John Wesley was a revivalist who famously founded the Methodist movement in the 18th century. He would travel on horseback and preach to whoever would listen. The last letter ever written by this spiritual giant was to a young man named William Wilberforce, who, too, would become a spiritual giant himself. Wilberforce was a reformer at that time fighting to abolish the slave trade in Great Britain.
February 24, 1791
DEAR SIR, — Unless the divine power has raised you up to be as Athanasius contra mundum, [‘Athanasius against the world.’] I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy, which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be for you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well-doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of His might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.
Reading this morning a tract wrote by a poor African, I was particularly struck by that circumstance, that a man who has a black skin, being wronged or outraged by a white man, can have no redress; it being a law in all our Colonies that the oath of a black against a white goes for nothing. What villainy is this!
That He who has guided you from youth up may continue to strengthen you in this and all things is the prayer of, dear sir,
Your affectionate servant,
John Wesley
After much effort and fighting, William Wilberforce finally did see the slave trade abolished in 1807. He would then go on to hear the news that slavery itself was abolished throughout the British Empire in 1833, just three days before he died.
It often takes an entire lifetime to see the very thing God has raised you up for to come to pass. Will you still give your all and sacrifice even if it doesn’t benefit you in the here and now? Will you persevere so that the generations that follow, whom you’ll never meet, can live in the fruit of your obedience? Only history will tell. Only eternity will reward. Ultimately it will be worth it because Jesus is worthy!
So do not give up! If God is for you, who can be against you? May God continue to raise up revivalists and reformers for such a time as this. To see the world change. To see His Kingdom come and will be done on earth as it is in heaven. It’s for this very thing you are alive. Amen.