Newton's conversion occurred during a violent storm at sea on 10 March 1748. He describes the event in his autobiography, "An Authentic Narrative" (published 1764), and thereafter marked the anniversary of his conversion as a day of thanksgiving. This incident revived Newton's belief in God, and despite considerable reservations from within the established church (it took him six years to be ordained into the Church of England), he achieved the position of priest in Olney in 1764. Newton's apparent influence and charisma proved beneficial to him and his parish when local Evangelical merchant, John Thornton, to whom he had sent a copy of his autobiography, offered the parish £200 per year, requesting that Newton, in part, provided for the poor. This annual contribution ceased when Newton left in 1780 to take the position of Rector at St. Mary Woolnoth in London. Newton's epitaph on a plaque in St. Mary Woolnoth, written by Newton himself, bears these words: