear
Lord, even though I am a sinner you saved me, adopted as your child, and are
blessing me by Your Grace. I thank you in Jesus’ name. Amen.
And of
course from YouTube (love the bagpipes)-
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