Amazing Grace: the William Wilberforce Story
November 10, 2006
Do you know who William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was? If not, don’t worry: you’re not alone. Only one in ten Americans has heard of him, according to Walden Media. Another reason not to worry: Amazing Grace: the William Wilberforce Story arrives in theaters on February 23, 2007.
For twenty years, from 1787 to 1807, Wilberforce struggled tirelessly for the abolition of the slave trade throughout the British Empire. Year after year, as a British Member of Parliament (MP), he introduced a bill to end that vile institution. Edmund Burke described Wilberforce’s first great speech against the slave trade, given on May 12, 1789, as “equal[ing] anything . . . heard in modern times, and was not, perhaps, to be surpassed in the remains of Grecian eloquence.” Wilberforce and his colleagues painstakingly gathered and presented documentary evidence and testimony of the unfathomably cruel nature of the enterprise and the growing public sentiment against it. Their efforts ensured that no MP could claim ignorance on Judgment Day.1
Yet year after year, Wilberforce’s “perennial resolution” was rejected. The opposition was great and powerful from a human perspective. Three hundred eighteen MPs, nearly all of them, were “in the slave trade’s pocket” as of the late 1780s (according to Amazing Grace the movie).
The crown opposed [the abolitionists]. The greatest hero of Britain, Admiral Lord Nelson, not only opposed their cause but also declared Wilberforce a traitor. And the opposition became so intense that Wilberforce was twice publicly attacked and began to have an armed guard travel with him where he went. (Jefferson and Wilberforce: Leaders Who Shaped Their Times, Part II)
The opposition considered Wilberforce’s campaign to be a grave threat not just to their personal luxurious wealth and comfort but also to national security. Slavery and the trading of human lives, after all, comprised the principal economic engine of the entire empire.
Despite the string of consistent legislative defeats at the hands of a virulent opposition, Wilberforce persevered. Why? Wilberforce believed that all humans were equal in God’s sight – that “God hath made of one blood all nations of men” (Acts 17:26). From where did he draw his strength and unflagging conviction? Jesus Christ.2
Back in 1787, after being awakened to a vibrant faith in Christ, Wilberforce was inclined to leave politics altogether for a life of godly contemplation. He sought the advice of John Newton, a clergyman and former slave ship captain who penned the famous hymn “Amazing Grace” as an expression of his awe concerning the gift of salvation.
The old and wise man pleaded with [Wilberforce] to stay engaged in his vocation, but to do so fired by his new faith, Queen Esther-like – for just such a moment as this – “to take up the abolition of slavery.” (Steve Garber)
Newton said: “The Lord has raised you up to the good of His church and for the good of the nation” (Kingdoms in Conflict, p.99). Wilberforce came to agree with Newton. He could not accept that God had sent Jesus Christ only to rescue his soul from hell.
If Christianity was true and meaningful, it must go deeper than that. It must not only save but serve. It must bring God’s compassion to the oppressed as well as oppose the oppressors. [A]ll he could envision were loaded slave ships leaving the sun-baked coasts of Africa. [He turned to his journal and wrote:] “Almighty God has set before me two great objectives . . . abolition of the slave trade and the reformation of manners” (Kingdoms in Conflict, p.100).
The “reformation of manners” had nothing to do with which fork to use. It
is what we would call the renewal of the social fabric, as they understood that there would be no political address of slavery without the culture believing that it was no longer acceptable for human beings to buy and sell other human beings. [I]n Washington we put it this way, . . . culture is “upstream” from politics (Steve Garber).
Sustained by his faith and the support of the fellow believers of the Clapham Circle3 – Wilberforce’s campaign finally achieved victory in 1807, when his “perennial resolution” passed 287 to 16. Historian G.M. Trevelyan called it “one of the turning events in the history of the world” (Wilberforce Forum). Thanks to Wilberforce and other abolitionists, slavery itself throughout the British Empire met a similar fate in 1833, three days prior to William’s death.
I highly recommend that you see Amazing Grace when it opens on February 23. You will be inspired. You will be enriched. If you’re like me, you’ll leave wondering what “great object” the Lord may have put before you.
ENDNOTES
1 As I watched the opening minutes of Amazing Grace, I kept thinking that the filmmakers should have more clearly expressed, in visual terms, the horrors of the slave trade. Upon reflection, I suspect that my first impression is an indication that I have been desensitized, in some sense, to televised brutality. We do see, in this film, dark flashes of horror: a shackled slave girl pleading for help, children burned while they are worked to death on a sugar plantation. We see the horror written in Wilberforce’s own face, eyes sunken, skin pale and soaked in sweat as he awakes from nightmares. Moreover, I later considered that Wilberforce, in making his case before Parliament, had to rely not on video or pictures of the slave trade but his ability to craft images with words. Perhaps the filmmakers give us a better sense of the enormity of Wilberforce’s task by limiting themselves to his toolkit.
2 Something was lacking in Amazing Grace’s attempt to portray Wilberforce’s heroic perseverance. I suspect that this particular aspect of his stunning campaign was dulled by the screenwriter’s choice to jump back and forth in time while telling the story.
3 Amazing Grace fell a bit short in its efforts to convey the importance to Wilberforce’s campaign of the Clapham Circle or Sect. The circle was a Christian group to which Wilberforce devoted himself,
a community of like-minded, like-hearted companions, fellow pilgrims of diverse vocations – business, banking, education, the clergy, politics – who determined to live near each other in a neighborhood called Clapham, day by day eating, talking, praying, playing, thinking together. (Steve Garber)
Wilberforce’s fellow believers from Clapham
not only allied with him, but also helped to encourage him and sustain his commitment in the darkest times. He was clear that the network of support he enjoyed was “indispensable in enabling him to serve effectively in politics.” . . . It was this group that would sustain Wilberforce and each other again and again through prayer and personal relationships as, each year, defeats in Parliament piled up the mound of discouragement. (Jefferson and Wilberforce: Leaders Who Shaped Their Times, Part II)
