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Grace verses Greed 200th Anniversary of Abolition of Slave Trade Sermon preached
at St Mary's Church, Whitkirk, Leeds Today we commemorate the 200th anniversary of the British Parliament passing an Act to abolish the slave trade in British territories. It is not the abolition of slavery; that took another 30 years. The extract we have just heard is based on the memoirs of an African slave, Olaudah Equiano and it contains enough cruelty to make us wonder how anyone could ever have thought this trade was remotely acceptable. We know that the hymn Amazing Grace was written by a former captain of a slave ship, John Newton, some years after his conversion to an evangelical Christianity. What is less well known is that he didn’t give up the slave trade because of this, but for health reasons, continuing slave trading for 4 years after that conversion and some how managing to hold together the sentiments expressed in that hymn with such an evil trade, though he did give up raping the women after his conversion! It was nearly 40 years later that he came round to the abolitionist cause. The story of the abolition is one of grace verses greed. Those arguing for the end of the vile trade had to battle arguments over how it would affect the economy; there was a fear of bankruptcy and this outweighed the cries of misery. Some even argued that slaves had a better life than they had back home. The abolition movement fits in a wider social movement, some of which helped and some created obstacles. The eighteenth century saw what we call the Enlightenment, which looked to reason rather than deference to traditional forms of power and emphasised freedoms of speech and religion. This could be quite cold and emotionless so in turn gave rise to the Romantic Movement as a counter balance with its emphasis on beauty and emotion. Both of these together saw a developing sense that all people were equal, particularly influenced by Quaker thinking, and that led to a popular mood that slavery was a barbaric way to treat people. Abolition was an idea whose time had come and nothing can stop an idea whose time has come, but it can be delayed and delay it for 20 years is precisely what some did! The same movement that was advocating the equality of all was suspected by others of sponsoring republicanism, which was feared. The horrors of the English civil war 100 years previously were still echoing round and so arguments that advocated treating all equally also hit triggers that made some dig in. The war of independence in America was being waged and the French revolution was also taking place around the same time. These made appeals to equality suspect. This very thin sketch of ideas and the wider political context shows how what seems from the distance of 200 years to be overwhelmingly obvious and just, in the real politics of 18th century Britain was not so obvious to everyone. Add to that the view that slaves were property, backed up by court cases, meant that the pitiful people involved had been dehumanized. Rehumanizing them was an uphill struggle. Into this walks William Wilberforce, the MP for Hull, with independent financial means, which enabled him to have an independent mind and be in no vested interest group’s pay. His own background of being taken from his family aged 10 when his father died and living with relatives in Wimbledon, only to be wrenched away from them again when his horrified mother learned of his exposure to Methodism, gave him a natural sympathy for those forcefully taken from their homes. He was passionate in his desire to see the end of this trade and devoted his life to it. He didn’t do this single-handedly, he was part of that wider movement I outlined earlier, but he kept it before Parliament, presenting a bill every year for 10 years. His campaign was disrupted by the 20 year war with France and Napoleon; a war he opposed. This distracted minds from the justice and reinforced the fear of republicanism by the back door, which some of his opponents accused him of. All he managed in 1807 was to abolish the trade in British lands and ships. It took another 30 years to end the slavery itself. The battle for the abolition is one of grace verses greed. Just as it was grace that taught John Newton to see - very slowly, so it was greed that kept many blind. So today it is greed that blinds those who perpetrate modern forms of slavery. For some it is sweatshop working conditions. For some it is the human trafficking for some kind of exploitation. We might think that the conditions on a slave ship were grim, but they are equalled in the backs of containers travelling continents and the bodies of a number were found in a container in Dover a few years ago. What does an abolition commemoration require of us? It asks us to face the challenge of Newton’s hymn. What are we blind to today by prejudice, self interest, indifference and the dehumanizing that makes some people less equal? What are the social forces that help us strive for justice and also make the fearful dig in? What do we just not see? The history of abolition is a lesson in real politics. Nothing can stop an idea whose time has come, but not until its time has come. In the meantime it can be delayed. We have to reject shallow notions of faith making people better than others - some can be like the young John Newton, holding to the sentiments that became Amazing Grace while below him slaves languished in pitiful conditions. There is darkness in all of us as well as light. Even Wilberforce has his shadow side. The abolition anniversary confronts us with the darker side of our nature. Grace battles with greed, humanity with prejudice and devotion with fear. It takes dogged determination to be a Wilberforce, but justice always overcomes evil and oppression. Our commemoration challenges our complicity in others sufferings, the blind eyes we turn through indifference, self interest or fear; as well as affirming the causes we take up. God’s grace, though, is amazing. Far from being wishy washy niceness it is steely and passionate. Once it takes hold it transforms, opening eyes and changing lives. The power of grace to over come is the true celebration today. ©
Ian Black 2007 |