To echo John Newton.4 August 1725 – 21 December 1807
A quiet rendition by Jp performed through Cakewalk.
The rendition above is performed in the key of A — A Major scale (three sharps scale, do = A).
Amazing Grace is commonly performed in G Major scale (one sharp scale, do = G).
Audio is licensed under CC0 (Public Domain — no restriction).
About Amazing Grace
📜 John Newton wrote the lyrics (hymn). It wasn't metaphor — it was fact. He wrote his hymns in 1772 — after his soul heard and felt, Hey.
First published in February 1779 as Olney Hymns — curated work of John Newton and his poet friend, William Cowper (1731–1800).
Page 53 in Olney Hymns, the verses that would become known as "Amazing Grace".
Amazing Grace lyrics is taken from Hymn XLI (41) verses — page 53 and 54 — of Olney Hymns.
Olney is a historic market town in Buckinghamshire, South England, best known as the home of John Newton and William Cowper. Nestled along the River Great Ouse, it was a modest 18th-century parish town with a strong Evangelical presence, shaped by Newton's ministry and Cowper's poetic influence, and today it remains a quaint site of literary and hymnological heritage.
Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav'd 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 reliev'd;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believ'd!
Thro' 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 promis'd 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 vail,
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 forever mine.
The original hymn has six stanzas.
🎹 The melody — anonymous, folk tune — was paired with the Hymn XLI from Olney Hymns in 1835. Then the pair was titled New Britain by William Walker (American composer — 1809-1875). It was first published in 1835.
The melody is a folk tune, it has Celtic roots — emerged on American soil. It was shaped by the musical instincts of Scots-Irish settlers, especially those in the Appalachian and Southern frontier regions.
New Britain
New Britain and Cookham.
Above is the original form.
Now we know the melody of New Britain as Amazing Grace.
In Amazing Grace, the lyrics is not 100% Hymn XLI from Olney Hymns. Most notably, the popular closing stanza,
When we've been there ten thousand years...
— was not written by John Newton. It first appeared in an 1850s American Baptist hymnal.
The verses in Amazing Grace are:
- Verses 1, 2, and 3 are stanzas from John Newton's original Hymn XLI from the Olney Hymns — published in 1779.
- Last verse was added later.
[Verse no. 1 • 1st stanza]
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.
[Verse no. 2 • 2nd stanza]
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
[Verse no. 3 • 4th stanza]
The Lord hath promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
[Verse no. 4 • Hymnal]
When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we first begun.
The hath (instead of "has") there for archaic flavour, especially in the U.S.
John Newton never heard the pairing — he passed away in 1807. But I daresay, he'd weep if he did. Not from sadness — but from awe, that even the heavens might stop to listen.
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