Out of the Depths - John Newton
Originally published as 'An Authentic Narrative of Some Remarkable and Interesting Particulars in the Life of John Newton. Communicated in a Series of Letters to the Rev. Mr. Haweis, Rector of Aldwinckle. And by him, at the request of friends, now made public' in 1764. Updated after Newton's death.
Narrated by William Sutherland.
Inspired by having heard a bit of John Newton's story in The Roots of Endurance, I decided to give this audiobook version of his autobiography a go. As the extended original title states, this is written as a series of letters from Newton to Reverend Haweis, obviously at the request of Haweis to tell some of his story.
Newton, as befits a man overcome by the grace of God in his life, focuses a lot on God's providence and sometimes as a result (and suiting the style of the day) doesn't go into details about his life as much as a modern reader might like. We get an outline of the basics however: his youth, his sea voyages, his servitude/slavery in Africa, his captaincy of a slave-trading vessel, his love for and marriage to Mary Catlett, his eventual conversion and subsequent shift into a new career. However, being a series of letters written during Newton's life, we don't get the 'final chapter' as it were. Luckily, Haweis (I assume) adds in follow-up chapters once Newton's narrative comes to a close, outlining Newton's move into ministry and his final years. At the end of the book, Haweis adds another chapter made up of other things Newton said - a kind of 'Newton's Proverbs' section.
This final chapter was my favourite in the book. I had hoped for Newton to go more into his conversion, not just to Christianity, but to an anti-slavery position - one which I know from other works and writings that he did come to. Yet, possibly because he was writing to a friend who already knew his change of heart, Newton barely addresses that at all. In fact, in a more frustrating move, Newton instead talks about the fact that, at the period of his life when he was moving from slavery towards ministry, he still didn't see anything wrong with the slave trade! This honest reflection (and a fairly interesting one to consider - that God could radically transform someone and they may still have fairly major blind spots for a time) is nevertheless a frustrating one for a modern reader, who, once again, may want a little more description about how and when that transformation took place.
For these sorts of reasons, I'm not sure this a book I would recommend. It is interesting to hear Newton tell some of his story in his own words, and the 'proverbs' section does contain a few gems, but I think that time and perspective may mean that some later biographers may have a better take on Newton's life than he did in this work.
Probably just for people really digging deep into John Newton's life.
Completed 16 January 2023.
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