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It Is Written

Men of Faith: John Newton

John Bradshaw

Men of Faith: John Newton, Part 1

Coming up next, please stay tuned for It Is Written, presented by Pastor John Bradshaw.

He was 1 of the architects in the ending of slavery in the British Empire, And he wrote 1 of the most famous and best-loved hymns ever sung, Amazing Grace.

His life story is fascinating, barely believable.

He is, without exaggeration, 1 of history's greatest figures, a towering giant within Christianity, whose influence and accomplishments changed the world.

His early life was very definitely something of a contradiction, as the young man who knew far better tangled with some very considerable demons.

Yet somehow he went on to become the greatest preacher of his time and 1 of the best known men in all of Great Britain.

Newton was born in 1725 in an area of London called Wapping, which today would be regarded as a particularly rough area of London.

So you had sea captains living there as well as rough sailors from all over the world.

The early 1700s was a time of hard living and harsh justice.

Convicted pirates and mutineers were brought here to Wapping to be hanged for their misdeeds.

Their bodies often left on display for days as a warning against lawlessness.

The infamous Hanging Judge Jeffreys used to drink right here in this pub, and it's said that pirates were hanged on gallows right behind the pub on the banks of the River Thames.

In fact, just a month before John Newton was born in the year 1725, 6 pirates were hanged for their crimes.

When Newton was born, King George I was on the throne, and the Church of England was the ruling church.

Religion was very formal, and the church was really a political institution.

He was taken to the chapel in old Gravel Lane by his rather pious mother, but sadly she died when he was only 6 years old.

He went to school a little bit on the site of what was the London Olympic Park in Stratford, but was taken off to sea by his father when he was 11.

His father was a captain in the Mediterranean trade.

Now, his father was austere, very distant, aloof, probably very much a product of his time.

After the death of Mrs Newton, the young boy was sent away to boarding school, where the headmaster was a cruel man.

Newton would later write about the man's imprudent severity.

His father remarried, and Newton became a very angry person.

It definitely didn't look like his mother's hopes for her son would be fulfilled.

With his mother dying, his father then married again very quickly afterwards.

And I think there was a little bit of a bust-up within the family in that sense, so there was a lack of control over him.

He was sidelined a little bit, I think, at that point.

So, and so there was no 1 really looking after his, his moral wellbeing, if you like.

The young man had a temper and was prone to destructive antisocial behavior.

Now there was plenty in his life to make him bitter.

At the ripe old age of 10, John Newton left school and went off to work.

His father decided it was time for the boy to go to sea.

It was inevitable, really, that he would end up at sea, as his father was a ship's captain and had high hopes that his son would follow in his steps.

The younger Newton made his first voyage when he was just 11, sailing to Spain.

But in what would be a pattern for much of the next 15 years or so, once the ship arrived in Spain, Newton walked off the job.

Well, we've only got Newton's word for how bad he actually was.

He certainly lost any religion that he had when he was with his mother, so he became effectively an atheist.

So when he finally found religion, he referred to himself as no longer an infidel.

In those days, the Royal Navy had the authority to essentially kidnap able-bodied men and force them to serve on board warships.

And 5 weeks later, England was at war with France.

Fortunately for Newton, his father intervened and he was promoted.

But his attitude was so bad, and his treatment of other people so harsh, he was hated.

He certainly indulged in all sorts of nefarious activities in his younger days, and he was particularly bad as a subordinate.

So he would wind up his captains and superiors in the ships to such an extent that they were prepared to exchange him in later years with other ships.

When his ship anchored ahead of a journey to Asia that would take him away from home for 5 long years, he got a day's leave and went to see the girl who had captured his heart.

Newton was publicly flogged with a cat of 9 tails and his rank was lowered.

He was bitterly angry, thought of killing the captain.

In the fullness of time, he got out of the Navy miraculously and was employed on a trading ship.

He found himself in Africa and got work on a slave ship.

The next few years were a combination of sin, miracles, and to some degree or another, wrestling with conviction.

While he was living on an island off the coast of Sierra Leone, the African wife of his slave-trading employer kept him as a slave.

He only survived because other slaves shared with him the little food that they had.

When he was 20, his employer chained him to the deck of a ship for several days while they were at sea.

Somehow he managed to get out of there alive.

Evidently, God had not forgotten the prayers of his praying mother.

But the worst was still to come for John Newton.

He'd become the captain of a slave ship, a minister of the gospel, and 1 of the most influential men in all of Great Britain.

He'd write Amazing Grace and then play a key role in the abolition of slavery.

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John Newton would become famous as the man who wrote Amazing Grace, but his journey from scoundrel to gospel minister and hymn writer, from outcast to pillar of society here in the village of Olney, would take a lot of twists and turns.

He would come through many dangers, toils and snares.

This was the home of Newton's good friend and hymn-writing partner, William Cooper.

Today it's a museum dedicated to the 2 men.

In the famous song he wrote, John Newton described himself as a wretch.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.

You know, I'm sure there are poets and writers who overstate certain things for effect, stretch the truth, fabricate a little just to make a point.

When he described himself as a rich, he might even have been understating things.

He was promiscuous, even with a girl he loved and hoped to marry at home in England.

It wasn't uncommon for the sailors on the ships to commit indignities against the female slaves.

But what's fascinating is that God continued to work with John Newton, continued to call to him.

Having got away from the terrible situation on the island off Sierra Leone where he was essentially kept as a slave, he agreed to return to England when he was told there was an inheritance waiting for him.

Men of Faith: John Newton Part 2

He's 1 of the great figures of modern Christianity.

Born in London, the son of a ship's captain, his mother died when he was young.

He became an angry young man, a drunk, a blasphemer.

It's said that Newton could use profanity for half an hour without ever repeating himself.

He said himself that he would invent new curse words.

Sent to work at the age of 10, at sea by 11, he was hated by those he worked under and worked with on the water.

A vicious storm at sea jolted him out of his recklessness.

How the ship he was on even made it back to land is hard to understand, except that his mother, who died when he was just 6 years old, was a woman of great faith, a woman of prayer.

And she had dedicated her son to God and to ministry.

Satan put up a serious fight for John Newton.

But God wasn't going to let Newton go without a struggle.

Newton's life is often reduced to 2 events.

Today we struggle to understand how anyone could purchase and resell human beings.

But when John Newton was trafficking in humans, the trade offended essentially no 1, except of course those being trafficked.

It had been socially acceptable in countries around the world for hundreds of years, thousands even.

There are currently more enslaved people on Earth now than at any other time in the history of the world, between 40 and 50 million.

That's 1 in every 160 people or so enslaved.

Around 13 million people were captured and sold as slaves globally between the 15th and 19th centuries.

So that's 1 thing he's known for, the slave trade.

He worked on slave ships and he captained a slave ship.

He was an exceedingly vile person at that time, he says.

Amazing Grace is the most popular hymn in the world.

It was even sung at Live Aid and Woodstock.

He was a pastor, an author, he was a mentor, he was a giant in Christianity.

I mean he's only 1 of 280 odd hymns that he wrote for start with, so if you're only talking about his hymn writing career, you're reducing it to a lower level.

And he, I don't think, regarded the hymn as 1 of his better hymns.

It's only in later years that it's been taken up by, particularly by the, you know, the gospel movement in the States and such like.

Through a remarkable series of providences, Newton became the pastor of this church here in Olney in Buckinghamshire, which is an hour or so by train from St.

Olney is famous for its annual pancake race, which according to tradition was first run in the year 1445.

Around 6, 000 to 7, 000 people now live in Olney, 3 times as many as lived here when John Newton came to be the pastor in 1764 when he was 39 years old.

He expanded the the role of the church so no longer just a sermon on Sunday he would have sermons during the week, he would have Bible studies in the Earl of Dartmouth's house, the great house which no longer exists in Erne.

He made a reputation for himself so much so that they overfilled the church and they in 1765 they had to put a new gallery in the church just to fit everybody in.

And he became something of a roving sensation as well, So he would walk cross country into other parishes and give sermons wherever he went.

But 1 of his most creative innovations is that he began to compose hymns for his church members.

He wanted to really teach his people the gospel.

The Anglican Church's Book of Common Prayer was, in his opinion, too complicated for the people to whom he was ministering.

He felt that if he wrote songs, The people could better learn his teachings if they learned the teachings in song.

Now, before he entered the ministry, Newton had a proven track record as a composer.

While he was working on ships, he would write songs to ridicule the ship's captains and then teach the songs to the sailors, who all thought it was riotously funny.

He made plenty of enemies writing bawdy, ribald songs.

Now he could use his talent for the glory of God.

It's also interesting that Newton was influenced as a child by Isaac Watts.

He and his mother would listen to Watts preach in Wapping, where Newton was raised.

Watts wrote hymns such as, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross, Joy to the World, the tune of which was written by George Friedrich Handel, who wrote The Messiah.

Watts wrote the verses to Marching to Zion.

He wrote, Oh God, Our Help in Ages Past, and at the cross.

So Newton's keen intellect, his creativity, his desire to reach simple people, and his pedigree all came together to make him an effective hymn writer.

The museum here in Olney is the Cooper and Newton Museum.

Cooper was a poet, in fact, an excellent poet, admired by both Coleridge and Wordsworth, with Samuel Coleridge calling him the best modern poet.

Cooper's poem, The Negro's Complaint, was often quoted by Dr.

Newton and Cooper became very close friends.

Cooper struggled with mental illness, and Newton spent countless hours with his friend, helping him, ministering to him and at times literally saving his life.

Newton supported Cooper when he had his melancholic episodes.

Twice, Cooper moved into the Vicarage and Newton and Polly looked after him when he was depressed.

I always like, I like the relationship with Cooper, the odd couple, if you like.

You think, what was it that attracted them to each other?

And they fed off of each other throughout the time here and continued to write to each other thereafter.

So Cooper's poems were published with a forward by John Newton.

So, you know, they were both familiar names around the town at that time.

Cooper wrote hymns that are still sung today.

There is a fountain filled with blood and oh for a closer walk with God.

That old saying, God moves in mysterious ways as wonders to perform, Cooper wrote that.

Newton lived in the vicarage, while Cooper lived only 150 yards away.

They spent a lot of time together, and together, they wrote a lot of hymns.

And it was in the vicarage, in what today we'd call the attic, that Newton wrote Amazing Grace.

It's the challenge that confronts every human heart.

And why do everyday people commit truly despicable acts?

You can visit us online, write to the address on your screen or text FREEHEART to 71392.

There's something placed by God inside the human heart, a yearning to be free.

And the actions of some went beyond the page and the lecture hall, to the tracks of something that became known as the Underground Railroad.

Still away, still away, still away to Jesus.

Still away, still away home I ain't got long to stay here Watch Midnight to Dawn on itiswritten.tv.

As John Newton was preparing a New Year's Day sermon to be preached on January 1, 1772, he wanted to write a hymn that would speak to the heart and reinforce the text he would be using.

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Men of Faith: John Newton Part 2

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