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Cornell University Library 
 HV 247.W95P6 
 
 James Wright of Bristol :a memorial of a 
 
 3 1924 012 524 470 
 
JAMES WRIGHT 
 
 OF BRISTOL 
 
 A MEMORIAL OF A FRAGRANT LIFE 
 
 BY 
 
 ARTHUR T. PIERSON 
 
 AUTHOR OF "THE LIFE OF GEORGE MOLLEK," ETC. 
 
 " And the house was filled with the odour of the ointment " 
 
 HonftDTt 
 
 JAMES NISBET & CO., LIMITED 
 
 21 BERNERS STREET 
 
 1906 
 
Printed by Ballantynb, Hanson &* Co. 
 At the Ballantyne Press 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 A little while after I came to reside in Bristol in 
 February, 1873, I became acquainted with beloved Mr. 
 Wright: this was shortly after his marriage with Miss 
 Miiller. Their eighteen years' life at Brougham Villa, 
 till in 1890 Mrs. Wright was called to her eternal rest, 
 was a beautiful picture of quiet retiring godliness of 
 sterling quality, not often to be equalled. They were 
 specially suited for each other, and a fragrance of 
 Christ was ever found by all who were privileged to 
 share in any measure that home life. He himself has 
 more than once spoken to me of the eighteen years spent 
 there as among the happiest years of his life. Yet dur- 
 ing that same period I have since then ascertained he 
 passed through severe trials in connection with Ashley 
 Down work. But whatever trials had to be faced out- 
 side that home, there, in the intensely deep conjugal 
 love, in the special suitability of wife to husband and 
 husband to wife, he ever found that which soothed, com- 
 forted and sustained his noble spirit in his services to 
 his Lord. 
 
 From time to time they admitted to their hospitable 
 home servants of Christ— one of them, Mr. Macrea of 
 India, wrote me after Mr. Wright's death : 
 
 "Amallapuram, Godavari, India, February 21st. 
 
 "We arrived here yesterday morning only to receive 
 a note telling of your bereavement — and ours. Of all 
 
AUTHOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 When the request was made that I should undertake to 
 prepare a brief biography of the beloved James Wright, 
 one of my most serious misgivings had reference to the 
 lack of available material, covering that part of his life 
 history which preceded his formal assumption of his 
 duties as Mr. Miiller's associate. 
 
 This lack it would have been practically impossible to 
 supply but for the loving co-operation of various parties, 
 whose contributions are embodied in this memoir and 
 acknowledged by name. But more important than all 
 the help thus afforded has been the painstaking and 
 patient research of the Misses Withy, Mr. Wright's be- 
 loved nieces, who were to him as daughters ; and especially 
 are the author's thanks due to Miss Eleanor R. Withy, 
 whose careful work has been very largely incorporated, 
 with very little change even in language. In fact, so 
 much aid has been given by others that I feel as though 
 I were rather the editor than the author of this simple 
 record of one of the most beautiful, saintly and unselfish 
 lives, into contact with which it has ever been my privilege 
 to be brought. Arthur T. Pierson. 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS, 
 
 Portrait of James Wright Frontispiece. 
 
 To face 
 page 
 Silhouettes— Mrs. Rachel Wright \ 
 
 James Wright when abont Three Years Old >- 3 
 
 James Ireland Wright ) 
 
 James Wright at 25 43 
 
 Brethren's Meeting Room, Paragon Road, Hackney 49 
 
 Interior of Paragon Road Meeting House 51 
 
 New Orphan House, No. 3 Ashley Down 55 
 
 Mr. Wright's Room at No. 3 Orphan House 59 
 
 Annie W. Wright '. 66 
 
 James Wright, 1872 1 
 
 67 
 
 right, 1872 I 
 right, 1872 ) " 
 
 I,ydia Wright, 
 
 10 Brougham Villa, St. Matthew's Road 68 
 
 No. 13 Charlotte Street, Bristol 94 
 
 Interior of Bethesda Chapel 142 
 
 Mr. Wright's Funeral Procession 150 
 
 Mr. Wright's Tombstone 156 
 
CHAPTER FIRST. 
 
 LIFE S DAWN AND EARLY MORN. 
 
 John Milton sagaciously said, that one might "almost 
 as well kill a good man as kill a good book ; for he who 
 kills a man, destroys a reasonable creature, made in the 
 image of God; but he who destroys a good book, kills 
 reason itself — strikes the image of God, as it were, in the 
 eye." 
 
 For similar reasons, the reverse is true: that to pro- 
 duce a good book is to bestow blessing upon mankind; 
 and if that book be a biography, all such records of 
 noble and heroic characters and careers make the dead 
 to live again, giving them a sort of literary immortality 
 by keeping alive, in the memories of men, the remem- 
 brance of their beautiful example. Some such high 
 hope has inspired all true biographers in the task they 
 have attempted; and when the writer is conscious that 
 he brings to his work no exalted genius, he often com- 
 forts himself with the reflection that the charms of the 
 life he chronicles will more than make amends for his 
 own defects, as the sublimity of his theme and the 
 grandeur of the occasion often compensate for the lack 
 of eloquence in the orator. 
 
 When, on the twenty-ninth day of January, 1905, 
 James Wright, of Bristol, passed away, earth gave up, 
 
 A 
 
2 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 and Heaven received, a saintly spirit. The records of 
 that life, however brief and inadequate, may help to fix 
 in the memory of those who knew him, and to portray, 
 for those who did not, the beautiful features of his 
 personality, and perpetuate for all who read them, the 
 benign influence which that life exerted. 
 
 All biography properly begins with a sketch of the 
 parents, and in fact of more remote ancestors. Past 
 family history has a subtle, though often untraceable 
 connection with the present; its roots reach through the 
 soil and reappear in new shoots, so that traits are essen- 
 tially reproduced, after generations have passed. This 
 may be one reason why, in Holy Scripture, children are 
 known by that significant name, "seed." The word sug- 
 gests the close resemblance between the grain, sown in 
 the soil, and the crop, gathered in the harvest — "after its 
 kind." It is too much to affirm that character is an in- 
 heritance, but it is certainly true that aptitudes are trans- 
 mitted. How responsible therefore is parenthood, since 
 parental and ancestral character may have a moulding 
 and shaping influence, so great and so far-reaching upon 
 offspring yet unborn ! 
 
 In the case of the subject of this memoir, unhappily 
 for both the writer and the reader, the materials are 
 comparatively few and scant, from which to construct 
 any full, correct and trustworthy estimate of these 
 ancestral influences. Of even his boyhood and youth 
 there are no satisfactory records. Of this formative 
 period of his life we can get but faint glimpses, for no 
 immediate relatives survive, from whose recollections 
 of him might have been sketched the years of his minor- 
 ity, though no more than an outline drawing without 
 colour. In this respect, as in some others, James Wright 
 
LIFE S DAWN AND EARLY MORN. 3 
 
 reminds us of Elijah who first bursts upon the reader of 
 Biblical history, a man, fuUgrown, already equipped for 
 his work, and standing before Jehovah, an obedient ser- 
 vant, in the presence of his Master, ready to receive and 
 obey His orders. 
 
 We naturally yearn for some more complete and satis- 
 factory memorials of these partially hidden years of early 
 life. Lord Macaulay, when he gazed at that gigantic vine, 
 at Hampton Court, remarked that he would like to go 
 to Spain, and see the parent stock, from which that huge 
 growth was only a shoot; and those who, in later years, 
 beheld the exceptional beauty of Mr. Wright's character, 
 and of the life he led, would be glad if the annals of that 
 life could start, where the Biblical narrative does, "in 
 the beginning." But this book must lack its "Genesis." 
 
 Some facts have been ascertained, however, as to his 
 early history. James Wright was born in Bristol, Eng- 
 land, March l6th, 1826. He was the second son of James 
 Ireland Wright, and Rachel, his wife. He had one 
 brother, Wilson, and four sisters. 
 
 At the time of his birth, his parents were both mem- 
 bers of the Society of Friends ; and his father, a man of 
 earnest Christian character, was an occasional preacher, 
 though not apparently a "recorded" minister of that body. 
 Of his mother, who died in his twelfth year, James 
 seemed to have but dim recollection, save of an invalid, 
 reclining on a sofa. His brother, Wilson, many years 
 his senior, was very clever, and popularly known as the 
 "handsome young Quaker." He was somewhat reserved, 
 and with him James appears to have had not much close 
 companionship, though occasionally he unbent, and they 
 had their frolics together. Of his youngest sister, however, 
 James was exceedingly fond, though, like other children. 
 
4 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 they had their childish quarrels, and the elder sister had, 
 at times, to separate the combatants. 
 
 Even when quite a youngster, James began to show 
 that marked fondness for music which, so characterized 
 the after years, mellowing into a devout love of "psalms, 
 hymns and spiritual songs, which he sang with such 
 grace and melody in his heart unto the Lord, as he 
 matured in godliness. Those who knew him as the sweet 
 singer may easily imagine his boyish delight, therefore, 
 when he became the happy possessor of a toy drum and 
 a fiddle ; though it is open to an honest doubt whether his 
 possession of them imparted equal delight to his elders ! 
 This love of music was a wholesome trait, in moulding 
 character. The esthetic tastes have their place in a 
 symmetrical character. They not only contribute to 
 grace but to virtue. A modern skeptic pathetically con- 
 fesses, "I have lost my taste for poetry, also almost for 
 pictures and music: my mind seems to have become a 
 kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large 
 collections of facts"; and he further says, "The loss of 
 the esthetic is a loss of happiness, and may possibly be 
 injurious to the intellect, and more probably to the moral 
 character, by enfeebling the emotional part of our na- 
 ture." On the other hand, as Peter Bayne reminds us, 
 "Luther loved nature and the open air. He had an ear 
 for the birds and an eye for the clouds. There was a 
 lyric element in his mind that found exercise also in his 
 flute playing." Utility should not swallow up beauty, 
 nor severely practical duties obscure ornamental graces. 
 
 At an early age, James Wright was sent to a Friends' 
 school, at Thornbury, in Gloucestershire, kept and taught 
 by John Moxham, 
 
LIFES DAWN AND EARLY MORN. 5 
 
 Remembering Wordsworth's famous poetic maxim, 
 "The child is father of the man," 
 even a few faint gHmpses of school days are of value. 
 One of his schoolfellows, at Thombury, bears witness, 
 which can easily be credited, that James was "the most 
 generous lad in the whole school," sharing for instance 
 with the other boys, as far as they would go, the oranges 
 that were sent to him. 
 
 The master, Moxham, must have been rather a quaint 
 disciplinarian. One day, having heard young James 
 carelessly say of the weather, "It is horrid cold!" he 
 curtly remarked, "James Wright, thou come to me, 
 after dinner" ! The lad obeyed the summons, only to be 
 summarily dismissed with the words, uttered with Spar- 
 tan brevity, "Thou go to bed"! There he soon found 
 himself, having ample leisure for reflection, and he prob- 
 ably concluded thereafter not to indulge in the master's 
 hearing, in impatient and irreverent criticism on the 
 weather, for which the wise Creator is responsible. 
 
 With the beginning of Mr. Wright's character and 
 life, as a disciple of Christ, all who knew and loved him 
 will be supremely concerned ; for here lie the very springs 
 of that clear and crystal life stream. 
 
 He was early turned to God, and his conversion seems 
 to have been due to the loving ministry of his sister, 
 Rachel. It is quite as important to know that, even in 
 boyhood, his piety was of a pronounced and positive type, 
 and aggressive; he, like his Master, was not content to 
 "abide alone," but sought to win others. A lady friend 
 remembers, when herself but a child, overhearing a con- 
 versation between her mother and one of his aunts, from 
 which she gathered that, while as yet only a lad himself, 
 he had been used of God to lead one of those aunts into 
 
6 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 liberty and peace. How significant a forecast of his 
 after life of godly influence that, at the outset of his 
 career as a disciple, he had learned both the privilege 
 and the sweetness of winning souls, and that the highest 
 blessing is found only when good received is imparted. 
 
 In estimating the influences that shape character, not 
 even the gentlest touch is lost in the plastic period when 
 the whole nature is open to impression. On Sunda(y af- 
 ternoons, in the nursery, the child had been wont to look 
 at the pictures in Josephus' "Antiquities of the Jews," 
 when as yet his little tongue could get no nearer the 
 author's name, than "Jopepuck" ; and it may be that these 
 innocent recreations of the Lord's Day, in Hebrew His- 
 tory, with his nurse, may have turned the current of his 
 young mind into Biblical channels. It is certain that he 
 always felt a growing interest in the Jews. 
 
 Of his pursuits and occupations in boyhood's days few 
 records remain. All that can be done is to "gather up 
 the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost." 
 
 Like most other lads, he was fond of playing cricket, 
 which undoubtedly helped to develop a stalwart frame. 
 He learned also, by dint of persevering effort, to swim 
 in a river, and in this useful and practical art, he came 
 to be an expert. In this accomplishment he fairly rev- 
 elled, indulging in it until within a few years of his death, 
 when prudence dictated increasing caution as to ventur- 
 ing beyond his depth. 
 
 As a young man, he found peculiar fascination in 
 games of chess, and for some time, he used to indulge 
 frequently in this recreation with a friend. Subsequently 
 both these players came to the conclusion that too much 
 valuable time was spent over the chessboard. They 
 felt that in the fascination of the game lay its snare, and 
 
life's dawn and early morn. J? 
 
 that a man's best moves, on the larger board of life may 
 be "checkmated" by undue devotion to such games. 
 They wisely determined that, for them, the safer way 
 would be to economize time and thought for better 
 things; and accordingly they renounced the chessboard 
 altogether. 
 
 Possibly it was in such lesser matters as these that a 
 sensitive conscience kept its tenderness, and a surren- 
 dered will found the discipline of a prompt obedience. 
 Paul's three questions concerning "all things lawful" — 
 that is not forbidden — are all comprehensive: first, "Are 
 they expedient" ? second, "Are they edifying" ? and third, 
 "Do they bring me under their power"? (i Cor. vi:i2; 
 x:23). While yet in youth, James Wright settled for- 
 ever all questions as to doubtful amusements or occupa- 
 tions; and kept himself far away from that borderland, 
 where good and evil touch, and where it is perilous to 
 linger because there is but a step between the lawful and 
 the forbidden. 
 
 It is no exaggerated overestimate of Mr. Wright, to 
 attribute to him an unusually intellectual cast of charac- 
 ter. 
 
 He had, naturally, a very bright mind, with keen, 
 quick powers of observation, and a retentive memory; 
 and these native faculties which were of a high order, 
 he trained and disciplined by extensive reading which 
 was controlled also by moral guards. Even in his youth 
 and early manhood, he had learned with Francis Bacon, 
 that some books are only to be tasted, and others well 
 chewed and digested; and that some others are to be 
 altogether let alone. 
 
 Such a healthy relish for the best books, is always one 
 of the most promising and hopeful signs of mental ma- 
 
8 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 turity. Brain, like brawn, needs nutritious food, and 
 should not be filled with "husks." The whole after life 
 of James Wright proved that he had early learned where 
 to find good mental pabulum. Samuel Smiles reminds 
 us, in "Self-Help," that "too much reading is intellec- 
 tual dram drinking — exciting but not enriching." And 
 of too careless reading it may be said, that it is destruc- 
 tive of the best intellectual and moral character. There 
 is a worthless literature which, for the sake of a brief 
 sensation of excitement, is allowed to give permanent 
 shape to the reader's whole being; just as wooden arches 
 give form to the brick or stone arches that are built upon 
 them: and long after these desultory habits of "light 
 reading" may be abandoned, their effects remain, as the 
 solid arch stands, after the wooden framework is demol- 
 ished and destroyed. 
 
 It is very noticeable also that James Wright read 
 critically, in the best sense; his reading was discrimi- 
 nating and thorough, making him master of the books 
 he read. Thus also, by first getting for himself a clear 
 apprehension and comprehension of the books he read, 
 and the author's true meaning, he was able, with ease, 
 to explain what otherwise it might have been difficult 
 for others to grasp. He could teach because he had 
 learned. 
 
 Such habits of intellectual thoroughness and conscien- 
 tiousness qualified his whole life, affecting not only his 
 public teaching, but his private counsel and personal ad- 
 vice. Those who consulted him, in critical cases, felt 
 that 'he was a seer; that his grasp of any matter was 
 firm, his insight penetrating, his judgment clear, and 
 his conclusions safe and sound. 
 
 Most important of all the indications of his younger 
 
LIFES DAWN AND EARLY MORN. 9 
 
 years was the fact that spiritual interests were dominant 
 at a time when most young men are bent on self-indul- 
 gence, and too many young disciples are ensnared in 
 worldliness. 
 
 James Wright learned in his early manhood, that to 
 "seek first the kingdom of God and His Righteousness," 
 is the maxim of the highest wisdom, and brings the larg- 
 est reward. He instinctively saw and felt that, even in 
 the legitimate love and pursuit of knowledge, there is 
 a possible risk and peril, that intellectual activity may 
 be so absorbing as to crowd out spiritual things, and so 
 hinder the highest progress. 
 
 In one of his addresses, in his matured period, it is 
 remembered how he referred to these "risks of thinking." 
 In a discourse on Ephesians II :2, when speaking of the 
 "lusts that war against the soul," he mentioned with 
 much emphasis the fact that there are "lusts of the mind" 
 as well as of the "flesh." He dwelt upon the pleasures 
 of acquiring earthly knowledge ; and pointed out the fact 
 that, however right in itself, the search for such knowl- 
 edge may tempt us to neglect higher duties, so that we 
 fail, for instance, to reserve due proportion of time for 
 the study of the Word of God, and prayer, and active 
 service for Christ, so that even the desires of the mind 
 as well as the grosser lusts of the flesh may effectually 
 hinder the soul's interests. Then, with a kindling eye, 
 he added, "Why, in the first half hour in Heaven, I shall 
 learn more of God's works and ways, than I could in a 
 life time here"! The friend who supplies this link of 
 reminiscence, adds, "it was easy to see that the love of 
 knowledge was natural to him." 
 
 Mr. Wright was baptised, at Brook Street Chapel, 
 Tottenham, in 1839, soon after the opening of that chapel, 
 
10 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 on which occasion he had been present. Young as he 
 was, — but thirteen, — ^he made so favourable an impres- 
 sion on an unconverted friend, that she spoke of him as 
 "so very good," and looking back, years after, gave her 
 judgment, that "a more blameless, consistent life could 
 not be." 
 
 Somewhere about 1840, his father, who in partnership 
 with Mr. Henry Hunt, was engaged in the wholesale 
 tea trade in Bristol, suffered a considerable loss of in- 
 come. Referring to this loss, in later years, his son 
 James said that he "could bless God for it." The liabili- 
 ties incurred were all honourably discharged; and the 
 spirit in which this heavy trial was borne by the family, 
 is shown by the following extract from a letter written 
 to James, by Mr. John Withy who, shortly after, mar- 
 ried his eldest sister: 
 
 "In this heavy affliction, when God by His providence 
 is taking from your dear father and family a large por- 
 tion of those temporal blessings which they have hitherto 
 enjoyed, what is it so sustains their faith and hope, what 
 is it that enables them with confidence to look to the 
 Lord as to Him who will provide for them all things 
 needful; and even more than this, which enables them 
 to praise His name in the midst of the affliction? You, 
 my dear James, I believe can suggest the answer. They 
 know God as being their reconciled Father in Christ 
 Jesus, as having through the forgiveness of sins adopted 
 them into His family, and as having made them joint 
 heirs with Christ of a glorious, undefiled and everlasting 
 inheritance. And, while they realize the treasure in 
 the heavens that faileth not, as being made sure to them 
 through the infinite love and faithful word of God, they 
 are able cheerfully to acquiesce in all that He appoints, 
 
LIFES DAWN AND EARLY MORN. II 
 
 being confident that so wise a God cannot err, and so 
 loving a God will not, though He may, for perhaps some 
 unseen purpose, blight some of their earthly prospects." 
 
 The following is the result of a Phrenological Exami- 
 nation by Marriott, in 1838, when James was in his thir- 
 teenth year, and it may be curious to note how accurately, 
 or otherwise, this examination of his "bumps" forecasts 
 his character: 
 
 "Master Wright is moderately fond of children and at- 
 tached to his friends. He is mild in disposition and 
 thinks little of himself. Fond of praise. Moderately 
 cautious and conceals his thoughts and intentions. Not 
 sufficiently firm; very just and honourable. Looks upon 
 the best side of things. Not defective in devotional feel- 
 ings. Pleased with anything wonderful. Possesses a 
 good deal of imagination. Would excel in music. Mod- 
 erately cheerful. Will not excel in figures, nor will he 
 make a good mechanic. Fond of information. May 
 learn a language. Would be well adapted for a lawyer 
 if he had less conscientiousness. Would make a good 
 surveyor. Might be a lawyer. The reflective faculties 
 are excellent, and I have no doubt he will excel in most 
 departments of learning. He will like to see anything 
 in its place. He would make a good merchant, being 
 fond of travelling, and possessing almost every faculty 
 for that honourable profession. I should have stated that 
 13 and 8 lead me to conclude that he will be kind-hearted 
 and generous." 
 
 To this period also belong some letters which deserve 
 preservation, as affording a partial and imperfect glimpse 
 at least into the boy's inner life. 
 
 The following is an extract from a letter to one of 
 his sisters, when he was twelve years old : 
 
12 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 "Bristol, December 22nd, 1838. 
 
 "What wicked and hard hearts we have, not to be 
 more thankful for all the benefits which our heavenly- 
 Father bestows upon us daily; Oh, may my prayer be, 
 that He will in His great mercy take away this stony 
 heart, and give me a new heart and renew a right spirit 
 
 within me. Do not you, my dear , find that there 
 
 are some besetting sins which are harder than all others 
 to lay aside? I always felt a great wish to make any- 
 thing I am telling appear more wonderful than it really 
 was. This is really my besetting sin. I desire more 
 earnestly that God will set a watch upon my lips. I 
 know how our merciful and just God abhors anything 
 but the strictest truth. I feel it is the great enemy of 
 my soul's salvation that brings me into these tempta- 
 tions. Oh, may my prayers be still more earnest on this 
 subject, that I may be more and more on my guard 
 against him who seeks to destroy both my present hap- 
 piness and that which is to come. Oh, dear do 
 
 pray for me, a poor weak and sinful creature, who de- 
 serves not one of the least of all the benefits of a graci- 
 ous Saviour. Be assured that I always remember you 
 and all my other dear friends in my poor feeble breath- 
 ings; but blessed be God, He hears the prayer of a 
 little child and does not despise its cry. Talk a great 
 deal about the Bible in your next letter. I like your 
 letters so much when you do so. * * * I am think- 
 ing how nice it will be to hear Mr. Miiller and Craik 
 again ; you will think of us tomorrow." 
 
 Another letter was written from school at Thornbury 
 when he was 13 years old, extracts from which we make : 
 "My Dearest Rachel : — 
 
 "The examination began last Friday and Mr, Gibson 
 
LIFES DAWN AND EARLY MORN. 1 3 
 
 has finished examining me in my Greek testament, but 
 not in Grammar. I beheve he intends getting me another 
 book soon. Your afifectionate question to me, dear 
 Rachel, upon the state of my soul, showed your earnest 
 desire for my welfare. It is indeed an important sub- 
 ject as it is through our belief in the blood of Jesus that 
 we are saved. I do not think I could have felt that joy 
 and peace that I have felt, while reading the Bible and 
 praying to Him, without believing on Jesus. My earnest 
 prayer for myself and others is, that if I have any little 
 faith it may be strengthened; and that if God has begun 
 the good work in me. He may perfect it. I have done 
 nothing, nor can I do anything, to save myself; all is 
 through grace, free grace. I know and feel more and 
 more that I am a sinner, deserving the righteous anger 
 of God; and from sorrow for having thus displeased 
 Him, may I throw myself on His mercy, trusting, that 
 for what Jesus has done and suffered, my sins are for- 
 given. I want very much to be with you to talk about 
 these things, for I cannot put what I want in let- 
 ters. * * * " 
 
 On the same sheet were the following lines written 
 to his father : 
 
 "Dear Papa:— 
 
 "Mistress wishes me to give you her dear love and to 
 tell you that the holidays will begin on the 13th of June. 
 I have told this to R. in the beginning of this, but Mis- 
 tress says I am to tell you, so I have done it. You found 
 out my forget, did not you, soon after I left you with 
 
 Mrs. It was very odd indeed. I must keep such 
 
 things before my eye another time, for I cannot trust 
 my memory. I went to see old Mr. Gough the other 
 day. He seemed very much to want Jenny. There was 
 
14 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 a brood of young ducks crawling or waddling about the 
 floor, for he could not keep them out he said. He was 
 making a pair of shoes with odd fashioned buckles — 
 He said he was the only person in Thornbury that could 
 make them, and so he had to make them; they were an 
 odd shape indeed. We have been out to play cricket 
 twice; it is getting nice and warm now. I hope soon to 
 hear from Clapton, and so for the present must bid you 
 farewell, and remain," etc. 
 
 Here is a letter written from school, the year not men- 
 tioned, but it is in childish handwriting : 
 
 "Thornbury, 2nd mo. 
 "My Dear Sister: 
 
 "I have thought much about you today, and please to 
 tell Mary that I thought about Bogatzky's Golden Treas- 
 ury. The text for to-day is 'There is a river, the streams 
 of which make glad the City of God.' I felt very very 
 dull this morning without you, and so I did this evening ; 
 but I thought of that pretty hymn you sing, 'Come ye 
 sinners poor and wretched, weak and wounded, sick and 
 sore; Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, love 
 and power.' I did indeed feel very weak and poor — 
 but I remembered that Jesus stood ready to help me and 
 then I felt comforted; then I read that text in Bogatz- 
 ky's and I felt so comforted. * * * Please to give 
 my dear love to Papa and tell him I often think of him, 
 and of thee, dear Rachel, and of Mary and Sally." 
 
 The memoranda that follow belong to the year 1843, 
 and are valuable as indications of a developing character 
 in a young man of seventeen. They are found written 
 in pencil on a sheet of note paper, and evince a remark- 
 able maturity both of intellectual and spiritual life : 
 
LIFES DAWN AND EARLY MORN. 15 
 
 "It is expedient that I henceforth refrain from reading 
 those tales and fictitious narratives found in Chambers' 
 Journal and by parity of reason the reading of all such 
 narratives whether found in newspapers, etc., or in a 
 more voluminous shape and character; on account of 
 the evil tendency of such literature in the following par- 
 ticulars, viz: — 
 
 "First. In leading to and encouraging a practical for- 
 getfulness of that Word of Scripture — 
 
 'Ye are not your own, therefore, etc' 
 "Second. As a consequence of the preceding — 
 
 "In leading to a misapplication of energies, and a mis- 
 apprehension of the value of the time. 
 
 "Various causes may be assigned for the peculiar in- 
 terest with which works of fiction are invested to some 
 minds. Perhaps it is needless to the present subject to 
 enquire either what they are or wherein they consist; 
 but this is certain, from my own experience, that narra- 
 tives of this discription appeal to and favour some latent 
 desires of the old man rather than the new or spiritual, 
 which is created anew after Christ Jesus. The char- 
 acters introduced in these narratives — their actuating 
 motives, and the objects or ends proposed as the results 
 are not such as a Christian can recognize as of the Lord. 
 Now before the mind can thoroughly enjoy such read- 
 ing it must have, in some measure, become cold towards 
 Jesus; and, as suited to the desires of a soul in such a 
 state such reading favours continuance therein ; thus evi- 
 dently leading to and encouraging a forgetfulness of 
 that Word of Scripture 'Ye are not your own, etc' 
 
 "But again in the second place, this kind of reading 
 leads to a misapprehension of the value of time. For it is 
 
l6 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 in moments of leisure time that I feel particular inclina- 
 tion to take up such works. They do not form a part 
 of my regular reading, to which it may be I set apart 
 portions of my lesson time — those in regard to the 
 occupation of which I am left more particularly to 
 my own judgment. But it is at odd times, a moment 
 now, and another then, the occurrence of which is entirely 
 uncertain, or at least so much so in regard to time 
 that it would be almost impossible to apportion them to 
 certain pursuits either in reading or otherwise. This 
 way of employing these leisure moments is productive 
 of the following disadvantages, viz : From the fact that 
 these portions of time are uncertain and irregular in their 
 occurrence they are looked upon as comparatively value- 
 less, about the employment of which no particular care 
 is necessary ; and thus through an erroneous view of the 
 case I am thrown open to the natural love of pleasure, 
 which thus seeks its gratification in the reading of nar- 
 ratives, which, while indeed it ministers to this object, is 
 productive of no lasting benefit to the mind. Thus mo- 
 ments of value, equal in proportion to that of hours, are 
 so to speak, wasted without compunction. This practice 
 then leads to a misapprehension of the value of time." 
 "July l6, 1843." 
 
 Five years later we glean the following notes from a 
 pocket book (1848) : 
 
 "Talking with Aunt M this evening about the 
 
 Jesuits, and in my regular course of reading this evening 
 read the 64th Psalm. How appropriate to the state of 
 mind produced by reflection on the Jesuit system are 
 such verses as the 2nd, 6th, 8th and loth of this Psalm." 
 
LIFES DAWN AND EARLY MORN. 17 
 
 "I have lost much spiritual strength in past times 
 through what (I think) is a mistaken notion of what is 
 intended by the expression "waiting" on the Lord. I 
 have frequently withdrawn from the presence of my 
 fellow creatures for the purpose of "waiting" on God 
 in secret — and sitting down, have allowed my thoughts 
 to wander hither and thither, as if I had not to attempt 
 restraining them, but to wait till a holy impulse overcame 
 the unprofitable tendency of my mind. But surely it is 
 not in such an attitude that the Lord promises to meet 
 with us and work in us. There is such a thing as 'girding 
 up the loins of the mind.' " 
 
 "I recollect six or seven years ago told me that 
 
 in his intention of going to the Continent as a sort of 
 Missionary or Preacher to "enquiring" Christians, he was 
 encouraged by noticing that, when he had gained sensi- 
 ble light or enjoyment from secret devotion and study of 
 Scripture he was forthwith in imagination addressing 
 an audience of believers and successfully imparting his 
 acquired treasure. If I had then had the same personal 
 experience of the phenomena he described I should have 
 asked him whether he did not invariably find that while 
 following this self-created shadozv through all its airy 
 workings, and complacently appropriating its quickly 
 earned reward of imaginary applause, the idea of God's 
 presence would be fading into dimness; that when the 
 spirit, weary and dissatisfied with the gloom of its own 
 work, turned again to seek the sunshine of God's pres- 
 ence, the fruit of its self-willed labour would be found 
 unpresentable to God, and a burden that must be got rid 
 of if the soul is to get on at all. I do believe these fits 
 are generally, if not always, parentheses in the true life 
 
l8 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 of a Christian who is seeking to Hve to the glory of 
 God." 
 
 "Reflected on the advantages which some suppose the 
 Patriarchs enjoyed in audible communications from God. 
 We can scarcely suppose our trial of faith in obeying 
 God's will is greater. How we should earnestly desire 
 to live in the absorbing realization of God's presence, 
 desiring nothing but that our works may, through the 
 merits of our blessed Saviour, find constant acceptance, 
 fearing nothing but sin against His Holy Name." 
 
 "Spiritual progress includes increasing freedom from 
 the control of human opinion; but in the absence of in- 
 fluential Christian principles the other is most useful as 
 an inferior restraining power." 
 
 "It is of the greatest importance to be aware of Satan's 
 devices. A slothful habit formed from mere carelessness 
 may be a mighty instrument in his hand. Such things 
 we are too apt to consider as trifles which do not war- 
 rant a particular reference to God for assistance. But 
 I am persuaded we are as weak to meet these little hin- 
 drances in dependence on our own strength, as a man 
 stricken with palsy is to rise and walk. Satan has com- 
 plete power over us as long as we deceive ourselves with 
 the belief that his evil suggestions and enticements are 
 unworthy, too trifling for serious resistance; or that the 
 contest, once begun, is of too little importance to jus- 
 tify our seeking God's help!" 
 
 "Great difficulty all day, as also during some days past, 
 in concentrating my thoughts on the work in hand — and 
 
life's dawn and early morn. 19 
 
 in realizing that my trivial occupations could be worthy 
 of the interference of God's power to enable me to acquit 
 myself properly." 
 
 "Psalm LXIX, i. 'Save me, O God, etc' 
 
 The essence of every prayer of Faith in difficulty. 
 
 Our only safety any moment from arty evil from within 
 
 or without is in God." 
 
 "I am dissatisfied with my present small attainment in 
 holiness — and desire to press on — but feel that at every 
 step God Himself must supply the power to will and 
 to perform. Withdrew immediately after dinner for 
 prayer, so as to avoid getting my spirit disordered by the 
 desultory personal conversation which one is so apt to 
 indulge in at odd moments of time. Felt the benefit of 
 taking this course — ^but even while on my knees was be- 
 ginning to admire myself for having acted with a little 
 decision. Gjndemned and confessed the sin of this self- 
 complacent spirit. Oh, how subtle are the ramifications 
 of evil within the heart — what occasion for ceaseless 
 warfare — but because this contest is not cognizable by 
 the senses, is taken no account of by the world and 
 is not carried on in the sight of even God's children, we 
 cannot expect support or aid from any of the natural 
 sources of enthusiasm. Faith alone is the victory here — 
 in the Lord — in the sight of our God — ^then our labour 
 is not in vain." 
 
 "The Path of Duty is quite single: if our eye was as 
 single, there would never appear to be a choice of ways 
 in the most trivial occasion of life. If the "strong wind" 
 of doubts and fears — if the "whirlwind" of passion and 
 
20 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 unchastened thoughts had ceased, and given place to a 
 "great calm," then the "still small voice" would be 
 always heard, giving definite and unerring counsel." 
 
 "Begin somewhere — it matters comparatively little 
 where — and fix the thought and use such confirmed posi- 
 tion as the worm when crawling that keeps one part of 
 his body stationary while and by which he propels the 
 other, so let the mind dwell fixedly on a thought, and 
 advance by regular, connected and consequent steps," 
 
CHAPTER SECOND. 
 
 THE DAY ADVANCES. 
 
 In the development of Christian character, two habits 
 hold the first rank in importance : Bible study and secret 
 Prayer. Accordingly it is no surprise to find that James 
 Wright, before he had attained his majority, had laid 
 these foundations and was carefully building thereon. 
 
 The lamented J. Hudson Taylor used to say, "Do not 
 have your concert first, and then tune your instruments ; 
 but begin the day with the Word of God and Prayer, and 
 so first get into harmony with Him"; and he practised 
 what he preached, for he was wont to rise at four in the 
 morning to secure an hour for this tuning process, while 
 as yet the world was asleep and the many sounds of 
 busy life did not confuse his hearing and make difficult to 
 recognize the imperial heavenly note which was to deter- 
 mine the harmony. 
 
 A modern writer who was erratic and unsafe in his 
 teachings, but had learned many lessons in devoutness, 
 has left a similar testimony : "Five minutes spent in the 
 companionship of Christ, every morning — aye, two min- 
 utes, if it is face to face, and heart to heart, will change 
 the whole day, will make every thought and feeling dif- 
 ferent, will enable you to do things for His sake that you 
 would not have done for your own sake or the sake of 
 any one else." 
 
 Such communion with God and His truth must be 
 habitual and not occasional, if it is to make much impres- 
 sion on character and life — ^the tree must be "planted" by 
 the irrigating channels if its leaf is to be unwithering 
 
22 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 and its fruit perennial. Hence, again, Jeremy Taylor 
 said, "If thou meanest to enlarge thy religion, do it rather 
 by enlarging thine ordinary devotions than thy extraordi- 
 nary" ; and this same "modern Chrysostom" added, "The 
 body of our prayer is the sum of our duty: and as we 
 must ask Gtod for whatsoever we need, so must we labour 
 for all that we ask." 
 
 Rev. J. A. Vaughan, M. A., also says : "The best of all 
 is that at any time, and in any place, you can draw the 
 curtain of the sanctuary of thought around your heart, 
 and catch one moment with God. A hallowed solitude 
 even in a crowd is a wonderful secret of a quiet mind, 
 a heavenly wisdom and a holy walk." 
 
 James Wright shone most conspicuous as a man whose 
 life moved about the Word of God and the throne of 
 grace. With him the Scriptures and Prayer were insep- 
 arable. In the Word of God he found the warrant and 
 inspiration for supplication and intercession; and in 
 Prayer he found insight and interpretation as to tlie 
 Scriptures. 
 
 Three results followed: first, a rapid growth in holy 
 living; second, remarkable spiritual wisdom; and third, 
 large capacity for service to others. 
 
 If most of those who knew him well were asked what 
 in him most impressed them, the common answer would 
 be, his singularly wise walk with God and before men. 
 He is well trained who is taught in God's university. 
 James Hamilton quaintly said that "the Christian on his 
 knees sees further than the mere philosopher on his tip- 
 toes." And Rev. J. R. Miller, whose devotional works 
 so enrich our English literature, writes : 
 
 "We do not know how much the blessing and saving 
 of others depend upon our prayer for them. We do not 
 
THE DAY ADVANCES. 23 
 
 know how often men's failures, defeats, and falls are due 
 to our having ceased to pray for them. We stand be- 
 tween God and needy lives, and are bidden to give our- 
 selves no rest, but to cry continually to Him for those 
 about us." 
 
 It was hoped that, in examining the papers left behind 
 by Mr. Wright, there might be found some comparatively 
 full records of his inner experience, from which to ob- 
 tain at least some faint reflections of his true self, and 
 spiritual history. But careful search fails to reveal any 
 such relics, save a few fragmentary paragraphs, covering 
 only about three months, from March to June, 1845. 
 This brief personal "diary" is here embodied in the nar- 
 rative for whatever aid it may afford, in understanding 
 the secrets of his beautiful and serviceable life. 
 
 For instance, we find, under date of March 10, 1845, 
 a hint of how he laid out his time, in his plans for the da,y. 
 
 1. To give at least one hour to prayer, etc., before going 
 to bed to-night. 
 
 2. Ditto, before commencing temporal engagements to- 
 morrow morning. 
 
 10. Get time for prayer and reading the Word in the 
 day. 
 
 12. Prayer and reading immediately on reaching home. 
 My letter of resignation a special subject, and the study 
 of evidences. (The following day he records his "re- 
 marks on the imperfect execution of this 'plan' "). 
 
 I. I sat drowsily before my Bible for about half an 
 hour, and my prayer was unenergetic, got into bed about 
 twelve o'clock and (2), was only up just in time to appear 
 in the breakfast room for family prayers. 
 
24 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 ID. Dinner time came without my having found time 
 for prayer, etc., and on my way saw a copy of Spenser's 
 works in a window — after a little mental altercation and 
 I fear unfaithfulness, bought it on my return. 
 
 12. More comfort in prayer with a sense of my de- 
 pendence on Divine help. 
 
 (Again the next day among his plans for the day's' en- 
 gagements he writes:) To get time for prayer at least 
 three times, 
 
 1st. On arising. 
 
 2nd. Before dinner. 
 
 3rd. On coming home the iirst thing. 
 
 Subjects for prayer at the above times, specially morn- 
 ing and evening: 
 
 (ist). My position with regard to Friends. 
 
 (2nd). The expediency of the study of the Evidences 
 of Christianity. 
 
 (3rd). For wisdom to decide on the comparative prac- 
 tical importance of mental culture (specially in Mathe- 
 matics and Poetry) considered in relation to my occupa- 
 tions in temporal business. 
 
 (4th). For grace to conduct myself aright in meeting 
 dear 
 
 Further remarks on March nth, 1845. 
 
 Woke not until seven o'clock, lay in bed three-quarters 
 of an hour, and so was up no earlier than yesterday. 
 
 Indecision in selection of things to be done in the morn- 
 ing and want of energy in calling on customers, made me 
 busy till three o'clock, and so no time for prayer before 
 dinner. Read Spenser this evening when I ought to have 
 been writing. Through the grace of God, enjoyed a 
 measure of uprightness of heart in confession and prayer 
 this evening, but felt somewhat hurried. 
 
THE DAY ADVANCES. 2$ 
 
 March 12th. 
 
 up again too late for prayer before breakfast, and hur- 
 ried during the morning too much for prayer before din- 
 ner. The account of the blessing of God on the Ministry 
 
 of exhilarated me this evening. In walking home 
 
 this evening I pondered on the necessity of waiting much 
 on God to know what to avoid, and what to do. My 
 regular reading was VI Numbers which afforded har- 
 monious considerations. My prayer (very imperfect and 
 unenergetic) was for the blessing, the want of which 
 would naturally be felt during reflections of this kind. 
 Thursday night twelve o'clock 3/13/45. 
 
 1. To arise at six o'clock to-morrow. 
 
 2. To have one hour's prayer and reading — special sub- 
 jects. 
 
 Remarks : 
 
 I & 2 Not attended to so far as regards the morning and 
 noon, for the same reason as yesterday. But this even- 
 ing it occurred to me that I had not made this a subject 
 of prayer, and accordingly did so. May I be more earnest 
 in so doing, and I shall yet overcome my terrible inclina- 
 tion to listless slothfulness. 
 Saturday night eleven o'clock 3/15/45. 
 
 At prayer on the three times make special reference to 
 my connection with "Friends" — to ascertain whether it is 
 my duty to act yet. I have only prayed about twice this 
 week in reference to this. The Lord increase my faith ! 
 March 15th. 
 
 Again my total failure in this respect was a cause of 
 confession and renewed prayer this night before going to 
 bed. 
 March i6th/45. 10 o'clock p. m. 
 
 March 17th. This is my 19th Birthday. 
 
26 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 Again overcome by sloth this morning, and thrown 
 back by this throughout the day. At prayer this evening 
 read the 7th Numbers. The last verse particularly in- 
 duced prayer for grace to endeavour to keep up spiritual 
 intercourse by appointed means of stated prayer and read- 
 ing the Word. My connection with "Friends" was a sub- 
 ject of prayer, on the ground that God having manifested 
 Himself as the liberal giver of wisdom, I may, casting my 
 soul on Him, and as soon as I am conscious of an up- 
 right heart, proceed to exercise my judgment on the mat- 
 ter, and if this leads to action, act; looking to God to 
 order the consequences. "My soul wait thou only upon 
 God," etc. 
 Clifton, nine o'clock Tuesday evening, March i8th. 
 
 I arose this morning at seven o'clock, and consequently 
 secured half an hour's prayer. This is a beginning. The 
 Lord give me grace to fulfill my resolution this even- 
 ing and in His strength to go on. 
 
 Amongst other entries in this evening's "plan" for the 
 next day occurs the following: 
 
 "Take care not to indulge in levity and attempts at 
 wittiness (at the Desk in the afternoon)." 
 
 (Next day he writes — ) This was not so fully attended 
 to as I hoped. Courage! my soul. 
 
 Clifton, Saturday, March 22. 
 
 In walking home this evening, my prayer was that the , 
 ordinary circumstances of the evening might furnish oc- 
 casion for the manifestation of the Spirit of Christ. I 
 just stopped at home before going on to fulfil my last 
 planned intention, and was told by Mary that she and R. 
 and S. wished to give me a sovereign, as a birthday pres- 
 ent, to be disposed of as I might wish. I promised to 
 think of it, and did so ; and, acknowledging in this little 
 
THE DAY ADVANCES. 27 
 
 circumstance an answer to my prayer, I wished that it 
 may go to the rent of Bethesda as that has been a good 
 deal on my mind lately owing to its deficiency* 
 Clifton. Tuesday eleven p. m., March 25. 
 
 The remarks Mr. Craik made last evening on I Peter 
 4:10 stirred me to pray for light on this point as to my 
 "gift," what it is, etc. My late rising was a subject of 
 humiliation and prayer that I may overcome this slothful 
 tendency through God's grace. 
 
 Called at — 's in the morning. He fixed to see 
 
 me this evening. Did so, and approved of my letter (re- 
 signing his membership with "Friends") which I am to 
 address to the B. M. M. and leave for him at his office. 
 God's name be praised that I have been helped so far. 
 
 One entry in his "plan" for the twenty-seventh of this 
 month reads as follows : 
 
 To consider my duty in reference to taking in "Punch" 
 and the "Shilling Magazine." 
 
 Two days later he writes : 
 
 Discontinued taking in "Punch" today. 
 Clifton. Monday, eleven p. m. March 31. 
 
 Languid to-day in discharge of admitted duties. Thus 
 satisfied with my station, fancying I have not time enough 
 for reading and mental improvement. Strongly rebuked 
 to-night while retired for prayers, this train of thought 
 possessed my mind. I am so insignificant, and helplessly 
 dependent on heavenly grace, that ray utmost attainment 
 in knowledge or action turned to the best advantage 
 
 *In one or two previous extracts, reference is made to his con- 
 nection with the Friends, and his exercise of mind relative thereto. 
 His wish, as to Bethesda here referred to, is explained by his 
 half-formed purpose to transfer his connection to the Brethren. 
 
28 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 could be but the fulfilling of some minute part of God's 
 amazing scheme; and with perceptions so imperfect, and 
 conceptions (even when stretched to the utmost confines 
 of speculations) confined to a span — how can I judge for 
 myself as to what sphere or circle of circumstances 
 would be best for me. No, let me know that God has 
 called me to walk in my present path, and I cannot do 
 better than throw heart and soul into my proceedings, 
 "Looking unto Jesus." I prayed for this grace and for 
 dear S this evening. 
 
 Further extracts from Diary : 
 Clifton. Tuesday ii p. m. April 1/45. 
 
 I fell to self-examination this evening, in the order 
 pursued or marked out in I Cor. X's early verses. 
 Enabled to praise God for His Goodness in clearing my 
 way in answer to prayer in three special instances : 
 
 1st. In regard to my long delayed letter to Dear 
 
 2nd. In giving me a considerable degree of certainty in 
 my temporal occupation, and thirdly in arranging so 
 easily matters connected with resigning my membership 
 amongst Friends. 
 
 My letter was read to the Monthly Meeting this morn- 
 ing — accepted — and Dr. A and J. E. appointed to 
 
 see me in the course of the month. 
 
 Copy. 
 Letter of Resignation to the Society of Friends. 
 
 March 27th, 1845. 
 Dear Friends, 
 
 Before I was aware, that according to the regulation 
 of the "Society of Friends," I still retain my "member- 
 ship," I had (in what I considered obedience to the com- 
 mand of Christ) observed the ordinances of Baptism and 
 
THE DAY ADVANCES. 29 
 
 the Lord's Supper— and as I still believe them to be of 
 Divine institution — and consequently in force at the 
 present time — I deem it my duty to discontinue my con- 
 nection with the Society, since it would be inconsistent 
 voluntarily to continue a profession involving principles 
 in accordance with which I am unable to act. 
 I remain, 
 
 Your Friend, 
 
 James Wright. 
 
 The first of these matters has been a subject of prayer 
 for eight months, the second six months, and the third 
 one year. "Bless the Lord, oh, my soul." 
 
 Clifton. II p. M. April 3. 
 
 In prayer this evening asked for teaching about my 
 place among the children of God, — that I may know how 
 to minister to others and be ministered to as a good stew- 
 ard of the manifold Grace of God. Also for , that 
 
 he may be kept in peace, and soon obtain another situa- 
 tion ; also for and , that they may be upheld 
 
 by the Grace of God — and that the latter 's joy may con- 
 tinue, or if otherwise that it may redound to her soul's 
 good. 
 
 Clifton. Sunday evening, loj^ p. M. 4/6/45. 
 
 Conversed with in going to Chapel this evening. 
 
 Was struck while in the meeting with the fact — ^that our 
 lives are one universal opportunity for serving God in 
 some way or other. How humbling to think of our un- 
 faithfulness — involving as it does the failing to make use 
 of so many glorious occasions for "laying up in store 
 a good foundation against the time to come." But we do 
 not remember practically to "lay hold on eternal life," 
 as we should. {"Wait on the Lord!") Prayed this even- 
 
30 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 ing for teaching and grace to know and to fill aright my 
 
 place among the saints. For and tljat they 
 
 may have grace to "walk uprightly" and know God as 
 the "Sun and Shield" of such. Psalm 84. nth verse. 
 
 Clifton. Monday 11 p. m. 4/7/45. 
 
 In prayer this evening asked the Lord for teaching and 
 grace to come to a right conclusion about learning He- 
 brew. Also remembered dear and in their 
 
 need of grace — equal in measure, though different in 
 
 kind. 
 
 Clifton. Tuesday. io>^ p. m. April 8. 
 
 Prayed for guidance to a right place of service among 
 
 the body of professed Christians, and remembered 
 
 and thanking the Lord for the measure of answer 
 
 to prayer in the case of the latter (N. B. I 
 
 prayed for grace to overcome my slothfulness in the 
 morning) . 
 
 Clifton. Wednesday, up. m.. April 9. 
 
 Started this morning to see D. E. off by train — ^and 
 as I only just got out of bed in time to dress had no 
 time for prayer. Breakfasted in town and got no time 
 for retirement during the day. Felt the bad effect of 
 this in a languid, undecided, inactive state of mind this 
 evening, feeling more disposition to exchange words than 
 to go into my room. I felt happy at Chapel and so this 
 state of mind after surprised me. Mr. Muller spoke this 
 evening on the 2nd chap, of II Kings. * * * My 
 prayer this evening was hindered — ^no confidence in ask- 
 ing for former petitions, feeling most led into confession. 
 Oh, that I may be kept upright. — Since I have been en- 
 abled by the grace of God to be a little more watchful, 
 my satisfaction in the discharge of my temporal engage- 
 
THE DAY ADVANCES. 3 1 
 
 ments has been much increased. I have given a more un- 
 divided attention to the Book Trade, and get through more 
 work in several ways than I have for long; and I feel 
 even here a danger lest I become engrossed and self satis- 
 fied. The Lord keep me hungry for the Food which He 
 alone can supply. 
 
 Clifton. Thursday, g}4 p. m. April lo. 
 
 Late in getting up this morning. Got time for prayer 
 in the middle of the day. Enjoyed considerable energy 
 of soul in meditation to-night. My only fear is perhaps 
 my train of thought and reasoning was more suggested 
 than guided by the Holy Word of God. The Lord pre- 
 serve me from this evil. At all events I believe the effects 
 of to-night's thoughts on the whole will be a salutary one — 
 will humble, and, by God's grace, tend to keep my mind in 
 a right posture of dependence on God. 
 
 Clifton. Friday. 7J4 A. M. April ii. 
 
 Got up this morning at five o'clock. Prayed for 
 
 and his mother's temporal and spiritual blessings. Had 
 doubts about propriety of praying for conversion of 
 sinners, and therefore prayed to be taught upon this sub- 
 ject. Also for and for increased fadth. 
 
 Had much joy afterwards in meditating on John, Chap. 
 II — ^particularly on the "servants" knowing what the 
 "governor" was ignorant of. 
 
 Ditto, 10 p. M. 
 
 Prayer this evening for and his mother. About 
 
 my temporal occupation, and for ■ — and . My 
 
 course this day not being so satisfactory as often, gave 
 me ground for confession. I don't think I have prayed 
 sufficiently about my temporal occupation. 
 Qifton. Monday. April 14th, 9^^ p. m. 
 
32 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 I believe God helped me much to-day in the discharge 
 of my temporal duties — for which I am thankful. May 
 I be more so and more prayerful. Felt this evening in 
 considering the early part of XX Numbers — that it is 
 very improper to complain, even in thought of any posi- 
 tion we find ourselves in; so often may it be (according 
 to the Lord's revealed mode of acting towards His child- 
 ren) the necessary consequence of our previous conduct. 
 Still must we wait on God, and whatever our circum- 
 stances, and however instrumentally brought about — we 
 shall be strengthened to glorify Him. 
 
 Clifton. Tuesday. April 15. 9>^ p. m. 
 
 In prayer this evening I sought earnestly grace and 
 wisdom in such wise as to enable me to turn every mo- 
 ment to account. Not to be wasting time about things, 
 which do not profit ; and that passage of Scripture came 
 to me with much force — "Wherewithal shall a young man 
 cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according to 
 Thy Word." 
 
 Clifton. Wednesday, gj^ p. M. April 16. 
 Prayed this morning for teaching on John IH :s : 
 
 Clifton. Friday. April 18. 
 
 Rose late. Languid in the discharge of temporal duties. 
 
 Received this evening an invitation from to visit 
 
 him. May I wait on the Lord in reference to this. This 
 evening continued to reflect on the command "wait on 
 God" in connection with active service, and particularly 
 as bearing on my desire to study evidences of Revelation, 
 etc. 
 
 (At the end of this entry and several others, both 
 earlier and later, a "plan" for the "following day" was 
 
THE DAY ADVANCES. 33 
 
 written out. The first item in this being "Plan (D. V.) 
 for to-morrow prayer and reading four times." The 
 next day's entry shows how faithfully he recorded his 
 shortcomings.) 
 
 Clifton. Saturday. April 19. 10 p. M. 
 
 Restrained from prayer and neglected reading the 
 Word till this evening, and then had not much enjoyment. 
 
 Clifton. Sunday. April 20. 9^ p. m. 
 
 Had much joy this afternoon in prayer in casting my- 
 self on the Lord for the future, especially in reference 
 to my probable journejf to Birmingham. May the Lord 
 enable me to pray much for grace in this matter, and may 
 I find practically it is our privilege to have every step 
 directed of the Lord. 
 Prayed 
 
 I. That my journey and stay at Birmingham may be to 
 God's glory. See April 9. 
 
 2 For wisdom to decide whether or not I shall study 
 the evidences of the authenticity of Scripture. 
 
 3 For that her faith may be increased. 
 
 4 For that he may be upheld by God's grace. 
 
 Clifton. Tuesday evening. 10 p. m. April 22. 
 
 In prayer this evening I was much employed in thought 
 about the propriety of considering more fully the subject 
 of evidence of the authenticity of Scripture. Prayed for 
 wisdom to guide me in this matter. Every moment has 
 its proper work which is to be performed. 
 Clifton, Friday. April 25. 10 p. m. 
 
 J E fixed next Monday week, the 5th, 
 
 at 10 o'clock to meet him and Dr. A at the resi- 
 dence of the latter, I took this morning (after a rather 
 
34 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 hasty mental argument in reference to the propriety of 
 the step, and somewhat contrary to a former conviction) 
 a season Ticket to the Exhibition of paintings at the 
 Institution. The Lord in His goodness preserve me from 
 losing my taste for heavenly pleasures, for the sake of 
 enjoying a present but trifling recompense. If I have 
 grieved the Spirit, by acting in self will, may I have grace 
 to see it clearly, and to confess and put away this sin 
 watching in prayer against a like temptation. 
 
 Clifton. Sunday. April 27. 
 
 I have been in a cold state of heart the last day or two. 
 Felt something like a revival this afternoon; and this 
 evening when wishing to go to bed immediately upon 
 entering my room, alleging that I should need to arise 
 early to-morrow, and if I do not get to bed early this can- 
 not be, I was led to think of how much more consequence 
 was spiritual strength than natural ; and how a supply of 
 one will overbalance a deficiency in the other. Let me 
 "Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and His righteous- 
 ness etc." G. Miiller gave me some advice this evening 
 about how to act when on a journey. 
 
 (After referring to having given "much time, thought, 
 and anxiety" to some trifling matter he writes) 
 
 Clifton. Monday. 11 p. m. April 28. 
 
 What very trifles will the heart engage itself upon 
 while Jesus is lost sight of as the one object. 
 
 Prayer for preserving and guiding grace while at 
 Birmingham. 
 
 Birmingham. Monday. April 29. Midnight. 
 
 Much profitable reflection in coming here this evening, 
 on the nature of the intercourse between fellow passen- 
 gers and the consideration of which led to prayer for 
 
THE DAY ADVANCES. 35 
 
 my fellow passengers. Was enabled to cast my cares 
 upon the Lord with some degree of confidence. Arrived 
 at this place at about twenty minutes after 1 1 p. m. 
 
 Birmingham. Wednesday. April 30. 10 p. m. 
 
 Our Father who is in heaven has been very good to 
 me this day, rejoicing my heart in His Word, although 
 to the eye of nature alone there has been much to try my 
 patience and disappoint me. "Be careful for nothing" 
 etc., was particularly brought to my remembrance in 
 prayer. God, in His providence may be ordering my lot 
 thus to learn more of Him. What a blessed school. Oh, 
 may I perfectly learn this blessed lesson. 
 
 Birmingham, Thursday, May i, 11 p. m. 
 
 A little more success in business to-day; may I be 
 thankful fbr this and still wait on the Lord. 
 
 Birmingham. Friday. May 2, 12 p. m. 
 
 Temporal success is perhaps more insidious in its ef- 
 fect on the spiritual frame of a soul than difficulty. The 
 comparative (success?) has certainly not made me more 
 prayerful — certainly not more happy in soul than before. 
 
 Qifton. Saturday. 11 1/2 o'clock. May 3. 
 
 Once more at home. When I came into bedroom this 
 evening commenced reading in the Presbyterian Review 
 an article on Wordsworth's Poetry, and read it through. 
 Somewhat self-condemned for thus occupying my time 
 at this time: the more especially as I felt tired and in- 
 clined to omit prayer and reading. I was enabled oy 
 God's grace, in much weakness and infirmity, to adhere 
 to my plan of not going to bed without having enjoyed 
 these in some measure. This thought struck me that I 
 might lose sleep and yet maintain nearness of communion 
 
36 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 with God — but that such a frame of heart is impossible 
 provided prayer is neglected. 
 
 In the "plans" for several days after this he records 
 his failure in keeping his intention to rise early — as for 
 instance : 
 
 Arise any time after five o'clock. , . .Arose at eight o'clock 
 
 Arise any time after five Not till eight o'clock 
 
 Arise any time after six o'clock Not till 8^ 
 
 Clifton. Friday. lo p. m. May 9. 
 
 Prayer: For grace to keep the glory of God before 
 my eye by faith — to the exclusion of baser motives ; espe- 
 cially in circumstances of 's visit. In looking at my 
 
 prayer enumerated first on 4/20/45, I feel grateful to 
 my Father in Heaven for His answer to that petition. 
 I received during that journey blessing from Him, and 
 I am certain this will return in thanksgiving to the God 
 who bestowed it. This evening my fifth enumerated sup- 
 plication (how few and wavering have they been) en- 
 gaged me some time. I feel the temptation to which 
 the natural tendency of my mind exposes me. May the 
 Lord keep me near Him. The twenty-third verse of 
 Numbers XXXI struck me this evening as containing 
 matter for extensive and deep practical meditation. Who 
 are our enemies — What is the spoil which we may take 
 and which having been passed through the Hre, and puri- 
 Hed by the water of separation, is fit for God's service, 
 and His children's use. "Thy testimonies are very sure." 
 "All these things happened, etc., and are written for our 
 admonition." "Ponder the path of thy feet, etc." "If 
 any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, etc." 
 
 Clifton, Wednesday, 11 p. m., May 14. 
 To-day, as for several days past, I have been hindered 
 
THE DAY ADVANCES. 37 
 
 in the proper discharge of my duties, by my inveterate 
 enemy, indolence; feeHng disposed every moment (par- 
 ticularly in the middle of the day) to gratify the lust of 
 the moment, instead of acting with reference to "the end." 
 The Lord give me more to vsralk by Faith. (In this 
 evening's "plan" for the coming day he records this 
 Prayer: For faith to act each moment as deeming it 
 necessarily calculated to "tell upon" my future conditon.) 
 Clifton, Monday, ii p. m., May 26. 
 
 For a week or more past, I have suffered in my frame 
 of heart from an unsubdued tendency to seek pleasure in 
 gratifying the desire of the passing moment, without a 
 practical regard to the will of God in the matter. In this 
 spirit I have read two of Scott's novels — "Guy Manner- 
 ing" and "The Antiquary" ; and this afternoon had com- 
 menced "Kenilworth," when, during my walk home, I re- 
 flected on my course, and I considered however superior 
 in a literary point of view these compositions are; and 
 however useful they may be in informing and exercising 
 the taste, when perused from right motives — ^yet, on a 
 review of my own experience, the reading of them, in 
 this particular instance, has been both a result and cause 
 of the continuance of an Mwspiritual, cold frame of heart. 
 The Lord gave me grace to walk straight up to my room 
 to lock up the two volumes I had with me, and to give 
 myself to prayer and reflection on the word of God. May 
 the same gracious interference be renewed on my behalf 
 continually. I prayed to-night especially that I may be 
 enabled to watch against this habitual desire to gratify 
 self-will. And confident that all had proceeded from 
 neglect in watchfulness — I would to-night (in conscious- 
 ness of my weakness, yet hoping in the supply of God's 
 grace to sustain me in it) resolve — that from and after 
 
38 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 to-morrow morning, the twenty-seventh of May, 1845 — I 
 will never leave my room to enter on the business of the 
 day, nor ever retire to rest at night till, after prayer and 
 meditation on the Word of God, I can do so with a pure 
 heart, and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. Al- 
 ways allowing an exception to the above rule in cases, 
 when I feel assured at the time, that I shall afterwards 
 be able (m writing) to make it clear to myself that such 
 an exception was authorized by the providential arrange- 
 ment of circumstances. 
 Clifton, Wednesday, 1.30 a. m., June 11. 
 
 I failed on the first of the month to keep the important 
 resolution of May 26; and from that to this, with the 
 exception of a few hours intermission, I have been in a 
 cold unspiritual frame of heart. This evening, after a 
 walk in Leigh Woods, on retiring to my bedroom, I was 
 led into a practical train of thought in reference to the 
 condition of my soul; and the end was that when I 
 thought my foot was about to slip, the mercy of the Lord 
 held me up. His goodness constrains me to praise ; but 
 oh, how is it wanting in fervour and heartiness. Oh, as 
 weakness of body induces additional care, so being 
 morbidly weak in a spiritual view, may I watch with re- 
 doubled care, and pray with redoubled perseverance — that 
 I enter not into temptation. 
 
 Clifton, Friday, 1.30 o'clock a. m., June 13. 
 
 In company with this evening I feel I failed to 
 
 honor the Lord, and so I determined to take the first 
 opportunity to confess to him my failure. 
 Clifton, Friday 11.30 p. m., June 13. 
 
 acquiesced in the remark I made to him about 
 
 our conduct last evening. 
 
THE DAY ADVANCES. 39 
 
 Clifton, Wednesday 12 p. m., June 18. 
 
 I profited this evening by the consideration of the 
 nature of "pride" and the mode of God's employment for 
 its subjection. 
 
 Here the "diary" ends — all remaining pages being 
 blank. Other and later diaries have been found, but are, 
 for the most part, written in a short hand of his own, 
 which is to others undecipherable. 
 
 Imperfect as are these scanty memorials of Mr. 
 Wright's inner life, they suffice to reveal the steady 
 growth of character, and are the more interesting and 
 instructive, because he was not yet twenty years old. 
 Nothing is perhaps more noticeable than the gradual de- 
 velopment of that "meek and quiet spirit which is in the 
 sight of God of great price." 
 
 Spinoza, from a purely intellectual point of view, has 
 declared that "there is no greater foe to progress than 
 self-conceit, and the laziness which self-conceit begets." 
 Over the Delphic portal were inscribed these words: 
 "Without the descent into the hell of self knowledge, 
 there is no ascent into heaven." These are feelings after a 
 greater truth, revealed fully only by the Spirit of God, 
 that of all qualities of Christian character, humility easily 
 ranks among the very foremost if indeed it does not lead 
 all the rest. In this it is unique, that it is the one uncon- 
 scious grace. When the face shines with the glory of this 
 grace, the saint is like Moses who "wist not that his face 
 shone." 
 
 These fragments of Mr. Wright's diary, show him 
 looking into the perfect law of liberty and continuing 
 to look until he learned what manner of man he was. 
 .ffisop satirically pictured man as carrying two bags over 
 
4o JAMES WRIGHT OF teRISTOL. 
 
 his shoulder : the one with his own sins, hanging behind ; 
 the other with his neighbor's sins, hanging in front. 
 James Wright learned that his own shortcomings were 
 quite sufficient to occupy his attention. One of the surest 
 signs that the natural Ufe has the control is what Francis 
 Wayland calls "the outward eye," so that, instead of 
 watching our own faults and failings, we are criticising 
 and judging others. Self knowledge, if it be candid and 
 spiritual brings us low before God; and the more we 
 ascend before men, the lower we descend before Him 
 who knows us altogether and sees behind the glamour 
 of a deceptive, delusive show of virtue and popularity. 
 
 James Wright was graciously led into the strait gate 
 and narrow way of humility which few find. And from a 
 humble estimate of himself, the passage was easy to that 
 other narrow unfrequented way of meekness and quiet- 
 ness of spirit. It is pride and self complacency that "open 
 the trumpet stop on the great organ of passion." The 
 spiritual egotist is proverbially intolerant. The Pharisee, 
 not the Publican, is impatient with the imperfections of 
 others. 
 
 That saintly spirit, Robert Murray McCheyne, in re- 
 viewing the experiences of the day, wrote: 
 
 "Shall I call the liveliness of this day a gale of the 
 Spirit or was all natural ? All was not of grace : the self 
 admiration, the vanity, the desire of honour, the bitterness 
 — ^these were breaths of earth or hell." And Trench, in a 
 kindred vein, defines meekness, as "that temper of spirit 
 toward God whereby we accept his dealings without dis- 
 puting; then, towards men, whereby we meekly endure 
 their provocations and do not withdraw ourselves from 
 the burdens which their sins impose upon us." 
 
 Another fruit of self disclosure that brings humility 
 
THE Day advances. 41 
 
 toward God, and forbearance toward men, that develops 
 meekness of spirit is, that it leads to a true self-surrender. 
 When, under repeated failures from self confidence and 
 self will, we are led to dependence on Divine strength 
 and wisdom, and obedience to His will, there comes that 
 higher freedom never found in self guidance. As the 
 beloved Dr. A. J. Gordon loved to say : "Where the Spirit 
 of the Lord is there is liberty" — not liberty for us to do 
 as we please, but liberty for God to do as He pleases in 
 us. 
 
 All these great lessons James Wright was learning, 
 when as yet "the dew of his youth" was upon him. And 
 these lessons were never unlearned. Quietly, unobtru- 
 sively, he grew toward the full stature of his manhood, 
 and at the same time, toward "the measure of the stature 
 of the fulness of Christ." 
 
CHAPTER THIRD'. 
 
 THE LATER MORNING HOURS. 
 
 School days are golden. Then life's tasks are as- 
 signed to us by others, and the round of daily duty 
 definitely prescribed, largely without our choosing; 
 moreover, there is at times, at least, some sense of rest 
 in work measurably done — ^brought to completion. 
 
 Quite different is the experience of the boy when he 
 leaves behind the school bench, and emerges into pub- 
 lic life, in a business pursuit or a professional career. 
 His tasks are now, more or less, self imposed, his work 
 in a larger measure, of his own electing ; and now duty 
 never seems fully discharged. As life moves on, the 
 sense of a finished work seems to fade more and more 
 into the dimness of a mere dream land where fancies 
 take the place of facts ; and we confront what Coleridge 
 calls, 
 
 "The petty Done; 
 The vast Undone." 
 
 After leaving school James Wright appears to have 
 become identified with the business which his father 
 and Mr. Hunt carried on, and to have travelled often 
 in the interests of the firm. 
 
 In those days, in many parts of Britain, the means of 
 locomotion were primitive. All travel was on horse- 
 back or by stagecoach, if not on foot; and, of course, 
 beset with all the delays and discomforts characteristic 
 of such modes of transportation, especially in treacher- 
 ous and inclement weather. Mr. Wright suffered from 
 
JAMES WRIGHT AT 25. 
 FROM A DAGUERREOTYPE, 1851. 
 
THE LATER MORNING HOURS. 43 
 
 tnese petty vexations and learned to endure them. He 
 recounted, in later days, how he had crossed Dart- 
 moor, for example, in midwinter, and on the outside of 
 a coach, with no protection for his legs but a sixpenny 
 armful of straw, got from an ostler at some inn, 
 wrapped round his lower extremities to keep out the 
 cold. 
 
 His father died, in 1842, at Frederick Place, Clifton, 
 and for a time he and his two remaining sisters who 
 were unmarried — one other having died when seven 
 years old — seem to have found a home with their mar- 
 ried sister and her husband, Mr. and Mrs. Withy, who 
 lived a few doors from their previous residence. 
 
 It was during this time that James first met, at 
 Bethesda chapel, Miss Ann Willington Hitchins, who 
 afterwards became his beloved wife. She was very 
 delicate in health, and prior to their engagement went, 
 in company with an uncle, on a voyage to the West 
 Indies, in the hope of improving her physical condition. 
 Soon after her return she was affianced to James, and 
 on September 18, 1851, he being then twenty-five years 
 old, they were married at Portland Methodist chapel. 
 This marital union proved exceptionally happy. Al- 
 though for several years an invalid, she was a true and 
 loyal wife, a help, meet for her husband, tender, affec- 
 tionate, considerate, sympathetic. 
 
 In 1854, Mr. Wright having obtained employment, 
 as clerk, in the firm of Lury and Hoyland, they moved 
 to London, where for the next five years his home 
 was to be found. 
 
 Of this period of his life very few important memo- 
 randa are available. But, happily, it was not so event- 
 ful as to make this lack of information very seriously 
 
44 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 a hindrance. He had not yet found his highest life 
 work, that final vocation which was to be the great 
 sphere for the fullest exercise and exhibit of all his 
 gifts and graces. Like Moses, at "the backside of the 
 desert," he was providentially getting ready for that 
 "forty years" of active service which will be forever 
 associated with his name. 
 
 The following letters will be of interest in this con- 
 nection, as supplying in part the lack of fuller records, 
 and showing the high esteem in which as a young 
 man Mr. Wright was already held : 
 
 The first is a letter from Mr. Henry Craik, dated 
 Bristol, 30th Sept., 1854. 
 "My beloved Brother : — 
 
 "I was not aware that your leaving for London had 
 been determined on; I feel that you are just one of 
 those we can ill spare. I desire to trace and acknowl- 
 edge the hand of God in your removal to another place 
 of abode, and I can easily understand how very gracious 
 results may be accomplished by it ; but, when I remem- 
 ber your dear and honoured father, and the many years 
 during which I have known you, the consistent course 
 you have been enabled to maintain from your early 
 youth, I feel, and excusably feel, an emotion of regret 
 that one fitted to be increasingly a help and comfort to 
 me has been taken away. Our intercourse has been 
 but little, but I shall miss your countenance and your 
 fellowship at our assemblies. God forbid that distance 
 should diminish our mutual esteem and regard. 
 
 "Give my affectionate regards to dear Mrs. Wright. I 
 give thanks to God for you both. Neither of you has 
 ever given me anything but comfort ; and I say it not to 
 
THE LATER MORNING HOURS. 45 
 
 lift you up but to humble you before the Giver of 
 every good and perfect gift, that your quiet, affec- 
 tionate and gracious walk will not be forgotten by 
 others amongst us any more than by your very affec- 
 tionate friend and brother in Jesus, 
 
 HENRY CRAIK." 
 
 The next letter is from a friend in business, written 
 in 1856: 
 
 "I am very sorry that, at present, there is no chance 
 of our being in the same office. It would have been 
 far more agreeable to my own feelings to be with those 
 you respect and like than with perfect strangers. 
 
 *P ^ ^P 3|C 3|C SfC 5p Sjt 
 
 "I must thank thee much for the kind condescension 
 always shewn to me, for which I feel very grateful. 
 My first entry on London was made much easier and 
 safer by the serious and confidential association in 
 Broad Street office, and it will be a pleasure to recall 
 the hours spent with thee, now that we are separated." 
 
 Mr. Lury, Mr. Wright's employer, evidently thought 
 very highly of his clerk, observing especially what a 
 wholesome moral and spiritual influence he uniformly 
 exercised over all into contact with whom he came. 
 
 Subsequently he transferred his business relations 
 to the firm of Messrs. Tregelles & Taylor. So much 
 was he both esteemed and respected that he was offered 
 a partnership in one of these firms. He felt it his duty, 
 however, to decline the offer, however tempting, inas- 
 much as it would have been necessary, had he entered 
 as a partner into the business, to have borrowed the 
 money ; and as it would be contrary to his convictions 
 to incur debt, he chose to remain a clerk. Money gains 
 would not compensate for any disregard of conscience. 
 
46 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 He had already learned this valuable lesson, aiso, that 
 all worldly advantages are to be weighed not in a ma- 
 terial but moral scale. 
 
 It was while in the employ of Tregelles and Taylor 
 that he was invited by Mr. George Miiller to join him 
 in the orphan work at Bristol, which marks the next 
 and most important stage in Mr. Wright's life. But, 
 before following his steps to his last earthly home of 
 residence and service, it is well to record another valu- 
 able testimony to the godly influence of his life and 
 character while engaged in business in London. It is 
 contained in an extract from a letter, received by him 
 from a fellow clerk after his removal to Bristol : 
 
 "I cannot express how much I have regretted your 
 absence, and, although it may seem rather surprising, 
 how keenly I have felt the loss of your presence in 
 this ofHce. But it is a fact accounted for by the very 
 deep feeling of esteem and respect you have inspired 
 me with during the time we were thrown together. 
 How true it is that we cannot live to ourselves even if 
 we would, but we must by our characters influence 
 those with whom we come in contact either for good 
 or evil. Yours has been good over me. How true it 
 is, too, that our nest shall be stirred up, whenever we 
 seek to make ourselves too comfortable on this earth. 
 I like to believe in the workings of a God of love in 
 what many call little things, and it is thus I have so 
 regretted your absence. It is not that we had much 
 converse together, for we had not. Please do not mis- 
 interpret this as flattery. I merely wish you to under- 
 stand that your quiet influence did me good and made 
 me happy, so happy that it was taken from me." 
 
 Of his private life and work as a Sunday School 
 
THE LATER MORNING HOURS. 47 
 
 Superintendent during these years at Hackney and 
 Dalston Mr. T. Kyflfin Freeman kindly furnishes his 
 own recollections. He writes as follows, and gives us 
 some further insight into his life in London, from 1854 
 to 1859. 
 
 "This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of 
 Galilee, and manifested forth His glory; and his dis- 
 ciples believed on Him." 
 
 "As with the Great Master, so with His servants, 
 there is always to be traced a definite time when the 
 call to public service is indicated by some striking in- 
 cident, and henceforth His servant, having put his 
 hand to the plough, goes forward with his work in 
 'the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God.' 
 
 "Following closely upon the record of our Lord's in- 
 troductory miracle, was the manifestation of His 
 power when 'many believed on His name.' 
 
 "In the case of this servant of God, James Wright, I 
 have a vivid recollection of his first public pronounce- 
 ment, at an assembly of Christians worshipping at St. 
 Thomas' Rooms, Hackney. Known as the 'Brethren,' 
 they were not unworthy of the name, for there was an 
 intensity of love to Christ and to His people which 
 bound them together in holy fellowship, when on the 
 first day of the week they 'came together to break 
 bread' in sweet remembrance of the Risen Redeemer. 
 Liberty of ministry was an interesting feature of the 
 simple worship, and a few Sundays after Mr. Wright, 
 his wife and two sisters had been recommended to us 
 from Bristol, he read with much precision and pathos 
 a few verses bearing upon the subject matter of the 
 meeting and for about ten minutes commented upon 
 the Scripture he had read. Though it is fifty years or 
 
48 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 more since then, I can in memory see his striking face, 
 indicating great feeling and much firmness, while his 
 eye sparkled with joy that he had such a message 
 from the Throne to deliver to us. 
 
 "From this date he became to us a teacher of Divine 
 truths that we all rejoiced in, and though at St. 
 Thomas' Rooms' Meeting there were veterans in the 
 Gospel, henceforth as a follower of our Lord, he mani' 
 fested His Glory, and the disciples believed in him as 
 a teacher sent from God. It may be interesting to note 
 here that at the time mentioned we had, as co-wor- 
 shippers, the brethren, Henry Heath, formerly co- 
 worker with Robert C. Chapman at Barnstaple, and 
 subsequently teacher of the church at Brochaires Green, 
 Woolpit; William Thomas Berger, colleague with 
 Hudson Taylor in the starting of China Inland Mission, 
 George Pearse, for many years labouring in France, and 
 R. Cope Morgan (Morgan and Scott) identified with 
 God's Revival in Ireland in 1857-8, and ever since per- 
 sonally and through 'The Christian' an active partici- 
 pator and chronicler of evangelistic work. 
 
 "Though James Wright had been educationally 
 trained in the School of the Society of Friends at 
 Thornbury, and subsequently had worshipped with 
 that community, he did not inherit their abstinence 
 from vocal worship. On the contrary, I have known 
 few men that had such a divine passion for praise in 
 psalms, hymns and spiritual songs — a veritable David 
 in his love for extolling the Lord thus. A critical ear, 
 coupled with a sweetly melodious voice and a profi- 
 cient knowledge of music, led him, shortly after he 
 joined us at Hackney, to suggest a weekly meeting at 
 his residence for practice of psalmody, and I have be- 
 
BRETHREN'S MEETINQ ROOM, PARAGON ROAD, HACKNEY, 
 WHERE MR. WRIGHT ACTED AS SUNDAY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT. 
 
THE LATER MORNING HOURS. 49 
 
 fore me the Tune Book, 'Curwen's Service of Song,' 
 that he suggested as more devotional than Dr. Rippon's 
 and the Union Tune Books which had hitherto been 
 our choice. Our friend, in avoiding tunes that necessi- 
 tated repetitions in the last lines of the verses, and also 
 those extravaganzas of slurs and runs in hymn singing 
 that characterized the earlier part of the nineteenth 
 century, was a pioneer of that higher class of devo- 
 tional music that led subsequently to the publication 
 of the 'Psalmist,' by Vincent Novello, and, more re- 
 cently, the 'Bristol Tune Book.' The class that he 
 thus trained was not an ordinary choir, for we were all 
 young Christians whom he inspired with a love for 
 hymns of the highest order; his theory being to select 
 the choicest of them in our book, and then to choose 
 and practise tunes that seemed to wing their praise to 
 the Father and to the Son. It was verily a "means of 
 grace;" and, as to his countenance as he led the class — 
 I can only compare it to the expression that imagina- 
 tion suggests as being on the face of the sweet 
 Psalmist of Israel when he sang with his harp accom- 
 paniment 'JEHOVAH is my Shepherd, Thou art with 
 me, Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth 
 over, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.' 
 Henceforth the vocal worship in the public meetings 
 was not only distinctly of a higher order of musical 
 melody, but the saints sang 'the high praises of God' 
 with their mouth, and 'according to His excellent great- 
 ness.' 
 
 "The removal of the Brethren's Meeting to the Par- 
 agon Road Chapel afforded opportunity for the establish- 
 ment of a Sunday School, and it was characteristic of 
 our friend, that a few weeks after they had settled in 
 
 D 
 
so JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 their new home he invited all who had the interest of 
 spiritual work amongst children to meet for prayer on 
 the subject. This was responded to mainly by those 
 who had rejoiced in his leadership as musical instruc- 
 tor, and, after several meetings and much prayer for 
 guidance, the Sunday School was commenced Feb- 
 ruary 3, 1856, our friend being recognized by all as 
 marked out to be the Superintendent. Henceforth a 
 bond of affection and respect was formed that had 
 weighty and happy results that eternity only will make 
 manifest. A divine relationship in service to the Great 
 Master was established that has been of the highest 
 importance, for the school became the training arena 
 of Christian athletes, and a spiritual class for Bible 
 students whose lives ever since then have been devoted 
 to the extension of Christ's Kingdom. The writer has 
 been singularly favoured in his association with many 
 Sunday Schools since the Paragon Road School was 
 established, but he has not been able to recognize in 
 any of them the delightful Christian comradeship that 
 Mr. Wright brought about by his loving and judicious 
 leadership. 
 
 "Passing by much that was worthy of being chron- 
 icled in connection with the Sunday School work, there 
 was one incident that I recall as indicative of his hu- 
 mility of spirit and his conspicuous wisdom. A va- 
 cancy occurred in the teachership of the infant class, 
 and, no one offering for the post, he decided to fill 
 the position and to vacate the active responsibility of 
 the superintendency, putting the latter upon the writer. 
 His insistence on this change of service, though start- 
 ling to all of us, soon commended itself to our judg- 
 ment, for the infant class became a veritable moulding 
 
THE LATER MORNING HOURS. 51 
 
 department of Sunday School tuition; for who of us 
 that have been parents would not assert that, beyond 
 all question, the whole life of the man or woman is 
 formed in the earliest days of infancy and childhood? 
 Gentleness and firmness with great precision soon 
 brought the class to a perfect state of discipline, and, 
 this secured, he carried out a system of Bible instruc- 
 tion that has had lifelong influence on many. Using a 
 box of movable letters, the little ones learned as he 
 put up the words, the first text which was the be- 
 ginning of what he called his 'School of Divinity' — 
 'All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.' 
 This was perfectly committed to memory by every 
 child and was explained. The second text, 'His name 
 shall be called Jesus for He shall save His people from 
 their sins,' was dealt with on the same lines the follow- 
 ing Lord's Day ; but, during the week, he had printed 
 on cardboard the first text as it appeared in the box of 
 letters. The children were thus grounded methodically 
 in the Scriptures, and their memories were perma- 
 nently charged with the whole of the texts, and I may 
 say, never to be forgotten. There were at least twenty 
 texts thus learnt. 
 
 "He inaugurated Monthly Teachers' Meetings held 
 by rotation at the teachers' houses, and, after a social 
 tea and the routine business we had helpful devotional 
 exercises, the prayerful reading and study of Scripture 
 always forming an important feature in our worship. 
 
 "The happiest Christian intercourse that I then had, 
 or have ever since had, was alas' terminated by the call 
 to Bristol. Our dear friend one Lord's Day afternoon 
 told me of a letter received during the previous week 
 from Mr. George MijUer asking him to consider for 
 
52 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. : 
 
 Divine guidance the work of the Scriptural Knowledge 
 Institution, and whether he should not join Mr. George 
 Muller, in connection, I think with the Foreign Mis- 
 sionary Branch. Our beloved brother with that hu- 
 mility of spirit that ever characterised him asked my 
 brother and myself to pray that he might be guided in 
 his decision. Thus with rare wisdom, knowing that 
 our being occupied in supplicatory prayer would the 
 better prepare us for the trial of separation, he made 
 us his partners in the proposed new service for the 
 Lord." 
 
 The readers of this biography will, we are confident, 
 desire that the correspondence relating to engaging in 
 the orphan work at Bristol, and which belongs to the 
 years 1858-1859, shall be completely preserved in this 
 memoir, as it has such intimate association with what 
 was really the great work of Mr. Wright's life. 
 
 The first letter from Mr. Muller, inviting him to join 
 him at the Orphan House, is missing; but on the 5th 
 of November, 1858, he wrote apparently in reply to a 
 request from Mr. Wright for fuller information, as 
 follows : 
 
 "21 Paul St., Kingsdown, 
 
 'Bristol, Nov. 5, 1858. 
 "My dear Brother: — 
 
 "I was glad to receive your letter, and would have re- 
 plied to it at once, had not the pressure of my engage- 
 ments been so great. I will now gladly, as fully as 
 possible, give you further information : 
 
 "i. I desire your help for certain parts of my cor- 
 respondence. 
 
 "2. The books and tracts which are issued gratuitous- 
 ly or by sale, are read first. I find increasingly that I 
 
THE LATER MORNING HOURS. 53 
 
 have neither time nor strength for this, and yet I do 
 not feel happy that that should be sanctioned by me 
 which I do not know. I desire you, therefore, to read 
 instead of me, after having given to you the principles 
 on which to form the judgment, as to suitableness or 
 unsuitableness ; so that I only need to have my atten- 
 tion drawn by you to the unsuitable passages, to form 
 the judgment that the tract or book is unsuitable. 
 This would greatly allow of an increase of good books 
 and good tracts, which are not now introduced, simply 
 because I have no time for reading much in this way. 
 
 "3. Besides these two principal points for occupying 
 your time, I desire your help in advising and counsel- 
 ing the teachers, both in the Orphan Houses and Day 
 Schools, and as far as time allows, and as you gain their 
 confidence, to lend them in every way you can a help- 
 ing hand. If you felt equal to it, and happy in doing 
 it, also now and then examining the children; yet this 
 is no "Sine qua non." But, at all events, to correct the 
 written examinations, which I might from time to time 
 give to the children, i. e., once a year, would be desir- 
 able. In order, however, that you might be the more 
 efficient for this position, it would be necessary that 
 you attend for, at least, one month, a College for train- 
 ing teachers in London, all expenses of which, of 
 course, I should bear. 
 
 "4. The three masters of the boys, Mr. L and 
 
 Mr. H in turn take the family prayer at the two 
 
 Orphan Houses, at half past 8 in the morning, and at 
 half past 5 in the afternoon ; here also you would have 
 to give your share. You have an opportunity to 
 speak for about lo or 15 minutes, if you like, or you 
 may read a portion of the Holy Scriptures. 
 
54 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL, 
 
 "5. In addition to these four specific parts of work, 
 you would be my assistant in general, as to oversight, 
 counsel, correspondence, accounts, seeing persons for 
 me, etc. 
 
 "6. Your- ordinary hours would be from 10 o'clock in 
 the morning till 6 o'clock in the evening, having your 
 dinner at i o'clock and your tea at 5 o'clock with me 
 and the teachers at the Orphan House. The Lord's 
 Day you would have entirely to yourself. But while 
 these are the ordinary hours, any time you had oc- 
 casion to leave sooner, or to come later, if you would 
 mention it to me, there would be of course no hin- 
 drance if the work does not positively forbid it. 
 Sometimes, however, especially when the Report is 
 being sent out, the hour in the evening would be later. 
 
 "7. You would have a small but high office to your- 
 self. So has Mr. L and Mr. H . As to the 
 
 time of your giving up your present situation, should 
 you see it right to become my helper, I will leave it to 
 yourself, considering the well-being of the Firm by 
 which you are now employed. You may come in i, 2, 
 3, 4, 5 or 6 months. Later, however, than May 5th, i.e., 
 6 months from this, would be undesirable so far as my 
 amount of work is concerned. It would best suit me 
 if you could come in 2 or 3 months. After you have 
 further weighed these matters and prayed over them, 
 I shall be happy to hear from you again. In the mean- 
 time I shall help you by my prayer for guidance, God 
 helping me, 
 
 "With Christian love to dear Mrs. Wright and your 
 idear sisters, 
 
 "Yours afifectionately in our Lord, 
 
 "GEORGE MULLER." 
 
THE LATER MORNING HOURS. 55 
 
 To this letter Mr. Wright sent the foflowing reply : 
 
 "S Alma Road, 
 "Dalston, Nov. 22, 1858. 
 "Beloved Brother:— 
 
 "I thank you very much for your letter of the 5th 
 which so fully details the various ways in which you 
 judge I may be helpful to you in the Lord's work. The 
 more I look at these the more I feel how unequal to the 
 position I am, in virtue of any merely natural resources ; 
 but in the light of God's testimonies I see that this fact 
 should not make me hesitate. If it be the Lord's will 
 that I should enter on this path. He will not send me 
 at my 'own charges.' After prayerful reflection on 
 the path itself, and the previous exercises of my soul 
 for years past, I am confirmed in the assurance that the 
 Lord is saying to me by your invitation, 'This is the 
 way, walk thou in it,' and therefore, though I cannot 
 (as I had hoped to do) in this letter state the precise time 
 that I shall be released from my present engagement, 
 yet, in the spirit of that word, 'I made haste and de- 
 layed not to keep Thy commandments.' I desire to 
 say at once that I thankfully accept your proposal; 
 and that, judging by the work before me at Messrs. 
 Tregelles and Taylor, which I feel bound to finish, 
 especially the yearly balance, I think I may reckon on 
 being disengaged by the middle or end of January next. 
 I suppose a portion of the correspondence you refer to 
 will be with Missionary brethren. This I look forward 
 to as a sweet privilege. In the examination of tracts, 
 etc., I have had a little preparatory training here, the 
 brethren having devolved upon me the care of the little 
 Tract Association that is supported amongst us. In 
 the prospect of being called upon to help in the School 
 
56 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 examinations, I especially feel my lack of the technical 
 knowledge so necessary, and am truly glad that I shall 
 have the opportunity of qualifying in some degree at a 
 Training College. As probably some of those now 
 engaged in the Orphan Houses have attended similar 
 institutions, I should be glad to know which you con- 
 sider the best, and if possible, what particular branches 
 of instruction it will be most expedient I should give 
 attention to, as the time (a month) seems short. * * * 
 I purpose (the Lord willing) to write again so soon as 
 Messrs. T. & T. tell me distinctly when they will be 
 able to release me (which I have told them I should be 
 glad to know as soon as convenient) and meanwhile, 
 I remain, 
 
 "With Christian love to Mrs. Miiller, Miss Mtiller, and 
 Miss Groves, in which my dear wife joins, 
 "Yours affectionately in the Lord, 
 
 "JAMES WRIGHT." 
 
 Mr. Miiller wrote again in reply to this letter. 
 
 "Bristol, Dec. 7, 1858. 
 "My Dear Brother:— 
 
 "I am only now able to reply to your last of Nov. 
 22nd. I. The time that you mention, middle or end 
 of January, would suit me well, or even somewhat later. 
 
 "2. When I proposed your going to a Training Col- 
 lege, I did not mean that you should study there, though, 
 of course, you would seek to be benefited even in this 
 way, by your being there; but rather that you might 
 learn the mode of teaching and ordering and governing 
 a School; in a word, to get a practical knowledge of 
 the working of a school in a short time. If your house 
 is on hand until March 2Sth, you might, perhaps, so 
 order your arrangements as to allow as much time for 
 
THE LATER MORNING HOURS. 57 
 
 this object as is needed; but from four to six weeks 
 would be quite enough for the object I desire you at- 
 tend such an institution; other knowledge needed, if 
 it should be so, you would make up privately. 
 "With Christian love to Mrs. Wright, 
 
 "Yours affectionately in our Lord, 
 
 "GeorGB MtJLLER." 
 The Homerton College was the one decided on, and 
 in March Mr. Wright wrote the following letter to Mr. 
 Miiller: 
 
 "5 Alma Road, 
 "Dalston, 
 
 "i2th March, 1859. 
 "Dear Brother:— 
 
 "I have now attended the Homerton College Training 
 Schools regularly for two weeks. At first, by Mr. 
 Unwin's advice, I began with the Upper Boys' School, 
 and watched the course of instruction there during the 
 first week. Last Monday I went into the lower, or 
 Juvenile Boys' School, and have continued during this 
 week in it, or one or other of the four class rooms con- 
 nected with it. Here I have gained more of what will 
 be practically useful to me, than I did in the other 
 school — that has been recently somewhat disorganised by 
 a change of teachers, and the present Master has hardly 
 brought the school into working order — this is in an 
 
 excellent state of discipline. The Master (Mr. D ) 
 
 is a most efficient teacher and manager of children; his 
 control is not disputed for a moment; and yet it is ex- 
 erted in such a happy manner that it wins rather than 
 alienates the children's hearts. 
 
 "I have been particularly struck with the patient labour 
 he bestows upon the dull and backward children, and 
 
S8 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 the quicker and more forward children in a class lose 
 nothing by having to wait for their companions for 
 different points of view in which he presents a truth; 
 and the variety of illustrations he uses to make it clear 
 to the slower apprehensions make it still more apparent, 
 and less likely to be forgotten by the others. I feel so 
 much interested in this school that I shall be glad, with 
 your approval, to continue attendance in it for another 
 week. * * * Having let our present house from 
 Lady Day, I shall be occupied the early part of the fol- 
 lowing week in packing and removing our furniture. 
 As, however, the house we have taken at Bristol will 
 not be ready for us for a week or two later, it will 
 not be necessary that we should go down there then ; and 
 I could, if necessary, re-commence attendance at the 
 H, C. Schools about the 25th inst., when I might ob- 
 serve for a little the methods of instruction in the 
 infant schools; and, if you think well, I should like 
 the following week to inspect (just as a visitor) the 
 Boys' Classes in the Borough Road School, where I be- 
 lieve the system differs considerably from that adopted at 
 Homerton; the former subdividing the school into a 
 greater number of small sections ; the latter relying more 
 on the simultcmeous method. 
 
 "Waiting a line or two of counsel on these points, I 
 remain, with Christian love to your household, in which 
 my dear wife joins, 
 
 "Yours affectionately, 
 
 "JAMES WRIGHT." 
 (Mr. Miiller's reply.) 
 "21 Paul Street, Kingsdown, 
 
 "Bristol, March 18, 1859. 
 "My Dear Brother :— 
 
 "I must entirely leave to your own judgment the time 
 

 r-" 
 
 If 
 
THE LATER MORNING HOURS. 59 
 
 of attending at Homerton, as well as what classes. If 
 you are able to manage to go to the Borough Road, I 
 have no objection, as it may be helpful. So far as it 
 regards the time of your coming here, at least, there 
 is no objection to it. * * * I am glad your dear 
 sister is somewhat better. 
 
 "With our Christian love to you and Mrs. Wright, 
 "Yours affectionately, 
 
 "G. MULLER. 
 "Please to let me know one week before you expect 
 to come to the New Orphan House, that your room 
 may be ready." 
 
 One of Mr. Wright's sisters, who were living with 
 him at 5 Alma Road, Dalston, was at this time very ill, 
 and her brother-in-law, Mr. Withy, sent the following 
 note of sympathy : 
 
 "I have thought much of you, dear James, in refer- 
 ence to your change of service, especially in relation 
 to the engrossment of your time and thoughts with 
 present cares, when you would have desired undistracted 
 opportunity for reflection and prayer with reference to 
 the future. None of us would have planned for you 
 such a way of entrance into this new service; we should 
 have said that quietness and freedom from present trouble 
 was best as a preparation for it; but the Lord judged 
 otherwise. He would accustom you beforehand to trid 
 of faith, as the surest way of strengthening faith for 
 future trial. He is thus arming you for the conflict, 
 the fight of faith on which you are entering, leading you 
 to realize where your strength lies, and teaching this 
 lesson, how needful it is to be on the watch and not 
 to put off the armour, seeing that we know not when 
 
6o JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 or whence trial may come. There are special lessons 
 for us all in this. May we have grace to discern them." 
 
 Mr. Wright does not seem to have gone to Bristol 
 till April, 1859. That this step had not the approval 
 of one of his relations, at least, is evident from the 
 following extract from a letter written in November, 
 1858: 
 
 "I do not expect that my opinion in opposition to 
 such a step will have much weight, but still I shall feel 
 best satisfied to express it, believing that it will be ac- 
 cepted kindly. I venture to look on the opening and 
 conducting of so large and expensive an institution 
 without any certain means for its support, and in de- 
 pendence only on prayer and charity, as almost tempt- 
 ing the Almighty, and proceeding on unwarranted expec- 
 tations of His miraculous interposition by exciting the 
 disposition in so many persons, and for so many years, 
 to contribute freely to its support. I may be accounted 
 very faithless, but it seems to me that we have no right 
 to expect our Heavenly Father to work miracles for 
 this particular object, and if so, that He will show in 
 His own time the futility of the expectation. We know 
 that new things are often warmly supported, but that 
 after a time zeal grows cold, or the public turn to some 
 other new thing. How lamentable and distressing would 
 it be to those concerned if the precarious supplies for 
 this great establishment should fail, and in what perplex- 
 ity and embarrassment would it involve the managers. 
 G. M. is probably an elderly man, and if he should be 
 taken off, or anything adverse be permitted to occur, 
 what would be the situation of the younger coadjutors? 
 I may be wrong in my views, but I cannot avoid being 
 
THE LATER MORNING HOURS. 6l 
 
 very doubtful at least of the prudence or propriety of 
 thy incurring such a fearful responsibility." 
 
 Mr. Wright evidently replied at once to this letter, 
 as a second letter from the same relative was received 
 about a week later, thanking him for his "kind Christian 
 letter," and adding at the close, "I fear I have not ex- 
 pressed my sense of thy courteous and forbearing re- 
 ception of my free remarks, sufficiently, but I have 
 forcibly felt jt. * * * We shall not, I trust, be less 
 cordial friends, for taking occasionally different views, 
 and I hope with thyself ever to regard the upright 
 motive and sincere intention, though leading to the 
 same great object by different paths." 
 
 Another relative wrote in a very different strain : 
 
 "I must not conclude without expressing the interest 
 I feel in thy proposed change of occupation, and much 
 as I am sure thou wilt be missed in thy present post in 
 many ways, I trust a field for yet wider usefulness may 
 be opened before thee; and that, faithfully filling thy 
 position there, thou mayst be made a blessing to many 
 and be thyself richly blest." 
 
 Mr. Wright's leaving Hackney caused great regret to 
 his friends there, to whom he and his wife had much 
 endeared themselves, as is evident from the following 
 letters : — 
 "My Beloved Brother:— 
 
 "The news conveyed in your letter gave me true sor- 
 row of heart. I had congratulated myself that you and 
 your dear wife, together with your sisters, were per- 
 manently settled amongst us, and I was looking forward, 
 if the Lord should deem it well to give me more strength 
 of body, to avail myself more of the privilege of in- 
 tercourse with you ; but, however I may experience your 
 
62 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 loss, I cannot but feel glad on your account that our 
 God has so graciously opened the way for your associat- 
 ing with so dear and esteemed a brother as Mr. Miiller 
 in his work. May the presence of the Lord go with 
 you, and abide with you and all yours, beloved brother, 
 and may He accomplish 'all the good pleasure of His 
 goodness in you and the work of faith with power, that 
 the name of our Lord Jesus Christ 'may be glorified in 
 you, and you in Him, according to the grace pf Our 
 God and the Lord Jesus Christ.' 
 
 " 'How sweet the thought exceeding sweet' in this 
 separating world, that in 'a little while' we and all the 
 redeemed shall enjoy unhindered fellowship with our 
 living Head and each other, throughout the countless 
 ages of eternity." 
 
 From a couple in humble life, given verbatim : 
 "My Dear Brother and Sister: — 
 
 "We don't like the thoughts of your leaving hackney 
 we shall lose a much valued Brother and Sister it is well 
 for us and you that we know that solid comfort is only 
 to be found in Christ but we must tel you that your 
 presence at hackney as given us much joy and you have 
 never once grieved our Spirits or the Spirit of Christ 
 which is in us May it ever be yours in this chang- 
 able world to find in Jesus quietness assurance and rest 
 many thanks to you for the kindness you have shewn to 
 us and that the presence of the Lord may go with you is 
 the prayer of your poor Brother and Sister yours in 
 hope of eternal life." 
 
CHAPTER FOURTH. 
 
 THE NOONTIDE OF LIFE. 
 
 In God's economy service always demands a servant 
 prepared for his work ; and the work always waits for the 
 workman to be made ready. We are often in a hurry; 
 He, never ; for haste is waste, and sometimes even worse 
 disaster. 
 
 James Wright had been unconsciously in training for 
 the great sphere into which, in 1859, he was introduced. 
 He was now in his thirty-fourth year, that significant age, 
 when his divine Master closed his earthly career, and he 
 was a mature man, not only in body, but in soul and 
 spirit. He had been taught many lessons in God's school, 
 and had proved an apt pupil, and when he entered upon 
 his work, there was manifest in him a marked fitness for 
 it, in every respect — a foreordained fitness such as may 
 be expected where the Lord makes his choice. Who di- 
 videth to every man severally as He will. 
 
 Mr. Wright, as has been seen, had found the wisdom 
 of deliberately apportioning to devout Bible study the best 
 and freshest and quietest part of the whole day — ^the early 
 morning, as Dean Burgon strongly recommended to 
 Oxford students, adding the emphatic caution, "let what 
 will, go undone, but never abridge that half hour." He 
 had learned the secrets of access to the throne of grace, 
 and was a man of faith and prayer. 
 
 All this had led up to a true self dedication, like that 
 of Miss Frances E. Willard, whose statue is the only 
 memorial of a womanj found in the Capitol at Washing- 
 
64 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 ton — and who on her birthday, solemnly wrote : "I give 
 myself to the Lord, for the fulfilment in the highest 
 degree, in spirit, soul and body, of the declaration, 'a 
 habitation of God, through the Spirit.' " 
 
 There is a surprising similarity in the experience of all 
 really godly souls — nor is it surprising, either, when we 
 remember that in their common school, there is always 
 the same Schoolmaster. He who taught General Charles 
 Gordon his four rules of life : "absolute self forgetfulness, 
 absence of all pretension, indifference to the world's ap- 
 plause, and acquiescence in the Will of God," gave An- 
 drew Murray his kindred five rules : "Lie at God's feet, 
 search His Word, watch His Providence, note the changes 
 of your spiritual life, wait for Him and then wait on 
 Him." It was the same great Teacher from whom James 
 Wright learned to be devout, humble, conscientious, spir- 
 itual, unselfish, prayerful, trustful, obedient, 
 
 .Our record of his life now reaches the decade of years 
 between i860 and 1870, the first ten of blessed associa- 
 tion and partnership between him and Mr. Miiller. 
 
 On returning to Bristol, to take up this new work on 
 Ashley Down, Mr. and Mrs. Wright found a home at 
 Highbury Villa, Sydenham Hill, Gotham, whence he 
 went to and fro daily. His wife,, not at all strong, obliged 
 for nine months to lie on her back, did not take part 
 in the orphan work, Mr. Miiller being at this time as- 
 sisted by his own wife and daughter, and sister-in-law. 
 Miss Lydia Groves. 
 
 Mr. and Mrs. Wright, however, frequently lodged 
 and entertained missionaries and other guests, and a 
 prayer meeting was held in their house on Saturday 
 evenings ; and Mrs. Wright had a monthly working class 
 for the benefit of missionaries in Penang, the articles 
 
THE NOONTIDE OF LIFE. 65 
 
 made being sent there for sale. She and her husband 
 went with Mr. Miiller and family to the seaside in sum- 
 mer, the work then not being so onerous as in later 
 years, allowing of their taking rest together. 
 
 Albeit Mr. Wright had never children of his own, 
 he was always fond of the little ones, and a good enter- 
 tainer of them. His nieces, for example, can testify 
 to the pains he took to interest and amuse them, when 
 invited for an evening to his house, some times showing 
 them magic-lantern views in his drawing room. Through 
 all his forty-five years at Ashley Down, he was as a 
 fond father to those thousands of orphans. 
 
 He was habitually, yet unpretentiously, unselfish. 
 Charles Kingsley significantly said: 
 
 "If you wish to be miserable, you must think about 
 yourself; about what you want, what you like, what re- 
 spect people ought to pay to you, what people think of 
 you; and then to you nothing will be pure. You will 
 spoil everything you touch ; you will make sin and misery 
 for yourself out of everything which God sends you; 
 you will be as wretched as you choose." 
 
 Robert Louis Stevenson, likewise says: 
 
 "The history of our kindnesses alone makes this world 
 tolerable. Were it not for that — for the effect of kind 
 words, looks, letters, multiplying, spreading, making one 
 happy through another, and bringing forth benefits, I 
 should be tempted to think our life a practical jest." 
 
 All manner of unselfish ministries seemed natural to 
 Mr. Wright. When, in 1863, scarlet fever entered the 
 home of the Withys, and four of the children were ill 
 at the same time, he and his wife urgently invited the 
 remaining two, who had not caught the disease, to make 
 their home their own for the time, thus in a time of 
 
66 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 much anxiety relieving their parents of much care ; and 
 such acts of thoughtful consideration for others and of 
 self-oblivion were common occurrences, too unheralded 
 ever to have a written history. 
 
 In the spring of 1870, while repairs were going on in 
 their own house, Mr. Wright and his wife were invited 
 to stay with their aunt, Miss Louisa Wright, 24, Berke- 
 ley Square; and it was during this visit that his wife 
 was attacked by illness which proved fatal. On 
 May 22nd, after but a few weeks of sickness, she passed 
 away, leaving her devoted husband alone. But he was 
 not desolate. From this, as from other subsequent sor- 
 rows, his heart rebounded, from the deep secret of faith 
 in the Father's unspeakable wisdom and love. On the 
 very day of his great bereavement he wrote the follow- 
 ing letter to his friend, Mr. T. KyfiGn Freeman, of 
 Hackney : 
 
 "My Dear Brother : — 
 
 Though unable (as I could have desired) to write to 
 you to acquaint you of my dear wife's illness, I have 
 little doubt that some report has reached you, and I 
 hope, therefore, that you will not feel the shock of en- 
 tire unpreparedness when you learn that she who 
 "did me good and not evil all the days of her life" is no 
 longer by my side. She slept in Jesus at twenty minutes 
 after five this afternoon. 
 
 All the circumstances of her five weeks' illness were 
 full of mercy, but I have no time now to enter into 
 detail. 
 
 Kindly inform all the members of your dear family, 
 Mr. Heath and other dear friends around you who knew 
 
ANNIE W. WRIGHT. TAKEN 1868. 
 
THE NOONTIDE OF LIFE. 67 
 
 and loved the dear departed one. With Christian love to 
 yourself and dear Mrs. Freeman, 
 
 Yours in Jesus, 
 
 JAMES WRIGHT." 
 
 Several friends sent letters of condolence, testifying to 
 the love and esteem in which Mrs. Wright was held, 
 and the sweetness of her Christian character. She had 
 been a devoted wife, and had greatly endeared herself 
 to all her friends. Naturally cheerful, she was always 
 bright, even when laid aside. 
 
 Mr. Wright never returned to his former residence at 
 Sydenham Hill, but accepted his aunt's invitation to make 
 her house his home, where he continued to reside, with 
 her and his two sisters — to whom she had also offered 
 a home after their removal from London — until his mar- 
 riage with Miss Lydia Miiller in 1871. 
 
 The twenty years, between 1871 and 1890, were prob- 
 ably among the happiest and the most useful of Mr. 
 Wright's whole life. He was at life's full noon. There 
 was in his character a singular ripeness, which reminds 
 us of fruits that wear, even in summer, the autumnal full- 
 ness and bloom. 
 
 After the death of his cherished wife he went, for 
 change and rest, to Aberystwyth, on the Welsh coast, 
 with his two sisters and a niece. The following year he 
 became engaged to Lydia, the only child of Mr. Miiller, 
 and on November 17, 1871, they were joined in mar- 
 riage, at Bethesda Chapel, her father himself officiating. 
 The wedding, as might have been foreseen, awakened 
 interest so profound and general that the place was 
 thronged. 
 
 This marriage union added much to the peace and joy 
 of dear Mr. Miiller's life. If it took from him his only 
 
68 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 daughter, it gave him a beloved son. He had known 
 James Wright from boyhood ; he had watched his growth 
 as a consistent and spiritually minded disciple; for more 
 than ten years he had been so closely associated with him 
 in the work of the Scriptural Knowledge Institution as 
 to be his "right hand." It gave him the greatest satis- 
 faction to entrust to the care of such a husband his 
 darling Lydia. Soon after the engagement, he had said 
 to Mr. Wright's married sister, Mrs. Withy, and her 
 husband, that "there was no one in the whole world 
 to whom he would rather entrust his dear daughter." 
 
 As to the wife herself, she was a rare woman, with 
 a certain radiant spirit. Her timidity was as marked as 
 her gentleness; her modesty only equalled by her merit. 
 So lowly was her estimate of herself that, even after she 
 had consented to be Mr. Wright's wife, she expressed 
 to a friend her grave doubts as to her fitness, and, to 
 the last, she was always self-distrustful. But never did 
 her husband share her doubts. From first to last his 
 heart safely trusted in his "Lydia," and she filled all 
 the place that it is possible for a wife to fill in her hus- 
 band's love and life. 
 
 She proved, what a true wife always should be, not 
 only his counterpart, but his counterpoise; her individ- 
 uality had full play, as it should — otherwise how could 
 a "balance wheel balance anything?" 
 
 After a brief "honeymoon" in the Isle of Wight, the 
 newly married couple settled down at Brougham Villa, 
 St. Matthew's Road, Kingsdown, where their home con- 
 tinued to be until, a second time, Mr. Wright was be- 
 reft of a wife, in January, 1890. It was here that were 
 passed those "eighteen years of unbroken and unmarred 
 
10 BROUGHAM VILLA, ST. MATTHEW'S ROAD, MR. WRIQHT'S HOME 
 FROM 1871 TO 1890. 
 
THE NOONTIDE OF LIFE. 69 
 
 felicity" to which he could never refer without deep emo- 
 tion. 
 
 Here it was also that so many visitors and guests found 
 a home of rest. They were not forgetful to entertain 
 strangers, but given to hospitality. Many a servant of 
 God, in passing through Bristol, enjoyed the privilege 
 of sojourning in that home where they found a living 
 illustration of the beautiful fourfold motto: 
 
 "The Beauty of the House is order; 
 
 "The Blessing of the House is contentment; 
 
 "The Glory of the House is hospitality." 
 
 'The Crown of the House is Godliness." 
 
 One of these guests gratefully gave to Mr. Wright's 
 little home at Kingsdown the name of "The Haven of 
 Peace." 
 
 During these years Mr. Wright went daily to the 
 Orphan Houses, his wife twice a week going with him. 
 A frequent guest at his house, who was always wel- 
 comed there when in Bristol, and saw "behind the 
 scenes," writes : 
 
 "I witnessed the untiring labours of this faithful and 
 devoted servant — devoted first to God, and afterward to 
 Mr. Muller. He carried on the immense correspond- 
 ence for nearly fifty years, and took the management 
 of the work at Ashley Down as none but himself could 
 have done. * * * j fegj j hardly knew such another 
 indefatigable labourer." 
 
 From 1875 onwards, during Mr. Miiller's frequent 
 absences on his missionary tours — some of which spanned 
 many months — the entire burden of the work fell on 
 his son-in-law; yet he neither failed nor fainted. So 
 marvellously was he helped of God that he always came 
 to his work and went from it bright and radiant, and 
 
70 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 no stranger would have guessed how heavy was the 
 load he was carrying. He had long been wont to cast 
 all care upon Him who careth for us, and in after years 
 he loved to sing : 
 
 "I'll cast my burden at His feet, 
 And bear a song away!" 
 
 A friend, writing with reference to this period of 
 accumulated responsibilities, says: "What especially 
 struck us all was that, though so heavy a responsibility 
 was resting upon him (Mr. Mtiller being away), he was 
 always so bright and happy — full of kindly interest in 
 everything; but there was always a word in season, so 
 that though socially a happy time, there was always the 
 fragrance of higher things; a few words on some text, 
 etc. There was one especially pleasant time, when, 
 during a long visit to Scotland (which they called their 
 "second honeymoon"), he and his wife spent a long day 
 with us at Aberdeen, as we were staying there. While 
 sitting in a beautiful park there, Mr. Wright was pour- 
 ing out of a heart always full of love to his Master, 
 woids helpful and good for the hearers. We gave them 
 the address of a nice Christian woman in Edinburgh, 
 with whom we had often lodged; they took her apart- 
 ments, and she has always felt as if "two Angels" had 
 visited her. Whilst in Edinburgh, at the request of the 
 late Dr. Thomson, Mr. Wright gave a very acceptable 
 address, at the prayer meeting, in the large church in 
 Broughton Street. * * * Where another man might 
 have left impressions, and related incidents in reference 
 to himself, the feeling that Mr. Wright left was rather 
 a reflection of his Lord and Master." 
 
 A missionary in Spain writes : "It is many years since 
 I stayed at Mr. and Mrs. Wright's, but I well remember 
 
THE NOONTIDE OF LIFE. 7 1 
 
 the happy visit. * * * The impression which has 
 remained on my mind all these years is that they were 
 an example of Ephesians 5:22-25, to such a degree as 
 is rarely attained in our day. She was richly adorned 
 with a meek and quiet spirit, and he was full of love; 
 while his joyous spirit made his countenance shine. At 
 first, from natural disposition, I felt somewhat re- 
 strained, but such godliness, blended with such simplicity 
 of life and manners, soon made me feel at home. One 
 could not but be conscious that truth and sincerity held 
 their place in that house, hence there was no room for 
 distrust. From that time I felt I could count on Mr. 
 Wright as a friend; and on more than one occasion 
 since then he has given me counsel which has proved 
 
 to be of great value in the Lord's work in B ." 
 
 Another says: "Of all the precious Christian men I 
 have been privileged to meet, there is no one for whom 
 I have had greater respect and esteem than for dear 
 Mr. Wright. He may have had the weaknesses and 
 peculiarities common to men, but I did not see them, 
 and we can never forget the sweetness of the home life 
 that we were permitted to share for a few days in 
 1888 (Mrs. Wright was then alive), or the night or two 
 (when he was living with his nieces) in 1897. Dear 
 Mr. Wright's gentleness made him so great that he 
 was indeed "strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." 
 To this period belongs a letter from a Christian friend, 
 written in May, 1878: 
 
 "You will be glad, with us, to know that the youngest 
 of our sons was received into fellowship last evening 
 at our church meeting. For some time past his heart 
 has been giving evidence of the turn Godwards, and 
 at last he is constrained to offer himself for service to 
 
^2 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 Him who has bought him with His precious blood. You 
 will be glad with us, and we camiot but turn to you 
 and yours with thanksgiving to Him who has helped 
 you to pray for all the dear children, and we acknow- 
 ledge, as we do, that we doubt not those great bless- 
 ings they have received have been 'brought down' 
 mainly through your constant and earnest prayer for 
 them. * * * And now we beg that you will still 
 continue to remember them, that having been 'brought 
 in' they may be hepi by the mighty power of God to 
 the end." 
 
 Also the following, from a brother in fellowship : 
 
 March, 1888. 
 "My Dear Brother:— 
 
 With many thanks I return you the statement read 
 by you at the church meeting, and am thankful you 
 were helped to draw up so jull and clear an account of 
 the Scriptural principles that have been acted upon 
 amongst us, from the time when dear Brothers Miiller 
 and Craik were led to come and labour as His devoted 
 and faithful servants in Bristol. That the manifest 
 blessing attending their labour and church rule amongst 
 us, and that the same course of action having continued 
 to be adopted amongst us from the beginning of their 
 ministry, and attended with such marked blessing, both 
 in the winning of souls for Christ, as also, in the build- 
 ing up of His saints, clearly manifest' His approval 
 hereby. This being so, may the Lord help His people 
 gathered together thus, to continue to take His Holy 
 Word for their guidance, both as to doctrine and prac- 
 tice, so that His holy ncmie may he glorified amongst us, 
 through and for the sake of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus 
 Christ. Again thanking you for the perusal of your 
 
THE NOONTIDE OF LIFE. 73 
 
 valuable paper, believe me, in much Christian love to 
 yourself and dear wife," Etc. 
 
 The first actual and personal contact, face to face, with 
 Mr. Wright, on the part of the writer of this memoir, 
 was in September, 1888, at the time of my first visit 
 to Bristol. 
 
 Two precious letters from his pen are associated with 
 this first interview, and are here embodied as affording 
 further glimpses of his cordiality even to strangers: 
 Brougham Villa, St. Matthew's Road, 
 
 Kingsdown, Bristol, 
 28th June, 1888. 
 Dear Dr. Pierson:— 
 
 I am so glad that you purpose to visit us. Our private 
 address is as above, and our one spare bedroom will 
 be at your disposal if you can give us the joy of wel- 
 coming you from Saturday till Tuesday. It is notice- 
 able that you mention these dates, "July 1-3." because 
 afterwards a dear sister of mine may be coming from 
 Devonshire to be our guest. 
 
 If you must defer your visit till later on in the month, 
 kindly give me one or two days' notice of the precise 
 day, and I will arrange for your being hospitably enter- 
 tained even if our own room should be occupied. I 
 hope if you come now you will manage to stay till, at 
 least, 4 o'clock on Tuesday afternoon, as you will thereby 
 be enabled to see the Orphanage more completely. 
 
 May I enquire if you would kindly preach at one of 
 our chapels on Sunday evening? It would be a joy to 
 many to hear the truth from your lips. This day I have 
 received a letter from Mr. Miiller, dated "Auckland, 
 May 19th." He writes: "All my meetings here have 
 been greatly crowded and very much blessed, and I 
 
74 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 am begged to stay much longer. We may, therefore, 
 remain two or three weeks longer. We are both well 
 through the Lord's kindness," 
 
 If you can come to us on Saturday next, please drop 
 me a line to above address by to-morrow's post. 
 
 With much Christian love from my dear wife and 
 myself, Yours very truly, 
 
 JAMES WRIGHT. 
 2 Gerston Terrace, Paignton, So. Devon, 
 15th September, 1888. 
 Dear Dr. Pierson: — 
 
 Your kind letter of the 13th reached me this morning 
 here, where my wife and I have been staying for three 
 weeks past for a partial rest and change. 
 
 We return to Bristol, if the Lord permit, next Friday, 
 the 2 1st, and shall be very glad to promote, as far as we 
 can, your wishes regarding meetings. I can undertake 
 at once to say that we shall be delighted that you should 
 preach at one of our chapels on Sunday evening, the 
 23rd. We have also a prayer meeting on Monday eve- 
 ning, at which there would be an opportunity for you 
 to speak; but for any larger arrangements the notice is 
 I fear, too short. I rejoice to hear of your good time 
 in Scotland, of which I have gathered somewhat from 
 the papers. 
 
 Yours affectionately, 
 
 JAMES WRIGHT. 
 
 P. S.— Mr. MuUer is, now in Sydney, N. S. W. 
 
 Mr. Miiller I had met in California ten years before 
 in 1878. This acquaintance led also to correspondence 
 with him and with his son-in-law whom I had not yet 
 seen. When arrangements were made for a brief tour 
 
THE NOONTIDE OF LIFE. 75 
 
 of various cities in the interest of missions, following the 
 great Missionary Conference in Exeter Hall in June, 
 Bristol, being included, I was thus invited to speak in 
 the Chapels of the Brethren. 
 
 Mr. Wright, as his letters show, had purposed to ex- 
 tend to myself and wife the hospitalities of his own home ; 
 but some domestic hindrances, such as his wife's health 
 and lack of help, prevented. When on Saturday evening, 
 September 22d, we reached Bristol, we were met by Mr. 
 Wright and found lodgings for our brief stay at the 
 Royal Hotel. By invitation I visited the Orphan Houses 
 on Sunday morning, speaking at No. 5 to about four 
 hundred and fifty girls, from Matthew vii:7, and John 
 i:i2, 13. After tea with Mr. and Mrs. Wright I ad- 
 dressed the assembly at Stokes Croft on Luke v :8 ; and on 
 Monday evening spoke for the first time at Bethesda on 
 "The Problem and Principle of Missions," having that 
 afternoon again taken tea with Mr. and Mrs. Wright, 
 after a visit to Orphan House No. 3. At that tea table 
 also I met for the first time Mr. and Mrs. G. F. Bergin, 
 little knowing then how close was to be the tie with 
 them also. 
 
 It was on that Monday afternoon that a curious inci- 
 dent occurred which was always remembered by both 
 Mr. Wright and myself. As we met in his drawing 
 room and clasped hands, two five-pound notes lay against 
 each other in those interlocked palms, neither of us having 
 any knowledge of more than one. I said, "It has been 
 laid on my heart to ask your acceptance, in the name of 
 the Lord, of a small gift for your personal use." His 
 gracious response was, "And it has been similarly laid 
 upon mine to do the same by you." When the palms 
 were unclasped we discovered that exactly the same 
 
76 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 amount each had been led to offer to the other and the 
 two gifts lay thus together within the friendly hands. 
 The curious correspondence amused and touched us both ; 
 he insisted on my retaining his gift, and I as strenuously 
 urging his acceptance of mine ; so that each had the joy 
 of giving and receiving the same sum and parted, neither 
 of us the poorer! This first meeting at his home struck 
 the keynote of all the intercourse of the seventeen years 
 that followed ; nor was this the last time that exactly the 
 same amounts crossed each other, each of us being led to 
 minister to the other's possible needs in the same way 
 and form at the same time, though the ocean lay between 
 and the post had to take the place of the palm. 
 
 That earliest personal contact with the subject of the 
 memoir also left on the mind of the writer ineffaceable 
 impressions of the man. 
 
 Especially did he leave the impression of a quiet dignity 
 of character. Like Mr. Miiller, he had the bearing of a 
 prince, though there was no sense of distance. He was 
 most approachable, yet he never seemed to lose the sense 
 of the fact that he was "the son of a king," and must 
 maintain his royal standing and be true to his kingly des- 
 tiny. 
 
 Side by side with this dignity was an unaffected mod- 
 esty and humility. James Wright never exploited himself. 
 He never sounded a trumpet before him, nor would he 
 suffer another to herald him. He hated flattery. It was 
 both repulsive to himself and dishonouring to his Master. 
 Once, after a conference address, being told that a clergy- 
 man present had enjoyed his talk more than any other, 
 his calm and indifferent rejoinder was, "did he?" 
 
 Those who knew him felt always a wholesome restrain- 
 ing influence in his presence, instinctively guarding care- 
 
THE NOONTIDE OF LIFE. J^ 
 
 lessness of utterance, especially when a reckless tongue 
 was ready to say what was unkind, ungentle, or unchari- 
 table about another. In his own tongue was "the law of 
 kindness." 
 
 Perhaps the next impression left by personal contact 
 was that of absolute sincerity. He seemed a truthful and 
 transparent man, perfectly genuine; and, as Tennyson 
 used to say, "a truthful man generally has all virtues." 
 At the bottom of all noble character truth, in the inward 
 parts, must lie as a corner stone, else how can any other 
 part be true? Herbert Spencer's maxim was, that "by 
 no political alchemy can you get golden conduct out of 
 leaden instincts;" but Epictetus had long before antici- 
 pated him by uttering the same sentiment in other lan- 
 guage, when he said of men about him : "Their princi- 
 ples are golden, but their practices earthen." 
 
 Mr. Moody used to delight in that quaint definition of 
 character which he declared was the best he ever heard : 
 "Character is what a man is in the dark." In a sense, 
 character is indefinable, but it can be jelt. And when its 
 secrets are revealed, how simple they seem. 
 
 Archbishop Benson once said his life principles were 
 but few and commonplace : 
 
 "Not to call attention to crowded work, petty fatigues 
 or trivial experiences; to heal wounds which, in times 
 past, my cruel and careless hands and works have made ; 
 to seek no favour, no compassion; to discover, not ask 
 for tenderness; to feel no uneasiness when my advice 
 or opinion is not asked, or is set aside." 
 
 Few and simple indeed, but how grand ! 
 
 The next impression likely to be made by contact with 
 Mr, Wright would be that of equanimity, and this would 
 be through his jace, which was a sermon in itself, always 
 
78 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 radiant with peace and quiet joy. It was sunshine in- 
 carnate and his hatndshake helped the impression of his 
 countenance. It did one good, that firm pressure rather 
 than impulsive shake, which conveyed a wealth of love 
 and sympathy. 
 
 Thus even a stranger would feel himself in presence 
 of a man of very remarkable disposition, 
 
 Mr. George Miiller, being asked by a brother frankly 
 to state whatever he saw that he most lacked, promptly 
 answered, "Your greatest lack is the grace of gracious- 
 ness." 
 
 That was the last thing James Wright lacked. He 
 reminded us of Paler's description of Cornelius Front, 
 tutor in family of Marius the Epicurean: 
 
 "The higher claim of his style was rightly understood 
 to be in gravity and self-oommand." 
 
 And again we remember the caution of that other 
 gracious man of God, Dr. J. Hudson Taylor : 
 
 "Be careful of your attitude and habitude of mind and 
 heart. Occasional good acts or words signify little. But 
 the half unconscious and semi-involuntary frames are the 
 true index of spiritual growth and constitute the essence 
 of character." 
 
 It must not be hastily assumed that such equanimity 
 and graciousness are native traits, or are easily attained. 
 A further knowledge of Mr. Wright would have revealed 
 hidden depths of natural impetuosity and fiery temper. 
 At times, in presence of a great wrong, taught in doctrine 
 or practiced in conduct, his nostrils would expand, his 
 eye flash, and his indignation burst forth in remonstrance 
 and rebuke. One could see the "Boanerges" behind the 
 "John" — the two sides of the character of "James" as 
 of John the Apostle — tender love and stern intolerance, 
 
THE NOONTIDE OF LIFE. 79 
 
 the one the complement of the other, and both forming 
 a part of his nature. 
 
 Dr. Tyndall said of Michael Faraday, that "underneath 
 his sweetness and gentleness was the heart of a volcano ; 
 but, through high self-discipline, he had converted the 
 fire into a central glow and motive power of life instead 
 of permitting it to waste itself in unseen passion." 
 
 Similarly, it has been written, that "Hans Christian 
 Oersted's anger was a duty which he owed to the broken 
 truth, and when he had spoken as he ought it vanished, 
 leaving his face irradiated with peace and gentleness." 
 
 Dr. Gunsaulus is right: 
 
 "Temper is the fire of the man, that gives power to all 
 his work for good, or consumes the very machinery of 
 the man himself according as it, is, or is not under a 
 divine control." 
 
 The Old Testament reveals the strong men to be weak, 
 and the New Testament reveal the weak men to be strong 
 by the power of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Mr. Wright's cordiality was transparent, making others 
 feel somehow richer and better; and as to his face, that 
 was habitually illumined with a beaming smile, lighting 
 up the eyes, and spreading a lustre over all the features. 
 
 His industry was untiring. With him as with John 
 Wesley, idleness had long taken its final leave. He was 
 busy as long as life lasted, save as health at times called 
 a halt and demanded rest, an enforced leisure. Like 
 Wesley again, he looked on "all the world as his parish," 
 and, "in whatever part of it God put him, felt it alike 
 duty and delight to declare unto all who are willing to 
 Tiear the glad news of salvation." 
 
 Dr. John A. Broadus, a leader in American thought, 
 used to say : "I know no art of social life more needful 
 
8o JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 to be cultivated in our times and country than the art of 
 skillfully introducing religion into general conversation." 
 But James Wright did not "introduce" it; it permeated 
 his talk as naturally as fragrance a garden. He never 
 said anything that was out of character for a child of 
 God. 
 
 To our minds Mr. Wright will always be first and 
 foremost a man of prayer. He had found, like Mr. Miil- 
 ler, the inspiration of the promise, "Open thy mouth 
 wide and I will fill it," and that great expectation is the 
 precursor of great blessing and the preparation to receive 
 it. 
 
 He felt also that prayer alone could enable us to fulfil 
 the responsibilities involved in knowing God's will. Light 
 is meant to guide life. Hence, as you may have more 
 light, God will hold you responsible. 
 
 Some one has quaintly suggested that if many of our 
 prayers find their way to the "Dead Prayer Office" it is 
 no more strange than that so many letters turn up at last 
 in the dead letter office, and it may be for similar reasons. 
 Some letters lack clear address, are misdirected or have 
 no address at all, and correspond to petitions that have 
 no definiteness either in the language or thought of the 
 petitioner. Other letters have no postage stamp affixed, 
 and remind us of prayers that are offered without con- 
 forming to the prescribed conditions — ^they rest on no 
 promise, and are not presented on the authority of the 
 all-prevailing name, and unlike unpaid letters these de- 
 ficiencies cannot be made up by the recipient at the other 
 end. Still other letters enclose unlawful matter that can- 
 not be transported in the royal mails, and correspond to 
 requests which are prompted by a wrong motive, as when 
 we "ask amiss that we may consume it upon our lusts." 
 
THE NOONTIDE OF LIFE. 8l 
 
 There is a humorous anecdote about a preacher, fam- 
 ous for skill in choosing appropriate texts, who was ap- 
 pointed by that vacillating monarch, James the First of 
 England and Sixth of Scotland, to preach at court; and 
 who vindicated his reputation for timeliness by announc- 
 ing as his text : "James the First and Sixth :" "He that 
 wavereth, is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind 
 and tossed." 
 
 The "James" of whom we are writing was no vacil- 
 lating pendulum, swinging to and fro; no wave of the 
 sea, undulating up and down, fluctuating to and fro; he 
 was a steadfast believer, who having "laid hold," "held 
 fast" the beginning of his confidenco steadfast unto the 
 end. There was a remarkable uniformity about his whole 
 life; not monotony, but uniformity. His convictions 
 never changed for fifty years, although the last century 
 has been one of such rapidly and radically changing opin- 
 ions even on religious matters as probably has no parallel 
 in history. His disposition was calm and equable like a 
 placid lake the surface of which is unruffled. His affec- 
 tions, once fixed, knew no vacillation. Like the heavenly 
 Friend who sticketh closer than a Brother, he adhered 
 to the attachments formed in early life. But most of all 
 his will was "fixed" — no capricious winds of feeling or 
 mood affected his lofty and immutable purpose. He had 
 a peculiarly fixed aim and he consistently followed it to 
 the end. 
 
 This is an appropriate point from which to survey not 
 only Mr. Wright's conspicuous traits, but the general and 
 well rounded symmetry of his character as a whole. 
 
 Very often, as in this case, it is the general symmetry 
 itself which makes it difficult to find any conspiciious 
 outstanding peculiarities, as the perfection of a circle or a 
 
82 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 Sphere consists in the very fact that every part of the 
 circumference is equi-distant from the center, so that there 
 are no prominences. Mr. Wright's character exhibited 
 this spherical roundness and beauty, a general propor- 
 tion in which special virtues lose their distinctness. Dr. 
 Gunsaulus has likened this sort of manhood to the mili- 
 tary square, in which, approaching from any quarter, you 
 meet a line of infantry facing you, a solid body of sol- 
 diery, facing four ways at once. We are commanded 
 to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and soul and 
 mind and strength. This makes of the man a moral 
 square, with conviction, affection, conscience and will, all 
 combining in obedience. 
 
 But, if no one trait was conspicuous in Mr. Wright, 
 his general conformity to the divine pattern was con- 
 spicuous. No one ever had to stop to consider whether, 
 to live with him would be a trial or a privilege: it was 
 always obvious that he not only preached Christ but lived 
 Christ, like William Arnot, of whom they were wont to 
 say, that though his speaking was good and his writing 
 better, his life was best of all. And when we remember 
 that he left behind him no literary remains, as Socrates 
 said, he would "rather write on the hearts of living men 
 than on the skins of dead sheep." 
 
 All Mr. Wright's labour was pervaded by prayer. Dr. 
 Herron, of Pittsburgh, used to say that "working with- 
 out believing is Atheism ; believing without working, pre- 
 sumption ; both together primitive piety." If so then he 
 whose memoir this is was a primitive Christian, for his 
 was a work of faith, and his was a faith that works. Like 
 McCheyne, he made it his aim and prayer to have no 
 plans for himself, well assured that another had His 
 plans for him, and that the place where his Lord saw fit 
 
THE NOONTIDE OF LIFE. 83 
 
 to place him must be the best for him. The distinction 
 between what is sacred and what is secular, based on the 
 conception of a line of cleavage running through life, 
 was to him false and misleading, for everything is to be 
 done unto the Lord and for his glory, and everything so 
 done is sacred. 
 
 It was a tonic and a stimulant to doubting souls and 
 timid believers to breathe, even for a little, the atmos- 
 phere of his quiet, assured faith. There are those who 
 not only have doubts but infect others with them. Goethe, 
 himself a skeptic, cried, "give us your convictions. As 
 for doubts, we have enough of our own." If Mr. Wright 
 had any misgivings, he never revealed them. There was 
 an air of sublime assurance in his teaching, as though he 
 knew the certainty of those things in which he had been 
 instructed and believed the truth to be established by many 
 infallible proofs. 
 
 This is an age of doubt, and even the pulpit and theo- 
 logical chair have caught the infection and are spreading 
 it; Yet here was a believer, a man of unusual intelli- 
 gence, who stood firm as a rock amid the waves of con- 
 flicting opinion. With all his intellectual acumen, he had 
 the spirit of a little child. To him, as Robert Hall used 
 to say, "a religion without its mysteries would be a temple 
 without its God." He expected to find in the Word of 
 God things too high for him. But he had unshaken con- 
 fidence, not only in the perfect accuracy of direct Scrip- 
 ture statements, but also, as Edwards puts it, "of the im- 
 pression made by its indirect statements or by its 
 phrases." Some would fling out one after another of the 
 vital truths and facts of our holy faith, to appease the 
 clamour of rationalistic critics as the Russian traveler 
 flung his children, one by one, to the pack of hungry 
 
84 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 wolves to save his own life. But James Wright surren- 
 dered nothing. He had learned the truth of Canon Faus- 
 set's wise saying, that "when the Christian religion is 
 studied, simply as a science, nothing is more abstruse; 
 when, as a revelation of duty and practice, nothing is 
 easier." 
 
 There is a touching story of an interview between a 
 man of subtle logic and a simple peasant, whom he asked 
 for some "internal evidence which proved the Bible true." 
 No terms of controversial sophistry had ever reached his 
 ear, and he simply laid his hand upon his heart, and only 
 answered, "HERE!" The Bible was its own evidence, 
 and especially when it was truly applied to the wants and 
 woes of men, and found to fit so divinely to all the secret 
 windings of the human heart. Mr. Wright said, ear- 
 nestly, "To hear Robt. C. Chapman, of Barnstaple, read a 
 Psalm was as good as a sermon. I believe the true ex- 
 planation is to be found in his unusual grasp of the deeper 
 meanings of Holy Scripture, and in his intense reverence 
 and love for the God-breathed words." The remark was 
 a revelation, both of his own opinions and habits. 
 
 The central informing principle of James Wright's 
 whole being, that which gave such symmetry and spher- 
 icity to his character, was, however, nothing less than a 
 deep, intense, personal love for the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 This explains and interprets all the rest. It explained his 
 beautiful, exemplary consistency, for it naturally begat 
 conformity to his Master's image. It explained his un- 
 worldliness; for he insensibly rose into a loftier atmos- 
 phere as he studiously gazed on His face and contem- 
 plated His beauty. Alexander Maclaren exclaims : 
 
 "Why should we live half-way up the hill and swathed 
 in mists, when we ought to have an unclouded sky, and 
 
THE NOONTIDE OF LIFE. 85 
 
 a visible sun over our heads, if we would only climb 
 higher and walk in the light of His face ?" 
 
 It explained his joy. Who can be unhappy who has 
 found satisfaction in the Lord Jesus? Samuel Ruther- 
 ford bore witness that even His yoke is easy and His 
 burden is light: 
 
 "The cross of Christ is the sweetest burden that ever 
 I bore ; it is such a burden, as wings are to a bird, or as 
 sails to a ship, to carry me forward to my desired haven." 
 
 Hence Hudson Taylor, who in many respects always 
 reminded us of James Wright, urged young believers to 
 study the habit of delight in God. This is a most val- 
 uable law of life. It gets out of our way all unrepented 
 sin, all hindrances to fellowship and communion. "The 
 Joy of the Lord is our strength." 
 
 Mr. Wright's deep devotion to the person of the Re- 
 deemer explains his self-sacrifice for others. He learned 
 it at Calvary's Cross. Froude, looking at the matter as a 
 historian and essayist, declared that "Sacrifice is the first 
 element of religion, and resolves itself into the 'Love of 
 God.' Let the thought of self intrude — let the painter but 
 pause to consider how much reward his work will bring 
 him and the cunning will forsake his hand and the power 
 of genius will be gone." 
 
 No believer can be brought very near to the pierced 
 hand without, like Catharine of Siena, feeling a sort of 
 pang, in sympathy "as though a nail had pierced his own 
 palm." Elizabeth Fry's heart was so touched at the age of 
 seventeen, by this vital sympathy that she "never awaked 
 from sleep henceforth, in sickness or health, without 
 her first waking thought being, 'how best might I 
 serve the Lord.' " And when Captain Hedley Vicars 
 first stopped to think what that text means : "The blood 
 
86 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin," he 
 meditated in tearful silence for a moment, and then said, 
 "If that be so, then henceforth I will live as a blood- 
 washed man !" 
 
 We are recounting and recording the story of a "blood- 
 washed man," who felt that the vermilion rod had 
 touched, marked and separated him (Levit. xxvii:32). 
 He had the spirit of the ambassador who must be one 
 with the Crucified whom he represents, and learn, as Mr. 
 Jowett so tersely phrases it, that "when we cease to bleed 
 we cease to bless." 
 
 One more attraction that all who knew him found in 
 James Wright was the beautiful combination of innocent 
 humour and seriousness. It has been said that "much 
 may be known of character by what excites laughter ;" 
 and that, 
 
 "If the sense of the ridiculous is one side of an impres- 
 sible nature, it is very well ; but if it be all there is in a 
 man he would better have been an ape and stood at the 
 head of his profession at once." 
 
 Nothing needs regulation more than the sense of the 
 ludicrous; yet nothing when it is properly restrained, 
 imparts more sunshine to life. With Mr. Wright the 
 humourous element was keen and conspicuous, but it 
 never transgressed the limits of decorum. He enjoyed 
 innocent fun as a child does a romp, and his enjoyment 
 was as pure. 
 
 But the deep undertone of his being was serious and 
 sober. He bore the marks of one who knew desperate 
 inner conflict. Paxton Hood says that "all virtue is devel- 
 oped in conflict, in fighting. In every character it may be 
 said, where there is no difficulty there is no virtue." And 
 Carlyle, in his "Cromwell," says: 
 
THE NOONTIDE OF LIFE. 87 
 
 "Temptations in the wilderness, choices of Hercules, 
 and the like, in succinct or loose form, are appointed for 
 every man who will assert a soul in himself and be a 
 man." 
 
 We are too apt carelessly to infer that serenity of tem- 
 per and a controlled tongue are easy of attainment to 
 some who seem habitually amiable and prudent; but we 
 know not at what cost of conflict such triumphs have 
 been bought. Faith is trained in the darkness ; love gets 
 strength in trial, and hope needs the storm to test it as an 
 anchor. Our temptations and tribulations are angels in 
 dark disguise. But when these angel visits are past, 
 patience abides if their errand is not in vain. He whose 
 eye is fixed on the Master will, like Him, be a victor. 
 Bossuet represents the crucified One as saying : 
 
 "I have overcome the world. By the lowliness of my 
 birth, by the obscurity of my life, by the cruelty and 
 ignominy of my death, I have triumphed over all that 
 men admire, esteem or fear. This is the sign by which 
 you shall know me." 
 
CHAPTER FIFTH. 
 
 TOWARD THE EVENING TIME. 
 
 One of the life lessons early learned and continually 
 practiced by Mr. Wright was that of simple child-like 
 faith in God. 
 
 We are taught by our Lord to put first things first: 
 "Seek ye first the Kingdom of Grod and His Righteous- 
 ness, and all these things shall be added unto you." When 
 the primary things are put in the primary place, the sec- 
 ondary are added — supplied in addition by the great 
 Giver, without being sought at all. But, when the secon- 
 dary are thrust into the place of the primary, we forfeit 
 the primary altogether and have no promise of success 
 even in seeking the secondary. These eternal principles 
 of God's administration should be the first principles of 
 every believer's life. 
 
 To James Wright they were fundamental. To be like 
 his Master and help others to be like Him — which is the 
 practical force of our Lord's precept — was his constant 
 aim, and he expected that whatever else is essential to the 
 carrying out of that primal purpose the Lord would un- 
 failingly supply. As the French proverb runs : "Ou Dieu 
 guidera, Dieu gardera" — "where the Lord guides, the 
 Lord provides." Without the support of this promise and 
 his own unwavering confidence in it and in Him who had 
 given it, James Wright never could have carried on the 
 vast work of his latter days; nor could he, without it, 
 have borne patiently the burdens of sorrow and bereave- 
 ment which he accepted as from the same benignant 
 
TOWARD THE EVENING TIME. 89 
 
 hand. Patience to him was a form of service. Bearing 
 was as important as doing, and both pertained to a ser- 
 vant of God as a part of his obedience and self-surrender. 
 He himself said more than once, "I want only the Will of 
 God. I dare not choose for myself. I would not if I 
 could. I could not if I would." 
 
 We now approach the last memorable fifteen years, 
 which form the closing period — the evening time of this 
 human life — though at evening time it was still light. 
 
 The year 1890 was a marked one : it bore the marks of 
 the cross. On the very first day of that year, his "darling 
 Lydia" manifested symptoms of illness, and, in ten days, 
 for a second time the light of his home went out in dark- 
 ness. 
 
 If the memory of his nieces is accurate, she had on that 
 day been visiting some of the poor of the flock ; and, the 
 weather being severe, took cold, or it may be added to a 
 cold already taken; so that pneumonia rapidly developed 
 and defied medical treatment. During this time of sore 
 trial, the utterances that fell from his lips in the hearing 
 of others were the same expressions of complacency in 
 his Father's will. Two days before his dear Lydia de- 
 parted, when sitting down at a meal, he is remembered 
 to have said in his "grace before meat": "We thank 
 Thee, Lord, for help up to the present. Let us not bring 
 to-morrow's cares into to-day.' 'Sufficient unto the day 
 is the evil thereof.' 'Cover us with Thy feathers, and 
 under Thy .wings may we trust.' " And, in the evening 
 of the same day, he remarked to one of his nieces, who 
 was his helper in nursing Mrs. Wright, "What a thing it 
 is to trust in God! And I have been thinking what a 
 fool I should be if I disputed with Him, when I remem- 
 ber that He is 'the only Wise God!' This has not been 
 
9° JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 unforeseen by Him : He has planned it all ; and whatever 
 the issue, it will only tend to the same end, and run in 
 the same lines — ^the wisdom of 'the only Wise God.' " 
 
 In a somewhat similar strain he dictated to be sent to a 
 relative the following message : 
 
 "Tell dear , with my love, that God keeps me 
 
 resting in His revealed name 'the Only Wise God,' 'Our 
 Father.' I can't dispute the wisdom ot 'the Only Wise 
 God.' I can't doubt the love of my 'Father' in heaven. 
 I do not FEEL that this dispensation is either wise or good, 
 but I KNOW that it is both, because I believe God's 
 word." 
 
 On the tenth of January Mrs. Wright passed away, 
 and a few days later was laid to rest in Arno's Vale Ceme- 
 tery. The funeral service, conducted by her cousin, Mr. 
 Henry Groves, was held in Bethesda, which was filled, 
 a crowd also being gathered outside the building. At 
 the close of the service, Mr, Wright rose, and, laying his 
 hand on the coiiEn, addressed the Orphans present, refer- 
 ring to the great loss he had sustained, but saying he 
 would willingly go through it all again, "If only it might 
 be the means of leading one of them to the Saviour." 
 He then briefly prayed for Mr. Miiller who was at that 
 time absent in India. 
 
 He was marvellously sustained of God, though he 
 looked very ill, for he had been passing through his 
 Gethsemane of sorrow, and at the cemetery it seemed as 
 if he could not tear himself away from the place of burial, 
 gazing long and fixedly into the open grave. The follow- 
 ing beautiful lines were written by a friend on this day in 
 January : 
 
 "He giveth His beloved sleep" (Ps. cxxvii •.2). 
 
 "And Aaron held his peace" (Lev. x:3). 
 
TOWARD THE EVENING TIME. 9I 
 
 "So have we seen at break of day. 
 The tender star Hght die away, 
 PaUng before the sun's bright ray; 
 Yet shall we say it ceased to shine 
 Though hidden from thy eyes and mine? 
 
 So have we known some woodland bird 
 Upbear its song, all undeterred, 
 Till not a note below was heard; 
 Though higher, higher, it has soared, 
 Its cup of praise is still outpoured. 
 
 When the great Master's touch is laid 
 Upon the keys His fingers made. 
 Deem not the music then is stayed ; 
 Nay, the full chord is struck at last, — 
 Tuning and tension all are past. 
 
 What though for us the strains may cease ? 
 In heaven the harmonies increase, 
 And, Aaron-like, we hold our peace, 
 Lord in Thy perfect will we rest. 
 Content to yield to Thee our best. 
 
 L. A. B." 
 
 The writer of this memoir saw Mr. Wright not long 
 after his dear "Lydia's" death, and he shewed me a 
 precious verse, found after "Lydia's" death in her little 
 orphan house bag. It came to him as a special messen- 
 ger of God. He told me, with brimming eyes, that he 
 oould not be disconsolate with such a testimony to her 
 intense satisfaction in God. With his own hand, at my 
 request, he copied this verse on a leaf of my blank book: 
 
92 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 
 The number of the letters of condolence received was 
 so great that he was unable personally to reply to each, 
 and so expressed his thanks in a printed letter, of which 
 the following is a copy: 
 "Dear : 
 
 Accept my warmest thanks for all the love and sym- 
 pathy you have shown toward me and mine during the 
 last week, or for letters or messages of loving sympathy 
 received since the departure of my precious wife on the 
 tenth instant. Gladly would I write with my own hand 
 to each of the dear friends whom the Lord has made 
 my helper in these hours of inexpressible sorrow — ^but 
 their number makes this impossible, and I therefore ask 
 that this circular may be kindly accepted instead. 
 
 Great as has been, and is, my tribulation, my peace, 
 through Christ, (I say it to the praise of His faithful- 
 ness) has been and is greater. 
 
 Yours affectionately and gratefully, 
 
 James Wright. 
 
 St. Matthew's Road, January 13th, 1890." 
 
TOWARD THE EVENING TIME. 93 
 
 Though quietly resting in the will of God, Mr. Wright 
 felt that he had sustained a personal loss that was alike, 
 from a human point of view, incalculable and irreparable. 
 What the departure of his wife meant to her husband 
 no words can tell. She had been as near as may be a 
 perfect wife. But more than this, she was in every re- 
 spect a true helper. She was a wise counsellor; on her 
 judgment he had been wont implicitly to rely. Yet he 
 did not lose his sweet serenity. Though to his own dying 
 day the shadow of this bereavement was always across 
 his path; though he continued so to feel her absence 
 from his side that he appeared to dwell a good deal on 
 the past and in the past, and always seemed depressed 
 as the anniversary of those ten days recurred, he was 
 never gloomy, nor unable to enjoy life and help others' 
 joy. 
 
 Mrs. Wright was beloved far beyond her home and im- 
 mediate circle. She was a friend to many and of many. 
 Unselfish and faithful, she won both love and trust from 
 many who implicitly confided in her, assured that what- 
 ever they committed to her 'ear-gate' in confidence would 
 never find exit through the unguarded portals of the lips. 
 After his second great bereavement, Mr. Wright asked 
 his only remaining sister, Rachel, who for some time 
 had been living with the Withy family on Charlotte 
 Street, to keep house for him, in his loneliness, which 
 she undertook. At the end of a few months, finding 
 the long walks to and from Bethesda Chapel on the 
 Lord's Days too exhausting for her, she asked his nieces, 
 the Misses Withy, to receive her back into their home, 
 and to take Mr. Wright also for three months, until he 
 could decide what disposition to make of the house where 
 he had been living. At the close of those few months. 
 
94 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 by a cordial mutual agreement, that residence on Char- 
 lotte Street became his permanent abode, and it need 
 scarce be added that his dear nieces considered his pres- 
 ence there a continual flood of sunshine. His wants 
 were few and simple; his cheerfulness constant and con- 
 tagious; his affectionate and gentle temper made com- 
 panionship delightful; and his keen sense of humour 
 made even vexatious annoyances wear a ludicrous aspect. 
 He was in a word a source of perpetual delight to all 
 around him, and became more endeared to them and in- 
 separable from their domestic life. 
 
 Thus began those fourteen radiant and tranquil years, 
 during which to those orphan nieces he was as a second 
 father and they to him as dear daughters, or, as he used 
 to call them, his "quarternion." 
 
 During his life at Charlotte Street his habits were reg- 
 ular the year round. He was wont, at six o'clock in the 
 morning to rise, and after a season of private devotional 
 reading, often take a short walk before the eight o'clock 
 breakfast. Coming back from his walk bright as a sing- 
 ing bird, family prayers followed, with reading of scrip- 
 ture and often brief comments; and on Sundays the 
 singing of a hymn. By half after nine, he was on his way 
 to Ashley Down, accompanied by Miss Anna M. Withy, 
 twice a week for the first few years, but, after Mrs. Miil- 
 ler's death in 1898, daily. Miss Withy had already for 
 some years been Mrs. Wright's helper at No. 3. Mr. 
 Wright generally was at home by 5.30 or 6 p. m. to tea, 
 and, unless at some week-night service, spent most of the 
 evening in the quiet of his own chamber, conducting 
 prayers after supper at 9 o'clock, and often asking for a 
 hymn before retiring. 
 
 This daily programme, made necessary by the burdens 
 
No. 13 CHARLOTTE STREET, BRISTOL, WHERE MR. WRIGHT RESIDED FOR 
 
 THE LAST FOURTEEN YEARS. THE ROOM WITH THREE WINDOWS 
 
 ABOVE THE ENTRANCE WAS HIS APARTMENT. 
 
TOWARD THE EVENING TIME. 95 
 
 of daily duty, cut him oS from much social intercourse, 
 even with near relatives. Now and then, when he could 
 spare time for an evening's companionship, he would ask 
 his niece for some piano music of which he was fond 
 and in which his taste was classical. Though not, tech- 
 nically, a musician, he found much refreshment in this 
 indulgence of musical tastes; and in sacred song he had 
 no little knowledge though self-acquired, and had him- 
 self a good voice and native talent, and for years acted 
 as precentor at Bethesda. 
 
 Sometimes, when reaching home in the later evening, 
 and finding the beloved ones there playing with friends 
 at innocent games, he would join them with zest, enter- 
 ing heartily into their fun and making the joy of all the 
 greater. 
 
 To this period of life belongs his visit to Italy, which 
 was in 1890, in the summer following his wife's death. 
 
 His beloved friend. Colonel Molesworth, had proposed 
 that he should accompany him on sUch a visit, with a two- 
 fold object: combining a thorough change of scene with 
 an inspection of the schools supported by the funds of 
 the Scriptural Knowledge Institution — attending also the 
 Annual Agape at Spinetta. This journey proved a very 
 helpful and happy time on the part of both. Mr. Wright 
 was keenly interested in all he saw, and wrote home de- 
 lightfully descriptive letters. Among the places of inter- 
 est visted were the site of the Battle of Marengo, where 
 they saw the Tower from which Napoleon directed the 
 fight, and the ditch which was filled with the dead, over 
 which he drove his guns. Another day they visited the 
 marble quarries at Carrara. Little time, however, was 
 spent in mere sight-seeing. 
 
 They examined the children in the schools and held 
 
JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 meetings for the believers in various places, speaking by 
 interpretation. In one of these addresses an illustration 
 was used by Mr. Wright which may be mentioned here. 
 Speaking of the Arm of God as underneath us to bear 
 our burdens, he placed a piece of oaper on his hand, re- 
 marking that the paper had no sustaining power; but 
 the same bit of paper, placed on the palm of his right 
 hand, could bear as much as his arm could bear ; "so we, 
 as helpless in ourselves as a bit of paper, can with the 
 Arm of Jehovah underneath," bear as much as that Arm 
 can bear. The little Diary, kept on this Tour, records 
 that at Torre Pellici, where the meetings were held in a 
 tent, a goodly number of the villagers came in the morn- 
 ing near enough to hear all that was said, though, to keep 
 square with the Priests, they would not actually come 
 under the canvas ; but, in the evening, their desire to hear 
 so far overcame their fear and scruples, that many did 
 venture inside the enclosure, and the numbers attending 
 were larger than had ever been known before. 
 
 On that occasion he preached the Gospel from the in- 
 cident of the Good Samaritan, and Colonel Molesworth 
 spoke of Christ as the Revealer of the Father. But the 
 greater number of the meetings were mainly for the edi- 
 fication of believers. At Castmo, Colonel Molesworth 
 was taken for a Cardinal, due to the fact that he wore a 
 puggaree bordered with three red stripes, while Mr. 
 Wright, as his companion, was supposed to be a Bishop, 
 because no Cardinal could be attended by any one of less 
 dignity than a Bishop! When the tour came to an end, 
 and they were about to leave, the Italian Brethren gath- 
 ered for prayer, thanking the Lord for their visit and 
 commending them to His care for the journey — they also 
 prayed; and when parting at the station, pointed each 
 
TOWARD THE EVENING TIME. 97 
 
 Other to texts in their respective Bibles as farewell words. 
 This reminds us of that most interesting incident in 
 modern missions, where a persecuted people fleeing for 
 their lives, landed among a strange tribe, and found 
 themselves among fellow Christians with whom they had, 
 however, no means of communication except by means 
 of the Word of God. Each tribe had a Bible in its own 
 vernacular, and so it occurred to them all that they 
 could hold converse through this sacred medium. The 
 Christian refugees accordingly pointed to texts in their 
 own Bibles, and their strange hosts would by chap- 
 ter and verse trace the message in their Bible translation 
 and in the same way respond. 
 
 Mr. Wright was wont to preach at one of the chapels 
 on Sunday evenings, and was always a familiar figure at 
 the Monday evening prayer meetings at Bethesda ; as on 
 Thursdays, at Stokes Croft, where he also usually spoke, 
 until the increasing work at the orphan houses compelled 
 him to relinquish the latter meeting. 
 
 His teaching talent was so appreciated that invitations 
 poured in upon him for addresses at conferences and 
 other meetings. He complied as far as he could; but 
 demands on time and strength gradually left him less at 
 liberty to go to any meetings at a distance. Once he at- 
 tended the Believers' meetings in Glasgow and in Dub- 
 lin, being absent a few days at a time ; also the Leomins- 
 ter conference, annual meetings at Stroud, Ross, Cleve- 
 don, etc., which took less time, and some of which he 
 attended to the end of life, finding in them a refreshing 
 break in the monotony of a busy career. 
 
 Very little of his deeper inner life was ever disclosed. 
 These secret chambers few, if any, invaded. But occa- 
 sional words from his lips, when speaking in public, 
 
 G 
 
98 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 seemed echoes of inward battle. He evidently had his 
 great conflicts with the Adversary. Once in course of a 
 sermon, he referred to his earlier spiritual experiences, 
 and "dark thoughts," and how, when telling some of 
 these to a fellow disciple, his answer was, "My dear fel- 
 low, the Devil is impudent enough for anything!" 
 
 They show little knowledge of the human heart who 
 think that any holy life is a victory easily won. Paxton 
 Hood thinks man is the battle ground of right and 
 wrong — subject to two demons — that of sensuality and 
 sense on one hand, and intellectuality and spirit' on the 
 other; and that of the former Milton's Comus is the de- 
 lineation and impersonation — the arch-reveller and temp- 
 ter to whom everything exists only for the indulgence of 
 lust; and that of the latter, Satan, is the representative, 
 who oftener approaches us from the higher intellectual 
 plane, dealing in lies and wiles, as when he would make 
 us think of sins as infirmities and so lightly estimate 
 them ; or think of infirmities as sins and so plunge us into 
 despair. 
 
 Mr. Wright, as we have already said, bore marks of 
 conflict, but he bore also unmistakable signs of victory ; 
 they were the marks of the Lord Jesus, which are never 
 marks of defeat. 
 
 We embody here a few sentences and paragraphs from 
 his public addresses, which, though fragments, may serve 
 to reveal somewhat of this inner life of both trial and 
 triumph. His conversations in private and his discourses 
 in public often disclosed rich veins of both spiritual 
 knowledge and experience. 
 
 FRAGMENTS. 
 
 April 28th, 1901. 
 
 "Deep waters flow silently — ^babbling waters, by that 
 
TOWARD THE EVENING TIME. 99 
 
 very fact, proclaim their shallowness. * * * The 
 harp of the believer is a harp of solemn sound, but it's 
 tone is very rich (Ps. cviii:i). 
 
 March 25th, 1900. 
 
 "We fear sometimes to enter into a cloud, but once in it 
 then let us be assured that He who spread it over us is 
 vith us in it. 
 
 "In Luke x::/, 20 and 21. 'There are three stages of 
 joy spoken of: 
 
 "ist. Joy in service. 'The seventy returned again with 
 joy, saying. Lord, even the devils are subject unto us 
 through Thy name.' 
 
 "2nd. Joy in Relationship to the Father. 'Notwith- 
 standing in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject 
 unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are 
 written in heaven' 
 
 "3rd. Joy in the Faiher's Will. 'In that hour Jesus re- 
 joiced in spirit, and .said, I thank Thee, O Father, Lord 
 of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things 
 from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto 
 babes; even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in Thy 
 sight' Submission to the Father's will is the highest 
 joy of all." 
 
 One little sentence that he was very fond of giving 
 utterance to, when he saw any one trying to bear to-mor- 
 row's burden before it came was, "Never cross a bridge 
 till you come to it." 
 
 After an attack of influenza in November, 1901, having 
 received a letter of sympathy from a friend, he replied 
 as follows: "Thanks for your loving sympathy and 
 words of truth and hope, which endorse and confirm the 
 secret teachings of the Holy Spirit during the last six- 
 teen days of unwonted quietness. 'It is good for me that 
 
lOO JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 I have been afflicted,' and I trust the Lord will, in His 
 own way, cause the blessing to spread, for is not this His 
 object? seeing that 'none of us liveth unto himself.' This 
 day is the thirtieth anniversary of my marriage union 
 with my precious Lydia. Verily, 'the Lord gcuve'—axid 
 no less true to faith is the fact that 'the Lord hath taken 
 away.' She is with Him ; and He is with me ; so we are 
 not sundered; and how blessedly near the Hope of 'our 
 gathering together unto Him !' " 
 
 It was while laid aside with the same attack of influ- 
 enza that he dictated the following notes to his nieces 
 on Sunday morning, November 3rd: 
 
 "I. Luke viii, verses 43-48. 
 
 Boldness of Faith. 
 
 "The woman ventured in faith. The ground of her 
 venture being the apprehension of the omnipotency and 
 intinite grace of the God-man, Christ Jesus. This de- 
 lighted and obtained the commendation of the Lord (v. 
 48). 
 
 "IL Luke viii, verses 41, 42, 49-56. 
 Tenacity of Faith. 
 
 "The ruler's faith clung to Christ, in spite of delays in 
 obtaining the blessing. The ground of this tenacity was 
 a measure of apprehension of the unchangeableness and 
 faithfulness of Christ." 
 
 "God is not a man that he should lie" (Num. xxiiiiig). 
 
 "Christ encouraged this tenacity by His words in v. 50. 
 'Fear not, believe only and she shall be healed.' 
 
 "N. B. — Though the Lord admires and applauds the 
 greatness of the Centurion's faith (ch. vii:9) and the 
 boldness of the woman's venturous faith, He does not 
 undervalue a tenacious faith, like Jairus's. 
 
 "The Centurion's faith reached to the point that there 
 
TOWAED THE EVENING TIME. lOI 
 
 was no need of Christ's presence to effect a cure, His 
 Word was enough, and this delighted Christ. On the 
 other hand, Jairus began with beseeching Him that He 
 would come into his house. The Lord did not chide him 
 for exercising a lesser faith than the Centurion's, but at 
 once went towards this house, and, though hindered by 
 the interposition of the woman with the issue of blood, 
 continued, after that cure was effected, to comply with 
 Jairus's request that He would come into his house ; and, 
 further, when the discouraging message came to Jairus, 
 that it was no use for the Lord to continue His progress, 
 as the child was dead, Christ interposed with His word 
 in season, encouraging him still to cling, and continued 
 His progress till He had reached the house and there, at 
 length, rewarded the ruler's tenacious faith. 
 
 "N. B. — If the measure of faith granted us is not the 
 highest possible of attainment, yet let us seek to exercise 
 a tenacious faith, that clings to the "God who cannot lie," 
 and has combined oath and covenant in order to prevent 
 our faith from relaxing its hold." 
 
 Of the vastness and variety of the matters coming 
 before him as Director of the work at the Orphan 
 Houses, few are aware; but, beside this, he was con- 
 stantly sought as counsellor in church affairs, and in pri- 
 vate perplexities, and to all he gave heed so far as able; 
 often, when wearied with a long day of work, he was 
 summoned from his "chamber of peace" to give spiritual 
 help or advice. Ever ready to rejoice with them that 
 rejoiced and weep with those that wept, he had 
 "A heart at leisure from itself. 
 To soothe and sympathize." 
 
 He never hurried an interview unduly, but gave ample 
 time patiently to consider any matter, for the time giving 
 
I02 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 himself wholly to it, doing nothing by halves. Whatever 
 was worth doing at all was worth doing well. 
 
 One evening a niece remarked what a strange day she 
 had passed, only "interruptions," unable to get through 
 anything she wanted done, and his quiet rejoinder was, 
 "the major part of my days are of that type." "But I 
 think you bear it better than your niece," was the invol- 
 untary reply. But even interruptions did not "interrupt" 
 him. He took them all as of the Lord, and even when 
 busily writing, if there was talk going on about him, it 
 was not uncommon for him, instead of betraying annoy- 
 ance, to look up smilingly and take interest in what occu- 
 pied others. 
 
 No portrait of Mr. Wright could approximate com- 
 pleteness which does not include the specific feature of 
 his church life. 
 
 From his conversion the assembly of fellow disciples 
 was with him a favourite place of resort and of profit. 
 He never forgot that numbers do not constitute a Chris- 
 tian assembly nor measure its power. He believed in the 
 promised Presence which is assured to "two or three" — 
 the smallest possible number that can meet in the all- 
 prevailing Name ; and he recognized the obvious fact that 
 too often numbers accompany weakness and degeneracy. 
 Principal Forsyth says, "the church has always been 
 greatest as a minority, so long as it was a right minority. 
 The Lord's chief work has been with a remnant. The 
 church is in the greatest danger when it is popular." 
 Nor did Mr. Wright forget that poverty and obscurity 
 are no hindrances to piety, and that God still chooses 
 the poor and base and despised of this world rich in 
 faith and good works. "Be sure," said Wesley, "to make 
 ample accommodation for the poor. They are God's 
 
TOWARD THE EVENING TIME. I03 
 
 building materials in the erection of His church. The 
 rich make good scaffolding, but bad material." 
 
 He emphasized holiness as the one grand feature of 
 a true disciple or an apostolic assembly. The church is a 
 Temple for the Spirit, and the Spirit of God is a Holy 
 Spirit "If," says Canon Fausset, "the spirit that is in us 
 can be at ease under sin it comes not from the Holy Spirit 
 of God, for the gentle 'dove' trembles even at the sight 
 of a hawk's feather." Hence Mr. Wright, with all his 
 gentleness, insisted on discipline. He had behind his 
 amiable exterior, the courageous, intrepid heart of a re- 
 former, like John Knox, on whose chamber in Edinburgh 
 still appears that noble motto : "I am in that place where 
 I am demanded of my conscience to speak the truth; 
 and, therefore, the truth I speak, impugn it who list." 
 
 All love that is God-like has a side of holy wrath. It 
 is like a magnetic needle that repels, at one pole, by the 
 same law whereby it attracts at another. And some who 
 knew James Wright only as a lamb, were surprised to 
 find how much of the lion was in him when truth was 
 assailed or duty in peril. Seneca's Pilot was represented 
 as calmly saying to Neptune in the wild storm that threat- 
 ened to engulf him, 
 
 "You may sink me or save me. 
 But I'll hold my rudder true !" 
 
 This man of God was calm amid every storm, holding 
 his rudder true ; and if conflict was necessary in defence 
 of the right, either in doctrine or practice, he accepted 
 the conflict; nay, in a sense he courted it, in the same 
 way that old Ebenezer Erskine did when he called God 
 to witness that he had "done his best to bring on a definite 
 issue between Christ and the adversaries of the truth." 
 When Abraham Lincoln, that foremost of American 
 
I04 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 heroes, was reproached with defeat, he answered "De- 
 feat ? If it were not one but a hundred, I should still pur- 
 sue the same unchanging course." There was a mild- 
 mannered, suave man that was always modestly promi- 
 nent at Bethesda, who could hold his ground with in- 
 trepid conscientiousness, even though he was reduced to 
 a minority of one: and no one can tell, till the last day, 
 how much a congregation of believers owes to one such 
 man who recognizes no peace that is not first pure. 
 
 "Men may misjudge thy aim. 
 
 Think they have cause for blame. 
 Say thou art wrong; 
 
 Hold on thy quiet way; 
 
 Christ is the judge — ^not they; 
 Fear not! Be strong!" 
 Mr. Wright believed the gospel and therefore spoke. 
 As a preacher arid teacher, he overflowed with the riches 
 of grace. The substance of the gospel message was that 
 Christ "came to seek and to save that which is lost ;" and 
 that, when on the cross, He said, "It is finished," He told 
 the truth, and did not leave anything else to be done by 
 the sinner but to trust in His finished work of atonement. 
 He felt that theme of Redeeming Love to be suificient 
 for a life time — "one string," though some may call it, 
 but a string on which all the melodies of saving grace 
 can be played, as Paganini wrought such wonders on the 
 single string of his violin. For a minister of Christ to 
 think that, to confine himself to the "unsearchable riches 
 of Christ" would be a narrow limitation, would be like a 
 little mouse wondering whether Joseph's Egyptian gran- 
 aries would be big enough to feed him, or a minnow 
 wondering whether in the fathomless ocean he would 
 find room to swim. 
 
TOWARD THE EVENING TIME. IO5 
 
 But, when once the great Essentials of Christianity 
 were secure, Mr. Wrighi could cordially, with Augustine, 
 concede liberty in non-essentials, and in all things charity. 
 In fact, a narrow exclusiveness was to him repulsive; 
 may we not add, impossible? Grimm says of Michel 
 Angelo and Raphael, that, while circumstances tended to 
 make them rivals and enemies, both of them rose so high 
 above the common level, that they were necessary to each 
 other. And this beloved disciple himself rose so high 
 above the average plane of Christian life that he could 
 not but feel himself, like a mountain that finds compan- 
 ionship in its high soaring only in companion peaks of 
 the range, united to other believers whose grand aspira- 
 tion lifted them into comparative solitariness. To see the 
 grace of God in another man was enough to prompt him 
 to offer the hand of fellowship (Gal. ii:9). 
 
 He also was a soul-seeker and a soul-winner. Had 
 his secret heart been unlocked it would have been found 
 to contain a sincere passion for man's salvation. He was 
 fond of repeating J. Hudson Taylor's acute remark, that, 
 though not a few are jealous of being in the "Apostolic 
 succession," he would "rather be in the succession of the 
 Samaritan woman, who, while the apostles went to buy 
 food and brought no enquiring souls, forgot her waterpot 
 in her zeal for others' salvation." 
 
 Such a man could but be an influential factor in church 
 life, and this modest disciple who never obtruded him- 
 self, was felt to be a prominent, if not the dominant, per- 
 sonality in Bethesda. But as President Eliot, of Har- 
 vard, has reminded us, we must not confound and con- 
 fuse influence with authority. While rulers or magis- 
 trates may wield authority they may or may not wield 
 that higher sceptre of influence ; while many exercise far- 
 
Io6 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 reaching and resistless influence who never sit on human 
 thrones or in parliamentary bodies. Their heroic spirit, 
 unshakable purpose, undeviating devotion to duty. Christ- 
 like gentleness and conspicuous unselfishness make them 
 masters of men. Their kingdom, like their Master's, 
 comes without observation, but sways human hearts. 
 
 The writing of the annual report occupied many weeks 
 and often months. Commencing early in the year he 
 worked at it at such times as he could snatch from other 
 occupations, daily, frequently of late years having to re- 
 main at home for an hour or two in the mornings to get 
 quiet for it, the constant interruptions, at Ashley Down, 
 preventing his giving any continuous attention to it there. 
 He always sought to place the whole manuscript in the 
 hands of the printers before his summer holiday — gener- 
 ally in July — so as to have only the proof sheets to cor- 
 rect while absent. 
 
 Shortly before his holiday, the Orphans' Annual Out- 
 ing always took place on Pur Down, a mile or so beyond 
 Ashley Down, and he spent the latter half of the day 
 with them, adding to their pleasure by sending up four or 
 five different coloured fire balloons, and watching with 
 keen interest their athletic sports in the evening. On one 
 occasion when he had gone to the seaside, before this 
 annual outing, he sent the Orphans a telegram of con- 
 gratulation. 
 
 To this annual holiday — ^taken en familee — he always 
 looked forward with great pleasure, though even then he 
 never found entire rest; the major part of each morning 
 being taken up with correspondence. He enjoyed es- 
 pecially his early morning swim before breakfast, which 
 seemed to brace him. Trips in steamers he also enjoyed, 
 preferring them to small boats unless the weather was 
 calm. 
 
TOWARD THE EVENING TIME. I07 
 
 In places where his holiday was spent, he was wont 
 to preach on Sunday evenings, and at times give a week- 
 night address. Though not a "great preacher," he was 
 a most spiritual and scriptural teacher, his style exposi- 
 tory and practical, and he had an eloquence of his own, 
 the outflow and overflow of a full heart, in a stream of 
 rapt utterance which found ready response in his hearers. 
 It was far beyond mere rhetoric, the eloquence which 
 Theremin says is "a virtue." 
 
 In speaking, his manner was usually animated. Be- 
 ginning quietly, and at times almost labouredly, as one 
 who lays down his ground work and maps out discourse ; 
 as he developed his theme, his heart gloWed, his face 
 beamed, his action became more lively, and his whole 
 being seemed to be thrilled with his thought. At times, 
 under the burning intensity of his convictions, he drove 
 the truth home as a blacksmith welds and moulds the hot 
 iron on his anvil. There was excitement, but it was 
 under control and for a purpose. 
 
 Once, some months before his death, he had an expe- 
 rience, unpleasant and embarrassing, while preaching at 
 Stokes Croft, as also once before at Bethesda, when after 
 a happy introduction, he lost his train of thought, and all 
 seemed a blank. Without painful effort to continue his 
 discourse, he quietly informed the congregation of the 
 fact, and said: "It has pleased the Lord to break the 
 continuity of my thought; this being the case we would 
 best bring the service to a close. You see, dear friends, 
 how dependent we are upon God. I had thought out the 
 points of my subject, as I felt, according to His mind; 
 and, as you see He has chosen for the time to allow my 
 memory to fail." He then simply closed with prayer. On 
 returning home, he seemed to feel a burden upon him. 
 
I08 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 but the next Sunday frankly told his audience that it was 
 the best thing that could have happened to hira. No like 
 mental lapse ever followed. 
 
 In 1895, Rachel, his only remaining sister, having 
 quite unexpectedly passed away, the night after Christ- 
 mas, and after attending service that day at Bethesda, he 
 was left sole survivor of his family. At her grave he 
 witnessed to her help in his early Christian life; and 
 henceforth his nieces, being his only near relatives, the 
 ties between him and them grew both more strong and 
 tender. 
 
 Thus the life of our beloved brother was not without 
 its discipline. Like the Captain of our salvation, those 
 who follow Him are made perfect through suffering. 
 He had been called to many bereavements. Twice he had 
 laid in the sepulchre the form of a cherished wife ; and 
 he had parted with father and mother, brother and sis- 
 ters, and many precious friends. But as the beloved 
 Charles A. Fox used to say, beautifully: 
 
 "Chased silver is chastened silver : silver so fretted with 
 careful instruments that it is made to represent every 
 kind of flower or fruit, and thus to become of ten-fold 
 its original value." 
 
 This comfort he had, that his beloved had died "in the 
 Lord," and such death is the gateway of a truer life, 
 "Mors Janua Vitae." Over the gravestone of a poor 
 saint was written : "I have sinned and repented. I have 
 loved and trusted. I rest. I shall rise and live." And 
 the Quaker poet Whittier wrote : 
 
 "Death will find us, soon or later. 
 
 On the deck or in the cot ; 
 And we cannot meet him better 
 Than in working out our lot." 
 
CHAPTER SIXTH. 
 
 THE NIGHT COMETH. 
 
 We are coining now toward the hour of sunset, and it 
 is refreshing to see this man of God patiently treading 
 the heavenly way, his path growing brighter and brighter 
 as the night comes on. 
 
 During one winter a severe fall on an icy road, as he 
 returned home, dislocated the right shoulder. Being 
 alone, after walking a short way he hailed a cab and 
 drove to the Infirmary, but as the House surgeon was 
 not in, not wishing it set by a less experienced hand, 
 he went home, where his haggard look and loosely 
 dangling arm awakened no little alarm. But the bone 
 being soon set in place, and he being comfortably abed, 
 he was at once his own bright self, and through the 
 two or three weeks of enforced stay at home continued 
 ever cheerful and radiant. While thus laid aside he 
 was amused and touched by the gift from the little son 
 of a friend, of a small toy owl, which ever after looked 
 down on him from the top of the bookcase in his room. 
 
 He was, however, very seldom laid aside, having such 
 uniform health as to be disposed to make light of any 
 ailment. When obliged to keep his bed, he was an invalid 
 whom it was a privilege to nurse ; always brimful of child- 
 like fun, his sense of humour — at all times keen — some- 
 times so exciting his risible faculties that he did not 
 easily regain complete composure. He was no fretful 
 patient, and kept those who waited on him constantly 
 in a merry mood. 
 
no JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 This aspect of Mr. Wright's character would not be 
 observed by those who did not come into close touch 
 with him, but to such it was a revelation of his intense 
 and many-sided humanity. Like Terence of old, he 
 could have said, "I am a man, and nothing peculiar to 
 man is foreign to me." 
 
 His humanity again was seen in the childlike pleasure 
 with which he received and enjoyed the tender atten- 
 tions of those he loved — not that he cared for the in- 
 trinsic value of a gift, but for the love and thoughtfulness 
 it exhibited. For instance, it is delightfully remembered 
 how on birthdays or holidays, like Christmas, he beamed 
 with satisfaction at the little "surprises" that awaited 
 him on his breakfast plate when he came down to his 
 morning meal. Only on two occasions was it otherwise ; 
 once, when, on the first birthday anniversary after his 
 dear Lydia's death, the gifts that he found only brought 
 a flood of tears, and he said he "wished the day had 
 been forgotten!" And again, after Mr. Miiller's death. 
 The fountains of mirth and of tears lie so close, side 
 by side! 
 
 Another touching proof of his tender sensibility was 
 seen when, returning from the orphan houses one wintry 
 afternoon, he found he had left in the tram car a cape 
 which he was wont to wear in very cold weather. The 
 discovery of his loss greatly distressed him. When, in 
 the evening, his niece, who having inquired at the office 
 and found the lost cape, returned with it, his joy and 
 the warm embrace he gave her were sufficiently explained 
 by the fact that the tenderest associations made that cape 
 precious. It had been given to him by his dear departed 
 "Lydia." 
 
 Three years after his sister Rachel died he was again 
 
THE NIGHT COMETH. Ill 
 
 called to bear what to human view was a crushing blow. 
 Yet in this, as in every other crisis, he found Divine 
 grace all fufficient and he not only accepted, but rejoiced 
 in, the will of God. We refer to Mr. Miiller's departure. 
 
 For some time past he had felt his father-in-law's 
 health to be precarious, his heart being weak, and if on 
 rising in the morning he heard any vehicle rapidly ap- 
 proaching, involuntarily looked out lest it might be some 
 messenger from Ashley Down with sad tidings. 
 
 When, therefore, on the morning of March lo, 1898, a 
 cab did come with a teacher from No. 3, announcing 
 that the patriarch of Bristol had been found lying on the 
 floor of his bed chamber, and that life seemed extinct, 
 he was scarcely taken by surprise. On arriving .at the 
 Orphan House, he at once made his way to that room, 
 made now doubly sacred by the presence of Death. There 
 standing mute by the prostrate form on the floor, he ut- 
 tered a few words of prayer, then stooping to kiss the cold 
 forehead, he again prayed, and quietly left the room, 
 placidly remarking as he met one of the helpers in the 
 corridor, "he is at rest." 
 
 Subsequently he expressed satisfaction at finding all 
 the workers at their wonted place and the work going on 
 as usual; though sorrow and agitation had left their im- 
 print on all faces, there was no confusion, noise or panic. 
 For himself, the days that followed were, of course, 
 doubly busy, he and his niece rarely reaching Charlotte 
 Street before nine or nine-thirty o'clock. Yet though 
 pressed he was not oppressed. Beneath were the Ever- 
 lasting Arms. The eternal God was his refuge, of whom 
 he could ever say, amid the changes and chances of this 
 mortal life, "Thoit Remainest." 
 
 The funeral, on Monday, January 14th, more resembled 
 
112 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 a national mourning than a local burial, rather like a 
 tribute to some public hero than to a private citizen, the 
 streets along the miles of the procession's route being 
 thronged. Mr. Wright's usual calmness was not broken. 
 Both in the Orphan House before starting and afterward 
 at the service in Bethesda he spoke; but he, like all the 
 rest, was greatly impressed by the popular tribute to Mr. 
 Miiller. The funeral scene was a commentary on those 
 words : "Them that honour me I will honour" ( i Sam- 
 uel ii:30). 
 
 Mr. Wright showed himself God's chosen successor 
 in the work, evidently like-minded with the departed 
 director. The Report for the year> prepared by him, 
 sounded as the significant keynote for the future, the 
 same old keynote of the past, carrying on the melody and 
 harmony, without change, into the new measures. It is 
 the same oratorio, without alteration of theme, time, or 
 even key: the leading performer is indeed no more, but 
 another hand takes up his instrument, and, trembling 
 with emotion, continues the unfinished strain, so that 
 there is no interruption. 
 
 The heavy burden of work now rested on James Wright 
 alone, and he felt the need of a helper, and his need was 
 soon and blessedly supplied. 
 
 For many years prayer had been offered for a suc- 
 cessor in the Directorship, in the event of either himself 
 or Mr. Miiller, or both being taken ; but no name had up 
 to this date been mentioned between them, and Mr. 
 Wright afterward said that, "had God shown him no 
 one as His choice, he would just have gone on, doing 
 his work alone, till he dropped." But three weeks after he 
 was thus left alone, he felt strongly led to ask his well- 
 known and much loved brother and friend, Mr. G. F. 
 
THE NIGHT COMETH. II3 
 
 Bergin, to join him as associate Director. It was a joy 
 to him, and a confirmation of his conviction that God's 
 hand was leading, when on proposing this sacred part- 
 nership to Mr. Bergin he found that he was at that very 
 time secretly offering himself to the Lord for that service. 
 Neither of them knew what was passing in the mind of 
 the other. Yet while Mr. Wright was determining to 
 ask for such help, Mr. Bergin was solemnly giving him- 
 self to God for the work and only waiting for God to 
 manifest His own will in the matter. Thus both natur- 
 ally accepted the coincidence as God's seal upon the 
 compact and covenant of mutual association. 
 
 Thus again the Lord interposed to meet a great need, 
 and within a month — April 25th — Mr. Wright welcomed 
 a valued, trusted and efficient co-worker, in whose care 
 he could safely leave the whole work when withdrawing 
 for needed rest, or as it proved, seven years later, when 
 removed by death. 
 
 Teignmouth was his chosen place of vacation, that 
 memorable year, partly because it had been the scene of 
 Mr. Miiller's early labours, and had been visited by Mr. 
 Wright and his first wife in company with him and his 
 family in later years, when the Orphan work had been 
 established. Thus the place was one of hallowed memo- 
 ries, as well as accessible from Bristol, within reach 
 should any crisis arise at Ashley Down ; and the quiet of 
 this resort was restful after the unavoidable interruptions 
 of his work at the Orphan Houses. Here, both this year 
 and the year following, when again he found there a 
 resting place, he preached on Sundays and gave ad- 
 dresses on week nights, drawing large audiences of ap- 
 preciative hearers, from various denominations, as also 
 at more private Bible readings at the houses of friends. 
 
114 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 A little incident, during one of these sojourns at Teign- 
 mouth, shows the impression Mr. Wright's sunlit face 
 made even on strangers. Some friends, with his nieces, 
 whom they had invited to join them, were picnicking on 
 the moors and about to boil the kettle for tea when a 
 keeper appeared and objected; but when Mr. Wright as- 
 sured him they were all "honest folk" and would carefully 
 see the embers of the fire safely quenched, he politely 
 touched his cap, saying, "Well, sir, you have a very nice 
 face" — and withdrew, leaving the picnic party to pro- 
 ceed with their preparations. 
 
 The death of Miss Rachel Wright in 1895, having left 
 a spare room at No. 13 Charlotte Street, the Misses 
 Withy gladly joined their uncle in the offers of hospitality 
 to missionaries and other servants of God, from time to 
 time, some of whom were well known and loved, but 
 others strangers to them all ; but to one and all alike he 
 extended his hearty welcome and great was their joy at 
 meeting him. Not only servants of Christ labouring in 
 the British Isles, but labourers from Spain and Italy, 
 Norway and Germany, various parts of America, Asia 
 and Africa found a cordial greeting from this united 
 family circle. 
 
 The summer rest of 1900 was spent at Weymouth, 
 Colonel Molesworth and his wife putting at the disposal 
 of Mr. Wright and nieces their home, and the year after, 
 they found recreation amid the bold and rugged coast 
 scenery of Newquay in Cornwall, the latter journey being 
 undertaken partly with a view to visiting a relative living 
 at Liskeard, who had not been seen for many years. It 
 was a mutual joy, enhanced by the presence of another 
 member of the same family unexpectedly staying at the 
 house, and by a division of the party all were able to pass 
 
THE NIGHT COMETH. II5 
 
 a night or two together. It proved to be the last such 
 meeting, one of the members dying the next year, and the 
 other soon after Mr. Wright's decease. 
 
 In the autunrn of this year, 1891, influenza again laid 
 Mr. Wright low, and after this illness, he never regained 
 his former robustness, his heart being weakened. Hith- 
 erto he habitually made light of his ailments, never seem- 
 ing to relish being much looked after or "fussed over;" 
 but henceforth it was somewhat otherwise. When well 
 enough, he with two nieces who had been ill with the 
 same disease, made a brief stay at Weston Super- 
 Mare, which proved helpful. The next spring, at the 
 kind invitation of Colonel and Mrs. Molesworth, he again 
 rested, in their home, from the severe pressure of work 
 at Christmas and New Year time — an invitation renewed 
 the year after when these friends were glad to find him 
 stronger. But, though regaining strength in a measure, 
 the pressure of daily work constrained him to decline in- 
 vitations to conferences, etc., held at a distance; and he 
 gracefully yielded to the importunity of those he loved 
 in sparing himself when possible, and resting more at 
 times, even breakfasting in bed after nights of partial 
 sleeplessness and brain weariness. From the annual Clif- 
 ton Conference he was rarely absent, and his addresses 
 were much prized. 
 
 Again some letters and literary fragments may be pre- 
 served as giving a few hints of his inner life and reflec- 
 tions of his true self. 
 
 The first is a letter, written Dec. 15, 1903, to friends 
 who had been bereaved ; and who, like many others, par- 
 alyzed by grief, . found it difficult to see the meaning of 
 the Lord's dealings : 
 
Il6 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL, 
 
 "My Beloved Friends : 
 
 Miss 's kind letter (for which please thank her) 
 
 has told us of the great sorrow that has befallen you. 
 May the "Father of Mercies, and the God of all Comfort; 
 who comforteth us in all our tribulation" comfort you now. 
 In such mysterious providences as this, our poor hearts 
 are often tempted to try and solve the "hard questions" 
 that unbelief, aided by Satan, will suggest. I pray that 
 the Holy Spirit may enable you to imitate the Queen of 
 Sheba, who came to Solomon with her "questions" and 
 "communed with him of all that was in her heart," and 
 "Solomon told her all her questions" (that is answered 
 them). "There was not anything hid from the King" 
 (i Kings x:i to 3). Now a greater than Solomon is 
 with us. Will he do less for us? O beloved friends, 
 "Be not hasty to go out of {this King's) sight * * * 
 for He doeth whatsoever pleaseth Him * * * and 
 who may say unto Him, 'What doest thou?'" (Eccles. 
 viii:3, 4). The "only wise God" has done this, and He 
 well knows that the faith and patience which He will 
 endow you with, will bear the strain of this which is, 
 perhaps, the severest you have yet known, but He is 
 faithful, and "will not suffer you to be tempted above 
 that ye are able" (i Cor. x:i3). Do not, I beseech you, 
 suffer your life to be chained to the one dark link in the 
 chain of His purpose, but let your eyes look right on to 
 the End. This is the one word that I feel free to send as 
 a message. Seek to keep your eye on the end of the 
 Lord in this severe discipline. "Ye have seen the end of 
 the Lord, that the Lord is very pitiful and of tender 
 mercy" (Jas. v:ii). "What I do thou knowest not now, 
 but thou shalt know hereafter" (John xiii:7). "Now no 
 chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but griev- 
 ous; nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit 
 
THE NIGHT COMETH. II7 
 
 of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby" 
 (Heb. xii:n). "Behold, we count them happy which 
 endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and 
 have seen the End of the Lord — that the Lord is very 
 pitiful and of tender mercy." 
 
 "These and other like utterances of the Spirit counsel 
 us to watch against allowing our eyes to fasten upon the 
 present dark link in the chain of God's perfect way," and 
 to look on to the end of the golden chain which is in the 
 hand of Him that sitteth on the Throne! My beloved 
 father-in-law used to delight in that sentence, "I had 
 fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of 
 the Lord in the land of the living" (Ps. xxvii:i3). 
 May Paul's experience (2 Cor. xii :9) find its repetition in 
 your own happy experience. 
 
 I will not write more. These few words will suffice 
 to show that we are thinking of you very often, and en- 
 deavouring to continue in prayer for you, and endeavour- 
 ing, also, to please our Father by hoping in His mercy 
 (Ps. cxlvii:ii). The four nieces unite with me in tender 
 sympathy and love." 
 
 Having received an invitat'on to spend a little time with 
 friends at Weymouth, in the early spring of 1904, feeling 
 that his state of health at that time did not necessitate a 
 change, and hesitating to lay any extra burden on his dear 
 fellow-labourer, Mr. Bergin, he wrote his friends at Wey- 
 mouth to that effect. Just after posting his letter, he 
 received one from them saying that illness in their home 
 would prevent the carrying out of the purpose to have 
 him there at that time, to which he sent the following 
 reply : 
 
Il8 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 12 January, 1904. 
 
 "Half an hour after I had posted my ktter of this date 
 to you, I got yours. 
 
 I deeply sympathize with dear Mrs. — and your- 
 self in this sore afHiction that has been permitted, and 
 rejoice and praise God with you for His sustaining and 
 recovering mercy. 
 
 I am sure it will be a satisfaction to your loving hearts 
 to learn, as you will have done from my earlier letter, 
 that my state of health renders an immediate change or 
 rest unnecessary. After passing through such an ordeal 
 the loved sufferer must need a prolonged season of quiet, 
 and I must beg that you will allow me to contribute to 
 this by deferring my visit indefinitely. We will wait 'the 
 fullness of time.' " 
 
 "Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, 
 shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again 
 from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my 
 greatness and comfort me on every side" (Ps. lxxi:20, 
 21). 
 
 We add also a few fragments of thought that belong 
 to this period of his life : 
 
 July 31, 1904. 
 
 "Faith is the arm outstretched with open hand to re- 
 ceive the gift." These words were spoken "with a beam- 
 ing face" in the course of a sermon on Isa. liii:i. 
 
 Speaking one time of the Lord's tender care over us in 
 counting the very hairs of our head, he added, "How 
 much more the cares they cover !" 
 
 A friend writes the following: "Calling on your 
 revered Uncle about mid September, 1904, for prayer, 
 and speaking of the difficulty of knowing how to prevail 
 in prayer, dear Mr. Wright gave a look of sympathy I 
 
THE NIGHT COMETH. II9 
 
 cannot forget, saying, 'Dear Sister, the narrow way 
 does not get easier as we go on.' On replying, 'Do you, 
 dear Mr. Wright, find it so?' with deep feeling he re- 
 plied, 'Indeed I do. The adversary sets all his forces 
 in array against us to hinder in drawing near.' " 
 
 This hint of Mr. Wright's experience of conflict 'in 
 the heavenlies,' reminds us of the fact, that it is in that 
 very Epistle to the Ephesians, where we are lifted to 
 the highest level of privilege, that we also find the most 
 emphatic warning against the wiles of the Devil, and 
 the exhortation to put on the panoply of God, in order 
 to withstand him. 
 
 And now the actual sunset hour drew near. 
 
 It is beautifully and significantly recorded of our Lord, 
 that "His hour was come that He should depart out of 
 this world unto the Father ;" what a divinely worded ex- 
 pression of that which should be the true conception of 
 the nature of every believer's death. 
 
 It is no chance event, but the hour, wisely and lovingly 
 determined in the Father's wisdom and grace, in whose 
 eyes the death of His saints is precious. Nor is it a 
 descent into the grave but an ascent into the Father's 
 presence, an "exodus" from this world as both our Lord 
 himself and his disciple after him termed it, (Luke ix:3i, 
 2 Pet. 1:15 — Greek) and an entrance into Paradise, which 
 is far more than the land- of corn and wine into which 
 the pilgrims from Egypt were ultimately led. And so, 
 with some appreciation of the fact that, in a special sense, 
 our Lord Jesus Christ hath "abolished Dleath and 
 brought Life and Immortality to light" we approach 
 what the poet calls "The closing scene." 
 
 It is a great source of satisfaction ana thanksgiving 
 that, up to within a few weeks of his "exodus," Mr. 
 
120 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 Wright had full possession of his faculties, both intel- 
 lectual and physical. Even those who saw him nearest 
 at hand observed but trifling signs of even bodily in- 
 firmity. Albeit he was past seventy-eight, he seemed 
 good for another ten years of work, especially as his 
 life was so exceptionally placid, free from the worry that 
 wears. far more than any work. 
 
 When, in April, 1904, the Torrey-Alexander Mission 
 was held in Bristol, though he was already so busily 
 occupied, he entered warmly into the work, attending 
 meetings as he was able, and encouraging attendance 
 on the part of the orphans, who were twice present at 
 children's meetings and some of whom received much 
 blessing. 
 
 It was on May 9th of that year that Mr. Wright, 
 on his way to Ashley Down, met what might have been 
 a fatal accident. Having started that morning later than 
 usual — being engaged with the annual Report — ^he neg- 
 lected to ring the bell soon enough for the tram-car 
 to be brought to a stop when he was waiting to alight; 
 and as he desired to get quickly to his work, not realiz- 
 ing how fast the car was still moving, he swung off, as 
 he had often done before, but in this case was thrown 
 violently forward, falling on his face and getting a 
 sharp cut across his nose. He was helped to a chemist's 
 shop, and was sent to a neighbouring doctor's office ; but 
 failing to find him, went on at once to the Orphanage, 
 where his own doctor promptly attended to his wound. 
 With his uniform self-forgetfulness and consideration 
 for others, he sought to inform and yet not alarm his 
 nieces, and anticipating that some one might come from 
 the tramway office to their residence, to make inquiries, he 
 telephoned to them, apprising them of his fall and as- 
 
THE NIGHT COMETH. 121 
 
 suring them that he was not seriously hurt. He returned 
 home early and for a few days had to keep quiet. He 
 appeared to recover rapidly, yet it is not unlikely that 
 the shock of this accident left some lasting injury which 
 hastened his departure. 
 
 The last three summer vacations had been spent at 
 Teignmouth, but that of 1904 had been specially happy, 
 marred only by his sudden recall to Bristol, before his 
 time was up, on account of Mr. Bergin's illness. After 
 his withdrawal, the hours hung heavily with his nieces, 
 who felt desolate in his absence. Little did they dream 
 that the Lord was gently preparing them for another 
 sudden call, which should forever remove him from their 
 earthly home and leave a permanent blank. 
 
 After the reunion at No. 13 of the little home circle 
 a few months passed in the ordinary manner, without 
 marked incident. Then, early in November, sickness 
 invaded the home, one of the beloved nieces suffering 
 from blood-poisoning and for some time in danger of 
 losing a finger ; and for weeks before Mr. Wright him- 
 self fell ill, a trained nurse had been sharing the family 
 life. During all this time his paternal sympathies were 
 drawn out to the sufferer, little thinking that, while she 
 whose life was threatened would be spared, she would 
 see him who seemed well brought low with a fatal mal- 
 ady. 
 
 On Sunday, New Year's Day, 1905, Mr. Wright was 
 in his usual place at Bethesda, and gave a valuable ad- 
 dress on " 'The new things' spoken of in the letter to 
 the Galatians — ^the new cry, 'Abba Father;' the new 
 walk, 'in the Spirit ;' because of the new Leader, 'led of 
 the Spirit,' the same Leader Jesus followed; the new 
 Hope, 'of the Righteousness by faith ;' the new Fruit, 'of 
 
122 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 the Spirit' " — a subject touched on again by him in his 
 last sermon at Stokes Croft, the same evening. 
 
 It was on this same first day of the year that he felt 
 the first symptoms of the coming malady, though with 
 his habitual reserve he forbore to mention it. The next 
 day, being one of hard work at Ashley Down, he was 
 unable to get to the prayer meeting at Bethesda before 
 8 o'clock, and so quietly took a seat near the outside 
 door, a listener only. After the meeting, as he lingered, 
 he sought to comfort a bereaved sister by reminding her 
 that it was "not a sin to feel the stroke — otherwise the 
 sinless One could not be 'touched with the feeling of our 
 infirmities.' " He was ever on the alert to impart bless- 
 ing to others, especially the sorrowing and suffering. 
 
 Those who were privileged to dine with Mr. Wright 
 that Monday at the Orphan House remember well the 
 bright face and cheerful greeting with which as he en- 
 tered the dining room he said to his fellow workers, with 
 such emphasis, "A happy New Year to you all" — to most 
 of those present his last words, and singularly memorable 
 as his farewell message. 
 
 The next morning he was unable to rise owing to his 
 suffering from what he thought to be a "boil," this being 
 to those in the home the first hint of any ailment. Though 
 it was not a new thing for him to breakfast in bed after a 
 restless night, there was something different in his man- 
 ner now, a sort of abstraction, quite observable at the 
 time, and which as he grew worse was looked back to as a 
 premonition of what was coming. 
 
 It had been arranged that on Tuesday, January 3rd, he 
 should give the address at the united Prayer Meeting 
 convened by the Evangelical Alliance for the first week 
 of the new year ; but he had to advise the chairman of his 
 
THE NIGHT COMETH. I23 
 
 inability to be present, and a telegram in reply announced 
 that the time left open for his address would be given to 
 prayer; and it was interesting to see how he rejoiced 
 that his compulsory absence would only leave more time 
 for what was really the main purpose of the meeting — 
 prayer. This was the first service to the Lord's people 
 that he was thus compelled to relinquish. 
 
 The first three days of tliat week he managed to sit 
 up an hour or two to get through the great mass of cor- 
 respondence, but it was with pain and difficulty. On 
 Thursday morning Mr. Bergin saw him for a little 
 and persuaded him to allow others to relieve him the next 
 day of all letters, but before half that day's letters re- 
 ceived his attention, it was plain that he was unequal to 
 his task, and he yielded to the entreaty of the niece that 
 these letters might also be left for Mr. Bergin to attend 
 to. For three days more he continued to sign a few per- 
 sonal letters, and with his own hand -wrote on January 
 4th to a donor, a sister who was in much perplexity at 
 the time, as follows, though scarcely able to sit up for 
 pain: 
 
 "With many and grateful thanks, dear Mrs . 
 
 I rejoice that you can speak of improved health. May 
 the Lord graciously confirm this. I am thankful to say 
 that the influenza in the Orphan Houses has quite disap- 
 peared. 
 
 'Through waves, through clouds and storms 
 He gently clears our way.' 
 
 'He led them on safely, so that they feared not.' " 
 
 Nothing whatever indicated that he was laid aside. 
 This was one of the last messages, if not the very last 
 message, ever written with his own hand. 
 
 It was about this time that, speaking of the work on 
 
124 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 Ashley Down, he said to one of his nieces, "I have no 
 anxiety about the work." On Friday, January 6th, he 
 said to Mr. Bergin, with a heavenly smile, "My doctor 
 has christened my ailment with a new name — a car- 
 buncle." It was either on that same day, or the following 
 one, that he said to him also, "The Lord is dealing well 
 with me. I would not alter what He has ordered." 
 
 The following lines were often quoted by him in 
 preaching (the authorship we do not know) and we 
 insert them in this memoir : 
 
 "Upon a life I did not live. 
 Upon a death I did not die. 
 Another's life, another's death, 
 I stake my whole eternity!" 
 
 He had engaged to preach at Stokes Croft on Sunday 
 the 8th inst., and, when Mr. Bergin kindly offered to take 
 his place, he said, "Oh, thank you, I am so glad." That 
 day an4 the following Sunday were the last for which 
 public engagements had been made by him, as he had 
 been hoping and preparing to accept a loving invitation 
 to spend a fortnight at Weymouth with Cblonel and Mrs. 
 Molesworth from the i8th of January to February 3rd, 
 prox. This invitation had been given in view of the extra 
 strain of the work on Ashley Down at Christmas and the 
 New Year which it was feared would probably tell on 
 him, and that a little rest and change just then would be 
 desirable and helpful. Mr. Wright was looking forward 
 with much anticipation to this visit, and particularly en- 
 quired of the doctor how soon he thought it would be 
 possible for him to go. The physician replied, "not be- 
 fore March," and so his dear friends at Weymouth very 
 kindly said they would keep the invitation open until 
 then. How little he or they thought at that time, that. 
 
TSE night COMETH. I25 
 
 long ere March opened he would be at rest forever in a 
 celestial clime! 
 
 Toward the close of life, Mr. Wright had a special 
 fondness for the hymn, "Take time to be holy," and often 
 chose it when the family were engaged in sacred song. 
 Was it not a revelation of his own life habits? 
 
 "It was said of the father of Dr. H. H. JesSup, that, 
 as in his later years, his earthly tabernacle became weaker 
 and the 'outward man' slowly perished, it only seemed 
 to set free the beautiful spirit within and bring into more 
 clearness and obviousness the glory of his 'inward man,' 
 and that it was 'like disintegrated quartz, falling away 
 from the gold.' 
 
 So it was with him who is the subject of this memoir. 
 The "lamp" of his real inward life shone the more 
 brightly as the "pitcher" was beginning to be broken. 
 
 He did not, however, seem to realize the very serious 
 nature of his malady, although, once or twice, he used 
 expressions which made others wonder whether indeed 
 the thought had not occurred to his mind that this might 
 be his "home call." For some days hopes alternated with 
 fears as to his recovery, while it was plain that he was 
 gradually losing strength, until it became necessary that 
 the surgical nurse already in the house attending to his 
 niece should also care for him; and on Friday, the 13th, 
 increasing weakness made a second nurse needful, for 
 night duty. Throughout the four weeks of his illness, 
 the beloved invalid was attended by the Christian phy- 
 sician, the "Luke" of the Orphan Houses, to whom he 
 was greatly attached and by whose visits he was always 
 cheered. One evening when his coming was unexpected, 
 he looked up with his smiling eye, and very cordially 
 said, "I am always glad to see you, doctor." The care 
 
126 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 and skill shown by this "beloved physician" were a source 
 of great comfort to all who waited upon the sufferer, as 
 was also the unremitting faithfulness of the trained 
 nurses. ' 
 
 The writer of these pages ventures to insert here the 
 last letter dictated to himself, as among the last messages 
 of his dying days. It will be seen that though written 
 by another hand it was signed by his own: 
 Dictated. 
 
 "13 Charlotte St., 
 
 "Bristol, 
 "January loth, 1905. 
 "Beloved Brother : — 
 
 "In acknowledging the receipt of your welcome letter 
 of the 17th ult. I am beholden to the hand of my dear 
 niece as amanuensis, having been, since last Tuesday, 
 compelled to keep my bed through a largish carbuncle, 
 which, like a volcanic region, with two or three craters, 
 is pouring forth what I hope it will be to the benefit of 
 the whole system to be rid of. It is situated at the ex- 
 tremity of the spine, so that I am unable to sit, or lie on 
 my back. I am thus furnishing another illustration of the 
 truth to which you allude in your letter, that we know 
 not what a day may bring forth. I am very thankful that 
 this did not come on until I had got through the bulk of 
 extra correspondence, which Christmas and New Year 
 always bring. First let me thank you warmly for the 
 advance copy of 'Making a Sermon,' which I duly re- 
 ceived and have already become deeply interested in. I 
 trust it may be greatly used to encourage the practice of 
 expository preaching. I am greatly interested in hearing 
 of your gifts of copies of the memoir to the officers of 
 the Salvation Army and missionaries in India and Egypt. 
 
THE NIGHT COMETH. 127 
 
 God's hand has been very marked all through in regard 
 to the chapel in memory of your beloved daughter. 
 
 I have received, within the last few days, a parcel con- 
 taining 41 copies of your recently published volume, 'The 
 Supernatural.' Unless my memory is at fault you have 
 not advised as to these, so I shall be glad of a line in- 
 dicating your wish as to their disposal. 
 
 I am glad to learn that your early return to Britain 
 is definitely fixed, and shall pray that you and the com- 
 panions of your voyage may be under the sheltering wing 
 of our loving Father. Hoping soon to see you face to 
 face, I am, 
 
 "Yours lovingly, 
 
 "James Wright. 
 
 "P. S. — An earnest Welsh servant of Christ (David 
 Jones) and another Christian friend came, by appoint- 
 ment, yesterday evening to our prayer meeting at Beth- 
 esda, to tell us a little of what they have been eye-wit- 
 nesses of in South Wales. From what I learn the power 
 of the Spirit of God is undoubtedly very manifest there 
 at this present time. Should we not expect such mani- 
 festations in response to the cry which is ascending from 
 many hearts? 'It is time for Thee, Lord, to work, for 
 they have made void Thy law.' " 
 
 In the early days of this last illness, though his sufifer- 
 ing was very acute, not a murmur escaped his lips. He 
 was constantly thinking, feeding upon the Word of God, 
 and it was beautiful to witness the perfect calm and peace 
 of his spirit. His conversation then and to the end was in 
 heaven, though he scarcely seemed aware how soon 
 earthly scenes were forever to fade from view. 
 
 His marked veneration for Holy Scripture, if possible, 
 grew as he neared the gates of the unseen. Almost his 
 
128 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL, 
 
 last talk with one of his nieces, his voice even then low 
 and feeble from exhausting weakness, was on the in- 
 separable link between the written Word and the living 
 Word; and he significantly said, "as we treat the one, 
 we treat the other." 
 
 At another time, when part of the Hundred and Nine- 
 teenth Psalm was being read to him, he said in connection 
 with verse i6i, 
 
 "My heart standeth in awe of Thy Word," 
 "it is that very Word, of which we stand in awe that be- 
 comes our food." 
 
 About January 13th or 14th, for a short time, a little 
 cloud seemed to float over his spirit, so that he said to 
 Mr. Bergin that his joy was not what he would have it ; 
 but this slight obscuration was soon gone; and on the 
 15th, when a niece who had been absent for an hour or 
 two, in the afternoon, expressed regret at having been so 
 long away, he answered brightly: "Oh, I am not un- 
 happy. God has brought me into a sweet resting place 
 and He is talking to me." And from that time on not a 
 shadow rested for a moment upon his peaceful spirit, 
 even as from a passing cloud. 
 
 On Saturday, January 14th, a second doctor had been 
 called in for consultation. The disease was making rapid 
 progress, and so was the prostrating weakness. Towards 
 evening feverish symptoms often appeared, making the 
 night restless and half sleepless. Yet on the Tuesday 
 following he still testified : 
 
 "The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places ; 
 
 Yea, I have a goodly heritage." 
 
 "If I could have my choice I would not dare choose 
 other than the Lord has appointed for me." * * * "j jo 
 not care to talk much ; many words are not needed ; but 
 
THE NIGHT COMETH. I29 
 
 it is my joy to testify." * * * «i have left myself 
 entirely in His hands, and I have been walking with Him 
 in this illness. I know He is doing the very best for me." 
 He had tested and proved the lines : 
 
 "He knows. He loves, He cares, 
 Nothing this truth can dim. 
 He gives the very best to those 
 Who leave the choice to Him." 
 
 On Wednesday, i8th, when one of his nieces was sit- 
 ting in his room, he said, "His name shall be called Won- 
 derful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting 
 Father." Then, after a few seconds, "Of the increase of 
 His Government there shall be no end." After another 
 pause, "The zeal of the Lord of Hosts shall perform this." 
 Then he said, "Everything in the world will have to 
 arrange itself in accordance with this." After about an 
 hour, he whispered softly and slowly, "The stillness of 
 His presence." "With twain they covered their faces, 
 with twain they covered 'their feet." 
 
 On Thursday, 19th, referring to his illness, he said, it 
 had been a sweet rest. He could not explain it to any 
 one. Then he said, "Dear Mr. Craik used to quote, in 
 his strong Scotch accent, 'The heart knoweth its own bit- 
 terness, and a stranger intermeddleth not with its 
 joy.' " The same evening he suddenly and unexpectedly 
 uttered the words, "And there was a great calm." An- 
 other day he said, "I had fainted unless I had believed 
 to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." 
 Then, "If I had known all this" — ^meaning his illness on 
 that Monday, referring to the last day he was able to go 
 out — ^but "It is the Lord's ordering." 
 
 Saturday evening, January 21st, he said, "And when 
 He had taken the book the four and twenty elders fell 
 
130 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 down before the Lamb." The niece who was with him 
 said, "That was worship, and that is what you are 
 doing." He said, "Yes." Then he said, "John wept 
 much because no man was found worthy to open and to 
 read the book, neither to look thereon." * * * "Weep 
 not, behold the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the root of 
 David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the 
 seven seals thereof." When He took the book there was 
 peace. He is the source of peace both in heaven and on 
 earth. Satan's aim is to blind men's eyes to this. Oh! 
 wonder of wonders! that our eyes should have been 
 opened to see it." One of those beside him said, "It is 
 all of grace," and he answered, "Grace and glory." "Be- 
 hold I make all things new, not I will make." His niece 
 said to him, "Jesus walks upon the waters, and I suppose 
 so far as our faith lays hold on Him we, too, walk upon 
 the waters?" He answered, "Yes, He does not let me 
 even sink ankle deep. Later in the evening, being told 
 of the special prayer meetings, being held in the Orphan 
 Houses that evening for him, he was much touched on 
 hearing this, and said, "Who am I, Lord ? But Thou art 
 very great." 
 
 On Sunday, January 22nd, a physician, who had come 
 down from London to see another patient, was brought 
 in to see him. This doctor gave some hope that he might 
 recover, though he said it was a very grave case. That 
 same evening when one of us was feeding him with his 
 supper, he burst out with the ejaculatory prayer, "O, 
 Lord, bless all this kind attention." 
 
 On Monday, 23rd, he dictated to one of his nieces, as 
 best he was able, a message to those who would be as- 
 sembled at the prayer meeting at Bethesda, a meeting 
 he had regularly attended for over fifty years. It is here 
 given verbatim, as follows : 
 
THE NIGHT COMETH. I3I 
 
 "As it would be impossible for me to acknowledge in- 
 dividually the tenth part of the loving words, prayers and 
 acts of which I have been the recipient, I desire to take 
 this opportunity of expressing my heart's thanks in this 
 public way. At the same time the Lord has ministered 
 to my soul, and now when I find it difficult to exercise 
 continuous thought, such indescribable joy in the three 
 aspects of our adorable Saviour's work in appearing at 
 the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacriiice of 
 Himself, thus triumphantly meeting every personal need 
 of my conscience as a guilty sinner; then His present 
 appearing before the face of our God for us, thus bring- 
 ing Heaven's peace into the soul in regard to all present 
 things, cares and needs, and then the certainty of His 
 appearing 'the second time without sin unto Salvation' — 
 the Living Person — God's Christ, is enough. Would the 
 dear brethren read the three passages in Hebrews ix to 
 which I have referred, and receive them as a loving mes- 
 sage from myself." 
 
 That evening, by the doctor's orders the beloved suf- 
 fering one was moved and laid upon a water bed, for 
 greater ease. He appreciated every attention, however 
 slight, that was paid to him, to promote his comfort. 
 
 On Tuesday, 24th, he said, "Shall we receive good at 
 the hand of God, and shall we not accept (i, e., receive 
 joyfully) the evil?" 
 
 On Wednesday, 25th, one of his nieces repeated to him 
 the verse, "The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety 
 by Him; and the Lord shall cover him all the day long, 
 and he shall dwell between His shoulders." He simply 
 raised his hand and said, "Yes." 
 
 Friday morning, 27th, when told of a loving note from 
 one in fellowship at Bethesda, telling of the many earnest 
 prayers being offered on his behalf at Martock, Westport 
 
132 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 and Lerington, he said, with a smile, as if speaking to 
 the Lord, "Who am I, Lord? A sinner saved by grace. 
 Christ has not forsaken His Church. There's a good deal 
 of Christ yet to be found in His people." 
 
 That morning he was very low and weak and failed 
 much towards evening. His nieces almost thought he was 
 going home that day, but his sweet presence was spared 
 to them nearly two days more. On the morning of this 
 day he spoke to Mr. Bergin, whom he was able to see for 
 a few minutes, of God's grace to them in the conduct of 
 the work on Ashley Down, and added how deeply they 
 were debtors to Him for that grace. 
 
 On Saturday, 28th, there was another consultation of 
 doctors, and on one of his nieces asking the doctor, who 
 came in consultation, what his opinion of the beloved 
 Uncle was, the reply was, "I'm afraid his work is done." 
 This opinion did not take them by surprise, for they had 
 themselves but faint hopes of his recovery from quite the 
 early part of his illness, though friends had tried to buoy 
 them up, and seemed sometimes to think that they were 
 looking at the dark side. But He who knew what He was 
 about to do had been gradually preparing their hearts for 
 this final issue for some four years; As the months went 
 by they who were most with him, could not help noticing 
 that his strength was not what it had been, up to 1901, 
 though to outsiders he might have appeared as well and 
 strong as ever. Though he was always so bright, the 
 hearts that clung to him so fondly and the eyes that 
 watched him so tenderly, could not fail to feel and see 
 that the "earthly house of this tabernacle" was being 
 gradually "dissolved," that he might be "clothed upon 
 with his house which is from Heaven." 
 
 In the morning of Saturday he replied clearly to some 
 
THE NIGHT COMETH. I33 
 
 questions which Mr. Bergin was obliged to ask him about 
 the work on Ashley Down, but, after that, he seemed 
 unequal to any conversation, as the brain was getting a 
 little confused from the nature of his malady. 
 
 The lively interest he took in current events, however, 
 was manifest, even on this day, the last before he passed 
 away. It had ever been his wont to keep himself in close 
 touch with passing events, both at home and abroad; 
 and, on this morning, he desired a daily paper to be got, 
 that he might know how things were progressing between 
 Russia and Japan, saying, he was "so out of touch with 
 it lately." One of his nieces read him the leader, but 
 whether he was able to follow it all they did not know. 
 
 In the afternoon a band came and played at the top of 
 the street. The nurse who was with him inquired if it 
 disturbed him, when he replied, "Oh, no, I enjoy it !" 
 
 At 1 1 :45 p. M. he had an attack of heart failure, and 
 for a few moments could hardly get his breath. As it was 
 thought that his hour had now come, three of his nieces 
 were immediately called, but by the time they reached 
 the room the acute attack had passed off. Both nurses, 
 however, spent the night in his room. He was wandering 
 most of the night; sometimes his utterances were quite 
 incoherent, but once the nurse heard him praying about 
 the work and about himself, and saying he was not afraid. 
 In the morning about 6 or 6:30 the nieces whom he 
 called his "quaternion" went to see him, and he knew 
 them, kissed them, and said, "Thank you !" and then lay 
 quiet again. 
 
 Early in the morning, he asked the nurse to read him 
 Ps. xxiii and also a favourite hymn of his, the first verse 
 of which runs thus: 
 
 "Abba, Father, Lord we call Thee, 
 
134 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 (Hallowed name!) from day to day; 
 
 'Tis Thy children's right to own Thee — 
 
 None but children 'Abba' say. 
 
 This high blessing we inherit, 
 
 Thy free gift through Jesus' blood ; 
 
 God the Spirit, with our spirit, 
 
 Witnesseth we're sons of God." 
 After breakfast, when two of the nieces were with 
 him, he said, "This is Sunday." Then a little later, "Isn't 
 this the meeting house?" One of them answered, "This 
 is our home, and the Lord meets with us here." He an- 
 swered, "That is what I mean." Later in the morning 
 the words were quoted to him, "Fear thou not, for I have 
 redeemed thee ; I have called thee by thy name ; thou art 
 mine." He repeated the words, "I have called thee by thy 
 name, thou art mine." His beloved ones could do little 
 else but watch him all that morning. His speech was 
 becoming so incoherent that it was with difficulty some- 
 times that they could discover what he wanted to say. 
 
 Mr. Bergin saw him for a few minutes at lo A. M., 
 when, in reply to his question as to what kind of a night 
 he had had, the loved one replied, "Well, I thought I had 
 a good night, but they tell me I had a bad one." At 12 130 
 Miss Adele Bergin called and saw him for a few mo- 
 ments. He knew her, and said, "What do you think of 
 me?" She answered, "You are wonderful as ever." 
 
 Between i and 1 130, the early afternoon of January 
 29th, his breathing became short and laboured. All the 
 inmates of the house gathered in his room, and for more 
 than two hours watched beside him. He seemed to have 
 short intervals of unconsciousness, for, when the doctor 
 came, about 3 p. m., he took no notice. Towards the 
 close his breathing became quiet. 
 
THE NIGHT COMETH. 1 35 
 
 Once he looked enquiringly at the niece who was stand- 
 ing by the bedside, holding his hand, as if he would ask 
 whether they were all there ; and, when Mr. Bergin came 
 in just after 3 o'clock, he knew him, and greeted him 
 with a lovely smile. When Mr. Bergin said to him, 
 "Nearing Home, beloved brother," he assented by a grip 
 of the hand. Then he looked round as if he wanted to 
 wish all goodbye, and they took their farewell of him 
 then, but he was unable to respond. Shortly before 4 
 o'clock a deadly pallor overspread his face, his eyes 
 opened, and he gazed up fixedly for a few moments, then 
 they closed again, and he gently passed away to be 
 
 "Forever With the Lord." 
 
 Were we called to choose a scriptural epitaph, we 
 would select two scriptural passages, as an accurate ex- 
 pression of his character and life. 
 
 Luke ii:25: 
 "The same man was just and devout. 
 Waiting for the consolation of Israel ; 
 And the Holy Ghost was upon him." 
 
 And Job xxix:ii-i6: 
 "When the ear heard me, then it blessed me ; 
 And when the eye saw me, it gave witness to me : 
 Because I delivered the poor that cried ; 
 And the fatherless and poor that had none to help him. 
 The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon 
 
 me. 
 And I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. 
 I Was a Father to the Poor." 
 
CHAPTER SEVENTH. 
 
 THE DAY S AFTERGLOW. 
 
 Two choice texts of Scripture recur to the mind in 
 connection with such an event as James Wright's depart- 
 ure for the world unseen and eternal : 
 
 "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His 
 saints;" Psalm cxvi:i5. 
 
 "The memory of the just is blessed;" Proverbs x:7. 
 
 The former suggests the glory of the sunset hour, as 
 one dear to the Lord, and therefore radiant with His 
 presence; the latter, the afterglow of the lingering twi- 
 light which forbids the night of oblivion to advance. 
 
 If the last words of departing saints could be gathered 
 in one volume what illumination they would cast upon 
 the experiences of the dying hour ! 
 
 "The Celestial City," said Payson, "is full in my 
 view," thus expressing his faith in the interconscious 
 moment. "Welcome joy," said Eliot, the pioneer apostle 
 to the Indians, showing his confidence at the instant of 
 departure. Said Frances E. Willard, "How beautiful it 
 is to be with God !" Said D. L. Moody, "Earth is re- 
 ceding, heaven is advancing — God is calling me." Said 
 Major D. W. Whittle, "I am dying in the dawn of the 
 morning." 
 
 The late Bishop of Durham had many days of quiet 
 illness. Friends thought him cogitating a scholar's prob- 
 lems. "No," said he, "I take three or four great truths, 
 first truths, and think upon them always." 
 
 "Can you not think of a promise that will help me?" 
 
THE DAY S AFTERGLOW. I37 
 
 said the dying Bengel. "The blood of Jesus Christ His 
 son cleanseth us from all sin." "That is enough! Just 
 what I needed." 
 
 Bishop Butler— the Melchizedek of the Anglican church 
 — without predecessor or successor — ^had some dark 
 hours on his deathbed, and asked his chaplain, "What 
 shall I lay hold of?" "He hare our sins," was the 
 answer. "But was it for me?" "Him that cometh to 
 me I will in no wise cast out." "Oh, this is comfort- 
 able," were his last words. 
 
 John Wesley, in the weakness of his last days, had a 
 season of obscuration, when a darkness almost super- 
 natural, for a time, enveloped him. But the glory of the 
 cross burst upon him at last, and he began to sing: 
 "I, the chief of sinners am; 
 But Jesus died for me." 
 Perhaps the experience of darkness is not uncommon, 
 even to saints, when the life currents are fast ebbing. 
 So close is the bond between body and spirit, that it is 
 not strange if the physical weakness and morbid con- 
 ditions affect the mind at times. Even the most con- 
 spicuous saints have been known to be oppressed with 
 doubt and even despair; but at the last the sun emerges 
 from the clouds and lights up with glory the sunset hour. 
 Hence our Puritan fathers treasured up the sayings of 
 the dying among their Bible records. These "last words" 
 became a part of their folklore. They were repeated 
 from behind the pulpit hour glass, under the sounding 
 board. They took the view of the old English poet 
 Waller: 
 Stronger by weakness, wiser men become 
 As they draw nearer to their heavenly home; 
 Leaving the world, both worlds at once they view, 
 Who stand upon the threshold of the new. 
 
138 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 Longfellow's poem. Resignation, was the voice of this 
 experience. The poet's belief in the destiny of the soul 
 came to be : 
 
 There is no death ! what seems so is transition ; 
 
 This life of mortal breath 
 Is but the suburb of the life elysian 
 
 Whose portal we call death. 
 
 One of the most venerable and devout of American 
 preachers, toward the close of life, gave a public testi- 
 mony to the preciousness of the death of saints in the 
 eyes of the Lord He said that in a pastorate of sixty 
 years, he had never seen one of God's saints die in agony ; 
 that in many cases, there were peculiar visions of heaven 
 or of truth and grace ; that there had been repeated cases 
 of the granting of some special desire or prayer, long 
 withheld; and that the aggregate of dying testimonies 
 was marvellous as a witness to God's faithfulness. 
 
 No doubt, in many instances, as in that of Whitefield, 
 the dying hour is not one of testimony, because the whole 
 life, as he said, had borne sufficient witness. But, in 
 others, Satan seems to be permitted to have his last con- 
 flict with the believer, if only to make the victory of faith 
 and the fidelity of the promise the more conspicuous. 
 
 But even when the shadows are permitted to gather and 
 clouds cover the light, how beautifully it breaks at last! 
 
 Part of the joy of the saints' death must lie in the re- 
 view of the Lord's dealings with His servants : and may 
 not no small part of it be connected with the remembrance 
 of a life of service and suffering for his sake ? If as Dr. 
 Johnson said of the luxurious provisions for self indul- 
 gence in David Garrick's sumptuous villa at Hampton, 
 "these are what make a death bed terrible," must not a 
 
THE DAY S AFTERGLOW. 1 39 
 
 foretaste of reward and recompense be found in the hum- 
 ble retrospect of what has been voluntarily foregone 
 and renounced for Christ? It was said of Cecil Rhodes, 
 that he allowed himself to possess but few pictures, not 
 because he lacked power to enjoy them, but because he 
 looked upon them as luxuries. "I could for the money 
 that would cost build so many miles of railway !" This 
 was from the worldling's point of view. Is not the dis- 
 ciple permitted to look back and see how for the Lord's 
 sake what was gain to him he counted loss and refuse 
 that he might know Christ, the power of His Resurrection 
 and the fellowship of His Sufferings, being made con- 
 formable unto his death ? 
 
 "The death bed's a detector of the heart;" yes, is it not 
 also a revealer of the life ? Does it not cast back a pow- 
 erful searchlight over the whole history of the dying man, 
 and expose what is wrong, or reveal what is consistent 
 and Godlike. If God says to the sinner "Remember!" 
 does He not also open before His faithful servant the 
 vista of past years and permit him to sing, 
 
 "I have fought a good fight, 
 I have finished my course, 
 I have kept the Faith !" 
 
 Is it not worth while, in every crisis of life, when new 
 decisions are to be made, and we are at the turning of the 
 way, the cross roads of duty and inclination, to ask how 
 they will look from the dying hour! 
 
 Benjamin Jowett, L. L. D., master of Baliol College, 
 was once asked by a lady who wished to draw out some 
 smart reply, "What do you think of God ?" "It matters 
 little : the all important question is What does He think of 
 me. 
 
I40 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 The time will come, and it often comes in this life, and 
 especially as we confront the august exchange of words, 
 when we cannot but ask each for himself, "What does 
 God think of me !" "How does the life I have led look 
 in His eyes!" It is not that salvation hangs on any 
 merit of our own ; but there is such a thing as being our- 
 selves saved while our work is burned and we suffer loss. 
 There is also "an abundant entrance into the everlasting 
 kingdom" (compare i Corinth. iii:i5 and 2 Peter i:ii). 
 In those quiet hours, when dear James Wright said "God 
 is talking to me, and I have been walking with Him in 
 this illness," may we not believe that, because perhaps 
 of his very humility, the Lord refreshed him with the 
 memory of the life service he had been enabled to render 
 to Him? Surely to have done something for the Lord, 
 and to have done it well ; to have borne some burdens in 
 His name and filled up that which is behind of the afflic- 
 tions of Christ in our flesh for His Body's sake which is 
 the church, must bring to the dying saint a foretaste of 
 the heavenly reward ! 
 
 Heaven is not only a place but also a state, and a true 
 affinity with God is both the preparation for its joys and 
 the inward certification of its citizenship. In proportion 
 therefore as the Divine likeness is more and more evident 
 the bliss of heaven is more and more enjoyed in foretaste 
 so that the "days of heaven" are known upon earth. This 
 is the inspiring thought that finds its expression in that 
 beautiful "Hymn of the Ages," where the "angel of the 
 golden gate" says to an intercessor, 
 "Who knows to bless with prayer like thine in Hell can 
 never be ; 
 God's Angel could not if he would bar up this door from 
 thee." 
 
THE day's afterglow. I4I 
 
 But, whatever be the experiences of the "closing 
 scene," there is an after glow, a long lingering glory of 
 the departing day. Some one has beautifully said, "Re- 
 collection is the one Paradise from which we cannot be 
 shut out or turned out." 
 
 "The memory of the Just is Blessed." 
 
 May we not say even more that the career of the good 
 man is never ended ? "He being dead yet speaketh." 
 
 It has been suggested that we may make an abridged 
 history of the two worlds, by drawing a line, with an 
 interrogation point below and an exclamation point 
 above : 
 
 There is between the two worlds only the thinnest pos- 
 sible partition: and while below lies the realm of doubt 
 and questioning, above is the realm of answers and cer- 
 tainties. So the two lives, here and there, constitute a 
 divine unit, and service is continuous. Dr. Holland 
 wrote : 
 
 "I count this thing to be grandly true. 
 That a noble deed is a step toward God, 
 Lifting the soul from the common clod 
 To a purer air and a broader view," 
 
 Charles Kingsley has echoed a similar sentiment: 
 
 "Be good, sweet maid, and let who will be clever : 
 Do noble deeds, not dream them all day long ; 
 
 And so make Life, Death and the vast Forever, 
 One grand sweet song." 
 
 We like to think of a holy life as an unquenchable 
 flame. 
 
 Psalm xxi:4: "He asked life of Thee^ and Thou 
 gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever." 
 
 Presently we shall give some evidences of the wide 
 influence exerted by Mr. Wright's saintly life. 
 
 We are first concerned, however, with the radiant re- 
 
142 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 flections from the very sunset itself, while as yet the sun 
 of his mortal life had scarcely passed below the horizon. 
 
 The one feeling of all survivors was that the life of 
 a disciple rarely reaches such a stage of completeness. 
 There seemed nothing left unfinished. It is said of Peter 
 the Great that he died, dictating his will. "I leave all 
 to" and the blank was never filled. 
 
 Roebling, the bridge builder, brought as an invalid, in 
 a canal barge to be present at the opening of his great 
 Brooklyn Bridge, looked up at the structure and down at 
 the drawings and said : "It's like the plan." 
 
 Surely here was a human life that filled out the divine 
 purpose with remarkable entirety; and what could death 
 be to such a man but a more complete realization of his 
 one life aim— absorption in the Will of God ! Tennyson 
 must have caught a glimpse of such a life and its perfect 
 bliss beyond, when he. wrote : 
 
 "Man's free will is but a bird in a cage ; he can stop at 
 the lower perch or mount to a higher. Then that which 
 he is and knows will enlarge his cage, give him a higher 
 and higher perch, at last break off the top of his cage, and 
 let him out, to be one with the Free Will of the universe." 
 
 The funeral services form a part of this biography, for 
 they throw side lights upon the remarkable character we 
 are seeking faithfully to portray. Devout men carried 
 this holy servant of God to his burial and made great 
 lamentation over him, not because his life was cut pre- 
 maturely short, but because of the desolation left behind. 
 
 "Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth ! 
 The faithful fail from among the children of men." 
 
 The funeral services, held at Bethesda, February 2nd, 
 will be memorable to all who were present, while recol- 
 lection survives. 
 
THE DAY'S AFTERGLOW. I43 
 
 Mr. Davies gave out the hymn, "O God, our help in 
 ages past," etc. 
 
 Mr. Stanley then announced that the services at all 
 four the affiliated Chapels, on the following Sunday 
 evening, would be of a memorial character; and read 
 a letter from Pastor Frank White, of the Talbot Road 
 Tabernacle, London: 
 
 "I take my pen immediately on receipt of your kind 
 card, but how to tell my grief for the tidings therein con- 
 tained I know not. Truly I am a chief mourner with you 
 and Mr. Bergin, and all in fellowship at Bethesda, and 
 those precious orphans for whom my heart weeps, besides 
 those of his nearer kindred. Blessed man he was in his 
 life, blessed, too, in death, for does it not mean 'Forever 
 with the Lord — His Lord and ours. Many years ago, 
 while staying a few days in Bristol, be honoured me with a 
 brief call. The memory of those few golden moments 
 has lingered with me ever since — I felt when he had left 
 the room, that a man of God had been with me. I recol- 
 lect nothing he said, but I felt and still feel what he him- 
 self was. And so another of the King's own has passed 
 over— a 'Mr. Valiant-for-the-Truth' and 'Mr. Standfast' 
 in one. He too has gone in to see that Head which was 
 crowned with thorns, and that Face which was spit upon, 
 and to be with Him in whose company he so delighted 
 when here. Surely the thought of what he has gone 
 to, and what awaits us on the other side, should and does 
 lie as a glowing coal at one's heart. 
 
 " 'Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from 
 henceforth : yea, saith the Spirit, for they rest from their 
 labours, and their works do follow them.' 
 
 "With fervent love to you all, 
 
 "Yours very faithfully in Christ, 
 
 "Frank H. White." 
 
144 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 After prayer by Mr. J. L. Stanley, Mr. G. Fred. 
 Bergin spoke: 
 
 "Beloved friends, you may be better able to imagine 
 my feelings than I can describe them, and I would be- 
 speak the earnest, silent breathings of God's children 
 that He may help me in the few words I desire to speak 
 now. 
 
 "Let me read Psalm xxiii, I have been led to choose 
 this scripture on which to dwell for a moment or two, by 
 the deeply interesting fact that it was the last scripture 
 that the beloved departed one had read to him. On 
 the last night of his earthly pilgrimage a little before 
 three in the morning be asked his nurse to read him 
 Psalm xxiii, and as I meditated upon this, and thought 
 of what I had known personally, and intimately, during 
 — not what the beloved writer of that letter says — 'A 
 few golden moments,' but during thirty-two years of 
 unbroken, increasing friendship, with never a breath 
 between us, but the friendship growing and increasing, 
 and still more close during the past seven years — and 
 let me pause to say I esteem it as one of God's choicest 
 gifts to me to have had that friendship. Bear with a 
 personal word — a week before his death he grasped my 
 hand and kissed it, saying, 'O my brother, how I love 
 you.' 
 
 From my knowledge of him during that long period 
 of our friendship, I cannot thing of a more fitting 
 scripture to meditate upon — for what was this Psalm but 
 the bleating of the sheep in the ear of the Shepherd, 
 and what is it but the outpouring of the heart of one 
 who has learned what the Shepherd is, delighting in the 
 Shepherd, and confiding in the Shepherd? That was the 
 attitude of our beloved brother during all the years that 
 
THE day's afterglow. 1 45 
 
 I have known him. I have been with him in many diffi- 
 culties and sorrows. I was with him in his life's sor- 
 row fifteen years ago, when his beloved wife was taken. I 
 was with him an hour after, and wept with him, but never 
 for a moment did he lose his confidence in that Shepherd. 
 I went from him to the prayer meeting, and told friends 
 there, that I found him a broken-hearted worshipper; 
 sorrow had not hindered his worship, but increased it. 
 During the month he was lying, ill, there was so little 
 consciousness that he was going home, that there was 
 no farewell for me, no counsels as to carrying on the 
 work — no good-bye to his nieces whom he loved, * * * 
 
 There seemed quite a calm satisfaction with God. 
 During the first week he said to me, after he became 
 aware of the serious nature of his malady, and with in- 
 creasing sufiEering — "God doeth well, I would not alter 
 one thing he has done." Now all this, beloved friends, 
 betokens his deep, full confidence in the Lord. And 
 that marked his character throughout, and that largely 
 helped to sustain him in the great and arduous work 
 to which the Lord had called him. In times of difficulty 
 and trial, his confidence seemed to grow. And his last 
 utterances were: "Jehovah is my Shepherd, I shall not 
 want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures" — 
 mark the contrast — while lying suffering, "green pas- 
 tures." Beloved, this first verse seems but an echo of 
 the language of his heart from beginning to end. And 
 they are the result of our blessed Lord's words in John 
 X :27. "My sheep hear my voice — I know them, and they 
 follow me." 
 
 When a boy of fourteen he first heard the Shepherd's 
 voice. Is my voice reaching any ear to-day, which has 
 never heard that Shepherd's voice? It may be some are 
 
 K 
 
146 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 here who have had_ transactions with him, and have ad- 
 mired the character of James Wright — ^beloved friends, 
 let me tell you, it was the grace of God made him what 
 he was. Gh, if there is one here to-day who has never 
 loved the Shepherd's voice, let my beseeching of you by 
 this lovely life just closed, woo and win you, to listen to 
 that voice, and know the joy he knew. As a lad of four- 
 teen, he heard that voice, and like the Apostle Paul, his 
 was one steady, growing, onward course, his path was 
 verily "The path of the just shining more and more unto 
 the perfect day." 
 
 Like the sun in mid-day splendour, never did it shine 
 out more fully than on this sick bed, in absolute submis- 
 sion of heart to that blessed Lord. Those who knew 
 him well, knew how he delighted to put his Lord in the 
 first place, and how he loved to take the back place. 
 How little he not only not cared for, but I might say, 
 disliked mere popularity — mere public notice, and it was 
 with great difficulty we oould persuade him to have bills 
 printed when he was going to preach. And yet those who 
 were privileged to listen to his words, will perhaps never 
 forget what an expositor of Holy Scripture he was, 
 how the doctrines of God's grace, meeting man's ruin, 
 filled his mind. This came out in the little message 
 he sent to the church, which his niece wrote at his dic- 
 tation. He first returned thanks for all the sympathy 
 and prayer on his behalf, and then turned to Hebrews 
 ix showing how the three appearings of Christ, men- 
 tioned towards the close of that chapter, were then stay- 
 ing his heart. The first appearing, to put away sin — 
 meeting his guilty conscience — ^the second, "Now in the 
 presence of God," to sustain him in the present, and the 
 final appearing when He comes again, which was the hope 
 
THE day's afterglow. I47 
 
 of his heart. These doctrines were filling his heart and 
 mind. The Holy Scriptures were to him, the Word of 
 the Living God; the "Higher Criticism," which is doing 
 such havoc among many, did not for one moment touch 
 his confidence in the plenary inspiration of the Word of 
 God, which he received, not as the word of man, but as 
 it is, in truth, the Word of God. In the latter part of this 
 Psalm, there was a beautiful similarity to his circum- 
 stances, "Though I walk through the valley of the 
 shadow of death." It was within twelve hours of his death 
 that he asked for that portion to be read to him. "I will 
 fear no evil, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy 
 staff, they comfort me." Ah, yes, there was no discom- 
 fort spiritually through that illness — much suffering and 
 inconvenience — much weakness, but ever joy in the Lord. 
 
 One day one of his nieces remarked to me, when they 
 were alternating between hope and fear — that they feared 
 he was going, his converse was so heavenly. Satan was 
 not allowed to harass him, he knew the Lord was with 
 him. 
 
 And then he had the hope of being "In the house of 
 the Lord forever." And akin to this faith in Christ was 
 his confidence in God and his Father, and this Psalm 
 he found specially suitable for the circumstances in which 
 he was then. 
 
 Dear friends, is it not blessed to find at the close of 
 such a life that his confidence was expressed by asking 
 for that Psalm. And after it had been read to him, he 
 asked the nurse to read the hymn, "Abba, Father, Lord, 
 we call Thee," which we shall presently sing. 
 
 A brief word as to his career. He came from London 
 in 1859, by the request of Mr. Mtiller to help him in his 
 work, and became co-director privately in 1870, which 
 
148 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 was made known in 1873. From 1875 onward, he had, 
 one might say, the sole directorship, while Mr. Miiller 
 traveled to the. ends of the earth; and, from the death 
 of Mr. Miiller, he was actually and literally sole director. 
 He called on me, before the month after Mr. Miiller's 
 death had expired, to ask me to join him. God had pre- 
 pared my heart, and when he opened his heart to me, and 
 I told him the exercises of my heart, our hearts were 
 made more than ever one together; and on April 25th I 
 was up at his side. 
 
 Dear friends, when I pass that empty room, now — ^bear 
 with me — my heart is very full! 
 
 The desolation felt at Charlotte Street, nothing can 
 describe — ^he was a father to those nieces with whom he 
 went to live — and the desolation at Ashley Down, — ^we 
 can't trust ourselves to speak one to the other about 
 him, — ^please remember us in prayer. 
 
 The question has been asked me more than once in the 
 last three days, "Will the work go on?" I can't do bet- 
 ter than answer in the very words which our beloved 
 departed brother uttered seven years ago in exactly simi- 
 lar circumstances. "The work is going on, we have re- 
 ceived orphans since he went, and sent out two appren- 
 tices, and we are carrying on every branch of the work." 
 The Lord knows as to the future what He will do ; and 
 I gladly echo this, we know not, but He knows, and 
 as long as He shall help us, and see fit to provide, we 
 will joyfully put our shoulder to the burden and go on, 
 and if it be His will to shut it up, who are we ? 
 
 One interesting fact perhaps may not come out else- 
 where, that, during the time of Mr. Wright's long asso- 
 ciation with that work from 1859 till his death, there 
 were received into the Orphan Houses, ten thousand 
 
THE DAYS AFTERGLOW. I49 
 
 seven hundred and forty-one orphans, a service full of 
 honour. 
 
 It was his joy in 1901, at the beginning of the new 
 century to widen the area of the work, by admitting 
 orphans, bereft of one parent only, and this has swelled 
 the numbers, so that now there are more orphans in the 
 houses than have been there for twenty years. 
 
 The last time our beloved brother ministered in our 
 midst was at Stokes Croft on January ist, and some who 
 heard him told me how powerfully he ministered. His 
 last bit of pastoral work was on the last Monday evening 
 he was out, — ^he was standing near the door there, talk- 
 ing to a sorrowing widow, just bereft, and whose hus- 
 band had been closely associated with him in school work. 
 That widow has written to me just a line or two with 
 regard to that last interview. "I recall with deep grati- 
 fication the brief interview I had with our beloved de- 
 parted one after the prayer meeting only a month ago, 
 when he told me how helpful it was in like affliction to 
 remember that it is not sin to feel the stroke, for if it were 
 sin to feel the stroke, the Sinless One would not be 
 touched with the feelings that we were the subjects of. 
 His words coming from such honoured lips, have again 
 and again comforted me in my deep sorrow." 
 
 Thus has closed a life full of the savour of Christ. 
 We don't magnify him but the grace of God in him. We 
 glory in the grace that made him so fair and lovely, 
 and we should seek to imitate his faith, and follow his 
 steps." 
 
 Dr. Maclean, of Bath, then gave out the hymn to which 
 Mr. Bergin had referred, "Abba, Father, Lord we call 
 Thee," referring to that as the title put into our lips by 
 the Lord, made sure by the blood of the cross, and re- 
 peated by our Lord in resurrection, in His message to 
 
ISO JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 His disciples, on the first morning after the resurrection. 
 
 Mr. Bennet, of Yeovil, then said, "Before engaging 
 in prayer I should like to read one of the Lord's abiding 
 messages to us, 'Fear not; I am the first and the last; 
 I am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold, I am 
 alive forever more. Amen: and have the keys of Hades 
 and of death.' " He then prayed and was followed by Dr. 
 George F. Bergin, who also pronounced the benediction. 
 
 To these records of the funeral services, we add a few 
 of the brief tributes and testimonies to Mr. Wright's 
 character and worth which were received after his 
 death, and which represent what the writers would 
 have said, had they participated in those exercises. 
 They are like the little touches of the artist that give to 
 the portrait completeness of outline, tone and colour. 
 WEerever the extracts are from personal and private let- 
 ters, the names of the writers are omitted. 
 
 "What struck one so much was his unwavering faith 
 in and loyalty to God and His Word; and his bright, 
 genial graciousness in conversation — so free from all as- 
 ceticism ; — delighting in the beauties of nature around ; — 
 his keen sense of humour, his kind sympathetic way, 
 and withal his deep reverence. * * * j have looked 
 on him as a beautiful model of what a Christian should 
 be." 
 
 "One always felt that, no matter what kind of trial 
 one was passing through, in dear Mr. Wright one could 
 always find a deep sympathiser ; and his very soul seemed 
 to accompany his hearty handshake and genial smile." 
 
 "I think every one feels a sense of loss, and we shall 
 always miss the sight of his sweet face as he passed the 
 windows going to and fro. I feel glad that I heard him 
 
THE day's afterglow. ^Si 
 
 preach on Christmas night. How little we thought then 
 that it would be the last time." 
 
 "The pillar and light of your home is gone! Such a 
 pillar, and such a light! He was a rare man! Simple 
 yet deep — solemn, yet abounding in joy and overflowing 
 gladness of heart. Since this experience of exuberant 
 joy in God was common to him while on earth, we can- 
 not imagine what it is to him now! Now, in the actual 
 presence of Him in whom he so absolutely believed." 
 
 "He had long lived the life of heaven here below, so 
 that, when he entered into the immediate presence of his 
 Lord, he was at home in that presence. It was no new 
 fellowship that he entered upon, but that which he had 
 enjoyed long here on earth. His path was that of the 
 just 'which shineth more and more unto the perfect 
 day.' " 
 
 "He was great with the greatness which God gives to 
 a few childlike souls. Personally, I regarded him as one 
 of our greatest living preachers (none greater in my 
 opinion!) and as one of the most Christlike of saints. I 
 felt it a privilege to know him ever so little, and I greatly 
 prize the kind words he wrote me when our dear ones 
 passed away." 
 
 "Oh, how I loved him, admired him, respected him! 
 He was a noble man, a very great man from the moral 
 and spiritual point of view." 
 
 "We did so love and reverence your dear Uncle, and 
 feel that we have lost a father." 
 
152 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 "Dear Mr. Wright's words have, I know, had their in- 
 fluence upon me throughout my life ; and I can never be 
 thankful enough that in my younger days I so often had 
 the opportunity of listening both to him and dear Mr. 
 Muller." 
 
 "At present we can none of us realize the truth of what 
 we must believe, and it comes constantly as a fresh stab 
 that our beloved Mr. Wright 'is with the Lord he adored, 
 and that we shall no longer have his help. May the fact 
 stir us up to seek to walk in his footsteps, and follow him, 
 as he followed Christ. Oh, what his joy is now — we 
 often saw the foretaste of it shine out in his lovely face, 
 and now he has the fulness." 
 
 "I had not seen him much, but to see him was to love 
 him. His beautiful smile was a benediction." 
 
 "May he who has removed your noble Uncle to higher 
 and holier service, and the enviable joy of the unveiled 
 beholding, Himself clothe and strengthen those who re- 
 main to carry on the blessed work inaugurated by dear 
 Mr. Miiller until He come." 
 
 "I have lost a friend indeed — one so gracious, so faith- 
 ful. I can recall some of his expositions of Scripture 
 that always help me and then how kind he was to me 
 whenever I saw him at your house. I can remember the 
 last time I saw him one evening, and he was so cordial 
 and sweet. Dear ones ! God remains. He will be more to 
 you now than ever." 
 
 'My visits to your home, when it was my high privi- 
 
THE day's afterglow. 1 53 
 
 lege to have closer intercourse with him, will ever be 
 recalled with unfeigned pleasure; but the best is before, 
 and soon the grief of parting thus temporarily, will be 
 changed for inefifable joy, when, once more united, we 
 shall be together, and that 'forever with the Lord.' " 
 
 "He was a lovely man, and I know how he must be 
 missed by you. I feel like one bereaved myself. * * * 
 During the many years the S. K. I. supported the schools 
 
 in , I had the joy of receiving letters from him 
 
 constantly, and so learned what a true friend he was and 
 how wise in his counsel. His words and ways I think 
 will never fade from my memory. I was glad that 
 I had an opportunity of seeing him at the Orphan Houses 
 just before we left England." 
 
 A friend writes: "I shall often think of dear Mr. 
 Wright's face. It often preached to me without any 
 words, reminding me of Moses who 'wist not that the 
 skin of his face shone.' " 
 
 A Swedish friend in New Britain, who had only seen 
 him once or twice for a few hours, writes: 
 
 "He was good and shall always live in my memory, 
 and I pray that his life-work may, through God's grace, 
 be an inspiration to me. For the happy privilege I had 
 last summer (1904) to meet him for the first and the last 
 time in this world I have reason to thank God again and 
 again. In him I found the fruit of the Spirit. His meek- 
 ness made him strong. He was a man (if I understood 
 him right) who could throw himself down in the dust be- 
 fore Jehovah and pray and receive answers, but, at the 
 same time, he could be firm like a rock when he felt it 
 
154 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 was the will of God that he should withstand the powers 
 of darkness. There are few men in the world, if any, 
 who can, at the same time, have great strength and deep 
 humiliation combined in their characters; but Mr. 
 Wright, that dear man of God, could. He was a real 
 Great-Heart. I loved him, and I could not help it." 
 
 The following is a copy of a post-card written to Mr. 
 Bergin by a beloved brother after Mr. Wright fell asleep. 
 ("Written in great prostration" he afterward remarked) : 
 
 "I would like to tell you, my beloved brother, how I 
 have been shocked this evening by hearing suddenly (first 
 intimation of even danger) that our beloved and hon- 
 oured Mr. Wright has finished his course, and that de- 
 vout men have carried him to his burial. I shall never 
 see that beautiful face, until it is more beautiful than 
 ever, when the dead in Christ God brings with Him. 
 Oh, how our brother seems brought near me now that 
 all is past — until that day! I heat a most sweet 
 voice, melody itself, unfolding inimitably a Psalm or a 
 chapter in John ! What a loss for me ! But for you who 
 knew him so well and were so intimately linked with 
 him, what a stroke! And the dear sisters who were 
 privileged to care for him ! I am tired and cannot write 
 more. Will you accept my deep, loving sympathy, and 
 give it also to those most sorely bereaved, and to any at 
 his dear Bethesda (2 Tim. iv:7, 8; John xvii:24). 
 "Mine to be forever with Him 
 His that I am there." 
 In sore and fellow grief, 
 
 T. Neatby. 
 
 As we read such testimonies as these we are reminded 
 
THE DAYS AFTERGLOW. 155 
 
 of Whitefield's prayer : "I prayed God this day to make 
 me an extraordinary Christian." So reads an entry in the 
 diary of that great and good man, and his life was the 
 evidence that the prayer was heard and answered. In 
 spirit, in prayerfulness, in ceaseless labor, in love to 
 Christ, and in earnest and tireless efforts to win men 
 from their sins to Him, he was, as he prayed to be, "an 
 extraordinary Christian." As we read the prayer we 
 cannot but approve and admire its spirit. But can we and 
 do we adopt it as our own? Is it our daily, earnest, 
 heartfelt prayer, "O Lord, make me an extraordinary 
 Christian?" 
 
 To the writer of this memoir James Wright was an 
 extraordinary Christian, and a few lines are subjoined 
 which may briefly express what seemed to him to be the 
 habitual attitude of this beloved and departed saint : 
 At Thy dear feet, once pierced for me, 
 With cruel nails, upon the tree, 
 I lay my life, for use by Thee, 
 Henceforth to know no anxious care. 
 With cheerful heart my loads to bear. 
 My sole resort — believing prayer! 
 
 No worry, lest my work be stayed, 
 No hurry lest I be delayed. 
 By haste, to prayerlessness betrayed. 
 Not careful to be praised of man, 
 But only to be taught Thy plan, 
 What Thou wilt have me do, I can. 
 
 No greed of gain, since Thou hast said. 
 That if the beasts and birds are fed, 
 
156 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 Thy children shall not lack for bread. 
 How sweet to live alone in Thee, 
 In danger to Thy wings to flee ; 
 The name of Jesus, all my plea. 
 
 Before Thee, let Thy servant stand. 
 
 To watch Thine eye. Thy beckoning hand. 
 
 And promptly move at Thy command. 
 
 So shall my life be one sweet day. 
 
 Lit up by Heaven's cloudless ray, 
 
 A walk with God — a. radiant way. 
 
MR. WRIGHT'S TOMBSTONE, ARNO'S VALE CEMETERY, BRISTOL. 
 
 FOR INSCRIPTION SEE REVERSE SIDE. 
 
INSCRIPTION ON STONE. 
 
 IN 
 
 AFFECTIONATE MEMORY OF 
 
 BELOVED 
 
 JAMES WRIGHT, 
 
 80N-rN-LAW OF THE LATE GEORGE MULLER, 
 AND HIS SUCCESSOR rN THE DIRECTORATE OF 
 
 THE ASHLEY DOWN ORPHANAGE, 
 
 WHO FELL ASLEEP IN JESUS JANUARY 29TH, 1905, 
 
 m HIS 79TH YEAR. 
 
 IN HIS YOUTH HE TRUSTED IN OU:i LORD JESUS CHRIST 
 
 FOa SALVATION. 
 
 SINCE 1859 HE LABOURED FOR GOD IN THE CARE OF ORPHANS, 
 
 AND DURING THAT "^IME OF SERVICE 
 
 10,741 ORPHANS WERE RECEIVED AND SHELTERED, 
 
 AND VERY MANY WERE LED TO CHSIST. 
 
 ftN ARDENT LOVER AND ABLE EXPOUNDER OF THE WORD OF GOD, 
 
 HIS MINISTRY WAS WIDELY BLESSED. 
 
 HEEK AND LOWLY LIKE HIS MASTER THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, 
 
 HE GAVE TO HIM ALL THE PRAISE 
 
 FOR WHAT HE WAS, AND WHAT HE ACCOMPLISHED. 
 
 LIKE ENOCH, 
 
 HE WALKED WITH GOD." GEN. V. 24. 
 
 ' HE PLEASED GOD." HEB. XL 5. 
 
 II 
 
 HE WAS NOT, FOR GOD TOOK HIM." GEN. v. 24. 
 
 THIS MEMORIAL WAS ERECTED 
 
 DY THE LOVING AND SPONTANEOUS GIFTS 
 
 OF NOT A FEW OF THE ORPHANS, 
 
 WHO WERE FORMERLY CARED FOR AT ASHLEY DOWN. 
 
CHAPTER EIGHTH. 
 
 TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. 
 
 To these brief memoirs, we add several more extensive 
 tributes to the subject of these pages, and some reports 
 of Mr. Wright's addresses, etc., by way of completing, 
 as far as possible, the pen portrait of this beloved brother. 
 It seemed better to give these papers a separate place 
 of their own than to attempt to weave them into the nar- 
 rative, as in most cases they cover the whole period of 
 the life, and belong therefore to no single portion of it. 
 These papers are from certain friends who knew Mr. 
 Wright especially well, and who have been asked to sup- 
 ply from their own recollection and personal knowledge, 
 partial portraits of his many sided character. 
 
 I. 
 
 Recollections by Mr. J. Storrs Fry of Mr. Wright's 
 early life, and his testimony to him, as a brother: 
 
 The late Mr. James Wright was a member of one of 
 the most valued families in the Society of Friends in 
 Bristol. His father, Mr. James Ireland Wright, was, as 
 I have always understood, a man of earnest Christian 
 character, and I remember him as an occasional preacher 
 in the meetings for worship of the Society, although I do 
 not think that he was ever a recognised (or "recorded") 
 minister of that body. 
 
 He was engaged, at the time to which I am referring, 
 in the wholesale tea trade in conjunction with Mr. Henry 
 Hunt, in which business his son was also employed in his 
 earlier years. I believe that he suffered some heavy 
 
158 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 pecuniary loss, but I have no reason to believe that he 
 failed honourably to discharge all his liabilities. It is 
 probably to this circumstance that allusion was made by 
 his son referring to a loss of income for which he could 
 "bless God." My knowledge, however, of these matters 
 is only an early and not very distinct memory. 
 
 When Mr. James Wright was still very young his 
 father became dissociated from the Society of Friends. 
 At that time there was a movement, within the Society, 
 some of its members seeking for more definite evangeli- 
 cal teaching than they thought they could find within its 
 borders. For a time they maintained a separate exis- 
 tence as a small body, chiefly in Manchester, but even- 
 tually most of those who were thus separated, connected 
 themselves with the "Brethren," and many others of them 
 and their families ultimately joined the Church of Eng- 
 land. 
 
 In looking back, after the lapse of many years, one 
 feels that mistakes may have been made on both sides, 
 and there was much to regret, on the part of the Society 
 of Friends, at the loss of some of its valuable members. 
 
 It was, I believe, owing to these causes and the pres- 
 ence of the late Mr. George Miiller in Bristol, that Mr. 
 James Wright was led, under Mr. Miiller's teaching and 
 influence, to take up the position with the body of Chris- 
 tians in Bristol, amongst whom he filled so important a 
 place during the rest of his life. 
 
 When he left the Society of Friends my opportunities 
 of personal intercourse with him were not so frequent as 
 might otherwise have been the case, but everything which 
 I can remember about him is in harmony with the de- 
 voted Christian life which he has led, and so long as he 
 attended the services of the Society of Friends I retain 
 
TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. 1 59 
 
 the picture of a most devout, though then, youthful wor- 
 shipper. 
 
 I may add to these few reminiscences of my late dear 
 friend that our mutual regard was undiminished by the 
 fact that we were connected with different portions of 
 the Church of Christ, and whenever we were brought 
 into contact, I always received from him the greatest 
 kindness and consideration. 
 
 I watched his work at the Orphan Houses with deep 
 interest, and could not fail to recognise the wisdom and 
 grace which were bestowed upon him in the discharge of 
 his heavy responsibilities. 
 
 II. 
 
 COLONEL MOLESWORTH^S TRIBUTE. 
 
 If comparison is lawful then John Bunyan's descrip- 
 tion of Mr. Valiant-for-Truth applies fully to the beloved 
 subject of this memoir, James Wright. ' 
 
 Gentle yet firm, gracious to a degree, yet uncompromis- 
 ing where he believed the truth of God was impugned. 
 
 Forgiving and never resenting, his grace overcame 
 even those who strongly differed from him. Of genial 
 temperament he could heartily enter into all the loving 
 human interests of life, yet his countenance was "as the 
 north wind" if any unkind or unlovely expressions were 
 used of any. No mean or narrow views did he take of 
 any, nor do I remember after many years of intimate 
 intercourse to have heard him express a single depre- 
 ciatory word of any one. 
 
 His ministry of the "Wbrd of God was of masterly 
 character. His teaching thorough and convincing; his 
 grasp of the subject in question was such that you rarely 
 felt he had omitted any material point. His choice and 
 
l6o JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 use of words was unique, and such was his spiritual in- 
 sight you felt he was truly a teacher sent of God. 
 
 Yet despite his master-gifts he was too faithful to be 
 popular or run after. The searching character of his 
 teaching (and he lived up to his words) proved more 
 than the many were able to follow. At a conference I 
 remember he greatly offended one present by sternly de- 
 nouncing certain teaching as tending to subvert the faitli 
 of some. The one ofifended sought an explanation, as 
 having felt personally aggrieved, being well known as the 
 leading promulgator of these views. He quietly an- 
 swered, "Permit me before entering on any discussion to 
 say I did not know you were present. I did not know 
 you held these views. I had not ever even heard your 
 name." What more could be said ? 
 
 Of his own estimate of himself, I well remember when 
 seeing together an applicant for church fellowship, who 
 was mourning over his own failure and sinfulness, yet 
 humbly repentant, the sudden reply was, "I yield to none 
 as to the blackness of my heart." 
 
 It was said he had a strong will and was unyielding. 
 Yes, he had a strong will to do the will of God, and so 
 convinced others of the rectitude of his judgments, but 
 he was ever ready to yield, personally, where no principle 
 was involved. 
 
 In 1890, the summer after his beloved wife was called 
 away, he paid a special visit to the schools and churches 
 in North Italy, entering with refreshing joy into the 
 various phases of the work there and preaching (by inter- 
 pretation) with much acceptance and with blessing fol- 
 lowing. His visit there is still remembered and but re- 
 cently there came word of the happy departure in the 
 faith of one who had been converted through an address 
 he gave in North Piedmont. 
 
TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. l6l 
 
 On the way there I remember he entered into conver- 
 sation with an elderly clergyman and his wife in the 
 train. When leaving the clergyman asked me quietly 
 who he was, for he had been specially struck with his 
 beaming countenance and conversation. I told him he 
 was co-director with Mr. Miiller of the Bristol Orphan 
 Houses. This greatly interested him. 
 
 It was his strong personality which spoke so loudly. 
 Reticent, though ever genial, few could have known 
 the latent strength and wisdom underlying his calm exte- 
 rior. Often chary of speech, he was the best of listeners 
 and pondered well all he heard, though rarely expressing 
 a judgment save when necessary. 
 
 At the frequent Bible meetings held, his mind was the 
 object desired, but such was his humility he preferred 
 others to speak — only quietly affirming, or expanding, or 
 suggesting an alternative, which generally proved the 
 essence of the passage. 
 
 Bringing him one day a correspondence to read in 
 which serious question had arisen as to the holy charac- 
 ter of the person of the Son of God, he expressed full 
 approval of the way it had been dealt with and closed by 
 saying, "We are true Kohathites," alluding to their rev- 
 erently carrying the Ark of God. 
 
 As another has said when asked to write his biography, 
 "Dear brother, it has been written and it will be published 
 in the morning." So he would have said. Truly it is 
 written in the Bbok of the Chronicles of the King and 
 has His imprimatur. 
 
 Beloved in his every phase of life, his memory will 
 ever be fragrant and "He shall be yet spoken of" when 
 to-day's world heroes are forgotten. A. O. M. 
 
1 62 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 III. 
 
 MR. Wright's church life. 
 
 By Mr. J. L. Stanley. 
 
 While the work of the great institution on Ashley 
 Down claimed the lion share of Mr. Wright's time and 
 attention, yet his church life and relationship constituted 
 a very distinct and interesting phase of his career. He 
 was first of all 
 
 A Church Member. 
 He was more than that, but he was that, and he never 
 forgot it. Some men allow the official position to obliter- 
 ate the fact and consciousness of membership; Mr. 
 Wright never did. Though he became distinguished 
 from all, yet he always regarded himself as one among 
 many. The patronising phrase "the people," had no place 
 in his vocabulary. With the utmost sincerity he ranked 
 himself as a fellow member with the humblest member 
 of the body of Christ. 
 
 He was a faithful and exemplary member in many 
 ways. 
 
 I. In the regularity of his attendance. 
 
 There are four meeting places associated with the 
 church, and Mr. Wright was often urged to visit each in 
 turn on the Sunday mornings, so that each place might 
 have the benefit of his ministry. Yet he could never be 
 persuaded to do this, partly on account of his native hu- 
 mility, and partly because of his attachment to the meet- 
 ings at Bethesda, the mother church, as it is sometimes 
 called. It was a rare occurrence for his seat to be vacant 
 on Sunday morning, and this was not because of any 
 official position or because of any ministerial appointment, 
 
TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. 163 
 
 but because of his loyalty to Christ and his love for the 
 fellowship of saints. 
 
 The Monday prayer meeting almost invariably found 
 him in his place, and never were any engagements al- 
 lowed to interfere with his presence on those occasions. 
 
 The same may be said of the monthly church meetings 
 in which he always took a lively interest, and until later 
 years when failing strength demanded longer rest, it 
 was an exceptional thing for him to be absent. The 
 same may be said of other meetings, though these are the 
 principal ones. The church was dear to him, and he re- 
 joiced to do what he could by his presence, his prayers, 
 or his words of encouragement to strengthen and sustain 
 its life. 
 
 2. In his Liberality. He made a conscience of carry- 
 ing out the Scripture injunction to liberality, and though 
 he was one of those who did not let the left hand know 
 what the right hand did, it was known that his generosity 
 did much to aid the church funds. His giving was sys- 
 tematic and proportionate; since his departure evidence 
 has come to light that that proportion was exceptionally 
 large. 
 
 3. In his interest in the members and the general work 
 of the church. Mr. Wright never claimed to be a pastor ; 
 his work at Ashley Down made that impossible, but he 
 felt a warm interest in the members of the church and 
 made acquaintance with them as far as he was able. 
 There was not a department of church work that he was 
 ignorant of, while his prayers and his inquiries showed 
 how alive he was to all that affected the welfare of the 
 flock. It is, however, chiefly as 
 
 Preacher and Teacher 
 that Mr. Wright is remembered in his church life. His 
 
164 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 character and gifts gradually made a place for him in the 
 front rank, and won for him the confidence and love of 
 all who knew him. 
 
 His preaching was pre-eminently expository. He loved 
 the Scriptures, studied them continually and then, in 
 his ministry, endeavoured to communicate to others what 
 the Holy Spirit had communicated to him. He was logi- 
 cal and methodical, but remarkably free from all mere 
 artificialities. He did not commit the mistake of many 
 of forcing his subject into a straight- jacket kind of di- 
 vision; he discovered and exhibited the division or ar- 
 rangement which lay concealed. If any hearers came 
 looking for "an intellectual treat," for dramatic effect, 
 flights of oratory, and the like, they would be disap- 
 pointed. But if they came looking for spiritual instruc- 
 tion and help they could scarcely fail to be gratified and 
 strengthened. 
 
 It was mainly as a teacher that Mr, Wright excelled. 
 He could, and often did, deal with doctrine in the ab- 
 stract, and in definition and argument lucidly set forth 
 the contents of any portion of Scripture. But it was 
 more common for him to blend the purely doctrinal with 
 the practical and experimental; coming close to the 
 every-day life and need of his hearers and making them 
 feel that the Bible 'was indeed "a lamp to the feet and 
 a light to the path." He spoke out of the fulness of 
 his own knowledge and experience, and was, in the 
 truest sense, eloquent. 
 
 At the same time he was evangelistic. Here, again, 
 he had no narrow idea of evangelism, as something be- 
 longing to a professional class, or a "special mission." 
 No evangelist could put more clearly or scripturally the 
 truths of the Gospel than did Mr. Wright, as it was 
 rarely that he preached without doing so. 
 
TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. 165 
 
 It goes without saying that he was intensely loyal to 
 the Bible. To him, it did not simply "contain," it is the 
 Word of God. 
 
 He certainly did not crave or aim at popularity, 
 though in the esteem of his fellow Christians he filled 
 a large space, but, as Miss Waring puts it, "He was 
 content to fill a little space." A small congregation 
 was never a trouble to him, and he never measured the 
 amount of pains and effort by the size of a congrega- 
 tion. He was too good a man, and too great a preacher 
 to preach a poor sermon to a small company. A service 
 among a handful of people would be treated as conscien- 
 tiously as one among a big crowd. 
 
 In a good sense, Mr. Wright, in church life, was 
 A Disciplinarian. 
 He jealously guarded the church against everything 
 that would mar the purity of its doctrine. Happily, the 
 church life at Bethesda has geldom been disturbed by 
 heretical attacks, but a notable controversy arose in 1872 
 in connection with the subject of the non-eternity of 
 punishment. 
 
 On that occasion, speaking at one of four memorable 
 meetings, Mr. Wright said in his closing sentences: 
 "The membership of this church is about nine hundred. 
 If that number were to be reduced to nine on account 
 of this question, I would rejoice to be one of the nine." 
 
 In cases of moral delinquency Mr. Wright was often 
 stern and severe. Particularly was this the case when 
 instances arose of dishonourable bankruptcy. Those who 
 tried to gloss over shady commercial practices by any 
 false standai'ds of business morality, very soon found 
 their refuges of lies swept away. Yet he knew how to 
 observe the scripture injunction "of some have compas- 
 
1 66 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 sion, making a difference;" or that other gracious direc- 
 tion, "considering thyself lest thou also be tempted." 
 
 Mr. Wright was ever regarded by his brethren and 
 the church generally as a valued 
 Counsellor. 
 For very many years, until the pressure of institutional 
 work and the advance of age prevented him, he was 
 constantly present at the weekly meeting of elders. His 
 calm, patient and dispassionate mind enabled him to take 
 a clear view of any matter that came up for considera- 
 tion, and his judgment was seldom, if ever, at fault. 
 
 In this feature of his character Mr. Wright was of 
 conspicuous value to the church. We venture to think 
 there are not many to be found who could equal him. He 
 had a very fine and dignified presence which harmonized 
 well with his judicial mind. He was a true Christian 
 gentleman and always treated with respect and consider- 
 ation the judgment of the humblest of his brethren. He 
 was a capable ruler, and because he was so, never at- 
 tempted any show of authority. In unimportant and 
 secondary matters he knew how to yield when he was 
 in a minority, but in primary matters, where principle 
 was at stake, none could be more firm. He was naturally 
 very conservative and looked with suspicion on any new 
 departure in methods of Christian work. At the same 
 time he was possessed of a large and true charity which 
 enabled him to rejoice in the success of those whose 
 methods he might not have been able to adopt or ap- 
 prove. 
 
 In connection with Mr. Wright's church life we must 
 give a prominent place to his 
 
 Prayerfulness 
 This, of course, was a chief characteristic of his whole 
 life, and therefore conspicuous in the church. 
 
TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. 1 6/ 
 
 Long and affectionately will he be remembered as 
 a man of prayer. His disappearance from the Mon- 
 day night prayer meeting leaves a serious gap. How 
 carefully and systematically he used to read the re- 
 quests for prayer which had been sent in, and with 
 what fervency would he present many of these before 
 the Throne of Grace. The requests were sometimes 
 numerous, and he was always watchful that none should 
 be overlooked. 
 
 And then, there were the private assemblies for prayer. 
 How much he did to foster and sustain this habit. When 
 some pressing trouble came upon an individual or family 
 in the church; when some sore sickness rested upon a 
 member of the body, and a call was made upon several 
 friends to gather for special prayer, Mr. Wright would 
 never fail to respond to such a request. His teaching 
 and example have been powerful educators in this re- 
 spect. 
 
 One more form of service deserves notice ere we 
 close this chapter — 
 
 The Service of Song. 
 Mr. Wright was fond of psalmody, though he was 
 strongly opposed to instrumental music in the service 
 of the church. He was himself a good singer, and well 
 acquainted with music. For many years he led the sing- 
 ing at Bethesda, and only gave it up when physical 
 strength was unequal to the demand. In earlier years 
 he devoted himself considerably to the improvement of 
 the singing in the services of the church, for a long 
 period — from about i860 to 1870 he used to conduct a 
 singing class at old Salem Chapel on Monday nights 
 after the prayer meeting. He gathered around him a 
 
l68 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 band of young Christians whom he trained in this way, 
 and who became a modest sort of choir (without the 
 name), under his leadership. 
 
 One relic of these times is affectionately preserved in 
 the family of the writer who, together with his wife, 
 were members of the little favoured band. That relic 
 consists of an antique wooden pitch pipe, which seemed 
 indispensable to Mr. Wright for giving the key note. 
 
 The instrument itself is, when closed, seventeen inches 
 in length. Most leaders would employ a neat little tun- 
 ing fork, or one of the more modern chromatic instru- 
 ments, but Mr. Wright kept to the old pipe. The mem- 
 bers of the class once presented him with a pair of 
 chromatic tuning forks, but the old pipe was never super- 
 seded. The little incident was characteristic of the 
 man, and is among the treasured recollections which were 
 full of quiet benedictions. 
 
 There are those still living among the members of the 
 church, though they are now very few, who cherish 
 the memory of the beloved and learned Henry Craik. 
 There are more who remember his great coadjutor, 
 George Miiller. And in the history of the church the 
 name of James Wright is worthy to be ranked with 
 theirs for saintliness and service. 
 
 James L. Stanley. 
 IV. 
 JAMES WRIGHT AS DIRECTOR OF THE SCRIP- 
 TURAL KNOWLEDGE INSTITUTION. 
 H. Welchman. 
 
 "Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things, 
 to whom be glory forever. Amen" (Rom. xi:36). 
 
 If there were ever a servant of God who believed. 
 
TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. 1 69 
 
 and, at all times, remembered the truth of these sublime 
 words, it was James Wright. He believed it, not only as 
 true in a general way, but as true of himself in particu- 
 lar. I do not remember hearing him preach on the text, 
 but in all his preaching and living, he exemplified and 
 enforced its truth and power. Often have I heard him 
 quote the words of our Lord Jesus ; "A man can receive 
 nothing except it be given him from heaven" (John 
 iii:27). From the year 1859, when Mr. Wright became 
 an assistant in the work, till 1870 Mr. Miiller had abun- 
 dant opportunity of watching the conduct, and of dis- 
 cerning the evident ability increasingly manifested in 
 him, and he was not wrong in his judgment that God 
 had raised him up and fitted him to be a special help in 
 the work and to be his successor, I have read that when 
 Mr. Miiller revealed his mind on this subject in 1870, 
 Mr. Wright, in his humility, shrank from the proposal, 
 not, I am sure, because of the labour involved, but from 
 a lowly but mistaken view of his ability for such a re- 
 sponsible position. When, however, he saw it to be 
 God's will, and his question: "Who is sufficient for 
 these things ?" was met by — "Our sufficiency is of God," 
 he was satisfied to go forward, and in 1872 he became 
 co-director with Mr. Miiller. When, on the tenth of 
 March, 1898, it pleased God to take Mr. Miiller suddenly 
 to himself, the Institution was passing through deep 
 waters — one of those times of pecuniary need, which the 
 Lord has occasionally permitted for the trial of faith and 
 the greater glory of His name, but Mr. Wright did not 
 hesitate for one moment, but calmly and courageously 
 took up at once all the responsibilities and duties of his 
 new position as honorary director and treasurer of the 
 Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad. 
 
170 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 He went on taking in more orphans, and gloried in the 
 fact that the gigantic work, Hke the earth, hangeth on 
 nothing visible; nothing but God. Having set his hand 
 to the plough, he never looked back. His labours were 
 incessant from morning till night — enough I have often 
 thought for any two men. His trials and sorrows were 
 at times exceedingly heavy, but he went steadily and 
 steadfastly forward. He realized that the call, to occupy 
 the position, was "of God;" he devoted himself to fulfill 
 all its duties "through God," and his one object was that 
 everything should be done "to God" — to His honour and 
 glory. 
 
 Mr. Wright was not a director in name only, but in 
 reality. It is true he had some efficient helpers; espec- 
 ially in his associate director, Mr. G. F. Bergin, and his 
 beloved niece. Miss A. M. Withy ; it is true that he fully 
 appreciated their loyalty and help, but notwithstanding 
 this, he made himself acquainted with every part of the 
 work, and maintained practical control over it all. This 
 involved a large amount of time and thought, yet he 
 never appeared weary or ruffled. Often, when I have 
 watched a stream of other helpers going to his room for 
 direction on various subjects, and have at last gained 
 admission, I have said ; "We give you no rest," he would 
 reply, with his own sweet smile, and in a merry tone of 
 voice, "I am appointed thereunto." 
 
 It is not easy, perhaps not possible, to give to one not 
 connected with the work, any adequate idea of the 
 amount of labour; the burden of responsibility, and the 
 demand for wisdom and grace, for patience and yet 
 firmness, in a director of such a large institution. There 
 is not only a vast number of letters every day to be read 
 and answered ; but there are five large houses to be kept 
 
TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. 1 71 
 
 in repair ; nearly 2,000 children to be fed and clothed and 
 educated ; physically, mentally, and morally. There is the 
 labour and responsibility of investigating the many ap- 
 plications for the admission of orphans, and the care of 
 selecting suitable masters for the apprentices and homes 
 for the girls, trained for domestic service. It may be 
 said that he had efficient helpers to attend to the details 
 of the work, and this is true ; the vvrork could not possibly 
 be carried on without them, but sometimes it is difficult 
 to obtain suitable helpers, and when obtained there is a 
 sense in which it may be truly said, they become an ad- 
 ditional care. Parents who have half a dozen children, 
 with servants to help, find it no easy task to care for them 
 in sickness and health, and much more when the family 
 is three hundred times as large. No more need be said 
 on this subject, for all people who read the Annual Re- 
 ports, and have any idea of the magnitude and variety 
 of the work carried on: not only for the orphans, but 
 also for the School, Bible, Missionary and Tract work, 
 will know that the supervision and direction of it all must 
 require unusual ability, and, however great the ability, 
 must demand much time and application of heart and 
 mind. 
 
 One secret of Mr. Wright's success in the conduct of 
 the work and of the perpetual calm and brightness of his 
 spirit was the wonderful method he adopted for doing 
 things, and the care bestowed on every detail, so that 
 very little time was lost in discovering and rectifying 
 mistakes. Another secret was the beautiful order in 
 which he kept the vast number of books and papers, etc., 
 so that very little time was lost in hunting for any par- 
 ticular letter, or key, or anything under his care. It may 
 be that his early training in the Society of Friends, al- 
 
172 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 though he left the Society in early life, had a lasting 
 effect for good. He never appeared to be in a hurry. He 
 knew what was in man, and was not greatly moved by 
 the discovery of imperfection and failure in one or an- 
 other. He Was very careful to obey the injunction, "speak 
 evil of no man," but on the contrary he was quick to 
 observe, and ever ready to speak kindly of the gifts and 
 graces of others. He was generally cheerful. He could 
 enjoy a hearty laugh at any ludicrous incident, or humor- 
 ous saying, but his cheerfulness never degenerated into 
 levity, and he would not allow, but sternly reprove any 
 appearance of jesting on the Word of God, or the charac- 
 ter of good men. 
 
 Any one who had the privilege of conversing with him 
 on difficult matters of business, as well as on spiritual 
 subjects, would be struck with the rapidity and exactness 
 of his apprehension, the clearness of his judgment, and 
 the firmness of his decision. He was a born leader of 
 men. He ruled the institution, not as an autocrat, whose 
 will is law and must be obeyed, but more as a father, 
 whose wisdom might safely be trusted, and whose loving 
 interest could not be questioned. He had a large body 
 of helpers, living and working together in the five houses ; 
 in different positions; of different ages, temperaments, 
 tastes, habits, denominations of religion, and views on 
 various subjects, yet, under his wise rule all lived and 
 worked together, year after year, in happy unity and love. 
 One great secret of this triumph was that he never al- 
 lowed any tattling or talebearing. If any difficulty arose 
 and one complained of being unfairly treated by another, 
 he would be directed to Matthew xviii:i5, and if the 
 teaching of our Lord and Master had not been obeyed, 
 the complainant would be advised, after prayer, to seek 
 
TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. 1 73 
 
 an early opportunity of doing it. Very often, a little 
 explanation on both sides would set matters right. If, 
 however, the difficulty continued, the parties would be 
 seen together; the whole case would be gone into pa- 
 tiently and judiciously, and this resulted not only in both 
 parties being satisfied and reconciled, but in a determina- 
 tion being formed in both minds never, if possible, to go 
 through such an ordeal again. Mr. Wright had a strong 
 sense of justice. He held the scales with a steady hand. 
 There was no favoritism, no partiality. With the Word 
 of God before him as his guide; with God ever beside 
 him as his strength, and with the judgment seat ever 
 before him as the time of his reward, the one question to 
 his mind was, "Is it right?" When that question was 
 answered, it mattered not who was pleased or displeased ; 
 whether it was gain to him or loss; the right must be 
 done. It must be done kindly, but it must be done. 
 
 To sum up this sketch of Mr. Wright as Director, I 
 want to repeat that he was essentially a man of God — a 
 man of faith, a man of prayer, and a man of consecrated 
 life. As a man of faith he received everything out of 
 the hand of God ; his own position was given him of God; 
 every provision of a suited helper was of God, every 
 legacy and donation, great or small, was of God, and 
 every trial was of God. As a man of prayer, he recog- 
 nized that the work was carried on not through his wis- 
 dom, or power, or diligence, but through God, and as a 
 man of consecrated life, he laboured to the very best of his 
 ability, not to obtain honour, or Wealth, or pleasure to 
 himself, but to give pleasure and to bring honour and 
 glory to God. "For of Him, and through Him, and to 
 Him are all things : to whom be glory forever. Amen." 
 
174 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 V. THE LATE MR. JAMES WRIGHT.* 
 
 A TRIBUTE FROM REV. JAMES ORMISTON, RECTOR OF ST. 
 MARY-LE-PORT, BRISTOL. 
 
 "The memory of the just is blessed," and it is the 
 revealed will of the Lord that "the righteous shall be 
 in everlasting remembrance." A sad pleasure, therefore, 
 is ours in memorialising the fruitful and faithful life 
 and labours of the beloved servant of Christ whose 
 name appears above. The gracious fragrance of that 
 name, associated by us, as it ever will be, with an ex- 
 ceptionally powerful testimony of God's precious truth 
 — alike by lip and walk — we fain would worthily trans- 
 fer to these memorial pages, but that service of love 
 is largely beyond our powers. We must therefore be 
 satisfied to simply put on record a few traits of a spirit- 
 ually, lovely character, produced by the rich grace of 
 God, and set before us as an instructive example to be 
 thankfully admired and humbly followed in these days 
 of religious defection and widespread unbelief. 
 
 Our happy personal acquaintance with the late Mr. 
 James Wright, successor to the universally known Mr. 
 George Mtiller as Honorary Director and Treasurer of 
 the New Orphanage Houses (for 2,050 children) on 
 Ashley Down, Bristol, and of the other objects of 
 the "Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home and 
 Abroad," extended over a quarter of a century, and its 
 hallowed associations will be cordially treasured by us 
 so long as the Lord spares us below. From the earli- 
 est occasions of converse we enjoyed with him — ^mainly 
 
 ♦From "The Gospel Magazine." Much that is here found is 
 anticipated in the foregoing "pages; but it seems best to present 
 this tribute entire.— A. T. P. 
 
TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. I75 
 
 in connection with the happy Conferences of God's people 
 held annually at Clifton — ^we were forcibly attracted 
 by his heavenly-mindedness, closeness of walk with the 
 Lord, remarkable knowledge of the Holy Scriptures, 
 steadfastness of faith in God, singular power and direct- 
 ness in prayer, and his remarkable gifts as a Bible 
 expositor and teacher. These sacred influences grew 
 and deepened as multiplied years of fellowship in the 
 Master's service brought us more closely together. His 
 address at the Clifton Conference in October last on 
 "The Divine Promises in the New Testament" left on 
 those who were present a singularly refreshing and edify- 
 ing impression — the closing aspiration of his never-to-be 
 forgotten utterance being, "May we be Enabled to take 
 heed in our hearts to these exceeding great and precious 
 promises, until the day dawn, and the Day Star arise. 
 Amen !" That "Amen" of the beloved man of God we 
 affectionately and fervently reiterate. His was ever a 
 waiting attitude. He truly loved his Lord's appearing, 
 and no subject upon which he spoke seemed to move him 
 more deeply than the personal, visible, glorious return 
 of his adored Lord and Master. To him Jesus was a 
 very real Personality. He intimately knew Him as his 
 ever accessible Counsellor, his all prevailing Advocate 
 with the Father, and as the faithful performer of the 
 Yea and Amen promises. 
 
 Of Mr. Wright's call by grace little is known, but it 
 is generally understood to have takten place early — 
 probably when he was about fourteen years of age. He 
 was a native of Bristol, and came of a family identified 
 with the Society of Friends. For several years he re- 
 sided in London, where he was engaged in commercial 
 pursuits, but returned to his native city in 1859, and 
 
176 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 became associated with Mr. George Miiller in the great 
 work on behalf of orphan boys and girls which that 
 eminent servant of Christ had been led to originate in 
 1835. At the date of his entering the Lord's work at 
 the Ashley Down Orphanage, only two of the five ex- 
 tensive houses had been built, so that during the nearly 
 forty-six years of his connection with the beneficent 
 undertaking he had the satisfaction of seeing it grow 
 exceedingly. During the term of his service with Mr. 
 Miiller, and subsequently, there were received into the 
 Orphan Houses no fewer than 10,741 children. At the 
 date of his death, on Lord's-day, January 29th, 1905, 
 there were more children in the institution than there 
 had been for twenty years. For some considerable time 
 prior to the death of Mr. Miiller, on March loth, 1898, 
 M]r. Wright — ^his son-in-law — ^had practically the sole 
 charge of the "Scriptural Knowledge Institution" in its 
 various departments, including the superintendence of the 
 orphan establishment; assisting financially and otherwise 
 Day and Lord's-day Schools conducted on Scriptural 
 principles at home and abroad ; the circulating of the Holy 
 Scriptures in a great variety of languages; the aiding 
 of Missionary work in China, India, Persia, Spain, Italy, 
 Germany, France, Africa, the West Indies, Canada, the 
 United States, Ireland, Scotland, and — ^at home— many 
 places in England ; and the diffusing throughout the world 
 olf Gospel truth by means of books, tracts, leaflets and 
 other publications. Mr. Miiller's preaching tours in 
 India, Australia, on the Continent, and in the United 
 States of America, necessitated long periods of absence 
 from England, but Mr. Wright was divinely enabled to 
 discharge all the heavy responsibilities of a locum tenens, 
 the Lord thus preparing his servant to become Mr. 
 
TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. 1 77 
 
 Mtiller's successor when the latter was taken to his rest 
 seven years ago. 
 
 The Holy Spirit endued Mr. Wright with an estab- 
 lished faith like that of the honoured founder of the 
 work, while his habit of making every detail the subject 
 of prayer gave continuity to the vast undertaking. The 
 leading characteristic of Mr. MuUer's long service and 
 stewardship was that God Himself, and not man, was 
 trusted to supply the needs of the Institution in all its 
 branches. Mr. Wright jealously followed on the same 
 Scriptural lines. With a clear conscience and a grate- 
 ful heart the dear man of God penned the following 
 testimony to the praise of his promise-performing Lord 
 in the very last Annual Report of the proceedings of the 
 Institution issued (for 1903-4) : "Without any one hav- 
 ing been personally applied to for amything, £1,142,479 
 OS. 5J4d. has been given for the orphans, as the result 
 of prayer to God, since the commencement of the work, 
 which sum includes the amount received for the Build- 
 ing Fund for the five houses." And then he added, to 
 the further glory of Him w,ho "keepeth covenant and 
 mercy" with those that truly trust in His Word: "It 
 may be interesting to the reader to know that the total 
 amount given for the other objects, since the commence- 
 ment of the work, amounts to £417,613 7s. SJ^d. ; that 
 that which has come in by the sale of Bibles since the 
 commencement amounts to £24,037 i8s, 4j^d. ; by the 
 sale of tracts and books, £30,026 5s. 3j4d. ; and by the 
 payment of the children in the Day Schools, from the 
 commencement, £25,036 6s. ij/^d. Besides this, a great 
 variety of articles of clothing, furniture, etc., has also 
 been given for the use of the orphans." Surely this 
 simple narrative of facts, recorded by the almost dying 
 
 M 
 
178 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 hand of an honoured witness to the abiding faithful- 
 ness oi the Living God, is an object-lesson to which 
 heed might be given by too many of those who claim 
 to be engaged in the Lord's work, yet carry it on in 
 accordance with worldly principles, and by appeals to 
 fleshly motives. Never shall we forget a remark made 
 in our hearing by Mr. Wright at a meeting held many 
 years ago in connection with a home-mission enterprise, 
 the substance of which was, "Be always careful in con- 
 nection with the Lord's work, lest you present to the 
 world the idea that He whom you serve is a poor God !" 
 He was referring to the danger of running into debt 
 in the name of the Lord, and then appealing to the world 
 for help; as though God did not take much interest in 
 the cause of His own truth. It was important, he urged, 
 that when funds were not provided, consideration should 
 be given to the question of curtailing expenditure and 
 reducing the number of agents. It was not for the 
 Lord's servants to say, "We must have so many agents 
 to keep pace with the demands of the work," and on 
 that presumption go on to involve God's Name in re- 
 sulting failure. If the work Were indeed God's work, 
 and we were really called to be His instruments to 
 further it, then it was ours to follow His dictation, and 
 to leave Him to provide the means to meet its demands. 
 Mr. Wright was a gifted organiser, a wise, firm, but 
 loving director of fellow-labourers subject to him, a 
 man of peculiarly tender sympathies — just the ideal 
 character to fill the relation of a foster-father to the 
 thousands of orphaned little ones providentially entrusted 
 to his care. His chief concern was for the spiritual wel- 
 fare of the dependent Iambs whom Jesus bade him 
 "feed." One of the absorbing aims of his labours among 
 
TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. T79 
 
 the orphans, as it ever had been that of Mr. Muller, was 
 "the salvation of the children." This fact, we may ob- 
 serve, he very pointedly sets forth in his last report. 
 He quotes and endorses as his own the following words 
 of Mr. Muller: — 
 
 "To make the children see their lost and ruined condi- 
 tion by nature, through instructing them in the Word of 
 God, and to lead them to put their trust in the Lord 
 Jesus Christ for salvation, was my aim; and God has 
 given us the joy of seeing thousands of them brought 
 to believe in Him, so that few Institutions, perhaps, have 
 been more abundantly blessed in this respect than the 
 Orphan Houses on Ashley Down have been; yet even 
 this was not the primary object I had in view, when I 
 began to care for poor destitute children, bereaved of 
 both parents by death; but, in carrying on this work, 
 simply through the instrumentality of prayer and faith, 
 without applying to any human being for help, my great 
 desire was, that it might be seen that now in the nine- 
 teenth century, God is still the living God, and that now, 
 as well as thousands of years ago, He listens to the 
 prayers of His children, and helps those who trust in 
 Him." Here we have the secret spring of motive which 
 actuated these dear men of God — ^and, it should be added, 
 of their devoted fellow-labourers also. Upon that holy 
 aim the stamp of their heavenly Father's approval has been 
 signally impressed. The five Orphan Houses at Bristol 
 to-day represent to the Church and to the world the 
 tangible fruit and evidence of what the living God has 
 been pleased to effect in reponse to Scriptural faith 
 and prayer exercised by His servants through a period 
 of seventy years. No one with eyes to see need put the 
 question, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" 
 
l8o JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 Soon after the death of Mr. MuUer, the entire burden 
 of superintending the Institution having now devolved 
 on Mr. Wright, it was laid on his heart to ask the Lord 
 to raise up in some servant of His a brother well quali- 
 fied to share the onerous Directorate of the Institution. 
 This request was lovingly and remarkably answered. 
 At the very same time that Mr. Wright was waiting on 
 the Lord for a helper, Mr. G. F. Bergin, of Clifton — one 
 whose spiritual character, knowledge, and gifts peculi- 
 arly fitted him for such a post — was waiting on God in 
 prayer for direction as to service. The two devoted 
 servants of Christ met, and it was found that the will 
 of God was so plainly indicated in the matter that no 
 room was left to question it. Thus, the Directorate was 
 shared onwards by Mr. Wright, and Mr. Bergin, and 
 only death has divided them in their work of faith and 
 labour of love. Without wavering so much as a hair- 
 breadth, in principle or method, from the original design 
 of the Institution, its administration has been jointly 
 conducted for seven years. And now the surviving 
 steward and servant of the Lord stands alone and single- 
 handed — a touching appeal to believers to plead with 
 Him who is "the Father of the fatherless/' that a true 
 help-mate may be provided for this honoured and will- 
 ing shepherd of Christ's lambs. We commend Mr. Ber- 
 gin to the prayers of the Lord's people. On his dying 
 bed Mr. Wright appears to have implicitly left the 
 orphanage work in the hands of his heavenly Father, 
 and to have spoken little of its future. About a week 
 before passing away he grasped his fellow-worker by 
 the hand, kissed it, and said, "Oh! my brother, how I 
 love you!" 
 
 His illness lasted nearly a month, and was borne with 
 
TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. l8l 
 
 exemplary patience and acquiescence in the Divine will. 
 Much fervent prayer was offered for him among the peo- 
 ple of God in Bristol, of various denominations; for his 
 consistent Christian life, abounding labours, and faith- 
 ful Gospel testimony made him indeed "a brother be- 
 loved" far beyond the limits of his immediate communion. 
 The last Scripture read to him by his own request — 
 just before he passed into the glory of his Lord's presence, 
 was the 23rd Psalm. About three o'clock in the morning 
 he asked his nurse to let him bear that most precious, 
 suggestive, and suitable portion of the Word. Then he 
 wished to hear once more the hymn which he had 
 peculiarly loved — dear Doctor Hawker's grace-exalting 
 lines : — 
 
 "Abba, Father! Lord, we call Thee, 
 
 Hallowed name I from day to day ; 
 'Tis Thy children's right to know Thee, 
 
 None but children Abba say. 
 This high privilege we inherit. 
 
 First Thy gift, and then Christ's blood ; 
 God the Spirit, to our spirit, 
 
 Witnesseth we are sons of God. 
 
 "Abba's love first gave us being. 
 
 When, in Christ, in that vast plan, 
 Abba chose the church in Jesus, 
 
 Long before the world began ! 
 Oh! what love the Father bore us! 
 
 Oh! how precious in His sight f 
 When He gave His church to Jesus, 
 
 Jesus ! His whole soul's delight ! 
 
 "Though our nature's fall in Adam 
 
 Seemed to shut us out from God; 
 Thus it was His counsel brought us 
 
 Nearer still through Jesu's blood: 
 
l82 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 By the plan Himself had formed, 
 
 Ere like sheep we went astray; 
 They, said God, shall call me Father, 
 
 Nor from me shall turn away. 
 
 "And the richest stores of pardon 
 
 God sets forth in Christ His Son; 
 With the Spirit's grace to guide us. 
 
 Safe to bring His children home. 
 Abba, Father! makes all certain. 
 
 Both by word, by oath, and blood 
 Abba saith, 'They are My people,' 
 
 And they say, 'The Lord's my God.' 
 
 "Hence through all our changing seasons. 
 
 Trouble, sorrow, sickness, woe; 
 Nothing changeth God's affection, 
 
 Abba's love will bring us through. 
 Soon shall all Thy blood-bought children 
 
 Round Thy throne their anthems raise; 
 And in songs of rich salvation 
 
 Shout to Abba endless praise." 
 
 Many blessed utterances had passed his lips during 
 the closing weeks of his suffering illness, and numerous 
 passages of the Word his soul dearly loved were repeated 
 by him. To the last his mind was kept in perfect peace, 
 for, through grace he knew well Whom he had believed, 
 and was richly persuaded that He was "able to keep 
 that" which he had long-gone years before committed 
 unto Him. He had been a devout and diligent student 
 of the Scriptures of eternal truth, his mind was liberally 
 stored with the verities of the blood-sealed Covenant 
 of Grace, and the sweet message of salvation through the 
 atoning blood of the Lamb — which he had delighted 
 to minister to others — was now his sufficient stay and 
 consolation when flesh and blood failed him, and all 
 human succour was in vain. God Himself was "the 
 
TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. 183 
 
 Strength of his heart, and his portion for ever." Thus 
 entered into the rest that remaineth to the people of God 
 one of the most laborious, humble, consistent, able, and 
 courageous Gospel witnesses we ever had the privilege 
 to know, to love, and to revere. His intelligent apprehen- 
 sion of God's revealed truth, his striking aptitude in 
 rightly dividing the Word, his tenacious grasp of the 
 doctrines of grace, his jealousy for the Divine accuracy 
 and verbal inspiration of the Scriptures, and his forcible 
 and edifying methods of exposition, made him "one of a 
 thousand" among the religious teachers of the time in 
 which he lived. His addresses at Clifton Conferences, 
 happily preserved in the published reports, were master- 
 pieces of spiritual instruction and counsel. Fain would 
 we here reproduce many of his choice Conference say- 
 ings, but they are reluctantly held over through want of 
 space. 
 
 The funeral of our dear departed brother, on Thurs- 
 day, February 2nd, afforded the citizens of Bristol an 
 opportunity to give expression to the high esteem in which, 
 "for his works' sake" and for his personal worth, they 
 held him. The service, both at "Bethesda" and at the 
 grave-side in Amo's Vale Cemetery, was touchingly 
 impressive. Mr. G. F. Bergin and Mr. J. L. Stanley 
 took leading parts in the simple obsequies; the pulpit 
 address of the former, relating several beautiful inci- 
 dents arising out of the speaker's intimate association 
 with Mr. Wright in the superintendence of the Orphan- 
 age, were listened to with profound attention by the 
 densely crowded audience, among which were a number 
 of the elder orphans. The streets in the neighbourhood 
 of "Bethesda" were lined by fatherless and motherless 
 children, whose faces bore unmistakable signs of the 
 
184 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 sorrow that wrung their hearts. Many of them walked 
 behind the hearse into the City, where they fell out, and 
 then returned to their bereaved Orphan Houses on Ashley 
 Down. At the grave-side Mr. J. L. Stanley delivered a 
 short address, of which the following is the substance. 
 He said they laid those beloved remains in the tomb not 
 with spices and odours, as they did of old, but with some- 
 thing far better. They did so amid the affection of 
 hundreds of loving hearts, and with the shout of the 
 song of Christian triumph. They had been reminded 
 that day very fittingly of the gifts and the grace that 
 made their beloved friend what he was. And they were 
 reminded of his rich and noble Christian character. But 
 as they stood there for a few moments they did not think 
 so much of that. It is not because of his lofty 
 Christian character that they committed his remains to 
 the tomb with such confident hope; it was based upon 
 something other than that. He could find two words 
 which expressed it in the message they had just read. 
 One word was "sin," and the other "victory" through 
 the Lord Jesus Christ. All who knew their dear friend 
 knew that he recognised very fully the dark lines in 
 which human depravity was drawn in the Scripture, and 
 he never tried to make that dark shadow any lighter ; he 
 accepted to the full the teaching of the Word of God 
 concerning the depravity of the human heart, "All have 
 sinned and come short of the glory of God." And he 
 was ready to class himself with the vilest sinner on earth. 
 No one could sing with more heartiness or sincerity than 
 he did the well-known words: — 
 
 "The dying thief rejoiced to see 
 That fountain in his day; 
 
 And there have I, though vile as he. 
 Washed all my sins away." 
 
TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. 185 
 
 He recognised most fully his deep sinfulness and his need 
 of the cleansing blood of Jesus, but he also looked into 
 that dark mystery of sin and his own connection with it. 
 On the other hand, he knew what was meant by victory 
 through the Lord Jesus Christ. He rejoiced in the 
 triumph that came through the grace of his Redeemer. 
 Over and over again from his own lips many of them 
 had heard that testimony, how he delighted to speak of the 
 cleansing fountain of the blood of Jesus Christ. So that 
 day they "glorified God in him," and they rejoiced as 
 they stood around the open grave that would hide his 
 remains from them until the resurrection day, that he went 
 down to his resting place cleansed in the blood of Christ, 
 and his spirit had joined the spirits of just men made 
 perfect in grace. Oh, that from the open grave there 
 might come the voice of God to many hearts. Nothing 
 would delight their beloved friend more than to know 
 that round that open grave some had been enabled to 
 accept the Saviour. 
 
 Never shall we forget the hallowed moments when the 
 great gathering, in softened but joyous tones, addressed 
 the throne of God in the following sacred song: — 
 
 "Death is but sleep in Jesus 
 
 To those who live in Him, 
 Since Jesus at His coming, 
 
 Their bodies shall redeem; 
 One moment and the trumpet 
 
 Shall call to life the dead, 
 From earth's remotest caverns, 
 
 From ocean's deepest bed. 
 
 "The dead in Jesus, raised. 
 
 From Abel to the end. 
 With all the living changed. 
 
 Shall then to heaven ascend. 
 
l86 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 Oh, what a glorious morning! 
 
 Oh, what a joyful band ! 
 How great the congregation. 
 
 Round Jesus then shall stand! 
 
 "And oh ! what burst of praises, 
 
 When Jesus leads the song, 
 The Saviour and the saved 
 
 The harmony prolong! 
 The theme is God's salvation. 
 
 The joy is full that day. 
 The echoes of that morning 
 
 Shall never die away. 
 
 What glories and for ever, 
 
 Shall crown the Lamb once slain ! 
 What trophies for His travail. 
 
 What triumphs He shall gain! 
 The joy of all creation, 
 
 His Name shall be adored; 
 And ours the joy of dwelling 
 
 'Forever with the Lord !' " 
 
 As a last look was taken into the unclosed chamber 
 wherein lay the redeemed body of the Lord's faithful 
 servant, a simple inscription on the breast-plate of the 
 casket met the eye: "James Wright, fell asleep in 
 Jesus, January 29th, 1905, in his 79th year." As we 
 turned away, the consoling thought was given, "Till 
 He come." 
 
 " 'Lord, if he sleep he shall do well ! 
 
 In sleep like this he taketh rest; 
 He lieth down corruptible, 
 
 He riseth in Thine image blest. 
 
 "For he who sleeps in Thee sleeps well. 
 All earth shut out, all heaven shut in ; 
 
 Though damp the couch and damp the cell, 
 They dwell in light who sleep within." 
 
TRIBUTES OF FRIENDS. 187 
 
 Deeply do we condole with the sorrowing relatives of 
 our beloved brother, with Mr. Bergin and all his fellow- 
 labourers, in their deep affliction — with the bereaved 
 congregations among whom Mr. Wright so profitably 
 ministered the word of God's precious truth, and with 
 the twice fatherless little ones on Ashley Down. To these 
 last may the inspired words of the Psalmist become an 
 increasingly experimental reality. "When my father and 
 my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up" 
 (Ps. xxvii: lo). 
 
 A pathetic statement of the last four weeks of God's 
 dear servant on earth has been prepared by his devoted 
 friend and successor, Mr. G. F. Bergin, for which we 
 feel deeply indebted to Mr. Bergin. The record of 
 the last precious sayings of the Lord's faithful witness 
 is very edifying, showing, as it does, the all-sufficiency 
 of Jehovah's grace to enable them that truly trust in 
 Him to "glorify the Lord in the fires." (Isa. xxivris.) 
 
CHAPTER NINTH. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE SEVEN REPORTS WRITTEN BY 
 MR. WRIGHT, 1898-1904. 
 
 Introduction, — 'My beloved father-in-law, Mr. George 
 Miiller, who was the instrument in the hand of God in 
 founding, and for 64 years carrying on this institution, 
 had, a week or two before his departure to be with Christ, 
 begun to prepare the manuscript for the present report, 
 the fifty-ninth issue since the year 1834. In our first 
 prayer meeting after the decease of the human guide 
 whom all of us loved and revered, no fear as to the future 
 was permitted to distract our hearts. By God's grace 
 our minds were kept "m perfect peace" because "stayed 
 upon" Him. And thus it has been, without intermis- 
 sion, ever since, until the present hour; the only dif- 
 ference being that the constant proofs of His presence 
 with us, and His power, love and tender care toward 
 us have confirmed our faith in Himself. It is written 
 (Job xxvi:7), "He hangeth the Earth upon nothing/' 
 that is on no visible support. And so we exult in the fact 
 that "The Scriptural Knowledge Institution for Home 
 and Abroad" hangs, as it has ever hung, since its com- 
 mencement, now more than 64 years ago, "upon noth- 
 ing/' that is, upon no visible support. It hangs upon 
 no human patron, upon no endowment or funded prop- 
 erty, but solely upon the good pleasure of the Blessed 
 God. A very noticeable feature in the history of the 
 Institution during the past twelve months has been the 
 continuance of the trial of our faith and patience in re- 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS. 1 89 
 
 gard to pecuniary supplies. He who is pleased, some- 
 times, to teach His servants "'how to abound" sees it best 
 for them, at other times "to be instructed how to suffer 
 need." For many of the 64 years during which this work 
 has been carried on, the former was our experience; we 
 abounded, and richly abounded. Latterly, and especially 
 during the last two or three years it has been the very 
 reverse. Pressing need has been the rule; a balance in 
 hand, over and above our need, the rare exception. Yet 
 we have never been forsaken. Our faithful resident help- 
 ers, loyal to the great principle of the Institution, depend- 
 ence upon God alone for everything, have been cheerfully 
 content to wait, once and again, for their salaries, rather 
 than encumber the finances of the work; and then, ere 
 long, a most timely deliverance has come, their needs 
 have been met, and our hearts have been filled with praise. 
 We have never been permitted to give way to unbelief; 
 and, in the end, our Heavenly Father has invariably 
 shown us that His only purpose in delaying the answer 
 to prayer was to strengthen our confidence in Himself. 
 
 March 14th. — This day Mr. Miiller's earthly remains 
 were laid in the grave of his first and second wives, at 
 Arno's Vale Cemetery. A short service, at which many 
 hundreds of the Orphans were present, was held in the 
 House in which the one whom they love to call father 
 had lived amongst them. The principal service was held, 
 afterwards, at Bethesda Chapel, Great George Street, 
 where the deceased had laboured in Word and doctrine 
 for about 66 years. The reading of some portions of 
 those Holy Scriptures which he so reverenced and loved, 
 one or two prayers and a few brief words of exhortation 
 at the grave-side closed the solemn proceedings. The 
 attendant circumstances, throughout, were very remark- 
 
IQO JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 able and interesting to tfie Christian mind, chiefly as 
 illustrating God's eternal principle, "Them that honour 
 Me I will honour." The man who in life sought not his 
 own glory, became in death the one to whom all classes 
 delighted to show respect and honour. From the masses 
 of sympathizing spectators that lined the streets, from the 
 tearful eyes and the audible prayerful ejaculations that 
 escaped the lips of bystanders (many of them the poor- 
 est of the poor) as the Orphans filed past, following the 
 hearse ; from the suspension of all traffic in the principal 
 streets, the tolling of muffled bells, and the half-masted 
 flags, and from the dense crowds in the cemetery that 
 awaited the arrival of the funeral company, it seemed as 
 if the whole city had, spontaneously, resolved to do hon- 
 our to the man who had not lived for himself, but for 
 the glory of God and the good of his fellows. Such a 
 public manifestation on the day of the burial, coupled 
 with the previous public and private expressions of sym- 
 pathy, could not but deeply affect my beloved fellow 
 labourers in the Institution and myself, and led me to 
 send the following letter to the local papers, as the only 
 mode in which the expression of our gratitude could 
 reach the vast number of our sympathizing friends : 
 
 Letter From Mr. James Wright. 
 
 "To all fellow believers in Christ, to all ministers of 
 His truth, and to all our friends, of every name and de- 
 gree, who have at this time of our sore bereavement ex- 
 pressed, privately or publicly, their esteem and affection 
 for the memory of my beloved father-in-law, Mr. George 
 Muller, I, together with all my loved helpers in the 
 Orphan Houses on Ashley Down, and in the other ob- 
 jects of "The Scriptural Knowledge Institution," desire 
 to express our deep gratitude. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS. I9I 
 
 It is impossible to address each of our kind friends in- 
 dividually, so we beg them all to graciously accept this 
 mode of conveying our sincere and hearty thanks. 
 
 "James Wright, 
 "(Honorary Director of the Institution.) 
 
 "Ashley Down, March 14th, 1898." 
 report for 1899. 
 
 Introduction. — The signal blessing that the God of all 
 grace bestowed on the "Scriptural Knowledge Institu- 
 tion," during the 64 years that my late beloved father- 
 in-law was permitted to direct its operations, has con- 
 tinued to rest upon it abundantly, through another twelve 
 months. By the grace of God, my dear fellow-labourer, 
 Mr. G. F. Bergin, and our dear helpers in the work and 
 myself have been enabled to trust in Him, and in Him 
 alone; and He, who "is no respecter of persons," has 
 shown himself strong on our behalf. In His unmerited 
 mercy I am permitted the joyful privilege of preparing 
 for publication this Sixtieth Report of the Institution, and 
 of thus bearing testimony to the loving kindness and 
 faithfulness of our God. Between May 26th, 1898, and 
 May 26th, 1899, in answer to believing prayer, without a 
 single application to any human being for pecuniary help, 
 the sum of £29,677 17s. g^d. was received, of which 
 £23,666 2s. oyid. was taken for the support of the Or- 
 phans, and £6,011 iss. 9d. for the other four Objects 
 of the Institution. The above-named total includes a 
 sum of £2,400, received in November, in one donation, 
 and a legacy of £2,000 received in December. These 
 two sums were the means by which the Lord was pleased 
 to remove the financial pressure which we had expe- 
 rienced, almost continuously, for between two and three 
 years. 
 
igZ JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 December loth, 1898. — Legacy of the late Mrs. H. H., 
 £2,000. Intimation that this legacy had become paya- 
 ble, by the death of the testatrix, reached us about ten 
 months ago. Subsequently we were informed that the 
 will was disputed, and we were invited by some of the 
 beneficiaries under it to join them in active legal pro- 
 ceedings to defend our claims. Observe, this was not one 
 of those cases which often occur, in which, through the 
 ambiguous wording of the will, or some technical defect 
 in the instrument itseff, or in the witnessing of the sig- 
 nature, executors run serious personal risk in seeking to 
 carry out the provisions of the will; and, therefore, the 
 sanction of the Chancery or other law courts is sought 
 to enable them to act with safety, or the whole respon- 
 sibility of the administration is devolved upon such court. 
 In such cases what may be termed a "friendly action" 
 may be instituted simply with the view of carrying out 
 the wishes of the testator ; and the beneficiaries under the 
 will may be made consenting parties to such proceedings 
 without assuming a hostile attitude towards any person 
 whatever. But, as I said before, the course we were in- 
 vited to enter upon in the present instance was litigation 
 pure and simple, directed against the party, who with or 
 without just ground sought to quash the will. In such 
 proceedings we preferred to take no part, believing it to 
 be the more excellent, because the more Scriptural way 
 to commit our cause to Him who judgeth righteously. 
 We, therefore, continually waited upon God in private 
 and united prayer, that inasmuch as the deceased lady 
 undoubtedly desired and intended by her will to befriend 
 the Orphans, He would, as "the Father of the Fatherless" 
 defend the Orphans of Ashley Down, and not suffer the 
 will to be upset. Our petitions were listened to, and, for 
 the sake of our great Advocate in the Court of Heaven ! 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS. I93 
 
 were answered to the letter. In the month of August the 
 case came before the judge in London, and occupied sev- 
 eral days; and, though we were not represented there, 
 the verdict of the court was to the effect that the will 
 was perfectly valid, and that its provisions were all to be 
 carried out. In due time the will was proved; but for 
 three months we had to wait patiently for the money be- 
 queathed to the Institution. For two years and six 
 months the financial strain in providing for the Or- 
 phans had been permitted to continue. My beloved 
 father-in-law departed to be with Christ, after sharing 
 this trial of faith and patience with his helpers for one 
 year and nine months; and he departed in the buoyant 
 hope, to the last moment, that financially, the Lord 
 would "revive us again." With a fao^ beaming with 
 joyful confidence in the love and power of the God and 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, he would turn to us, at 
 our united meetings for prayer, and exclaim: "A little 
 more faith, a little more prayer, a little more patience will 
 bring the blessing!" 
 
 Now, see beloved reader (and may God cause the les- 
 son it conveys to sink down into your heart and mine), 
 how God, in whom he trusted, vindicated the confidence 
 of His child and servant. Nine months more had to pass, 
 after beloved George Miiller had entered his Lord's pres- 
 ence, before God's time had "fully come," but come it 
 did; and on the lotfi December, nine months to a day 
 after his departure, our faithful God turned our prayers 
 once more into praises ; and our poverty into comparative 
 abundance! By the £2,400 donation of last month and 
 the £2,000 legacy to-day we are richly supplied, for the 
 present, for all the five branches of the Institution. 
 
 March 28th, 1899. — This day I received information 
 
194 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 that, by the decease of a gentleman, connected by family 
 ties with a banking establishment in this city, this Insti- 
 tution becomes entitled, under his will, to a legacy of 
 £20,000. 
 
 On April 22>th, 1899, I received a letter from an entire 
 stranger in which he wrote as follows: 
 
 "I am very wishful to know what is the pecuniary 
 position of your Orphanage this year, more especially 
 since the first of January last. I had a somewhat un- 
 usual conviction brought home to me about your needing 
 help one night when lying awake in bed. My inquiry is 
 in strict confidence. Give me at the same time the name 
 in which a draft should be made out. 
 Yours faithfully. 
 
 To this letter I replied expressing my full appreciation 
 of the kind interest in the Institution which this writer's 
 letter evinced, but adding that the principle upon which 
 my late father-in-law had, from the first, carried on the 
 work was, never to divulge to any human being its 
 present financial position. That only once a year, 
 in the Annual Report, a financial statement was pub- 
 lished ; but that this always referred to a state of things 
 eight or ten weeks previous to the date of publication; 
 and that, as I had received the responsibility of carrying 
 on the work as a sacred trust, I could not depart from 
 the principle which had been undeviatingly adhered to up 
 to the present hour. Three days afterward, that is by 
 return of post, I received the following letter enclosing 
 a draft for £1,050: 
 
 "Dear Sir : — I am in receipt of your report, and note it 
 is your rule not to give information as to your present 
 needs. I now enclose draft in your favour for £1,050 to 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS. 1 95 
 
 be devoted to the maintenance of the Orphans and your 
 other objects as God may direct you. Please acknowl- 
 edge receipt to me in enclosed envelope, and please note 
 it is strictly private. He gave it to me in a very direct 
 manner with what appeared to me a plain intimation that 
 you required it. No thanks whatever are due to me. 
 Trusting this instance of His wonderful kindness may 
 still further strengthen your faith in Him, whose good- 
 ness is so great that words cannot characterise it, 
 I am, yours truly. 
 
 Now, that the reader of this report may be helped 
 more clearly to see and admire the hand of the Invisible, 
 Living God in this transaction, I here state, simply, our 
 position at the time. The fund for the Orphans (which, 
 since we received the two large donations in November 
 and December, already referred to, had, with the current 
 daily income since, been amply sufficient to meet all our 
 requirements up to the end of April), by the beginning 
 of May had again become nearly exhausted. The quar- 
 terly salaries, payable in May, the monthly bills and other 
 current expenses during that month would amount to not 
 less than from £1,500 to £2,000 ; to meet which we had, 
 on April 30th, only £374 in hand. Moreover, we had 
 been much in prayer, secretly and unitedly, that for the 
 honour of His Name, the Lord might be graciously 
 pleased to close our financial year with a substantial bal- 
 ance on the right side, after paying all expenses up to the 
 26th of May. Under these circumstances came the let- 
 ter of inquiry above noted. Now, as beloved Mr. Miil- 
 ler was wont to say in his "Narrative and Reports" there 
 IS nothing sinful, in itself, in a child of God asking a 
 fellow believer to help him with money for the work of 
 
196 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 God. Much less is there any sin in giving information 
 of financial need to one who, as in this instance, particu- 
 larly inquires in order that he may be guided in his own 
 action ; but Mr. MuUer began this work with one clearly 
 defined purpose, viz., to illustrate the truth that the Un- 
 seen God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, really 
 listens to and answers the believing prayers of His 
 children, now, at the end of the nineteenth century, just 
 as much as He did in the days of the Apostles, or in the 
 days of Daniel, David, Abraham and Enoch. To empha- 
 size this lesson Mr. Muller resolved, from the outset, 
 never to do what, otherwise, it would have been perfectly 
 scriptural, and therefore lawful to do, viz., to make his 
 needs known to his fellow Christians. Only in the ear 
 of the Living God would he tell his circumstances. And 
 for 64 years God vindicated His servant and showed His 
 approval of his utter trust in Himself. Beloved Mr. Ber- 
 gin and I felt that if we departed a hair's breadth from 
 this position in conducting the Scriptural Knowledge In- 
 stitution, we should be marring its unique testimony, and 
 so we had not a moment's hesitation as to the nature of 
 the reply that must be made to this kind friend's inquiry. 
 Now, mark, dear reader, how our faithful God owned our 
 reliance on Himself alone. In answer to our secret cries 
 that He would influence our unknown friend's heart, we 
 received by return of post one thousand and fifty pounds 
 sterling, of which, as the kind donor left the apportion- 
 ment entirely to me, I could place £1,000 to the greatly 
 reduced Orphan Fund, and add £50 to the fund for 
 aiding Missionary labourers, the ability to do which had 
 long been much on our hearts in prayer. How true was 
 the "conviction" which our kind helper had brought home 
 to him as he lay awake ! We were indeed "needing help." 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS. I97 
 
 And though we cannot (in spite of what he wrote in his 
 second letter) fail to feel truly grateful to him as the 
 instrument whom God used so greatly to help us, and 
 have, therefore, very heartily thanked him, yet we do 
 just as heartily echo his expressed desire that "this in- 
 stance of the Lord's wonderful kindness may still further 
 strengthen our faith in Him whose goodness is so great 
 that words cannot characterise it," and. may this be the 
 blessed result to many who shall read this record. 
 
 May 1st, 1899. — Received to-day a letter, in which the 
 writer, for years a donor, expresses her regret that she 
 finds it necessary, on account of special circumstances, 
 to postpone her usual remittance for awhile, possibly for 
 a few months ; and, under these circumstances, adds that 
 she and her husband "are thankful that the Orphan 
 Houses have recently received so helpful a legacy." The 
 writer refers to the legacy of £20,000 to which I have 
 alluded under March 28th, stating that on that day I re- 
 ceived information that the Institution had become entitled 
 to such a legacy; and she evidently supposes that the 
 money had been paid to us. This, however, was not the 
 case; and, indeed, up to the date on which I am now 
 writing (June 20th) nothing has yet been received on 
 account of this legacy. There is nothing unusual in this. 
 The winding up of large estates often takes three, six, 
 nine months or more. The mistake into which our kind 
 friend fell in assuming that we were already handling 
 this "helpful legacy" is one into which many others have 
 fallen, for I have received many congratulations from 
 those who have assumed the same, some actually speak- 
 ing of it as a "donation." 
 
 The receipt of this letter led me to special and earnest 
 pleading with God; bringing before Him that He knew 
 
igS JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 our real position, viz., that while many were supposing 
 that we were actually in possession of this large legacy, 
 the fact was, that we had not yet received a penny of it. 
 That, instead of, as many supposed, abounding, we were 
 really in such a strait that three or four days would swal- 
 low up the balance in hand for the Orphans. That, in 
 His fear, we could not explain to our friends their mis- 
 take, or divulge to one of them our real position, as 
 that would be indirectly appealing to them for money. 
 That He knew the heavy expenses of this month. That 
 from £2,000 to £2,500 would be required to meet them, 
 towards which we had little more than £200 in hand. 
 Now, note dear Reader, the result. First, having thus 
 really rolled the burden upon God, I was perfectly free 
 from anxiety, and had a night's unbroken sleep ; secondly, 
 the first letter that I opened in the morning contained 
 the cheque for One Thousand and Fifty Pounds, of 
 which I was able to take £ 1,000 for the Orphans ! 
 
 REPORT FOR 1900. 
 Introduction. — Through another twelve months the 
 "Father of the fatherless ;" the "Hearer of Prayer," has 
 condescended, in His dealings with this Institution, to 
 illustrate in remarkable ways these His unchangeable 
 titles. In one respect this display of His revealed char- 
 acter has surpassed that of all the former sixty-six years 
 of its career. I refer to the receipt, on the 24th of 
 March, of a legacy of Eighteen Thousand Pounds (i. e., 
 £20,000, less legacy duty) to the Orphan Fund. This 
 sum exceeded, by about £7,000, the largest amount ever 
 before received in a single payment. It is not, how- 
 ever, the mere largeness of this item that is to be noticed. 
 The timeliness of it is especially instructive. When, 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS. I99 
 
 some fourteen years ago, the Testator was moved by 
 God to insert this bequest in his Will, what was then 
 hidden from the human ken was "naked and opened unto 
 the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do," viz., that 
 the year 1900, when this bequest would become payable, 
 would, on account of a most costly war in South Africa, 
 and an unprecedented famine in India, be a year of 
 more than ordinary strain to charitable enterprises de- 
 pendent, instrumentally, upon free-will offerings. Our 
 Father in Heaven foresaw the need of the hundreds 
 of fatherless and motherless ones who, in the year 
 1900, would, in dependence solely upon His power and 
 mercy, be gathered under the sheltering roofs of the 
 Ashley Down Orphan Houses, or rather under His own 
 sheltering wing, and He took care that even in the 
 time of famine they should be satisfied. Our Heavenly 
 Father really listened to the prayer of His poor servants, 
 who have no other plea before Him but the blood and 
 righteousness of His own beloved Son, and the result 
 shows that He determined that it should become patent 
 to the Church and the World of the Nineteenth Century, 
 that, to-day, none ever really call and wait upon Him in 
 vain. Besides this £18,000, there was received for the 
 support of the Orphans, during the present financial 
 year, £19,945 os. ioj4d., and, for the School, Bible, Mis- 
 sionary and Tract Fund, £6,040 17s. 2d.; so that, be- 
 tween May 27th, 1899, and May 26th, 1900, inclusive, 
 there was received in answer to believing prayer, with- 
 out a single application to any human being for pecuniary 
 help, a total sum of £43,985 i8s. Y^A. 
 
 May 2gth, 1899. — ^Legacy of the late J. S., Esq., £2,- 
 700. From "A. Z.," £200. This gift came from an anon- 
 ymous donor, who, as far as I know, never helped us 
 
200 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 before. Her Solicitor wrote a few days ago, asking to 
 whom a donation should be made payable, and on re- 
 ceiving a reply sent us, on behalf of his client, the 
 above-named sum. The Balance in hand for the Orphans 
 on the 26th of this month (the close of our financial 
 year) was £728 is. SJ^d., not enough to meet the cur- 
 rent expenses of 14 days. Now, to-day, on the second 
 day of the new financial year, the Lord has greatly en- 
 couraged us by sending us these large sums, which, 
 with other smaller donations that came in, make up a 
 total of £2,924 17s. 7J^d., received on this same day. 
 
 May 30th. — Legacy of the late Miss F. B., £500. 
 Legacy of the late J. L., Esq., £44 19s. 4d. Our in- 
 finitely rich Patron, "The Living God," who knew our 
 need, continues to deal bountifully with us. In the case 
 of this £500, as well as in that of the large legacy which 
 was paid yesterday, we have had answers to a prayer 
 frequently presented, viz., that Executors and Lawyers, 
 having to do with Estates where legacies have been left 
 to us, may be disposed to wind up the accounts and 
 pay the bequests quickly. In both these cases, the sums 
 have been paid within a few weeks after the proving of 
 the Wins. 
 
 December 6th, 1899. A kind Donor said in his letter : 
 "I hope the present outburst of patriotism is not being 
 made at the expense of your Institution; but, as you 
 look to your Father alone for your support, we may rest 
 assured that, be the demands in other directions what 
 they may, 'He will not leave you nor forsake you.' " To 
 this it is our joy tp set our "Amen." The very unusual 
 calls upon the benevolent during the last seven months 
 doubtless diverted from this Institution many donations 
 that otherwise would have come to us. This will be 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS. 20I 
 
 evident to the reader when I place before him, as I will 
 now do, the state of the funds on the 26th day of seven 
 successive months in our last financial year: On June 
 26th (exactly one month from the close of the financial 
 year which ended May 26th, 1899, when our balance 
 in hand for the Orphans was £728 is. 5>^d.) the bal- 
 ance in hand for the Orphans had risen to £4,990 14s. 
 9^d. ; on July 26th the balance in hand for the Orphans 
 was £4,620 IDS. o>^d. ; on August 26th, £3,339 9s. 7}id. ; 
 on Sept. 26th, £2,854 6s. 2d.; on Oct. 26th, £2,785 os. 
 3j^d. ; on Nov. 26th (six weeks after the outbreak of the 
 war), £1,602 15s. Ij4d. ; Dec. 26th, £1,101 os. 6^26.. 
 Thus, the close of 1899 found us with a rapidly dimin- 
 ishing balance and income, but found us also in perfect 
 peace ! We were fully persuaded that "He Himself knew 
 what He would do," and we simply prayed and waited 
 and watched for His working Who "doeth wonders!" 
 The income for January was larger than for the pre- 
 vious month, and the balance in hand on the 26th of that 
 month for the Orphans had risen to £1,360 os. io%d. ; 
 but during February this melted away, and we began 
 March with a practically empty purse. We began 
 March, I say, thus, but in the fourth week of that month 
 (as, of old, in the fourth watch of the night), our 
 promise-keeping Lord came to us; and on the 26th of 
 that month the balance in hand for the Orphans stood 
 at £ 17,345 4s. 2%6.. ! "Come and hear this, all ye that 
 fear God:" "O, magnify the LORD with us, and let us 
 exalt His name together." Thus, our deliverance out 
 of one more great strait; and the sustentation of the 
 Orphans' work in a time of diminished income, and 
 rising prices of coal and many other articles of con- 
 sumption, was accomplished by the Fatherly care of the 
 
202 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 blessed God in causing a legacy to be paid at this junc- 
 ture that was bequeathed some fourteen years ago. I 
 have already, in the beginning of this Report, alluded 
 to this legacy, but do so again, that the reader may ad- 
 mire the loving kindness of the Lord, Who, having in 
 the fourth decade of the present century, led His be- 
 loved departed servant, Mr. Miiller, to begin this work, 
 has now been pleased in the last year of the century to 
 crown, as it were, the work with this signal mark of 
 His favour by causing the largest sum ever received in 
 one amount to flow into its treasury. 
 
 January ^rd, 1900. From Aberdeen, £1 2S. The 
 donor, about a week ago, read in a local paper a state- 
 ment that a serious fire had occurred at the Ashley 
 Down Orphanage, causing damage to the extent of 
 £5,000, and immediately sent us the above sum as a prac- 
 tical expression of his sympathy with us under the sup- 
 posed heavy trial. As the statement was wholly errone- 
 ous, no fire having occurred, I returned the money, 
 thanking him for his great kindness, but adding that, 
 as the gift had been made under an entire misapprehen- 
 sion, I did not feel happy in retaining it. To-day, how- 
 ever, I received the amount again, the writer rejoicing 
 to learn that we had not suffered as he was led to sup- 
 pose, but saying that his determination to send this 
 amount for the benefit of the Institution remained un- 
 altered. 
 
 REPORT FOR 1901. 
 
 Introduction. The Scriptural Knowledge Institution 
 has now entered upon the Sixty-Eighth year of its ex- 
 istence, and upon the fourth year of its continuance 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS. 203 
 
 since its Founder, "having served his generation by the 
 will of God, fell on sleep," resting from his labours on 
 earth. Three years ago the question was anxiously 
 asked by some, "Will the work go on, now that Mr. 
 Miiller is dead?" The answer given was, "It is going 
 on; and, in the future, God will do whatsoever He 
 pleases : and what He does will be worthy of Himself." 
 Our experience since, as recorded in the Annual Re- 
 ports for 1898, 1899 and 1900, has abundantly justified 
 the confidence which was thus reposed in the Living 
 God. And if, to-day, the enquiry should be "How can 
 the survival and continuance of this work be accounted 
 for?" the answer is twofold, viz., the first and funda- 
 mental reason is the unchanging character of God. His 
 name endures to all generations; He is infinitely good; 
 He is infinitely great; He does whatsoever He pleases, 
 in heaven and in earth; and it is His good pleasure (as 
 declared in His written Word) to give to "every one 
 THAT asketh" whatsoever he asketh in the name of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ, and according to the Father's will; 
 and secondly. He has been pleased to give to His poor 
 servants upon whom He has more especially laid the re- 
 sponsibility of carrying on this work (and, more or 
 less, according to the measure of His grace, to all their 
 beloved fellow labourers in this work), faith in His in- 
 finite goodness, all-mightiness and unchangeableness, 
 and in His unfailing faithfulness in answering prayer, 
 so that in the sorest extremities, financial or otherwise, 
 they have never been permitted to resort to any device 
 of nature, but have endured as seeing Him who is in- 
 visible until He has made the way of escape. This is 
 not written in self-glorification: the grace referred to 
 was "bestowed" by the God of all grace, and "received" 
 
204 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 by US ; and, if received, there is no ground for glorying. 
 It is written simply to fully account for the fact of the 
 continuance of the work, and to encourage fellow work- 
 ers for God, by emphasising the truth that "They who 
 wholly trust Him, find Him wholly true." It is written 
 also in the deep conviction that we cannot by any native 
 strength maintain ourselves in this state of real de- 
 pendence upon God for one hour. But that He is "able 
 to make all grace abound," and as long as He is pleased 
 to keep us leaning upon Himself we shall never be con- 
 founded. My earnest desire also is that the Lord may 
 condescend to use this "Brief Narrative of Facts" to ef- 
 fectually answer the infidel taunt that is, alas ! as audible 
 as ever, "Where is now their God?" by its affording 
 many infallible proofs that "Our God is in the Heavens 
 and that He hath done whatsoever He hath pleased." 
 
 The year ending May 26th, 1901, will, we believe, 
 prove a memorable one in the history of this Orphan- 
 age, as having been the period during which we were 
 led (we doubt not in accordance with the will of God) 
 to modify, in one particular, the conditions under which 
 Orphans can be received. Hitherto, for more than 64 
 years, only children bereaved of both parents by death 
 have been eligible for admission; but, from and after 
 the publication of this Report destitute children, born 
 in wedlock, will be eligible for admission if bereaved of 
 one parent. I will now state the reasons that have in- 
 duced us to make this important change. 
 
 Since Mr. Miiller began the work, and, especially 
 during the last thirty years, the provision for Orphans 
 throughout the country has immensely increased. Orph- 
 anages have multiplied, and are now to be found in 
 many parts of England. There can be no doubt that 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS. 20S 
 
 Mr. Miiller's example has had much to do with this 
 great change, and for this we praise God ; but one result 
 has been the constant reduction of applications for the 
 admission into the Ashley Down Orphanage of children 
 living at a distance from Bristol. The relatives and 
 friends of such Orphans have now a choice of localities, 
 and naturally prefer sending them to the nearest Insti- 
 tution as affording them more frequent opportunities of 
 seeing the children and at less expense. Again, the 
 increased openings for remunerative female labour in- 
 cline many to undervalue domestic service; and, conse- 
 quently to view with disfavour Institutions whose object 
 is to train girls for that most useful, and, if rightly 
 viewed, honourable occupation. Further, there can be 
 no doubt that religious bias, and a strong prejudice in 
 favour of certain ecclesiastical forms, disincline many to 
 send children to an Institution where the Holy Scrip- 
 tures are the sole basis and text-book of the spiritual 
 instruction imparted. 
 
 The combined operation of these various causes has 
 resulted in a gradual reduction, year after year, of the 
 ' number of Orphans under our care, so that, at the time 
 of Mr. Miiller's decease, the vacancies in the five Houses 
 amounted to 434 — and this number had, during the sub- 
 sequent three years, so increased that, on the 26th of 
 May, this year, igoi, the vacancies were 615 — leaving 
 only 1,435 ^s the total number of Orphans under our 
 care at the said date. Seeing the steady diminution 
 in the number of children in the Houses, I, last year, 
 inserted in the Report a paragraph drawing special at- 
 tention to the fact, and inviting the co-operation of Chris- 
 tian friends in helping us to fill up the vacancies by in- 
 ducing relatives and friends of destitute Orphans to 
 
2o6 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 apply to us for their admission. Some friends kindly 
 responded to this appeal, and some additional applica- 
 tions have resulted, for which we are very grateful; 
 yet the steady increase of the vacancies has not been ef- 
 fectually checked. Simultaneously with this continued 
 reduction in the number of Orphans under our care be- 
 reaved of both parents, we were constantly receiving 
 applications for the admission of children bereaved of 
 only one parent. Some of these cases were of a peculiarly 
 distressing character. For instance, a father was left, 
 by his wife's death, with eleven more or less helpless 
 children. He was obliged to leave his home the greater 
 part of every day to earn the wages needed to support 
 himself and family, the children having, meanwhile, no 
 one to look after them. In another case, a widow was 
 left with a large number of children, and, not being 
 able to place any of them in Institutions, she was pre- 
 vented from taking a situation by which she might have 
 managed to support herself and some of her large family. 
 Another was a case in which the surviving parent was 
 so addicted to drink that the children were totally un- 
 cared for. Now, as long as the rule rigidly prohibit- 
 ing the admission of such children remains in force, 
 we are prevented from helping such exceedingly needy 
 ones, whereas the relaxing of the rule would enabk us 
 to bring joy into these sorrows and go far to fill up 
 the vacancies which occasion us so much concern. 
 
 In connection with one of the cases to which I have 
 alluded, I received a letter from a friend of the Insti- 
 tution, who for years has given very practical proof of 
 his deep interest in it, strongly urging that we should 
 take into account the altered circumstances of the coun- 
 try in regard to the provision for Orphans, and open 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS. 207 
 
 our doors to those who, though having one surviving 
 parent, might, in reality, be as unprovided for as those 
 who had lost both. 
 
 These providential indications made it increasingly 
 clear that our duty, as faithful stewards of public funds, 
 was to do one of two things, viz., either to close one of 
 the Houses (for four would be more than sufficient to 
 accommodate all at present under our care) and thus 
 save the outlay upon a needlessly large staff of helpers, 
 and the up-keep of an establishment which could be dis- 
 pensed with; or, to so widen the basis of admission of 
 Orphans as to enable us to utilise to the full the accom- 
 modation provided in the five Houses for 2,050 children. 
 The one great objection that I felt against the latter 
 alternative was the particular wish expressed by my be- 
 loved father-in-law in his last Will, dated March 16th, 
 1895, that the conditions upon which children should 
 be admitted might continue unaltered. But, after much 
 prayer and consideration I was convinced, first, that had 
 Mr. Mtiller lived to witness the continual reduction in 
 the number of the inmates, he would, from the eminently 
 practical cast of his mind, have altered his judgment; 
 and, secondly, that the principle which, year after year, 
 he laid stress upon in his Report, in the words "The 
 Orphan Houses on Ashley Down are not my Orphan 
 Houses but God's Orphan Houses," not only frees his 
 successors to act upon the fresh light, which entirely 
 altered circumstances, and the manifest leading of God, 
 shed upon the situation, but renders it absolutely incum- 
 bent upon them to do so. 
 
 I am now fully satisfied that, had Mr. Muller lived, 
 he would to-day have been prepared to do this very 
 thing we are about to do, viz., to admit Orphans be- 
 
2o8 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 reaved of only one parent; and I am equally satisfied 
 that the principle, which he so repeatedly and emphatic- 
 ally laid down, demands that we should adopt, forthwith, 
 the one measure that is adapted with the blessing of 
 God, to prevent the closing of one of those Houses, 
 which with the land they stand upon, were obtained in 
 answer to the prevailing prayer of patient faith in the 
 name of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 When my own mind became fully at rest upon these 
 important points, I communicated my purpose to my 
 beloved fellow labourer, Mr. Bergin, who thoroughly co- 
 incided with me in judgment. We then laid our views 
 before several Christian friends whose judgment we 
 greatly value, and found that, without exception, they 
 were in favour of the proposed change. Lastly, we sum- 
 moned a general meeting of the Trustees, in whose hands 
 all the land and buildings constituting the property of 
 the Institution are vested, and laid our proposal before 
 them. At this meeting, held on the 14th of March, 1901, 
 the following resolution was unanimously adopted: 
 
 "The Trustees, meeting together on March 14th, 
 1901, in consideration of the great increase of 
 vacancies in the Orphan Houses, are of opinion, 
 that, in order to utilise thoroughly the existing 
 accommodation, destitute children bereft of one 
 parent may be received as the Directors shall see 
 fit, provided always that destitute children bereft 
 of both parents shall always have the prior claim." 
 
 As above stated, this resolution was unanimously adopt- 
 ed, and the Trustees present strongly expressed their 
 wish that the Directors will be able to give effect to 
 their recommendation. 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS. 209 
 
 The strong desire thus voluntarily expressed by the 
 Trustees, Mr. Bergin and I shall, forthwith, seek to 
 carry out; and, from the ist of August next, we shall, 
 God permitting, admit Orphans bereaved of one parent 
 only. 
 
 luly 5th, 1900. From Swansea, £i. The Donor says 
 in his letter: "Knowing there has been such a demand 
 for the War Fund, the Indian famine, the fire in Canada 
 and many exceptional things, fearing that the home claims 
 have been seriously forgotten, I feel constrained to send 
 you another P. O. for the sum of 20s. for the Orphans." 
 This letter leads me to make some allusion to the un- 
 doubted facts that our thoughtful correspondent refers 
 to. The demands upon the sympathies of the benevolent 
 during the past year have indeed been "exceptional," 
 and the result has been that almost all charitable institu- 
 tions have suffered a serious diminution of their income. 
 The Orphanage on Ashley Down has shared in this ex- 
 perience, but a counterfact we are most anxious to em- 
 phasize is this, that the diminution of income has not 
 occasioned us the least financial strain or anxiety. Our 
 infinitely wise and loving Heavenly Father foresaw and 
 provided for this crisis by moving the heart of a wealthy 
 Testator fifteen years ago to leave the largest legacy 
 which, as yet, has ever been received by us. In last 
 year's Report I announced this legacy, and explained fully 
 its remarkable timeliness; but I refer to this gracious 
 interposition of God again, because it accounts for the 
 fact that, while many valuable charities have been com- 
 pelled by diminution of ordinary income to contract their 
 operations, we have had no such painful experience, and 
 at the present time are actually contemplating an exten- 
 sion of our work by the reception of fatherless or moth- 
 
2IO JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 erless children as well as Orphans bereft of both parents. 
 But we desire the reader particularly to observe that, 
 in order to meet the falling off, in other respects, of the 
 receipts for the support of the Orphans we have, with- 
 out hesitation, drawn upon the principal of the large 
 legacy above referred to. 
 
 REPORT FOR 1902. 
 
 Introduction. It is now my joy, after the altered con- 
 dition of reception (permitting the reception of children 
 bereft of one parent only) has been in operation for more 
 than ten months, to announce that God has been pleased, 
 most manifestly, to set the seal of His gracious ap- 
 proval upon the new arrangement. This will be apparent 
 to every attentive reader of the following statement : 
 
 On May 26th, 1901, the total number of Orphans in 
 all the five Houses was 1,435; the total number in the 
 five Houses on the 26th May, 1902, was 1,659, showing 
 an increase in the number in the Orphan Houses on the 
 latter date of 224. An analysis of the receptions will 
 make clear how far this considerable increase has resulted 
 from waiving the rule which excluded all children who 
 had not lost both parents by death. 
 
 Of the total number of children received during the 
 year ending 26th May, 1902, there were 
 
 Bereaved of both parents 98 
 
 Bereaved of the father 279 
 
 Bereaved of the mother 92 
 
 371 
 
 Total received 469 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS. 211 
 
 Deduct — Dismissals 232 
 
 Deaths 13 
 
 245 
 
 Increase, during the year, in the number in 
 
 the Houses 224 
 
 From the above analysis it will at once be seen that, 
 if the 371 children bereaved of only one parent had not 
 been received, instead of any increase we should have 
 had a very large decrease in the number of children 
 under our care. 
 
 May I be permitted to remind the reader of the fresh 
 illustration which this matter affords of the success which 
 must follow patient continuance in believing prayer. For 
 more than fourteen years the almost unvaried announce- 
 ment in the Annual Reports was of a diminishing num- 
 ber of Orphans in the Houses; and throughout these 
 years the prayer went up secretly and unitedly that the 
 tide might be turned, and our hearts gladdened, and the 
 Father of the fatherless glorified by the refilling of our 
 vacant seats and beds. But year after year passed, and 
 it seemed as if our gracious God and Father heard us 
 not! But this was only the appearance to the natural 
 eye. The real truth was, that God was only testing 
 faith and patience; and now, by His dealings with us 
 since last August, He shows how truly He was listening 
 all the time, and how speedily He can change the whole 
 aspect of things. If any who read these lines are tempted 
 to think that, in their case, God has "forgotten to be 
 gracious," may they be encouraged to hope in the Lord 
 and to wait patiently for Him whose delays are not re- 
 fusals, and who always has His "fullnesis of the time" 
 for fulfilling His word of promise. 
 
212 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 The State of our finances during the past year fur- 
 nishes another ground for devout praise and thanksgiv- 
 ing to the Lord. If He has sent us 224 more Orphans 
 to care for, He has, in effect, been saying to us : "I well 
 know that your expenses are all the greater, and, there- 
 fore,'! will provide accordingly." The balance in hand 
 for the Orphans on the 26th May, 1901, was £8,491 
 4s. S%d. ; the expenditures from May 27th, 1901, to May 
 26th, 1902, was £24,462 17s. 9d., but not only has this 
 large amount been met, but so widely has our faithful 
 God and Father opened His liberal, bountiful hand, that 
 we closed the account on May 26th, 1902, with a bal- 
 ance in hand of £12,424 us. 2%d. — that is, with an in- 
 crease in the funds in hand for the Orphans of £3,933 
 6s. 9d. How willingly does He "who spared not His own 
 Son but delivered Him jip for us ail," give to His chil- 
 dren "freely, with Him, all things." 
 
 October yth, 1901. Legacy of the late Mrs. E. D., 
 £6,168 5s. 9d. The Testatrix, in her desire to avoid the 
 payment of legacy duty, abstained from making a proper 
 Will, but dictated her wishes to a friend who took them 
 down in writing. As several Charities were interested 
 in this intended distribution of her property, the case 
 was, by common consent of the beneficiaries, submitted 
 for decision to a Judge in Chancery. His decision, on 
 strictly legal grounds, was that the document was in- 
 formal, and that the whole of the estate reverted to the 
 Crown. The facts of the case were then brought before 
 the Treasury authorities. The matter was for some 
 months in abeyance. Meanwhile, we gave ourselves to 
 prayer, that the Lord would influence the authorities to 
 decide rather upon principles of equity than upon those 
 of legal technicalities, as we well knew that the testatrix 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS. 213" 
 
 really desired her estate to be divided according to the 
 written memorandum, though she had erred in attempt- 
 ing to evade the Government Duty. The Lord most 
 graciously answered our petitions, for the Treasury au- 
 thorities were led to forego the larger portion of their 
 strictly legal rights, and to apportion to each of the 
 Charities, about three-fifths of their respective claims 
 under the informal memorandum. The deceased lady 
 intended to benefit this Institution to the extent of 
 iio.ooo, and, instead of losing the whole, we were award- 
 ed a sum of £6,300, which, reduced by the cost of legal 
 enquiry, brought the £6,i68 5s. gd. to our funds. The 
 action of the Government was generous, and we feel 
 deeply grateful to them, but we see behind them the hand 
 of our loving God and Father, the Father of the father- 
 less who delights to answer the supplications of His wait- 
 ing children and servants. 
 
 ******** 
 
 These gifts, in money and kind, can thus be recorded, 
 their "marked value" estimated and expressed in figures ; 
 and this fact by no means lessens their value in the sight 
 of Him who still sitteth "over against the treasury." All 
 these gifts represent "cheerful givers," such as God 
 loveth, for all give without being pressed or appealed to, 
 so that "the administration of this service not only sup- 
 plieth the want of the" — Orphans — "but is .abundant by 
 many thanksgivings unto God." But there is another 
 agency in operation for the benefit of this Institution, 
 to which I am led now to refer — viz., the power of Inter- 
 cessory Prayer. This agency is invisible in its working 
 and beyond all human calculation in its results, but we 
 have the divine estimate of its importance in James v:i6: 
 "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth 
 
214 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 much." It is a simple, undeniable fact, that the "Scriptural 
 Knowledge Institution for Home and Abroad" owes its 
 existence and largely its history, instrumentally, to "the 
 effectual fervent prayer of one man," whom God raised 
 up to accomplish it. But his faith proved contagious, 
 and the phalanx of praying souls that the Holy Spirit 
 has banded together to sustain and forward it by their 
 believing supplication and intercession, have become like 
 David's supporters of old, "a great host like the host of 
 God." But as in that "host" there were some pre- 
 eminently "mighty," so also with the modern parallel, 
 there have been amongst the secret pleaders with our 
 "Father who seeth in secret" the mighty, the mightier 
 and the mightiest. One who, I believe, I may safely class 
 with the last named has just passed away from earth, 
 and it is his decease that leads me to make these remarks. 
 Robert Cleaver Chapman, late of Barnstaple, Devon, was 
 one of George Miiller's oldest and most intimate friends. 
 More than once, in critical periods of this work, Mr. 
 Mtiller sought out and obtained his valuable counsel. 
 This confidence Mr. Chapman responded to by always 
 showing the liveliest interest in the progress of the 
 Institution. Throughout the 68 years of its existence 
 he has been its helper by continuous intercession. It 
 was the knowledge that he was such a mighty spiritual 
 helper that led me, in the spring of 1901, to visit Barn- 
 staple for the express purpose of gaining the expression 
 of his judgment upon our contemplated alteration of the 
 conditions of the admission of Orphans; and I need 
 hardly say that it was no small confirmation that we 
 were really led of God in the matter, to learn, as I did, 
 from his own lips, that he most heartily and unreservedly 
 approved of our modifying the conditions by receiving 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS. 21 5 
 
 Orphans bereft of only one parent. Well beloved, single 
 eyed "Servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ," 
 thou hast "fought the good fight, thou hast kept the 
 faith, thou hast finished thy course," may grace be given 
 to us to follow thee as thou didst follow the Lord ! 
 
 REPORT FOR 1903. 
 
 Introduction. On the fifth day of last March the 
 Scriptural Knowledge Institution entered upon the sev- 
 entieth year of its existence; and, on the tenth day of 
 the same month, completed the fifth year of its continu- 
 ance since the decease of its Founder, the late Mr. George 
 Muller. 
 
 A sceptical critic, writing, in the year 1898, in one of 
 the popular magazines, remarked that "the days of fanat- 
 ical giving had now passed," and that, therefore, it could 
 not be expected that the extensive work originated by 
 the deceased philanthropist could be, in the future, suc- 
 cessfully carried on by the same methods which had 
 hitherto been pursued. Yet, for five years, this work has 
 gone on, and is going on to-day, on precisely the same 
 lines on which it was conducted for the previous sixty- 
 four years. During the last five years the Day Schools 
 in this country and in Italy have been carried on with 
 increasing blessing, and Sunday Schools have been as- 
 sisted. Every suitable application for free grants of 
 Bibles and Testaments has been responded to, while the 
 sale of the Holy Scriptures at our Depository has con- 
 tinued, and Colporteurs have been supplied with the same 
 at reduced prices. More than eight millions of Tracts 
 and booklets have been distributed gratuitously during 
 these five years; while the sale of these has been con- 
 stantly going on at our Depository during the same five 
 
2l6 JAMES WRIGHT OP BRISTOL. 
 
 years. From i6o to 190 Labourers in the Gospel have 
 each year been aided pecuniarily; and, lastly, from four 
 to five hundred more Orphans have been added to the 
 number under our care. To meet the expenses of the 
 first Four Objects above-mentioned during these five 
 years, the sum of about £27,217 has been received; and, 
 for the Orphan work, in the same five years, about 
 £130,930; and the whole of these sums (totalling about 
 £158,150) has been obtained simply in answer to believing 
 prayer to the Living God in the name of His beloved 
 Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, without any appeal, verbal 
 or printed, to the public, or solicitation for help addressed 
 to one single individual. 
 
 July 2^rd, 1902. Legacy of the late Mr. M. D., £500. 
 From Edgbaston, £150. From Clifton, £150. For 
 several weeks the income for the support of the Orphans 
 has been much less than the expenditure. Now, in an- 
 swer to many prayers, the Lord has graciously sent us, 
 within three days, more than one thousand pounds for 
 this branch of the work! 
 
 July 24thj 1902. Legacy of the late Miss F. P., £250. 
 Still further, after our weeks of comparative straitness, 
 the Lord is to-day pouring bountifully into our treasury. 
 This is according to the manner of our gracious Heav- 
 enly Father. First, He tests the faith and patience He 
 bestows; secondly. He sustains both the faith and pa- 
 tience that He exercises, and thus strengthens and in- 
 creases both; thirdly. In grace, He richly rewards the 
 trust that has reposed in Himself. For three weeks past I 
 had been away from Bristol for a little rest and change. 
 Mr. Bergin sent me daily reports of the work, so I knew 
 how, day by day, the disparity between income and ex- 
 penditure increased. Nevertheless, neither Mr. Bergin 
 
EXTRACTS FROM REPORTS. 217 
 
 nor myself were permitted to suffer any anxiety. We 
 "thanked God" that, owing to His previous bounties, we 
 had more than enough to meet this lack, and, for the 
 future "we took courage," trusting in the Lord Jehovah, 
 Jehovah Jireh, that He would ii« His own time and way, 
 provide ; and thus it has again proved. 
 
 ***** 
 
 REPORT FOR 1904. 
 
 Introduction. It is with a deep sense of responsibility, 
 as well as of rare privilege, that I proceed, for the sev- 
 enth time since the decease of my beloved father-in-law, 
 to record some of the dealings of God with the "Scrip- 
 tural Knowledge Institution" through another year. In 
 the xivth chapter of the Acts, verses 26 and 27, we 
 have an inspired reference to a twelve months' work, for 
 which two servants of Christ had been recommended to 
 the grace of God, and which, through that grace, they 
 had fulfilled; and we are significantly told, that after 
 such completion of their work, "they rehearsed" (not 
 what they had done, but) "all that God had done with 
 them;" and, further, "horn He" (not they) "had opened 
 the door'' I pray that, in the like spirit, every line of 
 this report may be written; that 
 
 "All boasting be excluded here. 
 And God alone be great." 
 
 Summing up briefly a few of the more conspicuous 
 favours conferred upon the work during the' past year, 
 I would state, first, we have been enabled to receive 308 
 Orphans into the five Houses, which, added to the 1,850 
 in the Houses on the 26th May, 1903, gives 2,158 as the 
 total number under our care during the past year. And, 
 deducting from this the dismissals during the year, viz.. 
 
2l8 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 236, we had 1,922 under our care on 26th May, 1904, or 
 72 more than we had a year ago. 
 
 August 5th, 1903. Legacy of J. A. H., Esq., £ 1,908 
 IS. Legacy of the late T. W., Esq., £300. This week's 
 income for the Orphans exceeds the total income of the 
 previous nine weeks, i. e., the whole period from May 
 26th to July 29th. The average weekly income for those 
 nine weeks was only about £200 per week, considerably 
 less than one-half of the average weekly expenditure for 
 the said nine weeks. Now, if the Lord had not previously 
 helped us so abundantly that on May 26th there was a 
 balance in hand of more than £11,500, we should have 
 been in sore straits. But, during those nine weeks in 
 which the balance was rapidly diminishing, we were kept 
 from anxiety because we knew that the work was the 
 Lord's, not ours, and that He could easily and very 
 quickly make up for all deficiencies during one period by 
 opening more widely His loving, liberal, bountiful hand 
 at another period. So we simply continued to ask Him, 
 in the name of His beloved Son, to do so; and now in 
 one short week He has practically done it ! Beloved fel- 
 low trusters in God, let us learn to trust our Heavenly 
 Father wholly; and let us remember that His delays are 
 not refusals, but opportunities for the exercise, and by 
 this for the growth of faith. 
 
CHAPTER TENTH. 
 
 Reports of Mr. Wright's last sermon and other addresses. 
 THE JEWS' RELIGION. 
 
 THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. I. 
 
 In verse 6 we have the expression, "The grace of 
 Christ" and in verses 13 and 14 "The Jews' religion." 
 These two expressions describe a most strongly contrasted 
 condition of things in relation to the Living God. The 
 Apostle explains these contrasted expressions in relation 
 to God, and the Holy Spirit has given in his life an illus- 
 tration of the Origin, Course and Outcome of these two 
 strongly contrasted conditions, a man who was full of 
 "the Jews' religion" and worship of men, who had been 
 brought into "the grace of Christ." 
 
 We will speak first of "The Jews' religion." "For ye" 
 have heard of my conversation in time past in "the Jews' 
 religion," my manner of life, course of life. He had been 
 a zealous follower of it, and a most zealous promoter of 
 it. Now as to the origin of it turn to Acts xxii 13, 4, "I 
 am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city 
 of Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gama- 
 liel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law 
 of the fathers." You see that the Jews' religion was 
 educational, and the progress to be made in it was the 
 result of the teaching of Gamaliel. So that education was 
 a matter of human institution. How much of the religion 
 of the present day is of that character ! People are born 
 in a Christian country, brought up to perform certain re- 
 
220 JAMES WRIGHT OP BRISTOL. 
 
 ligious ceremonies and observances, many of which are 
 perfectly scriptural, sound and proper in their place, and 
 of great value on a right foundation, but with the great 
 mass it is a matter of education and adhesion. So we 
 have the persecutor Saul. "An Hebrew of the Hebrews ; 
 as touching the law, a Pharisee." Phil, iii 15. As a child 
 he was brought up in this seat of religion. And that is the 
 be all and end all of many like him, varying in degree as 
 to power. That was the beginning of the Jews' religion. 
 We do well to remember that the Jews' religion was 
 divinely appointed. The Lord, speaking to the woman 
 of Samaria (John iv:22) said, "Salvation is of the Jews." 
 Paul, speaking by the Holy Ghost, in harmony with this, 
 says of the Jews : "What advantage then hath the Jew ? 
 or what profit is there in circumcision? Much every 
 way: chiefly because that unto them were committed the 
 Oracles of God." Rom. iii : i, 2. This constituted the 
 high distinction of Israel. No natural greatness but as we 
 read in Deut. iv they had the ear of the Living God always 
 open to them, and they also had the law of God. These 
 two things made them different from their enemies, and 
 constituted their greatness. But while all these things 
 lifted them above all other nations, it was said to them, 
 "the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles 
 through you." "For circumcision verily profiteth, if thou 
 keep the law: but if thou be a breaker of the law, thy 
 circumcision is made uncircumcision." Rom. ii:24, 25. 
 It was an empty shell, devoid of its kernel. 
 
 Now it was into this outward, external religion the 
 Apostle entered by birth, ceremonial, and human rite ; and 
 it is into a religion of human institution that we enter 
 by birth, education, and early training. Oh, the differ- 
 ence between being religious, and having Christ, and 
 
THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. I. 221 
 
 being in Christ! It is this great difference I want to dwell 
 on, for it is wonderfully illustrated in the experience of 
 this man. 
 
 If the beginning of Saul's religion was education and 
 human training, what was the course of it? Exceeding 
 zeal for something. "It is good to be zealously affected 
 in a good thing." Gal. iv :i8. But what was the cause in 
 which the unexampled zeal of this man showed itself?* 
 "And profited in the Jews' religion above many my equals 
 in mine own nation, being more exceedingly zealous of 
 the traditions of my fathers." Gal i:i4. What did 
 the Lord Jesus say about these traditions ? "Making the 
 Word of God of none effect through your tradition." Mark 
 vii:i3. Human pride is ever tempted to make the tra- 
 ditions of men the prominent matter, thus making void 
 the Word of God, emptying it of its significance, and 
 nullifying it as much as by rejecting it. So the course of 
 it was marked by excessive zeal for human additions to 
 the Word of God. 
 
 What was the outcome of this Jews' religion? It is 
 very significant. "Ye have heard of my conversation in 
 times past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure 
 I persecuted the church of God and wasted it." Gzl.JxC^.i^- 
 That was the outcome, the business of this most religious 
 man ! Wasting the church for which Christ died, injuring 
 the members of His body. "Why persecutest thou Me?" 
 Acts ix:4. So intimate is the union between the great 
 mystical body and the Head ! He was up in glory, far 
 out of Paul's reach, but He had left members here on 
 earth, and counted what was done to them as done to 
 Himself. Now that was the outcome of the Jews' reli- 
 
 *It was in being, as compared with pthers, "more exceedingly- 
 zealous" of the traditions of his fathers. 
 
222 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 gion — devastating the fair heritage of God, destroying 
 Grod's work — what may be called the mere shell of out- 
 ward religion without Christ. 
 
 I want to contrast with that "the grace of Christ" of 
 which I?aul became a partaker. Verse 12. "For I neither 
 received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the 
 revelation of Jesus Christ." That is the beginning of the 
 contrasted condition, that is the beginning of Saul, the 
 persecutor becoming partaker of the grace of Christ. 
 How ? By call and by revelation. Beloved friends, have 
 we every one of us been the subject of a divine call and 
 revelation? If not, we are not saved. What is the call? 
 The call is universal and particular. The Gospel is a 
 universal call — the salvation of Christ is presented 
 to all. (Gal. iii;i.) Paul's testimony was: "Before 
 whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, 
 Crucified among you." All who preach the Gospel 
 in simplicity preach that Christ took the flesh and blood 
 of the children. (Heb. ii:i4, 15.) The sinner must die, 
 or the Substitute, and every one who accepts that Substi- 
 tute is free. And that is the Gospel, which is preached 
 to every creature under heaven, made known to all, 
 preached to all nations, so that God out of every tribe, 
 people and nation gathers His own. That is the universal 
 call. But now you remember Isaiah says in Chap. liii:i, 
 "Who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the 
 arm of the Lord been revealed?" Isaiah was not like 
 Balaam, a man speaking by inspiration, without having a 
 new spirit ; no, the holy Isaiah received his commission in 
 the presence of God, he fell on his face, a shamed and self- 
 condemned. "Woe is me! for I am undone; because I 
 am a man of unclean lips." Chap. vi:5. Then flew one 
 of the seraphim with a live coal from off the altar, with 
 
THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. I. 223 
 
 which he touched his lips, and he heard the blessed words : 
 "Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken 
 away, and thy sin purged." Instantly, in the happy free- 
 dom of the delivered soul, he turns and says, "Here am I ; 
 send me," and he goes forth in sympathy with his mes- 
 sage. Do we not see under these words the concen- 
 trated sympathy of His heart with the message he re- 
 ceived? when he says "Who hath believed our report?" 
 and "to whom hath the arm of the Lord been re- 
 vealed?" The two things go together. If the soul has 
 not believed the report, there is no revelation; on the 
 other hand, the converse holds good, every guilty sinner 
 who receives that report has a revelation, an effectual 
 call and revelation. When the gracious call in the Gospel 
 is listened to, and responded to, the call is effectual, and 
 in every such case there is an inward revelation of the 
 glory of Christ. Paul did not here refer to the wonderful 
 light that shone upon him on the Damascus road, when 
 he fell to the earth under the power of that light. No, 
 that was the outward symbol of an inward revelation ! 
 Paul had no monopoly in this matter — every saved soul 
 has an inward revelation; every soul that acknowledges 
 the Deity of Christ has this revelation. What made the 
 difference between the world, and those to whom Paul 
 was speaking? In Matt. xvi:i6 we read that Peter said: 
 "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." What 
 does the Lord say? "Flesh and blood hath not revealed 
 it unto thee, but My Father which is in heaven !" "No 
 man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy 
 Ghost" (i Cor. xii:3), and when he does, the glory of 
 Christ has shone in his soul by inward revelation. 
 
 The beginning of the contrasted condition of Saul 
 of Tarsus was when he passed out of the Jews' religion. 
 
224 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 And oH ! how he abhorred it afterwards — how he speaks 
 of it as dung and dross that he flung from him in dis- 
 gust! (Phil. iii:8). What a contrast — ^this human condi- 
 tion, begun by education and human training — and this 
 divine revelation ! What a different thing to be educated 
 and trained in Christianity! People are very much 
 offended if you ask them if they are converted. "Am I 
 a heathen?" they say. They are worse than heathen 
 a great deal. Oh, may we cleave to the simple truth 
 of God, to the simple teaching of this Book, as opposed 
 to the false trust of any one who is relying on religious 
 duties for salvation! Is there one such here to-night? 
 What you need is the gospel call responded to with a 
 glad heart; to receive him who came down to earth to 
 lift you up to glory — who went to the cross and bore the 
 penalty you deserved. Receive Him as a personal Sav- 
 iour. As Isaac looked at the ram, he might have said 
 "Instead of me," so, as you see Him suffering on the 
 Cross, you can say, "Instead of me." 
 
 Have you responded to the call, "Come unto Me?" 
 When you hear these words, and let Christ come in, the 
 moment you do that you have a revelation. Every other 
 view of Christ will not save you. You may admire Him 
 as a moral Teacher ; that will not save your soul ; it was 
 not as an Example that God sent Him into the world; 
 it was "to save sinners." "This is a faithful saying, and 
 worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the 
 world to save sinners." i Tim 1:15. That is the chief 
 object; it was to save He came; to finish the work He 
 had already commenced ; not to put sinners into a salvable 
 condition, and leave them to work it out, but to save 
 them out and out, so that they pass from darkness to 
 light, from death to life ; there is no middle place ; from 
 
THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. I. 225 
 
 a proud enemy and rebel to a child. Who does this? 
 Christ. When as a poor sinner you trust in Christ you 
 have heard the call; listened to the call; and God has 
 revealed Christ in the character in which He sent Him. 
 I never think of coming into God's presence as 
 a holy person, though I have known the Lord 
 Jesus over 60 years ; I do not speak of any goodness of 
 my own; my only ground of acceptance is the merit 
 of Christ my Saviour. I know no merit but in Another ; 
 not on account of my consistency, or the works done 
 since I was saved. My very best works are stained with 
 sin. If grace has a touch of work in it, it is not grace. 
 You can never mix grace and works, whether before or 
 after conversion. I do not forget that there are works 
 of love, but I speak of the ground of acceptance and 
 communion with God, and in that region no works or 
 merits have a place. Paul's salvation was a mercy, not 
 a merit! Look at i Tim. 1:12-16. Salvation was a 
 mercy. "For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first 
 Jesus Christ might shew forth all long suffering, for a 
 pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him 
 to life everlasting." And this ministry was a mercy, not 
 a merit — "I obtained mercy!" Oh the wonderful grace 
 of Christ ! That was the beginning of it. 
 
 What was the course of it ? We saw the course of the 
 "Jews' religion" — exceeding zeal for human additions to 
 the Word of God. Now what was the course of this 
 new condition into which Paul had come by the grace 
 of Christ? He was as zealous now in preaching the 
 Gospel — ^he heard the call — received Christ and salvation, 
 and now he "preached the faith which once he destroyed" 
 Gal. i :23. That was the gospel which he never got tired 
 of preaching. So the course of this happy man, after 
 
226 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 he had heard the call, is to be an everlasting preacher 
 of the gospel. We are not all called to the same kind 
 of thing as Paul, but there is a sense in which that prin- 
 ciple applies — "Necessity is laid upon me, yea, woe is 
 unto me, if I preach not the gospel." i Cor. ix:i6. Not 
 all are called to publicly preach the gospel, but all are 
 called to live it — ^to illustrate it. I have known the case 
 of a soul, that, as the life was watched, and there was 
 seen in a professed believer consistency, patience and 
 cheerfulness in trial and affliction, it was the means in- 
 strumentally of bringing that soul to the Lord. A be- 
 liever who lives Christ is better than one who preaches. 
 But the two things go together. It is no good preach- 
 ing if the life is inconsistent. 
 
 What was the outcome? You have seen the outcome 
 of the other bitter persecution of the saints of God. What 
 was the outcome of this ? It began in the call responded 
 to, a revelation received, and went on to the necessity 
 of preaching the gospel that had brought such blessed- 
 ness to him. And the end of it is seen in the definition 
 we have in this Epistle of the grace of Christ itself. 
 Verse 4. "Who gave Himself for our sins" — ^the first 
 aspect meeting our first need — the full, free, everlasting 
 forgiveness of sin. Then in chap. ii:i6, we have another 
 aspect of the grace of Christ, justification. "That we 
 might be justified by the faith of Christ — ^that is, being 
 counted righteous before God, not because of work, but 
 because of the iftiputation of Another's righteousness 
 to us. 
 
 "Upon a life I did not live. 
 Upon a death I did not die. 
 Another's life, Another's death 
 I stake my whole eternity." 
 
THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. I. 227 
 
 And so Paul, quoting from Psalm xxxii, where noth- 
 ing is said about the imputation of righteousness, but 
 "Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not 
 iniquity," says — "Even as David also described the bless- 
 edness of the man unto whom^od imputeth righteous- 
 ness without works" — Rom. iir:6 — his inference being 
 that where God did not impute sin, He imputed right- 
 eousness. Now in the grace of Christ we stand before 
 Grod in the righteousness of Another, "Jehovah Tsidkenu, 
 the Lord our Righteousness." Jer. xxiii :6. 
 
 But there is another point still in Chap, iii :22. "That 
 the- promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to 
 them that believe. Now that promise is the promise 
 of eternal life. "In hope of eternal life, which God that 
 cannot lie, promised before the world began." Titus i :2. 
 To whom was that promise made ? If it was made before 
 the foundation of the world it must have been before 
 there were any human beings created, so it must have 
 been mads to the second person in the Trinity. In the 
 eternal counsels of God, we see the Father's promise 
 to the Son, that man should be saved by His atoning 
 death. 
 
 And therefore the salvation of every believer was a 
 matter of promise by the Father to the Son before the 
 world began. Now the immense blessedness to our souls 
 is this, that the promise is not in our keeping at all, but 
 God made the promise to His Son as the Head of the 
 Church. And how do we come to share it? As Joint 
 heirs with Christ. That is the condition — the promise 
 was made in eternity before the foundation of the world, 
 to the Head, Christ, and when in time we are brought 
 into union with the Son by faith we come into the posses- 
 sion of all the promises. And all are surely received, as 
 
228 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 the Apostle says — "All things are yours" i Cor. iii:2i, 
 just equivalent to what was said by the father to the 
 elder son — "Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I 
 have is thine" Luke xv:3i. Now that is what God says 
 to every saved child, but it must be in the Son. "At 
 that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye 
 in Me, and I in you." John xiv:2o. What meaning 
 that imports into the words of the Psalmist — "Never- 
 theless I am continually with Thee." Ps. lxxiii:23. 
 And in Ps. xxiii. "Thou art with me." In Ps. Ixxiii, 
 "continually" gives the notion of union, because he was 
 united to Christ, and because of that union found him- 
 self a partaker of this promise. 
 
 But this is not all. In Chap. ix:6, "God hath sent 
 forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts" — not only 
 past grace, but present! Just contemplate the immensity 
 of this privilege — to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us ! 
 It is a simple revelation of the Word of God, that into 
 the body of every believer the Holy Ghost comes to be 
 an Indweller — not a mere visitation, as He came on the 
 prophets of old when they prophesied, but "to abide for- 
 ever." Johnxiv:i6 — ^to come as an abiding guest. That 
 is your portion and mine ! And in Chaps, iv and v Paul 
 unfolds to us the many-sided character of this gift. If 
 we have received Him we use a cry we never had in our 
 hearts before we came to Christ, "Abba Father." Again 
 the Apostle tells us that the Spirit energises us for a 
 new walk, a walk we never walked before : "Walk in the 
 Spirit," V. i6. Then if I follow out the new instinct and 
 walk, I am met again by a Leader. "If ye be led of the 
 Spirit." V. i8. I am called to a new walk because I 
 have received a new Spirit. And — glorious truth — it is 
 the same Leader that Jesus had — He was "led up of the 
 
THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. I. 229 
 
 Spirit into the wilderness." Matt. iv:i. So you and I 
 have the same Leader as our Master. And then we have 
 a new hope. "We through the Spirit wait for the hope 
 of righteousness by faith," v. 5. What is the hope of 
 righteousness? Glory! That is a hope. We do not 
 wait for redemption in one sense — we do not wait for 
 the Spirit, for the Spirit has come-^but we wait for the 
 hope, and that is glory. That is what I look for, and the 
 Spirit who is given me enables me to wait for it. I should 
 long ago have given up waiting, but He enables me to 
 wait. And we, believers, are to be found waiting for 
 Him to the end — we wait till He come. "One day with 
 the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as 
 one day." The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, 
 but is long suffering to usward, not willing that any should 
 perish, but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 
 iii :8, 9. Let us set our watches by His chronometer, and 
 we shall not accuse Him of slowness. Scarcely two 
 days have elapsed, according to that reckoning, since 
 the ascension of the Lord Jesus. And then we have a 
 new "fruit," verses 22, 23. "The fruit of the Spirit is 
 love, joy, peace, etc." Now all these things are the re- 
 sult of one gift ! What a mighty contrast we have seen 
 between "the Jews' religion," and "the grace of Christ." 
 What a contrast there is between any mere shallow re- 
 ligion, a religion of outward ceremonies and observances, 
 and the possession of Christ in the heart ! May the lat- 
 ter be the portion of all here! 
 
 ADDRESS BY MR. WRIGHT AT ALMA ROAD 
 CHAPEL, OCT, 9, 1904. 
 
 John XX : 19-20. "Then came Jesus and stood in the 
 midst, and saith unto them. Peace be unto you." Jesus 
 
230 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 "made peace by the blood of His Cross," and now He 
 comes "preaching peace," and showing to the assembled 
 disciples His hands and His side, as indicating the ground 
 on which He had authority to speak peace to guilty sin- 
 ners, and the ground on which guilty sinners believing 
 in Him have the right to rejoice in this peace as one 
 righteously made. He showed them His hands pierced, 
 and His side pierced for their sins. The first step, so 
 to speak, to the believing sinner, is to step into peace 
 on the ground of the atoning work of Jesus Christ in 
 his stead, "Who Himself bare our sins in His own 
 body on the tree," and when we accept Him as the 
 Surety for our guilty souls, and trust Only and entirely 
 in Him, we accept His peace. 
 
 Turn now to John xix:i8 — where we read: "They 
 crucified Him, and two others with Him, on either side 
 one, and Jesus in the midst." In the midst of what? It 
 rtieans between two malefactors, murderers, in the midst 
 of them. He "did no sin," and "in Him was no sin," 
 yet He was "made a curse." He was "separate from 
 sinners," but there He hung between those two. Why 
 was all this? It is certain that He did not die for His 
 own sins, and therefore there is only one possible ex- 
 planation of His death, and that is given us by the Apostle 
 Peter: "Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the Just 
 for the unjust" — the holy righteous One received what 
 they deserved — "to bring us to God." Peter puts him- 
 self into that parcel of guilty, condemned sinners — and 
 the moment you do, God will speak from His throne, 
 the living Christ will speak from the throne His peace 
 unto your heart." 
 
 Now look at Heb. ii:io, 12, where we get this ex- 
 pression used again — "He that sanctifieth," that is Christ, 
 
THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. I. 23I 
 
 and they who are sanctified," all believers, "are all of 
 one." The Cherubim and the Mercy Seat were all made 
 out of one piece of gold, expressly describing the mys- 
 terious but real union, and therefore unity, between Christ 
 and every member of His mystical body. Mark the fig- 
 ures the Holy Spirit employs to give us a glimpse of 
 this truth. "The church which is His body," a most 
 lovely figure. The head is intimately associated with 
 the lowest member of the body, so that a pain in the 
 little toe is instantly felt in the brain. That figure 
 points to unity in the body of Christ, so that the voice 
 of the risen Lord came to Saul, "Why persecutest thou 
 Me?" Then there is the union between the bride and 
 the bridegroom, another figure. Then the most won- 
 derful utterance of them all, "He that is joined unto 
 the Lord is one spirit." Now there is a permanency 
 about this that there is not about all the other figures. 
 There is in them the possibility of separation. The 
 sheep can be separated from the shepherd, I do not say 
 the sheep of Christ can, but in the figure it is possible. 
 It is possible in human beings for the husband and 
 wife to be divorced, though utterly contrary to the 
 mind of God. It is possible for the parent and child 
 to be separated. But who can separate sp'rit? It is 
 a contradiction of terms. 
 
 But again we read: "In the midst of the church 
 will I sing praise unto Thee." This is the next Scrip- 
 ture. He hung in the midst of malefactors, and was 
 numbered with the transgressors. He came, after the 
 accomplishment of His great work on the Cross, into 
 the midst of His disciples speaking peace. But God 
 had something else for Him, viz., to fill Him with joy, 
 God filled His cup to overflowing, and joy is just th^ 
 
232 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 overflowing of the cup, and joy is expressed by praise, 
 and the Lord comes into the midst of His people to 
 meet their praise. Turn to Ps. xxii, and we shall see 
 the theftie of His praise — it is the faithfulness of Je- 
 hovah in hearing His prayer and delivering Him from 
 the Cross. How did He deliver Him? He delivered 
 Him from, in the sense of out of, death. (Heb, iv:7.) 
 That is the great theme of the song of Christ in resur- 
 rection, God's answer to His prayer in resurrection. 
 So first of all He leads us into sympathy with His 
 suffering, and then into sympathy with the joy of de- 
 liverance out of death. And, more or less, this should 
 enter into all our songs of praise; if not expressed, it 
 should be understood in order to make our praise Scrip- 
 tural. We cannot sing if we are not redeemed. There 
 is no song in the Bible (there is a reference to musical 
 instruments in connection with Laban, but no mention 
 of singing) till after redemption in Ex. xv. God had 
 used His servant Moses in delivering the people. 
 "Then sang Moses." Redemption is the basis, and 
 therefore all true song proceeds from that basis and 
 the proof that redemption is accomplished is that 
 Christ is risen — that is God's seal, God's avouchment, 
 His endorsement of the matter. Therefore suffering is 
 the bass note that underlies all true harmonies. 
 "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain." His presence 
 there on the throne is the proof that the work is ac- 
 complished. And He is there in a body. It is not true 
 that, "His form was dissolved in light and lost in its 
 own radiancy"; He will come in a body and we shall 
 praise Him. And as that must underlie all our praise, 
 what can we do better than study the Scriptures that 
 tell us of His death ? Begin where we will, if we yield 
 
THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. I. 233 
 
 ourselves to the leading of the Spirit, we shall go to 
 the Cross, to the sufferings of the One who is the 
 Leader of our praise. 
 
 Now quite a different subject. At the right hand of 
 God, He remembers His poor weak children down here 
 and the condition in which they are, and says, "Where 
 two or three are gathered together in my name, there 
 am I in the midst of them." Matt, xviii :20. They must 
 gather together, they must assemble, they must know 
 what it is to be a family, and then they know family 
 cares — they must watch for one another's souls as 
 those that must give an account. Notice verses i6 
 and 17 — discipline in the cjhurch and effectual prayer, 
 both are based on the presence of Jesus in the midst. 
 Now this is often dwelt upon in connection with prayer, 
 but we do not hear so much about it in connection 
 with the act of the church in discipline; yet here, the 
 one as much as the other, is based on the presence of 
 Jesus in the midst. Now I think that in bearing with 
 the infirmities and failures of all, even the holiest of 
 God's saints, the power of the church to exercise disci- 
 pline may be affected more or less, but certainly in this 
 word the promise of the presence of Christ is found in 
 connection with obedience to Him in this matter. And 
 the real power of it will be in proportion to the degree 
 in which each one gathered to His name recognizes 
 and owns Him in his heart. And because through 
 human infirmity this is imperfect, it would be very 
 wrong to say that the verdict of any church was in- 
 valid, because there was not the same recognition of 
 the Lord's presence, or in any of them not an equal 
 recognition of His presence, at all times. Therefore we 
 must keep the balance: we must altogether disown in- 
 
234 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 fallibility, for we are fallible and make mistakes when 
 we seek in the fear of the Lord to guide the assembly. 
 On the other hand, we can never read this passage 
 without seeing that the Lord promises to His obedient 
 children wonderful authority. "Whatsoever ye shall 
 bind on earth shall be bound in heaven," etc., that is, in 
 connection with the dealing with disorderly persons in 
 the assembly. "There am I in the midst." What is 
 the utmost act of discipline ? Putting out of that pres- 
 ence (i Cor. v:i3). That is the central thought, it is 
 taking a person out of the midst where Jesus is. Now 
 while on the one hand this heightens the solemnity of 
 the act done in His fear, it is full of comfort. Is it 
 separation from the Good Shepherd? No, a thousand 
 times, no. Is it separation from the Great High Priest 
 at the right hand of God ? No, or restoration would be 
 an utter impossibility. The Lord said to Peter: "I 
 have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not" — if He 
 had ceased that intercession, Peter's end would have 
 been the same as that of Judas, but the intercession of 
 Jesus saved that one, and he was filled with remorse. 
 Therefore, let us remember — ^that in separating an 
 erring one from the assembly in the midst of which 
 Jesus is, we are not separating him from the Good 
 Shepherd, or from the Great High Priest; nay, in a 
 sense, we are casting him more on these two offices. 
 It is the office of the Shepherd to go after the sheep, 
 and we commit him more lovingly and tenderly than 
 ever to the Shepherd. 
 
 Let us look now at Luke xxii:27. The Lord was 
 just about to go to the lowest point of humiliation, and 
 these poor disciples were striving which should be the 
 greatest, and the Lord says: "I am among you as He 
 that serveth;" and just after He took a basin and towel 
 and girded Himself, and washed th^ir feet, "Actions 
 
THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. I. 235 
 
 speak louder than words," we say. Was there ever a more 
 speaking action than that lowly service of Jesus in the 
 little flock? That was one of the great concentric cir- 
 cles of His life, and He closes that wonderful act with 
 these words : "I have given you an example, that ye 
 should do as I have done to you — I have done this that 
 ye may do as; I have done." Now in this country and 
 climate feet washing is not necessary, but in the east it 
 is. It just m'eans that we should take a lowly, humble 
 attitude like His own, and what He was willing to do 
 is surely suited to us. The Lord fasten this in our 
 hearts ! 
 
 Just one more passage. Rev. ii:i: "Who walketh in 
 the midst of the seven golden candlesticks." The Lord 
 is before the face of the Father for us, but still in spirit 
 is walking in the midst of the churches. 
 
 "Lord, in all Thy power and glory. 
 Still Thy thoughts and eyes are here. 
 
 Watching o'er Thy ransomed people, 
 To Thy gracious heart so dear." 
 He is walking in our very midst, the very opposite, 
 the utter contrast to the dead idols that are spoken 
 of at the end of chapter ix in this book — "which 
 neither can see, nor hear, nor walk." The living Christ 
 is just the opposite; He can see, He sees us; He can 
 hear. He hears the sigh of the prisoner. And He can 
 walk. Where? In the midst of the churches. We 
 cannot see Him, and that is the reason our hearts so 
 often forget the fact. But we walk by faith and not 
 by sight, and it should be a present fact to our hearts 
 every day — the Lord Jesus walks in our midst. He is 
 at our side, He hears every word we speak. He notices 
 every expression of countenance while we are speaking 
 
236 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 to a person, and He listens to what we say about that 
 person to the next person we meet, whether we speak 
 with grace in our hearts, or whether we talk scandal 
 and spread slander. Oh! the practical power this 
 would have on our life if we could just keep before us as 
 a simple fact, that the Lord Jesus is listening to every 
 word we speak. Then He looks on and sees where we 
 go and why we go, and why we refrain from going here 
 or there. 
 
 And this brings me to another point. He does 
 not see it with an unaffected heart. He is deeply 
 grieved when He sees any of His children going to 
 any place to which they would be ashamed to be seen 
 going. There is such a thing as a seared conscience, 
 hardness of heart, and it is an awful thing that we can 
 get into that condition, so that it is of much less im- 
 portance to us, that the Lord sees us, than that a 
 human being should see us. We ought not to think any- 
 thing that we should be ashamed to do before our 
 fellow men, and if we do, let us remember this, that 
 to His eyes it is just the same as if we did it. "He that 
 hateth his brother is a murderer." No human judge 
 would be warranted for a moment to look in the face 
 of a fellow man and say, "You are a murderer," for until 
 the deed is committed he cannot know what is passing 
 in any man's heart, but here is One who can. It is the 
 One who is walking in the midst of the churches who 
 knows what I am thinking. He knows the thoughts, 
 the motives of the act, and does not wait till the 
 thought springs up to become flower and fruit, before 
 He puts His finger on it. But what is it then ? The 
 fruit of the thought — ^now that gives us such an idea 
 of sin — sin is desire, and the most perfect definition 
 conceivable is, "The thought of foolishness is sin." I 
 
THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. I. 237 
 
 must think a lascivious thought before I do a lascivious 
 deed. Ah! this is a tremendously searching thing: "/ 
 walk in the midst of the churches !" 
 
 But on the other hand, how delighted the Lord is 
 when He hears one say to another, "Praise the Lord 
 for this," and sees one running from house to house 
 to tell its inmates of some gracious act he has seen in 
 this or that one. As Paul tells the Corinthians of the 
 grace he has seen in the Macedonians, and tells the Mace- 
 donians of the grace he has seen in the Corinthians 
 (2 Cor. ix:2). When he is writing to the Corinthians 
 about their sins, he speaks very straightly to them and tells 
 them what is wrong; when he speaks to others about 
 them he tells of the grace seen in them — and that is what 
 we should do. It is a wretched thing to file and deface 
 the sovereigns of Edward VII — it is a worse thing to 
 deface and file God's coin, and when we speak evil of 
 another, it is like filing coins or clipping bank notes. 
 
 So it is a solemn thing on the one hand to know that the 
 Lord is walking in the midst of the churches — but any- 
 thing of the fruit of the Spirit just gives delight to 
 God's heart. This is well expressed in that hymn, 
 "Our only grief to give Him pain. 
 Our joy to serve and follow Him." 
 He notices things that give Him pain, and sees them as 
 He is walking in the midst of the churches. And He 
 sees things that delight His heart, which are the fruits 
 of His own Spirit, and they give Him joy. Now isn't 
 it our business to seek to give our Lord more joy ? 
 
 EXPOSITION OF PSALM XXIII, BY 
 MR. WRIGHT, BETHESDA, OCT. 23, 1904. 
 
 I. "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want" — a 
 fact stated, and the result of that fact; as the wants of 
 
238 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 the sheep arise, the Shepherd prepares for theiri, and 
 meets them every one, so it is as good as having no 
 wants. 
 
 2, "He maketh me to lie down." That is what the 
 enemy of our soul will not allow, his object is to keep 
 his followers in a constant round of dissipation and rush, 
 "Still waters," waters of quietness, a gently flowing 
 rivulet. 
 
 3. "He restoreth my soul." The same word as in 
 Ps. xix:7 and lxxx:3. It does not seem from a com- 
 parison of passages, that the meaning of this verse is 
 exhausted in the thought of cordial or refreshment, 
 it seems to point to the restoring, the turning back of 
 the sheep that has begun to wander. That is what our 
 gracious Lord does to us, makes us aware that we are 
 getting into danger, and calls us, first by His Word, 
 aftd if He can accomplish His object by the Holy Ghost 
 bringing the Word to remembrance, good. But if we 
 will not listen, chastisement will be used. We 
 spare Him much painful work if we yield to the first 
 importunity of His love which would recall our souls 
 to Him, when we have in the least degree wandered. 
 How prone the sheep is to wander, we see from Ps. 
 cxix:i76. This Book is written by Qne who knows 
 us altogether, the Holy Ghost, and this is the prayer 
 He puts into the lips of the Psalmist, "Seek Thy ser- 
 vant." The honest soul breathes all through Ps. cxix, 
 the spiritually minded soul, and yet that advanced one 
 in spiritual attainments, who knew no little amount of 
 real fellowship and communion with God, finds out in 
 the bitterness of his soul that he has gone astray. It 
 shows a deeply taught soul, and a quick spiritual per- 
 
THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. 1. 239 
 
 ception to detect the tendency of our hearts to get 
 away from the living God. 
 
 "For His name's sake." God's wonderful love to us 
 does everything for our highest profit, but He has a 
 higher motive, He is the Shepherd and has the Shep- 
 herd's characteristics to maintain, * * * and the 
 honour of His own name is involved in keeping us in the 
 right "way." 
 
 4. "Thou art with me." See Ps. lxxiii:23. It is 
 nice to put the two together. 
 
 5. Now the metaphor changes entirely, he regards 
 Jehovah as a host. Melchisedec prepared a table for 
 Abraham when he returned from the fight. And our 
 Melchisedec prepares a feast in the midst of our 
 enemies. In other words, there can be heavenly peace 
 in the soul in the midst of the most tremendous tribu- 
 lation and trial in the world, in the church, and 
 trouble even in the family, yet amidst it all peace, 
 peace, if we are close to the Shepherd. "Thou." How 
 beautiful it is to see that the Shepherd does it all! 
 
 * * * And another thing, it is all in the present 
 tense, maketh, leadeth, restoreth, is with me in the 
 valley of the shadow of death, prepares a table, and 
 fills every cup now at the present moment. 
 
 Is all that ours? If it is not, why? It ought to be, 
 and it may be if we do not grieve the Holy Ghost. The 
 Holy Ghost is the Dove, gentle, tender and very easily 
 grieved, and He is the Revealer of this Shepherd to our 
 souls. 
 
 "Take heed, my soul, and watch and pray, 
 Lest thou the Spirit grieve." 
 
 6. The journey is not over when the table is pre- 
 pared in the midst of enemies; he has to start again. 
 
240 JAMES WRifeT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 But he looks on to the end and says, "Surely goodness 
 and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life," 
 every step of the way. Two servants following me 
 is one thing, but my running after something is an- 
 other. He does not say, "I will pursue them," but 
 goodness and mercy will be at hand, not objects of 
 pursuit. I have one object, that is God, — I am not 
 following good, but God, and then good will follow me. 
 Salvation is the mercy of all others, and if we have this 
 grace, then glory must follow (Ps. lxxxiv:ii). And thus 
 God will be doing good to us every day of our life and 
 then we come to our home. "I will dwell in the house 
 of the Lord forever." That must be the culmination of 
 His taking up His dwelling in us. 
 
 ADDRESS BY MR. WRIGHT ON "THIS GREAT 
 SIGHT" (EX. 111:1-3). 
 
 BETHESDA, OCT. 23, I904. 
 
 "This great sight" had two aspects, a human aspect, 
 and a Divine aspect. The bush was a symbol of the nation 
 of Israel, and the fire a symbol of the fire of afHiction 
 through which they were passing, and the great, the won- 
 derful sight to Moses was, that the bush should be on fire, 
 and yet not the tenderest twig of it was burnt. And the 
 more the nation was afflicted, the more it multiplied and 
 grew. The fire that did not consume, we have here. 
 
 Now in order that we may, with the help of the Lord, 
 in meditation on this passage come at some of its teaching 
 better, I want to refer to some other passages which 
 bring before us the different uses which the Holy Spirit 
 makes of Hre as a symbol. 
 
 Will you turn to Lev. xvi:27. The Sin Offering was 
 
THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. I. 24I 
 
 consumed by fire outside the camp. Now see what use 
 the Holy Spirit makes of that in Heb. xiii:ii-i3. With- 
 out the camp is the place of distance from God; and 
 everything sinful or connected with sin, His presence 
 cannot endure ; so the very bodies of the beasts offered in 
 the typical putting away of sin were burned without the 
 camp. So when the Lord suffered as the Sin Offering 
 on account of His people's sin, He died in the place of 
 distance from God, for three hours of darkness He en- 
 dured the hiding of the Father's face. Who could con- 
 ceive what that meant to His holy soul, but He endured 
 it for you and for me! 
 
 In Lev. i we have the Burnt Offering which is per- 
 fectly distinct in its typical teaching from the Sin Offer- 
 ing, and expresses the other side of truth, the infinite de- 
 light the blessed God had in the perfect offering which 
 He offered to God (Heb. ix:i4). And therefore every 
 part was consumed by fire on the altar. But of what was 
 that fire a symbol? Not of wrath, but of delight in the 
 sacrifice. How God delighted in, — how, so to speak. He 
 lingered over the repast. You see from Lev. vi:i3 that 
 the fire was never to go out. In almost all the sacrifices 
 God has part, and the rest the worshipper eats, so God and 
 the worshipper are having communion feeding on the 
 same sacrifice. But in the Burnt Offering the Father, for 
 the purpose of showing His infinite delight in His Son, 
 had all consumed, the priesthood might not touch it. And 
 therefore we are told that the fire shall never go out. 
 God's delight in the perfect sacrifice of His son never 
 ceases, this very moment He is delighting in it. Are 
 you? It is the secret of communion that we have har- 
 mony of thought with the blessed God about the Sacrifice 
 of His Son. It is the essence of communion and in pro- 
 
242 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 portion as our delight in His Sacrifice on the Cross in- 
 creases, so increases our communion with God. 
 
 So we see at once the perfectly contrasted meaning of 
 the two fires, the fire of wrath burning up the Sin Offer- 
 ing, burning against sin, and the fire which does not cease, 
 feeding on the Burnt Offering, and setting forth the in- 
 finite delight of God in the Sacrifice of His Son. 
 
 Now in connection with that we must look at a very 
 solemn passage (Ps. xi:6). This fire again expresses 
 God's hatred of sin, and also the necessity of punishing 
 it (Rom. i:i8). "The wrath of God is revealed from 
 heaven," it is not executed yet, but it is a matter of reve- 
 lation (Ps. xcvii:i-3). "A fire goeth before Him," again 
 the fire of God's wrath consuming His enemies. 
 
 Now I want that we should just keep before us these 
 contrasted aspects of the typical meaning of fire, along 
 with Ex. iii, and notice the difference. 
 
 The fire in the bush burned the bush without consuming 
 a twig of the bush, and that fire was the lire of affliction 
 or discipline through which the people of God were pass- 
 ing. Doesn't this help us to understand that passage in 
 Heb. xii :28, 29. Some, to harmonize that, as they think, 
 with other declarations of Scripture, add these words, 
 "God, out of Christ, is a consuming fire." But it isn't so, 
 it is the God of the reconciled sinner, of those whom He is 
 "not ashamed to call brethren," the God of those who 
 have been brought nigh. 
 
 Now the fire symbolised by the burning bush did not do 
 any harm to Israel, it was a terrible experience, but it 
 did not consume them, on the contrary, they "multiplied 
 and grew." And this represents another use the Holy 
 Ghost makes of fire to set forth the discipline of our 
 heavenly Father. Just as Israel had to pass through that 
 
THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. I. 243 
 
 sore affliction for centuries, and was ultimately brought 
 out of it, so the Israel of God, the spiritual Israel of this 
 dispensation has a parallel experience. "We must through 
 much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God." The 
 pathway to the heavenly kingdom is never, in the Word of 
 God, regarded as a path of roses. "If ye endure chasten- 
 ing God dealeth with you as with sons," and if we are 
 without chastisement, we are not true sons at all, we can't 
 be ; in other words, every son passes under the disciplin- 
 ing hand of the Father. 
 
 Now what is the object of this ? Is it to consume, to 
 destroy? Has it to do with wrath? What is it for? 
 "That we might be partakers of His holiness." "Shall we 
 not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of 
 spirits and livef" not perish. The soul in subjection will 
 come under the disciplining hand of the Father and live 
 by it. Just what Hezekiah said when he had been stricken 
 with a mortal sickness and brought up again. "By these 
 things men live, and in all these things is the life of my 
 spirit." So when we are tried, and have to pass through 
 the severest trials a believer can pass through, it is in 
 order that we may live. How live ? Spiritually live, that 
 is the only life worth living; the life of this poor, weak 
 body, is a poor thing compared with the life of the spirit, 
 and if the life of the spirit increases by the wasting of the 
 body, it is a good exchange; for the believer becomes 
 more and more like his Father, like God, even down here. 
 And one of the Father's ways to bring us to that position 
 is to cause us to pass through severe discipline. "We 
 went through fire and through water ; but Thou brought- 
 est us out into a wealthy place" (Ps. Ixvi:i2). Dto you 
 observe the Lord passes them through the fire, but what 
 is it ? It is a refining fire, a fire over which the refiner sits 
 
244 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 as he watches the effects of the flames. "The Lord trieth 
 the righteous" (Ps. xi:5). The refiner sits over the 
 furnace as he passes the ore through the furnace, and 
 when he sees his own image in the metal in that fire he 
 withdraws it. So God tries the righteous in order to 
 bring about increasing conformity to His own character, 
 but He pours the fire of His wrath in destruction on His 
 enemies. 
 
 So we have the fire expressive of the wrath of God in 
 regard to the Atoning Surety, the Sin Offering in Lev. 
 xvi. In Lev. i we have the fire that consumed the Burnt 
 Offering and symbolised God's delight in the perfect all- 
 sufficient sacrifice of His Son. We have the fire of God's 
 wrath poured on His enemies, judgment against them for 
 their sin in Ps. xi, which wrath is yet to be executed, for 
 God will not destroy the universe again with water, but 
 with fire. And then fire is the symbol which brings out 
 the disciplining action of our blessed God and Father 
 in fashioning us and transforming us and gradually as- 
 similating us spiritually, more to His own character. 
 
 Now, keeping these various instances before us, we 
 find that this fire in Ex. iii is the last, showing out the 
 disciplining action of God toward His people. 
 
 And now, let me remind you, Israel is in the fire of 
 discipline and has been ever since they killed the Prince 
 of Life and rejected the true Messiah. They are in the 
 fire to-day, scattered among the nations, still outcast and 
 persecuted, but instead of being consumed they multiply. 
 To-day they are increasing in numbers, in intellectual 
 power, and in influence in the world. Yet they are per- 
 fectly distinct, they do not mingle with the nations among 
 whom they dwell ; you can tell a Jew instantly. God has 
 separated them and made them a permanent nation. Baby- 
 
THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. I. 245 
 
 Ion, Media, and other nations have passed away, but 
 Israel lasts, and will yet be "the head and not the tail," 
 and will yet be God's governmental nation in the earth, 
 for His promise that cannot be broken involves it. But 
 now they are in the fire, it is the burning bush over again. 
 
 Now notice one fact in this, "The angel of the Lord 
 appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of 
 a bush," and as long as He was in the midst of the fire, 
 the bush was not consumed. That brings out a beautiful 
 truth regarding the disciplining act of our heavenly 
 Father. The spiritual Israel have to pass in their expe- 
 rience through the testing of this fire, not the fire of wrath, 
 but the fire of the Father's discipline. But what is the 
 truth of it ? The Father Himself is in the flame, and that 
 insures there will be no consuming of His children ; they 
 are as indestructible as the bush in which dwelt the Angel 
 of the Lord. We are the bush, and some of us are very 
 little feeble tendrils in the bush, but God does not con- 
 sume one of us. He only tries us, in order to consume the 
 dross out of the metal, to change the figure to that of the 
 refiner. He does not destroy the metal. Let us take that 
 to heart, dear, tried believer ; the utmost intensity of the 
 fire of our heavenly Father's discipline has just one ob- 
 ject, one blessing. 
 
 "The flame shall not hurt thee, I only design, 
 Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine." 
 
 That is the only way in which He is a consuming fire 
 to His children, to purify and refine the metal from dross. 
 Oh, how precious this is! 
 
 Now notice another thing. We have a remarkable 
 expression in Deut. xxxiii:i6 in the blessing of Joseph. 
 "The good will of Him that dwelt in the bush." That 
 fire is consistent with the good will, the good pleasure of 
 
246 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 Jehovah. As we have it in the angel's song, "Peace on 
 earth, good will to men." Now the good will of God 
 to sinful men is one thing, but "the good will of Him that 
 dwelt in the bush," teaches me that it is the good will of 
 my Father, who is seeking to bring me into conformity 
 with His will. Now don't you see how differently we 
 shall look upon affliction's fire? just, as it were, use God's 
 own eye-glass; and so in the intensest affliction say, "It 
 is Ihe expression of my Father's good will to me." If not 
 walking by faith, but by sight, we say, "How angry God 
 is with me, He has taken away that beloved one from my 
 side !" But it is "the good will of Him that dwelt in the 
 bush." A tender, wise love, surpassing the tenderest of 
 eafthly loves, does that thing which makes me shudder 
 and feel as if I were cut in twain. Hold to it, my beloved 
 brethren and sisters, it is "the good will of Him that 
 dwelt in the bush." 
 
 Mr. Wright then closed with a few words to any un- 
 saved ones present, on Ps. xcvii :i-3 and Es. xi :6, which 
 tell of the fire of the wrath of God against the final re- 
 jector of God's way of salvation, which is the blood of 
 His only begotten Son. 
 
 EXPOSITION OF PS. LXXXVI BY MR. WRIGHT. 
 BETHESDA, DEC. 25, 1904. 
 
 I. "Bow down Thine ear, O Lord, hear me." We 
 have various reasons given by the Psalmist, why God 
 should hear him. He finds a plea first, in his very pov- 
 erty and need. "For I am poor and needy." This is one 
 of the pleas we should bring to God, it is a plea put into 
 our lips by the Holy Spirit Himself. He delivers the 
 poor and needy, that is the revealed character of God. 
 
THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. I. 247 
 
 So our poverty and need constitute a reason why, He 
 should bow down His ear and listen to us. 
 
 2. The second reason is, "For I am holy" — "one 
 whom Thou favourest," margin. And surely believers 
 in Christ are favoured, they are called in Heb. iii :i : 
 "Holy brethren," because of union to Christ. In ex- 
 perience we have to speak hourly of failure in word 
 and act, but we should never lose sight of the other 
 side, that we appear in Christ without spot, and we 
 can plead the fact of the holiness which is given us in 
 Christ, as a reason why He should listen to our prayers. 
 
 There is another plea in the same verse "Save Thy 
 servant that trusteth in Thee." If we can honestly 
 say that to God, it furnishes another ground of confidence 
 because He shows Himself strong in the behalf of him 
 "whose heart is perfect toward Him," who simply 
 trusts, who does not look this way and that way, but 
 straight to Him; who does not lean on two props, but 
 who leans on the Living God. 
 
 3. In this verse, it is continuance w supplication, 
 "For I cry unto Thee daily," not only Sundays, not only 
 at Prayer Meetings, but "dcdly," that is, as often as 
 a sense of need oppresses my spirit, I instantly lift up 
 my heart to Thee. If we do, whose work is it ? Not the 
 work of our natural heart, it iS the work of the Holy 
 Spirit in us. Every inclination of the soul God-ward, 
 is the inworking of the Spirit of God. And if we have 
 the least desire to approach Him, in that, we have the 
 pledge that He will listen, and also answer. 
 
 4. The world rejoices when their corn and wine, 
 their material possessions increase; this is their only 
 joy, and when these decay they are depressed and sad. 
 But the Psalmist speaks of another source of joy. 
 
248 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 "Rejoice the soul of Thy servant, for unto Thee, O 
 Lord, do I lift up my soul ;" that is, God is His joy — an- 
 other plea. 
 
 5. We have had precious pleas grounded on the 
 Spirit's work in our hearts, our poverty and need of 
 which we are made conscious, — conscious separation 
 to God, — and the joy that the soul through grace 
 finds in God Himself. But now comes the strongest 
 plea of all, the character of God Himself. "For Thou, 
 Lord, art good," and for this reason He listens to our 
 cry. "It is more blessed to give than to receive." On 
 this ground who is preeminently blessed? The blessed 
 God Himself, He is the supreme Giver, and therefore 
 the supremely blessed One. So there is no stronger 
 plea when coming to God in prayer than the character 
 of God, "Ready to forgive" — ^Yes, the moment there 
 is true hearted confession, there comes forgiveness, 
 (i John i ig.) "Plenteous in mercy unto all them that call 
 upon Him." So that we may each one write our names 
 under this, it is like the gospel invitation, there is no 
 narrowing it, it is as wide as the necessity of God's peo- 
 ple, and includes every condition in which you and I may 
 be, and if you and I call upon Him, it is like appropri- 
 ating the promises of God in His Word, and it delights 
 our God and Father when we grasp a promise and say, 
 "That is mine." 
 
 7. "Thou wilt answer me." How confident the Psalm- 
 ist grows through the experience of God's faithfulness. 
 And that is the result of trusting God, and living 
 in some measure upon Him, — ^we grow in confidence 
 in His willingness to meet us in blessing. 
 
THE GRACE OF CHRIST, GAL. I. 249 
 
 ADDRESS BY MR. WRIGHT. PRAYER MEETING. 
 BETHESDA, DECEMBER 26, 1904. 
 
 "peace I LEAVE WITH YOU, MY PEACE I GIVE UNTO YOU." 
 
 Peace left, and peace given. The Lord was about to 
 leave His disciples, they would no longer have His per- 
 sonal presence. But connected with His leaving them, 
 there was the finishing of the work which the Father 
 had given Him to do. Between the moment at which 
 He spoke these words, and His actually being with the 
 Father, came the Cross, where He "made peace," so I 
 suppose "Peace I leave with you" means that He left 
 peace as the result of His finished work on the Cross — 
 that was the result to every one who beheld His glory, 
 and rested on Him by faith. "Therefore being justified 
 by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." The Lord speaks of leaving it, as the 
 result of His finished work. 
 
 "My peace I give vMo you." Isn't that connected with 
 the promise just given, the promise of the Comforter. 
 He is the speaker of peace, whose office it is to take 
 of the things of Jesus, and show them to us — ^to put us 
 into actual, conscious possession of the results of His 
 finished work. And it is by Him that our hearts enjoy 
 peace — it is given by the Spirit of peace to all who be- 
 lieve. 
 
 And then the Lord in connection with that legacy and 
 gift, repeats the words with which the chapter opens — 
 "Let not your heart be troubled." The cure for heart- 
 trouble is faith in God, and in Jesus Christ whom He 
 'Has sent, and He leaves this with us as our constant por- 
 tion. There is no need that our hearts should be troubled. 
 
250 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 This is quite consistent with that other statement, "In the 
 world ye shall have tribulation." But tribulation in the 
 world, and a troubled heart, are two diif erent things. A 
 ship may be tossed on the waves, but if the waves do 
 not enter the ship, the mariner is not alarmed. So we 
 go on our way in a troubled world, with a centre of peace 
 in our hearts, resting in Him, on whose shoulder the gov- 
 ernment rests. 
 
 He "made peace by the blood of the Cross," peace with 
 God — we must always go back to the Cross as the foun- 
 dation of that peace, for it is a righteous peace. 
 
 But the peace of God filling our hearts, is a distinct 
 truth, and that is connected with the present position of 
 Christ — "All power is given unto me in heaven and on 
 earth." He ascended to the Father knowing that all 
 things were given into His hands. And it is because 
 He is there, that we have the peace of God in our hearts 
 and in our minds, because as we go along, we realise that 
 the risen Christ is ordering all things for us. 
 
 We look back to the Cross as the foundation of peace 
 with God, and we look up to the throne as the ground 
 on which the peace of God garrisons our minds. 
 
CHAPTER ELEVENTH. 
 
 VARIOUS DOCUMENTS AND RELICS. 
 
 Other documents, kindly gathered by Dr. G. F. Bergin, 
 reached the writer too late for incorporation in the body 
 of the memoir, it being ready for the printer at the time 
 of their reception. They are added however as contribut- 
 ing valuable material to the volume. 
 
 I. 
 
 MR. MULLER'S choice OF MR. WRIGHT AS CO-DIRECTOR. 
 
 Mr. Muller wrote on August 4th, 1871 : "To-day Mr. 
 Wright, my principal helper in the work of the Scriptural 
 Knowledge Institution, asked for the hand of my beloved 
 daughter. This request was as unlooked for on my part 
 as anything could have been, while, at the same time I 
 knew no one to whom I could so willingly entrust this, 
 my choicest earthly treasure. My beloved daughter had 
 the greatest conflict in her mind for about two weeks 
 before she accepted this offer, her only and great diffi- 
 culty being because of having to leave me. It was only 
 on beseeching her not to let this stand in the way, and 
 pointing out to her how great my comfort and joy would 
 be in seeing her united to such a husband, that she at last 
 decided to accept the offer. They were united in mar- 
 riage on November i6th. 
 
 "May 26th, 1872. For more than twenty years it had 
 been asked of me again and again, by many differjent in- 
 dividuals, 'What, Mr. Miiller, will become of the Orphan 
 Houses when you are removed?" My reply was, invar- 
 iably, 'The Orphan Houses and the land belonging to 
 
252 " JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 them are vested in the hands of eleven trustees, and there- 
 fore the Institution stands on the same footing in this par- 
 ticular, as other charitable institutions.' Then I heard 
 it said, in reply, again and again, 'But where will you find 
 the man who will carry on the work in the same spirit 
 in which you do, trusting only in God for everything that 
 in any way is needed in connection with the work?' My 
 answer to this was always something like this: 'When 
 the Lord shall have been pleased to remove me from my 
 post, He will prove that He was not dependent on me, 
 and that He could easily raise up another servant of His 
 to act on the same principles on which I have sought to 
 carry on this work.' It was also stated to me again and 
 again, by Christian friends, that I ought to pray that God 
 would raise up a successor to me in the work. To this I 
 generally replied that I did so, and I have now the joy 
 of announcing to the reader that God has been pleased 
 to give me the desire of my heart. In my son-in-law, Mr. 
 James Wright, I have found what I had longed for, and 
 prayed for, even a helper in assisting me in the direction 
 of the Institution, and, in the event of my removal, a suc- 
 cessor. 
 
 "But lest any, who neither know me nor him, should 
 suppose that because Mr. Wright is my son-in-law, I 
 have chosen him for this post, I state the following par- 
 ticulars. Mr. Wright was known to me for thirty-one 
 years as a consistent Christian. From his boyhood, when 
 he was brought to the knowledge of the Lord, I have 
 known him ; and for above twenty years I had especially 
 good opportunity of watching his most consistent, godly 
 deportment. During thirteen years, previous to May, 
 1872, he had been one of my most valuable helpers in the 
 work of the Institution, I may say my right hand, in all 
 
VARIOUS DOCUMENTS AND RELICS. 253 
 
 the most important matters. As long as twelve years 
 before May, 1872, my beloved departed wife and I began 
 to pray regarding him, that God would fit him more and 
 more to become my successor. This prayer was repeated 
 hundreds of times during the lifetime of my late beloved 
 wife, and both of us became more and more assured that 
 in Mr. Wright God had given to us what we desired re- 
 garding this point. 
 
 "In February, 1870, my beloved wife was taken, and 
 about ten days after I became very unwell. During this 
 time it was, when the late Mrs. Wright was in her usual 
 health, and when there was therefore not so much as a 
 shadow of appearance that Mr. Wright would ever be- 
 come my son-in-law, I sent for him and opened my mind 
 to him that I considered it to be the will of God that he 
 should become my successor. His great humility, how- 
 ever, found a number of reasons, why he considered him- 
 self unfit for it, none of which I could allow to stand in 
 the way as a Hindrance, as I knew him so well with re- 
 gard to his fitness. A second difficulty was this, his ex- 
 cellent Christian wife considered that he would be greatly 
 burdened by accepting my proposal, and therefore sought 
 to induce him not to accept it. After some weeks, how- 
 ever, her mind was altered on the subject, and she yielded 
 her objections, if he saw it to be the will of God. Mr. 
 Wright then, after long hesitation, came to the conclusion 
 that it would not be his duty any longer to refuse. 
 
 "It was eighteen months after I had spoken to him on 
 the subject that he asked for the hand of my daughter, a 
 thing of which I had not the faintest thought, though so 
 intimate with him. I have been so minute in all this, that 
 there may not remain in the mind of any of the readers 
 the slightest thought that the relationship in which Mr. 
 
254 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 Wright now stands to me has had anything to do with my 
 uniting him with me in the direction of the Institution, 
 and appointing him as my successor. 
 
 "By the Lord's kindness I am able to work as hereto- 
 fore, I may say with little hindrance through illness ; yet 
 I cannot conceal from myself that it is of great impor- 
 tance for the work that I should obtain a measure of re- 
 lief. This relief, however, can be really only given to me 
 by one who stands in a similar position to the work, and 
 who, when I am away, or when I may feel it desirable to 
 have real rest, could do all I ordinarily do in directing. 
 On this account, therefore, I not only appointed Mr. 
 Wright as my successor, in the event of my death, but 
 from May 26th, 1872, associated him also with me in the 
 direction of the Institution, which year by year increases 
 in extent ; and I cannot describe my joy in having found 
 in him a successor in the event of my death." 
 
 II. 
 MRS. Wright's funeral. 
 Mrs. Wright was interred on Jan. i6th in Arno's Vale 
 Cemetery. A preliminary service was held in Bethesda 
 Chapel, Great George Street, at which many of the Or- 
 phans were present. The Chapel was crowded. Some 
 particulars of that service will now be given. After the 
 singing of the Hymn, "The sands of time are sinking," 
 which was a special favourite of the dear departed one, 
 Mr. Henry Groves, of Kendal, read i Cor. iii:2i-23, "All 
 things are yours," and said : "Our treasures, fellow Chris- 
 tians, and amongst them each individual Christian is a 
 treasure to his fellows, and life is amongst them, and 
 death is amongst these treasures. Yes, death amongst 
 our treasures, that for which we can thank God. Sorrow 
 
VARIOUS DOCUMENTS AND RELICS. 255 
 
 brings us very close to the 'Man of Sorrows.' I believe 
 as Christians we very little know the mighty blessing 
 which through Eternity will be connected with the sor- 
 rows of the way. The Lord give unto us to learn these 
 glorious mighty lessons ! Friends, if it were not for death 
 and the grave we should never have had John xi, and 
 John xi is worth all the anguish which John xi represents, 
 and we find every death of the Lord's dear ones is but a 
 repetition of it. 'Jesus wep^ there, and Jesus weeps here, 
 and now it is so delightful to think of those tears of Jesus 
 at the grave of every departed child of God. I often feel 
 that as believers in Christ we do not sufficiently realize 
 that the depths through which God ofttimes leads us, are 
 amongst the most precious experiences of soul, because 
 then we find Christ to be what otherwise we should not 
 know. Among the saints it is only needful to get into 
 deep sorrow, and oh! how the sympathy rises up on the 
 right hand, and on the left, and we find many friends 
 whom we never knew had half the love in their hearts to 
 us, till trouble and adversity came, but when it comes, then 
 we learn how we are loved. And I believe it is precisely 
 so with Christ Himself — we never know half the love of 
 Christ until we get into depths of sorrow and find that 
 love pouring, and pouring, and pouring on us. Luke 
 xxiii .-43 is left as a precious legacy to every dying child 
 of God to hear the voice of the Son of God saying, 'To- 
 day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.' 'To-day,' not 
 when He comes in the time of His glory, no we needn't 
 wait till then. 'To-day.' Oh! let us lay hold upon the 
 word 'to-day,' and it will chase away the darkness and 
 gloom, and make the grave of the child of God radiant 
 with the hope that God has sent to light its darkness. 
 'To-day' — Oh, may God speak to the dear Orphan child- 
 
256 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 ren, and to those among us, who, if they were to die, 
 would have no voice saying to them, 'To-day shait thou 
 be with Me in Paradise.' The Lord has opened to us the 
 door of His everlasting kingdom, and gilded with bright- 
 ness and joy death itself — ^the halo of His glory is 
 around it, our very tears are turned into laughter, our 
 very sorrow into joy, and that which seems one of the 
 great and mighty triumphs of Satan, is one of the great 
 and mighty triumphs of God. I know no greater testi- 
 mony to the truth of Christianity than the joy and glad- 
 ness with which we follow our loved ones to the tomb. 
 Thank God, He has kept out the bitterness of the tears 
 that say 'No,' to God. And we thank God on behalf of 
 our beloved brother that He has taken away the bitterness 
 of the sorrow, not the sorrow. There are many weeping 
 eyes and hearts here, and now may God grant that those 
 tears may be sanctified, and may all these dear children 
 follow in the footsteps of the one gone before. It is not 
 often we commit a dear one to the tomb with such ex- 
 ceeding thankfulness and joy — thanking God for the ex- 
 ample of her life, for her unselfishness, and for the grace 
 of God manifested in her. God grant that those of us 
 here who are Christ's may gird our loins a little tighter, 
 may keep our lamps burning a little brighter, and as 
 faithful servants be always ready to go at the Master's 
 bidding — ^always seeking to please Him, who has called 
 us out of darkness into His marvellous light." 
 
 Mr. Bergin prayed and said, "There are two words to 
 which I want to call your attention, 2 Tim. iv :6, 7 am 
 now ready ta be offered.' The Apostle's words as he 
 stood in sight of death — I know of no word more ex- 
 pressive of the condition of the departed loved one during 
 the ten days of her illness than this. Through the grace 
 
VARIOUS DOCUMENTS AND RELICS. 257 
 
 of God she was made 'meet for the inheritance of the 
 saints in light' forty years earlier, because resting solely 
 on the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus, and so 
 all through her pilgrim course she was ready to go and 
 be with Him. But there was a beautiful readiness of 
 spirit for whatever the Lord might see fit during the 
 closing hours of her life. Her beloved husband said, 
 'Since the medical attendant told her of her danger, never 
 by God's grace did a question rise as to the Lord's right 
 to do as He would with His own.' When on Friday 
 morning he judged it well to tell her how ill she was, she 
 calmly received the intelligence and said, 'He can raise 
 me up if He will,' and yet in reply to the question as to 
 when she should next meet the one she so tenderly loved, 
 she pointed upwards, exhibiting the same calm readiness. 
 Such was the readiness of spirit in that loved one, that 
 departing to be with Christ was a no more terrible thing 
 than going from one room to another. Now on her be- 
 half I give a word from Luke xii which I am sure would 
 be her utterance to you beloved Orphans, and to you dear 
 unsaved ones, 'Be ye therefore ready also^ Just think 
 what made her ready, not her good works, not the unde- 
 filed walk, in which we rejoice, not anything buib: the 
 precious blood of Christ made her ready, and what you 
 need is to accept salvation at the hand of Jesus, and then 
 you will be ready if called to depart. Let this come as a 
 voice from herself. And in another sense let each one of 
 us who are the Lord's hear the words, 'Be ye ready.' 
 Oh, to have nothing to do, or to settle if the Lord send 
 for us,, as for our beloved sister, or if He should come, 
 and take us to Himself, to be in readiness that we may 
 respond, 'Yes, Lord.' " 
 Col. Molesworth prayed and read i Thess. iv:i3-i8, 
 
2S8 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 saying, "Beloved, our God comforts us with living words 
 to-day. It was said by one of old, 'We must needs die.' 
 But the resources of God are infinite, and God gives us 
 truly to rejoice, even in the presence of death, in the 
 means He has devised whereby 'His banished be not ex- 
 pelled from Him' — for by the resurrection of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ hath He given the hope. 'Them also which 
 sleep in Jesus, will God bring with Him' Her spirit now 
 waits with Him, and He will call her body from the rest- 
 ing-place, where we lay it to-day, and she shall be 'for 
 ever with the Lord.' Beloved Orphans, I know how you 
 loved Mrs. Wright, she was as a mother to you, her very 
 presence was a comfort, and as she glided like a minis- 
 tering angel through the corridors a word or a look from 
 her was a reward to you, and you would go on your way 
 comforted and strengthened to bear the burden of your 
 bit of life. Of one it is written, 'Thy gentleness hath 
 made me great.' Truly it was that which made her great, 
 and fitted her to rule. 
 
 "Now the blessed word we have gotten from the Lord 
 to-day is, 'Them which sleep in Jesus will God bring with 
 Him.' There is no death to the believer — she sleeps, she 
 is with the Lord Himself, and the Lord gives us the grand 
 testimony to-day, 'If we believe that Jesus died and rose 
 again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God 
 bring with Him.' The morning of the resurrection will 
 undo the sorrows of the present, and shall be to us a glad- 
 some time, and though we sorrow now, we are not with- 
 out hope, but with the hope that the Lord Jesus will raise 
 the body of this loved one, and re-unite it with her re- 
 deemed spirit, which He has kept in intelligent enjoy- 
 ment in His own presence, and that 'we zvho are alive and 
 remain, shall be caught up together with them in the 
 
VARIOUS DOCUMENTS AND RELICS. 259 
 
 clouds' to be with Him for ever, and the Church trium- 
 phant and the Church miUtant shall be united in one in- 
 divisible body to be with Him for ever." 
 
 Mr. Wright prayed for Mr. Miiller, that the One who 
 had carried him to hoar hairs would enable him to breast 
 this new wave of sorrow. The hymn, "All, all beyond is 
 bright," was then sung and Mr. Benjamin Perry closed 
 the services with prayer. 
 
 in. 
 
 MR. Wright's sermon afteb his wife's death. 
 
 On the following Sunday evening, Jan. 19th, Mr. 
 Wright preached at Bethesda Chapel to a large audience. 
 The following extracts are from notes taken by a friend : 
 
 "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all" (i 
 John 1 :5). "It is very striking to notice the parallel be- 
 tween God's first message under the old dispensation and 
 His first message under the new dispensation. 
 
 "(i) His first message to the people whom he had 
 brought into covenant relationship with Himself, the 
 children of Israel through Moses, was to make Him a 
 Sanctuary, that He might dwell among them, and when 
 the Sanctuary or Tabernacle was fully set up, the princes 
 offered for the dedication of the altar of God. There 
 were twelve princes, and each prince offered on his day, 
 so that this solemn service occupied twelve days. And 
 how can we but pause for a moment, to see the emphasis 
 which God has laid on this part of the service. Twelve 
 days they dedicated the altar. 'O send out Thy light, and 
 Thy truth,' said the inspired Psalmist. 'Let them lead me; 
 let them bring me unto Thy holy hill, and to Thy taber- 
 nacles, then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God, my 
 exceeding joy.' There is no other way than by the altar. 
 
26o JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 by atoning blood. Twelve days were occupied in dedi- 
 cating a shadowy, typical altar. With what emphasis our 
 hearts say, We have an altar!' Well, that scene was over, 
 and then we read, 'And when Moses was gone into the 
 tabernacle of the congregation to speak with Him, then 
 he heard the voice of One speaking unto him.' Now comes 
 the first message ,of Jehovah to those whom in grace He 
 had brought into fellowship with Himself. What is this 
 message ? 'Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, "When 
 thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light 
 over against the candlestick." ' The first message then 
 from Jehovah to that people whom in grace He had 
 brought near to Himself, into fellowship with Himself, 
 though this was an external thing, is about the seven-fold 
 perfection of light which is in His presence. 
 
 "(2) Now we come to the Epistle of John and find 
 the Apostle under the new dispensation unfolding the 
 truth that God the Father now brings believers into fel- 
 lowship with Himself, calls them to fellowship with the 
 Father and with the Son, and the Apostle says, 'That 
 which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that 
 ye also may Have fellowship with us: and truly our fellow- 
 ship is with the Father cmd with His Son Jesus Christ.' 
 And then comes the beautiful, message to those whom God 
 in the riches of His grace has brought into real fellowship 
 with Himself, not an external fellowship such as Israel 
 knew, but a real one. John is the bearer of the message, 
 'That God is light, mid in Him is no darkness at all.' 
 Again about the perfection of the light in His presence. 
 
 Now God help us in considering three aspects of this 
 glorious truth, (i) In its bearing on our approach to 
 God, and (2) on our walk with God, and (3) on His 
 
VARIOUS DOCUMENTS AND RELICS. 261 
 
 dealings with us during the pilgrimage of our life. 
 
 "(i) Our approach to God and walk with God. 'God 
 is light and in Him is no darkness at all,' yet there can be 
 no light or joy out of His presence, therefore to be happy 
 we must be with Him. Let us repeat this. God made us 
 for Himself, and we cannot know any true happiness till 
 brought to Himself, but 'In Him is no darkness at all,' 
 this means that God is absolutely pure and holy. Now 
 can anything impure and unholy dwell with Him? Noth- 
 ing. Turn to Ps. v, 'Thou art not a God that hath pleas- 
 ure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with Thee.' It 
 is impossible that evil can dwell with God who is light. 
 'Blessed is the man whom Thou choosest and causest to 
 approach unto Thee,' the one whom He chooses to ap- 
 proach to Him and causes to dwell with Him, is pro- 
 nounced 'blessed,' and well may God call him blessed — 
 for he must approach in absolutely perfect holiness, he 
 must appear in a holiness fitted for the presence of Him 
 who is light, in a righteousness that will bear the scrutiny 
 of the eye, that searches the reins and the heart. If man 
 had not sinned and could have obeyed God perfectly, he 
 might have come before Him in a holiness, a righteous- 
 ness of his own; but what is the testimony of the Holy 
 Spirit in the Scriptures to which we must bow, for 'What 
 saiih the Scriptures?' must settle every question. 'All 
 have sinned.' Then who is the one who can approach to 
 that throne? Not one can approach in any holiness or 
 righteousness of his own, and here the God of all grace 
 appears, and provides in the Gospel of grace a holiness 
 and a righteousness entirely outside the sinner. The 
 Holy One who is light, who dwells in light, and in whom 
 'is no darkness at all,' sanctifies, sets apart, makes holy 
 
262 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 through the blood of His Son, all who believe. He 
 sanctifies the people, separates them, makes them holy and 
 fit for temple worship. We can go further and say — 
 echoing God — 'By one offering He hath perfected for 
 ever them that a/re sanctified.' Yes, the perfection of 
 holiness attaches to those who rest by faith in the blood 
 of Christ, and thus are they fitted for His presence. 
 Therefore the moment tbe poor guilty sinner rests upon 
 the blood for acceptance, that sinner is 'made meet for 
 
 . . the inhexitance of the saints in light,' in God's light. Have 
 I not quQted sufficient to prove from Scripture that God 
 
 , hath provided a holiness and righteousness for sinners 
 outside of themselves ? And what remains but that I be- 
 seech and entreat any who are standing in a fancied holi- 
 ness of their own which is but 'filthy rags' to leave 'that 
 refuge of lies' and lie down as guilty worms before Him, 
 and rejoice in the glorious provision made in the perfect 
 
 » work and glorious perfections of His Son. Especially 
 
 .you dear Orphans, who, as some of you said in the letter 
 you wrote to me last Thursday, have had a voice lately at 
 the beginning of every year. And there came a voice to 
 you last Thursday, 'Be ye also ready.' How many of you 
 have heard it ? How many have come ? O beloved girls, 
 I want you to listen to the voice of God, in His word, 
 and in His providences, that you may know through faith 
 in Him what it is to be made holy and fit for the presence 
 of God. 
 
 I have said that this aspect of the subject has a bear- 
 ing, not only on our (Approach to God; but second on 
 our walk with God. Verses 8 and 9 in the chapter refer 
 to this. The question of consciousness of sin in us, how 
 is it dealt with? 'If we say that we have no sin, we de- 
 ceive ourselves.' You remember in Heb. x it is said — 
 
VARIOUS DOCUMENTS AND KELICS. 263 
 
 referring to the perfection of believers for the presence of 
 God — ^that if the shadowy sacrifices had made perfect 
 'then would they not have ceased to be offered, because 
 that the worshippers once purged, should have had no 
 mere conscience of sin;' that is, no more conscience of the 
 guilt of sin recorded in God's book against us, and the 
 argument of the Holy Spirit is, that if these sacrifices 
 really took away the guilt of sin so that there was no con- 
 science of sin as an obstacle to fellowship between the 
 soul and God, they would have ceased to be oflEered. Now 
 what the Apostle says could never be accomplished by 
 these, is accomplished by the perfect work of Christ, and 
 now being perfected we have 'no more conscience of sin: 
 When we receive Jesus as poor guilty sinners, then we 
 are born again, then we are sons, and then God sends 
 the Spirit of His Son into our hearts and the first cry of 
 the Spirit is, 'Abba, Father.' Don't we see the blessed 
 harmony of the whole thing? There 15 no cry of 'Father' 
 without being born again, then I cry 'Father.' Dear girls, 
 can you all look up and say, 'Father?' I know some of 
 you can, and I say, I would go again through all the sor- 
 row of the last fortnight if I knew it would bring you to 
 Christ. I say it before God and I repeat it, for I yearn 
 over you, and it was the prayer of the beloved one who 
 is gone, God grant it for Christ's sake ! But now comes 
 the question of the consciousness of sin, of that I am 
 conscious, and deeply conscious, and if I say I have it not, 
 I deceive myself; I have it in me, though not charged 
 against me, that's the difference. I have it in me, as a 
 bitter root, the up-springing of which often brings a cloud 
 between the face of my Father and my soul, until I con- 
 fess it, but the moment I confess it here is the provision, 
 'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive 
 
264 JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 US our sins and tO' cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' 
 Who? Take note of the difference. As born into the 
 world unregenerate sinners, we stand before God as a 
 holy Judge, that is our first relationship to God, the Judge 
 of the whole earth. But when we trust in Jesus we are no 
 more in our sins, to answer for them, and now that holy 
 Judge has become what? My Father. I have seen a vivid 
 illustration of this in my own experience of the difference 
 between conscience of sin and consciousness of sin. I 
 have had vividly before me an illustration of the com- 
 patibility of these two things : the entire absence of con- 
 science of sin as to its guilt, with the consciousness of sin 
 as a bitter root, in the person of that loved one. As she 
 in secret mourned over her shortcomings I never saw her 
 lovely face so clouded and bedewed as when face to face 
 with the claims of Christ, and feeling how in innumerable 
 matters she fell short. While I watched her course and 
 saw it approximate more and more to the image of Christ, 
 she got more and more self-abhorrent, and would not 
 listen to any word of mine, but would say, 'Oh, you don't 
 know, you love me too well, to see it,' and yet at the same 
 time she had no conscience of sin. She would go aside 
 and pour out all to her Father in heaven, and would come 
 back with a face calm and happy. She had no conscience 
 of sin, but a vivid ever-increasing realization of the con- 
 sciousness of sin, and yet by the Holy Spirit an ever- 
 rejoicing apprehension of this remedy — confession. 'God 
 is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.' Oh ! how I 
 remember the cry of that dear one, 'Oh ! I do want to be 
 good,' a very simple expression, but it just expressed her 
 longing to be holy, to be Christ-like. She has now done 
 with sin, for ever, and I will call upon you dear friends 
 to rejoice with me. I refer to her case to help any who 
 
VARIOUS DOCUMENTS AND RELICS. 265 
 
 are confused about the question of sin. There is a lot of 
 morbid, unscriptural teaching about this subject, and I 
 shall rejoice if this testimony should be a help to such. 
 
 "Now I come to the third aspect of this truth, this glo- 
 rious truth, bearing upon ail the dealings of God as 
 Father throughout our earthly pilgrimage 'God is light,' 
 and of course, if He is light, every action of His must be 
 light, as we sung just now : 
 
 'His every act, pure blessing is. 
 His path unsullied light.' 
 "There is not a single action of His but that is light, 
 purity, blessing, and goodness, and I can say that never 
 since Saturday week, when Dr. Williams came to me at 
 the Orphan Houses and said, 'Mrs. Wright is very ill,' 
 never for a moment have I doubted the absolute light of 
 God's action, or thought He had made a mistake. Now 
 I can't promise to keep myself in that mind till nine 
 o'clock to-night. How am I kept? If you say, 'How 
 can I be kept so in the light of God that I am never al- 
 lowed to question the light of His actions?' I say there 
 is no royal road. I will tell you the secret. It is believing 
 before feeling. God's truths repeat themselves again and 
 again. When an anxious soul says, 'I don't feel I am 
 forgiven' you set before that one, that feeling does not 
 come before faith. I remember Dr. Guinness saying here 
 twenty-four years ago, 'Feeling is no more faith than a 
 headache,' and I have never forgotten it. ,Now just as 
 feeling has nothing to do with cleansing the conscience 
 from sin, but that it is a question of believing the words 
 of Him wHo said, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that 
 heareth my word and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath 
 everlasting life' — so let us say to our own hearts as 
 
266 JAMES WRKSHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 children of God, when God deals with us, in some sur- 
 prising way. 'It is a question of believing, not feeling.' 
 Never put feeling before faith, either in the matter of 
 forgiveness or in the matter of acceptance of God's provi- 
 dences. Do I mean that we are to be Stoics? No, we 
 are to feel the Father's rod, that is an essential part of the 
 business, we do not get the benefit from it if we do not 
 feel it, but while we feel it keenly, we must just lie before 
 our Father, and not say a word against Hjm. We must 
 not allow feelings to judge; feel it we njwst, but we must 
 not let feelings judge Him,'there's the difference. Let me 
 illustrate it. The king of Assyria sent Rabshakeh to in- 
 sult King Hezekiah and menace the Jews, and he came 
 and stood outside the walls, and there spluttered out blas- 
 phemy against Jehovah. Well, what was the command 
 of Hezekiah to the Jews on the walls ? 'Answer him not.' 
 That is the way to treat feelings, the moment they rise 
 up to discuss and criticise ; as works before faith are dead 
 works, so feelings before faith are corrupt, blasphemous. 
 Therefore, let us lie in silence before our Father, and 
 while by grace we keep in that position we are safe. Don't 
 give way to feeling. I don't mean by that, don't feel the 
 sorrow, feel it to the utmost, but don't let that feeling get 
 into the judgment seat and judge God, and question God, 
 and say at last, 'God is unkind, what right has He to do 
 this,' then we are obeying feeling. 'The Lord God hath 
 opened mine ear' all is attributed to the Lord God, I get 
 the ear from»Him (for 'the hearing ear, and the seeing 
 eye, the Lord hath made even both of them') that is faith. 
 Now I get the open ear from the Lord, and then if I have 
 the opened ear, I must use that ear, and what is the proper 
 response of this opened ear ? '/ will hear what God the 
 
VARIOUS nOCUMENT;S AND RELICS. 267 
 
 Lord will speak.' If you are enabled by grace to take 
 that position, He will speak a word in season. 
 'In season, the sustaining word'* 
 Is ever sure from Thee.' 
 "When the bitter heavy stroke came upon me, and 'the 
 desire of mine eyes was taken away,' He spoke this sooth- 
 ing word to me. He opened my ear; I said by grace, 7 
 ■will hear what God the Lord will speak.' What did He 
 speak? I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, 
 'Happy are the dead which die in the Lord' Now by 
 grace I took that home and said, 'That is a voice to me.' 
 Well, if that voice is from heaven, from whose lips can it 
 come, but from the lips of the One on the throne of God ? 
 And dear friends, if that voice speaks to me, what busi- 
 ness have I to listen to other voices? It has power to 
 quell every voice on earth. And then I had just to take 
 in what that voice said to me. 'Happy are the dead which 
 die in the Lord,' not explaining to me that happiness, but 
 simply saying, 'Happy.' This is God's wont, and He 
 does not give an inventory in this case. When He said 
 'I will bless thee,' Abraham, according to the flesh, I would 
 have liked an inventory of the blessings God would give, 
 but He only said, 7 will bless thee,' which was far better, 
 for Abraham had simply to write behind that — 'I,' all the 
 attributes of God, the God of love, the Almighty, un- 
 changing, eternal God. Write all these behind this 'I,' and 
 you get the blessing of Abraham. Now just on the 
 same principle the voice of God says, 'Happy are the 
 dead,' which is ten times better than an inventory of the 
 idea, because the voice from heaven tells me so, and He 
 knows all about it. This is an illustration of the principle 
 that God opens the ear and we say, 7 will hear what God 
 
26S JAMES WRIGHT OF BRISTOL. 
 
 the Lord will speak.' He gives to every tried heart a 
 word in season. If you only do this, He will speak such 
 words to you that you will not complain, or find fault, but 
 say 'My heart is £xed,' and you will sing and give praise 
 unto Him. Take care to sing to Him, and to sing be- 
 cause your heart is fixed. Now, then, this precious word, 
 'God is light,' tells us (i) the ground on which we ap- 
 proach God, by atoning blood; (2) and the way in which 
 though sin is present with us, we walk with God in light, 
 because of our Advocate the Lord Jesus Christ, and be- 
 cause of the eternal efficacy of His blood; and (3) it 
 tells us also that in every dealing with us. He is light. 
 If I walk with God, if I am a servant of Jehovah, then 
 'Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth 
 the voice of His servant, that walketh in darkness, and 
 hath no light?' clearly not moral darkness, or darkness 
 about thejjurposes of God in the future, but having no 
 light about God's dealings in the present. I can't under- 
 stand them now, but I expect such an interpretation of 
 this sorrow as will make it radiant with the light of 
 heaven. I bow before it, but I want One to interpret it, 
 a Daniel to explain the mystic words on the wall. As to 
 the meaning of this dispensation, though I understand it 
 in some respects, yet as to its full meaning I walk in 
 darkness, and have no light. What am I to do in this 
 case? 'Let him trust in the name of the Lord, and stay 
 upon his God.' By His grace I do, and I say that my 
 God who 'is light,' will make this darkest passage in my 
 life as light as the very day. 'Let him trust in the name 
 of the Lord and stay upon his God.' I leave you there. 
 Stay yourselves on God and nothing will ever move you." 
 
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