"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779, with words written by the English poet and clergyman John Newton (1725–1807).

 

Newton wrote the words from personal experience. He grew up without any particular religious conviction, but his life's path was formed by a variety of twists and coincidences. He was involuntarily forced into service in the Royal Navy and then he became involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In 1748 a violent storm battered his vessel so severely that he called out to God for mercy, a moment that marked his spiritual conversion. While his boat was being repaired in Lough Swilly, County Donegal, Ireland, he wrote the first verse of his world famous song.

 

Ordained in the Church of England in 1764, Newton became curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he began to write hymns with poet William Cowper. "Amazing Grace" was written to illustrate a sermon on New Year's Day of 1773. It debuted in print in 1779 in Newton and Cowper's Olney Hymns but settled into relative obscurity in England. In the United States however, "Amazing Grace" was used extensively during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century. In 1835 it was joined to a tune named "New Britain" to which it is most frequently sung today.

 

With the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, "Amazing Grace" is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world.

 

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