Making a Difference

I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. (Isaiah 63:3, NIV)

Wilberforce was a member of the British House of Commons in 1785. After trusting Christ as his Saviour, he became concerned about how he should serve the Lord as a political leader. He became burdened about seeing slavery abolished in England.


Wilberforce began to campaign for legislation to restrict and then outlaw slavery. His speeches and motions in Parliament met with a great deal of opposition. For 20 years, the battle continued in Parliament. Wilberforce had to take his case to the public. He had to endure criticism and repeated attempts to blacken his reputation. He was mocked as the leader of a hopeless cause, but, after 20 years of campaigning, the English Parliament finally outlawed slavery, setting an entirely new public moral tone in England. In the United States 600,000 people had to die in a bloody Civil War to accomplish the same purpose.

From DAY LIGHTEERS by Nico Bougas. Available from amazon.com