St Jude's In The Mountains
Anglican Church - Tehachapi CA
Anglican Church - Tehachapi CA
2
As heat rose in the afternoon sun, a tired man wiped his brow as he walked from a tattered hut to the harbor nearby. He had just discreetly interviewed a family of slaves living in desperate squalor, with two children dying from chronic illness. The family had been surviving on rotting food while enduring regular beatings for months. They arrived by ship from the Ivory Coast in Africa, as just a handful of survivors from a torturous voyage on a slave ship. The man who interviewed them took careful notes and then boarded a nearby ship to verify what was described of the voyage. The man was investigating the slave trade in England, and was in the port city of Liverpool as one of several stops in a long trip to see what conditions slaves throughout England were forced to live in. His name was Thomas Clarkson, and he would live to be one of the most influential writers in the effort to abolish slavery from England.
Thomas Clarkson was born on March 28, 1760 in Wisbech, Cambridgshire, the son of The Rev. John Clarkson, headmaster of a primary school. Having studied at his father's school, young Clarkson attended St. Paul's School in London when he was fifteen years old, and by the time he was twenty, he was at Cambridge. He completed his Mater degree by 1786, a year that would change his life. In 1785, Clarkson won a very competitive Latin essay contest in Cambridge, having written a very profound piece on the practice of involuntary slavery. On a trip from Cambridge to London he felt God prompting him to pause and spend time in prayer as thoughts on his essay and the research supporting it came to mind. He then realized that the brutal slave industry must cease, and that he would have a role in that endeavor. Clarkson published an English translation of his piece in 1786, and it was well received. This led him to be introduced to other influential abolitionists, and he changed his career goals from serving as a parish priest (he by then had been ordained as an Anglican Deacon), to working as an author and investigative journalist to end the slave trade.
Clarkson soon established himself as one of the leading authorities on the implements used to capture, hold and transport slaves, on how slaves were captured in Africa by rival tribesmen and handed over to European slave traders, on how slaves lived and on how they died. He worked `closely with William Wilberforce and his allies in Parliament, providing them much of the evidence needed to change public opinion and to support efforts to make slavery illegal. Clarkson traveled over 35,000 miles in those days, giving lectures, advising Abolitionist groups and conducting research. This included a discovery of fine artifacts from Africa that helped convince Britons of the high intelligence and personhood of their fellow human beings from Africa. He had to retire for a season in 1794, and married Catherine Buck in 1796 who bore his son Thomas. He resumed his campaign in 1804, culminating in the Anti Slavery Act passing in 1833, and 13 years later he died at the age of 86, while still trying to end slavery in America.
Clarkson reminds us of the strength God gives as we seek to defend the defenseless. He pursued his cause with support from the Body of Christ, in compassion, at great personal sacrifice. Today the Church is inspired by his example as we seek moral revival in our culture.
Thomas Clarkson was born on March 28, 1760 in Wisbech, Cambridgshire, the son of The Rev. John Clarkson, headmaster of a primary school. Having studied at his father's school, young Clarkson attended St. Paul's School in London when he was fifteen years old, and by the time he was twenty, he was at Cambridge. He completed his Mater degree by 1786, a year that would change his life. In 1785, Clarkson won a very competitive Latin essay contest in Cambridge, having written a very profound piece on the practice of involuntary slavery. On a trip from Cambridge to London he felt God prompting him to pause and spend time in prayer as thoughts on his essay and the research supporting it came to mind. He then realized that the brutal slave industry must cease, and that he would have a role in that endeavor. Clarkson published an English translation of his piece in 1786, and it was well received. This led him to be introduced to other influential abolitionists, and he changed his career goals from serving as a parish priest (he by then had been ordained as an Anglican Deacon), to working as an author and investigative journalist to end the slave trade.
Clarkson soon established himself as one of the leading authorities on the implements used to capture, hold and transport slaves, on how slaves were captured in Africa by rival tribesmen and handed over to European slave traders, on how slaves lived and on how they died. He worked `closely with William Wilberforce and his allies in Parliament, providing them much of the evidence needed to change public opinion and to support efforts to make slavery illegal. Clarkson traveled over 35,000 miles in those days, giving lectures, advising Abolitionist groups and conducting research. This included a discovery of fine artifacts from Africa that helped convince Britons of the high intelligence and personhood of their fellow human beings from Africa. He had to retire for a season in 1794, and married Catherine Buck in 1796 who bore his son Thomas. He resumed his campaign in 1804, culminating in the Anti Slavery Act passing in 1833, and 13 years later he died at the age of 86, while still trying to end slavery in America.
Clarkson reminds us of the strength God gives as we seek to defend the defenseless. He pursued his cause with support from the Body of Christ, in compassion, at great personal sacrifice. Today the Church is inspired by his example as we seek moral revival in our culture.
Website by CalNetDirect.com
