“I freely all forgive!”

John Newton is buried in Olney, England. On his original gravestone was this inscription:

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,
restored, pardoned, and ap­point­ed to preach
the Gos­pel which he had long laboured to destroy.
He min­is­tered,
Near sixteen years in Ol­ney, in Bucks,
And twenty-eight years in this Church.

At age 11, with but two years school­ing and on­ly a rud­i­men­tary know­ledge of La­tin, he went to sea with his fa­ther. Life at sea was filled with won­der­ful es­capes, viv­id dreams, and a sail­or’s reck­less­ness. He grew into a god­less and aban­doned man. He was once flogged as a de­sert­er from the na­vy, and for 15 months lived, half starved and ill treat­ed, as a slave in Af­ri­ca.

A chance read­ing of Thom­as à Kemp­is sowed the seed of his con­ver­sion. It was ac­cel­er­at­ed by a night spent steer­ing a wa­ter­logged ship in the face of ap­par­ent death. He was then 23 years old. Over the next six years, dur­ing which he com­mand­ed a slave ship, his faith ma­tured. He spent the next nine years most­ly in Li­ver­pool, stu­dy­ing He­brew and Greek and ming­ling with White­field, Wes­ley, and the Non­con­form­ists. He was even­tu­al­ly or­dained, and be­came cur­ate at Ol­ney, Buck­ing­ham­shire, in 1764. [CyberHymnal: John Newton]

Pastor Mark at Grace Dependent provides the full text of the poem from which comes the hymn "Amazing Grace":

In evil long I took delight, unawed by shame or fear; Till a new object met my sight, and stopped my wild career: I saw One hanging on a tree in agonies and blood; Who fixed His languid eyes on me as near His cross I stood. Sure, never till my latest breath can I forget that look; It seemed to charge me with His death, though not a word He spoke. My conscience felt and owned the guilt, and plunged me in despair; I saw my sins His blood had shed, and helped to nail Him there. Alas, I knew not what I did, but all my tears were vain; Where could my trembling soul be hid, for I, the Lord, had slain! A second look He gave that said, “I freely all forgive!” “This blood is for thy ransom paid, I died that thou mayest live!”

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! Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares I have already come: ‘Tis grace hath bro’t me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. The Lord has promised good to me, His Word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be, as long as life endures. Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail, and mortal life shall cease; I shall possess within the veil, a life of joy and peace. The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, the sun forbear to shine; But God Who called me here below shall be forever mine

Amazing Grace « Grace Dependent, John Newton, Amazing Grace