"Amazing grace! How sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see."

These were the words of John Newton, a former slave ship captain, who died DECEMBER 21, 1807.



At age 11, his mother died and he went to sea with his father.

Young John Newton fell in love with Mary Catlett while on shore leave, but overstaying his visit, he missed his ship's departure.

He was caught and 'pressed' by a gang onto the ship HMS Harwich.



Newton tried to desert but was caught, stripped to the waist and flogged with 8 dozen lashes.

His reckless behavior caused him to be traded to a slave ship.

Being a continual problem, he was intentionally left him on a West African plantation.

There the African slave dealer, Amos Clowe, made Newton one of the slaves of his wife, Princess Peye, an African duchess, where he suffered abuse and mistreatment.


John Newton was finally rescued, but continued his immoral life, deriding Christians with blasphemy that shocked even sailors.




Caught in a storm that nearly sank their ship, he first prayed.

Get the book, American Minute-Notable Events of American Significance Remembered on the Date They Occurred

 

John Newton read Thomas a Kempis' 'Imitation of Christ' and the Bible.

He left the slave-trade and became a minister, preaching the rest of his life against slavery.
 


He encouraged William Wilberforce to end slavery in the British Parliament.

 


Engraved on his tomb and on a church plaque is,

"John Newton, Clerk,
once an infidel and libertine,
a servant of slaves in Africa,
was, by the rich mercy
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
preserved, restored, pardoned,
and appointed to preach the faith
he had long labored to destroy."