The name William Wilbeforce is known by most people in the context of efforts in England to abolish slavery. What’s not so well known is his association with efforts to prevent cruelty to animals, and that his name is listed among the cofounders of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. And what’s perhaps least known are the evangelical convictions that shaped his sympathies for creatures of all kinds.

Wilberforce was a regular at the church where John Newton preached, and no doubt the constant ring of mercy and grace from the pulpit resonated deeply in his soul, and found release in his powerful speeches to parliament. And no doubt the constant horror stories that crossed his desk about the mistreatment of people and animals stirred his soul to action. (Me doubts that the evolutionary thinking that dripped from the pen of Darwin’s grandfather Erasmus – contemporary to Wilberforce – gave too much impetus, because those theories lack the moral power to prevent cruelty to anything.)

It wouldn’t surprise me to learn that the Book of Jonah was an instrument of influence, for that story reveals the heart and mind of the Maker, who once said these words to the prophet about the great city of Nineveh – and note the Book’s final verse and especially the final word: “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”