(1725-1807)

The year was 1748.   In the Atlantic Ocean near the coast of Ireland, a ship named The Greyhound was caught in a tremendous storm.  As the waves crashed the ship, and the crew was sure they were going down, a sailor by the name of John Newton tied himself to the mast.  In the fury of the storm, John cried out to God for mercy, a God he had not given much thought to for most of his life.  A God that he had walked, or can we say, ran far away from.  A God that he had blasphemed and mocked.  A Savior that he now remembered in his time of need.

John Newton was born in 1725 to a God-fearing mother and a sea captain father.  For the first seven years of His life, His mother taught Him from the Bible, speaking scriptures to his young heart, instilling in him truths of who God is and how to live a life for Christ.  When John was seven, his mother died from Tuberculosis, and John was sent to school to learn to be a minister.  He did not do well and by the age of eleven, John Newton took his first trip to sea on his father’s ship.  This began the sea-life for John.  A life that plummeted far from the loving Savior of whom his mother had taught him.

John Newton was press-ganged into the Royal Navy.  He rebelled and fought against any authority in his life.  After deserting and being caught, he was placed in irons, and flogged.  Later, at his request, he was placed aboard a slaving ship.  This began his years of work transporting human slave cargo to the Americas and England.  John Newton had fallen into such a state of anger and arrogance.  In his own words he said, "I sinned with a high hand," he later wrote, "and I made it my study to tempt and seduce others."  At one point he was even thrown off a ship and became a slave himself to slave-dealers on an island off the West coast of Africa.   After, being rescued, and returning to sea, he became even more hateful and very few of his fellow sailors even wanted to be around him.
 
Now tied to the mast, that angry, God cursing, deplorable, slave trader, John Newton found himself in a two week-long storm, - a storm that he was sure would lead to his death.  And at that moment, the Lord, in His mercy brought to John’s memory the words of scripture taught him by his mother, all those many years ago.  His eyes were opened to the "uncertain continuance of life."  A scripture that he had learned as a child came to his mind, Proverbs 1:24-26, “Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;”  As that storm raged, John saw the state of his heart.  He pleaded for God to hear him and in His mercy save him.  He understood that he was a sinner, as stated in Romans 3:23, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.”  He knew that the way he was living was not bringing glory to God, and that he needed Jesus Christ’s forgiveness.  In the Lord’s, grace and mercy, in His unfailing love for John, He listened to John’s cry and answered him.

This Psalm is a great description of John Newton’s life:

Psalm 40:1-3, “I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry.  He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.  And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”

After, John’s surrender to the Lord, he gave up the life of the sea and of slave ships.  He gave up his anger and rebellion.  The Lord took him out of the deep, miry clay and the pit of sin he had chosen to live in and put his feet upon a rock and that Rock was Jesus Christ.  Would you believe that John Newton became a pastor?  His ways were established by the Lord.  He wrote and spoke out against slavery.  And even today this man, John Newton influences your and my life.  For the Lord put a new song in his mouth, a song of praise.  For it was John Newton that wrote the words of a hymn that is sung around the world, reminding us of God’s work and change in a life that is surrendered to Him.  Look closely at this song and see if you can see the work of God’s mercy!