Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing. Go on, in the name of God and in the power of His might, till American slavery(the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it. ~ John Wesley to William Wilberforce (1791)
I love that quote. There are times when we face serious choices between right and wrong. Do we watch injustice continue when it is within our grasp(with God’s power!) to stop it, OR do we sit idly by?
Wilberforce worked his entire life against human slavery. Three days before he died in 1833, Parliament abolished slavery throughout the British Empire. The backstory to Wilberforce’s calling to fight slavery is intriguing.
Wilberforce was mentored by John Newton. We know John Newton as the writer of Amazing Grace. Before his conversion. Newton led a vile life while being aboard a slave trader. He was, indeed, the very definition of a wretch. He would eventually be marooned and enslaved himself. His father sent a rescue ship for him. On the passage home, a terrible storm engulfed his vessel. He turned his life over to the Lord as a result. Later, Newton would be consulted by William Wilberforce who wanted to leave his government position. Newton told Wilberforce that he needed to stay in office. Wilberforce faced a choice. Leave office and take the easier path? Or he could remain in office and face down a great, multi-generational evil?
The rest, as we say, is history. Wilberforce, with Newton as his spiritual advisor, would lead the first successful charge to abolish one of modern history’s great injustices. They were both relentless and unyielding in making sure this evil would be ended.
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