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Amazing Grace Amazing Grace For other uses, see Amazing Grace (disambiguation). came curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he be- gan to write hymns with poet William Cowper. “Amaz- ing Grace” was written to illustrate a sermon on New Year’s Day of 1773. It is unknown if there was any mu- sic accompanying the verses; it may have simply been chanted by the congregation. It debuted in print in 1779 in Newton and Cowper’s Olney Hymns but settled into relative obscurity in England. In the United States how- ever, “Amazing Grace” was used extensively during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century. It has been associated with more than 20 melodies, but in 1835 it was joined to a tune named “New Britain” to which it is most frequently sung today. With the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, “Amazing Grace” is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world. Author Gilbert Chase writes that it is “without a doubt the most famous of all the folk hymns,”[1] and Jonathan Aitken, a Newton biogra- pher, estimates that it is performed about 10 million times annually.[2] It has had particular influence in folk music, and has become an emblematic African American spiri- tual. Its universal message has been a significant factor in its crossover into secular music. “Amazing Grace” saw a resurgence in popularity in the U.S. during the 1960s and has been recorded thousands of times during and since The bottom of page 53 of Olney Hymns shows the first stanza of the 20th century, occasionally appearing on popular mu- the hymn beginning “Amazing Grace!" sic charts. "Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779, with words written by the English poet and cler- 1 John Newton’s conversion gyman John Newton (1725–1807). Newton wrote the words from personal experience. He How industrious is Satan served. I was formerly one of grew up without any particular religious conviction, but his active undertemptors and had my influence been equal his life’s path was formed by a variety of twists and coinci- to my wishes I would have carried all the human race with dences that were often put into motion by his recalcitrant me. A common drunkard or profligate is a petty sinner to insubordination. He was pressed (involuntarily forced) what I was. into service in the Royal Navy, and after leaving the ser- [3] vice, he became involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In John Newton, 1778 1748, a violent storm battered his vessel off the coast of County Donegal, Ireland, so severely that he called out According to the Dictionary of American Hymnology to God for mercy, a moment that marked his spiritual “Amazing Grace” is John Newton's spiritual autobiogra- conversion. Whilst his boat was being repaired in Lough phy in verse.[4] Swilly, he wrote the first verse of his world famous song. In 1725, Newton was born in Wapping, a district in Lon- He did however, continue his slave trading career until don near the Thames. His father was a shipping merchant 1754 or 1755, when he ended his seafaring altogether and who was brought up as a Catholic but had Protestant sym- began studying Christian theology. pathies, and his mother was a devout Independent unaffil- Ordained in the Church of England in 1764, Newton be- iated with the Anglican Church. She had intended New- 1 2 1 JOHN NEWTON’S CONVERSION ton to become a clergyman, but she died of tuberculosis the Sherbro River. After several months he came to think when he was six years old.[5] For the next few years, of Sierra Leone as his home, but his father intervened af- Newton was raised by his emotionally distant stepmother ter Newton sent him a letter describing his circumstances, while his father was at sea, and spent some time at a and a ship found him by coincidence.[lower-alpha 3] Newton boarding school where he was mistreated.[6] At the age claimed the only reason he left was because of Polly.[10] of eleven, he joined his father on a ship as an apprentice; While aboard the ship Greyhound, Newton gained no- his seagoing career would be marked by headstrong dis- toriety for being one of the most profane men the cap- obedience. tain had ever met. In a culture where sailors commonly As a youth, Newton began a pattern of coming very close used oaths and swore, Newton was admonished several to death, examining his relationship with God, then re- times for not only using the worst words the captain had lapsing into bad habits. As a sailor, he denounced his ever heard, but creating new ones to exceed the limits of faith after being influenced by a shipmate who discussed verbal debauchery.[11] In March 1748, while the Grey- Characteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, a book hound was in the North Atlantic, a violent storm came by the Third Earl of Shaftesbury, with him. In a series of upon the ship that was so rough it swept overboard a crew letters he later wrote, “Like an unwary sailor who quits his member who was standing where Newton had been mo- port just before a rising storm, I renounced the hopes and ments before.[lower-alpha 4] After hours of the crew emp- comforts of the Gospel at the very time when every other tying water from the ship and expecting to be capsized, comfort was about to fail me.”[7] His disobedience caused Newton and another mate tied themselves to the ship’s him to be pressed into the Royal Navy, and he took ad- pump to keep from being washed overboard, working for vantage of opportunities to overstay his leave and finally several hours.[12] After proposing the measure to the cap- deserted to visit Mary “Polly” Catlett, a family friend with tain, Newton had turned and said, “If this will not do, then whom he had fallen in love.[8] After enduring humilia- Lord have mercy upon us!"[13][14] Newton rested briefly tion for deserting,[lower-alpha 1] he managed to get himself before returning to the deck to steer for the next eleven traded to a slave ship where he began a career in slave hours. During his time at the wheel he pondered his di- trading.[lower-alpha 2] vine challenge.[12] About two weeks later, the battered ship and starving crew landed in Lough Swilly, Ireland. For several weeks before the storm, Newton had been reading The Chris- tian’s Pattern, a summary of the 15th-century The Imita- tion of Christ by Thomas à Kempis. The memory of the uttered phrase in a moment of desperation did not leave him; he began to ask if he was worthy of God’s mercy or in any way redeemable as he had not only neglected his faith but directly opposed it, mocking others who showed theirs, deriding and denouncing God as a myth. He came to believe that God had sent him a profound message and had begun to work through him.[15] Newton’s conversion was not immediate, but he con- tacted Polly’s family and announced his intentions to marry her. Her parents were hesitant as he was known to be unreliable and impetuous. They knew he was pro- fane, but they allowed him to write to Polly, and he set to begin to submit to authority for her sake.[16] He sought a place on a slave ship bound for Africa, and Newton and his crewmates participated in most of the same activities he had written about before; the only immorality from which he was able to free himself was profanity. Af- ter a severe illness his resolve was renewed, yet he re- tained the same attitude towards slavery as was held by John Newton in his later years his contemporaries.[lower-alpha 5] Newton continued in the Newton often openly mocked the captain by creating ob- slave trade through several voyages where he sailed up scene poems and songs about him that became so pop- rivers in Africa – now as a captain – procured slaves be- ular the crew began to join in.[9] He entered into dis- ing offered for sale in larger ports, and subsequently trans- agreements with several colleagues that resulted in his be- ported them to North America. In between voyages, he ing starved almost to death, imprisoned while at sea and married Polly in 1750 and he found it more difficult to chained like the slaves they carried, then outright enslaved leave her at the beginning of each trip. After three ship- and forced to work on a plantation in Sierra Leone near ping experiences in the slave trade, Newton was promised 2.1 Olney Hymns 3 a position as ship’s captain with cargo unrelated to slavery He will my shield and portion be when, at the age of thirty, he collapsed and never sailed As long as life endures. again.[17][lower-alpha 6] Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail, And mortal life shall cease; I shall possess, within the veil, A life of joy and peace. The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, The sun forbear to shine; But God, who call'd me here below, Will be forever mine. John Newton, Olney Hymns, 1779 Olney was a village of about 2,500 residents whose main industry was making lace by hand.
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