William Wilberforce (1759–1833) is best remembered as a leading figure in the movement to have the slave trade abolished throughout the British Empire. He was a Member of Parliament from the age of 21 until he retired due to ill health at the age of 66. His conversion in 1785 caused him to change his lifestyle and to commit his future life and work to the service of God.

He wrote a series of spiritual journals as a record of his spiritual pilgrimage. These journals are an honest record of Wilberforce’s spiritual life: the Scriptures and Christian books he read; people he met; people he witnessed to; his spiritual and physical struggles; and many other fascinating insights.

Throughout his writings his constant desire to be a better Christian is striking. This man, admired by many, saw himself as a sinner, and his diaries are filled with his striving to put this sin to death. He follows a Puritan pattern of self–introspection and his journals are form of spiritual confession.