![]() ![]() His accounts of rape and torture of enslaved Africans on the ships he served on is limited to other captains and crew. With eyes full of adultery, they never stopped sinning they seduce the unstable they are experts in greed-an unstable brood. David Jennings that he had been “a slave to every customary vice” and included telling bible passages such as 2 Peter 2:14. ![]() ![]() Steve Turner in his biography of Newton points out that Newton admitted to his childhood pastor Dr. Although he limited his admissions of depravity to cursing and blasphemy, he hinted at far worse. Newton was a troubled youth, devoid of any religious or moral principles, he would often admit in later life that he was not content with his own bad behaviour but rejoiced in inciting others to follow him.Īs a religious minister he would often write of his earlier wrongdoings on slave ships. In fact as a young adult he was despised by his crew mates on at least two voyages. Newton would continue as a captain of slave ships 6 years after his conversion.Įven apart from the fact he was a slave captain, it’s hard to find any redeeming character trait in the young Newton. Often his life is told as story of two contrasting halves, first as a slave trader and then as a a devout Christian minister who turned to God after a near-death experience on a ship. If you are new to the life of John Newton it is a fascinating and sometimes shocking story. His later work as a preacher and an abolitionist should be balanced against his earlier life as a captain of slave ships. John Newton (born London 1725 – died London 1807) is the perfect example of a historical character who’s legacy is being reassessed in view of his connections with the Transatlantic Slave Trade from the 17th century to the 19th. Watch the then President Obama singing Amazing Grace at the funeral for South Carolina State Senator Clementa Pinckney. The song was also sung at protests and the funeral of George Floyd in 2020 (see the end of the post). In 2015 the then President Obama sang it at the funeral service of the church leader and South Carolina state senator, Clementa Pinckney, who was among nine people shot dead in the city of Charleston. It relates the happy ending of the tale of a defiant man who manages again and again to escape danger, disease, abuse, and death, only to revert to “struggles between sin and conscience.” Nation Library of CongressĬonsidering it was written by someone who had been a slave captain, it perhaps surprising that Amazing Grace has always been closely associated with the African American community in the Untied States. Newton’s words are also a vivid autobiographical commentary on how he was spared from both physical and spiritual ruin. John Newton, 1813 John NewtonĪrguably the best-known Christian hymn is “Amazing Grace.” Its text, a poem penned in 1772 by John Newton, describes the joy and peace of a soul uplifted from despair to salvation through the gift of grace. This entry was posted in Rare Books at New College Library and tagged Church of England, Divinity, eighteenth-century, Hymn, hymns, new college library, rare books, revival, slavery, Special Collections, Z Collection by cloverodgers. Bruce Hindmarsh, ‘Newton, John (1725–1807)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 online edn, May 2010 It was quickly translated into several other languages – New College Library also holds a Gaelic edition at Gaelic Coll. New College Library has this sixth edition, at Z.1188, published in 1786, but it went through ten British and eight American editions before the end of the century. He was a prominent hymn writer, and his legacy lives on today in the well known hymn ‘Amazing Grace’. Newton’s early life as a seaman slave trader coloured his experiences in later life, when he wrote and campaigned against slavery and is known to have met and advised William Wilberforce. In 1764, the year he was ordained as an Anglican priest, his Authentic Narrative appeared and quickly became a bestseller. He pursued private studies in Divinity and taught himself Greek, Hebrew and Syriac. He experienced a profound religious conversion, which when he finally took up life on shore led him to become active in evangelical revival. Newton describes Newton’s early career as a seaman on a slave trading ship. The Authentic narrative of some remarkable and interesting particulars in the life of Mr. This volume from New College Library’s Special Collections tells his remarkable story. New College Library Z.1188Today marks the anniversary of the birth of John Newton, Anglican clergyman and hymn writer. ![]() An authentic narrative of some remarkable and interesting particularas in the life of ********* … London, 1786. ![]()
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