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John Newton
John Newton (1725–1807) was an English preacher, hymn-writer, and former slave trader whose dramatic conversion and ministry profoundly influenced evangelical Christianity. Born in Wapping, London, to John Newton, a merchant ship captain, and Elizabeth Scatliff, a devout Nonconformist who died when he was seven, Newton was raised by his stepmother after his father remarried. Pressed into the Royal Navy at 19, he later joined the slave trade, captaining ships like the Duke of Argyle by 1750, a life marked by cruelty and debauchery until a violent storm off Ireland in 1748 sparked his spiritual awakening at age 22. Self-educated in theology, he left the trade in 1755, becoming a surveyor of tides in Liverpool while pursuing ministry. In 1757, he married Mary Catlett, his childhood sweetheart, with whom he had no surviving children, though they adopted two orphaned nieces. Newton’s preaching career began after his ordination in the Church of England in 1764, when he was appointed curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, serving there until 1780. His sermons, rich with personal testimony, drew large crowds and fostered a collaboration with poet William Cowper, producing the Olney Hymns (1779), including Newton’s famous “Amazing Grace.” In 1780, he became rector of St. Mary Woolnoth in London, where he preached until nearly blind and deaf, mentoring younger evangelicals like William Wilberforce in the abolitionist cause he embraced late in life, detailed in his 1788 pamphlet Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade. Newton died on December 21, 1807, in London, leaving a legacy as a preacher whose journey from sin to grace inspired hymns, sermons, and a movement against slavery that echoed beyond his time.
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John Newton reassures his friend of God's sovereignty and care, emphasizing that even in moments of darkness and doubt, they can trust in the Lord's love and provision. Newton acknowledges his friend's struggles but points to the greater truth that God's wisdom surpasses human understanding, and every aspect of their life is under His control. He encourages his friend to have faith and confidence in God's guidance, likening life's challenges to a stormy sea where God is the unwavering Pilot leading them safely to their destination.
Dying in the Lord
Nov. 27, 1778. My dear Friend, You are a better expositor of Scripture than of my speeches, if you really inferred from my last that I think you shall die soon. I cannot say positively you will not die soon, because life at all times is uncertain: however, according to the doctrine of probabilities, I think, and always thought, you bid fair enough to outlive me. The gloomy tinge of your weak spirits led you to consider yourself much worse in point of health than you appear to me to be. In the other point I dare be more positive, that, die when you will, you will die in the Lord. Of, this I have not the least doubt; and I believe you doubt of it less, if possible, than I, except in those darker moments when the atrabilious humour prevails. I heartily sympathize with you in your complaints; but I see you in safe hands. The Lord loves you, and will take care of you. He who raises the dead, can revive your spirits when you are cast down. He who sets bounds to the sea, and says "Hitherto shalt thou come, and no further," can limit and moderate that gloom which sometimes distresses you. He knows why he permit, you to be thus exercised. I cannot assign the reasons, but I am sure they are worthy of his wisdom and love, and that you will hereafter see and say, He has done all things well. If I was as wise as your philosopher, I might say a great deal about a melancholy complexion; but I love not to puzzle myself with second causes, while the first cause is at hand, which sufficiently accounts for every phenomenon in a believer's experience. Your constitution, your situation, your temper; your distemper, all that is either comfortable or painful in your lot, is of his appointment. The hairs of your head are all numbered: the same power which produced the planet Jupiter is necessary to the production of a single hair, nor can one of them fall to the ground without his notice, any more than the stars can fall from their orbits. If providence, no less than in creation, he is Maximus in minimis. Therefore fear not; only believe. Our sea may sometimes be stormy, but we have an infallible Pilot, and shall infallibly gain our port. I am, &c.
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John Newton (1725–1807) was an English preacher, hymn-writer, and former slave trader whose dramatic conversion and ministry profoundly influenced evangelical Christianity. Born in Wapping, London, to John Newton, a merchant ship captain, and Elizabeth Scatliff, a devout Nonconformist who died when he was seven, Newton was raised by his stepmother after his father remarried. Pressed into the Royal Navy at 19, he later joined the slave trade, captaining ships like the Duke of Argyle by 1750, a life marked by cruelty and debauchery until a violent storm off Ireland in 1748 sparked his spiritual awakening at age 22. Self-educated in theology, he left the trade in 1755, becoming a surveyor of tides in Liverpool while pursuing ministry. In 1757, he married Mary Catlett, his childhood sweetheart, with whom he had no surviving children, though they adopted two orphaned nieces. Newton’s preaching career began after his ordination in the Church of England in 1764, when he was appointed curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, serving there until 1780. His sermons, rich with personal testimony, drew large crowds and fostered a collaboration with poet William Cowper, producing the Olney Hymns (1779), including Newton’s famous “Amazing Grace.” In 1780, he became rector of St. Mary Woolnoth in London, where he preached until nearly blind and deaf, mentoring younger evangelicals like William Wilberforce in the abolitionist cause he embraced late in life, detailed in his 1788 pamphlet Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade. Newton died on December 21, 1807, in London, leaving a legacy as a preacher whose journey from sin to grace inspired hymns, sermons, and a movement against slavery that echoed beyond his time.