But yesterday I opened an English history. The scholar was
recounting the events of the hour when Parliament prohibited
slavery, in the English colonies. At that time, the author says,
applause in those sacred precincts was unknown, but suddenly
at the name of Wilberforce, all the members arose, cheered
wildly, waved hands and caps, and in a tumult of enthusiasm,
clustered about Wilberforce. But the one man who sat silent and
overcome, perhaps was thinking of the hour when in Parliament
he made his first plea. Then his seemed a hopeless task. The
rich men of England drew their income from slavery and the sugar
plantations. The whole moneyed system of England was involved.
After Wilberforce’s first attack on slavery, he was left alone.
Men turned their backs on him as if he were a leper. He ate his
bread in solitude. When he wandered through the corridors of
the House of Commons, he was alone, like an outcast. All great
houses were closed to the reformer. Then Wilberforce wrote a
little book on religion and conscience, and the moral state of
England. But the bitter fight was transferred to a cathedral,
whose canon thundered against the reformer, and defended the
institution of slavery. But Wilberforce held on his way. He knew
his God. He saw afar off Him who was invisible. And lo, the
sword flashed, and he beheld the Prince of Peace marching to
victory. Once there was Wilberforce, and in the shadow behind
him one like unto the Son of God. Then, there was Wilberforce,
and all England behind him, and the Eternal God over all,
leading on, in whose name Wilberforce wrought exploits.--N.
D. HILLIS.
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