In my lifetime, I have not met anyone who is not scandalized and offended by the thought of human slavery. Most people seethe with moral outrage at the idea that anyone or any culture ever allowed it.

In the lifetime of William Wilberforce, an Abolitionist, the opposite was the norm. Slavery was as accepted as birth, marriage, and death. As one author from this era wrote,  “It was so woven into the tapestry of human history you could barely see its threads, much less pull them out. Everywhere on the globe, for five thousand years, the idea of human civilization without slavery was unimaginable.”

In the year 1807, William Wilburforce , after a lifetime of disappointments, finally won his hard fought battle to abolish slavery in most of the British Empire.

This gigantic victory today stands as a towering testimonial of Wilberforce’s achievements. What caused this idea to become a reality was his persistence and certainty that all creation bears equally the image of its creator, God. This truth paved the way for all that followed.  His achievement inspired  other nations of the world to follow and finally open their doors to the emancipation of slaves which amazingly was achieved three days  before Wilberforce died in 1833.

Early in his political career, Wilburforce was on the fast track to become prime minister of Great Britain .   He never made it. According to some politicians, Wilberforce “…preferred mankind to political parties”  However what Wilburforce accomplished, because of his faith, far transcends any political victory. William Wilberforce’s legacy stands as a hinge for pulling  the world around a much needed corner.

Even though slavery has disappeared throughout most of the world, there are places where people are still held in slavery. However the idea that it is a good thing is dead, and  the mind-set  that slavery is necessary for the economy  has  also vanished.

In 1785 at age of twenty-six, Wilberforce felt that God opened his eyes and showed him another world. He saw the Kingdom of heaven, with things that  he had never realized before and wonders that were too easily taken for granted. Wilberforce saw them as at the heart of the Gospel and felt for the first time their impact. Before this moment, Wilberforce noted that no one was taking  them seriously.

By focusing on these Christian ideals, Wilberforce would change that. He helped make society responsible for  helping  the poor and the suffering. Wilberforce’s speeches began to proclaim “…if we are each other’s brother and sister then we need to love them all equally, doing unto others what we would have them do unto us.”

His speeches and courage began to conflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. His tenacity gently removed the lingering mind-set that slavery is morally defensible and economically necessary. These ideas are what Wilburforce erased forever.

History’s longstanding landscape has great people whose names have become lost over the years. William Wilburforce is one of these great heroes. Today his life stands out as an example of spiritual strength, moral clarity, and divine purpose.

He is the statesman who challenged  the prevailing tides of his time eradicating  the scourge of the slave trade, while labeling it as the destroyer of life and goodness.

As a result of his courage and efforts, freedom’s bell still rings today for the millions his efforts freed.  His legacy reminds us that God’s work of creation is not finished. Like William Wilberforce, we also have the capability to create the better world that God still desires for his creation.