Newton was natural within London, the boy of the shipmaster in the Mediterranean service, with whom he sailed in the sum of sestet voyages until 1742 when his father died. Around 1743 he was pressed into naval service, became a midshipman aboard the HMS Harwich, deserted, was recaptured & reduced to the rank of the commons seaman, exchanged to the ship in the African station, became servant to a slaver, & was rescued inside 1748 by a friend of his father's, existence converted to Christianity on the way range in the storm mazed. A date was May 10, 1748, an anniversary he found for the rest of his life. From either that point in, he avoided profanity, gaming, & ingesting.

He continued confounded till 1754, meanwhile studying Latin and the Bible. He was surveyor of tides at Liverpool, England from 1755 to 1760, where he heard George Whitefield and John Wesley, and late deliberate Greek, Hebrew, and Syriac.

Around 1763 he was brought to the notice of Lord Dartmouth by Thomas Haweis, through whose influence he was ordained deacon & priest inside 1764, and given a curacy of Olney, Buckinghamshire. Around 1767 the poet William Cowper settled there, and a effect of their friendly relationship was a Olney Hymns (London, 1779 and typically), which greatly influenced English hymnology. More easily-known anthem by Newton include "Approach, My Soul, the Mercy Seat," "Come, My Soul, Thy Suit Prepare," & "Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken."

Inside 1779 Newton was invited by John Thornton to become Rector of St. Mary Woolnoth, Lombard Street, London, where he officiated until his death within 1807. He was the heavy supporter of evangelicalism in the Church of England, and was the friend of the dissenting clergy when well as of the ministry of his have church. John Newton died withinside London & is buried in Olney. Olney likewise has the museum around his honor.

Hardly less celebrated than a anthem was his Authentic Narrative of A few...Particulars in the Life of John Newton (London, 1764, Ninth. ed., 1799; an account of his early life). He wrote besides, Sermons Preached inside . . . Olney (1767); Omicrin: Twenty-26 Letters on Religious Cases (1774; subsequent editions, where a total of the letters became forty-a single); Cardiphonithe; or even, a Vocalization of the Heart in the Course of a rattling Correspondence (Deuce vols., 1781); Letters to the Married woman (Ii vols., 1793), & more works.

The gathered edition of his works was issued by his executors (Vi vols., London, 1808; recently ed., Dozen vols., 1821).

Newton was recognized for his anthem of longstanding influence per Gospel Music Association in 1982 when he was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame.

A town of Newton, Sierra Leone is named when John Newton. To this day there is a benevolent hyperlink between John Newton's church of Olney, Milton Keynes & Newton, Sierra Leone.