Amazing grace,
how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I'm found
Was blind, but now I see.
'Twas grace that
taught my heart to fear
And grace that fear relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many
dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come
'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home.
How sweet the name
of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds
And drives away his fear.
Must Jesus bear
the cross alone
And all the world go free
No, there's a cross for everyone
And there's a cross for me.
When we've been
here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun.
Rev John Newton 1725-1807
John Newton was born in 1725 in London. At the age of 18
John was pressed into the service of the Royal Navy. Soon after, he deserted and was traded onto a slave ship where he lived as close to a slave's
life as was possible for a white male of his era. Despite coming to the
understanding of a slave's dire situation, he still became the captain of his
own slave ship. Ultimately, he came to fully realize the inhumanity of his
actions and left his life as a slave ship captain to become ordained as a priest
for the Church of England in 1764. So although not a Scotsman his greatest
legacy to us is one of his many hymns he composed "Amazing Grace." He
wrote “Amazing Grace” sometime between 1760 and 1770 in Olney, which is just
north of London and were he lived.
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