HymnEnglishwritten 1772-73, published 1779
Amazing Grace
Amazing Grace is one of the most widely sung hymns in the English-speaking world. Its words were written by John Newton, a former slave-ship captain who became an Anglican clergyman, and first printed in the Olney Hymns of 1779.
- Written by
- John Newton (died 1807)
- In the video
- Celtic Woman
- Context
- Olney Hymns (1779), Book I, Hymn 41, "Faith's Review and Expectation"
- Year
- written 1772-73, published 1779
- Language
- English
Amazing Grace lyrics
Newton's six original stanzas as printed in Olney Hymns. The often-sung verse beginning "When we've been there ten thousand years" is a later addition from another hymn and is not part of Newton's text.
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 call'd me here below, Will be for ever mine.
The story behind Amazing Grace
John Newton (1725-1807) spent his early life at sea and worked in the Atlantic slave trade before a religious conversion that slowly reshaped his life. He was ordained in the Church of England and became curate of Olney in Buckinghamshire, where he wrote hymns for his weekly prayer meetings.
The text was written to accompany a New Year's Day sermon in 1773 on 1 Chronicles 17:16-17, and was published in 1779 in Olney Hymns, a collection Newton produced with the poet William Cowper. In later life Newton publicly supported the campaign to abolish the slave trade.
The words were sung to many tunes before being joined in 1835 to the American melody known as "New Britain", the pairing that became standard. The hymn spread through camp meetings, the Black church tradition and the civil-rights movement, and remains a fixture of funerals, memorials and public ceremonies.
What Amazing Grace means
The hymn is a personal testimony. The speaker calls himself a "wretch" who was lost and blind, and credits his rescue entirely to grace, an undeserved gift rather than something earned. The famous contrast of lost and found, blind and seeing, compresses a whole life story into two lines.
The middle verses look back over "many dangers, toils, and snares" and trust that the same grace will lead the singer home. The final verses turn to the end of life and of the world itself, setting the passing of earth and sun against a God who remains "for ever mine".
Part of its lasting power is its simplicity: short lines, plain words and a story of change that listeners of any background can recognise as their own.
Quick facts
- Words by John Newton (1725-1807), curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire.
- First published in Olney Hymns (1779), compiled by Newton and William Cowper.
- Written for a New Year's Day sermon in 1773 on 1 Chronicles 17:16-17.
- Since 1835 it has usually been sung to the American tune "New Britain".