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Story behind the hymn “Amazing Grace”

“Amazing Grace” was written by John Newton (1725-1807), who worked as a captain in the slave trade for many years, before surviving a catastrophic storm at sea in March 1748 when he was an ordinary passenger on board. He vowed that if he survived he would change his life.

For the rest of his life, Newton observed the storm date as the day "the Lord sent from on high, and delivered me out of deep waters.” After leaving the slave trade and working as a tide surveyor for nine years, Newton was ordained as a Church of England curate at the age of 39. The hymn we now know as "Amazing Grace" was first published in a collection known as the Olney Hymns in 1779. (Among his other well-known hymns are “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken” and “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds.”)

In 1780 Newton moved to the Parish of St. Mary's Woolnoth in London where he remained until his death. Newton’s sermons were heard and admired by William Wilberforce, the English MP and campaigner against slavery. Newton died in 1807, the same year that Britain abolished the slave trade with the passing of the Anti-Slavery Bill. (Slavery itself remained legal in Britain and its colonies until 1838.)

Here are the words John Newton will be remembered for as they appear in Common Praise, the hymn book of the Anglican Church of Canada, #352:

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!

The Lord has promised good to me,
his word my hope secures;
he will my shield and portion be
as long as life endures.

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.

For those seeking additional information about the history of the hymn we recommend consulting the article Amazing Grace in Wikipedia.