In his old age, when he could no longer see to read, John
Newton heard someone recite this text, “By the grace of
God I am what I am.” He remained silent a short time and
then said: “I am not what I ought to be. Ah, how imperfect
and deficient! I am not what I wish to be. I abhor that which
is evil, and I would cleave to that which is good. I am not
what I hope to be. Soon, soon I shall put off mortality,
and with mortality all sin and imperfection.
Though I am not what I ought to be, what I wish to be,
and what I hope to be; yet I can truly say, I am not what
I once was–a slave to sin and Satan! I can heartily join
with the apostle and acknowledge–By the grace of God I
am what I am!”