Finding Humility & Hope in John Newton's Story
by Erin Bair
Dear friends,
When I was in London last month for meetings with colleagues from Novo (the other ministry I work with), we were able to visit the church of St. Mary Woolnoth, right in the heart of the City of London. It's a well-known church for many reasons, but perhaps most significantly because John Newton served there as a priest for almost 30 years (from 1780 to 1807).
Most of us know John Newton as the author of the beloved hymn "Amazing Grace." But before he was a priest and a hymn-writer, he worked in the slave trade, first as a sailor and then as a captain of slave ships. (I have to think this is what he had in mind when he wrote about grace saving "a wretch like me.") Not only did Newton eventually leave slave trading for ministry, but he became a key figure in the abolition movement, working to put an end to England's role in the slave trade.
But Newton's story is complex. He converted to Christianity on March 10, 1748, after a ship he was sailing on survived a terrible storm. It was a date he would mark every year for the rest of his life. Yet it was after his conversion that he became a captain of slave ships. It wasn't until much later in his life that Newton became convinced of the evil of slavery, made a public confession of his guilt for participating in it, and became a supporter of abolition.
In a way, Newton's isn't the kind of night-and-day conversion story we might wish that it were. His coming to faith didn't cause him to immediately turn his back on slavery. In fact it seems that it was a decline in his health, rather than the implications of his faith, that led him to leave the slave trade. Somehow, it seems that for some period of time, Newton believed in Jesus as the one who had come to set him free from slavery to sin, even as he profited from the literal enslavement of his fellow human beings. It's a jarring reality that we must reckon with, even as we can give thanks for his later repentance and commitment to abolition.
I find this aspect of John Newton's life both humbling and hopeful. It's humbling because it reminds me of how capable we are of sin, even grievous sin, despite the fact that we are committed Christians. We are all capable of having blind spots, areas of our lives where we are unaware of the fact that we're living in ways that are contrary to the holiness to which God calls us. But it's hopeful because it reminds me that God is committed to us for the long haul, that he will never stop his work of sanctification in us, that there is no end to the redemption that he can bring from the sin and brokenness of our lives.
When he died, John Newton was buried in the vault at St. Mary Woolnoth. A memorial plaque on the wall near the pulpit bears his epitaph, which he wrote: "John Newton, Clerk, once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the faith he had long laboured to destroy."
Today, the congregation that worships at St. Mary Woolnoth is primarily Black. The arc of redemption may be long, but by the rich mercy of Jesus Christ, it is sure.
Amazing grace indeed.
In Christ's love,
The Rev. Erin Bair is the Rector of St. Michael’s Anglican Church in Nokesville, VA.
Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons