In every object here, I see

Author: John Newton

John Newton (b. London, England, 1725; d. London, 1807) was born into a Christian home, but his godly mother died when he was seven, and he joined his father at sea when he was eleven. His licentious and tumul­tuous sailing life included a flogging for attempted desertion from the Royal Navy and captivity by a slave trader in West Africa. After his escape he himself became the captain of a slave ship. Several factors contributed to Newton's conversion: a near-drowning in 1748, the piety of his friend Mary Catlett, (whom he married in 1750), and his reading of Thomas à Kempis' Imitation of Christ. In 1754 he gave up the slave trade and, in association with William Wilberforce, eventually became an ardent abolitionist. After becoming a tide… Go to person page >

In every object here I see. J. Newton. [Nature lifting the soul to God.] Printed in the Gospel Magazine, June, 1774, and included in the Olney Hymns, 1779, in 2 stanzas of 6 lines, and headed, "A Thought on the Seashore." It was given in the Leeds Sunday School Union Hymn Book, 1833 and 1879, as No. 128.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)