John Newton: Two Extremes of Human Trafficking
John Newton: Two Extremes of Human Trafficking
John Newton, the famous author of "Amazing Grace," was not always a good man. Born on 24 July 1725 in London to a merchant ship captain and his wife, Elizabeth, little John grew up as an only child. He remembered eagerly learning about God from his beloved mother, who also taught him to read and memorize Scripture, how to pray and sing hymns. She was a "Dissenter," one who separated from the Church of England because she had experienced a deep and warm personal relationship with Christ, and they faithfully walked to a nearby Independent church each Sunday. With his father gone for months at a time, his mother was John's teacher as well, and he excelled in his studies, even as a young boy. Elizabeth died of tuberculosis when John was six years old, however, and by the time he was eleven, his father's ship had, unfortunately, become his new home.
John's formative faith was almost destroyed in the blasphemous company of the foul and raucous sailors aboard ship. John's early moral foundations faded as he embraced life at sea. During his teen years, John made five long voyages with his father. In between expeditions, his new stepmother allowed him to run free, and he was often in trouble - drinking, swearing, smoking, roughhousing, fighting, and running from the God who, he would write later, was always drawing John back to Himself.
It was when John was seventeen that he met and fell in love with Mary Catlett, the daughter of family friends, at their substantial estate in Kent. His father, now shore-bound with a new job, had arranged for John to take passage on a ship to Jamaica, but the impulsive John missed the voyage to stay near Mary. When John returned home, his father resolved that his son would learn discipline. John was then sent on a months-long voyage as a common sailor, without his own paternal protection from the harshness of the seaman’s life.
At age eighteen, John was pressed into service with the Royal Navy aboard the ship HMS Harwich. After attempting to desert, he was relieved of his post and traded to a passing slave vessel, where he was chained to the mast, whipped, and allowed little food. This began a new chapter for John. He learned some hard lessons, served as a sailor aboard several slave-ships, taught himself Latin and geometry, and eventually was promoted to the rank of master in charge of navigation.
It was in March of 1748 when John Newton's ship, the Greyhound, all but sank in a violent, ravaging storm. For days, as the crews struggled to keep the broken ship together, Newton also struggled with his soul, seeing his poor life choices in the face of certain death. When what was left of the ship finally drifted upon an Irish coast weeks later, Newton made his way to the nearest church and dedicated himself to God. He had returned to the faith of his childhood. His life began to change.
John married Mary in 1750, but was often still at sea. At the time, throughout the world, the enslavement and transportation of human beings was still, unbelievably, considered an "honorable profession." Captives had been kidnapped, enslaved, and sold, since time out of mind, in every culture along the human timeline. John remained captain for three more voyages that trafficked human beings between 1750 and 1754. Increasingly, John began to hate himself and what he was doing, now understanding that the selling and transporting of fellow humans, made in the image of God, was an unspeakable and shocking horror, an atrocity against both God and man. In 1754, suffering ill health and in his recovery period, as his faith was strengthened and deepened, John wrote his first book, The Authentic Narrative, which spoke of his life at sea and what he had experienced in conversion. He was no longer the man he once was.
In 1764, John felt called to ministry and, after much opposition due to his background and lack of theological training, he was finally accepted and ordained as a Church of England minister. He was appointed to a parish church in Olney, England. For the next forty-three years, Newton ministered at Olney and then at St. Mary Woolnoth in London, and authored many theological books, sermons, letters, and hymns. He took the ministry seriously, preaching tirelessly to his large, but poor, congregation of lace-makers and day laborers. In 1767, the poet William Cowper settled in Olney, and John and William became good friends, writing hundreds of hymns together, including the story of John's life, put to song in 1773, called "Amazing Grace."
As his faith matured, John worked to abolish the slave system in England, convincing his good friend, William Wilberforce to stay in politics in 1785, and co-founding with Wilberforce the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade two years later. In 1788, Newton wrote Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade, a graphic account of his experiences aboard slave ships that included a repentant confession of his personal involvement in the trade. It was an exposé of the abuses endured by Africans and the unconscionable indignities he had witnessed. It was a system that must be eradicated.
His pamphlet sold out immediately, and the second edition was sent to every member of Parliament. Newton would go on to testify against slavery at parliamentary hearings, and even spoke on the issue at a meeting of the Privy Council before King George III. Finally, in 1807, the almost blind Newton witnessed Parliament's passage of the Slave Trade Act, banning the transportation and trade of enslaved persons on British ships. Nine months later, on 21 December of the same year, Newton passed away in London.
Newton knew well the darkness at the heart of every person, and in deep contrition, called himself "The Old African Blasphemer," humbled to the end of his life to think that God, in His mercy, had offered him the salvation he did not deserve. Through all the years of ministry and fame, Newton never forgot how far he had come. On his gravestone in the parish churchyard in Olney, John had inscribed this testimony: "John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy."
This month, as we turn our thoughts to and prayers for those who have been and are now trafficked, we grieve for the human beings who both refuse to see evil and who are harmed by it. We all have been, at times, blind to human suffering. But like Newton, we "once were blind, but now we see." It is with equal parts of sorrow and hope, then, that we remember Newton's part in the making of peace. His words touch our hearts, as we say with him, "I am not the man I ought to be. I am not the man I wish to be. I am not the man I hope to be. But, by the grace of God, I am not the man I used to be."
-Karen O'Dell Bullock
John's formative faith was almost destroyed in the blasphemous company of the foul and raucous sailors aboard ship. John's early moral foundations faded as he embraced life at sea. During his teen years, John made five long voyages with his father. In between expeditions, his new stepmother allowed him to run free, and he was often in trouble - drinking, swearing, smoking, roughhousing, fighting, and running from the God who, he would write later, was always drawing John back to Himself.
It was when John was seventeen that he met and fell in love with Mary Catlett, the daughter of family friends, at their substantial estate in Kent. His father, now shore-bound with a new job, had arranged for John to take passage on a ship to Jamaica, but the impulsive John missed the voyage to stay near Mary. When John returned home, his father resolved that his son would learn discipline. John was then sent on a months-long voyage as a common sailor, without his own paternal protection from the harshness of the seaman’s life.
At age eighteen, John was pressed into service with the Royal Navy aboard the ship HMS Harwich. After attempting to desert, he was relieved of his post and traded to a passing slave vessel, where he was chained to the mast, whipped, and allowed little food. This began a new chapter for John. He learned some hard lessons, served as a sailor aboard several slave-ships, taught himself Latin and geometry, and eventually was promoted to the rank of master in charge of navigation.
It was in March of 1748 when John Newton's ship, the Greyhound, all but sank in a violent, ravaging storm. For days, as the crews struggled to keep the broken ship together, Newton also struggled with his soul, seeing his poor life choices in the face of certain death. When what was left of the ship finally drifted upon an Irish coast weeks later, Newton made his way to the nearest church and dedicated himself to God. He had returned to the faith of his childhood. His life began to change.
John married Mary in 1750, but was often still at sea. At the time, throughout the world, the enslavement and transportation of human beings was still, unbelievably, considered an "honorable profession." Captives had been kidnapped, enslaved, and sold, since time out of mind, in every culture along the human timeline. John remained captain for three more voyages that trafficked human beings between 1750 and 1754. Increasingly, John began to hate himself and what he was doing, now understanding that the selling and transporting of fellow humans, made in the image of God, was an unspeakable and shocking horror, an atrocity against both God and man. In 1754, suffering ill health and in his recovery period, as his faith was strengthened and deepened, John wrote his first book, The Authentic Narrative, which spoke of his life at sea and what he had experienced in conversion. He was no longer the man he once was.
In 1764, John felt called to ministry and, after much opposition due to his background and lack of theological training, he was finally accepted and ordained as a Church of England minister. He was appointed to a parish church in Olney, England. For the next forty-three years, Newton ministered at Olney and then at St. Mary Woolnoth in London, and authored many theological books, sermons, letters, and hymns. He took the ministry seriously, preaching tirelessly to his large, but poor, congregation of lace-makers and day laborers. In 1767, the poet William Cowper settled in Olney, and John and William became good friends, writing hundreds of hymns together, including the story of John's life, put to song in 1773, called "Amazing Grace."
As his faith matured, John worked to abolish the slave system in England, convincing his good friend, William Wilberforce to stay in politics in 1785, and co-founding with Wilberforce the Society for Effecting the Abolition of the Slave Trade two years later. In 1788, Newton wrote Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade, a graphic account of his experiences aboard slave ships that included a repentant confession of his personal involvement in the trade. It was an exposé of the abuses endured by Africans and the unconscionable indignities he had witnessed. It was a system that must be eradicated.
His pamphlet sold out immediately, and the second edition was sent to every member of Parliament. Newton would go on to testify against slavery at parliamentary hearings, and even spoke on the issue at a meeting of the Privy Council before King George III. Finally, in 1807, the almost blind Newton witnessed Parliament's passage of the Slave Trade Act, banning the transportation and trade of enslaved persons on British ships. Nine months later, on 21 December of the same year, Newton passed away in London.
Newton knew well the darkness at the heart of every person, and in deep contrition, called himself "The Old African Blasphemer," humbled to the end of his life to think that God, in His mercy, had offered him the salvation he did not deserve. Through all the years of ministry and fame, Newton never forgot how far he had come. On his gravestone in the parish churchyard in Olney, John had inscribed this testimony: "John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long labored to destroy."
This month, as we turn our thoughts to and prayers for those who have been and are now trafficked, we grieve for the human beings who both refuse to see evil and who are harmed by it. We all have been, at times, blind to human suffering. But like Newton, we "once were blind, but now we see." It is with equal parts of sorrow and hope, then, that we remember Newton's part in the making of peace. His words touch our hearts, as we say with him, "I am not the man I ought to be. I am not the man I wish to be. I am not the man I hope to be. But, by the grace of God, I am not the man I used to be."
-Karen O'Dell Bullock
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