William Willberforce

At the time, it seemed as impossible as trying to break down a steel wall with a spoon, and yet William Wilberforce managed to do that politically. William Wilberforce had all the redeeming qualities of a hero and continues to be an inspiration to us all. Throughout his life, he showed intelligence, compassion, and loyalty to his spouse and patience unparalleled to most other people. Even from his birth in 1733, he suffered from severe health problems. He grew up as a non-Christian man though, for he took to playing cards and drinking at age seventeen. In fact, it was not until about 1786, when he realized his sin stained past and prepared to dedicate the rest of his life to the Lord. Merely the fact that William could follow God after all of those terrible things he did stands as a testimony to God’s mercy and why William wanted to devote his life to him.

Arguably, the biggest thing William accomplished within his lifetime was the abolition of the slave trade. This proved to be extremely difficult for William and all the other abolitionists, due to Britain making 80% of their income through the slave trade. Abolishing the slave trade would obviously take a very long time and a lot of effort, but God had made it clear to Wilberforce that he had to fight against the evil trade, even if this course of action seemed impossible. That does not mean that Wilberforce had no assets however; he had God on his side and the conscience of the public and politicians. By merely describing the abysmal conditions the slaves had to tolerate, he could sway people to his side. However, some very brittle politicians simply refused to abolish the slave trade because it would hurt the economy. It appeared that things would not improve any time soon from that point on. Time and time again William presented the idea and time and time again it would fall to stubborn politicians more concerned with the economy than the lives of human beings. And when it seemed like the abolitionists would never succeed, God provided an answer to them.

On the surface, God’s solution did not seem to make a lot of sense, A law that would prevent British ships from flying the American flag. While this may appear to do absolutely nothing against slavery, this law made the slave trade fall. The British were at war with the French. The French ships would not attack British slave ships because they flew the American flag. By the time the other politicians realized what effect this would have on the slave trade, the abolitionists had already passed the law. Wilberforce continued to abolish slavery for the rest of his life, and in the last three days of his life, he got to hear slavery being outlawed in almost all of Britain. He died in 1833, but he died happy because he knew the African Americans of Britain now ran free, thanks to him. I think he did, and while he had his share of mistakes, Jesus’ blood covers a multitude of sins.