William Wilberforce and the Long Obedience

In 1785, a young British parliamentarian named William Wilberforce sat in a carriage rolling through the French countryside, reading Philip Doddridge's The Rise and Progress of Religion in the Soul. The book cracked something open in him. By the time he returned to England, Wilberforce was a changed man — but he nearly abandoned politics altogether, convinced that public life and genuine faith couldn't coexist.…