THE STORY OF HOW “AMAZING GRACE” WAS WRITTEN

THE STORY OF HOW “AMAZING GRACE” WAS WRITTEN

By Reverend Samuel Orrin Sewell

Captain John Newton was a slave trader. For decades he loaded his "cargo" in Africa, and delivered it to sugar plantations and other activities supported by slavery. He was getting ready to retire as a wealthy man, but on his final voyage something happened that dramatically changed his life.

A fierce storm began to batter his ship. Captain Newton came up on deck and took the wheel in his own hands. He struggled for hours to save his ship. Close to his widely placed feet there was an air shaft that led down to the "cargo." Slaves were stacked like cord-wood on slave ships, and Captain Newton noticed urgent sounds coming through the air shaft.  Screams of pain from a female voice reached his ears. It soon became obvious that a child was being born right below his feet. The fury of the storm, compounded by stress and fatigue, caused Captain Newton to connect his efforts at saving his ship with the struggle going on just inches below him. Eventually the woman's screaming stopped, but there was no cry of a newborn baby. Captain Newton realized that a baby had just died. His firm grip on the wheel slipped, he fell to the deck unconscious.

The ship began to wallow in the troughs of the waves. The first mate rushed to the deck, grabbed the wheel, and ordered Captain Newton’s unconscious body to be placed in the Captain's cabin. Finally the storm subsided, but for three days Captain Newton was a mad man. He threw things at crew members who attempted to give him food, and seemed to be talking to himself in between periods of weeping and bellowing obscenities at the top of his lungs. Near the end of the third day of his tribulation the crew found him sitting at his desk, writing frenetically. When he had finished writing he called his first mate to come to his cabin. He handed the first mate the words to "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.

He reported that the words came to him in a kind of "automatic writing." Later he explained how the words to "Amazing Grace" were revealed to him. "And I saw choirs of Angels, tier after tier, stretching into the sky as far as the eye could see, and they sang to me one beautiful phrase over and over again; It shall not be counted against you. It shall not be counted against you." John Newton became a clergyman in the church of England.

This story has been retold by so many clergy that the facts of the incident are lost in history. Now it is more of a parable than a history lesson.  I can't tell this story without weeping. Even now, after having told it hundreds of time, I began crying while typing. I hope that others hearing the story will be inspired to share the grace of Christ which is freely given even to a "wretch like me."

Amazing Grace Lyrics  John Newton (1725-1807)

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.

T'was 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.

The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.

Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall profess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The following stanza was written by an anonymous author, often replacing the sixth stanza, or inserted as the fourth.

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've first begun.

Chorus:

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.