Gordon E. Ellis
February 18, 2007
AMAZING GRACE AND THE SLAVE TRADE
The hymn, Amazing Grace, is a FAVORITE of MOST of us. Indeed, it MAY be the most BELOVED of ALL our hymns. Well, Amazing Grace and the man who composed it, John Newton, inspired a MOVEMENT that changed the world. And there’s a new movie coming out this week that CHRONICLES that movement. The movie is simply called, Amazing Grace, and I hope that ALL of us will make an effort to SEE it. Let’s watch the TRAILER for the movie.
Amazing Grace Video Clip #1: The Trailer
You see: John Newton was the captain of a SLAVESHIP for many years during the 1700’s. And during that time, he transported over 20,000 MEN, women, and CHILDREN to America, people who had been CAPTURED in Africa, DRAGGED from their villages and put in CHAINS aboard his ship. They were forced to lie in CHAINS in small SPACES under the deck, and more DIED than lived during their journey across the Atlantic. And once in America, they were auctioned off as SLAVES. And John Newton was the man who CAPTAINED the SLAVE ship that BROUGHT them here. However, in MID-CAREER, as a result of the LOVE and ACCEPTANCE of the great EVANGELIST, George Whitfield, and HIS 2 friends, John and Charles WESLEY, John Newton felt the unconditional, unending love of God, a love that was strong REGARDLESS of what he had done. And LATER, as steering his vessel through a STORM, Newton underwent a DRAMATIC religious CONVERSION. Repenting and regretting the MISERY that he had inflicted on the THOUSANDS of human cargo he had been trafficking across the Middle Passage of the Atlantic for so many years, he vowed to DEVOTE his life to the CHURCH, and during the next few years, he wrote the lyrics to some 281 hymns, SOME of which are still popular TODAY, including AMAZING Grace.
Well, in 1780 Newton became the rector of St. Mary Woolchurch in London. And THERE, he drew LARGE congregations and influenced MANY people. AMONG them was a young man named William Wilberforce, who went on to lead the movement to abolish SLAVERY in England. John Newton CONTINUED to preach until the LAST year of his life, although he had LITERALLY become BLIND by that time. And he died in London on December 21, 1807. Well, John Newton’s LIFE might be best summed up by his OWN epitaph, which reads: John Newton, Clerk, ONCE an infidel and libertine, a servant of SLAVES in Africa, WAS, by the rich MERCY of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned and appointed to PREACH the faith he had labored LONG to DESTROY.
Here’s a video clip of John Newton talking with William Wilberforce. He’s very OLD at this time, and now BLIND, but he wants to HELP Wilberforce with his MOVEMENT to abolish SLAVERY in England. Here’s the CLIP:
Amazing Grace Video Clip #2: Now I See
Well, Newton DID go on to use his influence as a religious leader to HELP in the battle against slavery. SO, you MIGHT say that his conversion produced a social and POLITICAL transformation in him as well as a PERSONAL one. And of course, THAT ought to be the case for ALL of us. Christianity is NOT just for our PERSONAL use. WE are called to CHANGE society! WE are called to ADVANCE God’s KINGDOM on earth!
Well, THAT kind of conversion (social and political, as well as personal) ALSO was true for William Wilberforce, a convert of the religious revivals that transformed 18th-century England. Wilberforce had FIRST heard John Newton speak when he was YOUNG, but his conversion was CONFIRMED by a series of conversations with John Newton during 1785 and 1786. You see: at the CONCLUSION of their conversations, Newton said to Wilberforce: The Lord has raised you UP for the good of the church AND the good of the nation. And from that moment ON, William’s life and vocation as a Member of Parliament were profoundly changed because of his newfound Christian faith. And suddenly, he became a force for MORAL politics. Here’s a video clip of a SPEECH William Wilberforce made from the deck of a SLAVE ship.
Amazing Grace Video Clip #3: Smell of Death
Now, what happens when you call SOCIETY’S values in QUESTION? You meet with RESISTANCE, right? And of course, William Wilberforce DID run into RESISTANCE. And SO, like ANY of us who meet RESISTANCE to change, he STRUGGLED with whether or not to PURSUE moral politics, politics BASED on his Christian FAITH. Here’s another video clip from the movie, Amazing Grace, a clip of his friend, William Pitt, ENCOURAGING him.
Amazing Grace Video Clip #4: Principles of Christianity
Well, that wasn’t the ONLY encouragement William Wilberforce received. OTHER Christians came to encourage him as WELL. Here’s a very MOVING video clip I found:
Amazing Grace Video Clip #5: Work of God
Well finally, 2 years AFTER his IMPORTANT conversation with John Newton, when Newton told him, The Lord has raised you UP for the good of the church AND the good of the nation, Wilberforce introduced his FIRST anti–SLAVE TRADE motion to Parliament. It was SOUNDLY defeated, of course, and it would BE defeated 9 MORE times. And FINALLY, in hopes of persuading the British government to SUPPORT abolition, Wilberforce and his FELLOW abolitionists SCOURED England collecting evidence of the slave trade’s CRIMES. As PART of that effort, Wilberforce also collected over 390,000 signatures from British citizens, ALL supporting the anti-slavery CAUSE. And FINALLY, after struggling for 20 YEARS, Wilberforce saw the END of British slave trade, when his 1807 abolition bill FINALLY passed Parliament by a LARGE majority. It was the SAME year his mentor, John Newton, DIED.
BUT, while it was a HISTORIC and moral VICTORY, Wilberforce wasn’t SATISFIED, because it DIDN’T completely abolish SLAVERY. In fact, it wasn’t until 26 years LATER, just 3 days before his DEATH, that slavery was ABOLISHED across ALL the British colonies as well as in England. And for ALL those years, DESPITE chronic illness and REPEATED defeat of his anti-slavery BILLS in Parliament, Wilberforce kept on PERSISTING in his mission to abolish this INJUSTICE in the world. And FOR his abiding COURAGE and conviction, Wilberforce EARNED the title, conscience of Parliament.
Well SINCE then, the hymn, Amazing Grace, has become the most BELOVED of hymns. It’s been recorded over 3200 times by some of the greatest singers, choirs and instrumental groups of all-time. But do you know what? It’s JUST as relevant TODAY as it WAS in the 1800’s. And SO is William Wilberforce! And we NEED to learn about him!
You know: next month marks the 200th anniversary of the British Parliament’s abolition of the slave trade. But William Wilberforce and John Newton would BOTH be APPALLED to learn that, 200 years later, people are STILL trafficking in human flesh, and SLAVERY is STILL alive and well. Do you know that an estimated 27 MILLION people in the world today are ENSLAVED? They are sold into SEXUAL slavery or forced labor from sub-Saharan Africa to suburban America, from big-city brothels to small-town sweatshops. We’ve even been hearing about it here in CONNECTICUT recently.
Well, in his new book entitled, NOT for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade – and How We Can Fight It, David Batstone turns the spotlight on one of the greatest moral SCANDALS of our time. He writes: 27 MILLION slaves exist in our world today. Girls and boys, women and men of all AGES are FORCED to toil in the rug looms of Nepal, SELL their bodies in the brothels of Rome, BREAK rocks in the quarries of Pakistan, and FIGHT wars in the jungles of Africa. Go behind the façade in ANY major town or city in the world today and you are likely to find a thriving commerce in HUMAN beings…. Many people BRISTLE to hear the word SLAVE used to describe the modern practice of exploitation…. Indeed MORE slaves are in bondage TODAY than were bartered in 4 CENTURIES of transatlantic SLAVE trade.
In writing this book, David Batstone traveled to Cambodia, Thailand, Peru, Uganda, India, South Africa, and Eastern Europe, investigating human trafficking and interviewing HUNDREDS of people whose stories he TELLS. In poorer countries, poverty and inequality create the conditions that LEAD to slavery. From destitute parents selling their children, to young rural women looking for work in the cities, to people being trapped in debt with no way out – the POOL of potential SLAVES continues to GROW. The International Labor Organization estimates that the work performed by trafficked individuals generates $32 billion a year. And while STORIES about this have been TRICKLING out for several YEARS, NOW somebody has described both the MAGNITUDE of the problem AND some SOLUTIONS that could STOP modern-day slavery. Yes, EVERY day, men, women and children, who are just looking for WORK and a better life, are TRICKED, COERCED and FORCED into SLAVERY. And if that’s NEWS to you, DON’T be surprised! THIS is a SILENT horror! It seems like NOBODY is paying any attention to it, EXCEPT a FEW like David Batstone.
And Batstone is calling for OUR conversion, just as William Wilberforce called for people’s conversions in HIS day. TODAY, as there was THEN, there is a growing abolitionist MOVEMENT: heroic individuals who are RESCUING slaves and creating a modern-day underground railroad to carry them to freedom, as well as organizations that provide social services and legal advocacy for the VICTIMS. And David Batstone’s book tells the STORY of this new movement. He ENDS his book with a chapter on ending the slave trade in OUR time, and it begins: I believe in the power of individuals to change the world. Social movements take root and blossom when enough INDIVIDUALS take personal action. The chapter then offers creative IDEAS for becoming an ABOLITIONIST, and a listing of the major abolitionist organizations, including the Not for Sale Campaign created as a RESULT of his book.
Well, I think it’s time for US to join these campaigns. After all: our ORAL history in this church TELLS us that OUR church was once a STOP on the Underground Railroad, and we know for a FACT that a NUMBER of our MEMBERS at that time were actively INVOLVED in it. SO, I’d like to suggest that we FOLLOW the lead of our ANCESTORS, as WELL as John Newton and William Wilberforce, and get INVOLVED to help END today’s SLAVE trade. And I hope we can be FANATICAL about it. Wilberforce once said, IF to be feelingly ALIVE to the sufferings of my fellow CREATURES is to be a FANATIC, I am one of the most INCURABLE fanatics EVER permitted to be at large. Friends, only this GOOD kind of “fanaticism” can bring an END to TODAY’S version of the SLAVE TRADE. SO, I hope that ALL of us begin learning MORE about this issue. And a good way to START is by signing one of the PETITIONS in Memorial Hall today. Let’s END the scandal of human SLAVERY once and for ALL. Amen.
IMPORTANT STATISTICS
27 Million: Number of people in modern-day slavery across the world
UN, New York Times, Amnesty International, The Christian Science Monitor
800,000: Number of persons trafficked across international borders each year
17,500: Number of foreign nationals who are trafficked into the U.S. every year
91: Number of cities in the United States with reported cases of trafficking
50: Percent of all victims are children
$50 Million: US Government budget for efforts against human trafficking
$19 Billion: US Government budget for efforts against drug trafficking
20 Million: Number of bonded laborers in the world
218 Million: Estimated number of children working aged between five and seventeen
126 Million: Estimated number of children who work in the worst forms of child labor - one in every twelve of the world's five to seventeen year olds.
300,000: Estimated number of child soldiers involved in over 30 areas of conflict worldwide, some younger than 10 years old.