Out of the Depths

A must read if you are interested in a great man's journey toward God. Truly God had his hand on him even when he was a nonbeliever.

"Out of the Depths" is essentially a modernization of John Newton's own autobiography, "An Authentic Narrative," by which I mean it updates the language to 20th century American English, organizes it into book chapters (Newton originally penned his autobiography in a series of letters), and so on. However, if you want Newton's "An Authentic Narrative" as he originally wrote it, it'd be best to purchase "The Life and Spirituality of John Newton" by Bruce Hindmarsh (ed.). "The Life and Spirituality of John Newton" contains "An Authentic Narrative." To better see what I mean, here's the first paragraph of the first letter in "An Authentic Narrative" followed by the first paragraph of the first chapter in "Out of the Depths": * * * Reverend and Dear Sir, I make no doubt but you have at times had pleasing reflections upon that promise made to the Israelites, Deut. viii. 2. They were then in the wilderness, surrounded with difficulties, which were greatly aggravated by their own distrust and perverseness: they had experienced a variety of dispensations, the design of which they could not as yet understand; they frequently lost sight of God's gracious purposes in their favour, and were much discouraged by reason of the way. To compose and animate their minds, Moses here suggests to them, that there was a future happy time drawing near, when their journey and warfare should be finished; that they should soon be put in possession of the promised land, and have rest from all their fears and troubles; and then it would give them pleasure to look back upon what they now found so uneasy to bear: "Thou shalt remember all the way, by which the Lord thy God led thee through this wilderness." * * * God's promise to the Israelites is worthy of our reflection. They were then in the wilderness, surrounded with difficulties that were made worse by their distrust and disobedience. They had experienced a variety of God's providential actions, but they did not yet understand God's ultimate goals. They frequently lost sight of God's gracious actions on their behalf and were very discouraged. Moses announces to them that there is a future time of happiness drawing near when their journey and warfare will be finished. They will soon take possession of the Promised Land and rest from all their fears and troubles. Then they will look back with satisfaction upon what was before so difficult to bear: "Thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee through the wilderness" (Deut. 8:2).

After seeing the movie "Amazing Grace" I wanted to know more about John Newton and his experiences. There are some spiritual gems in this book but, even though this autobiography was updated to 21st century language, I found Newton to be overly pious--even feeling worthless. I was hoping for more details on his years as a slave trader but the sensitivities of the time probably prevented details that modern readers expect. Although I was disappointed in some ways, I didn't expect many of the moving spiritual thoughts Newton expressed. Maybe some of his experiences not described were so sinful and embarrassing that was the reason he didn't go into detail.

John Newton's story is totally absorbing and in some ways shocking for the times in which he lived! He was quite the wild man and yet, in his sin, God saved him. After reading this book it brought the true meaning of Newton's words in Amazing Grace to life. Truly, how sweet is the sound of grace to a sinner so depraved and so destined for hell. Hallelujah for such an 'amazing' book! Christians need more of these kinds of biographies to inspire and strengthen us in our faith. Read this book and rejoice!

Reading stories of how a sinner's life can be changed when he turns the leading of his life over to God renews my faith.