Perseverance

I've just finished reading Stephen Tomkins' biography of Wilberforce (thanks, Ken). He really was quite an amazing guy. When we hear the name Wilberforce, we think "anti-slavery", but the Church Missionary Society, the British and Foreign Bible Society, and even the RSPCA (!) can trace their roots to Wilberforce. What stands out for me more than anything else is his perseverance, amply evident from this quote taken at a time when he anticipated one of the many defeats of his bills:

"Interested as I might be supposed to be in the final event of the question, I am comparatively indifferent as to the present decision of the House. Whatever they might do, the people of Great Britain, I am confident, will abolish the slave trade... For myself, I am engaged in a work I will never abandon... Let us persevere, and our triumph will be complete. Never, never will we desist, until we have wiped away this scandal from the Christian name, released ourselves from the load of guilt, under which we at present labour, and extinguished every trace of this bloody traffic, of which our posterity, looking back to the history of these enlightened times, will scarce believe that it has been suffered to exist so long a disgrace and dishonour to this country."

Wow! "Never, never ..." And he kept to his word. May we have the same dogged pursuit of what is right in our time, and never, never give up.