The Quiet Persistence of William Wilberforce

For twenty years, William Wilberforce rose in the British Parliament and introduced the same bill to abolish the slave trade. Twenty years. He was mocked, threatened, and physically attacked. His health failed repeatedly — he suffered from ulcerative colitis so severe that doctors doubted he would survive his thirties. Political allies abandoned him. Votes fell short again and again.

Yet Wilberforce never resorted to violence or revolution. He never screamed down his opponents on the parliamentary floor. He gathered evidence, told the stories of the suffering, and spoke with a steady, unrelenting conviction that every human being bore the image of God. He placed a bruised reed — the crushed dignity of enslaved men, women, and children — before the conscience of a nation and refused to let it be broken further.

On February 23, 1807, Parliament finally passed the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act by a vote of 283 to 16. The chamber erupted in applause. Wilberforce sat in his seat and wept.

Isaiah 42 describes a servant who will not shout or cry out in the streets, who will not break a bruised reed or snuff out a smoldering wick, yet who will faithfully bring justice to the nations. This is not the justice of clenched fists but of open hands — persistent, gentle, and ultimately unbreakable. The Almighty does not need fury to accomplish His purposes. He needs only faithfulness.