Originally published as: A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes of This Country Contrasted With Real Christianity
"Wilberforce sat at his desk on a foggy Sunday morning in 1787 thinking about his conversion and his calling. Had God saved him only to rescue his own soul from hell? He could not accept that. If Christianity was true and meaningful, it must not only save but serve. It must bring God's compassion to the oppressed as well as oppose the oppressors. Wilberforce dipped his pen into the inkwell. 'Almighty God has set before me two great objectives,' he wrote, his heart suddenly pumping with passion, 'the abolition of the slave trade and the reformation of manners.'"
—Charles Colson, from the introduction
"It is a great relief to my mind to have published my manifesto. . . I shall at least feel a solid satisfaction from having openly declared myself as it were on the side of Christ."
Such were the words of William Wilberforce upon the publication of A Practical View of Christianity in 1797 at the age of thirty-seven. He had been a member of the British Parliament for sixteen years and had struggled to bring his faith into his politics. Wilberforce lived out this conviction through his determination to abolish slavery in England which was followed by other sweeping social reforms that still influence our national values today.
Product Samples:
Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1
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- Scan of an 1829 edition of A Practical View of the Prevailing Religious System... from God & Culture
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