Amazing Grace
Words: John Newton, 1779 · Tune "New Britain," c. 1829 · Public domain
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Verse 1
A-Gmazing G7grace, how Csweet the Gsound
Gthat saved a Emwretch like D7me!
I Gonce was G7lost, but Cnow am Gfound;
Gwas Emblind, but Gnow D7I Gsee.
Verse 2
'Twas Ggrace that G7taught my Cheart to Gfear,
Gand grace my Emfears re-D7lieved;
how Gprecious G7did that Cgrace ap-Gpear
Gthe Emhour I Gfirst D7be-Glieved!
Verse 3
Through Gmany G7dangers, Ctoils, and Gsnares,
GI have al-Emready D7come;
'tis Ggrace hath G7brought me Csafe thus Gfar,
Gand Emgrace will Glead D7me Ghome.
Verse 4
When Gwe've been G7there ten Cthousand Gyears,
Gbright shining Emas the D7sun,
we've Gno less G7days to Csing God's Gpraise
Gthan Emwhen we'd Gfirst D7be-Ggun.
Chords in the key of G
- G
- G7
- C
- Em
- D7
About this hymn
- Words
- John Newton, written around 1772, published 1779
- Music
- NEW BRITAIN, American folk melody, paired with these words by William Walker in 1835
- Meter
- 8.6.8.6 (Common Meter)
- In
- 1,786 hymnals
- Scripture
- 1 Chronicles 17:16-17, John 9:25, Ephesians 2:8
The story
John Newton worked the slave ships before he ever preached. A bad storm at sea in 1748 turned him around, and years later he backed Wilberforce and the fight to end the trade, though his own thinking changed slowly. He wrote this one around 1772, and it reached print in 1779 in Olney Hymns, the book he put together with the poet William Cowper. He headed it with 1 Chronicles 17 and called it Faith's Review and Expectation. The tune came much later. NEW BRITAIN is an American folk melody, and William Walker set it to these words in 1835. The closing verse about ten thousand years is not Newton's either. It got attached along the way.
It is printed in the African American Heritage Hymnal and other historically Black church collections, and it carried real weight in the civil rights movement and at the 2015 memorial in Charleston for Rev. Clementa Pinckney.
Where it fits in a service
Often used at an altar call, at a testimony service, and at a homegoing. It also works as a quiet closing song after preaching, when the room needs something everybody already knows by heart.
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Take it further
This hymn in three keys, and 49 more
The 50 Hymns for the Church Pianist collection has this hymn in three keys with every verse, a Sunday Version with gospel moves, and big keyboard pictures. Large print and regular print.
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The Hymn & Carol Chord Chart Book puts 21 hymns and carols on paper, chords over the words, with a lead sheet and the story behind each one. Full-size pages for the music stand.
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