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John Newton (1725-1807)
Arrested for desertion from the Royal Navy, John Newton was flogged and reduced to the ranks. An unlikely start to the career of the man who would become a preacher and evangelist and write some of the worlds best loved hymns. He was also one of the people who started the movement for the Abolition of the Slave Trade!
Shortly after the flogging he switched to being a slave trader. His life then became filled with sordid and evil acts until one day a violent storm occurred which threatened to destroy the ship. During this storm he became aware of himself as God saw him and the shock affected him greatly. He did not change his life immediately but in 1754, six years after the storm, Newton, who was by then a captain, had returned to England. He heard George Whitefield preach and by 1764, sixteen years after the storm, he began his ordained ministry.
John Newton wrote many powerful Christian hymns including 'Amazing Grace' and 'How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds'.
Newton was vociferous in his opposition to the slave trade. But he could find no one within the government to champion the cause until William Wilberforce became a member of Parliament in 1784. It was not until 1807 that Parliament abolished the slave trade. By then Newton was blind and dying but he lived long enough to know that victory had been won.