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 PrintableVersion Vital ChristianityThe life and spirituality of William WilberforceA spiritual politicianVITAL CHRISTIANITY We cannot have too much of William Wilberforce - one of Wimbledon's greatest sons. It was here that he first heard the gospel when he stayed with his Methodist uncle and aunt after his father's death. His mother, fearing this evangelical influence, whisked him back to Yorkshire. There he spent the rest of his childhood before going to Cambridge, where he began his lifelong friendship with William Pitt. Soon after this he was fully converted, and his amazing ministry started. Murray Andrew Pura's book does not replace the masterly and very accessible biography by John Pollock, nor does it set out to. Although the historical setting of Wilberforce's time is well-drawn, the main thrust, as the title suggests, is to describe Wilberforce's 'spirituality'. There are very few anecdotes from Wilberforce's battles in Parliament, nor even the occasion when he voted for Dundas's impeachment, to the grief of Pitt (so movingly described by Compland). Instead, we have a full account of his theological reading, his discipline in prayer, his rigorous self-examination - all revealed in his diaries but rarely recognised because of the genuine gaiety and warmth of his conversation and company. William Wilberforce was a man both of his time (and it's only our chronological snobbery that would judge his somewhat paternalistic approach in his altruistic work) and ahead of his times as he battled against many of the social evils of his day, and not just the slave trade. Although he would have made no sharp distinction between the sacred and the secular, he realised all too well the vital distinction between the temporal and the eternal. 'O remember that the salvation of one man is of more worth than the temporal happiness of thousands or even millions.' There are one or two mildly irritating anachronisms. Although Mr. Pura rightly talks about 'Anglican Evangelicals' rather than 'Evangelical Anglicans', it is questionable whether Wilberforce would have thought of himself as an Anglican rather than as 'Church of England'. There is a difference! Also, several times Mr. Pura refers to the Lord's Supper as the 'eucharist'. I am sure that evangelicals in the 19th century - and I would hope that evangelicals today - would never do this! Jonathan Fletcher,
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