{"id":4743,"date":"2016-03-01T08:06:03","date_gmt":"2016-03-01T14:06:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/?p=4743"},"modified":"2016-03-01T08:06:03","modified_gmt":"2016-03-01T14:06:03","slug":"john-henry-newton-and-the-golden-calf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/john-henry-newton-and-the-golden-calf-4743.htm","title":{"rendered":"John Henry Newton and the Golden Calf"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Golden<\/a><\/p>\n

The Adoration of the Golden Calf by\u00a0Nicholas Poussin<\/span><\/p>\n

John Henry Newton (1725 -1807) is best known as the author of \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d and of \u201cGlorious Things of Thee Are Spoken.\u201d He also wrote a hymn, \u201cThe Golden Calf,\u201d which is the subject of today\u2019s reading from Morning Prayer.<\/p>\n

When Israel heard the fiery law,
\nFrom Sinai’s top proclaimed;
\nTheir hearts seemed full of holy awe,
\nTheir stubborn spirits tamed.<\/p>\n

Yet, as forgetting all they knew,
\nEre forty days were past;
\nWith blazing Sinai still in view,
\nA molten calf they cast.<\/p>\n

Yea, Aaron, God’s anointed priest,
\nWho on the mount had been
\nHe durst prepare the idol-beast,
\nAnd lead them on to sin.<\/p>\n

Lord, what is man! and what are we,
\nTo recompense Thee thus!
\nIn their offence our own we see,
\nTheir story points at us.<\/p>\n

From Sinai we have heard Thee speak,
\nAnd from mount Calv’ry too;
\nAnd yet to idols oft we seek,
\nWhile Thou art in our view.<\/p>\n

Some golden calf, or golden dream,
\nSome fancied creature-good,
\nPresumes to share the heart with Him,
\nWho bought the whole with blood.<\/p>\n

Lord, save us from our golden calves,
\nOur sin with grief we own;
\nWe would no more be Thine by halves,
\nBut live to Thee alone.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Newton was an English sailor. In 1743, while going to visit friends, Newton was captured and pressed into the naval service by the Royal Navy. He became a midshipman aboard HMS Harwich. At one point Newton tried to desert and was punished in front of the crew of 350. Stripped to the waist and tied to the grating, he received a flogging of eight dozen lashes and was reduced to the rank of a common seaman. Following that disgrace and humiliation, Newton initially contemplated murdering the captain and committing suicide by throwing himself overboard. He recovered, both physically and mentally.<\/p>\n

Later, while Harwich was en route to India, he transferred to Pegasus, a slave ship bound for West Africa. The ship carried goods to Africa and traded them for slaves to be shipped to the colonies in the Caribbean and North America. Newton did not get along with the crew of Pegasus. They left him in West Africa with Amos Clowe, a slave dealer. Clowe took Newton to the coast and gave him to his wife, Princess Peye, an African duchess. She abused and mistreated Newton equally to her other slaves. Newton later recounted this period as the time he was “once an infidel and libertine, a servant of slaves in West Africa.”<\/p>\n

In 1748, he was rescued by a sea captain and returned to England. During a storm, when it was thought the ship might sink, he prayed for deliverance. This experience began his conversion to evangelical Christianity. Later, whilst aboard a slave vessel bound for the West Indies, he became ill with a violent fever and asked for God’s mercy; an experience he claimed was the turning point in his life.<\/p>\n

Despite this, he continued to participate in the Slave Trade. In 1750, he made a further voyage as master of the slave ship ‘Duke of Argyle’ and two voyages on the ‘African’. He admitted that he was a ruthless businessman and a unfeeling observer of the Africans he traded.\u00a0 Slave revolts on board ship were frequent. Newton mounted guns and muskets on the desk aimed at the slaves’ quarters. Slaves were lashed and put in thumbscrews to keep them quiet.<\/p>\n

In 1754, after a serious illness, he gave up seafaring altogether. In 1757, he applied for the Anglican priesthood. It was seven years before he was accepted. In 1764, he finally became a priest at Olney in Buckinghamshire.\u00a0 He became well known for his pastoral care and respected by both Anglicans and nonconformists.<\/p>\n

\"John<\/a><\/p>\n

John Newton<\/span><\/p>\n

Newton\u00a0began to deeply regret his involvement in the slave trade. After he became Rector of St Mary Woolnoth, in London in 1779, his advice was sought by many influential figures in Georgian society, among them the young M.P., William Wilberforce. Wilberforce was contemplating leaving politics for the ministry. Newton encouraged him to stay in Parliament and “serve God where he was”. Wilberforce took his advice, and spent the rest of his life working towards the abolition of slavery.<\/p>\n

\"Willaim<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Worldly interests supported slavery. Evangelical Anglicans such as Newton, Hannah More, and most of all William Wilberforce were tireless advocates for ending slavery. Although derided by those who profited from slavery, the decades-long effort of these Anglicans led to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire and the use of the British navy to suppress slave trading throughout the world.<\/p>\n

\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Adoration of the Golden Calf by\u00a0Nicholas Poussin John Henry Newton (1725 -1807) is best known as the author of \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d and of \u201cGlorious Things of Thee Are Spoken.\u201d He also wrote a hymn, \u201cThe Golden Calf,\u201d which is the subject of today\u2019s reading from Morning Prayer. When Israel heard the fiery law, From […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[906,36],"tags":[1286,1287,919,1288],"class_list":["post-4743","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abolitionism","category-anglicans","tag-golden-calf","tag-john-newton","tag-slavery","tag-william-wilberforce","has-post-title","has-post-date","has-post-category","has-post-tag","has-post-comment","has-post-author"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4743","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4743"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4743\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4748,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4743\/revisions\/4748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4743"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4743"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.podles.org\/dialogue\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4743"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}