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Reverend the Hon. FRED NILE [3.48 p.m.]: Amazing Grace is one of the most famous hymns known around the world. Pastor Peter Rahme has just released a new publication titled The Man & The Story Behind Amazing Grace, and I congratulate him on that and am very appreciative of it. The book tells us about two very important individuals, who both died at the beginning of this year 200 years ago, in 1807. One was John Newton, the author of the hymn Amazing Grace, and the other was William Wilberforce, a member of the British House of Commons.
John Newton had been a slave ship captain. He had been involved in that horrific trade in human life: shipping slaves from Africa to the United States and to other parts of the world. But then he had an encounter with Jesus Christ and became a Christian, and it changed his life completely and led him to write that very famous hymn, which is common in many funeral services and played in many church services and many civic events today. It is probably the most popular song of our time. We know the words. They commence:
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.
That was the way in which John Newton explained the change in his life from being an evil slave ship captain to becoming a Christian and finally becoming a Christian minister. But it did not stop there. John Newton had a major impact on the young politician William Wilberforce. John Newton published a book titled Thoughts on the African Slave Trade, which outlined the brutality that was occurring in the treatment of the slaves. William Wilberforce read that book, and it changed his life. He made a commitment as a member of the British Parliament that he would do all he could to abolish slavery, particularly commencing with the abolition of the slave trade. So, in 1787 he introduced his bill. It took 20 years, until 1807, for his bill to be passed and become an Act of Parliament.
When William Wilberforce first introduced his bill he was criticised. I understand that even some of the Bishops in the House of Lords were critical of his bill, saying it would affect the British economy and society, because in those days slavery was so widely accepted as the norm. But Wilberforce persevered, and he was greatly encouraged by the support from John Newton. At some points Wilberforce was discouraged. When you move a bill for 20 years and it does not get passed, it is easy to be discouraged. But he was encouraged by John Newton, who wrote to him saying:
My heart is with you … May the wisdom that influenced Joseph and Moses, and Daniel rest upon you. Not only to guide and animate you in the light of Political Duty—but especially to keep in the habit of dependence upon God, and communion with Him … I can honestly say, that were it practicable, I should not be unwilling to travel on foot, for the sake of spending two or three days with you …
Before John Newton died he wrote his own epitaph, which is unusual. He wrote:
JOHN NEWTON, Clerk
Once an infidel and libertine
A servant of slaves in Africa,
Was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour
JESUS CHRIST,
restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach
the Gospel he had long laboured to destroy.
He ministered,
Near sixteen years at Olney, in Bucks,
And twenty-eight years in this Church.
The epitaph was placed in the vestry of St Mary's Church Woolnoth. We thank God for the life of John Newton and the impact he has had through his hymn Amazing Grace, but especially for the impact of William Wilberforce, who is an example of what can be achieved by one man who was committed to a vision of freedom for the slaves of that time. He is a good model for each of us as members of Parliament.