The testimony of John Newton is like very few others.  His life resembled that of the Apostle Paul in that he came from a life steeped in sin and by God's grace was gloriously saved.  This story is relayed in his classic song Amazing Grace.   Newton wrote this song in 1779 as an outward expression of his inner transformation.  Newton wanted to declare that he was a "new creature" in Christ. 

Born in London in 1725, Newton had a mother who was a devout Christian woman who knew that due to an illness she would not live very long.  She was determined to teach John as much Bible as she could. When John was just 7 years old, she died.  Following her death, John became a cabin boy on a ship due to the fact that his father was a sea captain. It is this life that brought him an indulgence in sin.  John had a hard life of abuse and cruelty.  He became the captain of a slave ship and also an alcoholic.  Newton was so drunk that one time he fell overboard.  The crew did not care for him, so rather than lower a rescue boat, they threw a whaling harpoon at him that caught him in the hip.  Newton could never walk again without a limp. 

After Newton was saved he wrote, "I often saw the necessity of being a Christian as a means of escaping hell, but I loved sin and was unwilling to forsake it."  Nevertheless, Newton trusted Christ and left the life of sin for a life of joy and service to Christ.  It seems so fitting that the opening line of his hymn says, "Amazing grace!  How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me."