HIGH SPIRITS: The Force Behind Wilberforce
Aitken, Jonathan
ARCH WILL BE A MONTH of Wilberforcemania as the world commemorates the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade by the British Parliament on March 25, 1807. In the United States...
...numerous books, lectures, services, and TV programs...
...Eventually, after 46 years of parliamentarystruggle,Wilberforcelivedtoseeslaveryoutlawed completely...
...He was not a political pragmatist," writes Piper...
...I have had ten thousand doubtswithinmyselfwhetherornotIshoulddiscover myself to you, but every argument against it has its foundation in pride...
...This altered his behavior, for in his pre-conversion days he was a libertine, a gambler, and a lightweight political dilettante...
...The amazing grace in Wilberforce's life was God's spiritual transformation of him...
...I am sure you will hold yourself boundtoletno-onelivingknowofthisapplicationorof myvisit....RememberImustbesecret...
...He converted a sufficient number of MPs to his cause by calling good witnesses in committee hearings andby the usual black arts of political deal making in smoke-filled rooms...
...Newton reminisced, with much remorse, abouthisformerlifeasaslaveshipcaptain.Thesetwo subjects featured heavily on October 28, 1787, a Sun-daythetwomenspentineachother'scompany.Forat the end of that day Wilberforce wrote in his diary: "God Almighty has placed before me two great objects: the suppression of the Slave Trade and the Reformation of Manners" (morals...
...JohnNewton,whointhe1780swastheVicarofSt...
...Their letters are strongevidenceforthebeliefthattherealwellsprings ofWilberforce'smomentousachievementwerenotto be found in votes counted, speeches delivered, or bills passed, but in a far deeper level of spiritual commitment...
...Theabovesummaryismoreorlesstheconsensual judgment of history on Wilberforce...
...The zeal that flowed from this conversion was so passionate that 26-year-old William Wilberforce MP wanted to give up his promising career in politics andenterthechurch.Hehadalreadyexplainedthisin alettertotheprimeminister,WilliamPitt.Nowhewas explaining it to Newton, an old family friend whom Wilberforcehadmetasaschoolboy...
...In the United States the event will be marked by congressional ceremonies...
...He was changed into a deeply serious legislator with tenacious determination and high moral purpose...
...This version goes as follows: A talented and well-connected young MP became horrified by the brutalities oftheslavetrade.Withgreatmoralcouragehelaunched a humanitarian campaign to abolish it...
...He took Newton's advice and remained an MP...
...biographerswhohascapturedthestrengthofhissubject's spirituality is John Piper in his Amazing Grace in the Life of William Wilberforce (Crossway Books, 2007...
...One of Wilberforce's best (and shortest...
...Newton became a regular guest at Wilberforce's house on Wimbledon Common...
...Even so, the abolitionist campaign failed for its first 20 years...
...Newton, who wrote the original hymn, is an importantfigureinthefilm,butheisplayedinthekey scenes by Albert Finney as a croaky, crumbling old monk swabbing church floors in his bare feet as he mutterssepulchralasidestoWilberforce.Theactingis H I G HS P I R I T S 6 0 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R M A R C H 2 0 0 7 TheForceBehindWilberforce by Jonathan Aitken M M A R C H 2 0 0 7 T H E A M E R I C A N S P E C T A T O R 6 1 brilliant but the history is bosh...
...He was a radically God-centered Christian who was a politician.AndhistrueaffectionsforGodbasedonthe peculiardoctrinesofChristianityweretherootsofhis enduranceinthecauseofjustice...
...and by a new Hollywood movie,AmazingGrace.Alltheseproductionswillglorify William Wilberforce for his tenacity in leading the abolitionist movement to success through 46 years of legislative warfare...
...Instead, combining spiritual counsel with political wisdom, NewtonstronglyadvisedWilberforcenottowithdraw fromtheHouseofCommons,nottodeserthisfriends in government, but to stay in Parliament in order to serveGodasaChristianstatesman...
...TheRev.JohnNewtonmighthavebeenexpected to encourage the young Mr...
...JonathanAitken,TheAmericanSpectator'sHighSpirits columnist, is the author of John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace which will be published in June 2007 by Crossway Books...
...The importance of the Newton-Wilberforce relationship has been underestimated by historians and indeed by Philip Anschutz's new movie, Amazing Grace...
...To understand what reallymadeWilberforcetick,afarbetterstartingpoint ishiscorrespondencewithNewton,muchofithithertounpublished...
...It is possible to present the saga of William Wilberforce simply as a secular political success story...
...So for all Wilberforce's abolitionist achievements, momentous though they were, there was an even more important spiritual dimension behind him...
...On the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade weshouldalsocelebratethisspiritualtransformation of William Wilberforce as the key to his historic accomplishmentsasaparliamentaryreformer...
...Wilberforce'ssecretwasthathemadealifelongjourneyfrom self-centeredness, achievement centeredness, and political centeredness to God centeredness...
...Soon he became a regular attender at Newton's church...
...He swungpublicopinionovertohissidebyjoiningforces with the Clapham Sect and the Anti-Slavery Society, two formidable teams of 18th-century spin doctors...
...TheytalkedendlesslyaboutWilberforce'sopportunities for Christ-centered service to Parliament and to the nation...
...Even more revealing are Wilberforce's letters, especially those written to his spiritual mentor,theRev.JohnNewton...
...He died a national hero and now, 200yearslater,heisabouttobeveneratedasahumanitariansaint...
...Wilberforce to follow his newfound religious vocation for ordination...
...MaryWoolnothintheCityofLondon,enjoyingastatusequivalenttoNormanVincent Peale in New York during the 1960s, received a strange letter from William WilberforceonDecember2,1785.Itsemphasis on secrecy was so mysterious that it could almost have come from a spy seeking to arrange a clandestine assignation: "I wish to have some serious conversation with you," wrote Wilberforce...
...Then it had a major breakthrough when Wilberforce's bill prohibiting slavetransportationinBristolshipswaspassedonthe 12th attempt...
...His biographies include CharlesW.Colson:ALifeRedeemed(Doubleday)andNixon: ALife(Regnery).J O N A T H A NA I T K E N ThesecretWilberforcedivulgedwasthathe wasinemotionalturmoilasaresultofa recentreligiousconversion.Afewmonths earlierhisoldschoolmaster,IsaacMilner, hadconvertedhimtoevangelicalChristianity...
...IT IS CLEAR FROM WILBERFORCE'S LETTERS anddiaries that this momentous conversation was a turning point in his life...
...But how many of these newinterpretationswillfindthekey,letaloneunlock the door, to the spiritual forces that inspired and motivated Wilberforce throughout his campaign...
...He confronted the vested economic interests of the time, primarily the shipping industry, and gradually wore downtheoppositioninParliament.Hemadealliances withtheleadingpoliticiansintheHouseofCommons, notably William Pitt and Charles James Fox...
...What it omits oratleastdownplaysisthattherealmotivationforthe campaign to abolish slavery came from Wilberforce's passionateChristianfaith.Tounderstandwhatapowerful driving force this was in his life, a reader should put aside the popular biographies or histories and insteadconcentrateonWilberforce'slesswell-known spiritual writings, particularly his A Practical View of Christianity (1797...
...The secret Wilberforce divulged was that he was in emotional turmoil as a result of a recent religious conversion.Afewmonthsearlierhisoldschoolmaster, IsaacMilner,hadconvertedhimtoevangelicalChristianity...
...Newton and Wilberforce were close friends, correspondents, and prayer partners...
Vol. 40 • March 2007 • No. 2
