William Wilberforce

I am very inspired by this great saint as I reread his story from a book, part of the "Swans are not silent" series written by John Piper. Below is the collection of quotes from the book.

Wilberforce admitted that his conversion was hugely influenced after reading a book that his friend, Isaac Milner had introduced "The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul" by Phillip Doddridge. But, his intellectual assent was not transformed to profound conviction until his hours of conversation about Greek New Testament with Milner.

Simplicity and generosity were the mark of his life. Much later, after he was married, he wrote, "By careful management, I should be able to give away at least one quarter of my income to the poor." He wrote that riches were, "considering them as in themselves, acceptable, but, from the infirmity of [our] nature, as highly dangerous possessions; and [we are to value] them chiefly not as instruments of luxury or splendor, but as affording the means of honoring [our] heavenly Benefactor, and lessening the miseries of mankind." This was the way his mind worked: Everything in politics was for the alleviation of misery and the spread of happiness.

He was tormented about what his new Christianity meant for his public life. [He said,] "The first years I was in parliament I did nothing-nothing that is to any purpose. My own distinction was my darling object."

One year after his conversion, God's apparent calling on his life had become clear to him. On October 28, 1787, He wrote in his diary, "God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners [morals]." In May 1789 he spoke to the House about how he came to his conviction: "I confess to you, so enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did its wickedness appear that my own mind was completely made up for Abolition...Let the consequences be what they would, I from this time determined that I would never rest until I had effected its abolition."

When John Wesley was eighty seven years old (in 1790) he wrote to Wilberforce and said, "Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of man and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you." In 1800, on his forty-first birthday, as he rededicated his life, he prayed, "Oh Lord, purify my soul from all its stains. Warm my heart with the love of thee, animate my sluggish nature, and fix my inconstancy, and volatility, that I may not be weary in well doing." God answered that prayer, and the entire western world may be glad that Wilberforce was granted constancy and perseverance in his labors, especially his endurance in the cause of justice against the sin of slavery and racism.

Of course the opposition that raged for these twenty years was because of the financial benefits of slavery to the traders and to the British economy, because of what the plantation in the West Indies produced. They could not conceive of any way to produce without slave labor. This meant that Wilberforce's life was threatened more than once. When he criticized the credibility of slave ship captain, Robert Norris, the man was enraged, and Wilberforce feared for his life. Short of physical harm, the was the painful loss of friends. Some would no longer fight with him, and they were estranged. Then there was the huge political pressure to back down because of the international political ramifications. For example, if Britain really outlawed slavery, the West Indian colonial assemblies threatened to declare independence from Britain and to federate with United States. These kinds of financial and political arguments held Parliament captive for decades.

But the night - or should I say early morning - of victory came in 1807. the moral vision and the political momentum for abolition had finally become irresistible. At one point "the House rose almost to a man an dturned towards Wilberforce in a burst of Parliamentary cheers. Suddenly, above the roar of 'Hear, hear,' and quite out of order, three hurrahs echoed and echoed while he sat, head bowed, tears streaming down his face." At 4:00 A.M., February 24, 1807, the House divided-Ayes, 283, Noes, 16, Majority for the abolition 267. And on March 25, 1807, the royal assent was declared.

Of course, the battle wasn't over. And Wilberforce fought on until his death twenty-six years later in 1833. Not only the implementation of the abolition law controversial and difficult, but all it did was abolish the slave trade, not slavery itself.

The decisive vote of victory for that one came on July 26, 1833, only three days before Wilberforce died. Slavery itself was outlawed in the British colonies. Minor work on the legislation took several more days. "It is a singular fact," Buxton said, "that on the very night on which we were successfully engaged in the House of Commons, in passing the clause of the Act of Emancipation-one of the most important clauses ever enacted...the spirit of our friend left the world. The day which was the termination of his labors was the termination of his life."