John Newton, who became one of the leading evangelicals within the Church of England in the late eighteenth century, is best known for his hymns, ‘Amazing Grace’, ‘Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken’, ‘How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds’, among many others, written in collaboration with the poet William Cowper. Newton was the son of a merchant sea captain, and his early life included sailing with his father, service with the royal navy, desertion and involvement in the West African slave trade.
At one point in his life he was actually the servant of a white slaveholder’s black wife, who humiliated and degraded him. During a violent storm on the North Atlantic during a voyage back to England in 1748, Newton turned to God. However, he continued in the slave trade until 1755. Back in his home city of London he was influenced by George Whitefield and John Wesley, decided to take holy orders in the Anglican Church, and was ordained in 1764. Newton was curate of the parish church in Olney, Buckinghamshire, for fifteen years.
His friendship with Cowper helped the poet through a period of mental illness and resulted in the famous Olney Hymns. In 1779 Newton became vicar of St Mary Woolnoth near the Royal Exchange, London, where he remained for the rest of his life. The congregation swelled to the extent that a gallery was required for extra seating. At one time giving a series of sermons based on the texts used in Handel’s Messiah. He was a counsellor to Charles Simeon, Hannah More, Thomas Scott and William Wilberforce, and he played a significant part in the latter’s campaign to abolish the slave trade.