The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Nathan K. during the 2008-2009 League.
Mission: Reading - Book Report on Gods Politician by Garth Lean
William Wilberforce was born on August 24, 1759, Britain's annus mirabilis (wonderful year) in which General James Wolfe captured Quebec, and the French were defeated in crucial land and sea battles. Two years earlier, General Robert Clive had established British predominance in India at the decisive Battle of Plassey, and by 1760 the conquest of French Canada and Spanish Florida were ceded to Britain.
As we can see William Wilberforce was born into a time of great wealth and prosperity for England. It was also a time of great corruption. Murder, theft, and prostitution ran rampant. Bribery of political officials was accepted as the natural way of doing things. The mass of the electors were hereditary freemen, generally "persons of low station" who required a bribe. Sadly this comment reflects all too well the current state of our nation both socially and politically.
He went through many difficulties in his life; the biggest being his health. Wilberforce was a weak child, tiny, frail, and with the poor eyesight which plagued him his entire life. He often said in later life that, had he been born "in less civilized times" - and have added less comfortable circumstances - it would have been thought impossible to rear him. But if his body was weak, his mind was vigorous, his nature affectionate, and his temper at times, hot. He also had a voice of unusual range and beauty. His headmaster at Hull Grammar School, Joseph Milner, would stand him on a table to read to the rest of the class because of his small size and clarity of diction. This was to help him later in life.
Wilberforce was considered to be one of the best orators of his time. Prime Minister William Pitt, one of his closest friends and allies in Parliament said that Wilberforce possessed "the greatest natural eloquence of all the men I ever knew." This is quite a compliment considering it was given by a great orator in an age of many talented orators.
He did not contrive or even always prepare his speeches in detail. Wilberforce used a conversational style, quite different from the exquisitely turned phrases of a Burke or a Windham. The unique qualities of his voice were a part of it. His diction, wrote a parliamentary reporter, "was so distinct and melodious that the most hostile ear hangs on them delighted. Then his address is so insinuating that if he talked nonsense you would feel obliged to hear him."
When reading this book I was struck by Wilberforce’s faith and perseverance. As a young boy he went to live with his aunt and uncle who were both strong believers and they influenced his walk with God. Even after becoming a Christian, Wilberforce struggled with deciding how to put his faith into action. The theologies of the time were not conducive to him doing so. He once wrote: "If a Christian may act in the several relations of life, must he seclude himself from all to become so? Surely the principles as well as the practice of Christianity are simple, and lead not to meditation only, but to action."
God gave Wilberforce both perseverance and vision and these traits kept him going despite years of ridicule and defeat. He proposed bills to Parliament to abolish slavery for more than 20 years! Now that’s perseverance. Wilberforce's persistence reminds me of a quote from John Quincy Adams, who said: "The duty is mine, the results are God’s."
What if William Wilberforce had decided during that long struggle to give up, assuming that the fight would never be won. What would our world be like today?
