Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace is actually the greatest movie ever. History. Human rights. Justice. Equality. Faith. Freedom. Love. Perseverance. Struggle. Victory. What else do you want? And it's even better if you've read the biography of the same name by Eric Metaxas. And William Wilberforce's book. And if you have his 1789 abolition speech in your car on cd and you may or may not have listened to it 50 or so times the first week you had it...

Ok so I like William Wilberforce a little. 

But the guy was so incredible. He worked tirelessly to end the slave trade in Brittain, when his colleagues mocked him. He never grew weary of doing good (Galations 6:10) and he continued to love God and love people no matter how hard it was. His mentor was John Newton, the slaver-turned-writer of Amazing Grace. When the slave trade was abolished, Wilberforce sat weeping in the House of Commons. Newton heard the news and died shorty after. A frail man, Wilberforce then labored for the restoration of morality to British society. 3 days before he died, he learned that slavery itself had been abolished. What a fully lived life! 

And so few people know his name. When you think political abolitionist supporters, you probably think Abraham Lincoln. But Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation 74 years AFTER Wilberforce have his first speech in the House of Commons. 66 years after Britain ended the slave trade. And 30 years after the British abolition act. Wilberforce was the catalyst (and oh yeah, before he took on the salve trade he also advocated for Britain to give America its independence and withdraw its troops). 

Anyway. 

Quotes from the movie that prove its greatness: 

William Pitt: "You don't believe you and I could change things?" 

Wilberforce: "I would change myself first" 

Butler: "You've found God,sir?" 

Wilberforce: "I think he found me. Do you have any idea how inconvenient that is?" 

Wilberforce: "Billy, no one of our age has ever taken power" 

Pitt: "which is why we're too young to realize that certain things are impossible. So we'll do them anyway" 

Wilberforce: "I'm here to ask your advice" 

John Newton: "When you were a child, you used to ask God for advice" 

Wilberforce: "God has set before me two great objects: the abolition of the slave trade, and the reformation of society" 

Wilberforce: "Barbara and I have discovered that we're both impatient and prone to rash decisions. But she wants to tell you about it yourself" 

John Newton: "Although my memory is fading, I remember two things very clearly: I am a great sinner and Christ is a great Savior"

Pitt on his death bed: "I'm scared. At this moment, I wish I had your faith" 

Wilberforce's greatest adversary, when abolition of the salve trade passed: "Noblesse oblige...my nobility obliges me to recognize the virtue of an exceptional commoner" This he said as he stood with rest of the House to give Wilberforce a standing ovation. 

And then it ends with Amazing Grace on bagpipes.