He was committed to live the Christian life both inside and outside the government. He helped form:
- Society for bettering the cause of the poor - 1796
- Church Missionary Society - 1799
- British and foreign Bible Society - 1806
- Africa Institution - 1807
- Anti-Slavery Society - 1823
1. Change begins with a broken heart
His work took him 46 years - a lifetime of hard work, effort and grief. "So enormous, so dreadful, so irremediable did the 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".
The desire to work for God's kingdom must begin with a broken heart. Christians' desire to help others is rooted in the fact that while we didn't deserve anything, Christ still died on the cross to save us.
2. Change is rooted in passion, not numbers.
For good or ill, small groups of highly committed individuals are the engines that drive revolutions. Examples: Lenin, Hitler, Mao Ze Tong
3. Ultimately, political transformation can never replace the transforming power of God.
The transforming power of God comes through love not laws. 10 days before his death, an elderly John Wesley wrote to the young Wilberforce: "Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out bye the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you?"
He persisted through vicious insults and physical assaults before he miraculously succeeded in his crusade, only 3 days before his own death.
His church supported him. If Wilberforce was the arrow that pierced the heart of the slave trade, his church was the bow that propelled him.
One man can change his times, but he cannot do it alone. His spiritual advisers were John Newton (the one who wrote the hymn Amazing Grace), John Wesley, George Whitefield.
John Wesley's maxim - In essentials, unity,
In non-essentials, libertyIn all things, charity.
- Quotes of Wilberforce from the biography
- If to be feelingly alive to the sufferings of my fellow-creatures is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.
- Accepting the position of leader of the anti-slavery campaign.
- God Almighty has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners (morality).
- Let us not despair; it is a blessed cause, and success, ere long, will crown our exertions. Already we have gained one victory; we have obtained, for these poor creatures, the recognition of their human nature, which, for a while was most shamefully denied. This is the first fruits of our efforts; let us persevere and our triumph will be complete. Never, never will we desist till we have wiped away this scandal from the Christian name, released ourselves from the load of guilt, under which we at present labour, and extinguished every trace of this bloody traffic, of which our posterity, looking back to the history of these enlightened times, will scarce believe that it has been suffered to exist so long a disgrace and dishonour to this country.
- The gospel freely admitted makes a man happy. It gives him peace with God, and makes him happy in God. It gives to industry a noble, contented look which selfish drudgery never wore; and from the moment that a man begins to do his work for his Saviour's sake, he feels that the most ordinary employments are full of sweetness and dignity, and that the most difficult are not impossible. And if any of you, my friends, is weary with his work, if dissatisfaction with yourself or sorrow of any kind disheartens you, if at any time you feel the dull paralysis of conscious sin, or the depressing influence of vexing thoughts, look to Jesus, and be happy. Be happy, and your joyful work will prosper well.
- We have different forms assigned to us in the school of life, different gifts imparted. All is not attractive that is good. Iron is useful, though it does not sparkle like the diamond. Gold has not the fragrance of a flower. So different persons have various modes of excellence, and we must have an eye to all.
- Let him then, who would be indeed a Christian, watch over his ways and over his heart with unceasing circumspection. Let him endeavour to learn, both from men and books, particularly from the lives of eminent Christians, what methods have been actually found most effectual for the conquest of every particular vice, and for improvement in every branch of holiness. Thus studying his own character, and observing the most secret workings of his own mind, and of our common nature; the knowledge which he will acquire of the human heart in general, and especially of his own, will be of the highest utility, in enabling him to avoid or to guard against the occasions of evil: and it will also tend, above all things, to the growth of humility, and to the maintenance of that sobriety of spirit and tenderness of conscience, which are eminently characteristic of the true Christian.
- Let true Christians then, with becoming earnestness, strive in all things to recommend their profession, and to put to silence the vain scoffs of ignorant objectors. Let them boldly assert the cause of Christ in an age when so many, who bear the name of Christians, are ashamed of Him: and let them consider as devolved on Them the important duty of suspending for a while the fall of their country, and, perhaps, of performing a still more extensive service to society at large; not by busy interference in politics, in which it cannot but be confessed there is much uncertainty; but rather by that sure and radical benefit of restoring the influence of Religion, and of raising the standard of morality.
- Of all things, guard against neglecting God in the secret place of prayer.
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