To the friend who solicits him in this respect, the author tells the story of his life through a series of 14 letters. At the onset just a simple sailor on a commercial vessel, thereafter a slave in Africa and for a while even a slave merchant, miscreant, hothead, he abruptly converted himself when he became aware he had always been accompanied and protected by divine grace. Having thus embraced an ecclesiastical career, he then expressed his inner experience through many poems and hymns, one of which is still today well reknowned: «Amazing grace...»