A Hymn Of Grace: Faith’s Review and Expectation (Amazing Grace)

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.

‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!

Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

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

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.

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

When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.

—John Newton (1725–1807)

Newton’s original title was “Faith’s Review and Expectation,” but the work is now universally known by its first two words, “Amazing Grace.” It is based on David’s words in 1 Chron 17:16–17:

Who am I, O Lord God, and what is mine house, that thou bast brought me hitherto? And yet this was a small thing in throe eyes, O God; for thou hast also spoken of thy servant’s house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Lord God.

The first (original) six stanzas are taken completely unaltered from Olney Hymns, 1779. [1] When one considers how even the hymns of such a great poet as Charles Wesley have been altered (and actually improved in many cases), such a phenomenon is amazing. The same six stanzas appear in the Moravian Hymnal, 1789. [2] The original sixth stanza is rarely seen today, being replaced by the popular last stanza printed here.

All knowledgeable church historians are agreed that “Amazing Grace” accurately reflects John Newton’s own experience as a converted “infidel and libertine,” to use his own self-evaluation. His marvelous and truly amazing life story is condensed in his epitaph, written by himself. It is incised on a plain marble tablet near the vestry door of his London church:

JOHN NEWTON, Clerk. [3]
Once an Infidel and Libertine,
A servant of slaves in Africa,
Was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and
Saviour
JESUS CHRIST,
Preserved, restored, pardoned,
And appointed to preach the Faith
He had long laboured to destroy,
Near 16 years at Olney in Bucks
And … years in this church.
On Feb. 1, 1750, he married
MARY,
Daughter of the late George Catlett
Of Chatham, Kent.
He resigned her to the Lord who gave her
On 15th of December, 1790. [4]

In the United Kingdom “Amazing Grace” is sung to “Lloyd,” by Cuthbert Howard (1856–1927), [5] as well as to the better-known American melody.

The heart-tugging traditional early American tune, coupled with Newton's superb poetry, have made this one of the best-loved of all evangelical songs. In recent years popular recordings, including a haunting Scottish bagpipe rendition, have spread the hymn's fame far afield. Television newsclips of Roman Catholic masses have frequently featured the congregation singing this quite non-Catholic hymn of grace.

At one point not too long ago even sophisticated European radio stations were featuring Newton's masterpiece (especially the bagpipe rendition) on their popularity charts.

Would that all this fame in Europe, the Americas, and beyond, also included a fascination for the gracious truths expressed in John Newton's great witness to God's “Amazing Grace”!

Notes

1. “Amazing Grace” is No. 41 of Book I. See Samuel Willoughby Duffield, English Hymns: Their Authors and History (New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1886), 166.
2. Ibid.
3. i.e., cleric or clergyman (pronounced “clark” in the U.K.).
4. Wilbur F. Tillet and Charles S. Nutter, The Hymns and Hymn Writers of the Church (Nashville: Smith & Lamar, 1915), 166.
5. Hymns of Faith (London: Scripture Union, 1983), Hymn No. 50.