John Newton

Automated transcript of the sermon audio, generated with OpenAI Whisper (small.en). It has not been checked against the recording and may contain errors, especially in names and Scripture references.

Father we are grateful for the multiple promises in your word that assure us of our pardon and our Standing before you as righteous that is our shelter and there are constant arrows of the Wicked one deceptions and lies that would steal our joy and our confidence and we can return again and again to what you have said And then rest in the accomplished work of Jesus We pray that tonight as we have opportunity to study the life of a saint that you would help us to find clear application in the life of John Newton for ourselves and we make this request in the name of your son. Amen. It’s usually the case that lasting and permanent change occurs gradually and incrementally even oftentimes slowly.

Reformation is more lasting than revolution, and if we would effect lasting change for the kingdom’s sake, we must be both faithful and patient. And I wanna consider some of these principles this evening by considering together the story of John Newton. And we haven’t actually studied the life of a Christian in recent months, but a word briefly on biography. The story of God’s, well, God’s redemptive plan is unfolding before us in the lives of saints and as students of history, we have an obligation to honor those who have worked to bring us to where we are. And it’s also wise to learn by example because experience is a much more cruel, if effective, teacher.

So we study history and we study the lives of saints for a host of reasons. And oftentimes, I don’t know about you, but I find some of the most potent, well, the potent sermons are testimonies that we hear when we do baptisms, for instance, because how can you argue with what God has done in the life of a saint? And they’re easy to identify with. So although we may not be able to identify with Newton on every point, we may not have had as many brushes with death as he did. For instance, there’s still a lot that we can be amazed by just as he was as we look at his life together. Beyond all this, John Newton’s worth study because he’s got a cool name.

Joining the ranks of Bunyan, Calvin, Knox, Owen, Patton, as some of my favorite ministers and theologians. Jonathan Edwards and I get honorable mention because we’re Jonathan’s but not John’s. And another thing, the Reformation within the life The life of John Newton itself is quite remarkable. He literally transformed, or God transformed him from a merchant of human chattel to a shaper of human souls, and he never ceased to be amazed by God’s grace to bring him through that change. We had opportunity this last summer to study Newton and a number of other saints and did so at the youth retreat, and I’m modifying that message for sake of our discussion tonight.

So students, hopefully, this isn’t too redundant for you. I’m sure that you were so deeply impacted by that message the first time you, you know, committal it to memory, well. Or not, and you’ll be hearing this again for the first time. It is, but it is, it is the grace. Yeah, it is that grace, though, the transformed life of John Newton on which I’d like to focus this evening. mostly because the grace that saved him is amazing, but it is not unique. A study of Newton’s life can be instructive for our own. We will sometimes envy those who have radical transformation stories who go from like the worst of sinners to the holiest of saints in very short time, thinking that that ascribes more glory to God than the life of a faithful person who grew up in the church.

And all of it is equally amazing because it is nothing less than the transformation of a spiritually dead person into a spiritually alive person. When God quickens, He performs the impossible. No matter how diabolical or how saintly the unbeliever happens to have been. So in that sense, we too can marvel at God’s amazing grace in our lives as we study John Newton’s story. And his story is a story of the reformation of a heart, followed by a reformation of a practical life. He lived from 1725 to 1807, that’s 82 years, for those of you good at math, in a time where the average life expectancy was less than 50. His first 25 years he spent running from God violently, six of those he spent actually trading human souls, and then spent the last 57 years rescuing souls.

As Newton saw his own life, Hearts must first be reformed before a culture can be reformed. Nevertheless, Reformation in the heart is no guarantee of a Reformation of a culture and that’s evident in Newton’s case because though profound and dramatic his transformation actually was not fast. How many of you have ever read Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners by John Bunyan? Have you ever read that? It’s actually kind of an exasperating and glorious work where multiple times he gets to the precipice of salvation, but doesn’t quite get converted. We see that a few times here as well in Newton’s life where it’s like, wait a second, he was deeply penitent, but by his own admission after the fact, hadn’t given his life to Christ just yet.

So it’s not fast. Likewise Augustine was another one for whom salvation didn’t fix all of his problems. Same thing with Newton. Getting saved didn’t remove all of Newton’s temptations or blow away his besetting sins. But with time and the amazing grace of God, Newton’s character was reformed, and he did a lot as a minister to bring culture along with him. So this evening, I wanna examine the story and work of John Newton under eight different features of his life, which are each, they could be messages of their own, but there are eight sort of hooks that we’re gonna hang our thoughts on. But first, I would like to get a quick overview of Newton’s life.

And so I don’t know if you can actually read this, but I will for you, and it’s gonna be fast. He was born in 1725 in London, so to orient you some here. In 1732, his pious mother died when he was six. His father and his stepmother were not religious people. And between the ages of eight to 10, he actually had his only formal schooling of his life at a boarding school in Stratford. Of course, education and schooling are not the same thing. Ages 11 to 18, he goes on five sailing voyages with his seafaring father. Age 17, he meets family friend Mary Catlett, falls instantly in love with her, and she is the sole object of his romantic affections until her death, 47 years later.

Age 18, he continues a life on the sea. First, impressed into naval service, they could do that in war times, and then as a merchant sailor. At age 22, this is 1748, as we will see his long slow conversion began around this time, but it did not come quickly. And to his great disappointment and harm, he had nobody to disciple him or to guide him in the faith. So it’s because of this that some of his post-conversion struggles are more understandable and even forgivable, although not actually acceptable. And so age 24, we’re looking at 1749 now, about this time he’s actually born again. So actually comes to faith in Christ, is offered a ship to captain, but he decides that he would be better off serving as the mate of the vessel, so that he might learn to follow directions and obey.

Pretty mature decision on his part. Around that time as well, he marries Mary Catlett at age 24, and there was much rejoicing, right? Yeah, age, age, age. So ages 24 to 29, from 1750 to 1754, he was a captain of two slave vessels and three slave trading voyages. His job was to collect slaves in Africa from the local wholesalers. Many of those were tribal captains themselves, or tribal chieftains themselves. And keep in mind that all of this was post conversion. Yep, 1754 to 1764. He was a well paid surveyor of tides, very respectable position, and he prepared for ministry during that time. He sensed a call to the ministry and wanted to be an Anglican, but there was plenty of red tape that he had to go through.

Eventually in 1764, he answered a call to be a parish priest in the Anglican Church at the parish of Oni. And in 1764, he began ministry at Oni until his influence started to flag some, and he has opportunity later on to minister in London, a place where he has actually opportunity for a much broader platform of influence. And so in 1780, he answered a call to minister at St. Mary’s in Woolneth, St. Mary’s Woolneth in London, and he was there for many years, died on December 21 at age 82 in the year 1807.

Now, when you drill down like this, just about anybody’s life can be fascinating, but some are more fascinating than others, and I think Newton’s is a pretty great story. So now we’re gonna consider these eight headings together, and let’s look first at number one. That is an invincible pagan. This guy just couldn’t die. And I have to tell you, I didn’t even include all of them. But I’m going to be reading a lot this evening of his own words from his, yeah, well, from his own pen, but from letters that he wrote which were autobiographical in nature. John Newton led an exciting life with multiple near-death experiences, and I read through these personal memoirs on my Kindle app and highlighted his in blue, his brushes with death.

Taken by themselves, it’s actually pretty staggering. But let me share with you a few, including the one which he commemorated annually the rest of his life. And while there are more than I highlighted, even in my Kindle version of the book, or that I’ll mention here, the first incident came when he was 23, a complete reprobate. He was reading a theology book by Thomas the Campus, German theologian, And he says this, this is just great, however while I was reading at this time, an involuntary suggestion arose in my mind, what if these things should be true? I could not bear the force of the inference as I related it to myself and therefore shut the book presently.

You ever had that experience reading theology? Oh no. Okay, I went to bed that night, in my usual security and indifference, but was awakened from a sound sleep by the force of a violent sea which broke on board us. so much of it came down below as filled the cab and I land with water. This alarm was followed by a cry from the deck that the ship was going down or sinking. As soon as I could recover myself, I assayed to go up on deck, but was met upon the ladder by the captain who desired me to bring a knife with me. While I returned for the knife, another person went up in my room and he was instantly washed overboard.”

That was March 21, 1748, a date that he would remember each year for the rest of his life. That was not a foxhole conversion, but we might say it was close. He prayed fervently and God spared him and most of the crew. Four weeks later they docked in Ireland, rather miraculously. And aside from their surviving the storm, there were three additional miracles showcasing God’s favor and enabling their survival. For one, they had lost almost everything that was edible except for some fish that they’d caught for fun a few days beforehand in some leisure moments. but they had both food enough and fair weather enough to make it to land, but only just.

He says this, when we came into this port, our very last victuals, vittles, that’s food. You gotta tell students, that’s food, guys. We don’t say vittles nearly enough these days. We’re boiling in the pot. So our last grub was on the stove and before we had been there two hours, the wind, so now they’re in port. Before we had been there two hours, the wind, which seemed to have been providentially restrained until we were in a place of safety, began to blow with great violence so that if we had continued at sea that night in our shattered and feeble condition, we must, in all human appearance, have gone to the bottom.

About this time I began to know that there is a God that hears and answers prayer. How many times he has appeared for me since this great deliverance, yet alas! How distrustful and ungrateful is my heart unto this hour. And this last one is also funny related to their water supply. In the time of our distress, we had fresh water in abundance. This was a considerable relief to us, especially as our spare diet was mostly salt fish without bread. We drank plenifully and were not afraid of wanting water, yet our stock of this likewise was much nearer to an end than we expected. We suppose that we had six large butts of water on board, and it was well that we were safe arrived in Ireland before we discovered that five of them were empty, having been been removed out of their places and stowed by the violent agitation when the ship was full of water.

If we had found this out while we were at sea, it would have greatly heightened our distress and we must have drunk more sparingly.” So they had no idea that they were about to die of thirst on a saline sea. But this guy just couldn’t die. While in Ireland, he was treated well and went hunting with the mayor of the city. Here’s another one. The next day I was abroad with a mayor of the city and some other gentleman, a shooting. So some of you guys from time to time, we’ll quarterly we’ll go, a shooting. And yes, you need to use that language going forward. I climbed up a steep bank and pulling my fouling piece after me as I held it in a perpendicular direction.

It went off so near my face as to burn away the corner of my hat. Thus, when we think ourselves in the greatest safety, we are no less exposed to danger than when all the elements seem conspiring to destroy us. The divine providence, which is sufficient to deliver us in our utmost extremity, is equally necessary to our preservation in the most peaceful situation.”

And I have to give you one more, and it’s about six point font, but I’ll read it to you. So if you can’t read it, just sit back and enjoy the story. When our trade was finished, we were near sailing to the West Indies, The only remaining service I had to perform in the boat was to assist in bringing the wood and water from the shore. We were then at Rio’s Sestors. I used to go into the river in the afternoon with the sea breeze, procure my loading in the evening, and return on boatboard in the morning with the land wind. Several of these little voyages I had made, but the boat was grown old and almost unfit for use.

This service likewise was almost completed. One day, having dined on board, I was preparing to return to the river as formerly. I had taken leave of the captain, received his orders, was ready in the boat, and was just going to put off, as we term it, that is, to let go of our ropes and sail from the ship. In that instant, the captain came up from the cabin and called me on board again. I went, expecting further orders, but he said he had taken it in his head, as he phrased it, that I should remain that day in the ship, and accordingly ordered another man to go in my room. I was surprised at this as the boat had never been sent away without me before and asked him the reason.

He could give me no reason, but as above, so that he would have it. Accordingly, the boat went without me, but returned no more. She sunk that night in the river and the person who had supplied my place was drowned. I was much struck when we received news of the event the next morning, the captain himself, though quite a stranger to religion so far as to deny a particular providence, could not help being affected. But he declared that he had no other reason for countermanding me at that time, but that it came suddenly into his mind to detain me. I wonder I omitted this in my eight letters as I have always thought of one of the most extraordinary circumstances of my life.

And I’m spending so much time on this to drive home a couple of points. One, from a human standpoint, and I promise we won’t have that much text to read again on the screen, But I thought having his own words was worthwhile. From a human standpoint, John Newton should have died multiple times. But he was saved by the hand of Providence that he might do a great work for the kingdom’s sake. And then second, when Newton said that he’d come through many dangers, toils, and snares, he wasn’t joking.

It’s true that all of us are invincible until that very moment that God has fixed for our deaths. And that’s in full display when we look at the life of John Newton. Let’s look next at a radical transformation. Before he was awesome, he was really not awesome. Before Newton was transformed into a faithful servant of Christ, he was a slave of his own passions. As a young man, Newton was which you might call an insubordinate punk. He started sailing as a young boy and started sailing professionally as a teenager, trading vessels that were full of degenerate men were not exactly hotbeds of holiness, as you can probably imagine it.

He fit in just fine. More than once he deserted, running off while on shore leave. Once he was even stripped to the waist and beaten before the entire ship’s crew, and then demoted, which was thoroughly humiliating and unpleasant for the rest of the trip because he was then demoted and reduced to working alongside the men that he had treated very poorly when he was their superior, when he outranked them. On another trip, he made use of his pretty impressive linguistic skills, which you become familiar with later on in his life, to write a song that made fun of the ship’s captain, not a smart move, and he taught it to the entire crew.

And obviously, that didn’t earn him a whole lot of favor with the captain. On still another occasion, and this one I didn’t even put in the list before, he was involved in a drinking game, and he didn’t even drink. He was involved in a drinking game, and while he was very drunk, he tried to chase his hat, which was about to blow overboard, and one of his shipmates grabbed him by the belt and pulled him back aboard. Curiously, he could not swim, like actually a lot of the sailors at that time. Also curiously, he wasn’t a drinker. He only did this because he was bored.

When there were slaves who were on board, who were totally at the mercy of their captors, he would force himself upon the female slaves to satisfy his lusts. After he was married, he worked hard to curb his physical passions while underway with an austere diet of vegetables and water. I guess I helped him. By the age of 23, he was hardened by the abandoning wrath of God, which was necessary for his repentance, he cared not whether he lived or died. Like you can read in his memoirs, he got increasingly apathetic about living or dying. After another of his miraculous escapes from death, he said this, “‘These and many other deliverances were all, “‘at that time, entirely lost upon me, “‘the admonitions of conscience, “‘which from successive repulses “‘had grown weaker and weaker, at length entirely ceased.

And for a space of many months, if not for some years, I cannot recollect that I had a single check of that sort. At times I had been visited with sickness and have believed myself near to death, but I had not the least concern about the consequences. In a word, I seemed to have every mark of final impenitence and rejection. Neither judgments nor mercies made the least impression on me, and still Newton did not repent. When we see practically and spiritually what Newton had come from, it’s not hard to see that the same guy who sailed in the Navy as a shipmate was not exactly the same soul who penned Amazing Grace.

He was a new creation, and yet his experiences as an unconverted reprobate colored his writing later on. God really did get his attention with his near shipwreck in 1748, and things were different after that, although his conversion did take some time. Third, I’m gonna look at what I’m calling a noble idolatry, that is, you wish you had a marriage like this.

From the first time he laid eyes on Mary Catlett when he was 17 years old, when they were both teenagers, John Newton never flagged from his devotion to her. Newton wanted to make his fortune so that he could have some promise of being able to provide for her. That was a qualification before her family, who really did like Newton would give their blessing. They never had children of their own and though they did adopt two nieces as their own daughters. And from his spiritual infancy until his death, actually, sorry, until Mary’s death, I should say, his great concern, he outlived her, his great concern was that his love for Mary was idolatrous.

He absolutely adored his wife and he feared lest he ever be guilty of loving her more than God. And his love for God was quite great. So how many who have been married 40 or 45 years actually fret a little bit that they actually love their spouses more than they love God. I’ve got a couple of 40, married together 40 year people here in the third row.

So it’s strictly hypothetical. He said this about meeting Mary as, like I said, a punk teenager. “‘I dirts not mention it to her friends “‘or to my own, nor indeed, “‘for a considerable time to herself. “‘As I could make no proposals, “‘it remained as a dark fire locked up in my own breast, “‘which gave me a constant uneasiness. “‘By introducing an idolatrous regard to a creature, “‘it greatly weakened my sense of religion “‘and made farther away “‘for the entrance of infidel practices. And though it seemed to promise great things, as an incentive to diligence and activity in life, in reality it performed nothing.

I often formed mighty projects in my mind of what I would willingly do or suffer for the sake of her I loved. Yet while I could have her company, I was incapable of forcing myself away to improve opportunities that offered, still less could it do in regulating my manners. It did not prevent me from engaging in a long train of excess and riot, utterly unworthy the honorable pretensions I had formed. He said this in his mindset in his early 20s as a seafaring pagan. There was at that time but one earnest desire in my heart, which was not contrary and shocking both religion and reason. That one desire, though my vile licentious life render me peculiarly unworthy of success, and though a thousand difficulties seemed to render it impossible, the Lord was pleased to gratify.

And he’s speaking there, that God graciously allowed him to marry, marry in time. But again, his lifelong concern was that his potentially idolatrous adoration of his wife would open the way for other sins. When Mary died in 1790, he delivered the sermon at her funeral, which was actually met with some criticism. Some people thought it was indecent. They probably judged that he had moved on from her death too quickly, but any charge that he did not love her deeply it just would not stick. I do wish that more people enjoyed devoted affection to the degree of John and Mary Newton. Fourth, I’m gonna consider an iron backbone.

John Newton knew which hills to die on. John Newton was no intellectual or theological flyweight. I previously thought that John Newton was more pastor than theologian. I think it might’ve been, and I was wrong. And it might have been because of some criticism that I’ve read of him before. I think that might have been, I might have led to this conclusion because of my little familiarity with his writings. He did not, admittedly he did not write a lot of theological treatises or apologies, rather he published an autobiography. He did some biographical writing about others. He published the famous Oni Hymns with William Cooper.

And he published a bunch of his letters to his wife. So I’ve mistaken before Newton to be one who cared more about shepherding than he did about theology. But this is precisely wrong. His theology was settled, and his Calvinism flavored everything that he did. In his own message on John Newton, John Piper says the following, Newton cared more about influencing people with truth for their good than winning debates. American abolitionist William J recounts how Newton described the place of his Calvinism. He was having tea one day with Newton, and Newton said, I’m more of a Calvinist than anything else, but I use my Calvinism in my writings and my preaching as I use this sugar, taking a lump and putting it into his tea cup and stirring it, adding, I do not give it alone and whole, but mixed and diluted.

In other words, his Calvinism permeates all that he writes and teaches and serves to sweeten everything. Few people like to eat sugar cubes, but they like the effect of sugar when it permeates in the right proportion. So Newton did not serve up the five points by themselves but blended them in with everything that he taught. This government was a key part of how his pattern of tenderness developed in dealing with people’s doctrinal differences, which I think is very, very interesting. His settled and biblical theology enabled his charity with those who disagreed with him.

I think our own experience can bear witness to this. The more secure you are in your theological convictions, the less need you have to freak out when people disagree with you, or the less inclined you are to worry that you might be proven wrong. As such, John Newton was a personal friend to Calvinistic Methodist George Whitfield and Arminian Methodist John Wesley, and a host of other political and religious thinkers and individuals of various persuasions and stripes.

Really, if you look at who he knew and influenced and hung out with, it was a who’s who of the political and ecclesiastical spheres of England in his day. In terms of the rest of his education though, he was self-educated. His education was excellent, and along the way he became a man of great theological substance. When he was the surveyor of tides and he was studying the ancient languages, he also would study ancient languages while on ships. It’s impressive what he was able to accomplish by himself. But that is the sort of thing, the sort, sorry. His education was excellent as I said, and along the way he became a man of great theological substance.

The kind of man of theological substance who is secure enough in his position and in the sovereign goodness of God and whose understanding is so deep that he can make it accessible to children. One of my favorite little anecdotes about R.C. Sproul when asked why he didn’t take up writing children’s literature until he was a grandfather. He said, well, you’ve got to really know what you’re talking about to explain it to a three year old. Well, because he was a pastor and a college professor, and if they didn’t get it, well, it was their problem. But when it’s a three year old, they just look at you with a blank stare and go, I don’t get it, grandpa, try again.

And so likewise, John Newton was of such theological metal that he could know what he’ll still die on, and he could be tender and patient with those who disagreed. When he was sailing, he read Euclid for company, and as we have already remarked, he had but two years of formal education as a boy. He was very capable of disciplining himself to master Greek, Hebrew, and Latin as a layman. He eventually became something of a theological heavyweight. He was a five-point Calvinist, but not the sort that is insecurely looking to pick a fight with the nearest bipedal Armenian, or Armenian, or Catholic. He said in his memoirs reflecting on how God had preserved him, I love this, oh, what an unspeakable comfort is this that I am not in my known keeping.

Oh, what an unspeakable comfort is this that I am not in my known keeping. If we’re up to me, yikes. But it’s not, so I can sleep tonight. Next, let’s consider a tender shepherd, his parish work at Oni. You keep seeing this going, Jonathan, can’t you read? It’s Oni. Guys, when you go to the UK, you learn that they don’t pronounce anything like it’s written. Okay, this is Oni. The L is silent. So it’s Oni.

Not a ton to say here, it’s pretty straightforward. One of the first things he did when taking charge of the Oni parish was to start a ministry to the children of the parish. Smart move. Immediately 89 children from the parish community, many of them were children of the dissenters. They, then the dissenters were mostly the Puritan types who were staunchly opposed to the state’s interference in church matters, and particularly the mandating of the use of the Book of Common Prayer. Not necessarily the substance of the Book of Common Prayer was the problem as much as it’s being mandated for use. So like 89 kids came right away.

He was loved in Oni, and under his direction, and shepherding the church attendance tripled from about 200 to about 600 in the time that he was there. Nevertheless, as many things do, that also came to an end. Eventually it became clear that the Lord wanted him to move on, which is its own story, but becoming an Anglican priest in London did greatly increase his breadth of influence, and in time, he was probably, it’d be really hard to argue otherwise, the most influential evangelical in all of London.

Amazing grace, and William Cooper and the Oni Hymns. One of the greatest masters of the English language in the 18th century was the mentally troubled and theologically deep William Cooper, which is spelled Cowper. Just so you know, we can do this all day. Like Newton, Cooper deserves the telling of his own story and that’s quite an intriguing one. William Cooper moved to Oni in 1767 to be with John Newton. And if he had not done so, the world most certainly would have lost a great hymn writer and theological mind and poet prematurely. Cooper was a broken reed who needed a tender shepherd and he had one in John Newton.

Cooper soon became a lay assistant to Newton, helping him out with some of the parish work and one of their joint efforts was to write a collection of hymns. Now when Newton started his vacation Bible school type ministry to the little kids of the parish, He quickly discovered the effectiveness of song to help fix words and ideas in the minds of young people. Hoping to have the same success in the minds of grownups, he began to write hymns to compliment his sermons. I’m not kidding. The dude would write hymns to help drive home the content of the sermons. And he had living by him, conveniently, one of the greatest poets of his day, in William Cooper.

So Newton and Cooper agree that they would write a hymn book for their people each man writing one per week for a while and Eventually Cooper became depressed and was unable to complete the task Which is why Newton Newton had to finish it himself and fully two-thirds of the only hymns were written by Newton And they’re they’re still in print you can buy them today That’s what it looks like and it is available for 995 on Amazon Prime and it could be here two days I hope if I write a hymn book that nearly 300 years after the fact, it’s available, Amazon Prime, 300 years, it’s still available for purchase. Let’s say that.

Most agree, however, that there’s no comparing the linguistic mastery between Cooper and Newton. So the two thirds that Newton wrote were of, they couldn’t really rival William Cooper’s writing in terms of quality and just poetic beauty. But he did love his people. That was fine too because while Newton was gifted poetically as well, his aim was accessibility and Cooper’s aim was beauty and wonder. Consider for instance, Amazing Grace. For a couple of years he had been considering and experimenting with writing hymns to enrich which is Sunday lessons while deepening the theological understanding of his people. And Newton had enough wisdom and understanding to reduce, as we’ve already talked about, hard theological concepts into simple terms.

Well, you may be surprised to hear this, but at this time, everybody didn’t speak in King James English in the 18th century. In fact, a lot of people didn’t even understand it very well, so they struggled to understand it the same way that you and I do. And in Newton’s parish, it comprised largely uneducated and simple people who still needed to be taught and cared for. These were uneducated and simple people. So he took to hymn writing to help train them. Now in late 1772, he wrote Amazing Grace for a New Year’s Day sermon. So we’re thinking January 1, 1773, in which he be teaching from 1 Chronicles 17, 16 to 17.

When David says this, well, then King David went in and sat before the Lord and said, who am I, oh Lord? And what is my house that you have brought me thus far? And this was a small thing in your eyes, oh God, you have also spoken of your servant’s house for a great while to come and have shown me future generations, oh Lord God. That’s again, 1 Chronicles 17, 16 to 17. In this passage, David is marveling that God would bless him and his household, and such marveling was something that Newton could well identify with. Guys, I couldn’t make this up. The greatest, the most famous anyway, hymn in the English language was written to drive home the sentiment of King David in 1 Chronicles 17, 16 to 17.

Hmm, who knew? The students are like, me, hello, I paid attention last summer when you said this. That marveling, that wonder, that surprise that David expressed was something that Newton could identify with. In its simple accessibility, its profound depth, its relatable sentiment, Amazing Grace has become the most popular hymn in the English language. Biographer Jonathan Aiken observes that the hymns’ rhymes and rhythms are simple and easy. And check this out, we talked about who it was written for. Of the 125 of the 146 words in the hymn, they’re one syllable. 125 of the 146 words in the hymn, as Newton wrote it, are one syllable.

The last verse, when we’ve been there 10,000 years, he didn’t write that one. Although, it’s great and we love it and he could have written it because it’s also very simple. So the next time you sing it, consider that Newton wrote it to reflect David’s marveling at his households being blessed by God, and Newton never stopped being amazed by the grace that God had shown to him.

Let’s talk for a moment about a common disgrace that is the cultural and the Christian toleration of slavery. That Newton’s slave trading was performed as a Christian is inexcusable, and yet it is understandable. It is very difficult for us to understand how a Christian who’s indwelt by the spirit of God could tolerate, let alone participate in or profit from, the trading of human souls as chattel property. It’s easy though for us to understand and criticize and stand in judgment of Newton and others without doing the work of trying to understand how on earth this could take place. I do not wish to excuse Newton on this point and he was far less charitable of himself in later years as he lamented his part in the slave trade, so he wouldn’t try to excuse himself either.

But I do wish to understand the situation and to be fair. The sad reality in this context is this, virtually nobody was thinking about the slaves as worth respecting or saving. As we can also learn from the story of William Wilberforce who came along a generation after Newton, the road to abolition was long and lonely. Also, Newton was reputed to be a relatively humane slave ship captain. He suffered less loss of human cargo than many of his contemporaries, and he spent his extensive discretionary and leisure time while underway studying theology in Latin. Ironically, he was practicing spiritual disciplines while slaves were chained below decks.

But we must not suppose that Newton was alone in this. I must also add that Newton’s generation would be appalled by our toleration of abortion, homosexuality, profanity, marital infidelity, and more. They would look at this and go, why are the Christians standing by and doing nothing? But we’re myopic, we’re blinded by how close we are to it. So it’s not excusable, although historically, it’s not surprising, and he did work to help effect the end of the slave trade. consider with me an unlikely influence, that is Newton’s role in the abolition of the slave trade. His influence in the abolition of the slave trade throughout the British Empire cannot be overstated.

One could argue that without John Newton’s mentorship and influence, William Wilberforce would have left Parliament and joined the ministry to pursue that most honored vocation. So William Wilberforce is awesome, and he is the hero of the ending of the slave trade in the British Empire and deserves that credit. But in a very real sense, were it not for the influence of John Newton, Wilberforce would never have made it. Around the time of William Wilberforce’s second term in Parliament, he had paid a visit to John Newton in Newton’s home in London, because at that point he was the St. Mary’s Woolneth. And Wilberforce had a firm conviction that the slave trade needed to end, but he also had a very great interest in vocational ministry.

So he asked Newton what he thought, what should he do? Over a series of several visits, Newton managed to convince William Wilberforce that Wilberforce had work to do for the Lord in Parliament. So stay there. And over the next several years, Newton assisted Wilberforce in the fight for abolition. Newton was called on himself to offer testimony of what he had witnessed aboard slave trading vessels and the rest. And his personal testimony, his influence, helped to sway the tide of public opinion in the direction of abolition.

So just briefly, a few takeaways as we wrap up here. In light of this study, I speculate the following. Without John Newton, William Cooper would have succeeded in killing himself. He actually did attempt suicide and it was gross. was bloody and Newton saved him. Without Newton, William Wilberforce would have become a pastor. That’s good. But the abolition of the slave trade in Britain and their colonies would have taken at least two more generations. I speculate here because there are no what ifs in the sovereign purview of God. Nevertheless, as we consider God’s influence through this man, we speculate that without Newton, a generation of young evangelical ministers in and around London would never have been trained or mentored and likely would have petered out never even answered a call to ministry.

His influence as a mentor to pastors in London was crazy. Without Newton, the greatest English hymn would be, Just As I Am. Or maybe, I Come to the Garden Alone, while the dew is still in the roses. We should be instructed that spiritual reformation does happen on God’s timeline and not ours. And we who are most convinced that God alone saves and extends grace should be patient with others.

We should be theologically rooted deeply enough to be able to educate others in simple terms and not be given to freaking out when others don’t agree with us. And we should never ever fail to be amazed by the grace of God. So I think we should sing amazing grace. So, Buoni, would you come give me an F, F major chord. Let’s stand together. If you can’t read this, I think it’s on page 107 in the Adventist Hymnal, the black hymnal right there at your knees, if you’d like that. Ready?