manu/mldr-zoomed-100char-total-queries-documents

chunk_id stringlengths 3 9	chunk stringlengths 1 100
128_102	1727 in the fashionable Baroque style. Newton was one of only two evangelical Anglican priests in
128_103	the capital, and he soon found himself gaining in popularity amongst the growing evangelical party.
128_104	He was a strong supporter of evangelicalism in the Church of England. He remained a friend of
128_105	Dissenters (such as Methodists and Baptists) as well as Anglicans.
128_106	Young churchmen and people struggling with faith sought his advice, including such well-known
128_107	social figures as the writer and philanthropist Hannah More, and the young William Wilberforce, a
128_108	Member of Parliament (MP) who had recently suffered a crisis of conscience and religious conversion
128_109	while contemplating leaving politics. The younger man consulted with Newton, who encouraged
128_110	Wilberforce to stay in Parliament and "serve God where he was".
128_111	In 1792, Newton was presented with the degree of Doctor of Divinity by the College of New Jersey
128_112	(now Princeton University).
128_113	Abolitionist
128_114	In 1788, 34 years after he had retired from the slave trade, Newton broke a long silence on the
128_115	subject with the publication of a forceful pamphlet Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade, in which he
128_116	described the horrific conditions of the slave ships during the Middle Passage. He apologised for
128_117	"a confession, which ... comes too late ... It will always be a subject of humiliating reflection
128_118	to me, that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders." He had
128_119	copies sent to every MP, and the pamphlet sold so well that it swiftly required reprinting.
128_120	Newton became an ally of William Wilberforce, leader of the Parliamentary campaign to abolish the
128_121	African slave trade. He lived to see the British passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807, which enacted
128_122	this event.
128_123	Newton came to believe that during the first five of his nine years as a slave trader he had not
128_124	been a Christian in the full sense of the term. In 1763 he wrote: "I was greatly deficient in many
128_125	respects ... I cannot consider myself to have been a believer in the full sense of the word, until
128_126	a considerable time afterwards."
128_127	Writer and hymnist
128_128	In 1767 William Cowper, the poet, moved to Olney. He worshipped in Newton's church, and
128_129	collaborated with the priest on a volume of hymns; it was published as Olney Hymns in 1779. This
128_130	work had a great influence on English hymnology. The volume included Newton's well-known hymns:
128_131	"Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken," "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds!, and "Faith's Review and
128_132	Expectation," which has come to be known by its opening phrase, "Amazing Grace".
128_133	Many of Newton's (as well as Cowper's) hymns are preserved in the Sacred Harp, a hymnal used in the
128_134	American South during the Second Great Awakening. Hymns were scored according to the tonal scale
128_135	for shape note singing. Easily learnt and incorporating singers into four-part harmony, shape note
128_136	music was widely used by evangelical preachers to reach new congregants.
128_137	In 1776 Newton contributed a preface to an annotated version of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's
128_138	Progress.
128_139	Newton also contributed to the Cheap Repository Tracts. He wrote an autobiography entitled
128_140	An Authentic Narrative of Some Remarkable And Interesting Particulars in the Life of ------
128_141	Communicated, in a Series of Letters, to the Reverend T. Haweis, Rector of Aldwinckle, And by him,
128_142	at the request of friends, now made public, which he published anonymously in 1764 with a Preface
128_143	by Haweis. It was later described as "written in an easy style, distinguished by great natural
128_144	shrewdness, and sanctified by the Lord God and prayer".
128_145	Final years
128_146	Newton's wife Mary Catlett died in 1790, after which he published Letters to a Wife (1793), in
128_147	which he expressed his grief. Plagued by ill health and failing eyesight, Newton died on 21
128_148	December 1807 in London. He was buried beside his wife in St. Mary Woolnoth in London. Both were
128_149	reinterred at the Church of St Peter and Paul in Olney in 1893.
128_150	Commemoration
128_151	Newton is memorialised with his self-penned epitaph on his tomb at Olney: JOHN NEWTON. Clerk. Once
128_152	an infidel and libertine a servant of slaves in Africa was by the rich mercy of our LORD and
128_153	SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST preserved, restored, pardoned and appointed to preach the faith he had long
128_154	laboured to destroy. Near 16 years as Curate of this parish and 28 years as Rector of St. Mary
128_155	Woolnoth.
128_156	When he was initially interred in London, a memorial plaque to Newton, containing his self-penned
128_157	epitaph, was installed on the wall of St Mary Woolnoth. At the bottom of the plaque are the words:
128_158	"The above Epitaph was written by the Deceased who directed it to be inscribed on a plain Marble
128_159	Tablet. He died on Dec. the 21st, 1807. Aged 82 Years, and his mortal Remains are deposited in the
128_160	Vault beneath this Church."
128_161	The town of Newton in Sierra Leone is named after him. To this day his former town of Olney
128_162	provides philanthropy for the African town.
128_163	In 1982, Newton was recognised for his influential hymns by the Gospel Music Association when he
128_164	was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.
128_165	A memorial to him was erected in Buncrana in Inishowen, County Donegal, in Ulster in 2013. Buncrana
128_166	is located on the shores of Lough Swilly.
128_167	Portrayals in media
128_168	Film
128_169	The film Amazing Grace (2006) highlights Newton's influence on William Wilberforce. Albert Finney
128_170	portrays Newton, Ioan Gruffudd is Wilberforce, and the film was directed by Michael Apted. The film
128_171	portrays Newton as a penitent haunted by the ghosts of 20,000 slaves.
128_172	The Nigerian film The Amazing Grace (2006), the creation of Nigerian director/writer/producer Jeta
128_173	Amata, provides an African perspective on the slave trade. Nigerian actors Joke Silva, Mbong
128_174	Odungide, and Fred Amata (brother of the director) portray Africans who are captured and taken away
128_175	from their homeland by slave traders. Newton is played by Nick Moran.
128_176	The 2014 film Freedom tells the story of an American slave (Samuel Woodward, played by Cuba
128_177	Gooding, Jr.) escaping to freedom via the Underground Railroad. A parallel earlier story depicts
128_178	John Newton (played by Bernhard Forcher) as the captain of a slave ship bound for America carrying
128_179	Samuel's grandfather. Newton's conversion is explored as well.
128_180	Stage productions
128_181	African Snow (2007), a play by Murray Watts, takes place in the mind of John Newton. It was first
128_182	produced at the York Theatre Royal as a co-production with Riding Lights Theatre Company,
128_183	transferring to the Trafalgar Studios in London's West End and a National Tour. Newton was played
128_184	by Roger Alborough and Olaudah Equiano by Israel Oyelumade.
128_185	The musical Amazing Grace is a dramatisation of Newton's life. The 2014 pre-Broadway and 2015
128_186	Broadway productions starred Josh Young as Newton.
128_187	In 2015, Puritan Productions in Dallas, Texas, US premiered A Wretch Like Me, a dramatisation of
128_188	John Newton's life story with ballet and chorus accompaniment.
128_189	In 2018, Puritan Productions presented "Amazing Grace", a newly revised dramatisation of John
128_190	Newton's life story with dance and chorus accompaniment.
128_191	Television
128_192	Newton is portrayed by actor John Castle in the British television miniseries, The Fight Against
128_193	Slavery (1975).
128_194	Novels
128_195	Caryl Phillips' novel, Crossing the River (1993), includes nearly verbatim excerpts of Newton's
128_196	logs from his Journal of a Slave Trader.
128_197	In the chapter 'Blind, But Now I See' of the novel Jerusalem by Alan Moore (2016), an
128_198	African-American whose favourite hymn is 'Amazing Grace' visits Olney where a local churchman
128_199	relates the facts of Newton's life to him. He is disturbed by Newton's involvement in the slave
128_200	trade. Newton's life and circumstances, and the lyrics of 'Amazing Grace' are described in detail.
128_201	The Infidel by Joe Musser, a novel based on the life of Newton.

128_102

1727 in the fashionable Baroque style. Newton was one of only two evangelical Anglican priests in

128_103

the capital, and he soon found himself gaining in popularity amongst the growing evangelical party.

128_104

He was a strong supporter of evangelicalism in the Church of England. He remained a friend of

128_105

Dissenters (such as Methodists and Baptists) as well as Anglicans.

128_106

Young churchmen and people struggling with faith sought his advice, including such well-known

128_107

social figures as the writer and philanthropist Hannah More, and the young William Wilberforce, a

128_108

Member of Parliament (MP) who had recently suffered a crisis of conscience and religious conversion

128_109

while contemplating leaving politics. The younger man consulted with Newton, who encouraged

128_110

Wilberforce to stay in Parliament and "serve God where he was".

128_111

In 1792, Newton was presented with the degree of Doctor of Divinity by the College of New Jersey

128_112

(now Princeton University).

128_113

Abolitionist

128_114

In 1788, 34 years after he had retired from the slave trade, Newton broke a long silence on the

128_115

subject with the publication of a forceful pamphlet Thoughts Upon the Slave Trade, in which he

128_116

described the horrific conditions of the slave ships during the Middle Passage. He apologised for

128_117

"a confession, which ... comes too late ... It will always be a subject of humiliating reflection

128_118

to me, that I was once an active instrument in a business at which my heart now shudders." He had

128_119

copies sent to every MP, and the pamphlet sold so well that it swiftly required reprinting.

128_120

Newton became an ally of William Wilberforce, leader of the Parliamentary campaign to abolish the

128_121

African slave trade. He lived to see the British passage of the Slave Trade Act 1807, which enacted

128_122

this event.

128_123

Newton came to believe that during the first five of his nine years as a slave trader he had not

128_124

been a Christian in the full sense of the term. In 1763 he wrote: "I was greatly deficient in many

128_125

respects ... I cannot consider myself to have been a believer in the full sense of the word, until

128_126

a considerable time afterwards."

128_127

Writer and hymnist

128_128

In 1767 William Cowper, the poet, moved to Olney. He worshipped in Newton's church, and

128_129

collaborated with the priest on a volume of hymns; it was published as Olney Hymns in 1779. This

128_130

work had a great influence on English hymnology. The volume included Newton's well-known hymns:

128_131

"Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken," "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds!, and "Faith's Review and

128_132

Expectation," which has come to be known by its opening phrase, "Amazing Grace".

128_133

Many of Newton's (as well as Cowper's) hymns are preserved in the Sacred Harp, a hymnal used in the

128_134

American South during the Second Great Awakening. Hymns were scored according to the tonal scale

128_135

for shape note singing. Easily learnt and incorporating singers into four-part harmony, shape note

128_136

music was widely used by evangelical preachers to reach new congregants.

128_137

In 1776 Newton contributed a preface to an annotated version of John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's

128_138

Progress.

128_139

Newton also contributed to the Cheap Repository Tracts. He wrote an autobiography entitled

128_140

An Authentic Narrative of Some Remarkable And Interesting Particulars in the Life of ------

128_141

Communicated, in a Series of Letters, to the Reverend T. Haweis, Rector of Aldwinckle, And by him,

128_142

at the request of friends, now made public, which he published anonymously in 1764 with a Preface

128_143

by Haweis. It was later described as "written in an easy style, distinguished by great natural

128_144

shrewdness, and sanctified by the Lord God and prayer".

128_145

Final years

128_146

Newton's wife Mary Catlett died in 1790, after which he published Letters to a Wife (1793), in

128_147

which he expressed his grief. Plagued by ill health and failing eyesight, Newton died on 21

128_148

December 1807 in London. He was buried beside his wife in St. Mary Woolnoth in London. Both were

128_149

reinterred at the Church of St Peter and Paul in Olney in 1893.

128_150

Commemoration

128_151

Newton is memorialised with his self-penned epitaph on his tomb at Olney: JOHN NEWTON. Clerk. Once

128_152

an infidel and libertine a servant of slaves in Africa was by the rich mercy of our LORD and

128_153

SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST preserved, restored, pardoned and appointed to preach the faith he had long

128_154

laboured to destroy. Near 16 years as Curate of this parish and 28 years as Rector of St. Mary

128_155

Woolnoth.

128_156

When he was initially interred in London, a memorial plaque to Newton, containing his self-penned

128_157

epitaph, was installed on the wall of St Mary Woolnoth. At the bottom of the plaque are the words:

128_158

"The above Epitaph was written by the Deceased who directed it to be inscribed on a plain Marble

128_159

Tablet. He died on Dec. the 21st, 1807. Aged 82 Years, and his mortal Remains are deposited in the

128_160

Vault beneath this Church."

128_161

The town of Newton in Sierra Leone is named after him. To this day his former town of Olney

128_162

provides philanthropy for the African town.

128_163

In 1982, Newton was recognised for his influential hymns by the Gospel Music Association when he

128_164

was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

128_165

A memorial to him was erected in Buncrana in Inishowen, County Donegal, in Ulster in 2013. Buncrana

128_166

is located on the shores of Lough Swilly.

128_167

Portrayals in media

128_168

Film

128_169

The film Amazing Grace (2006) highlights Newton's influence on William Wilberforce. Albert Finney

128_170

portrays Newton, Ioan Gruffudd is Wilberforce, and the film was directed by Michael Apted. The film

128_171

portrays Newton as a penitent haunted by the ghosts of 20,000 slaves.

128_172

The Nigerian film The Amazing Grace (2006), the creation of Nigerian director/writer/producer Jeta

128_173

Amata, provides an African perspective on the slave trade. Nigerian actors Joke Silva, Mbong

128_174

Odungide, and Fred Amata (brother of the director) portray Africans who are captured and taken away

128_175

from their homeland by slave traders. Newton is played by Nick Moran.

128_176

The 2014 film Freedom tells the story of an American slave (Samuel Woodward, played by Cuba

128_177

Gooding, Jr.) escaping to freedom via the Underground Railroad. A parallel earlier story depicts

128_178

John Newton (played by Bernhard Forcher) as the captain of a slave ship bound for America carrying

128_179

Samuel's grandfather. Newton's conversion is explored as well.

128_180

Stage productions

128_181

African Snow (2007), a play by Murray Watts, takes place in the mind of John Newton. It was first

128_182

produced at the York Theatre Royal as a co-production with Riding Lights Theatre Company,

128_183

transferring to the Trafalgar Studios in London's West End and a National Tour. Newton was played

128_184

by Roger Alborough and Olaudah Equiano by Israel Oyelumade.

128_185

The musical Amazing Grace is a dramatisation of Newton's life. The 2014 pre-Broadway and 2015

128_186

Broadway productions starred Josh Young as Newton.

128_187

In 2015, Puritan Productions in Dallas, Texas, US premiered A Wretch Like Me, a dramatisation of

128_188

John Newton's life story with ballet and chorus accompaniment.

128_189

In 2018, Puritan Productions presented "Amazing Grace", a newly revised dramatisation of John

128_190

Newton's life story with dance and chorus accompaniment.

128_191

Television

128_192

Newton is portrayed by actor John Castle in the British television miniseries, The Fight Against

128_193

Slavery (1975).

128_194

Novels

128_195

Caryl Phillips' novel, Crossing the River (1993), includes nearly verbatim excerpts of Newton's

128_196

logs from his Journal of a Slave Trader.

128_197

In the chapter 'Blind, But Now I See' of the novel Jerusalem by Alan Moore (2016), an

128_198

African-American whose favourite hymn is 'Amazing Grace' visits Olney where a local churchman

128_199

relates the facts of Newton's life to him. He is disturbed by Newton's involvement in the slave

128_200

trade. Newton's life and circumstances, and the lyrics of 'Amazing Grace' are described in detail.

128_201

The Infidel by Joe Musser, a novel based on the life of Newton.