The Ark

A deserter, slave-trader and atheist, John Newton, born in 1725, would become a Christian by the age of 25. He settled back in England, became a vicar, and in 1772 wrote the hymn Amazing Grace. Newton was also behind the first Christian service conducted in the colony of New South Wales.

Transcript

Rachael Kohn:

'Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come. 'Tis grace that brought be Safe thus far, Tis grace that'll see me home.'

Those words from a famous hymn tell the story of John Newton, my focus for The Ark this week on ABC Radio National. I'm Rachael Kohn.

Two hundred and thirty five years ago 'Amazing Grace' was written by John Newton, who marvelled at how much his life had changed from his days as a slave trader on the high seas. Newton would become a successful preacher in England and even have a link to Australia. But it's the hymn, 'Amazing Grace', for which he's most known.

Baptist pastor Peter Rahme's written a little book about it.

Peter Rahme: Amazing Grace is so popular, so many people have recorded it, people like Johnny Cash, Paul Simon, Elvis Presley, of course Judy Collins, Mahalia Jackson, Andrew Lloyd Weber, the David Rose orchestra, the Sunshine Band, Ray Stevens, just the list goes on and on.

Rachael Kohn: I suppose it would appeal to a lot of people in the music business who've lived pretty low-down lives?

Peter Rahme: I think so, absolutely, because lots of people forget that the people in the music business are just people like us. They have emotions, they have needs, they have ups, they have downs. And when you're down, Amazing Grace is one of the great lifter-uppers. Nothing beats Amazing Grace because the word 'amazing' in itself is a lifter-upper, and 'grace', it's just so great. And when people begin to sing the tune, they identify, they associate it with certain things in their lives. And even some pursue it even further when they begin to look into the lyrics. And like myself, when I looked into the man behind it, the deeper you get into it, the more you really enjoy it.

Rachael Kohn: Well let's talk about the man behind the hymn, John Newton. He sunk to some pretty low depths in his early life, didn't he?

Peter Rahme: He sure did. He was born in 1725, his mother died when he was just six, and at the age of 11 he was taken with his father, he was a commander in the navy, and then eventually that started him on a life, in the navy, on the ships, and eventually he was taken as a slave in West Africa, and on the way back from West Africa, that's when his life turned around. But up until then, by his own admission, that's why in the hymn he says 'Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me', that's the kind of low, blaspheming, cursing, you name it, he did the whole thing. As a result of that he wrote to his father and his father sent a ship to bring him back. That's when he got right with God.

Rachael Kohn: But he did himself go into the slave trade. He became a seafaring man, a captain of a few ships. How did he feel about being involved in the business of slavery himself?

Peter Rahme: He was confused. And by the way, that happened after his conversion factor because keep it in context, the slave trade, and I'm so glad for the Amazing Grace film that's come out, because it really exposes it for what it is, but the industry at that time, it was such a thriving industry, and the film communicates real well the battle to reverse it. So he had a mixed feeling, he was confused at best. On the one hand he hated it, on the other hand what he did the best he could to have services for the people on his boat. But that was after his conversion.

Rachael Kohn: Did he know William Wilberforce, the man who argued in parliament against the slave trade?

Peter Rahme: Absolutely. He knew William Wilberforce, in fact the relationship went back a long way. He was like a mentor to him, he was like a father figure, and definitely had a very good relationship. They had a very warm, kind relationship in their correspondence one to another.

Rachael Kohn: And on the ship while he was still a sea captain, he became acquainted with the bible through another captain, Alexander Cluny, and he was learning, as he said, 'social prayer and Christian conversation'. What was that about?

Peter Rahme: This is interesting, because this is the journey, what we would call discipleship journey today. You can come to faith, you can come to know Christ as your personal saviour, but you need to grow in grace. You see he knew the grace of God on the ship on the way back to London, but he did not enjoy the grace of God until he was taught, and that's when he came. In fact that was a turning point in his life about slavery, because he learnt to pray out loud, rather than just read out the prayers. He actually grew as a person. That was a very big turning point and of course the fit he had as well, the seizure, which stopped him from continuing on with the slave trade. But that was a very turning point in his discipleship life.

Rachael Kohn: And he ends up in Liverpool, becoming something like a surveyor. What were his influences there?

Peter Rahme: The surveyor period it seemed to me from my research I've done on him, it was almost like a pause in between period. Obviously his whole life was around the sea and the ship and the travelling, and at that time he turned, repented, turned back on the what he called the business which is heart shudders, and so he stayed in there because it was close to home and so forth. But at that time, work seemed to take a lesser profile and priority on his life, and studying the word became a more priority.

Rachael Kohn: So was it there in Liverpool that he became more acquainted with the Methodist movement, and evangelical Christianity?

Peter Rahme: Absolutely. Because you see that's now when his, not only his heart was open to the grace of God, as far as growing in grace, but now his mind was open to the grace of God. And so he just used to go out and listen and especially people like Whitfield and Wesley, in fact Wesley had read his book and read it more than once, according to Wesley's journal. I don't know to what extent they had a close relationship but certainly there was an influence.

Rachael Kohn: Well John Newton wanted to become a priest, but he didn't really have the formal qualifications, did he? So what was his journey towards becoming a preacher at Olney?

Peter Rahme: You could imagine him, into base society imagine a minister to be kind of well-educated, well-dressed and so forth, but this guy came from a slave trade, he talked with everybody, and also he was a fairly unique individual. He loved people one-on-one, especially at Olney, and also he was a creative person. He wrote lots of hymns, more than just 'Amazing Grace', a number of others. 'Amazing Grace' is the one that we know really well.

His education was great as far as the Bible, because he taught himself. And he was quite educated himself, in fact his mother taught him really well. But as far as the standard of the Church of England at that time, that was not what was needed. Eventually God in his grace and mercy brought favour through individuals who put in a good word for him, and eventually put him at Olney.

Rachael Kohn: At Olney. And Olney was a very important parish, wasn't it?

Peter Rahme: Absolutely.

Rachael Kohn: That was George Whitfield's parish, and he was the founder.

Peter Rahme: And the story of it, when I was looking at it, I only realised that he sent his men initially to kind of do the whole work. Quite a while before John Newton there, but also Cooper was there, William Cooper, who wrote with John Newton, their own hymns and the pancake race which we still have now, there's a kind of a tradition that continues on. But what was lovely about Olney was the fact that was really where John Newton cut his teeth. He and his wife were having a wonderful time.

Rachael Kohn: His wife, Polly.

Peter Rahme: Yes. And Mary, she was nicknamed Polly, they had a great relationship. Also they established what we would consider the Sunday School movement now. He had the whole idea, because you see he was a proactive. Not only he was productive but he was proactive. This is one of the things I thoroughly enjoyed about his life, from an inspiration point of view, because we see his picture, and we think an old person, kind of an old hat. But the guy was extremely proactive. In fact that's how he came to write 'Amazing Grace', because part of his sermon, he brought if you like, the concluding notes for the sermon, he turned it into a song, and to a chant actually, and summarised it.

Rachael Kohn: Was it at Olney that he wrote 'Amazing Grace'?

Peter Rahme: Yes, it was at Olney. It was for a New Year's Eve service that he was doing it. He was reading a passage in Scripture.

Rachael Kohn: It was Chronicles, wasn't it?

Peter Rahme: Absolutely 1st Chronicles, Chapter 17 verse 16 and 17. And it was December 1772 and he was just getting ready for a New Year's Day service and I can imagine why he would use the word 'amazing', because he looked at the life of David, he looked at his life, he'd seen what God has done in his life, and the first word that comes out of mouth, is 'Amazing grace' because there's nothing else to describe to what he was like and to what he is now, whereas before he led people astray, he hurt people, he was rebellious. Now he is leading people to Christ, he's built them up, he's serving the Lord. And I can imagine tears came down, I can just imagine that. And in a spontaneous if you like expression of the heart, the only word he can come up is Amazing Grace. Because the chant was called 'Faith as review and expectation'. We know it to be Amazing Grace, because the first line's Amazing Grace.

Rachael Kohn: Well that original title certainly would not have made it to the pop charts.

Peter Rahme: Can you imagine? Oh, what are you singing? I'm singing 'Faith as review and expectation'. What?

Rachael Kohn: Exactly. Well since Olney was such a productive place for him, why did he have to leave it?

Peter Rahme: There were some problems, I suppose like every relationship base, every church work, every charity organisation, there's always inter-personal relationship. I personally believe not only on the physical, on the material, on the external it was then, but God had a plan and he wanted them to go in more closer to London and more to be involved more with William Wilberforce there because he's right there. Also as a result of that, his involvement with eclectic society and also as an involvement with that with Richard Johnson. So I believe there were two things happening, as it normally in our life. There is the situation, there is God's sovereign will. And I think they were working in parallel.

Rachael Kohn: Well you mentioned the eclectic society and that was a missionary society I believe, and that's the Australian connection with Johnson. Can you tell the story?

Peter Rahme: This is a beautiful story specially with the view next year on 3rd February, in 2008 that will represent the 220th anniversary of the first Christian service on Australian soil. Part of John Newton, William Wilberforce, all these proactive, productive Christian leaders, they're not inward focus, they're outward focus. They take the great commission literally, the great commission that Jesus Christ our lord and saviour gave us is to go out into all the world, and preach the gospel. The situation came up where they can organise for a chaplain to come on board on the First Fleet, and William Wilberforce was involved with that on the political scene, on the preparation of it. William Pitt was also involved in that, being the Prime Minister. But John Newton was the representative, the spokesman. So he approached Richard Johnson and of course Richard Johnson accepted and the rest is Australian history because as a result he came on board. And that was also part of having a chaplain on board of the ship, to bring not only the gospel to Australia but also the gospel on the First Fleet as well.

Rachael Kohn: Amazing, as they say. Look tell me a little bit more about the hymn, because in fact the melody that we sing it too wasn't the original melody, was it?

Peter Rahme: No. There's a number of things on that. First of all, with the hymn, it was a chant to start off with. In 1835 that's when 'Faith as review and expectation' found its soul mate in the hymn called 'New Britain', and if you like was born again as 'Amazing Grace'. But it wasn't until 1900 that the American composer Edwin Othello Excel, he added the finishing touches, but what he also did, he removed the final verse and he replaced with the last stanza from Jerusalem our Happy Home which says 'When we've been there 10,000 years bright shining as the sun, we've no less days to sing God's praise than when we first begun.'

Rachael Kohn: I understand you sang it for the Secular Society?

Peter Rahme: I did, I did. For the Humanist Society, I did a talk, they invited me to do that, I brought my guitar and I start with the guitar and I sang it, and it was a very interesting story because they told me that they had been having this Wednesday meeting 40-plus years, and for the last 20-plus years, they haven't had a song at all, and my 'Amazing Grace' was the first song in such a time, and it was just a wonderful time.

Rachael Kohn: Can you sing the first verse for us?

Peter Rahme: I'd love to. (SINGS)

Rachael Kohn: Peter Rahme is pastor at the Inner West Baptist Church in Sydney, and is the author of The Man and the Story behind Amazing Grace.

Guests

Peter Rahme
is Pastor at the Inner West Baptist Church in Sydney and author of The Man & The Story Behind 'Amazing Grace'.

Further Information

The Cowper and Newton Museum
Explore the life of John Newton in this website of The Cowper and Newton Museum in the village of Olney where Newton resided for many years.

Amazing Grace - The Movie
A movie based on the life of antislavery pioneer William Wilberforce. It is directed by Michael Apted (The World is Not Enough, Coal Miner's Daughter) from an original screenplay written by Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things). It stars Ioan Gruffudd, Albert Finney, Romola Garai, Michael Gambon and Youssou N'Dour, among others. A comprehensive site.

Inner West Baptist Church

The Man & the Story Behind 'Amazing Grace'

Publications

Title: The Man & The Story Behind 'Amazing Grace'
Author: Peter Rahme
Publisher: BCAD 2007

Presenter

Rachael Kohn

Producer

Geoff Wood and Rachael Kohn