A small man of huge heart and even larger legacy was born this day in 1759.
Through the efforts of William Wilberforce, who was born to wealth and
blessed with wit, eloquence, and an exceptionally sensitive spirit, the
ingrained institution of West Indian slavery was abolished by Parliament in
1833, just three days before "Wilber" died at the age of 74.
Because he was always well-liked, amusing, and naturally talented, it might
seem in retrospect that this "people person" could hardly have failed to be
a success. But he could have. He had many pitfalls to conquer.
He was always somewhat sickly. His eyes were weak and they cost him much
pain. His very short body was so twisted that for many years it had to be
supported by a metal frame. His stomach was prone to colitis, so that he
was put on a regimen of opium, damaging but considered necessary.
James Boswell said of him that he appeared to be a "shrimp"; he immediately
added, however, that when William Wilberforce began to orate, he somehow
became not a shrimp but a "whale."
For his first 25 years, Wilberforce basically just enjoyed himself. After
his father died when he was only nine, he was sent to live with an aunt and
uncle who had no children of their own. They introduced him to the
preaching of John Newton, the evangelical ex-slave trader; Wilberforce
later remembered "reverencing him as a parent."
That influence waned for more than a decade, however. Fearful that the
"methodism" of the foster parents would adversely affect her son,
Wilberforce's mother called him back and sent him away to school. Here, he
got along famously, largely due to the same winning traits of charm,
energy, tact, and powers of persuasion that would stand him in such good
stead years later - and for decades as a Member of Parliament.
Both while he was in school and afterward, he generally devoted himself to
having a good time. In 1780 when he was 21, he stood for Parliament and
just because he was so charmingly persuasive received as many votes as
his opponents combined. And yet, for his first three or four years as an
MP, he himself said, "I did nothing nothing that is to any purpose. My
own distinction was my darling object." He spent much time singing songs in
exclusive clubs and making witty speeches that may have been eloquent, but
which lacked much point or passion.
Then all that changed. In 1784, he invited one Isaac Milner to go along on
a family trip. It turned out that Milner was a clear-thinking, winsome
walking advertisement for "serious" Christianity. Harking back to the early
days with Newton and Methodism, they discussed and debated the matter of
evangelicalism.
With a Bible open beside him, Wilberforce began to read a book by Philip
Doddridge, "The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul." His life
changed. Now convinced that it had been empty and virtually useless thus
far, he almost withdrew from public life, and might have done so, too, had
not both John Newton and William Pitt, his friend and schoolfellow and now
prime minister, advised him to stay, and to use his gifts for the good of
humankind.
He certainly did! He changed almost everything, starting with himself. He
gave up habits he now saw as wasteful and undisciplined, and began looking
for significant ways to serve.
One appeared right away. Pitt, who once said Wilberforce possessed "the
greatest natural eloquence of all the men I ever met," joined with others
in suggesting he work for the abolition of slavery, and lead the campaign
in Parliament.
Later, looking back on his life mission, Wilberforce said, "God Almighty. .
. set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade and
the reformation of [morality]."
About slavery, he said, "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."
That task would turn out to be much more daunting than it first seemed.
Initially, he thought it would be possible to stem the flow of slaves from
Africa by international accord. But he ran into such stiff opposition from
vested interests and politics in many places, not to mention his own ill
health, that it began to look not at all sure. One of his friends wrote
that he feared he would one day read of Wilberforce being broiled by West
Indian planters, barbecued by African merchants, and eaten by Guinea captains.
In the meantime, he was also working to reform the nation's morals and
better the condition of its people. Making private morality a matter of
public concern, he developed the Society for the Suppression of Vice. He
worked for prison reform, opposition to pornography, and the funding of
Christian schools for the poor. He helped found the British and Foreign
Bible Society and the Church Missionary Society.
It was a good thing he was wealthy. He became known as the "prime minister
of a cabinet of philanthropists"; and he actually supported some 70
philanthropic causes, including those of "climbing boys" (chimney sweeps)
and single mothers. He earmarked one-fourth of his annual income for the
poor; and for the last 30 years of her life, he provided an annuity for the
widow of Charles Wesley.
He actively worked with the "Clapham Sect," a group of influential people
diplomats, legislators, bankers, and businessmen who were committed
to living out a "vital" and "practical" Christianity and following a gospel
that was both "spiritual" and "social." The group's philanthropic and
evangelical works included, among other things, the founding of the Sierra
Leone colony in Africa for slaves who had been freed. One adversarial
politician warned, "I would counsel my lords and bishops to keep their eyes
upon that holy village."
Wilberforce's life became much fuller than ever it had been when he was
spending it "enjoying himself." In 1797, he was married to Barbara Spooner,
and their life together brought him great joy.
And on July 26, 1833, three days before he died, William Wilberforce wept
with joy at the news that, with the last key details worked out by a
committee of the House of Commons, the final passage of the emancipation
bill was ensured. The unspeakable human misery of slavery was to be brought
to an end.
Although his family had other ideas, Parliament overruled them, recessed,
and insisted Westminster Abbey would be the site of his funeral which,
though a state occasion, was simple and dignified. The man with the quick
wit, gentle grin, and small, twisted body was being honored for changing
the face of his nation and much of the world.
A Christian History Institute article about Wilberforce, "The Shrimp Who
Became a Whale," is accompanied by a drawing of the reformer; it's at
http://www.gospelcom.net/chi/glimpses/five.html
An ironical 1791 poem in rhymed couplets: "Epistle to William Wilberforce,
Esq. on the Rejection of the Bill for Abolishing the Slave Trade" by Anna
Lętitia Barbauld, is reprinted at
http://www.cs.cmu.edu/afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/mmbt/www/women/barbauld/bal-wilberforce.html
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