T'was grace that brought me safe thus far (John Newton)

   Do you know the story behind the hymn Amazing Grace?   The song owes its genesis to a man named John Newton who, after a very unfortunate childhood and difficult first career in the British Royal Navy, became, of all things, the master of a slave ship.  Newton remained in this career for several years, sometimes treating the slaves in his care quite cruelly.  When he was not quite thirty years old, however, Newton had a remarkable change of heart, and subsequently renounced his past profession.  He was ordained an Anglican priest in 1764 and thereafter worked hard to abolish the slave trade. 

  

   John Newton wrote the words to Amazing Grace in 1772 to illustrate one of his sermons; the words were set to an already-existing melody over sixty years later by the American composer William Walker, and was used in evangelization movements throughout the American South. 

   An ex-slaver, John Newton knew the power of God’s grace.  Acknowledging his own sinfulness, Newton must have hoped that God’s blessing could flow through him in spite of past transgressions:  I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.

To hear the great Aretha Franklin perform Amazing Grace, click on the video below:

Image source:  Fresco, Monastery of the Archangel Michael, Almopeia, Greece, https://www.provocolate.com/fear-grace-archangel/

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