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John Newton
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QUOTE: "If the trade is at present carried on to the
same extent and nearly in the same manner, while we are delaying from year to
year to put a stop to our part in it, the blood of many thousands of our
helpless, much injured fellow creatures is crying against us. The pitiable
state of the survivors who are torn from their relatives, connections, and
their native land must be taken into account. I fear the African trade is a
national sin, for the enormities which accompany it are now generally known;
and though, perhaps, the greater part of the nation would be pleased if it were
suppressed, yet, as it does not immediately affect their own interest, they are
passive. {...] Can we wonder that the calamities of the present war begin to be
felt at home, when we ourselves wilfully and deliberately inflict much greater
calamities upon the native Africans, who never offended us?. "Woe unto
thee that spoilest, and thou wast not spoiled when thou shalt cease to spoil,
thou shalt be spoiled"
[Alluding to the biblical verse in Isaiah 33:1. As
quoted in The Works of the Rev. John Newton... to which are Prefixed Memoirs
of His Life (1839), Vol. 2, U. Hunt., page 438.]
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".
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