Eighteen Years of Defeat

In May 1789, a young William Wilberforce rose in the House of Commons and delivered a three-hour speech against the British slave trade. His evidence was devastating. His moral argument, unassailable. Parliament voted him down anyway.

He tried again the next year. And the next. The slave merchants of Liverpool celebrated each defeat from their mahogany-paneled offices, their fortunes swelling with every ship that crossed the Atlantic. They seemed invincible.

Wilberforce could have raged. He could have plotted revenge or resorted to manipulation. Instead, he returned to his study, knelt beside his desk, and prayed. He gathered more evidence, wrote more letters, cultivated allies one quiet conversation at a time. He committed his way to the Lord and simply kept going.

The defeats mounted year after year. Friends urged him to abandon the cause. His health deteriorated. The wicked prospered.