John Newton wrote many hymns over his lifetime. In the collection “John Newtown’s Olney Hymns” there are 348 quoted in three separate sections. We celebrated the 250th anniversary of his most famous, and probably the favorite hymn over the ages in 2023, that being “Amazing Grace.”
The Americanized version, the one most of us have grown up singing, has changed the meaning a bit, dropping and adding verses. We even renamed it! Newton’s original title was “Faith’s Review and Expectation” which fits his original text, but not quite so with the newer version. Clayton Hutchins, in a recent post on the hymn, says this: “That descriptive title was curious to me, in that it does not forefront “grace” as the main or central theme of the hymn. Instead it speaks of faith looking back (review) and looking forward (expectation).”
The new version is not bad, it’s just different – it has a new ending. Here’s Newton’s original text, taken from The Psalmist, and also found in John Newton’s Olney Hymns.
Read this, or sing it to your favorite tune, but do it with Newton’s original thought in mind. Newton wrote this hymn to go with a specific sermon he was preaching on 1 Chronicles 17:16-17. See how Newton, thinking of his own conversion experience, compares it to David’s in these verses. He looks back at what God had done, and then looks forward to what God will continue to do.
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 has 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.
~John Newton
