Amazing Grace: The Journey of an Unforgettable Hymn"
             How does a hymn become so universal? Where does it gain its ability to be transformed into almost every style of music known to man? The hymn "Amazing Grace" is such a hymn. Its existence has been marked by evolutions upon evolution in its use, but has always remained the same in its meaning and effect. To trace the path of this hymn's existence, one must begin in England. From there it has blossomed and spread out from the English way of life and grew up in the United States. From early American times to the present the hymn has become something extraordinary. What it has become is one of the most universal traditions that may be sung among men and women everywhere in a vast array of styles.
             John Newton was the creator of this hymn. Its creation is a story all in itself. John Newton began in the navy but he soon left the navy and began worn on another ship, most likely a slave ship. From there he gained his own slave-trading ship and he began his life as a slave-trader. Thanks to John Newton, historians know much about the being a slave-trader through the extensive journals and letters that all survived from his work on slave ships. What started this amazing hymn came as the "wretch" of a slave trader and sea captain was on his ship during an incredible storm. In the midst of the storm, John Newton was said to have exclaimed "God have mercy on me (Moyer)." That night he contemplated what he had yelled and had come to the realization that he did believe in God and this was a sign to him (Moyer). John Newton had been living his life as a slave trader, a position he himself thought was immoral and wretched (Moyer). It was that night that the feelings for the hymn began to manifest themselves inside the mind of John Newton.
             Finally convinced that his current way of life was improper, John Newton decided to take a more relig...