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Cornell University Library 
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 Memoir of the Rev. W.H. Hewltson 
 
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MEMOIR 
 
 REV. W. H, HEWITSOiX 
 
EALLANTYKE, PIUSTtH, EDISBUKail. 
 

MEMOIR 
 
 REY. W. H. HEWITSON, 
 
 I^TE MINISTER OF THE 
 
 FEEE CHUECH OF SCOTLAND, 
 
 AT DIRLETOK. 
 
 THE REV. JOHN BAILLIE, 
 
 LINLITHGOW. 
 
 " Ab a fossil in the rock, or a cola la the mortar of a rulu, 
 So the sf mbolled thoughts tell of a departed soul : 
 The plastic hand hath its iritncse in a etatae, and exac- 
 titude of Tlslon in a picture ; 
 And 80 the mind that was among us In its writinga ia 
 embalmed." — Proverbial PhUoaophy. 
 
 Secant ffittturn. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 JAMES NISBET AJTO CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. 
 
 MDCCCLII. 
 
PREFATORY NOTE TO SECOND EDITION. 
 
 In the present edition, letters are given occasionally almost 
 entire, as specimens of the correspondence at successive 
 periods. The extracts have been incorporated, in general, 
 with the narrative, with the view of rendering the whole 
 more compact and consecutive. Several additional letters 
 and extracts will be found in this edition. 
 
 The volume is committed to the care of Him in whose sight 
 the death of His saints is precious, and through whose grace 
 they, being dead, may yet speak. It is to the praise of His 
 grace, that He has already vouchsafed, both in this coimtry 
 and in America, so wide and cordial an acceptance to the 
 memorial of His departed servant. 
 
 February 9, 1852. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The following Memoir has been prepared for two reasons; 
 the one, Mr Hewitson's character — the other, his work. 
 
 The singular elevation of his Christian walk, so far 
 surpassing what is ordinarily seen in this age of dwarfed 
 spirituality, is fitted to stimulate the people of God to 
 loftier attainments in holiness, and fitted also to arrest 
 and win to Christ those who "have a name that they 
 live, but are dead." 
 
 It is no mere sentimentalist whose character we por- 
 tray. Genius and high scholarship, dedicated to the 
 service of Christ, and laid "a hving sacrifice" at His 
 feet, is the life sketched in these pages. The reader 
 will discover with how fascinating a charm that element 
 invests the man of God. 
 
 In this department the Author has found it no easy 
 
.\U1 PEBFACE. 
 
 task to make a fitting selection from the mass of Mr 
 Hewitson's letters. The principle which has guided him 
 was, to select those which were properly biographical, 
 because exhibiting the writer's characteristic features. 
 The form of extracts, rather than of entire letters, has 
 been adopted, in order to allow room for the more 
 interesting and illustrative, as well as to afi'ord variety. 
 It would have been less difficult to extend the Memoir 
 twofold than to compress it within its present proportions. 
 
 The great work in Madeira, in which Mr Hewitson 
 was privileged to bear so large a part, is here exhibited, 
 in its inner history, for the first time. Occasional con- 
 temporary notices, and a pamphlet by Mr Roddam Tate, 
 R.N., have acquainted the British pubhc with certain 
 flagrant proceedings of the Romanists in Madeira, and 
 with not a little of the sufferings of the converts. But 
 the work itself which led to these proceedings has not 
 hitherto been known, and for the obvious reason, that 
 to publish it at the time would have been the sure 
 method of arresting its progress, and no opportunity has 
 since arisen for laying it before the public. 
 
 The details of that work are furnished from two 
 sources : — 
 
 From notes by Dr Kalley, prepared by him for this 
 
PRBPACB. IX 
 
 J)ublicatlon. These will be found to be singularly fresh 
 and graphic. 
 
 From Mr Hewitson's letters, written on the scene, 
 and addressed to friends in Scotland. Among these 
 letters are some official, but private, communications to 
 the Committee at home, placed by the Committee at 
 the Author's, disposal. 
 
 The reader is thus put in possession of a continuous 
 and authentic history of that very remarkable movement. 
 
 What was that movement? Not a mere intellectual 
 revolt from the absurdities of Romish teaching, but a 
 wide-spread and palpable conversion of heart unto God 
 — a, living scriptural Church called out of the very midst 
 of Papal darkness — ^a noble band of confessors wilhngly 
 forsaking houses, and lands, and country, for Christ's 
 sake. 
 
 Mr Macau] ay, in his History of England, has charac- 
 terised a statesman of the Restoration as a good 
 Protestant, but a very indifferent Christian. A Papist 
 may be detached intellectually from Romanism, without 
 being attached spiritually to Christ. The converts of 
 Madeira became, not merely zealous Protestants, but 
 living, earnest Christians. 
 
 The history of such a movement is not a little instruc- 
 tive at the present juncture. It tells once more, in 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 language which no sophism can mystify, that Rome is 
 the uncompromising enemy of an open and understood 
 Bible. It tells that, before such a Bible, Eome cannot 
 maintain her ground. It teUs that nowhere may not 
 Christians go forth in hope and expectation, if only they 
 go forth in faith and prayer, proclaiming the Lord's 
 precious call, " Come out of her, my people." 
 
 It has been the Author's aim throughout the Memoir 
 to allow Mr Hewitson to speak for himself. Viewing 
 the task of a biographer to be somewhat analogous to 
 that of the setter of a precious stone, he has endeavoured 
 simply to set the pearl, not to overlay it. The constant 
 interruptions arising from the pressure of necessary 
 avocations during the few months which have elapsed 
 since Mr Hewitson's death, must be pleaded as an apo- 
 logy for any marks of crudeness which deface the 
 Memoir. 
 
 For the kind counsel of several friends — among whom 
 he is constrained to name the Rev. Horatius Bonar of 
 Kelso, Mr William Dickson, Edinburgh, and the Rev. 
 James Dodds, Dunbar, the last of whom has contributed 
 some valuable reminiscences — he feels deeply grateful. 
 He also begs to acknowledge the cordial aid of the 
 various parties who have furnished the letters of Mr 
 
PREFACE. XI 
 
 Hewitson, to which the Memoir is so largely indebted. 
 His thanks are likewise due to Dr Baird of New York 
 for the " Record of Facts connected with the Persecution 
 in Madeira," published by the American Christian Union, 
 and forwarded to the Author. 
 
 " We are come," writes Isaac Taylor, " to no easy 
 and gentle mood of the world's history. This is no 
 hour of leisure, and facility, and soft persuasion. Who- 
 ever dares not speak explicitly and boldly, had better 
 not speak at all. The adherents of the gospel must 
 either forfeit aU chance of a hearing, or act with a corre- 
 spondent energy and promptitude. Whatever overloads, 
 encumbers, defaces, our faith, should be thrown aside. 
 Whoever is loaded with the stuff of this world, whether 
 interests or prejudices, will be chased from the field, or 
 fall there ingloriously." The subject of this Memoir 
 " dared to speak explicitly." He spoke by his holy life. 
 A soldier unencumbered by " the stuff of this world," 
 here occupies the field, and he neither is chased away 
 nor falls ingloriously. His watchword is, " We know 
 that we are of God, and that the whole world lieth in 
 wickedness." The watchword he can use without em- 
 barrassment, for he himself consciously walks in God's 
 fellowship. 
 
Xa PREFACE. 
 
 What is it which so often evacuates of spiritual power 
 the most polished and accomplished ministry ? "A man 
 may preach," says Boston, " as an angel, and yet be 
 useless. If Christ withdraw His presence, all will be to 
 no purpose. If the Master of the house be away, the 
 household will loathe their food, though it be dropping 
 down about their tent-doors." And how is the Master's 
 presence secured ? Not by a sudden transition from the 
 bathos of a carnal, world*conforming walk, to the alti- 
 tudes of a professional earnestness or the gravity of a 
 pulpit hour, but by a habitual consecration of the soul 
 to God — by the tender appeals and the affectionate 
 longings of one who abides in the secret place of the 
 Most High. 
 
 " Follow me," said the Master, " and I will make you 
 fishers of men." Is the maxim understood? At least, 
 is it followed 1 " Meditate on these things," said a dis- 
 ciple who had learned its meaning; " give thyself wholly 
 to them." Paul could say, " Thanks be unto God, which 
 always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh 
 manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every 
 place." And why ? Because to him personally " to live 
 was Christ." 
 
 Mr Hewitson, it will be seen, "followed Christ" — 
 followed him everywhere — ^followed him as his all. And 
 
PEBFACB. Xlll 
 
 what was the result ? "I have often since felt the influ- 
 ence (rf that interview," is the testimony of an English 
 minister, after the lapse of five years from the occasion 
 on which they had once incidentally met. " The hal- 
 lowed pathos with which he uttered his views, and the 
 ' passion for souls' which he evinced, compelled me to 
 think — ' Here is one of those godly men, whose holy 
 fervour exceeds the endurance of their bodily frames, 
 whom God permits to shorten their lives, apparently, by 
 ardent desire and action, that a half-worldly and luke- 
 warm Church may get a scriptural idea of zeal for God, 
 through a living example — an epistle known and read of 
 all men.' " 
 
 Eebuked, yet stimulated, by the pattern of heavenly- 
 mindedness and devotedness delineated in these pages, 
 the Author humbly commends it to the notice of his 
 brethren, praying that He who fashioned this " vessel of 
 mercy " may stir in many hearts a holy ambition to be 
 cast in the same heavenly mould, and to be filled with 
 the same Divine treasure. 
 
 April 29, 1851. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 1812-1837. 
 
 Tf ' • PAGE 
 
 Birth — Early Characteristics — Ambition — Dalmellington — Love 
 of Reading — Progress in Classics — ^Mental Energy — Parallel 
 to Kirke White — ^Integrity of Character — Enters College — 
 College Honours, 1835 — Intense Application to Study — 
 University Prize — Disappointed Hopes — Vacant Heart, 1-18 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 1837-1840. 
 
 The Religionist — The Tuming-Point — Incident at Leamington 
 — " What must I do to be saved ? " — Enters Divinity Hall at 
 Edinburgh — Theological Studies — Residence at Caimie Lodge 
 — Impressions of Mr Hewitson, by the Rev. J. Dodds — De- 
 spondency — ^Personal Covenant — Views of the Ministry — The 
 Day Breaks — The Change Declared, .... 19-30 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 1840, 1841. 
 
 The "Interpreter's House" — The Concentric Circles — Self-Dedi- 
 cation — Return to Dalmellington — The Great Change — ^De- 
 
XVI CONTENTS. 
 
 PAOE 
 
 light in the Bible— First-fruits to Christ— Try the Spirits— 
 Face-to-faoe Fellowsliip— Dairy— Self-love and Selfishness— 
 The Fulness of Christ— Studies in Hebrew— University Mis- 
 sionary Association — Close qf College Course— "Public 
 Souls"- The Medal cast into the Treasury— All Things 
 become New— Neff on Monte Viso— A Dying World— Ap- 
 peal to Fellow-students—" I am a Missionary" — Heavenly- 
 mindedness, . . . . • 31-43 
 
 CHAPTEE IT. 
 
 1841, 1842. 
 
 Health Giving Way— Grangemuir—" One Spirit"— "In the 
 World," and "of the World"— The Rivers of Babylon— 
 Conflicts- Outward and Inward Discipline— Heart's Utter 
 Depravity — Joy over a Brother — ^Illness — Precious Lessons — 
 Spirit of Adoption — Incipient Disease — Desire of Human 
 Honour Incompatible with Faith — Invited to be Assistant 
 to Mr M'Cheyne — Renewing the Covenant— Watchfulness — 
 The Ima^ative Temperament : its Peculiar Trials — Bunyan 
 — Cowper— Shakspere — " The Life of a Ministry" — " Inno- 
 cent Amusements "—" Little Sins "—Electing Love— The 
 Arab— Licensed by the Presbytery of Ayr— First Sermon- 
 Departure for Bonn, .... 44-65 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Summer 1842. 
 
 Testimony of Dr Chalmers — Bonn — German Society — The Sab- 
 bath — German Philosophy — ^Dwelling in God — Spiritual Trials 
 — ^Means of Grace — Comfort to the Afflicted — The Sympathy 
 of Christ^Illness— Return to Dalmellington, . 66-77 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 1842-1844. 
 
 Retirement at Dalmellington — Study of Prophecy — Change of 
 View on the T^ord's Second Coming — Remarks on Luke xxi.. 
 
CONTENTS. XVU 
 
 PAGE 
 
 &c.— On 2 Thessalonians ii., &c. — A Disciple's Duty — ^Value 
 for the Word— Visit to Mr Hewitson at Dalmellington — Fer- 
 vency of Spirit — Mr Stevenson's Recollections — Rejoicing in 
 Hope — Correspondence — ^The Ten Lepers — The Night far 
 Spent— One with Christ— Death of Mr M'Cheyne— Mi- 
 Bonar's Comparison of the Two — " A Vine Watered every 
 Moment " — ^Where Men ought to Worship — Chastisements — 
 True Cbristlike Meekness Described — Godly Sincerity — 
 Health— The Signs of the Times— "The Scarlet Thread"— 
 Spirituality and Heavenly-mindedness — The Hope of Glory 
 — ^Imagination : its Spiritual Dangers — The Remedy — The 
 Evangelic Posture — The Gentile Church — ^Words of Warning 
 — ^Influence of Disease on Spiritual Comfort — Remedy^ 
 Prayer— "God Without" and "God Within "—Pray without 
 Ceasing — Living in Christ — Morisonianism — Leadings to- 
 ward Madeira, . . 78-104 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 1844. 
 
 Views of his Office — The Ministry of Reconciliation — Martyn 
 — Payson — Sense of Helplessness — Simplicity of Faith — Or- 
 dination — "Here am I; send me" — The "Forlorn Hope,'' 
 and the " Good Soldier" — Feelings in Reference to Madeira 
 — ^Prisoners of Christ — Popery — Temporary Destination to 
 Lisbon — Leaving all — " Indwelling Torture" — Hopes and 
 Fears, 105-111 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1841-1844. 
 
 The Headship of Christ— State of the Church of Scotland— The 
 Coming Crisis — Preparation — West Kirk Meeting — Mr 
 Hewitson's Views and Testimony— '> Claim of Right " — 
 .Civil Penalties — The Convocation — Union for Prayer — "The 
 State in Danger " — Claims Rejected — ^The Disruption — Mr 
 Hewitson's Adherence to the Protest — Expectation of Bless- 
 ing— The Future, 112-119 
 
 b 
 
XVlll CONTENTS. 
 
 FAGK 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 1844, 1845. 
 
 Voyage to ysbon — Vigo — Oporto — Lisbon — Popery — Loneli- 
 ness — Thoughts of Home— Journal — Grace Abounding — The 
 Lord our Righteousness — The Word Sweet — Impatience — 
 The Flesh and the Spirit — Watching for Souls — Popery and 
 Infidelity : their Combined Power — Spirit of Adoption — Due 
 Care for the Body — Holy Temperance — The Word the Only 
 Guide — Writing in the Spirit — Martyn's Experience — Subtle 
 Self-righteousness — The Law and the Gospel — Fasting — 
 Renewed Self-dedication — The Good Shepherd — " God's 
 Operatives " — Study of Portuguese Language — Satan's Op- 
 portunity — ^Varied Experiences — "None but Christ" — Con- 
 flicts — Sabbath Class — The Mer de Glace— Nature and 
 Grace, the Great Gulf between — The Joint Working of the 
 Flesh and the Devil — Luther — Christ " no Exactor '' — Depths 
 of Satan — God is Love — The Law not a Way of Life, but a 
 Rule of Life — Peace and Holiness — Salvation to the Utter- 
 most — Self-loathing — Try the Spirits — The Word our Lamp 
 — Fasting — ^Yearnings over Home — Dr Kalley's Arrival from 
 Madeira — Letter from Colonial Committee— The Way Opened 
 —Sails for Madeira, 120-148 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 1844. 
 
 The Work in Madeira — Popery Unchanged — Original Narrative 
 by Dr Kalley — His Early Labours — State of the Portuguese 
 — Bible Unknown — Awakening among the People^^Open air 
 Meetings — Thirst for the Word — Interesting Scenes — Praise 
 — Deepening Inquiry — Daily Themes among the Portuguese 
 — A Physician's Opportunities — The Physician of Souls — 
 "Search the Scriptures" — The Sure Foundation — Evening 
 Schools — The Enemy Roused — The Popish Bishop declares 
 
CONTENTS. XIX 
 
 the Bible to be a " Book from Hell"— All who Read it to be 
 Excommunicated — Eage against the Schools — Excommuni- 
 cation Curse — Prosecution— Dr Kalley Imprisoned — Gospel 
 Preached in Jail — Popish Hatred of the Bible — Mai-ia Joa- 
 quina — Her Denial of Transubstantiation — Sentence of Death 
 — Assassination and Massacre Eecommended — Horrible Atro- 
 cities — Serra Prisoners — Singing Praises — Cruel Hai-dships — 
 Dr Kalley visits Lisbon — Meets Mr Hewitson, . . 149-167 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 1845. 
 
 Arrival in Madeira— -Meetings with Inquirers — Preaching in 
 Portuguese — Baptisms — One Mighty in the Scriptures — 
 Taught of God — ^Eev. J. J. Wood — Communion — Rapid 
 Acquirement of the Language — " A Gift from God " — Sancti- 
 fied Scholarship — Position of Dr Kalley — Lord Aberdeen — 
 Progress of the Work — Zeal of the Converts : their Suffer- 
 ings, Faith, Patience — The Hidden Treasure — Thirst of the 
 People for tlie Wor,d — Incessant Labours — Communions — 
 His Mode of Address — Increasing Dangers — Childlike Faith 
 and Love — Eage of the Adversary — Tlireatened Indictment — ■ 
 Watched by Police — Precautions — Elders — Imprisonments 
 for Reading the Bible — Joyful in Tribulation — Exterminat- 
 ing Warfare against the Word — Expecting Faith — Portuguese 
 Imprisoned for Teaching to Eead — Funchal — Continued 
 Meetings — Eenewed Suspicions and Enmity — Growing Thirst 
 for the Gospel — New Attempts to Arrest the Work — Obey 
 God rather than Man — Communion under Cloud of Night — 
 Strength Sinking under Labours — Illness, . . . 168-196 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 1845, 1846. 
 
 Madeira — Serra St Antonio — Dangers — lUness — Consolations — 
 The Way of Peace — Walking in the Light — Lessons from the 
 Flowers — Progress -of the Work — Training of Converts — 
 Theological Class — Baptisms — Backsliders — Imprisonments 
 
XX CONTENTS. 
 
 FAQE 
 
 — ^Mock Trials — Communion — ^Prospect of Imprisonment — 
 New Conversions — ^Native Ministry — ^Preaching Interdicted — 
 Eesolves to leave Madeira for a Season — -Prosperity of the 
 Work — Tlie Class — Antonio, Correa — The Enchanted Cup — 
 Ordination of Native Elders and Deacons — Leaves Madeira 
 — Persecution breaks out — Pastoral Letter from Mr Hewitson 
 — ^The Eabble and its Leader — ^Arsenic da Silva — His Escape 
 — The Fury of the Mob — Mr Tate's Narrative — " No Laws for 
 Calvinistas " — Midnight Outrages — " Christ and Antichrist " 
 — Dr Kalley — Assassins — Sharpening the Knife — Dr KaUey's 
 House Sacked — His Books and Papers burned— His Hair- 
 breadth Escape — The Converts — The Fiery Trial — ^Murder — 
 Funohal Bay — The Sound of Hymns — Savage Cruelty to a 
 Woman— The Hunted Flock— Their Exile— A Cloud of 
 Witnesses, 197-222 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 X845, 1846. 
 
 Ministry in Madeira — Source of its Power — Preaching Christ — 
 Simplicity, Fulness, and Unction — Pastoral Letter to his 
 Portuguese Flock — Treasure in Christ — Looking and Mourn- 
 ing — Christ the Life of all Duty — Redemption through his 
 Blood — Complete in Him — ^Method of Preaching — Christ the 
 Power of God — He lived Christ — Notes of Conversation — 
 The "Love and Loveliness" of Christ — "Harmless"- — A 
 Mother's Love — Christ our Sanctification — The Loss of all 
 Things — Strangers in the Earth — The Disciples in the Storm 
 — The Good Shepherd — Belshazzar's Feast — The Valley of 
 Baca— Mr Hewitson not "Light" — Tenderness — Paul — 
 Cai-ey — Notes by Dr Kalley — The Almighty Workman, . 223-239 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 1846. 
 
 Return Home — " Rejoice in the Lord" — Brighton — God's Way 
 the Right Way — ^Dalmellington — Longings after his Madeira 
 Flock — Deaconship — Thirsting for God— The Strife of 
 
CONTENTS. XXI 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Tongues— True " Conversation" — Christ's Loveliness in His 
 People — Faithful Preaching and Walking — Holiness and 
 Sanctimoniousness — Opportunities of Fellowship precious — 
 Remarkable Powers of Conversation — Faitlifulness and Gentle- 
 ness — Knowledge of Scripture — Prayerfulness — "Be not 
 silent unto me" — Peculiarism to be avoided — Ministrations 
 in Edinburgh — In Linlithgow — The Alpha and Omega — The 
 Spiritual Economy, how delicate — Blanks in the Circle — 
 Words to a Friend Bereaved — The Wilderness — Medical 
 Examination — Sad News from Madeira — Persecution by 
 Popery — ^Murder, and Savage Cruelties — ^A Message to his 
 Persecuted Flock — Arsenio da Silva : his Faith and Love — 
 Forsakes Wife and Child and Lands, for Christ — Escape to 
 Lisbon — ^Appointed Missionary to Trinidad by Free Church 
 of Scotland — Mr Hewitson at Blairgowrie — " God in every 
 Circumstance" — ^Desolation in Madeira — The Cross and the 
 Crown — Appearance of Dogmatism — Grief because of it — 
 Illustrative Incident— Glowing Zeal — Prevailing Faith — The 
 True Standard — Scottish Christians — Christ Without and 
 Christ Within— Departs for Trinidad— A Friend's Farewell, 240-258 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 1847. 
 
 Activity — Attention to Details — Object of his Mission — Sails for 
 Trinidad — Touches at Madeira — Secret Meeting with Friends — ■ 
 Barbadoes — Incident in the Voyage^Sympathy of a Stranger 
 — Reaches Trinidad— Kindness of Mr Kennedy — Joyful Meet- 
 ing — State of the Portuguese — His anxieties for them — " Not 
 an Oberlin " — ^Mr Kennedy's Care for the Exiles— Waverers — 
 Lukewarmness of Some — Faithful Dealings — Snares of Ease — 
 New Communicants — Further Arrivals fi'om Madeira — Sick- 
 ness ainong the People — Establishes a School — Baptist — 
 Danger of Contention — The Evil Averted— Maria Joaquina 
 — ^Philippa Rosa — Incessant Ministrations in Private — The 
 Lord's Supper — Santa Cruz — Prepares Portuguese Transla- 
 tion of Psalms and Hymns — " The Fulness of Jesus " — 
 Preaching the Word — The Ministry — The Treasure in 
 Earthen Vessels — What can / do ? — What can the Lord not 
 
XXll CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGL 
 
 do? — The Power of God — Communion — Baptisms — Message 
 from the Free Church to the Portuguese— Account of the 
 Disruption — Deep Interest — Tuesday Meetings — The Lame 
 Portuguese — A Word to Careless Gospel- Hearers — Open-air 
 Preaching — Madeira Prisoners — Abundant Labonrs — Self- for- 
 getting Energy — Arrival of Antonio da Silva — The Refugee- 
 Church — Good Order and Promise — Mi- Hewitson's departure 
 from Trinidad — His labours in St Eitt's — Meets more of his 
 People — Leaves an Elder among them — American Sympathy 
 — The Exiles at New York — Letter from Mr Gonsalves — 
 Illness of Mr Da Silva — Dying Prayers — Anxieties for his 
 People — Kindness of the American Protestant Society — Da 
 Silva's death— Funeral — ^A Weeping Flock — Prayer-meetings 
 of the Exiles — The Baptism of the Spirit — Love abounding — 
 The Lord preparing another Pastor, .... 2.59-282 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 1847, 1848. 
 
 Voyage Home — The Church in the Ship — Conversion of a 
 Sailor — "Alone with God" — Fellowship at Sea — The Mine 
 and the Gold — Death of Dr Chalmers — Evangelistic Labours 
 — Ripening Grace — A Word to a Friend on Tribulation — To 
 another on his Marriage — Longings for Revival — Bodily 
 Infirmity made subservient to Grace — ^The Source of Spiritual 
 Trouble — Salton — Thankfulness — ^The Scattered Live-coals — 
 Holy Assurance — Dirleton — A Word to the Wayfarer — Kelso 
 — Quickening Power of the "Blessed Hope" — ^Ministers in 
 and out of the Pulpit — Heavenly-mindedness — ^Its searching 
 Influence — Reproof to Lukewarmness — Richard Baxter's 
 Warning — Proposals about Dirleton — Simplicity of Aim — 
 Principles by which he is Guided — Comforts the Bereaved 
 — The Vine and the Branches — Remembrances of Madeira 
 — Trust in the Word — The Sure Anchor — Call to Dirleton— ' 
 Hesitation — Acceptance — ^Longings for Fruit — The Spring of 
 Ministerial Usefiilness — Expecting Faith — ^Weakness of Body, 283-298 
 
CONTENTS. XXIII 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 1848, 1849. 
 
 Singleness of Object— Intense Love for Sonls — Christlike Com- 
 passion— Method of his Ministry— "Pure Objective Tmth" 
 — Our Weapon and our Strength — Induction to Dirleton — 
 First Text — Contrasted Circumstances of his New Sphere of 
 Labour — Christ in the Word — " Company-keeping with God" 
 — Soul's Education — ^Description of Dirleton — -Love to Jesus 
 — No Sentimentalist — Prayer and Pains — Energy and Fidelity 
 — Diligence in his Work — Longings for Revival — Pastor and 
 People — Sabbath-schools — Passing Events — A look from the 
 Pulpit — "Heaven or Hell" — Prayer-meetings — Communion 
 —Fencing the Tables the previous Sabbath — Views regarding 
 Communicants' Classes — Urgent Pleadings — " Damned,Lost " 
 —The Sleeping Soul—" Christ's Shadow " — Household Visi- 
 tation — A Minister's Burden — The Reproach of Holiness — 
 Eternal Realities -7- Walking before the Loid — Tokens of 
 Blessing — Expectation^Prayer for Conversions — Suffering 
 and Weakness — The Sabbath-day Blessed — Religious Talking 
 — " Owe no Man Anything " — Uprightness and Exactness in 
 Money Matters — The Sin of Extravagance — Lessons from the 
 Birds — Words in Season — Consistency — ^Weight of Character 
 — Compassion for the Perishing, 299-32o 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 1849, 18.50. 
 
 Tenderness in the Sick-chamber — Illustrations — Chastening 
 Love — Prayer the Breath of the Holy Soul — Sympathy in 
 Sorrow — United Hope — To Die is Gain — Bereaved Love- 
 Secret of his Tenderness — Dwelling in Love — Conversation 
 in Heaven — The Believer Washed — The Everlasting Arms — 
 "Fear not" — The Comforter — The Living Sinner and the 
 Living Saviour — "Full of Grace and Truth" — Satan's 
 Lies — The Sure Word — Running the Race — Blessed 
 Afflictions — Life a Voyage — Ministerial Work — Texts — Bible 
 Classes — Sabbath-school — Sermons at Gullane — Church 
 
;xiy CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Courts — Conscientiousness in Duty — Illustration — Preaches 
 before the General Assembly— Visit to Southampton— Encou- 
 ragement under Weakness of Body — Sympathy with Troubled 
 Souls— Illustration— Growing Meekness—" Much Forgiven, 
 Loving Much "—Self-abhorrence— The Body of Death— Self- 
 anatomy — True Lowliness — The Living Person — ^An Evil 
 World— Inguiries about Health — His own Forgetfulness of it 
 — Minute Knowledge of his People — ^Private Prayer — Meet- 
 ings at Dii-leton- The Well-tuned Violin— Life a Dream — 
 Longings after Holiness — The Lord's Reapers — Sermons to 
 the Young — Gentle and Winning Manner — Letter to a Sab- 
 bath Class — Simplicity of Faith — Letter to his Mother — 
 Affectionate Pleading — Weekly Meetings— Moses in the Wil- 
 derness — Taste for Metaphysics — Brown's Theory of Power — 
 Health — Alarming Symptoms — Still Perseveres — The Flesh 
 Failing — ^Weariness — Sins and Sorrows — Satan's Temptations 
 — Christ's God-like Comfort and Man-like Compassion — 
 Trials distinct from Sins — Christ as a Sacrifice, Christ as a 
 Friend-" Sanotification Struggles "—The Earthly and the 
 Heavenly — The Stream and the Fountain — A Look to the 
 Pasl^-Leoture on the Second Coming— His Delight in the 
 Study of Prophecy — Strength Rapidly Sinking — Consump- 
 tive Symptoms — Peacefulness under them — The Wounded 
 Soldier — Memorials of a Visit to him at Dirleton — Fragrance 
 of Spirit — Power of Consecutive Thought — Message to an 
 Awakened Soul — ^Last Communion— Mr H. Bonar's Recol- 
 lections of it — A Sabbath Morning — ^Pulpit Preparation— 
 " Arise ye, and Depart "■ — ^Bruntsfield Lodge — Caie for the 
 Needy— Trast in the Lord— Close of his Ministry—" Oh ! I 
 am naked," 324-363 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 1850. 
 
 Last Days. 
 
 Patience in Suffering — Owen and Payson — Christ a Friend — ■ 
 Holy Reverence — Hopeless Consumption — Return to Dirleton 
 
CONTENTS. XXV 
 
 \ PAGE 
 
 — Meek Acquiescence — The Bowl of Water — Rajahgopaul — 
 Impressions of Mr Hewitson — Perfect Peace — Clirist more 
 precious than Promises — " God's 'Will be Done " — Christ's 
 Tenderness — The Heart of God — ^Neander's Maxim — " Hard 
 Demonstrations " — A Living Clirist — Jealousy of mere Natu- 
 ral Feeling— Watching the Flock — " A Wreck of Being " — 
 The Love of Christ— The " Water of Life, Clear as Crystal" 
 —"One Bathing"— " Daily Washing"-" Bought with a 
 Price " — Assurance — " Christ my Stay" — A House not Made 
 with Hands — Madeira and Dirleton — Feeding on the Word — 
 The Lord's Appearing — Energy of Character — Acuteness — 
 Silent Sabbaths — ^Resignation — The Greek Testament — Moral 
 Gravitation — The Business of Prayer — ^Filial Confidence — 
 "Discerning" and "Judging" — ^Fineness of Perception — 
 The Smitten Rock—" So Preached "—The Way to Success- 
 Duty of Expecting a Blessing — Earnestness — The Unanswer- 
 able Argument — Human Depravity — Sovereignty of Grace — 
 Bible Example of Preaching— The Iron Chain — ^The Golden 
 Chain — Weakness — Sore Sufferings — Dying Grace — Ready to 
 Depart — The Loveliness of Holiness — Thankfulness — Patience 
 —Texts for a Deathbed— "I am Dying "—Farewell— The 
 Agony of Chiist — " The most Fatherly Way " — Last Words — 
 " Oh, my People ! " — ^His Death — Funeral Sermon — Conclu- 
 sipn, • 364-386 
 
MEMOIE 
 
 EEV. W. H. HEWITSOK 
 
MEMOIR 
 
 REV. W. H. HEWITSOK 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 1812-1837. 
 
 Boyhood — Early Aspirations — College Life. 
 
 " To restore a commonplace truth," writes Mr Coleridge, " to 
 its first uncommon lustre, you need only translate it into 
 action." 
 
 Walking with God ! That is a commonplace truth. Translate 
 it into action — how lustrous it becomes ! The phrase — how 
 hackneyed ! the thing — how rare ! It is such a walk — not 
 an abstract ideal, but a personaUty, a life — which the • reader 
 is invited to contemplate in the subject of this Memoir. 
 
 The wilderness sojourn was, indeed, brief. Like Martyn, 
 and M'Cheyne, and Brainerd, and Nefij he quickly reached 
 '* the city." But, like them, he lived long in a little time. 
 " A man that is young in years," says Lord Bacon wisely, 
 " may be old in hours, if he have lost no time ; but that," he 
 
 A 
 
2 MEMOIE OF THE EBV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 adds no less truly, " happeneth rar^y." It did happen with, 
 Mr Hewitson. Late in setting out, he had no sooner taken 
 his place in the Zionward course, than his Ufe became not 
 so much a walk as a race. 
 
 "William Hepburn Hewitson was born at Culroy, a small 
 village in the parish of Maybole, in Ayrshire, on 16th Sep- 
 tember 1812. His boyhood was not marked by any peculiar 
 trait. Of a delicate frame — so delicate as to have often 
 occasioned to his parents no small anxiety as they looked 
 on his pale countenance — he never had any taste for those 
 boyish frolics in which the young tinker of Elstow so 
 delighted. But a spirit was in him which, though it was 
 not to be developed in the form of any glaring enormity, was 
 yet as essentially set on earth, and on earth's things, as ever 
 was Bunyan's in its darkest days. The form which the 
 boy's earthliness took was ambition — love of praise. That 
 fire which afterwards threatened to consume him, body and 
 soul at once, was even now, at the age of five or six, send- 
 ing forth its scintillations. He used to say, in his boyish 
 simplicity, he would either be a minister or a king; and 
 he would often ask how long time it would take to be a 
 king, and how long to be a minister. At times he would 
 mount a chair, and, with one of his little sisters for pre- 
 centor, and the rest for audience, would strain his every 
 effort, and often not without success, to move to tears by his 
 words. " I remember," he has been heard to say long after- 
 wards, " what a wicked little creature I was ; I got Jane to 
 weep at what I said ; I felt pleasure at seeing the effect of 
 my eloquence." 
 
 In 1825, after an absence in England, chiefly in the town 
 of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, of five or six years, the boy returned 
 
BOTHOOD. rf 
 
 to Ayrshire, his father having been appointed parochial 
 teacher of DALMELUNaioN. " Yon hill to the north," is his 
 own pencilling of that scene of so many of his after-struggles, 
 " which terminates so abruptly at its eastern extremity, runs, 
 you observe, westward in an undulating course, studded 
 here and there with farm onsteads, and capt, at its highest 
 point, with clouds. Its bold rocky front, which first catches 
 the rays of the rising sun, was once gladdened with the sun- 
 light of righteousness, for in the clefts of that rock lay once 
 concealed some of the old saints of the Covenant. That ridge 
 of hills, along with this other to the south, which runs in a 
 parallel direction, forms the basin of the river Doon. The 
 distance between the two ranges is here so great, that between 
 there is a large extent of level ground, partly wild, and 
 partly under cultivation ; and yonder the Doon expands into 
 a lake of the deepest blue, reflecting from its bosom green 
 woodland and purple heath. Running eastward from the 
 loch, the hills tumble over one another in large and irregular 
 masses, screaming with curlew and lapwing, and bubbling 
 with brooks which have in all directions scooped for them- 
 selves channels in the rocky declivities. One of these brooks 
 is the Muck, which hurries down its tiny waters till it 
 reaches the village of Dalmellington, — then, slackening its 
 speed gradually, it is scarcely seen to move through the level 
 country to its place of confluence with the Doon. Hence 
 does the village derive its name; for Dalmellington is a 
 Gaehc compound, signifying, the town of the valley of still 
 waters." In this " town of the valley of still waters " was 
 now fixed that " parental roof, which my heart," as he him- 
 self writes in 1832, on one of the earliest occasions of absence 
 from it, "tells me possesses, above every other, the interest 
 and attractions of home."" 
 
4 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 " Who is able," asks Goethe, in his Autobiography, " to 
 speak worthily of the fulness of childhood ? " " Growth," he 
 adds, " is not always merely development : the child is not 
 always father of the man. And yet, though on this account 
 the most experienced observer cannot certainly, or even pro- 
 bably, predict beforehand what direction the child will take, 
 it is easy afterwards to mark what has pointed to a future." 
 Hewitson's now known future, as a natural man, has ^een 
 already detected in the child. The same future is seen indi- 
 cated in the boy. It manifested itself, during the years 
 preceding 1825, in that appetite for desultory reading which, 
 so often mistaken for idleness, is really nothing else than the 
 instinctive, though untutored, gropings of an inquisitive soul 
 for the food which it craves, just as the pent-up plant forces 
 its way through every open crevice in quest of that light 
 whereon it so largely lives. About the period in question, 
 however, his readings took a more systematic form. Stimu- 
 lated in part by a natural love of learning, and in part by 
 the prospect of University honours, which even thus early 
 began to loom indistinctly before him ; and sustained by that 
 consciousness of power which, when kept within due re- 
 straint, is the God-implanted spring of effort, — -he now devoted 
 his whole youthful energies to a course of self-instruction, 
 which, to such as only know the stimulus of private tutor- 
 ship, or of a public school, might seem almost incredible. 
 
 ".We first met," writes one who knew him then, and on 
 whose faithful sketching we shall have frequent occasion to 
 draw,* "in 1825, when I returned to Dalmellington, pre- 
 vious to going to Ayr academy that year. Immediately I 
 .was much interested in the boy. There was something very 
 pleasing in his countenance and manners, and his English 
 * The Rev, James M'Clymont, Free Clmrch, Donholm. 
 
EARLY ASPIRATIONS. 6 
 
 accent had great attractions for me. There was altogether a 
 frankness and a gentlemanly bearing about him which at 
 once drew me to him. He was always much given to books. 
 Some of my other companions used to laugh at him as a 
 book-worm, and considered him very pedantic. In 1826-7 
 I attended Glasgow College, and on my return to Dalmel- 
 lington during the summer of 1827 his inquiries were innu- 
 merable, in our walks, about the whole system of College 
 education — the books we had read in Latin and Greek — the 
 examinations, translations, verses, &c. All this was just in 
 order to apply vigorously and indefatigably, in private, to a 
 course of study preparatory to going to college himself. 
 Whatever assistance he might at first receive from his father, 
 he was a person of such an independent spirit, that he would 
 be indebted to no one for his acquirements. All he wanted 
 to know was, that such and such things should be done ; -and 
 he set himself in right earnest to do them, scorning all extra- 
 neous aid." 
 
 His progress was quite remarkable. In 1828 we find him 
 engaged with Homer, Cicero, Horace, and- Virgil. And in 
 the following year, in a letter dated " Kal. Jan.," he writes to 
 his early friend ; — " I have commenced learning the Hebrew 
 language, and am at present translating some of the Psalms. 
 I am reading Herodotus, Livy, the History of Charles XII. 
 in French, Porteous' Lectures, the History of Greece,- EoUin's 
 Ancient History, and I have also begun to scale the huge 
 column erected by Hume and Smollett, the History of Eng- 
 land." No difficulties could damp his ardour in these his 
 self-imposed studies. " During 1828-9," continues the same 
 associate of his early days, " he translated difficult Latin and 
 Greek authors into good English, laid them past, and after a 
 time re-translated them into the original. Alone and unaided, 
 
6 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 he attained to greater knowledge and skill in languages than 
 most boys do in the best academies, with all the help of 
 tutors and teachers of first-rate accomplishments. There the 
 foundation was laid of his future eminence as a scholar, and 
 thinker for himself." 
 
 " Earnestly and anxiously I wish," wrote Mr Hewitson 
 some years afterwards to a lagging fellow- student, " that you 
 would disentangle yourself from all impediments that lie in 
 the way of your studies, and that you would, by vigorous 
 exertion, prepare yourself, while it is still the time for prepa- 
 ration, for making a distinguished appearance when you enter 
 upon the practice of your profession. Before exertion there 
 must be energy ; and before you can be stirred to energy it 
 is necessary for you to ' wake the strong divinity of soul ' 
 that overcomes all the temptations to present ease and indul- 
 gence. If you have the velle, I am assured you have the posse. 
 It is easy to intend and to form resolutions — the difiSculty is 
 to carry them into fulfilment ; and it is this difficulty which 
 puts into requisition the mind's strongest nerve, and gives 
 discipline to the brave and pure energies of reason." These 
 words refiect, as in a mirror, the writer's own inner life, dur- 
 ing this whole season of nature's wrestlings. That " strong 
 divinity of soul" was, in him, thoroughly awaked. True, 
 it was little better, when viewed in God's own light, than a 
 mere noble ruin, like some Baalbec column, rearing amidst 
 surrounding desolation its lofty and imposing shaft, at once 
 the remembrancer and the wreck of a former glory. Still, 
 the " divinity of soul " was there. In him, nature was to 
 know at once her power and her impotence — her power 
 to discipline the "brave energies of reason," but her utter 
 and hopeless impotence to render a God-alienated soul 
 happy. 
 
. COLLEGE LIFE, 7 
 
 A parallel here presents itself, to which we shall have occa- 
 sion more than once to advert — the brief but brilliant career 
 of Henry Kirke White. The same consuming ambition, 
 coupled with a like devotedness to learning for its own sake, 
 animated the two boys, and carried them through difficulties 
 in their earlier course by which ordinary minds would have 
 been crushed. Hewitson, indeed, had made attainments in 
 classics, previoiis to entering the university, compared with 
 which White's were trivial. But both hastened forward to 
 the scene, of expected triumphs, not doubting that the shadow 
 they were pursuing would fill their vacant hearts. 
 
 The parallel of Kirke White suggests another marked cha- 
 racteristic of young Hewitson, which we must notice ere we 
 leave these his boyish days. Both alike shrank with intensest 
 sensitiveness from even the semblance of untruthfulness, and 
 that not merely in speech, but in action. Their whole life 
 was one undimmed transparency. And in one special fea- 
 ture, the parallelism was most striking. Kirke White, though, 
 like Hewitson, with the ministry in prospect from his earliest 
 years, used to declare' that he never would enter it unless he 
 should previously be converted — such was his thorough natu- 
 ral loathing of hypocrisy, for beyond this mere natural feelr 
 ing he was at the time incapable of penetrating. " Even in 
 his walks with me as a boy," writes Hewitson's early friend, 
 " he shewed the loftiness and purity of his aims, in declaring 
 to me that he never would be a minister unless he were first 
 a Christian; and by ' a Christian ' he meant, thus early, not 
 professing religion, but being a converted man — a new crea- 
 ture in Christ Jesus. He scorned the mockery of setting up 
 to preach what he did not thoroughly believe, and feel, and 
 live upon, himself. Of everything that had the shadow of 
 untruthfulness, he had the most perfect abhorrence. Every- 
 
» MEMOIR OF THE EBV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 thing must be in reality with him, without and within. You 
 saw just what he was." 
 
 The youthful aspirant now entered college. Detained in 
 his distant retreat year after year by feeble health, but at 
 length so greatly invigorated as to have been able, during the 
 six or eight months immediately preceding, to fill a tempo- 
 rary vacancy in the assistant-mastership of a commercial 
 academy in Castle-Douglas, he reached the scene of his long- 
 cherished ambition only in November 1833. That scene was 
 the University of Edinburgh. 
 
 In its Senior Humanity Class, there commonly meet, in 
 competition for the gold medal annually awarded to the best 
 Latin scholar by the Society of Writers to the Signet, all the 
 more distinguished alumni oi the two^reat Edinburgh schools, 
 as well as many from other quarters both in Scotland and in 
 England. As it is usual for these to remain two years, there 
 thus assemble each year on the field of conflict two successive 
 arrays of tested scholarship. On this trying arena the rustic 
 youth appeared. So new was the whole scene to him, and so 
 untried his weapons, that only the urgent representations of 
 the professor, guided by the result of a brief examination, dis- 
 suaded him from his previously-formed resolution of joining 
 the junior class. But scarcely had he entered the lists when 
 it speedily became apparent that the self-taught country lad 
 would have few compeers. The competition, begun by a 
 selection of five candidates by the votes of the class, is con- 
 ducted by written examinations. On the vote being taken 
 in the class towards the close of the session, he was placed, 
 by a poll of 139, at the top of the list of competitors — the 
 second being a highly-accomplished English studept, Mr 
 Charles Morrison, son of James Morrison, Esq., M.P., of Font- 
 hill Abbey, who had already attended the class for no fewer 
 
COLLBGK LIFE. y 
 
 than three sessions. The examination now proceeded. Be- 
 twixt these two — for all the rest, though including several 
 duxes of the public schools, were left far in the rear — there 
 was an intense struggle. " The first examination," writes his 
 early associate, who that year lodged in the same rooms with 
 him, " passed over, and they were pronounced equal — the 
 professor could not decide betwixt them. A second examina- 
 tion was instituted. William came home from it to our room 
 in anxiety. During the evening his mind had been going over 
 all the exercises, and he suddenly exclaimed that he had 
 made a mistake and lost the prize. But though he gave it 
 up at once, he said the professor should know, before he en- 
 tered the class to announce his rival's victory, that he knew 
 his only mistake as well as the professor himself. He wrote 
 a note, correcting the blunder, but acknowledging that it was 
 now too late. The professor's announcement of the decision 
 was accompanied by the note, and though the medal was lost 
 that year, the students themselves made it up by a subscrip- 
 tion to purchase the ' Attic Orators ' for him, which equalled 
 in value the lost prize." The next session he again, at the 
 professor's solicitation, engaged in the contest, and came off 
 facile princeps. And on the morning of 31st March 1835, as 
 the gold medal was hung round his neck in the presence of 
 the assembled students, he was, with an enthusiasm almost 
 unparalleled, hailed the first man of his year. Nor was it only 
 in classics that he thus easily bore off the palm. In the 
 Logic class, the same session, he no less easily conquered, on 
 a field of forty competitors. 
 
 " Were I to paint," said Kirke White to an intimate 
 friend, after a similar triumph at Cambridge, "a picture of 
 Fame crowning a distinguished undergraduate after the 
 senate-house examination, I would represent her as conceal- 
 
10 MEMOIR OF THE EB;V. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 ing a death's-head under a mask of beauty." The Cam- 
 bridge wrangler had come to the scene of his conflict with 
 the seeds of death already sown in him through protracted 
 hours of study,* and had found (writes his biographer), in 
 the place to which he had so long looked forward with hope, 
 " only a hotbed to ripen them." That light, which had 
 shone so brightly, went out in sudden darkness. The 
 honours won by Hewitson had nearly proved as fatal. The 
 studies of these two winters laid the foundation of a disease 
 which ultimately cut him oflf. " His study," says his college 
 associate, " was intensely eager — his application prodigious. 
 Night could scarcely stop him above a very few hours. He 
 seldom, I believe, retired to rest before three or four o'clock 
 in the morning, and rose again by seven or eight. Remon- 
 strance with him was vain. He evidently injm-ed his health 
 the very first winter. I remember well the feeling of anxiety 
 I had about him, as be came in from his classes, pale and 
 exhausted, laying his hand upon his breast, and drawing a 
 long breath with evident pain." Such was the fruit he had 
 of those things whereof he was soon to be ashamed. 
 
 Prize-men are often barren, stunted, mechanical. The 
 mind, instead of being trained into that vigorous tone which 
 shall fit it for future conquests, is rendered feeble and inef- 
 fective. This is not education : it is the twisting of the sap- 
 ling in the soil, of which 
 
 " The scarr'd and crooked oak wiU tell for centuries to come." 
 
 * He would study till one, two, or three in the morning, and then be 
 awoke by an alarum at five. In a clever jeu-d'esprit, lately published 
 in Germany, entitled the " Dance of Death," there is given, among 
 other scenes of the destroyer's triumph, one representing a student with 
 his midnight lamp, and behind him the hideous shape grinning compla- 
 cently over his victim. 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 11 
 
 Hewitson was a prize-man of another stamp. He was a 
 thinker, not a mere plodding drudge. " The mind," it has 
 been said, " is made wealthy by ideas, but the multitude of 
 words is a clogging weight." This great maxim was before 
 him in aU his studies. And the result was a precision — a 
 mental self-reliance — a steady reflectiveness, which enabled 
 him to grasp every theme he handled, dealing with it, not as 
 a child, but as a man. 
 
 Even in his classics, his great aim was to " reap the wis- 
 dom of books." His essays on the poetry of Horace, Pindar, 
 and -iEschylus — the last written in Greek — indicate a mind 
 wealthy, not in words, but in thoughts, and these no com- 
 mon thoughts. For metaphysical speculation also, he early 
 imbibed a taste retained by him to the last. " It exhibits," 
 was the judgment pronounced upon one of his essays by the 
 late Dr Welsh, than whom few men were more competent to 
 speak authoritatively on such a subject, or more cautious in 
 awarding praise, " as continuous and striking a train of self- 
 thinking as I have ever come into contact with." His mind 
 was characterised, perhaps, by fineness — subtle acumen — 
 rather than by colossal strength. But in correct discrimi- 
 nation of mental states and habitudes, and generally in an 
 exact appreciation of the precise value of the various ele- 
 ments in any complex question, he possessed a rare skill. A 
 specimen is given below.* 
 
 * " Ijiagination : What is it? — The mind's energy in discovering 
 in one object of thought the image of another — in external things and 
 processes the images or types of mental energies and operations — in all 
 earthly things, material or spiritual, the images or shadows of heavenly 
 things — in all the truths of physical and intellectual science, a reflection 
 of the features of God's chai-acter. How does imagination promote the 
 studies of the philosopher? — By suggesting hypotheses from analogy — 
 that is, arising from the discovery of an image of things known in 
 
12 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Nor was he without that " eye in fine frenzy rolling " 
 which, had it heen educated steadily, might have made him 
 no mean poetic interpreter of nature. His papers discover not 
 a few projected efforts in this direction — among others, the 
 partly-executed framework of an epic poem. But his desire 
 
 things imcertam— which hypotheses, being subjected to observational 
 and experimental test, are verified, or, being proved false, repudiated. 
 How does imagination avail for the production of poetic ecstasies f 
 — By exhibiting the family likenesses, as it were, which pervade all the 
 objects of the universe — by sounding in the soul's fine ear the synchro- 
 nism or harmony of all the silent melodies of things. Imagination finds 
 in the combinations of materialism images of thought and feeling, and 
 thus gives vividness and animatioji to nature's forms, and converts them 
 into objects of human sympathy: it finds in the dark struggling of 
 emotion, and the dark intricacies of thought, the clear bright images of 
 outward things, and thus enlightens and illustrates what is dark, gives 
 form and colour to what is fugitive and evanescent, in the shining spirit 
 — and, by opening up to us clear visions of a friendly soul, quickens 
 and invigorates our social sympathies and loves? Why does an idea 
 of imagination afford pleasure? — Because the image in which it cdii- 
 sists is either beautiful or sublime. The beautiful is the shadow of 
 God's loveliness ; the sublime is the shadow of God's majesty. But what 
 is God's loveliness? — Either, generally, the harmonious union and 
 agency of all his attributes, or, particularly, the harmony of each of his 
 creative conceptions, and of His universal creative plan. What is 
 God's majesty f — The greatness, exceeding thought, of any one of his 
 attributes, viewed apart from the rest ; or, the greatness, exceeding 
 thought, of his whole character and being, considered as an indivisible 
 whole. Imagination pleases by discovering a secret harmony, or 
 ravishes by bodying forth an idea of greatness. Is the imaginative 
 energy, then, in metaphysical truth, creative? — By no means; its 
 object and its act is the discovery of a harmony established by him who 
 alone is Creator. Why is man endowed with imagination — why made 
 susceptible of poetic rapture f — That he may discover God in all things 
 — God's image in his own soul — ^God's image in the hosts of heaven — 
 God's image in the creations of earth — God's greatness in all that is 
 great — God's loveliness in all that is lovely — God's glory in all that is 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 13 
 
 was, that none of these poetical productions should see the 
 light; and that desire we hold sacred. 
 
 But one culminating effort of the ambitious student re- 
 mains to be noticed. After having completed, in April 1837, 
 his University course of Arts, he, instead of immediately 
 entering the Divinity Hall, went with a family, in the capacity 
 of private tutor, to Leamington, where he spent the winter. 
 
 glorious. That poetry is most worthy of the name, because most true 
 to nature, in which imagination has fulfilled its destiny." 
 
 " Philosophy, as distinguished from poetry, discovers the various 
 orders of God's creatures, and generalises God's modes of action, whether 
 in the astronomy of the heavens, or the physics of earthly materialism, 
 or the psychology of spiritual being. Poetry, as distinguished from 
 philosophy, discovers in one object the reflection of another, and in every 
 object alone, and all objects as a whole, the reflection of God. The 
 pliilosopher cooUy reduces his generalities to system; the poet, with 
 ' eye in fine frenzy rolling,' beholds harmonies, over which his heart 
 burns vrith rapture, and pours forth the flood of song." 
 
 '•'■Have philosophers maintained, that scenes of distress, whether 
 real or fictitious, produce emotions of pleasure in the spectator ? — 
 They have erred : a scene of distress, considered as one of pure distress, 
 never can afibrd pleasure. Analyse at length the pleasurable feelings, 
 which are falsely regarded as being produced by sights and sounds of 
 affliction, and you will find that they spring exclusively from the plea- 
 surable ingredients, such as present consolation, and the hope of better 
 things, which are mixed up in the cup of suifering, whilst the melan- 
 choly hue of these pleasurable feelings originates in compassion on 
 account of the circumstances of witnessed or heard-of affliction. Were 
 it not for the modification of the pleasm'able emotions, that melancholy 
 would be pure, nnmingled soirow. As it is, it is a pleasing sorrow ; 
 that is, a sorrow mixed up with a gladness. The sorrow, and the glad- 
 ness camiot arise out of the same cause ; and, therefore, when found in 
 co-existence, they must be separated in thought, and referred severally 
 to a diiferent origin. It generally — ^perhaps, without an exception — 
 holds true, that a compound emotion, made up of emotions which can 
 exist separately, arises out of a compound cause^that is, one which 
 can be resolved into different and separate causes." 
 
14 MEMOIR OF THE KEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 That winter was a momentous era in his life. It witnessed 
 at once the ascending smoke of the most grateftd incense 
 which self had yet offered at Fame's golden altar, and the 
 rude dashing by a gracious God of the censer from the offerer's 
 hand. There had been proposed, in the preceding spring, a 
 University prize, open to all students, for an essay " On the 
 Nature, Causes, and Effects of National Character." This had 
 stin-ed once more his old ambition. He wrote the essay; and 
 on 27th December 1837, the Senatus Academicus adjudged to 
 him the prize. In the following January, the essay was read 
 in presence of the whole professors and students. 
 
 " I well remember," writes the Eev. Mr Dodds,* "the first 
 two occasions on which I saw one who afterwards became 
 my dear and intimate friend. When Mr Hewitson received 
 that distinguished honour, the gold medal in the Humanity 
 class, I was present in the class-room as an interested and 
 admiring spectator. Though I had heard not a little of his 
 scholarship, it was only then that I saw him for the first 
 time. I was struck with the delicacy and severe application 
 to study indicated by his slender and slightly-bent form, his 
 pale and somewhat wasted countenance, and the fine but 
 ominous brilliancy of his eye. His character among his 
 fellow-students for talent and acquirements, for energy of 
 mind, and a certain severe dignity of deportment, stood very 
 high ; and, by general consent, he was set down as the most 
 promising student of his year. The next time I saw him 
 was when he read in public his essay on ' National Chai'ac- 
 ter,' which gained the prize open to all the students of the 
 University. Along with all present, I listened with pleasure 
 and admiration to a production which, for acuteness of ana- 
 lysis, power of generalisation, force and precision of language, 
 * Kev. James Dodds, Free Church, Dunbar. 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 15 
 
 and, above all, for a lofty tone of moral sentiment, struck me 
 as far superior to the ordinary run of prize essays. The ap- 
 plause bestowed upon it was ample and well deserved, more 
 than sufficient to feed and inflame the literary ambition of a 
 less aspiring mind than that of Mr Hewitson. A friend and 
 fellow-student sitting next me, whom I may name — Mr James 
 Hamilton, now Dr Hamilton of Regent Square Church, 
 London, at that time unacquainted with Mr Hewitson, as 
 well as myself, but afterwards his loved and valued friend — 
 exclaimed, when the reading of the essay was finished, ' What 
 a fine sense he has of the sublime !' This remark struck me 
 at the time, and afterwards I had frequent opportunities of 
 perceiving its truth. In matters of literature, and in things 
 concerning Divine truth, my friend uniformly shewed a deli- 
 cate perception of the beautiful and the pure, of the lofty and 
 the noble, of the exalted in sentiment, and the generous in 
 character, which I have seldom found in other men, and 
 which I have always considered a leading feature of his 
 mind." 
 
 The Essay was a noble production, embodying in one 
 masterly work the accumulated resources of his entire past 
 studies. Professor Wilson, among others, anxiously pressed 
 its publication; and not long ago, no proposal could have 
 been more grateful. But now — all is changed ! 
 
 " I obtained my highest wishes," writes Henry Martyn, on 
 being crowned with the Academic laurel, " but was surprised 
 to find that I had grasped a shadow." Not less, but even 
 more withering, was the experience of William Hewitson. 
 He had grasped, not a shadow, but a stinging serpent. 
 "Ambition," we find him writing, "is a devil — and public 
 praise is a syren, which soothes while it destroys." Hitherto 
 that devil — that syren — had been leading him captive at its 
 
16 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 will. Let his own graphic pen portray the scene. " I was 
 burning,'' are his words, as, in October 1840, from the refuge 
 into which he had by this time fled, he looks back on his " first 
 academic campaign " — " I was burning to enter the arena of 
 learned competition, and thought life without fame not worth 
 the having. For a while the demon of ambition was lord of 
 the ascendant, and baleful was the influence which it shed 
 upon my character : it was working so eflFectively the ruin of 
 my soul, that Satan ceased to harass me with fears, as he 
 had done for years before : he deemed it then his most subtle 
 poUcy to lay to my soul a flattering imction, and, with the 
 bland flapping of a vampire's wings, to lull me into perfect 
 security. He succeeded in his stratagem for a while ; and, 
 but for the interposition of a gracious Providence, he had 
 accomplished my final destruction." 
 
 " My internal history," he again writes — and the words are 
 written on the very scene of desolation, " may be generalised 
 by the remark, that around my heart's fixed centre, there 
 has been revolving in panorama a wide circumference of 
 change. The autumnal leaves are now sere and sallow; they 
 tell, with prophetic significancy, of the blight and shrunken- 
 ness of youthful hopes ; — ^the wind is now passing with fitful 
 and melancholy howl; so, too, there is a stir and a rush, as 
 it were, of winds in the atmosphere of the soul ; there are, 
 as it were, sighings aroimd the doorways of the heart." 
 
 No words can tell the misery of that now vacant and ach- 
 ing heart. " The stricken warrior," it has been written, " is 
 glad that his wounds are salved with glory." Not so this 
 stricken warrior. The glory he has won on the academical 
 arena is not a salve, but a " centaur's maddening tunic." A 
 pang more appalUng than mere felt emptiness now rends 
 him. The pang is twofold. 
 
COLLEGE LIFE. 17 
 
 His own personal eternity trembles in the balance. " The 
 darkening of the understanding!" he writes at this period 
 to his early associate — " the influx of unholy thoughts that 
 come uncalled, and fill the soul with horror — the difficulty 
 of realising ideas of God's presence and holy character — the 
 agitation of doubts and fears, and darkness, and of a heart 
 that seems to grieve for sin, but yet is so hard that its grief 
 looks not like the grief of repentance ! and then the prayer 
 of that hard heart — the unprofitable prayer — and the grief 
 that it has been unprofitable ! Can you form any idea of that 
 condition ? Such a state resembles a state of madness or of 
 demoniacal possession." 
 
 And now, scarcely less intense is his soul's agony, as 
 another question arises, demanding solution. " Since the 
 third year of my life,'" he writes in the same letter, " my 
 thoughts have been directed through the darkness of futurity 
 in the same straight and unchanging channel, invariably 
 to the attainment of that object of noblest ambition, the 
 ministry of the gospel. That is the grand object of my exis- 
 tence — the motive of all my exertions — identified with all 
 my hopes and fears — the centre of my very soul. If it be 
 not gained, a dark cloud will settle all round my path — a 
 blighting chill will benumb all my faculties, and make me 
 useless to myself and others." And what is it that now 
 creates the alarm ? Let his own words tell. " If it Je not 
 gained! So far as the attainment of it is a matter of secular 
 interest, I should have no cause to despair. But so far — 
 and this is the great consideration — so far as the success of 
 my ambition is connected with God and heavenly things, I 
 cannot say that I look on the achievement of it without 
 frequent despondency. To become a minister of Christ ! that 
 presupposes the having become a disciple of Christ, and like 
 
 B 
 
18 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSOX. 
 
 him in the holiness of a regenerated heart and sanctified ima- 
 gination. God alone can give the spirit of discipleship and 
 resemblance to Christ, and he ivill give it to those only who 
 believe." 
 
 The twofold pang is almost more than he can bear. " How 
 miserable a state of mind," he exclaims out of the depth of 
 his harrowed bosom, " is that, in which sorrow, like a heavy 
 load, weighs and weighs upon the heart, and tries to find 
 relief in tears, but cannot find it ! How miserable above all 
 that is most miserable, to wish that the heart was full of love 
 towards its God and Saviour, and, after all, to feel that it is 
 as cold as ice, and as hard as adamant !" 
 
 Such, Nature ! is thy blank helplessness in meeting the 
 wants of a human soul. Like another Marius sitting among 
 the ruins of Carthage, thy votary is left by thee a poverty- 
 stricken castaway even on the very scene of his most splendid 
 triumphs ! 
 
 But Nattire's castaway the gracious Lord is now to take 
 up. The " prodigal," " come to himself," is to be welcomed 
 home. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 1837-1840. 
 
 The Religionist and the Christian — Setting Out-^Twilight Gropings — 
 Literary Tastes — The Unknown God — The Crisis. 
 
 The Christian and the religionist, so often confounded, are 
 separated by a great gulf. Each revolves round his own 
 centre. The religionist's centre is self; hence his cheerless 
 gloom. The Christian's centre is Christ ; hence his light and 
 genial warmth. In these two circles Mr Hewitson succes- 
 sively moved. 
 
 " The Christian pilgrim," says Coleridge, " sets out in the 
 morning twilight, while yet the truth {vofw^ reXeto? 6 ttj? 
 ikevdepia^*) is below the horizon." It was at the com- 
 mencement of the epoch embraced in this chapter that our 
 pilgrim set out. 
 
 The most trivial incidents often decide the life. One day, 
 Bunyan, on a visit to Bedford in pursuit of his calling as a 
 tinker, marked three poor women on a doorway engaged in 
 earnest converse. Slackening his pace as he neared them, he 
 overheard a discourse which arrested his whole soul. The 
 discourse was on the new birth, the hidden life, the heart's 
 awful depravity, the amazing grace of God ; and withal there 
 * "The perfect law of liberty." 
 
20 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 was written on the pilgrims' countenances a calm, chastened -* 
 gladness, which told the formahst there was a secret in the 
 Christian life which he did not know. To that trivial inci- 
 dent Bnnyan owed his all. An incident in itself not less tri- 
 vial presented to Mr Hewitson the " living epistle " which 
 was to startle him into the pilgrim-path. 
 
 The incident we find narrated by himself, six years after- 
 wards, thus : — 
 
 " At Leamington, in the month of November 1837, I hap- 
 pened one day to turn up to the mineral spring. A young 
 man entered the building, whose appearance at once attracted 
 ray observation : his coarse linen frock contrasted with the gay 
 apparel of the groups before me. He was emaciated, and 
 walked forward with a feeble gtep. After drinking of the 
 water out of a vessel of earthenware, which was placed be- 
 side a number of tumblers, he, without having apparently 
 observed any one, again slowly withdrew. 
 
 " After a little, I began to descend the hill, in the middle 
 of which the spring was situated, and found the young man 
 sitting at one of the bends of the winding path which slopes 
 gently down the decUvity. I spoke to him. His diffident 
 tone of voice and his modesty of manner at once enlisted my 
 sympathies. During several weeks afterwards I frequently 
 visited his father's lowly cottage. My intercourse with the 
 young man soon gave me ground to conclude, that, if my 
 theoretic knowledge of gospel truths was greater than his, he, 
 unlike myself, had experienced their sanctifying power. 
 
 " Truly his was the better portion. When he spoke of the 
 Saviour's love to sinners, and his obedience unto death for 
 their redemption, he at times gave vent to his gratitude by 
 tears of joy. Pointing to his clothes on one occasion, he 
 said, addressing his father, ' These will be no more needed : 
 
TWILIGHT GROPINGS. 21 
 
 ^I wish you f o sell them ; the price of them will be enough to 
 pay for my coffin.' He seemed like one who had obtained 
 ' everlasting consolation and good hope through grace ' — to 
 have not a shadow of doubt or anxiety on his soul as to the 
 prospect of eternal glory. One evening, about sunset, he fell 
 asleep." 
 
 The student was stricken by the arrow of God. That 
 peasant, he felt, had been taught in a school to whose lessons 
 he was as yet himself a stranger. The question flashed on 
 him, " Could / thus calmly pass into the immediate presence 
 of the holy and just Jehovah? Am I, like him, sheltered 
 from the terrors of ' the wrath to come ' ? " The question, 
 too plain to be evaded, and too urgent to be postponed, con- 
 strained the earnest inquiry, "What must I do to be saved?" 
 The sentences quoted at the close of the preceding chapter 
 reveal the misery of his now agitated spirit. Their date is 
 23d November 1837, 
 
 The twilight-gropings were not soon ended. 
 
 "Malvern, September 14, 1838. — [ToBev. J. M'Cli/mont.]— 
 .... There is a weather of the soul, diversified as variously 
 in its phenomena as is the external atmosphere by meteoro- 
 logical changes ; and there are states of mind incident to my 
 character, which, being accompanied with irrepressible me- 
 lancholy and a feeling of wretchedness, utterly disqualify me 
 for any other sort of exertion than that which a sense of duty 
 renders indispensable. In such states of feeling, I never can, 
 without the greatest difficulty, prevail on myself to write a 
 letter, even though there be urgent occasion. At such sea- 
 sons I doubt of my being ever capable of undertaking the 
 ministrations of the gospel ; but God dispose of me for time 
 and for eternity so as most to shew forth His glory ; if it be 
 his dispensation that I am to be a minister of Christ, blessed 
 
22 MBMOIE OF THE EBV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 be his name! if he dispose of me otherwise, his will be , 
 done." 
 
 " Dalmellingtcm, October 11, 1838. — [To J. Loftus Marsden, 
 Esq., M.D.~] — The period of my sojourn in England is past ; 
 and, now released from every kind of . engagement, I am once 
 more occupying a place in the family circle of Dalmellington. 
 Having left Malvern early on Monday morning of last week, 
 I reached Worcester before eight o'clock. I strained my eyes 
 in the direction of Kempsey, if perchance I might discover 
 some object in it round which I might assemble the recollec- 
 tions of happy hours spent with your family, as well as the 
 valedictory feelings of the moment ; but, like the scenes of 
 untried futurity, all was buried in haze and darkness. By 
 the stage-coach I reached Liverpool, sailed from that to 
 Glasgow, and reached Dalmellington on Friday. I have 
 three or four weeks to spend at home. I now resume my 
 own studies at Edinburgh. My curriculum is too long a one 
 to admit the sacrifice of a session. 
 
 " The fine mechanism of the mind was not designed to cal- 
 culate the chances of lucre : the Bridgewater Treatise on the 
 human hand does not tell us that the fingers were fashioned 
 for the purpose of counting monies. Man's destiny is not 
 the Forum or the Exchange ; — in the poetry of his feelings 
 and in the rapid play of his pulse, he has the auguries of a 
 generous and noble destiny. The same God who has attuned 
 the spheres to harmony, has attuned the heart of man to 
 affection. Love is the music of the soul, which in heaven 
 throbs with halleluiahs, and on earth swells towards God 
 with devotion — towards man with sympathy. 
 
 " That friendship may be indestructible, it must needs be 
 founded on an indestructible basis ; not on the physical sym- 
 pathies of convivial excess, but on the congenialities and the 
 
TWILIGHT GROPraes. 23 
 
 pleasures of intellectual and religious intercourse. The hours 
 when such congenialities were developed, and such pleasures 
 enjoyed, are those on which the mind loves most to anchor 
 its memories. — Believe me to be ' non tum hie, tum ille, 
 sed idem semper — amicissimus in te tuosque,' 
 
 " W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 In November, after having, the previous, winter, enrolled 
 as an irregular and non-resident student, he entered the 
 Divinity Hall of Edinburgh, then presided over by Dr Chal- 
 mers, and formally commenced his theological studies. 
 
 " It was towards the close of 1838," writes Mr Dodds, 
 "that I first became acquainted with Mr Hewitson; and 
 from that period dates a friendship on which I look back as 
 on one of my greatest earthly blessings. We were first 
 introduced to each other at a meeting of a ' preaching 
 society,' of which we. were both members. I had been a 
 member for some years ; he had just entered. When called 
 upon to give his opinion of the discourse which had been 
 delivered by one of our fellow-members, he rose, and, with 
 some hesitation of manner, yet with real confidence in his 
 powers, uttered a criticism distinguished for great felicity of 
 language, and a rare acquaintance with the Scriptures. I 
 saw at once that his scholarship had already been largely 
 exercised in the study of the Greek Testament, and that the 
 Word of God, by that time, had become the subject of his 
 earnest and assiduous examination. I was struck also with 
 his uncommon command of elegant and classic language, 
 which a slight hesitancy of utterance did not perceptibly 
 impede. 
 
 " In the course of a long walk and conversation which we 
 had together, when the meeting of the society was over, I 
 got a view of his mind and character which won my affec-- 
 
24 MEMOIR OF THE RET. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 tion and admiration. He was full of literary enthusiaspi ; 
 he talked like a scholar of the Greek and Eoman classics ; 
 yet he seemed ardently deroted to his theological studies, 
 which he was then pursuing under the tuition of Dr Chalmers 
 and Dr "Welsh. I could easily see that he had a strong con- 
 sciousness of mental power — a decisiveness in the formation 
 and expression of his opinions — and a lofty scorn of what 
 was low-toned in feeling or in conduct, which might well 
 wear an aspect of pride and aiisterity to the eye of those who 
 did not know all the elements of his character. There was, 
 no doubt, a certain haughtiness at times evident in his 
 manner, and a sensitiveness, allied to self-esteem, which did 
 not long escape my observation, and to which he afterwards 
 frankly confessed. But I was charmed and carried away 
 with his genuine warmth of feeling and nobleness of senti- 
 ment, which, though conjoined in him, as often in others, 
 with considerable impetuosity of temper, shewed him formed 
 for the highest style of friendship. 
 
 " From that day forward we became friends. I always 
 hailed his visits as times of intellectual and literary enjoy- 
 ment, and of profitable converse on theological subjects. 
 And well do I remember the nights I spent in his lodgings 
 in 1839, when, conversing on metaphysics and classical lite- 
 rature, we were often startled by the midnight clock as we 
 discussed the doctrines of Butler, or expatiated on the genius 
 of Aristotle. At that time he was, like most young men 
 of his stamp, full of literary projects. His knowledge and 
 admiration of the ancient classics were also daily on the 
 increase, and he delighted to discuss subjects of classical 
 philology, for which he had a peculiar taste and aptitude. 
 The beauty and originality of many of his translations and 
 etymological definitions — though he was by no means free 
 
LITBEABT TASTES. 25 
 
 from that faneifulness to which all philologists are so prone 
 — gave a great value and charm to the classic talk in which 
 we too often indulged. 
 
 " But studies of a higher kind had begun to occupy his 
 energies, and give a new impress to his character. Jhat 
 great and decided change of heart, without which there is 
 no entrance into the kingdom. of God, had not then been 
 experienced by him, as I afterwards leai-ned from himself 
 and others; but, as far as I could judge, he was behind 
 none of his fellow-students in seriousness of disposition 
 and gravity of deportment. He even seemed more ad- 
 vanced than many in the knowledge and love of Divine 
 things." 
 
 At the close of the college session he went to reside for 
 the summer in the family of General Sir David Foulis, at 
 Cairnie Lodge, Fifeshire. "My classes," we find him writing 
 to Mr Dodds on the 16th October, " open on the 6th 
 proximo, but I shall not leave Cairnie till the 12th or 13th. 
 A fortnight since, I compeared before the Presbytery of 
 Cupar, to undergo examination, and was examined before 
 the whole body on the subject of last session's prelections. 
 I enjoy the intellectual gladiatorship of such a questioning, 
 particularly when the onslaught is made by five or six well- 
 appointed examinators. I shall regret my leaving the home 
 of one who has done towards me the office of a friend, by 
 telling me, suaviter in modo, when and wherein I have been 
 in fault. The remembrance of her, I hope, will bless me, 
 and be to me itself a friend and monitor. This is the season 
 of the faded leaf and melancholy fancy — rife in parables, 
 written on the trees, and read aloud by the passing wind; 
 it is a season of sad delight — of beauty in decay. I expect 
 soon to have the pleasure of seeing you, and of having my 
 
26 MEMOIR OF THE EET. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 mind ventilated by the circulation throughout its chambers 
 of a fresh current of thoughts and feelings." 
 
 A gUmpse into those seasons of mental " ventilation " his 
 friend gives, in some entries of a private diary, in which he 
 recorded, at the time, the impressions left by successive 
 
 interviews : — " July 4, 1839. — To-day my old Mends, B , 
 
 T , and Hewitson, took a run out of town, and spent a 
 
 few hours with me. The conversation was most instructive, 
 and embraced some of the highest Christian topics. Hewit- 
 son as fond of metaphysical speculation as ever." " Jan. 13, 
 
 1840. — ^B and I adjourned for a part of the night to 
 
 Hewitson's lodgings, where we had worship as a family. 
 We had much converse together, chiefly on the subject of the 
 Jews, and the prophecies relative to their future conversion 
 
 and restoration. B d maintained that there will be some 
 
 extraordinary and exclusive manifestation of the Divine 
 power to the Jews as a nation, which shall lead to, or at 
 least complete, their conversion; and he seemed to verge 
 towards the doctrine of the personal reign. H. and I held 
 an opposite opinion, though believing that God's ancient 
 people shall yet be gloriously and nationally restored to their 
 own land." " Jan. 25. — My dear and excellent friend Hew- 
 itson came here from Edinburgh to-day. He is evidently 
 subject to fits of depression, and he confesses to frequent 
 despondency. His is a rich and rare mind." " March 5. — 
 Dined and passed the night with Hewitson. I had much 
 pleasant, and I trust profitable, conversation with him on 
 various subjects, chiefly biblical and religious. In several 
 expositions of difficult passages of Scripture, H. shewed great 
 critical acumen, and much soimd knowledge of the Word of 
 God. I am convinced he would make an admirable pro- 
 fessor of biblical criticism." 
 
THE UNKNOWN GOD. 27 
 
 Reverting to the momentous question of his personal 
 reconciliation to God, we find him continuing, month after 
 mouth, under the power of guilty unbelief. " I cried," he 
 writes, about a year afterwards, concerning this sad season, 
 " I cried to the unknown God with my voice [the italics are 
 his own], and often cried in despair. The cry seemed never 
 to reach His ears, and then I was so ' troubled that I could 
 not speak.' At such a time would I pour forth to God such 
 lines as these : — 
 
 ' wherefore hast Thou left me now 
 In desp'rate struggle all alone ? 
 What tempest hides Thine awfal brow ? 
 What horror girds Thy gracious throne ? 
 
 Thou art my Father — deign to look 
 
 Upon the anguish throbbing here, 
 And not regai-d with stern rebuke 
 
 The scorching agony of this tear.' " 
 
 Mere religiousness never can have any other issue. "I 
 lived," are his own emphatic words in the same letter, ex- 
 plaining the now detected cause of his misery, " not among 
 things without so much as among things within." Dwelling 
 amidst the dark recesses of his own heart, he had left unex- 
 plored " the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." And 
 not knowing God — not understanding his heart towards him, 
 he had not dared to " come nigh." 
 
 But the spring of 1840 brought the burdened pilgrim to 
 the Cross. The v6ijm<; r^Xew? o ttj? i\£vdepLa<; at length 
 rose above his horizon, and illumined his hitherto shadowed 
 path. 
 
 Faith is the soul's outward, not inward, look. The object 
 on which faith fixes its eye is, not the heart's ever-varying 
 frames, but the never-varying Christ. Beholding in Christ 
 
28 MEMOIR OF THK EEV. W, H. HEWITSON. 
 
 crucilied, God's manifested love, and believing that love un- 
 doubtingly, the sinner is thrilled by that " perfect love '' 
 which "casteth out fear." This simple yet all-important 
 secret of peace and joy Mr Hewitson was now to learn, and 
 to learn at the lips, not of a human teacher, but of that 
 Saviour at whose fieet he was to find repose. 
 
 An affecting episode intervened. It was the final struggle 
 of self-righteousness. Having in the early part of the winter 
 visited Dundee, where the Lord was working so marvellously 
 in the congregation of the late Mr M'Cheyne, he had returned 
 to Edinburgh, stirred into new earnestness. The earnestness 
 found expression thus : — 
 
 " Lord Jesus Christ, shed abroad the love of God in my 
 heart by Thy Spirit given unto me this week, and I shall 
 dedicate myself this week to Thy service, entering into cove- 
 nant with Thee, my strength and Redeemer. I shall seek 
 to crucify my flesh with its affections and lusts, — ^to subdue 
 the motions of pride, vanity, revenge, worldly-mindedness, — 
 and to ^orify Thee in my heart and life. That I may keep 
 this covenant inviolate, give me, O Lord ! the spirit of grace 
 and supplication, of purity and watchfulness; and to Thee, at 
 the end of this week, if Thou preserve me till then, I shall 
 ascribe all the praise. Amen. 
 
 " Sahhath-day, Deoeniber 29, 1839." 
 
 There are works which the Scriptures designate ''dead 
 works," because the doer of them is not himself accepted with 
 God, or not realising his acceptance. Such a work, notwith- 
 standing its deceptive guise, was this " Covenant." For in 
 what state had it left the man subscribing it ? 
 
 "Edinburgh, January 30, 1840. — [To DrMarsdai.'] — I look 
 back often on the past with regret, and forward into the 
 future with despondency. Another winter after this one, and 
 
- THE CRISIS. 29 
 
 my college course is finished. What shall I do then ? The 
 responsibilities of the ministry are awful; and unless I be 
 changed much for the better, though I am not outwardly 
 wicked, I shall not dare to approach the sacred office." 
 
 At last, however, a new scene opens. " My mind is com- 
 posing itself," he writes to the same friend, on 4th May, 
 " under the solemnising influence of one vast, overwhelming, 
 all-absorbing idea, — that of the responsibilities, belonging 
 to the ministry of reconciliation. When I wrote you last 
 (30th January), that idea was oppressive — it sank me into 
 despondency. For two months past^ however, I have been all 
 but settled in the determination to go forward, in the strength 
 of the Lord, as a labourer into his vineyard ; and so much 
 are my feelings changed, that, whereas I was before afraid to 
 intrude myself into the work of the gospel ministry, I am 
 beginning to be afraid to hesitate^ or to draw back. ' If any 
 man draw back, saith the Lord, my soul shall have no plea- 
 sure in him^' " 
 
 These words announce the crisis of his personal history. 
 The sunshine is reached. The burden is henceforth gone — 
 not, indeed, the burden of corruption, but the burden of un- 
 forgiven siui "There is now no condemnation." 
 
 The reconciled man thus describes the source of his Chris- 
 tian liberty : — " I am now convinced," says he, writing to his 
 father, " that, after hearing it preached a thousand times over, 
 we still remain ignorant of the gospel, unless we see clearly, 
 and feel joyfully, that Christ is offered to us, wretched, lost 
 sinners, in all his fulness, as the free gift of God. I am sure 
 of this, that for a long, long time I have been deceiving 
 myself, and making myself miserable every day, through 
 ignorance of the free, glorious gospel, while I imagined that 
 I clearly understood its gracious character. For long the 
 painful feeling still preyed upon my mind, that I must do 
 
30 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSOJf. 
 
 some good works myself, or God would not accept me in 
 Christ Jesus; and my misery was, that while Satan thus 
 blinded my eyes, I found myself imable to do the good works 
 that I would. Now I see that the gospel is quite different, 
 — that it is free, and full, and wholly of grace." 
 
 And does he well to rejoice ? There is a counterfeit joy 
 into which Satan cheats the soul. That joy eschews the 
 tear, and the inward warring, and the hill Difficulty, and the 
 ApoUyon conflict, as only the beggarly elements of bondage. 
 Not so the joy now vouchsafed to Mr Hewitson. His joy — 
 ending the fear which hath torment, and ending it through 
 simple believing — ^melts him into a hitherto unknown tender- 
 ness, and nerves him with a hitherto unknown strength. 
 
 " You wrote," are his words to another, " that sometimes, 
 when you look at the sin which still lives in your flesh, you 
 can hardly imagine that Christ dwells in you ; but, in the 
 first place, though sin still lives in your flesh, you do not now 
 live in sin ; in the second place, though sin still lives in your 
 flesh, you do not now recognise its sovereignty; it lives in 
 your flesh as a messenger of Satan, and cleaves to you as a 
 body of death ; but you hate it — flee from it — pray against 
 it. It is your enemy, not your sovereign. My prayer for 
 you, my dear friend, is, that your comforts in the Lord may 
 always be greater than your distresses in the flesh, and that 
 through Divine grace you may be able, in the darkest hour, 
 to say, ' What time I am afraid, I will trust in God : in God 
 I have put my trust ; I will not fear what flesh can do unto 
 me ' — ' I am persuaded that nothing can separate me from 
 the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus my Lord.' " 
 
 " Apprehended of Christ Jesus," and relieved by Him of 
 his burden, he now took his place in the " course," to " press 
 toward the mark for the prize." 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 1840, 1841. 
 
 Self-Dedication— First Fruits— Correspondence— Close of College Course 
 — ^Kvangelistio Zeal — Personal Holiness. 
 
 Does the reader remember the " picture" in the Interpreter's 
 private room ? " It had eyes lifted up to heaven, the best of 
 books in its hand, the law of truth was' written upon its lips, 
 the world was behind its back ; it stood as if it pleaded with 
 men, and a crown of gold did hang over its head ! " Mr Hewit- 
 son might have sat for that picture. 
 
 " Don't you think," asks Mr Hewitson, " that in the case 
 of many Christians regeneration is followed by a considerable 
 period of — not darkness, but — obscurity (such as that of the 
 understanding in childhood), unfitting the soul to take in a 
 wliole Christ, and consequently to enjoy a perfect peace ? Such 
 Christians live far below their privileges, as accredited chil- 
 dren of adoption, born to an inheritance not in themselves, 
 but in Christ." In Mr Hewitson himself, the childhood is 
 seen only in his single-hearted sincerity ; in understanding, 
 he is already a man. 
 
 Dr Payson has supposed the various classes of Christians 
 to be ranged in different concentric circles round Christ as 
 their common centre. " Some," he says, " value the presence 
 
32 MEMOia OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 of their Saviour so highly, that they cannot bear to be at any 
 remove from Him. Even their work they will bring up, and 
 do it in the light of His countenance, and, while engaged in 
 it, will be seen constantly raising their eyes to him, as if 
 fearful of losing one beam of his light. Others, who, to be 
 sure, would not be content to live out of his presence, are 
 yet less wholly absorbed by it than these, and may be seen 
 a' little further oflF, engaged here and there in their various 
 callings, their eyes generally upon their work, but often look- 
 ing up for the light which they love. A third class, beyond 
 these, but yet within the life-giving rays, includes a doubtful 
 multitude, many of whom are so much engaged in their 
 worldly schemes, that they may be seen standing sideways to 
 Christ, looking mostly the other way, and only now and then 
 turning their faces towards the light." In the innermost 
 concentric circle Mr Hewitson now took his stand. " From 
 the time," writes his earliest friend, " that he was brought 
 clearly to see Christ as his ' all in all,' his soul was fiUed 
 with his glory, as a present Saviour and ever-living Friend; 
 his communion with him became more like that of one 
 friend with another, who are personally near, than of a dis- 
 tant correspondence." His holy ambition now was to " follow 
 the Lord fully." " A blessing it is beyond every other," are 
 liis own expressive words at this period, " to have an ear 
 deaf to the world's music, but all awake to the voice of 
 him who is ' the chief among ten thousand, and altogether 
 lovely.' " 
 
 In May he returned to Dalmellington for the summer. 
 
 His relatives at once marked the great change. The very 
 
 night he arrived he spoke to all the family most solemnly on 
 
 the concerns of eternity. And the whole village soon saw 
 
 , that he was another man. He had been known hitherto as 
 
SELF-DEDICATION ^FIRST-FRUITS. 33 
 
 the great scholar, and the exemplary divinity student ; but 
 now they " took knowledge of him that he had been with 
 Jesus." 
 
 " That," said he, one day soon after his return, laying his 
 hand upon the open Bible, — " that shall henceforth be my 
 daily study ; I desire to converse through it daily with God." 
 The purpose was not unaccomplished. The Bible may be 
 said to have thenceforth become his library. No longer re- 
 garding it as a mere hieroglyphic to be curiously examined 
 by the eye of the scholar, he came to it with the heart of a 
 child to listen to the voice of his Father. And out of it he 
 learned that living and fresh divinity which impregnated with 
 its savour his whole future conversation, and correspondence, 
 and ministry. 
 
 The man in the picture " stood as if he pleaded with men." 
 Ere Mr Hewitson left Edinburgh, his " pleading" had been 
 instrumental in the conversion of a soul. The case was 
 remarkable. It was an aged formalist on her deathbed. 
 With a tender urgency he had preached to her Christ, and he 
 had preached in faith and expectation. The woman's heart 
 had been opened. Not long after, she had died " in the 
 Lord."* And now, in his native village, a still more striking 
 case occurred. It was a woman above eighty, also on her 
 deathbed. Awakened within a week of her decease, she 
 welcomed the tidings which he brought to her of " free grace 
 to the chief of sinners." Her distress gave place to a deep 
 and calm peace. 
 
 Were not these two earliest sheaves of his coming harvest, 
 cases of so marked a type, that the labourer might learn to 
 expect great things, and never limit the Holy One of Israel ? 
 
 * We have this incident from two eyewitnesses, whose judgment is 
 worthy of implicit confidence. 
 
 C 
 
34 MEMOIR OF THE BBV. W. H. HEWITSOK. 
 
 Did they not farnish, besides, an instructive commentary on 
 his own two years of mibelief ? Knowing now that that long 
 interval of groping had in no way qnalified him for coming 
 to the Lord, but that at its close he had come, not pleading 
 the two years of anxiety, but simply as a sinner, he never 
 sanctioned, in his dealings with others, a day's or an hour's 
 delay in coming to Christ, but demanded, in his Master's 
 name, immediate and undoubting faith in his message, and 
 held out, as the result, immediate and perfect peace. The 
 success here vouchsafed to such deaUpg was to him an experi- 
 mentmn crucis — a crucible-test, proving what was the Lord's 
 way in the conversion of the sirmer. 
 
 The following fragmentary extracts will indicate his views 
 and feelings at this period : — 
 
 " Dcdmellington, June 15, 1840. — [To afrimd in Edmbvrgh.] 
 — ... Yesterday I heard two sermons, as dry, and general, 
 and unedifying as might be. They were preached away _/roTO, 
 and not to, the congregation. An abstract, and what I should 
 call an impersonal sermon, has a chilling and deadening effect 
 Upon the soul. It seems strange that the Word of God, 
 which is quick and powerful, should, in the hands of different 
 preachers, produce effects so different — but so it is : the same 
 waters of life (for the sermons I heard yesterday were evan- 
 gelical) passing through one channel, quicken and refresh the 
 hearer; and passing through another channel, deaden and 
 petrify. The evangelical is ' of the heart, in the spirit, and 
 not in the letter — whose praise is not of man, but of God.' 
 If Christ dwell in us, the evidences of his gracious presence 
 are not indistinct and illegible. The faith which quickens, 
 enlightens likewise, for faith is just the grace of an indwelling 
 Saviour ; now the Saviour is life, ' and the life is the light of 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 35 
 
 " My visit to Irvine," he writes a month later to the same 
 friend, " I enjoyed exceedingly : it was a pleasant episode in 
 my pilgrimage. Don't you sometimes experience the effect 
 which the sight and the conversation of Christian friends have 
 in adding to the interest which you feel in their well-being, 
 and to the fervency with which you pray on their behalf? 
 In Scripture there is frequent allusion made to this influence 
 oi face-to-face communion. Paul, writing to the Eoman con- 
 verts, says, ' I long to see you, that I may be comforted 
 together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.' 
 And in concluding his letter to ' the elect lady,' John says, 
 ' I trust to come unto you, and speak face to face, that our 
 joy may be full.' 'Tis well that, since in this world Chris- 
 tians have to walk ' by faith and not by sight,' as regards 
 their Lord, they have frequent opportunities afforded them 
 by him of walking by sight and not by faith, as regards one 
 another. Who does not appreciate and sympathise with the 
 feelings of Paul, when, on his way — a prisoner — to Rome, he 
 was met by some of ' the brethren' at Appii Forum and at the 
 Three Taverns, and ' when Paul saw them, he thanked God 
 and took courage ? ' In proportion to the degree of comfort 
 and encouragement which that meeting afforded him, must 
 have been the bitterness and forlornness of that hour when, 
 first at the tribunal of Csesar, he saw many around him, but 
 no brother — no Christian — no, not one. ' At my first answer 
 no man stood with me, but all men forsook me : I pray God 
 that it may not be laid to their charge.' 
 
 " Yesterday," he continues, *' I again communicated in a 
 neighbouring parish, and it was to me, blessed be the Lord ! 
 a comfortable communion. Experience has taught me, how- 
 ever, that in my journey heavenward I must pass through 
 much tribulation. On Saturday night I was hard beset by 
 
36 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Satan ; I was afflicted, so that I durst not pray ; ' I found 
 trouble and sorrow;' I went to bed, despairing of relief, 
 almost resolved not to communicate. I awoke in like man- 
 ner, desponding and irresolute, but, God be thanked ! I was 
 encouraged to say to the 'principalities and powers' that 
 sought my destruction, ' If the Lord ever wiU be able and 
 willing to save me, he is able and willing now — yes, this very 
 day.' Then did I feel that I was running the risk of denying 
 Christ before those very devils whom he had vanquished on 
 the cross, and of giving them occasion for temporary tri- 
 nmph^ therefore I resolved to present myself before the Lord, 
 and to confess him in the presence of both men and devils. 
 Satan bears a grudge to the commemorative ordinance of the 
 Supper, for it is commemorative of his overthrow, as well as 
 of the Kedeemer's triumph." 
 
 Again, on 26th September, we find him addressing the 
 same correspondent thus : — " Since I wrote my last letter to 
 you, I have been ten days or so absent in Galloway, on a 
 round of visits among relations and friends. A day and night 
 I spent pleasantly with a friend in Dairy, which is, by the 
 good people of thereabouts, called 'The Clachan;' or, in 
 consequence of a tradition that the Beloved Disciple himself 
 instructed its rude occupants of the first century in the doc- 
 trine of Jesus, ' St John's Clachan.' The finger of credulity 
 still points to the stone-bench on which the apostle sat, with 
 his dear barbarians around him. My friend carried me to 
 an eminence overlooking the village, and commanding an 
 extensive view of ' mosses, moors, and fells ; ' ' of mountain, 
 valley, and resplendent river.' He shewed me the spot where 
 the persecution commenced under the auspices of the Jero- 
 boam of our country — the perjured, rollicking, reckless 
 Charles II. Beginning with Kenmure Castle, he pointed 
 
CORRESPONDENCE. 37 
 
 out on every side, both near and in the distance, houses, not 
 few nor far between, where dwelt saints of the Second Eefor- 
 mation. Almost every house is a martyr's monument." 
 
 " How sensitively afraid of being selfish you are !" he adds. 
 " Self-love is from heaven, heavenly ; it is ' an ingredient iu 
 the compound man, infused at the creation of the kind.' It is 
 not selfishness. Selfishness belongs to devils, but self-love to the 
 angels of light. In evincing due self-regard, you will not be 
 guilty of selfishness any more than Timothy, in drinking ' a 
 little wine for his, stomach's sake, and his often infirmities,' 
 was chargeable with intemperance. Some virtues very much, 
 in the face, resemble their correspondent vices." 
 
 And, on 8th October : — " I have been enjoying an almost 
 uninterrupted serenity of mind ; my peace has been greater 
 than usual, not because I imagined I was increasing in holi- 
 ness, but because my view of the all-sufflciency and freeness 
 of Christ's righteousness has been, by the grace of God, more 
 enlarged and consolatory. The moon was an hom: ago shin- 
 ing beautifully in a dark blue sky ; ever and anon would a 
 cloud come between, and each cloud as it came seemed to be 
 the last ; but scarcely the moon had peered from behind it, 
 when the vapour, before scarcely visible, condensing into 
 another cloud, floated on, and of a sudden dimmed her light 
 again. Of like kind are the phenomena by which ' the light 
 of the knowledge of God in the face of Christ ' is now bright- 
 ened and now obscured in the soul. The clouds which hide 
 the moon rise from the earth, and, in like manner, that spiri- 
 tual' darkness which seems to arise from the withdrawal of 
 the light of God's countenance, has its origin in the. state of 
 our own souls." 
 
 He devoted himself that summer to his preparatory studies, 
 with an ardour which the feebleness of his already shattered 
 
38 ilEirOlR OF THE RET. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 frame could with diflBculty restrain within due limits. " In 
 the course of my walkings to-day," we find him playfully 
 writing to a friend on 22d June, " I have hem informed that I 
 am studying twenty hours a day ; and I may expect reason- 
 ably ere long to he informed, that I am very ill in consequence 
 of my haid study. that this indolent me were able to study 
 hard ! " And at the end of August he writes : — " I am not 
 troubled now either by ' the indolence of genius ' or the 
 genius of indolence. I was out of bed this morning by four 
 o'clock, and 'tis not yet time for breakfast. I wish I could 
 keep ' Minshull ' hours regularly : I daresay such hours were 
 kept by Adam and Eve in Eden, when they were wont to 
 close their eyes in faith, and to open them in prayer." 
 
 A few days later, writing to Mr Dodds, he says : — " I de- 
 vote three hours a day to the reading of the Hebrew Psalter, 
 and have reached, I think, the 75th Psalm. The delights 
 of classic and vernacular poetry are forgotten amidst those of 
 the loftier than Mseonian strains of Judah. Though I have 
 a presentiment that my sphere of duty may he assigned to me 
 within the bounds of Scotland, I am nevertheless desirous of 
 mastering the Hebrew tongue, as that would enable me, in 
 some measure, if requisite, to declare the ' glad tidings ' to 
 some or another portion of God's ancient people ; and as, at 
 all events, an acquaintance with the original language of the 
 Bible is the best and most to be reUed on commentary on 
 our English version." 
 
 And on returning to Edinburgh in November, " for the last 
 time in the capacity of a student," the same indomitable 
 energy characterised him as in his earliest student-days. 
 With his college studies that winter, he combined the regular 
 visitation, twice a week, of a'district in a very destitute part 
 of the city, followed up by a not less regular Sabbath evening 
 
CLOSE OF COLLEGE COURSE. 39 
 
 service. He likewise discharged the weekly duties of the 
 chair of the University Missionary Association, from which 
 he delivered several addresses, at once adorned by classic 
 elegance and imbued with a heavenly fervour. His aca- 
 demic course was finished in March 1841.* The illustrious 
 man whose pupil he had been, never ceased to regard him 
 with affectionate esteem, as one of the most scholar-like and 
 accomplished students who had ever passed out of his hall. 
 
 " "We want public souls — we want them,'' are the words 
 of Bishop Hacket, enshrined by Coleridge in his Aphorisms ; 
 " I speak it with compassion ; there is no sin and abuse in 
 the world that affects my thoughts so much. Omnes qum sua 
 qucerunt — all seek their own." Never had there entered a 
 college one more set on self—ii&Yti had there left it one more 
 truly a " public soul." " I shall now," he writes, " be care- 
 less that my name pass away from the earth along with this 
 mortal body, if only it be written in the Lamb's book of life 
 in heaven. God will not suffer me to be ambitious now." 
 " We knew him," is the testimony of an Indian missionary,f 
 " in the heyday of his intellectual vigour, and remember 
 well how he read his prize essay, in the Edinburgh Univer- 
 sity, to the admiring assembly of his fellow-students. "We 
 knew him also after the love of Christ had touched his 
 heart, and given a purer and more divine direction to all 
 his powers. His fine genius was turned to the cross, and he 
 became a little child." :j: 
 
 * Mr Hewitson did not take any degree at College. Little value was 
 then attached to it. The standard of examination has since been raised. 
 He passed his trials for licence before the Presbyteiy of Ayr, on 24th 
 January 1841. 
 
 t The Rev. John Braidwood of Madras. 
 
 % Madras Native Herald, Oct. 1850. 
 
40 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON, 
 
 A little incident strikingly illustrates the intensity of his 
 devotedness. The gold medal — once the idol of his heait — 
 he forwarded from Dalmellington to a friend in Edinburgh,* 
 to be sold, and the proceeds put into the Lord's treasury. 
 His friend, deeming the idol harmless, laid a plan for sparing 
 it: he sent him a cheque for its full money value, and 
 craved leave to retain the medal itself as an in memoriam. 
 " My mind is made up," was Mr Hewitson's characteristic 
 reply, "as to devoting it to the object which I mentioned. 
 This may weigh with you in counterbalance to the feelings 
 which have influenced your — shall I call it ? — condemnation 
 of the act. It was only natural that, at first, my reluctance 
 to parting with an object which I once regarded as a 
 trophy of praiseworthy ambition, and round which many 
 once pleasing associations were gathered, should be almost 
 unconquerable; but, by the grace of God, I have got the 
 victory over my natural feelings of reluctance, and most 
 grievous it would be to find them again rising to the ascen- 
 dant. If the gaining of the prize was a trophy of nature, 
 the parting with it wiU be, in some measure, a trophy of 
 grace. Your own feelings in the matter will enable you to 
 appreciate the force of what I say. In the meantime, while 
 you keep the medal in retentis, it will be my part to keep in 
 retmtis the cheque which you so kindly transmitted. The 
 medal is to you not of the slightest intrinsic value ; it is 
 only the pretium affectioms which it can have in your eyes. 
 I shall be glad to leam by your next that your diflSculties 
 have given way, and that you have succeeded in eflecting 
 the sale.'' 
 
 Some may not sympathise with this iconoclasm. But 
 whatever may be thought of the act, the motive is like the 
 * William Dickson, Esq. 
 
PERSONAL HOLINESS EVANGELISTIC ZEAL. 41 
 
 man. " Behold, this self-same thing," writes Paul, " that 
 ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought 
 in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indigna- 
 tion, yea, what revenge 1 " Words like these betoken a zeal 
 against idols, with which another than the convicted and 
 pardoned idolater may not intermeddle. When Mr Cecil 
 broke the strings of his once-loved violin, and cast away his 
 brush and palette, he felt that not only must the heart be 
 dissevered from the idol, but the idol itself must be put out 
 of sight. It is the Lord's own way. " I will take away the 
 names of Baalim out of her mouth, and they shall no more 
 be remembered by name." 
 
 " When I look back upon the past eight years," we find 
 Mr Hewitson writing at this period, " I see them as if they 
 were a waste howling desert, in respect of my own barren- 
 ness." And how shall the desert be now clothed with ver- 
 dure ? How shall that Saviour — ^who is now, not " alter 
 ego" simply, his other self, but "unkiis ego" his one and 
 only self — ^receive the homage of his life ? 
 
 " How Uttle did I think at that moment," wrote Felix 
 Ne£F, in describing his feelings, as, from the lofty summit 
 of Monte Viso, he caught his first glimpse of the mighty 
 country stretched out at his feet, " of the Caesars, the Bru- 
 tuses, and the Virgils of ancient times ! One consideration 
 absorbed all my thoughts, spreading, as it were, a dark veil 
 over this otherwise smiling Italy. I was now surveying 
 the dark empire of the Beast ! ' Jesus ! thou Divine 
 Sun!' I exclaimed, 'wilt thou never again enlighten this 
 unhappy people ? ' " With such a heart Mr Hewitson now 
 contemplates, not a dying Italy, but a dying world. " You 
 will see them — old and young, rich and poor, lettered and 
 ignorant," is his appeal to a little band of fellow-students 
 
42 MEMOIR OF THE KBV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 — " perishing through lack of knowledge — given up to delu- 
 sion, to believe a lie — living in bondage to the powers of 
 darkness — yielding themselves as instruments of unrighte- 
 ousness unto sin — and huitying onward, one by one, without 
 God and without hope, to the valley of the shadow of death, 
 to the place of the undying worm and the unquenchable fire. 
 Oh ! what can ye do, ere their doom be sealed, to pluck them 
 like brands from the burning ? Will ye not spend* days of 
 anxious toil, and nights of watching unto prayer, if, perad- 
 venture, one of them at least may be saved from ruin ?" 
 
 For is not he in possession of the inestimable secret — 
 that secret " hidden from the wise and prudent, but revealed 
 unto babes " — whereby the dying may have life ? " Ne- 
 cessity," he feels, " is laid upon him ; yea, woe is unto him 
 if he preach not the gospel;" and that, be it marked, not 
 becartse he is professumally a minister, hut because he is personally 
 a Christian. With what boldness of faith and yearning of 
 affection does he breast the mighty enterprise ! 
 
 " Such is the expansive energy of Christian love,'' are his 
 words from the chair of the College Missionary Association, 
 " that wherever it sees a brow like that which was mocked 
 with a crown of thorns, it will not be satisfied till on that 
 brow there be engraven the name of Jesus. ' I am a mission- 
 ary,' is a thought which we should frequently — every day 
 that passes — entertain in our minds ; whenever a new phase 
 of circumstances presents itself — whenever a change in our 
 position occurs, — we should ever be ready to put the ques- 
 tion, ' What, as a missionary, ought I now to do ? ' 
 
 " As to Peter, so to every Christian," he continues, " is the 
 question put by Jesus, 'Lovest thou me?' As on Peter, 
 so on every Christian is the commandment laid by Jesus, 
 'Feed my sheep.' Were we — ^were all believers — in poi 
 
PERSONAL HOLINESS ^EVANGELISTIC ZEAL. 43 
 
 of spirituality of mind, and in point of zealous co-operation 
 with Jesus in his missionary work, what it behoves them to 
 be — were they to give the men of the world occasion to say,. 
 not only, ' See how these Christians love one another ! ' but 
 likewise, ' See how these Christians work for their Lord ! ' — 
 then, by good token, the time were not far distant when the 
 gospel should be preached literally to every soul under 
 heaven." 
 
 His eye, besides, is on the stealthy movements of that 
 canker-worm which so often blights into impotence an ortho- 
 dox and even active ministry — a world-conforming walk. 
 " How the sinews of evangelistic labour," he went on to say 
 on the same occasion, " are relaxed by a want of habitual 
 prayerfulness, and by occasional relapses into secularity ! 
 So universally diffused and so contagious is the element 
 of worldliness, that, owing to our want of guardedness, it 
 often steals upon us imperceptibly, and, diffusing its virus 
 through our souls, prostrates for a time our spiritual energies. 
 When we descend into and inhale that element, we are im- 
 mediately paralysed, and rendered unable to co-operate with 
 God, till again we have been elevated by his hand into the 
 region and element of spirit." 
 
 And his own holy walk is to prove impressively that not 
 in vain has he gotten insight into this most momentous of 
 all "furnishings" of the "man of God" — a single-hiearted, 
 self-denying life. 
 
 What then ? Shall he now enter the vineyard as one of 
 the Master's commissioned labourers? Man would have 
 pronounced him duly " furnished." But He who conducted 
 Paul into Arabia to complete his preparation for the ministry, 
 takes aside Mr Hewitson for further training. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 1841, 1842. 
 
 Health giving way — Residence at Grangemuir — Conflicts — Symptoms 
 of Consumption— Diary — Correspondence — Licence. 
 
 " I NOW am beginning to feel that relaxation for both mind 
 and body is imperatively requisite. I have been jaded 
 beyond my powers of endurance, and long for a season of 
 rest — of bodily as well as mental quiet — as much as ever 
 poor mariner longed for his expected haven." 
 
 So wrote Mr Hewitson on 24th March 1841. Friends 
 had been warning him, for months, of the danger and sin of 
 persisting in his protracted hours of study. Several times 
 that spring he had fainted away. He was evidently sinking 
 into a state of debility and emaciation, which, unless ar- 
 rested, must speedily hasten his days to a premature close. 
 On a careful examination, his chest had been ascertained to 
 be as yet unaffected, but his nervous system so thoroughly 
 enfeebled, that only a season of entire rest opened up any 
 prospect of its repair. 
 
 He who leads his own " by a way which they know not," 
 prepared a rest for his servant. He agreed to become for 
 eight months tutor to a family in Fife — ^hoping that he 
 might then be able to preach the gospel. To this " moun- 
 tain apart " he now betook himself. 
 
RESIDENCE AT UBANGEMUIR. 45 
 
 " With characteristic energy and decision," says Mr Dodds, 
 alluding to this Fifeshire residence, " he carried out his new 
 views and convictions, even in his familiar letters. No more 
 letters did he write merely as the friend or scholar. Every 
 production, of his pen shewed the Christian. Not that he 
 gave up the graces of classic allusion, or never indulged in 
 the playfulness of friendship; but he mingled with all he 
 wrote that salt and savour of Christianity, that scriptural 
 illustration and experimental feeling, which gave such a dis- 
 tinctive character to his future life." 
 
 "The verses you sent, extracted from 'The Dial,'" we 
 find him writing at this period to his friend Mr Dickson, 
 "embody, in language singularly appropriate and poetical, 
 a truth on which my mind has often dwelt, both in the 
 crowd and in the closet : 
 
 ' We are spirits, clad in veils ; 
 Man by man was never seen : 
 All our deep commnnion fails 
 To remove the shadowy screen.' 
 
 Often, when I have been expatiating in the wide world of 
 thought and feeling, which lay outstretched before — I should 
 rather say in — my own mind, it has occurred to me that there 
 was in the mind of every other human being a similar world 
 of thought and feeling, in which they also freely expatiated, 
 — but a world between which and my world there was an 
 impassable gulf fixed ; into the world of no other man's spirit 
 can I enter, and there think as he thinks, or feel as he feels ; 
 ^and into the world of my spirit no other man can enter, 
 and here live the very life of thought and feeling that I live : 
 
 ' Man by man was never seen.' 
 But, blessed be God, my dear friend, there is an element 
 which all Christians alike can breathe — a Spirit, even the 
 
46 MEMOIE OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Spirit of Christ, in which all Christians, mingling and 
 blending, become 'one spirit.' So long as we are in the flesh 
 there is a barrier that cannot be overpassedj whether by 
 means of poetry, painting, or music, between our souls and 
 the souls of our neighbours, brethren, and friends : 
 ' All our deep communion fails ' 
 
 to remove the covering that the flesh has cast over our 
 intellectual being; but in Christ two souls are no longer 
 twain, but one spirit — they are no longer two selves, but 
 one self — they are two hearts, in which one and the same 
 chord vibrates — two minds, in which one and the same 
 Divine nature thinks and feels. ' Like the stars, far apart, 
 though seeming near, in our light we scattered lie,' till 
 Christ, ' the Sun of love,' the Day Star, has arisen in our 
 hearts : then our star-light is not quenched — it is absorbed 
 in Christ's sun-light — a light in which we all mingle and 
 melt into one. 
 
 " How dear Christians should be to one another — they are 
 all so dear to Christ, and Christ is so dear to them all — they 
 are all so alike united to Christ; and Christ's Spirit, the 
 bond, not of imion merely, but of unity, is so richly given 
 to them all ! that the world was one body and one spirit, 
 as it yet will be, in Christ Jesus ! 
 
 " I hope we shall yet meet often face to face ; at all events, 
 we shall often meet heart to heart before God in Christ, and, 
 though far distant, still live together." 
 
 " Grangemuir, Pittenweem, May 19, 1841. — [^To a friend m 
 Edinburgh.] — .... I'm getting into a moderate atmosphere. 
 To breathe in the atmosphere of the world is one thing ; to 
 breathe it is a thing quite different. Breathe in that element 
 I must, else I should not be in the world; but breathe it. 
 
" STRONG IN FAITH." 47 
 
 that I never may ! else I should be of the world. Be it 
 my spirit, and be it the spirit of all my friends, to live ever 
 content with the present lot, but content in it never — at 
 the same time never to live either content with or content in 
 the unholiness, whether of our own hearts or of the hearts 
 of them that are around us. 
 
 " As to the church-bells, why should you think that your 
 Father in heaven should be angry with you when, standing 
 on your hill Mizar, you wept at the thought of his holy 
 temple? Was he angry when his people by the rivers of 
 Babylon sat down, yea, and wept when they remembered 
 Zion? God has too much of a father's heart fo be angry 
 when his dear children weep, mthout repining, under the rod. 
 yes ! conscience does not bid you weep ; but when sancti- 
 fied nature weeps, conscience cannot frown. 
 
 " God is glorified, when we are strong in faith. Christ 
 triumphs in our hearts, and reigns,, when our circumstances 
 are desperate but our souls full of hope ; against hope to 
 believe in hope, is Christ's best victory and Satan's worst 
 discomfiture. Peter is on the stormy sea : his eye fixed on 
 Jesus, he walks as if on the pavement of Capernaum ; he 
 turns his eye away from Jesus, and looks on the boisterous 
 storm — straightway he begins to sink, and cries out, * Save 
 me, I perish!' Yes, my dear friend, our hope never turns on 
 our circumstances or on our frames, but always and solely 
 on Christ's righteousness, atonement, and intercession. Our 
 salvation depends, not on the question — ' "What are my sins 
 and my backslidings ? ' but on the question — ' What are 
 Christ's merits and the Father's promises ? ' 
 
 " The Lord fill the lamps of you all — the whole household 
 — with oil, and light them! — Your very afiectionate friend, 
 
 " W. H. Hewitson." 
 
'48 MEMOIB OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Like Bunyan's Pilgrim, he descends into the " Valley of 
 Humiliation." "With regard to my own health for some 
 time past," he writes on 26th July, " that of my soul has 
 been so afflicted that I have not much thought or care to 
 speak about the health of my body, in comparison. The 
 Lord's dealings with me have been in faithfulness ; and from 
 what I have seen of his ways as a God of judgment, I 
 ought, like the Psalmist (Ps. cxix. 120), to tremble and be 
 afraid. Never was I more able to say of myself than now, 
 ' The Lord hath filled me with bitterness ; he hath made me 
 drunken with wormwood.' " • 
 
 And to another correspondent : — " I may say of my suffer- 
 ings under the faithful chastisement of the Lord, who is 
 ' terrible out of his holy places,' that ' I am the man that 
 hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath.' It seems to 
 me that, while the ministers of the Church and elders have 
 committed to them the keys of discipline for the correction 
 of open and outward delinquencies, the great Head of the 
 Church himself administers, directly and immediately, discip- 
 line, in the way of suspending from, not the outward use, 
 but the inward enjoyment, of gospel ordinances, and thus, in 
 dreadful reality, inflicting the sentence of excommunication 
 . for a season, in the case of those who may have incurred 
 the unseen guilt of hardness of heart, stifihess of neck, mur- 
 ruuring, and other inward spiritual offences. Did not the 
 Psalmist feel that it had been so with him, when he said, 
 ' My flesh trembleth for fear of thee, and I am afraid of thy 
 judgments ? ' But the judgments of the Lord are true and 
 righteous altogether." 
 
 Based on such experience, his theology accepted, with no 
 faltering reserve, as its initial article, the doctrine of the 
 hearts utter d^avity. " Now I do indeed see this doctrine 
 
THE heart's depravity. 49 
 
 in the Bible," said Merle D'Aubigng to Robert Haldane, 
 when, for the first time, the corruption of human nature came 
 home to his understanding as a Bible-truth. " Yes," was 
 Haldane's reply, " but do you see it in your heart ?" Hewit- 
 son was now learning, with new emphasis almost daily, not 
 the doctrine of the heart's corruption merely, but the fact. 
 " The longer I live," he writes on 28th July, " the more I 
 am convinced that our hearts are most fearfully at enmity 
 with God ; and if we do not feel the conviction that they are 
 so, it is just because we are walking in darkness, and are 
 not yet children of the light. Worldly people think that 
 their hearts are not, after all, so hardened against God and 
 against Christ ; but that is a delusion of the wicked one, who 
 has blinded their unbelieving minds, that ' the light of the 
 glorious gospel of Christ ' may not shine into them. Oh, it 
 is most true, however disagreeable the truth, that all in us 
 which is amiable is of God, and that, in ourselves, and as 
 God finds us, we are children of the devil, — all carnal and 
 devilish in the spirit of our minds. That it is so with my 
 natural heart, I believe and know assuredly. Natural corrup- 
 tion is the ' horrible pit,' — the pride of self-righteousness is 
 the ' miry clay : ' the carnal mind is irreconcilable enmity, — 
 ' the miry places and the marshes shall not be healed :' we 
 need Christ ; we are beggars — ragged, loathsome beggars — 
 lepers, outcasts, by nature : we need Christ ; we need to be 
 bom again ; we need to be sanctified : ' Behold, God, our 
 shield, and look upon the face of thine Anointed.' " 
 
 And again : — " The natural understanding is darkness, 
 till it has passed by regeneration out of the womb of midnight 
 into the marvellous light of the kingdom : in its former con- 
 dition, the light shines all around it, but makes nothing 
 manifest, — as it is written, ' The light shineth in darkness, 
 
 D 
 
50 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 and the darkness comprehendeth it not."' " The natural 
 mind is one element, in which we may see Divine things ; but 
 that element has a mightily refracting, or rather a wofully 
 distorting power, and Divine things are bent by it out of their 
 proper course, so that they do not impinge upon the heart : 
 on the other hand, the Spirit of God, in which, as in an 
 atmosphere, we are baptized, is a medium through which we 
 see divine things in their proper light and position ; through 
 that medium they come, unbent and unrefracted, down upon 
 the heart, and converge, as in a focus, at the centre point of 
 the will. We need the gift, not only of the Son, but likewise 
 of the Spirit ; we need not only the sun-light, but likewise 
 the atmospheric medium, through which the light may pass 
 into our souls." 
 
 The sympathies of the heavenly family were now welling 
 up in his soul. " To-day," he writes to a friend in Edin- 
 burgh, on 9th August, " has been a gala day to me ; for my 
 dear friend M. has written to me a letter, which I received 
 to-day, penned under the influence of Divine grace : he is 
 henceforth a friend dearer than ever. I had observed in him 
 glimmerings and traces of the day-spring; now, God be 
 praised, yea, and God is praised for it ! — the day-star has 
 
 arisen brightly in M 's heart : he has had ministered to 
 
 him an abundant entrance into the kingdom of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. His letter is that of a dear child of God." 
 And to another friend, on the 21st of the same month : — ■ 
 " The first affection which ever warmed my heart towards 
 you was based on the rock Christ, and^-Christ give me 
 grace — that affection will not be overthrown by time or 
 accident. How narrow-souled is the friendship of the world ! 
 it cannot brook rivalry. But friendship formed in Christ is 
 large-hearted, — it can admit a whole church — I'll not say of 
 
CONFLICTS. 5 1 
 
 rivals, but of brethren — into the circle of its intimacy. The 
 time is coming, I think, when Christian friendships will be 
 more intensely Christian, and turn more directly on the 
 centre, Christ, than hitherto." 
 
 A new affliction visits him, and the sufferer learns new 
 lessons. 
 
 " Grangemuir, Sept. 23, 1841. — [To William Dickson, Esq., 
 Edinburgh.] — Thanks to God, in the name of Christ, I am 
 
 recovering. I'm able to sit up a while to-day As for 
 
 company, I had, during the fever, the presence of Jesus — the 
 blessed, precious Jesus ! and there was none upon earth that 
 I desired besides him. But oh, how he has shewn me fearful 
 things in my own soul ! Since my beginning to recover, I 
 have been in the state well described in the psalm of to-day. 
 I have seen great and sore troubles, but, blessed be Grod ! 
 they came not on me till the fever was gone off. ' The Lord 
 hath chastened me sore, but he hath not given me over unto 
 death.' " 
 
 " September 29. — [To the same.] — I am alone, but not 
 lonely. Many a time, when my soul, like a silly dove too 
 long wandering abroad, too long on the wing over the flood 
 of Divine wrath, has found its way back again to the ark of 
 safety, Jesus has, with sweet consolations and notices of his 
 blessed presence, kept me from wearying. I have been dealt 
 with by the Lord in tender mercy, and it has been good for 
 me to be afflicted. 
 
 " The Lord has taught me that to lie patiently on the bed 
 of languishing is as acceptable with him as to work zealously 
 in his vineyard. He has taught me more than I knew be- 
 fore of the grace of God the Father. He has taught me more 
 of Paul's meaning in the words — ' The love of Christ con- 
 straineth me.' He has taught me more of the impossibility 
 
52 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 of serving God aright and with joyfulness, except from a 
 motive of love to God. He has taught me more of the im- 
 possibility of my loving God, except mider a conviction and 
 firm belief of the definite reality of God^s love to me. He has 
 taught me more of the holiness — more of the freeness — more 
 of the fiflness — more of the trustworthiness of the gospel — 
 more of the necessity of serving God with^ar, and of rejoic- 
 ing with tremhling. 
 
 " He has enabled me to look up to God with more confi- 
 dence as to a Father. ' I have sat under his shadow with 
 great delight, and his fruit has been sweet to my taste.' He 
 has shewn me more clearly the evidences, in my state of 
 mind, of a self-righteous spirit, and shewn me more clearly, 
 liliewise, that he is all in all. — I am, my dear friend, yours 
 afiectioriately in the Lord, " W. H. H." 
 
 The fever gave place to a complaint more alarming. " I 
 am still weak," he writes on 23d October; " every new day 
 convinces me that my almost shattered condition needs a 
 longer season than I anticipated of repose. To gather strength 
 for the work of the ministry must be for a while my chief 
 object in living, next to the all-important object of learning 
 to die daily. During the summer I have not studied for my- 
 self, except by way of preparing my presbyterial discourses, 
 and still I am resolved to abstain entirely from all avoidable 
 study. I should rather say I am compelled by necessity to 
 abstain. The doctor tells me that, in my present state, some 
 other disease may easily, without my taking care, come in upon 
 me, and perhaps prove fatal. Behold, we count them happy 
 which endure." 
 
 The " other " disease did appear. 
 
 " Grangemnir, Nov. 8, 1841. — [To his Father.] — Lord 
 W and I, according to his proposal, went over to Edin- 
 
SYMPTOMS OF CONSUMPTION. 53 
 
 burgh last week, and the doctors (Dr Henderson and Dr 
 Moir) ascertained that there was disease beginnings in the 
 lungs, though at present not in an active state. I am for- 
 bidden to study, or do anything requiring effort for the space 
 of a year. With lore to you all, and especially your immortal 
 souls, and praying that the Holy Spirit of promise may come 
 forth from the Lord our Saviour, to sanctify wholly you and 
 mother, and all the family, — I am, my dear father, your 
 very affectionate son, " W. H. H." 
 
 " It is melancholy," he writes on Dec. 2, to a friend whose 
 health had begun to give way under a similar complaint, 
 " that you should be menaced at the same time with pul- 
 monary disease. Both of us, my dearest , will do well 
 
 to use the beautiful language of the Psalmist, in the 39th 
 Psalm. How tenderly, in verses 4, 5, and 6, are the weak- 
 ness and vanity of our earthly being brought home to our 
 feelings, to our experiences ! The Lord give us grace to look 
 beyond this speck of space and time, saying, as in verse 7, 
 ' Now, Lord, what wait I for ? My hope is in thee.' 'Tis 
 pleasant to us, immortal spirits, when we can say to our 
 Lord, even to him who sits on the throne of eternity with a 
 human heart, a heart whose blood was shed to atone for our 
 guilt, a heart which is now as full of fresh, living, human 
 sympathies as it was on the day when 'Jesus wept,' a 
 heart which is as open to you, dear friend, a,nd to me, as it 
 was once to Mary and Martha — pleasant it is when we can 
 look up to him as an elder brother, and say, ' All my hope 
 is in thee — ^my expectation is from the Lord^my heart is 
 fixed — I shall not be afraid of evil tidings.' 
 
 " Do you recollect what converse we often had together at 
 
 on religious subjects ? That converse was pleasant 
 
 to me, and yet painful, for I was seeking Jesus then, but I 
 
54 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 had not found him. I was too ambitious of human honour, 
 too fond of the world, to seek anything else in Jesus than a 
 deliverer from the guilt of sin. I did not hate sin itself — I 
 did not seek Jesus that I might be delivered from the power 
 and dominian of sin. There was a vehement controversy 
 between |he Holy Spirit and my carnal nature in those days ! 
 He often drew me with loving-kindness, but my neck was 
 ' an iron sinew,' and I still willingly lay in chains of dark- 
 ness, a slave to the ' beggarly elements ' of this world's enjoys- 
 ments. I did not lay to heart these words of Jesus, ' How 
 CAN ye believe, who receive honour one of another, and seek not 
 the honour that cometh from God only?' I sought to believe ; 
 but the pursuit, or rather the thirst, of worldly honour made 
 faith impossible. Glad enough I would have been, if T could 
 have followed Jesus without being obliged to deny myself, and 
 to take up the cross. I was labouring under a great delusion, 
 for I did not know that if I were only willing to leave all and 
 follow Christ, he would make the cross not heavy to be borne, 
 but a delight, more pleasant than to the miser is his load of 
 gold, or to the earthly monarch are his insignia of power. I 
 did not know what these words meant — ' My yoke is easy, 
 and my burden is light.' 
 
 " Now I understand that if we only be willing to give up 
 all for Christ, he is willing to give us more happiness, ten 
 thousand fold, than we give up for his sake. To bear the 
 cross is a burden, only if we be unwilling to bear it — if we be 
 willing, it is a well-spring of perennial comfort, nay, even of 
 joy and exultation, so that the kingdom of Christ in the soul 
 is scripturally defined to be ' righteousness, and peace, and joy 
 in the Holy Ghost.' Now, I believe that / am the chief of 
 sinners ; but ' the blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin.' I 
 believe that all my very best works are as ' a filthy rag ' — 
 
COVENANT. 55 
 
 that they cannot cover me from the storm of God's wrath: — 
 but Jesus is ' glorious in his apparel,' and his name is ' Jeho- 
 vmh our Righteousness.^ I believe that without holiness I can- 
 not see God, but if we ask from our Heavenly Father his 
 Holy Spirit, he has promised, sworn, to give it ; if we ask the 
 bread of life and holiness, he will not give us a stone." 
 
 Not, as before, in " the spirit of bondage," but in the spirit 
 of adoption and of liberty, we find him anew consecrating 
 himself to the Lord : — 
 
 "Saturday, December 4, 1841. — On this day I have 
 solemnly, at the throne of grace, subscribed the everlasting 
 covenant of grace which was entered into before the foundation 
 of the world between the Father and Son, persons of the Holy 
 Trinity. I have solemnly engaged, by the grace of God, to 
 receive Christ as my wisdom, my righteousness, my sanctijication, 
 and my redemption. My prayer has been, that the Father 
 will set the seal of the covenant, even the seal of the Holy 
 Spirit, upon my heart. As a memorial of this engagement, 
 I have chosen the following Scripture, which may the Lord 
 my Saviour hide in my heart, and make the motto of my 
 future life : ' I am crucified with Christ : nevertheless I live ; 
 yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ; and the life which I now 
 live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who 
 loved me, and gave himself for me ' — (Galatians ii. 20). 
 
 " W. H. Hewitson.'' 
 
 " I am shut up within house," he writes to Mr Dodds, on 
 11th December, ''except on days when the atmosphere is 
 
 dry As yet I am not an evangelist, and, till my health 
 
 be in some measure re-established, it may be a duty to 
 remain unlicensed. I had been asked to become M'Cheyne's 
 (of Dundee) assistant, and glad would I have been to labour 
 in the vineyard alongside of one so eminent for zeal and god- 
 
56 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 liness ; but the medical veto put an insurmountable barrier 
 in the way." He had been looking forward to the beginning 
 of 1842 as the time when he should be associated with the 
 true yoke-fellow named in this extract. Again and again 
 Mr M'Cheyne had applied to him in the hope of securing 
 him as his assistant, but Mr Hewitson still was detained 
 under the preparatory training. 
 
 How he "stands upon his watch," to hear what the Lord has 
 to say to him about his every sin ! " My dear parents," he 
 writes, on 16th December, " when I look back on my past 
 life, I find numberless stains of guilt, all shewing the dreadful 
 corruption of my nature ; and among these I find many, many 
 stains of guilt contracted by disobedience to the fifth com- 
 mandment, ' Honour thy father and thy mother.' How often, 
 from my childhood upward, I have done contrary to the will 
 and wishes of you both ! How often I have, instead of 
 honouring you according to God's commandment, spoken 
 towards you both in a manner in which I ought not to have 
 spoken ! I confess with sorrow and deep regret the unduti- 
 fulness which, if I had been a child fearing God and honomr- 
 ing his commandments, I never would have shewn towards 
 my dear father and mother. ' Truly the heart is deceitful 
 above all things, and desperately wicked.' None but God's 
 Spirit can make it clean. May he cleanse all our hearts ! 
 
 " My dear parents, when I was a child, and was himgry, 
 and asked bread, you did not give me a stone, but with 
 affectionate tenderness you gave me bread : how much more 
 will our Heavenly Father give us, if we cry aloud to him for 
 it, the Holy Spirit!" 
 
 In a note-book of this period occur the following jottings. 
 They are interesting as indicating still further the godly jea- 
 lousy wherewith he watched over his secret walk, and also 
 
DIAEY. 57 
 
 as indicating his one steadfast aim — the looking outward at 
 the face of God : — " 1841. Saturday, Dec. 25. — Detected spuit 
 of self-righteousness — Satan in form of an angel of light 
 calumniating God. Eesolved to oppose such a spirit hence- 
 forth in God's strength. Sabbath, Dec. 26. — Communicated 
 at Pittenweem; during part of the services enjoyed sweet 
 communion with Jesus ; during part, harassed with tempta- 
 tions to unbelief; in the evening, strange and painful hardness 
 of heart. ' The heart is deceitful above all things, and de- 
 sperately wicked.' Monday, Dec. 27. — Hardness of heart still 
 continued; occasionally in prayer obtained relief, but all day 
 long tormented with unbelieving thoughts, — the cause of 
 them evidently an inordinate desire of enjoying sensible com- 
 fort. Tuesday, Dec. 28. — The day brightened now and then 
 with cheering glimpses of God in Christ Jesus ; the struggle 
 with temptation to doubt still to be maintained ; sore appre- 
 hensions lest in a day of hot trial I should fall away : God 
 forbid ! Wednesday, Dec. 29. — Enjoyed more peace in be- 
 lieving ; reflected that it was as sinful to doubt God's willing- 
 ness to save me, as to doubt his existence (Ezek. xxxiii. 11). 
 How good is the Lord, who has become partaker of my nature, 
 that I might be made partaker of his divine nature ! " 
 
 With increasing emphasis he urges the paramount im- 
 portance of the outward looking, as the source of spiritual 
 health. " ' ye of little faith ! '" he writes on 5th January to 
 a friend in Edinburgh — "this tender rebuke is administered to 
 you — to me — to every one who ever is oppressed with doubt. 
 If I am sometimes disturbed suddenly with the thought, 
 ' Surely I am not yet born again ! Such hideous things I 
 still find to have a place in my soul ! Are God's children — 
 his really regenerate ones — are they such as I am?' — then 
 it is not gospel-wisdom to brood over the disquieting thought 
 
58 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 — I ought to flee for my life to Jesus, knowing, on the 
 authority of God's Word, that the blood of Jesus cleanseth 
 from all sin, and that, if I go to Jesus, he will in no wise, on 
 no account whatever, cast me out. Dwelling with sorrow on 
 the sins which I have committed, whether they be sins of 
 backsliding or of some other description,-^dwelling on them, 
 and on the apprehensions which they stir up, that I am still 
 in danger of the wrath to come, will never do me any good — 
 never set me down on safe ground ; but fleeing to Christ's 
 blood will : let me dip myself in the fountain of Calvary, I 
 am purged from an evil conscience. for more faith ! " 
 
 His was a temperament which presented no ordinary 
 barrier to this triumph of faith. He thus detects at once 
 the peril and the safeguard : — 
 
 " Grangemuir, January 26. — \To the JRev. James Dodds.y — 
 My deak Friend, — Your letter was acceptable : I had long 
 expected it. When correspondence makes a pause of many 
 weeks, as it does occasionally, friendship for the interval is, 
 though not starved, yet put upon light fare. It is at such 
 times ' saved by hope,' — kept alive by the expectation of 
 better things. Do we so confide in the constancy of absent 
 friends, and at a time when, the tokens of friendly regard 
 being less frequently renewed, imagination, stretching her 
 magic wand across the black obscurity, might easily call up 
 to view the image of cold estrangement, with averted eye, 
 casting a faded and scentless wreath on the form of departed 
 friendship, — do we, at such a time, still, amid the mockery of 
 appearances, continue to believe that our absent friends have 
 their eye turned afiectionately towards us as in former days ? 
 Do we, by such charitable judgment of one another, keep 
 alive our mutual sympathies amid the chill of long absence 
 and unfrequent intercourse ? — and shaU we not deal with at 
 
IMAGINATION AND FAITH. 59 
 
 least an equal generosity of confidence towards our absent 
 Lord ? Often he seems to have cast us off, and to have 
 alienated his loving-kindness : we enjoy not tokens for good 
 as in days past, when the candle of the Lord shone around 
 us, and we saw, amid its circlet of illumination, ' the King 
 in his beauty:' while we 'keep silence,' and our hearts are 
 black with sorrow, imagination is at work, mocking us with 
 her cruel phantasies, and guiding us into the valley of the 
 shadow of death ; we muse with the Psalmist — ' Will the 
 Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more ?' 
 This is our infirmity. We forget at such a time that we 
 have to ' walk by faith' — that we are ' saved by hope.' 
 
 " Imagination degrades us, and dishonours our Lord, when 
 it works as the handmaid of slavish fear ; but when it waits 
 upon hope, and scatters along her path the amaranthine flowers 
 of Bible truth, it gives to the Lord the glory due to his 
 faithfulness, and elevates our souls to that tone of high spiri- 
 tual feeling which ought to characterise the children of God. 
 
 " Those whose imaginations are not lively and ever astir, 
 know little, experienced though they be in the hardships 
 and adversities of spiritual Ufe, what a sum of peculiar suf- 
 ferings an imaginative temperament entails on its posses- 
 sor. Bunyan knew; Cowper knew likewise; nor was Milton 
 ignorant of these peculiar sufferings. Shakspeare, had he 
 been a converted man, would have known them; if he was 
 at length a converted man, he did know them : the deep 
 philosophising pathos of his mind, impressed on many pages 
 of his works, and forming the most deeply marked lineament 
 of his genius, shews that he endured much solitary suffering, 
 and that often in his moods of most boisterous merriment. 
 Laughter, indeed, and sorrow, are near akin. It is mighty 
 that power of grace, which gives to such as are of imagina- 
 
60 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 live temper much joy and peace in believing ; but such 
 Christians are perhaps most frequently shadowed over with 
 clouds — not clouds of despondency, but clouds of sorrow for 
 an absent Lord. All have imagination in some measure, and 
 it is well if it be subordinate to faith in Christ's faithfulness. 
 ' We are saved by hope ; ' and when hope seems to be 
 madness, we should constantly hope still, thus approving 
 Ourselves the children of faithful Abraham, and giving proof 
 that, even when the Lord seems to have averted his counte- 
 nance, we can trust in his word of promise, and rely on the 
 constancy of his kindness." 
 
 " The life of a ministry," it has been said, " is the mini- 
 ster's life." And well it may. The sermon preaches on the 
 Sabbath — ^the Ufe preaches all the week. Into Mr Hewit- 
 son's " life " a little glimpse here opens. He refers to a scene 
 of so-called harmless amusement into which he had acci- 
 dentally been thrown : — 
 
 " January 28, 1842. — .... Immediately afterwards I 
 made my escape with pleasure. No amusement is innocent 
 which takes away the soul from Jesus, or does what it can 
 to take it away." 
 
 " February 9, 1842. — .... How often have I fallen by 
 Utth — apparently vei-y little sins ! These very little sins have 
 often bound my soul in affliction and iron ; they have grown 
 up often into awful bulk before the eye of conscience, and 
 covered all the coming eternity with their shadow of death. 
 After such a season of terror, amazing seems the long-suffer- 
 ing of God, when at last the rising Sun of Righteousness 
 scatters the darkness, and effuses from his wings healing 
 into the wounded spirit. Never did any one so try the 
 forbearance of God as I have done. Oh, if he would hence- 
 forth ever keep me from falling !" 
 
"little sins" ELECTION. 61 
 
 This is not sanctimoniousness, but sanctity. The " per- 
 fect love " that cast out the " fear which hath torment " has 
 brought in another fear — the fear of offending so holy and so 
 gracious a Lord. Hence the " beauty of holiness" — not the 
 hypocrite's assumed garb, but the real sanctity — ^which now 
 adorns him. The life of his ministry is indeed to be the 
 minister's life. 
 
 We lately found him painfully sounding the depths of the 
 heart's desperate depravity. The correlative fact — Go<JCs 
 electing love — becomes proportionably precious. Himself now 
 saved, he is at no loss to determine where the love which 
 has saved him began. " If I love God in Christ," he writes 
 on 24th February, " I am assuredly one of his elect people, 
 for the fact of my eternal election is the source whence the 
 fact of my loving God originates. Thus am I enabled to 
 make my calling and election sure ; I have only to make 
 sure of the cognisable fact that I love God — then, by an 
 inference of scriptural warrant, I become sure of the fact, not 
 directly cognisable, that I am elected and called of the 
 Father. The scriptural warrant, the seal of tbe Spirit 
 alluded to, is directly given (Rom. viii. 28), vyhere God iden- 
 tifies the character of Christians as drawn by the description, 
 ' them who love God,' with the character of Christians as 
 described in the words, ' them who are the called according 
 to his purpose.' " 
 
 And again: — " Often has the Lord suffered me to be 
 wrapt in a midnight of darkness, and ' to wander in the 
 wilderness in a solitary way,' where there was no city to 
 dwell in, just that I might learn more implicit trust in his 
 free, absolute, sovereign grace, laid up in Jesus Christ from all 
 eternity. No lesson is more painful, more difScult to learn, 
 than this one, — that in order to be washed, and justified, and 
 
62 MEMOIK OP THE BKV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 sanctified, we need mly to lean on the arm of Jehovah's 
 righteousness. We no sooner think that we can do some- 
 thing ourselves, than we fall ; and rise again we cannot, — for 
 the children of the kingdom are very helpless children, till 
 Jehovah place underneath us the everlasting arms." 
 
 The believers consciousness that he is the object of God's 
 special electing love, we find Mr Hewitson urging upon a 
 deeply afilicted disciple, as of all consolations the most glad- 
 dening. " From all eternity," says he, " it was the Father's 
 will to strengthen you during your present trial. If an earthly 
 king should spend one whole hour in prayer on my behalf, I 
 should adore the grace which had melted his heart into such 
 tender brotherly-kindness. Oh, then, how amazing this love 
 of the King of kings, in looking forward from the depths of 
 eternity upon my present struggle, and purposing thus at 
 length, when the struggle came, to place gently underneath 
 me the everlasting arm ! ' Blessed be the God and Father 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all 
 spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as 
 he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.' " 
 And the bearing of the doctrine on the unconverted: — 
 " February 10, 1841. — In the parched desert, does the 
 thirsting Arab hear in the distance the Euphrates pouring 
 down its sea of waters ? He is a firm predestinarian ; but he 
 does not say, ' Oh, what if these waters were not destined 
 ever to quench my thirst ! ' No, he makes haste — he comes to 
 the river's brink — ^he drinks, and goes away refreshed, while 
 the stream flows on as full and free as ever. As the parched 
 Arab to the Euphrates, so to the ' river of the water of life ' 
 come whosoever will, whosoever thirsteth. Do I feel my heart 
 to be as hard as the flinty rock ? — then I am athirst : this 
 river is flowing for me." 
 
THE PILLAR-CLOUD. 63 
 
 Whither shall he now be led ? His own longings and the 
 Lord's leadings are thus indicated : — 
 
 " Grangemuir, February 9, 1842. — \_To his Mother.] — My 
 health continues nearly at the same point; occasionally I 
 have slight pain in the chest, directly above the region of the 
 heart ; but no cough, no expectoration. If it be the Lord's 
 will, I should like much to be spared a while for the work of 
 the ministry.'' 
 
 " Grangemuir, March 14, 1842. — [To Br Moir, Edinburgh.] 
 
 — Lord W wishes me to accompany him to Bonn in 
 
 Germany, and stay there from the beginning of June till the 
 month of October. Myself, I should be disinclined to go, if 
 my state of health were such as to admit of my engaging in 
 the work of an evangelist. Now, dear sir, do you think that 
 my staying at home for the purpose, of doing work in the Lord's 
 vineyard (were he to give opportunity) would be a safe and 
 justifiable course in my present state of health ? I wish to 
 adopt that course which may be most for God's glory, but as 
 yet I have obtained not a ray of light to guide me to a deci- 
 sion. Yom- communication I shall regard as an element of 
 the counsel and direction vouchsafed to me in this matter. 
 A residence of four months in Germany would be attended 
 with some advantages, one of which would be the acquisition 
 of the German language — a language which, if ever I should 
 think of becoming a missionary to the Jews, it would be 
 important to have in some measure acquired." 
 
 " Qrangemuir, March 24, 1842. — [To the same.] — I enjoyed 
 exceedingly my stay, short though it was, in Edinburgh. 
 My prayer had been that I might know something among all 
 of you my friends, whom I should visit, of ' the fulness of 
 the blessing of the gospel of Christ ;' and I can say with 
 thankfulness that the good, the blessed God, did grant an 
 
64 MEMOIR OF THE BBV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 answer to the prayer. Another prayer also was answered. 
 When I set out for Edinburgh I knew not what course to 
 take, in reference to going to Bonn, — ^but my prayer for direc- 
 tion had gone up to the presence of God. When I left yon 
 on my return homeward, my prayer had been answered, — the 
 path shone clearly before me, in the light of a prayer-answer- 
 ing, aU-directing Providence ; and now I feel myself at per- 
 fect liberty to go to Germany, — nay, more, I could not at the 
 present moment conscientiously think of not going." 
 
 " Grangemuir, April 13, 1842. — [To the Rev. J. M'Clymont.'j 
 — A week or two since, I crossed the Frith to consult my 
 medical advisers in Edinburgh, who told me that the affection 
 in my lungs has made no progress during winter (for which 
 God be thanked!), but that, in my present state of health, I 
 could not engage in the regular work of preaching, without 
 completely shattering my already debilitated system, till at 
 least a year more has elapsed. Glad I'll be to submit to the 
 burden thus laid upon me by God, — if so be I may be enabled 
 at length to enter with recruited energy on the gospel-field 
 of labour. I relish exceedingly the gospel-views of Christ 
 which your letters so markedly bring out, and in such broad 
 contrast to the law-views of a Judaistic spirit, which, for 
 want of clear discernment of Christ, pervades the preaching 
 of many even of regenerated ministers.'' 
 
 " Same date. — [To Dr Marsden.'] — It is with greater and 
 better-grounded hope than a little while ago, that I now look 
 forward to the time when I shall be able to preach the 
 gospel. ... To visit you in going to Germany will not be 
 possible ; but in returning, if the Lord spare me to go and 
 return, I expect to enjoy the wished-for opportunity of seeing 
 you in Devonshire. This is the representation of a not-far-off 
 future day, which the heart's wish dashes off in friendship's 
 
LICENCE. 65 
 
 camera obscura. But as for all my wishes, purposes, and 
 prospects, I put them gladly into the hand of the Lord, whose 
 ordinations are wisest and best. His blessing, my dear friend, 
 be On you." 
 
 On 30th April he left Grangemuir for Dalmellington. " I 
 appeared," he writes to Mr Dodds, on 10th May, " before 
 Ayr Presbytery last Wednesday [May 4], and, after reading 
 all my discourses, or rather a part of each and all, I was 
 licensed to preach the gospel. Next Sabbath I shall very 
 probably preach in the forenoon here. Will you specially 
 remember me in prayer, in connexion with this my first 
 appearance in the pulpit? Will you pray that I may go 
 forward to preach, 'not with the enticing words of man's 
 wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power?' " 
 
 He preached his first sermon, on the following Sabbath, at 
 Dalmellington. "I was, in answer to prayer," he writes in 
 regard to it, on May 18, " strengthened both in body and in 
 soul : the Lord bless the seed sown 1 Beyond the shedding 
 of tears by some, / know not of any effect produced ; the 
 Lord knoweth — that is enough. The exertion of preaching, 
 in a church not easy of command, fatigued me somewhat 
 for a time, but has been followed by no bad effects : the Lord 
 sustained me!" 
 
 After preaching on the succeeding Sabbath at Troon, he 
 set out for Germany, painfully feeling that " at present his 
 strength was quite unequal to the work of preaching fre- 
 quently;" but not less trustfully hoping that " by the grace 
 of Godj he might be laying up in heaven by prayer, and in 
 his own heart by reading of the Word and meditation, the 
 elements of future ministration in the pulpit." 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 Summer 1842. 
 
 Eesidence at Bonn — Grerman Society — ^The Sabbath in Germany — 
 Spiritual Trials — Illness — Return to Dalmellington. 
 
 " I SAW Mr Hewitsan on his way to Germany the other 
 day," wrote Dr Chalmers on the 11th June 1842, " and was 
 much pleased with the unction of spirituality that savoured 
 his whole conversation." On 6th June he reached London — 
 his " health better, by God's mercy, than when he had been 
 in Edinburgh ; " and on the 9th he sailed for the Rhine. 
 
 " My journey to London,'' he writes from Bonn, on June 
 27th, "was pleasant. At Rotterdam I spent Thiursday night; 
 on Friday night I slept at Emmerich, about 111 miles up the 
 Rhine, and on Saturday evening reached Diisseldorf, where, 
 with my young friends, I stayed till Monday morning. We 
 attended Divine service in a Lutheran chapel at Diisseldorf, 
 where a Welsh clergyman officiated — one who, I suppose, 
 happened to be for a short time on a visit to that town. 
 On Monday afternoon we reached Bonn. We succeeded in 
 arranging to go as boarders into the family of Professor 
 Brandis, one of the distinguished philosophers of Germany. 
 
 " You have no idea," he continues, " how much reason we 
 
THE SABBATH IN GERMANY. 67 
 
 have to be thankful for the privileges and the blessings 
 which belong to us as Britons, and especially as Scotchmen. 
 Scotland is indeed, as compared with this country, a highly 
 favoured land — a land of valleys, and well-springs, and 
 fountains of water. This is a very Catholic country ; and 
 the Protestant population, though considerable, seems to be 
 deeply tinctured with an evil spirit of conformity to prevailing 
 customs. The Sabbath-day is not to be found here, or iden- 
 tified, except by a small round of circumstances — the sus- 
 pension of some kinds of common day-work — the going to 
 church once in the day ; but scarcely anything besides that 
 speaks of Sabbatic sacredness. The Roman Catholics, who 
 greatly preponderate in numbers, have their shops all open, 
 as usual; and I am afraid that not only with Roman 
 Catholics, but likewise with most of the Protestant popu- 
 lation, the Sabbath is made a day of physical recreation and 
 festive enjoyment. Even among the reputedly religious 
 Protestants there is, so far as my opportunities of observation 
 go, a prevalence of lax notions, not only with regard to the 
 observance of the Sabbath, but likewise with regard to the 
 
 evil of general conformity to the world. Mrs , who, 
 
 with her husband, belongs to the class of religious professors, 
 makes a practice of sewing on the Sabbath evening; and 
 this practice, I fear, is generally prevalent, of occupying that 
 time in secular employment which it is an inestimable pri- 
 vilege to have set apart by God for the purpose of reli- 
 gious exercise, and of preparation for the Sabbath-day of 
 eternity. 
 
 " To read of such things at a distance, does not bring 
 them close to our minds as living realities, and impress us, 
 through force of contrast, with sentiments of profound grati- 
 tude to God, who has, according to the eternal purpose of 
 
68 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 liis grace, made our own land to diflfer so widely from such 
 lands as this. To see the difference — to observe the tyrant 
 power of custom actually working, and carrying adrift from 
 Bible practices the mass of a population — to hear this and 
 that other departure from living godliness vindicated on the 
 plea of custom — general custom,— :that gives feeUng and life 
 to our apprehensions of an order of things to which, happily, 
 by the goodness of God, we ourselves are not subject. My 
 remarks apply only to the narrow circle of my observations 
 and hearsays. I ought, therefore, in all fairness, to make 
 them with a caveat against the receiving of them as a de- 
 scription of the general aspect of German society in this 
 neighbourhood. They may, however — there is some reason 
 to believe that they do — apply to a far wider range than that 
 of my actual observation, for the njildew of Rationalism has 
 been long on the religion of Germany." 
 
 The' new scene he felt to be testing to his own soul. 
 Under the pressure of its carnalities, the needle is seen 
 trembling aside ; but steadily does it tremble back again to 
 its attracting pole^ "There is a line," he goes on to write, "in 
 one of the classic poets, to the purport, that ' he who passes 
 into a distant land undergoes a change, not of feeling, of 
 character, but only of climate.' Here, as in Scotland, my 
 enemies are keeping up against me their old warfare, and 
 continuing to teach me the lesson that the way oif life is 
 truly narrow, and that it is a diflScult achievement to be 
 a Christian — to follow in the footsteps of the Holy Jesus. 
 Amidst the things which we see, it is not easy to look away 
 with steadfast eyes to the things unseen of eternity. Amidst 
 so many little ends and aims which we must have whUe we 
 are in the body, it is no easy work to shoot over, and, in all 
 things, beyond these, at the great end and aim of every 
 
RESTING IN GOD. 69 
 
 work — God himself. To rest in God without ever leaving 
 that home, without ever venturing out of doors, and away 
 from under the roof of God's covenant-love — to have our 
 hearts balanced on God as their centre, and so balanced that, 
 under the ruder touches of temptation, they may be moved 
 to and fro, like the nicely poised stones of the Druids, but, 
 like these stones, always return again to their rest — that is 
 to be blessed indeed — to be blessed, like the Psalmist, who 
 said, after some rough onset of Satan, ' I shall not be greatly 
 moved.' 
 
 "When we have in some measure yielded to the impulse of 
 carnal feelings coming in upon us suddenly like a flood, or 
 imperceptibly like the stealthy fall of dew — and when the 
 good Spirit of the Lord has lifted up his banner, calling us to 
 come back under the shadow of its protection— and when we 
 have hastened back at his call, humbled and sorrowful-^and 
 when, taking courage to look up into the face of our Heavenly 
 Father, we see, not the frown that would rebuke us away, but 
 the smile that bids us welcome ; — oh ! then we find, by sweet 
 experience, how blessed a thing it is to have God for our 
 habitation, to which we may continually resort, and to be 
 able to address our souls in the language of the Psalmist, 
 ' Return unto thy rest, my soul, for the Lord hath dealt 
 bountifully with thee : for thou hast delivered my soul from 
 death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.' " 
 
 The Christianity of the closet, and the Christianity of 
 busy life, are not, as is often fancied, conflicting things. 
 The man who has fellowship with Jesiis in his solitude, 
 knows how to carry the savour of the fellowship even into 
 the most common affairs. "There is need," continues Mr 
 Hewitson in the same letter, " oi prayer in this matter. For, 
 though we be convinced, and heartily acknowledge, that 
 
70 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 there is but one thing needful, we are easily led away, like 
 Martha, to busy and trouble ourselves about ' many things.' 
 Many things we must needs do and care about, while we 
 are. in the flesh; but the work to which Christ calls us is 
 to do and care about these things in such a spirit as to make 
 them part and parcel of our great work — the work of keeping 
 close to Jesus, and of following him whithersoever he goeth. 
 It requires much grace to take at once a necessary interest 
 in these things, and to retain the closeness, the fervency, of 
 our first love to Jesus.'' 
 
 The invalid's enervated frame slowly recruited its strength. 
 " I had the pleasure," writes Mr T. Constable to Dr Moir on 
 24th June, " of seeing our friend, Mr Hewitson, in Bonn, 
 about ten days ago. He considers his health much im- 
 proved, but still looks very delicate." And on 12th July, he 
 himself writes :— " The heat has not been greater than it is 
 in the south of England. Some days the weather is veiy 
 mild, and sometimes it is even coldish. I agree apparently 
 well with the climate, and hope that my stay here may have 
 a beneficial effect on my system. 
 
 "Eeligion," he continues, giving the result of further 
 observations and experience of the scene around him, "seems 
 to be here, even among the best Protestants, in a very back- 
 ward and dull condition. Not only do they desecrate the 
 Lord's day in their practice, but they likewise attempt to 
 defend the desecration of it on the plea of Scripture — Scrip- 
 ture, of course, being wrested into an accordance with their 
 own lives and liking. Altogether, if parents, who are 
 acquainted with the irreligious character of German society, 
 send their children from Britain to be educated here, without 
 employing all possible means of guarding their children's 
 minds against the evil influences that are at work, they take 
 
SPIRITUAL TRIALS. 71 
 
 the best way of destroying the souls which should be as dear 
 to them as the apple of the eye." 
 
 To a beloved brother, he again, in the confidence of spiri- 
 tual fellowship, lifts the veil which concealed from other eyes 
 his trials and triumphs of faith. " You have been present 
 to my thoughts daily, at the throne of grace,'' he writes on 
 18th July, to Mr Dickson; "the Lord grant you the bless- 
 ings of salvation and life which I ask from him on your 
 behalf. Since I left you, my dear friend, I have had 
 sharp conflicts in the inner man — sore burning in the furnace 
 of spiritual trial. The Lord's goings are in the dark, and 
 hidden from those who have no pleasure in searching them 
 out : but his secret is with those who fear him — to his people 
 he gives wisdom and spiritual understanding. He has 
 shewn to me — blessed be his name! — the reason why he 
 smote me, and gave me up for a while to the buflfetings of 
 Satan. He has also shewn me that it is good to suffer aiflic- 
 tion, and to bear the yoke. During my journey, many cir- 
 cumstances combined to prevent my regular approaches to 
 the throne of grace ; and for a fortnight I had, I may say, 
 no savour of heavenly things — leanness came into my soul — 
 I was miserable. O what a blessed privilege it is to have 
 access to a throne of mercy ! I feel, I have been taught of 
 Grod to feel, that, to the upbuilding and abundant comforting 
 of the believer, it is essential practically and cordially to 
 recognise in our God, who is love — love without bounds — a 
 freely actinff, independent, sovereign, absolute, predestinating God. 
 Till now, I never knew what infinite comfort there is in the 
 eternal decrees — the ' everlasting covenant-purposes of our 
 God and King. Till now, I never knew how much comfort 
 is to be found in crucifying the self-will of the carnal mind, 
 and lying prostrate at the feet of Jesus. Happy was the 
 
72 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 woman who had such access to him that she could wash 
 his feet with her tears, and wipe them with the hair of her 
 head!" 
 
 And, in the sequel of the same letter, we find him once 
 more "sighing and crying"- over the poverty-stricken re- 
 Ugionism of the country — not, however, without tasting the 
 blessedness of the man who, " passing through the valley of 
 Baca, makes it a well." " July 20. — An unexpected incident 
 prevented me from concluding my letter yesterday. I must 
 let you know what are the fountains which the Lord has 
 opened up for my refreshment in this place. Philosophy is 
 the Dagon of many here, who, but for it, might become 
 zealous Christians ; and I am afraid that a sickly everythmg- 
 praising and mery-^ort-of-p&rsom-approving sentimentalism has 
 too much influence over others in the religious community-^ 
 if religious community I may call that which is in almost 
 everything conformed to the surrounding world. The emo- 
 tions of a religiously afiected imagination, how difierent from 
 the feelings of a religiously affected hmrt ! There is a place 
 of worship here for the English Episcopalians : I have at- 
 tended it; the ministrations are often very dry and sapless. 
 I have, however, become acquainted with a pious family 
 from Glasgow. We have commenced a prayer-meeting, 
 which is attended by two families of EpiscopaUans among 
 other persons. The meeting is held on Sabbath evenings. 
 Last Sabbath was the day of its commencement. The 
 prayer-meeting is a great source of refreshment, or rather a 
 means of bringing refreshment to the soul, from the only 
 source and well-spring of spiritual blessing, the love of God 
 in Christ. I do not, therefore, feel so-intensely as I did after 
 my first arrival in Germany, that I am not in Scotland — not 
 under the shadow of Christ's vine-tree in the covenanting 
 
CONSOLATIONS. 73 
 
 land of my fathers; but still, as the unsabbatized Sunday 
 comes round — a day trampled on alike by Protestants and 
 Romanists — I do feel, and that sometimes painfully, that I am 
 not living in the land of Sabbaths. Alas for Sabbath-travel- 
 ling in Scotland ! Germany tells me that, if Scotland lose 
 her Sabbaths, she will lose along with them her religion and 
 her God. How is the beloved Church of Scotland faring? 
 that the eyes of her enemies were opened to see that 
 Christ is and must be her only King! The Protestant 
 Church in this province is Presbyterian likewise; but it 
 does not hold many of the great gospel principles, such as 
 Christ's kingship over the body of the Church, which cha- 
 racterises the Kirk of Scotland. Remember me in prayer, 
 for I am weak, and often sore vexed in spirit. Grace be 
 •mihyour soul I" 
 
 Himself "comforted of God," how tender and fresh the 
 consolation he administers to a companion in tribulation! 
 " I have been very much grieved to learn," were his words 
 of touching sympathy to a friend in Edinburgh, on August 
 6th, "that your suffering, since I left Scotland, has been 
 greater than formerly. My dear friend, let patience have its 
 perfect work. The furnace is hot ; but Christ is with you in 
 the midst of it, and not a hair of your head shall be harmed. 
 It is the portion of his saints to have evil things here, and to 
 be comforted hereafter. You go by a rugged way of suffering, 
 but always, as you go, you see the track marked out by the 
 blood-drops of your crucified Lord. You are tried with sore 
 pain in the morning : at nine o'clock in the morning Christ 
 was nailed to the cross. All day long you are afflicted with 
 pain : Christ hung on the cross in an agony till three o'clock 
 in the afternoon. ' Behold the Lamb of God,' and, amidst 
 your sufferings, take comfort from the sight of his wounded, 
 
74 MEMOm OF THE REV. TV. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 bleeding body. The Lord give you grace to figlit against all 
 your enemies — all doubts, and fear, and unbelief — with that 
 sword of the Spirit, ' It is finished.' " 
 
 And the Gilgal-Ebenezer he again sets up : — " Since I 
 came here," the letter concludes, " God has been very gracious 
 to me, and has pardoned me many sins, and often made me 
 to cry out after greater holiness. In this wilderness the 
 Lord has prepared for me a table in the midst of mine ene- 
 mies, and given me still more and more to know that, amidst 
 all outward disadvantages, he is able to make a channel by 
 which his grace may flow down into the soul. My kind love 
 to my young friend Susan ; she must be like Christ — the 
 child Christ Jesus: here is a verse for her — Luke ii. 40. 
 My health is pretty good. I hope to be the better of the 
 climate. God's grace be with you !" 
 
 Emphatically is his inner life now, as before, a life " hid 
 with Christ in God." He lives " in God," because he lives 
 "with Christ." The constancy of this fellowship "with 
 Christ " may be gathered from his words to another. " Put 
 your hand of faith," he writes to one of his sisters on 6th 
 August, " every day on the hand of Christ ; — transfer to that 
 acceptable, accepted sacrifice all your guilt — for why should 
 guilt burden your conscience for a single hour, when, by an 
 act of faith, it may be laid on the head of the Lamb, who 
 alone can bear the burden? Every day look on the Lamb 
 sufiering for you, wounded for your transgressions, bruised for 
 your iniquities. The more you look out on Christ crucified, 
 the more will you feel your guilt — your lost state by nature — 
 the awfulness of God's justice, which required no less costly 
 a sacrifice than Christ to take away your sins — the infinite 
 tenderness of God's love and grace, which, in order to save 
 poor sinners, did not spare the Son of God ; — the more you 
 
SELF-DENIAL. 75 
 
 look on Christ, the more will you be moved by the Spirit of 
 grace to love him who first loved you, to seek communion 
 with him, to desire and pray for conformity to his holy like- 
 ness.'' 
 
 Nor is this the mere tinsel-theology of a soul which itself 
 knows not experimentally the exercises of the hidden life. 
 For what does he write to another of his sisters two days 
 afterwards ? " We can easily tell," says he, " when the flesh 
 is working in us : then we feel our souls drawn to the love 
 of the things that are of the world — drawn to lust, to pride, 
 to stubborn selfishness, to lying, to anger, wrath, malice, 
 quarrelling, to covetousness, sensuality, or such like (see 
 Gal. v. 19, 20, 21). We can discern also when the Spirit is 
 working in us : then we feel our souls moved and drawn to 
 the exercise of holy afiections — ' love, joy, peace, long-suffer- 
 ing, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance ' (Gal. 
 V. 22). If we walk after the Spirit in the exercise of these 
 affections, we are renewed daily in the inward man, and go 
 forward in. a course of holy living : but the habitual following 
 of the Spirit in the exercise of these heavenly affections implies 
 that we daily crucify the flesh with the affections and lusts ; 
 and this is difficult, it is trying work — but Christ tells us 
 that, if we will follow him, we must take up our cross, and 
 deny ourselves, and so follow him : there is no way of going 
 after Christ but the way of self-crucifixion and seK-denial 
 (Gal. V. 24)." 
 
 " I never have a moment's peace," are his words to 
 another, " when I return in the slightest degree to conformity 
 with the world ; but I always have great peace when my 
 soul returns home to its ' city of refuge,' the Lord Jesus 
 Christ. Communion with Christ is the only source of satis- 
 fying, the only source of lasting, enjoyment. I have enjoyed 
 
76 MEMOIR OF THE KEY. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 more even this morning, from beholding the loveliness and 
 glory of Christ, as revealed to me by the Spirit, than I have 
 done from the world dnring the whole of my life past." 
 
 Farther discipline awaited him. In the course of this 
 month of August, he was suddenly prostrated by an inflam- 
 matory attack, which brought him to the very verge of the 
 grave. " The doctor has been attending me," he writes to 
 his parents, from Bonn, on 20th September, " almost daily 
 till now : the disease was inflammation of the windpipe, 
 with slight inflammation in the right lung. It has been the 
 Lord's will to Uft me again from the bed of languishing, and 
 to enable me, though still very weak, to undertake to com- 
 mence to-morrow my homeward journey. You need not be 
 alarmed or anxious now on my account, for the symptoms of 
 the disease have all disappeared, with the exception of pain- 
 fulness in drawing a full and prolonged inhalation, and to that 
 the doctor (Professor Alberti) who attended me does not 
 attach much importance. This time last year the Lord smote 
 me ; again he has laid on me the rod of chastisement : this 
 ought to humble my soul, and lead me to walk softly before 
 him, in bitterness and contrition of spirit, all the days of my 
 life. I intend, if the Lord will, to go to Edinburgh, and to 
 spend a few weeks there ; afterwards to come home to Dal- 
 mellington." 
 
 On his arrival in Edinburgh, he was examined by his 
 physician. " I still continue weak," he wrote to his sister, 
 on 13th October ; " I cannot walk more than two or three 
 hundred yards without tottering of the knees. The fatigue 
 of my long journey has now worn off, and left me in a state 
 of convalescence, nearly such as I was in when I left Bonn. 
 Dr Alberti at Bonn discovered — and, since I came to Edin- 
 burgh, Dr Henderson has likewise discovered — that a con- 
 
ILLNESS RETURN TO DALMELLINGTON. 77 
 
 siderable portion of the right lung has become hardened, or 
 hepatized, since the first detection of weakness in the chest. 
 There is, however, no ulceration as yet ; but the greatest 
 care is necessary to guard against colds, for I am given to 
 imderstand that the contraction of a cold might, in my present 
 state, easily bring on ulceration. Using the means of heal- 
 ing recommended, with prayer for God's blessing on the use 
 of them, I must submit myself in patient resignation to his 
 will : He does all things in tender mercy, and he is able yet 
 to heal me." 
 
 It had been recommended that he should repair that winter 
 to Madeira. But the Lord's time was not yet come for that. 
 The alternative suggested was, that he should " keep within 
 doors all winter" at Dalmellington. To this alternative his 
 own inclination strongly leaned. It was adopted. After 
 another medical examination, by which it was ascertained 
 that the disease in the lungs had made no progress for two 
 months, he returned home in the beginning of December 1842. 
 
CHAPTEE VI. 
 
 1842-1844. 
 
 Retirement at Dalmellington-^tndy of Prophecy— The Lord's Second 
 Coming — Rejoicing in hope — Personal Holiness — Health — Views of the 
 Christian Life — Madeira. 
 
 " Solitude," it has been said, " made a Cincinnatus, ripening 
 the hero and the patriot." In a loftier sense was Mr Hewit- 
 son again taken into solitude, to be ripened, not into a hero, 
 but into a meek, God-trusting missionary. The process 
 extends over a period of nearly two years. A series of 
 touches from his own expressive pencil will bring out the 
 more salient featiures. 
 
 " Dalmellington, December 15, 1842. — [To a friend in Edin- 
 burgh.'] — Since I came home, the time I devote to reading 
 has been chiefly given to prayerful examination of the word 
 of prophecy regarding the blessed hope of the glorious 
 appearing of the great God and our Saviour. The result is, 
 that I am fully convinced of the nearness of the time when 
 the Lord shall come with his saints to reign over the earth. 
 This conclusion I have reached, after having been long 
 bound down, by prejudice and inattention to God's prophetic 
 word, under the yoke of what I now see to be imscriptural 
 and ill-founded opinions. The rest of God's people is near 
 
PROPHETIC STUDIES. 79 
 
 at hand ; faint not now that you are chastened of the Lord ; 
 for yet a little while, and the enemies which yon see this 
 day, you will see no more for ever. Eead, for consolation, 
 EcT. i. 7; 2 Pet. iii. 14 ; and Rev. vii. 13-17." 
 
 The decision here intimated had not been arrived at 
 hastily. Ere the doctrine of the Lord's pre-millennial 
 appearing took its place in his creed, he had had, as he inti- 
 mates, not a little to unlearn. In passing through London 
 on his way to Bonn, he had been urged by various friends 
 to the study of the '' sure word of prophecy," specially in its 
 bearing on the Advent. But, established in an opposite 
 view — not, indeed, as the result of any careful Bible study, 
 but rather as a mere hereditary belief — he had resented the 
 urgency with a certain impatience and irritation. In his 
 solitude at Bonn, however, and afterwards at Dalmellington, 
 the " light shining in the dark place " had at length attracted 
 his eye ; and to that " light " he never again ceased to feel 
 that he " did well " to " take heed." " How many," we find 
 him afterwards writing, " think that prophecy unfulfilled is 
 a dark place, instead of looking to it as to ' a light shining in 
 a dark place I ' " 
 
 " Let me direct your attention," he writes to Mr Dodds, 
 expounding the passage in the Bible which -first decided his 
 judgment, " to the argument in favour of the pre-millennial 
 advent of the Lord, afforded in the prophecy which he de- 
 livered on the Mount of Olives respecting the destruction of 
 .Jerusalem and ' the end of the age ' (tov alayvo<;). 
 
 " In Luke xxi. there is contained a prediction (ver. 8-22) of 
 what should happen before the destruction of Jerusalem, and 
 (ver. 23, 24) of the vengeance which should be poured out on 
 the Jews at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, and 
 afterwards during the interval that was to elapse between 
 
80 MEMOIR OF THE RET. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 that event and ' the fulfilment of the times of the Gentiles.' 
 Jerusalem is still 'trodden down of the G-entiles,' for 
 as yet ' the times of the Gentiles' have not been fulfilled. 
 In the two following verses (25, 26) it is predicted that the 
 point of time fixed for the restoration of Jerusalem and the 
 ruin of Gentile power, is to he accompanied or preceded by 
 general ' distress of nations,' political distress, ani perplexity/ — 
 by 'roaring of the waves,' clamour and anarchy of fam- 
 ished, ungodly multitudes — by desponding fears and anxi- 
 ous expectations — ^by a shaking of ' the powers of heaven,' 
 or convulsion of civil and ecclesiastical institutions. 'And 
 THEN (ver. 27) the Son of man shall be seen coming in a cloud 
 with power and great glory.' These words are quoted from 
 the language in which Daniel describes (viir 13, 14) the 
 destruction of the fourth beast or Eoman monarchy, and the 
 solemn investiture of the Messiah with the government of 
 the world. A similar quotation or allusion is made, Matt, 
 xxvi. 64; Acts i. 9, 11; Rev. i. 7. 
 
 " It has been alleged," he continues, " by some interpre- 
 ters — on what ground of analogy, or of criticism, or of sound 
 judgment, I cannot imagine — that the coming here spoken 
 of (I mean in Luke xxi.) means the coming of Titus to 
 destroy Jerusalem. Against an allegation so groundless, I 
 need only remark, that the coming of Titus to Jerusalem was 
 before ' the great tribulation,' for it was the beginning and 
 first cause of ' the great tribulation ; ' whereas the coming of 
 the Son of man in the clouds of heaven, here spoken of, is to 
 take place after that tribulation, as is manifest from Matt, 
 xxiv. 29, 30, and Mark xiii. 24, 26. Thus, while the analogy 
 of scriptural expression, and the analogy (even more to be 
 attended to) of the degree of literality in which, not as man 
 thinks prophecy ought to be fulfilled, but in which prophecy 
 
PROPHETIC STUDIES. 81 
 
 has hitherto actually hem fulfilled, go to establish that ' the 
 coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven,' spoken of 
 in the prediction referred to, is a personal coming, the sub- 
 sequent context in Luke, Matthew, Mark, makes the fact, I 
 think, indisputable ; and the time of ' the coming ' is ' imme- 
 diately after the great tribulation' (Matt. xxiv. 29)." 
 
 His calm and prayerful study of the Word gradually 
 evolved confirmatory proofs. " I should like you to con- 
 sider," he writes to Mr Dickson, on 10th January 1843, 
 " the following "scriptural facts, and to communicate to me 
 your opinion as founded upon them. In 2 Thess. ii. 1-8, 
 the inspired apostle speaks evidently of the personal coming 
 of our Lord. He mentions a circumstance which must pre- 
 cede that event (verse 3), and then a circumstance which is 
 to accompany or happen contemporaneously with it (verse 8). 
 The former circumstance has already, according to the pre- 
 diction, taken place, and the latter circumstance — the one 
 which must synchronise with our Lord's coming — is about 
 to be fulfilled, at all events will, without shadow of doubt 
 or controversy, be fulfilled before the commencement of the 
 ' thousand years.' No one doubts, or can doubt, that ' the 
 Man of Sin ' is to be destroyed before the kingdom be given 
 ' to the people of the saints of the Most High.' Now, accord- 
 ing to the prophecy in question, the coming of the Lord is 
 contemporaneous, or rather, in strict language, antecedent, 
 for it is by the brightness iiin^dveui) of his coming {irapov- 
 a-kui) that the Man of Sin is to be destroyed." 
 
 And a month later, writing to Mr Dodds, he adds — " It is 
 predicted^ — and I make this remark apart fronj any reference 
 to the hope of Christ's speedy coming— that, immediately 
 before the introduction of millennial glory, ' there shall be a 
 time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation, 
 
 F 
 
82 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 even to that same time' (Dan. xii. 1). Our Lord seems evi- 
 dently to describe the period in question, when he says (Matt. 
 xxiv. 21), ' Then shall be great tribulation, such as was not 
 since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever 
 shall be.' This is the tribulation again predicted as befall- 
 ing in the time of the seventh vial of wrath, a time when 
 the mightiest earthquake and the greatest that has been 
 ' since men were upon the earth,' is to convulse and ruin the 
 kingdoms of the world -(Rev. xvi.). 
 
 " On the subject of Christ's coming, I am not well able to 
 say more at present than that the argument founded on 2 
 Thess. ii. remains unshaken, whatever be the nature of the 
 coming spoken of in Matt, jociv., because the whole context 
 of the former passage shuts ois up to the necessity, as I 
 judge, of admitting that St Paul speaks of a personal coming. 
 I may just add that, so far as I can see, the whoh prophecy 
 contained in the latter passage has -yet to receive a more 
 complete fulfilment than it received at the time of the capture 
 of Jerusalem. When I say, ' the whok prophecy,' I include all 
 the minute details, such as the abomination of desolation 
 standing in the holy place, the flight to the mountains, &c. 
 These details will, I expect, soon be fulfilled by the gathering 
 of the nations for the battle of Armageddon, &c. The car- 
 case of the ungodly nations wiU be in Judea, and there will 
 the eagles be also, as predicted Rev. xix. 17, 18." 
 
 The "Wessed hope" took its place thenceforth, not only 
 in his understanding, but in his heart. He not only believed 
 in the speedy "appearing" — ^he loved it — ^waited for it — 
 watched for it. " Faith," we find him saying, " looks back 
 to the cross, and is at peace ; it looks forward to the crown, 
 and pants for glory. to have more of the life and power of 
 such a faith ! " So mighty a motive power did it become. 
 
REJOICING IN HOPE. 83 
 
 that he used to speak of it ever afterwards as bringing with 
 it a kind of second conversion. It is inwoven with the tex- 
 ture of his whole future life. 
 
 " Love of theory," he writes, " should have no existence in 
 the mind of a disciple, whose single aim is to know the mind 
 of Christ, as it is embodied in the holy Scriptures. Nothing 
 but this — we have the mind of Ckrkt — can enable us to mould 
 and regulate our hopes as we ought- and prophecy is the 
 only — the divinely appointed — ^means of formirig our hopes 
 according to the mind of Christ. Our part, therefore, is to 
 be ever ready to admit fresh light as it is given from above, 
 and ever ' taking heed to the sure word of prophecy,' that 
 more light may be given," His attitude, intellectually and 
 spiritually, in relation to this great theme, could not be more 
 graphically portrayed. 
 
 We have a glimpse of the invalid that winter, given by 
 one who visited him " The first time that I met and con- 
 versed with Mr Hewitson," writes the Rev. Mr Stevenson of 
 Ayr, " was on the evening of Friday, 13th January 1843. 
 A meeting was held that evening in the parish church of 
 Dalmellington, with a view to the approaching disruption of 
 the Church of Scotland. After the meeting was closed, the 
 members of the deputation — the Rev. Dr Henderson of 
 Glasgow, Rev. Mr Dickie of Beith, and myself — called on Mr 
 Hewitson. I have a vivid remembrance of his appearance 
 that evening. His emaciated frame, and the hectic flush on 
 his cheek, seemed to mark him out too plainly as destined 
 to be a victim of consumption. But the ardent spirit within 
 nerved his feeble frame with a surprising energy. His whole 
 heart was in our movement. He spoke with great animation 
 of the prospects of the Church, and the days of darkness 
 which we might anticipate before the time of millennial glory. 
 
84 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 We were much struck with his fervency of spirit, and left 
 him deeply regretting that, in the mysterious providence of 
 God, the Church was apparently to be so soon deprived of 
 the services of one ^ remarkably qualified by his gifts and 
 graces for labouring successfully in the vineyard of the Lord. 
 For when we bade him farewell, we all believed that his 
 days on earth were numbered and nearly finished, and that 
 we should probably see his face no more. 
 
 " On the preceding Monday," continues Mr Stevenson, " I 
 had the high privilege of spending an evening in the com- 
 pany of the Kev. Mr M'Cheyne of Dundee. It was a night 
 much to be remembered. He was looking forward with 
 delight to the precious opportunities which he should have 
 after the Disruption of preaching the gospel without let or 
 hindrance in many dark places of the land. Little did I 
 think that his race was so nearly run, and that the days of 
 Mr Hewitson were to be prolonged. But the one, who was 
 then so vigorous, and preparing for arduous labours, was 
 soon after taken ; while the other, whose recovery appeared 
 hopeless, was left, and enabled to render signal services to 
 the cause of Christ, after he had been thus ' brought nigh 
 unto death.' " 
 
 Another member of that deputation was not less struck by 
 the buoyant and joyful tone of the invalid. Imagining that 
 he was entering the chamber of a dying man, Dr Henderson 
 expected to hear only of the solemnities of death. Instead 
 of this, his eye was only on the glories of resurrection, and 
 the appearing of the Son of man. 
 
 Justification by faith alone — that article, as Luther termed 
 it, of a standing or of a falling Church — and it may be added, 
 of a standing or of a falling Christian, — be learned day by 
 day more highly to prize. " It is well asked and replied in 
 
THE LEPERS. 85 
 
 the Bogatsky of this morning," he writes to a friend on 
 January 12th, — '"Has he blotted out the handwriting of 
 ordinances that was against you? Then shake off self- 
 righteous dependencies and legal fears' Legality poisons faith, 
 and neutralizes its pacifying power. If I be in Jesiis, then I 
 am pardoned and accepted: ' He is near that justifieth me ; 
 who will contend with me ? Let us stand together ' before 
 the throne of God, at the bar of his infinite justice. I plead 
 guilty, but has my adversary therefore a plea against me ? 
 I plead not guilty, for I am in Jesus, and he has redeemed 
 me from the sin to which I pleaded guilty before. My ad- 
 versary's plea therefore falls to the ground, and my ,faith in 
 Jesus is counted to me for righteousness. If sin sometimes 
 prevail, I must not indulge in legal fears, but go closer to 
 Jesus, and get more of the Spirit of adoption, that I may be 
 able to work more from a principle of faith and love, and 
 less from a cold, carnal, bondage-gendering, sin-multiplying, 
 sense of legal duty." 
 
 And again : — " How blessed an exhibition of the power 
 of a childlike faith we have in the obedience and experience 
 of the ten lepers ! (Luke xvii.) ' They lifted up their voice 
 and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he 
 saw them, he said unto them, Go skew yourselves unto the 
 priests' They went forthwith; but, in this age of sickly reli- 
 gion and self-seeking, too many of us would have continued 
 still praying for mercy and pleading unworthiness ; they went, 
 ' And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed.' 
 This is religion, this is faith, this is taking Christ at his 
 word, and flinging self to the winds. Hence comfort and 
 triumph to the soul, with a revenue of praise and glory to 
 God." 
 
 The prophetic page continued to yield new light and new 
 
86 MEMOIR OF THE KEY. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 consolations. " Though dangers," he writes to the same 
 friend on 23d February, " be thickening around the walls of 
 Zion, yet the bars of her gates are strong, and a bright pro- 
 spect is breaking upon the sight of God's elect people ; — the 
 night is far spent, and the day is at hand. After a brief 
 time of trouble, such as never has been, and never again will 
 be, the Church of Christ will shine forth like the stars of 
 heaven, and the whole earth will be filled with the know- 
 ledge of God's glory. The great and terrible day of the 
 Lord will be attended, I fully believe, by the appearing of 
 the Son of man in his kingdom, and by the resurrection of 
 the just. 
 
 " In Isaiah xxvi, 20, the Holy Ghost gives a sweet and 
 precious invitation to the Church, intimating the approach 
 of the day of wrath; then, verse 21st, he declares, 'For, 
 behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabi- 
 tants of the earth for their iniquity,' &c. In illustration of 
 this last verse, will you read Rev. xix. ? In the following 
 verse • the Holy Spirit prophesies vengeance on Satan (Isa. 
 xxvii. 1), of which vengeance the 1st, 2d, and 3d verses of 
 Rev. XX. more fully expound the nature : then it is declared, 
 that after the infliction upon Satan of this vengeance, the 
 earth shall be flUed with universal holiness (Isa. xxvii. 
 2-6). The last of these verses (the 6th) determines the 
 precise time referred to in the prophecy— the time when the 
 Jews shall be restored. ' He shall cause them that come 
 of Jacob to take root ; Israel shall blossom and bud,' and 
 (this is again declared to be the consequence which shall 
 follow) ^fill THE PACE OP THE WORLD ivith fruit.' Here, then, 
 we find prophesied, in order — 1st, The security of God's elect 
 people ; 2dly, The coming of Christ ; Sdly, The punishment 
 of Satan ; 4:thli/, The restoration and replantation of the Jews 
 
ONE WITH CHRIST. 87 
 
 in a state of holiness ; bthly, The universal blessedness and 
 fruitfulness of all the Gentile nations." 
 
 " At the close of the 1st verse of ch. xxvii.," he adds, " it 
 is declared, as a part of the punishment to he inflicted on 
 Satan, that ' the Lord will slay the dragon that is ia the 
 sea.' The sea here signifies, as I doubt not, what it signifies 
 in other parts of prophecy — a troubled or revolutionary statiB 
 of the nations ; and the dragon denotes, as it does in Reve- 
 lation, Satan as represented in the Antichristian politiealr 
 powers of the Roman world, — in other words, it speciaWy,. at 
 the time referred to, means the same thing with ' the Man 
 of Sin,' ' the son of perdition.' Now, in the portion of Isaiah 
 which has been under examination, we have it prophesied 
 that the Lord would come, and, besides executing other 
 vengeance on Satan, slay the dragon in the sea, — ' the Man 
 of Sin,' whom Satan will reveal, and exalt in Antichristian 
 supremacy over the nations of Europe, amidst the troubles 
 of the last revolutionary movement, — the movement which 
 you will find described in the time of the seventh vial' 
 (Rev. xvi.)" 
 
 " The Lord did also lead me," says Bunyan, " into the 
 mystery of union with the Son of God ; that I was joined to 
 him, that I was ' flesh of his flesh, and bone of his bone ' 
 (Eph. V. 30) ; and now was that word of St Paul sweet to 
 me." Into the same mystery, Mr Hewitson, as he advanced, 
 did likewise more realisingly enter. And a precious stay he 
 found it, under one of his severest spiritual trials. " Owing 
 to bodily weakness," he writes to a friend on 13 th April, 
 " you, as well as myself, are more exposed to the fiery darts 
 which Satan is ever seeking to cast through the arrow-slit 
 of imagination into the citadel of the heart — doubts, fears, 
 anxieties, misgivings, despondencies^ than if you were enjoy- 
 
88 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 iDg vigour of bodily health and buoyancy of animal spirits. 
 Invalids, and especially those labouring under diseases which 
 have the effect of depressing the mind — an eflfect not to be 
 removed wholly by anything but the removal of the cause 
 itself — these seem to be the forlorn hope of the Redeemer's 
 army, set forward to the endurance of greater spiritual hard- 
 ships, and to more desperate encounters with the enemy of 
 souls, than other soldiers of the cross. But ' this is the victory 
 which overcometh the world, even our faith ;' and our faith 
 overcomes by identifying its with the Son of Ood. Faith stands 
 in the battle-field and cries, ' Jesus, the Son of God, anointed 
 Saviour — ^he who knew no sin — ^was made sin for me, and I 
 am the righteousness of God in him ! ' This is at once the 
 armour, the war-cry, the battle, the victory, and the triumph. 
 Besisted in this gospel spirit, Satan is turned to flight, and 
 the believer remains master of the field : he sits down, still 
 watchful and in arms, but full of peace with God, under the 
 shadow of his vine, Christ's righteousness.'' 
 
 " Dear Mr M'Cheyne !" he exclaims, at the close of the 
 last extract ; " his death was a trying dispensation." Three 
 days previously he had written to another: — " Dear Mr 
 M'Cheyne ! his departure was a great affliction to me, as 
 well as to all who knew him. The beauty of the Lord was 
 upon him." No wonder the news of his removal struck a 
 chord in Mr Hewitson's heart. " He was the likest to Eobert 
 M'Cheyne," writes that holy man's biographer, " of any I 
 knew." 
 
 " One thing," adds Mr Bonar, " often struck me in Mr 
 Hewitson. He seemed to have no intervals in his commu- 
 nion with God — no gaps. I used to feel, when with him, 
 that it was being with one who was a vine watered every 
 moment." " Many think," writes Mr Hewitson himself, in- 
 
MBBKNESS WHAT IS IT ? 89 
 
 directly depicting that marked characteristic of his spiritual 
 life, " that God is only to be worshipped upon their knees in 
 the closet, around the family hearth, and in the place of 
 public worship ; but, if we think like them, we shall not live 
 godly lives in Christ Jesus. We ought to worship God 
 whenever he is present, and that is always, at all times. We 
 ought to worship him wherever he is present, and that is 
 everywherej in all places. Whoever is in om* company, we 
 ought to keep company more with God than with them. 
 Whatever we say to others, we ought to sa,y it more to God 
 than to them. It is our privilege, and our calling as Chris- 
 tians, to strive by all means to keep up constant fellowship 
 with God, and to walk in the light of his countenance. We 
 do so when, like the Psalmist, we can say truly, ' / have set 
 the Lord always before me.' " 
 
 In the Lord Jesus there was a reality of human feeling and 
 sympathy — an absence of the transcendental in sentiment 
 and affection — which often is not enough contemplated. 
 " Learn of me,'' said He, " for I am meek." The words imply 
 that the pattern was so essentially human, that any of his 
 " brethren " might hope to obtain — not in degree indeed, but 
 in kind — a meekness not dissimilar. Wherein lay this 
 meekness ?- With that nice spiritual discernment which so 
 eminently characterised him, Mr Hewitson, writing to Mr 
 Dodds on 8th September, thus detects the grace : — ■" Don't 
 you think," says he, " that it savours of an impracticable 
 stoicism to say, ' I desire nothing but what God ordains for 
 me ; ' and that the true characteristic of Christian meekness 
 is to say, ' / desire, if it be possible, that this affliction pass 
 from me ; nevertheless, Heavenly Father, not my will, but 
 thine be done?' If we had not even a desire of freedom 
 from chastisement, then, contrary to the declaration of Scrips 
 
90 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 ture, all affliction would seem to be not grievous but joyous, 
 or at least indifferent. Some time ago, I had a kindly alter- 
 cation on this point with a Christian more experienced than 
 myself in the ways of God, but, through a mistaken zeal, as 
 I judged, resolute in holding that the Christian ought, in 
 the strength of the Lord, to realise and exemplify, under all 
 afflictive dispensations, the influence of only one desire, 
 that, namely, of glorifying God by submission to his wilL 
 This is what I regard as stoicism ; but to be influenced by 
 that desire in such a degree as to — ^not certainly extinguish 
 — yet certainly triumph over the opposition of every other, 
 is what I regard as Christianity." Here there is no over- 
 drawing, no straining. It is not man unhumanised, but 
 man in the highest sense Christianised. 
 
 This " ornament of a meek and quiet spirit " became daily 
 the object of an intenser longing. Naturally proud and self- 
 willed, he felt how needful for that end was the sharp dis- 
 cipline through which he was passing. " The great lesson," 
 he writes to one who had been a college friend, "which 
 chastisement is the means of teaching God's people, is to be 
 ' meek and lowly of heart,' that is (for I take meekness chiefly 
 to mean this), to be in God's hand as clay in the hand of 
 the potter — to will and to work only as God will have us — 
 to do or to suffer just as he thinks good — to ' lie on our 
 face' before him, like Abraham (Gen. xvii. 3), while God 
 ' talks with us,' either out of the place of thick darkness, or 
 amidst the bright shinings of his countenance; thus being in 
 perfect subjection to his absolute sovereignty and lordship 
 over us. This is no easy thing to do, for this is the perfec- 
 tion of holiness in man." 
 
 And "the great lesson" he was learning. " Is the Lord," 
 he writes to Mr Dickson, "going to call me yet to the 
 
WAITING ON THE SPIRIT. 01 
 
 blessed work of preaching his gospel? As my wisdom is 
 foolishness with God, I desire, in this matter, to lean wholly 
 on the counsels of eternity ; I desire, but even after all that 
 the Lord has laid on me of bodily and spiritual affliction, 
 I am grieved daily by finding, to my so^re experience, that 
 the Canaanite still dwells in the land — that my own will is 
 not entirely, though — thanks be to God for his prevailing 
 grace ! — it is in some measure subjected to the sovereign, 
 absolute, irresponsible, will of Jehovah. for that degree 
 of implicit subjection which our Lord Jesus Cthrist speaks of, 
 when he says, "^I am meek and lowly of heart,' and of which 
 he gives a marvellous exemplification, when, on the eve of 
 his baptism in the flood of infinite wrath, he says, though 
 ' the terrors of God were distracting him' (Ps. Ixxxviii.) when 
 he said it, ' Not my will, but thine be done ;' ' I delight to do 
 thy will, God !' Meekness brings heaven down to earth : 
 it is in the meek soul that the high and lofty One who 
 inhabits eternity desires to dwell. The more we grow in 
 meekness, the more we become like Jesus." 
 
 And again, writing a few months later to Dr Moir, he 
 says : — " The man of God keeps the vineyard of others best 
 when he has least cause to complain, ' Mine own vineyard 
 have I not kept.' If, as the saying goes, ' charity should 
 begin at home,' there is no doubt that godliness should do 
 so likewise. The Lord has given me a long time for the 
 cultivation of personal godliness, before it has pleased him to 
 call me to the work of ' planting and watering ' in his fields. 
 Still I have to mourn my barrenness, the small measure of 
 my iattainments ; but I have cause to thank him who has 
 chastened me, for the experience of Divine things which he 
 has given me during the time of my chastisement." 
 
 The " meekness" he found to be singularly conducive to 
 
92 MEMOIR OP THE KEY. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 the growth of all other graces. " It is, as you say," he writes 
 to Mr Dickson on Sept. 20, "a blessed thing to have our 
 inmost thoughts brought for judgment into the light of God's 
 pure Word. One mark of a believer's simplicity and godly 
 sincerity is, that he can, without reservation, offer up the 
 prayer to God, ' Examine me, Lord, and prove me ; try my 
 reins and my heart.' The great and deep spring of all the 
 influences which work in our souls against grace, and render 
 the progress of sanctification so slow, so painful, so inter- 
 rupted with falls into sin, seems to be that remaining guile- 
 fulness of heart, that will not let us, at aU times, on all 
 occasions, in all companies, submit ourselves humbly to be 
 ruled by the Spirit of Jesus. We hold the Head, and yet we 
 seek often to speak, and work, and perform duty in our own 
 strength; we do not wait for the Spirit — we make haste, like 
 unbelievers — ^we are impatient, and go to work too fast ; — 
 hence loss of comfortable communion with the Spirit — Whence 
 from the Head we have not nourishment so abundantly 
 ministered to our souls, and, consequently, not receiving ' the 
 increase of God,' we do not increase in spiritual stature. No 
 small part of meekness lies in waiting on the Spirit for 
 strength to perform all our works unto the Lord." 
 
 He came to Edinburgh in the end of September. " My 
 medical friends," we find him writing, " have declared the 
 case to be now a favourable one, only demanding great care 
 and delicacy of treatment. To preach for at least six months 
 yet is out of the question. The fact is, that though without 
 injury to my lungs I could preach, yet I have not strength 
 sufficient for the work. You will guess the amount of my 
 strength when I mention, that I can walk about two miles 
 in the day without over-fatigue. This is a considerable 
 increase." " Yesterday," he adds, " I worshipped in the con- 
 
SIGNS OP THE TIMES. 93 
 
 gregation of my old pastor, Dr Candlish. The ministrations 
 were of a most awakening and refreshing kind. His preach- 
 ing is better suited to my spiritual condition than that of 
 any other preacher I have ever heard declaring the Word of 
 God. I speak, of course, in reference not so much to par- 
 ticular instances, as to the general character of suitableness,'' 
 
 In October, he visited his friend Mr Dodds. " He was 
 now," says the latter, "somewhat improved in health, but 
 still much of an invalid. I shall draw from my diary in 
 relating the impressions he made upon me at that time : — 
 ' October 10. — My dear friend H. arrived to-day to pay us a 
 visit. He looks thin and pale, and is very weak; but his 
 eye is lighted up with the fire of heavenly hope. He has 
 recently been directing much of his attention to the study of 
 prophecy, and has arrived at the conclusion that our Lord 
 will come and reign upon the earth iefore the millennium. 
 He is one of the acutest and most spiritual expositors of 
 Scriptm-e I ever met with. He is an accomplished scholar. 
 His whole walk and conversation seem seasoned with the 
 Spirit of his Master. We have greatly enjoyed his rich and 
 spiritual converse. Alas ! I fear that the hand of death is 
 upon him.' At this distance of time, what I chiefly remem- 
 ber of this visit is, the great advance my friend had evi- 
 dently made in spirituality of mind, and in acquaintance 
 with the Word of God. Already there was around him that 
 fragrance of the Divine life — that atmosphere of holiness — 
 which ever afterwards attended him, breathing more sweetly, 
 and spreading more widely, till the day of his death." 
 
 Watching with a keen eye the signs of the times, he lived 
 as one " hastening to the day of God." " I do not know, my 
 dear friend," are his words to Dr Moir, " whether you sym- 
 pathise with me in my fears, or agree with me in judging, 
 
94 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 from the signs of the times, that those prophecies of venge- 
 ance upon all the Gentile nations, which must needs be 
 fulfilled before a period of imiversal blessing dawn on the 
 worlcl, will have their destined time of fulfilment in the pre- 
 sent age ; but, for my own part, whatever degree of scepti- 
 cism on the subject may be occasionally produced in me by 
 the subtle influence of present things, I am always again 
 aroused from it, as from a slumber, by looking at the pro- 
 gress of events in the light of prophecy, and constrained to 
 pray that ' we may be counted worthy to escape those things 
 which are coming to pass, and to stand before the Son of 
 man.' May we, like Kahab of Jericho, hang out ' the scarlet 
 thread' in the sight of the Lord, and, like her, be delivered, 
 through faith in Jesus, from ' the overflowing scourge, when 
 it passes through, that it may not come unto us.' " 
 
 After another medical report, "as favourable as in the 
 former instance," he once more returned to Dalmellington, on 
 ■the last day of the year. Ere another year closed, he was 
 to be on his way to the scene of his future labours. Mean- 
 while, the life of God in him grew sensibly more intense. 
 
 He used often to distinguish betwixt spirituality and 
 heavenly-mindedness. It was his own holy ambition to be not 
 only spiritual, but heavenly-minded. " Oh, this vile body of 
 sin," he writes, — " these unclean lips, — these wayward ima- 
 ginations I I should wish for ever to dwell on the love and 
 glory of Jesus, to breathe in his blessed Spirit, and to walk 
 in his sweet fellowship. Called to wear a crown of glory that 
 fadeth not away, why should I live so miserably far below 
 the hope which is set before me ? Loved by Jesus with a love 
 stronger than death and hell, why should I not burn with 
 flames of inextinguishable zeal to do his will and shew forth 
 his glory ? Why so faint after the light of joy that shines 
 
HEAVENLT-MINDEDNESS. 95 
 
 from the presence of the Beloved ? Is it because I still have 
 a leaning to the delights of sense and time, that draws away 
 my soul from under the power of better longings ? While 
 there is but the glimmering of a spiritual twilight in my soul, 
 things present and felt bulk too large before the eye, and 
 things unseen and eternal fade into the distance — a miserable 
 state I In the clear ligM of God's grace and truth alone does 
 the soul mount up with wings like an eagle. To be ever in 
 such a light while waiting for the Lord, be my portion I" 
 
 And, indicating the method by which he was learning to 
 be heavenly-minded, he writes to another, on Jan. 24 : — 
 " Christ is now our ' life ' and our ' hope of glory.' ' When 
 he shall appear, we shall likewise appear with him in glory.' 
 'To rejoice in hope of the glory of God,' is that which 
 enables us ' to glory in tribulation also ;' and, by means of 
 working 'patience and experience,' tribulation leads us to 
 greater confidence of ' hope.' ' Now abide these three, faith, 
 hope, and love;' and though 'the greatest of these be love,' 
 yet, while we are in the wilderness, faith and hope have 
 momentous functions to perform. Without these there is no 
 Caleb-like ' following of the Lord fully' — nO ' bunches of 
 grapes from the brook of Eshcol' — no earnest of the pro- 
 mised fulness of blessing — no Mount Pisgah views of the 
 purchased inheritance — no glorifying of God, who has pro- 
 mised, and is able to perform. Faith and hope are the Hur 
 and Aaron who hold up the hands of Moses in the mount of 
 prayer, and make Israel victorious over Amalek." 
 
 His Christianity was not a sickly sentimentalism. It was 
 eminently a walk of faith. He writes : — 
 
 " Ddhmllington, Feb. 1, 1844. — \To William Dickson, Esq.^ 
 How little I am like Jesus, who, when he walked on earth, 
 ' was in heaven ;' who, as has been beautifully said, ' always 
 
yb MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 repelled sin, but touched it at every point!' We live in a 
 mephitic air, and, but for the refreshing supplies of the wind 
 which blows from heaven upon the soul, we should soon be 
 deprived of spiritual sensibility, if not of spiritual life. Sen- 
 sitiveness and quick-working imagination are apt to throw 
 round the throne of our Father in heaven, and the presence 
 of our gracious Lord, an atmosphere of feelings too much 
 akin to those which are excited by unpleasant contact with 
 the world, or sometimes even with Christian friends. Such 
 feelings form a perverting and painted medium, which turns 
 awry and discolours the beams of light and love that come 
 down from ' the Father of lights and mercies.' They pene- 
 trate, by a subtle influence, all our thoughts of God, and of 
 his Son Jesus Christ ; and, tiU they subside, the soul is cast 
 down and disquieted. The only remedy is, I find, simple, 
 childlike believing, implicit confidence in the Word of God, 
 which is the sole object of saving faith. To see Christ our 
 righteousness, and in him our righteousness accepted already 
 (for he is raised from the dead), and glorified (for he is at 
 God's right hand), — that is a panacea for every soul-disease, 
 that gives comfort to our heart, and glory to the grace of 
 God." 
 
 And a fortnight later, to the same friend : — " Daily I find 
 that I must bear the cross. The conflict with indwelling sia 
 often distresses me. Satan's attacks are often so sudden and 
 unexpected as to give a sore shock to faith, and sometimes 
 even bear me to the ground. for more looking to and 
 resting on Christ! — more watchfulness I — more self-denial, 
 and more grace-acknowledgment 1 We need to have on the 
 whole armour of God" 
 
 And writing to Mr A. A. Walker, he says: — "It is a 
 blessed thing, my dear friend, to be out of this rebellious 
 
THE LAMB — LORD OF ALL. 97 
 
 world, and safe in Christ. Those who are in the world are 
 rebels against the King. Those who are in Christ have a 
 warfare to wage against the world and its rebellious prince. 
 The warfare is often hot; we need God's armour always, and 
 all God's armour. There is much evil daily manifesting 
 itself within me; I never gain a victory over it but when I 
 simply believe in Jesus. When we are restless and impatient, 
 we sink into deep waters. When we lie in the hand of Jesus, 
 as clay in the hands of the potter, we are enlarged and filled 
 with peace. The flesh within us cannot rest — the spirit 
 within us seeks to repose in the'bosom of Jesus. As has 
 been well said, that is ' the evangelic posture.' " 
 
 In the solemn and suggestive thoughts which follow, there 
 is little to minister to the pride of a self-righteous church. 
 But are the thoughts true ? are they founded on the Word ? 
 Let the reader judge. 
 
 " February 28^ 1844.— [To the Rev. J. Bodds.]— Are these 
 not days of Sardian imperfection — of lingering about the 
 threshold, instead of ' drawing near with true hearts and full 
 assurance of faith into the Holiest of all ? ' Do we not feel 
 lamentably, and mourn over, in our own souls, the freezing 
 influence of that cold night which has overtaken the churches ? 
 
 "The Church of Christ, as it is visible in the world, 
 exhibits now-a-days much of the aspect worn by the nation 
 of the Jews in the time of our Saviour: there is, with an 
 almost universal profession of Christianity, much Sadducean 
 infidelity and licentiousness, as well as much Pharisaic 
 display and outside-godliness. It is only a few who, * in the 
 hope of being like the. Lord at his appearing, are now puri- 
 fying themselves, as he is pure.' There has been a great 
 'falling away from the faith,' from the living, world-over- 
 coming faith. The nut-shell of orthodoxy remains unbroken, 
 
 G 
 
98 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSOJf. 
 
 but the kernel of vital godliness has shrunk almost into ' a 
 thing of nought.' Individual and local revivals testify that 
 the gift of the Spirit has not been withdrawn from the 
 Church; but that gift was made to the Church as a whole, 
 and has not the Church as a whole resisted, and grieved, and 
 well-nigh quenched the Spirit ? 
 
 "These words are addressed to the Gentile Church, as a 
 body, and they lay the axe to the root of the expectation that 
 the Gentile Church will be employed in the ministry of con- 
 verting the world: ' If God spared not the natural branches, 
 take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold, therefore, the 
 goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; 
 but toward thee, goodness, if thmi continue in his goodness : 
 otherwise thou also shall he cut off.^ Has the Gentile Chtirch 
 continued or not in the goodness of God ? The words quoted 
 tell how much depends on the answer to this question. The 
 banner of Protestantism, which at the Reformation from apo- 
 stasy was lifted up on behalf 'of the abandoned faith, had too 
 legibly blazoned on it the humbling confession, that the 
 Gentile Church had not ' continued in the goodness of God,' 
 but 'fallen by unbelief.' Is there hope, nevertheless, that 
 because of the Protestant Reformation the sentence — 
 airoTOfJiia (cutting off) — will be suspended? The question 
 finds its emphatic answer in the word of the Lord to Josiah. 
 Josiah was the Luther of the Jewish Church: his reign was 
 the era of, by analogy, a Protestant Reformation: he brought 
 to light the Word of God, after a long period of entombment; 
 he read publicly the Book of the Covenant, and made a cove- 
 nant to walk after the Lord with his whole heart. But did 
 this avert the judgment which had already been incurred by 
 apostasy? 2 Kings xxiii. 26, 27, contains the sentence of 
 the Lord. But ' if the foundations be destroyed, what shall 
 
THE GENTILE CH0ROH. 99 
 
 the righteous do?' 'Wait for the consolation of Israel, and 
 enter into their chambers, till the indignation be overpast.' 
 Do you agree with me in these views?" 
 
 There is profound Christian philosophy in the following 
 extract. It is a specimen of His skill in the application of 
 his taste for metaphysics to the solution of a problem with 
 which the Christian invalid is often called to deal. " "Won- 
 derful," says he, writing to an afflicted friend, on 28th March, 
 " is the reciprocation of influence that is constantly passing 
 between the mental and material parts of our nature. Body 
 and soul at all times mutually sympathise. The Christian 
 should not forget this. So long as Job was in a state of 
 bodily health, his soul was as cloudless as the sky above 
 him, and Satan could not find any door of entrance for his 
 blasphemous suggestions ; but whenever Job's body became 
 the prey of disease, then ' the thing which he greatly feared 
 came upon him,' — then his soul was laid bare to the assaults 
 of the wicked one, and his spiritual conflicts became so 
 desperate, that ' his roarings were poured out like the waters.' 
 The reason of our being spiritually depressed, in consequence 
 of such a bodily condition, is, that whatever anxious or 
 melancholy feeling is excited in our minds by any foreign 
 cause, that feeling so affects the mind as to bring all our 
 thoughts and affections into a congenial mood ; and then we 
 naturally imagine that we have undergone some change for 
 the worse in regard to spiritual objects, in consequence of 
 which our spiritual affections have become so sadly changed; 
 whereas the original cause of change lies wholly without the 
 soul, in something not at all connected with spiritual things. 
 When we are depressed by bodily disease, we should endea- 
 vour to occupy our thoughts with the most joy-inspiring 
 portions of Scripture, and not suffer them for a moment to 
 
100 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 brood over the gloomy feelings that prevail within. If ever 
 we should look away from ourselves, it is when we are cast 
 down and disquieted; for in ourselves there is nothing but 
 what will, if looked at, serve to deepen our distress, and to 
 make us sink from disquietude into despondency." 
 
 Like the man in the "picture," his "eye was lifted up to 
 heaven." "As the bee," he writes on 21st May — and the 
 words may be taken as a transcript of his own daily walk — 
 " is ever on the wing between the flowers and its honey-cells, 
 so should our affections ever be going forth in prayer to God 
 without, and returning to God within. In our mutual inter- 
 course and conversation — amidst all the busiest scenes of our 
 pilgrimage — we may be moving to and fro on the rapid wing 
 of prayer, of mental prayer — that prayer which lays the whole 
 burden of the heart on a single sigh. A sigh breathed in 
 the spirit, though inaudible to all around us but God, may 
 sanctify every conversation, every event in the history of the 
 day. We must have fellowship at all times either with ' the 
 spirit of the world' or with 'the Spirit of God.' There is no 
 neutral ground between fleshliness and spirituality of mind. 
 There is the greater need, therefore, of watchfulness and 
 prayer, if we would ' keep ourselves so that the wicked one 
 may touch us not.' 
 
 "Prayer,"' he continues, "will be fatiguing to flesh and 
 blood, if uttered aloud and sustained long. Oral prayer, and 
 prayer mentally ordered in words, though not uttered aloud, 
 no believer can engage in without ceasing; but there is an 
 under-current of prayer that may run continually under the 
 stream of our thoughts, and never weary us. Such prayer is 
 the silent breathing of the Spirit of God who dwells in our 
 hearts {mde Rom. viii. 9, and 1 Cor. iii. 16): it is the temper 
 and habit of the spiritual mind: it is the pulse of 'our life, 
 
" PKAY WITHOHT CEASING." 101 
 
 wldch is hid with Christ in God:' it is the consciousness of ' the 
 Divine nature' communicated to us in regeneration. Prayer 
 of this kind may be breathed ' without ceasing.' I am con- 
 vinced that the spirit of such mental prayer alone can main- 
 tain in our souls an uninterrupted ' assurance of hope,' and 
 give us to enjoy unbroken ' fellowship with the Father and 
 with his Son Jesus Christ.' It alone can secure to us the 
 enjoyment of liberty, power, and holiness. 
 
 " It is an unprofitable thing to hunt after frames and feel- 
 ings : these are very good and precious, but they are only 
 creatures — not God himself, but only God's work. The staple 
 of spiritual life and godliness consists in a sense, ever-abiding, 
 of our dependence upon God's indwelling Spirit, combined 
 with a prayerful panting of soul after larger and larger 
 manifestations of the Spirit within us. We tarry on the 
 threshold of our most holy faith, until we enter into Jesus, and 
 live upon his breath." ' 
 
 At the close of this letter he adds : — 
 
 " Are you aware that Mr Morison of Kilmarnock, &c., 
 have formed themselves into a new communion, denominated 
 the Evangelical Union ? They are running headlong into all 
 the errors of Pelagianism. How subtle the workings of Satan 
 are in our day ! We have all need to watch and pray, and 
 sit at Christ's feet with the Bible in our hands. According 
 to Puseyism, a human priesthood gives saving faith to man; 
 according to the Pelagianism of the Evangelical Union, men 
 give saving faith to themselves. All the errors and heresies 
 of this day aim at the dethronement of God from his eternal 
 sovereignty — of the Son of man from his mediatorial dominion 
 -r-of the Holy Ghost from his place as Deputy of Christ in 
 the hearts of his believing people. A subtle atheism per- 
 vades them all. I am not accusing Mr Morison, but I ara 
 
102 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSO.V. 
 
 expressing my own deep-seated conviction as to the nature 
 and tendency of the opinions in which he participates." 
 
 The heresy here referred to he used often to lament and 
 condemn. " Calvinism," he said on one occasion, " is, ' Glory 
 to God in the highest ; on earth, peace ; good-will towards 
 men :' Morisonianism is, ' Glory to men in the highest ; on 
 earth, peace ; good-will towards God.' " 
 
 In the beginning of August, he returned to Edinburgh, 
 and was again examined by his physician. Though the 
 disease in the lungs did not appear to have been making 
 progress, there was discovered a tendency to ulceration, ren- 
 dering still dangerous any attempt to preach. 
 
 Various plans for the future were now suggested. One of 
 these he notices thus : — 
 
 " Edinburgh, Sq)temher 30, 1844.-^[To A. A. Walker, Esq.} 
 — . . . . There is a probability of my going out to the south 
 of France, and afterwards to other places along or on the 
 Mediterranean, in connexion with several of the Foreign and 
 Missionary Schemes of the Free Church. My object will 
 be, if the Lord call me to go forth to the work, to make 
 inquiries, in some places, as to the welfare and prosperity of 
 the brethren ; and in other places, as the Lord enables me, 
 to encourage by means of sympathy and fellowship those 
 who are, amidst difficulties, engaged in the good work of the 
 Lord. If I go, I shall have to leave this in about nine or 
 ten days. 
 
 " for dew from the Lord on om- souls ! to be full of 
 the Holy Ghost ! to be ever in the heavenly places, and 
 to realise more abundantly what is the hope of our calling ! 
 There is little comfort in the house when Christ is not there. 
 When the King sits at his table and sups with us, the house 
 is filled with the odour of his sweet ointment — all is peace 
 and joy." 
 
MADEIRA. 103 
 
 But another work awaited him : — 
 
 " Edinburgh, October 15, 1844. — \To the Rev.. John Baillie^ 
 — This morning I met Dr Candlish and Mr Sym,- expecting 
 to be able afterwards to leare- this for France at my earliest 
 convenience. It has been suggested,, however,, by Mr Sym, 
 that it would be of much more consequence to go out to 
 Madeira, than to Malta or aaiy of Uie other places formerly 
 mentioned. It is, I undierstand, at present most desirable 
 that a minister should be sent out to Ma,diBira to acquire the 
 Portuguese language (which one might acquire so as to be 
 able to preach in it in the' course of a year),, with the view 
 of preaching the gospel' to^ the poor Portuguese in the island. 
 During the year which would, be spent in doing nothing but 
 acquiring the language, my health might fee so far recruited, 
 by the blessing of God on the chamge of air, as to enable me 
 afterwards to labour in that part of the vineyard. Doubtless, 
 it would be more consonant to my natural wishes to be a 
 minister of the gospel at home ; but if^ in a way so unex- 
 pected, the Lord be pleased to say, ' I will send thee far 
 hence unto the Gentiles,' it is my part to deny myself through 
 his grace, and to take up my cross,, and go, Madeira is at 
 present the forlorn hope of Christianity, There, more than 
 anywhere else in our day, has Popery breathed its natural 
 element of intolerance and persecution." 
 
 " Be not afraid, for I am with thee,'' said the Lord to 
 Paul by night in a vision, " and no man shall set on thee to 
 hurt thee ; for I have much people in this city." The same 
 Lord was now beckoning Mr Hewitson to a scene where 
 also he had " much people." Shall the disciple hesitate ? 
 " During the last two or three weeks," says he, writing to 
 his parents on October 17, " I have been led by the Lord in 
 a way which I knew not, and all along I have followed just 
 
104 MEMOIR OF THE BEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 as I was led. Without acting contrary to my feelings as 
 to what the Lord would have me to do, I cannot but consent 
 to the change of my destination which has been proposed. 
 May the change be, in the issue, glorifying to God, and a 
 means of salvation to perishing souls ! We are but vessels 
 in the Lord's house ; he has a supreme right to dispose of 
 us as he wills. Therefore his will be done. I have inti- 
 mated my willingness to go to Madeira, if the Committee 
 think it proper to send out a preacher of the gospel into that 
 field. It is my duty, if I be a servant of the Lord at all, 
 to say, ' Lord, here am I ; send me.' " 
 
CHAPTEE VII. 
 
 1844. 
 
 Ordination — Leaving Home — Arrival in London — Temporary 
 Destination to Lisbon. 
 
 " I HAVE not sent these prophets, yet they ran : I have not 
 spoken to them, yet they prophesied." " I sent them not, 
 nor commanded them ; therefore they shall not profit this 
 people at all, saith the Lord." 
 
 Mr Hewitson did not venture to run unsent. " My studies 
 at college," we find him writing on 9th February 1842, " are 
 all vain and unprofitable, unless the Spirit of Jesus purify 
 my heart, and make me zealous to promote God's glory, and 
 to gather fruit — the fruit of immortal souls — unto life eter- 
 nal." And a month afterwards : — " I am sensible that all 
 I have acquired of earthly learning, cannot, by itself, qualify 
 me in the slightest degree for the work of an evangelist, 
 unless Christ say to me what he said to the unlettered fisher- 
 men — ' Follow me, and I will make thee a fisher of men.' 
 It is not by might nor by strength, but by the Spirit of the 
 Lord of hosts, that any man can preach the word of the 
 heavenly kingdom ; for the kingdom of God is not in word 
 but in power — the power of the Holy Ghost." And again • 
 " I wish you would all pray that, in the grace of God, I 
 
106 MEMOIR OF THE EEY. W. H. HEWITSON^. 
 
 may be fitted to be a minister of reconciliation, and be called 
 inwardly by the Holy Spirit to the sacred office. Without 
 that spiritual call I could not, durst not, accept a presenta- 
 tion to any parish. It would be trifling with my own soul 
 and the souls of hundreds." 
 
 What ministry can prosper which is without this indis- 
 pensable element ? 
 
 " The blind at an easel, the palsied with a graver, the halt making 
 for the goal, 
 The deaf ear tuning psaltery, the stammerer discoursing eloquence,— 
 What wonder if all faU ? " 
 
 If at times, in his mysterious sovereignty, the Master have 
 used in his work those who ran unsent, Mr Hewitson was 
 not the man to covet the sad distinction. 
 
 " Blessed be God," said Henry Martyn on one occasion, 
 " I feel myself to be His minister." To go forth as " His 
 minister '' — to beseech men in Christ's stead to be reconciled 
 to God — was the one object for which Mr Hewitson cared to 
 live. 
 
 " If ministers only saw," observed Payson, on his death- 
 bed, to a brother who had come to visit him, " the incon- 
 ceivable glory that is before them, and the preciousness of 
 Christ, they would not be able to refrain from going about, 
 leaping and clapping their hands for joy, and exclaiming, 
 ' I'm a minister of Christ ! I'm a minister of Christ.' " Mr 
 Hewitson had been taught to long after the blessed work 
 with a chastened enthusiasm, not unlike Payson's. " 
 that I were a minister of the gospel!" he writes : " I do not 
 mean ordained of mm — for it is a little thing to be judged of 
 men, or of man's judgment — as fit for the pastoral ofiice ; 
 but I mean, ordained by the Spirit of Christ." 
 
 On preaching his first sermon, already noticed, he had 
 
ORDINATION. 107 
 
 written, on 19th May 1842, thus : — " The Lord strengthened 
 me graciously for the work, both in soul and body. that 
 he may endue me with power from on high to lift up my 
 voice like a trumpet in proclaiming the unsearchable riches of 
 his free salvation ! You are acquainted with Luther's wise 
 and beautiful apophthegm — 'Bene ordsse est bene studuisse' 
 The most successful preachers of the gospel have always been 
 distinguished as men of earnest prayer. In analysing the 
 power of Whitfield as a preacher, his biographer states his 
 prayerfulness as the leading element, and finely remarks, that 
 he always came down from the throne of grace with the 
 tidings of salvation, like the angel of the Apocalypse, having 
 a rainbow round his head. Do you know William C. B-^ — ? 
 He is a most prayerful man." 
 
 And again, about the same period, to Dr Marsden : — 
 " My desire is not merely to have spiritual strength, ' ere 
 I go hence and be no more,' but likewise to labour, by the 
 grace of God, were it but for a few years, in the gospel- 
 ministry. ' To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain ;' my 
 greatest wish is to be able to join Paul in the use of this 
 heavenly expression of evangelistic zeal. To be able to do 
 that is the highest qualification — ' the one thing needful' — 
 for success in the ministerial ofiice." 
 
 At a later period we find him writing : — 
 
 ''July 9, 1844. — [To the Reo. J. Bodds.] — It is an awful 
 thing to preach the gospel to hell-bound souls. No wonder 
 that Paul was with his hearers ' in weakness, and in fear, 
 and in much trembling.' An impenitent sinner, on his 
 deathbed, beginning to fefel, in the first pangs of eternal 
 agony, ' I am a lost sold,' is a sight which ought to stimulate 
 zeal and eflfort in the preaching of the gospel, for such a 
 sight will be presented ere long by every one who hears the 
 
108 MEMOIR OF THE BEV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 gospel preached and is not converted by the gospel unto 
 God. How precious the soul which can be the subject of 
 that feeling of unutterable agony — ' / am lost!' How pre- 
 cious, therefore, the gospel ! And how precious the gospel 
 ministry! My eyes are scarcely open yet to see these things 
 as I ought to see them, or my heart to feel them as they 
 should be felt." 
 
 And now that he is about to be "thrust" by the Lord into 
 his "harvest," how simple and self-denying is his faith! 
 Before setting out for Madeira, it had been deemed desirable 
 that he should bfe ordained. " Yesterday," he writes to his 
 parents on Nov. 7, 1844, " was a solemn day — one ever to 
 be remembered. I was ordained by the Presbytery of Edin- 
 burgh (Free Church of Scotland). Mr Grey presided at the 
 ordination. I trust that the Lord Jesus presided over all, 
 and ordained me 'to go and bring forth fruit that shall 
 remain ' unto eternal life. He himself could say, ' The Spirit 
 of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to 
 preach the gospel to the poor,' &c. May these words be in 
 some, and that a large, measure, applicable to me as to oue 
 chosen and ' separated unto the gospel of God !'" 
 
 " If we commit our way to the Lord," he had written to 
 Mr Dodds a few days previously, " we shall find friends of 
 his providing at every step of our progress. The disciple of 
 Jesus who forsakes all to follow him, has the promise of 
 father and mother, and friends, and all things, even in this 
 present time. I go forth, not knowing but that, ere I can 
 return, the Lord will appear in his glory. He may, and he 
 may not ; but as the day and the hour are uncertain, there is 
 need of attending to his call to watchfulness and preparation. 
 The hope of his coming is not ' a blessed hope,' unless we 
 have peace of conscience and some measure of joy in the 
 
LEAVING HOME. 109 
 
 Holy Ghost. Old Adam, in our hearts, puts away from him, 
 with fear and dislike, the thought of Christ's coming. But 
 the spirit in us, which is horn of the Holy Spirit, bounds 
 with joy, like the unborn Baptist in his mother's womb, at 
 the hope of the Lord's appearing." 
 
 The sphere of labour to which he had been designated 
 was one of no common peril. Without any hyperbole, as 
 the reader will by and by discover, was it styled by him '' the 
 forlorn hope of Christianity." Yet he only seemed quickened 
 by the trying emergency into new zeal and boldness. He 
 writes : — 
 
 " DalmelUngton, November 16, 1844. — [To A. A. Walker, 
 Esq.] — Oh, my dear brother in the Lord, pray for me, that I 
 may be kept from evil by our gracious Lord I I go out to 
 Portugal in a missionary capacity, and may have much to 
 try me and to put my faith to the proof. At present there 
 are shut up in Madeira prison no fewer than twenty-six dear 
 children of God, who have been converted through means of 
 Dr Kalley — all Portuguese, and, of course, Eoman Cathohcs 
 before they came to the knowledge of the truth. Their 
 only crime is, that they read and beheve the Word of God. 
 Popery is implacable — as bloodthirsty as ever, if it had the 
 power. This is truly an age of tribulation to the saints. 
 ' All who will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecu- 
 tion ; ' but ' if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with 
 him.' that I could realise this more, and live, through the 
 Spirit, in constant ' waiting for the hope of righteousness by 
 faith ! ' ' The time is short ; the day is at hand.' — Wishing 
 you all joy in believing, I am your affectionate brother in 
 Jesus, ■ " W. H." 
 
 He went, expecting success. " Pray for me, my dear 
 friend," he wrote from Dalmellington to a brother in the 
 
110 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 ministry, on the eve o setting out. Kemember my trials and 
 difficulties before the Lord. Let us not forget Saturday 
 evenings at seven o'clock. Then pray for fruit unto eternal 
 life from among the poor Portuguese." 
 
 An incautious announcement, in a public paper, of his 
 designation as missionary to the Portuguese of Madeira, ren- 
 dered it advisable that, instead of proceeding direct to that 
 island, he should go in the first instance to Lisbon. This 
 step, it will be seen, was overruled by the Lord for a not 
 unimportant end. 
 
 " Every wheel in the chariot," writes Martyn, " must be 
 in motion, to gain the race." Mr Hewitson's chariot-wheels 
 were now all in motion. " Pray for me," he writes to Mr 
 Dodds from London on his way, on 26th November, "for 
 now I am beginning more than ever to feel my utter helpless- 
 ness. Friends, relations, home, are all left behind. Whether 
 I may ever visit them again is uncertain. This is trying to 
 flesh and blood. In the object, again, which I have in view, 
 there is nothing which is pleasing to the natural man. Now 
 I need to find my all in Christ. If he be not now all my 
 portion, then I am truly destitute. But in him there is more 
 than enough to compensate every loss and sacrifice. for 
 more grace to live in Christ, on Christ, with Christ!" 
 
 And the day following, he writes to Dr Moir : — " Before 
 leaving England, I write to say Farewell ! and to thank you 
 for all your past acts of kindness. The Lord reward you for 
 them all ! As you have ministered to the re-establishment of 
 my bodily health, so may the Lord grant that your spiritual 
 health be fully established ! May his stripes be healing, his 
 death be life, to your soul ! I find my present position trying 
 to my faith. Thrown abroad from all home-sympathies and 
 influences, I have nothing but grace to lean on, none but 
 
SETTING OUT. Ill 
 
 Christ to look to. Faith will bear me up and forward on 
 my path." 
 
 And, just before sailing, to another friend : — "I have been 
 so busily occupied, that I have not yet felt, in all its pres- 
 sure, the peculiarity of my present position. For a moment 
 now and then there has been a gush of feeling, such as I 
 perhaps never realised before. The thought is yet strange to 
 me, that I have left all dear to me in this world, perhaps 
 never to see them in this world again. To-morrow I expect 
 to be more free to bethink myself, and to feel that I am 
 indeed now all alone with God. that, with all dear to me, 
 I could leave behind also everything hateful and unholy! 
 If I could leave self and sin behind ! the body of this 
 death ! Indwelling sin is indwelling torture ! To be all for 
 God, all in God — oh, when ! " 
 
 His friends, as they bade farewell to the exhausted in- 
 valid, feared that his foreign sojourn was only to smooth his 
 passage to the grave. He himself, in spite of all appearances, 
 " hoped against hope.'' And signally was the Lord to honour 
 his trusting servant. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 1841-1844. 
 
 State of the Cliurch of Scotland — ^Impending Crisis — The Convocation — 
 The Disruption. 
 
 We pause to indicate Mr Hewitson's views on a subject 
 which, during the last three years, had occupied no small 
 share of his sympathies and prayers. 
 
 " This controversy," said one of Scotland's ancient worthies, 
 " truly reacheth up to the heavens, and the top of it reacheth 
 above the clouds. It doth highly concern Jesus Christ him- 
 self, in his glory, royal prerogative, and kingdom, which he 
 hath and exerciseth as Mediator and Head of his Church." 
 Such a controversy had been raging in Scotland, and had 
 reached its crisis inil843. 
 
 The first note of the coming crisis was sounded in August 
 1841. At a meeting of the Commission of the General 
 Assembly of the Church of Scotland, the minority intimated 
 their purpose of appealing to the State to overbear the 
 Evangelical majority in the exercise of spiritual discipline. 
 
 " Grangemuir, August 21, 1841. — [To William Dickson, Esq.] 
 — Last meeting of Commission has told a tale which his- 
 torians of a future day will not tell in very few pages. It 
 is time that Christians put on the whole armour of God: the 
 
IMPENDING CRISIS. 113 
 
 shock of decisive battle is near, and there will, I fear, be 
 fallings away, through want of courage, from the Lord's 
 ranks ; but blessed will be the men amongst us who are 
 delivered from the hour of temptation. What a change 
 within a few past years ! How great may be the change 
 when a few years more are past ! God forbid that I should " 
 be like Peter — valiant in tongue for Jesus, but faint-hearted 
 in the day of temptation !" 
 
 Two great meetings were held in Edinburgh at the end of 
 the month. Mr Hewitson was a spectator of both scenes. 
 
 " Grangemuir, September 6, 1841. — [Jb the Rev. J. BaillkJ] 
 — To return to the Commission ; I am sure you were delighted 
 with the unanimous firmness and decision of principle exhi- 
 bited by the ministers and elders of the Church who were 
 present; — of the Church, I say; for, along with you, I regard 
 the Moderate party as belonging, not to the Church, but to 
 the world. There always has been a world in the Church, 
 as well as a Church in the world ; and now-a-days, looking 
 at the two conflicting bodies through the medium of Scrip- 
 ture truth, we cannot hesitate to say which of the two is the 
 most church-like, and which the most world-like. I was 
 present for two hours in the "West Kirk in the evening : that 
 was a fine spectacle. How impressive the solemnity of feel- 
 ing pervading the congregated mass ! How stirring and 
 affecting the eloquence of Candlish — of Gordon I May the 
 Lord look down and bless the efforts made in behalf of his 
 royal prerogative ! His cause must certainly prevail ; and 
 though, like the sea at flow-tide, it seem at brief intervals to 
 be retrograding, it is only to collect its strength, and again 
 rush with new impetus over the opposing barriers." 
 
 Some candidates for the ministry were bending before the 
 storm. Mr Hewitson had grace to stand. " Even though 
 
114 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSOX. 
 
 I were able to preach," he wrote to Dr Marsden, on 15th 
 February 1842, " I have at present little prospect of getting 
 a church ; for 1 belong, on Bible principles, to that party in 
 the Church of Scotland which is now sadly depressed by the 
 oppressive usurpations of the civil court. A deserter to the 
 " opposite party can readily obtain a presentation ; but it were 
 better, by the grace of God, to live in penury, to be driven 
 out of the Establishment, than to live caressed and in afflu- 
 ence, but stung to the quick by a traitor's conscience !" 
 
 The General Assembly, which met in May 1842, adopted 
 a " Claim of Right," as the Church's formal appeal to the 
 State, demanding, " as of right," in virtue of ancient statutes, 
 uncontrolled freedom, notwithstanding State-connexion, to 
 rule in the house of God. Whilst the appeal lay before the 
 State unheeded, the civil court, at the instance of the relent- 
 less minority, pronounced a decision, finding a presbytery, 
 who had refused to ordain a presentee whose call was signed 
 by only three persons in a parish of two thousand people, 
 personally liable in a penalty of £16,000. This decision 
 rendering further delay impossible, a convocation of ministers 
 was summoned in November 1842, to determine on the course 
 of action. Mr Hewitson, then lying an invalid in Edin- 
 burgh, evinced his deep concern in the crisis by preparing 
 and widely circulating the following 
 
 " Proposal for United Prayer. — ^A Convocation of the Mini- 
 sters of the Church of Scotland is to be held in Edinburgh 
 on the 17th of this month. That it may be blessed by God, 
 as a means of glorifying his Son, and of promoting the best 
 interests of our Zion, it is proposed that as many of God's 
 children as possible unite daily, between Tuesday 8 th and 
 Thursday 17th instant, in prayer either private or public, on 
 its behalf. Let us pray God, \st, That many ministers may 
 
THE CONVOCATION. 115 
 
 assemble at the Convocation, in a spirit of prayer and of zeal 
 for the Bedeemers glory; 2d, That, when assembled, they 
 may receive largely ' the spirit of counsel and of the fear of the 
 Lord;' 3d, That the Spirit may so ' glorify Christ by shew- 
 ing unto them ' his office and character as the King of Zion, 
 that they may bear a united testimony to the truth, and 
 rejoice in being counted worthy to suffer for the sake of 
 Jesus ; ith. That, beholding the glory of Jesus, which the 
 Father hath given him, and being filled with the Holy Ghost, 
 the Comforter, they may resolve, with one heart and soul, to 
 forsake all, if need be, and follow Christ ; 5th, That the world 
 may see their oneness of spirit, and so, taking knowledge of 
 them that they have been with Jesus, be led to confess that 
 Jesus is indeed the only King of Zion. — Nov. 2, 1842." 
 
 At the Convocation, above four hundred ministers sub- 
 scribed resolutions, binding them to separate from the State 
 unless Parliament should interpose to nullify the new con- 
 struction put by the civil courts upon the ancient statutes.' 
 " Since I saw you," writes Mr Hewitson to his friend, Mr 
 Dodds, on 9th January 1843, " the affairs of our martyr-Zion 
 present a different, though by no means a more hopeless 
 aspect. The Convocation has, by the blessing of God, been 
 a means of bringing out into open day a spirit of self-denial 
 and faithfulness in the cause of Christ, which speaks more 
 for the prosperity of the Church of Scotland than would all 
 the support of a favouring earthly legislature. So long as 
 our Church is able to furnish such a cloud of devoted wit- 
 nesses to the truth, she will be blessed and prosperous even 
 in the midst of persecution. Her present trials are a sure 
 indication of that which alone constitutes the prosperity of a 
 church — I mean, the character of godliness. Now is not a 
 time for us to cry out, ' The Church is in danger :' it is a time 
 
116 MEMOIR OP THE KEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 to cry out, with the voice of warning, ' The State is in danger.' 
 Judgment in this land is first beginning with the righteous 
 — what, then, will the end be of those who obey not the 
 gospel of God ? This is a critical time for the world." 
 
 The Government issued a manifesto, holding out no pro- 
 spect of relief. "The letter of Sir James Graham," says 
 he, writing to Mr Dickson, on January 24;th, " which is in 
 character with all his actings towards the Church of Scot- 
 land, shews us what measure of redress we may expect from 
 Government. The ' minute' of the Special Commission is a » 
 stringently argumentative and unanswerable document ; but 
 what avails it ? The enemies of Zion have closed their eyes, 
 and they will not see: they have steeled their hearts, and 
 they will not pity. We must lift up our eyes to the hills, 
 from whence alone cometh our help. My fears will be most 
 happily disappointed, if we be not entering on a stormy 
 period — a period of fiery trial, which will try every man's 
 wort of what sort it is. We had need to be looking well to 
 our armour. 
 
 Parliament at length spoke. The Church of Scotland's 
 " Claim of Right " was unequivocally, almost contumeliously, 
 rejected. Both the great parties in the State agreed in 
 declaring that the price of State-connexion was Church-sub- 
 jection. Formerly, in Scotland, the union of Church and 
 State had left unfettered the liberty of Church-rulers and 
 of Church-members to serve Christ. Now, this liberty was 
 withdrawn. And for the Church one course only was open. 
 The crisis at length came. 
 
 " palmellington, May 24, 1843.— [To the Bev. J. BatlUe.]— 
 The Disruption took place amidst circumstances so awfully 
 solemn, that it could scarcely fail to impress even the world 
 with the conviction that God himself was revealing his arm. 
 
THE DISRUPTION. 117 
 
 "What reason for all who love Christ's royal name, and bear 
 witness to his crown-rights, to adore the Father of lights for 
 having given the Spirit of wisdom and counsel, of boldness 
 and unity, in so large a measure to his servants ! The time 
 chosen was the fittest time for separation; the mode of 
 separating was the wisest that could have been adopted. 
 Even human wisdom can now say this ; but it was Divine 
 wisdom that, in the hour of perplexity, directed the counsels 
 of our Church. It is no vain thing to ' hold the Head' Christ 
 Jesus : by so doing, the Church, which is Christ's body, as 
 well as every member of it, draws from the Lord wisdom in 
 perplexity, and grace to help in the time of need. 
 
 " I am anxious," he adds, " to make known my adhe- 
 rence to ' the protest' of the Free Assembly. Will you be 
 so good as to give in my name, that it may be added to the 
 200 probationers already enrolled?" 
 
 " Truly, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm," he 
 writes to Dr Moir on June 9th, " the Lord of hosts, our 
 King, hath wrought deliverance for us out of the hand of 
 our enemies. God's own people tremble, and adore the 
 manifestation of his power; while the enemies of Zion have 
 been confounded, and, in many instances, put to silence. 
 
 " A glorious perspective of usefulness," he continues, " is 
 at present unfolded to the eye of our witnessing Church, and 
 there are many tokens for good — many reasons to believe 
 that from this day the Lord will visit us with showers of 
 reviving grace. Surely the Lord will himself bear testimony 
 to the truth for which so many faithful witnesses have given 
 up their whole worldly substance. 
 
 " On the other hand, we have only to look at the events 
 which have recently occurred among us, as an evidence of 
 the growing hostility which animates all the ungodly millions 
 
118 MEMOia OF THE KEV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 of the land, both the ralers and the ruled, to the truth of 
 Jesus ; and we have only to weigh that hostility in the 
 balance of sacred prophecy, — to be assured that the bright 
 sunshine which is at this moment cheering our Zion will 
 soon be darkened, though not quenched, by storms of righte- 
 ous indignation about to burst forth upon the ungodliness of 
 the land." 
 
 And to Mr Dickson, on June 12 : — " The disruption of 
 the Church of Scotland, and of many families, and of many 
 friendships, has taken place ! The Church goes asunder into 
 two assemblies; and families, each united till now, separate 
 to different places of worship. Let me only say, that though 
 the disruption of our Church be, in some points of view, 
 one of the most striking, marvellous events that have ever 
 occurred, it is, nevertheless, not great in comparison with 
 the events which are ordained in due time to follow ; and 
 that it is ours ' to stand upon our watch, and set us upon 
 the tower,' having ' our loins girt and our lights burning,' 
 and praying that (whatever sense we put upon the words) 
 ' we may be counted worthy to escape those things which 
 shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.' 
 One pleasing prospect is, that there is going to be a time of 
 showers and awakening in Zion, — at least there is ground 
 for hoping this." 
 
 His eye was on the horizon, looking for the expected 
 " rain." " Every event alike," he writes to Mr Dodds, on 9th 
 July 1844, after the memorable Assembly of that year, "has 
 been fraught with the intelligence from heaven that the 
 Lord acknowledges our cause, that the Lord will plead it, 
 that ' his arm is awaking as in the days of old.' Especially 
 do we see into the Lord's mind, through the window which 
 was opened in heaven at the last General Assembly. The 
 
THE DISRUPTION. 119 
 
 first drops of a shower descended, and that too — a circum- 
 stance of apparently deep import — on the representatives of the 
 whole body of our Church. There has likewise been a more 
 cheerful giving away to the Lord than Scotland ever before 
 witnessed. Does not this tell us that a cloud full of rain is 
 gatheriiag overhead ? For it is written, ' Bring the tithes int& 
 the storehouse, that there may he meat in my house, and prove me 
 now herewith, if I will not open the windows of heaven and 
 pour you out a blessing.' All things break forth into one 
 cry — ' There is a sound of abundance of rain.' If the clouds 
 pass away without sending us down a shower of blessing, 
 surely it will be in consequence of a guilty ' restraining of 
 prayer.'" Few felt more keenly, in subsequent years, that 
 the clouds had passed away over Scotland without sending 
 down the abundant rain. 
 
 Mr Hewitson regarded the great event of 1843, not as a 
 mere isolated fact, " coming as a shadow, and so departing," 
 but as a premonitory winnowing of that fan wherewith the 
 Lord shall speedily, in all the churches, purge his floor. 
 " Let us not rashly conclude," he writes to the same friend 
 on 3d November 1844, scanning the portentous future, 
 " that we are all as chaffless wheat on the threshing-floor of 
 Zion. Meantime, the Lord has stayed his rough wind, 
 according to promise, in this the day of his east wind ; but 
 what separating work may we fear the instant his rough 
 wind begins to blow ! What the gentle passes of his fan 
 have not, in the day of forbearance, done, may be done 
 speedily, when his fannings become as ' a continuing whijl- 
 wind.' There are omens of a coming tempest, of a ' dark 
 and cloudy day.' for the ' faith that overcometh the 
 world!'" 
 
CHAPTEE IX. 
 1844, 1845. 
 
 Lisbon — ^Diary — Correspondence — Popery and Infidelity — ^Divine Train- 
 ing — Snares and Conflicts — Tlie Armour of God — ^Spiritual Analysis — 
 The Word a Lamp — Way made Plain — Sails for Madeira. 
 
 The brief residence at Lisbon was a notable season in Mr 
 Hewitson's life. The Lord took him once more aside, to give 
 to the "sharp threshing-instrument" a "new" edge. The 
 process is recorded in a private diary kept by him during his 
 sojourn in that city. We limit ourselves to selected extracts, 
 interspersed with passages from his contemporaneous corre- 
 spondence. 
 
 Before quoting from the journal, let us accompany him on 
 his voyage, and learn his first impressions of Portugal. He 
 writes : — 
 
 "At Mrs Lawrences Hospedaria, 39 Rna Nova San Fran- 
 cisco de Paulo, Buenos Ayres, Lisbon, Dec. 7, 1844. — [Tb 
 William Dickson, Esq.] — My very dear Friend, — On Thurs- 
 da.y of last week I left Southampton by the Pacha steamer, 
 and, by the goodness of God, had good weather for the 
 voyage. During the two first days, sickness detained me in 
 my berth. On Saturday evening, amidst the heavings of the 
 Bay of Biscay, I got out upon deck, and was refreshed by 
 
LISBON. 121 
 
 the cooling head-wind. We were in the Bay till Sabbath 
 evening. The Sabbath was to me no day of sweet refresh- 
 ing, though it brought forcibly to my mind the blessed privi- 
 leges of Scotland. All the day I spent on deck in solitude 
 and silence, without reading, and almost without reflection — 
 I was so weak and exhausted. 
 
 " On Sabbath evening we put up into the port of Vigo, for 
 the purpose of delivering and receiving the mail. Speedily 
 boats with lanterns came shooting through the dark towards 
 the vessel, and a scene of bustle ensued — fresh passengers 
 coming on board, and packages of goods being heaved up 
 from the boats for transportation. Spanish and English 
 words fell thick on the ear. 
 
 " Next morning we came to anchor near Oporto. ' The city 
 was concealed from view, as it lies about two miles up the 
 river. The mail was delivered here. In the afternoon there 
 was a fog, and the sea became rough. After dinner I went 
 on deck, and paced to and fro amidst the darkness, or sat 
 looking to him ' who stilleth the raging of the sea.' 
 
 " On Tuesday morning I dressed earlier than usual, as we 
 were now approaching to Lisbon. The first object that met 
 my eye was the State prison — a fortified place on the banks of 
 the Tagus. A little way further up, and on the same — that is, 
 the northern — side'of the river, was seen the Tower of Belem, 
 from the neighbourhood of which Vasco de Gama set out on 
 his expedition. Lisbon, founded on its seven hills, was now 
 seen stretching along the banks of the noble Tagus. I had 
 cause of gratitude to the Lord for bringing me in safety to 
 my place of destination, but a feeling of sadness and desola- 
 tion prevailed. A city to dwell in, but no home, no relative, 
 no friend ! A stranger in a strange land ! 
 
 " Having cast anchor a few hundred yards from shore, 
 
122 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 we waited till the custom-house officers had secured all the 
 luggage that was to be landed at Lisbon. Afterwards Sir 
 James Forrest, who was one of the passengers, came ashore 
 with me to see the city. With some little difficulty we 
 found the house of Mr M'Lagan, merchant, to whom I had 
 letters of introduction. The good man gave us a hospitable 
 reception, and sent a young man with us to shew us the city 
 from the top of one of its hills. 
 
 " All the information which I obtained in Scotland 
 respecting Lisbon has turned out to be, either in great 
 measure, or altogether inaccurate. Popery is in this city 
 making mighty eflforts at present to establish itself in 
 exclusive dominion over the minds of men. It is the seat 
 and centre of propagandism. It is the soiurce of all the 
 evil influence that has been brought to bear against the 
 good work that has been going on in Madeira. The 
 noblest names — the highest political functionaries — are con- 
 nected with the endeavours at present made to advance the 
 interests of ' OmfaiOC I see that in Scotland we know little 
 or nothing of -what is going forward in foreign countries 
 connected with religion. 
 
 " I wish, dear friend, that you were along with me : we 
 should follow the Shepherd together into green pastures, and 
 beside the stiU waters. I am alone. • Christ sometimes 
 smiles most graciously upon me, but I am often sorely 
 tempted. The devil sometimes rages and storms. I feel 
 this to be a critical period in my spiritual life. To set the 
 Lord always before me, and ever to abide in the enjoyment 
 of his love — that alone can restrain the soul from returning 
 again to folly. Just now, how near to me all my beloved 
 friends in Edinburgh seem to be ! May they be all beloved 
 of the Lord ! Make my affectionate regards to them all. 
 
JOURNAL. 123 
 
 " My health is tolerably good ; my appetite excessively 
 keen — as keen as the cutting winds of a Lisbon December. 
 The climate here is milder decidedly than in Scotland; but 
 the winds are cold even at midday, when the sun is very 
 warm. Just now — i. e., past seven o'clock p.m. — the ther- 
 mometer stands at 53 degrees or 54. I have no fire. Write 
 soon, my dear friend and brother, and believe me to be yours 
 very affectionately, " W. H." 
 
 In the journal he thus notes the Lord's daily dealings with 
 him : — 
 
 "Sabbath, December 8, 1844. — Such joy in beUeving. 
 Fellowship with the Lord. 
 
 " Saturday, December 14. — For several days buffeted by 
 Satan. ' Pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch 
 that I was almost driven to despair.' Satan designs to bring 
 me again into bondage. In the evening, sore perplexed, 
 I betook myself to the Word of God and prayer. Obtained 
 thus a great enlargement — filled with love and gratitude to 
 the Lord — found him very near unto me. ' Bless the Lord, 
 my soul, and forget not all his benefits.' 
 
 " Sabbath, December 15. — All the day till the evening 
 wonderful manifestations of grace and love from the Father, 
 the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Infinite, adorable love ! Grace 
 to the chief of sinners — grace coming over mountains of 
 guilt ! Royal, reigning, glorious grace ! Where sin abounds, 
 grace still more, infinitely more, abounding ! This my expe- 
 rience ! The Sabbath sweet, though I was all alone — sweet 
 beyond description for hours together — wrapt in wonder, 
 adoration, and love ! what a God is our God ! . . . 
 In consequence of not looking steadfastly to the Lord as all 
 my righteousness and strength, a tendency evident to supersti- 
 tion and confidence in the flesh. Hence a spirit of bondage. 
 
124 
 
 MEMOIR OP THE KEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 This day were remarkably displayed the different natures of 
 the flesh and the Spirit. ' That which is bom of the flesh 
 is flesh, and that which is bom of the Spirit is spirit.' See 
 also Rom. viii. 5-9 (especially ver. 5), and Gal. r. 16-26 
 (especially ver. 17). In the evening, read and explained 
 part of John iii. in a class of five children who came to my 
 room. Some enlargement — some love to Jesus. 
 
 " Tuesday, December 17. — No lasting happiness, except in 
 unvarying subjection to the will of God. To know his will 
 in all things, great and small, singleness of eye absolutely 
 necessary. Singleness of eye of no use to me except when 
 I look at things in the light of God's Word. ' To the law 
 and to the testimony,' &c. The only support of the soul 
 under temptation is, ' 77ie Lord our Righteousness' realised 
 by faith. Being justified by faith in this truth, we have 
 peace with God, and that peace makes the soul strong, both 
 for doing and for suffering God's will. 
 
 " Wednesday, December 18. — Fellowship with the Lord. 
 Saw in his face the glory of the Father, the Spirit embracing 
 me in the arms of his gracious love. Joy and peace in reading 
 the Word and in prayer — so full of Divine light and blessed- 
 ness, that I felt as if I could willingly do or suffer anything 
 for the glory of God. 
 
 " Thursday, December 19. — How sweet the Word to my 
 taste! Enjoyment of fellowship with God in prayer. My 
 peace interrupted by the secret workings of the impatient, 
 restless flesh. ' When I would do good, evil is present with 
 me.' DiflBculty of restraining the tendency to impatience 
 under the crosses of that day. The very tendency disabled 
 me to draw, as I should have done, upon the treasures of 
 strengthening, sanctifying grace which are in Christ. 
 
 " to be free from the body of this death ! It would 
 
JOUBNAL. 125 
 
 gladly, if it could, free itself from the restraints of God's 
 blessed Word and Spirit ! When shall the enemy be slain, 
 and my soul wholly free ! Went with my rankling sore to 
 the throne of grace. Some comfort. I am ashamed to be 
 always, always going back to God stained with guilt; but 
 still I have found God gracious — ready to heap coals of fire 
 upon my head by pouring out on my hell-deserving soul the 
 treasures of his love and pity. ' There is forgiveness with 
 thee, that thou mayest be feared.' ' Gifts for men, yea, for 
 the rebellious also ! ' my soul, bless the Lord, j who for- 
 giveth all thine iniquities.' 
 
 " Lord Jesus, that I was holy as thou art holy ! ' How 
 long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked triumph?' 
 They say unto me daily, ' Where is now thy God?' Lord, 
 plead in me thine own cause; shew that, as thou art my 
 righteousness, thou art my sanctification also." 
 
 In another letter he writes : — 
 
 " Lisbon, December 20, 1844. — [To a friend in Edinburgh.] 
 It is pleasant to look back on the scenes, and to remember 
 the friends who are now far distant. Distance makes the 
 scenes more lovely, and the friends more dear to me than 
 they ever were. This all the more so, that dark uncer- 
 tainty hangs over the future. May we at least meet again 
 round the table of the Lord in his heavenly kingdom ! One 
 element of discomfort in my position here is, that I am 
 comparatively shut out from opportunities of present useful- 
 ness. 
 
 " A letter, recently received by a correspondent here from 
 Dr Kalley, brings the information that the twenty-six con- 
 verts are still shut up in Funchal prison In every 
 
 house in Lisbon, where there are Protestants, there is a 
 jealous surveillance maintained over them, I understand, 
 
126 MEMOIU OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 through means of the Confessional. Popery here is a living, 
 wakeful, energetic power. It has bribed, and endeavours 
 still to bribe, Protestants into defection. 
 
 " On the evening after my arrival at Lisbon, I had a long 
 conversation — which was conducted in patched Portuguese 
 on my part, and patched English on his — ^with a young 
 Portuguese nobleman whom I met in the hotel. I had the 
 opportunity, in reply to a question which he put, of informing 
 him that the Presbyterians of Scotland do not acknowledge 
 the Pope or any other person, but the Lord Jesus Christ, to 
 be the head of the Church. I endeavoured, Ukewise, to 
 explain the doctrine of justification by faith in Christ's 
 righteousness alone. He assisted me in endeavouring to 
 quote a verse of Scripture on the subject; but, when I asked 
 him whether he held the same views with myself, he replied, 
 that he had not acquaintance enough with the English 
 language to enable him to discuss the question. My pro- 
 ficiency in Portuguese is not yet great enough to enable me 
 to speak much, still less to understand what is rapidly spoken 
 by others; nevertheless I have occasionally had conversations 
 with a Portuguese servant, a young man, who seems to take 
 great pleasure in hearing and reading about the concerns of 
 the soul." 
 
 Several months later, we find him stating his matured 
 impressions on the subject of Romanism, especially in its 
 relation to infidelity : — 
 
 " l_To the Bev. J. Dodds.] — Lisbon is to Portugal and its 
 dependencies, at this moment, the head-quarters of Roman 
 Catholic influence. There is in it an ^.550020^^ da Fe, sup- 
 ported by many great names. Its operations are carried on 
 with vigom-, with secrecy, and with little scrupulosity as to 
 the means of success resorted to. 
 
POPERY AND INFIDELITY. 1'27 
 
 " There is much infidelity abroad among all classes of the 
 Portuguese, under the guise of a decent outward observance 
 of the rites of Popery. That there is likewise much super- 
 stition and bigotry, and that these are on the increase, is, I 
 think, unquestionable. But all, whether they be bigots or 
 infidels, are one in the determination to maintain the unity of 
 the Church, and to promote its interests. The one class sees, 
 in the communion of the Popish Church, the only possibility 
 of salvation, and by the doctrines of that Church it is bound 
 to war against all heresy and schism. The other class finds 
 that the Church of Eome, exercising, as it does, a be- 
 numbing influence over the intellectual faculties, and pre- 
 cluding all liberty of judgment and choice, is admirably fitted 
 to serve as an engine of political despotism. This class is 
 bound, by the love of political ascendency and the zeal of 
 party, to defend the Church of Eome against all that would 
 destroy its unity or disturb its peace. Nor is that Church 
 unv^illing to be supported by alliance with infidelity. She 
 cares not who they be that are within her pale," if only they 
 support her interests, and outwardly respect her forms. She 
 is true to her character as described in the Apocalypse. Pro- 
 fessing to be the Lamb's wife, she is an adulteress. 
 
 " I think that, at the present time, there are at work 
 together, for the purpose of promoting the ascendency of 
 Eome, the two distinct but closely allied powers of supersti- 
 tion and infidelity. If we try to account for the appearances 
 of a growing influence, which Popery presents everywhere 
 throughout the nations, by exclusively regarding the opera- 
 tion of one of these two powers, we shall, I think, soon be 
 convinced of the inadequacy of the cause to the efiect. There 
 is a reality in the superstition of the present day. It is not 
 mere hypocrisy and simulation. God is giving up multi- 
 
128 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 tudes of men to ' strong delusion, to believe a lie, that they 
 all may be damned who receive not the love of the truth, 
 that they may be saved.' Satan is reigning as a spirit of 
 superstition and erroneous JeZte/over the minds of thousands, 
 and day by day he is bringing .more under the power of his 
 soul-destBoying lies. But infidelity has an equally substan- 
 tial influence ; — it also can number its thousands and its 
 tens of thousands ; and it is necessary to take its operation 
 into account also, if we would adequately explain the events 
 which are giving proof of Popery's being again in the ascen- 
 dant. 
 
 " Superstition is furthering Popery for its own sake — 
 infidelity is furthering it for the sake of an ulterior end. The 
 two powers are now combining their forces, and acting in 
 mutual subserviency to each other. These now appear to be 
 at one, but they have diflferent interests ; and after a brief 
 period of trouble, resulting from the union of their counsels 
 and efforts, a breach will take place between them ; — infide- 
 lity will shew itself hostile to even the bare form of religion 
 — the ""beast' will destroy the ' whore,' eat her flesh, and 
 burn her with fire." 
 
 This theme, so eminently a theme for the times, attracted, 
 now and afterwards, much of his attention. His views re- 
 garding it he derived from the prophetic word. " If we 
 look," we find him writing on another occasion, " into the 
 secret operations which at this moment give form and deter- 
 mination to the course of events throughout Europe, and if 
 we look into the sure word of prophecy, — ^we are equally led 
 to the conclusion that Infidelity — a hypocrite, ' having the 
 form of godliness, but denying the power thereof — is the 
 most mighty of all the principles which now actuate the 
 machine of European society." " After the French Revolu- 
 
POPBEY AND INFIDELITY. 129 
 
 tion," he says again, " it retired, after spending its strength, 
 but only that it might return in heavier inundation to 
 overwhelm the nations." And again : — " Infidelity is the 
 power against which the last .war of the Church's premil- 
 leunial tribulation is to be waged. It is yet predestined to 
 monarchy in Europe ; ' a scarlet-coloured beast, fuU of names 
 of blasphemy,' it is ' coming out of the bottomless pit,' but 
 only to triumph for a moment, and then to ' go into perdi- 
 tion.' " And once more : — " Some yet living have witnessed 
 the French Eevolution, and infidelity exalted to a throne ; — 
 they may live to witness a revoltttion ' greater and mightier' 
 (Rev. xvi. 17—20), introducing infidelity to imperial power 
 over the whole Roman world (Rev. xvii. 10-13)." " What 
 -need," he adds, " of a closer walk with God in these perilous 
 times ! A hidden life with Christ in God is the only safe- 
 guard; ' he that dwelleth in the secret place of [fellowship 
 with] the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the 
 Almighty.' may we daily walk more as in the presence of 
 God, and live more in communion with the Holy Ghost." 
 
 The journal proceeds : — 
 
 " Wednesday, Deeember 25, 1844. — How blessed is Gal. iv. 
 3-7 ! Adoption, or ' the putting o,n of Christ,' in the article 
 of his Sonship — that alone brings liberty, power, and love 
 into the soul. ' Ye are all the children of God by faith in 
 Christ Jesus ; for as many of you as have been baptized into 
 Christ have put on Christ,' and consequently stand in the 
 same light as Christ himself does before God." 
 
 " December 26. — DiflScult to give the body its due so as 
 not to aflfect injuriously the interests of the soul. The body 
 is not to be neglected, but to be held in some honour as 
 regards the satisfying of its just natural demands. Yet 
 there is danger lest the bounds of a holy temperance be 
 
130 JCEMOIR 0¥ THE HEY. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 exceeded. These bounds are discernible only in the light 
 which fills ' the whole body when the eye is single.' If this 
 light be wanting, there will be either an abuse of liberty in 
 the form of intemperance, or, a defect of liberty in the form of 
 superstitious seK-mortification. ' Ye are called unto liberty, 
 only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh.' .... Read, 
 with much sweet enjoyment, 1 Cor. vi. 11-13, in connexion 
 with Gal. V. Prayed that I might ' walk in the Spirit,' so 
 as to be kept from ' fulfilling the lust of the flesh.' Enabled 
 to pray ' in the Spirit,' with ' the peace of God, which passes 
 all understanding,' reigning in my heart. Christ was lovely 
 in my eyes. 
 
 " Has Satan not sometimes aimed at leading me, by 
 appearing as an angel of light, and an advocate of righteous- 
 ness, to substitute, as the rule of my Christian walk, inward 
 suggestions coming from himself, in the room of the external 
 Word of God ? Has he not endeavoured to perplex me in 
 such a manner as to make me look upon every instance of 
 nonconformity to these inward suggestions as an instance of 
 disobedience to the Holy Ghost, and bo to humble me con- 
 tinually throughout my Christian course ? It occurred to me 
 that, in order to ' walk in the Spirit,' I must be careful to 
 look at everything in the light of the Word, for the Word is 
 the only revelation given to me of the Spirit's mind; and 
 likewise to look much at the glory of Christ, for the oflBee of 
 the Spirit is to ' glorify Christ, by taking of his, and shewing 
 it to the believer.'' How can I walk in the Spirit if I do not 
 enter into his thoughts as they are revealed in Scripture ; or 
 if I do not look at Christ's glory, which the Spirit holds forth 
 to my view ? ' We all, with open face, beholding as in a 
 glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, 
 from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.' 
 
JOURNAL. 131 
 
 " Friday, December 27. — "While writing an article on 
 ' Gospel Liberty,' for the Christian Monitor, visited with evil 
 thoughts, and tempted. Did not feel that I was writing in 
 fellowship with the Lord. I should rather say, the truths 
 which I was writing on did not form at the time a means of 
 fellowship with the Lord to my own soul." 
 
 Will the reader, if he be a minister of Christ, ponder these 
 concluding words ? Henry Martyn, in his diary, laments 
 that " want of private devotional reading and shortness of 
 prayer, through incessant sermon-making, had produced 
 much strangeness between God and his soul." Martyn was 
 no enemy to careful " sermon-making'' or to scholar-like 
 study. Nor was Mr Hewitson, But both alike knew that 
 the written preparations, however elaborate, which had " not 
 formed at the time a means of fellowship with the Lord to 
 their own souls," were not likely to avail as instruments in 
 God's hand for converting or edifying others. It is recorded 
 of Payson that "he studied theology on his knees." He 
 preached first to himself what he intended to preach to 
 others. 
 
 "Sabbath, December 29, 1844. — Enlargement in prayer, 
 and, whilst engaged in intercession, was enabled in some 
 measure to believe that my cry was heard. On reading Pe 
 of Ps. cxix., discovered in it precious things which, less than 
 an hour before, when I endeavoured to make it the subject 
 of meditation, were hid from my eyes ; so truly ' with God 
 is the fountain of life, and in his light' alone 'we see light.' 
 my soul, if thou wouldst always be filled with the living 
 water, be ever going out in believing desires unto Jesus, the 
 fountain-head! In the evening had my small Sabbath- 
 class. 
 
 " Monday, December 30. — .... A spirit of self-righteous- 
 
132 MEMOIR OF THE BEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 ness, exceedingly subtle, suggested hard thoughts about 
 Christ. 
 
 " When I prayed to the Lord before going to sleep, I felt 
 as if the evil suggestions which had terrified and staggered 
 me had left no guilt whatever on my conscience. God has 
 taught me not to be so amazed and terrified at the discovery 
 and experience of nothing in my carnal mind but hatred and 
 enmity against himself. ' In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth 
 no good thing.' Why, then, should I be siUT)rised and alarmed 
 by the rising up of evil, and nothing but evil, in my flesh? 
 When we go as we are led or driven by the motions of evil 
 lust and afiection, then it is that we ' walk after the flesh.' 
 The wind lifts chaff and blows it away, but scarcely stirs the 
 trees. 
 
 " Tuesday, December 31. — ^In reference to several things 
 which I did during the day, the same legal spirit found 
 working in me. It is a spirit which threatens where the 
 gospel promises, and promises where the gospel threatens. 
 My judgment and experience alike condemn it ; but still it 
 often exercises over my mind, as it did over the minds of the 
 Galatians, a ' bewitching ' influence. 
 
 " Wednesday, January 1, 1845. — Sat up till midnight, and 
 caught the very beginning of another year, that I might pray 
 for myself, relatives, friends, &c., wishing them and myself a 
 happy and blessed new year, where alone the wish is avail- 
 able for any good — at the throne of grace. Fasted till nearly 
 three o'clock p.m., chiefly for the purpose of praying to the 
 Lord for deliverance from a spirit of self-righteousness and 
 bondage, from inordinate affections and evil concupiscence, 
 and for growth in holiness during the year now begun. 
 'This kind cometh not out but by prayer and fasting,' 
 When aU other means fail, fasting is not to be neglected. 
 
JOUENAL. 133 
 
 It is an appointed means of getting the victory over the 
 devil. The Lord gave me the victory over him, and the 
 deliverance from his power, which I have prayed fort ' Ask, 
 and ye shall receive.' 
 
 " To-day gave myself up anew — spirit, soul, and body — to 
 the Lord. Not that I gave, or could undertake to give, 'him 
 anything but wretchedness, poverty, blindness, nakedness, a 
 burden of sin and corruption, and inability to do anything 
 but what is evil; yet, looking to the promise, 'My grace is 
 sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weak- 
 ness,' I laid myself, spirit, soul, and body, before the Lord 
 this day, praying him to be my 'wisdom, righteousness, 
 sanctification, and redemption,' to fill my spirit with the 
 Holy Ghost, to sanctify all the faculties of my soul and all 
 the members of my body, to make me W^hoUy his own, a 
 vessel of grace to bear his name to sinners, an instrument to 
 
 be employed by him in his service Have felt the 
 
 uprisings of strong, rebellious, indwelling sin, especially in 
 the form of impatience under those little trials which it is 
 perhaps more difficult to bear with equanimity than it is to 
 bear greater ones. 
 
 " Thursday, January 2. — Sometimes I seem to be all cor- 
 ruption within — I feel so palpably the motions of sin, and 
 the effects of Satanic operation, but so indistinctly the 
 motions of a holy nature, and the workings of Divine grace. 
 The Lord gave me, in answer to prayer, a feeling of interest 
 
 in his glory and the salvation of souls Enabled 
 
 clearly to distinguish between the workings of nature and 
 those of grace in my soul — I always am when ' in the light.' 
 Bless the Lord,. my soul! 
 
 " Saturday,. January 4. — Had towards God uncomfortable 
 feelings, like those of a child' after having committed, some 
 
134 MEMOIE OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 offence towards its parents, before it is assured of its forgiye- 
 ness — the feelings of a heart ill reconciled. 
 
 "Went to the Police-oflBce with my passport. Met there 
 a young man, whom I accompanied to Buenos Ayres, as he 
 lived not far from my lodgings. While going along with 
 him, impelled forcibly to say something, as a matter of faith- 
 fulness to Christ, on spiritual subjects, but not drawn out by 
 grace, and unable to speak. God did not ' work in me to 
 will and to do.' Intolerable bondage, to be driven by the 
 law, and not drawn by the grace of Christ ! 
 
 "Sabbath, January 5. — After entering church, opened a 
 book which I found near me, and read in it the parable of 
 the Good Shepherd. Struck by these words: 'I am the 
 good shepherd ; the good shepherd giveth his life for the 
 sheep. But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, 
 whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and 
 leaveth the sheep, and fleeth.' Appropriate words! The 
 wolf had been running upon me, a poor helpless sheep. 
 Christ would not flee and leave me to perish. Good hope 
 in my soul through grace. During the service, the Spirit 
 of God filled my soul with sweet meditations — such as come 
 in freely and spontaneously, without efibrt — not being of 
 nature, but of grace. A Divine light shed abroad in my 
 soul; spiritual discernment given to me, and the glory of 
 God revealed. 
 
 " The Lord made Phil. iii. sweet to me, and encouraging. 
 I saw the heinous nature of aU those carnal law-constrained 
 workings which are opposed to 'a serving of God in the 
 spirit, a glorying in Christ Jesus, and having no confidence 
 in the flesh.' Self, that hell-deep gulf of all things sensual 
 and devilish, made to give place to ' the spirit of power, and 
 of love, and of a sound mind.' By abiding in Christ, as my 
 
JOURNAL. 135 
 
 perfect righteousness, it is easy to walk in the ways of holi- 
 ness. ' Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me,' &c., ' for 
 my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.' Blessed words ! 
 But if there be words' in Scripture which, of all others, the 
 natural carnal mind can least understand, it is these." 
 
 An American writer happily contrasts two classes of 
 Christians — those whom he terms "God's operatives," and 
 those "yivid pietists of glowing sensibilities, who can do 
 little but settle the metaphysics of faith, count frames, and 
 gauge feelings." Mr Hewitson was eminently one of " God's 
 operatives." " Fervent in spirit," he was " diligent in busi- 
 ness." His special business at this season was the acquisi- 
 tion of the Portuguese language. It will be seen by and by 
 with what amazing energy he had prosecuted the work,' 
 accomplishing within little more than two months a labour 
 ordinarily occupying at least a year. Little trace of this 
 appears in his letters or journal. But the reader, by know- 
 ing it, will be better able to appreciate the force of spiritual 
 character which could combine with an occupation so en- 
 grossing, and withal so formal, a freshness of heavenly 
 fellowship such as the journal unfolds. We present some 
 further extracts : — 
 
 " Thursday, January 9, 1845. — Comfort amidst the varied 
 occupations of the day, and a realisation of such nearness to 
 the Lord as is enjoyed when the soul is able without eifort 
 to make the transition from study or any other secular occu- 
 pation to prayer. Holiness is a habit of the mind — a setting 
 of the Lord continually before one's eyes — a constant walking 
 with God, as one with whom we are agreed. Lord Jesus, 
 make me thus holy, changing me into thine own image ! 
 
 "Friday, January 10. — Two'hours nearly in company with 
 Mr Pinheiro, the Portuguese master. My spirits lightened 
 
136 MEMOIR OF THE RET. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 and cheerful during the lesson — a consequence of the peace 
 of God, which I inwardly enjoy«d. My goings under me 
 enlarged. Experience has clearly shewn me that nothing 
 but grace can enlarge the heart of the 'believer. Grace does 
 everything. Eead before dinner, as a means of sanctifying 
 the meal. Rev. vii. The Word blessed to me, lifting me 
 upwards to Christ. Tried to engage in intercession on 
 behalf of some for whom I had not prayed in the morning, 
 but miserably hindered, Martha-like, by the desire of doing 
 many things before bed-time. ' One thing is needful.' .... 
 Shadows of dartness fell upon my soul. Darkness is Satan's 
 kingdom. He is ' the power of darkness ; ' i. e. the prince 
 who rules over it. Last night the Word of God taught me 
 that it is only by being 'turned from darkness unto light' 
 that the soul is 'turned from the power of Satan unto God' — 
 
 a truth not to be forgotten Peace and joy in the Holy 
 
 Ghost is an oil which gives sweet motion to the wheels of 
 the soul. 
 
 "Saturday/, Jarmary LI. — ^We are apt, through the rest- 
 lessness and forwardness of the flesh, to be carried out to 
 action by self-will, mistaking it for the will which is wrought 
 by the Spirit in meek and humble hearts.^ .... Having 
 
 committed my way to the Lord, pointed out to Mr M -, 
 
 a Roman Catholic, the error of the Church of Rome in refer- 
 ence to the way of pardon and acceptance. Spent some time 
 afterwards in reading and writing Portuguese. The Lord, 
 enable me to learn the language, and to use it as an instru- 
 ment in his service! My work went on smoothly to-day. 
 Watch, my soul, for the calm is often followed by a storm. 
 Satan's opportunity is — a soul, off its guard." 
 
 "Satan's opportunity is — a soul off its guard!" Impres- 
 sive words ! " What haste a man must make," says Foster, 
 
JOURNAL. 137 
 
 " who would be beforehand with temptation I" When does 
 the tempter sleep ? When does he cease to beset with his 
 wiles ? " Watch and pray,'" said the Master in Gethsemane, 
 as he felt the tempter's power, " lest ye enter into tempta- 
 tion." The journal shews how Mr Hewitson "watched and 
 prayed :" he trembled lest he should be enticed even to enter 
 on the " enchanted ground." 
 
 "Sabbath, January 12. — Had some delight in the Word, 
 1 Thess. ii., ' That ye would walk worthy of God, who hath 
 called you unto his kingdom and glory.' These words, ' Ye 
 are my glory and joy,' with the immediately preceding con- 
 text, made me feel a longing to be the means of bringing 
 souls to Christ. Afterwards a similar longing, or rather an 
 earnest desire to be employed in the blessed work of preach- 
 ing the gospel, awakened within me while reading some of 
 Mr M'Cheyne's letters. My soul hfting itself up, or, to speak 
 more truly, lifted up by the Spirit unto the Lord, with long- 
 ings that could not be uttered. Desirous of walking, before 
 all this family, in a manner more worthy of the Lord, if by 
 any means some of them might be saved. After prayer, 
 
 spoke to poor Joao M on the way of salvation 
 
 Had some consolation in meditating on the Lord's coming. 
 Hope in me has too little power. 1 exercise it too little by 
 looking forward in the light of prophecy to the glory which 
 is to be revealed. 
 
 '' January 14. — Have not been, zealous in the cause of Christ 
 this day. When the suggestion came into my mind that 1 
 ought to speak a word for Christ, not very, ready to act upon 
 it. Self working strongly, and making me to feel it as a 
 kind of hardship that I could not speak a single word on 
 spiritual things without looking to and resting on Christ 
 entirely for the blessing. Proud, stubborn, unbelieving, self! 
 
138 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 ' Lord, be thou exalted in thine own strength.' God alone 
 can make me an able minister of the New Testament. I am 
 a poor, helpless thing — all my sufficiency is of God. 
 
 " Wednesday, January 15. — ' Where the Spirit of the Lord 
 is, there is liberty,' for the soul is made willing by his 
 gracious power. ' If any man minister, let him do it as of 
 the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be 
 glorified through Jesus Christ.' There is no evangefic, 
 acceptable, God-glorifying obedience, which flows not from 
 the grace or ability that God giveth. Though suggestions 
 appear to be good, yet it is necessary to 'try the spirits 
 whether they be of God.' ' Examine all things ; hold fast 
 that which is good.' ' Be not soon shaken in mind, or be 
 troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word,' &c. ' Some shall 
 depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits.' By 
 acting on the impulses and suggestions of seducing spirits, 
 men were gradually drawn away into all the self-righteous 
 and superstitious practices of Popery ; and what Satan has 
 succeeded in doing once, will he not try, if possible, to do 
 again? 'He is transformed into an angel of light.' He 
 would deceive, if he could, the very elect. 
 
 " Thursday, January 16. — ^The flesh, the carnal mind, at 
 work. The operation of Satan manifest and palpable. 
 Eestored to some measure of peace by means of reading 
 Kom. V. (see verses 8, 9, 10). 
 
 " January 18. — my soul, my soul ! look to nothing but 
 Christ — ^rest on nothing but him — make an effort to do 
 nothing good except in his strength. Have I not often 
 followed after sanctification in the power of nature, and 
 found the law, in consequence, alive and strong — ^binding for 
 me burdens that I was not able to bear? Not nature, but 
 grace, must carry forward the work of my sanctification. To 
 
JOURNAL. 139 
 
 be busy in this work, without falling into a spirit of self- 
 righteousness, and therefore into a spirit of bondage and 
 disquietude, is the most diificult thing in the world. No 
 holiness without a life of faith and of abiding in Christ. 
 
 "Sabbath, January 19. — I believe that none of God's chil- 
 dren suffer as I do from the inward assaults of the flesh and 
 Satan. I have spent much of this day in the valley of 
 Bochim, and have believed in Jesus amidst much affliction 
 from the working of sin within me, but — oh, blessed be the 
 name of God my Father ! — likewise amidst joy in the Holy 
 Ghost, often joy unspeakable and- full of glory. 
 
 " The Lord has been dealing wonderfully with me since I 
 came to Lisbon. Sometimes hell has been rolling TSoods of 
 corruption and bitterness through my soul; sometimes I have 
 been filled with the light, and glory, and unutterable joy of 
 heaven. What is to be the end of these things ? For what 
 is the Lord preparing me? 'He will guide me with his 
 counsel.' 
 
 "Had my little class. Subject, Gal. i. Had something 
 of the spirit of freedom and power in speaking to-night. 
 Before meeting with the children, I had prayed more for 
 their conversion than on former occasions. In preparatory 
 prayer, restrained by that kind of unbelief, and want of love 
 to souls, which consists in not looking to the Lord with con- 
 fident expectation of success. The thing meant might clothe 
 itself in such language as this — ' In answer to prayer, the 
 Lord can, if he will, bear testimony to the word of his grace ; 
 but I do not expect that he really will do so in the pre- 
 sent instance.' Vexed on account of this heart-hardening 
 scepticism, I cried out to the Lord for a mountain-removing 
 faith — for more faith, more love, more confident hope. My 
 cries not wholly in vain. My mind deeply solemnised. The 
 
140 MEMOra OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 children seemed profoundly attentive. Work, Lord ! ' Not by 
 might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.' 
 
 " Mvnday, Jammry 20. — Struck by Jer. x. 23 : '0 Lord, 
 I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in 
 man that walketh to direct his steps.' Knowing that 'in 
 God's hand are all my ways,' T thanked him for bringing 
 me to Lisbon, not doubting that he would thus serre some 
 gracious purpose, though that purpose was at present, wholly 
 unknown to me." 
 
 Coleridge, in his Hymn on Chamouni, referring to the 
 Mer de Glace, speaks of the " living flowers which skirt the 
 eternal frost." Not less touching is the spiritual phenomenon 
 set forth in the extract which follows. The desolate barren- 
 ness of nature, and the living fragrance of grace, in the little' 
 territory of a single soul ! In every believer,, indeed, the 
 phenomenon exists; but here it has a vividness not often 
 seen. In the light of this feature of his spiritual life, it will 
 be not uninstructive afterwards to mark the extreme simpli- 
 city of Mr Hewitson's preaching. If he held up before men 
 less the subjective experience than the objective Christ, it 
 was not because he was himself without experience, but 
 because, in his own daily conflict, he overcame, by simple faith 
 in a living Lord. 
 
 " Monday, Jammry 20, 1845. — How amazing the breach, 
 the interval, between the flesh and the Spirit in a child of 
 God ! The distance between them is that which separates 
 heaven from hell. The breach cannot be healed, the enmity 
 cannot be reconciled — the warfare is exterminating. The 
 flesh is irretrievably lost, sunk into an infinite depth of per- 
 dition. How often it. alarms me, and fills me with dismay, 
 by the manifestations of its fiendish, hell-bom malignity,, its 
 implacable rage against all that is holy and God-glorifying, 
 
JOURNAl. 141 
 
 its blasphemous atheism, and desperate love of sin. It is 
 that which cried out, ' Away with him ! crucify him ! ' It is 
 the murderer of God's only-begotten Son. God declares that 
 it is enmity against himseK, and that it cannot, will not, be 
 subject to his law. then, my soul, be not driven to 
 despair by finding that God's description of the carnal nature 
 which cleaves to thee is literally true! That same flesh 
 which nailed God's Son to the cross will not suffer him to 
 -have a place, if it can only get its will, within the believer's 
 soul. 
 
 " Nothing is to me a greater proof of the flesh being utterly 
 Satanic than the fact that, though Satan ' work in the chil- 
 dren of disobedience,' they mistake his operations for the 
 spontaneous movements of their own will. They walk 
 -according to ' the prince of the power of the air,' and they 
 are not conscious of the fact — their walk is so entirely 
 according to the desire of their own hearts. There is such 
 a resemblance between the devil's character and their own, 
 that they do not perceive any difference. A soul darkened 
 and deceived by the joint working of the flesh and the devil, 
 appropriates as its own the devil's words, and identifies its 
 own interests with his.'' 
 
 Luther found it not easy to live daily by free grace. 
 " Christ," says he, " is no Moses, no exactor, no giver of 
 laws ; but a giver of grace, a Saviour, and one that is full 
 of mercy. If you suffer him to be any otherwise painted out 
 unto you, you shall, when temptation and trouble come, soon 
 be overthrown. Now, as it is the greatest knowledge and 
 cunning that Christians can have, thus to define Christ ; so 
 of all things it is the hardest. For I myself, even in this 
 great light of the gospel, wherein I have been so long exer- 
 cised, have much ado to hold this definition of Christ ; so 
 
142 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 deeply hath the doctrine and pestilent opinion that Christ is 
 a lawgiver, entered even as it were oil into my bones." Mr 
 Hewitson was similariy exercised ; and the "fiery darts" he 
 quenched by the same shield of faith — ^by fixing his eye, like 
 Luther, upon him who is " full of grace." 
 
 " The soul often," proceeds the journal, under the date 
 last noted, " in its ignorance of the flesh on the one hand, 
 and of God on the other, is led to torment itself. Hence 
 the bloody rites of paganism — the fires of Moloch — the self- 
 inflicted tortures of Hinduism. Hence the penances and 
 mortifications of Popery. Hence the mistaken duties and 
 exercises of the young convert. Strange though it seems, 
 the flesh, which seeks gratification, draws the ill-informed, 
 half-enlightened believer to the work of painful penance. 
 By doing this it greatly deceives, for it represents the pain- 
 ful discipline which it prescribes as being contrary to its own 
 nature, and therefore in accordance with the nature of God. 
 It thus contrives to exhibit God in the light of one who is 
 stem, pitiless, and inexorable. It is itself the tormentor, and 
 yet cries out to the gentle and compassionate Saviour, ' Art 
 thou come to torment us?' 
 
 " This is one of the depths of Satan. This is one of the 
 most deceitful and ruinous works of the flesh. The efiect of 
 it is to make the poor sinner unable to realise any comfort- 
 able experience of the truth that ' God is love,' and to entangle 
 him in vain endeavours to establish a righteousness of his 
 own, while the righteousness of God is not acknowledged 
 truly and submitted to from the heart. that I may not 
 be deceived by such ruinous sophistries of the flesh, or caught 
 in such deep-laid snares I 
 
 " In religion, as well as in other things, I may walk after 
 the flesh instead of walking after the Spirit. ' Walk in the 
 
JOUBNAIi. 143 
 
 Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.' Otherwise 
 to resist the lust of the flesh, is hierely to oppose one lust of 
 the flesh to another, and is altogether vain, or rather worse 
 than vain, as regards the end of sanctification. my soul, 
 ' acquaint thyself with God ' more and more — ever be learn- 
 ing the lesson that ' Ood is love,' ' well pleased with thee for the 
 sake of Christ's righteousness.' ' God is love.' 
 
 " Tuesday, January 21, 1845. — .... After my meditations 
 and prayers, the Lord was pleased to turn away from me 
 the host of spiritual foes who had been assailing me. How 
 sweet is a calm after such a storm! .... If the friend even 
 that loves me most were to get such a sight of my heart as 
 I have got a thousand times, he would shrink from me surely 
 with abhorrence, and say of me, ' Such a man ought not to 
 live.' Lord Jesus, thine eye is on my heart every moment. 
 I am glad that it is so, for I would open up before thee all 
 my pollution. Lord, thou bearest with me ; thou dost not 
 spurn me from thy feet as one too loathsome to wash them 
 with his tears, or too guilty to be washed in thy blood." 
 
 But if he learned to reject the law as a way of life, in the 
 same proportion did he learn to love it as a rule of life. " Be- 
 ware of antinomianism," was the emphatic warning given, 
 on his deathbed, by the late Mr Harrington Evans, to one 
 who was inquiring if he had any parting directions for her. 
 " Do you mean by that," rejoined the inquirer, " a resting 
 on the doctrines of grace, without watchfulness of the walk 
 before God?" " I do," was his reply ; " all tliat religion is a 
 fallacy.'' That religion Mr Hewitson loathed with his whole 
 soul. The fact that he was no longer under the law, but 
 under grace, he felt to be the most constraining and com- 
 manding of all reasons why " sin should not have dominion 
 over him." He writes : — 
 
144 MBMOIB, OP THE BET. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 " Wednesdai/, January 22. — Tempted to look upon God as 
 if he were narrowly watching^ me for the purpose of finding 
 fault. Convinced that this was a slanderous misrepresenta- 
 tion of God. My soul, from this day remember that, though 
 God looks as ja, judge stern and inexorable on the works of 
 those who are labouring in the flesh to justify their own 
 souls, he looks on the works of those who are already justified 
 by faith with the heart and eye of a loving father. Read 
 to-day 1 Tim. iv., Jer. xii. Gen. viii., Joshua viii. (the two 
 last chapters comforting and refreshing especially), and Eom. 
 xi., which was to me a word of admonition and warning. 
 
 " Thursday, January 23. — Dangerous to be ' working out 
 our salvation with fear and trembling,' under the sense of our 
 doing so being a condition of our justification. No true holi- 
 ness except that which springs from, love to God; and no b-ue 
 love to God without peace of conscience. Oh, in what a plight 
 I have come to the feet of Jesus to be cured ! How leprous, 
 loathsome ! Most poor and miserable ! If Jesus were not 
 God, he could not save me. to keep nearer to the cross ! 
 to deal more with the blood of atonement ! Christ's blood 
 is a greater atonement for my sins than an eternity of tor- 
 ments would be, sufi'ered by myself in hell. The Lord will 
 not cast me out, nor let any one pluck me out of his hand. 
 If I have not come to Christ, I know not what coming to 
 Christ means ; and the word is sure, ' Him that cometh unto 
 me, I will In no wise cast out.' 
 
 "Friday, January 24. — how miserable to be for the 
 least part of a day without any feeling of love to God in the 
 heart, shrinking under an apprehension of his wrath and 
 enmity ! Shall I ever be of any use to my Lord, as a vessel 
 of grace ? ' Lord, I have been as a beast before thee.' 
 ' wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver me from the 
 
JOURNAL. 145 
 
 body of this death?' To me this night belong 'shame and 
 confusion of face ; ' yet I would endeavour to say, ' Thanks 
 unto God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.' " 
 
 The fanaticism which accepts as its guide the heart's 
 frames and imaginings, instead of the written Word, he 
 combats with all the fervour of one who has smarted under 
 its delusive teachings. It is instructive to mark how one 
 after another of these spirits of darkness stand forth, under 
 the glare of his heaven-lighted lantern, in all their naked 
 deformity. He proceeds : — 
 
 " Sabbath, January^ 26, 1845. — Went to church. Mr 
 
 P 's subject was submission to the will of God in time 
 
 of trouble, according to our Lord's example. His remarks on 
 this subject led me to think that I ought perhaps to submit 
 more to the spiritual influences by which I am often strait- 
 ened in my goings (as being an afflictive visitation, though 
 not directly from God, yet permitted by him for the trial of 
 my faith and obedience), waiting upon him to send me 
 deliverance. Acting on this impression, I found myself 
 soon miserably straitened, and, after returning home, expe- 
 rienced at work in me, not so much a spirit of submission 
 and obedience, as one of rebellion and of utter powerlessness 
 to serve the Lord. ' Try the spirits, whether they be of God.' 
 Every spirit that seeks to exhibit God as unreconciled and 
 irreconcilable, without some doings or abstainings of my own, 
 is devilish, and to be submitted to, no, not for a moment. 
 
 " The quietism that yields to the impulse of every spirit is 
 devilish. ' When they shall say unto you. Seek unto them 
 that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep and 
 that mutter : should not a people seek unto their God ? for 
 the living to the dead? To the law and to the testimony; 
 if they speak not according to this word, it is because there 
 
 K 
 
146 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON, 
 
 is no light in them.' Therefore ' believe not every spirit;' 
 but try the spirits by the Word, and those which contradict 
 the Word submit to not for an instant, but fight against 
 them in the name and strength of the Lord. ' Wherewith 
 shall a young man cleanse his way?' By taking heed 
 thereto according to the impulses and operations of spirits 
 within ? No ; but ' by taking heed thereto according to thy 
 word.' The Spirit of God uses no other sword than the 
 Word of God. Christ fought against Satan with no other 
 sword throughout the temptation of the wilderness. 
 
 " Were I not a 'beast before God,' I would bear these truths 
 continually in remembrance, and act according to them at all 
 times. 
 
 " ' Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my 
 path.' It is devilish to walk by other lamps and lights than 
 this. 'Uphold my goings in thy word, that my footsteps 
 slip not.' No secure walking except in God's Word. ' Order 
 my steps in thy word, and let not any iniquity have domi- 
 nion over me' — shewing plainly that the only sure defence 
 against the reigning power of sin is to have my steps ordered 
 in the Word of God." 
 
 An interesting notice follows, under the same date. " This 
 day," he writes, " in returning from church, was informed that 
 
 a converted Spaniard, Dr , had commenced preaching 
 
 the gospel in his own house to those of the Portuguese who 
 
 were inclined by the Lord to attend. I attended at Dr 's 
 
 this evening. About sixteen Portuguese, besides a few 
 English people, were present. We were met in an upper 
 room in the third storey. During the service, which was 
 plain and simple, the 62d chapter of Isaiah and the 12th of 
 Luke were read : both exceedingly appropriate. The seiinon 
 was of considerable length — the text, ' Fear not, little flock, 
 
JOURNAL. 147 
 
 for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the 
 kingdom.' " 
 
 He who led Simon Peter to the house-top to fast and pray, 
 whilst the messengers from Cornelius drew nigh to Joppa to 
 tell him of the work awaiting him in Csesarea, is seen lead- 
 ing Mr Hewitson in the two entries which follow : — 
 
 " Monday, January 27, 1845. — Fasted till between seven 
 and eight o'clock p.m. Humbled myself first of all on account 
 of my sins, and especially on account of the workings of a 
 self-righteous and legal spirit. After confession of sin, and 
 praying for my own soul, I cried unto the Lord to save all 
 the dear souls in my father's house. Again prayed that I 
 might be enabled by grace to go free from all whereby I have 
 of late been brought into bondage; likewise that the Lord 
 would direct my way to Madeira, or whithersoever he saw 
 fit to send me. The Lord answer this prayer for good to my 
 soul, and glory to his own blessed name ! 
 
 " Tiiesday, January 28. — Mr A called this evening to 
 
 tell me that Dr Kalley had arrived from Madeira; and, while 
 he was here, a letter came from Mr Sym, intimating that I 
 had the consent of the Colonial Committee to go immediately 
 to Madeira. Thus, in a marvellous manner, the Lord has 
 been answering the prayer which yesterday I offered up for 
 direction and counsel. ' Call upon me, and I will answer 
 thee.'" 
 
 His way was now made plain before him. The work, as 
 we shall see, to which he was called, was one of no common 
 peril. Our closing extract from the journal shews his state 
 of mind in the prospect of setting out : — 
 
 " Thursday, January 30, 1845. — Many circumstances of a 
 trying kind to flesh and blood rose up before my view. But 
 the Lord has made the way straight before my face, and I 
 
• 148 MEMOIE OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 would not turn away back. Had comfort in the prospect of 
 going to Madeira. I may say truly, 'I go bound in the 
 spirit, not knowing the things that await me there.' What- 
 ever these things may be, let them be sufferings and 
 afflictions for Christ's sake, rather than that I should be 
 allowed to sin ! ' If God be for us, who can be against us?' " 
 About the middle of February, Hr Hewitson sailed from 
 Lisbon for Madeira, and, after a voyage of five or six days, 
 reached the scene of the memorable work. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 1844. 
 
 Madeira — Antichrist — Original Narrative by Dr Kalley^Hia Early 
 Labours — Awakening among Portuguese — Open Air Meetings — Effects 
 of Reading the Bible — Persecution — Bible declared " a Book from 
 Hell" — Excommunication — Imprisonment of Dr Kalley — Gospel 
 Preached in Jail — Hatred of Bible — Sentence of Death — Assassination 
 Recommended — Serra Prisoners — Singing Praises — Dr Kalley visits 
 Lisbon — Meets Mr Hewitson. 
 
 The work in Madeira has been designated " the greatest fact 
 of modem missions."* Eight hundred exiles, driven from 
 their native island for the sake of Christ, stand, before the 
 eye of Christendom, the fruit of that work. 
 
 A necessary secrecy shrouded, at the time, the details of 
 the work from public view; but the cause of the secrecy 
 exists no longer. They are published now, not to magnify 
 the human instrumentality, but to the glory of the Divine 
 Worker. 
 
 At a time when the Romish Antichrist is going forth with 
 renewed zeal to " deceive the nations," the record of a work 
 which, in one of the darkest spots of his dark domain, rescued 
 from his grasp so goodly a remnant, seems not inopportune. 
 
 * Report of Colonial Committee to General Assembly of Free Church 
 of Scotland, by Rev. J. Bonar, convener. May 1850. 
 
150 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWXTSON. 
 
 The record will prove that the great Criminal, who for so 
 many centuries "wore out the saints of the Most High," 
 remains unchanged and unchangeable. And it may stimu- 
 late the Church to earnest effort in proclaiming everywhere, 
 even amidst the thickest darkness, the Master's gracious 
 appeal — "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not 
 partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her 
 plagues." 
 
 The two great instruments in this work were Dr Kalley 
 and Mr Hewitson. The former laid the foundation ; the 
 latter reared the superstructure. We are in circumstances 
 to furnish the reader with accurate details of each of the two 
 stages of the work. 
 
 The earlier stage, accomplished instrumentally by Dr 
 Kalley, the reader will be glad to find narrated chiefly by 
 Dr Kalley himself, in a series of " Notes," kindly contributed 
 by him for this Memoir. It is necessary that the labours of 
 the one evangelist be understood, in order to a right appre- 
 ciation of the labours of the other. The " Notes " are dated 
 " Beyroot, 15th January 1851." 
 
 " In the beginning of my intercourse with the Madeirenses," 
 writes Dr Kalley, " I met few of them who had ever seen a 
 Bible, or seemed to know that the New Testament was 
 written by men who went about with the Lord Jesus when 
 he dwelt on the earth — who saw his miracles — heard his 
 words — gazed upon him as he went up to heaven — and 
 described what they knew by the testimony of their own 
 senses. When one part of it was shewn to them as the work 
 of Peter, another as that of John, and a third as that of 
 Matthew, some doubted, and wanted proofs — others listened 
 with eager interest while a portion of it was read to them as 
 a specimen of its contents. 
 
NOTES BY DR KALLEY. 151 
 
 " In 1839, a few shewed a good deal of desire to read and 
 hear the Word of God. 
 
 " In 1840, the interest in it increased much, and many- 
 adults went to school, that they might learn to read the 
 Bible. 
 
 " In 1841, it went on increasing: the attention of the 
 Government at Lisbon was directed to the movement among 
 the people, and the chief ecclesiastics in Madeira were in- 
 structed to suppress it. As soon as this was known, there 
 was such a general expression of popular feeling as prevented 
 for the time any inquisitorial measures which might have 
 been intended. 
 
 " In 1842, especially in the summer and autumn, people 
 came in large numbers to hear the Scriptures read and ex- 
 plained. Many walked ten or twelve hours, and climbed 
 over mountains three thousand feet high, in coming and 
 returning to their homes. The meetings were solemn — the 
 hearers listened with unwearied attention — a hand was ob- 
 served stealing up to remove a tear — and sometimes there 
 was a general audible expression of wonder.' This was espe- 
 cially the case when the subject of remark was the love of 
 God in not sparing his own Son, but giving him up to die 
 for the sins of a whole world, or the love of Christ in volun- 
 tarily taking upon himself the wrath and curse which we 
 deserved. 
 
 " For several months I believe that there were not fewer 
 than 1000 persons present each Sabbath ; generally they 
 exceeded 2000, occasionally reached 3000, and once were 
 reckoned at 5000. On the last-mentioned occasion, seventy 
 Testaments were sold, and many intending purchasers were 
 disappointed. These meetings were in the open air. During 
 part of the time they were held on a ridge, having a deep. 
 
152 MEMOIR OF THE BEV. W. H. HEWITSOIT. 
 
 Steep valley on the east and another on the west, while the 
 mountain rose almost perpendicularly to a great height on 
 the south. The people sat in a clear space near the house 
 which I occupied — all around was covered with trees clus- 
 tered with grapes. We had a few simple hymns, expressive 
 of adoration, gratitude, and praise. The tunes usually sung 
 were the Portuguese Hymn, Old Hundredth, and Martyrdom; 
 and there were few who did not at least attempt to join in 
 singing. You may imagine the interest of such a scene in a 
 Popish country ! 
 
 " In some places the general topics of every-day 'conver- 
 sation, in walking along the roads, or resting a little from 
 labour in the fields, were the Word of God — the one sacrifice 
 for sin — free salvation — the security of God's promises — the 
 love of the Lord Jesus Christ — peace with God — the hope of 
 glory — the folly of image-worship — the uselessness of pen- 
 ance. Often, too, the hymns of the Sabbath were heard 
 through the week among the fields and vineyards ; and there 
 was much searching of the Scriptures, to know the Lord's 
 declarations on the subjects brought before them." 
 
 The circumstances which led to this awakening Dr Kalley 
 thus traces : — 
 
 " Gratuitous medical aid induced many to visit me, 
 and experience of benefits which they prized led them to 
 regard me as a friend. When conversing with them about 
 the diseases of their bodies, and the remedies which they 
 were to employ, it required little effort to turn their attention 
 to the disease of the soul, the Physician, the remedy, and the 
 result ; and thus they listened with less prejudice than they 
 would probably have done in other circumstances. 
 
 " Eegarding the Holy Bible as the only trustworthy source 
 of information on these subjects, I advised them to search it 
 
NOTES BY DE KALLET. 153 
 
 if they wished to attain certainty concerning God, the soul, 
 heaven, hell, and eternity ; and shewed them, in as simple 
 and familiar a manner as I could, that the Scriptures contain 
 a real revelation from God himself, by which he intends that 
 men should learn and understand the things that affect their 
 own happiness now and for ever. When they found difficulties 
 in the Scriptures, and came' to ask explanations, parallel and 
 explanatory passages were pointed out. They were thus 
 referred back to the Word of God, urged to apply to the 
 Author himself for wisdom to understand his book, relying 
 on the promise in James i. 5, and warned to beware of 
 receiving anything as truth affecting their soul's eternal wel- 
 fare unless it were clearly taught by God in his Word. At 
 the same time they were shewn the reasonableness of depend- 
 ing on his testimony, as he could not be ignorant of the 
 truth, nor have any inducement to deceive. 
 
 " Many, following this plan in simplicity, were taught of 
 God, and felt that their hopes of peace with the Most High, 
 and the enjoyment of him for ever, did not rest on the sandy 
 foundation of human authority, but on his who will judge 
 the world at last, and who said, ' Heaven and earth shall 
 pass away, but my word shall not pass away.' This gave 
 them much stability in holding the truth. 
 
 " Some of them read the Scriptures for a considerable 
 period without seeing that God in them condemns many of 
 the doctrines and practices of Popery. When they perceived 
 that naasses, penances, purgatory, and indulgences for sin, 
 were inconsistent with the all-sufficiency of the one sacrifice 
 of Immanuel, and the declarations of God concerning it, 
 many, being alarmed, consulted their priest, and were exposed 
 to some degree of persecution for talking, or daring to think, 
 about such things. 
 
154 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 " This led to further inquiry as to what is really the truth; 
 and by the examination they were the more confirmed in it. 
 This fitted them for a more bold maintenance of the truth, 
 and this again to greater trial, sometimes in private and 
 sometimes more publicly; and by a repetition of this kind of 
 process they were prepared for heavier sufferings. The 
 ground is loosened round the roots of a sapling when it is 
 shaken by a smart breeze, and so the fibres more easily 
 strike into the soil. Each succeeding breeze contributes to 
 its secm'ity, even till it may sustain the force of the tempest 
 without being rooted up. And in a similar way did the Lord 
 seem to temper the wind of persecution to the strength which 
 he had himself conferred, and to cause the opposition of his 
 enemies to promote the strength of those who trusted in 
 him." 
 
 Dr Kalley further notices evening schools for adults. " Of 
 these," says he, " there were a considerable number at dif- 
 ferent times and places. I believe that about 2500 persons 
 attended them for a longer or shorter period between 1839 
 and 1845, and that upwards of 1000, between the ages of 
 fifteen and thirty, learned to read the Scriptures intelligently, 
 and were thus enabled to search them for themselves." 
 
 The work at length provoked the open hostility of the 
 ecclesiastical authorities. Their first step was to issue a 
 Pastoral, in which the Bible was declared to be " a book 
 from hell," and the terrors of excommunication were threat- 
 ened against all who should dare to read it. Simultaneously 
 with this document, another was issued, addressed to the 
 "registrar" of each parish, and couched in the following 
 terms : — 
 
 " Sir, — On the receipt of this you will summon to your 
 presence the teachers, male and female, of all the schools 
 
EXCOMMUNICATION. 155 
 
 established and supported by Dr Kalley, existing in your 
 parish, and, in the presence of two witnesses, charge them 
 henceforth not to teach any living being. If, after being 
 duly notified, any of them should continue to teach, you can 
 immediately send them to this administration in charge of 
 two officers of police. You will cause this order to be faith- 
 fully executed, and report the result by Monday next, giving 
 the names of all who have been notified, &c. God save you, 
 " J. C. Tekeeika Uzel, Administrator^' 
 As yet only two converts had openly renounced Romanism. 
 These had .sat down at the Lord's table in communion with 
 the Presbyterian congregation in Funchal. The following 
 sentence of excommunication was thereupon pronounced : — 
 " Sebastio Cazemiro Medinna Vasconcellas, Leader of the 
 Choir in the Cathedral, Synedic Examinator, Vicar- 
 General of the Bishopric of Funchal, in the Island of 
 Madeira, for the Most Excellent and Eeverend Don 
 Januaro Vicente Comacho of Her Majesty's Council, 
 Dean of the Cathedral of Funchal, Commander of the 
 -Order of Christ, Bishop-elect of Castle Branco, Tem- 
 poral Governor and Vicar-General of the Bishop of 
 Funchal, Porto Santo, and Arguinot — 
 " To all the reverend vicars and curates, assistants and 
 chaplains, as well as to all judges and justices of the peace, 
 to the delegates of the attorney-general, to the administrators 
 of councils, and all oflicers of justice, and to all ecclesiastical 
 and secular persons of every degree and condition in all the 
 bishopric and out of it, whom this my letter may reach, who 
 may hear it, or get" notice of it in any way, health and peace 
 for ever in Jesus Christ our Lord, who is the true remedy 
 and salvation of all. I make known to you, that, having 
 proceeded to an examination of witnesses^ as competent to 
 
156 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 my office, it was proved by them, and confirmed by my sen- 
 tence, that Francisco Pires Scares, married, and Nicolau 
 Tolentino Vieyra, bachelor, both of this bishopric, residing in 
 the parish of Santa Luzia, near the parish church, apostatized 
 from the union and bosom of the Holy Mother Roman CathoUc 
 Church, and became sectaries of the Presbyterian communion, 
 incurring by this ecclesiastical censure and canonical pun- 
 ishment of the greater excommunication. The censures re- 
 quiring to be aggravated, I ordered this present letter to 
 be written, by which I require and command, under pain of 
 the greater excommunication, all ecclesiastics, ministers and 
 officers of justice, and others above mentioned, as soon as they 
 shall have notice of it, not to touch or hold communication 
 with those who are excommunicated by the curse of Almighty 
 God, and of the blessed St Peter and St Paul, with those of 
 Gomorrah and of Sodom, Dathan and Abiram, whom the earth 
 swallowed ahve for their great sins and disobedience. Let 
 none give them fire, water, bread, or any other thing that 
 may be necessary to them for their support. Let none pay 
 them their debts. Let none support them in any case which 
 they may bring judicially. Let aU put them aside as rotten 
 and excommunicated members, separated from the bosom 
 and union of the Holy Mother Catholic Church, and as rebels 
 and contumacious; for if any do the contrary, which God 
 forbid, I lay, and consider as laid, upon their persons, the 
 penalty of the greater excommunication. Therefore were 
 their names and surnames expressly declared ; and, that all 
 may know this, I order the reverend parish priests to publish 
 this at the meeting on the first Sabbath or holiday, and to 
 affix it on the door of the church, from which let no man take 
 or tear it under pain of excommunication, until, by making 
 satisfaction for all, they merit the benefit of absolution. 
 
NOTES BY DR KALLEY. 157 
 
 " Given in Funchal, under the seal of the vicar-general 
 and my signature, on the 27th of April 1843. Jacinto , 
 Monteiro Cabrse, writer to the Ecclesiastical Council, 
 wrote this. 
 
 " Sebastio Cazbmiro Medinna e Vas." 
 And these were no idle threats. The civil sword lent its 
 willing aid. " In January 1843," continues Dr Kalley, " the 
 civil governor commanded me, in the Queen's name, to 
 abstain from speaking to Portuguese subjects on religious 
 topics, either in my house or out of it. But as the command 
 was arbitrary, unsanctioned by law, and in direct violation 
 of the charter of Portugal, it was disregarded. After that he 
 issued a proclamation, ordering the people to desist from 
 coming to hear me ; and every Sabbath and holiday the 
 police were stationed in the roads and at my doors to enforce 
 it. Many poor persons were beaten, and others were taken 
 to jail, for disobedience. One wealthy gentleman, indignant 
 at the priestly attack on civil liberty through the Government, 
 came on purpose that the case might be tried, and the con- 
 stitutional rights of the subject be legally declared. A pro- 
 secution was commenced against him ; but the proper legal 
 authorities declared that, by the law and charter of Portugal, 
 no citizen could be hindered from entering any house if he 
 had the consent of the owner. Many, therefore, persevered 
 in attending, but came early to avoid the police. This being 
 known, the police were sent earlier (seven a.m., the meeting 
 being at nine a.m.), but a goodly number had arrived before 
 them. They were sent earlier and earlier, till at last they 
 were at their stations at four a.m. : but still they were too 
 late ; for some of the people came on Saturday night to the 
 worship, and remained to enjoy the Sabbath together. 
 
 " A- prosecution," he proceeds, "having been instituted 
 
158 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 against me, the judge, after examiniBg about forty wit- 
 nesses, found that my proceedings did not yiolate any 
 existing law of Portugal, and therefore dismissed the case ; 
 but he having left the island for a time, another individual, 
 who had no jurisdiction at all in criminal cases, was allowed, 
 about three months after, to reverse the judge's sentence, 
 and issued warrants for my arrest. I was accordingly im- 
 prisoned in July 1843, being refused bail on the plea that 
 the crimes laid to my charge were punishable with death. 
 
 "The Mends of prisoners in Funchal jail have leave to 
 see and converse with them for six or eight hours daily ; but 
 the jailer warned many not to visit me, and took down the 
 names of some, who did it notwithstanding, in order, as 
 he said, to their being prosecuted. Afterwards they were 
 allowed to enter by threes ; but this intimation was ofiBcially 
 given, and the document fixed on the prison door, that ' there 
 was to be no reading' or ' singing of the Bible' there. The 
 jailer acted as spy, and declared that he was commanded to 
 do so, and to prevent these Bible exercises, or inform on 
 those who listened to them. The judge (British judge 
 conservator) also came with other officials, and searched the 
 prisoners and prison for Testaments. He found one or two, 
 and took them away, and they were never restored to the 
 owners. He did not search my rooms, where there was a 
 large supply of Scriptures, and the colporteurs continued 
 afterwards to come in to me for fresh supplies, which they 
 took away and sold as before. On Sabbaths, from seventy 
 to a hundred friends used to visit me, and being admitted 
 by threes, there was generally a number waiting their turn 
 about the door. The cathedral is near the jail, and Eoman- 
 ists, on their way to and from mass, would sometimes shew 
 their zeal by spitting upon the heretics, while these shewed 
 
NOTES BT DR KALLEY. 159 
 
 their spirit by praying for those who thus used them despite- 
 fully. 
 
 " Having done what they could to stop the spread of the 
 truth by verbal communication, the next step of the Popish 
 ecclesiastics was to get rid of the Bible. In the autumn of 
 that year (1843), the bishop-elect issued a pastoral letter, 
 which was read from all the pulpits, stating that a com- 
 mittee of three canons had examined the Bibles circulated 
 in the island, and given in to him their report, in which 
 they declared, that while these were represented to be an 
 editioli of the Bible, as translated by Padre Antonio Perreira, 
 there was scarcely a verse of any chapter either of the Old 
 or New Testament, which was not more or less notably 
 adulterated. He therefore utterly condemned the reading 
 of them, and excommunicated, ipso facto, all continuing to 
 use them. I obtained from a priest the loan of a copy of 
 Perreira's Bible, published in Lisbon, and got a friend to 
 compare the Gospel by Matthew in it with that in the 
 London edition. The only difference found was the change 
 of two letters by mistake of the printer. 
 
 " I addressed, therefore, a few sentences to the Madeir- 
 enses, stating this fact, and suggesting that the bishop 
 should suspend his curse from the Words of God, till it 
 might be decided whether or not the rest of the Bible was 
 as correct as the Gospel by Matthew had proved. The 
 bishop's letter having been published and affixed to the 
 church door and public places of the city, these remarks 
 upon it were so also. The canons replied from the press, 
 reiterating, in the fullest and strongest terms, their asser- 
 tion, that there was scarcely a verse of any chapter of 
 either Testament which was not more or less notably 
 adulterated, or which agreed with any edition of Perreira's 
 
160 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Bible. To this they attached their names and titles as 
 dignitaries of the Church. Meantime, the collation of the 
 two editions was carried on, and when about 5000 conse- 
 cutive verses had been compared, a few more sentences were 
 published, stating, that in all these there had been found 
 only seven (of the exact number I cannot speak with cer- 
 tainty — it might be only five ; it was not more than seven) 
 verses at all changed. These were published from the two 
 editions, side by side, so that all might see the amount of 
 change, and be convinced that it did not alter the meaning. 
 The Lisbon and the London Bible were laid together on a 
 table in the jail — all were invited to come and compare 
 them, and a dollar was offered to any person for every verse 
 (besides the seven) which he might find altered in the four 
 Gospels, or in the Acts. Many compared the volumes, but 
 no one found any adulteration or claimed a single dollar; 
 and by the gracious providence of God a Lisbon newspaper 
 arrived a few days after, which settled the discussion. It 
 contained a royal mandate {Portaria) concerning the very 
 same edition of the Bible which the canons condemned, and 
 stated that Her Majesty the Queen, in harmony with the 
 judgment of the patriarch archbishop-elect, approved of it, 
 and recommended that it should be circulated in Terceira 
 for the moral and spiritual benefit of her subjects. 
 
 " I was released, from prison in January 1844, and re- 
 sumed my former course, as the only competent judge who 
 had yet given a sentence respecting it had declared that it 
 was not a violation of the law or constitution of Portugal. 
 The police were again employed as before; nevertheless, the 
 average attendance during summer in Santo Antonio da 
 Serra was about six hundred on Sabbaths, and thirty on 
 other evenings." 
 
A CONVERT CONDBMSED TO DEATH. 161 
 
 That summer witnessed a scandal too well known to need 
 minute rehearsing. Mrs Maria Joaquina Alves had, by her 
 lioly walk and her zeal for the Lord in her neighbourhood, 
 drawn on her the eye of the blood-thirsty persecutor. 
 Snatched from the bosom of her family of seven children 
 — one of them still an infant, she had been committed to 
 Funchal jail, and been detained there month after month, 
 in the hope that her bonds might compel submission. Her 
 faith had stood the trying test. Not only had she not 
 swerved from her steadfastness, but she had often been 
 "heard praising the Lord that she was counted worthy to 
 suffer shame for his sake. Stung to the quick, her perse- 
 cutors had resolved that she should die. 
 
 On 2d May 1844, after an imprisonment of sixteen months, 
 she was brought to the bar of the Supreme Court. The 
 indictment contained three counts — apostasy, heresy, and 
 blasphemy. The last count only was pressed. She was 
 charged with refusing to acknowledge that the consecrated 
 host — that is, the morsel of bread in the hands of the priest 
 — ^is the real body and real blood, and the human soul, and 
 the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, and with refusing to 
 adore it. The judge put the question, " Do you believe the 
 consecrated host to be the real body and real blood, and the 
 human soul, and the divinity of Jesus Christ?" On the 
 answer she should give, her life, she was assured, depended. 
 Shall she quail in this hour, and accept the mark of the 
 "beast," or shall she be "faithful unto death?" ''Out of 
 weakness made strong," she calmly and firmly replied — "/ 
 do not believe it." Scarcely had she witnessed this confession, 
 when the judge rose and pronounced the following 
 
 SENTENCE OP DEATH : 
 
 " In view of the answers of the jury and the discussions 
 
 L 
 
162 MEMOIR OP THE EBV. VT. H. HEWITSOK. 
 
 of the cause, &c., it is proved that the accused Maria Joa- 
 quina, perhaps forgetful of the principles of the holy religion 
 she received in her first years, and to which she still belongs, 
 has maintained conversations and arguments condemned lij 
 the Church ; maintaining that veneration should not be given 
 to images ; denying the real existence of Christ in the sacred 
 host — the mystery of the most holy Trinity; blaspheming 
 {igainst the most holy Virgin, the mother of God, and 
 advancing other expressions against the doctrines received 
 and followed by the Roman Catholic Apostolic Church, 
 expounding these condemned doctrines to different persons : 
 thus committing the crimes of heresy, blasphemy, &c. I 
 condemn the accused, Maria Joaquina, to suffer death as 
 provided in the law ; the costs of the process, &c., to be paid 
 out of her goods. 
 
 "Funchal Oriental, in public court, May 2d, 1844."* 
 Meanwhile, no effort was spared by the persecutors in 
 inflaming the public mind. "Assassination," Dr KaUey 
 continues, "was suggested in the public papers as an easy 
 way to be freed from annoyance ; the free use of the cudgel 
 was recommended as an argument which country people 
 could feel and undierstand ; and a repetition of St Bartho- 
 lomew's day or the Sicilian Vespers was not obscurely 
 recommended, and this without any rejarehension from those 
 in power, so far as I ever heard. It was, therefore, no 
 wonder that atrocities were practised. Some were most 
 cruelly beaten — some stoned — three houses were burned 
 
 * This sentence was commuted by the Court of Itela^ao at Lisbon, 
 on 5th Tebraary 1845, in consequence of a technical error in the trial. 
 Having been tried only for blasphemy, it was found she could not be 
 competently condemned for heresy and apostasy. But the Com-t inti- 
 mated, that, had she been tried on all the three counts in the indictment, 
 the sentence of death must have been executed. 
 
NOTES BY DB K ALLEY. 163 
 
 down — two were set on fire; and all complaints against 
 such treatment seemed only to bring Aggravated injury 
 upon the sufferers. In several intstance^, families were 
 refused any place to inter their dead extept the public 
 highway. The stones were then taken up, and the body 
 brought and burned under the inspection of the police. 
 
 " In the end of September foHowihg," he goes on to say,; 
 "horrible atrocities were committed upon a portion of the 
 parish of Antonio da Serra. For three days fifty soldiers 
 were quartered on it, and allowed to plunder, and perpe- 
 trate every cruelty, as if in the land of a vanquished 
 enemy. Twenty-two of the most peaceful and well- 
 behaved men and women of the island' were taken to 
 Funchal, in the Diana frigate, and cast into prison among 
 the most depraved and degraded. No f6od was given them 
 as jail allowance — the provisions in their homes had been 
 consumed or destroyed by the soldiers — and theii' relations 
 were in hiding to escape participation' in their stirferihgs — : 
 consequently they were without food. Friends, both English 
 and Portuguese, knowing this, sent food for them, and it 
 was refused admission. Still they were not only patient 
 and resigned in these circumstances — they were happy. 
 They took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, knowing that 
 they had in heaven a better and unfading inheritance. 
 Their love to each other, their happiness and firmness in 
 what they believed to be the truth of God, were widely 
 known ; and, though an attempt was fnade to represent 
 them as criminals, their own countrymen were well aware 
 that their real offence was reading the Word of God, and 
 endeavouring to obey it. 
 
 " In the beginning of their imprisonment, the' streets 
 around the jail often resounded with their hymns of praise to 
 
164 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 him who was with them there; afterwards, their singing was 
 declared to be a violation of the regulations of the prison, 
 and they were silenced. One of the hymns they loved re- 
 sembled and was sung to the tune of, ' that will be joy- 
 ful!' and the sound of their happy voices from the jail could 
 not be endured by the enemies of the Book which produced 
 such results. Obscene songs were not prevented. 
 
 " During their imprisonment, it was ordered that mass 
 should be said, and that all the prisoners should attend it 
 every Sabbath and holiday ; though, while there were none 
 imprisoned for religion's sake, there was no mass then. The 
 prisoners from the Serra, and others, were driven to it at the 
 point of the bayonet, or dragged by force, and, when they 
 would not kneel, were forced down to the floor. When down, 
 some sat still, according to custom, on the floor; others 
 Ijolted up as soon as the pressure was removed. Several of 
 them were put into the ' bomba,' the most loathsome and 
 putrid of the filthy rooms of that wretched place, and that 
 merely because they refused to take part in worship which 
 they believed to be condenmed by God. I may close this 
 notice of these prisoners by saying, that after upwards of 
 twenty months' imprisonment, they were brought to trial 
 before a jury of their countrymen, and fully acquitted, but 
 refused leave to return to their plundered and ruined homes 
 till they should pay jail fees. 
 
 " One of the Portuguese ministers having in his place in 
 the Cortes expressed disapprobation of the sentences formerly 
 given in my favour (in virtue of which I was released from 
 prison), and the judges having been rendered dependent on 
 the Government, a sentence was obtained from one of the 
 courts in Lisbon, about the end of 1844, to the effect that I 
 ought to be prosecuted for having stated, in meetings of For- 
 
NOTES BY DE KALLET. 165 
 
 tuguese subjects, doctrines condemned by the religion, of the 
 State. In such circumstances (the Government being a party 
 against me, and the judges under its direction), there was 
 little doubt that, if the law proceedings then pending were 
 pursued, I would be expelled from the island, in virtue of the 
 laws of the Inquisition (though it had been abolished), but 
 in violation of the existing law of Portugal, and of the treaties 
 with Britain. 
 
 " I was desirous to avoid this, partly to avert the esta- 
 blishment of such a precedent for the treatment of public 
 labourers, and partly because I believed I would still benefit 
 the believers without exposing myself to new legal proceed- 
 ings. I might comfort the afflicted, counsel the imprisoned, 
 aid the persecuted, attend the sick — tell of Jesus, his love, 
 his life and death — the love of the Father, in sending him to 
 seek and save the lost, and the love of the Holy Spirit, in 
 teaching, purifying, and comforting such guilty creatures — 
 and all this without using expressions condemned by the 
 religion of the State. Considering it, therefore, of importance 
 to get rid of the prosecution then going on, I immediately 
 sailed for Lisbon. 
 
 " Lord Aberdeen, then Secretary of State for Foreign 
 Affairs, claimed damages for my false imprisonment. The 
 Portuguese Government, being poor, was annoyed by the 
 claim ; and when Lord Howard de Walden, the British Am- 
 bassador at Lisbon, proposed in my name that it should be 
 withdrawn, on condition that all law proceedings against me 
 for any acts then past should be dropped, the proposal was 
 gladly accepted by the Portuguese ministers. The arrange- 
 ment being completed with Lord Aberdeen's approbation, I 
 returned to Madeira ; but, not many days after my arrival, a 
 warrant was issued for my apprehension, in consequence of 
 
166 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 the fore-mentioned sentence of the Lisbon Court, and in direct 
 violation of the promises made to the British Ambassador by 
 the Portuguese GoTernment. I was allowed bail, however ; 
 and, for aught I know to the contrary, my name is still on 
 the list of criminals, and I am a prisoner on bail." 
 
 Dr Kalley thenceforth occupied an entirely new position 
 in relation to the work in Madeira. Having been warned 
 by the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Aberdeen, that he 
 would not be supported by the Home Government against 
 any steps which the Portuguese authorities might adopt for 
 his removal from the island, if he permitted Portuguese sub- 
 jects to assemble in his house for the reading of the Scrip- 
 tures, he felt that his presence in Madeira was of greater 
 value to the cause, even though himself comparatively 
 silenced, than that, by continuing the meetings, he should 
 incur certain banishment. And accordingly, whilst not re- 
 nouncing his Christian obligation — for how could he, vrithout 
 renouncing his Christianity ? — to speak about Christ to all 
 who might come in his' way, he resigned into other hands 
 the privilege of conducting the work which he had so suc- 
 cessfully begun. " I met Mr Hewitson," he adds, " for the 
 first time, at Lisbon. He had, without my knowledge, been 
 appointed in Scotland some time previous to labour in Ma- 
 deira. He accompanied me on my return to the island, and 
 entered with much zeal and love upon the labour for which 
 God had so graciously and remarkably fitted him. His 
 presence was most truly providential. May the Lord of the 
 harvest send forth many such labourers into his harvest ! " 
 
 Such is the share borne by this Christian physician in the 
 Madeira work. His labours had been eminently blessed. 
 Twenty-six rejoicing " prisoners of Jesus Christ" in the 
 dungeon of Funchal, and one not less rejoicing prisoner 
 
NOTES BY DB KALLET. 167 
 
 under sentence of death — these were his " epistle, known and 
 read of all men." Nor was this all. Other disciples there 
 were, but as yet " secretly, for fear of the Jews." There 
 was abroad, moreover, among the people, a spirit of anxious 
 inquiry, a hungering for the bread of life, which told unde- 
 niably how largely the Lord had been working by him. 
 Another agent now was to take his place. No one rejoiced 
 more cordially than Dr Kalley that such an agent had been 
 provided. On March 27, 1845, in explaining to the Colonial 
 Committee his altered position since his return to the island, 
 we find him writing : " Were there no one to enter on my 
 labours, 1 should feel very much embarrassed ; but I thank 
 God we have here a better hand for polishing the stones than 
 I coijld prove." 
 
CHAPTEE XI. 
 
 1845. 
 
 Arrival in Madeira — ^Meetings with Inquirers — Preaching in Portuguese 
 — Baptisms — ^Position of Dr Kalley — Progress of the Work — Zeal of 
 the Converts : their Sufferings, Faith, Patience — Communions — Oppo- 
 sition of the Priests — Threatened Indictment — Precautions — ^Imprison- 
 ments for Reading the Bible — Exterminating Warfare against the 
 Word — Source of Converts' joy — ^Portuguese Imprisonment for Teach- 
 ing to Read — Growing Thirst for the Gospel — New Attempts to arrest 
 the Work — Obey God rather than Men — Communion under cover of 
 Night. 
 
 " Mr Hewitson's arrival in Madeira,'' writes the Rev. J. 
 Julius Wood,* who at the time was resident there, "was 
 exceedingly opportune, and a striking interposition of Provi- 
 dence on behalf of the work that was then going on among 
 the Portuguese through the instrumentality of Dr Kalley. 
 Under the pressure of a variety of circumstances, Dr Kalley 
 had just been compelled to give up the meetings and expo- 
 sitions in his own house, which were attended by large num- 
 bers of the Portuguese. Not many had at that time actually 
 renounced Popery — I believe only between twenty and thirty ; 
 but a large number were impressed, were inquiring, were 
 reading the Scriptures, had given up confession, and were 
 * Letter to Author. December 7, 1850. 
 
MKETINGS WITH INQUIREES. 169 
 
 evidently in a transition state. When Dr Kalley was com- 
 pelled to give up his meetings, these found themselves as 
 sheep without a shepherd. 
 
 " Mr Hewitson," continues Mr Wood, " did not feel him- 
 self under any obligation to regard the restrictions that had 
 been laid on Dr Kalley. His Master had said, ' Preach the 
 gospel to every creature. Be instant in season and out of 
 season.' There was evidently no law of man to forbid his 
 doing this in Madeira. The spirit of Popery, indeed, was in 
 deadly opposition to any obedience to his Master's great 
 command ; and the authorities, roused and urged on by 
 Popery, were willing to trample on all law, in order to keep 
 out the light, and protect the reigning superstition and dark- 
 ness. But, braving all difficulties and dangers, Mr Hewitson 
 proceeded to put himself in communication with those who 
 had been deprived of the privilege of Dr Kalley's meetings. 
 At this time he came to live with me, and a room in my 
 house was set apart for his expositions." 
 
 He now began to receive daily a small number of the 
 converts and inquirers. Many would have assembled, but 
 prudence dictated the necessity of limited meetings. " Since 
 I came," he writes from Funchal, on 11th March, to a friend 
 in Edinburgh, " I have met and spoken with a considerable 
 number of the converts — many of them very interesting per- 
 sons, and resting, to all appearance, with great simplicity 
 and childlikeness of faith, on Jesus. Some of them seem to 
 enjoy unbroken peace, and, expecting to suffer in the flesh for 
 the name of Christ, have sat down and counted the cost. 
 One of them, whose heart overflows with love to Christ, said, 
 when I fii'st saw her, that she would rather let them put her 
 to death than hear them malign the truth without defending 
 it. I have begun to have meetings of the people in the 
 
170 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 mornings. They come in small numbers to me. I endeavour 
 to speak with them, read Scripture, expound it, and pray in 
 Portuguese. The difficulty with me of speaking the language 
 is not so great as that of understanding it when spoken by 
 others. The good people, when I request them to speak 
 more at leisure, in their desire to make themselves intelli- 
 gible, speak all the faster. In this thing I have need of 
 patience. 
 
 " Many," he continues, " have applied for admission to the 
 Lord's table, and their answers to the questions put to them 
 have evinced considerable intimacy with Bible truth, and 
 clearness of apprehension as to the true nature of the Lord's 
 supper. 
 
 " Last Sabbath I baptized two children. The parents, 
 both fathers and mothers, had come in from the St Antonio 
 da Serra, which is four hours distant, on the preceding even- 
 ing. The ordinance was, of course, administered in true 
 Presbyterian form ; and, after making the pre-baptismal 
 address and charge to the parents, one of them, with tears in 
 his eyes, declared his desire to be himself the Lord's, and to 
 have his child brought up in the fear of God. The occasion 
 was a memorable one, It is the first dispensation of baptism 
 to the children of Portuguese converts which has taken place 
 in Madeira, After the parents had gone away, they said 
 that they did not look upon any of their children as rightly 
 baptized except these ones. The service took place in 
 Miss Denniston's house (I mean, that of Dr Cunningham's 
 sister-in-law) : it was necessary to observe the greatest 
 secrecy, and the end of secrecy could scarcely have been 
 better served th9,n in Miss Denniston's house. 
 
 "Another parent has made application for baptism on 
 behalf of his infant child. He comes from another part of 
 
MEETINGS WITH INQUIRERS. 171 
 
 the island. He is a very intelligent man, an ApoUos in the 
 Scriptures, and has, on more than one point of divinity, 
 puzzled and discomfited the parish priest. Mrs Kalley once 
 expressed to him her surprise at his having, within so short 
 a time, attained such knowledge of Divine things. He, in 
 turn, appeared to be surprised at her making such a remark, 
 and said, ' God could teach me more in five minutes.' He 
 was once 'a prisoner of Jesus Christ.' If the Lord permit 
 and enable me to engage in the solemn service, it is probable 
 that we may have the communion on the Sabbath after next. 
 It will be in the evening, 'the doors being shut for fear 
 of the Jews.' 
 
 " Mr Wood dispensed the Lord's supper to his flock since 
 I came to Madeira. It was to me a season of blessed com- 
 munion. The Lord was with me at his table, and gave me 
 some of the ' hidden manna.' " 
 
 Not the least remarkable element in God's preparation of 
 his servant, was the extraordinary power he had so rapidly 
 acquired of speaking to these people in their own tongue the 
 wonderful works of God. The reader may perhaps remember 
 how serious an obstacle to success his inability to speak the 
 language of the Indians had, in the early stage, proved to 
 David Brainerd, and how, as his words passed through the 
 untouched heart of the interpreter, they had so sadly lost 
 their edge ; and he may remember the holy man's joy, when, 
 by the quickening of that heart, the Lord began to smile 
 upon his work. From the outset, Mr Hewitson was his 
 own interpreter. " He- is fully employed with the Portuguese 
 already," we find Mr Wood writing to the Colonial Committee 
 on March 24th ; " he is able not only to speak to them, but 
 also to expound and address them. He is admirably suited 
 for the wojk in which he is engaged. The thirst of the poor 
 
172 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 people for the Word is extraordinary and intense." And 
 writes another correspondent, also then resident in the island : 
 " His fluency in the language from the time of his arrival, 
 though he had only studied it for two months in Lisbon, was 
 wonderful ; the people spoke of it as being ' a gift from God.' 
 You know the unction that pervaded all he ever said and 
 did, and how he spoke and how he prayed in his own 
 tongue ; but you can hardly imagine how he suited himself 
 to the peculiar habits of thinking and circumstances of these 
 uneducated but intelligent and inquiring people. I have 
 heard many of them go over his addresses, or his particular 
 illustrations, with a delight and depth of feeling which shewed 
 how he had reached the heart ! " 
 
 No " cloven tongue, like as of fire," had " sat" upon him. 
 But he who gave to Peter and to John, in an instant, the 
 gift of tongues, had selected for Madeira one who, by his 
 previous acquirements and habits of severe study, was able 
 to grapple with and overcome an initial difficulty, by which 
 most other men would have been arrested until the door had 
 been shut. As in the self-seeking but lettered student, sit- 
 ting at the feet of Gamaliel, we behold him who afterwards, 
 on Mars Hill, in presence of " certain philosophers of the 
 Epicureans and of the Stoics," preached "Jesus and resur- 
 rection;'' so in the accomplished and disciplined, though still 
 ungodly, scholar of 1835, we trace the missionary who, ten 
 years afterwards, was, by his so singularly rapid equipment 
 in the language of the inquiring islanders, to be fitted to 
 meet an emergency so precious and so brief. "Without sup- 
 posing any miracle, they might well receive him as " a gift 
 from God." 
 
 The work proceeded. "There is, I am more and more 
 convinced," is his report to the convener of the Colonial 
 
PREACHING IN PORTUGUESE. 173 
 
 Committee, the Kev. John Sym, of date 25th March, " 'a 
 wide door and effectual' opened in Madeira; and though 
 there are many adversaries, he who has opened the door is 
 stronger than all, and 'no man can shut it.' The Lord 
 himself will, I expect, shut it ere long. Now is the time to 
 work. I believe that the good seed is being rapidly 
 multiplied. Last Sabbath evening I administered the Lord's 
 supper to thirty-four Portuguese converts. More might 
 have been admitted, but there was not room for them. It 
 was a blessed season. The greatest secrecy was observed. 
 
 " Yesterday," he adds, in another paragraph of the same 
 letter, alluding to the cause of Dr Kalley's withdrawal from 
 any further public share in the work, " the English packet 
 arrived here, bringing the intelUgcnce that Lord Aberdeen 
 had written to Dr Kalley. The letter of his Lordship has 
 not yet come to Dr Kalley's hands, though there has been 
 an opportunity of its being forwarded to him from Lisbon. 
 Its contents are what I expected they would be ; and I am 
 all the more convinced, by the perusal of it, that Dr Kalley 
 acted wisely in proposing, through Lord Howard de Walden, 
 such an arrangement as would secure his being permitted to 
 remain on the island. It is of incalculable importance that 
 he be allowed to remain, though without the privilege of 
 preaching as formerly to large congregations. Being on the, 
 spot, he has opportunities of promoting the good cause which 
 its friends in Britain are not aware of; and it was with a 
 view to the glory of God and the good of souls — not by any 
 means for the purpose of avoiding danger — that he made his 
 proposal to the Portuguese Government." 
 
 " One day last week," he writes, of the same date, to a 
 friend in Edinburgh, giving some details of the work, " in 
 course of expounding Scripture, I said that those who had 
 
174 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 found the 'hid treasure' were willing to part with all for its 
 sake ; and then asked a man if he understood my meaning. 
 He came forward with the manner of one who was bruised 
 and suffering pain, and said that he did imderstand it, and 
 that he had heen severely beaten on the evening before for 
 Christ's sake. The man referred to often sleeps, 1 believe, on 
 a stair all night, that he may not be exposed so much to the 
 violence of the adversary. He is truly a happy man. He 
 has found the ' hid treasure.' A woman said, in reference 
 to Sabbath evening last, ' I should have liked if it had lasted 
 for ever.' Another, expecting to suffer, says, ' I am weak in 
 the flesh, but strong in the Spirit of the Lord.' " 
 
 " Not a few, in different parts of the island," he addsy 
 writing on the same day to Mr Dodds, " are being taught to 
 read the Scriptures ; and those who are already converted 
 are not slack in profiting by the opportunities they have of 
 encouraging one another, and of doing good to the souls 
 which are still in darkness and the shadow of death. Many 
 of the converts have, through reading and prayer,, become 
 intelligent and enlightened members of sociely-^able to give 
 to all that ask them a clear and distinct reason of the hope 
 that is in them. The apprehension which they have gene- 
 rally of the way of salvation is extremely simple, and their 
 confidence in Christ very childlike. Some of them seem to 
 be altogether fi-ee from doubts and fears, and to be filled with 
 joy and peace in believing. Eemember me and Madeira; 
 The door is standing open, though there are many enemies. 
 What will be the" end is one of the uncertainties of the 
 future ; but ' bonds and imprisonments,' perhaps, await many. 
 to be strong on the Lord's side, and in the Lord's grace !" 
 
 The enemy became alarmed. " It was soon found," con- 
 tinues Mr Wood, " that the meetings were attracting the 
 
PROGRESS OF THE WORK. 175 
 
 attention of the priests and the authorities, and they were 
 given up. But Mr Hewitson still continued to carry on the 
 work. The people Were inTited to wait upon hira individu- 
 ally, or two or three at a tiine^an invitation to which they 
 most gladly responded. Indeed, the hungering and thirsting 
 of these poor people after instruction in the Scriptures was 
 remarkable and affecting. Often would they stop me, and 
 inquire when it would be their turn to come to the minister. 
 And I was sometimes not a little provoked by their want 
 of caution and prudence when I saw a number of them, 
 as was often the case, plant themselves right opposite my 
 door, patiently waiting their turn for being admitted to Mr 
 Hewitson. 
 
 " This mode of carrying on the work," Mr Wood adds, 
 " was exceedingly laborious and fatiguing. Mr Hewitson 
 was usually engaged with different parties or individuals, 
 from a little before ten till about one o'clock, and sometimes 
 later. To add to the labour, he was conversing all that time 
 in a foreign language but recently acquired, and with the 
 idiomatic phraseology of which he was as yet imperfectly 
 acquainted. Nothing, in my experience, is more wearying 
 out than conversation for a lengthened period, on the same 
 or similar subjects, with successive individuals or groups. 
 Yet, weak in body as Mr Hewitson was, he never shrank 
 from this labour. All his regret was, that he had not more 
 strength for the great and deeply interesting work that 
 called him. Sometimes he was very much exhausted, as 
 day after day he toiled in instructing the numbers who 
 eagerly resorted to him. But it was wonderful to see that 
 his health did not suffer. Labour that might have prostrated 
 a man in robust health — though it often wearied his feeble 
 frame — did not seem seriously to injure him. Those who 
 
176 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 waited on his instructions grew rapidly in knowledge and in 
 grace.'' 
 
 Of these pleasant lahours, not the least exhausting was 
 his preparatory dealing with applicants for admission to the 
 table of the Lord. As each new soul was touched by Divine 
 grace, the* individual came desiring the privilege of sitting 
 down with the little flock at the Supper. It was aflFecting 
 to see one after another, though at the peril of imprison- 
 ment or even death, thus boldly, yet meekly, confessing 
 Christ. After a course of instruction, Mr Hewitson received 
 them one by one into the fellowship of the Church. 
 
 The communions were seasons of peculiar refreshing. " His 
 first communion," writes an eye-witness, " was on the 23d 
 of March, when forty Portuguese converts were present, of 
 whom I think about eighteen only had been previously 
 received as communicants by Dr Kalley. On the 20th of 
 April he again administered the communion, at which I was 
 present, and three or four other Scotch friends. It was a 
 very solemn service, after sunset, on the Sabbath evening. 
 Thirty new communicants were admitted, and sixty-one were 
 present. Many were deeply affected. Mr Hewitson spoke 
 on the ' prodigal son.' It was the first time I had heard him 
 preach in Portuguese, and I was indeed amazed with his 
 fluency, his command of the language, and the correctness 
 of his pronunciation." 
 
 How did he speak to these souls ? What words did the 
 Spirit use in melting and in gladdening them ? Let the fol- 
 lowing words to a friend at home, occurring in one of the 
 letters already quoted, tell. " We are slow to believe,'' says 
 he, " that we have so gentle and kind a Lord to deal with. 
 Jesus is ' meek and lowly of heart.' He bears with much 
 ingratitude, coldness, and provocation — ^with our needless 
 
COMMUNION. 177 
 
 disquietude and alarms — our infidel doubts and jealousies ; 
 he strengthens our feeble-mindedness, and supports our weak- 
 ness. In the spirit of meekness, he restores us when we are 
 overtaken in sins of infirmity, and of sudden or strong temp- 
 tation ; he stands up as our advocate with the Father, and 
 through his own righteousness he prevails. When we leave 
 him, he looks after us with pity — his bowels are moved for 
 us — he condescends to follow us; and when he sees us 
 falling, he cries out, ' Return unto me, for thou hast fallen 
 by thine iniquity.' He forgives not seven times in the day, 
 when we confess we have offended, but seventy times seven. 
 He is a merciful and faithful High Priest, one that can have 
 compassion on us, one that can be touched with a fellow- 
 feeling of our infirmities. Jesus once 'had compassion on 
 the multitude:' is bis heart now callous and insensible? 
 Once ' Jesus wept : ' has he now lost all his tenderness ? Is 
 he altered now that he is in glory ? Ah ! he is ' the same 
 yesterday, to-day, and for ever.' The mountains shall depart 
 and the hills be removed, but the heart of Jesus is ever the 
 same. ' Heaven and earth shall pass away,' but his love 
 and tenderness shall not pass away. ' The mother may for- 
 get her sucking child,' but ' I,' he says to the poor believer, 
 ' /will not forget thee.' ' He will not quench the smoking flax, 
 nor break the bruised reed.' We may be like smoking flax 
 — there may not break forth in our souls smj flame of Divine 
 love, and zeal, and joy ; on the contrary, grace may be in us 
 so feeble, that there will arise, like smoke, dark doubts, and 
 fears, and troubles ; but the Lord will pity us, and deal gently 
 with us — ' He will not quench the smoking flax.' The fruit 
 of the Spirit, even in the believer, is ' long-suffering, gentle- 
 ness, goodness.' Christ has the Spirit without measure ; how 
 boundless, therefore, the riches of his long-suffering, and 
 
178 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 gentleness, and love ! that we may be able to comprehend 
 more fully ' what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and 
 height ; and know the love of Christ, which passeth know- 
 ledge ! ' that we may have such knowledge of the heart 
 of Jesus Christ as Paul had when he said, ' I beseech you 
 by the meehness and gentleness of Christ ! ' — to lie in the bosom 
 of Jesus, and feel the beating of his heart — the pulse of in- 
 finite love ! Gentle is the embrace of his everlasting arms. 
 His eye is upon you, beaming with ineffable grace and ten- 
 derness. God's love and fulness are thus manifested in the 
 feelings of a human heart and the looks of a human eye in 
 Immanuel — God with tis — God with publicans and sinners/ 
 ' What think ye of Christ ? ' Is he not fairer than the chil- 
 dren of men 1 Is he not ' altogether lovely ? ' " 
 
 He who " hath the key of David," who " openeth and no 
 man shutteth,'' was hastening forward the blessed work dur- 
 ing the brief season of the " open door." " It has never been 
 my expectation," writes Mr Hewitson on 1st May, "that 
 the enemies of the truth would long suffer the good work 
 to continue ; and it will not surprise me though it be soon 
 stopped. The Roman Catholic priest of the parish in which 
 I have recently been holding my meetings has come to know 
 about them, and he will not cease making endeavours till 
 they be put down. 
 
 " How pleasant," he continues, " it has been to meet with 
 and speak to the dear people here who love Jesus ! Many of 
 them are simple-minded, and confiding in God like little 
 children. Some of them have made much progress in grace 
 and holiness, and their greatest joy is to see the work 
 spreading, and new souls coming into the fold. The Lord is 
 carrying his gracious work forward, especially in private, 
 through the reading of Scripture. The work was perhaps 
 
PERSECUTION. 179 
 
 never in a more flourishing state than it is at this moment. 
 But the enemy is determined, I believe, to use all means to 
 stop it. It is the Lord's own work, however, and he will 
 sustain it till the gathering in of all his elect has been com- 
 pleted. The poor people who know and love the truth have 
 nothing before them but the prospect of suffering for Christ's 
 sake. Meanwhile they wait on the Lord, daily praying and 
 praising Gfod. In this way they are becoming, I trust, 
 strong in the Lord against the day of trial." 
 
 " I found," he adds, " that Mr Wood's house was too public 
 to continue the meetings in; and, following the advice of 
 friends here, I have been led to take the lease of a house 
 for a year — one in a more retired situation, having a little 
 garden on one side of it, and a large garden, or fazenda, as 
 it is here called, on the other. I have not yet begun to live 
 in it, but have had my meetings in it with the people for 
 about two weeks." 
 
 And again,, to another correspondent, on May 2 : — " When 
 I looked forward to Madeira as a place of danger, I was not 
 altogether, as events are beginning to shew, without reason- 
 able grounds for my apprehensions. There has been another 
 communion — fifty-nine or sixty Portuguese converts being 
 present. No suspicion, I believe, exists as to our having 
 had such a meeting. There are many applying, besides, for 
 admission to the Lord's table. The work is going forward. 
 No man can stay the hand of the Almighty Workman. 
 There are many dear children of God in this place, whose 
 sincerity is put to the test by many adversaries. They suffer 
 much in private in their own homes and neighbourhood ; and 
 though naturally, I believe, an extremely timid people, they 
 are bold in their God, and strong in the joy of their Lord. 
 One of the children which I baptized is dead, and has been 
 
]80 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 buried, not in the parish churchyard, but in what tlie 
 Eoman Catholics call unconsecrated ground. 
 
 " It is a few hours," he adds, " since I wrote the above, 
 and I am since all the more convinced that decided steps will 
 be taken to arrest, so far as the enemy can arrest, the pro- 
 gress of the work here. ' The Lord reigneth.' Pray that my 
 faith may not fail, and that, amidst the siftings of coming 
 trial, the dear people may be enabled to abide in the Lord. 
 Weak am I in myself, and naturally disposed to shrink ; but 
 it is my prayer that, in the everlasting arms of my faithful 
 covenant God, I may be borne safely through. God be 
 glorified in me, spirit, soul, and body ! We are but pilgrims 
 here : we are travellers to our Father's house. that our 
 chief desire may be to glorify God our Saviour now, that we 
 may be glorified in him,' and. with him, at his coming !" 
 
 And to another, at a later hour of the same day : — " I 
 fear that my meetings here will be soon stopped now. Yes- 
 terday several policemen were on watch round the house in 
 which we met, for the purpose of ascertaining who the per- 
 sons were that had assembled for worship. Seeing them on 
 the spot when I rode up, I did not go in, but went past. 
 After they had watched for two hours or so, they went off, 
 and the few people who were in the house then went away 
 home. The policemen were again watching to-day, and I 
 rode past them. They will perhaps continue to watch for 
 some days to come ; but they will be disappointed, for, while 
 they keep watching, I will, of course, as an act of prudence, 
 discontinue my meetings. I am afraid lest the disciples here 
 may have to suffer still more than they have suffered in the 
 cause of their Lord." 
 
 His health, in spite of all these labours, was improving. 
 " Yesterday," we find him adding, in the postscript of the 
 
PJiESECUTlON. 181 
 
 letter last quoted, " Dr Kalley again examined my lungs ; 
 and this time, notwithstanding all the work that I have had, 
 his report is somewhat more favourable. The disease seems 
 not at all to be active." 
 
 The narrative proceeds : — 
 
 " Madeira, May 8, 1845. — [To the Convener of the Colonial 
 Committee.^ — The adversaries of the truth came to discover 
 my meetings, in consequence of a little act of indiscretion 
 which one of the converts was betrayed into in private in a 
 moment of unguarded zeal. It was owing to a representa- 
 tion from the Bishop of Madeira that the police were sta- 
 tioned at the house in which I had latterly been engaged in 
 worshipping with the people. 
 
 " On Saturday last several persons were examined by the 
 administrator of police, but, so far as I am aware, the infor- 
 mation communicated by them was not sufficient to alFord 
 ground for bringing an indictment against me. The police 
 continued to watch daily till Sabbath ; and though now they 
 do not personally continue their vigilance, I have reason to 
 believe that they are taking means to secure information as 
 to my proceedings, being resolved, it is said, to put me 
 down. 
 
 " The people with whom I have been in the practice of 
 meeting, so far from being terrified by the threatening 
 demonstrations of the enemies of the truth, would continue 
 to visit me as usual if I did not consult for their safety more 
 than they do themselves. Their numbers are so considerable, 
 that I have been all along obliged to restrain them from 
 coming except at reasonable intervals ; and their love of the 
 truth, like that which discovers itself at home during seasons 
 of revival, is such as leads them to make little account of the 
 obstacles which rise up in its way. 
 
182 MEMOIR OF THE BEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 " Already I have baptized three children, and there is 
 another which I intend to baptize, if the Lord permit me, ere 
 long. The parents of the latter are strong in the Lord, and 
 not deterred by the threatening aspect of things from seeking 
 baptism for their child. 
 
 " For some weeks past I have been contemplating the 
 ordination of three or four elders. On Tuesday last I inti- 
 mated to a godly young man that I wished him to become 
 an elder, asking him if he would object to undertake the 
 office. He answered that he would refuse to do nothing that 
 was agreeable to the will of the Lord, and, evidently referring 
 to a threatened attempt on the part of the enemies of the 
 truth to force him into military service, he added, that he 
 would gladly enlist himself as a soldier to defend the Lord's 
 cause and people. The young man in question is a devoted 
 servant of God, with intense love of Bible truth. He knows 
 much of that truth, and quotes Scripture with great readi- 
 ness and felicity. He has a strong understanding, an excel- 
 lent memory, and fluent utterance. He is very anxious to 
 acquire the English language, as it affords such advantages 
 for increasing knowledge in Divine things. 
 
 " Do not you and the Colonial Committee think that, in 
 consideration of the exigencies of the native church in 
 Madeira, and in accordance with apostolic practice in cases 
 of similar exigency, the young man referred-to ought, after 
 acquiring the key which the English language would give 
 him to such stores of scriptural knowledge, to be set apart to 
 the office of the holy ministry ? For my own part, I have 
 no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that he ovght. The 
 time may not be far distant when I shall be obliged to leave 
 Madeira by the strong arm of persecution ; and it would be 
 a great comfort to the afflicted church here, amidst their pri- 
 
NEW IMPRISONMENTS. 183 
 
 vations, to have the prospect of so soon receiving ordinances 
 at the hands of one of their own number. 
 
 " I am still permitted by God to cherish the hope that, by 
 going on quietly, and so as best to elude the eye of hostile 
 observation, I shall be enabled to labour a little longer in the 
 work of the ministry among this people. There is much to 
 do in the way of building up as well as in the way of in- 
 gathering. I have reason to believe that the latter part of 
 the work is going forward. 
 
 " P.S. — May 10. — Yesterday, a woman, one of the Lord's 
 flock here, was put in prison for teaching her neighbours to 
 read the Bible. Another imprisonment has likewise just 
 taken place at Santa Cruz, a town at some distance from 
 this, in the case of a man who had been similarly occupied. 
 The adversary sees that "the progress of the good work 
 cannot be stopped but by precluding all access to the Word 
 of God, and they seem determined to take this means of 
 stopping it. 
 
 " Since writing the above, I have met with some of the 
 disciples here, and find them triumphing, in the joy of the 
 Lord and in the hope of glory, over every fear and danger. 
 ' The joy of the Lord is their strength.' Their faith is very 
 simple and confiding. They are ' little children.' 
 
 2d P.S. — May 12. — The horizon is becoming more and 
 more cloudy. Two or three days ago, at a dinner party, the 
 Bishop of Madeira declared exterminating warfare against 
 the Bible. He said that he had all the authorities on his 
 side, and that he was resolved to put down all dissent from 
 the Roman Catholic Church. Yesterday, while the Bishop 
 was preaching,, he fell down in a fit. This might teach him 
 that the Lord is mightier than he. 
 
 " W. H." 
 
184 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 On the afternoon of the day when he wrote these post- 
 scripts, Mr Hewitson baptized the child adverted to in the 
 letter. An eye-witness of the touching scene thus describes 
 it, as jotted down at the time : — " Saturday, May 10. — At 
 half-past four this afternoon our house was again privileged 
 to be the spot where another of the little ones of this poor 
 persecuted people was given to the Lord in baptism. Mr 
 Hewitson says the mother reminds him of Mary, who wiped 
 the feet of Jesus with her tears. She was one of the most 
 devout and bigoted Papists, but now she has burned all her 
 images." 
 
 Romish priests in Britain affect to be not unfriendly to the 
 Bible. Madeira exhibits them without the mask. "The 
 work of the Lord," writes Mr Hewitson on May 17, "has 
 many and great difficulties here to contend with; but, in 
 spite of them all, it seems to be making progress. There is 
 reason to believe that conversions are still being effected 
 through the Word, and that former converts are growing up 
 into the Lord, and becoming more and more courageous for 
 the encounter of a still more fiery trial than as yet has tried 
 them. Steps are being taken to prevent the spread of Bible 
 light — Satan cannot rule except over the darkness of this 
 world. The Bishop of Madeira threatens an exterminating 
 warfare against the Word of God. With the help of the 
 civil magistrate, he purposes to rob all God's people here of 
 their Bibles. The purpose is cruel and soul-destroying, but 
 the light of truth will shine into the heart of every elect child 
 of God; and who shall let it? The Lord reigneth, and 
 reigneth to redeem his elect ones. 
 
 " The persecution," he continues, " which the converts 
 have to endure in private from relations and neighbours is 
 fierce, and still growing fiercer. . A few days ago, one of the 
 
THE BIBLE PEOSCEIBBD. 185 
 
 women who visited me was literally trembling for fear lest 
 the watchful adversary should see her coming; and two 
 young men, lambs of the flock, told me the same day that 
 their enemies were threatening not only to beat them, but 
 even to put them to death. The malignity manifested 
 against the Word of God is rancorous and virulent in the 
 extreme. The Word of God is daily reproached and blas- 
 phemed. But ' wisdom is justified of her children,' and they 
 hunger and thirst after the Word — they long for it as the 
 hart for the water-brooks. They are willing, and even glad, 
 to suffer privations which Scotland, since the days of the 
 Stuarts, has not been tried with, in order to have the privi- 
 lege of hearing the Word preached. To hear the Word 
 preached in Madeira involves not only privations and hard- 
 ships in many cases, but danger in all." 
 
 "0 the Hope of Israel, the Saviour thereof in time of 
 trouble," was the appeal of Jeremiah amidst "the dearth" 
 which, in his day, had overtaken the professing Church; 
 " why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a 
 wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?" 
 Surrounded in Madeira by the manifestations of the Lord's 
 presence, Mr Hewitson began to inquire, with a growing 
 concern, why at home that presence was so little known. 
 " I hear," says he, in the sequel of the letter just quoted, 
 " that Jedburgh and some of the surrounding parishes 
 have been refreshed recently with a shower of blessing from 
 the Lord. Have any of the rain-drops fallen on your 
 waste places ? Some desperate unbelief there must be 
 in the churches, which so clogs and locks the wheels of 
 Immanuel's chariot. The Word of God is what it was in 
 apostolic and in Reformation days — the .Spirit of the Lord 
 is not straitened — the love of the Father is not waxed cold 
 
186 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 — the bowels of Christ still yearn over lost souls ; but, oh ! 
 the curse of Nazareth seems to be upon the churches — ' The 
 Lord could not do many mighty works there, because of 
 their unbeUef.' Unbelief in God's children keeps sinners 
 asleep." 
 
 Mr Hewitson had himself learned not to " limit the Holy 
 One of Israel." In a letter of this period, addressed to 
 Mr Dickson, how vividly he stands out before us the man 
 of prayer and of expecting faith! "Have not we many 
 prayers in heaven," says he, "of which we have not as 
 yet received a fuU acknowledgment? God will surely yet 
 acknowledge them fully, and grant us according to and 
 beyond the desires of our hearts. Though sovereign and 
 free in aU that he does for us and gives to us, yet he 
 has, and that likewise in the sovereign free exercise of his 
 grace, put himself, by a thousand promises, as it were, into 
 the position of a debtor, on whom we may prefer boldly our 
 claims in Christ, as if we were creditors of the Lord. His 
 promissory notes — his magnificent issues of heaven's paper 
 currency, representing the unsearchable riches of Christ, the 
 untold bullion of heaven — these coming to us, each with an 
 ' I will give payment on demand to whosoever will,' are sure 
 to be at length, if not instantly, honoured and redeemed. 
 Earthly capitalists can soon run themselves into liabilities, 
 which they have not assets enough to liquidate ; but ' what 
 God has promised, he is able also to perform.' 'If thou 
 canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.' 
 
 "Unbelief," he continues, "is often dishonouring God's 
 letters of credit, as if the kingdom of grace were tottering 
 on the verge of bankruptcy, or heaven's traffic in spiritual 
 blessings were subject to the fluctuations and uncertainties 
 which belong to the commerce of this world. But amidst 
 
god's thoughts. 187 
 
 the cautious stock-jobbing hesitations and misgivings of 
 unbelief, the Spirit of Jesus, who has ransacked all the 
 treasures of grace and truth that are laid up in his infinite 
 fulness, restores confidence to the hearts of the merchantmen 
 who crowd the heavenly exchange, saying, with still small 
 voice, ' Blessed are they that believe, for there shall be a 
 performance of those things which were told them from the 
 Lord.' When man's unbelief is asked the value of Jesus, 
 'Thirty pieces of silver' is the unblushing reply. When 
 the Spirit of God declares his value, he finds the language 
 which men can understand too mean and vile, too poor and 
 shallow, to express the matchless excellence and worth of 
 the Lamb. He speaks of 'height and depth, and breadth 
 and length' — of things past all knowledge and understanding, 
 — piles hyperbole on hyperbole ; but still the inadequacy of 
 human language leaves the price of Jesus untold. Mountain 
 is piled on mountain, but God's throne is as much unreached 
 as ever ; and the light of the glory of Immanuel shines still 
 but faintly on the highest summit of the mountain-pile. Our 
 faith, in its hour of greatest confidence and enlargement, sees 
 only a little, and that little but dimly, of the worth, power, 
 and glory of Jesus. Our liberty, even when our goings 
 under us are least straitened — when we rise on wings like 
 eagles, is fitted to give us only a faint idea of the glorious 
 liberty with which Christ has made us free, and which we 
 are in Christ entitled to enjoy at all times. 
 
 " When," he proceeds, " we become bankrupt ourselves in 
 duty, insolvent, and reduced to extremities, we are some- 
 times led to think that it is grace that has had an edict of 
 bankruptcy passed upon it; and that the law has found 
 our liabilities so great, that the assets of Christ's merits 
 are not sufiicient to meet them. But if we would let 
 
188 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W, H. HEWITSON. 
 
 GoWs thoughts, as they are revealed in the Word, come 
 in and fill the chamber of our minds, how diflferent our 
 views and feelings would be regarding both God and 
 ourselves, both his thoughts towards us, and our standing 
 in his sight ! What an ado unbeUef sometimes stirs 
 up within us, as if all were over! What weeping, and 
 dirging, as if of minstrels waking the dead, sometimes are 
 to be heard within! Were God's thoughts then to be let 
 in, it would be like Jesus coming into the midst of the 
 mourners, and saying, ' Why make ye this ado, and weep ? 
 The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth.' As the minstrels and 
 other mourners were put of the house by Jesus, so must our 
 thoughts be put out of our hearts by God's thoughts. Then, 
 all being still, the sweet voice of the Eedeemer will be heard, 
 ' Tabitha, arise.' 
 
 " It is the tumult of the impatient and restless flesh," he 
 writes further, " the panic of unbelieving doubts and fears, 
 helped on by the darkness, deeper than that of midnight, 
 which a spirit of bondage produces in the soul — these are the 
 things which, hindering as they do a cool and impartial 
 attention to the Word of God, tend to hurry us to the con- 
 clusion that all is over — that God turns a deaf ear to our 
 prayers — that Christ, instead of making intercession, pleads 
 against us. Longinus says of Homer, that he makes his 
 gods mere men : we may say of our unbelief, that it makes 
 the saving strength of Jehovah our Saviour less than the 
 rebelling strength of our indwelUng sin. If we would but 
 have patience, and, instead of running hither and thither in 
 the panic of our restless spirits, wait, wait on the Lord, we 
 should sooner, in every case, be delivered out of our troubles, 
 and have the new song put again into our months. 
 
 "The wrigglings and strivings of the child," he adds, 
 
PROGRESS OF THE .WORK. 189 
 
 " impatient under its sufferings, won't let the kind hand of 
 the physician pour the healing balm into the sore, or apply 
 the styptic to the bleeding wound. Therefore he waits on us, 
 till, recovering from our impatience and panic-alarms, we begin 
 to wait on him. ' Therefore will the Lord wait, that he may 
 be gracious unto you ; and therefore will he be exalted, that 
 he may have mercy upon you : for the Lord is a God of 
 judgment ; blessed are all they that wait for him.' 
 
 " When unbelief," he concludes, " is raging, and storming, 
 and darkening the air with black, thundry clouds, what 
 thoughts rise up within, all tending and tempting to despair ! 
 But God says, Ye know not, but ' / know the thoughts that I 
 think towards you — thoughts of peace, and not of evil.' His 
 thoughts are fixed — a storm cannot blow them away, how- 
 ever it may shake our present faith. A storm is so far from 
 indicating any change in God's thoughts of love and grace, 
 that, after he rebukes the storm, he rebukes also our un- 
 belief: '0 ye of little faith, wherefore did ye doubt?' God's 
 thoughts be always ours ! " 
 
 "We continue the narrative. " My operations among the 
 Portuguese," he writes on June 12, " have encountered no 
 further obstraction, and I trust that I may be permitted to 
 carry them on for a little longer. To arrest the work at the 
 present moment would be, so far as I can judge from appear- 
 ances, to inflict great spiritual injury on the souls of not a 
 few; for, while many are established in the truth of the 
 gospel, there are others who as yet are either but weak in 
 the faith, and in much need of being edified, or only inquiring 
 after the Saviour, and in need of being directed. It is certain 
 that the Lord, who knows all his own, will* not leave off 
 going after them until he find them, every one, whatever 
 instrumentality he may be pleased to employ — mine, or that 
 
190 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 of another better furnished for the work. Hitherto he has 
 shielded my labours wonderfully; for, though there were 
 many who, if summoned as witnesses, might have deponed 
 that much of my doctrine was contrary to that of Rome, yet 
 only a few persons were examined, whose evidence did not 
 afford ground for interfering with me, so that, by means of 
 keeping my meetings as secret as possible, I am still able to 
 hold them almost daily. The police has meanwhile discon- 
 tinued its open vigilance. 
 
 " The work of persecution, however," he continues, " is 
 going forward against the converts. A brother of Francisco 
 my servant, was, about ten days ago, tried for reading and 
 speaking of the truths of the Bible in his own house, and 
 sentenced to six months of imprisonment. Yesterday four 
 others were imprisoned : three for twenty-five days each, 
 being a husband, his wife, and one of their children: they 
 had been teaching their neighbours to read. The fourth, an 
 excellent young man, who should be made an elder of the 
 Portuguese church in Madeira, had, on a person saying to 
 him 'that the Church of Rome was the mother of us all,' 
 replied, ' Then keep her to yourself.' For merely saying this, 
 he has been sentenced to lie in jail for four months. Others 
 are being threatened with similar prosecutions for similar 
 offences. A young man, an advocate, who came out in the 
 same vessel with me from Lisbon, pleaded the cause of some 
 of the converts and others friendly to the truth who have of 
 late been tried. 
 
 " Dr Kalley and his family," he adds, " intend to leave 
 Madeira, on a visit to Scotland, in the same vessel with 
 Mr Wood. They will probably be absent for three or four 
 months. I have become acquainted with a few families 
 here, so that I will not feel so lonely during their absence as 
 
IMPRISONMENTS. 191 
 
 I otherwise might have done. Last week Mr Wood was so 
 kind as to come up with me to my house. He leaves his 
 furniture and pony in my hands. A pony is quite necessary 
 here for invalids, the country is so steep. Walking up the 
 hills would soon be the death of a consumptive person. 
 Funchal lies along the shore, and up-hill along the moun- 
 tains, which rise rapidly above it to a height of about four 
 thousand feet. My house is considerably above the level of 
 the sea, on the side of a steep street called Mountain Street, 
 or Rua da Monte. Dr Kalley's house is directly opposite. 
 The country is grand, but, to my eye, it is not beautiful. In 
 point of beauty, I think Scotland surpasses it." 
 
 To another correspondent he writes, of same date : — " I 
 am now living in my own house, and have meetings in it 
 almost daily. They are, of course, small in point of number, 
 and assembled with all due regard to secrecy. After two 
 examinations of witnesses, which afforded no sufficient grounds 
 of procedure against me, the authorities seem to have sus- 
 pended my case for the present, leaving the process, I sup- 
 pose, with blanks to be afterwards filled up, when more 
 available evidence shall have been obtained. The Lord's 
 shield has been very manifestly around the work in which 
 I am engaged ; and I hope, by his good hand upon me, to 
 be enabled and permitted to carry it on for a little longer 
 without interference. 
 
 " A great flame of indignation," he proceeds, " was kindled 
 in our neighbourhood, by the suspicion having gone abroad 
 that a child had been baptized in the Presbyterian form. 
 The suspicion was well-founded, but no eye-witness could 
 be found. About twenty persons conspired to assassinate 
 Dr Kalley, on the suspicion that he had baptized the child 
 in question ; but they discovered that it was not he who had 
 
192 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 done it. Lord Aberdeen's letters have given Portuguese 
 persecution of the Lord's truth and people more boldness. 
 The Lord reigneth ! 
 
 " You are aware that my purpose in the Lord last summer 
 was to set fairly to work in the vineyard, if for another year 
 the disease should continue inactive in my chest. I have 
 been acting pursuantly to that purpose, and uow^, while it is 
 day, I wish to work. Instead of preaching to the Portuguese 
 on Sabbath, I have undertaken to conduct the worship of 
 the Presbyterian church during Mr Wood's absence. There 
 is only one diet during the summer months. On two occa- 
 sions I have preached for Mr Wood already. to be a 
 minister, to both Portuguese and British, of the Spirit which 
 giveth life ! 
 
 " My health is as usual — no greater strength. Imprison- 
 ment would weaken me very much, in all likelihood ; but I 
 expect, with the Lord's help, to continue at liberty for some 
 time yet. I beheve that bonds await me ; but even this the 
 Lord can keep me from suffering, if it seem good in his 
 sight. To do his will, and to suffer his will, should be our 
 every-hour wish and aim." 
 
 Bold in his God, he held on his way unshrinkingly, con- 
 ferring not with flesh and blood. " It was reported a few 
 days ago," says he on 11th July, " that a writer was to be 
 posted at my door to take down the names of the people who 
 might enter ; but as yet he has not made his appearance. 
 Meanwhile, public notice has been given, by means of pla- 
 cards, I believe, fixed at the church-doors, that all who have 
 not been attending the Koman Catholic Church, and not 
 going to confess to the priest, are required to confess, or 
 attend church, within the space of ten days, at the risk of 
 being imprisoned. The ten days have not yet expired. 
 
WEATH OF ADVEESAEIES. 103 
 
 Whether the threat of imprisonment will be carried into effect 
 or not, remains to be seen. 
 
 " The civil and ecclesiastical authorities alike," he con- 
 tinues, " seem to breathe nothing but war against the Bible, 
 and against those who jejoice in its blessed truths. It is 
 expected that means will ere long be resorted to for the pur- 
 pose of tearing away from the converts all the Bibles which 
 they possess, and which are to them so great a fountain of 
 strength and consolation amidst their spiritual privations. 
 ' They make war against the Lamb ; but the Lamb shall 
 overcome them, for he is King of kings, and Lord of lords.' 
 They make war against the saints; but the saints shall 
 ' overcome them through the blood of the Lamb, and the 
 testimony which they hold.' " 
 
 A touching fact is added. What cannot grace achieve? 
 " Maria Joaquina," says he, " was liberated from prison on 
 Thursday of last week — the three months of imprisonment, 
 to which she had been sentenced by the court of Relagao in 
 Lisbon, having then expired I saw her a short time after 
 her enlargement, and on Saturday morning she was present 
 at oiu- meeting for worship. She had been in prison for two 
 years and some months. She is an applicant for admission 
 to the communion." 
 
 A delicate question of duty now presented itself. Shall 
 he remain on a scene where bonds and imprisonment seem 
 now certainly to await him ? Or, " persecuted in one city," 
 shall he " flee into another?" Himself ready to follow im- 
 plicitly the pillar-cloud, he waits only to ascertain the direc- 
 tion in which it shall move. " On the morning of Saturday, 
 the 26th of last month,'; he writes to the convener of the 
 Colonial Committee, Dr James Buchanan, on 15th August, 
 seeking for light to guide him, " I was visited by a public 
 
 N 
 
194 
 
 MEMOIB OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 notary, who served me with an intimation, as it is called, from 
 the administration of police, warning me to discontinue meet- 
 ing in my house with Portuguese subjects for religious pur- 
 poses, ' under pain of being proceeded against, and handed 
 over to the judicial power.' The charge with which I am 
 threatened, in case of my not attending to the intimation, is 
 one of disobedience to the constituted authorities, in addition, 
 no doubt, to that of unlawful interference with the State 
 religion. I have the satisfaction of being fully assured that 
 the new step which has been taken against me has not been 
 occasioned by any neglect of the means that seemed likely 
 to prevent it, if the prevention of it, in a place like Madeira, 
 had at all been possible. 
 
 " Since the intimation was put into my baads," he pro- 
 ceeds, " close watching has been kept up by private persons 
 in my neighbourhood, who hffve been employed for the pur- 
 pose. This circumstance, and likewise the prevalence for 
 some time past of considerable public excitement, arising from 
 the anniversary celebration of religious feasts, has made it 
 impossible for me tO see any but a very few of the Portu- 
 guese during the interval referred to. The inadequacy of my 
 bodily strength to bear up much longer, under the daily 
 returning and daily exhausting labour in which I had been 
 engaged, aflforded an additional motive in favour of a tem- 
 porary suspension of the work. 
 
 " But,'" he goes on to ask, " is the work, now suspended, 
 to be abandoned altogether ? The Committee will see that I 
 am placed in somewhat difficult circumstances, and I should 
 be glad to have their advice as to the course which I ought 
 to follow, as most in accordance with the revealed will of 
 Jesus, the great Head of the churches. 
 
 " I may have been violating Portuguese law," says he. 
 
THREAT OF IMPEISONMENT DUTT. 195 
 
 " but I have been obeying the law of Christ, whose sole 
 supremacy over the church in Portugal, as well as in Scot- 
 land, and whose prerogatives as King of kings, no human 
 legislature or court of justice is competent to set aside. The 
 only commission which the minister of the gospel absolutely 
 requires, is that which bears the royal seal of Jesus : ' All 
 power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye, 
 therefore, and teach all nations.' Who in heaven or in earth 
 can nullify this commission ? Who is competent to prohibit 
 the preaching of the gospel to any creature under heaven ? 
 The apostles, who preached on the Divine warrant of Jesus, 
 did homage to the universal power and sovereignty with 
 which he is invested, by trampling under foot the prohibitions 
 of the civil magistrate : ' We will obey God rather than 
 men.' Should not the Free Church — ^which, more specifically 
 than any other church in the world, is charged by its Divine 
 Head with the office of bearing testimony, in these last days 
 of his long-sufiering, to his royal claims as King of kings, 
 no less than as King of saints — remember its high oflBce 
 everywhere as well as in Scotland, and challenge the obe- 
 dience of all nations to the Lord Jesus ? When the Lord 
 pre-intimates to his ministers that they should be brought 
 before kings and rulers for his name's sake, he adds, by way 
 of directing them to use the opportunity thus afforded them 
 of advocating his claims, 'And it shall turn to you for a 
 testimony.' 
 
 " Such considerations," he concludes, " arise in my mind, 
 in connexion with my present circumstances; but I don't 
 yet see clearly what course should be adopted as the most 
 scriptural. To continue my labours, in any degree, much 
 longer, will inevitably subject me to the threatened prosecu- 
 tion. Yet I cannot see it to be my duty, on this account, to 
 
196 MEMOIE OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 abandon them altogether. When the risk of being appre- 
 hended is more imminent, I might flee from the island, but 
 I am not certain that such a step would be consistent with 
 entire faithfulness to Christ. Will you favour me with your 
 advice on the subject as soon as you conveniently can ?" 
 
 Under cover of night, Mr Hewitson continued to hold his 
 meetings, " This night," is a notice of one of them, by an 
 English resident who was present, dated Friday, Augvst 22, 
 " we are, at eight o'clock, to ' keep the feast ' in secret, and 
 with closed doors and windows, in our dining-room, with this 
 poor and persecuted little flock of Christ. The service, if 
 discovered, will send his dear servant to prison; but the 
 Lord is his keeper." " We sat down," writes another eye- 
 witness of the same scene, " at the table of om- Lord with a 
 small company — twenty-one Portuguese and seven of our 
 own people. Three of the nimiber were prisoners, who had 
 been allowed by the jailer to get out on parole, promising to 
 return at a certain hour — such confidence did he place in the 
 word of these poor persecuted Christians ! Mr Hewitson 
 spoke on 1 Cor. xi. 22-29. As we lived so near some of the 
 bitterest enemies of the truth, the people could not meet till 
 a late horn-, and separated about ten o'clock. The police at 
 that time were very vigilant, too, in watching Mr Hewitson 
 and the people, so that all his intercourse with them had to 
 be strictly private, and no meeting of any kind could be held 
 in his own house." 
 
 Whilst the course of duty, in the view of the threatened 
 imprisonment, remained as yet undecided by him, the Lord 
 took the decision into his own hands. As the storm gathered, 
 he hid his servant for a little season. His health had been 
 sufiering under the incessant work of preaching. A serious 
 illness now interrupted his labours. 
 
CHAPTEK XII. 
 1845, 1846. 
 
 Madeira — Illness — Consolations — Progress of the Work — Training of the 
 Converts — Dangers — Secret Disciples — Theological Class — Commu- 
 nions — New Conversions — Native Ministry — Threat of Imprisonment 
 — Ordination of Elders — Outrages — Dr Kalley's Escape — Sufferings of 
 Converts— Their Exile. 
 
 After an interval of two months from the date of the last 
 letter, we find Mr Hewitson thus recording God's dealings 
 with him: — "On the 2d ultimo," he says, writing to Mr 
 Dickson on 15th October, "I went on a visit to the Serra St 
 Antonio, fifteen miles from this, where I preached twice, in 
 the premises of the merchant whose guest I was, to consi- 
 derable congregations of Portuguese. Nearly two hundred 
 must have been present on the second o{ the two evenings. 
 Scoffers were there, but the greater number deeply interested. 
 The singing full of heart, very affecting, and impressive. I 
 preached in weakness of body, labouring under the com- 
 mencement of a serious illness. While I was declaring the 
 Word of Life to the assembled multitude, I saw the extreme 
 probability of my being, in consequence, arrested and impri- 
 soned; but 'these things did not move nie,' for 'necessity 
 was laid upon me to preach the gospel.' " 
 
198 MEMOIR OF THE KBV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 And to another : — " The attack was dangerous, for I was 
 'sick nigh unto death;' but the Lord has mercifully spared 
 me. The disease had become very decided before I could 
 conveniently return to Funchal and procure medical aid. 
 The lady of the English merchant in whose house I was a 
 guest at the Serra told me that her father died of the illness 
 under which I was labouring. I was carried home in a 
 hammock — a usual mode of conveyance in this mountainous 
 land. The medical man who attended me told me that 
 longer delay would have made medical aid altogether too 
 late. For two or three days I scarcely expected recovery. 
 I never went so far down the dark valley, nor got so steady 
 a gaze over the verge of time into the depths of eternity. 
 ' The Lord was with me, so that I feared no evil. His rod 
 and staff, they comforted me.' My convalescence has been 
 slow. I am now quite recovered from the disease, but I 
 have little strength, and am more emaciated in body than 
 ever I was in my life. When I look at my limbs, I think 
 that I shall never again recover strength ; but the Lord can 
 make me strong — he can do it — and what he can do, he will 
 do, if he be pleased yet to use my services in the world. 
 Yesterday was the sixth Sabbath that I could not meet with 
 the Scotch congregation. For two of these weeks I have 
 been in the house of a Christian, Mrs Walker, who kindly 
 visited me almost daily when I was sick, to read the precious 
 Word of God." 
 
 And again to another: — "It has pleased the Lord to 
 spare me yet a little longer. I bless him for the correction 
 of his rod. The sweetest weeks that I have spent in Madeira 
 were the five last past, during which I have been either on 
 the bed of languishing, or labouring under the infirmities of 
 a tardy convalescence. ' We are complete in Christ.' This 
 
CONSOLATIONS. 199 
 
 has been my sweet experience. If we would know in a way 
 most satisfactory what the real ground is on which we are 
 resting our hope of eternal life, we should cover ourselves 
 with all our vileness and guilt, and do nothing to get peace, 
 but simply wait, looking on Christ, till, in spite of all our 
 felt vileness and guilt, we Obtain peace from him. Looking 
 steadily at Christ, as set before us in the Word, as lifted up 
 before our eyes on the pole of Scripture, we shall experience 
 an increase of faith ; for it is a law of our being,, that if we 
 look fixedly, and steadfastly set our attention, on any truth, 
 we come to clearer apprehensions and surer knowledge of 
 that truth, and to have our faith in it more firmly esta- 
 blished. The more we experience, by means of steadfast 
 looking unto Jesus, an increase of faith in his finished work, 
 the more steady and solid is the assurance that we have of 
 our personal acceptableness and actual acceptedness in the 
 Beloved." 
 
 Like those tropical regions whose "unimpeded commerce 
 with the sun" clothes them with ever new verdure, Mr 
 Hewitson seemed now, more than ever, to abide in the 
 sunshine of God's face, and thus to abound with ever new 
 peace and joy. A touching note, written in pencil, from his 
 sick-chamber, in acknowledgment of a little token of sym- 
 pathy sent him by an afilicted disciple, indicates the mode of 
 his daily Christian life : — 
 
 " Friday, p.m. {^Sqitember 12, 1845]. — The Lord send you, 
 fresh and in bloom from his own garden, and plucked with 
 his own hand, sweet flowers ; and may many a soft breathing 
 of the south wind come, and make them exhale their odours, 
 that your soul may be filled with their sweetness. The rose 
 and verbena you sent me yesterday are now withered and 
 diy. So, too, even the sweetest flowers that come to us 
 
200 MEMOIR OF THE BEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 from the Lord's garden soon lose their bloom and freshness, 
 for Christ would not that we should rest satisfied with his 
 gifts and comforts, and the tokens of his love, instead of 
 saying, ' Thou only art my portion, Lord.' 
 
 " When we find the Lord's flowers withering in our hands, 
 we should not vex our souls, as we are apt to do ; for he who 
 gave them is himself still the same, and we glorify him when 
 we rest in him, and cleave to him as our portion, even when 
 we have none of the precious gifts of his comforting grace. 
 Nor should we say, as Satan will tempt us to do, when the 
 Lord's sweet flowers are all dried and dead, that we have 
 sinned away our comforts, and that therefore the Lord is 
 now again hiding his face from us. He is not hiding his 
 face, though his flowers be dry ; but he would have us ever 
 going again through the gently dropping dews of prayer in 
 the Holy Ghost, to knock at his garden-gate, and ask him 
 for a fresh gift of his choicest flowers. He withers the 
 flowers we have, that we may always come to him for more. 
 Oh, matchless love of Jesus ! He wishes us to come again 
 and again, for he sees of the travail of his soul when we lift 
 up the voice of prayer, and shew the countenance of faith and 
 hope before the throne." 
 
 And, in a similar strain, he writes, a month later, to 
 
 another : " Monday, Mid-day — My dear , Will either you 
 
 or take a ride at four o'clock this afternoon, in com- 
 pany with Mrs Walker and me ? Francisco will wait for the 
 
 answer. After the ride, I intend to see , if the 
 
 Lord will. My weakness is a great trial to me in this one 
 respect. / would sometimes serve the Lord in ways in which 
 / cannot serve him. This I know, however,- does not affiect 
 my standing before God: it is a blessed, never for a moment 
 to be forgotten truth, that our standing in Christ is entirely 
 
LABOITBS EESUMED. 201 
 
 independent on any doings or endurings of our own — that 
 we are already, and altogether righteous before the throne. 
 This truth is the fountain of joy in the Lord ; and joy in the 
 Lord is our strength. Will you, meanwhile, give from me 
 
 these precious words to : ' Gracious is the Lord, 
 
 and righteous ; yea, our God is mercifuV Here God's righteous- 
 ness or justice is Unked with grace on the one side, and with 
 mercy on the other. It is God's justice, as well as his grace, 
 that pardons and justifies the believer : it is his law as well 
 as his jfospel that, through a crucified Saviour, proclaims 
 ' peace on earth and good-will to men.' " 
 
 He rose from his sick-bed animated with new zeal to do 
 or to endure for Christ's sake. " If I should, by the Colonial 
 Committee,'' we find him writing, on 15th October, "be 
 recommended, as a matter of faithfulness, to go forward at 
 all hazards, it was better that Dr Kalley should be here 
 again before I exposed myself to the certain suffering of 
 imprisonment. The answer of the Colonial Committee has 
 not yet arrived. You will perhaps say that it would be 
 wrong to go forward with the work at the risk of imprison- 
 ment ; but the question, as it regards the honour of Christ, 
 and the interests of his cause here, is not, I believe, to be so 
 readily disposed of. I am at liberty, in the Lord, to pursue 
 either course — I am not straitened in my goings so far as 
 this point is concerned. I wish that Christ may be glorified 
 in me in the way most likely to promote his glory. My 
 prayer and desire is, that the Colonial Committee may be 
 directed by him to give me the counsel which is most 
 accordant with his own blessed will ; and I think it probable 
 that, regarding their counsel as an intimation of his will, 
 I will be led implicitly to follow it." 
 
 He now adopted a new expedient for furthering the work. 
 
202 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSOS. 
 
 The growing rage of the adversary indicated too plainly the 
 approach of a crisis. For this he, as a wise master-builder, 
 resolved to prepare. " After my recovery," he writes to the 
 Convener of the Colonial Committee, on 17th December, 
 " I not only changed my residence, but likewise my plan of 
 operations, so that, by the blessing of God on these means of 
 eluding hostile observation, I may be able for some time 
 longer to prosecute the work without being molested. Per- 
 ceiving that the Lord was carrying on his work among the 
 people at St Antonio da Serra and elsewhere, through the 
 instrumentality of meetings held from Sabbath to Sabbath, 
 by some of the converts, in their own houses, for the pm'pose 
 of reading the Scriptures, of exhorting one another, and of 
 prayer, — seeing, besides, that the exigencies of Madeira could 
 only be supplied by means of appointing such of the converts 
 as had made greatest advancement in spiritual knowledge 
 and experience to labour as catechists in their several neigh- 
 bourhoods, — I was led, I trust by the counsel of the Holy 
 Spirit, to think of organising a class, drawn together from 
 among the choicest of the converts, and of carrying them' 
 through a systematic course of religious instruction, with the 
 view of famishing them, under Divine grace, for the office 
 and work of catechists. Dr Kalley so highly approved of 
 the plan as to recommend entire abstinence from pastoral 
 work, that I might be the better able, in point of bodily 
 strength, to carry it into execution. Though Mr Nairn did 
 not arrive sooner than last week to relieve me from the 
 charge of the Presbyterian congregation, I had a few weeks 
 previously entered on the work of instructing such a class as 
 that referred to, of Portuguese converts. 
 
 " The class," he goes on to say, in the same communica- 
 tion, "consists of about fifteen or sixteen persons, some of 
 
TRAINING OF CONVERTS. 203 
 
 whom come from St Antonio da Serra, and from another 
 place nearly as far distant. The father-in-law of one of the 
 two principal judges of the island — being one of the converts, 
 and deeply interested in the business of the class — is fre- 
 quently present. The regularity of attendance on the part 
 of the students, if I may so designate them, and the earnest- 
 ness of their attention, are highly gratifying ; nor is there a 
 single circumstance from which I at first augured difficulty, 
 and even disappointment, in endeavouring to carry out my 
 views, that has not — thanks to the Lord for his goodness! — 
 been hitherto overcome. By examining the class on what 
 they have last heard, I can both ascertain whethier they 
 have listened with intelligence, and help to deepen in their 
 memories the impressions previously made. At each meet- 
 ing we have prayer twice. One of the prayers is conducted 
 by myself, and the other by some member of the class. The 
 manner in which some of them pray is affectingly simple and 
 childlike; and- from this, more than anything else, am I 
 encouraged to entertain good hopes as to the issue of my 
 present labours. Fruitless indeed were my labours, if those 
 who are the subject of them were not enlightened, and led, 
 and furnished by the Spirit of grace and of supplications. 
 
 "As the Lord may give me opportunity," he continues, 
 " I wish to perform still, in addition to the function of a 
 teacher, those of a pastor and evangelist. Circumstances at 
 present, however, necessarily circumscribe operations of the 
 latter description within a narrow compass. A few weeks ago 
 I baptized one child, and there are at present three others 
 which I have to baptize. The ordinance has already been 
 administered to five infants since I came to the island. 
 
 "Now that I have become better acquainted," he adds, 
 " with the character of those who have been converted from 
 
204 
 
 MEMOIE OF THE RET. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Eomanism, and the influences by which their character is 
 aflfected, I am in a better condition to estimate aright the 
 nature of the change which they have undergone. I believe 
 that a good work is still going silently forward. Some are 
 inquiring, under painful conviction of guilt, after the way of 
 salvation. But the wicked one has likewise been busy, and 
 that in other ways than by moving persecution against the 
 converts. Some have fallen into flagrant sin ; and of these, 
 three individuals, who are communicants, must be suspended 
 from the Lord's table. I believe that many of God's people 
 at home remember this place in their prayers, and I trust 
 that I am not forgotten by the few who are acquainted with 
 my position and work. The difficulties and discouragements 
 connected with the work are peculiarly great; nor can I 
 conceal the fact that the work is in some measure perilous. 
 I trus-t that, for the glory of his own name, the Lord will 
 give me the faith which will enable me to overcome." 
 
 The persecution waxed hotter. "The Serra people are 
 still in prison," he writes, on 17th December, to the Secretary 
 of the Colonial Committee, Mr Balfour, W.S., " and when 
 their trial will come on it is impossible to foretell, as, in this 
 island, judicial procedure is not regulated by law, but is en- 
 tirely dependent on the caprice of the judges. The number 
 of prisoners now in jail, for reading the Word of God and 
 other offences against the Man of Sin, is twenty-eight persons. 
 Six of these were arrested and imprisoned a few weeks ago. 
 Their crime was that they had met one Sabbath evening to 
 edify one another, by reading the Word and social prayer. 
 Three other persons who were thrown into prison at the same 
 time have since been liberated, on the ground of illegal arrest 
 and false imprisonment ; but, in accordance with the usual 
 mode of judicial administration here, they were subjected, 
 
SECRET DISCIPLES. 205 
 
 notwithstanding, to the hardship of paying conjointly ahout 
 £l of costs. I am informed that the usual practice in deal- 
 ing with cases of so-caUed religious delinquency is, first to 
 prepare the sentence in writing, and afterwards to go through 
 the empty form of trying the case, and hearing evidence. A 
 family of three persons were, two or three months ago, made 
 aware that, for not going to confession, and for similar 
 oflFences, which were to be made the grounds of a criminal 
 process, there was suspended over them the already prepared 
 sentence of banishment to the coast of Africa for seven years, 
 superadded to an oppressWe fine. Before they were formally 
 indicted, and while the initial steps in order to an indictment 
 were being taken, they eluded the impending infliction by 
 quitting the island for Demerara. 
 
 "Those who have embraced the truth," he adds, in the 
 same letter, " have, with only a few exceptions, remained firm 
 under the assaults of persecution. Many who were just 
 beginning to taste the good Word of God have shrunk back 
 through fear, their danger being greater than, with so little 
 light as they had on Divine things, they were able to en- 
 counter. I believe — I know for a fact — that there are some 
 here who read the Bible in secret, and look to Christ alone 
 for salvation, without having boldness enough in the Lord to 
 confess hirii openly. Elijah was the only public witness for 
 God in Israel, yet God had in Israel seven thousand hidden 
 worshippers. It is well to worship the true God, even in 
 secret ; — it is better to be an open witness, an Elijah." 
 
 How holily he himself meanwhile walked, may be gathered 
 from a case in the English congregation with which he was 
 called at this time to deal. " This morning," he writes on 
 19th December, " a member of the Presbyterian congregation 
 called on me in a state of soul-distress. She has been losing 
 
206 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWrTSON. 
 
 the savour of Divine truth amidst the worldly society with 
 which she has been too freely mixing. A Christian friend 
 having warned her of her manifest declension in personal 
 godliness, she was at first ofiended, but, on a second and 
 third repetition of the same warning, she was led to consider 
 her ways. She finds that the stream of the world has been 
 insensibly bearing her downward, and that her steps have 
 been turned away from Jesus towards the pit. She is cast 
 down under a sense of her backsliding; but again, with 
 thankfulness for the warning she has received, as it were 
 from God himself, is turning her fSce Zionward. Experience 
 shews her the necessity of coming out and being separate 
 from the world. She sees that she cannot have fellowship 
 both with the world and with Jesus. The world that knew 
 not Jesus when he came, is the same world still. Jesus, who 
 was despised and crucified by the world, is the same Jesus 
 still. Are we in Christ ? Then Christ is formed in us, and 
 dwells in us, and Christ in us lives and feels, even as he 
 lived, and thought, and felt when he was in the world. 
 The love of the world is enmity with God." In writing 
 these words, Mr Hewitson was writing his own daily life. 
 His one aim, all felt who saw him, was to " walk worthy of 
 God." 
 
 During the winter and spring, the chief object of his soli- 
 citude was the class. " The members," we find him writing 
 to Mr Dodds, on 31st January 1846, '' are gathered together 
 — some from the immediate neighbourhood of the city, and 
 others from as great distances as twelve and fifteen, and, I 
 believe, even sixteen or eighteen miles. For a considerable 
 time I have been engaged in lecturing to them, twice in the 
 week, on the various doctrines of a consecutive but sim- 
 ply arranged course of Bible theology. Their attendance 
 
CLASS OF CATBCHISTS. 207 
 
 is regular, and their interest in the business of the class 
 such as to aiTord me great encouragement. There is one 
 weekly examination on the topics of the lecture last delivered, 
 and an opportunity is given, at the close of each lecture, of 
 putting questions with a view to the elucidation of what 
 may not have been fully understood. The concluding prayer 
 at each meeting is conducted by some one of the members 
 of the class. Some of them pray with considerable emotion, 
 and some with touching naivete and simplicity of manner. 
 One of them, who had on the preceding day been released 
 from jail after an imprisonment of six months, came to me, 
 after conducting prayer in a very childlike and confiding 
 spirit, and said, ' Excuse me' —he referred to literary defects 
 — ' Excuse me, for I can only pray as I have been taught by 
 the Holy Ghost.' Would that all were taught only thus to 
 pray 1 More abundant would be the return of prayer from 
 heaven. The class consists of about fifteen persons. One of 
 them, a marked man in his own parish, went a fortnight ago 
 to the jail of Santa Cruz, a town about twelve miles from 
 this, to visit a friend who was then imprisoned for the truth's 
 sake; and, once within the walls of the jail, he himself was 
 detained a prisoner, and is to be tried on a charge of being 
 a heretic and a blasphemer — the crime deponed to being 
 that he had denied the real presence of Christ in the Host. 
 When I shall have concluded my course of expositions in 
 the class, if the Lord permit me to bring this work to a con- 
 clusion, I intend to ordain as elders those members of the 
 class who, being married men, may seem to possess in the 
 highest degree the qualifications essential for that sacred 
 office. As yet none of the converts have been set apart to 
 the office of the eldership." 
 
 But other work was not neglected. " Meanwhile," he 
 
208 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 continues, in the sequel of the same letter, " the sacraments 
 continue to be administered, and the work of preaching the 
 gospel is not abandoned. Last Monday we had a refreshing 
 communion in the house of one of the British merchants, 
 situated almost in the very centre of the city, and directly 
 opposite to an old grim building, once a Jesuit's college, but 
 now used as barracks for the accommodation of soldiery. 
 There I preached and dispensed the Lord's supper to thirty- 
 three communicants, all of them Portuguese except two 
 individuals. The text was Heb. viii. 10-12. To-day I 
 preached again to about forty Portuguese on the text — 
 'Eepent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.' Every 
 Saturday forenoon, if the Lord will, I intend to have a diet 
 of worship, admitting about thirty persons. 
 
 " The interdict," he adds, " is still hanging over me. Fray 
 for me, that my hands wax not feeble, nor my heart faint. 
 The Lord is still carrying on his work h^re, and that by such 
 means as to make it manifest that the glory is all his own. 
 Except among such as, though willing to hear the Word, 
 yet nevef gave any proofs of conviction, there has been no 
 instance of decided relapse into Romanism." 
 
 And in a postscript dated February 6 : — " The vessel is 
 still in the Bay, and does not set sail till to-morrow. On 
 "Wednesday last we had another and a truly refreshing com- 
 munion — the most refreshing to myself that I have ever had 
 among the Portuguese. The King sat that day at his table, 
 and the spikenard of not a few sent forth a sweet smell. 
 Some washed the Lord's feet with their tears, and anointed 
 them with ointment. The room was filled with the fragrance 
 of grateful and humble-hearted love. ' Praise ye the Lord ! 
 for the Lord is good, for his mercy endureth for ever.' " 
 
 " "We were gentle among you," wrote Paul to the Thessa- 
 
NEW THREAT OP IMPEISOKMENT. 209 
 
 loniang, " even as a nurse cherisheth her children : so, 
 
 being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have 
 
 imparted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our 
 
 own souls, because ye were dear unto us." With a like 
 
 yearning of spiritual afifection, and with a like self-denying 
 
 zeal, Mr Hewitson continued to labour for these dear people, 
 
 feeling that not a day was to be lost in preparing them for 
 
 the comingg^torm. " I was glad," he writes on 4th February 
 
 to a friend in Edinburgh, " when Mr Nairn arrived to free 
 
 me from the fatigue and responsibility of ministering to the 
 
 Presbyterian congregation. The Portuguese — they are my 
 
 flock, and, by the goodness of God, I have been enabled to 
 
 continue my labours among them till the present hour. I 
 
 intend to preach regularly, if the Lord will, on Saturday of 
 
 each week, beginning at eleven o'clock forenoon. Will you 
 
 pray for us, that the Word of the Lord may have free course 
 
 and be glorified ? I trust that some of the former converts 
 
 are undergoing a deepening work, and that there are some 
 
 even now in the throes of the second birth. The people have 
 
 meetings in one another's houses for reading Scripture and 
 
 prayer, which simple means of grace seem to be attended 
 
 with much blessing. The devouring lion is still roaring 
 
 amongst us, but he would be quiet if ' the Lion of the tribe 
 
 of Judah' were not prevailing, by his mighty power, to 
 
 rescue souls from death." And on the day following : — " A 
 
 short time after writing the above, Dr Kalley called to let 
 
 me know that the bishop had, as is currently said, made a 
 
 representation against me again to the civil magistrate. 
 
 Before you hear from me again, I shall perhaps be in prison. 
 
 You are aware that imprisonment and persecution are 
 
 unavoidable if I continue to minister in Madeira. The Lord 
 
 give me grace to endure ! " 
 
 o 
 
210 MEMOIE OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 And on February 6, to his mother : — " Next week, if the 
 Lord will, another communion will be dispensed, in order to 
 overtake the whole number of communicants. There are on 
 the roll 105 names, but a few have left the island. On the 
 second Sabbath of last month the commnnion took place in 
 the Scotch church. I preached on Saturday, and again on 
 Monday — my first subject, ' The woman with the issue of 
 blood,' and the text of the other discourse, ' I sa^nnder his 
 shadow with great delight, and bis fruit was sweet to my 
 taste.' The imprudence, if I may use so harsh an epithet, of 
 some of the poor people last Saturday, has again led the 
 enemies to fasten the eye of observation on the work. It 
 will be necessary to shift my Saturday meetings from place 
 to place for some time to come. To-morrow, if spared, 
 I shall preach in the house of an English merchant, who 
 is married to a Portuguese, now a convert. It seems not 
 possible, without some striking interposition of the Lord, 
 for me to continue to labom- long in Madeira. The great 
 object in the meantime is to seek grace that I may be 
 enabled to follow the Lord fully, doing his will. The people 
 are hungering for the Word. Some of them occasionally say 
 to me, ' When shall we come, for we are very hungry ? ' 
 ' Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, 
 for they shall be filled.' The Lord will not cease from work- 
 ing till, in spite of man's opposition, he have gathered in all 
 his elect." 
 
 With that judiciousness which throughout tempered and 
 guided his zeal, he now urged upon the Church at home the 
 necessity of providing a native ministry. " There are among 
 the converts in Madeira,'' he writes to the Convener of the 
 Colonial Committee on February 6, "two young men of 
 considerable promise, whom I should like exceedingly to see 
 
NATIVE MINISTRY. 211 
 
 engaged in a course of study with a view to ministerial work 
 amongst their countrymen. My object in troubling you with 
 this note is, through you to request that the Colonial Com- 
 mittee will charge itself with the education of the young 
 men referred to. I make this request with all earnestness, 
 trusting that th'B Lord himself will incline the hearts of 
 the Committee to grant it a favourable entertainment. You 
 could not confer a greater benefit on the converts in Madeira, 
 or do anything more likely to be honoured by the Lord as an 
 instrument of furthering the good work which he has begun, 
 and is still, I have good reason to believe, carrying forward 
 among this people. It would not be necessary to subject 
 the young men to a course of study of anything like seven or 
 eight years' duration. I am sure that no one, looking at the 
 manner in which the apostles met and provided for similar 
 exigencies among their converts, would demand more than 
 such a preparatory course of training as was absolutely 
 essential. The young men are, so far as I can judge, taught 
 by the Holy Ghost, and their lives are in unison with their 
 profession of faith. They are both members of my class of 
 catechists. Interdicted already, and exposed at this moment, 
 as I believe I am, to an actual prosecution, I do not expect 
 that my labours will be of much longer continuance in this 
 place." The proposal was adopted, and with the happiest 
 results. 
 
 The door seemed at length about to be shut. " Soon after 
 writing the note which I last addressed to you," is his 
 report, on 26th February, to the Colonial Committee, " I 
 was informed that the civil governor had, a few days pre- 
 viously, charged Dr Coelha, one of the two judges de Dirdto, 
 to proceed against me according to law. The latter declined, 
 on the ground of my not being under his jurisdiction. He is 
 
212 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSOX. 
 
 the only acting judge at this moment, as the vacancy created 
 by Negrao's retirement has not yet been supplied. There 
 seems to be now, more than ever, a determination on the 
 part of the authorities, civil and ecclesiastical, to put down 
 ' the heresy,' as they call it. The bishop lately left the 
 island for Lisbon, where he intends, as intimated by him in 
 a recent Pastoral, to use all possible means for that end. 
 Once or twice I have preached in the house of an English 
 merchant, but he has been served with an interdict, prohibit- 
 ing him from permitting any meetings of Portuguese for 
 religious purposes to take place in his house ; and, in conse- 
 quence, I have been obliged to abandon my intention." 
 
 It was deemed advisable that he should withdraw for a 
 time from the scene. " I have been led, in the providence of 
 God," he proceeds to say in the sequel of the same letter, " to 
 form the resolution of leaving Madeira for some months, and 
 of afterwards returning to resume my labours, if so be that 
 the Lord shall be pleased to keep open here a door of useful- 
 ness. This, I am convinced, as is also my friend Dr Kalley, 
 is the most likely expedient for securing to the converts in 
 this island a somewhat longer continuance of what services 
 I am by grace enabled to render 'for their furtherance and 
 joy of faith.' My physical incapability of working, without 
 serious injury to my health, under the relaxing influence of 
 summer heat in Madeira, makes the step which I have 
 resolved on taking, if the Lord will, all the more expedient." 
 
 But before withdrawing, not a little preparatory work 
 remained to be done. " Before leaving the island," he 
 continues in the same letter, " I intend to finish the course 
 of divinity through which I have been taking my class of 
 catechists, and to set apart some of the members of the class 
 to the several oflBces of the eldership and deaconship. This 
 
GROWING HOSTILITY OF THE PRIESTS. 213 
 
 work will yet occupy at least two months longer. During 
 the same interyal I shall have likewise to administer the 
 Lord's supper to all the communicants. In the course of 
 three weeks, lately, eighty-seven Portuguese converts re- 
 ceived the Supper. Of almost all I may say that they afford 
 good proofs of heing born again. Besides these, there are 
 more than one hundred who would gladly be admitted for 
 examination with a view to communion. Of these, I intend 
 to examine such as are well reported of by the brethren as 
 walking wholly in accordance with their profession. To-day 
 I examined, and admitted on the communion roll, a man 
 who gave me, both of his conversion and after experience, 
 an account most beautiful and affecting. There are here, at 
 this moment, hundreds — there are thousands — ^who would 
 gladly listen to the preaching of the gospel, if the iron hoof 
 of spiritual oppression did not keep them down. The work 
 of the Lord is prospering." 
 
 It seemed uncertain if even this preparatory work could 
 be carried through. " Whether I may be allowed," he writes 
 to the Secretary of the Committee, "to prosecute my labours 
 for the space of two or three months to come, even in the 
 most secret manner possible, is at this moment extremely 
 doubtful. The circulation of the report that I am intending 
 to leave the island, will probably induce the authorities to 
 connive a little longer. There is no doubt they have con- 
 nived already, in the expectation that I would be led by the 
 threat of a prosecution to abandon my work, and leave the 
 island. I have too good ground for apprehending that the 
 persecution of the Lord's people will ere long wax hotter. 
 The adversary is enraged, for hitherto all his efforts put 
 forth against the truth have been frustrated. The Lord 
 has still vouchsafed to keep his arm stretched out for the 
 
214 MEMOIR OF THE E£V. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 deliTerance of his elect. He has said, with more than the 
 emphasis of -words, ' I will work, and who shall let it?' ,So 
 far as I can judge, there never was a time when the work of 
 the Lord here was in a more prosperous condition than at 
 the present hour." 
 
 The tone of the Christian life among the converts is indi- 
 cated by an example, noted in a letter of this period to his 
 father. " Yesterday," says he, " I examined and admitted 
 on the roll of church-members a man who gave me a 
 very interesting account of his experience. He told me 
 that he found the best means of overcoming the corruption 
 of his heart was to have immediate recourse, whenever he 
 felt the uprising of sinful thoughts within, to prayer or 
 praise. ' Sometimes,' he said, ' I lift up my heart to the 
 Lord in prayer, and at other times I break forth into singing 
 praise to God ; and always, by this means, get rid of the 
 evil thoughts that trouble me, and have my heart filled with 
 joy. When I awake at night in my bed,' he continued, 
 ' I always remember the Lord, for I don't know the day nor 
 the hour when the Son of man will come. He will come in 
 an hour when men think not.' " 
 
 And in the postscript to the same letter, there is an allusion 
 to an example of another kind : — " P.S. — March 6. — A few 
 minutes ago I have heard of a wicked man's conversion. 
 His wife called to ask me to visit the house." That man, 
 we understand, had been one of the chief tools of the priest- 
 hood in carrying into effect their deeds of violence. The 
 plucking of his soul as a brand from the burning contributed 
 not a little to hasten the crisis. 
 
 The class of " students" he was enabled to conduct without 
 interruption till the beginning of summer. A happier ex- 
 pedient for the future prosperity of the work could not have 
 
L'LASS OF STUDENTS. 215 
 
 been devise'd. " He has been giving," we find Dr Kalley 
 writing concerning it to the Colonial Committee on 5th 
 February, " a systematic course of theological instruction to 
 a class of Christian men two days in the week. I am con- 
 fident that his work will produce glorious results." " He 
 first went through," writes an English resident, who was 
 often present, " all the great doctrines of our faith, such as 
 justification, the oflSces of the Holy Spirit, &c. ; then the 
 types of Christ in the Old Testament; and ended with a 
 general view of prophecy. The subjects were treated so 
 simply, yet so fully, and Mr Hewitson's views on all subjects 
 were so deeply spiritual, that it was indeed a privilege to be 
 admitted as a listener. 
 
 " Two women were also present, Antonia Correa and her 
 daughter. The former was among the most intelligent and 
 advanced Christians of the little community; and so influ- 
 ential had she been in bringing her friends and neighbours 
 within reach of the truth, and in helping them on, that it 
 was said of her by the enemies, that she had an enchanted 
 cup, of which if any drank, they certainly became 'Cal- 
 vinistas.' As she had thus many opportunities of instructing 
 others, she came, with her husband, who was a small pro- 
 prietor and vine-dresser, and who was afterwards made an 
 elder. During the scenes of the following August, their 
 conduct was in beautiful harmony with their profession. 
 They were driven from their homes, and found a refuge on 
 board the ship which took them to Trinidad, leaving joyfully 
 all they had to follow their Lord. 
 
 "The class," adds the same eye-witness, "was con- 
 tinued till the month of April; and, after a careful 
 examination, Mr Hewitson proceeded to ordain six elders 
 and several deacons, to conduct the meetings and regulate 
 
216 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 the business of the little church during his approaching 
 absence." 
 
 Mr Hewitson left Madeira in the beginning of May 1846, 
 intending, after an interval of a few months, to return to his 
 beloved flock. But the persecution, so long restrained, was 
 now to burst forth in awful fury. 
 "T^On the morning of Sabbath the 2d August, there as- 
 "sembled in the house of an English family betwixt thirty 
 and forty of the converts, to listen to a Pastoral Letter from 
 Mr Hewitson, in addition to their ordinary exercises of prayer 
 and praise and reading of the Word. Meanwhile a ruffian 
 rabble had been mustered by one of the canons of the cathe- 
 dral church. As the little congregation was about to retire, 
 the rabble had arrived at the gate, headed by the canon in 
 full canonicals, and shouting defiance and revenge. The 
 first to leave the house was Senhor Arsenio da Silva, the 
 elder who had been conducting the worship. The instant he 
 appeared, the canon thrust in his face an image, bidding him 
 " kiss it," and " adore his god ! " Heaping on him all man- 
 ner of abusive epithets, he knocked off his hat, as a means of 
 inciting the mob to personal violence. With great difficulty 
 Arsenio escaped, along with three or four others who had 
 come out behind him. 
 
 Till eleven at night the house was besieged by the mob, at 
 the instigation of the canon and several other priests who 
 were present, and under the connivance of the civil authori- 
 ties. "At last, towards midnight" — we quote the words of 
 a British naval officer,* who witnessed the scene^" the 
 smashing of the windows, and crash of the bludgeons on 
 the door, announced that the money and liquor of tKe enemy 
 were fearfully doing their work. Amidst the yells of the 
 * Persecution in Madeira in 1846. By J. Roddam Tate, R.N. 
 
OUTRAGES. 217 
 
 mob, the cry was still heard for admittance; when Miss 
 Eutherfurd, addressing them in that calm, gentle, temperate, 
 yet firm and dignified manner which distinguished her con- 
 duct through the night, begged them to withdraw, urging 
 the danger they were incurring by so acting in violation of 
 the law. ' Nao ha leis pelos Calvinistas' {there are no laws 
 for Calvinists) was the instant reply — shewing that the im- 
 pression produced by the long preceding course of authorised 
 persecution was, that Christians were outlawed by the fact 
 of being readers of the Word of God — with a further threat, 
 that if the doors were not immediately opened, they would 
 burn the house to the ground ! Another smash of windows 
 followed. As each blow fell upon the windows and door, 
 and resounded through the house, a shudder passed over the 
 invalid's weakly frame. Meanwhile, Miss Rutherfurd, and 
 Clarke, her English maid, were exerting themselves to 
 conceal the poor Christians from the anticipated murderous 
 attack. They consisted almost exclusively of women — of 
 harmless, quiet, inoffensive females ! But they were Pro- 
 testants — they had not been to mass, nor had they lately 
 paid the fees of confession. And so their sex was no 
 protection from the bludgeon of the ruffian! They were 
 marked out by the priesthood for vengeance, and the end 
 was to justify the means. For their greater security they 
 were hurried into the kitchen, at the remote end of the house 
 — that being the apartment likely to be last reached by the 
 assailants, and from which there was a stair-door down to 
 the garden. The seats were then removed from the room 
 in which the meeting had been held. Bibles and bonnets 
 were put out of the way, so that no additional cause for 
 excitement might inflame the rabble as they entered. Still 
 crash succeeded crash, and blow succeeded blow y\. 
 
218 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSOX. 
 
 " What a contrast, thought I," continues Mr Tate, " between 
 those without and those within the house ! Here was peace 
 and confidence; there violence and hatred. Here was the 
 voice of him who is love itself, and who had permitted the 
 storm to rise, whispering into each one's ear, ' It is 7; he not 
 afrcad; my grace is sufficient for theeC there was the voice of 
 Satan urging on his slaves to deeds of darkness and of blood. 
 Here, in a word, was Christ ; there was Antichrist. Here 
 the seed of the woman ; there the seed of the serpent. Alas, 
 how true ! it was not against their countrymen as men that 
 their hatred, their rage, their violence had been raised ; for 
 many of those had come from the country, and were per- 
 sonally unknown. It was not against theni, but against 
 ' Christ IN them.' It was Jesus whom they persecuted. 
 At " After a few more crushing blows," hi6-Ban:ative-pnjeeeds, 
 " the door of the house flew open. Still none dared enter. 
 Soon after midnight, just as arrangements were completed 
 above, lights were distinguished on the staircase, and almost 
 immediately they entered the drawing-room. Off this room 
 was the invalid's chamber, and thither the rioters directed 
 their course. Six or eight of the ruffians, preceded by boys 
 carrying lights, flashing in their faces, daringly entered the 
 room and demanded the Portuguese — ^placing, by this act of 
 reckless cruelty, the life of a defenceless invalid lady, guilt- 
 less of crime, in the most imminent danger. They were 
 informed that the Portuguese were not there, and would not 
 be given up ; and they were desired, moreover, not to come 
 farther into the sick lady's room. They whispered together 
 for a few minutes, and then went grumbling and muttering 
 away. 
 
 " A guard being left in the drawing-room," continues the 
 tragic story, " they proceeded in search of their victims — a 
 
OUTRAGES. 219 
 
 rather tedious process by the way, in a house with twenty 
 bedrooms and six sitting rooms, besides a chapel, and closets 
 of all kinds. At length we heard the yell of triumph. The 
 victims had been found. Resistance was not thought of, 
 but they were all on their knees in prayer to God. One was 
 seized — his head laid open to the bone, and himself thrown 
 over the bannisters to the ground. Here the mob were 
 beating him with clubs, and dragging him out to be mur- 
 dered in the garden, ' for it is a less crime,' said they, ' to kill 
 him there.' At the very moment of opening the door by 
 which to drag out their intended victim, the police and 
 soldiers entered, thus catching them in the very act of out- 
 rage, and intended murder, in a British subject's house. 
 The mob were asked by what authority they had entered 
 that house, to which they replied, that ' they did not care 
 for authority or law.' Two of the ruffians were then 
 secured, marched off, and lodged in jail." 3 1 
 
 But the catastrophe was only beginning. About two in 
 the morning of Sabbath the 9th of August, as Dr Kalley 
 was escorting to his outer gate a friend who had been con- 
 certing with him measures of self-defence, he overheard the 
 guard of soldiers, which had been sent at his urgent demand 
 to protect him, in familiar conversation with men disguised 
 in masks, one of whom was sharpening a large knife on the 
 door-lintel, preparatory to " the killing on the morrow.'' Dr 
 Kalley, finding that even the guard was treacherously abet- 
 ting the enormities contemplated, at once determined to pro- 
 vide for his safety by flight. Disguising himself as a country 
 peasant, he hastened to the house of a friend, unobserved by 
 the ruffians, who, at the beck of the priests, were already 
 repaiiing in all directions to the devoted dwelling. 
 
 It was now near mid-day. The services in honour of " our 
 
220 MEMOIR OP THE RET. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 lady of the mount" had been concluded. In the streets were 
 seen groups of excited worshippers, talking with evident 
 delight of the intended work of the day. At last a rocket 
 rose hissing into the air. It was the signal for proceeding. 
 " Those who are in that house," said one of the people in 
 the hearing of Mrs Kalley, as she was escaping in disguise 
 through the street, " would need, to-day, to be sure of salva- 
 tion." At length a dense mass surrounded the house. The 
 door was forced. The ringleaders rushed into the apart- 
 ments, the mob watching till their benefactor should be 
 dragged forth. 
 
 Chagrined to find that he had escaped, they committed his 
 library and papers to the flames, and hastened away in 
 search of himself. By this time, Dr Kalley, disguised in 
 female attire, and concealed in a hammock, was escaping for 
 his life to the Bay. As the bearers, attended by Mr Tate, 
 were hurried reluctantly along, the cry was raised — " Kalley 1 
 Kalley ! " The infuriated mob catching the cry, and raising 
 three cheers, ran towards the ' pier. As they reached it, the 
 hammock had just been lowered into the boat, — the boat 
 put off — in a few minutes it was alongside the steamer in 
 the Bay — the hammock was swung on deck — Dr Kalley 
 was safe. 
 
 " I turned round," says Mr Tate, " and the whole beach 
 teemed with living beings. What a change had a moment 
 produced in our condition and in theirs ! But a moment 
 earlier, and we had surely been sacrificed to the fury of the 
 mob. We were now out of danger — ^we were beyond the 
 murderers' grasp ! " 
 
 The converts were now to enter the seven-times heated 
 furnace. Shall they stand this fiery trial? " The repioval 
 of Dr Kalley," writes another eye-witness, the Rev. Charles 
 
SUFFERINGS OF CONVERTS. 221 
 
 Nairn, to the Colonial Committee, on 18th August, "was to 
 them the signal to expect all manner of cruelty and oppres- 
 sion. Many of them immediately fled from their houses to 
 the mountains, where they have been savagely hunted by 
 their relentless persecutors. It is truly heart-rending to hear 
 of their sufferings. When discovered in thpir hiding-places 
 they were mercilessly beaten, to extort from them a promise 
 that they will go to confession. A few days ago a man was 
 most brutally murdered, and several women have sustained 
 injuries from which they are not expected to recover. I am 
 glad to learn that nearly a hundred are now on board of an 
 emigrant ship, with the prospect of being soon removed to 
 some other land, where they may find rest from the fury of 
 their oppressors. There has been manifested by many of 
 these humble disciples a spirit of devoted attachment to the 
 truth, of simple, steadfast faith in Jesus, and of patience in 
 the midst of great tribulation, that must commend them to 
 the sympathy, and secure for them the prayers, of the people 
 of God." 
 
 During the few following weeks a noble testimony for 
 Christ was borne by these afflicted people. " This ship," is 
 the touching description by an English resident, in a letter 
 to Mr Hewitson, dated. On hoard the ' William,^ Funchal Bay, 
 August 18, 1846 — the writer having been obliged, along 
 with twelve other English, to take refuge there also from the 
 fury of the mob — " This ship is to take away two hundred 
 of your flock to Trinidad. Seventy are already on board. 
 The sound of the hymns is very sweet as it rises from the 
 hold. It is a great privilege to be near them in this time of 
 need, and to see that their faith does not fail. They never 
 speak against their persecutors — they only mention them with 
 pity. Sometimes I overhear them in prayer, praying for their 
 
222 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 enemies, and for those who have turned back again to the 
 Casas d^Idolatria. They have all been in hidings on the 
 mountains — their houses broken up and pillaged ; and many 
 of them have nothing left but the clothes they wearTjjThe 
 soldier's mother was taken out of her house on Sunday 
 morning the 9 th — beaten till she was seemingly dead — then 
 dragged down, and thrown on the graves of the Protestants 
 buried on the road at Santa Luzia. She revived again, and 
 was carried by police to the hospital. After dressing her 
 arm, which was broken, they ordered her to ' confess.' On 
 her refusal, she was taken to the police station, where she 
 remained all day in a hammock. Next day she was taken 
 to the hospital, but, refusing to conform to the Church, is 
 kept in the hammock instead of a bed. if Alas ! now the door 
 in Madeira seems closed indeed — yoiu- flock scattered in 
 other lands.'2] 
 
 These two hundred sailed on 22d August for Trinidad. 
 Soon after, three hundred and fifty followed. Ultimately, 
 the number of the exiles, sent to Trinidad, and to the other 
 West India islands, rose to about eight hundred. 
 
 A goodly " cloud of witnesses !" Ye persecuted, but not 
 forsaken I ye cast down, but not destroyed ! cast not away 
 your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. 
 Meanwhile, be ye not high-minded, but fear. What have 
 ye which ye have not received ? 
 
 Longing after them, for the exceeding grace of God in 
 them, and all the more because of their abounding afflictions, 
 the self-denying pastor shall yet be met by us on the scene 
 of their exile, comforting his scattered flock. 
 
CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 1845, 1846. 
 
 Ministry in Madeira — Source of its power — Preaching of Christ — Pas- 
 toral Letter — Daily Walk — ^Notes of Conversation — Tenderness — Notes 
 by Dr Kalley — The Almighty Workman. 
 
 " Mr Hewitson,", wrote Dr Kalley on 5th February 1846, 
 " has been a source of incalculable good to Madeira. I feel 
 myself to be very much a hewer of wood or drawer of water." 
 It must have been no ordinary ministry which Dr Kalley 
 thus characterised. The very gleanings of the vintage give 
 evidence of this. A recent visitor to the island found not 
 a few secret disciples, who trace their awakening to Mr 
 Hewitson, speaking of him as their spiritual father. 
 
 In recording the labours of Brainerd among the Indians, 
 President Edwards asks, " Is there not much to teach and 
 excite to duty us who are called to the work of the ministry, 
 and all who are candidates for that great work ? " A lesson 
 not less instructive is before us here. 
 
 The power of Mr Hewitson's ministry among the Por- 
 tuguese lay in the simplicity, and fulness, and unction 
 wherewith he preached Chkist. A touching illustration of 
 this occurs in the Pastoral Letter referred to in the preceding 
 chapter. That letter may be regarded as a summary of his 
 
224 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 preaching when he spoke to them face to face. It has an 
 additional interest, as being the last message delivered to the 
 little church in the land of their fathers. 
 
 "Grace, mercy, and peace," says he, "from om- Father 
 and our Lord Jesus Christ, be greatly multiplied to you. I 
 remember you every day in my prayers before God, giving 
 thanks to him who called you out of darkness to his marvel- 
 lous light. 
 
 " It is true," he continues, " that formerly you were chil- 
 dren of darkness, dragged along to eternal perdition by the 
 prince of darkness ; but now ye are children of light, being 
 born of the Spirit by the Word of the living God. Walk in 
 a way worthy of the Father of Ughts, who shone into your 
 hearts to enlighten you in the knowledge of his Divine glory 
 in the face of Jesus Christ. Walk constantly, very dear 
 brethren, after our beloved Lord Jesus Christ ; for he assures 
 you, in the Gospel of John, viii. 12, ' I am the light of the 
 world ; he that foUoweth me shall not walk in darkness, but 
 shall have the light of Ufe.' 
 
 " It is evident, then, that we cannot walk in the saving 
 light which brings us eternal life without continuing to walk 
 after Christ. Light, life, sa,lvation, the hope of glory, all 
 spiritual and eternal blessings, are found in Christ Jesus our 
 Lord ; neither can they be found anywhere else. Christ is 
 the storehouse of all the heavenly goods — Christ is the trea- 
 sure of all the riches of Divine goodness — Christ is the foun- 
 tain from which rivers of living water are always flowing — r 
 Christ is the sea, without either bottom or shore, which makes 
 all the waves of grace, mercy, and love, pass on the believing 
 soul — Christ is the Sun of the highest heavens, which scat- 
 ters and throws aU the rays of Divine wisdom and knowledge 
 both among the angels above and the believers below. 
 
PASTORAL LETTER. 225 
 
 Whatever blessing you need, seek from Christ Jesus. It 
 hath .pleased the Father that in him should be fully, and 
 abundantly, all things. In Christ dwelleth all the grace and 
 glory of the Godhead bodily. It is in him that ye are full. 
 
 " If ye depart from Jesus, ye are poor, miserable, blind, 
 and naked — ye have nothing : coming to Jesus, ye become 
 partakers of his riches, his white robes, his light, wisdom, 
 happiness, joy, grace, and love — his kingdom and glory. 
 Come, therefore, nearer and nearer to Jesus, and never leave 
 oflf living and walking with him. Be very close to his pierced 
 side. Hide yourselves within his heart. Bathe your souls 
 in the waves of his eternal love — ^bathe your consciences in 
 his blood — ^bathe them every morning and evening — bathe 
 them continually. There is no pardon — none — for those who 
 wiU not take it solely from the blood of Jesus: because, 
 without the shedding of his precious blood, there is no remis- 
 sion of sin, nor can any sinner be ransomed. 
 
 " If you do not trust in Christ only, who about eighteen 
 hundred years ago died on the cross for our sins — the Just 
 for the unjust — you cannot be saved. Christ is the only 
 Saviour. And Christ saves none but only through his blood. 
 If you trust in your tears, prayers, works, persecutions, or 
 tribulations, borne for the sake of Jesus — if you trust in such 
 things, you are certainly wrong, and walk far from the way 
 of salvation. Such things are not Christ — such things are 
 not your Saviour. Do not trust in them, but only in Christ ; 
 for out of Christ there is no salvation whatever. 
 
 " It is good to shed tears of sadness, thinking on your sins ; 
 but shed them looking to Christ crucified. It is good to pray, 
 and to pray more and more earnestly ; but you ought to pray, 
 trusting only on the merits of Christ. It is good to do the 
 good works of faith and love — it is good to increase more 
 
226 MEMOIE OP THE EKV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 and more in fortitude, charity, purity, and meeknese ; but see 
 you don't put any confidence in your own works. Put all 
 your confidence and hope in the perfected work of the holy 
 Son of God. Confidence in your own works will bring to 
 you condemnation and death. Faith in the death of Jesus 
 Christ will make us partakers of the merits of his death, and 
 consequently of the blessings of his resurrection. It is good, 
 if necessary, to suffer persecution, shame, and death itself, 
 for the sake of the name of Jesus. But we ought always to 
 remember, that it is not for the sake of our personal sorrows 
 and sufferings, but only for the sake of the sufferings which 
 Christ endured, that we are saved. 
 
 " In Christ we have redemption through his blood — the 
 complete forgiveness of our sins. In Christ ' all things are 
 ours.' Out of Christ we have nothing. Do you wish for 
 pardon and peace ? — go to Christ. In him you will find all 
 you want. Do you wish for light and wisdom? — do you 
 wish to understand more the meaning of the "Word of God ? 
 — go to Christ. He wUl send you the Spirit of light and 
 truth. Do you wish for growth in grace and in holiness — 
 more faith to overcome sin within and the world without ? — 
 go, my brethren, go again and again to Christ. Christ has 
 for you all the gifts of faith and strength, and grace and 
 holiness. Anything you want, either for the soul or for the 
 body — ^for the life which now is, or for that which is to come 
 — go to Christ : all things are found there in Christ. Christ 
 is ready to give you all things abundantly. To be far from 
 Christ is to he far from light, from life, from mercy, and from 
 heaven — to be far from Christ is to be near death, misery, 
 heU — to be without Christ is to be without God, without 
 hope in the world. 
 
 " If we have Christ, we have all — ^without Christ we have 
 
PASTOEAL LETTER. 227 
 
 nothing. You can be happy without money, without liberty, 
 without parents, and without friends, if Christ is yours : if you 
 have not Christ, neither money, nor liberty, nor parents, nor 
 friends, can make you happy. Christ, with a chain, is liberty 
 — liberty, without Christ, is a chain. Christ, without any- 
 thing, is riches — all things, without Christ, is poverty indeed. 
 
 " Therefore, my brethren, ' persevere in the Lord with full 
 purpose of heart.' ' Be firm in the faith, and strong in the 
 grace which is in Christ Jesus.' 'All things are yours, 
 whether it be the world, or life, or death, or things present, 
 or things to come — all are yours, and ye are Christ's, and 
 Christ is God's.' ' Who shall separate us from the love of 
 Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or 
 famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword ? In all these things 
 we are more than conquerors, through him that loved us. 
 For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, 
 nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things 
 to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall 
 be able to separate us from the love of God which is in 
 Christ Jesus our Lord.' Christ, who loved, and still loves, 
 and will love us for ever, is Lord over all in heaven and in 
 earth. Therefore fear no evil. 
 
 " Be steadfast," he concludes, '' waiting on the Lord. Now 
 you are persecuted : wait with patience, beloved brethren, a 
 little longer. The Lord is about to come to judge the world. 
 ' Behold, he cometh with clouds ; and every eye shall see 
 him, and they also which pierced him ; and aU kindreds of 
 the earth shall wail because of him. Even so. Aipen.' 
 The Lord grant that ye may be filled with the Holy Spirit, 
 following after holiness, having compassion on your enemies, 
 praying for them that they may be saved, waiting for the 
 coming of the Lord. Pray for me, that I may be filled with 
 
228 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 the Spirit of God. I endeavour to pray for you, remembering 
 all your afflictions. Grace be with every one of you. — Your 
 brother that loves you, " W, H. Hewitson." 
 
 " It was remarkable, from time to time," writes Brainerd, 
 "that when I was favoured with any special freedom in- 
 discoursing of the ability of Christ to save sinners, and the 
 need they stood in of such a Saviour, there was then the 
 greatest appearance of Divine power in awakening numbers 
 of secure souls, promoting convictions begun, and comforting 
 the distressed." Similar was the experience of Mr Hewitson. 
 And similar, it may be added, was the experience of Dr 
 Kalley. It was the Bible-preaching of Christ which, in the 
 hand of the Spirit, told with so marvellous effect upon the 
 consciences of the people. " It was delightful," writes Dr 
 Kalley, in the " Notes " before quoted, adverting to his own 
 and to Mr Hewitson's ministrations, " to witness the effects 
 of the belief of God's Word — to see tears of joy gushing over 
 the cheeks as the truth burst upon the soul, for the first time, 
 that the offended God himself acquits the ungodly — that he 
 in his own Word assures the sinner that he delights in mercy, 
 and, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we 
 were dead in sin, sent his Son to redeem them that had in- 
 curred the curse of his broken law. ' He sent his word, and 
 healed them.' The spiritual results were as striking and 
 more precious than any even miraculous bodily cure. The 
 eyes of the blind were opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped, 
 the lame leapt, and the tongue of the dumb sang. They 
 were ' begotten ' of God by his ' Word of truth ; ' they grew 
 by the sincere milk of it ; it was sweeter to them than honey 
 — more precious than gold: the words of Jesus were spirit 
 and life to them. They appeared to feel that the words of 
 God were addressed to them individually — that the gift of 
 
NOTES BY DE KALLET. 229 
 
 God, even eternal life by Jesus Christ, was freely offered to 
 them, each personally, by the Lord ; and, believing this and 
 accepting it, they in some measure realised the greatness of 
 their debt to the Eedeemen They enjoyed peace through 
 his blood — they rejoiced in the Lord. Other things served 
 to shake the people's confidence in refuges of lies, and led 
 them to listen to the truth of God ; but it was his testimony 
 concerning Jesus which was most manifestly effectual upon 
 the heart, slaying the enmity, and reconciling the sinner to 
 God." 
 
 But this is not all. Mr Hewitson not only preached 
 Christ, but lived Christ. The true missionary is " in Christ's 
 stead." This implies, that he not only must have Christ's 
 words, but must have Christ's heart — must not only preach 
 as Christ preached, but feel in some measure as Christ felt, 
 and live in some measure as Christ lived. Men will decide 
 upon his message, not only by what they hear from his lips, 
 but by what they see in his life. His life, therefore, must 
 be the truth in action — there must be the orthodoxy, not only 
 of doctrine, but of life. Mr Hewitson carried Christ with 
 him into every scene. His conversation was " alway with 
 grace, seasoned with salt." Brainerd used to say that he met 
 with many who talked about religion, but few who talked 
 religion itself. AU who saw Mr Hewitson felt that his 
 Christianity was not a cold abstraction, but a living fellow- 
 ship with a living Lord. 
 
 Some extracts from the diary of an English resident, who 
 enjoyed Mr Hewitson's almost daily private ministrations 
 during that period, will indicate how he spoke and walked : — 
 
 " Madeira, Saturday, April 12, 1845. — I had a visit this 
 afternoon from Mr Hewitson — the first time I have seen him. 
 His whole conversation and manner made me feel that he 
 
230 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 was one who ' walked with God.' His spirit dwells above 
 the atmosphere of this world, and he gets many a ' near 
 glimpse into the heart of Jesus,' upon whose loveliness and 
 love he delights to dwell. He read the 7th of Hebrews, 19 
 to the end. Speaking upon verse 26, he particularly dwelt 
 upon the word ' harmless,' &c. ' Yes,' said he, ' he was 
 harmless — ^Jesus could harm none. He was fuU of compas- 
 sion. See him coming down from the Mount of Beatitudes, 
 stretching out his hand to the poor leper — one who was 
 shunned by all, even by the mother that bare him. He who, 
 of all that great multitude, was alone " holy, harmless, and 
 undefiled," without sin, was the only one of all to stretch out 
 his hand and touch that polluted one ; and by that touch he 
 healed the loathsome disease.' " 
 
 " Tuesday, October 7. — Speaking of the love of Jesus, he 
 said, ' We can imagine a mother, the tenderest of all earthly 
 relatives, about to die, and leave her little helpless orphan 
 children without any one in the world to care for them. 
 What a pleading for them would there be in her last parting 
 prayer ! But could she frame one more tender, more aflFecting 
 than this ? — " And now I am no more in the world, but 
 these are in the world, and I come to thee : Holy Father, 
 keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given 
 me." His is a tenderer, deeper, and far intenser love for those 
 he left behind, than even that of the tenderest of mothers ! ' " 
 
 " October 31. — Mr H. spoke of ' grace reigning,' of self 
 mixing in everything we do, even in our holy things — that 
 in our sanctification we must look to Christ alone — every 
 day, every hour, continually. Remembering and acting 
 upon this, ' we are complete in him.' He also spoke of Phil, 
 iii. 8, ' For whom I have suffered the loss of all things.' 
 ' Paul,' said he, ' means he must give up, and has given up. 
 
NOTES OF CONVEESATION. 231 
 
 all his own righteousness upon which he once rested — his 
 circumcision on the eighth day — his blamelessness concern- 
 ing the law, &c. ; — all these things, which once were to him 
 " gain," he now casts away as nothing — as dung — so that he 
 may win Christ. The giving up of all things — of aU earthly 
 possessions — of father, mother, sister, brother — is easy, com- 
 pared with giving up all our fancied righteousness — our own 
 works. This is the last and most difficult thing that the 
 Christian has to do. We often fancy, and even say with 
 our tongue, " None but Christ ! I place my whole dependence 
 upon Christ ; I know I am nothing, can do nothing — He is 
 my complete Saviour ;" and yet all the time we are trusting 
 to, and looking for, something in ourselves. There is nothing 
 so insidious as self-righteousness — ^unbeli'cf. What is it but 
 this that prevents our continued, uninterrupted peace and 
 joy ? for, if we simply believed Christ's own word — simply 
 and singly took hold of his righteousness as ours, and his 
 finished work as our own — how could we help having peace, 
 feeling that all is ours, because Christ is ours ? I am quite 
 sure he is not a Christian who has not found this the most 
 difficult of all— to break away from self — to live on the 
 righteousness of Christ alone. This it is alone which causes 
 the believer so often " to walk in darkness," instead of " re- 
 joicing in the Lord always.'' John says, " He that believeth 
 not hath made God a liar,'' &c., " for this is the record, God 
 hath given to us eternal life." Now, if we really believe this 
 record, we must rejoice — ^we must have peace.' " 
 
 " Thursday, Nmiember 6. — ^To-day Mr Hewitson read some 
 verses of Psalm liv. He came in full of the Spirit. When 
 speaking upon verse 3, ' Strangers are risen up against me, 
 and oppressors seek after my soul,' he said, ' To the children 
 of God, the children of the world must ever be strangers—' 
 
232 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 they can have nothing in common- — " they hate them," and 
 " rise up against them" to destroy them. Satan pursues from 
 without ; and, oh, he knows how to oppress, if he is not able 
 to destroy, the soul of a child of God ! He rouses up the 
 " old man" within ; and how insidiously he causes the soul 
 to doubt and distrust its God ! how he tempts it to look away 
 from Jesus — to burden and overwhelm it with a view of its 
 own sinfulness apart from Christ, and thus to darken its 
 spiritual light ! As David, when feeding his sheep on the 
 green pastures of Bethlehem, overcame both the lion and the 
 bear which were carrying oflf the lambs of his flock, so will 
 our David pursue, and overcome, and bring back the weakest 
 lamb of all his fold. It is an easy thing for the Uon and 
 the bear to carry us from the fold, but it is also an easy 
 thing for Jesus to follow and overcome — our Shepherd has 
 said, " None shall pluck out of my hand." ' 
 
 " Saturday, November 8. — Mr Hewitson spoke of the Spirit's 
 work — on the nature of justification and sanctification. Jesus 
 is our complete salvation. He does not justify, and then 
 leave us to work out our own sanctification. He gives all, 
 and freely. Jesus bought all for us. Jesus wrought out all 
 in the twelve hours of his long toilsome day — ^by his own 
 meritorious works ; and this is his reward, that we receive 
 all freely, as his gift. It is our little knowledge of Jesus 
 that makes us so slow to believe. The more we know Jesus, 
 the more simply and believingly will we accept of his free . 
 gift." 
 
 " December 28. — Mr Hewitson read Matt. xiv. 23-32. 
 When the disciples were being tossed on the sea, though 
 Jesus was not present with them — not manifestly present — 
 yet he was not forgetting them — ^he was on the mountain-top 
 praying for them. So, when we are not enjoying the mani- 
 
NOTES OF CONVERSATION. 233 
 
 fested presence of Jesus, Jesus, though out of sight, is not 
 far off — ^he is only on the mountain-top praying for us. The 
 ' ship' may be tossed amid the waves — the rough and stormy 
 blasts of a ' contrary wind ' may be blowing hard against it 
 — the contrary winds of temptation and inward corruption — 
 the night may be dark, to add to the danger ; yet we need 
 not fear, for Jesus is not far off — he is thinking upon us — 
 he is on the mountain praying. 
 
 " Verse 25, ' And in the fourth watch,' &c. ; that is, at 
 the dawn. The fourth watch will soon be here ; the dawn 
 will soon appear over our stormy sea, and we shall see 
 ' Jesus walking ' towards us in the midst of the waves — we 
 shall hear him saying, ' It is I ; be not afraid.' When Peter 
 saw his Master, he called out, ' Lord, if it be thou, bid me 
 come unto thee on the water ; and Jesus said, Come.' Peter, 
 when he saw his Lord, could not wait patiently in the ship 
 till he should come — he must go and meet Jesus. Jesus 
 loves this impatience. He does not rebuke Peter — he bids 
 him come. Jesus loves to see us longing for and desiring 
 his presence.- He loves to see in us a holy impatience for 
 his coming. He bids us come to him. 
 
 " ' When they were come into the ship, the wind ceased.' 
 How blessed is it when Jesus comes into the ship ! Then 
 there is a sweet calm. When he comes into the ship — into 
 the heart that has been tossed amid the waves and billows 
 of corruption and temptation — when the winds have been 
 'contrary,' blowing in strong gales — the night has been 
 dark, and Jesus far away — how blessed, when the day 
 begins to break, to see Jesus walking amid the storm- 
 tossed sea, and at last enter into the ship ! How sweet is 
 the peace, how great is the calm, that immediately over- 
 spreads the soul!" 
 
234 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 "January 2, 1846. — ^The good Shepherd ofteu leads his 
 people by a rough and rugged way ; but it is the right way. 
 It is a strait and narrow way, and he hedges it up with 
 thorns; for he knows his sheep will be ever wandering. 
 When God's children ask for sweet, he sometimes gives 
 them bitter ; but it is because he knows what they require. 
 
 " Predestination is one of the strongest bulwarks of the 
 believer's faith. It is a most comforting assurance to know, 
 that every step of our way, every circumstance in our life, 
 however minute, has been aU ordered and arranged for us by 
 God." 
 
 " Friday, January 30. — ' I will write my law in their hearts.' 
 If we are children of God, the Spirit has written his law on 
 our hearts. Satan may at 'times appear to have taken pos- 
 session of the. heart, to have set up his throne in it, and to 
 keep, like Belshazzar, a feast there; but, like Belshazzar 
 too, in the midst of the feast, he descries a handwriting on 
 the wall of that heart, which causes him to tremble." 
 
 "Tuesday, March 10. — Last night Mr H. remarked — 
 ' Nothing makes this world such a wilderness as desire after 
 holiness. Like the Lord Jesus, we must often feel weary 
 and thirsty — ^it is pre-eminently the "Valley of Baca;" but 
 the rain also fiUeth the pools. Sometimes one pool, then 
 another, is dried up; but it is a journey we are on, and 
 as we move our tents, step by step, we shall meet with 
 another and another pool, filled with the rain and dews from 
 heaven.' " 
 
 These extracts give some idea of Mr Hewitson's holy walk 
 at this period. We have given them, not so much for their 
 subject-matter, as to indicate that habitual heavenliness of 
 the inner life, which was a chief element in the life and 
 power of his ministry. The Lord assigns, as one of the 
 
TENDERNESS. 235 
 
 causes why certain ministers in the days of Jeremiah, " did 
 not profit that people at all," this yery briefly expressed 
 but most significant fact — their Ughtaess (Jer. xxiii. 32). 
 By this we understand that they were one thing in the 
 pulpit, and another thing out of it. They preached and 
 prayed gravely, but they lived "lightly." They wore, in 
 the house of God, such a look of fervour, that they seemed 
 to be at the very gate of heaven ; but, disrobing their spirits 
 of the fervour almost as speedily as they had disrobed their 
 persons of the prophet's habiliments, they entered into the 
 world's ways and pleasures with such heart, as to manifest 
 they were not only in the world, but of it. Their people not 
 unnaturally came to regard their pulpit-earnestness as a 
 mere circumstance of their profession — very suitable and very 
 pleasant to behold as a mere spectacle, but only a spectacle, 
 to be seen and to be forgotten. Mr Hewitson was not 
 "light." "I paint for eternity," said an ancient painter: 
 the phantasm of an immortal glory made Xeuxis an earnest 
 painter. In another and truer sense, Mr Hewitson preached 
 and lived for eternity; and that transformed him into an 
 earnest missionary. The people saw it and believed. 
 
 And the same Tieavenliness of the inner life invested his 
 ministry with another attribute, scarcely less essential to its 
 success — a winning, Christlike tenderness. He was not a 
 sentimentalist, not an unmanly simperer ; but he was tender. 
 Sentimentalism and tenderness are not to be confounded. 
 Paul was no sentimentalist: Paul, at Ephesus, had stood 
 unmoved before the savage beasts, and before its still more 
 savage men; Paul, at Philippi, after having received many 
 stripes, and been thrust, with his still smarting and un- 
 washed wounds, into the inner prison, and his feet been made 
 fast in the stocks, had been heard, at midnight, lifting up his 
 
236 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 voice in the dungeon, and singing praises unto God; Paul, 
 at Caesarea, when kind and well-meaning but irresolute 
 brethren were beseeching him not to go up to Jerusalem 
 because of the tribulation which they believed awaited him 
 there, had cut short their entreaties by these memorable 
 words, " What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart ? 
 for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at 
 Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus;" — and yet Paul, 
 this brave and courageous man, had fulfilled his ministry in 
 almost unceasing tears : " Ye know," said he to the elders of 
 Ephesus, " from the first day that I came into Asia, after 
 what manner I have been with you at all seasons, serving 
 the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears;" 
 and again — " Therefore watch, and remember, that by the 
 space of three years I ceased not to warn every one, night 
 and day, toith tears;" and again, writing to Philippi — "For 
 many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you 
 even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of 
 Christ." William Carey was no sentimentalist : Carey, that 
 he might become a missionary to the heathen, braved diffi- 
 culties; and hardships, and obloquy, of which, in these days 
 of at least outward favour to the missionary enterprise, we 
 can form scarcely any conception ; and in the presence of 
 them all — of perils by sea, and perils by land, and perils by 
 false brethren — the Christian hero never for a moment 
 flinched ; — and yet what spectacle is that which the humble 
 shoemaker's room in Kettering presents, day after day, as 
 neighbours come in and converse with the awakened and 
 forgiven man? No time now for the old frivolous talk which 
 whiled away once so many precious hours — ^no heart now 
 for politics and news and village-scandal — ^no time and no 
 heart even for that most insipid of aU conversation, con- 
 
NOTES BY DE KALLBY. 237 
 
 versation about sermons and ministers and churches — no ; 
 Carey, like Brainerd, can no longer talk about religion, he 
 must " talk religion itself" — or rather he must talk of Christ 
 — he now knows nothing anywhere but Christ and him 
 crucified. He has constructed, from the materials of his trade, 
 a rude map of the globe — he has marked on it the few spots 
 where the light of the gospel shines — he points each new 
 visitor who enters, to the sad, sad scene — " That's pagan," he 
 says, as he runs his eye over the map, and indicates the vast 
 regions of heathen darkness — separated, scarcely separated, 
 by little streaks of light — "that's pagan, and that's pagan, 
 and that's pagan" — and here his heart fails him — the tears 
 are already running down his face in streams — emotion for- 
 bids further utterance. This is the heart of a true minister 
 and of a true missionary. And such a heart had been given 
 by the Lord to the missionary of Madeira ! 
 
 The effect was seen in the hearts and lives of the converts. 
 " Sometimes," says Dr Kalley, in the " Notes," " the expres- 
 sion of their attachment to the Lord was very striking ; and 
 their sympathy and affection towards each other were truly 
 brotherly. Their enemies witnessed changes upon them 
 which appeared very strange and unaccountable, especially 
 when they persecuted them. The gentleness and patience, 
 the love and joy, of the sufferers, confounded even their 
 persecutors, some of whom were reported to have used 
 expressions like these : ' We call these people ugly names, 
 and they don't answer back; we spit upon them, and they 
 don't get angry ; we beat them, and they seem pleased ; we 
 break open their houses and destroy their property, and they 
 are happy; we put them in jail, and they sing — we can't 
 make them turn, and we can't make them unhappy.' Some 
 regarded it as a kind of monomania ; some, ignorant of any 
 
238 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 adequate cause, sagely remarked that they must be well paid 
 for it; while many, there is reason to hope, were led to 
 examine, and ascertained, the true cause, so as to participate 
 in the peace and joy, and in the suflferings too. Thus the 
 believers were epistles — ^living epistles of the truth; and 
 they witnessed for the Lord, not by suffering only, or by 
 giving a little money to pay a substitute to do the Lord's 
 work for them, but, when they knew that he desires the 
 gospel to be preached to every creature, that all should know 
 him, trust him, and be happy, almost every one seemed to 
 feel responsible for making known to others — relations, 
 friends, neighbours^ or acquaintances — the wonders of God's 
 love ; and, though unlearned and ignorant, they felt that it 
 was their duty, as well as their inestimable privilege and 
 pleasure, to tell their fellow-sinners of the favour shewn to 
 men in the redemption by Christ Jesus." 
 
 But, the Almighty Workman ! Let us adore that sove- 
 reignty of his grace which prepared these " earthen vessels," 
 and which sent them with his " treasure" to that benighted 
 island. "I tell you of a truth," said the Lord Jesus in 
 Nazareth, "many widows were in Israel in the days of 
 Elias, when the heaven was shut up three years and six 
 months, when great famine was throughout all the land; 
 but unto none of them was Elias sent, save unto Sarepta, 
 a city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And 
 many lepers were in Israel in the. time of Eliseus the 
 prophet; and none of them was cleansed, saving Naaman 
 the Syrian." The same sovereign God has left his footprints 
 in Madeira. " It is time," says Dr Kalley, in concluding his 
 " Notes,'' " to acknowledge the working of the great First 
 Cause, without whom all else would have been as vain as 
 ploughing the sand. None but God can change the con- 
 
NOTES BY DH. KALLET. 239 
 
 stituents of a putrid corpsie, and make it rise, live, and 
 perform the foBctions of a living man; and as little can 
 any but he convert a soul, raising it from the deformity, 
 corruption, and death of sin, to the health, beauty, and life 
 of holiness. God the Holy Spirit employed the truths which 
 he has revealed in the Bible for the production of results 
 which are indeed great and glorious. He prepared that 
 instrument for his own use; and, having given it such a 
 nature, edge, and temper, that it pierces to the soul and 
 spirit, and, wherever it is really believed, must produce its 
 appropriate results, how does it become the ministers of the 
 Word to use it ! 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 1846. 
 
 Setam Home — Correspondence — Conversation — Tidings from Madeii'a — 
 Appointment to Trinidad — Arsenio da Silva — Characteristic Incident — 
 Departure for Trinidad. 
 
 " Again I am on British ground ! The Lord has brought 
 me so far homeward in safety. From Madeira I sailed to 
 Lisbon in six days, and staying there three days with a 
 family very dear to me in the Lord, left for London in a 
 schooner, which, owing to contrary winds and calm, was 
 detained four whole weeks on the voyage. What portion 
 have we in heaven or earth but the Lord ? A parting word 
 from the Bible — ' Rejoice in the Lord,' for ' the joy of the 
 Lord is your strength.' " 
 
 These characteristic words Mr Hewitson wrote from 
 London on 12th J\ine 1846. Many hearts were gladdened 
 to see once more in the flesh this " dearly beloved in the 
 Lord." " I left London yesterday," says he, writing from 
 Ayr to Mr Dodds, on June 24, " having preached twice at 
 Brighton on Sabbath, and returned to London on Monday. 
 To-morrow, God willing, I prosecute my journey onward to 
 Dalmellington, and then, probably next week, will be in 
 Edinburgh. Beyond that point I cannot as yet forecast 
 
COERESPONDENCE. 241 
 
 with anything like certainty what may be my movements ; 
 only I wish that they may be all movements in the way of 
 the Lord ; for, if we will not walk with God in his way, he 
 will not leave his way to join himself to us, and walk with 
 us in ours. It is om- wisdom to give up all contending with 
 God on this point, for our way is always out of the way, and 
 his way leads us right. 'Amicus est pro vehiculo' — and who 
 so good a friend as God ? "We while away the time, and 
 beguile the weariness of travelling, best in his company. 
 The two disciples journeying to Emmaus were but poor com- 
 pany to each other ; but when Jesiis joined them, and blessed 
 them with his sweet discourse, their hearts 'burned in them 
 by the way.' His, presence made a mile a step, and an hour 
 a minute. 
 
 " Have you been drinking deeply," he adds, " at the 
 blessed streams of prophetic truth? They are streams of 
 refreshment, arid gladness, and hope. I hope to find that 
 you are brim-full of truth, God's truth, no less respecting 
 the glory than the sufferings of the Eedeemer and his 
 Church." 
 
 And, two days afterwards, to a friend in Madeira : — " I see 
 not yet what the Lord's thoughts are regarding me, as to 
 my future movements. I leave all, meanwhile, in his hand. 
 He will guide me with his eye, whether it be back again to 
 Madeira or not. I saw little of Madeira, but it will be more 
 worth while to see it when the new heavens and the new 
 earth are made. I care not though I never see the magni- 
 ficent places of the earth till then. The children of God in 
 Madeira ! — I cannot but remember them at the throne. Let 
 us all now be trimming our lamps, and making ready to 
 meet our Princely Bridegroom. Then — it may be sooner — 
 but at all events then, we shall meet again, with our heaven- 
 
 Q 
 
242 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 lit lamps, and our blood-washed wedding garments, when the 
 jubilee-cry is raised." 
 
 And to another friend, a true helper of the brethren : — 
 
 " Balmellmgton, June 27, 1846. — [To James Nisbet, Esq. 
 London.] — I am so well in bodily health, that I have engaged 
 
 to preach here to-morrow I am anxious to hear the 
 
 result of your proceedings in Commission at Manchester on 
 Wednesday last. The chief qualification of deacons, who 
 deal with the secularities of the Church, is, that they be ^full 
 of faith and of the Holy Ghost.' No amount, then, of qualifi- 
 cation is too great in the man who is called to the holy and 
 spiritual work of educating and instructing for the ministry. 
 Thanking you sincerely for your kindness to me in London, 
 I am," &c. 
 
 " To me," said Parul, " to live is Christ." To Mr Hewit- 
 son, now more than ever, " to live was Christ." " May our 
 meeting," he writes on June 29 to a friend in Edinburgh, 
 intimating an intended visit, " be truly in Jesus, and our 
 fellowship sweet through the shedding upon us of his sweet 
 ointments. Life is weary if Christ be not in us, revealing 
 the name of the Father. 'As the hart panteth after the 
 water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, God.' What 
 an aching void if we be not filled with grace and truth out 
 of the fulness of Christ Jesus our Lord ! What soul-satis- 
 faction when we are breathing the Spirit, and walking in the 
 light, and enjoying the communion of the Father, and of his 
 Son Jesus Christ ! Truly then om- joy is full. 
 
 " My desire," he continues, " is to know no man henceforth 
 after the flesh, but to seek Christ and God above all things, 
 in all companies and places. So much of Christ as there is 
 in evjsry one, so much of beauty and desirableness there is 
 there, and no more. It is sad, in these degenerate and apo- 
 
CONVERSE WITH GOD. 243 
 
 State times, in which, because of abounding iniquity, the love 
 of many is waxed cold, to be obliged often to hide omselves 
 in the secret of God's presence from the strife even of some 
 of his own children's tongues ! How many speak to you 
 with as much ' strife,^ or earnestness and interest, about the 
 vanities of this passing world, as if they were still of the 
 world, and not born from above ! You would ever be look- 
 ing unto Jesus; but they will have you to look away to 
 something else, as if something else were more lovely than 
 He who is altogether lovely. Mary sits and looks up to 
 Jesus: even her sister Martha would have her look to some- 
 thing else. 
 
 " More converse with God," he adds, " and less with man, 
 would be health to our flesh and marrow to our bones. We 
 cannot converse with God in the company of our brethren 
 unless we me^ in the name of Jesus. If we meet in his 
 name, we have his word for it, that we shall not be without 
 his presence and fellowship. When we meet a friend in the 
 Lord, we should frame our hearts towards him into the 
 prayer, ' Grace be with thee!' and when we part, the breath- 
 ing of our hearts towards him should be, ' The Lord Jesus 
 Christ be with thy spirit ! ' But on the bed of languishing, 
 and in the furnace of Zion, you have conned these lessons 
 of spirituality better, and to more practical purpose, than I, 
 who am slow to learn and dull of spiritual discernment. 
 Nevertheless it is good to stir up one another by way of 
 remembrance, that we may be more earnest in the desire of 
 walking, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit — of living, 
 not unto man, but unto God. Grace be with you till we 
 meet, and then, and for ever." 
 And to another friend, A. A. Walker, Esq. :— 
 " Dalmellington, June 29th, 1846. — In this wilderness. 
 
244 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 dear brother, we meet with trials, and are visited by the 
 Father with chastisement, and it cannot but be that some- 
 times we should be cast down. But it is written — ' God, 
 who comforteth them that are cast down, comforted me by 
 the coming of Titus.' If we be privileged to meet, and 
 either of us be by any means cast down, who knows but the 
 God of comfort wiU make our meeting a means of mutual 
 encouragement and refreshing and consolation? The Lord 
 himself meet with us, or not let us meet ; for, sweet though the 
 meeting be of brother with brother, yet it is only sweet when 
 they meet in the Lord, as one spirit with him, and so one 
 with each other. The common fellowship which we have 
 with God makes our meeting as brethren sweet. I should like 
 to see you face to face. If we wait on the Lord, our joy will 
 be fulL — I am, your truly unworthy but affectionate brother 
 in Jesus, " W. Hewitson." 
 
 " Do you know," said he one day, " what the word conver- 
 sation is derived from ? It is from a term which signifies the 
 going or turning together of the oxen in treading out the 
 com. Christians should walk in fellowship with each other, 
 and in common fellowship with Christ, as they tread out 
 'the finest of the wheat' — the precious Word of God." 
 Avoiding, and at times almost impatient of, fellowship which 
 was not "in the Spirit," he rejoiced in a congenial com- 
 panionship more than in any other earthly joy. " Don't you 
 find," says he, writing to the beloved friend last noted, and 
 indicating the secret of his closest intimacies, " that there are 
 some of God's children with whom you have more con- 
 geniality than you have with others? Does not this arise 
 from your seeing in them more of the image of Christ? 
 Wherever we see Christ's image, we should love it, for 
 Christ is there; but it is natural to the new man to love 
 
CONVERSATION. 245 
 
 that most in which the image of the Beloved is seen shin- 
 ing with greatest brightness and beauty. There is in some, 
 whom we cannot but regard as children of God, such a 
 residue of self and corruption still unsubdued, as, like an 
 opaque medium, refuses to transmit the heavenly light of 
 truth, except in faint and straggling beams, at the same 
 time that, like an icy mountain, it freezes the warm breath 
 of Christian affection." 
 
 Another of these pleasant companionships is noted. " It 
 will be pleasant to me," he writes to the Eev. A. A. Bonar, 
 " to remember the times when our tents were pitched side by 
 side in the wilderness. To me our common meditation of God 
 was sweet. Often have I found the Lord present in the 
 midst of conversation with Christian friends. On many such 
 occasions has 'the south wind' come, wafting fragrance from 
 ' the mountain of myrrh, the hill of frankincense.' Little do 
 Christians think that they lose so much when they waste 
 their moments of intercourse in idle and unprofitable talk, or, 
 it may be, in religious conversation, without seeking the 
 presence and fellowship of the Beloved. 
 
 "The character and spirit," he adds, ini the same letter, 
 " of the now aged apostle John's conversation, are gathered 
 from what he says to his friend, ' the elect lady : ' ' Having 
 many things to wiite unto you, I would not write with paper 
 and ink; but I trust to come unto you, and speak face to 
 face, that our joy may be full.' His conversation on meeting 
 with the brethren was just a continuation of what he wrote 
 about to them when absent ; and in such conversation ' his 
 joy was full,' for the Lord was present according to promise, 
 — ' Where two or three are gathered together in my name, 
 there am I in the midst of them.' To get always a fulfil- 
 ment of this promise, we should always meet in the name 
 
246 MEMOIE OF THE BEV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 of Christ. If Christians ever meet to do or say what they 
 cannot engage in doing or saying in the name of Christ, it 
 were better for them not to meet at all; for the Scripture 
 says, ' Whatsoever ye do, in word or deed, do all in the name 
 of the Lord Jesus.' " 
 
 " Mr Hewitson's most singular talent," writes Mr Dodds, 
 " lay in his conversational powers. I do not speak of that 
 literary, scientific, or general conversation in which many 
 worldly men have eminently excelled, and in which he also, 
 with his fine fancy, high scholarship, and extensive informa- 
 tion, was, or could have been, no mean proficient. But his 
 peculiar faculty was that of Christian conversation, in which 
 he became such a master. During the latter period of his 
 life, as he grew in grace and in holiness of spirit, he seemed 
 to consecrate all his correspondence, intercourse with friends, 
 and private conversation, to Christ. As others often strive 
 to turn conversation away from spiritual things, so did he 
 watch and strive to turn it into that channel. As au 
 expositor of the Word in the family circle, as a preacher of 
 Christ in the house or by the wayside, I never knew his 
 equal. He had none of that backwardness or false deUcacy 
 which is so frequently a snare to ministers who desu-e to be 
 useful in private. "With becoming boldness and resolution, 
 yet with suitable tact and gentleness, he often succeeded in 
 introducing a Christian element even into a worldly com- 
 pany ; and, instead of yielding to the current of conversation 
 around him, he would lead it in a diflferent direction by the 
 fomness and consistency of his deportment." 
 
 " He never opens his mouth," was the observation of a 
 distinguished member of the Scottish bar, respecting his 
 ordinary conversation, "but something comes forth worth 
 remembering.'' The reason was, he sought to utter every- 
 
CONVERSATION. 247 
 
 thing as before the Lord. His conversation was so fragrant 
 of Christ, because he held so constant fellowship with him 
 through the Word. " I know not," says Mr Wood, who was 
 with him in Madeira, " that I ever met with any one more 
 thoroughly acquainted with his Bible. He was truly mighty 
 in the Scriptures. He was also eminently a man of prayer." 
 
 Indicating the way, in which the Word was studied, he 
 writes to Mr A. Bonar : — " When the Word, as we read it, 
 shines with the light of God's glory, what a token this 
 is of his goodness towards usl When I read the Scrip- 
 tures and find nothing, I cannot but attribute this to his 
 fatherly displeasure. An earthly parent, when offended by 
 the conduct of a child, observes an unusual silence, and his 
 face is not toward the child as before. God deals with his 
 children in the same way. Did not the Psalmist refer to 
 such fatherly discipline when he cried aloud, ' Be not silent 
 unto me ? ' To be taught more and more, we must abide in 
 the love of God. All the disciples wished to ask the Lord a 
 question, but it was only the disciple who lay in the Lord's 
 bosom that had confidence enough to ask it. ' The secret of 
 the Lord is with them that fear him.' " 
 
 " These words which I command thee this day," said Moses, 
 in his parting counsels to Israel, '' shall be in thine heart ; 
 and thou shalt teach them diligently to thy children" (Deut. 
 vi. 6-7), or, as the original word literally signifies, "thou 
 shalt whet them — thou shalt put an edge upon them." A 
 momentous counsel, truly ! Mr Hewitson had learned to 
 " whet" the Word. It was, in his hand, no edgeless tool. 
 "All unsavoury peculiarism of manner," says he, using 
 another figure, and adverting indirectly to one marked result 
 in his own walk, " we ought to avoid, and will avoid, if only 
 the chamber of our heart be kept fresh and pure by an 
 
248 MBMOIE OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON, 
 
 uninterrupted circulation of wind from heaven. We need 
 spiritual ventilation at home, that we may carry with us 
 into every scene and circle the freshness and purity of a 
 spiritual atmosphere. The sinner is overawed by what is 
 holy — he is disgusted by what is sanctinionious. Christ was 
 marvellous in being without personal peculiarities. What 
 breadth, depth, catholicity in his character ! He was Uvin{f 
 truth. to be like Christ ! " 
 
 During the autumn, he occupied various pulpits succes- 
 sively, in the room of absent brethren. For four Sabbaths 
 he was with the congregation of the Rev. C. J. Brown, in 
 Edinburgh ; and double that number were spent at Linlith- 
 gow. But whilst keeping other vineyards, he took heed, 
 with an ever-deepening earnestness, to his own. "0 how 
 delicate," we find him writing to Mr Dickson, on 8th August, 
 " is the organisation of the spiritual economy ! It needs to 
 be kept as the apple of the eye. How holy is the God and 
 Father of our Lord Jesus Christ ! The smallest sin unfor- 
 given will interrupt our communion with him, and ' heaviness 
 will make our heart to stoop,' till ' a good word' from the 
 blood of sprinkling ' make it glad' again, and restore to us 
 the privilege of lying down in the bosom of God. Specula- 
 tion about these things is cold and dreary. To experience 
 their power is, ' Our fellowship is with the Father, and with 
 his Son Jesus Christ,' and ' Our joy is full.' A blank made 
 in the circle of friendship, in whatever part of the circle it be 
 — (my dear friend, Mr Mudie, of Glasgow, is no more in the 
 camp of the wilderness — the tent is found no more — there is 
 a sad blank where it stood) — is a place all withered and 
 desolate ; but still the rest of the circle may be full of light 
 and gladness. If the central point of the circle become a 
 blank — if God be taken away, then the whole circle is 
 
SYMPATHY WITH BEREAVED. 249 
 
 covered with darkness and desolation — there is a dreary 
 void, and joy is gone. Take away God, and leave all 
 besides, we are in a waste howling wilderness, and a land of 
 drought. Take away all, and leave God behind, ' our joy is 
 full.' " 
 
 Partaking of the sympathies of Him who wept with the 
 sorrowing sisters of Bethany, he knew how to comfort and 
 to console. "The departure of Dr Duncan," we find him 
 writing on July 28 to Mr Dodds, " did indeed leave a blank 
 in the circle of dear relationship, painful to you, and still 
 more to Mrs Dodds. Tell Mrs D., with my affectionate 
 regards, that I sympathise with her in her bereavement — 
 at the same time that I think her happy, and you also, in 
 being privileged to know that the spirit of the departed is 
 now made perfect in holiness, and waiting with Christ for 
 the resurrection to glory. what a privilege is yours, my 
 dear friends ! What a consolation ! Bereavement is neces- 
 sarily painful, but I think that I could forego with gladness 
 the comforts of living fellowship with even the dearest on 
 earth, had I the blessedness of good warrant to believe that 
 the soul of that dearest one was with Jesus in paradise. 
 Blessed and sweet are the tears which wet the cheek that 
 shines with the radiance of joy like this ! It were to me as 
 many salvations, and as many heavens as •! have souls dear 
 to me, to see these souls each and all saved and in heaven. 
 Alas ! now-a-days most Christians are spending all their 
 faith in laying the foundations of hope, which lie deep among 
 the facts of history, and they seem to have little time for 
 those heaven-reaching exercises of adult faith which fit the 
 soul for dwelling among the perspective glories and purities 
 of perfected salvation. Faith now-a-days looks back to the 
 Red Sea, but not forward to the Jordan. It fixes its eye on 
 
250 
 
 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 the Alpha alone of redemption ; — the Omega of redemption 
 scarcely even engages its thoughts. It thinks of what it is 
 called from, not of what it is called to. to know what is 
 the hope of God's calling!" 
 
 And to another bereaved friend, Mr Dickson, on Septem- 
 ber 19 : — ".How unexpectedly the Lord has laid upon you 
 and your dear family this heavy stroke ! Heavy — ^but it 
 comes from a Father's hand. You have my sympathy in 
 this time of trouble. God has taken from you, as it were, a 
 pledge that you will live for eternity. The bereaved soul 
 goes across the border of time in quest of the departed spirit, 
 and so acquaints itself better with eternity and its unseen 
 realities. How real is the distant isle to which a friend has 
 gone, though it seemed formerly but a dim fog on the sea ! 
 How real is eternity when one that we have loved, and love 
 still, is there ! ' One that I love is there ' — that gives our 
 hearts a local habitation in eternity. This event tells that 
 we are nearer our journey's end now than we were yesterday. 
 The Jordan is not far off. A few breathings of the air of 
 the wilderness, a few steps across its dreary sands, and then 
 we reach home!" 
 
 About the beginning of September he had a return of 
 spitting of blood. " It is well," we find him writing in allu- 
 sion to it, on September 3, " to be reminded that this is not 
 my rest. It is through much tribulation that we must enter 
 
 the kingdom of heaven. Dear knows what tribulation 
 
 is; but she likewise knows how it breaks the heart, and 
 humbles under the hand of God. Tribulation with Christ is 
 the beginning of heaven; enjoyment without Christ is the 
 beginning of hell." 
 
 On a medical examination, however, he was pronounced 
 very considerably better than he had been two years pre- 
 
MADEIRA. 251 
 
 viously. Whilst still contemplating the possibility of ere 
 long returning to Madeira, the startling news reached him of 
 the scattering of his beloved flock. " Ah ! the tidings from 
 Madeira," he writes from Glasgow to Mr Dodds on Septem- 
 ber 17, " are truly sad. The dear people, himted like wild 
 beasts on the mountains by their savage foes, and forced on 
 the resource of emigration, as the only means of escape from 
 the dreadful alternative of relapse into Popery, or suffering, 
 it might be, in many cases to death ! One man brutally 
 murdered ! Several women beaten almost to death ! Popery 
 would exterminate grace itself from the earth, if it could." 
 And from Linlithgow, to a friend in Madeira, on 'September 
 28th : — " I thank you most sincerely for your kind communi- 
 cation. It relieved my anxiety on account of the persecuted 
 flock. Flight seems the only resource. Will you give to 
 them the third chapter of First Thessalonians to read as from 
 me? It is truly matter of thankfulness and rejoicing that 
 the Lord has raised up friends for his persecuted flock in this 
 day of trial." 
 
 It was proposed to Mr Hewitson by the Colonial Com- 
 mittee that he should visit the Portuguese in their place of 
 exile. To this proposal he at once assented ; and his 
 departure was only delayed until another measure should be 
 matured. 
 
 There was at Lisbon at that moment a Madeiran refugee, 
 who had once been a gentleman of great wealth in his native 
 island. The reader may remember the scene on the morning 
 of 2d August, when, as one of the worshippers was leaving 
 the house where they had been assembled, a crucifix was 
 rudely thrust in his face, and he was ordered to adore it as 
 his god. Eome owed that man a gmdge. Touched by the 
 love of Christ, he had left the brilliant circles of which he 
 
252 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 was the ornament, and, joining the night meetings of the 
 persecuted Bible-readers, had esteemed it his highest privi- 
 lege to stimulate and to pray with them. As the persecu- 
 tion waxed hotter, Senhor Arsenio da Silva was not a victim 
 to be spared. He soon saw that his only safety was flight. 
 A beloved wife, and an only daughter, married to one of the 
 judges, still clung to Rome ; and these, as well as lands and 
 houses, he must forsake for his Lord. The parting scene 
 was most aflFecting. " I was obliged," is his own account of 
 it, since given by him on his deathbed, " to come from the 
 interior to the city of Funchal, where my family reside, in the 
 night. I engaged a man to stand at the comer of a certain 
 street at an appointed hour. When the hour came, I met 
 this man, who conducted me to a house where I should be 
 concealed. I dared not visit my own residence, nor see my 
 family. I sent to my wife and obtained a little money, and 
 then sailed for Lisbon, without the privilege of personally 
 saying ' Farewell' to those who were the dearest to me on 
 earth." They were never again to meet. " I have a letter 
 from my wife," he would be heard saying, years afterwards, 
 in his imperfect English — "kind, friendly letter, but no 
 good, no spiritual in it — no faith in Jesus 'Christ." 
 
 To Da Silva Mr Hewitson turned his eye as the man of 
 all others most fitted, both by gifts and by graces, to take 
 the permanent oversight of the exiled flock. He had ordained 
 him an elder before leaving Madeira. And now, at his 
 suggestion, the Free Church of Scotland named him as their 
 missionary. Arsenio joyfully went. And thus Mr Hewit- 
 son, ere he returned home, was to have the satisfaction of 
 handing over to this dear fellow-labourer the care of the 
 scattered church. 
 
 The interval occupied by this arrangement was spent 
 
ARSiSNIO DA SILVA. 253 
 
 chiefly at Blairgowrie. " You were blessed greatly," we find 
 Mr A. Bonar writing respecting his four weeks' ministra- 
 tions there, " to the nourishing of some souls, who have 
 grown in grace ever since." '' It is not only pleasant and 
 comely," he himself writes to Mr Macdonald on Nov. 24, 
 telling how he lived before the Lord, and ministered, " it is 
 likewise 'good' to sing praise unto the Lord. It is good, as 
 a matter of expediency, of spiritual utilitarianism ; for when 
 we fail to observe answers to prayer, and to make them 
 occasions of praise, may we not expect that God will, as a 
 matter of discipline and chastisement, send answers to prayer 
 less abundant, less marked ? Our Lord is angry with the 
 wicked for not considering ' the operation of his hands :' how 
 much greater cause for anger he has, when he finds his own 
 children not recognising, in his dealings with' them, tokens 
 of his love and faithfulness as the hearer of prayer ! ' We 
 should seek,' said a brother to me lately in London — ' we 
 should seek to meet God in every circumstance.' In every 
 circumstance we should, I may add, by way of applying the 
 observation, seek to meet God as the answerer of prayer. 
 Praying without ceasing, and praising without ceasing, the 
 believer can, without ceasing, walk with God. 
 
 ' Bless'd are they in thy house that dwell, 
 They ever give thee praise : 
 Bless'd is the man whose strength thou art, 
 In whose heart are thy ways.' " 
 
 " Yesterday," he writes from Edinburgh, on December 10, 
 to a friend in Madeira, " I came from Blairgowrie, and am 
 now in the press of my preparations for setting out on my 
 way to Trinidad. You have referred to our going together 
 to the house of Antonio da Cor8a up the Camho da Mico. 
 Since the day referred to, the aspect of things there is sadly 
 
254 MEMOIR OP THE KEY. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 changed. The garden is a desolation; the pleasant trees 
 which the Lord planted are almost all plucked up, and trans- 
 planted in a foreign soil. ' Woe to thee,' Madeira ! for 
 thou hast not known the day of thy yisitation. My heart is 
 comforted, amidst all the evil that is befalling the Church 
 and the world, by the prospect of a speedy coming in of the 
 promised ' times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord.' " 
 
 And to another friend in Madeira — a deeply afflicted, but 
 rejoicing, sufferer : — " The cross now — the crown to-morrow. 
 Now the bed of languishing — to-tnorrow the throne of Jesus. 
 What encouragement to ' fight the good fight of faith !' The 
 body now bears the spirit down : wait till dawn of day, and 
 the spirit will bear the body up. A few breathings more in 
 this dull and oppressive element, then all will be health and 
 buoyancy, strength and gladness, purity and peace — the 
 body changed, the heart all holy. Even now the Lord is 
 with you, but you cannot see him for the darkness of night. 
 You walk by faith, not by sight. Yet you can say, ' I 
 know that my Redeemer liveth.' He lives — he thinks upon 
 you — ^he is with you — he will never leave you nor forsake 
 you. He is a Friend, a Brother, a Lord ; a Friend, to guide 
 you by his counsel ; a Brother, to sympathise with you in 
 all your sorrow ; a Lord, to defend you from all evil, and 
 make all things work together for your good. No safety but 
 at his side ; no comfort but in his bosom ; no strength but 
 in his arm ; no holiness but in his steps." 
 
 A letter of this period illustrates a feature of character 
 which those who knew him will recognise. In conversation, 
 he had been betrayed into warmth of argument: he had 
 abruptly left the table, and sat alone on the sofa all the rest 
 of the evening, uttering scarcely a word. " My last visit," 
 he writes, on December 21, expressing, some time afterwards, 
 
CONVEESATION. 255 
 
 the pain which his hastiness of spirit had occasioned, " was, 
 in one respect, to myself, a memorable, because an humbling 
 one. The Spirit of the meek and lowly-hearted Jesus was 
 grieved by my want of long-suffering. If my sin had been 
 secret, I would have spoken of it to the Lord alone ; but, 
 when we sin in one another's presence, we should remember 
 the words, ' Confess your faults one to another.' "We are 
 Christ's witnesses in the world, called on to shew forth his 
 glory by our lives as well as by our lips. We must live over 
 the life of Christ on earth ; we must breathe the breath 
 of Christ among men ; we must shew what he is, by being 
 in the world even as he was in the world ; we must be holy 
 as he is holy. We need to walk circumspectly, ever identi- 
 fying ourselves with Christ." 
 
 " I am sure," remarked Mr Hewitson on one occasion, 
 " many think me very disagreeable." Without waiting for 
 a reply, he added, " I never utter my mind on a subject till 
 I have studied it, and formed my judgment. I like then to 
 meet with sympathy, and shrink from those who cannot 
 extend it to me." This often gave to him an air of dog- 
 matism, which strangers did not relish. But the instance 
 narrated will shew how tenderly alive he was to this failing. 
 Indeed, others often wondered at what seemed an excess of 
 tenderness of conscience. " I was surprised to hear after- 
 wards," writes the minister who was conversing with him 
 on the occasion to which the letter we have quoted relates, 
 " that he imagined he had felt any warmth of temper ; for I 
 never suspected it, and he did not betray anything of the 
 kind." The silence of that evening, so little understood by 
 others, was singularly significant. His conscience — 
 
 " Quick as the apple of an eye, 
 The slightest touch of sin to feel " — 
 
256 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 was not at ease. Till he had taken the sin to the blood, he 
 could not resume his fellowship with the Father. It was the 
 suspension of that fellowship which had caused the silence. 
 
 At length he was in circumstances to set out for the West 
 Indies. " I longed," writes Brainerd in his diary, " to be 
 as a flame of fire, continually glowing in the Divine service, 
 preaching and building up Christ's kingdom to my latest, my 
 dying hour." The glow in Mr Hewitson's soul at this period 
 is seen in some notes written on the eve of his departure. 
 " I am on my way for Trinidad at last," says he, writing to 
 a friend in Glasgow, on December 21. "By the earliest 
 steamer I intend to leave Southampton. that the church 
 throughout the world were aroused from sleep! Faith is 
 feeble to wean our hearts from earth, and lift them up to 
 heaven, unless its roots be in Calvary, and its branches aloft 
 in the light of the yet unmanifested glory. Christ crucified 
 is the ground of our faith ; Christ coming in glory is the end. 
 The first advent is the foundation of hope; the second advent 
 is the object of hope. By this hope, hope so founded, and 
 contemplating such an object, we are ' saved ' — we are puri- 
 fied, as Christ is pure. Meanwhile, ' Occupy till I come ' is 
 the mind of the Lord." 
 
 And, of the same date, to the Rev. Robert Macdonald : 
 — " Have faith iu God. Faith will be staggered even by 
 loose stones in the way, if we look man-ward ; if we look 
 God-ward, faith will not be staggered even by inaccessible 
 mountains stretching across, and obstructing apparently our 
 onward progress. ' Go forward ' is the voice from heaven ; 
 and faith, obeying, finds the mountains before it flat as 
 plains. ' God with us ' is the watchword of our warfare, 
 the secret of our strength, the security of our triumph. ' If 
 thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that be- 
 
DEPARTURE FOR TRINIDAD. 257 
 
 lieveth.' How strong faith is when we are just fresh from 
 the fountain of redeeming blood ! A good conscience, and 
 then faith will do all things, for it is in its very nature such 
 as to let God work all. We may say that it is most active 
 when it is most passive, and that it wearies least when it 
 does most work." 
 
 And a day later, to a friend in Edinburgh : — " I just write 
 you a few lines to bid you farewell before I leave Britain. 
 Miserable it is to live with the name only, and not with the 
 reality, of being in Christ. Blessed it is to be really in him. 
 No uwalcened soul should stop short of a realisation and 
 experimental enjoyment of union with the Lord. No coiv- 
 verted soul should rest satisfied till it think every thought 
 and speak every word in communion with Jesus. This 
 would seem to a carnal professor, or to a child of God who 
 is still to a great extent carnal, a standard far too high ; but 
 to have a lower standard is to be ignorant of our standing in 
 Christ — of what we have in him, of the closeness of our 
 union with him, and of the character we should maintain to 
 be in keeping with our profession of faith in his name. My 
 impression of the godliness of Scotland has been somewhat 
 modified since my sojourn in Lisbon and Madeira. Scottish 
 Christians, in general, seem not to realise everywhere, in all 
 companies, and at all times, the presence, the indwelling of 
 the Lord Jesus Christ; nor to realise in any great measure 
 that they are not of this world, but sent into it by God as 
 messengers with a message from him. But if this remark 
 applies to Scotland, to what land does it not apply ? Where 
 is godliness more flourishing ? Where profession more rife ? 
 Where the Church more conspicuously set on a hill before 
 the world's eye ? There being within our reach no means of 
 Church purification, we are called on to attend to the work 
 
 R 
 
258 MEMOIR OF THE KEV. W. H. HEWITSOJT. 
 
 of purifying our own hearts, of shining in our own homes, of 
 carrying, wherever we move, a circle of Divine Kght with lis 
 through the dark world. So will we spread the truth, diffuse 
 the savour, glorify the name, of Christ. Christ dwelling in 
 us — that is light, life, fragrance, holiness. Many seek Christ 
 within before finding Christ without, and so cannot attain to 
 peace ; many, after finding Christ without, don't seek dili- 
 gently to have Christ within. To have both Christ without 
 and Christ within is peace and purity." 
 
 Again, as two years before, many sympathising hearts 
 " accompanied to the ship " the dear brother by whom they 
 had been so pleasantly refreshed. " I can almost, with Paul, 
 say," wrote one of his friends, Mr A. Bcnar, on 25th De- 
 cember 1846, expressing what not a few others felt, " ' I give 
 thanks at every remembrance of you^' and I think I cannot 
 fail to follow you with many prayers. It was pleasant for 
 the Ethiopian to have fellowship with Philip, while the Spirit 
 himself was the guide of both. Yet their after way was 
 pleasant too, because of that Jesus whom they both loved 
 better than they did. each other, and to love whom better 
 the one had helped the other. Still, dear brother, do you not 
 think you hear the Ethiopian on his knees upon some Abys- 
 sinian hill, or under some fig-tree, remembering Philip before 
 the Lord ? How he prays for him I How his heart longs 
 to meet him again ! I feel this way oftentimes toward all 
 that have been refreshing to my soul ; and these words, ' our 
 gathering together unto him,' have often been to me unspeak- 
 ably sweet. We will often pray for you, and for your scat- 
 tered flock. The very God of peace be yours!" 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 1847. 
 
 Sails for Trinidad — ^Voyage — ^Madeii-a — Airival — Joyful Meeting — State 
 of Portuguese — Their' Hardships — Spiritual Condition — Thirst for the 
 Word — Portuguese Hymn Boole — His Self-forgetting Zeal— Arrival 
 of Araenio da Silva— Church Organised — Leaves Triaidad — Death of 
 Da Silva. 
 
 Me Hbwitson was a man of action. Living for the Lord, he 
 was ever ready for the Lord's work. No details, however 
 dry and tedious, which bore on the great end, did he regard 
 as unimportant. This feature of his character was illustrated 
 by his ministry in Trinidad. The object of his mission to 
 the exiles, as he himself states it, was " not only to administer 
 gospel consolation, but to re-organise them into a compacted 
 church order." And the mission was not unsuccessful. 
 
 He sailed from Southampton on January 2, 1847. " To- 
 morrow morning, if the Lord will," we find him writing to a 
 friend in Madeira, in a note dated, " Near Porto Santo, 12th 
 January," " we shall be anchored in Funchal Bay. It will 
 be a great pleasure to me to see any of my friends who may 
 be disposed to come on board. The voyage has, owing to 
 contrary winds, been longer than usual from Southampton to 
 
260 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 Madeira. It is blessed, amidst the storm as well as the 
 calm, to feel securely anchored on the power and loving- 
 kindness of a covenant-God. Our Father made the sea as 
 well as the dry land: they are alike his creatures, and 
 obedient to his will. 
 
 "Among the passengers," he continues, "I have come 
 into contact onhf with one who seems truly, desirous of walking 
 with God. How many around me are walking without God, 
 ' according to the course of this world !' Of such said the 
 Psalmist, ' Elvers of waters run down mine eyes, because 
 they keep not thy law.' What I see and hear makes me 
 long for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. On that day 
 God wilLbe acknowledged by all — his name be hallowed, 
 and his Son glorified. . . Notwithstanding all our watchfulness, 
 how sudden at last will be the Lord's coming ! The Church 
 in general will be asleep, true believers and false professors 
 alike, until the sign of the Son of man be seen in heaven. 
 Prophecy forbids the expectation that there will be a general 
 revival, in the Church, of ' the blessed hope,' as so soon to 
 be realised. The parable of the ten virgins is very explicit 
 on this point ; and the Lord tells us that, when he comes to 
 execute judgment for his saints, he will scarcely find the 
 believing expectation of it on the earth. Where all are drowsy 
 or asleep, how difficult it is to keep awake in daily hope of 
 our Lord's appearing ! But the difficulty will more easily be 
 got over if only we habitually realise our present position, as 
 those who are 'raised up and made to sit together in 
 heavenly places in Christ.' We have not, since by faith we 
 became one spirit with the Lord, a single foot of ground in 
 this earth over which we shall reign hereafter. ' We are 
 dead' with Christ, and by death removed out of this world; 
 and if we live with Christ, our life is hid with him in heaven. 
 
VOYAGE TO TItlNIDAD. 261 
 
 It is a life in heaven, not on earth — a life in God, and no 
 longer among the inen of this world. Do we feel the power of 
 this blessed truth in some measure? Then the Spirit of 
 GLORY and of God resteth upon us, and gives us an earnest 
 of, a meetness for, and a longing after, ' the glory which is 
 to be revealed in us.' " 
 
 Contrary to expectation, he was privileged to pay a passing 
 visit to the scene of his former apostoUc labours. " It will 
 be two weeks to-morrow," says he, writing to his father 
 from Barbadoes, on January 26, " since we reached Madeira. 
 Danger of interception by the authorities ashore had made 
 me averse to landing; but the kind conspiracy of friends, 
 who were expecting me, forced me away from the vessel. 
 I landed at a secluded point to the west of the city, and 
 was escorted by two gentlemen to the house of a friend, 
 in a retired situation. A palanquin, shrouding me from 
 hostile eyes, conveyed me through the midst of the city to 
 
 the house of , where I spent some time in pleasant 
 
 Christian fellowship. While there, I was visited by several 
 friends and acquaintances. I likewise had an interview with 
 seven or eight Portuguese converts, or inquirers. Again, in 
 the veiled palanquin, I threaded my way through the narrow 
 streets of Funchal, passing, on a very limited visit, by the 
 house of dear Dr Millar, and arriving safely at the house in 
 which I had found asylum after landing. Leaving my 
 friends there, and in company yrhh a gentleman, who had 
 kept at my side during the whole adventure, I reached in 
 safety, and much refreshed in spirit, the steamer, which a 
 short time afterwards was leaving Madeira in the distance. 
 That I had been privileged to enjoy so much a visit so 
 unexpected, in a place so full of painfully as well as joyfully 
 interesting associations, and that I had been preserved by 
 
262 MEMOIR OF THE BEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 the Lord, my shield, amidst the dangers that attended such 
 an enjoyment, was cause of thankfulness and praise. 
 
 "Barbadoes," he proceeds, "is 2610 miles from Madeira. 
 We leave it to-day for Grenada, which is distant only 140 
 miles ; and, after staying there a few hours, sail for Trinidad, 
 which is no more than ninety-four miles from Grenada. 
 For a few days past, the heat has been oppressive, the 
 thermometer at eighty-one degrees in the shade. I am 
 now suifering from its relaxing influence." And in a 
 postscript : — " Wednesday, Jcamary 27. — It is about eight 
 o'clock A.M., and we are going along the coast of Grenada. 
 I may here set up my Ebenezer, and say, ' Hitherto hath 
 the Lord helped me.' Blessed be his holy name ! that 
 the blood of the Lamb may be on all our door-posts, and the 
 oil of the Spirit in all our vessels ! " 
 
 "In the steamer which brought me from England," he 
 writes at a later date to Mr Dickson, referring to an incident 
 of the voyage already noted, " there was, among many 
 ungodly, one who feared the Lord, and with whom I con- 
 tracted an intimacy. He gave me £1 for my little Trinidad 
 fund ; and, a few days afterwards, on my presenting him with 
 'The Marrow of Modern Divinity,' which I had previously 
 given him for a perusal, and with which he had expressed 
 himself greatly delighted, he put an additional £5 note into 
 my hand for the poor Portuguese, saying, 'This book is 
 worth that to me.' Another, and to me an interesting, 
 circumstance connected with our intercourse, was that, in 
 the course of it, he was led to embrace the hope of Christ's 
 pre-millennial advent. He was so deeply impressed with the 
 solemnity of that subject, that on parting, as we did at 
 Grenada, he said, especially in reference to it, 'I believe — 
 nay, I am fiilly persuaded — that it is of God that you and I 
 
EXILED CHURCH. 263 
 
 have met. The subject of the Lord's coming is of the 
 greatest importance, and till now my attention has never 
 been fully directed to it.' " 
 
 A pleasant meeting awaited him on his arrival. " I 
 reached the Gulf of Pariah," says he, writing to his sister 
 from Trinidad on February 4, " and anchored in the Roads 
 of Port of Spain, on Thursday the 28th of January. De- 
 tained beyond expectation for want of a boat to carry me 
 ashore, I was at last moving towards land, pulled by two 
 Africans, wheii I was met in another boat by the Rev. 
 Mr Kennedy, missionary in connexion with the United 
 Secession, who, with Christian kindness, conducted me to 
 his hospitable roof, and placed his church at my service as 
 a place of meeting with my Portuguese flock. Passing by 
 the meetings and greetings and embraces, the tears and 
 laughings, of kind and cordial welcome on the part of many 
 well known in Madeira — I had a meeting for worship on 
 Saturday evening, and on Sabbath I entered upon a regular 
 system of ministration once more in a foreign tongue." 
 
 In the neighbourhood of Port of Spain he found three 
 hundred of the converts, and in other parts of the island 
 one hundred and fifty more, the number afterwards rising to 
 seven hundred in all; exclusive of some who had found a 
 irefuge in other islands. His first anxiety was to relieve 
 their physical necessities; Already, indeed, kind friends on 
 the spot had not been idle. " Mr Kennedy,'' we find him 
 writing to the Colonial Committee on 16th March, "has 
 shewn no small kindness to the Madeiran refugees. He has 
 both 'spent and been spent' in endeavouring to promote 
 their comfort, and contributing to supply their wants. The 
 Lord reward him, and others also, who shewed bowels 
 of compassion to those homeless exiles, who, for the sake 
 
264 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 of eternal life, had willingly, though not without pangs of 
 natural regret, forsaken all that was dear to flesh and 
 blood." 
 
 And, notwithstanding the trials incident to their new 
 position, they had succeeded in obtaining temporary occu- 
 pation. " They have, since their arrival," says he in the 
 same letter, " suffered considerably from the effects of the 
 climate. Fever and dysentery have attacked many; and 
 about twenty cases have terminated fatally. A process of 
 acclimatising is absolutely necessary to qualify the European 
 constitution for bearing up, in any kind of labour out of 
 doors, against the injurious operation of this burning sun, 
 and this humid atmosphere. Comparatively only a small 
 number of the Portuguese are occupied in cane cultivation. 
 Almost all the rest have, through the gracious providence of 
 God, found employment in other departments of industry. 
 I have engaged one of the elders, Martinho da Sonza, as 
 schoolmaster for two or three months, to teach the Portu- 
 guese' children and adults who choose to profit by the 
 opportunity of learning to read." 
 
 But how were they to be permanently sustained in their 
 exile ? " Something," he writes on 4th March, " must be 
 done with a view to the more safe employment of the exiles. 
 I am revolving a scheme which none but an Oberlin could 
 carry vigorously into effect, and I am not an Oberlin. Every 
 weak muscle in my body echoes, ' Not an Oberlin.' But more 
 will be required than an effective and animating superintend- 
 ence ; there will be need of more funds. English Christianity 
 has placed £200 at my disposal. Will Scottish Christianity 
 give nothing in addition to my services ? " 
 
 Meanwhile another necessity of the exiles demanded his 
 judicious and tender care. " One of my chief reasons," he 
 
EXILED CHURCH. 265 
 
 writes, in the letter to the Colonial Committee, already 
 quoted, " for not merely consenting, at the desire of the 
 Colonial Committee, but even anxiously desiring, to visit the 
 Portuguese brethren here, and spend a few months amongst 
 them, was, that I apprehended, as the almost inevitable con- 
 sequence of so great a change in their outward circumstances, 
 a diminution of their Christian watchfulness, and a relapse, 
 by imperceptible degrees, into perilous conformity with this 
 ' evil world.' My apprehension, as I very soon discovered, 
 was aheady, in several instances, being sadly enough verified. 
 The pressure of the iron hand of persecution — ^which had 
 been formerly a means of restraining, and so of concealing 
 from the converts themselves, much of the natural corruption 
 that was in their hearts — had now been removed : set free 
 from that outward restraint, and solicited by the temptations 
 of a world wearing the mask of friendship to the gospel, car- 
 nality had begun to break out, and discover itself in various 
 forms. The enemy formerly sought to overwhelm the little 
 band of witnesses for Jesus with the tide of open battle, and 
 then they were in arms, and on the watch ; but here the 
 enemy has recourse to a different system of tactics. He 
 carries on his operations covertly, and seeks opportunity of 
 surprisal. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at that some 
 should be thrown off their guard, and lulled into a false 
 security. « 
 
 " My first conversation,'' he continues, " with one or two 
 of the elders regarding the spiritual condition of their fellow- 
 countrymen in Trinidad, created the painful apprehension 
 that it might be necessary to suspend some of the communi- 
 cants from the enjoyment of church privileges. It was, there- 
 fore, no small relief to find afterwards, at a regular meeting 
 of session, held for the purpose of reviewing, and, if neces- 
 
266 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 sary, in some instances of temporarily excluding from, the 
 communion roll, that there had not been among the com- 
 municants any commission of such open sin as could become 
 matter of church-cognisance and discipline. It appeared 
 that a spirit of carnal security and worldly conformity had 
 been creep^g over the minds of some, and discovering itself 
 in a less circumspect and holy walk, in a diminished relish 
 for spiritual exercises, and greater levity of disposition ; but 
 there had been no outbreak of flagrant immorality or open 
 ungodliness among the communicants." 
 
 How lofty had been the standard of personal godliness 
 among these people in Madeira, we may gather from the 
 character of the backslidings which now became the subject 
 of his tender reproof. " I found it necessary," he proceeds 
 in the same letter, " to have dealings in private with some 
 whose deportment had given evidence of a falling off from 
 the degree of spirituality which they had formerly exhibited. 
 One of the individuals in question said, ' In Madeira it was 
 not so difficult as it is here to walk with God ; ' and again, 
 ' I had some striking answers to prayer in Madeira, but here 
 God has not given such answers to my prayers.' The 
 reason of this latter experience was obvious. The person 
 referred to had not been offering up for some time past such 
 earnest and believing prayers to God, and had even begun to 
 be indifferent about family worship. Another, to whom the 
 "Word (vas once ' sweeter than honey or the honey-comb,' 
 listened to what I said in regard to the things of his peace 
 with a painfully cold expression of eye, and half-averted 
 countenance. The reason was, not that he disliked the truth, 
 but he had become careless and unwatchful, and so had lost 
 the blessed confidence toward God which he once enjoyed. 
 ' Amidst the persecutions which I suffered in Madeira,' he 
 
STATE OF PORTUGUESE. 267 
 
 said, 'I had great peace with God; but I have scarcely 
 known what that peace is since I came to Trinidad.' These 
 and similar facts," he adds, " are fitted to teach a lesson of 
 jealousy and watchfulness over their own spirits to believers 
 in Scotland who are subjected to the same soothing and 
 soporific influences of a world outwardly doing homage to 
 Jesus, but in reality ' lying in the wicked one.' ' Ephraim, 
 he hath mixed himself among the people. Strangers have 
 devoured his strength, and he knoweth it not ; yea, gray 
 hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knoweth it not.' " 
 
 It was no common test to which the work had been sub- 
 jected. Yet what was the general result ? " Though a few 
 of the Portuguese in Trinidad," he continues, " have, under 
 the powerful influence of new temptations, declined somewhat 
 in spirituality of mind, yet I have discovered no good ground 
 for suspecting the sincerity of any whom I was accustomed 
 to regard in Madeira as having ' the things which accompany 
 salvation.' A considerable number seem to be truly desirous 
 of growing in grace, light, and holiness. The elders and 
 deacons have been faithful and exemplary. Three of the 
 seven elders who were ordained in Madeira have come to 
 this island, and four out of the nine who were ordained to 
 the office of deacon. I found that eighty-five — a very large 
 proportion — of the communicants had come to Trinidad. 
 Since coming here, I have admitted eight new candidates for 
 communion, after due examination. A considerable number 
 besides have applied to be taken under examination — per- 
 haps twenty individuals — some of them well reported of by 
 the elders, as being consistent and exemplary in their lives. 
 We have had the communion thrice here, and once at Arouca, 
 a place fourteen miles distant. Seventy-five or eighty com- 
 municated here last Sabbath." 
 
268 MEMOIR OF THE BEV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 A "troubler of Israel" had been among them before he 
 arrived. " On coming to Trinidad," he says, " I was sorry 
 to find that a number of the Portuguese converts, thirteen 
 in all, had been led to embrace, at least in part, the views 
 of the Baptists, and to receive immersion. Schismatic con- 
 tentions were being engendered, and outward observances 
 were, by the sleight of Satan, beginning to occupy that place 
 in the thoughts of some which should be given to the things 
 that are ' spirit and life.' I found it necessary to preach on 
 the subject, giving an exposition of what I hold to be the 
 mind of the Lord, as revealed in his Word, in regard to 
 baptism ; and it is matter of thankfulness that the progress of 
 the opposite doctrine has been arrested." Such " troublers," 
 we know, every Baptist who loves the Lord would be the 
 foremost to condemn. 
 
 The exiles were still arriving. " About three weeks ago," 
 he writes, of the same date, "an American vessel arrived, 
 bringing the additional number of eighty-eight Protestant 
 Portuguese. These brought the intelligence that above one 
 hundred more Protestants were preparing to follow them. 
 Madeira is swept well-nigh clean of its choicest and worthiest 
 sons. Now, in Madeira, ' a lily' is to be found only here and 
 there 'among the thorns.' Still are there a few believers left, 
 who mourn over the desolation that reigns around them, and 
 who, did circumstances not forbid, would gladly join their 
 brethren in the land of their exile. Still a very few remain to 
 hold up there the banner of the truth, and to testify amongst 
 the ungodly that ' there is a judgment' " " It is a most 
 gladdening fact," he adds elsewhere, " that the good seed of 
 the Word is still taking root among the Madeirans, in spite 
 of the wrath of man." 
 
 Affecting were the scenes daily exhibited among these 
 
INCIDENTS OF THE WORK. 269 
 
 dear people. A glimpse he gives, in a letter of 4th March, 
 to Mr Dickson. " Ten days ago," he says, alluding to the 
 incident just noticed, " another band of immigrants — I should 
 rather say, of exiles — ^from the Gadarene coast of Madeira, 
 reached the shores of Trinidad, and, under Britain's heaven- 
 blessed banner, they found themselves for the first time on 
 ground where they were at liberty to hear God speaking in 
 his Word, and to speak to God in prayer. Among the 
 number is Maria Joaquina, whose blood was once likely to 
 be poured into the cup of the drunken harlot, Babylon. 
 Another was Philippa Eosa, who, like Peter, denied her 
 Lord, and, in answer to prayer, was, like Peter, again 
 
 restored amidst floods of 1 was going to write 'tears,' 
 
 when I was interrupted, and called away to speak to one 
 of my Portuguese flock, who, shedding tears, has just told 
 toe that she is persecuted in the family where she is serving 
 — a Eoman Catholic family- — being treated harshly for re- 
 fusing to do what involves a violation of her duty to God. 
 ' I left Madeira,' she has just been saying, ' that I might 
 be able to follow God, and for nothing else, and I wish to 
 leave that ftimily.' This is a specimen of the avocations 
 which have occupied much of my time since I came here. 
 Were it not that I got my servant, Jose Marques — & great 
 and indispensable help to me in my work — placed as sentinel 
 sometimes to receive the people who come to speak with me, 
 and to question them about their wants, &c., I could scarcely 
 find time for letter-writing, even on so small a scale. The 
 specimen here given above of the nature of a very fagging 
 portion of my labours shews that Popeiy has the same 
 Gadarene-devil inlt here as it had in Madeira." 
 
 Another glimpse he gives in a letter dated a fortnight 
 later. " On Sabbath last," says he, " we had the communion 
 
270 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 again here. It was the most refreshing season of the kind 
 that I haye had since I came to Trinidad. There were a few 
 whom I had recently examined, and who communicated for 
 the first time last Sabhath. After the communion service 
 was over, I baptized two children, so that we had both 
 sacraments at one diet of worship. One of the new commu- 
 nicants, a young woman, gave, in the course of the previous 
 examination, very satisfying evidences of heart-experience 
 as well as of head-knowledge. She seemed clearly to have 
 discovered the corruption of her nature, the sinfulness of her 
 life, the efficacy of Christ's blood, and the power of Divine 
 grace." 
 
 And again, of same date : — " Till Tuesday last I did not 
 deliver my message from the Free Church to the Portuguese 
 converts — I did not, I mean, convey to them an expression 
 of the Free Church's sympathy. Then, however, I did so ; 
 and that they might understand something about the Free 
 Church, I gave them a sketch of the history of the Church 
 of Scotland down to the present day from the time of the 
 Reformation. "When I was giving an account of the Dis- 
 ruption, tears were shed by some of the hearers. A con- 
 siderable number were present, as is usually the case on 
 Tuesday evenings. A Portuguese, whose leg is in such a 
 state that it is to be amputated, and who had come to this 
 island a Roman Catholic, has of late manifested something 
 like an awaking to the discovery of his lost state and his 
 need of a Saviour. So desirous was he of hearing the Word 
 more fully, that, at the risk of great injury to his wounded 
 leg, he last Sabbath came a distance of nearly a mile on 
 crutches, and in the same manner returned home — ^his leg 
 swollen, but, as he said, his soul refreshed." 
 
 And his labours^— how abundant and untiring! "Yes- 
 
THIRST FOE THE WORD. 271 .1 
 
 terday," he writes on March 17 to Mr A. Bonar, " I went 
 to Santa Cruz — nine or ten miles from this — in search of 
 Portuguese, and found twenty — twelve Protestants and 
 eight Eoman Catholics. The former were all together on 
 the same estate; and after they had finished their day's 
 work, we had worship together. It was a refreshing meet- 
 ing. The Roman Catholics that I met listened to the Word 
 of God with apparently deep interest. Working in this 
 hot climate suits me ill. I scarcely know what it is to 
 be free from fatigue. My health is not so good as when 
 I left Britain. But I am glad that I have come on a visit 
 to the Portuguese. My coming has been, I truly believe, 
 of the Lord."* 
 
 And to his parents, on March 31 : — " On Wednesday last 
 week I left this in a gig at a little after six o'clock a.m., and, 
 travelling ten miles, preached to forty Portuguese in the 
 
 * In another part of this letter he alludes, somewhat retrospectively, to 
 an interesting little feature of his work. " Setting off," says he, " from 
 Southampton by the steamer on the 2d of Januaiy, I soon found myself 
 lying sick in my cabin, and, unfit for almost every other species of 
 effort, drawn away insensibly by a strange disposition to versify in Portu- 
 guese. I endeavoured to turn this disposition of mind to account, and 
 the result was a metrical translation of the 23d Psalm, and of your 
 sweet hymn—' The Fulness of Jesus.' [This is a mistake — the hymn is 
 Mr H. Bonar's.] These I have got printed for the use of my Portuguese 
 flock in public and private worship. Last night, at our ordinary meeting 
 for worship, we sang part of the 'Plenitude de Jesus,' beginning with — 
 
 ' Xodo o meu vil peccado 
 
 Ponho, Jesu3, sobri Ti: 
 
 Hum Cordeiro immaculado 
 
 Padeceste Tu por mi.' 
 
 The paraphrase is so wide, owing to the unaccommodating character of 
 Portuguese words." The two metrical translations afterwaids grew into 
 a little book of psalms and hymns for the Portuguese church. 
 
272 MEMOIR OP THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 open air, under the shadow of a large tree. Afterwards I 
 went a distance of six or seven miles more, and preached in 
 an upper room to about twenty Portuguese. Then returning 
 four or five miles, I preached again in Mr Brodie's church 
 at Arouca, to a number of Portuguese, who assembled, after 
 their day's work, from a distance of two miles. On Thursday 
 morning I was here to breakfast, having left Arouca pretty 
 early. If the Lord will, I shall be in Arouca again next 
 Sabbath, administering the communion, and preaching twice. 
 Last Sabbath I administered the Lord's supper here to 
 eighty-four Portuguese communicants. All present were 
 Portuguese but myself." 
 
 These were no ordinary labours. Most other men would 
 have long ago laid themselves aside as disabled. But with 
 a self-forgetting energy, and a holy elevation of spirit, rarely, 
 if ever, surpassed, do we find this beloved servant of the 
 Lord counting not his life dear unto himself, so that he might 
 finish his course with joy, and the ministry which he had 
 received of the Lord Jesus, that he might testify the gospel 
 of the grace of God. 
 
 And the Lord did not leave his labours without a blessing. 
 " Upon the whole, I may say," he writes to Mr M'Clymont, 
 on March 31, "in reference to the present state of religion 
 among the people under my charge, that there is very much 
 to afford encouragement, and to stir up thankfulness to God. 
 Among the unconverted Protestants there is manifest neglect 
 of Divine things ; but among those who seem truly to have , 
 ' the things which accompany salvation,' there are at present 
 evidences of a lively and fervent spirit, with much concern 
 about the salvation of the soul. There have been some cases 
 of backsliding from the first love and the first works, but 
 even in most of these cases I have reason to believe that 
 
CHRISTIAN MINISTKT. 273 
 
 there has been a repenting and a remembering of the 
 former paths. For all the good, praise be to the God of all 
 grace!" 
 
 On these scenes, and amidst these labours, he realised 
 with new vividness the power and the responsibilities of the 
 gospel-ministry. " I have not been," he writes to Mr Dodds, 
 "without grounds of encouragement and thankfulness. I 
 have had misgivings and anxieties in regard to some who, 
 on a new field of conflict, have been surprised and taken at 
 a disadvantage by new expedients of the adversary. Grace 
 is, nevertheless, manifestly working, and upholding the 
 goings of God's people. The vessel which contains the 
 heavenly treasure is truly 'an earthen vessel;' but what 
 then? It is manifest that 'the excellency of the power is 
 God's, and not of man.' This is what we aim at, and to 
 be more direct, steady, and sure in our aim ! Man is nothing 
 — God is everything. As ministers of the gospel of God's 
 grace, we ought always to look for and surely expect, some 
 fruit of our ministry. God in Athanasius against the whole 
 world — what shall he find impossible? The whole world 
 against God in Athanasius — it will' contend in vain. 'Old 
 Adam is too strong for young Melancthon.' It is true ; but 
 'Immanuel — God with us' — is infinitely too strong for old 
 Adam. When a minister desponds, saying, ' What can / 
 do?' he may well despond, for he will do nothing: but when 
 he girds himself for conflict on praying ground, saying, 
 'What can the Lord not do?' he will go forth 'in this his 
 might,' and do ' all things.' ' If thou canst believe, all things 
 are possible to him that believeth.' Omnipotence pledges 
 itself to faith. 
 
 " The world," he continues, " cannot stand before a ministry 
 that is strong in the grace of God. It can stand before 
 
 8 
 
ii^74 MEMOTR OP THE REV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 eloquence in the preacher ; it can stand before philosophy and 
 before learning in the preacher; but before grace in the 
 preacher it cannot stand. The sword of the Spirit in the 
 hand of faith tells at every stroke. You cannot give faithful 
 testimony to the world in vain; the efiFect will be 'unto death' 
 in many; it will be 'unto life' in all who shall be saved. 
 how solemn, how awful, the position of a minister of God 
 pleading with — ^preaching to — lost sinners! He is the 
 Sower's hand ; he is the voice or mouth of God ; he is the 
 accredited ambassador of heaven." 
 
 His was indeed a ministry " strong in the grace of God." 
 And why ? Let the breathings of his inner life during his re- 
 sidence in Trinidad, tell. " To-day," he writes, on 3d March, 
 to a friend in Madeira, giving expression to his holy longings, 
 " I am so fatigued by the continuous labours of the past 
 week, that I am almost quite imfitted for letter-writing. 
 Among other reasons for desiring the resurrection-state, 
 there is one the weight of which makes itself many a time 
 felt, and it is that the spiritual part in us will in that state 
 suffer no impediment, nor enfeeblement, nor interruption, in 
 the service of the Lord from the weakness- and weariness of 
 the body. The redeemed, the glorified Church — ^in symbolic 
 language, the Cherubim — ^will ever have expanded, in readi- 
 ness for service, the unwearied wing. And oh, is it not 
 another great and pressing cause of desire after the state of 
 glory, that then, Jehovah dwelling between the Cherubim, 
 God having his resting-place and abode among the saints, 
 and within them, they will be incapable of sinning, and 
 now at length all ' holiness to the Lord.' To serve without 
 weariness, to be holy without watching, and beyond the 
 possibility of sinning — what a contrast with this, ' the day 
 of small things,' the day of bodily strength often exhausted, 
 
CHURCH ORGANISED. 275 
 
 and of sin always mingled with our accomplishment as well 
 as with our desire of service ! ' When I would do good, evil 
 is present with me.' The Lord knows our case, and provides 
 for it ; and this affords no little consolation to me under the 
 sense of feebleness and shortcoming. 
 
 " Were we perfect in strength and holiness," he continues, 
 " we should not have so many errands to Jesus, nor should 
 we enjoy such experiences of his care as our Physician, of his 
 love as our Redeemer, and of his faithfulness as our Friend. 
 Cursed righteousness of Simon that made him despise the 
 Lord ! Blessed unworthiness of the sinner-woman, that brought 
 her weeping, with dishevelled hair and humble adoring grati- 
 tude, to the Saviour's feet ! Why do I complain so much of 
 the weakness and unperfected holiness that, like the chariots 
 of Amminadib, carry me so often into the bosom of him in 
 whom I have both righteousness and strength ! Even sin's 
 law working in our members is laid under contribution for 
 the advancement of Immanuel's glory. Our very weakness 
 is a stepping-stone by means of which he reaches the throne 
 in our hearts, and so is exalted in his strength. Much- 
 loving but little-loved Jesus ! were it not for our helplessness 
 and poverty, we should not frequent the doors of thy house, 
 nor come as we do to thy strength and fulness. Were it not 
 ALL of grace, what could we expect from "our God and 
 Saviour? But, because it is all of grace, what is there 
 that we may not expect with confidence ? " 
 
 The organisation of the church was completed in April; 
 and the labourer who was to minister to them at length 
 arrived. " I was gladdened a week or two ago," he writes 
 to the Colonial Committee, on April 20, " by the arrival of 
 Mr Da Silva. He was obliged to come hither from Lisbon, 
 by the way of Britain. His converted countrymen rejoice 
 
276 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 at his presence amongst them; and I trust that, by the 
 grace of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ resting both on 
 him and them, they will derive much good from his labours 
 amongst them. In the course of another fortnight I expect 
 to be on my way to St Vincent. I write in haste, not more 
 for want of time than for want of strength. At present I am 
 exhausted by the fatigues to which I have been necessarily 
 subjected." 
 
 Mr Hewitson bade farewell to the exiles in Trinidad in the 
 t)eginning of May 1847. "When I left the island," we find 
 him writing afterwards, " all was satisfactory and cheering. 
 The refugee-church is now in good order, and everything is 
 full of promise. They have the Lord's supper once a month, 
 according to an arrangement made before I left them. I can 
 say to them what the apostle said to the Colossians, ' Though 
 absent in the flesh, yet am I with you now in the spirit, 
 joying and beholding your order and the steadfastness of your 
 faith in Christ. Their pastor, Senhor Arsenio, is well qualified 
 for the work, I mean especially by the grace of God. He is 
 a dear brother in the Lord, and a zealous minister of the 
 Church for the Lord's sake. The Lord is blessing him beyond 
 all his expectations with grace and strength for the work. 
 He seems to have the Bible always in his heart, and his heart 
 always in heaven. ' Praise waiteth for thee, Lord, in Zion.' " 
 
 Though almost prostrated by a tropical sun, he visited St 
 Kitt's, and preached there fourteen times, and twice adminis- 
 tered the sacrament of the Supper. He found in that island 
 about fifty members of his exiled flock. Before he left them, 
 he provided them with regular ministrations, having brought 
 with him one of the elders from Trinidad for that purpose. 
 Failure of bodily strength obliged him to leave the West 
 Indies without visiting St Vincent. 
 
DEATH OF DA SILVA. 277 
 
 The reader may be interested by a parting glimpse of the 
 exiles. It is given in a letter to Mr Hewitson from the Rev. 
 Mr Gonsalves, himself a Madeiran, and a converted Roman- 
 ist, who had been sent by the " American Christian Union " 
 to the West Indies, to arrange for their removal to the 
 United States. Encouraged by the generous sympathy and 
 aid of the American people, the converts were already arriv- 
 ing in successive groups in New York, when a bereavement 
 overtook them which touchingly illustrated what God had 
 wrought among them. It was the death of their beloved 
 pastor, Senhor Arsenio da Silva. " I was with our much 
 beloved brother," writes Mr Gonsalves, from New York, on 
 27th February 1849, " night and day for two weeks. His 
 doctor, Dr Beadle (one of the most pious and skilful in this 
 city), said it was very important that he should have his 
 medicines and nourishment with great regularity, as he was 
 in a very critical state, and also that he should be kept very 
 quiet ; so I felt it my duty to see that all these important 
 rules were observed faithfully. And it was quite a trial, I 
 assure you, to keep the weeping anxious Portuguese converts 
 from talking to the afflicted man of God, their pastor, for 
 they were anxious to gather themselves around him, like 
 children around the couch of a dying parent. If was a sight 
 that might have made an angel weep, to see the affectionate 
 tears rolling down the cheeks of the flock, while the pastor 
 smiled in hope of the glory of God, although suffering much 
 pain from the dreadful disease he brought from Trinidad. 
 
 " But all human efforts," continues the affecting story, 
 " availed nothing. On the 8th of January he was evidently 
 near the river of death. In his last prayer he remembered 
 most affectionately the Free Church of Scotland, his precious 
 flock, his wife and daughter and grandchildren — prayed most 
 
278 MEMOIR OF THE REV, W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 earnestly for the conversion of his dear wife, and that his 
 flock might not be scattered, and for all of them to abide in 
 Christ in the bonds of love. 
 
 "He was very anxious to know of the American Pro- 
 testant Society, to whom he wrote a letter some time since 
 from Trinidad, whether his flock could have a portion of good 
 land in the United States to cultivate, very near each other, 
 where they might have a church built, and schools for their 
 children, and where they might, by honest industry, earn 
 their daily bread, and worship the Lord God of Israel in 
 spirit and in"truth. He said he felt great anxiety especially 
 for the lambs of the flock, who were mixed up in Trinidad 
 with a low, vicious, degraded Roman Cathohc population, 
 who were as bad, or worse, than the rabble of Madeira ; and 
 that, as his people could not get lands in Trinidad where 
 they might live by themselves, they were all anxious to 
 remove to this land of civil and religious liberty. The 
 Rev. Mr Norton and M. Demotte, Esq., secretaries of the 
 American Protestant Society, assured him that lands could 
 be obtained, and that all should be done according to the 
 desire of his heart. 
 
 " After this he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, in a 
 spirit of sweet communion and great faith, ' Senhor Jesus, 
 deixaime eaminhar em paz porque os mens olhos jS. virao a 
 tua salvagao.'* On the 10th of January (Wednesday) the 
 doctor called, and said, ' We can do nothing more ; he will 
 not live through the day.' Brother da Silva was calm, with 
 his eyes closed, during the last three days. Sometimes I 
 would speak to him softly of the great love of Christ, and I 
 would say to him, ' Senhor Ministro, meu caro Irmao, coii- 
 
 * " Lord Jesus, let me depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy 
 salvation." 
 
DEATH OF DA SILVA. 279 
 
 hegeme?'* He would say, 'Sim, Senhor, perfeitamente ; 
 Jesus he sempre a minha esperanga.' f And although he 
 could not open his eyes, yet the affectionate tear of love 
 towards his dear Saviour would roll down the emaciated 
 cheek of the man of God. 
 
 " Oh, my dear brother, it was a painful, yet precious privi- 
 lege, to witness so much suffering without a murmur — to see 
 one, rescued by grace from the power of the Man of Sin so 
 recently, die like an apostle, full of faith, giving glory to 
 God ! what would I have given to have you and our 
 excellent brother in Christ, Dr Kalley, present, to see how 
 important were those precious efforts which were made in my 
 poor unfortunate native land to save Eomanists from sin 
 and hell ! Yes, all glory to God, I hope the time is not far 
 distant when all Portugal, and Spain, and the isles, will 
 enjoy the inestimable blessings of the gospel of Christ. I 
 say you and dear Dr Kalley, because I know, from conversa- 
 tions which I had with our now glorified happy brother, that 
 you both were particularly dear to him. 
 
 " On the 10th of January, at ten minutes before three p.m., 
 I knelt down with a number of our Portuguese brethren to 
 pray. Before I had concluded my supplication, the happy 
 redeemed spirit of our brother left for the heavenly land, 
 without a struggle or a groan. It was a happy death — like 
 one falling asleep. 
 
 "The funeral took place on the 12th, in the Eev. Dr 
 Dewitt's church, Forth Street. It was a bitter cold day; 
 but many were present to pay their respects. The weeping 
 Portuguese felt like Eachel. The large American audience 
 also shed tears of sympathy for the bereaved flock. The 
 
 * "Senhor minister, my dear brother, do yon know me?" 
 f " Yes, Senhor, perfectly; Jesus is always my hope." 
 
280 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Rev. Mr Norton spoke on the occasion ; and I addressed the 
 Portuguese in our own language. The Rev. Drs Dewitt and 
 Dowling offered prayer ; and I related in English something 
 of the happy death of our brother — of his great confidence 
 in Christ in the last days of his life. 
 
 " The Portuguese here," he proceeds, " are a very devoted 
 band of pilgrims. They love one another. They search the 
 Bible with great diligence. They enjoy a blessed prayer- 
 meeting morning and evening. Sometimes eight or ten 
 
 prayers will follow in rapid succession. My sister 
 
 and sister are very active among the females, 
 
 encouraging them to every good work. They are what 
 Paul would call 'helpers in the gospel.' The brethren are 
 also faithful in exhortation. They are all very industrious. 
 
 " Seldom a prayer is offered to the throne of grace, from 
 any one of the flock, that I do not hear your name, and that 
 of Dr Kalley, and the Free Church of Scotland. They will 
 need a faithful, devoted pastor, one well able to instruct 
 them in the deep things of God, and render assistance in 
 the education of their children, Sabbath-school, &c. Can 
 you, dear brother, come to Illinois next fall, and take charge 
 of this interesting, precious flock ? I know they all love you 
 as they love their own souls. 
 
 "It is my wish that they may remain attached to the 
 branch of Zion which has been the instrument, in the hands 
 of God, of doing so much for them, and of sustaining their 
 lamented pastor — I mean the noble, self-sacrificing Free 
 Church of Scotland. I am, and have been for many years, 
 a missionary in the employment of the American Protestant 
 Society. We are not sectarian — we embrace all in our 
 fellowship who love the blessed Master and his cause, who 
 believe in the Christ of God. We are not sent to baptize, or 
 
POETUGDBSB NEW YORK. 281 
 
 to make Baptists, but 40 preach Christ and him crucified. 
 Our great anxiety is, that precious souls should be baptized 
 with the Holy Ghost. It makes very little difference whether 
 a man is baptized with a gallon of water or with an ocean. 
 If he has not been baptized with the Spirit of Christ, he will 
 sink to hell. When I was in Trinidad last year, I was 
 grieved to learn that one individual tried to introduce 
 wranglings and controversy. It gave our late brother much 
 pain of heart to witness the hot dispute that arose in con- 
 sequence, for it led to much hard feeling. But, thank God ! 
 the whole flock is now perfectly united, and will soon, I 
 hope, be together, and be united as 'one bread.' 
 
 " Be assured, my dear brother, that I shall do all in my 
 power to cherish this heavenly spirit of love, union, sweet 
 communion, and Christian fellowship. I shall wait for 
 another letter from you with pleasure. I wish very much 
 your kind advice and mind as regards our present plans. 
 Accept much love from us all. Pray for us. And may 
 the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, bless you and" 
 yours for ever ! Your unworthy but affectionate brother in 
 Christ, " M. J. Gonsalves." 
 
 At the time this letter reached him, Mr Hewitson was 
 ministering to another flock; but one who was his own 
 " son in the faith," and had nearly completed his college 
 training for the ministry, was selected to be the pastor of his 
 fellow-exiles. "The Lord seems now," said Mr Hewitson, 
 one day in his sick-chamber, a few months before his death, 
 " to be making all things ready for my departure. I have 
 just received from America the gladdening intelligence that 
 the dear Portuguese are at length settled in Illinois; their 
 new pastor has arrived among them; they are organised 
 
282 MRMOIR OP THE BEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 into a fully- constituted church; and great grace is upon 
 them all."* 
 
 * " I have great hope," wrote Dr Baird of New York, to Mr HewitBon, 
 on 18th September 1849, " that the Saviour will call several of their 
 interesting young men by his grace to preach his gospel. I greatly 
 desire to see them trained up to carry the truth into Brazil, Portugal, 
 and other countries where their language is spoken." This project, we 
 understand, promises to be crowned with success. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 1847, 1848. 
 
 Voyage Home — Conversion of a Sailor — Death of Dr Chalmers — Labours 
 — Singular Holiness — Correspondence — Call to Dirleton. 
 
 " I NEVEK had a voyage like this," was the remark of the 
 captain of the vessel in which, on 15th July 1847, Mr 
 Hewitson reached the Clyde. And so, we have been told, 
 felt all the ship's company. Not a Jonah had been on board, 
 fleeing from the presence of the Lord, but a Caleb, walking 
 in the light of his face. Daily had they all assembled at his 
 invitation, morning and evening, to pray and to hear the 
 Word. There was something, besides, about his whole walk 
 and bearing which made them feel that one from God was 
 among them. The Lord did not leave his servant without 
 fruit. One of the sailors became a marked trophy of grace. 
 " I am not in want of a closet to pray in," said he one day 
 as the voyage drew near its termination ; '' I can just cover 
 my face in my hat here at the helm, and I am as much alone 
 with God as in a closet." The man had sailed from Antigua 
 a careless sinner : Mr Hewitson now rejoiced over him as 
 another of his many spiritual children. 
 
 And whence that so impressive walk? In a brief note, 
 written during the voyage, we discover indirectly its source : — 
 
284 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 " Atlantic Ocean, 40 miles west of Cape Clear, July 10, 1847. 
 — \Tohis Parents.'] — To-day I read Luke ix., as the chapter 
 for our reading in fellowship. It is rich in truth, and full of 
 blessing, because full of Christ. Christ is the life, and soul, 
 and meaning of the Word of God ; and if we seek Christ in 
 the Word, we shall surely find him, and have cause to rejoice 
 more than one that findeth great spoil. The Word is the 
 gold mine — Christ is the gold itself. The Word is the well 
 — Christ is the living water that fills it to the brim. Let 
 him that thirsteth take freely." 
 
 On landing, a stroke fell upon him, by which he was 
 deeply afiected. " Dr Chalmers ! " we find him writing on 
 29th July, to Mr Dodds. " The angels have carried him 
 away to Abraham's bosom ! I did not hear of it till I reached 
 Ayr. Opening a book, I read the words — 'The fate Dr 
 Chalmers.' This was the first annoimcement." And in 
 another letter : — " Dr Chalmers ! He is among ' the spirits 
 of the just made perfect.' " Chalmers he had not only revered 
 as a master, but loved as a father. " The childlike simplicity, 
 the saintly meekness of Chalmers," he used to say, " always 
 made me feel at home with him. He relished spiritual con- 
 verse. He was one of the humblest men I ever met." 
 
 " We are travellers ; we go ' from strength to strength ;' 
 (no weakness in the pilgrim-journey of those who are one 
 with ' the mighty God'), till ' every one of us in Zion appear- 
 eth before God.' " So wrote a fellow-labourer to Mr Hewitson 
 respecting their mutual journeying. The words are strik- 
 ingly descriptive of his remaining course. " I have much 
 work before me," he writes, on 12th August, to a friend in 
 Edinburgh, " some of it not pleasant to my sluggish nature ; 
 but the Lord can make all things pleasant, if we do them 
 unto him. Oh, it is a sweet service, the service of the Lord, 
 
COERESPONDENCE. 285 
 
 because his smiles are sweet — his very frowns are frowns of 
 love ! He is altogether ' wonderful,' and ' altogether lovely.' 
 If we be going to spend eternity in looking on his glory, 
 surely we will not grudge to look often on his glory during 
 time. The more we look to him, the more blessed we are." 
 
 A growing mellowness was the, characteristic feature of 
 this period. Take an example, in a letter to a friend in 
 England, of date, August 19 : — " Don't you long to be filled 
 with the love of Jesus, and to be holy altogether, as he is 
 holy ? The time is drawing nigh when this longing shall be 
 satisfied. We shall soon see his face. We shall soon be 
 with him in glory ; and we shall be like him then — free from 
 sin — all spiritual, all pure, all heavenly-minded. The 
 wounded hands, we shall see them soon ; the pierced side, 
 we shall soon behold it, and fall down before the Lamb. Yet 
 a little while, and he will appear in his glory. Let us watch 
 and be ready. Hope looks forward and exults even in the 
 midst of tribulation. Tribulation cannot separate you from 
 the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord ; but the 
 love of God will in the end separate you from tribulation, 
 bring you out of it, and give you fulness of joy. Lift up 
 your head, for your redemption draweth nigh. May you be 
 sealed till that day, and have the earnest of the Spirit con- 
 tinually in your heart. The Spirit of Jesus loves the humble 
 and broken heart ; and he abides there, sprinkling the blood, 
 and creating peace." 
 
 And to another, on 29th September : — " I wish you and 
 
 Mrs all joy. May your journey towards the ' Holy 
 
 City ' be in one respect like that of the two disciples to 
 Emmaus. May the Lord himself be with you, and abide with 
 you, until your journey be ended, and you set up your last 
 Ebenezer in Gllgal, on the other side of the Jordan." And, 
 
286 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 two days afterwards, to Mr Dodds: — "Have you seen A. 
 Bonar's work on Prophecy, entitled, 'Redemption Drawing 
 Nigh ? ' The more I study Scripture, the more am I con- 
 vinced that the Lord is at hand — ^in other words, that his 
 arrival must be previous to the ' thousand years.' When he 
 comes, may we b^ found of him in peace, without spot, and 
 blameless. We shall lose nothing by being always watching 
 and always ready. Love is, in its nature, a thing full of 
 expectation, and waiting, and longing, if the object of it be 
 absent, and especially if he have sent beforehand an intima- 
 tion, ' Behold, I come quickly.' Love, catching at the inti- 
 mation, cries out, ' Even so come !' " 
 
 For several months he visited successively diflferent parts 
 of the country, preaching on Sabbaths and on week-days, 
 and leaving behind him, in every place, the savour of 
 his heavenly walk. "-May the Lord be with us to-morrow," 
 he writes to Mr Dodds, indicating the spirit which he sought 
 to carry with him into all his visits, " and make our fellow- 
 ship exceedingly sweet and edifying! What privileges we 
 have as God's children ! We need to exhort one another to 
 live, in some measure, according to our privileges. It is one 
 of our privileges to have the Holy Spirit in our hearts, but 
 few of God's people now-a-days seem to believe even that the 
 Holy Ghost is in them at all. I feel the effects of the dead- 
 ness which is reigning all around. There is a much to be 
 lamented want of lifelikeness and of spiritual sensibility in 
 the Church at the present hour. that these brassy heavens 
 were rent!" 
 
 His own "fight of faith" went forward. "An Israelite 
 indeed, in whom was no guile," he day by day aimed at 
 nothing less than a complete victory. " If my health were 
 perfect," says he, writing to a friend on 12th October, I 
 
CORKESPONDENCE. 287 
 
 should have more frequent opportunities of letter-writing 
 than I can now command. The Lord sees good to keep 
 proud nature under, by making bodily infirmity subservient 
 to the interests of grace. I may truly say, 'I had fainted 
 unless I had hoped to see the goodness of the Lord in the 
 land of the living.' A time is drawing nigh when 'there 
 shall be no more sorrow nor crying, neither any more pain ; 
 for the former things shall have passed away.' If the enjoy- 
 ment of comfort in the Lord make us to abound in hope — 
 abundance of hope, in its turn, conduces to the increase of 
 comfort. Whatever spiritual disease we labour under, the 
 cause of it is invariably, and in every case, the existence in 
 our hearts of some desire incompatible with the desire of 
 Christ. The battle will be sore, the disease painful, if the 
 desire of Christ be not supreme and reigning within us. We 
 should search out the rebel desire which hinders our growth 
 and straitens our goings. We should seek to have it laid 
 low under the heel of grace.'" 
 
 Not in a spirit of censoriousness, but in real grief of heart, 
 we find him lamenting the low tone of personal godliness 
 prevailing around him, and the consequent hiding of the 
 Lord's arm. "I preached here on Saturday afternoon,'' he 
 writes from Dahnellington, on October 12; "addressed the 
 communicants on Sabbath at the table of the Lord, and, the 
 same day, preached in the evening. Strange it seems that 
 at this time there should be such a restraining of grace, such 
 a general and prevailing drought over the land. 'Is my 
 Spirit straitened, saith the Lord ? ' What is it in the Church 
 that is causing the Lord's marked silence, and hindering the 
 Lord's Word in the midst of us? Forgetfulness among 
 God's people of their henvenly calling, and a cleaving of their 
 souls to the dust, seem to be one great hindrance in the way 
 
288 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 of the truth. Men are content with a Uttte grace and a little 
 peace, but they do not aim at or desire glory — they do not 
 long for. the Lord's appearing — ^they do not exhibit much 
 love of Home. This is, no doubt, displeasing to the Lord. 
 There are other causes of displeasure besides. Next week I 
 go, Go4 willing, to preach in Salton for four weeks. After- 
 wards I hope to be in Kelso for a week or two. I commit 
 my way to the Lord." 
 
 And, on November 9, writing from Salton, where, with no 
 little profit to the congregation, he preached for a month, in 
 the temporary absence of Mr Fairbaim : — " My labours have 
 been, though fatiguing, not too great for my strength. In 
 every way the Lord has dealt bountifully with me. ' Praise 
 ye the Lord, for the Lord is good, for his mercy endureth for 
 ever.' We do not praise God according to his goodness 
 and mercy. Well may we cry out, like Rutherford, ' for 
 a harp ! ' There is a sad want of communion among the 
 saints. The live coals are scattered on the hearth instead of 
 being piled up and kindled into a glowing flame. There is 
 all the more need of seeking close communion with God 
 himself. 
 
 " Do not God's people," he proceeds to askj " walk in 
 darkness because they dislike the clear light, and shut their 
 eyes ? Most true it is that we cannot be walking in holi- 
 ness if we be not walking in the light. Let us welcome, 
 therefore, with gladness, every ray of Divine truth. Nothing 
 but sin can keep us back from God ; and even sin cannot 
 keep us back from God, when we seek to draw near truly by 
 the blood of Christ. If we do not believe that the Spirit of 
 God is in us, we shall not fear sin as we ought, and we shall 
 not triumph over temptation as we might. We will not give 
 diligence to abstain from everything that would grieve the 
 
EVANGELISTIC LABOUBS. 289 
 
 Spirit, if we do not know that we are sealed by the Spirit 
 until the day of redemption. To know the things that are 
 freely given to us of God, and, in particular, to know that 
 God has given us his Spirit, is a wonderful help and 
 encouragement in the Divine life. A watchful spirit is 
 necessary in crucifying the flesh. Watchfulness implies the 
 f«ar of evil and the hope of good. Not to fear wrath, nor to 
 hope for glory, creates unwatchfulness and feeds the flesh." 
 
 He continued his wandering ministry, but began to desire 
 — what he now felt himself physically able to undertake — a 
 more settled charge. " Next Sabbath," he writes from Bel- 
 haven to Mr Dickson, on November 26, " I have promised 
 to preach again at Dirleton, and likewise to hold a prayer- 
 meeting on Monday evening. In Saltou I was encouraged 
 by knowing that there were some truly spiritual people in 
 the congregation, as well as by the appearance among all of 
 earnest attention to the Word. We must sow in faith ; and 
 if we do, we shall expect success. We should not only walk 
 in the Spirit, and pray in the Spirit, but we should likewise 
 speak and declare the testimony of God in the Spirit. ' Who 
 made man's mouth? Have not I the Lord?' The promise 
 is given, ' I will be with thy mouth.' 
 
 " Abraham," he adds, " needed rest at Mamre, or else- 
 where — he would have been brought low in spirit if he had 
 been wandering daily from place to place. He liked some- 
 times to tarry where he had a fixed altar consecrated to the 
 Lord. In such places he enjoyed lengthened seasons of 
 repose and fellowship with his God. My movements after 
 I return to Edinburgh, I know not what they may be, or 
 whither. I too am a wanderer, a stranger in every way on 
 the earth." 
 
 In the month of December his spirit was greatly refreshed 
 
 T 
 
290 MEMOIR OF THE HEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 by a visit to the south of Scotland. " I have met," we find 
 him writing to his mother on December 29, " not a few dear 
 children of God in the south, who are living for eternity, and 
 waiting for the blessed hope, and the appearing of the glory 
 of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ." And, a fort- 
 night earlier, to Mr M'Clymont : — " I purpose being with you 
 on Tuesday next. On Thursday first, if the Lord will, I go 
 to preach at Dunse, and on Sabbath have to preach for 
 Mr Bonar. In Kelso I find many godly people, who are 
 waiting for the Lord's coming. Our hope is truly a blessed 
 one, and much to be cherished. It has power, more than 
 anything else, to make us feel that we are set down as 
 strangers in a strange land, and to wean our aflfections from 
 the things of this evil world-. Anything that keeps us near 
 the living person Christ Jesus, transforms us into his like- 
 ness ; and the expectation of his advent is especially fitted to 
 have this efiect." 
 
 " The world," says Mr Cecil, " looks at ministers out of the 
 pulpit, to see what they mean in it." Interpreted by such a 
 commentary, it was not difficult to understand what Mr 
 Hewitson's preaching meant. " The holiness and heaven- 
 liness of his whole conversation," says the friend whom he 
 went to visit after writing the note last quoted, " were such 
 as to make me feel that he was more like a being come for a 
 time from another world, to declare his message and return 
 to it again, than like an ordinary Christian. The effect was 
 to make ordinary Christians almost ashamed of the lowness 
 of their attainments, and their distance from that purity and 
 devotedness which ought to fill us all. By one individual 
 amongst us, who was reckoned — truly, I believe — a sincere 
 Christian, this effect was felt so profoundly, that she 
 was seized with alarm that she had never been a Christian 
 
SINGULAR HOLINESS. 291 
 
 at all, but had only been mocking God with false pro- 
 fessions." 
 
 None who knew Mr Hewitson will deem this picture over- 
 drawn. These pages, we are persuaded, will meet the eyes 
 of many throughout the Church, who trace to. the time when 
 they met Mr Hewitson a season of new searching of heart, 
 of freshened love, of holier aspirations. 
 
 If to them Mr Hewitson's loss has proved an almost irre- 
 parable deprivation, there are others to whom it has been 
 a relief " When preachers," writes Eichard Baxter concern- 
 ing the class to whom we refer, " tell people of a necessity of 
 holiness, and that without it no man shall see the Lord, and 
 yet remain unholy themselves, the people will think .... 
 these are but words of course. As long as men have eyes, 
 as well as ears, they will think they see your meaning as 
 well as hear it ; and they are more apt to believe their sight 
 than their hearing, as being the more perfect sense. How 
 many a faithful minister, and private man," he proceeds, 
 addressing such, " is hated and reproached for the sake of 
 such as you I What say the people to them? 'You are so 
 precise, and tell us so much of sin, and dangers, and duty, 
 and make so much stir about these matters, wh«n such or 
 such a minister, that is as great a scholar as you, and as 
 good a preacher as you, will be merry and jest with us, and 
 let us alone, and never trouble himself or us with such dis- 
 course.' This is. the very thoughts and talk of people, which 
 your negligence doth occasion. They will give you leave 
 to preach against their sins as much as you will, and talk 
 as much for godliness in the pulpit, so you will but leave them 
 alone afterwards, and be friendly and merry with them when 
 you have done, and talk as they do, and live as they, and be 
 indiflferent with them in your conscience and conversation.'' 
 
292 
 
 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 To such Mr Hewitson's presence was distasteful. It was 
 felt to be a silent rebuke. 
 
 Various Taeant congregations were turning their eyes 
 towards one whom the Master had so signally honoured, 
 desiring to hare him as their pastor. " The question which 
 you put in connexion with Dirleton," he writes to Mr Dodds 
 on December 29, waiting with singleness of heart for the 
 Lord's leading, "I feel to be an important one;, and as you 
 do not require a categorical declaration that I would accept 
 a call if it were given me, I do not, after prayerfully think- 
 ing on the subject, experience any difficulty in giving to 
 your question what, I gather from your letter, will be a 
 satisfactory answer. I do not pledge or commit myself by 
 any declaration, which circumstances might afterwards afford 
 ground for regarding as rash. My desire is to be led onward 
 by the Lord in the light oi present circumstances, and to walk 
 no faster than by these circumstances the Lord seems to 
 lead. At present, then, I see no reason for declining a call 
 from the people of Dirleton, if they should think fit to give 
 me a call to be their pastor. Future circumstances, such as 
 the call not being a harmonious one, might determine me 
 to decline it ; but, meanwhile, I cannot see that He who has 
 the stars in his right hand is not pointing to Dirleton as my 
 future place of ministry. If the Lord see that another would 
 be a means of greater good to souls there, and that I would 
 be more usefully employed in some other corner of his 
 vineyard, then my prayer is, that he may arrange things 
 accordingly. ' The time is short.' that we may win souls 
 to Christ wherever we be ! and win souls to Christ we shall, 
 if we preach God's Word in God's way, and trusting in 
 God's sufficiency." 
 
 Meanwhile, we find him pouring the balm into the hearts 
 
DIRLBTON. 293 
 
 of bereaved and afflicted brethren. " Often in Madeira," says 
 he, writing to a friend in Glasgow on January 11, "I had 
 sweet fellowship in the things of the kingdom with you and 
 your dear sister [Mrs Walker], who is now with the Lord. 
 She has fallen asleep. In this way has her Lord appointed 
 for her deliverance from those things which shall come to 
 pass. Her trials are all past — ^her tears are all wiped away. 
 She is full of joy, waiting for the resurrection. Let such 
 thoughts as these wipe away tears from your eyes. If you 
 grieve, it will be for yourself, and not for her. Her grief is 
 past — ^her joy is full. To sympathise with her, is to sympa- 
 thise with joy — joy unspeakable, and full of glory. 
 
 " The words," he continues, " with which the Lord would 
 have his bereaved and mourning people to comfort one 
 another are words which tell that those who Jiave fallen 
 asleep in Jesus God will bring with him on that day. No 
 words of consolation are more powerful than these. The 
 more that their consolatory power is felt, the more earnest 
 will be the cry, 'Come, Lord Jesus; come quickly.' The 
 cry of the waiting, the afflicted saints, does not ascend 
 unheard or in vain. ' Surely I come quickly,' says the 
 Lord ; and ' He is not slack concerning his promise, as some 
 men count slackness.' 
 
 " Yet a veiy little while," he adds, " and those who sit 
 weeping by Babel's streams, strangers in a strange land, 
 shall be at home, and for ever with the Lord. It is difficult 
 for me now to believe that my Christian friends who sleep 
 are really gone away — they are so near in the Lord. The 
 Lord make your tears a blessing to your soul, and wipe them 
 away with his own hand ! " 
 
 And to a friend in Malta on January 15 : — " In the vine, 
 what can keep the sap from circling through the branches? 
 
294 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 In Christ, what can keep his life from flowing into our 
 hearts ? We hare only to look to Jesus, to lean on Jesus, 
 and he does all within us. "We have only to abide in his 
 ti-uth ; and, by the truth, he quickens, sanctifies, strengthens, 
 comforts. If we look away from Jesus, we droop ; if we look 
 to him, we live. ' The time is short.' The last and greatest 
 Antichrist seems now on the point of being manifested. 
 The world is hastening to its crisis. The Lord is at hand. 
 May we be counted worthy to stand before the presence of 
 his glory ! " " Things are assuming," we find him writing 
 the day previous, to another, " a more ominous aspect in the 
 earth. What will 1848 bring forth? No 'still small voice' 
 to the world any more, till the Lord come ! The world Tias 
 nothing now to look for, but the wind, and the earthquake, and 
 the fire : the. ' still small voice ' will come only to make the 
 new earth glad. ' Woe to the inhabitants of the earth ! ' 
 But peace to the Church of God — her ' redemption draweth 
 nigh.'" 
 
 And to another friend in Malta : — " Just about this time 
 last year I visited you at Madeira, on my way to Trinidad, 
 and now, writing to you all, I have the pleasure of making a 
 short call on you at Malta. Great changes have taken place 
 since we had so frequently the opportunity of calling together 
 
 on the name of the Lord at 's bedside, or with the 
 
 dear persecuted followers of the Lamb, in some place of secret 
 meeting. Mrs Walker, wha grew in Madeira, and flourished 
 like the palm-tree, is now translated into the immediate 
 presence of Jesus. 'Arise, let us go hence.' The Lord, 
 when arising and going hence, called on us to follow him ; 
 and, one by one, saints pass away from amongst us. Oh, 
 evil world, that seduces the affections and alienates the love 
 of Christ's blood-ransomed bride ! The blood that is in the 
 
CONSOLATIONS. 295 
 
 Holiest of all is like a seal set also upon our sprinkled souls, 
 declaring that we are the Lord's, and no more of the world. 
 We should therefore repel the world's claims upon us, and 
 keep our hearts free and disengaged for him who has hought 
 us with his blood. So shall we be glad when the Lord 
 comes — glad now in the hope of his coming — gladder then, 
 when we see him as he is." 
 
 And again, to a friend in Malta, of the same date : — " I 
 was glad to receive your last letter. It breathed the air of 
 the wilderness, and sighed after the rest of God — after the 
 home of the redeemed in heaven. Even here we have a rest- 
 ing-place with Jesus. In such seasons of darkness and 
 trouble, what scope there is for the manifestation of a bold, 
 all-venturing faith ! To trust in the Word when you have 
 nothing else to encourage confidence — to trust in the Word 
 when everything else tends to create despondency — that is 
 faith in its simplicity — faith in its most God-glorifying exer- 
 cise. That faith is like David, without Saul's armour, con- 
 fronting the panoplied giant of Gath ; it is like Jonathan and 
 his armour-bearer against all the host of the Philistines ; it 
 is like Israel ' going forward ' at God's command, while yet 
 no way has been cut, by miracle, through the waters of the 
 Eed Sea ; it is like Job, afflicted and oppressed, and ready to 
 die, saying, ' Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him ; ' — 
 to take a nobler and more amazing exemplification still — it 
 is like Jesus, horror-struck, desolate, forsaken by God, still 
 crying aloud, ' My God ! My God ! ' 
 
 " The Word of God," he contmues, " is the anchor of our 
 hope — an anchor sure and steadfast, and it enters into the 
 Holiest of all. The Word is the pole on which Christ is lifted 
 up. The Word is the glass which reflects Christ's glory. 
 The Word is the staff which Christ puts in our hand. We 
 
296 MEMOIR OF THE BEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 know nothing of Christ but what the Word reyeals : Christ's 
 thoughts are not in us, unless our thoughts he according to 
 the Word. When we lean on the Word, we lean truly on 
 Christ. If the Word be in us, then we are in the Father 
 and in the Son. To have the Word of God in the hand of 
 faith is to have God — to have all things. By and by,' when 
 we are in glory, and have perfect knowledge, we shall see 
 how exactly the Word glasses and reflects the heart of 
 God." 
 
 At length his way was opened. The congregation of the 
 Free Church of Scotland at Dirleton — a village in East 
 Lothian, about twenty miles from Edinburgh — called Mr 
 Hewitson to be their pastor. " The call," wrote the Rev. 
 Mr Thomson, the official organ of the Presbytery, on 3d 
 February, " is most harmonious. I trust it is a call from 
 the Lord : or rather, I may say, is it not plainly so ? I 
 hope you will be able to view it as such, and give it your 
 hearty acceptance. And I rejoice to learn that your health 
 is so far re-established as to enable you to undertake a 
 charge." 
 
 Was it " a call from the Lord ? " That was his only 
 inquiry. " Since your last arrived," he writes to Mr Dodds 
 from Dalmellington on 8th February, " I have had a com- 
 munication on the same subject from Mr Thomson of Pres- 
 tonkirk. My mind is very far from being averse to accep- 
 tance, but truly I have not at this moment light sufiiciently 
 clear to make me free from all doubt as to what the Lord's 
 mind is in the matter. So far as consciousness reveals to me 
 the secret things of my own heart, I am not swayed by any 
 consideration such as ' I should like this,' or 'I should like 
 that,' but by a desire of knowing what the Lord would have 
 me to do. When I went to Madeira, I did so against the 
 
CALL TO DIRLETON. 297 
 
 likings of my own heart, but these were overpowered by the 
 plain indications of the Lord's will. If I go to Dirleton, it 
 will not be against my own likings, for the harmoniousness 
 of the call makes me feel something like a strong attachment 
 to the people from whom the call has proceeded. Is it the 
 Lord's will that I should go ? That question settled, then 
 my answer will be, ' Here am I, Lord ; send me.' " 
 
 He discerned the pillar-cloud. " Yesterday," he writes to 
 his mother, from Edinburgh, on February 16, "I went to 
 Haddington Presbytery, and, having fully made up my mind 
 as to the way in which I should go, I intimated my accep- 
 tance of the call. Thursday, the 9th of March, has been 
 fixed as the day of induction ; and on the Sabbath following, 
 if the Lord will, I shall begin my labours as the Free Church 
 minister of Dirleton. that it may be made by God, and 
 by the Lord Jesus Christ, a blessed and fruitful ministry ! " 
 
 How lowly his dependence, and how earnest his aspira- 
 tions, as he hastens forward to this new scene ! " Experience 
 teaches me," he writes on February 24, "that there is a 
 most intimate connexion between personal abiding in Christ 
 and ministerial usefulness. When the truth is living in our 
 own souls, it goes forth living from our lips, and makes a 
 stronger impression on the souls of others. Nothing makes 
 me feel such inability to preach or pray in the congregation 
 as being myself out of communion with God. Communion 
 with God is what makes service sweet and easy, prosperous 
 and successful. It is good to long for being filled with the 
 Spirit — it is better to be filled. When we are, the Spirit 
 himself preaches by us, and the Word is in Divine demon- 
 stration and power." 
 
 And, on February 29, to Mr Dodds : — " If the Lord carry 
 me to Dirleton, I shall enter on the work with much desire 
 
298 MEMOIR OF THE KEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 and buoyancy, through his good hand upon me. The way in 
 which he would have me to go was made so plain before me, 
 that I could not but see it. You seem," he adds, " to have 
 had more recent intelligence than I regarding France. 
 Troubles are thickening; but I am not surprised,— in the 
 light of prophecy, I have been for years now looking forward 
 for thickening troubles. ' The Lord reigneth.' The floods 
 lift up their voice, ' but,' as it is in our sweet metrical trans- 
 lation of the Psalms— 
 
 ' But yet the Lord that is on high 
 
 Is more of might by far 
 Than noise of mighty waters is, 
 Or great sea-billows are.' " 
 
 And to Mr Dickson, on March 1 : — " At present I am 
 weak, in consequence of a lingering influenza. I trust that 
 the Lord will be pleased to strengthen me for my prospective 
 labours." And he adds : — " All things portend change on 
 an unparalleled scale, and disaster such as never yet has 
 been witnessed in any age, as being near at hand to this 
 evil world. Now or never must souls be won to Christ. 
 The door of the Ark will soon be shut by the hand of God." 
 
CHAPTEK XVII. 
 
 1848, 1849. 
 
 Ministry at Dirleton — Method of Preaching — ^New Scene of Labour — 
 Expectation of Success — Prayers and Pains — Communions — Specimen 
 of Ministrations — Simplicity of his Faith — Tiials and Consolations — 
 Characteristics — Conversation. 
 
 " He who would do some great thing in this short life," writes 
 Mr Foster, ''must apply himself to the work with such a 
 concentration of his forces as to idle spectators, who live 
 only to amuse themselves, looks like insanity." Above and 
 beyond all other men is he who " concentrates his forces" on 
 the work of winning souls pronounced by the world to be 
 " beside himself." " But he," saith the Lord, " that winneth 
 souls is wise." 
 
 As Mr Hewitson grew in likeness to the Lord Jesus, he 
 grew in the intensity of his longings for the salvation 
 of perishing sinners. " Of all men," says he, writing to 
 Mr Dodds, in immediate anticipation of his settlement at 
 Dirleton, " the minister should be most like Jesus, in bowels 
 of compassion towards souls, in travailing for their deliver- 
 ance from death, and in consuming zeal of the Father's 
 house. The more Christlike that we are in the work of the 
 ministry, the more Christlike shall we be in having souls 
 
300 MEMOIR OF THE REV. M'. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 for our crown and joy on that day." And again, elsewhere : 
 — " We must realise a deep impression on our spirits of what 
 heaven and hell respectively are, or in other words, of what 
 Christ once suffered, and of what he now enjoys, in order 
 that we may be able to sympathise deeply with Christ in his 
 affection for perishing souls. We never need Christ more 
 than when we are in the pulpit. Then, most of all, we should 
 be able to say, ' I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' " 
 
 In the sequel of the letter first quoted, he indicates the 
 secret at once of his solemn walk and of his solemn ministry. 
 " God's Word heard" says he, " is God speaking to us — God's 
 Word preached, is God speaking hy us to others. The realisa- 
 tion of a full and abiding assurance of this truth is necessary 
 to our own rapid growth in grace, and to our being abun- 
 dantly prosperous in ministerial work." 
 
 And, again — unfolding the method of his ministry : — " A 
 free, full gospel— pure objective truth as it is in Jesus — that is 
 what we are bound to exhibit with all fidelity and plainness : 
 the Spirit of God worhing all subjective experience of the power 
 of that objective truth — that is what we are to trust in exclu- 
 sively for success. The keen edge of the Word, and the 
 Spirit striking it home in the hearts of the hearers — the 
 former is our weapon, the latter our strength." Weighty 
 words ! The distinction drawn was felt by Mr Hewitson to 
 be aU-important. It is thought often that, because con- 
 version work is Divine, therefore it must be complicated. 
 Mr Hewitson had been taught that, just because it is Divine, 
 it is accomplished, like aU other works of God, by the 
 simplest means. The means is the exhibition of Christ. 
 Waiting on the Spirit reverentially and trustfully for his 
 almighty working, he held up before the sinner the " pure 
 objective truth." The Spirit glorifies Christ, not our faith. 
 
MINISTRY AT DIRLETON. 301 
 
 Mr Hewitson sought, therefore, to exhibit, not faith, not any- 
 thing in ns, but Christ, God in Christ. The truth about 
 Christ was his weapon : the Spirit was the arm which wields 
 it. 
 
 On the 9 th of March he was inducted into his pastoral 
 charge. "The season," says he, "was to me one of great 
 solemnity, and I had a most comfortable sense of the Lord's 
 presence. I desired to be inducted by ' the good Shepherd ' 
 himself, and I felt that he was indeed with me." And 
 again: — "Thursday was to me a day of very great enlarge- 
 ment, and sweet fellowship with the Lord." 
 
 On the following Sabbath, after being introduced by Mr 
 Moody Stuart, he began his ministrations with a sermon on 
 the text, " I determined not to know anything among you, 
 save Jesus Christ, and him crucified." The text was the 
 keyr-note of his ministry, and of his life. In the pulpit and 
 in the social meeting, in the sick-chamber and in the inci- 
 dental conversation, in the house and by the wayside, his 
 one theme was Christ. 
 
 Great was the joy of Neif when God shone into the hearts 
 of the benighted Romanists of the Alps. But greater was 
 his joy when, in settled congregations, the same Lord owned 
 his ministrations by the conversion of the " outwardly moral 
 and devout;" for this, he tells us, he regarded as a "more 
 striking demonstration of the power of God." Mr Hewitson, 
 like the Alpine pastor, has not laboured in vain, among the 
 poor victims of Rome, in Madeira. Now transferred to a 
 scene where all is " outwardly moral and devout," he is 
 summoned to a work of even higher faith. Shall he find 
 here, also, that the Word is " able "to save the soul ? " 
 
 The record of a silent Sabbath, spent elsewhere to recruit 
 his exhausted frame, indicates how earnestly he continued to 
 
- 302 MEMOIR OF THE RET. W. H. HEWITSON, 
 
 "lay hold on eternal life." "Yesterday," he writes to his 
 mother, from Linlithgow, on March 20, " I communicated in 
 Mr B.'s church, but did no ministerial work whatever. The 
 season was to me a very refreshing oHe, and the Lord was 
 sensibly present : the Lord was at his table. Always when 
 I go to the church seeking Christ himself there, and, as it 
 were, to keep tryst with him — always when I go expressly 
 for the purpose of meeting Christ, and having intercourse 
 with him. — I experience sweetness in the ordinances of his 
 house, and have reason to return with the voice of thanks- 
 giving. We fail of being blessed in family worship and in 
 public worship, if we do not seek, while so engaged, to meet 
 with Jesus, and to enjoy his Word and fellowship in, the 
 exercise of faith and love. It is Christ in the Word, and in 
 all the ordinances of worship, that makes them refreshing 
 and quickening to our souls. Religion is not a form, but a 
 life ; and it is not a solitary, friendless life, but a life of in- 
 tercourse and company-keeping with God in Christ. To be 
 religious, is to be the friends of God — to realise a sense of 
 his presence, love, and favour — to acknowledge him as a 
 living Person who is always near us, always ready to bless 
 us, and always looking to us for a living obedience. 
 
 " This," he continues, " is our time of education for heaven 
 — these are our school-days ; and, alas ! how many who 
 profess to believe, and to look for eternal life, neglect their 
 soul's education, and play the truant's part, instead of attend- 
 ing the school of God 1 Time is near its end — eternity is at 
 the door. to be ready — all ready ! For many will mourn 
 and weep when the time to make ready is past for ever ! 
 
 " Next Sabbath," he adds, " God willing, I shall be in the 
 pulpit myself. Till the house be ready, I go into lodgings. 
 I intend to leave Edinburgh on Friday or Saturday, and 
 
EXPECTATION OF SUCCESS. 303 
 
 afterwards remain with my people. My health is not worse 
 — strength returning, but slowly." 
 
 From the outset, Mr Hewitson looked for the quickening 
 power of God among his people. 
 
 Unlike the scene of the labours of NefT, the scene around 
 him had every outward charm. " Dirleton," he writes, " is 
 the most beautiful village in Scotland. The houses are 
 almost picturesque — all clean, both without and within. The 
 ruinous 'castle of Dirleton' is a romantic object. Berwick- 
 Law lifts its conical bulk at a distance of three miles, and a 
 little out from shore rises the memorable Bass. But physi- 
 cally verdant and beautiful," he adds, " my field of labour is 
 spiritually a wilderness, with here and there a fresh spot, 
 adorned by a single ' lily.' The lilies are few, very few ; but 
 still there are some, or the sense of desolation would be in- 
 tolerable. The soil cries out to heaven for rain." A faithful 
 and earnest ministry had preceded Mr Hewitson's. The 
 godly remnant in the congregation were, in a great measure, 
 we believe, the fruit of that ministry. 
 
 " Nothing satisfied Neff," says his biographer, " but clear 
 signs of spiritual life." Mr Hewitson's standard was not less 
 decided. " The only thing now beautiful," says he, " in this 
 sin-stained world is, love to Jesus. How the heart of the 
 believer bums within him when he hears expressions, or sees 
 evidences of love to the Lord ! Where there is not love to 
 the Lord Jesus, I find nothing — thanks to the grace of God 
 — which I can contemplate with satisfaction, or with which I 
 can sympathise." 
 
 But Mr Hewitson was no sentimentalist, looking for extra- 
 ordinary results without the use of extraordinary means. " I 
 have often thought," wrote Dr Payson to a missionary in the 
 East, " that every minister, and especially every missionary, 
 
304 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 ought frequently to read, or at least call to mind, Foster's 
 Essay on the epithet Romantic. If you have not his essays 
 at hand, you may perhaps recollect some of his concluding 
 remarks. After shewing that it is highly romantic to expect 
 extraordinary success from ordinary means, he adds words to 
 this eflfect: The individual who should solemnly resolve to 
 try the best and last possible efficacy of prayer, and unalter- 
 ably determine that Heaven should not withhold a single 
 influence which the utmost effort of persevering prayer could 
 bring down, would probably find himself become a much 
 more successful agent in his little sphere. Very few mission- 
 aries since the days of the apostles, probably, have tried the 
 experiment. He who shall make the first trial will, I believe, 
 effect wonders." Hr Hewitson was not romantic. " Prayers 
 and pains" God had joined. These he did not put asunder. 
 " Though enfeebled in frame and in constitution," writes Mr 
 Dodds, now his neighbour and co-presbyter, " no sooner had 
 he entered on his new sphere than he set about his minis- 
 terial work with all energy and fidelity. Conscious that his 
 ministry was a precarious, and would probably be a brief 
 one, he laboured with all the more diligence, and with a per- 
 severance greater than his exhausted strength could bear. 
 His labours in the pulpit, in the prayer-meeting, in the 
 instruction of the young, in visiting the sick and other mem- 
 bers of his flock, and in the discharge of his duties as a 
 member of presbytery, were as abundant, sustained, aud 
 various as those of the most vigorous and zealous of his 
 brethren could possibly be. In the fervour of his zeal, in his 
 love of souls, in his strong desire to see a revival among his 
 flock at Dirleton, he seemed to forget, or deliberately to dis- 
 regard, his extreme bodily weakness and exhaustion. In 
 him the spirit, as I often thought, seemed to triumph over 
 
MINISTERIAL LABOtTES. 305 
 
 the feebleness of the flesh. He accomplished toils, weekly, 
 and almost daily, which well might have tasked the energies 
 of the strongest man." 
 
 By " prayers and pains," he took heed to his ministry that 
 he might fulfil it. " The case of the man that you spoke 
 of," he writes to Mr M'Clymont, on April 3, is interesting. 
 
 " May you have many such in D ; and pray that I may 
 
 have many such at Dirleton. for a time of rain ! that 
 souls would awake ! There is here, as well as there, great 
 need of a revival. The congregation yesterday was about four 
 hundred. They lie over a circle of territory of about six 
 miles diameter; the church, which is in the village, being 
 in the centre of the circle. I have found two or three godly 
 people, who pray for blessing on the people around." And, 
 of the same date, to a friend in Edinburgh : — " As yet I have 
 had much pleasure in visiting and speaking with my people. 
 Intercourse with them is made exceedingly more interesting 
 by the fact that they are my people, and that I am their pastor. 
 On Thursday next I intend to begin a weekly prayer-meet- 
 ing. In this place the attendance cannot be numerous, but a 
 few can pray together as prevalently as many, and many can 
 be blessed in answer to the prayers of a few. The Sabbath- 
 school is going to be well furnished with teachers. The 
 children attending are about thirty in number. We must 
 throw in our net, and catch more." And writing to another, 
 he adds, " There is one awakened and anxious soul here — a 
 young woman. Yesterday week she began to tremble at the 
 thought of wrath." 
 
 The ominous aspect of the times quickened him into fresh 
 earnestness. " Trouble," says he, in the letter already 
 quoted, " thickens in the earth. Darkness deepens over the 
 nations. The blood is feverish in the veins of this evil 
 
306 MEMOIR OP THE BEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 world. ' He that shall come will come, and will not tarry.' 
 ' To them that look for him shall he appear the second time, 
 without sin, unto salvation.' ' Blessed are they that wait 
 for him :' ' their expectation shall not perish.' It is well to 
 be keeping our garments, and watching — ^well to be daily 
 ' washing our robes, and making them white in the blood of 
 the Lamb.' " And in another letter, on April 4 : — " Events 
 are crowding themselves now into weeks, instead of spreading 
 themselves, as formerly, over centuries. The mainspring of 
 the world's movements has got free from restraint, and is 
 unwinding itseK with fearful speed. The round of this evil 
 world's history will very soon be completed. ' What manner 
 of persons ought we to be in all holy conversation and god- 
 liness ! ' What manner of ministers ought we to be ! The 
 Lord is at hand." 
 
 " Nothing," wrote Payson to a brother in the ministry, 
 " tends more directly to give God the glory than social prayer. 
 We explicitly acknowledge by it, not only to him but to our 
 fellow-creatures, that, in the conversion of sinners, he is all, 
 and we are nothing." In the prayer-meeting, Mr Hewitson 
 always took peculiar delight. " Last night," he writes to 
 Mr Dodds on April 7, " I began a weekly prayer-meeting, 
 and the attendance was considerably more numerous than I 
 had anticipated. that ' the Word may run, and be glori- 
 fied !' To look from the pulpit on an assembly of men who 
 ere long will be either in heaven or in hell, with anything 
 like interest in their eternal well-being, is fitted deeply to 
 solemnise the heart, and, while it increases the sense of mini- 
 sterial responsibility, to bring into action motives of a more 
 generous character than those which a mere sense of respon- 
 sibility supplies. Your own experience tells you what I 
 mean. Your own heart has taught it to your intellect, and 
 
COMMUNIONS. 307 
 
 the grace of God has taught it to your heart." The weekly- 
 meeting was attended, during the greater part of his mini- 
 stry, by about seventy or eighty people, many travelling a 
 considerable distance after the day's toil. He regularly pre- 
 pared himself for its exercises, delivering several courses of 
 lectures in succession. One of these courses — on the types 
 of Christ — ^was felt to be singularly instructive and refreshing. 
 The prayer-meeting, we have heard him say, was not unfre- 
 quently the scene of the Lord's felt presence. 
 
 His communions were always solemn and precious seasons. 
 " Yesterday,'' says he, writing to his sister on April 10, "I 
 fenced the communion-table, preparatory to the solemn service 
 of next Sabbath. that the Lord the Spirit may draw 
 many hearts here out unto Jesus ! It is a serious question 
 for you and me, and each of us, ' Am I prepared to meet the 
 Lord ? ' How could we stand in his presence, or look him 
 in the face, if we had neglected the great salvation ? Delay 
 hardens the heart. The thoughtlessness of to-day begets the 
 equal or greater thoughtlessness of to-morrow, and so hands 
 down the sinner into a lost eternity ! Now is the acceptable 
 time. My strength," he adds, " is, I think, still on the 
 increase ; but the exertions of yesterday, which were sustained 
 for nearly five successive hours, have left me much fatigued." 
 
 It will be observed that he fenced the communion-table 
 on the Sabbath preceding. This was his regular practice. 
 " I have often wondered," was his remark one day to a 
 parishioner who had been adverting to the change, " that 
 ministers do not see the impropriety of fencing the table after 
 tokens have been given, and the tables are filled. Many 
 might feel they were not worthy or prepared to sit down with 
 the Lord Jesus ; but, being at the table, pride and shame 
 might keep them from rising or returning their tokens." 
 
308 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 Another feature of his comimiiiions may be here noted. 
 He never had communicants' classes. Though he held and 
 greatly valued Bible-classes, he never allowed them to he 
 considered as a stepping-stone to the table. As the com- 
 munion approached — perhaps at the distance of four or five 
 weeks, he, invited any who thought they had tasted the grace 
 of God to visit him at his house on a particular day. The 
 first question he put on such occasions was, " What is your 
 reason for wishing to go to the table ? " The nature and 
 tone of the reply usually indicated how matters stood. He 
 regarded the opportunities of private and personal dealing 
 thus aflforded as one of the most precious privileges of his 
 ministry. Not a few, we have reason to know, owe to these 
 seasons the searching which awakened them, or the setting 
 of their feet upon the Rock. 
 
 " To-day I received your last note," he wrote, on April 13, 
 to the brother whom he had invited to assist him at his first 
 communion, " and am truly delighted at the prospect of hav- 
 ing you with me on Sabbath. There will be three table ser- 
 vices altogether, and an afternoon meeting for worship. How 
 needful what you write about — a melting tenderness of heart! 
 That we may think as Christ thinks, and feel as Christ feels, 
 is an important prayer. The Spirit, who searches the heart 
 and mind of Christ, can shape ours according to the Divine 
 model. As ministers, we should not rest without having a 
 large degree of likeness to the Lord." And to his father, 
 after it was over : — " Yesterday we had a full, or very nearly 
 a full, church, and the season was exceedingly solemn out- 
 wardly. I trust that in many cases the inward experience 
 was of a suitable kind, and that the Lord was working with 
 power in many hearts. His own believing people seemed to 
 be glad. We were in from half-past eleven a.m. till half-past 
 
MINISTEATIONS. 309 
 
 four P.M., and afterwards from half-past five till, I think, 
 nearly half-past seven. I am fatigued this morning, but 
 have great cause to be thankful to the Lord for all the good 
 which he yesterday made to pass before me." 
 
 We well remember that day. It was a season of refresh- 
 ing from the presence of the Lord. Sitting in his own room, 
 after the protracted services were over, he said, with that 
 holy, calm solemnity which so habitually characterised him, 
 not only in the pulpit and at the communion-table, but in 
 society and at his own fireside : " for an immortal, a 
 spiritual body, which should never grow weary in serving 
 our glorious Lord ! " And, as if taking to the Master's feet 
 all the services of the day, and telling him, like the disciples, 
 all that he had done and taught, he added, with an air of 
 mingled confidence and awe, " Lord Jesus ! what thinkest 
 thou of this day's work ? hast thou been seeing of the travail 
 of thy soul?" 
 
 The tone of his ministrations at this period may be 
 gathered from a few brief paragraphs occurring in his letters. 
 The clear presentation of Christ, the searching discrimina- 
 tion, the importunate urgency, the melting tenderness, which 
 marked his pulpit appeals, are here slightly indicated : — 
 
 " April 17, 1848. — [To his Father.] — ' Christ our passover 
 is sacrificed for us.' Am I in a blood-sprinkled dwelling? 
 Is the blood of Christ really on my soul? Have I peace 
 with God through the blood of Christ? Have I no false 
 peace, that is, no peace but that which the blood of Christ 
 gives to my guilty soul? Do I see and feel that the blood 
 of Christ destroys guilt, even as stubble is destroyed by the 
 flaming fire ? Do I know that the blood of Christ has extin- 
 guished the flames of hell that were kindled for me ; or are 
 these flames, in consequence of my unbelief, still burning ? 
 
310 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 " Serious questions ! and we should put them seriously to 
 our souls. If I have not interest in the blood of Christ, the 
 sinner's Substitute, then my blood must be shed — ^the blood 
 of my body and of my soul must be shed for ever. Oh I 
 nothing but blood can atone for sin ; either my own blood in 
 hell, or the blood of Christ crucified, as the Saviour of the 
 world. 
 
 " What need of being in earnest ! I flee from the wrath to 
 come, — my dear father, flee with me to the blood of Christ — 
 come with me into the blood-sprinkled dwelling. You will 
 be safe there ; but without there is no safety. The storm is 
 lowering, the flames are burning, the wrath of God is coming ; 
 but here is an open door, sprinkled with blood — come in fast; 
 here is a cleft in the rock — come and hide here ; there is yet 
 room in the wounded heart of Jesus — room for you, room 
 for dear mother, room for all the rest. Oh, come in — come 
 in all! Let us all hide in the bleeding Saviour, till the 
 indignation, which is coming, be overpast." 
 
 And again : — 
 
 " ' Damned,' 'lost' — ^these are God's words ; and, oh ! who 
 can fathom all the depths of horror, and despair, and woe, 
 that they mean ? When a sinner is dragged to hell, with 
 these words, ' damned,' ' lost,' written upon his forehead, who 
 can tell the millionth part of the pang of anguish that pierces 
 him through and through, and that is doomed to pierce him 
 through and through for ever ? Oh ! ' who can dwell with 
 everlasting burnings ? ' Who can endure the wrath of God, 
 who 'is a consuming fire?' Sin, loved and cherished, kindles 
 'a fire that never shall be quenched'— breeds 'a worm that 
 shall never die.' Sinners little dream, amidst their sins, that 
 it is what the Scripture of truth declares it to be — ' a fearful 
 thing to fall into the hands of the living God.' 
 
MINISTRATIONS. 311 
 
 " to have the ear open to hear God swearing, in his love, 
 to sinners, ' As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of a 
 sinner ; ' that is, of any sinner ! — to have the eye open to see 
 God, in his love and pity, long putting off the day of wrath, 
 and day after day stretching forth his arms to embrace 
 helieving and repenting sinners 1 ' God so loved the world, 
 that he gave his only begotten Son.' Such love would melt 
 the heart of sinners ; but sin hardens their hearts, and they 
 despise God's love ; they lift up the heel against the bowels 
 of his infinite compassion. What hard hearts even true 
 followers of Jesus have, or they would live in daily, in 
 hourly wonder and amazement at the love of God in Christ 
 Jesus ! 
 
 " It is awful to be insensible of our lost and ruined state 
 by nature and by wicked works. The house may be all on 
 fire, but a sleeping man is not sensible of his danger — he 
 sleeps on, and perishes in the flames. The day is drawing 
 nigh when it will be made manifest. to lost souls, that Christ 
 long waited on them, and was willing, most willing, to save 
 them, but that they themselves were not willing to come to 
 him and be saved." 
 
 And again, in another letter : — 
 
 " What a shadow Christ's is ! How broad ! There is room 
 enough under it for all. How thick! Not a ray of the 
 burning sun can penetrate. Weariness and wandering for 
 ever past ; so far as our acceptance with God is concerned, 
 ' we sit down under Christ's shadow with great delight.' 
 We work no longer in vain — we sit down under the shadow 
 of Christ's finished work. It is good to be here. 'Taste 
 and see that the Lord is good.' He is free as the air we 
 breathe, to you, to me, to all. None are put away that 
 come. Let us never forget that he to whom we come is a 
 
312' MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 living Saviour. He who is our righteousness is likewise our 
 Friend." 
 
 He was a laborious visitor of his flock — not, however, for 
 form's sake, or to go through a dry routine, but kindly con- 
 versing with each family about the great salvation, and 
 always leaving behind him a heavenly savour. "To- 
 morrow, God willing," he writes, on May 8, " I begin the 
 pastoral visitation of my flock, overtaking perhaps eight or 
 ten households. On Wednesday, I purpose to have another 
 diet of visitation. Both on Thursday and Friday evenings 
 this. week, I intend to have a prayer-meeting in connexion 
 with the. proposed union. The three first days of next week, 
 Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, I have to attend meet- 
 ings for prayer of ministers from various parts of the land. 
 The Lord," he adds, " is gathering in some here to be his own 
 for ever." 
 
 In the midst of his abundant labours, so harassing to his 
 enfeebled frame, what sustained his spirit? "Often," says 
 he, in a letter to a friend in Malta, of date May 17, "when 
 I would have written, exhaustion prevented me. The infir- 
 mities that beset the present life are fitted to give greater 
 intensity to the longing for a state in which the blessings of 
 redemption will be fully realised. Every feeble pulsation, 
 every sleepless hour of the night, every desire to do the Lord 
 service for which bodily strength is lacking, cry out, ' Come, 
 Lord Jesus, come quickly !' Every stirring of sin in the 
 soul, every sore temptation, every cutting reproach from 
 brethren as well as from the world, every aspiration after a 
 hoUuess yet unattained, cry out, ' Come, Lord Jesus!' The 
 Church is low and depressed, the world is growing old and 
 decaying, revolution is maddening the nations, creation is 
 groaning and travailing together in pain — all things around, 
 
COHRESPONDENCE. 313 
 
 as well as within, cry aloud for the coming of the Lord. I 
 have already been labouring two months in Dirleton among 
 a people united and attached, and not without some marks 
 of the Lord's gracious presence. The place is physically 
 beautiful and fertile, but spiritually unshapely and barren. 
 I have come into Edinburgh," he adds, " for a few days, to 
 attend prayer-meetings before the Assembly.'' He could 
 only spare three days that week from home. The days 
 selected were the days for prayer. 
 
 And, in a similar strain, to another friend : — " It is long 
 since I had your kind communication, and, if well able, 
 would have acknowledged it sooner. I remember that it 
 gladdened me especially where you spoke of Jesus as ' your 
 much-loved Lord,' and expressed a desire for his return. 
 Yesterday I observed a placarded intimation that there was 
 to take place a concert of 300 voices. By and by we shall 
 have a concert of 144,000 voices, all singing praise to the 
 Lamb that was slain — a concert of 144,000 hearts, all beat- 
 ing with a common love to Jesus. Then our joy will be full. 
 Bathing in an atmosphere of Divine, holy, all-pervading 
 love, our souls, no longer falsely dreaming of gladness, or 
 ravished with vain joy, will experience ' a. sober certainly of 
 waking bliss,'' of which before they had only slight and 
 transient foretastes. No joy, here or hereafter, except in 
 having communion with God ; and no communion with God 
 except in loving him who is God's well-beloved. The saints 
 can have no true, no satisfying fellowship, unless they regard 
 the Lord with common sentiments of supreme love and attach- 
 ment. The basis of all friendship, and of all fellowship, is 
 hollow and deceitful, if it be not a community of delight in 
 God, of love to Jesus. These holy sentiments can only be 
 cherished and strengthened by looking away from things 
 
314 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 created, and by contemplating the Divine excellence, love- 
 liness, and glory of the Lord. The more we look at Jesus, 
 the more we love him, and the more we become like him. 
 The view of his glory is that which changes us into the same 
 likeness. My communications are necessarily brief. We 
 will, I trust, meet soon in glory. It is good to be always 
 watching, and always ready. The last sun will soon rise on 
 this world — the last clock will soon strike, and all will be 
 over." 
 
 He continued to " endure hardness as a good soldier of 
 Jesus Christ." " To-morrow morning, God willing," he writes 
 on June 8, " I set off for Newcastle, where I have to preach in 
 the evening, and afterwards on Sabbath to assist Mr P. Miller 
 in administering the communion. On Monday I intend to 
 return, as I have fixed on Tuesday as a day of pastoral 
 visitation. In visiting hitherto I have not been supported 
 and encouraged by finding anything like symptoms of life in 
 many. How dead souls burden the hands of a minister, and 
 oppress his spirit! You speak and pray as if the audience 
 was made up of clods of the valley. There are a few here 
 who know the Lord, and I trust a few who are inquiring 
 their way Zionwards, though yet ignorant of what free grace 
 is. These are a comfort to me. I would faint, nevertheless, 
 but for the hope of ' seeing the goodness of the Lord in the 
 land of the living.' Present trials are rendered endurable by 
 the prospect of a day when the glory of the Lord shall be 
 revealed, and all flesh shall see it together. We reckon not 
 the sufferings of this present time worthy to be compared 
 with ' the glory which shall be revealed in us.' The greatest 
 of present trials is that which indwelling sin occasions. To 
 hate sin, and yet often be so fiercely assailed by it as for a 
 time to succumb under its violence, as if it were lord and 
 
COEBBSPONDENCB. S15 
 
 master of the will, is a cause of sore affliction to the child of 
 God." 
 
 " Is it not sweet, my soul ! to have a holy God to appeal 
 to and converse with, though the world should turn their 
 backs ? " So wrote the sainted Martyn, in allusion to the 
 cold neglect of some who, when he was not so holy, had 
 treated him as a friend. He felt the neglect keenly, less for 
 his own sake than for the sake of the men who thus proved 
 their secret disaffection to his Lord. Mr Hewitson was not 
 without tasting this trial. The reader will have noticed an 
 allusion to " cutting reproaches from brethren." In another 
 letter he alludes to the same thing more pointedly. " If the 
 Lord will," says he, writing to Mr Dodds on 18th September, 
 " I shall be with you on your communion Sabbath. May 
 his Spirit be present when the day comes, to make it a day 
 of sweet communion in the faith and hope of the gospel ! 
 How mad a true minister of Christ must appear in the eyes 
 of many ! He breathes a spirit and displays an ardour which 
 the world cannot understand. The more that we are like 
 Jesus, whom the zeal of his Father's house consumed, or 
 like Paul, whose enthusiasm in advocating what the flesh 
 was unable to appreciate or relish brought on him the charge 
 of being mad — the more shall we lie open to the ridicule and 
 obloquy of the carnal, and the more shall we be censured as 
 imprudent by those who, though evangelical in face, are 
 Moderates at the core. Eternity, with its unchangeable 
 heaven and its unchangeable hell, rebukes the moderate 
 and the carnal, calling on us to exhibit yet a more close 
 resemblance to Paul in his mad-like enthusiasm, or to the 
 Lord himself in his consuming zeal. Jesus coming into our 
 closet, and breathing on us that we may receive the Holy 
 Ghost, makes us able ministers, and therefore fools in the 
 world's esteem." 
 
316 MEMOIR OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Like Martyn, Mr Hewitson had a holy God to converse 
 with. He was "hidden in the secret of his presence from 
 the pride of man." " Daily resort to the fountain of blood," 
 he writes to a friend in Malta on Septeniber 26, indicating 
 that simplicity of faith wherewith he himself walked before 
 the Lord, " is necessary to maintain our peace. In many 
 things we offend all, while we are in the flesh ; and we must 
 be always coming again to Calvary, always looking again to 
 Jesus. To have guilt between our conscience and the blood 
 of Christ is misery — to have the blood of Christ between 
 guilt and our conscience is perfect peace. Faith is a miracle- 
 working acknowledgment of our weakness and of God's 
 power. Whatever we need, whether peace of conscience or 
 any other blessing, we have only to cast a faith's-look 
 on Christ, and the needed blessing is ours. A sight of 
 Christ's empty grave wipes away the believer's tears. Look 
 up, dear friend, to the right hand of God : that is our Lord 
 in glory. Do you not see your name graven on his breast- 
 plate?" 
 
 And Mr Hewitson had other joys. "In the course of my 
 pastoral visitations," says he on September 27, " I have 
 fallen in with some inquiring souls of late. . This makes my 
 work here more interesting than it would have been other- 
 wise. A few have lately found peace in Christ." And to 
 another, on 13th October: — "To-day I visited one of my 
 flock, who has recently joined herself to the Lord. My heart 
 has been glad ever since I saw her, she is so full of faith, and 
 her peace is like a river. She can say, ' I am a new creature,' 
 and ' Christ loved me, and gave himself for Tree.' Thanks be 
 to God for his unspeakable gift ! ' " 
 
 Not a month had passed, since he began his ministry, 
 without evidence that the Lord was adding to the number 
 
CONVERSIONS. 317 
 
 of the saved. In addition to all indirect work, which " the 
 day" alone shall declare, he was privileged to know, on 
 evidence which satisfied him at the time, and which subse- 
 quent experience confirmed, that up to this period not fewer 
 than eight or nine persons had passed from darkness into 
 light — from the power of Satan unto God. 
 
 Mr Hewitson was not surprised that the Lord was thus at 
 work. Taught by his whole past ministry to expect success, 
 he looked for conversions less as the exception than as the 
 rule. " I think I have never preached," was his remark to, 
 a friend one day near his death, "without asking, in the 
 opening prayer, that God would convert souls at that time. 
 I remember, on one occasion in Madeira, when praying before 
 service, I was tempted with the unbelieving thought, 'God 
 will not convert souls to-day.' I asked for forgiveness and 
 for more faith. That day there was a more abundant out- 
 pouring of the Spirit among the Portuguese than I had ever 
 witnessed among them." " God will have all the glory," 
 said his friend. " And when he gets it," rejoined Mr Hewit- 
 son, " he will give the blessing. I am persuaded it is because 
 ministers do not expect God to give the immediate blessing 
 that there is coraparatively so little good done. if men 
 would but give God credit for sincerity ! " 
 
 " But mark," he -went on to say, on the same occasion, 
 " the distinction between expecting that God will begin to 
 work now, and that we shall see the fruit now. The former 
 is warrantable faith : the latter may be presumptuous expec- 
 tation." And yet such was his experience of the palpable 
 effects of grace, that, if grace was really there, he knew the 
 fruits must speedily appear. It was no cushion on which he 
 could complacently repose, to hope that the Lord might be 
 working, whilst men continued manifestly carnal. , 
 
318 MEMOIR OP THE BEV. W. H. HEWITSOK. 
 
 An affecting glimpse of the devoted minister is opened up 
 in one of his letters at this period. " Our Mend," he writes 
 on September 27, " would prefer, it may he, to depart, if the 
 Lord so willed, and to be present with him, than to linger 
 out an existence of suflFering and weakness in this evil world. 
 All who know what prostrating indisposition of body is, can 
 sympathise with such a preference, if only they are of God. 
 For my own part, I have not for years past had any worldly 
 enjoyment which could give me a feeling of attachment to 
 the present life. I have had no hope as regards this world ; 
 and my desire has been, nevertheless, to live a while longer 
 here, only not for the sake of anything in the world, but that 
 I might serve my Lord by preaching the gospel of his grace. 
 Even this desire has at times, in consequence of physical 
 infirmity, been only feeble ; for it is a most painful eifort to 
 go forth with the gospel, when the spirit, not always buoyant 
 in its own frame, is clogged besides, and impeded by a 
 body devoid of energy. Yet it is well, nay, incomparably 
 better, to be here, while the Lord sees it to be for his glory 
 and for our good that we should remain. If by remaining 
 we are the means of turning a single soul from darkness 
 to light, or of helping forward a converted soul on its ardu- 
 ous way, how great the compensation for protracted suffer- 
 ing and trial ! " And again : — " The file is rough, and the 
 application of it harrowing to the soul; but all the more 
 bright and lustrous will be the diamond, when, at length 
 thoroughly polished, it shines forth in the royal crown of 
 LnmanueL" 
 
 The prophetic word continued to occupy much of his ear- 
 nest thought. " Though I have long delayed answering your 
 inquiries regarding the prospects of the Church and of the 
 world," we find him writing to a friend in Glasgow on 
 
THE MAN OF SIN. 319 
 
 November 6, " I have not forgotten them, nor has readiness to 
 reply been wanting, so far as will was concerned. The ability 
 to reply in a satisfactory manner is, however, not what I wish 
 it were, especially in regard to the minutiae of the subject. 
 As to the great outline of events that are speedily to tran- 
 spire, I have no great diflSculty in coming to something like 
 definite conclusions. That 'the mystery of iniquity' is has- 
 tening forward to its last development, everything in the sky of 
 unfulfilled prophecy, and everything in the onflow of events, 
 aUke portend. That the last form of evil will be imper- 
 sonated in an individual ' Man of Sin,' gigantic in stature 
 above his predecessors, I have not the slightest shadow of a 
 doubt. My views have been, however, undecided and fluc- 
 tuating more or less for years, as to whether that Man of 
 Sin will be a pope or an emperor. Sometimes my mind has 
 leaned in favour of the one and sometimes in favour of the 
 other of these views. At all events, he will be the joint pro- 
 duct of Popish and of Atheistic " wickedness." Or, to speak 
 more correctly, he will be the head of the apostasy, that has 
 long been nursed in the lap of Popery, and that will reach its 
 perfect' growth under the influence of a pantheistic liberalism. 
 The deification of man is the aim and drift of the times. 
 ' The voice of the people is the voice of God,' is the watch- 
 word now of the apostasy. Let the apostasy under this form 
 come to a head, and what will the head of it be, but the 
 Man of Sin, who will sit in the temple of God, shewing him- 
 self that he is God? The Man of Sin," he adds, "will be 
 destroyed by the personal advent of our blessed Lord." In 
 the end of that month he delivered in Edinburgh and in 
 Glasgow a lecture on " the Destruction of Antichrist by the 
 Lord's Advent." 
 
 Like all holy men, Mr Hewitson loved the Lord's Day. 
 
320 MEMOIR OP THE EEV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 " Don't you always find," he writes, " that the Spirit of God 
 flows in upon you on the Lord's day more than on any other ? 
 and that the more devotedly you keep the Sahhath holy to 
 the Lord, the more richly do you enjoy the communications 
 of Divine grace ? Both those items enter, I may say, uni- 
 formly into my experieilce ; so that I can testify to the fact 
 of God's having not only sanctified, but likewise blessed the 
 Sabbath-day." Nothing more grieved him than to find topics 
 uncongenial with its true sanctity forming the theme of 
 conversation. To substitute, for news or business, only 
 sermons, or ministers, or doctrines, or ecclesiastical policy, 
 he regarded as the mere shell of Sabbath sanctity. His 
 Sabbath evenings did not obliterate the holy impressions of 
 the sanctuary. 
 
 " Owe no man anything " was one of his golden maxims. 
 In a letter of this period, we find him arranging, with the 
 most scrupulous exactness, a little matter of business. The 
 extract otherwise is of no moment; but we give it as an 
 illustration of his habit of mind in such matters : — 
 
 " Dirleton, Fehrvary 14, 1849. — \To a friend in Edinburgh.'] 
 
 — If you have not found another yet to join you and L 
 
 F in taking the Witness, I shall be very glad to become 
 
 a sharer with you for half a year, the arrangement dating 
 from the 1st of March. I say, meaiiwhile, for half a year, as 
 I should like, if possible, to make an arrangement with some 
 one similar to that into which you and I entered at first. I 
 am ready, however, to take two shares of your paper — one 
 for myself and one for my mother — the only objection, so far 
 
 as I can guess, being, that D B would necessarily 
 
 not receive the papers for two or three days longer. Can that 
 
 objection be overruled ? " 
 
 Often have we heard him express his surprise that Chris- 
 
CHARACTERISTICS. 321 
 
 tians should deliberately run into an expenditure exceeding 
 their means. Spirituality and the commercial virtues he 
 held to be indissolubly linked. To live above his income 
 was, in his eyes, a flagrant sin. 
 
 But whilst shrinking thus sensitively from incurring debt, 
 no one ever witnessed in him any unseemly strivings or mean 
 shifts about money. Though careful in keeping his accounts, 
 and regularly paying his bills, he evidently did this, as he 
 did all, to the Lord. His heart was not in such things. 
 "The world was truly behind his back" to the very end. 
 So far, indeed, did he carry this feeling, that again and again 
 he returned, or gave to some charitable object, simis of 
 money which, in thankfulness for his spiritual things, well- 
 meaning friends had sent. The Lord amply supplied his 
 moderate wants ; and he sought for nothing more. 
 
 The closing paragraph of the letter last quoted illustrates 
 another characteristic feature — his happy art of gracefully 
 and naturally turning any passing incident to profit in deal- 
 ing with souls : — 
 
 " Dirhton, February 14, 1849. — How the little birds, callow 
 and helpless in their nests, open their mouths to receive the 
 food brought to them by the parent birds ! What an illus- 
 tration of faith in the act of receiving ! ' Open thy mouth 
 wide, and I will fill it.' Does the young brood trust in its 
 winged parent, and shall we not trust in the Father of 
 Christ Jesus, his and ours ? " 
 
 This trait was especially prominent in his conversation. 
 
 " How safe," said he one day, in his usual kind and solemn 
 way, to a woman who, as he passed along the village, was 
 standing at her door with her child in her arms — " how safe 
 that child feels itself in your arms ! The believer is as safe 
 
 z 
 
322 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 in the arms of Jesus. If the child felt itself falling, it would 
 instantly cling to its mother's hreast. Just so a believer, 
 when ready to fall, stretches out his arms to the Lord Jesus. 
 — Do you^' he proceeded to say, "repose in this way on 
 Jesus ? Do you lean as confidingly on his arm ? " He 
 then went on to shew her her fallen state by nature, and 
 that there was no safety for one moment but in Christ ; and 
 he urged on her an immediate escape to the refuge, lest she 
 should be overtaken by " the avenger of blood." That con- 
 versation the Lord blessed to the awakening of the woman's 
 soul. 
 
 Another example may be noted. " Where do you live ? " 
 said he to a member of his congregation, whose face he knew, 
 but whom he had not yet visited. " In the room up stairs," 
 was the answer. " Well, I hope you invite the Lord Jesus 
 into yotir room to dwell with you. He always delighted to 
 enter into the upper room in Jerusalem, with his disciples of 
 old, to hold converse with them. And Jesus is the same to- 
 day as he was then — still as willing to hold communion with 
 the sinner. Would it not be blessed to dwell with Jesus, the 
 eternal Son of God ? " He spoke home to her conscience, and 
 pressed on her the duty and privilege of immediately closing 
 with Christ 
 
 These are specimens of his wayside conversations, such as 
 occurred every day in his walks. The words have in them 
 nothing to strike or dazzle ; but they were " whetted " by a 
 heart so tender, and by a bearing so holy, that they seldom 
 failed to impress. 
 
 " Soon did he occupy," writes Mr Dodds, " a place in the 
 affections and veneration of his people which it is given to 
 few ministers to obtain. His holy fidelity, consistency, and 
 
CHARACTERISTICS. 323 
 
 earnestness, both in the pulpit and out of it, impressed and 
 overawed even those who could not fully appreciate his 
 character, or disliked what they might call his rigour and 
 severity. But his tender pity for careless and perishing 
 sinners always appeared when it was most needed, and 
 melted the hearts of many who listened to his voice, or 
 came within the reach of his influence.'' 
 
CHAPTEE XVIII. 
 1849, 1850. 
 
 Tenderness in visiting the Sick — Conversation in Heaven — Correspond- 
 ence — Ministerial Work — Church Courts — Visit to Southampton — 
 Growing Meekness — Sermons to Children — Example — Increasing 
 Weakness — Memorial of a Visit to Dirleton — Last Communion 
 Sabbath. 
 
 Grimshaw of Haworth was compared by John Newton to an 
 instrument which is never out of tune. The figure happily 
 describes Mr Hewitson's daily spiritual life. His holiness 
 was not periodical or fitful. Heavenly converse, especially 
 as he drew nearer to " the mark," became more and more 
 his soul's rest and home. 
 
 It is not easy to express in words the peculiar attractive- 
 ness which this tone of soul imparted to his ministrations in 
 the sick-chamber and in the house of mourning. " An afflicted 
 member of my congregation, whom he occasionally visited," 
 writes Mr Stevenson of Ayr, " regarded him with such vene- 
 ration, that she spoke of receiving him as an angel of God." 
 None who saw him on these occasions will consider the 
 language overstrained. An illustration of his method of deal- 
 ing occurs in some letters written at this period. The unction 
 and tenderness of the manner, so winning, and withal so 
 solemnising, of course are not here. The lady to whom the 
 
MINISTRATIONS IN THE SICK CHAMBER. 325 
 
 first of the letters is addressed was sojourning at the time at 
 Torquay, sinking under pulmonic consumption. 
 
 " Dirleton, February 5, 1849. — My deak Mrs Crawfokd, 
 — When I last saw Mr Crawford, I was grieved to hear from 
 him of your increased bodily weakness. What is trying to 
 flesh and blood is, under the mighty hand of your God and 
 Father, working out in you a more entire fitness for the 
 kingdom which 'flesh and blood shall not inherit.' The 
 process is painful, but how glorious will be the result ! Yet a 
 little while, and you will behold the King's face in righteous- 
 ness : you shall see him as he is, and be satisfied with his 
 likeness. The Word of truth reflects his matchless beauty. 
 In being conformed, though through means of suffering and 
 trial, to the Word of truth, you are in very deed being con- 
 formed to the image of the Lord ; and as the polished mirror 
 gives back the radiance of the sun, so will you reflect the 
 beauty of the Lord, the Holy One, on the day of his appear- 
 ing. I speak with such confidence regarding yon, for I am 
 persuaded that you are resting on the sure foundation laid 
 by €rod in Zioa, and that you have committed yourself to 
 him who is able to keep you until that day. Has God 
 begun in you a good work ? He will also perform it until 
 the day of Jesus Christ Has he called you into the fellow- 
 ship of his Son ? He is a faithful God, and will confirm you 
 unto the end. Have you been drawn fey him so sweetly, yet 
 so prevailingly, that you have come to Jesus, and said, with 
 your eye fixed upon his wounds, ' Thou art all my salvation 
 and all my desire ?' Then to you God says — he says to you 
 especially — ' I have loved thee with an everlasting love, 
 therefore with loving-kindness have I dravm thee.' 
 
 " It is no sign of an unfatherly heart in God towards you, 
 but of the very reverse, that you are now sufl'ering at such a 
 
326 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSOIf. 
 
 distance from your dear husband and your earthly home. 
 God's lore to his own is so great, that he cannot rest till he 
 have won to himself all their affections. He has led you into 
 a wilderness, that, being thrown by circumstances more than 
 erer on him for strength and comfort, you may lean more 
 affectionately, more confidingly, on his arm, saying, ' Whom 
 have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth 
 that I desire besides thee.' While you go up through the 
 valley of tears, leaning on your Beloved, you will tread at 
 every step on spices and sweet flowers, that will breathe a 
 heavenly fragrance around you. — Yours affectionately in the 
 Lord, " W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 " Dirleton, February 14, 1849. — [To James Crawford, Jun., 
 Esq., W.S., Edinburgh.] — ^Will you let Mrs Crawford know, 
 with my best Christian regards, that, when I wrote, it was 
 not by any means in expectation of receiving an answer? 
 If she can write a few lines at any time, it should be to 
 yourself. I know that the exertion of writing is one which, 
 in her present state, she should decline as much as possible. 
 How blessed that, when the soul is in a holy frame, the 
 exertion of prayer is so little felt as not to oppress even the 
 languishing body ! The natural breathing of the holy soul 
 is prayer, which enters into the ears of the Father. — Yours 
 affectionately in Christ, " W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 His ministrations to the sick were adapted, with a wise 
 and tender care, to the spiritual condition of the invalid. A 
 specimen of his manner towards a soul still unsaved occurs 
 in another letter. " I am sorry," he writes, " to hear of your 
 sickness ; and it is my prayer that the Lord will be with you, 
 both to make you well in body, and to sanctify the afiliction 
 to your soul. Your soul is precious above all worlds ; and 
 God, our Father, knowing how precious it is, seeks, now that 
 
LETTER TO A BBEEAVED FRIEND. 327 
 
 he is chastening you with bodily weakness and disease, to 
 bring you to Jesus, that your precious soul may be saved. 
 Oh, there is much good and much sweetness in the heart of 
 
 sanctified trouble ! You are now, dear , at the waters of 
 
 Marah, and they are bitter to the taste ; but there is near, 
 yery near you, a Branch which can make these waters sweet. 
 Take the Branch, then^ take the Lord Jesus, so freely offered 
 to you by the gospel of God, and you shall find that the well 
 of Marah is the sweetest well out of which you hare ever 
 drunk. Jesus is near you — he is at your bedside, and stretch- 
 ing out to you the hands that were pierced with nails — the 
 bleeding hands. He is saying to you, ' Look unto me, and 
 be ye saved:' 'Come unto me, weary and heavy laden, and 
 I will give you rest.' Look into the face of Jesus — the face 
 that was once covered with shame, the face that was once 
 saddened with an expression of sore distress ; look into the 
 face of Jesus — it shews love, eternal love, to sinners. Trust 
 in the love and the righteousness of Jesus." 
 
 The dear friend to whom the letter first quoted was 
 addressed, had "fallen asleep in Jesus." To her bereaved 
 husband he writes : — 
 
 "JDirleton, April 2, 1849.— [To Mr Crawford, W.S.]— Since 
 I received the intimation of your sad bereavement, I have till 
 now delayed writing to you any expression of my sympathy, 
 with the intention of doing so when I thought you might 
 have returned to Edinburgh. My sympathy with you in 
 your sorrow is mingled with another feeling, in which you 
 will yourself still more abundantly participate — sympathy 
 with her whom the Lord has taken from you to himself, in 
 her present joy. 
 
 " To be persuaded on good grounds that, though now for a 
 season she is from home as to the body, she is at home with 
 
328 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 the Lord, full of unspeakable joy — ^how great is the consola- 
 tion which that is fitted to afford you in your affliction ! 
 Your sorrow, however great, is not like that of many in like 
 circumstances — a sorrow without hope. She is resting now 
 from her labours and sufferings, and meanwhile she is wait- 
 ing for the day when you and she again will meet — oh, in 
 what altered circumstances ! — ^before the throne of the Lamb. 
 
 " She looked forward to that day when she was still with 
 you in the body, and she is looking forward to it still. You 
 and she are still looking forward, as before, in the same hope, 
 to the same promised glory. There is a communion thus 
 maintained between you still, though now, in regard to it, 
 you ' walk by faith,' and no longer ' by sight.' Yet a little 
 while, and things invisible will be invisible no more. Then, 
 radiant with immortality, and wearing the crown of righteous- 
 ness — such is the hope you cherish — you and she will have 
 communion face to face; and a present Saviour, your one 
 Bridegroom and your best Beloved, will make the joy of both 
 to overflow. 
 
 " So far as she is personally concerned, we are called to 
 sympathise only with gladness of heart. The event which 
 has put sorrow into your heart has put gladness into hers. 
 What an alleviatioit this is of your sorrow I What a cause 
 of thankfulness to the God of all grace, who called her into 
 the fellowship of his Son ! Many at their departure leave 
 behind, in the breast of their sorrowing relatives, the appre- 
 hension, infinitely more distressing than bereavement, that 
 they have gone down into the pit. Far different — thanks to 
 redeeming and adopting love! — is your case. Your dear 
 wife has bequeathed to you, along with the bitterness of 
 bereavement, the sweet consolation of knowing that, as to 
 her concerns, all is well — well for ever. 
 
HIS POLE-STAE. 329 
 
 " As to yourself, my dear friend, the change in your con- 
 dition is painful and trying. Speaking humanly, it is a 
 change in all respects for the worse ; but, looking at it in the 
 light of God, we have good reason for believing that in most 
 important respects it will yet prove to have been for the 
 better. 'AH things work together for good to them that 
 love God.' His dispensation has been arranged, in all its 
 circumstances, by Divine wisdom, with a view to your 
 greatest happiness, as well as with a view to hers. The love 
 and aflfection which yoti had towards her will naturally follow 
 her into the invisible world, and up into the presence of the 
 Lord. That love and affection were once placed on an object 
 in time — they are now placed on an object in eternity. If 
 often your heart will carry your thoughts away to the beloved 
 spot where the mortal remains are laid, still oftener will it 
 carry away your thoughts to the place, still more beloved, 
 where the immortal spirit is with Jesus. Hence may accrue 
 to you, my dear friend, from this afflictive stroke, no small 
 increase of spiritual good.' But, above all, God aims, by 
 breaking the cistern of creature comfort, at drawing your 
 heart's desires more entirely out after himself, the uncreated 
 Fountain of life and blessedness. — ^Affectionately yours in 
 Christ, "W. H. H." 
 
 In the two next letters, we seem to stand at his side, in 
 the very precincts of the " celestial city." " The glow- 
 worm," it has been said, 
 
 " Creeping in the hedge, lighteth her evening torch, 
 And her far-off mate, on gossamer sail, steereth hia course by that star." 
 
 Mr Hewitson's "star" was "the glory," with its holy, un- 
 broken fellowships. Guided by that star, he steered his 
 course heavenward. "To me," he writes to a friend in 
 Malta, on March 16, " many of those hours were sweet and 
 
330 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 pleasant exceedingly, for the Lord was in the midst of us. 
 How indescribable the joy of fellowship with those who, you 
 are persuaded, have their affections set supremely on Jesus ! 
 Communion, sweet and soul-satisfying, there cannot be, 
 unless it be poised and balanced on the centre of a common 
 love to him. Nothing sheds such attractiveness and amia- 
 bility around a redeemed soul, as the evidence which it gives 
 of being drawn out to Jesus by the power of an all-pervading, 
 all-hallowing love. What will heaven be ? What the Holy 
 City ? How full of joy, because love to Jesus, love to his 
 Father and ours, will be the element breathed by all! 
 Happiness will be perfect there, for love to God and to the 
 Lamb will be perfect, pure from the admixture of everything 
 carnal and earthly. 
 
 " I find," he continues, " few that seem to love the Lord as 
 the redeemed shoidd love him. Often do I feel longings for 
 a higher sort of fellowship than I am privileged to enjoy, at 
 least with the saints : with the Lord himself we may daily 
 enjoy the privilege of having fellowship of the highest kind. 
 He is ever near, ever living, ever loving, ever watching, ever 
 pleading, ever upholding. Are we defiled ? Behold, he has 
 ■girded himself with a towel, and is stooping to wash our feet. 
 Are we exhausted, faint, and weary ? Behold, his everlast- 
 ing arms are underneath. Does the fear ever rise up within 
 ns, that the Lord has gone away ? Are we ever afraid, as 
 if he were not ours? 'Fear not,' he says, 'for I am with 
 thee : be not dismayed, for I am thy God.' Is the pulse of 
 Divine life in us very feeble ? Is the breathing of the Holy 
 Ghost in our hearts scarcely, if at all, perceived? Then, 
 Jesus is the same this day as when he said, ' If I depart, I 
 wiU send him (the Spirit of truth, the Comforter) unto you ; ' 
 he is the same as on the day of Pentecost, when he fulfilled 
 
FELLOWSHIP WITH THE LOED. 331 
 
 first that gracious promise ; he is the same as when he shed 
 on our own souls most richly the Spirit of life and joy. 
 
 " We may have to complain, that with the saints we have 
 not the satisfying fellowship that we long for ; but with the 
 King himself we may ever have such fellowship, that, even 
 amidst trial, our joy will be full. A living sinner enjoying 
 the acquaintance, the friendship, the intimacy, the love, of a 
 living Saviour — that is religion — that is godliness — that is 
 the outgoing and exercise of a Divine, holy life. 
 
 " And oh ! what a bright, glorious, unchangeable revela- 
 tion of the Saviour's dispositions, tempers, habits, and ways, 
 is given to us in the Word! The Word is all living, for 
 there is in it everywhere the living Saviour. Here we see 
 him touching the leper; here looking kindly on a sinner- 
 woman at his feet ; here looking up, and saying to Zaccheus, 
 ' To-day I must abide at thy house ; ' there we see him in 
 the midst of his disciples, saying, ' Peace be unto you,' and 
 shewing them his hands and his side ; yonder, in heaven, 
 we see him shewing his hands and his side to the Father, 
 and pleading that peace may be multipUed to his disciples 
 here on earth. How worthy to be trusted, how much to be 
 loved, is the Saviour revealed to us in the Word! How 
 diflferent a Saviour from that which Satan would fain surrep- 
 titiously introduce into the chamber of our thoughts, or, by 
 hellish magic, present before the eye of our imaginations ! 
 I have seen souls as much afraid of Christ as if he were a 
 God like Moloch, delighting in blood. Satan had set Moloch 
 before their minds, and made them believe that it was Christ. 
 Oh, then, let us make much of the Word, and whatever be 
 our frames or feelings, let us trust in it, nothing doubting, 
 for it reveals to us the true Christ of God ; and, trusting in 
 it, we are in very deed trusting in God himself, leaning on 
 
332 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 the arm of Immanuel. Jesus loves those most who place 
 most confidence in his love. May he shew himself to you a 
 very present help in your time of trouble, and bear you on- 
 ward to the house of his Father, as on eagles' wings ! " 
 
 And to another he writes : — 
 
 " Dirkton, April 2, 1849. — [To J. H. Spencer, Esq., 
 London.] — ^My dear Beotheb, — It is long since even a note 
 passed from either of us to the other. But we are near in 
 Christ, for Christ is one with each of his saints, one with 
 them all. Let us stand fast, dear brother, in him; let us 
 grow up unto him in all things, making increase with the 
 increase of God ; and let us, as men in a race, who are deter- 
 mined to win the prize, press onward and onward, with an 
 eye on the crown of righteousness. There may oft be hard 
 Struggling and panting for breath in the race, and the prize 
 often may be intercepted from our view, but ere long aU will 
 be over — the race will be run, and the crown placed on the 
 victorious brow. Heaven or hell ! — who would not run so 
 as to be winners in the race ! Alas ! many, instead of run- 
 ning, are lying on the course fast asleep. They shall have 
 but a sad awaking. 
 
 " I should have written to Dr Kalley long ago, but have 
 so much work always on hand, that I find little time for 
 writing. With love to yourself and Mrs Spencer in the 
 Lord, I am, my dear brother, yours affectionately, 
 
 "W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 With his eye upon the things unseen and eternal, how 
 " light " and momentary did the present affliction seem ! 
 " Blessed the afflictions and trials," he writes to a friend in 
 Edinburgh on April 2, " that make time less cared for, and 
 that help us forward in our heavenward race ! When we 
 are nearer to God than usual, and more fully in the light and 
 
HEAVENLY ASPIRATIONS. 333 
 
 air of his holy place, how comparatively trifling are all the 
 ills of the present life ! — eternity, with its heaven and its hell, 
 its endless joys and its everlasting burnings, then makes so 
 deep an impression on the heart. These shadows, which 
 form the all of the world, are fast passing away ; the reaUties 
 which, alas ! even believers sometimes feel no more than if 
 they were but shadows, will ere long be ushered in, and 
 make themselves eternally felt, 
 
 " Now, we are like men in a journey," he continues, " cross- 
 ing a narrow stream, called life, happy if only the Son of 
 God be with us in the bark ; for on yonder side, which we 
 are so rapidly nearing, there are no changes for ever, either 
 of heart or of condition. Hell would be our home to-morrow, 
 if Christ were not ours to-day. If Christ be ours to-day, — 
 while we are on our journey, and yet crossing the stream, 
 we may have, we must have, many trials ; but heaven wiU 
 be our home to-morrow, when the stream is crossed, and the 
 journey for ever ended. Let us then wait on the Lord, and 
 be of good courage ; he will ere long bring us into a wealthy 
 place." 
 
 Some jottings from a note-book of this period indicate the 
 ordinary tenor of his ministerial work. " Dirleton, April 8 — 
 Sabbath. — Matt. ix. 27-31, and Gal. i. 4, 5. Visited at 
 Ferrygate and in the village — two days. Dirleton, April 15 
 — Sabbath. — Luke xxi. 5-28, and Gen. xxviii. 12. Visited 
 at Kingston, at Queenston, and in the village — three days. 
 Dirleton, April 22 — Sabbath. — Matt. ix. 32-38, and John 
 xvi. 8-11. Visited at East Fortune, Fenton Barns, and in 
 the village — three days. Dirleton, April 29 — Sabbath. — 
 Matt. X. 1-15, and John iii. 3. Gullane in the evening — 
 Heta. i. 3. Visited in the village — one day." The texts here 
 noted were the subjects of his pulpit ministrations, embracing 
 
334 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 a lecture and a sermon each Sabbath. In addition to the 
 pastoral visitations, there was also the visitation of the sick 
 and infirm. Bible-classes and the Sabbath-school, as vyell 
 as the weekly prayer-meeting, though not specified here, 
 formed a regular part of his ministerial work. The monthly 
 evening sermon at Gullane, a village three miles distant, was 
 never omitted even in the most inclement weather. His 
 feeble frame might well have shrunk from such labours. 
 But his own ease or comfort had no place in his thoughts. 
 He indeed " endured hardness" for the Lord's sake. 
 
 " Nor did he confine himself," writes Mr Dodds, " to the 
 more spiritual department of his oflSce and work. Whatever 
 duty devolved upon him as the minister of a congregation, 
 or a member of our various church-courts, he cheerfully and 
 conscientiously performed. Though delicate health might 
 have aflforded him a fair excuse, he did not shrink from the 
 society of his brethren, or from the meetings of Presbytery ; 
 but, whenever his strength allowed, he was always at his 
 post, and undertook his full share of duty. All this shewed 
 the peculiar decision and conscientiousness of his character, 
 his high standard of duty, and his earnest desire to be useful 
 in the Church in all capacities, according to the measure of 
 his ability." 
 
 The holy gravity of his deportment carried a solemnising 
 and hallowing influence into such meetings. All felt, in his 
 presence, that a man of God was among them. His face 
 seemed always shining, as if he had just descended from the 
 mount. He was the Christian everywhere — ^living every 
 moment for eternity. 
 
 An interesting illustration of his conscientiousness in dis- 
 charging the duties of a member of church-courts occurs in 
 an allusion to the General Assembly of this year. The case 
 
VISIT TO SOUTHAMPTON. 335 
 
 ■vras one of discipline : — " 's case tended to create not 
 
 only anxiety among the members, but likewise solemnity. I 
 spent about ten hours in private in reading the evidence in 
 that case ; and, without reading and weighing the evidence 
 privately, I should not have felt myself at liberty to give a 
 vote. It was a most painful case. It said emphatically to 
 all who had to do with it, ' Be not high-minded, but fear.' " 
 He preached before that Assembly. The text was, " God is 
 love." 
 
 He ministered for a month that summer at Southampton, 
 where his labours were not unblest. " On Saturday last," he 
 writes on 1 3th June, " I reached this town, and preached 
 twice on Sabbath. Yesterday night I conducted the services 
 at a congregational prayer-meeting. Here I am creeping, 
 where Whitefield was wont to fly. that I had wings like 
 his ! My ministerial life seems to me much to resemble that 
 of the chrysalis. Something in me says ' Work,' but some- 
 thing else says ' No,' and, alas ! the more ignoble instinct 
 too generally prevails. How little of the spirit of him who, 
 anointed with the Holy Ghost and with power, went about 
 continually doing good ! " And to another, on June 23 : — 
 " The congregation last Sabbath was like the full-formed 
 bud of a numerous and intelligent church. I hope the bud 
 will soon burst under the pastoral care of a regular and 
 suitable minister. Few Scotch congregations have a greater 
 amount of quickness, shrewdness, and intelligence, than the 
 majority of the Presbyterians here possess. The minister 
 must, above all else, be a godly man, but he must likewise 
 have good intellectual calibre." 
 
 And, two days later, to another : — " Yesterday morning I 
 spat a little blood, but the Lord so strengthened my weak 
 body, that I preached forenoon and afternoon without injury. 
 
336 MEMOIR OF THE HEV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 The congregation yesterday seemed to be more impressed, 
 and some not a little solemnised and moved. I trust the 
 Lord, not hindered by the weakness and unworthiness of the 
 instrument, was graciously working in some hearts. Weak 
 exceedingly, we need always to be resting on the arm of God 
 our Saviour. I often feel as if I were the weakest of all 
 beings, and as if my being enabled to go forward were a 
 miracle of Divine love and power. Less than nothing and 
 vanity, what should we be but for Inunanuel, God with us ? 
 May you all know him, and experience his nearaess, and have 
 tokens of his kindness !" 
 
 He had a happy way of winning the confidence of dis- 
 tressed and earnest souls. Such were sure to meet in him 
 a tender sympathy. Many who towards others maintained a 
 silent reserve, opened up to him their spiritual maladies. 
 " Your last letter," he writes to a friend in Malta on June 
 25, " was the most gladdening that you ever favoured me by 
 writing. I well remember, as one of the most memorable 
 occasions on which I had fellowship with you in Madeira, 
 the evening when — it was in Dr Kalley's house — ^you first 
 told me of your spiritual condition. That was the evening 
 when I first felt myself to be in true Christian fellowship 
 with you; at least I began to have a more lively sense of 
 fellowship with you than I had previously enjoyed. Your 
 last letter vividly recalled the occasion referred to, but it 
 afforded stiU greater joy ; for joy in the evidences of a victo- 
 rious and triumphant faith is more immixed, though not more 
 tender, than that produced by a faith discouraged and op- 
 pressed — a faith in conflict with the flesh, and struggling 
 Christwards in the midst of darkness. Christ's sympathies 
 towards us flow forth much in the same way as oiu-s do 
 towards one another. He doubtless rejoices most over us 
 
HXMILITY. 337 
 
 when, most confiding in his love and Saviour-sufiiciency, we 
 walk before him in light, liberty, and joy ; but it is when the 
 soul is in hard battle with the power of darkness — when, so 
 to speak, the sweat of toil, that seems well nigh desperation, 
 is on its brow, and it falls down weeping and helpless at the 
 feet of Jesus, — ^it is then, perhaps, that Jesus gives some of 
 the most tender and heart-melting demonstrations of his 
 sympathy and love." 
 
 Walking in ever closer fellowship with* the Lord, he grew 
 in self-abasing lowliness. Forgiven much, and loving much, 
 he stood, like the " woman which was a sinner," at the feet 
 of Jesus, " behind him, weeping." " Your letters," he writes 
 to another friend in Malta on June 26, " are acts of kindness 
 to one who is truly ' the chief of sinners,' ' less than the least 
 of all saints,' the most unworthy and hell-deserving of all. 
 As, in a glass, face answers to face, so does this heart of mine 
 answer to the words of Scripture: 'The heart is deceitful 
 above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?' 
 You think too highly of my growth in grace, of my conformity 
 to the image of the Holy One. He knows my vast unlike- 
 ness to himself, my wandering of heart from his law, my 
 readiness to forsake his fellowship, and to fix idolatrous 
 affection on created things. My dear brethren who are in 
 the world know me not : that is one consolation. My Lord 
 Jesus knows me thoroughly: that is a consolation greater 
 still. 
 
 " I think," he continues, " if I had my will, I should even 
 now become incapable of sinning. But, alas ! sin besets me 
 on every side — comes in upon me like water, as it were 
 through a thousand pores, or oozes forth where it seemed to 
 have completely vanished. Still sin has not breathed its 
 last — it is only on its deathbed; holiness has not attained 
 
 Y 
 
338 MEMOIR OF THE BBV. W. H. HE-WITSON. 
 
 its cherubic manhood — it is still only in the cradle of its 
 infancy. ' wretched man that I am ! who shall deliver 
 me from the body of this death?' is an ejaculation often 
 prompted, but often uttered with too much languor, too little 
 earnestness. You say, dear friend, that you have lately seen 
 more of «the malignity of indwelling sin. I ought, if any 
 other on the earth, to sympathise with you in that experience. 
 Indwelling sin never manifested greater malignity and deceit- 
 fulness than here." 
 
 " Could an emmet," it has been said, " pry into itself, it 
 might marvel at its own anatomy." There is a self-anatomy ' 
 which, under the guise of humility, leaves the man "vain 
 of his self-knowledge," "proud of his discoveries of pride." 
 Humility like this — how unlike the lowliness of those who, 
 as they fall down in deepest abasement before the Lamb, 
 sing the new song, saying, "Thou wast slain, and hast re- 
 deemed us to God by thy blood ! " This is true lowliness — 
 — the lowliness accompanying, not unbelief, but faith, not 
 suspicion, but confidence. Mr Hewitson was growing in 
 lowliness, because growing in his knowledge of the glories of 
 the Lamb. " Go to Golgotha," said Neff to one of his Alpine 
 catechumens, " and thou wilt see the odious nature of thy 
 sins." It was as Mr Hewitson gazed day by day with ever- 
 deepening love on the Lord who died for him, that his 
 " head " became more truly " waters, and his eyes a fountain 
 of tears." 
 
 This principle of his hidden life is illustrated in the sequel 
 of the letter last quoted. How does he follow up the self- 
 loathing ? " Nothing," says he, " has more attractive and 
 heart-weaning power than habitual contemplation of the 
 Lord's living person. Our Kedeemer is no mere abstraction, 
 no ideality, that has its being only in our own shifting 
 
LOWLY THAUKFULNBSS. 339 
 
 thoughts. He is the most iiidependently personal of all 
 persons, and the most absolutely liring of all who live. He 
 is ' the First and the Last, and the Living One.' He is so 
 near lis, as the Son of Grod, that we can feel his warm breath 
 on our souls ; and, as the Son of man, he has a heart like 
 these hearts of om-s — a human heart, meek and lowly, tender, 
 kind, and sympathising. In the "Word — the almost viva voce 
 utterance of himself — his arm of power is stretched forth 
 beside you, that you may lean on it with all your weight ; 
 and in the Word, also, his love is revealed, that on the 
 bosom of it you may lay your aching head, and forget your 
 sorrow in the abundance of his consolations. The Living 
 One, who died, we must contemplate — to him we must look, 
 that we may be weaned and won over wholly to God — that 
 we may be strengthened, spiritualised, and sanctified. The 
 hope," he adds, " of seeing you this summer has vanished. 
 The hope of meeting when the Lord comes,, through his 
 grace, remains. Shall we be all holy when we meet again 
 — holy as he is holy ? It would be a happier meeting than 
 any could be now." 
 
 And in another letter, the same lowly thankfulness ap- 
 pears. " ' Grace, mercy, and peace,'" says he, " ' be multiplied 
 to you, both from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus 
 Christ.' This is the wish and prayer of one who is the chief of 
 sinners, and who cannot lay his guilt-full hand on the head 
 of the Lamb of God without feelings of shame and self-abhor- 
 rence. ' For thy name's sake, Lord, pardon mine iniquity, 
 for it is great.' The pardon of my sin will put into the, 
 diadem of Jesus an ornament more brilliant than the sun at 
 noon-day. ' His blood cleanseth from all sin.' It is more 
 precious than thousands of gold and silver. Jesus is worthy 
 of confidence to the sinner, and especially so to the chief of 
 
340 MEMOIE OF THE BEV. W. H. HBWITSON. 
 
 sinners. Let us believe in him, let us Jove him, let us follow 
 him, let us wait for him till he come." 
 
 In Southampton, as in every place where he sojourned, 
 he left behind him the fragrance of " the ointment." It was 
 the last of his many wanderings in the Master's service. Two 
 brief notices only we add. Writing from Holly-Hill, in its 
 vicinity, he says — " Yesterday I came here on a visit to 
 Lord Henry Cholmondeley's. This is a truly godly family, 
 and the fellowship is very pleasant. All are pre-millenna- 
 rians. After receiving this, you will not forward to me any 
 letters, but let them wait my return. May the Lord be with 
 you all, now and for ever. May we diligently seek his face, 
 and wait for his appearing." And from Southampton, to Mr 
 Dodds, on July 2 : — " Since I left Dirleton, I have seen 
 proofs of the growing licentiousness of these perilous times. 
 Sin appears to be walking abroad with more than its former 
 eflfrontery. My own heart tells me, alas ! where the well- 
 springs are of the moral evil that is seen in the world. 
 Inborn sin, how active ! how watchful ! how mighty ! how 
 difficult to overcome ! It has a thousand disguises, a world 
 of allurements, a more than magic power of fascination. It 
 Steals into the bosom of every thought — it clings, like a 
 viper, to the hand of every holy endeavour. Would that it 
 were slain ! ' wretched man ! ' has found, since it first 
 came forth from the heart of the apostle, an echo in the 
 heart of every believer; and in some heart will it ever 
 continue to find an echo, till we see Jesus face to face, and a 
 voice come forth from the heavens, saying, ' Behold, I make 
 all things new.' Were it only that sin might be utterly and 
 for ever destroyed— were it for nothing else whatever — we 
 should have cause enough for the earnest prayer, ' Come, 
 Lord Jesus ; come quickly ! ' " 
 
DIRLETON MINISTRY CONVERSIONS. 341 
 
 A characteristic little incident occurred, as he was leaving 
 the house where he had been sojourning. " I hope you have 
 been comfortable during your visit," said his kind host. 
 " Yes,'' was his reply, " with the exception of one thing — I 
 have been annoyed by so many peojple continually inquiring 
 about my health." "He never felt comfortable," adds our 
 correspondent, "when any one did so. I recollect, on 
 one occasion in my presence, he said to a friend of mine, 
 ' I shall never be better than I now am until the resur- 
 rection day' — meaning, he was quite happy under all his 
 infirmities." 
 
 The remaining eight months of his active ministry present 
 little variety of incident. They were occupied chiefly with 
 the care of the precious souls committed to his pastoral 
 charge. Grimshaw tells us, regarding his dear people in the 
 little parish of Haworth, that, of the greater part of them, so 
 far as man could judge, he could give almost as particular 
 account as he could of himself. He knew whether they were 
 progressing or declining. By his frequent visits and converse 
 with them, he was acquainted with their several temptations, 
 trials, and exercises, both personal and domestic, both spiritual 
 and temporal, almost as intimately as if he had lived in their 
 families. In Dirleton there was formed, secretly and un- 
 ostentatiously — known, indeed, only to its members and to 
 him whom most of them regarded as their spiritual father — 
 a little circle of believers, with whose exercises, and trials, 
 and triumphs, of faith Mr Hewitson was not less familiar, 
 and for whom he watched daily with a not less tender soli- 
 citude. These were the Aarons and Hurs of his ministry : 
 held up by their prayers and sympathy, he fulfilled his 
 course. As each new convert entered the little family, 
 gladness pervaded all. During all the time of his ministry 
 
342 MEMOIR OF THE KEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 at Dirleton, he was never without at least one anxious soul. 
 And rarely did the anxiety fail to issue in true peace. 
 
 He was now entering on his closing winter. Though 
 enfeebled by his excessive labours during the summer, he 
 allowed himself no rest. "Our exchange of pulpits on 
 Sabbath after next," he writes to Mr Dodds on Septem- 
 ber 13, "I consider to be definitively arranged. If you still 
 see that, on your part, it would be convenient, you will give 
 intimation of the sermon to the children for the afternoon diet. 
 Having the prospect of so soon seeing you, and speaking 
 face to face, I shall only say at present, in connexion with 
 ministerial instrumentality — what occurred to my mind this 
 morning during breakfast — that a well-tuned violin is not 
 more necessary to the musical performer, than a heart in 
 unison with the heart of God is to the preacher of the gospel. 
 The skill of a Paganini wiU be vain, if the instrument be out 
 of tune ; the labour of the evangelist will, be no less vain, so 
 far as the personal element of his instrumentality is con- 
 cerned, unless his heart be harmonised by the Spirit of truth 
 and love. We must, so to speak, tune the instrument by 
 means of meditation and prayer. Preaching will then be like 
 a sweet melody in the ears of both God and man.'' 
 
 And other friends he addresses thus : — 
 
 "Dirleton, Sept&nber 15, 1849. — \_To J. H. Spencer, Esq., 
 London.] — My dgas Brother, — My passing visit to you seems 
 now to have been merely a pleasant dream. Everything here 
 is more like a dream than a reality. When the Lord comes, 
 but not till then, will the hearts of his people be made fully 
 and abidingly glad. May we be ready among his people to 
 welcome him when he comes ! It is no easy matter to watch 
 in this sleeping world. — Aflfectionately yours, 
 
 "W. H. Hewitson." 
 
LONGINGS AFTER HOLINESS. , 343 
 
 " Dirleton, September 20, 1849. — [^To Mr David Sandeman, 
 Student of Divinity, Edirihurgh.'] — My dear Friend, — I received 
 your letter, and was glad to find you were at home again 
 among your dearest earthly relatives. It will be sweet to be 
 at home up yonder with the all-lovely One, our Elder Brother. 
 for vaster longings of natural affection after him — intenser 
 longings to see him as he is ! How I love him for his sweet, 
 infinite holiness, when the Holy Ghost only gives me a 
 glimpse of that ! I feel then as if I could not love him, but 
 for his sweet, deep, wonderful, and Divine holiness. What 
 a heaven it would be to be like him ! What a heaven, to 
 have fellowship with those who bear most, of his likeness! 
 But it is the heaven of heavens to have unhindered, free, 
 full, heart-in-heart communion with himself 
 
 " The Lord of the harvest needs reapers with sharp 
 sickles. The time is short : soon many will be saying, in 
 dolorous accents, ' The harvest is past, the summer is ended, 
 and we are not saved.' — Ever affectionately yours in Jesus, 
 
 "W. H. Hewitson.'' 
 
 " Dirleton, October 12, 1849. — [To the Em. J. Baillie.} — 
 .... It will be impossible for me to be with you at the 
 communion next month. My communion is to be on the 
 fourth Sabbath: on the third Sabbath I could not be absent; 
 and on the second Sabbath I have to preach, if I can get 
 away, to the children in Salton and Haddington. Here, at 
 present, those who are in the Lord seem to be going on their 
 way steadily towards Zion; and I do trust that they are 
 praying for a work of revival in the place. As a minister, I 
 feel the need of being more abundantly replenished with gifts 
 and graces suitable to the work, by the Spirit of Pentecost. 
 Why are we not full of faith and of the Holy Ghost ? Why 
 do we, not speak with a wisdom and spirit which none would 
 
344 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W, H. HBWITSOX. 
 
 be able to resist? Having such promises, why have we 
 such inadequate realisations in our experience ? — Ever yours 
 affectionately, " W. H. H." 
 
 The sermon to children was one of a series preached by 
 him that winter in all the congregations of the presbytery. 
 "He had a gentle and winning manner," says Mr Dodds, 
 "of speaking to the young. He usually addressed them 
 directly upon the state of their souls, and upon the love of 
 Christ ; but in a tone of such tenderness, and with such 
 simplicity of speech, as arrested their attention, and often 
 moved them to tears." It may be added, that he preached 
 to them, as to others, in the hope and expectation of conver- 
 sions. He aimed at nothing less than to win their precious 
 souls. A specimen of his method with them occm's in a 
 letter to a Sabbath-class in Edinburgh, written by him from 
 Madeira : — 
 
 " I have been requested by my dear friend, your Sabbath- 
 school teacher, to address to you a few words respecting the 
 salvation of your souls. May the Holy Spirit bless to you 
 what I write ! 
 
 " The place where I now am, is a far-off island of the sea ; 
 but though it be far off, it is yet surrounded by the same 
 great sea which washes the shores of Scotland, your dear 
 native land and mine. Yes, that same ocean, which you can 
 so easily go and bathe in, reaches ia this island, and the 
 people here can easily go and bathe in it too. How like the 
 blood of Christ ! For the blood of Christ is like a great 
 ocean — one so very great, that it comes close to your very 
 door in Scotland, and close to the very door of poor guilty 
 sinners here in Madeira, so that you and they alike may 
 go into it, and bathe your souls in it, and come out whiter 
 than snow. 
 
METHOD WITH THE YOUNG. 345 
 
 " Christ has many in Madeira who believe in his name, 
 and have washed themselves and made them white in his 
 blood. Now I'll tell you what they think about Christ. 
 They are hated, and threatened, and reproached, and 
 buffeted, and persecuted for Christ's sake; but they think 
 him so worthy, and feel him to be so precious, that they bear 
 all with patience, and are willing to bear more. You cannot 
 speak to many of them about the love of Christ in dying for 
 sinners like them, without seeing them melted into tears of 
 gratitude and love. And when you speak to them about 
 Christ's coming again in glory, to ' receive his people to 
 himself, that they may be with him where he is,' you may 
 see their countenances lighted up with joy, and their hearts 
 seem to bound with exultation at the thought of being with 
 Jesus for ever and ever. 
 
 "They are not, like you, natives of a favoured land, in 
 which every one is free to read and obey the Word of God. 
 They are in danger of their lives if they be found coming to 
 hear the gospel preached, and to sit at the Lord's table. 
 The time seems to be near when they may have to die by 
 the hands of cruel men, for following the Lord fully; but 
 ' worthy is the Lamb that was slain;' and they 'take up 
 their cross,' willing to ' follow him whithersoever he goeth,' 
 even though he lead them unto death. 
 
 " From what I tell you about them, you will understand 
 what they think of Jesus. The Holy Spirit, who delights 
 in glorifying Jesus, has shewn to them the Saviour's love 
 and righteousness and glory. The Holy Spirit has taken 
 them and bathed them in the blood of Christ ; he has given 
 them a simple, simple, childlike faith, and taught them to 
 place all confidence in the love of God ; he has taught them 
 to look upon Jesus as very precious, and to bear with 
 
346 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 patience and with the hope of glory all that they suffer for 
 Jesus' sake. 
 
 " Perhaps you sometimes feel little delight in hearing the 
 Word of God read and taught — ^perhaps the worldly ease and 
 comfort which you have in Scotland are a snare to your 
 souls. Surely, then, what I am going to tell you will make 
 you ashamed of being negligent and careless about the 
 things which concern God's glory and your eternal peace. 
 
 " There are some people who live so far from where I live, 
 that it takes nearly five hours to walk the distance. They 
 are so anxious to hear the Word of God preached, that they 
 intend, on a certain day this week, to leave home about 
 midnight, and to be here about sunrise, and to wait in an 
 empty house till ten o'clock in the morning, where public 
 worship will take place. You will ask me why they intend 
 to leave home so early. It is because they are afraid of 
 their enemies, and seek shelter from persecution under the 
 darkness and silence of the night, when they come to hear 
 the gospel. Remember this, whenever your souls become 
 drowsy, and careless about what you hear. 
 
 " Ah ! think of the hell on the edge of which you are 
 standing ; think of the love of Jesus, who is shewing you his 
 wounds, and calling you to hide in them and be safe ; think 
 of Satan, who is cunningly standing between you and Jesus, 
 that you may not see the Saviour<6 wounds, nor be melted 
 by the power of his love. 
 
 " Were Christ, after calling on you so long, and seeking 
 so often to save you, but all in vain — were he to turn away 
 from you now with the terrible wrath of despised and injured 
 love, saying, 'Let them alone!' — dear, precious souls, your 
 doom would be truly sad ! 
 
 " Before it be too late — ^before Jesus hides himself from 
 
METHOD WITH THE YOUNG. 347 
 
 you, to come and speak to you with 'the still small voice' of 
 his love uo more — while yet you may be saved — I send to 
 you across the seas an earnest cry, ' Flee from the wrath 
 to come ; flee to Jesus — ^he will receive you with open arms ; 
 come and bring with you to him all your sins — he will in no 
 wise cast you out.' 
 
 " Christ has one hand upon me here, and another upon 
 you in Scotland. He is looking upon me now while I write 
 this, and he will look upon you when you are reading it, or 
 hearing it read. I will put the letter into his hand, and 
 leave it there : it may be that when, in his providence, he 
 brings its cry to your ears, you will hearken, and flee to him 
 for safety. 
 
 "He is willing and mighty to save. I will give you a 
 proof of this. Less than three weeks since, a woman, who 
 loves Christ, and believes in his Word, told me that her 
 husband buffeted her and maltreated her cruelly for Christ's 
 sake — that he raged and was mad against the truth. A few 
 days afterwards, a good man, who was working along with 
 him, told him solemnly that if he continued as he was, he 
 would go to hell. The words went to the heart of the 
 miserable sinner, and, in fear of ' the wrath to come,' he fled 
 to Jesus. He found Jesus willing, as well as able, to save 
 him, and he is now a changed man, rejoicing in the Lord. 
 He now prays in his family, and sings the praise of God. 
 
 " What the blessed Jesus does for sinners in Madeira, he 
 is willing and able to do for sinners in Scotland — ^willing 
 and able to do for you. Only ' taste, and you will see that 
 he is gracious ; ' only believe, and you shall be saved ; just 
 go into the great sea of Immanuel's blood, and bathe your 
 souls in it,- and you shall be cleansed from all your guilt." 
 
 " A look, a single look," writes Vinet, " rids of all fears 
 
348 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 but the fear of doing evil." The same simplicity of faith Mr 
 Hewitson continued to urge upon all to whom he preaches 
 or writes. A touching example occurs in a letter to his 
 mother, dated 18th October. " We are all grieved," he writes, 
 " on account of your illness, and pray God to restore you, if 
 it be his holy will. Long have I been waiting for an oppor- 
 tunity of visiting you ; and it is no small cause of grief to 
 me, that I have such preaching engagements for next week 
 in Edinburgh as leave me little hope of being able to get 
 away ; otherwise I should, God willing, be in DalmeUington 
 next Monday evening. My dear mother, you hear the sweet 
 voice of Jeans, saying, ' Look unto me, and be ye saved, all 
 the ends of the earth.' A look saved the Israelites, when 
 they were wounded by the fiery serpent ; and a look can 
 save our souls — a look at Jesus. Oh ! I fondly trust you 
 can look to the wounded Jesus, and say, ' My Lord and my 
 God !' The love of God the Father, in giving his Son to die, 
 is enough to give you confidence, and to draw your heart 
 out towards him. The sight of God's love in the wounds of 
 his bleeding Son, is a sight well fitted to touch the heart and 
 melt it, and fill it with hatred of its sins, and make it to rest 
 on Jesus. that Jesus may be very near you! and that, 
 shewing you his hands and his side, he may say, ' Peace be 
 unto thee!' that he may breathe on you with his blessed 
 lips, and give you the Holy Ghost ! He is touched with 
 compassion to sinners. He is pleading, a High Priest for all 
 who come by him to the Father. Draw near, then, my dear 
 mother, with a true heart, and in full assurance of faith." 
 
 In another letter we have an incidental notice of his mini- 
 strations at the weekly prayer-meeting : — 
 
 " Dirkton, December 14, 1849. — [To James Crawford, Jun., 
 Esq., W.S., Edinburgh.] — My dear Friend, — I received your 
 
LITERARY TASTES. 349 
 
 kind note, and thank you for having got the other volume 
 of Morell. Next time I come to Edinburgh, I shall bring 
 the first volume along with me, which I have finished. 
 
 " Last night, in the prayer-meeting, we had, as the subject 
 of meditation, the character of Moses, as it was brought out 
 in the wilderness. These features of his character especially 
 were dwelt on — 1. His subjection to God's revealed will ; 
 2. His subjection to God's leadings in all his ways ; 3. His 
 contentment in all conditions ; 4. His long-suflfering ; 5. His 
 meekness ; 6. His godly indignation against sin ; 7. His zeal 
 for God's glory ; 8. His faith ; 9. His earnestness in inter- 
 cessory prayer ; 10. His holiness, breathing itself forth in 
 aspirations like this — ' I beseech thee, shew me thy glory;' 
 11. His close and constant fellowship with God. In all these 
 respects we see One infinitely better and greater than Moses, 
 when we turn to his antitype, Jesus Christ our Lord. Here 
 we find all that is fair, lovely, glorious, and excellent — all in 
 an infinite degree of perfection. Looking at him, may we 
 be changed into his likeness ! — Yours ever affectionately, 
 
 "W. H, Hewitson." 
 
 The reader will observe in this note an allusion to Morell. 
 Notwithstanding his engrossing labours in the Lord's vine- 
 yard, he had never ceased to mark, vrith the liveliest interest, 
 whatever, in general literature, and especially in the domain 
 of metaphysical philosophy, was worthy of regard. " He 
 sometimes spoke," says Mr Dodds, " with all the ardour of 
 his academic days, of mental philosophy and its proper con- 
 nexion with theology. Even about this period, he seriously 
 meditated writing one or two papers on inetaphysical sub- 
 jects which he thought of great importance in a theological 
 point of view ; and these it was his desire to publish in one 
 of our influential periodicals. Had life and health been given 
 
350 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 to him, he would in all probability have carried his purpose 
 into effect; and from his decided metaphysical taste and 
 talent, sanctified as these were in him, there is little doubt 
 that his contributions to the metaphysics of theology would 
 have been of great interest and value." One example will 
 indicate the class of subjects intended. " He often spoke to 
 me," continues Mr Dodds, " of a paper or article on ' Power.' 
 He regarded views like those of Brown on the subject as 
 little better than atheistic; and, if I mistake not, his object 
 was to shew that what we call ' power,' is the direct result of 
 the Divine will, and that the universe is literally kept to- 
 gether by a constant and infinite series of such volitions. 
 This was a theme well fitted to exercise his subtle yet 
 reverent and adoring spirit." 
 
 His health was beginning to exhibit symptoms more than 
 ordinarily alarming. " You kindly inquire regarding my 
 health," says he, writing to a friend in Malta, on December 
 18. "I have had hemorrhage repeatedly since June last. 
 Disease seems to be making progress in the chest ; but, if so, 
 it is doing only the will of the Lord who sent it. In the 
 Lord's hands our concerns and interests are safe eternally." 
 
 Fearing the effects of another winter and spring in Scot- 
 land, especially on the east coast, some friends had m-ged a 
 temporary sojourn in Malta, offering to pay all expenses. 
 But he declined. " No," we remember him saying one day 
 about this period, " I cannot, I dare not, voluntarily leave 
 my post here on account of health. I do not see my way to 
 go." Similar was the resolution of Neff, when his friends, 
 seeing him gradually sinking under his overwhelming labours, 
 represented to him the danger of soon wearing himself out : 
 — " How," said he, " can I fold my arms, and sink into 
 repose, when I see around me so extensive a field of labour, 
 
WEARINESS SINS AND SORROWS. 351 
 
 and so few labourers ?" The wisdom of the decision in both 
 instances may be justly questioned. Satan has his snares 
 for the conscience. Did he not here tempt and triumph, as 
 an angel of light ? 
 
 But whilst the outward man perished, the inward man 
 was renewed day by day. The flesh was failing, but the 
 soul " mounted up on wings as eagles." " When I say that 
 I scarcely ever know," he writes to another friend in Malta, 
 also on December 18, " what it is to be altogether free from 
 a sense of bodily weariness, you will see that my labours 
 leave me but little strength for correspondence. It is some- 
 times my desire to have more strength for the Lord's work, 
 but his arrangements are the wisest and the best : the more 
 of weakness and weariness now, the more sweet that rest of 
 God into which we shall by and by enter. The Lord has in 
 his view the part of the spiritual temple which we are to 
 occupy for ever ; and to fit us for our place is the end of all 
 his dealings with us during this present state of preparation. 
 We would fain choose for ourselves, when ' the flesh ' is up 
 and working; but when grace is prevalent, we lie quietly 
 under the Lord's hand, and delight in hearing his voice, 
 saying to us, ' Be still, and know that I am God.' 
 
 " Your comfort," he continues, " and enlargement of heart, 
 in walking with God, will depend not a little on your rightly 
 distinguishing between your sins and your sorrows. To take 
 all your natural, it may be sometimes your Christlike, sorrows 
 to the blood of atonement, as if they were altogether sinful, 
 would have the effect, not of softening your heart, but of 
 hardening it — not of bringing light, but darkness into your 
 soul — ^not of augmenting, but of diminishing, your love to 
 Jesus. how Satan strives to make us believe that our 
 Lord is ' an austere man !' How he labours to give us false 
 
352 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 views and impressions of the character of our Lor^ ! Believe 
 nothing about Christ which the Word of God does not war- 
 rant. You know well what Christ is — ^you have been in his 
 company — ^you have tasted that he is gracious — your expe- 
 rience has taught you that he does sympathise with you in 
 all your afflictions. Come, then, to him, with all your sor- 
 rows, and, oh !■ you will have good cause to say that he who 
 wept at the grave of Lazarus is still the same — no less God- 
 like in his power to comfort, and no less manlike in the flow^ 
 ing forth of his compassions. So long as sorrow is bounded 
 or fenced about with a gracious disposition to acquiesce in 
 and approve of God's arrangements, so long will the Lord 
 shew himself ready to sjonpathige, and to wipe away the 
 silent tear. 
 
 " Forgive me for writing thus, as it were, in the style of 
 exhortation. I remember that sometimes you repented in 
 Madeira of what you thought sinful, when I could see 
 nothing sinful in the matter, but only something that was 
 trying, and which, therefore, it was natural to feel. Grace 
 comes not to destroy our susceptibilities of pleasure and pain, 
 of joy and sorrow, but to refine and sanctify them, and bring 
 them into harmony with love to God. If it be the Lord's 
 will to remove those who are so dear to you from Malta, then 
 what the Lord requires of you is unmurmuring acquiescence 
 in his holy will. He does not require insensibility to the 
 pain of parting, or the trial of protracted separation. He has 
 no delight in callousness of heart. He loves the sensibility 
 which, with all its tenderness, and when most lacerated, will 
 yet say, ' Not my will, but thine be done: Father, glorify 
 thy name.' 
 
 " You have many trials. In your thoughts keep them 
 altogether distinct from your sins. Lay your sins on Christ 
 
CHRIST OUR SANCTIPICATION. 353 
 
 as a sacrifice ; and lay your trials on him as a kind and 
 sympathising Friend — a Brother made for the day of 
 adversity. 
 
 " Your last contained not a little that deeply interested me, 
 regarding your sanctification struggles. Be of good cheer, 
 and wait on the Lord ; your struggles ere long will have a 
 happy issue. The more you feel of corruption working, the 
 more blessed and refreshing will be the anticipation of the 
 state of perfect hoUness. To be altogether disburdened of 
 this body of death — that will be heaven. To be Christhke 
 in every feature and lineament, in every desire of the heart, 
 and every movement of the will ; to be fit for close, uninter- 
 rupted fellowship with the Father and with the Son ; — that 
 will be — how great ! — compensation for the painfulness of 
 present conflict with indwelling sin. 
 
 "That our sanctification may go sweetly forward," he 
 concludes, " we must ever bear on our hearts the words of 
 Jesus — ' Without me ye can do nothing.' What makes our 
 struggles against sin often more difiicult and painful is, that 
 we forget him who is our sanct^ation, and set our face 
 against the enemy in our own strength. Nothing can over- 
 come what is earthly in us except what is heavenly; and 
 what is heavenly in us is not merely our renewed nature, but 
 more especially the Holy Ghost, who is come from heaven. 
 Yonder, in the heart of Christ, is our sanctification as in 
 its fountain; here, in our hearts, is sanctification as in its 
 stream. If we cut ourselves ofi^ by unbelief from the foun- 
 tain, the stream will cease to flow. May the day soon dawn 
 when the stream and the fountain shall be liable to sundrance 
 no more ! That day may be near at hand. Let us watch 
 till then." 
 
 The next letter recalls his early days. It is addressed to a 
 z 
 
354 MEMOIR OP THE EET. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 college friend. In the interval indicated, how blessed a race 
 he has run ! 
 
 "Birleton, Jan. 21, 1850. — \ToJamesP.nansard,Esq.,MJ)., 
 Brighton.]— My vert dear Friend, — I was surprised, as 
 well as delighted, by the arrival of your letter from Brighton. 
 For years I have not had means of hearing about you, and 
 could not tell whether you were still among the living, or 
 had fallen asleep. I am glad that you have returned in 
 safety to your native land, and I hope that you will now 
 remain. Do yon intend to do so? ' The time is short;' and 
 wherever be our earthly tabernacles, or however far asunder, 
 the day is at hand when we shall meet, I trust, according 
 to the promise of the gospel, in the presence of our blessed 
 Lord. 
 
 " Since we met, I have had many trials, and seen great 
 afBictions, especially of a spiritual kind. I am located here, 
 by the Lord's good hand upon me, at a distance of twenty 
 miles almost due east from Edinbiurgh. Here, as a minister 
 of the gospel, in the communion of the Free Church, I have 
 been labouring for about two years. Before that, I was in 
 another and distant part of the Lord's vineyard. 
 
 " My dear Hansard, the interval since we met is so long, 
 that now we oiight to be far forward in the Divine life, and 
 acquainted experimentally with the things that are freely 
 given to us of God, as we were not in these former days. It 
 is good to be going forward and forward through Baca's 
 Valley, digging up wells as we go — to be pressing upward 
 from strength to strength, till we stand perfect before God in 
 Zion. — Sincerely and affectionately yours, 
 
 « W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 Notwithstanding his increasing weakness, he took part in 
 a course of lectures that winter in Edinburgh on the Lord's 
 
SECOND ADVENT ^LECTURE. 355 
 
 Second Coming. He prepared the lecture with great care, 
 and delivered it to two successive audiences. "The ardour 
 of his advocacy of this doctrine," says Mr Dodds, " offended 
 some; but his was the vehemence of strong conviction and 
 true sincerity. What he felt to be so precious, and full of 
 quickening influences to his own soul, with characteristic 
 energy he sought to establish in the minds and hearts of all 
 his friends. Prophecy was his favourite study ; and, what- 
 ever many may think of his views, that study was to him 
 the source of unspeakable joy, and the greatest spiritual 
 refreshment. Were any doctrine to be judged of by the 
 spirituality of him who believes in it, the doctrine of the 
 Advent, as he held it, would indeed receive the strongest 
 possible confirmation from his life and character." 
 
 The lecture in Edinburgh, except on one occasion when he 
 preached at Prestonkirk, was his last public work out of his 
 own pulpit. On returning home, he wrote : — 
 
 " Dirleton, February 18, 1850. — [To a friend in Edinburgh.^ 
 — ^Last week I was two nights in Edinburgh, but my en- 
 gagements were such as to require all my physical strength, 
 so that I could not have the pleasure of making you a visit. 
 Whatever be the cause of it, I can no longer hide it from 
 myself, that my strength has of late been rapidly sinking. 
 I mention this merely as the reason why I did not see you, 
 as usual, on the occasion referred to. 
 
 " Daily I endeavour to remember you in my prayers. The 
 Lord himself is your hiding-place and your shield : he will 
 preserve you from trouble, and compass you about with 
 songs of deliverance. Cannot you say with Paul, ' I know 
 whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to 
 keep that which I have committed to him against that day?' 
 Faithful is he who stands in the place of your Surety, and 
 
356 MEMOIH OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 faithful also is God the Father, who has called you into the 
 fellowship of his Son. But then, dear friend, with implicit 
 confidence in your God and Saviour, 
 
 ' Think what Spirit dwells within thee ; 
 
 Think what Father's love is thine ; 
 Think that Jesus died to win thee : 
 Child of heaven, canst thou repine ? 
 
 ' Haste thee on from grace to glory, 
 
 Arm'd by faith, and wing'd by prayer ; 
 Heav'n's eternal day 's before thee — 
 God's own hand shall guide thee there.' 
 
 — Ever your affectionate friend, " W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 His ministry was now drawing near a close. There is an 
 affecting pathos in the following notes. He was preparing 
 for what proved to be his last communion : — 
 
 " Dtrletm, February 18, 1850.— [To tU Bev. J. Dodds.'}-^ 
 My dear Brother, — My communion will be, God willing, on 
 Sabbath the 10th of March. I hope you will at length be 
 able to assist me on that Sabbath of communion. My com- 
 munions in the Church militant wiU in all likelihood not be 
 many. My health seems to be speedily declining. Some- 
 times my heart bounds with joy at the thought of being soon 
 present with the Lord. Nevertheless, I should rather labour 
 on earth amidst hardship and trial for a while longer, if only 
 the Lord had any end to serve by me here still ; and it is 
 possible, that if he bear me up under the withering influence 
 of a Dirleton winter and 'spring, I shall recover, amidst the 
 genialities of summer air and sunshine, much of the strength 
 that I have recently lost. Meanwhile, feverish irritability, 
 nocturnal perspirations, occasional haemoptysis, and other 
 symptoms, warn me that the coming of death may be pre- 
 vious to the coming of the Lord. These things I write to 
 
LAST COMMUNION. 357 
 
 you in the confidence of friendship : they are not for the ears 
 of strangers. — Ever affectionately yours, 
 
 " W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 "Dirleton, February 26, 1850. — [To the Eev. J. Baillie.] — 
 My dear Brothee, — Your letter, which I had this morning, 
 brought me a great disappointment. The interval is now so 
 brief, that I may be left without help on the Sabbath. But 
 I look to the Lord. I trust he wiU, even at so late an hour, 
 send me a brother's help. Will you take the diet on the 
 Thursday evening before the communion ? 
 
 " If the Lord spare me till then, I intend to go, on the 
 18th of March, to Bruntsfield Lodge, and spend there a fort- 
 night in doing nothing, if so be the Lord will bless the rest 
 as a means of enabling me to weather the severities yet of 
 another spring, and to set my face to the labours of another 
 summer's campaign. Like a wounded soldier in the camp 
 of Jesus, I must retire, at least for the time mentioned, from 
 the field. The cold of this winter seems to have helped me 
 well forward on my way to the valley, which, though dark, 
 is not dreary or dreadful to the disciples of Jesus. — Yours 
 very affectionately, " W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 "Dirleton, March 1, 1850. — [To the same.'] — After getting 
 your first note, I wrote to Kelso. Mr Bonar tells me that 
 he had refused, for certain reasons, to be with you on the 
 10th of this month, and that these reasons were still as 
 strong as ever for refusing to be from home on that day. 
 But considering the special claim which, in my present cir- 
 cumstances, I had to his aid, he very kindly has agreed to 
 come, and he says, that he is sure you, knowing the circum- 
 stances of the case, would approve of his doing so. 
 
 " Your second note breathes, like his, a spirit of brotherly 
 love and sympathy, which I deeply feel, and trace up to the 
 
358 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 fountain-head of it in the heart of Jesus, the elder Brother 
 of the saints. 
 
 " In haste, and hoping that you will come early, I am 
 yours very affectionately, " W. H. H." 
 
 Our visit that week to Dirleton we shall not soon forget. 
 The reader may gather the impression left by it from the 
 following jottings taken down at the time : — 
 
 "March 6. — ^We went to Dirleton at four; found dear 
 Hewitson very feeble indeed — more so than he has ever 
 been ; seems to anticipate possibiUty of his departure within 
 a month ; is quite happy in the Lord. 
 
 "March 7. — ^Had much conversation to-day; our dear 
 brother very animated, and all his words fragrant. Spoke 
 again and again on necessity of looking, not at our faith, 
 but at Christ — at the person of- Christ ; this, he said, gave 
 peace and joy, but faith a very poor thing to look at — nothing 
 but a broken reed, piercing him who leans on it. 
 
 " As he lay on the sofa, during intervals he was engaged 
 in preparation of sermon for Sabbath ; was struck with his 
 power of mental abstraction ; he was unable to write a sen- 
 tence, and yet he advanced as steadily and methodically in 
 the work of composition as if every head and paragraph had 
 been written as he went on. 
 
 " We went to the church at half-past six ; never saw clearer 
 tokens of the Lqrd's presence in a congregation. 
 
 " After coming in, and as we were sitting in the study, 
 one of his people called to speak to him about a neighbour 
 who had lately been awakened. Mr Hewitson had not been 
 able to see the awakened person personally, and had sent for 
 this individual, as one in whom he had confidence, to give a 
 message suitable to the case; was much struck with his 
 skill in dealing with the case ; the inquirer had been griev- 
 
NOTES OF VISIT TO DIRLBTON. 359 
 
 ously vexed and darkened by what Hewitson detected to be 
 mere suggestions of Satan ; was amazed and humbled at the 
 masterly and tender way in which he separated the lies of 
 Satan from the heart's own suggestions, shewing that the 
 sin lay, not in being troubled by Satan's lying insinuations, 
 but in listening to and entertaining them ; and telling his 
 visitor to urge on the inquirer the glorious grace of Christ, 
 and to bid Satan get behind if he still insinuated that the 
 Lord was not willing to welcome instantly, and forgive 
 freely. 
 
 " It has been said reproachfully, but with too much truth, 
 that the less you know of some ministers out of the pulpit 
 the better. How different with dear Hewitson ! He indeed 
 ' walks within his house with a perfect heart.' His family 
 worship especially — not a dull, dry, tedious form, but instinct 
 with life and freshness. Why? His soul always at the 
 fountain ; and so out of him there is flowing one continuous 
 stream of living water. 
 
 "March 8. — We left Dirleton at half-past seven a.m. 
 Much refreshed by this visit — never otherwise in coming 
 into contact with that holy and heavenly-minded man. 
 
 " Invited H. to take his intended rest at Linlithgow ; but 
 he fears to go so far from home, as, in case of becoming 
 decidedly worse, he should wish to be able instantly to return, 
 and die among his people." 
 
 The communion took place on the following Sabbath, 
 March 10. Mr Horatius Bonar, who was with him on the 
 occasion, thus notes it : — 
 
 " On the 26th of February he wrote, asking me to assist 
 him, and adding, ' Now I am too feeble in body to undertake 
 all the services myself. This winter seems to have done 
 more than any former one to hasten me forward to the end 
 
360 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 of my journey.' And on the 1st of March he wrote to me 
 again, making arrangements as to his communion, and 
 referring, at the close, to his sinking condition of hody : 
 'Unless my strength be still farther reduced, I shall take 
 my own share of the communion services. Nightly per- 
 spirations have been weakening me much of late ; but it is 
 well.' 
 
 "I went to Dirleton on Saturday the 9th, and, arriving 
 there towards evening, along with our mutual friend, Mr 
 James Crawford, found him sitting on the sofa, feeble, indeed, 
 and emaciated, but not so much so as I had expected. He 
 had his Bible in his hand, and, after friendly greetings, he 
 turned to a passage which he had been reading ; and this, 
 along with one or two others, furnished material for conver- 
 sation during tea and afterwards. He was most peaceful 
 and cheerful, expressing his hope that he should be able to 
 take the communion services on the morrow. 
 
 " He was not able to rise to breakfast next day ; but a 
 little before eleven o'clock I found him all ready to set oflf to 
 church. We walked together slowly, and he seemed to enjoy 
 the freshness of the morning, with its sweet Sabbath calm. 
 He spoke to me of the sermon he had been preparing, 
 expressing a little anxiety about it, as he had not been able 
 to write, from his great weakness. He spoke strongly as to 
 the duty of thorough preparation for the pulpit, but on the 
 present occasion put himself wholly into the hands of God, 
 feeling that it was he who had seen meet to prevent his 
 more full preparation. His conscientiousness in this respect 
 struck me much. 
 
 " "We prayed together in the vestry, and he went up to the 
 pulpit with some apparent strength. His countenance, at all 
 times pale and thin, was now unusually so ; yet he gave out 
 
NOTES BY EEV. HORATIUS BONAR. 361 
 
 the psalm and prayed with a clear and unbroken voice. His 
 text was Micah ii. 10, ' Arise ye, and depart, for this is not 
 your rest.' He spoke of the desire for rest exhibited in the 
 saints from the beginning. Lamech called his son Noah, i. e. 
 ' rest,' in token of his desire and hope ; but he found none 
 here. It was for rest that Lot went to the plain of Sodom ; 
 but he found none. It was for rest that Jacob went down 
 into Egypt; but he found none. Even in the land of 
 promise, Immanuel's land, there was no rest for the saints. 
 Micah's words were spoken long after the settlement in that 
 land. Worldly men find no rest here, in this object or that, 
 this friendship or that. Eiches take wings, friends depart. 
 No rest ! The children of God have no rest, either, in this 
 world. Christ found no rest here — driven about, tempted, 
 persecuted. So with the saint. He cannot find fest in such 
 a world as this. To live in a world where there is not the 
 love of God, is awful.* Arise, and depart ; look to the cross ; 
 come to the crucified One. Press on. Get free from that 
 weight of sin. See that the inward man is renewed day by 
 day. The rest hereafter, when Christ comes again. 
 
 "He presided at the first table; and, at the close, he 
 summed up all with an address on these words, ' As for me, 
 I will behold thy face in righteousness ; I shall be satisfied, 
 when I awake, with thy likeness' (Ps. xvii. 15). 
 
 " He was able to attend evening service, and next day was 
 not worse, but on the Monday he was evidently beginning to 
 feel the effects of the labours of the previous day. He was 
 able, however, to converse, and, as usual, it was on the Word 
 
 * " I remember well how he paused for a moment here, and then spoke 
 in the most solemn way to the ungodly. He told them that it was agony 
 to a saint to live among the ungpdly. He spoke with great emphasis 
 and power on this point for several minutes." 
 
362 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 of God. He lived on it ; he fed on it ; it was the joy and 
 rejoicing of his heart. 
 
 "That Sabbath was a solemn day. The simple comitry 
 church, the rustic audience with their earnest looks, the white 
 tables with the sacred symbols, the pale deathlike coimte- 
 nance of the minister, speaking, as many felt, or at least 
 feared, for the last lime, and partaking with them of the 
 bread and wine, perhaps for the last time, till he should 
 drink it new with them in the kingdom; — all these things 
 threw a solemnity, a sacredness, a heavenliness over it, which 
 one would not wUlingly forget, even if they ever could." 
 
 He now left home for a few weeks, as the only means of 
 obtaining entire rest, and also to escape the prevailing eastern 
 gales, so trying to his feeble chest. The pause he felt to be 
 a solemn one. Shall it restore him once more to his watch- 
 tower? Or shall it summon him to his heavenly home? 
 Calmly abiding the Lord's deeision - he writes : — 
 
 " Bruntsfield Lodge, Edinburgh, March 27, 1850. — [To his 
 
 Sister, at BirUtonJ] — ^I had J 's letter yesterday morning. 
 
 By all means give wine to J S . I wish you just 
 
 to give what your own heart prompts, of whatever there is 
 in the house, to the needy and afflicted, especially those of 
 the household of faith. 
 
 " As to my health, the perspirations and hectic fever have 
 occasionally returned since I wrote last. The weakness is as 
 great as when I left Dirleton. Since coming here, I have 
 not been out of doors. We must wait on the Lord. He wiU 
 do all things well. I must rest during the months of AprU 
 and May. It seems that if I began to work sooner, I could 
 not live many months or weeks. The Lord will supply my 
 pulpit during the interval, and watch over the flock, as he 
 ever does. He is the Shepherd of the sheep. Eemember 
 
SBLF-EBNUNCIATION. 363 
 
 me with kindness and pastoral regards to all, especially 
 believers, who personally inquire after me. With love to 
 
 J and yourself, and with daily prayers that you may 
 
 dwell in safety with the Lord, growing in faith, peace, and 
 holiness, I am, your very affectionate brother, 
 
 " W. H. Hbwitson." 
 
 " Edinburgh, March 29, 1850.— [2b the Rev. J. Dodds.]— 
 Thanks for your kind exertions on behalf of myself and of 
 my people. As yet I am not stronger. Whether the Lord 
 will be pleased to heal or not is yet extremely uncertain. It 
 is a gladdening consideration that he will do what is best. 
 
 " My ministry has, for the most part, been eventful, but 
 it has been comparatively short. I have declared the whole 
 counsel of God, without fearing or flattering any one, great 
 or small. This I can say with a good conscience ; but oh ! 
 what iniquities I now see to have been in my holy things — 
 iniquities forgiven, but still to be deeply mourned over! 
 Never did I feel my utter soul-nakedness more than during 
 this illness. I r^mce in giving all the glory of my salvation 
 to ' the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.' 
 My dear brother, ever yours in Christ, 
 
 " W. H. Hewitson." 
 
 " Oh ! I am naked," said he, as we visited him one day 
 during this interval of suspense, and found him lying in bed 
 the very picture of death, but his bright eye lighted up with 
 a new brilliancy. " I am utterly naked, — ^nothing — ^nothing 
 but the righteousness of Immanuel. The sins of my minis- 
 try, how appalling to me now ! The blood of souls ! But 
 the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 
 My dear people had a blessed communion. They were 
 refreshed at every diet." He spoke as if still he might be 
 restored to them, but rejoiced to be in the Lord's hands. 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 1850. 
 
 Last Days. 
 
 Patience in Suffering — Public Ministry closed — Letter from Rajahgopaul 
 — Conversations — Tenderness in Preaching — Watchfulness over his 
 Flock — Assurance — Tisit— Increasing Weakness' — Blessed Hope — 
 Dying Testimony — Calm Peace — Silent Sabbaths — Familiarity with 
 Greek Testament— Moral Gravitation — Prayer— Spiritual Judgment — 
 Expectation of Success — Earnestness — Human Depravity — Divine 
 Sovereignty — ^Agonising Sufferings — ^Parting Yisits — Calm Triumph 
 — Concern for his People — Death — ^Funeral Sermon — ^Reflections. 
 
 " Who am I," exclaimed Luther, on witnessing the unmur- 
 muring patience of one of the Reformation worthies under 
 the endurance of intense physical agony — " Who am I, a 
 wordy preacher, in comparison with this great doer ? " The 
 calm triumph of a deeply-tried sufferer is now to be witnessed 
 in Mr Hewitson. 
 
 All the month of April he continued in Edinburgh, the 
 flesh still fainting and failing, though not without the hope 
 of being yet raised up. In the beginning of May we again 
 visited him. He was on the sofa, and, as usual, with the 
 Bible in his hand. The two subjects which chiefly occupied 
 
PUBLIC MINISTRY CLOSED. 365 
 
 his thoughts were his flock, and the awakening of the Church 
 to a deeper sense of the possible nearness of the Lord's advent. 
 He spoke of " the holy Owen " and " the heavenly-minded 
 Pay son," as the human patterns which seemed most to attract 
 him. But the Word of God, and Christ in the Word, formed 
 his engrossing theme. One of his remarks we cannot but 
 remember. " I am better acquainted," he said, " with Jesus 
 than with any friend I have on earth." The words convey 
 the very impression made by his whole conversation and 
 bearing. He looked like one sitting at the feet, and listening 
 to the words, of a tender and compassionate human friend. 
 And yet there was no unholy familiarity. It was " the man 
 who is God's Fellow" at whose feet he sat: hence a deep 
 reverential solemnity. 
 
 At length the decision was given. " After writing you on 
 Saturday," was the sad, though not unlooked-for intelligence 
 of 21st May, "Dr Alison was again called in; and when he 
 was asked to tell candidly what was his opinion of Mr 
 Hewitson's case, he at once said that he had no hope of 
 recovery, and that every symptom was that of the last stage 
 of consumption. In consequence of this, Mr Hewitson is 
 now most anxious to return home. He felt it his duty to 
 make use of every means afforded here of promoting his 
 recovery, as long as there was any expectation of these 
 means being of any service ; and he has for some weeks been 
 only waiting Dr Alison's final opinion with regard to his 
 returning home. We therefore purpose, if the Lord will, to 
 accompany him to-morrow to Dirleton, where I hope you 
 will find him on Thursday. He speaks with quiet, peace- 
 able assurance of his departure. Truly he seems filled with 
 the Holy Ghost, and already is enjoying immediate com- 
 piunion with the Father and with his Son Jesus. Christ."" 
 
366 MEMOIR OF THE EBV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Though preaching might be said to be his roling passion, 
 yet, now that the Lord had indicated that his ministry was 
 closed, he meekly acquiesced. " The Lord has his own way 
 of dealing with his servants," was his remark to a friend. 
 "He is pleased to make one like a bowl of living water, 
 which shall be handed round to refresh many souls. And 
 he takes the same bowl, empties it, turns it upside down, 
 and puts it on the shelf, saying, 'I have no more need of 
 thee.'" He had preached, not as a trade, or to gratify a 
 literary taste, or to exhibit himself, but to win souls. And 
 no sooner did he see that the Lord of the harvest had no 
 further use for Ms sickle, than he calmly said, " Thy will be 
 done." 
 
 Ere we follow him to Dirleton, we linger for a moment 
 over the scene at Bruntsfield. Eajahgopaul, whose memory 
 is so fragrant in Scotland because of his gifts and graces, . 
 had during these two months sojourned under the same 
 hospitable roof. In a letter to India, dated the day after 
 their separation, the youthful missionary thus wrote : — 
 
 " Edinburgh, May 22, 1850. — {To the Free Church Mission- 
 aries, Madras.^ — Lady F. is away to-day on an errand of 
 mercy, on the work of a ministering angel, to watch over 
 poor dying Mr Hewitson at Dirleton. He stayed with us at 
 Bruntsfield Lodge for more than nine weeks. The doctors 
 gave up all hope of his recovery ; so he returned to his parish 
 to testify of Christ in his last hours. He has lived much, 
 very much, to God, and near God. The truth of the prophet 
 was never perhaps more fully exemplified than ia him: 
 ' Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed 
 on thee, because he trusteth in thee.' He looked to all of us 
 more like one that had stepped down from the mansions of 
 our Father in heaven, than one going to them. The patience, 
 
LETTER FROM RAJAHGOPAUL. 367 
 
 peace, and resignation, and yet the ardent desire he had for 
 the glory of the Saviour on earth, seemed to say, ' For me 
 to live is Christ, and to die is gain.' 
 
 " Mr Anderson asked him yesterday, a few minutes before 
 his leaving us for his parish, whether there was any promise 
 more than another that he leaned upon and was precious to 
 him. He said, ' Jesus the living Saviour, in whom all the 
 promises are Yea and Amen, is more precious to me than all 
 promises.' He has known the Saviour for a long time, and 
 has held close fellowship with him, and now he feels that he 
 is going home to One whom he knows well. 
 
 " Two days ago, when he was thinking about his flock, he 
 made the following touching verses, and Lady F. took them 
 down : — 
 
 ' No more I help that vineyard's growth, 
 Though not detain'd by drowsy sloth; 
 My feeble frame's crush'd like the moth : 
 God's will be done I 
 
 ' No more I reap that harvest field ; 
 
 Its sheaves to others may it yield ; 
 
 My call to hasten home is seal'd : 
 
 God's win be done ! 
 
 ' Shall I then preach the Word no more? 
 Are all these pleasant labom-s o'er, 
 And I so near to glory's shore? 
 God's will be done ! ' 
 
 " I feel that, while his death would be a great loss to the 
 Church on earth, what a gain it would be to himself ! If he 
 has served Christ on earth with infirmities and sins, in heaven 
 he will serve him like the angels of God. If he has had to 
 cry under the burden of sin, that ' to will was present ' with 
 him, but how to perform that which was good he knew not, 
 oh ! with what alacrity, without let or hindrance, will he there 
 
368 MEMOIR OP THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 serve his God ! Last year, when we came to Edinburgh, Mr 
 Anderson could hardly stir, and Mr Hewitson preached with 
 great unction and power before the Assembly on 'God is 
 love;' but this year it is changed — ^he is confined to his bed, 
 and Mr A. is to preach." 
 
 We visited Dirleton on Thursday, 23d May. He was on 
 the sofa, with his Bible. " I have learned one lesson," said 
 he, " by reading the Word in my illness. I see that even 
 when I preached with what I felt to be some measure of 
 tenderness, I scarcely knew what Christ's tenderness was. 
 The Bible," he added, " gives not only the mind of God, but 
 his heart. It is the latter, exhibited to men, which draws 
 and wins. I could preach now, I think. I should be far 
 more tender." 
 
 This is a remarkable testimony from such a man. His 
 tenderness had been all along his most marked characteristic. 
 And yet now he felt as if he had never known what it was 
 to weep over souls. 
 
 "Pectus est quod theologum facit."* So did the lamented 
 Neander embody the lesson taught by the whole history of 
 the Church of God. "We need not be ashamed of this 
 maxim," he wrote seventeen years afterwards ; " shame rather 
 to those who were bold enough to ridicule it. They have 
 pronounced sentence on themselves. It was the watchword 
 of those who called forth theology from the dead forms of 
 scholasticism to the living spirit of God's-Word." The same 
 was Mr Hewitson's watchword. "Mere hard demonstra- 
 tions," he added, on the occasion just noticed, "do not win 
 — they only steel the heart." 
 
 Cecil speaks of preachers who " plant principles and prove 
 points, but do not reach the heart." And how is the heart 
 * It is the heart which makes the divine. 
 
CONVBESATION TENDERNESS IN PREAOHINa. 369 
 
 reached ? Not by the refinements and distinctions of a dead 
 orthodoxy, but by the exhibition of a living Christ. " Christ," 
 says the ■writer just quoted, " cheers the prospect. Everything 
 connected with Him has light and gladness thrown round it. 
 I loot out of my window — the scene is scowling, dark, frigid, 
 forbidding : I shudder — my heart is chilled. But let the 
 sun break forth from the cloud, — I can feel — I can act — I 
 can spring. God," he adds, " descending and dwelling with 
 man, is a truth so infinitely grand, that it must absorb all 
 other. 'You are his attendants! Well! But the King! 
 There he is I — the King ! ' " The reader has not now to learn 
 that such had been the tenor of Mr Hewitson's life and mini- 
 stry. And now that he was walking even more immediately 
 in the light of God's face, the axiom flashed on him with so 
 unwonted impressiveness, that he seemed to himself to have 
 scarcely ever preached at all. 
 
 He was not able that evening to join the congregation. 
 Having asked him, as we went to preach, if he had any mes- 
 sage to his people on this the first occasion of their meeting 
 since his return — "No," he replied; "no message as their 
 dying pastor: I wish nothing said to draw out their mere 
 natural feelings towards me personally." Then, after a pause, 
 he added, " But you may say something to draw them to 
 Christ. Tell them I affectionately long after them all in the 
 Lord, and that my prayer for them is, that they may be 
 saved." The aspect of the people, as these simple words were 
 spoken, told how much they loved him. 
 
 Though unable to leave his room, his eye was not off the 
 flock. " I used to consult with him weekly before my stated 
 visitations," vrrites Mr Lundie, who acted as his assistant 
 that summer, "and the minute acquaintance he displayed 
 with the state of mind of almost every member of his con- 
 
 2 a 
 
370 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 gregation was surprising. He would tell me who had been 
 converted, who had been under serious impressions, who had 
 faUen hack — suggesting frequently the train of remark he 
 thought suitable for partiieular cases. When he could no 
 longer see his people face to face, he followed them to their 
 cottages with his daily and earnest prayers." 
 
 Left, like Payson, whom in many respects he so much 
 resembled, " a mere wreck of being," he endured for a period 
 of two months the most distressing bodily suflFering. Like 
 Payson, he suifered in silence. But he was not silent in 
 telling of the Lord's abiding faithfulness : his " tongue sang 
 aloud of his righteousness." 
 
 " Meditate much on the love of Christ," he was often say- 
 ing to those about him ; " it is a wonderful love. I love him 
 with my whole heart. I long to be with my Beloved." 
 
 On another occasion he remarked, " I have seen further 
 down of late into the depths of his amazing love than ever 
 I saw before. It is surely a grievous thing to doubt ; it is 
 most dishonouring to the Lord." 
 
 One day at table, after drinking a tumbler of cold water, 
 he said, " What a beautiful emblem I " Then, dwelling on 
 each word with evident delight, he slowly repeated, " He 
 shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, 
 proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." 
 " When we reach that river," said a friend who was present, 
 "there will be an end of all our weariness and languor." 
 " And, what is far better," rejoined Mr Hewitson, " an end of 
 the possibility of sinning." 
 
 "I wonder," he said again, "that .any Christian can be 
 content while a single stain remains on the conscience nn- 
 washed by the blood." " Yet how many live," remarked his 
 friend, " as if one washing were enough ! " " One bathing,'' 
 
COIfVBESATION ^ASSUHANCE. 371 
 
 Mr Hewitson rejoined, " is enough: ' he that is bathed needeth 
 not save to wash his feet.' I always press upon young con- 
 verts the necessity of daily washing in the blood as of primary 
 importance, and as indispensable to holiness. When the 
 believer 'washes daily, the very repetition of the act keeps 
 the conscience sensitive to sin." 
 
 Another day, contemplating the glory of Christ, he said, 
 " ' Without me ye can do nothing:' what a close and pleasant 
 connexion with Christ in all — all — that we do, even the smallest 
 things ! These hands, these eyes, these ears, these feet — they 
 are not ours, they are bought with a price. I cannot do this, 
 because Christ would not have done it. I cannot look on 
 that, because Christ would not have looked upon it. This is 
 a very safe rule of conduct." 
 
 On another occasion, assurance was the subject of conver- 
 sation. His views on that point were very clear and decided. 
 Now, as at the outset of his Christian course, it was whilst his 
 eye was turned outward on Christ, not inward on his own 
 faith, that his peace was " like a river." '"Who shall separate 
 us from the love of Christ ? ' " said he. " ' Shall tribulation, or, 
 distress,' &c.? ' Nay; in all these things we are more than 
 conquerors, through him that loved us.' We cannot but 
 triumph." " Yet how few,'' said one who was present, " seem 
 to triumph ! " " Ah 1" said Mr Hewitson, " it is want of faith. 
 It is not a cunningly-devised fable which we believfe ; the 
 thing is true — of course we must triumph. I can testify, to 
 the glory of God's grace," he added, with a smile of lowly 
 thankfulness, " that no night do I confess my sin without 
 absolute confidence that it is forgiven ; I know it to be so. 
 If any one asks me how I know it, I just answer — ' If we 
 confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, 
 and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' I believe in 
 
372 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 God's truthfulness, that is all. All that tends to unbelief 
 is of Satan ; all that tends to faith is of the Spirit." 
 
 " I am glad," said a venerable minister who had come from 
 a distance to pay him a farewell visit, " that you have such 
 pleasant experience of peace in your soul." " It is nothing 
 more," replied Mr Hewitson, " than might be expected by a 
 Christian. The righteousness of Christ is my stay. That 
 sustained me in Madeira in the midst of persecution and 
 difficulties; it has sustained me through all my ministry; 
 and it sustains me now." " It is a great privilege," remarked 
 his friend, " to be enabled to bear the testimony you now do." 
 " And a humbling thing," rejoined Mr Hewitson. " The more 
 grace, the more self-emptying." On the visitor withdrawing, 
 Mr Hewitson, after musing for some time in silence, re- 
 marked — "Dr thinks far more of my experience and 
 
 attainments than I do. What is it but the simple fulfilment 
 of my Father's promise— 'I will keep him in perfect peace 
 whose mind is stayed on thee?' " 
 
 He grew visibly feebler week by week. " I feel," he said 
 one day, " my fleshly tabernacle decaying." " But we have a 
 house not made witTi hands,'' said a friend, " eternal in the 
 heavens." "Ah! that is not all," rejoined Mr Hewitson 
 hastily; "we know — we know that we have a house. It is 
 this 'knowing' which makes us confident, and willing rather 
 to be absent from the body, and present with the Lord." 
 
 " I fear you are much weaker to-day,'' said one of his 
 elders who came in to see him. " Yes," he replied, " but I 
 can lean on the everlasting arm. I find it the same now, 
 when entering the dark valley, that I said it was in the 
 pulpit. It is on that arm that I long to see every member 
 of the congregation resting. I loved my Portuguese in 
 Madeira so much," he proceeded to say, " that I thought I 
 
CONVERSATION^— BLESSED HOPE. 373 
 
 could never be equally attached to another congregation ; but 
 I feel now that I am as much attached to Dirleton." 
 
 He seemed to feed continually on the Word. It was truly 
 living manna to him. Lying one day on the sofa, distressed 
 by laborious breathing, he said — " ' In Judah is God known ; 
 his name is great in Israel.' Sometimes this verse brings 
 exquisite pleasure to my soul — the thought that in this un- 
 righteous world there are those among whom God is known 
 — to whom his name is great ! " He dwelt on this thought 
 for some time, says his friend, with all the delight of one 
 whose interests were swallowed up in God's, adding, 
 " ' Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the 
 earth !' What a heaven the world will be when that can be 
 said of it ! How different now I His name is despised." 
 
 The blessed hope of the Lord's " appearing*^ was much 
 upon his mind during his last days. "It was a subject," 
 writes his sister, who attended him, " very dear to his heart, 
 and seemed to be even more precious to him as ha drew near 
 his end. He did not overlook," adds the same eye-witness, 
 " the blessedness of departing and being with Christ. But his 
 Lord's coming in his kingdom was the subject of his daily 
 prayer and his most blessed hope. 'Every day,' was his 
 frequent testimony to us, ' I feel more and more comfort 
 from it.'" So concerned was he about this matter, that,, 
 only two days before he died, there were read over to him 
 the lecture he had delivered the preceding winter on "the 
 Kingdom of Christ," and also an essay on "Communion 
 with God," which he had read during the winter before the 
 Presbytery. These he desired to. leave as his matured views. 
 His object in thus combining them was to shew that the 
 blessed hope, as he held it, was truly a doctrine according to 
 godliness. 
 
374 MEMOIR OF THE EET. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 "The native energy of his character," remarks a friend 
 who saw him frequently during his last illness, "was re- 
 markably displayed in his unwillingness to yield to his 
 disease. It was amazing to see him, with his pulse upwards 
 of 120, sitting daily at the dinner-table, and joining in the 
 conversation, almost as if in health. I was frequently struck 
 with the perfect ease and freedom with which he always 
 entered into my own affairs and those of others, as if he had 
 not a pain or care of his own to occupy him. His remark- 
 able acuteness of mind never forsook him. The precision 
 and even subtlety of the distinctions he was so skilled in 
 drawing were most striking in a dying man. The perfect 
 peace he enjoyed no doubt contributed greatly to this." 
 
 No trial affected him so deeply as his silent Sabbaths. 
 " Another silent Sabbath!" he used to say, as each of them 
 went past. On the communion Sabbath especially, the 
 privation was very trying. " Ah ! that was my work," he 
 said to the brother who had been officiating, as he was 
 telling him, on his return, about the sermon ; " but it is my 
 Father's will — yeinjdTjro) to OiKrifia rov Kvplov" (the will 
 of the Lord be done). 
 
 The quotation from the original Greek is characteristic. 
 " You should read," said he one day to a young minister, " a 
 chapter of the Greek Testament every day of your life. I 
 have long done so; and now when I read the English, 
 I know what the original is without referring to it." Those 
 who knew him will remember the happy use he made of this 
 accomplishment in his conversations on the Word of God. 
 We give a single specimen : " What a blessed thing it will 
 be," a friend was remarking to him one day, " to be delivered 
 from the bondage of the flesh ! " " Yes," was his reply, " and 
 instead of bondage, be introduced into the liberty of the 
 
CONVEBSATION PRATEB. 37 
 
 glory. Our translators," he added, turning to Rom. viii. 21 
 in the little Greek Testament which lay always beside him, 
 " have spoiled the antithesis in that verse, by imagining a 
 Hebraism which does not exist — 'The creature shall be 
 delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of 
 the glory of God's children.' " 
 
 One day, sitting in a contemplative mood, he fell into a 
 train of thought which not unaptly illustrated his own hidden 
 life. " There is a gravitation," said he, " in the moral as in 
 the physical world. When several bodies are collocated 
 near each other in the heavens, that which has the greatest 
 weight takes the central place, and th»others move round it 
 as satellites. So when several desires are operating simulta-- 
 neously in the soul, that which is strongest occupies the 
 governing place of will, and the rest give way. When love 
 to God is habitually in the ascendant, or occupying the 
 place of will, it gathers round it all the other desires of the 
 soul as satellites, and whirls them along with it in its orbit 
 round the centre of attraction — God." 
 
 On another occasion he remarked concerning prayer : 
 " Prayer is heard when it passes from the believer's heart to 
 the Redeemer's heart, and is appropriated by the Redeemer, 
 or made his own." The biographer of Payson observes, that 
 " prayer was eminently the business of his hfe." The same 
 may be said of Mr Hewitson. " My heart," was his meek 
 testimony one day in the midst of severe bodily suftering, 
 " is ever above with Jesus." At frequent intervals in con- 
 versation his soul seemed to be lifting up itself in silent 
 prayer. The eflfect was that peculiar heavenliness which sat 
 upon him continually. 
 
 "Once I overheard him in prayer," writes Theodorus of 
 Martin Luther ; " but oh ! with what hfe and spirit did he 
 
376 MEMOIR OF THE BET. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 pray I It was with, as much reverence as if he were in the 
 felt presence of God, yet with as much confidence as if he 
 had been speaking to a friend." Such, it may be gathered, 
 was Mr Hewitson's secret praying. And his praying in the 
 pulpit or in the family was in the same strain. He prayed, 
 not as an aUen or as an inquirer, but as a child of God. He 
 did not pray at the people, or^ them, but with them.* It 
 was, however, with believers that he prayed ; in regard to 
 others, he was the behevers" mouth in seeking their con- 
 version, 
 
 "A man. of spiritual discernment can scarcely open his 
 lips to one who has* none," was his remark another day, 
 " without incurring the unmerited charge of uncharitable- 
 ness, of captiousness, of censoriousness, of assumption, or 
 something similar. He must, ia the presence of the ungodly 
 or cajnal, ' withhold his mouth even from good,' or his ' good 
 will be evil spoken of.' " This observatioa explained not a 
 little of his way in his intercourse with men. His very 
 silence sometimes brought on him reproach. 
 
 If his silence brought on him reproach, his words some- 
 times not less, oflfended. AUuding one day to an erroneous 
 construction which a brother had put upon some expression 
 used by him respecting the state of his people, he vindicated 
 the exercise of his spiritual judgment as to the presence or 
 the absence of grace, thus : " To discern," said he, " is not 
 to act the part of a censor— it is an act of perception, not 
 
 * Mr Newton, in one qf his letters, writes: "The prayers of some 
 good men are more like preaching than praying. They rather ej^press 
 the Lord's mind to the people, than the desires of the people to the Lord. 
 Indeed, this can hai'dly be called prayer. It might, in another place, 
 stand for part of a good sermon, but will afford little help to those who 
 
 desire to pray with their hearts The spirit of prayer is the 
 
 token of the Spirit of adoption." 
 
CONVERSATIQN-^SPIBITUAL JUDGMENT. 377 
 
 an act of judgment at all, in the forensic sense. We may 
 spiritually discern a man's words and doings to be carnal, 
 and yet not be sitting in judgment on the man, in the offen- 
 sive sense of the expression. Just as we discern coloursj, 
 saying, that this is. red and that blue, so does the man of 
 God who has. spiritual perceptiveness [aia-OijcTK) discern the 
 character of moral actions, saying that this is of the Spirit, 
 and that of the flesh — this i^ of God, and that of the world. 
 Discernment," he proceeded to say, "does not imply an 
 imputation of motives — it only appreciates the general 
 character ©f the motives as carnal or spiritual, without 
 reference to the question, what be the- particular motive or 
 motives in each case." Whilst cautiously ?ibstaining from 
 uttering in the presence of others an opinion concerning any 
 particular person's spiritual state, he found this exercise of 
 his spiritual judgment of the greatest value in the work of 
 the ministry. It enabled him to regulate with rare skill his 
 dealing with individual souls, indicating where encourage- 
 ment was needed, and where warning — ^where probing of the 
 wound, and where binding up. 
 
 On another occasion, referring to the same subject, he re- 
 marked, " It is va,in to argue with a man whose perceptions 
 are not like your own. What yow see to be yellow, he sees 
 to be green ; and he will believe his own eyes rather than 
 yours, thinking you unreasonable in soliciting his judgment 
 against the evidence of his senses. Thjat your judgments 
 may agree, you must first have similar powers of perception." 
 And following out the train of thought, he deduced this 
 corollary: "No man will believe one thousandth part of 
 what God says in the Bible, until he be bom again, and so 
 be, not only brought into God's light, but likewise endowed 
 with a perceptive eye like God's." 
 
378 MBMOm OP THE BEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Nor was this all. Even where the perceptive eye is given, 
 there are degrees of fineness in the perception — some, in 
 virtue of the first touch from the Lord's finger, seeing men 
 as trees walking; others, whose eyes have been touched 
 again and again, seeing more and more clearly. His eye 
 had been often touched ; hence his singularly vivid per- 
 ception of the objects lying within the domain of spiritual 
 vision in the Word, and hence also the little sympathy he 
 met even from many brethren. 
 
 " If there be nothing between God's wrath and the sinner's 
 guilt," he said, speaking on another subject, "these may 
 be kept apart during a time of long-suffering; but every 
 moment they are mutually drawing nearer, this to that. 
 The moment of collision will be — ^who can teU how — 
 terrific ! " 
 
 The other side of the antithesis he put thus : " If the 
 blood of Christ be between the sinner's guilt and God's wrath, 
 these two will approach it on this side and on that. The 
 blood, meeting on the one side with the wrath, wiU extinguish 
 it for ever : the blood, meeting on the other side with the guilt, 
 washes it away, and makes the soul whiter than snow." 
 
 " Did you ever notice the fact," was his remark to a visitor, 
 " that John was a priest as well as a prophet? As a priest 
 he baptized Christ — in this typifying his death on the cross, 
 which Christ himself calls his baptism. Thus emblematically 
 he led the Lamb up to the altar for sacrifice, leaving him 
 there in God's hands ; for God himself must smite this sacri- 
 fice. In this way John performed the last priestly act required 
 of man." 
 
 Again : " The smitten rock and gushing water tell us that 
 life and gladness come all from the suffering Christ. Never 
 forget, when drinking pardon, peace, joy, newness of life, from 
 
CONVERSATION ^EARNEST MINISTRY. 379 
 
 the streams of salvation, that you press your lips to the wounds 
 of Jesus, that you drink the life-blood of the Son of God." 
 
 Again : " It is said that Paul and Barnabas ' so preached,' 
 that many were saved. There is a kind of preaching which is 
 peculiarly blessed to the awakening and conversion of sinners. 
 Much may be done by the ' so preaching.' I have often been 
 much impressed with the statement, that they preached the 
 gospel 'with power and with much assurance.' "When this 
 expecting spirit, this assurance of success, is given, the bless- 
 ing will surely follow." 
 
 This expectation of success he continued to the last to 
 regard as not the least weighty element in his own successful 
 ministry. President Edwards observes, in closing his life of 
 Brainerd, that " his history shews us the right way to success 
 in the work of the ministry. He sought it as a resolute 
 soldier seeks victory in a siege or battle, or as a man that 
 runs a race for a great prize." Mr Hewitson resembled 
 Brainerd in this. "How fully you express," a friend had 
 written him in 1846, in reply to a letter from Mr Hewitson 
 on the point, " what I have often felt about the glorious duty 
 — privilege is scarce explicit enough — of looking for present 
 fruit, from present labour in the Lord's vineyard I Indeed, I 
 am free to say, to the praise of glorious grace, what I am 
 pretty sure your experience goes along with, that it is since I 
 began to look for and expect a present blessing, that the Lord 
 has been pleased to bestow it." Mr Hewitson often reverted 
 to this subject with great emphasis in these conversations of 
 his last days. 
 
 Another feature of the successful minister was often noted. 
 " Truth," said he, " if it be not in the heart as well as on the 
 tongue, is truth denied by the speaker, and therefore truth sus- 
 pected h) the hearer. To persuade — to be effective — ^not only 
 
380 MEMOIR OF THE EBV. W. H. HEWITSOIf. 
 
 speak the truth, but feel it, and so as to make it manifest 
 that you do so." Mr Hewitson's ministry had been emi- 
 nently an earnest one. He had " so preached," that, whether 
 men believed or no, they felt that the preacher spoke because 
 he believed. It was not the earnestness of the flesh — not 
 vehemence, not noise, not physical fervour — but the deep, 
 calm, solemn, gentle earnestness of the Spirit. There was 
 no scolding, no impatience, no angry upbraiding, but the ten- 
 derest pity ; he warned and besought with tears. This was 
 his " unanswerable argument." 
 
 He often spoke of man's natmral depravity. One day his 
 thoughts on this subject fell into a train like the following : 
 — " Judas was the representative of human nature, of fallen 
 man. In him ' the flesh ' enjoyed advantages greater than 
 it ever enjoyed before or since — ^the advantages of early 
 religious cultures — of being called to discipleship — of being 
 placed in the highest oflSce of ministry — of being admitted to 
 the personal acquaintance and friendship of the Lord — of 
 being treated by him with condescension, familiarity, and 
 kindness. The 'flesh' never had so favourable an oppor- 
 tunity for self-melioration and self-recovery. It was put to 
 the test under the happiest influences, but only left to itself, 
 that its real character might be manifested. And what was 
 the result ? Enmity against God — ^hatred of Love Incarnate. 
 Judas betrayed his Lord !" 
 
 His views of the absolute sovereignty of grace became 
 more and more decided as he advanced. " The gift of Christ 
 to die as a sacrifice," he remarked one day, " was not more 
 truly and entirely a free-will gift of God, than is the gift of 
 the Spirit to regenerate." " It were as easy," he said again, 
 "to make an atonement for our own sins, as to effect a 
 regeneration of our own hearts. He who does not admit the 
 
CONVERSATION SOVEBBIGNTT OF GBAOB. 381 
 
 need of a regenerating Spirit, will soon deny the need of an 
 atoning Saviour : that man has a root of Unitarianism under 
 ground, whicli will ere long sprout and shew itself above the 
 surface." And further : " No man who denies the necessity 
 and the freeness of regenerating grace can possibly have 
 right views on the subject of the atonement." 
 
 But, in preaching, he had handled this delicate theme 
 with a tact and a tenderness which made the sinner feel that, 
 whilst himself utterly depraved and helpless, his inability to 
 love the Lord was not a palliation, but an aggravation of 
 his guilt. Often did he revert to this subject, urging the 
 necessity of following God's own pattern in his recorded mes- 
 sages, and deploring that mistaken zeal for orthodoxy which 
 hinders a full and free gospel under the idea of maintaining 
 God's sovereignty. Finding God in the Word presenting a 
 naked appeal to sinners to come to him, unaccompanied by 
 any caution about the danger of supposing they could come 
 of their own free will, he was content to be not wiser than 
 God — not more jealous of his sovereignty than he is himself. 
 Even his direct statements of the Divine sovereignty, when 
 this topic was handled, were made with a heavenly sweet- 
 ness, which, as Cecil says of Traill, "while it rendered it 
 almost impossible not to receive his sentiments, left nothing 
 on the mind but a religious savour." 
 
 "The iron chain," he remarked on another occasiouj 
 " which binds the believer's heart to the world, is, under the 
 file of Divine grace, being gradually worn away, and by and 
 by it will become too weak to hang together. Meanwhile, 
 the golden chain which binds the believer's heart to heaven 
 is waxing stronger — its links are growing more firm and 
 massive : all the powers of hell will not prevail to break 
 them!" 
 
382 MEMOIE OF THE EEV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 Towards the end of July it became apparent tliat the 
 links of " the iron chain'' were at length to be severed. His 
 weakness now confined him entirely to bed. The agony of 
 pain was at times so excruciating, that for hours he could 
 not utter a word. One night, after five hours of such agony, 
 during which not a feature of his countenance had been 
 distorted, he said, " If I could have spoken, I should have 
 asked you to pray that I might have grace to endure to the 
 end. But I have got the victory. The Lord is good—- very 
 good. 
 
 ' I long to mount and soar away 
 
 To yon bright realms of endless day.' " 
 
 " I fear your shortness of breath causes much sufiering," 
 said a friend to him on another occasion. " Very," he replied. 
 Then, asking for a glass of wine, which revived him a little, 
 he added, the effort to speak making him struggle violently 
 for breath — " I shall soon be in the presence of Jesus." " What 
 a change it will be from this sad struggle !" rejoined his 
 friend. " Yes, yes," he said quickly, as if anxious to correct 
 an erroneous impression ; " but it is not for that I wish it. 
 I am willing to bear all this from my Father. It is working 
 for good. I long to be with Jesus — to be holy as God is 
 holy — ^that is what I long for." 
 
 His thirst for holiness appeared to grow in intensity day 
 by day. " One thing I have learned in this illness," he said 
 — " to know more of the intrinsic loveliness of holiness, and 
 the intrinsic hatefulness of sin. How glorious it will be to 
 be with Jesus ! — how suitable for the pure in heart !" When 
 he was taking his Uttle meals, he used to say — " I long for 
 the time when I shall have no more need of these things. 
 I long to be holy as God himself." He appeared never to 
 
CHAMBER OF DEATH CALM TRIUMPH. 383 
 
 swallow his medicine or his half-glass of wine without paus- 
 ing to give God thanks. 
 
 His patience was remarkable. "This is very trying to 
 the flesh,'' said a visitor to him after a violent and protracted 
 fit of coughing. " Yes," was his reply, " the flesh does not 
 like it, but it is the Lord's will I should suffer it, and that 
 sweetens it a good deal." And at another time, after a simi- 
 lar attack, exhausted and struggling for breath, he whispered 
 — " This is one of the rough places of the road, but then it's 
 the right road." " The Lord has ever been with you," said 
 another visitor, " and he will not forsake you now in your 
 hour of trial." " He never will," he replied ; " I know it, I 
 know it." 
 
 The Word was, in his sufferings, as it had been in his 
 whole life and ministry, the abiding source of his strength ; 
 and his method of feeding on it was characteristic. A friend 
 had been quoting to him texts illustrative of God's faithful- 
 ness. " Texts like these," he remarked, after his friend had 
 withdrawn, " do not give me so much comfort as ' God so 
 loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son,' &c., or 
 ' He that spared not his own Son,' &c. Plain doctrinal state- 
 ments, exhibiting the heart of God, are more sustaining to 
 me than mere promises. I like to get into contact with the 
 living Person." 
 
 On another occasion, during one of his paroxysms, a 
 brother in the ministry repeated to him several texts in 
 succession. " You gave me too many texts," he remarked 
 afterwards. " I like one at a time, unless it were another 
 illustrating the foi-mer one ; I like to feed on the Word : 
 when a new text is given, the other is lost." 
 
 At three o'clock in the morning of Monday, 29th July, he 
 became suddenly worse. A paroxysm more severe than any 
 
384 MEMOm OF THE REV. W. H. HUWlTSON. 
 
 he had yet suffered, seemed to threaten almost immediat* 
 dissolution. The paroxysm, after a few hours, passed, but 
 left him so oppressed that he could no longer lie in bed, but 
 was obliged to sit up in it, almost in an erect posture. 
 
 " On seeing him in the morning," says a brother who had 
 been assisting the previous day at the communion, " I ob- 
 served a "great change. I was about to leave for home, but 
 he said, ' Can you not wait a little ? I am scarcely breathing. 
 I am dying ! ' " 
 
 We saw him that day for the last time. It was truly an 
 affecting, yet — praise to the God of grace ! — a most comfort- 
 ing and joy-inspiring scene. 
 
 " I saw him when the time of his release was come, 
 
 And I longed for a congregated world to behold that dying saint. 
 
 As the aloe is green and well-liking, till the last best summer of its age, 
 
 And tlien hangeth out its golden beUs, to mingle glory with corruption — 
 
 Such was the end of tliis righteous. 
 
 His filming eye was bright with love from heaven ; 
 
 His every look it beamed praise, as worshipping with seraphs : 
 
 What honeycomb was hived upon his lips, eloquent of gratitude and 
 
 prayer ! — 
 What triumph shrined serene upon that clammy brow ! — 
 What glory flickering transparent nnder those thin cheeks ! — 
 What beauty in his face !" 
 
 If the poet had been picturing the dying chamber at 
 Dirleton, he could not more truthfully have delineated the 
 scene. Our dear brother was unable, from exhaustion, to 
 speak at parting. A look conveyed what was in his heart. 
 
 During the rest of the week he lingered on in the same 
 exhausted state, suffering at intervals great agony, but wait- 
 ing patiently for his change. One or two of his people were 
 allowed to see him for a little. He was not able to speak to 
 them ; but his eyes spoke, following them as they departed. 
 
coNCLrsioK. 385 
 
 One morning, about two o'clock,, he said to his sister, " Oh ! 
 was not that a wonderful thing, the agony which Jesus suffered 
 in the body for our sins ? And that agony was only an index 
 of whaf he suffered in his soul." The dying love of Christ 
 seemed to be filling his whole heart. 
 
 At the end of the week, as a friend was taking leave, and 
 was referring to his great sufferings, he said, " The Lord has 
 never forsaken me, and he never wiU — never. It is the best, 
 the kindest, the most fatherly way. Faith receives it now ; 
 sight shall soon behold it." 
 
 The next three days his sufferings continued unabated. 
 On the Tuesday afternoon they were agonizing. But the 
 Lord gave him grace to endure. Towards evening the pain 
 was relieved. At length, about midnight, lifting himself 
 up in bed, he raised his hands and eyes in prayer : " Oh, my 
 people!" he cried. These were his last words. A few minutes 
 afterwards, he calmly " fell asleep." It was on 7th August 
 1850. 
 
 On the following Monday his remains were committed to 
 the dust, amidst the tears of sorrowing brethren and of his 
 bereaved flock. And next Sabbath, from the words, "My 
 flesh also shall rest in hope," the eye of the mourning congre- 
 gation was pointed to "that day" — so dear to the heart of 
 their departed pastor — ^when, the Lord himself descending 
 " from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, 
 and with the trump of God," " the dead in Christ shall rise 
 first ; and then we who are alive and remain, shall be caught 
 up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the 
 air ; and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 
 
 The " living epistle of Christ," now before the reader, is 
 written by the Spirit in characters too legible to need the 
 
 2 B 
 
386 MEMOIR OF THE REV. W. H. HEWITSON. 
 
 aid of an interpreter. May he who inscribed it bless this 
 memorial, so that the departed, though dead,*may yet 
 speak. 
 
 Let the man who, having " the form of godliness,^ is con- 
 sciously " denying the power," listen to the silwit protest of 
 the helylife here faintly sketched. Let him who is reconciled 
 to God and brought nigh, learn at once the blessedness of 
 walking worthy of such a fellowship, and the method of so 
 walking. ^ 
 
 The Spirit of the Lord is not straitened. What he wrought 
 in Mr Hewitson, is he not willing to work in us ? Not in 
 vain shall this humble tablet have been reared, if, stimulated 
 by it to new love and hope, some way-worn pilgrim hasten 
 forward with new alacrity towards " the day of Christ." 
 
 " The altar of his heart is lighted, and bumeth before God continually, 
 And he breatheth, conscioxis of his joy, the native atmosphere of heaven : 
 Yea, though poor, apd contemned, and ignorant of this world's wisdom, 
 111 can his fellows spare him, thongh they know not of his value. 
 Thousands bewail a hero, and a nation monmeth for its king ; 
 But the whole universe lamenteth the loss of a man of prayer.'' 
 
 THE END. 
 
 BALLAKTTKE, PRINTEB, EDINBURGH.