Happy Birthday, Mr. Wilberforce
Yesterday was the 250th birthday of William Wilberforce, the man who almost single-handedly got the slave trade abolished in England. Chuck Colson has a very nice commentary over at LifeSite in his honor.
William Wilberforce really should be an inspiration to all pro-lifers. The slave trade was deeply embedded in British society in his day and I’m sure that most believed it would never be abolished. Yet Wilberforce, year in and year out, “in season and out of season” (2 Timothy 4:2), worked against the abominable practice and eventually he was successful. For those of us who have been fighting to make abortion illegal again in this country – without apparent success – we should look to the work of Mr. Wilberforce as our model. We must never give up and we must never surrender. The lives of the most innocent among us depend on it.
The movie Amazing Grace is a fine movie about Wilberforce’s life, although as is typical in Hollywood, it minimizes the role his Christian faith played in his work against the slave trade.
Be sure to say a prayer today for the repose of Wilberforce’s soul.
