Only years later did his moral and spiritual conscience catch up on this issue with the high principles of the One he followed. Newton the morally corrupt slave trader embraced faith in Jesus, then continued slave trading. What lessons does his life hold? Here are a few. John Newton encountered “many dangers, toils, and snares” on his life’s voyage from slaver to pastor, hymn writer, mentor, and abolitionist. On December 21 of that year, grace finally led John Newton home to his Maker. In early 1807 Britain outlawed the slave trade.

Wilberforce and his colleagues finally prevailed. According to historian Professor John Coffey, the discovery transforms our understanding of Newton’s involvement in the slave trade and abolitionism as well as the meaning of the world-famous hymn. “Amazing Grace! (how sweet the sound),” Newton wrote, “That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.” A harrowing anonymous account by an 18th-century slave trader was written by Amazing Grace author John Newton, a study suggests. He gave his life to God, left the slave trade, became a pastor, and wrote hymns. John Newton was an eighteenth century British slave trader who had a dramatic faith experience during a storm at sea. Do you know the inspiring story behind its songwriter? Maybe like I did, you think you know the real story, but you don’t.

I have never written anything that brought out more people who frankly should stay in and I can’t bear to read more stupid comments on this issue.Are you familiar with the classic song Amazing Grace? You probably are. UPDATE: I deleted the comments and am not going to allow more on this post. So, while I reluctantly have to point out the error of Phipps, my hat is off to the contributions of American slaves to musical development. But secondly, the character of the music is not inferior it is just different. African American music highly developed the concept of playing and singing between notes (in the cracks). To that kind of thinking, I have one word: rubbish! First of all, music of that sort does not really only use five tones tones are used that do not even fit into the Western chromatic scale. His obvious opinion was that because the pentatonic scale is a subset of the common Western seven note scale, music written using pentatonic scales is inferior. I am currently arranging “Go Tell It On the Mountain,” which undoubtedly is a product of American slavery and was written using a pentatonic scale.Ī few years ago at my church, someone (a visitor) came up and began quizzing me about pentatonic scales. His words would become one of the best-known hymns in the. John Newton, a slave trader-turned-abolitionist, gave a sermon about personal redemption. The runs in “Heaven Came Down” on Portraits of Hope are pentatonic. On January 1, 1773, in Olney, England, The Rev. I use pentatonic scales often in my arrangements. That being said, I enjoyed the Phipps YouTube video and I love songs that use the pentatonic scale. Even if true, there is almost no chance that Newton ever heard that tune or envisioned his hymn being sung to that tune. It is certainly possible that the melody of “Amazing Grace” was written by a slave, but that is far from a given. Pentatonic scales are prevalent in African American music (including music from slavery) but they are common in much folk music from different cultures. This is the scale that is created when you play the black keys starting on F#. In terms of the scale we use today, the pentatonic scale is a subset that uses five pitches (1, 2, 3, 5, and 6). When Phipps discusses the idea of songs being sung with black keys, he is referring to songs that are written using a pentatonic scale. Before that time, it was undoubtedly sung to numerous other melodies. We have no idea whether he sang it to any particular tune, but we do know that the melody it is currently sung with (New Britain) was not associated with the song until the 1830’s. Newton wrote the words of the hymn as a poem, which was how it was published in 1779. It is a great, heart-warming story, but unfortunately, it is not true. He then says that when he gets to heaven, he wants to meet the slave called Unknown. In fact, he mentions that when the song is printed today, Newton gets credit for the words but the music’s writer is always listed as unknown. Phipps strongly suggests that Newton heard the tune he used for “Amazing Grace” from black slaves. Of course, that hymn was written by John Newton, a slave trader. He then points out that “Amazing Grace” can also be played using just black notes. There is a popular Youtube video that features Wintley Phipps talking about “Amazing Grace.” He discusses how most Negro spirituals can be played on a piano’s black notes.

Amazing grace writer slave trader