John Newton
Newton was born in London July 24, 1725, the son of a commander of a merchant ship which sailed the Mediterranean. As a child he was trained by his mother to become a faithful Christian. His mother die when he was seven. He went to a boarding school named Essex and made some progress in Latin, but before he was ten, he was taken out of school. When Newton was eleven, he went to sea with his father and made many voyages. In 1742, John’s father had procured a position for him in Jamaica. But before going to Jamaica, Newton went to Kent on his fathers errand and met Mary Catlett, a daughter of a close friend of his mother. He fell in love with Mary and refused to leave Kent. When he got back, his father sent him as a common sailor to Venice as punishment and he returned a year after. He then went to Kent and again disobeyed his father’s order.
On his way to Kent, he was stopped by an armed press gang and was unwillingly put into service on the Harwich and became a midshipman. But when he found out the intolerable conditions, he planned to escape but was caught and brought back to the Harwich. He then was demoted from midshipman to a common seaman and was treated harshly by his shipmates. Finally at his own request he was exchanged into service on a slave ship, which took him to West Africa. Then, he became the servant of a slave trader and was brutally abused. Early in 1748 he was rescued by a sea captain who had known John's father. John Newton became captain of his own ship. Newton had long given up any religious convictions. However, on a homeward voyage, a storm occurred and he pray God to protect him. He survived through the storm and believe that God had help him through the storm and that grace had begun to work for him.
In 1750, he married Mary Catlett, the girl he had been in love for many years. By 1755, he suffered a stroke and that prevented him from going back to sea. From 1755 to 1760 Newton was surveyor of tides at Liverpool. Newton became...
View Full Essay
