Behold the throne of grace,
The promise calls us near,
There Jesus shows a smiling face
And waits to answer prayer.

That rich atoning blood,
Which sprinkled round we see,
Provides for those who come to God
An all prevailing plea.

Beyond our utmost wants
His love and power can bless,
To praying souls He always grants
More than they can express.

Thine image, Lord, bestow,
Thy presence and Thy love,
We ask to serve Thee here below
And reign with Thee above.

Abiding in Thy faith,
Our will conformed to Thine,
Let us victorious be in death,
And then in glory shine.

John Newton, author of "Amazing Grace", wrote some of the best known hymns in the English language.
In the 1750's he was a captain of an English slave ship.It was a book he found on board--Thomas à Kempis' Imitation of Christ--which sowed the seeds of his conversion. When a ship nearly foundered in a storm, he gave his life to Christ. Later he was promoted to captain of a slave ship. Commanding a slave vessel seems like a strange place to find a new Christian. But at last the inhuman aspects of the business began to pall on him, and he left the sea for good.

Died: December 21, 1807, London, England.
Buried: Originally at St. Mary Woolnoth Church, Lombard Street, London. In 1893, John Newton and his wife Mary were reinterred in the southeast corner of the graveyard at St. Peter and St. Paul's Church, Olney (birthplace of his Olney Hymns). A marble plaque at St. Mary Woolnoth carried the epitaph which Newton himself wrote:

JOHN NEWTON, Clerk Once an infidel and libertine A servant of slaves in Africa, Was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the Gospel which he had long laboured to destroy. He ministered, Near sixteen years in Olney, in Bucks, And twenty-eight years in this Church.

Information about this author was found at joyfulheart.com