Amazing Grace transformed John Newton from a wretched sea captain of slave ships to a passionate pas-tor and hymn writer. Grace further equipped Newton, who was childless, to become a tender, loving, and compassionate father. He adopted his 2 orphaned nieces Elizabeth and Eliza. Newton took no courses in parenting, nor did he have the opportunity to read the countless volumes of self help books on child rearing that grace bookstore shelves today. He wholly relied on the guidance of his heavenly Father. Through prayer and the reading of the Bible, he discipled his daughters in the love and counsel of the Lord. It is clearly evident in the compilation of these letters and memoirs to his daughters that he embraced the words of 3 John:4 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." Newton's godly mother faithfully instructed him in the truth through prayer and the reading of the Scriptures. She died when he was only six years of age and left him to be raised by his irreligious father. What joy and thanksgiving would fill her heart to know that the seeds of truth that she sewed in the life of her young son grew and blossomed. Newton accepted God's gift of salvation as an adult and further shared this gift with his own children.