Newton's Epitaph

John Newton died on December 21, 1807, and he was buried in the graveyard at St. Mary Woolnoth next to his beloved wife Mary. (Their remains were reinterred in the Olney churchyard in 1893.) Newton wrote his own epitaph and it was carved on a plain marble tablet over his grave:

JOHN NEWTON

CLERK

ONCE AN INFIDEL AND LIBERTINE

A SERVANT OF SLAVES IN AFRICA,

WAS,

BY THE RICH MERCY OF OUR LORD AND SAVIOR

JESUS CHRIST,

PRESERVED, RESTORED, PARDONED,

AND APPOINTED TO PREACH THE FAITH

HE HAD LONG LABOURED TO DESTROY.

HE MINISTERED

NEAR XVI YEARS AS CURATE AND VICAR

OF OLNEY IN BUCKS

AND XXVIII AS RECTOR

OF THESE UNITED PARISHES.

ON FEBRY THE FIRST MDCCI HE MARRIED

MARY

DAUGHTER OF THE LATE GEORGE CATLETT,

OF CHATHAM KENT,

WHOM HE RESIGNED

TO THE LORD WHO GAVE HER,

ON DECR THE XVTH MDCCXC.