Last words of the faithful
John Newton
Died 21 December 1807 · London, aged 82
John Newton, once the captain of a slave ship and later the curate who wrote Amazing Grace, died in London on 21 December 1807. In his final months, with his memory failing, he repeatedly said that although he could remember very little, he remembered two things: that he was a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour.
The last words
The story behind them
He had been the captain of a slave ship. That is not a detail to hurry past, and Newton never hurried past it: he wrote in old age that it would always be a subject of humiliating reflection that he had once been an active instrument in a business at which his heart now shuddered. He lived long enough to help William Wilberforce, and he died the same year Parliament abolished the trade.
In between he became a curate at Olney and wrote the hymn that more people can sing than any other in the language. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me. The wretch was not a figure of speech.
Two things left, and they were the only two he had ever needed.
At the end he was nearly blind and his memory was going. His friend and biographer Richard Cecil recorded what he kept returning to in those months: that his memory was almost gone, but that he remembered two things, that he was a great sinner and that Christ is a great Saviour. It is reported as his settled testimony near the end rather than as one dying sentence, and that is how it is given here. A man who had forgotten nearly everything else had not forgotten the arithmetic of the gospel.
What they died for, you can meet
None of these people died for an idea. They died holding onto a Person, convinced that death was not the end because he had already walked out of a tomb. The Living Bread is a quiet place to meet that same Jesus, read the Gospels for yourself, and ask your honest questions.
Jesus Christ is Lord.
Frequently asked questions
- What were John Newton's last words?
- In his final months Newton repeatedly said that although his memory was nearly gone, he remembered two things: that he was a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour. It is recorded as his settled testimony near the end rather than as a single dying sentence.
- Did John Newton write Amazing Grace?
- Yes. Newton wrote the words while serving as curate at Olney; they were published in the Olney Hymns of 1779.
- Was John Newton really a slave trader?
- Yes. He served on slave ships and later captained them, and he wrote in old age that it remained a subject of humiliating reflection. He later supported abolition and assisted William Wilberforce. He died in 1807, the year the British slave trade was abolished.
