John Newton authored numerous hymns still sung in churches today, including the well-loved “Amazing Grace.” He was born July 24, 1725, in Wapping in London. His father was a sea captain. His mother, Elizabeth, was a frail, inward-looking, devout Christian who read her son Bible stories and then tested his knowledge with questions from the Shorter Catechism. She supplemented this training with the writings of Isaac Watts and John Bunyan.

When John was 7 his mother died, and at age 11 he went to sea with his father. After six years sailing the Mediterranean, he picked up a book containing a collection of philosophical essays that mocked the Christian faith. After reading this book over and over, Newton felt released from the demands of the orthodox faith, and his mother’s teaching gradually faded from thought.

John received an unexpected invitation to visit the Catletts, the family who had cared for his mother during her terminal illness. When he met the family again, he became entranced by their daughter Mary, now a vivacious 14-year-old. It was love at first sight, and Mary was to occupy an important place in Newton’s thoughts from then on.

Chatham was close to the Medway River where fleets of the royal navy often anchored. John was kidnapped by a pressgang from the HMS Harwich and forcibly enlisted in the British navy. When John tried to leave the ship, he was captured by a group of soldiers, put in prison overnight and returned to the Harwich in chains. He was stripped, tied to a grating and flogged before the crew. As the Harwich sailed south on a five-year trip to India, John was in the depths of despair. Not to see Mary again until she was 21 was unthinkable.

Newton jumped at the first opportunity to transfer to another ship. The Levant collected slaves along the Guinea coast for sale in the West Indies. John took advantage of his improved living conditions aboard the Levant to exercise his growing hostility toward the Christian faith. He was often guilty of blasphemy and defiance of authority. Having used slave girls for sex, he much later told his pastor that he was a slave to every customary vice.

Newton left the ship at Plantain Island to work for an English slave trader, who lived with an African woman called P.I. P.I. was a Bullom, from the ruling Bombo family, and had a great deal of influence. When John became extremely weak and helpless from a fever, he became her slave and suffered terrible abuse. Half naked and living with very little food and no shelter, he was often chained to the deck of a small boat for several days at a time. When John was finally released to work for another trader, his situation greatly improved.

In 1746 John Newton was rescued by Anthony Gother, captain of the Greyhound. This ship was collecting gold, ivory, wood and beeswax along the African coast. Finally, Newton headed back to England, his beloved Mary, and the next great change in his life.

Editor’s note: Bill Tanner, a retired farmer and businessman and a life-time resident of Union City, attends Grace Community Church.