THE

AND

THIS great change, produced in so remarkable a manner, and at a period so critical in the life of the individual, and the influence of which continued to be displayed in every form of virtue and piety through the whole of his mortal career, Mr. Wilberforce himself always regarded as the work of Divine agency, equally the dictate of infinite wisdom and mercy, and the product of Almighty power. This he generally acknowledges in many parts of his diary and journal and private memoranda. Of the time when it was effected, he thus speaks, "Had the change in my religious principles taken place a year sooner, humanly speaking, I never could have become member for Yorkshire. The means I took, and the exertions I made, in pursuing that object, were such as I could not have used after my religious change."

What the world and his large circle of friends and acquaintance thought of this change, their homage to his principles, and admiration of his conduct, which increased as he advanced in life till the time he retired from parliament, we have numerous and indubitable proofs. And the estimate that has been recently formed of it since his decease, and the publication of his memoirs by his sons, even by the sceptical, cold, and we had

VOL. XVI.

almost said, irreligious Edinburgh Review, proves the force of truth which has compelled a reluctant witness to bear his favourable testimony. "The day-dreams," says the reviewer, on the subject of religious conversions, which they who list may have on every side, are like other dreams, the types of substantial realities. Though the workings of the Almighty hand are distinctly visible only to the omniscient eye, yet even our narrow faculties can often trace the movements of that perennial under-current which controls the sequences of human life, and imparts to them the character of moral discipline. In the comprehensive scheme of the supreme Governor of the world, for the progressive advancement of the human race, are comprised innumerable subordinate plans for the improvement of the individuals of which it is composed; and whether we conceive of these as the result of some preordained system, or as produced by the immediate interposition of God, we equally acknowledge the doctrine of Divine providence, and refer to Him as the author of those salutary revolutions of human character, of which the reality is beyond dispute. It is a simple matter of fact, of which these volumes afford the most conclusive proofs, that about the twenty-sixth year of his life, Mr. Wil

2 P

berforce was the subject of such a change; and that it continued for half a century to give an altered direction to his whole system of thought and action." Here is an admission of importance from those who some years ago ridiculed the idea of a special universal providence, and who contended that providence was exerted only on great occasions, and in stupendous events affecting the destinies of nations.

But the effect of Mr. Wilberforce's religious change upon those who knew him, which gave this altered direction to his whole system of thought and action, may be seen in a single paragraph: we quote with pleasure the testimony of Mr. Henry Thornton. "Few men," says Mr. Thornton, "have been blest with worthier or better friends than have fallen to my lot. Mr. Wilberforce stands at the head of these; for he was the friend of my youth. I owed much to him in every sense soon after I came out in life; for his enlarged mind, his affectionate and condescending manners, and his very superior piety, were exactly calculated to supply what was wanting to my improvement and my establishment in a right course. It is chiefly through him that I have been introduced to a variety of the most valuable associates. When I entered life, I saw a great deal of dishonourable conduct among people who made great profession of religion. In my father's house I met with persons of this sort. This so disgusted me, that had it not been for the admirable pattern of consistency and disinterestedness which I saw in Mr. Wilberforce, I should have been in danger of a sort of infidelity."

On the first manifestations of his decided change of heart and life, Mr. Wilberforce was counselled by some of his religious friends to abandon the career of political strife for the quiet walks of usefulness in a private station. His mother, it seems, entertained some apprehension that he might be influenced by this very injudicious advice - the

dictate of a conscience more alive to a sense of danger, than solicitous for the discharge of duty. He was not long, however, in relieving her anxiety on this head. "It is evident," he says,

we are to consider our peculiar situations, and in these to do all the good we can. Some men are thrown into public, some have their lot in private life.

These different states have their corresponding duties; and he whose destination is of the former sort, will do as ill to immure himself in solitude as he who is only a village Hampden would, were he to head an army or to address a senate. What I have said will, I hope, be sufficient to remove any apprehension that I mean to shut myself up in my closet in town, or in my hermitage in the country. No, my dear mother, in my circumstances this would merit no better name than desertion; and if I were thus to fly from the post where Providence has placed me, I know not how I could look for the blessing of God upon my retirement; and without this heavenly assistance, either in the world or in solitude, our own endeavours will be equally ineffectual." Our limits will not allow us to trace step by step Mr. Wilberforce's brilliant career in parliament, nor to show the power and operation of his Christian principles, as they met every exigency and triumphed over all difficulties. We must be brief and general. He proposed to himself the great objects which were most worthy of him as a patriot statesman, and a Christian philanthropist. "God Almighty," he says, "has set before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade, and the reformation of manners."

In the prosecution of these and all kindred objects, whether they regarded civil or ecclesiastical institutions, the good of his country, or the salvation of the world-the consecration of talents, the sacrifice of ease, or the liberal be stowment of wealth-he was the inde fatigable, self-denying, and devoted la bourer. In the year 1787, he made his first great effort for the reformation of manners. He endeavoured to infuse amongst his numerous friends a deter mination to resist the growing vices of the times; he formed an association for this purpose, and obtained a royal pro clamation; the task he undertook was an arduous one. He spared no labour to attain his object, visiting in succes. sion the Episcopal residences of the prelates of Worcester, Hereford, Nor wich, Lincoln, York, and Lichfield, and gaining many of the bishops as the first promoters of his scheme. He called, too, upon many influential laymen. In his various applications he was no stranger to refusals of co-operation. So you wish, young man," said a nobleman

whose house he visited, "you wish to be a reformer of men's morals. Look then, and see there what is the end of such reformers," pointing, as he spoke, to a picture of the crucifixion. It was in this year also that he was led publicly to devote himself to his great work, the abolition of the slave trade. This was the fruit of his religious change. When at school, at Pocklington, he wrote a letter in behalf of the poor suffering blacks, and sent it to the public papers; but it does not appear that the subject again recurred to his mind, till he was roused to a deep and painful conviction of the horrors which the trade in slaves alone involved, independently of the miseries which the victims of this cruel rapacity endured in the West Indies. Our readers are aware that the abolition was a protracted and most arduous struggle. It occupied and exhausted, for nearly twenty years, the best powers and energies of Mr. Wilberforce, nor did he ever abandon his post; on one or two occasions it was necessary for the friends of the cause to suspend their parliamentary operations. But the public labours of the leader in this mighty warfare afford a very inadequate idea of his incessant and untiring exertions. In answer to a friend who had gently intimated the fear expressed by many, that he was fainting in his course; "Nothing," he observed, "I assure you is further from the truth; it is one of those calumnies, for such I account it, to which every public man is exposed, and of which, though I have had a tolerable proportion, I cannot complain of having had more than my share. In the case of every question of political expediency, there appears to me room for the consideration of times and seasons. At one period, under one set of circumstances, it may be proper to push ; at another, in other circumstances, to withhold our efforts; but, in the present instance, where the actual commission of guilt is in question, a man who fears God is not at liberty. Be persuaded, then, that I shall never make this grand cause the sport of caprice, or sacrifice it to motives of political convenience or personal feeling." This was written in the year 1793. In 1807, (March the 25th,) the Bill for the Abolition of the Slave Trade received the royal assent by commission. This last act of Mr. Fox's administration stamps it with immortality. Pitt made loud and earnest

professions, and eloquent speeches, for nearly twenty years, with the power of the state and the resources of the country at his command. But the abomination continued unchecked and unabated. The Grenville administration effected its removal in a single year.

While prosecuting this great object, and bearing his silent and practical protest against the vanities and vices of the times, Mr. Wilberforce found that in many cases he was misunderstood, and that where his principles were unknown, he was exposed either to great personal inconvenience, from the expectation that he would mix in scenes which he deemed inconsistent with his Christian profession, or his character suffer from misrepresentation and unjust reproach. He therefore resolved, having a primary regard to the spiritual and eternal well-being of his countrymen, to publish a work that should explain his views and justify his conduct, both to strangers and enemies. In 1797 appeared his Practical View, a truly evangelical treatise, peculiarly adapted to the then state of religion and manners, and practically enforcing the necessity of a heartfelt, vital, and universally consistent piety.

The

circulation of the work was unprecedented. In 1826, fifteen editions had issued from the English press, and twentyfive from that of America. It has been translated into the French, Italian, Spanish, Dutch, and German languages, and its influence has been proportioned to its diffusion. There is one anecdote of the work too interesting to be omitted. At the time of its publication, Burke was drawing towards the close of his brilliant but erratic career. He was an invalid at Bath, and some of his latest hours were employed in its perusal. "Have you been told," Mr. Henry Thornton asks Mrs. Hannah More, "that Burke spent much of the two last days of his life in reading Wilberforce's book, and said, that he derived much comfort from it, and that if he lived, he should thank Wilberforce for having sent such a book into the world? So says Mrs. Crewe, who was with Burke at the time. Before his death, Mr. Burke summoned Dr. Laurence to his side, and committed specially to him the expression of these thanks." Mr. Wilberforce to the end of his life was frequently cheered with authentic and striking instances of the usefulness of this book. To it, Mr. Richmond, the late pious rec

tor of Turvey, and the author of "The Dairyman's Daughter," was indebted for his first serious impressions, and his ultimate conversion to God.

All the time that Mr. Wilberforce could abstract from public and indispensable engagements, he devoted to works of benevolence and mercy; to the cultivation of his mind, and to the private and solemn duties of religion. Every year, as it advanced, declared his evident growth in the spiritual life.

To one of his Yorkshire constituents, who urged him to be present at the jubilee at York, on the 5th of November, 1786, he wrote, "I cannot say that I am by any means the same person. I can assert, with truth, that I have a higher sense of the duties of my station, and a firmer resolution to discharge them with fidelity and zeal; but it is also true, that I am under many restraints as to my conduct, to which I was not then subject, and that my religious opinions are very different. Not that I would shut myself up from mankind and immure myself in a cloister. My walk I am sensible is a public one; my business is in the world; and I must mix in assemblies of men, or quit the post which Providence seems to have assigned me. I entirely agree with you, one may mix in these assemblies with decency and innocence. But the point is, whether by confining myself within these limits, I should be likely to advance my interests with my constituents." He remarks, on another occasion, "This may be a proper time for mentioning the uncommon kindness and liberality which I experienced from my constituents. I could not, consistently with my principles, frequent the theatre and ballroom, and I knew that I should give offence by staying away were I actually at York; but no discontent was ever expressed at my not presenting myself to the county on these occasions." At Bath, in the year 1787, his friendship with Mrs. Hannah More commenced. "I find here," says Mrs. More, a great many friends, but those with whom I have chiefly passed my time are Mr. Wilberforce's family. That young gentleman's character is one of the most extraordi

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nary I ever knew, for talents, virtue, and piety. It is difficult not to grow wiser and better every time one converses with him." To Mrs. More's generous and indefatigable efforts to establish and superintend schools at Chedder, a place

abandoned to total moral destitution, and through whose population she was the instrument of diffusing the light and knowledge of salvation, Mr. Wilberforce was a constant and most liberal contributor. He took upon himself the expense of that and every other similar undertaking, to which her piety and benevolence might prompt her. It was his custom not to save any thing out of his ample income; to live in a style suited to his station and its claims, and yet on the principle of a just economy, devoting all the residue to works of mercy, the promotion of religion, and the general advancement of happiness. "I never intended to do more," he told his eldest son, "than not to exceed my income, Providence having placed me in a situation, in which my charities of various kinds were necessarily large. But, believe me, there is a special blessing in being liberal to the and on poor, the family of those who have been so; and, I doubt not, my children will fare better even in this world for real happiness, than if I had been saving 20,000!. or 30,0007. of what has been given away." Most anxious was Mr. Wilberforce to recommend his principles by his spirit and demeanour in his intercourse with general society; and to awaken the attention of all with whom he associated to the concerns of immor tality, and the things belonging to their peace. On one occasion he expresses his apprehension lest "Pitt should deem of him as of any other man." He had at one time serious thoughts of paying a visit to Windsor, hoping to fall in with some of the royal family, with a view to do them good. This idea, on consideration, he relinquished. To any of his friends, who had contracted the irrever ent habit of taking God's name in vain, he made a practice of addressing, by letter, his most serious admonitions, and he has often said, that by this custom he never lost, and but once endangered, the continuance of friendship. "I wrote to the late Sir — - and mentioned to him this bad habit. He sent me in reply an angry letter, returning a book that I had given him; and asking for one he had given me. Instead of it, I sent him a second letter of friendly expostulation, which so won him over, that he wrote to me in the kindest tone, and begged me to send him back again the book he had so hastily returned." "I well remem ber," he says on another occasion, “go

in his

ing to my old friend Lord last illness. I had spoken to him fully on religious matters many years before, and he had seemed to pay no attention to me. I heard that he was taken ill and called upon him. When I had sat some time chatting with him, but without alluding to religious matters, another friend came in and asked, 'How are you to-day?' Why,' was his reply, as well as I can be with Wilberforce sitting there, and telling me that I am going to hell.' The conversation which had thus sunk into his mind had been affectionate and open."

"I was once," he said, "applied to by a Yorkshire clergyman, who desired me to assist him in obtaining a dispensation for non-residence upon his cure. He had been used, he said, to live in London, with the first literary circles, and now he was banished into the country, far from all intellectual society. I told him that I really could not in conscience use any influence I possessed to help him; and then I mentioned to him the case of Mrs. Hannah More, who in like manner had lived with Johnson, Garrick, Burke, Sir Joshua Reynolds, &c., and was so courted by them all, and who had a great taste for such society; and yet had broken away from its attractions, and shut up herself in the country, to devote her talents to the instruction of a set of wretched people, sunk in heathen darkness, amongst whom she was spending her time and fortune in schools and institutions for their benefit, going in all weathers a considerable distance to watch over them, until at last she had many villages and some thousands of children under her care. This is truly magnificent, the really sublime in character. I delight to think of it, and of the estimation in which the sacrifice will be held in another world."*

In the year 1797, Mr. Wilberforce became a benedict. Referring to the woman of his choice, he remarks, "I believe her to be a real Christian, affectionate, sensible, retired in habits, moderate in desires and pursuits; capable of bearing prosperity without intoxication, and adversity without repining. If I have been precipitate, forgive me, O God. But if, as I trust, we shall love

See this resented by the reverend author in Peter Plymley's Letters, where Mr. Wilberforce and the patient Christians of the holy village of Clapham, are treated with unseemly ridicule.

and fear, and serve thee, thou wilt bless us according to thy sure word of promise." His belief and his anticipations were fully realized. Never was made a wiser or a happier choice. On the 30th of May, at Bath, he was married to Barbara Ann, eldest daughter of Isaac Spooner, Esq., of Elmdon Hall, in the county of Warwick. On his return to London, he says, "Let me now commence a new era, guarding cautiously against all infirmities to which I am personally or from circumstances liable; and endeavouring to cultivate all opportunities. I go to prayer; may the grace of God give me repentance. Fix, O Lord, my natural volatility; let not Satan destroy or impair these impressions. I fall before the cross of Christ, and would there implore pardon, and find grace to help in this time of need. Let me use diligently and prudently to thy glory all the powers and faculties thou hast given me. me exhibit a bright specimen of the Christian character, and adorn the doctrine of God my Saviour in all things. Let me go forth, remembering that all eyes will be surveying me from my book, my manners, &c.; that my political station is most important, my means of doing good numerous and great; my cup full of blessings, spiritual above all. The times how critical. Death, perhaps, at hand. May God be with me for Christ's sake.'

Let

After the grand achievement, the abolition of the slave trade, as much labour, vigilance, talent, and perseverance were required to see it realized, as had been devoted to its legal consummation. It was at length perceived by all who had been the agents in accomplishing this important measure, that it would confer little benefit upon the slaves in the West Indies, or upon the nations of Africa, without proceeding with as much rapidity as possible to the complete destruction of slavery itself. To this Mr. Wilberforce directed his best energies, till his retirement from Parliament and public life; and even after this the subject was near his heart, and sometimes drew him from his retirement. interesting family grew up as olivebranches around him, and he lived to see them happily and usefully settled in life. As a father, as a husband, and a friend, he was a bright and eminent example. Towards the close of his days, he was tried by various vexations, and experienced a sad and totally unex

An