October 28. William Wilberforce. Wilberforce was a teen from a wealthy family at the time when—every year—English businessmen kidnapped 35,000 to 50,000 African people and sold them as property. After Wilberforce became a true Christian, he saw a purpose for his life.
He said, “So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the [slave] trade’s 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.”
Already a member of Parliament, on this date in 1787, Wilberforce resolved to end human trafficking in Great Britain. For 18 years, he introduced anti-slavery motions in Parliament until a bill finally passed. But that’s not all he did.
He also organized the Society for the Suppression of Vice and worked with reformer Hannah More to provide children with regular education in reading, personal hygiene, and religion. He supported the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and encouraged Christian missionaries to go to India.
God calls each of us to join Him in the good He’s doing.
Once Wilberforce heard the call of God, he threw his heart into the fight against slavery.
Twenty-one, wealthy, and charming, Wilberforce entered Parliament in 1780, but later he said, “The first years in Parliament I did nothing—nothing to any purpose. My own distinction was my darling object.”
But God did not abandon Wilberforce.
“God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:9 NASB).
The realization he had wasted seven years pained his conscience, and he suffered deeply until one Easter morning, the light broke on his soul, and he became a follower of Jesus the Christ. His close times with Jesus permeated his life, and he soon saw his idleness in the Parliament had to go.
Two influential men who detested slavery—Thomas Clarkson and John Wesley—separately approached Wilberforce and encouraged him to use his position to put an end to the evil of human trafficking.
From John Newton, a former slave trader and author of the famous hymn, “Amazing Grace,” Wilberforce learned the horrors of capturing and transporting Africans for slavery.
He and Clarkson worked together against slavery, but in 1787, when the British Parliament voted down the anti-slave-trade bill, Wilberforce experienced a crushing defeat. Undaunted, that day the young politician recorded his resolve in his diary: he would see an end to the slave trade.
Although small in stature, whenever he was given the opportunity, he spoke boldly.
Several atrocities awakened the whole of England to the horrors of the slave trade such as the Zong case, where the crew forced several captured Africans, who were considered cargo, over the side, so the owners could claim the insurance payments.
Slavery remained legal in England, and the transatlantic slave trade made for good business for British shippers. These events consumed Wilberforce.
He had to do something. He was committed to obeying Scripture.
“Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows” (Isaiah 1:17 NLT).
Wilberforce engaged in conversations with numerous like-minded people, and they determined nothing less than the full abolition of the slave trade would suffice.
They demonstrated that this evil harmed all parties. Most brutal for Africans, it made for corrupt business leaders and appalling working conditions for the sailors. If the people were not swayed by the plight of the Africans, perhaps they would be troubled by the dangers and moral degradation faced by their fellow Englishmen.
The pro-slave traders tried to derail Wilberforce by telling the public how the Africans were far better off in captivity than in their natural state in Africa—a lie of tremendous proportions. Plenty of obstacles stood in Wilberforce’s way, but he remained strong.
Although the first bill had been defeated by a two-to-one margin, the new version carried more promise. Wilberforce and his partners successfully persuaded their counterparts. The Slave Trade Act of 1807 passed with overwhelming numbers.
God is the one who calls and equips us. Is God calling you to do something? Is there an area where you’ve been idle and it is now time to step up and step out? God calls each of us to join Him in the good He is doing.
Christianity Today. “William Wilberforce: Antislavery politician.” Christian History. Accessed July 20, 2020. https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/activists/william-wilberforce.html
Metaxas, Eric. Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery. New York: HarperOne, 2008. p 10.
Story read by: Blake Mattocks
Introduction read by: Daniel Carpenter
Audio production: Joel Carpenter
Editor: Teresa Crumpton, https://authorspark.org/
Project manager: Blake Mattocks
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