Amazing Grace: The Story Behind the Song

[Music] [Music] the time was late December 1772 the place was old England a small country town 60 miles north of London the 47 year old pasture a former slave ship captained by the name of John Newton needed a song for his New Year's Day service he needed a song that would inspire the working people of his congregation after their Sabbath rest as they went back to lives of toil and hardships a song simple people to connect with heartfelt words that would stir the soul reverend newton had already chosen the scripture for his sermon from 1st chronicles 17 where king david looks back on his life and asked god with wonder who am i that thou has brought me here and he said to his congregation on that Friday morning 1st of January 1773 the Lord gives us many blessings but unless we are grateful for these we lose much of the comfort from them so he said we'll never mind David now what about you and me when you look back where were you when the Lord found you and for himself he says I was a wrench the first word of the hem race no not just grace Amazing Grace yes that sounded right Amazing Grace how sweet the sound he loved to learn from his mother and he could recite passages of Scripture and all of Isaac Watts hymns but when his mother died his father was away at sea for a year when he came back he married quite quickly to a young Italian lady and they went to live in Essex they had a child and Newton ready Kant pushed aside as a crew member on several slave ships he helped scour the African coast in search of human cargo even the young Newton was thrown into Chains once and forced to work as a slave himself on a small island off the coast of Sierra Leone eventually released from his captivity after about a year the great blasphemer as he called himself went to a life so depraved that even his rough shipmates found it shocking what a wretched life I lived and was saved from he thought yes put that in that saved a wretch like me how far I was from God and the life he intended for me I once was lost time to time Newton would make some attempts to get back to the faith that his mother had brought him up in he would have times of Prayer he would even have times of fasting but it was like a yo-yo Randy he was up and down all the time he had no companion to help him and he certainly didn't seek out any finally on March 21st 1748 Newton experienced what he would call his great turning day in the middle of the night the 22 year old was awakened by a violent storm cries from his crewmates on deck sounded the alarm their ship the Greyhound was about to sink as Newton scrambled up the ladder to the deck the man directly above him was hit by a wave swept overboard and never seen again finally making it to the wheel the great blasphemer raised his voice not to curse God but to pray in words he has not used for many years John Newton pleaded lord have mercy on us hour after hour sustained only by his call upon God's mercy Newton attempted to steer the battered ship through the violent seas as down below the crew sought desperately to stop the holes with bedding and strips of clothing twas grace that taught my heart to fear for 11 hours as the storm raged Newton remained at the ship's wheel not knowing if he would live or die gradually the winds lessened in the storm began to call Newton's desperate prayer for God's mercy had been answered and grace my fears relieved how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed for the rest of his life Newton would mark each March 21st with a day of humiliation prayer and praise for his great deliverance from the sea life of sin he had been living Newton's dramatic conversion set him on a long winding path that would take him towards a new life not in one great leap and step by step it was through this experience at sea and his prayer crying for mercy that Newton's life began to be completely transformed it wasn't a sudden overnight change although some things happened immediately he stopped blaspheming he didn't swear again and he began to read the Bible but looking back later in life on this experience he said surely if I had any light then it was as the first faint streak of dawn captain Newton came home from the sea to stay in 1754 he was 29 and it would be 18 years before he wrote his most famous of hems during this time he grew in faith and knowledge as he learned both Hebrew and Greek he also became friends with prominent preachers of the day among them George Whitfield and John Wesley church leaders in the area gradually heard about Newton's amazing story and invited him to speak the idea that Newton might have a higher colleague is blended he decided to apply for formal ordination with all the teaching that Newton was receiving from people like George Whitfield and John Wesley and his many Christian friends in the independent churches he was rapidly growing as a Christian and he began to exercise pastoral gifts he felt that he could do more in the Church of England the established church but he wasn't accepted he applied and was turned down and finally Lord Dartmouth was able to get him in and a great rush and get the Bishop of Lincoln to ordain him and gave him the living of the church in only his authentic narrative that let us about his experience up until that point were published and what is very interesting coming back to this theme of slave trading is that this book was so popular it was it went through many editions and it was translated into French and German and Dutch so it went around the world but nobody ever questioned the slave trading issue because at that stage nobody was questioning it anyway Pastor John Newton dipped his quill again how could he sum up his long journey too many dangers toils and snares I have already come how can he make it clear that this grace was not a one-time experience but something that was with him every moment of every day His grace has brought me safe thus far and grace will lead me home and the years after writing Amazing Grace Newton moved to a larger more influential post as pastor in a church in London's financial district the former slave ship captain went on to not only renounce slavery but work actively to abolish it 19 years before his death the aging Newton would publish his thoughts on the African slave trade his harrowing eyewitness account of the appalling conditions on slave ships in the brutal atrocities practice on slaves provided abolitionists like his young parliamentarian friend William Wilberforce with powerful evidence they needed to educate a misinformed public he gave Wilberforce advice that was profoundly important for his future career Wilberforce was in the throes of what some scholars have called the UCB and temptation that is do I throw over politics for the ministry do I do the the Holy thing and take up holy orders well think with the hindsight we have of history what would have been lost for the cause of Human Rights had Wilberforce left the political arena Newton said no you stay in Parliament keep up your friendship with the Prime Minister William Pitt and then he invoked the wonderful old testament language of the book of Esther saying who knows that before such a time as this God has raised you up for the good of the church and the good of the nation well in that case there really was a prophetic word in play and God gave that word to Newton he shared it with his young friend will before stayed in politics within two years Wilberforce would take up the fight to abolish the slave trade but it gets even better than that when we were working on the film amazing grace the thing that was so remarkable is that we know that Newton was with Wilberforce on that Sunday October 28 1787 when he wrote in his diary God has placed before me - great objects the suppression of the slave trade and the Reformation of my country's manners that is the work of cultural renewal and reform Newton was with him on that Sunday and so for Wilberforce to sit down take quill pen and hand dip it in the inkwell and write that diary entry we can lay a lot of the inspiration for Wilberforce finally settling upon that resolve at Newton's door as Newton approached death his eyesight and memory began to fail one by one those who had loved him came to say their goodbyes to one of these close friends William J Newton made his now famous declaration my memory is nearly gone but I remember two things that I am a great sinner and that Christ is a great Savior he died in 1807 at the age of 82 nine months after witnessing the answer to many prayers the successful passage of the act for the abolition of the slave trade in the years following Newton's death his song would have an amazing journey in its original form the hem was all but forgotten in England but nearly a half-century after it being written Amazing Grace began to appear in the American South being sung to a different tune from the original melody this new music the one which today seems to be so much a part of the hymn that we cannot imagine it otherwise gave newton's simple words a new power and life it became the vehicle needed to take the song around the world there are two thoughts about where the tune for Amazing Grace came from one is that it may have been a tune used by the slaves and the American South but the other is that it may have been a tune brought across from Scotland by the early settlers and I'm more inclined to go with that because dr. Bruce hindmarsh has gone into that very carefully and linking the tune with Tunes used by the shape-note singers performed by popular musicians as well as pipes and drums Amazing Grace has become one of the most beloved melodies in history it was sung by freedom marchers and civil rights movements in the American South and before Martin Luther King jr. gave his I have a dream speech it was sung with rejoicing in South Africa when Nelson Mandela was released from prison and in Germany when the Berlin Wall fell it was sung to comfort a mourning nation after the attacks on 9/11 the story of Amazing Grace reminds us that the same grace that transformed the life of a slave ship captain nearly three centuries ago can still change lives today the true story of Amazing Race is a story that continues and as long as there are people in need of hope and deliverance it will have no end [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Oxvision Films

Views: 1,454,517

Keywords: John Newton (Author), Amazing Grace (Composition), Slavery (Quotation Subject), Song, Story, Documentary (TV Genre), amazing grace documentary, I once was lost, Hymn (Composition Type), slave trading, William Wilberforce (Politician), Amazing Grace, Hymn, Documentary, Film, Movie Trailer

Id: 8m8AHHduTM0

Length: 14min 29sec (869 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 11 2014

Reddit Comments

[u/Philadelphon]

In 1748, the captain of a slave ship who would later become a minister in the Church of England, then an ardent abolitionist, pastor J. Newton (1725-1807), undergoes a transformative experience which inspires the writing of an hymn which today is sung by the faithful the world over.

[u/hymnday]

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)

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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.

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'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed!

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Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come:
'tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.

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

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Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
and mortal life shall cease:
I shall possess, within the veil,
a life of joy and peace.

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The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
the sun forbear to shine;
but God, who called me here below,
will be forever mine.

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