John newton biography summary organizer

He soon resolved to undertake some ministerial work; but he was undecided whether to become an independent minister or a clergyman of the church of England. In December he applied for holy orders to the Archbishop of York, on a title in Yorkshire, but received through the archbishop's secretary 'the softest refusal imaginable. In he was brought by Dr.

Haweis, rector of Aldwinkle, to the notice of Lord Dartmouth, the young evangelical nobleman; and on 29 April was ordained deacon, and on 17 June priest. His earliest charge was the curacy of Olney, Buckinghamshire, in Lord Dartmouth's patronage. In the same year he published an account of his life at sea and of his religious experiences, called 'The Authentic Narrative.

Olney was a small market town occupied in the manufacture of straw plait and pillow lace, with a large poor population. Moses Browne was the vicar, but had recently ceased to reside, on his appointment to the chaplaincy of Morden College, Blackheath. Newton faithfully discharged the trust. The church became so crowded that a gallery was added.

Prayer-meetings, at which his parishioners and his friends among the neighbouring dissenting ministers took part with him in leading the prayers, were held in the large room at Lord Dartmouth's old mansion, the Great House. Newton preached incessantly, not only in Olney, but in cottages and houses of friends far and near. In October the poet Cowper and Mrs.

Unwin settled at Olney. Their house at Orchard Side was only separated from the vicarage by a paddock. Cowper at once identified himself with the religious life of the village. He joined Newton in all religious services, in his preaching tours and in his visits to the sick and dying. But in Cowper's religious madness returned, and he made a renewed attempt at suicide.

Cowper's mania ultimately took a Calvinistic tone; but it is more reasonable to attribute this fact to the fierce Calvinistic controversy which raged at the time in the religious world than to the influence of Newton, whose Calvinism was always moderate, and a latent rather than a conspicuous force. The extreme tension and emotional excitement of the life at Olney under Newton's guidance must, however, have been very dangerous to Cowper.

Still more dangerous was the spirit of desolation and seIf-accusation which pervades all Newton's writings, and which is directly reflected in the hymns and letters written by Cowper while at Olney. Newton regarded spiritual conflict as the normal type of God's dealing with the awakened soul see OMICRON, Letters , letter xi , and hence was blind to the disastrous physical effects of Cowper's delusion.

John newton biography summary organizer

He throughout treated him with exquisite tenderness. For thirteen months Cowper and Mrs. Unwin lived with him at the vicarage. To the end of his life he had the deepest affection for Cowper, and they never ceased to correspond together. Two temporary breaches in their friendship — on publication of the 'Task' and on Cowper's removal to Weston — were due to Newton's puritanical objections to every form of secular amusement and to any sort of toleration for Roman catholicism — sentiments which Cowper only imperfectly shared.

His letters had always the affectionate aim of removing Cowper's delusion as to the divine reprobation, but they generally deepened his gloom. Newton ministered here from to His last sermon was in January The fact that he was once a slave trader is well known today. What is not so commonly known is that he left the slave trade more than thirty years before The Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade was formed.

Newton's association with the slave trade began when, at the age of 19, a failed attempt at desertion from the Royal Navy saw him exchanged on to a merchant ship bound for West Africa. In his Authentic Narrative he wrote openly of his slave trading: 'I considered myself as a sort of gaoler or turnkey, and I was sometimes shocked with an employment that was perpetually conversant with chains, bolts, and shackles.

What strikes us as incomprehensible today, is the fact that after he was dramatically converted to Christianity, Newton went on to accept further responsibilities in the trade. In his Letters to a Wife he describes his own incredulity: 'The reader may perhaps wonder, as I now do myself; that, knowing the state of the vile traffic to be as I have here described, and abounding with enormities which I have not mentioned, I did not, at the time, start with horror at my own employment, as an agent in promoting it.

Custom, example, and interest, had blinded my eyes. I did it ignorantly. In fact, it would be another four years before the Philadelphia Quakers banned the buying and selling of slaves, and almost another two decades before the publication of Anthony Benezet's influential Some Historical Account of Guinea After some months receiving Christian teaching and fellowship in London, Newton began work as Surveyor of Tides in Liverpool in August Then feeling increasingly drawn to the ministry, he dedicated himself in for full-time service in the Church.

He was eventually ordained into the Church of England in , to the parish of Olney in Buckinghamshire, where he ministered for 16 years. Through his preaching, writing and counselling, his influence extended further afield and across denominations. By the time he began ministering in Olney, Newton was increasingly aware of the gross inhumanity of the slave trade.

He was friendly with Moravians who were engaged in missionary work amongst the slaves in the West Indies. And he wrote a recommendation 'in his behalf' to help James promote his autobiography on his promotional tour. It is likely that his neighbour and close friend, William Cowper, gleaned insights from Newton for his antislavery poems and prose.

By January , Newton was based in London as rector of St Mary Woolnoth, where he quickly became a focal point for believers of all denominations. He also published two volumes of highly influential letters, which attracted the attention of the author Hannah More , who met Newton, was converted, and became of great usefulness to the abolition cause.

In , William Wilberforce sought a secret meeting with Newton, who counselled him not to seek the ordination he was contemplating, but to remain in politics where he could best fulfil his calling. These qualities gained him the friendship of Hannah More, Cecil, Wilberforce and others; and his renown as a guide in experimental religion made him the centre of a host of enquirers, with which he maintained patient, loving and generally judicious correspondence of which a monument remains in the often beautiful letters of "Cardiphonia".

As a hymn-writer, Montgomery says that he was distanced by Cowper. But Lord Selbourne's contrast of the "manliness" of Newton and the "tenderness" of Cowper is far juster. A comparison of both in "The Book of Praise" will show no great inequality between them. Amid much that is bald, tame and matter of fact, his rich acquaintance with Scripture, knowledge of the heart, directness and force, and a certain sailor imagination, tell strongly.

The one splendid hymn of praise, "Glorious things of thee are spoken", in the Olney collection is his. For a closer walk with God". The most characteristic hymns are those which depict in the language of intense humiliation, his mourning for the abiding sins of his regenerate life and the sense of withdrawal of God's face, coincident with the never-failing conviction of acceptance in the Beloved.

Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikisource Wikidata item. Anglican cleric, hymn-writer, and abolitionist — For other people named John Newton, see John Newton disambiguation. The Reverend. Wapping , London, England. Mary Catlett. Early life [ edit ]. Impressment into naval service [ edit ].

Enslavement and rescue [ edit ]. Christian conversion [ edit ]. Slave trading [ edit ]. Marriage and family [ edit ]. Anglican priest [ edit ]. Writer and hymnist [ edit ]. See also: Category:Hymns by John Newton. Abolitionist [ edit ]. Final years [ edit ]. Commemoration [ edit ]. Portrayals in media [ edit ]. Film [ edit ]. Stage productions [ edit ].

Television [ edit ]. Novels [ edit ]. See also [ edit ]. References [ edit ]. Notes [ edit ]. Citations [ edit ]. Financial Times. Archived from the original on 10 December Retrieved 2 August Cowper and Newton Museum. Retrieved 24 May Preachers Help.