William Wilberforce: Because Jesus Changes Everything | 1759-1833
“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”—Romans 12:21
Biography:
Born to a wealthy merchant family in the shipping town of Kingson upon Hull, Yorkshire, England, William Wilberforce knew many privileges as a child, including that of a good education. His childhood teacher, Joseph Milner, later became a lifelong friend, even though young Wilberforce left his tutelage at the age nine when his father died. Overcome with grief, Wilberforce’s mother sent him away to live with his aunt in Wimbledon where he continued his academic education and was introduced to the Methodist movement, Christianity, and the cause of abolition. While Wilberforce did not accept Christ at this time, this period in his life was highly impactful.
He eventually attended St. Johns College in Cambridge. There, he was the life of the party, known for his easy temperament, wit, generosity, and penchant for meaningful conversation. As a young man of just 17, following the death of his grandfather and uncle, Wilberforce became independently wealthy and dedicated himself to the pursuit of recreation rather than academics. Nevertheless, he managed to pass his exams and earned both a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts degree, all while forming rich relationships that would last a lifetime. Two of those relationships significantly shaped his life.
First, one of his closest friends from college was the son of the Prime Minister, William Pitt. The two young men frequently watched heated debates during the height of the golden age of British rhetoric, learning from master orators like Edmund Burke and many others as they observed from the galley at Parliament. Soon, Pitt the Younger, as he was known, encouraged his friend Wilberforce to run for a seat in the House of Commons with him. The two were successfully elected and began their parliamentary careers together when Wilberforce was just 21 years old (and still a college student). The two had profound idealistic visions, a compelling desire to change the world, and extraordinary talent for politics. In planning and dreaming, Wilberforce is reported to have said to Pitt, “We are too young to realize that certain things are impossible… So we will do them anyway.” When Wilberforce was 23 and first-term statesman, he spent his political capital and influence with other MPs helping elect his 24 year old friend, William Pitt the Younger to the office of Prime Minister. To this day, Pitt remains the youngest Prime Minister in world history and the legendary partnership of Wilberforce and Pitt remains one of the most effective reform campaigns ever. Though they were barely out of college, together they took the helm of the legislative branch of the British Empire, restoring a thriving economy in the wake of Britian’s defeat in the American War for Independence, navigating through the tumultuous foreign relations and domestic turmoil produced by the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars, overseeing the unification of the United Kingdom, and executing a peaceful cultural revolution. The magnitude of the accomplishments of their steadfast friendship and political partnership is incredible.
However, their success would not have been so great were it not for the impact of a Wilberforce’s friendship with his old schoolmate: Isaac Milner. Milner was the younger brother of Wilberforce’s childhood headmaster, and on a break from college, they toured the French Riviera, Italy, and Switzerland. Milner was at the time on his own faith journey, and the two ended up reading the New Testament and delving into many deep theological discussion as they traveled. On that trip, Wilberforce accepted Christ as Lord and Savior, and his world forever changed. After returning to England, he sought a meeting with an old pastor he knew from his days of living with aunt, the Reverend John Newton (former slave trader turned abolitionist pastor and author of the hymn “Amazing Grace”). Though new in his faith, Wilberforce knew that only God could transform the hearts of men to bring about true justice. He asked the pastor if he should serve God through ministry or remain in Parliament, and Newton wisely counseled him to do both. Soon, Isaac and Joseph Milner, John Newton, Hannah More, John Thornton, Thomas Clarkson, and growing circle of born-again Christians became Wilberforce’s closest friends and partners in ministry as they together sought to change their world for the glory of God.
As he gave himself fully to the work that God called him, the love of Christ became the predominate trademark in Wilberforce’s character. His love for the “Brotherhood of Man” led him to be an excellent friend, husband, father, employer, philanthropist, and statesman. He knew that the work of faith in Christ alone could change a person, a community, and society, and he sought the “reform of manners” as he carried the Gospel to all social spheres. Wilberforce was committed to the belief that all life was precious to God and fought tirelessly for the least of these, sacrificially spending his fortune, his health, and decades of his life in the advancement of the cause. In a nation that considered cruel child labor and human slavery as economic necessities, his cause rarely welcome. However, he was unyielding for over 50 years, and it is said that Wilberforce literally wore his opponents and critics down with his love and compassion.
Among his many accomplishments, throughout his lifetime, William Wilberforce:
- Won the abolition of Slavery throughout the British Empire (with final victory coming just 3 days before his death in 1833)
- Helped establish, fund, and politically support the Sunday School movement
- Worked to end child prostitution (a huge problem in London in his day)
- Championed education and opportunity for impoverished children
- Fought for better housing and living conditions for the poor
- Advocated for safer working conditions for all people
- Fought for rights and proper care for the mentally ill
- Founded the world’s first animal welfare organization, “The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals”
- Worked tirelessly to reform the moral character of his nation through discipleship in God’s Word and by “making goodness fashionable”
- Founded the “Society for the Suppression of Vice” and worked with the King to author a national proclamation on piety and virtue
- Engaged in Prison Reform, including working to limit capital punishment and end many cruel and unusual forms of criminal punishment
- Helped found the Church Mission Society and championed British missionary work in India and around the world
- Exercised extreme generosity, even giving away more than his own annual income to those struggling to survive in years when food was scare
The Lord used Wilberforce in extraordinary ways and this brief is list is by no means conclusive. Wilberforce authored numerous books (Real Christianity is a must-read), and met and kept vast correspondence with other world leaders including Benjamin Franklin, Marquis de Lafayette, John Wesley, and many others. However, his real influence was on the life of the common man, and continues to shape our world today.
It is difficult for modern readers to really understand just how much the work of William Wilberforce changed the world. In his day, corruption and crime were rampant to a degree that we can hardly fathom: many children lived in abhorrent conditions, performing hard and dangerous manual labor for 14-18 hours a day in exchange for starvation wages and in many cases, routine sexual abuse. Human slavery was the norm. Prostitution and sex trafficking were commonplace, to the extent that among single women of London at the time, 25% were prostitutes (among whom the average age was just 16). Alcoholism was rampant. Poverty was a systemic epidemic. With the humanistic ideas of the enlightenment dominating many pulpits, the Church was culturally absent. Most leaders of Wilberforce’s day never even considered whether anything should be done about these societal ills. Today, because of Wilberforce’s extraordinary effort, the Western world no longer asks whether these problems deserve our attention; we only ask how to best solve them.
Upon his death, leaders of both houses of Parliament honored him with and provided for Wilberforce’s burial in Westminster Abbey near his friend, William Pitt. Today, William Wilberforce is remembered around the world as one of the greatest humanitarian reformers of all time.
Lessons From Wilberforce’s Life:
The modern Western Church has largely become one that focuses inwardly on the spiritual state and even feelings of an individual—but this is not the sum or even majority of how Christ taught us to live. Wilberforce surrendered fully to the inward work of regeneration that Christ was doing in his life and is known for prioritizing personal spiritual discipline, spending hours alone with God in the Word and prayer—but his life’s focus was outward, to the world that God called him to reach. As Psalm 82:3-4 says, “Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
God opened the eyes of Wilberforce to see the great moral evils of his time, and when powerful earthly authorities encouraged him to look the other way, it only strengthened his resolve to see those evils overcome with good. Wilberforce believed that God’s Word and God’s People were God’s answers for the most heartbreaking problems of his day, just as God’s Word and God’s People are mean to be God’s answer to the greatest problems of our day. Like Wilberforce, we’re called to be people of unwavering faith and perseverance who point others to the redeeming love of Jesus at every turn and give ourselves fully to the work that God calls us to, because He who called us is faithful.
Just as God opened Wilberforce’s eyes to see the difference faith could make in his generation, we must also work to get people in our time see the world differently—through the eyes of Christ’s love and compassion. It’s not enough to change laws if the hearts of men don’t change. Wilberforce rightly saw the social ills of his day first and foremost as a sin problem, which could only be cured by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A revival of faith—of God’s People radically obeying and applying God’s Word in their own life and in the world around them—is the only thing will produce lasting change in society. It is only when the principles of God’s Word become mainstream in society that we can see a moral society where peace reigns and human rights are secure.
Our world today needs a new generation of Wilberforce’s to carry the heart of Jesus to the broken world around them, conquering the evils of our own time with the pure goodness that comes only from God. Wilberforce fought to eradicate slavery of over 3 million people in his day, but in our time, according to WalkFree.org’s Global Slavery Index, there are now more than 50 million slaves around the world. Human trafficking, especially child sex trafficking, are rampant. The murder of pre-born children, the elderly, and disabled persons is socially acceptable by many cultures around the world who have forgotten the sacred value of all human life created in the image of God. Poverty, substance abuse, and organized crime thrive in our own time. These injustices will only be vanquished when God’s People answer God’s call—like Wilberforce did.
William Wilberforce in His Own Words:
“Surely the principles of Christianity lead to action as well as meditation.”
“You may choose to look the other way but you can never say again that you did not know.”
“It is the true duty of every man to promote the happiness of his fellow creatures to the utmost of his power.”
“We are too young to realize that certain things are impossible… So we will do them anyway.”
“God Almighty has set before me two Great Objects: the suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners.”
“The distemper of which, as a community, we are sick, should be considered rather as a moral than a political malady.”
“The advance or decline of faith is so intimately connected to the welfare of a society that is should be of particular interest to a politician.”
“Of all things, guard against neglecting god in the secret place of prayer.”
“Accustom yourself to look first to the dreadful consequences of failure; then fix your eye on the glorious prize which is before you; and when your strength begins to fail, and your spirits are well nigh exhausted, let the animating view rekindle your resolution, and call forth in renewed vigor the fainting energies of your soul.”
“True Christians consider themselves not as satisfying some rigorous creditor, but as discharging a debt of gratitude…”
“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.”
“Is it not the great end of religion, and, in particular, the glory of Christianity, to extinguish the malignant passions; to curb the violence, to control the appetites, and to smooth the asperities of man; to make us compassionate and kind, and forgiving one to another; to make us good husbands, good fathers, good friends; and to render us active and useful in the discharge of the relative social and civil duties? ”
“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.”
“What a difference it would be if our system of morality were based on the Bible instead of the standards devised by cultural Christians.”
“It makes no sense to take the name of Christian and not cling to Christ. Jesus is not some magic charm to wear like a piece of jewelry we think will give us good luck. He is the Lord. His name is to be written on our hearts in such a powerful way that it creates within us a profound experience of His peace and a heart that is filled with His praise.”
Sources:
Hawkinson, Don. Character for Life: An American Heritage
Metaxas, Eric. Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery
Metaxas, Eric. “Amazing Grace: Lessons from the Life of Wiliam Wilberforce”, a video presentation given at Calvary Church. Watch: https://youtu.be/njLUCmtLQpY?si=jjdfS5kER8WJI1cp
Wilberforce, William. Real Christianity
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