Amazing Grace
Amazing Grace: The Life of John Newton and the Surprising Story Behind His Song
By: Bruce Hindmarsh & Craig Borlase
“‘My memory is nearly gone. But I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.’”
This is the year (2023) that we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the first singing of the hymn, Amazing Grace, by John Newton.
“The hymn has endured through two-and-a-half centuries and become today a powerful symbol for many people of hope in the midst of tragedy.”
This may be one of the most well-known songs in the country, but the story behind it— not so much. I grew up in the church and I had heard of John Newton, of course, but it was the post-repentant John Newton. The song’s message is even more powerful when you read of everything that came before it.
You’ll find Hindmarsh and Borlase’s book, Amazing Grace, to be enlightening, angering, and encouraging. It will challenge and convict but bring you to a place of hope and freedom.
Be warned: this is not an easy book to read. John Newton was an active participant in the slave trade from an early age. Not only was my knowledge of Newton expanded, but my knowledge of the slave trade was as well. It’s very hard to read about the dehumanization of the African people and the things that were done to them, the conditions and the abuse they endured.
“I was blind, but now, I see” is a poignant phrase. Utter blindness is the only explanation because there is no excuse for the near universal acceptance of the slave trade. And to God’s glory that even the deepest of sins can be forgiven. There is no wretch out of reach of God’s grace.
That is the story of John Newton.
“Where do we find hope today in the midst of deep divisions in society and violent disagreements? Where do we find hope for the human condition? Where do we find hope for all the griefs and sorrows that threaten to undo our own lives? Perhaps we need to look again at the perennial message of ‘Amazing Grace.’ Perhaps here we might find a renewed hope that however difficult the troubles in our lives, however deep our personal shame and regret, however dark the evil that stalks the earth, there is a mercy that is deeper yet, a forgiveness that makes all the difference, and a power for reconciliation greater than ourselves.”
The book is written from multiple sources including Newton’s autobiography, his diaries, logbooks, letters, and other published writings. There have been some creative liberties taken to fill in other facts and framework and thus this book would be considered a “dramatized biography.”
It didn’t read like a textbook. The writing was very well-done as they unraveled the story. Some of the language used was indicative of the times and not used in a condoning way (i.e. whore).
Even as the people in the story engage in sin in all matter of ways, including their words, the message of the book is not in accordance with that. The dignity of humanity, made in the image of God, is very much the conclusion. We are brought through the sin and failures of John’s life into his salvation and the continual process of being refined by the grace of God to the truth of humanity, sin, and reconciliation.
The Beginning
John’s father was an intimidating ship captain that instilled fear in John from an early age. Within the first chapter we see a six-year-old John sneaking out at night to see the dead body that was hung near the docks earlier that night. Shortly thereafter his mother dies of consumption. His father remarries and John is sent to boarding school where he endured beatings from his headmasters.
Considering this early trauma and the crude environment of growing up among sailors, it’s no surprise that John became a risk-taking, selfish, and rebellious teen. Many of his choices are driven by his forbidden love for Polly (Mary) who, after many tumultuous years, eventually becomes his wife.
When John finally gets to work on a ship as he had dreamed, the power goes to his head.
“He wore arrogance like a shield and used mockery as a whip.”
“Newton could barely utter a single sentence without resorting to profanities, and he had a particular disdain for anyone who declared himself a serious Christian.”
Until a series of events result in him being treated as a slave… or rather “servant of slaves.”
“Not an hour a day went by in which John was not humiliated in some way. He tried to ignore it, to block out the taunts and the abuse… He was trapped. There was no escape. All he knew— and he was ever going to know from this point on— was pain.”
These events were just the beginnings of the wild life of John Newton. The book continues and tells of more deaths and harrowing circumstances John finds himself in, some by surprise and some by consequence of his own behavior and choices.
In fact, the majority of the horror happens before John is even 28 years old.
We see many different forms of ‘faith’ in Newton’s life: from obedience and going to church because it was important to his mom; to complete rejection; to a near-death experience averted because of a church service inciting him to think he must be a saint in response; to finding obedience too hard and giving in to his fleshly desires and pleasures; to complete despair; and eventually to a right understanding of grace, mercy, and obedience out of love and gratitude.
The Slave Trade
The slaver ships would take goods from Europe down along the Guinea Coast to buy slaves. Once they got 100-200+ slaves they would make the trek across the Middle Passage to the West Indies to sell the slaves for sugar and rum and then head back to England. The voyages would typically take a year or more.
Trade Routes of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
Image credit HERE
At one point, John lives in Africa with another slaver (Evans) and his royal, African wife (P.I.)— who was actually running the slave factory there. She had all the power and she didn’t like John so she turned Evans against him. He became their slave.
We know it is sin that corrupts. Slavery has been a historical staple in all cultures for many many years, though in different ways and practices. We can’t deny the major role white people played in the Trans-Atlantic slave trade business, but we also must be careful not to think that any one sin is bound to one race. Sin is nondiscriminatory.
A few terms:
Royal African Company: held a monopoly on trade and shipped more slaves in trade than any other company
press-gang: the forced enlistment of men into the British Navy
bilgewater: water that collects at the bottom of the ship
thumbscrews: torture device often used on slaves
roundrobin: a petition, often against authority, which is printed in the middle of a paper and signed all around the outside of it to prevent the order of names or a ringleader to be identified; in this book, mutiny against the captain
By the end of the book we are into the early 1800s and the public opinion about the slave trade is shifting. Hindmarsh introduces us to William Wilberforce and his dealings with Parliament to get the slave trade banned.
We hear the shocking tale of the Zong slave ship. After sickness struck their ship and they knew they’d suffer financial loss, the captain, knowing insurance didn’t cover profit loss due to sickness but did cover slaves thrown overboard as from storms, etc. he threw 130 slaves overboard alive in order to collect the insurance.
However, the insurance company refused to pay and the case went to court.
“Initially the jury sided with the crew, but the subsequent appeal— which created widespread publicity— ruled against the ship’s owners. It was a landmark decision, and one that brought the horrors of the Middle Passage to the public’s attention like never before.”
John Newton gave transparent and honest legal testimony against the slave trade.
He shared that “The people are gentle when they have no communication with the Europeans” and dispelled myths: “Most Africans did not endorse the trade. They were not naturally lazy. Their contact with Europeans did not civilize them but instead dragged them to the lowest levels of corruption.”
He also wrote against it, “‘There was nothing quite so iniquitous, so cruel, so oppressive, so destructive, as the African Slave Trade… [it] will always be a subject of a humiliating reflection to me, that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders.’”
We are also introduced to the relationship between John Newton and William Cowper, famous poet. Cowper (pronounced Cooper) experienced a lot of spiritual warfare and depression in his life, but he penned some very profound poems. Here are a few lines from his poem ‘Charity’
“But ah! what wish can prosper, or what pray’r,
For merchants rich in cargoes of despair,
Who drive a loathsome traffic, gauge, and span,
And buy the muscles and the bones of man!
Canst thou, and honour’d with a Christian name,
Buy what is woman-born, and feel no shame?
Trade in the blood of innocence, and plead
Expedience as a warrant for the deed?”
Newton’s Conversion and Hymn
Throughout his life Newton had several ‘come-to-Jesus’ moments in which he recognized God intervening in his life. However, it was indeed a journey to his salvation and his full realization of his sin.
The most major spiritual surrender happened when he found himself at sea in a vicious storm that left their ship in shambles. The crew even called him Jonah for bringing such devastation to their ship. The crew spent 27 days on board bailing water and trying to survive until somehow the ship found land again.
John finally had confessed in what he felt were his final moments, ‘I am a wretched sinner… Do with me as you please.’
“It was the moment where John finally placed his trust in the cross of Christ. It was the point when he finally realized that he needed God to do for him what he could not do for himself. He was a wretch, and he needed grace.”
However, there was more repentance to come because it was after this storm that John eventually becomes captain of his own slave ship.
“According to his logbook, he bought and imprisoned 468 African men, women, and children on board his ships. Sixty-eight of those people died on his watch, while the rest he delivered into the deadly slave system that powered the plantations of the West Indies.”
It is a lesson in cognitive dissonance that we can see Newton despairing of his (certain) sins and desiring to be obedient to God and do what is right and good, yet climbing aboard a ship and selling chained people like product.
“When John took his place on deck while the slaves were eating, surveying the men, women, and children that he had bought and held captive on his ship, he could only rest content and thank God. To his eyes, as he looked at men in leg chains, women fearful of rape, and children taken from their families, it looked like a peaceful, happy scene. he was so certain of this he made a point to write that they were ‘more like children in one family, than slaves in iron and chains.’”
“With few distractions and plenty of time alone in his cabin [to read, write, and pray], John was convinced that his time as a captain in the slave trade was a God-given gift that would allow him to mature as a Christian.”
It does not make sense. The blindness is blinding.
But thankfully, his story doesn’t end there, and after a few journeys at sea he is convicted more and more by what he is taking part in. Though illness was the catalyst to his leaving the trade, he eventually recognizes the horrors that he was part of.
He becomes ordained in the Church of England and writes many hymns to accompany his sermons.
“From his earliest childhood memories, John knew the power of hymns, and as a preacher he knew the limits of his sermons. He wanted people to be able to experience the grace and mercy of God for themselves up to a knowledge that went beyond the head and straight to the heart.”
On January 1, 1773, Amazing Grace was sung for the first time. At this point it was titled ‘Faith’s Review and Expectation.’ I think the eventual name change was a good choice.
But the lyrics of this song hit a different way when you realize the spiritual turmoil Newton had knowing his own wretchedness and accepting forgiveness for things too shocking to read.
“Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come
This grace that brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home
Amazing grace how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I'm found
Was blind but now I see”
Modern Blindness?
One thing struck me as I contemplated the “appalling and near universal blindness” surrounding the slave trade. People in Europe put sugar in their tea, ignorant of the true price of that sugar. Or perhaps they had vague knowledge, but they were blinded to its sinfulness because they would rather have sugar than have to face the reality of how the sugar got to them.
I couldn’t help but think of a different form of human trafficking that is still prevalent today. I don’t think there is a universal blindness to the wrongs of human trafficking, but I do think there is a blindness to the market that fuels that human trafficking.
Porn.
This is not talked about in the book at all, this is a connection I’m making on my own that I felt compelled to share here. We are rightly horrified by the people who were willing to turn their back on the slave trade so that they could have sugar in their tea.
Yet people sit behind computers and phone screens consuming porn as if there is no harm in how that porn came to be. People are blind to the destruction that comes before and after porn.
People may not be sold because of the color of their skin, and we can be thankful for that, but the war on slavery is not over. People— namely children and women— are being sold as sex slaves and there seems to be a widespread belief that porn has no connection to it.
We are ignorant if we believe porn is an industry of righteousness, honesty, consensus, and freedom.
We may think we could never be like those Europeans. But sin. And our deceitful hearts. We are not immune to the lures of sin.
John confesses, “Custom, example, and interest, had blinded my eyes.”
“If something is accepted by everyone (custom), and everyone else is doing it (example), and it is to my benefit (interest), then we, too, are in danger of self-deception.”
Don’t be blinded by your desire for sugar. Let’s not wait for another Zong massacre before we finally open our eyes to the destruction porn’s market cultivates.
We learn many things from John Newton’s story, and the top of that list is God’s grace and forgiveness, but let’s not miss the conviction to treat humanity with dignity because porn and the industry it fills stands in direct opposition to that in every way.
Four Profound Truths
If you’re not sure what we should take away from this book, Hindmarsh and Borlase summarize the four profound truths we can learn from John Newton’s story:
I can be forgiven. “Whatever shame or guilt you carry, however deep the regrets in your life, no matter what you have done, there is a mercy that is deeper yet.”
I can be deceived. “If something is accepted by everyone (custom), and everyone else is doing it (example), and it is to my benefit (interest), then we, too, are in danger of self-deception.” “Majorities routinely oppress minorities and tell themselves convincing lies to justify this. Dehumanization is always a first step toward violence.”
I can make amends. “even if it happens slowly and in stages… we must face up to the truth, repudiate what we once believed, and do what we can, however costly, to make amends.”
I can be more like Jesus. “God’s grace changes us over our lifespan to make us more like Christ.”
Conclusion
I honestly thought I might be a bit bored by this book and had taken awhile to get to it on my list. Because I thought I knew what I was getting myself into.
I did not.
This is not a book that you say was ‘fun’ to read. But it was a powerful book, to be sure.
It enlightens you, educates you, and encourages you. It will make you feel sad and angry, but it’s a book of hope and forgiveness. It’s a book that reminds us that God is a God of both forgiveness and justice. In a world full of violence and oppression, we know that he sees and we know he will have final vindication.
It reminds us to reflect on our own sin. To confess where we’ve been blind. And to accept his forgiveness when we have repented. We are not disqualified from his grace. If God can save someone like John Newton, he can save us too.
We don’t have to have it altogether when we come to him. Newton didn’t. But God will continually refine us to look more like himself. His grace abounds!
“It is perhaps one of the most amazing things about God’s grace in the cross of Christ— that though the message of grace comes to us with impure hands, stained with violence, it yet offers hope and redemption to the wretched, and it plants the seeds of justice, reconciliation, and healing for all peoples in its universality and affirmation of the common humanity and dignity of every person.”
**Received an ARC via NetGalley**
[Content Advisory: descriptions of the slave trade and all the atrocities done in its name]
This book released in March, 2023. You can order a copy of this book using my affiliate link below.
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