IN LOVING MEMORY OF JOHN NEWTON (DIED: DECEMBER 21, 1807) [QUOTE OF THE WEEK ~ SUNDAY DECEMBER 14, 2014 TO SATURDAY DECEMBER 20, 2014]

 

John Newton’s quote

[PHOTO SOURCE: http://meetville.com/quotes/author/john-newton/page2]

QUOTE: I am not what I ought to be — ah, how imperfect and deficient! I am not what I wish to be — I abhor what is evil, and I would cleave to what is good! I am not what I hope to be — soon, soon shall I put off mortality, and with mortality all sin and imperfection. Yet, though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be, nor what I hope to be, I can truly say, I am not what I once was; a slave to sin and Satan; and I can heartily join with the apostle, and acknowledge, "By the grace of God I am what I am."

[As quoted in The Christian Pioneer (1856) edited by Joseph Foulkes Winks, p. 84. Also in The Christian Spectator, vol. 3 (1821), p. 186 - Often paraphrased as I am not the man I ought to be, I am not the man I wish to be, and I am not the man I hope to be, but by the grace of God, I am not the man I used to be."']

AUTHOR: John Henry Newton (24 July 1725 O.S./4 August N.S.  – 21 December 1807) was an English sailor and Anglican cleric. Starting his career at sea at a young age, he became involved with the slave trade for a few years. After experiencing a Christian conversion, he became a cleric and hymn-writer and later a prominent supporter of the abolition of slavery. He was the author of many hymns, including "Amazing Grace" and "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken".