nce an infidel and
libertine
Read this story and learn of the man
that went through so much and yet still came forth
strong and well-able to preach the Gospel of the Lord, despite his
many failures and shortcomings.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
WHO AM I?
Who am I? I was born in 1725, and I died 1807.
The only Godly influence in my life, as far back as I can remember, was my
mother, whom I had for only seven years. When she left my life through
death, I was virtually an orphan. My father remarried, sent me to a strict
military school, where the severity of discipline
almost broke my back. I couldn't stand it any longer, and I left in
rebellion at the age of ten. One year later, deciding that I would never
enter formal education again, I became a seaman apprentice, hoping somehow
to step into my father's trade and
learn at least the ability to skillfully navigate a ship.
By and by, through a process of time, I slowly gave myself over to the
devil. And I determined that I would sin to my fill without restraint, now
that the righteous lamp of my life had gone out. I did that until my days
in the military service, where again discipline worked hard against me, but
I further rebelled. My spirit would not break, and I became increasingly
more and more
a rebel. Because of a number of things that I disagreed with in the
military, I finally deserted, only to be captured like a common criminal
and beaten publicly several times.
After enduring the punishment, I again fled. I entertained thoughts of
suicide on my way to Africa, deciding that would be the place I could get
farthest from anyone that knew me. And again I made a pact with the devil
to live for him.
Somehow, through a process of the events, I got in touch with a Portuguese
slave trader, and I lived in his home. He was married to a black wife, who
was brimming with hostility and took a lot of it out on me. She beat me,
and I ate like a dog on the floor of the home. If I refused , she would
whip me with a lash.
I fled penniless, owning only the clothes on my back, to the shoreline of
Africa where I built a fire, hoping to attract a ship that was passing by.
The skipper thought that I had gold or slaves or ivory to sell and was
surprised because I was a skilled navigator. And it was there that I
virtually lived for a long period of time. It was a slave ship. It was not
uncommon for as many
as six hundred blacks from Africa to be in the hold of the ship, down
below, being taken to America.
I went through all sorts of narrow escapes with death only a hairbreadth
away on a number of occasions. One time I opened some crates of rum and got
everybody on the crew drunk. The skipper, incensed with my actions, beat
me, threw me down
below, and I lived on stale bread and sour vegetables for an unendurable
amount of time. He brought me above to beat me again, and I fell overboard.
Because I couldn't swim, he harpooned me to get me back on the ship. And I
lived with a scar in my side, big enough for me to put my fist into, until
the day of my death.
On board, I was in flamed with fever. I was enraged with the humiliation. A
storm broke out, and I wound up again in the hold of the ship, down among
the pumps. To keep the ship afloat, I worked along as a servant of the
slaves. There, bruised and confused, bleeding, deceased, I was the epitome
of the degenerate man. I remembered the words of my mother. I cried out to
God, the only way I knew, calling upon His grace and
His mercy to deliver me, and upon His Son to save me. The only glimmer of
light I could find was in a crack in the ship in the floor above me, and I
looked up to it and screamed for help. God heard me.
Thirty-one years passed, I married a childhood sweetheart. I entered the
ministry. In every place that I served, rooms had to be added to the
building to handle the crowds that came to hear the Gospel presented and
the story of God's grace in my life.
My tombstone reads, “Born 1725, died 1807. A 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
once long labored to destroy.”
I decided before my death to put my life's story in verse. And that verse
has become a hymn.
My name? John Newton
The hymn? “Amazing Grace”
Author Unknown
Here is the poem/song that is known throughout the world:
AMAZING GRACE
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.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace that brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
When we've been there Ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we'd first begun.
By John Newton
