In last week’s blog, we began the story of William Wilberforce. Following the death of his father and sister, Wilberforce’s mother became incapacitated by grief as well as her own physical ailments. Due to her breakdown, young William was sent to live with his Uncle William and Aunt Hannah near London. This situation could not have been better. William and Hannah were devoted Christians who loved and encouraged little William.
One of his Aunt and Uncle’s close friends was the remarkable John Newton. Newton is best known to us as the writer of the beloved hymn “Amazing Grace.” Newton’s story is truly amazing. The son of a sailor, Newton went to sea with his father at the tender age of 11. Newton would eventually work in the slave trade. By his own account, he lived a spectacularly immoral life. Memorably, Newton would later say that he had the “ambition of Caesar” when it came to wickedness.
In 1748, Newton was aboard a ship off the coast of Ireland. The ship was caught in a furious storm which threatened to sink her. Newton found himself fervently praying to God for mercy. Apparently there really are no atheists in foxholes…or sinking ships! Newton’s ship did indeed stay afloat but the experience clearly marked the beginning of his Christian conversion. He began to earnestly read the Scriptures and other Christian writings. Although his behavior began to change, he continued to participate in the slave trade. Although the Lord Jesus had taken hold of him, his transformation was far from complete. Newton would later reflect upon this time: “I cannot consider myself to have been a believer in the full sense of the word, until a considerable time afterwards.”
Newton captained several slave ships which transported their human cargo from the west coast of Africa across the Atlantic Ocean to British sugar plantations in the West Indies. Yet his growing faith had begun to open his eyes to the injustice of slavery. He began to develop deep sympathy toward the slaves. Newton suffered a stroke in 1754, forcing him to abandon his seafaring days. He nevertheless continued to invest in the slave trade.
Now confined to shore, Newton’s loyalty to Jesus continued to grow. He gained a reputation as an evangelical lay minister. In 1764, Newton was ordained in the Church of England and assigned to pastor the small village of Olney, about 60 miles northwest of London. During Newton’s time at Olney, he developed a strong friendship with Uncle William and Aunt Hannah. Thus, the remarkable life of John Newton intersected with that of William Wilberforce. Wilberforce became quite close to Newton, who had no children of his own and came to regard tiny William as a surrogate son. Newton would later play an even more vital role in Wilberforce’s life.
In the home of Uncle William and Aunt Hannah, William was brought up in a steadfast Christian home and grew strong in his own faith. Uncle William and Aunt Hannah had come to faith through the powerful impact of evangelist George Whitefield. During his college days at Oxford, Whitefield had been close friends with John and Charles Wesley. These young men were determined to take their faith seriously. Together they formed a “Holy Club” and committed themselves to a rigorous schedule, or method, of Scripture reading, prayer, accountability, and service. Their fellow students at Oxford often mocked these young men on account of their spiritual zeal. The Holy Club members were labelled with various derisive terms; the term which eventual stuck was “methodists.” Undeterred by such opprobrium, Whitefield would go on to have enormous impact throughout England and America on account of his indefatigable itinerant preaching.
Genuine Christianity, however, was widely despised by many in England at this time. Like George Whitefield and John Wesley, such committed Christians became known as “methodists” or “enthusiasts.” In particular, most of the clergy in the Anglican Church and the British Nobility resented such Christians, regarding them as a threat to the stability of English society. Sadly, William’s mother Elizabeth and his grandfather the Alderman were among these people. Upon recovering from her earlier melancholy, William’s mother realized that her son was being deeply influenced by serious Christians. Thoroughly alarmed, she immediately resolved to bring her son back to Hull from his Aunt and Uncle’s home near London. Wilberforce would later recall how anxious his mother was to remove her son “before I should imbibe what she considered was little less than poison.” William had spent two years with his relatives, returning at the age of 12.
So again William faced adversity, being dislocated from the safe and loving home of his aunt and uncle. Moreover, he now recognized the deep division within his family; he was keenly aware that his mother and grandfather rejected the Christian faith of his aunt and uncle – the faith which they had nurtured in him as well. Wilberforce recalled, “I deeply felt the parting. Indeed, I was almost heart-broken at the separation.”
“Once Elizabeth got her son safely back home in Hull, she sought to scrub his soul clean of methodism.” So writes Kevin Belmonte in his biography of Wilberforce. William’s mother forbade him from attending any church service, even the tepid local Anglican sort. She ensured he had no contact with religious enthusiasts. And she encouraged him in a life focused on upward social mobility, worldly wealth and enjoyment. Wilberforce’s faith proved tenacious. He tried to correspond with his aunt and uncle, hoping his letters wouldn’t be discovered. But eventually it seems his mother largely succeeded in strangling his faith. Several years later, when the time came for William to attend college, his aunt and uncle’s spiritual influence had indeed been nullified. Wilberforce later would recall how “the good seed was gradually smothered, and I became as thoughtless as any amongst them.”
William Wilberforce matriculated to St. John’s College at Cambridge University in 1776 at the age of 17. While he had lost his religious convictions, he had many other rare and extraordinary gifts. He had developed a keen intellect and was quick witted. His mind was so nimble that in any situation he was ready to offer a reply which was either humorous, insightful, witty, or all these at once. In social settings, he exuded a powerful natural charisma which drew others to him. He loved to enjoy himself in the company of others and was charming and effervescent. People loved being around Wilberforce and he loved being the life of the party. He had an enormous capacity for building relationships.
One characteristic Wilberforce notably lacked during his college years was any semblance of discipline. His college career seems largely to consist of skimming by on natural talent. He often skipped lectures and did not seriously apply himself to his studies. His days chiefly consisted in attending the theater, drinking at pubs, enjoying dinners and dances, playing cards and gambling. After becoming a Christian, Wilberforce would bitterly regret how he wasted some of the prime years of his life in unmitigated dissolution.
During his college days, Wilberforce began to develop a fervent interest in politics. Wilberforce’s personality gave him the unique ability to connect with college peers who would later become the leading men of the nation. In particular, Wilberforce had become acquainted with a classmate named William Pitt. Ever since Pitt was a boy, his father had groomed his son for life in the political world. These efforts would be spectacularly successful, for in just a few years William Pitt would become – at the age of 24! – the youngest prime minister in the history of England. Wilberforce’s friendship with Pitt would grow exponentially over the coming years. His connection to Pitt’s rising political star enabled him to make important connections at the highest levels of the British government and society.
During his college years, Wilberforce had begun attending the gallery at the House of Commons, listening to the debates raging there. Of course, the great issue of the day was the ongoing war with the colonies in America – the colonies who had in 1776 declared their independence from Britain. Pitt’s father was one of the chief opponents of the war. He vigorously criticized the government of Lord North for his hard line stance against the colonies as well as his prosecution of the resulting hostilities.
Thus Wilberforce determined to run for Parliament. He began campaigning for office in his hometown of Hull. As in modern day politics, running for office required substantial financial resources. Wilberforce had by this time acquired considerable wealth. Both his grandfather the Alderman and his Uncle William had died, leaving him as the heir to their fortunes. Now English politics was an unsavory stew of corruption and patronage. Voters essentially expected to be bribed for their support. Wilberforce would later say that if he had been a Christian at the time, he would have avoided running for office because of the dishonest tactics required. Indeed, he was most certainly not yet the man he would become. Wilberforce plunged into the campaign, giving speeches and hosting lavish dinners for potential supporters. His efforts paid off handsomely when, in the fall of 1780, William Wilberforce was elected to the House of Commons. He had just turned 21 years of age and would spend the next 45 years in Parliament. Little did he know what God intended for him to accomplish there.
